Showing posts with label Ohio River. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ohio River. Show all posts

Monday, March 11, 2024

Diary of Private Adam S. Johnston, February 14, 1862

Left Camp Woodsonville, Ky., on our first march or counter-march, for two months all but two days remaining in this camp. Getting marching orders to our whole Western Army to right-about or counter-march to West Point, 20 miles down the Ohio river, below Louisville, going a march of 14 miles through mud and snow six inches deep, and encamp the night, not having our tents with us, on account of the roads being so bad that our baggage-wagons could not reach us; so we had to make ourselves as comfortable as possible by building square pens of rails, and sleeping on the tops of these pens, to keep us out of the snow and from the frosts of winter.

SOURCE: Adam S. Johnston, The Soldier Boy's Diary Book, p. 10

Monday, February 19, 2024

Diary of Private Adam S. Johnston, October 17, 1861

Left Pittsburgh for Louisville, being ten days in Camp Wilkins, getting equipped and fitted out. Went on board the "Silver Wave" steamboat, and a short time after the front part of the hurricane deck gave way, letting many of our soldiers and musicians fall to the lower deck, hurting two men badly. We moved down the Ohio river three days and three nights, cheered from either shore by hundreds, and safely reached Louisville, Ky., on the 20th of October. Making a march of 625 miles.

SOURCE: Adam S. Johnston, The Soldier Boy's Diary Book, p. 9

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Diary of 1st Lieutenant Joseph Stockton, September 11, 1862

PADUCAH, KY.  On Saturday morning about five o'clock we were ordered to be ready to march in twenty-five minutes. We soon learned our destination was Paducah. We embarked at Cairo on board the "Fair Play." This boat had been captured from the rebels. We arrived here in the night time and on Sunday morning disembarked. This is a beautiful place and much preferable to Cairo. We are encamped on the banks of the Tennessee river on a bluff about fifty feet above the river and on a sandy soil which soon dries after a rain. On our arrival I was appointed "officer of the day" and had to make the grand rounds, which means to visit all the pickets. I had to ride about fifteen miles in a drenching rain at 12 o'clock at night but I did not mind it as I was only too glad to have something to do. Men are all better satisfied at getting south of the Ohio River as they feel they are now in the enemy's country. We are kept busy drilling in battalion drill which to me is preferable to company drill. There are a great many secessionists in this place and no doubt but what our movements are made known to the rebel officers daily. I forgot to say that our surgeon, Dr. E. Powell, is one of the best in the service. 1st Assistant Surgeon Dr. Durham is only a beginner.

SOURCE: Joseph Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph Stockton, p. 2

Monday, May 22, 2023

Senator Henry Clay to “General” Elijah Combs, January 22, 1850

WASHINGTON, January 22, 1850.

MY DEAR SIR,—I received your favor of the 15th, and I previously received other favors. I do not write often, because really I have nothing positive to communicate, and I have neither time nor inclination to write merely speculative letters.

Every thing here is uncertain—the Slavery question in all its bearings, California, New Mexico, Texas, etc.

Of course, provision for your debt, and all other debts of Texas, is among the uncertain things.

My relation with the President and his Cabinet is amicable, but not remarkably confidential with them all. I have neither sought nor declined confidential intercourse. I do not go out at night, and in the day time both they and I are too much engaged to see much of each other.

Are you not pushing subscriptions to railroads too far? We want one to the Ohio river; two would be better, and three better yet. But we ought not to go too fast.

I am awaiting with anxiety for popular expressions in Kentucky in favor of the Union, let what come that may. Is there not danger from delay that the contagion of disunion may seize you?

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 599

Thursday, August 11, 2022

William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, November 23, 1860

ALEXANDRIA, Nov. 23, 1860.

We are having a cold raw day and I avail myself of it to do a good deal of indoor work. I was out for some hours directing the making of the fence around our new house, but the work within proceeds very slowly indeed. Our house is all plastered and the carpenters are putting in the doors, windows, and casings. Also the painter is tinkering around, but at present rate the building will not be ready before Christ

I now have all arrangements made for your coming down about that time, but prudence dictates some caution as political events do seem portentous.

I have a letter from the cashier that he sent you the first of exchange, the second I now enclose to you for two hundred ninety dollars. But by the very mail which brought it came the rumor that the banks are refusing exchange on the North, which cannot be true; also that goods were being destroyed on the levee at New Orleans and that the Custom House was closed. I also notice that many gentlemen who were heretofore moderate in their opinions now begin to fall into the popular current and go with the mad foolish crowd that seems bent on a dissolution of this confederacy.

The extremists in this quarter took the first news of the election of Lincoln so coolly, that I took it for granted all would quietly await the issue; but I have no doubt that politicians have so embittered the feelings of the people that they think that the Republican Party is bent on abolitionism, and they cease to reason or think of consequences.

We are so retired up here, so much out of the way of news, that we hear nothing but stale exaggerations; but I feel that a change is threatened and I will wait patiently for a while. My opinions are not changed.

If the South is bent on disunion of course I will not ally our fate with theirs, because by dissolution they do not escape the very danger at which they grow so frantically mad. Slavery is in their midst and must continue, but the interest of slavery is much weaker in Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia, and Maryland than down here. Should the Ohio River become a boundary between the two new combinations, there will begin a new change. The extreme South will look on Kentucky and Tennessee as the North, and in a very few years the same confusion and disorder will arise, and a new dissolution, till each state and maybe each county will claim separate independence.

If South Carolina precipitate this Revolution it will be because she thinks by delay Lincoln's friends will kind of reconcile the middle, wavering states, whereas now they may raise the cry of abolition and unite all the Slave States. I had no idea that this would actually begin so soon, but the news from that quarter does look as though she certainly would secede, and that Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Texas would soon follow. All these might go and still leave a strong, rich confederated government, but then come Mississippi and Louisiana. As these rest on the Mississippi and control its mouth I know that the other states north will not submit to any molestation of the navigation by foreign states. If these two states go and Arkansas follows suit then there must be war, fighting, and that will continue until one or the other party is subdued.

If Louisiana call a convention I will not move, but if that convention resolve to secede on a contingency that I can foresee, then I must of course quit. It is not to be expected that the state would consent to trust me with arms and command if I did not go with them full length. I don't believe Louisiana would of herself do anything; but if South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas resolve no longer to wait, then Louisiana will do likewise. Then of course you will be safer where you are. As to myself I might have to go to California or some foreign country, where I could earn the means of living for you and myself. I see no chance in Ohio

A man is never a prophet in his own land and it does seem that nature for some wise purpose, maybe to settle wild lands, does ordain that man shall migrate, clear out from the place of his birth.

I did not intend to write so much, but the day is gloomy, and the last news from New Orleans decidedly so, if true. Among ourselves it is known that I am opposed to disunion in any manner or form. Prof. Smith ditto, unless Lincoln should actually encourage abolitionism after installed in office. Mr. Boyd thinks the denial to the southern people of access to new territories is an insult to which they cannot submit with honor and should not, let the consequences be what they may. Dr. Clarke is simply willing to follow the fortunes of the South, be what they may. Vallas and St. Ange, foreigners, don't care, but will follow their immediate self interests.

Thus we stand, about a fair sample of a mixed crowd; but 'tis now said all over the South the issue is made, and better secession now when they can than wait till it is too late. This is a most unfortunate condition of things for us, and I hardly know how to act with decency and firmness, and like most undecided men will wait awhile to see what others do; if feeling in South Carolina continues they must do something, else they will be the laughing stock of the world, and that is what they dread. For of all the states they can least afford to secede, as comparatively she is a weak and poor state. This on the contrary is destined to be a rich and powerful one. . .

SOURCE: Walter L. Fleming, General W.T. Sherman as College President, p. 305

Tuesday, August 9, 2022

Brigadier-General Rutherford B. Hayes to Sophia Birchard Hayes, May 14, 1865

MARIETTA, Ohio, May 14, 1865.

DEAR MOTHER:— Having business on this end of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, I came on this far to meet Lucy. She will go back to New Creek with me, and remain as long as I stay in the army that is about two weeks.

The weather is very fine, and I never saw the Ohio River and its hills and bottoms looking so well. We shall probably go up the Ohio to Wheeling, and thence by railroad back. I now intend to leave the army so as to get settled up and ready for home by the 10th to 15th of June. I shall go to Delaware and Fremont before Cincinnati.

Affectionately, your son,
R.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 583

Thursday, August 20, 2020

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: Saturday, March 8, 1862

This morning we are on the Ohio, and it is not long until we join the fleet that came before us from the Cumberland. Presently we make a turn and pass into the waters of the Tennessee river.

SOURCES: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 45-6

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: January 19, 1862

This morning we receive orders to pack up and move back to Fort Holt. We cross the creek on an old flat-boat bridge. The roads are terrible. We find it a very fatiguing tramp. We arrive at Fort Holt in the evening, almost exhausted by the hard march. All seem glad to again be ushered into their comfortable quarters.

For some days the effect of the forced march in mud and rain, through the swamps of Kentucky are felt by the Seventh. The remaining part of the month we remain quietly at Fort Holt, though sometimes it seemed that the rapid rise of the Ohio would compel us to evacuate, but the waters subsided without submerging us.

SOURCES: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 23

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: Sunday Morning, February 2, 1862

Sunday morning we are busily engaged packing up to leave the fort. Steamers are numerous in this vicinity now. Every day troops are passing up the Ohio river, and it is rumored that they head for the Tennessee. Some grand expedition on foot, as everything seems to indicate. We may follow soon. Where we will go, we cannot tell; only that our faces are being turned southward. I look around the camp to-night; I see strong men, full of life and hope. They may go down there ne'er to return again. Liberty will claim them, but in the years to come there will be a disenthralled race who will pass their graves and drop tears to their memory.

SOURCES: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 23-4

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: Monday Morning, February 3, 1862

The regiment takes passage on board the steamer City of Memphis, for parts unknown. Being nearly all day loading the camp and garrison equipage, the steamer does not move until 5 o'clock, P. M.

We now steer up the Ohio river; pass Paducah at midnight. The fourth dawns beautifully, finding us moving up the Tennessee river. Rumor has it that Fort Henry is our destination. The drums are now beating, colors flying and hearts beating high, for the face of the Seventh is Dixieward. The gun boats are leading the way, and five steamers follow in the wake of the Memphis. 'Tis evening now. We see in the dim distance Fort Henry's walls and the flaunting stars and bars. We disembark four miles from the Fort and go into camp on the bank of the river. Some one remarks that there is mud here, and so say we, and the most terrible mud. As the soldiers move through the camp this evening, their cry is: “No bottom !"

SOURCES: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 25

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Private Daniel L. Ambrose: July 17, 1861

From Cairo, on the seventeenth of [July], the regiment is marched up the Ohio river as far as Mound City, where it is quartered in a large brick building, on the bank of the river, which the Seventh will remember as Camp Joslyn, named in honor of Captain Joslyn of Company A. These were quiet days with the Seventh. In their ardor they felt in themselves the strength of giants.

SOURCES: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 8

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Major-General William T. Sherman to Lieutenant Governor Benjamin Stanton, June 10, 1862


CAMP IN THE FIELD, NEAR CHEWALLA, TENN.,     
June 10, 1862.

Lieutenant-Governor B. Stanton, Columbus Ohio;

SIR:  I am not surprised when anonymous scribblers write and publish falsehoods or make criticisms on matters of which they know nothing of or which they are incapable of comprehending.  It is their trade.  They live by it.  Slander gives point and piquancy to a paragraph, and the writing, being irresponsible or beneath notice, escapes a merited punishment.  It is different with men in high official station, who, like, you, descend to this dirty work.  You had an opportunity to learn the truth, for I saw you myself at Shiloh soon after the battle, and know that hundreds would have aided you in your work, had you been in search of facts.  You never inquired of me concerning the truth of events which you must have know transpired in my sight and hearing, but seemed to have preferred the “camp stories” to authentic data then within your reach.

A friend, by mere accident, has shown me a slip of newspaper, dated April 10th, 1862, styled “Extra,” published at Bellefontaine, Ohio, and signed B. Stanton.  I am further told you are the man.  If so, and you be the lieutenant governor of Ohio, I hold that you are my pear, and that of Generals Grant, Hurlbut and Prentiss, all of whom you directly charge with  conduct on the field of Shiloh which deserves a court martial, whose sentence, if you have not borne false witness, would be degradation or death.  The accusatory part of your statement is all false, false in general, false in every particular, and I repeat you could not have failed to know it false when you published that statement.  To prove what I say, I know quote the concluding part of your paper:

“Some complaints have been made about the conduct of a few of the new regiments in this battle, including the 54th and 57th.  It must be remembered that these are new regiments — that not only have they never seen any service, but they never received their guns until they arrived on the Tennessee river, two or three weeks before the battle.  So with Myers’ battery.  It has not been more than six weeks since they have had their horses.  And yet these regiments and this battery were put on the extreme outside of our camp, and were consequently first exposed to the enemy’s fire.  And to this that our lines were so carelessly and negligently guarded that the enemy were absolutely on us in our very tents before the officers in command were aware of their approach.  The wonder therefore is, not that these regiments were finally broken and routed, but that they made any stand at all!  But the loss sustained by these regiments, especially by Capt. Starr’s company, in the 54th, shows that they made a gallant and noble stand. And that their ultimate retreat was not the fault of the men, but of the blundering stupidity and negligence of the general in command.   There is an intense feeling of indignation against Generals Grant and Prentiss, and the general feeling among the most intelligent men with whom I conversed is that they ought to be court martialed and shot.

Yours, etc.
B. STANTON.”

With Myers’ battery I have nothing to do, as it was in Gen. Hurlbut’s division, who has made his official report, which proves yours untrue: for instead of being kept on the “extreme outside of our camp” it was at the beginning of the battle more than a mile to the rear of mine and McClernand’s and Prentiss’s divisions.  The 54th Col. T. Kirby Smith, and 57th, Col. William Mungen did for a part of my command.  No one that I ever heard has questioned the courage and gallantry of the 54th, unless it be inferred from your own apology for them, and I know that I speak the mind of the officers of that regiment when I say that they scorn to have their merits bolstered up by your lame and impotent conclusions.  As to their being on the outer line, it was where they wished to be, and so far from being surprised, they were, by my orders, under arms at daylight, and it was near 10 A. M., before the enemy assailed their position.  This position was so favorable that Col. Stuart with his small brigade of which the 54th formed a part, held at bay for hours Hardee’s hole division, composed of infantry, artillery, and cavalry.

The 57th was posted on the left of Shiloh, which, I say, and in which Beauregard concurs with me, was the key to the whole position.  It was in the very front, the place of honor, to which Col. Mungen or his men could not object.  Their front was guarded by themselves, and if negligence is justly charged, it belongs to the regiment itself.  So favorable was the ground that, although the regiment lost but two officers and seven men, Col. Mungen has more than once assured me that he counted fifty dead secessionists on the ground over which he was attacked.  As to the enemy being in their very camp before the officers in command were aware of their approach, it is the most wicked falsehood that was ever attempted to be thrust upon a people sad and heartsore at the terrible but necessary casualties of war.  That the cowards who deserted their comrades in that hour of danger should, in their desperate strait to cover up their infamy, invent such a story, was to be expected; but that you should have lent yourself as a willing instrument in perpetuating that falsehood, is a shame from which you can never hope to recover.  The truth is now well understood.  For days we knew the enemy was in our front, but the nature of the ground and his superior strength in cavalry, prevented us from breaking through the veil of their approach to ascertain their true strength and purpose.  But as soldiers we were prepared at all times to receive an attack, and even to make one if circumstances warranted it.  On that morning our pickets had been driven in.  Our main guards were forced back to the small valley in our front.  All our regiments of infantry, batteries of artillery and squadrons of cavalry were prepared.  I myself, their commander, was fully prepared, and rode along the line of this very regiment and saw it in position in front of their camp, and looking to a narrow causeway across the small creek by which the enemy was expected and did approach.

After passing this regiment, I road on to Appler’s position and beyond some five hundred yards, where I was fired on and my orderly, Thos. D. Holliday was killed.  Even after I gave some directions about Waterhouse’s battery, and again returned to Shiloh in time to witness the attack there.  It is simply ridiculous to talk about surprise.  To be sure, very many where astonished and surprised, not so much at the enemy’s coming, but at the manner of his coming, and these sought safety at the river, and could not be prevailed to recover from their surprise till the enemy had been driven away by their comrades after two days hard fighting.  I have never made a question of individual bravery of this or any other regiment, but merely state facts.  The regiment still belongs to my command, and has elicited my praise for its improvement and steadiness in the many skirmished and affairs during our advance on Corinth.  I doubt not the people of Ohio will yet have a reason to feel the same pride in this regiment as they now do in many other of the same State of deservedly high repute.  As to the intense feeling against Generals Grant and Prentiss — could anything be more base than that?  Grant just fresh from the victory of Donelson, more rich in fruits than was Saratoga, Yorktown, or any other one fought on this continent, is yet held up to the people of Ohio, his native State as one who in the opinion of the intelligent coward, is worthy to be shot; and Prentiss, now absent and prisoner, unable to meet your wicked and malicious shafts, also condemned to infamy and death.  Shame on you, and I know I tell you an unpleasant truth when I assure you neither he nor his men were surprised, butchered in their tents, etc., but on the contrary, were prepared in time to receive this shock of battle more terrible than any in the annals of American history have hitherto recorded.  He met it manfully and well, for hours bore up against the superior host, fell back slowly and in order till he met the reserves under Wallace and Hurlbut and fought till near 4 P. M., when he was completely enveloped and made prisoner.  Well do I remember the line after line of steady troops displaying the bloody banner of the South, and to me the more familiar pelican flag of Louisiana, bearing down on Prentiss, who was to my left and rear, and how, though busy enough with my own appropriate part, I felt for his danger and dispatched to him my aid, Maj. Sanger, to give him notice.  My aid found him in advance of his camps fighting well, but the shock was too great, and he was borne back step by step till made prisoner, six hours after your surprised informants had sought refuge under the steep banks of the Tennessee.

So much for the history of event you did not behold and yet pretend to comment on.  You came to Shiloh on a mission of mercy after danger and before a new one arose.  You tarried a few days, but I cannot learn from my Ohio Colonels how you dispensed your charitable trust.  That is none of by business, but I do know you abused your opportunity and caught up vague, foolish camp rumors from the region of the steamboat landing, instead of seeking for truth where alone you did know it could be found, among the thousands of brave Ohio men who were in my camp, and who can still boast of never having seen the Tennessee river since the day they disembarked.  You then return to your State, and in obscure printed slips, circulate libels and falsehoods against men whose vocation and distance made it highly improbable that you could ever be held to an account.  You know that we were in the presence of a fierce bold and determined enemy, with hundreds of miles of ambush before us, from which a few stray shots would relieve you of your victims.  You know that our men were raw and undisciplined, and that all our time was taken up in organization, drill and discipline. Leaving us no time to meet your malicious slanders and resent your insults.  The hour of reckoning seemed, therefore, distant and uncertain.  You have had your day, but the retreat of the enemy and a day of comparative rest, has given me leisure to write this for your benefit.  Grant and Hurlbut and Prentiss still live, and will in due season bay their respects also.

If you have no respect for the honor and reputation of the generals who lead the armies of your country, you should have some regard to the honor and welfare of the country itself.  If your paper could have had its intended effect of destroying the confidence of the Executive, the army and the people in their generals, it would have produced absolute and utter disorganization.  It not only placed courage and cowardice, stubborn and enduring valor and ignominious flight upon the same base, but it holds up to public favor those who deserted their colors, and teaches them to add insubordination to cowardice.  Such an army as your military morale would produce could not be commanded by any general who hoped to win reputation or who had reputation to loose.  Our whole force, if imbued with your notions, would be driven across the Ohio in less than a month, and even you would be disturbed in your quiet study where you now, in perfect safety, write libels against the generals who organize our armies and with them fight and win battle for our country.

I am, etc.,
W. T. SHERMAN,    
Major-General of Volunteers.

SOURCES: “Letter from Gen. Sherman to Lieut. Gov. Stanton,” Gallipolis Journal, Gallipolis, Ohio, Thursday, July 3, 1862, p. 4; “A Federal Quarrel,” Memphis Daily Appeal, Memphis, Tennessee, Friday, June 27, 1862, p. 1.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Diary of Captain Luman Harris Tenney: June 5, 1865

Another clear and beautiful day. Read “A New Atmosphere.” Game of whist. Passed the Cumberland and Tennessee in the night. The riding in the evening was delightful. Gathered on bow and sung.

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 166

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes to Sardis Birchard, July 22, 1863

Steamboat Victress, Ohio River, July 22, 1863.

Dear Uncle: — We have been after Morgan for a week. The Twenty-third was in all the fighting at Pomeroy and Buffington and took two hundred and six prisoners. The Rebs couldn't fight soldiers at all. We lost one man. We had a most glorious time. We go up the Kanawha again today.

Sincerely,
R. B. Hayes.
S. Birchard.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 420

Friday, May 25, 2018

Diary of Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: July 20, 1863

At daylight, found Morgan at Buffington Island. He was here attacked by General Judah's cavalry and the gunboats. Not much fighting by Rebels, but great confusion, loss of artillery, etc., etc.

On to Hockingport; guarded the ferries over the Ohio at Lee's Creek, Belleville, and Hocking.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 420

Saturday, December 2, 2017

William P. Smith to Edwin M. Stanton, September 27, 1863 – Received 11:50 a.m.

CAMDEN STATION,          
Baltimore, Md., September 27, 1863.
(Received 11.50 a.m.)
Hon. E. M. STANTON,
Secretary of War:

At 9.15 this a.m. we had started from Washington for the west 12,600 men, 33 cars of artillery, and 21 cars of baggage and horses. The first four trains, with 2,500 men, reached Benwood, the end of our line, 412 miles from Washington, at 11 this a.m., and continuing to move at the ratio expected by us, or two hours less than our promise of forty-four hours through. At Benwood a substantial and superior bridge of scows and barges, strongly  connected, is in full readiness to make the transfer across the Ohio, and adequate cars are waiting at Bellaire.

W. P. SMITH.
(Same to Major-General-Hooker and to Col. D.C. McCallum.)

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 29, Part 1 (Serial No. 48), p. 167

Saturday, September 9, 2017

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: July 25, 1863

Gen. Beauregard telegraphs that preparations should be made to withstand a bombardment at Savannah, and authority is asked, at the instance of Gov. Brown, to impress a sufficient number of slaves for the purpose.

Gen. Jos. E. Johnston telegraphs the President that Grant has fallen back to Vicksburg, and, from information in his possession, will not stay there a day, but will proceed up the river. Gen. Johnston asks if this eccentric movement does not indicate a purpose to concentrate the enemy's forces for the reduction of Richmond.

Grant's men, no doubt, objected to longer service at this season in the Southwest; perhaps Lincoln thinks Grant is the only general who can take Richmond, or it may be necessary for the presence of the army in the North to enforce the draft, to overawe conspirators against the administration, etc. We shall soon know more about it.

Misfortunes come in clusters. We have a report to-day that Gen. Morgan's command has been mostly captured in Ohio. The recent rains made the river unfordable.

It appears that Gen. Pemberton had but 15 days' rations to last 48 days, that the people offered him a year's supply for nothing if he would have it, and this he would not take, red tape requiring it to be delivered and paid for, so it fell into the hands of the enemy. He had a six months' supply of ammunition when he surrendered, and often during the siege would not let his men reply to the enemy's guns.

Advertisers in the papers offer $4000 for substitutes. One offers a farm in Hanover County, on the Central Railroad, of 230 acres, for a substitute. There is something significant in this. It was so in France when Napoleon had greatly exhausted the male population.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 387

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Seth Conklin to William Still, February 18, 1851

PRINCETON, Gibson COUNTY, INDIANA, Feb. 18, 1851.

To WM. STILL: — The plan is to go to Canada, on the Wabash, opposite Detroit. There are four routes to Canada. One through Illinois, commencing above and below Alton; one through to North Indiana, and the Cincinnati route, being the largest route in the United States.

I intended to have gone through Pennsylvania, but the risk going up the Ohio river has caused me to go to Canada. Steamboat traveling is universally condemned; though many go in boats, consequently many get lost. Going in a skiff is new, and is approved of in my case. After I arrive at the mouth of the Tennessee river, I will go up the Ohio seventy-five miles, to the mouth of the Wabash, then up the Wabash, forty-four miles to New Harmony, where I shall go ashore by night, and go thirteen miles east, to Charles Grier, a farmer, (colored man), who will entertain us, and next night convey us sixteen miles to David Stormon, near Princeton, who will take the command, and I be released.

David Stormon estimates the expenses from his house to Canada, at forty dollars, without Which, no sure protection will be given. They might be instructed concerning the course, and beg their way through without money. If you wish to do what should be done, you will send me fifty dollars, in a letter, to Princeton, Gibson county, Inda., so as to arrive there by the 8th of March. Eight days should be estimated for a letter to arrive from Philadelphia.

The money to be State Bank of Ohio, or State Bank, or Northern Bank of Kentucky, or any other Eastern bank. Send no notes larger than twenty dollars.

Levi Coffin had no money for me. I paid twenty dollars for the skiff. No money to get back to Philadelphia. It was not understood that I would have to be at any expense seeking aid.

One half of my time has been used in trying to find persons to assist, when I may arrive on the Ohio river, in which I have failed, except Stormon.

Having no letter of introduction to Stormon from any source, on which I could fully rely, I traveled two hundred miles around, to find out his stability. I have found many Abolitionists, nearly all who have made propositions, which themselves would not comply with, and nobody else would. Already I have traveled over three thousand miles. Two thousand and four hundred by steamboat, two hundred by railroad, one hundred by stage, four hundred on foot, forty-eight in a skiff.

I have yet five hundred miles to go to the plantation, to commence operations. I have been two weeks on the decks of steamboats, three nights out, two of which I got perfectly wet. If I had had paper money, as McKim desired, it would have been destroyed. I have not been entertained gratis at any place except Stormon’s. I had one hundred and twenty-six dollars when I left Philadelphia, one hundred from you, twenty-six mine.

Telegraphed to station at Evansville, thirty-three miles from Stormon’s, and at Vinclure’s, twenty-five miles from Stormon’s. The Wabash route is considered the safest route. No one has ever been lost from Stormon's to Canada. Some have been lost between Stormon's and the Ohio. The wolves have never suspected Stormon. Your asking aid in money for a case properly belonging east of Ohio, is detested. If you have sent money to Cincinnati, you should recall it. I will have no opportunity to use it.

SETH CONCKLIN, Princeton, Gibson county, Ind.

P. S. First of April, will be about the time Peter’s family will arrive opposite Detroit. You should inform yourself how to find them there. I may have no opportunity.

I will look promptly for your letter at Princeton, till the 10th of March, and longer if there should have been any delay by the mails.

SOURCE: William Still, The Underground Railroad: A Record of Facts, Authentic Narratives, Letters &c., p. 28-9

Saturday, April 22, 2017

Diary of Sergeant Major Luman Harris Tenney: April 8, 1863

Ohio River.  Had a very pleasant morning ride up the smooth, glassy water in the sunshine. Reached Maysville at nine. The people received us with open arms. All seemed very hospitable. Waved handkerchiefs and flags and invited the boys to breakfast. Never were treated so well before. Took dinner at hotel with Thede and Burt. Horse at stable. Marched at two. Rode with Drake. Had a very pleasant visit with him. Beautiful rolling country, grass green. Encamped at Lewiston, 7 miles from Maysville. Slept out with Drake. Cooked ham and made tea for supper. Many boys and officers drunk.

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 64

Monday, April 3, 2017

Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, Evening, August 19, 1862

August 19. Same steamer on the Ohio River. —

Dearest: — We have had a particularly jolly day. The river is very low, and at many of the bars and shoals we are compelled to disembark and march the troops around. In this way we have marched through some villages, and fine farming neighborhoods in Meigs County. The men, women, and children turned out with apples, peaches, pies, melons, pickles (Joe took to them), etc., etc., etc., in the greatest profusion. The drums and fifes and band all piped their best. The men behaved like gentlemen and marched beautifully. Wasn't I proud of them? How happy they were! They would say, “This is God's country.” So near you and marching away from you! That was the only sad point in it for me. Only one man drunk so far; his captain put him under arrest. He insisted on an appeal to me, and on my saying, “It's all right,” he was sober enough to submit, saying, “Well, if the colonel says it's right, it must be right,” so he made no trouble.

I shall write daily until we get to Parkersburg — that is on the line of railroad to Chillicothe, I believe. No more tonight.

[R. B. Hayes.]
Mrs. Hayes.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 329