Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw, July 23, 1863

Centreville, July 23, 1863.

People used to tell me, when I was at Cambridge, that those were to be the happiest years of my life. People were wrong. Dissatisfied as I have always been with myself, I have yet found that, as I grew older, I enjoyed more and more.

I picked a morning-glory (a white one) for you on the battlefield of Bull Run, the other day, but crushed it up and threw it away, on second thought, — the association was not pleasant; and yet it was pleasant to see that morning-glories could bloom on, right in the midst of our worries and disgraces. That reminds me that I haven't narrated where I went on Tuesday; we started very early and went over the whole Bull Run battleground down to Bull Run Mountains and Thoroughfare, thence to Warrenton, and back to near Manassas Junction, by the Orange and Alexandria R. R., — a killing march of between 52 and 54 miles on a scorching day and nothing learnt, except this, that there was nothing to learn. However, men and horses have stood it pretty well. At Manassas Junction I met General Gregg and his division of Cavalry. Gregg told me he had applied for my regiment some time ago; that he had a brigade of five regiments which he meant to give me, but the War Department didn't answer his application, — the Brigade was still waiting for me; — provoking, isn't it?¹  However, I long ago gave up bothering about such things; I see so many good officers kept back, because they are too good to be spared, and so many poor ones put forward merely as a means of getting rid of them, that I never worry. Don't think that a piece of vanity, I don't mean it so. I don't call any cavalry officer good who can't see the truth and tell the truth. With an infantry officer, this is not [so] essential, but cavalry are the eyes and ears of the army and ought to see and hear and tell truly; — and yet it is the universal opinion that P—'s own reputation, and P—'s late promotions are bolstered up by systematic lying.

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¹ General David McM. Gregg had known Lowell in the Peninsula, having been a captain with him in the Sixth U. S. Cavalry.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 278-9, 429

Charles Russell Lowell to Anna Jackson Lowell, July 22, 1861

Warren, July 22, '61.

I write out of sheer dulness; a mounted officer without a horse, a Captain without a Lieutenant or a command, a recruiting officer without a Sergeant and with but one enlisted man, a human being condemned to a country tavern and familiar thrice a day with dried apples and “a little piece of the beef-steak”—have I not an excuse for dulness? I am known here as “the Agent of that Cavalry Company”— and the Agent's office is the resort of half the idle clerks and daguerreotype artists in town — but those fellows don't enlist.¹

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¹ One soldier, certainly, of those enlisted by Lowell, on the very day he wrote this letter, proved a credit to his Country's service in all the grades from lowest to highest. The following letter was received by me, in answer to one of inquiry, from Lieutenant-General Chaffee, lately retired: —

Los Angeles, California, August 26, 1906.

Dear Mr. Emerson, — I have your letter, dated the 17th instant. While I was not the first, I was one of the first dozen enlisted by General Lowell at Warren, Ohio, in the summer of 1861; my hand being held up on the 22d of July.

On that day, I was en route from my home to Columbus, Ohio, to enlist in the 23d Ohio Volunteers. Walking along Main Street, in Warren, I observed a recruiting poster on the wall of a building, with a picture of a mounted soldier. I stopped for a moment to take in the situation and read, “Recruits wanted for the United States Army.” Standing in a near-by door was a fine looking man in uniform, and he said to me, “Young man, don't you wish to enlist?” I told him of my intention to join the 23d Ohio. He at once set forth the advantages of the cavalry service and the Regular Army in such fascinating terms that within fifteen minutes I determined to accept his opinion of what was best for me to do.

I enlisted in his troop — K, Sixth Cavalry—and served as an enlisted man in the troop until May 12, 1863, on which date I received my commission as second lieutenant in the Sixth Cavalry. I left the regiment on promotion to major, July, 1888.

At date of my appointment as lieutenant, Captain Lowell was on detached service or on leave of absence, and I believe he never thereafter served with the Sixth Cavalry, except as its brigade commander in the Shenandoah Valley, he being at the time Colonel of the Second Massachusetts.

I knew General Lowell only as an enlisted soldier may know his captain in the regular service. He was my instructor, I his obedient soldier. There were, of course, no discussions of campaigns or superior officers in my hearing, — so observations of him when captain of my troop in camp and battle, and occasionally later, when in command of the Reserve Brigade, is all I know of him of a personal nature.  . . . None of them [the technically educated line-officers of the regiment] in my opinion equalled his activity and great enthusiasm as an officer of cavalry.

For self-control, personal courage, daring exposure to wounds or death in battle, I did not see his equal during the war. For bravery he is yet, after forty years of experience in the Army, my idol — the brave officer. As he was viewed from the ranks, he seemed unconscious that he possessed bravery in larger degree than usual with men. He was not one to do anything for mere show.  . . . During the Valley Campaign an officer suggested more caution, less unnecessary exposure to the fire of the enemy; whereupon General Lowell remarked that the bullet had not been moulded that would harm him. In less than a month he was struck twice — both the same day — the last his fatal hurt. . . .

Captain Lowell was always kind to his men, duly considerate of all faults and failures on their part; he was, nevertheless, strict in his discipline.

I regret not being able to assist you materially in the special direction you mention, —his actions, words, etc., that marked his individuality.

I simply recollect that he was always ready, always enthusiastic in whatever of duty came to his lot, — splendid officer.

Very truly,

Adna R. Chaffee

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 216, 404-6