A Daring Exploit by Contrabands

UNITED STATES STEAMSHIP AUGUSTA,

OFF CHARLESTON, May 13, 1862.

SIR:  I have the honor to inform you that the Rebel armed steamer Planter was brought out to us this morning and delivered up to this squadron.  Five colored women and three children are also on board.  She carried one 32-pounder howitzer, and has also on board four large guns which she was engaged in transporting.  I send her to Port Royal at once in order to take advantage of the present good weather.  I send Charleston papers of the 12^th and the very intelligent contraband who was in charge will give you the information which he has brought off.  I have the honor to request that you will send back as soon as convenient the officer and crew on board.

Commander Dupont, in forwarding this dispatch, says, in relations to the Rebel steamer Planter: She was the armed dispatch and transportation steamer attached to the Engineer Department at Charleston under Brigadier General Ripley, whose bark a short time since was bro’t to the blockading fleet by several contrabands.  The bringing out of this steamer, under all the circumstances, would have done credit to any one.  At 4 in the morning, in the absence of the Captain, who was on shore, she left her wharf, close to the Government office and headquarters with the Palmetto and “Confederate” flags flying, passed the successive forts, saluting, as usual, by blowing the steam-whistle.  After getting beyond the range of the range of the last gun, she hauled down the Rebel flags, and hoisted a white one.  The Onward was the inside ship of the blockading squadron in the main channel, and was preparing to fire when the commander made out the white flag.

The armament of the steamer is a 32-pounder or pivot, and a fine 24-pounder howitzer.  She has besides, on her deck, four other guns, one 7-inch, rifled, which were to be taken on the morning of the escape to the new fort on the middle ground.  One of the four belonged to Fort Sumter, and had been struck in the Rebel attack on the fort on the muzzle.  Robert Small, the intelligent slave and pilot of the boat, who performed this bold feat so skillfully, informed me of this fact, presuming it would be a matter of interest to us to have possession of this gun.  This man, Robert Small, is superior to any who have come into our lines, intelligent as many of them have been.  His information has been most interesting and portions of it of the utmost importance.

The steamer is a quite valuable acquisition to the squadron, by her good machinery and very light draft.  The officer in charge brought her through St. Helena Sound and by the inland passage down Beaufort River arriving here at 10 o’clock last night.  On board the steamer when she left Charleston, were eight men, five women, and three children.  I shall continue to employ Small as a pilot on board the Planter, for inland waters, with which he appears to be very familiar.

I do not know whether, in the views of the government, the vessel will be considered a prize; but if so, I respectfully submit to the department the claims of the man Small, and his associates.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

S. F. DUPONT,

Flag Officer Commanding, &c

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 24, 1862, p. 2

Review: Grant’s Lieutenants: From Chattanooga to Appomattox

Grant’s Lieutenants: From Chattanooga to Appomattox

Edited by Steven E. Woodworth

If eight people went to a theatrical event staged in the round, depending on where they were seated, you may have eight slightly different descriptions of the same show that each just witnessed.  By assembling each of these descriptions and forming them into a single narrative one is able to get a more complete, detailed and nuanced account of the show they have just seen.

As the editor of “Grant’s Lieutenants,” Steven E. Woodworth has done something very much similar.  Picking up from where the first volume, “From Cairo to Vicksburg,” left off, the second volume, “From Chattanooga to Appomattox,” follows Ulysses S. Grant as he moves from the Western theater of operations to the Eastern theater, from his relief of the besieged city of Chattanooga Tennessee to accepting the surrender of Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Courthouse.

As with the first volume, this book is a collection of essays written by prominent historians.  Each essay is a mini-biography, of one of Grant’s subordinates and his relationship with them.  Those of featured in the book, are William T. Sherman (making a 2nd appearance), George H. Thomas, George G. Meade, Franz Sigel, Benjamin F. Butler, David Hunter Lew Wallis, Horatio Wright, Philip H. Sheridan, Edward O. C. Ord and Henry Halleck.  And the historians writing about them are John F. Marszaleck, Steven E. Woodworth, Ethan S. Rafuse, Earl J. Hess, Mark Grimsley, Benjamin F. Cooling, Steven E. Nash, and William B Feis.

Neither in the first, nor in the second volume, is there an essay dedicated to Ulysses S. Grant alone.  Neither is there is no final essay tying all of the essays together.  Mr. Woodworth has left his readers to put all the narrative pieces together and draw their own conclusions about the evolution of Grant’s leadership style.  Taken together both volumes form a biography in the round.

ISBN 978-0700615896, University Press of Kansas, © 2008, Hardcover, 263 pages, Endnotes & Index. $34.95

Review: Grant's Lieutenants: From Cairo to Vicksburg

Grant’s Lieutenants: From Cairo to Vicksburg

Edited by Steven E. Woodworth

Pointillist paintings, when viewed close up, reveal themselves to be made up of thousands of tiny dots of color.  Stepping back from the painting, the viewer’s eye blends the spots of and the larger picture is revealed.

Editor Steven E. Woodworth has taken the same approach to biography, resulting in a two volume study entitled “Grant’s Lieutenants,” in which he has collected a series of essays by prominent historians.  Each essay focuses on the relationships Ulysses S. Grant formed with his subordinates.  Separately, each essay appears to be a mini-biography of the chosen lieutenant.  But in a larger sense, when read as a whole, it is a retrospective portrait of Grant, the first Lieutenant General in the American army since George Washington.

The first volume, subtitled “From Cairo to Vicksburg,” covers the first half of the Civil War from 1861 to 1863, and highlights Grant’s relationships with William T. Sherman, William H. L. Wallace, Charles F. Smith, Lew Wallace, William S. Rosecrans, John A McClernand, James B. McPherson, Grenville M. Dodge, Peter Osterhouse and admirals Andrew H. Foote and David D. Porter.  Historians who have essays in the book are, respectively, John F. Marszaleck, Steven E. Woodworth, Benjamin F. Cooling (with two essays, the first on Charles F. Smith, and the second on Andrew H. Foote), Stacy D. Allen, Lesley J. Gordon, Terrence J. Winschel, Tamara S. Smith, William B. Feis, Earl J. Hess and R. Blake Dunnavent.

The essays, read in chronological order, cover the battles of Belmont, Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, the siege and battle of Corinth, and the Vicksburg Campaign.  With the inclusion of admirals Foote and Porter, Grant’s embracement of joint use of the navy in conjunction with his army, is also covered. Taken together, the essays demonstrate how Grant developed his leadership style over time grew into a competent and confident General.

ISBN 978-0700611270, University Press of Kansas, © 2001, Hardcover, 264 pages, Endnotes & Index. $29.95

Book Review: Bloody Crimes

Bloody Crimes: The Chase for Jefferson Davis And the Death Pageant for Lincoln’s Corpse

By James L. Swanson

In April and May of 1865 four events demanded the attention of the American public:  the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia by Robert E. Lee to Ulysses S. Grant’s Army of the Potomac; the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the hunt for his killer, John Wilkes Booth; the search for Jefferson Davis, the fleeing president of the Confederate States of America; and the journey of the funeral train bearing Lincoln’s body to his final resting place in Springfield, Illinois.

Many library shelves have already been filled by books written on these topics alone.  James L. Swanson himself has already written about the hunt for John Wilkes Booth in his book, “Manhunt: the 12-Day Chase For Lincoln’s Killer.”  Now with the release of his latest book, “Bloody Crimes: The Chase For Jefferson Davis And The Death Pageant For Lincoln’s Corpse,” he has written about two more.  It is a book for which he surely must win the award for the most dramatic book title of 2010.

History books are often monographs, written on a singular topic, isolating their subjects from other events that may have been simultaneously happening, and thereby giving a slightly distorted historical narrative. By juxtaposing the search for Jefferson Davis against the national mourning over the death of Abraham Lincoln, Swanson gives his readers a more intricate interpretation about what it must have been like to live through those tumultuous months in the spring of 1865.

Lincoln and Davis, are themselves, parallel personalities, both were born in the wilds of Kentucky, eight months and one hundred sixteen miles apart, both had risen from obscure and humble backgrounds to become presidents of their warring countries, both lost children during their presidencies, and both their presidencies ultimately met untimely ends.

Despite his attempt to set his twin subjects, Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States, and his counterpoint, Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States on an equal historical footing, as so often has happened over the last century and a half, Lincoln overshadows Davis in Mr. Swanson’s narrative.  Lincoln’s assassination and its result, the overwhelming outpouring of national emotion, not only represented the nation’s grief over its dead president, but also served as the central point of a national catharsis, and thus mourning Lincoln became a national mourning, not only for Lincoln himself, but for the 620,000 American’s who gave their lives for the causes in which they believed.

With the capture of Jefferson Davis in May of 1865 and his two year imprisonment, Davis’ image over time transformed, from an often disliked politician and war-time president into that of a martyr who sacrificed himself for the cause of Southern independence, and he, himself, became a tangible symbol of “The Lost Cause.”

Interestingly enough, though Jefferson Davis outlived Abraham Lincoln by twenty-four years, Davis’ funeral was one of the largest in the South, and in 1893 Mrs. Davis decided to move his remains then in New Orleans, to Richmond, Virginia’s Hollywood Cemetery, and the train bearing Davis’ body made a similar journey through the South as Lincoln’s did through the north.  Likewise Davis’ funeral train received many of the same honors by Southern citizens, as Lincoln’s did in the North.

Mr. Swanson’s book is thoroughly researched, and well written.  His narrative is easily read and in combination with his subject matter makes his book a hard one to put down once you have picked it up and began to read through its pages.

ISBN 978-0061233784, William Morrow, © 2010, Hardcover, 480 pages, Photographs, Maps, Illustrations, Endnotes, Bibliography & Index. $27.99

Anson D. Morgan

Age, twenty-nine; residence Des Moines; native of Illinois; private; enlisted Oct. 22d, 1861; promoted to 3d corporal Aug. 6, 1862; died October 6, of wounds received at Corinth. "A good soldier, always ready for duty," says Lieutenant Wilkins.

"Probably the most discipline-loving soldier in the company; faithful and brave; fought with great coolness and courage; had a strong constitution and did not become subject to prevailing diseases to any great extent. In the battle of Corinth, Oct. 3, 1862, he fought bravely, and was mortally wounded — shot in the breast. He was left on the field, and died in the hands of the enemy. He left a family," says Captain Studer.

SOURCE: Leonard Brown, American Patriotism: Or, Memoirs Of Common Men, p. 222

James H. Mathias

Lived near Cory Grove, in Elkhart Township, Polk Co., a well-to-do farmer; left an interesting family of children, who have now neither father nor mother. "He was a good man, honest, faithful, and patriotic; fought bravely in the battle of Shiloh; was one of the few of his company to endure the fatigue and exposure of the siege of Corinth to the end of the campaign. Soon after the evacuation of Corinth he was taken sick," reports Captain A. G. Studer. Mathias's age, when he died, was thirty-two; he was a native of Kentucky; private; enlisted Oct. 15,1861; died at Jackson, Tenn., Sept. 3d, 1862, of disease. He told a companion to carry to his children the intelligence that he was fully prepared to die; and to say to them in his name, "Be religious; do right; prepare to meet me in heaven."

SOURCE: Leonard Brown, American Patriotism: Or, Memoirs Of Common Men, p. 222

Leroy S. Conner

Age eighteen; residence Des Moines; native of Indiana; private; enlisted Dec. 21,1861; discharged August 2, 1862, at Quincy, Ill., for disability, and died after he had been at home about two weeks. When he came home he was so thin that he could be carried in the arms of one of his sisters. While sick at Quincy, Ill., Mrs. J. B. Parish, a very kind lady, took him into her own house and nursed him with the most tender care. When Leroy had returned home, this Christian woman wrote to him : —

"Dear Leroy, take the Bible for your guide, love Jesus, and all will be well with you, both in this world and in the world to come; and, if not permitted to meet again in this changing and fleeting world, may we meet in heaven, there to enjoy the society of loved ones gone before. It is a happy thought to look forward to a coming world, where all pain shall cease, — every tear be wiped away, — and there meet father, mother, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters in one unbroken circle; and there praise God eternally, — and, Leroy, you had a good mother, a praying mother, one who died in full faith in her Saviour's grace, and many is the petition her heart put forth to God for her motherless children, and they cannot be lost. I believe no such prayers are lost. The seed is sown, and it will spring up in due time and ripen. Her prayers follow you, dear child, and will be blessed to your eternal good.''

Mrs. Parish writes to a friend: —

"I first became acquainted with Leroy shortly after the battle of Pittsburg Landing, Tenn. He, with other sick and wounded soldiers, was brought to Quincy and placed in the hospital. On the first day of arrival and before any comfortable accommodations could be made, a number of ladies with myself, volunteered to do all that we might to make the sick and wounded comfortable until better arrangements could be made. We carried in tea, toast, and other delicacies for the sick. My attention was attracted to Leroy. He seemed so young and delicate. I carried him his meals for some weeks, until I got permission to take him to our house, and nurse him there. He was with us eight weeks. During his stay with us he read much in the Bible, and conversed freely of his hope in Christ. I often noticed, during religious services at the hospital, that he seemed very respectful and devotional. He never complained, and scarcely spoke of his sufferings on the battlefield. He was sun-struck at Pittsburg Landing, and brought here on a stretcher."

Lieutenant Wilkins says: "He served his country as faithfully as he could; a good, lively boy, there was nothing bad about him." And Captain Studer says: "Conner was a very good boy, and whenever placed on duty, was good as could be wished. He was intelligent, high-spirited, honorable. He fought at Shiloh like a good and brave soldier, fearless of danger."

SOURCE: Leonard Brown, American Patriotism: Or, Memoirs Of Common Men, p. 220-1

McClellan’s Advance – Erroneous Reports – A Grand Review

White House Cor. (14^th) N. Y. World.

There is grave reason to complain of some of the statements of the Associated Press, which cause incorrect and prejudicial opinions to be formed in regard to the doings and advance of the army.  For instance, the dispatch published on the 12^th, dated New Kent Court House, May 10, leads the public to believe that our army was then within twenty-two miles of Richmond, whereas, even now, the 14^th, the advance guard is still twenty-seven miles distant form that city, and the main body five or six miles farther – New Kent Court House is likewise thirty miles from Richmond, instead of twenty-seven; and the reconnaissance alluded to as having taken place on Saturday by the Eighth Illinois cavalry did not occur until Sunday afternoon, and was in a direction Southeast, toward the Chickahominy, distant at that point eight miles, and resulted in finding Jones’ Bridge destroyed, and the enemy on the opposite side in considerable force.  Stoneman pushes the advance with great vigor, but the Associated Press, in reporting progress more rapidly than is actually the case, does great injury; for people set it down that the army was then and there at such a time, and wonder and grumble at what they conceive to be a delay, when the army is actually performing the work they have been informed was long ago accomplished.

Correspondence same, Cumberland 15^th.

A ride down here (to Cumberland Landing) through the rain yesterday afternoon, brought me in just at the close of a grand review of the “Reserve,” under command of Gen. Fitz John Porter, in presence of Secretary Seward and Gen. McClellan.  The honorable Secretary rode with Gen. Porter along the solid and unwavering columns, and was greeted with terrific cheers.  He expressed his admiration of the high discipline and excellent spirits of the men, and paid a marked compliment to this corps, which holds the issue of the coming contest in its hands. – They and their commander are worthy of their trust.

This place is now made a depot of supplies, and will probably be the main point on the Pamunky [sic] for this purpose.  There is a good landing and plenty of room in the channel, with ample water.  The river bears fourteen feet of water at White House, but the channel is narrow and crooked.  The Quartermaster’s depot will be established here, the express office arrived to-night, and the Old Point boats leave daily at seven A.M., Stopping at West Point and Yorktown.  Ship Point and Cheeseman’s are once more sunk in their original obscurity.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 24, 1862, p. 2

The Future of Politics

The “small experiments” recently made in Washington to initiate new party organizations, or to re-establish old ones, cannot in the present condition of affairs amount to much.  The public mind is in no mood to entertain questions which related only to peaceful times.  Now there is but one subject on hand, and on that all the loyal men are agreed.  As a nation, we are engaged in putting down the most remarkable rebellion in all history.  We are straining every muscle, taxing all our resources of strength and endurance, and tasking brains and hands to their limit of power to crush treason.  Our sons are on the field, and possibly engaged in deadly conflict this very day.  Our legislators are in their seats, devising ways and means.  Our government, from the President to the most insignificant clerk in the most insignificant department, is engaged in the one grand work of defending national integrity, supporting the constitution, and enforcing the laws.  At such a time as this, Washington politicians, forgetting the proprieties of the period, meet to plot for party ends and for power.  We tell these men, whatever may be their personal and party sympathies, that the people look upon their operations with equal indignation and disgust.

There are certain other things to be said to these men, or to be said generally, for the benefit of all men.  The first is that if Abraham Lincoln lives, and goes on the way he has thus far pursued, laboring for the single end he has proposed, and choosing for his counselors and helpers such as are loyal, without further questions or other tests, the man does not live, and the party cannot be formed, that will prevent him from a second term of office.  We have had no such President since Jackson, - an honest, patriotic, unselfish man.  The months that pass away conspire to lift him higher and higher in the popular esteem, until none but traitors and their sympathizers hate him.  If he continues the course he has begun, and succeeds in effecting the great work which seems now close on the eve of accomplishment, the gratitude of the American people will not permit him to retire to private life, and any party that undertakes to butt him off the track, will but its brains out.

Again, no party can succeed in this country which allies itself with the slave power.  We do not wonder at all that the decent democratic press of the North declines to come into Mr. Vallandigham’s nice little arrangement. – the common instinct of self-preservation is its protection.  The grand fact must be recognized that the power of slavery is forever broken, and that this country will never again trust itself in the hands that have once betrayed it.  Any body of men that undertake to bolster up the old power of slavery, and re-establish its supremacy, will only prepare for themselves disappointed lives and infamous graves.  The fact must also be recognized that reforms never go backwards, and such that the death of slavery is sure.  It is abolished in the district of Columbia, it is abolished in every part of the strictly national domain, the slaves used on the rebel works are declared free, and in all the border States there is rapidly springing up a party in favor of emancipation, in accordance with the President’s plan.  The progress which these events indicate cannot be checked by party opposition in the north, and that party will only court destruction which places itself in its path.

Once more, parties for the next ten years must necessarily be based upon questions intimately connected with the present rebellion.  There are confiscation questions to be settled, questions of personal disability in consequence of complicity with treason to be settled, questions in relations to the collection of the national taxes in the rebellious States to be settled, questions relating to such an organization of the army and navy and such an occupation of the ports as will render another rebellion impossible, to be settled.  True loyalty, above all suspicion of sympathy with treason and the traitors must, therefore, be the first stone in any successful party structure.  This party, whatever its name, will be the party of the future; and the old slave power, with all who love it and court its favor, will be in disgrace.  Twenty million people are no more to be slaves of ten millions and are no more to be subjected to the necessity of war like the present to prevent them from ruining the nation.  In short, the party of the future is to be in principle anti-slavery, and loyal to the core.  There will be time enough to organize it when the war shall be over. -{Springfield Republican.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 24, 1862, p. 2

The New Monitors Building

The three iron gunboats of the monitor model, which were ordered by the Government immediately after the engagement of the Monitor with the Merrimac have been commenced by Mr. Rowland at the Continental Works, Greenpoint.  They are to be built very much like the Monitor, except that they are each to have two revolving shot-proof turrets instead of one.  The model is also slightly altered, so as to make them better sea-boats, and give them greater speed.  Like the Monitor, they are to be propellers, the deck being but little above the water line.  Their length is to be 302 feet over all with a breadth of beam of 41 feet, and a depth of hold of 12 feet.  The armor is to be six inches in thickness.  There are at present but two of them commenced, but the blocks have been laid for the reception of the keel of the third.  The work is well along on the first one, however, which is inside of the ship house.  The frame, which is entirely of iron plates has already commenced.  The Iron ribs and plates are forged in a separate workshop, but small forges are set up all along each side for heating the bolts.  As large a crew of men as can work with convenience are busily engaged in riveting the plates.  It will be at least four months before the first boat is launched. –{New York Tribune.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 24, 1862, p. 2

Jefferson Davis' Farewell Address

Senate Chamber, U.S. Capitol, January 21, 1861

I rise, Mr. President, for the purpose of announcing to the Senate that I have satisfactory evidence that the State of Mississippi, by a solemn ordinance of her people in convention assembled, has declared her separation from the United States. Under these circumstances, of course my functions are terminated here. It has seemed to me proper, however, that I should appear in the Senate to announce that fact to my associates, and I will say but very little more. The occasion does not invite me to go into argument; and my physical condition would not permit me to do so if it were otherwise; and yet it seems to become me to say something on the part of the State I here represent, on an occasion so solemn as this.

It is known to Senators who have served with me here, that I have for many years advocated, as an essential attribute of State sovereignty, the right of a State to secede from the Union. Therefore, if I had not believed there was justifiable cause; if I had thought that Mississippi was acting without sufficient provocation, or without an existing necessity, I should still, under my theory of the Government, because of my allegiance to the State of which I am a citizen, have been bound by her action. I, however, may be permitted to say that I do think she has justifiable cause, and I approve of her act. I conferred with her people before that act was taken, counseled them then that if the state of things which they apprehended should exist when the convention met, they should take the action which they have now adopted.

I hope none who hear me will confound this expression of mine with the advocacy of the right of a State to remain in the Union, and to disregard its constitutional obligations by the nullification of the law. Such is not my theory. Nullification and secession, so often confounded, are indeed antagonistic principles. Nullification is a remedy which it is sought to apply within the Union, and against the agent of the States. It is only to be justified when the agent has violated his constitutional obligation, and a State, assuming to judge for itself, denies the right of the agent thus to act, and appeals to the other States of the Union for a decision; but when the States themselves, and when the people of the States, have so acted as to convince us that they will not regard our constitutional rights, then, and then for the first time, arises the doctrine of secession in its practical application.

A great man who now reposes with his fathers, and who has been often arraigned for a want of fealty to the Union, advocated the doctrine of nullification, because it preserved the Union. It was because of his deep-seated attachment to the Union, his determination to find some remedy for existing ills short of a severance of the ties which bound South Carolina to the other States, that Mr. Calhoun advocated the doctrine of nullification, which he proclaimed to be peaceful, to be within the limits of State power, not to disturb the Union, but only to be a means of bringing the agent before the tribunal of the States for their judgment.

Secession belongs to a different class of remedies. It is to be justified upon the basis that the States are sovereign. There was a time when none denied it. I hope the time may come again, when a better comprehension of the theory of our Government, and the inalienable rights of the people of the States, will prevent any one from denying that each State is a sovereign, and thus may reclaim the grants which it has made to any agent whomsoever.

I therefore say I concur in the action of the people of Mississippi, believing it to be necessary and proper, and should have been bound by their action if my belief had been otherwise; and this brings me to the important point which I wish on this last occasion to present to the Senate. It is by this confounding of nullification and secession that the name of a great man, whose ashes now mingle with his mother earth, has been invoked to justify coercion against a seceded State. The phrase "to execute the laws," was an expression which General Jackson applied to the case of a State refusing to obey the laws while yet a member of the Union. That is not the case which is now presented. The laws are to be executed over the United States, and upon the people of the United States. They have no relation to any foreign country. It is a perversion of terms, at least it is a great misapprehension of the case, which cites that expression for application to a State which has withdrawn from the Union. You may make war on a foreign State. If it be the purpose of gentlemen, they may make war against a State which has withdrawn from the Union; but there are no laws of the United States to be executed within the limits of a seceded State. A State finding herself in the condition in which Mississippi has judged she is, in which her safety requires that she should provide for the maintenance of her rights out of the Union, surrenders all the benefits, (and they are known to be many,) deprives herself of the advantages, (they are known to be great,) severs all the ties of affection, (and they are close and enduring,) which have bound her to the Union; and thus divesting herself of every benefit, taking upon herself every burden, she claims to be exempt from any power to execute the laws of the United States within her limits.

I well remember an occasion when Massachusetts was arraigned before the bar of the Senate, and when then the doctrine of coercion was rife and to be applied against her because of the rescue of a fugitive slave in Boston. My opinion then was the same that it is now. Not in a spirit of egotism, but to show that I am not influenced in my opinion because the case is my own, I refer to that time and that occasion as containing the opinion which I then entertained, and on which my present conduct is based. I then said, if Massachusetts, following her through a stated line of conduct, chooses to take the last step which separates her from the Union, it is her right to go, and I will neither vote one dollar nor one man to coerce her back; but will say to her, God speed, in memory of the kind associations which once existed between her and the other States.

It has been a conviction of pressing necessity, it has been a belief that we are to be deprived in the Union of the rights which our fathers bequeathed to us, which has brought Mississippi into her present decision. She has heard proclaimed the theory that all men are created free and equal, and this made the basis of an attack upon her social institutions; and the sacred Declaration of Independence has been invoked to maintain the position of the equality of the races. That Declaration of Independence is to be construed by the circumstances and purposes for which it was made. The communities were declaring their independence; the people of those communities were asserting that no man was born--to use the language of Mr. Jefferson--booted and spurred to ride over the rest of mankind; that men were created equal--meaning the men of the political community; that there was no divine right to rule; that no man inherited the right to govern; that there were no classes by which power and place descended to families, but that all stations were equally within the grasp of each member of the body-politic. These were the great principles they announced; these were the purposes for which they made their declaration; these were the ends to which their enunciation was directed. They have no reference to the slave; else, how happened it that among the items of arraignment made against George III was that he endeavored to do just what the North has been endeavoring of late to do--to stir up insurrection among our slaves? Had the Declaration announced that the negroes were free and equal, how was the Prince to be arraigned for stirring up insurrection among them? And how was this to be enumerated among the high crimes which caused the colonies to sever their connection with the mother country? When our Constitution was formed, the same idea was rendered more palpable, for there we find provision made for that very class of persons as property; they were not put upon the footing of equality with white men--not even upon that of paupers and convicts; but, so far as representation was concerned, were discriminated against as a lower caste, only to be represented in the numerical proportion of three fifths.

Then, Senators, we recur to the compact which binds us together; we recur to the principles upon which our Government was founded; and when you deny them, and when you deny to us the right to withdraw from a Government which thus perverted threatens to be destructive of our rights, we but tread in the path of our fathers when we proclaim our independence, and take the hazard. This is done not in hostility to others, not to injure any section of the country, not even for our own pecuniary benefit; but from the high and solemn motive of defending and protecting the rights we inherited, and which it is our sacred duty to transmit unshorn to our children.

I find in myself, perhaps, a type of the general feeling of my constituents towards yours. I am sure I feel no hostility to you, Senators from the North. I am sure there is not one of you, whatever sharp discussion there may have been between us, to whom I cannot now say, in the presence of my God, I wish you well; and such, I am sure, is the feeling of the people whom I represent towards those whom you represent. I therefore feel that I but express their desire when I say I hope, and they hope, for peaceful relations with you, though we must part. They may be mutually beneficial to us in the future, as they have been in the past, if you so will it. The reverse may bring disaster on every portion of the country; and if you will have it thus, we will invoke the God of our fathers, who delivered them from the power of the lion, to protect us from the ravages of the bear; and thus, putting our trust in God and in our own firm hearts and strong arms, we will vindicate the right as best we may.

In the course of my service here, associated at different times with a great variety of Senators, I see now around me some with whom I have served long; there have been points of collision; but whatever of offense there has been to me, I leave here; I carry with me no hostile remembrance. Whatever offense I have given which has not been redressed, or for which satisfaction has not been demanded, I have, Senators, in this hour of our parting, to offer you my apology for any pain which, in heat of discussion, I have inflicted. I go hence unencumbered of the remembrance of any injury received, and having discharged the duty of making the only reparation in my power for any injury offered.

Mr. President, and Senators, having made the announcement which the occasion seemed to me to require, it only remains to me to bid you a final adieu.

From The Papers of Jefferson Davis, Volume 7, pp. 18-23. Transcribed from the Congressional Globe, 36th Congress, 2d Session, p. 487

Sergeant William Stanberry

Brother of Mr. Samuel Stanberry, of East Des Moines, Polk County, with whom he was engaged in business before the war, having lived in Des Moines about three years. He, with five of his brothers, were in the Union Army — all enlisting from Ohio, but William; four of them lost their lives — two in battle and two by sickness.

"William Stanberry (native of Ohio, resident of Des Moines) enlisted (says Captain A. G. Studer) September 25, 1861, with all the spirit and ardor of a true patriot. At the time of enlistment he was the father of an interesting family. From the very day of enlistment he evinced great anxiety to become proficient in drill and discipline, was prompt and ever ready to obey. He was of a hilarious spirit, very good-natured, and thus influenced often many of the company who were despondent or homesick, to abandon such ideas. He was chosen as sergeant when the company was mustered, November 9,1861, and proved himself at all times thereafter, a valuable and efficient noncommissioned officer. In the battle of Shiloh he conducted himself with coolness and bravery, never left his company command during the two days' fighting, called many a man separated from his command to rally, and, in short, was anxious, under all circumstances, to perform his duties faithfully and well. He was alike esteemed by officers and men, and ever ready to assist a sick or afflicted comrade. Few such soldiers as Will Stanberry could be found in the service. He continued faithfully to perform his duty till the latter part of June, 1862, when he was seized with congestive fever, and expired at Corinth, Miss., July 5, 1862, after a short illness, most cordially and deeply lamented by all who knew him. Every soldier of Company B will ever cherish the memory of Will Stanberry."

Says Lieutenant Reese Wilkins: — "Stanberry was remarkably kind to his sick comrades; when he made friends he never forsook them; a man of very kind heart and self-sacrificing."

SOURCE: Leonard Brown, American Patriotism: Or, Memoirs Of Common Men, p. 219-20



Jasper N. Newland

Age, twenty-seven; accredited in the Adjutant's Report to Polk County; native of Ohio; enlisted Jan. 16, 1862; died July 1, 1862. "A good, sturdy soldier," says Lieutenant Reese Wilkins; and Captain Studer says, — "A good, quiet, faithful soldier; never said an unkind word to his companions; a religious man; a Methodist. He would get down on his knees and pray, unmindful of jeers or scoffs. Fought bravely in the battle of Shiloh. Died at Monterey, Tenn., of typhoid fever."

SOURCE: Leonard Brown, American Patriotism: Or, Memoirs Of Common Men, p. 219

Samuel Mardis

Age, twenty-nine; residence, Agency Prairie, Lee Township, Polk County, Iowa; native of Illinois; enlisted January 20, 1862, and died of mumps, in steamboat hospital, June 1, 1862, at Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., and was buried on the hill at the Landing. He participated in the battle of Pittsburg Landing, April 6th and 7th, 1862. He was a kind husband and father — greatly attached to his family. He left a wife and six children. "A faithful soldier and good man," says Captain Studer, "anxious to perform his duties thoroughly. When he enlisted he left behind him a wife and several small children, wholly depending on him for support. He was a high-minded soldier, knew no fear, was kind and courteous and very pleasant among all. At Shiloh he fought most bravely, remaining with his company throughout that battle."

Lieutenant Wilkins's testimony is the same as that of Captain Studer.

SOURCE: Leonard Brown, American Patriotism: Or, Memoirs Of Common Men, p. 218

What one of the Merrimac’s Crew says of her Fight with the Monitor

From the New York Herald, 19^th.

James Thompson a sailor by vocation, a citizen of Massachusetts, and formerly a resident of this city, arrived here on Saturday night last from Norfolk, and furnishes us with a very interesting statement of affairs in rebeldom.  He was one of the crew of the Merrimac during the fight with the Monitor, having been impressed into the rebel navy, and had also been one of the crew of the rebel gunboat Lady Davis during the cruisings of that vessel off Charleston and the coast. * * * *

Having sunk the two vessels we steamed up James River, the rebel officers being in high glee, and came to an anchor about five miles from the scene of action.  Here we remained all night.  On the morning of the 9^th we prepared to go down again, the rebel officers thinking to complete the work of destruction by sinking all the vessels in the Roads.  When daylight had revealed the situation of affairs, the officers of the Merrimac discovered what they at first thought was a small tug boat, steaming towards us.  We hailed her but receiving no reply, let fly at her from one of our bow guns; but she very imprudently took no notice of the messenger we had sent and kept steaming on.  Then our officers began to be fearful of the “little cheese box,” and were fairly “trembling in their shoes” for the result of a contest with her. – They soon found out what she was.  Soon the little Monitor sent us her compliments in the shape of a round shot, which struck a gun on our starboard side, broke it completely in two, killed two and wounded four of the crew.  The firing was then kept up for about three hours, the vessels being very often side by side.  After an hour’s firing the Merrimac thought to try the virtue of her plough on her antagonist, and struck her with it amidships.  The effect produced was very unsatisfactory to the rebel, however.  The Monitor then turned on her giant compeer and struck her rudder, producing great consternations on board, but not rendering the rudder unserviceable.  Every time the two guns from the Monitor were discharged, each of the two shots seemed to strike us in nearly the same spot, bursting in the timbers of the Merrimac, loosening the bolts of the iron plates, and timbers, and doing us very great damage generally.  It was noticeable also that her shots struck us near the water line, and caused our vessel to leak badly.

Mr. Thompson also corroborates what we published some time since from the Richmond Dispatch, that the iron plates on the Merrimac were welded together in many instances by the heat and force of the Monitor’s shot.  The Merrimac’s crew, during the engagement, were made to swear that if a large number of rebels on board were killed, they would not reveal the fact to any one on their arrival at Norfolk.  Seeing that the tide of battle was against us, we were ordered to “’bout ship” and put back to Norfolk.  We had not proceeded far when we grounded, and orders had been already given to scuttle the ship, when we made another effort to get off the shoal, and succeeded, and we made our way up to Norfolk slowly, arriving there at six P. M., with about six feet of water in the hold.  The rebel steamer Patrick Henry, which bore down to the Monitor during the fight, was driven back by a shot and having steam turned on her from the Monitor’s boiler.  She had six men scalded and two badly wounded.  After reaching Norfolk she was put upon the dry dock for repairs, and for five weeks men were working on her night and day, giving her a thorough overhauling.  When destroyed she was in excellent condition, and her loss, Mr. Thompson thinks, will prove incalculable to the rebels.  While these repairs were going on great fear was expressed that the Monitor might come up Elizabeth river and shell the city.  If she had done so no resistance could or would have been offered (as the authorities and people were frightened at the very name of her,) and the evacuation of the batteries and the city was already decided on in the event of her visit.  Commodore Buchanan was badly wounded in the thigh, and was taken, immediately on our arrival, to the hospital, where, at last accounts, he still remains.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 24, 1862, p. 2

The Martyr Corcoran

A large number of prisoners of war were released a few days ago from Richmond, but, long and anxiously as he has been expected, Colonel Corcoran was not among them.  What does it mean?  Why is this brave man kept so long and against repeated promises, in the wretched tobacco warehouse at Richmond?  Is it because he is an Irishman – one of those “mudsills” against whom the rebel aristocrats have so loudly denounced vengeance?  We remember a passage in Mr. Russell’s letters to the London Times where a leading rebel is quoted as remarking that “after the war not an Irishman or German should vote.”  Is this another sample of their hatred of the foreign born citizens who have so generally proven faithful to the land and Government of their adoption?

A few days more must release the brave Corcoran, unless, indeed, his tormenters force him away from Richmond to some new prison house.  Doubtless, not an Irishman in McClellan’s army but cries “on to Richmond” – Corcoran must be released.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 24, 1862, p. 2

Arrival of Federal Prisoners

Interesting Narrative – Meeting of the Citizens of Richmond – The City will be Surrendered – Rebel Deserters – Eighty-six Rebel Prisoners Refuse to Return – Jeff. Davis Gone to Alabama.

From the Washington Republican, May 15.

About dark last night our city was on the qui vue of interest at the arrival of the Federal prisoners, which left Richmond a few days since.

They were eight hundred strong, and as they passed from the river to the depot the people generally turned out to see them, and their hearty cheers at the sight of the stars and stripes along the route announced their joy at once more being free.

Their narrative of the incidents of their journey here is very interesting.  Last Sunday it was announced to them that they were to be released on parole.  At 10 o’clock at night they were taken out of their place of confinement, which was once the store and commission house of Luther Libby, on Cary street near Eighteenth, and marched down Carry and Main streets, to Rockett’s, where they embarked.  Many a handkerchief was quietly and stealthily waved at them by fair hands, which testified of Union hearts, as they passed along the streets to embark.  They were put on board of the two rebel steamers Curtis Peck and Northampton, and left the wharf at Rockett’s at about 12 o’clock, midnight, and proceeded down the river.

The next (Monday) morning, at about 10 o’clock, came in sight of the ancient town of Jamestown, and soon after their joyful eyes caught sight of the stars and stripes as they waved from the Union gunboats, the Galena and Arostook [sic].  How their hearts leaped with joy!  And over the waters of the James three times three cheers reverberated along the rebel shores, from nearly a thousand loyal hearts! – The rebel boats displayed the flag of truce.  They did not dare to have even a rebel flag on board.  Here they stopped for about one hour, and received directions from Captain Rodgers as to how the prisoners should be disposed of.  They then passed the three Union gunboats, and went down the river.  Met the Monitor at Harden’s Bluff, twenty or thirty miles from Newport News.  The Monitor was just passing the rebel batteries at Harden’s Bluff.  The rebels opened fire on the Monitor, pouring their shot right across the bows of the flag of truce vessels.

The Monitor passed on without noticing the batteries.  The Captain of the Monitor put his head up out of the turret or “cheese-box,” and shouted out to the Union prisoners, “Why don’t you give ‘em a pill over in those batteries?” shouted one of the prisoners.  “We don’t notice such small fry – got better fish up the river to take care of,” was the reply, and the “cheese box” steamed on up the river without noticing the batteries.  Arriving at Newport News, the prisoners were transferred to the Federal steamers Hero and Wm. Kent.  Here for the first time, they learned that Norfolk was taken, and heard the fate of the Merrimac.  And strange to say, the rebel guard which accompanied them down were equally ignorant of these facts.

This, or something else, had a strange effect on the 25 men, accompanying them, who were a portion of Jeff. Davis’ body guard, for only eight of the number returned in the rebel steamers.  The orderly sergeant set the example by throwing his gun overboard, and swearing he would fight no longer for the Confederacy.  A dozen more guns followed, and the men passed over into the Union boats, and promptly took the oath of allegiance to the Federal Government.

Eighty rebel prisoners, who were waiting to go on board the rebel steamers, refused to return to the service of the Confederacy, and asked to have the oath of allegiance administered to them also; and the proper officers from Newport News came on board and administered the oath, much to their satisfaction.

The Hero and William Kent brought the Richmond prisoners up to this city, and they arrived here last night, and are now quartered at the “Soldier’s Rest,” near the Baltimore depot.

Many interesting incidents are related by these prisoners.  We have time to relate only a few.

A meeting was held at Richmond, by the citizens, soon after the evacuation of Yorktown, which was a very exciting one, and prolonged for three days.  A tough fight was had over the question of “surrender or burn,” and it was at last decided in favor of surrendering the city, if they were forced to it, though the “roughs,” who own no property, tried hard to defeat the measure.

The rebels are to make a stand about a dozen miles out of the city, and say they will make a desperate fight before they will lose the city. – They say they have got McClellan in a trap, as they have erected their batteries in the face of a swamp, into which the Federal army will be entrapped.

Immediately after the evacuation of Yorktown the greatest panic prevailed in Richmond. – Wagons, ambulances, horses, wounded soldiers, stragglers, etc., were pouring into the city day and night for several days.  Large numbers of families began to back up and leave for the South.  It is said that Jeff. Davis has gone to Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Provisions, etc., are very scarce and high. – Their food was scanty and of the meanest kind and the prison discipline very rigid.

John Minor Botts is released on parole, although he is virtually a prisoner in his own house.  He is not allowed to leave his country seat, near Richmond.

The Union Sentiment is strong, and its development on the increase.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 24, 1862, p. 2

Andrew J. Burge

Age, twenty-seven; a native of Ohio; residence, Des Moines, Polk County; enlisted Dec. 24, 1861. He had lived in this county since its earliest organization — his father being one of the first white settlers. Was religious, and of strict morals, and naturally intelligent; but was inclined to insanity, and had been at one time a patient in the Asylum at Mt. Pleasant; yet, as a soldier, he performed his duties faithfully — showing no signs of the return of his malady. Lieutenant Wilkins informs me that he was a good and obedient soldier, and Captain Studer says: —

"Of this soldier I can say nothing but what is strictly good. I never knew him to utter an oath or to say even an unkind word to anybody. He was very sedate, quiet, and unobtrusive; modest to a fault, perhaps; honest and scrupulously obedient. He was a splendid soldier and man in every respect. At Shiloh he fought most bravely. During the siege of Corinth he fell ill, was taken to General Field Hospital, at Monterey, Tenn. (between Shiloh Church and Corinth), and died of typhoid fever, June 1, 1862, I think, while being transported from Monterey to Pittsburg Landing, at the latter place."

SOURCE: Leonard Brown, American Patriotism: Or, Memoirs Of Common Men, p. 217-8

William L. Close

Son of Mr. Close, of Valley Township, Polk County. "Was," says Captain Studer, "enlisted for Captain Hoxie's company, 17th Iowa, March 1,1862. When sent to Keokuk, for muster into United States service, he desired to be transferred to Company B, 15th Iowa Infantry. An exchange was effected in the person of private William Pursley, who was duly transferred to Captain Hoxie's company, 17th Iowa, while William L. Close was duly received in his desired Company B. He entered upon his duties with good will; was anxious to learn all his duties; was of good, steady habits, very orderly and well behaved — hence well respected by all. Like private Henry P. Taylor, he was taken suddenly ill during the night of March 17-18, in the company's barracks at Camp Halleck, Keokuk, and died of congestive fever a few hours afterwards, to the greatest surprise of all, for he was seemingly strong, of good constitution, and well built. His death was deeply regretted by all, because he was well liked for the short time he was connected with this command."

Age, twenty-one; a native of Illinois; private; mustered into the United States service, March 14.

SOURCE: Leonard Brown, American Patriotism: Or, Memoirs Of Common Men, p. 217

John W. Guthrie

Lived before the war near Snider's Post Office, in Jefferson Township, Polk County, Iowa. "Was," says Captain Studer, "a very good and willing soldier; was in the battle of Shiloh, and fought well." Age, nineteen; a private; native of Ohio; enlisted Oct. 25, 1861; died of disease, at Keokuk, June 11,1862. "He bore," says Lieutenant Wilkins, "a good character in the company for morality and honesty. Nobody could dispute his good soldiership."

SOURCE: Leonard Brown, American Patriotism: Or, Memoirs Of Common Men, p. 216-7

Georgia's Ordinance of Secession

AN ORDINANCE to dissolve the Union between the State of Georgia and other States united with her under a compact of government entitled "The Constitution of the United States of America."

We, the people of the State of Georgia, in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That the ordinance adopted by the people of the State of Georgia in Convention on the second day of January in the year of our Lord seventeen hundred and eighty-eight, whereby the Constitution of the United States of America was assented to, ratified and adopted; and also all acts and parts of acts of the General Assembly of this State ratifying and adopting amendments of the said Constitution are hereby repealed, rescinded and abrogated.

We do further declare and ordain, That the Union now subsisting between the State of Georgia and other States, under the name of the "United States of America," is hereby dissolved, and that the State of Georgia is in the full possession and exercise of all those rights of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free and independent State.

Passed January 19, 1861.

GEO. W. CRAWFORD,

President.

Attest,

A. R. LAMAR,

Secretary.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series IV, Volume 1, Serial 127, p. 70

The Union Men of Virginia on the Peninsula

How They are Treated by the Rebels – How the Rebels Should be treated in Order to Raise the Union Sentiment.

There are very few Union men here; that there are some, is evident from the bitter and unrelenting persecutions some here received and the manner others have been used in comparison.  Many would willing see a peace on any terms, because of the sacrifices they have been forced to make, and the privations they endure; the most, however are sullen, and obstinately boast of their hatred of the ------ Yankees.  So far as we can see, until their army is whipped, and they subjugated, it is idle to talk of peace.  There is much complaint by the Union people of the leniency we treat the rebels with, when they have done all that could be done except taking the life of those who stood by the old flag.

We were conversing, to-day, with a lady in front of a fine new mansion.  She told how her husband had been beggared, his property confiscated, and the provisions taken from their cellar.  “I have not food for two weeks, no money; my husband’s place is stripped of fences, houses, barns and cattle – all is gone.  How are we to live?  There goes,” – as a lady, with a basket and a bunch of flowers, passed along, she continued – “a lady to feed the wounded rebels and comfort them; I do not speak to her any more.  Her husband is rich yet, because he is in the rebel army; his property is safe, your soldiers are guarding it for her to feed the rebels while we live on corn meal!”  We told her it did not seem fair, and we hoped it would be remedied yet.  How we wished some of our dough-faced Congressmen, who prate of conciliating the rebel hordes, could have heard her express her contempt for them.  “What would you have us do?” we asked.  “Hang the leaders whenever you catch them.  Whenever a Union man is put in jail, confine two Secessionists! – If hung and murdered, strike back, show them you are in earnest; it is a wonder there is a single Union man in the whole South; to be one noisily and openly costs all we have, property, friends and all.  I have not been from my residence for four months; I cannot go to church.  Now your army is here, there are those who would not insult me with their actions or looks; but I will not notice them now.  Those ladies across the street waved their handkerchiefs to the rebel army as they marched through here on Monday to join the attack, now they hang them out as flags of truce, while they enjoy themselves quietly in the parlor looking out at the army.  My parlor is filled with their wounded soldiers, as a punishment for my not urging them to butcher you.”

Some steps should be taken at once to ensure protection to the Union men, learn the rebels that we can give and will strike two blows for every one they give to Union men, and if they rob, plunder, devastate Union farms, a rebel one shall make it good.  We should take care the Union people did not have to beg for bread and let the South know we will revenge the wrongs done them, and they will cease their persecutions; then we may expect to find a Union sentiment, now it is idle to expect it. – {Williamsburg Va., Cor. Phil. Inquirer.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 24, 1862, p. 2

Benjamin F. Stoughton

Died April 26, 1862, at Louisville, Ky., of wounds received in the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862. Born in Clinton County, New York; had lived only a short time in Iowa when he enlisted, Feb. 16, 1862; aged twenty-four; unmarried; he had been in the service forty days when wounded. While the l5th Iowa was lying in front of the enemy at Shiloh, the balls passing close to their heads, Stoughton raised up to fire, when a ball took off a portion of his skull. The company fell back and left him in the rebel lines, and he was not found by his comrades until April 8. When found, he was sitting under a tree, with a wet cloth on his head. A soldier of the enemy had given Stoughton a canteen of water. The brain was swollen and protruding from the skull, the bigness of a hen's egg. He walked to the hospital, led by a comrade. His mother lives in Clark County, Iowa. Mr. Randall, of Peoria City, was Stoughton's brother-in-law.

Captain A. G. Studer says of Stoughton : —

"He was a splendid soldier, of fine appearance — well grown and strong; was as good a man as he was good looking; of jovial disposition; loving discipline. It is my opinion, as well as that of the surgeon of the regiment, that if his case had been properly attended to he might have lived. He would not give up his hopes of life. When the surgeon ordered his removal to a hospital boat at Pittsburg Landing, for transportation to a Northern hospital, he instructed the soldiers carrying him on the litter to keep step, according to drill, counting himself 'one,' 'two,' 'left,' 'right,' in order to ease the movement and alleviate his intense pains. He was a brave, patriotic, and excellent soldier in every respect. He had been in the three months' service, as one of Lew. Wallace's Zouaves, in Virginia."

SOURCE: Leonard Brown, American Patriotism: Or, Memoirs Of Common Men, p. 215-6

Conrad Wertzel

Age, twenty-two; residence, Des Moines, Polk County; native of Indiana; private; enlisted Sept. 9, 1861; killed in the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862. Captain A. G. Studer says of Wertzel, — "He was a good, faithful, and obedient soldier — a favorite among his companions. At Shiloh, when marching into battle, he was very eager and cheerful. A shell burst close to him — right over his head and the heads of his comrades. 'Good morning, sir,' said Wertzel, and fell the next moment — a minie ball striking him between the eyes. He was the first man killed in Company B. He was passing through Des Moines from the mountains when he enlisted. His mother lived in Illinois." "He was a good man," says Lieutenant Wilkins.

SOURCE: Leonard Brown, American Patriotism: Or, Memoirs Of Common Men, p. 215

Henry P. Taylor

HENRY P. TAYLOR, Says Captain Studer, "died suddenly and unexpectedly." A most excellent man; a real Christian and a gentleman; one of the best men in the company; a true patriot; quiet and firm; anxious to perform all his duties; kind and courteous to all around him, very respectful to his officers; highly esteemed and respected by all. In the night of March 14, 1862, he fell suddenly ill, in the company's quarters at Camp Halleck, Keokuk, and died within about 1 1/2 hours from the time he first complained. The surgeon could not render a correct certificate as to name of disease, but thought it to be congestive chill, he having been summoned too late to see much of his case, or to save him. Taylor had a wife and several small children when he enlisted, depending wholly on him for support. His sudden and untimely end created a deep feeling of sadness among all around him. He was a good citizen, and the country lost a splendid soldier. He lived in Des Moines; was a laboring man; age, thirty-three; a native of Ohio; a private; enlisted Feb. 6, 1862.

SOURCE: Leonard Brown, American Patriotism: Or, Memoirs Of Common Men, p. 214-5

Charles Beekman

Born in Schoharie, New York, April 2, 1846; enlisted in Company B, 15th Iowa regiment, Oct. 11, 1861; died of typhoid fever, in hospital at Keokuk, Iowa, Dec. 23, 1861, aged fifteen years, eight months and twenty-one days. "He was a promising young soldier," says Captain Cross, "and while sick bore his afflictions with remarkable fortitude."

"Was a good and faithful man," says Captain Studer, "entered upon his duties with zeal; tried to learn and do whatever was required of him. Being of tender years, he died after a very brief term of service."

When his mother heard of his illness, she went immediately to Keokuk and watched by his bedside continually for three weeks, when he died. As soon as she saw that he could not get well, she said to him, — "Charles, if you should never recover, do you feel reconciled to go?" He replied, — "Mother, I do."

Charles was fond of a gun. As soon as the war began, his whole mind was taken up with the thought of being a soldier. His gun had been his delight since he was thirteen, though it was a severe shock to him when his friend and companion, Fenimore Cooper¹, was killed by the accidental discharge of a gun, while standing right by Charles's side. This, however, did not eradicate from his mind his attachment to his gun and love of hunting, which is said to be miniature war.

"Mother," said Charles, one day, "may I go to war?" She replied, — "Charles, do you really want to go?"

"Nothing," said he, "would please me better; it is my whole thought." "Do you," said she, "think that you could be of any service to your country?" "Yes," he replied, "I know I can." "I did not know that they would accept such young boys," said she. "They will take me, mother," Charles answered. He had been to see the recruiting officers, and received their promise that they would accept of him, if he could gain his parents' consent.

"If you are determined," said he to his parents one day, "that I shall not go, I will give it up; but here are other boys of my age enlisting, and I know that I am as strong and able for duty as they are, and can do as much good in the army."

"He had been studying about it so long," says Mrs. Beekman, "and talked so manly, that pride for my son led me to give my consent." After he had been at Keokuk a few weeks, he was sent back to Des Moines by his officers to bring on some recruits. He knocked at his mother's door and came in, dressed in the uniform of the Union soldier; his proud and manly bearing led her to feel glad that she had let him go. He returned to camp with a glad heart.

He had always been very healthful. His sickness took a deep hold on him from the beginning, and baffled the skill of the physician, who manifested very great interest in him. The officers of his company felt great anxiety for his recovery, for he was much attached to them, especially to Captain Smith; and the Captain visited him often in his sickness, which comforted Charles greatly. He was a good boy; kind to his parents; dearly loved his mother; affectionate to his brother and sisters; generous to all. At school he made rapid progress in his studies.

¹Son of Mr. Isaac Cooper, an early resident of Polk County [Iowa].

SOURCE: Leonard Brown, American Patriotism: Or, Memoirs Of Common Men, p. 213-4

27th Illinois Infantry

Organized at Camp Butler, Ill., August 10, 1861. At Jacksonville, Ill., till September 1. Moved to Cairo, Ill., September 1, and duty there till March, 1862. Attached to District of Cairo to February, 1862. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, District of Cairo, February, 1862. Flotilla Brigade, Army of the Mississippi, to April, 1862. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, Army of the Mississippi, to September, 1862. 1st Brigade, 13th Division, Army of the Ohio, to November, 1862. 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, Right Wing 14th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to January, 1863. 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, 20th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to October, 1863. 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 4th Army Corps, to August, 1864.

SERVICE.--Expedition to Belmont, Mo., November 6-7, 1861. Battle of Belmont November 7. Expedition into Kentucky January 16-21, 1862. Occupation of Columbus, Ky., March 3. Skirmish at Columbus March 4. Operations against New Madrid and Island No. 10 March 14-April 8. Actions at Island No. 10 March 15-16 and 25. Expedition to Union City, Tenn., March 30-April 2. Union City March 30-31. Action and capture at Tiptonville April 8. Expedition to Fort Pillow, Tenn., April 13-17. Moved to Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., April 17-23. Advance on and siege of Corinth, Miss., April 29-May 30. Action at Farmington May 3. Reconnoissance toward Corinth May 8. Action at Farmington May 9. Pursuit to Booneville May 30-June 12. Tuscumbia Creek May 31-June 1. Reconnoissance toward Baldwyn June 3. Camp at Corinth till July 21. Moved to Iuka, Miss., thence to Courtland, Ala., and duty along Memphis & Charleston R. R. till September 3. March to Nashville, Tenn., September 3-12. Siege of Nashville September 12-November 6. Near La Vergne October 7. Repulse of Forest's attack on Edgefield November 5. Duty at Nashville till December 26. Advance on Murfreesboro December 26-30. Action at Nolensville, Knob Gap, December 26. Triune December 27-28. Battle of Stone's River December 30-31, 1862, and January 1-3, 1863. Duty at Murfreesboro till June. Expedition toward Columbia March 4-14. Middle Tennessee (or Tullahoma) Campaign June 24-July 7. Christiana June 24. Occupation of Middle Tennessee till August 16. Passage of Cumberland Mountains and Tennessee River and Chickamauga (Ga.) Campaign August 16-September 22. Battle of Chickamauga, (Ga.) September 19-20. Siege of Chattanooga, Tenn., September 24-November 23. Chattanooga-Ringgold Campaign November 23-27. Orchard Knob November 23-24. Mission Ridge November 25. March to relief of Knoxville and Campaign in East Tennessee November 28, 1863, to January 25, 1864. Operations about Dandridge January 16-17, 1864. At London, Tenn., till. April 18. Atlanta (Ga.) Campaign May to August, 1864. Demonstration on Rocky Faced Ridge May 8-11. Buzzard's Roost Gap May 8-9. Demonstration on Dalton May 9-13. Battle of Resaca May 14-15. Near Calhoun May 16. Adairsville May 17. Near Kingston May 18-19. Near Cassville May 19. Advance on Dallas May 23-25. Operations on line of Pumpkin Vine Creek and battles about Dallas, New Hope Church and Allatoona Hills May 25-June 5. Operations about Marietta and against Kenesaw Mountain June 10-July 2. pine Hill June 11-14. Lost Mountain June 15-17. Assault on Kenesaw June 27. Ruff's (or Neal Dow's) Station, Smyrna Camp Ground July 4. Chattahoochie River July 5-17, Buckhead Nancy's Creek July 18. Peach Tree Creek July 19-20. Siege of Atlanta July 22-August 25. Ordered to Springfield, Ill., August 25. Mustered out September 20, 1864, expiration of term. Veterans and Recruits transferred to 9th Illinois Infantry.

Regiment lost during service 7 Officers and 96 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 2 Officers and 83 Enlisted men by disease. Total 188.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1057