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

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Post image for Letters and diary of Laura M. Towne.

Letters and diary of Laura M. Towne.

July 28, 2012

Letters and diary of Laura M. Towne

Written from the Sea islands of South Carolina.

[Diary] July 28, Monday.

To-night two officers in uniform came up the porch steps and asked Nelly, who was there, whether they could have a night’s lodging, saying the larger man was surgeon of the Dale, which lies out blockading the creek. They had a boat-load of men here. Nelly came and asked me. I said that Captain Hooper was not at home, but till he came invited them in to dinner. I was afraid the men might do mischief in the quarters and cheat or steal from the people, so I requested that they should not come ashore. This request was not heeded. The surgeon talked incessantly at table. He inquired all about the pickets on the island, the number of white soldiers and armed black men, etc., and of Mr. Phillips he asked questions about the North, whether McClellan had not weakened the war spirit, etc. There was something very suspicious in his questions and we answered them cautiously. Then he went on to speak of the rebels, calling them gentlemen and eulogizing them. We replied that no rebel or traitor was a gentleman in our eyes, or ought to be called so by loyal persons. He was angry and rose from the table. I told him soon afterwards that they had better go to Eustis’ plantation, as Captain Hooper was away and we did not like to have guests under these circumstances. So they went on, ungraciously. That night we armed old Robert and Archie and we each had a loaded gun in our room.

Post image for “I no longer see anything but our ruin on our success..,”–Adams Family Letters, Charles Francis Adams, Jr., to his brother, Henry.

“I no longer see anything but our ruin on our success..,”–Adams Family Letters, Charles Francis Adams, Jr., to his brother, Henry.

July 28, 2012

Adams Family Civil War letters; US Minister to the UK and his sons.

Hilton Head, S.C., July 28, 1862

I read your 4th of July reflections with much interest and on part of them my last letter to you had bearing. Our ultra-friends, including General Hunter, seem to have gone crazy and they are doing the blacks all the harm they can. On this issue things are very bad. General Hunter is so carried away by his idea of negro regiments as, not only to write flippant letters about his one to Secretary Stanton, but even to order their exemption from all fatigue duty; so that while our Northern soldiers work ten hours a day in loading and unloading ships, the blacks never leave their camp, but confine their attention to drill. There may be reasons for this, but it creates intense feeling here and even I cannot see the justice of it. The course of Sumner, Wade, Stanton, etc., have ruined us, I fear, in the war, by making success subservient to their preconceived plans of negro good, instead of allowing the movement to develope itself. I no longer see anything but our ruin on our success, and no escape from it save in our defeat as to the ends of the war. Still I do not lose faith, but go into the future as cheerfully, if, in my own opinion, a little more blindly than heretofore. I liked the innuendoes in Hawthorne’s article in the July Atlantic.

Post image for “Have settled down to a regular camp life, and are enjoying its quiet comfort.”–Diary of Josiah Marshall Favill.

“Have settled down to a regular camp life, and are enjoying its quiet comfort.”–Diary of Josiah Marshall Favill.

July 28, 2012

Diary of a Young Officer–Josiah Marshall Favill (57th New York Infantry)

July 28th. Hot as Jupiter! Men and animals suffering much from the prolonged spell of hot weather, and especially from the horrible swarms of flies, a nuisance we cannot abate apparently. The large deep well the regiment has been making was finished to-day and yields abundance of fairly good water. It is just a trifle cooler than the water in the shallow wells, but there is much more of it, which was the chief object in making it. From 6 to 7 P. M. the troops were drilled by brigade, Colonel J. R. Brooke commanding; subsequently, every regiment had a dress parade. We get no news of the enemy and curiously think very little about him. Have settled down to a regular camp life, and are enjoying its quiet comfort. Experience is the one thing soldiers cannot do without. There are certain things essential to one’s comfort, only to be learned in actual campaigning; once acquired they become a part of one’s existence. One of these things is contentment. “Take no anxious care for the morrow!” “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Two golden maxims for a man of war; faithfully observed, they save a world of anxiety in such stirring times as these and are well worth practicing.

Post image for A Diary of American Events.

A Diary of American Events.

July 28, 2012

The American Civil War,The Rebellion Record—A Diary of American Events; by Frank Moore

July 28.—General Grant ordered Gen. Sherman to take possession of all unoccupied dwellings, stores, and manufactories, in Memphis, Tenn., and also to collect the rents of such property for the United States Government, where the owners were rebels absent from the place.— Union meetings were held at Burlington, Vt., and Baltimore, Md. At the latter Gov. Bradford presided, and delivered a speech, advocating the cause of the Government and the Constitution. Resolutions were adopted expressing patriotic devotion to the Union, invoking the young men of the State to tender their services to the Government to fill up Maryland’s quota; approving the policy of the confiscation of the property of the leaders of the rebellion, and declaring the slaves of every rebel free from all obligations to obey those who refuse to obey the laws.

—In reply to a letter written by Mr. Seward to the American Minister at London, Earl Russell sent a despatch to the British Minister at Washington, in which he said:

“From the moment that intelligence first reached this country, that nine States and several millions of inhabitants of the great American Union had seceded, and had made war on the Government of President Lincoln, down to the present time, her Majesty’s Government have pursued a friendly, open, and consistent course. They have been neutral between the two parties to a civil war.

“Neither the loss of raw material of manufacture, so necessary to a great portion of our people, nor insults constantly heaped upon the British name in speeches and newspapers, nor a rigor, beyond the usual practice of nations, with which the Queen’s subjects, attempting to break loose from the blockade of the Southern ports, have been treated—have induced her Majesty’s government to swerve an inch from an impartial neutrality.

“At this moment they have nothing more at heart than to see that consummation which the President speaks of in his answer to the Governors of eighteen States, namely, ‘the bringing of this unnecessary and injurious civil war to a speedy and satisfactory conclusion.'”

—A fight took place near Bayou Barnard, Cherokee Nation, between a force of Union troops, under the command of Col. Phillips, and a body of rebels under Col. Taylor, resulting in the utter rout of the latter with great loss. The rebels had one hundred and twenty-five men killed, including Colonel Taylor.—(Doc. 162.)

—Great excitement pervaded the town of Parkersburgh, Ya., caused by the report that a band of guerrillas was about to attack the town. The report was without foundation, but the citizens were so terrified that they tore up the flooring of the bridge across the Little Kanawha, and planted a cannon at their end of it The City Council held a meeting and appointed a committee to go out with a flag of truce, and prevail upon the marauders not to burn the town. The money in the bank was removed to Marietta, Ohio. Numbers of persons fled from the town, and crossed over into Ohio.

—The office of the St Croix Herald, in St. Stephens, N. B., was again visited by a mob, and the work of destruction this time is nearly complete. Most of the type was knocked into “pi,” the press injured, and much of the material was scattered outside, and thrown into the river. The Herald is about the only newspaper in New Brunswick that has advocated the Union cause. —Boston Journal, July 30.

—Colonel Guitar, of the Ninth Missouri regiment, reenforced by Lieut.-Col. Shaffer and Major Clopper, of Merrill’s Horse, and Major Caldwell, of the Third Iowa cavalry, six hundred and fifty strong, were attacked at Moore’s Mills, seven miles cast of Fulton, Mo., this day, by the rebels Porter and Cobb, nine hundred strong, and after fighting till after four o’clock P.m., the rebels were completely routed, with a loss of from seventy-five to one hundred killed and wounded, and one taken prisoner. Colonel Guitar reports a loss of forty-five killed and wounded. He captured guns, ammunition, baggage, etc., in profusion. The officers and men behaved splendidly. Col. Guitar resumed tho pursuit, and followed them over the Jordan.—(Doc. 163.)

—Jeremiah Hoy, one of the band of rebel guerrillas commanded by Quantrel, was shot at Fort Leavenworth for murder and treason.— Leavenworth Conservative, July 29.

Next Entries →