Dr. Spencer G. Welch to Cordelia Strother Welch, December 4, 1862

Camp near Fredericksburg, Va.,        

December 4, 1862.

We traveled 175 miles from the Valley to this place in twelve days, and are now encamped upon precisely the same spot we were occupying when we left this region last spring. Our march was the least disagreeable of any I have experienced, because the weather was very cold and we traveled during the day only. We were well fed also, compared with our other marches. We had rain but once and snow twice. Many of the men were barefooted and the march was terrible for them. Billie, Ed and I stood it first-rate and none of us lagged behind once. By a mere chance we got our clothing at Orange Court House. We feel very grateful to you and the others for your trouble and expense for us. My suit fits as well as I could wish, and everyone admires it. Wilson had his knapsack stolen the first night after we got the clothes. He is very careless, and so is Billie. Unless one is extremely careful everything he has will be stolen from him in camp. Half of the men in the army seem to have become thieves.

We have an enormous force concentrated here now. Nearly all the men are well clothed, but some few are not. We still have a few barefooted men because their feet are too large for the Government shoes. The health of the troops continues fine. Last summer never less than two hundred men reported sick every morning in our regiment, and now there are never more than twelve or fifteen cases.

I doubt our having any more fighting this winter, as such weather as this puts a stop to all military operations. The enemy cannot advance on us nor can we advance on them. I think we surely will go into winter quarters soon, for it is folly for us to be lying out as we are. We have good health, it is true, but it is extremely unpleasant.

I may have an opportunity to send you some more money soon, and you may spend it if you wish, for it may be worthless when the war is over.

George will be one year old on the seventh.

SOURCE: Dr. Spenser G. Welch, A Confederate Surgeon's Letters to His Wife, p. 36-8

Lieutenant-General James Longstreet to General Robert E. Lee, February 14, 1865

[Confidential.]

HEADQUARTERS,

February 14, 1865.

General R. E. LEE,

Commanding:

GENERAL:  Recent developments of the enemy's designs seem to indicate an early concentration of his armies against Richmond. This, of course, must involve a like concentration on our part or the abandonment of our capital. The latter emergency would, I think, be almost fatal – possibly quite so, after our recent reverses. To concentrate here in time to meet the movements of the enemy, we shall be obliged to use the little of our southern railroad that is left to us in transporting our troops, so that we cannot haul provisions over that route. I fear, therefore, that we shall not be able to feed our troops unless we adopt extraordinary measures and efforts. I think that there is enough of the necessaries of life left in Virginia and North Carolina to help us through our troubles, if we can only reach them. Impressing officers, however, nor collectors of tax in kind, nor any other plan heretofore employed are likely to get these supplies in time or in quantities to meet our necessities. The citizens will not give their supplies up and permit their families and servants to suffer for the necessaries of life without some strong inducement, for each one may naturally think that the little he would supply by denying himself and family will go but a little way where so much is needed. He does not want Confederate money, for his meat and bread will buy him clothes, &c., for his family more readily and in much larger quantities than the money that the Government would pay.

The only thing, then, that will insure our rations and our national existence is gold. Send out the gold through Virginia and North Carolina and pay liberal prices, and my conviction is that we shall have no more distress for want of food. The winter is about over now, and the families can and will subsist on molasses, bread, and vegetables for the balance of the year, if they can get gold for their supplies. There is a great deal of meat and bread inside the enemy's lines that our people would bring us for gold, but they won't go to that trouble for Confederate money. They can keep gold so much safer than they can meat and bread, and it is always food and clothing. If the Government has not the gold, it must impress it; or if there is no law for the impressment, the gold must be taken without a law. Necessity does not know or wait for laws. If we stop to make laws in order that we may reach the gold, it will disappear the day that the law is mentioned in Congress. To secure it no one should suspect that we are after it until we knock at the doors of the vaults that contain it, and we must then have guards, to be sure that it is not made away with. It seems to my mind that our prospects will be brighter than they have ever been if we can only get food for our men, and I think the plan that I have proposed will secure the food. There seems to be many reasons for the opinion that the enemy deems our capital essential to him in order that he may end the war, as he desires. To get the capital, he will concentrate here everything that he has; and we surely are better able to fight him when we shall have concentrated than when we are in detachments. The Army of the West will get new life and spirit as soon as it finds itself alongside of this, and we will feel more comfortable ourselves to know that all are under one head and one eye that is able to handle them.

I remain, most respectfully and truly, your most obedient servant,

 J. LONGSTREET,

Lieutenant-General

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 46, Part 2 (Serial No. 96), p. 1233-4; James Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox, p. 641-2

From Corinth

BEFORE CORINTH, Miss., May 18. – The Macon Telegraph censures, in sever language, the conduct of the rebel troops at Bridgeport, by which the most important gateway to our State was opened to the enemy and the possession of all our rich deposits of coal, [iron] and salt petre, placed in imminent danger.

Martial law has been proclaimed over Charlestown and for ten miles around.

The Appeal says government wants and must have all [tin] roofs on cotton sheds in that city.

The Vicksburgh Citizen of the 9^th, says that nothing was head of the Federal Fleet.

At Tunica yesterday, a large frigate, supposed to be the Brooklyn, passed Bayou Sara at 9 o’clock, A. M. on the 8^th going down to Baton Rouge.

The Avalanche has closed doors and suspended publication on account of the approach of the Federal gunboats.

Col. Possen, commanding the post of Memphis publishes a special order from Beauregard, requiring all barks persons and corporations to take Confederate money at par, and all persons will distinctly understand that nothing in the least degree calculated to discredit the operation of the Government will be tolerated or treated as anything but disloyal.

The Richmond correspondent of the Appeal mentions, with great pain the large amount of sick confined in the hospitals at Richmond and vicinity.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 24, 1862, p. 4

From New Orleans

General Butler’s Proclamation to the People of the City.

Memphis papers of the 6^th & 7^th have been received by the Cincinnati Commercial.  The most important news contained in them is that from New Orleans.

GEN. BUTLER’S PROCLAMATION.

The flowing proclamation of General Butler appears in the N. O. Delta of Saturday, May 3.  It was issued on the occasion of Gen. Butler assuming control as Military Governor.  The proclamation was handed to the newspaper editors with the request that it should be published.  All the offices refused to print it.  A guard was then sent to the True Delta office, possession taken, northern printers sent for, the document set up, put in the form, and worked off in the regular edition of the paper.

HEADQUARTERS DEP’T OF THE GULF,

NEW ORLEANS, May, 1862

The city of New Orleans and its environs, with all its interior and exterior defences, having been surrendered to the combined naval and land forces of the United States, who have come to restore order, maintain public tranquility, enforce peace and quiet under the laws and constitution of the United States, the Major General commanding the forces of the United States in the Department of the Gulf hereby makes known and proclaims the object and purposes of the government of the United States in thus taking possession of the city of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana, and the rules and regulations by which the laws of the United States will be for the present, and during a state of war, enforced and maintained, for the plain guidance of all good citizens of the United States as well as others who may heretofore have been in rebellion against their authority.

Thrice before, has the city of New Orleans been rescued from the hands of a foreign government, and still more calamitous domestic insurrection, by the money and arms of the United States.  It has of late been under the military control of the rebel forces, claiming to be the peculiar friends of its citizens; and at each time, in the judgment of the commander of the military forces holding it, it has been found necessary to preserve order and maintain quiet by the administration of law martial.  Even during the interim from its evacuation by the rebel soldiers and its actual possession by the soldiers of the United States, the civil authorities of the city have found it necessary to call for the intervention of an armed body known as the “European Legion” to preserve pubic tranquility.  The commanding General, therefore, will cause the city to be governed until the restoration of municipal authority, and his further orders, by the law martial – a measure for which it would seem the previous recital furnishes sufficient precedents.

All persons in arms against the United States are required to surrender themselves with their arms, equipments, and munitions of war.  The body known as the “European Legion” not being understood to be in arms against the United States, but organized to protect lives and property of the citizens, are invited to still cooperate with the force of the United States to that end, and, so acting, will not be included in the terms of this order, but will report to these headquarters.

All ensigns, flags, and devices, tending to uphold any authority whatever, save, the flags of the United States, and the flags of the foreign Consulates, must not be exhibited, but suppressed.  The American ensign, the emblem of the United States, must be treated with the utmost deference and respect by all persons, under pain of severe punishment.

All persons well disposed towards the government of the United States, who shall renew the oath of allegiance, will receive the safeguard and protection of their persons and property of the armies of the United States, the violation of which is punishable with death.

All persons still holding allegiance to the Confederate States will be deemed rebels against the government of the United States, and regarded and treated as enemies thereof.

All foreigners not naturalized and claiming allegiance to their respective governments, and not having made oath of allegiance of to the supposed government of the Confederate States, will be protected in their persons and property as heretofore under the laws of the United States.

All persons who may heretofore have given their adherence to the supposed government of the Confederate States, or have been in their service, who shall lay down and deliver up their arms, and return to peaceful occupations, and preserve quiet and order, holding no further correspondence nor giving aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States, will not be disturbed in person or property, except so far, under the orders of the Commanding General as the exigencies of the public service may render necessary.

The keepers of all public property, whether State, National, or Confederate, such as collections of art, libraries, museums, as well as all public buildings, all munitions of war, and armed vessels, will at once make full returns  thereof to these headquarters, all manufacturers of arms and munitions of war will report to these headquarters their kind and places of business.

All rights of property, of whatever kind, will be held inviolate, subject only to the law of the United States.

All individuals are enjoined to pursue their usual avocations, all shops and places of business and amusement are to be kept open in the usual manner, and services to be held in churches and religious houses, as in times of profound peace.  Keepers of all public houses, coffee houses, and drinking saloons, are to report their names and numbers to the office of the Provost Marshal, and will there receive licenses and be held responsible for all disorders and disturbances of the peace arising in their respective places.

A sufficient force will be kept in the city to preserve order and maintain the laws.

The killing of an American soldier by any disorderly person or mob is simply assassination and murder, and not war, and will be so regarded and punished.

The owner of any house or building in or from which such murder shall be committed will be held responsible therefore, and the house be liable to be destroyed by the military authority.

All disorders and disturbances of the peace done by combination and numbers, and crimes of an aggravated nature, interfering with forces or laws of the United States, will be referred to a military court for trial and punishment.  Other misdemeanors will be subject to the municipal authority, if it chooses to act.  Civil causes between party and party will be referred to the ordinary tribunals.

The levy and collection of taxes, save those imposed by the laws of the United States, are suppressed, except those keeping in repair and lighting the streets, and for sanitary purposes.  These are to be collected in the usual manner.

The circulation of Confederate bonds, evidences of the debt, except notes in the similitude of bank notes, issued by the Confederate States, or scrip, or any trade in the same, is strictly forbidden.  It having been represented to the Commanding General by the civil authorities that these Confederate notes in the form of bank notes are, in a great measure, the only substitutes for money which the people have been allowed to have, and that great distress would ensue among the poorer classes if the circulation of such notes was suppressed, such circulation will be permitted so long as any one may be in considerate enough to receive them, till further orders.

No publications, either by newspapers, pamphlet, or handbill, giving accounts of the movements of soldiers of the United States within this department, reflecting in any way upon the United States or its officers, or tending in any way to influence the public mind against the Government of the United States, will be permitted, all articles of war news, or editorial comments, or correspondence, making comments upon the movements of the armies of the United States, or the rebels, must be submitted to the examination of an officer who will be detailed for that purpose from these headquarters.

The transmission of all communications by telegraph will be under the charge of an officer from these headquarters.

The armies of the United States came here not to destroy, but to make good, to restore order out of chaos, and the government of laws in the place of the passion of men; to this end, therefore, the efforts of all well-disposed are invited to have every species of disorder quelled and, if any soldier of the United States should so far forget his duty or his flag as to commit any outrage upon any person or property, the Commanding General requests that his name be instantly reported to the provost guard, so that he may be punished and his wrongful act redressed.

The municipal authority, so far as the police of the city and crimes are concerned, to the extent before indicated, is hereby suspended.

All assemblages of persons in the streets either by day or by night, tend to disorder and are forbidden.

The various companies composing the Fire Department in New Orleans will be permitted to retain their organizations, and are to report to the office of the Provost Marshal, so that they may be known and not interfered with in their duties.

And, finally, it may be sufficient to add, without further enumeration, that the requirements of martial law will be imposed so long as in the judgment of the United States authorities it may be necessary.  And while it is the desire of these authorities to exercise this government mildly, and after the usages of the past, it must not be supposed that it will not be vigorously and firmly administered as occasion calls.

By command of Major General Butler.

GEO. B. STRONG, A. A. G., Chief of Staff.

From the Memphis avalanche, 7^th

LATEST FROM NEW ORLEANS.

We have advices from New Orleans up to Saturday morning, 11 o’clock.  Gen. Butler had taken the St. Charles Hotel for his headquarters, and the Evans House on Poydras St., had been converted into a hospital.  The Jackson Railroad depot was taken possession of Saturday morning about 25 minutes past 11 o’clock.  Federal pickets had been extended out as far as the crossing of the Jefferson and Jackson Railroads.  Four gunboats and one transport started for Baton Rouge on Saturday morning at 9 o’clock.  When they had gone up some sixteen miles from New Orleans, a small boat was sent ashore, and a section of telegraph wire from post to post was cut, so that the line could not be operated without putting in a new wire.  Up to the time our informant left, 11 o’clock Saturday morning, only seven full federal regiments had been landed in New Orleans.  The last train of cars from Jackson went down to “Kenner’s” on Sunday, and our informant states that it was understood that no train would hereafter be permitted to go down further than “Prairies,” some twenty miles from the city.

All the prisoners in our forts and on the gun boats had been paroled, except only the commander of the Louisiana, who after the forts had surrendered, cut loose the boat, set her on fire, and let her drift down the stream to a certain point, where she blew up and disappeared from mortal vision.  For this act, after the surrender was made, he was sent to New York.  Vast quantities of molasses, sugar, and cotton were destroyed.  Only eighty bales of cotton could be found in the city, and that belonged to an Englishman, and was not destroyed.  Provisions are represented as more plentiful, though flour still ranges from $25 to $30 per barrel.  Al the papers in New Orleans are still published, though a Federal censor is placed over every office to examine all the matter and exclude whatever may prove inimical to the Federal cause.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 17, 1862, p. 2

New Orleans

THE CITY AT NIGHT.

Thanks to the precautions taken by the authorities and to the good sense and unshrinking patriotism of our citizens, by whom the authorities are efficiently supported in their efforts for the preservation of peace and the protection of property, the city at a late hour last night was peaceful and quiet as a country hamlet – as quiet as though no extraordinary excitement prevailed throughout the day; in fact, it was much quieter than in ordinary times.

New Orleans, in this hour of adversity, by the calm dignity she displays in the presence of the enemy, by the proof she gives of her unflinching determination to sustain the uttermost the righteous cause for which she has done so much and made such great sacrifices, by her serene endurance undismayed of the evil which afflicts her, abiding confidence in the not distant coming of better and brighter days of speedy deliverance from the enemy’s toils – is showing a bright example to her sister cities, and proving herself, in all respects worthy of the proud reception she has achieved.  We glory in being a citizen of this great metropolis

THE CITY.

On application to Gens. Juge and Maignan, the troops under their command, consisting of the European Brigade, were placed by the authorities in charge of the peace of the city last night.  They commenced their patrol about sun down, and still maintain it, for the preservation of order and private and public property.

The Provost Marshals suggest, in a proclamation issued yesterday that the family grocers and bakers keep open their stores and shops as usual.  This course is absolutely necessary to adopt, as otherwise those dependent upon such sources for supplies will be subjected to the severest suffering.

We learn that dealers in provisions and other necessary articles of trade refuse in some cases to receive Confederate money in payment for their goods.  This is very reprehensible, and is the cause of no little distress to poor people, who on the faith of the representations made to them by the authorities, have taken that money, and have now no other.

During the confusion incident to the events of yesterday license was taken by many persons to possess themselves of articles of private property from the levee and the stores and warehouses in the vicinity.  The Mayor has issued a proclamation warning all such to restore those articles to his office upon penalty of being proceeded against to the full extent of the law.

The Mayor of the city requests the services of all the order loving and law abiding citizens to assist the police in the protection of property, and the preservation of peace and quiet in the city.

It is also suggested by the authorities that all citizens not connected with the public service to retire to their homes at or before 9 o’clock P. M. – {N. O. Picayune

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 17, 1863, p. 2

After news of the victory at Richmond . . .

. . . was received in Memphis, Confederate money, which was always passed, despite Grant’s ukase to the contrary, rapidly brought from fifty to sixty cents in specie, and over seventy in Tennessee currency – more than it brings anywhere in the Mississippi valley.  It has since been in great demand, and so tenacious are holders of it that it is gradually becoming quite scarce.

– Published in The Daily Rebel, Chattanooga, Tennessee, Saturday, August 9, 1862, p. 2

The Value of Rebel Money

Money, estimated by the gold standard, is now worth about eight cents on the dollar. – The rebels have fixed a standard, however, by which they profess to regulate the value of their money. That standard is wheat. – the price of this cereal is fixed by the rebel government at five dollars per bushel. With this however, many of the farmers are dissatisfied, and assert that five dollars in currency is, in reality, less than fifty cents – The Richmond Sentinel, in this connection says.

“There is a fact to which we think it popper to call the attention of the fair minded, and even the insatiably greedy themselves. All the officers of the government are paid the old salaries, except a slight increase in the salary of some of the clerks. -- According to the rule of the correspondent whom we have noticed, the President gets less than twenty-five hundred dollars a year; the Secretary less than six hundred; the clerks less than a hundred and fifty. Our thrice noble soldiers, also, are paid only the old price. According to the rule now applied, it is less than one dollar per month for the privates. Our field and line officers receive eight to twenty dollars per month, out of which to board and clothe themselves. – All these are receiving the old prices. But not so with the wrathful correspondent. Instead of one dollar per bushel for his wheat, which he would in other times have been glad to get, he now receives five dollars per bushel. He gets five prices for the wheat that he feeds soldiers working at the old price, and he raves over his pay as a mockery, and a cheat, and a swindle.”

This shows very clearly that all the efforts of the rebel press to bolster up the currency are futile. Even the wheat standard will not prevent people from thinking that the confederate money is almost worthless.

– Published in the Stark County News, Toulon, Illinois, Thursday September 3, 1863