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.

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Month, Military Matters | Tagged | Leave a comment

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.

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

“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.↩
Posted in 150 Years Ago This Month, Civil War prisons, Lincoln Administration, The election of 1864 | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

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.

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still in the navy

Posted on October 2, 2014 by SUMPTER

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

AGAIN PROMOTED. – We are pleased to learn that Ensign John P. Arnett, son of Wm. Arnett, Esq., of this village, has been promoted to be Third Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy.

The John P. Arnett listed as an officer in The Union Navy by Arthur Wyllie (on page 504 at Google Books was discharged on October 20, 1865. He was not mentioned as a Third Lieutenant but as an Acting Ensign from March 22, 1864.

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spy drowned

Posted on October 1, 2014 by SUMPTER

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch October 4, 1864:

Drowned.

—Mrs. Rose Greenhow, well known in the Confederacy for her sufferings in its cause, –having been for months confined in the political prison at Washington,–was drowned on Saturday last near Wilmington, North Carolina, while landing from a sinking steamer. She was returning from England, where she had been to make arrangements for publishing a book, which has already appeared. She resided for some time in this city after her release from prison at Washington.

Greenhow, Mrs. & Daughter (imprisoned in old Capitol Prison in Wash. D.C.) Confederate spy (between 1865 and 1880; LOC: LC-DIG-cwpbh-04849)

suffering for the cause: Mrs Greenhow and daughter, D.C.’s Old Capitol Prison in 1862

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch October 18, 1864:

Destruction of a Blockader — repulse of an attack on the shipsteamer Condor.

–It is generally known that the large, three-funnelled steamer Condor, from Halifax, Nova Scotia, in going into Wilmington, North Carolina, a week ago, was deceived by the wreck of the Night Hawk, and ran aground. It was in attempting to come ashore from her in a boat that Mrs. Rose Greenhow was drowned. The Condor has been slowly unloading under the guns of Fort Fisher, and a guard, as usual, has been kept on her at night. On last Friday night, the Yankees made an attempt to board the Condor, to destroy her, but were gallantly repulsed by Lieutenant Sowles, of company A, Thirty-sixth North Carolina troops, and a detachment of men.

As soon as the attempt was made, Lieutenant Sowles communicated the fact to Fort Fisher, when her heavy guns burst forth to right and left of the Condor. The second shell fired to the left of the Condor struck a gunboat that had accompanied the boat party in, and so completely ruined her that she was run ashore on the south breaker of the bar and abandoned. The enemy set fire to her in several places, and before morning she was totally destroyed, her magazines having exploded and torn her to pieces. Since this occurrence, on Friday night last, there has been no sign of the enemy off the bar at night, and the fleet is hull down during the day.

Skipping ahead to Mrs. Greenhow’s funeral, as described inthe Richmond Daily Dispatch of October 12, 1864:

The funeral of Mrs. Rose Greenhow.

–The death, by drowning, of Mrs. Rose Greenhow, near Wilmington, North Carolina, last week, has been already noticed. She leaves one child, an interesting little daughter, who is in a convent school at Paris, where her mother left her upon her return to this country. Hundreds of ladies lined the wharf at Wilmington upon the approach of the steamer bearing Mrs. Greenhow’s remains. The Soldiers’ Aid Society took charge of the funeral, which took place from the chapel of Hospital No. 4. A letter to the Sentinel, describing it, says:

Mrs. Rose Greenhow (between 1855 and 1865; LOC: LC-DIG-cwpbh-01246)

her bier draped with a confederate flag under a tall ebony crucifix

“It was a solemn and imposing spectacle. The profusion of wax lights round the corpse; the quantity of choice flowers, in crosses, garlands and bouquets, scattered over it; the silent mourners, sable-robed, at the head and foot; the tide of visitors, women and children, with streaming eyes, and soldiers, with bent heads and hushed steps, standing by, paying the last tribute of respect to the departed heroine. On the bier, draped with a magnificent Confederate flag, lay the body, so unchanged as to look like a calm sleeper, while above all rose the tall ebony crucifix — emblem of the faith she embraced in happier hours, and which, we humbly trust, was her consolation in passing through the dark waters of the river of death. She lay there until two o’clock of Sundayafternoon, when the body was removed to the Catholic Church of St. Thomas. Here the funeral oration was delivered by the Rev. Dr. Corcoran, which was a touching tribute to the heroism and patriotic devotion of the deceased, as well as a solemn warning on the uncertainty of all human projects and ambition, even though of the most laudable character.

“The coffin, which was as richly decorated as the resources of the town admitted, and still covered with the Confederate flag, was borne to Oakdale Cemetery, followed by an immense funeral cortege. A beautiful spot on a grassy slope, overshadowed by wavering trees, and in sight of a tranquil lake, was chosen for her resting place. Rain fell in torrents during the day; but as the coffin was being lowered into the grave, the sun burst forth in the brightest majesty, and a rainbow of the most vivid color spanned the horizon. Let us accept the omen, not only for her, the quiet sleeper, who, after many storms and a tumultuous and checkered life, came to peace and rest at last, but also for our beloved country, over which we trust the rain bow of hope will ere long shine with brightest dyes. …

Wilmington, North Carolina was the last port to fall to the Union and Fort Fisher was still in Confederate hands 150 years ago this month, but even the Dispatch in another October 18th report admitted that the Yankee blockade was effective – only Old Man Winter would grant a reprieve:

From Wilmington.

From a gentleman just from Wilmington we learn that the blockade of that port is as effective as Yankee ingenuity and an unlimited force of gunboats can make it. They have now established two lines of picket boats in the offing to give the alarm of the attempted egress of blockade- runners, and as soon as the latter make their appearance, the boats throw up rockets and burn blue lights. The Yankee arrangements for blockading the port are good, and will hold so perhaps a month longer, when they will all be swept away by the rude blasts of winter. This North Carolina coast is, in winter, the most dangerous in the world; and when winter, sets in the blockaders must stand off to sea, or they will inevitably be blown ashore and wrecked.

The USS Niphon was the Union ship that ran the Condor aground:

Late on the night of 29 September, Niphon fired upon Night Hawk as she attempted to run into New Inlet, and observed her go aground. A boat crew led by Acting Ensign Semon boarded the steamer and, under fire from Fort Fisher, set her ablaze and brought off the crew as prisoners.

Niphon ran British blockade runner Condor aground off New Inlet, 1 October, but was prevented from destroying the steamer by intense fire from Fort Fisher. Among the passengers on board Condor was one of the most famous Confederate agents of the war, Mrs. Rose O’Neal Greenhow who, fearful of being captured with her important dispatches, set out in a boat for shore. Her craft overturned in the heavy surf. The crew managed to get ashore; but the lady weighted down by $2,000 in Confederate gold in a pouch around her neck, drowned.

I don’t think there is a consensus about the gold.

USS Niphon (1863-1865) Civil War era lithograph by J.B. Bufford, after a drawing by S.S. Tuckerman. Collection of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

USS Niphon ran the Condor aground

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“though partially successful failed”

Posted on September 30, 2014 by SUMPTER
Attempt of the Rebels to recapture Fort Harrison (by William Waud, 1864 September 30; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-21749)

“Attempt of the Rebels to recapture Fort Harrison” (September 30, 1864)

The September 29, 1864 Union attack at Chaffin’s Farm was audible in Richmond. The Richmond Daily Dispatch was not published on September 30th because Virginia Governor William “Extra Billy” Smith ordered the newspaper’s employees to militia duty on the 29th.

150 years ago today the Confederates tried to retake Fort Harrison General Robert Lee reported his army’s failure with what might be a little bit of spin.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch October 1, 1864:

Saturday morning…October 1, 1864.
The War News.

The excitement throughout our city on Thursday was intense. On Thursday morning we announced that an attack had been made upon our lines in front of Petersburg; but this appears to have been only designed to cover the crossing of a heavy force of the enemy to the north side of James river at Deep Bottom. It seems that the alarm was spread from brigade to brigade on the south side, until it nearly reached the Appomattox river; and solid shot and shell were thrown in great profusion. The firing continued throughout the entire night, and in the morning the reports of heavy guns were heard distinctly from Richmond, showing that a severe conflict was taking place between the opposing forces below Richmond.

At about eleven o’clock the following communication was received at this office:
“State of Virginia,
“Executive Department,

“Richmond, September29, 1864.

“To the Proprietor of the Dispatch:
“Sir:

The Governor desires that you direct the employees of your office, liable to militia duty, to hold themselves in readiness to move at a moment’s warning.

Very respectfully.
“

P. Bell Smith,

“Lieutenant-Colonel and Aide-de-camp.”

An hour or two afterward, whilst we were quietly awaiting further orders, and had made no communication with the Executive, we received the following emphatic order:

“Governor’s Office, September28, 1864.

“Editor of the Dispatch:

“I order your men to report at once to Captain Crump. The enemy are approaching the city, and this is no time for delay or difficulties to be made when duty demands our presence in the field.
“By order of the Governor.

“A. R. Boteler,
Aide-de-camp.”

Pursuant to there orders, every man employed in the Dispatch officer promptly reported for duty They each received a musket and a cartridge-box, and, in company with some forty others of the craft, were marched and countermarch for about four or five hours, when orders came for them to be dismissed. The consequence of this movement we that we were compelled to suspend the publication of our paper yesterday, which, we hope, will not occur again. …

The latest.

About one o’clockyesterday heavy firing was heard below the city, and much anxiety was expressed to learn the cause. It was generally believed to have been an attack upon Fort Harrison, but nothing could be definitely ascertained until night, when the following official dispatch was received at the War Department:

“Headquarters Army Northern Virginia,

“September30, 1864.

“Hon. James A. Seddon, Secretary of War:

“An attempt was made this afternoon to retake Battery Harrison, which, though partially successful failed.

R. E. Lee.”

We understood last evening that our troops gained some advantages, which they did not after wards relinquish. …

NY Times 9-30-1864

NY Times 9-30-1864

In the same issue Dispatch editors admitted that the loss of Fort Harrison was a “sad affair”:

Saturday morning…October 1, 1864.
The situation.

The grand manæuvre which the Yankee papers according to their custom, have been hinting at for the last three weeks as about to be executed, and to result in something if it would astonish all the world and the rest of mankind, has at length been tried. It has not captured Richmond, but it has procured “hospitable graves” for many of Grant’s cut-threats, black and white. What will be try next to. Why, we suppose he will manufacture a bulletin, in which he will announce the most splendid success, and which will set the whole semi-barbarous generation represented by him and his army to screaming, dancing, throwing up their hats, and shouting for old Abe. That is all he has done since he has been in command of the grand army, and it is pretty much all that he can expect to do hereafter. But that will not take Richmond, although it may, and no doubt will, assist greatly in electing Lincoln.

The sudden abandonment of Fort Harrison by our troops was a sad affair. It proves that none but tried veterans ought to be entrusted with the defence of outposts, liable at all times to be suddenly attacked and to be overwhelmed before the arrival of assistance. The Yankees will represent the capture of this post as a great victory, of course. But time will show whether it is so or not. …

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heroic 148th

Posted on September 29, 2014 by SUMPTER

You can read all about the September 29, 1864 Battle of Chaffin’s Farm and New Market Heights at Civil War Daily Gazette. During the battle the 148th New York Volunteer Infantry fought as part of General Ord’s XVIII Corps, 2nd Division, 1st Brigade. According to the New York State Military Museum “The regiment by its signal gallantry displayed on many occasions had gained a well earned reputation for courage and efficiency. Corp. E. Van Winkle and privates Henry S. Wells and George A. Buchanan distinguished themselves at Fort Harrison and were the recipients of medals of honor from the war department.”

Chaffin's Farm (LOC: http://www.loc.gov/collection/civil-war-maps/?q=chaffin%27s+farm)

18-2-1 circled in blue

The heroic trio:

Edwin VanWinkle

Henry S. Wells

George A. Buchanan

Capture of Fort Harrison on the Chaffins Farm line of Works (by William Waud, 1864 September 29; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-22514)

“Capture of Fort Harrison on the Chaffins Farm line of Works”

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utilitarian argument?

Posted on September 27, 2014 by SUMPTER
Andersonville Prison, Ga., August 17, 1864. Bird's eye view (LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-33769)

“Andersonville Prison, Ga., August 17, 1864. Bird’s eye view” (Library of Congress)

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

Terrible Suffering of Federal Prisoners.

The public mind is becoming very much disturbed at the terrible condition of the Federal prisoners now in the hands of the enemy. Among the passengers by a late arrival of the Steamship Arago from Hilton Head, S.C., are four exchanged prisoners, commissioners appointed at a monster meeting of the 35,000 Union prisoners confined in Camp Sumter, Andersonville, Ga., to wait on the President at Washington, with a petition praying that immediate action be taken to terminate their sufferings, either by parole or exchange. When the commissioners left, the deaths reached 143 per day. The deaths since the opening of the prison on the 25th of February last, up to the 31st of July were 6,800. In the month of July alone the deaths were 2,180, including 550 from scurvy.

The memorial to the President adds that upwards of four hundred of the prisoners are maniacs, wandering through the camp, their minds having given away by the fearful prospect – despairing of ever being either exchanged or paroled. Thousands of these prisoners have spent from eleven to fifteen months in Belle Island and Camp Sumter, without any word of hope reaching them that they would be exchanged. Indeed, it is even asserted, that so terrible is the agony of mind endured by the prisoners, that many of them are shot down weekly on the “dead line,” where they rush and invite the guards to kill them, in order to terminate their sufferings.

Andersonville 8-1864 by Robert Knox Sneden (LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/gvhs01.vhs00029/)

hell on earth mapped

This is a terrible picture, and it ought to arouse the public mind to such a degree as to compel immediate efforts for the release of the brave men unnecessarily and needlessly held in Southern prisons. It is through the bad faith of the administration of Mr. Lincoln, that these men are not paroled or exchanged. Time and again the rebel authorities have sought to affect a fair, equal and honorable exchange, but in vain. Because Mr. Lincoln could not enforce upon the rebels the doctrine of negro equality – and compel them to recognize and treat as equals the negro slaves who have escaped from them, and who return as prisoners taken in arms against their lives and property, it was authoritively announced by Mr. Solicitor Whiting that no more exchanges would be made. And it is for a few hundred negroes that the 35,000 white men at Andersonville are suffering and dying. The settlement of the controversy as to the status of the negro must take place before the tens of thousands of Federal prisoners now dying in Federal prisons can be released. The 35,000 white prisoners at Andersonville must suffer and die because the rebels do not see fit to give up a few hundred blacks. Will the course of the administration satisfy the 35,000 family circles which are filled with mourning over the fate, known or unknown, of their beloved ones at Andersonville? We think not. We think that this last dreadful sacrifice on the altar of negro equality will prove too great a strain upon the patience of the North. It is only through the downfall of the Lincoln dynasty, that we can hope for the release of the remnant of these unhappy men.

According to the National Park Service Confederates were amenable to exchanging the black prisoners in late summer 1864, but General Grant opposed the idea of mass exchanges because he did not want to increase the manpower available to the Confederate armies. Large scale exchanges did resume in the winter of 1864-65. The New Georgia Encyclopedia explains that as Sherman advanced through Georgia in the fall of 1864 Andersonville prisoners were transferred to other prisons. As a matter of fact, Robert Knox Sneden who drew the map in this post and who managed to survive the prison’s horrors from his arrival on Leap day, left the prison on September 17th on a train to Savannah [1]. In December there were about 5,000 inmates at Andersonville.

150 years ago this week Southerners weren’t too happy about the condition of some of their returned prisoners. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch September 24, 1864:

Arrivals by flag of truce.

–Four hundred and sixty returned sick and wounded Confederate prisoners from the North arrived in this city from Varina at 8 o’clockThursday night. The majority of them were in a most deplorable condition, and it was heart-sickening to witness their sufferings as they lay in the various hospitals yesterday. If it is possible for our Government to obtain the release of the Confederate prisoners confined in Northern bastiles, no steps should be left unturned to accomplish it, for the appearance of those who have lately arrived here, and the statements which they make with regard to their treatment in Yankeeland, shows conclusively that it is the object of the Yankee Government to adopt every means in their power to so impair their health as to prevent them from ever being able to perform service again.

Among the number who arrived were Bernard G. Crouch, of this city, and Rev. Dr. Armstrong and family, from Norfolk, Virginia. Dr. Armstrong was sentenced by Butler to labor on the Dry Tortugas during the war. By what means he obtained his release we have not been informed.

Thirteen of our prisoners died on the passage from Fortress Monroe to this city, and, in the opinion of the physicians now attending them, a great many others will not recover.

  1. [1]Sneden, Robert Knox. Eye of the Storm: A Civil War Odyssey. New York: The Free Press, 2000. Print. page 258.↩
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