General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, January 7, 1875

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES,        

ST. LOUIS, Mo., Jan. 7, 1875.

Dear Brother: I see my name was used in the debate yesterday on Louisiana matters.¹

Neither the President or Secretary of War ever consulted me about Louisiana matters. Sheridan received his orders direct from the Secretary of War and Adjutant-General Townsend, and started on telegraphic notice, writing me a short note stating the fact, and that the Secretary of War would explain to me.

The latter sent me a copy of the orders and instructions by mail, which I received after General Sheridan had gone, and I simply acknowledged their receipt.

I have all along tried to save our officers and soldiers from the dirty work imposed on them by the city authorities of the South; and may, thereby, have incurred the suspicion of the President that I did not cordially sustain his force. My hands and conscience are free of any of the breaches of fundamental principles in that quarter. And I have always thought it wrong to bolster up weak State governments by our troops. We should keep the peace always; but not act as bailiff constables and catch thieves. That should be beneath a soldier's vocation. If you want information of the conditions up the Red River, call for a report recently made by Lieutenant-Colonel Morrow, personally known to you. . . .

As ever, your brother,

W. T. SHERMAN.

_______________

¹ The "Louisiana matters" were the reconstruction difficulties which so many of the Southern States were experiencing. General Sherman objected to the detailing of army officers to assist the State authorities in keeping the peace.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 342

Diary of Gideon Welles: Monday, July 17, 1865

Last Tuesday, when on board the Pawnee with the President and Cabinet, Stanton took me aside and desired to know if the Navy could not spare a gunboat to convey some prisoners to Tortugas. I told him a vessel could be detailed for that purpose if necessary, but I inquired why he did not send them by one of his own transports. He then told me he wanted to send the persons connected with the assassination of President Lincoln to Tortugas, instead of a Northern prison, that he had mentioned the subject to the President, and it was best to get them into a part of the country where old Nelson or any other judge would not try to make difficulty by habeas corpus. Said he would make further inquiries and see me, but wished strict secrecy. On Friday he said he should want a boat and I told him we had none here, but the Florida might be sent to Hampton Roads, and he could send his men and prisoners thither on one of the army boats in the Potomac. I accordingly sent orders for the Florida. Yesterday General Townsend called on me twice on the subject, and informed me in the evening that General Hancock would leave in a boat at midnight to meet the Florida. I suggested that General H. had better wait; we had no information yet that the Florida had arrived, and she would be announced to us by telegraph as soon as she did arrive. To-day I learn the prisoners and a guard went down last night, and I accordingly sent orders by telegraph, by request of Secretary of War, to receive and convey the guard and prisoners to Tortugas.

Seward sent to see me. Had dispatches from the Spanish government that the Stonewall should be given up. Is to send me copies, but the yellow fever is prevalent in Havana and it would be well to leave the Stonewall there until fall.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 334-5

Abraham Lincoln to Governor Michael Hahn, March 15, 1864

EXECUTIVE MANSION,               

Washington, D.C., March 15, 1864.

His Excellency MICHAEL HAHN,

Governor of Louisiana:

Until further orders you are hereby invested with the powers exercised hitherto by the Military Governor of Louisiana.

Truly, yours,

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

Copy of commission of General Shepley and of instructions to him of June 3, 1862, sent in original of this to Governor Hahn March 16, 1864.

 E. D. T.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series III, Volume 4 (Serial No. 125), p. 182

Lincoln’s Call for 300,000 Troops, December 19, 1864

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

A PROCLAMATION.

(Calling for 300,000 volunteers.)

Whereas, by the act approved July 4, 1864, entitled "An act further to regulate and provide for the enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for other purposes," it is provided that the President of the United States may, “at his discretion, at any time hereafter, call for any number of men, as volunteers, for the respective terms of one, two, and three years, for military service,” and “that in case the quota, or any part thereof, of any town, township, ward of a city, precinct, or election district, or of any county not so subdivided, shall not be filled within the space of fifty days after such call, then the President shall immediately order a draft for one year to fill such quota, or any part thereof which may be unfilled;”

And whereas, by the credits allowed in accordance with the act of Congress on the call for five hundred thousand men, made July 18th, 1864, the number of men to be obtained under that call was reduced to two hundred and eighty thousand;

And whereas, the operations of the enemy in certain States have rendered it impracticable to procure from them their full quotas of troops under said call;

And whereas, from the foregoing causes, but two hundred and forty thousand men have been put into the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps under the said call of July 18, 1864, leaving a deficiency on that call of two hundred and sixty thousand (260,000):

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, in order to supply the aforesaid deficiency, and to provide for casualties in the military and naval service of the United States, do issue this my call for three hundred thousand (300,000) volunteers, to serve for one, two, or three years. The quotas of the States, districts, and sub-districts, under this call, will be assigned by the War Department, through the Bureau of the Provost-Marshal-General of the United States; and, “in case the quota, or any part thereof, of any town, township, ward of a city, precinct, or election district, or of any county not so subdivided, shall not be filled” before the fifteenth day of February, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, then a draft shall be made to fill such quota, or any part thereof, under this call, which may be unfilled on said fifteenth day of February, 1865.*

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington this nineteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-ninth.

[L. S.]

By the President:

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD,                 

Secretary of State.

_______________

* Under this call the quotas and credits were as follows, the first number indicating the quota and the second the number of men furnished: Maine, 8,389; 6,926. New Hampshire, 2,072; 1,304. Vermont, 1,832; 1,550. Massachusetts, 1,306; 3,929. Rhode Island, 1,459; 1,563. Connecticut (no quota); 1,325. New York, 61,076; 34,183. New Jersey, 11,695; 11,268. Pennsylvania, 46,437; 30,817. Delaware, 938; 411. Maryland, 9,142; 4,941. District of Columbia, 2,222; 822. West Virginia, 4,431; 2,537. Kentucky, 10,481; 7,603. Ohio, 26,027; 24,567. Michigan, 10,026; 7,842. Indiana, 22,582; 23,214. Illinois, 32,902; 28,318. Missouri, 13,984; 4,207. Wisconsin, 12,356; 9,921. Iowa (no quota); 854. Minnesota, 3,636; 2,769. Kansas, 1,222; 881. Making a grand total of 211,752 men furnished. Of these there were for one year, 151,363; two years, 5,110; three years, 54,967; four years, 312.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series III, Volume 4 (Serial No. 125), p. 1002-3

Brigadier-General Benjamin F. Butler to Colonel Edward D. Townsend, April 29, 1861

Headquarters, Department of Annapolis, April 29th, 1861

Col. E. D. TownsEND, Asst. Adj. Gen’l., Headquarters of the Army, WASHINGTON, D.C.

The 3rd Battalion of rifles is an independent Batt. under the command of a major, & forms no part of any Mass. regiment. I specially desire they may remain here for the defense of this Post, they having been instructed for that purpose. I learn by the master of Transportation that the road is badly guarded from the junction to Bladensburg. I have ordered Col. Bryan of 25th N. York to use his command of 500 men for that duty. I shall direct him to make his Headquarters at Laurel Factory. I will send no more troops until further orders.

By order of Brig. Gen. BUTLER

SOURCE: Jessie Ames Marshall, Editor, Private and Official Correspondence of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler During the Period of the Civil War, Volume 1: April 1860 – June 1862, p. 54

Assistant Adjutant General Edward D. Townsend to Major-General John Wool, April 28, 1861

Washington, D. C., April 28,1861.

General, — The General-in-Chief directs me to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 25th instant and to say in reply that the very great necessity which exists for carrying out the business of the several staff departments with system, under their proper chiefs, compels him to request you will give no orders interfering with the purchase or issue of army supplies, such orders being, in all cases, dictated by the General-in-Chief himself. The General regrets your infirm health does not permit him to assign you to an important command away from your headquarters, and he recommends that you return to Troy to conduct the ordinary routine duties of your department and for the recovery of your health, known by him to be feeble. I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

E. D. Townsend,  

Assistant Adjutant-General

SOURCE: Henry Greenleaf Pearson, The Life of John A. Andrew: Governor of Massachusetts, 1861-1865, Volume 1, p. 208

Abraham Lincoln’s General Orders, No. 232, July 19, 1864

GENERAL ORDERS,

NO. 232.

WAR DEPT., ADJT. GENERAL'S OFFICE,         

Washington, July 19, 1864.

For five hundred thousand volunteers.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas, by the act approved July fourth, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, entitled “An act further to regulate and provide for the enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for other purposes,” it is provided that the President of the United States may, “at his discretion, at any time hereafter, call for any number of men, as volunteers, for the respective terms of one, two, and three years for military service,” and “that in case the quota of [or] any part thereof, of any town, township, ward of a city, precinct, or election district, or of a county not so subdivided, shall not be filled within the space of fifty days after such call, then the President shall immediately order a draft for one year, to fill such quota, or any part thereof, which may be unfilled;”

And whereas, the new enrollment heretofore ordered is so far completed as that the aforementioned act of Congress may now be put in operation for recruiting and keeping up the strength of the armies in the field; for garrisons, and such military operations as may be required for the purpose of suppressing the rebellion and restoring the authority of the United States Government in the insurgent States:

Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do issue this my call for five hundred thousand volunteers for the military service; provided, nevertheless, that this call shall be reduced by all credits which may be established under section eight of the aforesaid act, on account of persons who have entered the naval service during the present rebellion, and by credits for men furnished to the military service in excess of calls heretofore made.*

Volunteers will be accepted under this call for one, two, or three years, as they may elect, and will be entitled to the bounty provided by the law for the period of service for which they enlist.

And I hereby proclaim, order, and direct that, immediately after the fifth day of September, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, being fifty days from the date of this call, a draft for troops to serve for one year shall be had in every town, township, ward of a city, precinct, or election district, or county not so subdivided, to fill the quota which shall be assigned to it under this call, or any part thereof which may be unfilled by volunteers on the said fifth day of September, eighteen hundred and sixty-four.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington this eighteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth.

[L. S.]

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:

WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

Secretary of State.

By order of the Secretary of War:

E. D. TOWNSEND,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

_______________

* Under this call the quotas (reduced by excess of credits on previous calls) and credits were as follows, the first number indicating the quota and the second the number of men furnished: Maine, 11,116; 11,042. New Hampshire, 4,648; 5,973. Vermont, 2,665; 3,971. Massachusetts, 21,965; 31,739. Rhode Island, 1,423; 2,310. Connecticut, 5,583; 10,855. New York, 77,539; 83,838. New Jersey, 14,431; 15,108. Pennsylvania, 49,993; 55,536. Delaware, 2,184; 2,175. Maryland, 10,947; 10,235. District of Columbia, 2,386; 2,318. West Virginia, 2,717; 1,956. Kentucky, 9.871; 15,366. Ohio, 27,001; 30,823. Michigan, 12,098; 12,509. Indiana, 25,662; 25,854. Illinois, 21,997; 15,416. Missouri, 25,569; 23,507. Wisconsin, 17,590; 16,823. Iowa, 5,749; 4,223. Minnesota, 4,018; 3,235. Kansas (no quota), 351. Making a grand total of 385,163 men furnished. Of these there were for one year, 228,044; two years, 8,340; three years, 153,049; four years, 730.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series III, Volume 4 (Serial No. 125), p. 515-6

Edwin M. Stanton to Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant, January 6, 1865 – 3 p.m.

FORT MONROE, January 6, 1865 — 3 p.m.

General GRANT:

I arrived here an hour ago en route for Savannah, by way of Hilton Head, and shall remain until to-morrow. Have you any word you wish to send, or any military news? Quartermaster-General, Townsend, and Barnes are with me.

E. M. STANTON,     

Secretary of War.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 47, Part 2 (Serial No. 99), p. 18

Senator Salmon P. Chase to Senator Charles Sumner, June 28, 1851

Toledo, June 28, 1851.

My Dear Sumner, We had a glorious time at Ravenna. Fifteen hundred or two thousand people were present. The best men of the Reserve were there — Giddings & Townshend of the House—Spalding, of our Supreme Court — Morse, Speaker of our last House of Representatives and many others of less note. The resolutions were not quite fundamental enough in their democratic character to suit me; but they will do. It was occasion of much regret that you were not there, and I did not receive your note until yesterday just as I was leaving Cleveland for this place, with Mrs. C. and my little daughter.

Mrs. C. has nearly relinquished the idea of a journey to Europe. We may however before we return to Cincinnati visit Boston.

I notice what you say of the state of things in Massachusetts. With us the same bitterness does not yet discover itself; but we have got to go to work. The chiefly [sic] difficulty we labor under is the want of a common uniting principle. That I am satisfied will be found in a cordial recognition of the great democratic principle of Equal Rights & Exact Justice, with a fixed purpose to carry it out into practical application to all subjects of governmental action. That will unite us with the strong bond of fraternity. That will give us the name & character of democrats and make us invincible.

Yours cordially,

[SALMON P. CHASE.]

P. S. How wd. you like a house at Washington jointly with me or with me & Hale? I must contrive some way to be near you. I reckon upon so much benefit from your society.

SOURCE: Diary and correspondence of Salmon P. Chase, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 237-8

Colonel Edward D. Townsend to Major-General Ambrose Burnside, June 10, 1863

WAR DEPARTMENT,         

Washington City, June 4, 1863.

Major-General BURNSIDE, U.S. Volunteers,

Cincinnati, Ohio:

A note, of which the following is a copy, has just been received by this Department from the President:

EXECUTIVE MANSION,         

Washington, June 4, 1863.

Hon. SECRETARY OF WAR:

MY DEAR SIR: I have received additional dispatches which, with former ones, induce me to believe we should revoke or suspend the order suspending the Chicago Times, and if you concur in opinion, please have it done.

Yours, truly,

A. LINCOLN.

In conformity with the views of the President, you will revoke the order suspending the publication of the Chicago Times.*

By order of the Secretary of War:

E. D. TOWNSEND,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

_______________

*See Burnside's order, Series I, Vol. XXIII, Part II, p. 386; also Trmnbull and Arnold to Lincoln, ibid., p. 385.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series III, Volume 3 (Serial No. 124), p. 252

Lieutenant Colonel Charles Fessenden Morse: May 23, 1865

Headquarters Second Mass. Inf'y,

Near Alexandria, May 23, 1865.

I have been sorely exercised for the last few days on account of learning, when I joined my command, that I had been mustered out of service by order of the War Department, on account of being absent from the effects of wounds received in action.* Yesterday, through the kindness of General Slocum, I obtained an interview with General Townsend, Adjutant General, and presented to him an application for the rescinding of the order; it had received pretty heavy endorsements from all my superiors, and was at once granted. The veteran regiments are probably to be retained, for the present at any rate; they will be filled up to the maximum by consolidation.

Everybody is scrubbing up for the review to-morrow, which will be a great affair. I am sorry you are not coming on. I am getting along very well with my wound.

_______________

* Immediately after the surrender of Lee's and Johnston's army, the War Department issued a General Order honorably discharging every officer then absent from his command on account of wounds or sickness.

SOURCE: Charles Fessenden Morse, Letters Written During the Civil War, 1861-1865, p. 213-4

Major-General John A. Dix to Colonel Edward Davis Townsend, July 24, 1861

Head-quarters, Deportment of Maryland.

Fort McHenry, July 24,1861.

Colonel E. D. Townsend,

Assistant Adjutant-general, Head-quarters of the Army:

Colonel, — I annex a list of the regiments whose term of service is about to expire, and of those which are mustered for three years. General Banks persuaded the Sixth Massachusetts to remain till the 2d of August. I have been to the encampment of the Twenty-second Pennsylvania, whose term expired yesterday, and the men consent to continue in service a week longer. The Thirteenth New York resolved unanimously this morning to go home to-morrow. I have just returned from their camp, and by the most urgent remonstrances and by strong appeals have induced them to stay another week. By the 2d of August there will not be one of the eight first-named regiments in the annexed list left. I shall have only the three last regiments on the list remaining. I must urge the immediate re-enforcement of the troops under my command. There ought to be ten thousand men here and at Annapolis. I would not venture to respond for the quietude of the Department with a smaller number. The late reverse at Manassas has brought out manifestations of a most hostile and vindictive feeling in Annapolis as well as in Baltimore.

Major-general Banks, on the evening of my arrival here, asked, at my suggestion, for four hundred cavalry. They would, for the special service required, be equal to a full regiment of infantry. I hope they may be furnished without delay. It is understood that a regiment of cavalry leaves New York to-morrow. Can I have a detachment of three or four companies from this regiment, with a field-officer? I will see to the immediate protection of the bridges in all directions.

I am, very respectfully, yours,

John A. Dix, Major-general commanding.

 SOURCE: Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 25

Major-General John Sedgwick to Colonel Edward Davis Townsend, December 16, 1863

Headquarters 6th Army Corps,

Welford's Ford, Virginia,

December 16, 1863.

My dear Townsend:

There is a change proposed in the organization of this army, reducing the number of corps to three. Whether I am to be retained as one of the commanders, I do not know or care a straw, but I write this to ask you, when the matter is brought up in Washington, to retain the number of this corps, viz., the 6th.

It is entirely harmonious, and there is a great deal of esprit de corps in it. I do not believe there is a regiment in it that would leave willingly. Another reason is, since its organization there has never been a regiment added or detached; this is not the case with the other corps.

I am afraid the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd will be retained, when I should like to see the 2nd, 3rd, and 6th.

I am sure you will assist me in this matter, if in your power. At all events, I rely upon you in letting me know when the subject comes up.

Yours very truly,

John Sedgwick.

Colonel E. D. Townsend,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

SOURCE: George William Curtis, Correspondence of John Sedgwick, Major-General, Volume 2, p. 168