Col. Thomas Kilby Smith to Mrs. Eliza Walter Smith, July 28, 1862

CAMP NEAR MEMPHIS, July 28, 1862.

MY DEAR MOTHER:

I wonder sometimes that I do not lose myself in the frequent flittings I have made; as to the properties, the belongings, they are narrowed down to the smallest possible compass. My little leather travelling trunk is my bed, board, lodging, library, and secretary. Its key long disappeared; and as it is strapped up, I bid an affectionate adieu to all its contents, in the firm belief that I shall never see them again.

Soldiers are great thieves on principle; when they can't steal from the enemy, they circumvent each other to keep in practice, taking that which, “not enriching them,” causes, in its loss, their comrades to swear worse than “our army in Flanders.” One by one my shirts, drawers, socks, gloves, boots, handkerchiefs, books have disappeared. The last theft committed upon me was amusing from its boldness. We were encamped on the edge of an immense cotton field near a grove before “Holly Springs,” on our second march there, when we shelled the city. It was terribly hot; I was longing for something to read, when Stephen most opportunely produced from his bag a most excellent copy of Byron, that I had taken from Bragg's quarters at Corinth. I had entirely forgotten the book, which the boy had boned for his own use, and was overjoyed to get hold of anything to relieve ennui and the deadly tedium of waiting orders with the thermometer at an hundred and upwards, so I seized “My Lord,” and forthwith repaired to a log in the shade; but just as I was composing myself to read, a chattering above made me look up to see a fox squirrel and a jay bird fight. I drew my pistol, aimed at the squirrel, and in that brief moment the book was spirited away by some lurking vagabond who probably sold it for a glass of grog. For three long summer days I cursed that thief. Last night our regimental surgeon hung his trousers on the fence before his tent; they vanished just as he turned his back, and being his sole remaining pair, left him disconsolate. I can tell you many an amusing instance of just such purloinings as vexatious as they are ludicrous.

Still, barring attack sometimes talked of, it being a new base of operations, I think we shall hardly begin a fall campaign before the last of September or the first of October. I also acknowledged receipt of your most affectionate letter of the 4th inst., found here with quite a budget of mail. You say you look only for Halleck’s army. Events multiplying and succeed with lightning-like rapidity. Since the date of your letter Halleck has been given in charge of all the armies of the Union, et nous verrons.

The result of this struggle no human mind can foretell; the farther I penetrate the bowels of this Southern land, the more fully I am convinced that its inhabitants are a people not to be whipped. The unanimity of feeling among them is wonderful. The able-bodied men are all in the army. We find none en route but the old, the feeble, the sick, the women. These last dauntless to the last. Those the army have left behind have learned that there is nothing for them to fear from us. We shower gold and benefits which they accept with a greed and rapacity . . .

Children are reared to curse us. The most strange and absurd stories are told of us, and stranger still, they are believed. I have been gazed at as if I were a wild beast in a menagerie. The slaves thought we were black. We are scorned, though feared, hated, maligned. Seventeen hundred people have left Memphis within three days rather than take the oath of allegiance. Leaving, they have sacrificed estate, wealth, luxury, and the majority of them have gone into the Confederate army. There is scarce a lady in the city; the few who are left, our open and avowed enemies. We shall always whip them in the open field, we may cut them off in detail; we shall never by whipping them restore the Union. If some miraculous interposition of Divine Providence does not put an end to the unnatural strife, we shall fight as long as there is a Southerner left to draw a sword. Europe is powerless to intervene. England may take sides, but she can't grow cotton in the face of a Federal army. France, who is now equipping her navies, who by similarity of language and habit has close affiliations with Louisiana, who is eagerly stretching out her hand for colonies, and to whose arms the Southern Mississippi planters would eagerly look for protection — France must beware; Russia is no uninterested spectator. The first step towards intervention is the match to kindle the blaze of war all over Europe. The South would gladly colonize; it is her only hope for redemption. Congress has forced a new issue. Slavery is doomed. New levies must be forced. Three hundred thousand men from the North will not obey the President's call and volunteer. Drafting on the one side and conscription on the other. The result is plain — a military dictatorship, then consolidation. The days of the Republic are numbered. But a little while and the strong right arm is the only protection to property, the value of property existing only in name.

These thoughts are gloomy, but I must confess there is but little to encourage one who perils his life for his country's honor.

You flatter me when you say my letters are interesting to you. Save to you, or to wife, I am inclined to think there would be found in these letters little worth perusal. They have almost invariably been written while upon the march, in bivouac, often behind intrenchments, right in front of the enemy, and only to reassure you of my continued safety. I continually regret that the pen of the ready writer has not been given me, with industry commensurate. I might then have made pencillings by the wayside, through the wilderness and the camp, worth more than passing notice. For four long months my life has been rife in incident; the circumstance that would have made an era to date from in times that are past, being so rapidly followed by one of more startling nature, as to drive it from the memory, and so the drama of life has gone on, the thrill of excitement a daily sensation.

I had become somewhat familiarized with camp life and its surroundings before I undertook to recruit my own regiment at Camp Dennison. The fall and winter passed away quietly enough in barracks, though it was no light task with me, to recruit, organize, and drill a regiment of new levies.

Suddenly and before spring was opened, marching orders came and we found ourselves hurried into the field, without arms or adequate camp equipage. The first issue of arms I had condemned as unreliable and returned to the State arsenal. Within a week of our arrival at Paducah a detachment from my regiment with borrowed arms had taken possession of Columbus. There our colors waved for the first time over an enemy's fortification, and I may say, par parenthese, this of these colors, that their history is rather peculiar. The regiment never had its regimental colors; the flag we carry was presented by a Masonic lodge of Cleveland to a company I recruited in that city. It floats over me as I write, and I thank God is unstained by dishonor. It waved at Columbus, at Chickasaw Bluff; at Shiloh its guard of four men were all killed, its bearer crushed and killed by the falling of a tree-top, cut off by solid shot. The staff was broken and the flag tangled in the branches; there I dismounted for the first and only time during that day to rescue the old flag, which I took under a sheet of flame. I rode upon it the rest of that day, slept upon it at night, and on Monday flaunted it in the face of the Crescent City Guards. The old flag floated at Russell's house. We were in reserve in that battle, but under fire. It was foremost in all the advances upon Corinth, and the first planted inside the intrenchments. Since the evacuation of Corinth, on detached service, it has been unfurled at all the important points; at Lagrange, at Holly Springs, at Moscow, at Ammon's Bridge, at Lafayette, at Germantown, at White's Station, and now at Memphis. But, to return, we received our arms at Paducah, and were terribly exposed while encamped there. From thence we were transported on steamboats to Chickasaw Bluffs on the celebrated Tennessee expedition. For nine days we were crowded close on small steamboats, and the first day we disembarked were compelled to wade streams breast high, the weather terribly cold. We were driven back by high water. We again embarked and landed at Pittsburg Landing. There my men began to feel the effects of the terrible exposure to which they had been subjected. But no time was allowed to recuperate, constant and severe marches by night and by day kept the army on the qui vive. I can assure you there was no surprise at Shiloh. I made a tremendous night march only the Thursday before, of which I have heretofore given you some account; was ordered upon a march that very Sunday morning, and was setting picket guard till twelve o'clock of Saturday night. Well, then came the great battle and the burying of the dead, and here I will refer you to an autograph order of General Sherman which I enclose; he will doubtless be a great man in time to come, and it will be worth while to preserve as a memorial of the times. . . . After the burial of the dead and a brief breathing spell in a charnel-house, we were ordered forward; then came more skirmishing, then the advance upon Corinth by regular parallels, the felling of enormous trees, to form abattis, the ditch, the rampart, often thrown up by candle-light. Scouting, picketing, advancing in force, winning ground inch by inch, bringing up the heavy siege guns; at last the evacuation, the flight, the pursuit, then the occupation of the country. Now my labors were not lessened, though my responsibilities increased. I was often upon detached service, far away from the main army, as at Ammon's Bridge, where I lay for ten days, and where I had frequent skirmishes, taking many prisoners. There I made acquaintance with the planters, and finally, when I left, destroyed the structure, by chopping it away and by burning, bringing upon my head, doubtless, the anathemas of all the country-side. There is a portion of Tennessee and Mississippi where they know me, and where I think my memory will be green for some time to come. And now I am at Memphis or rather in the suburbs, that I assure you are beautiful. The shrubbery is splendidly luxurious, the most exquisite flowers, magnificent houses and grounds and a splendid country about it. I do not wonder its people have made boast of their sunny South; no more beautiful land is spread out to the sun, but now devastation and ruin stares it in the face. I have met but few of the people, those I have seen are sufficiently polite; but it is easy to see we are not welcome guests, that the Union sentiment expressed, is expressed pro hac vice. If I stay here long I will write you more about them. Thus you have a brief synopsis of the history of my regiment in the field; unfortunately, it has no historian in its ranks; all connected with it have been satisfied with doing their duty, without recording their acts. Thus while we see in every paper, officers and regiments lauded and praised, the most insignificant performances magnified into glowing acts of heroism, the most paltry skirmishes into great battles, we find ourselves unknown. I do not regard courage in battle as a very extraordinary quality, but fortitude on the march and in the trenches, in the endurance of the thousand vicissitudes that attach to such a campaign as we have gone through, is above all praise. My men, now sadly reduced in numbers — for dysentery, diarrhoea, camp fever, exposure, to say nothing of wounds, have done their work — have shown this fortitude in a superior degree. They have been a forlorn hope, have always led the van, have never missed a march, a battle, or a skirmish, but their history will never be written, the most of them will go to their graves unhonored and unsung. But I am wearying you with too long a letter, written not under the most favorable auspices. I enclose you a report from Sherman partly mutilated before I received it.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 225-30

Colonel Thomas Kilby Smith to his sister Helen, March 4, 1862

HEADQUARTERS 54TH REGT. O. V. I. U. S. A.,

ENCAMPMENT NEAR PADUCAH, KY., March 4, 1862.

MY DEAR SISTER HELEN:

You must not any of you be alarmed for my personal safety. I am just as well cared for as if I was by your side in New York, the same good God is above me here as there. My health is excellent, I am only troubled for the loved ones at home. In one of your letters to Lizzie you speak of having heard of my regiment from Washington. I have never permitted it to be puffed through the newspapers, and have only wanted it to win its laurels honestly; but I assure you that it is the finest and best drilled regiment that ever left Ohio, and has been complimented by General Sherman, the Commandant of the Post, as the best regiment in the division here, some fourteen thousand strong. My men have been carefully selected for the Zouave drill — for I suppose that you are aware that it is a Zouave regiment — have been picked out for their youth and physical strength and activity, and I assure you in its ranks may be found some of the most splendid specimens of manly beauty. Their uniform is very handsome, though not as fantastic as the Zouaves you have seen about New York. They have dark-blue jackets, reaching to the hips, trimmed with red; light blue trousers with red stripes down the sides, and white gaiters, reaching some three inches above the ankle. Gray felt hats, low-crowned, and looped at the side with bright red tassels; some of them wear very fancy hats or caps, without vizor or brim, which with the streaming tassel makes them very picturesque. Their overcoats are bright indigo blue, with large capes. They are a splendid, brave, handsome set of fellows. My officers are certainly very handsome men, all of them, and among them men of fine talent, almost all accomplished as amateurs in music, drawing, and all that sort of thing. Some of them are good poets. We often have Shakesperian readings. I send an impromptu got off the other night by one of the lieutenants. . . . A society to which he belonged in college was called the "Owl," and he was requested to deliver a poem. Upon the spur of the moment he wrote that which I enclose and offer as a fair sample of the talent under my command.

My regiment is splendidly armed with the Vincennes rifle, and the troops are in fine spirits. Still there are troubles and trials and bitter vexations attendant upon a command which no one but he who has been through, can appreciate or estimate. Immense responsibility, gross ingratitude, no thanks for almost superhuman efforts, and the constant necessity for coolness, patience, forbearance, and the cultivation of a skin as thick as that of a rhinoceros. . . .

You will expect me to write you some war news; that I cannot do, for it is prohibited. I can tell you that I sent a detachment from my regiment to co-operate with a detachment from another command to occupy Columbus; and I can tell you that one of my lieutenants who was detailed on secret service has just returned from Forts Henry and Donaldson. He corroborates the published accounts of the fight at Donaldson, which was brilliant. Our troops fought under a most terrific hail of shot and shell; some five thousand on both sides were killed and wounded. You learn all these things through the newspapers, however, which relate them much better than I can.

The weather at this point is very changeable. We have had some lovely spring-like days, but to-day is bitterly cold, and yesterday we had snow and rain. March is a disagreeable month, I believe everywhere. It has always been disagreeable to me, wherever I have been.

Paducah was, before it became the seat of war, a beautiful town of some ten thousand inhabitants, among whom was a vast deal of wealth, exhibited in their fine mansions and sumptuous furniture. Very many of the private dwellings, luxurious in their appointments, the Court House, and other public buildings, have been taken for the use of the army. Elegant shade trees have been or are being cut down for fuel; gardens and lawns laid waste; beautiful palings torn down, and devastation made the order of the day. Most of the inhabitants who have been able to do so have gone away. The character of the people is decidedly "Secesh." The town is, of course, under martial law, civil courts for the present abolished, and no citizen can come or go without a pass from the Provost Marshal. A company is detailed from my regiment each day, whose duty it is, in connection with other forces, to guard all the points and lines of ingress and egress to and from the town, with orders to guard and search suspicious persons. All this gives one a full realization of war, which you in the Eastern cities have not yet had brought home to you, and which I trust you may never see. . . .

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 186-8

Colonel Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, February 21, 1862

HEADQUARTERS 54TH REGT. O. V. U. S. A.,

CAMP NEAR PADUCAH, KY., February 21, 1862.

I arrived safely with my regiment yesterday morning, and am now encamped at a point about a mile and a half west of Paducah. Our voyage down the river was made safely and without accident. I think it a little doubtful whether you received my hurried letter written during the voyage, and therefore am disposed to recapitulate, even at the risk of giving you stale news, the circumstances of our departure from Camp Dennison. As I told you in one of our conversations I have considered marching orders as being near at hand for some weeks, and so endeavored to arrange my regimental matters that I should not be taken unawares, but I hardly expected them to come as they did, by telegraph, and on Sunday. I was very strongly tempted to pass that Sunday with you. Camp had become intensely disagreeable, the weather was cold, inclement, and the ground in a horrible condition, and I thought how very comfortable it would be to take a good Sunday dinner with you and have a nap afterwards on the lounge upstairs, enveloped in my new dressing gown, you were so good as to toil over for me, but again I thought if any accident were to occur to the regiment if I were away, that I would never forgive myself or be forgiven by my superior officers, and that at the present time I owed my whole time, at whatever sacrifice, to my country; therefore I resisted all the temptations and blandishments of home, and well it was that I did so. Oh! how bitterly have some of my officers and even privates regretted that they absented themselves, and at what terrible cost will they be to get to their regiment. I had gone through the duties of the day, which for Sunday in camp, or rather garrison, consists of an inspection of the barracks and soldiers with their arms and accoutrements, and was finishing my tour of the hospital when up rode an adjutant, his horse in a foam, and hurriedly handing me a paper, asked me when I could be ready to march. I looked at my watch, coolly took his paper, which was a telegraphic despatch or order, and replied: "In fifteen minutes." He looked at me incredulously and was about to ride off. I called to him, ''Stop, Sir, I will show you my troops in marching order within fifteen minutes, and leave it to you to report the fact." Within ten minutes from that time my soldiers were in line with blankets rolled and knapsacks packed, ready to march a thousand miles. The Adjutant, an old English soldier, by the bye, who was in the Crimean war and has been to India with troops, looked on in astonishment. But cars could not be put upon the railroad before nine o'clock the next morning, and all night I kept the men up cooking rations for three days. I sat up all night myself, and, of course, was about bright and early in the morning. My boys were all eager for the start. I had but one craven hound who deserted me, and he, I am sorry to say, was from . . . His name was . . . and he must be published to the world as a coward and a perjured liar. At nine o'clock as I sat on horseback at the head of the column with my staff about me, an orderly rode over to say that the cars would be ready by the time that I had marched to the depot. The cavalry regiment had sent their band and an escort, and with my own band we made fine music, and I flatter myself a gallant appearance. At the depot we were met by Colonel Burnett of the artillery with his band, and every officer of distinction at camp was there to bid me farewell. They gave me a good send-off. Few troops have left Camp Dennison under pleasanter auspices, and sooth to say I was loath to leave the old camp after all, for there I have spent some pleasant days "under the greenwood tree, and in winter and rough weather." I was so careful to get the troops on board and to see the last man on, that I got left myself and was somewhat thrown out of my calculations. However it ended well enough, for my farewell to you and the dear children would have been heartbreaking all round, and perhaps wholly unnerved me. As usual in moments of great excitement with me, I had lost my appetite, and did not want a great deal to set me back at a time when I required all my faculties at hand. It is just as bad to march troops from home the first time they leave their homes as to march them in battle to the charge. One of my companies was from Cincinnati, and it was almost heartbreaking to see the leavetakings between mother and son, husband and wife, sister and brother. All classes were represented, and I was compelled to put a stop to the terrible scenes mingled with considerable drunkenness (for the soldiers had so many friends that their canteens were well filled and continually replenished with whiskey) by ordering the captain of the boat of which I took charge in person to run her over to the Kentucky shore. My whole time was taken up as a matter of course, and I tried in vain for an opportunity to come to you. We sailed down the river without adventure worth relating, save that our soldiers fought terribly among each other, at least those who were drunk, and we lost one man by drowning, and another whose skull was fractured accidentally by a shovel. I arrived at Paducah at about six o'clock on the evening of Wednesday the 19th inst. As soon as the boat landed and before my report was written, I was waited upon by General Sherman, who is the commandant of this post, and by him shown on board a steamer lying a little farther down stream from our boat, which was thoroughly stowed, rammed, packed, and crowded with prisoners from the enemy, captured at Fort Donaldson, together with five thousand stand of arms. The prisoners were of high and low degree. I was introduced to one or two colonels and several other officers. The men, in my judgment, do not well compare with ours. I think we can always whip them about three to five. They fought magnificently, however, at Fort Donaldson, and lost probably on their side about three thousand killed and wounded. On our side there were thirteen hundred wounded and five hundred killed. We took thirteen thousand three hundred and thirty-six prisoners — these figures are reliable. The hospitals here are perfect charnel houses. . . .

When General Sherman had got through his business with me and had offered the hospitalities of his headquarters, I returned to the boats. The Fannie McBumie, the one in which I sailed, arrived first, and while I was inspecting the prisoners and arms, the Ben Franklin, the boat that had my other detachments, arrived. I was engaged during the night in preparing for disembarkation and at seven o'clock the next morning had my troops, horses, tents, supplies all off; at eight o'clock marched to General Sherman's headquarters, one of the finest regiments, as he told Colonel Stuart in my hearing, he had ever seen. The morning was fine and the boys looked splendidly. We are now, as I told you, encamped at a point about a mile and a half west of the city of Paducah, containing some ten thousand inhabitants. My troops are well bestowed in tents, and I have taken to myself a house of some twelve or fifteen rooms for my headquarters. It was occupied, I believe, by a secessionist, and has fine grounds, stables, etc., about it. I am very much more comfortable than at Camp Dennison. My regiment has the post of honor, and with a battery of artillery guard the encampment. There are a great many troops here. I cannot say nearly how many, for I have not information. I should think twelve or fifteen thousand. General Halleck, under whose command my regiment is placed, is concentrating vast forces here. He anticipates a forward movement. We are ordered to hold ourselves in readiness to march at a moment's notice.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 181-5

Major General Henry W. Halleck to Brigadier General Don Carlos Buell, January 2, 1862

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI,

Saint Louis, January 2, 1862.

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

I have had no instructions respecting co-operation. All my available troops are in the field except those at Cairo and Paducah, which are barely sufficient to threaten Columbus, &c. A few weeks hence I hope to be able to render you very material assistance, but now a withdrawal of my troops from this State is almost impossible. Write me fully.

H. W. HALLECK,

Major-General.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 7 (Serial No. 7), p. 527

Major General Henry W. Halleck to Abraham Lincoln, January 6, 1862

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI,

Saint Louis, January 6, 1862.

To His Excellency the PRESIDENT:

In reply to your excellency's letter of the 1st instant,^† I have to state that on receiving your telegram I immediately communicated with General Buell and have since sent him all the information I could obtain of the enemy's movements about Columbus and Camp Beauregard. No considerable force has been sent from those places to Bowling Green. They have about 22,000 men at Columbus, and the place is strongly fortified. I have at Cairo, Fort Holt, and Paducah only about 15,000, which, after leaving guards at these places, would give me but little over 10,000 men with which to assist General Buell. It would be madness to attempt anything serious with such a force, and I cannot at the present time withdraw any from Missouri without risking the loss of this State. The troops recently raised in other States of this department have without my knowledge been sent to Kentucky and Kansas.

I am satisfied that the authorities at Washington do not appreciate the difficulties with which we have to contend here. The operations of Lane, Jennison, and others have so enraged the people of Missouri, that it is estimated that there is a majority of 80,000 against the Government. We are virtually in an enemy's country. Price and others have a considerable army in the Southwest, against which I am operating with all my available force.

This city and most of the middle and northern counties are insurrectionary – burning bridges, destroying telegraph lines, &c. – and can be kept down only by the presence of troops. A large portion of the foreign troops organized by General Frémont are unreliable; indeed, many of them are already mutinous. They have been tampered with by politicians, and made to believe that if they get up a mutiny and demand Frémont's return the Government will be forced to restore him to duty here. It is believed that some high officers are in the plot. I have already been obliged to disarm several of these organizations and I am daily expecting more serious outbreaks. Another grave difficulty is the want of proper general officers to command the troops and enforce order and discipline, and especially to protect public property from robbery and plunder. Some of the brigadier-generals assigned to this department are entirely ignorant of their duties and unfit for any command. I assure you, Mr. President, it is very difficult to accomplish much with such means. I am in the condition of a carpenter who is required to build a bridge with a dull ax, a broken saw, and rotten timber. It is true that I have some very good green timber, which will answer the purpose as soon as I can get it into shape and season it a little.

I know nothing of General Buell's intended operations, never having received any information in regard to the general plan of campaign. If it be intended that his column shall move on Bowling Green while another moves from Cairo or Paducah on Columbus or Camp Beauregard, it will be a repetition of the same strategic error which produced the disaster of Bull Run. To operate on exterior lines against an enemy occupying a central position will fail, as it always has failed, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred. It is condemned by every military authority I have ever read.

General Buell's army and the forces at Paducah occupy precisely the same position in relation to each other and to the enemy as did the armies of McDowell and Patterson before the battle of Bull Run.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

 H. W. HALLECK,

 Major-General.

[Indorsement. ]

The within is a copy of a letter just received from General Halleck. It is exceedingly discouraging. As everywhere else, nothing can be done.

A. LINCOLN.

JANUARY 10, 1862.

__________

† See page 926.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 7 (Serial No. 7), p. 532-3

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, April 27, 1864

NASHVILLE, April 27, 1864.

. . . To-morrow I start for Chattanooga and at once prepare for the coming campaign. I will have 20,000 less men than I calculated, from the Red River disaster¹ and two divisions of McPherson, whose furlough won't expire. These furloughs have, as I feared, impaired if not lost us this campaign. When men get home they forget their comrades here, and though Governors are very patriotic in offers of troops their acts fall far short of their promises. Our armies are now weaker than at any former point of the war. My old corps has dwindled away to 10,000 though we had promises that all the regiments would come with two or three hundred recruits each, but the recruits seem to have pocketed the money and like selfish men staid at home.

I will begin with Schofield, 12,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry; Thomas, 40,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry; and McPherson, 20,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry. Combined it is a big army and a good one, and it will take a strong opposition to stop us once in motion.

Dalton will be our first point, Kingston next, then Allatoona and then Atlanta. All the attacks of the enemy on Paducah, Fort Pillow and in North Carolina are to draw us off from our concentration. As soon as we move they will attempt to cut in behind and cut our roads and fight us in front. So we are forced to detach men to guard our railroads all the way from Louisville to Chattanooga. . . .

__________

¹ The failure of the Red River expedition under General Banks. See p. 285.

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 288-9.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/13

Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant to Mary Frances Grant, September 11, 1861

Cairo,

September 11th, 1861.

Dear Sister:

Your letter with a short one from Father was received yesterday, and having a little time I answer it.

The troops under me and the rebel forces are getting so close together however that I have to watch all points. Since taking command I have taken possession of the Kentucky bank opposite here, fortified it and placed four large pieces in position. Have occupied Norfolk, Missouri, and taken possession of Paducah. My troops are so close to the enemy as to occasionally exchange shots with the pickets. To-day, or rather last night, sixty or seventy rebels came upon seventeen of our men and were repulsed with a loss of two men killed on their side, none hurt on ours. Yesterday there was skirmishing all day. We had but two wounded however, whilst the loss must have been considerable on the other.

What future operations will be, of course I don't know. I could not write about it in advance if I did. The rebel force numerically is much stronger than ours, but the difference is more than made up by having truth and justice on our side, whilst on the other they are cheered on by falsehood and deception. This war however is formidable and I regret to say cannot end so soon as I anticipated at first.

Father asks for a position for Albert Griffith. I have no place to give and at best could use only my influence. I receive letters from all over the country for such places, but do not answer them. I never asked for my present position, but now that I have it I intend to perform the duties as rigidly as I know how without looking out for places for others. I should be very glad if I had a position within my own gift for Al. but I have not.

My duties are very laborious and have been from the start. It is a rare thing that I get to bed before two or three o'clock in the morning and am usually wakened in the morning before getting awake in a natural way. Now, however, my staff are getting a little in the way of this kind of business and can help me.

I have been stopped so often already in writing this that I have forgotten what I was going to write about.

Are you talking of paying Julia a visit? I wrote to you and father about it several times but have failed to elicit an answer on that point. I intended to have Julia, Miss and Jess come down here to pay me a visit but I hardly think it would be prudent at this time. Hearing artillery within a few miles it might embarrass my movements to have them about. I am afraid they would make poor soldiers.

Write to me again soon.

Good night.

ULYS.

SOURCE: Jesse Grant Cramer, Editor, Letters of Ulysses S. Grant to His Father and His Youngest Sister, 1857-78, p. 56-8

From Cairo

Special to Chicago Times

CAIRO, May 6.

The steamer Ella, from Pittsburg Landing, with advices to nine o’clock last night, has arrived.

Gen. Halleck has issued an order restraining civilians and all others from visiting the army.  The steamers going up during the last week have been crowded with civilians, going to gratify their curiosity by the sight of a battle, none of whom have been allowed to pass the lines.

Four deserters came in on Sunday, and reported that the enemy had not evacuated Corinth, but, on the contrary, had been largely reinforced of late.  Other deserters, however, report that Beauregard has withdrawn the greater part of his forces.  It has been impossible to ascertain which of these reports is correct.

The guerilla Morgan again made an attack on our pickets at Savannah on Sunday, but was driven back after light skirmishing.

The steamer Brown reached here this morning from Ft. Pillow, but brought nothing of interest.  The rebel fleet had not made its promised attack.  Preparations were quietly making for an active bombardment of the rebel stronghold.

At the election held here to-day for a member of Congress from the 9th Congressional district, votes were cast as follows: Judge Allen, of Williamson county, 210; Haynie, 83; Marshal, 29; Dougherty, 22; Sloan 1.

The nomination of Marcellus V. Strong for asst. Adjt. Gen. on the staff of General Strong, commanding at this post, has been confirmed by the Senate.

The steamer Bowen, which arrived here this p. m. from above, brought intelligence that a party of Capt. Hollin’s company of flying artillery, while out on a scouting excursion near Paducah last night, were captured by a company of rebel guerillas.

Up to Monday night no general engagement had taken place at Corinth.  Orders had been issued to troops to march on Sunday night but the movement was prevented by condition of roads, which heavy rains had made impossible on Sunday morning.  Gen. Pope, by placing a battery of artillery in an open field at Farmington, in sight of three rebel regiments, succeeded in drawing them on to take the artillery, and took the whole force prisoners, numbering nearly 2,000.  Several deserters [came] into our camp on Monday, and reported that great dissatisfaction exists in the rebel army, both among officers and men.  Beauregard had made a speech to some of the troops saying that he would make a desperate stand, and force the Federal army to retreat, and he appealed to them to stand by him.

A band of guerrillas still maintain warfare on all passing steamboats, and on Sunday drove in our pickets around Savannah, but fled on the approach of our infantry.  The Gunboat Tyler is now plying between Clifton and Pittsburg Landing, shelling the woods where the rebels are supposed to be located.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Thursday Morning, May 8, 1862, p. 2

From Cairo

CAIRO, May 7.

No intelligence from Pittsburg has been received within the last 24 hours.

Arrivals from Com. Foote’s flotilla report no change of movement below.

A number of our cavalry from Fort Herman were attacked by a force of rebel cavalry, while out on scouting duty and driven to Paducah.

Fugitives reported that several of their comrades had been taken prisoners.  But little credit is given to the report.  Two of them made their way to Columbus, and it is supposed that others have by this time returned to their camps.  All fortifications on the Mississippi have recently been strengthened under the supervision of Lieut. Col. Duff, of the 2nd Illinois Artillery, so that they could command the river from below as well as above.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Thursday Morning, May 8, 1862, p. 1

Gen. Grant’s Expedition

PADUCAH, February 4, 1862

The transports which left Cairo yesterday with troops on board, came straggling in here one at a time during all of last night, and immediately proceeded up the Tennessee.

We reached a point ten miles this side of Fort Henry about daylight, where we found the gun boats St. Louis, Essex, Carondelet and St. Louis [sic] lying at anchor.  The troops on board the new Uncle Sam, Illinois and Aleck Scott, were disembarked and again re-embarked, and landed four miles above, where the balance of the troops were also landed as fast as they arrived.

The gunboats weighed anchor upon our arrival, and steamed up to within gunshot range of the Fort, where an interchange of shot and shell was had between our boats and the Fort, about twenty shots being fired on each side.  The shooting was very accurate on both sides.  One shot from the Fort struck the upper wooden cabin of the Essex, and tore a hole in her.  The damage was, however, but trifling, as the cabin was but a temporary affair.  Several of our shells burst in the fort, and immense damage is supposed to have been done.

At intervals between shots a rebel steamer was seen maneuvering about.

A powerful Union force is now encamped on the heights of the east bank of the Tennessee River, just beyond the range of the enemy’s guns.

The transports, after landing their human cargoes, returned to Paducah, where they will take on reinforcements, and proceed as speedily as possible to the point of debarkation, near Fort Henry.

The New Uncle Sam met with an accident in returning here this afternoon.  About twenty miles up the river, while running close to the shore, she ran into a large tree, tearing away her railings and escape pipe, and damaging her wheel house and barber shop, the latter to the great consternation of the proprietor of the last named establishment.

Heavy re-enforcements will be landed near Fort Henry to-morrow, to co-operate with the force now there, and ere many days shall elapse, the clash of arms will be heard in this quarter that will shake secessionism to its foundation.

I have not been able to learn what, if anything, has been done on the Cumberland from Smithland.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, February 8, 1862, p. 2

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Thursday, March 13, 1862

We stopped at Paducah, Kentucky, a short time and then early this morning came up the river to Fort Henry, arriving in the afternoon. There are about twenty transports at this place, loaded with troops. Fort Henry is a dilapidated place. The Tennessee river is very high, the water being out over the banks, and the lowlands are flooded for miles on both sides of the river.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 37

Cairo News

CAIRO, April 2. – Accounts from Island No. 10, represent matters there unchanged.  The bombardment continues at slow intervals. – Shells have been thrown into the new fortifications on the Kentucky side of the river, and a few shots have been received in return, with no great damage on either side.

The rebels are continually busy at building fortifications.  They are improving every moment of time, and when the attack is made, it will be found that the delay has greatly enhanced the difficulty of capture.

Firing is continually heard in the direction of New Madrid, and it is supposed that the enemy are making desperate efforts to prevent General Pope from crossing the river.  They have erected batteries on the point opposite New Madrid, which commands a stretch of about five miles of the river, and places his transports in danger of annihilation.  He must silence the batteries before he can cross to the relief of the fleet.

The rebels have also built batteries on the river below New Madrid, and have their gunboats in readiness for action.  There are one or two of these boats guarding the point where our troops are expected to cross.

Advices direct from New Madrid report that Gen. Pope is in active preparation, and will soon be in a condition to enter the field, with an overwhelming force.  We are not permitted to give the details of his plans, but they will be such as will accomplish any desired result, which may be within the range of possibilities.

There is nothing from the Tennessee river of direct importance.

We here that Gen. Grant is nearly prepared for the grand battle that is expected.  The members of his staff who are here, have been ordered to report at Headquarters immediately.

Gen. Buell is on the line of the Nashville and Decatur Railroad, making very slow progress.

The terrific storm that visited this locality last night, extended over a wide tract of country, and did an immense amount of damage, 10 or 12 lives were lost here by the breaking of the levee and sinking of boats.

At Paducah and Mound City, large numbers of houses were unroofed, and several lives lost.

We have heard nothing of its effect on the bombarding fleet.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 5, 1862, p. 3

Cairo Budget

CHICAGO, March 25, FROM CAIRO 24. – The Steamer Pollard just arrived from Island No. 10 with intelligence from the flotilla up to 8 o’clock Sunday evening.  The same old story – matters remain in statu quo.

Saturday night the gun-boat Mound City exchanged shots with the main land battery with considerable effect.  An officer of the Mound City tells me that with a glass he counted five men killed at a single shot.  On Sunday morning fired with great certainty but the results were not ascertained owning to the unfavorable condition of the weather.

The expected balloon reconnoisance did not take place.

The Pollard narrowly escaped destruction under charge of a drunken pilot.  She was allowed to float half a mile below where the Mound City was stationed, and was made the recipient of rebel favors in the shape of shot and shell from main land batteries with flew all around her, fortunately without effect.

Col. Buford arrested the captain and mate of the steamer Hall, of Memphis, for treason.  They were ordered to land troops at Hickman, Ky., in the night, but passed by and landed them in day time, they giving the enemy notice of their arrival.

Steamers are searched at Paducah on their way to Tennessee river, and correspondents and others without passes are turned back.

The steamer Thomas just from Savannah landing, in Tennessee river, says large Union forces continue at that point.  8,000 men under Gen. Wallace, on Tuesday visited a camp eight miles from the landing where a large body of the secessionists were reported to be concentrated, arming.  They found the birds had flown.

The rebels were impressing every able bodied man into service, and citizens were fleeing to the forest to avoid impressments.  A strong Union sentiment prevails in that region.

A regiment composed of loyal Tennessee men exclusively, was offered to Gen. Grant.

A resident of Paducah has just returned from New Orleans, which place he left a week ago last Tuesday.  His loyalty being undoubted he was passed to Jackson by the rebel authorities, when he escaped to the Federal lines and reached his home in safety.  He reports that the rebels are constructing at New Orleans thirteen large iron clad gun-boats, one of which is intended for sea service and the rest for river.  The largest is built by Murray and armed with 30 guns.  The projector is confident that with it alone he will be able to drive the Lincoln fleet from the Mississippi.  They are finished by this time and are probably now on their way to Island No. 10.  They are encased with railroad iron and considered invulnerable.

Armed troops are concentrating at Corinth, Miss., where a stand is to be made.

Our re-inforcements are being sent to Decatur.

At Memphis my informant states rebel stores are being removed to a place of safety in event of an attack by Union forces.

But little was known of movements at Island No. 10 outside of military circles.

The superintendent of the Mobil and Ohio Railroad had placed thirteen locomotives and two hundred cars at the disposition of General Polk for the transportation of troops to Corinth.

Beauregard was at Jackson, Tennessee, on Tuesday week.

Gen. Polk’s headquarters were at Lagrange.  Our boys were in high spirits at the report of an advance.

The bridge across Turkey creek on the Ohio and Mobile Railroad, was burned by the Union forces.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 29, 1862, p. 4

From Cairo

CAIRO, Jan. 31.

The military commission acting on the case of Dr. Scales, the horse thief and marauder, returned a verdict of guilty.  He will be sent to St. Louis, where he will be imprisoned during the war.

The 16^th Illinois regiment, Col. Smith, will arrive here at 9 o’clock from St. Joe, Mo.  Three more regiments, the 25^th Ind., 32d and 49^th Ill., with four batteries of artillery from Springfield and three batteries from St. Louis, will arrive here in a few days.

The 28^th Illinois recently mustered at Fort Holt has been ordered to Paducah.

Regiments arriving here will be sent to some other convenient point to be quartered.

Eleven thousand four hundred three inch mortar shells have been ordered here for the use of the mortars of the mortar boats.

The route of the Paducah packets has been extended to Smithland.

Recent intelligence from Columbus gives assurance that great dissatisfaction exists among the troops there, and thousands will desert upon the first opportunity.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport Iowa, Monday Morning, February 3, 1862, p. 1

From Island No. 10

Special to the Chicago Times.

CAIRO, April 2.

Accounts from Island No. 10 represent matters there unchanged.  The bombardment continued at intervals.  Shells have been thrown into the new fortifications in the bed of the river.  A few shots have been received in return, with no great damaged on either side.

The rebels are continually building new fortifications.  They are improving every moment of time, and when the attack is made it will be found that the delay has greatly enhanced the difficulty of capture.

Firing is continually heard in the direction of New Madrid, and it is supposed that the enemy are making desperate efforts to prevent Gen. Pope from crossing the river.  They have erected batteries on the point opposite New Madrid, which command a stretch of about five miles of the river, and place his transports in danger of annihilation.  He must silence these batteries before he can cross to the relief of the fleet.

The rebels have also built batteries on the river below New Madrid, and have their gunboats in readiness for action. – There are one or two of these boats guarding the point where our troops are expected to cross.

Advices direct from New Madrid report that Gen. Pope is in active preparation and will soon be in a condition to enter the field, with an overwhelming power.  We are not permitted to give details of his plans, but they will be such as will accomplish the desired result, if it is within the range of possibility.

There is nothing from the Tennessee river of direct importance.

We hear that Gen. Grant is nearly prepared for the grand battle that is expected.  The members of his staff who are here have been ordered to report at head-quarters immediately.

Gen. Buell is on the line of the Nashville and Decatur Railroad, making very slow progress.

The terrific storm that visited this locality last night extended over a wide track of country, and did an immense amount of damage.  Ten or twelve lives were lost by the breaking loose and sinking of boats. – At Paducah and Mound City a large number of houses were unroofed, and several lives lost.  We have heard nothing of its effects on the bombarding fleet.

Special to Evening Journal.

CAIRO, April 2.

The Pike arrived tonight from the fleet.  She reports the gunboat and mortars uninjured.  Two Transports were somewhat damaged.

CAIRO, April 3.

The steamer Philadelphia which was blown away in the gale, yesterday, and supposed to be lost, has been found, on the shore just above Columbus.  She is badly damaged and lost three of her crew.

Eight persons were blown overboard from the steamer Americus and drowned.

A flat boat, occupied by a poor family as resident, was blown away and sunk, the family escaping upon a coal barge, as it floated past.

The Cairo and Columbus wharf-boat was towed back last night, not much damaged.

Things are working at Island No. 10. – Night before last Col. Roberts of the Ills. 42d, with 40 picked men of his command in company with a boat’s crew from each of the gunboats, under command of 1^st master Johnson, of the St. Louis, started at 11 o’clock to take soundings.

At 12 o’clock they brought up at the redan fort, which is the upper one of the rebel works, where they landed.  The rebel sentinels fired their pieces and ran in, leaving the battery in our possession.

The union troops found six guns here which they spiked and left.  One of the guns was a massive 64-pounder; the rest were 24 and 32 pounders.

Not a man was killed or wounded on our side, nor was any one hurt on the other so far as heard from.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Friday Morning, April 4, 1862, p. 1

From the Cumberland River

SECESSION FEELING RAMPANT.

Tribune’s Dispatch.

CAIRO, April 2.

A gentleman from the Cumberland represents the secession element as rampant in that region.  Since the withdrawal of the Federal troops, increased surveillance and violence has been exhibited on every hand, and the rebels are inaugurating a system of guerilla warfare exceedingly annoying to the few remaining troops.

Union men are again put in subjection to persecution, and have been compelled to take to the forests and swamps to avoid it.

The Confederates are again jubilant, and threaten to raise forces to attack our troops in the rear.  They think they are able to retake Paducah, and even talk of visiting Cairo while Gen. Grant is paying his respects to Corinth.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Friday Morning, April 4, 1862, p. 1

From Cairo

CAIRO, March 5.

There is but little news stirring to-day of importance.  Everything is quite at Columbus.

Gen. Sherman returned this morning, and immediately left for Paducah.

Col. Buford is in command at Columbus.

The anchors and chains found upon the landing belong to heavy ships of the line, and were removed from the Norfolk navy yard.  Pillow’s immense chain was stolen from the same locality.

A regular line of steamers will be established between Cairo and Columbus.  At present a tug leaves daily for the conveyance of mail matter.

A gentleman just from Nashville thinks the rebels will not make a stand and Chattanooga, but will retreat still further into Alabama.

The stores of ordnance at Columbus will be collected in a day or two.

Nothing new from the Cumberland and Tennessee.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Friday Morning, March 7, 1862, p. 1