Diary of William Howard Russell: May 30, 1861

Wrote in the heat of the day, enlivened by my neighbor, a wonderful mocking-bird, whose songs and imitations would make his fortune in any society capable of appreciating native-born genius. His restlessness, courage, activity, and talent, ought not to be confined to Mr. Mure's cage, but he seems contented and happy. I dined with Madame and M. Milten-berger, and drove out with them to visit the scene of our defeat in 1815, which lies at the distance of some miles down the river.

A dilapidated farm-house surrounded by trees and negro huts, marks the spot where Pakenham was buried, but his body was subsequently exhumed and sent home to England. Close to the point of the canal which constitutes a portion of the American defences, a negro guide came forth to conduct us round the place, but he knew as little as most guides of the incidents of the fight. The most remarkable testimony to the severity of the fire to which the British were exposed, is afforded by the trees in the neighborhood of the tomb. In one live-oak there are no less than eight round shot embedded; others contain two or three, and many are lopped, rent, and scarred by the flight of cannon-ball, The American lines extended nearly three miles, and were covered in the front by swamps, marshes, and water cuts, their batteries and the vessels in the river enfiladed the British as they advanced to the attack.

Among the prominent defenders of the cotton bales was a notorious pirate and murderer named Lafitte, who with his band was released from prison on condition that he enlisted in the defence, and did substantial service to his friends and deliverers.

Without knowing all the circumstances of the case, it would be rash now to condemn the officers who directed the assault; but so far as one could judge from the present condition of the ground, the position must have been very formidable, and should not have been assaulted till the enfilading fire was subdued, and a very heavy covering fire directed to silence the guns in front. The Americans are naturally very proud of their victory, which was gained at a most trifling loss to themselves, which they erroneously conceive to be a proof of their gallantry in resisting the assault. It is one of the events which have created a fixed idea in their minds that they are able to “whip the world.”

On returning from my visit I went to the club, where I had a long conversation with Dr. Rushton, who is strongly convinced of the impossibility of carrying on government, or conducting municipal affairs, until universal suffrage is put down. He gave many instances of the terrorism, violence, and assassinations which prevail during election times in New Orleans. M. Miltenberger, on the contrary, thinks matters are very well as they are, and declares all these stories are fanciful. Incendiarism rife again. All the club windows crowded with men looking at a tremendous fire, which burned down three or four stores and houses.

SOURCE: William Howard Russell, My Diary North and South, p. 242-3

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: July 11, 1862

Gen. Howell Cobb has been sent down the river under flag of truce to negotiate a cartel with Gen. Dix for the exchange of prisoners. It was decided that the exchange should be conducted on the basis agreed to between the United States and the British Government during the war of 1812, and all men taken hereafter will be released on parole within ten days after their capture. We have some 8000 prisoners in this city, and altogether, I dare say, a larger number than the enemy have of our men.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 143

From a Friend in Providence, Rhode Island to Charlotte Cross Wigfall, May 13, 1861

May 13th, 1861.

. . . We are always delighted to hear from you — and indeed your letters and Louis's are the only comfort we have in this Yankee land surrounded by people who have no sympathy with us, and who only open their lips to revile the South and utter blood-thirsty threats. This morning an amiable lady wished she had Jeff Davis in front of a big cannon. This feminine wish was uttered in the cars when L. and F. were going in to Boston. We have now sufficient proof of how much stronger hate is than love of country. Where was the patriotism of Massachusetts when the country was at war with the English in 1812? I lived then at the South, and was ashamed of my countrymen who refused to assist in the war. Massachusetts, which was the leading state of New England, refused to let her militia leave the state and when the U. S. troops were withdrawn, to fight in other places, applied to the Federal Government to know whether the expenses of their own militia, who were summoned to defend their own State, would be reimbursed by the Government. When our capitol at Washington was burned with the President's House and Treasury buildings, and other public buildings, why did they not go to meet the British? On the contrary, they rejoiced at the English victories, and put every obstacle they could in the way of the government. Now they are subscribing millions, and urging every man to go and fight their own countrymen. It is not patriotism; it is hatred to the South and woe is me, that I must live here among such people. God grant you success. It is a righteous war and all the bloodshed will be upon the souls of those who brought it on.

. . . I think, however, that you at the South are wrong to undervalue the courage and resources of the Northern States. They are no doubt less accustomed to the use of firearms — there are very few who know how to ride, and they are less fiery in their impulses. They are less disposed to fight, but they are not cowardly where their interests are concerned; and will fight for their money. Where their property is at stake they will not hesitate to risk their lives, and at present there is no lack of money. The women are all roused, and are urging their relatives on; while some of the young ladies are exceedingly anxious to imitate Florence Nightingale, and distinguish themselves in the Army. The boys are parading about with red shirts and guns; and their wise mothers are admiring their military ardor.

I would not advise you of the South to trust too much in the idea that the Northerners will not fight; for I believe they will, and their numbers are overwhelming. You know an army of ants can kill a wounded horse. It is a mistake, too, for you to suppose that it is only the lower orders, who are enlisted. I have heard of a good many of the most respectable young men, who have enlisted for three years. I suppose there are a good many counter jumpers and Irish among them; but still there are many very decent persons who have gone to the wars. I hear that with Gov. Sprague no less persons than W. G. and M. J. have gone. Are you not alarmed? Think of M. Pray keep out of his way! I wonder what his Quaker progenitors would say, could they look out of their graves? He has not an ancestor, on either side, for as far back as they can be traced, who was not a broad brimmed Quaker. Little F. has had some skirmishes with the girls on Politics; but there has been no bloodshed; and the last I heard of it is, they said “anyhow” she was “a smart little thing and talks very well.” L. does not walk out alone: she always goes into Boston with F. or me. By the way — I hear it said they have got enough cotton at the North to supply their factories for a year? Can it be true? If so, I think there has been a great mistake somewhere. The only thing that will bring these people to their senses is to stop the importation. I was surprised to see the other day that a cargo of rice from Savannah was stopped, and the vessel was allowed to sail with a load of cotton!

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 51-4

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: July 8, 1861

There is a stout gray-haired old man here from Maryland applying to be made a general. It is Major J. H. Winder, a graduate of West Point, I believe; and I think he will be successful. He is the son, I believe, of the Gen. Winder whose command in the last war with England-unfortunately permitted the City of Washington to fall into the hands of the enemy. I have almost a superstitious faith in lucky generals, and a corresponding prejudice against unlucky ones, and their progeny. But I cannot suppose the President will order this general into the field. He may take the prisoners into his custody — and do other jobs as a sort of head of military police; and this is what I learn he proposes. And the French Prince, Polignac, has been made a colonel; and a great nephew of Koscinsko has been commissioned a lieutenant in the regular army. Well, Washington had his Lafayette — and I like the nativity of these officers better than that of the Northern men, still applying for commissions.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 59-60

Senator James W. Grimes to J. H. Gear, W. F. Coolbaugh, A. W. Carpenter, Joshua Copp, J. G. Foote, and other Citizens of Burlington, August 17, 1861

Burlington, August 17, 1861.

I have received your favor of the 15th instant, in which you congratulate me upon my return to the State, and invite me to address the people of this city, at such time and place as I may designate, on the important questions now before the country, involving the existence of the Government.

I appreciate, as I ought, the kind feeling that prompted this invitation, and return you my sincere thanks for it. I would address you at any time and at any place, if I supposed I could communicate a particle of information not already in the possession or within the reach of every citizen of the State. I could only say in many words, what I now say in a few, that it seems to me that there is no safe alternative before us, but to give a firm and ardent support to the Government in its attempt to put down insurrection and rebellion. More than any State in this Confederacy, Iowa should resist the pretended right of a State to secede from it. Our position in the centre of the continent, without foreign commerce, dependent upon other States for our markets and for our means for transportation to reach them, would soon, if the right to destroy the Union by the secession of the States be conceded, place us in the character of a dependent and conquered province. We need, and must have, at whatever cost, a permanent government and unrestricted access to the Atlantic Ocean and to the Gulf of Mexico. There must be no foreign soil between us and our markets.

As one of the Representatives of Iowa in the Federal Congress, I have sought to give expression by my votes to what I believe to be the opinions of the people of the State, and have uniformly voted all the men, money, ships, and supplies, that were asked for. In doing so, I have not only expressed what I believed to be their wishes, but I have acted upon my own convictions of duty. I shall continue to do so until this unholy war shall be brought to a successful conclusion.

The public debt that this war will impose upon us will appall some and perhaps dampen the patriotism of some. Most erroneous impressions, however, seem to prevail as to the magnitude of our present indebtedness, and that which we are likely to create. The entire public indebtedness of this country on the 6th instant, the day Congress adjourned, was a hundred and eleven million dollars, most of which was inherited from the preceding Administration, and the estimated expenses of the next year, for military, naval, and civil purposes, were less than three hundred million dollars, less than the annual expenses of Great Britain in a time of profound peace. In connection with the aggregate of these two sums let us remember that England paid eight thousand five hundred million dollars to carry on her wars with the first Napoleon. She was contending for her commercial rights, and the result showed that her money was well expended: we are not only contending for our commercial rights, but we seek to uphold and perpetuate the best Government ever known among men.

Foreigners call us, with great truth, the most impatient people on the earth. This natural impatience is greatly increased by our present troubles. We all want peace restored and business revived, and most of us believe that a permanent peace can only be established by the victorious arms of our soldiers. Our anxieties in this regard are very liable to cause us to do great injustice to the Government and to ourselves also. We clamor for victories, forgetting that the most thorough preparation is necessary to achieve them. We forget the condition of the country four months ago, and ask that that shall be done in a week which requires months of arduous labor to perform. Very few fully appreciate the difficulties by which the President of the United States found himself surrounded, when he assumed power on the 4th of March last. Many of the Executive Departments had recently been under the control of traitors. The army had been dispersed and demoralized, and many of the most trusted and prominent officers were disloyal. Our vessels-of-war were scattered upon foreign and remote stations. The Departments were full of spies and traitors. The public armories had been plundered and their contents delivered to the rebels. The President was without an army, without a navy, without arms or munitions of war, and with enemies within and without. In this condition of things, and after an almost uninterrupted peace of fifty years, he was called upon to organize in a few weeks five armies, each of them larger than any that had ever been marshaled on this continent, and to improvise a navy with which to blockade a coast greater in extent than that which England was unable to blockade with more than four hundred vessels-of-war in 1812-’14. That there have been mistakes committed in the selection of agents and officers cannot be denied, but, that there has been any lack of energy or of devotion to the cause of the country, it seems to me that no fail man who examines the subject will assert. Few persons comprehend all the labor, the time, and the perplexities involved in furnishing clothing, arms, transportation, stores and pay for four hundred and fifty thousand men, and in purchasing or building, manning, arming, and equipping two hundred vessels-of-war by a Government whose credit was impaired, whose armories had been destroyed, and whose munitions of war had been stolen, and to do all this in the space of three months.

It becomes us to be hopeful and patient, bearing in mind that the authorities in Washington are resolved that their preparation for the conflict shall correspond with the magnitude of the conspiracy they are compelled to encounter.

You say, gentlemen, that you address me without distinction of party, and I find among the signatures appended to your letter the names of many to whom I have always been politically opposed. Permit me to say that the time has arrived when I am anxious to forget all party names, and party platforms, and party organizations, and to unite with anybody and everybody in an honest, ardent, and patriotic support of the Government — not as a party Government with a Republican at its head, but as the national Government, ordained by and for the benefit of the whole people of the country.

SOURCE: William Salter, The Life of James W. Grimes, p. 147-50

"Stone Blockades"

The London Times, as quoted by us yesterday complacently observes that ‘it never entered into the thoughts of men like Jervis and Nelson, and Collingwood that they could save themselves trouble and their country expense by totally destroying the ports they were set to watch.  Yet (it adds) what might not England, with her undisputed supremacy at sea, have effected, had she suffered herself to meditate such an iniquity?’

We fear the London journal is not very well “up” in the history of the English navy, whose exploits form so large a part of its nation’s glory.  Whatever Jervis, and Nelson and Collingwood may have thought proper or improper to allow themselves with regard to other French ports, (after Boulogne had been blockade by sunken hulks) it at least appears that the “iniquity” was practiced against the United States in the war of 1812.  A correspondent recalls the fact that during that war the British commanders on Lake Champlain (see Cooper’s History of the American Navy vol. 2 page 34) attempted to fill up the harbor of Otter creek by sinking several vessels loaded with stones.  This enterprise had for its authors Sir James Provost, Lieutenant General de Rottenburg, Major Generals Brisbane, Power, Robinson and Bynes, also the commander of the fleet, Sir James Yeo. – {National Intelligencer.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, February 8, 1862, p. 2

Killed And Wounded In The War Of 1812

From an article in the New York Historical Collections, prepared by Wm. Joey, Esq., mostly from official sources, it appears the whole number of Americans killed and wounded during the war of 1812, extending from June 1812 to March 1815, was 7,738; of these 2,816 were the number killed; this includes both the naval and land forces.  The largest number in the naval forces was at the engagement between the Chesapeake and Shannon, where the number of Americans killed and wounded was 145, and the British 85. – At the battle of New Orleans there were 52 Americans and 2,074 British killed and wounded.  The Americans seem to have suffered the most at the battle of Bridgewater where they had 742 killed and wounded, and the British 643.  In the various skirmishes among the Indians the Americans had over 1,100 killed and wounded.  In the engagement between the Constitution and Java, the Americans had 34, and the British 161 killed and wounded.  During the whole war the total number of British killed and wounded is put down at 8,774, of which 2,560 were among the killed.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 29, 1862, p. 3

A Revolutionary Hero

Correspondence of the Missouri Republican.

Yesterday, while at Gen. Curtis’ headquarters, I was introduced to a most remarkable man – a surviving hero of the revolution, in his one hundred and second year, who served with Washington and Marion towards the close of the war. His name is William Dotson, and his residence on the James Fork of White River, near Galena. The following is the history he gives of himself. He was born near the Dan river, Virginia, February 22d, 1760, of Irish and German parentage; entered the army of Gen. Washington when a young man; was at the siege of Yorktown; was also with Marion and his men on the Pedec, and fought the Tories of South Carolina; was in the war of 1812, and fought under Gen Pinckney; took part in the battle of James Island, on the coast of Carolina, in which three British ships were sunk by cannon shots from a fortification made of Cotton bales, the Wasp and Hornet co-operating with the land forces in which battle he was wounded in the right hand. These are his own recollections, as given by himself, and may not be in all respects correct, depending, as they do, on the memory of an uneducated man of great age.

Mr. Dotson says he has fourteen sons in the Federal army, fighting for the Government established by Washington. Two of them are in the army of the Southwest, under Colonels Phelps and Boyd; the others were living in Indiana and Illinois, and have joined the army in their respective states. He has been married to four wives, the last a young woman of Missouri, by whom he has several young children. – He is the father of twenty-two children, all living, the oldest being seventy-six years of age, residing in east Tennessee, and the youngest three years old by his young wife, born to him in his ninety-ninth year. After the Revolutionary war, he removed to South Carolina, and resided there till 1820, when he emigrated to East Tennessee. Here he remained until 1854, when he emigrated to Southwest Missouri. He is a farmer by occupation, and he and his sons have always performed their own labor. They have never owned slaves, nor used slave labor. Once bought a slave by an exchange of property, and his wife was so opposed to it that he took him back and induced the owner to trade back again. He as always labored with his own hands, and what he possesses is the fruit of his own honest toil. He is still in the enjoyment of vigorous health and a sound memory, rides on horseback and walks perfectly erect, converses intelligently, and performs a considerable amount of labor. Two years ago, during the sitting of the Court at Galena, he ran a foot race, with a younger man, in the presence of the Court and a multitude of spectators, amid the shouts and laughter of the crowd at his defeated antagonist.

He is about five feet four inches in statue, and compactly built, and, like Moses of old, “his eye is not dimmed, nor his natural force abated.” There is no reason why he should not live another fifteen or twenty years. He is a strong Union man, and was tempted at the outbreak of the rebellion to offer himself for enlistment in the Union army, but the rebels came and took his horse and gun, and he gave up his purpose, feeling that his fourteen sons would do their own and his share of service in putting down the rebellion.

The rebels visited him and warned him that he was in danger, and had better flee. But he answered them, saying, “I have bought and paid for my farm, and mean to live and die upon it. If you choose to kill me you will only wrong me out of a few years, and the deed will do you no credit. According to the common course of nature I ought to have died years ago.” They did not further molest him, except to take an excellent horse, his gun and tobacco. The latter he said was a great privation. He could not get along without it, and thought they might have left him his tobacco.

The old man appeared delighted to see and converse with our troops. Riding about upon his horse he mingles with the crowd, cracks his jokes and laughs with great hilarity. Gen. Curtis has had his statement taken down, and to which the old hero has subscribed and made his affidavit, and it is to be sent on to Washington with a recommendation for a pension the remainder of his days.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 26, 1862, p. 2

Didn’t Know The Tune

On election day in Newburg, Uncle Barzelius Burke, aged 75, a hero drummer in the war of 1812, was on hand with his old drum. An old man in the town, of copperhead persuasion, by the name of McGee, was talking loudly for Vallandigham, and in the course of his disloyal remarks, said “it would suit him just as well to have the South whip the North.” This was too much for the old patriot drummer of 1812. “McGee,” said he, “let me play you a tune,” and the old man rattled away with more than common power. McGee heard, and complimented him with – “That’s good.” Uncle B. indignantly reported – “You d----d old copperhead that is the Rogue’s March. Why don’t you march?” and the drum rolled out again when McGee did march away amid the shouts of the bystanders.

– Published in the Stark County News, Toulon, Illinois, Thursday, November 12, 1863