Saturday, 19th—The Eleventh Iowa Infantry was completed today. All the companies now have their full quotas.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Saturday, October 19. — Nothing of any interest occurred to-day. We expected our regiment to come on board and waited all day in vain. Finally, about eight o’clock P.M. they came, and to my disappointment I found they were the 4th New Hampshire regiment, as I hoped to see some Massachusetts troops. Church, the reporter of the New York Sun, and Green of the Boston Journal came on board.
Letter from Captain Lyon to Mrs. Lyon.
“Pilot Knob, Saturday, Oct, 19, 1861.—We arrived here on Thursday afternoon. This place is ninety miles southwest of St. Louis. Ironton is only two miles from here. The country is rough, wild and mountainous. Pilot Knob is a conical hill, rising some eight hundred feet above us. There are also extensive lead mines in the vicinity. I wrote you at De Soto, forty miles from here. We came on to where the bridge across Big River was burned, and my company and another were sent on here in advance of the rest of the regiment. Col. Murphy, who was with us, had a telegram from here saying the rebels were advancing on this place. We hurried up, the train running with frightful velocity, and when we got here the inhabitants were running from the place to the hills and everybody said a battle was being fought three or four miles out. We expected to be sent right on. It was concluded, however, that we should wait for the balance of the regiment, which had been sent for in great haste. Before they arrived we learned the facts about the fight. It was a mere skirmish, some twenty miles from here, between three hundred Indiana cavalry stationed here and a detachment of cavalry from the rebel army. Five or six men wounded on our side, none killed. Several reported killed on the other side.
“There are about four thousand troops here. The men are all anxious to fight. It is impossible to foretell our future movements. Do not be disturbed by any newspaper reports about us. One of the St. Louis papers yesterday puts us in a battle here and has us badly cut up. That is a fair specimen of their accuracy. I was in more danger on the cars Thursday than I shall be in any battle. When I see the misery and suffering which I see this war causes here, I thank God that you are all in peaceful homes and that the trials and perils of the contest, so far as you are concerned, can be borne by me alone.”
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1861.
A dense fog all over the City this morning and it has been a misty damp day. I have not been out today yet do not feel very bad, had a restless night and some fever but feel better tonight. A great deal of heavy firing all day over the river, some fighting down with the Batteries last night and this morning. No particular news afloat. Everybody seem to be waiting like Mr “Micawber” for “something to turn up.”
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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.
Saturday, 19th.—The head of the column advanced to a point some six or seven miles beyond London, on the road leading to Wildcat, but, for want of water, subsistence and forage, had to return to the wagon train, about four miles beyond London.
Zollicoffer’s advance had another skirmish with the enemy’s picket, resulting in the killing of one man on each side.
After marching in the rear of the wagon train to within eight miles of London, Colonel McNairy was ordered to move his battalion to the front. On reaching our General’s headquarters, about nightfall, encamped, as above named, some four miles from town, McNairy was ordered to send out scouting parties on both sides of the London-Wildcat road. Accordingly, a part of our battalion went southwest in the direction, of Somerset, while Allison’s Company went back to London, and thence about nine miles north-east in the direction of Booneville, capturing two men, two muskets and three horses on the way. Finding no organized force in that direction, Allison returned, by the way of London, to camp, some three miles from town, about daybreak next morning. Here the road forked—the left, leading by the way of Wildcat, Mount Vernon and Crab Orchard, to Camp Dick Robinson, and the right, to Richmond. We were now within ten miles of Wildcat.
OCTOBER 19TH.—Col. Ashby with 600 men routed a force of 1000 Yankees, the other day, near Harper’s Ferry. That is the cavalry again! The spies here cannot inform the enemy of the movements of our mounted men, which are always made with celerity.
October 19th— Lord Lyons and Mr. Seward were driving and dining together yesterday en ami. To-day, Mr. Seward is engaged demolishing Lord Lyons, or at all events the British Government, in a despatch, wherein he vindicates the proceedings of the United States Government in certain arrests of British subjects which had been complained of, and repudiates the doctrine that the United States Government can be bound by the opinion of the law officers of the Crown respecting the spirit and letter of the American constitution. This is published as a set-off to Mr. Seward’s circular on the seacoast defences which created so much depression and alarm in the Northern States, where it was at the time considered as a warning that a foreign war was imminent, and which has since been generally condemned as feeble and injudicious.
October 19.—Colonel Morgan, with two hundred and twenty men of the Eighteenth Missouri regiment, with two pieces of artillery, had a fight with some four hundred rebels, on Big Hurricane Creek, in Carroll County, Mo., killing fourteen, taking eight prisoners, and putting the balance to flight. Colonel Morgan had fourteen men wounded, two mortally.—(Doc. 98.)
—The Leavenworth (Kansas) Conservative of this date gives an account of the surrender of Fort Fillmore, New Mexico, as follows:—
On the 6th of July, Major Lynde had command of seven companies of infantry and two of cavalry, in all about seven hundred men. The next officers in rank were Captains Poster and Stevenson and Lieut. McAnnelly. On the 24th of July, at three o’clock p.m,, four hundred and eighty men, with four pieces of artillery, started for Mesilla; arrived there at dark; were drawn up in line of battle between two cornfields; there were no flankers and no skirmishers out; the cavalry were within eighty-five yards of the ambuscade laid by the Texans, who numbered less than two hundred, and were poorly armed. Shots were fired out of the cornfield, one of them taking effect on Lieut. McAnnelly, a true Union man. Major Lynde was behind a wagon. A perfect cross fire was opened on the cavalry, and, no officer now being in command of them, they retreated. No order had been given them to dismount, fire, or charge, and they retreated “on their own hook” to the rear of the infantry, in order to give the artillery a chance to fire. Our own infantry opened a perfect volley on our own cavalry— by mistake, it was said. A few shots were fired by the artillery, when the whole command was ordered to retreat back on the post. Arrived there at nine o’clock. Next day all were engaged in fortifying. At half-past ten an order was given to evacuate that night. The commissary was ordered to roll out the whiskey, and the infantry were allowed to drink it and fill their canteens. No water was furnished for the hot march before them. The march was undertaken in the most irregular manner, and before we had gone ten miles men were dropping from the ranks and falling down drunk. At two in the morning Texan troops were seen advancing on the Los Crusas road. Our adjutant, on being informed of it, made no preparations to resist an attack, but said:—”They have nothing to fear from us.” Of the seven companies, so many had been left drunk and captured that no more than two companies went into camp. The officers left the men, and held a long council of war. The men of the rifle command decided among themselves to fight. Just as they were ready Captain Gibbs came up, ordered a retreat upon camp, saying:—“We will fight them there.” As soon as they reached there, they were formed into line, and told to dismount for the last time. “You are turned over as prisoners of war,” was all they heard. All the arms and supplies were given up, the oath was administered, and next day the men were released on parole.
—The schooner Fairfax, of Georgetown, D. C., bound up the Potomac with 1,100 bales of hay and 500 barrels cement, was captured by the rebels off Shipping Point. This schooner and another vessel, in tow of the steam-tug Resolute, were fired upon when passing the rebel batteries, and at that critical moment the hawser by which the Fairfax was attached to the steamer broke. The vessel had necessarily to be left to her fate. She drifted toward the batteries, from which several boats started and took possession of her. The Resolute, with the other vessel in tow, proceeded up the river. This is the first serious disaster that has happened to any vessel in passing these batteries. —National Intelligencer, October 21.
—Twenty rebel prisoners, selected from among the North Carolinians on Bedloe’s Island, were sent to Fortress Monroe, there to be released upon taking the oath not to bear arms against the United States Government. This is done in response to the recent release of fifty-seven wounded soldiers at Richmond. As nearly all the persons released by the rebel authorities are disabled by wounds and disease, more than half of them having had a limb amputated, Col. Burke made a selection in the same manner from among the common soldiers, and these were taken who appeared to be most disabled and weakened by disease. Their names are not given. This action of the Government was an agreeable surprise to the prisoners, and the fortunate ones hailed their deliverance with unfeigned delight.—Baltimore American, October 21.
—Abel Smith, colonel of the Thirteenth regiment of New York Volunteers, died this morning, at Mechanicsville, N. Y., from injuries sustained on the railroad, at that place.— Gen. Heintzleman made a reconnoissance in considerable force along the telegraph road as far as Pohick Church and Acotink Creek, in Virginia, when some of the rebel pickets were met and driven back. It was ascertained that the rebel forces were posted between the telegraph road and Occoquan.— Washington Star, October 21.
—General Wool, at Fortress Monroe, issued an order, giving every male contraband employed in the department, eight dollars per month, and every female four dollars per month. —New York Tribune, October 21.
Camp Tompkins, Near Gauley Bridge, October 19, 1861.
Dear Uncle: — It is late Saturday night. I am away from my regiment at General Rosecrans’ headquarters and feel lonesome. The weather is warm, threatening rain. We are waiting events, not yet knowing whether we are to stay here or go to some other quarters for the winter. I can’t help suspecting that important events are looked for near Washington which may determine our course for the winter. All things in that direction have, to my eye, a hopeful look. A victory there if decisive will set things moving all over. We know the enemy we have been after is heartily sick of this whole business, and only needs a good excuse to give it up. A party of our men, bearing a flag of truce, spent a night with a party of Lee’s men a few days ago, and the conversations they report tell the story.
Matthews has gone home for a fortnight. It is quite probable that I shall go home during the fall or winter for a short visit.
We have done no fortifying yet. We occasionally hear of a little guerrilla party and scamper after them, but no important movements are likely to occur here, unless a road should be opened from Washington to Richmond.
I see that Buckland is in the war. That is right. The noticeable difference between North and South in this war is, that South, the leading citizens, the lawyers and public men of all sorts, go into the fight themselves. This has not been so with us in the same degree. I am less disposed to think of a West Point education as requisite for this business than I was at first. Good sense and energy are the qualities required. . . .
Sincerely,
R. B. Hayes.
S. Birchard.
Camp Tompkins, October 19, 1861.
Dearest: — I got your letter of last Sunday yesterday. You can’t be happier in reading my letters than I am m reading yours. Very glad our little Ruddy is no worse.
Don’t worry about suffering soldiers, and don’t be too ready to give up President Lincoln. More men are sick in camps than at home. Sick [men] are not comfortable anywhere, and less so in armies than in good homes. Transportation fails, roads are bad, contractors are faithless, officials negligent or fraudulent, but notwithstanding all this, I am satisfied that our army is better fed, better clad, and better sheltered than any other army in the world. And, moreover, where there is want, it is not due to the general or state Government half as much as to officers and soldiers. The two regiments I have happened to know most about and to care most about — McCook’s Ninth and our Twenty-third — have no cause of complaint. Their clothing is better than when they left Ohio and better than most men wear at home. I am now dressed as a private, and I am well dressed. I live habitually on soldiers’ rations, and I live well.
No, Lucy, the newspapers mislead you. It is the poor families at home, not the soldiers, who can justly claim sympathy. I except of course the regiments who have mad officers, but you can’t help their case with your spare blankets. Officers at home begging better be with their regiments doing their appropriate duties. Government is sending enough if colonels, etc., would only do their part. McCook could feed, clothe, or blanket half a regiment more any time, while alongside of him is a regiment, ragged, hungry, and blanketless, full of correspondents writing home complaints about somebody. It is here as elsewhere. The thrifty and energetic get along, and the lazy and thoughtless send emissaries to the cities to beg. Don’t be fooled with this stuff.
I feel for the poor women and children in Cincinnati. The men out here have sufferings, but no more than men of sense expected, and were prepared for, and can bear.
I see Dr. S— wants blankets for the Eighth Regiment. Why isn’t he with it, attending to its sick? If its colonel and quartermaster do their duties as he does his, five hundred miles off, they can’t expect to get blankets. I have seen the stores sent into this State, and the Government has provided abundantly for all. It vexes me to see how good people are imposed on. I have been through the camps of eight thousand men today, and I tell you they are better fed and clothed than the people of half the wards in Cincinnati. We have sickness which is bad enough, but it is due to causes inseparable from our condition. Living in open air, exposed to changes of weather, will break down one man in every four or five, even if he was “clad in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.”
As for Washington, McClellan and so on, I believe they are doing the thing well. I think it will come out right. Wars are not finished in a day. Lincoln is, perhaps, not all that we could wish, but he is honest, patriotic, cool-headed, and safe. I don’t know any man that the Nation could say is under all the circumstances to be preferred in his place.
As for the new governor, I like the change as much as you do. He comes in a little over two months from now.
A big dish of politics. I feared you were among croakers and grumblers, people who do more mischief than avowed enemies to the country.
It is lovely weather again. I hope this letter will find you as well as it leaves me. Love and kisses for the dear ones. Affectionately, ever,
R. B. Hayes.
Mrs. Hayes.
