Lower image has been cropped and enhanced to show encampment in the haze in the original photo.
Photographed by James F. Gibson (highly likely)
Part of Civil War glass negative collection. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Record page for this image: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/cwp2003000051/PP/
May 16th. This morning was simply perfect; early the air was resonant with the music of birds, and later on with the music of numerous bands. What would an army be without music? Music puts us in good humor, braces our nerves, and makes us cheerful and contented, whatever our surroundings may chance to be. It would be a dreary service indeed without music, and I don’t believe the men could be kept together without it. The country we marched over yesterday was covered everywhere with pines, few cultivated fields or houses, apparently a desert waste. Our quarters are just under cover of some large pines, with open ground in front; on every side, as far as the eye can reach, are vast camps of men, horses, guns, and wagons; orderlies and aides ride everywhere; batteries are moving into position, flags flutter in the breeze, and picturesque groups of men and horses are indefinitely multiplied; in fact, on all sides we see the glorious pomp and circumstance of war, and in dead earnest too, for are we not separated from the foe by only two small miles? Who would not be a soldier in time of war?
Why we should remain inactive all day long so near the enemy I can’t find out, unless it is to give him a chance to intrench; it is very clear we are not going to surprise anybody. In the meantime, we have been occupying ourselves in the study of natural history, particularly with the pine tick, an insect abounding in these parts; it has a spiral proboscis by which it screws itself fast to the fleshy part of one’s body, without attracting attention or causing any pain, and then quietly proceeds to gorge itself with blood, until it swells to the size of a large coffee berry, and looks almost exactly like one in color and shape. It is at this stage that you begin to feel an itching, and looking for the cause, find half a dozen or more of these ugly black-looking berries sticking on your legs; naturally, you yank them off without hesitancy, but are astonished to find the itching increases, and the inflammation and swelling continues spreading. Upon a close inspection, one finds that on pulling the creature off, his proboscis was left behind, imbedded deeply in the flesh, and this is the cause, or seems to be, of all the trouble. The remedy is to boldly cut out the offending head; there is, however, a scientific method of removing them, when first discovered, and that is, simply to unscrew them; seizing them carefully between the thumb and forefinger, you gently turn to the left, and are surprised to find they come out easily, and completely, exactly like a screw.
Abbie Howland Woolsey to Georgy and Eliza.Friday, May 16.
We have hundreds of dollars sent to us to spend “for the soldiers.” Mr. Wm. Aspinwall, for one, sent Jane a cheque for $250. Now how shall we lay it out, so as to be most useful? Dr. G. said it made him heartsick, as it would us, to see the destitution and suffering of those men brought in at Yorktown. It makes me heartsick to think of it, and the only comfort is in knowing that if the condition of the men is horrible as it is, what would it be if nothing were done—if there were no Sanitary Commission. Take away all that voluntary effort has done for the army and what light would the government appear in before the world? Shamefully inefficient and neglectful!
Dr. Grymes shook Mother warmly by the hand to-day as we went on board the Daniel Webster, and said, “We can’t do without your children. We fight for them down there, to know whether they shall go up on the boats or stay at Yorktown, but on the whole, they are more useful where they are. Your son, too, is very busy and is indispensable.” I hope you will all three manage soon to be together and have the comfort of each other’s help, and keep each other in check from doing too much. Jane says she has awful dreams about Georgy, that the other night a message came that she was ill with hasty typhoid fever followed by paralysis from over-exertion! There, Georgy, is a catalogue of evils for you.
Uncle Edward is ready to do anything on earth. He sent by the Daniel Webster 75 canton flannel shirts which he thought would be useful for typhoid men brought in from camp. Up here, he says, they are sure to be taken care of after a while. He bought also eighty dollars worth of cotton pocket handkerchiefs, half of which I sent by Mrs. Trotter; etc., etc. He brought here for Jane to dispose of six jugs of very old port wine, each half a gallon, which he had decanted himself. Jane says that shall be distributed under her own eye.
We saw your red flag, I suppose it was, that you spent Sunday in making, flying at the peak of the Daniel Webster. . . . After the hundred canton flannel bed gowns were all made they told us they were too long for sick men and too heavy for fever patients. . . . Mother is extremely anxious to go on one of these trips of the Daniel Webster, and urges my consent! I generally evade the subject, for I think it would be too severe service. Don’t you need stepladders for climbing to upper berths? Have you got them?
We were all assigned to duty by Mr. Olmsted wherever he thought we fitted in best, and his large printed placards put up on the steamers gave orders for the “watches” and hours for “relief,” meals, etc., etc., so that the work went on as in a city hospital.
May 16.—The fast-day set apart by the President. I hope that it will be duly observed. I believe that it is well kept in the army. There has been no show of keeping it in this hospital; the old excuse is given—”too much to do.”
A few evenings since we came very near being burned 0ut. While the ladies downstairs were making pads for the wounded expected next day—we use hundreds of them daily—the cotton took fire and communicated to some of the ladies’ dresses. A gentleman extinguished it before any serious damage occurred. I was attending some patients at the time, and was certain from the noise that the enemy had come to storm the hospital, for which I was laughed at considerably.
Dr. Griffin of Kentucky and Dr. Benedick of New Orleans are both sick.
Susan Bradford Eppes, "Through Some Eventful Years"
May 16th, 1862.—There is light skirmishing around Richmond, so say last night’s papers; somebody is killed in these skirmishes—God help the South. A letter from Grandpa insists that Sister Mag and Sister Mart stop with him at Enfield; trains to and from Richmond pass his home every day and night and daily news from the front comes from reliable people. If Brother Amos should be wounded she could get to him right away. Then, too, it is almost impossible to procure accommodations in Richmond, it is so crowded at present with the divisions of the army, changing from point to point. Sister Mag wrote at once accepting his invitation; it hurts me so to think I cannot see my darling Grandpa; he cannot come to Florida, while this war is going on.
May 16.—The following General Order, made by President Lincoln, at Norfolk, Va., on the eleventh of May, was this day issued:
“The skilful and gallant movements of Major Gen. John E. Wool and the forces under his command, which resulted in the surrender of Norfolk, and the evacuation of the strong batteries erected by the rebels on Sewell’s Point and Craney Island, and the destruction of the rebel iron-clad steamer Merrimac, arc regarded by the President as among the most important successes of the present war. He therefore orders that his thanks as Commander-in Chief of the Army and Navy, be communicated by the War Department to Major-Gen. John E. Wool, and the officers and soldiers of his command, for their gallantry and good conduct in the brilliant operations mentioned.”
The United States steamer Oriental was wrecked on Body’s Island, thirty miles north of Cape Hatteras, N. C.—The Senate of the United States confirmed the nomination of Brevet Major Gen. Wool to be Major-General of the army.
—At New-Orleans, La., General Butler issued the following orders:
“The New-Orleans Bee newspaper having published an elaborate though covert argument in favor of the cotton-burning mob, is hereby suppressed. No publication of any description will issue from that office until further orders.
“The New-Orleans Delta newspaper having, in an article of to-day’s issue, discussed the cotton question in a manner which violates the terms of the proclamation of first of May instant from these headquarters, the office of that paper will be taken possession of and its business conducted under direction of the United States authorities.”
“It is hereby ordered that neither the city of New-Orleans, nor the banks thereof, exchange their notes, bills or obligations for confederate notes, bills or bonds, nor issue any bill, note or obligation payable in confederate notes.
“On the twenty-seventh day of May instant, all circulation of or trade in confederate notes and bills will cease within this Department; and all sales or transfers of property made on or after that day, in consideration of such notes or bills, directly or indirectly, will be void, and the property confiscated to the United States — one fourth thereof to go to the informer.”—(Doc. 38.)
—Two Union gunboats opened fire with shot and shell on Darien, Georgia, without inflicting any damage.—Fast day in the rebel States.— Savannah News, May 17.—(Doc. 39.)
—Colonel Johnson Hagood, Provost-Marshal of the Second Military District of South-Carolina, issued the following from his headquarters at Charleston:
“In compliance with instructions received from Brigadier-General Ripley, Capt Francis D. Lee, Engineer Corps, is empowered to impress any negro carpenters and other artisans, not now employed in government service, whether the same be slaves or not Captain Lee will be furnished with such force as may be necessary to carry out the instructions.”
—The National Intelligencer this morning contains an article, three columns in length, denouncing Gen. Hunter’s proclamation, and asserting that the President will revoke it
—Commodore Goldsborouoh with the Susquehannah, the Wachusett, the Dacotah, and the Maratanza moved up the James River, Va., to reduce two batteries on the south shore, and found the batteries abandoned.—N. Y. Times, May 21.—(Doc. 110.)
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