Showing posts with label Dahlgren. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dahlgren. Show all posts

Saturday, September 30, 2017

Diary of Captain John A. Dahlgren: May 22, 1862

1 received a telegram from Secretary of War for a boat in the evening. So about nine came a carriage with Stanton and, to my surprise, the President, bound on a quiet trip to Acquia. He left so privately that Mrs. Lincoln alone knew of it. I told them there was nothing to eat in the steamboat. I had eatables, bedding, &c., tumbled in, and we left at ten P. M., after supper. The President read aloud to us from Halleck's poems,1 and then we went to impromptu beds.
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1 President Lincoln had real dramatic power as a reader, and recited poetic passages with pathos. The copy of Halleck from which the President read on this occasion, now belongs to us, and “Marco Bozzaris” is marked as the piece read aloud to Secretary Stanton and Admiral Dahlgren. What a mournful and prophetic suggestiveness there was in the selection! How truly may it now be said of Lincoln,

"For them art Freedom's now, and Fame's;
One of the few, the immortal names,
That were not horn to die.”

SOURCE: Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren, Memoir of John A. Dahlgren, Rear-admiral United States Navy, p. 368

Thursday, January 5, 2017

John Hay to John G. Nicolay, August 27, 1862

Executive Mansion,
Washington, Aug. 27, 1862.
MY DEAR SIR:

Where is your scalp? If anybody believes you don't wish you were at home, he can get a pretty lively bet out of me. I write this letter firing into the air. If it hits you, well. It will not hurt so much as a Yancton’s rifle. If in God's good Providence your long locks adorn the lodge of an aboriginal warrior and the festive tomtom is made of your stretched hide, I will not grudge the time thus spent, for auld lang syne. In fancy's eye I often behold you the centre and ornament of a wildwood circle, delighting the untutored children of the forest with Tuscan melodies. But by the rivers of Babylon you refuse to yield to dalliance — yea, you weep when you remember Washington whose magnificent distances are nevermore for you.

Washington is not at the present speaking an alluring village. Everybody is out of town and nobody cares for nobody that is here. One exception tres charmante which is French for devilish tidy. Miss Census Kennedy is here with a pretty cousin from Baltimore which Ellicott S—— is quite spooney about her while I am languidly appreciative.

Grover’s Theatre re-opens next Saturday and Dahlgren breathes again. Some pretty women are engaged, to whom I am promised introductions. There is also a new Club House established in the city, to which I have sometimes gone to satisfy the ragings of famine. I think you will patronize it extensively when you come back. I ride on horseback mornings. I ride the off horse. He has grown so rampagious by being never driven (I have no time to drive) that no one else whom I can find can ride him. Stoddard, Boutwell and Leutze ride sometimes the near horse.

I am yours,
[JOHN HAY.]

SOURCES: Clara B. Hay, Letters of John Hay and Extracts from Diary, Volume 1, p. 68-70; Tyler Dennett, Editor, Lincoln and the Civil War: in the Diaries and letters of John Hay, p. 44; Michael Burlingame, Editor, At Lincoln’s Side: John Hay’s Civil War Correspondence and Selected Writings, p. 25.

Saturday, July 16, 2016

Diary of Gideon Welles: Thursday, October 9, 1862

Letter to Senator Fessenden in regard to dismissal of Preble, stating the case, — the fault, the dismissal, and the impossibility of revoking it without injury to the service. The subject is a difficult one to handle. His friends believe he has great merit as an officer, when he has but little, whatever may be his learning, respectability, and worth as a gentleman. It will not do to tell his friends the truth, for they would denounce it as unjust; besides it is ungenerous to state unpleasant facts of a stricken man. A more difficult letter to answer was one from Captain Adams, who commanded the naval force off Pensacola in the spring of 1861.

Got off two long communications to Seward on the subject of reciprocal search and the belligerent right of search, the British treaty and the Danish agreement, law and instructions, — a queer medley of feeble diplomacy, poor administration, illegality, departure from usage, etc., etc. Dahlgren is grieved with my action in his case. He desires, beyond almost any one, the high honors of his profession, and has his appetite stimulated by the partiality of the President, who does not hesitate to say to him and to me, that he will give him the highest grade if I will send him a letter to that effect, or a letter of appointment. Title irregularly obtained cannot add to Dahlgren's reputation, yet he cannot be reasoned with. He has yet rendered no service afloat during the war, — has not been under fire, — and is not on the direct road for professional advancement. But he is a favorite with the President and knows it. The army practice of favoritism and political partyism cannot be permitted in the Navy. Its effect will be more demoralizing than that of the military, where it is bad enough. I am compelled, therefore, to stand between the President and Dahlgren's promotion, in order to maintain the service in proper condition. Dahlgren has the sagacity and professional intelligence to know I am right, and to appreciate my action though adverse to himself. He therefore now seeks service afloat. Wants an opportunity to acquire rank and distinction, but that opportunity must be a matter of favor. His last request was to be permitted to capture Charleston. This would give him éclat. I told him I could not rob Du Pont of that honor, but that if he wished I would give him an opportunity to participate, and understood from him it would be acceptable. I therefore tendered him an ironclad and the place of ordnance officer, he retaining his position at the head of the Bureau, with leave of absence as a volunteer to fight.

My proposition has not been received in the manner I expected. He thinks the tender of a single ship to an officer who has had a navy yard and is now in the Bureau, derogatory, yet, wishing active service as the means of promotion, intimates he will accept and resign the Bureau. This I can't countenance or permit. It would not meet the views of the President, would be wrong to the service, and a great wrong to the country, for him to leave the Ordnance Bureau, where he is proficient and can be most useful. His specialty is in that branch of the service; he knows his own value there at this time, and for him to leave it now would be detrimental to the object he desires to attain. He is not conscious of it, but he has Dahlgren more than the service in view. Were he to be present at the capture of Charleston as a volunteer who had temporarily left the Bureau for that special service, it would redound to his credit, and make him at least second to Du Pont in the glory of the achievement.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 163-5

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Diary of Gideon Welles: Wednesday, October 1, 1862

Called this morning at the White House, but learned the President had left the city. The porter said he made no mention whither he was going, nor when he would return. I have no doubt he is on a visit to McClellan and the army. None of his Cabinet can have been aware of this journey.

Relieved Davis and appointed D. D. Porter to the Western Flotilla, which is hereafter to be recognized as a squadron. Porter is but a Commander. He has, however, stirring and positive qualities, is fertile in resources, has great energy, excessive and sometimes not over-scrupulous ambition, is impressed with and boastful of his own powers, given to exaggeration in relation to himself, — a Porter infirmity, — is not generous to older and superior living officers, whom he is too ready to traduce, but is kind and patronizing to favorites who are juniors, and generally to official inferiors. Is given to cliquism but is brave and daring like all his family. He has not the conscientious and high moral qualities of Foote to organize the flotilla, and is not considered by some of our best naval men a fortunate officer; has not in his profession, though he may have personally, what the sailors admire, “luck.” It is a question, with his mixture of good and bad traits, how he will succeed. His selection will be unsatisfactory to many, but his field of operation is peculiar, and a young and active officer is required for the duty to which he is assigned; it will be an incentive to juniors. If he does well I shall get no credit; if he fails I shall be blamed. No thanks in any event will be mine. Davis, whom he succeeds, is more of a scholar than sailor, has gentlemanly instincts and scholarly acquirements, is an intelligent but not an energetic, driving, fighting officer, such as is wanted for rough work on the Mississippi; is kind and affable, but has not the vim, dash, — recklessness perhaps is the better word, — of Porter.

Dahlgren, whose ambition is great, will, I suppose, be hurt that Porter, who is his junior, should be designated for the Mississippi command; and the President will sympathize with D., whom he regards with favor, while he has not great admiration or respect for Porter. Dahlgren has asked to be assigned to the special duty of capturing Charleston, but Du Pont has had that object in view for more than a year and made it his study. I cannot, though I appreciate Dahlgren, supersede the Admiral in this work.

The Emancipation Proclamation has, in its immediate effects, been less exciting than I had apprehended. It has caused but little jubilation on one hand, nor much angry outbreak on the other. The speculations as to the sentiments and opinions of the Cabinet in regard to this measure are ridiculously wild and strange. When it was first brought forward some six or eight weeks ago, all present assented to it. It was pretty fully discussed at two successive Cabinet-meetings, and the President consulted freely, I presume, with the members individually. He did with me. Mr. Bates desired that deportation, by force if necessary, should go with emancipation. Born and educated among the negroes, having always lived with slaves, he dreaded any step which should be taken to bring about social equality between the two races. The effect, he said, would be to degrade the whites without elevating the blacks. Demoralization, vice, and misery would follow. Mr. Blair, at the second discussion, said that, while he was an emancipationist from principle, he had doubts of the expediency of such a movement as was contemplated. Stanton, after expressing himself earnestly in favor of the step proposed, said it was so important a measure that he hoped every member would give his opinion, whatever it might be, on the subject; two had not spoken, —alluding to Chase and myself.

I then spoke briefly of the strong exercise of power involved in the question, and the denial of Executive authority to do this act, but the Rebels themselves had invoked war on the subject of slavery, had appealed to arms, and they must abide the consequences. It was an extreme exercise of war powers, and under the circumstances and in view of the condition of the country and the magnitude of the contest I was willing to resort to extreme measures and avail ourselves of military necessity, always harsh and questionable. The blow would fall heavy and severe on those loyal men in the Slave States who clung to the Union and had most of their property in slaves, but they must abide the results of a conflict which we all deplored, and unless they could persuade their fellow citizens to embrace the alternative presented, it was their hard fortune to suffer with those who brought on the War. The slaves were now an element of strength to the Rebels, — were laborers, producers, and army attendants; were considered as property by the Rebels, and, if property, were subject to confiscation; if not property, but persons residing in the insurrectionary region, we should invite them as well as the whites to unite with us in putting down the Rebellion. I had made known my views to the President and could say here I gave my approval of the Proclamation. Mr. Chase said it was going a step farther than he had proposed, but he was glad of it and went into a very full argument on the subject. I do not attempt to report it or any portion of it, nor that of others, farther than to define the position of each when this important question was before us. Something more than a Proclamation will be necessary, for this step will band the South together, make opponents of some who now are friends and unite the Border States firmly with the Cotton States in resistance to the Government.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 157-60

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Lieutenant-Colonel Theodore Lyman to Elizabeth Russell Lyman, December 6, 1864

December 6, 1864

There arrived Captain Alden, with 253 brevets, of all grades, for the Army of the Potomac. Do you know what a brevet is, and the force thereof? A brevet commission gives the dignity, but not always the pay or the authority, of the rank it confers. If, for example, a colonel is breveted general, he may wear the stars and may rank as general on courts-martial, but, unless he be specially assigned by the President, he has only the command of a colonel, just as before. A colonel brevetted general in the regular army draws the pay of a general when assigned to duty by the President; but a brevet in the volunteers can under no circumstances bring additional pay. Brevets, like other appointments by the President, must be confirmed by the Senate before they become permanent. At any rate, however, they last from the time of appointment to the time of their rejection by the Senate. The object of brevets is to pay compliments to meritorious officers without overburdening the army with officers of high rank.

As aforesaid, there came a grist of these papers in all grades, from 1st lieutenant up to major-general. All the Headquarters' Staff, with few exceptions, were brevetted one grade, in consequence of which I should not wonder if the Senate rejected the whole bundle! Barstow is Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel; Biddle, ditto; Duane has two brevets, which brings him to a full Colonel, and will give him a colonel's pay, if he can be assigned, as they are in the regular army. We are all very melancholy over General Williams, who, though one of the most deserving officers in the whole army, could not be brevetted because that would make him rank the Adjutant-General of the whole army, Brigadier-General Thomas. They were not so careful to except Barnard, whom they formerly made a Major-General though his chief, Delafield, was only a Brigadier. It is to be considered, however, that Major-General Barnard had found leisure from his military duties to publish a criticism on the Peninsular Campaign, or, in other words, a campaign document against McClellan, which is a circumstance that alters cases. I should say, that the statement that General Meade was only a Brevet Major-General in the regular service was a mistake naturally arising from the confusion with the other letters of appointment. . . .

General Grant was at the Headquarters for about an hour. He brought with him Captain de Marivault, a French naval officer and a very gentlemanly man. I took him as far as Fort Wadsworth, and showed him it and the neighboring line. He has had great chances of seeing this war, as he was at New Orleans, and, later, Admiral Dahlgren allowed him to go into Charleston, where he even went about in the city. Oh! I forgot to mention, in particular, that Rosencrantz is brevetted a Major, at which he is much pleased. There followed much merriment in the camp over shoulder-straps, those who had been promoted giving theirs to the next grade below. Majors' straps were scarcest and were in great demand. The General was in high spirits (as he might well be, with a letter of appointment in his pocket) and stood in front of his tent, joking with his aides, a very rare performance with him. “Now here's Lyman,”1 said he, looking like Mephistopheles in good humor, “he has no brevet, but I am going to write to the Governor of Massachusetts to make him a Field Marshal.” Whereat he rubbed the side of his long nose, as he always does when he laughs.
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1 Lyman, being a volunteer aide, was not eligible for a brevet.

SOURCE: George R. Agassiz, Editor, Meade’s Headquarters, 1863-1865: Letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness to Appomattox, p. 289-91

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Diary of William Howard Russell: March 30, 1861

Descended into the barber's shop off the hall of the hotel; all the operators, men of color, mostly mulattoes, or yellow lads, good-looking, dressed in clean white jackets and aprons, were smart, quick, and attentive. Some seven or eight shaving chairs were occupied by gentlemen intent on early morning calls. Shaving is carried in all its accessories to a high degree of publicity, if not of perfection, in America; and as the poorest, or as I may call them without offence, the lowest orders in England have their easy shaving for a penny, so the highest, if there be any in America, submit themselves in public to the inexpensive operations of the negro barber. It must be admitted that the chairs are easy and well-arranged, the fingers nimble, sure, and light; but the affectation of French names, and the corruption of foreign languages, in which the hairdressers and barbers delight, are exceedingly amusing. On my way down a small street near the Capitol, I observed in a shop window, “Rowland's make easier paste,” which I attribute to an imperfect view of the etymology of the great “Macassar;” on another occasion I was asked to try Somebody's “Curious Elison,” which I am afraid was an attempt to adapt to a shaving paste, an address not at all suited to profane uses. It appears that the trade of barber is almost the birthright of the free negro or colored man in the United States. There is a striking exemplification of natural equality in the use of brushes, and the senator flops down in the seat, and has his noble nose seized by the same fingers which the moment before were occupied by the person and chin of an unmistakable rowdy.

In the midst of the divine calm produced by hard hand rubbing of my head, I was aroused by a stout gentleman who sat in a chair directly opposite. Through the door which opened into the hall of the hotel, one could see the great crowd passing to and fro, thronging the passage as though it had been the entrance to the Forum, or the “Salle de pas perdus.” I had observed my friend's eye gazing fixedly through the opening on the outer world. Suddenly, with his face half-covered with lather, and a bib tucked under his chin, he got up from his seat exclaiming, “Senator! Senator! hallo!” and made a dive into the passage — whether he received a stern rebuke, or became aware of his impropriety, I know not, but in an instant he came back again, and submitted quietly, till the work of the barber was completed.

The great employment of four fifths of the people at Willard's at present seems to be to hunt senators and congressmen through the lobbies. Every man is heavy with documents — those which he cannot carry in his pockets and hat, occupy his hands, or are thrust under his arms. In the hall are advertisements announcing that certificates, and letters of testimonial, and such documents, are printed with expedition and neatness. From paper collars, and cards of address to carriages, and new suits of clothes, and long hotel bills, nothing is left untried or uninvigorated. The whole city is placarded with announcements of facilities for assaulting the powers that be, among which must not be forgotten the claims of the “excelsior card-writer,” at Willard's, who prepares names, addresses, styles, and titles, in superior penmanship. The men who have got places, having been elected by the people, must submit to the people, who think they have established a claim on them by their favors. The majority confer power, but they seem to forget that it is only the minority who can enjoy the first fruits of success. It is as if the whole constituency of Marylebone insisted on getting some office under the Crown the moment a member was returned to Parliament. There are men at Willard's who have come literally thousands of miles to seek for places which can only be theirs for four years, and who with true American facility have abandoned the calling and pursuits of a lifetime for this doubtful canvass; and I was told of one gentleman, who having been informed that he could not get a judgeship, condescended to seek a place in the Post-Office, and finally applied to Mr. Chase to be appointed keeper of a “lighthouse,” he was not particular where. In the forenoon I drove to the Washington Navy Yard, in company with Lieutenant Nelson and two friends. It is about two miles outside the city, situated on a fork of land projecting between a creek and the Potomac River, which is here three quarters of a mile broad. If the French had a Navy Yard at Paris it could scarcely be contended that English, Russians, or Austrians would not have been justified in destroying it in case they got possession of the city by force of arms, after a pitched battle fought outside its gates. I confess I would not give much for Deptford and Woolwich if an American fleet succeeded in forcing its way up the Thames; but our American cousins, — a little more than kin and less than kind, who speak with pride of Paul Jones and of their exploits on the Lakes, — affect to regard the burning of the Washington Navy Yard by us, in the last war, as an unpardonable outrage on the law of nations, and an atrocious exercise of power. For all the good it did, for my own part, I think it were as well had it never happened, but no juris-consult will for a moment deny that it was a legitimate, even if extreme, exercise of a belligerent right in the case of an enemy who did not seek terms from the conqueror; and who, after battle lost, fled and abandoned the property of their state, which might be useful to them in war, to the power of the victor. Notwithstanding all the unreasonableness of the American people in reference to their relations with foreign powers, it is deplorable such scenes should ever have been enacted between members of the human family so closely allied by all that shall make them of the same household.

The Navy Yard is surrounded by high brick walls; in the gateway stood two sentries in dark blue tunics, yellow facings, with eagle buttons, brightly polished arms, and white Berlin gloves, wearing a cap something like a French kepi, all very clean and creditable. Inside are some few trophies of guns taken from us at Yorktown, and from the Mexicans in the land of Cortez. The interior inclosure is surrounded by red brick houses, and stores and magazines, picked out with white stone; and two or three green glass-plots, fenced in by pillars and chains and bordered by trees, give an air of agreeable freshness to the place. Close to the river are the workshops: of course there is smoke and noise of steam and machinery. In a modest office, surrounded by books, papers, drawings, and models, as well as by shell and shot and racks of arms of different descriptions, we found Capt. Dahlgren, the acting superintendent of the yard, and the inventor of the famous gun which bears his name, and is the favorite armament of the American navy. By our own sailors they are irreverently termed “soda-water bottles,” owing to their shape. Capt. Dahlgren contends that guns capable of throwing the heaviest shot may be constructed of cast-iron, carefully prepared and moulded so that the greatest thickness of metal may be placed at the points of resistance, at the base of the gun, the muzzle and forward portions being of very moderate thickness.

All inventors, or even adapters of systems, must be earnest self-reliant persons, full of confidence, and, above all, impressive, or they will make little way in the conservative, status-quo-loving world. Captain Dahlgren has certainly most of these characteristics, but he has to fight with his navy department, with the army, with boards and with commissioners, — in fact, with all sorts of obstructors. When I was going over the yard, he deplored the parsimony of the department, which refused to yield to his urgent entreaties for additional furnaces to cast guns.

No large guns are cast at Washington. The foundries are only capable of turning out brass field-pieces and boat-guns. Capt. Dahlgren obligingly got one of the latter out to practise for us — a 12-pounder howitzer, which can be carried in a boat, run on land on its carriage, which is provided with wheels, and is so light that the gun can be drawn readily about by the crew. He made some good practice with shrapnel at a target 1200 yards distant, firing so rapidly as to keep three shells in the air at the same time. Compared with our establishments, this dockyard is a mere toy, and but few hands are employed in it. One steam sloop, the “Pawnee,” was under the shears, nearly ready for sea: the frame of another was under the building-shed. There are no facilities for making iron ships, or putting on plate-armor here. Everything was shown to us with the utmost frankness. The fuse of the Dahlgren shell is constructed on the vis inertӕ principle, and is not unlike that of the Armstrong.

On returning to the hotel, I found a magnificent bouquet of flowers, with a card attached to them, with Mrs. Lincoln's compliments, and another card announcing that she had a “reception” at three o'clock. It was rather late before I could get to the White House, and there were only two or three ladies in the drawing-room when I arrived. I was informed afterwards that the attendance was very scanty. The Washington ladies have not yet made up their minds that Mrs. Lincoln is the fashion. They miss their Southern friends, and constantly draw comparisons between them and the vulgar Yankee women and men who are now in power. I do not know enough to say whether the affectation of superiority be justified; but assuredly if New York be Yankee, there is nothing in which it does not far surpass this preposterous capital. The impression of homeliness produced by Mrs. Lincoln on first sight, is not diminished by closer acquaintance. Few women not to the manner born there are, whose heads would not be disordered, and circulation disturbed, by a rapid transition, almost instantaneous, from a condition of obscurity in a country town to be mistress of the White House. Her smiles and her frowns become a matter of consequence to the whole American world. As the wife of the country lawyer, or even of the congressman, her movements were of no consequence. The journals of Springfield would not have wasted a line upon them. Now, if she but drive down Pennsylvania Avenue, the electric wire thrills the news to every hamlet in the Union which has a newspaper; and fortunate is the correspondent who, in a special despatch, can give authentic particulars of her destination and of her dress. The lady is surrounded by flatterers and intriguers, seeking for influence or such places as she can give. As Selden says, “Those who wish to set a house on fire begin with the thatch.”

SOURCE: William Howard Russell, My Diary North and South, p. 50-4

Monday, October 20, 2014

Senator James W. Grimes to Admiral Samuel F. Du Pont, July 30, 1863

I duly received your favor of the 20th inst., and on the same day the gun captured on the Atlanta, sent by express. Accept my thanks for the present. I have fired it to-day, and find it to be a very wicked implement. It seems that Charleston is destined to be “a hard nut to crack,” in the hands of Gillmore and Dahlgren, as well as in the hands of their predecessor.

SOURCE: William Salter, The Life of James W. Grimes, p. 237

Monday, January 20, 2014

Personal Journal of Captain John A. Dahlgren, December 16, 1862

Raw, rainy, and dismal, with the wind howling from northwest, striving to get the mastery. And there are 150,000 of our men on a strip of land, hemmed in with annihilating batteries in front and the Rappahannock behind. Ten thousand of them just struck down. Wet and cold, with the winter close at hand, — as near as those inexorable batteries. This was written in the morning. In the evening it was known that last night our army was glad to get back across the river without being pursued. How terrible to think of so many thousands losing life or limb on such stupid plans! So we can raise larger armies than any other nation, and make generals as fast as paper money. We can be so rich that a thousand millions may be squandered and not be felt. But we cannot make soldiers or leaders, because the whole system only makes offices from $12 a month to $10,000 a year, but makes not discipline nor military spirit. It is an army of postmasters or other civil placemen with arms in their hands. The nation only wants one man — a General!

SOURCE: Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren, Memoir of John A. Dahlgren, Rear-admiral United States Navy, p. 382-3

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Brigadier General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, June 17, 1862

CAMP NEAR THE CHICKAHOMINY, June 17, 1862.

To-day we hear very heavy firing in the direction of Fort Darling on the James River, and we presume the gunboats are engaging the batteries on the river; though I understood from Commodore Dahlgren, whom I met at Fredericksburg, that the gunboats could not pass the obstructions in the river at Fort Darling, the enemy having pretty much destroyed the navigation, which it would take a long time to correct by removing the vessels and rocks, etc., which have been sunk and thrown in. I learned very little at headquarters yesterday. I think McClellan is awaiting the arrival of all his reinforcements, before pushing his lines any farther forward, or making any grand attack. In the meantime the enemy is busily at work fortifying all the approaches to the city, and without doubt will make a most vigorous and desperate resistance to our advance. McClellan, I understand, is in good spirits and confident of success, which I most sincerely trust he may attain. Our division remains where it was first posted, just behind the Chickahominy at the railroad crossing, where it is understood we will remain for a few days, as it is a good position for defending the railroad, and from whence we can readily be sent to reinforce any part of the line that may be suddenly attacked. From what I can gather, the taking of Richmond will be the work of time, by our slowly but gradually and surely advancing, until we get near enough to make a final assault. In this operation we shall, of course, have frequent skirmishes, and now and then big battles, like the recent one at Fair Oaks, or Seven Pines, as it is sometimes called, where they thought they had a fine chance to cut off our left wing, isolated from the rest of the army by the sudden rising of the Chickahominy. Unfortunately for their calculations, our bridges stood the freshet, and our communication was not cut off, enabling us to meet their attack and repulse it.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 1, p. 274-5

Friday, December 13, 2013

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, December 16, 1864

NEAR SAVANNAH, December 16, 1864.

I have no doubt you have heard of my safe arrival on the coast. . . . We came right along living on turkeys, chickens, pigs, bringing along our wagons loaded as we started with bread, etc. I suppose Jeff Davis will now have to feed the people of Georgia instead of collecting provisions of them to feed his armies. We have destroyed nearly two hundred miles of railroad and are not yet done. As I approached Savannah I found every river and outlet fortified. The Ogeechee River emptying into Ossabaw Sound was best adapted to our use, but it was guarded by Fort McAllister which has defied the Navy for two years. I ordered Howard to carry it with one division. The detail fell on the 2nd Division of the 15th Corps, and it was the handsomest thing I have seen in this war. The division is the same I commanded at Shiloh in which Buckland, Hildebrand, Cockerill and others were, and Cockerill's Regiment was about the first to reach the interior and is now its garrison, but Cockerill is not in service now. As soon as we got the fort I pulled down the bay and opened communications. General Foster and Admiral Dahlgren received me, manned the yards and cheered, the highest honor at sea. They had become really nervous as to our safety, and were delighted at all I told them of our easy success. I can now starve out Savannah unless events call my army to Virginia. I would prefer to march through Columbia and Raleigh, but the time would be too long, and we may go by sea. I have letters from Grant of the 3rd and 6th. I never saw a more confident army. The soldiers think I know everything and that they can do anything. The strength of Savannah lies in its swamps which can only be crossed by narrow causeways all of which are swept by heavy artillery. I came near being hit the first day in approaching too near to reconnoitre. A negro's head was shot off close by me. The weather is and has been all we could have asked. It is now warm and pleasant, and the live-oaks are sublime; japonicas in blossom in the open air and the orange is but slightly touched by the frost. I expect rain soon and have heavy details at work corduroying the roads in anticipation of such an event. I have some heavy guns coming from Port Royal, and as soon as they come I shall demand the surrender of Savannah, but will not assault, as a few days will starve out its garrison, about 15,000, and its people 25,000. I do not apprehend any army to attempt to relieve Savannah except Lee's, and if he gives up Richmond it will be the best piece of strategy ever made, to make him let go there. We have lived sumptuously — turkeys, chickens and sweet potatoes1 all the way, but the poor women and children will starve. All I could tell them was, if Jeff Davis expects to found an empire on the ruins of the South, he ought to afford to feed the people. . . .

It was just 30 days from Atlanta till I was sitting with the Admiral on a sea steamer at sea. Grant's letter of the 3rd proposed to bring you down to see me, but his of the 6th looked to my coming to James River. Await events and trust to fortune. I will turn up where and when you least expect me. . . .
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1 These words bear a curious testimony to the accuracy of a stanza in one of the most familiar of war-songs:

How the darkeys shouted when they heard the joyful sound!
How the turkeys gobbled which our commissary found!
How the sweet potatoes even started from the ground
While we were marching through Georgia!

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 316-8.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/19

Thursday, July 1, 2010

The President Visits a French Frigate

WASHINGTON, April 26. – The President visited the French frigate Gassendi, to-day, being the first time the President of the United States ever went aboard a foreign vessel of war. He was received with the honors paid to crowned heads, the same as is usually shown the Emperor. The yards were manned by the crew, who shouted “Vive la President!” The Secretary of State and Capt. Dahlgren accompanied the President. The French Minister was aboard to receive the party.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 3, 1862, p. 4

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

The President’s Visit to the French Frigate

Saturday last was quite a gala day at the Washington Navy Yard. The appearance for the first time of a French vessel of war in the “Eastern Branch,” with the tri-colored flag floating in the breeze, attracted unusual observation, and awakened in many minds reminiscences of that early friend to American independence, the Marquis de Lafayette, and subsequent stirring events well calculated to quicken patriotic ardor and admiration. In compliment to our visitor, the “Star Spangled Banner” was handsomely displayed on every steam and other vessel moored at the Navy Yard, and early in the afternoon various quiet preparations indicated that ceremonies of a more extensive character were about to take place.

The full Marine Band, and the fine body of men composing the Navy Yard guard, paraded in their new and elegant uniform. The heavy ordnance of the station was charged for salute – everything was in readiness for the highest honors. About three o’clock the President of the United States, accompanied by Mrs. Lincoln and her sister (Mrs. Edwards), arrived. In a few moments arrived the carriage in which were seated the Hon. Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State, F. W. Seward, Esq., Assistant Secretary; and Mrs. F. W. Seward. Next came the Count Mercier, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of France, and suite. The distinguished visitors drove immediately through the principal avenue of the station to the piers, where the President and his friends were handsomely received by Capt. Dahlgren.

The arrival of the gallant Admiral Reynaud, of the French Navy, on Saturday, without any previous knowledge of his visit, was especially gratifying to all, and he promptly availed himself of the opportunity to renew the evidences of his high regard for the American nation and the American President, with his Minister of State.

Mrs. Lincoln and her sister, still depressed by the recent domestic affliction, preferred remain in their carriage during the ceremony.

The distinguished party, accompanied by Capt. Dahlgren, proceeded to the French vessel of war Gassendi, Capt. Gautier. On reaching her side, President Lincoln was received and welcomed in elegant and enthusiastic style by Admiral Reynaud, when these courtesies were extended to the Hon. Secretary of State and other visitors. The yards of the Gassendi were manned by her gallant tars. The American ensign was thrown to the evening breeze “from the main,” the post of honor, and a salute of twenty-one guns from the steamer’s cannon reverberated through the length and breadth of the national capital, whilst bands of music poured fourth national airs.

The salute from the broadside of the Gassendi was quickly responded to by the Navy Yard batteries. The French commander had spared no pains to render the ceremonies on his part equal to those observed on any similar occasion to their own Emperor.

The interview was of the most gratifying character. During the conversation, one of the French officers remarked that this was the first visit of a French war vessel since America was a nation, and the first visit of an American President to a foreign flag.

After some time had passed in conversation and the visitors were about to retire, the honor of a salute was repeated and again responded to.

President Lincoln availed himself of the opportunity to accompany Capt. Dahlgren on a little sail in the “cutter” round the iron-clad target now being constructed near the Yard. – The Navy Yard looked very fine; seventeen hundred mechanics remain in employ. – National Intelligencer

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 3, 1862, p. 3

Saturday, March 27, 2010

From Washington

WASHINGTON, April 26.

The President visited the French frigate Gassendi, to-day, it being the first time a President of the United States ever went aboard a foreign vessel of war. He was received with honors paid to crowned heads; such as are usually shown to an Emperor. The yards were manned by a crew who shouted vive la President. The Secretary of State and Capt. Dahlgreen [sic] accompanied the President. The French Minister was on board to receive the party.


NEW YORK, April 28.

The Washington Star says it is not only true that M. Mercier, the French Minister did not see or converse with Dr. Le Moine, in Richmond, on the occasion of his trip into Secessia, as alleged by the Richmond papers, and therefore did not hold out encouragement for perseverance in their insurrection through Dr. L., as they allege. It is also certainly true that while there he held no official communication whatever with any person except the Consuls of his own government, at Richmond and Norfolk. We learn that while there he conversed with many persons whom he had known in society here, including Judah P. Benjamin, but his intercourse with them was entirely of an unofficial character.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, April 29, 1862, p. 1

Thursday, October 1, 2009

The Navy Department has ordered . . .

. . . the casting of fifty 16-inch Dahlgreen [sic] guns at Pittsburgh. – the Draughts of moulds, &c., have been prepared by Capt. Dahlgreen, and it is understood that the guns will be much shorter and thicker that the 16-inch Rodman gun. Most of them will be smooth bored, and are designated for use on board of the new vessels of the Monitor style, and others, whose construction has been already directed by Secretary Wells [sic].

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 26, 1862, p. 2

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Gen. Sherman stormed and took Ft. McAlister . . .

. . . near Savannah, on the 14th, capturing with it 500 prisoners, 21 heavy guns, and a large quantity of ordinance stores. This puts Sherman in full communication with Admiral Dahlgren and the fleet, and furnishes him with an excellent base of supplies. The reported battle of the 10th did not take place. All communication between Savannah and Richmond is cut off. The following is a brief account of his march.

New York, Dec. [14] – The Herald’s correspondent from Fort McAllister and Hilton Head, 14th says: When Gen. Sherman arrived in front of Savannah after having marched 800 miles, his troops in the meanwhile living on the very best provisions, he had with him a drove of 1200 cattle, though he started from Atlanta with only 200. He also gathered up on the way over 7,000 able-bodied negroes, and so many horses, mules and wagons as to embarrass him. His army during a considerable portion of the march extended over a sweep of country 60 miles in breadth – as much as 40 miles at times intervening between the right wing of one column and the left of the other, but communications were at all times kept between the two. His whole loss in men from the time of leaving Atlanta to his arrival in front of Savannah, from wounds, sickness, capture, straggling, and all other causes, was only about 1,000. The average daily march was about 12 miles.

There is scarcely any news from the army of the Potomac, except heavy firing on Dutch Gap Canal. Grant seems to be waiting for the result of Sherman’s operations, and for those of the fleet that lately sailed from Hampton Roads.

At last accounts the remnant of Hood’s army was at Duck River, retreating rapidly. Gen. Thomas had captured 61 pieces of artillery, and our loss but few over 2,000. – Gen. Forest attacked Murfreesboro, on the 15th and was repulsed, losing 1,500 killed, and all the wounded fell into our hands.

– Published in The Union Sentinel, Osceola, Iowa, Friday, December 23, 1864