Showing posts with label 8th NY INF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 8th NY INF. Show all posts

Saturday, September 16, 2017

Major-General Benjamin F. Butler to Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott, May 27, 1861

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA,
May 27, 1861.

SIR: The expedition (of which I gave you information in my former dispatch) to Newport News got off in fine style this morning about 7 o'clock. I have added to the expedition the Eighth New York Regiment, 780 strong, which came here on board the Empire City on Sunday afternoon, and they proceeded without debarking. I also added two 6-pounder and two 12-pounder guns, with a detachment of twenty-five men from Colonel Dimick's command, who are intended to act as drill-masters to the volunteers in the exercise of the guns. My purpose is to intrench and hold that point, and ultimately to mount a few heavy guns, which will command that channel of approach to James River.

Since I wrote my last dispatch the question in regard to slave property is becoming one of very serious magnitude. The inhabitants of Virginia are using their negroes in the batteries, and are preparing to send their women and children South. The escapes from them are very numerous, and a squad has come in this morning to my pickets, bringing with them their women and children. Of course these cannot be dealt with upon the theory on which I designed to treat the services of able-bodied men and women who might come within my lines, and of which I gave you a detailed account in my last dispatch. I am in the utmost doubt what to do with this species of property. Up to this time I have had come within my lines men and women with their children — entire families — each family belonging to the same owner. I have therefore determined to employ, as I can do very profitably, the able-bodied persons in the party, issuing proper food for the support of all, and charging against their services the expense of care and sustenance of the non-laborers, keeping a strict and accurate account as well of the services as of the expenditures, having the worth of the services and the cost of the expenditures determined by a board of survey, hereafter to be detailed. I know of no other manner in which to dispose of this subject and the questions connected therewith. As a matter of property to the insurgents it will be of very great moment, the number I now have amounting, as I am informed, to what in good times would be of the value of $60,000. Twelve of these negroes, I am informed, have escaped from the erection of batteries on Sewell's Point, which this morning fired upon my expedition as it passed by out of range. As a means of offense, therefore, in the enemy's hands, these negroes, when able-bodied, are of the last importance. Without them the batteries could not have been erected, at least for many weeks. As a military question, it would seem to be a measure of necessity to deprive their masters of their services. How can this be done? As a political question and a question of humanity, can I receive the services of the father and mother and not take the children? Of the humanitarian aspect I have no doubt. Of the political one I have no right to judge. I therefore submit all this to your better judgment; and as these questions have a political aspect, I have ventured — and I trust I am not wrong in so doing — to duplicate the parts of my dispatches relating to this subject, and forward them to the Secretary of War.

It was understood when I left Washington that the three Massachusetts regiments, two of which are at the Relay House, should be forwarded to me here, and also Cook's light battery, of which I have the utmost need, if I am expected even to occupy an extended camp with safety. May I ask the attention of the Commanding General to this subject, and inquire if the exigencies of the service will permit these troops to be sent to me immediately? I have to report the arrival of no more troops except the New York Eighth since my last dispatch. The steamship Wabash, which was expected here to take the place of the Minnesota, has not yet reported herself. The Harriet Lane has reported herself here from Charleston, and is employed in convoying the Newport News expedition. I find myself extremely short of ammunition, having but a total in magazine of 85,000 rounds, (if which 5,000 rounds only are for the smooth-bore musket, and the major part of my command are provided with that arm. May I desire the attention of the Lieutenant-General to this state of facts, and ask that a large amount of ammunition for that arm — I would suggest “buck and ball” — be ordered forward from the Ordnance Department? The assistant adjutant-general has made a requisition for this purpose. I will endeavor to keep the Lieutenant-General informed daily of any occurrences of interest, provided I am not interfered with by the irregularity of the mails and modes of conveyance.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
BENJ. F. BUTLER,
Major-General, Commanding.
 Lieutenant-General SCOTT.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 2 (Serial No. 2), p. 52-4

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Farewell Address of Major-General John A. Dix to the Middle Department, June 1, 1862

Head quarters, Middle Department, Baltimore, Md., June 1,1862.
General Orders, No. 14:

The Major-general commanding, having received orders to repair to Fort Monroe and assume the command at that point, and having but two hours to prepare for his departure, takes leave of the troops under his command in the only mode left to him — through the medium of a General Order.

Of the corps composing his command when he first assumed it, more than ten months ago, two regiments — the Third New York Volunteers, under Colonel Alford; the Fourth New York Volunteers, under Colonel Taylor; and the regular garrison of Fort McHenry, under Colonel Morris — are all that remain. The admirable discipline of these deserves the highest commendation; and he returns to all his sincere thanks for their promptitude and fidelity in the performance of their duties.

It is a source of great regret to him that he is compelled to leave without being able to review the regiments of New York Militia — the Seventh, Eighth, Thirteenth, Twenty-second, Thirty-seventh, and Forty-seventh — which, under a second appeal from the Chief Magistrate of the Union, have laid aside their various occupations on the briefest notice, at great personal sacrifice, and, hurrying to the field, are now occupying positions in and around Baltimore. In their patriotism and their devotion to the Government of their country the Union feeling of the city will meet with a cordial sympathy. It is a great alleviation of the regret with which the Major-general commanding parts with them, that he is soon to be succeeded by a distinguished general officer of the regular army from their own State. In the interim the command of the Department devolves on Brigadier-general Montgomery, United States Volunteers.

The Major-general commanding cannot forbear, in taking leave of the citizens of Baltimore, among whom his duties have been discharged, to express the grateful sense he will ever retain of the aid and encouragement he has received from those of them who have been true, under all the vicissitudes of a wicked and unnatural contest, to the cause of the Union. The ladies of the Union Relief Association are entitled to a special acknowledgment of his obligations to them. It is believed that the records of philanthropic devotion do not contain a brighter example of self-sacrificing service than that which is to be found in their own quiet and unobtrusive labors. The military hospitals have, from the commencement of the war, borne unceasing testimony to their untiring zeal and sympathy. The wounded prisoners of the insurgent army have, like our own, been solaced in their dying hours by the ministrations of these devoted ladies: nobly suggesting to the misguided masses who are in arms against the Government that suffering humanity, under whatever circumstances it may present itself, has the same claim on our common nature for sympathy and ministering care. And it is to be hoped that this lesson of magnanimity may not be without its proper influence on those who, under the influence of bad passions, seem to have lost sight of their moral responsibility for indifference and cruelty.

It is a source of great gratification to the Major-general commanding that in the eight months during which the municipal police was under his control no act of disorder disturbed the tranquillity of the city, and that the police returns, compared with those of a corresponding period of the previous year, exhibit a very great reduction, in some months as high as fifty per cent., in the aggregate of misdemeanors and crimes. The police having on the 20th of March last been surrendered to the city authorities, they have since then been responsible for the preservation of the public order. The zeal and promptitude of the Police Commissioners and Marshal of Police on the occurrence of a recent disturbance, provoked by a brutal expression of disloyal feeling, gives earnest of their determination to arrest at the outset all breaches of the public peace, which, by whatever provocation they may seem to be palliated, are sure to degenerate, if unchecked, into discreditable and fatal excesses.

The Major-general commanding, with this imperfect acknowledgment of his obligations to the loyal citizens of Baltimore and their patriotic defenders, tenders to them all, with his best wishes, a friendly and cordial farewell.

By order of Major-general Dix.
Danl. T. Van Buren, Colonel and Aide-de-camp.

SOURCE: Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 47-8

Monday, June 10, 2013

Minute Men Moving

The 11th (700 Germans,) the 22d, (600 men,) and the 71st, (800 strong,) together with a large squad of the 7th – all New York city regiments – left for Washington Wednesday evening.  The 8th and the gallant 69th left Thursday afternoon.  The 12th, 87th and 56th Brooklyn regiments left during Friday and Saturday.  Ten regiments in four days is doing well enough, “considering.”

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, June 7, 1862, p. 2

Friday, July 9, 2010

Enlargement of the Illinois Canal

WASHINGTON, April 28. – Mr. Arnold, from the Committee on Roads and Canals, reported in favor of the bill for the enlargement of the Illinois and Michigan canal. The report states that the work has been more than half completed by the State of Illinois. She having expended thereon over six millions. The canal has been in operation since 1848, and now yields an annual revenue of about 2,000,000 dollars. This will be greatly increased by the enlargement of the Illinois river as proposed. The State of Illinois offers this canal and its revenue to the United States on condition that the Congress will provide the means of enlarging it, so as to pass gunboats from the Lakes to the Mississippi. – This will place us on equality with Great Britain, that power being able by her canals to pass by war vessels from the Ocean to the lakes.

The report, in view of the fact, that by the treaty of the United States is prohibited from building or maintaining armed vessels on the Lakes, urges the necessity and importance of the immediate enlargement of this canal by which the gunboat fleet in the Mississippi could be passed through to the lakes. Had this medium of communication been open at the beginning of the rebellion, the 1200 vessels and 15,000 sailors now shut up on the lakes would have been at the disposal of the Government. The saving to the Treasury during the past year would have been vastly more than the cost of the complete work.

The committee believe its income will more than pay the interest on its cost, and ultimately pay the entire investment.

The Senate Executive Session to-day, confirmed a large number of military nominations including the following named to be Brigadier Generals of Volunteers:

Col. Max Weber, 8th New York, Thomas P. Crittenden, of Illinois, Col. Wm. H. Benton, Jeremiah C. Sullivan, James C. Neator, and P. A. Hackleman, of Indiana.

The bill reported by Mr. Colfax, from the P. O. Committee, provides that all persons carrying the U. S. mails, shall enter into a contract with the Post Office Department, and if they disagree as to the price, it shall be referred to the Committee on Claims.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday May 3, 1862, p. 4