Blue Gray Review

the looming winter

Posted on October 7, 2013 by SUMPTER

In the following letter, “O.K.” details scarcity, inflation, and speculation in Lynchburg, Virginia. The correspondent also echoes the Richmond press in his concern about how the poor can possibly cope during the coming winter given the bad economic situation. “O.K.” also tells of a free black man accused of murder who was saved from Lynch law.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch October 7 1863:

Letter from Lynchburg.

[special Correspondence of Dispatch.]

Lynchburg, Oct.5th, 1863.

We have very little news from the army of upper East Tennessee. At last accounts our forces had advanced as far as Greenbrier, where a few prisoners were captured.

Local affairs are without special interest with the exception of the steady advance in the prices of all necessaries of life. The speculators and extortioners with us, as well as elsewhere in our beleaguered country, seem determined to involve the nation in ruin. –They permeate every channel of business. Every railroad, canal, stage or mail route, is overrun with them. The markets are completely forestalled — not a pound of butter, lard, bacon, flour, meal, leather, wool, or clothing of any description, is to be had unless it has first passed through the grasp. of their withering clutches. But it may be asked, who are they ? The answer is ready at hand — shopkeepers, traders, commission merchants and their agents. Railroad, canal, and stage route employers, from high officials down to the lowest menial on the routes, men occupying every grade of position in life, are engaged in this nefarious practice of speculation and extortion. How the poor are to live during the winter is a question that has been frequently asked in times past, but it may be pertinent to ask now, under the present aspect of affairs, how the great bulk of the population of our cities are to keep from actual starvation without a change in the present system of warfare carried on by these greedy dupes of mammon and enemies to our country. Much more might be said, but I shrink from the task; the time is not far distant when the truth of these remarks will strike hard to every heart.

The quarterly term of the Hustings Court for this city commenced its session here to-day, but little business of interest was transacted. Albert Wood a free negro, was tried for the murder of Mr. William J. Burton, company I, 30th Virginia volunteers, and sent on to the Circuit Court, which meets on the 3d of next month, for final trial.–Young Burton was from Stafford county, and was well spoken of by his comrades. On last Thursdayevening, being engaged at one of the hospitals in this city, cooking rations for his company an altercation sprung up between him and the negro, (Wood,) which resulted in his untimely death, caused by a blow dealt by a Spade in the hands of the negro. The morning after the occurrence the negro was taken from the jail by a party of the friends of Burton, and would have been summarily dealt with but for the timely arrival of Gen. Corse, who, after some trouble, rescued the negro from the fate of Lynch law. From the cast of the evidence elicited in Court to-day nothing short of a miracle will save the negro from hanging.

O. K.

You can read a good overview of Lynchburg in the Civil War at Encyclopedia Virginia. Riots may have been avoided by the wise generosity of local leaders:

In April 1862, Confederate president Jefferson Davis authorized a military draft, and resistance to this and the impressment of resources became not only common but also accepted practices. In addition, city residents came to resent the many soldiers who congregated in Lynchburg, blaming them for the rising crime rate and acts of public disorder. Inflation and supply shortages caused claims and counterclaims of speculating, price gouging, and hoarding. The poor suffered miserably, and bread riots that plagued other Southern cities were avoided only because civic leaders donated enough food to maintain some semblance of order.

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Confederate States of America, Southern Society | Tagged Lynchburg Virginia, lynching, Southern Economy, southern scarcity, speculation | Leave a comment

general review

Posted on October 5, 2013 by SUMPTER

Robert E. Lee at Chancellorsville [on horseback, being cheered by troops], May 2, 1863 (c1900; LOC: LC-USZ62-51832)

“incoherent reasons”? (General Lee at Chancellorsville)

From The New-York Times October 6, 1863:

Lee’s Report.

The specific object of LEE’s Summer invasion of Pennsylvania was a matter of profound mystery and endless speculation at the time; and the mystery is not perfectly cleared up by his official report of that campaign, which has just seen the light at Richmond, and which we give in full this morning. It was thought by some that the gigantic army of the rebels, whose numbers were accurately stated by a reliable City co[n]temporary at 190,375, meant nothing less than the capture of Washington and Baltimore, the capture of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, the capture of New-York and Boston, and, for that matter, the capture of Cincinnati and Rouse’s Point. With Panic preceding them, Death accompanying them, and Desolation following in their wake, there seemed no reason why they should not work their will and wreak their vengeance upon the North; and those who remember the history of that time will recall how the Tribune proposed to placate them in advance, and to “bow to destiny,” as impersonated in JEFF. DAVIS, in event of their “watering their horses in the Delaware.”

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Headquarters of Gen. Robert E. Lee on the Chambersburg Pike (1863 July; LOC: LC-B811- 2481)

“fair opportunity to strike a blow” (Lee’s headquarters at Gettysburg)

Gen. LEE, in the course of his report, sets forth several insufficient and incoherent reasons for his undertaking the offensive campaign of June and July. He judiciously says not a word about Washington, Philadelphia, or Baltimore; he indicates no intelligible or comprehensive scheme of operations — no object likely to be successful or decisive, or to compensate for the labors and risks he was about to assume. But he apprises us that as HOOKER’s position opposite Fredericksburgh was unassailable, it was determined to draw him from it — the execution of which purpose embraced the relief of the Shenandoah Valley, and, if practicable, the transfer of hostilities north of the Potomac; and he further thought that he might obtain an opportunity to strike a blow at HOOKER’s army, or at least compel it to leave Virginia, and so break up our plan of campaign for the Summer. In addition to this, it was hoped that “other valuable results” might be obtained. What the other hoped-for results may have been, is left to be surmised; but so far as LEE’s purpose is propounded in the ends given above, we do not think that military men who are now acquainted with the situation as it existed on both sides, will have much occasion to admire the wisdom displayed in his plan or rather his mode of operations. After these preliminary statements, Gen. LEE proceeds to give a view of the movements of each of the three corps of his army, from the line of the Rappahannock and the Rapidan across the Blue Ridge, up the Shenandoah Valley and over the Potomac; but the only thing we find indicating in any way an object or purpose beyond those mentioned, is the statement that after the whole of his army had crossed the Potomac, “preparations were made to advance upon Harrisburgh.” This purpose, however, was frustrated by the northward advance of our army as far as South Mountain, which menaced LEE’s communications with the Potomac, prevented the progress of his march, compelled the concentration of his army on the east side of the mountains, and brought about, at Gettysburgh, that “fair opportunity to strike a blow” at our army which he claims to have sought, but whose result was so different from his anticipations that it compelled him to abandon all his projects, whatever they may have been, retrace his steps to the Potomac, down the Shenandoah Valley, over the Blue Ridge Mountains, and back to the Rappahannock, from which he had set out with such high hopes fifty days before.

This report of LEE confirms the opinion universally entertained, that a grand opportunity was missed to strike a blow at his army while it was at Williamsport, making preparations to retreat across the Potomac. He confesses to his embarrassments in that position, and brings to our knowledge some whose existence we had surmised, but of which we previously had no proof. At the same time, his campaign is throughout tacitly confessed to have been a total and stupendous failure — even accepting his own confession of its objects; but we are persuaded now, as during the pendency of the campaign, that its real and final object was the capture of Washington.

Apparently, the “reliable City co[n]temporary” wasn’t so reliable. Lee’s army numbered about 75,000 during the Gettysburg Campaign. Northern journalists might have found Lee’s campaign unwise; 150 years ago today a Richmond editorial called Union generals cowards, who were already dead and putrefying – above ground. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch October 6, 1863:

The Federal Generals.

–It has been observed that not many Federal Generals have been killed in this war. The military expediency of keeping out of danger is fully appreciated by those heroes, so self-denying of glory, so generous in their distribution of the posts of honor and peril to the humble privates in their ranks. Burnside, butting the heads of his rank and file against the ramparts of Fredericksburg, and ensconcing himself in a snug covert three miles from the roar of battle, is a fair specimen of the military discretion of the Commander in Chief of the Federal forces. It is a rare thing to hear of one of them who is unmindful of the great law of self preservation. Such slaughter as has been witnessed among the common soldiers of the Yankee army has not often been witnessed, nor such exemption from peril as their leaders have enjoyed. Scott, McClellan, McDowell, Buell, Pope, Burnside, Hooker, all live, and have not even a scar to testify that they have ever been engaged in a battle of this war.

The gunboat candidate at the Battle of Malvern Hill (Currier & Ives, 1864; LOC: LC-USZ62-92038)

mausoleum piece?

And yet, though successful in escaping Confederate bullets, they are as dead, to all intents and purposes, as if they had shared the fate of the thousands whom they have driven to the slaughter. Not one of the long array we have mentioned has survived the fields of their former notoriety. Each and all of them have been paralyzed by the shock of arms which they so carefully kept out of, and laid up in a mausoleum where they are scarcely objects of curiosity to the living world. The Confederates have killed them one and all as effectually as if they had perforated their carcases with Minnie bullets. Better would it have been for their reputation to have perished in the smoke and din of battle than to go down to posterity not only defeated, but disgraced. They have purchased a few years of life at the expense of all that makes life desirable to a soldier. With them the process of decomposition has begun before death, and they are masses of living putrefaction — a stench in the nostrils of all mankind and of themselves.

Our people, therefore, need feel no discouragement if the loss of the enemy in Generals is so much less apparently than our own. In reality, it is greater. Every defeat disgraces them, drives them from their positions, and render them as impotent, and far more contemptible, than if they had been slain in battle.

Winfield Scott leading troops into battle? in 1861?

General Winfield Scott in 1861

The McClellan cartoon was published during the 1864 presidential campaign.

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Confederate States of America, Gettysburg Campaign, Military Matters | Tagged George B. McClellan, Gettysburg Campaign, Robert E. Lee, Winfield Scott | Leave a comment

stop the misconstruction

Posted on October 4, 2013 by SUMPTER

NE US and SE Canada 1862 (LOC: g3711p cw0033000 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3711p.cw0033000)

New York elections will be “an omen of the future” (1862 map)

Last fall New York State elected Democrat Horatio Seymour as governor. Here the Republican-leaning New York Times sees the approaching election for members of the state legislature and for state-wide offices like comptroller as an opportunity for New York to redeem itself by sending a message of loyalty to the national cause and the national administration. In 1862 voters voted their frustration with the huge military build up and its costs. They ended up with a governor who was too friendly to the South and who called draft rioters “my friends”. The editorial contrasts the foolishly outspoken Vallandigham with the crafty Seymour.

From The New-York Times October 4, 1863:

Justice for New-York The Pending State Election.

In ordinary times such an election as New-York is about to make would excite no particular interest. But these are not ordinary times. We are in the midst of a mighty civil war, and are threatened with foreign war. It is not a question of men. The election will be one of the “signs of the times,” an omen of the future. The Administration and its enemies both make this election a trial of great national questions, and its consequences bear an important relation to our national well-being.

Gov. SEYMOUR has placed New-York in a false position toward the General Government. He has made the Empire State seem less than half loyal. We all know how SEYMOUR’s election was brought about. Thousands of honest men of all former parties, true, loyal and patriotic, cast their votes with “Copperheads” for one who seemed to represent the general discontent and irritation at the apparent want of results from our gigantic military operations and expenses. If none but Copperheads had voted for him he would have remained a private citizen. His election caused exultation among all our country’s enemies. In Richmond, in London and in Mackerelville, it was proclaimed as a defeat of “the war party,” a triumph of “the peace men.” The rebel papers in the Southern States disclaimed all affiliations with their Northern adherents, and called them “scum and rabble,” and “hyenas,” but they exulted in their success, and claimed it as a great victory to their cause. There was a good reason for this rejoicing. A man had been elected as Governor who held relations to men of outspoken disloyalty, which made his support of any “vigorous war measure” a matter of some difficulty, not to say inconsistency. The “Peace Men” were his partisans, and had supported him with a violence that did little credit to their names. They claimed him as the head of this faction, and demanded of him “a vigorous prosecution of peace.”

The meeting of the friends, City Hall Park (Probably drawn by Henry L. Stephens, New York.; LOC: LC-USZ62-96391)

Seymour’s election caused the draft riots?

We have seen some of the disastrous fruits of this triumph of malcontents and factionists. They felt strong enough to defy the Government. They openly denounced it as an intolerable tyranny, pledged themselves to resist it, and finally a body of them had the madness to plunge into general pillage and murder. For nearly one week we saw robbery, murder, and every fiendish outrage perpetrated at noonday in our streets by gangs of traitors who trampled upon the national standard like a worthless rag — everyone of whom had voted for SEYMOUR, and who all looked to him for impunity, if not for active leadership. The Governor went among them and saw their hands red with the blood of our citizens, and their faces blackened with incendiary fires, and he called them “his friends.”

It was in vain last fall that we proclaimed that the election of SEYMOUR would strengthen the rebels. Honest men, who had determined to vote for him, fired at the imputation of disloyalty, and pointed to the campaign banner: “A more vigorous prosecution of the war.” We struggled against a general depression and discouragement of public feeling. Our arms made no progress; our finances were becoming unhealthy; the rebels seemed to gain power; everything went wrong; there must be fault somewhere, and the opposition party carried the State, and placed SEYMOUR over us as our Chief Magistrate.

For nearly one year he has filled that office, and New-York has seemed but a half-hearted State. We have exhibited the extraordinary spectacle of having placed in the national armies more than 200,000 of our choicest men, every one of whom volunteered, of giving our treasure free as water, and yet to the world wearing the mask of disloyalty, and requiring 30,000 troops to enforce the laws of the United States, which Gov. SEYMOUR refused to carry out.

Our State has been put in a false position, and foully wronged by being suspected. Her Chief Magistrate, as the organ through which she spoke, has belied her opinions and convictions and intentions, and made her seem to utter sentiments which she scorns and loathes. He has lost no opportunity of boasting of what the State had done, even while protesting against nearly all war measures as encroachments upon his powers and prerogatives as Governor of a sovereign State.

For nearly a year the proud and loyal spirit of our people has writhed under the disgrace of seeming to be treacherous and semi-disloyal. We have had nearly a year of this misconstruction — this false position — and now it is for the people to right themselves before the world. SEYMOUR has made his ticket, and he has also made his plea to the public indictments against him. His speech before the Convention was his defence. He summed up his cause, and submitted it to us for our verdict. What shall that verdict be?

But it is not a question of men, or of the mere personal qualities and fitness of these men for certain offices. Great consequences loom up behind these men. We do not claim that these candidates are consciously false to the cause of the country, or that they wish for the success of the rebels. But we do claim that they represent the Opposition party. They represent the cause which all disloyal men sustain. There is not a slavetrader — there is not a rotten-hearted merchant who grows rich by smuggling his goods through the blockade; there is no Southern spy, no negro-hunter, no secret or open enemy of our country and its Government within the length and breadth of the State, who will not work and vote for these candidates. It is the Opposition party, and it will have the support of all of our enemies.

It matters little whether our enemies use the bullet or the ballot — whether the blow be struck upon a battlefield in Virginia, or at an election in New-York. Whatever weakens one side strengthens the other. No man can serve God and the Devil or stand neutral. We are either for or against the Government, and the whole continent is not large enough to contain one foot of neutral ground.

Hon. Horatio Seymour (between 1855 and 1865; LOC: LC-DIG-cwpbh-01842)

“a crafty and dexterous enemy”

We have now an opportunity to redeem New-York from misconstruction. If defeated at this election, it will be hard to persuade the country that SEYMOUR is not the representative man of his State. It will be hard to show that the National Government has not more enemies than friends in the Empire State.

Our danger at the coming election is in the fact that, like the former one, it will be involved in false issues, and mystified with false pretences. We have the plausible SEYMOUR, and not the outspoken VALLANDIGHAM, for an adversary. New-York is as loyal as Ohio, but we shall struggle under the disadvantage of contending with a crafty and dexterous enemy, who steals our flag and livery, and shouts our battle-cry, “The Union and the Constitution, and the supremacy of the laws.” Let the people beware of the enemies of the Government, and remember their acts for the past year.

The New York state conventions were held in September 1863. Democrats and the Union party (Republicans and War Democrats) nominated candidates for the state-wide offices.

You can read all the details of the political cartoon and a more balanced view of Seymour’s speech at the Library of Congress

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Northern Politics During War, Northern Society | Tagged 1862 election, 1863 elections, Clement Vallandigham, Horatio Seymour, New York State | Leave a comment

“gracious gifts”

Posted on October 3, 2013 by SUMPTER

president-abraham-lincoln-6 (http://ushistoryimages.com/images/president-abraham-lincoln/fullsize/president-abraham-lincoln-6.jpg)

predicts a ” large increase of freedom”

150 years ago today President Lincoln proclaimed another day of thanksgiving for 1863.

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

PROCLAMATION FOR THANKSGIVING, OCTOBER 3, 1863.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AMERICA:

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity which has sometimes seemed to invite and provoke the aggressions of foreign states; peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. The needful diversion of wealth and strength from the fields of peaceful industry, to the national defense has not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship: The axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of, iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect a continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be reverently, solemnly, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and voice, by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea, and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and prayer to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union.

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

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

A. LINCOLN.

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

On the same day that President Lincoln said that the diversion of resources from peaceful industry “to the national defense has not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship”, a Richmond newspaper pointed out that down South there did not seem to be enough resources to go around. If old men and boys are forced to serve in the military, how can necessary farming and manufacturing continue?

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch October 3, 1863:

[Antietam, Md. Confederate dead by a fence on the Hagerstown road (by Alexander gardner, 1862 September; LOC: LC-DIG-cwpb-01097)

clothing auctions dreaded as much as battle

Prices of clothing and produce.

-The rapid advance in all necessaries of clothing and subsistence threatens us with great distress. There is no disguising the fact. We cannot see how unemployed persons, and how those who live on incomes and salaries, are to get along, especially at the inclement season of the year now rapidly approaching. How are they to buy shoes and clothing at present rates? Nay, how long are these rates to prevail? A great auction may in a day or two run them all up 50 per cent.! An auction thus has become to be regarded by the people with as much dread as a battle! A defeat on the battle field could hardly bring more suffering upon them. There is hardly any more encouragement to be derived from looking at the produce market. With ample supplies by the blessing of Providence, through the country, we find the receipts in this market alarmingly limited. Holders are therefore enabled to run up prices out of all reason and out of all conscience. These obstacles to oppression of a community weighing nothing with them since they care nothing for reasons and have no consciences.

We know that the currency is depreciated, but it is not depreciated as much as prices would indicate. There are causes originating in the cupidity and heartlessness of men employed in commerce and in agriculture which are weighing down the people and the cause, and which are threatening both more than the currency. Can the practices of these people be reformed? Can the distress they occasion be moderated by checking their extravagant demands upon consumers? These questions are growing daily more and more important. Something must be done. Produce must be distributed — prices must be reduced — gains must be disgorged — or there will be suffering intense, and intense suffering will beget — what? Think of it.

The necessity of Production.

–The high prices of every article of food and clothing, with a constant tendency upward, indicates to us the greatest danger of the Confederacy at the present moment. There are many sacrifices which men can make, and which a great majority of the people of this country have made, for the defence of their liberties. They can dispense with the luxuries and superfluities of life — they can give life itself for the cause of independence — but while life remains there are certain essentials which it can only surrender at the cost of extermination. In the first place the army itself must be supplied with bread and clothing, and if there were no other mouths in the country to feed, none others to be kept from nakedness, the supply of this portion of the population alone would require that the producing power of the country be carefully husbanded, and its industrial capacities developed, instead of diminished. But, besides the army, there are millions of women and children whose wants must be provided for, and who are in serious danger of suffering if the regular operations of the fields and workshops are interrupted by calling off old men and youths — incapable at best of efficient military service — from duties which they are capable of performing, and which are as essential to the welfare of the country and the success of military operations as the use of the musket and the cannon by those in the field.

Already we are beginning to feel the want of labor in those mechanical and manufacturing employments which are indispensable not only to comfort, but to existence. Every day lost by the withdrawal of operatives from factories involves a deficiency of a vast amount of fabrics necessary to the use and comfort of man, and for the supply of which we can no longer look to foreign countries. What are the people to do this winter for clothing, food, fuel, and other articles of prime necessity, if, in addition to the sufferings resulting from extortion, the few producers who are left be turned into consumers, thereby diminishing the scanty means of supply and increasing a demand which already taxes to the utmost our labor and industrial skill? We have already in the field an army large enough and brave enough to encounter and defeat our foes, and, if the present laws of Congress be faithfully executed, we do not require another man. The Northern draft is now admitted to be a failure, and our most pressing danger is the immense privation and suffering which our own people must endure if the producing power of the country be any further diminished.

This subject deserves the serious consideration of our public men. Organizations for home defence are one thing, and an important thing, but a levy, en masse of the population is at this time about as suicidal a piece of policy as the Yankees themselves could desire us to perpetrate. In noting down an amendment to the militia bill which proposed to require the same service from legislators that they demand from boys of sixteen and old men of fifty-five, legislators here expressed the opinion that there ought to be some exemptions from the service they require, and they will pardon a suffering community for believing that there are other classes — agriculturists, manufacturers, and artisans — whose producing capacity is quite as important to the general welfare as the exemption from draft of the members of the General Assembly.

Patriotism among the farmers.

–Messrs. Smith and Wigfall are doing much service in their public appeals in behalf of the cause and their arguments for the reduction of prices and the liberal distribution of the necessaries of life. Five of the largest counties in the State have in public meeting of their citizens adopted resolutions honorable to their humanity and their patriotism. Their examples should be followed universally. Old Augusta especially takes strong ground. The citizens taking part in the meeting resolved to pay in their tenthto the Government and to sell their surplus produce at the prices fixed by the Government assessors; and they further resolved to report all farmers who refused to do this to the Government officers, in order that their surplus might be impressed. Albemarle, Buckingham, Louisa, Augusta and Monroe lead the way in these honorable resolutions. If some other counties which send their produce to this city would imitate their example, the prospect here would wear a more cheerfully.

Augusta County, Virginia countryside, view from Parnassus, 2007

Old Augusta vows to pay its tenth, sell surplus at government prices, and tell on the non-compliant (photo c.2007)

The photo of Augusta County, Virginia by Hamiltonl at en.wikipedia is licensed by Creative Commons

U.S. History Images provides the Lincoln image.

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Confederate States of America, Lincoln Administration, Northern Society, Southern Society | Tagged Abraham Lincoln, Economics in the Civil War, southern scarcity, tax-in-kind, Thanksgiving | Leave a comment

rebel wordplay

Posted on October 2, 2013 by SUMPTER

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch October 2, 1863:

Chickamauga, or the river of Death.

In the spring of 1858, while seeking the benefit of a change of climate and relaxation from laborious duties, I met the late Colonel Whiteside at Chattanooga. Among the many interesting traditions associated with various localities in this beautiful region of country he related one in explanation of the meaning of the word “Chickamauga,” and how it came to be applied to the two small streams which bear this name. A tribe of Cherokees occupied this region, and when the small-pox was first communicated to the Indians of this continent it appeared in this tribe, and made frightful havoc among them. It was the custom of the Indians, at the height of this disease, to go, by scores, and jump into the river to allay the tormenting symptoms. This, of course, increased the mortality, and the name “Chickamauga.” or “River of Death” was applied to the two streams, which they have borne ever since. The remnant of the tribe was also afterwards called the “Chickamauga tribe.” We hope Gen Bragg will call his great victory the Battle of Chickamauga, and not “Peavine Creek” or “Crawfish Springs,” as is suggested in Rosecrans’s dispatch. He has certainly crawfished out of Georgia; but we prefer “Chickamauga,” or the “River of Death.”

“River of Death” and its association with the Cherokees’ contact with Europeans’ small pox is one possible meaning of Chickamauga. The verb crawfish can mean “to back out of a commitment or retreat from a position”

The image is from wpclipart

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Military Matters | Tagged Battle of Chickamauga, Braxton Bragg, William Rosecrans | Leave a comment

sans ticker tape

Posted on October 1, 2013 by SUMPTER

russian-fleet-1500 (Harper's Weekly, 10-17-1863)

Russian fleet in New York harbor

Ships from the Russian fleet had been anchored in New York harbor for over a week (and although the ships enjoyed visitors, a “furore” was created when Mrs. Lincoln prematurely visited one of the ships). 150 years ago today a grand celebration was held in New York City, including a reception aboard the Russian flagship, receptions in New York, and a grand parade.

From The New-York Times October 2 1863:

OUR RUSSIAN GUESTS.; Their Magnificent Reception Yesterday. Imposing Popular Ovation and Brilliant Military Pageant. The Cross of St. Andrew and the Stars and Stripes Blending Amicably. Formal Greeting by Mayor Opdyke, and Grand Review in the Park. A Procession, Presentation and Royal Salutes. THE STRANGERS GREATLY DELIGHTED.

Yesterday was a memorable one in the history of the City, as having been set apart for the formal reception of the Russian Admiral LISOVSKY and the Officers of his Fleet, and as being the occasion of welcome exceeding in warmth and earnestness any that busy and big-hearted New-York has extended. The day was beautiful, and the feeling of the people hospitable and exuberant. There was evidently a desire among all to extend to out distinguished guests an unmistakably hearty and cordial welcome. The desire was more than fulfilled, for, from the lancing of the Officers until their departure from the City Hall, the ovation was one of the most brilliant, hearty and gratifying character. Of course, it was not to the individuals so much as to the Sovereign and People of the great empire they represented, whose consistent and sincere friendship has been appreciated by the public heart. There was l[e]ss of the noisy, boisterous welcome and enthusiasm that has characterized many receptions, but there was much more of the really sincere expression of feelings, which, while somewhat less demonstrative, is [???] as effective [???]. …

new ironsides

Posted on September 30, 2013 by SUMPTER

Benjamin H. Porter (New York State Military Museum.)

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in September 1863:

ENSIGN BENJ. F. PORTER, of the New Ironsides, a young and promising officer, about whose daring courage so much has recently been told, has his home at Skaneateles.

It seems that Benjamin Franklin was a popular given name in the 19th century (for example, see B.F. Butler), but in this case the young officer was almost certainly Benjamin H. Porter, who graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1862 or 1863. The incident of daring courage probably took place on the night of August 20-21, 1863 when the USS New Ironsides was the target of a torpedo boat attach in Charleston harbor. According to USS New Ironsides in the Civil War,^[1]Ensign Porter repeatedly hailed the torpedo boat as it approached. The torpedo never made contact and the New Ironsides escaped without damage.

There is evidence that at some point Porter was captured during the relentless, if unsuccessful, Union effort to capture Fort Sumter and Charleston. I don’t know when, so far.

Ensign Porter was mentioned in press reports of September 1863. Southerners noted the following incident as an example of Yankee overconfidence because “care packages” were addressed to him and a comrade at Fort Sumter. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch September 15, 1863:

New Ironsides mapped in main Ship Channel

Affairs at Charleston.

The Charleston Mercury, of Friday, says that the enemy has refrained from firing since his unsuccessful assault on Fort Sumter. Our batteries on James and Sullivan’s Islands, together with Fort Moultrie, keep up a steady fire on the Morris Island works. It adds:

The enemy is reported busy at work on batteries Gregg and Wagner, having erected a large platform for his guns on the latter, and thrown up an extensive sand embankment on the former. The Yankees are also said to be working on their batteries on Craig’s Hill and building embrasures for guns pointing to Sullivan’s Island, which it is believed will be the next point of attack.

The Ironsides was lying in her old position yesterday, opposite battery Wagner, receiving ammunition from a schooner alongside of her. The monitors remain at their old anchorage. One of the enemy’s steamers appeared busy yesterday transporting guns and ordnance. …

They admit that the fire from Sullivan’s Island in the last fight was very accurate, one of the monitors having been struck on the turret twenty-nine times, without, they say, doing any damage. One monitor had her smoke stack blown off entirely. The Ironsides was struck fifty times without, they say, inflicting any serious damage. The prisoners manifest a great deal of confidence in the ability of General Gill more to take the city.

So confident were they of success in the late expedition that two boxes were received under flag of truce, one addressed to “Lieut. E. P. Williams, commanding Fort Sumter,” and another to “Ensign Benjamin H. Porter, Fort Sumter.” They were packed with lemons, jellies, liquors, &c., evidently prepared for a general glorification.

The Benjamin Porter House is a Bed & Breakfast in Skaneateles, New York. The house belonged to Benjamin H. Porter’s uncle. The current owners named it in honor of the Porters and their own son, a graduate of the Naval Academy in 2002.

Hant-tinted copy of a line engraving by Smyth, depicting USS New Ironsides and two monitors in action at Charleston, South Carolina, circa 1863. Courtesy of the Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C.

“The Iron-Clad Frigate New Ironsides and Two Ericsson Batteries going into action at Charleston”

^[1]Roberts, William H. USS New Ironsides in the Civil War. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1999. Print. page 76.↩

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Month, Naval Matters | Tagged Charleston, Fort Sumter, USS New Ironsides | Leave a comment

beef prices

Posted on September 28, 2013 by SUMPTER

It’s been almost six months since the Richmond Bread Riot, but scarcity and inflation are still making life difficult in Richmond. Here a group of butchers are willing to comply with a government request that they regulate their beef prices as long as 1) the government does not impress cattle that are being transported to the Richmond market 2) that they can pay their suppliers a price above the government price to make sure the suppliers still bring it to them 3) that the government get other business people to lower their prices a similar amount – otherwise the butchers’ expenses will stay at a high price.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch September 28, 1863:

Regulating the prices.–Commendable move on the part of the Butcheries.

–We mentioned some days since that a move was on foot in this city to bring down the prices, and fix some standard governing the sale of all articles of provisions. Since that time we have ascertained that such is the fact, and, as a preliminary step, a meeting of all the butchers took place one day last week in compliance with a request from Major Wm. H. Smith, to arrange some plan for the purchase of cattle. At that meeting a committee was appointed to consider the matter, which committee met on Fridayevening last and drew up the following propositions. which have been submitted to the Government authorities:

“Major W. H. Smith–Sir: We, the undersigned butchers, having met together at your request to fix a standard price for purchasing cattle to be slaughtered for the inhabitants of this city, so as not to conflict with purchasers for the Government, and also to reduce the price of beef from our stalls, respectfully submit the following propositions;

“1. That all cattle on route to this market for sale on arrival shall not be impressed or interfered with by the Government.
“2. That it is quite inconvenient at times for us to leave our stalls to lay in our supplies, or to get suitable agents to do the same satisfactorily, and that the owners of stock may be permitted to bring it here, by allowing a price above the Government price sufficient to cover all risk — driftage and expense.
“3. That our profit will be principally regulated by the value of the fifth quarter, and the quality of the cattle must regulate the price thereof; we, therefore, request that we may pay in this market from 20 to 35 cents gross for fair to extra cattle, and that we retail the same from our stalls from 50 to 75 cents net by retail, which will be a reduction of about one-half from present rates.
“4. From the above propositions it will be seen that the farmer and butcher have reduced the present prices one half, while their expenses in all articles necessary and indispensable are still at inflated prices, with an upward tendency; and if everything useful for the support of the needy were likewise reduced 50 per cent, the evil which is sought to be remedied would in a great measure be averted.
“5. We earnestly hope, should the above liberal propositions be accepted, that you use all proper means to have all other necessaries of life reduced in a like ratio. Should the above result be not enforced, the above obligations to be null and void after 1st of November.next.
“6. The above resolutions to be put in force from and after the 10th of October. next.”

Richmond, Sept. 25, 1863.

It is also reported that robberies appear to be increasing. From the same issue

Robbery of a Church.

–Robberies in this city are becoming very frequent, and the operators seem to be indifferent as to where they make their raids. On Friday night last the Monumental Church was forcibly entered and robbed of one superior black silk gown, nearly new; one black silk scarf, belonging to the surplice; two table cloths, six damask napkins, two small napkins, and four damask towels

Richmond, Va. Monumental Church (LC-DIG-cwpb-02906)

Monumental Church in 1865

Richmond’s Monumental Church was constructed in 1814 as “a memorial to the 72 individuals that died in the Richmond Theater Fire of 1811.” Robert Mills, the architect, “was the only architectural pupil of Thomas Jefferson”.

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Confederate States of America, Southern Society | Tagged food scarcity, inflation, Monumental Church, price controls, Richmond, southern scarcity | Leave a comment

fact check

Posted on September 27, 2013 by SUMPTER

150 years ago this month The Old Guard published the following:

Old Guard on Daniel Webster (September 1863)

prophecy from the grave?

William H. Seward delivered his “irrepressible conflict” speech in 1858. Daniel Webster died in 1852.

Abolitionists felt betrayed by Webster’s support of the Compromise of 1850 and its Fugitive Slave Law.

Daniel Webster, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly right (between 1845 and 1849; LOC: LC-USZ62-110179)

“the expounder of the constitution”

Daniel Webster addressing the United States Senate, in the great debate of the Constitution and the Union 1850 (c1860; LOC: LC-USZ62-1414)

Webster supporting compromise in Senate, 1850

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Month, Lincoln Administration, Northern Society, Uncategorized | Tagged "irrepressible conflict", Daniel Webster, The Old Guard, William H. Seward | Leave a comment

virtual defeat

Posted on September 25, 2013 by SUMPTER

or virtual victory?

Plan of the Battle of Chickamauga, Tenn. by Robert Knox Sneden (gvhs01 vhs00158 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.ndlpcoop/gvhs01.vhs00158 )

September 20 at Chickamauga

I think I gave in to a little Yankee arrogance the other day when I noticed that Richmond seemed more in the dark about the battle at Chickamauga than the North. The New York Times apparently had a correspondent embedded with the Army of the Cumberland, but he did not seem to get a report back the next day as the bulk of Rosecrans’ army was hightailing it back to Chattanooga. What’s more, small towns in the North had to wait for accounts from the big cities, as can be seen from this article in a Seneca County, New York newspaper of September 1863:

Great Battle in Georgia.

The country was startled on Monday with the terrible news that Rosecrans had suffered defeat and disaster in Georgia, at the hands of the Confederate General Bragg. – The battle commenced on Saturday morning some little distance beyond Chattanooga, the enemy attacking our forces in overwhelming numbers. The engagement raged with great fury Saturday and Sunday, ending in the repulse of Rosecrans, and compelling him to fall back to Chattanooga. – The loss in killed and wounded on both sides is reported at 30,000. Both sides claim the victory, but it is evident that the advantage was with the rebels. The following dispatch published in the morning papers confirm the first reports received from Gen. Rosecrans army:

CINCINNATI, Sept. 24. – Mr. Shanks, the correspondent of the N.Y. Herald, has arrived here from the battle field of the Chickamanga [sic] where he has witnessed the two days fighting. He says:

That the official reports of the battle from Washington, are in the main totally false, and that really the army of the Cumberland have met with a defeat which must put it on the defensive for some time to come.

Major General George Henry Thomas, Union officer, half-length portrait, facing front (between 1861 and 1865; LOC: LC-USZ62-129689)

only his corps did any fighting

Gen. Thomas’ corps is the only one which did any fighting. On the first day it defeated Longstreet with terrible slaughter, driving him in great confusion for over a mile beyond the Chickamanga river.

Longstreet in a two hours fight lost 2,000 killed and over double that number in wounded.

Crittenden’s and McCook’s corps the same day were both badly beaten, and the enemy broke the center, driving Crittenden in every direction.

The defeat in this part of the line caused Thomas to abandon his field and fall back to protect his flank and re-establish his line. At the same time the enemy not knowing what he had accomplished failed to pursue the advantage, and Gens. Wood and Negley went in the center and re-established that part of the line. The day was ours though the enemy held the field.

We had taken three pieces of artillery more than we had lost on the first day, when Gen.Thomas had defeated Longstreet. On the second day he saved the army of Gen. Rosecrans from annihilation. – From 10 to 12 on Sunday he fought the enemy and repulsed them in three charges, when finding the assault in vain, the enemy pushed forward on the right and center, and on the first charge drove Crittenden’s and McCook’s line and routed their entire commands, driving them in a disgraceful manner into Rossville and Chattanooga.

Map of Battle of Chickamauga of the American Civil War, actions on September 20, 1863, part 3. Drawn in Adobe Illustrator CS5 by Hal Jespersen

Thomas and Granger hold back the rebels

Gen. Thomas, with his corps, still contested the day and was enabled by the timely reinforcements of Gen. Granger to hold a position until nightfall covered his retreat to Rossville.

Mr. Shanks left the field at 7 p.m. Sunday, and Chattanooga the noon of Monday.

Rosecrans was falling back on Chattanooga where he was perfectly safe from all Gen. Bragg could do.

His lines of communication were perfectly secure, and he had plenty of ammunition and provisions in Chattanooga to stand a month’s siege.

The result is virtually a defeat to us, as we have lost considerably in material, not less than fifty pieces of artillery falling into the enemy’s hands, though Bragg’s army receipts for twenty.

The rebel loss in killed and wounded will exceed our own. In killed he has lost double our number. Rosecrans is in no danger, but at the time Mr. Shanks left Chattanooga the danger to Gen. Burnside was very great.

Even The New York Times used the report of W.F.G. Shanks, although it did not mention him or his paper by name.

From The New-York Times September 25, 1863:

FROM ROSECRANS’ ARMY.; NO FIGHTING YESTERDAY. The Present Position of Our Forces Impregnable. HEAVY LOSSES ACKNOWLEDGED A New Account of the Result of the Battle. REPORTS FROM CINCINNATI.

WASHINGTON, Thursday, Sept. 24.

A dispatch from Gen. ROSECRANS, dated at his headquarters last night, says:

“I cannot be dislodged from my present position.”

Another dispatch from one of Gen. ROSECRANS’ Staff, written at forty minutes past 11 o’clock last night, says:

“No fighting to-day, the 23d.”

SECOND DISPATCH

WASHINGTON, Thursday, Sept. 24.

Advices received by the Government to-day from the Army of the Cumberland are to the effect that our wounded in the late three days’ battle before Chattanooga, have been conveyed to hospitals at Stevenson, and Bridgeport, in Alabama, and thence taken to Nashville as fast as they are physically able to be removed. The number of wounded recovered from the field, is not officially stated, nor whether any are now in the hands of the enemy.

CINCINNATI, Thursday, Sept. 24.

A gentleman, arrived here from the battle-field of Chicamauga, where he witnessed the two days’ fighting, says that the official reports of the battle, from Washington, are, in the main, totally false, and that really the Army of the Cumberland has met with a defeat which must put it on the defensive for some time to come.

Gen. THOMAS corps is really the only one which did any fighting. [and a recap of the rest of the report by its “informant”] …

In its October 10, 1863 issue Harper’s Weekly (at Son of the South) gave Mr. Shanks credit for the report they used and then then spun the battle like others in the North. Chattanooga was the key. As long as Rosecrans held Chattanooga, Chickamauga would be no more than the rebels’ Bunker Hill, a victory with no strategic value. It was predicted that both sides would reinforce their armies there:

Thus the issue would seem to be one of time. If Rosecrans can not hold out at Chattanooga until his reinforcements arrive, the whole of the Southern army will presently be in Chattanooga, and marching Northward through Tennessee; if he can hold out a few days only he will have force enough to offer Bragg battle with advantage, and can proceed at his leisure to occupy Atlanta, and give the death-blow to the empire which it was proposed to erect upon the corner-stone of slavery.

Hal Jespersen’s map of September 20 afternoon is licensed by Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Military Matters | Tagged Battle of Chickamauga, George Henry Thomas | Leave a comment

the looming winter

general review

stop the misconstruction

“gracious gifts”

rebel wordplay

sans ticker tape

new ironsides

beef prices

fact check

virtual defeat

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Daily News - 150 Years Ago

General Civil War Sites

Other Resources

WordPress

Categories

Subscribe by Feed

Subscribe by Email