electoral bullying banned

Posted on October 14, 2014 by SUMPTER

At least in the army by New York State

In a good article on the soldiers’ vote Mr. Lincoln and New York explains that New Yorkers overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment in the spring of 1864 allowing troops to vote in the field. According to the following, the state legislature tried to guard against officers coercing their men to vote a certain way. The Democrat paper wanted to make sure soldiers knew they were free to vote for General McClellan for president.

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in October 1864:

Attention, Soldiers!

The laws of this State provide that if

SEC.13. Any officer of this State or of the United States, who shall, directly or indirectly, control or attempt to control any such enlisted elector in the exercise of any of his rights under this act by menace, bribery, fear of punishment, hope of reward, or any other corrupt or arbitrary measure or resort whatever, or to annoy, injure, or otherwise punish any such officer or man, for the manner in which he may have exercised any such right, shall be deemed guilty of an offense against the sovereignty of this state, which shall be punished as a misdemeanor, and for which he may be indicted and tried at any future time, when he may be found within the limits of this state; and upon conviction he shall be imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year, and fined in a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars and he shall also thenceforth be ineligible, after conviction thereof, to hold any office in this state.

Under the provisions of this act, any Colonel, Captain, or other military officer, high or low, who shall in any way, improperly influence or annoy, or attempt to annoy, any private soldier desiring to vote for McClellan, is liable to indictment and punishment as a felon, in this State. We therefore urge our boys to make complaint wherever they are abused or intimidated. They can send their complaints to any Grand Jury, and they will be entertained. there is no statute of limitations in this case, and there are some counties where courts will do their duty.

You can read about the following anti-Republican political cartoon at the Library of Congress:

How free ballot is protected! (by Joseph E. Baker, 1864; LOC: LC-USZ62-89606)

intimidation bad at home, too

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Month, Military Matters, Northern Politics During War, Northern Society, The election of 1864 | Tagged , | Leave a comment

spinning victory

Posted on October 13, 2014 by SUMPTER
NY Times 10-12-1864

NY Times 10-12-1864

Apparently both the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and a Republican newspaper, The New-York Times, claimed victory in the October 10 or 11, 1864 Pennsylvania state election. And they both saw their victory as a victory for the Union.

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in October 1864:

Victory.

A glorious victory has been achieved in the gallant State of Pennsylvania, over combinations of fraud, government patronage, and the most lavish expenditures of money. The cause of THE UNION AT ALL HAZARDS has triumphed.

The battle has been the South Mountain of the campaign, which will be followed in November by another Antietam for the Union and the Constitution.

The result assures the State for McClellan and Pendleton, and justifies our expectation of triumphant success in the national election in November.

It is recommended to the various Democratic and Union organizations in the city of New York to illuminate their respective headquarters, and to assemble thereat on Monday evening, the 17th inst., in honor of the auspicious result in the Keystone State; that national salutes by fired in the public squares; and that the city of New York, true to the cause of the Union and the Constitution, under the chosen leader MCCLELLAN, send congratulations to our brothers in Pennsylvania on their hard earned and triumphant success.

AUGUST BELMONT,
Chairman of Democratic National Committee.

By October 15th the Times was reporting that it was impossible to be certain how Pennsylvania had gone until official returns were announced. Also, “The recording of the soldiers’ votes is necessarily very slow, being distributed among various counties, and from the manner in which they appear on the tally papers, it is impossible to make an aggregate until the record is more complete.”

Another pro-Lincoln publication, Harper’s Weekly, in its October 22, 1864 issue (at Son of the South) alleged that a Democratic-foreign combination had lavished money and skullduggery in its attempt to win Pennsylvania:

PENNSYLVANIA.

WHEN the news of SHERIDAN’S victories in the Valley began to arrive, a month ago, a man standing in front of a newspaper bulletin, and reading the good tidings, looked very gloomy, and remarked to his melancholy neighbor, ” If this sort of thing goes on, ABE LINCOLN will be re-elected.” How did that gentleman look, we wonder, on Wednesday morning, when the news from Pennsylvania began to arrive? …

August Belmont, half-length portrait, facing three-quarters to right, with side whiskers (between 1844 and 1860; LOC: LC-USZ62-109850)

Chairman Belmont

The contest in Pennsylvania was most earnest and intense, The Chicago-London party had deserted all other points to concentrate upon the keystone of the arch. If they could only start that from its fidelity they hoped that the whole fabric would crumble. If they could persuade Pennsylvania to speak doubtfully for the Union in October, they were confident they could induce the country to surrender to rebellion in November. Beaten there they foresaw defeat every where, Consequently, no effort has been spared. Money in profusion, and the most reckless and desperate political trickery have been lavished upon the State. They have strained every nerve to draw Pennsylvania from her support of the American Union and Government, and, by the blessing of God and her faithful people, the combined forces of Treason, foreign hate, and rebellious Slavery have signally and disastrously failed.

It is a State triumph, a national triumph, and a triumph of universal liberty and good government. …

It is written that Republicans ended up gaining three seats in Pennsylvania’s U.S. House of Representatives delegation.

You can read a bio of Mr. Belmont at Mr. Lincoln and New York. An immigrant from Germany, Mr. Belmont was associated with the Rothchilds and became an American financier and diplomat. He served as minister to the Netherlands for President Pierce. He supported Stephen A. Douglass in the 1860 presidential campaign.

How Columbia receives McLellan's Salutation from the Chicago Platform (LC-USZ62-40791)

Mr. Belmont helping prop up General McClellan and the Democratic platform

150 years ago today Richmond could read a humorous Northern take on General McClellan. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch October 13, 1864:

… M’Clellan Squibs.

In a speech at Portland, Maine, recently, the Hon. John A. Peters “brought down the house” with the remark: “if McClellan couldn’t take Richmond, making Washington his base, you may safely swear he will never take Washington, making Richmond his base ! “

From the diaries of officers on board the shipgunboat G[a]lena, during the retreat from Richmond, it seems to be conclusively proven that General McClellan was part of the crew, instead of the army, during the battle of Malvern. To which, then, does General McClellan belong, the army or the navy? We presume that he is an amphibious general. …

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at winter quarters

Posted on October 11, 2014 by SUMPTER

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in 1864:

From the First Veteran Cavalry.

Camp Piatt – Kanawha Salt Works – Coal and Oil – Politics in the Army.

CAMP PIATT, W.Va., Oct. 12, 1864.

FRIEND STOWELL: – It is now a month since we arrived in the Kanawha Valley, and during that time quite a village has sprung up on the bank of the river, consisting of over three hundred little houses of all sorts and styles of architecture, regularly laid out in avenues and streets, and containing a population of more than twelve hundred. These are the winter quarters of the 1st Veteran Cavalry and the industry and ingenuity of the men have made them right comfortable.

Our regiment has lately been largely increased by the arrival of some three hundred recruits, and more are on the way, so we are able to make quite a respectable appearance.

We are stationed at what is known as “Camp Piatt,” here has been a Military Post established here since the commencement of the war for the protection of the Kanawha Salt Works, coal mines &c., and it is called “Camp Piatt” in honor of Colonel, now Gen. Piatt of Ohio who first commanded here.

The Kanawha Valley has, for many years, been celebrated for its salt, and the salt works are very extensive, lining the banks of the river for miles. The salt water is obtained by boring, the wells ranging from 700 to 1,800 feet in depth. By means of large wooded pumps, worked by steam, the water is raised from the wells, and collect- [sic] in large vats, through which are steam pipes to hasten the evaporation. The water evaporated, the salt is shovelled out, packed in barrels and is ready for market. Each of these wells produces from fifty to one hundred and fifty barrels of salt per day. The machinery is almost entirely constructed of wood and is of the most primitive style. I do not believe that the slightest change or improvement has taken place in thirty years. One of these wells runs itself. The water is so impregnated with gas that it forces its way up, and through the pipes for many hundred feet, into the vats prepared for its reception, thus doing away with even the expense of pumping. But the cost of fuel to run the engines is very slight. The hills are filled with coal and you have only to dig into the mountain a few rods from your salt well and get all the coal you require to carry on your works. – It is almost impossible to avoid getting rich, and these people go on in the same old way, using the same antiquated machinery, content to make just as many barrels of salt as their fathers did before them with no ambition to go ahead or to do anything new. If some drive ahead Yankee could get hold of these works, he would astonish the natives some, I reckon, and soon bring down the price of salt.

The Cannel coal with which this valley abounds, is rich in oil and large quantities of coal oil are extracted from it and sent North and West, but strange to say no oil wells are in operation here as yet, although in boring for salt the enterprising citizens of the valley have often “struck ile” and have sometimes experienced no little trouble in getting rid of the stuff and working through the strata, to the lower one of salt. Northern capitalists are now beginning to “prospect” here and the vast wealth of the Kanawha Valley will no doubt soon be brought to light.

A few copies of the Reveille found their way into camp last week and were gladly welcomed especially by the boys of Company K. How they ever got here is a mystery. These with a copy or two of the Rochester Union are the only Democratic papers I have seen for months. We get nothing but Administration and these of the most rabid kind. It is laughable to read the falsehoods with which they are filled concerning the feeling of the army toward its old commander, Gen. MCCLELLAN. Almost every day we see accounts of votes taken among the soldiers at Hospitals and in the field, and all of course for “Uncle Abe.” This is considered here a “big joke,” for everybody knows the army is for “Little Mac” and wherever a vote has been taken the result has been invariably a large majority for MCCLELLAN. Let me give you an instance of the way the Republicans make votes for “Abe.” The papers have been publishing a vote said to have been taken at Frederick City Hospital, just after our campaign in the Shenandoah, and they say Lincoln had 823, and McClellan only 246 votes. Now for the truth of the matter, Archy Randolph, 1st Sergeant of Co. K., whom you well know, was in the Hospital when the vote was taken and will testify that while “Little Mac” had 246 as given above, Lincoln had only 23, a difference of just 800 votes. Again they claim a large majority in the old Sixth Corps. A vote has been taken in our Division and out of 2,300 votes cast, Gen. McClellan had over 2,100. The 15th N.Y. Cavalry from Syracuse, now at Cumberland have just taken a vote with the following results: MCCLELLAN 870, LINCOLN 82. Majority for “Mac” 788. Our regiment is largely for McClellan. The officers are about equally divided, but the men will vote up a large majority for George. The three companies from Seneca, Ontario and Wayne counties will give McClellan 90, and Lincoln about 20 votes. Company K is almost unanimous. Every one of the boys from Seneca Falls goes for MCCLELLAN, SEYMOUR and DANIELS, and only one from Waterloo is in favor of Lincoln. – So we go. Don’t be afraid of the army. – The boys will stand by George. Only do your duty at home, and McClellan will be our next President and Union and Peace will once more bless our land.

Yours Ever,

SENECA[.]

Archibald B. Randolph

Archy said McClellan really won Frederick City Hospital vote

Mr. Lincoln and New York supports the idea that Republicans controlled the content of information consumed by soldiers in the field: “To get out the vote, the soldiers presented a special problem of the war-time election. Secretary of War Stanton took pains to stifle any flow of Democratic propaganda into the Army while opening the gates generously to equivalent Union Party materials. … [referencing Russell F. Weigley, A Great Civil War, p. 380.]”

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“stickler for that obsolete thing”

Posted on October 10, 2014 by SUMPTER
Washington Hunt, half-length portrait, slightly to right (between 1844 and 1860; LOC: LC-USZ62-109845)

President Lincoln has no intention of keeping his oath

Richmond citizens were probably happy to hear that an ” Old Line Whig” opposed Abraham Lincoln’s re-election in the 1864 campaign.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch October 10, 1864:

M’Clellan meeting at Rochester.

A great meeting had been held at Rochester, New York, of the supporters of McClellan. Speeches were made by Washington Hunt, Francis Kernan, and others. Mr. Hunt is well known as an Old Line Whig–very orderly and conservative — as having opposed Know-Nothingism and being a considerable stickler for that obsolete thing known as the “Constitution of the United States.” Mr. Hunt charged that Lincoln had violated his own pledges, in which he promised not to interfere with the rights of the States, by issuing his emancipation proclamation, which took away from the States the most precious attribute of their sovereignty — the right to control their own concerns. The speaker, appearing to regard the people about him as of the sort he knew in other days, talked much of Lincoln’s usurpations and violated State sovereignties. We apprehend his is like the voice of one crying in the wilderness. We quote the following from his speech:

Now, one of the grounds on which I oppose Mr. Lincoln is, that he has usurped power and attempted to perform functions that are prohibited by the Constitution. I charge him here to- day with violating the Constitution which he had sworn to support. How, then, can any of you, if you believe this, ask him again to swear that oath when you know that he has deliberately violated it? Will you mock high heaven by enabling him once more to take the oath, when you know that he has no intention of keeping it? I might refer you to other parts of the Constitution. There were provisions placed in that Constitution for the protection of every American citizen in his rights of person and property. It provides that no man shall be deprived of liberty or property without due process of law — that every man shall have trial by jury; it secures the habeas corpus, which is the protection to guard the citizen against the exercise of arbitrary power, and to obtain which, cost our ancestors hundreds of years of struggle.–Those principles of our Constitution which secure to the people of the States the right to control their own concerns have been most wantonly infringed upon. Here, where people of all parties have been obeying the laws, you have seen one instance after another till they have become so numerous — the individuals seized by arbitrary process, without means of redress, have been taken to prison, confined in bastiles for month after month, and year after year, without even the formality of trial, and without even an accusation. And after being confined, in some instances, for a year they were, without any excuse, finally discharged. The tyranny of Austria is not worse. We can only be saved by the efforts which we make to regain what we have so nearly lost.

After the breakup of the Whig party Washington Hunt refused to join the Republicans and was a member of the Constitutional Union party during the 1860 presidential election. “In his last years, Hunt moved increasingly closer to the Democrats, endorsing his two-time opponent, Horatio Seymour for the New York gubernatorial race in 1862 and supporting George McClellan for the presidency at the 1864 Democratic National Convention. On June 13, 1864, Hunt was at Niagara Falls to confer with confederate Commissioner Jacob Thompson.”

Rochester Published by Charles Magnus, N.Y., [between 1850 and 1860]; LOC: LC-USZ62-89341)

Rochester, N.Y. between 1850 and 1860

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lifesaving frost

Posted on October 9, 2014 by SUMPTER

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in October 1864:

DEATH OF LIEUT. HILLIS. – Lieut. D.D. Hillis, of the 3d N.Y. Artillery, died at Newbern, N.C. a few days since, of Yellow Fever. Lieut. Hillis was very generally known in this vicinity, having been employed for several years here as a civil engineer on the Cayuga and Seneca Canal. He was a young man of much promise, and his many friends are deeply pained at his sudden death.

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in October 1864:

Death of Lieut. Col. Stone.

We are pained to announce the death of LIEUT. COL. HENRY M. STONE, of the 3d. New York Artillery, which occurred a few days since at Newbern, N.C. Col. Stone was one of the first to volunteer on the breaking out of the rebellion, and went o[?] as Adjutant of the old 19th Regiment, raised in Cayuga, Seneca and Wayne counties.

Col. Stone was for many years connected with the press, and at the time he entered the service was publisher of the Auburn Daily Democrat. He was an active business man, a courteous and affable gentleman, and a brave and accomplished soldier. The news of his death will sadden many hearts and moisten many eyes.

Yellow Fever took a large toll on the regiment during the fall of 1864. From Cayuga in the Field[1]

The army in North Carolina, in the fall of 1864, was ravaged by an enemy more terrible by far to its gallant warriors, than any to be encountered on the field of battle. July 23d, Surgeon Wilson, of the 3d Artillery, announced to Col. Stewart the appearance in the regiment of a grave type of fever. In August the yellow fever stalked into Newbern. A commissary ship at the lower end of the city was first attacked by the grisly destroyer, and then the fever leaped ashore, followed up the line of the Neuse, then the line of the Trent, and soon extended into nearly every camp at the Post. Over 200 were attacked in the 3d Artillery alone. Col. Stewart, Maj. Kennedy, Lieut.-Col. Stone, and large numbers of the leading officers had it among the rest. Lieut. Hillis died of it September 24th. Lieut.-Col. Stone died of it October 2d. Also sixty men – thirty-seven of the number being in Battery D alone. They were buried in the regimental cemeteries. The regiment at one time alone had three hospitals. An immense panic prevailed in Newbern and hundreds of the residents left the city for safety. Stores were closed and business in every department of trade was abruptly brought to a stand. Drills were also arrested in the camps. The plague was most gallantly and faithfully fought by Surgeons of the Post and several of them lost their lives by exposing themselves to its attacks. During its prevalence great fires of tar and rosin were burnt in the camps and on the corners of the streets in the city, every night, to disinfect the air. The disease was at last got under control, and on October 9th, a heavy frost came to forbid its further spread. In order to secure the full benefit of this frost, Col. Stewart caused the stores of Newbern to be opened at night so that a draft of air might pass through them all. the owners of some obstinately refused to open them, when the thing was promptly done with an axe. A guard was set over each store to save it from depredation. Another frost two days after finished the plague. By October 29th, there was a general resumption of business.

The death of Lieut.-Col. Stone was deeply mourned in the regiment. He was a brave officer and a gentleman, and exceedingly popular with field, staff and line. He was uniformly kind and considerate of others and yet a disciplinarian . At the time of his death, he was in command of the forts and defenses north of the Neuse. …

David D. Hillis 3rd Artilleryjpg

Lieutenant Hillis died of Yellow Fever

Henry M. Stone 3rd Artillery

newspaperman was an early responder for the Union

Mosquito bites spread yellow fever; cold weather slows down mosquito activity.

  1. [1]Hall, Henry, and James Hall Cayuga in the Field. 1873. Aurora,New York: Talbothays Books. Print. page 201.↩
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returning 44th

Posted on October 8, 2014 by SUMPTER
44thInfMonument at Gettysburg (http://dmna.ny.gov/historic/reghist/civil/infantry/44thInf/44thInfMonument.htm)

44th’s monument on Little Round Top, Gettysburg (from NY Military Museum)

Having completed its three year term, the 44th New York Volunteer Infantry returned to the state 150 years ago this month.

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in October 1864:

THE FORTY-FOURTH REGIMENT. – The term of service of the 44th (Ellsworth) regiment expired on Sunday last, and the regiment is daily expected at Albany to be mustered out of the service. Out of the one thousand who marched forth to battle three years ago, about one hundred return to their families. Quite a number from this county went into the regiment.

The number of casualties seems a bit misleading in this article as the New York State Military Museum clarifies:

May, 1864, was the month of the memorable Wilderness campaign, in which the regiment served faithfully, suffering most severely at the Wilderness and at Bethesda Church. By this time the regiment had become greatly reduced in numbers by hard service and the loss in this campaign, while not so large in numbers as in previous battles, was even greater in proportion to the number of men engaged. The regiment was active in the first assault on Petersburg in June, 1864, at the Weldon railroad, and at Poplar Spring Church. On Oct. 11 , 1864, the 44th was mustered out at Albany and the veterans and recruits were consolidated into a battalion, of which 266 men were transferred to the 140th and 183 to the 146th N. Y. The total strength of the regiment was 1,585, of whom 188 died during the term of service from wounds received in action, and 147 died from accident, imprisonment or disease. The total loss in killed, wounded and missing was 730. The men chosen for this command were of the flower of the state and displayed their heroism on many a desperately contested field, where they won laurels for themselves. and for their state. Col. Fox numbers the 44th among the “three hundred fighting regiments.”

Camp of 44th New York Infantry near Alexandria, Va. (photographed between 1861 and 1865, printed between 1880 and 1889; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-32967)

Arch of Sacrifice (near Alexandria, Va.)

Officers 44th New York Infantry (photographed between 1861 and 1864, printed between 1880 and 1889; LOC: C-DIG-ppmsca-34195)

officers of 44th near Alexandria, Va.

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death sentence?

Posted on October 7, 2014 by SUMPTER
Gen'l Geo. B. McClellan (c.1861; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-19389)

Grant’s adjunct?

Two years on a Democrat paper sure was not forgiving and forgetting President Lincoln’s sacking of George B. McClellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac. The paper also claimed that Mr. Lincoln would make decisions about General McClellan’s role based purely on politics.

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in October 1864:

The Baseness of Assaults against McClellan.

It has been repeatedly charged that previous to the Chicago Convention, FRANCIS P. BLAIR, sen., father of Montgomery Blair, Mr. Lincoln’s Post Master General, had an interview with Gen. MCCLELLAN, on behalf of the President, during which he offered him an important command if he would refuse the Chicago nomination. This charge has never been denied by the Lincoln press, and even if it had, we now have the authority of Hon. MONTGOMERY BLAIR, Lincoln’s recent Post Master General, who admits the report. In his recent speech in New York, and published in the New York Tribune of Sept. 28th., Mr. Blair in referring to the action of the Chicago convention, says:

On his (Vallandigham’s) motion every voice that had been raised to fury against the nomination of McClellan was silenced, and the vote in his favor made unanimous. There was a potent spell in his voice that made “a cessation of hostilities,” “a Convention of the States,” of course as equals and independent – and a quoudam [quondam?] chief of the Federal army – (one whom to the last I believed to be true to the cause in which the country embarked, and I may add, whom the President held to be patriotic, and had concerted with General Grant to bring him again into the field as his adjunct, [pointing finger] if he turned his back on the proposals of the peace junto at Chicago, &c. [reverse pointing finger]

Abraham Lincoln portrait in the Lincoln room, Blair House, located across from the White House, Washington, D.C. (photo by Carol M. Highsmith, 2007; LOC: LC-DIG-highsm-03733)

“fit to live?”

What a confession! Here we have the authority of a late Cabinet Minister, that Mr. Lincoln had arranged to give MCCLELLAN a high command, as Grant’s “adjunct,” “IF he turned his back” on the Chicago Convention. The President believed MCCLELLAN to be patriotic, and yet for selfish and political purposes, he is deposed from the army; the President believed him true to the last, but through a desire to promote his own partisan interests, he would heap every indignity upon a brave and accomplished soldier, divide and distract the people of the North, and thus destroy all hope of Union. For the same selfish and ambitious reasons the President would place him in command, or even do anything in his power to to be rid of him for an opposition candidate for the Presidency. Is it such a President that we are called upon to continue in power? And is such a President fit to govern – or fit to live?

150 years ago this month part of the Lincoln press did refute the assertion that General McCLellan was offered a command if he rejected Chicago. From The New-York Times October 10, 1864:

The President and Gen. McClellan.

The Copperhead press has been making a great deal of capital out of an alleged offer made by F.P. BLAIR, Esq., to Gen. McCLELLAN. It has said that Mr. BLAIR had told the General that the President would give him a command in the field, provided he would decline being a candidate for the Presidency at the Chicago Convention. It was assumed and charged that in doing this Mr. BLAIR had acted for the President, and that the latter was therefore responsible for the offer.

In another column we publish a letter from Mr. BLAIR on this subject. He states, in the first place, that Mr. LINCOLN not only did not authorize him to make any such proposition to Gen. MCCLELLAN, but that he did not know of his intention to see him on that or any other subject, or of his purpose to visit New-York at all. He says, in the next place, that he never made any such offer to Gen. MCCLELLAN, or anything which could be construed into an offer of a command in the field on that or any other condition. And, in the third place, he states what he did say to Gen. MCCLELLAN on that and other subjects. He advised him not to be a candidate for the Presidency, because he was certain to be defeated, and under such circumstances that he could never hope to rise again. He also advised him to apply to the President for a command in the field, because his military knowledge enabled him to be of service to the country in that capacity, and it was due to his friends, who believed he had talent, to evince a willingness to use it.

Now, in all this, we must say Mr. BLAIR showed his usual good sense. …

The Intelligencer is also striving to make a great deal out of a public statement said to have been made by Mr. MONTGOMERY BLAIR to the effect that the President had “concerted with Gen. GRANT to give Gen. MCCLELLAN a command if the latter would turn his back on the Chicago nomination.” We have no evidence that Mr. BLAIR ever made any such statement. If he did, he made it without authority, for it certainly is not true. President LINCOLN did once ask Gen. GRANT whether Gen. MCCLELLAN would be acceptable to him and useful to the country as commander of a corps in the army of the Potomac; but he never said or intimated to Gen. GRANT or any body else, nor did he ever think of giving him such a command or of offering it to him on condition of his turning his back on a Presidential nomination. Whatever “conditions,” if any, were suggested or thought of in this connection were of a purely military character, and related solely and exclusively to the General’s probable usefulness in the field.

On September 28th the Times published a report on Montgomery Blair’s speech at Cooper Union. Mr. Blair criticized General McClellan throughout his talk, but he was reported by the Times as saying exactly what the Democrat paper reported.

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“callous ears”

Posted on October 6, 2014 by SUMPTER

So far I have not seen any evidence of a deputation from the Savannah prisoners to President Lincoln; a Democrat paper made political use of the undoubted suffering of prisoners of war.

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in October 1864:

The Cry of the Prisoners.

The Federal prisoners held at Savannah Georgia, met on the 28th of September and passed a series of resolutions, which they directed to be sent to the President, in the hope he might take speedy steps for their parole or exchange.

They say TEN THOUSAND of their brave comrades have died, for want of sufficient food and medical care, and owing to the change of climate. They say “this is not caused intentionally by the Confederate Government, but by the force of circumstances.” They speak of insufficient clothing, and the dread of approaching winter. They conclude by saying that they “are not willing to suffer to further the ends of any party or clique, to the detriment of our families or country.”

This wail of the captive will fall dead on the callous ears of LINCOLN. He even refused to give audience to a deputation from them, imploring him to renew the system of exchanges recently arrested by him. – Show him a chance to get a Presidential vote and he will jump at it! But he cares for nothing else! – Argus,

You can read an overview of Georgia Civil War prisons at the New Georgia Encyclopedia. The New-York Times of December 17, 1864 lists Union prisoners who died at the Savannah prison hospitals between September 12th and November 14th 1864.

Robert Knox Sneden, who drew the map in today’s post spent about a month at Savannah between Andersonville and Camp Lawton in Millen, Georgia[1], as General Sherman’s Union army continued its campaign in the state.

Savannah prison pen (by Robert Knox Sneden, 1864; LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/gvhs01.vhs00304/)

a temporary lockup in savannah

  1. [1]Sneden, Robert Knox. Eye of the Storm: A Civil War Odyssey. New York: The Free Press, 2000. Print. pages 258-260.↩
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what’s a conservative to do?

Posted on October 4, 2014 by SUMPTER

According to this editorial, if conservatives don’t like change, they should vote for President Lincoln because 1) a change in administrations would mean a huge change in the federal civil bureaucracy and military organization, which Davis and Lee would try to exploit. 2) Copperheads would still be pushing for an armistice and peace, which would result in an accepted Confederate nation 3) The war has changed society and culture – abolitionism is now the status quo.

From The New-York Times

A Few Words to Conservatives.

It has always been a matter of congratulation to this journal, that so considerable a number of its readers were — from the so-called “conservative” classes — from those who have property interests to conserve, and important stakes in the welfare of the country, as well as those whose habits of mind and of life lead them to oppose sudden changes and spasmodic reforms.

Great Copperhead Jubilee! On the banks of Salt River! (1864; LOC: LC-USZ62-43992)

Democrats the unsafe alternative

To these citizens this election is an immensely important event, and they do well to carefully consider how their vote is to be given. For, if a mistake be made on either side, the shock to property and all the best interests of the nation, will be beyond any experience of our history. No doubt a certain proportion of these men are inclined to give their votes to Gen. MCCLELLAN, from motives of personal sympathy or friendship with him, or from the habit of having often acted with his party. But the question must come up, “Will it be safe?”

Supposing Gen. MCCLELLAN to entirely break from his party — which we do not believe probable — his election will be the signal, according to the ancient and absurd custom of the country, for an entire change of the civil administration of the nation. Every postmaster and tax-collector, all the Government officials throughout the land, all the bureaux at Washington, the ministers and cabinet, must all abandon their posts, and at once admit a new and inexperienced host of executive officers throughout the nation. More than this, the whole military system may be at once overturned, and new men put in, in every position of responsibility. Quartermasters, assistants, commanders of posts, and even the Generals of our armies, may all be relieved, and the favorites or partisans of the new President be set in their places.

The true peace commissioners (N.Y. : Published by Currier & Ives, 1864; LOC: LC-USZ62-92033 )

fab four vs. rebels

In the face of such powerful and skillful adversaries as we have, a revolutionary change like this, dangerous even in time o[f] peace, would be perilous in the extreme. To make such a revolution as this, with men like DAVIS and LEE watching for a weak point, would be suicidal. A civil war and a domestic upturning like this, would be more than even the strength of our people could bear.

We know our present officials, civil and military. We certainly could not find better officers than GRANT and SHERMAN and FARRAGUT and SHERIDAN. It is doubtful if any portion of our civil affairs would be any better managed by new men, while a change would certainly be dangerous.

More than this, we submit to these gentlemen, that whatever confidence they may have in MCCLELLAN, personally, he must, to a certain degree, follow his party, and will without doubt, be influenced by the leaders of that party — such men as SEYMOUR, PENDLETON, VALLANDIGHAM and WOOD. The latter are certainly not safe or “Conservative” men. They have pledged themselves to peace and an armistice. We have abundantly proved that this can mean nothing but the independence of the rebel Confederacy. The whole world sees that, and the Tory journals of England rejoice at it, for they know that it includes the repudiation of our debt, the disorganization of our Union, the destruction of every competing material interest, and endless war and anarchy — as we have before shown. Their call for a “Convention of the States” can mean nothing but revolution, and there is every reason to think that those western Copperheads want a “Northwestern Confederacy,” Such men are political adventurers, dangerous in all their schemes to the peace and welfare of the country.

Union and liberty! And union and slavery! (by Martin W. Siebert, Published by M.W. Siebert, 1864; LOC: LC-USZ62-945)

“a great change has come over the country”

Still more, we call the attention of our conservative readers to the fact that a great change has come over the country, and that now Anti-Slavery is the conservative element, and Slavery the revolutionary. It is clear that there can be no permanent quiet or prosperity in this land, while Slavery exists as a power. Its destruction is the only possible condition of safety to property and of lasting good-will between the different sections. The war has changed all our relations to it. The dullest can see what a volcano of war and revolution is hidden beneath the crust of the “domestic institution.” There can be no peace till Freedom and respect for labor rule every community under our national banner. All the property of the country is now intervolved with the success of the Anti-Slavery principle. The success of the Chicago platform would, by securing the recognition of the Confederacy, give a new lease of life to Slavery, and extend our life-and-death struggle with it, for a century.

Every interest of property, then, every wise consideration against sudden change, every respect for a future of security and good older, are on the side of the Union party.

The Times certainly knew how overwhelming the patronage job could be for a new president (and here)

You can read about the second political cartoon at the Library of Congress. The first one is here

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Northern Politics During War, Northern Society, The election of 1864 | Tagged , | Leave a comment

“courage, manliness and high-toned chivalry”

Posted on October 3, 2014 by SUMPTER

“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.” – George S. Patton, Jr., American general in World War II

WWII General Patton’s grandfather died for his country on September 25th 1864 after being mortally at the Third Battle of Winchester. Citizens of Richmond read the news 150 years ago today.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch October 3, 1864:

Death of Colonel George Patton.

Through late Northern papers we have the melancholy intelligence of the death of Colonel George Patton, of a wound received in the battle near Winchester on the 19th ultimo. Colonel Patton was a son of the late John M. Patton, of this city, and is the second of the family who has yielded his life in this war for Southern independence. He was a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, but adopted the profession of the law, and settled in Kanawha county, where, as the partner of George W. Summers, and by the application of his own brilliant intellect, he soon attained a high position at the bar. When the war broke out, however, he was among the first to offer his services to his country. In an arduous campaign in Western Virginia he greatly distinguished himself, and was badly wounded at the battle of Scary [Creek]. As soon as he recovered he again took the field, and was in command of our forces at White Sulphur Springs which defeated Averill in the summer of 1863. In many battles in which he was subsequently engaged he proved his bravery and his fitness to command. The South could ill afford to lose such a man in a period like the present; but he has left behind him an honorable name, and his memory will be cherished by all who entertain respect for courage, manliness and high-toned chivalry. Colonel Patton was not probably more than thirty years of age, but he had achieved a reputation of which many older officers might be proud. Two of his brothers are still in the service, both holding the rank of colonel.

You can read a good article about Colonel Patton and especially his role at the Last Battle of Winchester at Shenandoah 1864.

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Confederate States of America, Military Matters | Tagged , , | Leave a comment