Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: November 3, 1862

The right wing of Lee's army has fallen back as far as Culpepper County, and the enemy advances. Active movements are speedily looked for; many suppose a desperate attempt to take Richmond.

Our government has decided that no one shall be permitted to go North for thirty days.

A requisition for heavy guns to defend Cumberland Gap, elicited from the Inspector of Ordnance a statement of the fact that we are “short” of guns for the defense of Richmond.

There was a rumor yesterday that the enemy was marching in force on Petersburg. This, at all events, was premature.

A letter from Hon. C. C. Clay, Senator, says there is much defection in North Alabama, and that many people are withdrawing themselves to avoid conscription.

Just at this time, if it were not for Lincoln's proclamation, if the war were conducted according to the rules of civilized nations, I verily believe a very formidable party in favor of Reconstruction might spring up in the South. With a united South, two million of Abolitionists could not subjugate us.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 181-2

Governor Horatio Seymour to Major-General John A. Dix, August 15, 1863

Executive Department, Albany, August 15,1863.

To Major-general John A. Dix, U.S.A.,

Commanding Department of the East:

Sir, — I have received the final answer of the President to my suggestions with regard to the draft in this State. I regret that he did not see fit to comply with my requests, as I am confident that a generous reliance upon the patriotism of the people to fill the thinned ranks of our armies by voluntary enlistments would hereafter, as it has heretofore, prove more effectual than any conscription. As I have fully expressed my views on this subject in my correspondence with the President, of which I send you a copy, it is not necessary to refer again to those topics.

I had hoped the same opportunity would be afforded New York that has been given to other States, of showing to the world that no compulsory process was needful to send from this State its full quota of men to re-enforce our armies. As you state in your letter that it is your duty to enforce the act of Congress, and as you apprehend its provisions may excite popular resistance, it is proposed you should know the position which will be held by the State authorities. Of course, under no circumstances can they perform duties expressly confided to others, nor can they undertake to relieve others from their proper responsibilities. But there can be no violations of good order, no riotous proceedings, no disturbances of the public peace, which are not infractions of the laws of the State, and those laws will be enforced under all circumstances. I shall take care that all the executive officers of this State perform their duties vigorously and thoroughly, and if need be the military power will be called into requisition.

As you are an officer of the general Government, and not of the State, it does not become me to make suggestions to you with regard to your action under a law of Congress. You will, of course, be governed by your instructions and your own views of duty; and it would be unbecoming in me to obtrude my opinions upon one who is charged with high responsibilities, and who is in no degree subject to my direction, or responsible to me for anything which he may do in accordance with his own judgment and in pursuance of his convictions of propriety.

Yours truly, etc.,

Horatio Seymour.

SOURCE: Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 82

Diary of Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle: Saturday, May 9, 1863

Started again by stage for Munroe at 4.30 A.M. My companions were, the Mississippi planter, a mad dentist from New Orleans (called, by courtesy, doctor), an old man from Matagorda, buying slaves cheap in Louisiana, a wounded officer, and a wounded soldier.

The soldier was a very intelligent young Missourian, who told me (as others have) that, at the commencement of these troubles, both he and his family were strong Unionists. But the Lincolnites, by using coercion, had forced them to take one side or the other— and there are now no more bitter Secessionists than these people. This soldier (Mr Douglas) was on his way to rejoin Bragg's army. A Confederate soldier when wounded is not given his discharge, but is employed at such work as he is competent to perform. Mr Douglas was quite lame; but will be employed at mounted duties or at writing.

We passed several large and fertile plantations. The negro quarters formed little villages, and seemed comfortable: some of them held 150 or 200 hands. We afterwards drove through some beautiful pine forests, and were ferried across a beautiful shallow lake full of cypresses, but not the least like European cypress trees.

We met a number more planters driving their families, their slaves, and furniture, towards Texas — in fact, everything that they could save from the ruin that had befallen them on the approach of the Federal troops.

At 5 P.M. we reached a charming little town, called Mindon, where I met an English mechanic who deplored to me that he had been such a fool as to naturalise himself, as he was in hourly dread of the conscription.

I have at length become quite callous to many of the horrors of stage travelling. I no longer shrink at every random shower of tobacco-juice; nor do I shudder when good-naturedly offered a quid. I eat voraciously of the bacon that is provided for my sustenance, and I am invariably treated by my fellow travellers of all grades with the greatest consideration and kindness. Sometimes a man remarks that it is rather “mean” of England not to recognise the South; but I can always shut him up by saying, that a nation which deserves its independence should fight and earn it for itself — a sentiment which is invariably agreed to by all.

SOURCE: Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle, Three Months in the Southern States: April-June, 1863, p. 83-4

A Woman's Diary Of The Siege Of Vicksburg: May 1, 1863

It is settled at last that we shall spend the time of siege in Vicksburg. Ever since we were deprived of our cave, I had been dreading that H–– would suggest sending me to the country, where his relatives lived. As he could not leave his position and go also without being conscripted, and as I felt certain an army would get between us, it was no part of my plan to be obedient. A shell from one of the practicing mortars brought the point to an issue yesterday and settled it. Sitting at work as usual, listening to the distant sound of bursting shells, apparently aimed at the court-house, there suddenly came a nearer explosion; the house shook, and a tearing sound was followed by terrified screams from the kitchen. I rushed thither, but met in the hall the cook's little girl America, bleeding from a wound in the forehead, and fairly dancing with fright and pain, while she uttered fearful yells. I stopped to examine the wound, and her mother bounded in, her black face ashy from terror. "Oh! Miss V––, my child is killed and the kitchen tore up." Seeing America was too lively to be a killed subject, I consoled Martha and hastened to the kitchen. Evidently a shell had exploded just outside, sending three or four pieces through. When order was restored I endeavored to impress on Martha's mind the necessity for calmness and the uselessness of such excitement. Looking round at the close of the lecture, there stood a group of Confederate soldiers laughing heartily at my sermon and the promising audience I had. They chimed in with a parting chorus:

“Yes, it's no use hollerin, old lady.”

“Oh! H––,” I exclaimed, as he entered soon after, “America is wounded.”

“That is no news; she has been wounded by traitors long ago.”

“Oh, this is real, living, little, black America; I am not talking in symbols. Here are the pieces of shell, the first bolt of the coming siege.”

“Now you see,” he replied, “that this house will be but paper to mortar-shells. You must go in the country.”

The argument was long, but when a woman is obstinate and eloquent, she generally conquers. I came off victorious, and we finished preparations for the siege to-day. Hiring a man to assist, we descended to the wine-cellar, where the accumulated bottles told of the “banquet-hall deserted,” the spirit and glow of the festive hours whose lights and garlands were dead, and the last guest long since departed. To empty this cellar was the work of many hours. Then in the safest corner a platform was laid for our bed, and in another portion one arranged for Martha. The dungeon, as I call it, is lighted only by a trap-door, and is so damp it will be necessary to remove the bedding and mosquito-bars every day. The next question was of supplies. I had nothing left but a sack of rice-flour, and no manner of cooking I had heard or invented contrived to make it eatable. A column of recipes for making delicious preparations of it had been going the rounds of Confederate papers. I tried them all; they resulted only in brick-bats, or sticky paste. H–– sallied out on a hunt for provisions, and when he returned the disproportionate quantity of the different articles obtained provoked a smile. There was a hogshead of sugar, a barrel of sirup, ten pounds of bacon and peas, four pounds of wheat-flour, and a small sack of com-meal, a little vinegar, and actually some spice! The wheat-flour he purchased for ten dollars as a special favor from the sole remaining barrel for sale. We decided that must be kept for sickness. The sack of meal, he said, was a case of corruption, through a special providence to us. There is no more for sale at any price, but, said he, “a soldier who was hauling some of the Government sacks to the hospital offered me this for five dollars, if I could keep a secret. When the meal is exhausted perhaps we can keep alive on sugar. Here are some wax candles; hoard them like gold.” He handed me a parcel containing about two pounds of candles, and left me to arrange my treasures. It would be hard for me to picture the memories those candles called up. The long years melted away, and I

“Trod again my childhood's track

And felt its very gladness.”

In those childish days, whenever came dreams of household splendor or festal rooms or gay illuminations, the lights in my vision were always wax candles burning with a soft radiance that enchanted every scene. * * * And, lo! here on this spring day of '63, with war raging through the land, I was in a fine house, and had my wax candles sure enough, but, alas! they were neither cerulean blue nor rose-tinted, but dirty brown; and when I lighted one, it spluttered and wasted like any vulgar tallow thing, and lighted only a desolate scene in the vast handsome room. They were not so good as the waxen rope we had made in Arkansas. So, with a long sigh for the dreams of youth, I return to the stern present in this besieged town, my only consolation to remember the old axiom, “A city besieged is a city taken,” — so if we live through it we shall be out of the Confederacy. H–– is very tired of having to carry a pass around in his pocket and go every now and then to have it renewed. We have been so very free in America, these restrictions are irksome.

SOURCE: George W. Cable, “A Woman's Diary Of The Siege Of Vicksburg”, The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, Vol. XXX, No. 5, September 1885, p. 769-70

Francis Lieber to Major-General Henry W. Halleck, June 30, 1864

New York, June 30, 1864.

My Dear General, — I desire to submit to your consideration, and to that of the Secretary of War, an idea which has repeatedly occurred to my mind, namely, the idea of a continued draft; I mean a draft according to which a district should be obliged to send so many men, say every month or three weeks or a fortnight. The advantages of such a distribution of drawing men, over a long time, seem to me obvious.

(1.) The army would benefit by receiving a continuous afflux of men in small numbers, instead of receiving from time to time large numbers in entire regiments of raw soldiers. The recruits would fall in much easier, and the system would resemble the European method of continuously replenishing the battalions in the field from the “home stations,” or whatever other names are given to the recruiting bodies distributed over the country, where recruits are drilled for the different regiments.

(2.) The drawing of men would be done easier. There would be no repeated and periodical excitement, and ever-renewed discussion of the constitutionality of the draft.

(3.) Communities would find it easier, as all distributed burdens are easier to bear. Men and substitutes could be easier found.

(4.) In point of political economy, it is always easier for a community to adapt itself to a comparative gentle and continuous withdrawal of capital or labor, than to a sudden or spasmodic withdrawal.

There are doubtless objections to my proposal. If they over-balance the advantages the plan must be thrown aside. You, in the centre of government, must judge of this. You have information and the counsel of many, which a single man in his library has not; and for which his patriotism, however ardent, or his attention to public affairs, however keen and regular, forms no substitute. . . .

SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 349

Francis Lieber to Judge Thayer, January 2, 1864

New York, January 2,1864.

. . . The constitutionality of the conscription is one of those footballs of which we have had sundry in our history.

No man, I venture to say, Copperhead or not, would be so bold as to assert that the government had not the power or the solemn duty of raising an army by conscription, if need be, should an English or French army march into our country to the tune of some two hundred and fifty thousand men. The question, therefore, of raising an army by conscription in the present case, is simply one of the magnitude of the danger, and of the hearty sincerity in those who desire, or pretend to desire, to carry out the war successfully. If a man thinks that anything else than victory in the field can now decide our great question, let him say so. The issue will then be on quite a different ground. If a man thinks that we want an army of five hundred thousand, and to keep it up, but that volunteering will be the best method of raising such an army, let him say so, and the question will be one of expediency; but to say that the Constitution prohibits this nation from doing that which Nature commands every creature to do, man or beast, — to defend its own skin, — would be simply laughed at were such folly uttered by any one not backed by party power. Suppose I had said so in one of my books, without reference to any pending and existing question, every reviewer would have set me down as a fool. . . .

SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 337

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: January 20, 1864

And now comes a grand announcement made by the Yankee Congress. They vote one million of men to be sent down here to free the prisoners whom they will not take in exchange. I actually thought they left all these Yankees here on our hands as part of their plan to starve us out. All Congressmen under fifty years of age are to leave politics and report for military duty or be conscripted. What enthusiasm there is in their councils! Confusion, rather, it seems to me! Mrs. Ould says “the men who frequent her house are more despondent now than ever since this thing began.”

Our Congress is so demoralized, so confused, so depressed. They have asked the President, whom they have so hated, so insulted, so crossed and opposed and thwarted in every way, to speak to them, and advise them what to do.

SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 280-1

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to John M. Forbes, August 12, 1863

Centreville, Aug. 12, '63.

I am very sorry that the conscription is being made such a farce — somebody must be neglecting his duty shamefully.

I agree with you that we are likely to get more aid from blacks than from conscripts, — States seem to me likely to fall short of their quotas, even when the second class is reached. Might not an impulse be given to recruiting contrabands in territory still recognized as rebel by enlisting State enterprise? For example, let Massachusetts organize a skeleton Brigade (as in case of Colonel Wilde), and for every two thousand men obtained receive credit for one thousand on her quota and take the $300 per man (or any less sum the Government would allow) to pay expenses of getting the two men. I know there are grave objections to such a scheme, but I believe the work of recruiting would go on with far more success.

I feel all that you say about “inglorious warfare,” but it is “all in the day's work,” Mr. Forbes, — and has to be done. You must not exaggerate the danger. Mosby is more keen to plunder than to murder, — he always runs when he can.¹ As to insignia of rank, I never encourage my officers to wear any conspicuously, nor do I think most of them are distinguishable at 100 yards. I have my private feeling about the matter, — and if I am to be shot from behind a fence would still rather be in uniform than out of it. I never express this feeling to my officers, however, Mr. Forbes.

_______________

¹ A letter of General Lee to General Stuart shows that, before the “Partisan Rangers” had been four months at work, the military advantages to the Confederacy of their keeping a large force around Washington already began to be outweighed by the obvious evils which must result where discipline was lax, and the soldier kept what horses, clothing, arms, and valuables he took. General Lee, writing on August 18, 1863, observes that Mosby seems to have a large number of men, yet to strike with very few; and “his attention seems more directed to the capture of sutlers' wagons, etc., than to the injury of the enemy's communications and outposts. The capture and destruction of wagon-trains is advantageous, but the supply of the Federal Army is carried on by the railroad.  . . . I do not know the cause for undertaking his expeditions with so few men, whether it is from policy, or the difficulty of collecting them. I have heard of his men, among them officers, being in rear of this army, selling captured goods, sutlers' stores, etc. This had better be attended to by others. It has also been reported to me that many deserters from the army had joined him.  . . . If this is true, I am sure it must be without the knowledge of Major Mosby.” {Rebellion Record.)

The official correspondence of General King with headquarters at Washington, and Colonel Lowell's reports, always brief, business-like and conservative, show that August was an active month. Besides Mosby's plundering incursions and picket attacks, he had a new guerrilla foe to deal with in White, as appears in the following extracts from official sources: —

Centreville, Aug. 1, 1863.

Col. J. H. Taylor, Chief Of Staff, Washington, — Colonel Lowell goes to Washington to-day to report, as ordered. He returned from an expedition last night, bringing in about twenty horses captured from Mosby, and all the prisoners taken by Mosby at Fairfax. The gang scattered in all directions, and thus eluded pursuit.

Rufus King, Brigadier-General.

Mosby reports to General Stuart that, on August 11, he captured nineteen wagons, with teams and many stores; also twenty-five prisoners.

On August 12, Colonel Lowell reported to Washington the recent capture of sutlers' trains by Mosby's and White's men, and that he had sent out parties to look for them, and adds:

“I sent in 61 horses on Monday and 55 more to-day, most of them United States horses, some captured, some collected to the northwest of here, and some near Maple Valley.”

August 15. Colonel Lowell advised from Washington to try to find and attack White near Dranesville.

August 20. Colonel Lowell reports his search for guerrillas, lasting two or three days, following up all traces — “could not get a fight out of White” — picked up ten prisoners. Reports that White is seldom with his battalion (about two hundred and fifty strong), but passes about the country with a strong escort. “White is looking up recruits and deserters. He has now six companies, with over 700 men on his rolls, and prisoners say that he expects to take that number with him when he leaves the country.”

August 25. General King reports to Washington that one hundred rebel cavalry attacked a party of the Thirteenth N. Y. Cavalry [this was a part of Colonel Lowell's brigade] and ran off one hundred horses.

August 30. General King reports that a party of infantry and cavalry, sent out to Dranesville, found few guerrillas, but learned that White was at Broad Run enforcing the conscription, and that Mosby had been recently wounded and carried beyond the mountains.

September 3. General Humphreys writes to Colonel Lowell, commanding at Centreville, as to White's movements, and adds, “A Richmond paper of 1st Sept. states that Mosby received two serious wounds in the fight near Fairfax Court House, and has been taken to his father's residence near Amherst.”

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 295-6, 439-42

Charles Eliot Norton to George William Curtis, February 26, 1863

Shady Hill, 26 February, 1863.

. . . It was pleasant to hear from you of your visit to Philadelphia, and to hear from John,¹ on the same day, his glowing account of it. What a loyal place Philadelphia has become! We should be as loyal here if we had a few more out-and-out secessionists. Our Union Club — we have dropped the offensive word “League” — promises well: two hundred members already, and Mr. Everett and his followers pledged to principles which suit you and me. We are proposing to take the Abbott Lawrence house on Park Street, and to be strong by position as well as by numbers. But nothing will do for the country, — neither Clubs nor pamphlets nor lectures, nor Conscription Bills (three cheers for the despotism necessary to secure freedom), nor Banking Bills, nor Tom Thumb, nor Institutes, — nothing will do us much good but victories. If we take Charleston and Vicksburg we conquer and trample out the Copperheads, — but if not?

I confess to the most longing hope, the most anxious desire to know of our success. I try to be ready for news of failure, indeed I shall be ready for such news if it comes, and we must all only draw a few quick breaths and form a sterner resolve, and fight a harder fight.

Where is the best statement, in a clear and quiet way, of the political necessity of the preservation of the Union, its vital necessity to our national existence? Seward has done harm by keeping up the notion of the old Union, — but who has seen clearest the nature of the new Union for which we are fighting? . . .

_______________

¹ Their common friend, John W. Field of Philadelphia, with whom Norton had travelled in Sicily.

SOURCE: Sara Norton and  M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Letters of Charles Eliot Norton, Volume 1, p. 260-1

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: April 29, 1862

A grand smash, the news from New Orleans fatal to us. Met Mr. Weston. He wanted to know where he could find a place of safety for two hundred negroes. I looked into his face to see if he were in earnest; then to see if he were sane. There was a certain set of two hundred negroes that had grown to be a nuisance. Apparently all the white men of the family had felt bound to stay at home to take care of them. There are people who still believe negroes property — like Noah's neighbors, who insisted that the Deluge would only be a little shower after all.

These negroes, however, were Plowden Weston's, a totally different part of speech. He gave field-rifles to one company and forty thousand dollars to another. He is away with our army at Corinth. So I said: “You may rely upon Mr. Chesnut, who will assist you to his uttermost in finding a home for these people. Nothing belonging to that patriotic gentleman shall come to grief if we have to take charge of them on our own place.” Mr. Chesnut did get a place for them, as I said he would.

Had to go to the Governor's or they would think we had hoisted the black flag. Heard there we are going to be beaten as Cortez beat the Mexicans — by superior arms. Mexican bows and arrows made a poor showing in the face of Spanish accoutrements. Our enemies have such superior weapons of war, we hardly any but what we capture from them in the fray. The Saxons and the Normans were in the same plight.

War seems a game of chess, but we have an unequal number of pawns to begin with. We have knights, kings, queens, bishops, and castles enough. But our skilful generals, whenever they can not arrange the board to suit them exactly, burn up everything and march away. We want them to save the country. They seem to think their whole duty is to destroy ships and save the army.

Mr. Robert Barnwell wrote “that he had to hang his head for South Carolina. We had not furnished our quota of the new levy, five thousand men. To-day Colonel Chesnut published his statement to show that we have sent thirteen thousand, instead of the mere number required of us; so Mr. Barnwell can hold up his head again.

SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 160-1

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw, June 22, 1863

Camp, June 22, 1863.

Lee is in earnest in some direction, and, within a month, I think we shall need all the troops we can raise, either to enable us to reap the full benefit of a victory or to lessen the disaster of a defeat. I am going to write to Governor Andrew that it is not enough for Massachusetts to be ahead in volunteering, ahead in coloured troops, and ahead in so many things, she must be ahead in conscribing, that is the example needed now, — conscription for old regiments, no more officers, only men: and in conscription, why should not Massachusetts set the example of no substitutes? She has already so many men ahead against the next draft, that the conscription will not be very severe, and why should not all go who are chosen?

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 263

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: March 19, 1862

He who runs may read. Conscription means that we are in a tight place. This war was a volunteer business. To-morrow conscription begins—the dernier ressort. The President has remodeled his Cabinet, leaving Bragg for North Carolina. His War Minister is Randolph, of Virginia. A Union man par excellence, Watts, of Alabama is Attorney-General. And now, too late by one year, when all the mechanics are in the army, Mallory begins to telegraph Captain Ingraham to build ships at any expense. We are locked in and can not get “the requisites for naval architecture,” says a magniloquent person.

Henry Frost says all hands wink at cotton going out. Why not send it out and buy ships? “Every now and then there is a holocaust of cotton burning,” says the magniloquent. Conscription has waked the Rip Van Winkles. The streets of Columbia were never so crowded with men. To fight and to be made to fight are different things.

To my small wits, whenever people were persistent, united, and rose in their might, no general, however great, succeeded in subjugating them. Have we not swamps, forests, rivers, mountains — every natural barrier? The Carthaginians begged for peace because they were a luxurious people and could not endure the hardship of war, though the enemy suffered as sharply as they did! “Factions among themselves” is the rock on which we split. Now for the great soul who is to rise up and lead us. Why tarry his footsteps?

SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 147-8

Diary of Private Alexander G. Downing: Monday, December 28, 1863

The commanding officers of our post here are “conscripting” every able-bodied citizen for military duty. The order applies to blacks as well as to whites, and aims to provide artisans for labor in connection with the army and army posts.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 159

Senator James W. Grimes to Salmon P. Chase, July 29, 1862

Burlington, July 29, 1862.

I have now been at home ten days. Permit me to tell you what conclusions I have reached from my intercourse with the people of Iowa.

The people are far in advance of the Administration and of Congress in their desire for a vigorous prosecution of the war. They are unanimous for the confiscation bill, and execrate every man who opposed its passage, or who now opposes its stringent execution. There is but little disposition to enlist until it is known what the course of the Administration is to be on this subject.

I need not tell you that the expressions of confidence in the management of the President, his prudence, sagacity, etc., are in a measure enforced, and proceed from the confessed necessity of supporting him as the only tangible head of the loyal Government, and not from any real confidence in his wisdom. Rely upon it, if things drift along as at present, no volunteers will take the field, and the tax law will become so odious that it will require a larger army to enforce it than to put down the rebellion. Sixty days will determine whether we are longer to have a Government, and the Administration must decide it. It is folly to disregard the sentiment of the country in such a time as this — it is worse; it is wickedness. Either Mr. Lincoln disregards it, or else he willfully keeps himself in ignorance of it. Good men, the best we have, are beginning to utter expressions of despair; and they are not cowed by fear of the strength of the enemy, but by apparent weakness of our friends. I beg you not to be misled by the proceedings of war-meetings in our large towns. Volunteers will come when a “war policy” is declared and acted upon, and not to any considerable extent before. Speeches and resolutions will not bring them.

I thought I comprehended somewhat the popular sentiment before I left Washington. In this I was mistaken. It is far more ardent and extreme than even I ever supposed. It is nonsense to attempt to frighten the masses by the story that rigorous measures will “nail up the door against reconciliation of contending sections.” We have too much at stake, the Government is of too much value, too much of the best blood of the nation is calling to us for vindication, to justify us in neglecting any methods to put the rebellion down known to civilized warfare. Would to God every man connected with the Administration could travel incognito through the country, and get the true expression of the people on these subjects! Instead of getting a knowledge of that sentiment from impartial sources, it now comes to the President and his cabinet from newspapers edited by men in office, from applicants for place, from sycophants, and from cowards who dare not tell a man in power what he knows to be the truth, if he supposes it will be unpleasant to him.

I pray and hope, but I confess that my hope is becoming daily fainter and fainter. I know you will pardon this intrusion upon you. I felt that it was a necessity that I should let out my soul on this subject, and I know no one else to write to but you. I have written very frankly, but very honestly. I hope the country is not in so bad a condition as I fear it to be in. In my opinion, if wisdom rules the hour at Washington, a rigorous confiscation war policy will first be declared, and then a conscription of one hundred thousand men made at once. Men will not volunteer into the old regiments. One volunteer in an old regiment is worth three fresh men in a new regiment. A conscription of one hundred thousand men would be of more value to the country than three hundred thousand volunteers, and, of course, cost only one-third as much. But why should I advise?

SOURCE: William Salter, The Life of James W. Grimes, p. 215-6

Senator James W. Grimes to Senator William P. Fessenden, June 6, 1861

Burlington, June 6, 1861.

The whole action of the President in regard to the volunteers the blockade, etc., has been unconstitutional, but I am willing to overlook that, dangerous as it may be. But I cannot and will not agree that he shall be permitted to remodel the army, more than double its size, and appoint nine hundred new officers, without any authority of law, and without the slightest justification in the condition of the country. I say, condition of the country; by that I mean, that the country demanded immediate troops, if any at all, and they could only be secured by volunteering. Do you know that, while we are paying the officers of the new regiments their salaries, there are not so many men as there are officers? While four hundred thousand volunteers have rallied to our standard) there have not been fifteen hundred men recruited for the regular army. These new regiments cannot be got ready for the field for a year yet, and then they will be raw men, no better than volunteers. They say we shall want them when the war shall be over. Well, who is to judge of that, the President or Congress? Was it not possible to wait until the 4th of July, to let the constitutional authority speak on that subject? The precedent is the thing that troubles me. Will it not justify the next President in doing the same thing, and if so, how extensive must the insurrection be that will justify him? Where is this thing to stop? I see conscription and direct taxes in the future. I shall be the only man in the Senate who will vote against the increase of the standing army.

SOURCE: William Salter, The Life of James W. Grimes, p. 140-1