I wrote fifty certificates for Capt. Vander Horck for enlisted and discharged citizens. Hall and Caswell and Spencer, messengers, left for St. Cloud.
SOURCE: Lewis C.
Paxson, Diary of Lewis C. Paxson: Stockton, N.J., 1862-1865, p. 5
I wrote fifty certificates for Capt. Vander Horck for enlisted and discharged citizens. Hall and Caswell and Spencer, messengers, left for St. Cloud.
SOURCE: Lewis C.
Paxson, Diary of Lewis C. Paxson: Stockton, N.J., 1862-1865, p. 5
I fixed forms for
books. Our camp moved into barracks. Attacked by Indians. John Wenseinger
mortally wounded. Cavalry flank and burn Indian camp.
SOURCE: Lewis C.
Paxson, Diary of Lewis C. Paxson: Stockton, N.J., 1862-1865, p. 5
John Wenseinger,
teamester, died of wound in bowels received yesterday. He made a will and was
buried.
SOURCE: Lewis C.
Paxson, Diary of Lewis C. Paxson: Stockton, N.J., 1862-1865, p. 6
I wrote to my
father, Amos C. Paxson, New Hope, Bucks county, Pennsylvania.
SOURCE: Lewis C.
Paxson, Diary of Lewis C. Paxson: Stockton, N.J., 1862-1865, p. 6
I wrote to Mr. Eno
and copied dispatches for Gov. Ramsey. Indian attack again. Frederick Blazier
wounded in the leg. Trouble with Third regiment about leaving.
SOURCE: Lewis C.
Paxson, Diary of Lewis C. Paxson: Stockton, N.J., 1862-1865, p. 6
Captain Smith, and
some 220 all told, left for St. Paul, 60 women and children. One team backed
off the ferry boat into the river.
SOURCE: Lewis C.
Paxson, Diary of Lewis C. Paxson: Stockton, N.J., 1862-1865, p. 6
By invitation of
General Ampudia, commanding the Mexican army, General Taylor accompanied by a
number of his officers, proceeded on the 24th September, 1846, to a house
designated as the place at which General Ampudia requested an interview. The
parties being convened, General Ampudia announced, as official information,
that commissioners from the United States had been received by the government
of Mexico; and that the orders under which he had prepared to defend the city of
Monterey, had lost their force by the subsequent change of his own government,
therefore he asked the conference. A brief conversation between the commanding
generals, showed their views to be so opposite, as to leave little reason to
expect an amicable arrangement between them.
General Taylor said
he would not delay to receive such propositions as General Ampudia indicated.
One of General Ampudia's party, I think, the governor of the city, suggested
the appointment of a mixed commission; this was acceded to, and General W. G.
Worth of the United States army, General J. Pinckney Henderson, of the Texan
volunteers, and Colonel Jefferson Davis, of the Mississippi riflemen on the
part of General Taylor; and General J. Ma. Ortega, General P. Requena, and
Señor the Governor M. Ma. Llano on the part of Gen. Ampudia, were appointed.
General Taylor gave
instructions to his commissioners which, as understood, for they were brief and
verbal, will be best shown by the copy of the demand which the United States
commissioners prepared in the conference room here incorporated:
Copy of demand by United States
Commissioners.
"I.
As the legitimate result of the operations before this place, and the present
position of the contending armies, we demand the surrender of the town, the
arms and munitions of war, and all other public property within the place.
"II.
That the Mexican armed force retire beyond the Rinconada, Linares, and San
Fernando, on the coast.
"III.
The commanding general of the army of the United States agrees that the Mexican
officers reserve their side arms and private baggage; and the troops be allowed
to retire under their officers without parole, a reasonable time being allowed
to withdraw the forces.
"IV.
The immediate delivery of the main work, now occupied, to the army of the
United States.
"V.
To avoid collisions, and for mutual convenience, that the troops of the United
States shall not occupy the town until the Mexican forces have been withdrawn,
except for hospital purposes, storehouses, &c.
"VI.
The commanding general of the United States agrees not to advance beyond the
line specified in the second section before the expiration of eight weeks, or
until the respective governments can be heard from."
The terms of the
demand were refused by the Mexican commissioners, who drew up a counter proposition,
of which I only recollect that it contained a permission to the Mexican forces
to retire with their arms. This was urged as a matter of soldierly pride, and
as an ordinary courtesy. We had reached the limit of our instructions, and the
commission rose to report the disagreement.
Upon returning to
the reception room, after the fact had been announced that the commissioners
could not agree upon terms, General Ampudia entered at length upon the
question, treating the point of disagreement as one which involved the honor of
his country, spoke of his desire for a settlement without further bloodshed,
and said he did not care about the pieces of artillery which he had at the
place. General Taylor responded to the wish to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. It
was agreed the commission should reassemble, and we were instructed to concede
the small arms; and I supposed there would be no question about the artillery.
The Mexican commissioners now urged that, as all other arms had been
recognised, it would be discreditable to the artillery if required to march out
without anything to represent their arm, and stated, in answer to an inquiry,
that they had a battery of light artillery, manoeuvred and equipped as such.
The commission again rose, and reported the disagreement on the point of
artillery.
General Taylor
hearing that more was demanded than the middle ground, upon which, in a spirit
of generosity, he had agreed to place the capitulation, announced the
conference at an end; and rose in a manner which showed his determination to
talk no more. As he crossed the room to leave it, one of the Mexican
commissioners addressed him, and some conversation, which I did not hear,
ensued. Gen. Worth asked permission of Gen. Taylor, and addressed some remarks
to Gen. Ampudia, the spirit of which was that which he manifested throughout
the negotiation, viz: generosity and leniency, and a desire to spare the
further effusion of blood. The commission reassembled, and the points of
capitulation were agreed upon. After a short recess we again repaired to the
room in which we had parted from the Mexican commissioners; they were tardy in
joining us, and slow in executing the instrument of capitulation. The 7th, 8th,
and 9th articles were added during this session. At a late hour the English
original was handed to Gen. Taylor for his examination; the Spanish original
having been sent to General Ampudia. Gen. Taylor signed and delivered to me the
instrument as it was submitted to him, and I returned to receive the Spanish
copy with the signature of General Ampudia, and send that having Gen. Taylor's
signature, that each general might countersign the original to be retained by
the other. Gen. Ampudia did not sign the instrument as was expected, but came
himself to meet the commissioners. He raised many points which had been
settled, and evinced a disposition to make the Spanish differ in essential
points from the English instrument. Gen. Worth was absent. Finally he was
required to sign the instrument prepared for his own commissioners, and the
English original was left with him that he might have it translated, (which he
promised to do that night,) and be ready the next morning with a Spanish
duplicate of the English instrument left with him. By this means the two
instruments would be made to correspond, and he be compelled to admit his
knowledge of the contents of the English original before he signed it.
The next morning the
commission again met; again the attempt was made, as had been often done before
by solicitation, to gain some grant in addition to the compact. Thus we had, at
their request, adopted the word capitulation in lieu of surrender; they now
wished to substitute stipulation for capitulation. It finally became necessary
to make a peremptory demand for the immediate signing of the English instrument
by General Ampudia, and the literal translation (now perfected) by the
commissioners and their general. The Spanish instrument first signed by Gen.
Ampudia was destroyed in the presence of his commissioners; the translation of
our own instrument was countersigned by Gen. Taylor, and delivered. The
agreement was complete, and it only remained to execute the terms.
Much has been said
about the construction of article 2 of the capitulation, a copy of which is
hereto appended. Whatever ambiguity there may be in the language used, there
was a perfect understanding by the commissioners upon both sides, as to the
intent of the parties. The distinction we made between light artillery equipped
and manoeuvred as such, designed for and used in the field, and pieces being
the armament of a fort, was clearly stated on our side; and that it was
comprehended on their's, appeared in the fact, that repeatedly they asserted
their possession of light artillery, and said they had one battery of light pieces.
Such conformity of opinion existed among our commissioners upon every measure
which was finally adopted, that I consider them, in their sphere, jointly and
severally responsible for each and every article of the capitulation. If, as originally
viewed by Gen. Worth, our conduct has been in accordance with the peaceful
policy of our government, and shall in any degree tend to consummate that
policy, we may congratulate ourselves upon the part we have taken. If
otherwise, it will remain to me as a deliberate opinion, that the terms of the
capitulation gave all which could have followed, of desirable result, from a
further assault. It was in the power of the enemy to retreat, and to bear with
him his small arms, and such a battery as was contemplated in the capitulation.
The other grants were such as it was honorable in a conquering army to bestow,
and which it cost magnanimity nothing to give.
The above
recollections are submitted to Generals Henderson and Worth for correction and
addition that the misrepresentation of this transaction may be presented by a
statement made whilst the events are recent and the memory fresh.
The above is a
correct statement of the leading facts connected with the transactions referred
to, according to my recollection. It is, however, proper, that I should further
state, that my first impression was, that no better terms than those first
proposed, on the part of Gen. Taylor, ought to have been given, and I so said
to General Taylor when I found him disposed to yield to the request of General
Ampudia; and, at the same time, gave it as my opinion that they would be
accepted by him before we left the town. General Taylor replied, that he would
run no risk where it could be avoided—that he wished to avoid the further shedding
of blood, and that he was satisfied that our government would be pleased with
the terms given by the capitulation; and being myself persuaded of that fact, I
yielded my individual views and wishes; and, under that conviction, I shall
ever be ready to defend the terms of the capitulation.
I not only
counselled and advised, the opportunity being offered the general-in-chief, the
first proposition; but cordially assented and approved the decision taken by
General Taylor in respect to the latter, as did every member of the commission,
and for good and sufficient military and national reasons-and stand ready, at
all times and proper places, to defend and sustain the action of the commanding
general, and participation of the commissioners. Knowing that malignants, the
tremor being off, are at work to discredit and misrepresent the case, (as I had
anticipated,) I feel obliged to Col. Davis for having thrown together the
material and facts.
Terms of the
capitulation of the city of Monterey, the capital of Nueva Leon, agreed upon by
the undersigned commissioners-to wit: General Worth, of the United States army;
General Henderson, of the Texan volunteers; and Col. Davis, of the Mississippi
riflemen, on the part of Major General Taylor, commanding-in-chief of the
United States forces; and General Requena and General Ortego, of the army of
Mexico, and Señor Manuel M. Llano, Governor of Nueva Leon, on the part of Señor
General Don Pedro Ampudia, commanding-in-chief the army of the north of Mexico.
Article 1. As the
legitimate result of the operations before this place, and the present position
of the contending armies, it is agreed that the city, the fortifications,
cannon, the munitions of war, and all other public property, with the under-mentioned
exceptions, be surrendered to the commanding general of the United States
forces now at Monterey.
Article 2. That the
Mexican forces be allowed to retain the following arms-to wit: The commissioned
officers, their side-arms; the infantry, their arms and accoutrements; the
cavalry, their arms and accoutrements; the artillery, one field battery, not to
exceed six pieces, with twenty-one rounds of ammunition.
Article 3. That the
Mexican armed forces retire within seven days from this date beyond the line
formed by the pass of the Rinconada, the city of Linares, and San Fernando de
Pusos.
Article 4. That the
citadel of Monterey be evacuated by the Mexican, and occupied by the American
forces to-morrow morning, at 10 o'clock.
Article 5. To avoid
collisions, and for mutual convenience, that the troops of the United States
will not occupy the city until the Mexican forces have withdrawn, except for
hospital and storage purposes.
Article 6. That the
forces of the United States will not advance beyond the line specified in the
3d article, before the expiration of eight weeks, or until the orders of the
respective governments can be received.
Article 7. That the
public property to be delivered, shall be turned over and received by officers
appointed by the commanding general of the two armies.
Article 8. That all
doubts, as to the meaning of any of the preceding articles, shall be solved by
an equitable construction, and on principles of liberality to the retiring
army.
Article 9. That the
Mexican flag, when struck at the citadel, may be saluted by its own battery.
First day of winter;
rained in torrents all night; we were without shelter and had to take the
soaking. I kept one side of myself dry at a time by standing in front of large
log fire-when my back was dry I would turn around and dry the front of my body.
Part of the time I slept sitting against a tree with my rubber blanket over my
head, while my legs got soaked. About 2 o'clock we saw a large light to the
south of us which proved to be a bridge which the rebels had set on fire as our
troops got up to it. This morning I had a daylight view of the different camps;
the sun was shining, making the scene a beautiful one.
SOURCE: Joseph
Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph
Stockton, p. 5
Left camp at
Lumpkins Mills at six o'clock this morning, the 72d in the advance. General
Grant passed us while we were at a halt. I was sitting in a fence corner
keeping myself warm with a splendid fire of fence rails. Nell Towner was with
the escort; it did me good to see him. Encamped for the night on a cotton
plantation. Fence rails, straw, chickens, etc., disappeared as suddenly as if
they had been swept off by a hurricane. The men believe in making themselves
comfortable. Skirmishing ahead, our forces cross the Tallahatchie river, having
to take the artillery apart to get it across on a small flat boat that was
found.
SOURCE: Joseph
Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph
Stockton, p. 5
Encamped in the
woods after a march of eight miles; roads terrible, marching very hard.
SOURCE: Joseph
Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph
Stockton, p. 5
Did not march today.
Got permission to go on to Sherman's army which was marching on our right flank
to get in Price's rear, and compel him to evacuate the fort he had thrown up on
the Tallahatchie and which was in Grant's front. Saw Will Stockton who was in
Battery "A" Chicago Light Artillery. Saw a number of my Chicago
acquaintances in batteries A and B. Took dinner with Will, spent an hour very
pleasantly. Started home in a rain storm, got lost and would have gone I don't
know where had I not met some of Sherman's bummers returning to camp with
spoils. Had a very disagreeable ride back—did not see a soul for five miles,
raining hard, got to be dark before I reached our camp. Very glad to get back
safe—rained hard all night.
SOURCE: Joseph
Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph
Stockton, p. 5
Left camp at 6
o'clock. Roads in a terrible condition, mud knee deep, marching almost
impossible; artillery stuck in the road, wagons in every conceivable condition.
Crossed the Tallahatchie on a pontoon bridge of a very primitive build, being
composed of trees cut down fastened together with ropes and tied to the shore
with the ropes, small trees were laid crosswise and on this we crossed. The
rebels had quite a strong fort here which would have given us a great deal of
trouble, but Sherman's march on our flank forced Price to abandon it. The roads
on the south side were much better and after a wearisome march of sixteen miles
reached Oxford, Mississippi, at 8 o'clock p. m. I never was so tired and never
saw the men so worn out and fatigued as they were on this day's march. We were
kept over an hour before our camp was located and it seemed as if all dropped
to sleep at once. I could not but think of those at home who are all the time
condemning our generals and armies for not moving with greater rapidity, for
not making forced marches and following up the enemy, when they know nothing
about it. We made quite a parade going through Oxford as it is a place of
considerable importance. Flags were unfurled, bands struck up, bugles sounded,
and men for the time being forgot their fatigue and marched in good order.
Nothing like music to cheer up the men.
SOURCE: Joseph
Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph
Stockton, p. 5-6
Was quite unwell for
a day or so. Nothing of particular interest occurred. Foraging parties were
sent out to gather all the provisions and vegetables they could, as scurvy was
making its appearance in a slight form. Visited the University of Mississippi
with Doctor Powell. Buildings were fine and well built, grounds handsome and I
saw the finest astronomical apparatus, they say, that there is in the country;
also a splendid collection of minerals purchased of a Mr. Budd in New York.
Weather beautiful.
SOURCE: Joseph
Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph
Stockton, p. 6
Still in camp. Went
to see Nell Towner at Grant's headquarters. Tuned a piano for a sweet lady—first
woman I have talked to for weeks, it seemed like old times. Her voice sounded
sweet even if she did abuse the North. She gave me no encouragement to call.
SOURCE: Joseph
Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph
Stockton, p. 6
In camp eight miles
from Oxford. We cannot move our camps but a few miles distance from the
railroad, as all our subsistence depends on our being able to keep the road
open. Our camp is in a beautiful forest of splendid large trees, fine water,
and I enjoy the large log fires we have, particularly at night when it is the
only light we can have. There are a number of Germans in my company who sing
very well and it is always a pleasure to me to have them come up to my quarters
and sing. Days are warm and pleasant. Sent a few leaves of holly to Kate as my
Christmas gift. Also sent some to St. James church for a Christmas wreath.
SOURCE: Joseph
Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph
Stockton, p. 6
Months ago, when we
and others urged that Lincoln’s
inaugural meant war, we were told
by those who have since been “awakened,” that the President did not mean to coerce, and that we should save the
Union, or separate peaceably. So it seems—in a horn. The N. Y. World of May 1st, says:
“We don’t suppose
that a sterner, more inflexible purpose ever existed in the human breast, than
now possesses the northern people to subdue the South into a return to its
duty. The purpose is as fixed as fate—as fixed as your purpose to subdue the
man who is scuttling the ship on which you float, or is putting the torch to
the house in which you live. It is as restless as the impulse of self-preservation;
and the South cannot too soon understand its exact nature. The enemy to our
existence may call it subjugation if he likes; he may put on the incredible
impudence of pretending that it is tyrannical to over master him, but the compulsion
will none the less come. Since reason has not availed to make him abandon his
destructive work, the strong hand shall. The North has found it hard to believe
that it would come to this. It has forborne to the last probability. It will
now try force—sheer brute force, since the South will have it so. We know that
we are the strongest, and we intend to use our strength in the very way in
which it can be made most effective—active aggressive war. Short of that there
is no obedience on the one part, nor safety on the other.”
The Tribune of the same date in the same
strain tells us the same thing. Here that old devil, Greeley:
“Therefore shall we
imitate the South no more in war than in peace. But, nevertheless, we mean to
conquer them—not merely to SUBJUGATE them—and we shall do this the most
mercifully, the more speedily we do it. But when the rebellious traitors are
overwhelmed in the field, and scattered like leaves before an angry wind, it
must not be to return to peaceful and contented homes. They must find poverty
at their firesides, and see privation in the anxious eyes of mothers and the
rags of children.”
These are the
leading organs of the administration
in New York City and no doubt speak the views and purposes of the
administration. So they mean to subjugate
us if they can; so we implore the people of the South to take Lincoln at his
word this time and make every possible preparation to meet his advancing
slaves.
SOURCE: “They Mean
not only War but Subjugation,” Newbern
Weekly Progress, Newbern, North Carolina, Tuesday Morning, May 7, 1861, p.
3
The following sweet
morsel of her fierce defiance and blustering braggadocio appears in the
Philadelphia Transcript, under the
head of “Crush the Traitors.” It will be perused with more of pity than of
anger toward the poor wretches whose ignorance would counsel its indorsement:
The Point has been
reached where forbearance is a crime against our country. The seceding States,
for five months past, have been perpetrating a continual series of outrages
against the Constitution, against the common courtesy of nations and states,
against all public decency and right. Whatever may have been their complaints
or wrongs, they have resorted, not to any remedy of them, but to disgraceful
violence, robbery, murder and treachery. They have spurned all offers of
conciliation or adjustment; they have inaugurated wholesale schemes of
revolution; they have made war upon the Union, simply because it attempted to
victual its starving soldiers, and they have attacked and murdered volunteer
troops peacefully marching to defend the capital. Virginia and Maryland are not
out of the Union, and yet, instigated and applauded by the Cotton States, they
commit monstrous acts of avowed treason. Baltimore has capped the climax by its
cowardly assault upon unarmed men, and by its brutal murder of many of them.
Now the time has
come to end all this. The slaveholding States must be taught a lesson that will
never be forgotten—a lesson of fire and blood. Their threats, bluster,
arrogance, and outrages must be forever terminated. They must be made to feel
that they cannot and dare not arrest and assault our Union and our flag. They
are as weak as they are insolent. The gigantic strength, the superior
civilization, and the boundless resources of the free States are able to carry
desolation from the Potomac to the Rio Grande. The whole North, from Maine to
California, although usually “slow to wrath,” patient and forbearing, is at
last fearlessly aroused. The descendants of the heroes of Bunker Hill,
Saratoga, Brandywine, Tippecanoe, Chippawa, and Fort Meigs, are flying to arms.
Presently the continent will resound under the stern and steady tramp of
unprecedented myriads of the free laborers and mechanics of the North.
Let them finish
their enterprise. Let them plant the stars, stripes, and eagles of an indissoluble
Republic on the steeples of Richmond, Charleston and New Orleans. Let the
traitor States be starved out by blockade and given to the swords and bayonets
of stalwart freemen. No matter at what cost of treasure, blood and suffering,
the slaveholding States must be scourged into decency, good behavior and
subjection.
The cannon is now
the sacred instrument of union, justice, and liberty. The Union heretofore has
been a smiling angel of benignity. Now it must be an angel of death, scattering
terror and destruction among its enemies. If necessary, myriads of Southern
lives must be taken, Southern bodies given to the buzzards, Southern fields
consigned to sterility, and Southern towns surrendered to the flames. Our flag
must wave in triumph, though it float over seared and blackened expanses, over
the ruins of razed cities. Our Union must be maintained, and our Constitution
respected, and the supremacy of Federal law vindicated, if it requires armies
of millions of men.
So let no true man
shrink or flinch. All duties, all occasions must be postponed, until the cannon
and the musket have restored decency to the South, and peace and order to our
country.
Our only desire is
that just such fellows as the valorous editor of the Transcript may be sent on the above delightful “enterprise.”
SOURCES: “Northern
Sentiment,” The Memphis Daily Appeal,
Memphis, Tennessee, Thursday, May 2, 1861, p. 1; "Specimens of Northern Civilization," Nashville Union and American, Nashville, Tennessee, May 22, 1861, p. 2.
“We hold traitors
responsible for the work upon which they have precipitated us, and we warn them
that they must abide the full penalty. Especially let Maryland and Virginia
look to it, for as they are greater sinners, so their punishment will be
heavier than that of others. Virginia is a rich and beautiful State, the very
garden of the Confederacy. But it is a garden that is doomed to be a good deal trampled,
and its paths, its beds, and its boundaries are likely to be pretty completely
obliterated before we have done with it. It has property in houses, in lands,
in mines, in forests, in country, and in town, which will need to be taken
possession of and equitably cared for. The rebels of that State and of Maryland
may not flatter themselves that they can enter upon a war against the
Government and afterward return to quiet and peaceful homes. They choose to
play the part of traitors, and they must suffer the penalty. The worn-out race
of emasculated First Families must give place to a sturdier people, whose
pioneers are now on their way to Washington at this moment in regiments. An
allotment of land in Virginia will be a fitting reward to the brave fellows who
have gone to fight their country’s battles, and Maryland and Virginia, free
states, inspired with Northern vigor, may start anew in the race for prosperity
and power.”
SOURCE: “The New
York ‘Tribune’ has the following,” Richmond
Enquirer, Tuesday Morning, April 30, 1861, p. 2
“Let the levees on
the Mississippi be at once prostrated in a hundred places, while the water is
high, and let the Traitors and Rebels living on the Lower Mississippi be
drowned out, just as we would drown out rats infesting the hull of a ship. Nor
is this all. Let the negroes in the Border States understand that all moral
obligations on the part of the North to sustain the peculiar institution has
ceased; and let the Traitors thus be taught at once the price of rebellion and
its legitimate fruits.
What we desire to
see at once is a call for an additional one
hundred and fifty thousand volunteers from the Free States, and the establishment of a land
blockade of the strictest kind, extending from the Atlantic to the Mississippi—accompanied
by the flooding of the country bordering on the lower Mississippi. Do this and
the inevitable consequence of such a state of affairs—the extinction of slavery
in the Border States—will soon bring the rebels to their senses.”
SOURCES: “From the
N. Y. Courier and Enquirer,” Daily
Nashville Patriot, Nashville, Tennessee, Thursday, May 16, 1861, p. 2; “A
Diabolical Suggestion,” The Daily
Exchange, Baltimore, Maryland, Friday, April 26, 1861, p. 1;
RICHMOND, May 2, 1861.
MY DEAR MRS GARDINER: I have but a moment ago received your letter from the hands of Mrs. Pegram, and regret to perceive the nervous concern you feel in relation to the safety of our dear Julia and the children. Be assured that they will always be in safety. The vaunts and terrible boasts of the North are one thing-the execution of them another. In mustering their troops in the large cities, they, of course, are more expeditious than it can be done in the country; but we are ready for them, and number in Virginia at this moment more troops under arms and in the field, panting for the conflict, than they can arm, provision, and support for a campaign.
The whole State is clad in steel, under the command of the most accomplished leaders. General Scott is too old and infirm to take the field, while our commander, General Lee, a son of Harry Lee of the Revolution, the most accomplished officer and gentlemen, will lead our armies. The volunteers have come in such numbers that thousands are ordered home. Our fighting men in the State number 120,000. North Carolina and Tennessee have followed our lead, while the further South sends us succours. Our people are filled with enthusiasm. I had never supposed it possible that so much enthusiasm could prevail among men. In a week from this time, James River will bristle with fortifications, and Charles City will be far safer than Staten Island.
No one of all these hosts is boastful; none blood-thirsty; all generous and brave. Why, my dear Mrs. Gardiner, judging from the tone of the papers, the North has fallen back on the age of barbarism. The era of Robespierre was never more savage. I would not trust any one bearing my name, even our little Pearl, to New York, if the Herald, Tribune, Courier, and Enquirer, and Times are the true exponents of Northern sentiments.1 No, my family and myself here are safe. The mob sent out relieves your cities, it is true, but other mobs will rise up to overthrow order. If I find our situation dangerous on the river, we will go to the mountains, or other retreats in Virginia.
Little Julia is well and happy. All are well at Sherwood Forest. With my congratulations to the Colonel on account of his boy, and affectionate regards to his wife.
* Mrs. Gardiner's residence was on Staten Island, New York. She had, annually exchanged visits with her daughter, Mrs. Tyler, who was wont to visit her in the summer.
1 The New York Courier and Enquirer advised the most rigid system of blockade on the South, that the negroes should be let loose on the whites, men, women and children indiscriminately, and to prostrate the levees of the Mississippi, so as to drown the rebels on the lower Mississippi, “just as we would drown out rats infesting the hull of a ship." The New York Tribune said that "Virginia was a rich and beautiful State, the very garden of the Confederacy," and advised that her lands should be parcelled out among the pioneers who are on their way to Washington at this moment in regiments." The Philadelphia Transcript bellowed that desolation must be "carried from the Potomac to the Rio Grande." "If necessary, myriads of Southern lives must be taken; Southern bodies given to the buzzards; Southern fields consigned to sterility, and Southern towns surrendered to the flames." The Southerners "should not be permitted to return to peaceful and contented homes. They must find poverty at their fireside, and see privation in the anxious eyes of mothers, and the rags of children." The Westchester Democrat, in urging on the Pennsylvania troops, said that Baltimore had "always been celebrated for the beauty of its women; that the fair were ever the reward of the brave, and that Beauty and Booty had been the watchword of New Orleans."—See Howison's History of the War.
SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 643-4
Arrived at Bellaire
at 3 P. M. There is trouble in the neighborhood of Grafton. Have been ordered
to that place.
The Third is now on
the Virginia side, and will in a few minutes take the cars.
SOURCE: John Beatty,
The Citizen-soldier: Or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, p. 9
Reached Grafton at 1
P. M. All avowed secessionists have run away; but there are, doubtless, many
persons here still who sympathize with the enemy, and who secretly inform him
of all our movements.
SOURCE: John Beatty,
The Citizen-soldier: Or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, p. 9
Colonel Marrow and I
dined with Colonel Smith, member of the Virginia Legislature. He professes to
be a Union man, but his sympathies are evidently with the South. He feels that
the South is wrong, but does not relish the idea of Ohio troops coming upon
Virginia soil to fight Virginians. The Union sentiment here is said to be
strengthening daily.
SOURCE: John Beatty,
The Citizen-soldier: Or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, p. 9-10
Arrived at
Clarksburg about midnight, and remained on the cars until morning. We are now
encamped on a hillside, and for the first time my bed is made in my own tent.
Clarksburg has
apparently stood still for fifty years. Most of the houses are old style, built
by the fathers and grandfathers of the present occupants. Here, for the first
time, we find slaves, each of the wealthier, or, rather, each of the
well-to-do, families owning a few.
There are probably
thirty-five hundred troops in this vicinity—the Third, Fourth, Eighteenth,
Nineteenth, and part of the Twenty-second Ohio, one company of cavalry, and one
of artillery. Rumors of skirmishes and small fights a few miles off; but as yet
the only gunpowder we have smelled is our own.
SOURCE: John Beatty,
The Citizen-soldier: Or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, p. 10
At twelve o'clock
to-day our battalion left Clarksburg, followed a stream called Elk creek for
eight miles, and then encamped for the night. This is the first march on foot
we have made. The country through which we passed is extremely hilly and
broken, but apparently fertile. If the people of Western Virginia were united
against us, it would be almost impossible for our army to advance. In many
places the creek on one side, and the perpendicular banks on the other, leave a
strip barely wide enough for a wagon road.
Buckhannon, twenty
miles in advance of us, is said to be in the hands of the secession troops.
To-morrow, or the day after, if they do not leave, a battle will take place.
Our men appear eager for the fray, and I pray they may be as successful in the
fight as they are anxious for one.
SOURCE: John Beatty,
The Citizen-soldier: Or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, p. 10-11
It is half-past
eight o'clock, and we are still but eight miles from Clarksburg. We were
informed this morning that the secession troops had left Buckhannon, and fallen
back to their fortifications at Laurel Hill and Rich mountain. It is said
General McClellan will be here to-morrow, and take command of the forces in
person.
In enumerating the
troops in this vicinity, I omitted to mention Colonel Robert McCook's Dutch
regiment, which is in camp two miles from us. The Seventh Ohio Infantry is now
at Clarksburg, and will, I think, move in this direction to-morrow.
Provisions outside
of camp are very scarce. I took breakfast with a farmer this morning, and can
say truly that I have eaten much better meals in my life. We had coffee without
sugar, short-cake without butter, and a little salt pork, exceedingly fat. I
asked him what the charge was, and he said "Ninepence," which means
one shilling. I rejoiced his old soul by giving him two shillings.
The country people
here have been grossly deceived by their political leaders. They have been made
to believe that Lincoln was elected for the sole purpose of liberating the
negro; that our army is marching into Virginia to free their slaves, destroy their
property, and murder their families; that we, not they; have set the
Constitution and laws at defiance, and that in resisting us they are simply
defending their homes and fighting for their constitutional rights.
SOURCE: John Beatty,
The Citizen-soldier: Or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, p. 11-12
FIFTY-THIRD REGIMENT
BY COLONEL JAMES T. MOREHEAD.
The duty assigned to
me to write a sketch-not a history—of the Fifty-third North Carolina Infantry,
I undertook to discharge, with pleasure, but I did not realize until I began
how great the difficulty would be, with no records and the conflicting
recollections of surviving comrades as to events and persons. It may be and no
doubt it is true, that I have not been accurate as to the personnel of the
officers of the regiment, as to the dates of commissions, death and wounds, and
if any injustice by omission or commission is done, I assure my living comrades
and friends of such as have crossed over the river, that no one regrets more
than I the lack of reliable data to rectify any mistakes.
The limited length
of this sketch of course, forbids my entering into the details of casualties
among over one thousand men who at different dates composed the rank and file.
The characteristics
of this regiment were common to North Carolina troops. Obedience to
and reverence for law and authority, for which the State has been so long
known, in my opinion, constitute the basis of soldierly qualities for which her
soldiers will be famous in history.
This regiment was
like other North Carolina regiments; it was never known to shirk a
duty; never refused to advance when ordered; never known to retire without
command. In June, after its organization, it was ordered to Richmond and during
the seven days contest it was on duty on the south side of the James. The
greater part of its first year of service was spent in Eastern North
Carolina and it received its first baptism of fire as a regiment at
Washington, N. C., in Gen. D. H. Hill's winter campaign of 1862 and 1863. A few
days after the battle of Chancellorsville it became a part of the Army of
Northern Virginia, and as a part of Daniel's Brigade, was attached to the
Second Corps, with which it marched and fought from Fredericksburg to
Appomattox, and participated in more than twenty general engagements, including
Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Washington City, Kernstown,
Snicker's Ford, Winchester, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek, Hare's Hill,
Petersburg, and in numerous combats and smaller affairs, in some of which the
conflict was more hotly contested than in the greater battles. Daniel's Brigade
was composed of the Thirty-second, Forty-third, Forty-fifth and
Fifty-third North Carolina Regiments, and Second North
Carolina Battalion. After General Daniel's death, General Bryan Grimes
became Brigadier-General. The histories of the other regiments in the brigade
necessarily outline the chief incidents in the career of the Fifty-third and
make it unnecessary to give its battles and marches in detail.
I select two special
instances of its coolness and discipline: One was on the first day of the
battle of Gettysburg. This regiment had hastened from Carlisle, Pa., its steps
quickened by the report of big guns on the morning of 1 July. Immediately upon
its arrival at Gettysburg it was thrown into line and advanced to the assault
with the brigade. Soon it, was ascertained that there was not room between the
brigade on the left and the one on the right, and this regiment was dropped out
of the line, which closed up in its front and for some time it had to stand
under shot and shell in an open field without being able to return the fire
until the brigade on the left, having given away, it moved to the left, took
its place and drove the enemy into the town.
In this trying
situation, and there could have been none more trying, except a retreat under
fire, the regiment manoeuvered as upon parade and drill, and its behavior on
this occasion was greatly commended by the brigade and division commanders.
Another instance: At
the battle of Winchester, 19 September, 1864, after hours of desperate
fighting, when all the troops on the right and left had abandoned the contest
and retired from the field, this regiment, alone, continued to fight the foe
until ordered to retreat, which it did, across an open field for several
hundred yards (the enemy advancing ten to one in numbers) in perfect order, and
at intervals, when ordered, halting, facing about and delivering its fire
almost in the faces of the pursuers. Not a man broke ranks or quickened his
steps. As is well known to every soldier, a retreat under fire is the severest
test of discipline and courage.
At the battle of
Winchester, to prevent the enemy from discovering the gap on the left, I had
deployed the greater part of my regiment as skirmishers, and this thin line
successfully held five times its numbers at bay, until the failure of promised
support to arrive, and all of Early's army on our left had been driven from the
field. It was known to every man in the regiment that the enemy was getting
rapidly in our rear, and that there was imminent danger that we would be cut
off and surrounded, but until ordered so to do, not a man left his position,
and the regiment then retreated across the field in the manner above told.
Experience and
observation have taught that one of the results of organization and discipline
is, that when soldiers retire or retreat in face of the enemy by order, they
will halt, but if they "break" without order, it is difficult to
rally and reform them. An incident of this battle illustrates this. The
temporary works of the enemy above referred to were constructed just beneath
the brow of the hill or slope up which the regiment was charging at a run and
was not observed until we were within a few feet of them. When the men had
reached nearly the top of the slope, to their astonishment they saw behind the
work a third line of the enemy and such of the other two lines as could be
prevailed on to stop, outnumbering us four or five to one. Our men immediately
faced about and started for the shelter of a wooded hill from and through which
they had just driven the enemy. Seeing the condition and thinking of the fact
above stated, I at once ordered a retreat, had the officers to repeat the
order, seemingly so superfluous, and directed the regiment to halt as soon as
the woods were reached. When I reached the woods, I had the satisfaction of
seeing the regiment reformed and "ready for business" as if nothing
had happened to dampen their ardor.
I select these out of
many instances, which particularly distinguished this regiment, because of the
trying situations.
After the regiment
was assigned to Daniel's Brigade, it participated in the battles of Gettysburg,
three days, and at Mine Run and fought more or less from 5 May, 1864, to 30 May
at the Wilderness under fire every day. It was in the famous Horse Shoe at
Spottsylvania Court House, during the terrible days of 9, 10, 11 and 12 May,
losing its Major, James Johnston Iredell, killed, Col. Owens wounded, several of
its Captains and Lieutenants and scores of its men killed and wounded. It was
brought out of the Horse Shoe to straighten the lines after the assault of the
12th under command of a Captain, its only remaining field officer, its
Lieutenant-Colonel being in command of the brigade, the Brigadier-General
(Daniel) and every other officer in the brigade senior in commission, having
been killed or wounded. On 30 May it was engaged in the battle at Bethesda
church, and on the next day was withdrawn from the front preparatory to its
march to the Valley of Virginia.
On 5 or 6 May, 1864,
the sharpshooters of this regiment were much annoyed by one of the Federal
sharpshooters who had a long range rifle and who had climbed up a tall tree
from which he could pick off our men, though sheltered by stump and stones,
himself out of range of our guns. Private Leon, of Company B (Mecklenburg),
concluded that "this thing had to be stopped," and taking advantage
of every knoll, hollow and stump, he crawled near enough for his rifle to
reach, took a "pop" at this disturber of the peace and he came
tumbling down. Upon running up to his victim, Leon discovered him to be a
Canadian Indian, and clutching his scalp-lock, dragged him to our line of
sharpshooters.
The regiment was at
Lynchburg when the pursuit of Hunter began, marched with General Early to
Washington, D. C., was one of the regiments left to support the picket line
under the walls of Washington, while the rest of the corps made good its
retreat to the valley-the Nineteenth and Sixth Corps of the Federal army having
been poured into the city for its defense. While supporting the pickets, this
regiment became involved in one of the hottest conflicts in its experience, but
succeeded in holding its position, repulsing and driving the enemy back to the
earthworks, which defended the city. At midnight it received orders to retire
in perfect silence, and to the surprise of all when we reached the position on
the hills near the city, where we had left the corps, it was ascertained that
the corps had left the night before, twenty-four hours and we marched the whole
night and a greater part of the next day before we caught up with the rear
guards. Early's ruse, as usual, had succeeded in deceiving the enemy.
This regiment
participated in all of the battles in the Valley in 1864, and in numerous
combats and skirmishes. In this Valley Campaign the regiment lost its gallant
Colonel Owens, who was killed at Snicker's Ford, near Snicker's Gap, in August,
1864. He had been absent since 10 May, disabled by wounds at Spottsylvania
Court House; had returned just as the regiment was eating dinner, and almost
while we were congratulating him on his safe return, we received notice that
the enemy had crossed the river at Snicker's Ford. The order to "fall
in" was given, we marched to the river, and drove the enemy across, after
a short, but severe conflict. The firing had ceased, excepting now and then a
dropping shot, when Colonel Owens was killed by one of these stray shots. He
was a good officer, brave, humane, social, popular with both men and officers.
He was succeeded by the writer as Colonel. At Winchester, on 19 September,
1864, Adjutant Osborne was killed. Two years ago Color Sergeant Taylor, of
Company E, Surry county, who has resided in Utah since 1866, visited me. He
received a ball in his hip from which wound he still limps and in talking about
his own wound, he told me as we were charging the third Federal line at
Winchester, having broken the first two, and when near the temporary breastwork
of the enemy, he received the shot which disabled him for life, and that as he
fell, young Osborne picked up the flag waving it, ran forward, cheering on the
men and was killed within 20 feet of the Color Sergeant. He was an efficient
officer and daring soldier, I suppose not older than 20 years. Lieutenant W. R.
Murray, of Company A, than whom there was not a better officer or braver
soldier in the "Old Guard" of Napoleon, acted as Adjutant after the
death of Osborne till the surrender at Appomattox.
As stated before,
Major Iredell, a true gentleman and brave soldier, was killed at Spottsylvania
Court House. Captain John W. Rierson succeeded him. At Winchester, finding that
there was a gap of two or three hundred yards between my left and the troops on
the left, and that the enemy had discovered and were preparing to take
advantage of it, I directed Major Rierson to find General Grimes on the right
of the division, (General Rodes had been killed in the beginning of the
action), and apprise him of the situation. After some time he returned, saluted
and reported, the fighting being very heavy all the time, when I discovered
that Major Rierson was shot through the neck, which wound was received before
he found General Grimes, but he nevertheless performed the duty, returned and
reported, and did not then go to the rear until I directed him to do so. This
gallant officer was killed when the enemy broke over our lines at Petersburg, a
few days before Appomattox. He was entitled to his commission as
Lieutenant-Colonel from the date of the battle of Snicker's Ford, but I do not
know that he received it.
This was a volunteer
regiment, enlisted in the latter part of the winter and first part of the
spring of 1862, and was organized at Camp Mangum, near Raleigh, the first week
in May, 1862, and assigned to Daniel's Brigade, (Rodes' Division). William A.
Owens, of Mecklenburg county, was elected Colonel; James T. Morehead, Jr.,
of Guilford county, Lieutenant-Colonel, and James Johnston Iredell, of Wake
county, Major.
Colonel Owens had
already been in the service more than one year, having served as Captain in the
First (Bethel) Regiment, and at the time of his election was Lieutenant-Colonel
of the Eleventh Regiment.
Lieutenant-Colonel
Morehead had also been in the service the preceding year, having entered the
same in April, 1861, as Lieutenant of the "Guilford Grays,"
(afterwards Company B, of the Twenty-seventh Regiment), and at the time of his
election was a Captain in the Forty-fifth Regiment.
William B. Osborne,
of Mecklenburg county, was appointed Adjutant and John M. Springs, of
Mecklenburg, was appointed Captain and Assistant Quartermaster. He resigned in
the fall of 1862 and was succeded by Captain John B. Burwell. J. F. Long was
appointed Surgeon; Lauriston H. Hill, of Stokes county, Assistant Surgeon, and
promoted Surgeon in 1863. William Hill, of Mecklenburg, was appointed Captain,
A. C. S. In 1863 Charles Gresham, of Virginia, was assigned to duty with this
regiment as Assistant Surgeon. James H. Colton, of Randolph county, was
appointed Chaplain; J. H. Owens, Sergeant Major (promoted Second Lieutenant of
Company I and killed); R. B. Burwell, Quartermaster Sergeant; J. C. Palmer,
Commissary Sergeant; R. S. Barnett, Ordnance Sergeant. Upon the promotion of J.
H. Owens, Aaron Katz, of Company B, succeeded him as Sergeant-Major, and upon
his being captured, Robert A. Fleming, of Company A, was SergeantMajor.
COMPANY A was from
Guilford county. A. P. McDaniel was its first Captain, commissioned 25
February, 1862, and upon his retirement in 1863, Lieutenant J. M. Sutton was
promoted Captain and wounded at Bethesda Church and on 21 September, 1864, in
the Valley, and captured at Petersburg; P. W. Haterick (killed at Gettysburg),
First Lieutenant; J. M. Sutton, Second Lieutenant; W. L. Fleming, promoted from
Sergeant to Second Lieutenant in August, 1863; William R. Murray, promoted from
ranks to Second and First Lieutenant in 1863; J. W. Scott, promoted Second
Lieutenant from Sergeant (chief of regimental corps of sharpshooters).
COMPANY B was from
Mecklenburg county and its first Captain was J. Harvey White, commissioned 1
March, 1862, killed at Spottsylvania Court House in May, 1864. Samuel E. Belk,
First Lieutenant; John M. Springs, Second Lieutenant, promoted Assistant
Quartermaster; William M. Matthews, Second Lieutenant, promoted from First
Sergeant; M. E. Alexander, promoted Second Lieutenant from Second Sergeant.
Lieutenants Belk, Matthews and Alexander were wounded at Gettysburg.
COMPANY C was from
Johnston, Chatham and Wake, mostly from Johnston. Its first Captain was John
Leach, commissioned 28 February, 1862; was succeeded as Captain by J. C.
Richardson (wounded at Petersburg), commissioned 17 April, 1863, both from
Johnston county; George T. Leach, of Chatham, commissioned First Lieutenant 7
March, 1862; John H. Tomlinson, of Johnston county, commissioned Second
Lieutenant in April, 1862, resigned and succeeded by E. Tomlinson in 1862; S.
R. Horn, of Johnston county, was commissioned Second Lieutenant 21 July, 1862.
COMPANY D was from
Guilford, Cumberland, Forsyth, Stokes, Bladen and Surry. David Scott, Jr., of
Guilford county, was commissioned Captain 1 March, 1862, resigned and was
succeeded 15 May, 1863, by Alexander Ray, of Cumberland county, promoted from
First Lieutenant and killed at Petersburg, April 1865. Alexander Ray was
commissioned First Lieutenant 1 March, 1862; Madison L. Efland, of Guilford
county, commissioned Second Lieutenant 1 March, 1862, promoted First Lieutenant
15 May, 1863, and wounded; A. H. Westmoreland, of Stokes county, was promoted
from Sergeant to Second Lieutenant; W. N. Westmoreland, Stokes county, was
promoted from the ranks to Second Lieutenant in 1863.
COMPANY E was from
Surry county. J. C. Norman was commissioned Captain on 8 March, 1862, resigned
the following December and was succeeded by First Lieutenant Robert A. Hill,
killed in 1864, succeeded in turn as Captain by First Lieutenant B. W. Minter;
Samuel Walker was commissioned Second Lieutenant 8 March, 1862, promoted to
First Lieutenant December, 1862, and resigned; B. W. Minter, Second Lieutenant,
promoted First Lieutenant and Captain; Henry Hines, Second Lieutenant, in 1862;
Logan Bemer, promoted from Corporal to Second Lieutenant, wounded and captured
in 1864; James A. Hill, Second Lieutenant, captured in 1864.
COMPANY F was from
Alamance and Chatham. G. M. G. Albright was commissioned Captain 5 May, 1862,
killed July, 1863, at Gettysburg, and was succeeded by A. G. Albright, promoted
from First Lieutenant (wounded at Fisher's Hill, 1864); Jesse M. Holt, First
Lieutenant, 16 July, 1863, promoted from Second Lieutenant, (killed at Winchester,
1864); Branson Lambe, commissioned in 1864, promoted from Second Lieutenant;
John J. Webster, commissioned Second Lieutenant May, 1862, and resigned; S. J.
Albright, commissioned Second Lieutenant in 1862 and killed at Spottsylvania
Court House in 1864.
COMPANY F was from
Stokes. G. W. Clarke was commissioned Captain on 20 March, 1862, and resigned
May, 1862; was succeeded by John W. Rierson, promoted from Second Lieutenant
and who was in 1863 promoted to Major, wounded at Winchester and killed at Petersburg,
April, 1865. He was in time succeeded as Captain by H. H. Campbell, promoted
from First Lieutenant and killed at Winchester. G. B. Moore was commissioned
First Lieutenant in March, 1862, resigned in June; John W. Rierson,
commissioned Second Lieutenant March, 1862; W. H. McKinney was promoted from
the ranks in May, 1862, to second Lieutenant, and wounded at Winchester; C. F.
Hall, promoted from ranks to Second Lieutenant, mortally wounded at Gettysburg;
W. F. Campbell, promoted First Lieutenant and wounded at Washington, D. C.
COMPANY H was from
Stokes county. Captain Spottswood B. Taylor was commissioned on 20 March, 1862,
resigned on account of health in November, 1863, and was succeeded by John E.
Miller, promoted from Second Lieutenant, who was wounded at Snicker's Ford and
captured September, 1864; Thomas S. Burnett, commissioned First Lieutenant 20
March, 1862, and killed in 1863; Charles A. McGehee, First Lieutenant,
November, 1862, wounded at Gettysburg 3 July, 1863, and captured; Alexander M.
King, Second Lieutenant, March, 1862; J. Henry Owens, promoted Second
Lieutenant from Sergeant-Major, December, 1862, and killed; Alexander Boyles,
promoted First Lieutenant.
COMPANY I was from
Union county. E. A. Jerome was commissioned Captain 20 March, 1862, and
resigned in June following, and was succeeded by Thomas E. Ashcraft, promoted
from First Lieutenant; John D. Cuthbertson, commissioned Second Lieutenant 20
March, 1862, promoted First Lieutenant; Joshua Lee, commissioned Second
Lieutenant 20 March, 1862; James E. Green, promoted from the ranks, Second
Lieutenant 24 June, 1862; A. T. Marsh, promoted from Sergeant to Second
Lieutenant 19 May, 1864.
COMPANY K was from
Wilkes county. William J. Miller was commissioned Captain 20 March, 1862,
killed at Gettysburg 1 July, 1863, and was succeeded by Jesse F. Eller,
promoted from Second Lieutenant; Thomas C. Miller, promoted from Second
Lieutenant to First Lieutenant 1 July, 1863; Thomas C. Miller, commissioned
Second Lieutenant in August, 1862.
This regiment lost
in killed its first Colonel, who was twice wounded; both of its Majors, one of
them, Rierson, several times wounded and its Adjutant. Its surviving Colonel
was wounded three times, at Gettysburg, Fisher's Hill and in the assault upon
the Federal lines at Hare's Hill on 25 March, 1865, in which last engagement he
was captured within the enemy's works.
As it is, I have
only the approximately correct report of the losses of one of the companies of
the regiment, and that only in one battle, but I think the losses of the other
companies may be fairly estimated from the losses of this one.
Company B lost at
Gettysburg out of about 65 men, 8 killed and 22 wounded, and of the four
officers, three were wounded.
I meet many of these
scarred and now grizzly veterans of the companies from Alamance, Guilford,
Stokes and Surry at my courts in these counties, and hear sometimes from those
from the other counties, and with very few exceptions they have shown
themselves to be as good citizens as they were gallant soldiers. They
illustrate that "peace hath her victories no less renowned than war."
The regiment reduced
to a handful of men shared the fortunes of the historic retreat and surrendered
at Appomattox, being then commanded by Captain Thomas E. Ashcraft, the brigade
being commanded by Colonel David G. Cowand. General Grimes having been made a
Major-General, commanded the division.
I cannot close this
sketch without acknowledging my indebtedness to Captain Sutton and Private J.
Montgomery, of Company A; L. Leon, of Company B, who kindly furnished me with
copy of a diary kept by him from organization of the regiment up to 5 May,
1864, when he was captured; Captain Albright, of Company F; Captain S. B.
Taylor, of Company H, and Lieutenant W. F. Campbell, of Company G, for valuable
information; and I hope that the publication of the sketches of the North
Carolina regiments will excite interest enough among the old soldiers to
give us further dates and incidents. I wish I could write a history of my
regiment which would do the officers and men full credit for their patriotism
and services.
The patriotism and
heroism of these soldiers were illustrated by the patient and uncomplaining
endurance of the forced march, the short rations, the hardships of winter camps
and campaigns as much as by their fighting qualities. Posterity will hesitate
to decide which is most worthy of admiration.
Nothing, only that I
fear that our cause is lost, as we are losing heavily, and have no more men at
home to come to the army. Our resources in everything are at an end, while the
enemy are seemingly stronger than ever. All the prisoners in Northern prisons,
it seems, will have to stay until the end of the war, as Grant would rather
feed than fight us.
SOURCE: Louis
Leon, Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier, p. 69
The smallpox is
frightful. There is not a day that at least twenty men are taken out dead. Cold
is no name for the weather now. They have given most of us Yankee overcoats,
but have cut the skirts off. The reason of this is that the skirts are long and
if they left them on we might pass out as Yankee soldiers.
SOURCE: Louis
Leon, Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier, p. 69
Nothing new. It is
the same gloomy and discouraging news from the South, and gloomy and discouraging
in prison.
SOURCE: Louis
Leon, Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier, p. 69
I suppose the end is
near, for there is no more hope for the South to gain her independence. On the
10th of this month we were told by an officer that all those who wished to get
out of prison by taking the oath of allegiance to the United States could do so
in a very few days. There was quite a consultation among the prisoners. On the
morning of the 12th we heard that Lee had surrendered on the 9th, and about
400, myself with them, took the cursed oath and were given transportation to
wherever we wanted to go. I took mine to New York City to my parents, whom I
have not seen since 1858. Our cause is lost; our comrades who have given their
lives for the independence of the South have died in vain; that is, the cause
for which they gave their lives is lost, but they positively did not give their
lives in vain. They gave it for a most righteous cause, even if the Cause was
lost. Those that remain to see the end for which they fought—what have we left?
Our sufferings and privations would be nothing had the end been otherwise, for
we have suffered hunger, been without sufficient clothing, barefooted, lousy,
and have suffered more than any one can believe, except soldiers of the
Southern Confederacy. And the end of all is a desolated home to go to. When I
commenced this diary of my life as a Confederate soldier I was full of hope for
the speedy termination of the war, and our independence. I was not quite
nineteen years old. I am now twenty-three. The four years that I have given to
my country I do not regret, nor am I sorry for one day that I have given—my
only regret is that we have lost that for which we fought. Nor do I for one
moment think that we lost it by any other way than by being outnumbered at
least five if not ten to one. The world was open to the enemy, but shut out to us.
I shall now close
this diary in sorrow, but to the last I will say that, although but a private,
I still say our Cause was just, nor do I regret one thing that I have done to
cripple the North.
SOURCE: Louis
Leon, Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier, p. 69-71
Passing on through
Shelbyville, crossing Duck River, we went into camps on its bank in sight of
town, in Bedford County, twenty-five miles from Murfreesboro, where we remained
until
SOURCE: Richard R.
Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee
Confederate Cavalry, p. 135
Johnston dispatched
thus to the Secretary of War from Shelbyville:
My
army will move beyond this to-day on the road to Decatur. One brigade remains
here to protect the stores until they are shipped south.
I
will be at the telegraph office at Fayetteville to-morrow morning to receive
any communications.*
After a march of
about fifteen miles on the Fayetteville pike, we went into camps in a beautiful
woods, where we had plenty of wood for fires.
*Rebellion
Records, Vol. VII., p. 917.
SOURCE: Richard R.
Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee
Confederate Cavalry, p. 135
Passing on through
Fayetteville, crossing Elk River, we went into camps on its bank half a mile
from town, in Lincoln County. Had another nice camping place. Distance from
Shelbyville to Fayetteville, twenty-six miles. Here we rested one day.
SOURCE: Richard R.
Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee
Confederate Cavalry, p. 135-6
After a march of
about seven miles in the direction of Athens, Alabama, we camped for the night
in a barren, swampy country, in Lincoln County.
SOURCE: Richard R.
Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee
Confederate Cavalry, p. 136
After a march of
eleven miles through a broken country, we camped in an oak grove, still in
Lincoln County, Tennessee.
SOURCE: Richard R.
Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee
Confederate Cavalry, p. 136
We marched through a
section of country the principal growth of which was post-oak. There were so
many quicksand bogs that it was difficult for our wagons to pass. Marching
about eleven miles, passing out of Tennessee, we camped for the night in
Limestone County, Alabama.
SOURCE: Richard R.
Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee
Confederate Cavalry, p. 136
Passing on through
Athens, we went into camps about two miles beyond. Distance from Fayetteville,
Tennessee, to Athens, Alabama, thirty-eight miles. As it rained the night
before, the roads were still worse.
SOURCE: Richard R.
Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee
Confederate Cavalry, p. 136
After mounting and
moving out, perhaps, one mile and a half in the direction of Decatur, we were
ordered back to the same camp we had just left, in a nice oak grove. It was a
beautiful day.
SOURCE: Richard R.
Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee
Confederate Cavalry, p. 135
The battalion moved
only about six miles and went into camps. The artillery moved on still further
in the direction of Decatur.
SOURCE: Richard R.
Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee
Confederate Cavalry, p. 136
Our battalion
crossed the Tennessee River on the railroad bridge at Decatur, and went into
camps about one mile west of town. The artillery and wagons of our division
(Crittenden's), being loaded about two miles from the river, were brought over
on the cars. Distance from Athens to Decatur, fourteen miles; from Murfreesboro
to Decatur, one hundred and three miles.
Crittenden's Division
remained near Decatur, in Morgan County, for several days.
SOURCE: Richard R.
Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee
Confederate Cavalry, p. 136-7
About dusk there was
an awful storm of wind and rain. It was all we could do to keep our tents from
blowing off.
SOURCE: Richard R.
Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee
Confederate Cavalry, p. 137
My army will move
beyond this to-day on the road to Decatur. One brigade remains here to protect
the stores until they are shipped south. I will be at the telegraph office at
Fayetteville to-morrow morning to receive any communications.
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. 917
COMMISSIONERS from
the rebels; Seward parleying with them through some Judge Campbell. Curious way
of treating and dealing with rebellion, with rebels and traitors; why not
arrest them?
Corcoran, a rich
partisan of secession, invited to a dinner the rebel commissioners and the
foreign diplomats. If such a thing were done anywhere else, such a pimp would
be arrested. The serious diplomats, Lord Lyons, Mercier, and Stoeckl refused
the invitation; some smaller accepted, at least so I hear.
The infamous
traitors fire on the Union flag. They treat the garrison of Sumpter as enemies
on sufferance, and here their commissioners go about free, and glory in
treason. What is this administration about? Have they no blood; are they
fishes?
The crime in full
blast; consummatum est. Sumpter
bombarded; Virginia,
under the nose of the administration, secedes, and the leaders did not see
or foresee anything: flirted with Virginia.
Now, they, the
leaders or the administration, are terribly startled; so is the brave noble
North; the people are taken unawares; but no wonder; the people saw the
Cabinet, the President, and the military in complacent security. These watchmen
did nothing to give an early sign of alarm, so the people, confiding in them, went
about its daily occupation. But it will rise as one man and in terrible wrath. Vous le verrez mess les Diplomates.
The
President calls on the country for 75,000 men; telegram has spoken, and
they rise, they arm, they come. I am not deceived in my faith in the North; the
excitement, the wrath, is terrible. Party lines burn, dissolved by the
excitement. Now the people is in fusion as bronze; if Lincoln and the leaders
have mettle in themselves, then they can cast such arms, moral, material, and
legislative, as will destroy at once this rebellion. But will they have the
energy? They do not look like Demiourgi.
Massachusetts takes
the lead; always so, this first people in the world; first for peace by its
civilization and intellectual development, and first to run to the rescue.
The most infamous
treachery and murder, by Baltimoreans, of the Massachusetts men. Will the
cowardly murderers be exemplarily punished?
The President, under
the advice of Scott, seems to take coolly the treasonable murders of Baltimore;
instead of action, again parleying with these Baltimorean traitors. The rumor
says that Seward is for leniency, and goes hand in hand with Scott. Now, if
they will handle such murderers in silk gloves as they do, the fire must
spread.
The secessionists in
Washington—and they are a legion, of all hues and positions are defiant,
arrogant, sure that Washington will be taken. One risks to be murdered here.
I entered the thus
called Cassius Clay Company, organized for the defence of Washington until
troops came. For several days patrolled, drilled, and lay several nights on the
hard floor. Had compensation, that the drill often reproduced that of
Falstaff's heroes. But my campaigners would have fought well in case of
emergency. Most of them office-seekers. When the alarm was over, the company
dissolved, but each got a kind of certificate beautifully written and signed by
Lincoln and Cameron. I refused to take such a certificate, we having had no
occasion to fight.
The President issued
a proclamation for the blockade of the Southern revolted ports. Do they not
know better?
How can the Minister
of Foreign Affairs advise the President to resort to such a measure? Is the
Minister of Foreign Affairs so willing to call in foreign nations by this
blockade, thus transforming a purely domestic and municipal question into an
international, public one?
The President is to
quench the rebellion, a domestic fire, and to do it he takes a weapon, an
engine the most difficult to handle, and in using of which he depends on
foreign nations. Do they not know better here in the ministry and in the
councils? Russia dealt differently with the revolted Circassians and with
England in the so celebrated case of the Vixen.
The administration
ought to know its rights of sovereignty and to close the ports of entry. Then
no chance would be left to England to meddle.
Yesterday N—— dined
with Lord Lyons, and during the dinner an anonymous note announced to the Lord
that the proclamation of the blockade is to be issued on to-morrow. N——, who
has a romantic turn, or rather who seeks for midi a' 14¾ heures,
speculated what lady would have thus violated a secret d'Etat.
I rather think it
comes from the Ministry, or, as they call it here, from the Department. About
two years ago, when the Central Americans were so teased and maltreated by the
fillibusters and Democratic administration, a Minister of one of these Central
American States told me in New York that in a Chief of the Departments, or
something the like, the Central Americans have a valuable friend, who, every
time that trouble is brewing against them in the Department, gives them a
secret and anonymous notice of it. This friend may have transferred his
kindness to England.
How will foreign
nations behave? I wish I may be misguided by my political anglophobia, but
England, envious, rapacious, and the Palmerstons and others, filled with hatred
towards the genuine democracy and the American people, will play some bad
tricks. They will seize the occasion to avenge many humiliations. Charles
Sumner, Howe, and a great many others, rely on England, on her antislavery
feeling. I do not. I know English policy. We shall see.
France, Frenchmen,
and Louis Napoleon are by far more reliable. The principles and the interest of
France, broadly conceived, make the existence of a powerful Union a
statesmanlike European and world necessity. The cold, taciturn Louis Napoleon
is full of broad and clear conceptions. I am for relying, almost explicitly, on
France and on him.
The administration
calls in all the men-of-war scattered in all waters. As the commercial
interests of the Union will remain unprotected, the administration ought to put
them under the protection of France. It is often done so between friendly
powers. Louis Napoleon could not refuse; and accepting, would become pledged to
our side.
Germany, great and
small, governments and people, will be for the Union. Germans are honest; they
love the Union, hate slavery, and understand, to be sure, the question. Russia,
safe, very safe, few blackguards excepted; so Italy. Spain may play double. I
do not expect that the Spaniards, goaded to the quick by the former
fillibustering administrations, will have judgment enough to find out that the
Republicans have been and will be anti-fillibusters, and do not crave Cuba.
Wrote a respectful
warning to the President concerning the unvoidable results of his proclamation
in regard to the blockade; explained to him that this, his international
demonstration, will, and forcibly must evoke a counter proclamation from
foreign powers in the interest of their own respective subjects and of their
commercial relations. Warned, foretelling that the foreign powers will
recognize the rebels as belligerents, he, the President, having done it already
in some way, thus applying an international mode of coercion. Warned, that the
condition of belligerents, once recognized, the rebel piratical crafts will be
recognized as privateers by foreign powers, and as such will be admitted to all
ports under the secesh flag, which will thus enjoy a partial recognition.
Foreign powers may
grumble, or oppose the closing of the ports of entry as a domestic,
administrative decision, because they may not wish to commit themselves to
submit to a paper blockade. But if the President will declare that he will
enforce the closing of the ports with the whole navy, so as to strictly guard
and close the maritime league, then the foreign powers will see that the
administration does not intend to humbug them, but that he, the President, will
only preserve intact the fullest exercise of sovereignty, and, as said the
Roman legist, he, the President, "nil
sibi postulat quod non aliis tribuit." And so he, the President, will
only execute the laws of his country, and not any arbitrary measure, to say
with the Roman Emperor, "Leges etiam
in ipsa arma imperium habere volumus." Warned the President that in
all matters relating to this country Louis Napoleon has abandoned the
initiative to England; and to throw a small wedge in this alliance, I finally
respectfully suggested to the President what is said above about putting the
American interests in the Mediterranean under the protection of Louis Napoleon.
Few days thereafter
learned that Mr. Seward does not believe that France will follow England.
Before long Seward will find it out.
All the coquetting
with Virginia, all the presumed influence of General Scott, ended in Virginia's
secession, and in the seizure of Norfolk.
Has ever any administration,
cabinet, ministry—call it what name you will—given positive, indubitable signs
of want and absence of foresight, as did ours in these Virginia, Norfolk, and
Harper's Ferry affairs? Not this or that minister or secretary, but all of them
ought to go to the constitutional guillotine. Blindness—no mere
short-sightedness-permeates the whole administration, Blair excepted. And
Scott, the politico-military adviser of the President! What is the matter with
Scott, or were the halo and incense surrounding him based on bosh? Will it be
one more illusion to be dispelled?
The administration
understood not how to save or defend Norfolk, nor how to destroy it. No name to
be found for such concrete incapacity.
The rebels are
masters, taking our leaders by the nose. Norfolk gives to them thousands of
guns, &c., and nobody cries for shame. They ought to go in sackcloth, those
narrow-sighted, blind rulers. How will the people stand this masterly
administrative demonstration? In England the people and the Parliament would
impeach the whole Cabinet.
Charles Sumner told
me that the President and his Minister of Foreign Affairs are to propose to the
foreign powers the accession of the Union to the celebrated convention of Paris
of 1856. All three considered it a master stroke of policy. They will not catch
a fly by it.
Again wrote
respectfully to Mr. Lincoln, warning him against a too hasty accession to the
Paris convention. Based my warning,
1st. Not to give up
the great principles contained in Marcy's amendment.
2d. Not to believe
or suppose for a minute that the accession to the Paris convention at this time
can act in a retroactive sense; explained that it will not and cannot prevent
the rebel pirates from being recognized by foreign powers as legal privateers,
or being treated as such.
3d. For all these
reasons the Union will not win anything by such a step, but it will give up
principles and chain its own hands in case of any war with England. Supplicated
the President not to risk a step which logically must turn wrong.
Baltimore still
unpunished, and the President parleying with various deputations, all this
under the guidance of Scott. I begin to be confused; cannot find out what is
the character of Lincoln, and above all of Scott.
Governors from whole
or half-rebel States refuse the President's call for troops. The original call
of 75,000, too small in itself, will be reduced by that refusal. Why does not
the administration call for more on the North, and on the free States? In the
temper of this noble people it will be as easy to have 250,000 as 75,000, and
then rush on them; submerge Virginia, North Carolina, etc.; it can be now so
easily done. The Virginians are neither armed nor organized. Courage and youth
seemingly would do good in the councils.
The free States
undoubtedly will vindicate self-government. Whatever may be said by foreign and
domestic croakers, I do not doubt it for a single minute. The free people will
show to the world that the apparently loose governmental ribbons are the
strongest when everybody carries them in him, and holds them. The people will
show that the intellectual magnetism of convictions permeating the million is
by far stronger than the commonly called governmental action from above, and it
is at the same time elastic and expansive, even if the official leaders may
turn out to be altogether mediocrities. The self-governing free North will show
more vitality and activity than any among the governed European countries would
be able to show in similar emergencies. This is my creed, and I have faith in
the people.
The infamous slavers
of the South would even be honored if named Barbary States of North America.
Before the inauguration, Seward was telling the diplomats that no disruption
will take place; now he tells them that it will blow over in from sixty to
ninety days. Does Seward believe it? Or does his imagination or his patriotism
carry him away or astray? Or, perhaps, he prefers not to look the danger in the
face, and tries to avert the bitter cup. At any rate, he is incomprehensible,
and the more so when seen at a distance.
Something, nay, even
considerable efforts ought to be made to enlighten the public opinion in
Europe, as on the outside, insurrections, nationalities, etc., are favored in
Europe. How far the diplomats sent by the administration are prepared for this
task?
Adams has shown in
the last Congress his scholarly, classical narrow-mindedness. Sanford cannot
favorably impress anybody in Europe, neither in cabinets, nor in saloons, nor
the public at large. He looks and acts as a commis
voyageur, will be considered as such at first sight by everybody, and his
features and manners may not impress others as being distinguished and
high-toned.
Every historical,
that is, human event, has its moral and material character and sides. To
ignore, and still worse to blot out, to reject the moral incentives and the
moral verdict, is a crime to the public at large, is a crime towards human
reason.
Such action blunts
sound feelings and comprehension, increases the arrogance of the evil-doers.
The moral criterion
is absolute and unconditional, and ought as such unconditionally to be applied
to the events here. Things and actions must be called by their true names. What
is true, noble, pure, and lofty, is on the side of the North, and permeates the
unnamed millions of the free people; it ought to be separated from what is
sham, egotism, lie or assumption. Truth must be told, never mind the outcry.
History has not to produce pieces for the stage, or to amuse a tea-party.
Regiments pour in;
the Massachusetts men, of course, leading the van, as in the times of the tea-party.
My admiration for the Yankees is justified on every step, as is my scorn, my
contempt, etc., etc., of the Southern chivalrous
slaver.
Wrote to Charles
Sumner expressing my wonder at the undecided conduct of the administration; at
its want of foresight; its eternal parleying with Baltimoreans, Virginians,
Missourians, etc., and no step to tread down the head of the young snake. No
one among them seems to have the seer's eye. The people alone, who arm, who
pour in every day and in large numbers, who transform Washington into a camp,
and who crave for fighting, the people alone have the prophetic inspiration,
and are the genuine statesmen for the emergency.
How will the
Congress act? The Congress will come here emerging from the innermost of the
popular volcano; but the Congress will be manacled by formulas; it will move
not in the spirit of the
Constitution, but in the dry constitutionalism, and the Congress will move
with difficulty. Still I have faith, although the Congress never will seize
upon parliamentary omnipotence. Up to to-day, the administration, instead of
boldly crushing, or, at least, attempting to do it; instead of striking at the
traitors, the administration is continually on the lookout where the blows come
from, scarcely having courage to ward them off. The deputations pouring from
the North urge prompt, decided, crushing action. This thunder-voice of the
twenty millions of freemen ought to nerve this senile administration. The
Southern leaders do not lose one minute's time; they spread the fire, arm, and
attack with all the fury of traitors and criminals.
The Northern
merchants roar for the offensive; the administration is undecided.
Some individuals,
politicians, already speak out that the slaveocratic privileges are only to be
curtailed, and slavery preserved as a domestic institution. Not a bit of it.
The current and the development of events will run over the heads of the
pusillanimous and contemptible conservatives. Slavery must perish, even if the
whole North, Lincoln and Seward at its head, should attempt to save it.
Already they speak
of the great results of Fabian policy; Seward, I am told, prides in it. Do
those Fabiuses know what they talk about? Fabius's tactics—not policy—had in
view not to expose young, disheartened levies against Hannibal's unconquered
veterans, but further to give time to Rome to restore her exhausted means, to
recover political influences with other Italian independent communities, to
reconclude broken alliances with the cities, etc. But is this the condition of
the Union? Your Fabian policy will cost lives, time, and money; the people
feels it, and roars for action. Events are great, the people is great, but the
official leaders may turn out inadequate to both.
What a magnificent
chance-scarcely equal in history to become a great historical personality, to
tower over future generations. But I do not see any one pointing out the way.
Better so; the principle of self-government as the self-acting, self-preserving
force will be asserted by the total eclipse of great or even eminent men.
The administration,
under the influence of drill men, tries to form twenty regiments of regulars,
and calls for 45,000 three years' volunteers. What a curious appreciation of
necessity and of numbers must prevail in the brains of the administration.
Twenty regiments of regulars will be a drop in water; will not help anything,
but will be sufficient to poison the public spirit. Citizens and people, but
not regulars, not hirelings, are to fight the battle of principle. Regulars and
their spirit, with few exceptions, is worse here than were the Yanitschars.
When the principle
will be saved and victorious, it will be by the devotion, the spontaneity of
the people, and not by Lincoln, Scott, Seward, or any of the like. It is said
that Seward rules both Lincoln and Scott. The people, the masses, do not doubt
their ability to crush by one blow the traitors, but the administration does.
What I hear
concerning the Blairs confirms my high opinion of both. Blair alone in the
Cabinet represents the spirit of the people.
Something seems not
right with Scott. Is he too old, or too much of a Virginian, or a hero on a
small scale?
If, as they say, the
President is guided by Scott's advice, such advice, to judge from facts, is not
politic, not heroic, not thorough, not comprehensive, and not at all military,
that is, not broad and deep, in the military sense. It will be a pity to be
disappointed in this national idol.
Scott is against
entering Virginia, against taking Baltimore, against punishing traitors.
Strange, strange!
Diplomats altogether
out of their senses; they are bewildered by the uprising, by the unanimity, by
the warlike, earnest, unflinching attitude of the masses of the freemen, of my
dear Yankees. The diplomats have lost the compass. They, duty bound, were
diplomatically obsequious to the power held so long by the pro-slavery party.
They got accustomed to the arrogant assumption and impertinence of the slavers,
and, forgetting their European origin, the diplomats tacitly — but for their
common sense and honor I hope reluctantly admitted the assumptions of the
Southern banditti to be in America the nearest assimilation to the chivalry and
nobility of old Europe. Without taking the cudgel in defence of European
nobility, chivalry, and aristocracy, it is sacrilegious to compare those
infamous slavers with the old or even with the modern European higher classes.
In the midst of this slave-driving, slave-worshipping, and slave-breeding
society of Washington, the diplomats swallowed, gulped all the Southern lies
about the Constitution, state-rights, the necessity of slavery, and other like
infamies. The question is, how far the diplomats in their respective official
reports transferred these pro-slavery common-places to their governments. But,
after all, the governments of Europe will not be thoroughly influenced by the
chat of their diplomats.
Among all diplomats
the English (Lord Lyons) is the most sphinx; he is taciturn, reserved, listens
more than he speaks; the others are more communicative.
What an idea have
those Americans of sending a secret agent to Canada, and what for? England will
find it out, and must be offended. I would not have committed such an absurdity,
even in my palmy days, when I conspired with Louis Napoleon, sat in the
councils with Godefroi Cavaignac, or wrote instructions for Mazzini, then only
a beginner with his Giovina Italia,
and his miscarried Romarino attempt in Savoy.
Of what earthly use
can be such politique provocatrice
towards England? Or is it only to give some money to a hungry, noisy, and not
over-principled office-seeker?
SOURCE: Adam
Gurowski, Diary from March 4, 1861, to November 12, 1862, p. 22-36