Showing posts with label NY Tribune. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NY Tribune. Show all posts

Friday, May 15, 2020

Diary of Edward Bates: July 22, 1864

In C.[abinet] C[ouncil]—present, Welles, Usher, Blair, Bates, and part of the time, Fessenden. absent Seward and Stanton—

The Prest. gave a minute account of the (pretended) attempt to negotiate for peace, thro' George [N.] Sanders, Clem. C. Clay and Holcolm[be] by the agency of that meddlesome blockhead, Jewitt [Jewett] and Horace Greel[e]y. He read us all the letters.

I am surprised to find the Prest. green enough to be entrapped into such a correspondence; but being in, his letters seem to me cautious and prudent.

Jewitt [Jewett] a crack-brained simpleton (who aspires to be a knave, while he really belongs to a lower order of entities) opens the affair, by a letter and telegram to Greel[e]y; and Greel[e]y carries on the play, by writing to the President, to draw him out, and, if possible, commit him, to his hurt — while the pretended Confederate Commissioners play dumby, — wa[i]ting to avail themselves of some probable blunder, on this side.

I noticed that the gentlemen present were, at first, very chary, in speaking of Greel[e]y, evidently afraid of him and his paper, the Tribune; and so, I said “I cant [sic] yet see the color of the cat, but there is certainly a cat in that mealtub.” The contrivers of the plot counted largely on the Presidents [sic] gullibility, else they never would have started it by the agency of such a mad fellow as Jewitt [Jewett] — perhaps they used him prudently, thinking that if bluffed off, at the start, they might pass it off as a joke.

I consider it a very serious affair — a double trick. — On the part of the Rebel Commissioners (now at Niagara, on the Canada side) the hope might have been entertained that a show of negotiation for peace might produce a truce, relax the war, and give them a breathing spell, at this critical moment of their fate. And as for Greel[e]y, I think he was cunningly seeking to make a pretext for bolting the Baltimore nomination.

The President, I fear, is afraid of the Tribune, and thinks he cant [sic] afford to have it for an enemy. And Usher tries to deepen that impression. But Blair says there is no danger of that; that Greel[e]y is restrained by Hall,1 who controls the paper, and Greel[e]y too, owning 6/10 of the stock, and is a fast friend of the President — (of that? [I question.])

<[Note.] Oct [ ]. It appears that Greel[e]y is now ruled in, as Blair said. He is now a sound (?) Lincoln man — Elector at large, for the State of N. Y! Having, vainly, exhausted his strength against Mr. Lincoln's candidacy, he now, adopts the candidate (manifestly forced upon him, by popular demonstration) and plays the next best game, i. e. tries to convert him to his own use, by making him as great a Radical as himself. >
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1 Henry Hall, son of a leading New York jurist, was connected with the Tribune for twenty-six years during eighteen of which he was business manager.

SOURCE: Edward Bates, Diary of Edward Bates, p. 388-9

Thursday, October 8, 2009

An Historic Battlefield – The Siege of Yorktown in 1781

History repeats itself; and in the siege now in progress before Yorktown, we have on a much large scale, the repetition of the siege of 1781, to result, we cannot doubt, in like manner – in the triumph of Liberty over its enemies.

On the 28th of September, 1781, Gen. Washington marched from Williamsburg, on the peninsula between the James and York rivers, for the even then old Yorktown. He was accompanied by Rochambeau, Chatelleux Du Porteall of the French army. Lafayette was already in advance, and the Count de Grasse lay off with the French fleet in Lynhaven Bay. The allied army, including militia, amounted to about 16,000 men. The English army did not number more than 7,500.

The main body of the English, under Lord Cornwallis, was encamped in the open ground around the town, within the range of outer redoubts and field works calculated to command the peninsula, while a detachment of 600 or 700 men held Gloucester Point, projecting from the opposite shore far into the river, and narrowing it to the space of one mile. Communication between was protected by the batteries and English ships-of-war lying under the batteries.

The allied army advanced upon the town – the Americans having the right and the French having the left – and pressed on so eagerly that in the night of the 30th, Lord Cornwallis withdrew from his outer lines, and the works he had evacuated were the next day occupied by the besieging army which invested the position in a semicircle; 2,000 men were stationed on the Gloucester side for the purpose of keeping up a rigorous blockade, which after a sharp skirmish, terminating unfavorably for the British, they made no further attempt to interrupt.

On the night of Oct. 6, the first parallel was opened within 600 yards of the British lines, and by the evening of the 9th several batteries and redoubts were completed, and the fire of the allies became very effective, compelling the enemy in many cases to withdraw his cannon from over the town, set fire to the Chaser frigate, of 44 guns, and several transports, which were entirely consumed.

The second parallel was opened on the night of the 11th, within 300 yards of the British lines, when finding that it was flanked by two advance redoubts in front of the British works, it was determined on the 14th to carry them by storm, and accordingly two attacking parties, one American, led by Lafayette, with whom served Alexander Hamilton, as Lieut. Colonel, the other French, led by the Baron de Viomenil, toward the close of the day rushed upon their works, and, though receiving a hot and rapid fire, returned not a single shot, but carried them at the point of the bayonet – Hamilton leading the American column with his battalion of light infantry. These captured works being now included in the second parallel, the fire upon the fort became so fierce that surrender seemed unavoidable. A vigorous sortie, led by Lieut. Col. Abercrombie, was made on the 16th of October, but was triumphantly repulsed, and Lord Cornwallis then conceived the desperate plan of passing his force over to Gloucester Point, and thence, mounting them as best he might by impressed horses – to force his way through Maryland to Philadelphia. A part of the army were actually thus transferred, when a storm arose, which put an end to the transportation of the rest of the army, and as soon as possible those sent over were brought back. On the morning of the 17th the fire of the allies became so hot that the place was no longer tenable, and Lord Cornwallis asked a cessation of hostilities for twenty-four hours, and the appointment of Commissioners to treat of surrender.

Gen. Washington replied that only for two hours could he consent to suspend hostilities and transmitted at the time such articles of capitulation as he would be willing to grant. Commissioners were appointed in conformity, on the 18th on both sides – Viscount de [Noailles] and Col. Laurens on the side of the Allies, Colonel Dundas and Major Ross, on behalf of the English. They agreed upon certain articles, of which a rough copy only a rough copy was made, but this General Washington transmitted to Lord Cornwallis early on the 19th, expression his expectations that the terms would be agreed to and signed by 11 o’clock, and that the garrison would march out by 2 p.m. Accordingly at that hour the posts of Yorktown and Gloucester Point, with their garrisons, and the ships in their harbor with their seamen, were surrendered to the land naval forces of America and France. The army, artillery, arms, military chest, and public stores of every kind, were surrendered to Gen. Washington – the ships and seamen to Count de Grasse; the total number of prisoners, excluding seamen, rather exceeded 7,000 men, among whom were two generals, thirty-one field officers, three hundred and twenty-six captains and subalterns, &c.

The negotiation of surrender was opened on the eleventh day after breaking ground, and the capitulation was signed on the thirteenth day.

The military and naval forces surrender as “prisoners of war – the artillery, arms, accoutrements, and military chests and public stores of every denomination, to be delivered up unimpaired – the garrison to march out at 2 o’clock, to a place appointed in front of the post, with shouldered arms, colors cased, and drums beating – they are then to ground their arms and return to their encampment – officers to retain their side-arms, and officers and soldiers to keep their property, and no part of their baggage or papers to be subject to search or inspection.” The spot on which this memorable surrender was made is well known. It is designated in a plan of the siege, and is soon, we may trust to be rendered more memorable by a like surrender of a much larger army – and thus combine in one glorious memory two great victories on the same ground. – {N. Y. Tribune, 17th.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 26, 1862, p. 2

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Unionism in the Mountains of North Carolina – “A Riot”

The Stars and Stripes are flying in the western counties of North Carolina. All through the mountain region the old flag can be seen, where brave men have collected together to defend it honor.

Soon after Newbern was captured an important engagement took place in the western part of the State between a large rebel force and the Union Home Guards, resulting in a complete rout of the former, who, it appears, lost all the guns belonging to one battery, all the camp equipage, wagons, and supplies of all kinds, belonging to the rebel force, with three companies of cavalry, which were entirely cut off, and obliged to surrender, or in other words, “were retained.” The Raleigh Standard called it a “most disgraceful riot,” which is truly a very polite term for a defeat. It appears that the Union men in the mountains had been hanging a notorious rebel character, one Col. Dodge, who had charge of the militia, and had resorted to a sweeping imprisonment; hence the difficulty.

The Union men are strongly in the ascendency through the western counties of this State, are all armed, and have a complete organization under competent leaders. The Standard says they have threatened to take Raleigh, and suggests the importance of fortifying the city in every direction, and a general fall back of their rebel forces in the State to that point. – Newbern cor. Of N. Y. Tribune.

– Published in the Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 26, 1862, p. 2