Diary of Private Bartlett Yancey Malone: April 14, 1862

a very pritty day And our Regiment left Ashland for Yolktown (Yorktown) And our rought was down by Hanover Coathouse

The Second day we still continued our march And also the 3 and fourth we marched And the 5 day we marched and past threw the town of Williamsburg about 9 o'clock in the morning And about an hour before the sun set we arrived at General Johnston Headquarters which is in about a mile of Yolktown wher we stopt to wait for the Battle.

SOURCE: Bartlett Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 18

Diary of Private Louis Leon: December 19, 1862

We got away from the open field at 12 M., and went two miles out of town, and camped in the woods. We met the Bethel regiment to-day. I met quite a number of old friends and comrades of my old company. We compared notes on soldiering. We came to the conclusion that at Yorktown we were playing soldier, but now there is no play in it. We are expecting a fight every hour.

SOURCE: Louis Leon, Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier, p. 13-4

Major-General George G. McClellan to Edwin M. Stanton, May 4, 1862

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, May 4.

(Received 12 m.)

Hon. E. M. STANTON,

Secretary of War:

Yorktown is in our possession.

GEO. B. McCLELLAN,

Major-General, Commanding

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 11, Part 3 (Serial No. 14), p. 133

Major-General George G. McClellan to Edwin M. Stanton, May 4, 1862 – 9 a.m.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,

May 4, 1862 — 9 a.m. (Received 4.15 p.m.)

Hon. E. M. STANTON,

Secretary of War:

We have the ramparts; have guns, ammunition, camp equipage, &c. Hold the entire line of his works, which the engineers report as being very strong. I have thrown all my cavalry and horse artillery in pursuit, supported by infantry. I move Franklin and as much more as I can transport by water up to West Point to-day. No time shall be lost. Gunboats have gone up York River. I omitted to state that Gloucester is also in our possession. I shall push the enemy to the wall.

GEO. B. McCLELLAN,

Major-general.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 11, Part 3 (Serial No. 14), p. 134

Captain William Thompson Lusk to Elizabeth Adams Lusk, after May 3, 1862

Headquarters 2d Brigade.

My dear Mother:

The “Atlantic” has just arrived bringing me two letters from which I judge all is going on well at home. I had heard from Mr. Johnson that Lilly would soon be married, but I did not give the matter much thought, willing to wait until I should hear the story from the best of all sources of information  —  herself. I must say I cordially approve of the measure. Prudence is without doubt most commendable, and Mr. Matthus is certainly theoretically right, still, luckily for the happiness of young couples, I believe that it is generally conceded that it is in the shop of Care and Responsibility that the best kind of prudence gets fabricated. I go in for the wedding at any rate. Shall make myself merry on the occasion if allowed to attend, and have some romantic notions that trouble is not so hard to bear when there are two to share the burden. Anyway let Lilly write me, and give me her mature reflections on the subject.

I was very much gratified to think you took the little parcel of money I sent home last. It makes me feel quite proud to think I could be of any help in such a way. I do hope Dr. Grant will get sent to Congress. He would be such an honor to my native State, and would know how to keep his political garments clean, even in a cesspool such as our National Capitol.

Of course we are all hurrahing for the evacuation of Yorktown. It so happens that the rebels have no place its equal in strength in the whole confederacy. Yet that wretched puling sheet, the ——, while professing pleasure, is covertly pursuing McClellan as usual, declaring that the work had been greatly exaggerated, and that we might have had Yorktown a month ago. My dear Mother, I have had the pleasure of seeing and knowing the pack of vagabonds that follow our armies in the employ of newspapers for the purpose of criticising our movements, and I know that truth, fairness and principle in description go only so far as the politics of their respective sheets allow. It would make you indignant could you see the characters who take upon themselves the censorship of our military movement. Such a thing as any reasonable acquaintance with what they prate about, is unnecessary and probably would interfere too much with the style of their criticism.

You may see Wm. Ely, who is now North. He is one of our Conn, boys who does his state great credit.

We had a concert here a few evenings ago, so I will enclose the programme.

Good-bye. Much love to all.

Your affec. Son,

Will.

SOURCE: William Chittenden Lusk, Editor, War Letters of William Thompson Lusk, p. 145-7

1st Lieutenant Charles Wright Wills: May 28, 1862

Near Farmington, Miss., May 28, 1862

We moved up here this morning under the hottest sun and over the dustiest roads, and I then helped the major lay off the camp, and pitched our tents ourselves. Gracious, how hot it was! I worked and sweated and blessed General Pope for ordering us forward on such a day. I'll wager we are the only field and staff that pitch and strike our head quarter's tents without the aid of the men. But I can't bear the idea of making men who are our equals at home do our work here. Soldiering in the ranks spoils a man for acting officer “a-la-regular.” We're ordered to have our horses saddled by 3 a. m. to-morrow. There has been the liveliest kind of cannonading along the whole lines to-day. Our whole army advanced about a mile. I think that at almost any point on the line we can throw shot into their works. Distances vary from one and one-half miles to two and a quarter or two and one-half. Many of the generals think that to-morrow there will be a general fight. They talk a great deal more since the news correspondents have been sent off; and of course anything of that kind, that a brigadier says, goes the rounds of the whole camp in real telegraph style. Have heard of a number of killings to-day, and haven't heard a tithe of the whole. The enemy are beginning to dispute our further advance right strongly. Many think that Halleck has commenced a regular siege. He has left a line of splendid defences to-day, and if he forms new works on the position taken up to-day, we will know that we are in for a long fight, a-la-Yorktown. Two regiments of cavalry went out this morning to destroy the Ohio & Mobile R. R., 30 miles south of Corinth. I wish them luck. Many of the Rebel shot and shell struck within a half mile of the front of our camp to-day. It looks somewhat like the times at Madrid and Point Pleasant, but will probably be a little more interesting before we finally finish it.

SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 94-5

Senator William P. Fessenden to John M. Forbes, November 13, 1862

Portland, November 13, 1862.

My Dear Sir, — I have received your letter, and also the newspaper puff, for which I am probably indebted to you. McClellan's removal is a great step, but it should have been taken a year ago. There was no excuse for giving him the command of the army after his Yorktown campaign, and the President cannot defend himself for so doing. He knew his unfitness and admitted it. If it had not been proved before, the failure to win Antietam (for he did not win it), and to attack Lee on the day following, demonstrated either his incapacity or his treachery. Fear of offending the Democracy has been at the bottom of all our disasters. I am not clear that the result of the elections is not fortunate for the country, for it has taught the President that he has nothing to look for in that quarter, a fact which any sensible man might have seen. The only way to get the support of the Democracy is to show that you don't fear them. It is a mistake to suppose that you will gain anything of such people by conciliation, or by admitting them to your councils.

As to the cabinet, I have no belief that there will be any change. Seward will never yield his place willingly, and the President never will ask him to do so. But, whatever may happen, no man could be of much use in a cabinet office, for no man could carry out his own views. You cannot change the President's character or conduct, unfortunately; he remained long enough at Springfield, surrounded by toadies and office-seekers, to persuade himself that he was specially chosen by the Almighty for this great crisis, and well chosen. This conceit has never yet been beaten out of him, and until it is, no human wisdom can be of much avail. I see nothing for it but to let the ship of state drift along, hoping that the current of public opinion may bring it safely into port. For myself, I can only say that there is no political calamity I should look upon with so much dread as the being asked to share the responsibility of guiding it. I have neither the strength nor the wisdom requisite, and if I had, it would be useless. No, my friend, I can, perhaps, render my country some service where I am. In the cabinet I could no [sic] nothing, and no friend of mine should ever wish to see me there.

SOURCE: Sarah Forbes Hughes, Letters and Recollections of John Murray Forbes, Volume 1, p. 336-8

Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Monday, April 14, 1862

Still raining. No further knowledge of movements. Lieutenant Reichenbach's party that went to Columbus with prisoners, returned this evening. We hear of the taking of Huntsville, Alabama, today, the death of Beauregard, and news of the siege of Yorktown.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 228

Major-General John Sedgwick to John A. Andrew, December 5, 1862

Washington, D. C, December 5, 1862.

To his Excellency,

John A. Andrew,

Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,

Governor:

In compliance with your circular of the 5th ultimo, I have the honour to submit a brief report of the operations and actions of such Massachusetts regiments as have been under my command. On the 25th of February, 1862, I assumed command of the division previously commanded by Brigadier-General Stone, at that time doing important guard duty on the upper Potomac. The 15th, 19th, and 20th Massachusetts regiments formed a part of the division, and had for the four previous months performed active and arduous duty in guarding the river. The 15th and 20th were engaged in the battle of Ball's Bluff, and are reported to have behaved with great gallantry. On the 27th of February the division was ordered to Harper's Ferry to operate with General Banks in driving the enemy out of the Shenandoah Valley. This having been successfully accomplished without a general engagement, the division was ordered to Washington to form part of the Army of the Potomac, there embarking for the Peninsula.

We landed at Hampton, Virginia, March 30, 1862, and on the 5th of April found the enemy strongly entrenched around Yorktown. The siege lasted thirty days, and although no brilliant action was fought, skirmishing and picket warfare were carried on the whole time.

After the evacuation of Yorktown, the division formed a part of the expedition, under General Franklin, ordered up the York River to seize the railroads at West Point. The enemy having attempted to interrupt the landing, the 19th and 20th were engaged in the brilliant skirmish in which the enemy was repulsed. On the 31st of May the 15th and the 20th were engaged in the great battle of Fair Oaks. The 15th, as a part of Gorman's brigade, made a brilliant bayonet charge, which routed and drove the enemy from that portion of the field, and there we bivouacked. The next morning the enemy renewed the attack, but principally on Richardson's division, and these regiments were but partially engaged. During this time the 19th was performing important duty in guarding the bridge across the Chickahominy.

From this time until the movement on James River no action was fought, but the troops were constantly engaged in reconnoissances, skirmishes, picket duty, and labour of the most arduous kind. On the 30th of June we commenced the march upon James River. This was a scene of battles and combats the whole distance. In the morning the 20th, temporarily attached to Burns's brigade, was warmly engaged at Allen's Farm with a superior force, and behaved most handsomely. In the evening the battle at Savage's Station was fought, in which the 15th, 19th, and 20th were engaged, repulsing the enemy at every point. After a long night's march across White Oak Swamp, the next day found the same regiments at Glendale (Nelson's Farm), engaged with the enemy at close quarters for three hours, routing and driving them from the field. Another day's march, and daylight found them ready for action at Malvern Hill. After this day's hard fight another night's march brought them to Harrison's Landing.

During all this — marching by night, fighting by day, without rest, and short of rations — no troops ever behaved better. On the 3rd of August these regiments formed part of the force under General Hooker which retook and held Malvern Hill. On the 16th of August the evacuation of the Peninsula was commenced. The division marched via Yorktown to Newport News, embarked for Alexandria, landed the 29th, marched to Chain Bridge, returned to Alexandria, and then marched to the relief of General Pope's army.

After its retreat on Washington, the division formed a part of the army under General McClellan ordered in pursuit of Lee, then invading Maryland. On the 15th of September the enemy was found strongly posted in the passes of South Mountain, from which he was driven with great loss. On the 17th, near Sharpsburg, was fought the battle of Antietam, where these regiments (now greatly reduced in numbers) were in the hottest of the fight, as their list of killed and wounded testifies. As I was wounded early in the action, I had no opportunity of seeing them, and have not seen the reports of the Brigadiers, but have no reason to believe their conduct different from that on all other occasions. Since that the division marched to Harper's Ferry, Warrenton, and are now in front of Fredericksburg.

I have already forwarded through the military channels a list of officers and soldiers who were distinguished for gallantry and good conduct, recommending them for promotion; and I would again commend to your Excellency Colonel Lee of the 20th, Colonel Hinks, 19th, Lieutenant-Colonel Kimball, 15th, and Lieutenant-Colonel Palfrey of the 20th. Great credit is due these officers for the splendid condition in which their regiments were prepared for the field. The 15th and 19th are in my opinion fully equal to any in the service; the 20th was badly cut up at Ball's Bluff, many officers wounded and taken prisoners, and the regiment was thereby deprived of their services.

I have on two occasions strongly recommended the appointment of Colonel Hinks as Brigadier. He disciplined and brought into the field one of the finest regiments, and has been twice wounded while gallantly leading it in battle. I again urge the appointment and respectfully ask your Excellency's favourable endorsement.

I trust your Excellency will not think me presumptuous in offering you a suggestion in regard to promotions and appointments. The system, which seems to have been adopted and carried out to a limited extent, of promoting officers who by their gallantry and good conduct have merited it, is an excellent one, and I would not confine their promotion to their own regiments. I think it adds to an officer's usefulness to place him in a regiment in which he has no acquaintances, and this holds good to a greater extent in promotions from the ranks.

I would also call your attention to the importance of filling up the old regiments. Recruits sent to these learn their duties and become acquainted with the details of camp life much sooner, while they impart new life and vigour to the old regiments.

I have the honour to be, very respectfully,

Your Excellency's obedient servant,

John Sedgwick,

Major-General Volunteers

SOURCES: George William Curtis, Correspondence of John Sedgwick, Major-General, Volume 2, p. 82-7

Brigadier-General John Sedgwick to his Sister, April 27, 1862

Camp Near Yorktown,

April 27, 1862.

My dear sister:

I have nothing to write especially interesting. The siege is progressing as favourably as we could expect; daily skirmishes take place, the results of which are unimportant, but generally favour us. Our large guns are being put in position, and when they open, we hope for results that will enable us to overcome all obstacles. The rain is almost incessant, rendering the roads difficult to transport our artillery over, or our supplies. The troops are as healthy as could be expected. In our daily skirmishing it is expected not only casualties will take place, but more or less sickness from exposure. The papers from New York come regularly the second day after publication. From them we learn all the news, even what is going on in our own camp. The vile slanders that are daily promulgated in Washington against our best officers are enough to disgust all decent persons and take away all the zeal we have in the cause. The statement made by a Senator concerning General Smith is as gross a lie as was ever made. With those that know him it needs no contradiction, and none are more incensed at the statement than those engaged in that affair. His brother married a daughter of Cicero Collins. You may have seen him (the brother). I never have, but I know the General well, and a cleverer man, a better soldier, is not in the army.

We are having a cold, lingering rain; fires are burning in camp as if it was midwinter. This delays our work, but I trust it will not be the less sure. Ten days ought to tell the story.

Write often, and believe me, as ever,

Your affectionate brother,

J. S.

SOURCE: George William Curtis, Correspondence of John Sedgwick, Major-General, Volume 2, p. 44-5

Lieutenant-Colonel Francis W. Palfrey to Charles L. Bartlett, April 25, 1862

Before Yorktown, Va., April 25, 1862.

C. L. Bartlett, Esq.: —

My dear Sir, — Yesterday morning the Twentieth Regiment was detailed for picket duty. Captain Bartlett went out a little before noon to visit the advanced posts. He found what he considered a good and safe position for observing the enemy. He knelt down behind a tree and watched their movements through a glass. He had been watching them some ten minutes, when he received a shot from a rifle in his left knee. A litter was sent for him and he was brought to the rear. When I got to him his color had not left him, and he was suffering only at intervals, when spasms of pain seized him for a moment, and quickly passed and left him comparatively comfortable again. His thoughtfulness for others and self-forgetfulness were shown by his repeatedly urging me to leave him, as I was suffering from a slight lameness. He was carried to a house near by, and then the surgeons gave him chloroform and examined his wound. Drs. Hayward and Crehore of the Twentieth, Dr. Haven of the Fifteenth, and Dr. Clark, a surgeon from Worcester, were unanimous in the opinion that amputation was not only proper, but necessary. I urged upon them to be sure, before proceeding, that there was no chance of recovery, and that it would not do to delay for consultation with other surgeons.

They assured me positively that there was no room for doubt, and that the operation must be performed immediately; that the ball had totally destroyed the knee joint, and shivered and destroyed the bone of the leg for six inches below; furthermore that delay would materially diminish the chances of recovery. The leg was taken off by Dr. Hayward, in the lower third of the portion above the knee. Examination made subsequently fully confirmed the opinions of the surgeons, and Brigade Surgeons Crosby and Dougherty, and Dr Liddell, Medical Director of the Division, who arrived presently, pronounced everything well and wisely done, and every one of the surgeons were of the opinion that your son had gone through the operation most favorably. He suffered a good deal after he returned to consciousness, but not to the point of faintness. His sufferings arose mostly from the necessary dressings. He bore the announcement of what had been done very firmly, and told me that he had expected it. Every exertion was made to put him at once on his way to Washington, and he presently started for York River, in a four horse ambulance, attended by Dr. Clark and my servant, who is as gentle as a woman, and who has a strong feeling of personal attachment for your son. There went with him, also, seven or eight stout fellows of his own company, to carry him on a litter, should the motion of the ambulance increase his sufferings.

His color returned soon after the operation was ended, his smile was ready and sweet, his eyes clear, the grasp of his hand and the tone of his voice firm. I hardly need tell you that he bore his fate with his own gallant spirit, and that he did not break down for a moment. His escort report that he arrived safely at the river, and was there placed on board the Commodore.

To you who know so well my opinion of your son's merits, and what close companionship has existed between us for six months, I need say little of the affliction that this event causes me. The loss to the regiment is terrible, and officers and men unite with me in lamenting the misfortune. Your son was the most brilliant soldier I have known in the Volunteer Army, and I anticipated for him the highest distinction. You have my sincerest sympathy, you and Mrs. Bartlett and your daughters, in this painful moment, and my love and admiration for your son cause me to feel the most bitter sorrow at this heavy calamity.

Very respectfully and truly yours,

F. W. Palfrey, Lieut.-Col, Comd'g.

The surgeons encourage me to believe that he will be comparatively comfortable in a day or two.

SOURCE: Francis Winthrop Palfrey, Memoir of William Francis Bartlett, p. 42-4

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: May 6, 1862

Mine is a painful, self-imposed task: but why write when I have nothing to chronicle but disaster?¹ So I read instead: First, Consuelo, then Columba, two ends of the pole certainly, and then a translated edition of Elective Affinities. Food enough for thought in every one of this odd assortment of books.

At the Prestons', where I am staying (because Mr. Chesnut has gone to see his crabbed old father, whom he loves, and who is reported ill), I met Christopher Hampton. He tells us Wigfall is out on a warpath; wants them to strike for Maryland. The President's, opinion of the move is not given. Also Mr. Hampton met the first lieutenant of the Kirkwoods, E. M. Boykin. Says he is just the same man he was in the South Carolina College. In whatever company you may meet him, he is the pleasantest man there.

A telegram reads: “We have repulsed the enemy at Williamsburg.”² Oh, if we could drive them back “to their ain countree!” Richmond was hard pressed this day. The Mercury of to-day says, “Jeff Davis now treats all men as if they were idiotic insects.”

Mary Preston said all sisters quarreled. No, we never quarrel, I and mine. We keep all our bitter words for our enemies. We are frank heathens; we hate our enemies and love our friends. Some people (our kind) can never make up after a quarrel; hard words once only and all is over. To us forgiveness is impossible. Forgiveness means calm indifference; philosophy, while love lasts. Forgiveness of love's wrongs is impossible. Those dutiful wives who piously overlook — well, everything — do not care one fig for their husbands. I settled that in my own mind years ago. Some people think it magnanimous to praise their enemies and to show their impartiality and justice by acknowledging the faults of their friends. I am for the simple rule, the good old plan. I praise whom I love and abuse whom I hate.

Mary Preston has been translating Schiller aloud. We are provided with Bulwer's translation, Mrs. Austin's, Coleridge's, and Carlyle's, and we show how each renders the passage Mary is to convert into English. In Wallenstein at one point of the Max and Thekla scene, I like Carlyle better than Coleridge, though they say Coleridge's Wallenstein is the only translation in the world half so good as the original. Mrs. Barstow repeated some beautiful scraps by Uhland, which I had never heard before. She is to write them for us. Peace, and a literary leisure for my old age, unbroken by care and anxiety!

General Preston accused me of degenerating into a boarding-house gossip, and is answered triumphantly by his daughters: “But, papa, one you love to gossip with full well.”

Hampton estate has fifteen hundred negroes on Lake Washington, Mississippi. Hampton girls talking in the language of James's novels: “Neither Wade nor Preston — that splendid boy! — would lay a lance in rest — or couch it, which is the right phrase for fighting, to preserve slavery. They hate it as we do.” “What are they fighting for?” “Southern rights — whatever that is. And they do not want to be understrappers forever to the Yankees. They talk well enough about it, but I forget what they say.” Johnny Chesnut says: “No use to give a reason — a fellow could not stay away from the fight — not well.” It takes four negroes to wait on Johnny satisfactorily.

It is this giving up that kills me. Norfolk they talk of now; why not Charleston next? I read in a Western letter, “Not Beauregard, but the soldiers who stopped to drink the whisky they had captured from the enemy, lost us Shiloh.” Cock Robin is as dead as he ever will be now; what matters it who killed him?

_______________

¹ The Siege of Yorktown was begun on April 5, 1862, the place being evacuated by the Confederates on May 4th.

² The battle of Williamsburg was fought on May 5, 1862, by a part of McClellan's army, under General Hooker and others, the Confederates being commanded by General Johnston.

SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 161-3

Lieutenant-Colonel Theodore Lyman to Elizabeth Russell Lyman, November 11, 1864

November 11, 1864

The McClellan procession might have spared their tapers, as he has gone up, poor Mac, a victim to his friends! His has been a career manqué, and a hard time he has had, and low he has fallen. The men who stood, as green soldiers, with him in front of Yorktown, where are they? Many thousands lie in the barren land of the Peninsula and the valley of Virginia; thousands more in the highlands of Maryland and Pennsylvania and in the valley of the Shenandoah. Many are mustered out — their time expired — or sick, or crippled. The small remnant are sifted, like fine gold, through this army, non-commissioned officers, or even full officers. What an experience it is for an infantry soldier! To have carried a musket, blanket, and haversack to the Peninsula, and to the gates of Richmond, then back again to the second Bull Run; up to Antietam in Maryland; down again to Fredericksburg; after the enemy again to the Rappahannock; and at last, the great campaign, like all others concentrated in six months, from the Rapid Ann to Petersburg! All this alone on foot, in three long years, at all seasons and all hours, in every kind of weather, carrying always a heavy load, and expecting to fight at any moment; seeing so many men shot in each fight — the great regiment dwindling to a battalion — the battalion to a company — the company to a platoon. Then the new men coming down; they shot off also. Till at last the infantry-man, who left Boston thinking he was going straight to Richmond, via Washington, sits down before Petersburg and patiently makes his daily pot of coffee, a callous old soldier, who has seen too many horrors to mind either good or bad. It is a limited view of a great war, but, for that very reason, full of detail and interest.

Of course we might have known that this pack of political “commissioners” could not get down here without a shindy of some sort. The point they brought up was fraudulent votes. A long-haired personage, fat and vulgar-looking, one of that class that invariably have objectionable finger-nails, came puffing over to General Meade's tent, with all the air of a boy who had discovered a mare's nest. He introduced himself as a Mr. Somebody from Philadelphia, and proceeded to gasp out that a gentleman had been told by an officer, that he had heard from somebody else that a Democratic Commissioner had been distributing votes, professedly Republican, but with names misspelled so as to be worthless. “I don't see any proof,” said the laconic Meade. “Give me proof, and I'll arrest him.” And off puffed Mr. Somebody to get proof, evidently thinking the Commanding General must be a Copperhead not to jump at the chance of arresting a Democrat. The result was that a Staff officer was sent, and investigation held, and telegraphs dispatched here and there, while the Somebody puffed about, like a porpoise in shallow water! Finally, four or five people were arrested to answer charges. This seemed to please Stanton mightily, who telegraphed to put 'em in close arrest; and, next morning, lo! a lieutenant-colonel sent, with a guard of infantry, by a special boat from Washington, to conduct these malefactors to the capital — very much like personages, convicted of high treason, being conveyed to the Tower. Were I a lieutenant-colonel, I should feel cheap to be ordered to convey a parcel of scrubby politicians under arrest! But that is the work that Washington soldiers may expect to spend their lives in. General Meade, I fancy, looked with high contempt on the two factions. “That Somebody only does it,” he said, “to appear efficient and get an office.  As to X, he said he thought it a trying thing for a gentleman to be under close arrest; and I wanted to tell him it wasn't so disgraceful as to have been drunk every night, which was his case!” That's the last I have heard of the culprits, who, with their accusers, have all cleared out, like a flock of crows, and we are once again left to our well-loved ragamuffins, in dirty blouses and spotted sky-blue trousers.

The day was further marked by an émeute in the culinary department. I would have you to know that we have had a nigger boy, to wait on table, an extraordinary youth, of muscular proportions and of an aspect between a drill sergeant, an undertaker and a clergyman — solemn, military and mildly religious. It would, however, appear, that beneath this serious and very black exterior worked a turbulent soul. The diminutive Monsieur Mercier, our chef, had repeatedly informed me that “le petit” (the unbleached brother is about a head taller than Mercier) was extremely indolent and had a marked antipathy to washing dishes — an observation which interested me little, as my observation went to show that the washing of dishes by camp-followers tended rather to dirty than to cleanse the platter, and that the manifest destiny of the plate military was to grow dirtier and dirtier, till it at last got broken. However, Anderson was reproved for not washing his crockery, and replied with rude words. On being reproved again, he proposed to smite Mercier, remarking, he “would as soon knock down a white man as a nigger.”

At this juncture the majestic Biddle interfered and endeavored to awe the crowd; but the crowd would not be awed, so Biddle put Anderson at the pleasant occupation of walking post with a log on his shoulder. Upon being liberated from this penalty, he charged upon Mercier, giving him the dire alternative of “Pay me mer wages, or I'll smash yer crockery!” This being disorderly, I allowed him to cool his passions till next morning in the guardhouse, when he was paid off.

SOURCE: George R. Agassiz, Editor, Meade’s Headquarters, 1863-1865: Letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness to Appomattox, p. 262-5

Charles Lawrence Peirson

Charles Lawrence Peirson. who died at Boston, Jan. 23, 1920, was born in Salem, Jan. 15, 1834, the son of Dr. Abel Lawrence Peirson and Harriet (Lawrence) Peirson. He studied engineering at the Lawrence Scientific School, and after receiving the degree of S.B. in 1853, practised in Minnesota the calling of a farmer and the profession of a civil engineer. At the outbreak of the Civil War, having returned to Boston, he volunteered for service and was commissioned first lieutenant and adjutant of the Twentieth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. In the first engagement of the regiment, Oct. 20,1861, at Ball's Bluff on the Potomac River, he was taken prisoner and sent to Libby Prison, Richmond, where he was confined until late in the following January. He shared in the distinguished record of his regiment, including the battles from Yorktown to Malvern Hill, and served on the staff of General Dana and that of General Sedgwick. In August, 1862, he became lieutenant colonel of the Thirty-Ninth Massachusetts Volunteers, and in July, 1864, colonel of that regiment, taking part in the operations of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Petersburg and the Weldon Railroad, where he was severely wounded. In March, 1865, he was commissioned brevet brigadier general United States Volunteers. After the close of the war he formed with General Robert H. Stevenson the firm of Stevenson & Peirson, iron merchants, and continued a member of this firm and of its successor, Charles L. Peirson & Co., until his retirement from business, more than ten years ago. He was also for a period of years treasurer of the Lowell Machine Shop. In 1898 he received the honorary degree of A.M. from Harvard University. He married, in 1873, Emily Russell, daughter of George R. Russell of Boston. Mrs. Peirson died in 1908. There are no children.

SOURCE: The Harvard Graduates' Magazine, Volume 28: 1919-1920, No. 111, March 1920, p. 492-3

Major General George B. McClellan to Abraham Lincoln, April 20, 1862

Private

 Head-Quarters, Army of the Potomac

Camp Winfield Scott, April 20 1862

His Excellency The  President

My dear Sir

I enclose herewith a copy of the first reliable map we have prepared of this vicinity – it will give you a good general idea of positions. In a day or two we will have one on a larger scale which will be more satisfactory to you.

I will soon send you one of the immediate front of Yorktown on which I will mark the batteries now being constructed & send such information as will enable you to put down the new works as they progress.

We are now actually at work, & nearly through, with 6 batteries for guns, have commenced a series for 10 13" mortars, & commence tomorrow morning another gun battery. As soon as these are armed we will open the first parallel & other batteries for 8" & 10" mortars & more heavy guns. Everything is going on admirably & we shall soon open with a terrific fire. I hope to hear hourly of the arrival of Franklin's Division, & shall lose no time in placing him in position. I hope the Galena will be here to assist us very soon. Gnl Robt Lee is in command in our front – Johnston is under him! I learn that there has been quite a struggle on the subject between Davis and his Congress, Davis insisting upon Johnston. I prefer Lee to Johnston – the former is too cautious and weak under given responsibility – personally brave and energetic to a fault, he yet is wanting in moral firmness when pressed by heavy responsibility & is likely to be timid & irresolute in action.

The difficulties of our position are undeniable, that is the enemy is in a very strong position – but I never expected to get to Richmond without a hard fought battle, & am just as willing to fight it here as elsewhere – I am confident of success, not only of success but of brilliant success. I think that a defeat here substantially breaks up the rebel cause.

They are making great efforts – enforcing the conscription with the utmost vigor, & now have their regiments full – whether the infusion of raw & perhaps unwilling men will benefit them remains to be seen – I doubt whether it is a disadvantage to us.

I am, sir, most respectfully

and sincerely your friend

Geo B McClellan

SOURCE: The Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress

Major General George B. McClellan to Abraham Lincoln, April 9, 1862 – 9 p.m.

CAMP WINFIELD SCOTT,

Near Yorktown,  April 14 [1862] – 9 p.m.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN:

I have seen General Franklin, and beg to thank you for your kindness and consideration. I now understand the matter, which I did not before.

Our field guns annoyed the enemy considerably to-day. Roads and bridges now progressing rapidly. Siege guns and ammunition coming up very satisfactorily. Shall have nearly all up to-morrow.

The tranquillity of Yorktown is nearly at an end.

 GEO. B. McCLELLAN,

Major-General, Commanding.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 11, Part 3 (Serial No. 14), p. 98

Brigadier General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, April 13, 1862

CAMP AT MANASSAS, Sunday, April 13.

My last letter was written to you from Alexandria, on the evening of the 10th instant. The next morning we started on our march to this place, which we reached yesterday afternoon, passing through Centreville. On our arrival here we found Franklin's Division had been ordered back to McClellan. As this was a checkmate to McDowell, he has started off to Washington, and we now do not know what is going to be done with us. The withdrawal of Franklin reduces his army corps to two divisions of only twenty thousand men — hardly enough to attempt to threaten Richmond from this direction. I suppose he will try to get another division with which to cross the Rappahannock and advance on Richmond. If he does not succeed in this, I presume we will be kept here till the affair at Yorktown is decided, and if it should be in our favor, I think they will fall back from Richmond and probably abandon Virginia altogether. We cannot tell till McDowell gets back what our movements will be. This morning I rode over the whole of the Bull Run battle-field. A more beautiful ground for a battle never existed; country open, with rolling ground of gentle slopes, offering equal advantages to the attacking and attacked. I am now more satisfied than ever that we lost the day from gross mismanagement — a combination of bad generalship and bad behavior on the part of raw troops. This, however, is erdre rums. Their works at Centreville and at this place are quite strong, and it would have given us a good deal of trouble to have driven them out, and it was a very good thing they evacuated them. I hope we shall be successful in driving them from Yorktown; though the last accounts would seem to indicate that they are pretty well prepared for us there, and that we have yet our hands full to drive them out. As I understand, the difficulty is that, owing to the fear of the Merrimac, the gunboats cannot leave Fortress Monroe to ascend the York River and take their batteries in the rear. It is said, however, the Navy have a plan, by which they are confident they will sink the Merrimac, if she gives them a fair chance, in which I trust they may succeed.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 1, p. 258-9

Information by Contrabands

From the N. Y. Times, Tuesday.

One of our correspondents at Yorktown adds a postscript to his letter, dated on Saturday, May 3, at noon, to the effect that our picket had been puzzled at encountering no pickets of the enemy during the previous night and morning, and adds: “A contraband, has just come in, reports the rebels have evacuated Yorktown.”  It will be seen that the news did not reach Gen. McClellan until the morning of the 4th, when the pursuit was instantly commenced with vigor.  Nor is this the only instance where the loyalty and reliability of the fugitive slaves have been tested.  Our armies have hardly taken a step without reliance upon the reports of the faithful black fellows whose accuracy has been remarkable.  Gen. Banks has had frequent occasions to acknowledge the value of these volunteer guides; and it is credibly stated that but for information carried by them to Gen. McDowell’s officers, when they approached the Rappahannock, that important division of the army would have pressed forward and fallen into the hands of Gen. Gustavus Smith, whose rebel legions lay only a short distance beyond the river.  The country will owe much to its African allies by the time the war is ended.  Shall it pay the debt by giving them up to their vindictive masters and to hopeless slavery?

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Friday Morning, May 16, 1862, p. 2

The War News

YORKTOWN EVACUATED.

The Works in Possession of the Federal Troops.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, May 6, 1862, p. 2

From Yorktown

WASHINGTON, Sunday, May 4 – Noon.

The following report just received from Fort Monroe, says Yorktown was evacuated last night.  We now occupy the enemy’s works.  They left a large amount of camp equipage and guns which they could not destroy for fear of being seen.

HEAD QUARTERS’ ARMY POTOMAC,

May 3rd.

Hon. E. W. [sic] Stanton, Secretary of War, Washington:

We have ramparts, guns, ammunition, camp equipage, &c.  We hold entire control of the works, which our engineers report very strong.  I have thrown all my cavalry and horse artillery in pursuit, supported by infantry.  I move Franklin’s division and as much more as can be transported by water to West Point to-day.  No time shall be lost.  Gunboats have gone up York River.  Gloucester is in our possession.  I shall push the enemy to the wall.

(Signed,)

G. B. McLELLAN

We entered the enemy’s works at 5 this A. M., which their rear deserted 41 hours before.  Found everything in utter confusion.  About 50 pieces of heavy artillery were left spiked.  Found medical stores, ammunition, camp equipage, tents and private property.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, May 6, 1862, p. 2