Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Mead, September 13, 1863

Headquarters Army Of The Potomac, September 13, 1863.

A few days ago some scouts I had sent across the river returned and reported that Lee's army was moving back to Richmond. They asserted positively that that portion near Fredericksburg had actually gone. I did not and do not much rely on their story, though I could not doubt but that a portion of his force had been sent away for some purpose either to re-inforce Beauregard at Charleston or Bragg in the South West.

It was necessary, however, that I should make some effort to ascertain what was going on, so to-day I sent Pleasanton, with all the cavalry, supported by Warren's Corps (Second), to see what they could find out. Pleasanton crossed the river early, and immediately was engaged with the enemy's cavalry, and has been fighting them all day. The result is that we have driven them from Culpeper Court House, and three miles beyond, have captured three guns and over fifty prisoners, and Warren is now in Culpeper, some nine miles in front of the Rappahannock. Still the great question as to whether Lee is withdrawing is unsettled, though Pleasanton sends word that all the information that he is able to pick up goes to support the rumor that he is falling back. Should it prove true, I suppose some movement on my part will be necessary; but what, I can't say, as with my limited force I don't see how I can advance much farther, and there is no probability of their permitting me to go to the James River, as it uncovers Washington.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 2, p. 148-9

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Eliza Water Smith, October 7, 1863

Headquarters Second Brigade,

First Div., Seventeenth Army Corps,

Natchez, Oct. 7, 1863.

My Dear Mother:

I knew you would write me on the 23d; felt that even as I was writing you on the selfsame day, perhaps at the same hour, our spirits were in commune. What is there in all this world so sweet, so pure, so holy as a mother's love? Darling mother, I love you with all my heart and all my mind, and all my strength, but my love for you is nothing in comparison with yours for me that has continued so constant, so unwavering, for all these years, these long, long years which yet are nothing to look back upon.

It is true as you remark, I have travelled much, very much in the past season — have traversed many, many miles by land and water; ten times up and down the river when the banks were infested by guerrillas, never shot into once, other boats preceding and succeeding me constantly attacked. I seem to have borne nearly a charmed life. God has been very good to me. I see by the papers, as well as by your letter, that Bill Lytle has gone under at last; poor fellow, his was a gallant spirit, and he has gone where the good soldiers go. The best death to die — “We tell his doom without a sigh, for he is freedom’s now and fame’s.”

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 339

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Monday, September 28, 1863

I went out on picket today, on the public highway from Vicksburg to Warrington. We have to maintain a heavy picket with strong reserve at all the public highways leading from this place.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 145

Diary of Charles H. Lynch: January 2, 1863

Late last night, our second night out, pickets began firing. We were called out and soon had line formed. The supposed enemy proved to be Union scouts with orders for the Colonel to return to Baltimore. The enemy did not come into Maryland. The command was complimented for the way it turned out into line ready for duty. This morning, in line by the railroad waiting for the train. After a long wait in the cold the dirty train of box cars came along which we soon boarded. On to Baltimore. Arriving in the city, ordered to the west end, going into camp in Stuart's woods. A surprise and disappointment as we expected to return to Camp Emory, our good quarters, in good warm barracks. Many disappointments come to soldiers.

In our camp was located Battery L, 5th U. S. Regulars. The battery boys did not like being inside the guard line of volunteers. Would run the guard line, making trouble for us. A sergeant of the battery, under the influence of drink, attempted to run the guard. Was halted, grabbed the sentinel's musket, resulted in the sergeant's being badly wounded. The wooden plug in the muzzle, with the bullet, passed through the sergeant's body. He was not killed. (After a time he recovered.) After that event the battery boys and the 18th Regiment were friends. All were sorry over the event. No one blamed the sentinel. Cold rain and snow making the life of a soldier a very disagreeable one in tents, sleeping on the ground. Deep mud and very sticky all through our camp.

SOURCE: Charles H. Lynch, The Civil War Diary, 1862-1865, of Charles H. Lynch 18th Conn. Vol's, p. 13-4

121st Ohio Infantry

Organized at Delaware, Ohio, September 11, 1862. Ordered to Cincinnati, Ohio, September 11; thence to Covington, Ky., September 15, and to Louisville, Ky., September 20. Attached to 34th Brigade, 10th Division, Army of the Ohio, September, 1862. 34th Brigade, 10th Division, 1st Army Corps, Army of the Ohio, to November, 1862. District of West Kentucky, Dept. of the Ohio, to February, 1863. Reed's Brigade, Baird's Division, Army of Kentucky, Dept. of the Cumberland, to June, 1863. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, Reserve Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to October, 1863. 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 14th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to June, 1865.

SERVICE. – Pursuit of Bragg into Kentucky October 1-15, 1862. Battle of Perryville, Ky., October 8. Moved to Lebanon, Ky., and duty there till November, and at Columbia till December. Operations against Morgan December 22, 1862, to January 3, 1863. Ordered to Louisville, thence moved to Nashville, Tenn., February 9; thence to Franklin, Tenn., February 12, and duty there till June. Middle Tennessee (or Tullahoma) Campaign June 23-July 7. Duty at Fayetteville August 25-September 5. Chickamauga (Ga.) Campaign. Battle of Chickamauga September 19-21. Siege of Chattanooga, Tenn., September 24-November 23. Chattanooga-Ringgold Campaign November 23-27. Orchard Knob November 23. Tunnel Hill November 24-25. Mission Ridge November 25. Chickamauga Station November 26. March to relief of Knoxville, Tenn., November 28-December 17. Duty at Rossville, Ga., till May, 1864. Atlanta (Ga.) Campaign May 1 to September 8. Tunnel Hill May 6-7. Demonstration on Rocky Faced Ridge May 8-11. Buzzard's Roost Gap May 8-9. Battle of Resaca May 14-15. Advance on Dallas May 18-25. 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 Station July 4. Chattahoochie River July 5-17. Peach Tree Creek July 19-20. Siege of Atlanta July 22-August 25. Utoy Creek August 5-7. Flank movement on Jonesboro August 25-30. Battle of Jonesboro August 31-September 1. Operations against Forest and Hood in North Georgia and North Alabama September 29-November 3. March to the sea November 15-December 10. Sandersville November 26. Siege of Savannah December 10-21. Campaign of the Carolinas January to April, 1865. Taylor's Hole Creek, Aversyboro, N. C., March 16. Battle of Bentonville March 19-21. Occupation of Goldsboro March 24. Advance on Raleigh April 10-14. Occupation of Raleigh April 14. Bennett's House April 26. Surrender of Johnston and his army. March to Washington, D.C., via Richmond, Va., April 29-May 19. Grand Review May 24. Mustered out June 8, 1865.

Regiment lost during service 9 Officers and 92 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 2 Officers and 246 Enlisted men by disease. Total 349.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1547

Governor John Letcher to Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood, January 10, 1860

The Commonwealth Of Virginia, To The Executive Authority Of The State Of Iowa:

Whereas it appears by the annexed document, which is hereby certified as authentic, that Barclay Coppoc is a fugitive from justice from this State, charged with the crime of treason, conspiring with and advising slaves to rebel and make insurrection, and with murder perpetrated at the town of Harper's Ferry, in this Commonwealth, on the sixteenth and seventeenth days of October, in the year 1859: Now therefore I. John Letcher, Governor of the State of Virginia, have thought proper, by virtue of the provisions of the Constitution of the United States, in such cases made and provided, and of the laws of Congress in pursuance thereof, to demand of the Executive authority of Iowa, the arrest and surrender of Barclay Coppoc, and that he be delivered to C. Camp, who is hereby appointed the agent to receive him on the part of this Commonwealth.

Given under my hand as Governor, and under the Great Seal of the State, at Richmond, this 10th day of January, 1860, and in the eighty-fourth year of the Commonwealth.

{L. S.}

JOHN LETCHER.

SOURCE: Henry Warren Lathrop, The Life and Times of Samuel J. Kirkwood, Iowa's War Governor, p. 96-7

Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood to Governor John Letcher, January 23, 1860

Executive Chamber, Iowa,

Des Moines, January 23, 1860.

To His Excellency, the Governor of Virginia:

Sir: — Your requisition for Barclay Coppoc, alleged to be a fugitive from justice from the State of Virginia, was this day placed in my hands by Mr. Camp. Having carefully considered the same, I am of opinion that I cannot, in the proper discharge of my duty as Executive of this State, grant the requisition, because it does not, in my opinion, come within the provisions of the Constitution of the United States, and of the laws of Congress, passed in pursuance thereof. The certificate of the Notary Public, that the paper purporting to be the affidavit of Andrew Hunter, was sworn to, is not authenticated by his Notarial Seal, and for that reason, is no higher evidence of that fact, than would be the statement of any other citizen. Were this the only difficulty, I would, as it is in its nature technical, feel disposed to waive it in this case; but there is a further defect, which in my judgment is fatal, and which my duty will not allow me to overlook.

The law provides that the Executive authority of a State demanding any person as a fugitive from justice, shall produce to the Executive authority of the State on which the demand is made “the copy of an indictment found, or an affidavit made before a magistrate” of the State by which the demand is made. In this case, there is not a copy of any indictment produced, and the affidavit produced, is made before a Notary Public, who is not, in my judgment, a magistrate, within the meaning of the law of Congress.

This is a matter in which, as I understand, I have no discretionary power. Had the application been made to me in proper form, charging the offense charged in this case, the requisition must have been granted; and as it is, I have not any more authority to surrender the person demanded, than if requested to do so by a private letter.

Very respectfully,

SAMUEL J. KIRKWOOD

SOURCE: Henry Warren Lathrop, The Life and Times of Samuel J. Kirkwood, Iowa's War Governor, p. 97

Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood to Governor John Letcher, January 24, 1860

Executive Office, Iowa

Des Moines, January 24. 1860.

To His Excellency, the Governor of Virginia:

On yesterday, Mr. Camp, of your State, presented to me a requisition for Barclay Coppoc, which I declined to grant, for reasons stated in a letter to you, which I handed to him, (Mr. Camp).

I have since examined more carefully the body of the affidavit of Andrew Hunter, and beg leave to call your attention to it. Mr. Hunter states that from information received by him from certain persons condemned and executed in your State and from other facts which have come to his knowledge, he believes that Coppoc was aiding and abetting John Brown and others, who on certain days, in Virginia, committed certain crimes, and that from information recently received, he verily believes Coppoc is a fugitive from justice, escaping in this State. It is not stated, unless it be inferentially, that Coppoc committed the acts charged, in the State of Virginia, nor are any of the facts upon which affiant bases his belief of Coppoc's guilt stated.

It seems to me very desirable that in case you shall deem it your duty again to demand Coppoc from the Executive authority of this State, that no question may arise upon the sufficiency of the papers upon which the demand shall be made, and I have therefore deemed it proper to make to you the above suggestions.

Very respectfully,

SAMUEL J. KIRKWOOD.

SOURCE: Henry Warren Lathrop, The Life and Times of Samuel J. Kirkwood, Iowa's War Governor, p. 98

Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood to the Senate of Iowa, February 28, 1860

To the Senate

February 28, 1860

From the Journal of the Senate, p. 340

__________

EXECUTIVE OFFICE, February 28, 1860.

Gentlemen of the Senate:

I have received the resolution, passed by your body on yesterday, asking certain information in regard to a demand made upon me by the Governor of Virginia, for the arrest and surrender of one Barclay Coppoc, as a fugitive from justice.

I have examined that resolution with much care, and have very reluctantly arrived at the conclusion, that I ought not to answer it. I readily admit the propriety of giving to the public full information on this subject, and shall promptly communicate all facts within my knowledge, in any way connected therewith, whenever I can do so consistently with my self-respect, and with the respect and consideration which, in my judgment, are due to the department of our government which, for the time being, I have the honor to represent. I cannot, however, do so in response to a resolution which assumes that, in this matter, I have done acts which the common judgment of your body would pronounce to be improper in any person holding my official position.

This assumption, utterly unfounded as it is, I cannot either respond to or deny, without admitting, by implication, that the suggestion thereof was authorized by the facts of the case.

I cannot believe it was the well considered intention of your body, to embrace such assumption in your resolution, but am satisfied that your action in this matter, took its present objectionable form through oversight and inadvertence.

For these reasons, I very respectfully return said resolution, that you may have the opportunity of giving it further consideration.

SAMUEL J. KIRK WOOD.

SOURCE: Benjamin F. Shambaugh, editor, The Messages and Proclamations of the Governors of Iowa, Volume 2, p. 378-9

John Brown to Ruth Brown, September 1, 1847

Springfield, Sept. 1, 1847.

Dear Daughter Ruth, — I have not heard from you since John left to come on here; and I can assure you it is not for want of interest in your welfare that I have so long delayed writing you. We got over the tedious job of moving as well as we could expect, and have both families comfortably fixed. Frederick has been under the treatment of one of the most celebrated physicians in Massachusetts, and for some part of the time has appeared to be as well as ever, but has not appeared so well for a few days past. Your mother is quite unwell with a bilious fever, and has been so for a day or two. We think she is doing well now, and hope she will get around soon. We have almost all of us complained more or less since we got on here. We have heard from Akron every few days since we came on. All were well there a short time since. Our business here seems to go on middling well, and should nothing befall me I hope to see you about the last of this month or early next. John says he will write you soon. I supposed he had done so before this, until now. We are very busy, and suppose we are likely to be for the present. We expect you to write us how you get along, of course.

Affectionately yours,

John Brown.

SOURCE: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 145

Diary of Major Rutherford B. Hayes: July 22, 1861

Just received news of a dreadful defeat at Manassas, or beyond Centreville. General McDowell's column pushed on after some successes, were met apparently by fresh troops, checked, driven back, utterly routed!  What a calamity! Will not the secession fever sweep over the border States, driving out Kentucky, Missouri, (Baltimore) Maryland, etc., etc.? Is not Washington in danger? I have feared a too hasty pushing on of McDowell's column into ground where the Rebels have camped and scouted and entrenched themselves for months. My brother-in-law, as surgeon, is with the Second Ohio Regiment in advance, and is doubtless among those in the worst position. But private anxieties are all swallowed up in the general public calamity. God grant that it is exaggerated!

Our regiments are now likely, I think, to be speedily needed at Washington or elsewhere. I am ready to do my duty, promptly and cheerfully. Would that I had the military knowledge and experience which one ought to have to be useful in my position! I will do my best, my utmost in all ways to promote the efficiency of our regiment. It is henceforth a serious business.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 40

Major-General Thomas J. Jackson to Mary Anna Morrison Jackson, October 16, 1862

[Bunker Hill, Va., October 16, 1862.]

I am sitting in my tent, about twelve miles from our “war-home,” where you and I spent such a happy winter. The weather is damp, and for the past two days has been rainy and chilly. Yesterday was communion at Mr. Graham's church, and he invited me to be present, but I was prevented from enjoying that privilege. However, I heard an excellent sermon from the Rev. Dr. Stiles.* His text was 1st Timothy, chap, ii., 5th and 6th verses. It was a powerful exposition of the Word of God; and when he came to the word “himself” he placed an emphasis upon it, and gave it a force which I had never felt before, and I realized that, truly, the sinner who does not, under Gospel privileges, turn to God deserves the agonies of perdition. The doctor several times, in appealing to the sinner, repeated the 6th verse — “Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” What more could God do than to give himself a ransom? Dr. Stiles is a great revivalist, and is laboring in a work of grace in General Ewell’s division. It is a glorious thing to be a minister of the Gospel of the Prince of Peace. There is no equal position in this world.

Colonel Blanton Duncan, of Kentucky, has presented me with two fine field or marine glasses. He has apparently taken a special interest in me.

_______________

* Rev. Joseph C. Stiles, D.D., who had been a pastor in Richmond, from which he was called to New York to the Mercer Street Church, of which he was the pastor for some years. At the breaking-out of the war he went South, and cast in his lot with his own people.

SOURCE: Mary Anna Jackson, Life and Letters of General Thomas J. Jackson (Stonewall Jackson), p. 362-3

Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Mead, September 11, 1863

Headquarters Army Of The Potomac, September 11, 1863.

Everything remains quiet and in statu quo. Humphreys has gone to Philadelphia for a few days to see his wife, who is in the country, and will call to see you, and give you the latest news from camp. I wrote you in my last, of being the recipient of a bouquet from Wisconsin; but since then I have been honored with two very valuable presents. The first is a handsome scarf pin of gold and enamel. It is accompanied with a very flattering note stating it was made in England, and brought over by the donor to be presented in the name of himself and wife, as a tribute of admiration for my great services in saving the country. The note is signed W. H. Schenley, and I think the writer is a Captain Schenley, of the British navy, who many years since married Miss Croghan, of Pittsburgh. Captain Schenley says he intends visiting the army and making my acquaintance.

The second present is five hundred most delicious Havana cigars, sent to me by a Mr. Motley, of New York, whom I accidentally met at the sword presentation to General Sedgwick, and to whom I must have been particularly civil, or in some way made a great impression on him, to induce him to send me five hundred cigars. So you see there is some compensation for the misery we have to suffer.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 2, p. 147-8

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, September 27, 1863

Headquarters Second Brigade,

Second Div., Seventeenth Army Corps,

Natchez, Miss., Sept. 27, 1863.

My Dear Wife:

My reception at Natchez has been very brilliant, splendid dinners, suppers — all that sort of thing, with speeches, and songs, mirth and hilarity. My command is magnificent. I have six regiments, and a battery, one regiment cavalry, one of mounted infantry. My quarters are literally a palace, one of the most elegant houses in or about Natchez, situated in the most lovely grounds you can imagine, within about a mile from the city.

My troops are all camped close around me on the grounds of neighboring villas, which, combined, have heretofore given the name of “Dignity Hill” to my own general encampment. One of my regiments is in town on duty as provost guard. The residue keep close guard and watch upon their chief, and no baron in feudal hall ever had more loyal subjects. The rides and walks about are all most charming, especially at this season of the year, and I am in a constant state of regret that you cannot be here to enjoy it with me. If there was any indication as to how long I am to remain, I would send for you; but I may be ordered away at a moment's notice. Indeed, I have no expectation of staying here more than eight or ten days at the furthest. I shall either be ordered back to Vicksburg or directed into the field. Meanwhile I shall take the good the gods provide me.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 338-9

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Sunday, September 27, 1863

It continues quite warm and all is quiet. We had company inspection early this morning, after which those not on duty were free to go about, and I attended services at the Baptist church in the city. It seemed like home to attend a regular church service on a Sunday morning. This church building is of brick and during the siege four or five cannon balls passed through the walls at different places.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 144-5

Diary of Charles H. Lynch: January 1, 1863

When off picket duty try to keep comfortable by the picket fires and chopping wood for the large camp fire just outside the church. No place in the church for fires.

SOURCE: Charles H. Lynch, The Civil War Diary, 1862-1865, of Charles H. Lynch 18th Conn. Vol's, p. 13

120th Ohio Infantry

Organized at Mansfield, Ohio, August 29, 1862. Moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, October 25; thence to Covington, Ky., and duty there till November 24. Served Unattached, Army of Kentucky, Dept. of the Ohio, to November, 1862. 1st Brigade, 9th Division, Right Wing 13th Army Corps (Old), Dept. of the Tennessee, to December, 1862. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, Sherman's Yazoo Expedition, to January, 1863. 1st Brigade, 9th Division, 13th Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee, to July, 1863. 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, 13th Army Corps, Dept. of the Tennessee, to August, 1863, and Dept. of the Gulf to November, 1863. Plaquemine, La., District of Baton Rouge, La., Dept. of the Gulf, to March, 1864. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 13th Army Corps, to June, 1864. 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 19th Army Corps, Dept. of the Gulf, to August, 1864. 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 19th Army Corps, to November, 1864.

SERVICE. – Moved to Memphis, Tenn., November 24-December 7, 1862. Sherman's Yazoo Expedition December 20, 1862, to January 3, 1863. Chickasaw Bayou December 26-28, 1862. Chickasaw Bluff December 29. Expedition to Arkansas Post, Ark., January 3-10, 1863. Assault and capture of Fort Hindman, Arkansas Post, January 10-11. Moved to Young's Point, La., January 17, and duty there till March 8. Moved to Milliken's Bend March 8. Operations from Milliken's Bend to New Carthage March 31-April 17. James' Plantation, near New Carthage, April 8. Dunbar's Plantation, Bayou Vidal, April 15. Movement on Bruinsburg and turning Grand Gulf April 25-30. Battle of Port Gibson May 1. Duty at Raymond till May 18. Siege of Vicksburg, Miss., May 18-July 4. Assaults on Vicksburg May 19 and 22. Advance on Jackson, Miss., July 4-10. Near Jackson July 9. Siege of Jackson, Miss., July 10-17. Camp at Vicksburg till August. Moved to New Orleans August 18. Duty at Carrollton till September 3, and at Brashear City till October 3. Western Louisiana Campaign October 3-November 30. Duty at Plaquemine, La., till March 23, 1864. Moved to Baton Rouge March 23, and duty there till May 1. Ordered to join Banks at Alexandria on Red River Expedition May 1. Embarked on Steamer "City Belle." Action en route at Snaggy Point May 3. Most of Regiment captured. Those who escaped formed into a Battalion of three Companies and marched to Alexandria. Retreat from Alexandria to Morganza May 13-20. Mansura or Marksville Prairie May 16. Duty at Morganza till September. Expedition to mouth of White River and St. Charles September 13-20. Expedition to Duvall's Bluff, Ark., October 21-27. Consolidated with 114th Ohio Infantry November 25, 1864.

Regiment lost during service 2 Officers and 17 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 6 Officers and 275 Enlisted men by disease. Total 300.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1546-7

Review: The Long Road To Antietam

The Long Road To Antietam:
How the Civil War Became a Revolution

By Richard Slotkin

September 17, 1862 was the bloodiest day in American history.  Well into the second year of the American Civil War the blue-clad Union Army of the Potomac clashed with the gray and butternut clothed Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, and by the day’s end nearly 23,000 Americans lay dead, wounded, were prisoners of war, or missing.  Tactically the battle ended as a stalemate, but General Robert E. Lee’s decision to withdraw his troops from the field of battle, gave the strategic victory to the Union’s commander, Major-General George B. McClellan.  It was with this slim margin of victory that Abraham Lincoln issued his Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation and changed the direction of the war from a restrained war against an opposing army to a war not only on the armies of the South, but also on its society and economy.

Richard Slotkin, an emeritus professor at Wesleyan University, covers this shift in Lincoln’s war policy in his book, “The Long Road To Antietam: How the Civil War Became a Revolution.” In it he details the war from its beginning stages until McClellan’s removal as Commander of the Army of the Potomac.  Contrasting the difficult and often antagonistic relationship between Lincoln and McClellan against that of the cooperative one of Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, while weaving the political, social and economic motives of both sides Professor Slotkin has set them against the backdrop of the Battle of Antietam, and by doing so gives his readers a nearly panoramic narrative of but a small segment of the war.

When historians write about George B. McClellan, they generally fall into two camps, those who think McClellan was a paranoid and scheming buffoon, and those who think that he did the best with what he had.  Slotkin, clearly falls into the former, and more populous, group rather than the latter. Be that as it may, McClellan certainly gives his critics more than enough ammunition to fire at him, and thus his the wounding of his historical persona is somewhat self-inflicted.

In searching through Slotkin’s end notes, his book is largely based on secondary sources.  Though doing some internet searches of quotes within the text of his book leads one easily to their original primary source materials.  One must wonder why Mr. Slotkin chose not to rely more on primary sources.  His heavy use of secondary sources, may have negatively impacted his view of the Lincoln-McClellan relationship, and McClellan, the man himself.

I would heartily recommend “The Long Road to Antietam” to anyone interested in the American Civil War.  Over all the book is well written and informative, though the narrative is considerably slowed by the blow by blow account of the Battle of Antietam.  Professor Slotkin’s research stands on somewhat shaky ground where primary sources are concerned.  Nonetheless Richard Slotkin, makes his case as to why Antietam and the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation should be considered a turning point in the Civil War, but calling it a “revolution” falls a little flat

ISBN 978-0871404114, Liveright, © 2012, Hardcover, 512 pages, Photographs, 8 Maps, 10 Illustrations, Chronology, Antietam Order of Battle, Endnotes, Selected Bibliography & Index. $32.95.  To purchase this book click HERE.

Governor Henry A. Wise to Lydia Maria Child, October 29, 1859

RICHMOND, Va, Oct. 29th, 1859.

MADAM; Yours of the 26th was received by me yesterday, and at my earliest leisure I respectfully reply to it, that I will forward the letter for John Brown, a prisoner under our laws, arraigned at the bar of the Circuit Court for the county of Jefferson, at Charlestown, Va., for the crimes of murder, robbery and treason, which you ask me to transmit to him. I will comply with your request in the only way which seems to me proper, by enclosing it to the Commonwealth’s attorney, with the request that he will ask the permission of the Court to hand it to the prisoner. Brown, the prisoner, is now in the hands of the judiciary, not of the executive, of this Commonwealth.

You ask me, further, to allow you to perform the mission “of mother or sister, to dress his wounds, and speak soothingly to him.” By this, of course, you mean to be allowed to visit him in his cell, and to minister to him in the offices of humanity. Why should you not be so allowed, Madam? Virginia and Massachusetts are involved in no civil war, and the Constitution which unites them in one confederacy guarantees to you the privileges and immunities of a citizen of the United States in the State of Virginia. That Constitution I am sworn to support, and am, therefore, bound to protect your privileges and immunities as a citizen of Massachusetts coming into Virginia for any lawful and peaceful purpose.

Coming, as you propose, to minister to the captive in prison, you will be met, doubtless, by all our people, not only in a chivalrous, but in a Christian spirit. You have the right to visit Charlestown, Va., Madam; and your mission being merciful and humane, will not only be allowed, but respected, if not welcomed. A few unenlightened and inconsiderate persons, fanatical in their modes of thought and action, to maintain justice and right, might molest you, or be disposed to do so; and this might suggest the imprudence of risking any experiment upon the peace of a society very much excited by the crimes with whose chief author you seem to sympathize so much. But still, I repeat, your motives and avowed purpose are lawful and peaceful, and I will, as far as I am concerned, do my duty in protecting your rights in our limits. Virginia and her authorities would be weak indeed — weak in point of folly, and weak in point of power — if her State faith and constitutional obligations cannot be redeemed in her own limits to the letter of morality as well as of law; and if her chivalry cannot courteously receive a lady’s visit to a. prisoner, every arm which guards Brown from rescue on the one hand, and from lynch law on the other, will be ready to guard your person in Virginia.

I could not permit an insult even to woman in her walk of charity among us, though it be to one who whetted knives of butchery for our mothers, sisters, daughters and babes.  We have no sympathy with your sentiments of sympathy with Brown, and are surprised that you were “taken by surprise when news came of Capt. Brown’s recent attempt.” His attempt was a natural consequence of your sympathy, and the errors of that sympathy ought to make you doubt its virtue from the effect on his conduct. But it is not of this I should speak. When you arrive at Charlestown, if you go there, it will be for the Court and its officers, the Commonwealth’s attorney, sheriff and jailer, to say whether you may see and wait on the prisoner. But, whether you are thus permitted or not, (and you will be, if my advice can prevail,) you may rest assured that he will be humanely, lawfully and mercifully dealt by in prison and on trial.

Respectfully,

HENRY A. WISE.

SOURCE: The American Anti-Slavery Society, Correspondence between L. M. Child and Gov. Wise and Mrs. Mason, of Virginia, p. 4-6


See Also:

• Lydia Maria Child's Reply to Governor Henry A. Wise

Major-General William T. Sherman to Major-General John Schofield, October 17, 1864

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,

In the Field, Ship's Gap, Ga., October 17, 1864.

General SCHOFIELD:

Your dispatch is received. Hood is not at Deer Head Cove. We occupy Ship's Gap and La Fayette. Hood is moving south, via Summerville, Alpine, and Gadsden. If he enters Tennessee it will be to the left of Huntsville, but I think he has given up all such idea. I want the road repaired to Atlanta, the sick and wounded sent north of the Tennessee, my army recomposed, and I will make the interior of Georgia feel the weight of war. It is folly for me to be moving our armies on the reports of scouts and citizens. We must maintain the offensive. Your first move on Trenton and Valley Head was right; the move to defend Caperton's Ferry is wrong. Notify General Thomas of these my views. We must follow Hood till he is beyond reach of mischief and then resume the offensive.

W. T. SHERMAN,

Major-General, Commanding.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 39, Part 2 (Serial No. 79), p. 335; John Bell Hood, Advance and Retreat, p. 264

John Brown to John Brown Jr., July 9, 1847

Akron, July 9, 1847.

Dear Son John, — I wrote you yesterday to urge your coming here to keep up the family for a few months, as I knew of no way to provide for Jason or Owen's board; but that matter is all got over, and the probability is that Jason will have a wife as soon as you. We mean to have the business done up before we leave, so as to have no breaking up of the family here. I would now say that if you can get ready and meet us at Buffalo on the 14th or 15th, we shall be glad to have you go on with us. I would be willing to delay for a day or more in order to bring it about. It would seem as though you might bring it about by that time, so early as to get here on the 16th, as you wrote. As matters now stand, I feel very anxious to have you go on with us, — and partly on Frederick's account. I sent you yesterday a certificate of deposit for fifty dollars, directed to Vernon, care of Miss Wealthy Hotchkiss.¹ Should it so happen that you get to Buffalo before we do, wait for us at Bennett's Hotel; or we will wait for you awhile. Inquire for us at Bennett's, or of George Palmer, Esq. If you get this in season, you may perhaps get to Buffalo before we can. Mary is still quite feeble. Frederick appears to be quite as well as when you left. Say to Ruth I remember her.

Affectionately yours,

John Brown.

_______________

¹ Soon to be Mrs. John Brown, Jr.

SOURCE: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 144-5

Major Rutherford B. Hayes to Sardis Birchard, July 21, 1861

Columbus, Sunday morning, July 21, 1861.

Dear Uncle: — I came in last evening to attend a little tea gathering at Mr. Andrews’; shall return this morning. We are now in condition to move on a few days’ notice, and expect to go soon — say a week or two. I constantly at camp am reminded of you. You would enjoy the company we have and the amusing incidents which are occurring. The colonel of the Twenty-fourth¹ next us is a character. He has been an army officer (West Pointer) many years, a teacher of mathematics, etc., in different colleges, and has seen all sorts of life. He is a capital instructor in military things, and finding Matthews and myself fond of his talk, he takes to us warmly. Dr. Joe is now settled with us, and we are made up. We have had good visits from Mr. Giddings, David Tod, and other State celebrities. . . .

It would have been a great happiness to have spent the summer and fall fixing up around Spiegel Grove. But in this war I could not feel contented if I were not in some way taking part in it. I should feel about myself as I do about people who lived through the Revolution, seeing their neighbors leaving home, but doing nothing themselves — a position not pleasant to occupy.

I hope you will be well enough to come down. If not, I do not doubt we shall be together again one of these days. All well here.

Sincerely,

R. B. Hayes.

S. Birchard.

_______________

¹ Jacob Ammen

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 39

Major-General Thomas J. Jackson to Mary Anna Morrison Jackson, October 6, 1862

Bunker Hill, Oct. 6th.

I am glad that you were privileged to keep Thanksgiving Day. We did not enjoy that blessing, I regret to say. I trust it was generally observed, and that rich blessings may flow from it through our ever-kind Heavenly Father. I also hope that on that day large contributions were made to our Bible Society. You and I have, as you say, special reason for gratitude to God for His goodness and mercy to us.  . . . The citizens of Frederick did not present me the horse, as was published, though a Marylander gave me a fine-looking animal, possessed of great muscle and fine powers of endurance; but he was not gentle, and of this the donor notified me. Notwithstanding the notice, I mounted and rode him that evening, and he did well. The next morning, however, when I attempted again to ride him, he reared up and fell back with me, hurting me considerably. Miss Osbourn, of Jefferson, sent me some excellent socks, and a beautiful scarf, which I wish my darling had. Our friend, Mrs. Graham, of Winchester, sent me two nice sponge-cakes last week, and a Mr. Vilwig, of the same place, sent me an excellent arm-chair for camp use. I wish I could keep it until the close of the war, as I think my esposa would enjoy it. You are earnestly remembered in my prayers

SOURCE: Mary Anna Jackson, Life and Letters of General Thomas J. Jackson (Stonewall Jackson), p. 360-1

Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Mead, September 8, 1863

Headquarters Army Of The Potomac, September 8, 1863.

Yesterday I reviewed the Third Corps, commanded by General French. The day was pretty hot, and I had to ride six miles to the review and back the same distance. I received recently a very handsome bouquet from two ladies in Sheboygan, Wisconsin; I send you the note accompanying it. Likewise a curious letter written by a rebel refugee in Canada. I am in receipt of such curious documents all the time.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 2, p. 147

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, September 20, 1863

Headquarters Dept. Of The Tenn.,

Vicksburg, Sept. 20, 1863.

Mail of this morning brings your congratulations. I have been so long a brigadier that the mere rank added makes but little difference in my feelings.

I wrote you yesterday, urging you to write to General Grant; a few minutes since he showed me your letter to him of even date with mine, eloquent and well expressed, but brief. You must write to him more at length. In my judgment he will be confined to his bed for a long time with his injury. Such letters as you could write would interest him more than you can well imagine. . . .

I must tell you an incident which occurred to me the other day, before I went to New Orleans. The city of Natchez had sent up a delegation to wait upon General Grant, who turned them over to me. I was to escort them around the fortifications, and the General gave the principal man, the mayor, his war-horse to ride — a splendid cream-colored stallion, a little vicious. I was riding Bell, a horse you have never seen, but confessed the finest horse in the army, East or West; all have said so who have seen him — a large powerful brown or mahogany bay, great in battle, one who will yield the right of way to none. Well, we were riding in a very narrow gorge, the mayor had dismounted to lead his horse over a bad place, being in advance of me, when all at once he turned and a terrific conflict took place between the two horses. I seized the bridle of the General's, endeavoring to manage both; at the same moment mine reared straight upon his hind legs. I dismounted in the expectation that he would fall upon me, and as I touched the ground fell. Then these two great stallions, full of fire and fury, fought over my prostrate body, their hoofs struck together and each trampled within an inch of my head all around and over me. I lay still as if I had been in bed; I knew my hour had not yet come. My own horse was the first to perceive my danger; he retired a little from regard to me. Those who were by were speechless and horror-stricken. I rose unharmed, mounted and rode forward. I have never been in greater peril of my fife. God watches me in calm and in storm.

My old regiment wanted to make me a present of a saddle and bridle, and I am told raised in a few moments $975 for that purpose, and the thing was to be extended to sword, sash, pistols, everything complete.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 337-8

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Saturday, September 26, 1863

There is still some shaking with the ague among the boys, but the health of our regiment is gaining slowly. We have no drill in camp at present, but we are on duty almost every day, our routine running as follows: Picket duty every other day, and the alternating days on fatigue duty either in Vicksburg or in camp, and then, once a week for twenty-four hours at a time, we are on provost duty in Vicksburg.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 144

Diary of Charles H. Lynch: December 31, 1862

We passed a very uncomfortable night in old dirty box cars. After a ride of sixty miles we reached a station known as Monrovia very early in the morning, just before daylight. Pickets were soon posted on the roads crossing the railroad. A sharp lookout was kept. After daylight we took possession of a small Quaker church and sheds for our quarters. We were obliged to, as we did not have any tents. Started off in light marching order. Most of the inhabitants were Quakers, very fine people. Kind to us. The warm rain turned to snow with freezing weather, making us feel very uncomfortable for picket duty.

SOURCE: Charles H. Lynch, The Civil War Diary, 1862-1865, of Charles H. Lynch 18th Conn. Vol's, p. 12

119th Ohio Infantry

Organization of Regiment commenced but not completed.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1546

Harriett Newby to Dangerfield Newby, August 16, 1859

Brentville, August 16th, 1859.

Dear Husband:

Your kind letter came duly to hand, and it gave me much pleasure to here from you, and especely to here you are better of your rhumatism, and hope when I here from you again you may be entirely well. I want you to buy me as soon as possible, for if you do not get me some body else will. The servants are very disagreeable; they do all they can to set my mistress against me. Dear Husband you ___ not the trouble I see; the last two years has ben like a trouble  dream to me. It is said Master is in want of monney. If so, I know not what time he may sell me, an then all my bright hops of the futer are blasted, for their has ben one bright hope to cheer me in all my troubles, that is to be with you, for if I thought I shoul never see you this earth would have no charms for me. Do all you can for me, witch I have no doubt you will. I want to see you so much. The children are all well. The baby can not walk yet all. It can step around everything by holding on. It is very much like Agnes. I must bring my letter to a Close as I have no newes to write. You mus write soon and say when you think you can come.

Your affectionate wife,

Harriett Newby.

SOURCE: H. W. Flournoy, Editor, Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Other Manuscripts from January 1 1836 to April 15, 1869, Volume 11, p. 311

Major-General William T. Sherman to Major-General George H. Thomas, October 16, 1864

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,

In the Field, Ship's Gap, October 16, 1864.

General THOMAS,

Nashville:

Send me Davis' and Newton's old divisions. Re-establish the road and I will follow Hood wherever he may go. I think he will move to Blue Mountain. We can maintain our men and animals on the country.

 W. T. SHERMAN,

 Major-General, Commanding.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 39, Part 2 (Serial No. 79), p. 311; John Bell Hood, Advance and Retreat, p. 264

John Brown to John Brown Jr., April 12, 1847

Springfield, Mass., April 12, 1847.

Dear Son John, — Yours of the 5th is just received. I was very glad to learn by it that you were then well. I had begun to feel anxious, not hearing for so long a time since you wrote, that you were unwell. My own health is middling good; and I learn that all at home were well a few days since. I enclose ten dollars; and I must say that when you continue to make Indefinite applications for money, without giving me the least idea of the amount you need, after I have before complained of the same thing, — namely, your not telling me frankly how much you need, — it makes me feel injured. Suffice it to say that it always affords me the greatest pleasure to assist you when I can; but if you want five, ten, twenty, or fifty dollars, why not say so, and then let me help you so far as I am able?  It places me in an awkward fix. I am much more willing to send you all you actually need (if in my power), than to send any when you do not tell what your wants require. I do not now see how we could make the exchange Mr. Walker proposes in regard to sheep, but should suppose it might be done to his mind somewhere in our direction. I should think your brother student might pay the postage of a letter ordering the “Era” to you at Austinburg till the year expires. I have ten times as many papers as I can read. Have got on middling well, since I wrote you, with the wool-trade, and mean to return shortly, and send Ruth to Austinburg. Do not see how to take time to give you further particulars now, having so much every hour to attend to. Write me on receipt of this. Will send you a Stenbenville report.

Affectionately your father,

John Brown.

P. S. Had I sent you twenty dollars, you deprive me of the comfort of knowing that your wishes have been at all complied with.

SOURCE: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 143-4

Major Rutherford B. Hayes to Sardis Birchard, July 18, 1861

Camp Chase, July 18, 1861.

Dear Uncle: — I have just read your letter of the 16th. I hope it is good proof that you are mending rapidly. It is pleasant to see your own handwriting again.

Our men are uniformed and we are daily receiving our needful equipments. The indications are that we shall soon move. In what direction and under whose command, we do not know. We are not very particular. We prefer the mountainous region of Virginia or Tennessee.

If Ned, Jr. was down here, I would try what could be done with him. But the travelling is done so much by rail, that I hardly need two horses. My sorrel is a good one.

My notion is that we shall go within a fortnight. Lucy and the two boys will stay until we go with Platt. Come down if you can, but not at the risk of health. Write often. No letters are so good as yours.

Sincerely,

R. B. Hayes.

S. Birchard.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 38-9

Major-General Thomas J. Jackson to Mary Anna Morrison Jackson, September 8, 1862

Last evening I attended a German Reformed church in Frederick City. I was not quite near enough to hear all the sermon,¹ and I regret to say fell asleep; but had I been near enough to hear, would probably not have been so unfortunate. The minister is a gifted one, and the building beautiful. The pews are arranged in a circular form, so that every person faces the pulpit. The town appears to be a charming place, neat and beautiful. The ladies and gentlemen were sitting in front of the doors, and all looked so comfortable, and I may say elegant, according to my ideas, and their enjoyment looked so genuine, that my heart was in sympathy with the surroundings. If such scenes could only surround me in Lexington, how my heart would, under a smiling Providence, rejoice!

_______________

¹ His modesty had led him to take a back seat.

SOURCE: Mary Anna Jackson, Life and Letters of General Thomas J. Jackson (Stonewall Jackson), p. 346

John G. Fee to Cassius M. Clay, December 12, 1859

Pittsburg, Pa., December 12, 1859.

Mr. C. M. Clay —

Dear Friend: — I am still in the free States, being detained longer than I expected. My health is better than when I left home. We shall raise money enough to pay for our land, and open the way for other more extended interests.

I find Republicanism rising. The Republicans in Philadelphia have separated from the “mere peoples’ party.” They are going into the work in good earnest. I stopped with some true friends of yours, Wm. B. Thomas and Professor Cleveland. Many inquired for you. I told them you were still in the field, and the true friend of freedom. I believe this, and I am pained when I hear Republicans talk of such men as Bates, Blair, etc., and omit your name.

I have repeatedly spoken of you in public and private. I think the spirit is rising in the Republican ranks, and will yet demand a representative man. If you or Chase or Seward are on the ticket, or tried men, I shall expect to work with the Republicans. I shall continue to do all I can to urge a higher standard. Wm. B. Thomas of Philadelphia says he will thus work and expend money to induce a higher standard; but, if the party “flattens down” below what it was last time, he is off. Hundreds of others will do the same — yes, thousands; and that class of men the party can not well do without.

Dr. Hart of New York proposed that I address a letter to you, calling you out. I thought it not best to do so until I should see you personally, or write to you, and have an arrangement. I am having encouraging audiences — staying longer than I had intended — perhaps ’tis all well. I learn there is some feeling against me in Kentucky in consequence of an article in the Louisville Courier, representing me as approving John Brown's course, etc. Such is a direct perversion of my uniform and invariable teaching. I have been careful here, and always said I disapproved his manner of action — attempts to abduct, or incite insurrection; but that I thought God is speaking to the world through John Brown, in his spirit of consecration. I suppose I can not help the gullibility of the people, unless I attempt to correct by publishing. Is this best? Write to me at Cincinnati, care of Geo. L. Weed. I shall start for Lewis in a day or two; from thence to Cincinnati, and home.

John. G. Fee.

SOURCE: Cassius Marcellus Clay, The life of Cassius Marcellus Clay, Volume 1, p. 575-6

Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Mead, September 5, 1863

September 5, 1863.

Have you seen a very bitter article in Wilkes's Spirit of the Times, of August 29th?¹ He says the victory of Gettysburg was due entirely to the strength of the position and the heroic bravery of the common soldiers, and was entirely independent of any strategy or military ability displayed by any general from the senior down. He then charges me with imbecility and timidity, and says the Army of the Potomac never can do anything so long as so many incompetent men are at the head of it. The only consolation I have, is that censure from such a source will in the eyes of all respectable people be praise. There is no doubt the position at Gettysburg was very strong, and that the victory was in a great measure due to this fact; and it is also equally true that if the men had not fought as well as they did, I should have been beaten; but I have yet to learn the existence in history of a general whose genius was equal to winning victory when all the advantages were against him, and his men would not fight.

Wilkes is a Hooker man; but whether his article was inspired by any of the friends of this officer, I am not prepared to say, and can hardly believe such to be the case.

_______________

¹ For Article mentioned, sec Appendix F.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 2, p. 147

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Eliza Walter Smith, September 20, 1863

Headquarters Dept. Of The Tenn.,

Vicksburg, Sept. 20, 1863.

My Dear Mother:

I want now to impress upon you, and I think you at least, or at the last, will understand me and know I am in earnest, that General Grant is the man of the nation, that the eyes of the nation are turned upon him, that he has a world-wide celebrity, I was going to write, but I should write, worldwide honest fame, and I should inform you further that he does not write much or say much, but whatever he writes or says is strictly to the point.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 336-7

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Friday, September 25, 1863

It is quite warm today. I was on fatigue duty, accompanying the quartermaster's wagons into Vicksburg to draw supplies for the regiment. The bales of hay and sacks of corn taxed our strength in loading them. Some of the boys on furlough returned today.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 144

Diary of Charles H. Lynch: December 30, 1862

Marching orders. Reported the rebel cavalry leader J. E. B. Stuart about to raid into Maryland along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The three companies of our regiment and other troops here are suddenly ordered out on the line of the B. & O. R. R. Left camp tonight in a warm rain storm.

SOURCE: Charles H. Lynch, The Civil War Diary, 1862-1865, of Charles H. Lynch 18th Conn. Vol's, p. 12

118th Ohio Infantry

Organized at Lima, Cincinnati and Camp Mansfield, Ohio, August and September, 1862. Ordered to Kentucky and assigned to duty as guard along Kentucky Central Railroad from Buston's Station to Paris, Ky., September, 1862, to August, 1863. Attached to 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, Army of Kentucky, Dept. of the Ohio, September to November, 1862. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, Army of Kentucky, November, 1862. District of Central Kentucky, Dept. of the Ohio, to June, 1863. 2nd Brigade, 4th Division, 23rd Army Corps, Dept. of the Ohio, to July, 1863. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 23rd Army Corps, to August, 1863. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 23rd Army Corps, to April, 1864. 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 23rd Army Corps, Army of the Ohio, to February, 1865, and Dept. of North Carolina to June, 1865.

SERVICE. – Skirmish at Paris, Ky., July 29, 1863 (Detachment). Burnside's Campaign in East Tennessee August 16-October 17, 1863. Duty at Kingston till December 6. Action at Kingston November 24, and near Kingston December 4. Moved to Nashville December 5; thence march to Blain's Cross Roads and Mossy Creek. Action at Mossy Creek December 29. Operations in East Tennessee December, 1863, to April, 1864. Atlanta (Ga.) Campaign May 1 to September 8. Demonstrations on Dalton May 9-13. Battle of Resaca May 14-15. Advance on Dallas May 18-25. 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. Lost Mountain June 15-17. Muddy Creek June 17. Noyes Creek June 19. Kolb's Farm June 22. Assault on Kenesaw June 27. Nickajack Creek July 2-5. Chattahoochie River July 5-17. Decatur July 19. Howard House July 20. Siege of Atlanta July 22-August 25. Utoy Creek August 5-7. Flank movement on Jonesboro August 25-30. Battle of Jonesboro August 31-September 1 (Reserve). Lovejoy Station September 2-6. Operations against Hood in North Georgia and North Alabama September 29-November 3. Nashville Campaign November-December. Columbia, Duck River, November 24-27. Battle of Franklin November 30. Battle of Nashville December 15-16. Pursuit of Hood to the Tennessee River December 17-28. At Clifton, Tenn., till January 16, 1865. Movement to Washington, D.C., thence to Fort Fisher, N. C., January 16-February 9. Operations against Hoke February 11-14. Fort Anderson February 18-19. Town Creek February 19-20. Capture of Wilmington February 22. Campaign of the Carolinas March 1-April 26. Advance on Goldsboro March 21. Advance on Raleigh April 10-14. Occupation of Raleigh April 14. Bennett's House April 26. Surrender of Johnston and his army. Duty at Raleigh, Greensboro and Salisbury till June. Mustered out June 24, 1865.

Regiment lost during service 1 Officer and 55 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 1 Officer and 127 Enlisted men by disease. Total 184.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1546

Ordinances of Secession

• South Carolina, December 20, 1860
• Mississippi, January 9, 1861
• Florida, January 10, 1861
• Alabama, January 11, 1861
• Georgia, January 19, 1861
• Louisiana, January 26, 1861
• Texas, February 1, 1861
• Virginia, April 17, 1861
• Arkansas, May 6, 1861
• North Carolina, May 20, 1861
• Tennessee, June 8, 1861
• Missouri, October 31, 1861
• Kentucky, November 20, 1861

The Founding Documents

• The Mayflower Compact
• The Declaration of Independence
• The Treaty of Paris
• The Articles of Confederation
• The Constitution of the United States
• The Bill of Rights
• Amendments 11-27
• The Northwest Ordinance of 1787
• The Constitution of the Confederate States

Harriett Newby to Dangerfield Newby, April 22, 1859

BRENTVILLE, April 22d, 1859.

DEAR HUSBAND:

I received your letter to-day, and it gives me much pleasure to here from you, but was sorry to _____ of your sikeness; hope you may be well when you receive this. I wrote to you several weeks ago, and directed my letter to Bridge Port, but I fear you did not receive it, as you said nothing about it in yours. You must give my love to Brother Gabial, and tell him I would like to see him very much. I wrote in my last letter that Miss Virginia had a baby — a little girl. I had to nerse her day and night. Dear Dangerfield, you cannot amagine how much I want to see you. Com as soon as you can, for nothing would give more pleasure than to see you. It is the grates Comfort I have is thinking of the promist time when you will be here. Oh, that bless hour when I shall see you once more. My baby commenced to Crall to-day; it is very delicate. Nothing more at present, but remain

Your affectionate wife,

HARRIETT NEWBY.

P. S. Write soon.

SOURCE: H. W. Flournoy, Editor, Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Other Manuscripts from January 1 1836 to April 15, 1869, Volume 11, p. 310-1

General Albert Sidney Johnston to the Soldiers of the Army of the Mississippi, April 3, 1862

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE MISSISSIPPI,

Corinth, Miss., April 3, 1862.

Soldiers of the Army of the Mississippi:

I have put you in motion to offer battle to the invaders of your country. With the resolution and disciplined valor becoming men fighting, as you are, for all worth living or dying for, you can but march to a decisive victory over agrarian mercenaries, sent to subjugate and despoil you of your liberties, property, and honor. Remember the precious stake involved. Remember the dependence of your mothers, your wives, your sisters, and our children on the result. Remember the fair, broad, abounding land, the happy homes, and ties that will be desolated by your defeat. The eyes and hopes of 8,000,000 of people rest upon you. You are expected to show yourselves worthy of your valor and lineage; worthy of the women of the South, whose noble devotion in this war has never been exceeded in any time. With such incentives to brave deeds and with the trust that God is with us your generals will lead you confidently to the combat, assured of success.

A. S. JOHNSTON,

General, Commanding

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 10, Part 1 (Serial No. 1o), p. 396-7; John Witherspoon Du Bose, General Joseph Wheeler and the Army of Tennessee, p. 64