Diary of Judith W. McGuire: May 4, 1861

At Home — I am too nervous, too wretched to-day to write in my diary, but that the employment will while away a few moments of this trying time. Our friends and neighbors have left us. Every thing is broken up. The Theological Seminary is closed; the High School dismissed. Scarcely any one is left of the many families which surrounded us. The homes all look desolate; and yet this beautiful country is looking more peaceful, more lovely than ever, as if to rebuke the tumult of passion and the fanaticism of man. We are left lonely indeed; our children are all gone — the girls to Clarke, where they may be safer, and farther from the exciting scenes which may too soon surround us; and the boys, the dear, dear boys, to the camp, to be drilled and prepared to meet any emergency. Can it be that our country is to be carried on and on to the horrors of civil war? I pray, oh how fervently do I pray, that our Heavenly Father may yet avert it. I shut my eyes and hold my breath when the thought of what may come upon us obtrudes itself; and yet I cannot believe it. It will, I know the breach will be healed without the effusion of blood. The taking of Sumter without bloodshed has some what soothed my fears, though I am told by those who are wiser than I, that men must fall on both sides by the score, by the hundred, and even by the thousand. But it is not my habit to look on the dark side, so I try hard to employ myself, and hope for the best. To-day our house seems so deserted, that I feel more sad than usual, for on this morning we took leave of our whole household. Mr. and myself are now the sole occupants of the house, which usually teems with life. I go from room to room, looking at first one thing and then another, so full of sad associations. The closed piano, the locked bookcase, the nicely-arranged tables, the formally-placed chairs, ottomans and sofas in the parlor! Oh for some one to put them out of order! And then the dinner-table, which has always been so well surrounded, so social, so cheerful, looked so cheerless to-day, as we seated ourselves one at the head, the other at the foot, with one friend, — but one, — at the side. I could scarcely restrain my tears, and but for the presence of that one friend, I believe I should have cried outright. After dinner, I did not mean to do it, but I could not help going into the girls' room, and then into C.'s. I heard my own footsteps so plainly, that I was startled by the absence of all other sounds. There the furniture looked so quiet, the beds so fixed and smooth, the wardrobes and bureaux so tightly locked, and the whole so lifeless! But the writing-desks, work-boxes, and the numberless things so familiar to my eyes! Where were they? I paused, to ask myself what it all meant. Why did we think it necessary to send off all that was so dear to us from our own home? I threw open the shutters, and the answer came at once, so mournfully! I heard distinctly the drums beating in Washington. The evening was so still that I seemed to hear nothing else. As I looked at the Capitol in the distance, I could scarcely believe my senses. That Capitol of which I had always been so proud! Can it be possible that it is no longer our Capitol? And are our countrymen, under its very eaves, making mighty preparation to drain our hearts' blood? And must this Union, which I was taught to revere, be rent asunder? Once I thought such a suggestion sacrilege; but now that it is dismembered, I trust it may never, never be reunited. We must be a separate people — our nationality must be different, to insure lasting peace and good-will. Why cannot we part in peace?

SOURCE: McGuire, Judith W., Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 9-11

Sermon of Reverend James Freeman Clarke: April 21, 1861

If the true position of a nation is its highest moral attitude, then we may say that these free States were never in a better condition than they are to-day. The end is not yet; no, and though they take Washington, take our President prisoner, seize the archives, and install themselves in the Capitol, that is not the end. So long as the magnificent spirit which actuates the whole North to-day continues, the spirit of devoted patriotism, of perfect unanimity of sentiment, of generous self-sacrifice, of calm, quiet courage, which does not boast at the beginning nor flinch at the end, so long the nation is safe. . . .

This is a sort of Pentecostal Day, in which the whole multitude are of one heart and one soul; nor says any one that aught that he possesses is his own, but we have all things in common. . . .

For the sake of national prosperity, for the sake of outward union, for the sake of a mere mercantile peace, we have here at the North been conniving for years at a system of despotism more cruel than exists elsewhere on the face of the earth.

Now we are punished in just those three points. Our prosperity has received a terrible check, our Union is dissolved, and our peace has terminated in what threatens to be an awful war. . . .

Let us stand by each other now in these dark hours, trusting in God's eternal justice and truth. He that is for us is more than they that be against us.

SOURCE: Edwin Everett Hale, Editor, James Freeman Clarke: Autobiography, Diary and Correspondence, p. 271-2

Charles Eliot Norton to George William Curtis, March 5, 1861

Shady Hill, 5 March, 1861.

Is it not a great satisfaction to have the dignity and force of the government once more asserted? To feel that there are strong and honest hands to hold it, in place of the feeble and false ones which for four months past have let it fall?

Lincoln's Inaugural is just what might have been expected from him, and falls but little short of what might have been desired. It is manly and straightforward; it is strong and plain enough to afford what is so greatly needed, a base upon which the sentiments of the uncorrupted part of the Northern people can find firm ground; and from which their course of action can take direction. But what will the seceded States say about it — still more, what will they do? I incline to believe that they will not try violence, and that their course as an independent Confederacy is nearly at an end.

Congress could not have done less harm than it has done in passing the proposal for a Constitutional Amendment.¹ I am sorry that Lincoln should have volunteered any approbation of the proposal, — though I have little fear that the Amendment can be adopted by a sufficient number of States to make it part of the Constitution. I do not wish to bind the future. I fully adopt the principle in regard to “domestic institutions” (what a euphuistic people about slavery we are!) of the Republican platform, but I do not want Congress bound never to pass laws to prevent the internal Slave Trade. Let Slavery alone in each state, — very well; but let us not promise never to try to stop Virginia from being nothing but a breeding ground of slaves.

The first act of this great play of Destruction of the Union has ended well. It seems now as if before the play were ended it would be generally found out that, as you and I have believed from the beginning, its proper name is, Destruction of the Slave Power.

When the history of American Slavery is written its open decline and fall will be dated from the day in which the South Carolina Declaration of Independence was signed. . . .

_______________

¹ The Thirteenth Amendment as proposed by Congress in 1861, and approved by Lincoln in his inaugural address, forbade the passage of any amendment empowering Congress “to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State.” As adopted and declared in force before the end of 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery.

SOURCE: Sara Norton and  M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Letters of Charles Eliot Norton, Volume 1, p. 219-20

John M. Forbes to William H. Seward, June 12, 1861

Boston, June 12,1861.

I have just seen Lothrop Motley (Dutch Republic), who has landed from the steamer this morning, and gives very brilliant accounts of our English relations.

This is all very well while we are strong, and there is a prospect of our whipping the rebels before the next cotton crop; but I have seen letters from well-informed sources, not diplomatic, which have another color.

The aristocratic rulers of England do not like us, and the middle classes want cotton, and our safety lies, while talking smoothly of peace, and believing all we choose of their fair professions, in taking the most vigorous measures to strengthen our navy.  . . . We can get some weapons forged for those domestic enemies which will be useful for foreign ones, in case they get hungry for cotton, and try to bully us next fall. I hope you will not relax one iota for all the peace talk. France will act with England if we are caught weak next fall.

SOURCE: Sarah Forbes Hughes, Letters and Recollections of John Murray Forbes, Volume 1, p. 220-1

George William Curtis to Charles Eliot Norton, March 25, 1862

25th March.

Fletcher Harper has asked me to take into consideration the writing of a history, a chronicle of the war, to be illustrated by the war pictures of the "Weekly," a huge (in size) book for popular reading, and to be especially a Northern book, to show what the Rebellion came from, and what its end would probably be! That is not bad for Mr. Harper. I told him that if I wrote about the Rebellion I should want to write a proper history; that his work, though admirable in intention, could be but a ‘job’ for me; that the study would be useful to any subsequent work upon the subject, but that the public never could believe that the later was more than a hash of the earlier. He said that I could easily do it in three months, and he would pay me well, and begged me to think it over.¹

_______________

¹ The book was not undertaken.

SOURCE: Edward Cary, George William Curtis, p. 154

Captain Charles Russell Lowell to Anna Jackson Lowell, July 27, 1862

Harrison's Landing, July 27, '62.

. . . It is painful to think that you were still in suspense about dear Jimmy. George will have told you, before this, all that he learned from the surgeon who was with him. Nelson's Farm is still far within the enemy's line, but I hope that we may move in that direction sometime. I am glad the little fellow was not moved to Richmond, merely to die and to be buried where we never could find him — he would have felt it. Palfrey told me about his taking Jimmy's sword — it was a sacred thing to him, and he carried it through some heavy marches — he was crying as he talked of it.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 223-4

Diary of Josephine Shaw Lowell: May 20, 1862

Yesterday we had a beautiful and touching proclamation from Lincoln, rendering General Hunter's order freeing the slaves of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia null and void. One of the most extraordinary things that has happened for a long time was the calmness with which that order was received. We have certainly advanced twenty years. The confidence in the President was shown by the entire acquiescence in everything he does. We feel that he is earnest and means to do right. A unique man. Rob's attempt to get a commission is fruitless. Mr. Sumner told him it is impossible.

SOURCE: William Rhinelander Stewart, The Philanthropic Work of Josephine Shaw Lowell, p. 26-7

Diary of Major Rutherford B. Hayes: Friday September 6, 1861

As judge-advocate, with General Benham, Colonels Scammon, Smith, et al., I tried two cases. J. W. Trader, etc.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 87

Lieutenant-Colonel Theodore Lyman to Elizabeth Russell Lyman, April 12, 1864

Headquarters Army Of Potomac

April 12, ’64

Yesterday we all rode to Culpeper, and saw General Grant, who went last night to Washington, and did go thence to Annapolis. I was well pleased with all the officers down there; among others was a Lieutenant-Colonel Comstock, a Massachusetts man. He had somewhat the air of a Yankee schoolmaster, buttoned in a military coat. Grant is a man of a good deal of rough dignity; rather taciturn; quick and decided in speech. He habitually wears an expression as if he had determined to drive his head through a brick wall, and was about to do it. I have much confidence in him.

SOURCE: George R. Agassiz, Editor, Meade’s Headquarters, 1863-1865: Letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness to Appomattox, p. 81

Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Mead, August 8, 1864

Headquarters Army Of The Potomac, August 8, 1864.

Grant has not yet returned from Washington. It is reported he has gone to Harper's Ferry to see for himself how matters stand. This, and his not telegraphing for me, I think settle the question about my being transferred.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 2, p. 219

Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Mead, August 9, 1864

August 9, 1864.

I am delighted to see your letter is written in such good spirits, and am truly rejoiced to hear I have so many and such warm friends. The attempt to implicate me in the recent fiasco was truly ridiculous; still, the public must in time be influenced by these repeated and constant attacks, however untrue and unjustifiable they may be. Have you ever thought that since the first week after Gettysburg, now more than a year, I have never been alluded to in public journals except to abuse and villify me? And why this is I have never been able to imagine.

I had a letter to-night from Cortlandt Parker, who has recently seen George Harding. He says Harding told him he had recently seen Stanton, who is an enthusiastic admirer of Grant, and that Stanton observed that Grant had a most exalted opinion of me, and told him, Stanton, that when he first came East he thought Sherman was the first soldier in the country, but now he believed I was his equal, if not superior. I send you this for what it is worth. I certainly think Grant has a queer way of showing his appreciation. Grant has not until recently seen Stanton, since we crossed the Rapidan, so could not have told him this; but Dana may have conveyed this information.

There was an awful explosion to-day at City Point of a powder and ammunition vessel. It is said sixty were killed and one hundred and fifty wounded.

I have been engaged for two days giving my testimony before the court of inquiry that is investigating the Petersburg disaster. It will take them a long time to get through, and I fancy active operations will interrupt their proceedings till such time that the witnesses will be scattered. Grant has not yet acted on my application to have Burnside relieved. The weather continues awfully hot, but the army is in good health.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 2, p. 220

1st Lieutenant William T. Mathews, Co. D, 39th Iowa Infantry

SOURCE: This item was up for auction on Ebay on August 22, 2014.

Diary of Private Alexander G. Downing: Friday, January 22, 1864

The weather is quite warm and it looks almost like spring — grape vines are beginning to start.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 163

Diary of Private Charles H. Lynch: May 15, 1864

Rain. Rain. On picket, wondering why we do not get relieved. It is past time for the relief to show up. Lieutenant Kerr sends a detail to camp to learn the cause. Returned in a short time, reported the regiment had left for parts unknown. The Lieutenant called in the pickets to the reserve headquarters in the woods. Formed company and were ready for action as we marched out of the woods to the pike, expecting to meet the enemy's scouts. Instead we met our own cavalry scouts who reported our regiment left in the night, going up the valley towards New Market. We started on after them, making a forced march, wet, tired, hungry, well used up. Some misunderstanding of orders was the cause of our being left on picket. It was a wonder to us that we did not meet the rebel cavalry and have a hot time, as they had been in this vicinity, scouting all around us. We were determined to put up a hot fight, had we met the enemy. Lieutenant Kerr kept urging us on, making a forced march up the pike. Duty having been so severe, and the lack of rations for the past few days, we were near used up. The last two miles of the march we ran, and joined the regiment as they were going into action, having made a march of sixteen miles with hardly a rest, and very little to eat.

Colonel Moore, Commander of our brigade, pushed our regiment and an Ohio regiment, with a section of a battery, two field guns, about six miles in advance of the main army, bringing on a general engagement. We could not hold the enemy in check as they advanced with a long line of battle. Our battery fell back. The Ohio regiment followed, when our commander, Lieutenant-colonel Peale, gave the command to our regiment, “By the right of companies, to the rear in column,” so we continued to march until we met the 34th Massachusetts Regiment, coming running up with a battery, taking a good position. The enemy was held in check, but for a short time. Sigel managed to get his main force in line, batteries posted, so the enemy was held in check. Our brigade suffered heavy loss. Some of the field pieces had to be abandoned as the horses had been killed and we were in too much mud to draw them away, or back to the main line. It looked to us like a case of mismanagement.

SOURCE: Charles H. Lynch, The Civil War Diary, 1862-1865, of Charles H. Lynch 18th Conn. Vol's, p. 59-61

Diary of Luman Harris Tenney: January 20, 1862

Moved into tents. Found missing equipment. Severe cold and rash.

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 5

37th Indiana Infantry

Organized at Lawrenceburg, Ind., and mustered in September 18, 1861. Ordered to Kentucky October, and duty at mouth of Salt River and at Bacon Creek till February, 1862. Attached to 8th Brigade, Army of the Ohio, October to December, 1861. 8th Brigade, 3rd Division, Army of the Ohio, to July, 1862. Unattached, Army of the Ohio, Railroad Guard to September, 1862. 7th Brigade, 8th Division, Army of the Ohio, to November, 1862. 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, Center 14th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to January, 1863. 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 14th Army Corps, to October, 1863. 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, 14th Army Corps, to October, 1864. 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 14th Army Corps, to July, 1865.

SERVICE. – Advance on Bowling Green, Ky., and Nashville, Tenn., February 10-25, 1862. Moved to Murfreesboro March 18. Reconnoissance to Shelbyville, Tullahoma and McMinnville March 25-28. Moved to Fayetteville April 7. Expedition to Huntsville, Ala., April 10-11. Capture of Huntsville April 11. Advance on and capture of Decatur April 11-14. Guard duty on Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad till August. Elkins' Station, near Athens, May 9 (Co. "E"). Moved to Nashville August 29-September 2, and duty there till December 26. Siege of Nashville September 12-November 7. Advance on Murfreesboro, Tenn., December 26-30. Battle of Stone's River December 30-31, 1862, and January 1-3, 1863. Duty at Murfreesboro till June. Middle Tennessee or Tullahoma Campaign June 23-July 7. Occupation of Middle Tennessee till August 16. Passage of the Cumberland Mountains and Tennessee River and Chickamauga (Ga.) Campaign August 16-September 22. Davis Cross Roads or Dug Gap September 11. Battle of Chickamauga September 19-21. Rossville Gap September 21. Siege of Chattanooga, Tenn., September 24-November 23. Chattanooga-Ringgold Campaign November 23-27. Lookout Mountain November 23-24. Mission Ridge November 25. Duty at Rossville, Ga., and Chattanooga, Tenn., till May, 1864. Mulberry Village December 23, 1863 (Detachment). Scout from Chattanooga to Harrison and Ooltewah January 21, 1864 (Detachment). Demonstration on Dalton, Ga., February 22-27, 1864. Tunnel Hill, Buzzard's Roost Gap and Rocky Faced Ridge February 23-25, 1864. Atlanta (Ga.) Campaign May 1-September 8. Demonstrations on Rocky Faced Ridge May 8-11. Buzzard's Roost Gap May 8-9. 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. Pickett's Mill May 27. Operations about Marietta and against Kenesaw Mountain June 10-July 2. Pine Hill June 11-14. Lost Mountain June 15-17. Assault on Kenesaw June 37. Ruff's Station, Smyrna Camp Ground, July 4. Chattahoochie River July 5-17. Peach Tree Creek July 19-20. 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. Pursuit of Hood into Alabama October 1-26. March to the sea November 15-December 10. Non-Veterans mustered out October 27, 1864. Veterans and Recruits consolidated to a Battalion of two Companies. Near Sandersville November 26. Siege of Savannah December 10-21. Campaign of the Carolinas January to April, 1865. Averysboro, N. C., March 16. Battle of Bentonville March 19-21. Occupation of Goldsboro March 24. Advance on Raleigh April 10-14. Occupation of Raleigh April 14. Bennett's House April 26. Surrender of Johnston and his army. March to Washington, D.C., via Richmond, Va., April 29-May 20. Grand Review May 24. Moved to Louisville, Ky., June, and there mustered out July 25, 1865.

Regiment lost during service 5 Officers and 80 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 1 Officer and 140 Enlisted men by disease. Total 226.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the 3, p. Rebellion, Part 1134

Charles Eliot Norton to Arthur H. Clough, February 10, 1861

Shady Hill, 10 February, 1861.

. . . Well, since I wrote last to you, great things have been going on here. It has been no time for writing letters, for the speculations of one day were forgotten the next in the new aspect of affairs. Not even yet is there any certainty as to the result of our present troubles and excitements, so far as the South is concerned. It is still doubtful whether the states that have already left the Union will be the only ones to do so, or whether the whole body of Slave States will go off and set up an attempt at a Confederacy to be managed in the interest of the owners of slaves, and for the protection and extension of slavery. There is little to choose between the two. For many reasons, political, social, and economical, it would be desirable to keep the northern tier of Slave States united with the Free States; but on the other hand, if they go off, the Free States no longer have any connection with or responsibility for Slavery. For my own part I have been hopeful from the beginning that the issue of these troubles, whatever it might be, would be for the advantage of the North, and for the permanent and essential weakening of the Slave power; and I see no reason to change this opinion. The truth is that it is the consciousness of power having gone from their hands that has induced the revolutionists of the South to take the hasty, violent, and reckless steps they have done. It is not the oppression of the North, it is not any interference with the interests of the South, it is not John Brown, or Kansas, or the principles of the Republican party, that are the causes of secession, — but it is the fact that the South, which has heretofore, from the beginning, controlled the government of the country, is now fairly beaten, and that it prefers revolution to honest acknowledgment of defeat and submission to it. But disunion is no remedy for defeat; the South is beaten in the Union or out of it. If the Slave States had accepted in a manly way their new position they would have secured their own interests. Slavery would not have been interfered with. But the course they have pursued has already done more work in damaging Slavery as an institution than all the labours of the Abolitionists could have effected for years. The competition for the supply of cotton which has now been effectually roused will be the great means by which slave labour will be rendered unprofitable to the owners of slaves; and as soon as they find this out Slavery will cease to be defended as a Divine Institution, and as the necessary basis of the best form of society. In fact we are seeing now the beginning of the death struggles of Slavery; and there is no ground for wonder at the violence of its convulsions. Civil war between the Free and the Slave States is a remote possibility. It will be hard to drive us of the North into it. But we are quite ready to fight, if need be, for the maintenance of the authority of the Civil Government, (threatened by a prejudiced attack of the Southern revolutionists on Washington,) and, I hope, also for the freedom of the Territories. But I trust that fighting will not be required, and I believe that Mr. Lincoln will be quietly inaugurated on the 4th March. He has shown great courage and dignity in holding his tongue so completely since his election.

I could fill twenty sheets with the rumours, the fancies, and the theories of the day, but by the time my letter reaches you they would not be worth so much as last year's dead leaves. Of course there is no other news with us, for the intensity of the interest in public affairs lessens that of the other events, and diminishes the number of the events themselves. . . .

Emerson's new volume has been a great success here, and has met with far more favour than it seems to have done in England. Ten thousand copies of it have gone off here in spite of the political excitements. I do not wonder that the English critics do not like the book, for every year the imaginative and mystic element of the intellect, as it shows itself in literature, is getting more and more scouted at by them, — but I do not wonder at the abusive vulgarity of the article in the “Saturday Review.” The book is the most Emersonian, good and bad, of all his books; certainly a book to do good to any one who knows how to think. But Emerson's books, as you know, are not nearly so good as himself. . . .

SOURCE: Sara Norton and  M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Letters of Charles Eliot Norton, Volume 1, p. 216-8

John M. Forbes to W. P. Lee, July 13, 1861

July 13, 1861.

In a quiet way the Pembroke should hail vessels, and warn them, and get information as to the Jeff Davis. See description of her in my letter book.

If you meet with a pirate, you have a right to take her, provided you are sure, but let us have no swaggering à la C–––. If anybody on board writes bragging letters that get into the papers, I will use my influence to get him on the outside of her. If she can really do something, she will get talked of enough, but talk alone is of no good.

No harm in a little deviation from the straight track. Remember there are many cruisers out after pirates besides yourselves. Try to telegraph us from Fort Monroe, when we may expect you, and look out for telegraph hence via Baltimore.

Don't waste your new shells — twenty-four pounds.

Truly yours,

J. M. Forbes.

SOURCE: Sarah Forbes Hughes, Letters and Recollections of John Murray Forbes, Volume 1, p. 217-8

George William Curtis to Charles Eliot Norton, March 6, 1862

March 6, '62.

I think I am a little more cheerful in the [Washington] matter than you, because I have rather more faith in the President's common sense and practical wisdom. His policy has been to hold the border States. He has held them; now he makes his next step and invites emancipation. I think he has the instinct of the statesman, — the knowledge of how much is practicable without recoil. From the first he has steadily advanced, and there has been no protest against anything he has said or done. It is easy to say he has done nothing until you compare March 6, '61 and '62.

As other signs of the current, I observe these things in the papers of to-day: 1st, Mr. Adams' speech distinctly saying that Slavery is the root of all evil; 2d, Cyrus Field, a stiff old Democrat, repeating it. 3d, Prosper Wetmore introducing into our Chamber of Commerce, he an old Commercial Democrat, a resolution of thanks to John Bright, the eloquent defender, etc., of freedom, — a word that your true-blue pro-slavery modern Democrat shies as a bat shies the sun.

All the omens are happy, it seems to me. For what is it but a question of our national common sense? and if that, as the year has proved, was strong enough to smother so furious a party spirit as ours in this country, why should we suppose it will fail us suddenly?

SOURCE: Edward Cary, George William Curtis, p. 153-4

Captain Charles Russell Lowell to Henry Lee Jr., July 23, 1862

Harrison's Landing, July 23, '62.

I have no doubt I could get permission from the War Department to take a Massachusetts regiment, if offered me, and I should have no hesitation in making an application to Governor Andrew, if that is the proper course — unless you think that better men are likely to be appointed.

I have had my training in what I may now without boasting call a “crack” regiment, — through the whole campaign, I have commanded a squadron, though not by my regimental rank entitled to it, and in campaign you know a squadron of cavalry is quite as much an independent command as a regiment of infantry. I can safely refer to General Emory for testimony as to the discipline and efficiency of my squadron and as to my general qualifications,¹ — and to General Stoneman for evidence as to what I have done.

Perhaps you think me too young — it is eight years to-day since I graduated — I have to apologize to myself for being so old. Younger men than I have done good service in command of regiments and even brigades during this campaign, witness my friend Barlow.²

I hear there is some chance of Henry's being ordered North: I hope he may come to the “Army of the Potomac,” — though I am convinced by observation that, here on the Peninsula, infantry is the arm for hard fighting.

Since we have been at this place I have been getting a little experience of Staff life and duty, being now Acting A. D. C. to General McClellan — it is an honourable position and valuable in the way of education, but I much prefer a command.

_______________

¹ General Emory, formerly Lowell's colonel, regarded Lowell as the best officer appointed from civil life he had ever known.

² Colonel Francis C. Barlow, a man of extraordinary gifts, who had graduated at Harvard the year after Lowell, — like him, first scholar in his class. He enlisted as a private, April 19, 1861, was married on the 20th, and sent to the seat of war on the 21st. Distinguishing himself on every field on which he fought, he rose rapidly in the service, and, though badly wounded again and again, returned to the field, and was at the close of the war Major-General of Volunteers. Lieutenant-General Miles said of him: “The clear and comprehensive intellect that had enabled him to pass his rivals in his educational race also enabled him to absorb the books on military affairs, and to acquire a useful knowledge of military history. Within a few months he had made himself absolute master of military tactics. It was as familiar to him as the alphabet or the multiplication table, and equally so were the Army Regulations. He not only knew what they required, but comprehended the principles and was enabled to comply with them, and also to instruct his subordinates.”  More will be said of General Barlow in a later note.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 222-3, 408-9