Diary of Gideon Welles: Wednesday, July 12, 1865

The Pawnee left to-day for Portsmouth. Edgar went in her, though with some reluctance.

Newton Case, of Hartford, wishes me to get permission of the Secretary of War for him to visit and correspond with Alexander H. Stephens, now in Fort Warren, who is preparing a work which Case and others are to publish. Stanton declines extending any facilities. Says Stephens can write and they can publish, but he won't help them. I thought the refusal injudicious. The work will be forthcoming. Why be discourteous and harsh to the prisoner? I have not a high regard for Stephens, who has not erred in ignorance, but he has ability and I would let him tell his story.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 332

Diary of Gideon Welles: Saturday, May 20, 1865

Stanton informed me this P.M. that Halleck had gone from Richmond to Fortress Monroe and he wished certain persons, whom he named, should be sent in a naval vessel to Fort Warren, certain others to Fort Delaware, others to Fort McHenry. He still urged secrecy, but in less than an hour our regular dispatches by mail stated the facts. Others also had them.

General Sherman is here. I have not yet met him, but I understand he is a little irate towards Stanton and very mad with Halleck. This is not surprising, and yet some allowance is to be made for them. Sherman's motives cannot be questioned, although his acts may be. Stanton was unduly harsh and severe, and his bulletin to General Dix and specifications were Stantonian. Whether the President authorized, or sanctioned, that publication I never knew, but I and most of the members of the Cabinet were not consulted in regard to the publication, which was not in all respects correct. General Grant, who as unequivocally disapproved of Sherman's armistice as any member of the Administration, was nevertheless tender of General Sherman, and did not give in to the severe remarks of Stanton at the time.¹

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¹ At a later period President Johnson assured me that Stanton's publication was wholly unauthorized by him, that he knew nothing of it until he saw it in the papers. We were all imposed upon by Stanton, who had a purpose. He and the Radicals were opposed to the mild policy of President Lincoln, on which Sherman had acted, and which Stanton opposed and was determined to defeat. — G. W.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 309-10

Diary of Gideon Welles: Tuesday, October 4, 1864

But little at the Cabinet of special importance. Governor Dennison, the new Postmaster-General, for the first time took his seat.

Late in the afternoon the President called upon me to inquire respecting arrangements for a proposed exchange of naval prisoners which was making some disturbance at the War Department and with General Butler. For some fifteen months our naval officers and men who had been captured remained in Rebel prisons. Their number was not large, but the omission to exchange, whether from neglect or design, was justly causing dissatisfaction. For more than a year I had, at various times, made inquiry of the Secretary of War and at the War Department, generally oral, but sometimes by letter, and received evasive answers, —  of difficulties on account of remoteness, of unusual prisoners, of refusal by the Rebels to exchange negroes, — but with assurances that matters would be soon adjusted. Some of our men we had learned were in irons and in close confinement, with slight prospect of relief. I gave the President briefly the facts, – that there had been no exchange of naval prisoners for fourteen or fifteen months, that in the exchanges going on no naval prisoners were embraced, that appeals earnest and touching had been made to me by our prisoners and by theirs, but I had been able to afford no relief.

An informal correspondence after months of unavailing effort through the War Department channel had sprung up between Mr. Fox and Webb, who commanded the Atlanta, and was a prisoner in Fort Warren, they having been some years ago shipmates. Fox had written Webb in reply to an application for release that we were willing to exchange but the Rebel authorities would not. This had led the Rebel prisoners in Fort Warren to write most earnestly to Richmond. A few weeks since Lieutenant-Commander Williams had been released at Charleston, and sent to our fleet under flag of truce with thirty days' leave to effect an exchange, and brought me a letter from Mallory, "Secretary Confederate Navy,” stating he had not received letters which had been sent, but accepting a proposition to exchange naval officers, and proposing himself to exchange all naval prisoners. This had been assented to by us, and we now sent orders for the Circassian to proceed with a hundred or two prisoners to Port Royal and bring home our men. But after instructions had been sent to Boston for them to go by the Circassian, we had received by telegram from Ould¹ word that the yellow fever prevailed at Charleston, with a suggestion that the proper exchange could take place on the James River. When this suggestion was made, I objected to it from an impression that it would come within the army cartel and cause difficulty, but after discussing the subject with Mr. Fox, who dwelt on the infection, getting yellow fever in the squadron and at Port Royal, and some conversation with General Hitchcock, I reluctantly yielded assent. Word had been sent to our senior officer, Melancthon Smith, on the James, who had communicated with Butler, and hence the difficulty.

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¹ Acting for the Confederate government.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 168-9

Brigadier-General Thomas Benton Smith.

General Thomas Benton Smith, who was the youngest general in the Confederate army and enjoys the further distinction of being the only one now living, has reached the venerable age of eighty-five years. His birth occurred in Rutherford county, Tennessee, on the 24th of February, 1838, his parents being James M. and Martha (Page) Smith, the former a native of Dinwiddie county, Virginia. He comes of English ancestry in the paternal line and of Welsh descent on the maternal side, and his mother's people lived in North and South Carolina before coming to Tennessee. General Smith still has in his possession a silver piece that his maternal ancestors brought from Wales and which was given to him by his mother. His maternal grandparents, John and Martha Page, lived ten miles from Franklin and five miles from Triune. James M. Smith, the father of General Smith, was a carpenter of Mechanicsville, Rutherford county, this state, who made and sold gins, while his wife made cloth to provide wearing apparel for her children and the ten negro slaves owned by the family. Their home was a log house of two rooms and a side porch. James M. Smith was a soldier of the War of 1812, participating in the battle of New Orleans under Andrew Jackson. When the Civil war was inaugurated he and his wife owned one hundred and five acres of land and other property to the value of about ten thousand dollars.

In the acquirement of an education Thomas Benton Smith walked two miles to attend common school and later became a student in a military academy at Nashville, Tennessee, from which he was graduated. Andrew Johnson gave him a lieutenant's commission and he then went to West Point, New York, attending school for sixteen years altogether. The opening of the Civil war found him busily engaged in the cultivation of a farm of one hundred and five acres which he owned in the vicinity of Triune and he left the plow handles to enlist in the Zollicoffer Guards of the Twentieth Tennessee Regiment, being sworn in at Triune on the 17th of May, 1861. Both he and his brother, John M. Smith, joined the Confederate forces, leaving their mother and the negroes at home. Thomas B. Smith was sent with his company to Camp Zollicoffer and in January, 1862, took part in the battle of Fishing Creek, while subsequently he fought at Shiloh, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Baton Rouge, Franklin and Nashville. His horse was shot from under him at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and again at the battle of Atlanta. After he had surrendered he was struck on the head with a sword by a Yankee colonel named W. S. McMillen, the blow splitting the bone of his head and exposing his brain, and he was placed in the Tennessee state prison, which was being used as a hospital. Following his discharge at Fort Warren, Massachusetts, he was given transportation and came direct to Nashville. Vernon K, Stevenson, the first president of the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad, who was his close personal friend, offered him a position in recognition of the fact that General Smith had made his son, Vernon K. Stevenson, Jr., a member of his staff in 1864. General Smith engaged in railroad work first as a brakeman, then as freight conductor and later won promotion to the position of passenger conductor on the Nashville & Chattanooga, being identified with railroad interests altogether for ten years, during a part of which period he was in the service of the Nashville & Decatur. After leaving the railroad he became a candidate for congress in the counties of Williamson, Wilson and Rutherford and following the election of E. I. Gollady of Lebanon, Tennessee, returned home, where he remained until the death of his mother. He was then sent to the Central State Hospital of Nashville, where he has been a patient for about forty-seven years, or since 1876, when the institution was under Dr. Callender's administration. He has always been accorded the best and kindest treatment and has numerous friends whose regard he prizes. His closest kin are nephews and nieces. He enjoyed the personal friendship of many distinguished men of an earlier day, including Andrew Johnson, General Felix K. Zollicoffer, General John C. Brown, General William B. Bate, General Bragg, who handed him his commission as brigadier general, General W. J. Hardee, General Frank Cheatham, Colonel E. W. Cole, John W. Thomas and W. L. Danley. Lieutenant James L. Cooper of Nashville and Dr. D. B. Cliff, Sr., of Franklin, Tennessee, were members of his staff while he held the rank of brigadier general in 1864. He attends the annual reunion of the Twentieth Tennessee Regiment of Confederate Veterans at Centennial Park, also goes to Mount Olivet once a year to decorate the graves of Confederate soldiers and occasionally takes other trips to Nashville. He declares that he is as happy as anyone could be under the circumstances and he is spending the evening of life in quiet content.

(Since this biographical sketch was written, General Smith has passed to his reward. In honor of his distinguished character and services his body was placed in state in the hall of the house of representatives in the capitol of Tennessee, where the funeral services were held under the auspices of the United Confederate Veterans.)

SOURCE: Tennessee: The Volunteer State, 1769-1923, Volume 2, p. 144-7

Diary of Gideon Welles: Thursday, June 23, 1864

A call in force this A.M. from a large portion of the Massachusetts delegation in behalf of the Smith brothers, now in Fort Warren, wanting them to be bailed, but at the same time admitting a bail bond to be useless or valueless. They proposed, however, the whole Massachusetts delegation should unite in a bond, guaranteeing the appearance of the Smiths for trial. Told them I thought this not a proper proceeding, that it was perhaps doubtful whether bail could properly be taken, that I had written to Mr. Wilson that I wished, if it could be done, that there should be bail, etc., etc. The interview was long; Senator Wilson, Mr. Rice, Mr. Dawes were the principal speakers.

In the afternoon Mr. Rice called at my house with a telegram to the effect that Mr. Wilson would be willing to take bail, but that Assistant Secretary Fox, who has the matter in special charge, had written him not to do so without the consent of Colonel Olcott, etc. I told Mr. Rice, I thought there must be some misapprehension, that I thought Mr. Wilson would act discreetly and properly, that we should probably hear from him by to-morrow morning’s mail. He was earnest, sensitive, and expressed great distrust, or want of confidence in Mr. Fox. I told him, while Mr. Fox was very earnest and persevering, I thought it an error to impute to him personal enmity against the Smiths and others.

Admiral Lee sends me some papers relative to a permit issued by General Butler to one Lane, of the steamer Philadelphia, to trade in Chowan River, North Carolina. It was a little, dirty, speculating intrigue, initiated as early as last March, in a letter from General Butler addressed to the President, proposing to send in ploughs, harrows, and farming utensils to loyal farmers in North Carolina, in exchange for cotton and products of the country, — plausible and taking rascality. The President indorsed that he approved the object. On this General Butler granted a permit. Captain Smith, senior officer in the Sounds, declined to recognize it, but detained the boat and sent the papers to Admiral Lee. The latter failed — called the paper many names, said President’s permit must be respected.

I showed the papers to Seward and Blair, and was disposed to telegraph and detain the vessel. B. was inclined, though doubtingly, to favor my views, S. advised waiting the arrival of the President, but both condemned the proceedings as wholly improper.

Some warm discussion took place, Rice tells me, in the House on the currency and financial questions, showing serious differences in the Ways and Means Committee and between them and the Secretary of the Treasury. It will not surprise me should radical differences be developed. The whole system is one of error, ruinous error to the country.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 55-7

Ellen Ewing Sherman to Brigadier-General William T. Sherman, April 9, 1862

Lancaster O. April 9th 1862

Yesterday, my dearest Cump, I received your letter of the 3rd inst. I feel uneasy about your having the complaint common to that latitude & to Camp life. I hope by this time you are entirely recovered from it. You must not let it go too far but if you find it becoming chronic come home & take care of yourself. I trust Halleck will soon go down and have the work commenced in desperation & finished before the hot weather & the yellow fever come on. McClellan has been playing into their hands - he is sworn to them under pain of assassination - and he has allowed things to work so as to leave our troops to be killed off by yellow fever when Summer comes on. Men high in authority are watching him & he will likely be in Fort Warren in Stone's place before long. Stone was a scape goat for him & he send Stone to prison to prevent his own treason being discovered. May vengeance fall on him! It surely will for God will have justice done us sooner or later.

I am sorry Hammond is so unwell. You had better send him up to take a rest & recruit. I have a bed room fitted up on the first floor of the house & can entertain him comfortably. The house is delightful Large pleasant halls with south windows, two parlours a sitting room, a large dining room & pantry & a few paces off, but under coveredway, a large nice kitchen with fire place. Up stairs rooms over the two parlors a small room at the end of the hall and rooms over the sitting room & dining room. All the windows have nice shutters. The rear buildings are good, the stable is very nice & I intend to keep a cow. The yard is fine & has many fruit trees & grape vines on it. So you may rest assured the children will be comfortable and happy. Rachel has been weaned & is thriving wonderfully. She is the image of Willy in appearance & disposition. She is very fond of me & I hardly know why for I do not pay much attention to her. She is so healthy & strong it does not seem necessary. You would be highly entertained could you hear Elly chatting. She is a great talker & singer. "Our flag is there" is her favorite song at present. She calls herself "Ellen Sherman" & talkes about what she is going to do "after to-morrow". She knows everything is very smart & interesting but she is still cross after Emily & frets when out of her sight long. Willy & Tommy are growing finely & Willy & Minnie are studying well with Kate Willock. Tommy is a real Yankee for calculating. Yesterday he wanted a cent to buy licquorice. I gave him five cents & told him that would get one stick & I wd give him part of it. "Five cents for one stick, said he, twenty sticks for a dollar". Kate is quite proud of him when he does go to school which is only when he feels disposed. Lizzie is very deaf again & as usual, when deaf she is full of mischief.

Mr Willock has just called & given me the first gleanings of the terrible battle Thank our merciful God you are alive but your poor hand gone - Will you come home. Telegraph me what to do. Send Hammond Mr Bowman anyone you wish here & for God's sake come yourself for awhile. In life or death   Yours ever, Ellen

SOURCE: William T. Sherman Family Papers, Archives of the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, Box 2, Folder 105 for the letter & Box 9, Folder 38 for the transcript.

Benjamin H. Brewster to William H. Seward, April 16, 1862

706 Walnut Street,

PHILADELPHIA, April 16, 1862.

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

SIR: By the directions of General Simon Cameron I send you a summons issued by the supreme court of this State at the suit of Pierce Butler v. Simon Cameron, July 1-November 17, 1861. The writ is returnable the first Monday of May, 1862, and is for trespass, vi et armis, assault and battery and false imprisonment. The cause of action is no doubt founded upon the supposed misconduct of General Cameron in causing the arrest of the plaintiff, Mr. Pierce Butler, and placing him in Fort Warren or some other public fortification without authority of law while he, General Cameron, was Secretary of War. As I am instructed the act was not the act of General Cameron, and was done by those who commanded it be done for just reasons and for the public good.

You will please communicate the fact of this suit to the President and such other official persons as should properly be advised of it and have such action taken as shall relieve the defendant Simon Cameron from the burden, cost and responsibility of defending this suit.

By the directions of General Cameron I have as his private counsel ordered my appearance for him, while I also invite and request the intervention of the proper authorities in his behalf and for his protection.

I am, sir, truly, &c.,

BENJAMIN H. BREWSTER.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series II, Volume 2 (Serial No. 115), p. 507; Congressional Series of United States Public Documents: 37th Congress, 2nd Session, Ex. Doc. No. 43

Diary of Gideon Welles: Tuesday, May 19, 1863

The case of Vallandigham, recently arrested by General Burnside, tried by court martial, convicted of something, and sentenced to Fort Warren, was before the Cabinet. It was an error on the part of Burnside. All regretted the arrest, but, having been made, every one wished he had been sent over the lines to the Rebels with whom he sympathizes. Until the subject is legitimately before us, and there is a necessity to act, there is no disposition to meddle with the case.

The New York Tribune of to-day has a communication on the Peterhoff mail question. It is neither so good nor so bad as it might have been. Am sorry to see it just at this time, and uncertain as to the author. Faxon names one of the correspondents of the Tribune, but while he may have forwarded the article he could not have written it.

Governor Sprague and Miss Kate Chase called this evening. I have been skeptical as to a match, but this means something. She is beautiful, or, more properly perhaps, interesting and impressive. He is rich and holds the position of Senator. Few young men have such advantages as he, and Miss Kate has talents and ambition sufficient for both.

I wrote and sent to Senator Sumner a denial of John Laird's statement in the British House of Commons. When he asserted that the Secretary of the American Navy, or the agent of the Secretary, applied to him to build vessels, or a vessel, he asserted what is not true, what he knows to be untrue. He is, in my opinion, a mercenary hypocrite without principle or honesty, as his words and works both show.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 306

Telegram from Major Wilder Dwight: June 5, 1862

Have order for exchange with Major Davidson at Fort Warren. Shall come home at once and arrange it.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Amelia Dwight, Editor, Life and Letters of Wilder Dwight: Lieut.-Col. Second Mass. Inf. Vols., p. 269

Major Wilder Dwight: November 26, 1861

camp Near Seneca, November 26, 1861.

If you are to have another letter from a major commanding, I suppose it had better be written to-night. Tomorrow, I feel sure, will bring back Colonel Gordon, and I shall very gladly shift that burden to his shoulders. There are some objections to holding the reins, very long, of power that you are not to continue in the exercise of; and, though I must say the Colonel has got a very easily managed regiment, and I have had no difficulty in my path, yet the temptation to mould things to your own will is a strong one, not to be indulged in temporary command. On the whole, this is probably better for the regiment, — it is certainly safer for me. The month of November, though we have spent it quietly in camp, has been the most trying one to the regiment in its whole history. I am glad to be able to persuade myself that we stand firmer than we did three weeks since. I hope we shall steadily improve. There is a hopeless desperation chilling one when engaged in a contest with disease. The unseen malaria has such an advantage in the fight. I had rather meet anything for the regiment than the enemy who surprised us in our former camping-ground, and who seems hardly yet to have given up beat. Two weeks ago I had something as much like depression as I ever allow myself the indulgence of. Now I feel quite glad again. This afternoon, for example, a blue, overcast November sky, but a keen, bracing air, we bad a lively battalion drill, which went quite well. The regiment turned out full companies, and, altogether, looked its old self — There, I was just in the midst of this last exultant sentence, when what should happen but a knock at my tent. Enter Captain . “Major, two men of my company are very sick in quarters, and ought to be in hospital, but there is not room.” “Well, sir, I can't make room.” Then the same complaint from another captain. I send for the Doctor. He is abed, having been sick for the past three days. I send for the Assistant Surgeon. He says, “Yes, it is so; but the Brigade Surgeon promises a tent soon. The measles cases have increased within two days.”

I require from him a report of every case in quarters, and a statement of how many sick men ought to be in hospital. This is the nature of the work to be done. To make bricks without straw. Our sick officers have not yet returned to duty. The Adjutant is still away. I have to look after everything myself. Still, I do insist that we are getting better. A week on a high piece of ground three miles from the river would put us all on our feet again. But as long as the morning sun rises only to quicken the fatal exhalations from this pestilent Potomac, and the evening dews fall only to rise again with fever in their breath, the contest is unequal and the victory uncertain. Well, we can only hope for better things, and be thankful for what we have. You will see, however, that the constant maintenance of military efficiency under all these circumstances exacts constant effort. I rejoice in continued health and increasing strength, and am thankful and happy. I think, too, that our experience will be a sort of seasoning. One thing is certain, — we cannot have the measles again!

I have just come in from my nightly round through the camp; and, as taps have sounded, all is quiet. I sit alone in my tent a-thinkin' o' nothin' at all, — and writing about it, too. Yes, I can tell you about our domestic arrangements, — I mean our mess.

We have intruded upon an elderly lady who lives near our lines. She has given us her parlor and the use of her cooking-stove. Tony is in great feather. He rejoices in all kinds of culinary eccentricities.

The old lady, meantime, is repaid by our protection. She confides to me her griefs for the losses of fence-rails and cabbages, of pigs and poultry. This happened when a former regiment was here. Now she is safe. Tony and she observe an armed neutrality over the common cooking-stove. This evening she told us the history of Jack Cross, the husband of the lady who owns the house where Colonel Andrews is sick. Jack is in prison — at Fort Warren perhaps — as a traitor. The good lady described his capture. Said she: “The officers came to me, and says they, ‘Do you know of Jack Cross's hanging or shooting any one?’ “As for shooting,” says I, “I've known him from a boy, and a more peaceable man I never knew; and as for hanging,” says I, “I never knew him to hang anything except a big black dog.” Which was true, indeed, and I recollect how the dog looked, and he most frightened me to death. But they took him. He was an unfortunate man, but he was a good neighbor; and a good neighbor can't be a bad man. But this business has got him into trouble; but I can't seem to understand it no how. I'm for the Union and peace before I die.” I think she would have talked till now, had we not left the table, her ideas running in a beaten track of puzzlement and dread. She evidently does not either understand or enjoy civil war.

I said our camp was still. I ought to admit that the night is full of echoes with the barking cough that prevails, — an unwholesome sound. Good night, and God bless you all at home.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Amelia Dwight, Editor, Life and Letters of Wilder Dwight: Lieut.-Col. Second Mass. Inf. Vols., p. 157-9

Major-General John A. Dix to Brigadier-General Joseph K. F. Mansfield, August 16, 1862

Head quarters, Seventh Army Corps, Fort Monroe, Va.,

August 16,1862.

Brigadier-general J. K. [F.] Mansfield, commanding at Suffolk:

General,—I have received your letter of the 14th instant, with a list of prisoners sent by you to Fort Wool, and a brief statement of the charges against them. This is the first specification of their offences I have seen, and I know that several citizens have been sent here without any memorandum of the causes for which they were imprisoned.

The crimes specified by you as having been committed by Secessionists in general deserve any punishment we may think proper to inflict. But the first question is, in every case of imprisonment, whether the party has actually been guilty of any offence; and this is a question to be decided upon proper evidence. If the guilt is not clearly shown the accused should be released. There is nothing in your position or mine which can excuse either of us for depriving any man of his liberty without a full and impartial examination. My duties are at least as arduous as yours, and I have never shrunk from the labor of a personal examination of every case of imprisonment for which I am responsible.

In regard to arrests in your command, there was at least one, and I think more, for which there was not, in my judgment, the slightest cause. I speak from a personal examination of them. The arrests were made without your order, as I understood, but acquiesced in by you subsequently. The parties referred to were released nearly a month ago. Had I not looked into their cases they would, no doubt, have been in prison at this very moment. When Judge Pierrepont and I examined the cases of political prisoners in their various places of custody from Washington to Fort Warren, we found persons arrested by military officers who had been overlooked, and who had been lying in prison for months without any just cause. For this reason, as well as on general principles of justice and humanity, I must insist that every person arrested shall have a prompt examination, and, if it is considered a proper case for imprisonment, that the testimony shall be taken under oath, and the record sent, with the accused, to the officer who is to have the custody of him. This is especially necessary when the commitment is made by a military commission, and the party accused is sent to a distance and placed, like the prisoners at Fort Wool, under the immediate supervision of the commanding officer of the Department or Army Corps. The only proper exception to the rule is where persons are temporarily detained during military movements, in order that they may not give information to the enemy. I consider it my duty to go once in three or four weeks to the places of imprisonment within my command, inquire into the causes of arrest, and discharge all prisoners against whom charges, sustained by satisfactory proof, are not on file. I did not enter into a minute examination of the prisoners sent here by your order, nor did I release any one of them, but referred the whole matter to you for explanation; and it is proper to suggest that an imputation of undue susceptibility on my part, or a general reprobation of the conduct of faithless citizens, for whom when their guilt is clearly shown I have quite as little sympathy as yourself, is not an answer to the question of culpability in special cases. The paper you sent me is very well as far as it goes, but it is no more complete, without a transcript of the evidence on which the allegations are founded, than a memorandum of the crime and the sentence of a military prisoner would be without the record of the proceedings of the Court. You will please, therefore, send to me the testimony taken by the military commissions before whom the examination was made.

It is proper to remark here that a military commission not appointed by the commanding General of the Army or the Army Corps is a mere court of inquiry, and its proceedings can only be regarded in the light of information for the guidance of the officer who institutes it, and on whom the whole responsibility of any action under them must, from the necessity of the case, devolve.

In regard to persons whom you think right to arrest and detain under your immediate direction I have nothing to say. You are personally responsible for them; and, as your attention will be frequently called to them, the duration of their imprisonment will be likely to be influenced by considerations which might be overlooked if they were at a distance. I am, therefore, quite willing to leave them in your hands. But when a prisoner is sent here, and comes under my immediate observation and care, I wish the whole case to be presented to me.

The Engineer Department has called on me to remove the prisoners from Fort Wool, that the work may not be interrupted. I have sent away all the military prisoners, and wish to dispose of those who are confined for political causes. When I have received from you a full report of the cases which arose under your command I will dispose of them, and send to you all the persons whom I do not release. Or, if you prefer it — and it would be much more satisfactory to me — I will send them all to you without going into any examination myself, and leave it to you to dispose of them as you think right. If you have no suitable guard-house, there is a jail near your head-quarters, where they may be securely confined.

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,

john A. Dix.

SOURCE: Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 44-6

Major Wilder Dwight: Saturday Evening, November 23, 1861

Head-quarters Second Massachusetts Regiment,

Camp near Seneca, Nov. 23, 1861, Saturday Evening.

Yours of the 19th is in my pocket. The evening has passed pleasantly under its influence. The camp is fast falling asleep.

I last wrote you just after dinner on Thanksgiving day. The rest of the day went glibly enough. In the evening the men had a brisk dance to the music of the band, and the next morning there were fewer sick men than for two weeks before. Gladness and gayety are good medicines. Friday was a very busy day with me. Among its morning incidents was a visit to Generals Hamilton and Williams. General Williams quite won my affection by saying, apropos of the review, “The Massachusetts Second is the best volunteer regiment in the service.” “A man of sense,” was my echo. Our two new lieutenants, Grafton and Shelton, appeared yesterday, and were assigned to duty the next day. They were eager for duty, and promise well. Give Charley the stockings for his men by all means. I rejoice in his effort and success. I am amused to see that the London Times compares Ball's Bluff to Braddock's defeat. That was my first exclamation. A regular Braddock's defeat! Who was the Braddock? . . . .

I do not expect to come home at all. While there is anything to do here, I certainly shall not come. Indeed, I do not think I desire it. Three years or the war, was my enlistment; and I am willing to stay with my regiment while it lasts. . . . .

This morning's inspection took about two hours. It was a thorough one and satisfactory. We have church this afternoon, unless it rains, as it threatens to do.

For one, I have no sympathy with the prisoners at Fort Warren. I desire that all benevolence and sympathy may flow to our loyal soldiers, whose hardship is quite as great. As for Mason and Slidell, the joke is so good, so practical, so retributive. I admire the calm irony with which Mr. Everett wishes them a short residence at Fort Warren. That is clever and bright, and politely severe

I predicted church when I was writing this morning. Lo it is evening, and the ground white with snow! So winter steals upon us, and we have a snow-storm instead of divine service. Well, camp life has its variety, and is not always same. I confess, as I look out through the flapping door of my tent, I think it looks as little like invading the South as any scene I ever looked on. White and heavy falls the snow, — I hope on the unjust as well as the just, on both sides the Potomac! Now's the time for mittens with no holes in the thumbs I have quite a long letter from ——. She is full of the glory and spectacle aspect of the army and the war, her visit to Washington having taught her all about armies. I could give her a few practical lessons that would unidealize her abruptly. Never mind, to be illusionée is to be happy.

I hope, in view of the dread you express of my going to Charleston, where they fight “without giving quarter,” you will be pleased at the imminent prospect there seems to be that we shall be snowed into Maryland till spring. However, the weather is so fickle, we may have bright sunshine to-morrow.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Amelia Dwight, Editor, Life and Letters of Wilder Dwight: Lieut.-Col. Second Mass. Inf. Vols., p. 155-7

Diary of Sarah Morgan: May 10, 1862

Last night about one o'clock I was wakened and told that mother and Miriam had come. Oh, how glad I was! I tumbled out of bed half asleep and hugged Miriam in a dream, but waked up when I got to mother. They came up under a flag of truce, on a boat going up for provisions, which, by the way, was brought to by half a dozen Yankee ships in succession, with a threat to send a broadside into her if she did not stop — the wretches knew it must be under a flag of truce; no boats leave, except by special order to procure provisions.

What tales they had to tell! They were on the wharf, and saw the ships sail up the river, saw the broadside fired into Will Pinckney's regiment, the boats we fired, our gunboats, floating down to meet them all wrapped in flames; twenty thousand bales of cotton blazing in a single pile; molasses and sugar thrown over everything. They stood there opposite to where one of the ships landed, expecting a broadside, and resolute not to be shot in the back. I wish I had been there! And Captain Huger is not dead! They had hopes of his life for the first time day before yesterday. Miriam saw the ball that had just been extracted. He will probably be lame for the rest of his life. It will be a glory to him. For even the Federal officers say that never did they see so gallant a little ship, or one that fought so desperately as the McRae. Men and officers fought like devils. Think of all those great leviathans after the poor little “Widow Mickey”! One came tearing down on her sideways, while the Brooklyn fired on her from the other side, when brave Captain Warley put the nose of the Manassas under the first, and tilted her over so that the whole broadside passed over, instead of through, the McRae, who spit back its poor little fire at both. And after all was lost, she carried the wounded and the prisoners to New Orleans, and was scuttled by her own men in port. Glorious Captain Huger! And think of his sending word to Jimmy, suffering as he was, that “his little brass cannon was game to the last.” Oh! I hope he will recover. Brave, dare-devil Captain Warley is prisoner, and on the way to Fort Warren, that home of all brave, patriotic men. We'll have him out. And my poor little Jimmy! If I have not spoken of him, it is not because I have lost sight of him for a moment. The day the McRae went down, he arose from his bed, ill as he was, and determined to rejoin her, as his own boat, the Mississippi, was not ready. When he reached the St. Charles, he fell so very ill that he had to be carried back to Brother's. Only his desperate illness saved him from being among the killed or wounded on that gallant little ship. A few days after, he learned the fate of the ship, and was told that Captain Huger was dead. No wonder he should cry so bitterly! For Captain Huger was as tender and as kind to him as his own dear father. God bless him for it! The enemy's ships were sailing up; so he threw a few articles in a carpet-bag and started off for Richmond, Corinth, anywhere, to fight. Sick, weak, hardly able to stand, he went off, two weeks ago yesterday. We know not where, and we have never heard from him since. Whether he succumbed to that jaundice and the rest, and lies dead or dying on the road, God only knows. We can only wait and pray God to send dear little Jimmy home in safety.

And this is War! Heaven save me from like scenes and experiences again. I was wild with excitement last night when Miriam described how the soldiers, marching to the depot, waved their hats to the crowds of women and children, shouting, “God bless you, ladies! We will fight for you!” and they, waving their handkerchiefs, sobbed with one voice, “God bless you, Soldiers! Fight for us!”

We, too, have been having our fun. Early in the evening, four more gunboats sailed up here. We saw them from the corner, three squares off, crowded with men even up in the riggings. The American flag was flying from every peak. It was received in profound silence, by the hundreds gathered on the banks. I could hardly refrain from a groan. Much as I once loved that flag, I hate it now! I came back and made myself a Confederate flag about five inches long, slipped the staff in my belt, pinned the flag to my shoulder, and walked downtown, to the consternation of women and children, who expected something awful to follow. An old negro cried, “My young missus got her flag flyin', anyhow!” Nettie made one and hid it in the folds of her dress. But we were the only two who ventured. We went to the State House terrace, and took a good look at the Brooklyn which was crowded with people who took a good look at us, likewise. The picket stationed at the Garrison took alarm at half a dozen men on horseback and ran, saying that the citizens were attacking. The kind officers aboard the ship sent us word that if they were molested, the town would be shelled. Let them! Butchers! Does it take thirty thousand men and millions of dollars to murder defenseless women and children? O the great nation! Bravo!

SOURCE: Sarah Morgan Dawson, A Confederate Girl's Diary, p. 25-8

Senator James W. Grimes to Elizabeth Nealley Grimes, June 19, 1864

Washington, June 19, 1864.

I hope to be at home by the 4th of July. It is possible I may not, however, because I am compelled to stop a day in Chicago, and I do not wish to be there on the 4th, which is the day the convention of the Democratic party assembles there. Rather than be incommoded by that concern in going west, or be mixed up in it, I will remain on the way a day or two. We have no news here. Grant's campaign is regarded by military critics as being thus far a failure. He has lost a vast number of men, and is compelled to abandon his attempt to capture Richmond on the north side, and cross the James River. The question is asked significantly, Why did he not take his army south of the James at once, and thus save seventy-five thousand men?

Smith, Bros. & Co., of whom I made mention in my remarks in the Senate, found themselves in Fort Warren day before yesterday, and will be tried before a court-martial, and will, I doubt not, be convicted.

SOURCE: William Salter, The Life of James W. Grimes, p. 263

Suffolk, May 19 [1862].

A flag of truce was sent out yesterday in the direction of Suffolk, to return the prisoners of the state, released from Fort Warren.

The seaboard and Roanoke RR. has been found in good condition to Suffolk, only a single bridge having been destroyed.  The RR. will be repaired immediately, and the rolling stock put in condition as soon as possible.  A large quantity of copper bolting was found stored in the RR. storehouse yesterday, of which possession was taken.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Wednesday Morning, May 21, 1862, p. 1

Ft. Warren Jones

Our city was honored yesterday with another visit from this man.  He is on his return home from a pilgrimage to the southern part of the State.  His object, we presume to be the re-organization of the Democratic party on the Vallandigham platform.  We believe George W. Jones to be a traitor from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, and that if his letter to Jeff. Davis had not been intercepted, and his plans frustrated, he would be as closely identified with the South at this moment as Floyd, Wise, or Pillow.  Will not some of his friends here, who claim loyalty for this man, try and remove the stench of treason that arises from his infamous letter to Jeff. Davis, and clings to him like the poisoned shirt of Nessus? – Until that be done, let no man say there is a drop of loyal blood in the veins of George W. Jones.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Friday Morning, May 16, 1862, p. 1

Boston, May 9 [1862]

Capt. Michael Berry, formerly commander of the steamer Columbia, was released from Fort Warren yesterday.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Saturday Morning, May 10, 1862, p. 1

Ft. Warren Prisoners

BOSTON, May 3.

Col. Davison, of the 3d Miss. Regiment captured at Ft. Donelson, died at Ft. Warren, on Tuesday.  His body has been sent to his friends.

Austin Smith, late navy agent at San Francisco, has been released from Ft. Warren, in exchanged for Wm. Ayers, of Philadelphia, who was captured while rambling over the battle field of Bull Run after the evacuation of Manassas.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Monday Morning, May 5, 1862, p. 1

Fort Warren Jones

The extinguished George W. Jones, once Senator from Iowa, more recently Minister to Bogota, and still later a resident of Fort Warren, with, it is supposed, his rebel son, taken prisoner at New Madrid, since, like his father, released on parole, dishonored our city with their presence Saturday.  When seen by our informant, they were conversing on the street with G. C. R. Mitchell and J. W. Churchill, Esqs.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Monday Morning, May 5, 1862, p. 1

A Tennesseean Released From Fort Warren

Parson Brownlow returned from Fort Warren Saturday afternoon, with Lieutenant Colonel White of the Tennessee cavalry, whose release was ordered upon the representations of Mr. Brownlow and other Union men of Tennessee, that White had joined the rebels only to save his life and had never fought for them.  The battalion which garrisons the Fort was reviewed by Gov. Andrew and Staff, and a salute was fired in his honor. – {Boston Jour.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, June 7, 1862, p. 1