Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Anna Jackson Lowell, September 4, 1864

Summit Point, Sept. 4, 1864.

You must not feel despondent about public affairs. Lincoln is going to be reelected. Every officer ought to show double zeal, and every citizen double interest in recruiting, if any military success is to have an effect on the result. I think that four years under McClellan would destroy what is left of the Republic. I am very, very sorry that his name is to be used by men like Wood, Vallandigham, and Cox.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 334

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Anna Jackson Lowell, July 26, 1863

Camp Near Centreville, July 26, '63.

You will write me, I know, all you learn about the Fifty-Fourth. I see that General Beauregard believes Bob Shaw was killed in a fight on the 18th, — I hope and trust he is mistaken. He will be a great loss to his regiment and to the service, — and you know what a loss he will be to his family and friends. He was to me one of the most attractive men I ever knew, — he had such a single and loyal and kindly heart: I don't believe he ever did an unkind or thoughtless act without trying to make up for it afterwards — Effie says he never did (I mean she has said so, of course I have not heard from her since this news) — in that, he was like Jimmy. It cannot be so hard for such a man to die — it is not so hard for his friends to lose him.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 284

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw, July 9, 1863

July 9th (?).

What glorious news about Vicksburg! — and I am particularly glad to have that and Gettysburg come so near the 4th of July — a year ago on that day Jimmy died in a farmhouse on the battlefield of Glendale. The little fellow was very happy, — he thought the war would soon be over, that everything was going right, and that everybody was as high-minded and courageous as himself. For Mother's sake, I wish you had known him, — he was a good son and a pure and wise lover of his Country, — with Father and Mother, I shall never fill his place, nor in the Commonwealth either, I fear.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 275

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Anna Jackson Lowell, June 17, 1863

Camp Brightwood, June 17, '63.

I have been expecting orders for some days past — but the raid into Pennsylvania seems to be blowing over — and they haven't come. I hope Hooker will seek to get a battle out of Lee at once —  he will never have a better chance, with the six months' troops called for; he will be able to reap the fruits of a victory if he gains one, and a defeat would not be very disastrous.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 258

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Anna Jackson Lowell, June 5, 1863

Camp Brightwood, June 5, 1863.

I do not see what you and Mr. Child find to be so hopeful about, — I see no evidence of yielding on their part, and no evidence of greater vigour on ours; we are again on the defensive as we were last August, — are again idle for want of troops, — and Lee will again be in Maryland without a doubt. I do not think this at all a hopeless state of things, but I see no prospect of any immediate end, which, I suppose, is what you are looking for.¹ The people are of a more resolute temper than at this time last year, but, on the other hand, party lines are drawing more distinctly, and I should not be surprised to see exhibitions of disloyalty in some of our Northern cities; these will be put down, and in the end the Government will be the stronger for them, but meanwhile may not military operation be embarrassed and perhaps postponed? Do you remember, Mother, how soon another Presidential canvass is coming round? I seriously fear that that, too, will be allowed to delay very vigorous operations, — and all this time the South is growing stronger. However, we may get Vicksburg, and may cripple Lee, if he comes into Maryland. I think we are altogether too apt to forget the general aspect of affairs and regard single events as of entire importance: this makes any predictions useless, — it would operate for us in case of success as it has hitherto operated against us: but so far from feeling hopeful, I am sometimes inclined to believe that we are going to see a change: that whereas we have had few victories, but have been on the whole successful, we are now going to gain victories and find them comparatively useless.

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¹ Professor Francis J. Child, the accomplished and genial scholar, Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory, later of English, at Harvard College, and remembered by his admirable editing of English and Scottish Ballads, was an ardent and useful patriot. His spirited collection, War Songs for Freemen, set to stirring tunes, were sung in the college yard by youths, many of whom soon left their studies for the front.

This letter shows surprising foresight in Lowell. Lee's invasion began immediately afterward, was checked at Gettysburg, and Vicksburg fell before Grant; but within a week draft riots in Boston and New York, dangerous and bloody, broke out and were sternly suppressed. In spite of the defeats, the Rebel power was not broken. The Presidential election was a great victory, and England did not dare to aid the Confederates; yet the war dragged slowly until Grant's advance on Richmond began, in May. In spite of his siege of Richmond, Washington was again endangered in July, 1864, and Maryland and Pennsylvania threatened by Early even later.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 253-5

Diary of Josephine Shaw Lowell: July 4, 1862

Our loss this morning is reported at 15,000 and that of the Rebels at 40,000. Jimmy Lowell was killed,¹ and his mother sees it for the first time this morning. I didn't know him before last winter, when he was introduced to me at the Agassiz's and much to my gratification asked me to dance. What rendered it pleasanter was that, being lame from his wound, he hadn't danced at all that evening. Poor Mother! I won't say poor Son, for he died for his country and such martyrs are not to be pitied.

11:30 P.M. Just come home from Col. Howe's (Agent of N. E. Regs.) where, in spite of troublous times, we went to see the fireworks. There was a soldier there spending the night who had been wounded and Col. Howe brought him down because he'd heard him say: “Oh! How I wish I could be in the country today.” I talked to him all the firework time and he told me about his wound, the battle, etc. He was only 17 years old when he enlisted last August in the Third New York Reg. and had been at Edisto Island all winter until the attack on James Island in which he was wounded in the jaw, or rather the front part of the lower jaw. Teeth and all were knocked right out by a bullet passing in behind under the tongue. All his upper front teeth were gone, too, and one would have supposed that he couldn't talk, but he managed very well with his face plastered up. After he was hit he walked by himself half way to the hospital and two drummer boys helped him the rest of the way. When he got there the pieces of bone hanging out were cut off. The fireworks and our brightness seemed so incongruous in his sight and in the thought of thousands suffering tonight.

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¹ At the battle of Glendale, Virginia, June 30, 1862.

SOURCE: William Rhinelander Stewart, The Philanthropic Work of Josephine Shaw Lowell, p. 30-1

Captain Charles Russell Lowell to Anna Jackson Lowell, February 9, 1863

Boston, Feb. 9, '63.

. . . You will be very glad to hear that Bob Shaw is to be Colonel, and Norwood Hallowell Lieutenant-Colonel of the Governor's Negro Regiment. It is very important that it should be started soberly and not spoilt by too much fanaticism. Bob Shaw is not a fanatic.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 234

Captain Charles Russell Lowell to Anna Jackson Lowell, February 1, 1863

Boston,¹ Feb. 4, 1863.

I am very glad to see that the Negro Army Bill has got so well through the House, — Governor Andrew is going to try a Regiment in Massachusetts. I am afraid he is too sanguine — it would be wiser to start with a smaller number, to be increased to a regiment in South Carolina, Texas, or Louisiana. The blacks here are too comfortable to do anything more than talk about freedom. I hope you are not too comfortable; comfort is so “demoralizing.”

¹ Relative positions were now reversed, as Captain Lowell had been detailed to raise and drill the Second Massachusetts Cavalry, and his mother had been summoned to Washington, to the bedside of her daughter Anna, a nurse in Armory Square Military Hospital, who had fallen ill.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 233-4, 413

Captain Charles Russell Lowell to Anna Jackson Lowell, September 19, 1862

Headquarters, Army Of The Potomac,

Sept. 19, 1862.

We had a severe fight day before yesterday — a good many officers on our side wounded because the men in some brigades behaved badly. Frank Palfrey is wounded, not seriously, — Paul Revere, slightly wounded, — Wendell Holmes shot through the neck, a narrow escape, but not dangerous now, — Hallowell badly hit in the arm, but he will save the limb, — Dr. Revere is killed, — also poor Wilder Dwight, — little Crowninshield (Frank's son) shot in the thigh, not serious, — Bob Shaw was struck in the neck by a spent ball, not hurt at all, — Bill Sedgwick very badly wounded.¹ A good many others of my friends besides are wounded, but none I believe in whom you take an interest. None of General McClellan's aides were hit.²

This is not a pleasant letter, Mother: we have gained a victory — a complete one, but not so decisive as could have been wished.

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¹ This was the great battle of the Antietam, at Sharpsburg, Maryland. The friends here mentioned were officers of the Twentieth and Second Infantry, two of the best regiments that Massachusetts sent to the war. Colonel Palfrey of the Twentieth has already been mentioned. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (now Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States), was captain in the same regiment. His father, the Doctor, has told the story (“My Hunt after the [wounded] Captain”) in his works. Norwood P. Hallowell became colonel of the Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts (coloured) regiment. Dr. Edward Revere (a grandson of Paul Revere), a noble man and devoted surgeon in the Twentieth, after arduous work among the wounded under fire, was shot dead as he rose from operating on a hurt soldier. Lieutenant-Colonel Dwight, early in the war, wrote, after hearing of a military success elsewhere, “I had rather lose my life to-morrow in a victory than save it for fifty years without one. When I speak of myself as not there, I mean the Massachusetts Second in whose fortunes and hopes I merge my own.” He had been largely instrumental in raising that, the first three-years regiment from his State. His wish was granted.

Lieutenant Francis Welch Crowninshield was a youth of delicate constitution, whose great spirit carried him through the whole period of the war, although he was struck by bullets at Winchester, Antietam, Chancellorsville, and elsewhere. Yet he steadily returned to his regiment, the Second Massachusetts Infantry, which he encouraged to reenlist. He became a captain, shared in the actions of the Atlanta Campaign, and, in spite of his frequent injuries, marched through to the sea with Sherman. The year after the war ended, his constitution succumbed to the effects of wounds and exposure, and he died in Italy. Of Robert Shaw much has been already, and will be, said in this volume.

William Dwight Sedgwick, of Lenox, Massachusetts, a good and strong man, well born, and of excellent attainments, was practising law in St. Louis when the war broke out. Eager in his patriotism, he at once joined the Second Massachusetts Infantry as a first lieutenant. The next year he was placed on the staff of his uncle, the gallant and loved General Sedgwick, with the rank of Major and Assistant Adjutant-General. While carrying orders at Antietam he was shot in the spine, and died in the hospital ten days later.

The stories of all these officers are told in the Harvard Memorial Biographies.

²  Lowell said no word of his important service, as one of the aides of the general in command, in helping to rally General Sedgwick's division, of the Second Corps, broken and retreating before the terrible fire. An officer who recognized him said, “I shall never forget the effect of his appearance. He seemed a part of his horse, and instinct with a perfect animal life. At the same time his eyes glistened and his face literally shone with the spirit and intelligence of which he was the embodiment. He was the ideal of the preux chevalier. After I was wounded, one of my first anxieties was to know what had become of him; for it seemed to me that no mounted man could have lived through the storm of bullets that swept the wood just after I saw him enter it.” (See Professor Peirce's Life of Lowell in the Harvard Memorial Biographies.)

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 224-5, 409-10

Captain Charles Russell Lowell to Anna Jackson Lowell, August 9, 1862

Aug. 9, 1862.

I was very glad to get your letters of Friday and Saturday, with photograph of Jimmy, all safe: it is a great thing to have so good a likeness. I was out on Monday with Hooker and Sedgwick's reconnaissance to Malvern Hill: early Tuesday morning we passed over the Nelson Farm and not very far from the house where Jim was carried; unfortunately the firing had already commenced in the front, and I could not stop even a moment, but I saw the place and the roads, and shall have much more chance of getting there again, if ever the opportunity offers.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 224

Captain Charles Russell Lowell to Anna Jackson Lowell, July 27, 1862

Harrison's Landing, July 27, '62.

. . . It is painful to think that you were still in suspense about dear Jimmy. George will have told you, before this, all that he learned from the surgeon who was with him. Nelson's Farm is still far within the enemy's line, but I hope that we may move in that direction sometime. I am glad the little fellow was not moved to Richmond, merely to die and to be buried where we never could find him — he would have felt it. Palfrey told me about his taking Jimmy's sword — it was a sacred thing to him, and he carried it through some heavy marches — he was crying as he talked of it.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 223-4

Captain Charles Russell Lowell to Anna Jackson Lowell, July 18, 1862

Harrison's Bar, July 18, 1862.

Your two last letters have told me more about Jimmy than I had learned from his friends here — they seem to bring me very near to him and also to you and Father — nearer than I might ever have been, had the little fellow lived. It is very pleasant to have had him with you so entirely last winter. I wish I had seen more of him on the Peninsula.

I think that the officers of his regiment feel his loss very much, for besides being a gallant officer, they all tell me he was a good one, which is much rarer—his noble behaviour after he received his wound has impressed them very much. George will tell you about this; — even Palfrey cannot speak of him without tears.¹

Do, dear Mother, write to me a little oftener and try and help me to be a little more like what you saw me as a little child.

Your really loving Son.

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¹ Major Higginson, in giving the Soldiers' Field, said of James Lowell: —

“One of them was first scholar in his class — thoughtful, kind, affectionate, gentle, full of solicitude about his companions and about his duties. He was wounded in a very early fight in the war, and after his recovery and a hard campaign on the Peninsula, was killed at Glendale.  . . . Hear his own words: ‘When the Class meets, in years to come, and honours its statesmen and judges, its divines and doctors, let also the score who went to fight for their country be remembered, and let not those who never returned be forgotten.’ If you had known James Lowell, you would never have forgotten him.”

I add this account of James Lowell's parting from life, given by Professor Francis J. Child in the Harvard Memorial Biographies:

“When our troops moved on, and orders came for all who could to fall in, he insisted on Patten's (his 2d lieutenant) leaving him.  . . . ‘I have written them all. Tell them how it was, Pat.’ The officers of his regiment who went to bid him farewell tell us that the grasp of his hand was warm and firm and his countenance smiling and happy. He desired that his father might be told that he was struck while dressing the line of his men. Besides this he had no message but ‘Good-bye.’ He expressed a wish that his sword might not fall into the enemy's hands — a wish that was faithfully attended to by Colonel Palfrey,² through whose personal care it was preserved and sent home. . . .

“Two of our surgeons, who had been left with the wounded at the farm, were much impressed with his behaviour, and one of them told the Rebel officers to talk with him, if they wished to know how a Northern officer thought and felt. . . .

"While the soul of this noble young soldier was passing slowly away, his sister, who had for some time been serving as volunteer nurse on a hospital steamer, which was lying at Harrison's Bar on the James River, only a few miles off, heard of his dangerous wound, and tried every expedient to get to him, but without success.”

² Francis Winthrop Palfrey, Colonel of the Twentieth Massachusetts Infantry, and later brevetted Brigadier-General U. S. V., a good soldier, and the author of the volume Antictam and Fredericksburg, No. V, in “Campaigns of the Civil War.”

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 221-2, 407-8

Captain Charles Russell Lowell to Anna Jackson Lowell, September 9, 1861

Camp Near Bladensburg, Sept. 9, '61.

You see I am at Washington first, after all. I was ordered from Rochester, August 31st, the order stating that my company was ready to organize and march at once. The first train from Rochester was September 2d, and on reaching Pittsburg I found that my company had gone forward under a lieutenant — that the camp at Pittsburg was broken up, and a new camp formed at Bladensburg. I went on with Lieutenant-Colonel Emory, overtook the company at Baltimore — took command of the detachment (230, and 44 horses) and brought them into camp Wednesday at midnight, in a pouring rain, without tents or great coats. Fortunately it was very warm, and nobody has suffered. We got our tents on Friday afternoon.

We have about 650 men now in camp, and 44 horses — besides team horses. Only two companies have arms. The horses are assigned to my Company; this makes the labour greater at first, but pleases the men.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 218-9

Captain Charles Russell Lowell to Anna Jackson Lowell, August 8, 1861

Warren, Aug. 8, '61.

I should think the hardships of the poor wives would interfere more or less with recruiting — I hope it does. — What will you do with ten more regiments of families to support next winter?¹  . . . I am glad you are getting old enough to feel the beauty of youth, — I have felt it for some years — I have a perfect longing for young things. I am afraid the Colonel will object to many of my recruits that they are too youthful, but I cannot help the tendency.

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¹ Mrs. Lowell was carrying out a plan for supplying army work to the wives of soldiers.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 217-8, 406

Charles Russell Lowell to Anna Jackson Lowell, August 5, 1861

Warren, Aug. 5, '61.

I am expecting daily to get official notice to enlist for three years instead of five —  had I had this three weeks ago, I could ere this have filled my company, which unfortunately is now only half filled. I hope to receive orders to move my rendezvous at the same time.

You seem to feel worse about the Bull Run defeat than I do. To me, the most discouraging part of the whole is the way in which company officers have too many of them behaved since the affair — skulking about Washington, at Willard's or elsewhere, letting their names go home in the lists of killed or missing, eating and sleeping and entirely ignoring the commands of their superiors, and the moral and physical needs of their men. I regard it as a proof of something worse than loose discipline — as a proof that those officers, at least, have no sense of the situation and no sentiment for their cause: if there are to be many such, we are whipped from the outset. Fancy Jim or Willy behaving so! I know that my Southern classmates in the Rebel ranks would never have treated their companies of poor white trash so contemptuously: they respect them too much as means for a great end.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 216-7

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

Captain Charles Russell Lowell to Anna Jackson Lowell, July 20, 1861

Warren, Trumbull Co., Ohio, July 20, 1861.

I am "located" (or " stationed" I believe is the proper word now) in what is called the Western Reserve: a glorious place to recruit it must have been two months ago, but unfortunately all the young men were too patriotic to wait for a chance in the Regular Cavalry and went off in the Volunteers and are now fighting in Virginia: none but married men or elderly men are left — three companies went from this little town and as many more from the southern part of the county, I believe.

This is Ben Wade's district — quite a refreshing change after Pennsylvania.

The news from the seat of war is also cheering, now that Scott's columns have started; they seem to do their work well, but I think they will yet find that the Rebels will fight well before they fall back on Richmond — especially if it be true that Johnson has succeeded in joining them.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 214-5

Captain Charles Russell Lowell to Anna Jackson Lowell, July 15, 1861

Franklin, Pennsylvania, July 15, '61.

I am just in from a ride of thirty-four miles — have averaged over twenty-five for the last eight days. Whether you fancy my soldiering or not, you would be glad to see how hard I am getting in this mountain air with thumping about on a country horse. We have about twenty recruits secured — a very good beginning: now that a nucleus is formed, I think they will collect rapidly.

I shall start on Wednesday for Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio: this is the Western Reserve, and I believe is settled by Yankees. I must say I shall be glad to escape from the Democratic atmosphere of Pennsylvania; party lines are as strong as ever they were in Franklin — it is said there are nearly one hundred subscribers to the “Day Book” here. As I am now a “National” man and forbidden to talk politics, I listen in silence — but it is not pleasant.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 214

Captain Charles Russell Lowell to Anna Jackson Lowell, July 1, 1861

New York, July 1, '61.

Dear Mother, — Got my orders this morning all right — have taken the oath of allegiance, and signified my acceptance of the appointment, —so I am now fairly in the U. S. Army. I shall leave here to-morrow evening for Pittsburg — learn from Captain Cram of our Regiment that the captains will probably be put on recruiting duty for a month or more. This will not be a very pleasant occupation for the summer months, but the barracks and riding school at Pittsburg are not ready, and anything is better than idleness or Washington.

Dr. Stone is very impatient under Scott's wise delay.

It seems to me that the necessity for martial law throughout Virginia and Maryland is daily becoming stronger. Our Army is becoming demoralized — Union men are alienated and treason is encouraged by even Banks's operations in Baltimore: he can arrest men, but what can he do with them without martial law?

You would not like to see me in uniform — I look like a butcher.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 213

Charles Russell Lowell to Anna Jackson Lowell, June 19, 1861

Washington, June 19, '61.

Don't let any one blame Governor Andrew — he is good and thoughtful, and if he is sometimes misled by good nature, he is never hampered by ulterior personal aims; all the faculty of ways and means in the world, if so hampered, is a curse to the country. At least I am sometimes tempted to say so.¹

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¹ As for our good and great War-Governor, the doubts concerning him when elected, his early unpopularity, and his triumphant record, I quote the words of that admirable citizen, the late Colonel Henry Lee of his staff: —

“Meeting the Governor just after his election, at a political levee, I refrained from joining in the congratulations generally expressed because I was afraid he might be one-sided and indiscreet, deficient in common sense and practical ability.  . . . I unexpectedly received a summons to a position upon his staff.  . . . Work began at once. But it is needless to repeat the hundred-times-told tale of Governor Andrew’s military preparations, the glory whereof has since been comfortably adopted by Massachusetts as her own — by right of eminent domain, perhaps — whereas in fact nearly all Massachusetts derided and abused him at the time, and the glory was really as much his individual property as his coat and hat.

“The war had begun, and Massachusetts, that denounced State which was to have been left out in the cold, had despatched within one week five Regiments of Infantry, one Battalion of Riflemen, and one Battery of Artillery, armed, clothed, and equipped. Behind every great movement stands the man, and that man behind this movement was the ridiculed, despised fanatic, John A. Andrew. As the least backwardness on the part of Massachusetts, whose sons had done more than all others to promote the ‘irrepressible conflict,’ would have endangered the Union and exposed us to the plottings and concessions of the Conservatives and ‘Copperheads,’ so her prompt response, in consequence of the courage and foresight of her Governor, strengthened the timid, rebuked the disaffected, cemented the Union, fused the whole country into one glow of patriotism.

“Saint Paul was not more suddenly or more thoroughly converted than were many of those who had, up to that week, been loudest in their lamentations, or denunciations of the Governor. Rich men poured in their gifts.  . . . Conservatives and Democrats rushed to pay their respects and to applaud the very acts which they had so deplored and ridiculed.”  (Memoir of Henry Lee, by John T. Morse, Jr. Boston: Little & Brown, 1905.)

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 212, 403-4