Category Archives: Military Matters

just deserts

Posted on April 7, 2014 by SUMPTER

“Tell all my friends to come out of the woods” Regardless of how factual the following letter may have been, it would certainly seem to have had propaganda value as Confederate armies prepared for the upcoming spring campaigns. The Dispatch … Continue reading →

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one nation …

Posted on April 5, 2014 by SUMPTER

According to the Library of Congress, on March 26, 1864 President Lincoln met with three prominent Kentuckians who disagreed with the federal policy of recruiting Kentucky slaves for the Union army. Newspaper editor Albert G. Hodges was so impressed with … Continue reading →

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Maple Leaf down

Posted on April 1, 2014 by SUMPTER

150 years ago today: “The Federal army transport Maple Leaf strikes a Confederate torpedo in the St. John’s River, Florida, and sinks off Mandarin Point” Here’s how folks in Richmond got the news. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch April 6, … Continue reading →

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out with a lion

Posted on March 31, 2014 by SUMPTER

Many of the articles in the Seneca Falls public library notebook of Civil War clippings have the month and year handwritten in ink on them. The following has the complete date. From a Seneca County, New York newspaper on March … Continue reading →

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plus … and minus

Posted on March 29, 2014 by SUMPTER

The army reported on the number of troops it added from January 1863. A Democrat publication said the net gain needed to be adjusted for re-enlistments and lost men. From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in March 1864: The … Continue reading →

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rebel strength

Posted on March 28, 2014 by SUMPTER

As the undoubted spring campaign approached, a northern journalist tried to ascertain the rebel strength. He came up with numbers in all the southern armies and suggested that “Anaconda” might be squeezing the South into much greater self-reliance. From a … Continue reading →

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potpourri

Posted on March 27, 2014 by SUMPTER

150 years ago this month a grab bag of miscellaneous news was dominated by the war. From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in March 1864: News Miscellany. No less than 500 of our prisoners in Richmond died during February. … Continue reading →

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civil war

Posted on March 26, 2014 by SUMPTER

150 years ago today a Southern newspaper looked to the American Revolutionary War to find a general who knew the polite way to wage a war of subjugation. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch March 26, 1864: Two extracts from revolutionary … Continue reading →

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snowball’s chance in Dalton?

Posted on March 22, 2014 by SUMPTER

Pretty good in March 1864: It is written: “On rare occasions it snowed and like children released from school, the troops treated any snowfall as an occasion for play. On March 22 dawn revealed a fresh 5 inches of new … Continue reading →

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pledge passive allegiance?

Posted on March 21, 2014 by SUMPTER

After endorsing B.F. Butler for the United States presidency because he was the biggest thief among the candidates, the Richmond Daily Dispatch of March 21, 1864 published the following exchange of letters between General Butler and a Virginia schoolteacher: Butler … Continue reading →

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