Diary of Private John C. West, Tuesday, April 21, 1863

I went up town this morning; feel like I am growing stronger, but am suffering with a very sore mouth. Think I shall start for Shreveport on Tuesday. Have heard nothing of my pocketbook; paid the printer five dollars for handbills and one dollar for twenty envelopes. Heard today of the death of Captain Brownnigg; announced it to Mrs Brownnigg; the effect was as might have been expected; I thought at first that she would not revive at all; she seems more quiet now. Major Holman promised to let me have money to continue my trip. I am about to commence a letter to my wife.

SOURCE: John Camden West, A Texan in Search of a Fight: Being the Diary and Letters of a Private Soldier in Hood’s Texas Brigade, p. 21-2

Diary of Private John C. West, Wednesday, April 22, 1863

Got up this morning feeling pretty well and concluded to leave to-morrow; went up town and mailed a letter to my wife; saw Dr. Johnson and got a certificate from him accounting for my delay, and a mixture of chalk and laudanum to take on the road; had a long talk with the doctor and Rev. Mr. Wilson about the Downs and Sparks, citizens of Waco; the doctor refused to charge me anything. I borrowed seventy-five dollars from Major Holman and gave him my note. Have been reading Bulwer's “Strange Story" a good deal to-day. Mrs. Weir came in this evening and talked very kindly to me; wants me to stay longer, but I must go; every man ought to go. Witnessed a cock fight in the streets a few minutes ago and rather enjoyed it; wonder how my chickens come on at home, and what my dear wife and dear little Stark and Mary are doing now. Mrs. Bacon has just brought me a pocketbook, and she and Mrs. Brownnigg and Mrs. Weir have offered me money. Miss Gregg has brought me a toddy and I must drink it. Oh! these women!

"The world was sad, the garden was a wild,

 And man, the hermit, sighed till woman smiled."

SOURCE: John Camden West, A Texan in Search of a Fight: Being the Diary and Letters of a Private Soldier in Hood’s Texas Brigade, p. 22-3

Diary of Private John C. West, Thursday, April 23, 1863

Got up early this morning and read Bulwer's "Strange Story" until called to breakfast; after breakfast went to the cars and started to Shreveport; the track is laid for sixteen miles to Jonesville; we traveled over this at very good speed, jolting and swinging a good deal; at Jonesville we took a stage and dragged along for five miles very slowly, but after changing horses got on very well to Mrs. Eppe's, where we had the only nice meal I have found at any place on the road; reached Shreveport about 3:30 p. m.; stopped at the Veranda; went to the quartermaster and got transportation to Alexandria; went down to see the gunboat, Missouri, now being built. I do not understand technicalities well enough to describe her; she is about 120 feet long and the most solid, massive piece of work I ever saw, covered with railroad iron. I started out with Lieutenant Ochiltree to find a private boarding house; found one; don't know the name of the proprietress; charges two dollars per day; sent our baggage around; took a seat in front of quartermaster's office to look at the ladies passing, and other interesting sights; saw some really pretty ones and felt better for it; started home to supper and stopped to take a drink, saw a fight between a red-headed member of the Fourth Texas, from Navarro county, and a citizen of Shreveport; Fourth Texas was worsted and was carried off to the guard house; I went on to supper; after supper discovered a Baptist church on opposite side of the street lighted up; went over and found the minister and two men and four women holding prayer meeting; staid until the meeting closed and concluded that the Shreveport church was in a luke-warm condition; after church I stood in the street and heard a hopeful widow sing some very pretty songs; went back to my boarding house.

SOURCE: John Camden West, A Texan in Search of a Fight: Being the Diary and Letters of a Private Soldier in Hood’s Texas Brigade, p. 23-4

Diary of Private John C. West, Friday, April 24, 1863

Forgot to say in my diary yesterday that I met Mrs. Conrow, of Waco, and her son, Frank Harris, on their way to Arkadelphia; got up this morning and after breakfast walked up town; loafed about until 10 o'clock; engaged passage in the stage to Alexandria; went to boarding house and wrote a letter to my precious wife and one to my sister, Mrs. Mary West Blair, at Austin; came to town again, and have been witnessing a few games of billiards between Lieutenant Ochiltree and Devoussy, the daguerrean. I am bored to death and want to get away. Lieutenant Ochiltree let me have $35.00, which I am to pay over to Major T. S. Bass, of the First Texas, when I get to Richmond; I am not speaking of Tom Ochiltree, but Lieutenant W. B. Ochiltree, Adjutant Culberson's Eighteenth Regiment, Walker's Division.

SOURCE: John Camden West, A Texan in Search of a Fight: Being the Diary and Letters of a Private Soldier in Hood’s Texas Brigade, p. 24-5

Diary of Private John C. West, Saturday, April 25, 1863

Left Shreveport at 4 o'clock a. m. in a hack; had a fine pair of horses, and the day being cloudy, had quite a pleasant ride; got a good breakfast at Mr. Allen's; reached the Widow Gamble's about 1 o'clock. This is the most beautiful place I have seen since I left home; every tree has either a rose or a honeysuckle clambering over it, all fragrant and blooming; there is a Cherokee rose hedge all round the farm. This place is within six miles of poor Burney Means' home; he has gone to his rest, and my thoughts were all day of him and our dear old college days. We were fellow students in the South Carolina college; he was my closest and most confidential friend and his smiling face is photographed on my heart forever; I cannot yet fully realize that I shall never see him again.

Reached Mansfield about dark; a neat little village full of pretty girls.

SOURCE: John Camden West, A Texan in Search of a Fight: Being the Diary and Letters of a Private Soldier in Hood’s Texas Brigade, p. 25

Diary of Private John C. West, Sunday, April 26, 1863

Left Mansfield last night at 10 o'clock, and after a miserable, jolting ride of twenty-nine miles, got to the breakfast stand about 9 o'clock a. m. The road was better and the ride more agreeable for the next twenty-five or thirty miles, which brought me to Natchitoches, La. Met some militia-men, a few soldiers from Sibley's command, all of whom gave the most doleful account of affairs below, on Red river; said that General Kirby Smith and all his staff and everything of military character had left Alexandria on a steamboat for Shreveport; that the Federals were within fourteen miles of Alexandria yesterday morning; that there were 50,000 of them. I do not believe more than half the rumors that are afloat, and am patiently awaiting the arrival of the stage, which left Alexandria last night, to learn something positive.

SOURCE: John Camden West, A Texan in Search of a Fight: Being the Diary and Letters of a Private Soldier in Hood’s Texas Brigade, p. 25-6

Diary of Private John C. West, Monday, April 27, 1863

After the stage arrived on yesterday evening, I learned that it had come from only about fifty miles below and is not going to Alexandria any more, but is only going forty miles in that direction in order to bring up the stock, etc., on the line. The rumor is that the Federals are in possession of Alexandria; all the troops are retreating in this direction.

I have spent a very disagreeable day; it has been raining all day and kept me confined to the house; I am in a quandary; don't know what to do or where to go; am staying at a Frenchman's house at two dollars and a half per day; have no friend or acquaintance to consult and am utterly at a loss whether to go back to Shreveport or to make an effort to go forward; am afraid to try the latter plan for fear of getting out of money too far from home; think I shall start back to-morrow night.

Read Lycidas' "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso" to-day, and a few chapters in "Old Mortality;" one of the longest and most disagreeable days I ever spent in my life; O, for peace and a quiet day with my dear wife and little darlings.

SOURCE: John Camden West, A Texan in Search of a Fight: Being the Diary and Letters of a Private Soldier in Hood’s Texas Brigade, p. 26-7

Diary of Private John C. West, Tuesday, April 28, 1863

Have spent another long and weary day and suffered all that is incident to a position of suspense and uncertainty; cannot tell what may await me yet, but thus far in the last three days have spent the most disagreeable period of my life. Read "Old Mortality" awhile this morning; walked up town; saw a good many drunken officers and a great deal of drinking; saw a game of billiards on a table without pockets; sixty points instead of one hundred make a game; came to my boarding house and read "Old Mortality" and tried to take a nap, but was too nervous to sleep. The stage from Mansfield has just arrived; I trust it will take a regular trip back and start early; anything to get out of this dead, still state of uncertainty; I would rather go into battle to-morrow than to remain in this position; it gives me too much time to think of home; there is no happiness in this. My French landlady mended my suspenders and made me a cup of coffee this afternoon; she seems to be a kind-hearted creature. We have just had a shower of rain and there is a most beautiful rainbow in the east.

SOURCE: John Camden West, A Texan in Search of a Fight: Being the Diary and Letters of a Private Soldier in Hood’s Texas Brigade, p. 27-8

Diary of Private John C. West, Wednesday, April 29, 1863

Left Natchitoches at 9 o'clock p. m. on Tuesday and had a very disagreeable ride, taking all night to get to Dutchman Cumberlando to breakfast; ate a strip of bacon and a piece of corn bread for which he charged me a dollar, and that on the heels of an invective against extortions and speculators. I saw on the road to-day large numbers of negroes from the lower parishes of Louisiana whose masters were retreating from the Yankee vandals; saw the tracks of several severe whirlwinds, which have occurred in the last three weeks; was quite sick for a while this afternoon and was not improved by hearing that all stragglers and recruits belonging across the Mississippi were to be detained on this side of Red river; reached Mansfield about 4:30 this afternoon; saw two young ladies riding on horseback; they worked very hard and their arms seemed to be in their way, dangled about very ungracefully; they, however, appeared to enjoy the ride very much.

SOURCE: John Camden West, A Texan in Search of a Fight: Being the Diary and Letters of a Private Soldier in Hood’s Texas Brigade, p. 28

Diary of Private John C. West, Thursday, April 30, 1863

Left Mansfield at 4 o'clock this morning; had a delightful ride partly through groves of magnolia and beech to the breakfast stand, Mrs. Gamble's. This is the same beautiful place of which I have spoken before; roses and honeysuckles clinging on oaks and hickory. One beautiful cluster of roses was high up among the branches of an old oak which had lately died, its withered leaves still clinging to their places. I thought of fair young maidens bedecking with wreathes the tomb of some powerful giant. Oh, for peace and such a home as this with my precious wife and little darlings, with $10,000.00 per annum and an unwavering faith in the Bible; this would be paradise enough for me. I got an elegant breakfast here and talked a good deal with a sprightly widow who could not understand how one Confederate dollar could redeem another and make the currency any better. Came to Mr. Allen's to dinner and had divers and sundry vegetables; the first I have had this season; enjoyed them hugely. Reached Shreveport at 5 o'clock; washed and put on some clean clothes; the first in three weeks; got shaved and passed for a gentleman; went to the quartermaster's office and protested against my transportation being paid to Alexandria as the stage company failed to carry me there; met Colonel Bagley, of Sibley's brigade. He was wounded in the Bisland fight; told me that Captain Brownnigg was killed by the bursting of a shell, which killed his horse also. Lieutenant Ochiltree is to introduce me after supper to Captain Rice, of Houston, of the First Texas regiment. I am to consult with him about getting across the river; trust I may not be delayed any longer. Must find a fight on this side if I cannot get across the river. While I am writing this, my landlady, Mrs. ———— is thundering in my ears against the Baptists of Shreveport. She says they countenance thieving, false-swearing, etc. It is now 10 o'clock p. m. I have been up town; met Captain Wash Hill and Captain Dave Rice. Hill is just from Richmond and says it is impossible for me to get across the river. I will start, however, with Captain Rice to-morrow morning, for Monroe, and see what can be done. Attended a Baptist prayer meeting to-night; not spiritual enough; too cold.

SOURCE: John Camden West, A Texan in Search of a Fight: Being the Diary and Letters of a Private Soldier in Hood’s Texas Brigade, p. 28-30

Review: Kidnapped at Sea

Kidnapped at Sea: TheCivil War Voyage of David Henry

by Andrew Sillen

There are things we know, things we don’t know and things we don’t know that we don’t know. We will never know the experience of David Henry Wight, an illiterate, free, Black, teenaged sailor from Lewes, Delaware, who on October 9, 1862 was kidnapped from the Philadelphia-based packet ship Tonawanda by Raphael Semmes, Captain of the Confederate raider CSS Alabama upon which White was enslaved until he perished during its duel with the USS Kearsarge off the coast of Cherbourg, France on June 19, 1864.

David Henry White left few written records to document his short time on Earth. And yet Dr. Andrew Sillen, a visiting research scholar in the department of anthropology at Rutgers University, has written an unconventional biography of White. Much like Sebastian Junger was able to tell the story of the Andrea Gail in his book “The Perfect Storm,” Sillen too, tells the story of David Henry White, not by his own narrative, but by the narratives of those around him, and thus by piecing together their narratives he is able to create a narrative of White’s life by the preponderance of evidence, even without a personal narrative viewpoint.

By comparing and contrasting differing narrative views, Sillen disposes of false narratives put forth by Raphel Semmes and other secondary sources who claimed that White was a contented slave, and creates a solid narrative that flows from White’s humble beginnings to his untimely death.

“Kidnapped At Sea” is well researched and well written in an easily readable style. I would highly recommend it for students of the American Civil War, slavery and maritime history.

ISBN 978-1421449517, Johns Hopkins University Press, © 2024, Hardcover, 352 pages, Photographs, Maps, Illustrations, Tables, End Notes, Bibliography & Index. $32.95. To purchase this book click HERE.

Review: The North Star

The North Star: Canada and the Civil War Plots Against Lincoln

by Julian Sher

When most people think about Canada’s participation in the American Civil War they naturally conclude that America’s northern neighbor served as a haven for fugitive slaves and nothing else. The truth is a much more complicated and nuanced story; Canadians either directly or indirectly participated on both sides of the conflict.

Award-winning journalist and author Julian Sher relates the true history of the Canadian involvement in the war the tore the United States apart in his book “The North Star: Canada and the Civil War Plots Against the Union.

Among those covered in “The North Star” are: George Taylor Denison III, who was an enthusiastic supporter of the Confederate cause who bankrolled Confederate operations and opened his mansion to their agents; Anderson Ruffin Abbott, the first Black Canadian to be licensed as a physician who joined the Union Army; Sarah Emma Edmonds, a New Brunswick woman who disguised herself as a man named Franklin Flint Thompson and enlisted in Company F of the 2nd Michigan Infantry and served with the Union Army as a field nurse and later a spy who travelled into enemy territory to gather information, requiring her to come up with many disguises; and Edward P. Doherty who formed and led the detachment of soldiers that captured and killed John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln.

“The North Star” is well researched and written, Sher’s narrative is easily read and engaging and highlights many aspects Canadian participation in the American Civil War of which many Americans and Canadians remain simply ignorant.

ISBN 978-1039000292, Knopf Canada, © 2023, Hardcover, 480 pages, Photographs, Sources and End Notes, & Index. $28.00. To purchase this book click HERE.

Horace Greeley to Abraham Lincoln, December 22, 1860

Office of The Tribune,        

New York, Decr. 22nd 1860

My dear Sir,

I have yours of the 19th.¹ Let me try to make my views a little more clear:

1. I do not believe that a State can secede at pleasure from the Union, any more than a stave may secede from a cask of which it is a component part.

2. I do believe that a people — a political community large and strong enough to maintain a National existence — have a right to form and modify their institutions in accordance with their own convictions of justice and policy. Hence if seven or eight contiguous States (not one small one) were to come to Washington saying, “We are tired of the Union — let us out!” — I should say, “There's the door — go!” and I think they would have a right to go, even though no one recognized it. If they should set to fighting and whip us, every one would say they had a right to govern themselves; and I do not see how their having a few more or less men, or a better or worse governmen general than we, can make or mar their right of self-government.

3. If the seceding State or States go to fighting and defying the laws, — the Union being yet undissolved, save by their own say-so — I guess they will have to be made to behave themselves. I am sorry for this, for I would much sooner have them behave of their own accord; but if they wont, it must be fixed the other way.

4. We shall never have peace nor equality in the Union till the Free States shall say to the Slave, “If you want to go, go; we are willing.” So long as they threaten secession and we deprecate it, they will always have us at a disadvantage.

5. The Cotton States are going. Nothing that we can offer will stop them. The Union-loving men are cowed and speechless; a Reign of Terror prevails from Cape Fear to the Rio Grande. Every suggestion of reason is drowned in a mad whirl of passion and faction. You will be President over no foot of the Cotton States not commanded by Federal Arms. Even your life is not safe, and it is your simple duty to be very careful of exposing it. I doubt whether you ought to go to Washington via Wheeling and the B. & O. Railroad unless you go with a very strong force. And it is not yet certain that the Federal District will not be in the hands of a Pro-Slavery rebel array before the 4th of March.

6. I fear nothing, care for nothing, but another disgraceful back-down of the Free States. That is the only real danger. Let the Union slide — it may be reconstructed; let Presidents be assassinated — we can elect more; let the Republicans be defeated and crushed — we shall rise again; but another nasty compromise whereby everything is conceded and nothing secured will so thoroughly disgrace and humiliate us that we can never again raise our heads, and this country becomes a second edition of the Barbary States as they were sixty years ago. “Take any form but that!”

Excuse me fore boring you at such length, when you must be drowned in letters. I hope not to do so again.

Yours,

Horace Greeley

(So many people entertain a violent prejudice against my handwriting that I have had the above copied to save you trouble in deciffering it.)

H. G.

_______________

¹ This letter has not been located.

SOURCE: Lincoln, Abraham. Abraham Lincoln papers: Series 1. General Correspondence. 1833 to 1916: Horace Greeley to Abraham Lincoln, Saturday,Secession. 1860. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/mal0525800/.

Diary of Private Seth J. Wells: December 1, 1862

While I was looking out of the window this morning at some recruits for the 48th Indiana, whom should I see but John Metternich of our old company. (Co. E, 12th Ind.) He was as much surprised as I; the last time I saw him, his head was bruised and bleeding as the result of a spree. This morning a band of guerillas came up within about two miles of this place, captured a number of mules and burned the cotton they were hauling.

SOURCE: Seth James Wells, The Siege of Vicksburg: From the Diary of Seth J. Wells, Including Weeks of Preparation and of Occupation After the Surrender, p. 14

Diary of Private Seth J. Wells: Tuesday, December 2, 1862

The 109th Ill. came in tonight.

SOURCE: Seth James Wells, The Siege of Vicksburg: From the Diary of Seth J. Wells, Including Weeks of Preparation and of Occupation After the Surrender, p. 14

Diary of Private Seth J. Wells: December 4, 1862

I was on guard today. It rained nearly all day, and toward night we had a real northerner.

SOURCE: Seth James Wells, The Siege of Vicksburg: From the Diary of Seth J. Wells, Including Weeks of Preparation and of Occupation After the Surrender, p. 15

Diary of Private Seth J. Wells: December 5, 1862

Late in the afternoon it turned cold and began to freeze and snow.

SOURCE: Seth James Wells, The Siege of Vicksburg: From the Diary of Seth J. Wells, Including Weeks of Preparation and of Occupation After the Surrender, p. 15

Diary of Private Seth J. Wells: December 6, 1862

Ground is frozen quite solid this morning, for the first time this winter. There is some excitement among the boys of the 17th in regard to a report that Gov. Yates has ordered home ten of the old regiments to recruit and fill up their ranks. If any go, the 17th will probably be one of them, as the company reports only twenty-two for duty.

SOURCE: Seth James Wells, The Siege of Vicksburg: From the Diary of Seth J. Wells, Including Weeks of Preparation and of Occupation After the Surrender, p. 15

Diary of Private Seth J. Wells: Sunday, December 7, 1862

I was detailed for guard this morning and stood before the provost marshall's office.

SOURCE: Seth James Wells, The Siege of Vicksburg: From the Diary of Seth J. Wells, Including Weeks of Preparation and of Occupation After the Surrender, p. 15

Diary of Private Seth J. Wells: December 9, 1862

On fatigue. Weather fine.

SOURCE: Seth James Wells, The Siege of Vicksburg: From the Diary of Seth J. Wells, Including Weeks of Preparation and of Occupation After the Surrender, p. 15