Diary of Private Lewis C. Paxson, Sunday, August 31, 1862

Ordered to prepare to receive our arms. Company received a furlough of six days. Remained at Fort Snelling. Henderson's company armed with Austrian guns.

SOURCE: Lewis C. Paxson, Diary of Lewis C. Paxson: Stockton, N.J., 1862-1865, p. 4

William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, January 20, 1861

SEMINARY, Jan. 20, 1861.

Here is another Sunday. I have written you often enough of late to keep you in a perfect state of uneasiness, but it does seem that each day brings forth something new. I now have official notice that three thousand three hundred muskets, seventy thousand cartridges, etc., are sent here from Baton Rouge, which must be a part of those seized by the state or otherwise stolen, and I must make provision for their storage. I must move to the new house in order to afford room for them in my present quarters.

But my stay here much longer is impossible. My opinions and feelings are so radically opposed to those in power that this cannot last long. I send you a copy of a letter I wrote to Governor Moore on the 18th, on the receipt of which he will be forced to act. I hate to lose that five hundred dollars but I guess it can't be helped. I know all about the forms of reports, returns, money accounts, etc., and no one here does, and I know of no one in the state that Moore can find. Still I think he will feel bound to place the custody of these arms in the hands of one more faithful to Louisiana than I profess to be.

I shall expect a definite answer in a week, when I propose to go to New Orleans and settle the bank account. I would then ship in some Cincinnati boat such traps as would not bear railroad transportation and thence by railroad to Cincinnati, so that it is not impossible I may be in Lancaster early in February. I must leave here with a clean record, and this can only be done in the manner I have pointed out to Governor Moore. He may endeavor to throw obstacles in my way, but I think not. He is too fair a man.

I feel no desire to follow an army necessarily engaged in Civil War, and as we could start out of debt, it may be we can keep so.

Those now in debt will suffer most, or least, for they will likely repudiate all debts. Down here they think they are going to have fine times. New Orleans a free port whereby she can import goods without limit or duties and sell to the up-river countries. But Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore will never consent that New Orleans should be a free port and they subject to duties. The most probable result will be that New Orleans will be shut off from all trade, and the South having no money* and no sailors cannot raise a blockade without assistance from England, and that she will never receive.

I have letters from General Graham and others who have given up all hope of stemming the tide. All they now hope for is as peaceable a secession as can be effected. I heard Mr. Clay's speech in 1850 on the subject of secession and if he deemed a peaceable secession then as an absurd impossibility, much more so is it now when the commercial interests of the North are so much more influential. . .

_______________

* So written but probably Navy is meant.—ED.

SOURCE: Walter L. Fleming, General W.T. Sherman as College President, p. 347-8

Brigadier-General William H. Carroll to Major-General Leonidas Polk, November 11, 1861

MEMPHIS, November 11, 1861.

Major-General POLK:

Please send me all the guns and accouterments that can be spared to Chattanooga. I will move one regiment in the morning. You will see by the dispatches how urgent the necessity is.

WM. H. CARROLL.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 4 (Serial No. 4), p. 235

Jonathan Worth to Joseph John Jackson, December 17, 1860

RALEigh, Dec. 17, ‘60.

I can not find time to write you as often as I ought to.

To-day the Senate voted 27 to 15 to suspend the rules in order to pass through its 2d and 3d readings a bill offered this morning by Erwin, who is a manly disunionist, not a disunionist under the disguise of secession, authorizing the Gov. to expend $300,000 in buying arms. The reason given for this remarkable precipitancy is that there are reasons to fear that a considerable insurrection is on foot, and secondly, that just now a gun factory offers him the guns at cash prices and payment to be made in State bonds at par. I need not say that such pretext is equally silly. The bill is made the order of the day for 12 to-morrow. It will probably pass its second and third readings. Its real object is to enable the Governor to arm volunteers to aid S. C. The State will soon be involved in war unless, to the great disappointment and mortification of the leaders in this General Assembly, the committee of 33 should make a pacification.

Cass has resigned because B. would not reinforce Ft. Moultrie. This is the report here, fully credited. Cass is too much of a Statesman to connive at the refusal of the President to execute the laws. Lincoln would not be permitted to execute them.

So So. Ca. will become another Paradise—By her cotton will rule the world—Get plenty of cheap negroes from Africa, and we may possibly be allowed to attach ourselves to her as an humble dependency.

Slavery, as Gen. Jackson well predicted, is only a “pretext.” Slavery is doomed if the South sets up a Southern Confederacy. With Canada in effect for her Northern border from the Atlantic to the Pacific—all hating us, it is madness to think of anything else only to cut the throats of the negroes or have our own throats cut.

I am truly sorry that I am a member of this Assembly which I think contains less of patriotism than any like number of men ever assembled in this State since the close of the Revolution.

Nearly half of the Democratic members desire to preserve the Union, but they are the rank and file and will all ultimately follow their leaders—at least, vote for the measures of Avery and Co.—all of which, openly or in disguise, look to a dissolution.

SOURCE: J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, Editor, The Correspondence of Jonathan Worth, Volume 1, p. 126-7

Major-General William T. Sherman to Salmon P. Chase, August 11, 1862

HEADQUARTERS FIFTH DIVISION,                 

MEMPHIS, TENN., August 11, 1862.

Hon. S. P. CHASE, Secretary of the Treasury.

SIR: Your letter of August 2d, just received, invites my discussion of the cotton question.

I will write plainly and slowly, because I know you have no time to listen to trifles. This is no trifle; when one nation is at war with another, all the people of the one are enemies of the other; then the rules are plain and easy of understanding. Most unfortunately, the war in which we are now engaged has been complicated with the belief on the one hand that all on the other are not enemies. It would have been better if, at the outset this mistake had not been made, and it is wrong longer to be misled by it. The Government of the United States may now safely proceed on the proper rule that all in the South are enemies of all in the North; and not only are they unfriendly, but all who can procure arms now bear them as organized regiments or as guerrillas. There is not a garrison in Tennessee where a man can go beyond the sight of the flagstaff without being shot or captured. It so happened that these people had cotton, and, whenever they apprehended our large armies would move, they destroyed the cotton in the belief that, of course, we would seize it and convert it to our use. They did not and could not dream that we would pay money for it. It had been condemned to destruction by their own acknowledged government, and was therefore lost to their people; and could have been, without injustice, taken by us and sent away, either as absolute prize of war or for future compensation. But the commercial enterprise of the Jews soon discovered that ten cents would buy a pound of cotton behind our army, that four cents would take it to Boston, where they could receive thirty cents in gold. The bait was too tempting, and it spread like fire when here they discovered that salt, bacon, powder, firearms, percussion caps, etc., were worth as much as gold; and, strange to say, this traffic was not only permitted but encouraged. Before we in the interior could know it hundreds, yea thousands, of barrels of salt and millions of dollars had been disbursed, and I have no doubt that Bragg's army at Tupelo, and Van Dom’s at Vicksburg, received enough salt to make bacon, without which they could not have moved their armies in mass, and from ten to twenty thousand fresh arms and a due supply of cartridges have also been got, I am equally satisfied. As soon as got to Memphis, having seen the effect in the interior, I ordered (only as to my command) that gold, silver, and Treasury notes were contraband of war, and should not go into the interior, where all were hostile. It is idle to talk about Union men here: many want peace, and fear war and its results, but all prefer a Southern, independent government, and are fighting or working for it. Every gold dollar that was spent for cotton was sent to the seaboard to be exchanged for banknotes and Confederate scrip, which will buy goods here and are taken in ordinary transactions. I therefore required cotton to be paid for in such notes, by an obligation to pay at the end of the war, or by a deposit of the price in the hands of a trustee—viz., the United States quartermaster. Under these rules cotton is being obtained about as fast as by any other process, and yet the enemy receives no “aid or comfort.” Under the “gold” rule the country people who had concealed their cotton from the burners, and who openly scorned our greenbacks, were willing enough to take Tennessee money, which will buy their groceries; but now that trade is to be encouraged and gold paid out, I admit that cotton will be sent in by our own open enemies, who can make better use of gold than they can of their hidden bales of cotton.

I may not appreciate the foreign aspect of the question, but my views on this may be ventured. If England ever threatens war because we don't furnish her cotton, tell her plainly if she can't employ and feed her own people to send them here, where they can not only earn an honest living, but soon secure independence by moderate labor. We are not bound to furnish her cotton. She has more reason to fight the South for burning that cotton than us for not shipping it. To aid the South on this ground would be hypocrisy which the world would detect at once. Let her make her ultimatum, and there are enough generous minds in Europe that will counteract in the balance. Of course her motive is to cripple a power that rivals her in commerce and manufactures that threaten even to usurp her history. In twenty more years of prosperity it will require a close calculation to determine whether England, her laws and history, claim for a home the continent of America or the isle of Britain. Therefore, finding us in a death struggle for existence, she seems to seek a quarrel to destroy both parts in detail.

Southern people know this full well, and will only accept the alliance of England in order to get arms and manufactures in exchange for their cotton. The Southern Confederacy will accept no other mediation, because she knows full well that in old England her slaves and slavery will receive no more encouragement than in New England.

France certainly does not need our cotton enough to disturb her equilibrium, and her mediation would be entitled to a more respectful consideration than on the part of her present ally. But I feel assured the French will not encourage rebellion and secession anywhere as a political doctrine. Certainly all the German states must be our ardent friends, and, in case of European intervention, they could not be kept down.

With great respect, your obedient servant,

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General.

SOURCES: William T. Sherman, Memoirs of General William T. Sherman, by Himself, Volume 1, p. 266-8; Manning F. Force, General Sherman, 92-4.

Governor John A. Andrew to Edwin M. Stanton, May 19, 1862

Boston, May 19,1862.

Hon. Edwin M. Stanton,

Secretary of War, Washington, D. C.:

Sir, — I have this moment received a telegram in these words, viz: —

The Secretary of War desires to know how soon you can raise and organize three or four more infantry regiments and have them ready to be forwarded here to be armed and equipped. Please answer immediately and state the number you can raise.

L. Thomas, Adjutant-General.

A call so sudden and unforewarned finds me without materials for an intelligent reply. Our young men are all preoccupied by other views. Still, if a real call for three regiments is made I believe we can raise them in forty days. The arms and equipments would need to be furnished here. Our people have never marched without them. They go into camp while forming into regiments and are drilled and practised with arms and march as soldiers. To attempt the other course would dampen enthusiasm and make the men feel that they were not soldiers, but a mob. Again, if our people feel that they are going into the South to help fight rebels, who will kill and destroy them by all the means known to savages, as well as civilized man; will deceive them by fraudulent flags of truce and lying pretences (as they did the Massachusetts boys at Williamsburg), will use their negro slaves against them, both as laborers and as fighting men, while they themselves must never “fire at an enemy's magazine” I think that they will feel that the draft is heavy on their patriotism.

But, if the President will sustain General Hunter,¹ recognize all men, even black men, as legally capable of that loyalty the blacks are waiting to manifest, and let them fight, with God and human nature on their side, the roads will swarm if need be with multitudes whom New England would pour out to obey your call.

Always ready to do my utmost, I remain most faithfully,

Your obedient servant,

John A. Andrew.

____________________

¹ Lincoln's proclamation, cancelling Hunter's, bears the same date with this letter of Andrew's, May 19.

SOURCE: Henry Greenleaf Pearson, The Life of John A. Andrew: Governor of Massachusetts, 1861-1865, Volume 2, p. 11-13

Thomas Wentworth Higginson to a Friend, September 16, 1856

Nebraska City, September 16,1856

I know you will particularly like a word from the Border. . . . Various camping grounds are scattered along from twenty-five miles north to the same distance south, of various parties, and in a day or two more it will be “Boot, saddle, to horse, and away,” as Browning has it. Only just at this moment things look discouragingly safe, and the men are beginning to fear marching in without a decent excuse for firing anything at anybody. But we shall take in arms and ammunition and flour and groceries and specie, and shall be welcomed even if we go through safe. As one approaches Kansas, it becomes more and more the absorbing topic and every one here talks it all day, while waiting for real estate to rise. Then comes a cloud of dust on the western road and two or three horsemen come riding wearily in, bearded and booted and spurred and red-shirted, sword and pistol by their side — only the sword is a bowie-knife — wild, manly-looking riders, and they are the latest from Kansas and we get them quickly into a private room to hear the news — how the road is peaceful just now, and they need flour and lead woefully at Lawrence, and how four hundred men chased seven hundred.

. . . The wells are nearly dry, though I can't conceive that enough has ever been drawn from them to produce the effect, and the dirtiest thing in the landscape is the river. . . . The most discouraging thing I have heard for liberty in Kansas is that the Kansas River is just like the Missouri.

SOURCE: Mary Potter Thacher Higginson, Editor, Letters and Journals of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, 1846-1906, p. 140-1

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: September 15, 1863

Gov. Vance writes that he has reliable information that the 30,000 troops in New York, ostensibly to enforce the draft, are intended for a descent on North Carolina, and Gen. Whiting has said repeatedly that 3000 could take Wilmington. The Governor says if North Carolina be occupied by the enemy, Virginia and the whole Confederacy will be lost, for all communication now, by rail, is through that State.

Gen. Sam. Jones writes from Abingdon, Va., that from his information he does not doubt Cumberland Gap and its garrison capitulated on the 9th inst. He calls lustily for reinforcements, and fears the loss of everything, including the salt works, if he be not reinforced. Well, he will be reinforced!

Gov. (just elected) R. L. Caruthers (of Tennessee) begs that 20,000 men from Lee's army be sent out on Rosecrans's left flank to save Tennessee, which alone can save the Confederacy. Well, they have been sent!

There must be a “fight or a foot-race” soon in Northern Georgia, and also in Virginia, on the Rappahannock. May God defend the right! If we deserve independence, I think we shall achieve it. If God be not for us, we must submit to His will.

Major Huse is buying and shipping 2000 tons saltpetre, besides millions of dollars worth of arms and stores. If we can keep Wilmington, we can send out cotton and bring in supplies without limit.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 44-5

Edwin M Stanton to Major-General John A. Dix, April 13, 1865

WAR DEPARTMENT,         

Washington City, April 13, 1865.

Major-General DIX,

New York:

The Department, after mature consideration and consultation with the lieutenant-general upon the results of the recent campaigns, has come to the following determination, which will be carried into effect by appropriate orders to be immediately issued:

1. To stop all drafting and recruiting in the loyal States. 2. To curtail purchases for arms, ammunition, quartermaster and commissary supplies, and reduce the expenses of the military establishment in its several branches. 3. To reduce the number of general and staff officers to the actual necessities of the service. 4. To remove all military restriction upon trade and commerce so far as may be consistent with public safety.

As soon as these measures can be put in operation it will be made known by public orders.

EDWIN M. STANTON,       

Secretary of War.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I Volume 46, Part 3 (Serial No. 97), p. 744

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: August 14, 1863

The enemy is not idle. He knows the importance of following up his recent advantages, and making the utmost use of his veteran troops now in the field, because his new levies, if indeed the draft be submitted to, will not be fit for use this year, probably, if ever, for they will consist of the riff-raff of the Northern population. On the other hand, he suspects we will soon have larger armies in the field than ever before, and our accessions will consist of our bravest men, who will make efficient soldiers in a month. If our armies be not broken before October, no doubt the tide of success will turn again fully in our favor.

Major Wm. Norris, Signal Corps, reports that many transports and troops have been going down from Washington and Annapolis to Fortress Monroe during the whole week, and that 5000 men embarked at Fortress Monroe, on Monday, for (as they said themselves) Charleston. Among these was a negro regiment of 1300.

T. C. Reynolds, confidential agent of the government in the trans-Mississippi States, sends copy of a circular letter from Lieut.-Gen. Kirby Smith to the “representative men” of Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas, to meet him in convention, 15th August, at Marshall, Texas. Mr Reynolds says he and others will exert themselves to prevent the meeting from taking a dangerous political direction. Gen. Smith is popular, and opposed to the States named setting up for themselves, although he plainly says in the circular that they must now adopt self sustaining measures, as they cannot look for aid from the East. Mr. Reynolds says something, not clearly understood by me, about an equipoise among the political generals. Has he been instructed on that point in reference to Gen. Price?

Letters from Mr. Crenshaw, in England, and the correspondence forwarded by him, might seem to implicate Major Caleb Huse, Col. J. Gorgas's ordnance agent, in some very ugly operations. It appears that Major H. has contracted for 50,000 muskets at $4 above the current price, leaving $200,000 commission for whom? And that he really seems to be throwing obstacles in the way of Mr. C, who is endeavoring to procure commissary stores in England. Mr. C. has purchased £40,000 worth of bacon, but Major Huse, he apprehends, is endeavoring to prevent its shipment. Can this be so?

The Charleston Mercury that came to-day contains an editorial broadside against the President, Mr. Benjamin, Mr. Mallory, and Commissary-General Northrop.

Mr. Gilmer, lawyer, remarked to me to-day that some grave men (!) really believed Davis and Lincoln had an understanding, and were playing into each other's hands to prolong the war, knowing that peace would be the destruction of both! I think there is more danger to both in war. The blood of a brave people could not be trifled with without the utmost danger. Let peace come, even if the politicians be shorn of all their power.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 14-5

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Luman Harris Tenney: November 23, 1863

Went to mills and put them to running as fast as possible. Capt. Rankin in charge of two mills. June and Dan went to town. No pay. Read papers. Alarm towards night. Pickets fired upon. Some arms lost in the river. Pleasant day. Very strong position here at this gap.

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 98

Edwin M. Stanton to Congressman Galusha A. Grow, June 14, 1862

WAR DEPARTMENT,

Washington City, D.C., June 14, 1862.

Hon. GALUSHA A. GROW,

Speaker of the House of Representatives:

SIR: A resolution of the House of Representatives has been received, which passed the 9th instant, to the following effect:

Resolved, That the Secretary of War be directed to inform this House if General Hunter, of the Department of South Carolina, has organized a regiment of South Carolina volunteers for the defense of the Union composed of black men (fugitive slaves) and appointed the colonel and other officers to command them.

2. Was he authorized by the Department to organize and muster into the Army of the United States as soldiers the fugitive or captive slaves?

3. Has he been furnished with clothing, uniforms, &c., for such force?

4. Has he been furnished, by order of the Department of War, with arms to be placed in the hands of those slaves?

5. To report any orders given said Hunter and correspondence between him and the Department.

In answer to the foregoing resolution I have the honor to inform the House—

First. That this Department has no official information whether General Hunter, of the Department of South Carolina, has or has not organized a regiment of South Carolina volunteers for the defense of the Union composed of black men (fugitive slaves) and appointed the colonel and other officers to command them. In order to ascertain whether he has done so or not a copy of the House resolution has been transmitted to General Hunter, with instructions to make immediate report thereon.

Second. General Hunter was not authorized by the Department to organize and muster into the Army of the United States the fugitive or captive slaves.

Third. General Hunter, upon his requisition as commander of the South, has been furnished with clothing and arms for the force under his command without instructions as to how they should be used.

Fourth. He has not been furnished, by order of the Department of War, with arms to be placed in the hands of “those slaves.”

Fifth. In respect to so much of said resolution as directs the Secretary “to report to the House any orders given said Hunter and correspondence between him and the Department,” the President instructs me to answer that the report at this time of the orders given to and correspondence between General Hunter and this Department would, in his opinion, be improper and incompatible with the public welfare.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

EDWIN M. STANTON,

Secretary of War.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series III, Volume 2 (Serial No. 123), p. 147-8

Major-General David Hunter to Edwin M. Stanton, April 3, 1862

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,

Hilton Head, Port Royal; S.C., April 3, 1862.

Hon. E. M. STANTON,

Secretary of War:

SIR: I have the honor to report my arrival here on the 30th ultimo. I address you by the first opportunity since my arrival.

I find about 17,000 troops scattered along the coast from Saint Augustine, Fla., to North Edisto Inlet, South Carolina, distributed as follows:

At Saint Augustine, Fla.	200
At Jacksonville, Fla.	1,400
At mouth of Saint John's River, Fla.	70
At Fernandina, Fla.	900
At Tybee Island, Ga.	2,200
At Daufuskie Island, S. C.	1,600
At Bird Island, S. C.	300
At Jones Island, S. C.	300
At Hilton Head, S. C.	4,500
At Bay Point, S. C.	80
At Beaufort, S. C.	3,600
At Otter Island, S. C.	450
At North Edisto River, S. C.	1,400
	17,000

It is my opinion that this force is entirely too much scattered and is subject to be cut off in detail.

I shall order an abandonment of Jacksonville, Fla., and the re-enforcement of Forts Marion and Clinch. From later accounts I may add the Union feeling in Florida is not so strong as we were first induced to believe.

The batteries for opening on Fort Pulaski have been retarded by the non-arrival of the necessary guns, ammunition, &c. But Captain Gillmore, who deserves great credit for his untiring and scientific exertions, is now nearly ready, and by the next steamer I hope to be able to announce to you the fall of Pulaski. We then shall be able to hold the Savannah River with a small force and to concentrate on Charleston.

General Sherman made a requisition in December for five steamers drawing not more than 6 feet each. He informs me that they were purchased for him and sent from New York, but put into Hatteras in a storm, and are there detained by General Burnside. We are still very much in want of these light-draught boats, and, as we have but three wagons to a regiment, they are absolutely essential.

On my leaving Washington you had the kindness to promise me whatever force I might ask. We shall do all that men can do with the small force we have; but it distresses me to be in such a beautiful situation for striking strong blows without the arms to strike. I beg that you will send us at once as many men as you think we can use to advantage, as all the officers in command report the re-enforcement of the enemy on their respective fronts.

I most earnestly request that 50,000 muskets, with all the necessary accouterments, and 200 rounds for each piece, may be sent to me at once, with authority to arm such loyal men as I can find in the country, whenever, in my opinion, they can be used advantageously against the enemy.

It is important that I should be able to know and distinguish these men at once, and for this purpose I respectfully request that 50,000 pairs of scarlet pantaloons may be sent me; and this is all the clothing I shall require for these people.

I believe the rebel regiments as they retreat from the Army of the Potomac come directly to their respective States and that in this way the force opposed to us here is becoming considerably augmented.

I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

 D. HUNTER,

 Major-General, Commanding.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series III, Volume 2 (Serial No. 123), p. 27-8

Major-General Benjamin F. Butler to Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott, May 27, 1861

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA,

May 27, 1861.

SIR: The expedition (of which I gave you information in my former dispatch) to Newport News got off in fine style this morning about 7 o'clock. I have added to the expedition the Eighth New York Regiment, 780 strong, which came here on board the Empire City on Sunday afternoon, and they proceeded without debarking. I also added two 6-pounder and two 12-pounder guns, with a detachment of twenty-five men from Colonel Dimick's command, who are intended to act as drill-masters to the volunteers in the exercise of the guns. My purpose is to intrench and hold that point, and ultimately to mount a few heavy guns, which will command that channel of approach to James River.

Since I wrote my last dispatch the question in regard to slave property is becoming one of very serious magnitude. The inhabitants of Virginia are using their negroes in the batteries, and are preparing to send their women and children South. The escapes from them are very numerous, and a squad has come in this morning to my pickets, bringing with them their women and children. Of course these cannot be dealt with upon the theory on which I designed to treat the services of able-bodied men and women who might come within my lines, and of which I gave you a detailed account in my last dispatch. I am in the utmost doubt what to do with this species of property. Up to this time I have had come within my lines men and women with their children — entire families — each family belonging to the same owner. I have therefore determined to employ, as I can do very profitably, the able-bodied persons in the party, issuing proper food for the support of all, and charging against their services the expense of care and sustenance of the non-laborers, keeping a strict and accurate account as well of the services as of the expenditures, having the worth of the services and the cost of the expenditures determined by a board of survey, hereafter to be detailed. I know of no other manner in which to dispose of this subject and the questions connected therewith. As a matter of property to the insurgents it will be of very great moment, the number I now have amounting, as I am informed, to what in good times would be of the value of $60,000. Twelve of these negroes, I am informed, have escaped from the erection of batteries on Sewell's Point, which this morning fired upon my expedition as it passed by out of range. As a means of offense, therefore, in the enemy's hands, these negroes, when able-bodied, are of the last importance. Without them the batteries could not have been erected, at least for many weeks. As a military question, it would seem to be a measure of necessity to deprive their masters of their services. How can this be done? As a political question and a question of humanity, can I receive the services of the father and mother and not take the children? Of the humanitarian aspect I have no doubt. Of the political one I have no right to judge. I therefore submit all this to your better judgment; and as these questions have a political aspect, I have ventured — and I trust I am not wrong in so doing — to duplicate the parts of my dispatches relating to this subject, and forward them to the Secretary of War.

It was understood when I left Washington that the three Massachusetts regiments, two of which are at the Relay House, should be forwarded to me here, and also Cook's light battery, of which I have the utmost need, if I am expected even to occupy an extended camp with safety. May I ask the attention of the Commanding General to this subject, and inquire if the exigencies of the service will permit these troops to be sent to me immediately? I have to report the arrival of no more troops except the New York Eighth since my last dispatch. The steamship Wabash, which was expected here to take the place of the Minnesota, has not yet reported herself. The Harriet Lane has reported herself here from Charleston, and is employed in convoying the Newport News expedition. I find myself extremely short of ammunition, having but a total in magazine of 85,000 rounds, (if which 5,000 rounds only are for the smooth-bore musket, and the major part of my command are provided with that arm. May I desire the attention of the Lieutenant-General to this state of facts, and ask that a large amount of ammunition for that arm — I would suggest “buck and ball” — be ordered forward from the Ordnance Department? The assistant adjutant-general has made a requisition for this purpose. I will endeavor to keep the Lieutenant-General informed daily of any occurrences of interest, provided I am not interfered with by the irregularity of the mails and modes of conveyance.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

BENJ. F. BUTLER,

Major-General, Commanding.

 Lieutenant-General SCOTT.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 2 (Serial No. 2), p. 52-4

Major-General Benjamin F. Butler to Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott, May 29, 1861

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA,

May 29, 1861.

SIR: The expedition to Newport News, of which I spoke in my last, eight miles from this place, landed without opposition. 1 have caused an intrenched camp to be made there, which, when completed, will be able to hold itself against any force that may be brought against it, and afford even a better depot from which to advance than Fortress Monroe. The advantages of the News are these: There are two springs of very pure water there; the bluff is a fine, healthy location. It has two good, commodious wharves, to which steamers of any draught of water may come up at all stages of the tide; it is as near any point of operation as Fortress Monroe, where we are obliged to lighter all vessels of draught over ten feet, and have but one wharf. The News, upon which I propose to have a water battery of four 8-inch guns, commands the ship channel of James River, and a force there is a perpetual threat to Richmond.

My next point of operation I propose shall be Pig Point, which is exactly opposite the News, commanding Nansemond River. Once in command of that battery, which I believe may be easily turned, I can then advance along the Nansemond River and easily take Suffolk, and there either hold or destroy the railroad both between Richmond and Norfolk, and also between Norfolk and the South. With a perfect blockade of Elizabeth River, and taking and holding Suffolk and perhaps York, Norfolk will be so perfectly hemmed in, that starvation will cause the surrender, without risking an attack on the strongly-fortified intrenchments around Norfolk, with great loss and perhaps defeat.

If this plan of operations does not meet the approval of the Lieutenant-General I would be glad of his instructions specifically. If it is desirable to move on Richmond, James and York Rivers, both thus held, would seem to be the most eligible routes.

I have no co-operation substantially by the Navy, the only vessels here now being the Cumberland and Harriet Lane, the former too unwieldy to get near shore to use her heavy guns, the other so light in her battery as not to be able to cope with a single battery of the rebels.

I have yet need of surf-boats for sea-coast and river advances, and beg leave to suggest this matter again to you.

This evening the First New York Regiment, three years' men, came in on board the State of Georgia. It is in a most shameful state as regards camp equipage, camp kettles, &c.

Another matter needs pressing attention. The bore of a majority of the muskets in my command is smooth, of the issue of '48, and I have only 5,000 rounds of buck and ball and no other ammunition to fit this arm. Might I request immediate action upon this vital subject!

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

BENJ. F. BUTLER.

Major-General, Commanding.

General WINFIELD SCOTT.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 2 (Serial No. 2), p. 54

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: June 28, 1863

By order of Brig.-Gen. G. W. Custis Lee, the department companies were paraded to-day, armed and equipped. These, with the militia in the streets (armed by the government today), amounted to several thousand efficient men for the batteries and for guard duty. They are to rendezvous, with blankets, provisions, etc., upon the sounding of the tocsin. I learn that 8000 men in the hospitals within convenient reach of the city, including those in the city, can be available for defense in an emergency. They cannot march, but they can fight. These, with Hill's division, will make over 20,000 men; an ample force to cope with the enemy on the Peninsula. It has been a cool, cloudy day (we have had copious rains recently), else the civilians could not have stood several hours exercise so well. A little practice will habituate them by degees to the harness of war. No one doubts that they will fight, when the time for blows arrives. Gen. Jenkins has just arrived, with his brigade, from the south side of the James River.

I was in the arsenal to-day, and found an almost unlimited amount of arms.

We get not a word from Gen. Lee. This, I think, augurs well, for bad news flies fast. No doubt we shall soon hear something from the Northern papers. They are already beginning to magnify the ravages of our army on their soil: but our men are incapable of retaliating, to the full extent, such atrocities as the following, on the Blackwater, near Suffolk, which I find in the Petersburg Express:

“Mr. Smith resided about one mile from the town, a well-to-do farmer, having around him an interesting family, the eldest one a gallant young man in the 16th Virginia Regiment. When Gen. Longstreet invested Suffolk a sharp artillery and infantry skirmish took place near Mr. Smith's residence, and many balls passed through his house. The Yankees finally advanced and fired the houses, forcing the family to leave. Mrs. Smith, with her seven children, the youngest only ten months old, attempted to escape to the woods and into the Confederate lines, when she was fired upon by the Yankee soldiers, and a Minie-ball entering her limb just below the hip, she died in thirty minutes from the loss of blood. The children, frightened, hid themselves in the bushes, while Mr. Smith sat down upon the ground by his wife, to see her breathe her last. After she had been dead for some time, the Yankee commander permitted him to take a cart, and, with no assistance except one of his children, he put the dead body in the cart and carried it into the town. On his arrival in town, he was not permitted to take the remains of his wife to her brother's residence until he had first gone through the town to the Provost Marshal's office and obtained permission. On his arrival at the Provost Marshal's office, he was gruffly told to take his wife to the graveyard and bury her. He carried her to her brother's, John R. Kilby, Esq., and a few friends prepared her for burial; Mr. Kilby not being allowed to leave the house, or to attend the remains of his sister to the graveyard.

“Nor did the cruelty of the fiends stop here. Mr. Smith was denied the privilege of going in search of his little children, and for four days and nights they wandered in the woods and among the soldiers without anything to eat or any place to sleep. The baby was taken up by a colored woman and nursed until some private in the Yankee army, with a little better heart than his associates, took it on his horse and carried it to town. Mr. Smith is still in the lines of the enemy, his house and everything else he had destroyed, and his little children cared for by his friends.

“Will not the Confederate soldiers now in Pennsylvania remember such acts of cruelty and barbarism? Will not the Nansemond companies remember it? And will not that gallant boy in the 16th Regiment remember his mother's fate, and take vengeance on the enemy? Will not such a cruel race of people eventually reap the fruit of their doings? God grant that they may.”

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 362-4

Minute Men in Greenwood

At a meeting of the Greenwood Minute Men, on Saturday last, a subscription list was opened, and six hundred dollars subscribed in a few minutes, towards the purchase of arms, if necessary, for the company and for other purposes.  Should the state fail to provide arms and equipments for her Minute Men, this Company is resolved to arm themselves in the defence of their homes and institutions.  The Silver Grays, (honorary members of the corps,) were among the foremost and most liberal in this patriotic duty.

The Greenwood corps is now fully organized and numbers more than sixty effective men.

— Published in The Abbeville Press, Abbeville, South Carolina, Friday Morning, November 9, 1860, p. 2

Diary of Sergeant Major Luman Harris Tenney: May 4, 1863

Went up for the bread and beef. Visited the barber shop. Sleeked up. Examined our new arms. Like them well. We ought to be able to accomplish something with them. At school in the evening. A. B. has telegraphed for Melissa. Hope she can come tonight. He goes to town. Beat and was beaten one game of chess.

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 68

Diary of Sergeant Major Luman Harris Tenney: April 4, 1863

Went up for the bread and beef. Visited the barber shop. Sleeked up. Examined our new arms. Like them well. We ought to be able to accomplish something with them. At school in the evening. A. B. has telegraphed for Melissa. Hope she can come tonight. He goes to town. Beat and was beaten one game of chess.

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

Diary of Sergeant Major Luman Harris Tenney: April 3, 1863

Rumor about camp that we will leave Monday. We are ready. Arms have come and good ones, too, I guess. Received and answered letters from home and good Fannie. Did me good. No school in the evening so stayed at home and wrote. Snowed in the morning. Pleasant afternoon.

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