Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Tuesday, December 17, 1861

Camp Union. — Our thirteenth fine day. The frost still coming out of the ground; freezes hard nights, thaws all day in the sun. Mud deeper in many places than it was a week ago; on the hills and ridges getting dry.  . . . Drilled as usual at night. Men improving in drill. Lieutenant Durkee returned yesterday or day before — health restored; weighs one hundred and eighty [pounds], looks well; left Camp Ewing over the river in October, apparently a doomed man. Captain Moore returned today, apparently in good health. Talks gloomily of the regiment; thinks Captain Drake, Lieutenant Avery, etc., will not return; that he and most of the officers will resign. Chief difficulty is the governor appointed Major Comly in my place as major. It [the appointment] ought to have been made from our own regiment. Captain Drake was recommended and would have been satisfactory to a majority. But Major Comly has shown himself so diligent, gentlemanly, and reasonably [reasonable], withal so well acquainted with tactics and the duties of a soldier, that those who have been here the last six weeks are reconciled to his appointment and think it is well for the regiment. Captain Moore also reports an impression he got that I was to be a colonel soon and leave the regiment. I don't believe it.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 160-1

Brigadier-General John Sedgwick to his Sister, May 8, 1862

Camp Head Of York River,

May 8, 1862.

My dear sister:

I wrote you a line yesterday as I was about embarking at Yorktown to go up the river to land at some suitable place, and from there pursue the enemy. Upon our arrival here, the enemy attempted to dislodge us, but we had landed too many troops for them. The skirmish was quite lively for two hours, but as they were concealed, we could not estimate their numbers. They are now in full retreat, and we are hotly pursuing them. Our loss is thirty-nine killed and eighty-five wounded. Our losses at Williamsburg have been highly exaggerated — six hundred and fifty will cover all, killed, wounded, and missing. For this we have much to show: a large number of cannon of the largest and most approved pattern, immense quantities of ammunition, and some two thousand prisoners. Most of their camp equipage was captured, and the rest burned to prevent it from falling into our hands. Our troops are inspirited and ready for anything. We shall follow them closely, but there will be some delay in bringing up supplies. Our ambulances are now taking the wounded to Ship Point, to embark them for Old Point.

Yours forever,

J. S.

SOURCE: George William Curtis, Correspondence of John Sedgwick, Major-General, Volume 2, p. 45-6

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: September 19, 1861

We hear of several splendid dashes of cavalry near Manassas, under Col. Stuart; and Wise's cavalry in the West are doing good service.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 80

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: September 20, 1861

Col. J. A. Washington has been killed in a skirmish. He inherited Mount Vernon. This reminds me that Edward Everett is urging on the war against us. The universal education, so much boasted of in New England, like their religion, is merely a humbug, or worse than a humbug, the fruitful source of crime. I shall doubt hereafter whether superior intelligence is promotive of superior virtue. The serpent is wiser than the dove, but never so harmless. Ignorance is bliss in comparison with Yankee wisdom.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 80

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: December 4, 1863

My husband bought yesterday at the Commissary's one barrel of flour, one bushel of potatoes, one peck of rice, five pounds of salt beef, and one peck of salt — all for sixty dollars. In the street a barrel of flour sells for one hundred and fifteen dollars.

SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 261

Diary of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire: September 4, 1862

Our victory at Manassas complete; the fight lasted four days. General Kearney was killed in a cavalry fight at Chantilly. Beautiful Chantilly has become a glorious battle-field. The splendid trees and other lovely surroundings all gone; but it is classic ground from this time. In those fights I had eight nephews! Are they all safe? I have heard from two, who fought gallantly, and are unscathed. It is said that our army is to go to Maryland.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 151

Diary of Margaret Junkin Preston: May 26, 1864

We have prayer-meetings very well attended every afternoon at four o'clock. They are very general all over the country. Oh! that the Hearer of prayer would answer the thousands of petitions that rise from all parts of the land! Alarms every day.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Preston Allan, The Life and Letters of Margaret Junkin Preston, p. 181-2

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Friday, August 12, 1864

It rained nearly all day. I received a letter today from William Green, my bunk-mate out in the front. He reports that the loss of our company in the battles of July 21st and 22d before Atlanta was four men: George Sweet and David Hobaugh killed, and H. Newans wounded, and Aaron Pearce is missing. I wrote a letter to Albert Downing this afternoon.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 209-10

Abraham Lincoln to George Spears, Between 1833 &1834

Mr. Spears: At your request I send you a receipt for the postage on your paper. I am somewhat surprised at your request. I will, however, comply with it. The law requires Newspaper postage to be paid in advance, and now that I have waited a full year you choose to wound my feelings by insinuating that unless you get a receipt I will probably make you pay it again—

Respectfully,

A. LINCOLN.

Received of George Spears in full for postage on the "Sangamon Journal" up to the first of July, 1834.

A. Lincoln, P. M.

SOURCE: John G. Nicolay and John Hay, Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln, Biographical Edition, Volume 1, p. 11

Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, December 16, 1861

Fayetteville, Virginia, December 16, 1861.

Dearest: — . . . I think of you constantly now. Keep up good courage. Let me know all about you all the time. I will send you a dispatch from here as soon as our operator is at work just to show you that we are not far apart.

We are very healthy and contented here. The sick are less and less daily.

I see somebody knits woollen gloves for soldiers. That's sensible. A few stockings, gloves, woolen shirts, and the like are always wanted at this season.

I write this by Captain Howard. He is probably to resign on account chiefly of ill health.

Kisses for all the boys and "love you much."

Affectionately,

R.

Did you get the gold pieces, etc?

Mrs. Hayes.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 160

Brigadier-General John Sedgwick to his Sister, April 27, 1862

Camp Near Yorktown,

April 27, 1862.

My dear sister:

I have nothing to write especially interesting. The siege is progressing as favourably as we could expect; daily skirmishes take place, the results of which are unimportant, but generally favour us. Our large guns are being put in position, and when they open, we hope for results that will enable us to overcome all obstacles. The rain is almost incessant, rendering the roads difficult to transport our artillery over, or our supplies. The troops are as healthy as could be expected. In our daily skirmishing it is expected not only casualties will take place, but more or less sickness from exposure. The papers from New York come regularly the second day after publication. From them we learn all the news, even what is going on in our own camp. The vile slanders that are daily promulgated in Washington against our best officers are enough to disgust all decent persons and take away all the zeal we have in the cause. The statement made by a Senator concerning General Smith is as gross a lie as was ever made. With those that know him it needs no contradiction, and none are more incensed at the statement than those engaged in that affair. His brother married a daughter of Cicero Collins. You may have seen him (the brother). I never have, but I know the General well, and a cleverer man, a better soldier, is not in the army.

We are having a cold, lingering rain; fires are burning in camp as if it was midwinter. This delays our work, but I trust it will not be the less sure. Ten days ought to tell the story.

Write often, and believe me, as ever,

Your affectionate brother,

J. S.

SOURCE: George William Curtis, Correspondence of John Sedgwick, Major-General, Volume 2, p. 44-5

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: September 18, 1861

Gen. Floyd has been attacked at Gauley, by greatly superior numbers. But he was intrenched, and slew hundreds of the enemy before he retreated, which was effected without loss.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 80

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: December 2, 1863

Bragg begs to be relieved of his command. The army will be relieved to get rid of him. He has a winning way of earning everybody's detestation. Heavens, how they hate him! The rapid flight of his army terminated at Ringgold. Hardie declines even a temporary command of the Western army. Preston Johnston has been sent out post-haste at a moment's warning. He was not even allowed time to go home and tell his wife good-by or, as Browne, the Englishman, said, “to put a clean shirt into his traveling bag.” Lee and Meade are facing each other gallantly.¹

The first of December we went with a party of Mrs. Ould's getting up, to see a French frigate which lay at anchor down the river. The French officers came on board our boat. The Lees were aboard. The French officers were not in the least attractive either in manners or appearance, but our ladies were most attentive and some showered bad French upon them with a lavish hand, always accompanied by queer grimaces to eke out the scanty supply of French words, the sentences ending usually in a nervous shriek. “Are they deaf?” asked Mrs. Randolph.

The French frigate was a dirty little thing. Doctor Garnett was so buoyed up with hope that the French were coming to our rescue, that he would not let me say “an English man-of-war is the cleanest thing known in the world.” Captain said to Mary Lee, with a foreign contortion of countenance, that went for a smile, “I's bashlor.” Judge Ould said, as we went to dinner on our own steamer, “They will not drink our President's health. They do not acknowledge us to be a nation. Mind, none of you say ‘Emperor,’ not once.” Doctor Garnett interpreted the laws of politeness otherwise, and stepped forward, his mouth fairly distended with so much French, and said: “Vieff l'Emperor.” Young Gibson seconded him quietly, “À la santé de I'Empereur.” But silence prevailed. Preston Hampton was the handsomest man on board — “the figure of Hercules, the face of Apollo,” cried an enthusiastic girl. Preston was as lazy and as sleepy as ever. He said of the Frenchmen: “They can't help not being good-looking, but with all the world open to them, to wear such shabby clothes!”

The lieutenant's name was Rousseau. On the French frigate, lying on one of the tables was a volume of Jean Jacques Rousseau's works, side by side, strange to say, with a map of South Carolina. This lieutenant was courteously asked by Mary Lee to select some lady to whom she might introduce him. He answered: “I shuse you,” with a bow that was a benediction and a prayer.

And now I am in a fine condition for Hetty Cary's starvation party, where they will give thirty dollars for the music and not a cent for a morsel to eat. Preston said contentedly, “I hate dancing, and I hate cold water; so I will eschew the festivity to-night.”

Found John R. Thompson at our house when I got home so tired to-night. He brought me the last number of the Cornhill. He knew how much I was interested in Trollope's story, Framley Parsonage.

_______________

¹ Following the battle of Gettysburg on July 1st, 2d, and 3d, of this year, there had occurred in Virginia between Lee and Meade engagements at Bristoe's Station, Kelly's Ford, and Rappahannock Station, the latter engagement taking place on November 7th. The author doubtless refers here to the positions of Lee and Meade at Mine Run, December 1st. December 2d Meade abandoned his, because (as he is reported to have said) it would have cost him 30,000 men to carry Lee's breastworks, and he shrank from ordering such slaughter.

SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 259-60

Diary of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire: September 3, 1862

Wild stories on the street this morning, of the capture of prisoners, killing of generals, etc. Burnside and staff captured, they say. This last too good to be true.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 151

Diary of Margaret Junkin Preston: May 23, 1864

At nine o'clock this night my husband returned home, safe, having walked twenty miles owing to a break in the canal. . . . He has had a very pleasant trip; was ten days on the way returning; the difficulty of travelling is now almost insurmountable. Anna Jackson came on as far as Greensboro' on her way to Lexington, but was obliged to give up the attempt to come further. The Government absorbs the railroads for the transportation of troops and supplies, and no passenger cars are run.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Preston Allan, The Life and Letters of Margaret Junkin Preston, p. 181

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Thursday, August 11, 1864

A train loaded with sick and wounded came in this afternoon from the front. Some of our convalescents had to give up their cots to the sick, and go out to the field hospital, where they will occupy tents.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 209

In The Review Queue: The Battle of Petersburg, June 15-18, 1864

The Battle of Petersburg, June 15-18, 1864

by Sean Michael Chick

The Battle of Petersburg was the culmination of the Virginia Overland campaign, which pitted the Army of the Potomac, led by Ulysses S. Grant and George Gordon Meade, against Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. In spite of having outmaneuvered Lee, after three days of battle in which the Confederates at Petersburg were severely outnumbered, Union forces failed to take the city, and their final, futile attack on the fourth day only added to already staggering casualties. By holding Petersburg against great odds, the Confederacy arguably won its last great strategic victory of the Civil War.

In The Battle of Petersburg, June 15–18, 1864, Sean Michael Chick takes an in-depth look at an important battle often overlooked by historians and offers a new perspective on why the Army of the Potomac’s leadership, from Grant down to his corps commanders, could not win a battle in which they held colossal advantages. He also discusses the battle’s wider context, including politics, memory, and battlefield preservation. Highlights include the role played by African American soldiers on the first day and a detailed retelling of the famed attack of the First Maine Heavy Artillery, which lost more men than any other Civil War regiment in a single battle. In addition, the book has a fresh and nuanced interpretation of the generalships of Grant, Meade, Lee, P. G. T. Beauregard, and William Farrar Smith during this critical battle.

About the Author

Sean Michael Chick has a master’s degree in history from Southeastern Louisiana University.

ISBN 978-1612347127, Potomac Books, © 2015, Hardcover, 480 pages, Photographs & Illustrations, Maps, Order of Battle, End Notes, Bibliography & Index. $39.95.  To purchase a copy of this book click HERE.

Abraham Lincoln to Eli C. Blankenship, August 10, 1833

New Salem, Aug. 10, 1833.

E. C. Blankenship.

Dear Sir: In regard to the time David Rankin served the enclosed discharge shows correctly — as well as I can recollect — having no writing to refer. The transfer of Rankin from my company occurred as follows: Rankin having lost his horse at Dixon's ferry, and having acquaintance in one of the foot companies who were going down the river, was desirous to go with them, and one Galishen, being an acquaintance of mine, and belonging to the company in which Rankin wished to go, wished to leave it and join mine; this being the case it was agreed that they should exchange places and answer to each other's names — as it was expected we all would be discharged in very few days. As to a blanket — I have no knowledge of Rankin ever getting any. The above embraces all the facts now in my recollection which are pertinent to the case. I shall take pleasure in giving any further information in my power should you call on me.

Your friend,

A. Lincoln.

SOURCE: John G. Nicolay and John Hay, Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln, Biographical Edition, Volume 1, p. 10-11

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Major Henry Lee Higginson, November 19, 1863

Vienna, Va., Nov. 19, 1863.

. . . I wish that you and could make as pleasant arrangements for winter-quarters as E. and I have made. We have all the luxuries and some of the necessaries. Housekeeping is under difficulties, but is a success. It's a great thing, pendant l’hiver, to have a Brigade in a fancy Department, and to have your wife out to command it. In spite of Mosby, we have a good canter every day, have enough books, and only have not enough time to read them.¹ This is not a letter. Merely hearing how soon you were to be married, I wish to express my satisfaction and to give my formal consent. I would advise you not to be impatient about returning to your regiment. Haste is poor speed in such matters, but of course I know nothing of your condition (as we say of horses) or of your intentions. If you go to the Army of the Potomac on horseback, you must manage to pass through Vienna. Remember this, boy. How old are you? To see a fellow like you, whom I've seen grow up from an infant, go and be married, makes me feel very old.  . . . When you leave the service, you must permit to arrange your life so that we can occasionally see one another. I dare say she and E. could manage it. I have great confidence in them. Good-bye.

_______________

¹ Chaplain Humphreys wrote home of the kindly and refining influence of Mrs. Lowell's presence in the camp, and of the hospitality that welcomed the officers in turn at the little home which the Colonel and she had established there. He adds: “With the foreigners in the hospital, I was greatly assisted by the wife of the commander, who visited the patients very frequently. She delighted the Frenchmen, Italians, and Germans, by conversing with them in their own languages, that so vividly recalled their early homes. She often assisted in writing letters for the disabled soldiers, and when I sought to give comfort to the dying, her presence soothed the pangs of parting, with a restful consciousness of woman's faithful watching and a mother's tenderness.”

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 314-5, 445

Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Monday, December 16, 1861

Camp Union. — A beautiful day. Rode with Colonel Scammon to Townsend's Ferry. That is we rode to the top of the cliffs on New River; thence with six men of Company B we scrambled down by the path to the river, perhaps by the path three-quarters of a mile. A steep rocky gorge, a rushing river, the high precipices, all together make a romantic scene.

It was here we intended to cross with General Schenck's brigade to cut off Floyd's retreat. Boats were prepared, four skiffs brought from Cincinnati, but the river rose, just as we were about to cross, making it impossible. It has always been a question since whether the enemy were aware of our purpose and would have opposed our crossing. I supposed that so much work preparing could not have escaped their notice, and that they were ready for us. Opposition on such a path would have been fatal. From all I saw at the ferry, I am inclined to think they knew nothing of our purpose. There are no signs of pickets or ambuscades to be found on this side. The distance from the river to this village is only two miles and we could probably have taken it and held it.

The bold enterprises are the successful ones. Take counsel of hopes rather than of fears to win in this business.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 159-60