Deluded

Posted on July 10, 2013 by SUMPTER
NY Times 7-10-1863

NY Times 7-10-1863: Lee’s escape considered impossible

Union General Meade wrote his wife 150 years ago today.

From The life and letters of George Gordon Mead:…Volume 2 (page 133):

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,
SOUTH MOUNTAIN PASS, July 10, 1863.

Lee has not crossed and does not intend to cross the river, and I expect in a few days, if not sooner, again to hazard the fortune of war. I know so well that this a fortune and that accidents, etc., turn the tide of victory, that, until the question is settled, I cannot but be very anxious. If it should please God again to give success efforts, then I should be more tranquil. I also see that my success at Gettysburg has deluded the people and the Government with the idea that I must always be victorious, that Lee is demoralized and disorganized, etc., and other delusions which will not only be dissipated by any reverse I should meet with, but would react in proportion against me. I have already had a very decided correspondence with General Halleck upon this point, he pushing me on, and I informing him I was advancing as fast as I could. The firm stand I took had the result to induce General Halleck to tell me to act according to my judgment. I am of the opinion that Lee is in a strong position and determined to fight before he crosses the river. I believe that if he had been able to cross when he first fell back, that he would have done so; but his bridges being destroyed, he has been compelled to make a stand, and will of course make a desperate one. The army is in fine spirits, and if I can only manage to keep them together, and not be required to attack a position too strong, I think there is a chance for me. However, it is all in God’s hands. I make but little account of myself, and think only of the country. …

General Meade seems to have understood that head-on assaults against well-fortified positions is probably a bad idea.

The letter goes on to mention that the Meade’s son had a close call on July 3rd when a piece of shell killed the young George’s horse and tore off part of the back of the saddle.

The pursuit of Gen. Lee's rebel army. The heavy guns - 30 pounders - going to the front during a rain storm (by Edwin Forbes, 1863 July 10; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-20559)

Union heavy artillery chasing Bobby Lee in a rainstorm

A cutting that tallied a bit of the human cost of Gettysburg, from a Seneca County, New York newspaper in 1863:

DAVID W. TRIPP, of this village, was killed in the late battle of Gettysburg. He enlisted in Pennsylvania, while at work in the oil regions. Arrangements have been made to bring his remains home for burial.

The Pennsylvania oil rush began in 1859 when oil was discovered in Titusville.

Early oilfield PA, c.1863 (This photo was published by the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission but its age made it public domain.)

early oil field in Pennsylvania, c.1862

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infernal machinery

Posted on July 9, 2013 by SUMPTER
Camp of 2nd Vermont Volunteers at Camp Griffin, Virginia (by G. H. Houghton, 1863; LOC: LC-USZ62-135917)

destined for the tented field …

Here are a couple articles from a Democrat newspaper in the Finger Lakes area of New York State that warn about the coming draft of July 1863. The stories support a couple points made by James McPherson in his discussion [1] of the Conscription Act of 1863: the draft was based on Congressional District and implemented by federal provost marshals; Democrats used the idea that conscription was the means aboltionists were using to free the slaves as a way to fire up their base. Emancipation and Conscription were two highly partisan issues.

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in 1863:

The Draft at Hand.

It is authoritatively announced that drafting will immediately commence in all the loyal States. Indeed the law is already being enforced in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, States that really are behind their neighbors in sending their proportion of soldiers to the field. It does not yet appear how many troops will be conscripted, but taking the number called for from Rhode Island as a basis, it will not fall short of 300,000. Of this number New York would furnish 96,000, or almost one third the entire force required. from this force allowance will be made for the militia sent into the field for the present emergency. This will not, however, materially reduce the number to be conscripted, and those who come in under the first call should immediately prepare to abandon home and all its endearments for a life on the tented field. The LINCOLN officials demand the sacrifice and there seems to be no escape. Northern men, according to the “powers that be,” must be conscripted to aid in freeing Southern negroes from their masters.

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in July, 1863:

There can be no question but what we shall have a conscription in this Congressional District, and that too, without delay. The enrollment has been completed, and everything is in readiness for the conscription board to put the machinery of this infernal bill in operation. Of course none but Lincoln’s minions know anything about the enrollment, whether it has been conducted fairly or not. We do not believe it has. – Others, however, may think different. There can be but one way to avoid the conscription, and that is by immediately enlisting in the National Guard. The draft has already taken place in the Sixteenth Congressional District of this State.

African American slave families owned by Mrs. Barnwell (between 1860 and 1865; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-11518)

… to free the Southern negroes

  1. [1]McPherson, James M. The Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. New York: Ballantine Books, 1989. Print. pages 600-611.↩
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“gleams of hope and sunshine”

Posted on July 8, 2013 by SUMPTER

Portrait of Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, officer of the Federal Army (Between 1860 and 1865; LOC: LC-DIG-cwpb-05008)

“many nights not a wink of sleep”


A small town Democrat paper summarized reports about Gettysburg and its aftermath. There was a sense of relief that at least the Stars and Bars weren’t flying over Harrisburg and a bit of concern that the Confederate army was far from done.

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in July, 1863:

A Fierce and Bloody Conflict.

The dark cloud that has so long overhung the nation is parting, and through the almost impenetrable mist, gleams of hope and sunshine are glancing. The Army of the Potomac under MEADE has saved us from defeat and disaster, if it has won a substantial and glorious victory. A terrible and bloody conflict commenced near Gettysburg, Pa., on Wednesday of last week, the rebels attacking our forces and repulsing them with great slaughter, until re-inforced by the veteran troops of Gen. MEADE. At nightfall the battle ceased, only to be renewed the following day with increased fury and violence, both sides being largely reinforced. the rebels were the attacking party on the second as well as the first day. The shock of arms on Thursday was most terrific, particularly during the latter part of the day. The roar of cannon, the rush of missiles and the bursting of bombs filled the air. Charge upon charge was made by the Confederate forces, and every attempt made, but in vain, to annihilate our brave and heroic army. The forces of the enemy were massed upon all points of our lines, but were repulsed as often as they endeavored to pierce the solid ranks of our veteran troops. After a slaughter inconceivable, the enemy were repulsed, and compelled to fall back at all points. The battle of Friday is said to be the fiercest and most sanguinary of the war. The enemy foiled in his many and oft-repeated attacks upon our army, was forced to retreat under cover of the night. Our reinforcements coming up on the third day probably saved the army from disaster, so desperate and determined were the enemy. The loss on both sides is very heavy. It is semi-officially stated that ours foot up seventeen thousand, killed, wounded and missing, while our reports put the rebel loss at twenty-three thousand. In all probability one side suffered quite as severely as the other. The result, however, ought to rejoice the heart of every American citizen. Had General MEADE’s army been defeated, Heaven only knows what would have been the consequences. The end, however is not yet. – The rebel forces , according to the latest reports, have entrenched themselves on the old battle-ground at Antietam, waiting for General MEADE’s army to renew the conflict. All reports concerning the demoralization of LEE’s troops and the probable capture of his entire army, should be taken with many grains of allowance. A few days may change the tide of success.

150 years ago today General Meade wrote his wife from Frederick, Maryland. He had gotten very little sleep since he was promoted ten days earlier:

Culpeper, Virginia. Gen. George G. Meade's horse, "Baldy" (1863 Oct; LOC: LC-DIG-cwpb-03781)

Baldy in October 1863

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“buzzards sailing lazily”

Posted on July 6, 2013 by SUMPTER
Field of Gettysburg, July 1st, 2nd & 3rd, 1863 Prepared by T. Ditterline (LOC: g3824g cw0331000 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3824g.cw0331000)

ridgework: “both occupied such advantageous ground”

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in 1863:

The Battle of Gettysburg.

(Correspondence of the Philadelphia Age.)

GETTYSBURG, July 7, 1863. – The battle of Gettysburg will be one of the longest remembered of all the battles of this war.It is the only contest fought upon Northern soil. It repelled an invasion. It was sanguinary and desperate. Each armies [sic] had good positions, and what is most anomalous in war, both occupied such advantageous ground that neither could drive the other away. … [Here follows a gap in the copied clipping and then a large section recounting the battle over the three days. We’re picking this up after the rebel charge on July 3rd was repulsed]

The Federal troops did not chase them. The land back of the seminary was rather flat, and cut up into grain fields, with here and there a patch of woods. The rifle pits on the brow of the hill proved an effectual aid to the Federal soldiers in maintaining their ground; and as they lay behind the bank, with the ditch in front they could pick off the stragglers from the retreating enemy. There was but little serious fighting after that, and night put an end to Friday’s struggle, the Confederates having retired about a mile on the north, near the seminary, and a half a mile on the south, at a little stream.

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, 1863 July, c1865; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-12556)

Gettysburg from Cemetery Ridge

During the night the dead in the streets of Gettysburg were buried, and the wounded on all parts of the field were collected and and carried to the rear. On the next morning General Meade expected another attack; but instead of making it the enemy retreated further, abandoning their entire line of battle, and the pickets reported that they were entrenching at the foot of South Mountain. The Federal army was terribly crippled and sadly in want of rest, and no advance was made, although pickets were thrown out across the enemy’s old line of battle, and towards the place where they were building entrenchments. All the day was spent in resting and feeding the men. Gettysburg was turned into a vast hospital, and impromptu ones were made at a dozen places in the field. The rain came, too, and with it cool air and refreshment both from wind and rain. No one could tell what the enemy were doing; every picket reported that they were entrenching, and the night of the 4th of July closed upon the field with it in the Federal possession.

The battle of Gettysburg--Prisoners belonging to Gen. Longstreet's Corps captured by Union troops, marching to the rear under guard (by Edwin Forbes, [18]63 July 3; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-20557)

Captured rebels from Longstreet’s Corps

THE LOSSES.

It is very difficult to make an estimate of the losses in any contest, but from all that can be learned the number of killed, wounded and captured of the Federal army will scarcely exceed 15,000. The enemy’s loss was about the same. There is no reason why it should exceed that of Gen. Meade, and none which should lead us to place a lower estimate upon it. As to prisoners it is more difficult to judge, but as there were no instances of an entire command surrendering, the only men captured being deserters, stragglers and wounded, who either lagged behind or lay upon the field, the two armies have been equally depleted by captures. The Confederates, however, paroled nearly all who they took, and these are still with Gen. Meade. Of captured Confederates, there seem to have been about six thousand.

AFTER THE BATTLE

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Battered trees on Culp's Hill (1863; LOC: LC-DIG-cwpb-01646)

“bore marks of bullets” – Culp’s Hill

My visit to the field was made this (Tuesday) morning, and it presented a wonderful though sorrowful spectacle for the curious. Most of the dead had been buried but many were still lying about, few, however, being Federal soldiers. Every fence was knocked down, and every house or shed upon the field or around had its roof in tatters. The fences had all been torn down by passing and repassing troops, or else they had been carried off bodily to make barricades or breastworks. The stone previously scattered over the surface of ground had been collected in piles for rifle pits. Nearly every tree had limbs torn from it, and all bore marks of bullets. Some had their bark stripped off in shreds by the wind of passing shells. The ground was tramped into a bog, and was covered with every conceivable thing – old broken muskets, bayonets and ramrods, pieces of wagons, broken wheels cartridge boxes, belts, torn clothing, blankets, fragments of shell, and sometimes unexploded ones, bullets, cartridges, powder – everything used in war or by soldiers was scattered around in plenty. The grain and grass, which once grew there, was almost ground to a jelly. Every where could be seen traces of the carnage. Hundreds of dead horses, still unburied, lay on the field; and in bogg [y?] places and spots distant from the town many of the men were still unburied.

Battlefield of Gettysburg. Bodies of dead Federal soldiers on the field of the first day's battle (by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, photographed 1863 July, printed between 1880 and 1889; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-32922)

“worth ten thousand holiday exhortations”

There is something impressive about [a] dead man on a battle-field. To see him lying there with his hands clenched, his teeth set, and his limbs drawn up, with ramrod or musket firmly held – lying just as he was standing when the fatal bullet struck him, teaches a sad lesson. To see scores of them is more impressive; and that with the awful desolation and havoc and ruin on all sides, shows far too plainly for delicate senses the terrible end of battle. To know at this fence where so many lie, a tug of war was had for hours – to feel that the tree whose bark is stripped off showing red stains on the inner wood, has received the gushing blood of some poor soldier, is by far the best teacher of war’s evils. And when after all is over, men still lie on the damp ground, undisturbed as they fell, with hawks, and crows and buzzards sailing lazily over them – their countenances bearing an expression of horror, as the blearing, bloodshot eyes, the blackened face, and the contorted features, turn up towards you – when all this is seen, and the fact that thousands like them have lain there before is impressed upon the mind, a remembrance is left which cannot be effaced. Sermons and precepts may be exhausted in vain; but the lesson taught by a dead man slain in battle, lying in his gore is worth ten thousand holiday exhortations. Yet many look upon it without emotion. Many walked about amid the horrid stench of that field unmoved. They turned over the rubbish, picked up bullets and fragments of shells for mementoes, but that was all. The[y] looked upon the dead, to be sure, but with no expression of pity if he were a Federal soldier, and only a laugh or a curse if he were a Confederate. They forgot that the poor dead man had been led to his death by others more responsible than he.

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Unfinished Confederate graves near the center of the battlefield (by Timoth H. O'Sullivan, July 1863; LOC: LC-DIG-cwpb-00844)

‘Unfinished Confederate graves’

All over the field there are newly made graves. There are long rows of them paralled [sic] to each other, where the Federal soldiers lie. Where the carnage has been great, a trench receives the remains of all; they are thrown in indiscriminately without burial service or coffin. The clothes they wore when killed are their shrouds, and the burial parties, or if not they, the fiends who always prowl about after a battle, rob the dead man’s pockets before they bury him. Nearly every dead soldier’s pockets were turned inside out and rifled of their contents.

Wm. Barksdale. Brig. Gen. Miss. (186-; LOC: LC-USZ62-100480)

and served eight years in (U.S.) Congress

By the side of a hedge on the Emmettsburg road is the grave of the Confederate General Barksdale. It is a plain mound, with rough pine head and foot boards. At his head, written with a lead pencil, is the following inscription.

“BRIG. GEN. BARKSDALE,
“McLaw’s Division, Longsteet’s Corps.
“Died July 3d.
“Wound in left breast – left leg broken,
“Eight years a Representative in Congress.

At the foot, written in the same hand,

“Gen. Barksdale, C.S.A.”

At the Confederate General’s feet, and almost touching him, it lies so close, is the grave of a slain Federal officer. The head board tells us it is captain Foster, of the 148th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. At the captain’s feet is the grave of N.M. Wilson a sergeant of the 11th Massachusetts. There they lie, New England, Pennsylvania and the South, two of them bitter enemies during life, but sleeping their last sleep together on she [sic] soil of their native state.

THE RESULT

Gettysburg, Pa. Headquarters of Gen. George G. Meade on Cemetery Ridge (by Alexander gardner, July 1863; LOC: LC-DIG-cwpb-00887)

headquarters of General Meade at Gettyburg

So far as the fight was concerned, neither army can be said to have gained any material advantage. To retreat from a field and leave it in the enemy’s possession is technically a defeat and it may be conceded therefore that General Meade gained a victory. Still, Lee’s army was not driven away. It was not routed. It voluntarily fell back at a time when no one was fighting it. Lee began to dig and retreat at the same time; and so well did he hide his manoeuvres, thad [sic] he secured thity-six hours start in his retreat. He retired down both sides of the South Mountain and on Sunday afternoon while pursuit was commenced, there were several skirmishes. Lee got safely away, and unless the high water in the Potomac stops him or he does not wish to cross, he is by this time safely over with the greater part of his army. General Meade is not able to intercept him, and all ideas of his capturing a host of fleeing invaders are foolish.

Still, Gen. Meade has done the best he could. He is a modest, unpretending, brave officer, and has acted wisely, and well. He has done all that lay in his power, and it would be the gravest injustice if fault were to be found with him now because General Lee’s army was not routed or taken.

William Barksdale was mortally wounded on July 2, 1863 as he led his brigade on a “magnificent charge” through the Peach Orchard and on towards Cemetery Ridge. Near Plum Run Barksdale was wounded three times and died the next early morning at a Union hospital.

Longstreet July 2 1863 (by Robert Knox Sneden; LOC: gvhs01 vhs00145 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.ndlpcoop/gvhs01.vhs00145)

Peach Orchard and Plum Run, July 2nd

Gravestone of General William Barksdale in Greenwood Cemetary, Jackson, Mississippi.

a more final resting place in Jackson, Mississippi

______________________________________________________

The photograph of the gravestone in Jackson is licensed by Creative Commons

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Celebrate the day …

Posted on July 5, 2013 by SUMPTER

By whipping the Yankees

The rebels of '76--Or the first announcement of the great declaration (c.1860; LOC: LC-DIG-pga-03091)

“The rebels of ’76”

An Independence Day editorial from Richmond – before the South knew that Vicksburg would surrender and Lee’s invasion was, at the least, stalled. I don’t know if the tone would have changed that much anyway.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch July 4, 1863:

The Fourth of July.

This is the Fourth of July. In former days it was saluted with the firing of guns, and was honored by grand parades, orations, dinners, and toasts. The Declaration of Independence was generally read. The exertions oratorical were considered too great for one man — so there was a reader and an orator. The reader recited on solemn and emphatic tones the Declaration. He began with energy, and rose as he continued, until he thundered in the conclusion wherein our forefathers declared that held the British as they held “the rest of [ma]nkind –Enemies in War, in peace, friends.” …

A Yankee volunteer (by Edwin Forbes, 1863 Aug. 10; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-20621)

legacy of hate toward the brutal Yankee

“Enemies in war, in peace, friends!”– let us just remark upon this magnanimous pronunciamento of our Revolutionary [fa]thers that while it was rather dramatic they were assuming new relations towards a really great people, a people who, all their arrogance and overbearing dis [aside?], they could still have some respect for that a contract, say the worst we can of do they present to the Yankees! Could Confederacy — could a State of the Confederacy– to-day towards the Yankees, did our ancestors towards the British, that we hold them as we hold the rest of man–enemies in war, in peace, friends?” [h]ave not their brutalities — their war of ra [?]–their burning of towns and churches– burning of agricultural implements–their ming the servile population against our people — their efforts, in every conceivable form robbery, destruction, and by all kinds of [dia]bolical agencies, to break the spirit of our and starve them into subjection — formed so impassable between the North and the South that the sentiment of friendship is that can never exist between them as nalous? Hatred of the North will be a legacy future generations of the South that will as long as the Governments themselves, and probably survive them. We can never told the Yankees “as we hold the rest of mankind!”

Writing the Declaration of Independence, 1776 (by JGL Ferris, Cleveland, Ohio : The Foundation Press, Inc., c1932 July 28; LOC: LC-USZC4-9904)

imbibing that French philosophy

But to return to the subject of the Fourth … The day was one of enthusiasm, bursting patriotism, and jollification. The eagle was in the ascendant … Everybody was gay — everybody was fired with patriotism, and many with wine or whiskey. The South was therefore a jolly day — it was a day the like of which is necessary for every nation; for no nation that is civilized and humanized can got along without its holidays– days of festivity and general joy.

Thus we had our Fourth of July. The day is now changed. We have no holiday. The ruthless enemy who has trampled upon every principle and right commemorated by the day itself, gives no intermission for festive enjoyments, were we so inclined. It is, however, still dear to Southern people; and they prove their devotion to it by maintaining with their blood and their lives the rights and principles asserted by our fathers in 76. The Yankees will probably to-day renew their professions of respect and devotion for them, notwithstanding that they have crushed them into the dust. They are hypocrites and Pharisees enough for that.

Independence declared 1776. The Union must be preserved (by Thomas Moore, [Boston : Joseph A. Arnold], c1839; LOC: LC-DIG-pga-02221)

where the Yankees (and Andrew Jackson) got it wrong

The Declaration of Independence, fringed and gilt with certain transcendentalisms, imbibed from the French philosophy of the day, with which Mr. Jefferson and his contemporaries had become somewhat inoculated, set forth the popular rights for which we are this day battling. The main principles it asserted the Yankees never could approve. It is that Governments, “derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

The Yankees think they have a right to govern the Southern people against their consent. They have desecrated both the day and the principles which it commemorates, and the very best way in which we can celebrate it is by whipping them. A good victory over them would be the best tribute we could offer to the memory of the signers of the Declaration. Let us pray for one.

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Haunted Fourth

Posted on July 4, 2013 by SUMPTER
Picketts charge from a position on the enemys line looking toward the Union lines, Zieglers grove on the left, clump of trees on right (by Edwin Forbes, between 1865 and 1895; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-22571)

July 3rd: “We’ll follow you, Marse George.”

From The Heart of a Soldier:
As Revealed in the Intimate Letters of Genl. George E. Pickett (pages 101-103)[1]:

Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett (between 1861 and 1865; LOC: LC-USZ6-284)

anguished roll-call was like a death knell

On the Fourth – far from a glorious Fourth to us or to any with love for his fellow-men – I wrote you just a line of heartbreak. The sacrifice of life on that blood-soaked field on the fatal third was too awful for the heralding of victory, even for our victorious foe, who, I think, believe as we do, that it decided the fate of our cause. No words can picture the anguish of that roll-call – the breathless waits between the responses. the “Here” of those who, by God’s mercy, had miraculously escaped the awful rain of shots and shell was a sob – a gasp – a knell – for the unanswered name of his comrade called before his. There was no tone of thankfulness for having been spared to answer to their names, but rather a toll, an unvoiced wish that they, too, had been among the missing.

But for the blight to your sweet young life, but for you, only you, my darling, your soldier would rather by far be out there, too, with his brave Virginians – dead.

Mrs. George E. Pickett (Illus. in: Harper's weekly, 1887 July 16, p. 509.; LOC: LC-USZ62-104170)

not a widow

Even now I can hear them cheering as I gave the order, “Forward”! I can feel their faith and trust in me and their love for our cause. I can feel the thrill of their joyous voices as they called out all along the line, “We’ll follow you, Marse George. We’ll follow you – we’ll follow you.” Oh, how faithfully they kept their word – following me on – on – to their death, and I, believing in the promised support, led them on – on – on – Oh, God!

I can’t write you a love letter to-day, my Sallie, for with my great love for you and my gratitude to God for sparing my life to devote to you, comes the over-powering thought of those whose lives were sacrificed – of the broken-hearted widows and mothers and orphans. The moans of my wounded boys, the sight of the dead, upturned faces, flood my soul with grief …

This is too gloomy and too poor a letter for so beautiful a sweetheart, but it seems sacrilegious, almost, to say I love you, with the hearts that are stilled to love on the field of battle.

YOUR SOLDIER.

Headquarters, July 6, 1863.

jefferson-davis-cartoon, Harper's Weekly, July 18, 1863

JEFF DAVIS’S FACE, as seen through South Mountain Gap, FOURTH OF JULY, 1863.

Here’s an update from Vicksburg. The cellar-dwelling woman who feared mutilation from the constant Federal shelling tried to get a pass to get out of the besieged Vicksburg. On July 3rd her husband was going to headquarters to try to get that pass when he “saw General Pemberton crawling out of a cave, for the shelling has been as hot as ever …” The woman and her husband returned to the cellar after they found out they could not escape out of town. “Provisions so nearly gone, except the hogshead of sugar, that a few more days will bring us to starvation indeed. Martha says rats are hanging dressed in the market for sale with mule meat, – there is nothing else.” A neighbor offered to share his cave for the night of July 3rd because the shelling was supposed to be even heavier than usual. The lady woke up in the cave the next morning to a strange quiet.

Interview between Grant and Pemberton (Chicago, Ill. : The Puritan Press Co., c1894; LOC: LC-USZ62-132939)

out of his cave – Pemberton talking terms with Grant

From Introduction to: A Woman’s Diary of the Siege of Vicksburg edited by G.W. Cable:

July 4th. – It is evening. All is still. Silence and night are once more united. I can sit at the table in the parlor and write. Two candles are lighted. I would like a dozen. We have had wheat supper and wheat bread once more. … [The author relates the history of the past 24 hours, including the stars and stripes being raised at the courthouse and federal transport boats coming around the bend full of provisions.] Towards five Mr. J– passed again. “Keep on the lookout,” he said; “the army of occupation is coming along,” and in a few minutes the head of the column appeared. What a contrast to the suffering creatures we had seen so long were these stalwart, well-fed men, so splendidly set up and accoutered. Sleek horses, polished arms, bright plumes, – this was the pride and panoply of war. Civilization, discipline, and order seemed to enter with the measured tramp of those marching columns; and the heart turned with throbs of added pity to the worn men in gray, who were being blindly dashed against this embodiment of modern power. And now this “silence that is golden” indeed is over all, and my limbs are unhurt, and I suppose if I were Catholic, in my fervent gratitude, I would hie me with a rich offering to the shrine of “our Lady of Mercy.”

I’m kind of haunted by the image of the powerful blue overcoming the tattered rebels.

THE CAPTURE OF VICKSBURG—ARRIVAL OF ADMIRAL PORTER'S FLEET AT THE LEVEE ON FOURTH JULY, 1863.-SKETCHED BY MR. THEO. R. DAVIS.(Harper's Weekly, August 1, 1863

Hallelujah! Union fleet at Vicksburg levee July 4, 1863

The cartoon of Jefferson Davis was published in the July 18, 1863 issue of Harper’s Weekly at Son of the South.

The image of the Vicksburg levee by Theodore R. Davis was published in the August 1, 1863 issue of Harper’s Weekly

View_of_Vicksburg,_Mississippi (engraving published August 1855 in Ballou's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, Boston, Massachusetts)

antebellum Vicksburg, 1855

  1. [1]I copied this from Commager, Henry Steele and Erik Bruun, eds. The Civil War Archive. New York: Black Dog and Levanthal Publishers, 2000. Print. pages 437-438. The text has more love letter than the cited online version↩
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(Gradual) death-blow to a social system

Posted on July 3, 2013 by SUMPTER

On July 1, 1863 the Missouri State Convention passed a plan for gradual emancipation beginning in 1870. The following editorial knows why the decision was made – you can’t pretend to be loyal to the Union while still supporting slavery.

From The New-York Times July 3, 1863:

Emancipation in Missouri–The Beginning of a New Epoch.

July first, eighteen hundred sixty-three, is a date destined to be forever memorable in American history. It will figure as the starting point of State emancipation. The Constitutional Convention of Missouri on that day adopted an ordinance providing for the complete extinction of Slavery in that State. No act of the kind has been done since the formation of the Federal Constitution, save in a single instance; and that was on so small a scale that it scarcely deserves mention in this connection. We refer to the act provisionally abolishing Slavery in this State of New-York in 1799. …

The entire slave population in Missouri, by the census of 18[60], was 114,931. This was an increase of 27,500 from the census ten years previous. The fact that such an increase should have taken place, in the face of the protracted Kansas struggle, evinces the exceeding vigor of the institution in the State. It would be hard to specify any State in the Union — South Carolina always excepted — which ten years ago was ruled by an intenser Pro-Slavery spirit than Missouri. This spirit, in the treatment of Kansas, showed itself to be hardly less than an absolute frenzy. It will be ten years this Fall since the conspiracy for breaking down the Missouri Compromise and making Kansas a Slave Stale, was formed. The leaders in that conspiracy would as soon have believed that the “crack of doom” would come within the next decade as an emancipation ordinance within the State of Missouri. The past history of the country would be searched in vain for another instance of such an extreme revolution of feeling, on a vital matter, within so brief a period.

Unidentified African American soldier in Union uniform with a rifle and revolver in front of painted backdrop showing weapons and American flag at Benton Barracks, Saint Louis, Missouri (by Enoch Long, between 1863 and 1865; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-36456)

fighting for the cause

What makes it the more notable is that it has been effected without any very serious controversy. The change has been brought about entirely by the silent logic of events The Convention which passed the ordinance was [???] [called?] two years ago without the slightest reference to the question of emancipation. Nobody at that time dreamed that the abolition of Slavery would ever be a question before it. Its province was intended to be confined to the reorganization of the State Government, which the treason of the Governor and the other principal State official had made necessary. The Convention was made up almost entirely of cautious, conservative men, and it was not until the popular mind had recognized the new necessities of the time, and forced the Convention to act upon the subject, that the body ventured to take it in hand. Emancipation was already a “foregone conclusion,” when the subject first presented itself. The only debatable question was the method. The people here were far more Impatient than the members of the Convention felt at liberty to sanction. Probably a majority of the people were in favor of the proposition to make the work of emancipation immediate — a policy which, a few years ago, was deemed by all, save the extremest Abolitionists of the Garrisonian stamp, to be downright madness. Though the majority of the Convention could not bring themselves up to this mark, they yet decided that Slavery should absolutely cease in seven years — which most Anti-Slavery men would have once pronounced an absurdly brief period for bringing about so great a change. New-York, with less than one-fifth of the number of slaves held in Missouri, did not think it safe and wise to allow less than twenty-eight years for the gradual destruction of the system within her limits. Yet the only doubt about this Missouri ordinance is that it will not satisfy the people, because Slavery was given seven years to die in. There will probably be a movement by the next State Legislature to call another Convention for the express object of making the emancipation immediate; and it would not be at all strange if such an effort were successful.

A slave auction at the south (LC-USZ62-2582; LOC: LC-USZ62-2582)

Union’s nemesis

The cause of this prodigious social revolution in Missouri is no mystery. Everybody understands that it came from the universal conviction that Slavery in the State was an inseparable ally of the Confederacy; and that there was no way to secure and consolidate the loyalty of the State but to give a death-blow to this domestic enemy. The people realized that there had got to be a final choice between Slavery and their national allegiance. They were brought to it by events which they did not foresee, a[nd] could not control; but like true men, they accepted the situation, and promptly shaped their action accordingly. By sacrificing Slavery, they have saved their State, and to-day Missouri is just as impracticable for the purposes of the Confederates as Iowa or Illinois.

The same inevitable course of events will, sooner or later, compel the extinction of Slavery in Maryland and Kentucky. The folly of striving to be loyal, and yet fostering an institution which is essentially and intensely disloyal, will become more and more manifest, until finally the purpose will be formed to submit to it no longer. Even without the President’s Proclamation, we believe that emancipation would be inevitable in the Confederate States before they could again be rehabilitated as loyal members of the Union. Almost all of the really loyal men of the South agree that to perpetuate the institution is to perpetuate hostility to the Government: They maintain with reason that if loyalty is to be resuscitated, that which destroyed loyalty must be itself destroyed. No future fact is more certain than that if the Confederacy dies, Slavery too must quickly follow. The blow it has just received in Missouri is but the beginning of the end.

The Times was right in its prediction that there would eventually be an ordnance for immediate emancipation in Missouri, as can be seen from this image commemorating January 11, 1865:

Emancipation Ordinance of Missouri. An ordinance abolishing slavery in Missouri (by E. Knobel, c.1865; LOC: LC-DIG-pga-01805)

a year and a half later

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“moral impossibility”

Posted on July 2, 2013 by SUMPTER
Vicksburg area map

Vicksburg area from My Cave Life in Vicksburg

150 years ago tomorrow The New York Times published a huge article that put together many dispatches from besieged Vicksburg. The reports contained misinformation (General Grant announcing to his troops that Port Hudson had fallen), but the main themes were that the Union army kept digging its way closer to the rebel lines and that food inside the rebel lines was getting extremely scarce. Civilians were getting damaged by the federal fire. Predictions that the rebels could not possibly hold out beyond July 4th.

From The New-York Times July 3, 1863:

THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURGH; Demonstrations of Joe Johnston in the Rear. In Attack on Gen. Osterhans at the Big Black. The Enemy Repulsed with Great Slaughter. Progress of Our Approaches to the City. NEWS RECEIVED IN ST. LOUIS. TELEGRAMS TO THE WESTERN PRESS.

[RE]AR OF VICKSBURGH, Wednesday, June 24, 1863.

Up to yesterday skirmishing has been going on along the whole line of our rear front, or rather that portion of it from Snyder’s Bluff to the Big Black Railroad crossing. There being every indication of a fight immineat, the rear front was put in order to resist an assault. …

ST. LOUIS, Thursday, July 2.

The Vicksburgh correspondent of the Democrat says that the conduct of the troops during the operations in LOGAN’s front, on the 25th, was very brilliant. As soon as the mine exploded, the Forty-fifth Illinois, led by Col. MALTBIE, rushed into the breach and planted the flag amid a terrific fire from the enemy. …

Dispatch to the Chicago Tribune.

CHICKASAW BAYOU, June 22, Via CALRO, June 29, 1863.

Vicksburg Siege

I have just returned from a tour of inspection along SHERMAN’s and MCPHERSON’s front. SHERMAN still creeping up to the left. BLAIR’s division is sapping it at three points. Gen. GILES SMITH is on the left. Gen. EWING in front, and Gen. LIGHTBURN on the sight. In each of these approaches the same breast works serve for the rebels and for us. Gen. BROCKLAND, of TUTTLES division, is also approaching very near.

An unusually sharp attack was made by the enemy on. BLAIR’s approaches this morning, but without effect.

The rebels yesterday threw over into BLAIR’s trenches a copy of the Vicksburgh Whig of Saturday, printed on wall paper. It admitted that the cannonading on that morning did much Carnage among the women and children.

Gen. MCARTHUR’s works are being pushed steadily forward. Not an hour, not a minute is lost. This digging is not fortifying but approaching

RA[NS]OM’s men have gone forward a rod to-day, amid a concentrated fire from the rebel sharpshooters, while a ten-gun fort, just being completed, due during the week, will probably open fire on the rebels to-morrow. This fort is a horizontal line, ahead of all other works. LOGAN’s approach has entered the large key-fort of the rebels, piercing nearly to the inner base of their intrenchments, and two 30-pound Parrotis have been planted upon the rebel intrenchments, just under the crest, this side, and are doing fearful execution. One last evening silenced a gun of in enemy’s which had beet annoying SHERMAN’s batteries.

Siege_of_Vicksburg_1863_10566


Drawing of Union siege lines at Vicksburg, Mississippi (American Civil War)

Under cover of these two guns and our sharpshooters, LOGAN’s pioneer corps is cutting a traverse inside the big fort, thus gaining; 2 position from which the reduction of the entire fort must necessarily be effected.

A rebel sergeant escaped into our lines on Saturday, who proved to be one of the two spies sent into Vicksburgh, over a year ago, by Admiral PORTER. The other was hung, and this one enlisted, and has served the rebels faithfully up to this time, to avoid the same fate. He has of late bad charge of a gapping and mining party, and seems well posted in regard to the position of the enemy’s wor[k]s. He says their redoubts and bastions are all undermined, with trains laid ready to be h[???]ed the moment we gain possession of them. The rebels also have sewers and pitfalls covering the ways by which our troops must approach the city. He says they have provisions to last from ten to fifteen days longer, and plenty of ammunition with the exception of caps, and have lately been casting ordnance. According to [his] story, and our officers are disposed to believe it, it is a moral impossibility for Vicksburgh to hold out over a fort-night longer. …

There is a general feeling this morning along the lines, among intelligent and influential officers, that though an immediate crisis is not as probable as on Saturday, yet that Vicksburgh will be ours before the 4th of July. No one is willing to put it off a day beyond that time. …

Dispatch to the Cincinnati Gazette.

CHICKASAW BAYOU, June 24, vi[a] CAIRO, June [???]. …

There is intelligence at GRANT’s headquarters this morning, of a mutiny in progress in Vicksburgh, probably reliable.

Dispatches to the Chicago Times. …

An advance of cavalry, under Maj. GRANT WILSON, entered Mechanicsville, and drove off twice their number of rebel horsemen, capturing twelve prisoners and thirty horses. They brought in a herd of 400 horses and 200 mules, which had been gathered for JOHNSTON’s army. Several thousand bushels of corn were also destroyed.

The best information states that JOHNSTON is concentrating at Canton with 12.000 men. He is believed to be preparing for an advance on Memphis or Port Hudson. Not a fear is entertained of his efforts in this direction.

An intelligent deserter from Vicksburgh says that the rebels are using powder from our unexploded shells, Gen. PEMBERTON paving $6 a pound for it. Mortar shells are being cast also from our fragments. The men are on one-third rations, and complaining. Two regiments are said to have laid down their arms in mutiny. On receiving assurance from Gen. PEMBERTON and JOHNSTON would attack next day, they retook their muskets.

MEMPHIS, Saturday, June 27.

On the 24th It was reported that JOHNSTON was at Chickasaw Bayou with his army, and only seven miles from our lines.

On the 25th Gen. GRANT issued an order, which was read to his troops, to the effect that Port Hudson was captured, with 8,000 prisoners.

When the Champion left a battle was raging with fury between JOHNSTON and OSTERHAUS at the Big Black and Champion Hills. It is reported that JOHNSTON had 50,000 men, and is being reinforced.

In the direction of Snyder’s Bluff the rebels at-tempted to cut their way out on Monday, but were re[pul]sed. On Tuesday morning the rebels turned loose about 600 horses and mules into our lines. Most of them are nearly dead with starvation. On the same day a large number of cats and dogs were thrown into the rifle pits. …

In My Cave Life in Vicksburg (1864) Mary Ann Loughborough stressed the themes of hunger and the damage from the Union shelling. Here’s some extracts.

title_page - My Cave Life in Vicksburg

“the cave trembled excessively”

One morning, after breakfast, the shells began falling so thickly around us, that they seemed aimed at the particular spot on which our cave was located. Two or three fell immediately in therear of it, exploding a few moments before reaching the ground, and the fragments went singing over the top of our habitation. I, at length, became so much alarmed—as the cave trembled excessively—for our safety, that I determined, rather than be buried alive, to stand out from under the earth; so, taking my child in my arms, and calling the servants, we ran to a refuge near the roots of a large fig tree, that branched out over the bank, and served as a protection from the fragments of shells. As we stood trembling there—for the shells were falling all around us—some of my gentlemen friends came up to reassure me, telling me that the tree would protect us, and that the range would probably be changed in a short time. While they spoke, a shell, that seemed to be of enormous size, fell, screaming and hissing, immediately before the mouth of our cave, within a few feet of the entrance, sending up a huge column of smoke and earth, and jarring the ground most sensibly where we stood. What seemed very strange, the earth closed in around the shell, and left only the newly upturned soil to show where it had fallen. [page 67]

Even the very animals seemed to share the general fear of a sudden and frightful death. The dogs would be seen in the midst of the noise to gallop up the street, and then to return, as if fear had maddened them. On hearing the descent of a shell, they would dart aside—then, as it exploded, sit down and howl in the most pitiful manner. There were many walking the street, apparently without homes. George carried on a continual warfare with them, as they came about the fire where our meals were cooking.

In the midst of other miserable thoughts, it came into my mind one day, that these dogs through hunger might become as much to be dreaded as wolves. Groundless was this anxiety, for in the course of a week or two they had almost disappeared.

The horses, belonging to the officers, and fastened to the trees near the tents, would frequently strain the halter to its full length, rearing high in the air, with a loud snort of terror, as a shell would explode near. I could hear them in the night cry out in the midst of the uproar, ending in a low, plaintive whinny of fear.

The poor creatures subsisted entirely on cane tops and mulberry leaves. Many of the mules and horses had been driven outside of the lines, by order of General Pemberton, for subsistence. Only mules enough were left, belonging to the Confederacy, to allow three full teams to a regiment. Private property was not interfered with.

Cave life in Vicksburg (by Adalbert John Volck, 1864; LOC: LC-USZ62-100070)

” Southern wife praying in makeshift cave home during bombardment of Vicksburg.”

Sitting in the cave, one evening, I heard the most heartrending screams and moans. I was told that a mother had taken a child into a cave about a hundred yards from us; and having laid it on its little bed, as the poor woman believed, in safety, she took her seat near the entrance of the cave. A mortar shell came rushing through the air, and fell with much force, entering the earth above the sleeping child—cutting through into the cave—oh! most horrible sight to the mother—crushing in the upper part of the little sleeping head, and taking away the young innocent life without a look or word of passing love to be treasured in the mother’s heart. [pages 78-80]

Already the men in the rifle pits were on half rations—flour or meal enough to furnish bread equivalent in quantity to two biscuits in two days: many of them ate it all at once, and the next day fasted, preferring, as they said, to have one good meal. [page 106]

A certain number of mules are killed each day by the commissaries, and are issued to the men, all of whom prefer the fresh meat, though it be of mule, to the bacon and salt rations that they have eaten for so long a time without change. There have already been some cases of scurvy: the soldiers have a horror of the disease; therefore, I suppose, the mule meat is all the more[Pg 117] welcome. Indeed, I petitioned M—— to have some served on our table. He said: “No; wait a little longer.” He did not like to see me eating mule until I was obliged to; that he trusted Providence would send us some change shortly. [pages 116-117]

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“it will fight more desperately and bravely than ever”

Posted on July 1, 2013 by SUMPTER

Or else

A couple Pennsylvanians defend their home soil – and the Union.

From The New-York Times
July 2, 1863:

THE REBEL INVASION.; Highly Important from the Army of the Potomac. Defeat of Stuart’s Cavalry in Three Fights. The Rebels Driven from Westminster to Hanover by Gen. Gregg. Their Defeat at Hanover by Gen. Kilpatrick. Another Defeat of the Rebels at Hanover Junction. Their Loss Four Hundred Men and Six Pieces of Artillery. A Supposed Heavy Battle Between Gens. Meade and Lee. Rapid Cannonading Heard at Harrisburgh Last Evening. Probable Position of the MainRebel Army. DISPATCHES FROM WASHINGTON. MOVEMENTS OF THE ENEMY. TELEGRAMS FROM HARRISBURGH. OUR FORCES AT HANOVER JUNCTION. TELEGRAMS FROM WASHINGTON. DISCIPLINE OF THE SEVENTH REGIMENT. BALTIMORE, Wednesday, July 1.

…

The following circular has been issued:

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.

June 30, 1863.}

The Commanding General requests that previous to the engagement soon to be expected with the enemy, corps and all other commanding officers address their troops, explaining to them the immense issues involved in the struggle. The enemy is now on our soil. The whole country looks anxiously to this army to deliver it from the presence of the foe. Our failure to do so will leave us no such welcome as the swelling of millions of hearts with pride and joy at our success would give to every soldier of the army. Homes, firesides and domestic altars are involved. The army has fought well heretofore. It is believed that it will fight more desperately and bravely than ever if it is addressed in fitting terms. Corps and other commanders are authorized to order the instant death of any soldier who falls to do his duty at this hour.

By command of Major-Gen. MEADE.

S. WILLIAMS, Assistant Adj.-Gen.

 
From The New-York Times July 3, 1863:

VERY IMPORTANT NEWS; Further Particulars of the Battle Near Gettysburgh on Wednesday. Gen. Reynolds’ First Army Corps in the Advance. An Attack by Longstreet and Hill. THE ATTACK SUCCESSFULLY RESISTED. CESSATION OF THE BATTLE AT 4 P.M. The Whole Army of the Potomac on the Field on Wednesday Evening. THR REBEL ARMY NOT CONCENTRATED. Reported Capture of a Large Number of Prisoners. 2,400 OF THEM IN BALTIMORE. Desultory Fighting All Day Yesterday. THE DECISIVE BATTLE EXPECTED TO-DAY. Repulse of a Rebel Attack on Carlisle. EVACUATION OF MARYLAND HEIGHTS. LATEST FROM THE FRONT. OFFICIAL DISPATCHES FROM GEN. MEADE. SPECIAL DISPATCH FROM WASHINGTON. JEFF. DAVIS IN PENNSYLVANIA. TELEGRAMS FROM HABRISBURGH TELEGRAMS FROM PHILADELPHIA. TELEGRAMS FROM COLUMBIA. TELEGRAMS FROM LANCASTER, PENN. TELEGRAMS FROM BALTIMORE. PRISONERS ARRIVED AT BALTIMORE. MARYLAND HEIGHTS EVACUATED. LEE’S GENERAL ORDER FOR THE INVASION. A REBEL ADDRESS. CALL FOR NEW-YORK TROOPS. ANOTHER CALL ON NEW-JERSEY. OUR HARRISBURG CORRESPONDENCE. Ewell’a Corps Withdrawn fr

…

Major-Gen. John F. Reynolds.

We have information by telegraph of the death Major-Gen. JOHN FULTON REYNOLDS, U.S.A., late commander of the First Corps of the Army of the Potomac, from a wound received on Wednesday in the battle near Gettysburgh, between the First and Eleventh corps and the rebel forces under Gens. LONGSTREET and HILL. Major-Gen. REYNOLDS was born in Pennsylvania about the year 1821, and entered the Military Academy at West Point in 1837. In 1841 he graduated and received his first commission as Brevet Second Lieutenant of the Third artillery. He served with distinction in the war with Mexico, being breveted Captain for gallant and meritorious conduct at Monterey, and attain Major at Buena Vista. In 1852 he served as Aid-de-Camp on the Staff of Maj.-Gen. WOOL, and in 1855 received his rank as Captain. The following year he was sent to Oregon Territory, where he distinguished himself in several severe conflicts with the Indians, near Rogue River.

When the rebellion broke out Gen. REYNOLDS warmly espoused the cause of the Government, and, on the organization of the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps, he was appointed by Gov. CURTIN one of the brigade commanders. He took part with the Army of the Potomac in nearly all its actions, and so valuable were his services that the people of the State acknowledged them by the presentation of a sword.

At the commencement of the present year Gen. REYNOLDS was promoted to the Major-Generalship and command of the First Army Corps. After the removal of Gen. BURNSIDE from the office of Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Potomac, the name of Gen. REYNOLDS was prominently mentioned for the succession, and again after the battle of Chancellorsville; but his own preferences were in favor of Gen. MEADE.

He fell while bravely leading hit men, like LYON in Missouri, STEVENS and KEARNY at Chantilly, WILLIAMS at Baton Rouge, and other, kindred spirits have nobly fallen. The country at large, as well as his associates in the army, will lament his death, but no one will feel a more poignant sorrow at this fortune of war than Maj.-Gen. MEADE, the new Commander of the Army of the Potomac. The deceased and he were bosom friends, and in the arduous and difficult duties that now devolve upon him he must have counted largely upon the aid and skill of the soldier who possessed his full confidence.

The body of Gen. REYNOLDS was yesterday taken to Baltimore.

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Mutiny at ‘Gibraltar’?

Posted on June 29, 2013 by SUMPTER
J.C. Pemberton, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing right (photographed between 1861 and 1865, printed later; LOC: LC-USZ62-90939)

stern patriot needs to feed his troops

150 years ago today a Richmond newspaper published information that the Yankee siege of Vicksburg was progressing but that Confederate General Johnston’s army was getting nearer. There was more information that things were going well for the rebels trapped in the city. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch June 29, 1863:

Latest from Vicksburg direct.

–The following dispatch was received in Knoxville Friday by a citizen:

Vicksburg,June 17, via Jackson 21st. –Everything is working well. Our troops in fine sprits. Plenty to eat.

David E. Norris.

Maybe not plenty to eat, or a lot had changed in eleven days.

From Official records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. ; Series I – Volume 25 (pages 118-119):

6-28 letter vic

6-28 letter2

THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG—VIEW UPON THE EXTREME RIGHT, SHOWING THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER ABOVE AND BELOW VICKSBURG.—SKETCHED BY MR. THEODORE R. DAVIS.—[SEE PAGE 478.] (Harper's Weekly July 25, 1863)

Yankee besiegers better fed

The siege image was published in the July 25, 1863 issue of Harper’s Weekly at Son of the South

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