Major-General John Sedgwick to his Sister, August 30, 1862

Camp Alexandria, August 30, 1862.

My dear sister:

We hurried here yesterday and immediately received orders to move to the front at nine o'clock this morning. Although the orders have not been countermanded, we have not gone, and the presumption is we shall not for a day. Everything is in the utmost consternation, as much so as after Bull Run. Washington people seem to lose their senses at the most unfounded rumours, but there may be some cause for it now. The enemy are not far off, and things here are not in the best state to receive them. A few days must make some great changes; God grant they may be favourable ones. I am in camp near the one I occupied last winter. The men are tired and to some degree dispirited, but a few days' rest will bring them up. I know but little of what is going on ; no one does but General Halleck and the enemy. All correspondence is prohibited, and telegraphic communication cut off. We were landed at Aquia Creek, and were on our way to Fredericksburg when orders came to reimbark and proceed to Alexandria. You may direct your letters to Washington.

With much love, I remain, as ever,

Your affectionate brother,

J. S.

SOURCES: George William Curtis, Correspondence of John Sedgwick, Major-General, Volume 2, p. 78-9

Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Friday, December 27, 1861

A cold and windy but clear morning — good winter weather. It was warm last night until 2 [A. M.], wind veered around from south to north and [it was] cold as blazes (why blazes?). Rode with Major Comly down to Captain McIlrath's. He preferred remaining in his quarters to a trip to Raleigh. Five companies to be sent to Raleigh to occupy it, — to push further if best to do so.

Drilled in a clear, brisk air. Colonel Scammon is preparing to send to Raleigh in the hope that a party of the enemy at Princeton may be surprised; also that railroad bridges near Newbern may be destroyed.

Harvey Carrington and T. S. Dickson, Company C, complain of Sergeant Keen and Thomas Mason for keeping two hundred and ten dollars won at “Honest John.” They say the agreement was that whatever was lost or won was to be returned and that they played merely to induce others to play. I told them that as they, by their own stories, were stool-pigeons, they were entitled to no sympathy. They admitted that much of the money had been won gaming. I declined to order the money returned to them. I sent for Sergeant Keen and Mason, who denied the story of Carrington and Dickson, but admitted winning the money. I ordered them to pay the money into the company fund of Company C where it will be used to buy gloves and such other comforts as the Government does not furnish for all the company.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 170

Francis Lieber to Senator Charles Sumner, April 1, 1862

New YorK, April 1, 1862.

. . . Regarding slavery, I repeat, let us compress it as much as we can. Let us free, in actual war, as many negroes that come to us as we can; let us emancipate the District; let us keep free every Territory; let us contrive and adopt some bonus for emancipation; let us distinctly emancipate the negroes of the open, avowed traitors; and what with increased cotton culture elsewhere, and the blow which the institution must receive from our victory, after having proclaimed itself a divine institution, it will dwindle and die out, — not perhaps without asking us to pay for the emancipation.

SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 326

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: October 15, 1861

I have been requested by Gen. Winder to-day to refuse a passport to Col. M–––r to leave the city in any direction. So the colonel is within bounds! I learn that he differed with Gen. Winder (both from Maryland) in politics. But if he was a Whig, so was Mr. Benjamin. Again, I hear that Col. M. had some difficulty with Col. Northrop, Commissary-General, and challenged him. This is a horse of another color. Col. N. is one of the special favorites of the President.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 85

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: January 12, 1864

To-night there will be a great gathering of Kentuckians. Morgan gives them a dinner. The city of Richmond entertains John Morgan. He is at free quarters. The girls dined here. Conny Cary came back for more white feathers. Isabella had appropriated two sets and obstinately refused Constance Cary a single feather from her pile. She said, sternly: “I have never been on the stage before, and I have a presentiment when my father hears of this, I will never go again. I am to appear before the footlights as an English dowager duchess, and I mean to rustle in every feather, to wear all the lace and diamonds these two houses can compass” — (mine and Mrs. Preston's). She was jolly but firm, and Constance departed without any additional plumage for her Lady Teazle.

SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 276

Diary of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire: October 8, 1862

Mr. N. joined us this morning, and we all gathered here for the day. It seemed so much like old times, that C. broke a war rule, and gave us pound-cake for supper.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 165-6

Diary of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire: October 9, 1862

A very pleasant day at S. H. The ladies all busily knitting for our soldiers — oh, that we could make them comfortable for the winter!

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 166

Diary of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire: October 10, 1862

Bad news! The papers bring an account of the defeat of our army at Corinth. It was commanded by General Van Dorn—the Federals by Rosecranz. They fought Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The fight said to have been very bloody — great loss on both sides. The first two days we had the advantage, but on Sunday the Yankees “brought up reinforcements,” and our men had to retire to Ripley. The Northern papers do not brag quite so much as usual; they say their loss was very great, particularly in officers; from which, I hope it was not quite so bad with us as our first accounts represent. This bringing up of reinforcements, which the Yankees do in such numbers, is ruinous to us. Ah! if we could only fight them on an equal footing, we could expunge them from the face of the earth: but we have to put forth every energy to get rid of them, while they come like the frogs, the flies, the locusts, and the rest of the vermin which infested the land of Egypt, to destroy our peace.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 166

John T. L. Preston to Margaret Junkin Preston, January 24, 1865

Richmond, Tuesday, January 24th, 1865.

You will get this by General Smith. He goes up to rest, leaving me to discharge his duties as well as my own as professor. I will not underrate the laborious nature of the work, as I mean to make it the foundation of a claim for furlough when he gets back!

I send you as the principal item, Thackeray's last novel, “Philip.” Remember when you read it to return your thanks for it to Colonel Crutchfield. I have read it with much satisfaction. As a story it is a mere framework, hastily and inartistically run up, and scarce aims to excite much interest by the events. It is a book of characters, and of characters by no means perfect. In fact there is but one actor introduced (Mrs. Pendennis) who does not require the veil of charity to conceal very considerable flaws. The staple of the book is a merciless exhibition of the badness of human nature. D. and the preacher Hunt are two of the most unmitigated evildoers on the records of fiction. Other characters you will find in the book that are strong types of bad men, each in his peculiar line, but the analysis will bring out from all the root evil of supreme selfishness. The philosophy of his book is to make selfishness odious, or at all events, in a cynical way, to show how prevalent it is. His female characters are not quite as bad as his men, but they are hard cases indeed. I have not time to individualize. But you will relish, I know, the picture of true married love in Pendennis and his wife. It is so exquisite and so natural and of course so true. And what art there is in the way in which he just opens the gates of Eden for us as we stand outside, not permitting us to enter, and not describing its beauties, but only allowing us to get a view along one vista of the trees in the heavenly garden, to hear one song of the birds of Paradise, to inhale the perfume wafted to the gate from the banks of ever blooming flowers, and to see at a distance Adam and Eve in loving talk and quiet bliss! And then the gates close upon our eager eyes, to be opened again when we do not expect it, and to furnish some other scene, differing in features, but the same in entrancing loveliness. I have hardly ever met with anything more charming than this fragmentary vision of perfect wifehood. The author gives us different colored bits of glory, and says to our imagination, “Put them together, and see what they will make.”

Somebody has undertaken to restore the lost books of Livy, by his profound and minute acquaintance with history: I think if we were together, we know enough about the subject matter of Mrs. Pendennis' story, to fill up the gaps in it! The story falls off decidedly at the end, and the denouement is as manifest, commonplace, and clap-trap as ever a lazy man of genius was guilty of. But take it altogether, it is so sharp and witty, and, from its standpoint, so true, that I enjoyed it amazingly. How much better it would have been if Phebe had read it aloud to us, so that we could have exchanged criticisms! By the time I see you I will have forgotten all about it. Indeed it would cost me some trouble to recall its particulars even now. But at all events, I have had my talk with you about it.

Item second is a pair of rubber shoes. I don't think Cinderella's foot can get into them, but they are the only pair I have been able to find, and maybe they will answer. If they are too small, write me word; you can give them away, or sell them. I gave $30. for them. Perhaps by further search I may pick up another pair.

Also, a ream of paper for you, like this I am writing on. It will try your eyes less than that you have been writing on. As it is much better than what we get ordinarily, you had better send to Captain Polk and get some of a larger size for the use of the household. . . .

Also, a piece of stuff for Phebe which Sister gave me at Oakland; this is the first opportunity I have had to send it.

Also, one orange. Some lady gave this ostentatious piece of blockade goods to Frank, and he (after eating another, I believe), brought this to me two weeks ago. Of course I was not child enough to eat it, but saved it for you all.

Also, a number of illustrated papers for G. and H. — Bless their hearts — I wish I had something better to send them!

There now is my invoice. Very small, but it is my little all, and represents more love than many a bride's trousseau, or rich man's legacy. I wish I could have procured something for all the household, but it is impossible. You have no idea how meagre all the shops look, and how absolutely unesthetic in things great and small the metropolis is. Absolutely, there is nothing grand about here but General Lee, and nothing beautiful but the music at the Monumental Church. (Dinner Drum!)

Postscript item: Since dinner has come in another important addition; this time for Johnny — a bridle! A regular army bridle, from the Ordnance Department. I give this to him upon condition that he puts mine away, and keeps it safe until I get back. Mind, he must not lose anything about it, not even a bit! Poor pun, but like my presents, the best I can make in these Confederate times.

And now good-bye to you all. I send no news, though there are a great many rumors on the street today. You will see them all in the papers before this reaches you.

Your Husband.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Preston Allan, The Life and Letters of Margaret Junkin Preston, p. 204-7

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Wednesday, September 7, 1864

The weather is still quite pleasant. There is nothing of any importance. All is quiet. Ward E is on the ground floor of the same building as Ward D, but at the rear of the building, and is a poor place to put sick men for any length of time, as it is poorly ventilated.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 214

Catharine Maria Sedgwick to Susan Higginson Channing, March 10, 1860

Woodbourne, March 10, 1860.

My Dear Friend, — I have not written to you since the death of Eliza,^* an event in which our hearts were blended. Her affection has been a precious boon to both our lives, her life full of rich memories, her character a light from heaven — an assurance of immortality, so much is there in it of that vitality which death can not touch. I have not experienced in her death any thing of that tremulousness, that clouded perception, that failure of faith, that recoiling from the extinguishing touch of death that I sometimes am haunted with; partly, perhaps, because I did not witness the process of mortality. I heard of her illness only the day before I heard of her death, and I would not look at her after the light of her glowing eye was veiled, so that to my perception she passed over the gulf and into her inheritance. I did not see her after I came to Woodbourne. I was purposing to go over to Brookline, but put it off with that reckless delay which, in spite of experience, clings to us to the last, as if we had a secure grant of the future. She wrote to me an earnest invitation to go with her to her annual festival.^† I declined it, assigning to her the true reason, that I shrunk from being with her on an occasion to her of the most elevating excitement which I did not partake. My feelings (perhaps I should say my judgment) would recoil when hers flowed on with the force of ocean waves to high-water mark. The last time she ever put pen to paper — the pen that has done so much blessed work — was with the intention of kindly convincing me I was wrong. Her frame was then shivering with premonitory ague, her hand was weak, and after writing one common note-paper page she could write no farther, and stopped at “our festival” — words fitly her last, for her heart was in them. You will not misunderstand me, my dear Susan, nor imagine that I do not feel heartily in the great question of humanity that agitates our people. It seemed to me that so much had been intemperately said, so much rashly urged on the death of that noble martyr, John Brown, by the Abolitionists, that it was not right to appear among them as one of them.  * * * *  I wish I could know that you were as well and strong as I am, we so much need health in our old age. As the Irishman said of the sun, “What is the use of it in the day?” So youth might spare a little of what is so essential to age. But if we can learn to resign contentedly, to live cheerfully in our narrowed quarters, and to await in tranquillity our Father's last dealings on earth with us, we may still hear those blessed words, “She hath done what she could.” You have doubtless the two last great books, Hawthorne's and Florence Nightingale's — the last, one that will scatter blessings through the land. Like light and air, it is for universal good. It is rare for a person who has Miss Nightingale's wonderful powers of execution to write with such force, directness, and pithiness. I have but just begun the “Marble Faun.” I am sure you will feel, as I do, that it pours a golden light into the dim chambers of memory, and revivifies the scenes that we, too, once enjoyed. * * * *

_______________

^* Mrs. Eliza Cabot Follen.

^† The meeting of the Anti-slavery Society.

SOURCE: Mary E. Dewey, Editor, Life and Letters of Catherine M. Sedgwick, p. 377-8

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw Lowell, Sunday, September 4, 1864 – 6 a.m.

Sunday, Sept. 4, Summit Point, 6 A. M.

We are on the right flank of the Army again — indeed, are the only cavalry there — and are constantly on the go. By the way, Billy got another bullet yesterday; it struck the ring of his halter and shivered it, — has bruised and cut him a little, but we cannot decide where the bullet is.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 334

Major-General John Sedgwick to Governor William Sprague, August 23, 1862

Headquarters Sedgwick's Division,

Near Newport News, August 23, 1862.

Governor:

Understanding that you propose to recommend Colonel C. H. Tompkins, 1st Rhode Island Artillery, for an appointment as Brigadier, I beg leave to say to you that, in my judgment, few better appointments, or better deserved, could be made from the volunteer service. Colonel Tompkins has been upon my staff as Chief of Artillery since I have commanded this division, and has commended himself strongly to me by his attention to his duties and by his zeal and coolness in action, having been of great service to me in all the battles we have shared in. Recently at Malvern Hill, in anticipation of a probable severe engagement, I placed him in command of a brigade in preference to giving it to any of the regimental commanders, believing that it would be safest in his hands.

You are at liberty to make such use of this letter as you see fit, and I shall be very glad if Colonel Tompkins gets his promotion.

I have the honour to be, with much respect,

Your Excellency's most obedient servant,

John Sedgwick,

Major-General Volunteers

SOURCES: George William Curtis, Correspondence of John Sedgwick, Major-General, Volume 2, p. 77-8

Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Thursday, December 26, 1861

A cloudy day — thawing and muddy. The colonel is planning an expedition through Raleigh to Princeton to capture what is there of the enemy, — viz. six hundred sick with a guard of about one hundred men, arms and stores, with a possibility of getting Floyd who is said to be without guard at and to burn the railroad bridges near Newbern. The plan is to mount one-half the force on pack mules and ride and tie — to make a forced march so as to surprise the enemy. He does not seem willing to look the difficulties in the face, and to prepare to meet them. He calls it forty or fifty miles. It is sixty-seven and one-half. He thinks men can move night and day, three of four miles an hour. Night in those muddy roads will almost stop a column. With proper preparations, the thing is perhaps practicable. Let me study to aid in arranging it, if it is to be.

Dear wife! how is she? — Soon after breakfast the sun chased the clouds away and we had a warm spring day. The bluebirds are coming back if they ever left our twenty-first fine day this month.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 169

Francis Lieber to Senator Charles Sumner, December 28, 1861

New York, December 28, 1861.

A Petition.

After I had sealed the large letter of this date to you, my dear friend, I read the paper of to-day more carefully, and must needs add this fervent petition — of a single man, to be sure — to the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, namely, — that should the Trent affair be settled by sense and reason, he, the said chairman, will move heaven and earth, that it be not done without settling a principle. Let us have that, at least, for all the trouble and all the expense which England doubtless has already incurred in the premises. Let some portion, at least, of that poisonous question, Search and Visit, be settled, — what may be done, and what may not. I know you have thought of all this; but I could not help addressing this petition to you, — and I shall ever pray, &c, &c

SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 325-6

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: October 14, 1861

Kissing goes by favor! Col. M–––r, of Maryland, whose published letter of objuration of the United States Government attracted much attention some time since, is under the ban. He came hither and tendered his services to this government, but failed to get the employment applied for, though his application was urged by Mr. Hunter, the Secretary of State, who is his relative. After remaining here for a long time, vainly hoping our army would cross the Potomac and deliver his native State, and finding his finances diminishing, he sought permission of the Secretary to return temporarily to his family in Maryland, expecting to get them away and to save some portion of his effects. His fidelity was vouched for in strong language by Mr. Hunter, and yet the application has been refused! I infer from this that Mr. Benjamin is omnipotent in the cabinet, and that Mr. Hunter cannot remain long in it.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 84-5

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: January 9, 1864

Met Mrs. Wigfall. She wants me to take Halsey to Mrs. Randolph's theatricals. I am to get him up as Sir Walter Raleigh. Now, General Breckinridge has come. I like him better than any of them. Morgan also is here.¹ These huge Kentuckians fill the town. Isabella says, “They hold Morgan accountable for the loss of Chattanooga.” The follies of the wise, the weaknesses of the great! She shakes her head significantly when I begin to tell why I like him so well. Last night General Buckner came for her to go with him and rehearse at the Carys' for Mrs. Randolph's charades.

The President's man, Jim, that he believed in as we all believe in our own servants, “our own people,” as we call them, and Betsy, Mrs. Davis's maid, decamped last night. It is miraculous that they had the fortitude to resist the temptation so long. At Mrs. Davis's the hired servants all have been birds of passage. First they were seen with gold galore, and then they would fly to the Yankees, and I am sure they had nothing to tell. It is Yankee money wasted.

I do not think it had ever crossed Mrs. Davis's brain that these two could leave her. She knew, however, that Betsy had eighty dollars in gold and two thousand four hundred dollars in Confederate notes.

Everybody who comes in brings a little bad news — not much, in itself, but by cumulative process the effect is depressing, indeed.

_______________

¹ John H. Morgan, a native of Alabama, entered the Confederate army in 1861 as a Captain and in 1862 was made a Major-General. He was captured by the Federals in 1863 and confined in an Ohio penitentiary, but he escaped and once more joined the Confederate army. In September, 1864, he was killed in battle near Greenville, Tenn.

SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 275-6

Diary of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire: October 6, 1862

W., Hanover County. — We left the University on the 4th, and finding J. B. N. on the cars, on “sick-leave,” I determined to stop with him here to spend a few days with my sisters, while Mr. —— went on to Richmond and Ashland. I do nothing but listen — for my life during the last three months has been quiet, compared with that of others. J. gives most interesting accounts of all he has seen, from the time he came up the Peninsula with the army in May, until he was broken down, and had to leave it, in Maryland, after the battle of Sharpsburg. As a surgeon, his personal danger has not been so great as that of others, but he has passed through scenes the most trying and the most glorious. My sisters and M. give graphic descriptions of troubles while in the enemy's lines, but, with the exception of loss of property, our whole family has passed through the summer unscathed. Many friends have fallen, and one noble young relative, E. B., of Richmond County; and I often ask myself, in deep humility of soul, why we have been thus blessed, for since our dear W. P. and General Mcintosh fell, the one in December, the other in March, we have been singularly blessed. Can this last, when we have so many exposed to danger? O, God, spare our sons! Our friend, Dr. T., of this neighbourhood, lost two sons at Sharpsburg! Poor old gentleman! it is so sad to see his deeply-furrowed, resigned face.

McClellan's troops were very well-behaved while in this neighbourhood; they took nothing but what they considered contraband, such as grain, horses, cattle, sheep, etc., and induced the servants to go off. Many have gone — it is only wonderful that more did not go, considering the inducements that were offered. No houses were burned, and not much fencing. The ladies' rooms were not entered except when a house was searched, which always occurred to unoccupied houses; but I do not think that much was stolen from them. Of course, silver, jewelry, watches, etc., were not put in their way. Our man Nat, and some others who went off, have returned — the reason they assign is, that the Yankees made them work too hard! It is so hard to find both families without carriage horses, and with only some mules which happened to be in Richmond when the place was surrounded. A wagon, drawn by mules, was sent to the depot for us. So many of us are now together that we feel more like quiet enjoyment than we have done for months.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 164-5

Diary of Margaret Junkin Preston: June 17, 1864

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

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

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

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Tuesday, September 6, 1864

News came that General Sherman was still in pursuit of the rebels, and that he has captured a great many of them. This morning I was transferred from Ward D to Ward E as wardmaster, the master of Ward E having been sent to the front. I have charge of eleven sick men and they are getting along well. One poor fellow with a severe case of inflammatory rheumatism is entirely helpless.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 214