tough nut to shell

Posted on January 13, 2014 by SUMPTER
Charleston 1864 by Robert Knox Sneden; LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/CABIB20007930)

Mr Sneden mapped “Houses Riddled By Our Shot & Shell”

It’s already going on three years since the federal garrison at Fort Sumter was evacuated as the shooting war started. But the Union wasn’t content to leave with its tail between its legs. The North had been trying to retake Charleston, that hotbed of secession, and its defiant fort. Since the latter part of 1863 the Federals had been trying to bomb the city and its defenders into submission. They have had little success. As a matter of fact, a Petersburg correspondent found that most of the bombs that hit the city fell in a lightly inhabited area already mostly destroyed by the December 1861 fire

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch January 13, 1864:

The firing into Charleston.

–A letter from Charleston published in the Petersburg Express, speaking of the firing into the city, says:

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


BURSTING OF A SHELL IN THE STREETS OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA.
SKETCHED BY AN ENGLISH ARTIST.

The enemy’s fire into the city, seems to form almost a complete semi-circle. Beyond a certain point they have not reached. There is no harm, perhaps in saying that their farthest shot has only reached to within a few yards of Beautain street, and that their shortest shot fell in Water street.–Beginning then at Water street, near the battery promenade, and describing a half circle, including the Mills House, Charleston Hotel, and then going down to the bay again, will give you the exact area exposed to the Yankee fire. Many of the huge missiles find a lodging place without harming any one in what is known here as the “Burnt District. ” After all, that frightful conflagration of two years back, was in many respects a God send. It afforded a resting place for Yankee shells — It afforded debris, &c., enough to obstruct six harbors like ours — and material enough for the case work of batteries, bomb proofs, &c., innumerable. I took a stroll through the portion of the city exposed to the shells, two days since. It was an instructive and interesting stroll, though one necessitating some exposure. My way lay first up East Bay to Broad, up Broad to King, up King to Haxel, down Hazel to the Bay and back. Splintered glass, scattered bricks, large holes in the pavement, the perfect desolation and silence of death, all marked the spot as well deserted. No foot fall, save my own, awoke the leaches in the cheerless streets — and when once again I neared the precincts of a busy, breathing population. I sighed, as heaving a mighty weight from my breast. The effect of the shells there is no denying are serious and destructive. But very few strike the houses, and at this rate, years would be consumed in knocking to pieces, even this small portion of the city, exposed to Yankee malice.

The image of the bomb exploding was published in the January 9, 1864 issue of Harper’s Weekly at Son of the South, where you can also see Fort Sumter being shellacked but still in rebel control and read a description. The image in Charleston proper was from back when the bombardment began:

THE SIEGE OF CHARLESTON.

ON page 28 we give an illustration representing the effect produced by one of Gilmore’s shells bursting in the streets of Charleston. When Gilmore first began to shell the city it had more noncombatants in it than it has now; it was not believed that the city was within range until the actual reality brought conviction. The illustration is designed to represent the first occasion upon which the city was shelled, and depicts the overwhelming surprise of the citizens. The shelling commenced at midnight, but did little harm beyond terrifying the ladies left in the city. Only a single house was set on fire. … [and out in the harbor where the bombs are raining down on Sumter] Beauregard, it is said, is determined to hold the fort till the last; by the bayonet, if need be.

Fort Sumter, December 9th 1863, View of South East Angle (by John Ross Key, 1864 January 7; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-23067)

and they’ll defend with bayonets if necessary

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down on the farmers

Posted on January 11, 2014 by SUMPTER

What price should Virginia farmers charge the Confederate army for their produce? An editorial from 150 years ago thought a low price was in the farmers’ self-interest.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch January 11, 1864:

The Farmers and the army.

The duty of supplying the army at liberal rates is one which it might be as well for the farmers of Virginia to consider from that fascinating point of view, their own interest. The question for them to decide is whether they will dispense liberally of their products to the defenders of their possessions, or whether they shall be overrun and laid waste, their estates destroyed, and their houses burned down over their heads by the advance of Meade’s army, which will follow the falling back of Lee, a calamity that the failure of the farmers to respond liberally to the calls of their country may render inevitable. If the farmers of Virginia prefer the condition of the people of Culpeper, Norfolk, and New Orleans, to their present state, they have only to keep fast their grip on their corn and wheat, and their desires can be gratified.

Of course, the government also taxed farmers (and others). One of the taxes on farmers and planters was a tax-in-kind . Those who owed taxes had to visit the tax collectors with their records. Farmers were warned to give their tax-in-kind only to authorized agents. From the same issue:

Confederate States taxes.

Notice to all persons liable to taxation by the Confederate Government in District No. 12 composed of that part of the city of Richmond lying west of 6th street–By authority of the Secretary of the Treasury, we hereby notify all persons liable to taxation — which embraces the great mass of the people of his District — that it is their duty to come forward and give in to us, the Assessors of this District a statement of their incomes, salaries, and all other subjects of taxation, that they may be assessed according to law; and to enable them to perform this duty, we hereby notify them that C. C. Ellett one of the assessors may be found at his residence on Leigh street, between 3d and 4th, at all times during the month of January, 1864; and William Forbes, the other assessor, will be at his office, at the corner of Main and 8th streets, from 9 o’clock A. M. to 3 o’clock P. M, of each day, and at his residence on Arch street, above 4th, after 3 o’clock P. M. of each day in the month of January, 1864, where they will respectively receive such statements and make such assessments.

C. C. Ellett,

Wm. Forbes,

Assessors for the 12th District of Virginia.

Richmond, Jan.1, 1864.

Notice to tax Payers

–State of Virginia–12th collection district C S war tax, composed of all that part of the city of Richmond which lies west of Sixth st.

All persons who have heretofore been registered, or who by law are required to register, are hereby notified to come forward within twenty days from this day and make their returns of gross sales for the quarter ending 31stDecember, 1863, inclusive, to Wm. Forbes or C. C. Ellett, the assessors for this district.

Any such person failing so to report within twenty days will be subject to a double tax. …

P. A. Woods, Collector

For 12th district of Va,
Richmond, Jan.1, 1864.

Ass’t Q’ m Gen’s office,
January2d, 1864.

Tax in Kind — Farmers and planters are notified that they must not deliver their tax in kind upon any other than receipts of Quartermasters and Commissaries serving with troops, and of officers and agents on tax duty, or of those who from this office are specially authorized to collect.

The receipts of sergeants, wagon masters, and teamsters are worthless, they have no authority, nor can any one give them authority, to receipt for tax in kind.

Larkin Smith,

Ass’t Quartermaster-General.

____________________________________________

Here’s how Edwin Forbes drew an “Old Va. farmer coming from mill. Rappahannock Station, Va.” from January 14, 1864:

Old Va. farmer coming from mill. Rappahannock Station, Va. (by Edwin Forbes, January 14, 1864; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-20595)

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nurses should be paid

Posted on January 10, 2014 by SUMPTER

From The New-York Times January 10, 1864:

Ladies’ National Army Relief Association.

WASHINGTON, Thursday, Jan. 7, 1864.

To the Editor of the New-York Times:

Thankful for your courtesy in publishing my letter in your issue of the 3d, I desire to correct an error which causes me to say the opposite of what is true, viz.: That nurses do not desire pay outside of general hospitals. Desire should read receive.

To secure experience and permanence of service, the nurses should and must be paid and protected. All can understand that.

Our “Announcement” is out and the “Circular” will immediately follow.

Strong sympathy with our cause is everywhere met, and now as we enter the field to remove the last difficulty before us, (the want of means,) I feel assured this will disappear as have far more formidable ones that have melted, or are rapidly melting, away.

The noblest and best are ready to enter the field the moment we can receive them, and wasting lives implore the relief and saving care.

Women have an interest in the great Army of the Union. It encircles their most precious treasures, and military lines are loosing their severe rigidity quite [???] and what was early in the war an intrusion surrounded with great prejudice is now hailed with thankfulness whenever properly understood. SARAH P. EDSON.

P.S. — Communications can be addressed or interviews had at No. 713 Broadway, Room No. 20, until the 20th of January.

Here’s the original letter from The New-York Times January 3, 1864:

Nurses in the Army.

To the Editor of the New York Times:

My attention was arrested by an editorial in your issue of Sunday, the 13th inst., concerning “Nurses in the Army.” I was particularly struck with the clearness and justness of the whole article. I wish it might be read in every household in the land, and especially by our representatives, whose duty it is to protect the people, and lessen, as far as possible, all reasonable causes for complaint, and, more especially, to use all necessary means to relieve the sufferings of our noble and patriotic soldiers in the battle columns of our army.

Are they not the surrendered treasures of almost every Northern household? Are they not men whose lives are, if possible, more precious than before to the hearts of those who love them, and whose prayers ascend continually that they may be held in the hand of Him whose great cause they have gone forth to maintain and establish, even, if need be, to the giving up of life?

The great one body — the army — seems to lose all thought of the atoms of which it is composed. The man is but the thousandth part of a regiment, and totally swallowed up in the great army of the Union; but yet, in his own individuality, he is the loving and loved of the circle at home. Men seem almost to forget this in the great congregation of armed men, but whether it be so with us or not can be decided by the efforts we make to reach and save individual life.

Service in the army, from its commencement, in every variety, from the general hospital to the lengthened campaign and the great battle-fields, has given an education in the needs of our soldiers, and their sufferings and death, that must almost all remain in the hearts of those who witnessed them, for they cannot be uttered.

You speak of the defects of the ambulance and nurse system, or rather the utter lack of system or organization necessary to success.

None can realize how sadly, terribly true are these remarks but they who have seen the workings of disorganization on the field, especially the female assistance and care.

You speak of an association of ladies last Summer, dating from Washington, having in view the systematizing of this branch of field relief, but do not know whether anything has been accomplished, or whether they are now at work.

We are, most earnestly.

You say “if there are difficulties in the way of their success, they should at once be removed.”

Almost appalling difficulties have been met and evercome, advantages sought and obtained. We (nurses in the field) are now permitted to go and remain wherever surgeons desire our assistance, and that is everywhere where are sufferings in the army.

Permit me here to correct one error in statement. Nurses do not desire pay outside of general hospitals, nor are they entitled to rations, but they sometimes receive their food while at work, but frequently are obliged to support themselves. These we propose to support and pay, so that we may secure permanent service and the wealth of experience where it is so much needed.

The Secretary of War is desirous of doing, and has now done all that he, as a Government officer, can do, until legislation shall extend his powers, or create powers elsewhere to regulate and control the whole matter.

The only difficulty now remaining is the comparatively small means necessary to carry on our work.

Our “Circular” (The Ladies’ National Army Relief Association) will be given to the public in a few days, and we earnestly hope such responses will be given as will place us at once in the field with the thousand-fold advantages of organization, experience, responsibility and skill, as against the losses and embarrassments attending the lack of all these.

Commanding and medical officers of every grade are ready to welcome our members to the field, for we propose to relieve them of the serious embarrassments of caring for us in emergencies, by taking under our care all nurses when the army moves.

The law gives no protection for female nurses in this department.

We will look after the sick who are left behind, and hold all nurses so near, that they can at once be at the post of duty when needed.

All the duties or necessities in this our chosen field of labor, cannot be hinted at in this article, nor the earnest calls that bid us enter, nor the blessings, nor the expressions of gratitude, nor the tears of thankfulness that have traced the tanned and bearded cheeks of brave men, that have followed the crippled and imperfect services of volunteer labor.

Our “Circular” will tell some of these.

We do not now despair after fourteen months untiring effort and determination to bear down the difficulties that prevented a proper answer to the calls of a hundred thousand suffering men, who need our experience and care.

By the help of the people we will in a few days become a band of “recruiting officers” that will give back to the ranks a drilled man, and instead of making another home lonely, we will save homes and hearts from sorrow and mourning.

Will the people send us to recruit in this pleasant manner?

Our commissions will cost only our support while on duty.

Severe trials of health await the new soldiers about to be sent out. Time is of golden value in providing experienced care.

Shall we be supported? — the last difficulty now before us. [???] SARAH P. EDSON.

President Ladies’ National Army Relief Association.

Sarah P. Edson was born up here in the Finger Lakes region, in Fleming, Cayuga County.

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comfortable Richmond

Posted on January 9, 2014 by SUMPTER
Richmond, Virginia. Spotswood hotel. (Main Street) (by Alexander Gardner, April 1865; LOC: LC-DIG-cwpb-00458)

at the Spotswood

Almost three years into the war people in Richmond can still get a good meal at the Spotswood Hotel, a place apparently far-removed from the Bread Riot Richmond of April 1863.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch January 9, 1864:

Deserving of Praise.

–At the present time, when everything is scarce and hard to get, it is surprising how the hotel-keepers of Richmond keep up their tables in the style which they do. With regard to one of them, the “Spotswood,” we will say that, with the exception of the luxury of fresh salt-water fish, which cannot be had, there is scarcely any difference in the manner in which it is conducted now than there was before the war.–A practical test justifies us in saying that it is equal, to say the least, to any other hotel in the South, and persons visiting Richmond for pleasure or business should make their time as agreeable as possible by stopping at this well-kept establishment. Its enterprising proprietors, Messrs. Corkery [sic?] & Betts, as well as the superintendent of the dining room, Mr. Sherry, have be superiors in their departments, and, devoting their whole attention to the business, the guests of the hotel are not long in finding out that they have selected the most comfortable stopping place in the city.

As you can see from Alexander Gardner’s April 1865 photo, the Spotswood survived the war; however, it could not survive 1870, the Year of Disasters. A fire at the hotel killed eight people. You can see the ruins at Civil War Richmond.

There is evidence that the proprietors might have been a little too enterprising for the authorities. In July 1864 William F. Corkley [sic?] was charges with violating the anti-liquor law by selling brandy (not soda water and raspberry vinegar) at the hotel bar. The case was dismissed because the witness didn’t show up at court.

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boy martyr

Posted on January 8, 2014 by SUMPTER
David_Owen_Dodd

wouldn’t divulge his source

On January 8, 1864 “Seventeen-year-old David O. Dodd is hanged as a Confederate spy in Little Rock, Arkansas.”[1]

David Owen Dodd was caught with sensitive documents on his trip from Union-occupied Little Rock back to his family in Camden, Arkansas. The federal army took Little Rock in September 1863 and Confederate troops retreated to the southwest of the state. David O. Dodd was called the “Boy Martyr of the Confederacy” because he refused to tell the Union authorities the source of his information and was hung as a result.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch March 23, 1864:

Execution of a Confederate.

–David Owen Dodd, aged seventeen, son of a merchant of Little Rock, Ark, was executed by the Federal military authorities there, a few weeks since, as a spy. A letter says:

Arkansas 1854 (LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/2002624049)

divided state – Camden to southwest of Little Rock (1854 map)

Mr. Dodd had a short time previous to the execution of his son removed his family to [from] Little Rock, and had sent his son back on business. While there he gained important information in regard to the garrison and defences of the city, and had noted them in telegraphic characters in his memorandum book. On his way to Camden he was by a Federal scout, who searched him and found the fated book. He was taken to Little Rock, tried by court martial, and sentenced to be hung as a spy. Previous to his execution, Gens. Steele and Davidson both conversed with him, assuring him of their sympathy on account of his extreme youth. And as they knew some one intimate about their headquarters had given him the information, they proffered to release him on condition he would divulge the name of his informant. This he scorned to do, saying if a wrong had been committed he was the guilty one, and “that a man that would not die for his principles was not ” When brought to the ascended it, calmly pulled off his coat and met his fate without a shudder. Two hours before his execution he wrote with a steady hand his “last letter” to his parents and sisters, telling them not to weep for him, but to meet him in Heaven. Seldom do such instances of pure, disinterested patriotism occur.–Never will a grateful people forget the memories of the noble dead who have freely offered that to lives for their country, and there are none whose names will be more gratefully embalmed than the subject of this memoir. Rather than betray his friends, he preferred death, and thereby crowned his name with immoral [sic] bonnet.

You can read his “last letter” from 1:00 AM 150 years ago today and a long account of the incident at knowsouthernhistory. You can also find his grave.

The map here shows the extent of the Union occupation of Arkansas in January 1864.

  1. [1]Fredriksen, John C. Civil War Almanac. New York: Checkmark Books, 2008. Print. page 388.↩
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rosy outlook from dismal science

Posted on January 7, 2014 by SUMPTER

How can the Northern economy be doing relatively well given the labor and wealth wasted on the war? High labor productivity applied to a big and well-endowed country that can take in large numbers of immigrants, who add to the nations wealth. Technology and the free labor system have increased productivity.

From The New-York Times January 7, 1864:

The Losses of War How they are to be Replaced.

Economists have always spoken of “efficiency” of labor as one great source of wealth that is, the application of forethought, invention and industry to production, so that the greatest possible result is obtained for the force applied. It is this peculiarity of American labor which is so rapidly now replacing the losses of this war, and which is each day opening new sources of wealth. To many minds both here and in Europe, the financial condition of this country, during this fearfully wasteful war, has been a mystery and an anomaly. How a nation could be throwing into the sea, as it were, several hundreds of millions every year, and not be plunging into bankruptcy and ruin, was something at first inexplicable to students of finance and economical science.

Expenses of living, it is true, owing to the tariff and the depreciation of the currency, have greatly risen, yet the great and wonderful fact remains that the principal source of our wealth still exists in immense surplus; in other words, the production from agriculture, even with a million of laborers unemployed and fed at the public expense, has been greater than ever before. We have fed the army, our own people, and, to a certain extent, the population of Europe, and still have so much surplus that flour, maize and beef are not so high as they have been often in former years.

Nothing will explain this astonishing fact but what has been called the “efficiency” of our labor; that is, the application of brain to labor under the most unusually favorable conditions. Here, almost for the first time in the history of the world, we have a rapidly advancing population, an increasing capital, boundless material advantages in our alluvial soil and water communications, and a constant application of improvements to agriculture. The conditions for production never existed to such a degree in any country. Already we discover that the teeming brain of the Anglo-American has filled the gap made by the withdrawal of a million of laborers by machines of agriculture, so that production in proportion to the demand, remains as large as ever. No doubt, too, the high rate of wages has called out a great deal of comparatively idle and unproductive labor, and turned it to the most profitable employment.

Along with this constant filling up of the losses of war, we begin to discover that other veins of wealth are opening, which will go far to remove from us some of the burdens of our national debt. The cotton lands of the South, as they are opened and protected by our armies, are becoming an EI Dorado to the fortunate Northerners who have cultivated them. We hear already of fortunes rapidly made by enterprising Yankees on the Mississippi and near New-Orleans, such as the history of Peru or California could hardly equal. These accounts may be exaggerated, but there can be no rational doubt that the cotton and sugar plantations, under freed labor and during the high prices of these staples, will pour in a flood of wealth upon the country.

It must be remembered that freed labor is more “efficient” than slave labor; that the emancipated slaves work more steadily under Northern employers than Southern; that Northern capital will inevitably flow into these districts, and that the price of cotton must be high during the long and gradual close of the war, which now seems probable. With such conditions, a small territory may reap profits which were once enjoyed by the whole South. Or, accepting OLNSTED’s theory, that the whole surplus wealth of the South was always the produce of a comparatively few plantations under slave labor, our people having possession of those very plantations, may obtain from the world a vastly greater profit than used to flow to us from the whole Southern export.

Similar facts are also beginning to present themselves in California and the neighboring districts. The mineral wealth which, is opening in the veins of the Rocky Mountains and their numerous spurs, is represented by trustworthy observers, as beyond all calculation. Immense fortunes are being made each day in some of the mining districts. Some of the largest mines have come into the possession of the most solid and careful associations, who employ talent and capital, without stint, to extort the boundless wealth which lies hid in them. It is safe to say that a vast increase of wealth will flow into the country during the next twenty years from this source alone. All these prosperous undertakings will besides, augment another great source of our wealth — immigration — so that in the years succeeding the waste and loss of this war, we may reckon on such an increase of production in the United States as has never been known in human history. Providence will heal the wounds of the nation, and justify by its material blessings a war which has been fought for principles.

Civil War camp scene, showing company kitchen, 1863(?) ( photographed 1864, [printed later]; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-33113)

happy campers? “during the long and gradual close of the war” (LOC: 6th N.Y. Artillery at Brandy Station, Va. April, 1864)

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big squeeze at the meat market

Posted on January 6, 2014 by SUMPTER

Hey, civilians have to eat, too

Sign, Kenner, Louisiana (by Russell Lee, 1938 Sept; LOC: LC-DIG-fsa-8a23543)

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch January 6, 1864:

The meat Market,

in 17th street, was the scene of no little excitement yesterday morning, caused by the appearance of a C. S. officer, who purchased between fifty and seventy quarters of fresh beef, leaving but a limited supply for individual purposes. Surely, the Government does not intend to come into the city markets to get supplies at a time like this. If its agents do not furnish meats, with all the railroads and other public highways at their command, how is it possible for the butchers in the city markets to supply them? The Secretary of War has had the matter brought to his attention by the City Council, and will no doubt give our people protection for the future.

Here is evidence that the officer might have been a Mr. Moffitt buying for the Army of Northern Virginia.

If the agent was paying with Confederate currency, it was an increasingly bad deal for the butcher. According to the Dispatch paper money was only worth a fourth as much as a year earlier.

The sign was really from Kenner, Louisiana.

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resolution

Posted on January 4, 2014 by SUMPTER

Another army campaign season has drawn to a close and Richmond still hasn’t fallen. The Confederate Congress said thanks.

Hon. Herschel V. Johnson: Democratic candidate for vice president of the United States (Published by Currier & Ives, c1860.; LOC: LC-USZC2-2597)

gratitude for General Lee and his army

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch January 4, 1863:

Confederate States Congress.

The Senate was called to order by Mr. Hunter, of Va., President pro tem. Prayer by the Rev. J. L. Burrows, of the Baptist Church.

Mr. Johnson, of Ga., submitted the following preamble and resolutions, which were unanimously adopted:

Whereas, the campaigns of the brave and gallant armies covering the capital of the Confederate States during the two successive years of 1862 and 1863, under the leadership and command of Gen. Robert E. Lee, have been crowned with glorious results defeating greatly superior forces massed by the enemy for the conquest of these States; repelling the invaders with immense losses, and twice transferring the battle field from our country to that of the enemy: and whereas, the masterly and glorious achievements, rendering forever memorable the fields of the “seven days of great battles” which raised the siege of Richmond, as well as those of Cedar Run, Second Manassas, Harper’s Ferry, Boonsboro’, Sharpsburg, Winchester, Gettysburg, and Chancellorsville, command the admiration and gratitude of our country; and whereas, these and other illustrious services rendered by this able commander since the commencement of our war for independence have especially endeared him to the hearts of his countrymen, and have imposed on Congress the grateful duty of giving expression to their feelings: Therefore,

Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America, That the thanks of Congress are hereby tendered to Gen. Robert E. Lee, and to the officers and soldiers of the Confederate armies under his command, for the great and signal victories they have won over the vast hosts of the enemy, and for the inestimable services they have rendered in defence of the liberty and independence of our country.

Resolved, That the President be requested to communicate these resolutions to Gen. Robert E. Lee and to the officers and soldiers herein designated. …

But there was a manpower shortage in the rebel armies. A Richmond editorial said that draft should not be extended to the very young and very old – Just round up the stragglers.

From the same issue:

The stragglers.

A gentleman who has travelled of late extensively in the Confederacy informs us that he has met everywhere a vast number of soldiers — as large a number, he thinks, as there are in camp — who are now absent from their duty. This agrees with the reports we receive from every quarter, and which are confirmed by the declaration of the Secretary of War, that the larger part of the army are absent from their posts. A friend of ours met lately with fifteen able-bodied gentlemen in one group who had managed to obtain trifling contracts, or be detailed, or obtain some other pretext for escaping their duties in the field. In some of the counties of Virginia we hear that service in the ranks is looked upon as disreputable, and that the man is considered green who cannot keep his sons or pets out of the army. In other quarters we hear of the enrolling officer permitting everybody to pass. These absentees, be it remembered, are all within the ages prescribed by the conscript law, and, if brought back to their duties, would make the forces of the Confederacy more than sufficient to cope with the enemy. Under these circumstances, is it not the height of folly to extend the conscript age, and compel schoolboys and gray-headed men to take the places of stalwart deserters? Such a course is a measure of desperation, a confession of weakness which is not warranted by the facts, a proclamation that the Confederacy is on its last legs and is compelled to play its last card. If Congress is not given over to that madness which goes before destruction it will refuse to take the “seed corn” of the country, as President Davis has aptly characterized the boys of sixteen, and the infirm old men of the country, for purposes which are not demanded by the good of the country, all whose military necessities can be supplied if, instead of making new laws, the existing legislation is enforced.

Army life was tough, though; apparently 150 years ago this winter the Confederate forces lacked another important supply:

Socks for the soldiers

are very much needed, and if sent to the Army Committee of the Young Men’s Christian Association, will be promptly forwarded to the needy now in the field.

Herschel Vespasian Johnson was Stephen A. Douglas’ running mate in the U.S. 1860 presidential election. He did not at first support secession but followed his home state out of the Union and served as a Confederate senator from Georgia from 1862 until the end of the war.

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cold snap

Posted on January 3, 2014 by SUMPTER

I thought 3 °F seemed kind of cold this morning – and I sure wasn’t outside for a whole guard shift

From a Seneca County, New York in January 1864:

During the recent cold snap, eighty soldiers on guard at Camp Douglas, near Chicago, had their feet, ankles and hands so badly frozen that they are incapacitated for duty for some time – many for all their lives.

And according to Wikipedia it sure was cold:

A blizzard and temperatures of −18 °F (−28 °C) occurred on January 1, 1864. Some prisoners who escaped at this time were found frozen to death nearby. … General Orme obtained some Union army overcoats outside of channels and distributed them to prisoners. But when Colonel Hoffman learned of his actions, he reprimanded him for proceeding outside regulations.

I don’t know any of the details but the following photo shows some rebel prisoners at Camp Douglas who apparently got to prison with some relatively warm Confederate uniforms.

Five unidentified prisoners of war in Confederate uniforms in front of their barracks at Camp Douglas Prison, Chicago, Illinois (between 1862 and 1865; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-32610)

button up your overcoats

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kudos

Posted on January 2, 2014 by SUMPTER

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

GONE TO THE WARS. – The editor of the Seneca County Sentinel, disgusted with the newspaper business, has gone for a soldier, leaving the paper in his absence in the hands of his wife.

For all I know, the editor may have been disgusted with his business, but maybe he just decided to put his body where his words were.

The Seneca County Sentinel was published in Ovidfrom 1860-1866.

I’m not sure if there is a mix-up on the dates. Thomas Raynesford Lounsbury briefly edited the Sentinel in 1860. In 1862 he joined the 126th New York Volunteers.

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