northern exposure

Posted on October 20, 2014 by SUMPTER
NY Times 10-20-2014

NY Times 10-20-2014

150 years ago yesterday St. Albans, Vermont was “raided” by a band of Confederates led by Bennett Henderson Young. The rebels entered Vermont via Canada and took rooms in St. Albans’ hotels. On the 19th they held up three banks and shot up some citizens, one of whom died.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch October 24, 1864:

An invasion of Vermont from the Canada side — robbery of banks — panic of the citizens.

The Yankees are having a sensation nearer home than the seat of war. On Wednesday last, a band of twenty-five men from Canada “invaded” the town of St. Albans, in Vermont, and robbed the National Bank of $50,000, the St. Albans Bank of $80,000, and the Franklin County Bank of a considerable sum. Some twenty horses were also seized by the desperadoes and carried off. Several citizens who resisted were deliberately shot; two were seriously wounded, and it is feared fatally — E. J. Morrison and, a contractor, and C. H. Huntington, a jeweler. Several others are reported slightly wounded. The attack commenced about 3 P. M., and the opening is thus described by an eye-witness:

Several men appeared to be rushing about with pistols, in parties of from five to ten. One of these gangs met a Mr. Morrison and presented a weapon to him, demanding his surrender. He answered, “You are joking, boys.” They fired and he fell, weltering in his blood. Our informant saw him throw up his hands and then sink on the ground, and then he realized for the first time that the village was attacked by an organized body of men, bent on pillage and regardless of human life.

US & canada 1860 (LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/2001623437/)

St. Albans in Green … Mountain State

Meanwhile the attack had been simultaneous on the three banks — the First National, Franklin County and St. Albans. Parties entered each. When the teller, or cashier, suspecting no evil, asked what they desired, the leader presented a pistol, with the exclamation, “You are my prisoner; if you move an inch we’ll blow you through,” Others of the gang then went to the vault and drawers and laid violent hands on all the specie, bills and other articles which they could find, and filled the side satchels, which each wore, as we before described. Of course resistance was useless, for the surprise was complete. At the Franklin County Bank the raiders pushed the cashier, Mr. Beardsley, and one of the clerks, into the vault and locked them up, and the prisoners were not released until late in the night.

Then commenced a reign of terror in the village. Plunder had been accomplished, and violence followed. The raid was brief; but the scene must have been terrible while it lasted. The thirty or more marauders rushed up and down the streets, firing their pistols in every direction. Whenever they saw a citizen or a group of men they would aim in that direction. They had magnificent arms–seven-shooters — and as fast as one weapon was unloaded they drew another, and kept up the lade.Mr. Baldwin says he can only liken the sounds to the noise of a Fourth of July morning in a large city. There was a continuous bang! bang! bang! Of course this reckless use of firearms could not continue long with nobody hurt. The sheriff of the county soon fell; Mr. Huntington was shot while resisting the robbery of his store; a woman, whose name we could not learn, fell, and — more dastardly than all — as the guerrillas were leaving the town, they saw a little girl in the street and wantonly killed her. And the bullets were flying around among the buildings in the main street — nearly all of which bear marks of lead. Windows were broken, blinds chipped and people wounded. It was a scene that beggars all description.

Of course the entire populace rushed into the streets. They had no idea of the cause of the disturbance, for they were engaged in their usual daily avocations, and the raid was “like thunder from a clear sky.” The guerrillas, as they rushed through the town, stopped all the citizens they met and gathered them in squads under guard of a few men, armed with pistols, retaining them as prisoners, on the common. Meanwhile the remainder of the banditti started to secure horses. They took two from Field’s livery stable, five from Fuller’s, several from the American and Tremont stables, and a twelve hundred dollar span from Mr. Clark, of Rutland — securing about thirty in all. Their adroitness in cutting off harness was marvellous, and the contents of the saddle-makers’ shops soon enabled the villains to become cavalry instead of footpads.

Stalbansraid (A woodcut illustration of the St. Albans Raid in St. Albans, Vermont, United States. At the bank, the raiders forced those present to take an oath of loyalty to “the Constitution of the Confederate States of America.”)

bank tellers taking the (Confederate) oath

Meanwhile their threats were terrible. “We will burn your damned town,” they said. “We will treat you as the people of Atlanta were treated.”–They also said, “We are coming back again, and will burn every town in Vermont.” Their imprecations were of a blasphemous character. They claimed to be Confederates. Our informant does not think any of the men were Canadians. They all looked like Americans, and Southerners at that. These demons continued their infernal pistol-firing, killing a man named Morse after they began to “take prisoners.”

All this was the work of twenty minutes. Conductor Baldwin says he can scarcely realize that it all happened, and that so much was done in so short a time. The guerrillas, having all secured horses and saddles, commenced their retreat. They abandoned the prisoners and rode off northward, firing their pistols as they proceeded.

After the invaders had gone the citizens turned out and pursued them, capturing the leader, with $100,000. The Governor-General of Canada is also endeavoring to arrest those who escaped into that province. As the “raiders” passed through Frewsburg, an attempt was made to stop them, and the bailiff of the town was killed. All New England is crazy over this “barbarous invasion,” and is trying to prove that the men were Confederates.

You can read a complete account at The St. Albans Raid.

Although pursued by townspeople, the rebel band eventually made it back to Canada, where they were locked up. The United States’ request for extradition failed, and the detainees were released.

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

constitutional

Posted on October 18, 2014 by SUMPTER
Flag_of_Maryland.

Old Line State = Free State

150 years ago this month voters in Maryland narrowly approved a new state constitution that outlawed slavery. The votes of Maryland soldiers serving in the Union army proved to be decisive.

President Lincoln probably was pleased with the Maryland vote since he believed that if slavery wasn’t wrong nothing was wrong. 150 years ago he congratulated serenading Marylanders in D.C. about their constitution but then went on to reassure citizens that if he lost the November election he wasn’t going to try to ruin the Government or let General McClellan take control at once. President Lincoln was going to follow the Constitution. He sort of pictured himself as a competent helmsman ready to transfer the ship of state to the next duly elected president.

From The Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln, Volume Seven:

RESPONSE TO A SERENADE,
OCTOBER 19, 1864.

FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS:—I am notified that this is a compliment paid me by the loyal Marylanders resident in this District. I infer that the adoption of the new constitution for the State furnishes the occasion, and that in your view the extirpation of slavery constitutes the chief merit of the new constitution. Most heartily do I congratulate you, and Maryland, and the nation, and the world, upon this event. I regret that it did not occur two years sooner, which, I am sure, would have saved the nation more money than would have met all the private loss incident to the measure; but it has come at last, and I sincerely hope its friends may fully realize all their anticipations of good from it, and that its opponents may by its effects be agreeably and profitably disappointed.

A word upon another subject. Something said by the Secretary of State in his recent speech at Auburn, has been construed by some into a threat, that if I shall be beaten at the election, I will, between then and the end of my constitutional term, do what I may be able to ruin the Government.

Three-quarter length portrait of Presidenet Abraham Lincoln standing (1864 Jan. 8; printed later between 1885 and 1911; LOC: LC-USZ62-8047)

” if I live” till March 4th, I’ll defend the Constitution

Others regard the fact that the Chicago Convention adjourned, not sine die, but to meet again, if called to do so by a particular individual, as the intimation of a purpose that if their nominee shall be elected he will at once seize control of the Government. I hope the good people will permit themselves to suffer no uneasiness on either point. I am struggling to maintain the Government, not to overthrow it. I am struggling especially to prevent others from overthrowing it. I therefore say, that if I live, I shall remain President until the 4th of next March, and that whoever shall be constitutionally elected, in November, shall be duly installed as President on the 4th of March, and in the interval I shall do my utmost that whoever is to hold the helm for the next voyage shall start with the best possible chance of saving the ship. This is due to the people, both on principle and under the Constitution. Their will, constitutionally expressed, is the ultimate law for all. If they should deliberately resolve to have immediate peace, even at the loss of their country and their liberties, I know not the power or the right to resist them. It is their own business, and they must do as they please with their own. I believe, however, they are still resolved to preserve their country and their liberties; and in this, in office or out of it, I am resolved to stand by them. I may add, that in this purpose to save the country and its liberties, no classes of people seem so nearly unanimous as the soldiers in the field and the sailors afloat. Do they not have the hardest of it? Who should quail while they do not? God bless the soldiers and seamen, with all their brave commanders.

Civil War envelope showing shaking hands in front of U.S. Constitution with weapon and American flag in back (Philadelphia : King & Baird, printers, 607 Sansom St., [between 1861 and 1865]; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-31974

A. Lincoln a big supporter

The President did not have been concerned about the November result, according to the Richmond Dispatch, which called the presidential contest for Mr. Lincoln 150 years ago today based on the outcome of state elections in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch October 18, 1864:

Tuesday morning…October 18, 1864.

The completion of the return from the North leave no doubt with regard to the re-election of Lincoln. For our own part, we are in no way disconcerted or disappointed, for we have never, for one moment, entertained a doubt that the result would be precisely such as it is new evident to all that it must be. Nor, to speak the truth, are we displeased with the issue. We have always regarded McClellan as the most dangerous man for the Confederacy that could possibly have been put in nomination for the Northern Presidency; nor do we see any reason new to doubt that our opinion was well founded. He has proclaimed himself a war candidate, although placed by his friends upon a peace platform.–He avows, at the risk of losing many votes, his determination to prosecute the war to the restoration of the Union. He avows his determination, if elected, to place the prosecution of hostilities upon a footing consistent with the usages of civilized nations. Had he been elected, there is every probability that the policy of armistices and peace conventions — the most dangerous policy that could possibly have been inaugurated for our cause — would have been pushed to consummation. Besides all this, he is a man of large military experience, and knows far better than Lincoln how to handle the immense forces placed at the command of a President of the United States. We are gratified, then, at the escape we think we have made. It might have been infinitely worse. We are, indeed, confident that it would have been.

We now are pretty sure of what we have to expect. Not only is Abraham Lincoln President of the United States for the next four years after the 4th of March, 1865, but he goes in with a majority large enough to sustain him in any atrocity he may meditate. The majority of the North have pretty clearly declared themselves well pleased with the war and with the manner of conducting it. They endorse all the atrocities of Sherman, all the cruelties of Hunter, all the crimes of Sheridan, all the murders of Butler, all the butchery and barbarism of Grant. The conflagrations of our towns and villages, the deportation of our women and children, the starvation of whole populations, the instigations of our slaves to murder and robbery, an aggravation of all the horrors of war, in its most horrible aspects, where the passions are left entirely without control, and every appliance is used to stimulate them, until, by their indulgence, men become devils — all these things, the virtuous, intelligent, civilized, christian, religious North–the heirs of the best government the sun ever shone upon — have deliberately approved of as applied to us. And we accept the application. Indeed, there is no way of escape, did we even desire to avoid the issue. There can be no shuffling in the ranks now. Every man must know his place, and must keep it. The issue is not peace or war, but freedom or slavery, existence or extermination.

It is best for the people of the Confederacy to understand, once for all, that their hopes consist in their arms alone. …

Did General McClellan already have a chance to command the immense U.S. forces?

The Old Line State acquired the Free State moniker when the 1864 constitution took effect on November 1st.

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

Surgeon Curran

Posted on October 17, 2014 by SUMPTER

It looks like exactly two years after his heroism at Antietam, Medal of Honor recipient Richard J. Curran was promoted to full Surgeon.

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

PROMOTED. – The many friends of Dr. Richard Curran, will be pleased to learn that he has been promoted and assigned to the position of Surgeon of the Ninth N.Y. Cavalry.

Friends of Surgeon Rulison, Dr. Curran’s predecessor, were probably not too pleased to learn that he had been killed.

Richard Curran Ninth NY Cavalry

Richard Curran

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headhunter

Posted on October 16, 2014 by SUMPTER
3rdArtyBtryDGuidon2004.0047

3rd Artillery (Light) Battery D NY Volunteers Guidon (NY State Military Museum

The Third New York Artillery had been losing men to Yellow Fever, but ample replacements seemed to be available.

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

An Efficient Recruiting Officer.

Lieut. JOHN STEVENSON, of the 3d N.Y. Artillery, has recently recruited over 250 men for his regiment, mostly from our county. They left Elmira on Saturday last to join the regiment, which is now at Newbern, N.C. Lieut. STEVENSON has been detailed and sent home on two or three different occasions for the purpose of recruiting, and each time obtained a large number of volunteers. He is an active and efficient officer, and is deserving of much praise for his efforts in strengthening the Artillery arm of the service.

John Stevenson Jr

outstanding recruiter

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bombs bursting in air

Posted on October 15, 2014 by SUMPTER

Oh, to be iron-clad from head to foot. … but we drone on.

The Yankees are still shelling Charleston. In this correspondence concerning the night of September 30th, some civilians were wounded, and, while the writer was amused by the sight of blacks fleeing the bombs, he admitted that the thought of the shells being directed at him “caused a cold chill to run through my veins.” Also, Yellow Fever was on the rise in the city.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch October 15, 1864:

The shelling of Charleston — a night of horror.

A correspondent of the Macon Confederacy, writing from Charleston on the 30th, gives an account of the cruel shelling of that place, in the corporate limits of which there are not probably a dozen Confederate soldiers.

Wednesday night will long be remembered by the residents of this city as a night of horror. The shelling of the place had been almost continuous and rapid on Monday and Tuesday, but the bombardment of the last forty-eight hours has exceeded it all. On Tuesday evening I counted four shots within eight minutes, and thought it remarkably rapid firing; but the cannonading Wednesday night beat even that. It commenced a little after six o’clock and lasted until ten–the shells averaging forty and forty-five to the hour. The firing is said to have been from four guns, but I think more must have been used, as any one at all acquainted with heavy artillery practice knows that it takes considerable time in the loading and firing of heavy ordnance.

That the enemy have mounted additional and heavier pieces is evidenced from the fact that the shells were thrown in a part of the city hitherto considered safe and beyond the reach of these devilish missiles. Where that neighborhood is, I shall not be so indiscreet as to mention for the information of the enemy.

charleston-bombardment (Harper's Weekly, January 9, 1864)

still pertinent (Harper’s Weekly 1-9-1864)

Much damage was done to buildings and considerable injury to persons — the family of one of our oldest and most respectable merchants, consisting of a lady and four children, were all wounded by the explosion of a percussion shell in the room in which they were seated at tea. The lady had her collar bone broken, the children were less seriously hurt. During the day, one man had an arm taken off, and another lost a leg from the shells. Up to this writing, I have heard of no loss of life from the bombardment of the last forty-eight hours.

Had it not been a matter of life and death, some of the scenes witnessed, by the flight of the darkeys from the shelled district, would have been ludicrous and mirth provoking.

Many old wenches passed the window at which I was seated, loaded down with every conceivable useful and useless article of household plunder, with their young ones screaming and tugging at their skirts. Others, with more maternal feelings, abandoned all their kitchen goods and bore off their Scotty picaninnies alone. I noticed one of the latter loaded down with no less than three–two in her arms and one riding on her back. One old African, in hobbling past, cordially, but irreverently, wished that the Yankee who invented those big guns “was in hell-fire, and the d — d rascals dat was firing dem, too.”

It is a singular idea, but no less true, that the negroes hereabouts seem to think themselves a doomed race, so far at least as shells are concerned; but they bid defiance to fate on this occasion by leaving at the first fire. I have heard of but few whites leaving the neighborhood.

Had a fellow been iron clad or bombproof, top and bottom, the sight would have been a grand and imposing one; but when my attention was even at its height the thought that the flight of these fiery monsters might be turned in my direction caused a cold chill to run through my veins.

The firing ceased at 10 o’clock, and was not renewed until 8 the next morning, and was kept up steadily but slowly all day, the shots not exceeding eight to the hour.

Charleston, South Carolina. Ruins of bombarded graveyard (1865; LOC: LC-DIG-cwpb-02406)

“Charleston, South Carolina. Ruins of bombarded graveyard” (1865)

The Yankees war not only with women and children, but even with the dead. Several shells fell on Tuesday night in the graveyard of Trinity (Methodist Episcopal) Church, tearing up the graves and demolishing the tombstones of the sacred dead. They may have been chance shots. I think otherwise, and that they were but following the hyena-like instincts of their projectors.

The yellow fever, I am sorry to say, is on the increase. It is now among our German population, with whom it is generally very fatal, as all previous yellow fever seasons has abundantly proven.–Prayer for its abatement was offered up in several of the churches last Sunday.

The Charleston Courier adds to the above this paragraph:

The enemy renewed their fire upon the city rather feebly Thursday morning.–Some thirty-three shots were fired up to six o’clock Thursday evening. No further casualties were reported, but several very narrow escapes made. In one house the family but a moment previous to the entering of a shell had retired to the dining-room, when the sitting-room was struck, making a complete wreck of the room and contents. A prayer book on a side-table appeared to be the only article that escaped destructive. It was opened at the 49th Psalm, commencing with: “Deliver me from mine enemies, O. my God; defend me from them that rise up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity and save me from bloody men.”

It wasn’t just civilians. 150 years ago prisoners of war were purposely exposed to the bombs flying through the Charleston air.During 1864 Confederate General Samuel Jones housed Union prisoners in parts of Charleston within range of the Yankees to try and reduce the shelling of civilian areas. Union General John Foster eventually retaliated by putting approximately 600 rebel prisoners on Morris Island – in the path of both Confederate and Union shells. You can read all about this episode in a very good article at HistoryNet. The mutual exposure of prisoners ended 150 years ago this month:

General Jones’ threats to put Union prisoners on the ramparts of Fort Sumter never materialized, and on October 8 the Union captives in Charleston were removed to cities farther inland. The Southern captives’ ordeal continued, however, until October 21, when, after 45 days of exposure to shellfire, they were finally taken out of their miserable pen and transferred to Fort Pulaski at Savannah, Ga.

Charlestonharbor1864 (1864; LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/99448816/)

bombs flying over rebel prisoners on Morris Island

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Civil War prisons, Military Matters, Southern Society | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

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. …

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

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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