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.
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.
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:
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 ran the Condor aground
“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
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. …
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.”
18-2-1 circled in blue
The heroic trio:
“Capture of Fort Harrison on the Chaffins Farm line of Works”
“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.
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.
“the spirit of the people is high and defiant”
Some more Monday morning defiant optimism from the editors at the Richmond Daily Dispatch on September 26, 1864:
Monday morning…September 26, 1864.
That we are approaching a very critical period of our existence as a people in certain. Within one month from the pre[s]ent time we shall once more be subjected to one of those periodical trials to which we have now become accustomed, and which have been on often repeated that they have lost all their terrors. The enemy is about to make another onslaught, with the two-fold object of “crushing the rebellion” and re-electing Abraham Lincoln. The letter is much the more important of the two; the former is but secondary, and designed to aid in bringing about the latter. The opening of the drum is not very encouraging, we admit; yet it is quite as much so as it was last spring, when Jones had been defeated, and Hunter, victorious and without opposition, was making his way triumphantly to Lynchburg. It is not on the flanks of our army that this matter is to be decided. Whatever may happen there, is of second-rate importance. It is here, before Richmond and around Petersburg, that the decision of the question is to be made. For ourselves, we entertain no doubt whatever of the manner in which it will terminate. We place the utmost confidence in the genius of General Lee and the valor of his unrivalled army. We believe that they will be again victorious, as they were last summer in a crisis far more perilous than this. But they must have all the assistance that can be sent to them, and this we doubt not they will have. Let our friends, then, possess their minds in peace, and place their firm reliance on that Providence which has so often shielded them from calamity when it appeared on the point of overwhelming them. For what but the interposition of Providence could have protected our cause thus far against an enemy so far excelling us in numbers and in all the appliances of war?
We are glad to see, at this critical moment, that the spirit of the people is high and defiant. Let disaster come, they are prepared to bear it with fortitude. Let triumph come, they will receive it with moderation. Unlike the degenerate race beyond the Potomac and the Ohio, they neither run made with exultation at every drifting success, nor sink into abject fear whenever defeated. Success and defeat they bear with the same equanimity. Let them be defeated to-morrow; let Petersburg be taken and Richmond razed to the ground or consigned to the flames; still, they are as far from being subjugated as ever. They do not intend to submit, let their disasters be what they may.
But we have not the least fear that either of the catastrophes alluded to will take place. As we have already said, we confide in General Lee and his gallant army to bring us safely out, and we feel no apprehensions of the issue. If Grant failed last May, with an army much larger than that which he has now, and every way its superior, we cannot see any reason why he should succeed now, when the bulk of his army is composed of the very offscouring of mankind; the scum of all the nations; the refuse of the human race, substituted for the tens upon tens of thousands of disciplined veterans that have fallen since he took command. That the job he has undertaken is a most difficult one, he himself makes evident by his call for one hundred thousand fresh troops, after having already expended double that number in the vain attempt to complete it. In all modern history there is no record of any enterprise against a single position having cost so much.–Three hundred thousand tried their hands last summer. To these Grant now wishes to add one hundred thousand more. With four hundred thousand men in a central position, an enterprising monarch, who was likewise a good soldier, could over whelm any monarchy in continental Europe. Yet, with an army of that size, the Yankees have been thus far utterly unable to take this city, far less to conquer Virginia.
his reverses in the Valley “a serious inconvenience “
As for the reverses of General Early in the Valley, that they are a serious inconvenience to us, we will not deny. But we do deny that they are of such a character that they should discourage us or create a doubt as to ultimate success. Even though that army were captured or destroyed, and we feel no apprehension upon either score, it would not decide the question, as long as Lee was in the field and had a gallant army under his command. That army, at least, has no fear of the issue, so long as the life of their commander is preserved. There is no instance in modern times of greater devotion to a chief than that which the Army of Northern Virginia feel and profess to General Lee. They believe that while he is with them they cannot be beaten. They are proud of his high renown. They know that the laurels which encircle his brow were placed there by their hands; and they will shed the last drop of blood rather than suffer the impure hands of a mercenary leader of banditti — such as Grant, the tool of a tyrant as remorseless and as careless of human life as himself — to tear them from him. Now, this is the feeling which renders soldiers invincible — which made the troops of Hannibal believe that victory was chained to his standard and could not be divorced from it — which enabled Cæsar to say, on a critical occasion, when his army murmured and refused to go forward in a certain expedition, “If you will not go, I will take the Tenth Legion and go with them alone”–which induced Wellington to estimate Bonaparte’s presence on a field of battle as equal to fifty thousand men. No index of a great commander is so little liable to mistake as this capacity of inspiring men with confidence. As long as that army and that general exist, the enemy will not only never conquer the Confederacy, but will not even enter this city as a conqueror. Blood, it is true, must flow like water; but it is blood shed in the holiest of causes, every drop of which is sacred in the eyes of a whole people.
genius
It is the general belief that this will be the last great trial of the enemy — that if this fail he will become tired of throwing army after army into this yawning gulf of ruin and death — that if he be beaten now he will not repeat the experiment.–Whether it be so or not, we think there is very little doubt that the present onslaught is dictated by the near approach of the election, and is, in effect, an electioneering effort. What the result of a defeat may be, we do not undertake to say; but that the attempt to take Richmond will be again defeated, we no more doubt than we doubt our own existence.
“Lee’s Adjutant”, Walter Taylor realized that even geniuses needed enough material to work with as he wrote in a September 25, 1864 letter to his girlfriend while he was still stationed at Violet Bank:
… I thought a good application of the text [of that day’s sermon] might be made to the times, and an excellent read to the croakers who imagine the Confederacy in a desperate strait and are ready to cry “enough” & take the oath. WE are stirring matters up over here & propose to put the whole Bureau of Conscription in the army as a beginning of a great reform – after which we might get some soldiers in the ranks. Whereas now every body procures a detail or exemption. We also propose to make the negroes serviceable & some advocate placing them in the ranks – making soldiers of them – but for this I am not yet quite ready. …
The Gen’l has sent for me. Goodbye.
W … [1]
some islands of Lake Erie, including Johnson’s and Middle Bass
I am baffled by the title of this piece, but, according to Civil War Home, the activities described were part of the Confederate government’s 1864 attempt to foment a Northwest Conspiracy, a “secret operation to create hostile activities in the Northwest, specifically another secession movement against the Union government–thereby, hopefully, the Union would sue for peace to prevent a further breakup”
From the Richmond Daily Dispatch September 24, 1864:
Another Chesapeake affair.
Under this caption, the Gazette has the following dispatch:
New York,September 20.–Buffalo dispatches state that a number of Confederates from Canada captured two small steamers — the Parsons and Island Queen — near Bass island, on Lake Erie, yesterday afternoon, and have gone up or down the lake, probably for reinforcements, guns and ammunition.
The capturing party numbered about thirty men, armed with revolvers and bowie-knives. No other arms were noticed. The capture took place at Middle Bass island. Wood enough was taken to last two days.
The CIA sheds some light on the details of this operation, which was part of an attempt to free Confederate prisoners at Johnson’s Islandby first taking over the U.S.S. Michigan, which guarded Lake Erie:
On September 19, 1864, John Yates Beall, a veteran blockade runner, and about 20 men boarded the Philo Parsons, a small Detroit-Sandusky steamer, in Detroit as ordinary passengers. At Beall’s request, the captain made an unscheduled stop at Amherstburg on the Canadian side of the Detroit River, and several more of Beall’s men boarded, toting a large trunk filled with grappling hooks for seizing the Michigan.
As the Philo Parsons neared Johnson’s Island, Beall put a pistol to the helmsman’s head and took over the ship. The Confederate flag was hoisted, and the real passengers and most of the crew were put ashore on another island. Then Beall sailed the steamer to a point off Johnson’s Island and awaited a signal from the Michigan.
A genial Philadelphia banker–and a new friend of the captain of the Michigan–was supposed to signal Beall that all was clear for the attack. However, the supposed banker, who was really Captain Charles H. Cole of the Confederate Army, had been arrested by Union soldiers. Cole, Confederates later said, had been betrayed. Union records show that Cole, captured on a tip from a Confederate captive and held aboard the Michigan, “disclosed the whole plot” in time for the Union warship to prepare for battle. Seeing no signal and fearing that the Michigan had been alerted, Beall’s crew, murmuring mutiny, demanded that he abort the attack. He set course for Canada, landed everyone ashore, and then burned the Philo Parsons.
The Johnson’s Island link above provided some insight about the baffling Chesapeake title of the Dispatch piece. John Yates Beall “was qualified for the raid by his success in Chesapeake Bay as a Privateer.”
A Richmond paper reported that sanitary conditions were better at Fort Delaware and the daily death rate was lower. Overall conditions were still not very good and winter would be tough with only one blanket per prisoner. Tobacco would be the best present to send a loved one confined on Pea Patch Island – it functioned like money.
From the Richmond Daily Dispatch September 24, 1864:
Fort Delaware.
Prisoners who returned by the last flag-of-truce boat give the usual account of the sufferings of the Confederate soldiers confined at Fort Delaware, and of their intense anxiety for an immediate exchange. They have experienced enough of prison life at the North to make them regard another capture by the enemy as one of the greatest calamities of war. The whole number of prisoners there at present is seven thousand seven hundred and twenty-two, including about two thousand Virginians. These are assigned to divisions of several hundred each, in which there is not sufficient space for necessary exercise; and their sufferings, it may be well imagined, are intolerable. Their breakfast is one-fifth of a loaf of bread to each man; their dinner, the same amount of bread, with a small piece of meat and a plate of poor soup, with one potato once a week. They have no supper. They are allowed to write only to father, mother, brother, sister, wife or child, and then only ten lines. A married sister cannot be written to if she happens to bear a different name. They are not allowed to receive any packages except by flag trace, and even that method has been recently discontinued, packages sent from here on the 22d of August not having yet been received. Formerly they were allowed to receive presents from friends outside of the prison, but that has been stopped.–The discipline of the prison is very strict. The guard is composed of Ohio militia — the regulars, before performing that duty, having been sent to the field. The winter will bring a great addition to the sufferings of the prisoners, as only one blanket is allowed to a man, and some have not even that.–The houses are temporary board structures, neither lathed nor plastered, and a division has but one fire:
We are gratified to learn that the sanitary condition of Fort Delaware has much improved since last year, and the daily average of deaths considerably diminished.
Tobacco is much more desired by the prisoners than money, as it is a common article of traffic, and will purchase anything they need. We mention this as a hint to those persons who desire to send any gift to their friends there.
Captain Richard E. Frayser, of the Signa[l] Corps, and Captain Jones R. Christian, of company F, Third Virginia cavalry, are among the officers sent from Fort Delaware to Morris island to be placed under fire.
Among the prisoners returned by this flag of truce are Captain B. F. Smith, William F. White, Anron Burton, William C. Tempkins, and — Allen, of Richmond, and Dr. Howlett, of Chesterfield.
The members of the Third Richmond Howitzer company at present in Fort Delaware are well and provided for.
The clipping from The New-York Times of September 25, 1864 is the lead paragraph of a long report detailing the horrible conditions suffered by Union prisoners in the South.
Union prisoners were martyrs (NY Times 9-25-1864)
There is evidence that 150 years ago this week President Lincoln accepted the resignation of Postmaster General Montgomery Blair to placate the radical wing of his party.
From The Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln, Volume Seven:
TO POSTMASTER-GENERAL BLAIR.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, September 23, 1864.
HON. MONTGOMERY BLAIR.
MY DEAR SIR:—You have generously said to me, more than once, that whenever your resignation could be a relief to me, it was at my disposal. The time has come. You very well know that this proceeds from no dissatisfaction of mine with you personally or officially. Your uniform kindness has been unsurpassed by that of any other friend, and while it is true that the war does not so greatly add to the difficulties of your department as to those of some others, it is yet much to say, as I most truly can, that in the three years and a half during which you have administered the General Post-Office, I remember no single complaint against you in connection therewith.
Yours, as ever,
A. LINCOLN.
It is written in the first two links above that Mr Blair campaigned for the president’s re-election even after being dismissed.
Back in July a disgruntled General Joe Hooker resigned from his command of a corps in General William T. Sherman’s army group. As the 1864 political campaign heated up, Republicans must have been happy to hear that General Hooker was still in favor of a vigorous prosecution of the war.
From The New-York Times September 22, 1864:
Major-Gen. Hooker on the Situation.
To the Editor of the New-York Times:
I lately had the pleasure of a half-hour’s interview with that glorious old soldier and patriot, popularly known as “Fighting JOE,” at Waterhouse, N.Y. As copperheads and traitors have been trying to torture some recent utterances of his into a quasi-indorsement of their candidate’s platform, let me ask you to give place to one or two of the declarations made by him on that occasion. I said to him: “General HOOKER, what do you think of the declaration made at Chicago, that the war against the rebels has thus far been a failure?” His reply, as I recollect it, was in these exact words:
“war till the last ditch is reached”
“It’s pretty much what might have been expected from the sort of people assembled there, isn’t it?” His own opinion upon that point was pretty clearly expressed in another remark made by him to this effect: “That if the Union armies did not strike another blow, but simply held their present position, the rebellion must soon crumble into ruins. He did not hesitate to avow the opinion that the rebellion was already tottering to its fail, and he spoke, in terms of amazement, and certainly with no want of either directness or force, of the semi-traitorism which he found so abundant at the North. He is for war; war to the knife; war till the last ditch is reached, and the last traitor is struck down. He seemed to pant for active service again at the front; and, certainly, the whole country will join in the wish that his earnest patriotism and generalship may soon find a suitable field for their active and successful exertion.
While my pen is in hand let me express to you my admiration of the consummate ability as well as the manly dignity with which you are conducting the present political campaign, a campaign not less momentous or important in its issues than that which is now in progress in the field with such glorious success in the past, and still more glorious results soon, as we may confidently hope, to be realized in the future. W.
Joe Hooker might have been panting for active service – he finished the war in the Northern Department of Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana.
The last paragraph praised the Times for the way it was conducting the election campaign. 150 years ago today the Richmond Daily Dispatch critiqued a speech Times’ publisher Henry J. Raymond gave at a Republican rally in Brooklyn. The Dispatch pointed out that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee that a majority of the people elect the U.S. president, just a majority in the Electoral College.
