Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, Friday, January 25, 1861

The weather has been moderate today without rain, or sunshine. Political excitement appears to be subsiding in a measure. The conservative feeling in the border States is now relied upon to save the Union, or Civil War. Many prominent men are here now from different sections of the U.S. Kentucky has refused to call a convention as required by the secessionists. It is a good omen for the future. I was down at the “National” and at “Willards” tonight, could learn no news of importance. The condition of the country is still the absorbing topic of conversation.

SOURCE: Horatio Nelson Taft, The Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, 1861-1865. Volume 1, January 1,1861-April 11, 1862, Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Washington D. C. , image 12.

Senator John Sherman to Lieutenant-General William T. Sherman, August 9, 1867

MANSFIELD, OHIO, Aug. 9, 1867.

Dear Brother: . . . It is now becoming extremely important to know precisely what Grant wants in connection with the Presidency. If he has really made up his mind that he would like to hold that office, he can have it. Popular opinion is all in his favor. His position is the rare one of having that office within his easy reach, and yet it is clear that his interest is against his acceptance. The moment he is nominated, he at once becomes the victim of abuse; and even his great services will not shield him. Our politics for years will be a maelstrom, destroying and building up reputations with rapidity. My conviction is clear that Grant ought not to change his present position to that of President; and if he declines, then by all odds Chase is the safest man for the country. He is wise, politic, and safe. Our finances, the public credit, and the general interests of all parts of the country will be safe with him. His opinions are advanced on the suffrage question, but this waived, he would be a most conservative President. He is not a partisan, scarcely enough so for his own interests; still, if Grant wishes to be President, all other candidates will have to stand aside. I see nothing in his way unless he is foolish enough to connect his future with the Democratic party. This party cannot dictate the next President. They would deaden any man they praise. Even Grant could not overcome any fellowship with them. If they should take a wise course on future political questions, their course during the war will bar their way. You may not think so, but I know it. The strength is with the Republicans. Not of the Butler stripe, but with just that kind of men who would be satisfied with the position of Grant. The suffrage and reconstruction questions will be settled before the election, and in such a way as to secure the Republican party an even chance in every Southern State except Kentucky. . . .

I agree with you that Indian wars will not cease until all the Indian tribes are absorbed in our population, and can be controlled by constables instead of soldiers.

I mean to remain as quiet as possible this fall. I am not now in high favor with the Radicals, and can afford to wait awhile. The election in Ohio will go as usual. The suffrage amendment will be adopted by a close vote, and that will settle forever the negro question in Ohio. A reaction and struggle may occur in the South, but no change will occur in the loyal States until they decide on financial questions. This is inevitable after the next election..

Affectionately yours,

JOHN SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 292-4

Major-General George B. Crittenden to Samuel Cooper, December 6, 1861

KNOXVILLE, December 6, 1861.

ADJUTANT-GENERAL C. S. ARMY:

Will you please send me, without delay, the ten regiments promised by the President whilst I was in Richmond, and I will move into Kentucky at once?

G. B. CRITTENDEN,        

Major-General, Comdg. Eastern Division, District Kentucky.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 7 (Serial No. 7), p. 740

William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, January 27, 1861

SEMINARY, January 27, 1861.

. . . Since my last I have three letters from you. . . The mails have been much disordered by a break on the Mississippi Railroad. In my last I sent you a copy of a letter written to Governor Moore, to which I have received no answer.¹ He is very busy indeed, legislature and convention both in session at Baton Rouge, giving him hardly time to think of the Seminary. . .

The ordinance of Secession will pass in a day or so², but the legislature was adjourned till February 4, so that no business can be transacted there for some days. It don't take long to pull down, and everybody is striving for the honor of pouring out the deepest insult to Uncle Sam. The very men who last 4th of July were most patriotic and exhausted their imaginations for pictures of the glories of our Union, are now full of joy and happiness that this accursed Union is wrecked and destroyed.

This rapid popular change almost makes me monarchist, and raises the question whether the self interest of one man is not a safer criterion than the wild opinions of ignorant men. From all I can read Missouri and Kentucky will go with the crowd South and will be more seriously affected than any other part of the country.

As soon as I hear from Governor Moore I will let you know when to expect me. I know that he, the governor, will feel inclined to get rid of me instanter, but Dr. Smith wants me to stay for a successor, and he has no successor in his mind. If he proposes I shall stay till March, I will feel disposed to agree to it for pecuniary reasons, but I think the governor will feel hurt at my letter, and will be disposed to get rid of me. At all events, my position being clearly defined I cannot be complicated by these secession movements. I do feel a little mean at being made partially accessory to the robbing of the Baton Rouge Arsenal by receiving a part of the stolen property. . .

_______________

¹ See pages 341-343, 350-351. – ED.

² It was passed on January 26, 1861. – Ed.

SOURCE: Walter L. Fleming, General W.T. Sherman as College President, p. 351-3

Colonel John P. Murray to Brigadier-General Felix K. Zollicoffer, October 22, 1862

CAMP RED SULPHUR, October 22, 1861.

General F. K. ZOLLICOFFER:

DEAR SIR: I am in receipt of yours of 16th instant. I am much pleased to learn that you are moving in direction of the interior of Kentucky. We are to-day within 32 miles of Burkesville; will reach and capture the Federal forces there by the 25th of this instant. We will then move to Albany by the 26th of this instant. Will you inform me of your position at Albany, as I will wait at that point for orders from you? I have no fears of our success at Burkesville. In the mean time our forces will prevent the Federal forces from capturing your supplies at Jamestown. Yours shall be strictly confidential.

I am, your obedient servant,

JOHN P. MURRAY,        

Colonel Twenty-eighth Regiment Tennessee Volunteers.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 4 (Serial No. 4), p. 213

Leroy P. Walker to Major-General Leonidas Polk, September 4, 1861

RICHMOND, September 4, 1861.

General POLK, Memphis, Tenn.:

News has reached here that General Pillow has landed his troops at Hickman, Ky. Order their prompt withdrawal from Kentucky.

L. P. WALKR,        

Secretary of War. 

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 4 (Serial No. 4), p. 180

Samuel Cooper to Brigadier-General Felix K. Zollicoffer, September 14, 1861

RICHMOND, September 14, 1861.

General ZOLLICOFFER, Knoxville, Tenn.:

Your letter of 10th received.* The military considerations clearly indicate the forward movement which you propose. The political condition of Kentucky affects the determination of this question. Of that you are better informed than ourselves, and as you are supposed to have conferred with General A. S. Johnston, the matter is left to your discretion.

S. COOPER,        

Adjutant and Inspector General.

______________

* Not found; but see Zollicoffer to Johnston, September 16, 194.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 4 (Serial No. 4), p. 190-1

Gustavus A. Henry to Jefferson Davis, September 15, 1861

CLARKSVILLE, September 15, 1861.

His Excellency JEFFERSON DAVIS, Richmond, Va.:

I am just from Nashville, where some dissatisfaction prevails at the action of General Polk in taking Columbus, Ky. Whether it was altogether politic to take possession I need not say, but it will be ruinous to order him back. Let him advance his columns into Kentucky, to Bowling Green and Muldraugh's Hill if necessary, and I predict he will not leave an enemy behind him south of that place in two weeks.

In confidence I say to you the service here needs a general at its head in whom the Army and the country have unlimited confidence. Albert S. Johnston first, and Buckner and Gus. W. Smith as officers under him, would give such confidence as would insure success. I do not even insinuate that any one now in office should be displaced. I do not think they ought, but that the persons above named should be added to the list.

The neutrality of Kentucky has been all the time a cloak to enable the Lincoln party there to hide their real design to arm the friends of Lincoln and to disarm the Southern Rights party. We ought to strike now. A step backward would be fatal, in my opinion. We cannot long avoid a conflict with the paid and bought friends of Lincoln in Kentucky, and the fight might as well come off now as at any other time. If it is to be done, it should be done quickly.

Ever your friend and obedient servant,

G. A. HENRY.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 4 (Serial No. 4), p. 192-3

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: March 17, 1864

Bright, clear, and pleasant; frosty in the morning.

Letters from Lieut.-Gen. Hood to the President, Gen Bragg, and the Secretary of War, give a cheering account of Gen. Johnston's army at Dalton. The men are well fed and well clothed. They are in high spirits, “and eager for the fray.” The number is 40,000. Gen. H. urges, most eloquently, the junction of Polk's and Loring's troops with these, making some 60,000,—Grant having 50,000,—and then uniting with Longstreet's army, perhaps 30,000 more, and getting in the rear of the enemy. He says this would be certain to drive Grant out of Tennessee and Kentucky, and probably end the war. But if we lie still, Grant will eventually accumulate overwhelming numbers, and penetrate farther; and if he beats us, it would be difficult to rally again for another 'stand, so despondent would become the people.

Gen. Hood deprecates another invasion of Pennsylvania, which would be sure to result in defeat. He is decided in his conviction that the best policy is to take the initiative, and drive the enemy out of Tennessee and Kentucky, which could be accomplished to a certainty.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 173

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: January 19, 1862

This morning we receive orders to pack up and move back to Fort Holt. We cross the creek on an old flat-boat bridge. The roads are terrible. We find it a very fatiguing tramp. We arrive at Fort Holt in the evening, almost exhausted by the hard march. All seem glad to again be ushered into their comfortable quarters.

For some days the effect of the forced march in mud and rain, through the swamps of Kentucky are felt by the Seventh. The remaining part of the month we remain quietly at Fort Holt, though sometimes it seemed that the rapid rise of the Ohio would compel us to evacuate, but the waters subsided without submerging us.

SOURCES: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 23

Major-General Henry W. Halleck to Brigadier-General Don Carlos Buell, February 7, 1862

SAINT Louis, February 7, 1862.

Brig. Gen. D.C. BUELL, Louisville, Ky.:

GENERAL: My telegrams of to-day are so full that I have very little to add in answer to your letter of the 5th. You say you regret that we could not have consulted on this move earlier. So do I, most sincerely. I had no idea of commencing the movement before the 15th or the 20th instant till I received General McClellan's telegram about the re-enforcement sent to Tennessee or Kentucky with Beauregard. Although not ready, I deemed it important to move instantly. I believe I was right. We must hold. Fort Henry must be held at all hazards. I am sending there every man I can get hold of, without regard to the consequences of abandoning posts in this State. If the rebels rise, I will put them down afterwards. Grant's force is small—only 15,000. Eight thousand more are on the way to re-enforce him. If we can sustain ourselves and advance up the Cumberland or Tennessee, Bowling Green must be abandoned. I suppose the mud there, as it is here, is too deep for movements outside of railroads and rivers.

The enemy has the railroads, and we must use the rivers—at least for the present. Unfortunately our gunboats are badly disabled. They will be repaired as soon as possible. In the mean time we must push on with infantry and artillery on transports I have no train, and most of the regiments are without means of transportation on land. I hope you will help us all you can. I deem the holding of Fort Henry of vital importance to both of us.

I write in great haste, but you will understand the purport of what I wish to express.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

 H. W. HALLECK,   

 Major-General.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 7 (Serial No. 7), p. 593

Brigadier-General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, January 4, 1862

Head-Quarters, Camp of Instruction,

Benton Barracks, (near St. Louis, Mo.,) Jan. 4, 1862

Dear Brother,

I am so sensible now to my disgrace from having exaggerated to force of our enemy in Kentucky that I do think I should have committed suicide were it not for my children.  I do not think that I can again be entrusted with a command—Buell remarked to me in Kentucky that I should be Qr. Mr. genl.—this I do not think though I do believe myself better qualified for a Disbursing Department—Suppose you see McClellan and ask him if I could not serve the Government better in such a capacity than the one I now hold.  I do not feel confident at all in Volunteers.  Their want of organization, the necessity to flatter them &c. is such that I cannot prosper with them Telegraph me what you think and would do—

Affectionately

W. T. Sherman

SOURCES: Sherman, William T. William T. Sherman Papers: General Correspondence, -1891; 1861, Dec. 12-1862, Mar. 5. 1861. Manuscript/Mixed Material.   https://www.loc.gov/item/mss398000011/, image no. 45, Library of Congress, Washington D.C.; Brooks D. Simpson, Jean V. Berlin, Editors, Sherman's Civil War: Selected Correspondence of William T. Sherman, 1860-1865, p. 174; 

Murat Halstead to Salmon P. Chase, April 1, 1863

Copy.

Cincinnati, Apl. 1st., 1863.

Gov. Chase

You do once in a while, don't you, say a word to the President, or Stanton, or Halleck, about the

conduct of the War?

Well, now, for God's sake say that Genl. Grant, entrusted with our greatest army, is a jackass in the original package. He is a poor drunken imbecile. He is a poor stick sober, and he is most of the time more than half drunk, and much of the time idiotically drunk.

About two weeks ago, he was so miserably drunk for twenty-four hours, that his Staff kept him shut up in a state-room on the steamer where he makes his headquarters — because he was hopelessly foolish.

I know precisely what I am writing about and the meaning of the language I use.

Now are our Western heroes to be sacrificed by the ten thousand by this poor devil?

Grant will fail miserably, hopelessly, eternally. You may look for and calculate upon his failure in every position in which he may be placed, as a perfect certainty.

Don't say I am grumbling. Alas! I know too well I am but faintly outlining the truth.

Grant is shamefully jealous of Rosecrans, just as such an imbecile would naturally be of his superior; and he and his staff would chuckle to see Rosecrans cut to pieces.

Anybody would be an improvement on Grant!

If nothing else can be done, now while the Cumberland River is up send all Grant's army at once,

except a division or two, to join Rosecrans and he can instantly penetrate to Georgia.

Or let me suggest a plan. Have Grant's Army withdrawn from below Memphis, and suddenly, without warning, send the force amounting to at least 50.000 men up the Tennessee River as far as it is navigable. This would throw them in the rear of Bragg.

Anything to get the army of the Mississippi out of the control of the horrible fool, Grant!

There is another plan of operations. Here is Burnside's  corps in Kentucky. The rebel invasion of Kentucky is “played out”— Now then order Burnside to secure with his troops just arrived all the places in Ky., and the Louisville & Nashville R. R: and order a division of Grant's wasting and useless  army instantly up the Cumberland to garrison Nashville. Then Rosecrans can have concentrated in a mass all the old troops of his and Wright's command now in Ky., and at Gallatin, Tenn., and Nashville. He will thus have 120.000 men; and give Rosecrans that many men, and he will with absolute certainty, break the enemy's center. He will destroy Bragg's Army utterly, this side the Tennessee River.

Rosecrans is the man to strike the blow. For Christ's and the country's sake, put the weapon in his

hands.

With any sort of handling of the troops we have in the West under Grant, Rosecrans & Burnside, and our enormous steamboat transportation, not ten men of Bragg's Army of 65.000 should escape beyond the Tennessee River. All that is wanted is concerted action — that can only be had through an impulse from headquarters, which shall subordinate the proceedings of Grant & Burnside to those of Rosecrans who is in the center, at the post of danger; is the fighting man; and has the absolute and enthusiastic confidence of his troops

Can you not do something to put the spear in his hands? That is our only hope. If Burnside is allowed to fool away 50.000 men in Ky., and Grant to bury 100.000 in the Mississippi swamps, we are gone up.

M. H.

SOURCE: Library of Congress, Washington D.C.: Lincoln, Abraham. Abraham Lincoln papers: Series 1. General Correspondence. 1833 to 1916: Murat Halstead to Salmon P. Chase, Wednesday, Drunkenness of General Grant. April 1, 1863. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/mal2276900/.

Salmon P. Chase to Judge Milton Sutliff,* May 1, 1861

Private.

Treasury Department,         

May 1, 1861.

My Dear Judge: I thank you for your letter. The response of the States to the appeal of the Government is, indeed, most gratifying. Maryland, you will see, is rapidly returning to her loyalty. Kentucky and Missouri, I hope, will not be far behind her. You may be very sure there will be no negotiation with the Disunionists, though the return of the States which have been precipitated into disunion to their loyalty will be hailed, of course, with pleasure. The most energetic measures our means allow will be taken, and I think all impartial men will in the end be satisfied with the course of the Administration.

I thank you personally for your kind expressions towards me, and I hope you will never have occasion to withdraw your confidence.

My despatches to the Western Collectors, I see, have produced their intended effect, though they were not exactly what they ought to have been, in as much as no clearances are required on Western waters. Instructions will be forwarded immediately to all Collectors to prevent, by all proper means, shipments of arms, munitions, provisions and other commodities to States now in hostility to the Union.

_______________

* Lent by Mr. Homer E. Stewart, Warren, Ohio.

SOURCE: Diary and correspondence of Salmon P. Chase, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 295-6

Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes to Sardis Birchard: August 6, 1863

Camp White, Charleston, West Virginia, August 6, 1863.

Dear Uncle: — I received yours of the first yesterday morning. Lucy writes that she expects to go to Delaware and Columbus about the middle of this month, and to visit you before her return. I begin to feel about those visits to you a good deal as mother does — that the care and trouble they make for you more than overbalances your pleasure in them; but you ought to know best.

The money that I supposed was in Stephenson's hands, is somewhere, and I'll inquire until I find it and let you know.

I think it probable that we shall remain in West Virginia. The enemy has become alarmed by our movements against the Tennessee Railroad, and has been strengthening their posts in front of us until now we have twice our numbers watching us. To keep them out of mischief, it is more likely that our force will be increased rather than diminished. A gunboat has come up to help us within the last half-hour. Our Wytheville raid did the Rebels more harm than was reported. Five thousand suits of clothing, over four thousand new arms, and quantities of supplies were burned. I think they will not attempt to drive us out in their present scarcity of men and means.

The Kentucky election pleases me. I hope Ohio will do as well.

Sincerely,

R. B. Hayes.

S. Birchard.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 426-7

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: September 1, 1863

Another letter from Gen. Whiting, urging the government by every consideration, and with all the ingenuity and eloquence of language at his command, to save Wilmington by sending reinforcements thither, else it must be inevitably lost. He says it will not do to rely upon what now seems the merest stupidity of the enemy, for they already have sufficient forces and means at their command and within reach to capture the fort and city. He has but one regiment for its defense!

I saw to-day a telegraphic correspondence between the Secretary of War and Gen. Buckner in regard to the invasion of Kentucky, the general agreeing to it, being sure that with 10,000 men he could compel Rosecrans to fall back, etc. But I suppose the fall of Vicksburg, and the retreat from Pennsylvania, caused its abandonment.

Hon. Wm. Capeton, C. S. Senate, writes the Secretary on the subject of compelling those who have hired substitutes now to serve themselves, and he advocates it. He says the idea is expanding that the rich, for whose benefit the war is waged, have procured substitutes to fight for them, while the poor, who have no slaves to lose, have not been able to procure substitutes. All will be required to fight, else all will be engulfed in one common destruction. He will endeavor to get an expression of' opinion from the Legislature, about to assemble, and after that he will advocate the measure in Congress, intimating that Congress should be convened at an early day.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 30-1

Senator Salmon P. Chase to Edward S. Hamlin, July 19, 1852

Washington City, July 19, 1852.

My Dear Sir, I say as usual, “ditto to Mr. Burke.” The ideas of your letter are my own. I fear more danger — much more to the cause of Freedom from Pierce's election than from Scott's. Still, if the least dependence can be placed on the professions of the Freesoil Democrats who are supporting him, even he will not be able to do much mischief should the vote for the Pittsburgh nominees prove large & their support warm. Clay writes me the cause moves steadily on in Kentucky: and I think it probable that all the boarder slave states will be represented at Pittsburg, as well as all the Free States. This will make a great impression, & if the vote shall correspond, and the Freesoil Democrats shall prove true, not much need be apprehended even from Pierce.

The present duty seems to be that of putting the Pittsburg Convention on the right ground and under the right name — then getting the right candidates and then giving the largest possible vote. My judgment is that it should assume the name of the Independent Democracy — adopt the Buffalo Platform — modified by the introduction of judicious Land Reform & European Freedom Resolutions — and nominate Hale for President & Spaulding or some other good western democrat for Vice & make the best fight possible. Much has been said to me about receiving the nomination, but my judgment is against it. Hale & Sumner urge me & our friends in the House I think agree with them — that as a Democrat I would carry the largest votes — but I think Hale is good enough Democrat — far better certainly than Cass or Buchanan or Pierce or King; and I wish to be out of the scrape for many reasons.

I hear from Cleveland that there is a good deal of feeling there against me, & I should not be surprised if there were some in Cincinnati.

You will see my letter to Butler before long. The Herald Correspondent here applied to me to allow its appearance first in that paper, which I consented to thinking it would be read by more of the class I wish to reach, than in any other paper at first. I hope you will approve of it.

I wish very much that you wd. buy the Nonpariel & put Miller there, or get somebody else to do so. I will cheerfully contribute $500.

P. S. I want to ask you two or three questions in confidence, and to beg of you perfectly frank answers.

Do you think I ought to be reelected? Do you think there is any probability of my reelection; and, in this connection, what so far as you know are the sentiments of the Democrats towards me? What do you think my course ought to be in relation to state politics?

SOURCE: Diary and correspondence of Salmon P. Chase, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 243-4

Congressman Thaddeus Stevens: In the United States House of Representatives, July 5, 1862

I am no sycophant, no parasite. What I think I say. These acts have been perpetrated over and over again by our generals, and without rebuke; from the appointing power; and I leave the House and the world to determine world determine where the responsibility rests.

I charge it upon the management of the war upon the different branches of the Administration. I believe the President – is as honest a man as there is in the world; but I believe him to be too easy and amiable, and to be misled by the malign influence of Kentucky counselors — and, following that advice, that he has permitted the adoption of the policy which I have just stated without rebuke.

SOURCE: Beverly Wilson Palmer, Editor, The Selected Papers of Thaddeus Stevens, Volume 1: January 1814 – March 1865, p. 310

Trial of Edmund J. Ellis, editor, for violating the laws of war by publishing intelligence to the enemy, etc., February 25, 1862

COLUMBIA, Mo., Tuesday, February 25, 1862.

The commission proceeded to the trial of Edmund J. Ellis, a citizen of Boone County, Mo., who being called into court had the above order* read in his hearing and was asked if he objected to be tried by any member named in detail, to which he replied in the negative.

The commission was then duly sworn in the presence of the accused and the judge-advocate duly sworn by the president also in the presence of the accused.

The prisoner was then arraigned on the following charges and specifications:

CHARGE 1: The publication of information for the benefit of the enemy and encouraging resistance to the Government and laws of the United States,

Specification 1. — In this, that in a public newspaper published in the town of Columbia, county of Boone, State of Missouri, called The Boone County Standard of which paper the said Edmund J. Ellis was editor and proprietor on the 15th day of November, A.D. 1861, the said Edmund J. Ellis permitted and caused to be printed and published an article, entitled “Letters from Our Army,” design and object of which publication was to encourage and further rebellion against the existing Government of the United States.

Specification 2. — In this, that in a public newspaper published in the town of Columbia county of Boone and State of Missouri styled and called The Boone County Standard of which paper the said Edmund J. Ellis was editor and proprietor, the said Edmund J. Ellis on the 15th day of November, A.D. 1861, at Columbia aforesaid printed and published and caused to be printed and published an article entitled “To the Civil Officers of Boone County,” which said article contained treasonable matter and was designed and intended to encourage resistance to the Government and laws of the United States.

Specification 3. — In this, that in a public newspaper published in the town of Columbia, county of Boone and State of Missouri styled and called The Boone County Standard of which ]paper the said Edmund J. Ellis was editor and proprietor, the said Edmund J. Ellis on the 22d day of November, A, D. 1861, at Columbia aforesaid printed and published and caused to be printed and published a certain article entitled “Root, Abe, or Die,” which said article was designed and intended to encourage resistance to the Government and laws of the United States.

Specification 4. — In this, that in a public newspaper published in the town of Columbia, county of Boone and State of Missouri styled and called The Boone County Standard of which paper the said Edmund J. Ellis was editor and proprietor, the said Edmund J. Ellis on the 13th day of December, A.D. 1861, at Columbia aforesaid printed and published and caused to be printed and published a certain article entitled “The U. S. Flag — Rebellion,” which said article contained treasonable matter and was designed and intended to encourage resistance to the Government and laws of the United States.

Specification 5. — In this, that in a public newspaper published in the town of Columbia, county of Boone and State of Missouri, styled and called The Boone County Standard, of which paper the said Edmund J. Ellis was editor and proprietor, the said Edmund J. Ellis on the 3d day of January, A.D. 1862, at Columbia aforesaid printed and published and caused to be printed and published a certain article entitled “Carrier's Address,” which said article contained treasonable matter and was designed and intended to encourage resistance to the Government and laws of the United States.

Specification 6. — In this, that in a public newspaper published in the town of Columbia, county of Boone and State of Missouri, styled and called The Boone County Standard of which paper the said Edmund J. Ellis was editor and proprietor, the said Edmund J. Ellis on the 7th day of February, A.D. 1862, at Columbia aforesaid printed and published and caused to be printed and published a certain article entitled “News from General Price,” the design and object of which article was to give information to the enemies of the Government and to encourage resistance to the Government and laws of the United States.

CHARGE 2: Violation of the laws of war by the publication within the lines of the troops of the United States in a public newspaper of articles and information intended and designed to comfort the enemy and incite persons to rebellion against the Government of the United States.

Specification 1. — In this, that in a public newspaper printed and published in the town of Columbia, county of Boone, State of Missouri, styled and called The Boone County Standard of which said newspaper the said Edmund J. Ellis was the editor and proprietor, the said Edmund J. Ellis on the 29th day of November, 1861, at Columbia did publish and cause to be published a certain treasonable and seditious communication, viz, a letter addressed to the people of Kentucky and signed by J. C. Breckinridge, by which publication the said Edmund J. Ellis designed and intended to comfort the enemy and incite to rebellion against the Government of the United States persons within the lines of the troops of the United States.

Specification 2. — In this, that the said Edmund J. Ellis did print and publish and cause to be printed and published and circulated within the lines of the United States a certain pamphlet styled “To the Patriot Army of Missouri,” which pamphlet was calculated and designed to give aid to the enemy and to encourage and incite to acts of insurrection the people living within these said lines of troops; which pamphlet is hereto appended and marked. All this at or near Columbia, Mo., on or about the first day of October, 1861.

Specification 3. — That in a public newspaper printed and published in the town of Columbia, Boone County, Mo., known and styled as The Boone County Standard of which said newspaper the said Edmund J. Ellis was the editor and proprietor, the said Edmund J. Ellis did on the 6th day of December, 1861, at Columbia publish and cause to be published certain articles, viz, a treasonable and seditious article styled “Proclamation to the people of Central and North Missouri” and signed “Sterling Price, major-general commanding,” and a certain other treasonable and seditious article entitled “Convention between the State of Missouri and the Government of the Confederate States,” and signed “E. C. Cabell, Thomas L. Snead and R. M. T. Hunter,” also a certain other treasonable and seditious article entitled “Message of President Jefferson Davis to the Congress of the Confederate States” and signed “Jefferson Davis, Richmond, November 18, 1861.” All of which articles were published with the intent and design of giving comfort to the enemy and of inciting to rebellion against the Government of the United States persons within the lines of the troops of the United States.

To which several charges and specifications the accused interposed his plea to the jurisdiction of the court as follows, viz:

The accused, Edmund J. Ellis, objects and excepts to the jurisdiction of the court or military commission on all the matters and things stated in the two charges and the various specifications thereunder on the grounds following, viz: That the matters and things therein stated and charged (admitting them to be true, the truth of which, however, he controverts) are wholly and exclusively of civil cognizance.

Second. Because there is no supervision of the arm of civil power, no obstruction to judicial process and hence no sudden and extraordinary necessity (so far as the present case is concerned) for the intervention of a summary military commission or any military authority whatever.

Third. Because the matters and things stated in the said charges and specifications if criminal at all are violations of the Constitution and civil law of the land for the punishment of which tribunals of justice are provided, military commissions being unknown to the Constitution and laws of the United States.

Whereupon the court having been cleared proceeded to consider said plea and after mature deliberation overruled the said plea.

Whereupon the court having been again opened and the decision announced to the prisoner the prisoner pleaded as follows, viz:

To the specifications, not guilty, and to the charges, not guilty.

The court then adjourned at 6 p.m. until 10 o'clock Wednesday morning, February 26, 1862.

LEWIS MERRILL,

Colonel Regiment Merrill's Horse, President Military Commission.

ROBERT A. HOWARD,

First Lieutenant, Merrill's Horse, Recorder Military Commission.

_______________

* Special Orders, No. 160, p. 448, convening and making detail for the commission.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series II, Volume 1 (Serial No. 114), p. 453-5

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: July 27, 1863

Nothing but disasters to chronicle now. Natchez and Yazoo City, all gone the way of Vicksburg, involving a heavy loss of boats, guns, and ordnance stores; besides, the enemy have got some twenty locomotives in Mississippi.

Lee has retreated as far as Culpepper Court House.

The President publishes another proclamation, fixing a day for the people to unite in prayer.

The weather is bad. With the exception of one or two bright days, it has been raining nearly a month. Superadded to the calamities crowding upon us, we have a rumor to-day that Gen. Lee has tendered his resignation. This is false. But it is said he is opposed to the retaliatory executions ordered by the President, which, if persisted in, must involve the life of his son, now in the hands of the enemy. Our officers executed by Burnside were certainly recruiting in Kentucky within the lines of the enemy, and Gen. Lee may differ with the President in the equity of executing officers taken by us in battle in retaliation.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 388-9