Colonel William F. Bartlett to Harriett Plummer Bartlett, March 3, 1863

March 3.

Beautiful weather still. In the evening we sat out around the fire in the rear of my tent, smoking our pipes; bright moonlight; the nights are very cold, although the days are so hot.

SOURCE: Francis Winthrop Palfrey, Memoir of William Francis Bartlett, p. 66-7

Colonel William F. Bartlett to Harriett Plummer Bartlett, March 4, 1863

March 4.

This morning orders came for a review in “heavy marching order,” by General Augur. I cautioned the men to “polish up,” and at half past two we turned out, as fine a looking line as you often see. The men stood very steadily, and marched very well. After going back to camp and leaving the knapsacks, etc., I took them out to practice with blank cartridges. At first they were nervous, and did poorly, but after I had given them a very severe talking to, I tried them again at charging in line, and they did it splendidly. Their fire by battalion was like one gun. I then formed a hollow square, and fired from all sides. My horse, inside the square, behaved beautifully. I don't care to see any better drilling than they did after my lecture. After we came into camp I closed column and explained to them that if they would only do as well as that in real action, keep cool, and not fire until they were sure they had the word from me, no matter how near the enemy approached — when they did fire, aim at their opponents' knees (if near), — there was no enemy in the world that could stand against them, etc.

I hope they will remember all I said. They promised, and were very much excited, and cheered loudly for the drill. There is nothing more important than to accustom men to firing, and getting used to the noise. What I taught them this afternoon was of more use to them, and will do them more good than all the brigade drills under Colonel Chapin, with unheard of and useless movements.

This regiment is so entirely dependent upon me alone, I hope I shan't get hit, for I dread to think what would become of them if I should get put hors du combat.

General Dwight has been trying to get my regiment in his brigade; he wrote to Banks about it, but Augur won't consent to lose it.

I hasten to get this in a mail which leaves for New Orleans to-day.

With much love,

W. F. B.

SOURCE: Francis Winthrop Palfrey, Memoir of William Francis Bartlett, p. 67-8

Diary of Gideon Welles: Saturday, September 27, 1862

Governor Tod¹ called on me to-day. Is hopeful and earnest. Thinks delay is necessary. His confidence in McClellan is unimpaired, and in the President it is greatly increased. Has full, unwavering confidence the country will be extricated and the Union maintained. The Republican State Convention of New York, which met at Syracuse, has nominated General James S. Wadsworth for Governor. There has been a good deal of peculiar New York management in this proceeding, and some disappointments. Morgan, who is, on the whole, a good Governor, though of loose notions in politics, would, I think, have been willing to have received a third nomination, but each of the rival factions of the Union party had other favorites. The Weed and Seward class wanted General Dix to be the conservative candidate, — not that they have any attachment for him or his views, but they have old party hate of Wadsworth. The positive Republican element selected Wadsworth. It is an earnest and fit selection of an earnest and sincere man. In bygone years both Wadsworth and Dix belonged to the school of Silas Wright Democrats. It would have been better had they (Seward and Weed) taken no active part. I am inclined to believe Weed so thought and would so have acted. He proposed going to Europe, chiefly, I understand, to avoid the struggle, but it is whispered that Seward had a purpose to accomplish, — that, finding certain currents and influences are opposed to him and his management of the State Department, he would be glad to retreat to the Senate. Seymour, the Democratic candidate, has smartness, but not firm, rigid principles. He is an inveterate partisan, place-hunter, fond of office and not always choice of means in obtaining it. More of a party man than patriot. Is of the Marcy school rather than of the Silas Wright school, — a distinction well understood in New York.

_______________

¹ David Tod, Governor of Ohio.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 153-4

Diary of Salmon P. Chase: Saturday, September 27, 1862

Gov. Andrew came to breakfast. Laughed — vexed too — at report in Herald of proceedings of Governors at Altoona, which he ascribed to the exclusion of reporters. While at breakfast, Col. Andrews and Lieut. Barber, both of Marietta, came in from battle-ground. The Colonel handed me Cox's Report, and informed me that Col. Clark was killed, which left him Lieut. Colonel in actual command. He gave a very interesting account of the conduct of Cox's (late Reno's) corps, both at South Mountain and Antietam. The Reports, however, were more full, and reflected the highest credit on Cox and the officers and men of his troops. Andrews said that McClellan and Burnside would recommend Cox for Major General — an object which I assured Col. A. I would most gladly promote.

Gov. Andrew said he had called on Gen. Hooker the evening before, and met Stanton and Tod. Hooker was unequivocal in condemnation of McClellan's inactivity. At Department, McClernand called and my favorable impression of last evening was strengthened. Many things in a plan of campaign which he urged seemed admirable, especially the Eastern movement from the Mississippi River.

Saw the President, and asked him his opinion of McClernand. Said he thought him brave and capable, but too desirous to be independent of every body else.

Later in the day, received telegram from Bliss, Paymaster General of New York, asking for $300,000 in small notes in exchange for the same amount of large ones to enable him to forward eight regiments. It occurred to me that, by having these regiments sent to Louisville and Mitchell's and Garfield's brigades brought from Louisville and sent to Port Royal, with one or two brigades in addition, a successful expedition against Charleston might be immediately organized; and I determined to speak to Stanton in relation to it tomorrow. Garfield spent the evening with me and accepted invitation to make my house his home while in town.

SOURCE: Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 96-7

Horace Greeley to James S. Pike, May 21, 1860

New York, May 21, 1861.

Pike: Your Maine delegation was a poor affair; I thought you had been at work preparing it for the great struggle; yet I suspect you left all the work for me, as everybody seems to do. Massachusetts also was right in Weed's hands, contrary to all reasonable expectation. I cannot understand this. It was all we could do to hold Vermont by the most desperate exertions; and I at some times despaired of it. The rest of New England was pretty sound, but part of New Jersey was somehow inclined to sin against light and knowledge. If you had seen the Pennsylvania delegation, and known how much money Weed had in hand, you would not have believed we could do so well as we did. Give Curtin thanks for that. Ohio looked very bad, yet turned out well, and Virginia had been regularly sold out; but the seller couldn't deliver. “We had to rain red-hot bolts on them, however, to keep the majority from going for Seward, who got eight votes here as it was. Indiana was our right bower, and Missouri above praise. It was a fearful week, such as I hope and trust I shall never see repeated. I think your absence lost us several votes.

But the deed is done, and the country breathes more freely. We shall beat the enemy fifty thousand in this State — can't take off a single man. New England stands like a rock, and the North-west is all ablaze. Pennsylvania and New Jersey are our pieces de resistance, but we shall carry them. I am almost worn out.

Yours,

Horace Greeley.

James S. Pike, Esq., Somewhere.

SOURCE: James Shepherd Pike, First Blows of the Civil War: The Ten Years of Preliminary Conflict in the United States from 1850 to 1860, p. 519-20

Jeremiah S. Black to Brevet Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott, January 16, 1861

department Of State, January 16, 1861.

lieutenant-general Winfield Scott:

Dear General: The habitual frankness of your character, the deep interest you take in everything that concerns the public defense, your expressed desire that I should hear and understand your views — these reasons, together with an earnest wish to know my own duty and to do it, induce me to beg you for a little light, which perhaps you alone can shed, upon the present state of our affairs.

1. Is it the duty of the Government tore-enforce Major Anderson?

2. If yes, how soon is it necessary that those re-enforcements should be there?

3. What obstacles exist to prevent the sending of such re-enforcements at any time when it may be necessary to do so?

I trust you will not regard it as presumption in me if I give you the crude notions which I myself have already formed out of very imperfect materials.

A statement of my errors, if errors they be, will enable you to correct them the more easily.

I. It seems now to be settled that Major Anderson and his command at Fort Sumter are not to be withdrawn. The United States Government is not to surrender its last hold upon its own property in South Carolina. Major Anderson has a position so nearly impregnable that an attack upon him at present is wholly improbable, and he is supplied with provisions which will last him very well for two months. In the meantime Fort Sumter is invested on every side by the avowedly hostile forces of South Carolina. It is in a state of seige. They have already prevented communication between its commander and his own Government, both by sea and land. There is no doubt that they intend to continue this state of things, as far as it is in their power to do so. In the course of a few weeks from this time it will become very difficult for him to hold out. The constant labor and anxiety of his men will exhaust their physical power, and this exhaustion, of course, will proceed very much more rapidly as soon as they begin to get short of provision.

If the troops remain in Fort Sumter without any change in their condition, and the hostile attitude of South Carolina remains as it is now, the question of Major Anderson's surrender is one of time only. If he is not to be relieved, is it not entirely clear that he should be ordered to surrender at once? It having been determined that the latter order shall not be given, it follows that relief must be sent him at some time before it is too late to save him.

II. This brings me to the second question: When should the re-enforcements and provisions be sent? Can we justify ourselves in delaying the performance of that duty?

The authorities of South Carolina are improving every moment, and increasing their ability to prevent re-enforcement every hour, while every day that rises sees us with a power diminished to send in the requisite relief. I think it certain that Major Anderson could be put in possession of all the defensive powers he needs with very little risk to this Government, if the efforts were made immediately; but it is impossible to predict how much blood or money it may cost if it be postponed for two or three months.

The fact that other persons are to have charge of the Government before the worst comes to the worst has no influence upon my mind, and, I take it for granted, will not be regarded as a just element in making up your opinion.

The anxiety which an American citizen must feel about any future event which may affect the existence of the country, is not less if he expects it to occur on the 5th of March than it would be if he knew it was going to happen on the 3d.

III. I am persuaded that the difficulty of relieving Major Anderson has been very much magnified to the minds of some persons. From you I shall be able to ascertain whether I am mistaken or they. I am thoroughly satisfied that the battery on Morris Island can give no serious trouble. A vessel going in where the Star of the West went will not be within the reach of the battery's guns longer than from six to ten minutes. The number of shots that could be fired upon her in that time may be easily calculated, and I think the chances of her being seriously injured can be demonstrated, by simple arithmetic, to be very small. A very unlucky shot might cripple her, to be sure, and therefore the risk is something. But then it is a maxim, not less in war than in peace, that where nothing is ventured nothing can be gained. The removal of the buoys has undoubtedly made the navigation of the channel more difficult. But there are pilots outside of Charleston, and many of the officers of the Navy, who could steer a ship into the harbor by the natural landmarks with perfect safety. This, be it remembered, is not now a subject of speculation; the actual experiment has been tried. The Star of the West did pass the battery, and did overcome the difficulties of the navigation, meeting with no serious trouble from either cause. They have tried it; we can say probatum est; and there is an end to the controversy.

I am convinced that a pirate, or a slaver, or a smuggler, who could be assured of making five hundred dollars by going into the harbor in the face of all the dangers which now threaten a vessel bearing the American flag, would laugh them to scorn, and to one of our naval officers who has the average of daring, “the danger's self were lure alone!”

There really seems to me nothing in the way that ought to stop us except the guns of Fort Moultrie. If they are suffered to open a fire upon a vessel bearing re-enforcements to Fort Sumter, they might stop any other vessel as they stopped the Star of the West. But is it necessary that this intolerable outrage should be submitted to? Would it not be an act of pure self-defense on the part of Major Anderson to silence Fort Moultrie, if it be necessary to do so, for the purpose of insuring the safety of a vessel whose arrival at Fort Sumter is necessary for his protection, and could he not do it effectually? Would the South Carolinians dare to fire upon any vessel which Major Anderson would tell them beforehand must be permitted to pass, on pain of his guns being opened upon her assailants? But suppose it impossible for an unarmed vessel to pass the battery, what is the difficulty of sending the Brooklyn or the Macedonian in? I have never heard it alleged that the latter could not cross the bar, and I think if the fact had been so it would have been mentioned in my hearing before this time. It will turn out upon investigation, after all that has been said and sung about the Brooklyn, that there is water enough there for her. She draws ordinarily only sixteen and one-half feet, and her draught can be reduced eighteen inches by putting her upon an even keel. The shallowest place will give her eighteen feet of water at high tide. In point of fact, she has crossed that bar more than once. But apart even from these resources, the Government has at its command three or four smaller steamers of light draught and great speed, which could be armed and at sea in a few days, and would not be in the least troubled by any opposition that could be made to their entrance.

It is not, however, necessary to go into the details, with which, I presume, you are fully acquainted. I admit that the state of things may be somewhat worse now than they were a week ago, and are probably getting worse every day; but is not that the strongest reason that can be given for taking time by the forelock?

I feel confident that you will excuse me for making this communication. I have some responsibilities of my own to meet, and I can discharge them only when I understand the subject to which they relate. Your opinion, of course, will be conclusive upon me, for on such a matter I cannot do otherwise than defer to your better judgment. If you think it most consistent with your duty to be silent, I shall have no right to complain.

If you would rather answer orally than make a written reply, I will meet you either at your own quarters or here in the State Department, as may best suit your convenience.

I am, most respectfully, yours, &c.,

J. S. Black.

SOURCE: Samuel Wylie Crawford, The Genesis of the Civil War: The Story of Sumter, 1860-1861, p. 237-9

Diary of William Howard Russell: April 19, 1861

An exceeding hot day. The sun pours on the broad sandy street of Charleston with immense power, and when the wind blows down the thoroughfare it sends before it vast masses of hot dust. The houses are generally detached, surrounded by small gardens, well provided with verandas to protect the windows from the glare, and are sheltered with creepers and shrubs and flowering plants, through which flit humming-birds and fly-catchers. In some places the streets and roadways are covered with planking, and as long as the wood is sound they are pleasant to walk or drive upon.

I paid a visit to the markets; the stalls are presided over by negroes, male and female; the colored people engaged in selling and buying are well clad; the butchers' meat by no means tempting to the eye, but the fruit and vegetable stalls well filled. Fish is scarce at present, as the boats are not permitted to proceed to sea lest they should be whipped up by the expected Yankee cruisers, or carry malecontents to communicate with the enemy. Around the flesh-market there is a skirling crowd of a kind of turkey-buzzard; these are useful as scavengers and are protected by law. They do their nasty work very zealously, descending on the offal thrown out to them with the peculiar crawling, puffy, soft sort of flight which is the badge of all their tribe, and contending with wing and beak against the dogs which dispute the viands with the harpies. It is curious to watch the expression of their eyes as with outstretched necks they peer down from the ledge of the market roof on the stalls and scrutinize the operations of the butchers below. They do not prevent a disagreeable odor in the vicinity of the markets, nor are they deadly to a fine and active breed of rats.

Much drumming and marching through the streets to-day. One very ragged regiment which had been some time at Morris' Island halted in the shade near me, and I was soon made aware they consisted, for the great majority, of Irishmen. The Emerald Isle, indeed, has contributed largely to the population of Charleston. In the principal street there is a large and fine red-sandstone building with the usual Greek-Yankee-composite portico, over which is emblazoned the crownless harp and the shamrock wreath proper to a St. Patrick's Hall, and several Roman Catholic churches also attest the Hibernian presence.

I again called on General Beauregard, and had a few moments' conversation with him. He told me that an immense deal depended on Virginia, and that as yet the action of the people in that State had not been as prompt as might have been hoped, for the President's proclamation was a declaration of war against the South, in which all would be ultimately involved. He is going to Montgomery to confer with Mr. Jefferson Davis. I have no doubt there is to be some movement made in Virginia. Whiting is under orders to repair there, and he hinted that he had a task of no common nicety and difficulty to perform. He is to visit the forts which had been seized on the coast of North Carolina, and probably will have a look at Portsmouth. It is incredible that the Federal authorities should have neglected to secure this place.

Later I visited the Governor of the State, Mr. Pickens, to whom I was conducted by Colonel Lucas, his aide-de-camp. His palace was a very humble shed-like edifice with large rooms, on the doors of which were pasted pieces of paper with sundry high-reading inscriptions, such as “Adjutant General's Dept.,” “Quartermaster-General's Dept.,” “Attorney-General of State,” &c.; and through the doorways could be seen men in uniform, and grave, earnest people busy at their desks with pen, ink, paper, tobacco, and spittoons. The governor, a stout man, of a big head, and a large, important-looking face, with watery eyes and flabby features, was seated in a barrack-like room, furnished in the plainest way, and decorated by the inevitable portrait of George Washington, close to which was the “Ordinance of Secession of the State of South Carolina” of last year.

Governor Pickens is considerably laughed at by his subjects; and I was amused by a little middy, who described with much unction the Governor's alarm on his visit to Fort Pickens, when he was told that there were a number of live shells and a quantity of powder still in the place. He is said to have commenced one of his speeches with “Born insensible to fear,” &c. To me the Governor was very courteous; but I confess the heat of the day did not dispose me to listen with due attention to a lecture on political economy with which he favored me. I was told, however, that he had practised with success on the late Czar when he was United States Minister to St. Petersburg, and that he does not suffer his immediate staff to escape from having their minds improved on the relations of capital to labor, and on the vicious condition of capital and labor in the North.

“In the North, then, you will perceive, Mr. Russell, they have maximized the hostile condition of opposed interests in the accumulation of capital and in the employment of labor, whilst we in the South, by the peculiar excellence of our domestic institution, have minimized their opposition and maximized the identity of interest by the investment of capital in the laborer himself,” and so on, or something like it. I could not help remarking it struck me there was “another difference betwixt the North and the South which he had overlooked, — the capital of the North is represented by gold, silver, notes, and other exponents, which are good all the world over and are recognized as such; your capital has power of locomotion, and ceases to exist the moment it crosses a geographical line.” “That remark, sir,” said the Governor, “requires that I should call your attention to the fundamental principles on which the abstract idea of capital should be formed. In order to clear the ground, let us first inquire into the soundness of the ideas put forward by your Adam Smith.” —— I had to look at my watch and to promise I would come back to be illuminated on some other occasion, and hurried off to keep an engagement with myself to write letters by the next mail.

The Governor writes very good proclamations, nevertheless, and his confidence in South Carolina is unbounded. “If we stand alone, sir, we must win. They can't whip us.” A gentleman named Pringle, for whom I had letters of introduction, has come to Charleston to ask me to his plantation, but there will be no boat from the port till Monday, and it is uncertain then whether the blockading vessels, of which we hear so much, may not be down by that time.

SOURCE: William Howard Russell, My Diary North and South, p. 120-2

John L. Motley to Mary Lothrop Motley, January 22, 1862

Vienna, January 22, 1862.

Dearest Little Mary: There is much sympathy for us in Austria, more, I should say, than in any country in Europe. The most widely circulated journal of Vienna, “Die Presse,” has a leading article almost every day on the subject, as warm, as strong, as sympathetic, and as well informed even to the minutest details as if it were written in Washington or Boston. This moment I have been interrupted by a visit from a field-marshal, whom I did not know, but who introduced himself to ask my advice about a young military friend who wished to serve in our army. Another gentleman called yesterday in behalf of a young man, son of one of the ministers of the grand duchy of Baden. I receive letters daily from officers in all parts of Austria, and two or three warriors were here this morning before I was up. I could have furnished half a dozen regiments since I have been here, but of course I can only say that I have nothing to do with the War Department, and that any one who wishes to try his chance must betake himself to Washington.

Lily has been to two or three balls, and enjoyed herself. The picnic balls, something like Almack's, are once a fortnight. The first took place last week, and Lily danced till three. She went with her mother, and I was allowed to stay at home, as it is not very amusing for an elderly party like me to look on at the mazy dance.

Ever your affectionate

Papagei.

SOURCE: George William Curtis, editor, The Correspondence of John Lothrop Motley in Two Volumes, Library Edition, Volume 2, p. 231-2

John M. Forbes to Senator Charles Sumner, June 27, 1862

Boston, June 27, 1862.

My Dear Mr. Sumner, — The inclosed¹ will explain itself. If you don't object, you may think it worth sending to the “Evening Post,” with our names struck out! I do not see how the Senate can sit with a member who acknowledges such operations, unless a majority of the senators are rotten. Even then I should think the honest ones could stuff it down their throats. If you don't do something, the public verdict will be that you dare not denounce what has been a senatorial custom.  . . . Whoever it hits, Republican, Hunker, or pro-slavery Democrat, the knife ought to be applied, and all the sooner because the immediate sinner is a soidisant Republican.

_______________

¹ A squib in the form of a supposed letter from a business firm to Senator Sumner, referring to the acknowledged acceptance of a bribe by a United States senator, and frankly proposing to bribe Mr. Sumner into obtaining government contracts for them. — Ed.

SOURCE: Sarah Forbes Hughes, Letters and Recollections of John Murray Forbes, Volume 1, p. 318-9

The Massachusetts Kansas Committee to Edward Clark, January 30, 1857

The National Committee, at their meeting in New York, voted to resign all claim to the rifles at Tabor to our committee; and Mr. Hurd is to notify you of the fact officially. If, therefore, you have commenced any proceedings to get possession of them from the National Committee, you may suspend all action until you receive Mr. Hurd's letter, which will give you full power in the premises. We learn that the rifles are at Tabor, in charge of a certain Jonas Jones, and that they are properly stored and cared for. If this should not be so, or if the Central Committee at Lawrence have interfered with them at all, you may take measures to get immediate possession, as directed by us. All matters at issue between our committee and the National Committee have been satisfactorily settled, and we trust there will be no further misunderstandings. Mr. Hurd has been in Boston and arranged all things. We have been expecting a letter from you for some days. By the time this reaches you, you will have been at Tabor, we presume. There write us a full account of your proceedings, and also of the present condition of things in Kansas, the position of the Central Committee, etc. Much business was done at the New York meeting; but no final settlement of accounts could be made, by reason of the absence of important persons and papers. Conway and Whitman are here, preparing to appear before the legislative committee about a State appropriation.

SOURCE: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 369

1st Lieutenant Charles Fessenden Morse, June 19, 1862

June 19, 1862.

Yesterday we struck camp about eleven o'clock, and at noon started off; we marched about thirteen miles and camped this side of the Shenandoah. To-day we are on picket on the Middleton road, in quite a pleasant place.

SOURCE: Charles Fessenden Morse, Letters Written During the Civil War, 1861-1865, p. 70

1st Lieutenant Charles Fessenden Morse, June 24, 1862

Camp At Nineveh, Near Front Royal,

June 24, 1862.

I don't think I have ever mentioned in any of my letters anything about the Third Wisconsin regiment. We have camped alongside of it now since the last of March. It is, without exception, the best regiment we have ever seen, leaving out our own; the men are in good discipline, and the officers are gentlemen. For about a month, most of us of the Second have boarded at their mess-table; it is a very pleasant one. Colonel Ruger sits at the head. He is one of the finest gentlemen I know, a graduate of West Point. If we had a few more such regiments as this, our army would be very different from what it is now.

SOURCE: Charles Fessenden Morse, Letters Written During the Civil War, 1861-1865, p. 70

Major Wilder Dwight: September 26, 1861

September 26.

Cold weather seems to have set in upon us. I hope our Rebel brothers the other side of the Potomac are suffering the same cold nights that we have. Such weather will do more to drive them from Manassas than much artillery.

There is a lull now. O for a tempest! I am glad Howard seems likely to accomplish his best object. Had he not better use a day in a visit to me on his way West?

SOURCE: Elizabeth Amelia Dwight, Editor, Life and Letters of Wilder Dwight: Lieut.-Col. Second Mass. Inf. Vols., p. 106

Major Wilder Dwight: Friday, September 27, 1861

PLEASANT HILL, CAMP NEAR Darnestown,

September 27, 1861.

A dark, dull, rainy day without, a calm, quiet, cosey tent within. At peace with ourselves, and apparently with all mankind. Such is this Friday morning.

Yesterday * was a grand day for our army. The orders were issued for its observance by a grand division parade and service, and at eleven o'clock the brigades moved to Darnestown, and formed in a large field for the service. Our friend Mr. Quint gave the address on the occasion. I did not go myself, being detained by the combined influence of a headache and a court-martial. The headache and court-martial have both adjourned to-day, and I think they will not be called together again.

It is said that the division looked very well indeed, and that the Massachusetts Second appeared bright beside the other regiments. This is probably exactly true. We have never been drawn up to face anything else except the Reverend Chaplain, but it is said that the column stood his fire like heroes!

The impression seems to be gathering force that our term of inaction is drawing to a close. I only hope that when we go across the Potomac, it will be by a grand concerted movement, which will sweep everything before it clean. “Nulla vestigia retrorsum.” Not a single about face in the whole movement. I think we have reason to be glad that our regiment is getting through the chills-and-fever season so well. The place where we are seems quite healthy, and we suffer much less than our neighbors. By a new division of brigades, Colonel Gordon becomes the Senior Colonel of the Third Brigade, which makes him the Acting Brigadier. This puts Colonel Andrews in command of the regiment.

I hope soon to hear of Howard's movements, and also of Charley's coming on to join William.

_______________

* The President's Fast Day.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Amelia Dwight, Editor, Life and Letters of Wilder Dwight: Lieut.-Col. Second Mass. Inf. Vols., p. 106-7

Major-General John Sedgwick to Major-General William H. French, September 1, 1863

Headquarters 6th Corps,

Warrenton, September 1, 1863.

My dear French:

It has been suggested by some of the friends of General McClellan that it would not be inappropriate for the old "Army of the Potomac" to present him some little testimonial as a pledge of their esteem.

Before making any move in the matter, I thought it best to ascertain the feelings of some of the corps commanders, especially of Newton and yourself. I therefore write you both, hoping that we may all take the same views. If so, I think it will go through with a rush.

For myself, I have never been intimate with the General — have never visited him socially; at the same time I have the greatest regard and admiration for him, and I would like to show that he still retains the love and confidence of the Army of the Potomac.

Please let me know, as early as possible, what you think of the idea, and the best plan for carrying it into execution.

Yours very truly,

John Sedgwick,

Major-General.

SOURCE: George William Curtis, Correspondence of John Sedgwick, Major-General, Volume 2, p. 155

Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Saturday, January 18, 1862

Attempting to rain this morning. All important movements everywhere stopped by the rain and mud already. Still further “postponement on account of weather.” How impatiently we look for action on Green River [and] at Cairo. As to the Potomac, all hope of work in that quarter seems to be abandoned. Why don't they try to flank the Rebels — get at their communications in the rear? But patience! Here we are in a good position to get in the rear via two railroads. Suppose two or even three or four bodies of men were to start, one by way of Lewisburg for White Sulphur Springs and Jackson Depot, one via Peterstown and Union, east side of New River, for Central Depot, one via Princeton and Parisburg [Pearisburg] right bank of New River, for Dublin, and another via Logan Court-house for some point lower down on the railroad.

A heavy rain falls — warm, spring-like, copious. The scenery of New River is attractive. The river runs in a deep gorge cut through the rock to a depth of one thousand to two thousand feet. The precipitous cliffs, occasionally cut through by streams running into the river, the rapid rushing river, and brawling mountain streams furnish many fine views. The Glades, a level region near Braxton and Webster Counties, where streams rise, and a similar region, called the Marshes of Cool, are the cattle grounds of this part of western Virginia. Braxton and Webster are the haunts of the worst Rebel bushwhackers of the country. Steep mountains, deep gorges and glens afford them hiding-places. They are annoying but not dangerous except to couriers, mail-carriers, and very small parties. They shoot from too great a distance at large parties to do much harm. . . .

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 190-1

Francis Lieber to Senator Charles Sumner, December 24, 1864

December 24, 1864.

My Dear Sumner, — You will feel the loss of Earl Carlisle much. I sympathize with you. I do not know whether your intimacy continued to his end, but he was, I understand, on our side. Cornewall Lewis went before him, so we lose the few friends we have in England fast. Serrez les rangs. What we have to do is to fight through, and leave the rest to Him to whom all history belongs. We are all on a battle-field. Blessed are those who fight and fall in a righteous cause, but all must fight and fall in this life, which is life only as far as it is struggle within and without.

The attempted interference with the foreign policy, by the house, and the proposition of retaliation by the member from Maine, are illustrations of the pitiful Athenian government by the agora. When such attempts are made even by the representative government, what must be the state of things where the multitude (not the populus) rule, or rather, can rush into action at any moment. I am the sworn enemy of all absolutism, and I trust my friends will remember of me this one thing, that I am the one who first spoke of “democratic absolutism.” Until I used that term, absolutism meant monarchical, unchecked power. It came into use under Ferdinand VII of Spain. I spoke of democratic absolutism in presence of Judge Story, or to him, when you were yet a Cambridge student. It struck him, and he first hesitated to allow the term, but soon approved it. . . .

SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 354

Francis Lieber to Judge Thayer

Is it not possible to formulate the idea that government interference in elections is a nefarious thing into a law? We shall suffer here greatly from the contributions which every custom-house, navy-yard and post-office man is assessed to pay. I spoke of the illogical character of the thing in my “Political Ethics;” also in my “Civil Liberty” — a passage which Governor Seymour quoted in one of his messages.  . . . I know it is very difficult to prevent it — as difficult as to forestall false naturalization papers; but can nothing be done? And is there not always something gained when a society puts its legislative frown on an offence? The case of an executive using the power given by the people, and the money taken from them, against a free and correct expression of their opinion, is a monstrosity, and, in a polity in which everything depends on election, an act of high treason against the sovereign. So it seems to me.  . . . Why not make every officer of the government, when he assumes the office, take an oath that he will not allow himself to be assessed, or otherwise deprived of portions of his salary or other money he possesses, directly or indirectly, by his superiors, for election purposes? Elaborate such a law. . . .

SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 353

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: December 20, 1861

A man by the name of Dibble, the identical one I passed on my way to Montgomery last spring, and whom I then thought acted and spoke like a Yankee, is here seeking permission to go North; he says to Halifax. He confesses that he is a Yankee born; but has lived in North Carolina for many years, and has amassed a fortune. He declares the South does not contain a truer Southern man than himself; and he says he is going to the British Provinces to purchase supplies for the Confederacy. He brought me an order from Mr. Benjamin, indorsed on the back of a letter, for a passport. I declined to give it; and he departed in anger, saying the Secretary would grant it. He knew this, for he said the Secretary had promised him one.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 100-1

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: December 21, 1861

Col. Bledsoe was in to-day. I had not seen him for a long time. He had not been sitting in the office two minutes before he uttered one of his familiar groans. Instantly we were on the old footing again. He said Secretary Benjamin had never treated him as Chief of the Bureau, any more than Walker.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 101