June 8—I am very tired from our first night’s march.
Friday, June 8, 2012
June 8th. Moved forward this morning, close up to the new works, and detailed two-thirds of the regiment to work upon them. They are making gabions, sand bags, abatis, etc., for the redoubts, which are something altogether out of the ordinary run of field works; our bivouac is within easy range of the rebel pickets and sharpshooters. Bullets are incessantly flying over us, or amongst us; once in a while, a shell or round shot comes buzzing along, but generally, passes us far out of sight, doing no harm. Last night we were in line of battle half the night, and are getting worn out, as well as disgusted, with so much hard work; we cannot understand why we should entrench ourselves so powerfully, when we came here for the purpose of attacking. Our commander-in-chief is very timid, certainly, and the prospects for a further advance upon Richmond seem extremely slender.
Eliza Howland to her husband, Colonel Joseph Howland.
Floating Hospital, White House,
Sunday, June.
We are having a delightful quiet Sunday—such a contrast to the last few days. A hundred and fifty men, to be sure, came down last night, but unless we have two or three hundred we think nothing of it nowadays. We are going for a walk, and Dr. Jenkins of the Commission is to have service for us under the trees. We have almost lost sight of Sunday lately in the press of work.
There are large bunches of laurel and magnolia in our parlor-cabin and dining room, and the air is full of their fragrance. .
Miss Dix spent last night with us, but is off now.
The battle of Cross Keys–Sunday June 7th 1862–Genl. Fremont and Genl. Jackson
Forbes recorded the date on the drawing as Sunday June 7, 1862. It was Sunday, but the date was June 8.
Artist: Edwin Forbes.
Part of Morgan collection of Civil War drawings. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Record page for this image: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004661885/
Whitsunday, June 8.—This morning I went to church with my Missouri friend, Colonel W.’s assistant, and quite an amusing incident happened. I had seen and spoken to him a number of times, but did not know his name. We see so many persons here that it is impossible to remember their names. I recollected, while walking with this gentleman, that I was ignorant of his name, and asked him what it was. He laughed so heartily that. he could scarcely tell me. Surely these are strange times. We never think of requiring an introduction to a soldier, as we have perfect confidence in them. To be in our army is a passport. The men are all gentlemen—at least I have found them so thus far. The one I was then walking with was not an exception. His name is Curtis. He was a captain in Price’s Missouri State Guard, and was with it at the time it was captured. He is now with Colonel W., on General Price’s staff.
We called on Mr. Clute, who was glad to see me. He kindly inquired after Mrs. Ogden, and all the other ladies. I was introduced to Mrs. Clute, and she and I raised the tunes. The services were held under a large oak-tree, and the scene was quite romantic. Mr. C. preached an excellent sermon on the subject for the day.
June 8.—This day a scouting party under Lieut. Bonse, company A, Tenth Virginia regiment, captured, in Braxton County, Va., Ben. Haymond, Ed. Riffle and Stan. Conrad, three of the most notorious bushwhackers in Western Virginia. Haymond and Riffle had been cutting telegraph wires, robbing Union men, stealing horses, etc.—Cincinnati Gazette, June 11.
—An extension of the following military departments of the United States was made:
1. The Department of the Mississippi is extended so as to include the whole of the States of Tennessee and Kentucky. All officers on duty in those States will report to Major-Gen. Halleck.
2. The Mountain Department is extended eastward to the road running from Williamsport to Martinsburgh, Winchester, Strasburgh, Harrisonburgh, and Staunton, including that place—thence in the same direction southward until it reaches the Blue Ridge chain of mountains; thence with the line of the Blue Ridge to the southern boundary of the State of Virginia.
3. The Department of the Shenandoah is extended eastward to include the Piedmont District and the Bull Mountain range.
—General Prim, commanding the Spanish forces recently sent to Mexico, together with his suite, visited the army of the Potomac to-day.
—General Fremont attacked (Stonewall) Jackson seven miles beyond Harrisonburgh, Va., near Union Church or Cross Keys, at half-past eight this morning, and drove him from a strong position with considerable loss.—(Doc. 18.)
—The obsequies of General Turner Ashby of the rebel cavalry, were celebrated at Charlottesville, Va. “The services were performed by the Rev. Mr. Norton and Rev. Mr. Avery—the latter had been chaplin in the cavalry from the opening of the war. Both spoke of the deceased in terms of high praise as a man, a soldier, and a Christian. The brave soldiers wept as they listened to the pious exhortations of the clergymen. They had lost a host in Gen. Ashby, but they were expected to imitate him in all things, and especially in his veneration and respect for Christianity. The country looked to them for deeds of greater valor than had ever yet been accomplished by them; and there, on the dead body of their late commander, they should swear not to sheathe their swords when a hostile army polluted the soil of Virginia and the South. After the services in the chapel the remains of General Ashby were conveyed to the University cemetery and committed ‘earth to earth, ashes to ashes, and dust to dust,’ Colonel T. G. Randolph and the Professors of the University assisting in the ceremony. They grave was covered by the cavalry, and they fired several volleys over it, and there he will remain in this classic ground until the last trump shall summon all to the general judgment”—Lynchburgh Republican, June 12.
—Judge Swayne, of Memphis, Tenn., refused to open the Criminal Court in that city, after receiving an order from Col. G. N. Fitch, commanding United States forces, instructing him to confine himself to the hearing and adjudication of such cases only as are not based upon the recognition of the right of a State to secede from the Union, or upon the presumption of the establishment or existence of a so-called Southern Confederacy, or recognizing the same.
—A small force of Union troops, commanded by Capt. V. Geary, Third Pennsylvania cavalry, while on a reconnoissance in the vicinity of New Market, Va., captured a rebel spy named Hance. He was the medium by which letters were carried to and fro, giving the rebels much information concerning the movements of the Union army. When captured he had a mail made up, ready to carry into Richmond.
—A reconnoissance was this day made, under cover of eight Union gunboats, by a body of National troops, commanded by Colonel Morrow, on James Island, S. C. The Union forces drove the rebels a distance of two miles, and were at one time within three miles of the city of Charleston, and in full view of Fort Sumter. The object of the reconnoissance was accomplished, and the troops fell back to their former position, losing two killed and seven wounded.
