by Gideon Welles
July 31, Friday. I met at the President’s, and was introduced by him to, Colonel Rawlins of General Grant’s staff. He arrived yesterday with the official report of the taking ofVicksburg and capture of Pemberton’s army. Was much pleased with him, his frank, intelligent, and interesting description of men and account of army operations. His interview with the President and Cabinet was of nearly two hours’ duration, and all, I think, were entertained by him. His honest, unpretending, and unassuming manners pleased me; the absence of pretension, and I may say the unpolished and unrefined deportment, of this earnest and sincere man, patriot, and soldier pleased me more than that of almost any officer whom I have met. He was never atWest Point and has had few educational advantages, yet he is a soldier, and has a mind which has served his general and his country well. He is a sincere and earnest friend of Grant, who has evidently sent him here for a purpose.
It was the intention of the President last fall that General McClernand, an old neighbor and friend of his, should have been associated with Admiral Porter in active operations beforeVicksburg. It was the expressed and earnest wish of Porter to have a citizen general, and he made it a special point to be relieved from associations with a West-Pointer; all West-Pointers, he said, were egotistical and assuming and never willing to consider and treat naval officers as equals. The President thought the opportunity a good one to bring forward his friend McClernand, in whom he has confidence and who is a volunteer officer of ability, and possesses, moreover, a good deal of political influence inIllinois. Stanton and Halleck entered into his views, for Grant was not a special favorite with either. He had also, like Hooker, the reputation of indulging too freely in whiskey to be always safe and reliable.
Rawlins now comes fromVicksburgwith statements in regard to McClernand which show him an impracticable and unfit man, — that he has not been subordinate and
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July 31.—A party of rebels captured Stanford, Ky., but they were soon after compelled to evacuate the place with considerable loss, by a force of National cavalry, who pursued them in their retreat toward the Cumberland River.—The rebel guerrilla Mosby, who was retiring from Fairfax Court-House with the property captured there last night, was overtaken by Colonel Lowell with a detachment of the Second Massachusetts cavalry, and compelled to relinquish the capture, and retreat, with a loss of twenty horses.—Major General Halleck having ordered that “every guerrilla and disloyal man be driven out of the country between the Potomac, Rappahannock, and Blue Ridge,” Major-General Pleasanton directed that, under that order, “every man takes the oath of allegiance or be arrested and sent in.” —The rebel steamer Kate was captured while endeavoring to elude the blockade of Charleston, by the Union gunboat Iroquois.—Kentucky being invaded by a rebel force with the avowed intention of overawing the judges of elections, intimidating loyal voters, and forcing the election of disloyal candidates at the election to take place on the third of August, General Burnside issued an order placing the State under martial law, and commanding the military to aid the constituted authorities of the State in the support of the laws and the purity of suffrage.
Charles Francis Adams to His Son
London, July 31, 1863
It is intensely painful in the midst of such great prosperity here to read the shocking details of slaughter and destruction in our newspapers. Still more annoying is it to think how by the folly of these rogues we are playing into the hands of the malevolent in Europe. The privileged classes all over Europe rejoice in the thoughts of the ruin of the great experiment of popular government. I yet trust they count without their host. No thanks, however, to the madmen who try to work this mischief. The penalty we are paying for the great error of our ancestors is a most tremendous one. All I can pray for is that we do so once for all. To permit our posterity to run the risk of repeating it for the same fault on our part would be criminal indeed.
The London Times last Monday graciously allowed the people of England to believe that Vicksburg had actually fallen. The notion that General Lee was in possession of Washington and Baltimore is not quite so strong as it was, but I am not sure that it has been dissipated yet by any positive denial in that press. There was a general sense of the happening of some lamentable disaster here, the nature and extent of which had not been fully defined. The clearest evidence of this was found in the stock market, where a panic took place among the holders of the rebel loan. It fell from three per cent discount to seventeen, and has not stopped yet. I should not be surprised if some bankruptcies were to follow. People here must pay something for their pro-slavery sympathies. What a pity that the sum of their losses could not have been applied to the emancipation of the slaves! In that case England would have maintained her character for philanthropy, which has gone down, as it is, quite as far and as fast as the rebel loan. . . .
July 31 — This morning we went to our picket post again on duty. We saw a few Yankee cavalrymen to-day on the opposite side of the Hazel. They were looking quietly around, and behaving themselves, so we did n’t molest them.
July 31—We left here to-night, marched seven miles, and halted.
July 31st. At nine A. M. inspected crew at quarters. Fleet-Surgeon J. M. Foltz reported on board for passage home. During the afternoon Commodore Morris, late of U. S. steam sloop Pensacola was hoisted inboard, upon a cot, an invalid, for passage to the North.
31st. Didn’t arise until nearly eight. Passed rather a restless night on account of rash. Went over to Covington and made arrangements for barracks for 2nd O. V. C. Only 30 allowed to go home now. Some disappointed. Called on A. B. in P. M. Took me to ice cream saloon and did the fair thing. Got leave of absence. Rained some. Off at 10 P. M. Jolly boys.
July 31st, 1863.
Our transports have arrived, and we expect to leave this afternoon for Cairo. Some of our boys are very sick, and urge me to go with them on the hospital boat. They have obtained the consent of Colonel Luce, and I may be detailed for that purpose. Rumor says the sick are to be sent to St. Louis. If so, I will go there with them and join the regiment as soon as possible, wherever it may be. I do not like to leave it, for I am lonely and discontented when out of sight of the Seventeenth. Colonel Luce says we are going to Indiana, but there are so many contingencies, we may be needed elsewhere.
Unidentified soldier in Company H, Vermont uniform with bayoneted musket.
Sixth-plate ambrotype, hand-colored ; 9.5 x 8.4 cm (case)
Gift by Tom Liljenquist; 2011
Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs; Ambrotype/Tintype photograph filing series; Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Record page for image is here.
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Civil War Portrait 043
July 31.— Rode up to headquarters of the Army of the Potomac this morning in an ambulance with the general, Jackson, and Wainwright. About halfway our ambulance broke down, compelling us to seize one belonging to the Sixth Corps, which was passing at the time. We reached headquarters about 3 P.M., having been three or four hours going 10 miles. On the edge of the town of Warrenton we found an immense quartermaster’s establishment, where they were repairing ambulances, shoeing mules and horses, etc. Headquarters were half a mile out from the town, on the Sulphur Springs road. Took lunch with Perkins. Saw Riddle, Oliver, Mitchell, etc. Started to come back on our horses at 6.30 P.M., having passed a very pleasant afternoon. When we arrived at camp, which was at 9 P.M., I found a letter from Father saying that I had been telegraphed for on the 29th instant by General Schouler. Day pleasant.
