We Do Not Like Slavery, But We Want Cotton

Belmont, August, 1816-1890. A Few Letters and Speeches of the Late Civil War by August Belmont, 1816-1890

Belmont, was a War Democrat supporting the Union cause.  He used his influence with European business and political leaders to support the Union cause, dissuading the Rothschilds and other bankers from lending to the Confederacy and meeting personally with the British prime minister Lord Palmerston, and members of Napoleon III's French government

In this letter dated July 30, 1861 to William Seward, then Secretary of State of the Union, Belmont describes a conversation he had with Lord Palmerston.

. . . In the course of the conversation he used this phrase, "We do not like slavery, but we want cotton, and we dislike very much your Morrill tariff."

 I think this phrase comprises the whole policy of this government in the present war, and from what I have seen and heard since my arrival, I am more than ever convinced that we have nothing to hope from the sympathy of the English government and people in our struggle. Because this war is not carried on for the abolition or slavery in the Southern States, they try to maintain that the war has nothing to do with slavery: willfully shutting their eyes to the fact that the attitude of the North with regard to introducing slavery into the Territories is the main ground upon which the Secessionists justify their action. As a distinguished lady, wife of a prominent liberal in Parliament, told me last evening : "I am sorry to say, we have been found wanting in the present emergency, and principles have to yield to interest."

Lord Palmerston, from Wikimedia.org

A Proper Place for Intelligent Women

On July 29, 1861, an anonymous writer in the 5th Wisconsin Infantry applauds the positive impact of women in the army.  He is writing about women who follow their husbands to army camps.

I am unable to see any reason, and know of no facts, opposed to the war camp as a proper place for intelligent women. Order is essential to the service and must be had — just such order as woman desires to see and is best able to establish. Women are better qualified than men to introduce order into some departments of the camp, yet no department of camp life and conduct is necessarily immodest beyond home or domestic duty and conduct. There are swearers and vulgar-behaving persons about all our streets, more such than I have yet seen in the Fifth Regiment, yet women do not avoid the streets!

Of the usefulness of women in the army, their presence is just as essential as at our homes; their kind of work, and most of all their almost boundless influence, are just as fitful, we think more so. The rough, almost tameless man, while in the presence of women, becomes watchful over every word passing his lips; he minds his walk, would not appear filthy, desires more intelligence and more pride when women are about than if all are men; and the same is true of an army of men.

Source: E.B. Quiner Scrapbooks: "Correspondence of the Wisconsin Volunteers, 1861-1865," Volume 1

Officers and their Wives at the camp of the 2nd Wisconsin, as found at www.wisconsinhistory.org

Give Him Another Chance!

This entry is from Diary of a Union Lady 1861 - 1865 edited by Harold Earl Hammond.  This is the diary of Maria Lydig Daly, wife of a justice of the Court of Common Pleas in New York City.

This entry was written just after the First Battle of Bull Run about the New York 69th, later to be known as the Irish Brigade. The lady writing made a flag for the regiment.

July 28, 1861

My flag, which I gave to the 69th, was lost.  The ensign dropped it in his retreat, and as he escaped unhurt, has not dared to show his face  The Regiment declared that he shall be shot if he does.  He is skulking somewhere about in Washington, and sent on to his wife for nine dollars to enable him to come home.  But if he does, the Regiment vows vengeance for the disgrace.  If anyone asks me about it, I shall say that one of ensigns was killed and nothing more.  The brave fellows shall not suffer for the fault of one.  Besides, it was the first battle, and I would forgive the poor fellow and give him another chance.

 Officers of the 69th New York State Militia, Fort Corcoran, Va, from Library of Congress Collection

Sorrow For Those Left Behind

This entry is from Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee, by Captain Robert E Lee, his Son.  Here Lee writes to his wife about the battle at Mannassas.

July 27th, 1861 Richmond

"…That indeed was a glorious victory and has lightened the pressure upon our front amazingly. Do not grieve for the brave dead.  Sorrow for those they left behind—friends, relatives, and families. The former are at rest. The latter must suffer. The battle will be repeated there in greater force. I hope God will again smile on us and strengthen our hearts and arms. I wished to partake in the former struggle, and am mortified at my absence, but the President thought it more important I should be here. I could not have done as well as has been done, but I could have helped, and taken part in the struggle for my home and neighbourhood.. . .

Robert E. Lee, from generalsandbrevets.com

Pillow Orders Tobacco Purchases

This entry is from the Memphis Daily Appeal, July 26, 1861, and concerns the Rebel soldiers' use and procurement of tobacco.

General Order No. 29.

Headquarters Army of Tennessee, Memphis, July 24, 1861.

The use of tobacco having become so fixed a habit with a very large proportion of our troops that the deprivation of it is to them a very severe inconvenience, and it being impossible for them to procure it at many of the encampments, the Major-General commanding, after consultation with and with the approval of his excellency, the Governor of the State, directs the various Commissary Staffs throughout the State to purchase by wholesale, from time to time, such amounts of good tobacco as may be necessary, and resell it to the soldiers of the Army of Tennessee at the cost price.

By command of Major-General, Gideon J. Pillow, Commanding the Army of Tennessee.

Gus. A. Henry, Jr., Ass't Adjutant-General.

Brandy Station, Virginia. Discussing the probilities (?) of the next move, from Library of Congress Collection

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Not Cowardice That Caused Defeat

This letter is written by somebody with the initials N.R.,a soldier with the 2nd Wisconsin Voluntary Infantry Regiment, a regiment nicknamed the Iron Brigade of the West by General McClellan. The soldier is writing to the [Wisconsin] State Journal in reaction to an article in the paper published on July 22nd about the Battle of Bull Run.  He and his regiment fought there three days earlier, and in this excerpt the writer tries to make the readers understand the circumstances, and iterate the outcome of the battle was certainly not because they were cowards.  This letter can be found in its entirety at Second Wisconsin Voluntary Infantry Website.

Arlington Heights, Va.
Near Washington, July 25, 1861

I have just received your paper of the 22d and do not feel justified in allowing the grossly false accounts of the battle of Bull's Run given in your telegraphic dispatches, to go uncounterdicted. I wish to give a sufficient explanation of the battle or let our friends know that it was not cowardice of the men that caused the defeat. . . 

. . . . During this cannonading, one battery after another of ours was silenced by the guns of the rebels:  Still the enemy's fire was as fierce and effective as ever. The air seemed to be full of balls and bursting shells. During the firing, we got up flanked to the left and filed over the hillside down further into the ravine, and immediately to the bottom of the hill, off which the enemy's large battery was located. Before we left our first position, the fire from our batteries had nearly ceased and while lying there (which was by order of the General) we saw the New York Fire Zouaves, Ellsworth's regiment, charge on the hill. They were repulsed and driven back after a terrible resistance by a large body of infantry and cavalry. The fight between the Zouaves and the rebels became so hot that all lines and forms were broken up and they were entirely overpowered by numbers; their retreat was, of course, a confused mass. We afterwards learned that this was the point at which the rebels had just been reinforced by twenty thousand fresh troops under Johnston. When the rebel cavalry charged on the Zouaves, they turned on the rebels and swept their men and horses like chaff.

By this time, all our cannon, except one or two, were silenced and the enemy's battery appeared to work as briskly as at first. As the Zouaves began to fall back the battery opened on them such a fire of grape shot and bullets as we have never seen before.Under this fire it was absolutely impossible for men to form and rally but before they had got fairly to retreating down the hill, another regiment of infantry was ordered to charge in the same place. Our cannon was now silent, demolished, ruined. We were ordered forward. We had come from our first position to the foot of the last hill during the charge of the Zouaves and two or three other regiments. A narrow road is cut into the hill on the south side leading up to near the battery. On the North side of the road, next to the battery the bank is some three to five feet high. On this side of the road the water had cut a ditch one or two feet deep. Here the road, and especially this ditch, was crowded full of dead and wounded men. By getting close to the bank, they were partially protected from the enemy's fire and here the poor follows had crowded in and crawled one upon another, filling the ditch in some places three or four deep. I will not sicken your readers by a description of this road. By this time the ground on the lower side of the road was covered with men from different regiments who had charged up to that battery and been overpowered by the superior numbers and fallen back. They were already in such a confused mass that they could not be reorganized without much trouble, even if they had not been exposed to a fire, much less could they do it when the air was literal full of grape shot and rifle bullets.

Under these circumstances the 2d Wisconsin Regiment were moved forward along this road and halted. The smoke prevented us from seeing the length of our line and the noise from hearing commands even if any were given. By a sort of mutual consent we rushed over the dead men, climbed up the bank over the fence and up the hill to the rebels guns. Here the rebels displayed a Union flag when a part of our officers cried out "They are friends, don't fire" By means of this delusion, they gained an advantage over us when down went the Union flag and up went the emblem of treason. This piratical warfare is a favorite game of theirs. We had rushed up too near to be much effected by cannon when our men commenced the wickedest kind of a fire ever known. The woods in front of us was full of men firing on us. The fort, now plainly seen, was full of men and its embankments lined with the fire of musketry aimed at us. Under this fire they they stood some minutes returning it steadily but with terrible effect when they fell back three or four rods toward the road, firing all the time. Here they stopped retreating and rallying again rushed back to the rebels and poured three or four rounds into them. On their side, ten guns were fired to our one. The bullets whistled all kinds of tunes, but mostly in quick time.

As we fell back a little toward the road again the New York 69th, about which there has been so much gas, fired a full volley into us from the rear. Our men, after standing such a fire from the rebels and then a rear fire from a set of fools from our own side, retreated to the road and there got mixed with other regiments and, as was an inevitable consequence, retreated down the hill in confusion. The 69th, after firing one or two rounds, broke and ran in perfect confusion. As we went down the hill, they opened a terrible cross fire from the woods on our left at the same time the fort in our rear kept up a constant fire of grape shot and shell after the retreating regiments. The regiments had been sent up one at a time, not near enough to render each other any assistance, and still so near as to be in each others way when they were forced back. As the men retreated there were no officers of high rank to stop them and rally them again. No reserve had been prepared to cover our retreat in case of defeat.

We went into the battle with not more than thirty thousand to the outside. The rebels had full sixty thousand in the morning and were largely reinforced during the day. Their artillery was better and heavier than ours. They were at home, acquainted with the country, and had been fortifying these hills for months. The result is before the world. The retreat was bad enough, Heaven knows, but I deny positively that it was through any fault or cowardice of the men. . . .

N.R.

Iron Brigade Soldiers as found at http://www.wisconsinhistory.org

The Glorious Dead Are At Peace

This entry is from The Military Operations of General Beauregard in the War Between the States 1861 to 1865.  Robert E Lee writes to Beauregard concerning the recent battle at Manassas:

Richmond, July 24th, 1861
My dear General

I cannot express the joy I feel, at the beautiful victory of the 21st. The skill, courage, and endurance displayed by yourself excite my highest admiration. You and your troops have the gratitude of the whole country, and I offer to all my heartfelt congratulations at their success.

The glorious dead are at peace. I grieve for their loss, and sympathize with the living.

May your subsequent course be attended with like success.

R.E.LEE.

Panic Seized the Volunteers . . .

Today's entry is correspondence of John Sedgwick, Major-General dated July 23, 1861.

At the start of the Civil War, Sedgwick served as a  colonel and Assistant Inspector General of the Military Department of Washington. He missed the early action of the war at the First Battle of Bull Run while recovering from cholera.

WASHINGTON, D. C., July 23, 1861. My dear sister: Our army has suffered one of the most terrible defeats on record—one of the most disgraceful! We have lost everything, even our honour. When I last wrote you the army had marched in high spirits, and every one predicted a prosperous result, and some little success was obtained ; but a panic seized the volunteers, they threw away everything they had, and fled in terrible disorder. Whole regiments fled without giving a shot or getting near the enemy. Our artillery behaved bravely; they maintained their position till they lost so many men and horses that many were obliged to leave their guns. The loss of property was immense; it is hoped the loss of life not great, but no reports are made yet. We are disorganized, and if the enemy had not suffered severely, as we hope they have, they could have marched into Washington last night. I went to bed night before last believing that everything was going on well, and yesterday was ill in my room all day till three o'clock, when I learned of the terrible disaster. I have no heart to write more. . .

John Sedgwick, from Library of Congress Collection

There Isn't a Flag But Clings Ashamed and Lank To Its Staff

Today's entry is from Specimen Days & Collect by Walt Whitman, and it describes Washington the day after the First Battle of Bull Run.  What a sight that must have been.

The defeated troops commenced pouring into Washington over the Long Bridge at daylight on Monday, 22d—day drizzling all through with rain. The Saturday and Sunday of the battle (20th, 21 St,) had been parch'd and hot to an extreme—the dust, the grime and smoke, in layers, sweated in, follow'd by other layers again sweated in, absorb'd by those excited souls—their clothes all saturated with the clay-powder filling the air—stirr'd up everywhere on the dry roads and trodden fields by the regiments, swarming wagons, artillery, &c.—all the men with this coating of murk and sweat and rain, now recoiling back, pouring over the Long Bridge—a horrible march of twenty miles, returning to Washington baffled, humiliated, panic-struck. Where are the vaunts, and the proud boasts with which you went forth ? Where are your banners, and your bands of music, and your ropes to bring back your prisoners? Well, there isn't a band playing— and there isn't a flag but clings ashamed and lank to its staff.

The sun rises, but shines not. The men appear, at first sparsely and shame-faced enough, then thicker, in the streets of Washington—appear in Pennsylvania avenue, and on the steps and basement entrances. They come along in disorderly mobs, some in squads, stragglers, companies. Occasionally, a rare regiment, in perfect order, with its officers (some gaps, dead, the true braves,) marching in silence, with lowering faces, stern, weary to sinking, all black and dirty, but every man with his musket, and stepping alive; but these are the exceptions. Sidewalks of Pennsylvania avenue. Fourteenth street, &c., crowded, jamm'd with citizens, darkies, clerks, everybody, lookers-on; women in the windows, curious expressions from faces, as those swarms of dirt-cover'd return'd soldiers there (will they never end?) move by; but nothing said, no comments; (half our lookers-on secesh of the most venomous kind—they say nothing ; but the devil snickers in their faces.)  During the forenoon Washington gets all over motley with these defeated soldiers— queer-looking objects, strange eyes and faces, drench'd (the steady rain drizzles on all day) and fearfully worn, hungry, haggard, blister'd in the feet.

Good people (but not over-many of them either,} hurry up something for their grub. They put wash-kettles on the fire, for soup, for coffee. They set tables on the side-walks—wagon-loads of bread are purchas'd, swiftly cut in stout chunks. Here are two aged ladies, beautiful, the first in the city for culture and charm, they stand with store of eating and drink at an improvis'd table of rough plank, and give food, and have the store replenish'd from their house every half-hour all that day; and there in the rain they stand, active, silent, white-hair'd, and give food, though the tears stream down their cheeks, almost without intermission, the whole time.

Amid the deep excitement, crowds and motion, and desperate eagerness, it seems strange to see many, very many, of the soldiers sleeping—in the midst of all, sleeping sound. They drop down anywhere, on the steps of houses, up close by the basements or fences, on the sidewalk, aside on some vacant lot, and deeply sleep. A poor seventeen or eighteen year old boy lies there, on the stoop of a grand house; he sleeps so calmly, so profoundly. Some clutch their muskets firmly even in sleep. Some in squads; comrades, brothers, close together—and on them, as they lay, sulkily drips the rain.

Walt Whitman, from Wikimedia Commons

The Enemy Is Upon Us! We Shall Be Taken!

Today's entry is by  Oliver Otis Howard  describing the fighting at Bull Run on July 21, 1861. From Autobiography of Oliver Otis Howard, Major General, United States Army. At the time Howard was colonel of the Third Maine Volunteers.

I saw Burnside's men, who had come back from the field with their muskets gleaming in the sunshine. They had some appearance of formation and were resting on their arms. I noticed other troops more scattered; ambulances in long columns leaving the field with the wounded. There were men with broken arms; faces with bandages stained with blood; bodies pierced; many were walking or limping to the rear; meanwhile shells were shrieking and breaking in the heated air. I was sorry, indeed, that those left of my men had to pass that ordeal.

When forming, I so stationed myself, mounted, that the men, marching in twos, should pass me. I closely observed them. They were pale and thoughtful. Many looked up into my face and smiled. As soon as it was ready the first line swept up the slope, through a sprinkling of trees, out into an open space on high ground. An enemy's battery toward our front and some musketry shots with no enemy plainly in sight caused the first annoyance. Soon another battery off to our right coming into position increased the danger. And, worse than the batteries, showers of musket balls from the wood, two hundred yards away.

Many officers labored to keep their men together, but I saw could effect nothing under fire. At last I ordered all to fall back to the valley and reform behind the thicket. Before many minutes, however, it was evident that a panic had seized all the troops within sight. Some experienced veteran officers, like Heintzelman, entreated and commanded their subordinates, by turns, to rally their men; but nothing could stop the drift and eddies of the masses that were faster and faster flowing toward the rear.

Captain Heath, of the Third Maine, who, promoted subsequently to lieutenant colonel and fell in the battle of Gaines Mills, walked for some time by my horse and shed tears as he talked to me: "My men will not stay together, Colonel, they will not obey me," he said. Other brave officers pleaded and threatened. Surgeons staying back pointed to their wounded and cried: "for God's sake, stop; don't leave us!" Nothing could at that time reach and influence the fleeing crowds except panicky cries like: "The enemy is upon us! We shall be taken!" These cries gave increase to confusion and speed to flight.

Heintzelman, with his wounded arm in a sling, rode up and down and made a last effort to restore order. He sharply reprimanded every officer he encountered. He swore at me. From time to time I renewed my attempts. My brother, C. H. Howard, if he saw me relax for a moment, sang out: "Oh, do try again!" Part of the Fourteenth New York from Brooklyn rallied north of Bull Run and were moving on in fine shape. "See them," said my brother; "let us try to form like that!" So we were trying, gathering a few, but in vain. Then I stopped all efforts, but sent out this message and kept repeating it to every Maine and Vermont man within reach: "To the old camp at Centreville. Rally at the Centreville camp."

Oliver Otis Howard, from Library of Congress Collection

The Ladies In The Field

From the Richmond Dispatch, July 20, 1861

Correspondence of the Richmond Dispatch.
The ladies in the field — our crops attended to by them, &c.

James City County, July 17, 1861.

As many of our citizens have gone to meet "the enemy," and most of the laborers have been drafted to work on different fortifications, the ladies of this county doubled their diligence, and to-day many meet to form a sewing society and report the number of beds and articles for the benefit of the sick at Yorktown.

Yesterday two ladies could be seen, with their hoes in hand, weeding corn, as such work is very necessary at this time. One of them informed me that she weeded about 2,500 hills, and that her sister was "too much for her" at weeding corn! What will the husband say when he hears that his wife is weeding corn? What will Virginians say? and what will the entire South say?

What prospect is there for "subjugation?" Is a man to be frightened by Abe Lincoln, when the ladies act thus? Call for millions of men; call for millions of dollars, and when there is no man to girt on his armor for warfare, woman will meet the hirelings of Yankeedom, and cause them to kneel and call for mercy.

I have only written a few lines, that you may insert it in your paper, to give to our sisters in the South what Virginia ladies are doing. I am not a writer for newspapers.

James City.

P. S.--The above lady will continue to weed corn till the crop is well over. She wrote her husband word that she had eleven hands in the field. J. C.

Unidentified woman holding a cased photograph of an unidentified solder in Confederate uniform
From Library of Congress Collection

I Am More Than Satisfied With You

General McClellan’s Address to His Soldiers, July 19, 1861

Headquarters, Army of Occupation, Western Virginia, Beverly, Va.
July 19th, 1861.

Soldiers of the Army of the West: I am more than satisfied with you. You have annihilated two armies, commanded by educated and experienced soldiers, entrenched in mountain fastnesses, and fortified at their leisure. You have taken five guns, twelve colors, fifteen hundred stand of arms, one thousand prisoners, including more than forty officers. One of the second commanders of the rebels is a prisoner, the other lost his life on the field of battle. You have killed more than two hundred and fifty of the enemy, who has lost all his baggage and camp equipage.

All this has been accomplished with the loss of twenty brave men killed, and sixty wounded on your part. You have proved that Union men, fighting for the preservation of our Government, are more than a match for our misguided and erring brothers. More than this, you have shown mercy to the vanquished. You have made long and arduous marches, with insufficient food, frequently exposed to the inclemency of the weather. I have not hesitated to demand this of you, feeling that I could rely on your endurance, patriotism, and courage. In the future I may have still greater demands to make upon you—still greater sacrifices for you to offer. It shall be my care to provide for you to the extent of my ability; but I know now that by your valor and endurance, you will accomplish all that is asked. Soldiers—I have confidence in you, and I trust you have learned to confide in me. Remember that discipline and subordination are qualities of equal value with courage. I am proud to say that you have gained the highest reward that American troops can receive—the thanks of Congress, and the applause of your fellow citizens.

—Geo. B. McClellan, Major General.

A Mortified General

From the New York Times, July 20, 1861.

General Order No. 18 was issued on July 18, 1861.  It was a reminder to the Union troops to behave themselves.

McDowell's general order began by expressing disgust at what was happening (from The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I Volume II, Part I)

It is with the deepest mortification the general commanding finds it necessary to reiterate his orders for the preservation of the property of the inhabitant of the district occupied by the troops under his command.

Hardly had we arrived at this place when, to the horror of every right-minded person, several houses were broken open and others were in flames by the act of some of those who, it has been the boast of the loyal, came here to protect the oppressed and free the country from the domination of a hated party. 

And this is how the New York Times reported It:

This afternoon General Order No. 18 was read to all the troops under Gen. McDowell's command, both at Centreville and Fairfax Court-house, prohibiting theft of every description and kind, and enjoining respect for persons and property, stating the least penalty for violation would be incarceration in the Alexandria jail, and for crimes of magnitude the severest penalties known to military law. 

The order also stated that we had invaded Virginia to restore persons to their lawful rights, and to secure their good-will. The soldiers were not at any time to be the judge of the acts of the Southern people, and to take upon themselves the propriety of punishment, which would frustrate the designs of the Government. 

To this the troops acceded by clapping of hands and huzzas for their Commander.

Great pains are being taken by responsible men, visiting the seat of war from Washington, to impress upon the people that the Government will protect them in the enjoyment of their rights, and that this war is for she purpose of maintaining our nationality. 

General Irvin McDowell (generalsandbrevets.com)

Confederates Contemplate Negro Regiments

This entry is from The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series IV - Volume   There are two letters.  The first one is addressed to the Confederate States' Secretary of War by a citizen of Helena, Arkansas.  The second letter is the reply.

Helena, Ark., July 17, 1861.

Hon. L. P. Walker:

DEAR SIR: I wrote you a few days since for myself and many others in this district to ascertain if we could get negro regiments received for Confederate service, officered, of course, by white men. All we ask is arms, clothing, and provisions, and usual pay for officers and not one cent pay for negroes. Our negroes are too good to fight Lincoln hirelings, but as they pretend to love negroes so much we want to show them how much the true Southern cotton-patch negro loves them in return. The North cannot complain at this. They proclaim negro equality from the Senate Chamber to the pulpit, teach it in their schools, and are doing all they can to turn the slaves upon master, mistress, and children. And now, sir, if you can receive the negroes that can be raised we will soon give the Northern thieves a gorge of the negroes' love for them that will never be forgotten. As you well know, I have had long experience with negro character. I am satisfied, they are easy disciplined and less trouble than whites in camp, and will fight desperately as long as they have a single white officer living. I know one man that will furnish and arm 100 of his own and his son for their captain. The sooner we bring a strong negro force against the hirelings the sooner we shall have peace, in my humble judgment. Let me hear from you.
Your old friend,

W. S. TURNER

********************************************

Confederate States of America, War Department

Richmond, August 2, 1861. W. S. TURNER, Helena, Ark.:

SIR: In reply to your letter of the 17th of July I am directed by the Secretary of War to say that this Department is not prepared to accept the negro regiment tendered by you, and yet it is not doubted that almost every slave would cheerfully aid his master in the work of hurling back the fanatical invader. Moreover, if the necessity were apparent there is high authority for the employment of such forces. Washington himself recommended the enlistment of two negro regiments in Georgia, and the Congress sanctioned the measure. But now there is a superabundance of our own color tendering their services to the Government in its day of peril and ruthless invasion, a superabundance of men when we are bound to admit the inadequate supply of arms at present at the disposal of the Government.
Respectfully,


A. T. BLEDSOE, Chief of Bureau of War

L P Walker, Confederate States' Secretary of War

A Gentleman's Gentleman

This entry is from Mary Chesnut's Civil War, edited by C. Vann Woodward. Mary Chesnut  was married to James Chesnut, United States Senator from South Carolina, 1859-1861, and afterward an Aide to Jefferson Davis, and a Brigadier General in the Confederate Army.

From an entry dated July 16, 1861:

When he comes up here he rarely brings his body servant, a negro man.  Laurence has charge of all of Mr. Chesnut's things, -- watch, clothes, two or three hundred gold pieces lie in the tray of his trunk.  All these papers &cc he tells Laurence to bring to me if anything happens to him.  But I said, "Maybe he will pack off to Yankees --and freedom -- with all that."
"Fiddlesticks! He is not going to leave me for anybody else.  After all, what can he ever be better than he is now -- a gentleman's gentleman?"

 "He is within sound of the enemies' guns, and when he gets to the other army he is free."

Maria said of Mr Preston's man:  "What he want with anything more -- ef he was free? Don't he live jest as well as Mars. John do now?"

 

 

 William B. Brack, Cap[t]s. servant, Library of Congress Collection

Good For Him!

Letter  to Henry Bitner, Chambersburg, PA, from Alexander Cressler, (as found as www.familytales.org). Cressler is a McClellan fan, to say the least.

July 15, 1861, Chambersburg, PA


It is reported to day that Gen McClellan has routed the Secessionist entirely, and taken about sixteen hundred prisoners, "good for him", may he ever be successful in his efforts to protect the rights of American citizens. And may his right arm be strengthened by every battle strife, and may God unnerve every arm that would raise to aid in the destruction of this the home of the [ free] and the assylum of [ the] oppressed. 

Gibson & Co. (Cincinnati, Ohio),  Major Genl. McClellan on horseback.

A Prescient Love Letter

This entry is a letter written by Sullivan Ballou to his wife, Sarah. Sullivan Ballou was a lawyer, politician and major in the Union Army.

Sullivan Ballou  was killed a week later at the first Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861.

Ironically, Sullivan Ballou’s letter was never mailed. Although Sarah would receive other, more upbeat letters, dated after the now-famous letter from the battlefield, the letter in question would be found among Sullivan Ballou’s effects when Gov. William Sprague of Rhode Island traveled to Virginia to retrieve the remains of his state’s sons who had fallen in battle." (http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/war/ballou_letter.html)

July 14, 1861

Camp Clark, Washington

My very dear Sarah:
The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days—perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write again, I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more . . .

I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans on the triumph of the Government and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and sufferings of the Revolution. And I am willing—perfectly willing—to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt . . .

Sarah my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me unresistibly on with all these chains to the battle field.

The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them for so long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when, God willing, we might still have lived and loved together, and seen our sons grown up to honorable manhood, around us. I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me—perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar, that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battle field, it will whisper your name. Forgive my many faults and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have often times been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness . . .

But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the gladdest days and in the darkest nights . . . always, always, and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath, as the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again . . .

Sullivan Ballou, from Wikipedia.org

Rather The Rivers Be Filled With Blood

From:  The Secret Eye, The Journal of Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas  1848-1889.

Thomas was the daughter of a wealthy planter in Georgia who married a Princeton graduate, Jefferson Thomas.

Saturday, July 13, 1861

. . . .Indeed we are now in the midst of what all of us have read of -- thought of --and dreamed of before, but never realised -- A revolution -- There are very many I very much fear who do not realise it now.  Are not fully awake to the importance of the crisis that is upon us.  This war has been forced upon us without reason, without law or pretext unless it is to force us to a state of vassalage -- and shall we submit to this?  As Mr. [Alexander] Stephens remarked in his cotton produce loans speech in Augusta a few days ago -- "Rather that all the rivers should be filled with blood and every mountain top covered with the bleached bone of our countryman than submit to them." . . .

A Southern Belle, from Harpers Weekly,

All I Ask Is to Fight For My Country

From the Southern Confederacy, July 12, 1861.  This is a portion of an emotional letter from a nineteen year old young man, pleading for his father's blessing to join the war effort.  The writer was a young law student.

Oh! call me not back.  Rather immure me in some loathsome dungeon; let me be the cringing vassal of some heartless tyrant; bind rivet the clanking chains of an ignoble perpetuated slavery upon me, rather than shower my head the blessings of a liberty bought with the blood of others.  Let me pour out the gushing fountain of my own heart to secure my own rights, and I am content.  I want no liberty but my own, achieved by my own exertions and purchased with my own blood.  Call me not a blind enthusiast.  Does love of country need a stimulant to call it into action?  Must Reason be dethroned that the fires of patriotism may be aroused?  No idle dream of fame, no slavish love of money, actuates me.  All I ask is to fight for my country.  I want no remuneration.  Give me a few tattered rags to hide my nakedness, a crust to appease the gnawings of hunger, and Liberty.  and I am happy.. .

W. E. Rogers

Unidentified Confederate Soldier, from the Library of Congress Collection

A Baptism of Soup

This entry is from A Soldier's Recollections:  Leaves from the Diary of a Young Confederate with an Oration on the Motives and Aims of Soldiers of the South  by Randolph Harrison McKim, Late 1st Lieutenant and A. C. D. 3d Brigade, Johnston's Division, Army of Northern Virginia.

McKim was first as a private soldier, then as a staff officer, and finally a chaplain in the field during the conflict.

This is from an early letter home to his family dated July 11, 1861

 . . . about four P.M. we stacked arms, broke ranks, and charged upon the camp-fires, eager for dinner, which had been interrupted by the call to arms. Having had nothing to eat since early morning, and having ridden eighteen miles, and stood in the ranks several hours, my appetite was keen, and I gladly accepted Giraud Wright's invitation to "dine" with him. My host provided the "dinner" by dipping a tin cup into a black camp kettle and procuring one iron spoon. He then invited me to a seat on a rock beside him and we took turns at the soup with the spoon, each also having a piece of hard-tack for his separate use. Alas! my dinner, so eagerly expected, was soon ended, for one or two spoonfuls of the greasy stuff that came out of the camp kettle completely turned my stomach, and I told my friend and host I was not hungry and would not take any more. Inwardly, I said, "Well, I may get used to standing up and being shot at, but this kind of food will kill me in a week!"

I had expected a baptism of fire, and looked forward to it with some nervousness, but, instead I had had a baptism of soup which threatened an untimely end to my military career!

War views -- Army of the Potomac -- the way they cook dinner in camp
From the Library of Congress Collection

Getting a Chance to Fight

This entry is from a letter  written by Henry H. Hitchcock, 12th Infantry  New York, where he expresses his desire to get in the action, but that he doesn't think he will get a chance.

Tuesday, July 9th, 1861, writing to his brother:

I presume you see by the papers that nearly all the troops here are ordered to move forward so we expect that something will be done soon. I am afraid we shall be kept back still longer watching the bridge and not get into the mess as I heard the other day. We should be likely to be kept then some time. I am sorry for that as I want to go in. I did not come to fool away my time but want to try my luck but don’t see much prospect as the Rebels are retreating and there are so many ahead of us. I am afraid we shan’t get a chance at them. I don’t imagine that it will be a very long war but of course can tell nothing further than to guess. . . .

. . .I think that the Rebels act very strangely to keep backing out as they do from every point and without ever trying to keep our troops back at all but perhaps they know their business best. I have not the least doubt of a speedy and satisfactory result. Don’t think that we shall have to stay longer than spring to see the whole thing settled. 

Unidentified Union Soldier, from Library of Congress Collection

The Contraband Question Revisited

Today's entry is from The Southern Confederacy.  It re-printed a letter to the editor of the New York Tribune supporting the idea of moving freed slaves to Haiti, along with an interesting response. See my blog posting Send Contrabands to Haiti for a letter from James Redpath in support of sending Contrabands to Haiti.

The Contraband Controversy

 July 21

To the Editor of the New York Tribune:

Sir:  The plan of disposing of the contraband negroes which Mr. Redpath proposes in your issue to day is the only feasible one I have seen.  To send them to Africa, India or Central America, would be impolitic and too expensive.  Any one acquainted with the West Indie Islands can see that they are best adapted to the development of our emancipated negroes. . .

EMANCIPATIONIST

New York, July 8, 1961

This document explains fully the prime objective for the accomplishment of which the impending struggle is forced upon the people of the Seceded States by the Yankees -- those God-fearing, law-abiding, Constitution-and-Union reverencing patriots of the North, with whom we of the South heretofore associated and fraternised, always, and even to our hurt disadvantage, and deep disgrace.

By contraband negroes, is meant the slaves belonging to the Southern people, which the Hessians of Lincoln may be lucky enough to steal from our plantations and run off, by underground thoroughfares, into the lines of our enemies.  We are assured "that the Administration (Lincoln) "will free all fugitives" (slaves) "while the war lasts."  There was no need of this "assurance," because, though denied by the Illinois blackguard, and his filthy lying, amalgamtion Secretary, Seward, yet every intelligent man and woman in the South knows that, to crush out slavery in the Confederate States, is the main object to be accomplished by waging this unholy crusade against us.  "Any other" object "would disgrace and stultify" Lincoln and the hireling serfs now surrounding him, and succoring his vain attempts at coercion and subjugation! . . .

MODUS OPERANDI . . .

(From This Week in Georgia Civil War History, (http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/CivilWar/jul261.htm).

Sheet Music cover, from Library of Congress Collection

A Privateer's Efforts Spoiled

From the New York Tribune, July 23 1861

It was an act of heroism which nothing but patriotism could inspire, and the courage with which he executed it shows that he is possessed of the heart of a true man. 

This reference is to William Tillman.  Tillman was an African American who was a steward on the merchant schooner J. W. Waring, when, on July 7, 1861 it was captured by the privateer Jeff Davis. Tillman was told that he was now Southern property and that we would be sold into bondage when the ship reached its new destination.

Tillman, however, had other plans, and in the wee hours of one morning overtook the ship's  five Confederate crew members,  killed three, and took the other two prisoners.  As a twist of fate, when more men were needed to work the deck, the new prisoners were compelled to act in that capacity.

Despite his heroic acts, when the ship docked he was put in detention.

The New York Tribune article continues:

We see by a morning cotemporary that he was confined in the House of Detention in White-street as a witness. This ought not to have been. The imprisonment of witnesses is a measure of doubtful policy at best, and though necessary occasionally to secure the punishment of crime, yet it should never be permitted unless the necessity be apparent. The discretion vested in the magistrate to demand of a witness security for his appearance beyond his own recognizance, is one that should be wisely exercised. It should not be permitted to take away the liberty of a man without some evidence that he intends to disobey the process of the courts requiring his attendance on the examination or trial of criminals against whom his testimony is regarded as material. In this case we cannot but think that injustice, however unintentional, has been done to one whose bravery demands praise rather than imprisonment at the hands of the authorities.

For a good account of William Tillman's ordeal at sea see U. S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration Website

From Harpers Weekly, Tillman retaking the ship.

 

Vive La Humbug

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch, July 6, 1861

A decided cynic point of view on Professor Lowe's hot air balloon:

A few days ago, we read that the Professor was in Washington trying the adaptation of the balloon to the army service. The Administration were at one end of a telegraph wire on the earth and the Professor at the other end, in his balloon, several hundred feet above the earth. The Professor was communicating "important intelligence" of the movements of Gen. Beauregard at Manassas. He will doubtless give them as much "important intelligence" as they will receive credulously, and when he has bamboozled Abraham, Seward & Co., to his hearts content, will profess to be of no further service, pocket a few thousand for "important services" and hold himself in readiness for similar patriotic performances.--Vive la humbug.

Prof. Thaddeus S. Lowe observing the battle from his balloon "Intrepid", from Library of Congress Collectino

Our Cause is Right, and God is True

From the Richmond Dispatch, July 4, 1861.   Thomas Davis was the Fifth Episcopal Bishop of South Carolina.

Bishop Davis on the war.

--The following eloquent and patriotic language is extracted from the annual address of Bishop Davis, of South Carolina:

"Having now, beloved brethren, brought before you my official acts for the past year, I must now call your attention to more anxious and more thrilling thoughts.

We are in the midst of war and its consequences. We are looking out every day for exciting events.--Our hearthstones are upturned. Our brothers and our children are in the field. Our youths, with whom we have heretofore only sported, have sprung up into armed men. This is not confined to a few. It is spread throughout the land. There is not a heart which it does not reach. We are filled with deep emotions and trying expectations. But this is no time for weakness or for fears. A country was never so saved. We are called upon for manly resolution, and for Christian hope and trust. Our cause is right, and God is true. Let us show the world that we can trust both. Let us show them, too, that we are Southern men, and claim independent opinions and a sustaining individuality. We are not dependent upon circumstances or combinations, or numbers, for our inward strength, but can stand erect in personal character in the sense of integrity and the fear of God. Before Him, indeed, let us humble ourselves, confessing our sin, implore His pardon, and supplicate His grace and spiritual benediction. We have done so. We thank God that, by the appointment of the Chief Magistrate of our Confederacy, our whole country and people have come before him in supplication and prayer. Let us continue thus to always seek His face and depend upon His favor and grace. "In all our trials, and the convulsions of the world, let us lift up our hearts to Him, and hear Him say, 'Be still, and know that I am God.'"

Bishop Thomas F. Davis (Wikipedia)

Whittling Sticks

From Three Months in the Southern States, April - June 1863 by Lieut-Col.

Fremantle. Fremantle was an English "tourist" who came to America to see the conflict firsthand.

July 2nd, 1863 (Morning of the second day of the battle of Gettysburg)

  
I climbed up a tree in company with Captain Schreibert of the Prussian
 army. Just below us were seated Generals Lee, Hill, Longstreet, and Hood, 
in consultation — the two latter assisting their deliberations by the truly
American custom of whittling sticks.

"Battle Scarred Veteran" at Gettysburg,  photo taken by Detroit Publishing Co. in 1903, from Library of Congress Collection

Blockade Runners, Get Ready

From The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume III

This entry is the Confederate secretary of war writing a letter to Charles Green of Savannah, a native British man, cotton merchant and ship owner, then living in Savannah.  He was going to help the Confederates secure muskets from England and transport them back to the states.  I wonder if he and his cohorts were ever successful in fulfilling this mission . He is mentioned a few times in the Official Records and so was a known Confederate friend.  But perhaps somebody knows the answer to this. . .

An interesting fact is that a few years later Charles Green offered the use of his house to General Sherman during Sherman's march to the sea in hopes of saving it and his cotton.  Sherman accepted his offer, and the elaborate gothic revival style mansion still stands today.

WAR DEPARTMENT, Richmond, July 1, 1861.
Mr. CHARLES GREEN, Savannah, Ga.

SIR: You are hereby associated with Captain Huse and Major Anderson, now in London, in the purchase of arms and munitions of war for this Government. On your arrival in London you will exhibit this communication to them, as it is necessary that they should know this fact without delay to secure co operation. By recent dispatches they have been directed to purchase 100,000 muskets or rifles, and it is of the utmost importance that speedy shipments be made. To this point some one of you should devote special attention.
In this connection it is proper to remark that Captain North, of the C. S. Navy, is now in Europe to purchase vessels for this Government, and it is probable that being a British subject you might secure the shipment under British colors.

In securing arms it is not the purpose of the Department to restrict you to any particular locality but to urge the commisssion to proceed wherever there is any probability of success. The necessities of the Government are such as to require the utmost expedition and industry on the part of its agents.


Special directions in the nature of instructions are purposely avoided, as the Department has confidence in the discretion of its agents and must leave them free to exercise their discretion under the necessities of their position. *
Very respectfully,

L. P. WALKER,
Secretary of War.

Charles Green residence, while occupied by General Sherman, from Library of Congress Collection