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

The American Civil War

Post image for A Diary of American Events.

A Diary of American Events.

October 6, 2011

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

October 6.—The schooner Alert was captured off Charleston, S.C., by the United States steamer Flag. When first discovered, the schooner had the Palmetto flag flying, but upon being chased, and satisfied of her fate, she hoisted the English flag, union down, as a signal of distress. Upon the vessel were found concealed a Confederate and a Palmetto flag, and the cook stated that just before the capture the captain burned up the ship’s papers. These found aboard, purporting to be English, were new, and evidently got up for the occasion.— N. Y. Tribune, October 18.

—The Tenth regiment of Maine Volunteers, under the command of Colonel George L. Beal, left Portland for the seat of war.

—Rochester, N. Y., has sent eighteen companies to the Union army. Another has been recruited in the country, making nineteen in all from Monroe Co.—Col. Rankin, M. P., who was engaged in recruiting a regiment of Lancers at Detroit for the Federal Government, was arrested at Toronto, Canada, for violation of the enlistment act.—N. Y. Commercial, October 9.

Sworn in!–Alexander G. Downing.

Post image for Sworn in!–Alexander G. Downing.

October 5, 2011

Diary of Alexander G. Downing; Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry,The American Civil War

Saturday, 5th—Our company was sworn into the United States service today, by Captain Alexander Chambers of the regular army. Four men were rejected, which left ninety in the company. Fisher was rejected because he was too short—less than five feet,[1] and Lowe was rejected because he was pigeon-toed.[2] I got a pass and went to Allen’s Grove to see John Moore.

[1] He was taken later, however, when the need of men was greater and also because of his persistence.—A. G. D.

[2] Lowe feigned to be pigeon-toed, so that he would be rejected, having got chicken-hearted. The boys jeered him.—A. G. D.

Post image for William Howard Russell’s Diary: Another Crimean acquaintance.—Summary dismissal of a newspaper correspondent.

William Howard Russell’s Diary: Another Crimean acquaintance.—Summary dismissal of a newspaper correspondent.

October 5, 2011

My Diary North and South - William Howard Russell,The American Civil War

October 5th.—A day of heat extreme. Tumbled in upon me an old familiar face and voice, once Forster of a hospitable Crimean hut behind Mother Seacole’s, commanding a battalion of Land Transport Corps, to which he had descended or sublimated from his position as ex-Austrian dragoon and beau sabreur under old Radetzsky in Italian wars; now a colonel of distant volunteers, and a member of the Parliament of British Columbia. He was on his way home to Europe, and had travelled thus far out of his way to see his friend.

After him came in a gentleman, heated, wild-eyed, and excited, who had been in the South, where he was acting as correspondent to a London newspaper, and on his return to Washington had obtained a pass from General Scott. According to his own story, he had been indulging in a habit which free-born Englishmen may occasionally find to be inconvenient in foreign countries in times of high excitement, and had been expressing his opinion pretty freely in favour of the Southern cause in the bar-rooms of Pennsylvania Avenue. Imagine a Frenchman going about the taverns of Dublin during an Irish rebellion, expressing his sympathy with the rebels, and you may suppose he would meet with treatment at least as peremptory as that which the Federal authorities gave Mr. D ____. In fine, that morning early, he had been waited upon by an officer, who requested his attendance at the Provost Marshal’s office; arrived there, a functionary, after a few queries, asked him to give up General Scott’s pass, and when Mr. D____ refused to do so, proceeded to execute a terrible sort of proces verbal on a large sheet of foolscap, the initiatory flourishes and prolegomena of which so intimidated Mr. D____, that he gave up his pass and was permitted to depart, in order that he might start for England by the next steamer.

A wonderful Frenchman, who lives up a back street, prepared a curious banquet, at which Mr. Irvine, Mr. Warre, Mr. Anderson, Mr. Lamy, and Colonel Foster assisted; and in the evening Mr. Lincoln’s private secretary, a witty, shrewd, and pleasant young fellow, who looks little more than eighteen years of age, came in with a friend, whose name I forget; and by degrees the circle expanded, till the walls seemed to have become elastic, so great was the concourse of guests.

Post image for “Can you find out what ground Seward takes on the slave question?”–Adams Family Letters, Henry Adams, private secretary of the US Minister to the UK, to his brother, Charles.

“Can you find out what ground Seward takes on the slave question?”–Adams Family Letters, Henry Adams, private secretary of the US Minister to the UK, to his brother, Charles.

October 5, 2011

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

London, October 5, 1861

Your letter and your articles in the Courier arrived last Monday. I sent one set of them down to Lucas, the editor of the London Star, and received a complimentary note in return which I will enclose to you. The other set I sent down to the editor of the Spectator, and from him I have not heard. There was one article to the Star which was partly drawn from your’s, without quoting it, but there has been no reprint. The Spectator never reprints, but if it notices you, I will send you the notice. Your Manchester paper I have made unavailing efforts to find, but London seems to despise anything provincial, and I can find the paper nowhere. London papers go to Manchester but Manchester ditto don’t seem to return the compliment.

This week I have no news for you. Everything seems to be getting along well and the Government here behaves itself very fairly. I don’t know whether my last letters will appear or not, but if they do you can form some judgment as to my inventive powers. The truth is that I ‘ve lately told so much in that way which was not generally known, that my position began to be too hot and I thought I ‘d try a little wrong scent. The facts are all invented therefore, but the idea is carried out as faithfully as I could, of quoting the state of English opinion.

We have been overrun by visitors this week. My friend Richardson goes in the Arabia to Boston, if he can, but I ‘m not sure that he won’t have to make Halifax his terminus. He was in a horrible position. His family and property are in New Orleans and he has a brother in the Virginian army. He is himself a good Union man, I believe; at all events he talks so; but he does not want to do anything which will separate him from his family or make them his enemies. So he could not make up his mind to take the oath, and determined rather to run his risk without a passport. I believe he means to pass the winter in Boston. He told me all about his troubles and I strongly advised him not to think of ever living in New Orleans again; at least as an architect.

Sohier and Charley Thorndike have been here this week. Both leave for Paris this morning. Sohier was quite amusing, and dined with us twice. But the trouble about London is that no one ever stays here and I can’t keep a companion. As for Englishmen I don’t expect to know any of my own age for at least six months more, as this club business has got to be settled and the season to come round again first. We see no English people now, or very few, and the fogs are thick almost every morning. Hooroar! Can you find out (not through Sumner, who seems to have distorted even your ideas of Washington affairs) what ground Seward takes on the slave question?

I need n’t say that the articles are devilish good and made me blue for a day, thinking of my own weak endeavors in the same way.

Zollicoffer reports result of reconnaissance to A. S. Johnston.–Richard R. Hancock, Second Tennessee Cavalry.

October 5, 2011

Hancock’s Diary: or, A History of The Second Tennessee Cavalry.–Richard R. Hancock.,The American Civil War

Post image for Zollicoffer reports result of reconnaissance to A. S. Johnston.–Richard R. Hancock, Second Tennessee Cavalry.

Saturday, 5th.—Setting out on his return between daybreak and sunrise, McNairy arrived at Camp Buckner a little after dark, and reported the result of his reconnaissance to Zollicoffer, who, on the next day, the 6th, sent the following communication to A. S. Johnston:

A reconnoitering detachment has just returned from London, reporting no appearance of an enemy there. They report, upon general information from country people, that there are 3,300 of the enemy encamped on Rockcastle hills (Wildcat), a strong position thirteen miles beyond, where the Mount Vernon road crosses the Rockcastle River.

I would move forward and attack them instantly but for unexpected deficiency in subsistence stores. Ten days ago I ordered the brigade commissary to accumulate a stock of thirty days’ rations for 5,000 men. To-day I have not five days’ rations. I could not properly advance with less than ten. I hope soon to have the supplies.

I sent a large detachment into Harlan county, where I heard there were 500 or 600 men embodied under arms. No organized enemy found.

I have sent a cavalry detachment to Williamsburg, some thirty miles west. Not yet returned. This is nearly my only means of getting information of the country.

Post image for A Diary of American Events.

A Diary of American Events.

October 5, 2011

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

October 5.—Twenty-three men in two boats were sent from the United States steamer Louisiana into Chincoteague Inlet, to burn a schooner which it was thought the rebels were thought to convert into a privateer. Near three hundred rebels on the shore endeavored to capture the beats, but were driven off by the guns of the steamer, and by the men in the beats, who fired the schooner and returned without loss.—(Doc. 69.)

—The London Post of this date contains an editorial article looking almost directly to the recognition of the Southern Confederacy. Appearing in a journal understood to represent the sentiments of Lord Palmerston, it must be accepted, if in no less favorable light, as an attempt to sound public opinion on the subject.

The London Times, same date, discusses the chances of the approaching campaign in the South, with the impression that they incline to the side of the National Government.

—The Fourth regiment of Rhode Island Volunteers, under the command of Colonel Justus I. McCarty, left Camp Greene, for Providence, from whence they departed for the seat of war. The sixth battery of Rhode Island Artillery, numbering one hundred and five men, accompanied the regiment.— Woonsocket Patriot, October 11.

—The gunboat Monticello, under the command of Lieutenant Braine, made an attack upon a body of rebels, that had driven the Twentieth Indiana regiment from their camp at Chicomacomico, North Carolina, and dispersed them with severe loss. A correspondent on board the Monticello gives the following account of the affair: “Last evening intelligence of the retreat of some of our troops reached us, and the Monticello was off at once. We ran up to Hatteras Light, and at early dawn this morning we found the Indiana regiment had retreated to the light-house before a force of nearly four thousand rebels. We ran around Hatteras Point close into the inner shoal, and stood up the beach to the north, looking for the rebels. At half-past one P. M. we found them retreating up the beach to where their steamers lay, they having discovered our approach. There was a regiment of Georgia troops and about eight hundred ununiformed fellows, armed with muskets. Running the steamer close to the beach, we opened on them with shell, and for four hours shelled them, during their attempt to embark. I tell you we fairly slaughtered them like sheep, sinking their boats as they attempted to get on board their vessels on the Sound side, blowing them to pieces as they waded out into the water. They threw away their arms, and ran wildly up and down the beach. We compelled them to strike all their flags ashore, and in their very faces landed a boat and rescued one of the Indiana regiment whom they had taken prisoner. We covered our boat with shells, and after firing upon them for four hours, and expending two hundred and eighteen shells, owing to night coming on we hauled off.—(Doc. 70.)

Post image for “We are in Secessia and the meanest part of it, too, and anything the boys can forage they consider as theirs.”–Army letters of Oliver Willcox Norton.

“We are in Secessia and the meanest part of it, too, and anything the boys can forage they consider as theirs.”–Army letters of Oliver Willcox Norton.

October 4, 2011

Army letters of Oliver Willcox Norton (Eighty-third Pennsylvania Volunteers),The American Civil War

Camp Leslie, near Falls Church,
Fairfax County, Va., Oct. 4th, 1861.

Dear Friends at Home:—

I last wrote from Camp Corcoran and once before from Camp Casey, and you see by date we have moved again. The Colonel here presented us to McClellan as a well drilled regiment and asked the privilege of taking a position in the advance, which, I suppose, is granted. You have read of the taking of Hall’s Hill, in the late papers. Our camp is right there on the scene of the skirmish. Falls Church lies at the foot of the hill, to the southwest. We came here Wednesday last from Fort Corcoran. Munson’s, of which we have all heard so much, is two miles to our left on the southeast. Mr. Reed is with his regiment on the same hill; the rebel pickets are about a mile from Falls Church, so you see we are not far from them.

My time is so limited that you must not wait for me to answer each letter individually, but I must write to all at once and hope each will write in return. I did not think you had forgotten me, but I have been five weeks from home and not a letter till to-day. I have been anxious to hear, full as much so as you, I presume. I hope you will write very often. The last letter I sent I did not pay the postage, because I could not. We can get no stamps here, and no one will take charge of postage not in stamps, so the letters have to be franked by the Major and sent on. I wish you could send a few stamps. My money is all gone, and although pay is due us now, I can’t tell when we will get it.

 

General McClellan and his staff, General McDowell, General Porter, Prince de Joinville, Due de Chartres and other notables visited us last night. They stayed only a short time. I heard McClellan remark as he rode up, “There, those boys haven’t got their pants yet. That’s a shame.”

H. and I were selected as two of twenty from the regiment to go forward and lay out this camp. Lieutenant Wilson commanded. We lost our way and went some two or three miles to the right and beyond our camps, finally coming out right. The timber here is mostly small, scrub oaks, etc. In the woods near us we found any quantity of grapes and chinquapins (a small nut in a burr like a chestnut and tasting much like it). Chestnuts are ripe and plenty.

We are in Secessia and the meanest part of it, too, and anything the boys can forage they consider as theirs. A field of potatoes, five acres, was emptied of its contents in short order. H. and I got enough for a mess, and some parsnips. You ought to see us clean out the fences. The rails answer first-rate to boil our rations, and they have to do it. The country between here and Washington is in a sorry condition, the fences all burnt up, the houses deserted, the crops annihilated, and everything showing the footprints of war.

Virginia has acted meaner than South Carolina even, and I go for teaching her a lesson that she will remember. It will take years to recover from this blow.

We are very severely drilled and are improving fast. We are ordered to shoot any one who does not halt on being three times ordered to do so. I was on last night, and in four hours I think I challenged over fifty men. Our officers take every way to prove and try us, to accustom us to tricks, I suppose.

You need not envy us much our vegetables. They seem to be a failure. Our cooks don’t know how to cook them and no one likes them. Persimmons are ripening now and they are delicious. . . .

 

Direct care Captain A., Colonel J. W. McLane’s Regiment, Camp Leslie, Washington, D. C. . . .

Post image for “Prof Lows Balloon was high up over ‘Dixey’ this evening. Heavy guns have been frequently heard over the River.”—Horatio Nelson Taft

“Prof Lows Balloon was high up over ‘Dixey’ this evening. Heavy guns have been frequently heard over the River.”—Horatio Nelson Taft

October 4, 2011

Diary of US patent clerk Horatio Nelson Taft.,The American Civil War

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1861.

Another hot day. Much as yesterday “danced attendance” at the Treasury most of the day without seeing the Sec’y. It has been Cabinet day and he much engaged. Think some of getting a room for compounding various medicines and articles for sale with the assistance of Chas — Must do something to make some money, if possible. Julia has been out to the Camp of the “Anderson Zouaves” with Capt Mew. Prof Low[e]s Balloon was high up over “Dixey” this evening. Heavy guns have been frequently heard over the River.

______

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.

Post image for A Diary of American Events.

A Diary of American Events.

October 4, 2011

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

October 4.—The Federal forces to the number of four hundred occupied Pohick church, sixteen miles from Alexandria, on the Fairfax road, Virginia. A force of rebel cavalry, which had held the place, retired hastily with the loss of several wounded. A reconnoissance was then made toward Occoquan, during which important discoveries were made.

—A balloon was seen passing over Washington, and it was thought by many to have started from the rebel camp, on an aerial reconnoissance; but as it subsequently descended in Maryland it proved to be the air ship of La Mountain, which had ascended from the Union camp of the Potomac. It appears that when La Mountain rose to a certain distance he cut the rope which connected his balloon with the earth, regardless of the danger, and soared up to an elevation of a mile and a half, and got directly over the rebel lines. Here he was enabled to make a perfect observation of their position and all their movements, the results of which he has communicated to head-quarters, and which are said to be of the utmost importance. When La Mountain completed his observation, he threw out sufficient ballast to enable him to rise to a height of three miles, when befell in with a counter current which carried him back in the direction of Maryland, thus passing over Washington.

—Commander Alden, of United States steamer South Carolina, reports to Flag-officer McKean, Gulf Squadron, the capture of two schooners off the Southwest Pass of the Mississippi, with from four to five thousand stand of arms.—(Doc. 68.)

—A party of New Mexican Union volunteers, under Captain Mink, was surprised at Alimosa, thirty-five miles below Fort Craig, by one hundred and ten Texan rebels, and their horses stampeded. Captain Mink proposed to surrender his company; but his men dissented, secured their horses, and retreated to Fort Craig. Subsequently about one hundred United States troops, from Fort Craig, pursued the rebels, overtook them, killed their captain and ten men, wounded about thirty, and killed thirty horses. The balance of the Texans escaped to Mesilin.

Post image for William Howard Russell’s Diary: “The federal armies are not handled easily.”

William Howard Russell’s Diary: “The federal armies are not handled easily.”

October 3, 2011

My Diary North and South - William Howard Russell,The American Civil War

October 3rd.—In Washington once more—all the world laughing at the pump and the wooden guns at Munson’s Hill, but angry withal because McClellan should be so befooled as they considered it, by the Confederates. The fact is McClellan was not prepared to move, and therefore not disposed to hazard a general engagement, which he might have brought on had the enemy been in force; perhaps he knew they were not, but found it convenient nevertheless to act as though he believed they had established themselves strongly in his front, as half the world will give him credit for knowing more than the civilian strategists who have already got into disgrace for urging McDowell on to Richmond. The federal armies are not handled easily. They are luxurious in the matter of baggage, and canteens, and private stores; and this is just the sort of war in which the general who moves lightly and rapidly, striking blows unexpectedly and deranging communications, will obtain great results.

Although Beauregard’s name is constantly mentioned, I fancy that, crafty and reticent as he is, the operations in front of us have been directed by an officer of larger capacity. As yet McClellan has certainly done nothing in the field to show he is like Napoleon. The value of his labours in camp has yet to be tested. I dined at the Legation, and afterwards there was a meeting at my rooms, where I heard of all that had passed during my absence.

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