Showing posts with label Humphrey Marshall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Humphrey Marshall. Show all posts

Sunday, October 8, 2023

Landon C. Haynes to Jefferson Davis, January 27, 1862

KNOXVILLE, TENN., January 27, 1862.
His Excellency JEFFERSON DAVIS,
        President Confederate States of America:

SIR: The Army of the Cumberland is utterly routed and demoralized. The result is regarded with the profoundest solicitude. Confidence is gone in the ranks and among the people. It must be restored. I am confident it cannot be done under Generals Crittenden and Carroll. There is now no impediment whatever but bad roads and natural obstacles to prevent the enemy from entering East Tennessee and destroying the railroads and putting East Tennessee in a flame of revolution.

Nothing but the appointment to the command of a brave, skillful, and able general, who has the popular confidence, will restore tone and discipline to the army, and confidence to the people. I do not propose to inquire whether the loss of public confidence in Generals Crittenden and Carroll is ill or well founded. It is sufficient that all is lost.

General Humphrey Marshall, General Floyd, General Pillow, General Smith, or General Loring would restore tone to the army and rein-spire the public confidence. I must think, as everybody else does, that there has been a great mistake made. Every movement is important. Can not you, Mr. President, right the wrong by the immediate presence of a new and able man?

Yours, truly,
LANDON C. HAYNES.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 7 (Serial No. 7), p. 849

Thursday, April 12, 2018

Senator Salmon P. Chase to Edward S. Hamlin, November 21, 1854

Private.
Cin. Nov. 21, 1854..

My Dear Sir, * * * I confess I feel more uneasiness about the probable influences of the Order on our movement than I did when I saw you last: but I still think that it is best not to say anything against them. Wait until it becomes necessary & it may never become necessary. What is objectionable may come itself. Meantime Antislavery men should be constantly warned of the importance of Keeping the Antislavery idea paramount. There is danger of its being shoved aside. They must see that it is not lost sight of. Now even more than ever is it essential that an earnest antislavery tone should be maintained by our [?] & that the [?] should be sustained.

You are aware that for some days past this city has been the seat of a grand American Council. What they call it I do not know; but I am told delegates are in attendance from every state in the Union including Cala. There seem great divisions of opinion.

For example, one very intelligent gentleman from Virginia was anxious to have the ideas which we hold denationalization, &c. adopted as the basis of a National party. Others & most, seem to be of opinion that they must steer clear of northern & southern ultraism as they call our ideas there of the Nullifiers. One man is reported to have said that it is as settled they were to cut loose from Freesoilers & Southern. Another that the organization must not in any way attack slavery; and that the [convention] sitting here is in fact the American Legislature whose decisions Congress must follow. Certain it is that Kenneth Rayner of N. C. & E [illegible] Davis of Ky. are here & both leading spirits. Humphrey Marshall is also here or has been & Daniel Allman, prominent friends as you know of Fillmore. Fillmore is talked of among them for the Presy., & Davis also. Houston also, but not much so far as I learn. He, by the way, was the favorite of the gentlemen I first named.

These are some of the straws I see floating. They indicate that the current (nationally) will not float as we would wish. But it may in the State.

All we have to do, at all events, seems to me to maintain our principles; act with no organization that dishonors them; cooperate frankly with any which does not; & bide our time. * * *

SOURCE: Diary and correspondence of Salmon P. ChaseAnnual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 265-6

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, June 3, 1862

Flat Top Mountain, June 3, 1862.

Dearest:  — I am made happy by your letter of the 24th and the picture of Webb. Enclosed I send Webb a letter from Lieutenant Kennedy.

I am not surprised that you have been some puzzled to make out our movements and position from the confused accounts you see in the papers. Our log-book would run about this way: Flat Top Mountain, twenty miles south of Raleigh, is the boundary line between America and Dixie — between western Virginia, either loyal or subdued, and western Virginia, rebellious and unconquered. [Here follows an account of the movements and activities of the regiment during May, which is a repetition in brief of previous letters and Diary entries.] Here we are safe as a bug in a rug — the enemy more afraid of us than we are of them — and some of us do fear them quite enough. My opinion was, we ought to have fought Marshall at Princeton, but it is not quite certain.

All our regiments have behaved reasonably well except [the] Thirty-fourth, Piatt's Zouaves, and Paxton's Cavalry. Don't abuse them, but they were pretty shabby. The zouaves were scattered seventy miles, reporting us all cut to pieces, etc., etc. Enough of war.

The misfortune of our situation is, we have not half force enough for our work. If we go forward the enemy can come in behind us and destroy valuable stores, cut off our supplies, and cut through to the Ohio River, — for we are not strong enough to leave a guard behind us.

We look with the greatest interest to the great armies. Banks' big scare will do good. It helps us to about fifty thousand new men.

I nearly forgot to tell you how we were all struck by lightning on Saturday. We had a severe thunder-storm while at supper. We were outside of the tent discussing lightning — the rapidity of sound, etc., etc., Avery and Dr. McCurdy both facing me, Dr. Joe about a rod off, when there came a flash and shock and roar. The sentinel near us staggered but did not fall. Dr. McCurdy and Avery both felt a pricking sensation on the forehead. I felt as if a stone had hit me in the head. Captain Drake's arm was benumbed for a few minutes. My horse was nearly knocked down. Some horses were knocked down. Five trees near by were hit, and perhaps one hundred men more or less shocked, but strange to say “nobody hurt.”

All things still look well for a favorable conclusion to the war. I do not expect to see it ended so speedily as many suppose, but patience will carry us through.

I thought of you before I got up this morning, saying to myself, “Darling Lucy, I love you so much,” and so I do.

Affectionately,
R.
Mrs. Hayes.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 285-6

Monday, December 12, 2016

Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Saturday, May 24, 1862


Flat Top Mountain. — Cold, rainy, and windy, — an old-fashioned storm. Men bivouacking! Colonel Crook, of [the] Third Brigade, was attacked yesterday morning by General Heth with the same force which drove me out of Giles. Colonel Crook had parts or the whole of three regiments. He defeated Heth and captured four of his cannon. Our loss, ten killed and forty wounded. Enemy routed and one hundred prisoners. What an error that General Cox didn't attack Williams and Marshall at Princeton! Then we should have accomplished something.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 277

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: January 1, 1863

This first day of the year dawned in gloom, but the sun, like the sun of Austerlitz, soon beamed forth in great splendor upon a people radiant with smiles and exalted to the empyrean.

A letter from Gen. H. Marshall informed the government that Gen. Floyd had seized slaves in Kentucky and refused to restore them to their owners, and that if the government did not promptly redress the wrong, the Kentuckians would at once “take the law into their own hands.”
We had a rumor (not yet contradicted) that the enemy, or traitors, had burned the railroad bridge between Bristol and Knoxville, cutting our communication with the West.

Then it was said (and it was true) that Gen. Lee had sent his artillery back some 30 miles this side of the Rappahannock, preparatory to going into winter quarters. But this was no occasion for gloom. Lee always knows what is best to be done.

Next there was a rumor (not yet confirmed, but credited) that Stuart had made another of his wonderful reconnoissances, capturing prisoners and destroying much of the enemy's stores beyond the Rappahannock.

Then came a dispatch from Bragg which put us almost “beside” ourselves with joy, and caused even enemies to pause and shake hands in the street. Yesterday he attacked Rosecrans's army near Murfreesborough, and gained a great victory. He says he drove him from all his positions, except on the extreme left, and after ten hours' fighting, occupied the whole of the field except (those exceptions!) the point named. We had, as trophies, thirty-one guns, two generals, 4000 prisoners, and 200 wagons. This is a Western dispatch, it is true, but it has Bragg's name to it, and he does not willingly exaggerate. Although I, for one, shall await the next dispatches with anxiety, there can be no question about the victory on the last day of the bloody year 1862. Bragg says the loss was heavy on both sides.

I noticed that one of the brass pieces sent down by Lee to go to North Carolina had been struck by a ball just over the muzzle, and left a glancing mark toward the touch-hole. That ball, probably, killed one of our gunners.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 227

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, May 22, 1862


Camp Flat Top Mountain, May 22, 1862.

Dearest: — I have written you one or two letters which I suspect fell into the hands of the enemy, but ere this, I do not doubt, you have received dispatches and word by Thomas which relieves you of all trouble on my account.

We have had a good deal of war this month. More than half the time during two weeks we were in the presence of the enemy. Most of the time they [we] were either pursuing them or they were crowding us. The number killed and wounded, considering the amount of firing, was not large. I suppose the total loss of this army would not exceed two hundred. Our force is not strong enough to do the work before us. We have so many points to garrison and so long a line of communications to protect, that it leaves a very small force to push on with. . . .

Before this reaches you, the great battles of the war will probably be fought. If successful, we shall not meet with much determined opposition hereafter. I was sent to meet a flag of truce sent by General Williams and Humphrey Marshall this morning. The officers talk in a high tone still, but the privates are discouraged, and would be gladly at home on any terms.

Affectionately,
R.
Mrs. Hayes.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 276

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Sunday, May 18, 1862

Sunday!! Came again unawares upon me at Princeton. At 1 or 2 A. M. aroused to prepare to move. Moved off quietly; got off, again unmolested, to this point, viz., Bluestone River, Mercer County, Virginia. I hope this is the last of the retreat. We have [the] Thirty-fourth, Twenty-eight, Twelfth, Twenty-third, Thirtieth, Thirty-seventh O. V. I.; Second Virginia Cavalry; and Simmonds' and McMullen's Batteries. The enemy reported to have three thousand or so under General Heth and five thousand or so under General Humphrey Marshall. The numbers are nothing, but at present our communications can't well be kept up. All will soon be remedied under Fremont. Then, forward again! In the fights we have lost in our army, chiefly Thirty-seventh and Thirty-fourth, near one hundred killed, wounded, and prisoners.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 271-2

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: December 9, 1862

W——1, another of Provost Marshal Griswold's policemen, has arrived in Washington. I never doubted he was secretly in the Yankee service here, where many of his fellows still remain, betraying the hand that feeds them. Gen. Winder and the late Secretaries of War must be responsible for all the injury they may inflict upon the country.

Yesterday, the President received a letter from a gentleman well known to him, asserting that if Mississippi and Alabama be overrun by the enemy, a large proportion of the people of those States will certainly submit to the Government of the United States. The President sent this letter to the Secretary of War “for his information.”

A letter from W. P. Harris, Jackson, Mississippi, urges the government to abandon the cities and eastern seaboard, and concentrate all the forces in the West, for the defense of the Mississippi Valley and River, else the latter must be lost, which will be fatal to the cause, etc.

Hon. J. H. Reagan has written a savage letter to the Secretary of War, withdrawing certain papers relating to an application for the discharge from service of his brother-in-law, on account of feeble health. He says he will not await the motions (uncertain) of the circumlocution office, and is unwilling to produce evidence of his statements of the disability of his relative. Mr. Seddon will doubtless make a spirited response to this imputation on his office.

We have a rumor that Morgan has made another brilliant raid into Kentucky, capturing 1800 of the enemy.

The small-pox is spreading in this city to an alarming extent. This is the feast to which Burnside is invited. They are vaccinating the clerks in the departments.

Gen. Floyd writes the government that, as the enemy cannot advance from the West before spring, Echol's and Marshall's forces (10,000) might be used on the seaboard. I wish they were here.

The United States forces in the field, by their own estimates, amount to 800,000. We have not exceeding 250,000; but they are not aware of that.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 208

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes to Colonel Eliakim P. Scammon, Monday, May 5, 1862

Camp Number 5, Princeton, May 5, 1862.

Sir: — This whole region is completely conquered. Rapid movement is all that is needed to take possession of the railroad and several good counties without opposition. Militiamen are coming in glad to take the oath and get home "to work crops." A part of Jenifer's force retreated through Tazewell, abandoning Jeffersonville and it is reported burning it. Humphrey Marshall is reported on the railroad and near or at Wytheville. The Forty-fifth retreated on to Giles abandoning the Narrows, leaving the position deserted. These are the reports. Not perfectly reliable, but I am inclined to credit them. At the Rocky Gap many muskets even were burned, the militiamen thinking it safer to return home unarmed. There is a report from Tazewell that a battalion of cavalry is approaching through Logan and McDowell, the other part of the Second Virginia. If so they will meet with no opposition worth naming. It is about certain that the enemy had but one cannon at the Narrows. All I give you is rumor, or the nature of rumor, except the conduct and disposition of the new militia. I hear that from their own lips. An active command can push to the railroad, taking coffee, salt, and sugar, and subsist itself long enough to get the railroad from Newbern a hundred miles west. I speak of the future in the way of suggestion that your thoughts may turn towards planning enterprises before the scare subsides. The rations I speak of because we ought to have a larger supply of some things, counting upon the country for the others. Colonel Little will send in reports perfectly reliable as to the Narrows tomorrow. I hear a report that the enemy — the Forty-fifth — didn't stop at Giles but kept on towards Newbern! I give these reports as showing the drift of feeling in this country, and [as] hints at truth rather than truth itself.

Monday night. — I now have reliable information of the enemy, I think. It differs in many respects from rumors mentioned in the foregoing. The Forty-fifth Regiment during Friday and Saturday straggled back to its camp at the mouth of Wolf Creek, a short distance above the Narrows. About four-fifths of the force got back foot-sore, without hats, coats, knapsacks, and arms in many cases. In the course of Friday and Saturday a considerable part (perhaps half) of the cavalry we drove from here reached the same point (mouth of Wolf Creek) having passed through Rocky Gap and thence taken the Wolf Creek and Tazewell Road easterly. On Saturday evening they were preparing to leave camp; the Forty-fifth to go to Richmond whither they had just been ordered, and the cavalry and the few militia were to go with them as far as Dublin. The militia were uncertain whether they were to remain at Dublin or go west to the Salt Works in Washington and Wythe Counties. They all expected to be gone from Wolf Creek and the Narrows during Sunday. There would be no fighting the Yankees this side of Dublin — possibly at Dublin a fight. The militia of Wythe, Grayson, and Carroll, seven hundred strong, are the force [at] Wytheville. At Abbington, one thousand [of] Floyd's men. In Russell County Humphrey Marshall is still reported with three thousand men badly armed and worse disciplined. The great Salt Works (King's) work four hundred [men], ten furnaces, and turn out seventeen hundred bushels every twenty-four hours. No armed force there. All this from contrabands and substantially correct.

Later. — Seven more contrabands just in. They report that on Sunday the Forty-fifth and other forces, except about thirty guards of baggage, left the vicinity of the Narrows arriving at Giles Court-house Sunday afternoon on their way to Dublin Depot; that from there they expected to go west to Abbington. The contrabands passed the Narrows; only a small guard was there with a few tents and wagons. No cannon were left there. I do not doubt the general truthfulness of the story. It confirms the former. The enclosed letters perhaps contain something that ought to be known to General Fremont; if so you can extract a fact or two to telegraph. They were got from the last mail sent here by the Rebels. The carrier stopped seven miles south of here and the mail [was] picked up there.

I wish to send three companies or so to the Narrows immediately to see if we can catch the guard and baggage left behind. If you approve send me word back immediately and I will start the expedition in the morning.

Latest. — Two more contrabands!! We can surely get the baggage in six hours (eighteen miles) without difficulty. Do send the order.

Respectfully,
R. B. Hayes,
Lieutenant-colonel 23D Regiment O. V. I.,
Commanding Detachment.
[colonel Scammon.]

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 251-3

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: November 27, 1862

Some of the late Secretary's friends are hinting that affairs will go amiss now, as if he wonld have prevented any disaster! Who gave up Norfolk? That was a calamitous blunder! Letters from North Carolina are distressing enough. They say, but for the influence of Gov. Vance, the legislature would favor reconstruction!

Gen. Marshall writes lugubriously. He says his men are all barefoot.

Gen. Magruder writes that Pemberton has only 20,000 men, and should have 50,000 more at once — else the Mississippi Valley will be lost, and the cause ruined. He thinks there should be a concentration of troops there immediately, no matter how much other places might suffer; the enemy beaten, and the Mississippi secured at all hazards. If not, Mobile is lost, and perhaps Montgomery, as well as Vicksburg, Holly Springs, etc.

One of our paroled men from Washington writes the President that, on the 6th instant, Burnside had but seventy regiments; and the President seemed to credit it! The idea of Burnside advancing with seventy regiments is absurd. But how many absurd ideas have been entertained by the government, and have influenced it! Nous verrons.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 197

Saturday, October 1, 2016

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: November 20, 1862

A letter from Brig. H. Marshall, Abingdon, Ky., in reply to one from the Secretary, says his Kentuckians are not willing to be made Confederate hog-drivers, but they will protect the commissary's men in collecting and removing the hogs. Gen. M. criticises Gen. Bragg's campaign very severely. He says the people of Kentucky looked upon their fleeting presence as a horse-show, or military pageantry, and not as indicating the stern reality of war. Hence they did not rise in arms, and hence their diffidence in following the fortunes of the new Confederacy. Gen. M. asks if it is the purpose of the government to abandon Kentucky, and if so, is he not functus officio, being a Kentucky general, commanding Kentucky troops?

Col. Myers has placed on file in the department a denial of having said to Gen. Wise's quartermaster, “Let them suffer.”

Several ladies, near relatives of Judge Campbell, Assistant Secretary of War, came over yesterday under flag of truce. They lived, I believe, in Alexandria.

Another requisition has been made by the engineer for 5000 negroes to work on the fortifications of Richmond.

No letters were received from Gen. Lee to-day, and he may be (busy in the field. Accounts say the enemy is planting batteries in the heights opposite Fredericksburg.

It has been raining occasionally the last day or two. I hope the ground is soft, and the mud deep; if so, Burnside cannot move on Richmond, and we shall have time to prepare for “contingencies.”

Yesterday salt sold at auction for $1.30 per pound. We are getting into a pretty extreme condition.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 193-4

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Senator William H. Seward to Thurlow Weed, April 29, 1859

Washington, April 29, 1859.

Dear Weed, — The southern and western politicians have habits and usages different from ours. They come upon me with a directness which confounds me. I have two or three subjects submitted by them which I propose to you now, because in the hurry of preparing my business for departure for Europe I must save time. You can keep this letter at hand and refer to it at leisure.

Many southern gentlemen express to me a wish that the national convention may be held somewhere on the border. Without expressing any opinion about it as an abstract question, I think our friends ought to know that it was understood at Washington that Humphrey Marshall intends to go over to the Democrats. If Louisville should be suggested as the place, the committee would of course consider Mr. Marshall's position in connection with the subject. It might have a bearing against such a selection.

The Baltimore “———” is in trouble. Mayor Swayne, Judge Lee, Mr. Cole, and others there want to have the paper reorganized and brought into the position of an organ in that State and for the country south of the Potomac, of the Republican party. They had Simon Cameron over there a week or two ago to confer. They think they will need some funds from the North, but I am satisfied that if they only had the benefit of your advice and Cameron's, they would be able to subscribe all the funds they want, and would promptly do so. Cameron and I promised them that we would ask you to meet him there. Cameron knows them all, and he will go at any time.

Speaking of Cameron, I promised him when he left Washington to spend a day or so with him on my way home. He took me to his house, told me all was right. He was for me, and Pennsylvania would be. It might happen that they would cast the first ballot for him, but he was not in, etc. He brought the whole legislature of both parties to see me, feasted them gloriously, and they were in the main so generous as to embarrass me.

I have Stetson's letter to you. Corwin is uneasy and fidgety; but persons who live in Ohio have excuses. They are inheritors of a noble reversion, and they would like to extinguish the present estate without being able or willing to pay its cost. He wrote me a month ago, inclosing a pitiful piece of twaddle from a correspondent of the “Express,” saying that he was against me as everybody else was. He contradicted the allegation, and said that the Cincinnati “Gazette” would contain an authorized denial. . . .

You will find John S. Pendleton, of Virginia, bold enough and well disposed for anything. The man in the District of Columbia is Henry Addison, now Mayor of Georgetown. He is wise, honest, indomitable and unreserved. You may send him safely anywhere.

Yours faithfully,
William H. Seward.

SOURCE: Harriet A. Weed, Editor, Life of Thurlow Weed Including His Autobiography and a Memoir, Volume 2, p. 256-7

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: September 15, 1862

Our flag floats over the Capitol at Frankfort! And Gen. Marshall, lately the exile and fugitive, is encamped with his men on his own farm, near Paris.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 153

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Diary of Salmon P. Chase: Thursday, September 25, 1862

At Department as usual. The President sent for me to meet the Secretary of War. Found he had nothing to talk about except the supply of an additional sum to Gov. Gamble, of Missouri, to be used in defending the State against invasion and guerillaism. Agreed to confer with the Secretary of War on the subject. Enquired as to progress of the War. No information, and nothing satisfactory as to what is to be expected. Coming out Stanton told me that McClellan wants bridges built across the Potomac and Shenandoah, as preliminaries to movement; to which Halleck wont consent. Dan helps Zeke doing nothing.1

Delighted this morning by news of Gen. Wadsworth's nomination for Governor of New York, on the first ballot.

In the afternoon, went with Garfield to see Hooker, who was very free in his expressions about McClellan. He said it was not true that either the army or the officers were specially attached to him; that only two corps, whose commanders were special favorites and whose troops had special indulgences, could be said to care anything about him; that other officers — he himself certainly — thought him not fit to lead a great army; that he is timid and hesitating when decision is necessary; that the battle of Antietam was near being lost by his way of fighting it, whereas, had the attack been simultaneous and vigorous on the enemy's right, center and left, the rout would have been complete; that our force in the battle exceeded the enemy's by 30,000 men, and that the defeat of the enemy should have been final. He said also, that when Pope had drawn off a large part of the rebel force from Richmond and orders came to McClellan to withdraw, he urged him to give, on the contrary, orders for advance; that the orders were actually given and then revoked, much to his chagrin. This recalled to my mind a conversation with Gen. Halleck at that time. I said to him, that it seemed to me our people could now certainly take Richmond by a vigorous push, as Pope had 60,000 of the rebels before him, and at least half of the remaining 60,000 were south of the James, leaving only 30,000 with the fortifications on the north side; to which Gen. Halleck replied, that it was too dangerous an undertaking. I said, “If this cannot be done, why not return to Fredericksburgh, leaving Richmond on the left?” “This,” he said, “would be quite as dangerous — a flank movement, in which our army would be exposed to being cut off and totally lost.” Gen. Hooker said that the movement I suggested could have been executed with safety and success. He said, also, that he was somewhat reconciled to leaving the Peninsula by being told that it was a plan for getting rid of McClellan, and the only one which it was thought safe to adopt. This he thought so essential, that anything necessary to it was to be accepted.

Returning from Gen. Hooker's, as well as going, Gen. Garfield gave me some very interesting portions of his own experience. This fine officer was a laborer on a canal in his younger days. Inspired by a noble ambition, he had availed himself of all means to acquire knowledge — became a Preacher of the Baptist Church — was made the President of a flourishing Literary Institution on the Reserve — was elected to the Ohio Senate, and took a conspicuous part as a Republican leader. On the breaking out of the War he became a Colonel — led his regiment into Eastern Kentucky — fought Humphrey Marshall near Prestonburgh — gained position rapidly — was made at my instance, a Brigadier — fought under Buell at Shiloh — and was now in Washington by direction of the Secretary of War, who proposes to give him the Department of Florida. A large portion of his regiment, he said, was composed of students from his college.

Went to Seward's to dinner, where I met the Marquis of Cavendish, and his brother, Col. Leslie of the British Army; Mr. Stuart and Mr. Kennedy of the British Legation; Genl. Banks, and Mr. Everett. Gen. Banks earnest against more separation of forces until the rebel army is crushed.

Home. Found there Genl. and Mrs. McDowell. Soon after, Capt. and Mrs. Loomis came in. Could not help the Captain who wished to be Quartermaster of Genl. Sigel's Corps.

To bed tired and unwell
________________

1 A reference to the familiar story of Daniel Webster's boyhood.

SOURCE: Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 94-6

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: November 23, 1861

J. C. Breckinridge and Humphrey Marshall, of Kentucky, have been here; and both have been made brigadier-generals, and assigned to duty in the West. Although the former retained his seat in the Senate of the United States for many months after the war began, no one doubts that he is now with us, and will do good service.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 95

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Brigadier-General Don Carlos Buell’s General Orders No. 4a, January 20, 1862

GENERAL ORDERS No. 4a.

HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE OHIO,
Louisville, Ky., January 20, 1862.

The general commanding takes occasion to thank Colonel Garfield and his troops for their successful campaign against the rebel force under General Marshall on the Big Sandy and their gallant conduct in battle. They have overcome formidable difficulties in the character of the country, the condition of the roads, and the inclemency of the season, and without artillery have, in several engagements, terminating with the battle on Middle Creek on the 10th instant, driven the enemy from his intrenched position and forced him back into the mountains with the loss of a large amount of baggage and stores and many of his men killed or captured. These services have called into action the highest qualities of a soldier – perseverance and courage.

By command of General Buell:
 JAMES B. FRY,
 Assistant Adjutant-Genera, and Chief of Staff.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 7 (Serial No. 7), p. 24; William Ralston Balch, The Life of James Abram Garfield, p. 181-2

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Colonel James A. Garfield to Capt. J. B. Fry, January 11, 1862

HEADQUARTERS EIGHTEENTH BRIGADE,
Prestonburg, Ky., January 11, 1862.

I left Paintsville on Thursday noon with 1,100 men, and drove in the enemy's pickets 2 miles beyond Prestonburg. The men slept on their arms. At 4 o'clock yesterday morning we moved toward the main body of the enemy at the Forks of Middle Creek, under command of Marshall. Skirmishing with his outposts began at 8 o'clock, and at 1 o'clock p.m. we engaged his force of 2,500 men and three cannon posted on the hill. Fought them until dark. Having been re-enforced by 700 men from Paintsville, drove the enemy from all their positions. He carried off the majority of his dead and all his wounded. This morning we found 27 of his dead on the field. His killed cannot be less than 60. We have taken 25 prisoners, 10 horses, and a quantity of stores. The enemy burned most of his stores and fled precipitately.

To-day I have crossed the river, and am now occupying Prestonburg. Our loss 2 killed and 25 wounded.

 J. A. GARFIELD,
 Colonel, Commanding Brigade.
Capt. J. B. FRY,
Assistant Adjutant-General.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 7 (Serial No. 7), p. 29; Corydon Eustathius Fuller, Reminiscences of James A. Garfield: With Notes Preliminary and Collateral, p. 324

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Headquarters Mountain Department, Franklin, Va., Via Baltimore, May 17, 1862.

Unofficial dispatches, but considered reliable, announce that Princeton, capitol of Mercer, where Gen. Cox’s advance was stationed, was attacked and captured yesterday by rebels under Humphrey Marshall.  This morning the place was recaptured and the rebels defeated by Cox.  No particulars.  Scouts report the rebels have been reinforced.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, May 20, 1862, p. 2

Friday, April 19, 2013

Signs of Despair among the Rebels


The tone of the Southern press grown more and more desponding.  We observe several recent articles from Southern newspapers which show that hope and confidence are wavering in view of the situation.  It is quite evident that there is a foreboding of the end now apparently near and inevitable.

The Richmond Examiner of the 16th of instance “sees but one chance of success from the net that has been coolly drawn around us, it is to concentrate our energy on one point and cut it through to convert our defensive into an offensive war and transfer the scenes of at least a part of these hostilities to the enemy’s own country.  Situated as we are, it is only possible at one point, and that is Kentucky.”

But since the time when the Examiner discovered one possible point in Kentucky the army of Zollicoffer, which held the key to Tennessee has been utterly routed and dispersed.  The examiner anticipated the movement and declared that if the plan of Buell – that is of flanking Bowling Green on either side – was successful, it must result in a great disaster.  “Its only hope then was in an offensive campaign across the Ohio from the point that Gen. Johnston now defends.”

But when the intelligence which had not then reached Richmond, of the utter rout of Humphrey Marshall’s forces at Prestonburg and of Zollicoffer’s defeat at Somerset, which took place three days afterwards, became fully know that “only hope” must have perished.

The Richmond Whig of the 17th apparently to counteract the discouraging effect of the Examiner of the day previous, said, “Let us turn for a moment to the West, Price, Polk, Marshall and Zollicoffer having whipped the cowardly mercenaries at every point.”  Of course this was intended to cheer up the despondent Southern ear, but how much more disheartening must be the reaction when the truth was known.

The Richmond Dispatch discovers that even in Richmond there are men who are loyal to the Union and the fervor of its denunciation of such indicate clearly the fear that Union sentiments may become contagious as the fortunes of the Confederacy from day to day become more gloomy.

The Trenton (Tennessee) Standard “regrets to say considerable evidence of disloyalty to the Confederate Government has been manifested in West Tennessee,” designating the counties of Carroll, Weakly and McNairy as the localities of formidable Unionism and resistance.  In that part of the State, too, where secession in the start, had unresisted and absolute sway.

The articles we recently published from the Memphis Argus, where filled with the most bitter hostility to Jeff. Davis and his conduct of the war.  There would be no utterances of that sort – no recrimination so intensely wrathful except in the abandonment of all hope of present success under his auspices.

All these things clearly denote the growing suspicion, at least in the minds of sharp intelligent observers of events, that the catastrophe is not very far off.  They perceive how completely they are beleaguered by hostile forces on every hand – that the Port Royal expedition is still in potential activity in the heart of South Carolina, that Burnside’s expedition, whatever the point to which it is directed, will meet no adequate opposing force; that Butler has a position on the Gulf coast where he can assail either Mobile or New Orleans at pleasure; that Lane’s expedition will soon move down through Arkansas and Louisiana irresistible.  In short, turn which way they will, now that the hope of our instant war with England, on which they counted, is dissipated, there is nothing but black, rayless despair. – {St. Louis Democrat.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, February 1, 1862, p. 3

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Col. James. A. Garfield . . .

. . .by whom Humphrey Marshall was defeated in Kentucky, is a native of Ohio, and graduated at Williams college in 1856.  He was elected to the Ohio Senate in 1859 and was appointed colonel of an Ohio [remainder of article missing].

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, February 1, 1862, p. 1.  The bottom of the article was cut off when it was microfilmed.