Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Tuesday, August 12, 1862

We just learned that Ebenezer McCullough of Company E died of chronic diarrhea at Corinth, on the third of this month. His home was at Davenport, Iowa.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 62

Remarkable Requests – Will of Capt. Levy, of the Navy

From the N. Y. Post

The will of Captain Uriah P. Levy, U. S. N., came up for probate in the Surrogate’s Court to-day.  Mrs. Levy receives only her right of dower and all the household furniture, plate, &c. so long as she shall remain unmarried, excepting what is otherwise bequeathed, to revert upon her death or marriage.  Captain Levy’s nephew, Ashel S. Levy, receives the Washington farm, in Albemarle, Virginia, with all the negro slaves, &c., and $5,00 [sic] in cash, also his gold box with the freedom of the city of New York.

He leaves to his brother, Jos. M. Levy, $1,000 in cash and mortgage on his house in Baltimore, to his brother Isaac Levy, $1,000 and all debts due him on notes, to Mitchell M. Levy, son of his brother, Joseph P. Levy, $1,000 in cash, to Eliza Hendricks, of Cincinnati, Ohio, the income of $1,000 to his nephew Morton Phillips, of New Orleans, his gold hunting watch and $500, to Colonel T. Moses of South Carolina a sliver urn, formerly belonging to Dr. Philips on which is engraved, “From Captain Uriah P. Levy, United States Navy, to his kinsman, Colonel Franklin Moses, Senator of the State of South Carolina, as a testimony of my affection.”

There are also legacies of $100 each to Captain John B. Montgomery, Captain Lawrence Kearney and Captain Francis Gregory, United States Navy, and Benj. F. Butler, to purchase mourning rings.  To Lieutenants Peter Turner and John Moffat, U. S. Navy, and Dr. John J. Cohen and Jacob J. Cohen, Jr., Col. M. Cohen, United States Navy, Lieutenant Lanier, Captain Wm. Meroine and Commodore Thomas Ap C Jones, each $25, to purchase mourning rings.

The will directs the executors to erect a monument at Cypress Hills, to consist of a full length statue of Captain Levy, in iron or bronze, in the full uniform of a Captain of the United States Navy and holding his hand a scroll on which shall be inscribed, “Under this monument,” or “In the memory of Uriah P. Levy – Captain in the United States Navy, Father of the Law for Abolition of the Barbarous Practice of Corporal Punishment in the Navy of the United States.”  The monument is to cost $6,000, and the body is to be buried under it.

To the Historical Society are bequeathed three paintings – the Wreck of the Medusa frigate, by Gericault, the Descent of the infant Jesus and Virgin Confessing the Bishop of Rouen, and a Rural Scene by Carl Bonner.  He then bequeaths his farm and estate at Monticello, Va., formerly belonging to President Thomas Jefferson, with all the residue of his estate, “to the People of the United States,” or such persons as Congress shall appoint to receive it, and especially all my real estate in the city of New York in trust for the sole and only purpose of establishing and maintaining at the farm in Monticello, Va., an agricultural school for the purpose of educating, as practical. farmers children of the Warrant Office of the United States Navy whose fathers are dead, the children to be supported by this fund from the ages of twelve to sixteen.”  For fuel and fencing said farm school, [the] will bequeaths two hundred acres of woodland of his Washington farm, Va.

The will especially requires that no professorships be established in said school and no professors being employed, the school being intended for charity and not for pomp.  In case Congress refuses to carry out the intention of this bequests the property is bequeathed to the people of Virginia for the same purpose, and incase the legislature of Virginia declines to received the trust the property is to go to the Portuguese Hebrew Congregation in this city and the Old Portuguese Hebrew Congregation in Cherry street, Philadelphia, and the Portuguese Hebrew Congregation of Richmond Va., for the establishment of said school at Monticello, for the children of all denominations, Hebrew and Christian.

Should this fund be more than sufficient for the support of children of warrant officers of the navy, the children of sergeant-majors of the United States army are to be included in the benefit – the balance to be for the benefit of children of seamen.  He further bequeaths $1,000 to the Portuguese Hebrew Hospital of this city.

The executors are Benjamin F. Butler, D. V. S. Coddington, Ashel S. Levy, Jos. H. Patten, Joshua Cohen, Jacob J. Cohen, George Carr, and John B. Blake, who are also created trustees of the estate.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, June 7, 1862, p. 1

Review: Giant In The Shadows

Giant in the Shadows: The Life of Robert T. Lincoln

By Jason Emerson

He is known to history as Robert Todd Lincoln, the oldest of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln’s four sons, and the only one to survive to adulthood.  Never preferring to use his full name during his lifetime he was known as Robert T. Lincoln.  To those who knew and loved him, he was simply Bob.

From his birth to his death, and since, Robert T. Lincoln has remained hidden in the shadows of his martyred father and controversial mother.  With  “Giant in the Shadows: The Life of Robert T. Lincoln,” journalist and an independent historian, Jason Emerson has delivered Robert T. Lincoln from the shadows of his famous parents and given him his own well deserved place in history.

Comprehensive in its scope, “Giant In the Shadows,” details the life of Robert T. Lincoln from his birth on August 1st, 1843 in a rented from of Springfield, Illinois’ Globe Tavern to his death on July 28, 1926 at Hildene, his private estate in Manchester, Vermont.  During his nearly 83 year lifespan, Robert would be present at Robert E. Lee’s surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House; he would be the only person in American History to be closely associated with three presidential assassinations (those of his father, James Garfield and William McKinley); he would become the 35th Secretary of War, serving under Presidents James Garfield and Chester Arthur; United States Minister to the United Kingdom during the administration of President Benjamin Harrison; President of the Pullman Palace Car Company; but most notably Robert was the keeper of the historical legacy of Abraham Lincoln.

Much of “Giant in the Shadows” explores the dynamics of the Lincoln family and their personal relationships with one another.  Mr. Emerson demonstrates that Abraham Lincoln’s relationship with his son, Bob, was a warm and intimate one, rather than cold and distant as it has often been portrayed.  Robert’s often tumultuous relationship with his mother, Mary Todd Lincoln is thoroughly examined.  During his childhood Robert shared a close relationship with his mother, but the cumulative effect of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination in combination with the deaths of three of her four children took its psychological on Mary Lincoln.  As his mother’s mental health deteriorated Robert and Mary Todd Lincoln’s roles were reversed; the son became his mother’s protector.  With few options and a fear for his mother’s safety, Robert had his Mother declared insane and placed her in an institution, causing a deep family rift that never fully healed.

Biographers often fall in love with their subjects, and Mr. Emerson is not immune.  In the book’s only major shortcoming Robert Lincoln’s role in the Pullman strike of 1894 is not fully examined and murky at best.

With all of the tragedy in his life, it is easy to feel sympathetic toward Robert T. Lincoln, and that is completely understandable.  Emerson demonstrates time and again, that Robert Lincoln is not a man to be pitied.  It is true, his name opened many doors for him, but time and again Robert shut those doors, opened other doors of opportunity of his own choosing, and never once used his father’s memory and legacy to his own advantage while rising to his own prominence.  Much like his father Robert T. Lincoln was in many ways a self made man.

ISBN 978-0809330553, Southern Illinois University Press, © 2012, Hardcover, 640 pages, Photographs & Illustrations, End Notes, Bibliography & Index. $39.95.  To purchase click HERE.

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Monday, August 11, 1862

I wrote a letter home today and sent a ten dollar bill in it. I am sending home nearly all my pay from the Government, with the understanding that father is to keep it for me.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 62

W.H.L. Wallace Headquarters Monument: Pittsburg Landing Road, Shiloh National Military Park

HEADQUARTERS, 2^D DIVISION

ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE.

BRIG. GEN. WILLIAM H. L. WALLACE, COMMANDING

Mahoney, of the Dubuque Herald says . . .

. . . in denunciation of the Administration and the war , and that the “people will soon open their eyes and understand,” &c.  This is a pretty good joke for Mahoney to get off at the expense of his friends.  Loyal men have always had their “eyes open,” and their “understanding” good.  But Mahoney and his traitorous crew will not get their “eyes open” until their “understanding” lets them slip through the “drop.”  Mourners will be few and scattering, like the days of Judas, but the attendance will be large. – {Indianola Visitor

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, June 7, 1862, p. 1

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Sunday, August 10, 1862

We had company inspection this morning. We received orders to sweep the camp twice a day from now on. Our new chaplain, Chauncey H. Remington, conducted preaching services in the evening on the regimental parade ground.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 62

Review: Gettysburg, Turning Point Of The Civil War

Gettysburg: The Turning Point of the War

150th Anniversary Tribute

Edited by Kelly Knauer

In his introduction “Why Gettysburg Matters,” James M. McPherson explains Robert E. Lee and the leaders of the Confederacy believed a Confederate victory on Northern soil would force Ulysses S. Grant to loosen his strangle-hold on Vicksburg, Mississippi, the tide of Northern sentiment would turn against the war, and Abraham Lincoln would be forced to sue for peace or be defeated in the following year’s election.  If the Republican Party was defeated in large numbers in the 1864 elections, Lee believed the newly installed President of the United States would have no other option than to capitulate and give the Confederacy her freedom.  In short, Lee’s second invasion of the North was a vital component of the Southern campaign to win the war.

Having established the importance of the July 1863 battle, the book’s creators take a step back in time and to look at the bigger picture.  In the chapter, “The Road to Gettysburg,” the divisive issue of slavery is cited as the primary cause of the regional divisions in the United States.  After decades of debates and compromises, John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry, was the match that lit the fuse, and the election of Abraham Lincoln was the explosive detonation that caused the Union to fracture as one Southern state seceded after another.

Moving forward in time to the summer of 1863 the next chapter, “Lee Invades the North” follows what is now known as the Gettysburg Campaign: the Army of Virginia’s northward movement through Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and into Pennsylvania with the Army of the Potomac at it heels.

The battle took place over three days, July 1-3, 1863, and each day of the battle is covered in one chapter of the book.  Each of these chapters includes a “Battlefield Guide,” giving its readers a reference point for information which follows in the chapter’s successive pages, namely a glossary of military terms and a timeline of day’s events; annotations about time, and the organization of infantry and artillery units are also included.  On the opposing page is a map detailing the day’s action.

Interspersed throughout the book are articles covering Abraham Lincoln’s search for a general able to defeat Confederate General Robert E. Lee, Civil War Medicine, the Gettysburg Cyclorama, Death and the Civil War, and Lee’s escape south after the battle.

The final chapter “Gettysburg in Memory,” brings us from the immediate aftermath of the battle to the conclusion of the war up to the present day.  It delves into the realm of recent of study, the Civil War in Memory; with articles covering Civil War photographers and photography, Abraham Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address, and the Civil War in movies.

Many of the officers who lead troops on both sides of the conflict have become historical icons.  “Gettysburg, The turning Pont of the War” features lengthy biographical sketches of some of the battle’s notable participants: Robert E. Lee, J.E.B. Stuart, George G. Meade, Joshua L. Chamberlain and James Longstreet.  Also included are shorter biographical sketches of those commanding of the opposing armies: for the Confederacy A. P. Hill, Jubal Early, Henry Heth, Richard S. Ewell, John Bell Hood, Richard H. Anderson, Edward “Allegheny” Johnson, William Barksdale, George E. Pickett, Lewis A. Armistead, Isaac H. Trimble and J. Johnston Pettigrew; and their Federal counterparts Francis C. Barlow, Solomon Meredith, Winfield Scott Hancock, John C. Caldwell, William J. Colville, Alfred Pleasonton, Henry Hunt, John Buford and John F. Reynolds

First person accounts of the battle are also included in the book from civilians Elizabeth Masser Thorn and Tillie Pierce; Confederates Colonel William C. Oates of the 15th Alabama Infantry, Sergeant Valerius C. Giles of the 4th Texas Infantry and Captain Henry T. Owen, of the 18th Virginia Infantry; and Federal troops, Lieutenant Charles A. Fuller of the 61st New York Infantry, Captain Edward R. Bowen of the 114th Pennsylvania Infantry and Lieutenant George G. Benedict of the 12th Vermont Infantry

Using its linear narrative of each day’s action in combination with first person accounts and a liberal use of photographs, artworks and maps, “Gettysburg, The Turning Point of the War” gives its readers a panoramic view of the largest battle ever to take place in the Western Hemisphere, sets it into its proper historical context, and explores how we choose to remember the battle and the Civil War.

ISBN 978-1618930538, Time, © 2013, Hardcover, Dimensions 10.5 x 1 x 11.5 inches, 192 pages, Maps, Photographs, Illustrations, Picture Credits & Index. $29.95.  To Purchase the book click HERE.

Mutilated Treasury Notes

TREASURY DEPARTMENT

WASHINGTON, May 18, 1862

To guard against frauds upon the Government and to secure the just rights of holders, the following rules, for the redemption of mutilated United States Notes, are hereby established.

FIRST – Mutilated notes, which have been torn no matter how much, but of which it is evident that all the fragments are returned or defaced no matter how badly, but certainly satisfactorily genuine, will be redeemed to their full face value on presentation.

SECOND – Fragments of notes will be redeemed in full only when accompanied by an affidavit stating the cause and manner of mutilation, and that the missing part of the note is totally destroyed.  The good character of the affiant must also be fully vouched by the officer before whom the affidavit is taken.

THIRD – In the absence of such affidavit, fragments of notes will not be paid in full, but the parts presented will be redeemed in their proportion to the whole note, reckoning, as a general rule, by twentieths.

FOURTH – Less than half of a note will not be redeemed, except by payment of the full value of the note under the second rule, or by payment of the proportional value of the missing part, when presented under the fifth rule.

FIFTH – Fragments of notes, for which less than the full face value has been paid, will be retained for a year, to an end that the owners who have received less than the value of the full note, may have opportunity to return the missing part and receive the amount previously withheld.

SIXTH – Until further order, mutilated notes and fragments will be redeemed only at the Treasury of the United States at Washington, whither they can be sent, addressed to the “Treasurer of the United States,” by mail, free of postage.  A draft on the Assistant Treasurer at New York, for the amount allowed will be returned in the same way, to the address of the person remitting the same.

S. P. CHASE,

Secretary of the Treasury

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, June 7, 1862, p. 1

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Saturday, August 9, 1862

The weather is very hot and during the day the men not on duty keep close to camp. There are some fine orchards in this locality and we get plenty of fruit now, as all orchard guards have been removed. The men are given passes and every day four or five from each company go out to get fruit.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 62

Col. David Stuart’s Headquarters Monument: Larkin Bell’s Field, Shiloh National Military Park

U. S.

* * *

HEADQUARTERS, 2^D BRIGADE,

5^TH DIVISION,

ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE.

COL. DAVID STUART,

55TH ILLINOIS,

COMMANDING.

* * * * *

ESTABLISHED MARCH 19, 1862.

Meeting of the Ladies’ Aid Society

The Ladies’ Aid Society will meet in the Medical College at 10 o’clock this forenoon.  As some two hundred wounded soldiers are soon to be here, and must be provided for, it is hoped that there will be a full attendance of Ladies.  There is immediate need of the aid of all who can render it.

By order of the President.

– Published in The Gate City, Keokuk, Iowa, Thursday, April 17, 1862

The Government Expenditures

The country was some time ago informed on what seemed to be “reliable authority,” that the expenditures of the Government were fully three millions of dollars per day. – A great deal of astonishment and some apprehension was felt at the statement.  People were justly puzzled and alarmed at the idea of the nation plunging into debt at the rate of one thousand millions of dollars per year.  It now appears that the average expenditures of the Government have not been one million of dollars per day.  The New York Commercial Advertiser says of a speech made on Tuesday, by Mr. Dawes of Massachusetts.  He showed on authority which is entirely trustworthy, that the whole expenses of the present Administration, and for a period of fourteen months and eighteen days, amounted only to $441,000,000, which was three millions less than one million per day on the average.  The entire indebtedness including the seventy millions bequeathed by the last Administration was $482,796,145, on the 22nd of this month.  The speech of Mr. Dawes was in reply to Voorhees of Indiana, who made out that our National debt would soon amount to six thousand million dollars.

Mr. DAWES said:

The expenditures of all the departments of the Government outside of the war and navy, since the Administration came into power are as follows, For the Interior Department, Indians and pensions to the 22nd of May $8,681,860, civil list, foreign intercourse and miscellaneous $21,635,010, making a total of nearly $25,367,000.  The expenditures of the War during that time amounted to $374,172,000 and the navy during the same time $42,055,000, or a total of $416,227,000.  The average daily expenditures in the War Department have been $897,295, and those of the navy $100,852 making the average in both departments $998,147.  No requisitions are unpaid, excepting a few thousand dollars for illegality or disloyalty.  The payments last Thursday were only $864,917 yet the day after when the paymasters came in the expenditures were $2,000,000 but on Saturday only $500,000.  So the expenditures of the government up to the 22nd of May inst. in round numbers, were for the military $374,000,000, navy, $42,000,000, all other expenditures, $25,000,000 – a total of $441,000,000.  From the 4th of March, 1861, till the 22nd of May the public debt including $70,000,000 old debt bequeathed by Buchanan, amounted in the aggregate on Friday last to $481,796,145.  Mr. Dawes run [sic] a parallel between the expenditures under the former administration and the present showing as to the civil list, this administration has been far more honest and economical than that.

The expenditures of the Government have been greater in the past than they will be in the future.  Vast sums of money have been laid out in ships and arms.  The creation of the enormous artillery force which is now so effective an arm of our military department involved lavish outlays of money.  Our coast expeditions have cost us extravagantly.  Arms have been procured at great cost.  In fact we were not prepared for war, and have been obliged to make up for our want of preparation.  We have now made our permanent investments in war material and the current expenditures will be diminished.  The estimate that the war was costing us three millions per day, was made just at the time that hundreds of vessels were charted for the transportation of McClellan’s army from Alexandria to Fortress Monroe and while an immense fleet of steamers were conveying Gen. Grant’s army up the Tennessee river the great cost of these vessels of course swelled the aggregate daily expenditure greatly, but yet the three million estimate was much too large even for that time.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, June 7, 1862, p. 1

Col. Asbury B. Porter

PORTER, ASBURY B., COL., retired; born in Bourbon Co., Ky., June 20, 1808; when 21 years of age, his father died, leaving a wife and nine children; Asbury being the oldest, upon him devolved the care of the family; they removed to Illinois and located in Vermilion Co.; while living here, he became acquainted with Miss Martha A. Brazleton, a native of North Carolina; she came to Illinois at an early age, and they were married Jan. 18, 1835; the same year Col. Porter came to Iowa and bought land in Henry Co., raised a crop and went back to Illinois for his family, they arrived here in October, 1836, and were among the earliest settlers; there being only a few now living in the county who were here at that time. He was elected Clerk of the Courts in 1847; reelected to the same office in 1849; was elected and represented this county in the Territorial Legislature; was re-elected and served for three terms; was engaged in the mercantile business for twenty years; was Captain of a military company — “The Mt. Pleasant Grays” — and when the war broke out, at the first call for 75,000 men, this company enlisted in the three-months service, and Capt. Porter went with them to Keokuk; while there, was elected Major of 1st Regt., Iowa V. I., the only Iowa regiment that answered the first call for 75,000 men; when the term of service for which they enlisted had expired, there was a prospect of a battle, and Gen. Lyon requested the regiment to remain; a vote of the regiment was taken and they unanimously decided to stay, and did remain until after the battle of Wilson Creek was fought; about one week before the battle, Gen. Lyon wrote the Secretary of War, recommending Maj. Porter for promotion to the rank of Major in the regular army, and requesting that he be assigned to duty under him; but he preferred to remain in the volunteer service; upon the expiration of the three-months service, he received authority from the Secretary of War to raise the 4th Regt. Iowa Cav.; was commissioned Colonel; he was also authorized by the Secretary of War to select, inspect and buy the horses for the regiment without restrictions; the only instance known where this privilege was given the Colonel of any regiment during the war; Col. Porter selected and inspected every horse; the regiment was composed of battalions of horses of matched colors, and left for the field twelve hundred strong, and was with Gen. Curtis in Missouri and Arkansas; Col. Porter was obliged to resign his commission in 1863, on account of his eyesight. After the war, he held the office of Revenue Inspector in this Congressional District. They have seven children — Watson B., with the C, B. & Q. R. R.; Emily D., now Mrs. Dr. McClure; Louzenia W., now Mrs. Capt. Beckwith; Sadie E., at home; Frank P., contractor on the C, B. & Q. R. R.; Jennie C., now Mrs. Bean, of Albia; Asbury B., civil engineer on the C, B. & Q. R. R.; lost one son — Samuel A.

SOURCE: Western Historical Company, Chicago, Illinois, The History of Henry County, Iowa, 1879, p. 578

EDITOR’S NOTE:  Col. Porter’s grandson, Warren Wallace Beckwith, married Jessie Harlan Lincoln, granddaughter of President Abraham Lincoln.

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Friday, August 8, 1862

No news of importance. The officers are having considerable trouble in keeping the boys from getting through the lines. We have regular brigade guard to keep the men in camp, yet every day a few slip through when the guards are walking in opposite directions. But now, every morning at guard mount, the officer of the day gives strict orders that guard number 1 shall walk his beat so that he will be looking at guard number 2, and continuing thus around the entire camp, so that all getting to the end of their beats at the same time face about and proceed as before, each looking toward the guard ahead of him.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 61-2

Capt. Warren Beckwith

BECKWITH, WARREN, CAPT., contractor for masonry work on the C. B. & Q. R. R.; born in Monroe Co., N. Y., Jan. 31, 1833, and received his education there; studied surveying civil engineering when he was 19 years of age; and in 1852-54, he was engaged on the Genesee Valley R. R. (now the Rochester Branch of the Erie R. R.) Went to Kansas in 1854, and came to Iowa in May, 1856; became connected with the B. & M. R. R., directly after the Land Grant Act was passed, from 1856 to 1860, then resigned and went to Texas with stock. When the war broke out, returned here and enlisted in the 4th Regt. Iowa Cav.; held the position of Battalion Adjutant; he was promoted to Captain, Jan. 1, 1863; he was in a number of severe fights and skirmishes; in the battle of Guntown one-third of his men engaged were killed and wounded; he was in the service until August, 1865. Upon his return, was appointed Roadmaster of the B. & M. R. R., and held that position until the consolidation of this road with the C, B. &Q. R. R., when he was appointed Superintendent of the track and bridges over the whole line, which position he held until he was appointed chief engineer of the whole line. On account of his health he has recently resigned. He married Miss Louzenia Wallace Porter April 14, 1863; she is a daughter of Col. A. B. Porter, one of the earliest settlers of Henry Co. They have five children—Everett, Orville, Emily, Florence and Warren.

SOURCE: Western Historical Company, Chicago, Illinois, The History of Henry County, Iowa, 1879, p. 559

EDITOR’S NOTE: Captain Beckwith’s son Warren Wallace Beckwith, married Jessie Harlan Lincoln, the granddaughter of President Abraham Lincoln.

A Fight at Huntsville

Private letters from Huntsville mention a fight at that place between an officer of one of the Ohio regiments and Col. Davis, of Huntsville, a law partner of Jere Clemens.  Davis was a member of the Alabama Secession Convention, and a Union man.  In the Convention he told Yancey, who threatened to coerce North Alabama, which was disposed to remain in the Union, that if he wanted a fight he should not have it in North Alabama, but on the dividing line.  After the Act of Secession, however, Davis took up arms for the Southern Confederacy.  The meeting between Col. Davis and the Ohio officer, who was of equal rank, took place at the quarters of Major McCook.  Some Champagne was opened and the discussion of the state of the country presently grew warm.  The Alabama Colonel told the Ohio Colonel he was a d----d liar, and Ohio told him that if he were not the guest of Major McCook, he would knock him down. – Alabama begged Ohio not to have any scruples of that sort, and repeated the epithet.  So at it they went.  Fair play was shown, and Ohio soon made his word good, knocking Alabama down and giving him a severe pelting when he was down.  Ohio’s damage consisted chiefly in a badly torn shirt.  Alabama received a pair of black eyes and enlarged nose and mouth.  Jere Clemens met the Ohio officer a few days afterward and told him he had inquired into the particulars of the affray, and that his partner (Davis) had been served exactly right.  Davis afterward acknowledged that he had got no more than he deserved.  This little circumstance has contributed largely to the popularity of the Ohioan in Huntsville.

P. S. – The three first letters of the Ohio Colonel’s name are Len. A. Harris. – {Cincinnati Commercial

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, June 7, 1862, p. 1

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Thursday, August 7, 1862

Nothing of importance. Everything is quiet in camp. The rebels are not giving us much anxiety yet, but our officers are not napping; a strong picket is constantly kept in line.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 61

Another New Man-Of-War

The new steam sloop-of-war Adirondack has just been completed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and the Navy Department have been informed that she is ready for her armament, and may be put in commission at once if required.  Her rigging and external decoration were finished last week, and she now lies in the stream, a perfectly built model.

The Adirondack is one of the new steam corvettes ordered by the Government, and was built at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and launched on Washington’s birthday, the 22d of February last.  She is a wooden vessel, having been far advanced toward construction before the advantages of iron clad ships were made so manifest.  She is 237 feet 2 inches long, over all, has a breadth of beam of 36 feet, a depth of hold 10 feet 11½ inches, and will draw when laden 14 feet of water.  Her machinery is of the first class, and was constructed at the Novelty Works in this city.  It consists of two horizontal back-acting engines, with cylinders 42 inches in diameter and 30 inch stroke.  The boilers, of which two splendid once have been put up, are Martin’s patent, provided with the latest improvements of the inventor.  The propeller is a three bladed, true screw, 14 feet 3 inches in diameter, with proportionate to pitch.  Sewall’s furnace condenser is attached to the machinery, and a distilling apparatus, capable of distilling 300 gallons of water in 24 hours.  The armament of the vessel is prepared, but must not be described now.

Officers for Adirondack will be appointed in a few days, and it is expected she will make her trial trip in the first week of June.  Her model was designed in Washington by the United States Contractors, so that she is a “regular navy built man-of-war.” – {Tribune

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, June 7, 1862, p. 1

“Raid” on Owen

Owen county, which has been noted for being infested with traitors – traitors big and traitors small – traitors low and traitors tall – and for their vehement declarations, that they knew their rights, and would maintain their liberty and independence until they all – big and little died in the last ditch.  Well, Owen county was recently thrown into a terrible ferment by a “raid” from Union soldiers, but after all their boasting not as a traitor was ready to be the man to show where the last ditch is located.  Ah! who shall tell it in Dixie that Federal soldiers invaded the “sacred soil” of Sweet Owen, a few days since and instead of resisting arrest, as they had all sworn to do, the county Judge, the County Court Clerk, the Sheriff, the Circuit Court Clerk, and others, with lamb-like meekness, permitted themselves to be led off to prison at Louisville!  And so ended the first chapter.

Chapter two is rich with incidents enough to form the basis of a good story, but we have not descriptive powers enough to do the subject justice.  Let us give the facts as we heard them.

One day last week – probably Monday – court having adjourned for dinner, the traitors assembled in the Court House to nominate candidates to fill the various offices to be voted for at the ensuing election.  The meeting organized and was ready for business, when Dr. Gale, the Ex-Representative to the Legislature from Owen, had occasion to go to the front door.  No sooner had he reached it, and cast one look out into the street, than he started back, “his hair erect like the quills of the fretful porcupine” – his eye balls starting from their deep sockets, and glazed with horror – and approaching the officers of the meeting gasped out: “Lincoln’s whole ------ army has surrounded the Court House and town!”

What ensued on the announcement is beyond our powers of description in the words of the old saying, it can be better imagined than described, the pencil of a Hogarth alone could do it justice.  A thunderbolt falling into the midst of a crowd, could not have produced greater consternation, and a 1,000 lb. bomb shell falling in their midst would not have caused a more sudden skedaddling.

Reader, you can form some idea of the scene by imagining you were present, and witnessed Representative Burns jumping out of a back window, carrying the sash on his neck like a yoke on a goose; Senator Grover following after Burns and lighting upon his back, and think it a horse he was astraddle of, rode him to the horse rack; Burns mounting a horse without taking time to unhitch him, and finding it impossible to make the horse break lose then cut the reins to get free from the rack, leaving his horse to his own course, so he would only increase his speed in proportion to the zeal and energy that his rider belabored him with heels and fists.  Judge Nuttal finding no place above earth to hide, some of the rebels let him down a well in a bucket.  Will Pryor of Henry coming into town during the excitement, was urged to hide after some parlay he consented; was ushered into a room with three beds, but found no place in either for even his head – the traitors were piled up two and three deep under them!  In despair, he rushed down stairs, and so soon as possible put the Kentucky river between him and Owen county.

That was the second chapter in Owen County’s ferment.  We only regret that we have not the power to do it justice to it. – {Shelby (Ky.) News

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, June 7, 1862, p. 1