Moved up the Cumberland river from Clarksville to the shoals, where three of our boats were captured two weeks before, and all the negroes who were on board shot and the whites paroled, and the boats fired and burned. We passed safely on up until our two last boats were about over the shoals first spoken off, and the “Mary Franklin” and “Woodside” were fired into, wounding one colonel, but we escaped being captured.
SOURCE: Adam S. Johnston, The Soldier Boy's Diary Book, p. 26
10 Oc I was released
I have been on duty for 24 hours without any sleep, there is strong expectation
here of an attack & our officers are having the buildings near our
embankment torn down & to hurry it on the Negroes set fire to two and burnt
them down, there is perhaps from one to two hundred houses will be torn down and
some verry costly ones. 9½ Oc night we recd an order to report our company at
Head quarters in 15 minutes armed and equiped ready to go into action many of
our men was asleep but before the time we ware on hand & Co H of our Reg
& 2 companeys of the 120 Ill were put in line & marched by our Major Woodward
to the south Sallyport of this Fort Pickering & there awaited an attack
& as they did not come Genl Asboth & Major Woodward marched us about a
mile outside & posted our comps in different plases to watch & open on
them if they came & we divided our Co & Cap Fee took one and I the
other platoon & we posted some rods apart, he & a part of his men got a
sleep but I & my men did not sleep any I awoke him & some of his men
twice, one of his men got down in front of us & we commenced firing on him
SOURCE: Edgar R.
Harlan, Currator, Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 15, No. 2,
October 1925, p. 101
A weak and disagreeable
state of body since last date has waived my practice of noting; but everything
has been as now—"hell upon earth." We have a few dottings of this
kind: the Rebel quartermaster is from Baltimore, and to counteract some
suspicions of his speculating in rations, makes lots of promises when he comes
in of late. One of our fellows got thick with him and told him where to find a
tunnel, for a plug of tobacco. Soon after he came with a squad of negroes armed
with feeling rods and spades, found and filled it. It had baffled their
scrutiny for three days. The man who revealed the secret betrayed himself and
that evening was hunted out, given a clean shave of his head and on his
forehead was tattooed the word. "Traitor." Next day rations were
ordered withheld till those who did the job reported at the gate. I don't know
that anyone reported but rations came the day after leaving us a vacuum of one
day.
Petitions have been
circulating praying our government for relief. I did not sign. They are
sanctioned by Rebel authority, intended to produce political effect and to
leave the impression in the North that the prisoners condemn government policy
in reference to exchange, therefore to serve a purpose of its enemies. It
abounds in dictation and censure, suppressing facts.
Reports of movements
in north Virginia are true. Sherman is up to Atlanta; Johnston relieved by
Hood. They think Johnston, fights on the principle that "He who fights and
runs away will live to fight another day." Federal cavalry at Montgomery
and Taladega, Ala., and at Macon, Ga., only 60 miles away, which causes great
excitement here. The Rebels are fortifying. Droves of negroes are brought here
from plantations and put to work. Troops and citizens, all sexes and sizes,
flock in and quarters are being built, making a ville of the place. We look
over to it from high ground and reflect that it is one of the new born of
Secessia. A man near the stream cut his own throat today. Several hundred Rebel
soldiers are shipped by rail for Macon. Three men brought in whom the Rebels
suspect were scouts. They were put in the stocks several hours, but gave no
information. James English of our company, of New York City, died July 17th.
SOURCE: John Worrell
Northrop, Chronicles from the Diary of a War Prisoner in Andersonville
and Other Military Prisons of the South in 1864, p. 92
Weather severely hot
as it has been learned that a break by the prisoners is planned, and warns them
for three weeks. A supply of sumach buds must have arrived and are given out
freely to be steeped and drank for scurvy. A sergeant belonging to a work squad
outside was shot by a guard, wounding him in the arm and hip and wounding
another man, He took hold of the guard's gun. Some on parole get too intimate
with Rebels; value principles less than extra rations. That such men have to be
shot to remind them that they are dealing with traitors does not so much
matter. While washing my shirt at the creek this afternoon the centry [sic] fired, the shot whizzing by my head
as I stooped, striking in the bank and spattering mud in the faces of four of
us. Lots of shooting has been done by guards for over a week and several men
have been killed and wounded. Limbs are amputated at the hospital for slight
injuries, The arm of one of our men hit by a sentry a few days ago was promptly
sawed off. Another tunnel found; dogs are seeking a trail. New forts are
plainly to be seen. Negroes work all night. Reported fighting at Atlanta and
that some of our forces are expected at Macon.
SOURCE: John Worrell
Northrop, Chronicles from the Diary of a War Prisoner in Andersonville
and Other Military Prisons of the South in 1864, pp. 92-3
72d Ill. detailed as
rear guard. A large train of supplies and ammunition going out to the armies in
advance. Roads terribly dusty and weather exceedingly hot. Met hundreds of
"contrabands" going into Grand Gulf. No one can imagine the
picturesque and comic appearance of the negroes, all ages, shapes and sizes.
All seemed happy at the idea of being free, but what is to become of them the
men can be made soldiers, but women and children must suffer. Encamped in a
beautiful grove; not having tents, we bivouacked in the open air.
SOURCE: Joseph
Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph
Stockton, p. 14
To day, Sarah Bates, by one single deed, set
free all her remaining slaves — being 32 in number. The deed was proven in
Court, by John. S. McCune and Edward Bates, two of the subscribing witnesses —
the witness being C. Woodson Bates.61
She has long wished
to accomplish this end but was never quite ready to do it till now.
In her late severe
sickness, the though[t] of leaving her slaves to be held as property and to
serve strangers after he[r] death, seemed to give her great distress. She
talked of it painfully, sleeping and waking.
Having executed the
deed, and then fulfilled her long-cherished wish, she seemed relieved of a
burden, and greatly cheered and lightened.
61 Mr. Bates's youngest son. See supra, "
Introduction."
SOURCE: Howard K.
Beale, Editor, Annual Report of The American Historical Association For
The Year 1930, Vol. 4, The Diary Of Edward Bates, pp. 17-8
Resumed the march
early, found the river waist high, and current swift; but the men all got over
safely, and we reached camp at one o'clock.
The Third has been
assigned to a new brigade, to be commanded by Brigadier-General Dumont, of
Indiana.
The paymaster has
come at last.
Willis, my new
servant, is a colored gentleman of much experience and varied accomplishments.
He has been a barber on a Mississippi river steamboat, and a daguerreian
artist. He knows much of the South, and manipulates a fiddle with wonderful
skill. He is enlivening the hours now with his violin.
Oblivious to rain,
mud, and the monotony of the camp, my thoughts are carried by the music to
other and pleasanter scenes; to the cottage home, to wife and children, to a
time still further away when we had no children, when we were making the
preliminary arrangements for starting in the world together, when her cheeks
were ruddier than now, when wealth and fame and happiness seemed lying just
before me, ready to be gathered in, and farther away still, to a gentle,
blue-eyed mother—now long gone—teaching her child to lisp his first simple
prayer.
SOURCE: John
Beatty, The Citizen-soldier: Or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, pp. 77-8
The parson is in my
tent doing his best to extract something solemn out of Willis' violin. Now he
stumbles on a strain of "Sweet Home," then a scratch of "Lang
Syne;" but the latter soon breaks its neck over "Old Hundred," and
all three tunes finally mix up and merge into "I would not live alway, I
ask not to stay," which, for the purpose of steadying his hand, the parson
sings aloud. I look at him and affect surprise that a reverend gentleman should
take any pleasure in so vain and wicked an instrument, and express a hope that
the business of tanning skins has not utterly demoralized him.
Willis pretends to a
taste in music far superior to that of the common "nigger." He plays
a very fine thing, and when I ask what it is, replies: "Norma, an opera
piece." Since the parson's exit he has been executing "Norma"
with great spirit, and, so far as I am able to judge, with wonderful skill. I
doubt not his thoughts are a thousand miles hence, among brownskinned wenches,
dressed in crimson robes, and decorated with ponderous ear-drops. In fact,
"Norma” is good, and goes far to carry one out of the wilderness.
SOURCE: John
Beatty, The Citizen-soldier: Or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, p. 81
. . . Stopped at Law School on my way down, with Mr. Ruggles, and conferred a little with the graduating class. The young men have expressed the wish to have a sermon preached to them before their Commencement (the 23d instant) on the duties of their profession; very becoming and graceful, especially as it is quite spontaneous. Hawks was applied to, but after nibbling a little at the invitation, declined it. He is lazy, and it may be, too, that he himself was aware that the subject demanded heavier metal than his smooth, wordy rhetoric. So the class instructed us to apply to Vinton, and we called at Trinity Church after service. Vinton sees plainly enough that it is an opening not to be despised, and accepts readily. . . . Afterwards with Lewis Rutherfurd and William Betts, about degrees to be conferred at this Law Commencement. We propose to LL.D. Judges Ingraham, Woodruff, and Daly, who have consented to act as a committee to examine the essays and examination papers and award the prizes. Vivat the Law School! I hope to make a great deal out of it.
The Baltimore Convention of conservative fogies and fossils nominates Bell for President and Edward Everett for Vice-President. Not of much practical importance probably, but I for one am tired of talk about niggers and feel much inclined to vote for anybody who promises to ignore that subject.
SOURCE: Allan Nevins
and Milton Halset Thomas, Editors, Diary of George Templeton Strong,
Vol. 3, pp. 25-6
We have been listening all day to the booming of Cannon and beating of Drums. Troops are constantly embarking at the Arsenal and marching through and about the City. But the tents on the hills back of the City do not seem to diminish in number, but most of the Regts are under marching orders to be ready in a few minutes when called upon to go. I[t] rained nearly all last night and rains tonight and the mud is almost as bad as ever in the streets, and the boys are again levying toll upon passengers at the crossings. — Doct David called this morning with another Surgeon. I think the Dr is a little homesick (very little). Comodore Foot is still throwing shells among the rebels at Island No 10. Yesterday the land forces were to arrive and act in concert with him. Went down to the Ave after dinner. Visited the “Ariated Bread” Bakery foot of 10th st. Went into some Machine Shops. Penn Ave was crowded to excess, Carriages, Hacks, Govt Wagons, stubborn mules refusing to go, drivers swearing, Soldiers marching, Drums beating, Bands playing, Dragoons and “orderlies” rushing through at great speed. Officers and Privates, Citizens & Congressmen, Negros & Newsboys, all hurrying to and fro on the broad Side walk without any order or regularity as regards turning “to the right.” All put together made a lively time of it, and I was not sorry to get away from the uproar and confusion of the Ave to a more quiet part of the City. The two elder boys have been up to the camp of the 98th today. They have gone to bed tired. Julia is reading her Spanish lesson. Wife has prepared a cup of tea & some ariated Bread & buter, and placed it invitingly near me on the table. We rarely get a regular “Tea” at night, dining past 4 renders it hardly necessary. It is usualy done in a sort of fugitive way about 8 or 9 o'clock, sometimes later. We cannot contrive to get to bed before about 11 o'clock, that is, myself and wife. Julia goes before 10 usualy, and the boys about 8.
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.
We have had quite a snow storm today and the streets are again wet and muddy. No particular news from any of the armies. The Bombardment of Island No 10 continues. I presume it is merely to keep a large force of the rebels Gun Boats &c away from other points New Orleans perhaps while our troops attack them. Bought a Draft this morning for 730, less 1/4 pr ct at discount and sent to Doct Davids wife, Lyons, as requested. The 98th is now encamped near Alexandria. “Bud” rode down there today and saw them. The 27th are at their old camp near the Seminary. Twenty thousand men passed over the River yesterday and last night, but soldiers and officers seem to be about as thick on the Ave as ever. Congress is draging along the Tax Bill, and discussing the everlasting Negro. When will that question end?
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.
Went out beyond Maj. Winn's, brought his family and negroes out, skirmished with the Yankees for some time, nothing serious.
SOURCE: Ephraim Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's Texas Rangers, p. 11
Had a good run during the night A. M. Passed Natchez but did not get to see any of the city except "Natchez under the hill." boat stopping but a few minutes. At 11.30 at the mouth of Red River where are stationed 8 gunboats & Monitors to guard the river. here had a sight of the formidable Rebel Ram Tenesee. She is a formidable looking vessel. at 1.45. landed at Murgauge. Saw Warren Alney, & took on board 1 battalion of 2 NY. Cav. Place defended by 7 negro Regts & battery. Rebs close. Start down at 6.30
SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, Thirty-Third Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, Vol. XIII, No. 8, Third Series, Des Moines, April 1923, p. 574
Pass Port Hudson in the night also Battan Rouge. all day passing through the richest contry I ever saw. fine plantations splendid houses & villages of negro houses in regular order with streets; land at Carrolton at 3. P. M. go off & look around but few troops here. Saw flowers in bloom, & oranges on trees. town all the way from here to New Orleans which place we land at at 4 P. M. Gnl Reports. we then cross & disimbark at Algiers at 4.30. any amount of Black troops, & our Brigade which is again disorganized. Hear that Genl Steele is removed. Genl Veach assigned the comd of a Div, raining when we land and 10. P. M. before our things get to camp. no wood & no fire. More than 200 sailing vessels lieing in river here and about 50 to 100 steamboats some 20 gunboats, no end to small craft. Some troops leave on a steam sailing vessel for 3d time wrecked and loss 15 men
SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, Thirty-Third Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, Vol. XIII, No. 8, Third Series, Des Moines, April 1923, p. 574
While we are
encamped life is so monotonous that I do not usually regard it as necessary to
keep a diary, but occasionally we have a little variety and spice which is
exciting and pleasant. Yesterday we received notice early in the morning to
prepare to march five miles to attend a review of our division which was to
take place about a mile beyond General Hood's headquarters. We left our camp
about 8 o'clock a. m. and reached the muster ground about 10 o'clock. We found
the artillery posted on the extreme right about three-quarters of a mile from
our regiment.
The brigades,
Anderson's, Laws', Robertson's and Benning's, were drawn up in line of battle,
being over a mile long; our regiment a little to the left of the center. As we
were properly formed General Hood and staff galloped down the entire length of
the line in front and back again in the rear, after which he took his position
about 300 yards in front of the center. The whole division was then formed into
companies, preceded by the artillery of about twenty pieces; passed in review
before the General, occupying about an hour and a march
of over two miles and a half for each company before reaching its original
position. The spectacle was quite imposing and grand, and I wish Mary and the
children could see such a sight. After passing in review we rested awhile and
were then again placed in line of battle, and the artillery divided into two
batteries, came out on opposite hills in front of us, where they practiced half
an hour or more with blank cartridges. This was the most exciting scene of the
day except the one which immediately followed, viz: We were ordered to fix
bayonets and the whole line to charge with a yell, and sure enough I heard and
joined in the regular Texas war whoop. This was the closing scene of the day,
after which we marched back to camp. There was an immense crowd of citizens out
on the occasion as spectators, reminding me very much of an old time South Carolina
review.
On our return to
camp Companies E and F were ordered on picket guard about a mile and a half
from camp. We packed up everything and were soon off and are now encamped on
the bank of the Rapidan at Raccoon Ford. Last night was quite cool but I slept
comfortably after the tramp of yesterday.
To-day Companies E
and F are variously employed. There is one squad fishing, another has made a
drag of brush and are attempting to catch fish by the wholesale. Two or three
other squads are intensely interested in games of poker; some are engaged on
the edge of the water washing divers soiled garments as well as their equally
soiled skins. I belonged to this latter class for a while, and have spent the
remainder of the morning watching the varying success or failure of the
fishermen and poker-players, and in reading a few chapters and Psalms in the
Old Testament and the history of the crucifixion in the New. I forgot to say
that on yesterday I met on the parade ground Captain Wade and Major Cunningham,
of San Antonio, and also John Darby and Captain Barker. Darby is the chief
surgeon of Hood's Division. I went up to a house to-day about half a mile from
our picket camp and found a negro woman with some corn bread and butter milk. A
friend who was with me gave her a dollar for her dinner, which we enjoyed very
much. The woman was a kind-hearted creature and looked at me very
sympathetically, remarking that I did not look like I was used to hard work,
and that I was a very nice looking man to be a soldier, etc., etc.
Here are the
chapters I have read to-day: Deut., 23:14; II Chron., 32:8; Jeremiah, 49:2;
Revelation, 21:14.
SOURCE: John Camden
West, A Texan in Search of a Fight: Being the Diary and Letters of a
Private Soldier in Hood’s Texas Brigade, pp. 54-6
It was with a
bounding heart, brimful of gratitude to God, that I stepped on board the Dakota
and bade farewell to Haines Bluff on the second day of August. We have three
hundred sick and wounded on this boat and are short of help. Quite a number who
started as nurses are sick. Four men died the first night. We ran the boat
ashore, dug a grave large enough for all, and laid them in it, side by side.
Our Chaplain read the burial service, and we hastened on board to repeat the
ceremony, the next morning, for some one else. It seems hard—even cruel—but it
is the most solemn burial service I ever witnessed. Nine have died since we
started, and one threw himself overboard in the frenzy of delirium and was
drowned. We kill a beef every evening. Two nights in succession the best part
of a hindquarter has been stolen. The boat hands were questioned, and a huge
Irishman acknowledged the theft. He was court martialed and sentenced to be
"banked." The boat was stopped opposite a wilderness. No human
habitation was in sight. He was forced to pack his bundle, take to the woods
and run his chance with hunger and the Rebels.
As we were running
leisurely along, about 3 o'clock in the afternoon of yesterday, my
curiosity was aroused by our boat running suddenly against the shore and
sticking there. All hands were called, and, with the aid of soldiers, she was
soon shoved off, and on we went again. A Sergeant asked the Mate why we landed
there. His reply was, "Something wrong in the wheel house." One of
our boys asked a darkey the same question. "Well, boss, I 'specs dey see a
rabbit ober dere, an' t'ink dey kotch 'im." Soon after, as two comrades
and myself were sitting in the bow enjoying the cool breeze, my attention was
attracted by the glassy stillness of the water in front of us. Pointing to the
right, I said, "Yonder is the safe place to sail." The words had
scarcely left my mouth when we felt a sudden shock, the bow of the boat was
lifted about two feet, a full head of steam was turned on, which carried us
over the obstruction. We had "struck a snag." Soon after, we anchored
for the night, as the pilot was "too sick" to run the boat.
The sick from our
regiment are doing well. I never saw wounded men do so nicely. Of five who came
as nurses, four are on the sick list. As for myself, I have not been so well in
years.
SOURCE: David Lane,
A Soldier's Diary: The Story of a Volunteer, 1862-1865, pp. 74-5
Then Lieut. Newell told us to "go," and we went, as well as we could, for quarters. Arriving at the granary, and having left our chickens at a negro shanty to be cooked, we turned in, all booted and muddy, and slept through everything till nearly noon. When we started up for breakfast it was a comical sight. Nearly all had turned in their wet clothes, and of course were about as wet when they got up, and very stiff. We found our chickens and ate them. While eating, the 27th guard called us, saying the regiment was under orders and we were to leave immediately. The way those chickens disappeared made those darkies laugh. We went back happy, as we knew when once on board the steamer we could sleep for a while and get rested; for after being on an all-night march of twenty-five miles at least, we were tired out, and felt we would be safer from another trip, for a day or two, than if on shore. We were all on board by half-past four o'clock, and soon after dropped down stream, leaving Plymouth and the 27th in all their glory. The boys who had bunks coming up are forbidden that pleasure now, so a dozen of us congregated together on the deck, outside the cabin, with shelter tents tacked up as roofs ; and we think we are having a better time than those inside, and no "sour grapes" in the mess either.
SOURCE: John Jasper Wyeth, Leaves from a Diary Written While Serving in Co. E, 44 Mass. Dep’t of North Carolina from September 1862 to June 1863, p. 38
DREADFUL DAYS DRAG
ON—NIGGER IN THE EXCHANGE FENCE.
A man shot through the body and killed while dipping water from the
stream several feet inside the dead line. Two sentries fired.
SOURCE: John Worrell Northrop, Chronicles from the Diary of a
War Prisoner in Andersonville and Other Military Prisons of the South in 1864,
pp. 90-1
Today two brigades
of our division were reviewed by Adjutant General Thomas of the United States
Army. Afterwards we were closed in "mass by divisions" and the
general made a speech to us on the "contraband" question. They expect
to raise negro regiments and expect to raise 20,000 in the West, who are to be
officered by white men. He said he had the power to issue commissions to those
who were desirous of becoming officers, but the rush had been so great that the
applications had to be limited to sixty from each regiment; more than that
number have applied, or will apply, from our regiment. General Sanborn, our
brigade commander, told General Thomas as they rode by that our regiment was
the best drilled of the new troops he had seen.
SOURCE: Joseph
Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph
Stockton, p. 12
1 This “What-is-it.”—shortly to be viewed by
the Prince of Wales—became the most famous circus freak in America. Often
called "the missing link," he was really a Negro of distorted frame
and cone-shaped head named William H. Johnson, who survived until 1926.
SOURCE: Allan Nevins
and Milton Halset Thomas, Editors, Diary of George Templeton Strong,
Vol. 3, p. 12
