Friends indeed?

Posted on February 28, 2014 by SUMPTER

The February 27, 1864 issue of Harper’s Weekly at Son of the South discussed whether Quakers should be exempted from the draft on conscientious grounds. The editorial respected the Quakers for their beliefs but realized that if anyone could claim a religious exemption that could defeat the war effort. Quakers should be like those who opposed the Fugitive Slave Laws – resist the law and pay the penalty if caught. Here are some bites:

QUAKER EXEMPTION.

THE petition to exempt Quakers from military service, on the ground of conscientious scruples against war, has excited a great deal of thoughtful sympathy. The statement made in it of the undaunted moral heroism and suffering of some Quakers, among the rebels, who had been drafted and who declined to serve is very touching and impressive. In one case a man was tortured and barely escaped with his life. In another, one was ordered to be shot, and when the file of soldiers who were to execute the sentence saw the victim and heard him calmly praying that they might be forgiven for their involuntary crime, they refused to fire. These are incidents which recall the testimony of the early Quakers. They show that the old spirit is not extinct, and that George Fox and James Naylor still survive under other names.

And yet the principle of exempting men from their share of any common public burden merely upon their assertion of conscientious objection to bearing it, is not and can not be admissible. For the evidence of this truth we need look no further than the late proposition in Congress to exempt from service all who were sincerely opposed to the prosecution of the war. That is simply a proposition to submit to the overthrow of the Government, and with it, to the destruction of all the securities of civil and religious liberty. …

Of course we are not saying that a man must submit his conscience to the law, nor denying that very bad and very wicked laws may be often made. …

What, then, is the alternative? It is very plain. It is to acknowledge the necessity of government or of authority, while you refuse obedience to the special claim; and that you do by yielding to the penalty if it shall be enforced. In this country, for instance, the best citizens were conscientiously opposed to Mason’s infamous Fugitive Slave Law. …

If, then, the Quakers are conscientiously opposed to war, at a time when it seems to the people that their rights can be secured in no other way, it is a hard case for both sides. The prosecution of the war requires the draft. If there were any conceivable way of determining whether conscientious scruples really exist, the release from service ought to be willingly granted wherever they were established; because if the mass of the people were sincerely opposed to maintaining their liberties by fighting, they would be sincerely in favor of submitting to the rebellion, and the war would end in the destruction of the Government, the ruin of the nation, and the overthrow of all hope of civil and religious liberty—and this by consent of the people. But there can be no way devised of ascertaining the sincerity of such scruples. It is therefore plainly impossible that the mere assertion of them should he sufficient. And it seems to us that every honest and patriotic Quaker will a thousand times more willingly acknowledge the authority of the Government which he wishes to see maintained, by paying the penalty of disobedience to its law, rather than by asking for legal release from obedience upon grounds which can never be satisfactorily established.

Civil War Home summarizes the North’s response to conscientious objectors:

Greater manpower resources and more tolerant attitudes in general eased the pressures on Northern pacifists. Congress objected to exempting specific religious sects for fear of missing the smaller ones, and a blanket exemption for all conscientious objectors would have invited abuse. Yet the compromise, providing a substitute or paying a $300 commutation fee, violated the principles of men who considered either alternative a contribution to the bloodshed. The Militia Act of 1862 made no provision for conscientious objectors; though the Draft Act of 1863 did, it failed to define “conscientious objector,” again resulting in a flood of individual petitions from draftees. In December 1863 Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton eased the situation by paroling all conscientious objectors held in custody and ordering no more to be called.
143 Quakers reportedly enlisted as Union soldiers, but the majority of their brethren and of all pacifists served in hospitals, cared for sick soldiers in their homes, or worked among the Contrabands. Finally, in Feb. 1864, Congress dealt with the question by ruling pacifists subject to the draft but assuring noncombatant assignments to members of those religious groups whose articles of faith clearly expressed opposition to bearing arms. They were also given the option of paying $300 for the relief of sick and wounded soldiers.
Though neither government solved the problem of how to deal with conscientious objectors, officials for the first time debated the issue at the national level, offering the option of noncombatant service which remained in effect through World War 1.

Tinkle Test

This might just be a story, but it shows the value of Confederate paper money.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch February 29, 1864:

How they Got him.

–A fellow was brought into the conscript office the other day who pretended to the totally deaf. They tried all sorts of sudden and unexpected noises on him all to no-purpose. Just as they were about to discloses him a new plan occurred to one of the examining board. He look into silver quarters and rattled them behind him.– No sooner was the sound made than the fellow turned round and exchanged, “I’ll give ye ten dollars fur them.” –Maein [Macon?] confederacy.

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Confederate States of America, Lincoln Administration, Military Matters, Northern Society, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

prison ministry

Posted on February 27, 2014 by SUMPTER

Shortly after President Jefferson Davis appointed him as envoy to the papacy, Patrick Lynch , the Bishop of Charleston, S.C. was reported preaching to a captive audience in the Confederate capital. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch February 26, 1864:

Interesting Services

–About eleven o’clock yesterday morning the Rt. Rev. Bishop Lynch, (Catholic,) of Charleston, S. C., delivered an eloquent and impressive discourse to the Federal officers confined in the Libby prison. He was listened to with marked attention, and at the close was heartily thanked by the prisoners for affording them the opportunity of hearing him preach.

During the services the opening of boxes of provisions which had been received from the North by the last flag of truce was commenced in another part of the large room in which the prisoners are confined, but even this attraction did not draw off many from the divine influence which the reverend father was exercising over them.

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Civil War prisons, Confederate States of America, Southern Society | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

“counties bounties”, &c.

Posted on February 26, 2014 by SUMPTER

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

What it Costs New York to Raise Men for the Army.

From the report of LOCKWOOD L.DOTY, Chief of Military Statistics, recently sent into the Assembly, may be obtained some very important information relative to the recruiting service in this State. According to the record, New York furnished 292,982 men between April 15, 1861, and December 13, 1863. Of this number, 230,442 were mustered for three years; 30,131 for two years; 2,516 for nine months; 29,893 for three months. Reduced to a common term, the State has furnished the equivalent of 252,648 three years’ men. This ratio applied to the loyal States, should produce an army of 1,439,500, or one soldier for every thirteen persons in the loyal States.

The appropriations made by Boards of Supervisors, and by and by common Councils of cities, for bounties, support of soldiers’ families, &c., and by the Legislature for raising men, care of sick and wounded soldiers, and other objects incident to the war, are given.

The Boards of Supervisors for ten counties made no appropriations, bounties being paid by towns entirely. In several counties bounties were paid by towns, in addition to that by the county.

The Boards of Supervisors, exclusive of action by towns, have appropriated for war purposes, during the three years of the war, no less than $14,363,862,91; Common Councils, $6,710,948,95; the Legislature, $13,562,494.00, making a total of $34,637,390,86!

These statistics are not complete. and do not, therefore, give the full amount of debt and taxes incurred. They are sufficient, however, to give the people some idea of the enormous State debt this war is rolling up, independent of what is created by the Federal Government. Let the people ponder these facts, and consider for a moment where we are being led by the terrible sacrifice of life and treasure.

I found a book written a few years before the Civil War Centennial that summarized some of New York’s war costs. I was relieved to see that the state wasn’t a laggard – it had the most, and it paid the most:

The contributions of the Empire State to the war effort were massive and impressive. New York State was the leading state in population and wealth, and New York provided the greatest number of soldiers, the greatest quantity of supplies, and the largest amount of money. In addition, New York’s citizens paid the most taxes, bought the greatest number of war bonds, and gave the most to relief organizations. Enlistment bounties alone cost the state over $43,000,000.[1]

I was also relieved that Lockwood Doty didn’t have to spend all his time in a musty old office crunching numbers. An article published 150 years ago today reviewed the opening of a Military Bazaar in Albany, New York State’s capital. Colonel Doty contributed “relics of the battle-fields” from his bureau’s collection. The Bazaar reminded me of the Brooklyn Sanitary Fair, which also opened on Washington’s birthday. Both events apparently contributed the proceeds to alleviate suffering. From The New-York Times February 26, 1864:

AFFAIRS AT ALBANY.; The Opening of the Military Bazaar–Gov., Seymour’s Address–Street’s Poem–What is to be Seen–A Democratic Convention– What it was Called for, and what it will Do.

ALBANY, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 1864.

The opening of the great Military Bazaar, which occurred last night, will prove in the hereafter to be a memorable event in the annals of Albany.

Memorable for the causes out of which have grown the necessity for such a display — memorable for the associations of the present which will cling around it-but above all, I trust it will be memorable for the alleviations it shall work of the want, the suffering and bereavements which call to us from the past and threaten us from the future.

The building stands on ground that is classic. It covers almost the entire area where a multitude of the elite of the nation listened to EDWARD EVEREST as he dedicated the Dudley Observatory to the service of the exploration of the celestial sphere. Do you recollect that inspired portraiture of the rising sun with which the orator on that occasion opened his address? I could but recall it last night. It seemed to flash on the audience — its crimson rays penetrating the recesses of the booths, covering as with a halo the lattered banners, and sparkling on the steel bayonets and brass howitzers that stand guard over the room wherein have been clustered the sad mementoes of the battle-fields whereon the sons of New-York have fought and fallen.

The address of Gov. SEYMOUR you will have in print. Like all the many others of the same paternity, It is full of original thoughts, clothed in a vesture of chaste words. It may not, in the estimation of many, be as redolent of the fiery field as the occasion would have justified, but it must be remembered that the Governor was ever more of the scholar than the soldier, and that all his life has been more an aspiration for the quiet of the closet than the tumultuous crowdings of the forum. …

It would be idle to attempt a description of the Bazaar building and its varied contents. The structure covers nearly the entire surface of the Academy Park, and must have a floor surface of nearly or quite an acre of ground. It is so framed as to embrace numbers of the forest trees and shrubbery. The hall thus formed is subdivided into booths, which are appropriated to the exhibition of various articles. Many of the rooms represent in their exterior the prevailing architecture of England, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, France, Japan, China and the Orient. “The Yankee” conglomerate is there, too, with all its ramifications, redolent of pop-corn, lemonade, stewed oysters, notions and gingerbread. An Indian wigwam and a Shaker village appropriately flank Jonathan’s department on the right and left.

The most interesting of all I saw were the relics of the battle-fields — mementoes of the heroism of the State — contributed by Col. LOCKWOOD L. DOTY, from the collection in the Bureau of Military Statistics. It is a sad and touching, but yet a noble and prouu picture of what the State has done and suffered in the cause of freedom — score-marks, as it were, telling of the thousands of her sons who have died, and the millions of treasure she has expended. …

If vou come to Albany, go and see these things. Go to contribute your mite toward mitigating the sufferings of the poor and the afflicted. You will come away with a “value received” that would satisfy the avariciousness of a money-lender.

The Democratic party meet here tomorrow …

The weather is mild, the ice giving way, the sky clear, and the Legislature on a long recess. What more can the people of Albany or the State ask?

[Civil War envelope showing Columbia, eagle, shield, state seal of New York, and banner with message "New York loyal to the Union"] (between 1861 and 1865; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-34646)

  1. [1]Ellis, David M., James A. Frost, Harold C. Syrett, and Harry J. Carman. A Short History of New York State. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1957. Print. page 338.↩
Posted in 150 Years Ago This Month, Military Matters, Northern Politics During War, Northern Society | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

peace is the word

Posted on February 25, 2014 by SUMPTER
Young American crushing rebellion and sedition ( [Philadelphia] : Published by William Sartain, 728 Sansom St., Phila., c1864; LOC: LC-USZ62-90673)

reasoning madly? “Young American crushing rebellion and sedition”

Back in January New York Democrat Representative Fernando Wood gave a speech in the U.S. House of Representatives in which he advocated an immediate peace. He criticized both Republicans and Southerners for being in favor of dissolution. ” Those who favored the war favored disunion. Peace is the only hope of restoration.” Here a Democrat newspaper in upstate New York seems to be echoing Mr. Wood’s words.

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

War is Disunion.

War is disunion – the destroyer of every element out of which Union can by any possibility be created – and they who reason that war is the way to peace and union, reason madly, reason like the insane man. And as to subjugation restoring the Union, the idea is not only false, but exceedingly vicious. The Union never can be restored, except by peace. The Abolitionists may talk war, sing war, pray war, and their President may call into the field five times five hundred thousand men, and yet all will ere long be compelled to admit that there is no way to the restoration of the Union except by peace.

We would stop this war at once; we would propose terms of peace, or agree to leave it to some disinterested power; would move heaven and earth to put a stop to the shedding of any more blood; and would dry up the fountains of woe, desolation and misery now overflowing our once happy and peaceful country. “Blessed are the Peacemakers.”

You can rad about “Young America” at the Library of Congress.

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

groggy

Posted on February 24, 2014 by SUMPTER

Richmond’s grogshops were under attack as the reason for much of the city’s “vast increase of crime and demoralization”. The war put a crimp in the supply of real coffee, and many caffeine-free substitutes had been suggested. To top it all off, 150 years ago yesterday Richmond’s “Confederate Coffee factory” was destroyed by fire. Corn was apparently the chief ingredient in the substitute brew.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch February 24, 1864:

Destruction by fire of the Confederate Coffee factory.

–About one o’clock yesterday morning the large brick building situated on Baker’s alley, between 17th and 18th, and Main and Cary streets, took fire, and was entirely destroyed. The building, which was a very large one, fronting on Cary street and running back the entire depth to the alley, was occupied by Mr. David Baker, Jr., for the manufacture of what is commonly known as “Confederate Coffee.” One part of it was also used by Mr. B. as a broom factory. In this building was a large amount of corn, from which the compound was principally made, and the machinery which was employed in its grinding and drying was of the most costly and perfect character, all of which was entirely destroyed.

During the progress of the fire a very large steam boiler, in which had been left a supply of water, became red hot, and owing to the pressure of the steam engendered thereby a terrible explosion took place. The force of the explosion was so great that pieces of the boiler were driven through heavy brick walls, and large portions of it were thrown from a hundred to a hundred and fifty yards from the place at which it was stationed. One piece, weighing between three and four hundred pounds, was lodged in the prison yard at Castle Thunder, a square off, and fell within a few inches of one of the guard, the force of which so stunning him as to knock him senseless for a few minutes. A tenement in Hughes’s row, on 17th street, was also struck by a piece of iron and a hole driven entirely through it. We learn that a young man who was within range of the flying atoms at the time of the explosion was struck about his head with a flake of the boiler, injuring him so severely that he has since died. Several other persons are reported hurt, but we have been unable to find out who they are.

Mr. George Johnson, the clerk of the establishment, was asleep at the time the fire broke out, and had barely time to make his escape alive.

Mr. Baker’s loss will not fall far short of $60,000, on which there was no insurance. –The building was owned by Franklin Stearns, Esq., and his loss will probably amount to between $75,000 and $100,000.–Mr. S. had a slight insurance in the Mutual Insurance office on one end of the building; but, in comparison with the loss he will sustain, it is not worth reporting.

The origin of the fire is believed to be accidental, and as it frequently occurs that the furnaces in the drying room are kept heated all night it is more than probable that the floor ignited therefrom.

The Fire Brigade were promptly on the spot, and did valuable service in saving from destruction the surrounding buildings.

Corn is one of the coffee substitutes listed at UT-Tyler. There are many others, including rye, okra, and acorns. And even asparagus.

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

flags, fireworks, and a fair

Posted on February 22, 2014 by SUMPTER
map01lg THE CAMPAIGN OF 1776 AROUND NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN. HENRY P. JOHNSTON. BROOKLYN, N.Y.: PUBLISHED BY THE LONG ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 1878.)

George Washington campaigned here

150 years ago today New York City celebrated George Washington’s birthday, and a sanitary fair opened in Brooklyn to support the United States Sanitary Commission.

From The New-York Times February 23, 1864:

WASHINGTON’S BIRTHDAY.; CELEBRATION IN THIS CITY AND VICINITY. Opening of the Brooklyn Sanitary Fair. CELEBRATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. PYROTECHNIC DISPLAYS. THE MUNICIPAL BANQUET. CELEBRATION IN BROOKLYN. BROOKLYN SANITARY FAIR.

The one hundred and thirty-second anniversary of the birthday of WASHINGTON was celebrated, yesterday, with more than ordinary enthusiasm. The military display was not equal to former occasions, but the “turn out” of the people was unusually large and enthusiastic. Flags were displayed from the public buildings, prominent places of business, and many private residences, and in various other ways was the disposition to commemorate “the day we celebrate” manifested.

The parks and squares were filled with people, and although business was not suspended, the City wore a holiday appearance.

At sunrise a salute of one hundred guns was fired at Madison-square, which was the opening note for the festivities of the day.

At 11 o’clock the veterans of 1812 assembled at the Mercer House, and marched down Broadway to the Battery, where they fired the customary salute. Few of them wore the Continental uniform, but their soldiery bearing and careful attention to discipline drew frequent cheers from the crowds assembled to greet them. At noon, while the veterans were returning from the Battery, the Trinity chimes were rung, and at 1 o’clock the old soldiers were reviewed by the Mayor at the City Hall.

The grand review of the Eighth, Eleventh, Twenty-second and Seventy-first Regiments by the Mayor and Common Council was the principal feature of the day. …

fireworks theme

a fireworks’ theme

The large hall of the Cooper Institute was thronged yesterday afternoon and evening by a respectable audience, composed of the teachers and pupils of the public schools, who had assembled to honor the birthday of WASHINGTON by appropriate exercises. The proceeds of the entertainment were set apart for the benefit of the orphans of soldiers.

The fireworks at Union-square and the City Hall were especially suited to the occasion. The principal piece at Union-square was “Washington,” with Liberty and Justice on either side. “Washington Crossing the Delaware” was represented at the City Hall. This piece is understood to be the largest ever produced in this City. The water-line was in the fore-ground, while the background was occupied by representations of WASHINGTON and the scow in which he crossed the river. The water-line was about one hundred and fifty feet long. The display began at 7 o’clock, but the great piece was not fired until 8 o’clock.

mojave-chief Irataba (Harper's Weekly February 13, 1864)

Mojave Chief Irataba at Delmonico’s

Last evening, the City authorities and many distinguished citizens sat down to a sumptuous feast at DELMONICO’s, in Fifth-avenue, and after the removal of the cloth, Alderman HENRY, in the absence of the Mayor, took the chair, and made an appropriate speech, introducing the first toast of the evening, namely: “The Day we Celebrate.” Surveyor Andrews, Ex-Mayor Opdyke, Mr. Thomas C. Fields, Orlando Stewart, Esq., Dr. Bradford and Recorder Hoffman made brief and pertinent speeches, and songs were sung by the Union Glee Club. Among those present were Judges LEONARD, BARBOUR, RUSBELL, and the Indian Chief, IRATABA. DODWORTH supplied the music.

The anniversary was more generally celebrated in Brooklyn, yesterday, than ever before. The public offices and places of business generally were closed in the afternoon, in accordance with the recommendation of the Mayor, and everybody appeared to have turned out into the streets.

The weather was remarkably fine, and the women and children, taking advantage of the day, crowded the thoroughfares. Fulton-street was virtually jammed from the Ferry to the City Hall, while about the Park and the Academy of Music the throngs were so dense that it was difficult, and in some cases impossible, to move through them.

Flags were displayed from all the public buildings, and from a large number of private residences.

The grand feature of the day was the parade, and never since the organization of the local militia was there so fine a display in this city. The regiments all turned out in full ranks, and presented a better appearance in every respect than they ever did before. …

The opening of the Brooklyn Sanitary Fair last evening was an event of more than ordinary importance. For weeks the citizens of Brooklyn have been making the most determined efforts to insure the success of their great enterprise, and the brilliant display at the Academy of Music last night must have been exceedingly gratifying to them.

Brooklyn_Museum_-_Brooklyn_Sanitary_Fair_1864 Brooklyn Museum

The Academy of Music part of Sanitary Fair

At an early hour immense throngs began to crowd every avenue surrounding the building, and at the time the public were permitted to enter, fears were entertained of serious accidents. The Academy of Music, the buildings opposite, and Knickerbocker Hall, were splendidly illuminated, and the scene was one difficult of description. There seemed to be an out-door as well as an in-door fair, for hundreds were unable to gain admission. The whole affair may be expressed in the one word — jam. The inside of the Academy, where the grand bazar of fancy goods is held, is not decorated with the elaboration which di[s]tinguishes Knickerbocker Hall. Its vast proportions forbid it, no less as a matter of taste than of practicacility. This comparative plainness, however, brings the brilliance of the tables into proper and happy relief. From the centre of the ceiling depends a columnial mass of drapery, from the apex of which broad bands of alternate red, white, and blue bunting radiate in graceful curves to the pillars and amphitheatre, and thence droop in festoons between each. From the bottom of the columnar mass in the centre is suspended an American eagle, with outstretched wings, and grasping the national shield and colors. The effect is as if the proud bird were hovering in mid air over the heads of the spectators. The great drop curtain has been caught up and stretched over the stage, giving the rich effect of a crimson ceiling. The ugly woodwork of the side scenes is concealed by white muslin, with charming reliefs of the national colors. It is proper here to say that the decorations are the work of Mr. WM. PAYNE, of No. 300 Fulton-avenue, who has, in the most generous manner, given his personal superintendence and services, besides loaning the material for the decorations. To Mr. DEGRAUW, Chairman of the Committee on Decorations, great credit is due for taste and energy.

A superb feature of the decorations of the auditorium is a painting by CALLAO, so large as to cover the entire unsightly back wall of the stage, and representing a camp scene with the United States Sanitary Commission tent in the foreground, displaying the attendants of the commission ministering to the sick. The faithfulness of this representation is guaranteed by the appearance of a real tent in the Academy, and very near it, containing wounded soldiers from David’s Island and attendants of the commission, and showing the practical workings of the commission.

Prominent among the features of the Fair, are the apartments allotted to the Treasurer’s Office and the Post-office, occupying a proscenium box on either side. An elegant soda fountain stands at the stage-door entrance on Montague-street. In the centre of the room, on a raised and carpeted platform, stands a magnificent piano, gift of Messrs. STEINWAY & SONS. A suggestive emblem of Dixie’s happy land, in the shape of a palmetto tree, mounts grim and thorny guard over the Sanitary tent.

A brilliant effect is produced by the hundreds of vividly-colored Afghans and bed-quilts of worsted, silk, satin, or more homely, but sensible, and by no means cheap, cotton, which are hung at the back of the family circle, it was difficult to get a glimpse of all that was presented for public inspection.

Brooklyn_Museum_-_Brooklyn_Sanitary_Fair_1864 (Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum; Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2008, 22.1908_PS2.jpg)

General Washington’s portrait at Knickerbocker Hall

Knickerbocker Hall was most elaborately decorated with evergreens, made into wreaths, pillars, arches, stars and festoons. Over the Montague-street entrance is a tasteful combination of evergreen and flags. Around the ground floor are arches, on each side of which are shields, draped with miniature flags, and in each arch a white star. At the southern end of the building a fine full-length portrait of WASHINGTON, surrounded by flags and other patriotic emblems. The walls are covered with flags — indeed, everywhere where the green is not, the red, white and blue takes its place. Pendant from the ceiling hangs a gigantic chandelier, with two hundred burners:

The New-England Kitchen is also a prominent feature, and one deserving of all the attention bestowed upon it, which was anything but slight last evening. The entertainment closed a few moments after 10 o’clock, the hour announced in the programme. To-day hundreds will undoubtedly embrace the opportunity to see what last evening it was quite difficult to get a distant view of. In future the charge will be fifty-five cents for admission to all parts and departments of the Fai[r]. At the same time those who desire to visit at any time only the main Fair in the auditorium are required to pay but twenty-five cents, the sum of ten cents being charged for admission to ea[c]h of the separate departments, the museum of arts, relics and curiosities, the picture gallery, and the New-England kitchen.

These charges are moderate, and will receive the approval of the public.

I was impressed by the schoolchildren putting on a program at the Cooper Institute and donating the proceeds to orphans of soldiers.

The image of Irataba was published in the February 13, 1864 issue of Harper’s Weekly at Son of the South, where you can read more about him. So far on his trip to Washington, D.C. and New York he had most impressed by a school of whales near San Francisco.

You can read more and see more of the fair at the March 5, 1864 issueHarper’s Weekly.

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Military Matters, Northern Society | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

February interlude

Posted on February 21, 2014 by SUMPTER
Brandy Station, Va. Two men "discussing the probabilities of the next advance" (1864 February; LOC: LC-B8171-61)

“Brandy Station, Va. Two men “discussing the probabilities of the next advance” (LOC)

Things had been pretty quiet in Northern Virginia. 150 years ago today (pages 166-167) General Meade, the North’s commander in the theater, wrote a letter to his wife explaining that “I returned from Washington to-day, very much fatigued and worn out with two days passed in that place”. Among other things on his busy schedule, he had met with General Halleck, “stopped at the President’s, where Mrs. Lincoln was holding a levee”, and attended a reception which wore him out because everyone wanted to meet the “great lion.” His army was “overrun with women” because the Second Corps was going to have a grand ball in honor of Washington’s birthday. He did not think he was going to attend because the bash was five miles away.

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

unending Lent

Posted on February 20, 2014 by SUMPTER

As scarcity increased in the South, the Richmond Daily Dispatch continually shared ideas for substitute products and ways to stretch the food that was available. 150 years ago today it published a bit of persevering humor: the fastings and sacrifices of Lent were becoming a year-long fact of life in the South’s capital.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch February 20, 1864:

Dry Eatings.

In what way the day of Lent is to be kept this year in order to distinguish it from other seasons of the year, might puzzle a Carthusian monk. Under the dietetic laws of that order, the brethren were not to eat meat at any time, and during Lent they were prohibited the use of eggs, milk, butter and cheese. Dry bread with water was their Lenten fare, but dry bread and water have been the daily food of some salaried officials in this city all the year round. This is not the result of any scarcity of the fruits of the earth, but of the disordered currency, for there is no article of food or clothing which cannot be purchased at pretty much old prices for gold. But whatever the cause, the “Dry Eatings” are an established institution, and Lent, instead of forty, lasts three hundred and sixty-five days.

As misery loves company, it may be consolatory to those who are keeping Lent by compulsion to recall the austerities of the table which some ascetic persons have voluntarily endured. We find a number of edifying instances collected to our hand in a chapter before us on the “Diet of Saints.” It is recorded of St. Macarius that for years together he lived only on raw herbs and pulse; that during three consecutive years he existed on four or five ounces of bread daily, and that he consumed but one small measure of oil in a twelve month. At Lent he distinguished himself by eating nothing at all on the week days, and a few raw cabbage leaves on Sunday. St. Macarius ought to have lived in Richmond. He would have learned a lesson of humility. Cabbage heads there are in abundance, but cabbage leaves on Sunday or any other day is a piece of extravagant sensuality which neither saints nor sinners, in any great number, indulge. … [more saintly examples]

Winwaloe, a Welch saint, kept his monks at starving point all the week, refreshing them on Sundays by microscopic rations of hard cheese and shell fish. He lived himself on barley bread, strewn with ashes, and when Lent arrived the quantity of ashes was doubled.

Innumerable examples might be multiplied, of a similar character, to stimulate our abstemious Richmonders in that Lenten austerity of life which is preached to them from the butcher and vegetable stalls of the city markets. Not many of them are likely to come to such short commons as “Diet of Saints,” and it is some consolation to reflect that the majority have not yet felt the war. We have heard of no case of starvation as yet, which we attribute to the fact that those who have plenty eat enough for themselves and all the rest of the community.

“there is no article of food or clothing which cannot be purchased at pretty much old prices for gold.” As mentioned yesterday the law passed by the CSA on February 17, 1864 had a temporary effect on inflation by controlling the money supply and making the currency a little less “disordered” apparently. At Civil War Richmond you can view an approximate chart that compares the purchasing power of Confederate notes with a dollar’s worth of gold. In March 1864 the ratio was $26 Confederate to $1 in gold. There was a dip in April, and then the currency relentlessly depreciated for the rest of the war. The poor “salaried officials” who were undoubtedly getting paid in paper.

The money crisis in the South - auction sale of a five dollar gold piece at Danville near the N. Carolina border (Illus. in: Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 1864 Feb. 13; LOC: LC-USZ62-52286)

The money crisis in the South – auction sale of a five dollar gold piece at Danville near the N. Carolina border

The image above was from a sketch by a Union prisoner and was published in the February 13, 1864 issue of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper.

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

state of the confederacy

Posted on February 19, 2014 by SUMPTER

We’re used to the U.S. president presenting a state of the union address in January each year. 150 years ago this week the first Congress of the Confederate States completed its term. The day before the final adjournment the legislators issued a report to the Confederate people: The South intended a legal, peaceful separation, but Yankees were warring against the Confederacy and inciting slaves against their masters. By perseverance and “self sacrificing patriotism” the people could achieve peace and freedom.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch February 19, 1864:

The address of Congress to the people of the Confederate States.

In the House of Representatives on Wednesday last Mr. Corry, of Alabama, made a report from the joint committee of the two Houses appointed under a resolution to prepare an address to the people of the Confederate States.

The address is quite lengthy, and opens with a review of what has been accomplished under circumstances the most adverse, and invites attention to the prospects ahead, and the duty of every citizen in this crisis.–Throughout its tone is hopeful and encouraging and its diffusion among the people must evert some influence to dispel despondency where it exists.

The long series of oppressive and tyrannical acts which led to a separation of the South from the North are forcibly and truthfully set forth, and the aims and objects of the new Government clearly and intelligibly defined. In alluding to the measures which were enacted and the steps taken in the formation of the Confederacy, the committee say “that this Government is a child of law instead of sedition, of right instead of violence, of deliberation instead of insurrection. Its early life was attended by no anarchy, no rebellion, no suspension of authority, no social disorders, no lawless disturbances.–Sovereignty was not for one moment in abeyance. The utmost conservatism marked every proceeding and public act. The object was to do what was necessary and no more, and to do that with the utmost temperance and prudence.”

It refers to the efforts made for peaceable separation when it was determined that we could no longer live with the Northern people without degradation, and when it was hoped that the obvious interests of the two sections would restrain the wild frenzy of excitement and turn into peaceful channels the thoughts of those who had but recently been invested with power in the United States.

After a lengthy but not overdrawn recital of the cruelties which have been practiced by the enemy during the war, the committee say that, “disregarding the teachings of the approved writers on international law, and the practice and claims of his own Government in its purer days, President Lincoln has sought to convert the South into a St. Domingo, by appealing to the cupidity, lists, ambition, and ferocity of the slave.”

The condition of those States which have been in the complete or partial control of the enemy is referred to as furnishing the best evidences of subjugation, at which the fanaticism of the North is arriving. Upon this subject the committee say: …

In Virginia, the model of all that illustrated human heroism and self denying patriotism, although the tempest of desolation has swept ever her fair domains, no sign of repentance for her separate from the North can be found. Her old homestead dismantled, her ancestral relies destroyed, her people impoverished, her territory made the battle ground for the rude shocks of contending hoses, and then divided, with hireling parasites mockingly claiming jurisdiction and authority, the Old Dominion still stands with proud crest and defiant mein, ready to tramp beneath her heel every usurper and tyrant, and to illustrate afresh her sic semper tyrannis, the “proudest motto that every blazed on a nation’s shield or a warrior’s arms.”

The address, which is signed by all the members of the House of Representatives, and by the Committee on the part of the Senate, concludes with the following exhortation to the people:

In conclusion, we exhort our fellow-citizens to be of good cheer and spare no labor, nor sacrifices that may be necessary to enable us to win the campaign upon which we have just entered. We have passed through trials of affliction, but suffering and humiliation are the schoolmasters that lead nations to self reliance and independence. These disciplinary providence but mature and develop and solidity our people. We beg that the supplies and resources of the country, which are ample, may be sold to the Government to support and equip its armies. Let all spirit of faction and past party differences be forgotten in the presence of our cruel foe. We should [n]ot despond. We should be self denying. We should labor to extend to the utmost the productive resources of the country. We should economic — The families of soldiers should be cited for and liberally supplied. We entreat from all a generous and hearty co-operation with the Government in all branches of its administration, and with the agents, civil or military in the performance of their duties. Moral aid has the “power of the incommunicable,” and by united efforts, by an all comprehending and self sacrificing patriotism, we can, with the blessing of God, avert the perils which environ us, and achieve for ourselves and children peace and freedom. Hitherto the Lord has interposed graciously to bring us victory, and in His hand there is present power to prevent this great multitude which come against us from casting us out of the possession which He has given us to inherit.

Before it adjourned the CSA Congress passed a major law dealing with “Taxes, Currency and Conscription.” You can read a good account of the law’s effect on inflation in the Confederacy at Seven Score and Ten

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

Confederate naval school ship

Posted on February 18, 2014 by SUMPTER

During the same week that the Confederate navy made history, one of its sailors was murdered in Richmond. He was serving on the CSS Patrick Henry. In May 1862 the ship “was modified for use as a school ship, and from October 1863 housed the Confederate States’ Naval Academy, under the command of First Lieutenant William H. Parker.”

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch February 17, 1864:

Murder of a Sailor.

–A seaman, named James Kelley, one of the crew of the shipship
Patrick Henry, lying in James river, near Drewry’s Bluff, was murdered yesterday morning, about 7 o’clock, at the house of two white women of easy virtue, named Emma Brown and Maggie Jones, located on 24th, between Mam [Main?] and Cary sts. The deceased received two stabs in the left breast from a small bowie or sheath knife, either one of which was sufficient to have ultimately caused his death. Kelley, after receiving the wounds was removed to the C. S. Marine Hospital, on Governor st, where he lingered in great pain for more than an hour, when death put an end to his sufferings.

Soon after the wounded man breathed his last a jury of inquest was summoned, who, upon an investigation of the affair, returned as their verdict that he came to his death from stabs received at the hands of some person to them unknown.

training ship

training ship

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