Showing posts with label USS Cumberland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label USS Cumberland. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 3, 2021

Diary of Sergeant David L. Day: December 10, 1863

NEWPORT NEWS.

I am now on the sacred soil of old Virginia, and my first care will be to seek an introduction to some of the F. F. V's. What this place derived its name from, or why it was named at all, I have not been able to learn. It was simply a plantation before its occupation by Federal troops, and perhaps the name is good as any to distinguish it by. Our camp is near the river, and only a few rods from us lie the wrecks of the frigates Cumberland and Congress, sunk by the rebel ram Merrimac. The Cumberland lies in deep water out of sight, but the deck of the Congress is seen and often visited by the boys at low water. Since the occupation of this place by Federal troops it has grown into what they call down this way a town, containing quite a collection of rough board store-houses, sutler's shops, negro shanties and horse sheds. A boat runs from here to Fortress Monroe every day, and three times a week to Norfolk; the distance to either place is about the same, some twelve miles.

For the first time since the war began, the oyster fishing is being prosecuted, and Hampton Roads are alive with oyster schooners. The oysters have had a chance to grow, and are now abundant and of good size and favor. Newport News was the first place in Virginia, except Washington, that was occupied by Federal troops, and it was from here that a part of old Ben's fàmous Big Bethel expedition started.

During my absence, this military department has gone all wrong. Gen. Foster has been ordered to Knoxville, Tenn., and Gen. Butler has superseded him to this command. I am not. pleased with the change. Gen. Foster was a splendid man and fine officer, and I would rather take my chances with a regular army officer than with an amateur. The first year of the war Gen. Butler was the busiest and most successful general we had, but since then he has kind o' taken to niggers and trading. As a military governor he is a nonesuch, and in that role has gained a great fame, especially in all the rebellious states.

He is a lawyer and a man of great executive ability, and can not only make laws but can see to it that they are observed, but as a commander of troops in the field, he is not just such a man as I should pick out. He had a review of our brigade the other day, and his style of soldiering caused considerable fun among the boys who had been used to seeing Gen. Foster. He rode on to the field with a great dash, followed by staff enough for two major-generals. He looks very awkward on a horse and wears a soft hat; when he salutes the colors he lifts his hat by the crown clear off his head instead of simply touching the rim. The boys think he is hardly up to their ideas of a general, but as they are not supposed to know anything, they will have to admit that he is a great general. He is full of orders and laws (regardless of army regulations) in the government of his department, and his recent order in relation to darkies fills two columns of newspaper print, and is all the most fastidious lovers of darkies in all New England could desire. Hunter and Fremont are the merest pigmies beside Ben in their care of darkies.

SOURCE: David L. Day, My Diary of Rambles with the 25th Mass. Volunteer Infantry, p. 109-10

Monday, March 25, 2019

George S. Denison to Salmon P. Chase, January 8, 1863

(Private)
New Orleans, January 8th, 1863.

Dear Sir: A disaster has occurred at Galveston, similar to that near Fortress Monroe when the Cumberland and Congress were destroyed.

The rebels under Magruder, came down from Houston with four boats (steam) protected by cotton bales. At the same time, a land force, estimated from 3,000 to 7,000 crossed the bridge to the Island and occupied Galveston. This occurred about one or two o'clock on the morning of Jan. 1st. About 3 o'clock an attack was made by land and water on the Gunboats —which were in the narrow channel within musket shot of the shore. The “Harriet Lane” run into a rebel boat and sunk her, but became entangled in the wreck and could not get off. She was carried by boarding and captured. Less than twenty of her men are supposed to survive (out of 130). The Westfield (Flag Ship) was aground. Commodore Renshaw sent off to the other vessels all the men and officers except eight or ten, and then blew up the vessel and himself with her. He did not intend to destroy himself, but the magazine took fire unexpectedly, just as he was escaping. Two hundred and fifty men of a Massachusetts regiment (infantry only) were posted in the town, and were all captured or killed. The Gunboats had previous notice of the attack, and there must have been negligence on the part of the officers. Our loss is — “Harriet Lane” captured, but believed to be too much injured to be fit for sea for some time. The “Westfield” blown up.

Two sailing vessels loaded with coal for the navy.

About 400 men killed or taken prisoners.

All the other vessels (two were Gunboats) escaped. The fight lasted from three o'clock until 10 A. M.

Admiral Farragut, on receipt of the news, immediately dispatched several vessels to Galveston, which will set things right again, I hope. The 1st. Texas Reg't., Col. Davis, arrived, after the capture, on the S. Ship “Cumbria,” and narrowly escaped capture. The reg't. numbers about 200 men, who have all returned here.

The condition of things here does not seem to me to be very satisfactory — but Gen. Banks has not been here long enough to determine the prospect of improvement.

I think Gen. Banks lacks decision. With one or two exceptions, his staff are not men of ability. He seems to favor the policy of conciliation — which policy is weak and will always be unsuccessful. I can hardly get him to express an opinion — or if he does, it does not seem to be an earnest conviction. Secessionists grow more defiant and Union men despondent. This, I hope, and think, will be changed. I believe he is thoroughly honest, and he already has effected much good by putting down swindlers and army speculators. Gen. Butler's military commission (Gen. Orders No. 91) did an immense amount of mischief and injustice. Gen. Butler is an extraordinary man, but did very wrong in all things connected with internal trade. I have frequently heard Union men say they wished he was President, for though he would make millions for himself during the first three months, he would finish the war in three months more.

Gen. Banks has a very difficult position, for he comes here a stranger and four weeks at least are necessary for him to become informed of the situation.

The Government can finish this war in twelve months — in one way and in only one. Arm the negroes. I am perfectly satisfied it must be done. Why delay it? It can be done here without throwing the border states into a fever. Here and in S. Carolina and not well elsewhere. I called upon Gen. Banks this morning and urged the matter on his attention, as I have often done before. He agreed with me that the war could be finished in that way, but seems afraid of taking the responsibility. I wish I could assume the responsibility for him. I would suggest that you write me a letter to be shown to Gen. Banks, giving your opinion of the expediency of raising negro troops, and stating how such a step will be regarded by the Administration. If he is assured in this manner that the Government will approve, perhaps he will enlist the negroes. There are at least 20,000 black men within our lines who will make good and willing soldiers, 50,000 more can be raised west of the Mississippi as our army advances.

The three colored regiments already organized, have petitioned Gen. Banks to be put in the front rank at Port Hudson, that they may have a chance of removing the stigma of alleged cowardice from their race, and vindicate their rights and abilities as soldiers. I urge him to grant their request, but do not know what he will do about it. The negroes all say they can finish the war if the Gov't. will give them a chance. By no other means is success certain. Why delay it?

If it had not been for speculations in the sugar crops, Gen. Butler would have raised more regiments, but the men were wanted on the plantations to take off the crops.

Our last dates from the North are of the 20th. December. It is rumored that Gen. Butler may go into the Cabinet. I almost wish he would. He is a man of wonderful energy, will, and ability, and will always be admired by the Union men of New Orleans, even though he is believed by some to have acquired great wealth here.

Military affairs remain in the same condition as when I last wrote. Port Hudson has not been attacked and I don't know when it will be. The rebels are said to be receiving re-inforcements there.

P. S. Gen. Hamilton is still here.

SOURCE: Diary and correspondence of Salmon P. ChaseAnnual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 345-7

Friday, May 18, 2018

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Luman Harris Tenney: Saturday, August 6, 1864

A very pleasant ride down the James. Rounded Lighthouse Point. Soon passed Harrison's Landing, then Fort Powhatan and Wilcox's Landing. Here danger from reb guns ceased. The old Jamestown site on left bank, a few chimneys still standing. Newport near where the Merrimac fight came off, Cumberland and Congress sunk. Sewall's Point across, eight miles down Fortress Monroe. Went ashore. Everything carried on in the finest style. Splendid fort, having an armament of over 200 guns and “The Union” monster gun which fired a shot from Fort Monroe to Sewall's Point, 8 miles. Ripraps still progressing. A splendid fort built in center of stream on the shoals, Gov't prisoners at work on it. Through Hampton Roads into the Chesapeake and Atlantic. Passing Old Point Comfort, the bay is very wide. Saw an American and English frigate and a French gunboat. An English cutter manned by 8 or 10 fellows in white came ashore. Reached Point Lookout about sundown, the ironclad Roanoke lying off the point. Up the river, 12 miles, and anchored for the night. A most pleasant trip. Stormed enough to roughen the bay a little. Good fare upon the boat. Pass hundreds of boats, most of them making their way to City Point, I suppose. Phosphorus.

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 126-7

Saturday, September 16, 2017

Major-General Benjamin F. Butler to Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott, May 29, 1861

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA,
May 29, 1861.

SIR: The expedition to Newport News, of which I spoke in my last, eight miles from this place, landed without opposition. 1 have caused an intrenched camp to be made there, which, when completed, will be able to hold itself against any force that may be brought against it, and afford even a better depot from which to advance than Fortress Monroe. The advantages of the News are these: There are two springs of very pure water there; the bluff is a fine, healthy location. It has two good, commodious wharves, to which steamers of any draught of water may come up at all stages of the tide; it is as near any point of operation as Fortress Monroe, where we are obliged to lighter all vessels of draught over ten feet, and have but one wharf. The News, upon which I propose to have a water battery of four 8-inch guns, commands the ship channel of James River, and a force there is a perpetual threat to Richmond.

My next point of operation I propose shall be Pig Point, which is exactly opposite the News, commanding Nansemond River. Once in command of that battery, which I believe may be easily turned, I can then advance along the Nansemond River and easily take Suffolk, and there either hold or destroy the railroad both between Richmond and Norfolk, and also between Norfolk and the South. With a perfect blockade of Elizabeth River, and taking and holding Suffolk and perhaps York, Norfolk will be so perfectly hemmed in, that starvation will cause the surrender, without risking an attack on the strongly-fortified intrenchments around Norfolk, with great loss and perhaps defeat.

If this plan of operations does not meet the approval of the Lieutenant-General I would be glad of his instructions specifically. If it is desirable to move on Richmond, James and York Rivers, both thus held, would seem to be the most eligible routes.

I have no co-operation substantially by the Navy, the only vessels here now being the Cumberland and Harriet Lane, the former too unwieldy to get near shore to use her heavy guns, the other so light in her battery as not to be able to cope with a single battery of the rebels.

I have yet need of surf-boats for sea-coast and river advances, and beg leave to suggest this matter again to you.

This evening the First New York Regiment, three years' men, came in on board the State of Georgia. It is in a most shameful state as regards camp equipage, camp kettles, &c.

Another matter needs pressing attention. The bore of a majority of the muskets in my command is smooth, of the issue of '48, and I have only 5,000 rounds of buck and ball and no other ammunition to fit this arm. Might I request immediate action upon this vital subject!

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

BENJ. F. BUTLER.
Major-General, Commanding.
General WINFIELD SCOTT.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 2 (Serial No. 2), p. 54

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Diary of William Howard Russell: Sunday, April 14, 1861

A night of disturbed sleep, owing to the ponderous thumping of the walking beam close to my head, the whizzing of steam, and the roaring of the steam-trumpet to warn vessels out of the way — mosquitoes, too, had a good deal to say to me in spite of my dirty gauze curtains. Soon after dawn the vessel ran alongside the jetty at Fortress Monroe, and I saw indistinctly the waterface of the work which is in some danger of being attacked, it is said, by the Virginians. There was no flag on the staff above the walls, and the place looked dreary and desolate. It has a fine bastioned profile, with moat and armed lunettes — the casemates were bricked up or occupied by glass windows, and all the guns I could make out were on the parapets. A few soldiers were lounging on the jetty, and after we had discharged a tipsy old officer, a few negroes, and some parcels, the steam-pipe brayed —it does not whistle— again, and we proceeded across the mouth of the channel and James River towards Elizabeth River, on which stand Portsmouth and Gosport.

Just as I was dressing, the door opened, and a tall, neatly dressed negress came in and asked me for my ticket. She told me she was ticket-collector for the boat, and that she was a slave. The latter intelligence was given without any reluctance or hesitation. On my way to the upper deck I observed the bar was crowded by gentlemen engaged in consuming, or waiting for, cocktails or mint-juleps. The latter, however, could not be had just now in such perfection as usual, owing to the inferior condition of the mint. In the matter of drinks, how hospitable the Americans are! I was asked to take as many as would have rendered me incapable of drinking again; my excuse on the plea of inability to grapple with cocktails and the like before breakfast, was heard with surprise, and I was urgently entreated to abandon so bad a habit.

A clear, fine sun rose from the waters of the bay up into the purest of pure blue skies. On our right lay a low coast fringed with trees, and wooded densely with stunted forest, through which creeks could be seen glinting far through the foliage. Anxious looking little wooden lighthouses, hard set to preserve their equilibrium in the muddy waters, and bent at various angles, marked the narrow channels to the towns and hamlets on the banks, the principal trade and occupation of which are oyster selling and oyster eating. We are sailing over wondrous deposits and submarine crops of the much-loved bivalve. Wooden houses painted white appear on the shores, and one large building with wings and a central portico surmounted by a belvedere, destined for the reception of the United States sailors in sickness, is a striking object in the landscape.

The steamer in a few minutes came along-side a dirty, broken-down, wooden quay, lined with open booths, on which a small crowd, mostly of negroes, had gathered. Behind the shed there rose tiled and shingled roofs of mean dingy houses, and we could catch glimpses of the line of poor streets, narrow, crooked, ill-paved, surmounted by a few church-steeples, and the large sprawling advertisement-boards of the tobacco-stores and oyster-sellers, which was all we could see of Portsmouth or Gosport. Our vessel was in a narrow creek; at one side was the town — in the centre of the stream the old “Pennsylvania,” intended to be of 120 guns, but never commissioned, and used as receiving ship, was anchored — alongside the wall of the Navy Yard below us, lay the “Merrimac,” apparently in ordinary. The only man-of-war fit for sea was a curiosity — a stumpy bluff-bowed, Dutch-built looking sloop, called the "Cumberland." Two or three smaller vessels, dismasted, were below the “Merrimac,” and we could just see the building-sheds in which were one or two others, I believe, on the stocks. A fleet of oyster-boats anchored, or in sailless observance of the Sunday, dotted the waters. There was an ancient and fishlike smell about the town worthy of its appearance and of its functions as a seaport. As the vessel came close along-side, there was the usual greeting between friends, and many a cry, “Well, you've heard the news? The Yankees out of Sumter! Isn't it fine!” There were few who did not participate in that sentiment, but there were some who looked black as night and said nothing.

Whilst we were waiting for the steam ferry-boat, which plies to Norfolk at the other side of the creek, to take us over, a man-of-war boat pulled along-side, and the coxswain, a handsome, fine-looking sailor, came on deck, and, as I happened to be next him, asked me if Captain Blank had come down with us? I replied, that I did not know, but that the captain could tell him no doubt. “He?” said the sailor, pointing with great disgust to the skipper of the steamer. “Why he knows nothin’ of his passengers, except how many dollars they come to,” and started off to prosecute his inquiries among the other passengers. The boat along-side was clean, and was manned by six as stout fellows as ever handled an oar. Two I made sure of were Englishmen, and when the coxswain was retiring from his fruitless search, I asked him where he hailed from. “The Cove of Cork. I was in the navy nine years, but when I got on the West Ingy Station, I heerd how Uncle Sam treated his fellows, and so I joined him.” “Cut and run, I suppose?” “Well, not exactly. I got away, sir. Emigrated, you know!” “Are there any other Irishmen or Englishmen on board?” “I should think there was. That man in the bow there is a mate of mine, from the sweet Cove of Cork; Driscoll by name, and there's a Belfast man pulls number two; and the stroke, and the chap that pulls next to him is Englishmen, and fine sailors they are, Bates and Rookey. They were in men-of-war too.” “What! five out of seven, British subjects!” “Oh, ay, that is — we onst was — most of us now are 'Mericans, I think. There's plenty more of us aboard the ship.”

The steam ferry was a rickety affair, and combined with the tumble-down sheds and quays to give a poor idea of Norfolk. The infliction of tobacco-juice on board was remarkable. Although it was but seven o'clock every one had his quid in working order, and the air was filled with yellowish-brown rainbows and liquid parabolas, which tumbled in spray or in little flocks of the weed on the foul decks. As it was Sunday, some of the numerous flagstaff's which adorn the houses in both cities displayed the United States bunting; but nothing could relieve the decayed air of Norfolk. The omnibus which was waiting to receive us must have been the earliest specimen of carriage building in that style on the continent; and as it lunged and flopped over the prodigious bad pavement, the severe nature of which was aggravated by a street railway, it opened the seams as if it were going to fall into firewood. The shops were all closed, of course; but the houses, wooden and brick, were covered with signs and placards indicative of large trade in tobacco and oysters.

Poor G. P. R. James, who spent many years here, could have scarce caught a novel from such a place, spite of great oysters, famous wild fowl, and the lauded poultry and vegetables which are produced in the surrounding districts. There is not a hill for the traveller to ascend towards the close of a summer's day, nor a moated castle for a thousand miles around. An execrable, tooth-cracking drive ended at last in front of the Atlantic Hotel, where I was doomed to take up my quarters. It is a dilapidated, uncleanly place, with tobacco-stained floor, full of flies and strong odors. The waiters were all slaves: untidy, slipshod, and careless creatures. I was shut up in a small room, with the usual notice on the door, that the proprietor would not be responsible for anything, and that you were to lock your doors for fear of robbers, and that you must take your meals at certain hours, and other matters of the kind. My umbra went over to Gosport to take some sketches, he said; and after a poor meal, in a long room filled with “citizens,” all of them discussing Sumter, I went out into the street.

The people, I observe, are of a new and marked type, — very tall, loosely yet powerfully made, with dark complexions, strongly-marked features, prominent noses, large angular mouths in square jaws, deep-seated bright eyes, low, narrow foreheads, — and are all of them much given to ruminate tobacco. The bells of the churches were tolling, and I turned into one; but the heat, great enough outside, soon became nearly intolerable; nor was it rendered more bearable by my proximity to some blacks, who were, I presume, servants or slaves of the great people in the forward pews. The clergyman or minister had got to the Psalms, when a bustle arose near the door which attracted his attention, and caused all to turn round. Several persons were standing up and whispering, whilst others were stealing on tiptoe out of the church. The influence extended itself gradually and all the men near the door were leaving rapidly. The minister, obviously interested, continued to read, raising his eyes towards the door. At last the persons near him rose up and walked boldly forth, and I at length followed the example, and getting into the street, saw men running towards the hotel. “What is it?” exclaimed I to one. “Come along, the telegraph's in at the ‘Day Book.’ The Yankees are whipped!” and so continued. I came at last to a crowd of men, struggling, with their faces toward the wall of a shabby house, increased by fresh arrivals, and diminished by those who, having satisfied their curiosity, came elbowing forth in a state of much excitement, exultation, and perspiration. “It's all right enough!” “Didn't I tell you so?” “Bully for Beauregard and the Palmetto State!” I shoved on, and read at last the programme of the cannonade and bombardment, and of the effects upon the fort, on a dirty piece of yellowish paper on the wall. It was a terrible writing. At all the street corners men were discussing the news with every symptom of joy and gratification. Now I confess I could not share in the excitement at all. The act seemed to me the prelude to certain war.

I walked up the main street, and turned up some of the alleys to have a look at the town, coming out on patches of water and bridges over the creeks, or sandy lanes shaded by trees, and lined here and there by pretty wooden villas, painted in bright colors. Everywhere negroes, male and female, gaudily dressed or in rags; the door-steps of the narrow lanes swarming with infant niggerdom — big-stomached, curve-legged, rugged-headed, and happy — tumbling about dim-eyed toothless hags, or thick-lipped mothers. Not a word were they talking about Sumter. “Any news to-day?” said I to a respectable-looking negro in a blue coat and brass buttons, wonderful hat, and vest of amber silk, check trousers, and very broken-down shoes. “Well, sare, I tink nothin' much occur. Der hem afire at Squire Nichol's house last night; leastway so I hear, sare.” Squire, let me say parenthetically, is used to designate justices of the peace. Was it a very stupid poco-curante, or a very cunning, subtle Sambo?

In my walk I arrived at a small pier, covered with oyster shells, which projected into the sea. Around it, on both sides, were hosts of schooners and pungys, smaller half-decked boats, waiting for their load of the much-loved fish for Washington, Baltimore, and Richmond. Some brigs and large vessels lay along-side the wharves and large warehouses higher up the creek. Observing a small group at the end of the pier, I walked on, and found that they consisted of fifteen or twenty well-dressed mechanical kind of men, busily engaged in “chaffing,” as Cockneys would call it, the crew of the man-of-war boat I had seen in the morning. The sailors were stretched on the thwarts, some rather amused, others sullen at the ordeal. “You better just pull down that cussed old rag of yours, and bring your old ship over to the Southern Confederacy. I guess we can take your ‘Cumberland’ whenever we like! Why don't you go, and touch off your guns at Charleston?” Presently the coxswain came down with a parcel under his arm, and stepped into the boat. “Give way, my lads;” and the oars dipped in the water. When the boat had gone a few yards from the shore, the crowd cried out: “Down with the Yankees! Hurrah for the Southern Confederacy!” and some among them threw oyster shells at the boat, one of which struck the coxswain on the head. “Backwater! Back water all. Hard!” he shouted; and as the boat's stern neared the land, he stood up and made a leap in among the crowd like a tiger. “You cowardly d----d set. Who threw the shells?” No one answered at first, but a little wizened man at last squeaked out: “I guess you'll have shells of another kind if you remain here much longer.” The sailor howled with rage: “Why, you poor devils, I'd whip any half-dozen of you, — teeth, knives, and all — in five minutes; and my boys there in the boat would clear your whole town. What do you mean by barking at the Stars and Stripes? Do you see that ship?” he shouted, pointing towards the “Cumberland.” “Why the lads aboard of her would knock every darned seceder in your State into a cocked hat in a brace of shakes! And now who's coming on?” The invitation was not accepted, and the sailor withdrew, with his angry eyes fixed on the people, who gave him a kind of groan; but there were no oyster shells this time. “In spite of his blowing, I tell yer,” said one of them, “there's some good men from old Virginny abo'rd o' that ship that will never fire a shot agin us.” “Oh, we'll fix her right enough,” remarked another, “when the time comes.” I returned to my room, sat down, and wrote for some hours. The dinner in the Atlantic Hotel was of a description to make one wish the desire for food had never been invented. My neighbor said he was not “quite content about this Sumter business. There's nary one killed nor wownded.”

Sunday is a very dull day in Norfolk, — no mails, no post, no steamers; and, at the best, Norfolk must be dull exceedingly. The superintendent of the Seaboard and Roanoke Railway, having heard that I was about proceeding to Charleston, called upon me to offer every facility in his power. Sent Moses with letters to post-office. At night the mosquitoes were very aggressive and successful. This is the first place in which the bedrooms are unprovided with gas. A mutton dip almost made me regret the fact.

SOURCE: William Howard Russell, My Diary North and South, p. 80-6

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Diary of Gideon Welles: Tuesday [sic], August 27, 1862

Called on the Attorney-General in relation to the appointment of a chaplain, — a singular case. When the Cumberland was sunk in March last, and a considerable portion of her crew, it was supposed the chaplain was lost. This fact brought a large flock of clerical gentlemen to Washington for the place. The first who reached here was Rev. K. of Germantown, and the President in the kindness of his heart wrote a note requesting that Mr. K. might, if there was nothing to prevent, have the place of the supposed drowned. It was not certain, however, that there was a vacancy, — we were daily hearing of escaped victims who were preserved, — and duty forbade an immediate appointment. Congress, before adjourning, enacted a law that no person should be appointed chaplain who was over thirty-five. Mr. K. is forty-eight, but, unwilling to relinquish the place, he pressed the President with his friends and procured from him another letter, directing the appointment to be made now, if it was one that could have been made then. On bringing this to me, I told the reverend gentleman it was in disregard of the law, and could not be made in my opinion; that I must at all events see the President before any steps were taken and advise him of the facts.

This I did, and by his request called on the Attorney-General. That gentleman, as I expected, requests a written application for his opinion.

Have a letter from Admiral Foote, who has thought a second time of his conclusions in his letter to Mr. Faxon,1 expresses regret, and very handsomely apologizes. I had expected this; should have been disappointed in the man if he had not made it.
_______________

1 William Faxon, Chief Clerk of the Navy Department.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 92-3

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: March 12, 1862

In the naval battle the other day we had twenty-five guns in all. The enemy had fifty-four in the Cumberland, forty-four in the St. Lawrence, besides a fleet of gunboats, filled with rifled cannon. Why not? They can have as many as they please. “No pent-up Utica contracts their powers”; the whole boundless world being theirs to recruit in. Ours is only this one little spot of ground — the blockade, or stockade, which hems us in with only the sky open to us, and for all that, how tender-footed and cautious they are as they draw near.

An anonymous letter purports to answer Colonel Chesnut's address to South Carolinians now in the army of the Potomac. The man says, “All that bosh is no good.” He knows lots of people whose fathers were notorious Tories in our war for independence and made fortunes by selling their country. Their sons have the best places, and they are cowards and traitors still. Names are given, of course.

Floyd and Pillow1 are suspended from their commands because of Fort Donelson. The people of Tennessee demand a like fate for Albert Sidney Johnston. They say he is stupid. Can human folly go further than this Tennessee madness?

I did Mrs. Blank a kindness. I told the women when her name came up that she was childless now, but that she had lost three children. I hated to leave her all alone. Women have such a contempt for a childless wife. Now, they will be all sympathy and goodness. I took away her “reproach among women.”
_______________

1 John [B.] Floyd, who had been Governor of Virginia from 1850 to 1853, became Secretary of War in 1857 He was first in command at Fort Donelson. Gideon J. Pillow had been a Major-General of volunteers in the Mexican War and was second in command at Fort Donelson. He and Floyd escaped from the Fort when it was invested by Grant, leaving General Buckner to make the surrender.

SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 140

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: March 11, 1862

A freshman came quite eager to be instructed in all the wiles of society. He wanted to try his hand at a flirtation, and requested minute instructions, as he knew nothing whatever: he was so very fresh. “Dance with her,” he was told, “and talk with her; walk with her and natter her; dance until she is warm and tired; then propose to walk in a cool, shady piazza. It must be a somewhat dark piazza. Begin your promenade slowly; warm up to your work; draw her arm closer and closer; then, break her wing.”

“Heavens, what is that — break her wing?” “Why, you do not know even that? Put your arm round her waist and kiss her. After that, it is all plain sailing. She comes down when you call like the coon to Captain Scott: ‘You need not fire, Captain,’ etc.”

The aspirant for fame as a flirt followed these lucid directions literally, but when he seized the poor girl and kissed her, she uplifted her voice in terror, and screamed as if the house was on fire. So quick, sharp, and shrill were her yells for help that the bold flirt sprang over the banister, upon which grew a strong climbing rose. This he struggled through, and ran toward the college, taking a bee line. He was so mangled by the thorns that he had to go home and have them picked out by his family. The girl's brother challenged him. There was no mortal combat, however, for the gay young fellow who had led the freshman's ignorance astray stepped forward and put things straight. An explanation and an apology at every turn hushed it all up.

Now, we all laughed at this foolish story most heartily. But Mr. Venable remained grave and preoccupied, and was asked: “Why are you so unmoved? It is funny.” “I like more probable fun; I have been in college and I have kissed many a girl, but never a one scrome yet.”

Last Saturday was the bloodiest we have had in proportion to numbers.1 The enemy lost 1,500. The handful left at home are rushing to arms at last. Bragg has gone to join Beauregard at Columbus, Miss, Old Abe truly took the field in that Scotch cap of his.

Mrs. McCord,2 the eldest daughter of Langdon Cheves, got up a company for her son, raising it at her own expense. She has the brains and energy of a man. To-day she repeated a remark of a low-country gentleman, who is dissatisfied: “This Government (Confederate) protects neither person nor property.'” Fancy the scornful turn of her lip! Some one asked for Langdon Cheves, her brother. “Oh, Langdon!” she replied coolly, “he is a pure patriot; he has no ambition. While I was there, he was letting Confederate soldiers ditch through his garden and ruin him at their leisure.”

Cotton is five cents a pound and labor of no value at all; it commands no price whatever. People gladly hire out their negroes to have them fed and clothed, which latter can not be done. Cotton osnaburg at 37½ cents a yard, leaves no chance to clothe them. Langdon was for martial law and making the bloodsuckers disgorge their ill-gotten gains. We, poor fools, who are patriotically ruining ourselves will see our children in the gutter while treacherous dogs of millionaires go rolling by in their coaches — coaches that were acquired by taking advantage of our necessities.

This terrible battle of the ships — Monitor, Merrimac, etc. All hands on board the Cumberland went down. She fought gallantly and fired a round as she sank. The Congress ran up a white flag. She fired on our boats as they went up to take off her wounded. She was burned. The worst of it is that all this will arouse them to more furious exertions to destroy us. They hated us so before, but how now?

In Columbia I do not know a half-dozen men who would not gaily step into Jeff Davis's shoes with a firm conviction that they would do better in every respect than he does. The monstrous conceit, the fatuous ignorance of these critics! It is pleasant to hear Mrs. McCord on this subject, when they begin to shake their heads and tell us what Jeff Davis ought to do.
_______________

1 On March 7 and 8, 1862, occurred the battle of Pea Ridge in Western Arkansas, where the Confederates were defeated, and on March 8th and 9th, occurred the conflict in Hampton Roads between the warships Merrimac, Cumberland, Congress, and Monitor.

2 Louisa Susanna McCord, whose husband was David J. McCord, a lawyer of Columbia, who died in 1855. She was educated in Philadelphia, and was the author of several books of verse, including Caius Gracchus, a tragedy; she was also a brilliant pamphleteer,

SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 138-40

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: March 7, 1862

Mrs. Middleton was dolorous indeed. General Lee had warned the planters about Combahee, etc., that they must take care of themselves now; he could not do it. Confederate soldiers had committed some outrages on the plantations and officers had punished them promptly. She poured contempt upon Yancey's letter to Lord Russell.1 It was the letter of a shopkeeper, not in the style of a statesman at all.

We called to see Mary McDuffie.2 She asked Mary Preston what Doctor Boykin had said of her husband as we came along in the train. She heard it was something very complimentary. Mary P. tried to remember, and to repeat it all, to the joy of the other Mary, who liked to hear nice things about her husband.

Mary was amazed to hear of the list of applicants for promotion. One delicate-minded person accompanied his demand for advancement by a request for a written description of the Manassas battle; he had heard Colonel Chesnut give such a brilliant account of it in Governor Cobb's room.
The Merrimac3 business has come like a gleam of lightning illumining a dark scene. Our sky is black and lowering.

The Judge saw his little daughter at my window and he came up. He was very smooth and kind. It was really a delightful visit; not a disagreeable word was spoken. He abused no one whatever, for he never once spoke of any one but himself, and himself he praised without stint. He did not look at me once, though he spoke very kindly to me.
_______________

1 Lord Russell was Foreign Secretary under the Palmerston administration of 1859 to 1865.

2 Mary McDuffie was the second wife of Wade Hampton.

3 The Merrimac was formerly a 40-gun screw frigate of the United States Navy. In April, 1861, when the Norfolk Navy-yard was abandoned by the United States she was sunk. Her hull was afterward raised by the Confederates and she was reconstructed on new plans, and renamed the Virginia. On March 2, 1862, she destroyed the Congress, a sailing-ship of 50 guns, and the Cumberland, a sailing-ship of 30 guns, at Newport News. On March 7th she attacked the Minnesota, but was met by the Monitor and defeated in a memorable engagement. Many features of modern battle-ships have been derived from the Merrimac and Monitor.

SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 136-7

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Diary of Judith W. McGuire: March 11, 1862

Yesterday we heard good news from the mouth of James River. The ship "Virginia," formerly the Merrimac, having been completely incased with iron, steamed out into Hampton Roads, ran into the Federal vessel Cumberland, and then destroyed the Congress, and ran the Minnesota ashore. Others were damaged. We have heard nothing further; but this is glory enough for one day, for which we will thank God and take courage.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 100

Monday, February 16, 2015

Charles Eliot Norton to George William Curtis, March 19, 1862

Shady Hill, 19 March, 1862.

. . . I am not as critical as Iago, but I do not like McClellan's address to his troops. It is too French in style and idiom. He “loves his men like a father”? “A magnificent army”? “God smiles upon us.” How does he know? And “victory attends us”? This last phrase is plainly a mistranslation from the French “La Victoire nous attend,” — which means, what our General ought to have said, Victory awaits us.

But I am more than content with our progress. Wendell Phillips in Washington! The new article of War! The slaves running away in Virginia! Fremont re-instated in command! Freedom cannot take any backward steps — and it looks as if she would soon begin to move forward with faster and more confident steps than heretofore.

What a fine fight that was in Hampton Roads! Honour to the men of the Cumberland. I heard a most interesting and deeply moving account of the incidents of the fight and the sinking from Dr. Martin, the surgeon of the ship.

And how splendidly the Monitor was managed! . . .

SOURCE: Sara Norton and  M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Letters of Charles Eliot Norton, Volume 1, p. 253-4

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Diary of Gideon Welles: Sunday, August 17, 1862

Called this morning on General Halleck, who had forgotten or was not aware there was a naval force in the James River cooperating with the army. He said the army was withdrawn and there was no necessity for the naval vessels to remain. I remarked that I took a different view of the question, and, had I been consulted, I should have advised that the naval and some army forces should hold on and menace Richmond, in order to compel the Rebels to retain part of their army there while our forces in front of Washington were getting in position. He began to rub his elbows, and, without thanking me or acknowledgment of any kind, said he wished the vessels could remain. Telegraphed Wilkes to that effect. Strange that this change of military operations should have been made without Cabinet consultation, and especially without communicating the fact to the Secretary of the Navy, who had established a naval flotilla on the James River by special request to cooperate with and assist the army. But Stanton is so absorbed in his scheme to get rid of McClellan that other and more important matters are neglected.

A difficulty has existed from the beginning in the military, and I may say general, management of the War. At a very early day, before even the firing on Sumter and the abandonment of Norfolk, I made repeated applications to General Scott for one or two regiments to be stationed there. Anticipating the trouble that subsequently took place, and confident that, with one regiment well commanded and a good engineer to construct batteries, with the cooperation of the frigate Cumberland and such small additional naval force as we could collect, the place might be held at least until the public property and ships could be removed, I urged the importance of such aid. The reply on each occasion was that he not only had no troops to spare from Washington or Fortress Monroe, both of which places he considered in great danger, but that if he had, he would not send a detachment in what he considered enemy's country, especially as there were no intrenchments. I deferred to his military character and position, but remonstrated against this view of the case, for I was assured, and, I believe, truly, that a majority of the people in the navy yard and in the vicinity of Norfolk were loyal, friends of the Union and opposed to Secession. He said that might be the political, but was not the military, aspect, and he must be governed by military considerations in disposing of his troops.

There was but one way of overcoming these objections and that was by peremptory orders, which I could not, and the President would not, give, in opposition to the opinions of General Scott. The consequence was the loss of the navy yard and of Norfolk, and the almost total extinguishment of the Union sentiment in that quarter. Our friends there became cool and were soon alienated by our abandonment. While I received no assistance from the military in that emergency, I was thwarted and embarrassed by the secret interference of the Secretary of State in my operations. General Scott was for a defensive policy, and the same causes which influenced him in that matter, and the line of policy which he marked out, have governed the educated officers of the army and to a great extent shaped the war measures of the Government. “We must erect our batteries on the eminences in the vicinity of Washington,” said General Mansfield to me, “and establish our military lines; frontiers between the belligerents, as between the countries of Continental Europe, are requisite.” They were necessary in order to adapt and reconcile the theory and instruction of West Point to the war that was being prosecuted. We should, however, by this process become rapidly two hostile nations. All beyond the frontiers must be considered and treated as enemies, although large sections, and in some instances whole States, have a Union majority, occasionally in some sections approximating unanimity.

Instead of halting on the borders, building intrenchments, and repelling indiscriminately and treating as Rebels — enemies — all, Union as well as disunion, men in the insurrectionary region, we should, I thought, penetrate their territory, nourish and protect the Union sentiment, and create and strengthen a national feeling counter to Secession. This we might have done in North Carolina, western Virginia, northern Alabama and Georgia, Arkansas, Texas, and in fact in large sections of nearly every seceding State. Instead of holding back, we should be aggressive and enter their territory. Our generals act on the defensive. It is not and has not been the policy of the country to be aggressive towards others, therefore defensive tactics, rather than offensive have been taught, and the effect upon our educated commanders in this civil war is perceptible. The best material for commanders in this civil strife may have never seen West Point. There is something in the remark that a good general is “born to command.” We have experienced that some of our best-educated officers have no faculty to govern, control, and direct an army in offensive warfare. We have many talented and capable engineers, good officers in some respects, but without audacity, desire for fierce encounter, and in that respect almost utterly deficient as commanders. Courage and learning are essential, but something more is wanted for a good general, — talent, intuition, magnetic power, which West Point cannot give. Men who would have made the best generals and who possess innately the best and highest qualities to command may not have been so fortunate as to be selected by a Member of Congress to be a cadet. Jackson and Taylor were excellent generals, but they were not educated engineers, nor were they what would be considered in these days accomplished and educated military men. They detailed and availed themselves of engineers, and searched out and found the needed qualities in others.

We were unused to war when these present difficulties commenced, and have often permitted men of the army to decide questions that were more political than military. There is still the same misfortune, — for I deem it such.

From the beginning there was a persistent determination to treat the Rebels as alien belligerents, — as a hostile and distinct people, — to blockade, instead of closing, their ports. The men “duly accredited by the Confederate States of America” held back-door intercourse with the Secretary of State, and lived and moved in ostentatious style in Washington for some weeks. Thus commencing, other governments had reason to claim that we had initiated them into the belief that the Federal Government and its opponents were two nations; and the Union people of the South were, by this policy of our Government and that of the army, driven, compelled against their wishes, to be our antagonists.

No man in the South could avow himself a friend of the Union without forfeiting his estate, his liberty, and perhaps his life under State laws of the Confederates. The Federal Government not only afforded him no protection, but under the military system of frontiers he was treated as a public enemy because he resided in his own home at the South.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 83-6

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Brigadier General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, March 11, 1862

CAMP AT HUNTER'S MILLS, VA., March 11, 1862.

I send you a few hasty lines to tell you where we are, and to relieve the anxiety which you will doubtless have from the reports in the papers. Yesterday at 11 A. M. we received orders to march. At 1 P. M. we got off, and marched fifteen miles, arriving at this point about 8 P. M. The whole army has advanced, and we are on the extreme right, distant about twelve miles from Centreville. We presumed when starting yesterday that we would have a brush in a day or two with the enemy. But this morning we hear that McDowell's Division, that advanced on Centreville, finding it was evacuated, and hearing that they had evacuated Manassas, continued on and is now in possession of their lately vaunted impregnable stronghold. Thus the prospects of another Bull Run battle are dissipated — unless they have, as the French say, only reculer pour mieux sauter.

We hear to-day of the disastrous naval conflict at Newport News.1 This is a very bad business, and shows the superior enterprise of our enemies. There is no reason we should not have had the Cumberland iron-clad, as the Merrimac has been prepared by them. The loss of two such vessels as the Cumberland and the Congress, two of our finest frigates, is a very serious blow, not only to our material interests, but to our pride and naval forces.

I have not time to write you much beyond the fact that I am well. I have been in the saddle all day, posting troops and pickets, and making all the preparations to meet the enemy, though, from the reports in existence and believed, there is not much probability of his showing himself about here.
__________

1 Destruction of the gun-boats Cumberland and Congress by the Confederate iron-clad Merrimac.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 1, p. 251

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

In the hurry and excitement of the war . . .

. . . but few of its heroic incidents find a chronicler.  In our interest in each new battle we forget the last; and, it is to be feared, too often seem to forget men who deserve the highest honors.  The name of Lieut. Morris, for example, the commander of the Cumberland, who, with a heroism, for a parallel of which we must search far, fought the Merrimac so long as a gun remained above water, and keeps is flag flying still, is not, as it should be, a household word wherever true courage is honored.  He has been thanked by the secretary of the Navy and by Congress, but that is all.  Another incident of that gallant fight has never so far as we have noticed, appeared in print.  When Gen. Mansfield saw the Cumberland sinking, he ordered the captain of a tug to put off from Newport News and go to the assistance of her crew.  The poor creature refused, pleading fear of losing his life.  Mansfield cocked his pistol and assured him that death was nearer him if he refused than if he went.  The captain was convinced by this reasoning.  No sooner had the noble tars, thus saved from a watery grave, touched land than, dripping and half-drowned as they were, they ran to the cannon which were lying upon the beach and not reflecting that six pounders are useless against an iron-mailed vessel of war, turned them upon the enemy.  Reading the future by the light of such noble spirits, can we doubt the issue of the war?  All our soldiers and sailors ask is an opportunity to show what manner of men they are. – N. Y. Tribune.

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

Monday, November 26, 2012

New Orleans Probably Taken

WASHINGTON, March 22. – It is asserted as the prevailing opinion that by this time the national flag floats over New Orleans, and that our mortar fleet would attack the rebel fort at the [Rigolets] within two days of the departure from Ship Island of the last steamer, which brought the intelligence north.

The Secretary of War has addressed a complimentary letter to Lieut. Morse, officers and men of the Cumberland for their valor in the recent engagement with the Merrimac.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 29, 1862, p. 4

Saturday, September 22, 2012

The Destruction of the Frigate Cumberland by the Iron-plated Merrimac --- The Gallantry of our Sailors

The following in an extract from a letter written at Fortress Monroe by one of the editors of the Baltimore American, a cool and practical observer and careful writer:


She approached the Cumberland at full speed, striking her on the port side near the bow, her stem knocking port No. 1 and the bridle port into one, whilst her ram cut into the Cumberland under water.  Almost at the moment of collision the Merrimac discharged from her forward gun [an] 11-inch shell.  This shell raked the whole gun deck, killing ten men at gun No. 1, among whom was Master Mate John Harrington, and cutting off both arms and both legs of Quarter-gunner Wood.  The water rushed in from the hole made below, and in five minutes the ship began to sink by the head.

Shell and solid shot from the Cumberland were rained on the Merrimac as she passed ahead, but the most glanced harmlessly from the incline of her iron plated bomb roof, though some shots which struck her at a more favorable ranged caused splinters of iron to fly.

As the Merrimac rounded to and came upon she again raked the Cumberland with a heavy fire.  At this fire 16 men at gun No. 10 were killed or wounded, and were all subsequently carried down in the sinking ship.  Among those unfortunates whose names were remembered by my informant were two of the carpenter’s crew, named Wm. O’Brien and John Cameron.

Advancing with increased momentum, the Merrimac struck the Cumberland on the starboard side, smashing her upper works and cutting another hole below the water line.

The ship began to rapidly settle, and the scene became most horrible.  The cock-pit was filled with wounded whom it was impossible to bring up.  The forward magazine was under water, but powder was still supplied from the after magazine, and the firing kept steadily up by me who knew that the ship was sinking under them.  They worked desperately and unremittingly, and amidst the din and horror of the conflict gave cheers for their flag and the Union which were joined by the wounded.  The decks were very slippery with blood, and arms and legs, and chunks of flesh were strewed about.  The Merrimac laid off at easy point blank range, discharging her broadsides alternately at the Cumberland and Congress.  The water by this time had reached the after magazine of the Cumberland.  The men, however, kept at work and several cases of powder were passed up and the guns kept in play.  Several of the men in the after shell room lingered there too long in their eagerness to pass up shell and were drowned.  The reader must bear in mind that these incidents of the fight which we briefly detail, occupied some time in transpiring, it being about one hour and a half from the first attack upon the Cumberland until she finally sunk.

The water had at this time reached the berth or main gun deck, and it was felt hopeless and useless to continue the fight longer.  The word was given for each man to save himself, but after this order gun No. 7 was fired when the adjoining gun N. 6 was actually under water. – This last shot was fired by an active little fellow named Matthew Teney, whose courage had been conspicuous throughout the action.  As his port was left open by the recoil of the gun, he jumped to scramble out, but the water rushed in with so much force that he was washed back and drowned.

When the order was given to cease firing, and to look out for their safety in the best way possible, numbers scampered through the port holes, whilst others reached the spar deck by the companion-ways.  Some were incapable to get out either of these means, and were carried down by the rapidly sinking ship.  Of those who reached the upper deck, some swam off to the tugs that came out from Newport News, some kept afloat by seizing floating fragments of the wreck, others escaped in the rigging and masts, and still others sank never to rise again.

The Cumberland sank in water nearly up to her cross trees, and lies with a heavy list to port.  She went down with her flag still flying, and it still flies from the mast above the waters that overwhelmed her, a memento of the bravest, most daring, and yet most hopeless defence that has ever been made by any vessel belonging to any navy in the world.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 22, 1862, p. 4

Chicago Specials

CHICAGO, March 18. – Special Washington dispatches to Times, 17th, says: Lieut. Worden continues to suffer much from the late engagement, though by no means will he lose his eyes.

The House concluded the twelfth section of the tax bill to-day, thus far amending every section.  Several delegations for various interests were before the committee to-day.


Tribune dispatch from Washington, 17th, says:

The Senate to-day confirmed the following Generals: Brown, Gorman, Palmer, A. J. Price, Linsley, Terry, Berry.

Military Committee reported favorably on Gen. Asboth.  Gen. Lockwood is still suspended.

Accounts from Burnside render it certain that he knew of the evacuation of Manassas, and that his forces were out of harm’s way, and at the same time dealing blows to rebellion at important points.

All on board the Cumberland went down with her, except those saved by swimming and boats from Newport News.

Gen. Dix and Judge Pierpont, Commissioners to take ex parte testimony in the cases of political prisoners, met at the State Department to-day.  The first cases are those in the Old Capital, then Forts Warren and Lafayette.

The nearest rebel troops in force are near Warrenton Junction.  Gen. Stoneman with cavalry and infantry, drove the rebel pickets over Cedar Run, one and a half miles this side of Warrenton, where they joined their body.

The roads from Manassas are said to be strewed line the roads hither from Bull Run.

The tax on newspaper advertising is made three instead of five per cent., and not net instead of gross receipts.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 22, 1862, p. 4

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Arrival of Seamen

NEW YORK, March 18. – The steam frigate Roanoke which arrived to-day from Hampton Roads, brought 149 of the crew of the frigate Congress, and 119 of the Cumberland.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 22, 1862, p. 4

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

First Session -- 37th Congress

WASHINGTON, March 14. – SENATE. – The bill introduced by Mr. Hale, from the Committee on Naval Affairs to-day, provides for the construction, under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy, of an iron clad steam vessel of not less than 5,000 or 6,000 tons burthen and of great speed and strength, to be used only as a ram, for which purpose $100,000 to be appropriated. – Also $13,000,000 for the construction of iron clad gunboats; $783,000 for the completion of Steven’s Battery, and $500,000 for extending the facilities of the Washington Navy Yard, so as to mould and forge plates for the armored ships.

The relations between the United States and foreign nations are now, it is said, entirely free from apprehensions whatever of disturbance.  The tone of all correspondence is conciliatory.

The Senate confirmed Brig. Gen. McDowell, as Major General of Volunteers.

It is the freely expressed opinion of members of Congress, many of whom have opposed the completion of Steven’s Battery, that the bill will pass.  Mr. Steven’s plan is not the only original of mail clad vessels, but his battery is superior to any application of the same principle in any other country.


WASHINGTON, March 17. – SENATE. – Mr. HARRIS presented a petition from the citizens of New York asking Congress to dispense with the agitation of the slavery question and attend to the restoration of the Union.

Mr. WILSON of Mass., presented a petition for the emancipation of the slaves.

Mr. LANE of Kansas offered a resolution that the committee on Territories inquire into the expediency of so altering the boundary of Kansas as to include the Indian Territory.  Adopted.

Mr. FESSENDEN from the Committee of Conference on the bill providing for the purchase of iron made a report which was agreed to.

Mr. HALE offered a resolution that the Naval Committee into the expediency of appropriating money to make experiments and for providing iron clad vessels of war.  Adopted.

The joint resolution authorizing the President to assign the command of the troops in the field to officers without regard to seniority, was taken up after discussion.

On motion of Mr. NESMITH of Oregon the resolution was recommitted to the Military Committee.

On motion of Mr. FESSENDEN the Post Office Appropriation Bill was taken up.

Mr. LATHAM offered an amendment that the Postmaster General be authorized to establish a mail less than semi-monthly between San Francisco and Crescent City, including the intermediate points.  Agreed to.

Mr. LATHAM also offered an amendment that American steamers and sailing vessels bound for foreign ports shall receive such mails as the Post Office Department may choose to place on board and promptly deliver the same, and that the Letter Company for foreign ports shall receive any mail matter from Consuls, &c., the compensation being the usual postage.

Mr. SHERMAN moved to add, and provided the Government shall not pay more than it receives.  On motion it was agreed to.  The amendment was then adopted and the bill passed.

The bill for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia was then taken up and postponed until to-morrow.

Mr. TRUMBULL, from the Committee on Judiciary, reported back the House bill to facilitate judicial proceedings for captured property.

Went into executive session.


HOUSE. – The House passed the Senate joint resolution that if any State, during the present rebellion, shall make any appropriation to pay the volunteers of the State, the Secretary of War is authorized to accept the same and use it.  To be applied by the Paymaster General to the payments designated by the Legislature’s act making the appropriation, in the same manner as if appropriated by act of congress, and also to make any sureties that may be necessary for the disbursement and proper application of such funds for the specific purpose of which they may be applied by the several States.

The House concurred in the report of the Committee of Conference on the bill regulating sutlers, who are authorized to have a lien on the soldiers for only one-sixth of the amounts.  The penalties were added for violating this provision.

A resolution was adopted calling on the Secretary of War to inform the House by whose authority certain vessels were recently chartered and the amount of compensation to be paid for the same, &c.

Mr. LOVEJOY, asked leave to introduce a resolution instructing the Committee on the District of Columbia to inquire by what authority Mr. Bressler of Georgetown, had been arrested and sent to gain; whether such arrest was not in violation of the provision in the Constitution, which says no person shall be deprived of his live or liberty without due process of law.


WASHINGTON, March 18. – HOUSE. – The House considered the Senate bill to increase the efficiency of the Medical Department of the army.

During the discussion, Mr. BLAKE said he had no doubt that the army of the Potomac had been well and medically provided for, but it was not so with the Western boys who had been murdered by neglect.  He had received letters from fathers and mothers beseeching him to have something done, so as to save the lives of their children.

Mr. BLAIR of Mo., replying, said the first steps to be taken were to place at the head of the medical department, a Director General who combines experience with great surgical skill.

Mr. BLAKE caused to be read an article in the Cincinnati Times, showing gross inefficiency in the Medical Department.

Mr. KELLOGG, of Illinois, pronounced the article a scurrilous and vile slander, and this was apparent upon its face.  It was bad taste to have the article read.

Mr. BLAKE regretted, with pain, that the gentleman, (Mr. Kellogg,) thought it necessary to administer such a rebuke.  His want of good taste might be owing to his early training.  The article states facts which came under the editor’s observation

The subject was then passed over, and the House went into committee of the whole on the Tax bill.  The proceedings were confided to discussing and amending its general provisions.


SENATE. – Mr. FESSENDEN offered the following resolution:

            Resolved, That the Secretary of the Navy furnish the Senate with copies of all contracts with R. S. Stevens for floating battery; also a statement of all payments and allowances on said contract and the report of the commissioners appointed to examine the battery.

Mr. SUMNER introduced a bill to remove all disqualifications of color in carrying the mails.  Referred.

Mr. WILSON, of Massachusetts, from Military Committee reported back Joint Resolution authorizing the President to assign the command of troops without regard to seniority, with an amendment striking out the portion giving the President power to dismiss from the service.

The amendment was adopted and the resolution passed.

On Motion of Mr. TRUMBULL the bill to provide for judicial proceedings on captured property and for the better administration of the law, was taken up and passed.

The resolution offered by Mr. STARKE, of Oregon, that the papers in referring to the loyalty of Starke be referred to the Judiciary Committee, was taken up.

Mr. Hale thought the question was already done, and hoped the Senate would spend no more time upon it.

Mr. HOWARD wanted to know if the Senator from Oregon (Starke) intended to go into an investigation of the question.

Mr. STARKE said he had offered the resolution, in order to show that he had no indisposition to meet the charges of his loyalty anywhere, but he (Starke) had no intention of being his own prosecutor.

After further discussion by Messrs. Hale, Browning Howard, Trumbull and Howe, Mr. WILKINSON moved to lay the resolution on the table.

The motion was disagreed to, by yeas 3, nays 35.

YEAS – Messrs. Hale, Saulsbury, and Wilkinson.

Mr. TRUMBULL moved to amend the resolution so as to make it referable to a select committee of five.  The motion was carried.

The resolution was then adopted, yeas 37, nays 3.

NAYS – Messrs. Howard, Hale, Saulsbury.

Mr. CLARKE introduced a bill to furnish supplies to the sailors who were on board the sloop of war Cumberland.

The bill for the abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia was taken up.

Mr. HALE merely wished to reply to the statement of the Senator from Kentucky, in regard to the effects of this bill.  If passed, the most dangerous and fatal form of secession is when it argues that it is not safe to perform a plain and simple duty for fear of disastrous consequences, and this question of emancipation had rarely been argued in this country on the great fundamental principle of right and wrong.  The question was never asked in political circles what is due to the individual, but what is to be the consequences.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 22, 1862, p. 4

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Specials to the New York Papers


(Tribune’s Dispatch.)

NEW YORK, March 15. – The President nominated yesterday for Brigadier General, John Craig, also Robert C. Buchanan to be Inspector General.

The War Department has authorized Gen. Halleck to [supersede] Major General Grant unless he should ask to be relieved, on account of bad conduct at Fort Donelson and elsewhere.

Secretary Fox, who is in Washington, reports the Merrimac badly injured in the two days fight.  She had a hole bored in her hull by the Monitor.  She was leaking very badly when she put back.  The Cumberland’s broadside in the first fight injured her so badly that she could not attack the Monitor or Roanoke, all though they were both aground.  He thinks that the Monitor, now that she is afloat, can handle the Merrimac.  She is slow and unwieldy.  He considers it utterly impossible for the Merrimac to go to sea, as she would immediately founder in an ordinary gale.

The Merrimac’s shot was bunked away by a ball from an 11-inch on the Minnesota.

Capt. [Buchanan] was wounded by a shot from a rifle-man on board the Cumberland, the ball going through his thigh.

Mr. Fox says the crew of the Minnesota as well as that of the Monitor, which to see the Merrimac come out again, but it is not likely that they will be gratified.

Commodore Stevens of the steam battery has obtained permission from the Secretary of War to make use of the 15 inch gun at Fortress Monroe, to be placed upon his steam propeller Nangantuck, to be used in the defence of New York harbor, and to attack the Merrimac, in the event of her appearance.

The Herald’s Washington dispatch says Gen. McClellan reviewed a division of the army in the vicinity of Manassas this p. m., and as he reviewed the lines he was greeted by the most vociferous cheers and enthusiasm.

A man this evening from a village on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, 37 miles from Goodysville came into the camp of the Ira Harris cavalry. – He states that there were forty thousand rebels troops in town when he left and that they continued to come in and hurried on under in impression that the Union army was in pursuit of them.  Gen. Johnson and other rebel officers were dining when he left.

He states that the road from Rappahannock to Manassas is strewed with muskets, knapsacks, haversacks, blankets, and provisions flung away in the retreat and that numbers of soldiers lay fainting and exhausted by the roadside.

The Times’ Washington dispatch says the steamer Achilles, while passing the rebel batteries at Acquia Creek last night, was fired at six times, indicating that there are some rebels yet lounging on the Potomac.  None of the shots took effect.

Gen. Hooker was of opinion at nine o’clock, to-day, that the rebels had not abandoned Fredericksburgh.


(Herald’s Special.)

WASHINGTON, March 17. – The relatives of Capt. Franklin Buchanan, who commanded the rebel iron clad steamer Merrimac at the late fight, have written to his relatives in this city from Baltimore, that he is dead, and his body is to be brought to the old homestead on the Eastern shore of Maryland for interment.

A movement is on foot relative to the impeachment of all those judges who have in any form, shape, or manner aided in the interests of secession.  A member of Congress has now in his desk a resolution, which he will offer at the first opportune moment to instruct the Committee on the Judiciary to inquire into this matter of general impeachment, and report at an early date by bill or otherwise.


(Tribune correspondence.)

Delegates from a great number of business interests are here, suggesting a modification of the tax bill in [its favor].  Changes have already been made in committee in making the tax specific instead of ad valorem.  To newspapers,  making the advertisement tax three instead of five per cent, and on net receipts instead of gross.  Tobacconists, reducing it on leaf and stem, and raising it on the manufactured.  The tax proposed on umbrellas and parasols a change from specific to five per cent. ad valorem.  Omnibuses, entire freedom from the tax on passengers.  It was shown that it would be fatal to them in competition with the horse railroads.  The tax has also been stricken off from the manufactures of flour.  This was done by a delegation of the Rochester millers, who showed that it would be fatal to their business.  All along the line afflicted by the reciprocity treaty, the tax would enable the Canadian millers to undersell us in our own markets.

Nomination of Daniel E. Sickles and Haller Gunn of New Hampshire were made.

Gen. Lockwood’s nomination is suspended.

The limits of the Department to which Gen. Hunter has been appointed, has again been incorrectly stated.  It [may] not be improper to say that it comprises the States of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.  Gen. Sherman will be retained in the Department under Gen. Hunter.  Also. Capt. W. [H. Peck] of the 11th Infantry, formerly of Chicago, Illinois.

To-day Senator Sumner will introduce a bill repealing an act originally passed in 1812, providing that [henceforth] no person by reason of color shall be disqualified from employment in carrying the mails.

Hon. Richard Fanchette, of the 18th N. Y. district, has obtained the signatures of about 150 Senators and Representatives to a memorial to Congress, asking that better rations be served out to the army.


(Special to Post.)

WASHINGTON, March 28 – the Naval committee formally voted in favor of the appropriation sufficient to complete the Stevens’ battery and fifteen million dollars for the construction of iron clad steamers.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 22, 1862, p. 4