Showing posts with label Henry Lee Higginson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Henry Lee Higginson. Show all posts

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Charles J. Higginson to John Brown, January 10, 1857

Emigrant Aid Rooms, Boston, Jan. 10, 1857.

Captain John Brown of Osawatomie.

Dear Sir, — I have a small fund in my hands to be used for the benefit of Kansas men. I enclose thirty dollars, with the request that you will use it as you see fit, — remembering that you are to regard yourself and your sons as entitled to your consideration as well as any others.

Respectfully yours,
C. J. Higginson.1
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1 Upon this is the following indorsement in Brown's handwriting: “C. J. Higginson, or H. L. Higginson.” The latter was a kinsman of Charles Higginson; and has since been known as the wealthy Boston banker, who supplies his native city with cheap concerts of the best music. I suppose he may have handed the above note or the money to Captain Brown.

SOURCE: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 384

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw Lowell, Sunday, September 11, 1864 – 8 a.m.

Ripon, Sunday, 8 A. M. (Sept. 11).

A lovely morning after one of the most stormy nights I ever remember. Torrents of rain and continuous thunder and lightning and wind for six or eight hours, — the Doctor1 and I were quite washed out, — our tent seemed to be a through-drain for all the surrounding country. Did you see the moon last evening? — here, she was a perfect stage moon, — the whole scene what scene-painters aim at, when they have to put her to sleep on a bank. We had the band up and they were quite sentimental in their choice of music, and I grew as homesick as possible.

I received a long note yesterday from the Governor's Secretary, Colonel A. G. Brown, — it occupied me yesterday afternoon, and stimulated me to writing to such a degree that I wrote to Mr. H. L. Higginson and to Barlow and to Blagden and to Major-General Hitchcock and to Cousin John, — the latter about Will, who is soon to be released, and about Billy and about another little horse (two sizes smaller than Billy) which he wishes me to take and ride. I accepted the offer conditionally, and with scruples. It is a colt of “Countess's,” a “Bob Logic” colt, and Mr. F. says is good, though small. I hope it won't stop so many bullets as Billy.

I stopped here to send for a paper, and have read McClellan’s letter. It won’t do, though it’s much better than a Peace platform.
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1 Dr. De Wolf, then acting as brigade surgeon, occupied the same tent with the colonel. Some years after the war, he became the head of the Board of Health of Chicago.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 345-6, 463

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Henry Lee Higginson, September 10, 1864

Ripon, Va., Sept. 10, '64.

My Dear Henry, — I have been meaning to write to you ever since you became Mr. again, to ask about your health and prospects; or haven't you any of either?

I felt very sorry, old fellow, at your being finally obliged to give up, for I know you would have liked to see it out; however, there is work enough for a public-spirited cove everywhere. Labour for recruits and for Linkum, and you will do more than by sabring six Confederates. How do you earn your bread nowadays: or, if you are not earning it, how do you manage to pay for it? I daily congratulate myself that I drink no sugar in my coffee, that butter and eggs are unattainable, and that army beef is still only 13 cents, — for how should I be able to live on my pay? And for a civilian, Mr. Chase's successes must be awful to contemplate. I hope, Mr. Higginson, that you are going to live like a plain Republican, mindful of the beauty and the duty of simplicity. Nothing fancy now, Sir, if you please. It's disreputable to spend money, when the Government is so hard up, and when there are so many poor officers. I hope you have outgrown all foolish ambitions and are now content to become a “useful citizen.”  . . . Don't grow rich; if you once begin, you will find it much more difficult to be a useful citizen. The useful citizen is a mighty unpretending hero. But we are not going to have any Country very long unless such heroism is developed. There! what a stale sermon I'm preaching; but being a soldier, it does seem to me that I should like nothing else so well as being a useful citizen. That's modest, is it not? — well, trying to be one, I mean. I shall stay in the service, of course, till the war is over, or till I'm disabled; but then I look forward to a pleasanter career, one in which E. can be even a more better half. By Jove! what I have wasted through crude and stupid theories. I wish old Stephen were alive. I should like to poke fingers through his theories and have him poke through mine. How I do envy (or rather admire) the young fellows who have something to do now without theories, and do it. I believe I have lost all my ambitions, old fellow (military ambition Abraham has the “dead thing” on; he cures us all of that). I don't think I would turn my hand to be a distinguished chemist or a famous mathematician. All I now care about is to be a useful citizen with money enough to buy bread and firewood, and to teach my children how to ride on horseback and look strangers in the face, especially Southern strangers. I'll stop now; don't be alarmed.

Where are you going to live? — New York or further West; not Boston, I presume, unless your father wants you very much, and then why not move him too? What are you going to do? I am beginning to think old Cato was about right — “graze well,” “graze, graze ill.” Grazing is a good business, though it does take one away from the big plans. If I could stand the life, however, and could get enough to live upon, I suppose I should yield to the temptation of New York.  . . . Don't take this letter as a sample of my usual tone now. I measure every word now when I talk. (Did you not caution my wife to stop my abuse of the Administration in my letters to a certain Army officer, — Major H. of First Massachusetts Cavalry, — the said talk being dangerous, and the said Major untrustworthy? Know, young man, that I am a good enough friend of the Administration to be able to abuse its errors and its oversights without stint to safe ears, but I choose my ears carefully.) 1

I'm forty years old, — yes, forty-five,2 — and I never talk without thinking now — “a devil of a thinking.” I wonder whether I shall ever see you again to prove this. I fancy the hard fighting in the Valley has hardly begun yet, though the cavalry has been very busy, and this autumn campaign will run well into December. About December 15th I shall try for a leave of absence, 30 days, if I can get it; and then perhaps we'll pass an evening together.

I wish you could have got to Falls Church. I was very glad that Mother and Father paid me a visit there, when they did, to see how comfortable a wife can be in quarters. However, what are quarters to you now, or you to quarters? . . .
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1 Colonel Lowell only permitted himself to criticise the Administration — always within bounds — to one or two of his closest friends. One of these, Mr. Forbes, he believed able to influence the Government in favour of special acts or general policies that seemed wise, honourable, and just, and hence necessary. Lowell's temperament was very different from Lincoln's, — he could not have waited for the slow growth of public opinion, — and, moreover, he judged him by such imperfect information as was accessible. He did not, like us, see him from afar, his work successfully done and crowned with his halo.

2 This is a statement of Colonel Lowell's momentary feeling. He was then twenty-nine years old.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 340-3, 461

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Major Henry Lee Higginson, November 19, 1863

Vienna, Va., Nov. 19, 1863.

. . . I wish that you and could make as pleasant arrangements for winter-quarters as E. and I have made. We have all the luxuries and some of the necessaries. Housekeeping is under difficulties, but is a success. It's a great thing, pendant l’hiver, to have a Brigade in a fancy Department, and to have your wife out to command it. In spite of Mosby, we have a good canter every day, have enough books, and only have not enough time to read them.1 This is not a letter. Merely hearing how soon you were to be married, I wish to express my satisfaction and to give my formal consent. I would advise you not to be impatient about returning to your regiment. Haste is poor speed in such matters, but of course I know nothing of your condition (as we say of horses) or of your intentions. If you go to the Army of the Potomac on horseback, you must manage to pass through Vienna. Remember this, boy. How old are you? To see a fellow like you, whom I've seen grow up from an infant, go and be married, makes me feel very old.  . . . When you leave the service, you must permit to arrange your life so that we can occasionally see one another. I dare say she and E. could manage it. I have great confidence in them. Good-bye.
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1 Chaplain Humphreys wrote home of the kindly and refining influence of Mrs. Lowell's presence in the camp, and of the hospitality that welcomed the officers in turn at the little home which the Colonel and she had established there. He adds: “With the foreigners in the hospital, I was greatly assisted by the wife of the commander, who visited the patients very frequently. She delighted the Frenchmen, Italians, and Germans, by conversing with them in their own languages, that so vividly recalled their early homes. She often assisted in writing letters for the disabled soldiers, and when I sought to give comfort to the dying, her presence soothed the pangs of parting, with a restful consciousness of woman's faithful watching and a mother's tenderness.”

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 314-5, 445

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Major Henry Lee Higginson, October 1, 1863

Centreville, Oct. 1, '63.

My Dear Boy, — I was very glad to receive your note; not the less that it was in a new handwriting, —  in a better handwriting, I think. . . .

You must not be impatient to return, and, above all, must not, when you begin to feel fairly well, be bullied by any Boston hypersensitiveness into returning too soon because you are having too good a time at home. If you are away six months, you will be back before the war is over, my sanguine prophet, — yes, three years before. Your regiment is now guarding a portion of the railroad near Catlett's Station, — about two hundred and twenty men for duty and all the officers they require. If “all New England” gets too many for you, can you not be detailed as Superintendent of Regimental Recruiting Service?  . . . I consider that a very important duty.

“How could I be married without ‘daily bread’?” A pertinent question, Henry. There are still ravens, but it does not appear that Elijah ever taxed the powers of his by marrying. A year ago, I should have told you condescendingly that each party having had its own ravens in the single state, we might reckon confidently upon their pulling together in the married state: now, I sometimes think that confidence too hasty.  . . . Though I mean to make this change my habits, I do not mean to allow it to change my old trustfulness. I have nothing, as you know; I am going to marry upon nothing; I am going to make my wife as happy upon nothing as if I could give her a fortune — in that I still have faith; in that one respect this war is perhaps a personal Godsend. “Daily bread” sinks into insignificance by the side of the other more important things which the war has made uncertain, and I know now that it would be unwise to allow a possible want of “daily bread” in the future to prevent the certainty of even a month's happiness in the present. In peace times this would not be so clear. ... I remember dining with last winter, and feeling that I would rather commence in a garret than in a house too big and too thoroughly furnished.  . . . Fresh air, light and heat are indispensable; these the Government furnishes liberally. One dollar per diem for food and one for clothing ought to provide for each party's wants, and I am glad that our pay allows for this twice over. “After the war,” if that time ever comes, I do not think that there will be more men than there are places for them to fill.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 308-10

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Major Henry Lee Higginson, September 17, 1863

Centreville, Va., Sept. 28, 1863.

My Dear Henry, — I have heard from E. all sorts of pleasant tidings of you and ——. I did not, of course, expect to hear from you again, though I should like to hear from some one just how you are in body, and just when you expect to be in saddle again. I saw —— and ——, a few days ago, and heard rather bad accounts of you — something about inflammation. . . .

Did I tell you that I hoped to get a leave of absence sometime about November 1st, and meant therein to come home, — and that's not all, but meant also to be married? I don't believe I did tell you, for the plan, though inchoate, was not in shape to bear telling. Now I think it will; of course, I do not expect to get my leave, but I think I shall ask for it; Halleck is such a splendid old veteran that I expect he will refuse. I shall ask for twenty days, and shall try to be married in the first five (one of the first five, Henry; it only takes one day) and I want you to be married on one of the other five. E. and I would so much like to be at your wedding, old fellow.  . . . Of course, in these times, weddings are what they should be, quiet, simple, and sacred.  . . . My plan for the winter is headquarters at Fairfax Court House, with E. for Commander-in-Chief. She is not such a veteran as Halleck, but I think she can manage men better, in the field or anywhere else.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 307-8

Thursday, May 21, 2015

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

Monday, March 30, 2015

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

Thursday, March 12, 2015

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

Friday, December 5, 2014

Captain Charles Russell Lowell to Henry Lee Higginson, February 15, 1863

Readville, Feb. 15, '63.

My Dear Henry, — I wrote you last a most “quaintly moral” letter.  . . . I think public opinion here is getting stouter, more efforts are making to educate the great unthinking. Good editorials are reprinted and circulated gratis.1 A club is now forming in Boston, a Union Club, to support the Government, irrespective of party, started by Ward, Forbes, Norton, Amos Lawrence, etc., etc. This seems to me a very promising scheme. Clubs have in all trying times been great levers for moving events along. A similar club has already been started in Philadelphia under equally good auspices.

Our black regiment is likely to provoke discussion also, and in that way, if no other, to do good. Bob Shaw comes as Colonel, to arrive to-morrow, and Pen Hallowell as Lieutenant-Colonel (been here some days).2 I have no idea that they can get a full regiment in New England, but think they can get enough intelligent fellows here to make a cadre for one or more regiments to be raised down South. I do not know how much you may have thought upon the subject, and I may send you a few slips to show you how we feel. I am very much interested without being at all sanguine. I think it very good of Shaw (who is not at all a fanatic) to undertake the thing. The Governor will select, or let Shaw select, the best white officers he can find, letting it be understood that black men may be commissioned as soon as any are found who are superior to white officers who offer. The recruiting will be in good hands. In the Committee of consultation are Forbes and Lawrence;2 in New York, Frank Shaw; in Philadelphia, Hallowell's brother. You see this is likely to be a success, if any black regiment can be a success. If it fails, we shall all feel that tout notre possible has been done. If it fails, it will at least sink from under our feet the lurking notion that we need not be in a hurry about doing our prettiest, because we can always fall back upon the slaves, if the worst comes to the worst. You remember last September, upon somewhat the same ground, we agreed in approving the Proclamation, however ill-timed and idle it seemed to us. We shall knuckle down to our work the sooner for it. My first battalion (five companies, 325 strong) leave on Thursday for Fort Monroe. The battalion from California will be here in March. We have only about 175 more men to get here to reach a minimum. Now that Stoneman is Chief of Cavalry, I think I can get where I want to, so you can see me before the end of the summer.
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1 The New England Loyal Publication Society had this origin: —

Mr. John M. Forbes kept an eye on the newspapers or other publications, irrespective of party, for any strong and sensible paragraph, speech, or article advocating a vigorous prosecution of the war. In the midst of all his important public and private works, he had these copied and multiplied and sent, at his expense, all over the country, especially to local newspapers. When the work became too serious an undertaking for one man, he formed the society, which became an important and efficient agency, during the last three years of the war, for the spreading of sound doctrines in politics and finance. Party and personal issues were excluded. Mr. Charles Eliot Norton took charge of the work as editor, and James B. Thayer, Esq., was the secretary. The Executive Committee were J. M. Forbes, President; William Endicott, Treasurer; C. E. Norton, J. B. Thayer, Edward Atkinson, Martin Brimmer, Rev. E. E. Hale, Henry B. Rogers, Professor W. B. Rogers, Samuel G. Ward.


2 Readville, near Boston, was then the principal camp of assembly and instruction, and the Second Massachusetts Cavalry and the Fifty-Fourth Infantry were camped side by side. The latter was the first coloured regiment that went to the war from New England. It was regarded as a dangerous and doubtful experiment, — by some persons as a wicked one. Part of the men were obtained in Massachusetts, but a great number of them from Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, by the energy and patriotism of Major George L. Stearns. Braving much hostile public opinion and ridicule, the field officers of the regiment, and many of the line, left white regiments to make the Fifty-Fourth a success.

The Colonel, Robert Gould Shaw, had served with credit in the Second Massachusetts Infantry; the Lieutenant-Colonel, Norwood Penrose Hallowell, a gallant fighter of Quaker stock, had already served in the Twentieth regiment, and later became Colonel of the Fifty-Fifth, while his brother Edward succeeded him as Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifty-Fourth.

Major Higginson in his address, at the dedication of the Soldiers' Field, said of Robert Shaw: —

“I first saw him one evening in our first camp at Brook Farm — a beautiful, sunny-haired, blue-eyed boy, gay and droll and winning in his ways. In those early days of camp life, we fellows were a bit homesick, and longed for the company of girls . . . and I fell in love with this boy, and have not fallen out yet. He was of a very simple and manly nature — steadfast and affectionate, human to the last degree, without much ambition, except to do his plain duty. You should have seen Robert Shaw as he, with his chosen officers, led away from Boston his black men of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts amid the cheers of his townsmen. Presently he took them up to the assault of Fort Wagner, and was buried with them there in the trench.”

3 Of the summer of 1862, Mr. Forbes wrote in his notes: —

“In that summer I had the satisfaction of getting up the Committee of a Hundred for promoting the use of blacks as soldiers, and acted as chairman of it.

“We raised, I think, about $100,000 by subscription among the most conservative Republicans.  . . . I was able to do something towards the choice of the right officers, as well as in raising the men.”

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 234-6, 414-5

Friday, November 28, 2014

Captain Charles Russell Lowell to Henry Lee Higginson, January 21, 1863

Readville, Mass., Jan. 21, '63.

. . . As for Porter's case: — the evidence leaves little doubt that Porter got “demoralized,” not more, probably, than you or I would have under the circumstances — but still dangerously “demoralized.” He heard Pope say the enemy was here, or there, or in a bag, and always found it quite to the contrary, and unconsciously he said, “This is not war, this is chance, I cannot do anything here,” and he rather let things slide. He was no worse than twenty thousand others, but his frame of mind was un-officer-like and dangerous. This sort of feeling was growing in the army, and the Government and the Country felt that it must be stopped. Porter was made the example.1 I am very very sorry for him, and shall always treat him personally with as much regard as ever; but I accept the lesson, and do not propose to be demoralized myself, or let any of my friends be, if I can help it.  . . . I think good and brave people are wanted at home now more than in the army.

I was going to end there and sign "yours truly," but on looking over what I had written I thought it might give you the impression that I felt disappointed about the state of public opinion here. Not at all. In December I had begun to feel quite disheartened, but within a few weeks I think I have noticed a change. People are waking to the fact that this is a war which concerns them, that whether we have leaders or no, there is something for every man to do. They are beginning to think and look about, and correspondingly others are beginning to think and look about how to instruct the people. This is difficult. You will be surprised to notice how entirely some men, whom we had relied upon, are lacking in public spirit, and how others shine out, whom we had overlooked. I find myself judging men entirely now by their standard of public spirit. It is of course partial and unfair so far as individuals are concerned, but in a time like this, one naturally refers everything and everybody to its or his effect upon the State.

Good-bye, old fellow, and a speedy raid.
_______________

1 Major-General Fitz John Porter, comroanding the Fifth Army Corps, an officer of excellent record in the Peninsular Campaign, was accused by General Pope of disobedience to his orders before and during the battles near Manassas, August 28 and 29, 1862. A court-martial found him guilty. After the war, when the excitement had subsided, President Hayes convened a board of officers of high character and ability, who were free from personal relations to that campaign, Major-General Schofield, Brigadier-General Terry, and Colonel Getty. After a careful and patient examination of the case, including much new and important evidence which could not be procured at the time of the court-martial, this board completely exonerated General Porter from the charges on which the court-martial had found him guilty.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 231-2, 412-3

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Henry L. Higginson to James J. Higginson, April 22, 1861

Dearest Jim, —

We are in for the fight at last and we will carry it thro' like men. One week ago to-day appeared the President's proclamation calling on the states for troops. To-day Washington is cared for, Fort Monroe garrisoned, and the route to Washington held open. Never in my whole life have I seen anything approaching in the slightest degree to the excitement and the enthusiasm of the past week. Everything excepting the war is forgotten, business is suspended, the streets are filled with people, drilling is seen on all sides and at all times. Our Massachusetts troops were poured into Boston within 12 to 24 hours after the command was issued from here, and were the first to go on and the first to shed blood. May the devil catch those Baltimorean rioters, the cowards! On the 19th April, the anniversary of the Lexington fight, our first men were shot in Baltimore.

But you should have seen the troops, Jimmy: real, clean-cut, intelligent Yankees, the same men who fought in '76, a thousand times better than any soldiers living. They left their wives and children in some cases without a farewell, and marched thro' to Washington. We've been told of our degeneracy for years and years: I tell you, Jim, no more heartfelt enthusiasm or devotion was to be found in '76 than now. Everyone is longing to go. One man walked 100 miles to join a volunteer company raised and gone between Wednesday and Sunday. Two thousand Irish volunteers have been raised in Boston, besides many companies of Americans and Germans and French. One hundred Germans put their names down as volunteers in a half-hour at a small meeting which was held Friday. Money is forthcoming, everyone is making clothes for the troops. Yesterday sailed from N.Y. 5000 troops (1200 from here, commanded by one of my classmates); they say 500,000 people were present to see them march down Broadway and sail. That famous N.Y. 7th regiment is holding the R.R. to Washington from Annapolis. A regiment of 800 N.Y. firemen has been raised in two or three days, and will go as skirmishers to-morrow or to-day. The Ohio troops are in Washington, and the Westerners are coming on perfectly wild. Every slave-state has refused troops; we do not want them. The Southern army is, they say, well-drilled: we may lose at first, but they will be wiped out from the face of the earth in the end. We want arms sadly; those villains have stolen everything that they could find in our armories and arsenals. And for us — George will, I hope and trust, finish his house at Lenox before moving . . . father is of course too old. I have been laid up all winter with a sprained foot, which is still weak, but I 'll go if I can march possibly. I've committed myself to a regiment of volunteers to be raised and drilled in our harbor before going. It is the best way, if they are not wanted immediately, for then a disciplined body of active troops will be opposed to the enemy, instead of raw recruits. Jim Savage will go in this regiment as an officer. This foot has been a great nuisance to me for months, and now may prevent my going, for a lame man will not be accepted. And now, Jim, you must decide for yourself whether you'll return just yet or not; you might wait a few months to advantage. There will be little business in any way for beginners until the war is over, I suppose: the first quota is gone and the second will be off also before you can reach here. Then will come much drilling and preparation for the future: the war will, I fancy, be very severe, but of short duration. You might get all possible information as to the muskets and rifles with sword-bayonets to be got in each country, Germany, France and England; we must import from Europe to meet our immediate wants. Send this letter to Johnny with my love: I 've not time to write him to-day and he'll want to know of these things. Father is very well indeed and drills hard, with a view to teaching others — as also Frank. Father gets dreadfully excited; indeed so does everyone. My best love to you, Jimmy.

Yrs.
H.

SOURCE: Life and letters of Henry Lee Higginson, p. 142-3

Captain Charles Russell Lowell to 2nd Lieutenant Henry L. Higginson, December 25, 1861


Camp East Of The Capitol,
Dec. 25, 1861.

My Dear Henry, —  . . . I hear your regiment is nearly ready to start South. I hope you may be ordered here and not to Texas or Canada.

A merry Christmas and happy New Year to you, old fellow.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 219

Monday, September 1, 2014

Charles Russell Lowell to Henry Lee Higginson, December 28, 1860

Mt. Savage, Maryland, Dec. 28, 1860.
My Dear Boy, —

. . . If you have any respectable mode of getting through your days, and do not feel yourself in danger of becoming a demned disreputable, dissatisfied loafer, I should advise you to be in no hurry to plunge into trade. Cotton is unthroned, but Corn is not yet king, and meanwhile Chance rules. The South is just now a mere mob, and no man can tell whither a mob may rush. This only is certain, that whatsoever course is most to be avoided, that Mr. Buchanan will select. If war is possible J. B. will make it a sure thing, and in case of war so many new doors to wealth will be opened, and so many old ones be closed, it seems to me it would be unwise to be in a hurry. Hold your horses until after March 4th at any rate.

. . . Much obliged for your suggestion of wines — but get thou behind me, Satan! A man in debt must drink water.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 191-2