Showing posts with label Lincoln's 1st Call For Troops. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lincoln's 1st Call For Troops. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Diary of Joseph Stockton, July 23, 1862

CHICAGO, ILL.  Books were opened on this evening for the formation of a new regiment to be enlisted under the auspices of the Chicago Board of Trade. After several speeches and songs, enlistment rolls were produced, and George Heafford was the first to sign, and myself the second. I trust I may never have occasion to regret the step, as I enlisted from a pure sense of duty toward my country and love for the old flag. Quite a number enlisted, and the company was called the "Hancock Guard" in honor of the President of the Board of Trade. Being disappointed in not getting into the service at the first call of President Lincoln, owing to the company I had enlisted in not being needed, I trust there may be nothing to prevent my going this time.

SOURCE: Joseph Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph Stockton, p. 1

Tuesday, May 2, 2023

Diary of George Mifflin Dallas, May 1, 1861

The America brought me a note from. Mr. Adams. He quits Boston to-day. I may, therefore, look for him at farthest on the 15th inst.

The President's Proclamation against the seceding States as insurrectionary follows quickly upon the fall of Fort Sumter, and firmly accepts the challenge of war involved in that belligerent attack. It calls out seventy-five thousand militia, and will no doubt be enthusiastically responded to in men and money. Thus, then, has sectional hatred achieved its usual consummation,—civil war! Virginia hesitates, but she will join the Confederacy, as will also, finally, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Maryland. My poor country can henceforward know no security or peace until the passions of the two factions have covered her hills and valleys with blood and exhausted the strength of an entire generation of her sons. All Europe is watching with amazement this terrible tragedy.

SOURCE: George Mifflin Dallas, Diary of George Mifflin Dallas, While United States Minister to Russia 1837 to 1839, and to England 1856 to 1861, Volume 3, p. 443

Saturday, March 11, 2023

William T. Sherman to David F. Boyd, May 13, 1861

St. Louis, May 13, 1861.

MY DEAR FRIEND: I have been intending for a long while to answer your last very kind letter. I suppose you still receive papers from New Orleans and Virginia giving tolerably fair versions of the events which are now passing all around us. We are now by Declaration of the Confederate Congress and by act of our own constituted authorities enemies, and I can not yet realize the fact. I know that I individually would not do any human being a wrong, take from him a cent, or molest any of his rights or property, and yet I admit fully the fact that Lincoln was bound to call on the country to rally and save our constitution and government. Had I responded to his call for volunteers I know that I would now be a Major-general. But my feelings prompted me to forbear and the consequence is my family and friends are almost cold to me, and they feel and say that I have failed at the critical moment of my life. It may be I am but a chip on the whirling tide of time destined to be cast on the shore as a worthless weed.

But I still think in the hurly burly of strife, order and system must be generated, and grow and strengthen till our people come out again a great and purified nation.

Lincoln is of right our president and has the right to initiate the policy of our government during his four years, and I believe him sincere in his repeated declarations that no dismemberment shall be even thought of. The inevitable result is war, and an invasive war.

I know that masses of men are organizing and discipling to execute the orders of this government. They are even now occupying the key points of our country; and when prepared they will strike. Not in detached columns battling with an excited people, but falling on exposed points. Already is Missouri humbled; I have witnessed it; my personal friends here, many of them southern, admit that Missouri's fate is sealed. There was a camp of about one thousand five hundred young men, who though seemingly assembled by state authority were yet notoriously disaffected to the government and were imprudent enough to receive into their camp a quantity of the arms from Baton Rouge, brought up as common merchandise. This justified the government forces here, regulars and militia, to surround and capture the whole. For a time intense excitement prevailed, but again seeming peace has come. The governor and state authorities are southern by birth and feeling and may make some spasmodic efforts to move, but they will be instantly overcome. Superior arms and numbers are the elements of war, and must prevail.

I cannot yet say if Lincoln will await the action of his Congress in July. I think he will as to any grand movement, but in the meantime Virginia, Louisiana, and Missouri, will be held or threatened, I have no doubt a hundred thousand disciplined men will be in Louisiana by Christmas next. The Mississippi River will be a grand theater of war, but not till the present masses are well disciplined. It is horrible to contemplate but it cannot be avoided.

No one now talks of the negro. The integrity of the Union and the relative power of state and general government are the issues in this war. Were it not for the physical geography of the country it might be that people could consent to divide and separate in peace.

But the Mississippi is too grand an element to be divided, and all its extent must of necessity be under one government. Excuse these generalisms — we have said them a thousand times.

I was sorry to hear from Dr. Smith that further disaffection had crept into your institution. I fear for the present it will be swept by the common storm. ——— was not the man, and it is well he has declined. Certainly there must be within reach, some good man to manage so easy a machine. I think the machine should be kept together, even on the smallest scale. Joe Miller writes me that the arms1 have been sent off and therefore his occupation gone. I will write if he cannot stay to return to his brother in Ohio and not go to California as he seems to think about.

I am still here with this road and my family living at 226 Locust St. No matter what happens I will always consider you my personal friend, and you shall ever be welcome to my roof. Should I be wrong in my conclusions of this terrible anarchy and should you come to St. Louis, I know you will be pleased with the many objects of interest hereabouts. Give to all the assurance of my

kindest remembrance and accept for yourself my best wishes for your health and success in life.

_______________

1 Stored in the Seminary Arsenal. - ED.

SOURCE: Walter L. Fleming, General W.T. Sherman as College President, p. 381-3

Saturday, September 12, 2020

Diary of Caroline Cowles Richards: April 15, 1861

The storm has broken upon us. The Confederates fired on Fort Sumter, just off the coast of South Carolina, and forced her on April 14 to haul down the flag and surrender. President Lincoln has issued a call for 75,000 men and many are volunteering to go all around us. How strange and awful it seems.

SOURCE: Village Life in America, 1852-1872, p. 130-1

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Diary of John Hay: May 1, 1861

There were a half-dozen good-looking members of the Seventh Regiment called upon the Commander-in-Chief of the Armies and Navies this afternoon. He was very frank and cordial with them. He spoke amusedly of the Times’ proposition of deposing him, and said that the Government had three things to do: — Defend Washington; Blockade the Ports; and retake Government property. All the possible despatch was to be used in these matters, and it would be well if the people would cordially assist in this work before clamoring for more. The proclamation calling out the troops is only two weeks old. No people on earth could have done what we have in that time.

Montgomery Blair came in with the intelligence that our office-holders had been quietly installed at Baltimore under the floating of the constellated banner, and that the police-board had removed the restriction on the sale of flour. He thought the outbreak at the Massachusetts passage was the work of secession officials who were unwilling to lose their lease of plunder. He thoroughly believed in the loyalty of Maryland. The President seemed to think that if quiet was kept in Baltimore, a little longer, Maryland might be considered the first of the redeemed. . . .

SOURCES: Clara B. Hay, Letters of John Hay and Extracts from Diary, Volume 1, p. 28-9; Tyler Dennett, Editor, Lincoln and the Civil War in the Diaries and Letters of John Hay, p. 16;

Sunday, July 24, 2016

John L. Motley to Mary Lothrop Motley, June 22, 1862

Marien Villa, Vรถslau bei Wien,
June 22, 1862.

Darling Kleine Mary: Your letter of June 1 from Washington was most delightful. Every word of it was full of interest, and every sentiment expressed in it is very just and quite according to my heart. . . .  The copy of your little note from the President touched me very much. I have the most profound respect for him, which increases every day. His wisdom, courage, devotion to duty, and simplicity of character seem to me to embody in a very striking way all that is most noble in the American character and American destiny. His administration is an epoch in the world's history, and I have no more doubt than I have of my existence that the regeneration of our Republic for a long period to come will date from his proclamation calling out the first 75,000 troops more than a year ago.

That proclamation was read “amid bursts of laughter by the rebel Congress”; but people do not laugh at Abraham Lincoln now in any part of the world, whatever else they may do or say.

Your affectionate
P.

SOURCE: George William Curtis, editor, The Correspondence of John Lothrop Motley in Two Volumes, Library Edition, Volume 2, p. 260

Sunday, August 9, 2015

Diary of William Howard Russell: April 19, 1861

An exceeding hot day. The sun pours on the broad sandy street of Charleston with immense power, and when the wind blows down the thoroughfare it sends before it vast masses of hot dust. The houses are generally detached, surrounded by small gardens, well provided with verandas to protect the windows from the glare, and are sheltered with creepers and shrubs and flowering plants, through which flit humming-birds and fly-catchers. In some places the streets and roadways are covered with planking, and as long as the wood is sound they are pleasant to walk or drive upon.

I paid a visit to the markets; the stalls are presided over by negroes, male and female; the colored people engaged in selling and buying are well clad; the butchers' meat by no means tempting to the eye, but the fruit and vegetable stalls well filled. Fish is scarce at present, as the boats are not permitted to proceed to sea lest they should be whipped up by the expected Yankee cruisers, or carry malecontents to communicate with the enemy. Around the flesh-market there is a skirling crowd of a kind of turkey-buzzard; these are useful as scavengers and are protected by law. They do their nasty work very zealously, descending on the offal thrown out to them with the peculiar crawling, puffy, soft sort of flight which is the badge of all their tribe, and contending with wing and beak against the dogs which dispute the viands with the harpies. It is curious to watch the expression of their eyes as with outstretched necks they peer down from the ledge of the market roof on the stalls and scrutinize the operations of the butchers below. They do not prevent a disagreeable odor in the vicinity of the markets, nor are they deadly to a fine and active breed of rats.

Much drumming and marching through the streets to-day. One very ragged regiment which had been some time at Morris' Island halted in the shade near me, and I was soon made aware they consisted, for the great majority, of Irishmen. The Emerald Isle, indeed, has contributed largely to the population of Charleston. In the principal street there is a large and fine red-sandstone building with the usual Greek-Yankee-composite portico, over which is emblazoned the crownless harp and the shamrock wreath proper to a St. Patrick's Hall, and several Roman Catholic churches also attest the Hibernian presence.

I again called on General Beauregard, and had a few moments' conversation with him. He told me that an immense deal depended on Virginia, and that as yet the action of the people in that State had not been as prompt as might have been hoped, for the President's proclamation was a declaration of war against the South, in which all would be ultimately involved. He is going to Montgomery to confer with Mr. Jefferson Davis. I have no doubt there is to be some movement made in Virginia. Whiting is under orders to repair there, and he hinted that he had a task of no common nicety and difficulty to perform. He is to visit the forts which had been seized on the coast of North Carolina, and probably will have a look at Portsmouth. It is incredible that the Federal authorities should have neglected to secure this place.

Later I visited the Governor of the State, Mr. Pickens, to whom I was conducted by Colonel Lucas, his aide-de-camp. His palace was a very humble shed-like edifice with large rooms, on the doors of which were pasted pieces of paper with sundry high-reading inscriptions, such as “Adjutant General's Dept.,” “Quartermaster-General's Dept.,” “Attorney-General of State,” &c.; and through the doorways could be seen men in uniform, and grave, earnest people busy at their desks with pen, ink, paper, tobacco, and spittoons. The governor, a stout man, of a big head, and a large, important-looking face, with watery eyes and flabby features, was seated in a barrack-like room, furnished in the plainest way, and decorated by the inevitable portrait of George Washington, close to which was the “Ordinance of Secession of the State of South Carolina” of last year.

Governor Pickens is considerably laughed at by his subjects; and I was amused by a little middy, who described with much unction the Governor's alarm on his visit to Fort Pickens, when he was told that there were a number of live shells and a quantity of powder still in the place. He is said to have commenced one of his speeches with “Born insensible to fear,” &c. To me the Governor was very courteous; but I confess the heat of the day did not dispose me to listen with due attention to a lecture on political economy with which he favored me. I was told, however, that he had practised with success on the late Czar when he was United States Minister to St. Petersburg, and that he does not suffer his immediate staff to escape from having their minds improved on the relations of capital to labor, and on the vicious condition of capital and labor in the North.

“In the North, then, you will perceive, Mr. Russell, they have maximized the hostile condition of opposed interests in the accumulation of capital and in the employment of labor, whilst we in the South, by the peculiar excellence of our domestic institution, have minimized their opposition and maximized the identity of interest by the investment of capital in the laborer himself,” and so on, or something like it. I could not help remarking it struck me there was “another difference betwixt the North and the South which he had overlooked, — the capital of the North is represented by gold, silver, notes, and other exponents, which are good all the world over and are recognized as such; your capital has power of locomotion, and ceases to exist the moment it crosses a geographical line.” “That remark, sir,” said the Governor, “requires that I should call your attention to the fundamental principles on which the abstract idea of capital should be formed. In order to clear the ground, let us first inquire into the soundness of the ideas put forward by your Adam Smith.” —— I had to look at my watch and to promise I would come back to be illuminated on some other occasion, and hurried off to keep an engagement with myself to write letters by the next mail.

The Governor writes very good proclamations, nevertheless, and his confidence in South Carolina is unbounded. “If we stand alone, sir, we must win. They can't whip us.” A gentleman named Pringle, for whom I had letters of introduction, has come to Charleston to ask me to his plantation, but there will be no boat from the port till Monday, and it is uncertain then whether the blockading vessels, of which we hear so much, may not be down by that time.

SOURCE: William Howard Russell, My Diary North and South, p. 120-2

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Diary of William Howard Russell: April 18, 1861

It is as though we woke up in a barrack. No! There is the distinction, that in the passages slaves are moving up and down with cups of iced milk or water for their mistresses in the early morning, cleanly dressed, neatly clad, with the conceptions of Parisian millinery adumbrated to their condition, and transmitted by the white race, hovering round their heads and bodies. They sit outside the doors, and chatter in the passages; and as the Irish waiter brings in my hot water for shaving, there is that odd, round, oily, half-strangled, chuckling, gobble of a laugh peculiar to the female Ethiop, coming in through the doorway.

Later in the day, their mistresses sail out from the inner harbors, and launch all their sails along the passages, down the stairs, and into the long, hot, fluffy salle-ร -manger, where, blackened with flies which dispute the viands, they take their tremendous meals. They are pale, pretty, svelte — just as I was about to say they were rather small, there rises before me the recollection of one Titanic dame —a Carolinian Juno, with two lovely peacock daughters — and I refrain from generalizing. Exceedingly proud these ladies are said to be — for a generation or two of family suffice in this new country, it properly supported by the possession of negroes and acres, to give pride of birth, and all the grandeur which is derived from raising raw produce, cereals, and cotton — suรป terrรข. Their enemies say that the grandfathers of some of these noble people were mere pirates and smugglers, who dealt in a cavalier fashion with the laws and with the flotsam and jetsam of fortune on the seas and reefs hereabouts. Cotton suddenly — almost unnaturally, as far as the ordinary laws of commerce are concerned, grew up whilst land was cheap, and slaves were of moderate price — the pirates, and piratesses had control of both, and in a night the gourd swelled and grew to a prodigious size. These are Northern stories. What the Southerners say of their countrymen and women in the upper part of this “blessed Union” I have written for the edification of people at home.

The tables in the eating-room are disposed in long rows, or detached so as to suit private parties. When I was coming down to Charleston, one of my fellow-passengers told me he was quite shocked the first time he saw white people acting as servants; but no such scruples existed in the Mills House, for the waiters were all Irish, except one or two Germans. The carte is much the same at all American hotels, the variations depending on local luxuries or tastes. Marvellous exceedingly is it to see the quantities of butter, treacle, and farinaceous matters prepared in the heaviest form — of fish, of many meats, of eggs scrambled or scarred or otherwise prepared, of iced milk and water, which an American will consume in a few minutes in the mornings. There is, positively, no rest at these meals — no repose. The guests are ever passing in and out of the room, chairs are forever pushed to and fro with a harsh grating noise that sets the teeth on edge, and there is a continual clatter of plates and metal. Every man is reading his paper, or discussing the news with his neighbor. I was introduced to a vast number of people and was asked many questions respecting my views of Sumter, or what I thought “old Abe and Seward would do?” The proclamation calling out 75,000 men issued by said old Abe, they treat with the most profound contempt or unsparing ridicule, as the case may be. Five out of six of the men at table wore uniforms this morning.

Having made the acquaintance of several warriors, as well as that of a Russian gentleman, Baron Sternberg, who was engaged in looking about him in Charleston, and was, like most foreigners, impressed with the conviction that actum est de Republicรข, I went out with Major Whiting* and Mr. Ward, the former of whom was anxious to show me Fort Moultrie and the left side of the Channel, in continuation of my trip yesterday. It was arranged that we should go off as quietly as possible, “so as to prevent the newspapers knowing anything about it.” The Major has a great dislike to the gentlemen of the press, and General Beauregard had sent orders for the staff-boat to be prepared, so as to be quiet and private, but the fates were against us. On going down to the quay, we learned that a gentleman had come down with an officer and had gone off in our skiff, the boat-keepers believing they were the persons for whom it was intended. In fact, our Russian friend, Baron Sternberg, had stolen a march upon us.

After a time, the Major succeeded in securing the services of the very smallest, most untrustworthy, and ridiculous-looking craft ever seen by mortal eyes. If Charon had put a two horse power engine into his skiff, it might have borne some resemblance to this egregious cymbalus, which had once been a flat-bottomed, opened-decked cutter or galley, into the midst of which the owner had forced a small engine and paddlewheels, and at the stern had erected a roofed caboose, or oblong pantry, sacred to oil-cans and cockroaches. The crew consisted of the first captain and the second captain, a lad of tender years, and that was all. Into the pantry we scrambled, and sat down knee to knee, whilst the engine was getting up its steam: a very obstinate and anti-caloric little engine it was — puffing and squeaking, leaking, and distilling drops of water, and driving out blasts of steam in unexpected places.

As long as we lay at the quay all was right. The Major was supremely happy, for he could talk about Thackeray and his writings — a theme of which he never tired — nay, on which his enthusiasm reached the height of devotional fervor. Did I ever know any one like Major Pendennis? Was it known who Becky Sharp was? Who was the O'Mulligan? These questions were mere hooks on which to hang rhapsodies and delighted dissertation. He might have got down as far as Pendennis himself, when a lively swash of water flying over the preposterous little gunwales, and dashing over our boots into the cabin, announced that our bark was under way. There is, we were told, for several months in the year, a brisk breeze from the southward and eastward in and off Charleston Harbor, and there was to-day a small joggle in the water which would not have affected anything floating except our steamer; but as we proceeded down the narrow channel by Castle Pinckney, the little boat rolled as if she would capsize every moment, and made no pretence at doing more than a mile an hour at her best; and it became evident that our voyage would be neither pleasant, prosperous, nor speedy. Still the Major went on between the lurches, and drew his feet up out of the water, in order to have “a quiet chat,” as he said, “about my favorite author.” My companion and myself could not condense ourselves or foreshorten our nether limbs quite so deftly.

Standing out from the shelter towards Sumter, the sea came rolling on our beam, making the miserable craft oscillate as if some great hand had caught her by the funnel — Yankeeice, smokestack — and was rolling her backwards and forwards, as a preliminary to a final keel over. The water came in plentifully, and the cabin was flooded with a small sea: the latter partook of the lively character of the external fluid, and made violent efforts to get overboard to join it, which generally were counteracted by the better sustained and directed attempts of the external to get inside. The captain seemed very unhappy; the rest of the crew — our steerer — had discovered that the steamer would not steer at all, and that we were rolling like a log on the water. Certainly neither Pinckney, nor Sumter, nor Moultrie altered their relative bearings and distances towards us for half an hour or so, though they bobbed up and down continuously. “But it is,” said the Major, “in the character of Colonel Newcome that Thackeray has, in my opinion, exhibited the greatest amount of power; the tenderness, simplicity, love, manliness, and –––” Here a walloping muddy-green wave came “all aboard,” and the cymbalus gave decided indications of turning turtle. We were wet and miserable, and two hours or more had now passed in making a couple of miles. The tide was setting more strongly against us, and just off Moultrie, in the tideway between its walls and Sumter, could be seen the heads of the sea-horses unpleasantly crested. I know not what of eloquent disquisition I lost, for the Major was evidently in his finest moment and on his best subject, but I ventured to suggest that we should bout ship and return — and thus aroused him to a sense of his situation. And so we wore round — a very delicate operation, which, by judicious management in getting side bumps of the sea at favorable movements, we were enabled to effect in some fifteen or twenty minutes; and then we became so parboiled by the heat from the engine, that conversation was impossible.

How glad we were to land once more I need not say. As I gave the captain a small votive tablet of metal, he said, “I'm thinkin’ it's very well yes turned back. Av we'd gone any further, devil aback ever we'd have come.” “Why didn't you say so before?” “Sure I didn't like to spoil the trip.” My gifted countryman and I parted to meet no more.

*          *          *          *          *          *

Second and third editions and extras! News of Secession meetings and of Union meetings! Every one is filled with indignation against the city of New York, on account of the way in which the news of the reduction of Fort Sumter has been received there. New England has acted just as was expected, but better things were anticipated on the part of the Empire City. There is no sign of shrinking from a contest: on the contrary, the Carolinians are full of eagerness to test their force in the field. “Let them come!” is their boastful mot d'ordre.

The anger which is reported to exist in the North only adds to the fury and animosity of the Carolinians. They are determined now to act on their sovereign rights as a State, cost what it may, and uphold the ordinance of secession. The answers of several State Governors to President Lincoln's demand for troops, have delighted our friends. Beriah Magoffin, of Kentucky, declares he won't give any men for such a wicked purpose; and another gubernatorial dignitary laconically replied to the demand for so many thousand soldiers, “Nary one.” Letcher, Governor of Virginia, has also sent a refusal. From the North comes news of mass-meetings, of hauling down Secession colors, mobbing Secession papers, of military bodies turning out, banks subscribing and lending.

Jefferson Davis has met President Lincoln's proclamation by a counter manifesto, issuing letters of marque and reprisal — on all sides preparations for war. The Southern agents are buying steamers, but they fear the Northern States will use their navy to enforce a blockade, which is much dreaded, as it will cut off supplies and injure the commerce, on which they so much depend. Assuredly Mr. Seward cannot know anything of the feeling of the South, or he would not be so confident as he was that all would blow over, and that the States, deprived of the care and fostering influences of the general Government, would get tired of their Secession ordinances, and of their experiment to maintain a national life, so that the United States will be reestablished before long.

I went over and saw General Beauregard at his quarters. He was busy with papers, orderlies, and despatches, and the outer room was crowded with officers. His present task, he told me, was to put Sumter in a state of defence, and to disarm the works bearing on it, so as to get their fire directed on the harbor-approaches, as “the North in its madness” might attempt a naval attack on Charleston. His manner of transacting business is clear and rapid. Two vases filled with flowers on his table, flanking his maps and plans; and a little hand bouquet of roses, geraniums, and scented flowers lay on a letter which he was writing as I came-in, by way of paper weight. He offered me every assistance and facility, relying, of course, on my strict observance of a neutral's duty. I reminded him once more, that as the representative of an English journal, it would be my duty to write freely to England respecting what I saw; and that I must not be held accountable if on the return of my letters to America, a month after they were written, it was found they contained information to which circumstances might attach an objectionable character. The General said, “I quite understand you. We must take our chance of that, and leave you to exercise your discretion.”

In the evening I dined with our excellent Consul, Mr. Bunch, who had a small and very agreeable party to meet me. One very venerable old gentleman, named Huger (pronounced as Hugee), was particularly interesting in appearance and conversation. He formerly held some official appointment under the Federal Government, but had gone out with his State, and had been confirmed in his appointment by the Confederate Government. Still he was not happy at the prospect before him or his country. “I have lived too long,” he exclaimed; “I should have died ere these evil days arrived.” What thoughts, indeed, must have troubled his mind when he reflected that his country was but little older than himself; for he was one who had shaken hands with the framers of the Declaration of Independence. But though the tears rolled down his cheeks when he spoke of the prospect of civil war, there was no symptom of apprehension for the result, or indeed of any regret for the contest, which he regarded as the natural consequence of the insults, injustice, and aggression of the North against Southern rights.

Only one of the company, a most lively, quaint, witty old lawyer named Petigru, dissented from the doctrines of Secession; but he seems to be treated as an amiable, harmless person, who has a weakness of intellect or a “bee in his bonnet” on this particular matter.

It was scarcely very agreeable to my host or myself to find that no considerations were believed to be of consequence in reference to England except her material interests, and that these worthy gentlemen regarded her as a sort of appanage of their cotton kingdom. “Why, sir, we have only to shut off your supply of cotton for a few weeks, and we can create a revolution in Great Britain. There are four millions of your people depending on us for their bread, not to speak of the many millions of dollars. No, sir, we know that England must recognize us,” &c.

Liverpool and Manchester have obscured all Great Britain to the Southern eye. I confess the tone of my friends irritated me. I said so to Mr. Bunch, who laughed and remarked, “You'll not mind it when you get as much accustomed to this sort of thing as I am.” I could not help saying, that if Great Britain were such a sham as they supposed, the sooner a hole was drilled in her, and the whole empire sunk under water, the better for the world, the cause of truth, and of liberty.

These tall, thin, fine-faced Carolinians are great materialists. Slavery perhaps has aggravated the tendency to look at all the world through parapets of cotton bales and rice bags, and though more stately and less vulgar, the worshippers here are not less prostrate before the “almighty dollar” than the Northerners. Again cropping out of the dead level of hate to the Yankee, grows its climax in the profession from nearly every one of the guests, that he would prefer a return to British rule to any reunion with New England. “The names in South Carolina show our origin —  Charleston, and Ashley, and Cooper, &c. Our Gadsden, Sumter and Pinckney were true cavaliers,” &c. They did not say anything about Pedee, or Tombigbee, or Sullivan's Island, or the like. We all have our little or big weaknesses.

I see no trace of cavalier descent in the names of Huger, Rose, Manning, Chestnut, Pickens; but there is a profession of faith in the cavaliers and their cause among them because it is fashionable in Carolina. They affect the agricultural faith and the belief of a landed gentry. It is not only over the wineglass — why call it cup? — that they ask for a Prince to reign over them; I have heard the wish repeatedly expressed within the last two days that we could spare them one of our young Princes, but never in jest or in any frivolous manner.

On my way home again, I saw the sentries on their march, the mounted patrols starting on their ride, and other evidences that though the slaves are “the happiest and most contented race in the world,” they require to be taken care of like less favored mortals. The city watch-house is filled every night with slaves, who are confined there till reclaimed by their owners, whenever they are found out after nine o'clock, P. M., without special passes or permits. Guns are firing for the Ordinance of Secession of Virginia.
_______________

* Now Confederate General.

SOURCE: William Howard Russell, My Diary North and South, p. 112-9

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Diary of Judith W. McGuire: June 18, 1861 – Night

The day was passed delightfully; the Bishop, his son, and daughter-in-law, all so kind, hospitable and agreeable. It amused me to see with what avidity the old gentleman watches the progress of events, particularly when I remember how much opposed he was to secession only a few months ago. He clung to the Union with a whole-souled love for all that he had been educated to revere, as long as he could do it; but when every proposal for peace made by us was spurned, and when the President's proclamation came out, calling for 75,000 troops, and claiming Virginia's quota to assist in fighting her Southern brethren, he could stand it no longer, and I only hope that the revolution may be as thorough throughout the land as it is in his great mind.

“Mountain View” is beautiful by nature, and the Bishop has been collecting exotic trees and shrubs for many years, and now his collection is perfectly magnificent. This country is so far very peaceful, but we are constantly subjected to the most startling rumours, and the frequent, though distant, booming of cannon is very trying to our nervous and excitable temperaments. Many, so many, of our dear ones are constantly exposed to danger; and though we would not have it otherwise — we could not bear that one of them should hesitate to give his life's-blood to his country — yet it is heart-breaking to think of what may happen.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 32-3

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: April 22, 1861

Early a few mornings since, I called on Gov. Wise, and informed him that Lincoln had called out 70,000 men. He opened his eyes very widely and said, emphatically, “I don't believe it.” The greatest statesmen of the South have no conception of the real purposes of the men now in power in the United States. They cannot be made to believe that the Government at Washington are going to wage war immediately. But when I placed the President's proclamation in his hand, he read it with deep emotion, and uttered a fierce “Hah!” Nevertheless, when I told him that these 70,000 were designed to be merely the videttes and outposts of an army of 700,000, he was quite incredulous. He had not witnessed the Wide-Awake gatherings the preceding fall, as I had done, and listened to the pledges they made to subjugate the South, free the negroes, and hang Gov. Wise. I next told him they would blockade our ports, and endeavor to cut off our supplies. To this he uttered a most positive negative. He said it would be contrary to the laws of nations, as had been decided often in the Courts of Admiralty, and would be moreover a violation of the Constitution. Of course I admitted all this; but maintained that such was the intention of the Washington Cabinet. Laws and Courts and Constitutions would not be impediments in the way of Yankees resolved upon our subjugation. Presuming upon their superior numbers, and under the pretext of saving the Union and annihilating slavery, they would invade us like the army-worm, which enters the green fields in countless numbers. The real object was to enjoy our soil and climate by means of confiscation. He poohed me into silence with an indignant frown. He had no idea that the Yankees would dare to enter upon such enterprises in the face of an enlightened world. But I know them better. And it will be found that they will learn how to fight, and will not be afraid to fight.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 26

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Diary of Reverend James Freeman Clarke: April 15, 1861

President's proclamation calling out seventy-five thousand men.

SOURCE: Edwin Everett Hale, Editor, James Freeman Clarke: Autobiography, Diary and Correspondence, p. 271

Henry L. Higginson to James J. Higginson, April 22, 1861

Dearest Jim, —

We are in for the fight at last and we will carry it thro' like men. One week ago to-day appeared the President's proclamation calling on the states for troops. To-day Washington is cared for, Fort Monroe garrisoned, and the route to Washington held open. Never in my whole life have I seen anything approaching in the slightest degree to the excitement and the enthusiasm of the past week. Everything excepting the war is forgotten, business is suspended, the streets are filled with people, drilling is seen on all sides and at all times. Our Massachusetts troops were poured into Boston within 12 to 24 hours after the command was issued from here, and were the first to go on and the first to shed blood. May the devil catch those Baltimorean rioters, the cowards! On the 19th April, the anniversary of the Lexington fight, our first men were shot in Baltimore.

But you should have seen the troops, Jimmy: real, clean-cut, intelligent Yankees, the same men who fought in '76, a thousand times better than any soldiers living. They left their wives and children in some cases without a farewell, and marched thro' to Washington. We've been told of our degeneracy for years and years: I tell you, Jim, no more heartfelt enthusiasm or devotion was to be found in '76 than now. Everyone is longing to go. One man walked 100 miles to join a volunteer company raised and gone between Wednesday and Sunday. Two thousand Irish volunteers have been raised in Boston, besides many companies of Americans and Germans and French. One hundred Germans put their names down as volunteers in a half-hour at a small meeting which was held Friday. Money is forthcoming, everyone is making clothes for the troops. Yesterday sailed from N.Y. 5000 troops (1200 from here, commanded by one of my classmates); they say 500,000 people were present to see them march down Broadway and sail. That famous N.Y. 7th regiment is holding the R.R. to Washington from Annapolis. A regiment of 800 N.Y. firemen has been raised in two or three days, and will go as skirmishers to-morrow or to-day. The Ohio troops are in Washington, and the Westerners are coming on perfectly wild. Every slave-state has refused troops; we do not want them. The Southern army is, they say, well-drilled: we may lose at first, but they will be wiped out from the face of the earth in the end. We want arms sadly; those villains have stolen everything that they could find in our armories and arsenals. And for us — George will, I hope and trust, finish his house at Lenox before moving . . . father is of course too old. I have been laid up all winter with a sprained foot, which is still weak, but I 'll go if I can march possibly. I've committed myself to a regiment of volunteers to be raised and drilled in our harbor before going. It is the best way, if they are not wanted immediately, for then a disciplined body of active troops will be opposed to the enemy, instead of raw recruits. Jim Savage will go in this regiment as an officer. This foot has been a great nuisance to me for months, and now may prevent my going, for a lame man will not be accepted. And now, Jim, you must decide for yourself whether you'll return just yet or not; you might wait a few months to advantage. There will be little business in any way for beginners until the war is over, I suppose: the first quota is gone and the second will be off also before you can reach here. Then will come much drilling and preparation for the future: the war will, I fancy, be very severe, but of short duration. You might get all possible information as to the muskets and rifles with sword-bayonets to be got in each country, Germany, France and England; we must import from Europe to meet our immediate wants. Send this letter to Johnny with my love: I 've not time to write him to-day and he'll want to know of these things. Father is very well indeed and drills hard, with a view to teaching others — as also Frank. Father gets dreadfully excited; indeed so does everyone. My best love to you, Jimmy.

Yrs.
H.

SOURCE: Life and letters of Henry Lee Higginson, p. 142-3

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Diary of Josephine Shaw Lowell: April 15, 1862

A year since Lincoln's Proclamation, in which he says that the object of the 75,000 men was to repossess the forts of the United States, and today we hear of the unconditional surrender of Pulaski, one of the strongest, and the defense of Savannah. Yorktown is still untaken and we hear nothing of the Merrimac, except reported bursting of shells, running ashores, etc., etc., none of which are probably true. I heard today of Wendell's promotion to a captaincy. He told me in Boston that he only wanted to be captain for the sake of leading the men in battle, and now he will soon have his wish. Poor Mother is very low spirited and of course must be, for Rob is in continual danger, as his Regiment is acting as skirmishers, scouts, etc. She was speaking yesterday of not being able to do anything “until she had heard.” I suppose it is to hear that Rob is shot.

SOURCE: William Rhinelander Stewart, The Philanthropic Work of Josephine Shaw Lowell, p. 24-5

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Proclamation of Alexander W. Randall, Governor of Wisconsin, April 16, 1861

To The Loyal People of Wisconsin:

For the first time in the history of this Federal Government, organized treason has manifested itself within several States of the Union, and armed rebels are making war against it. The Proclamation of the President of the United States tells of unlawful combinations too powerful to be suppressed in the ordinary manner, and calls for military forces to suppress such combinations, and to sustain him in executing the laws. The treasures of the country must no longer be plundered; the public property must be protected from aggressive violence; that already seized, must be retaken, and the laws must be executed in every State of the Union alike.
A demand made upon Wisconsin by the President of the United States, for aid to sustain the Federal Arm, must meet with a prompt response. One Regiment of the Militia of this State, will be required for immediate service, and further services will be required as the exigencies of the Government may demand. It is a time when, against the civil and religious liberties of the people, and against the integrity of the Government of the United States, parties and politicians and platforms must be as dust in the balance. All good citizens, everywhere, must join in making common cause against a common enemy.

Opportunities will be immediately offered to all existing military companies, under the direction of the proper authorities of the State, for enlistment to fill the demand of the Federal Government, and I hereby invite the patriotic citizens of the State to enroll themselves into companies of seventy-eight men each, and to advise the Executive of their readiness to be mustered into service immediately. Detailed instructions will be furnished on the acceptance of companies, and the commissioned officers of each regiment will nominate their own field officers.

In times of public danger bad men grow bold and reckless. The property of the citizen becomes unsafe, and both public and private rights liable to be jeopardized. I enjoin upon all administrative and peace officers within the State renewed vigilance in the maintenance and execution of the laws, and in guarding against excesses leading to disorder among the people.

Given under my hand and the Great Seal of the State of Wisconsin, this 16th day of April A. D. 1861.

By the Governor,
ALEX. W. RANDALL
L. P. Harvey, Secretary of State,

SOURCE: Edwin Bentley Quiner, The Military History of Wisconsin, p.47

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Diary of Rutherford B. Hayes, May 10, 1861

Great events the last month. April 12 and 13, Fort Sumter [was] attacked and taken by the South Carolina troops by order of the Government of the Confederate States at Montgomery. Sunday evening, April 14, news of Lincoln's call for 75,000 men [was] received here with unbounded enthusiasm. How relieved we were to have a Government again! I shall never forget the strong emotions, the wild and joyous excitement of that Sunday evening. Staid and sober church members thronged the newspaper offices, full of the general joy and enthusiasm. Great meetings were held. I wrote the resolutions of the main one, — to be seen in the Intelligencer of the next week. Then the rally of troops, the flags floating from every house, the liberality, harmony, forgetfulness of party and self — all good. Let what evils may follow, I shall not soon cease to rejoice over this event.

The resolutions referred to were published in the Gazette of the 16th [of] April and in the Intelligencer of the 18th.

[The resolutions were as follows:

"Resolved, That the people of Cincinnati, assembled without distinction of party, are unanimously of opinion that the authority of the United States, as against the rebellious citizens of the seceding and disloyal States, ought to be asserted and maintained, and that whatever men or means may be necessary to accomplish that object the patriotic people of the loyal States will promptly and cheerfully furnish.

"Resolved, That the citizens of Cincinnati will, to the utmost of their ability, sustain the general Government in maintaining its authority, in enforcing the laws, and in upholding the flag of the Union."]

 SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 16

Friday, January 24, 2014

Edwin M. Stanton to James Buchanan, May 16, 1861

WASHINGTON, 16 May, 1861.

DEAR SIR:

Your letter by Mr. Magraw was received, and I designed to send an answer by him, but he left here without my knowledge.

On the 24th of April, the day after the Baltimore riot, and again on Blue Tuesday, the day before the arrival of the New York regiments, I wrote to you. These letters will probably reach you sometime, if they have not already arrived, but I regret their miscarriage, as they kept up a regular chain of Washington events from the date of Lincoln's first proclamation after the capture of Sumter, and since that time incidents have passed so rapidly that I cannot recall them in their order.

The fling of Mr. F. W. Seward about "negotiations" would merit a retort if there were an independent press and the state of the times admitted discussion of such matters. The negotiations carried on by Mr. Seward with the Confederate Commissioners through Judge Campbell & Judge Nelson will some day perhaps be brought to light, and if they were as has been represented to me, Mr. Seward and the Lincoln administration will not be in a position to make sneering observations respecting any negotiations during your administration. It was in reference to these that Jeff Davis in his message spoke with so much severity. You no doubt observed his allusion to informal negotiations through a person holding a high station in the Government of the United States, and which were participated in by other persons holding stations equally high. I have understood that Judge Campbell was the person alluded to, and that Judges Nelson & perhaps Catron were the other persons cognizant of Mr. Seward's assurances respecting the evacuation of Fort Sumter.

Mr. Holt is still here. Judge Black has been absent some weeks but returned night before last. Mr. Holt stays at home pretty closely, and I have met him very seldom though I occasionally hear of his visiting some of the Departments. The state of affairs is tolerably well detailed in the public prints. But no description could convey to you the panic that prevailed here for several days after the Baltimore riot, and before communications were reopened. This was increased by reports of the trepidation of Lincoln that were circulated through the streets. Almost every family packed up their effects. Women & children were sent away in great numbers; provisions advanced to famine prices. In a great measure the alarm has passed away, but there is still a deep apprehension that before long this city is doomed to be the scene of battle & carnage.

In respect to military operations going on or contemplated, little is known until the results are announced in the newspapers. General Scott seems to have carte blanche. He is in fact the Government, and if his health continues, vigorous measures are anticipated.

For the last few days I have been moving my family, my former residence being made unpleasant by troops & hospitals surrounding me. In the present state of affairs I do not like to leave home or I would pay you a visit, but no one knows what may happen any day, or how soon the communications may be again interrupted. Marching and drilling is going on all day in every street. The troops that have arrived here are in general fine-looking, able-bodied, active men, well equipped, and apparently ready & willing for the service in which they are engaged.

Your cordial concurrence in the disposition to maintain the Government & resist aggression gives great satisfaction, and I am pleased to observe a letter from you in the Intelligencer of this morning.

I beg you to present my compliments to Miss Lane. There are many stories afloat among the ladies in the city that would amuse her, but as they are no doubt told her by lady correspondents, it is needless for me to repeat them.

I hope you may continue in the enjoyment of good health, & remain with sincere regard

Yours truly,
EDWIN M. STANTON

SOURCE: John Bassett Moore, editor, The Works of James Buchanan: Comprising His Speeches, State Papers and Private Correspondence, Volume 11 1860-1868, p. 190-1

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Ulysses S. Grant to Jesse Root Grant, April 21, 1861

Galena,
April 21st, 1861.

Dear Father:

We are now in the midst of trying times when every one must be for or against his country, and show his colors too, by his every act. Having been educated for such an emergency, at the expense of the Government, I feel that it has upon me superior claims, such claims as no ordinary motives of self-interest can surmount. I do not wish to act hastily or unadvisedly in the matter, and as there are more than enough to respond to the first call of the President, I have not yet offered myself. I have promised, and am giving all the assistance I can in organizing the company whose services have been accepted from this place. I have promised further to go with them to the State capital, and if I can be of service to the Governor in organizing his state troops to do so. What I ask now is your approval of the course I am taking, or advice in the matter. A letter written this week will reach me in Springfield. I have not time to write to you but a hasty line, for, though Sunday as it is, we are all busy here. In a few minutes I shall be engaged in directing tailors in the style and trim of uniform for our men.

Whatever may have been my political opinions before, I have but one sentiment now. That is, we have a Government, and laws and a flag, and they must all be sustained. There are but two parties now, traitors and patriots and I want hereafter to be ranked with the latter, and I trust, the stronger party. I do not know but you may be placed in an awkward position, and a dangerous one pecuniarily, but costs cannot now be counted. My advice would be to leave where you are if you are not safe with the views you entertain. I would never stultify my opinion for the sake of a little security.

I will say nothing about our business. Orvil and Lank will keep you posted as to that.

Write soon and direct as above.

Yours truly,
U. S. GRANT

SOURCE: Jesse Grant Cramer, Editor, Letters of Ulysses S. Grant to His Father and His Youngest Sister, 1857-78, p. 24-6

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Washington News

WASHINGTON, April 4. – Attorney General Bates has given his opinion that acts of January, and August, 1813, granting pensions for wounds or disabilities are applicable only to the forces thereby created, and will not cover the cases of those called into service by the acts of 22d July last, nor are their widows and orphans entitled to pensions under the act of 4th of July 1836.

Grave doubts may be suggested whether the existing laws make provision for pensions to the widows of those now in service who may die from disease or be killed in battle, and upon the whole question the Attorney General inclines to the opinion that there is no adequate provision of law by which such widows are entitled to a pension in addition to the bounties conferred by the acts of July last, the militia received under the Presidents Proclamation of the 15th of April 1861, which was in accordance with the law of the 2d August, 1813, and in cases of wounds and disabilities, entitled to pensions under its provisions.

Previous to adjournment to-day Senator Trumbull gave notice that he would call up the confiscation bill, and press it until disposed of.

An official war bulletin from the War Department creates two military departments.  First, that portion of Virginia and Maryland, lying between the mountains and the Blue Ridge, to be called the Department of the Shenandoah, to be commanded by Gen. Banks.  Second, that portion of Virginia, east of the Blue Ridge and west of the Potomac and the Fredericksburg and Richmond Railroad, including the district of Columbia and the country between the Patuxet to be called the Department of the Rappahannock, to be under command of Gen. McDowell.


WASHINGTON, April 4. – A military hospital has been ordered to be established and New Albany, Indiana, and Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis, has been converted into a military hospital.

The Secretary of War has communicated to Congress his opinion that the present organization of the Medical Bureau is inadequate to the service.  He has authorized the Surgeon General, of New Jersey, under the direction of the Governor, to organize a Volunteer Surgeon Corps, to render medical aid when requested.

A similar organization has been made under the Governor of Pennsylvania, and valuable service has been rendered.

– Published in the Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 12, 1862, p. 4

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Proclamation Calling Militia and Convening Congress

April 15, 1861

By the President of the United States

A Proclamation.

Whereas the laws of the United States have been for some time past, and now are opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the Marshals by law,

Now therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution, and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the militia of the several States of the Union, to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand, in order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed. The details, for this object, will be immediately communicated to the State authorities through the War Department.

I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union, and the perpetuity of popular government; and to redress wrongs already long enough endured.

I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth will probably be to re-possess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union; and in every event, the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or interference with, property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens in any part of the country.

And I hereby command the persons composing the combinations aforesaid to disperse, and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty days from this date.

Deeming that the present condition of public affairs presents an extraordinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in me vested by the constitution, convene both Houses of Congress. Senators and Representatives are therefore summoned to assemble at their respective chambers, at 12 o'clock, noon, on Thursday, the fourth day of July, next, then and there to consider and determine, such measures, as, in their wisdom, the public safety, and interest may seem to demand.

In Witness 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 fifteenth day of April in the year of our Lord One thousand, Eight hundred and Sixty-one, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-fifth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

By the President

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.


SOURCES: Roy P. Basler, editor, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 4, p. 331-2; The Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress