Diary of Gideon Welles: Wednesday, March 16, 1864

I have matters arranged for young Mr. Wilson to go to New York and attend to the subjects that are undergoing investigation. Gave him cautionary advice both yesterday and again to-day. Want vigilance and firmness but not harshness or oppression.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 543

Diary of Gideon Welles: Thursday, March 17, 1864

Sent a letter to Chase in reply to his rather captious communication concerning the Ann Hamilton and the Princeton. Shall not be surprised if he takes offense, for I think I have put him in the wrong, and this is to him very uncongenial. In this respect he differs greatly from Seward, who will receive correction very easily, provided others do not know it.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 543

Diary of Gideon Welles: Friday, March 18, 1864

Seward read to-day a letter on the subject of emigration with a proposed bill for a law on the subject. Did not strike me favorably, though no one else took exceptions. I remarked quietly to Seward that I thought we should be careful about meddling with the subject on many accounts; we might retard instead of promoting emigration, and if the Government attempted to interfere and take upon itself the burthen, it would cause the whole private effort to cease. Millions are now contributed to aid friends to emigrate, but this would wholly stop if the Government came in to assist. He thought there might be some danger if we were not careful, but something must be done to pacify the feeling. Usher wanted something done. Chase read over the letter and law and appeared to acquiesce. The thing does not impress me favorably. As a general thing I am averse to government bounties

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 543

Diary of Gideon Welles: Saturday, March 19, 1864

The Wilkes court martial moves slowly. Thus far I have no reason to be dissatisfied with the court. Wilkes himself strives to make it a personal matter. I have no feeling on the subject. Would rather he should not have driven me into the work, and shall be glad to have it disposed of.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 543-4

Diary of Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: September 5, 1863 – 8. p.m.

Lieutenant Abbott, Sergeant Clark, Sergeant Stoner, and seventeen other Twenty-third men go into Dixie to destroy iron-works, bridges, etc., etc. A perilous task. Great hardships and exposures to be encountered. Good luck to them!

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 432

Joseph Henry Lumpkin* to Howell Cobb, January 21, 1848

Athens, [ga.], Jany. 21st, 1848.

My Dear Sir: On my return from Savannah this morning I found your letter of the eighth of this month waiting my arrival. I sincerely regret that any reference to the extract of my letter to you in Bennett’s Paper should have given you any concern, for I repeat what I said to you before, that I neither desired nor intended any concealment of my change of opinion towards Mr. Clay. Whether General Taylor will or will not submit himself to be used by the very men who would have defeated his election could they have done so, I cannot say. He has been faithfully warned, I know, not to do so, but to compel these leaders to surrender to him at discretion and to make no terms with them; he has been further admonished to beware of the rock on which Mr. Clay's barque has been so signally wrecked, as every Statesman should be who when his government is engaged in a foreign war will with unfilial [hand ? ] expose the nakedness of his parent country.

For the bold and decided stand taken by Mr. Buchanan and other distinguished Democrats at the North, the South owes them a deep debt of gratitude; for myself however, I never for a moment believed that the North would take the responsibility of dissolving the American Union upon a false issue, even when slavery was the subject. And I believe at this very moment that the institution stands upon a firmer basis than it ever has done since the formation of the Republic. Had the Abolitionists let us alone we should have been guilty, I verily believe, of political and social suicide by emancipating the African race, a measure fatal to them, to ourselves, and to the best interest of this Confederacy and of the whole world. The violent assaults of these fiends have compelled us in self defence to investigate this momentous subject in all of its bearings, and the result has been a firm and settled conviction that duty to the slave as well as the master forbids that the relation should be disturbed; and notwithstanding Mr. Webster's false declaration as the result of his personal observations among us, there is but one mind among the whole of our people upon this subject. And we never will submit for one moment to the smallest aggression upon our constitutional rights. Respecting this property even Judge Warner,¹ Massachusetts man as he is, declared to me a few days since that dearly as he was attached to the Union, he would not hesitate a moment to advocate its immediate dissolution should the principle of the Wilmot Proviso be engrafted upon our system. I repeat that my mind was never more at ease than at present upon this subject.

Having been at home so short a time, I know nothing of the local news. Your friends are all well. Tom and myself leave again tomorrow for Talbotton where the Supreme Court sits on Monday next; he was appointed at Savannah Assistant Reporter, and I thing it altogether likely that after this year Kelly will retire from the business. There is nothing unpleasant between Col. Franklin and himself.

_______________

* Chief-justice of the supreme court of Georgia, 1845-1867.

¹ Hiram Warner, a native of Massachusetts, was at this time an assooiate-justlce of the supreme court of Georgia.

SOURCE: Ulrich Bonnell Phillips, Editor, The Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1911, Volume 2: The Correspondence of Robert Toombs, Alexander H. Stephens, and Howell Cobb, p. 94-5

Presidents of the United States Who Owned Slaves

George Washington

Thomas Jefferson

James Madison

James Monroe

Andrew Jackson

Martin Van Buren

William Henry Harrison

John Tyler

James K. Polk

Zachary Taylor

Andrew Johnson

Ulysses S. Grant

131st Indiana Infantry

See 13th Regiment Cavalry.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the 3, p. Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1156

13th Indiana Cavalry

Organized at Indianapolis, Kokomo and New Albany, Ind., December 23, 1863, to April 29, 1864. Left State for Nashville, Tenn., April 30, 1864. Attached to District of Northern Alabama, Dept. of the Cumberland, to November, 1864. 2nd Brigade, 7th Division, Wilson's Cavalry Corps, Military Division Mississippi, to February, 1865. 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Military Division West Mississippi, to May, 1865. Dept. of Mississippi to November, 1865.

SERVICE. — Duty at Nashville, Tenn., till May 31, 1864. Moved to Huntsville, Ala., May 31, and Garrison duty there till November. Repulse of Buford's attack on Huntsville September 30-October 1. Companies "A," "C," "D," "F," "H" and "I" moved to Louisville, Ky., October 16, to draw horses and equipment; thence moved to defence of Paducah, Ky. Duty at Paducah till November 1. Moved to Louisville, Ky.; thence to Nashville, Tenn., and to Lavergne November 30. To Murfreesboro December 1. Owens' Cross Roads December 1. Siege of Murfreesboro December 5-12. Murfreesboro December 8-9 and 13-14. Near Paint Rock Bridge, Ala., December 7 (Detachment). Moved to Nashville December 19. Companies "B," "E," "G," "K" and "L" participated in the Siege of Decatur, Ala., October 26-29. Battles of Nashville, Tenn., December 15-16, Hillsboro December 29 and Leighton December 30. Regiment moved to Vicksburg, Miss.; thence to New Orleans, La., and to Mobile Bay February 11-March 23, 1865. Campaign against Mobile and its defences March 23-April 12. Siege of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely March 26-April 9. Capture of Mobile April 12. Grierson's Raid through Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi April 17-May 22. Garrison duty in Dept. of Mississippi till November. Mustered out at Vicksburg, Miss., November 18, 1865.

Regiment lost during service 1 Officer and 14 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 2 Officers and 125 Enlisted men by disease. Total 142.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the 3, p. Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1110

132nd Indiana Infantry

Organized at Indianapolis, Ind., and mustered in May 18, 1864. Ordered to Tennessee May 18, and assigned to duty as Railroad Guard in Tennessee and Alabama, Dept. of the Cumberland, till September. Duty at Stevenson, Ala., till July, and at Nashville, Tenn., till September. Mustered out September 7, 1864. Lost during service 12 by disease.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the 3, p. Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1156

133rd Indiana Infantry

Organized at Indianapolis, Ind., and mustered in May 17, 1864. Ordered to Tennessee and assigned to duty at Bridgeport, Ala., and as Railroad Guard, Dept. of the Cumberland, till September. Mustered out September 5, 1864. Lost during service 17 by disease.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the 3, p. Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1156-7

134th Indiana Infantry

Organized at Indianapolis, Ind., and mustered in May 25, 1864. Ordered to Tennessee and assigned to Railroad Guard duty in Tennessee and Alabama, Dept. of the Cumberland, till September, 1864. Mustered out September 2, 1864. Lost during service 32 by disease.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the 3, p. Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1157

135th Indiana Infantry

Organized at Indianapolis, Ind., and mustered in May 23, 1864. Ordered to Tennessee and assigned to duty as Railroad Guard in Tennessee and Alabama, Dept. of the Cumberland, till September. Mustered out September 29, 1864. Lost during service 28 by disease.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the 3, p. Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1157

136th Indiana Infantry

Organized at Indianapolis, Ind., and mustered in May 21, 1864. Ordered to Tennessee and assigned to duty as Railroad Guard in Tennessee and Alabama, Dept. of the Cumberland, till September. Mustered out September 2, 1864. Lost during service 8 by disease.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the 3, p. Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1157

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: October 12, 1863

Hon. G. A. Henry, Senator from Tennessee, writes to the Secretary that it is rumored that Gen. Pemberton is to command Gen. Polk's corps in Tennessee. He says if this be true, it will be disastrous; that the Tennessee troops will not serve under him, but will mutiny and desert.

                                

It is reported to-day by Gen. Elzey (on what information I know not) that Meade's army has been reduced to 30,000 or 40,000 men, by the heavy reinforcements sent to extricate Rosecrans. Be this as it may, there is no longer any doubt that Lee is advancing toward the Potomac, and the enemy is retreating. This must soon culminate in something of interest.

I saw Commissary-General Northrop to-day, and he acknowledges that Mr. Moffitt, who sells beef (gross) to the butchers at from 45 to 55 cents, is one of his agents, employed by Major Ruffin, to purchase beef for the army! The schedule price is from 16 to 20 cents, and he pays no more, for the government — and if he buys for himself, it is not likely he pays more — and so we have a government agent a speculator in meat, and co-operating with speculators! Will Mr. Secretary Seddon permit this?

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 70

Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: December 5, 1864

Guard said that orders were not to talk with any of the prisoners, and above all not to let us get hold of any newspapers. No citizens are allowed to come near us. That shows which way the wind blows. Half a dozen got away from here last night, and guards more strict to-day, with an increased force. Going to be moved, it is said, in a few days. Why don't they run us right into the ocean? That wouldn't do though, our gunboats are there. Well, keep us then, that is punishment enough. Do what you are a mind to. You dare not starve us now, for we would break away. In fact, although under guard, we are masters of the situation. Can see an old darky with an ox hitched to a cart with harness on, the cart loaded with sugar cane. This is quite a sugar country, it is said. On the road here saw the famous palmetto tree in groves. Live-oaks are scattered all over, and are a funny affair. Simon and pecan trees also abound here We are pretty well south now, spending the winter. But few die now; no more than would naturally die in any camp with the same numbers. It is said that some men get away every night, and it is probably so.

SOURCE: John L. Ransom, Andersonville Diary, p. 132

Captain Charles Wright Wills: May 24, 1864

May 24, 1864.

Short march to-day — because it is a full day's march from here to water. At Van Wirt we turned east on the Atlanta road. Will pass through Dallas to-morrow. My company was rear guard to-day for the brigade. One of my men spilled a kettle of boiling coffee last night, filling his shoe. All the skin on the top of his foot that did not come off with the socks is in horrible blisters. The surgeon said he would have to march, and he has, all day, don't that seem rather hard? You remember how I used to detest fat meat? If I didn't eat a pound of raw pickled pork to-day for dinner, shoot me. Things don't go nearly as well as on the march from Memphis. 'Tis much harder, though we don't make as many miles per day. One reason is the weather is much warmer, and another thing, each division then marched independently, and now all three of them camp together every night. Dorrance is nearly sick to-night. I thought I heard some artillery firing this morning, but guess I was mistaken. The cavalry report they have not found any force of Rebels yesterday or to-day. Small-pox has broken out in the 6th Iowa—some 20 cases.

SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 246

Diary of Captain Luman Harris Tenney: December 19, 1864

Wrote home. Orders to march in the morning at 6:30 A. M.

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 138

Diary of Captain Luman Harris Tenney: December 20, 1864

Up at four. An early breakfast. 3rd Div. started up the valley, while 1st and 2nd went in another direction with 10 days' rations. Camped at Woodstock.

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 138

Diary of Captain Luman Harris Tenney: Wednesday, December 21, 1864

Orders regarding success of Sherman and Thomas, read to us near Mt. Jackson. Camped 8 miles south of Newmarket. Rained.

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 138