Dr. Seth Rogers to his daughter Dolly, January 30, 1863

ALBERTI's Mills, 40 miles from FERNANDINA.

January 30, 1863. 

This river is rebellious to the last degree. It is very crooked and sluggish and black and got us aground so many times in the long, sleepless night that rebel pickets might have picked off many of our men and officers. Again and again we had to turn points at right angles and we were never more than two rods from one or the other shore. Often the sides of our boat were swept by the boughs of the mournful looking trees. The shores are generally low and marshy, and the moss droops so low as to give the appearance of weeping willows. It is now eleven, A.M. and we are starting homeward. Oh, it is a queer night, so queer that more than once I laughed outright, when I thought of the curious fact that T. W. H. and I were so industriously trying to get a peep at real rebels, while they would undoubtedly do something to get a peep at us. In my time I have seen considerable mismanagement of one kind and another, but do not remember that I ever dreamed that so much of that article could be employed in one night on board a steamboat. Among the boat's officers there was no mutual understanding, and it is fortunate for us that the rebels did not know it. But at daylight we did reach Alberti's Mills, and then came for me an hour of fitful, dreamy sleep. I had made three vigorous efforts to sleep during the night, but enjoyed the calm moonlight and strange scenery and spice of danger too much for drowsiness. We passed picket fires and felt the possibility that our return might be obstructed, or greatly harassed. Very few officers have voluntarily dared such a responsibility as that resting on our Colonel, but he patiently and vigilantly met all the obstacles and had his pickets and skirmishers so arranged. . . .

Evening and Ben Deford again, thank God!

 I had written thus far when the rebels began firing from the shore and I found myself among our soldiers, who replied with spirit and precision that sent more than one poor fellow to the dust.

Captain Clifton of the John Adams was shot through the head and died instantly. The Major's [J. D. Strong] head escaped by about two inches.

Strange to say no other accidents occurred in this nor in the subsequent firing from the bluffs on the Florida shore. The first attack was from the Georgia bluffs. They were both desperate, but of short duration. One fellow actually jumped on the flat-boat in tow, and was immediately shot by one of our soldiers. I afterwards asked Robert Sutton what he himself was about during the conflict, and found that he was deliberately shooting from the pilot house, with two guns, having a man to load one while he fired the other. But now I will go back to the sunrise. As I was saying, the pickets and skirmishers were so placed that there was no escape for the white families at Alberti’s Mills. The Colonel had gone ashore and a little after sunrise sent for me to go off and take with me some copies of the President's proclamation. I found a little village, all included in the A. estate, and the mansion was occupied by Madame A. and her family. She was a New Yorker by birth and her deceased husband was a native of Philadelphia. Mr. B., former business partner of his - A.'s was at the house on a visit, ill with chronic bronchitis. He, being an important person, must be made prisoner, unless too feeble to be removed from the house. I found, on examination, that he could be taken with us without danger to himself. Madame A. spent much time trying to convince me that she and her husband had been wonderfully devoted to the interests of their slaves, especially to the fruitless work of trying to educate them. The truth of these assertions was disproved by certain facts, such as a strong slave jail, containing implements of torture which we now have in our possession, (the lock I have), the fact that the slaves have “mostly gone over to the Yankees,” and the yet other fact that Robert Sutton, a former slave there, said the statement was false. The statement of a black man was lawful in Dixie yesterday. I called Madame A.'s attention to a former slave of hers, whom she remembered as “Bob,” but never before knew as Robert Sutton, corporal in the army of the United States. Robert begged me to forgive him for breaking through my order that he should not exert himself at all till the danger of inflammation of the brain should be averted. The white bandage about his head was conspicuous at the points of danger through all the twenty-four eventful hours of our expedition. It finally devolved upon him and Sergeant Rivers¹ to examine the persons of our six rebel prisoners, for concealed weapons of defense. This last process was so very anti-slavery, that I fancied the rebels enjoyed it somewhat less than I.

I am told that thirteen riderless horses went back to camp after that fight in the woods the other night; that the lieutenant [Jones] in command and five others were killed and many others wounded. Could our party have known the exact state of affairs, the camp might have been destroyed and many prisoners taken. But it was safer and wiser for infantry not to follow cavalry in the night. Our comrades on the Ben Deford greeted us heartily and the Provost Marshal was in readiness to take charge of our prisoners. We shall probably take Mr. B. to Beaufort with us. He is a wealthy and influential rebel and may become a very important hostage when Jeff Davis begins to hang us. We brought off two or three negroes, and rice, corn, sheep and other valuable things, strictly contraband of war. I wanted the Colonel to take a piano already boxed, and in a store-house at the wharf, but we had no room for it. I thought it would especially please Miss Forten to have it in her school.

_______________

¹ Prince Rivers.

SOURCE: Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Volume 43, October, 1909—June, 1910: February 1910. p. 352-4

Major-General Philip H. Sheridan to Brevet Major-General Wesley Merritt, November 2, 1864

HEADQUARTERS MIDDLE MILITARY DIVISION,               

November 27, 1864.

Bvt. Maj. Gen. WESLEY MERRITT,

Commanding First Cavalry Division:

GENERAL: You are hereby directed to proceed to-morrow morning at 7 o'clock with the two brigades of your division now in camp to the east side of the Blue Ridge, via Ashby's Gap, and operate against the guerrillas in the district of country bounded on the south by the line of the Manassas Gap Railroad as far east as White Plains, on the east by the Bull Run range, on the west by the Shenandoah River, and on the north by the Potomac. This section has been the hotbed of lawless bands, who have, from time to time, depredated upon small parties on the line of army communications, on safe guards left at houses, and on all small parties of our troops. Their real object is plunder and highway robbery. To clear the country of these parties that are bringing destruction upon the innocent as well as their guilty supporters by their cowardly acts, you will consume and destroy all forage and subsistence, burn all barns and mills and their contents, and drive off all stock in the region the boundaries of which are above described. This order must be literally executed, bearing in mind, however, that no dwellings are to be burned and that no personal violence be offered to the citizens. The ultimate results of the guerrilla system of warfare is the total destruction of all private rights in the country occupied by such parties. This destruction may as well commence at once, and the responsibility of it must rest upon the authorities at Richmond, who have acknowledged the legitimacy of guerrilla bands. The injury done this army by them is very slight. The injury they have indirectly inflicted upon the people and upon the rebel army may be counted by millions. The Reserve Brigade of your division will move to Snickersville on the 29th. Snickersville should be your point of concentration, and the point from which you should operate in destroying toward the Potomac. Four days' subsistence will be taken by the command. Forage can be gathered from the country through which you pass. You will return to your present camp, via Snicker's Gap, on the fifth day.

By command of Maj. Gen. P. H. Sheridan:

JAS. W. FORSYTH,             

Lieutenant-Colonel and Chief of Staff.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 43, Part 1 (Serial No. 91), p. 679

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Luman Harris Tenney: October 4 & 5, 1864

Paymaster paid off 1st Conn. Drew 8 months' pay. Lt. Meigs of Sheridan's staff killed by guerrillas.

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 131

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: May 28, 1863

There is some animation at the polls, this being election day. It is said Mr. Wickham, who for a long time, in the Convention, voted against the secession of Virginia, is leading Mr. Lyons, an original secessionist, and will probably beat him. And Flournoy, an old Whig politician, will probably be elected governor.

A dispatch from Gen. Johnston, dated yesterday, says in every fight, so far, around Vicksburg, our forces have been successful, and that our soldiers are in fine spirits.

Papers from the North have, in great headings, the word Victory, and announce that the Stars and Stripes are floating over the City of Vicksburg! They likewise said their flag was floating over the Capitol in this city. If Vicksburg falls, it will be a sad day for us; if it does not fall, it will be a sad day for the war party of the United States. It may be decisive, one way or the other. If we beat them, we may have peace. If they beat us — although the war will not and cannot terminate — it may degenerate into a guerrilla warfare, relentless and terrible!

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 334-5

Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes to Sardis Birchard, August 8, 1862

Camp Green Meadows, Mercer County, Virginia,

August 8, 1862.

Dear Uncle: — . . . . I have not yet decided as to the Seventy-ninth Regiment. I would much prefer the colonelcy of this [regiment, the Twenty-third], of course. At the same time there are some things which influence me strongly in favor of the change. I shall not be surprised if the anxiety to have the colonel present to aid in recruiting will be such that I shall feel it my duty to decline. You know I can't get leave of absence until my commission is issued, and the commission does not issue until the regiment is full. By this rule, officers in the field are excluded. I shall leave the matter to take care of itself for the present.

We have had a good excitement the last day or two. A large force, about two thousand, with heavy artillery and cavalry, have been attacking the positions occupied by the Twenty-third. They cannonaded Major Comly at the ferry four and one-half miles from here, and a post I have at the ford three and one-half miles from here, on Wednesday. Tents were torn and many narrow escapes made, but strangely enough nobody on our side was hurt. With our long-range muskets, the enemy soon found they were likely to get the worst of it.

The same evening our guard-tent was struck by lightning. Eight men were knocked senseless, cartridge boxes, belted to the men, were exploded, and other frightful things, but all are getting well.

The drafting pleases me. It looks as if [the] Government was in earnest. All things promise well. I look for the enemy to worry us for the next two months, but after that our new forces will put us in condition to begin the crushing process. I think another winter will finish them. Of course there will be guerrilla and miscellaneous warfare, but the power of the Rebels will, I believe, go under if [the] Government puts forth the power which now seems likely to be gathered.

I am as anxious as you possibly can be to set up in Spiegel Grove, and to begin things. It is a pity you are in poor health, but all these things we need not grieve over. Don't you feel glad that I was in the first regiment originally raised for the three years service in Ohio, instead of waiting till this time, when a man volunteers to escape a draft? A man would feel mean about it all his days.

I wish you were well enough to come out here. You would enjoy it to the top of town. Many funny things occur in these alarms from the enemy. Three shells burst in our assistant surgeon's tent. He was out but one of them killed a couple of live rattlesnakes he had as pets! One fellow, an old pursy fifer, a great coward, came puffing up to my tent from the river and began to talk extravagantly of the number and ferocity of the enemy. Said I to him, “And, do they shoot their cannon pretty rapidly?” “Oh, yes,” said he, “very rapidly indeed — they had fired twice before I left the camp”!

It is very hot these days but our men are still healthy. We have over eight hundred men, and only about ten in hospital here

Sincerely,

R. B. Hayes.

P. S. — Wasn't you pleased with the Morgan raid into Kentucky? I was in hopes they would send a shell or two into Cincinnati. It was a grand thing for us.

S. Birchard.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 319-21

Diary of Corporal Charles H. Lynch: April 6, 1865

A cold rain storm this morning. Nothing to do but try and keep comfortable. Discussing the war question, and what the indications are about our getting home. General Lee has not surrendered as yet. Perhaps there may be much more fighting. One question is, it may turn into a guerilla warfare, owing to so many mountains in the South.

SOURCE: Charles H. Lynch, The Civil War Diary, 1862-1865, of Charles H. Lynch 18th Conn. Vol's, p. 147

In The Review Queue: Extreme Civil War

Extreme Civil War: Guerrilla Warfare, Environment, and Race on the Trans-Mississippi Frontier

By Matthew M. Stith

During the American Civil War the western Trans-Mississippi frontier was host to harsh environmental conditions, irregular warfare, and intense racial tensions that created extraordinarily difficult conditions for both combatants and civilians. Matthew M. Stith's Extreme Civil War focuses on Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Indian Territory to examine the physical and cultural frontiers that challenged Confederate and Union forces alike. A disturbing narrative emerges where conflict indiscriminately beset troops and families in a region that continually verged on social and political anarchy. With hundreds of small fights disbursed over the expansive borderland, fought by civilians -- even some women and children -- as much as by soldiers and guerrillas, this theater of war was especially savage.

Despite connections to the political issues and military campaigns that drove the larger war, the irregular conflict in this border region represented a truly disparate war within a war. The blend of violence, racial unrest, and frontier culture presented distinct challenges to combatants, far from the aid of governmental services. Stith shows how white Confederate and Union civilians faced forces of warfare and the bleak environmental realities east of the Great Plains while barely coexisting with a number of other ethnicities and races, including Native Americans and African Americans. In addition to the brutal fighting and lack of basic infrastructure, the inherent mistrust among these communities intensified the suffering of all citizens on America's frontier.

Extreme Civil War reveals the complex racial, environmental, and military dimensions that fueled the brutal guerrilla warfare and made the Trans-Mississippi frontier one of the most difficult and diverse pockets of violence during the Civil War.

ISBN 978-0807163146, LSU Press, © 2016, Hardcover, 232 pages, Photographs, End Notes, Bibliography &Index. $42.50.  To purchase this book click HERE.

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Sunday, February 7, 1864

Resumed our march at daylight; halted about two miles from the river and remained through the day. The Johnnies were on this very ground yesterday in large numbers, but were repulsed by the First Corps and fled across the river; no fighting to-day; got orders about sundown to return to camp which we did without a halt. On arrival there we found there had been a great scare from Mosby but it amounted to nothing; wonder if he thinks guerrilla warfare manly? Some people are born gorillas, though, and have no more conception of honor. I'd go and drown myself before I'd practice that kind of warfare!

SOURCE: Lemuel Abijah Abbott, Personal Recollections and Civil War Diary, 1864, p. 16

Francis Lieber to Major-General Henry W. Halleck, August 2, 1863

New York, August 2, 1863.

My Dear General, — Doubtless you agree with me that now, the Mississippi being cleared, we shall have prowling assassins along its banks, firing on passengers from behind the levees. You share, I know, my opinion, expressed in my Guerilla pamphlet, regarding these lawless prowlers. Will it not be well to state distinctly, in a general order, that they must be treated as outlaws? Or would a proclamation touching this point —and the selling or massacring of our colored soldiers, as well as the breaking of the parole — be better? I cannot judge of this from a distance, but it reads very oddly that a rebel officer who has broken his parole was among the prisoners that recently arrived at Washington, as all the newspapers had it. I hope it is not true; and if not true, Government should semi-officially contradict it. That Government has too much to do, would be no answer. Napoleon even wrote occasionally articles for the “Moniteur.”  . . . I have pointed out a most important military position, near my house, in case of repeated riot. It is the highly elevated crossing of Fourth Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street. It has been adopted. Did I tell you that I, too, patrolled for three nights during that infamous, fiendish, and rascally riot. To be sure, wholly unprotected as we were, our patrolling was hardly for any other purpose than to take away in time our wives and children. The one good feature in this riot was that no blank cartridges were fired. The handful of troops we had — invalids and full combatants, as well as the police — behaved well, I believe, and did what was possible. My son Hamilton was in the midst of it during the whole time with his invalids. . . .

SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 335-6

Francis Lieber to Major-General Henry W. Halleck, February 20, 1863

New York, February 20, 1863.

My Dear General, — Here is the projet of the code I was charged with drawing up.¹ I am going to send fifty copies to General Hitchcock for distribution, and I earnestly ask for suggestions and amendments. I am going to send for that purpose a copy to General Scott, and another to Hon. Horace Binney. For two or three paragraphs you will observe we should want the assistance of Congress. That is now too late; but I suggest to you to decide with the Secretary of War whether it would be advisable and feasible to send the Code even now, and as it is, to our generals, to be a guide on some difficult and important points. I observe from some orders of General Rosecrans that he has used my pamphlet on “Guerilla Warfare,” unless there be a remarkable spontaneous coincidence.  . . . I do not believe that it will be possible to change for the present war, or at least immediately, the usage which has grown up regarding parolling privates, but you will agree with me that the law, as I have laid it down, is the law and usage. As parolling is now handled by us, it amounts to a premium on cowardice, e. g. in the affair of Harper's Ferry.  . . . You are one of those from whom I most desire suggestions, because you will read the Code as lawyer and as commander. Even your general opinion of the whole is important to me. I have earnestly endeavored to treat of these grave topics conscientiously end comprehensively; and you, well read in the literature on this branch of international law, know that nothing of the kind exists in any language. I had no guide, no groundwork, no text-book. I can assure you, as a friend, that no counsellor of Justinian sat down to his task of the Digest with a deeper feeling of the gravity of his labor, than filled my breast in the laying down for the first time such a code, where nearly everything was floating. Usage, history, reason, and conscientiousness, a sincere love of truth, justice, and civilization, have been my guides; but of course the whole must be still very imperfect.  . . . Ought I to add anything on a belligerent's using, in battle, the colors and uniform of his opponent? I believe when this has been done no quarter has been given. I have said nothing on rebellion and invasion of our country with reference to the treatment of our own citizens by the commanding general. I have three paragraphs on this subject, but it does not fall within the limits, as indicated in the special order appointing our board. . . .

_______________

¹ This refers to the pamphlet entitled “Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field,” published by the War Department, in April, 1863, as General Orders, No. 100.

SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 330-1

Diary of Corporal Charles H. Lynch: June 22, 1864

In camp late last night after a long hard march. A good night's rest. The ground for a bed and the sky for a covering. Sadly in need of rations. On the march pass the ruins of many army wagons being burned up to prevent them falling into the hands of the enemy. Many horses and mules are giving out, drop for the lack of feed and rest. It is hard pulling those wagons over these rough mountain roads. All horses and mules that cannot be driven or led are shot to prevent the enemy from getting them, as all they need is rest and feed for most of them. War is a cruel thing. I wish it was over.

In conversation, while on the march, with Captain Meigs, Engineer Corps, he thought we ought to break up the gang of guerillas following in the rear. Asked us boys if we were ready to fight them, the answer was yes. Many are dropping out by the roadside, too weak and used up. Reported we march from ten to thirty-five miles a day. Clothing and shoes giving out. Very little forage can be found in these mountains and valleys. Our route takes us over the Potts Mountains, very high. Our suffering is intense, as many are barefooted.

Just at dark we reach the town of New Castle and go into camp for the night.

Thankful that we are to get a night's rest. Two of our company found a bag of flour. It was portioned out to each member. Mixed with water we had pan-cakes (toe-jam). We have plenty of coffee, no sugar. A little coffee goes a good ways. Some of our boys stole a bag of coffee from General Sullivan's headquarters. He was our division commander. Of course it could not be found, as it found its way in many haversacks.

SOURCE: Charles H. Lynch, The Civil War Diary, 1862-1865, of Charles H. Lynch 18th Conn. Vol's, p. 83-4

Diary of Major Rutherford B. Hayes: Sunday, August 11, 1861

Raining this morning, very warm. Arrested, on complaint of a Union man, H. T. Martin, a secession editor, who is charged with holding communication with James and William Bennett, leaders of a guerrilla party. He was formerly from Ohio. Is a Southern state's-right Democrat in talk, and makes a merit of holding secession opinions. Having been engaged in getting up troops for the Southern army, the colonel will probably send him to Ohio.

Colonel Lytle's men fired on near Bulltown; one killed, four wounded; guerrilla party in the hills out of reach. Our regiment did not destroy records. We have sent two captains and eighty men after the guerrillas.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 63

New York, May 20 [1862].

The Post’s special dated Franklin, Va., 19th, says the Headquarters of the Mountain Department are now at this place.

The guerrilla parties in this region are tolerably active, but our cavalry are continually on their track, and the bushwhackers lead an uneasy life.  A few days ago a train with four officers and some convalescent soldiers was attacked by guerillas between Moorfield and Peterhugh, and the whole party was killed or captured except one surgeon, who got away and brought in a report of the affair.  Lieut. Col. Douney, who was sent after the bushwhackers with a guard of men, reports to-day that he got on the trail of the party, overtook them, killed their Captain and three men, wounded a number and took 12 prisoners.  Lieut. Col. Douney and his party did not receive a scratch.  Thus one more band of guerillas is broken up.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Wednesday Morning, May 21, 1862, p. 1

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, April 9, 1865

IN THE FIELD, GOLDSBORO, N. C.,

April 9, 1865.

. . . To-morrow we move straight against Joe Johnston wherever he may be. Grant's magnificent victories about Petersburg, and his rapid pursuit of Lee's army, makes it unnecessary for me to move further north, and I expect my course will be to Raleigh and Greensboro. I will fix up the railroad to Raleigh, but then shall cast off as my custom has been and depend on the contents of our wagons and on the resources of the country. Poor North Carolina will have a hard time, for we sweep the country like a swarm of locusts. Thousands of people may perish, but they now realise that war means something else than vain glory and boasting. If Peace ever falls to their lot they will never again invite War. But there is a class of young men who will never live at peace. Long after Lee's and Johnston's armies are beaten and scattered they will band together as highwaymen and keep the country in a fever, begetting a Guerilla War. It may be that the Government may give us who have now been working four years a rest and let younger men follow up the sequel. I feel confident we can whip Joe Johnston quick if he stops, but he may travel back towards Georgia, and I don't want to follow him again over that long road. I wish Grant had been a few days later or I a few days sooner, but on the whole our campaigns have been good. The weather now seems settled, and if I have good roads think I can travel pretty fast. The sun is warm, the leaves are all coming out, and flowers are in bloom, about as you will have it a month hence. The entire army has new clothing, and with soap and water have made a wonderful change in our appearance. The fellows who passed in review before me with smokeblack faces, dirty and ragged, many with feet bare or wrapped in cloth, now strut about as proud as young chicken cocks, with their clean faces and bright blue clothes. All are ready to plunge again into the labor and toil and uncertainty of war. You doubtless have heard all you can stand of these matters. My health is good. . . . I send to Tommy today a hundred dollars, and now enclose you $200, which is all I can raise and I got it of the quarter-master. I think, however, you will not suffer, but as a rule don't borrow. “’Tis more honest to steal.”

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 342-3.  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 2/23

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, July 26, 1864

IN THE FIELD, NEAR ATLANTA, Geo.,

July 26, 1864.

I got your long letter and one from Minnie last night and telegraphed you in general terms that we are all well. We have Atlanta close aboard, as the sailors say, but it is a hard nut to handle. These fellows fight like Devils and Indians combined, and it calls for all my cunning and strength. Instead of attacking the forts which are really unassailable I must gradually destroy the roads which make Atlanta a place worth having. This I have partially done, two out of three are broken and we are now maneuvering for the third.

I lost my right bower in McPherson,¹ but of course it is expected, for with all the natural advantages of bushes, cover of all kinds, we must all be killed. I mean the general officers. McPherson was riding within his lines behind his wing of the army, but the enemy had got round the flank and crept up one of those hollows with bushes that concealed them completely. It has been thus all the way from Chattanooga, and if Beauregard can induce Davis to adopt the Indian policy of ambuscade which he urged two years ago, but which Jeff thought rather derogatory to the high pretenses of his cause to courage and manliness, every officer will be killed, for the whole country is a forest so that an enemy can waylay every path and road, and could not be found.

Poor Mac, he was killed dead instantly. I think I shall prefer Howard' to succeed him. . . .

__________

¹ The death of General McPherson, July 22, was a grievous personal and military loss to Sherman. Not long afterward he wrote to Mrs. Sherman: "You have fallen into an error about McPherson. He was not out of his place or exposing himself more than I and every General does daily — he was to the rear of his line, riding by a road he had passed twice that morning. The thing was an accident that resulted from the blind character of the country we are in. Dense woods fill all the ravines and hollows, and what little cleared ground there is is on the ridge levels, or the alluvion of creek bottoms. The hills are all chestnut ridges with quartz and granite boulders and gravel. You can't find an hundred acres of level, clear ground between here and Chattanooga, and not [a day] passes but what every general officer may be shot as McPherson was."

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 301-3.  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 2/16

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Wednesday, January 21, 1863

The weather continues cold. At daylight our fleet started on down the river, reaching Helena, Arkansas, at 10 o'clock. We left Helena at noon with thirteen transports loaded with troops and tied up for the night sixty miles below. The transports dare not run at night on account of being fired upon by the rebels from the banks of the river. They fire on us even on the day run, but before we can get our boats to the banks to give them chase, they are gone and out of sight.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 96

From Washington

WASHINGTON, May 14.

The first bill reported by Mr. Elliott, from the special committee; provides that all the estate, property, and money, stocks, credit and effects of the person or persons hereinafter named are declared forfeited to the Government of the U. S., and are declared lawful subjects of seizure, and prize and capture, wherever found, for the indemnity of the U. S. against the expenses for suppressing the present rebellion, that is to say:

1.  Of any person hereafter acting as an officer in the army of navy of the rebels, now or hereafter in arms against the Government of the U. S.

2.  Any person hereafter acting as President, Vice President, member of Congress, Judge of any Court, Cabinet Officer, Foreign Minister, Commissioners or Consuls of the so-called Confederate States.

3d.  Any person acting as Governor of a State, member of convention or legislature, judge of any court of the so-called Confederate States.

4th.  Any person who having held an office of honor, trust or profit in the United States, shall hereafter hold an office in the so-called Confederate States, after holding any office or agency under the so-called Confederacy, or under any of the Several States of said Confederacy or laws, whether such office or agency be national, State, or municipal, in name or character.  Any person who holds any property in any loyal State or territory of the United States or the District of Columbia, who shall hereafter assist, or give aid or comfort, or countenance to such rebellion, the said estate, property or money, stock, credits and effects of the persons are declared lawful subjects of capture, wherever found, and the judges of the United States shall cause the same to be seized, to the end that they may be confiscated and condemned to the use of the United States, and all sales, transfers, or conveyances shall be null and void, and it shall be sufficient to any suit brought by such person for the possession and use of such property, to allege and prove that he is one of the persons described in this section.

The second section provides that if any person with any State or territory of the United States, other than already specified shall not within 60 days after public warning and proclamation by the President cease to aid or countenance and abet such rebellion, and return their allegiance, their property, in like manner, shall be forfeited for the use of the United States; all sales and transfers of such property, after the expiration of 60 days from the date of the warning , shall be null and void.

The third section provides that to secure the possession, condemnation and sale of such property, situated or being in any State, district or territory of the United States, proceedings shall be instituted in the name of the United States, in any District Court, or any Territorial Court, or in the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia, in which the property may be found, or into which the same, if [movable], may be first brought,  which proceedings shall conform, as nearly as may be, to the proceedings in prizes cases or cases of forfeiture, arising under the revenue laws; and the property so seized and condemned, whether real or personal, shall be sold under the decree of the Court having cognizance of the case, and the proceeds deposited in the Treasure of the United States for their use and benefit.  The remainder of the sections provide the necessary machinery for carrying the act into effect.

The second bill of the select committee is as follows:  If any person or persons within the United States shall, after the passage of this act, willfully engaged in armed rebellion against the Government of the United States, or shall willfully aid or abet such rebellion, giving them aid and comfort; every such person shall thereby forfeit all claims to the service or labor of any persons commonly known as slaves and such slaves are hereby declared free and forever discharged from servitude, anything in the laws of the U. S., or any State to the contrary notwithstanding; and whenever thereafter any person claiming the labor or service of any such slave shall seek to enforce his claim, it shall be sufficient defense thereto that the claimant was engaged in said rebellion, or aided or abetted the same, contrary to the provisions of this act; whenever any person claiming to be entitled to the service or labor of any other person, shall seek to enforce such claim he shall in the first instance, and before any order shall be made for the surrender of the person whose service or labor is claimed, establish not only his claim to such service or labor, but also that such claimant had not in any way aided, assisted or countenanced the rebellion existing against the Government of the U. S.

WASHINGTON, May 14.

Tribune’s Special

The French Minister has received intelligence from his Consul at Richmond, to the effect that the rebel government had notified him that should it be necessary to evacuate the city, the French tobacco must be destroyed with the rest.  At the same time the rebels offered to pay for it – a proposition not much relished by the Frenchman.  The French minister discredits the rumor of European intervention in our affairs, and it is generally thought here, that whatever purposes may have been entertained by England and France, the news from New Orleans, will cause their indefinite postponement.

The 885 prisoners, recently released from the Richmond prisons, will arrive here by way of the Potomac to-morrow.  A few who came through Baltimore arrived to-day.  They say the rebels are as determined as ever, and believe that after the two great impending battles they will, if whipped bad, herd together in small guerilla parties, and fight to the very last.  They represent the treatment of our prisoners as barbarous in the extreme; that our officers, who alone remain in the prisons, all the privates being set free, will not be released at all.  Col. Corcoran’s health is good.  He is anxious to be released, and contradicts the statement made some time since, that he said he would prefer remaining where he is, believing that he could be of more service there, and adds that the only way he wishes to serve his country is on the battle field.  Col. Bowman’s health is failing rapidly, and his eyesight nearly lost.  He can survive his present treatment only a few weeks longer.  His long confinement has afflicted his mind so much, that at times he is looked upon as insane.  The rebels offer every inducement to our prisoners to join their army, but only two have done so; namely, John A. Wicks, quartermaster of the Congress, and a private of the 7th Ohio, named Wilson.  As soon as it became known to the prisoners that Wilson intended to desert them they proceeded to hang him.  The guard, however, entered and in time to cut him down before his life was extinct.  In punishment for this act, the prisoners were put upon bread and water for ten days.

The House committee on foreign affairs having authorized Mr. Gooch to report the Senate bill establishing diplomatic relations with Hayti and Siberia, it will doubtless be pressed to a vote at an early day.

Herald’s Dispatch.

WASHINGTON, May 14.

The steamer Kennebec arrived here this afternoon, with 213 wounded rebels and 24 wounded Union soldiers, from Williamsburg.  Among the latter is Col. Dwight. – His wounds are less dangerous than at first supposed.

The rebels receive precisely the same treatment as our wounded, and are sent to the same hospitals.

The report that Gen. McCall had resigned the command of the Pennsylvania reserve corps is unfounded.  He has no intention to resign until the Union army has accomplished its mission – to suppress the rebellion.

Times’ Dispatch.

Gov. Sprague says our losses at Williamsburg, in killed, wounded and missing, will amount to about 2000, and that the rebel loss was not less.  He says the battle at West Point, under Franklin was much more severe than reported.  That at least 500 of our men were taken prisoners – the enemy taking advantage of the landing of our troops.

The gunboats came up in good time, and saved Franklin from Suffering a sever disaster.

WASHINGTON, May 14.

It is ordered that all applications for passes to visit Ft. Monroe, Norfolk, Yorktown, or other places on the waters of the Chesapeake, be hereafter made to Mag. Gen. Dix, of Baltimore.

(Signed)

EDWIN M. STANTON,

Secretary of War.

In addition to the steamers Hero and Kent which brought hither the released Union prisoners last night, the Kennebec has arrived with upwards of 500 wounded rebels from Williamsburg.  These men are for the greater part slightly wounded, and are attended by rebel surgeons and nurses.  A strict guard is kept over this boat.  No visitors are permitted.

The steamer State of Maine has also arrived with about 330, the Warrior with 400, and Elm City with 450 sick soldiers, from different places.  They are being removed to the various hospitals today.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Friday Morning, May 16, 1862, p. 1

Major General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, [May 31, 1862]

[May 31, 1862]

Dear Brother:

Of course the telegraph has announced the evacuation of Corinth. I have sent to General Thomas commanding Right Wing my report. You ask for a copy. This is wrong, as official reports are the property of the War Department. I have sent Ellen the rough draft to keep and I have instructed her to make and send you a copy. We have had no battle and I cannot imagine why Beauregard has declined battle. I was on the extreme right and yesterday pushed into the town and beyond it, but their army had gone off and I was ordered back to this camp.

Pope and Buell are in pursuit, I understand, around by the left, but you will have the result long before you can receive this letter.

I send you a copy of my Division Order which is public, inasmuch as it is issued to my own command. Its publication would interest no one, but lest you should print it on the supposition that it would interest people, I express the wish that it be not published until Halleck's announcement of the abandonment of Corinth be first made public.

I cannot imagine what turn things will now take, but I do not think Halleck will attempt to pursue far. I think that Beauregard cannot now subsist his army or hold it together long.

It must divide to live, and the greatest danger is that they will scatter and constitute guerilla bands. The people are as bitter against us as ever, but the leaders must admit now that they have been defeated. I hope all this army with some exceptions will be marched forthwith to Memphis. A part could be spared for Huntsville, Ala., and Nashville, but as to pursuing overland it would be absurd. We want the Mississippi now in its whole length and a moment should not be lost. I am glad the President has called for more men. He cannot have too many, and the more men the sooner the work will be done. All is not yet accomplished, although certainly great strides have been made. If McClellan succeeds at Richmond and we can take Memphis, we could afford to pause and let events work. Banks’ repulse was certain. Three converging armies whose point was in possession of the enemy was worse generalship than they tried to force on me in Kentucky of diverging lines with a superior enemy between. Our people must respect the well-established principles of the art of war, else successful fighting will produce no results. I am glad you are pleased at my report at Shiloh. It possesses the merit of truth and you may safely rely on it, for I make no points but what I can sustain. Your speech was timely and proper for you. You could explain, whereas I had to report actual facts without fear or favor. I will write when more at leisure. The enemies’ works are very extensive. They must have had 100,000 men.

Your brother,

W. T. SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman letters: correspondence between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 154-5

A band of guerillas in Lafayette county, Missouri . . .

. . . were attacked on the 10th Inst. by a detachment of the first Iowa cavalry and dispersed with a loss of nine killed and three wounded.  Guerilla warfare doesn’t seem to pay in Missouri.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 29, 1862, p. 1

Subjugation of the South – Loyalty in Dixie

(From the Richmond Dispatch, Feb. 26th.)

The Yankee nation, elevated by the recent victories of its hireling armies, is entirely certain of the speedy and thorough subjugation of the South.  It laughs to scorn any idea of any other possibility, and exults in delicious daydreams of the degredation to which its enemy will be reduced.  It glories in the consciousness of its brute strength, and intends to exercise it in the spirit of a brute.  All the enormous self complacency and self conceit which for a while were humbled by the battle of Manassas have renewed their ancient exultation, and they fancy themselves the masters of the universe and the predestined conquerors of all mankind.  But the work of subjugation is as distant now as ever – more distant, more impracticable than it was before the shadow of disaster had been cast upon our flag.

If our early victories had been followed up, and a blow struck which would have paralyzed the north and compelled a peace, it would have been a temporary paralysis, and a peace which would have subjugated the South more completely than she is ever likely to be by the hands of her enemies.  The inevitable consequences of a speedy peace would have been the restoration of the old commercial and manufacturing dependency of the South upon the North, with no other results of her nominal independence than a temporary exemption from abolition legislation, and the heavy expenses of a separate Government, with none of those sources of wealth to support it which commerce, manufactures, and trade supply.  Such a condition, call it by what name we may, would be essentially subjugation; and if the North had taken counsel of wisdom instead of pride, malignity and revenge, it would, in the first instance, never have permitted the war to be waged, or, when it had begun to have brought it to a termination as speedily as possible.

When we say that the subjugation of the South is now more remote than it would have been after an early peace, we have no reference to that small minority which, in the South, as well as every community, is willing to purchase peace at any price.  There are tories in the South, as there were tories in the Revolution, whose only sympathies are with the enemies of their country, who lament its victories and rejoice over its defeats.  The subjugation of these is not the question; for all the tyrants who threaten to oppress us, they, in the event of an opportunity, would be the most revengeful and inexorable.  The tories in the Revolution committed atrocities which far surpassed the most cruel oppressors of the British invaders, and we are prepared to expect from Southern tories – happily not so many in number, nor so capable of mischief as their illustrious predecessors – the exhibition of a similar spirit.

There is another and more numerous class who may be subjugated, because they are already subjugated by their apprehensions of the evils and calamities which are incident to a state of war.  Whilst generally honest and patriotic, they look upon national honor as an abstraction, not to be weighed against personal comfort and security and material gain.  “Dying for one’s country” they consider a very pretty poetical sentiment, much to be admired in novels and tragedies; but like many other poetical sentiments, nonsensical and Quixotic when reduced to practice.  Self indulgence is the rule of life with many men who are patriotic, honest, virtuous and moral, as long as the exercise of those qualities costs them no sacrifice.  But of any higher life than the life of the flesh they have not the faintest conception, nor can they imagine any greater evil than the loss of money, the deprivation of physical comforts, and, above all, the loss of life.  No one will deny that the subjugation of this class is practicable, even with a moiety of immense forces which Lincoln has brought into the field.

But such is not the spirit of the great majority of the Southern people.  They are devoutly attached to their country, to its institutions, to its habits and modes of life, and they have in innate and ineradicable antagonism to the political and social system of the invading race, to their character and habits of their very modes of speech, which the present cruel war has intensified into such passionate and profound detestation that sooner than acknowledge the Yankees as masters, they would rather see the whole Southern country sink to the bottom of the ocean.  As a whole the South is proud, sensitive to the last degree to a stain upon her honor, and holding death an inferior evil to degradation.  Such men may be overrun, may be exterminated, but they cannot be subjugated. – They will resist as long as resistance is possible, and if conquered, they will not stay conquered.  When the spirits of a people are indomitable, they can never be enslaved, and so long as the South is true to herself, she will maintain her freedom of independence.

What can the enemy do with such a people?  If driven from the cities they will retire to the country, and their cities altogether could not make a town half the size of New York.  To follow them to the country, in the vast territory of the South, would require an army more numerous than that of Xerxes.  They will retire to the country and take their arms with them, each man his trusty rifle, and be prepared to seize the first opportunity to re-assert their rights.  They will at once destroy the cotton and other staples which the North is endeavoring to force from them by the sword, and will never cultivate them again till they can do so for their own benefit.  Every bale of cotton in the Southern States will be burned, and the proprietors will raise wheat and corn and other articles which they have hitherto purchased of the North.  They will return to the simple and frugal ways of their forefathers, in dress, furniture, and all the comforts of life, manufacturing for themselves such plain and useful articles as their simple wants and absolute necessities require.  If the Yankees chose to hold their cities, and be masters of the only spots where their enemies are quartered, these will be but islands in the midst of a vast ocean, and will not affect the freedom and independence of the people so long as they are constant to their cause and true to themselves.

In the very worst aspect of the Southern cause, this is the extreme limit which Yankee subjugation can reach, even if our armies would be driven from every battle field, and every Southern city, and fort fall into the enemy’s hands.  But the accomplishment of even that result, with all their superiority of numbers, is an achievement beyond their power.  They have taught us, by the perseverance with which they contrived to fight us after their signal reverses at Bethel, Bull Run, Manassas, Springfield, Belmont, Carnifex Ferry, Leesburg, Green Briar River, Alleghany and others, not to be dismayed and disheartened by reverses, but to make them incentives to new energy and fresh determination.  We shall rise, like Antreus, refreshed by every fall.  The farther the enemy penetrates into the interior and extends his line of march, the more costly and perilous will be his means of aggression, and the more economical and practical our means of defence.  Every where he will be met by desperate and prolonged resistance, until the foreign world, dependant as it is upon Southern commerce, would become impatient of the eternal contest, and itself interpose to put an end to the mad dreams of Southern subjugation.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 8, 1862, p. 1