Diary of Mary Brockenbrough Newton: June 8, 1862

The New York Herald reports a bloody fight on the 31st of May and 1st of June. They acknowledge from 3,000 to 4,000 killed and wounded — give us credit for the victory on the first day, but say that they recovered on the second day what they lost on the first. I have no doubt, from their own account, that they were badly whipped; but how long shall this bloody work continue? Thousands and thousands of our men are slain, and we seem to be no nearer the end than at first.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 140-1

Diary of Margaret Junkin Preston: November 16, 1863

Was present tonight at Louisa Brockenborough's wedding at the Episcopal Church; a beautiful affair; eight bridesmaids; one of the bride's silk dresses cost between $500 & $600 for the unmade material.  Wood is now $30 per cord; flour $100 per barrel in Richmond, $50 here, and rising. Butter selling here by the quantity for $3.50 per lb.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Preston Allan, The Life and Letters of Margaret Junkin Preston, p. 171-2

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Saturday, July 16, 1864

The weather is pleasant. There is nothing of any importance.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 205

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Monday, January 4, 1864

It has snowed nearly all day, but not very hard. To-night there is about two inches on the ground and it is still snowing. Lieut. Stetson started for Vermont this morning on the 9:30 train, and Capt. H. R. Steele arrived from there this evening. I am told to-night that Colonel Embic of the One Hundred and Sixth New York Infantry has been reinstated. We have formed a quiz school to-night, the members being Dr. Almon Clark, Lieuts. E. P. Farr and C. G. Newton and Chaplain E. M. Haynes. We are to meet every night and ask questions on geography, history, etc. I think it a grand idea. I suspect they think me fresh from school, though, and want me to do most of the quizzing, the same as in the class of about seventy-five enlisted men in tactics and English branches which recites to me daily now, fitting for examination for commission in colored troops.

SOURCE: Lemuel Abijah Abbott, Personal Recollections and Civil War Diary, 1864, p. 3

Diary of Corporal Charles H. Lynch: Sunday Morning, July 24, 1864

Sunday morning, Kearnstown, hot. Ordered out into line early for inspection. Instead orders came to advance. Hot skirmishing began right off. Our regiment placed at the right of the line, west side of the pike. Colonel Mulligan with his division form the left of the line. Our position is on high ground where we can overlook the field. Orders came to charge into the woods. There we found the enemy en masse. They poured their fire on Mulligan's division. Mulligan was killed, his division losing very heavy. They were ordered to fall back. Orders came for our regiment to fall back to Winchester. We marched back and later the enemy came out of the wood, when we saw plainly the large force they had. Owing to my naked feet I could hardly keep up, but kept pushing. There are many hills around Winchester. Before we could reach the earthworks the enemy had field guns posted on hills commanding our position. As I could not keep up with the boys I came near being captured. I made a running jump over into the rifle pits near the old Star Fort. As I landed in the pits a solid shot also struck there. As I looked at it was thankful it was not a shell. Running around in the pits I was able to get out on the opposite side from the enemy and take my place in our company, line being just in the rear of the fort, where we formed. Shells began to drop all around us. Finally one came in our midst, doing much damage, some being killed and wounded. It caused great excitement as the dust and dirt flew over us. A peculiar numbness came to me, making me think I was wounded. Picking up my gun that had fallen to the ground, I discovered that it had been hit by a piece of the exploded shell, the barrel being flat and bent. I threw it down and picked up another on the field. That was no doubt the cause of my numbness. Orders came for a change in our position and to fall back to Bunker Hill. Up to this time we had been fighting and falling back for about sixteen miles. Had the 6th Corps remained in the valley it would have given us more show against Early's large force, as they are in plain sight and we can see them from the hills. We will hold Bunker Hill and remain here for the night. I am in agony with my feet. We are in a ragged, dirty condition. The life of a soldier is a hard one. Our suffering at times is intense. It's all for our country that we all love.

SOURCE: Charles H. Lynch, The Civil War Diary, 1862-1865, of Charles H. Lynch 18th Conn. Vol's, p. 104-5

Diary of Luman Harris Tenney: Sunday, March 30, 1862

Brigade review, Second Ohio Cavalry, Ninth Wisconsin Infantry and Rabb's Battery practiced with guns. Helped foot up officers account with Q. M. Received and answered a good letter from Fannie.

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 10

In The Review Queue: The Civilian War

The Civilian War: Confederate Women and

Union Soldiers during Sherman's March

by Lisa Tendrich Frank

The Civilian War explores home front encounters between elite Confederate women and Union soldiers during Sherman's March, a campaign that put women at the center of a Union army operation for the first time. Ordered to crush the morale as well as the military infrastructure of the Confederacy, Sherman and his army increasingly targeted wealthy civilians in their progress through Georgia and the Carolinas. To drive home the full extent of northern domination over the South, Sherman's soldiers besieged the female domain-going into bedrooms and parlors, seizing correspondence and personal treasures-with the aim of insulting and humiliating upper-class southern women. These efforts blurred the distinction between home front and warfront, creating confrontations in the domestic sphere as a part of the war itself.

Historian Lisa Tendrich Frank argues that ideas about women and their roles in war shaped the expectations of both Union soldiers and Confederate civilians. Sherman recognized that slaveholding Confederate women played a vital part in sustaining the Rebel efforts, and accordingly he treated them as wartime opponents, targeting their markers of respectability and privilege. Although Sherman intended his efforts to demoralize the civilian population, Frank suggests that his strategies frequently had the opposite effect. Confederate women accepted the plunder of food and munitions as an inevitable part of the conflict, but they considered Union invasion of their private spaces an unforgivable and unreasonable transgression. These intrusions strengthened the resolve of many southern women to continue the fight against the Union and its most despised general.

Seamlessly merging gender studies and military history, The Civilian War illuminates the distinction between the damage inflicted on the battlefield and the offenses that occurred in the domestic realm during the Civil War. Ultimately, Frank's research demonstrates why many women in the Lower South remained steadfastly committed to the Confederate cause even when their prospects seemed most dim.

About the Author

Lisa Tendrich Frank received her Ph.D. in history from the University of Florida. She is the author and editor of numerous works relating to the Civil War, including Women in the American Civil War and the forthcoming The World of the Civil War: A Daily Life Encyclopedia.

ISBN 978-0807159965, Louisiana State University Press, © 2015, Hardcover, 256 Pages, End Notes, Bibliography & Index. $42.50.  To Purchase the book click HERE.

George L. Stearns to Edmund B. Whitman, December 18, 1856

Boston, Dec. 18, 1856.

E. B. Whitman, Esq.

Dear Sir, —We have to-day written to H. B. Hurd, Esq., asking for permission for an examination of his committee's doings and accounts by you. We have endeavored from time to time to get from them definite information of their operations; and now, when grave charges are brought in our newspapers by Kansas men against them and their agents (the Central Committee in Kansas), we are entirely without the means of contradicting these assertions, and can only oppose our general knowledge of their good character and belief in their wise conduct to the positive statements now daily current. We therefore wish you to inform yourself as fully as possible of all their operations from the commencement to the present time, taking such minutes of your researches as will enable you to give a full and close account to us, and also before our legislature, should you be called upon for that purpose. We want to know the disposition made of the money we have sent to them (about $21,600, and two hundred rifles), an account of which you have enclosed. We hope soon to see you in good health, and are

Truly your friends,

George L. Stearns,

Chairman M. S. K. Committee.

SOURCE: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 357

Bate's Division: The Carter House, Franklin Tennessee

BATE’S DIVISION

CHEATHAM’S CORPS

ARMY OF TENNESSEE

C.S.A.

Maj. Gen. Wm. B. Bate’s Division consisted of Smith’s Tennessee – Georgia, Bullock’s Florida and Jackson’s Georgia Brigades.  The Division, struck the main line west of Brown’s Division, their right in the locust grove and their left at the Carter’s Creek Pike.  They entered the fight with about 2,000 men and reported a loss of 47 killed, 253 wounded and 19 missing or 16%; however, statistical comparison shows a loss of 544 men or 27%.  The attack reached the main line of the Federal works, but failed to carry them.

In Honor Of

David Allan Floyd III

SOURCE: Interpretive Marker, The Carter House, Franklin, Tennessee

Nathaniel Hawthorne to Horatio Bridge, May 26, 1861

Concord, May 26, 1861.

My Dear Bridge, — . . . The war, strange to say, has had a beneficial effect upon my spirits, which were flagging wofully before it broke out. But it was delightful to share in the heroic sentiment of the time, and to feel that I had a country, — a consciousness which seemed to make me young again. One thing as regards this matter I regret, and one thing I am glad of. The regrettable thing is that I am too old to shoulder a musket myself, and the joyful thing is that Julian is too young. He drills constantly with a company of lads, and means to enlist as soon as he reaches the minimum age. But I trust we shall either be victorious or vanquished before that time. Meantime, though I approve the war as much as any man, I don't quite understand what we are fighting for, or what definite result can be expected. If we pummel the South ever so hard, they will love us none the better for it; and even if we subjugate them, our next step should be to cut them adrift. If we are fighting for the annihilation of slavery, to be sure it may be a wise object, and offer a tangible result, and the only one which is consistent with a future union between North and South. A continuance of the war would soon make this plain to us, and we should see the expediency of preparing our black brethren for future citizenship by allowing them to fight for their own liberties, and educating them through heroic influences. Whatever happens next, I must say that I rejoice that the old Union is smashed. We never were one people, and never really had a country since the Constitution was formed. . . .

Nath. Hawthorne

SOURCE: Julian Hawthorne,  Nathaniel Hawthorne and His Wife: A Biography, Vol. 2, p. 276-7

Major John Sedgwick to his Sister, December 10, 1860

Fort Wise, December 10, 1860.

My dear sister:

Our winter of discontent has not as yet been made glorious by a mail, although the sun has favoured us almost daily for the last four months.

A messenger starts to-day for Denver City, and I will direct this to him, trusting that it may reach you in the course of the winter. Does it not seem strange that you can send and receive answers to letters from Europe sooner than from this post, even under the most favourable circumstances? I have nothing important to write. The only event we look forward for is for fair weather to help us finish our quarters. So far we have little to complain of, and two weeks more will enable us to shelter ourselves from the uncertainty of the storms that sometimes do occur here. Yesterday a snow-storm came up that foreboded a violent one, but this morning the sun came out, bright and pleasant, and the snow, although in considerable quantity, is fast disappearing, and by to-morrow we can resume our work. The hunters are all out after deer and antelope, and with any luck will get enough to last a month at least.

If we receive no mail, we escape the excitement and turmoil of the election, that seems to have disturbed everything in the States, if it has not broken you to pieces. We have heard of Mr. Lincoln's election and the probable difficulty he will experience, if not direct opposition, to his inauguration. It seems lamentable that this Union that we have boasted of and glorified so much should be broken up, but I hope our next news will be more satisfactory. How a disruption will affect me I cannot foresee; probably would result in my leaving the service at once. I do not feel quite ready to do this, but when I am ready I want to, in looking back, if I have any cause of regret, have no one to blame but myself.

Believe me, as ever,

Your affectionate brother,

John Sedgwick.

SOURCE: George William Curtis, Correspondence of John Sedgwick, Major-General, Volume 2, p. 29-30

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw, August 20, 1863

Centreville, Aug. 20, 1863.

I came in about ten last evening, after four days' vain endeavour to get a fight out of White's Battalion, — four very pleasant days in one of the loveliest countries in the world, South and West of Leesburg.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 298

Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Sunday, December 1, 1861

A dry, cold day, no sun, leaden sky, — threatens snow. About noon gets gusty, wintry and colder. No severe cold yet. Am preparing to have regular lessons and drills. P. M. Began to drizzle — a wintry rain. Loup Creek or Laurel, up yesterday, prevented our waggons crossing. Today fifteen wagons with food came in. Read Halleek's “Lectures on the Science and Art of War.” Goodish. Youth, health, energy are the qualities for war. West Point good enough, if it did not give us so much of the effete.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 155

Lieutenant-Colonel Theodore Lyman to Elizabeth Russell Lyman, April 3, 1865

April 3, 1865

We began our day early, for, about light, I heard Duane say, outside my tent: “They have evacuated Petersburg.” Sure enough, they were gone, across the river, and, at that very moment, their troops at Richmond, and all along the river, with their artillery and trains, were marching in all haste, hoping to join each other and get to Burkeville Junction, en route for Danville. How they succeeded will be seen in the sequel. General Meade, to my great satisfaction, said he would ride in and take a look at the place we so long had seen the steeples of. Passing a series of heavy entrenchments and redoubts, we entered the place about eight in the morning. The outskirts are very poor, consisting chiefly of the houses of negroes, who collected, with broad grins, to gaze on the triumphant Yanks; while here and there a squalid family of poor whites would lower at us from broken windows, with an air of lazy dislike. The main part of the town resembles Salem, very much, plus the southern shiftlessness and minus the Yankee thrift. Even in this we may except Market Street, where dwell the haute noblesse, and where there are just square brick houses and gardens about them, as you see in Salem, all very well kept and with nice trees. Near the river, here large enough to carry large steamers, the same closely built business streets, the lower parts of which had suffered severely from our shells; here and there an entire building had been burnt, and everywhere you saw corners knocked off, and shops with all the glass shattered by a shell exploding within.

We then returned a little and took a road up the hill towards the famous cemetery ridge. Petersburg, you must understand, lies in a hollow, at the foot of a sort of bluff. In fact, this country, is a dead, sandy level, but the watercourses have cut trenches in it, more or less deep according to their volume of water. Thus the Appomattox is in a deep trench, while the tributary “runs” that come in are in more shallow trenches; so that the country near the banks looks hilly; when, however, you get on top of these bluffs, you find yourself on a plain, which is more or less worn by water-courses into a succession of rolls. Therefore, from our lines you could only see the spires, because the town was in a gully. The road we took was very steep and was no less than the Jerusalem plank, whose other end I was so familiar with. Turning to the left, on top of the crest, we passed a large cemetery, with an old ruined chapel, and, descending a little, we stood on the famous scene of the “Mine.” It was this cemetery that our infantry should have gained that day. Thence the town is commanded. How changed these entrenchments! Not a soul was there, and the few abandoned tents and cannon gave an additional air of solitude. Upon these parapets, whence the rifle-men have shot at each other, for nine long months, in heat and cold, by day and by night, you might now stand with impunity and overlook miles of deserted breastworks and covered ways! It was a sight only to be appreciated by those who have known the depression of waiting through summer, autumn and winter for so goodly an event! Returning through the town, we stopped at the handsome house of Mr. Wallace, where was Grant and his Staff, and where we learned the death of Lieutenant-General A. P. Hill, who was killed by one of our stragglers whom he tried to capture. Crowds of nigs came about us to sell Confederate money, for which they would take anything we chose to give. At noon we left the town, and, going on the river road, camped that night near Sutherland's Station.

SOURCE: George R. Agassiz, Editor, Meade’s Headquarters, 1863-1865: Letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness to Appomattox, p. 339-41

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: August 17, 1861

Some apprehension is felt concerning the President's health. If he were to die, what would be the consequences? I should stand by the Vice-President, of course, because “it is so nominated in the bond,” and because I think he would make as efficient an Executive as any other man in the Confederacy. But others think differently; and there might be trouble.

The President has issued a proclamation, in pursuance of the act of Congress passed on the 8th instant, commanding all alien enemies to leave in forty days; and the Secretary of War has indicated Nashville as the place of exit. This produces but little excitement; except among the Jews, some of whom are converting their effects into gold and departing.

Col. Bledsoe's ankles arc much too weak for his weighty body, but he can shuffle along quite briskly when in pursuit of a refractory clerk; and when he catches him, if he resists, the colonel is sure to leave him.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 72-3

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: July 5, 1862

Drove out with Mrs. “Constitution” Browne, who told us the story of Ben McCulloch's devotion to Lucy Gwynn. Poor Ben McCulloch — another dead hero. Called at the Tognos' and saw no one; no wonder. They say Ascelie Togno was to have been married to Grimké Rhett in August, and he is dead on the battle-field. I had not heard of the engagement before I went there.

SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 200

Diary of Mary Brockenbrough Newton: June 7, 1862

We have been now surrounded by the enemy for two weeks, cut off from every relative except our two households. Our male relations, who are young enough, are all in the army, and we have no means of hearing one word from them. The roar of artillery we hear almost every day, but have no means of hearing the result. We see the picket-fires of the enemy every night, but have, so far, been less injured by them than we anticipated. They sometimes surround our houses, but have never yet searched them.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 140

Diary of Margaret Junkin Preston: November 12, 1863

After dark last night Mr. P. returned, and I find that I was greatly mistaken in supposing that the hurrying out of the Rockbridge forces had accomplished nothing. But for their acting as Imboden's reserve, he would not have dared to open fire upon the enemy as they approached Covington. Strange to say, although they numbered several thousand (for Imboden himself counted 90 wagons in the train), they retreated at the first fire towards Huntersville. It was discovered afterwards that they had heard of large reinforcements being received by Imboden, which it is supposed they thought were from Lee. Every body expected a fight, and I think there was general disappointment that there was only a skirmish. For the present, the forces have returned, and gone to their homes; with the expectation, however, that at any time they may be recalled.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Preston Allan, The Life and Letters of Margaret Junkin Preston, p. 171

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Friday, July 15, 1864

There is nothing new. We have very poor food here in the hospital, but we have good water. Rome was selected for our field hospital because of the good water and because it was on high, rolling ground, thus affording drainage. There are very few citizens living in Rome, they having gone before our army took possession of the town, some going to the North, others to the South. There was no burning of property here, our officers having placed guards about town to prevent it.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 205

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Sunday, January 3, 1864

Quite a comfortable day; no snow yet, but it looks likely to storm in a day or two; wrote to Pert*, and had our usual inspection this forenoon. Since dinner,

I have read “Washington's Farewell Address”, and the “Declaration of Independence”. This evening quite a number of recruits arrived for the regiment, but none for Company B. Capt. J. A. Salisbury has been in to call on Lieut. Stetson, and broken my camp chair. This is still more provoking than not to get a letter from home for chairs are not plentiful here. He is a big man.

_______________

* Miss P. A. Thomson, a cousin and many years a teacher in Goddard Seminary, Barre, Vt

SOURCE: Lemuel Abijah Abbott, Personal Recollections and Civil War Diary, 1864, p. 2-3