Senator James W. Grimes to Admiral Samuel F. Du Pont, May 26, 1863

Burlington, May 26, 1863.

Absence from home, and very numerous duties in the State, crowded into the comparatively short period of the recess, have caused me to be neglectful of the fact that I have not written you since you attacked Charleston, though I recollect writing very near that time. The result was not such as we all hoped, and as I confess I anticipated, though I will at the same time honestly confess that I could never give a reason for the faith that was in me. I always supposed that there was to be some cooperative land-force; I was mistaken in this, it appears. I have carefully read all the reports of the engagement. They have been read by every one. You may rely upon it that the public fully justifies you in withdrawing from the contest when you did. It would have been extreme folly to continue it longer. It is evident to every one that the article in the Baltimore American was prompted by some sinister motive, and in receiving that attack you only experience what all our commanders upon land or water have been or will be subject to, no matter how successful they may have been, or may be. It must be a gratification to you to feel that the same amount of confidence is reposed in you that was placed in you both by the Department and the nation before the battle.

We are now rejoicing over a supposed victory at Vicksburg. Our people are as truly loyal, devoted, and determined as ever. I see not the slightest abatement among the people of this region of their firm resolution to crush out the rebellion, and to have indeed a “Nation.”

SOURCE: William Salter, The Life of James W. Grimes, p. 236-7

Diary of Private Alexander G. Downing: Sunday, December 20, 1863

Quite pleasant weather. We had our regular company inspection at 9 o'clock today with dress parade at 5 o'clock.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 158

Diary of Private Charles H. Lynch: March 25, 1864

Marching orders received to report at regimental headquarters, Camp Hill, Bolivar Heights, near Harper's Ferry. A cold rain storm on at this time. On account of a hard cold, with a number of others, went to Harper's Ferry by cars. There met by ambulance and rode to camp. My first ride in an ambulance. Bad getting around in camp on account of the deep mud. Harper's Ferry is a side hill town. The Potomac and the Shenandoah on either side. Here the B. & O. R. R. crosses the Potomac into Maryland. Above Harper's Ferry is located the Jefferson Rock, where one gets a fine view. The scenery at this point is grand. The mountains, rivers, and the valley, and also the great Maryland Heights.

SOURCE: Charles H. Lynch, The Civil War Diary, 1862-1865, of Charles H. Lynch 18th Conn. Vol's, p. 47-8

Diary of Luman Harris Tenney: November 21, 1861

Visited Uncle Washington's boat “The Rawson.” Heard Gough lecture.

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 4

22nd Ohio Independent Battery Light Artillery

One section organized April 1, 1863. Moved to Wheeling, W. Va., April 1. Duty there and in Holmes county, Ohio, till June. Moved to Camp Chase, Ohio, June 19. Battery organization completed at Camp Chase and mustered in July 14, 1863. Moved to Parkersburg, W. Va., thence to Wheeling, W. Va., and, to Hancock, Md., to support Kelly's operations against General Lee in his retreat from Gettysburg, Pa. Sent to operate against Morgan, July. Moved to Camp Nelson, Ky., August 12, 1863. Attached to Willcox's Left Wing forces, 9th Army Corps, Dept. of the Ohio, to October, 1863. De-Courcy's Brigade, Cumberland Gap, Willcox's Left Wing forces, 9th Army Corps, to January, 1864. District of the Clinch, Dept. of the Ohio, to April, 1864. 1st Brigade, 4th Division, 23rd Army Corps, Dept. of the Ohio, to August, 1864. 2nd Brigade, 4th Division, 23rd Army Corps, to February, 1865. 2nd Brigade, 4th Division, District of East Tennessee, Dept. of the Cumberland, to July, 1865.

SERVICE. – Expedition to Cumberland Gap August 17-September 7. Operations about Cumberland Gap September 7-10. Capture of Cumberland Gap September 9. Duty there till June 27, 1864. Action at Crab Gap December 5. 1863. Reconnoissance from Cumberland Gap January 3, 1864. Near Cumberland Gap June 21. Moved to Knoxville, Tenn, June 27, 1864, and garrison duty there till July 5, 1865. Ordered to Camp Chase, Ohio, July 5. Mustered out July 13, 1865.

Battery lost during service 1 Officer and 2 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 1 Officer and 16 Enlisted men by disease. Total 20.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the 3, p. Rebellion, Part 1494

23rd Ohio Independent Battery Light Artillery

Detached from 2nd Kentucky Infantry 1861. No record in Ohio troops. See Simmons' 1st Kentucky Battery.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the 3, p. Rebellion, Part 1494

24th Ohio Independent Battery Light Artillery.

Organized at Camp Dennison, Ohio, and mustered in August 4, 1863. Ordered to Cincinnati, Ohio, September 22, thence moved to Johnson's Island, Sandusky Bay, Ohio, November 10, and duty there guarding Rebel prisoners till August 6, 1864. Moved to Camp Chas August 6, thence to Camp Douglas, Chicago, Ill., August 27, and duty there guarding Rebel prisoners till June 10, 1865. Mustered out June 24, 1865.

Battery lost during service 6 by disease.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the 3, p. Rebellion, Part 1494

James Russell Lowell to Sarah Blake Sturgis Shaw, August 28, 1863

Elmwood, Aug. 28, 1863.

My dear Sarah, — Not a day has passed since I heard the dreadful news¹ that I have not thought tenderly of you and yours; but I could not make up my mind to write you, and the longer I put it off the harder it grew. I have tried several times, and broken down. I knew you would be receiving all manner of consolation, and, as I know that consolation is worse than nothing, I would not add mine. There is nothing for such a blow as that but to bow the head and bear it. We may think of many things that in some measure make up for such a loss, but we can think of nothing that will give us back what we have lost. The best is that, so far as he was concerned, all was noble and of the highest example.

I have been writing something about Robert, and if, after keeping a little while, it should turn out to be a poem, I shall print it; but not unless I think it some way worthy of what I feel, however far the best verse falls short of noble living and dying such as his.

I would rather have my name known and blest, as his will be, through all the hovels of an outcast race, than blaring from all the trumpets of repute. . . .

If the consolation of the best is wearisome, it is yet something to have the sympathy of every one, as I know you and Frank have. God bless and sustain you!

Your always loving

J. R. Lowell.

_______________

¹ Of the death of her only son, the gallant Colonel Shaw, one of the most heroic of the youths who offered their lives in the Civil War to their country and to freedom.

SOURCE: Charles Eliot Norton, Editor, Letters of James Russell Lowell, Volume 1, p. 366-7

Review: The Ones They Left Behind

The Ones they Left Behind

By Antonio Elmaleh

Harriman Hickenlooper, a veteran of the 6th Iowa Infantry, came back from what some would call “The War of the Rebellion” and what others later would call the “War Between the States” with an unkept promise, a score to settle and a debt to repay.  His parents who had taken out a mortgage on the family farm had both died during the war; his brother Alonzo would also die in the war in Harriman’s arms.  It has been two years since Harriman had returned home.  The Appanoose County farmer was heavily in debt, behind on the mortgage payments and struggling to keep up the family farm all on his own.

Walter Ridley, formerly the Colonel of the 6th Iowa Infantry and now after the war was on the board of directors of the “Farmer’s and Merchant’s Bank,” Centerville, Iowa’s only bank, which held the note on the Hickenlooper farm.  In a move to avoid the embarrassment to bank foreclosing on one of Appanoose County’s war veterans, Ridley, bought the loan from the bank.

At a meeting of Centerville’s veterans, Harriman proposes a bet between he and Colonel Ridley; that Harriman could walk from Atlanta to Savannah, following the path taken by the 6th Iowa during William T. Sherman’s March to the Sea, unarmed, while carrying a United States flag, and return to Centerville unharmed by January 1, 1868 (giving Harriman 44 to complete the fete) with tangible proof of his journey.  If he makes it back by New Year’s Day he will get his farm free and clear, if he doesn’t Ridley will get the farm.

Seventeen year old Rufus Dewes, a young man wanting desperately to become a newspaper reporter, instantly senses Harriman’s journey would make a great story, and convinces Harriman to let him tag along on the journey.  Rufus periodically sends back dispatches to Jack Connolly, editor of Centerville’s newspaper, The Loyal Citizen, in which they are published.  The articles are quickly picked up by other newspapers across the country, and Harriman’s journey becomes a nationwide sensation as people clamor for details and wonder whether or not he will make it back in time, or even make it back at all.

Along the their journey Harriman and Rufus are joined by a former slave named Jed, emancipated in name only, until the timely arrival of the Northerners, and Lucinda McWhorter, a young Georgia woman left destitute by the misfortunes of war.  Will the quartet make it alive to Savannah?  And if they do will Harriman make it back to Centerville in time to save his farm?  And who are “The Ones They Left Behind?”  You will have to read the book to find out for yourself.

Iowa and family connections added to my experience of reading this book.  Being a native of south-central Iowa, I was greatly surprised to pick up Mr. Elmaleh’s book, and realize it was partially set in Centerville, a real town in Iowa, and county seat of Appanoose County.  My great Grandmother, Mary Alice Byrd Luce, is buried in Jerome, a small town just a few miles west of Centerville, so I am familiar with the area.  Centerville and the 6th Iowa Infantry are the only real things in this book; the bank, the newspaper, the townspeople, and the members of the 6th Iowa Infantry are all fictional creations of the author.  My father’s uncle, Lowell Miller, a medic during the Korean War, was killed in action and died in his brother’s arms, which reflected the story of Harriman and Alonzo, and gave to me an extra sense of poignancy to the story.  And further my great great grandfather’s name was Alonzo Luce, and three of his brothers served in the Union Army during the Civil War, all of them, however were in different units and did not serve together.  I also have several other relatives who participated in the march to Savannah.

Mr. Elmaleh states he based his novel on a newspaper article about a real Civil War Veteran who retraced Sherman’s route from Atlanta to Savannah, but he does not reveal any details of the actual historical event.  “The Ones They Left Behind” is well written and engaging.  It is a quickly read page turner that I found myself unable to put down.

ISBN 978-0990640622, 21 Cent Imprints Llc, © 2014, Hardcover, 260 pages, $19.95.  To purchase click HERE.

Charles Russell Lowell to John M. Forbes, May 21, 1861

Washington, May 21, 1861.

I shall not try to thank you for all you have done for me during the last ten days — I felt it more yesterday on getting letters . . . one from yourself, one from Judge Hoar, and one from home. Still, I do not change my purpose about going into the Artillery, and am only sorry that there has been a misunderstanding.  . . . I thought I had made it clear to Judge Hoar, and clearer to Mr. Burt, that I would do what I could for a short time, but only until the right man could be sent out permanently. He should be a man of age and weight, — should be able to put the screws on Cameron occasionally.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 208-9

Abraham Lincoln to Major-General John C. Fremont, September 2, 1861

Private and confidential.

Washington D. C. Sept. 2, 1861.

Major General Fremont,

My dear Sir: Two points in your proclamation of August 30th give me some anxiety. First, should you shoot a man, according to the proclamation, the Confederates would very certainly shoot our best man in their hands in retaliation; and so, man for man, indefinitely. It is therefore my order that you allow no man to be shot, under the proclamation, without first having my approbation or consent.

Secondly, I think there is great danger that the closing paragraph, in relation to the confiscation of property, and the liberating slaves of traiterous owners, will alarm our Southern Union friends, and turn them against us.  perhaps ruin our rather fair prospect for Kentucky. Allow me therefore to ask, that you will as of your own motion, modify that paragraph so as to conform to the first and fourth sections of the act of Congress, entitled, “An act to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes,” approved August, 6th, 1861, and a copy of which act I herewith send you. This letter is written in a spirit of caution and not of censure

I send it by a special messenger, in order that it may certainly and speedily reach you.

Yours very truly

A. Lincoln

SOURCES: Roy P. Basler, editor, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 4, p. 508; A copy of this letter can be found in The Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress

Major-General John C. Fremont to Abraham Lincoln, September 8, 1861

HEADQUARTERS WESTERN DEPARTMENT,

Saint Louis, September 8, 1861.

The PRESIDENT:

MY DEAR SIR: Your letter of the 2d, by special messenger, I know to have been written before you had received my letter, and before my telegraphic dispatches and the rapid development of critical conditions here had informed you of affairs in this quarter. I had not written to you fully and frequently, first, because in the incessant change of affairs I would be exposed to give you contradictory accounts; and, secondly, because the amount of the subjects to be laid before you would demand too much of your time.

Trusting to have your confidence, I have been leaving it to events themselves to show you whether or not I was shaping affairs here according to your ideas. The shortest communication between Washington and Saint Louis generally involves two days, and the employment of two days in time of war goes largely towards success or disaster. I therefore went along according to my own judgment, leaving the result of my movements to justify me with you.

And so in regard to my proclamation of the 30th. Between the rebel armies, the Provisional Government, and home traitors, I felt the position bad and saw danger. In the night I decided upon the proclamation and the form of it. I wrote it the next morning and printed it the same day. I did it without consultation or advice with any one, acting solely with my best judgment to serve the country and yourself, and perfectly willing to receive the amount of censure which should be thought due if I had made a false movement. This is as much a movement in the war as a battle, and in going into these I shall have to act according to my judgment of the ground before me, as I did on this occasion. If upon reflection your better judgment still decides that I am wrong in the article respecting the liberation of slaves, I have to ask that you will openly direct me to make the correction. The implied censure will be received as a soldier always should the reprimand of his chief. If I were to retract of my own accord, it would imply that I myself thought it wrong, and that I had acted without the reflection which the gravity of the point demanded. But I did not. I acted with full deliberation, and upon the certain conviction that it was a measure right and necessary, and I think so still.

In regard to the other point of the proclamation to which you refer, I desire to say that I do not think the enemy can either misconstrue or urge anything against it, or undertake to make unusual retaliation. The shooting of men who shall rise in arms against an army in the military occupation of a country is merely a necessary measure of defense, and entirely according to the usages of civilized warfare. The article does not at all refer to prisoners of war, and certainly our enemies have no ground for requiring that we should waive in their benefit any of the ordinary advantages which the usages of war allow to us. As promptitude is itself an advantage in war, I have also to ask that you will permit me to carry out upon the spot the provisions of the proclamation in this respect. Looking at affairs from this point of view, I am satisfied that strong and vigorous measures have now become necessary to the success of our arms; and hoping that my views may have the honor to meet your approval,

I am, with respect and regard, very truly, yours,

 J. C. FREMONT.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 3 (Serial No. 3), p. 377-378; A copy of this letter can be found in The Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress

Abraham Lincoln to Major-General John C. Fremont, Wednesday, September 11, 1861

Washington, D. C. Sep. 11. 1861.

Major General John C. Fremont.

Sir: Yours of the 8th in answer to mine of 2nd Inst. is just received. Assuming that you, upon the ground, could better judge of the necessities of your position than I could at this distance, on seeing your proclamation of August 30th I saw perceived no general objection to it.

The particular clause, however, in relation to the confiscation of property and the liberation of slaves, appeared to me to be objectionable, in it's non-conformity to the Act of Congress passed the 6th of last August upon the same subjects; and hence I wrote you expressing my wish that that clause should be modified accordingly.  Your answer, just received, expresses the preference on your part, that I should make an open order for the modification, which I very cheerfully do.  It is therefore ordered that the said clause of said proclamation mentioned be so modified, held, and construed, as to conform to, and not to transcend, the provisions on the same subject contained in the Act of Congress entitled “An Act to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes” Approved, August 6. 1861; and that said act be published at length with this order.

Your Obt. Servt

A. Lincoln

SOURCE: Roy P. Basler, editor, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 4, p. 517-8; A copy of this letter can be found in The Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress

Diary of Josephine Shaw Lowell: September 16, 1861

Yesterday there was a letter from the President to Fremont saying that he wished him to modify his proclamation in regard to slaves and that he expressed his desire publicly at the request of Gen. Fremont, whom he had privately informed of it before. Today those nasty papers say that Fremont will resign. I wish they might all be cut off in the midst of their career and not be allowed to publish a single issue for six months.

SOURCE: William Rhinelander Stewart, The Philanthropic Work of Josephine Shaw Lowell, p. 19

Lieutenant-Colonel Theodore Lyman to Elizabeth Russell Lyman, October 26, 1863

Headquarters Army Of Potomac

October 26, 1863

Ah! we are a doleful set of papas here. Said General Meade: “I do wish the Administration would get mad with me, and relieve me; I am sure I keep telling them, if they don't feel satisfied with me, to relieve me; then I could go home and see my family in Philadelphia.” I believe there never was a man so utterly without common ambition and, at the same time, so Spartan and conscientious in everything he does. He is always stirring up somebody. This morning it was the cavalry picket line, which extends for miles, and which he declared was ridiculously placed. But, by worrying, and flaring out unexpectedly on various officers, he does manage to have things pretty ship-shape; so that an officer of Lee's Staff, when here the other day, said: “Meade's move can't be beat.” Did I tell you that Lee passed through Warrenton and passed a night. He was received with bouquets and great joy.  . . . The last three nights have been cool, almost cold, with some wind, so that they have been piling up the biggest kind of camp-fires. You would laugh to see me in bed! First, I spread an india-rubber blanket on the ground, on which is laid a cork mattress, which is a sort of pad, about an inch thick, which you can roll up small for packing. On this comes a big coat, and then I retire, in flannel shirt and drawers, and cover myself, head and all, with three blankets, laying my pate on a greatcoat folded, with a little india-rubber pillow on top; and so I sleep very well, though the surface is rather hard and lumpy. I have not much to tell you of yesterday, which was a quiet Sunday. Many officers went to hear the Rebs preach, but I don't believe in the varmint. They ingeniously prayed for “all established magistrates”; though, had we not been there, they would have roared for the safety of Jeff Davis and Bob Lee! . . .

SOURCE: George R. Agassiz, Editor, Meade’s Headquarters, 1863-1865: Letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness to Appomattox, p. 38-9

Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Mead, May 23, 1864 – 8 a.m.

Headquarters Army Of The Potomac, 8 A. M., May 23, 1864.

We expected yesterday to have another battle, but the enemy refuses to fight unless attacked in strong entrenchments; hence, when we moved on his flank, instead of coming out of his works and attacking us, he has fallen back from Spottsylvania Court House, and taken up a new position behind the North Anna River; in other words, performed the same operation which I did last fall, when I fell back from Culpeper, and for which I was ridiculed; that is to say, refusing to fight on my adversary's terms. I suppose now we will have to repeat this turning operation, and continue to do so, till Lee gets into Richmond.

I am sorry you will not change your opinion of Grant. I think you expect too much of him. I don't think he is a very magnanimous man, but I believe he is above any littleness, and whatever injustice is done me, and it is idle to deny that my position is a very unjust one, I believe is not intentional on his part, but arises from the force of circumstances, and from that weakness inherent in human nature which compels a man to look to his own interests.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 2, p. 198

Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood to Edwin M. Stanton, August 20, 1862

DAVENPORT, IOWA, August 20, 1862.

Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON,

Secretary of War:

First. There are companies now full and that will be filled by the 23d to fill eighteen to twenty regiments. Our whole State appears to be volunteering. Second. The companies are now coming into rendezvous as rapidly as I can furnish blankets for them. Could have them all in next week if I had blankets and could build quarters fast enough. Have blankets for only five regiments. Third. I don't want any further time than the 23d. All I want is to put into regiments all the companies full on that day. If I don't get this permission I will have to volunteer myself and leave the State.

 SAMUEL J. KIRKWOOD,

Governor.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series III, Volume 2 (Serial No. 123), p. 417; Henry Warren Lathrop, The Life and Times of Samuel J. Kirkwood, Iowa's War Governor, p. 217;

Senator James W. Grimes to the Editor of the Linn County Register*, May 2, 1863

Burlington, May 2, 1863.

I have no very great desire to be reelected to the Senate. On the contrary, I am rather averse to the idea of continuing in public life beyond my present term. Our friends have insisted that I shall serve another term, and I have consented to do so, if, after having surveyed the whole field, they are satisfied that the interest of the country and our party require it, or that they are unable to secure the services of a better man. I have no great love for the place, and can leave it without a single regret, whenever a better man can be sent to Washington who can more faithfully represent our State. I did not seek nor did I anticipate the nomination for Governor, in 1854. When nominated without any agency of mine, as the representative of certain principles, I did my best to be elected. I never asked a man to vote for me to the Senate six years ago, though I was very grateful for the support I got. I have not asked and shall not ask any man to vote for me now. I cannot improve my condition in any respect by reelection. Every one knows my standing there; and, if satisfied with it, I shall receive their support; if dissatisfied with it, I ought not to receive it.

_______________

* In answer to an inquiry whether he was a candidate for reelection to the Senate.

SOURCE: William Salter, The Life of James W. Grimes, p. 236

Diary of Private Alexander G. Downing: Saturday, December 19, 1863

All is quiet around Vicksburg, and the weather is quite mild and pleasant, though quite cold at night. Our camp was cleaned up for inspection. I was out on picket again, though on higher ground than the previous time out.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 158

Diary of Private Charles H. Lynch: Sunday, March 20, 1864

Detailed for picket duty. Posted about two miles up the river, between the river and the canal, on the tow path. Our company, C, and the Loudon Rangers ordered to ford the river for a scout into Virginia. Returned quite late. Nothing important obtained. Bad time of the year to ford rivers. Snow squalls still greet us. It doesn't last very long, but helps to increase the circulation of the mud. Campfire burning all the time. We often burn our clothes by keeping too close to it. We live close to the earth. In warm weather we have a better show to keep clean, bathe, and wash our clothes.

SOURCE: Charles H. Lynch, The Civil War Diary, 1862-1865, of Charles H. Lynch 18th Conn. Vol's, p. 47