Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Sunday, November 2, 1862

We struck our tents, packed our knapsacks and sent them into Corinth for storage. The sick were all left in the hospital at Corinth. We started at 2 p. m. and marched fourteen miles, when we bivouacked for the night. The roads are very dusty and the weather is quite cool, but we are breaking the chill by building campfires.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 80

President Abraham Lincoln to Major General Ulysses S. Grant, August 9, 1863

Executive Mansion,

Washington, August 9, 1863.

My dear General Grant:

I see by a despatch of yours that you incline quite strongly towards an expedition against Mobile. This would appear tempting to me also, were it not that in view of recent events in Mexico, I am greatly impressed with the importance of re-establishing the national authority in Western Texas as soon as possible. I am not making an order, however. That I leave, for the present at least, to the General-in-Chief.

A word upon another subject. Gen. Thomas has gone again to the Mississippi Valley, with the view of raising colored troops. I have no reason to doubt that you are doing what you reasonably can upon the same subject. I believe it is a resource which, if vigorously applied now, will soon close the contest. It works doubly, weakening the enemy and strengthening us. We were not fully ripe for it until the river was opened. Now, I think at least a hundred thousand can, and ought to be rapidly organized along it's [sic] shores, relieving all the white troops to serve elsewhere.

Mr. Dana understands you as believing that the emancipation proclamation has helped some in your military operations. I am very glad if this is so. Did you receive a short letter from me, dated the 13th of July?

Yours very truly

A. LINCOLN.

SOURCES: Roy P. Basler, editor, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 6, p. 374-5.  A draft of this letter can be found among The Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress; The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 24, Part 3 (Serial No. 38), p. 584.

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Saturday, November 1, 1862

I was on guard today. The Sixth Division received orders to march in the morning.¹  We are to go in light equipment, leaving here our knapsacks and tents, which are to be put in storage.

__________

¹ The Eleventh Iowa regiment was within fifty miles of Corinth for two hundred and thirty-four days, and in that time took active part in the two days’ battle at Pittsburg Landing, the siege of Corinth, two months of garrisoning and fortifying Corinth, forty-two days in fortifying and garrisoning Bolivar, the battle of Iuka and garrison duty there, the two days’ battle of Corinth and then the pursuit of the enemy and return to Corinth. During all this time Company E was with the regiment performing its full duty. The losses of our company were nine killed in battle and five dying of disease, making fourteen of the company whose bodies were laid away under the green sod. — A. G. D.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 80

Dead Soldiers

William T. Noell, Co. G, 17th Iowa, and Isaac M. Williams, Co. F, 8th Iowa, died in Keokuk hospital, on Tuesday last.  Henry Kennedy, Co. I, 15th Iowa, died at home in that city, the day previous.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Saturday Morning, May 10, 1862, p. 1

Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant to Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, December 23, 1864

City Point, Virginia,

December 23, 1864.

I see some objections are raised to Meade's confirmation as major-general in the regular army. What the objections are I do not know, and cannot therefore address myself to them. I am very sorry this should be so. General Meade is one of our truest men and ablest officers. He has been constantly with that army, confronting the strongest, best-appointed, and most confident army in the South. He therefore has not had the same opportunity of winning laurels so distinctively marked as have fallen to the lot of other generals. But I defy any one to name a commander who could do more than he has done with the same chances. I am satisfied that with a full knowledge of the man, what he has done, and the circumstances attending all his military acts, all objections would be removed. I wrote a letter to Senator Wilson to-day in his behalf which I hope will have some weight. If you can put in a word with some of the other Senators, particularly those who oppose his confirmation, and are willing to do it, I will feel much obliged.

SOURCE: James Grant Wilson, Editor, General Grant’s Letters to a Friend 1861-1880, p. 41-2

Senator John Sherman to Major General William T. Sherman, July 24, 1864

MANSFIELD, OHIO, July 24, 1864.

My Dear Brother:

I have not written you for some time as I knew you were so well occupied and hoped by this time you have attained the goal of your present movements, Atlanta. We all feel that upon Grant and you, and the armies under your command, the fate of this country depends. If you are successful, it is ardently hoped that peace may soon follow with a restored union. If you fail, the wisest can hope for nothing but a long train of disasters and the strife of factions. All our people cling to the hope of success, and seem perfectly willing to submit to taxation, bad administration, and every ill short of disunion. Whether it is the result of education, the constant warnings of the early Southern statesman, or the reason of the thing, everybody here dreads the breaking up of the union as the beginning of anarchy. The very thing they fight for in the South is for them, and for us, the worst calamity. What can be more terrible than the fate of Kentucky and Missouri. A man cannot go to bed at night, except in fear of the knife and torch. This lawlessness will extend all over the country if we do not have military success. All the clamor the Copperheads can make about personal liberty doesn't affect the people, if they can only see security and success. Bad precedents in time of war will easily be corrected by peace. But the anarchy of unsuccessful war will reduce us to a pitiable state, in which we shall easily fall victims to demagogism or tyranny. Every one feels that you have done your part nobly. Grant has not had such success. No doubt he has done as well as any one could with his resources and such adversaries. Still he has not taken Richmond, and I fear will not this campaign. . . .

I congratulate you on the ability and success of your campaign. I see many officers, and they all speak of it, not only as a success but as a scientific success, evincing abilities of a high order. I found on a short visit to Cincinnati that you were very popular there. I saw Anderson, Swords, Dunn, and a host of others, all of whom entertained great kindness for you. . . .

Affectionately yours,

JOHN SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 236-7

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Friday, October 31, 1862

This was general muster day, and we were reviewed this afternoon by the commanding officer, General McArthur. The general says our division is hard to beat, declaring that it would be difficult to find a better-looking number of men armed for active service than the Sixth Division. After the review we were mustered for pay. The weather is very warm and the roads are dusty.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 79

Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant to Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, August 16, 1864

City Point, Virginia,

August 16, 1864.

YOUR letter asking for autographs to send to Mrs. Adams, the wife of our Minister to England, was duly received. She had also sent to Mr. Dana for the same thing, and his requisition, he being with me at the time, was at once filled. I have directed Colonel Bowers to send with this a few of the original dispatches telegraphed from here. They have all been hastily written, and not with the expectation of ever being seen afterward, but will, I suppose, answer as well as anything else, or as if they had been written especially for the purpose of sending. . . .

I state to all citizens who visit me that all we want now to insure an early restoration of the Union is a determined unity of sentiment North. The rebels have now in their ranks their last men. The little boys and old men are guarding prisoners, railroad bridges, and forming a good part of their garrisons for intrenched positions. A man lost by them cannot be replaced. They have robbed the cradle and the grave equally to get their present force. Besides what they lose in frequent skirmishes and battles, they are now losing from desertions and other causes at least one regiment per day. With this drain upon them the end is visible if we will but be true to ourselves. Their only hope now is in a divided North. This might give them reinforcements from Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri, while it would weaken us. With the draft quietly enforced, the enemy would become despondent, and would make but little resistance. I have no doubt but the enemy are exceedingly anxious to hold out until after the presidential election. They have many hopes from its effects. They hope for a counter-revolution. They hope for the election of the peace candidate. In fact, like Micawber, they hope that something will turn up. Our peace friends, if they expect peace from separation, are much mistaken. It would be but the beginning of war, with thousands of Northern men joining the South because of the disgrace of our allowing separation. To have peace “on any terms” the South would demand the restoration of their slaves already freed. They would demand indemnity for losses sustained, and they would demand a treaty which would make the North slave-hunters for the South. They would demand pay or the restoration of every slave escaping to the North.

SOURCE: James Grant Wilson, Editor, General Grant’s Letters to a Friend 1861-1880, p. 38-40

Major General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, June 9, 1864

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,

ACWORTH, GA., 9 June, 1864.

Dear Brother:

It is out of all reason to expect me to write much, and I know you do not expect it. Were I to attempt narration, it would swell to unreasonable lengths, and even in my communication to the War Department I must confine myself almost to generalities. Suffice it to say that General Grant and I had a perfect understanding, and all things are now as near our calculations as possible, save and except that the Red River failure has clipped from the general plan our main feature, a simultaneous attack on Mobile from New Orleans. But the Red River expedition is out, and I have substituted a smaller force subject to my own orders, in lieu of the larger one contemplated made up by General Banks.

.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .

My long and single line of railroad to my rear, of limited capacity, is the delicate point of my game, as also the fact that all of Georgia, except the cleared bottoms, is densely wooded, with few roads, and at any point an enterprising enemy can, in a few hours with axes and spades, make across our path formidable works, whilst his sharp-shooters, spies, and scouts, in the guise of peaceable farmers, can hang around us and kill our wagonmen, messengers, and couriers. It is a big Indian war; still thus far I have won four strong positions, advanced a hundred miles, and am in possession of a large wheat-growing region and all the iron mines and works of Georgia. Johnston's army is still at my front and can fight or fall back, as he pleases. The future is uncertain, but I will do all that is possible.

As ever,

Your brother,

W. T. SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 235-6

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Thursday, October 30, 1862

The weather is quite warm again. We were at work getting ready for general inspection, cleaning camping ground, clothing and accouterments. Our camp is now in fine shape and the men are well rested. Some of the sick and wounded who have been absent for some weeks are returning to camp.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 79

Abraham Lincoln’s Message to Congress, April 16, 1862

April 16, 1862.

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:

The act entitled “An act for the release of certain persons held to service or labor in the District of Columbia” has this day been approved and signed.

I have never doubted the constitutional authority of Congress to abolish slavery in this District, and I have ever desired to see the national capital freed from the institution in some satisfactory way. Hence there has never been in my mind any question upon the subject except the one of expediency, arising in view of all the circumstances. If there be matters within and about this act which might have taken a course or shape more satisfactory to my judgment, I do not attempt to specify them. I am gratified that the two principles of compensation and colonization are both recognized and practically applied in the act.

In the matter of compensation, it is provided that claims may be presented within ninety days from the passage of the act, “but not thereafter;” and there is no saving for minors, femes covert, insane or absent persons. I presume this is an omission by mere oversight, and I recommend that it be supplied by an amendatory or supplemental act.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

SOURCE: James D. Richardson, Editor, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the President, 1789-1908, Volume 6, p. 73-4

Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant to Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, July 23, 1864

City Point, Virginia,

July 23, 1864.

YOUR letter of the 17th, inclosing one from General Scott, is just received. I inclose to you my answer to the general, which please forward to him. All are well here, and buoyant and full of hope. I wish people North could be as hopeful as our troops who have to do the fighting are. I cannot write you what I expect to do here. That Maryland raid upset my plans, but I will make an attempt to do something before many days. . . .

SOURCE: James Grant Wilson, Editor, General Grant’s Letters to a Friend 1861-1880, p. 37

Major General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, May 20, 1864

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,

KINGSTON, GA., May 20, 1864.

Dear Brother:

I have daily telegraphed to General Halleck our progress, and have no doubt you have kept pace with our movement. Johnston had chosen Dalton as his place of battle, but he had made all the roads to it so difficult that I resolved to turn it, so I passed my army through a pass twenty miles south of Dalton and forced him to battle at Resaca. That, too, was very strong, but we beat him at all points, and as I had got a bridge across the Oostenaula below him and was gradually getting to his rear, he again abandoned his position in the night and I have been pushing my force after him as fast as possible; yet his knowledge of the country and the advantage of a good railroad to his rear enabled him to escape me, but I now have full possession of all the rich country of the Etowah. We occupy Rome, Kingston, and Cassville. I have repaired the railroad to these points and now have ordered the essential supplies for ward to replenish our wagons, when I will make for Atlanta, fifty-nine miles from here and about fifty from the advance. Johnston has halted across the Etowah at a place called Allatoona, where the railroad and common road passes through a spur of the mountain, making one of those formidable passes which gives an army on the defensive so much advantage, but I propose to cross the Etowah here and to go for Marietta via Dallas. Look at your map and you will see the move. We expect to cross the Etowah on the 23d, when we will move straight on fighting when opposed. Of course our laboring and difficulties increase as we progress, whereas our enemy gains strength by picking up his rear guard and detachments.

Put forth the whole strength of the nation now, and if we can't whip the South we must bow our necks in patient submission. A division of our territory by the old lines is impossible. Grant surely is fighting hard enough, and I think this army will make its mark.

Your brother,

W. T. SHERMAN

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 234-5

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Wednesday, October 29, 1862

The Eleventh Iowa was detailed to clean up and smooth a tract of ground for inspection. We are to have general inspection of the army here at Corinth, and it is to be made by General Grant.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 78-9

Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant to President Abraham Lincoln, July 19, 1864

GRANT'S HEADQUARTERS,

City Point, July 19, 1864 – 10 a. m.

 (Received 8.30 p. m.)

His Excellency A. LINCOLN,

President of the United States:

In my opinion there ought to be an immediate call for, say, 300,000 men to be put in the field in the shortest possible time. The presence of this number of re-enforcements would save the annoyance of raids, and would enable us to drive the enemy from his present front, particularly from Richmond, without attacking fortifications. The enemy now have their last men in the field. Every depletion of their army is an irreparable loss. Desertions from it are now rapid. With the prospect of large additions to our force these desertions would increase. The greater number of men we have the shorter and less sanguinary will be the war. I give this entirely as my views and not in any spirit of dictation, always holding myself in readiness to use the material given me to the best advantage I know how.

U. S. GRANT,

Lieutenant-General.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume XXXVII, Part II (Serial No. 71), page 384.  A slightly different formatted copy of this letter also appears in James Grant Wilson’s General Grant’s Letters to a Friend 1861-1880, p. 36; James H. Wilson, The Life of John A. Rawlins, p. 434-5

Senator John Sherman to Major General William T. Sherman, April 17, 1864

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 17,1864.

My Dear Brother:

. . . Our finances are bubbling up and down in that feverish state where a panic might easily come. Chase is a man of ability, but in recent measures he has failed. I have been generally the laboring one in the Senate, on these measures, though very often my judgment has been against them. I have felt like a subordinate officer, who, while he does not approve the plan of operations, yet deems it his duty fairly to execute his part of it rather than by fault-finding to impair it. The war is daily driving us to extraordinary measures, and our form of Government is not unit enough to carry them out. We are embarrassed by state banks, state laws, and local issues and interests. The other day a determined effort was made in New York to run gold up to 200, but was promptly met by a free sale by the Government of gold and exchange, and the movement failed. It was aided by this very bad news from Fort Pillow, not so bad from the loss of men, but from the question of retaliation raised by the massacre of negro troops. We all feel that we must either disband negro troops or protect them. It is fearful to think about the measures that may be necessary, but what else can we do? An investigation will be made by the Secretary of War and by Congress, and if the rebels are determined to massacre prisoners, then a new and terrible stage of this war will be commenced. . . .

Affectionately yours,

JOHN SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 233-4

Shiloh

A Requiem.

(APRIL, 1862.)

SKIMMING lightly, wheeling still,

      The swallows fly low

Over the field in clouded days,

      The forest-field of Shiloh—

Over the field where April rain

Solaced the parched ones stretched in pain

Through the pause of night

That followed the Sunday fight

      Around the church of Shiloh—

The church so lone, the log-built one,

That echoed to many a parting groan

            And natural prayer

      Of dying foemen mingled there—

Foemen at morn, but friends at eve—

      Fame or country least their care:

(What like a bullet can undeceive!)

      But now they lie low,

While over them the swallows skim,

      And all is hushed at Shiloh.

SOURCE: Herman Melville, Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War, Harper & Brothers, Publishers, Franklin Square, New York, New York, 1866, p. 63

Ulysses. S. Grant to Commanding Officer Advance Forces (Buell’s Army), April 6, 1862

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF WEST TENNESSEE,

Pittsburg, April 6, 1862.

 COMMANDING OFFICER ADVANCE FORCES (BUELL'S ARMY), Near Pittsburg:

The attack on my forces has been very spirited from early this morning. The appearance of fresh troops on the field now would have a powerful effect, both by inspiring our men and disheartening the enemy. If you will get upon the field, leaving all your baggage on the east bank of the river, it will be a move to our advantage, and possibly save the day to us. The rebel forces are estimated at over 100,000 men. My headquarters will be in the log building on the top of the hill, where you will be furnished a staff officer to guide you to your place on the field.

U.S. GRANT,

Major-General, Commanding.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume X, Part II (Serial No. 11), page 95

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Tuesday, October 28, 1862

The regiment worked on the fortifications today for the third day in succession. I was not with my company though, being on other fatigue duty. The forts under construction are arranged so that if one fort should be captured, the guns of two other forts could be turned upon the enemy in that one. The floors of the forts and the rifle-pits are raised from four to ten feet by filling in earth, and then laid with the lumber from the houses which were pulled down to make room for the fortifications. The ramparts are faced on the outside with long woven baskets of hickory withes and filled with earth to keep them in shape. The forts are built with a view of standing some time, and should last for four or five years. We commenced drawing bread instead of crackers.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 78

Major General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, April 11, 1864

[NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, April 11, 1864]

Of course I have enough to do, but more to think about. We have now been two years and more at war, and have reached a period when we should consider the war as fairly begun. Don't you delude yourself that it is even approaching an end. For a shrewd people we have less sense even than the Mexicans, paying fabulous bounties for a parcel of boys and old men, and swelling our muster-rolls, but adding nothing to our real fighting strength. Instead of enlarging, we are all cutting down our organizations. I shall have the fragments of seven corps on the Tennessee, but over thirty thousand animals have died, and it is going to be a terrible job to replace them, and to accumulate to the front the necessary food for mules and men in time; but though assured that the country for a long distance into Georgia and Alabama is stripped as it is on this side, yet at the right time I shall go ahead, and, if necessary, feed on anything. I shall not be behindhand when the grand beginning is announced. I can tell you nothing more.

. . . I expect soon to have a new howl against me. The pressure to go in our cars to the front was so great and the difficulty of getting to Chattanooga so momentous, that I ordered absolutely no citizen, private freight, or anything but freight purely military to be taken till the wants of the troops were supplied. . . .

It will require the conjoined energies of the whole nation to meet the shock this spring, and it may be the end will be made certain, but still the long, persistent struggle with half a million of men far more desperate than our old Indians is yet to come. . . .

I enclose you a letter of instructions I made to my adjutant Sawyer, who remained at my headquarters, Huntsville, when I went to Meridian. I should not object to have this letter printed, as it is something new and is true. Sawyer tells me it had a powerful effect on the people of Huntsville. As the letter is equally applicable to large districts still to be gone over, its publication would do no harm except to turn the Richmond press against me, as the prince of barbarians.

Yours in haste,

W. T. SHERMAN

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 227-8