Captain Charles Francis Adams, Jr., to Charles Francis Adams Sr., August 5, 1864

H.Q. Cav’y Escort, A. of P.               

Before Petersburg, August 5, 1864

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PHYSICALLY, since I last wrote, I'm glad to say I have picked up amazingly. I have at last shaken off my jaundice and have recovered a white man's looks, my appetite is amazing and I am building up. In fact I have weathered my danger and do not look for any further trouble. Ward Frothingham too has been sent home. His regiment was smashed all to pieces in the assault the other day. The Colonel, Gould, had a thigh shattered, the Lieutenant Colonel killed, and so on. As for Ward, it was the hardest kind of work helping him, for he could n't help himself. Finally however he was sent down to City Point and there gave Dalton my note, and Dalton had him shipped to New York before he could make up his mind as to whether he wanted to go there or not. So he's safe and at home.

Here since I last wrote, too, Burnside has exploded his mine and we have again just failed to take Petersburg. The papers, I see, are full of that mishap and every one is blaming every one, just as though it did any good to cry and quarrel over spilled milk. I did not see the mine exploded, though most of my officers did and they describe it as a most beautiful and striking spectacle — an immense column of debris, mixed with smoke and flame, shooting up in the form of a wheat sheaf some hundred and fifty feet, and then instantly followed by the roar of artillery. At first, and until ten o'clock, rumors came in very favorably — we had carried this and that and were advancing. At about ten I rode out to see what was going on. The fight then was pretty much over. I rode up to the parallels and dismounted and went towards the front. The heat was intense and they were bringing in the wounded, mostly blacks, in great numbers. Very little firing was going on, though occasionally shot went zipping by. Very speedily I began to be suspicious of our success. Our soldiers didn't look or act to my mind like men who had won a victory. There was none of that elation and excitement among the wounded, none of that communicative spirit among the uninjured which always marks a success. I was very soon satisfied of this and so, after walking myself into a tremendous heat and seeing nothing but a train of wounded men, I concluded that I didn't like the sound of bullets and so came home.

My suspicions proved correct. As you know we had been repulsed. How was it? In the papers you'll see all kinds of stories and all descriptions of reasons, but here all seem to have settled down to certain results on which all agree, and certain others on which all quarrel. It is agreed that the thing was a perfect success, except that it did not succeed; and the only reason it did not succeed was that our troops behaved shamefully. They advanced to the crater made by the explosion and rushed into it for cover and nothing could get them out of it. These points being agreed on then begins the bickering. All who dislike black troops shoulder the blame onto them — not that I can find with any show of cause. They seem to have behaved just as well and as badly as the rest and to have suffered more severely. This Division, too, never had really been under fire before, and it was a rough breaking in for green troops of any color. The 9th Corps .and Burnside came in for a good share of hard sayings, and, in fact, all round is heard moaning and wrath, and a scape-goat is wanted.

Meanwhile, as I see it, one person alone has any right to complain and that person is Grant. I should think his heart would break. He had out-generaled Lee so, he so thoroughly deserved success, and then to fail because his soldiers wouldn't fight? It was too bad. All the movements I mentioned in my last turned out to be mere feints and as such completely successful. Deceived by Grant's movement towards Malvern Hill, Lee had massed all his troops in that vicinity, so that when the mine exploded, the rebels had but three Divisions in front of the whole Army of the Potomac. Grant ordered a rapid countermarch of his cavalry from Malvern Hill to the extreme left, to outflank and attack the enemy at daylight, simultaneously with the assault in front. The cavalry did not reach here until the assault had failed. The march was difficult, but it was possible and it was not accomplished. Whose fault was this? Then came the assault, which was no assault, and once more Lee, completely outgeneraled, surprised and nearly lost, was saved by the bad behavior of our troops as in June, and on the same ground and under the same circumstances, he was almost miraculously saved by the stubborn bravery of his own. I find but one satisfaction in the whole thing. Here now, as before in June, whether he got it or no, Grant deserved success, and, where this is the case, in spite of fortune, he must ultimately win it. Twice Lee has been saved in spite of himself. Let him look to it, for men are not always lucky.

If you are curious to know where I myself place the blame, I must freely say on Burnside, and add, that in my own opinion I don't know anything about it. For the whole thing, Burnside's motions and activities deserve great credit. While others were lying idle, he was actively stirring round to see what he could do. The mine was his idea and his work, and he carried it through; no one but himself had any faith in it. So far all was to his credit. Then came the assault. Grant did his part of the work and deceived Lee. Burnside organized his storming column and, apparently, he couldn't have organized it worse. They say the leading brigade was chosen by lot. If so, what greater blunder could have been committed? At any rate a white brigade was put in to lead which could not have been depended on to follow. This being so, the result was what might have been expected. In such a case everything depended on the storming party; for, if they would lead, the column would follow. Volunteers might have been called for, a picked regiment might have been designated; but, no, Burnside sent in a motley crowd of white and black, heavy artillery and dismounted cavalry, and they wouldn't come up to the scratch. So endeth the second lesson before Petersburg.

As to the future, expect no light from me. I do not expect that anything will be done here for six weeks to come. Grant must hold his own, defend Washington and see what Sherman can accomplish, before he really attempts anything heavy here. The news from Sherman is so good, and Hood seems so completely to be playing our game that I think the rebel strength in that region bids fair to be used up. Lee can hold us in check, but, unless we blunder egregiously, he cannot replenish his ranks, and by autumn Grant can resume operations with deadly effect from this base. This I fear is the best view which can be taken of the present attitude of affairs. We have been so unfortunate here and our military lights about Washington — Hunter, Wallace, Halleck, Sigel and the rest — have made such a mess of our affairs in their region, that I don't see but what the army here must, for the present, be reduced to one purely of observation. . . .

As to my new regiment, I see myself gazetted but have as yet received no commission or official announcement. Meanwhile I am maturing my plans for the regiment and shall develop them in a somewhat stately paper distinguished by unusual ability even for me and addressed to Governor Andrew, the which I shall tackle as soon as I have disposed of you. For the rest, I wait here and kill time. There is nothing more for me to do here. This squadron is as contented, as well disciplined and in as good order as I know how to put it, and accordingly I must move or stand still. . . .

SOURCE: Charles Francis Adams, A Cycle of Adams Letters, 1861-1865, Volume 2, p. 170-5

Captain Charles Fessenden Morse: April 6, 1863

Headquarters Twelfth Army Corps,

April 6, 1863.

I wish you could have seen the great military display there was near here yesterday. You probably have seen by the papers that President Abe is paying a visit to the army; he came down in the great snow-storm Saturday night. Well, yesterday was appointed for a grand review of all the cavalry and horse artillery in the army. All the Major-Generals and many of the Brigadiers with their staffs were invited to be present. Our cortege left these headquarters about half-past ten. We made a pretty good show by ourselves; there were five general officers, namely; Major-General Slocum, Brigadier-Generals Williams, Ruger, Knipe and Jackson, with their staffs and escorts, all in full fig. We rode about seven miles to the reviewing ground and got there just as the President, General Hooker and their large retinue arrived; the artillery fired the salute and the review commenced.

In the centre opposite the troops, looking sick and worn out, dressed in a plain black suit with the tallest of stove-pipe hats, was the President, seated on a fine horse with rich trimmings. On his right and left were Generals Hooker and Stoneman, and clustering around on all sides were Major and Brigadier-Generals too numerous to mention.

You know the story of a man who threw a bootjack out of a hotel window in Washington, last winter, and hit six brigadiers and a dog, and said, “It wasn't a good night for brigadiers, either.” Yesterday was a good day for them. Who would have thought, five years ago, that such a sight as this would ever be possible in democratic, republican America. I doubt if any country has ever seen so large a collection of officers of high rank; there could not have been less than a thousand officers of all grades in the cavalcade, and now-a-days most every one dresses well; so you can imagine that such a crowd, well mounted on handsome horses with rich housings, was a gallant and gay sight. The cavalry was in two lines, each about two miles long; there were nearly ten thousand of them. I never have seen anything like such a number of horsemen together before. Generally they looked very well; the best regiments in appearance were the First and Second United States and the First Massachusetts and the First Rhode Island. There were four batteries of horse artillery, and the last one went by "flying." You know the term, “horse artillery,” is given to those batteries where all the gunners are mounted; this enables them to keep up with the cavalry.

SOURCE: Charles Fessenden Morse, Letters Written During the Civil War, 1861-1865, p. 124-5

Captain Charles Fessenden Morse, February 12, 1863

Camp Near Stafford C. H., Va.,

February 12, 1863.

Tuesday I rode over with Major Mudge to the First Massachusetts Cavalry; we found our friends there well and glad to see us. Lieut.-Col. Curtis has been laid up with a lame leg from a horse's kick, but was nearly right again. The same morning, Captain Shaw went off to go to work on his new command, the First Massachusetts Blacks. He has a hard piece of work before him, but I hope he will be entirely successful. The greatest doubts in my mind are whether the Northern negroes will enlist; I don't put much faith in them myself.

SOURCE: Charles Fessenden Morse, Letters Written During the Civil War, 1861-1865, p. 120-1

Captain Charles Fessenden Morse, November 11, 1862

Camp Near Sharpsburgh, Md.,

November 11, 1862.

We had an interesting little reunion and supper at my tent last evening. Yesterday morning, Bob Shaw and I rode into Hagerstown where the First Massachusetts Cavalry are stationed, about fourteen miles from here. We found our friends there getting ready for a move, having a preliminary inspection of men, horses, etc., they having received orders to join Pleasanton. By dint of a little persuasion, we got Curtis and Higginson to ride back with us. We had already arranged a supper to which the five captains in the regiment had been invited; Cogswell, Bangs, Robeson, Shaw, and myself. We sat down immediately after “tattoo” and had a jolly time; there were seven of us, all original “Seconds.” Of course, there were innumerable recollections recalled, many of them sad, but a great many very pleasant; old times were talked over and the many changes that had befallen us since our first Camp Andrew experience. The supper was very good; a capital soup, followed by roast quail and “fixings,” claret, coffee, cigars, etc., all done up in pretty good shape for camp. An occasion like this makes up for many vexations, and we all appreciate it.

Last night we received the news that Andrews had been appointed Brigadier-General and assigned to Banks; so we have lost our second Colonel, as honest and faithful a man as ever lived. He is one of the officers in the army who has worked his way up himself, and has been promoted purely on account of his own merit without political influence or wire-pulling. By this promotion and the death of Lieutenant-Colonel Savage, Quincy becomes Colonel, Cogswell, Lieutenant-Colonel, and Mudge, Major. I shall be third Captain and have the colors, Savage's original place. Sawyer will be tenth Captain; at Camp Andrew he was tenth Second Lieutenant, twenty grades he has gone through.

That was a very good article you sent me, taken from the “Advertiser,” about Colonel Savage. It was evidently written by some one who knew him well. It was perfectly true and did not exaggerate his good qualities an atom. He was nearer to being a perfect man than any one I ever knew.

SOURCE: Charles Fessenden Morse, Letters Written During the Civil War, 1861-1865, p. 104-5

Captain Charles Fessenden Morse, October 20, 1862

Maryland Heights, October 20, 1862.

To-night I am all alone and naturally feel a little blue, so my letter may not be very cheerful. Bob Shaw is on picket; so is Captain Robeson; Tom Fox is sick with a light fever down in Sandy Hook, and his brother has gone down to see him; my tent, therefore, is deserted. To-day I have been out again with one hundred axe-men; it is an interestsing sight to see so many men at work at once felling trees; we began our labor at the bottom of a ravine and worked up a steep hill. Sometimes there would be as many as twenty or thirty fine trees falling at once; they reminded me of men falling in battle, that same dead, helpless fall. The effect was still stronger from the fact that the choppers were almost always concealed by underbrush. I very nearly lost one of my men in an accident to-day. He had just given the coup de grace to a large, heavy ash tree, and had cleared himself from the fall of it, when another tree falling from above, struck it, changing the direction of the fall of the first and bringing it down with tremendous force where the man was standing. He attempted to dodge, but had not time and was thrown to the ground. I was near by, and ran up to him. I found him perfectly senseless, and I thought, at the time, dying. He proved to be a man of my company named Conlan, one of my very best soldiers, the only one that I mentioned as having distinguished himself by bravery at the battle of Antietam. I had him moved to a comfortable place and sent for our surgeon and a stretcher. After lying insensible for about half an hour, he came to himself for a little and was moved to our hospital. I was much relieved by Dr. Stone's telling me that there were no bones broken; his shoulders and back were terribly bruised, though, and it will be a long time before he gets about again.

Major Higginson of the First Massachusetts Cavalry made us a passing call the other day, on his way to Washington, arriving last Friday night about ten o'clock and taking breakfast with us and spending the forenoon Saturday; he gave us all the latest news of our friends in his regiment. They are having considerable work to do now, scouting about over the country. I had one of the pleasantest times, Sunday, that I've had for some time; after inspection, Shaw and I mounted our steeds and rode off into Pleasant Valley. The road was very pleasant and the day beautiful, a genuine October one, with a hot sun but a bracing air. The country is looking its best now, though the trees don't change here as they do around home. Yet there was some bright color on the sides of the mountains. We made our first call on Captain Charles Lowell at General McClellan's headquarters. We found Major Higginson there, and a Mr. Bancroft of Boston, who is visiting his friends in the army. After spending an hour very pleasantly there, we proceeded to accept an invitation we had received a few days before, to take dinner with a friend of ours, Johnny Hayden, of Captain Edwards' battery, Third United States Artillery. We met some pleasant, jolly officers there, who had been all through the Peninsular campaign. Of course, there were plenty of yarns told on both sides, and experiences compared. We had a nice dinner and rode back to camp at sunset satisfied that we had had a thoroughly good time.

Days like these are like oases in our ordinary dull routine, and they come rarely enough to be enjoyed.

So many of our officers are sick, absent or on some extra duty, that there are only about seven of us in the line left to do all picket and fatigue duty, bringing each one of us on once in three or four days. There are at least two hundred men detailed from our regiment every day now for guards, or other purposes.

SOURCE: Charles Fessenden Morse, Letters Written During the Civil War, 1861-1865, p. 99-101

Captain Charles Fessenden Morse, October 6, 1862

Maryland Heights, October 6, 1862.

Everything continues quiet with us. We have a nice camp and are beginning to make ourselves comfortable. I have a floor in my tent and a patent bedstead of Hogan's invention. Our mess gets on finely; we have plenty to eat and very good too. I know you will be pleased to feel that I am no longer in danger of starvation. You'd hardly believe we had suffered any hardships lately, to see us after dinner or supper, sitting or lying around my tent, enjoying our pipes and cigars, reading the papers or having a quiet discussion on some subject.

Last week, we had a visit from President Lincoln, accompanied by Generals Sumner and Howard and a large staff of other officers. He reviewed our regiment briefly, we receiving him with the customary honors. General Sumner paid our regiment the handsomest compliment that I have heard come from any officer of high rank. He said, in our hearing, to the President, “This is the Second Massachusetts Regiment, the first regiment that volunteered for the war. I have it on good authority, General Sedgwick, that it is the best regiment in the service.”

Such praise as this, coming from the source it does, is very pleasing. After the review, I was detailed (I suppose from my knowledge of the mountain paths and the fact that I had a horse), to guide the party to the summit of the Maryland Heights. I showed the way until we got to a path where it was right straight up, when Abraham backed out. I think it must have reminded him of a little story about a very steep place; at any rate, around they turned and went down the mountain. I gave “Uncle Abe” a few parting words of advice with regard to the general management of things, bade them farewell, and went back to camp.

I am afraid we have lost Colonel Andrews; he was detailed day before yesterday, to take command of a brigade of four new regiments; this is probably but an intermediate step before being commissioned Brigadier. Captain Cogswell is now in command; if neither Major Savage nor Captain Quincy ever come back, he will be Colonel, making Mudge Lieutenant-Colonel, and Russell, Major, and me second Captain, Curtis' old place on the left of the line.

Has the death of Major Sedgwick been spoken of in any of the Boston papers? You remember he was formerly a first Lieutenant in our regiment; he left us last autumn to go to his cousin's, General Sedgwick's, staff, where he was made Assistant Adjutant General and promoted to be Major. We have seen a good deal of him since we left Washington. He was one of the most interesting men in conversation I ever knew, full of stories and experiences of the Peninsular campaign, in which he took an active part, having been present at most of the principal battles. The night before Antietam, he was around at our bivouac. We were discussing the probabilities as to when Richmond would be taken; I made him a bet of a basket of champagne that it wouldn't be taken the 1st of January, 1863. This wager he accepted and registered in my pocket book and signed his name to it. The next day was the battle. General Sedgwick went into it with his division in Sumner's corps; Major Sedgwick received his wound in that terrible wood where our right wing suffered its heaviest loss. The bullet went through his body, grazing his backbone, instantly paralyzing the whole lower parts. He remained on the field two or three hours perfectly conscious, though suffering the worst pain. During this time he wrote several pages in his book, requests, etc. He was removed to Frederick, Maryland, where he died two or three days ago. He was only one among many, but he was one of the original “Second,” and a man I always liked very much.

I believe I have not told you about our old flag. Sergeant Lundy is color-bearer now (the old Crimean soldier of whom I sent the daguerreotype); he's a splendid fellow and plucky as can be; all through the action, he kept the flag up at full height, waving it to and fro. Well, on examination of it after the fight was over, we found twenty new bullet holes through the colors and three through the staff. The socket in which the butt rested was shot away close to the Sergeant's belt. Our old staff was shot in two at Cedar Mountain, and is now at home being mended. While I think of it, I must tell you of one most singular incident that happened the day of the battle. As we were advancing over one part of the field, which was pretty thickly covered by our dead and wounded, a man of Company F, Captain Mudge's company, suddenly came upon the dead body of his father, who was in the Twelfth Massachusetts Regiment and had been killed early in the day. It was a terrible meeting for father and son; they had not seen each other for over a year. The next day the son got permission to bury his father in a decent manner and put a head-board at his grave.

Have you made up your mind about the Emancipation Proclamation? At first, I was disposed to think that no change would be produced by it, but now, I believe its effect will be good. It is going to set us straight with foreign nations. It gives us a decided policy, and though the President carefully calls it nothing but a war measure, yet it is the beginning of a great reform and the first blow struck at the real, original cause of the war. No foreign nation can now support the South without openly countenancing slavery. The London Times, no doubt, will try to make out slavery a Divine Institution, but its influence does not extend everywhere. I think the course of that paper, since this war began, has been more outrageous than anything I ever knew of; you wouldn't think any paper could be so base as to say, as it has just said, that the President's Proclamation was published to produce a servile insurrection. It may have the effect to cause disturbances among the troops from the extreme Southern States, who will think, perhaps, that their presence is needed more at home than up in Virginia. There is no mistake about it, if the fact becomes generally known among the slaves of the South that they are free as soon as within our lines, there will be a much more general movement among them than there has been before. It is evident that Jeff Davis is frightened by it, to judge by the fearful threats of retaliation he is making.

Yesterday, Bob Shaw and I took a fine horseback ride of about twenty miles, visiting the vicinity of Antietam. Most of McClellan's army is encamped near there. We expected to find the First Massachusetts Cavalry, but they had moved up the river to Williamsport. My horse is in fine condition, now; she seemed to enjoy the exercise yesterday as much as I did.

SOURCE: Charles Fessenden Morse, Letters Written During the Civil War, 1861-1865, p. 95-9

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Major Henry L. Higginson, September 14, 1863

Centreville, Virginia, Sept. 14, 1863.

My Dear Henry, — I was glad to see your fist on an envelope some weeks ago. I ought to have written you sooner, but it is so infernally quiet here now that to get together material for a letter is a labour.

I am glad, old fellow, to hear that your wound is at length convalescent. It would have been a bore to carry a ball in it all your life, with a chance of its giving you a twinge any minute. . . .

You ask me no end of questions about the army. As if we take interest in the army. We are an independent, fancy department, whereof I command the cavalry, and we take no interest in wars or rumours of wars. I have seen men who profess to be going to and from the “front,” — but where is the “front”? We are in the “front” whenever General Halleck has an officer's application for leave to endorse. Stanton is so fond of us, however, that he keeps us on the safe “front” —  the “front” nearest Washington, whereby I am debarred from the rightful command of a brigade of five regiments in Gregg's division, which Gregg offered me, and which he applied for me to take, my own regiment being one of the five. But Stanton is very fond of us, and keeps us where it is safe.¹

. . . I hope you will be kept at home until next January, for between now and then I mean to be married (if President Lincoln and General Lee do not interfere), and I shall be glad to have your countenance, so do not let your wound heal itself too rapidly. What do you hear from Frank? Give him my love, when you write. Tell him I gave him myself as a sample to be avoided, and I now give him Rob Shaw as a pattern to be followed. I am glad Frank remained in that regiment. It is historic. The Second Massachusetts Cavalry and some others are more mythic. . . .

About coloured regiments, I feel thus, — I am very glad at any time to take hold of them, if I can do more than any other available man in any place. I will not offer myself or apply for a place looking to immediate or probable promotion. If one goes into the black business he must go to stay. It will not end by the war. It will open a career, or at any rate give experience which will, inevitably almost, consign a man to ten or twenty years' hard labour in Government employ, it seems to me. Since Shaw's death I have had a personal feeling in the matter to see black troops made a success; a success which would justify the use (or sacrifice) made of them at Wagner.

Do you know the President is almost ready to exchange your brother Jim, and leave Cabot (it might have been Frank just as well) in prison at Charleston, after all the promises that have been made by the officers of the Administration? This is disgraceful beyond endurance almost.²

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¹ The Government and Major-General Heintzelman, commanding the Department of Washington, fully appreciated the advantage of having so efficient a cavalry commander and well disciplined a force in the neighbourhood. But they had to resist other competitors, for, besides the desires of General Gregg to have Lowell and his regiment in the Army of the Potomac, another general repeatedly importuned the War Department for them. Major-General N. P. Banks (Department of the Gulf), in his report to General Halleck, March 27, 1863, speaking of his need of cavalry, says: —

“I feel especially the loss of the Second Massachusetts Cavalry, raised expressly for my expedition; for, besides its strength, I relied upon Colonel Lowell to infuse the necessary vigour into the whole cavalry service.”

Again, April 18, 1863, General Banks sends the following message to Major-General Halleck: —

“I beg leave, at the risk of being considered importunate, to repeat my earnest request that more cavalry be sent to this department.  . . . If you will send me the Second Massachusetts Cavalry, raised expressly for my command, with their arms and equipments, I will mount them here from the horses captured on this expedition. Its commander, Colonel Lowell, is personally nearly as important to us as his regiment."

As late as September, General Banks was still pleading for the cavalry. General Halleck answered: “In regard to Colonel Lowell's regiment, I need simply to mention the fact that it is the only one we have for scouts and pickets in front of Washington.”

² The officers here spoken of are Captain James J. Higginson, of the First Massachusetts Cavalry (who was captured in the fight at Aldie, where his brother, the Major, was wounded), and Captain Francis Lee Higginson, his younger brother, and Captain Cabot J. Russel, both of the Fifty-Fourth. As has been said, Captain Russel's family were not sure of his death. When the news of the raising of coloured troops was heard in the South, it had been threatened that captured privates should be sold to slavery and the officers treated as felons. This threat was not carried out, but difficulties arose about exchanges; and in this matter, and that of their payment, the course of the Administration and of Congress was for a long time timid and discreditable.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 302-4, 443-4

John M. Forbes to N. M. Beckwith, January 24, 1862

Boston, January 24, 1862.

. . . Barren proclamations to those beyond our reach will just now hurt Kentucky and the Northern harmony more than it will help the cause; treating slaves well that we do reach is the best preparation, and best proclamation to others. I saw in New York one of the blacks (yellow), [who was] carried off and sold from the Star of the West when captured. He said the slaves knew in the most distant plantations how we used those who came to us, and that much stress was laid upon the return by our soldiers of a few fugitives! He says intelligence runs fast through the plantations, and he thinks a proclamation of freedom, following up well-attested good faith to those who had come in, would have great effect. In the same “Post” you will find an editorial upon the sinews of war: containing much good financial doctrine.

We were just going over the dam into an irredeemable currency about a week ago, when a few of us made a rally for the doctrines of that editorial! and we saved it for the time, brought Chase over half way, where he would by the logic of events have been soon forced to come all right, but the horde of debtors, and gamblers, and fools, with the “Herald” at their head, are at it again, and the result is still doubtful. With such leaders, what but a sturdy Anglo-Saxon people, or a miracle-dealing God, can save us from destruction! If we survive the military and diplomatic and financial blunders, it will be because we are the strongest people and have the strongest government on the face of the earth! I was in New York last week seeing Will off to the war, — to Beaufort with his regiment, the First Massachusetts Cavalry; a hard trial for his mother — but we must do our share, and if he goes to the Spirit Land, we may not be long behind. . . .

SOURCE: Sarah Forbes Hughes, Letters and Recollections of John Murray Forbes, Volume 1, p. 287-8

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw, June 24, 1863

June 24, Near Rockville, 9 P. M.

I wish I had received your letter of Monday three hours earlier. I would certainly have called on Stanton and made a strong case against land piracy. I went into town on business and had just time to call on Henry Higginson (who is going home to-morrow) when I learned that orders had been sent me to move camp to Poolesville, and picket the Potomac from the mouth of the Monocacy to Great Falls. I got your letter about an hour before starting. Poor Rob, — it is very trying indeed. I think Governor Andrew might easily be persuaded to remonstrate against such usage of Massachusetts troops. I have not quite decided whether or no, as an officer of the army much interested in black troops, I might not properly write to Stanton on the strength of what I have seen in the paper about Darien.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 264

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Major Caspar Crowninshield,* June 20, 1863

Camp Brightwood, June 20, '63.

We are lying here anxiously expecting orders, — two squadrons are just back from over the river collecting stragglers from the Army of the Potomac. The First Massachusetts Cavalry had a severe fight at Aldie on Wednesday afternoon. Captain Sargent and Lieutenant Davis (not Henry) reported killed, — Major Higginson wounded in four places, not seriously, — Lieutenant Fillibrown wounded, — Jim Higginson captured, — loss killed, wounded, and missing, 160 out of 320, according to Major Higginson, who is at Alexandria, — but this is evidently a mistake.¹ The loss in prisoners is great, because Adams's squadron was dismounted and was supposed to be supported by the Fourth New York, which neglected to support at the proper moment and left our fellows unprotected.

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* Major Caspar Crowninsbield of Boston, noted in college for his great strength and rowing prowess in victories of Harvard over Yale, had done good service in the Twentieth Massachusetts Infantry. Thence he was commissioned Major of the Second Massachusetts Cavalry, took the field in command of the First Battalion, and continued in service throughout the war. After Colonel Russell's promotion to the Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry he became lieutenant-colonel, and, as such, commanded the regiment from the moment that Colonel Lowell commanded a brigade. After the colonel's death, he, for a time, commanded the Reserve Brigade.

¹ Major Higginson's wounds from shot and sabre proved so severe as to necessitate his resignation, after a long period of suffering. His brother was, as here reported, taken prisoner on the same field. Captain Lucius Manlius Sargent, left for dead on the field, recovered, and did active service until December, 1864, when he was killed in action at Bellfield, Virginia. Captain Adams, the son of our minister to England, has since become well known as a good citizen and author.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 262, 427

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Anna Jackson Lowell, June 17, 1863

Camp Brightwood, June 17, '63.

I have been expecting orders for some days past — but the raid into Pennsylvania seems to be blowing over — and they haven't come. I hope Hooker will seek to get a battle out of Lee at once —  he will never have a better chance, with the six months' troops called for; he will be able to reap the fruits of a victory if he gains one, and a defeat would not be very disastrous.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 258

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw, June 10, 1863

Camp Brightwood, June 10, 1863.

The way in which men are put into action the first time is so important, at any rate in cavalry, — I am very anxious my fellows should be started right, and not checked up just where they should be spurring.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 256

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw, June 14, 1863

Camp Brightwood, June [14th?], 1863.

I don't believe we are going to have marching orders, after all. For twenty-four hours we have been all ready to move at a moment's notice. I want marching orders very much, but am afraid I shall be kept here. I wish you could see how my Battalion will turn out tomorrow morning; not an extra gew-gaw, nothing for ornament. If they want ornamental troops around Washington, they’ll let me go, — indeed, I have dropped some things which have generally been counted necessaries; two of my companies go without any blankets but those under their saddles. That is pretty well for recruits.

If we use it rightfully, I think the Pennsylvania movement an excellent thing for the cause, — but that is if. What effect will it have on the opposition? For the moment, of course, all differences will be dropped, — but afterwards will not the Administration be the weaker for it, unless the if be avoided? You would not suppose I had thought much about it, from the loose and simple way in which I write, but I have: only, so much depends now on the skill of Hooker and Halleck (Eheu!) and on the nerve of Lincoln and Stanton, — depends, that is, on individuals, — that it is impossible to foresee events even for a day.¹

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¹ The invasion of the North was beginning, by way of the Shenandoah Valley, and Hooker, intent on guarding Washington, had not yet started in pursuit. Mosby, with his guerrilla band, had crossed the Potomac into Maryland on the night of the 10th and 11th, and Lowell was telegraphed: “Go where you please in pursuit of Mosby!” and promptly set out; but unfortunately before the message came Mosby had made his raid, re-crossed to Virginia and scattered his band.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 257-8, 424

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw, June 7, 1863

Camp Brightwood, June 7, 1863.

Don't suppose I approve of McClellan's present position; nor do I wish to see the Administration forced to take him back; but I should feel very thankful if he were now at the head of affairs and were out of the hands of the men who are now duping him. I am afraid it may yet be necessary to call on McClellan, when the Government cannot do it with much dignity; I hope not, however. I consider him more patriotic and more respectable than the men who are now managing the Army of the Potomac. Will you pardon this? you know I must tell you what I think, and you know I am very fond of McClellan: that Copperhead meeting did expose him to the worst imputations, —  but I know him to be a good and true patriot.¹

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¹ Colonel Lowell's opinion of McClellan as man, citizen, and soldier, should carry some weight, as coming from a man of high standards and “in friendship stern,” who had been closely associated with McClellan in times of his severest trial, by the enemy before him and the Administration behind him. As to politics, and his becoming a candidate in opposition to Lincoln, evidently Lowell felt that McClellan had made a great mistake, but, like many another honest soldier in the field before and since, was innocently the victim of a party whose designs he did not fathom. It should be remembered too, that, rightly or wrongly, McClellan evidently felt that interference by a civilian Administration had thwarted and clogged his movements and plans in carrying on the war, which, of course, was, at the time, the one great issue for the country. Lowell also often felt that the President's course with regard to matters relating to army discipline and the conduct of the war was halting or unwise, yet, as matters stood, he considered it all-important that he be reelected and McClellan defeated. Mrs. Lowell wrote of her husband, that he “cared very much for General McClellan, and had a great respect for him as a man and a patriot. He always defended him against attacks. I remember his saying that the trouble with him as a general was, that he had a very high ideal of excellence for his army and felt painfully every deficiency, never realizing that the enemy was in much worse plight than he himself, but fancying them to be in perfect condition in every particular, and so was anxious not to come to close quarters until he could bring his army to a state of perfection too.”

Major Henry L. Higginson has done me the kindness to send me this little wayside memory, as it were, of the Antietam campaign, much to the purpose.

November 5, 1906.

“In September, 1862, our regiment (First Massachusetts Cavalry) had just been brought from the South. The senior officers were away, and I was in command of such part of it as was together — one battalion having been left at the South. As we went through Washington, coming from Alexandria, I went into Headquarters to see if I could find Charles Lowell; and he was there, and in very good spirits, because General McClellan had just been put into command again; for the army had had a terrible lot of beating under Pope, was much disorganized by these reverses, and was just going through Maryland in such order as the soldiers came in.

“I didn't see Charles again until one day during the same week, when we stopped for our nooning. The country was covered with soldiers in every direction, — in the roads, and fields, and everywhere else, — and they were all marching northerly. Noticing a lot of good tents near by, I asked what they were, and was told it was Headquarters; so I went up and found Charles there. He and I lay on the grass during an idle half hour, and he told me about General McClellan. He had been on his staff some time, after having served with his regiment on the Peninsula, and he had pretty distinct ideas about the man on whom so much depended. He said to me, ‘He is a great strategist, and the men have much faith in him. He makes his plans admirably, makes all his preparations so as to be ready for any emergency, just as the Duke of Wellington did, and unlike the Duke of Wellington, when he comes to strike, he doesn't strike in a determined fashion; that is, he prepares very well and then doesn't do the best thing — strike hard.’ Now, of course, that conversation was confidential and couldn't have been repeated at the time, nor was it; but look at the two battles! In a day or two we fought at South Mountain, and I lay on the extreme outpost the night before the fight. I saw the troops come by, — these demoralized troops, full of the devil, laughing and talking, — and saw them go up South Mountain on all sides and pitch the enemy out quickly and without hesitation. It was a beautiful field to see and the fight was beautifully done, but the Johnnies never had a chance. We were in greater force, and the attack was made at various points. It was a very gallant action. That was Sunday morning, and the fight continued through the day.

“If General McClellan had pushed right on with the army on all sides, both there and at Crampton's Gap, and everywhere else, he would have beaten the Southern army more readily at the next fight. We could have gone on that night, for we did no fighting at all, and there was cavalry enough and plenty of infantry that also could have gone on. Monday we crossed the mountain and rode along until we came to Sharpsburg and the Antietam Creek. There lay Lee's men in excellent position, and there they remained until we fought them. The army was up that night, and McClellan came by somewhere about six o'clock, and was cheered all along the line as he rode to the front. It was Tuesday afternoon before we did anything, and Wednesday came the great fight. If you will read McClellan's diary, you will see that he fought at one point, then fought at another, and then at another. He told Burnside to move at either eight or half-past eight. Charley took the order to Burnside. Burnside moved at twelve. If McClellan had been a little ugly, he would have dropped Burnside right out, at nine o'clock, and somebody would have made the attack at once that was made at twelve. If this had been done, striking hard on the left, it would have cut off Lee from Shepherd's Ford, and he would have had no other retreat. If McClellan had struck on the left and on the right at the same time, it would have been very confusing to General Lee, and it would have cut off the reenforcements that came in that day.

“I am not accurate, of course, in my statements about details, but the general story is this: that, having made excellent preparations, and having an army that was fighting well, he didn't strike as hard as he could — and it was just what Charley had said. His strategy was excellent, but his movements were slow, and when the decisive moment came, he hesitated. You should remember, by the way, that General McClellan had Lee's order to his subordinates in his own hands on Saturday night. You may remember that General D. H. Hill lost his orders; one of our men found them and took them to General McClellan, and he read them Saturday night, which of course was an immense advantage to us.

“Charles's opinion about McClellan was of course confidential, then. Now it is a matter of history; but there was the judgment of a very keen, clear-sighted man, who had great powers of analysis, and who had a very high opinion of his commanding officer, and who was entirely loyal to him.”

Lowell, then, though quite aware of General McClellan's limitations, respected his character, and, withal, his important services to the country in creating and training an efficient army, —  services which are too often ignored. It is well to recall the facts: an engineer officer — with short but creditable experience in the war with Mexico, then employed as teacher at West Point and as explorer on the Plains and in the Mountains, who had had indeed an opportunity at British headquarters in the Crimea to watch an ill-conducted war, and then returned to command of a cavalry squadron in peace at home, then resigned and became for four years a railroad manager — found himself, at the age of thirty-six, commander of a vast but unskilled and untrained army, in a fierce and determined struggle for the existence of a nation. General F. A. Palfrey, a military critic who admits McClellan's failure as a great commander, yet says, “ Under him ‘the uprising of a great people’ became a powerful military engine. His forces were never worsted, or decisively beaten by the enemy. They never came in contact with the enemy without inflicting a heavy loss upon him. He never knocked his head against a wall, as Burnside did at Fredericksburg; never drew back his hand when victory was within his grasp, as Hooker did at Chancellorsville; he never spilt blood vainly by a parallel attack upon gallantly defended works, as Grant did at Cold Harbour. He took too good care of his army. His general management of the move from the lines before Richmond to the James was wise and successful, though, if he had been a fighter instead of a planner, . . . the movement might have been, as it ought to have been, attended with vastly greater proportionate loss to the Confederates, and perhaps have been concluded by a crushing defeat at Malvern Hill.”

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 255, 419-24

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Anna Jackson Lowell, June 5, 1863

Camp Brightwood, June 5, 1863.

I do not see what you and Mr. Child find to be so hopeful about, — I see no evidence of yielding on their part, and no evidence of greater vigour on ours; we are again on the defensive as we were last August, — are again idle for want of troops, — and Lee will again be in Maryland without a doubt. I do not think this at all a hopeless state of things, but I see no prospect of any immediate end, which, I suppose, is what you are looking for.¹ The people are of a more resolute temper than at this time last year, but, on the other hand, party lines are drawing more distinctly, and I should not be surprised to see exhibitions of disloyalty in some of our Northern cities; these will be put down, and in the end the Government will be the stronger for them, but meanwhile may not military operation be embarrassed and perhaps postponed? Do you remember, Mother, how soon another Presidential canvass is coming round? I seriously fear that that, too, will be allowed to delay very vigorous operations, — and all this time the South is growing stronger. However, we may get Vicksburg, and may cripple Lee, if he comes into Maryland. I think we are altogether too apt to forget the general aspect of affairs and regard single events as of entire importance: this makes any predictions useless, — it would operate for us in case of success as it has hitherto operated against us: but so far from feeling hopeful, I am sometimes inclined to believe that we are going to see a change: that whereas we have had few victories, but have been on the whole successful, we are now going to gain victories and find them comparatively useless.

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¹ Professor Francis J. Child, the accomplished and genial scholar, Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory, later of English, at Harvard College, and remembered by his admirable editing of English and Scottish Ballads, was an ardent and useful patriot. His spirited collection, War Songs for Freemen, set to stirring tunes, were sung in the college yard by youths, many of whom soon left their studies for the front.

This letter shows surprising foresight in Lowell. Lee's invasion began immediately afterward, was checked at Gettysburg, and Vicksburg fell before Grant; but within a week draft riots in Boston and New York, dangerous and bloody, broke out and were sternly suppressed. In spite of the defeats, the Rebel power was not broken. The Presidential election was a great victory, and England did not dare to aid the Confederates; yet the war dragged slowly until Grant's advance on Richmond began, in May. In spite of his siege of Richmond, Washington was again endangered in July, 1864, and Maryland and Pennsylvania threatened by Early even later.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 253-5

Thomas Lawrence Motley

Thomas Lawrence Motley, son of Thomas and Maria B. (Davis) Motley, was born in Boston, Mass., 23 Sept., 1835. Was two years on a voyage to China. At the breaking out of the war, went to Fort Independence, as a member of the New-England Guards. First lieutenant in the Second, 28 May, 1861. Dec 25, 1861, he was commissioned captain in the First Massachusetts Cavalry; was promoted to be major, 5 March, 1862. He was severely wounded in right leg and the right arm, at Ashland, Va., 11 May, 1864, in Sheridan's movement; he has never entirely recovered the use of his arm. Was appointed assistant adjutant-general, with the rank of major; and mustered out, 1 Sept., 1866.

SOURCE: Alonzo Hall Quint, Record of Second Massachusetts Infantry: 1861-1865, p. 491

John M. Forbes to Governor John A. Andrew, November 4, 1861

Boston, November 4, 1861.

My Dear Sir, — I beg leave to second my son's application for a commission in the First Cavalry Regiment, and to say that nothing would induce me to seek so perilous an honor for him but a conviction that he is morally and physically well adapted to do good service to the good cause. Moreover, I know that he is actuated by the highest motives in seeking service: such motives as alone can reconcile parents to offering their sons!

I do not seek for him any specified position, but only ask that he should have a chance, before he is fixed in the lowest grade, to show whether he is fit for anything higher; in short, that he shall be judged by what he can do, rather than by his age, which is only just past twenty-one.

Very truly yours,

John M. Forbes.

SOURCE: Sarah Forbes Hughes, Letters and Recollections of John Murray Forbes, Volume 1, p. 258

Lieutenant-Colonel Theodore Lyman to Elizabeth Russell Lyman, August 6, 1864

August 6, 1864

I took a limited ride along our flank defences, where I discovered a patriotic sentry, sitting with his back to where the enemy might be supposed to come, and reading a novel! He belonged to the 7th Indiana. “What are your instructions?” say I. “Han't got none,” replies the peruser of novels. “Then what are you here for?” “Well, I am a kind of an alarm sentinel,” said this literary militaire. “Call the corporal of the guard,” said I, feeling much disposed to laugh. The sentry looked about a little and then singling out a friend, called out: “Oh, Jim, why, won't you just ask Jeremiah Miles to step this way?” After some delay, Jeremiah appeared. He was in a pleasing state of ignorance. Did not know the sentry's instructions, did not know who the officer of the guard was, did not know much of anything. “Well,” said I, “now suppose you go and find the sergeant of the guard.” This he did with great alacrity. The sergeant, as became his office, knew more than the corporal. He was clear that the sentry should not read a book; also that his conduct in sitting down was eccentric; but, when it came to who was the officer of the guard, his naturally fine mind broke down. He knew the officer if he saw him, but could not remember his name. This he would say, the officer was a lieutenant. “Suppose you should try to find him,” suggested I. Of course that he could do; and soon the “Loo-tenant” appeared. To him I talked like a father; almost like a grandfather, in fact; showed him the man's musket was rusty and that he was no good whatsoever. Loo-tenant had not much to say; indeed, so to speak, nothing; and I left him with a strong impression that you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear. It is not ludicrous, but sad, to see such soldiers in this Army of the Potomac, after three years of experience. The man could not have been better: tall, strong, respectful, and docile; but no one had ever taught him. It was a clear case of waste of fine material, left in all its crudity instead of being worked up. And this is the grand characteristic of this war — waste. We waste arms, clothing, ammunition, and subsistence; but, above all, men. We don't make them go far enough, because we have no military or social caste to make officers from. Regiments that have been officered by gentlemen of education have invariably done well, like the 2d, 20th, and 24th Massachusetts, and the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry. Even the 44th and the 45th, nine-monthers, behaved with credit; though there was this drawback in them, that the privates were too familiar with the officers, having known them before. However, perfection does not exist anywhere, and we should be thankful for the manifold virtues our soldiers do pre-eminently possess. I see much to make me more contented in reading Napier, before referred to. After the taking of Badajos, the English allowed their own wounded to lie two days in the breach, without an attempt to carry them off. This is the nation that now gives us very good lectures on humanity. As to old Wellington, I suspect he was about as savage an old brute as would be easy to find.

SOURCE: George R. Agassiz, Editor, Meade’s Headquarters, 1863-1865: Letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness to Appomattox, p. 206-7

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, May 23, 1863

Camp E. Of Capitol, May 23, 1863.

E. wrote me an account of your flag presentation and sent the speeches: I suppose the responsibility of your own speech to follow prevented you from appreciating the Governor's speech as he was delivering it — but, as read, it seems full of feeling and sense, lofty sense and common sense — he is a trump.

Your regiment has proved such an entire success — has given such good promise of taking a very high place among our Massachusetts regiments — that it is easy to forget the circumstances under which you took hold of it: I feel like telling you now, old fellow (as an officer and outsider, and not as your friend and brother), how very manly I thought it of you then to undertake the experiment.

When the First Massachusetts Cavalry were at Hilton Head, they had far less illness (70 or 80 per cent less) than the regiments on the right and left of them. Dr. De Wolf attributes this in great measure to the liberal use of quinine — every morning from May 1st to August 30th every man who chose to come for it at sick-call got a couple of grains of quinine in a drink (quantum sufficit) of whiskey. I believe Mr. Forbes sent down at different times 60 pounds of quinine. I mention this for Dr. Stone's¹ benefit — though probably you and he have already heard it. I do not fancy the blacks will suffer much, but I advise you officers to take whiskey and quinine freely if you are in a malarial region — it is not to be taken beforehand to prepare the system against a time when you may be in an unhealthy camp; but when you go into a malarial camp, commence taking it at once as a specific and direct antidote to the malaria which you are taking.

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¹ Dr. Lincoln Ripley Stone, of Newton, Massachusetts, was the surgeon of the Fifty-Fourth.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 242-3, 418

Major General George B. McClellan to Major General Henry W. Halleck, October 25, 1862

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,

October 25, 1862. (Received 12 m.)

Maj. Gen. H. W. HALLECK,

General-in- Chief:

The following is an extract from the report of Col. Robert Williams, First Massachusetts Cavalry, late of Regular United States Dragoons, now commanding a detachment of cavalry on duty with General Newton's division, at Cherry Run:

I have in camp 267 horses, belonging to officers and men; of these, 128 are positively and absolutely unable to leave the camp, from the following causes, viz, sore-tongue, grease, and consequent lameness, and sore backs. For example, the Fifth U.S. Cavalry has now in camp 70 horses; of these, 53 are worthless from the above causes. Out of 139 horses, the remainder, I do not believe 50 can trot 80 miles. The other portion of my command, now absent on picket duty, has horses which are about in the same condition, as no selection, unless absolutely necessary, has been made. The number of sore-back horses is exceedingly small. The diseases are principally grease and sore-tongue. The horses, which are still sound, are absolutely broken down from fatigue, and want of flesh. I will also remark that the men in my command are much in want of clothing.

GEO. B. McCLELLAN,

Major-General

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 19, Part 2 (Serial No. 28), p. 484-5