Beaufort waterfront - December 1861
A Seneca County, New York newspaper in January, 1862 included this Christmas Day letter home:
From South Carolina
A letter from Beaufort, S.C., dated the 25th ultimo, and written by a brother of one of the editors of this paper, says: The rebels are just across the river from us, but Gen. STEVENS dares not send our forces to meet them, from the simple fact that they out number us two to one. This should not be so. If we had at least thirty thousand men, we could march from one end of South Carolina to the other, with hardly an interruption. Now everything seems to be at a stand still, with little prospect of a change. troops should be sent to this place with all possible dispatch, that the work of subduing the rebels might go bravely on. With a sufficient force we could advance on main land, destroy their Railroads, burn their bridges, and teach them to respect the Stars and Stripes. South Carolina ought to be overrun without delay and the State under our control before the approach of warm weather. It is no worse to to fight now than by-and-by. It has got to be done, and the sacrifice might as well be made now as a year from now.
General Stevens and staff on a Beaufort porch
But to drop the subject of war, I must say that no country can surpass this. It is Christmas day and the roses are in full bloom, the weather is warm and May like. – This is something I before saw, and it contrasts strangely with what we usually experience in the Northern States about Christmas time.
There are some beautiful residences in this vicinity, now almost entirely deserted. The greater part of the furniture remains unmolested, and is of the most exquisite design and finish. A piano adorns almost every residence, and the grounds about are well decorated by the orange tree. One is almost led to wonder how the inhabitants of this beautiful country could have been induced to absolve themselves from the Union, and to take up arms against a common country. But they have struck the fatal blow, and can only be regarded as rebels and traitors, and treated accordingly.
Before the war Isaac Ingalls Stevens was governor and congressman from Washington territory.
Palmetto tree for Christmas
