Thanksgiving near Portsmouth

Posted on November 27, 2012 by SUMPTER
The twin sisters liberty and union (1863; LOC: LC-USZ62-90679)

worth fighting for

Last week The Civil War 150th Blog compared the official Union and Confederate Thanksgivings in 1862. Presidents Lincoln and Davis were thankful for military victories and proclaimed days of Thanksgiving in April and September respectively. Thanksgiving days were pretty fluid back then, but here’s evidence that there was some tradition for a fowl feast on a Thursday late in November.

The writer concludes with passionate words about fighting for “Union and Liberty” that has nothing to do with freeing slaves.

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in 1862:

Letter from the 148th Regiment.

CAMP FOLGER, NEAR PORTSMOUTH, Va,

Thursday, Nov. 27, 1862.

EDITOR REVEILLE: – As many of the readers of your paper are particularly interested in the 148th reg. N.Y.V., we beg leave to say a few words through its columns relative to this band of patriots. We are very comfortably and quietly situated some two miles from the city of Portsmouth, upon the same grounds we pitched our tents the 12th of October last. The time of our sojourn here has been passed in studying the arts of war, under the instruction of our able and gentlemanly Lt. Col. Guion. We think tht the “rebs” would deem the 148th of no little consequence if they were called to contend with them on the battle field.

It is unusually quiet with us to day, the ordinary camp duties are dispersed with to give us ample opportunity to palatably prepare the turkey, chicken, goose or duck (as the case may be) procured for our thanksgiving dinner.

We are blessed with general good health at present, our sick list numbers as low as it has at any time since the organization of the Regt. We have lost but three by death since leaving the Empire State. A general feeling of regret pervades the whole Regiment at present on account of the resignation of our Q.M., Lieut. E. Woodsworth. He was obliged to leave his post, on account of the duties devolving upon him proving too arduous for his present state of health. He has at all times, and in all places, shown himself a perfect gentleman, and ever will be held in grateful remembrance by every member of the 148th Regt. In concluding this hastily written article we will say that we deem the cause which has prompted us to leave our homes, kindred and friends, a glorious one. We have sworn to hold no truce with traitors until the sunshine of peace shall again illuminate our now distracted land, and “Union and Liberty” once more be the watchword from ocean to ocean, and from the lakes to the gulf. We are ready and willing to wield the sword, even to the death, not for the “nigger,” but for the maintainance of those national laws which for nearly a century has given us protection and unbounded prosperity.

A MEMBER OF THE 148th

The 148th was a new regiment that “chiefly engaged in garrison duty at Suffolk, Norfolk and Yorktown, Va.” during the fall of 1862 and all of 1863. George Murray Guion has made the transition from Captain in the “old” 33rd regiment to Lieutenant Colonel of the 148th.

Civil War envelope showing Columbia with American flag, laurel wreath, eagle, and cannon with message "Liberty and Union" (Boston : J.M. Whittemore & Co., [between 1861 and 1865]; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-31711)

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Enemy Campfires Increasing

Posted on November 26, 2012 by SUMPTER
Fredericksburg_Campaign_initial_movements by Hal Jespersen

converging on the Rappahanock: ‘The camp fires of the enemy are constantly increasing within sight of Falmouth’:

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in 1862:

From Gen. Burnside’s Army.

FALMOUTH, Va. Nov. 26.

It is expected the railroad will be finished to-morrow from Acquia Creek to the Rappahannock, opposite Fredericksburg. The bridge over Potomac Creek was reported this morning as nearly completed. The cars carry supplies as far as Brook’s Station, six miles from Acquia Creek, which greatly accomodates our troops.

Notwithstanding the late bad condition of the roads, quartermasters supplies have been promptly furnished. Long lines of roads have been corduroyed, under direction of Colonel Ingalls, chief quartermaster of the army, and are in good condition.

Union Major General Rufus Ingalls (File from The Photographic History of The Civil War in Ten Volumes: Volume Four, The Cavalry . The Review of Reviews Co., New York. 1911. p. 306.)

not horsin’ around – Rufus Ingalls

The camp fires of the enemy are constantly increasing within sight of Falmouth, affording indications of the augmentation of the rebel forces. Lee has joined Longstreet and A.P. Hill. D.H. Hill and Jackson are known to be on the way thither.

Yesterday the enemy were busily engaged in constructing additional works in the rear and to the left of Fredericksburg.

The cars bring troops and supplies regularly to the rebel troops, stopping at a point three miles from the town.

Rufus Ingalls was promoted to Chief Quartermaster of the Army of the Potomac in August, 1862. In 1864 he would be responsible for building up the federal supply depot at City Point.

Building corderoy [sic] roads from Belle Plain to Frederickburgh [sic] (H.Q.) (by Arthur Lumley, between 1860 and 1865; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-20775)

Building a corduroy road

Military railroad bridge across Potomac Creek, on the Fredericksburg Railroad (by Andrew J. Russell, ca. 1862 or 1863; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-10321)

Bridging Potomac Creek

The map by Hal jespersen is licensed by Creative Commons.

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“visited by this fiendish invasion”

Posted on November 24, 2012 by SUMPTER
View of lower end of Fredericksburg, [...] (Feb. 1863; LOC: LC-DIG-cwpb-03551)

“clothed in mourning and tribulation”

150 years ago today the Richmond Daily Dispatch reported on Union General Burnside’s demand that Fredericksburg, Virginia surrender or else risk being bombed. The Dispatch report stated that the Yankees lobbed a few shells toward the railroad depot where a train full of fleeing citizens was departing. The editors editorialized about the condition of this town associated with George Washington’s youth.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch November 24, 1862:

Fredericksburg.

The condition of this once happy and beautiful Virginia town must excite the sympathy of every Southern heart. It was the home of Washington in childhood, the home of that mother whose elevated character and wise training prepared the Father of his Country for the great part he played in human affairs. It may be that the home in which she lived, and in which she trained her illustrious son for his lofty mission, that the very monument erected to her memory, have been demolished by the cannon of a people who owe to Washington their freedom and independence! The town itself, though without commercial importance, has always been remarkable for the intelligence, refinement, and moral elevation of its community — We have never known a town so free from the usual vices of towns, or more distinguished for its hospitality and household virtues. Exile, desolation, and ruin are the fate with which such a town has been visited by this fiendish invasion, whilst the Northern cities, reeking with moral corruption, are exuberant with pleasure and gaiety. Washington, the central fountain of all the bloodshed, misery, and crime of this inhuman war, is said to be the scene of extraordinary festivities, whilst innocent Southern cities are clothed in mourning and tribulation. But there is justice in Heaven, and although it may be long delayed, it will come at last, and virtue be triumphantly vindicated, and vice receive its deserved recompense.

It is said that the young George Washington actually lived for a time at Ferry Farm in Stafford County across the river from Fredericksburg. In 1772 George purchased this house for his mother in Fredericksburg.

Mary Washington House (corner of Charles and Lewis streets, Fredericksburg)

Where George’s mother lived from 1772 until her 1789 death

The following is the grave monument begun for Mary Washington in 1833. It was never finished but replaced by an obelisk dedicated in 1894.

Mary Washington Monument began in 1833 (Washington Avenue, Fredericksburg)

“It may be … that the very monument erected to her [Mary Washington’s]memory, ha[s] been demolished by the cannon of a people who owe to Washington their freedom and independence!

There is a lot of information about Fredericksburg at Project Gutenberg.

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Wrap it up!

Posted on November 23, 2012 by SUMPTER
The most Revd. John Hughes--Archbishop of New York (by J.B. Forrest, c1863; LOC: LC-USZ62-118825)

“for a vigorous prosecution of our melancholy war”

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch November 22, 1862:

Archbishop Hughes Fears a foreign War.

Under date of November 1st,Archbishop Hughes has written a letter to Secretary Seward. He reiterates the stern views he has always held of the necessities of the times, and in the course of his letter speaks with a warning voice of the dangers of foreign intervention, cautioning the Government to be prepared for startling emergencies. He says:

It is just one year and eight days since it was desired, by a telegraphic communication, that I should visit the city of Washington on public business. I obeyed the summons. I spoke my mind freely. It was thought that, in the perils of the nation at that time, I could be useful in promoting the interests of the commonwealth and of humanity if I would consent to go to Europe and exercise whatever little influence I might possess in preventing France and England from intermeddling in our sad quarrel.

It has, no doubt, escaped your memory that during the fourteen or fifteen hours which I spent in Washington, I declined the acceptance of what would be to persons not of my rank a great honor. I did not absolutely refuse before deciding, but I wished to consult one or two persons very near and dear to me in New York. Finally, and at the very last hour, there was a word uttered to me, not by any special member of the Cabinet to which you belong, but by the authority which it possesses, to the effect that my acting as had been suggested was a personal request, and would be considered as a personal favor. In three minutes I decided that, without consulting anybody, I should embark as a volunteer to accomplish what might be possible on the other side of the Atlantic in favor of the country to which I belong.

What occurred on the other side, I think it would be at present improper for me to make public. I am not certain that any word, or act, or influence of mine has had the slightest effect in preventing either England or France from plunging into the unhappy divisions that have threatened the Union of these once prosperous States. On the other hand, I may say that no day — no hour, even — was spent in Europe in which I did not, according to opportunity, labor for peace between Europe and America. So far that peace has not been disturbed. But let America be prepared. There is no love for the United States on the other side of the water. Generally speaking, on the other side of the Atlantic the United States are ignored, if not despised[,] treated [i]n conversation in the same contemptuous language as we might employ towards the inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands, or Washington Territory, or Vancouver’s Island or the settlement of the Red River, or of the Hudson’s Bay Territory.

Old St. Patrick's Cathedral by Jim Henderson, 2008

where the bishop preached – old St. Patrick’s (2008)

This may be considered very unpolished, almost unchristian, language proceeding from the pen of a Catholic Archbishop. But, my dear Governor, it is unquestionably true, and I am sorry that it is so. If you in Washington are not able to defend yourselves in case of need, I do not see where, or from what source, you can expect friendship or protection. Since my return I made a kind of familiar address to my people, but not for them exclusively, in St.Patrick’s Cathedral. Some have called it not a sermon, but a discourse, and even a war blast, in favor of blood spilling. Nothing of that kind could be warranted by a knowledge of my natural temperament or of my ecclesiastical training. From the slight correspondence between us, you can bear me witness that I have pleaded in every direction for the preservation of peace, so long as the slightest hope for its preservation remained. When all hope of this kind had passed away I was for a vigorous prosecution of our melancholy war so that one side or the other may find itself in the ascendancy.

The Bishop closes his letter by urging a vigorous prosecution of the war, considering the most humane battle to be that which ends the strife.

Irish-born John Joseph Hughes served as Bishop of New York from 1842 until his death in 1864. The bishop was pro-Union but anti-abolition. Mr. Lincoln and New York provides a good overview of Hughes’ 1861-62 mission to Europe. It apparently was a cordial if inconclusive visit. He had one audience with France’s Napoleon III.

You can read the August 1862 sermon which Hughes alludes to at The New York Times. He expressed his concern about foreign intervention like this:

… I do say to every man, if they do interfere, and if they interfere successfully — if the country and the Government are not maintained by every sacrifice that is necessary to maintain them, then your United States will become a Poland — then it will become divided — then the strife will multiply across every border; every State or every section will claim to be independent and make itself an easy prey for those who will turn and appropriate the divisions of the people of this country for their own advantage. …

During the 1840’s “Dagger John” defended the old St. Patrick’s Cathedral (archdiocesan seat until 1879) from a threat by anti-Catholics to burn it down by motivating at least three thousand Catholics to arm themselves and guard the church.

In this 1844 cartoon (details at Library of Congress) the bishop wasn’t taking any guff from James Gordon Bennett and the New York Herald.

Jamie & the bishop (1844; LOC: LC-USZ62-28015)

James Gordon Bennett vs. Dagger John

In its January 16, 1864 obituary Harper’s Weekly found his speech during the 1863 New York City draft riots to be objectionable, but otherwise

..we think it would be difficult to point to a single important act in his long administration that was not wise and politic, and which, viewed from his own standpoint, was not right and honorable. He died as he had lived, a true man, and a sincere Christian.

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Nation’s Abundance, Army’s Impedimenta

Posted on November 22, 2012 by SUMPTER
Union generals (McClellan, Banks, Wool, Scott; Boston : B.B. Russell, c1861.; LOC: LC-USZ62-100758)

The slow and/or the old

Don’t be like Mac.

A couple weeks after relieving the dilatory George McClellan from command of the Army of the Potomac, President Lincoln advises Nathaniel Banks to stop requisitioning supplies, stop procrastinating, and get his Army of the Gulf sailing toward New Orleans.

From THE PAPERS AND WRITINGS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN at Project Gutenberg:

DELAYING TACTICS OF GENERALS
TO GENERAL N. P. BANKS.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, November 22, 1862.

MY DEAR GENERAL BANKS:—Early last week you left me in high hope with your assurance that you would be off with your expedition at the end of that week, or early in this. It is now the end of this, and I have just been overwhelmed and confounded with the sight of a requisition made by you which, I am assured, cannot be filled and got off within an hour short of two months. I enclose you a copy of the requisition, in some hope that it is not genuine—that you have never seen it. My dear General, this expanding and piling up of impedimenta has been, so far, almost our ruin, and will be our final ruin if it is not abandoned. If you had the articles of this requisition upon the wharf, with the necessary animals to make them of any use, and forage for the animals, you could not get vessels together in two weeks to carry the whole, to say nothing of your twenty thousand men; and, having the vessels, you could not put the cargoes aboard in two weeks more. And, after all, where you are going you have no use for them. When you parted with me you had no such ideas in your mind. I know you had not, or you could not have expected to be off so soon as you said. You must get back to something like the plan you had then, or your expedition is a failure before you start. You must be off before Congress meets. You would be better off anywhere, and especially where you are going, for not having a thousand wagons doing nothing but hauling forage to feed the animals that draw them, and taking at least two thousand men to care for the wagons and animals, who otherwise might be two thousand good soldiers. Now, dear General, do not think this is an ill-natured letter; it is the very reverse. The simple publication of this requisition would ruin you.

Very truly your friend,
A. LINCOLN.

Toward the end the president seems to be appealing to the political nature of his political general. General Banks not have beat the opening of Congress, but he did have some ships heading south by early December. James M. McPherson says Banks was sent to the Gulf “fresh from defeats by Stonewall Jackson in Virginia” [1]. In the December 6, 1862 issue of Harper’s Weekly (at Son of the South) a biography of Banks attributes his defeat to Jackson to being outnumbered and has high hopes for his work in New Orleans:

General Banks has now been appointed to the command of a Great Southern Expedition, part of which has already sailed. That he will be heard from in a manner which will rejoice the Northern heart no one who knows his lucky star can doubt.

Major General N.P. Banks, full-length portrait, standing, facing left (c1861; LOC: LC-USZ62-122438)

lucky star

  1. [1]Battle Cry of Freedom,New York: Ballantine Books, 1989. Print.p.624↩
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Branded with a ‘D’

Posted on November 21, 2012 by SUMPTER

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch November 20, 1862:

A soldier branded for desertion.

–The court-martial now in session recently sentenced Corporal Richard R. Poore, of company A, 15th Virginia cavalry battalion, for desertion, to be reduced to the ranks, forfeit all pay and allowances now due him, to be branded on the right hip with the letter D, one and a quarter inch long, have his head shaved, and be drummed out of the service. The branding, drumming out, and head shaving was performed at the Military Station of the Eastern District yesterday at 3½ o’clock, in presence of Bossieux’s Guard and the President’s Guard. A couple of lifers and the drum corps were brought into service to beat after the retiring culprit the rogue’s march. After the ceremonies incident to such an occasion had been gone through with Poore was returned to prison to be sent to his own company and again drummed. There are a large number in the prison whose sentences by court-martial are not yet executed.

Branding and the rogue’s march are among the punishments listed at “THE PROVOST MARSHAL’S OFFICE” at THE BLUE RIDGE GRAYS.

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Little Mac in Big Apple

Posted on November 20, 2012 by SUMPTER
Fifth Avenue Hotel (by Will Taylor, 1879; http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3804n.pm005990)

fine place for a serenade

150 years ago today recently ousted General George McClellan spoke to adoring crowds in New York City. Apparently he held off on dissing the Lincoln administration and seems to be genuinely appreciative of all New Yorkers had contributed to the war cause and the Army of the Potomac.

From The New-York Times November 21, 1862:

Gen. McClellan at the Fifth-avenue Hotel.; SERENADE BY THE YOUNG MEN’S DEMOCRACTIC ASSOCIATION–SPEECH OF THE GENERAL, ETC.

When it became generally known yesterday that Gen. McCLELLAN had left Trenton, in the State of New-Jersey, and had arrived at the Fifth-avenue Hotel, quite a number of his personal friends and admirers called to see him at his rooms. Many of them, however, were disappointed, for the General left the hotel at 10 A.M. and did not return until 2 P.M. The fact that he was not at his published headquarters, created some doubt as to whether he was really in the City, and, consequently, there were but few callers until evening, when, as had been publicly announced, he was to be serenaded by the Young Men’s Democratic Association. The time stated for the commencement of the serenade was 10 P.M., but as early as 9 o’clock there were several hundred people present. … He had gone out, so it was said, to visit some friends, and of course, was not in the hotel. Here was another disappointment; but as some members of the Seventh Regiment band appeared, it was taken for granted that the serenade would be given, and they all remained.

7th New York State Militia, Camp Cameron, D.C. (photographed 1861, printed later; LOC: LC-USZ62-105258)

‘prompt in responding to the appeal of the Government for aid’


At 20 minutes of 11 o’clock the Young Men’s Democratic Association appeared in front of the hotel, with Capt. RYNDERS’ gun, and band and gun began to play. With them there came several hundred citizens, who enlivened the occasion by cheers for Gen. MCCLELLAN and reseated groans for Gen. FREMONT and Mr. GREELEY. There was a call for three cheers for Gen. BURNSIDE, which was responded to with one faint cheer, and a die-away.

At length the General appeared, accompanied by Mr. LUKE COZZENS, President of the Young Men’s Democratic Association, and the assemblage gave cheer after cheer, lasting for fully a minute. The President of the Association made several attempts to introduce the General, and was as often interrupted by cheers for the late Commander of the Army of the Potomac. Finally, he succeeded in introducing him, and when the renewed cheering had ceased, the General spoke as follows:

Bronze equestrian statue of Major General George Brinton McClellan located in the triangular traffic island formed by the intersection of Connecticut Ave., Columbia Road, and California St., NW, Washington, D.C. (by Carol M. Highsmith, 2010; LOC: LC-DIG-highsm-09482)

‘I am still a soldier’

GEN. M’CLELLAN’S SPEECH.

MY FRIENDS: I thank you, cordially, for this spontaneous tribute of regard. I accept it not for myself, but for the Army of the Potomac, which I once commanded, [cheers,] and in which you are so deeply interested. Every battle, from Yorktown to Antietam, has added new proofs of the courage and devotion of the citizen soldiers of New-York, and has increased the debt of gratitude to them. No portion of the Republic has more liberally given its millions of money and thousands of men to the cause than this great Metropolis. At the commencement of the struggle no community was more prompt in responding to the appeal of the Government for aid. No community has a greater stake in the success of our cause than this-none more closely bound by the ties of kindred to the army with which I have been so long associated. I, therefore, and my former comrades with me, will feel doubly honored by the occasion this evening. And it is with a heart full to overflowing with gratitude, that I again thank you for your presence to-night. You know that I am still a soldier, and you will not expect a speech from me; and you will, therefore, allow me to bid you good night.

The General retired amid renewed cheering, and soon afterward all was quiet in front of the Fifth-avenue Hotel.

I’m not sure about his gun, but Isaiah Rynders was a Democrat and “political organizer for Tammany Hall”. He and his gang opposed abolitionists:

By the end of the decade, he was considered to be the de facto leader of the Five Points street gangs and was often requested by authorities to use his influence to cease rioting and gang-related violence which the police were unable to stop. He was a particularly important figure in civil disturbances against abolitionists during the period encountering such people as Frederick Douglass and Abby Gibbons. On one occasion, Wendell Phillips was stopped from speaking at the Broadway Tabernacle when Rynders publicly threatened that he and his men would “wreck the building and mob the audience”. Henry Ward Beecher invited Phillips to speak at Plymouth Church and, when a mob led by Rynders followed Phillips, he and his followers were met by a group of well-armed men who defended the building. It was during this meeting that Phillips not only spoke out against slavery but also of the corruption of Tammany Hall.

Harpweek discusses some of the activities of the Democratic Young Men’s Association, which:

organized rallies and meetings, where they denounced the war, emancipation, blacks, Lincoln, and the Republicans in terms of class and race warfare. They warned that the Lincoln “dictatorship” was undermining civil liberties, and that the freed slaves would move to New York to take the jobs of white working-class men and marry their daughters.

The Seventh Regiment band might be from the 7th New York Militia, which mustered in for several short stints from 1861 through 1863. A pre-war militia, the 7th was one of the first units to get to Washington, D.C. after Fort Sumter fell to the rebels.

The famous New York Seventh, just after reaching Washington in April 1861 (c1911; LOC: LC-USZ62-76425)

sans band – the 7th NY militia in D.C., April 1861

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Good Fences …

Posted on November 19, 2012 by SUMPTER
Stripping a rail fence for fires (by Alfred R. Waud, between 1860 and 1865; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-21020)

bane to animal husbandry

would make good neighbors – if the Yankees hadn’t destroyed them, too.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch November 15, 1862:

The fence law.

The last Legislature of Virginia, in view of the savages of the enemy rendering it impossible for farmers to keep up their fences, repealed the fence law as it existed in the statutes of Virginia, and passed another act, which we publish below:

1. Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That the 1st section of the 99th chapter of the Code of Virginia, so far as it applies to the counties of Hanover, Henrico, New Kent, Charles City, James City, York, Warwick, Elizabeth City, Alexandria, Fairfax, Fauquier, Stafford, and King George, be, and the same is hereby, repealed.
2. Be it further enacted, That the County Courts of the counties of Augusta, Frederick, Clarke, Warren, Rappahannock, Norfolk, Princess Anne, Mercer, Shenandoah, Page, Prince William, Spotsylvania. Hampshire, Berkeley, Caroline, and Nansemond, shall have power (all the Justices having been summoned, and a majority thereof being present.) to dispense with the existing law in regard to enclosures, so far as their respective counties may be concerned, or such parts thereof, to be described by metes and bounds, as in their discretion they may deem it expedient to exempt from the operation of such law.
3. If any horses, mules, cattle, hogs, sheep or goats, or any animal of either of the preceding classes, shall enter into any grounds in the counties enumerated in the first section of this act, in which the existing law of enclosures has been repealed, or into the grounds of any other county or counties or parts of counties in which the courts thereof shall repeal the existing law of enclosures, after such repeal, the owner or manager of any such animal shall be liable to the owner or occupier of such grounds for any damages arising from such entry; for every succeeding trespass by such animal, the owner thereof shall be liable for double damages; and after having given at least five days notice to the owner or manager of such animal of two previous trespasses, the owner or occupier of such grounds shall be entitled to such animal, if it be found again trespassing on said grounds.
4. provided, however, that this act shall apply to, and be in force in, the counties of Elizabeth City, York and Warwick only for the period of three years, dating from the declaration of peace between the Confederate States and the United States.
5. This act shall be in force from its passage.

Three unidentified young soldiers in uniforms with shotguns, musket, and pipes in a field with a fence in the background (between 1861 and 1865; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-27555)

fence intact

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All Liquored Up

Posted on November 17, 2012 by SUMPTER
Busy street scene on Broadway, New York City (ca. 1862; LOC: LC-USZ62-125057)

NY City: where the 160th got mustered in

New recruits from Buffalo cause havoc on a troop train; another member of an “old’ regiments dies by disease.

These two quick articles were printed consecutively in the same column in a Seneca County, New York newspaper in November 1862:

Departure of the Auburn Regiment.

The 160th Regiment, Col. DWIGHT, left Auburn on Tuesday afternoon for New York, where it will be attached to Gen. BANK’s command. Previous to the departure of the Regiment considerable dfficulty broke out among the men in the Buffalo company. On the way to [S]yracuse one of the men assaulted a Lieutenant, who drew his revolver and shot the soldier in the side. His wound is not considered dangerous. Many of the men were in a beastly state of intoxication upon the departure of the Regiment.

Lieut. JAMES GRAY and the men he recruited here are attached to Col. DWIGHT’s Regiment.

____________________________________________

Death of Thomas Murphy.

We regret to be under the necessity of stating that Thomas Murphy, a member of the Waterloo Company in the 33d Regiment, died about a week since. His connections here do not know what his disease was, but from several circumstances, know that his illness must have been brief. Mr. Murphy leaves a wife and six small children, to whom his death is a serious loss. Almost every dollar of his pay was devoted to his family.

The evils of war are terrible enough when they remove from us our young unmarried men, but they are greatly aggravated when they remove the parent of a numerous family.

Waterloo Observer.

Thomas Murphy (http://dmna.ny.gov/historic/reghist/civil/rosters/Infantry/33rd_Infantry_CW_Roster.pdf)

Thomas Murphy

_____________________________________________________

The 160th New York Infantry Regiment was mustered in at New York City on November 21, 1862. Its first assignment was with Nathaniel Banks’ army in the Department of the Gulf:

In November 1862 he was asked to organize a force of thirty thousand new recruits, drawn from New York and New England. As a former governor of Massachusetts, he was politically connected to the governors of these states, and the recruitment effort was successful. In December he sailed from New York with a this large force of raw recruits to replace Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler at New Orleans, Louisiana, as commander of the Department of the Gulf.

Charles Chauncey Dwight was a New York State judge after the war.

The Banks expedition--scene on the hurricane deck of the U.S. transport North Star--the soldiers of the 41st Mass. Regiment writing home to their friends upon their arrival at Ship Island, Gulf of Mexico (by F.H. Schell, Frank Leslie's illustrated newspaper, 1863 Jan. 17, p. 257, bottom half; LOC: LC-USZ62-98002)

41st Mass also headed to the Gulf

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Keystone Cops

Posted on November 16, 2012 by SUMPTER
Camp Curtin (Harper's Weekly May 11, 1861)

Camp Curtin with patriotic volunteers (May 1861)

Provost Guard has its work cut out for it at Camp Curtin.

Richmond’s Daily Dispatch says the removal of native Pennsylvanian George McClellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac has caused an increase in the turbulence at Camp Curtin, the training camp for recruits near Harrisburg. One of the underlying issues appears to be the drafted men’s resistance to breaking up the new regiments they joined, so that they could be made to fill up the old regiments.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch November 15, 1862:

Pennsylvania Obstinate — Apprehended Difficulties between the drafted men and the Provost Guard.

The removal of McClellan has brought things to a fever heat in Pennsylvania. The Philadelphia Inquirer, of the 12th, alluding to the precarious state of affairs at Camp Curtin, the principal camp of the drafted men of the “Keystone” State, says:

The State of feeling at Camp Curtin is unsettled, so far as the drafted men are concerned. The objections to going into the old regiments are persisted in, while the idea of giving up their company organizations is regarded as an act of tyranny. It is in contemplation to test the matter legally. The purpose is to bring a case before a court, and test whether the men drafted can claim the provision and protection of the State law under which they were called into service, or whether the officers now in the service can force the drafted men in the old regiments. This would be the proper and the safe means of settling what is really a grave difference,

Camp Curtin (Harper's Weekly, September 13, 1862)

The camp in September 1862 – just before stone throwers and deserters?

The duty of the Provost guard at present is of a character at once onerous and dangerous. They occupy a position which is not fairly understood by the men in Camp Curtin, with whom a difficulty exists as to their disposal in companies and regiments. The Provost guard are bound to execute their orders. They are soldiers who know nothing but obedience, and it is to be hoped that the drafted men will not tempt the Provost guard into what might seem to be, if not actually become, bloody force. On the night of the 5th, the guard, while on duty, were very badly treated by the men in Camp Curtin. They were assailed with stones, thrown by men concealed behind tents, and otherwise rudely attacked by the drafted men. Insubordination of this kind is disgraceful to the guilty.

Since the differences and dissatisfactions among the drafted men, large numbers have deserted, and the purpose to do so is also avowed by still larger numbers of the men now in Camp Curtin. Every hour adds to the embarrassment. On the 6th inst., one of the men, in attempting to break the guard, was shot in the leg, and severely if not dangerously wounded.

And, as The American Civil War points out, there was a lot of resistance to the 1862 draft in Pennsylvania even before the men got to camp:

On Oct. 16, the draft began in every county in Pennsylvania except Philadelphia. The nation’s most serious resistance to conscription broke out Oct. 17, in Berkley, Luzerne County, where the military fired on a mob of rioters and killed 4 or 5 of them. Resistance also flared in Carbondale, Scranton, and other regions in the coal country, mostly among the Irish.

Gov. Curtin wrote to Secretary of War Stanton on Oct. 22: “The draft is being resisted in several counties of the State. In Schuylkill County I am just informed that 1,000 armed men are assembled, and will not suffer the train to move with the drafted men to this place. I wish ample authority to use my troops in the State, and particularly the regulars and Anderson Cavalry at Carlisle, to crush this effort instantly. We will thus enforce the law, and effectually, if successful, prevent the like occurring in other parts of the State.”

Camp Curtin Historical Society and Civil War Roundtable publishes periodic newsletters; it’s most recent features a biography of McClellan, including the flag system he developed to improve communication in his army.

The first image of Camp Curtin along with a couple paragraphs about the early patriotic fervor in Pennsylvania can be found at Son of the South. Drill-sergeants at Camp Curtin drill cheerful volunteers from “daylight till dark.” The second image from September 1862 is found at the same site.

Penna. R.R. depot., Harrisburg, Pa. (ca. 1861; LOC: LC-DIG-stereo-1s01504)

Deserters probably didn’t catch a train home

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