Following the American Civil War Sesquicentennial with day by day writings of the time, currently 1863.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Hall’s Hill, Va., Dec. 19th, 1861.

Dear Sister L.:—

This has been a busy week. We’ve been moving into our new tents and fixing ourselves comfortable for winter. Our tents are round, with two doors that can be closed tight, and a pole in the center with two tables, one above the other on the pole. We have some twelve or fourteen in ours. We have bunks made so that we can sleep in one-half of the tent, and not sleep on the ground, either. On the other side we have a rack for our guns, a table and a stove. Think of that—a stove, a little sheet iron one, with two griddles! The stove and pipe cost four dollars. It warms up the tent, and we think it a first-rate institution.

Our new uniforms are distributed and they improve the looks of the regiment wonderfully.

Bancroft, the great historian, came to see us the other day. We donned our “baglegs” and went out with the rest of the brigade and went through with a sham battle for his amusement. Martindale’s brigade was out this afternoon doing the same thing. Infantry, cavalry and artillery were doing their best. The regiment of infantry were blazing away at each other when a squadron of cavalry dashed round a piece of woods and charged down on them with the wildest yells. Then the artillery commenced firing on them (the cavalry) and they gave it up, wheeled and retreated. I was out in the woods after brush and came across the field. Quite a number of carriages were up from the city and I saw ladies watching the sport with a good deal of interest. They would start at the report of the cannons and give a nice little city scream, as ladies will.

I wish you could be here a few days to see the sights. It would do you so much good. I am getting some accustomed to the smell of powder. We go out every day target shooting, the whole regiment together. When we all get at it we make some noise. It would be quite a sight at home to see three or four hundred firing at once.

H. is in the hospital sick with the measles. He is doing first-rate, but he is so babyish that he makes a laughingstock of himself. I do not blame him much. Such letters as he gets from home from his mother and Mary, commencing, “My very dear, absent, brave, soldier boy,” or something like that, all of the ”muzzer’s pressus darlin'” order. He is a first-rate fellow, but I do wish he had more of the stiff upper lip and stoical bearing of the soldier. D. and myself are well. I am gaining. I weigh one hundred and thirty-five pounds.

I must tell you something about our new camp, for, though we are on the same ground, we have altered the looks of it materially. Each company’s tents are in a line, and we have good wide streets between. These are all nicely graded and a trench dug round each tent and on each side of the street. Each side is set out with pine and cedar trees, and many of the tents have arches and bowers of evergreens before the doors. At the head of each street a grand arch is made with the letter of the company or some other device suspended, all made of the evergreen trees and branches. Company E, in the center, has the widest street and a little the nicest arch, as they have the colors.

Company E has two side arches, for little doors, I suppose. I tell you these embellishments make our camp look very nice, and the streets are graded so nicely, and the ground in front of our camp is worn smooth and bare, so we have a splendid parade ground for company or battalion drills.

Everything looks as though we were to winter here. We are having delightful weather. I never saw such in December. Such glorious moonlight nights. Now, don’t tell, but I did wish I could be up in the land of snows long enough to have one evening’s sleigh-ride, but I am content.

19th.—To-day I have received the expected letter ; but it relieves no part of my sadness. My dear child at home is no better. I may never meet her again. This in another of the trials of this unholy war; but I am selfish. How many have so much more reason to complain than I?

Boxes of luxuries and comforts for the sick received from home to-day. Many of the days which we have spent in this army have been days of gloom and darkness; and, oh! how these stars of kindness do sparkle in the gloom and lighten the darkness around us! The luxuries contained in the boxes are a comfort to the sick, but these are not the comforts which we derive from them. They come from friends at home. They tell of the interest felt by them in the cause for which we suffer, of their interest in us as the defenders of that cause, and that we are not forgotten! Names of many of those who are engaged in this work of kindness are known to us, and whenever heard will call up a thrill of grateful affection so long as memory holds a place among us.

Next day I dined at Mr. Seward’s, as the Minister had given carte blanche to a very lively and agreeable lady, who has to lament over an absent husband in this terrible war, to ask two gentlemen to dine with him, and she had been pleased to select myself and M. de Geoffroy, Secretary of the French Legation, as her thick and her thin umbra; and the company went off in the evening to the White House, where there was a reception, whereat I imagined I might be de trop, and so home.

Mr. Seward was in the best spirits, and told one or two rather long, but very pleasant, stories. Now it is evident he must by this time know Great Britain has resolved on the course to be pursued, and his good humour, contrasted with the irritation he displayed in May and June, is not intelligible.

The Russian Minister, at whose house I dined next day, is better able than any man to appreciate the use made of the Czar’s professions of regret for the evils which distract the States by the Americans; but it is the fashion to approve of everything that France does, and to assume a violent affection for Russia. The Americans are irritated by war preparations on the part of England, in case the Government of Washington do not accede to their demands; and, at the same time, much annoyed that all European nations join in an outcry against the famous project of destroying the Southern harbours by the means of the stone fleet.

THURSDAY 19

Foggy morning but warm during the day. No particular news today. I have been in the office as usual. The boys have been up to the Presidents most of the day. The two Lincoln boys were here after them. They did not return till dark. I have made a wooden model of my Portable Door fastener this evening. Prof Sparks called and brot Julia a French Book. She has spent the evening at Mr Hartleys. I called there with the Prof and staid an hour or so. People are very anxious to know the contents of the dispatches rcd from our Minister, Mr Adams, in reference to the Mason & Slidel affair.

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The three diary manuscript volumes, Washington during the Civil War: The Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, 1861-1865, are available online at The Library of  Congress.

Camp Union, Fayetteville, Virginia, December 19, 1861.

Dear Uncle: — Yesterday morning, a party of contrabands started for Ohio. It is not unlikely that some of them will find their way to Fremont. Allen, a mulatto, with his wife and one or two children, is one of a thousand — faithful, intelligent, and industrious, — will do for a house servant — would just answer your purpose. His wife can cook — is neat and orderly — a most valuable family, you will find them, if you put them into the new house, or anywhere else. If you don’t want them, you can safely recommend them. Quite a number have come to me, but these are the pick of the lot. They have another black man and wife with them who are well spoken of; I do not know them. It is, of course, doubtful whether Allen will find you; I think he will. I send him because I think he will just answer your purpose.

They will all be entitled to freedom, as I understand the rule adopted by our Government. Their master is a Rebel, and is with Floyd’s army as quartermaster, or the like, being too old for a soldier. These people gave themselves up to me, and I let them go to Ohio. The rule is, I believe, that slaves coming to our lines, especially if owned by Rebels, are free. Allen gave me valuable information as to the enemy. These facts, if necessary hereafter, can be proved by members of Captain McIlrath’s Company A, Twenty-third Regiment, Cleveland, or of Captain Sperry’s Company H, Ashtabula County. Of course, there is little present danger of attempt to recapture them under the Fugitive Bill, but it may be done hereafter.

You, perhaps, know that Dr. Joe took a contraband to Cincinnati. These people do not go to Cincinnati, preferring the country, and fearing relatives of their master there. The party start for Galion in company with the servant of one of our men; from there, they will probably get to you.

Sincerely,

R. B. Hayes.

S. Birchard.

DECEMBER 19TH.—Judge Perkins came in to-day and denounced in bitter terms the insane policy of granting passports to spies and others to leave the country, when every Northern paper bore testimony that we were betrayed by these people. He asked me how many had been permitted to go North by Mr. Benjamin since the expiration of the time named in the President’s proclamation. This I could not answer: but suggested that a resolution of inquiry might elicit the information. He desired me to write such a resolution. I did so, and he departed with it. An hour afterward, I learned it had been passed unanimously.

Thursday, 19th—We reached Jefferson City this morning at sunup after an uncomfortable night’s ride. The water in the river is very low and it seems that we were fastened on sandbars half the time. Then when the boat was under way, the boat hands, one on each side of the vessel, were constantly calling the soundings, “six feet,” “ten feet,” “no bottom,” etc., in that dreadful, drawling sound, keeping it up all night, and with the thought of that powder on board—it was not a good night for sleeping. But we landed, and marching out to the camp, pitched our tents where we were before. We got back all safe and sound, with one exception, for one of our company took the smallpox and was left at the penthouse at Boonville, with only his bunk-mate to care for him. The weather is quite cool.

Boston, December 19, 1861

I received yours of the 30th ultimo yesterday. You say “this nation means to make war.” To this I have to reply that this nation does n’t. England may force us into a war, but the feeling here is eminently pacific, and unless the Ministry has put themselves in an untenable position and driven us to the wall, no war will come out of this. Dana has sent a letter to the Governor by this mail, and if Lyons withdraws, the negotiation must be carried on in London. He wants me to add the peculiar injustice of the English talk of violence in seizing Slidell. The business was done in the most courteous manner in which it could be and the “sass” in the Trent was all English. Our men were abused and assaulted, called “pirates” and blackguarded, and answered not a word. And if England insists on war, it will be only because England is dissatisfied that we did n’t insist on all our “belligerent” rights, and the curse be on her head. The facts in the case you will have before this and make the most of them.

My object in writing this is, however, to tell you that I have received my commission. I leave the State Tuesday next with my regiment for Annapolis. I am a 1st Lieutenant and to be Captain, so Colonel Williams says, and heard of it only an hour ago. This is all I hoped for and much more than I expected. . . .

December 19 — This morning we went on a little reconnoissance to a large field that slopes away from the river a little distance below the dam. The edge of the field and the river is fringed with a dense thicket, and is much higher ground than the Maryland side. Here and there were small open spaces in the undergrowth, and from one of these we plainly saw the Yankees’ infantry and a battery of artillery. In a very few moments after we spied them we had impressive information that they saw us about as plainly as we saw them, for they sent us their compliments in the form of a few shell from rifled guns. These were the first shell that ever flew over me. Though oblivion may blot all else from my memory, its darkest waters can never erase the remembrance of the tremor of fear that rushed all over me, and crept into every little corner about me, from my hat to my shoes, when I heard the frightful screaming whiz of the first shell. Somebody remarked that it was a twelve-pounder. Of course I am not used to hearing these things, but from the way it sounded to me I think it was about the size of a nailkeg — or a little larger.

It is wonderful how close to Mother Earth a raw recruit can get when he hears the “Hark from the tomb” of the first shell. When, the first shell passed over our heads to-day I laid so close to the ground that it seems to me I flattened out a little, yearning for a leave of absence. Our battery was not in position when the Yanks opened on us, and they did not even see our guns; but four of us Rebel curiosity-seekers had stuck our heads above the bank, which was the sole object that drew the enemy’s fire, with the expectation, I suppose, of finding bigger game behind the bushes.

The Second Regiment of Virginia Infantry was bivouacked in a field back of the one we were in, and in range and line of the Yankee shell. The men had their arms stacked, and were grouped around their fires, a great many with their blankets spread in the sunshine, but when the Yankee shell screamed across the field— one of which exploded over the regiment—it created a lively scene for a while, and caused a general stir among the men. Bivouac, equipage, and spread out blankets were ready to move in a very few moments after the report of the shell died away.

We did not reply to the fire of the Federal battery, but remaining on the field about an hour after they ceased firing, went back to camp about a mile from the dam.

This evening after dark we went above the dam on a hill for the purpose of firing on the riflemen and battery, while Jackson’s destroyers were working on the dam, but with their artillery the Yankees set a mill on fire on this side of the river near the dam. The burning mill threw a light on the dam almost as bright as day, which made it too hazardous for the destroyers to operate.

The light of the burning mill had no effect on our position, as a hill covered with thick woods screened us, and we were in perfect darkness, and a good distance from the mill. Yet I heard a bullet whiz over my head, and I have been wondering what the man was shooting at that fired it; and have come to the conclusion that it must have been fired by one of these angelic philanthropists of the North who has been taking lessons in religion from ” Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and has come down here to gratify his saintly prejudice by shooting at the Southern Confederacy in the dark.

We remained in position until we learned that the work on the dam had been abandoned, then we fell back a little distance and slept in a wood, without fire.

December 19.—Maj. Frank K. Bloom, of Macon, Ga., Aide to Gen. Henry R. Jackson, died to-night of pneumonia, at that place. He distinguished himself at Sewall’s Point and at Greenbrier, Va., and was possessed of all the generous qualities and greatness of soul which characterize the true patriot and soldier; and in the community in which he lived no man was more beloved or had more devoted friends. —Richmond Dispatch, Dec. 27.

—Captain Ricketts, First Artillery U. S. A., who was wounded and captured at the battle of Ball Ran, arrived at Washington, released on parole, accompanied by his wife.

—At ten o’clock this morning a rebel battery of three guns, flanked with about two hundred infantry, suddenly commenced shelling the encampment of Col. Geary’s Pennsylvania regiment, near Point of Rocks, Md. About twenty shell, well aimed, fell in the midst of the encampment—the first within a few feet of Lieut. Col. De Korponay, commanding. The six companies in camp were well deployed and entrenched. The Twenty-eighth regiment opened fire with two guns—the first shot disabling one of the rebel guns, and the second falling in the centre. The Union battery then advanced and poured a continuous fire into them, silencing all their guns and driving back a fourth one reinforcing. The rebels were driven from their position in full retreat. Fourteen of them were killed, and many wounded. The Nationals did act lose a man. The engagement lasted a half hour. After the rout of the rebels their victors turned their guns on some houses near an old furnace, on the Virginia side of the Potomac, where about a hundred and fifty rebels were secreted, and drove them out, killing and wounding many.

—The British ship Cheshire, of Liverpool, Eng., Capt. Craig, from Liverpool Oct. 10th, and Belfast 19th, via Savannah Bar 6th inst., arrived at New York in charge of a prize crew, and in command of Prizemaster Heath, of the U. S. steamer Augusta, Capt. Parrot. The Cheshire was discovered on the 6th inst. off Tybee Island, in six fathoms water, and, upon being boarded, it was found that she had cleared for Nassau, N. P., and that her cargo consisted of coffee, salt, and army blankets, which was deemed very suspicious. Upon her captain being questioned as to why, if he was bound to Nassau, he should be found in that locality, he replied that he had received instructions at Liverpool to speak the blockading squadron, “but for what purpose it was not made known.” Not deeming it safe to allow her to proceed, and as the replies were not satisfactory, she was towed to Charleston by the U. S. steamer Angusta, Capt. Parrot, a prize crew put on board, and then sent to New York.

—About nine o’clock to-night a rebel band, called “Moccasin Rangers,” entered and took possession of the town of Ripley, Jackson Co., Va. The inhabitants were defenceless, their arms having been locked up in the jail by a man who had been recruiting in the town for the United States army. The rangers, after robbing the town, decamped with their booty. —(Doc. 233.)

—C. J. Faulkner arrived at Richmond, Va., this evening. He was met at the depot by Governor Letcher, the mayor of the city, and a large concourse, with music, and escorted through a portion of the city, when the crowd increased to thousands. The ladies from the windows and crowded balconies saluted the procession with smiles and waving handkerchiefs, and cheers from the thronged sidewalks greeted the procession along the route to the City Hall. Mayor Mayo introduced Mr. Faulkner, when he made a speech, detailing his captivity, imprisonment, and position on parole, and referred to the position of England and the United States. He said if Lincoln recedes from the present status in the Mason and Slidell affair, the furious Abolition sentiment would overwhelm him, and if he does not they will be involved in a war with England. Mr. Faulkner said he was a fellow prisoner in Fort Warren with Messrs. Mason and Slidell, and said they never wavered, but felt confident that England would protect them and her flag. Governor Letcher made a few remarks, welcoming Mr. Faulkner to Virginia, and the immense crowd dispersed.—Fredericksburg ( Va.) Recorder, Dec. 28.

—To-night the office of The St. Croix Herald, St. Stephens, was broken into, and a large quantity of type, and other material, destroyed. The editor’s opposition to secession was the cause of the outrage.—N. Y. Tribune, Dec. 21.

—The Memphis Appeal of this day says that “property to the amount of two million five hundred thousand dollars has been already confiscated by the receivers, and this is only about one-half the amount of Northern property in our midst. Some reports have already been made of real estate, and many others are to be made.—The cost of taking the floating battery up the Mississippi was one hundred and twenty thousand dollars.—The Mississippi Legislature have a plan under consideration to advance to planters twenty-five dollars per bale on cotton.”

—The Eleventh and four companies of the Third Iowa regiments, which went up the Missouri River from Jefferson City on the 14th, returned to-day with property valued at five thousand dollars, and seven prisoners. Among the property taken were one hundred and seventy-two kegs of powder, which were intended for the rebel General Price.—N. Y. Commercial, Dec. 27.

—This night a party of the Connecticut Fifth regiment and some of the men of Lieut. Rickett’s battery crossed the Potomac in a skiff, and burnt the mill at Dam No. 5, which had been occupied by the rebels as a stronghold. They captured some guns, tools for breaking up the canal dam, blankets, etc.

—A Bill passed the Mississippi Legislature, providing that the banks should receive State Treasury notes in payment of debts, and that the notes of the banks should be receivable for all public dues except the Confederate war tax.