Major-General John A. Dix to the Citizens of New York, August 17, 1863

Head-quarters, Department of the East, New York City,

August 17, 1863.

To the Citizens of New York:

The draft of men in this city to replenish the ranks of the army, in order to complete more speedily the suppression of the insurrection in the South, having, in consequence of forcible resistance to the execution of the law, been placed under my direction, as commanding officer of the forces of the United States in this Military Department, I have thought it not out of place to present to you some suggestions for your consideration as friends of the Union and of the good order of society.

The law under which the draft is to be made is for enrolling and calling out the National forces. It is founded on the principle that every citizen, who enjoys the protection of the Government and looks to it for the security of his property and his life, may be called on in seasons of great public danger to take up arms for the common defence. No political society can be held together unless this principle is acknowledged as one to which the Government may have recourse when its existence is in peril. There is no civilized country in which it is not recognized.

The law authorizing the draft has been persistently called a conscription law by those who desire to make it odious and defeat its execution. It is in no just sense a conscription like that which was put in force in the sixth year of the French Republic, and abandoned on the restoration of the Bourbons, on account of its oppressive exactions. It is a simple law for enrolling and calling into the service the arms-bearing population of certain ages, and differs in no essential principle from the law authorizing the Militia to be called out, excepting that in the latter case complete organizations are brought into the field. The object of the very provisions of the law which are most beneficial to individuals has been most grossly perverted. If a drafted man finds it inconvenient to serve, he is allowed to furnish a substitute, or to purchase his exemption from service by paying the smallest sum of money for which substitutes are ordinarily obtained. Both these provisions have the same purpose — to provide for cases of hardship; and if either were stricken out, these cases would be proportionably increased in number.

The draft about to be made is for one-fifth part of all persons between twenty and thirty-five years of age, and of the unmarried between thirty-five and forty-five. The entire class between eighteen and thirty-five was long since drafted in the seceded States; and the draft has recently been extended to embrace nearly the whole arms-bearing population. Compared with the burden they are sustaining ours is as nothing. The contest on our part is to defend our nationality, to uphold the institutions under the protection of which we have lived and prospered, and to preserve untarnished the proud memories of our history — brief, it is true, but full of high achievements in science, in art, and in arms. Shall we, in such a cause, shrink from labors and sacrifices which our misguided brethren in the seceded States are sustaining in the cause of treason and social disorganization? For the honor of New York let us take care that the history of this rebellion, more vast than any which has ever convulsed a nation, shall contain nothing to make our children blush for the patriotism of their fathers.

Whatever objection there may be to the law authorizing the draft, whatever defects it may have, it is the law of the land, and resistance to it is revolt against the constituted authorities of the country. If one law can be set at defiance, any other may be, and the foundations of all government may be broken up. Those who, in the history of political societies, have been the first to set themselves up against the law have been the surest victims of the disorder which they have created. The poor have a far deeper interest in maintaining the inviolability of the law than the rich. Property, through the means it can command, is power. But the only security for those who have little more than life and the labor of their own hands to protect lies in the supremacy of the law. On them, and on those who are dependent on them, social disorder falls with fatal effect.

The constitutionality of the law authorizing the draft has been disputed. Near the close of the year 1814, when the country was engaged in war with Great Britain, a similar law was recommended to Congress by the Government, to draft men to fill the ranks of the army, which was gallantly battling, as our armies are now, for the nation's honor and life. Madison, one of the great expounders of the Constitution, which he took a prominent part in framing, was President. Monroe, his successor, then acting both as Secretary of State and Secretary of War, addressed to the House of Representatives a lucid argument in support of the right of Congress to pass such a law. Alexander J. Dallas was Secretary of the Treasury; William Jones, Secretary of the Navy; Return J. Meigs, Postmaster-general; and Richard Rush, Attorney-general. The measure could not well have received a higher party sanction. All laws passed with the established legislative forms are valid until declared otherwise by judicial tribunals of competent jurisdiction. What would become of a people in critical emergencies if no law could be carried into effect until it had passed the ordeal of the courts? or if State or municipal authorities could arrest its execution by calling in question its conformity to the provisions of the Constitution? The President has promptly consented to have it tested by judicial interpretation; but while the car of victory is moving on, and treason is flying before it, God forbid that the State of New York or its constituted authorities should attempt to stay its progress until the judicial process can be consummated.

The accuracy of the enrolment in the city districts having been impeached, a revision was immediately ordered by the President, on a representation from the Governor of the State. But as the men are needed for immediate service, and as the correction of the returns requires time, the quota was ordered to be reduced in all the districts — in some more than half the whole amount — leaving the account for future adjustment. The reduction in the quota exceeds in proportion the alleged excess of the enrolment; so that no personal injustice can possible occur.

Under these circumstances no good citizen will array himself, either by word or deed, against the draft. Submission to the law in seasons of tranquillity is always the highest of political duties. But when the existence of the Government is in peril he who resists its authority commits a crime of the deepest turpitude. He is the voluntary instrument of those who are seeking to overthrow it, and becomes himself a public enemy. Moreover, resistance to the Government by those who are living under its protection, and arc indebted to it for the daily tenure of their property and their lives, has not even the palliation under which those who lead the insurrection at the South seek to shelter themselves—that they are acting under color of authority derived from Legislatures or conventions of the people in their respective States. With us resistance to the constituted authorities is both treason and lawless violence; and if there are any who thus combine to re-enact the scenes of cruelty and devastation by which this city has recently been dishonored, and to defeat by force of arms the execution of the paramount law of Congress, they will be treated as enemies of the country and mankind.

Returning among you from a distance, fellow-citizens, after more than two years of military service in the cause of the Union, to uphold which this city has, in all emergencies, stood forth with a manly patriotism worthy of her high position—having no feeling but to see her good name preserved without blemish, no wish but that she may continue, as she has ever been, the most Orderly of the great commercial towns of the age — I have ventured to address to you these suggestions, to exhort you to the maintenance of order, to obedience to the laws, and to the quiet pursuit of your accustomed avocations, while the draft is in progress.

Should these suggestions be disregarded by any among you, and renewed attempts be made to disturb the public peace, to break down the barriers which have been set up for the security of property and life, and to defeat the execution of a law which it is my duty to enforce, I warn all such persons that ample preparation has been made to vindicate the authority of the Government, and that the first exhibitions of disorder or violence will be met by the most prompt and vigorous measures for their repression.

John A. Dix, Major-general.

SOURCE: Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 88-91

Major-General John A. Dix to Gov. Horatio Seymour, July 30, 1863

Head-quarters, Department of the East, New York City,

July 30, 1863.

His Excellency Horatio Seymour, Governor of the State of New York:

sir,—As the draft under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1863, for enrolling and calling out the National forces, will probably be resumed in this city at an early day, I am desirous of knowing whether the military power of the State may be relied on to enforce the execution of the law, in case of forcible resistance to it. I am very anxious that there should be perfect harmony of action between the Federal Government and that of the State of New York; and if, under your authority to see the laws faithfully executed, I can feel assured that the act referred to will be enforced, I need not ask the War Department to put at my disposal for the purpose troops in the service of the United States. I am the more unwilling to make such a request, as they could not be withdrawn in any considerable number from the field without prolonging the war and giving aid and encouragement to the enemies of the Union at the very moment when our successes promise, with a vigorous effort, the speedy suppression of the rebellion.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

John A. Dix, Major-general.

SOURCE: Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 77-8

Diary of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire: July 18, 1863

This day two years ago the battle of Bull Run was fought, a kind of prelude to that of Manassas, on the 21st. Since that time what scenes have been enacted! Battles have been fought by scores, and lives, precious lives, have been sacrificed by thousands, and that, too, of the very flower of our country. Again I have heard of the death of one of our dear E. H. S. boys — William H. Robb, of Westmoreland. He was with us for four years, and was very, very dear to us all. He died of wounds received in a cavalry fight at Brandy Station. We thought he had recovered, but this evening brought the fatal tidings. The news of the New York riots, which they got up in opposition to the draft, is cheering! Oh! that they could not get up another army, and would fight each other! Fitz Lee's cavalry had a fight yesterday at Shepherdstown, and repulsed the enemy handsomely. All eyes turn gloomily to Charleston. It is greatly feared that it will have to succumb to Federal force. I trust that our Heavenly Father may avert so dire a calamity!

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 231-2

Major-General John Sedgwick to his Sister, July 26, 1863

Warrenton, Virginia, July 26, 1863.

My dear sister:

Since I last wrote you we have been marching every day over the worst roads, and about the hottest days, except when raining, that I have ever seen or felt. Since we left Fredericksburg, now six weeks since, it has been the same thing, marching almost day and night, for many of our hardest marches have been made by night. We have done an incredible amount of labour, if we have accomplished but little. If the people of Pennsylvania had risen as they should have done, they might have done more injury to the enemy after the battle of Gettysburg than our army did at the battle. But it will scarcely be believed that not ten thousand men turned out, and then refused to follow into Maryland. New York sent more men to Harrisburg that followed up the enemy to the Potomac than Pennsylvania did, and the extortion to our troops, the sick and wounded included, surpasses belief. I am worn out. I have not had any clothes off since leaving the Rappahannock, and the army and animals are exhausted. Whether we are to have some rest here is uncertain. I regard it as an unsafe position; it is the one that Pope occupied last year, and we are but a little stronger. All of the reports in the papers regarding the demonstration of their army are untrue; at least, there is but little evidence of it. We have had no mail in the last week, and I know nothing that has been going on. A mail is expected to-night. The riots in New York have been suppressed, but their effect must have been more disastrous than the loss of a great battle. This is a beautiful country, but has not been cultivated this year; fences all down, houses deserted, and everything denoting the presence of both armies last fall, and the fear of both coming again; there are no such articles as vegetables or groceries to be had. We captured twelve thousand head of cattle and eight thousand head of sheep that the enemy had driven from Pennsylvania. Amongst the cattle were many cows and calves, which have been divided. One cow fell to my lot, which comes in good time, as at Berlin, Maryland, I gave mine to a parson who had his only one killed by our soldiers. Has the draft taken place in Connecticut?

With much love, I am

Your affectionate brother.

John Sedgwick.

SOURCE: George William Curtis, Correspondence of John Sedgwick, Major-General, Volume 2, p. 137-8

Major-General John Sedgwick to his Sister, July 17, 1863

Berlin, Few Miles From Harper's Ferry,

July 17, 1863.

My dear sister:

I received your letter of the 10th instant last night. This is the first day in the last twenty that we have not been on the move or engaged in the presence of the enemy, and it is a wet, dreary day. You have no doubt read that the enemy crossed the river at Williamsport on the 13th. Their forces now are far superior in numbers to ours. You will hear of the immense reinforcements that are being sent to this army, and wonder why we do not crush their army. All the troops sent us are thirty days' militia and nine months' volunteers, and are perfectly useless. I am tired of risking my corps in such unequal contests.

Captain Halsted will write you to-day, giving you a sketch of our marches for the last few days. The battles around Gettysburg were victorious, and had we been reinforced we could have made it a rout.

I enclose a letter from another John Sedgwick, wanting to know something of our family. I wish you would send it to Cousin Charles of Sharon and ask him to answer it. I am not sufficiently acquainted with the “tree” to give him the information.

I am glad you have found everything so pleasant and looking so beautiful around our home. I sincerely wish I was there with you to enjoy it. If it was not for that terrible riot in New York, which has been worse to us than the loss of a great battle, everything would look as if a termination to the Rebellion was at hand.

I am, as ever,

Your affectionate brother,

J. S.

SOURCE: George William Curtis, Correspondence of John Sedgwick, Major-General, Volume 2, p. 131-3

Francis Lieber to Senator Charles Sumner, March 6, 1864

March 6.

When I wrote to you yesterday, in great haste, I omitted mentioning the historic act — the, to me, great symbolic fact — of the presentation of colors to the regiment of blacks in Union Square by our Club. There were drawn up in line over a thousand armed negroes, where but yesterday they were literally hunted down like rats. It was one of the greatest days of our history, — at least, of the history of this city. A few months ago the question was put to us whether a Massachusetts colored regiment might march through New York to embark. It was decided, and justly so, that it could not be done without being prepared for bloodshed. That was shortly before the riots; and now, within half a year, a colored regiment is cheered, and kerchiefs wave from every window. I was deeply, deeply moved. It was for once a visible step forward. . . .

. . . Is the law of Massachusetts, or amendment of the constitution of Massachusetts, giving to soldiers and sailors abroad in war the right of sending home their votes in State elections, separately printed? If so, could I have a copy? I want it for a grave purpose; at least, the writing an addition to that passage in my “Civil Liberty” where I have treated of the voting of armies appears sufficiently grave to me. I have to make this distinction, of which I never thought before: namely, the voting of soldiers as soldiers, that is to say, by companies and battalions, — en bloc, the French way, and which is unconditionally to be condemned, — and the voting of soldiers as citizens sending home their votes to their respective election districts. . . .

SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 342-3

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

New York, August 2, 1863.

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

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

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Anna Jackson Lowell, June 5, 1863

Camp Brightwood, June 5, 1863.

I do not see what you and Mr. Child find to be so hopeful about, — I see no evidence of yielding on their part, and no evidence of greater vigour on ours; we are again on the defensive as we were last August, — are again idle for want of troops, — and Lee will again be in Maryland without a doubt. I do not think this at all a hopeless state of things, but I see no prospect of any immediate end, which, I suppose, is what you are looking for.¹ The people are of a more resolute temper than at this time last year, but, on the other hand, party lines are drawing more distinctly, and I should not be surprised to see exhibitions of disloyalty in some of our Northern cities; these will be put down, and in the end the Government will be the stronger for them, but meanwhile may not military operation be embarrassed and perhaps postponed? Do you remember, Mother, how soon another Presidential canvass is coming round? I seriously fear that that, too, will be allowed to delay very vigorous operations, — and all this time the South is growing stronger. However, we may get Vicksburg, and may cripple Lee, if he comes into Maryland. I think we are altogether too apt to forget the general aspect of affairs and regard single events as of entire importance: this makes any predictions useless, — it would operate for us in case of success as it has hitherto operated against us: but so far from feeling hopeful, I am sometimes inclined to believe that we are going to see a change: that whereas we have had few victories, but have been on the whole successful, we are now going to gain victories and find them comparatively useless.

_______________

¹ Professor Francis J. Child, the accomplished and genial scholar, Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory, later of English, at Harvard College, and remembered by his admirable editing of English and Scottish Ballads, was an ardent and useful patriot. His spirited collection, War Songs for Freemen, set to stirring tunes, were sung in the college yard by youths, many of whom soon left their studies for the front.

This letter shows surprising foresight in Lowell. Lee's invasion began immediately afterward, was checked at Gettysburg, and Vicksburg fell before Grant; but within a week draft riots in Boston and New York, dangerous and bloody, broke out and were sternly suppressed. In spite of the defeats, the Rebel power was not broken. The Presidential election was a great victory, and England did not dare to aid the Confederates; yet the war dragged slowly until Grant's advance on Richmond began, in May. In spite of his siege of Richmond, Washington was again endangered in July, 1864, and Maryland and Pennsylvania threatened by Early even later.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 253-5

George William Curtis to Charles Eliot Norton, July 19, 1863

New York, July 19th, '63.

On Tuesday evening, upon an intimation from a man who had heard the plot arranged in the city to come down and visit me that night, and find Horace Greeley and Wendell Phillips, “who were concealed in my house,” I took the babies out of bed and departed to an unsuspected neighbor's. On Wednesday a dozen persons informed me and Mr. Shaw that our houses were to be burned; and as there was no police or military force upon the island, and my only defensive weapon was a large family umbrella, I carried Anna and the two babies to James Sturgis's in Roxbury. Frank was with Mrs. Shaw at Susie Minturn's up the river. Today I am going with him to Roxbury, but shall return immediately, so that I cannot see you. We have now organized ourselves in the neighborhood for mutual defense, and I do not fear any serious trouble.

The good cause gains greatly by all this trouble. The government is strong enough to hold New York, if necessary, as it holds New Orleans, Baltimore, and St. Louis. There must be a great deal more excitement, and if Seymour can bring the State, under a form of law, against the national government, he will do it. It will be done by a state decision of the unconstitutionality of the conscription act. But as a riot it has been suppressed, as an insurrection it has failed. No Northern conspiracy for the rebellion can ever have so fair a chance again as it had in this city last week, without soldiers, with a governor friendly to the mob, and with only a splendid police which did its duty as well as Grant's army.

SOURCE: Edward Cary, George William Curtis, p. 165-6

Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Mead, July 16, 1863

Headquarters Army Of The Potomac,

Berlin, Md., July 16, 1863.

I wrote to you of the censure put on me by the President, through General Halleck, because I did not bag General Lee, and of the course I took on it. I don't know whether I informed you of Halleck's reply, that his telegram was not intended as a censure, but merely “to spur me on to an active pursuit,” which I consider more offensive than the original message; for no man who does his duty, and all that he can do, as I maintain I have done, needs spurring. It is only the laggards and those who fail to do all they can do who require spurring. They have refused to relieve me, but insist on my continuing to try to do what I know in advance it is impossible to do. My army (men and animals) is exhausted; it wants rest and reorganization; it has been greatly reduced and weakened by recent operations, and no reinforcements of any practical value have been sent. Yet, in the face of all these facts, well known to them, I am urged, pushed and spurred to attempting to pursue and destroy an army nearly equal to my own, falling back upon its resources and reinforcements, and increasing its morale daily. This has been the history of all my predecessors, and I clearly saw that in time their fate would be mine. This was the reason I was disinclined to take the command, and it is for this reason I would gladly give it up.

I consider the New York riots very formidable and significant. I have always expected the crisis of this revolution to turn on the attempt to execute the conscription act, and at present things look very unfavorable.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 2, p. 135

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: Saturday, July 18, 1863

Lee has got over the Potomac with a loss, in crossing, of 1500; and Johnston has abandoned Jackson, Miss.

But we have awful good news from New York: an Insurrection, the loss of many lives, extensive pillage and burning, with a suspension of the conscription!

Gen. Morgan is in the enemy’s country.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 381-2

Major General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, July 28, 1863

CAMP 18 M. E. OF VICKSBURG,

July 28, 1863.

Dear Brother:

Since my return from Jackson, I have been very busy — every general officer but two has gone on furlough, and everybody wants to go. . . .

The railroad comes within four miles of my tent, and I have its exclusive use and a telegraph at my elbow. If you come down you will find your name a passport, but should that fail you, see General Grant or McPherson in Vicksburg, and they will put you through. I don't think there is any danger on the river now unless it be on the Ohio, which you can avoid by taking cars to Cairo. Vicksburg is worth seeing, and a glance will tell you more than reams of paper why it took us six months to take the place. I am camped near Big Black, four and one-half miles northeast of where the railroad crosses it. My depot of supplies is at the crossing. Col. J. Condit Smith is my quartermaster, and should you reach that point before I am advised by telegraph, apply to him and he will send you to my camp. I have four divisions here much reduced, but still a good stock. In the riots of New York I recognize the second stage of this war, but I trust our Government will deal with them summarily. The war has progressed as fast and as successfully as should be.

Your brother,

W. T. SHERMAN

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman letters: correspondence between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 209-10