Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: May 5, 1862

The artillery is coming up all day. Halleck is moving slowly with his grand army. Would that Grant would be permitted to swing it; there would soon be a commotion among these tall pines. The whining and whelping would-be military masters and generals, whose wisdom is distilled out at wholesale in the bar-rooms of Northern hotels, have clamored against Grant, and since the dark days of Shiloh the army of the Tennessee, who bravely stood with him there, has been grieved to know that the government listened to those base, unmitigated lies told about him in reference to his conduct at Shiloh. We see that this contemptible and cowardly bar-room gentry charge our General with being drunk on Sunday at Shiloh. Tell it to the world, but tell it not to the army of the Tennessee. If a General, drunk, can form, amid such confusion, a line so compact, so powerful, so military as was Grant's last line on Sunday evening, would to God that more Generals were made drunk that we might crush out this fratricidal war and hasten the return of peace to a stricken and throbbing people.

 “But mark my word, boys," old U. S. will yet ride these men's wicked opposition, and ere this war is over, this man wearing the old slouch hat, commanding the army before Corinth, will receive orders from General Grant; for with Grant at the head of this grand army, he would stamp armies into the earth, and plant the old flag where the gulf winds blow.

SOURCE: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 68-9

Diary of 5th Sergeant Osborn H. Oldroyd: June 4, 1863

We move at last. We left camp as the sun rose, reaching our old quarters in front of the rebel Fort Hill in the afternoon. Glad we are to get here. A great change has taken place during our ten days' absence. More rifle-pits have been made and new batteries erected, and our lines generally have been pushed closer to the works of the enemy. Mines are being dug, and we shall soon see something flying in the air in front of us, when those mines explode. The work is being done very secretly, for it would not do to have the rebels find out our plans. Fort Hill in our front and on the Jackson road is said to be the key to Vicksburg. We have tried often to turn this key, but have as often failed. In fact, the lock is not an easy one. The underground work now going on will perhaps break the lock with an explosion. Our return to camp from our excursion after Johnston creates some excitement among those who stayed behind. They all want to hear about our trip, and what we saw and conquered. Our clothes are so dirty and ragged, that though we have sewed and patched, and patched and sewed, Uncle Sam would hardly recognize those nice blue suits he gave us a little while ago. This southern sun pours down a powerful heat, which compels us to keep as quiet as possible. Just a month from today we celebrate our Fourth of July-where, I do not know, but inside of Vicksburg, I hope.

I have asked both officers and men to write in an album I have opened since reaching our old post near the city, and here are a few of their contributions:

“Friend O.: Here is hoping we may see the stars and stripes float over the court house in Vicksburg on the Fourth of July, and also that we may see this rebellion, in which so many of our comrades have fallen, come to an end, while we live on to enjoy a peace secured by our arms. Then hurrah for the Buckeye girls. Your sincere friend,

“HENRY H. Fulton,

" Company E, 20th Ohio.”

“Here is hoping we may have the pleasure of zweiglass of lager in Vicksburg, on July 4th.

“D. M. COOPER,

“ Company A, 96th Ohio.”

I hope we shall be able to spend the coming Fourth in the famous city before us, and to have a glorification there over our victories.

“SQUIRE McKEE,

“Company E, 20th Ohio.”

“Here is hoping that by the glorious Fourth, and by the force of our arms, we shall penetrate their boasted Gibraltar.

“T. B. LEGGETT,

“Company E, 20th Ohio.”

“I offer you this toast: Though you have seen many hardships, let me congratulate you on arriving safely so near Vicksburg. May the besieged city fall in time for you and all our boys to take a glass of lager on the Fourth of July; and may the boys of the Twentieth be the first to taste the article they have duly won.

“D. B. LINSTEAD,

“Company G, 20th Ohio.”

SOURCE: Osborn Hamiline Oldroyd, A Soldier's Story of the Siege of Vicksburg, p. 43-5

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: May 22, 1863

A letter from Gen. Howell Cobb, declining the offer of the Secretary of War, of the position of Quartermaster-General, was received to-day. His wife is ill, and he prefers to remain with her; besides, he doubts his qualifications — he, who was Secretary of the Treasury of the United States! He says, moreover, referring to the imperfect ordnance stores of his brigade, that there can be no remedy for this so long as Col. G. is the Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance. So Col. Myers is to be disposed of at last, and Col. G. has but an uncertain tenure.

We have sad rumors from Vicksburg. Pemberton, it is said, was flanked by Grant, and lost 30 guns, which he abandoned in his retreat. Where Johnston is, is not stated. But, it is said, Vicksburg is closely invested, and that the invaders are closing in on all sides. There is much gloom and despondency in the city among those who credit these unofficial reports. It would be a terrible blow, but not necessarily a fatal one, for the war could be prolonged indefinitely.

I met with Robt. Tyler to-day, who offers to wager something that Gen. Stuart will be in Philadelphia in a fortnight, and he said there was a proposition to stop the publication of newspapers, if the President would agree to it, as they gave information to the enemy, and at such a time as this did no good whatever. He thinks they are on the eve of revolution in the North, and referred to Gov. Seymour's letter, read at a public meeting in New York.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 329

Captain Charles Fessenden Morse, January 10, 1863

Camp Near Fairfax Station,

January 10, 1863.

Our rainy season has begun at last, I think; to-day it has poured. Everything looks muddy and damp enough. If it continues for a week as it did last winter at this time, mark my words, there will be no more campaigning in Virginia this winter. We are well settled now in a comfortable camp, with a strong probability of staying here for a while.

I agree in part with what you say about the administration, but I don't fear an armed interference in six months or six years. 1 feel certain that England will do nothing but stand aloof and badger both the North and South, and it cannot be policy for France to quarrel with us, it seems to me. As for what foreign nations may think of the corruption of the Government, I don't care; I've made up my mind that there never was a government in time of war, European or any other on the face of the earth, that wasn't as corrupt as corruption itself; all history shows it. If Napier in his “Peninsular War” is good authority, there never were more dishonesty, knavery, and bribery in a government than there were in England's at that time. That war was managed, at first, till Wellington took hold of it, very much as ours has been; generals were interfered with as ours have been, and newpapers’ stories and home criticisms were believed by the people sooner than official dispatches.

From the first of March to the first of June, I predict that there will be the liveliest fighting we have ever seen in this country, and with good fortune, we may end the whole war and have a happy and honorable peace. If we had any other than a conquered peace, I should never feel that I had done with my uniform, but should always expect war and fighting. If the South got its confederacy, I fully believe the States would be fighting among themselves in less than five years; it is the strong military government and their feeling about slavery that is binding them together so now; their strong feeling about States' rights is what they will break on. I think the weakest points in our own government are these very States' rights, which allow State Governors to interfere and dictate to the Central Government.*

_______________

* A ten-days' leave of absence was granted about this time and the writer went home accompanied by Captain Shaw.

SOURCE: Charles Fessenden Morse, Letters Written During the Civil War, 1861-1865, p. 118-9

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: September 5, 1861

Our Congress has authorized the raising and organizing of four hundred regiments. The Yankee Congress, 500,000 men. The enemy will get their's first; and it is said that between 600,000 and 700,000, for three years or the war, have already been accepted by the U. S. Government. Their papers boast that nearly a million volunteers were tendered. This means mischief. How many will rush forward a year hence to volunteer their services on the plains of the South? Full many ensanguined plains will greet the horrific vision before this time next year; and many a venal wretch coming to possess our land, will occupy till the day of final doom a tract of six feet by two in some desolate and unfrequented swamp. The toad will croak his requiem, and the viper will coil beneath the thistle growing over his head.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 77-8

A Prophet In The Wrong

The special correspondent of the London Times has been writing for nearly a year the demonstration of his incapacity to understand the American question, the American people, the American future.  No prophet was ever so uniformly wrong. – The following is one of his latest vaticinations, dated at Washington, December 23 at a moment when the reasons of Mr. Seward, delivered three days after, was in all probability written.

“At 10 o’clock this morning Lord Lyons went to the State Department and communicated to Mr. Seward officially the note of the English Government.  Mr. Seward expressed no opinion at this formal interview and the note will be laid before a Cabinet Council, and will form the subject of its deliberations to-day or to-morrow, but as the mail leaves Washington  this afternoon, I shall not be able to communicate anything in addition to this bare statement of facts.  My impression is that Mr. Seward will endeavor to open a correspondence, and that failing, as he necessarily must in that, he will refuse on the part of the Government to surrender Messrs. Mason and Slidell and their Secretaries.  In that case Lord Lyons leaves the United States with the Members of his legation.”

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

Jefferson's Prophesy

President Jefferson’s instincts were known to be against human slavery.  From Edmond Bacon’s new work on Jefferson appears the following prophesy:

“No servants ever had a kinder master than Jefferson’s.  He did not like slavery.  I have heard him talk a great deal about it.  He always though it a bad system.  I have heard him prophesy that we should have just such trouble with it as we are having now.”

Similar prediction[s] have been made by nearly all the founds of the republic.

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

A Prophet

Richard C. Mason, Sr., of Baltimore, a sound Union man, put the following prophecy on record on the 16th day of April, 1861.  He is a director of the Associated Fireman’s Insurance Company of Baltimore, the majority being [rank secessionists].  Being appealed to for his opinion of what would be the result or end of the rebellion made the following predication which was placed on record at the time by the President:

THE PREDICTION.

“I, Richard C. Mason, Sen., of Baltimore, on this 17th day of April, 1862, predict: That the Union of these States will be preserved; that the Constitution will be maintained inviolate; that the laws of the land will be enforced; that the secessionists will be awfully whipped; and that the Stars and Stripes, the sacred emblem of liberty, will again and forever wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 5, 1862, p. 2

A Bold Prediction

The New York Times makes this bold prediction:

“We predict that within twenty days Richmond will be in the hands of McClellan, Norfolk in possession of Burnside, and Jeff. Davis either a prisoner in our hands, or a fugitive among the people whom he had deluded and ruined.”

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Friday Morning, March 28, 1862, p. 2

Specials to the New York Papers

(Herald Dispatch.)

WASHINGTON, May 20. – All are filled with the expectation of the great battles, at Corinth and Virginia before the week ends.  It is expected that these two battles will practically conclude the campaign, and leave nothing else to be done but put down the guerilla fighting.

The recent proclamation of the President begins to give great satisfaction to all classes. – The conservatives are satisfied and the ultras do not find fault.  It is manifest to all that Mr. Lincoln has taken the bit in his teeth and intends to have his own way.  Cabinet or no Cabinet. – The general impression here is since, the utterance of the proclamation, there is no one can approach Abraham Lincoln in popularity.  It is regarded as an evidence of unalterable firmness and true grit.

(Tribune Dispatch.)

A call is soon to be made upon the states for additional volunteers to the number of at least 100,000.  Careful inquiries have elicited the fact that our army is smaller than has been represented, even in official accounts – numbering not 300,000 effective men.  This fresh force is to be merely used as a reserve to be stationed at convenient point to meet emergencies.

The subject of lake defenses and lake commerce was very forcibly and fully presented this morning at a meeting of the New York delegation in Congress by the Hon. Samuel B. Ruggles, who appeared in behalf of the State. – the Principal topics discussed were the present undefended condition of the lakes and the great extend and rapid growth of the commerce on the waters, also the vital importance of the cereal products of the States surrounding the lakes, in furnishing the elements of foreign commerce, and consequently in swelling the amount of duties on imports to be received in exchange.  The two cardinal measures growing out of these discussions, and which must occupy the attention of congress, will be the opening of adequate channels from the eastern and western extremities of the lakes, the first to be effected by enlarging the locks on the Erie and Oswego Canals, and the other by the enlargement of the Canal from Chicago to the Illinois River.  It is hoped that these two great measures may be united as integral portions of one harmonious system, extending from the Hudson to the Mississippi, permitting the passing throughout the line of mail-clad vessels sufficient for the defense of these great waters.

The following is from the World’s correspondent, under the date of Baltimore Cross Roads, Va., 16 miles from Richmond, May 18:  I make the prophecy that Richmond is abandoned by the enemy without a fight, and that we occupy it within forty-eight hours, if not sooner.  This is the advance division towards Richmond – Cavalry are beyond at Bottom Bridge.  The enemy blew it up yesterday.  Little will it impede our progress, the stream is narrow, the water is but 13 feet deep and an easy ford.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 24, 1862, p. 3