draft dilemmas

Posted on February 26, 2015 by SUMPTER
A bitter "Draught." (LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/scsm000388/)

good for what ails the Union?

150 years ago this month another Union draft was rapidly approaching, but a local town still didn’t know what its quota would be. The town supervisor was down in New York City headhunting for recruits to fill his town’s requirements. Gothamites could be recruited for $650. Unfortunately, the town was having trouble selling the necessary bonds to raise the cash for the bounties.

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in February 1865:

The Quota of Seneca Falls.

Our very accommodating officials in charge of the Provost Marshal’s office at Auburn, have not yet informed us of the number of men wanted under the last call, though the day of the conscription is near at hand. The Supervisor of the town, however, is in New York for the purpose of filling the quota. He telegraphs home that he can get recruits for $650, if the money can be raised on the bonds. A public meeting was accordingly held at Concert Hall, Wednesday evening to see about raising the money. The meeting was not numerously attended, and after appointing a committee to see what could be done in the premises, an adjournment was affected until Saturday evening, when it is desirable that all who feel an interest in relieving the town from a draft, will come forward and take the bonds. Let everybody go to the Concert Hall on Saturday evening.

The political cartoon is from the Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana at http://www.loc.gov/item/scsm000388/
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fishy business

Posted on February 25, 2015 by SUMPTER
700px-1864_Mitchell_Map_of_Baltimore,_Maryland_-_Geographicus_-_Baltimore-mitchell-1864

scene of the crimes (Mitchell’s 1864 map of Baltimore)

A presumably Democrat paper criticized President Lincoln for using his power of pardon to release a former Baltimore Provost Martial who was convicted of abusing his power.

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in February 1865:

COL. FISH PARDONED. – President Lincoln has pardoned Col. Fish, late Provost Marshal of Baltimore. – Albany Journal.

We have been looking for this announcement. This Fish was an officer of a Massachusetts regiment, and became Provost Marshal at Baltimore under the rule of Gen. Schenck. Fish was the executive instrument of that General’s oppressive administration in Maryland – a “loyal” man who delighted in persecuting “copperheads” and “traitors.” When Schenck passed from office and a new commander came in, it was discovered that the excessively “loyal” Col. Fish had been guilty of almost every manner of rascality. He was tried by Court Martial, convicted and sentenced to fine and imprisonment. His guilt was clear and beyond question. But in consideration of his having been a good and faithful partisan servant, the President now pardons and sets him loose. – Union.

William S. Fish originally served in the First Connecticut Cavalry. On January 24, 1864 he was arrested “by order of the Secretary of War on the charge of official corruption and fraud while acting as provost-marshal of Baltimore. He was afterwards tried by court-martial, found guilty on nearly all the charges preferred against him, cashiered, and sent to the Albany penitentiary.” There is an online suggestion that Provost marshal Fish would arrest citizens, then offer “to intervene on their behalf for a fee.”

You can view and possibly read an August 11, 1864 letter from an “immediate neighbor” of Colonel Fish’ to President Lincoln ay American Memory. The letter vouches for the good character of the colonel and requests that the president intervene. A different colonel from Connecticut was going to visit Washington to seek Executive Clemency.

I have not seen any evidence online that President Lincoln actually did pardon Colonel Fish. Wikipedia notes that probably the most famous person President Lincoln pardoned was Clement Vallandigham, who was then delivered to the rebels. Of President Lincoln’s 343 interventions 264 were Dakota Indians from the Sioux Uprising of 1862.

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from the quagmire

Posted on February 24, 2015 by SUMPTER

The Civil War has changed America in some ways over the last four years, but Yankees are still firing off cannon to honor Washington’s birthday. And rain makes Virginia “one vast quagmire” – the Dispatch doesn’t anticipate General Grant trying his own “mud march.” Disregarding General-in-Chief Lee’s advice, the Confederate Congress apparently tabled a bill to recruit blacks troops. Reserve commanders were ordered to use their forces to round up missing white soldiers, to “employ them [the reserves] vigorously in arresting and returning to the army all deserters and absentees.” That would seem to be even more important if you weren’t going to get the 200,000 black men.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch February 24, 1865:

Friday morning…February 24, 1865
The news.
The Richmond and Petersburg lines.

Since the salutes fired by the Yankees on the 22d, the sound of big guns has not been heard on the north side of the James. At Petersburg, the national salute was fired by Grant’s artillery with shotted guns, some of the shells falling in the city. On this side, as we have before stated, they contented themselves with letting off blank cartridges.

For several days past there has been so much stir within the enemy’s lines south of Petersburg as to give rise to the report that they were concentrating for another attack on our extreme right. As, however, no attack has been made, it is probable the commotion observed was incidental to the removal of a part of the Yankee army to City Point, en route to co-operate with Schofield and Sherman in the Carolinas. If any offensive movement against the Petersburg lines was contemplated by Grant, it has been indefinitely postponed by the drenching rain of yesterday, which has converted Eastern Virginia into one vast quagmire.

From the South.

The city was, yesterday, filled with rumors relative to military movements in North and South Carolina; but we have no official intelligence from that quarter. We, however, know that affairs in that quarter are already beginning to wear a more pleasing aspect.

General Joseph E. Johnston was, on Wednesday, ordered to report to General Lee; and it is the general opinion that he has been assigned to the command of all the forces operating against Sherman. It has been a rumor for some days that General Beauregard had asked to be relieved on account of ill health. General Johnston had been with General Beauregard since our troops fell back from the line of the Edisto.

Negro soldiers — the question disposed of.

The Confederate Senate, on yesterday, removed the injunction of secrecy from the proceedings on the Senate bill, introduced by Mr. Brown, of Mississippi, to provide for raising two hundred thousand negro troops. It appears that the bill was lost in the Senate on Tuesday, the 21st instant, by a vote of eleven to ten. Those who voted for an indefinite postponement of the bill — which amounts to its defeat — were Messrs. Baker, Barnwell, Caperton, Garland, Graham, Hunter, Johnson of Georgia, Johnson of Missouri, Maxwell, Orr and Wigfall.

Those who voted in the negative were Messrs. Brown, Burnett, Haynes, Henry, Oldham, Semmes, Simms, Vest, Walker and Watson.

In official circles, this is considered as disposing of the question of putting negro soldiers into our armies finally. The House negro soldier bill, which is very similar to the Senate bill, has not been, and it is now believed will not be, acted upon by the Senate.

Important to the reserves.

The following important order, just issued by the Adjutant-General, will be found especially interesting to all those belonging to the reserve forces. It will be seen that the whole business of enforcing the conscript law is devolved upon them. We give the general order:

“Adjutant and inspector general’s Office, “Richmond, Virginia, February23, 1865.

“General Orders, No. 8.

“I General of reserves will immediately place upon active duty every man belonging to that class who is not specially detailed, or has not been turned ever to generals commanding armies, departments or districts. They will organize them into convenient bodies, and will employ them vigorously in arresting and returning to the army all deserters and absentees.

“II. This service will, for the present, constitute the primary duty of officers of the reserve forces, and they will enter actively upon it.

“III. Generals of reserves will visit and inspect the localities in which this force is most needed, and can be most beneficially employed, and will give their personal attention to the organization and operations of their troops in carrying out these orders. They will report twice a month to the Adjutant and Inspector-General the number of men arrested and sent by them to the army.

“IV. Generals commanding armies will return to the generals of reserves for this duty all the reserve forces in active service that are not indispensably necessary in the field.

“V. It is not intended that these orders shall effect the reserves employed in guarding railroad bridges.
“By order.

[Signed] “S. Cooper,

“Adjutant and Inspector-General.

“Official H. L. Clay,

“Assistant Adjutant General.”

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old news …

Posted on February 23, 2015 by SUMPTER
Portrait of Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor, officer of the Confederate Army (between 1860 and 1865; LOC: LC-DIG-cwpb-06290)

Dick Taylor

Not exactly good news for the rebel cause

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in 1865:

The War in the Southwest.

CAIRO, Feb. 21. – The Memphis Bulletin learns from gentlemen who left Selma, Ala., on the 14th ult., and came through Meridian and Jackson, Miss., that Dick Taylor, has a considerable force at Selma and also at Meridian. At Selma the Rebels were manufacturing and turning out large quantities of munitions of war. Fortifications extend all around the place, but they are not very formidable. Most of Hood’s army had been sent to operate against Sherman. They were nearly naked and wholly dispirited, and had lost all hope of successful resistance to the Federal troops. Large numbers were barefooted, and it is stated that ten thousand of Hood’s men had their feet frost-bitten during their retreat from Nashville, in which they suffered more than during the previous three years of the war. The slaveholders were greatly dissatisfied with the conscription of slaves and free negroes for service in the army; but the work was actively going on. Gen Forrest was collecting a force at Jackson, Miss., for operations, it was said, against Vicksburg. The Mississippi Legislature was to meet at Columbus on the 20th, and relieve the destitute people.

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Cumberland catch

Posted on February 21, 2015 by SUMPTER
Brig. Gen. B. F. Kelley, U.S.A. (by Frederick Gutekunst, Philadelphia : McAllister & Brother, c1862; LOC: LC-USZ62-126419)

in and out of Libby Prison

150 years ago today a rebel raid surprised a couple Union generals, who were then sent off to Libby Prison for a month. General-in-Chief Lee reported that no shooting was necessary

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in February 1865:

DARING DASH OF REBEL CAVALRY. – A dispatch from Wheeling dated the 21st inst. states that a party of rebel cavalry dashed into Cumberland, West Virginia, before daylight that morning, surprised and captured the pickets, and carried off Generals Crook and Kelley.

It seems to have been a very daring and well-planned affair.

Cavalry have been sent in pursuit.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch February 25, 1865: …

Sheridan and his generals (by Alexander Gardner, 1-2-1865; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-24021)

General Crook (center) while safe in Union hands

Bold exploit — the Yankee Generals Crook and Kelly captured.

The following interesting official telegram was received at the War Department last night:

“Headquarters, February24, 1865.

“Hon. J. C. Breckinridge, Secretary of War:

“General Early reports that Lieutenant McNeil, with thirty men, on the morning of the 21st, entered Cumberland, captured and brought out Generals Crook and Kelly, the adjutant- general of the department, two privates and the headquarters flag, without firing a gun, though a considerable force is stationed in the vicinity.

“Lieutenant McNeil and party deserve much credit for this bold exploit.

“Their prisoners will reach Staunton to-day.

“R. E. Lee.”

Another account.

The following telegram was received yesterday:

“Harrisonburg,February 24. –Major-Generals B. F. Kelly and George Crook, and Major Thayer Melvin, of General Crook’s staff, are here, en route for Richmond. They were captured in Cumberland, Maryland, last Tuesday morning at 3 o’clock, by Lieutenant Jesse McNeil and forty- five of his men, and fifteen of General Rosser’s furloughed men.–They will reach your city by the cars on the Central railroad to-morrow.”

_______________________________________________________

Richmond, Virginia. Washington monument (1865 Apr.; LOC: LC-DIG-cwpb-01277)

did the captured generals glimpse Richmond’s Washington monument while at Libby? (April 1865 photo)

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Save Our South!

Posted on February 20, 2015 by SUMPTER

I guess desperate times really do call for desperate measures. In its Monday morning editorial the Dispatch calls for the Confederate Congress to let General Lee use slaves as soldiers in exchange for their freedom. As you can read, the editorial uses the “fight fire with fire” argument and respects General Lee’s opinion on the subject.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch February 20, 1865:

Negro soldiers.

Unidentified African American soldier in Union uniform and Company B, 103rd Regiment forage cap with bayonet and scabbard in front of painted backdrop showing landscape with river] (between 1863 and 1865; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-36988)

hey, the Yankees are doing it

At the beginning of this war there was an important question to be solved by its progress, and that was: Could the South prosecute the struggle with out embarrassment from the existence of four millions of human beings within her limits who were not amenable to service with arms in the field. Generally, it is considered necessary to the defence of an invaded nation that all the men between certain ages, capable of bearing arms, shall be amenable to service in the field. Here, the black constituted a distinct class, and it was supposed by many that, as they produced the necessaries of life, they would sustain the public defence more successfully in that way than if sent in the field to fight. But nations that are hard pressed by powerful invasions leave the production of the necessaries of life to that part of the population which is under and over the conscript ages. Could we pursue a different course? Could we set apart a large population, irrespective of age, to the pursuits of production of the ne was doing force? However that question might have been decided under other circumstances, the employment by the enemy, in making war upon us, of that very class of beings we intended to exclude from the field, forces upon us the necessity of placing them in the front to defend the country. We must fight the negro with the negro, whatever we could have done had the enemy forborne to employ him. This necessity is, of course, disagreeable, as is proved by the evident reluctance with which we have entered upon the discussion. Therefore, whatever the differences of opinion hitherto on this subject, all parties are now willing to leave the solution to the sound, practical judgment of General Lee. He is known to be earnestly in its favor, and we want no other endorsement. We hesitate not to say that the time has come when negroes should be employed as soldiers, and that they should be offered their freedom, for that purpose, upon entering their availability as soldiers, of their courage and efficiency under a proper system of discipline — such a system as General Lee, at once firm and humane, would inaugurate. It is better to liberate two hundred thousand negroes, and to put them in the army, than to run the risk of losing all. We would rather sacrifice them all, and make emancipation universal, than hazard the independence of the Confederate States. If we fail, we lose everything, property of every kind, and our own independence. Let Congress give heed to the counsels of General Lee. In pursuance of the universal public sentiment, it has called him to the chief command of the armies of the Confederate States. But of what avail will be that action if Congress does not clothe him with the means which he deems necessary to success? For this purpose, he should have carte blanche to raise the forces he desires upon such terms, and in such a way, as he deems expedient. There is no time for delay. If Congress grasp the subject with the promptness, energy and breadth of statesmanship that it demands, the country issued.

But, also in desperation, Lee’s Adjutant, Walter Taylor, wrote his girlfriend 150 years ago today and wished the South had a more vital general than his boss to save the South (at least as general-in chief, I think he might be saying):

Portrait of General Robert E. Lee, February 18, 1865

” Our old Chief”

Edge Hill

20 Feb. ’65

This has been a day of considerable bustle, my dear Bettie, and even now there are some incomplete matters claiming my attention. I will not longer defer my letter, however, for it is impossible to say what a day may bring forth in these uncertain times. Truly affairs are becoming quite exciting, are they not? If somebody doesn’t arrest Sherman, where will he stop? Where are those who leave Richmond to go? [concern about family and friends near Charlotte and in Richmond] No place promises security that I can see, except immediately with the army. … You had better mount your horse and travel along with me until the uncertainty has passed and our affairs are once more straightened out. They are trying to corner this old army like a brave old lion brought to bay at last. It is determined to resist to the death and if die it must, to die game. But we have not yet quite made up our minds to die … Our people must make up their minds to see Richmond go, to see all the cities go, but must not lose spirit, must not give up. … Oh for a man of iron nerve and will to lead us! We need a strong hand now. There can be no trifling, no halting or hesitation now without ruin. Our old Chief is too law abiding, too slow, too retiring for these times, that is to dare & do what I deem necessary, but nevertheless he is the best we have, certainly the greatest captain and in his own safe & sure way will yet, I trust, carry us through this the greatest trial yet. … [ordered to be ready for a march] … the army will retain its position still a time longer, the General in Chief may soon bid a temporary adieu and repair to another scene of excitement. …[1]

  1. [1]Tower, R. Lockwood with John S. Belmont, eds.Lee’s Adjutant: The Wartime Letters of Colonel Walter Herron Taylor, 1862-1865. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1995. Print. page 224-225.↩
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tough “tug of war” ahead

Posted on February 19, 2015 by SUMPTER
NY Times 2-19-1865

NY Times 2-19-1865

It seems like it was a rough week 150 years ago for the Palmetto state, the first star on the Confederate flag. Columbia, South Carolina’s capital fell to Sherman’s army and much of the city burned. The next day Charleston, that one-time fire-eater’s paradise, and Fort Sumter, the crumbling symbol out in the harbor, was occupied by Union forces. Charleston also burned. A local newspaper in upstate New York seemed to appreciate the symbolism of the Northern success but assumed real hard fighting was just beginning. What to do? Destroy the vaunted rebel armies and then implement a “wise and humane policy.”

NY Times 2-20-1865

NY Times 2-20-1865

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in February 1865:

The Evacuation of Charleston.

Official dispatches elsewhere in to-day’s paper announce the occupation of Charleston, S.C., by the federal forces. This event creates no little excitement in the public mind, from the fact that it was at Charleston where this terrible civil war was inaugurated, and where the flag of the old Union was first humbled by the Confederate power. It is some satisfaction after all the fierce and sanguinary battles which have followed that event, to see the same old flag flying high above the remains of Sumpter [sic], and the boasted pride of the Palmetto state in turn humbled to the dust. It must indeed be humiliating to the Southern people to give up Charleston after they have defended it so long and heroically against the combined forces of the Federal army and navy; but the manner in which they gave it up – almost a barren waste – is but another exhibition of their inflexibility of purpose and their determined resistance to the invading foe.

NY Times 2-21-1865

NY Times 2-21-1865

The abandonment of Charleston by the enemy we do not believe is evidence of weakness on their part, but simply the carrying out of a long cherished plan of concentrating their forces for the final struggle. The South cannot be conquered by the mere capture of undefended cities. Past experience has sufficiently demonstrated this fact. It is only the defeat and dispersion of Confederate armies, and the interposition of a wise and humane policy, that is to permanently restore the authority of the government. Gen. Sherman has accomplished, and is still accomplishing wonders, almost, but it should not be forgotten he has had no fighting to do since he left Atlanta. He is now where he will have graver work to perform than the capture of unoccupied cities. With the fall of Charleston and perhaps of Richmond, we verily believe, commences in reality and terrible earnestness the tug of war. The President having made the struggle one of abolition and subjugation, the South will sacrifice their all in defence of their homes and firesides.

Fort Sumter 2-18-1865 (LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/99448802/)

symbolic analysis (“Fort Sumter, South Carolina at the time of its capture February 18th, 1865. Showing the effects of the bombardment from Morris Island ” (LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/99448802/)

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praying for spring?

Posted on February 18, 2015 by SUMPTER

Elmira, New York, as a prison for captured rebels and as a recruiting and mustering in place for new Union soldiers, was in the news 150 years ago this month.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch February 18, 1865:

Religion in prison.

–There are in the prisoners’ camp in Elmira, New York, at the present time, one thousand six hundred and eleven rebel prisoners who make profession of religion. They have come from twelve different States–Virginia and North Carolina furnishing the largest number. –Five hundred and forty-two are Methodists, five hundred and forty-seven Baptists, one hundred and ten Presbyterians, two hundred and forty-two Catholics, and the remainder are distributed among the less prominent religious denominations.

Two from Seneca County, New York newspapers in February 1865:

FORT FISHER PRISONERS. – The Elmira Advertiser says 216 prisoners taken at Fort Fisher are at that place in confinement.

RESCINDED. – The order sent from Maj. Haddock, Ass’t Provost Marshal General, at Elmira, directing that nothing but greenbacks shall be given to recruits for local bounties has been rescinded.

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street car experiment

Posted on February 17, 2015 by admin
Kimball & Gorton Philadelphia R.R. Car Manufactory, 21st & Hamilton Streets Philadelphia ( [Philadelphia] : P.S. Duval & Son's Lith., [ca. 1857]; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-24876)

still segregated in Philly

It looks like early in 1865 a Philadelphia company tried to voluntarily desegregate its street cars. Not enough white folks were buying it – or tickets.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch February 17, 1865:

The negroes not to ride in the Philadelphia street cars.

–The Philadelphia Ledger contains the following account of the failure of the first regular effort to allow “colored” citizens to ride with whites in the street cars:

The Fifth and Sixth Streets-Railroad Company, with a view of testing how far public opinion desired, and would sanction, the carrying of colored passengers in the city railroad cars, four weeks ago passed an order removing all restrictions to passengers on account of color. The experiment has not been a successful one, and the company has been compelled to impose the restriction again, as the following [ annoucement ] of theirs show:

“At a meeting of the Board of Directors, held on the 6th instant, the following preamble and resolutions were adopted:

The Banjo ([Philadelphia] : Phil. Pho. Co., c1865.; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-11512)

street car blues?

“Whereas, the Frankford and Southwark Passenger Railroad Company have been carrying colored passengers, without restriction, for the last four weeks, and the experiment has resulted in a serious prejudice to the company, arising from hostility to the measure on the part of the patrons of the road, and a want of sympathy on the part of other similar companies; and whereas, the directors, whatever their private views may be, cannot consistently jeopardize the pecuniary interests of the stockholders; therefore.

“Resolved, That the order admitting colored persons be rescinded from and after the 10th instant, except on special cars, to be appropriated.

“Resolved, That every fifth car be appropriated for colored passengers.”

One difficulty with the railroad companies is, that there are not enough colored persons disposed or able to ride in cars to make up for the loss sustained by white customers refusing to ride with the colored persons, and it is not to be expected that business companies will sacrifice their pecuniary interests to carry out a political or social principle.

Government would eventually intervene in the market. After non-violent protests led by Octavius Catto a Pennsylvania law was passed in March 1867 that “prohibited segregation on transit systems in the state.”

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no treaties with traitors

Posted on February 16, 2015 by SUMPTER

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch February 15, 1865:

The spirit at the North.

–In New York, on Thursday evening, a meeting of the Union League Club was held, and the following resolutions, offered by Dr. Frank Leiber, were adopted. They show pretty plainly the aims of the dominant party at the North:

Prof. Frances Lieber (between 1855 and 1865; LOC: LC-DIG-cwpbh-01402)

‘No diminution of our country by one inch of land or one drop of water’

“Whereas, the American people ardently desire the re-establishment of peace in this country; and whereas, the conclusion of peace with the insurgents now in arms against the country is frequently called for; and whereas, it is fit for this large association of loyal citizens solemnly to express their opinion on a subject important to all, and pregnant with consequences both grave and lasting; therefore

“Resolved, That the American people, by all their sacrifices of blood and wealth, are, indeed, seeking the re-establishment of peace in this land, disturbed as it continues to be by its rebellious citizens; but we discountenance every idea of a conclusion of peace with traitors as a contracting party, which would amount to an acknowledgment of them as a separate Power, capable of making treaties.

“Resolved, That it is a grave error to maintain that we have acknowledged our enemy as belligerent in the sense of the law of nations, and that this acknowledgment gives him the standing of a public enemy, capable of contracting treaties. On the contrary, the United States, for the sake of humanity only, have applied the rules of regular warfare to the present rebellion — a generous conduct which the enemy has requited with barbarous cruelty towards our captured sons and brothers, and with a callous disregard of many of the rules of humanity, faith and honor, which civilized people observe in modern wars.

“Resolved, That no re-establishment of peace can take place, and that no conferences with any insurgents whatever ought to be entered into, except on the following basis and premises, distinctly and plainly laid down and defined, viz:

“1. No armistice on any account.
“2. No foreign mediation.
“3. No slavery.
“4. No assumption of the Southern debt.
“5. No State rights inconsistent with the supreme and paramount authority of the Union, and, above all, no right of secession.
“6. No diminution of our country by one inch of land or one drop of water.

“Resolved, That the President and Secretary communicate these resolutions to the kindred associations of the land, inviting them to express their opinion on the subject of the same.”

Francis Lieber was born in Berlin in 1800 and received two wounds at Waterloo, but he was arrested in 1819 as an enemy of the state. He arrived in Boston in 1827. Dr. Lieber taught history and political economics at South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina) from 1835 until 1856. He taught the same subject at Columbia in New York City from 1856-1865. He had two sons who served in the Union armies during the Civil War, but another son died while fighting for the Confederacy … make that the insurgents. He developed the military code of conduct that President Lincoln promulgated as General Orders No. 100 in April 1863. Apparently Professor Lieber did not favor the retaliatory policytoward the Southern states than some members of the U.S. Senate advocated.

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My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth.

George Washington

Gems of art - Washington - Lincoln (LC-DIG-pga-05562)

no foreign entanglements, indeed

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