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

Post image for My dear Eliza, December, 1860

My dear Eliza, December, 1860

December 1, 2010

Woolsey family letters during the War for the Union

Mother to Eliza:

Saturday Morning, Dec., 1860.

My dear Eliza: Your very modest little, “may I Mother?” leads me to an immediate reply. Yes, my dear child, come and welcome, just as often as you possibly can and never feel it necessary to ask if you may come home, for this you know is only another home. I am happy to enclose you a foreign letter bringing still further pleasant news. How much we have all to be thankful for that the travellers have so much enjoyment and so little interruption to it. Dear Mary finds, I dare say, comfort enough in the little new baby to compensate in a great measure for all the suffering consequent upon its arrival.

What do you think of Felice added to Una? Our opinions will be useless now, however, as before the last letters reach, the baptism will have been done. Did you see the paragraph stating that the continual assassinations in the streets of Rome render it unsafe to strangers and to residents after dark! This is very comforting to anxious families who have friends there! Hatty and Carry are certainly having a gay time at Naples. Just think of Vesuvius, a hurried dinner, rush to the Crocelli to meet a party of naval officers, a fourteen-oared boat excursion, dancing, and other festivities on board the Admiral’s ship-of-war, supper, etc., etc., all on one day! And after that the return civility of an egg nogg party! I am very glad they are under the care of a clergyman and his wife!

Post image for Robert Anderson.—Things look more gloomy.— Operations in Charleston Harbor

Robert Anderson.—Things look more gloomy.— Operations in Charleston Harbor

December 1, 2010

War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies

.
.FORT MOULTRIE, S.C., December 1, 1860.

Col. S. COOPER,

Adjutant-General U. S. A.:

“Two Charlestonians who were down here to-day remarked to me that as soon as the State seceded she would demand the surrender of the forts, and that if not given up, they would be taken.”

COLONEL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 28th ultimo, and regret that I have to report that things look more gloomy than the day at the date of my last communication. Captain Seymour, just returned from the city, reports that the excitement there is very great. Col. E. B. White and other gentlemen, with whom he conversed, stated that the people of Charleston would not allow another man or any kind of stores to be landed at or for these forts. They say that anything which indicates a determination on the part of the General Government to act with an unusual degree of vigor in putting these works in a better state of defense will be regarded as an act of aggression, and will, as well as either of the other acts mentioned above, cause an attack to be made on this fort.

Two Charlestonians who were down here to-day remarked to me that as soon as the State seceded she would demand the surrender of the forts, and that if not given up, they would be taken; but that this would not be done sooner unless some action on the part of the Government proved that it was preparing to hold possession of them.

The agent of the boat which brought the 24-pounder howitzer and ammunition is severely censured for having brought them, and the agent of the steamer James Adger was told that any vessel bringing troops here would not be safe in this harbor. Since writing the above I have seen Assistant Surgeon Crawford, who has also been in the city. He says that never until to-day did he believe that our position was critical. One of his friends told him that we would have trouble in less than fifteen days. He thinks that they will first attempt to take Fort Sumter, which they (justly) say will control this work. Castle Pinckney they regard as theirs already. Mr. King, the intendant of this island, told the doctor that as soon as the act of secession was passed a demand would be made on me to surrender this fort. All these remarks lead to the same conclusion–a fixed purpose to have these works. The question for the Government to decide–and the sooner it is done the better–is, whether, when South Carolina secedes, these forts are to be surrendered or not. If the former, I must be informed of it, and instructed what course I am to pursue. If the latter be the determination, no time is to be lost in either sending troops, as already suggested, or vessels of war to this harbor. Either of these courses may cause some of the doubting States to join South Carolina.

I shall go steadily on, preparing for the worst, trusting hopefully in the God of Battles to guard and guide me in my course. I think it probable that in the present highly excited state of these people, the sending of the detachment of Engineer laborers to Castle Pinckney may bring on that collision which we are so anxious to avoid. I shall consult with Captain Foster on his return to the island, and if convinced that it will lead to that result, will assume the responsibility of suspending the execution of that plan for the present. This fort, in consequence of the unfinished state of our repairs, &c., is not in a condition for inviting an attack. Captain Seymour says that he is satisfied they intend erecting a battery on the upper end of this island, to command the inner channel. I do not know what course to advise. They are making every preparation (drilling nightly, &c.) for the fight which they say must take place, and insist on our not doing anything. We are now certainly too weak to fight. Were we to guard against a surprise, our men, if surrounded by only an undisciplined mob, would soon be worn out by fatigue.

I learn from Captain Ord that attempts have been made, by offers of heavy sums, to induce men at Old Point to join a Southern army. I have not heard that any attempts have been made to tamper with our men, who thus far cheerfully perform the arduous and ceaseless duties imposed upon them in consequence of the smallness of the command.

I ought, perhaps, to mention, as an indication of the expectation of the citizens of Charleston, that three friends of the ladies of our officers have within a day or two been pressed most urgently to go to the city to stay with them there.

I am, colonel, respectfully, your obedient servant,

ROBERT ANDERSON,

Major, First Regiment Artillery, Commanding.

Post image for DNC Chairman Belmont: Secession means civil war, to be followed by a total disintegration of the whole fabric, after endless sacrifices of blood and treasure.

DNC Chairman Belmont: Secession means civil war, to be followed by a total disintegration of the whole fabric, after endless sacrifices of blood and treasure.

November 30, 2010

A Few Letters and Speeches of the Late Civil War by August Belmont (DNC Chairman)

To WILLIAM MARTIN,

Charleston, S.C.

New York, November 30, 1860.

My Dear Sir,—I have received your letter, and you will have heard from my house, that we are entirely satisfied with the execution of our small exchange orders.

The unfortunate state of our politics, which in your State particularly have assumed a most threatening aspect, prevents us, to my great regret, from renewing our orders for the moment. It is also impossible for us to hold out any hopes for the present, as to our being able to do any thing in your market after the secession of your State, which you predict as certain to take place very shortly.

My heart misgives me when I think of the terrible consequences which the present action of your leading men must inevitably bring upon every section of our common country.

I have written my views on the subject a few days ago to a friend in Alabama, and beg to hand you a copy of my letter.

The idea of separate confederacies living in peace and prosperity on this continent, after a dissolution of the Union, is too preposterous to be entertained by any man of sound sense, and the slightest knowledge of history.

Secession means civil war, to be followed by a total disintegration of the whole fabric, after endless sacrifices of blood and treasure. If patriotism and love of the Union will not make people pause in their mad career, I hope they may not lose the instinct of self-preservation.

Can you tell me where Governor Aiken is at present ? I addressed him a letter a week ago, to Charleston. Do you think it will reach him ?

Introduction to some of the letter, journal and diary writers from 1860 and 1861 who will appear on these pages.

November 29, 2010

Miscellaneous document sources

Mike Goad — A major part of my approach to the war is to present observations made in letters, journals, and diaries by people living the war and its impacts. My hope is that this will often result in our being able to “see” the progress of events from a variety of perspectives.

In most instances, I will be including all of what was included in the published versions of their writings, no matter how mundane.  Some will have entries for almost every day while, with others, there will be long lapses without writing.

I have a large number of posts already scheduled for future publication in “Daily Observations from The Civil War,” including material from the following writers:

Dora Richards Miller, "War Diary of a Union Woman in the South"

Mary Boykin Chesnut, "A Diary From Dixie"

Lincoln Administration Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Wells, "Diary of Gideon Welles"

Susan Bradford Eppes, "Through Some Eventful Years"

Horatio King, Postmaster General at the end of the Buchanan administration

Catherine Cowles Richards, "Village Life in America 1852 - 1872"

The Woolseys of New York, "Letters of a Family During the War for the Union"

DNC Chairman August Belmont, "A Few Letters and Speeches of the Late Civil War"

John Beuchamp Jones, "A Rebel War Clerk's Diaray at the Confederate States Capital." (Image is from 1845 political cartoon)

Post image for Governor Gist: I am under a pledge to sanction resistance, and to use all the military power of the State to prevent any increase of troops in these garrisons.

Governor Gist: I am under a pledge to sanction resistance, and to use all the military power of the State to prevent any increase of troops in these garrisons.

November 29, 2010

Miscellaneous document sources

Executive Office, Columbia, S. C,
November 29, 1860.

Mr. Wm. Henry Trescot.

Dear Sir: Although South Carolina is determined to secede from the Federal Union very soon after her Convention meets, yet the desire of her constituted authorities is, not to do anything that will bring on a collision before the ordinance of secession has been passed and notice has been given to the President of the fact; and not then, unless compelled to do so by the refusal of the President to recognize our right to secede, by attempting to interfere with our exports or imports, or by refusal to surrender the forts and arsenals in our limits. I have found great difficulty in restraining the people of Charleston from seizing the forts, and have only been able to restrain them by the assurance that no additional troops would be sent to the forts, or any munitions of war. Everything is now quiet, and will remain so until the ordinance is passed, if no more soldiers or munitions of war are sent on. That is to say, I will use my utmost efforts to effect that object, and believe I will succeed; but the Legislature and myself would be powerless to prevent a collision if a single soldier or another gun or ammunition is sent on to be placed in the forts. If President Buchanan takes a course different from the one indicated and sends on a reinforcement, the responsibility will rest on him of lighting the torch of discord, which will only be quenched in blood. I am under a pledge to sanction resistance, and to use all the military power of the State to prevent any increase of troops in these garrisons, and had to make the pledge to restrain the people, who are restive, and hope no necessity will arise to compel me to redeem the pledge. I write to you knowing that, while you will be faithful to the Government of the United States as long as you hold office under it, yet you are also a South Carolinian, and would desire, by all means, to avoid the needless shedding of blood. If you think there is no impropriety in showing this letter to the President you are at liberty to do so, for I do not wish him to be mistaken and act in such a way as to bring upon the country a bloody war, without the most imperious necessity.

Very truly yours,

Wm. H. Gist.

_____

The Genesis of the Civil War: The Story of Sumter, 1860-1861; Samuel Wylie Crawford; C. L. Webster & Company, 1887; p. 31.

Post image for Franklin Pierce: The blackness is gathering so fast that if anything can be done to save our glorious Union it must be done speedily.

Franklin Pierce: The blackness is gathering so fast that if anything can be done to save our glorious Union it must be done speedily.

November 28, 2010

Turning on the Light: A Dispassionate Survey of President Buchanan's Administration, From 1860 to its Close, by Horatio King

Letter to Horatio King from an ex-President

Andover, Mass., November 28,1860.

My Dear Sir,—I have received your kind, earnest letter, and participate strongly in your apprehensions. To my vision the political horizon shuts down close and darkly. It may be that light is to break ‘through somewhere, but I do not discern the quarter whence it is to come. I had occasion to write a friendly letter to Secretary Thompson (Interior) a day or two since, and expressed to him briefly my convictions and fears and hopes in relation to the present state of public affairs. I did not expect that letter to be published, but the blackness is gathering so fast that if anything can be done to save our glorious Union it must be done speedily, and, in my judgment, at the North chiefly. If you call on the Secretary he will show you that letter, and if he thinks the publication of it would be useful, he can use it as he pleases. The truth must appear that it was written in the course of friendly correspondence, and not with a view to publication. Among intelligent, reflecting men, alarm is evidently increasing here daily. One decisive step in the way of coercion will drive out all the slave-labor States. Of that I entertain no doubt. My suggestion about the tone and temper of Congress, and the importance of temperate words and actions might possibly have some degree of good influence, and there is, perhaps, more hope that the letter might be serviceable just at this juncture at the North; but it was hastily written, and my friend, the Secretary, must judge. If you call on him, show him this note.

In haste, your friend,

Franklin Pierce.

Post image for DNC Chairman Belmont: Yancey and his compeers, by seceding at Charleston, broke up the Democratic party, and were the chief means of Lincoln’s election.

DNC Chairman Belmont: Yancey and his compeers, by seceding at Charleston, broke up the Democratic party, and were the chief means of Lincoln’s election.

November 28, 2010

A Few Letters and Speeches of the Late Civil War by August Belmont (DNC Chairman)

To JOHN C. BRADLEY,

Huntsville, Ala.

New York, November 28, 1860.

My Dear Sir,—I have received your letter of the 23d inst., and am rejoiced to see that the conservative men of your part of the country have moved in the right direction.

The patriotic men of the country look to the Douglas and Bell party of the South as their only hope in the present crisis. Yancey and his compeers, by seceding at Charleston, broke up the Democratic party, and were the chief means of Lincoln’s election.

It is clear now that this was the programme, in order to throw the cotton States into their hands, and force a dissolution of the Union by terrorism and packed conventions.

If there is conservative spirit and love of the Union enough left in the South to prevent them from carrying out their treasonable schemes, all may be saved yet.

A convention of all the Southern States would certainly save us. It would be followed by a convention of all the States North and South, where the guaranties which the South has a right to demand, would be sure to be granted to her under the Constitution.

I inclose you copy of a letter which I addressed a few days ago to John Forsyth, embodying my views on the present crisis. If you think proper you may show it to such friends as are with us in sentiment.

Post image for Operations in Charleston Harbor

Operations in Charleston Harbor

November 28, 2010

War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies

.
.FORT MOULTRIE, S.C., November 28, 1860.

Col. S. COOPER,

Adjutant-General U. S. A.:

“I am inclined to think that if I had been here before the commencement of expenditures on this work, and supposed that this garrison would not be increased, I should have advised its withdrawal, with the exception of a small guard, and its removal to Fort Sumter, which so perfectly commands the harbor and this fort.

COLONEL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 24th instant. I presume that my letter of the 23d has been received, and that the Department is now in possession of my views in reference to the measures I deem advisable and necessary for keeping this work and this harbor. Your letter confines my answer to what refers to the work under my charge. I cannot but remark that I think its security from attack would be more greatly increased by throwing garrisons into Castle Pinckney and Fort Sumter than by anything that can be done in strengthening the defenses of this work. There are several intelligent and efficient men in this community, who, by intimate intercourse with our Army officers, have become perfectly well acquainted with this fort, its weak points, and the best means of attack. There appears to be a romantic desire urging the South Carolinians to have possession of this work, which was so nobly defended by their ancestors in 1776; and the State, if she determines to act on the aggressive, will exert herself to take this work. The accompanying report exhibits the present state of my command. I think I can rely upon their doing their duty, but you will see how sadly deficient we are in numbers, whether to repel a coup de main or to maintain a siege. We finished mounting our guns this morning, and I shall soon commence drilling and exercising my men in firing with muskets and cannon. I find that in consequence of sickness, &c., very little military duty has been attended to here for a long time; we shall try, and I hope to succeed in regaining the lost ground. This work, when Captain Foster finishes the ditch, counterscarp, and bastionettes on which he is now at work, and executes the addition of a half battery at the northwest angle of the fort, which I have urged him to commence immediately, will be in good condition. I would have preferred having a ditch (wet), but the captain informs me that he could not make it, in consequence of the quicksand. I will send a requisition in a few days (I am very constantly occupied now) for certain ordnance stores. Among them I shall embrace a couple of Coehorns, say four mountain howitzers and twenty of the heaviest revolvers, with a supply of ammunition. I believe that we have no muskets for firing several charges. I would have been pleased to get four of them for the half bastion, but if there are none I will replace them by something else. I would like to get these articles as soon as possible, as I wish to practice our men with the different arms I may have to use. God forbid, though, that I should do so. Colonel Huger has just left me; he came down stating that there was the greatest excitement in the city on account of a rumor that the Adger was bringing out four companies. Some of the gentlemen were in favor of taking steamers and going out to intercept the Adger. He has just returned. I told him that I had no intelligence of anything of the kind.

In reply to the suggestion of the honorable Secretary about the expediency of employing reliable persons not connected with the military service, for purposes of fatigue and police, I must say that I doubt whether such could be obtained here. They would certainly be of great assistance to us. The excitement here is too great. Captain Foster informs me that an adjutant of a South Carolina regiment applied to him for his rolls, stating that he wished to enroll the men for military duty. The captain told him that they had no right to do it, as the men were in the pay of the United States Government. I presume that every able-bodied man in this part Of the State, not in the service of the General Government, is now being or has been enrolled.

I will thank the Government to give me special instructions in reference to a question which may arise in these cases:

What shall I do if the State authorities demand from Captain Foster men who they may aver have been enrolled into the State service? Captain Foster will probably send such cases to me; what shall I do with them?

I hope that my command will very soon be strengthened, so far at the least as filling up these companies to the legal standard. This would enable me, at all events, to have our proper garrison military duties properly attended to.

I am inclined to think that if I had been here before the commencement of expenditures on this work, and supposed that this garrison would not be increased, I should have advised its withdrawal, with the exception of a small guard, and its removal to Fort Sumter, which so perfectly commands the harbor and this fort.

I am, colonel, respectfully, your obedient servant,

ROBERT ANDERSON,

Major, First Regiment Artillery, Commanding.

Post image for An hour with the President

An hour with the President

November 27, 2010

Turning on the Light: A Dispassionate Survey of President Buchanan's Administration, From 1860 to its Close, by Horatio King

P. O. Dept., Appt. Office, November 27,1860.

My Dear Sir,—Our chief clerk, Mr. Clements, and myself had an hour with the President last evening, and our interview was most satisfactory. Mr. C. has just returned from Tennessee, and brings good news from that State to the effect that nearly everybody there is opposed to the hasty action of South Carolina, and is in favor of one more effort to preserve their rights in the Union. The President appeared to be much gratified to be reassured of this. He is, as I supposed, a firm Union man. I told him about your writing to and not receiving any answer from Mr. Cobb, and he remarked that it would not do the slightest good to write to him. I expressed myself freely to him about the course of the Constitution newspaper, and told him how much it had injured him, etc., etc. I have no doubt he will take strong ground in his message against secession, as well as the right of secession; but were I allowed to guess, I would say that he will not be in favor of using force unless the property of the United States is interfered with, such as the taking of the forts, etc., when he would be obliged to act.

Very truly,

Horatio King.

HON. John A. Dix, P. M., New York.

Post image for Repugnance to visiting Washington—John A. Dix

Repugnance to visiting Washington—John A. Dix

November 27, 2010

Turning on the Light: A Dispassionate Survey of President Buchanan's Administration, From 1860 to its Close, by Horatio King

(Unofficial.)

P. O., New York, November 27,1860.

My Dear Sir,—It is impossible for me to leave here at this moment, and I have an insuperable repugnance to a visit to Washington. On receipt of your letter I sat down to write to the President, but constant interruptions prevented me from finishing it. Besides I have some doubt whether it would do good. I have made some inquiry in regard to the editor of the ‘Constitution,’ and incline to the belief that he cannot be influenced from this quarter. At all events, those who might influence him think as he does. I am, in a quiet way, doing all I can to promote a better feeling at the South. I am sorry to say that nothing I have yet done has met with a response from any of our Southern friends. I believe we shall have to rely entirely on the efforts of our conservative friends there. They seem at present to be overborne by the general excitement. I cannot think this will last. There must, at least, be an effort to prevent a dissolution. I trust events here may aid the conservative movement there. Vermont is moving to repeal her personal liberty bills, with what success remains to be seen. Massachusetts will follow her lead, and, I think, will repeal.

I shall send my letter to the President this evening or to-morrow.

With sincere regards, yours,

John A. Dix.

Hon. Horatio King.

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