Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw, October 9, 1863

Fairfax, Oct. 9, 1863.

I saw that paragraph in the “Herald,” — it is not true. I had orders from Heintzelman to clear out the whole country inside of Manassas Junction more than a month ago. I began it, and the parties arrested were sent back from Washington almost as fast as I sent them there. I also had orders to burn the houses of all persons actively assisting Mosby or White. I have burnt two mills and one dwelling-house, the latter belonging to a man who can be proved to have shot a soldier in cold blood the day after the battle of Bull Run, and to have afterwards shot a negro who informed against him. This man was taken at his house at midnight in rebel uniform, with two other soldiers; he claimed to belong to a Virginia Cavalry regiment and to be at the time absent on furlough, and denied being one of Mosby's men; he had no furlough to show, however, and we knew that he had been plundering sutlers and citizens for more than a month. I therefore ordered his house to be burned; it was done in the forenoon and our men assisted in getting out his furniture. I wrote Mosby saying that it was not my intention to burn the houses of any men for simply belonging to his command ; that houses would be burnt which were used as rendezvous; that that particular house was burnt because it harboured a man who was apparently a deserter and was known to be a horse-thief and highwayman, a man obnoxious equally to both of us (officers acting under orders) and to all citizens. I shall probably have to burn other houses, but it will be done with all possible consideration. You must not feel badly, not more badly than is inevitable,  — I hope you will always write about such things: it will make me more considerate, and in such cases one cannot be too considerate.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 311-3

Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Friday, December 13, 1861

Another beautiful winter day — cold, quiet. Sun strong enough to thaw all mud and ice. No ice on streams yet that will bear a man. Building redoubts at either end of town. Since I came to Virginia in July, I have not shaved; for weeks at a time I have slept in all clothes except boots (occasionally in boots and sometimes with spurs), a half dozen times on the ground without shelter, once on the snow. I have wore [worn] no white clothing (shirts, drawers, etc.) for four months; no collar or neckerchief or tie of any sort for two months; and have not been the least unwell until since I have taken winter quarters here in a comfortable house. Now I have but a slight cold.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 158

Brigadier-General John Sedgwick to his Sister, March16, 1862

Harper's Ferry, March 16, 1862.

My dear sister:

I do not remember from what place I wrote you last. I left here about a week since, expecting to march on Winchester, as it was supposed the enemy were in such force as to give us battle. After making the arrangements to attack the place, the enemy evacuated, and our troops marched in without firing scarcely a gun. Soon after the occupation, my division was ordered to return to this place, where further orders would be received. On our arrival here I telegraphed to Washington, and was directed to await further orders. I presume by to-morrow we shall be on our way to Washington or Annapolis. I am disgusted at the depredations our men are committing — stealing everything they can lay their hands on. I am sorry to say they are supported in it by many of their officers. There is no Union sentiment in this part of the country, and the conduct of our men is calculated to make the enemy more bitter than ever.

We are now in possession of all this valley, and it is likely that enough troops will be left here to hold it. My impression is that this division will go with either General McClellan or will form part of a corps to operate on one of the lines leading to Richmond.

The enemy seem more determined than ever, if you can judge from the tone of their papers. Their policy is not yet developed. Some think they will retire into the Southern States and depend upon the climate to assist them, others that they will give battle this side of Richmond; I am inclined to the latter opinion. All appearances indicate that General McClellan did not overrate their strength or position at Manassas, and that it would have been madness to have attacked them there. If he is let alone he will subdue them; but as for a reunion, that is another matter.

I will write as soon as I know our destination. I hope you have not written. I will tell you where to direct as soon as possible.

With much love, I am,

Your affectionate brother,

J. S.

SOURCE: George William Curtis, Correspondence of John Sedgwick, Major-General, Volume 2, p. 39-41

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: September 7, 1861

The Jews are at work. Having no nationality, all wars are harvests for them. It has been so from the day of their dispersion. Now they are scouring the country in all directions, buying all the goods they can find in the distant cities, and even from the country stores. These they will keep, until the process of consumption shall raise a greedy demand for all descriptions of merchandise.

Col. Bledsoe has resigned, but says nothing now about getting me appointed in his place. That matter rests with the President, and I shall not be an applicant.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 78

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: October 27, 1863

Young Wade Hampton has been here for a few days, a guest of our nearest neighbor and cousin, Phil Stockton. Wade, without being the beauty or the athlete that his brother Preston is, is such a nice boy. We lent him horses, and ended by giving him a small party. What was lacking in company was made up for by the excellence of old Colonel Chesnut's ancient Madeira and champagne. If everything in the Confederacy were only as truly good as the old Colonel's wine-cellars! Then we had a salad and a jelly cake.

General Joe Johnston is so careful of his aides that Wade has never yet seen a battle. Says he has always happened to be sent afar off when the fighting came. He does not seem too grateful for this, and means to be transferred to his father's command. He says, “No man exposes himself more recklessly to danger than General Johnston, and no one strives harder to keep others out of it.” But the business of this war is to save the country, and a commander must risk his men's lives to do it. There is a French saying that you can't make an omelet unless you are willing to break eggs.

SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 249-50

Diary of Mary Brockenbrough Newton: June 22, 1862

Dr. T. called to-day, to say that the firing we heard on Friday was from our guns shelling the enemy, to drive them lower down the Chickahominy. Letters, by underground railroad, from our dear William, at Fort Delaware. He complains of nothing but his anxiety to be exchanged, and the impossibility of hearing from home. C, at the same time, got a letter from my brother. He writes in good spirits about our affairs. Jackson's career is glorious. The sick and wounded are doing well; hospitals are in good order, and the ladies indefatigable in nursing. Surgeon-like, he tells more of the wounded than any thing else. Rev. Mr. C. came up to-day, and gave us some amusing incidents of Stuart's raid. As some of our men rode by Mr. B's gate, several of them went in with Mr. B's sons for a few moments. A dead Yankee lay at the gate. Mrs. W. (Mrs. B's daughter) supposing he was only wounded, ran out with restoratives to his assistance. While standing there, two Yankees came up. Mrs. W. ordered them to surrender, which one did without the slightest hesitation, giving up his arms, which she immediately carried in to her younger brother, who was badly armed. The other escaped, but her prisoner went along with the crowd. Yankee wagons are again taking off corn from W. The men are very impertinent to C.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 146-7

Diary of Margaret Junkin Preston: February 23, 1864

This day ten years ago my blessed mother went from us to Heaven. I have thought much about her to-day, and have recalled the anguish of losing her. What she is spared in not being here now!

SOURCE: Elizabeth Preston Allan, The Life and Letters of Margaret Junkin Preston, p. 177

Diary of Margaret Junkin Preston: February 26, 1864

The currency is in a transition state, and it does create the strangest difficulties. Sister pays today $20 for having a home-made cotton dress made up. Unbleached cottons are $8 per yard. People are trading as far as possible, instead of paying money. As for example, the shoemaker tells me that he won't make a pair of shoes for me unless I send him a load of wood; so before the shoes can be had, the wood is sent. Flour is selling at $250 per barrel.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Preston Allan, The Life and Letters of Margaret Junkin Preston, p. 177

Diary of Margaret Junkin Preston: February 29, 1864

G. and H. at Sally White's birthday party; H. said they had “white mush” on the table; on inquiry, I found it was ice-cream! Not having made any ice-cream since war-times, the child had never seen any, and so called it white mush. The only luxury I long for is real coffee. I have drunk wheat coffee for more than two years, till I am made a dyspeptic by it. Coffee has sold at $16 a pound. Tea is now $40 per pound.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Preston Allan, The Life and Letters of Margaret Junkin Preston, p. 178

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Friday, July 29, 1864

It is quite sultry today. Six deaths occurred today in the three wards of our building. One of the sick men, William Gibson of the Thirty-second Ohio Cavalry, died last night. He had been very sick, but was getting better, and just before he lay down for the night, told me that he felt better than for several days; but a few hours later he was dead, dying very suddenly. He left a small family. Life is indeed very uncertain. We should be prepared to meet death any moment, for we know not when the brittle thread of life will be broken, and we have to go to meet our Lord, prepared or unprepared.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 207

In The Review Queue: Lincoln’s Greatest Case

Lincoln's Greatest Case: The River,

the Bridge, and the Making of America

by Brian McGinty

The untold story of how one sensational trial propelled a self-taught lawyer and a future president into the national spotlight.

In the early hours of May 6, 1856, the steamboat Effie Afton barreled into a pillar of the Rock Island Bridge—the first railroad bridge ever to span the Mississippi River. Soon after, the newly constructed vessel, crowded with passengers and livestock, erupted into flames and sank in the river below, taking much of the bridge with it.

As lawyer and Lincoln scholar Brian McGinty dramatically reveals in Lincoln's Greatest Case, no one was killed, but the question of who was at fault cried out for an answer. Backed by powerful steamboat interests in St. Louis, the owners of the Effie Afton quickly pressed suit, hoping that a victory would not only prevent the construction of any future bridges from crossing the Mississippi but also thwart the burgeoning spread of railroads from Chicago. The fate of the long-dreamed-of transcontinental railroad lurked ominously in the background, for if rails could not cross the Mississippi by bridge, how could they span the continent all the way to the Pacific?

The official title of the case was Hurd et al. v. The Railroad Bridge Company, but it could have been St. Louis v. Chicago, for the transportation future of the whole nation was at stake. Indeed, was it to be dominated by steamboats or by railroads? Conducted at almost the same time as the notorious Dred Scott case, this new trial riveted the nation’s attention. Meanwhile, Abraham Lincoln, already well known as one of the best trial lawyers in Illinois, was summoned to Chicago to join a handful of crack legal practitioners in the defense of the bridge. While there, he succesfully helped unite the disparate regions of the country with a truly transcontinental rail system and, in the process, added to the stellar reputation that vaulted him into the White House less than four years later.

Re-creating the Effie Afton case from its unlikely inception to its controversial finale, McGinty brilliantly animates this legal cauldron of the late 1850s, which turned out to be the most consequential trial in Lincoln's nearly quarter century as a lawyer. Along the way, the tall prairie lawyer's consummate legal skills and instincts are also brought to vivid life, as is the history of steamboat traffic on the Mississippi, the progress of railroads west of the Appalachians, and the epochal clashes of railroads and steamboats at the river’s edge.

Lincoln's Greatest Case is legal history on a grand scale and an essential first act to a pivotal Lincoln drama we did not know was there.

About the Author

Brian McGinty is an attorney and writer who specializes in American history and law. His previous books include Lincoln and the Court, The Body of John Merryman: Abraham Lincoln and the Suspension of Habeas Corpus, and John Brown’s Trial. He lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.

ISBN 978-0871407849, Liveright Publishing, © 2015, Hardcover, 272 pages, 18 Illustrations, End Notes, Bibliography & Index. $26.95.  To purchase a copy of this book click HERE.

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw, October 8, 1863

Fairfax, Oct. 8, 1863.

I believe with Lord Bacon, who was a very wise old fellow, that whatever be your income, it is only just to yourself, your wife, and your fellow-men, to lay aside a large fraction for wet days, and a large fraction for charity: I have never acted up to my theory, but I mean to begin now, — I don't mean to worry about money, and I don't mean to have you worry; ergo, you must expect to see me keep an account-book, and occasionally pull it out and warn you how much water we are drawing, and how much there is under our keel. Mother ends by saying that she has put a thousand dollars in the bank to be something to fall back upon during the first year, but I think we ought to get along without needing that, — my pay is $2400 a year, not including horses, one servant, and fuel and quarters “commuted” when on duty in a city, — of course these latter are supplied in the field. I know what officers of my regiment have done easily on a captain's pay, and I know what I used to do when I kept house in Burlington,— and I know we can live suitably and worthily on that, and be very happy and see friends as we want to see them, only we must start right.

Did I tell you, by the way, that Stoneman's Court of Inquiry recommended me to be more careful for the future, mentioning two points where I seemed careless? I was not careless, as Will or any of my officers will tell you, — I was not at all to blame. I was particularly careful on one of the points where I am blamed, — but I am perfectly willing to shoulder the blame, — prefer to, in fact, — for I think a commanding officer is to blame for everything that goes wrong under him.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 310-1

Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Thursday, December 12, 1861

A bright, pretty, cold winter morning; our eighth fine day!! Ground froze in the morning; dry and warm all day after sun got one-third up. In [the] morning walked with Lieutenant-Colonel Eckley around southern part of town, in the woods, visiting pickets and noticing the lay of the land. He agrees with me that the chief danger of an attack is a hasty assault to burn the town; that for this purpose a stockade or log entrenchment should be thrown up at the lower end of town. Drilled P. M. — No letters or news.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 158

Brigadier-General John Sedgwick to his Sister, March 9, 1862

Charleston, Virginia, March 9, 1862.

My dear sister:

This town, you may remember, is noted for being the place where old John Brown was confined, tried, and executed. The people are very bitter. All the men are gone either into the rebel service or fled when we entered the town. I am quartered in a hotel capable of accommodating perhaps sixty people. The owner is here, but I have not seen him. There is no furniture, and, I believe, the place has been closed since the 1st of January.

The 3d Connecticut is only about eight miles off. I shall be with them, probably, in a few days. I think your letters will reach me if directed to General Banks's column, leaving space to be redirected. With much love, I am,

Your affectionate brother,

J. s.

SOURCE: George William Curtis, Correspondence of John Sedgwick, Major-General, Volume 2, p. 39

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: September 6, 1861

We are not increasing our forces as rapidly as might be desired, for the want of arms. We had some 150,000 stand of small arms, at the beginning of the war, taken from the arsenals; and the States owned probably 100,000 more. Half of these were flint-locks, which are being altered. None have been imported yet. Occasionally a letter reaches the department from Nashville, offering improved arms at a high price, for gold. These are Yankees. I am instructed by the Secretary to say they will be paid for in gold on delivery to an agent in Nashville. The number likely to be obtained in this manner, however, must be small; for the Yankee Government is exercising much vigilance. Is not this a fair specimen of Yankee cupidity and character? The New England manufacturers are furnishing us, with whom they are at war, with arms to fight with, provided we agree to pay them a higher price than is offered by their own Government! The philosophical conclusion is, that this war will end when it ceases to be a pecuniary speculation.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 78

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: October 24, 1863

James Chesnut is at home on his way back to Richmond; had been sent by the President to make the rounds of the Western armies; says Polk is a splendid old fellow. They accuse him of having been asleep in his tent at seven o'clock when he was ordered to attack at daylight, but he has too good a conscience to sleep so soundly.

The battle did not begin until eleven at Chickamauga¹ when Bragg had ordered the advance at daylight. Bragg and his generals do not agree. I think a general worthless whose subalterns quarrel with him. Something is wrong about the man. Good generals are adored by their soldiers. See Napoleon, Caesar, Stonewall, Lee.

Old Sam (Hood) received his orders to hold a certain bridge against the enemy, and he had already driven the enemy several miles beyond it, when the slow generals were still asleep. Hood has won a victory, though he has only one leg to stand on.

Mr. Chesnut was with the President when he reviewed our army under the enemy's guns before Chattanooga. He told Mr. Davis that every honest man he saw out West thought well of Joe Johnston. He knows that the President detests Joe Johnston for all the trouble he has given him, and General Joe returns the compliment with compound interest. His hatred of Jeff Davis amounts to a religion. With him it colors all things.

Joe Johnston advancing, or retreating, I may say with more truth, is magnetic. He does draw the good-will of those by whom he is surrounded. Being such a good hater, it is a pity he had not elected to hate somebody else than the President of our country. He hates not wisely but too well. Our friend Breckinridge² received Mr. Chesnut with open arms. There is nothing narrow, nothing self-seeking, about Breckinridge. He has not mounted a pair of green spectacles made of prejudices so that he sees no good except in his own red-hot partizans.

_______________

¹ The battle of Chickamauga was fought on the river of the same name, near Chattanooga, September 19 and 20,1863. The Confederates were commanded by Bragg and the Federals by Rosecrans. It was one of the bloodiest battles of the war; the loss on each side, including killed, wounded, and prisoners, was over 15,000.

² John C. Breckinridge had been Vice-President of the United States under Buchanan and was the candidate of the Southern Democrats for President in 1860. He joined the Confederate Army in 1861.

SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 248-9

Diary of Mary Brockenbrough Newton: June 21, 1862

Yesterday we heard firing all day — heavy guns in the morning, and musketry during the day, and heavy guns again in the evening. Oh, that we could know the result! This morning is as calm and beautiful as though all was peace on the earth. O God, with whom all things are possible, dispel the dark clouds that surround us, and permit us once more to return to our homes, and collect the scattered members of our flock around our family altar in peace and safety! Not a word from my husband or sons.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 146

Diary of Margaret Junkin Preston: February 10, 1864

Have been suffering more than usual with my eyes, so as not to be able to use them at all.  . . . Rev. W. H. Ruffner here after tea; felt very much depressed by the tenor of his and Mr. P.'s conversation: they seem to think that the Valley must be relinquished this summer.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Preston Allan, The Life and Letters of Margaret Junkin Preston, p. 177

Diary of Margaret Junkin Preston: February 19, 1864

Everybody is in an excitement about the currency bill, which we heard of last night. Confederate money is refused this morning. On the 1st of April it is to sink to two thirds its present value; so everybody is trying to get it off their hands. I have ceased noting the prices of things, they are so incredible; as, for example, $30 per gallon for sorghum molasses; calico, $12 per yard; tallow candles, $6 per pound; unbleached cotton, $5 per yard. It is astonishing how coolly we talk about the probability next summer of having to relinquish the Valley, and how our plans take in that probability. Oh! but we are growing weary of this horrid war! How it oppresses us!

SOURCE: Elizabeth Preston Allan, The Life and Letters of Margaret Junkin Preston, p. 177

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Thursday, July 28, 1864

No news. All is quiet. I am still gaining strength slowly. We get very poor board here for a sick man to gain strength on, but we must make the best of it at present. The room we occupy, called a ward, is about one hundred feet long north and south, and fifty feet wide. There is a row of cots on each side. My cot is on the west side, and in the afternoons it is so hot that we can hardly stand it. There are windows in front and along the west side.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 207