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.↩
Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Confederate States of America, Military Matters, Siege of Petersburg, Southern Society | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

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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it’s a sham

Posted on February 14, 2015 by SUMPTER

it’s a shame Southern people aren’t doing anything about it

From The New-York Times February 14, 1865:

The Present Fatuity of the South.

Was there ever such infatuation as that which now possesses the South? Did any people, on the face of the earth, ever show such an utter lack of reason and of self-respect? In the other years of the war, they could be admired for much; and with all their errors, we were not ashamed to claim them as our fellow-countrymen. It was a crime in them to lend themselves to the treason of their leaders; but nobody can deny that once having committed themselves to this bad cause, they have fought for it with a gallantry seldom exceeded in human history. Nor have we, heretofore, been able to charge them with the folly of struggling for the impossible. There were, at the commencement of the war, large chances that it would end in Southern triumph and independence. Even the most sagacious men could reckon with much confidence on foreign intervention in favor of the South; or on a North so divided that President LINCOLN’s administration would be paralyzed, and be succeeded by another which would take peace from the South at any price. There was during the first three years of the war no time in which the patriot had not reason to tremble for the final result; and no time in which the rebels could not reasonably look forward with at least some degree of hope. But the period in which it was possible for the higher qualities of manhood to serve the rebellion has passed. It now lives only through the absurd and contemptible.

The whole Confederate Government, as it now stands, is but an enormous sham, with the single exception of the power wielded by JEFF. DAVIS. A majority of its Congress is made up of men either never regularly elected at all, or representing territory which is no longer under Confederate dominion. Its Vice-President seldom or never appears in the body over which it, is his official duty to preside. Its Secretary of the Treasury has treasure neither in hand nor in expectancy; he is hopelessly bankrupt, and his only business is to print and scatter rags, which he owns to be worthless. Its Secretary of State has no foreign relations to look after; in his speech just made at Richmond he confesses openly that there is no longer any hope that any foreign Power will recognize the Confederacy. Its Secretary of the Navy has no navy to regulate; his last available vessel of any account has been sent to the bottom, and there is none building. Its Postmaster-General has hardly a single unbroken route left to superintend; the greater part of his nominal jurisdiction is as much beyond his reach as if it lay beyond the ocean. Its Supreme Court has never been even nominally organized; it is a pure myth.

The rebel Government is a mockery throughout. We have just seen it, in the persons of DAVIS and BENJAMIN, mouthing great words about independence with the very same breath that it acknowledges that all is lost unless slaves are brought to its rescue. Every proposition to return to the old Government it styles an insult; and yet deliberately courts that insult by sending agents to confer with President LINCOLN, who had just averred that he had nothing else to offer. It croaks by the hour concerning its desperate straits, and winds up with the cool assurance that “croakers should be hanged.”

But the infatuation of the South does not lie so much in the conduct of its rebel rulers as in the behavior of its people. The rulers have staked their every earthly interest and hope upon the success of the rebellion which they planned and started. It is not strange that in their present extremity they should act without regard to reason or consistency. Men who are at their wits’ end naturally act wildly. But why do the Southern people continue to submit to such guidance? It is daily sinking them deeper in ruin, and they cannot help knowing it. There is not a sane Southern man who is not by this time convinced that the “Confederacy” has no chance under heaven. Nobody, not even the warmest partisan of JEFF. DAVIS, now claims the possibility of again getting possession of the Mississippi, of again opening any Confederate port to foreign commerce, or of driving the national armies from Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Georgia, and the other portions of the “Confederacy” now held by them. Nobody claims that there is any possibility of a foreign intervention, or of a Northern division, which can save the Confederacy. Meantime SHERMAN is daily making his way upon Charleston and Columbia without experiencing any serious resistance. The fall of these places, which will sever all connection of the Confederate capital with the Gulf States, is already accepted as a foregone conclusion. GRANT is pressing upon Richmond itself with a grasp that compells even the Richmond press to acknowledge that LEE’s army may, any month, be obliged to leave it. To what more tenable position this army is to go, nobody declares; and for the very good reason that there is none. LEE’s retreat from Richmond would leave him a foothold nowhere. It would only force him to go into an irregular piece-meal warfare, which would have no other effect than to make the South more a prey than ever to license, anarchy and ruin.

It is amazing that the Southern people do not reassert their manhood and shake off the leaders who, because they see no safety for themselves, are bent upon dragging the whole South with them to destruction. Had the Southern people the spirit of true freemen they would resist this miserable fate. By separate State action, or by a general uprising, they would for themselves clear the way for their honorable return to the Union of their fathers.

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Harper’s Weekly didn’t forget Valentine’s Day as you can see in its February 18, 1865 issue at Son of the South

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Prang's Valentine cards (Boston : L. Prang & Co., c1883; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-09465)

c1883

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cornerstones as stumbling blocks

Posted on February 13, 2015 by SUMPTER

Even peace may be purchased at too high a price.
– Benjamin Franklin

150 years ago this week news of President Lincoln’s report to Congress about the peace negotiations at Hampton Roads would have made its way to upstate New York. A local publication criticized the president and his administration for wasting an excellent opportunity for peace, but it ended its editorial strangely optimistic that one day the Republic would be re-united. From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in February 1865:

The Terms of Peace.

The President has transmitted to Congress the correspondence and official documents which preceded the Peace Conference at Hampton Roads, accompanied with a copy of a letter from Secretary Seward to Minister Adams, detailing somewhat minutely, though rather ambiguously, the result of the interview with the Southern Commissioners. From the few remarks which the President makes in transmitting to Congress the correspondence in question, it does not appear that that the Confederate Envoys demanded Independence, neither does it appear that they refused to to consider the subject of Reconstruction. Mr. Seward in his letter to Minister Adams says, in speaking of the interview, that what “the insurgent party seemed chiefly to favor was a postponement of the question of separation upon which the war is waged, and a mutual direction of the efforts of the Government as well as those of the insurgents to some extrinsic policy or scheme for a season; during which passions might be expected to subdue and the armies be reduced, and trade and intercourse between the people of both sections be resumed. It was suggested by them that through such postponement we might now have immediate peace, with some not very certain prospect of an ultimate satisfactory adjustment of political relations between the Government and the States, section or people now engaged in conflict with it.”

The President regarded this as a truce or armistice to which he would not consent, except upon the basis of the disbandonment of the insurgent forces and the restoration of the national authority throughout all the States of the Union. The President also announced, according to Mr. Seward’s letter, that “he must not be expected to depart from the positions he had heretofore assumed in his proclamations of emancipation and other documents, as these positions were laid down in his annual message.” In other words, all the extreme measures advocated and adopted by the radicals, must be carried out at all hazards. Of course the Confederate Commissioners would not accede to any such demands, and it was not expected they would. They accordingly returned and reported the result of their mission, and their report may be found elsewhere in our columns. In no one particular does the message of President Lincoln. or the letter of Mr. Seward contradict the statements of Messrs. Stephens, Hunter and Campbell.

The refusal of the President to entertain the candid and reasonable propositions of the Confederate Commissioners, places upon his shoulders the awful responsibility of the continuance of this most cruel and devastating civil war. Messrs. Stephens, Hunter and Campbell, speaking for the Southern people, did neither demand nor insist upon independence as a basis to negotiations. They desired Peace and Reunion, and they have placed the administration in the attitude of refusing their just demands. An honorable termination of the war was in the power of our government, but in language that cannot be misunderstood, it says the war must go on. Before high Heaven let it take the responsibility!

The result is greatly to be deplored and sad to contemplate. Instead of the blessings of Peace, the people are to have more war, – more drains upon their resources, their numbers – desolation, greater desolation to the country. Under wiser, more just and humane rulers, Peace would have been accomplished. But the die is cast, and the North and South will be braced anew for iron blows – blows which will sink deeper and deeper in the hearts of this people. But let us not yet despair of the Republic. Under more national auspices, under a truer, higher, nobler humanity; that founded on justice and honor, we may eventually witness the dawning of Peace – its attendant blessings falling upon a restored Union and a re-united People.

On February 6, 1865 Walter Taylor, Lee’s Adjutant expressed his opinion about the peace negotiations in a letter to his girlfriend:

I presume all Richmond is in a state of excitement about the return of the Peace Commissioners. I hope all the croakers are satisfied and will hereafter keep silence. It will do us much good and I am really glad they went. Our people now know what they have to expect & unless we are a craven hearted spiritless people, the result will surely prove beneficial & cause every man & woman to be doubly determined to fight to the last. The impudence of those people! Oh, if I only an army big enough to whip them all! The idea of submitting to them. I wouldn’t be one of a people who would do such a thing. I wonder if you’ll read this tiny scrawl. Good bye. Your own

W.[1]

1653

  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 221.↩
Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Confederate States of America, Lincoln Administration, Northern Politics During War, Northern Society | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

more rebel defiance

Posted on February 12, 2015 by SUMPTER

Another home remedy? – for the uncommon cold?

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch February 11, 1865:

A medical opinion.

–Hall’s Journal of Health, which claims to be high authority in medical science, has taken a stand against married people sleeping together, but thinks they had better sleep in adjoining rooms. It says that Kings and Queens do not sleep together, and why should other people? Think of the idea of separating a married couple on a cold winter’s night because Hall’s Journal of Health says so! You go to grass, Mr. Hall.

I’ve heard that medical authorities nowadays think going to the grass could be a good thing.

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150 years ago today Abraham turned 56 years old.

house_Abraham_Lincoln_was_born

Bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln at Lincoln's Summer Home, Washington, D.C. (Carol Highsmith 2009)

The image of baby Lincoln’s home is from wpclipart. Carol M. Highsmith’s January 27, 2009 photo of Lincoln’s summer home is from the Library of Congress.

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Southern Society | Tagged | Leave a comment

freedom on offer?

Posted on February 11, 2015 by SUMPTER
Judah_Benjamin

‘hope beams on every countenance’

On February 9, 1865 Richmond held a meeting to take stock of the unsuccessful peace negotiations held earlier in the month and to discuss what to do next. Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin was one of the speakers. He brought up the idea of freeing slaves who agreed to fight for the Confederacy. The alternative would be a Southern society run by Yankees and ex-slaves. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch February 10, 1865:

The mass meetings yesterday.
great enthusiasm of the people.
addresses by the Hons. R. M. T. Hunter, Secretary Benjamin, and others.

The largest and most enthusiastic meeting ever held in this city was convened at the African Church on yesterday. Two hours before the time of meeting, the whole body of the church, aisles and windows, were crowded, and quite as large a concourse was obliged to stand in the streets, being unable to obtain access to the building. The objects of the meeting were to adopt resolutions expressive of the feelings of the people of Virginia, excited by the gross insult put upon us by Lincoln in his late meeting with our. commissioners at Fortress Monroe, and to take counsel as to our future. …

Speech of Hon. J. P. Benjamin.

Hon. J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of State of the Confederate States, was announced as the next speaker. He was greeted with rousing cheers, and spoke, in substance, as follows:

The number of persons composing this meeting, the cheers with which I hear you greet every expression of patriotic sentiment, shows the defiance with which your breasts are swelling, and the hot flush which all feel, at the bare thought of the ignominy which an arrogant Government has proposed to you, that you should bend the knee, bow the neck, and meekly submit to the conqueror’s yoke; and all give assurance that the fire of freedom burns unquenchably in your souls. How different from one short week ago! It seem an age, so magic has been the change. Then, despondency and hope deterred oppressed and weighed upon us, men were and asking if it were true that no honorable peace were attainable except by continued warfare. Then, it was said it was our parvise indisposition to negotiate that led to the arrogance of the invader. This delusion went so far that it penetrated the legislative halls, and threatened a disruption of the harmony of our councils. Now, cheerful voices are heard all around, and hope beams on every countenance. Now, the resolute and war-worn soldier is nerved anew. Now, the Cheering and purifying influence of our glorious women sheds its light over our cause, and still leads us on in the path of duty and honor. What is the cause of this striking change in the aspect of our affairs? Have we found fillies [allies?] in foreign lands, such as came to our fathers in the hour of their sorest need, to stretch their arm to our assistance. Has any European State come to our aid in the time of our extremity? Not so; but just the reverse. Our gallant Beauregard is still contending against Sherman, and I heard men this morning speculating on the chances of his drawing in his lines an abandoning the defence of Charleston. Glorious Charleston, which, for over twenty months, has withstood a fire such as has never been rained on a devoted city. Our enemies are still arrayed against us. There is no voice from across the Atlantic of any aid to be extended. What then is the cause of this change? It is the knowledge which has come home to the understanding and the hearts of the people. We now know, in the core of our hearts, that [t]his people must conquer its freedom or die. [Cheers.] No Southern man ever dreamed of such arrogation propositions as were brought from Fortress Monroe. Thank God, we know it now. The people know, as one man the path which they must tread or perish.

Our commissioners, sent to confer with the enemy, went with a piece of blank paper, filled with one word written by our President–“Independence.” What were they told? Independence? You are our subjects. Independence? Strip the gaudy epaulette from the shoulders of your officers; strip the uniforms from those who man the trenches; bring your leaders here, and you know me; I am the merciful Lincoln. The issue is thus before us; it is to live free or perish.

It is due to you to know how this peace commission came to be sent, and the facts which proceeded their going. The Emperor Lincoln sent us this message at the close of last year, two months before the commissioners were sent. … [the peace process]

What is our present duty? We want means.–Are they in the country? If so, they belong to the country, and not to the man who chances to hold them now. … [give the Confederacy your cotton, tobacco, and bacon]

Jeff Davis on arming the nigger. By M. B. Ladd. Air--Happy land of Canaan. Johnson, printer, No. 7 North 10th Street. February, 1865 (LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/amss002260/)

a Northern view

I want another thing. War is a game that cannot be played without men. [Cheers.] Where are the men? I am to open my whole heart to you, Look to the trenches below Richmond. Is it not a shame that men who have sacrificed all in our defence should not be reinforced by all the means in our power? Is it any time now for antiquated patriotism to argue a refusal to send them aid, be it white or black? [A voice–” Put in the niggers”– and cheers.] …

I feel that the time is rapidly coming on when the people will wonder that they ever doubted. Let us say to every negro who wishes to go into the ranks on condition of being made free–“Go and fight; you are free.” If we press them, they will go against us. We know that every one who could fight for his freedom has had no chance. The only side that has had the advantage of this element is the Yankee–a people that can beat us to the end of the year in making bargains. Let us imitate them in this — I would imitate them in nothing else. My own negroes have been to me and said: “Master, set us free, and we will fight for you we had rather fight for you than for the Yankees.” But suppose it should not be so — there is no harm in trying. With all my early attachments and prejudices, I would give up all. It can only be done by the States separately. What State will lead off in this thing ! [A voice–“Virginia.”] …

Mr. Benjamin asked, what do our enemies propose to do? and read from the New York Tribune of the 6th instant a review of Butler’s speech, which argued that it was the duty of the Government to render justice to the negro — to educate him — to give him a fair share of the lands his fathers wrought upon — to leave him in the State where he was reared, and to furnish him with the means to begin life. After that, he was to be let severely alone; that is to take his place with other citizens.

Now, said Mr. Benjamin, if there be a bell [hell] upon earth, it would be an universal emancipation of the negroes and the Yankees to rule over us. Can you imagine yourselves in a city where the municipal officers were your former slaves, in a military organization of which the officers were negroes? with the malice of the Yankees firing their hearts to wreak vengeance on us? That is to be our fate if we fail in this contest. And yet men object to making use of the means within our reach, because, forsooth, it might fail. It looks to me very much like a man rushing forth from his burning house, and begging his neighbors, for Heaven’s sake, not to throw water on his blazing roof, because it might spoil his furniture. [Applause.] …

Mr. Benjamin said he saw no prospect of a cessation of this struggle during the present year. Let every man stand up and nerve his heart to the contest. The enemy was utterly unable to continue this war beyond the present campaign. Let us stand up firmly, and we shall be free.

In conclusion, Mr. Benjamin drew a beautiful picture of peace and its consequent blessings, and said all that and awaited us if we nerved ourselves as we ought to for this last struggle.

The February 25, 1865 issue of Harper’s Weekly at Son of the South found Mr. Benjamin’s speech hypocritical with no chance of success:

JUDAH P. BENJAMIN.

IN his speech at the Richmond meeting to fire the rebel heart Mr. JUDAH P. BENJAMIN, of Louisiana, the rebel Secretary of State, strongly urged the policy of arming the slaves. When our soldiers in the trenches, said he, are crying out for help, shall we care whether the aid we send is black or white ? …

Or is it the whites who are to believe that all your teaching which seduced them into rebellion was false ? If the negro is only fit for slavery, why promise him freedom ? If God meant him for it, if it is his own wish, if he be happy in it, why disturb him, why not promise him that God’s order and his own choice shall be respected? If, as STEPHENS said, you went out of the old Union to form a new one upon slavery, what do you mean by abolition ? These are questions that will be asked, that ask themselves, and which you can not answer.

JUDAH BENJAMIN knows that the slaves understand this contest as well as he. JUDAH BENJAMIN knows that two hundred thousand armed slaves would be presently masters of ” the Confederacy.” Every rebel thinks of it and shudders. It is the most terrible alternative he could present. His promise of freedom as a boon shows that he is conscious that slavery is a wrong. And it has always been so since he has defended it. And he knew it before, as he knows it now. But if a wrong, are the slaves alone unconscious of it ? And when they are summoned to arms upon BENJAMIN’S plain confession that he and his class without their aid are helpless to avert the fate which gives the negro freedom, is the negro likely to be ignorant of his power? …

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bewildered

Posted on February 10, 2015 by SUMPTER
All hail to Ulysses! (LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200001339/)

hold your horses

As a local paper in the Finger Lakes region began compiling information about the early February fight around Hatcher’s Run, it criticized someone’s praise of General Grant’s tactics in an action that cost 800 Union casualties.

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

Another Battle.

For several days past we have had indefinite rumors of another movement of the Army of the Potomac; and Thursday evening’s papers contain the particulars of the affair. It seems that the enemy attacked our extreme left, on Monday last. A desperate engagement took place, resulting in a reverse to our forces. The 3d. Div. of the 5th Corps were were driven back in disorder by an overwhelming assault of the enemy, back upon a line of breastworks, erected by the 2d. corps. A division of the 6th corps., which had crossed Hatcher’s Run and moved to the aid of the retreating column, also became demoralized and participated in the stampede, the whole finally rallying on supports and pushing the enemy back. the losses reported in the two days’ operations are put at 800, though the Herald’s correspondent says they are estimated much higher by many, [sic] Our forces are reported to be still in position across Hatcher’s Run and to have fortified for permanent occupation.

The telegraph censor at Washington, informs us that the enemy does not fight as well as formerly owing to “the bewildering tactics of General Grant.” Isn’t the country about sick of that kind of tactics on the part of the Lieutenant General? Eight hundred more men sacrificed by Grant’s “bewildering tactics!” Good Heavens!

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