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

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Post image for “Our soldiers are not clothed or fed now as they used to be. We are short of everything.”–Letters from Elisha Franklin Paxton.

“Our soldiers are not clothed or fed now as they used to be. We are short of everything.”–Letters from Elisha Franklin Paxton.

December 4, 2012

Elisha Franklin Paxton – Letters from camp and field while an officer in the Confederate Army

Spottsylvania C. H., December 4, 1862.

We have reached what I suppose to be our destination after eleven days’ march, stopping but once on the route. The roads were good; the troops were in good spirits, and with moderate marching reached here but little exhausted. I really don’t know what we came for, as everything here is in a most profound state of quiet. The enemy are on the other side of the Rappahannock, showing but little, if any, signs of an intention to cross.

I am getting used to my new position, and, whilst I prefer that which I left, I can be contented here. I have no reason now to complain of a want of employment, but feel that I have more than I can do. I have found much that I would like to remedy, but have not the means to do it. Our soldiers are not clothed or fed now as they used to be. We are short of everything. I hope this winter that much may be supplied, and next spring we may be able to begin the campaign in fine condition.

We have bright, clear weather now, but it is the season when we may expect it not to last. Soon we shall have snow, bad roads, cold weather and the usual attendants of the season. I wish now we had the order to prepare for it and build such cheap huts as would shelter. Now very few of them have tents and many are thinly clad; some are barefooted and a few without blankets. I wish that I had the power to supply their wants, but I can do but little. Have you made up your mind, Love, when the war will be over? I am heartily sick and tired of it. If any one had told me, when it began, that I should pass through two years of it and reach the rank of Brigadier, with pay of $300 per month, it would have been a flattering prospect; but I feel now as if no rank or pay could induce me to be a soldier—nothing but necessity and a feeling that I am not a true man if I leave our cause for the comforts of home? I sometimes have been severely tempted to follow the example which many whom I thought good men have set in staying at home. But other and better impulses have controlled my conduct. When we were separated in times past, I could feel with some certainty that we should soon be together again. Not so now. When will it be, if ever? This is the question shrouded in impenetrable gloom. I would like to see through it. I would like to know when I should be at home again to spend my life with loved wife and children. God in his mercy grant that hope so fondly cherished may some day be realized! It may never be. Yet it is a fond hope which I cherish while life lasts.

Post image for General Hindman’s Address to the Troops

General Hindman’s Address to the Troops

December 4, 2012

Miscellaneous document sources

Headquarters First Corps,
Trans-Mississippi army,
in the field, Dec. 4, 1862.

Soldiers: From the commencement to the end of the battle, bear constantly in mind what I now tell you:

First. Never fire because your comrades do, nor because the enemy does, nor because you happen to see the enemy, nor for the sake of firing rapidly. Always wait till you are certainly within range of your gun, then single out your man, take deliberate aim, as low down as the knee, and fire.

Second. When occasion offers, be certain to pick off the enemy’s officers, especially the mounted ones, and to kill his artillery horses.

Third. Don’t shout except when you charge the enemy — as a general thing keep silent, that orders may be heard. Obey the orders of your officers, but pay no attention to idle rumors or the words of unauthorized persons.

Fourth. Don’t stop with your wounded comrade;  the surgeons and infirmary corps will take care of him; do you go forward and avenge him.

Fifth. Don’t break ranks to plunder; if we whip the enemy, all he has will be ours; if not, the spoils will be of no benefit to us. Plunderers and stragglers will be put to death on the spot. File-closers are especially charged with this duty. The cavalry in rear will likewise attend to it.

Remember that the enemy you engage has no feeling of mercy or kindness toward you. His ranks are made up of Pin Indians, free negroes, Southern Tories, Kansas Jayhawkers, and hired Dutch cut-throats.

These bloody ruffians have invaded your country, stolen and destroyed your property, murdered your neighbors, outraged your women, driven your children from their homes, and defiled the graves of your kindred. If each man of you will do what I have urged upon you, we will utterly destroy them. We can do this; we must do it; our country will be ruined if we fail.

A just God will strengthen our arms and give us a glorious victory.

T. C. Hindman,
Major-General Commanding.

R. C. Newton, A. A.G.

Post image for Through Some Eventful Years

Through Some Eventful Years

December 4, 2012

Through Some Eventful Years by Susan Bradford Eppes

December 4th, 1862.—Now, that the bullet has been extracted, Brother Amos is improving rapidly and he tells us many interesting things as he lies there so helpless. Last night his thoughts turned to the battle of Seven Pines; it seems that he, with a party of his company, was detailed to help to bury the dead. Some of those he found were acquaintances and two were kinsmen but the deepest interest with him centered in two young strangers, who were found clasped in each others arms. One wore the blue uniform and the other was a lieutenant in a Maryland regiment and wore the gray. They were of the same size and figure and when he looked into the poor dead faces they were exactly alike. He was so sure they must be brothers that he examined the papers in the pockets of each, and, sure enough, they must have been brothers—maybe twin brothers, as the last name was the same. In each boy’s pocket were letters from the same place in Maryland and though these letters were simply signed “Mother,” the writing was identical. They looked to be boys of twenty or perhaps less. He buried them still in that close embrace. The pine tree, beneath which they were found was carefully marked; some cannon balls were picked up and piled above them and when brother Amos returned to camp he wrote to that mother and told her all this.

I wonder why they were on opposite sides in this gigantic struggle. Will the poor, bereaved mother send and take them home or will they sleep on, under the Virginia pines? Brother Amos says he sent the contents of each boy’s pockets to the mother in Maryland. How her poor heart must ache.

Now brother Amos is able to sit up and can even stand with his crutches and we are going to a house party, at the home of his oldest brother. Mr. John Whitehead is too old for army duty and he is also too fat for a soldier. Three of his four brothers have been wounded and are convalescent and he is having a family reunion. Sister Mart and I are going, too, for the Whitehead girls are dear friends of ours. Mother has made me some pretty clothes and it would make a funny picture if I could portray the great amount of turning and fixing she had to do to get me “something out of nothing,” she says. We Southerners are copying Burns’ heroine, who “Gars auld cloes look amaist as weel’s the new.” I really believe I forgot my Scotch just there and should have written “noo.” I wish I could take my black mammy with me, it is bad getting on without her but she always has a baby.

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Rebel War Clerk

December 4, 2012

A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, By John Beauchamp Jones

DECEMBER 4TH.—All is quiet (before the storm) on the Rappahannock, Gen. Jackson’s corps being some twenty miles lower down the river than Longstreet’s. It is said Burnside has been removed already and Hooker given the command.

Gen. S. Cooper takes sides with Col. Myers against Gen. Wise. Gen. W.’s letter of complaint of the words, “Let them suffer,” was referred to Gen. C., who insisted upon sending the letter to the Quartermaster-General before either the Secretary or the President saw it,—and it was done. Why do the Northern men here hate Wise?

Gen. Lee dispatches to-day that there is a very large amount of corn in the Rappahannock Valley, which can be procured, if wagons be sent from Richmond. What does this mean? That the enemy will come over and get it if we do not take it away?A letter from the President of the Graniteville Cotton Mills, complains that only 75 per ct. profit is allowed by Act of Congress, whose operatives are exempted from military duty, if the law be interpreted to include sales to individuals as well as to the government, and suggesting certain modifications. He says he makes 14,000 yards per day, which is some 4,000,000 per annum. It costs him 20 cts. per yard to manufacture cotton cloth, including, of course, the cotton, and 75 per ct. will yield, I believe, $500,000 profits, which would be equivalent to 32 cts. per yard. But the market price, he says, is 68 cts. per yard, or some $2,000,000 profits! This war is a great encourager of domestic manufacturers, truly!

The Governor sends out a proclamation to-day, saying the President has called on him and other governors for assistance, in returning absent officers and men to their camps; in procuring supplies of food and clothing for the army; in drafting slaves to work on fortifications; and, finally, to put down the extortioners. The Governor invokes the people to respond promptly and fully. But how does this speak for the government, or rather the efficiency of the men who by “many indirect ways” came into power? Alas it is a sad commentary.

The President sent a hundred papers to the department to-day, which he has been diligently poring over, as his pencil marks bear ample evidence. They were nearly all applications for office, and this business constitutes much of his labor.

Post image for A Diary of American Events.

A Diary of American Events.

December 4, 2012

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

December 4.—A sharp fight occurred between six United States gunboats lying off Port Royal, on the Rappahannock River, Va., and the rebel batteries behind the town. The firing was very rapid, and lasted about two hours, completely riddling some of the houses, when the rebels ceased firing, and the gunboats dropped down the river one and a half miles. Some of the rebel shot struck very near the boats, but no damage was done them.

—The North-Carolina House of Commons unanimously passed a series of resolutions, expressive of their confidence in the patriotism and uprightness of Jefferson Davis, and his ability to sustain the government of the rebels; also heartily approving the policy for the conduct of the war set forth by Governor Vance, and finally declaring that the “separation was final, and that North-Carolina would never consent to reunion at any time or upon any terms.”—A skirmish took place near Tuscumbia, Ala., in which the rebels were compelled to abandon their camps, after losing a large number of horses, and seventy taken prisoners.—Winchester, Va., surrendered to a reconnoitring force of Union troops under the command of General Geary.—(Doc. 59.)

—A Sharp fight took place at Watervalley, Miss., between two brigades of Union troops, commanded by Colonels Hatch and Lee, and a large body of rebels. After a charge from the Union troops, the rebels were routed, leaving three hundred of their number, and fifty horses in the hands of the Unionists.

—The rebel General Hindman, before making his attack on the National forces in Arkansas, issued an address to his soldiers, in which he told them what to do, and what not to do in battle.— (Doc. 60.)

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