veteran foragers make it to DC

Posted on October 26, 2013 by SUMPTER
Steamer Onondaga arriving at dock on the east shore of Seneca Lake (by James G. Vail; courtesy Geneva Historical Society)

steamship on Seneca Lake between 1860 and 1895 (courtesy Geneva Historical Society)

The 1st New York Veteran Cavalry Regiment had been pretty much recruited. 150 years ago this week a large contingent traveled to the Washington, D.C. area. In a strange kind of time warp our SENECA correspondent said the regiment left Geneva, NY on Monday, October 21st, which I’m pretty sure would have been impossible in 1863. (I’ll check for a possible copying error soon) The troops were disgruntled by cold shoulder treatments in Pennsylvania and appear to have taken matters into into their own hands a bit vis-à-vis the citizenry. They received wonderful hospitality in Baltimore and eventually arrived at the Dismounted Camp outside the Union capital.

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper on November 1863:

1st Veteran Cavalry.

On Monday the 21st ult, the 1st Veteran cavalry under command of R.F. Taylor, embarked upon the steamer waiting at Geneva to convey the regiment on its journey southward, and as the boats moved off from the wharf amid the huzzas of the crowd and the answering cheers of the soldiers, the clouds which had been lowering, broke away and the bright sun shone gloriously forth a happy omen of our future.

Arriving at Elmira near midnight we marched to the old No. 3 Barracks and occupied them until the next day, when we started for Washington. While in Elmira Col. Taylor addressed the regiment explaining why we were to be taken out of the State before receiving the bounty which had been promised, and guaranteed to every man his rights. The boys gave three hearty cheers for their gallant Colonel and marched to the cars without a murmur.

Occupational portrait of three railroad workers standing on crank handcar (between 1850 and 1860; LOC: LC-USZC4-3944)

“we ran over two or three hand cars” (presumably without the operators)

The journey from Elmira to Washington was rather slow and tedious; however we ran over two or three hand cars and had several other accidents to vary the monotony of the trip. At Williamsport we expected to receive rations but they were neither “present or accounted for” so the boys went out foraging we a degree of success that showed them to be Veterans indeed. We stopped at “ye ancient city of York” for several hours. The citizens seemed to be rather “Secesh” in their proclivities and even refused to take “greenbacks” in several instances. This furnished the boys with an excellent excuse to confiscate whatever they could lay their hands upon. I assure you they improved the opportunity and went on their way rejoicing.

On Wednesday afternoon we reached the beautiful and hospital city of Baltimore, and were at once conducted to the spacious rooms of the BALTIMORE UNION RELIEF ASSOCIATION, where we were furnished with a splendid dinner by the kind and gentlemanly managers of this benevolent institution. And here let me say that in no city or town in New york or Pennsylvania are the soldiers so kindly received or so generously entertained as in Baltimore. Regiments and detachments are continually passing through and all are treated in the same generous manner and sent on their way with light and happy hearts feeling that after all there are some who are for the wants of the soldier. Some idea of the magnitude of the work performed by these “Good Samaritans” may be derived from the following paragraph taken from the second annual report of the Treasurer of the Society, Warren Denison, Esq.

He says that the total number of soldiers fed during the past year was 318,064, of whom 74,042 were from the State of New York, and 10,967 wounded from the battle field of Gettysburg alone. Among other articles of food consumed during the year were 99,662 ponds of beef, 163,485 loaves of bead, 50,296 pounds of cheese, 10,487 ponds of coffee and 28,313 pounds of sugar. $47,657,00 [$47,657.00?] were received and expended for the benefit of our soldiers, by the managers of this institution of which only $3,209 were used in defraying house expenditures, for labor, showing the rigid economy with which the affairs of the institution are managed.

Soldier's Rest, Washington, D.C (Published by Chas. Mangus, 12 Frankfort St., New York, & 520 Seventh Street, Washington, D.C., c1864; LOC: LC-DIG-ds-03472)

Soldier’s Rest (in daylight)

Bidding our kind friends adieu we took the cars for Washington where we arrived at two o’clock on Thursday morning. – Stopping at the “Soldiers Rest” – a government institution – until afternoon we marched to our present camping ground about four miles below Washington on the north bank of the Potomac. The camp is very pleasantly located among the hills of “My Maryland” and is called Dismounted camp being the rendezvous for new Cavalry regiments and the place where men who have been dismounted in battle are sent to recruit and obtain new horses. Thousands are here awaiting orders and the white tents of the “Gay Cavaliers” stretch away over the hills as far as the eye can reach. Our regiment has been Brigaded with the Regulars (quite an honor) in General Stoneman’s Corps, but our destination is unknown, beside everything concerning our movements or numbers is of course contraband. Our friends must therefore be content to hear what we have done and not ask about the future. So for the present good-bye and when any thing occurs that ought to be “recorded” you shall hear again from

SENECA.

The boat in the top photo is the Steamship Onondaga which was built in 1860 and used to transport troops on Seneca Lake during the Civil War. In 1870 it was rebuilt and continued to haul passengers until 1895. In 1898 it was blown up in a public pageant on Seneca Lake. the event was advertised as a celebration of some American victories in the Spanish-American war by using a similar mine to the one that blew up the USS Maine in Havana Harbor. The shipwreck was discovered in 2012. You can read more about it at the Finger Lakes Times. Thanks to the Geneva Historical Society for letting me use the photo.

You can read more about the Baltimore Union Relief Association in an article about the charitable work of Baltimore women during the war at the Maryland State Archives

Fort number 1 - west defences of Baltimore, Md ( c1863 Sept. 19; LOC: LC-USZ62-10396)

Fort number 1 – west defences of Baltimore, Md (September 1863)

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satire is the best medicine

Posted on October 25, 2013 by SUMPTER

A New York paper says it is republishing an article from a Richmond newspaper, no date given, that comments on worsening conditions in the Confederacy. How do you house and feed three million people in the Southern capital? The writer presented a detailed plan, but eventually cannibalism will result in a society consisting only of Government and Negroes. Here are some excerpts.

From The New-York Times October 25, 1863:

PROSPECTIVE TROUBLE IN THE CONFEDERCY.; PROPOSITION TO MEET IT VERY HUMOROUS AND VERY JOLLY.

A writer in the Richmond Examiner proposes a plan for stowing the population of the entire Confederacy in Richmond, and supplying them with food. He details the plan at great length, making it a cover for satire upon the civil and military management, and the social condition of the Confederates.

To cram the entire population of the South into a single city seems, at first sight, an impossibility, and the persistent attempt now being made to perform it is enough to fill the heart of the most tranquil and well provided speculator with alarm, to say nothing of the certainty of its being attended with fatal consequences. Nevertheless, it is quite plain that the whole Confederacy must be thrust into this city at no distant day, and it is necessary at once to provide lodging and food — raiment is out of the question — for this inevitable addition to our population. By the masterly tactics of Gens. Pemberton and Bragg our lines have been rapidly contracted and the necessity of defending an immense frontier obviated. I have it from the Adjutant-General’s Department that this contraction will continue until the area of defence is confined in the compact and powerful triangle bounded by Lynchburgh, Petersburgh, and Richmond. As a matter of course, the citizens of the other States of the Confederacy will repair to Virginia, and chiefly to Richmond, for protection, and I am happy to say that the Commissary-General is bending his great energies to the task of sustaining them. But accomplished as he is, he will hardly be able to feed, much less shelter them; that task must devolve upon the hospitable citizens of Richmond, who, I doubt not, will address themselves promptly to the work without any grumbling.

I have made a careful estimate of the probable number of refugees who will be concentrated here before the 1st of January next, and find that the population of Richmond at that time (due allowance being made for those in the overrun States who will take the oath or cannot leave their properly until it is regularly confiscated) will be a fraction over three million souls, including males, females, children and negroes. Now, the total available house-space of Richmond, as I have ascertained by actual measurement, is 9,785,000 cubic feet — say, in round numbers, ten million cubic feet. Allowing four cubic feet to each individual, it will be seen little more than half the prospective population of Richmond can be accommodated with house room, even we pack them like shad, had [and?] make a reasonable deduction for deaths by suffocation.

As early as the middle of November the negro population of Richmond will be about 643,000 of all ages. As our ports will be closed, and all our cotton manufactories will be in the hands of the enemy, it will be impossible to clothe our white population, except by depriving the blacks of whatever apparel they may chance to have. All negroes must go naked, that is quite clear. During the daytime they can easily be kept warm by hard work, but at night they must be lodged; and to this end I respectfully suggest the construction of the requisite number of catacombs in Church Hill and the bluff under Chimborazo Hospital. Delicate house servants and favorite chambermaids may be accommodated for the night in the unoccupied vaults at Hollywood. Negro infants and children, too young to work, must be left during the day in the catacombs, with suitable attendants to daub the holes partly up to prevent them from falling out, and to limit the amount of dirt they eat — that of Church Hill being unusually palatable and fattening — so much so, indeed, that no other food will be required there, and the only difficulty in that way will be the prevention of indigestion from eating too much of it.

The negro being disposed of, I come to the prospective citizens, namely, gamblers and courtezans. …

To the sole objection that these people on Belle Isle will find it difficult, if not impossible, to keep from perishing by cold and starvation, I reply that their ordinary avocations are exciting enough to keep their blood at the proper temperature, and, if this be not enough, a still more rapid flow of the circulation may be obtained by making them devote their afternoons to their usual pleasantry of fighting with revolvers and bowie-knives. An inconsiderable number of them, say fifty or sixty a day, will probably be killed; but as this will only add zest to their amusement and increase the chances of making money for those who remain alive, I do not see that the Christian philanthropist or the undertaker (provided their carcasses are not thrown into the river) can make any just complaint of a practice so invigorating and fuel-economizing. By establishing hospitals for the very large number of desperately wounded, we shall be able to furnish occupation to the hundreds of Confederate Surgeons who have nothing to do during the non-[f]ighting months of Winter, except to play cards and entertain their female friends at sumptuous night suppers. In this way a great deal of the public money will be saved and the cause of science largely benefitted by the variety of excrutiating surgical experiments made upon the patients, whose deaths can never be so beneficial as when they are tortured out of existence in the interests of pathology and Southern finance.

The negro and the gambler being disposed of, we approach naturally enough the Jews, a class which includes not only the unworthy Israelites, but all who indulge the alleged Hebraic propensity for exacting the pound of Christian flesh and amassing riches at the expense of the life-blood of their fellow-citizens. Such are Yankee tradesmen of whatever denomination, restaurant keepers, confectionery and apple sellers, oyster-cellar men, proprietors of hotels and boarding-houses, and the like. All these come under the same head, and are to be disposed of in the same manner. I estimate their present and prospective numbers at 500,000. They occupy now a great deal of house-room; hereafter they will occupy much more; and hence the imperative duty of expelling them and appropriating their establishments to some useful purpose.

I am told that the Jews, in addition to the shop in which they are now reduced to the unprofitable business of selling lead pencils at a dollar apiece, meerschaum pipes made out of plaster of Paris, empty pocket-books, and rotten shoe-strings, at similar rates, own a vast number of the best houses in the city, purchased by their honest gains, and now filled with flour, bacon, sugar, salt, coffee, tea, corn, meat, oats, hay, fodder, shucks and other necessaries of life. If this be true, not a moment is to be lost in ousting them, in order to save the army and the people from starvation. They are said to have packed away in their cellars and garrets enough clothing, made and unmade, to furnish every respectable man, woman and child in the Confederacy with two complete Winter suits, besides whisky, brandy and wine enough to keep the taro-banks, cannal-pockets, Congress and Gov. LETCHER supplied for nearly three months to come. These must be obtained without delay or regard to law or peril to [???]e or limb. …

We have now successfully housed three millions of people. They must be fed, or they will die. Can this be done? With the utmost ease, if my advice be followed, as I doubt not it will. The negroes need not be taken into the account, for they will live on edible dirt, and if they want more food they can easily steal it. The gentlemen from Maryland, &c., who live in houses, will necessarily have a monopoly of all meats, vegetables, fruits, bread — whether made of corn-meal or flour — at Government prices, and whatever else they may desire, except bran, which will be reserved for a particular purpose. This will leave some two millions and a half of hungry mouths to be fed, and here arises the difficulty, which I flatter myself I have overcome more readily and pleasantly, perhaps, than any other person in the Confederacy could have done. It has been suggested to me by the learned and original author of “Cannibals All,” that the common repugnance to human food is but a foolish prejudice, born of modern philosophy and political economy, and that the best course for me to pursue if I am, in accordance with an act of Congress, appointed Commissary-General, as I expect to be, will be to disregard the weak vagaries of philanthropists and vegetarians and proceed at once to feed the people copiously with the most accessible animal diet, which will, of course, be human flesh. He urges that the gamblers and the harlots take it turn about to eat each other, that the Jews confined in the mills be fed on restaurant keepers, &c., that the Jews be then thrown to the poor people who live in hogsheads and barrels, who will gladly eat them, and, in their turn, will be devoured by the negroes; so that the dangerous classes will be destroyed at a blow, and nobody be left but government and negroes, and the Sociology of the South established on the only firm basis possible — a basis which the slow cannibalism of modern antagonism between labor and capital would hardly reach in a century.

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black gold

Posted on October 24, 2013 by SUMPTER

Inflation in the Confederacy wasn’t just wreaking havoc on prices for basic needs like flour. Slave prices were at their highest ever in Richmond. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch October 24, 1863:

High prices.

–The highest prices yet paid for negroes (farm hands) were obtained yesterday at the sale rooms of Messrs. Dickinson & Co, where five were knocked out at the following prices: $3,950, $3,850, $3,790, $3,665, and $3,485–the five bringing an aggregate of $18,770. The last sold was a mechanic as well as farm hand.

The Parting--Buy us too (by Henry Louis Stephens, From: Album varieties no. 3; The slave in 1863. Philadelphia, 1863; LOC: LC-USZ62-41838)

“Buy us too”

The sale (by Henry Louis Stephens, From: Album varieties no. 3; The slave in 1863. Philadelphia, 1863; LOC: LC-USZ62-41837)

sold for $3,950 Confederate

_____________________________

The slave images are from a collection of cards painted by Henry Louis Stephens and published in Philadelphia in 1863.

Encyclopedia Virginia says that higher slave prices increased the chances slave families would be separated:

Finally, the wartime increase in slave hiring brought numerous disruptions to slaves’ family lives. Enslaved men impressed to work on fortifications or hired to Confederate officers and industrial employers usually left their wives and children behind, placing a heavier work burden on enslaved women. Climbing prices for slaves in both the hiring and long-distance sale markets increased the likelihood that families would be separated. Other aspects of the war brought additional disruptions of family life. In particular, slaves forced to abandon their homes with refugee masters and mistresses left behind friends and relatives who lived on neighboring plantations.

- Green Hill Plantation, Slave Auction Block, State Route 728, Long Island, Campbell County, VA (LOC: HABS VA,16-LONI.V,1J--2)

not exactly Stonehenge – Slave Auction Block in Campbell County, Virginia

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Richmond voters against maximum prices

Posted on October 23, 2013 by SUMPTER

150 years ago yesterday a referendum was held in Richmond so that voters could let their state representatives know whether or not the voters supported the “maximum bill” (price controls) that was being considered by the Virginia legislature. It didn’t take long to tally the results.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch October 23, 1863:

The vote yesterday.

–The footing up the polls yesterday evening, given below, shows that the people deliberately and by an over whelming majority rejected the mad scheme of instructing their delegates to vote for a law which, if passed, would cause, untold misery. The vote of yesterday gives us lesson which will be of value to us hereafter. It teaches us how great a noise can be made by a very small portion of the community, and how utterly without reason a handful of men may set themselves up as the representatives of the great body of their fellow citizens. The ballot-box is a much surer test of public opinion than the clamors of the hustings or the bulletins of committees. The following is the vote:

Monroe Ward.–For instructions, 161; against, 260.
Madison Ward.–For instructions, 61; against, 439.
Jefferson Ward.–For instructions, 70; against, 168.

Total majority against instructing the city delegates to vote for the maximum, 575.

An overview of increased wartime poverty in Virginia at Encyclopedia Virginia touches on the attempts to control prices:

Another possible step, which attracted great interest among the public, was price control. Confederate general John Winder attempted to control prices in Richmond under martial law in 1862. Although his efforts failed and were rescinded, the idea of price control was very popular, and a considerable public clamor for state action arose in 1863. Ultimately, the proposed step failed.

The encyclopedia entry maintains that “the greatest capacity for dealing with the crisis lay with the Confederate government.” The following article summarized the speech of a state legislator against the state “maximum bill” in which he points out that any price control scheme would only have a chance at the national level because people could move goods across state lines. Mr. Bruce thought that the state should provide relief to the poor and try to rein in speculators but should leave price-fixing alone.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch October 21, 1863:

Sensible view of the Situation.

–Mr. Bruce, of the Charlotte district, in the course of a speech in the Senate on Monday, made the following remarks:

“But his main objection to any bill fixing prices was that it would strike a blow at production itself. When the war commenced our wealth and industry were absorbed in agriculture. With our ports blockaded we had to look within ourselves to supply a thousand wants. Enterprises for supplying these wants were undertaken at great hazard, and are liable to be swept off by the casualties of war. Men would not encounter these risks except without the hope of large profits. Our ports may soon be hermetically s[e]aled, and the enterprise and ingenuity of our people taxed to the utmost to supply the articles of necessity, such as shoes, clothing, &c.–Was this a time to discourage production by placing trammels upon enterprise? What man would embark a heavy capital in any undertaking when he must not rely for his profits upon the ordinary laws of trade, but the decision of a Board of Commissioners? He had, however, a still stronger objection to any bill fixing prices. He thought that no scheme would work well which was not perfectly uniform in its operation throughout the Confederate States. By way of illustration: If you fix the price of cotton cloth at one dollar per yard in this State, and it is worth $2.50 per yard in North Carolina, as the manufacturer in the latter State can afford to pay double the wages, you may bring about an exodus of all the operatives in our factories, and we may have to decide whether it would not be better to pay high prices for cloth than fix low prices and have none to buy. This law would likewise place an embargo upon all importations from other States not adopting the same system. If cloth is at $1 per yard and wheat at $5 per bushel here, it is not to be expected that these articles will be brought here when the same cloth is $2.50 and wheat $10 per bushel in another State. He thought it would be best to leave trade as unrestrained as the ebb and flow of the tides, and that in tampering with the laws of trade by fixing prices the Legislature would only be repeating foolish experiments, which, whenever tried, have always, in the end, brought ruin upon the producer and want upon the consumer. He thought it the duty of the Legislature to provide for the destitute families of soldiers, to extend any practical measure of relief to the overrun districts of the State, and to strike down the extortioner as they had struck down the gambler; but, in going further, it would only run the risk of adding a thousand fold to the evils which it was seeking to escape.” …

The aforementioned encyclopedia article states that Virginian yeomen did not want to rely on handouts.

I noticed that Mr. Bruce said CSA ports may soon be “hermetically sealed” – General Scott’s Anaconda continues to have its effect.

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Richmond referendum

Posted on October 22, 2013 by SUMPTER
Price level in the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Based on Lerner (1956), Journal of Political Economy.

the price is not right

As inflation was ravaging the Confederacy 150 years ago, the Virginia state legislature was mulling over a “maximum bill” to regulate prices on a variety of goods. The Richmond city council called a referendum so that Richmond legislators would know their constituents’ wishes on the price ceilings. Today was the day for the vote; here an editorial encourages the enfranchised to vote and to vote against the bill. Price controls can lead to unintended consequences: a consensual maximum price for wheat led to Superman flour prices – “flour has jumped at a single bound to seventy-five dollars”

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch October 22, 1863:

To the Polls! to the Polls!

Wheat, Pennsylvania (by John Collier, 1943 July; LOC: LC-DIG-fsac-1a34557)

Richmond millers’ maximum price for wheat led to …

–To-day is the day fixed by the Council for deciding by a vote of the people the question of instructions to our Senators and Delegates to vote for or against the maximum bill. It is a question of momentous importance, absolutely involving the issues of famine or plenty to this city. The first effect of fixing the price of the necessaries of life will be to cut off the supply. Even now, under the operation of the millers’ maximum, wheat reaches the city in the smallest possible quantities, and flour has jumped at a single bound to seventy-five dollars. The millers have it in their power at any time to correct the evil by removing the restriction. But if the Legislature pass this law, and then adjourn, we shall have to endure all the miseries of a prolonged famine, and all the evils it never fails to bring in its train. The fixing of a maximum price upon manufactures will inevitably close every establishment of that character, and drive every artizan and mechanic from the city to other localities beyond the State, where higher prices are given, and there is no maximum to interfere with the reward of labor. If the manufacturers be compelled to work at fixed wages, and those wages reduced to meet the reduction in the price of manufactured goods. Capital will at once leave the State to seek employment elsewhere. We shall then be a city without food, without capital, without manufactured goods, without employment for our mechanics and laboring people, and all this upon the threshold of a winter, which, for aught we know, may be unusually severe.

Three typical kinds of German bread flours. From left to right: wheat flour Typ 550, wheat flour Typ 1050, rye flour Typ 1150.(19 April 2012)

… pricey powder

Fellow-citizens of Richmond, there never was a time when it more especially behooved every voter who does not wish to plunge his city into unheard-of calamities to go to the polls. Let us hope that there are none disposed to play the laggard on this occasion. That the majority — the large majority — see the fatal tendency of this bill, we have not a doubt. But the revolutionary spirit of those who propose it is in full activity. Those who are desirous to accomplish a particular object are in general more active than those who desire to defeat it. We trust it may be otherwise on this occasion. We trust that every man opposed to this most mischievous scheme will record his vote.

The photo of the wheat stook is from Pennsylvania in July 1943, and the photo of the flours is licensed by Creative Commons

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buried treasure

Posted on October 21, 2013 by SUMPTER
Savage Station, Va. Field hospital after the battle of June 27(1862 June 30 by James F. Gibson; LOC: LC-DIG-cwpb-01063)

Union field hospital at Savage’s Station

As the Confederate economy was increasingly squeezed Southerners had to make due with less and come up with creative product substitutes. 150 years ago today evidence was published of another way to find supplies – digging up the graves of dead Yankees. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch October 21, 1863:

Buried.

–In the neighborhood of Savage’s Station, and along the Chickahominy where McClellan’s hosts pitched their tents for a time, many of the graves contained articles of far more value than the bodies of dead Yankees. In many of these pits large amounts of ammunition, clothing, medicines, etc., have been found, and only a few days since a gentleman accidentally dug into one of them and discovered a number of shovels, spades, and pickaxes. Tons of Minnie and other leaden balls can yet be gathered from these camps, the Yankees having strewn them over the ground in their haste to leave before our Southern soldiers came upon them.

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price ceilings sound great

Posted on October 19, 2013 by SUMPTER

experience shows they don’t work out

In last week’s post about price controls and the money supply I focused on the money printing. However, the price control part of the Richmond editorial was apparently alluding to a “maximum bill” to set price ceilings that was being considered by the Virginia state legislature 150 years ago this month. What follows is another editorial against price controls and a paragraph about a state legislator willing to resign rather than follow his constituents’ desire that he vote for the bill. The editorial points out that some Richmond citizens are threatening mob rule if the state legislature does not enact price ceilings.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch October 19, 1863:

The maximum.

–The Knoxville (Atlanta) Register says:

“Some of the Virginia press are urging upon the Legislature to attempt to check the evil of high prices by stringent laws against extortioners, and by fixing a maximum of prices upon the necessaries of life. It is singular that these teachers of statesmen will not learn by experience. We know of no single instance, since the beginning of this war, of an attempt to restrain high prices, or to put down speculation and extortion by legislation, that has not resulted in greatly magnifying the evil. There is no way of remedying the matter, but by judicious financial measures, enhancing the value of the currency, and developing supplies to meet the demand. The well-meant efforts of the Legislature of this State last winter, and the enormous and growing prices they have failed to check, are a proof of the futility of all such legislation. We must look the gloomy prospect in the face, and do what we can by economy, self-sacrifice, and forbearance, to render the condition of things endurable until the blockade shall be broken or the war ended. If our soldiers on the battle-field pour out their life’s blood for liberty shall not we at home sacrifice the comforts, even the necessaries of life, to the very last extremity, rather than part from that inestimable boon.”

The Legislature of Virginia has an example immediately under its own observation. General Winder undertook to regulate this market, and he succeeded in breaking it up, but not in fixing the proposed prices. He nearly starved out the whole community, and the maximum he established was discontinued after a short time. Yet with this fact, and with various others before their eyes, they still persevere. Instead of taking these things into consideration — instead of laying before the people an example directly in point — the friends of the measure fly off to the most immaterial and inconsequential precedents. They tell us that hacks are regulated by law, that there are laws for the market, and laws of inspection; that some European cities have an assize of bread, and some regulate the prices of all kinds of provisions by law! Such is the trifling with which they amuse the popular ear, while they are endeavoring to drive with whip and spur through the Legislature a bill fraught with the most momentous consequences to the whole State, and more especially to this city.

We believe the first effect of this bill will be to reduce the city of Richmond to a point bordering on famine. We are justified in believing so by what has already happened in a parallel case, to which we have already alluded. There is already a great scarcity of some of the necessaries of life in this market.–Flour can scarcely be bought at all. It is only necessary to pass this bill in order to cut it off entirely. We are even threatened with mob violence if this bill should not pass. A Senator in addressing the Senate the other day said “he had been informed that unless something was done mob law would prevail in Richmond before many months.”–This appeal to the fears of men sitting as Legislators under an oath we hope will be disregarded. If it be not, there is an end of the Government of Virginia. If the mob can have what laws they please passed, by threatening violence if they be not passed, then the mob is the Government, and we are precisely in the condition of France during the reign of terror. But we do not believe that threats of this kind will have the desired effect. We have a firm Executive, who will not suffer the laws to be trampled on with impunity.

From the same issue October 19, 1863:

Resignation offered.

–Wyndham Robertson, Esq., one of the representatives of the city of Richmond in the House of Delegates of Virginia, has tendered his resignation, because of the instructions given him by two public meetings to vote for the maximum bill now pending. The resignation has not yet been accepted.

Wyndham Robertson served a second time in the Virginia legislature from 1859-1865. He was a Unionist who tried to prevent his state’s secession after Abraham Lincoln’s election. However, “on January 7, 1861, he presented a resolution known as the Anti-Coercion Resolution, which rejected secession, but stated that if the Federal government used coercion against the seceded states, Virginia would fight, which was duly adopted.” Lincoln’s call for troops after Fort Sumter was seen as coercion, and Robertson began to work to defend his state.

After the war Mr. Robertson, a descendent of Pocahontas, published a book that traced her family tree.

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“marred in the transmission”

Posted on October 18, 2013 by SUMPTER
Missionary Ridge area 1863-64 (LOC: g3964c cw0406400 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3964c.cw0406400 )

Confederates high on Missionary Ridge

President Davis got out of the office for a bit in October 1863 and toured South Carolina, Georgia, and General Bragg’s recently victorious Army of Tennessee on Missionary Ridge outside Chattanooga. Here’s a report that focuses on his speech to the troops, in which he congratulated the on Chickamauga and exhorted them to keep up the good work. General D.H. Hill has been replaced by John C. Breckinridge, and it’s been raining so hard Yankee pontoon bridges have been swept away. It sounds like there might have been some noise on the telegraph wire as President Davis’ words were transmitted back to Richmond. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch October 19, 1863:

From the Army of Tennessee.
Gen. Hill Superseded–flood in the Tennessee — Stirring Address from President Davis to the troops, &c.

Missionary Ridge, Oct.17.

–General D. H. Hill has been relieved from duty, and himself and Staff ordered to report to General Cooper, at Richmond, for duty. Gen. Breckinridge has been put in command of the corps recently commanded by Gen. Hill.

The recent heavy rains have produced a freshet in the Tennessee river. The valley of Chattanooga is one sheet of water. The bridges over Chickamauga and Chattanooga creeks have been swept away by the flood. The Tennessee is still rising.

[Second Dispatch.]

Missionary Ridge, Oct.17.

–For the first time in four days we are blessed with sunshine. The flooded creeks are gradually receding, and the bridges are rapidly being repaired.

The enemy’s pontoons were swept away again, and the trestle bridge above the town submerged. Gen. Adams was brought out under a flag of truce to-day. His wound is doing well, and his arm will be saved.

Siegel’s corps is represented to have been at Stevenson on the 14th inst.

[third Dispatch.]

Missionary Ridge, Oct.17.

–The following address from the President to the troops was published yesterday, producing the greatest enthusiasm:

Headq’rs Army of Tennessee,
October14, 1863.

Jefferson Davis, half-length portrait, facing right] (between 1850 and 1870; LOC: LC-USZC4-11370)

mission on a ridge

Soldiers: A grateful country recognizes your arduous services, and rejoices over your glorious victory on the field of Chickamauga! When your countrymen shall more fully learn the adverse circumstances under which you attacked the enemy, though they cannot be more thankful, they may admire more the gallantry and patriotic devotion which secured your success. Representatives of every State of the Confederacy, your steps have been followed up with affectionate solicitude by friends in every portion of the country. Defenders of the heart of our territory, your movements have been an object of interest, anxiety, and hope.

Our cause depends on you, and happy it is that all can rely upon your achieving whatever, under the blessing of Providence, human power can effect.

Though you have done much, very much remains to be done. Behind you is a people providing for your support, and depending upon your protection. Before you is a country devastated by your ruthless invaders, where gentle women, feeble age, and helpless infancy, have been subjected to outrages without parallel in the warfare of civilized nations.

With eager eye they watch for your coming to their deliverance, and homeless refugees pine for the hour when your victorious arms shall restore their family shelters, from which they have been driven and forced to take up arms to vindicate their political rights — freedom, equality, and State sovereignty — which were a heritage purchased by the blood of your revolutionary sires.

You have but the alternative of being slaves of submission to a despotic usurpation, or of independence, which a vigorous, united, and persistent effort will secure.

All which fires a manly breast, nerves a patriot, or exalts a hero, is present to stimulate and sustain you. Nobly have you redeemed your pledges, given in the name of freedom, to the memory of your ancestors and the rights of your posterity.

That you may complete the mission to which you have devoted yourselves will require of you such exertions in the future as you have made in the past, and continuous self-denial, which rejects every consideration at variance with the public service as unworthy of the holy cause in which you are engaged.

When the war shall be ended the highest meed of praise will be due, and probably be given, to him who has claimed the least for himself in proportion to the service he has rendered; and the bitterest self-reproach which may hereafter haunt the memory of any one, will be to him who has allowed selfish aspirations to prevail over his desire for the public good.

United as we are, in a common destiny, obedience and cordial cooperation are essential. There is no higher duty than that which requires one to exert and render to all what is due to their station. He who sows the seeds of discontent and distrust prepares for a harvest of slaughter and defeat.

To your gallantry, energy, and fortitude you crown this harmony with due subordination and cheerful support of lawful authority. (!)

I fervently hope that this ferocious war, so unjustly waged against our country, may soon end, and that, with the blessing of peace, you may be restored to your homes and useful pursuits, and I pray our Heavenly Father may cover you with the shield of His protection in your battle, and endow you with the virtues which will close your trials in victory complete.
(Signed)

Jefferson Davis.

[Several passages of the address have been marred in the transmission. The copyist has given the best transcription the telegram admits.]

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unquenchable

Posted on October 17, 2013 by SUMPTER

Hey, we got a Union to save.

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

CALL FOR 300,000 VOLUNTEERS, OCTOBER 17, 1863.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

A Proclamation.

Whereas the term of service of a part of the Volunteer forces of the United States will expire during the coming year; and whereas, in addition to the men raised by the present draft, it is deemed expedient to call out three hundred thousand volunteers to serve for three years or during the war, not, however, exceeding three years:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof, and of the militia of the several States when called into actual service, do issue this my proclamation, calling upon the governors of the different States to raise, and have enlisted into the United States service, for the various companies and regiments in the field from their respective States, the quotas of three hundred thousand men.

I further proclaim that all the volunteers thus called out and duly enlisted shall receive advance pay, premium, and bounty, as heretofore communicated to the governors of States by the War Department through the Provost-Marshal-General’s office, by special letters.

I further proclaim that all volunteers received under this call, as well as all others not heretofore credited, shall be duly credited and deducted from the quotas established for the next draft.

I further proclaim that if any State shall fail to raise the quota assigned to it by the War Department under this call, then a draft for the deficiency in said quota shall be made in said State, or in the districts of said State, for their due proportion of said quota, and the said draft shall commence on the 5th day of January, 1864.

And I further proclaim that nothing in this proclamation shall interfere with existing orders, or with those which may be issued for the present draft in the States where it is now in progress, or where it has not yet been commenced.

The quotas of the States and districts will be assigned by the War Department through the Provost-Marshal-General’s office, due regard being had for the men heretofore furnished, whether by volunteering or drafting; and the recruiting will be conducted in accordance with such instructions as have been or may be issued by that department.

In issuing this proclamation, I address myself not only to the governors of the several States, but also to the good and loyal people thereof, invoking them to lend their cheerful, willing, and effective aid to the measures thus adopted, with a view to reinforce our victorious army now in the field, and bring our needful military operations to a prosperous end, thus closing forever the fountains of sedition and civil war.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed…………………

A. LINCOLN.

By the President: WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

President Lincoln noted the draft had not even been completed in some vicinities. James McPherson has written that the draft was “a clumsy carrot and stick device to stimulate volunteering.[1]. This call for volunteers would appear to be a similar sort of strategy. There was a quota for each state enforceable by draft in the new year, but President Lincoln also dangled the carrot of a federal bounty. “The federal government got into the [bounty] act in October 1863 with a $300 bounty (financed by the $300 [draft] commutation fee) for volunteers and re-enlistees”.[2]

Civil War envelope showing American flags, eagle with laurel branches, and shield bearing message "Union and liberty" (in[cinnati] : Published by Jas. Gates, [between 1861 and 1865]; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-31703)

Union gets top billing

  1. [1]McPherson, James M. The Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. New York: Ballantine Books, 1989. Print. page 605.↩
  2. [2]ibid.↩
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John Henry

Posted on October 16, 2013 by SUMPTER

From back in the day when an army traveled with their servants, here’s a photo said to be from October 1863 of John Henry, a servant in the Army of the Potomac’s 3d Corps.

[Bealeton, Virginia?]. John Henry, servant, at headquarters, 3d Army Corps, Army of the Potomac (1863 Oct; LOC: LC-DIG-cwpb-03756)

John Henry

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