Diary of Corporal David L. Day: March 15, 1862

The boys came out this morning, looking a little the worse for wear, lame, sore and stiff; but with a good bumper of whiskey to lubricate their stiffened joints, and a little stirring around to take the kinks out of their legs, a good breakfast, hot coffee, etc., they soon resumed their normal condition. There is not much doing today except lying around in quarters or looking over the town. Negroes are coming in by the hundred, and the city is full of soldiers and marines traveling about and having things pretty much their own way. Guards are sent out to patrol the streets and assist Capt. Dan, the provost marshal, in preserving order preparatory to putting on a provost guard and bringing the city under law and order. Some enterprising party has hoisted the old flag on the spire of the church on Pollock street. There let it proudly wave; let it catch the first beams of the morning, and let the last rays of the setting sun linger and play amid its folds; let it gladden the hearts of every lover of liberty and loyalty, and let it be a notice to these deluded and ill-advised people around here, that it will never again give place to their traitorous rag of secession.

SOURCE: David L. Day, My Diary of Rambles with the 25th Mass. Volunteer Infantry, p. 46-7

Diary of Corporal David L. Day: March 16, 1862

WE ATTEND CHURCH.

Today, for the first time since we left home, Chaplain James held services in a meeting-house. We occupied the large house of the Presbyterian society, which was well filled with a miscellaneous congregation of soldiers, sailors, citizens and negroes, both men and women. Col. Upton had improvised a choir, and, with the aid of the organ, led the singing. The chaplain preached a very good discourse, and I hardly knew which felt the best, he or the colonel. There are several other meetinghouses here, which are or have been occupied by the Methodist, Baptist, Episcopalian, Catholic and negro societies. It would seem that this people have sometime been a God-fearing people, but since Jeff. Davis inaugurated a new regime, every man has done that which seemed good in his own sight. Hence we are here on this little excursion.

SOURCE: David L. Day, My Diary of Rambles with the 25th Mass. Volunteer Infantry, p. 47

Diary of Corporal David L. Day: March 17, 1862

NEW QUARTERS.

It would seem that the people had no thought of evacuating the city until the very last moment. When they saw that the Philistines were upon them they hastily gathered up their valuables and what light articles they could carry on their persons, and fled, leaving their houses, stores and property, just as they stood.

Today the several companies of our regiment moved into the deserted mansions of the Confederate martyrs, which will be our quarters during our stay. Company B went into a two-story brick house on East Front street. It has a pretty flower garden in front, with an orchard, vegetable garden and servants’ quarters in the rear. The house is nicely furnished throughout; the floors, halls and stairs are carpeted, as are the chambers. The front parlor has upholstered furniture, center table, piano, lace curtains, ornaments, gas fixtures, etc. The back parlor is furnished similar to the front, excepting the piano. The basement contains all necessary culinary utensils. I don't see but we are pretty well fixed, but this is only one of the occasional sunny spots in a soldier's life. Some of the other companies are quartered in more pretentious and better furnished houses, on Pollock, Craven and Broad streets. We are nicely settled in the fine mansions of the lordly fugitives, who but yesterday ruled these spacious homes and paced the pictured halls. What strange infatuation, bordering on insanity, must have possessed these people, to bring this terrible calamity of war upon themselves, thus becoming voluntary exiles and strangers from their homes and property.

LOSS AND GAIN.

An account of stock has been taken, and we are now able to figure up the losses and gains in the great battle. The 25th lost four killed and sixteen wounded. The whole Federal loss was 100 killed and 498 wounded. The enemy's loss in killed and wounded is not known, but probably was not large, as they were behind their works, and all their killed and wounded were put aboard the cars which were waiting on the track. They lost about 500 men, taken prisoners, all the guns in their works, all their field batteries, upwards of 100 guns; besides all their horses, camp equipage, a large amount of ammunition, 4000 muskets and a large quantity of commissary and quartermaster's stores. They also lost three steamboats, one of which they ran ashore and burned, besides quite a quantity of cotton on the wharves which they had used in the erection of batteries.

SOURCE: David L. Day, My Diary of Rambles with the 25th Mass. Volunteer Infantry, p. 47-8

Major-General Andrew A. Humphreys to Major-General Gouverneur K. Warren, May 12, 1864 – 9:15 a.m.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,            

May 12, 1864—9.15 a.m.

Major-General WARREN,

Commanding Fifth Corps:

The order of the major-general commanding is peremptory that you attack at once at all hazards with your whole force, if necessary.

A. A. HUMPHREYS,                       

Major-General and Chief of Staff.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 36, Part 2 (Serial No. 68), p. 663

Captain Charles Wright Wills: November 16, 1864 — 11 p. m

McDonough, November 16, 1864, 11 p. m.

Made 14 miles to-day through a really fine country. Only saw one house though, that looked like living. Forage is no name for the good things our foragers find here. I notify you that I had eggs for supper. There was some lively cannonading toward Lovejoy this morning, but it has been quiet ever since. Think the “Militia” has discovered that this party “sizes their pile,” and have “fled to the mountain.” Our whole corps are on the road to-day. The advance got into camp five miles ahead, at noon. We got here one hour ago, and our division camps six miles back. The roads are excellent and we travel right along. We all voted this morning that opossum meat was good enough for white folks. I liked it very much.

SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 320

Captain Charles Wright Wills: November 17, 1864 — 12 a.m.

Near Jackson, Ga., November 17, 1864, 12 a.m.

Have just had our coffee. Marched some 17 miles to-day. Begin to see where the “rich planters” come in. This is probably the most gigantic pleasure excursion ever planned. It already beats everything I ever saw soldiering, and promises to prove much richer yet. I wish Sherman would burn the commissary trains, we have no use for what they carry, and the train only bothers us. . It is most ludicrous to see the actions of the negro women as we pass. They seem to be half crazy with joy, and when a band strikes up they go stark mad. Our men are clear discouraged with foraging, they can't carry half the hogs and potatoes they find right along the road. The men detailed for that purpose are finding lots of horses and mules. The 6th Iowa are plumb crazy on the horse question.

SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 320

Captain Charles Wright Wills: November 18, 1864

November 18, 1864.

We got here at noon but will wait until to-morrow, I understand, for the 3d and 4th Divisions to lay a pontoon bridge across the Ocmulgee river. This has been a summer resort of some note. From 800 to 1,000 people congregate here. The spring is a little stream of water not larger than your finger, which runs from the rock at the rate of a gallon a minute. It is sulphur water with some other ingredient that gives it a very disagreeable ordor. This is quite a romantic place. Foraged some peach brandy, which was destroyed.

SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 321

Captain Charles Wright Wills: November 19, 1864

Near Hillsboro, November 19, 1864.

Have been foraging to-day. Crossed the Ocmulgee at Ocmulgee Mills, on pontoons. This river is much like the Chattahoochie, but not so broad. I am lost from the division tonight and camped near the 2d Division. By the kindness of Mrs. Elizabeth Celia Pye, I occupy a feather bed to-night. It is the first house I have been in for the last three months. She understood from the Rebels that we burned all houses and she took all her things out and hid them in the woods. The foragers found them and brought them in to her. Had an excellent supper with the boys. This is a level, fine country, and has been well cultivated.

SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 321

Captain Charles Wright Wills: November 20, 1864

Near Clinton, November 20, 1864.

Struck out foraging before daylight this morning. Almost any house on the road to-day would furnish pork and potatoes enough for a brigade. I got to the regiment about 8 p. m. last night. They say our brigade marched until 3 a. m., and the reveille sounded before the men got through supper. We passed over the scene of Stoneman's fighting and surrender last August. Some of our men found two of our dead soldiers unburied, which don't speak well for the Rebels, and is charged against them. I think there is less pillaging this trip than I ever saw before.

SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 321

Congressman Benjamin Pringle to Emory Upton, March 12, 1856

House of REPRESENTATIVES, WASHINGTON, D.C., March 12, 1856.

DEAR SIR: I have the pleasure of indorsing a notice signed by the Secretary of War, informing you that the President has conditionally appointed you a cadet in the military service of the United States. I selected you for the place because, from representations made by your friends concerning you, and from my slight acquaintance with you, I believed that you possessed sufficient talent and ability, honesty and integrity, industry, energy, and perseverance to enable you to pass the ordeal at West Point creditably. Should you fail, it will be mortifying to me and to your other friends, but I trust there will be no failure. You will enter the academy under favorable circumstances, and you must make every reasonable effort to attain and maintain a high standing in your class, and if possible carry off the first honors. You can hardly imagine the interest that I feel and shall continue to feel for your success. By doing well for yourself, you will honor me. The place to which you are appointed has been sought by many and supported by influential friends, but I thought best to choose you, and you must prove to the world that I have made a good choice.

[Benjamin Pringle.]

SOURCE: Peter Smith Michie, The Life and Letters of Emory Upton, p. 7-8

Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant to Major-General Henry W. Halleck, May 12, 1864 – 6:30 p.m.

NEAR SPOTSYLVANIA COURT-HOUSE,                     

May 12, 1864—6.30 p.m.

The eighth day of battle closes, leaving between 3,000 and 4,000 prisoners in our hands for the day's work, including 2 general officers and over 30 pieces of artillery. The enemy are obstinate and seem to have found the last ditch. We have lost no organization, not even that of a company, while we have destroyed and captured one division (Johnson's), one brigade (Doles'), and one regiment entire of the enemy.

U.S. GRANT,            

Lieutenant-General.

Major-General HALLECK,

Washington, D.C.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 36, Part 1 (Serial No. 67), p. 4

Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant to Major-General Henry W. Halleck, May 11, 1864 – 8:30 a.m.

HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES,                      

Near Spotsylvania Court-House, May 11, 1864—8.30 a.m.

We have now ended the sixth day of very heavy fighting. The result to this time is much in our favor. But our losses have been heavy, as well as those of the enemy. We have lost to this time 11 general officers killed, wounded, and missing, and probably 20,000 men. I think the loss of the enemy must be greater, we having taken over 4,000 prisoners in battle, while he has taken but few, except stragglers. I am now sending back to Belle Plain all my wagons for a fresh supply of provisions and ammunition, and propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer. The arrival of re-enforcements here will be very encouraging to the men, and I hope they will be sent as fast as possible, and in as great numbers. My object in having them sent to Belle Plain was to use them as an escort to our supply train. If it is more convenient to send them out by train to march from the railroad to Belle Plain or Fredericksburg send them so. I am satisfied the enemy are very shaky, and are only kept up to the mark by the greatest exertions on the part of their officers, and by keeping them intrenched in every position they take. Up to this time there is no indication of any portion of Lee's army being detached for the defense of Richmond.

U.S. GRANT,            

Lieutenant-General.

Maj. Gen. H. W. HALLECK,

Chief of Staff.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 36, Part 1 (Serial No. 67), p. 4

Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant to Major-General George G. Meade, April 9, 1864

CULPEPER COURT-HOUSE, VA.,                       

April 9, 1864.

Maj. Gen. G. G. MEADE,

Commanding Army of the Potomac:

For information, and as instructions to govern your preparations for the coming campaign, the following is communicated confidentially, for your own perusal alone:

So far as practicable, all the armies are to move together and toward one common center. Banks has been instructed to turn over the guarding of the Red River to General Steele and to the navy, to abandon Texas with the exception of the Rio Grande, and to concentrate all the force he can—not less than 25,000 men—to move on Mobile. This he is to do without reference to any other movements. From the scattered condition of his command, however, he cannot possibly get it together to leave New Orleans before the 1st of May, if so soon.

Sherman will move at the same time you do, or two or three days in advance, Joe Johnston's army being his objective point and the heart of Georgia his ultimate aim. If successful, he will secure the line from Chattanooga to Mobile, with the aid of Banks.

Sigel cannot spare troops from his army to re-enforce either of the great armies, but he can aid them by moving directly to his front. This he has been directed to do, and is now making preparations for it. Two columns of his command will move south at the same time with the general move, one from Beverly, from 10,000 to 12,000 strong, under Major-General Ord; the other from Charleston, W. Va., principally cavalry, under Brigadier-General Crook. The former of these will endeavor to reach the Tennessee and Virginia Railroad about south of Covington, and if found practicable will work eastward to Lynchburg and return to its base by way of the Shenandoah Valley or join you. The other will strike at Saltville, Va., and come eastward to join Ord. The cavalry from Ord's command will try to force a passage southward; if they are successful in reaching the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, to cut the main lines of the road connecting Richmond with all the South and Southwest.

Gillmore will join Butler with about 10,000 men from South Carolina. Butler can reduce his garrison so as to take 23,000 men into the field directly to his front. The force will be commanded by Maj. Gen. W. F. Smith. With Smith and Gillmore, Butler will seize City Point and operate against Richmond from the south side of the river. His movement will be simultaneous with yours.

Lee's army will be your objective point. Wherever Lee goes, there you will go also. The only point upon which I am now in doubt is whether it will be better to cross the Rapidan above or below him. Each plan presents great advantages over the other, with corresponding objections. By crossing above, Lee is cut off from all chance of ignoring Richmond and going north on a raid: but if we take this route all we do must be done while the rations we start with hold out; we separate from Butler, so that he cannot be directed how to co-operate. By the other route, Brandy Station can be used as a base of supplies until another is secured on the York or James River. These advantages and objections I will talk over with you more fully than I can write them.

Burnside, with a force of probably 25,000 men, will re-enforce you. Immediately upon his arrival, which will be shortly after the 20th instant, I will give him the defense of the road from Bull Run as far south as we wish to hold it. This will enable you to collect all your strength about Brandy Station and to the front.

There will be naval co-operations on the James River, and transports and ferries will be provided, so that should Lee fall back into his intrenchments at Richmond Butler's force and yours will be a unit, or at least can be made to act as such.

What I would direct, then, is that you commence at once reducing baggage to the very lowest possible standard. Two wagons to a regiment of 500 men is the greatest number that should be allowed for all baggage, exclusive of subsistence stores and ordnance stores. One wagon to brigade and one to division headquarters is sufficient, and about two to corps headquarters.

Should by Lee's right flank be our route, you will want to make arrangements for having supplies of all sorts promptly forwarded to White House, on the Pamunkey. Your estimates for this contingency should be made at once. If not wanted there, there is every probability they will be wanted on the James River or elsewhere.

If Lee's left is turned, large provision will have to be made for ordnance stores. I would say not much short of 500 rounds of infantry ammunition would do. By the other, half the amount would be sufficient.

U. S. GRANT,                       

Lieutenant-General.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 33 (Serial No. 60), p. 827-9

In the Review Queue: A War State All Over

A War State All Over:

Alabama Politics and the Confederate Cause

by Ben H. Severance

Alabama’s military forces were fierce and dedicated combatants for the Confederate cause.In his study of Alabama during the Civil War, Ben H. Severance argues that Alabama’s electoral and political attitudes were, in their own way, just as unified in their support for the cause of southern independence. To be sure, the civilian populace often expressed unease about the conflict, as did a good many of Alabama’s legislators, but the majority of government officials and military personnel displayed pronounced Confederate loyalty and a consistent willingness to accept a total war approach in pursuit of their new nation’s aims. As Severance puts it, Alabama was a “war state all over.”

In A War State All Over: Alabama Politics and the Confederate Cause, Severance examines the state’s political leadership at multiple levels of governance—congressional, gubernatorial, and legislative—and orients much of his analysis around the state elections of 1863. Coming at the war’s midpoint, these elections provide an invaluable gauge of popular support for Alabama’s role in the Civil War, particularly at a time when the military situation for Confederate forces was looking bleak. The results do not necessarily reflect a society that was unreservedly prowar, but they clearly establish a polity that was committed to an unconditional Confederate victory, in spite of the probable costs.

Severance’s innovative work focuses on the martial character of Alabama’s polity while simultaneously acknowledging the widespread angst of Alabama’s larger culture and society. In doing so, it puts a human face on the election returns by providing detailed character sketches of the principal candidates that illuminate both their outlook on the war and their role in shaping policy.

About The Author.

Ben. H. Severance is professor and hair of history at Auburn University at Montgomery.  He is author of Portraits of Conflict: A Photographic History of Alabama in the Civil War and Tennessee’s Radical Army: The State Guard and its Role in Reconstruction, 1867-1869.

ISBN 978-0817320591, University Alabama Press, © 2020, Hardcover, 264 pages, Endnotes, Bibliography & Index. $49.95. To purchase this book click HERE.

Letter from G., May 13, 1864

BELLE PLAIN, VA., May 13, 1864.

On the S. C. boat, pulling up to the shore Government flatboats of horses and cavalry recruits. There are no docks and the army supplies are being landed from barges connected by pontoons with the shore. A constant stream of contrabands passing with bags of grain and barrels of pork on their shoulders. Dr. Douglas and Dr. Agnew are here. Good Dr. Cuyler is here. Senator Pomeroy is on board going down to bring up General Bartlett of Massachusetts who went into the fight with a Palmer leg and was wounded again. Col. —— tells me there has been great anxiety at the War Department. Mr. Stanton said to him, “When we have a victory the whole North shall know it.”—“And when there is silence?” said Col. ——. “Then,” said the Secretary, “there is no communication with the front.” We have a Feeding-Station on shore and are putting up another two miles away, on the hill, where ambulance trains halt sometimes for hours, owing to obstructions in the road. The mud is frightful and the rain is coming on again. We are directed to take the return train of ambulances for Fredericksburg.

Just as I finished, the train from Fredericksburg arrived. Nothing I have ever seen equals the condition of these men. They had been two or three days in the ambulances; roads dreadful; no food. We have been at work with them from morning till night without ceasing; filling one boat, feeding the men; filling another, feeding them. There is no sort of use in trying to tell you the story. I can scarcely bear to think of it. All the nurses and cooks from the Invalid Corps of our Hospital, who marched off that day, Sullivan, Lewis and the rest, armed with muskets again, are down here guarding prisoners. Yesterday a squad of rebel officers was marched on board a boat lying by ours. I had to pass through their ranks to get supplies from our boat, and shook hands with our boys and saw the officers; Stewart and Bradley Johnson among them; strong well-fed, iron looking men, all of them. There's no give in in such looking men as these. Our soldiers from the front say the rebels stand— stand—in solid masses, giving and taking tremendous blows and never being shoved an inch. It is magnificent!

No words can express the horrible confusion of this place. The wounded arrive one train a day, but the trains are miles long; blocked by all sorts of accidents, wagon trains, bad roads, broken bridges; two, three days on the way, plunged in quagmires, jolted over corduroy, without food, fainting, starving; filthy; frightfully wounded, arms gone to the shoulder, horrible wounds in face and head. I would rather a thousand times have a friend killed on the field than suffer in this way. It is worse than White House, Harrison's, or Gettysburg by far. Many die on the way. We found thirty-five dead in the ambulances yesterday, and six more died on the stretchers while being put on board the boats. The boats are anything that can be got hold of, cattle scows, anything. Barges of horses are landed by the side of the transports and the horses cross the deck where the helpless men lie. Mules, stretchers, army wagons, prisoners, dead men and officials as good as dead are tumbled and jumbled on the wretched dock which falls in every little while and keeps the trains waiting for hours. We fed the men at once. We fed all the five boats that got off yesterday. There is no Government provision for this, beyond bread; no coffee, no soup, no cups or pails, or vessels of any kind for holding food. The men eat as if starving. These had been three days without food. We are ordered to Fredericksburg today to report to Dr. Douglas, as there is more misery there than here.

SOURCE: Jane Stuart Woolsey, Hospital Days, p. 150-1

Diary of Clara Barton: Thursday, April 14, 1864

This was one of the most down-spirited days that ever came to me. All the world appeared selfish and treacherous. I can get no hold on a good noble sentiment anywhere. I have scanned over and over the whole moral horizon and it is all dark, the night clouds seem to have shut down, so stagnant, so dead, so selfish, so calculating. Is there no right? Are there no consequences attending wrong? How shall the world move on in all this weight of dead, morbid meanness? Shall lies prevail forevermore? Look at the state of things, both civil and military, that curse our Government. The pompous air with which little dishonest pimps lord it over their betters. Contractors ruining the Nation, and oppressing the poor, and no one rebukes them. See a monkey-faced official, not twenty rods from me, oppressing and degrading poor women who come up to his stall to feed their children, that he may steal with better grace and show to the Government how much his economy saves it each month. Poor blind Government never feels inside his pockets, pouching with ill-gotten gain, heavy with sin. His whole department know it, but it might not be quite wise for them to speak — they will tell it freely enough, but will not, dare not affirm it — COWARDS! Congress knows it, but no one can see that it will make votes for him at home by meddling with it, so it is winked at. The Cabinet know it, but people that live in glass houses must not throw stones. So it rests, and the women live lighter and sink lower, God help them. And next an ambitious, dishonest General lays a political plot to be executed with human life. He is to create a Senator, some memberships, a Governor, commissions, and all the various offices of a state, and the grateful recipients are to repay the favor by gaining for him his confirmation as Major-General. So the poor rank and file are marched out to do the job, a leader is selected known to be brave to rashness if need be, and given the command in the dark, that he may never be able to claim any portion of the glory — so that he cannot say I did it. Doomed, and he knows it, he is sent on, remonstrates, comes back and explains, is left alone with the responsibility on his shoulders, forces divided, animals starving, men suffering, enemy massing in front, and still there he is. Suddenly he is attacked, defeated as he expected he must be, and the world is shocked by the tales of his rashness and procedure contrary to orders. He cannot speak; he is a subordinate officer and must remain silent; the thousands with him know it, but they must not speak; Congress does not know it, and refuses to be informed; and the doomed one is condemned and the guilty one asks for his reward, and the admiring world claims it for him. He has had a battle and only lost two thousand men and gained nothing. Surely, this deserved something. And still the world moves on. No wonder it looks dark, though, to those who do not wear the tinsel. And so my day has been weary with these thoughts, and my heart heavy and I cannot raise it — I doubt the justice of almost all I see.

Evening. At eight Mr. Wilson called. I asked him if the investigation was closed. He replied, yes, and that General Seymour would leave the Department in disgrace. This was too much for my fretted soul, and I poured out the vials of my indignation in no stinted measure. I told him the facts, and what I thought of a Committee that was too imbecile to listen to the truth when it was presented to them; that they had made themselves a laughing-stock for even the privates in the service by their stupendous inactivity and gullibility; that they were all a set of dupes, not to say knaves, for I knew Gray of New York had been on using all his blarney with them that was possible to wipe over them, When I had freed my mind, and it was some time, he looked amazed and called for a written statement. I promised it. He left. I was anxious to possess myself of the most reliable facts in existence and decide to go to New York and see Colonel Hall and Dr. Marsh again; make my toilet ready, write some letters, and at three o'clock retired.

SOURCE: William Eleazar Barton, The Life of Clara Barton: Founder of the American Red Cross, Volume 1, p. 265-7

12th Missouri Cavalry

Organized at St. Louis, Mo., November 3, 1863, to March 23, 1864. Attached to District of St. Louis, Mo., Dept. Missouri, to July, 1864. 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, District of West Tennessee, Dept. Tennessee, to November, 1864. 1st Brigade, 5th Division, Cavalry Corps, Military Division Mississippi, to May, 1865. Dept. Missouri, Eastern Division, Powder River Expedition, and District of the Plains to April, 1866.

SERVICE.—Duty at St. Louis, Mo., till June 1, 1864. Ordered to Memphis, Tenn., and duty there till August 1. Smith's Expedition to Oxford, Miss., August 1-30. Holly Springs August 1. Elkshute August 4. Tallahatchie River August 7-9. Hurricane Creek and Oxford August 9. Abbeville August 13. Hurricane Creek August 13-14 and 19. College Hill, Oxford, August 23. At White's Station till September 30. March to Clifton and Lawrenceburg in pursuit of Forest September 30-October 8. At Clifton till October 27. Nashville Campaign November-December. March to Pulaski, Tenn., October 27-November 6. Expedition to Moscow November 9-13. Shoal Creek November 11. Eastport, Miss., November 10-11. On line of Shoal Creek November 16-20. Lawrenceburg November 22. Campbellville and Lynnville November 24. In front of Columbia November 24-27. Crossing of Duck River November 28. Battle of Nashville December 15-16. Pursuit of Hood December 17-28. Richland Creek December 24. King's Gap, near Pulaski, December 25. At Gravelly Springs, Ala., and Eastport, Miss. Scouting in Northern Mississippi and Alabama till May, 1865. Moved to St. Louis, Mo., May 12-17, thence to Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and to Omaha, Neb. Powder River Expedition against Indians in Nebraska July 1-September 20. Actions with Indians on Powder River September 1-4 and 5. March from Fort Connor to Fort Laramie September 25-October 4. Engaged in frontier duty till April, 1866. Mustered out April 9, 1866.

Regiment lost during service 1 Officer and 35 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 1 Officer and 226 Enlisted men by disease. Total 263.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1310-1

12th Missouri State Militia Cavalry

Organized in Missouri at large December 5, 1861, to May 8, 1862. Attached to Dept. of Missouri and participated in the following service: Expedition from Greenville February 23-25, 1862 (Co. "B"). Mingo Creek, near St. Francisville, February 24 (Co. "B"). Cherry Grove July 1. Greenville July 20 (Cos. "B" and "G"). Greenville July 26. Scout in Southeastern Missouri July 26-29 (Detachment). Bolinger's Mills July 28 (Detachment). Dallas August 24. Crooked Creek, near Dallas, August 24 (1st Battalion). Van Buren October 22. Near Pike Creek and Eleven Points October 25. Pittman's Ferry, Ark., October 27 (Detachment). Scouts about Mingo Swamp February 2-14, 1863. Mingo Swamp February 3. Broken up February 4, 1863.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1311

Dr. Seth Rogers to his Daughter, December 31, 1862

December 31, 1862.

I examine from sixty to eighty men every morning and make prescriptions for those who need them. Doing this and visiting those in the hospital, usually keeps me busy from breakfast to dinner; after that my assistants can “see care” ordinarily of everybody till next morning. My afternoons are almost equally busy in contriving ways to keep the soldiers from getting sick, improving my hospital, etc. We have to make everything as we go on. The hospital is the upper floor of an old cotton gin building. I had the machinery moved and bedsteads made, beds made and filled with dry, coarse grass that the soldiers brought on their heads from the plains, and eight sick men were put in last Thursday. It was a hard day's work, but the men were very sick, and I had all the help that could work in the building. We have no such thing as pillows or sheets, but we have plenty of blankets, and the knapsacks answer nicely for pillows. Dr. Hawks had already got a good fire-place in the room and now everything is as systematic, and almost as comfortable, as in any hospital. . . . Some of our officers and men have been off and captured some oxen, and today all hands have been getting ready for a great barbecue, which we are to have tomorrow. They have killed ten oxen, which are now being roasted whole over great pits containing live coals made from burning logs in them.

SOURCE: Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Volume 43, October, 1909—June,1910: February 1910. p. 339-40

Dr. Seth Rogers to his Daughter, January 1, 1863

January 1, 1863

This is the evening of the most eventful day of my life. Our barbecue was a most wonderful success. Two steamboats came loaded with people from Beaufort, St. Helena Island and Hilton Head. Among the visitors were some of my new acquaintances. My friend, Mr. Hall of the voyage on the Delaware. But the dearest friend I found among them was Miss Forten, whom you remember. She is a teacher of the freed children on St. Helena Island. Gen. Saxton and his father and others came from Beaufort, and several cavalry officers hovered around the outskirts of our multitude of black soldiers and civilians, and in the centre of all was the speakers’ stand, where the General and our Colonel and some others, with the band, performed the ceremonies of the day. Several good speeches were made, but the most impressive scene was that which occurred at the presentation of the Dr. Cheever flag to our regiment. After the presentation speech had been made, and just as Col. Higginson advanced to take the flag and respond, a negro woman standing near began to sing “America,” and soon many voices of freedmen and women joined in the beautiful hymn, and sang it so touchingly that every one was thrilled beyond measure. Nothing could have been more unexpected or more inspiring. The President's proclamation and General Saxton's New Year's greeting had been read, and this spontaneous outburst of love and loyalty to a country that has heretofore so terribly wronged these blacks, was the birth of a new hope in the honesty of her intention. I most earnestly trust they may not hope in vain.

Col. Higginson was so much inspired by the remarkable thought of, and singing of, the hymn, that he made one of his most effective speeches. Then came Gen. Saxton with a most earnest and brotherly speech to the blacks and then Mrs. Frances D. Gage, and finally all joined in the John Brown hymn, and then to dinner. A hundred things of interest occurred which I have not time to relate. Everybody was happy in the bright sunshine, and in the great hope. The ten oxen were eaten with hearty relish and barrels of molasses and water and vinegar and ginger were drunk to wash them down. Mr. Hall, Miss Forten and some others took dinner with us.

SOURCE: Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Volume 43, October, 1909—June,1910: February 1910. p. 340-1