Major Rutherford B. Hayes to Sardis Birchard, July 18, 1861

Camp Chase, July 18, 1861.

Dear Uncle: — I have just read your letter of the 16th. I hope it is good proof that you are mending rapidly. It is pleasant to see your own handwriting again.

Our men are uniformed and we are daily receiving our needful equipments. The indications are that we shall soon move. In what direction and under whose command, we do not know. We are not very particular. We prefer the mountainous region of Virginia or Tennessee.

If Ned, Jr. was down here, I would try what could be done with him. But the travelling is done so much by rail, that I hardly need two horses. My sorrel is a good one.

My notion is that we shall go within a fortnight. Lucy and the two boys will stay until we go with Platt. Come down if you can, but not at the risk of health. Write often. No letters are so good as yours.

Sincerely,

R. B. Hayes.

S. Birchard.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 38-9

Major-General Thomas J. Jackson to Mary Anna Morrison Jackson, September 8, 1862

Last evening I attended a German Reformed church in Frederick City. I was not quite near enough to hear all the sermon,¹ and I regret to say fell asleep; but had I been near enough to hear, would probably not have been so unfortunate. The minister is a gifted one, and the building beautiful. The pews are arranged in a circular form, so that every person faces the pulpit. The town appears to be a charming place, neat and beautiful. The ladies and gentlemen were sitting in front of the doors, and all looked so comfortable, and I may say elegant, according to my ideas, and their enjoyment looked so genuine, that my heart was in sympathy with the surroundings. If such scenes could only surround me in Lexington, how my heart would, under a smiling Providence, rejoice!

_______________

¹ His modesty had led him to take a back seat.

SOURCE: Mary Anna Jackson, Life and Letters of General Thomas J. Jackson (Stonewall Jackson), p. 346

John G. Fee to Cassius M. Clay, December 12, 1859

Pittsburg, Pa., December 12, 1859.

Mr. C. M. Clay —

Dear Friend: — I am still in the free States, being detained longer than I expected. My health is better than when I left home. We shall raise money enough to pay for our land, and open the way for other more extended interests.

I find Republicanism rising. The Republicans in Philadelphia have separated from the “mere peoples’ party.” They are going into the work in good earnest. I stopped with some true friends of yours, Wm. B. Thomas and Professor Cleveland. Many inquired for you. I told them you were still in the field, and the true friend of freedom. I believe this, and I am pained when I hear Republicans talk of such men as Bates, Blair, etc., and omit your name.

I have repeatedly spoken of you in public and private. I think the spirit is rising in the Republican ranks, and will yet demand a representative man. If you or Chase or Seward are on the ticket, or tried men, I shall expect to work with the Republicans. I shall continue to do all I can to urge a higher standard. Wm. B. Thomas of Philadelphia says he will thus work and expend money to induce a higher standard; but, if the party “flattens down” below what it was last time, he is off. Hundreds of others will do the same — yes, thousands; and that class of men the party can not well do without.

Dr. Hart of New York proposed that I address a letter to you, calling you out. I thought it not best to do so until I should see you personally, or write to you, and have an arrangement. I am having encouraging audiences — staying longer than I had intended — perhaps ’tis all well. I learn there is some feeling against me in Kentucky in consequence of an article in the Louisville Courier, representing me as approving John Brown's course, etc. Such is a direct perversion of my uniform and invariable teaching. I have been careful here, and always said I disapproved his manner of action — attempts to abduct, or incite insurrection; but that I thought God is speaking to the world through John Brown, in his spirit of consecration. I suppose I can not help the gullibility of the people, unless I attempt to correct by publishing. Is this best? Write to me at Cincinnati, care of Geo. L. Weed. I shall start for Lewis in a day or two; from thence to Cincinnati, and home.

John. G. Fee.

SOURCE: Cassius Marcellus Clay, The life of Cassius Marcellus Clay, Volume 1, p. 575-6

Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Mead, September 5, 1863

September 5, 1863.

Have you seen a very bitter article in Wilkes's Spirit of the Times, of August 29th?¹ He says the victory of Gettysburg was due entirely to the strength of the position and the heroic bravery of the common soldiers, and was entirely independent of any strategy or military ability displayed by any general from the senior down. He then charges me with imbecility and timidity, and says the Army of the Potomac never can do anything so long as so many incompetent men are at the head of it. The only consolation I have, is that censure from such a source will in the eyes of all respectable people be praise. There is no doubt the position at Gettysburg was very strong, and that the victory was in a great measure due to this fact; and it is also equally true that if the men had not fought as well as they did, I should have been beaten; but I have yet to learn the existence in history of a general whose genius was equal to winning victory when all the advantages were against him, and his men would not fight.

Wilkes is a Hooker man; but whether his article was inspired by any of the friends of this officer, I am not prepared to say, and can hardly believe such to be the case.

_______________

¹ For Article mentioned, sec Appendix F.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 2, p. 147

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Eliza Walter Smith, September 20, 1863

Headquarters Dept. Of The Tenn.,

Vicksburg, Sept. 20, 1863.

My Dear Mother:

I want now to impress upon you, and I think you at least, or at the last, will understand me and know I am in earnest, that General Grant is the man of the nation, that the eyes of the nation are turned upon him, that he has a world-wide celebrity, I was going to write, but I should write, worldwide honest fame, and I should inform you further that he does not write much or say much, but whatever he writes or says is strictly to the point.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 336-7

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Friday, September 25, 1863

It is quite warm today. I was on fatigue duty, accompanying the quartermaster's wagons into Vicksburg to draw supplies for the regiment. The bales of hay and sacks of corn taxed our strength in loading them. Some of the boys on furlough returned today.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 144

Diary of Charles H. Lynch: December 30, 1862

Marching orders. Reported the rebel cavalry leader J. E. B. Stuart about to raid into Maryland along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The three companies of our regiment and other troops here are suddenly ordered out on the line of the B. & O. R. R. Left camp tonight in a warm rain storm.

SOURCE: Charles H. Lynch, The Civil War Diary, 1862-1865, of Charles H. Lynch 18th Conn. Vol's, p. 12

118th Ohio Infantry

Organized at Lima, Cincinnati and Camp Mansfield, Ohio, August and September, 1862. Ordered to Kentucky and assigned to duty as guard along Kentucky Central Railroad from Buston's Station to Paris, Ky., September, 1862, to August, 1863. Attached to 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, Army of Kentucky, Dept. of the Ohio, September to November, 1862. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, Army of Kentucky, November, 1862. District of Central Kentucky, Dept. of the Ohio, to June, 1863. 2nd Brigade, 4th Division, 23rd Army Corps, Dept. of the Ohio, to July, 1863. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 23rd Army Corps, to August, 1863. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 23rd Army Corps, to April, 1864. 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 23rd Army Corps, Army of the Ohio, to February, 1865, and Dept. of North Carolina to June, 1865.

SERVICE. – Skirmish at Paris, Ky., July 29, 1863 (Detachment). Burnside's Campaign in East Tennessee August 16-October 17, 1863. Duty at Kingston till December 6. Action at Kingston November 24, and near Kingston December 4. Moved to Nashville December 5; thence march to Blain's Cross Roads and Mossy Creek. Action at Mossy Creek December 29. Operations in East Tennessee December, 1863, to April, 1864. Atlanta (Ga.) Campaign May 1 to September 8. Demonstrations on Dalton May 9-13. Battle of Resaca May 14-15. Advance on Dallas May 18-25. Operations on line of Pumpkin Vine Creek and battles about Dallas, New Hope Church and Allatoona Hills May 25-June 5. Operations about Marietta and against Kenesaw Mountain June 10-July 2. Lost Mountain June 15-17. Muddy Creek June 17. Noyes Creek June 19. Kolb's Farm June 22. Assault on Kenesaw June 27. Nickajack Creek July 2-5. Chattahoochie River July 5-17. Decatur July 19. Howard House July 20. Siege of Atlanta July 22-August 25. Utoy Creek August 5-7. Flank movement on Jonesboro August 25-30. Battle of Jonesboro August 31-September 1 (Reserve). Lovejoy Station September 2-6. Operations against Hood in North Georgia and North Alabama September 29-November 3. Nashville Campaign November-December. Columbia, Duck River, November 24-27. Battle of Franklin November 30. Battle of Nashville December 15-16. Pursuit of Hood to the Tennessee River December 17-28. At Clifton, Tenn., till January 16, 1865. Movement to Washington, D.C., thence to Fort Fisher, N. C., January 16-February 9. Operations against Hoke February 11-14. Fort Anderson February 18-19. Town Creek February 19-20. Capture of Wilmington February 22. Campaign of the Carolinas March 1-April 26. Advance on Goldsboro March 21. Advance on Raleigh April 10-14. Occupation of Raleigh April 14. Bennett's House April 26. Surrender of Johnston and his army. Duty at Raleigh, Greensboro and Salisbury till June. Mustered out June 24, 1865.

Regiment lost during service 1 Officer and 55 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 1 Officer and 127 Enlisted men by disease. Total 184.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1546

Ordinances of Secession

• South Carolina, December 20, 1860
• Mississippi, January 9, 1861
• Florida, January 10, 1861
• Alabama, January 11, 1861
• Georgia, January 19, 1861
• Louisiana, January 26, 1861
• Texas, February 1, 1861
• Virginia, April 17, 1861
• Arkansas, May 6, 1861
• North Carolina, May 20, 1861
• Tennessee, June 8, 1861
• Missouri, October 31, 1861
• Kentucky, November 20, 1861

The Founding Documents

• The Mayflower Compact
• The Declaration of Independence
• The Treaty of Paris
• The Articles of Confederation
• The Constitution of the United States
• The Bill of Rights
• Amendments 11-27
• The Northwest Ordinance of 1787
• The Constitution of the Confederate States

Harriett Newby to Dangerfield Newby, April 22, 1859

BRENTVILLE, April 22d, 1859.

DEAR HUSBAND:

I received your letter to-day, and it gives me much pleasure to here from you, but was sorry to _____ of your sikeness; hope you may be well when you receive this. I wrote to you several weeks ago, and directed my letter to Bridge Port, but I fear you did not receive it, as you said nothing about it in yours. You must give my love to Brother Gabial, and tell him I would like to see him very much. I wrote in my last letter that Miss Virginia had a baby — a little girl. I had to nerse her day and night. Dear Dangerfield, you cannot amagine how much I want to see you. Com as soon as you can, for nothing would give more pleasure than to see you. It is the grates Comfort I have is thinking of the promist time when you will be here. Oh, that bless hour when I shall see you once more. My baby commenced to Crall to-day; it is very delicate. Nothing more at present, but remain

Your affectionate wife,

HARRIETT NEWBY.

P. S. Write soon.

SOURCE: H. W. Flournoy, Editor, Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Other Manuscripts from January 1 1836 to April 15, 1869, Volume 11, p. 310-1

General Albert Sidney Johnston to the Soldiers of the Army of the Mississippi, April 3, 1862

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE MISSISSIPPI,

Corinth, Miss., April 3, 1862.

Soldiers of the Army of the Mississippi:

I have put you in motion to offer battle to the invaders of your country. With the resolution and disciplined valor becoming men fighting, as you are, for all worth living or dying for, you can but march to a decisive victory over agrarian mercenaries, sent to subjugate and despoil you of your liberties, property, and honor. Remember the precious stake involved. Remember the dependence of your mothers, your wives, your sisters, and our children on the result. Remember the fair, broad, abounding land, the happy homes, and ties that will be desolated by your defeat. The eyes and hopes of 8,000,000 of people rest upon you. You are expected to show yourselves worthy of your valor and lineage; worthy of the women of the South, whose noble devotion in this war has never been exceeded in any time. With such incentives to brave deeds and with the trust that God is with us your generals will lead you confidently to the combat, assured of success.

A. S. JOHNSTON,

General, Commanding

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 10, Part 1 (Serial No. 1o), p. 396-7; John Witherspoon Du Bose, General Joseph Wheeler and the Army of Tennessee, p. 64

General Joseph Wheeler Memorial: Shiloh National Military Park

In Loyal Memory Of

GENERAL JOSEPH WHEELER

1836 – 1906

Colonel In Command Of The

19th Regiment, Alabama Infantry

April 6-7, 1862

* * *

Erected By

The General Joseph Wheeler

Memorial Association

October 9, 1930

WHEELER

Major-General William T. Sherman to Major-General George H. Thomas, October 10, 1864 – 12 p.m.

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,

In the Field, Cartersville, October 10, 1864 – 12 m.

General G. H. THOMAS,

Nashville:

It looks as though Hood is bound for Tuscumbia. He is now crossing the Coosa below Rome, heading west. Let me know if you can hold him with the force now in Tennessee and expected, as in that event you know what I propose to do. I will be at Kingston to-morrow. I think Rome is strong enough to resist any attack, and the rivers are all high. If he turns up by Summerville, I will get in behind him.

W. T. SHERMAN,

Major-General, Commanding.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 39, Part 2 (Serial No. 79), p. 191; John Bell Hood, Advance and Retreat, p. 264

John Brown to John Brown Jr., March 12, 1847

Springfield, March 12, 1847.

Dear Son John, — Yours dated Feb. 27th I this day received. It was written about the same time I reached this place again. I am glad to learn that you are relieved in a good measure from another season of suffering. Hope you will make the right improvement of it. I have been here nearly two weeks. Have Captain Spencer, Freeman, the Hudsons, together with Schlessingcr and Ramsden, all helping me again. Have turned about four thousand dollars’ worth of wool into cash since I returned; shall probably make it up to seven thousand by the 16th. Sold Musgrave the James Wallace lot yesterday for fifty-eight cents all round. Hope to get pretty much through by the middle of April. Have paid your account for the “Cincinnati Weekly Herald and Philanthropist,” together with two dollars for one year's subscription to “National Era,” being in all three dollars. I should have directed to have the “National Era” sent you at Austinburg, but could not certainly know as you would be there to take it. You had better direct to have it sent to you there. I now intend to send Ruth on again soon after my return. Jason writes on the 3d that all are well at home. I feel better than when I left home, and send my health to all in and about Austinburg.

Yours affectionately,

John Brown.

SOURCE: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 143

Major Rutherford B. Hayes to Sardis Birchard, July 11, 1861

Camp Chase, July 11, 1861.

Dear Uncle: — I am now almost at home. Lucy is at Platt's with Birch and Webb. Dr. Joe came yesterday bringing Webb with him. We shall have the boys out here a good deal. It is a good place for them. Birch was infinitely disgusted to meet me without my uniform on.

I have my horse here and ride him all about the camp and parade ground. Although young, he is sensible to the last. I shall probably not need Ned, Jr. A horse must canter or lope well to be of any account in a camp. The colonel and Matthews have both been disappointed in theirs. Matthews sent his back home yesterday. My sorrel cost one hundred dollars. He is called the cheapest and one of the best horses in camp. . . .

Sincerely,

R. B. Hayes.

S. BlRCHARD.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 38

Major-General Thomas J. Jackson to Mary Anna Morrison Jackson, September 1, 1862

We were engaged with the enemy at and near Manassas Junction Tuesday and Wednesday, and again near the battle-field of Manassas on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday; in all of which God gave us the victory. May He ever be with us, and we ever be His devoted people, is my earnest prayer. It greatly encourages me to feel that so many of God's people are praying for that part of our force under my command. The Lord has answered their prayers; He has again placed us across Bull Run; and I pray that He will make our arms entirely successful, and that all the glory will be given to His holy name, and none of it to man. God has blessed and preserved me through His great mercy. On Saturday, Colonel Baylor and Hugh White were both killed, and Willie Preston was mortally wounded.

SOURCE: Mary Anna Jackson, Life and Letters of General Thomas J. Jackson (Stonewall Jackson), p. 341

Lydia Maria Child to Governor Henry A. Wise, October 26, 1859

Wayland, Mass., Oct. 26, 1859

Governor WISE: I have heard that you were a man of chivalrous sentiments, and I know you were opposed to the iniquitous attempt to force upon Kansas a Constitution abhorrent to the moral sense of her people. Relying upon these indications of honor and justice in your character, I venture to ask a favor of you. Enclosed is a letter to Capt. John Brown. Will you have the kindness, after reading it yourself, to transmit it to the prisoner?

I and all my large circle of abolition acquaintances were taken by surprise when news came of Capt. Brown’s recent attempt; nor do I know of' a single person who would have approved of it, had they been apprised of his intention. But I and thousands of others feel a natural impulse of sympathy for the brave and suffering man. Perhaps God, who sees the inmost of our souls, perceives some such sentiment in your heart also. He needs a mother or sister to dress his wounds, and speak soothingly to him. Will you allow me to perform that mission of humanity? If you will, may God bless you for the generous deed!

I have been for years an uncompromising Abolitionist, and I should scorn to deny it or apologize for it as much as John Brown himself would do. Believing in peace principles, I deeply regret the step that the old veteran has taken, while I honor his humanity towards those who became his prisoners. But because it is my habit to be as open as the daylight, I will also say, that if I believed our religion justified men in fighting for freedom, I should consider the enslaved every where as best entitled to that right. Such an avowal is a simple, frank expression of my sense of natural justice.

But I should despise myself utterly if any circumstances could tempt me to seek to advance these opinions in any way, directly or indirectly, after your permission to visit Virginia has been obtained on the plea of sisterly sympathy with a brave and suffering man. I give you my word of honor, which was never broken, that I would use such permission solely and singly for the purpose of nursing your prisoner, and for no other purpose whatsoever.

Yours, respectfully,

L. MARIA CHILD.

SOURCE: The American Anti-Slavery Society, Correspondence between L. M. Child and Gov. Wise and Mrs. Mason, of Virginia, p. 3-4

Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Mead, September 3, 1863

September 3, 1863.

The expedition has been quite successful; the boats were found at Port Royal and were destroyed by our artillery fire from this side. The expedition sent to destroy them consisted of cavalry and artillery, but as they had to go a long distance, over forty miles from the main part of my army, I had to send infantry to support them, and to guard the lower crossing places to prevent the enemy coming over and cutting them off. This has stirred us up a little. We have also had a visit from Brigadier General Meigs, Quartermaster General, who has been inspecting the transportation of this army and who has been pleased to express himself very much gratified with all he has seen. The conscripts continue to come in very slowly, and I fear it will be some time before I am in a condition to move with any prospect of being able to accomplish anything.

I think I told you that one of William Parker's¹ sons was on my staff. The other day he paid a visit to his regiment, and on his return must have been captured, as nothing has since been heard of him. I have written Cortlandt² about it, but I fear the news of his disappearance got into the papers before my letter reached him, as I received a telegram to-day from his father enquiring about it.

I sent up my sword and fixings, but at the request of our express agent, it is to be exhibited for a short time at Gait's jewelry shop, in Washington.

_______________

¹ First cousin of General Meade.

² Cortlandt Parker, brother of William Parker.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 2, p. 146-7

Brigadier General Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, September 15, 1863

Headquarters Dept. Of The Tenn.,

Vicksburg, Sept. 15, 1863.

My visit to New Orleans and the forts some one hundred miles further south has been fraught with much interest. I do not remember in all my life to have had so much hilarity and joy crowded into so brief a space of time.

It has literally been a triumphal march. The only alloy being the unfortunate accident to General Grant, who, I am happy to say, is safely at these headquarters, though I fear his accident will confine him to his bed for a good while.

The New Orleans papers have been filled with allusions to us in various terms of compliment. General Banks has been most assiduous in attention.

Of all this I will write you more at length the moment I find leisure. I have been assigned to active duty in the field and to command the Second Brigade, Sixth Division, Army of the Tennessee, reporting for duty to Major-Gen. J. B. McPherson, who, I am happy to say, is my personal friend. Of this matter I will write more anon. Suffice it now to say that the command is a very fine one, an eminently fighting brigade, and one that distinguished itself on my left in the assault on Vicksburg.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 336