John L. Motley to Mary Lothrop Motley, December 1862

Vienna, December, 1862.

My Dearest Little Mary: Your last letter was very pleasant to us — I have so high a respect for General Wadsworth. I hardly know a man in the whole country by whose course I have been so electrified as I was by his. Nothing can be nobler or more heroic than his career ever since the breaking out of the war. Certainly these are times that prove the mettle men are made of, and not only does his character, but his intellect, shine forth most brightly since the great events in which he has been taking part have revealed what was in him. The few speeches which he made in the late canvass seemed to me of the highest order of eloquence.

It is some good fruit at least of these unhappy times that we learn to know our contemporaries. In piping times of peace I should not have thought of James Wadsworth other than the agreeable man of the world, the liberal man of fortune, the thriving landlord, and now he turns out a hero and a statesman.

We were inexpressibly shocked and grieved to hear of the death of sweet, dear, and beautiful Mrs. d'Hauteville. How much of loveliness and grace and gentle, intelligent, virtuous womanhood is buried in that grave! What a loss to her family who adored her, to so many friends who admired her and loved her, to her son far away on the field of danger! Certainly we live in tragic days. You may live to see tranquil and happy ones, but it is not probable that we of this generation will do so. The great slave revolution will, I think, take almost the span of one generation to accomplish itself thoroughly. This partial pro-slavery reaction in the North has, I fear, protracted the contest. I say partial, because on taking a wide view of the field I find really that the antislavery party has made enormous progress this year. The States of Pennsylvania and Ohio were almost evenly balanced on a general election taken immediately after the President's Emancipation Proclamation. Massachusetts gave 20,000 majority to the antislavery party; and although the city of New York was pro-slavery, as it always has been, yet the State, the really American part of the four millions of the inhabitants, voted by a great majority for Wadsworth. Then, the result of the Missouri election outweighs all the pro-slavery triumphs in any other State. If I had been told five years ago that that great slave State would, in the year 1862, elect five emancipationists out of the nine members of Congress, and that emancipation would have a strong majority in each house of the Missouri Legislature, I could not have believed in such a vision. . . . This is one of the revolutions that does not go backward. “Die Welt ist rund und muss sich drehen.” I suppose the din about McClellan's removal goes on around you. I take little interest in the matter. It is in vain to try to make a hero of him. But there is so much that is noble and generous and magnanimous in his nature, so much dignity and forbearance, and he is really so good a soldier, that it seems a pity he could not have been a great man and a great commander.

We are humdrumming on as usual. Yesterday we dined at our colleague's, the Dutch minister, Baron Heeckeren. This is our only festivity for the present. I am glad the Hoopers have been so kind as to invite you to Washington again. It is a great privilege for you, and I am very grateful to them. Always remember me most kindly when you see them. I owe Mr. Hooper a letter, which I shall immediately answer.

Ever your most affectionate

Papagei.

SOURCE: George William Curtis, editor, The Correspondence of John Lothrop Motley in Two Volumes, Library Edition, Volume 2, p. 301-3

Diary of Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle: Monday, July 13, 1863

The luxury and comfort of New York and Philadelphia strike one as extraordinary after having lately come from Charleston and Richmond. The greenbacks seem to be nearly as good as gold. The streets are as full as possible of well-dressed people, and are crowded with able-bodied civilians capable of bearing arms, who have evidently no intention of doing so. They apparently don't feel the war at all here; and until there is a grand smash with their money, or some other catastrophe to make them feel it, I can easily imagine that they will not be anxious to make peace.

I walked the whole distance of Broadway to the Consul's house, and nothing could exceed the apparent prosperity; the street was covered with banners and placards inviting people to enlist in various high-sounding regiments. Bounties of $550 were offered, and huge pictures hung across the street, on which numbers of ragged greybacks* terror depicted on their features, were being pursued by the Federals.

On returning to the Fifth Avenue, I found all the shopkeepers beginning to close their stores, and I perceived by degrees that there was great alarm about the resistance to the draft which was going on this morning. On reaching the hotel I perceived a whole block of buildings on fire close by: engines were present, but were not allowed to play by the crowd. In the hotel itself, universal consternation prevailed, and an attack by the mob had been threatened. I walked about in the neighbourhood, and saw a company of soldiers on the march, who were being jeered at and hooted by small boys, and I saw a negro pursued by the crowd take refuge with the military; he was followed by loud cries of “Down with the b—y nigger! Kill all niggers!” &c. Never having been in New York before, and being totally ignorant of the state of feeling with regard to negroes, I inquired of a bystander what the negroes had done that they should want to kill them? He replied, civilly enough — “Oh sir, they hate them here; they are the innocent cause of all these troubles.” Shortly afterwards, I saw a troop of citizen cavalry come up; the troopers were very gorgeously attired, but evidently experienced so much difficulty in sitting their horses, that they were more likely to excite laughter than any other emotion.

_______________

* The Northerners call the Southerners “Greybacks,” just as the latter call the former “Bluebellies,” on account of the colour of their dress.

SOURCE: Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle, Three Months in the Southern States: April-June, 1863, p. 306-8

Congressman Eli Thayer to John Brown, April 17, 1857

April 17, 1857.

Friend Brown, — I have received your letter containing twenty dollars, and have given it over with contents to Allen & Wheelock, who will attend to your requests. I shall leave to-night for New York City, and may not be back again to look after the things. Please send any directions you wish to Allen & Wheelock. The Boston people have done nobly, especially Mr. Stearns. Dr. Howe has not forwarded the articles named in your letter. As soon as received, I will place them in the hands of Allen & Wheelock. I thought it best to give them your letters, so that they might attend to your requests understandingly. They will be secret.

Will you allow me to suggest a name for your company? I should call them “the Neighbors,” from Luke, tenth chapter: “Which thinkest thou was neighbor to him who fell among thieves?”

Our Virginia scheme is gaining strength wonderfully.¹ Every mail brings me offers of land and men. The press universally favors it, — that is, so far as we care for favor. It is bound to go ahead. You must have a home in Western Virginia.

Very truly your friend,

Eli Thayer.

_______________

¹ Lest it should he thought that this refers to Brown's plan for compulsory emancipation (which was not then disclosed), I hasten to say that this “Virginia scheme” was a combination of political campaigning and land speculation, which Mr. Thayer had originated and put in motion at a place named by him Ceredo, in West Virginia.

SOURCE: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 383

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

Diary of Colonel William F. Bartlett: May 13, 1864

Much better this morning. Leave Baltimore at ten A. M. Reach New York at seven P. M. Found mother and father here at Fifth Avenue. Cheers when I entered the hotel. Great excitement

SOURCE: Francis Winthrop Palfrey, Memoir of William Francis Bartlett, p. 102

Governor Horatio Seymour to Major-General John A. Dix, August 20, 1863

State of New York, Executive Department,

Albany, August 20,1863.

To Major-general John A. Dix, commanding Department of the East:

sir,—I have received yours, without date, in answer to my letter of the 15th instant. You are already advised of the causes of my delay in answering the suggestions in your communication of the 30th of July. It is also proper I should state to you that no notice was given to me of the time when the draft would be made in the city of New York, neither was I advised of the draft which was begun in July and interrupted by riotous proceedings. I learned from the New York journals received here on Monday that the draft would be made on Wednesday, which gave me but one day's time in an unofficial notice on which to consult with the Generals commanding militia in the counties of New York and Kings.

The notices sent to me by Colonel Fry advise me of the completion of the enrolment in the several districts, the number to be drafted, and the fact that the draft is ordered.

I send you herewith a copy of one of these letters; they are all substantially alike. They do not state when the draft will be made; and in most cases several weeks, and in some instances more than a month, elapse before the draft is made. I therefore expected some interval between the notice and the draft. In the case of the Sixth District in New York the letter of Mr. Fry was received the day before the draft commenced.

You will see that no time was allowed for getting credits for volunteers, for making suggestions or preparations. I do not know that the fault rests with Colonel Fry, but it is proper for me to state these facts.

Truly yours, etc.,

Horatio Seymour.

SOURCE: Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 83-4

Diary of Corporal Charles H. Lynch: November 11, 1864

Had a very pleasant short visit at home. The regiment assembled this forenoon, soon in line, on the march through New Haven, to the railroad station. We received a great send off by the citizens of New Haven, cheering and wishing us good luck. Soon on board train bound for New York. Made good time. Marched through the city. All quiet. No toughs in sight. Mr. Lincoln's election made things quiet. Crossed the Cortlandt Street ferry to Jersey City. Soon on board train, bound for Martinsburg, which we were anxious to reach.

SOURCE: Charles H. Lynch, The Civil War Diary, 1862-1865, of Charles H. Lynch 18th Conn. Vol's, p. 134

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Sunday, March 6, 1864

A beautiful day, no wind and quite warm. General W. H. Morris has had lady visitors form New York City. Our band has been playing for him. There were services to-day in the chapel; several ladies were present; good dress parade this evening; cheering news from Kilpatrick's cavalry.

SOURCE: Lemuel Abijah Abbott, Personal Recollections and Civil War Diary, 1864, p. 24

Diary of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire: August 20, 1864

A friend from the Valley has described a successful attack made by Mosby on a Federal wagon-train near Berryville. It was on its way to the army near Strasburg, and Mosby was on the other side of the Shenandoah. He crossed in the night with one cannon and about seventy-five men, and at daylight surprised the drivers and guard as they were beginning to hitch their mules, by a salute from the cannon and seventy-five pistols. There was a general stampede in an instant of all who were unhurt. As quick as thought, 600 mules were turned towards the river, and driven to the command in Loudoun. In the mean time, the wagons were set on fire, and most of them and their contents were consumed before the luckless drivers could return to their charge.

It is said that our new steamer, the “Tallahassee,” has been within sixty miles of the city of New York, very much to the terror of the citizens. It also destroyed six large vessels. I bid it God-speed with all my heart; I want the North to feel the war to its core, and then it will end, and not before.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 292

Diary of Sarah Morgan: Sunday, August 24, 1862

Soon after dinner yesterday two soldiers stopped here, and requested permission to remain all night. The word “soldier” was enough for us; and without even seeing them, Anna and I gladly surrendered our room, and said we would sleep in Mrs. Badger's, instead. However, I had no curiosity to see the heroes, and remained up here reading until the bell summoned me to supper, when I took my seat without looking at them, as no introduction was possible, from their having refrained from giving their names.

Presently I heard the words, “That retreat from Norfolk was badly conducted.” I looked up, and saw before me a rather good-looking man covered with the greatest profusion of gold cloth and buttons, for which I intuitively despised him. The impulse seized me, so I spoke. “Were you there?” “No; but near by. I was there with the First Louisiana for ’most a year.” “Do you know George Morgan?” “Know George? Yes, indeed! You are his sister.” This was an assertion; but I bowed assent, and he went on, “Thought so, from the resemblance. I remember seeing you ten years ago, when you were a very little girl. I used to be at your house with the boys; we were schoolmates.” I remarked that I had no recollection of him. “Of course not,” he said, but did not inform me of his name. He talked very familiarly of the boys, and said he had met them all at Richmond. Next he astounded me by saying he was a citizen of Baton Rouge, though he had been almost four years in New York before the war broke out. He was going to town to look after the “property,” hearing his father had gone to France. An inhabitant of that city, who was so familiar with my brothers and me, and with whom I was not acquainted! Here was a riddle to solve. Let us see who among our acquaintances had gone to France. I could think of none. I made up my mind to find out his name if I had to ask it.

All through supper he talked, and when, in country style, the gentlemen left us at table, I found the curiosity of the others was even more excited than mine. I was determined to know who he was, then.

In the parlor, he made some remark about never having been in ladies' society the whole time he was in Virginia. I expressed my surprise, as George often wrote of the pleasant young ladies he met everywhere. “Oh, yes!” said monsieur, “but it is impossible to do your duty as an officer, and be a lady's man; so I devoted myself to my military profession exclusively.” “Insufferable puppy!” I said to myself. Then he told me of how his father thought he was dead, and asked if I had heard of his rallying twenty men at Manassas, and charging a Federal regiment, which instantly broke? I honestly told him, “No.” “Iagoo, the great boaster,” I decided. Abruptly he said there were very few nice young ladies in Baton Rouge. “Probably so, in his circle,” I thought, while I dryly remarked, “Indeed?” “Oh, yes!” and still more abruptly he said, “ain't you the youngest? — Yes! I thought so! I remember you when you were a wee thing, so high,” placing his hand at a most insultingly short distance from the floor. “Really I must ask your name,” I said. He hesitated a moment and then said in a low tone, “De J——.” “De —— What?” I absurdly asked, thinking I was mistaken. “A—— de J——” he repeated.

I bowed slightly to express my satisfaction, said, “Anna, we must retire,” and with a good-night to my newly discovered gentleman, went upstairs. He is the one I heard George speak of last December when he was here, as having been court-martialed, and shot, according to the universal belief in the army; that was the only time I had ever heard his name, though I was quite familiar with the cart of De J—— père, as it perambulated the streets. My first impressions are seldom erroneous. From the first, I knew that man's respectability was derived from his buttons. That is why he took such pride in them, and contemplated them with such satisfaction. They lent him social backbone enough to converse so familiarly with me; without the effulgence of that splendid gold, which he hoped would dazzle my eye to his real position, he would have hardly dared to "remember me when I was a wee thing, so high." Is he the only man whose coat alone entitles him to respectability? He may be colonel, for all I know; but still, he is A—— de J—— to me. He talked brave enough to be general.

This morning I met him with a cordial “Good-morning, Mr. de J——,” anxious to atone for several “snubs” I had given him, long before I knew his name, last night; you see I could afford to be patronizing now. But the name probably, and the fluency with which I pronounced it, proved too much for him, and after “Good-morning, Miss Morgan,” he did not venture a word. We knew each other then; his name was no longer a secret.

SOURCE: Sarah Morgan Dawson, A Confederate Girl's Diary, p. 187-90

Edwin M. Stanton to Major-General John A. Dix, June 11, 1861

Washington, June 11, 1861.

my Dear Sir, — It gives me great pleasure that in the midst of arduous duties you still bear me in kind remembrance. The meeting of the 24th of April in New York has become a national epoch; for it was a manifestation of patriotic feeling beyond any example in history. To that meeting, the courage it inspired, and the organized action it produced, this Government will owe its salvation, if saved it can be. To the general gratification of the country at your position as Chairman of the Union Committee, there was added in my breast a feeling of security and succor that until that time was unknown. No one can imagine the deplorable condition of this city, and the hazard of the Government, who did not witness the weakness and panic of the administration, and the painful imbecility of Lincoln.

We looked to New York in that dark hour as our only deliverance under Providence, and, thank God, it came. The uprising of the people of the United States to maintain their government and crush rebellion has been so grand, so mighty in every element, that I feel it a blessing to be alive and witness it. The action of your city, especially, filled me with admiration, and proves the right of New York to be called the Empire City. But the picture has a dark side — dark and terrible —from the corruption that surrounds the War Department, and seems to poison with venomous breath the very atmosphere. Millions of New York capital, the time, strength, and perhaps lives, of thousands of patriotic citizens will be wanted to gorge a ravenous crew. On every side the Government and the soldiers are pillaged. Arms, clothing, transportation, provisions, are each and all subjects of peculation and spoil. On one side the waves of treason and rebellion arc madly dashing; on the other is a yawning gulf of national bankruptcy. Our cause is the greatest that any generation of men was ever called upon to uphold — it would seem to be God's cause, and must triumph. But when we witness venality and corruption growing in power every day, and controlling the millions of money that should be a patriotic sacrifice for national deliverance, and treating the treasure of the nation as a booty to be divided among thieves, hope dies away. Deliverance from this danger also must come from New York. Those who are unwilling to see blood shed, lives lost, treasure wasted in vain, must take speedy measures to reform the evil before it be too late.

Of military affairs I can form no judgment. Every day affords fresh proof of the design to give the war a party direction. The army appointments appear (with two or three exceptions only) to be bestowed on persons whose only claim is their Republicanism — broken down politicians without experience, ability, or any other merit. Democrats are rudely repulsed or scowled upon with jealous and ill-concealed aversion. The Western Democracy are already becoming disgusted, and between the corruption of some of the Republican leaders, and the self-seeking ambition of others, some great disaster may soon befall the nation. How long will the Democracy of New York tolerate these things?

The navy is in a state of hopeless imbecility, and is believed to be far from being purged of the treachery that has already occasioned so much shame and dishonor.

In respect to domestic affairs, Mrs. Stanton and I hoped to visit New York last month, but the critical state of affairs made it hazardous to leave our children, and we could not take them with us. With the enemy still at our gates we cannot venture to leave home. We hoped to see you here, especially after you had accepted the appointment of Major-general. But now that the administration has got over its panic, you are not the kind of man that would be welcome. There are many details that I could give you in respect to proceedings here, but it is painful to think of them, and to write them down would be a tedious and disgusting task. I hope our cause may triumph despite the low passions and mean intellects that now weigh it down. But whatever may be our fate, I shall always be happy to be esteemed your friend. Mrs. Stanton and your pet are well, and join in expressions of regard.

Yours truly,

Edwin M. Stanton.

Hon. John A. Dix.

SOURCE: Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 18-20

Adjutant General’s Office of the State of New York, General Orders No. 33, May 8, 1861

General Head-quarters, State of New York,

Adjutant-general's Office, Albany, May 8,1861.

General Orders No. 33.

Under the provisions of the act of April 16,1861, and of General Order No. 13, issued pursuant thereto, John A. Dix, of New York, is hereby appointed a Major-general of the volunteer force called for from this State in compliance with the requisition of the President of the United States.

General Dix is, until farther orders, assigned to the command of the volunteer troops in and about the city of New York.

By order of the Commander-in-chief.

J. Meredith Read, Jr., Adjutant-general.

SOURCE: Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 16

Edwin M. Stanton to Major-General John A. Dix, April 23, 1861

Washington, April 23,1861.

Dear Sir, — This will be handed you by Mr. Andrews, with whom you are acquainted. He will inform you of the state of affairs here: they are desperate beyond any conception.

If there be any remedy — any shadow of hope to preserve this government from utter and absolute extinction — it must come from New York without delay.

Yours truly,

Edwin M. Stanton.

Hon. John A. Dix.

SOURCE: Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 13

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: February 2, 1862

The rumor of yesterday originated in the assertion of a Yankee paper that New Orleans would be taken without firing a gun. Some of our people fear it may be so, since Mr. Benjamin's friend, Gen. Lovell, who came from New York since the battle of Manassas, is charged with the defense of the city. He delivered lectures, it is said, last summer on the defenses of New York — in that city. Have we not Southern men of sufficient genius to make generals of, for the defense of the South, without sending to New York for military commanders?

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 108

Major-General John Sedgwick to his Sister, September 3, 1863

Warrenton, September 3, 1863.

My dear sister:

I received yours of the 30th ultimo last night. I am sorry to find that your finances are so low, almost in as bad a condition as the Confeds’. You must economize and put out more paper, and then repudiate; but if you cannot carry out the transaction in that way, I will send you some of my paper. Let me know. I have sent my sword, etc., to a friend in Washington for a few days, in order to have some photographs taken of it. After that is done I will send it home; let me know if it can be expressed to West Cornwall. Everything was in the very best taste, and as rich as could be made. General Meade had a sword presented him the next day, but nothing to compare with mine. It was made the occasion of a great political meeting, and most of the people came away highly disgusted. There was nothing of this sort here to mar the harmony; every one went to please himself, and generally accomplished it. I have always opposed show of any sort.

There is no military news; both sides seem to be waiting for reinforcements. Ours come in very slowly; I doubt whether we have as many as when we arrived here, but those that have gone to New York will soon be available. The weather is delightful, and the fall is wearing away. I shall try and make you a visit sometime after the campaign is over.

With love to all,

Yours,

J. s.

SOURCE: George William Curtis, Correspondence of John Sedgwick, Major-General, Volume 2, p. 156-7

Lieutenant William Thompson Lusk to Elizabeth Adams Lusk, 1861

Headquarters 79TH Regt.

Camp Advance, Co. K.

Virginia, 1861.

Dear Mother:

A most delightful moonlight forbids my retiring at the usual hour to rest, so I will write and let you know that all is well — that we have had a dull week, that there has been naught to stir the sluggish blood since last week save once, when it was thought that the Army of Beauregard was marching in heavy columns upon us, but it didn't come, so we all said: “Pooh, pooh! We knew it wouldn't. They are too wise to attack us.” Alas, that we should have to tell that sorry tale of Bull Run! Walter has written me, and is full of our defeat. He does not feel flattered by the cheap lithographs in the shop windows representing “Yankees Running,” which are thrust upon his sight all over England. He is delighted though to think that the 79th did well, and that I was a member of the Highland Regiment. As we file out of our camp, full equipped, the soldiers of other Regiments are wont to say, “There go the Highlanders. There will be fighting to-day.” We are now formidably intrenched, and I think can make a tolerable defence against the foe. The Richmond Examiner says: “We” (the Southerners) “flaunt our flag defiantly in the face of the cowed and craven-hearted foe, but they tamely endure the insults we heap upon them, and refuse to accept out challenge to a fair and open fight.” Well I think we can afford to endure the flaunting of the “stars and bars” until McClellan is ready, when we hope to march forward, seeking winter quarters in the pleasant mansions of the South. Just this same thing the Southerners are hoping to gain in the North. Beauregard thinks Philadelphia, Baltimore and New-York, gay places in the season, where the Southern youth may join in the festivities of winter. Nous verrons.

We have a little parson in our regiment, who has a due regard for his personal safety. We love to get him into our tents, and describe with graphic truthfulness the horrid nature of shell wounds. The worst of shells too, we add, is, that they can be thrown to such a distance that even the Doctor and Chaplain are exposed to their death-bearing explosions. Our parson grows uneasy, and when an alarm is given, starts off, carpet-bag in hand, to our intense amusement, for the nearest place of safety. He is like that worthy chaplain, who, on the eve of battle, told the soldiers, “Fear not, for those of you who fall, will this night sup in Paradise.” The battle commenced and the chaplain began to display most entertaining signs of terror. He was reminded of the consoling language he had himself used in the morning. “No thank ye,” he answered quickly, “I never did like suppers.” To such an extent are we obliged to resort to everything to amuse ourselves. Our darkeys give us some amusement and much more trouble. Ours, we have dubbed the “Pongo,” who knows how not to do it, in a manner to excite our unbounded admiration. In the evening these Africans have a way of getting around the fire and singing real "nigger melodies," which are somewhat monotonous as regards the music, and totally idiotic as regards the words. A favorite of theirs goes thus — viz:

My little boat is on de ocean

Where de wild bird makes de music

All de day.

This will sometimes be repeated for a couple of hours by the indefatigable nigger — indefatigable in this alone.

Good-bye, darling mother.

Most affec'y.,

W. T. Lusk.

SOURCE: William Chittenden Lusk, Editor, War Letters of William Thompson Lusk, p. 87-9

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: July 3, 1862

Mem says she feels like sitting down, as an Irishwoman does at a wake, and howling night and day. Why did Huger let McClellan slip through his fingers? Arrived at Mrs. McMahan's at the wrong moment. Mrs. Bartow was reading to the stricken mother an account of the death of her son. The letter was written by a man who was standing by him when he was shot through the head. “My God!” he said; that was all, and he fell dead. James Taylor was color-bearer. He was shot three times before he gave in. Then he said, as he handed the colors to the man next him, “You see I can't stand it any longer,” and dropped stone dead. He was only seventeen years old.

If anything can reconcile me to the idea of a horrid failure after all efforts to make good our independence of Yankees, it is Lincoln's proclamation freeing the negroes. Especially yours, Messieurs, who write insults to your Governor and Council, dated from Clarendon. Three hundred of Mr. Walter Blake's negroes have gone to the Yankees. Remember, that recalcitrant patriot's property on two legs may walk off without an order from the Council to work on fortifications.

Have been reading The Potiphar Papers by Curtis. Can this be a picture of New York socially? If it were not for this horrid war, how nice it would be here. We might lead such a pleasant life. This is the most perfectly appointed establishment — such beautiful grounds, flowers, and fruits; indeed, all that heart could wish; such delightful dinners, such pleasant drives, such jolly talks, such charming people; but this horrid war poisons everything.

SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 199-200

James Buchanan to Harriet R. Lane, January 16, 1862*

Wheatland, near Lancaster,

16 January [1862].

My Dear Harriet

I have received yours of the 11th Instant; & now enclose you a letter just received under the frank of Mr. Blair.

The invitation from Mr. and Mrs. Ward surprises me. Please to tell Judge Roosevelt that I have no loose copy of my speech in favor of the Independent Treasury, or it would afford me much pleasure to send it to him.

Do you know why our friend Schell is so much in Washington? Is he a witness or a party to any investigation there?

I have not & have not had any intention of writing a history of my administration. What I have done has been to collect & prepare for publication, should this become necessary, a reference to such public & other authentic documents as would fully justify me in all I did & all I did not do since the election of Mr. Lincoln in November last. For the present I have not the least idea of publishing it.

To tell me that a Paper like the Herald, which is read by every body, has no influence is vain. It has a most malign influence both at home & abroad. Its influence was evil in encouraging the secessionists to believe they might depart in peace, & then after its editor had been pursued by a mob, its influence in exasperating the people of England against us has been most unfortunate. It is considered there as a reflex of public opinion in this Country, & especially of that of the great city of New York.

Well, our friend Stanton has been appointed Secretary of War. I presume, without knowing, that this has been done by the influence of General M’Clellan. I have reason to believe they are very intimate. What are Mr. Stanton's qualifications for that, the greatest & most responsible office in the world, I cannot judge. I appointed him Attorney General when Judge Black was raised to the State Department, because his professional business & that of the Judge, especially in California cases, were so intimately connected that he could proceed in the Supreme Court without delay. He is a sound, clear-headed, persevering, & practical lawyer, & is quite eminent especially in Patent cases. He is not well versed in public, commercial, or constitutional law; because his professional duties as a County Lawyer never led him to make these his study. I believe he is a perfectly honest man & in that respect differs from his immediate predecessor. He never took much part in Cabinet Counsels, because his office did not require it. He was always on my side & flattered me ad nauseam. . . .¹

Remember me in great kindness to the Judge & Mrs. Roosevelt.

Yours affectionately

James Buchanan.

Miss Harriet R. Lane.

_______________

* Buchanan Papers, private collection. The paragraph relating to Stanton is imperfectly printed in Curtis's Buchanan, II. 522.

¹ A paragraph relating to an entirely different and personal matter is here omitted.

SOURCE: John Bassett Moore, The Works of James Buchanan, Volume 11: 1860-1868, p. 246-7

George William Curtis to Charles Eliot Norton, July 12, 1864

And how is Ashfield? I should have written you there before if I had supposed there was a post-office at such a height. Do you have to eat oil more than three times a day to keep warm in this weather? We don't. But then we live upon an island in the temperate zone. Or are you warmed by the news of the isolation of Washington? There is something comical about it which I cannot escape, with all the annoyance. The great Dutch Pennsylvania annually sprawling on its back, and bellowing to mankind to come and help it out of the scrape, is perfectly ludicrous. I hope that this year all the States will learn that, while they have no efficient and organized militia, they will be constantly harassed by raids to the end of the war. We have all kinds of rumors here at every moment, from which you are free. But the sense of absurdity and humiliation is very universal. These things weaken the hold of the administration upon the people; and the only serious peril that I foresee is the setting in of a reaction which may culminate in November and defeat Lincoln, as it did Wadsworth in this State. I wish we had a loyal governor, and that New York city was virtuous.

Have you thought what a vindication this war is of Alexander Hamilton? I wish somebody would write his life as it ought to be written, for surely he was one of the greatest of our great men, as Jefferson was the least of the truly great; or am I wrong? Hamilton was generous and sincere. Was Jefferson either? In Franklin's life how the value of temperament shows itself! It was as fortunate for him and for us as his genius.

SOURCE: Edward Cary, George William Curtis, p. 180-1

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: August 15, 1861

Mrs. Randolph came. With her were the Freelands, Rose and Maria. The men rave over Mrs. Randolph's beauty; called her a magnificent specimen of the finest type of dark-eyed, rich, and glowing Southern woman-kind. Clear brunette she is, with the reddest lips, the whitest teeth, and glorious eyes; there is no other word for them. Having given Mrs. Randolph the prize among Southern beauties, Mr. Clayton said Prentiss was the finest Southern orator. Mr. Marshall and Mr. Barnwell dissented; they preferred William C. Preston. Mr. Chesnut had found Colquitt the best or most effective stump, orator.

Saw Henry Deas Nott. He is just from Paris, via New York. Says New York is ablaze with martial fire. At no time during the Crimean war was there ever in Paris the show of soldiers preparing for the war such as he saw at New York. The face of the earth seemed covered with marching regiments.

Not more than 500 effective men are in Hampton's Legion, but they kept the whole Yankee army at bay until half-past two. Then just as Hampton was wounded and half his colonels shot, Cash and Kershaw (from Mrs. Smith Lee audibly, “How about Kirby Smith?”) dashed in and not only turned the tide, but would have driven the fugitives into Washington, but Beauregard recalled them. Mr. Chesnut finds all this very amusing, as he posted many of the regiments and all the time was carrying orders over the field. The discrepancies in all these private memories amuse him, but he smiles pleasantly and lets every man tell the tale in his own way.

SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 105-6