George S. Denison to Salmon P. Chase, December 25, 1862

(Private)

New Orleans, December 25th, 1862.

Dear Sir: The mail has just arrived and I see that, among other charges, Gen. Butler is accused of interfering in various ways with the Custom House, to the great injury of commerce.

Gen. Butler has interfered with the Custom House in four instances, but not more.

1st. He ordered me not to permit the shipment of specie and plate, without his written consent to each shipment. His object was to prevent property liable to confiscation, being removed from the country. The Prussian Bark, “Essex,” had received on board several large cases of silver — and by Gen. Butler's orders, I refused a clearance until these cases were delivered up. They were delivered up, and clearance was then granted.

2nd. Gen. B. took possession of about $2,000. worth of printer's paper in the warehouse, for his official newspaper, “The Delta” —on the ground that it was a military necessity.

3rd. He took possession of forty barrels of brandy (imported two or three years ago) for hospital purposes — as a military necessity.

4th. He took possession of ten bales of blankets for hospital purpose, as a military necessity.

In each of the last three instances, I have his written order to deliver up the articles to the officer presenting the order — and in each he settled, I suppose, with the owners of the articles. Except in the above instances, Gen. Butler has not interfered with the Custom House business. I make this statement for your information.

I send you a paper containing Gen. Butler's farewell address, and Gen. Banks' proclamation concerning the Emancipation Proclamation. Each article explains itself. From appearances, I judge that Gen. Butler intends to join the extreme radicals, as the Democratic papers term the only party which (as it seems to me) appreciates the position. The Texas men are bitterly disappointed that they cannot invade Texas at once, and think great injustice has been done them. It seems to me that the thorough opening of the river is of most consequence just now — after which the whole Southwest falls easily. Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas are pretty well drained of men, but full of corn and cattle. The Rebels would like to retreat thither, but if the river is opened at once, they will be forced back toward, or into, Alabama. With the loss of the Three Southwestern states, the rebels lose one-half their material resources. They could not break through the line of defence (Mississippi River) to recover it. In no other way can the Confederate cause be so much injured, with so little expenditure on the part of the Gov't. of men, time and money. The Arkansas, White and Red Rivers and, in Louisiana, various bayous, enable Gunboats to penetrate in all directions to the heart of the country. Fifty thousand men, together with the Union forces now in Arkansas and at El Paso (Texas), would be fully able to accomplish this in two or three months, after the opening of the river — and provided Emancipation attended the march, success would be absolutely certain. Louisiana is virtually subdued already and wishes herself back in the Union. 1 hope Gen. Banks will adopt some such plan as the above and have told him so. Lest he might mistake my political position, I took the first opportunity to tell him also, what my opinions were, particularly in regard to Slavery.

According to the best information I can get — the rebels have at Vicksburg 12,000 men — at Jackson (and Grenada), 40,000 — & at Port Hudson, 20,000. The men are said to be deserting very fast. Port Hudson is twenty miles above Baton Rouge and is said to be much stronger than Vicksburg. Many believe that to be the point (instead of Vicksburg) where the great fight will be.

Our troops are moving up to Baton Rouge, where perhaps 20,000 have already arrived. All the old (Butler's) regiments will probably be sent up. I should judge that the attack on Port Hudson would take place in about ten days. Gen. Banks is expected to command in person.

Mobile is not fortified with such strength as is represented by Southern accounts. The Rebel gunboats there are of very little account. I have just seen a reliable (white) man who escaped from there five weeks ago. Admiral Farragut can take the place whenever he chooses.

Please do not authorize more officers for the Appraiser's Department, to be sent here from New York. One, Mr. Paulson, appointed by your order, has just arrived. He is one too much. I understand still another is to come. I want to keep down expenses, and this expense is entirely unnecessary. Mr. Sarjeant did wrong in making such representations as he did to you, concerning the want of Examiners here.

SOURCE: Diary and correspondence of Salmon P. Chase, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 342-4

Diary of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire: Sunday, January 1, 1864

A melancholy pause in my diary. After returning from church on the night of the 13th, a telegram was handed me from Professor Minor, of the University of Virginia, saying, “Come at once, Colonel Colston is extremely ill.” After the first shock was over, I wrote an explanatory note to Major Brewer, why I could not be at the office next day, packed my trunk, and was in the cars by seven in the morning. That evening I reached the University, and found dear R. desperately ill with pneumonia, which so often follows, as in the case of General Jackson, the amputation of limbs. Surgeons Davis and Cabell were in attendance, and R's uncle, Dr. Brockenbrough, arrived the next day. After ten days of watching and nursing, amid alternate hopes and fears, we saw our friend Dr. Maupin close our darling's eyes, on the morning of the 23d; and on Christmas-day a military escort laid him among many brother soldiers in the Cemetery of the University of Virginia. He died in the faith of Christ, and with the glorious hope of immortality. His poor mother is heart-stricken, but she, together with his sisters, and one dearer still, had the blessed, and what is now the rare privilege, of soothing and nursing him in his last hours. To them, and to us all, his life seemed as a part of our own. His superior judgment and affectionate temper made him the guide of his whole family. To them his loss can never be supplied. His country has lost one of its earliest and best soldiers. Having been educated at the Virginia Military Institute, he raised and drilled a company in his native County of Berkeley, at the time of the John Brown raid. In 1861 he again led that company to Harper's Ferry. From that time he was never absent more than a week or ten days from his command, and even when wounded at Gaines's Mills, he absented himself but three days, and was again at his post during the several last days of those desperate fights. His fatal wound was received in his nineteenth general engagement, in none of which had he his superior in bravery and devotion to the cause. He was proud of belonging to the glorious Stonewall Brigade, and I have been told by those who knew the circumstances, that he was confided in and trusted by General Jackson to a remarkable degree.

Thus we bury, one by one, the dearest, the brightest, the best of our domestic circles. Now, in our excitement, while we are scattered, and many of us homeless, these separations are poignant, nay, overwhelming; but how can we estimate the sadness of heart which will pervade the South when the war is over, and we are again gathered together around our family hearths and altars, and find the circles broken? One and another gone. Sometimes the father and husband, the beloved head of the household, in whom was centred all that made life dear. Again the eldest son and brother of the widowed home, to whom all looked for guidance and direction; or, perhaps, that bright youth, on whom we had not ceased to look as still a child, whose fair, beardless cheek we had but now been in the habit of smoothing with our hands in fondness—one to whom mother and sisters would always give the good-night kiss, as his peculiar due, and repress the sigh that would arise at the thought that college or business days had almost come to take him from us. And then we will remember the mixed feeling of hope and pride when we first saw this household pet don his jacket of gray and shoulder his musket for the field; how we would be bright and cheerful before him, and turn to our chambers to weep oceans of tears when he is fairly gone. And does he, too, sleep his last sleep? Does our precious one fill a hero's grave? 0 God! help us, for the wail is in the whole land!" Rachel weeping for her children, and will not be comforted, because they are not." In all the broad South there will be scarcely a fold without its missing lamb, a fireside without its vacant chair. And yet we must go on. It is our duty to rid our land of invaders; we must destroy the snake which is endeavouring to entwine us in its coils, though it drain our heart's blood. We know that we are right in the sight of God, and that we must

“With patient mind our course of duty run.

God nothing does, or suffers to be done,

But we would do ourselves, if we could see

The end of all events as well as He."

The Lord reigneth, be the earth never so unquiet.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 248-50

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: April 9, 1862

There are several young officers who have sheathed the sword, and propose to draw the pen in the civil service.

To-day I asked of the department a month's respite from labor, and obtained it. But I remained in the city, and watched closely, still hoping I might serve the cause, or at least prevent more injury to it, from the wicked facility hitherto enjoyed by spies to leave the country.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 119

Major-General John A. Dix to Secretary William H. Seward, November 16, 1861

Unofficial.

November 16, 1861

Dr. Coxe, one of the most distinguished of the Episcopal clergy in this city, is a strong Union man. His congregation are the reverse. President Lincoln's Fast-day was scarcely observed. There were from one to two hundred persons in church. Yesterday (Jefferson Davis's Fast-day) it was crowded to overflowing. The attendance is but one manifestation among many of the bitter feeling of the Secessionists here. These people must be held by a hand as inflexible as iron. They are not to be conciliated. I speak of the principal portion of the wealthy classes. They are still as absurd in their confidence in the success of the Confederate cause as they are disloyal to their own government. The least advantage gained over us elates them ridiculously. I am satisfied that no act of clemency on the part of the Government will make any impression on them; and certainly, while they are making daily demonstrations of hostility, they deserve none.

I feel it my duty to say to you that, notwithstanding the overwhelming vote this State has just given, its quietude depends on prudent management and on the ability of the Government to keep the Confederate forces at a distance. The Union men are, for the most part, the quiet, industrious portions of the people. The Secessionists, on the other hand, are composed of the more active portions, sustained by a large majority of the wealthy and aristocratic citizens of Baltimore (most of whom are connected with the South by marriage and pecuniary interests) and the broken-down politicians, merchants, and spendthrifts, who hope to repair their fortunes by a change of government. The leaders are bold, fierce, and implacable; and if our forces were to be withdrawn from the fortification on Federal Hill, pointing its guns from the heart of the city into every ward and almost every street, and a successful demonstration should be made by the Confederate army on the Potomac, the State and the city would be thrown into commotion by the intrigues of these men. With the strong hand of the Government upon them they cannot conceal their enmity to it. On ’Change to-day, when the news of the capture of Messrs. Slidell and Mason on board a British mail-steamer was announced, they were jubilant with the hope that it would lead to a rupture with Great Britain, and that she would be thrown into the scale of the Confederates. While such a feeling exists, notwithstanding our recent successes, our hold on them cannot be safely relaxed.

I do not make this letter an official one. But I desire that the President and his Cabinet and Major-general McClellan should know what view I take of the existing status of Secessionism in this city.*

_______________

* See Appendix VI.

SOURCE: Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 34-5

Diary of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire: April 15, 1863

Spent yesterday in the hospital. I am particularly interested in two very ill men. One is a youth of seventeen years, who has been seventeen months in service. Poor boy! he is now sinking with consumption, and has lately been brought to our hospital from another. His case elicits great sympathy and kindness. His name is Stansberry, and he is from Baltimore. We have reason to hope that he is prepared to meet his God.

Letters (underground) from the Valley to-day. Millroy is doing his worst among the dear people there. It is grievous to think how much of Virginia is down-trodden and lying in ruins. The old State has bared her breast to the destroyer, and borne the brunt of battle for the good of the Confederacy, and this too after long and vain efforts for peace. Her citizens, young and old, are doing what they can. Her sons have bled and died, and are still offering themselves willing sacrifices on the country's altar. Her daughters are striving in their vocation in this hallowed cause, all looking to God for his blessing upon our efforts.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 207

Diary of Margaret Junkin Preston: June 17, 1864

This morning as we sat at breakfast, we got news that Mr. P. was coming, and oh! with what joy we soon received him! Thank God for his deliverance! Two days ago I thought it a very possible thing that we might never meet in this world, and now he is here safe. Surely our prayers have been heard, and we have been blessed beyond all we dared to hope.

Our spirits begin to rise already, and we cease to feel subjugated, as we surely did two days ago. I thought the cause of the Confederacy was finished for the present, or at least that it was a hopeless struggle. I feel differently now. As to losses, Mr. P. says that $30,000 would scarcely cover what he has lost by this invasion. He is a poor man now for the rest of his days, he says; but he bears it with a brave and Christian spirit, and utters no complaint.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Preston Allan, The Life and Letters of Margaret Junkin Preston, p. 197

Wanted – A Miracle

It is related of a couple of raftsmen, taken by the current into deep water, that one of them, whose religious education in youth had not been altogether neglected, proposed that they offer up a prayer to God for their deliverance from peril.  The other, who knew the value of every moment’s strong exertion in such a situation, did not agree to the idea of giving up and throwing themselves upon the tender mercies of Providence, until every earthly resource had been exhausted.  He asked, “What was the use of praying as long as you can touch the bottom?”  Pretty soon the raft got irrecoverably into the deepest of the stream, and the little crew at once fell to supplicating Divine Grace in a very earnest if not quite orthodox manner.  Whether it was from lack of faith on the part of the raftsmen, or other reason, we have no account of the adventurers being saved.

The Confederate cause can no longer touch bottom.  It is adrift, about to be swallowed up by the engulfing waves of national patriotism, and we observe by reports that Mr. Davis, the Captain of the craft, has called “all hands and the cook” to prayers on Friday of the current week.  This impious recommendation, this conscription of the moral sentiment of the people of Dixie, this attempt to impress Providence into the rebel service, this violation of the Secession Constitution, which provides against religious tests, will avail nothing.  The Disunion raft is doomed.  Burnt cotton won’t save it.  The Mississippi may be sweetened with pyramids of sugar, but the rebellion will be crushed, even as the sugar is.  The brine of the Gulf may be spread over with split molasses, but that will not get the Confederacy out of its pickle.  The enemy may destroy all the tobacco in the Old Dominion – Virginia twist, natural leave, fine cut and pig tail – and the rebels deprive themselves of their rations and expectorations, but the attempt to disrupt the Union will, to use a low phrase, be “chawed up,” notwithstanding.

If secession impudence had not long since ceased to be surprising, we might be astonished at the bold assurance of Jeff. Davis and his band of dissenters in proposing to sue for an alliance with Providence, offensive and defensive.  The recognition which, with all the arts of Yancy, Dudley, Mann, Mason, Slidell, Butler, King and others.  They could not get from England or France, they now seek to obtain from Heaven.  Is Providence less conscientious than these mundane powers in respect to interference to break up our glorious Union?  God forbid!

One thing we notice about this reputed ukase of the rebel chieftain.  We fail to see in it any reference to “thanksgiving, fasting and prayer,” such as we sometimes have, but of prayer only, Mr. Davis doubtless being unable to specify what his people had reason to be thankful for; and as to fasting, the market reports from Norfolk, Petersburg and other Southern cities are sufficiently explicit on that head.  After all Davis is right.  A miracle might save the Confederacy, as a flanking movement, but that is all that can, from present appearance. – {St. Louis Republican.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 17, 1863, p. 2