Dr. Seth Rogers to his daughter Dolly, February 6, 1863

February 6, 1863.

We are just now through with the hardest and coldest north east storm that we have had since I came to the Department of the South. Living through this is evidence of considerable constitution. The storm politely waited for us to finish an expedition but the two together have succeeded in running our sick list up to 129 in today's report. This morning a poor fellow died of congestion of the lungs, before the surgeon saw him. In this case, as in nearly all the autopsies I have made I find extensive adhesions which have resulted from former pleurisy. There are, at this moment, not less than a dozen severe cases of pleuro-pneumonia among our sick. I find it true that these people are more subject than the whites to pulmonary diseases. And here I must put a fact of dispraise to the colored people as I find them. They, as a rule, show remarkable indifference to the sufferings of those not immediately related by the ties of consanguinity. I do not believe this to be a want of affection in the race, but due to long influence of inhuman teaching and treatment. I believe the development of individual responsibility and the inducement to rise, will abolish this want of feeling and respect for each other.

SOURCE: Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Volume 43, October, 1909—June, 1910: February 1910. p. 358

Brigadier-General Albin F. Schoeph to Brigadier-General George H. Thomas, November 8, 1861

LONDON, KY., November 8, 1861. (Received November 9.)

[General THOMAS:]

GENERAL: Yours of the 7th instant, with copy of letter to Governor Andrew Johnson, is before me, and it is with extreme satisfaction that I note the decided manner in which the case is laid down to Governor Johnson.

This outside pressure has become intolerable and must be met with firmness, or the Army may as well be disbanded.

With importunate citizens on one side and meddlesome reporters for papers on the other, I can scarce find time to attend to the appropriate duties of my position. By the way, cannot something be done to rid our camps of this latter class? I have really reached that point that I am afraid to address my staff officer above a whisper in my own tent. My most trivial remarks to my officers are caught up, magnified, and embellished, and appear in print as my "expressed opinions," much to the surprise of myself and those to whom my remarks were addressed, thus keeping me continually in a false position with my superior officers and the country.

So far as a forward movement is concerned, I have never urged it; do not now urge it; but on the contrary believe that in the present condition of my command (having a large sick list) it would be most decidedly imprudent. I am nevertheless ready to obey your order to advance, come when it may. That is a question for my superiors, and not for me, to determine.

After eight days of labor on the part of Captain Everett, he has returned the regimental monthly returns to the respective commanders, to be forwarded direct to your headquarters; Captain Everett having declared his inability to obtain from any one regiment anything like a passable document, or even the data upon which he could frame one.

My consolidated morning reports will be commenced on the 10th and promptly continued as per orders every ten days, and forwarded upon the days upon which they are made.

Please furnish the regimental commanders with blanks in time for the close of the present month, when, perhaps, by "line upon line and precept upon precept," they may be brought to produce a more businesslike sheet in future.

Very respectfully, yours,

A. SCHOEPF,        

Brigadier-General.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 4 (Serial No. 4), p. 347-8

Brigadier-General Lloyd Tilghman to Lieutenant-Colonel William W. Mackall, October 29, 1861

HEADQUARTERS CAMP, ALCORN,        

Hopkinsville, Ky., October 29, 1861.

Col. W. W. MACKALL,
        Assistant Adjutant-General, &c., Bowling Green:

SIR: I lose not a moment in communicating through you to the general commanding the Western Division the condition of affairs at this post. I had hoped that the picture sketched to me of matters here might not have been realized, but I am compelled to think it not too highly colored. Under all the circumstances, I doubt not General Alcorn has made the best of things, his camp being merely one large hospital, with scarce men enough on duty to care for the sick and maintain a feeble guard around them, with insufficient pickets at prominent points. Over one-half the entire command are on the sick list, with very grave types of different diseases. Those remaining and reported for duty have not enough really well men to do more than first stated. The Kentucky Battalion of Infantry, numbering 547, have only 45 cases reported sick. The measles have made their appearance, and the battalion will average 20 new cases per day, judging from to-day's report. The morning brigade report, herewith inclosed, shows only 716 for duty out of a total of 2,237. Of this number, you will see that the Kentucky Battalion furnishes 376, one-third of whom only are armed, with no equipments.

Of cavalry we have nothing to count on, save Captain Meriwether's company of untutored recruits. Captain Huey's company of cavalry is entirely unarmed. Captain Wilcox's company not yet recovered from the Eddyville affair.

On the score of artillery I have merely to say, that there is not an organized squad for a single gun that could be taken into action. There are five pieces of artillery—two 6-pounders, two 9, one 12—none of which I think fit for service on account of the wretched manner in which they are mounted; a total ignorance of all mechanical principles evidenced in the construction of the carriages. The guns seem to be pretty fair. On the subject of clothing and equipments, equipage, &c., I can only say that I find nothing more encouraging. The commissary department is pretty well supplied; the quartermaster's department entirely deficient.

I have thus fairly sketched the condition of things. Major Hewett will be able to give you some particulars that I have not time now to do, but will write by the next mail. I have commenced at the root of things, and mean to work out the best result I can. I write not thus discouragingly in any spirit of complaint, but to lay before the commanding general the plain facts of the case. They are plainly these: I have no force here available for any purpose save protecting the sick and depot. I have reason to think that the enemy are in full possession of this fact, and are calculating on it. I have no force with which to operate in any direction, and our people are suffering terribly within the lines assigned me for my operations. In front and on my left they need a check. The defenses of the Cumberland cannot I believe be perfected, unmolested, unless my position is strengthened for this purpose.

A movement has taken place at Henderson. A courier reached me to-night with the inclosed paper* from a committee at Henderson. The Union men have been very busy here to-day. They are too open-mouthed, and must be checked. The stage is waiting, and I have not time to say more than this. I deem it absolutely necessary that I should as soon as possible be re-enforced. A cavalry force is indispensably necessary to cover my front and prevent the removal of a large amount of wheat, flour, corn, and hogs, now drafted daily on heavily by scouting parties. Of the latter item, there are not less than 50,000 hogs. This service would require the whole time of not less than 500 cavalry. For practical purposes I am without infantry and artillery, and desire that a due proportion of both be at once sent. I beg you to say to General Johnston that I need the assistance of some graduates, for artillery especially. Could I not have the services of the two young men mentioned by General Buckner? (See him.) I will prepare full estimates for all my wants and forward them.

I beg you to pardon this hurried communication. I have not had time to read it over. Major Hewett will give you facts as to a landing at Eddyville by our people.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

LLOYD TILGHMAN,        

Brigadier-General, C. S. Army, Commanding.

_______________

* Not found.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 4 (Serial No. 4), p. 485-6

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: June 21, 1864

Clear and warmer.

Gen. Beauregard has not been removed from his command,—it would be too great a shock to popular sentiment.

The iron-clads went out this morning and proceeded down the river, supported by Custis Lee's brigade of local troops, including the Departmental Battalion, marching a dozen miles in the sun and dust. More will be on the sick list.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 236

Diary of Sergeant David L. Day: May 18, 1864

ON THE SICK LIST.

Since the affair over on the railroad, I have been on the sick list and have suffered severely with chills and fever and from other causes. I am not yet able to do much and I fear I shall not be able to go on many more excursions with the boys. The regiment has been out nearly every day, and has suffered a loss of more than 200 men, killed, wounded and prisoners. In the fight at Drury's Bluff, two mornings ago, we lost heavily, some 150 men being killed, wounded or taken prisoners. Heckman's brigade was almost annihilated. He was taken prisoner together with Capt. Belger, who lost four pieces of his battery, and Col. Lee, with nearly the whole of the 27th Massachusetts regiment, besides a good many officers and men of the 23d Massachusetts and 9th New Jersey.

SOURCE: David L. Day, My Diary of Rambles with the 25th Mass. Volunteer Infantry, p. 140

Diary of Sergeant David L. Day: January 27, 1864

VISITORS.

We had been here only two days when our common sense and judgment were still further imposed upon by three of our former officers from the News, soliciting enlistments. They probably thought that a fifty mile march and being in a strange city had perhaps taken the stiffening out of us somewhat, but they were not long in finding out that that was a delusion. Capt. Parkhurst laughed at them, telling them they had come to the wrong market to peddle their wares; the boy's crowded around them, giving them scarcely breathing room, and jokingly told them they had picked some chickens the night before, but had got no tar, but perhaps molasses would answer for a substitute. Finding they had come on a fool's errand, they then wanted Surgeon Hoyt to put as many of us on the sick list is possible, thereby increasing the working force at the News. The surgeon told them that men who could make a fifty mile march, carrying heavy knapsacks, were not supposed to be very seriously indisposed. Finding the leopard hadn't changed his spots, they left, taking with them two captives.

SOURCE: David L. Day, My Diary of Rambles with the 25th Mass. Volunteer Infantry, p. 114

Dr. Seth Rogers to his Daughter, Sunday Evening, January 11, 1863

Sunday evening, January 11, 1863.

At service today the President's proclamation was read and the Colonel asked all who wanted to fight for liberty, to say “Aye.” The response would have satisfied greater enthusiasts than uncle Abraham. . . .

I have lost more than one hour's sleep since coming here, listening to the coughing of the soldiers in the night and in trying to contrive plans to meet the more obvious causes. In a climate so damp and with change of temperature so great between midday and midnight, I have steadily felt the importance of some means by which the soldier's A tents could, with their clothing, be more effectually dried and purified than is ordinarily done by the sun. To have a fire in a tent 7 x 8 for four men, without fireplaces, stove, or even an opening in the top, did not seem quite feasible, but we are trying in James's and one other company, an experiment which is likely to prove a success. Remembering the antiseptic influence of wood smoke, and also the primitive cabins from which many of our people came, we have, this evening, had fires built in the centre of the tents, the floor boards in the middle being removed and a hole being dug in the sand for the fuel. The soldiers enjoy this scheme. After the smoke ceases, the beds of coals make the tents seem very cosy. The Colonel is not backward in favoring every hygienic measure that offers any good to the soldiers. A few days experiment with two companies will settle the question by comparison of sick lists.

SOURCE: Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Volume 43, October, 1909—June, 1910: February 1910. p. 343

Captain Charles Wright Wills: January 9, 1864

Scottsboro, Ala., January 9, 1864.

We have settled down into fully as monotonous a monotony, as I ever experienced. The powers pretend that the army is tired down and needs rest, so duty is very light, no drills ordered; no scouting and no nothing, but a first-class preparation to have a tremendous sick list in a very short time. You know how we have been moving for the last three months, and that we have hardly suffered a half dozen cases of sickness. Now see, if we lie here four weeks longer, if I don't report you 60 on the sick list. Do you think that I am something of a grumbler? Either having too much travel, or too much lie still. Too much to eat (I guess not) or not enough, etc. I suppose that news here is about as scarce as ice cream on the African desert, and of nearly the same quality. We are camped in the edge of dense woods, about three quarters of a mile from the town, which consists of 20 or 40 rather neat houses, and presents, I think a better appearance than any other town of the size I have seen in the Confederacy. It hasn't been squashmolished like most of its sisters. General Logan's headquarters are here. Our corps is camped along the road from here to Decatur, our whole division being here. Our division commander, is, I expect, the most unpopular officer with his corps that there is in the West. I never knew his match for meanness. See if I can think of all I have been ordered by: Prentiss, Grant, Logan, McClernand, Wallace (W. H. L.), Oglesby, Paine, Pope, Granger, Palmer (——) formerly colonel 11th Missouri., Rosecrans, Morgan, Buford, Sheridan, Hurlbut, Lanman, Hamilton 1st, Hamilton 2d; Sullivan, Lawler, Sooy Smith, Ewing, Corse, Halleck, Sherman, Davis, and at least two more whose names I can't now recall. One of them commanded this division last March, and the other the 4th Division 16th Army Corps, last December, for a few days. I have lots of work on hand writing up my accounts, but this lying still begins to bore me awfully. I though a few weeks ago that 'twould be very nice to have a tent again, and things somewhat comfortable, but the beauties of the thing don't last long. I'm ready to move now. We have had several pretty cold days, but to-day I have been in my shirt sleeves, without vest, all day, and felt very comfortable, though it didn't thaw very much, and I believe there was ice in our water bucket all day. Expect you are having a gay time this winter at home sleighing, dancing, etc., but I would rather take mine out in the army. If I didn't have any happy Christmas myself, I had the pleasure of smashing the happiness out of a good many secesh Christmases. That's not so. It was not pleasure, but I had to.

SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 211-2

3rd Sergeant Charles Wright Wills: October 27, 1861

Bird's Point, October 27, 1861.

I haven't written for a full week because I really had nothing to write and in fact I have not now. Although soldiering is a hugely lazy life, yet these short days we seem to have but little spare time. We are up nearly an hour before sun up, have breakfast about sunrise, drill (company) from about 8 to 10. Cards until dinner time, 12; lounge or read until 2; battalion drill untill 4:30 or 5, supper, and then dress parade at 4:45; from candle lighting untill bedtime (taps), 10, we have cards mixed with singing or some awful noises from Sam Nutt and Fred Norcott. Those two boys can make more noise than three threshing machines. Our boys are all in excellent health and prime spirits. Fred and Sam and Sid are fatter than the Canton folk ever saw them. There are but four regiments at the Point now, so we have to work on the entrenchments every fourth day two hours or cut down trees the same length of time. We are clearing away the timber within 500 yards of the earthworks. It is mostly Cottonwood and very heavy. They stand so thick that if we notch a dozen or so pretty deep and then fell one it will knock three or four down. Lin Coldwell and I are going to get a set of chess to-morrow. That gunboat, “New Era,” that the papers blow so much about is of no account as a gunboat. She is laid up at Mound City for a battery. The men on her have told me that she wouldn't half stand before a land battery that amounted to anything. We are beginning to have some frost here, but I don't believe we'd suffer a bit lying in these tents all winter. The sickly season is over now and the health is improving very much. We had 18 on the sick list in our company three weeks ago and now we have but three, and they are only diarrhoea or the like. I tell you I feel as strong as two mules and am improving. I haven't been the least unwell yet. Our boys are perfectly sick for a fight so they can be even with the 17th. We are sure that the 17th doesn't deserve to be named the same day with us for drill or discipline, with all their bragging. They are an awful set of blowhards. Sid., Theo., Ben Rockhold and John Wallace are on picket out of our mess to-night. The picket was fired on last night where they are posted to-night.

SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 38-9

Diary of 1st Sergeant John S. Morgan: Wednesday, January 4, 1865

Still on sick list. Flag of truce at Picket port, News (?) 2,000 Rebs outside the lines desiring to come in and take the Oath.

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, 33rd Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 13, No. 8, April 1923, p. 570

Diary of Corporal Charles H. Lynch: April 5, 1865

Orders received this morning to fall in without arms for a march into town and report at headquarters. Surprised to hear that we were to receive four months pay. It was overdue. No one left in camp but the camp guard. We were allowed more liberty than ever before. We remained in town all day. I was the only corporal in town with the company. Many of the boys are on the sick list. I was ordered to receive the pay for those of our company in the hospital, visit the hospital and give the boys their money. All were thankful to get the money and pleased to see me and were made happy over the good news I brought to them about General Grant's success in routing the enemy. Returned to camp late tonight. I felt that I had put in a very busy day. Weather damp, cool, and very cloudy.

SOURCE: Charles H. Lynch, The Civil War Diary, 1862-1865, of Charles H. Lynch 18th Conn. Vol's, p. 146-7

Diary of 4th Sergeant John S. Morgan: Friday, April 17, 1863

G co worked hard to grade their street and move their tents back on line. Battalion drill at 3 P. M. to 5 P. M. On the sick list and off duty Kept my quarters close

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, 33rd Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 13, No. 7, January 1923, p. 488