Diary of Corporal Lawrence Van Alstyne, Tuesday, September 16, 1862

We are getting right down to business now. Have company drill and will soon drill with the whole regiment together. To-day we practiced the double-quick, which is nothing more than a run. The day was hot and these heavy clothes buttoned around us made us sweat, and one man gave out. He fell down and several fell over him, stopping the work long enough for us to catch breath. He was put under a tree, and by the time we were through was able to walk back to camp. I went into the mill to-day and asked for a job. The miller said he thought I had about all the job I could attend to. That is the nearest approach to a joke I have heard from a native. They are the dumbest set of people I ever met. At least they seem so to me. The country is queer, too. There are no roads here. They are all turnpikes. Many of the houses set so far back from the road, and shade trees are so plenty, that they are not seen unless one goes on purpose. To the west and south the country looks like a forest, but there are no forests here, only scattering trees all over the fields and along the roads. The people are Dutch, mostly, and the rest are negroes,—"Niggers" they are universally called here. Money has another name, too. I bought a bundle of straw for a bed, which I was told was a "fip" for a bundle. I tied up a bundle and was then told it would be a "levy," all of which meant that if the man bound it up it was a "fip" and if I bound it it would be a "levy," which is two fips. I found out at last that a "fip" was sixpence and a "levy" was a shilling. Two fellows got too much of the sutler's whiskey to-day. They forged an order for it, and as a punishment each had a placard pinned to his back, with the nature of his offense printed in large letters, and were marched about the camp until sober.

SOURCE:  Lawrence Van Alstyne, Diary of an Enlisted Man, p. 27-8

Diary of Private John J. Wyeth, September 24, 1862

Our rifles have been delivered, and to-day we were in line two hours or more on the main street of the camp, ready to receive, with military honors, Col. Stevenson, of the 24th Regiment, but he did not come. The boys say he purposely delayed his visit, so as to avoid that ceremony. Many of our company drilled under him in the battalion and liked him very much.

We are mad with the Sutler. We think he charges too much for things which our friends would gladly bring us, so, many will not trade with him, and many things are still smuggled through the lines. If we could only get up our spunk to clean him out. Some one with malicious intent and forethought, did break into his domicile and start things, but were frightened, or, probably belonging to some other regiment, did not know how our account stood.

SOURCE: John Jasper Wyeth, Leaves from a Diary Written While Serving in Co. E, 44 Mass. Dep’t of North Carolina from September 1862 to June 1863, p. 9-10

Diary of Corporal Lawrence Van Alstyne, Sunday, September 14, 1862

My first day on duty as corporal of the guard. Two hours on and four off duty gives me lots of time to write, and as it may interest our folks to know what guard duty really is, I will describe it as best I can. An officer of the guard, a sergeant of the guard, four corporals, and four times as many privates as there are posts to guard, are detailed the night before. In the morning at 8 A. M. the fife and drum sounds the call for guard-mount, and the whole detail reports at guard-headquarters, which is wherever the call is sounded from. Three quarters of the detail go on duty and the other quarter, called supernumeraries, have nothing at all to do, unless a man on duty is taken sick, when a supernumerary takes his place. The corporal then on duty goes with the one just going on with the first relief, and marches to post No. 1, where the guard calls out, "Who comes there?" The corporal says, "Relief." "Advance Relief," says the guard on post, when he is replaced by a man from the new guard, and he takes his place in the rear, marching on to the next post, where the same ceremony is repeated until the last post is reached. The new guard is then on duty and the corporal marches the old guard to headquarters, where they are discharged and are free from all duty for the next twenty-four hours. The corporal of the relief now on post remains at guard headquarters for two hours, unless some trouble on the line happens, in which case the guard cries out "Corporal of the guard!" giving the number of post. The corporal then goes direct to that post, and if the trouble be such as he cannot cope with, he calls "Sergeant of the guard!" In case it be too serious for the sergeant, the officer of the guard is called in the same way, and he is supposed to be able to settle the trouble, whatever it may be. At the end of two hours, the second relief goes on, and then the third in its turn, after which the first relief goes on again. This keeps on until 8 A. M. the next morning, when a new guard is mounted and the old one goes off. This gives each corporal and his relief four turns of duty of two hours each, and sixteen hours to lie around headquarters and do pretty much as he pleases. The sergeant and the officer of the guard rarely have anything to do but pass away the time in any lawful manner. But they must be ready, on call, at all times.

Train-load after train-load of troops keeps going past. The North must get empty and the South get full at this rate. Mosquitoes and flies are very troublesome. We must cover up head and hands at night, or if the blanket gets off we must scratch all the next day. Some don't mind it, but the most of us do, and if the pests would go where they are often told to go, they would get a taste of what they are giving us.

We have a sutler now. No peddlers are allowed on the camp grounds. It is buy of him now or go without. For change, he uses cards with his stamp on, good for from three to twenty-five cents, at his tent, and good for nothing at any other place. Report says we are to have a chaplain by next Sunday, and that it is the Rev. Mr. Parker, who preached for us at Hudson. I hope he will bring along all his patience and forbearance. He will need it. Bad as we are, I don't suppose we are worse than the average, but I think we must average pretty well up. We will know if he comes, and won't have to watch the almanac to tell when Sunday comes.

SOURCE:  Lawrence Van Alstyne, Diary of an Enlisted Man, p. 26-7

Diary of Captain Joseph Stockton, August 25, 1862

CAIRO, ILL.  Since the last date I have been to busy to attempt anything in the way of writing. The Board of Trade Regiment was mustered into service as the 72d Regiment of Ill. Vol. on the 21st day of August, 1862, Fred A. Starring as colonel, Joseph C. Wright as lieutenant colonel, and H. W. Chester as major, the latter being captain of Co. A., to which company I belonged as first lieutenant. I was by reason of his promotion as major, made captain. Not being able to leave the camp my brother John and my sister came to the camp to bid me goodbye. I had no opportunity of seeing my friends who were kind enough to present me with a full uniform, sword, sash and belt. There was no opportunity for speech making, but I inwardly resolved I would not disgrace this friendship or dishonor the sword they were so kind to present me with. Marching orders came upon us suddenly, only two days after we were mustered in we received marching orders and on the 23rd of August embarked on board the Illinois Central train for Cairo, which we reached on the afternoon of the 24th. Everything is in confusion and we will from this time commence to realize a soldier's life, try to do a soldier's duty. God alone knows who will return, but I must not commence thinking of that, as it is a soldier's duty to die if need be. Our regiment is composed of fine material, five companies being composed of men raised under the auspices of the Young Men's Christian Association together with the Board of Trade. The commanding officers of the companies are as follows: "A"-Stockton; "B"Curtis; "C"-James; "D"-Sexton; "E"-Holbrook; "F"-Williams; "G"-French; "H"-Prior; "I"-Barnes; "K"-Reid. Our Adjutant, Bacon, is a good soldier and well liked. Starring, a fine disciplinarian; Wright, a Christian gentleman who will make a fine soldier; Chester, who claims Mexican War experience. Quartermaster Thomas is a hard worker and Sutler Jake Hayward, a whole souled, clever fellow. His delicacies, such as ginger bread, canned peaches, cheese, etc., are relished by the men who still have some money in their pockets. This Cairo is a miserable hole, the barracks are in a terrible state, filled with rats and mice and other creeping things. I prefer to sleep outdoors to sleeping in my quarters. Our time is taken up with company and regimental drill, weather very hot, no excitement except the passing through of regiments. We were ordered here to relieve the 11th Ill.. who go to Paducah. Men are getting sick and I am anxious for marching orders.

SOURCE: Joseph Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph Stockton, p. 1-2

Diary of Sergeant David L. Day: August 20, 1864

THE CHRISTIAN AND SANITARY COMMISSIONS.

I have read a great deal in the papers of the Christian and Sanitary commissions, of the noble and humane work they were doing and the immense amount of money contributed for their support by the people throughout the north and west. I have taken a great interest in these commissions and have supposed they were a kind of auxiliary to the medical and surgical department of the army, carrying and dispensing some simple medicines, pouring in the balm of gilead and binding up gaping wounds, giving comfort and consolation to the sick, weary and distressed; but in all this, so far as my observation has gone, I find I have been laboring under a delusion. Since I have been here is the first I have ever seen of the workings of these commissions, and I have watched them with some interest and taken some pains to find out about them. Here is a branch of each, located midway the convalescent camp and sick hospital, and I find they are little else than sutler's shops, and poor ones at that. These places are said to furnish without money and without price to the inmates of this hospital and the boys in the trenches such little notions and necessities as we have been accustomed to buy of the sutlers, and in consequence of this no sutlers are allowed to locate anywhere in this vicinity. The boys are not supposed to be fooling away their money to these thieving sutlers when our folks at home are willing to supply our little needs, free gratis for nothing. So when we happen to want a lemon or a pencil, a sheet of paper or a piece of tobacco, or whatever other little notion we require, all we have to do is to apply to one or the other commission and make known our wants; after answering all the questions they are pleased to ask we are given a slice of lemon, a half sheet of paper or a chew of tobacco. These are not wholesale establishments.

Fortunately for me I have stood in very little need of anything within their gift. I seldom solicit any favors and those are granted so grudgingly I almost despise the gist. My first experience with these institutions was one day when I was out of tobacco, I called on the Christians and told them how I was situated. I got a little sympathy in my misfortunes and a short lecture on the sin of young men contracting such bad habits, when I was handed a cigar box containing a small quantity of fine cut tobacco and told to take a chew. I asked them if they couldn't let me have a small piece that would do me for a day or two. “Oh, no; that is not our way of doing business.” “Will you sell me a piece? I would as soon buy of you as of the sutler." "Oh no; it is against our orders to sell anything. All there is here is free, it costs you nothing.” He then put up a small quantity and gave me. The next day I sent down to the Point and bought some. My next call was for a pencil. I was handed a third of one.

I said if that is the best you can do perhaps you had better keep it. He then gave me a whole one. I got out of writing paper and thought I would beg some. I called for it, and was given a half sheet. I used that and went for more, and when I had finished my letter, I had been six times to the Christian's. I sent down to the Point and bought some. I sometimes think I should like a lemon, but there is poor encouragement for calling for one, as I notice that others calling for them only get a thin slice of one.

This is the first place I ever got into where I could neither buy, steal or beg. I notice the officers fare a little better; they get in fair quantity almost anything they call for. I sometimes stand around for an hour and watch the running of this machine and wonder that in this business of giving goods away where the necessity for lying comes in, and yet I notice that this is practiced to some extent. Sometimes a person calling for an article will be told they are out of it, but expect some when the team come up from the Point. In a little while after perhaps some officer will call for the same thing and get it.

This Christian commission seems to be the headquarters for visitors. They stay a few days, going as near the trenches as they dare to, and in the chapel tent in the evening will tell over their adventures and pray most fervently for the boys who hold them. We are never short of visitors, as soon as one party goes, another comes, and they all seem to be good Christian men, taking great interest in the welfare of our souls.

A CHARACTER.

Among our visitors is a tall, lean, middle-aged man whom I know must have seen right smart of trouble. His face is snarled and wrinkled up in such a way that it resembles the face of a little dog when catching wasps. Although there is no benevolent expression on his countenance, he yet has more sympathy to the square inch than any other man I ever saw. He takes a great interest in this convalescent camp and seems to have taken it under his special charge. He will be in this camp all day, calling on all hands, inquiring after their health and needs, praying with them, giving them sympathy and good advice. He will come round giving a thin slice of lemon to all who will take it, and will sometimes go through the camp with a basket of linen and cotton rags and a bottle of cologne, sprinkling a little on a rag and give it to any one who will take it and at the same time will distribute religious tracts. Some days he will come round with a bottle of brandy and some small lumps of sugar, on which he will drop three or four drops of the brandy and give it to any one who says they are troubled with bowel complaints, at the same time telling them he hopes it will do them good.

One day he came along distributing temperance tracts. looked into my tent and inquired if there were any objections to his leaving some. I replied there were no reasons known to exist why he might not leave all he wished to. I then said: “You are laboring in a very worthy cause, but you seem to be working the wrong field, or as Col. Crockett used to say, barking up the wrong tree, for we here might just as well cast our nets into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, thinking to catch speckled trout as to think of getting any liquor. Your field of labor would seem to be up in the officers' ward where you deal out your liquors.” The old gentleman sighed at such perverseness and went along. He will work this camp all day from early morning till night, giving every one something, and in all that time will not give away the value of fifty cents.

Now I don't wish to cast any reflections or create any false impressions in regard to these commissions. I have only written my experience and observations as to their workings in this convalescent camp. So far as anything that I know to the contrary, they may be doing a great and humane work in the wounded and sick hospital, and I am charitable enough to allow that they are, but if the whole system of it throughout the army is conducted as niggardly as I have seen it here then there must be some superb lying done by somebody to account for all the money that is being contributed for its support.

SOURCE: David L. Day, My Diary of Rambles with the 25th Mass. Volunteer Infantry, p. 144-7

Major-General William T. Sherman: General Orders, No. 44, June 9, 1863

GENERAL ORDERS, No. 44.}

HDQRS. FIFTEENTH ARMY CORPS,        

Walnut Hills, Miss., June 9, 1863.

To prevent communication between the enemy, now closely invested in Vicksburg, and their friends and adherents without, the following rules must be observed on the north front:

A continuous chain of sentinels must extend from the Mississippi River to the main Jackson road, along our front trenches. These sentinels will act as sharpshooters or pickets, and must be posted daily, and be instructed that no human being must pass into or out of Vicksburg, unless on strictly military duty, or as prisoners.

These sentinels must connect, one with another, the whole line; but division commanders may prescribe the posts, so that the length of line for each sentinel will depend on its nature.

All the ground, no matter how seemingly impracticable, must be watched.

The reserves and reliefs will be by brigades or divisions, according to the nature of the ground; but the post of his reserve must be known to each sentinel, and be within call.

I. General Steele will be held responsible for the front, from the Mississippi to the valley now occupied by General Thayer, to be known as "Abbott's Valley."

II. General Tuttle, from Abbott's Valley to the Graveyard road, at the point near the head of our "sap," to be known as "Washington Knoll?

III. General Blair, from Washington Knoll to where he connects with General McPherson's troops, at or near the point now occupied by General Ransom's advanced rifle-pits, to be known as "Ransom's Hill."

IV. The battalion of regulars, commanded by Captain Smith, will keep guards along all the roads leading to the front, and will arrest all soldiers absent from their regiments without proper authority, and turn back all officers not provided with written orders or passes from the commanders of their brigades or divisions.

Soldiers or citizens (not regular sutlers within the proper limits of their regiments) found peddling will be put under guard, and set to work on roads or trenches, and their wares turned into the hospital or distributed among the soldiers on duty.

Horses, mules, or any species of property found in possession of stragglers or absentees from duty, will be turned in to the corps quartermaster, a memorandum receipt taken, and sent to the corps inspector-general.

V. Colonel Eldridge, One hundred and twenty-seventh Illinois, will guard the Yazoo City road, at Chickasaw Creek, and also the bridges across the bayou, and will enforce at those points the same general orders as above prescribed.

VI. Colonel Judy, of the One hundred and fourteenth Illinois, will guard the road at the picket station near Templeton's, with vedettes on the by-roads leading therefrom north and east, and enforce similar general orders.

VII. In every regiment, troop, or company there must be at least three roll-calls daily—at reveille, retreat, and tattoo, and any commander who cannot account for every man in his command, at all times, will be liable for neglect of duty. He cannot shift his responsibility to an orderly sergeant.

The inspector-general of the corps may, and will, frequently visit camps, call for the rolls, and see that captains and colonels can account for every man.

VIII. Surgeons in charge of corps and division hospitals will notify regimental commanders of the admission and discharge of men at their hospitals, and furnish lists of men so admitted or discharged to the proper military commander.

Corps and division inspector-generals may, and will, frequently visit such hospitals, and satisfy themselves that no officers or soldiers are in hospital, except such as are admitted for treatment or regularly detailed as nurses.

IX. All commanders of divisions, brigades, regiments, and detached companies will be held responsible that their camps are not encumbered with surplus wagons, tents, horses, mules, tools, sutlers' trash, or anything that will prevent their raising camp at a moment's notice and taking up the march against an enemy to our front, flank, or rear.

X. The magnificent task assigned to this army should inspire every officer and soldier to sacrifice everything of comfort, ease, or pleasure to the one sole object, "success," now apparently within our grasp. A little more hard work, great vigilance, and a short struggle, and Vicksburg is ours.

By order of Maj. Gen. W. T. Sherman:

R. M. SAWYER,        

Assistant Adjutant-General.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 24, Part 3 (Serial No. 38), p. 394-5

War Department, Adjutant General’s Office: General Orders, No. 27, March 21, 1862

General Orders, No. 27.}

WAR DEP'T, ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE,        

Washington, March 21, 1862.

The following Acts and Resolution of Congress are published for the information and government of all concerned:

I.—AN ACT to make an additional Article of War.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in congress assembled, That hereafter the following shall be promulgated as an additional Article of War for the government of the Army of the United States, and shall be obeyed and observed as such:

ARTICLE — All officers or persons in the military or naval service of the United States are prohibited from employing any of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose of returning fugitives from service or labor, who may have escaped from any persons to whom such service or labor is claimed to be due, and any officer who shall be found guilty by a court martial of violating this article shall be dismissed from the service.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect from and after its passage.

Approved March 13, 1862.

II. —AN ACT to provide for the appointment of sutlers in the volunteer service,

and to define their duties.

Be it enacted by the senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the inspector generals of the army shall constitute a board of officers, whose duty it shall be to prepare, immediately after the passage of this act, a list or schedule of the following articles which may be sold by sutlers to the officers and soldiers of the volunteer service, to wit: Apples, dried apples, oranges, figs, lemons, butter, cheese, milk, sirup, molasses, raisins, candles, crackers, wallets, brooms, comforters, boots, pocket looking glasses, pins, gloves, leather, tin wash basins, shirt buttons, horn and brass buttons, newspapers, books, tobacco, cigars, pipes, matches, blacking, blacking brushes, clothes brushes, tooth brushes, hair brushes, coarse and fine combs, emery, crocus, pocket handkerchiefs, stationery, armor oil, sweet oil, rotten stone, razor strops, razors, shaving soap, soap, suspenders, scissors, shoe strings, needles, thread, knives, pencils, and Bristol brick. Said list or schedule shall be subject, from time to time, to such revision and change as, in the judgment of the said board, the good of the service may require: Provided always, That no intoxicating liquors shall at any time be contained therein, or tbe sale of such liquors be in any way authorized by said board. A copy of said list or schedule, and of any subsequent change therein, together with a copy of this act, shall be, without delay, furnished by said board to the commanding officer of each brigade and of each regiment not attached to any brigade in the volunteer service, and also to the Adjutant General of the Army.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That immediately upon the receipt from said board of said list or schedule and copy of this act by the commanding officer of any such brigade, the acting brigadier general, surgeon, quartermaster, and commissary of said brigade shall constitute a board of officers whose duty it shall be to affix to each article in said list or schedule a price for said brigade, which shall be by them forth with reported to the commanding officer of the division, if any, to which said brigade is attached, for his approval, with or without modification, and who shall, after such approval, report the same to the inspector generals, and the same, if not disapproved by them, shall be the price not exceeding which said articles may be sold to the officers and soldiers in said brigade. Whenever any brigade shall not be attached to a division, said prices shall then be reported directly to the inspector generals, and if approved by them shall be the price fixed for such brigade as aforesaid; and whenever any regiment shall be unattached to any brigade, the acting colonel, lieutenant colonel, major, and captains thereof shall constitute the board of officers by whom the price of said articles shall be fixed for said regiment in the same manner as is herein provided for an unattached brigade. The prices so fixed may be changed by said boards respectively from time to time, not oftener than once in thirty days, but all changes therein shall be reported in like manner and for the same purpose as when originally fixed.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the commanding officer of each brigade, immediately upon receipt of a copy of said list or schedule and copy of this act, as herein provided, to cause one sutler for each regiment in his brigade to be selected by the commissioned officers of such regiment, which selection shall be by him reported to the Adjutant General of the Army; the person so selected shall be sole sutler of said regiment. And the commanding officer of each unattached regiment shall, in like manner, cause a selection of a sutler to be made for said regiment, who shall be sole sutler of said regiment. Any vacancy in the office of sutler from any cause, shall be filled in the same way as an original appointment.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the sutlers chosen in the manner provided in the preceding section shall be allowed a lien only upon the pay of the officers, non-commissioned officers and privates of the regiment for which he has been chosen, or those stationed at the post to which he has been appointed, and for no greater sum than one-sixth of the monthly pay of each officer, non-commissioned officer or private, for articles sold during each month; and the amount of one-sixth or less than one-sixth of the pay of such officer, non-commissioned officer, or private, so sold to him by the sutler, shall be charged on the pay rolls of such officer, non-commissioned officer or private, and deducted from his pay, and paid over by the paymaster to the sutler of the regiment or military post, as the case may be: Provided, That if any paymaster in the service of the United States shall allow or pay any greater sum to any sutler than that hereby authorized to be retained from the pay of the officers, non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates, for articles sold by any sutler during any one month, then the amount so allowed or paid by the paymaster shall be charged against the said paymaster and deducted from his pay and returned to the officer, non-commissioned officer, musician, or private, against whom the amount was originally charged. And any captain or lieutenant commanding a company who may certify any pay-roll bearing a charge in favor of the sutler against any officer, non-commissioned officer, musician, or private, larger or greater than one-sixth of the monthly pay of such officer, noncommissioned officer, musician, or private, shall be punished at the discretion of a court martial: Provided, however, That sutlers shall be allowed to sell only the articles designated in the list or schedule provided in this act, and none others, and at prices not exceeding those affixed to said articles, as herein provided: And provided further, That the sutlers shall have no legal claim upon any officer, non-commissioned officer, musician, or private, to an amount exceeding one sixth of his pay for articles sold during any month. He shall keep said list or schedule, together with a copy of this act, fairly written or printed, posted up in some conspicuous part of the place where he makes said sales, and where the same can be easily read by any person to whom he makes said sales.

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the inspector generals to cause the place of sale and articles kept for that purpose, by said sutlers, to be inspected from time to time, once in fifteen days at least, by some competent officer, specially detailed for that duty, and such changes in said place, or in the quality and character of the articles mentioned in said list or schedule so kept, as shall be required by said officer, shall be conformed to by each sutler. And such officer shall report each inspection to the inspector generals.

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That no person shall be permitted to act as sutler unless appointed according to the provisions of this act; nor shall any person be sutler for more than one regiment; nor shall any sutler farm out or underlet the business of sutling or the privileges granted to him by his appointment; nor shall any officer of the army receive from any sutler any money or other presents; nor be interested in any way in the stock, trade, or business of any sutler; and any officer receiving such presents, or being thus interested, directly or indirectly, shall be punished at the discretion of a court martial. No Butler shall sell to an enlisted man on credit to a sum exceeding one-fourth of his monthly pay within the same month; nor shall the regimental quartermasters allow the use of army wagons for sutlers' purposes; nor shall the quartermasters' conveyances be used for the transportation of sutlers' supplies.

Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That any sutler who shall violate any of the provisions of this act shall, by the colonel, with consent of the council of administration, be dismissed from the service, and be ineligible to a reappointment as sutler in the service of the United States.

Approved March 19, 1862.

III.—A RESOLUTION to authorize the Secretary of War to accept moneys appropriated by any State for the payment of its volunteers, and to apply the same as directed by such State.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress Assembled, That if any State, during the present rebellion, shall make any appropriation to pay the volunteers of that State, the Secretary of War is hereby authorized to accept the same, and cause it to be applied, by the Paymaster General, to the payments designated by the legislative acts making the appropriation in the same manner as if appropriated by act of Congress; and also to make any regulations that may be necessary for the disbursement and proper application of such funds to the specific purpose for which they may be appropriated by the several States. Approved March 19, 1862.

BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR.

L. THOMAS, Adjutant General.

SOURCE: Thomas M. O'Brien & Oliver Diefendorf, General Orders of the War Department, Embracing the Years 1861, 1862 & 1863, Volume 1, p. 242-5

War Department, Adjutant General’s Office: General Orders, No. 35, February 7,1863

General Orders, No. 35}

WAR DEP'T, ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE,        

Washington, February 7, 1863.

On the recommendation of the Board of Inspector Generals, the following articles are added to the list or schedule of those which may be sold by sutlers to the officers and soldiers of the volunteer service under the act of March 19, 1862, published in General Orders No. 27, of 1862:

Can meats and oysters, dried beef, smoked tongues, can and fresh vegetables, pepper, mustard, yeast powders, pickles, sardines, Bologna sausages, eggs, buckwheat flour, mackerel, codfish, poultry, saucepans, coffee-pots, (tin,) plates, (tin,) cups, (tin,) knives and forks, spoons, twine, wrapping paper, uniform clothing for officers, socks, trimmings for uniforms, shoes, shirts, drawers.

BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR:

L. THOMAS, Adjutant General.

SOURCE: Thomas M. O'Brien & Oliver Diefendorf, General Orders of the War Department, Embracing the Years 1861, 1862 & 1863, Volume 2, p.19

Brigadier-General Rutherford B. Hayes to Sophia Birchard Hayes, Sunday Morning, December 18, 1864

CAMP RUSSELL, VIRGINIA, December 18, 1864.

Sunday morning before breakfast.

DEAR MOTHER: — We have as yet received no orders as to winter quarters. I begin to suspect I shall not get home during the holidays.

We are feeling very happy over the good news from the other armies. Salutes were fired yesterday and the day before in all our camps in honor of General Thomas' victory at Nashville.

We are living on the fat of the land now. The sutlers are now again allowed to come to the front and they bring all manner of eatables, wholesome and otherwise, but chiefly otherwise.

I wish you could visit our camps. I know what you would exclaim on coming into my quarters, “Why, Rutherford, how comfortably you are fixed. I should like to live with you myself.” I am getting books and reading matter of all sorts against rainy weather. Unless the weather is atrocious, I take a ride daily of a couple of hours or more. We yesterday had an inspection of my brigade. The Twenty-third was in the best condition. Notwithstanding our heavy losses, we have managed to get so many new men during the summer that the regiment is about as large as it was in the spring. It is larger than it was at this time last year.

A large number of men and officers who fell into Rebel hands, wounded, are now coming back, having been exchanged. They are all happy to be back and full of determination to fight it out.

I have been made a brigadier-general, but it is not yet officially announced. It was on the recommendation of Generals Crook and Sheridan.

Affectionately, your son,

R.

MRS. SOPHIA HAYES.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 549-50

Diary of Corporal David L. Day: January 28, 1862

A STRANGER.

Work is still going on, getting the boats off and getting them across the bar. The Eastern Queen is afloat and will be with us today. The little steamer Pilot Boy, with Generals Burnside and Foster aboard, is flying around among the vessels of the fleet, giving orders to the boat commanders and commanders of troops. The sutler came aboard today; he is quite a stranger and the boys gathered around him, asking him a thousand questions. He brought with him a small stock of fruit and other notions which went off like hot cakes at any price which he chose to ask. Some of the boys thought the prices pretty high, but they should consider that it is with great difficulty and expense that things are got here at all. They have the advantage, however, in not being obliged to buy, if they think the charges too much. The Eastern Queen is coming across the swash, the bands are all playing and cheers are going out from all the fleet.

SOURCE: David L. Day, My Diary of Rambles with the 25th Mass. Volunteer Infantry, p. 29

Diary of Corporal David L. Day: January 30, 1862

Our canteens are again filled with the contraband water, so we shall be all right today as far as that is concerned. Some of the boys made a raid last night on the sutler's stuff and appropriated to themselves pretty much what he had. I cannot approve of that, as the sutler is at a good deal of trouble and expense to get a few notions for us and probably sells them as cheap as he can afford. The boys ought not to steal from him, at this time especially, as there are those who would be glad to buy. A schooner came down today to take a look at us, one of our boats gave chase, but a good breeze blowing, the schooner had the advantage and got away. This afternoon a small boat was seen coming down flying a white flag. The boat contained one darkey who had risked the perils of the sound to escape from the land of Jeff, the house of bondage.

A DISCOVERY.

A great discovery has just been made and isn’t there larks now, though. The skipper is foaming with rage. An account of stock has been taken, and a cask or two of water is missing. On inspection it was found tapped at the wrong end. A very mysterious circumstance, but such things are liable to happen. A strong guard has been placed over the other casks.

SOURCE: David L. Day, My Diary of Rambles with the 25th Mass. Volunteer Infantry, p. 30

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: November 18, 1861

To-day the Paymaster finishes paying the regiment. The men are now flush with the “collaterals” and in consequence the sutlers and swindlers are trying to play their hands.

SOURCES: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 20

Diary of Corporal David L. Day: January 1, 1862

A DULL DAY.

The new year is ushered in with a light fall of snow and very cold weather. There is just snow enough to prevent drills or any sports the boys may have been anticipating. Altogether the day will be a dull one. The sutler, anticipating our removal, has not much to sell or steal. The sutler is regarded as the common enemy of the soldier, and when forced contributions are levied on him it is considered entirely legitimate and rather a good joke. The boys will have to content themselves with card playing and writing letters home. We have just got a new stove running in my tent, and Long Tom is detailed today to supply it with wood. I think we shall make a comfortable day of it, if Tom does his duty. Things certainly begin to look like leaving; the harbor is full of vessels, transports, gunboats and supply ships. Appearances indicate that somebody will hear it thunder somewhere along the southern coast before very long.

SOURCE: David L. Day, My Diary of Rambles with the 25th Mass. Volunteer Infantry, p. 16

Diary of Laura M. Towne: Sunday, June 9, 1862

This afternoon the cotton agent, or rather the sutler, Mr. Whiting, and his little wife, left the place. We are so glad to have their half of the house. Mr. Pierce left with me an injunction that they should take away none of the furniture, and they left most of it. Mr. Elmendorff gave into my charge some things which he should claim should he come again, but he has only the right of prior seizure to them.

To-night we all went to Rina's house where the people had a "shout," which Mr. McKim was inclined to think was a remnant of African worship.

SOURCE: Rupert Sargent Holland, Editor, Letters and Diary of Laura M. Towne: Written from the Sea Islands of South Carolina 1862-1864, p. 66-7

Diary of Captain Luman Harris Tenney: April 16, 1865

Reveille at 4 A. M. with orders to move at 6. Orders countermanded on account of no rations. Went to sutler's and got cheese, buttermilk and cakes. Beautiful day. Letter from Minnie. Papers. A report that Lincoln was killed a short time since by an assassin. God grant it may not be true, for the country's good. Am happy today, my mind peaceful. Saw F. last night and night before. Lincoln assassinated. How great the loss to the country. All boys but two took a verbal temperance pledge. Got my leave and took the cars in evening.

________________

Note — After the surrender of Lee on April 9th, 1865, the Cavalry Corps, including the 2nd Ohio, marched southward to strike the remaining Confederate army commanded by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, which was still confronting Sherman's army in North Carolina. Shortly after we had crossed the Roanoke River and entered North Carolina word came to us that Johnston had sensibly surrendered to Sherman and we marched northward to Richmond and Petersburg, and on to Washington, in time for the Grand Review. This episode in the Regiment's records is not mentioned in the diary because Major Tenney was at that time absent on leave at home. — A. B. N., June 10, 1911.

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 160

Diary of William Howard Russell: July 6, 1861

I breakfasted with Mr. Bigelow this morning, to meet General McDowell, who commands the army of the Potomac, now so soon to move. He came in without an aide-de-camp, and on foot, from his quarters in the city. He is a man about forty years of age, square and powerfully built, but with rather a stout and clumsy figure and limbs, a good head covered with close-cut thick dark hair, small light-blue eyes, short nose, large cheeks and jaw, relieved by an iron-gray tuft somewhat of the French type, and affecting in dress the style of our gallant allies. His manner is frank, simple, and agreeable, and he did not hesitate to speak with great openness of the difficulties he had to contend with, and the imperfection of all the arrangements of the army.

As an officer of the regular army he has a thorough contempt for what he calls “political generals” — the men who use their influence with President and Congress to obtain military rank, which in time of war places them before the public in the front of events, and gives them an appearance of leading in the greatest of all political movements. Nor is General McDowell enamored of volunteers, for he served in Mexico, and has from what he saw there formed rather an unfavorable opinion of their capabilities in the field. He is inclined, however, to hold the Southern troops in too little respect; and he told me that the volunteers from the Slave States, who entered the field full of exultation and boastings, did not make good their words, and that they suffered especially from sickness and disease, in consequence of their disorderly habits and dissipation. His regard for old associations was evinced in many questions he asked me about Beauregard, with whom he had been a student at West Point, where the Confederate commander was noted for his studious and reserved habits, and his excellence in feats of strength and athletic exercises.

As proof of the low standard established in his army, he mentioned that some officers of considerable rank were more than suspected of selling rations, and of illicit connections with sutlers for purposes of pecuniary advantage. The General walked back with me as far as my lodgings, and I observed that not one of the many soldiers he passed in the streets saluted him, though his rank was indicated by his velvet collar and cuffs, and a gold star on the shoulder strap.

Having written some letters, I walked out with Captain Johnson and one of the attachés of the British Legation, to the lawn at the back of the White House, and listened to the excellent band of the United States Marines, playing on a kind of dais under the large flag recently hoisted by the President himself, in the garden. The occasion was marked by rather an ominous event. As the President pulled the halyards and the flag floated aloft, a branch of a tree caught the bunting and tore it, so that a number of the stars and stripes were detached and hung dangling beneath the rest of the flag, half detached from the staff.

I dined at Captain Johnson's lodgings next door to mine. Beneath us was a wine and spirit store, and crowds of officers and men flocked indiscriminately to make their purchases, with a good deal of tumult, which increased as the night came on. Later still, there was a great disturbance in the city. A body of New York Zouaves wrecked some houses of bad repute, in one of which a private of the regiment was murdered early this morning. The cavalry patrols were called out and charged the rioters, who were dispersed with difficulty after resistance in which men on both sides were wounded. There is no police, no provost guard. Soldiers wander about the streets, and beg in the fashion of the mendicant in “Gil Bias” for money to get whiskey. My colored gentleman has been led away by the Saturnalia and has taken to gambling in the camps, which are surrounded by hordes of rascally followers and sutlers' servants, and I find myself on the eve of a campaign, without servant, horse, equipment, or means of transport.

SOURCE: William Howard Russell, My Diary North and South, Vol. 1, p. 389-90

Captain Charles Wright Wills: March 12, 1864

Scottsboro, Ala., March 12, 1864.

I have been tremendously demoralized for nearly a month in consequence of a terrible cold I caught by some of my carelessness, I suppose, but am now coming out of it all right. Weather is most beautiful. Not too much duty, excellent camp, remarkably good health, and everything so near right, that almost think a soldier who'd grumble here deserves shooting. Were I disposed to complain am sure I could only find two little topics whereof to speak; one being the fact that 'tis impossible to get anything to eat here excepting regular army rations, not even hams can be had, and the other the long-continued absence of the paymaster. We are hoping that both these matters will be remedied 'ere long, but have been so hoping for months. We have a division purveyor now, who pretends that he will furnish us in good eatables. We have had but a few articles from him, and I'll tell you the prices of those I remember. Can of strawberries, $1.75; cheese, 80 cents a pound; bottle (about one and one-half pints) pickled beets, $1.50. If I could draw the pay of a brigadier general, and then live on half rations, think I might come out even with said purveyor for my caterer.

Everything perfectly stagnant. We did hear day before yesterday some quite rapid artillery firing for an hour or two; it sounded as though it might have been some ten or twelve miles southwest of us. 'Twas reported by scouts a few days ago that the enemy was preparing flatboats at Guntersville to cross the river on, with intent to make a raid up in this direction or toward Huntsville. The 15th Michigan Mounted Infantry was sent down to look after the matter, ran into an ambuscade and lost a dozen or so killed and wounded. That's all I heard of the matter. We were very sorry that the loss was so light, for they are a miserable set. We are going to have a dance here in a few days. Think I'll go. Anything at all to get out of camp. I'm as restless as a tree top after marching so much. You don't know how tame this camp business is. Am afraid I will get the “blues” yet. Hurry up the spring campaign, I say.

SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 219

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Luman Harris Tenney: October 30, 1863

Train and sutler came up. Got Co. property. Mail came. Letter from home, expected more. Had inspection and charged boys with ordnance and ordnance stores. Quite a time. Appointed L. H. Thomas Corporal. Busy on muster rolls and Quarterly Returns. Hugh is busy enough. Wrote a letter home. Ordered to march at daylight. Rain poured during night. Uneasy night.

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 95

Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Wednesday, September 10, 1862

We camped near Seneca Bridge, about twenty-five to thirty miles from Washington. The order cutting down baggage trains leaves us eight waggons; — one for headquarters, i. e. field and staff; one for hospital; two for stores; four for company cooking utensils and the like. The band trouble breaks out again. We enjoy these short marches among great bodies of moving troops very much. Tonight the sutler sold brandy peaches making about ten or a dozen of our men drunk. I thereupon made a guard-house of the sutler's tent and kept all the drunken men in it all night! A sorry time for the sutler! Got orders to move at the word any time after 10 o'clock. I simply did nothing!

Camp near Rich or Ridgefield [Ridgeville], about forty miles from Baltimore, about thirty from Washington, about seventeen from Frederick. Marched today from ten to fourteen miles. Occasionally showery — no heavy rain; dust laid, air cooled. Marched past the Fifth, Seventh, Twenty-ninth, and Sixty-sixth Ohio regiments. They have from eighty to two hundred men each — sickness, wounds, prisoners, etc., etc., the rest. This looks more like closing the war from sheer exhaustion than anything I have seen. Only four commissioned officers in the Seventh. A lieutenant in command of one regiment; an adjutant commands another! Saw General Crawford today, he was very cordial.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 349-50

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: April 10, 1863

We are not informed of a renewal of the attack on Charleston. It is said our shot penetrated the turret of the Keokuk, sunk.

In New York they have been exulting over the capture of Charleston, and gold declined heavily. This report was circulated by some of the government officials, at Washington, for purposes of speculation.

Col. Lay announced, to-day, that he had authority (oral) from Gen. Cooper, A. and I. G., to accept Marylanders as substitutes. Soon after he ordered in two, in place of Louisianian sutlers, whom he accompanied subsequently — I know not whither. But this verbal authority is in the teeth of published orders.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 289