America's Civil War November 2021 by HistoryNet

Sgt. William H. Carney received the Medal of Honor for heroism at Fort Wagner.

‘Let us fight on until slavery is impossible’ Exclusive! Firsthand account of the 54th Massachusetts’ epic assault on Fort Wagner

After Appomattox The general Plus! Leeremains resolute in his first post-surrender interview

NOVEMBER 2021 HISTORYNET.COM

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Home Front Heroes 12 civilians who made their mark in the war

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Actual size is 40.6 mm

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he American Silver Eagle has been the most popular silver coin on the planet since its introduction in 1986. Its beautiful, iconic design inspires collectors, and investors love it because it’s struck in one full ounce of 99.9% fine silver, and guaranteed for weight and fineness by the U.S. Government. Now in 2021, for the first time ever, the coin’s design is changing.

The Most Important Coins in the Modern Era

When President Ronald Reagan signed the Liberty Coin Act into law, he didn’t know American Eagles would have the impact they’ve had, year after year. The coins were so popular that between 1986 and 2020, over 535 million were struck. That’s more than HALF A BILLION coins, easily making Silver Eagles the most bought coins in the world. Hugely popular now, Silver Eagles may soon become even more popular!

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If You Knew Then What You Know Now...

If you’d had a crystal ball in 1986, you undoubtedly would have grabbed every Silver Eagle you could get. Those coins in uncirculated condition continue to be sought-after. Now you’re getting another chance to land a big Silver Eagle first, a Key Date. Additionally, since these newly designed Silver Eagles are only being released during the second half of 2021, it’s quite possible this will be one of the lowest mintages we’ve seen. That’s significant because it could make 2021 a DOUBLE Key Date, with both a new design and a low mintage. Demand for these coins is already sky-high, but if that

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A Time of Freedom View the intricate workings through the exhibition back

here’s never been a better time to celebrate the freedom we have in the United States. In honor of those who fought bravely to preserve our freedoms we proudly present the most patriotic coin that’s ever existed in a classic timepiece that recalls a simpler era.

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November 2021

The General in Defeat Just two weeks after his army’s surrender at Appomattox, Robert E. Lee goes on the record for a Northern reporter By Kevin C. Donovan

AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (3); SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM; COVER: WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARY/PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: BRIAN WALKER

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Departments 6 LETTERS Forrest’s rather extraordinary equine confederation 8 GRAPESHOT! Committed USCT reenactors; Robert E. Lee the artist 12 LIFE & LIMB Clara Barton’s higher mission 16 HIDDEN HEROES Two-war standout who rode with Buford 20 FROM THE CROSSROADS Ewell’s unjust blame for Gettysburg 54 TRAILSIDE Marylanders clash in Front Royal, Va. 58 5 QUESTIONS Ron White and the ‘Private Abe Lincoln’ 60 REVIEWS A fresh look at what Fredericksburg wrought 64 FINAL BIVOUAC Colombia welcomes a Union hero

Previously Unpublished!

True to the Cause

Captain John Appleton’s gripping account of the 54th Massachusetts’ historic assault on Fort Wagner in July 1863 By James Robbins Jewell and Eugene S. Van Sickle

Home Front Heroes Our look at 12 notable civilians and the legacies they created off the battlefield

50 40

Two-Front War

Engaged in hostile territory, General Charles Ferguson Smith was nearly undone by his own men By Allen H. Mesch

ON THE COVER: ALTHOUGH SERIOUSLY WOUNDED, PRIVATE WILLIAM CARNEY WOULD NOT RELINQUISH POSSESSION OF THE 54TH MASSACHUSETTS’ FLAG DURING THE REGIMENT’S DRAMATIC ASSAULT ON FORT WAGNER, PROUDLY DECLARING, “BOYS, THE OLD FLAG NEVER TOUCHED THE GROUND!” CARNEY RECEIVED A MEDAL OF HONOR FOR HIS HEROICS, THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN SOLDIER SO HONORED.

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NOVEMBER 2021

8/17/21 10:16 AM

Michael A. Reinstein Chairman & Publisher David Steinhafel Publisher Alex Neill Editor in Chief

AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR ONLINE HISTORYNET.com/ AMERICAS-CIVIL-WAR

GLORY, IN RETROSPECT Twenty years after the movie’s debut, one of its stars remembers fondly the experience of making the film. https://bit.ly/RememberingGlory

PRAYING WITH LEE

Exploring the motives behind Lee’s grand postwar gesture at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. https://bit.ly/PrayingWithLee

MONEY OUT OF MISERY

Profiteers on both sides of the war lined their own pockets at their countries’ expense. These are 10 of the war’s most notorious. https://bit.ly/TenProfiteers

Vol. 34, No. 5 November 2021

Chris K. Howland Editor Jerry Morelock Senior Editor Sarah Richardson Senior Editor Nancy Tappan Senior Editor Dana B. Shoaf Consulting Editor Stephen Kamifuji Creative Director Brian Walker Group Art Director Melissa A. Winn Director of Photography Austin Stahl Art Director A DV ISORY BOA RD Gordon Berg, Jim Burgess, Steve Davis, Richard H. Holloway, D. Scott Hartwig, Larry Hewitt, John Hoptak, Robert K. Krick, Ethan S. Rafuse, Ron Soodalter, Tim Rowland CORPOR ATE Rob Wilkins Director of Partnership Marketing Tom Griffiths Corporate Development Graydon Sheinberg Corporate Development Shawn Byers VP Audience Development Jamie Elliott Production Director A DV ERTISING Morton Greenberg SVP Advertising Sales mgreenberg@mco.com Rick Gower Regional Sales Manager rick@rickgower.com Terry Jenkins Regional Sales Manager tjenkins@historynet.com

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160 years ago — with our nation divided over issues of slavery, states’ rights, and economic survival — the southern states seceded from the Union to form the Confederate States of America. Like so many Americans caught in the middle, Robert E. Lee, a respected Colonel in the Union Army, was forced to choose between his nation and his state. Driven by duty and guided by honor, Lee declined command of the Union Army and sided with his home state of Virginia. He soon rose to the rank of General and was given command over the Army and Navy of Virginia. His dazzling military maneuvers brought about many victories for the outmanned Confederate Army before succumbing to Union forces at Appomattox in 1865. Even in defeat, Lee served as a symbol of courage and dignity, embodying the finest elements of a true Southern gentleman. After the war, Lee set aside all animosity and urged the people of the South to work for the restoration of peace and harmony in a united country. • Officially endorsed by THE NATIONAL CIVIL WAR MUSEUM

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LETTERS Thunder in the Snow Nathan Bedford Forrest, riding one of his many wartime steeds, leads his men on a raid through a wintry woodland.

John Banks’ fine article on “Majestic Mounts” in the September issue mentions that Nathan Bedford Forrest had some 30 horses shot out from under him. One of them was Highlander, who was shot in the neck while Forrest was pursuing the enemy the day after the Confederate victory at Chickamauga in September 1863. Forrest, as the story goes, plugged his finger into the wound as he galloped along. In dismounting, out came Forrest’s finger and poor Highlander fell dead. In July 1863, Highlander had been presented as a gift to Forrest from the people of Atlanta to show their gratitude for his guile and success in stopping Streight’s Raid in April-May 1863. Streight’s Raid had been an attempt by Union Colonel Abel Streight to wreck sections of the Western & Atlantic Railroad in Alabama and northern Georgia. Forrest was able to outmaneuver Streight with 1,200 fewer troopers and trick the Federal commander into surrendering in shame at Cedar Bluff, Ala. Bill Hendrick Marietta, Ga.

‘Schools of Historical Thought’

Ron Soodalter’s “Marketing Lincoln” (May 2021) was thought-provoking and deserves praise for emphasizing the importance of historiography in comprehending history. That is, a particular “school of thought” as to how history is examined, questioned, argued, and written will produce and pass on a very particular pattern for engaging with the past—a point Soodalter makes well. A few critiques, however, may be made of his arguments. For example, his disparagement of William H. Herndon’s collection of primary evidence and published works about Lincoln as being of little historical value can be disputed. As with slave narratives, the Nat Turner confessions, or any other collection of historical evidence based primarily on memory and documentation of oral history, the Herndon collection and works must be read critically. Noted Lincoln scholars such as Edward Steers Jr., Gerald J. Prokopowicz, and David Herbert Donald have all observed

WRITE TO US Send letters to America’s Civil War, Letters Editor, Historynet, 901 North Glebe Road, 5th Floor, Arlington, VA 22203, or e-mail acwletters@ historynet.com. Letters may be edited.

TROIANI, DON (B.1949)/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

More on Forrest and his horses

that these sources must be subjected to a critical reflection yet remain a valuable source of information about the president and his impact on others. Nicolay and Hay did indeed write to depict Lincoln through a particular scope, and their historical arguments certainly had merit. But what they, and Soodalter, diminished from the historical record is that Lincoln himself conceded (if by disagreement) in his First Inaugural Address that the issue of American federalism/states’ rights, diverged from slavery, was an important reason the war occurred, and the president espoused the responsibility of all Americans—in the North as much as the South—for slavery in his Second Inaugural Address. Lastly, Soodalter’s description of the “Lost Cause” school of thought as a “fabrication” and “myth” is misleading. As was best examined by Matt Atkinson, the Lost Cause is a historiography and possesses variable merit to at least a fair number of the tenets that compose it, though it also possesses distinct flaws and is limited in how much history it can satisfactorily explain. Soodalter’s argument would be better to have held that the Lost Cause is highly similar to other schools of historical thought, such as the “Chez Nous” Quebecois history of Henri Bourassa and René Lévesque; the “Irregular” Anti-Treaty I.R.A. historiography of Ernie O’Malley and Gerry Adams; or a Settler Colonialist perspective of Aboriginal/Colonized Peoples’ history according to Patrick Wolfe. Gerry Lefurgy Sydney, Australia

AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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GRAPESHOT!

A Blast of Civil War Stories

Honoring the USCT

AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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FORT PULASKI NATIONAL MONUMENT; DEA/BIBLIOTECA AMBROSIANA/GETTY IMAGES

munities, adding that the units adopted the name of the The Hannibal Guards, a living history group “dedicated legendary Carthaginian general Hannibal, who resisted to telling the story of the United States Colored Troops Roman colonization of North Africa and threatened cap(1862-1866) as correctly as possible through the art of histuring Rome during the Second Punic War. torical interpretation,” have been busy in 2021. To comIn the early days of the Civil War, Greer notes, “the memorate Juneteenth, a new federal holiday recognizing Guards were often present at parades, festivals, and simithe day in 1865 that slaves in Texas were informed of their lar events. They promoted civic engagement and Black freedom, the group recently shot six short videos for its military pride in an era when Blacks were primarily barred Facebook page (www.facebook.com/hannibalguards) on from military service. Many veterans of these companies slavery, emancipation, and USCT recruitment (in addition would later enlist in the U.S. Colored Troops.” to the United States, soldiers came from Congo, Cuba, HaFeaturing a core group of about a dozen members, hailwaii, Japan, and the Philippines). The videos, written by ing from North Carolina to New York, the Hannibal Guards Hugh Goffinet and created in collaboration with Marvin promote education on all aspects of the USCT, ranging Greer and First State Heritage Park in Dover, Del., from its strategic significance and soldiers’ heroism in batappeared June 14-19 on Facebook. tle to specifics about USCT uniforms, which can be Formed in 2016, the Guards were an offshoot of the found—along with historic photos—in an album on the Sons and Daughters of Ham, a living history group that group’s Facebook page. “There is something incredibly interprets the lives of Blacks in antebellum America. special about connecting with other According to Greer, they “pay homage Black folks and relating this empowerto the Black citizens who fought slave Sharp-Dressed Men ing history to our fellow siblings of catchers prior to the war and defended L-R: Hannibal Guards Marvin color,” Goffinet says. “However, the freedom when the law did not.” Greer, Hugh Goffinet, Jordan incredible story of the USCT is one that The group, Greer explains, derives Bonardi, Charlie Devine, and people of all backgrounds need to hear its name from two all-Black civilian Cameron Brooks at a recent and will benefit from being aware of!” military companies that were orgaevent in Riverdale, Md. —Sarah Richardson nized for self-defense in Black com-

COURTESY OF THE HANNIBAL GUARDS

THE HANNIBAL GUARDS INTERPRET OVERLOOKED HISTORY

Egyptian Army, 1882

QUIZ

A Little Freehand

FORT PULASKI NATIONAL MONUMENT; DEA/BIBLIOTECA AMBROSIANA/GETTY IMAGES

COURTESY OF THE HANNIBAL GUARDS

After his graduation from the U.S. Military Academy in June 1829, Bvt. 2nd Lt. Robert E. Lee was sent to Cockspur Island in the Savannah River. His task was to help find a site for a fort to be built to protect Savannah, Ga., 12 miles upstream. It was a dreary and unhealthful place, especially in the summer, and Lee was there until April 1831, fortunate at least that his best friend from West Point, Savannah native Jack Mackay, was stationed nearby and could introduce Lee to the city’s society. Best of all, perhaps, Jack had three sisters—Margaret, Eliza, and Catherine—and, as biographer Douglas Southall Freeman would write, Lee did have a “fondness for the company of pretty women.” The young officer, however, became engaged to Mary Custis in Virginia in the summer of 1830, so his time spent with the Mackay sisters remained innocent enough. One pastime Eliza and Catherine particularly enjoyed was artwork, and Lee, too, began sketching pen-and-ink pictures. The curriculum at West Point had included two years of drawing—a necessary skill for future engineers—and, while studying under Frenchman Thomas Gimbrede, Lee had displayed an adroitness for freehand illustration. While in Savannah, Lee showed his aptitude by sketching a death mask of Napoleon…and of an alligator and terrapin (populous creatures along the Georgia coast). Lee rendered two sets of these fauna and gave them, we might say, as herpetological displays of affection to Eliza Mackay and her friend, Sarah Minis. The Minis drawings now repose at Stratford Hall, Lee’s Virginia birthplace. The turtle and gator given to Eliza (seen above) are at Fort Pulaski National Monument. —Stephen Davis

Match the officer with the foreign force in which he also served. A. Brig. Gen. Peter J. Osterhaus B. Lt. Gen. Charles P. Stone C. Col. Gustave Paul Cluseret D. Brig. Gen. Julius H. Stahel-Számwald E. Adolphus Heiman F. Alexander Schimmelfennig G. Col. John O’Neill H. Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler I. Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel J. Col. Percy Wyndham 1. U.S. Army, 5th Corps, Cavalry

Division, 1898

2. Fenian Brotherhood, 1866 3. Baden Revolutionary Forces, 1848 4. Prussian Army (Revolutionary

Faction), 1848

5. Egyptian Army, 1882 6. Royal Italian Army, 1860 7. Hungarian Revolutionary Army, 1849 8. U.S. Army, 1847 9. French Army, 1848 10. Palatine Military Commission, 1848 Answers: A.4, B.5, C.9, D.7, E.8, F.10, G.2, H.1, I.3, J.6.

CONVERSATION PIECE

Civil War Veterans of Other Wars

NOVEMBER 2021

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GRAPESHOT!

True Tandem As you’ll read in “Two-Front War” (P.50), until the Fort Donelson Campaign of February 1862, Union Brig. Gen. Charles Ferguson Smith’s U.S. Army future hung under a black cloud. The Union capture of Fort Donelson, Tenn., on February 16 was the moment that Smith’s commander, Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, became a household name across the North. But, as Grant would make clear, he could not have done it without Smith. On February 15, the Confederates launched a surprise attack on the Union right that threatened Grant’s army, positioned outside the fort. Grant turned to Smith, whose 2nd Division was on the left: “General Smith, all has failed on our right. You must take Fort Donelson.” Smith jumped to his feet, brushed his mustache with his right hand, and declared, “I will do it.” Soon, the tide of the battle changed. By the following morning, Donelson’s commander, Brig. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, offered Grant surrender terms. Looking up at Smith upon receiving Buckner’s note, Grant asked, “What answer shall I send to this?” Smith didn’t mince his words, replying: “No terms to the damned rebels.”

BATTLE RATTLE

“Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder, and bullets in his pocket, and there is no power on earth or under the earth which can deny that he has earned the right of citizenship in the United States.” —Frederick Douglass, July 6, 1863

PICTURES NOW/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; KEITH LANCE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES

EXTRA ROUND

Grant laughed somewhat self-consciously and asked for writing paper, getting some from a flustered aide. For about three minutes, there was hardly a sound as Grant put pen to paper. Finally, he leaned back in his chair and announced, “This is what I am writing, General Smith,” before reading aloud: “Yours of this date, proposing armistice and appointment of Commissioners to settle terms of capitulation, is just received. No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works.” Smith let out a short, emphatic, “Hm,” and remarked, “It’s the same thing in smoother words.” Grant generously acknowledged to Smith “that he owed his success at Donelson emphatically to him.” His report to Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, Department of the Missouri commander, praised Smith for his “most brilliantly executed attack.” Halleck telegraphed George McClellan: “Brig.-General Charles F. Smith, by his coolness and bravery at Fort Donelson when the battle was against us, turned the tide and carried the enemy’s outworks; make him a Major-General. You can’t get a better one. Honor him for this victory, and the country will applaud.” The appointment was made and unanimously confirmed by the Senate. Municipal authorities in Philadelphia also voted Smith a Sword of Honor. —Allen H. Mesch

AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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COURTESY OF THE NAU CIVIL WAR COLLECTION/PHOTO BY JAY WERTZ; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Earning a Second Star Ulysses S. Grant (center) observes the fighting at Fort Donelson. Grant was appointed a major general after the Union victory there in February 1862.

GRAPESHOT!

Well Traveled This unusual-looking seven-shot pinfire revolver crafted by Hill of London made the journey from Georgia to Virginia twice during the Civil War. It also saw action in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Tennessee. That’s because its owner was Georgia’s Goode Bryan, a commander who led a regiment and rose to brigade command under another Georgian, Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, in the Army of Northern Virginia. Although he struggled in his studies at West Point, Bryan did graduate with his class in 1834. After serving briefly in the Army, he worked as a civil engineer on construction of a

Distinct and Deadly Goode Bryan carried this Hill of London seven-shot revolver for most of the war. His name and rank are inscribed on the handle.

Georgia railroad before becoming a planter and politician in Alabama and Georgia. He remained active in both states’ militias and commanded an Alabama volunteer regiment in the Mexican War. Bryan joined the 16th Georgia Infantry as a captain and became a colonel and the regiment’s commander in February 1862, fighting in the Seven Days and at Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. During this period, Bryan acquired this rare pistol, which has “Col. Goode Bryan Ga CSA” engraved on the bottom of the grip. Despite its slender barrel, the revolver fires a .45caliber slug. A small ring on the butt acts as a lanyard loop. At Gettysburg on Day 2, the 16th Georgia fought in the Wheatfield with William T. Wofford’s Brigade, part of Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws’ Division, and its attack crested at the northern base of Little Round Top. Helped by an influential cadre of friends lobbying for his promotion, Bryan landed command of another of McLaws’ brigades after Paul J. Semmes, mortally wounded during the Wheatfield fighting, died on July 10, 1863. Now a brigadier general, Bryan was part of Longstreet’s force sent to Georgia that fall but arrived too late to fight at Chickamauga, but he led Semmes’ former brigade at Knoxville in 1863 and during the 1864 Overland Campaign. By August 1864, chronic poor health affected Bryan’s ability to command the brigade; his resignation was accepted on September 20. He returned to Georgia, was paroled at Albany on May 19, 1865, and settled with his well-traveled revolver in Augusta until his death in 1885. —Jay Wertz

COURTESY OF THE NAU CIVIL WAR COLLECTION/PHOTO BY JAY WERTZ; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

PICTURES NOW/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; KEITH LANCE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES

CIVIL WAR ILLUSTRATED

Widespread fighting in the Eastern Theater waned after First Bull Run in July 1861, and Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan and Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard spent the next six or so months “eyeing” each other’s armies across the Potomac River, as mocked in this 1862 Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper cartoon “Masterly Inactivity.” Note the enemy soldiers’ snowball fight taking place along the bottom.

NOVEMBER 2021

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LIFE & LIMB

She Saw it All “If I were to speak of war,” Clara Barton once said, “it would not be to show you the glories of conquering armies but the mischief and misery they strew in their tracks...the side which history never shows.”

Wings of an Angel CLARA BARTON’S WORK AS A BATTLEFIELD NURSE CHANGED LIVES. HER QUEST TO FIND MISSING SOLDIERS WENT EVEN FURTHER

notifying the relatives of those who were missing or had died in captivity. Vassall relayed the information to Barton in the hope that she might be able to offer assistance. Barton’s nursing efforts had become less necessary as the Civil War neared its end. This was the perfect way to continue her humanitarian work. Barton wrote to President Abraham Lincoln in February seeking permission to become an official government correspondent searching for those who had vanished during the conflict. She wrote her letter in exceedingly grandiose script in an effort to capture the attention of a man besieged by correspondence. To his Excellency Abraham Lincoln President of the United States Sir, I most respectfully solicit your authority and endorsement to allow me

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

The nonprofit NMCWM, based in Frederick, Md., explores the world of medical, surgical, and nursing innovation during the Civil War. To learn more about the stories explored in this and future columns, the museum hosts walking tours to the city’s Civil War hospital sites on Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. from April to October. For more, visit civilwarmed.org.

“THE PROSPECTS OF A SPEEDY PEACE either in the conquest or the submission of the South has never been so cheering,” The New York Herald triumphantly declared on January 1, 1865. To delay its imminent defeat, the Confederacy reestablished the practice of prisoner exchange in early 1865. A result of the resumed exchanges was the arrival of thousands of emaciated and desperately ill former Union prisoners from infamous camps like Andersonville and Belle Isle at a designated drop-off point known as Camp Parole, near Annapolis, Md. Clara Barton had returned to Washington to nurse her brother, Stephen, and nephew, Irving Vassall, who had both fallen ill at the beginning of 1865. While Barton was in Washington, Vassall, a government employee, had heard news that exchanged Union prisoners were returning in poor condition and that the government needed help

AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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By John Lustrea

LIFE & LIMB

VESPASIAN/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

to act temporarily as general correspondent at Annapolis Maryland, having in view the reception and answering of letters from the friends of our prisoners now being exchanged. It will be my object also to obtain and furnish all possible information in regard to those that have died during their confinement. On March 24, 1865, Barton received the sanction of the president to go to Annapolis in an official capacity. Her job would be to list the names of those who died in captivity and notify their families. Word quickly spread around the nation about Barton’s appointment to look for missing soldiers through the newspapers. Barton had developed a reputation as the Angel of the Battlefield and a friend of the soldier by this point in the war. She traveled to many battlefields across the country to help the sick and wounded, so loved ones already sent her letters inquiring if she had seen their missing relatives. Barton’s official appointment meant she received thousands of letters (sometimes as many as 150 a day) from concerned relatives, primarily women, looking for loved ones. The chaos at Camp Parole was staggering. Barton witnessed thousands of skeletal former prisoners disembarked from the vessels that carried them to freedom from Confederate prisons. As bad as the former prisoners looked, she was concerned about what their families had to go through wondering if they were dead or alive. Barton’s task was made more complicated when she noted that inconsistent record keeping made it almost impossible to know who had been left behind in the prison graveyards. In lieu of official reports, Barton turned to the best source of information she had on hand: the soldiers themselves. She implored the returning soldiers to tell her about their comrades who did not make the return journey. The astonishing flood of letters which came in once word spread that Barton was looking for missing soldiers forced her to hire assistants with her own money, expecting that the government would eventually reimburse her. Barton and her small team were able to keep up with the overwhelming rate of incoming inquiries with form letters. A few well-placed blank lines allowed Barton to respond more efficiently to the many concerned writers. “Your communication of ______ is received, and the name of _______ placed upon my lists. It will be my earnest endeavor to bring these lists to the notice of returned soldiers everywhere. Be assured that as soon as any information of interest to you is gained, it will be promptly forwarded.” Barton refused to take money from those desperately searching for lost relatives. She even refused donations as little as $1 on a matter of principle.

Gradually she compiled a master list of soldiers who had disappeared during the war. In June 1865, she published the first “Roll of Missing Men,” which listed 1,533 names. By the conclusion of her work in 1868, five separate rolls had been published containing 6,650 names. The lists were organized by state and contained instructions for anyone with knowledge of these men’s whereabouts to write to her. President Andrew Johnson allowed Barton to use the larger government printing

Barton’s Handiwork Clara Barton’s Missing Soldiers Office in downtown Washington, D.C. Now a restored museum, it offers a riveting look at her vital work during and after the war. press to publish the Rolls of Missing Men, a task that would have been prohibitively expensive otherwise. Barton explained to one concerned writer how she curated the names on her Rolls of Missing Men: “The appearance of a man’s name upon my roll is simply evidence that some friend is asking for him…and the non-appearance signifies that he has not been inquired for or there has not been time to get his name upon a roll.” Barton did not end her search when Camp Parole closed a few months after her arrival. A meeting with Dorence Atwater in June 1865 propelled her mission to new heights. Atwater kept a hidden and detailed list of those who died at the notorious Andersonville Prison NOVEMBER 2021

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LIFE & LIMB

during his time in captivity there. After seeing the first Roll of Missing Men, he decided to contact Barton to offer his help. Atwater’s information enabled an expedition, which included Barton, to go to Andersonville, to identify the graves of 13,000 missing soldiers, and then to notify the families. The team eventually established a national cemetery at the location of the prison in August 1865. Thus far, Barton had played a significant role in bringing closure to thousands of families, but she was unsure how much longer she could continue to look for missing men. Her personal funds were beginning to run dry. It was not until early 1866, with the assistance of her friend Francis Dana Barker Gage, that Barton was able to raise money to continue her work. Gage wrote several pleas for Barton in The New York Independent soliciting money for her cause. Gage also helped Barton draft a petition to send to Congress. Congress eventually decided to grant her $15,000 as a reimbursement for her previous efforts and to keep the mission going. With that boost, Barton was able to continue the work of the Missing Soldiers Office through the end of 1868. In her final report to Congress, Barton presented some amazing numbers. In four years, the Missing Soldiers Office “had received 63,182 inquiries, written 41,855 letters, mailed 58,693 printed circulars, distributed 99,057 copies of her printed rolls, and identified 22,000 men.” Barton’s efforts at the close of the Civil War cement her legacy as one of the pioneers of the movement to search for missing soldiers.

As someone who had seen and helped to ease so much physical trauma on Civil War battlefields, Barton recognized how important the work of finding missing men was to soothe the minds of loved ones at home. In a letter to a benefactor, Barton herself tried to describe the inspiration that kept her moving in spite of challenging circumstances: If it has been my privilege to lighten ever so little the heavy burden of grief which has been laid upon the hearts of our suffering people, or throw the feeble weight of my arm on the side of my country in her hour of trial, if I have made one heart stronger, or one war less bitter, I regard it as a blessing forever beyond my power to express. And whatever yet remains to be done, or however weary I may become even in well doing, my soul will always be lifted up, my hands strengthened, my step quickened, and the miles shortened by the reflection that the hearts of good men and women are with me in my work; that I carry their respect and approval, and that their generous consideration is helping me on to its accomplishment. Today you can visit Clara Barton’s residence at the Missing Soldiers Office in Washington, D.C., at the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office Museum. There you can see her wartime home where she gathered supplies to take with her to the front lines. After the conflict, she ran the Missing Soldiers Office from her boarding house, which has been restored to its original appearance. Go to clarabartonmuseum.org/visit for the best way to plan your visit. John Lustrea is Education Coordinator at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine.

DORLING KINDERSLEY LTD./ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; COURTESY OF NMCWM

Higher Mission Barton and Dorence Atwater (above right) would team to identify Union prisoners who died at Andersonville, many now buried in the national cemetery there.

AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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HIDDEN HEROES

Double Duty IRISHMAN JOSEPH O’KEEFFE SHONE IN BOTH THE PAPAL AND AMERICAN CIVIL WARS By Jessica A. Weatherbee THE CIVIL WAR was the perfect crucible in which young men from well-respected families could prove themselves as capable and dashing officers. Many who could have enjoyed comfortable circumstances eschewed lives of luxury for the Spartan existence of army camps. One such young man counted lawyers, distillers, the chief justice of Jamaica, and a Roman Catholic bishop among his kin. His name was Joseph O’Keeffe—an Irishman who distinguished himself in two separate conflicts. Born in Dublin in 1841, O’Keeffe spent his early years in Canada, first in present-day Sparta, Ontario, and then Montreal. He returned to Ireland in the mid-1850s with plans to complete his education in Cork, but fate dictated otherwise. With the outbreak of the 1860 Papal War between Italian Nationalists and Pope Pius IX’s Romanists, O’Keeffe “with a few friends raised a regiment in the Pope’s service.” Some accounts place O’Keeffe at Spoleto, others at Ancona,

where he served as a lieutenant during the brief conflict, and subsequently stayed in Rome as a member of the pope’s bodyguard. As military tensions cooled on the Italian Peninsula, however, the American Civil War was heating up. Secretary of State William Seward and Archbishop of New York John Hughes began recruiting veterans of the Papal War for the ranks of the Union Army. After meeting O’Keeffe and comrades Myles Keogh and Daniel Keily in February 1862, Hughes was impressed, writing to Seward: “[They] are good looking in person and gentle in manners.” In just a few weeks, the three friends found themselves commissioned officers in the Union Army. O’Keeffe’s first assignment was on Brig. Gen. James Shields’ staff. Now a captain, he was tasked with headquarters messenger duty. That didn’t keep him on the sidelines, however, as he reportedly had a horse shot out from under him—one of several mounts he would lose in this fashion during the war. Shields’ time in command did not last long, and in late July 1862, O’Keeffe was transferred to the staff of Brig. Gen. John Buford. Keogh also served under Buford at this time, with the two Irishmen earning the sobriquet “Buford’s Twin Aides.” After the Second Battle of Bull Run, Buford

NATIONAL ARCHIVES

In Prime Form John Buford (seated) and his staff in a Mathew Brady photo. Joseph O’Keeffe stands far left, beside fellow two-war soldier Myles Keogh, also a native of Ireland.

AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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praised the duo as “dashing, gallant, and daring solcamps by that evening and would be correct. diers.” During Maj. Gen. George Stoneman’s famed cavO’Keeffe’s career trajectory took an important turn alry raid in April-May 1863, the old dragoon professed in November, when he was appointed as senior major how his staff had “relieved me of much anxiety.” Under of the 2nd New York Cavalry. At the time, the regiment Buford’s leadership, the young captains were proving was in Brevet Maj. Gen. George Custer’s 3rd Cavalry themselves as capable as seasoned Regulars. Division and would take an active part in the AppomatWith Buford’s approval, O’Keeffe assisted Captain tox Campaign. It was at the Battle of Five Forks on Wesley Merritt of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry at the June 9 April 1, 1865, that O’Keeffe received the wounds that Battle of Brandy Station, with Merritt later referring to terminated his promising career and ultimately his life. his young contemporary as “the gallant O’Keeffe.” The In leading his regiment’s charge against the Confedertwo captains led the regiment in an early charge, in ate breastworks, he was struck in the leg by a canister which O’Keeffe’s horse was shot, falling upon him. ball, which shattered the femoral artery. He was resWhile pinned under the animal, O’Keeffe was shot by a cued by comrades under fire and carried to the rear. Confederate and taken prisoner. On O’Keeffe’s first hospital stay at City Point, Va., O’Keeffe remained in Rebel custody until late Decemsurgeons closed off the damaged artery. Transferred one ber 1863, confined in Richmond’s Libby month later to Armory Square Hospital in Prison. While O’Keeffe stagnated behind Washington, D.C., his condition began to the brick walls of that old tobacco wareimprove. Since it was his desire to be placed in the care of the Sisters of Washhouse, his former commander, Buford, earned laurels on the opening day of the ington, he was then transferred to the city’s Battle of Gettysburg, only to die from Providence Roman Catholic Hospital. Sheridan visited him with a most weltyphoid five months later. comed gift: a brevet promotion to lieuFortunately for the young Irishman, he was exchanged just after Christmas tenant colonel on his staff. and sent to Camp Parole in Annapolis. O’Keeffe’s condition declined, however, According to camp records, as of April and amputation of his right leg in the mid1864, O’Keeffe was on duty and commanddle of the thigh became necessary. The galing the 4th Battalion. Shortly thereaflant young officer, who had held on to life ter, he was back in the saddle for fresh so firmly through so many battles, did Papal Honor not survive the operation. He died on action on the staff of a new commander, The Medaglia di Pro Petri Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan. May 31, 1865, while attended by several Sede, given by Paul IX to In no time, O’Keeffe once again distin- O’Keeffe’s Papal War cohort devastated friends. His funeral was held guished himself in the field, earning in St. Peter’s Church in New York City, Myles Keogh, who was praise from Brig. Gen. Alfred T.A. wearing it when killed with but O’Keeffe’s remains were taken to Custer at Little Bighorn. Torbert after an engagement near Cold Montreal at the request of one of his sisHarbor in late May: “In one instance the ters. O’Keeffe is most likely interred at Second U.S. Cavalry drove the enemy before them with the sprawling Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery. their pistols after their carbines’ ammunition had given In September 1892, O’Keeffe’s former comrades-inout, and on their line could be seen Captain O’Keeffe, of arms eulogized him at the dedication of the 2nd New the Corps staff, gallantly leading the men into action.” York Cavalry’s monument at Gettysburg. The oration O’Keeffe’s shining moment came in October 1864 given by the Hon. Eugene B. Travis made note of during Sheridan’s Shenandoah Valley Campaign. The O’Keeffe’s sacrifice: “In our admiration and veneration morning of October 19 began with what would become we shed a silent tear at the mention of the…fall of that gallant Major O’Keefe [sic] at Five Forks.” known as Sheridan’s Ride. Unable to sleep as cannon fire roared in the distance, Sheridan saddled up with a O’Keeffe had not been one to linger in the limelight. small escort to investigate. His fleeing troops revealed As John Y. Foster wrote in New Jersey and the Rebelthat Lt. Gen. Jubal Early’s Army of the Valley had lion, published in 1868: “This man, so brave, so passionlaunched a surprise attack near Cedar Creek. As feisty ate, yet so gentle, so manly and generous, deserves more than passing mention, and we gladly name him Little Phil thundered down the road from his headquarters in Winchester to Cedar Creek, O’Keeffe and Major here, because—almost a stranger in our land—there George “Sandy” Forsyth followed, with all three rallying are few who know of the great sacrifices he made for the the disheartened Federals back into the fray and trans- cause he had espoused.” forming an embarrassing rout into a solid victory. Sheridan promised his troops they would sleep in their old Jessica Weatherbee writes from Elizabethtown, Pa.

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HIDDEN HEROES

AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

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FROM THE CROSSROADS

Tainted Legacy CLAIMS THAT EWELL, WRACKED BY INDECISION, COST THE CONFEDERATES AT GETTYSBURG ARE UNFOUNDED

the accepted narrative is that Ewell performed poorly at Gettysburg. Shaara, of course, was simply seeking to tell a compelling story and Trimble’s narrative provided useful friction. But Freeman and Dowdey had an ulterior motive: They sought to shield Lee from criticism, and Ewell provided a convenient scapegoat. Before we move on, let us settle one thing; Richard Ewell was no Marshal Davout, but he was Lee’s most reliable corps commander at Gettysburg and performed far better, and more decisively, than Freeman and others have led us to believe over the years. On July 1, Ewell was, as ordered, concentrating his corps near Cashtown, Pa., about eight miles west of Gettysburg. He had two divisions, Robert Rodes’ and Jubal Early’s, encamped at Heidlersburg, about 10 miles northeast of Gettysburg, and planned to march them on parallel routes toward Cashtown to avoid road congestion. That morning he received word that A.P. Hill’s Third Corps was conducting a reconnaissance in force to Gettysburg to investigate a report of Union cavalry.

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DOUGLAS SOUTHALL FREEMAN titled Chapter Six of the third volume of his widely read study Lee’s Lieutenants, “Ewell Cannot Reach a Decision.” He depicted “Old Bald Head”—Robert E. Lee’s Second Corps commander, Lt. Gen. Richard Ewell—as a vacillating, indecisive, cautious leader who failed to seize the initiative and deprived the Army of Northern Virginia on more than one occasion of seizing opportunities that would have resulted in Confederate victory at Gettysburg. Among Second Corps veterans Freeman deployed to build his case of Ewell’s “failures” were John B. Gordon, Isaac Trimble, and Henry Kyd Douglas. All sought for various reasons to place Ewell in the worst possible light, and all of their accounts from which Freeman drew were published long after the war and after Ewell’s death in 1872. Ewell suffered further abuse in Michael Shaara’s popular novel The Killer Angels, in which Shaara drew heavily on Trimble’s self-serving account. Battered by the able pens of two talented writers, and by other popular historians such as Clifford Dowdey,

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By D. Scott Hartwig

FROM THE CROSSROADS In Lee’s July 2 offensive, Ewell’s Corps was assigned Ewell promptly diverted both his divisions to Gettysburg— a diversionary role. Upon hearing Longstreet’s guns, on Rodes on the Carlisle Road and the army’s right, opening the main effort, Ewell was to Early on the Old Harrisburg mount a diversion to lock in the Union forces on his Road. If Hill met resistance front and prevent them from reinforcing Longstreet’s west of Gettysburg, Ewell’s front. If he perceived an opportunity, Ewell had the disdivisions would come in behind cretion to expand his diversion into a formal attack. Ewell’s artillery on Benner’s Hill unleashed an effecthe enemy from the north. When Ewell arrived on Oak tive bombardment of both Cemetery Hill and Culp’s Hill, northwest of Gettysburg, Hill, but a determined response by the Federal guns about noon he found Hill engaged with the enemy. Lee finally forced a withdrawal. When skirmishers reported, had directed Ewell to avoid a general engagement if he however, that enemy troops near Culp’s Hill appeared encountered the enemy in “very heavy force.” Far from to be moving off, Ewell decided to launch a general fretting indecisively how to interpret that order, how- attack. The plan was for Rodes’ and Early’s divisions to ever, Ewell responded aggressively. He realized Lee’s strike Cemetery Hill from two directions, while Edward order was obsolete, later writing, “It was too late to “Allegheny” Johnson’s Division assaulted Culp’s Hill. avoid an engagement without abandoning the position The effort failed to seize either position, but Johnson at already taken up.” He ordered Rodes to attack. Despite least captured the lower summit of Culp’s Hill, giving poor coordination with Hill’s Corps, the Confederates a foothold there. the Confederates had by 3:30 p.m. During the night, Ewell received smashed the Union 11th Corps, orders to attack again at daylight on July 3, in conjunction with a driven in the right of the 1st Corps, renewed assault by Longstreet captured thousands of prisoners, against the Union left. Believing and swept the enemy through town Culp’s Hill the only point on his to Cemetery Hill. front offering any hope of success, Ewell soon received another of Ewell had Johnson reinforced. As Lee’s discretionary orders—directed directed, the attack began at dayto capture Cemetery Hill if he “could light, but Ewell soon learned that do so to advantage,” or “if practicaLongstreet had been delayed and ble,” but was again warned not to would not attack until 10 a.m. No bring on a general engagement. headway had been made on JohnEwell unfortunately would get no help from Hill’s Corps, but he did son’s front, but Ewell ordered two not dither or waffle. He immedibrigades to renew the attack at the ately began addressing his options appointed time. Both commanders of those brigades protested the for such an attack. order—a rarity in Lee’s army— As he prepared, Ewell received ‘Old Bald Head’ because of the clear futility, but news of a Federal force east of GetThe Gettysburg Campaign would tysburg. The report could not be Ewell did not reverse course. mark Ewell’s return to action after ignored, so he sent two of Early’s It would prove a disastrous losing his right leg on the first day brigades to investigate and protect assault, but Ewell had done his part of fighting at Second Manassas. his exposed left flank. That left to coordinate his attack with LongEwell with two brigades from Earstreet. The latter, we realize from ly’s and Rodes’ divisions, but Rodes’ men had suffered history, was still not ready to attack by 10 a.m.; howsome 2,000 casualties and were exhausted and disorga- ever, Ewell could not have known that. By 11 a.m., with nized. Although Early’s two brigades were in good con- the guns on Longstreet’s front still silent, Ewell condition and the enemy clearly disorganized, the hill cluded that his men had done enough and that there bristled with Union artillery and Ewell had few posi- was no chance of achieving a breakthrough. He ordered tions he could use to bring his own guns into action. his forces to withdraw from Culp’s Hill. Nevertheless, for a third time, he did not suffer indeciLike other commanders, Ewell made his share of mission. He concluded it was not practical for his corps takes during the three-day battle, but indecision and alone to carry Cemetery Hill without drawing the rest overcautiousness were not among them. of the army into combat—the sort of general engagement Lee had advised against. No attack was made. Scott Hartwig writes from the crossroads of Gettysburg.

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Terrible Terrain Ewell’s skirmishers confront Federal soldiers from behind boulders and trees at the foot of Culp’s Hill, where fighting occurred on all three days at Gettysburg.

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True to ThE Cause

54th Massachusetts officer’s unpublished account provides a new look at the regiment’s heroic assault on Fort Wagner By James Robbins Jewell and Eugene S. Van Sickle

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Proving Their Mettle With fixed bayonets, 54th Massachusetts soldiers ascend the ramparts at Fort Wagner. “Don’t fire a musket on the way up, but go in and bayonet them at their guns,” they were instructed. Well-positioned and well-armed Confederates made sure many of them never got the chance.

ATTACK ON BATTERY WAGNER - 1863, 54TH MASSACHUSETTS INFANTRY REGULARS UNDER COLONEL ROBERT G. SHAW/ TOM LOVELL/COURTESY OF HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS

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Dedicated Commander The ill effects of sunstroke forced Appleton, a major at the time, to resign from the 54th in late 1864. While recruiting in Boston, he produced posters such as the one shown below.

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Wagner, Captain John W.M. Appleton distracted himself from the anxiety of approaching battle by writing a letter to his wife, Mary. It was not long, however, before his focus shifted from relating recent events to telling her what was about to happen: “We are in the extreme advance against Fort Wagner, shot is singing over us from the Rebel guns. My company & William’s & Pope’s & Grace’s in advance.” Betraying his sense of imminent danger, he wrote one last line before turning his full attention to the Confederate position, telling his wife, “[W]e will meet in heaven if not on Earth, kiss [our two-year-old daughter] Mabel.” Although the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, one of the Union’s earliest Black regiments, had fought a spirited skirmish two days earlier, many believed leading the assault on Fort Wagner was the true test to answer the question if enlisting African Americans to fight for their freedom would work. Appleton hoped that his superiors would “let us fight on until slavery is impossible.” Leading the attack against one of the key earthen ConBroken Promise federate forts protecting Charleston, S.C., The offer of $13-a-month might quiet most of the critics and settle pay on this recruiting poster became a source the issue for good. This was the opportuof contention for Black nity for which the regiment and its commen of the 54th when mander, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, had the federal government been lobbying for some time now. arbitrarily altered the Like the 54th’s other hand-picked comrate to $10 a month. pany commanders, Appleton came from

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As the 54th Massachusetts waited below Fort

Massachusetts. Although he attended Harvard Medical School in the early 1850s, he did not complete his training and was working as a clerk when the war started. Unlike his future commander, Shaw, Appleton had not immediately joined one of the regiments that headed south to fight. His prewar service was as a private in the Corps of Cadets, Massachusetts Militia in the months prior to joining the 54th. Appleton served with the unit performing guard duty in and around Boston before it was federalized in May 1862 and sent to garrison Fort Warren in Boston Harbor. The unit was mustered out two months later, leaving Appleton searching for another command with which to serve. Although there were numerous opportunities, Appleton decided that “if the Government ever allowed the colored man an opportunity to fight for their liberty,” he preferred to serve in such a regiment. The time came in the late fall of 1862, before the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect January 1, 1863. Ten days later, on January 11, Appleton wrote to Colonel Thomas W. Higginson, who had been appointed the commanding officer of the 1st South Carolina (Union) Infantry in November 1862 and was in the process of

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recruiting his regiment, which was made up of escaped slaves from South Carolina and Georgia. Appleton wrote Higginson, “I am desirous of serving our country in connection with the colored troops now being raised.” Although the eager Appleton did not get the captain’s commission he sought from Colonel Higginson, his opportunity came three weeks later when Massachusetts Governor John Andrew authorized the formation of a new infantry regiment of African American soldiers, to be named the 54th Massachusetts Infantry. Appleton was initially commissioned a second lieutenant, one of the all-White officers in the embryonic regiment, in February 1863 and sent out on recruiting duty. After three months of training at Camp Meigs, near Boston, the regiment was ordered to South Carolina in late May—finally, as one officer noted, “en route for rebellious soil.” Initially the 54th was placed under the command of Colonel James Montgomery, who ordered his two regiments to keep busy looking for guerrilla forces while executing total war on the local populace, destroying crops and burning any building he felt could be used for the Confederate cause, including private homes. Hating the work Montgomery assigned his men and desperate for his regiment to see combat, Colonel Shaw was able to get his command transferred to Brig. Gen. George C. Strong’s brigade. Action would shortly follow, as Union forces continued their efforts to knock out or capture Confederate installations protecting Charleston Harbor, which included masonry forts like Forts Sumter and Moultrie, and earthen installations such as Forts Wagner and Gregg (which the Confederates instead called “batteries”). On July 16, the regiment finally engaged in combat operations, no less to save a White regiment—the 10th Connecticut Infantry—from possibly being cut off during a heavy skirmish at Grimball’s Landing on James Island. The 54th Massachusetts suffered more than 40 casualties in its baptismal combat. The ferocity of the fighting at Grimball’s Landing was only a precursor for what followed two days later when the 54th led the twilight attack against Fort Wagner. Union troops were pulled off the island for a short rest, without camp equipage or food, the next day. The lack of food and quality sleep did not prevent Strong’s brigade, with the 54th Massachusetts in front, from being ordered to attack Fort Wagner, on Morris Island, on July 18. Though still tired from the fighting on the

Struck Down on Morris Island Union Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and Brig. Gen. George C. Strong, who commanded the lead brigade in Truman Seymour’s 2nd Division. Strong was mortally wounded by shellfire, dying July 30. 16th and hungry, the men in the regiment understood the significance of leading the attack on the fort. The assault, scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m., had to be launched on a narrow front, hemmed in by the Atlantic Ocean on the right and marshes from Vincent’s Creek on the left. The heavy daylight bombardment preceding the attack failed to do much damage to Brig. Gen. William B. Taliaferro’s Confederates waiting inside the fort. Unable to attack across a wider front, and with only one viable approach, Strong’s brigade as a whole—and especially the 54th Massachusetts—had only a forlorn hope. Even if they could breach the fort, it was unlikely the rest of the supporting commands could come to their aid. Still, this was what Shaw had asked for, and what the others like Appleton wanted: the chance to prove the fighting capabilities of their African American soldiers. As Strong’s brigade assembled for the attack, Shaw organized his regiment into two assault columns. He led the first battalion while his second in command, Lt. Col. Norwood Hallowell, led the second. As they anxiously awaited the order to attack, 19-year-old Captain Luis Emilio remembered how “[o]fficers had silently grasped one another’s hands, brought their revolvers to the front, tightened their sword-belts. The men whispered last injunctions to comrades, and listened” for the command to begin the attack, first at quick time, then when 100 yards from the fort, at the double-quick. Captain Appleton would finally have the chance to “drive my boys hard” in battle, during which he hoped “to climb the exterior slope of a Rebel battery, especially if a white Regiment attacks near us.” His account below begins as the regiment waited to launch the attack on Fort Wagner. Before it was over, Appleton was among the more than 40 percent of the regiment’s men who became casualties, including 14 of 22 officers.

e sat down on the sand to wait our orders, near me Surgeon [Lincoln R.] Stone had some stretchers. As we sat there we talked of trifles, and every body seemed perfectly cool and calm. After a while, we were ordered forward and commenced our march up the sandy road, in the middle of the island[.] We passed the light house blown up by the Rebels, NOVEMBER 2021

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and earthworks taken from them, and after passing the sand hills came out on a more level expanse of sand, near the old Beacon house. Before us, we could still see Fort Sumter looming up, nearer, on the island were earthworks, and Ft. Wagner. as soon as we were perceived by the Rebels they commenced firing solid shot at us, apparently 32-pounders, they struck in front of us and ricocheted over us. We were marching by the flank right in front, that is in column of four men abreast, Co. B in front and my Company A behind them. We moved forward under this harmless fire, until we reached our batteries, which were playing on Wagner, and turning to the right passed round them onto the beach. Just as we did so a shell from the enemy exploded at one of the guns and over the smoke I saw a man’s cap fly high in the air. After passing well in front of the batteries, we were formed in line by wing that is, half the regiment in the front line, and the other half in line behind them. Our arms were loaded, but by order no [percussion] caps were put on the guns. We were then ordered to lie down. Before us, the Island narrowed to a strip of sand with the harbor of Charleston on our right and an inlet on our left. The first line or wing was under immediate command of the Colonel, the second one under charge of Major [Edward N. “Ned”] Hallowell. The line officers were all in their places, in the rear of their companies, mostly lying down with their men. Some however moved about a little and talked in low tones with each other. We told each other where our letters were in our pockets and asked

“we have the most magnificent chance to prove the valor of the colored race now” cap and his short stature and fair hair and face beardless, except for a moustache, made him look very boyish. Wilkie James [Lieutenant Garth Wilkinson James], our adjutant, came up to me and said “we have the most magnificent chance to prove the valor of the colored race now,” and as he spoke accidentally discharged his revolver. The colonel looked round on us and Wilkie said, “I would not have had that happen for anything.” Soon the declining day brought the early darkness, and the word came to rise, and

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Free Men in the Ranks Clockwise from top left: Sergeant Henry Steward, from Michigan, was part of a large portion of free, non-Massachusetts soldiers in the 54th (he survived Wagner but died in September 1863); Sergeant James W. Bush; Private Richard Gomar, Co. H; and Private Charles Smith, Co. C.

that they be sent home in case we did not arise out of the fight. Gen. Strong came in front of the Regiment, and addressed the men, telling them that he was a Massachusetts man and that he knew they would uphold the honor of the old [Bay] State. He was a noble figure, and his words were applauded by the men. I think we all loved him at first sight. As the cannon shot flew over us he said[,] “boys don’t mind them, they have been firing at me all day and could not hit me.” He asked who was the color sergeant, and then asked who would pick up the flag, and carry it on in case he should be hit or fail. Several voices answered “I.” Colonel Shaw who stood near him took his cigar from his lips and said quietly “I will.” Gen. Strong said he was sorry that we must go in to the fight tired, and hungry, as we were, but the enemy were tired and hungry too, as they had been under heavy fire all day. “Don’t fire a musket on the way up, but go in and bayonet them at their guns.” Our little Colonel to outward appearance as calm as ever, walked slowly up and down in front of the lines. I believe he [Shaw] told Ned Hallowell, our Major, that he thought he would not come out of the fight, but would be contented if he could have lived a little longer with his wife. Certain he had married just before we left the State. No one from his appearance could have told that a single apprehension of danger to himself was in his thoughts. When he came over to our end of the line, he once stood and looked fixedly on me, I was the only officer standing up at the time, it seemed as if he was about to speak, but he did not. He wore a round jacket, with silver eagles pinned ‘on his shoulders, a

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pany preserved its alignment and the two cannonades in the bastions on that instant were fired, the one on the right, tearing the right of the company to precise killing Sergeant [Andrew] Benton, and others, and about at the same instant a like disaster fell upon the left of the company from the bastion on our left. I could hear the rattle of the balls on the men & arms. I was in front of the company and leaped down into the water, followed by all the men left standing. On my left the Colonel with the colors, and the men of the companies on the left, waded across abreast with me, we reached the base of the curtain and climbed up the parapet. Our second battalion right with us. On the top of the works, we met the Rebels, and by the flashes of their guns we looked down into the fort. Apparently a sea of bayonets, some eight or ten feet below us. The Colonel planted the colors on the traverse next the service magazine on the left of the curtain, and the fighting was now about them. In my immediate front the enemy were very brave and met us eagerly. Bayonets, musket butts, revolvers and swords and musket shots, were all used, but our small number and our disadvantage in being up

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[move] forward. We moved at quick time, Shaw Falls with fixed bayonets. All this time the guns Colonel Robert Gould of the fleet and shore batteries had been Shaw’s dramatic death thundering away “Prove yourselves men,” as he raises his sword to said the Colonel, as we started. Our lines rally his men is captured were about sixteen hundred yards from the in this painting. The fort. As we advanced, fire was opened upon sword, thought lost, was acquired by the us, the strip of land over which we charged Massachusetts Historical was varying in width, now we had plenty of Society in 2017 [see room, and now our lines were crowded bit.ly/ShawsSword]. together by the water on either side. Besides, the fire of Wagner, Fort Johnson, and the batteries on James Island, Cummings Point, Sumter, Moultrie, and Sullivans Islands batteries played on us. The men was to move at quick time to within one hundred yards of the Fort and then charge at a double. We came to a line of shattered palisades, how we passed them we can hardly tell. Then we passed over some rifle pits and I can dimly remember seeing some men in them, over whom we ran. The fire became terrible shell, canister, and musket balls tore through us. [Captain Edward L.] Jones’ Co [D], in the second line, which was behind, closed up on us in their excitement, and Willie [Lieutenant William H. Homans] was busy beating them back. The terrible roar deafened us, as we pressed on, at last, we reached the moat of the fort. The sky had become black with clouds, and the thunder cracked and lightening flashed. As we reached the ditch some one gave an order “by the right flank, and Co B on my right, apparently filed off that way. My com-

against the sky told heavily. The men rapidly turning out around me. I received a sword thrust through my blouse but it fortunately passed between my legs. About this time, I saw our colors fall, rise again and go back through the water of the ditch borne by some one. Finding it impossible to hold the crest of the parapet, we were so near the enemy as to be able almost to touch them, and they were able to use cannon rammers, and hand spikes in the melee. We withdrew our diminished numbers to the outer slope of the parapet, hoping to hold in until our second brigade came up, and continued the fight as best we could. On the left bastion the enemy rallied and opened an enfilading fire with muskets upon us. Not one man stood on the parapet when I left it. All down the exterior slope, as well as on the top, lay the bodies of our men and behind us in the water of the moat, the poor fellows bodies lay like stepping stones. If we cannot take the fort unaided, our duty is to hold what little we have gained until the attack of the Brigade behind us, and to keep if possible the enemy from firing their cannon upon our advancing troops. To that task we bent our energies. Capts. [George] Pope and Jones, and Lieut[ant Edward B.] Emerson, who had just been assigned to my company, and myself with a crowd of our men of all companies perhaps fifty in number now commenced firing at every rebel who showed himself. We picked up the muskets of the fallen but found many ineffective from being filled with sand. The coolness and bravery of these officers and men was very marked.

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he enemy were particularly troublesome from their bastion on our left. One man in particular with a broad brimmed hat hit some one of our men every time he fired. I ordered a Sergt to pick him off, but he could not, so Capt Pope and I, fired at him at the same time when he next showed himself, and he disappeared, and we saw no more of him. A wounded soldier of my company lay with his back against the fort, his broken arm across his body, he was taking cartridges from his box tearing them and laying them in his wounded arm, for Lieut. Emerson, who was doing good work with a musket. Emerson was but 17 yrs old and as brave as a little lion, most of our officers were very young, Pope but 19, Poor [Lieutenant] Cabot Russel but 18. etc. One of my men chafing at fighting so on the defensive, despite my order to keep still where he was, said he would go up and kill another one and climbed up to the top of the parapet again, he fired and immediately rolled down right over me, a corpse. Leaving Pope, Jones, and Emerson, who are doing manful service, I crawl half way into an embrasure in front of the gun, marked S in the place and with my heavy revolver keep the men from firing in. As they get up to prime it they are within a few feet and all in sight when I fire, they disappear. After being there for some time despite their efforts to dislodge me with bayonet, shot, and clubbed

muskets. I feel somebody tugging at my legs. So I crawl back and find Geo Wilson of my company, who though shot through both shoulders, will not go the rear without leave. I tell him what I think is the best way to get out, and then find that Pope has fallen, apparently dead, and there are but three officers of the 54th standing and no men. While we hesitate we hear fighting going on in the bastion on our right, and skirting the wall we climb up into it and find a few of the 48th N[ew] York and some other regiments fighting over a traverse, we join them and take part. Just before leaving our old position I found my revolver cylinder would not turn, as it was full of sand. I took it apart[,] cleaned it on my blouse shirt and reloaded. Where we now were we had a stubborn lot of men to contend against and others were firing on us from the bomb proof. When the enemy laid their muskets on the traverse to fire on us, the muzzles project on our side, and we shoot them hardly an arms length away. I shoot one who catches the sand bags as he falls, thinking he is about to recover, I cock the pistol, and present it again. A grenade bursts and nearly cuts my thumb off, and the pistol twirls around on my fore finger. Just at that moment, Capt. Jones falls heavily against me and before he can answer my question of ‘sir are you hurt?” a piece of shell strikes me in the right breast a crushing blow, and lays me beside him. For a Command Trio Captain Luis Emilio (center) survived the attack; Ezekiel Tomlinson (left) and Daniel Spear (right) joined the 54th July 19. Wounded at Olustee, Tomlinson resigned May 1864. moment the whole dark scene disappears, and I see my wife’s face apparently close to me, soon I get my scattered senses to gether, and find that my rubber coat which I had worn in a roll across my right shoulder has been cut nearly in two, that I have a hole in my blouse from which the blood flows, and I cautiously probe the wound in my back with my finger, thinking the missile had gone into my chest. I find that the bones grate and give way under the pressure, but that there is no free hole in the chest, and that it is only some broken ribs. My breath came with great pain but I tried to NOVEMBER 2021

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From the Rebel Forts shells came screaming over the beach. Wounded men crawl or hobble back towards our lines. And many dead lie along the sand. After going some distance down the beach I turn to the right thinking that our troops that had been firing on us must be near. I am in great pain but the firing on us must be stopped, and I go across the Island in front of the Fort, there is a steady fire of musketry from the Fort and shells of all sizes are bursting all around. I go to the edge of the marsh but find no troops except here and there a straggler behind a sand heap. Then going back to the beach and lower down, I try it again, still I find no troops. Coming back to the beach I meet a mounted officer with his staff, to him I tell my story that we hold one bastion of the Fort and if reinforced can probably take it and that I will go back with the fresh troops. I am holding by his horses mane while I talk to him. He asks me If I am wounded, and then orders me to report to a surgeon and points me to a dim light over the beach and says he will go up to the fort and see to it. So I start down the beach again, soon I come to [Lieutenant] Tom Appleton and two more of our officers with our colors and perhaps sixty of our men. I speak to them and then go to the surgeon, he examines me and orders me over to a hospital below. Just after I leave him some one fires a musket at me from the sand hillocks on my right. I go towards him but cannot find him. Then I find some wounded men halted on the beach, and see flashes of guns and hear bullets whistle by an officer with a broken arm, and faint with loss of blood, tells me that he has tried to pass the line but they fire at him. Some bodies lie before us of men that they have shot. We try to pass together and fortunately meet an officer. Asking what their firing on us means. They say they are to stop stragglers. I tell him that certainly does not mean wounded men ordered to Hospital. He then passes us and we soon reach hospital tents. I am made to lie down and given a cup of coffee, where I laid down on the sand a body had just been removed. Soon a lot of wounded are brought in and some of us who can walk are picked up and started down the beach to a hospital boat, as I reach the beach an artillery driver with two horses meets me and offers to take me along with him on one of his pair of horses. He helps me on but the motion of the horse hurts my broken ribs so that I beg to get down and he transfers me to a passing ambulance, which takes me to the steamboat. helped up the gang Insurmountable plank, the passengers in the ambulance find Based on an eyewitness Frank Vizetelly sketch, this engraving— themselves on a crowded boat. I am taken into dated July 19 and published in Illustrated London News—shows the cabin and shown a place on the floor where Union dead in the “moat” that lined the main wall the 54th attacked. I can lie down next to Adjutant [Wilkie] James,

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Steel Companion This ivory- or bonehandled steel knife, with “54th Mass.” and the initals “W.L.” carved on the pommel, belonged to an unidentified member of the regiment.

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shoot with my left hand, but the pain was too great and so I laid down again. Capt[ain] Jones laid silent with his feet toward our lines. A soldier of the 48th New York wounded, laid across the embrasure and I lay with my head on his leg. Soon bullets began to come from our lines, and fall thickly among us. I asked Emerson, who was still fighting with a musket, to get a sand bag off the parapet to shelter Jones, he tried but could not and reported “Hornets too thick to do it Captain.” The soldier, whose leg my head rested on, had been groaning a good deal. Now a bullet strikes him, he draws up his limbs and is silent forever. This firing on us from the rear must be stopped and I order Lieut. Emerson to go to the rear and report our position, and ask for reinforcements. The brave fellow says, “I will go if ordered, but I am the only one unwounded and if I am killed and you get out tell them I went by orders and not because I was afraid.” Thinking that he was doing good service I concluded to try and go myself, so I tied my sword in the sheath and buttoned my revolver in its place, and crept to the opening in [the] parapet. The face of the work was swept by a hail of bullets, as I slid over to the water spent ones struck me like stones, soon I felt the dead under my feet in the edge of the water and I stumbled along towards the harbor beach and after several efforts managed to get up out of the ditch and out upon the beach.

Finally in Union Hands After an extended siege, Wagner’s garrison, down to about 400 effectives, finally abandoned the fort overnight September 6-7. Some Black soldiers involved in the July 18 assault were part of the occupying force, as shown here.

and near Capt[ain Samuel] Willard. The seats around the sides of the cabin and the carpeted floor are covered with wounded officers. Our Major Hallowell lies on the floor near the stairs that lead below. Outside the cabin the decks are covered with soldiers with every variety of wounds. I do not think we talked much. The surgeons moved round among us dressing wounds and I think gave us all opiates. At any rate I went off into a dead sleep and when I woke it was morning and we were out to sea.

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Sometime after he reached a hospital ship late

in the night of July 18-19, John Appleton added a postscript to the letter he had begun for his wife. He assured her, “The fight is over and [I] am out safely with two slight wounds, very slight, thank God.” Given the obvious difficulty he had writing, whether due to his wounds or circumstances aboard the hospital ship, it is doubtful his additional words eased Mary’s concerns. At least she knew he was alive; however, she must have been shocked when he listed so many of his fellow officers among the dead, wounded, and missing. Fortunately, she was able to assess his condition for herself when he was sent home to recover. He remained at home in Massachusetts for three months, finally reporting for duty back in South Carolina on October 24, 1863. Appleton’s time leading Company A ended shortly after his return when he was appointed Inspector General for the brigade in late November and promoted to major, but he returned to serve with the regiment during the Florida Campaign in the winter of 1863-64. In that campaign, Union forces were sent to Florida to take control of the northern sector of the state and deprive the Confederacy of untouched farmlands there. The campaign failed, culminating with the Union loss at the Battle of Olustee on February 20, 1864. When Union forces were withdrawn from Florida. Appleton returned

to continuing efforts to capture Charleston. Exertion in the humidity and heat led to sunstroke and a physical collapse in July 1864, and he was again sent home to recover. Noting that his wounds were not fully healed and that he had not entirely recovered from the effects of sunstroke, he resigned his commission on November 15, 1864, just 15 days before the 54th Massachusetts participated at the Battle of Honey Hill, S.C. After months at home to regain his health, he returned to service in the final days of the war, as a major in command of the 1st Battalion Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, and commander of Fort Warren. Although the war ended before his command could be called to field service, Appleton remained at Fort Warren, which had become a prison for senior Confederate officials, including Vice President Alexander Stephens. He resigned from that post in August and almost immediately moved his family to West Virginia, where he lived for nearly 60 years, until his death in October 1913. The authors want to thank the West Virginia and Regional History Center for permission to use this portion of John Appleton’s postwar journal. James Jewell and Eugene Van Sickle, who teach history at North Idaho College and the University of North Georgia, respectively, are working on a book based on the journal. NOVEMBER 2021

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Chapter Closed Robert E. Lee returned to Richmond on April 15, three days after the Army of Northern Virginia’s formal “stacking of arms” ceremony at Appomattox. Mathew Brady took this photo of Lee, in uniform, shortly after his arrival.

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The GenEral in dEfeat In his first post-Appomattox interview, Robert E. Lee was frank about the war and what lay ahead for the South By Kevin C. Donovan

n April 29, 1865, readers of The New York Herald opened their newspapers to find a captivating scoop—an in-depth interview with Confederate commander Robert E. Lee. Speaking in Richmond two weeks to the day after his surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Va., the self-styled “paroled prisoner” offered his thoughts on issues facing the nation as the Civil War ground toward its end. The 58-year-old general attempted to justify his decision to take up arms against the United States and opened up about slavery, the causes of the war, Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and what would soon come to be called Reconstruction. Although now largely forgotten, Lee’s Herald interview is a fascinating glimpse into the mindset of a man whom many Americans—both North and South—regarded as the leading spokesman for the former Confederacy.

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homas M. Cook was the Herald reporter who persuaded Lee to speak. Cook had had a busy war. Assigned to cover controversial Union Maj. Gen. Daniel Sickles, the former Congressman who achieved antebellum infamy by murdering his wife’s lover and then lost both a leg and his 3rd Corps at Gettysburg, Cook was present aboard one of Union Rear Admiral David Farragut’s ships at the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864, and subsequently accompanied Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s March to the Sea. In April 1865, Cook was based in Richmond, where Lee had arrived on April 15. Cook’s first attempt to see Lee was direct—he simply showed up at the general’s

rented house on Franklin Street. Not surprisingly, he was denied admission. Undeterred, Cook promptly sent Lee a note. Assuring Lee that his personal sympathies as well as those of his paper rested with Lee, Cook appealed to the general’s “sense of justice and deference to popular views and the truth of history.” That was undoubtedly a flowery way of urging Lee to get his version of the “truth” about the war in print first. Further, Cook promised Lee absolute control over what would be published in the Herald: “Whatever may be said at that interview, or whatever may transpire, I assure you on the honor of a gentleman, shall be considered with the utmost confidence, and only used publicly with your fore assent.”

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Important to note is that at the time of Lee’s interview, the Confederacy—though rocked by the fall of Richmond and Lee’s surrender, as well as General Joseph Johnston’s pending surrender to Sherman—had not yet been totally defeated. It still had thousands of troops in the field, and Jefferson Davis was still at large, hoping to find a way to rally his people. There remained a chance that final peace, though in sight, might come only after months of further bloodshed. As Lee must have known, he was in a unique position to influence events. His words would matter.

aving surmounted the parole issue, Cook took up Lee’s decision to fight for the Confederacy. Referring to Lee’s well-known vow upon his resignation from the U.S. Army “never...again to draw my sword” except in “defense of my native state,” Cook asked him to elaborate on his thinking. Lee responded that he had had no choice in the course he pursued, emphasizing that as a “firm and honest believer” in the “doctrine of State rights,” his primary allegiance was to Virginia. While personally opposed to secession, Lee “honestly believed” that when Vir-

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CORBIS/GETTY IMAGES

During the war, Lee had pored over the Herald and other Northern newspapers for useful military information. Now, here was a chance to use a major media outlet to help mold Northern public opinion. Quickly reversing course, Lee sent for Cook. The interview took place the same day, April 23. Cook filed his article the next day. Cook opened his Herald story with a fawning description of Lee, naming him a representative “of the once famous chivalry, and, I had almost said, nobility of Virginia.” Clearly a sympathetic scribe, Cook praised Lee’s “firm step, the clear voice, the bright, beaming countenance, the quick intelligence, the upright form, and…active manner.” It seemed evident that Cook was not planning to press or cross-examine Lee on any issue or response given. Rather, as Cook had explained to Lee at the outset, his goal simply was to allow Lee “to lay his political views before the public.” The general initially demurred, saying, “I am a paroled prisoner,” as if wary of violating the terms of his parole. Lee also protested that he was not a politician. Cook reassured Lee that, as a prominent Southern leader, Lee’s views would not only be of great interest to the Northern populace, but also could be “of great importance and influence in the settlement of the troubles agitating the country.” Lee agreed that he was willing to do anything—“to make any sacrifice or perform any honourable act”—that would tend to the “restoration of peace and tranquillity to the country.” It was a promising start to the interview.

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Breaking News No surprise that the war, Lincoln’s assassination, and Johnston’s surrender to Sherman dominated the Herald’s front page on April 29, 1865. Cook’s Lee interview appeared on page 5.

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ginia left the Union, he was carried away with her, as a matter of “duty.” Lee said he simply “had no recourse, in his views of honor and patriotism, but to abide by her [Virginia’s] fortunes.” Lee added that at the time he resigned he intended to remain “merely a private citizen,” and had no intention of taking up arms for anyone, least of all in combat against the United States. But, he told Cook, once his sovereign Virginia called him to service, he had no alternative but to accept a commission. Further, when Virginia subsequently attached herself to the Confederate States, Lee then became duty-bound to accept service in that new entity, as part of his defense of Virginia. The picture Lee painted of himself was that of a man whose entire course was predetermined by the constitutional principle of state sovereignty and, more important, by his concepts of duty and honor. Perhaps in accordance with the parameters he had promised for the interview, Cook did not ask Lee’s opinion about other Virginians who had stayed loyal to the Union, such as Lee’s mentor, Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott, or Union Maj. Gen. George Thomas. Lee’s claims that he intended to become a “private citizen” seem somewhat misleading, however. Fort Sumter had been fired upon by Confederate forces on April 12, 1861, and Union commander Major Robert Anderson had surrendered the fort two days later. On April 15, Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the rebellion. Virginia’s John Letcher was among the Southern governors to rebut Lincoln’s entreaty, and on the 17th Virginia seceded. The next day, at General Winfield Scott’s invitation, Lee met with Francis P. Blair, one of President Abraham Lincoln’s top advisers. Blair offered the colonel command of U.S. military forces, but Lee declined. Afterward Lee met with Scott, informing him of his decision. Scott in turn suggested that Lee resign from the Army. Lee wrote his resignation letter the morning of April 20. Two days later, he met with Letcher and accepted command of Virginia’s land and naval forces as a major general. As Cook wrote, “when Virginia attached herself to

Lee portrayed the Southern people as the ones who always had been desirous of peace

Historic Home Lee rented this Greek Revival-style home in Richmond for his family during the war and lived there for two months after Appomattox. The three-story building, known today as the Stewart-Lee House, still stands at 707 E. Franklin Street. the Southern confederacy, the same political impressions impelled him to follow her, and when he accepted service under the rebel government he did so on the principle that he was defending his native State.” Thus, as presented to Cook’s readers, Lee simply was honorably answering the call of his home state, which had a greater right to his loyalty. Having justified his personal conduct in his own eyes, Lee steered the conversation to assigning blame for the war’s bloodshed. As explained by Lee, the answer was “this question of State sovereignty…a legitimate casus belli.” Cook also quoted Lee as saying “the South was never more than half in earnest in this war.” He got the impression from Lee that “the South was most heartily sick of the war, and anxious to get back into the Union and to peace,” noting that the “General added that they went off after political leaders in a moment of passion and under the excitement of fancied wrongs, honestly believing that they were entering a struggle for an inalienable right and a fundamental principle of their political creed.” Given the earnest disagreement between North and South on the issue of state versus federal sovereignty, and the sections’ failure to resolve the issue short of taking up arms, Lee declared that “the war raised on this issue cannot be considered treason,” adding, “a man should not be judged harshly for contending for that which he honestly believes to be right.” But he blamed “the exasperated North” for having determined to impose its political creed. As for the “right” of secession, Cook wrote that Lee had said “when the South shall be forced to surrender all its forces, and returns to the Union, it indisputably, by that act, surrenders its favorite doctrine of secession.” While ignoring the delicate question of who had actually started the shooting, Lee portrayed the Southern people as the ones who always had been desirous of peace. Lee declared that peace had been possible at any time in the past two years, if only the federal government had wanted it. The Southern people, he declared, had always during this time “been ready and anxious for peace”—they were but looking for “some word or NOVEMBER 2021

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expression of conciliation or compromise from the North upon which they might base a return to the Union.” Lee reiterated that his countrymen were ready to accept any honorable terms, so long as their own “political views” were considered. Cook apparently did not inquire into what those “political views” were requiring accommodation; however, Cook may have known that Lincoln in late 1863 had offered a lenient plan to lure Southern states back into the Union. Lee, an avowedly non-political soldier, was probably unaware of this presidential “ten percent plan,” which was based on 10 percent of a Confederate state’s population taking the loyalty oath. But the point was that Reconstruction had already begun.

freeing them is at once settled.” But, he continued, “unless some humane course is adopted, based on wisdom and Christian principles, you do a gross wrong and injustice to the whole negro race in setting them free.” Lee assured Cook that “it is only this consideration that has led the wisdom, intelligence, and Christianity of the South to support and defend the institution up to this time.” Cook did not press Lee on what conditions the general would place on the enslaved persons’ freedom. It is interesting to note that the Herald itself, in an editorial accompanying Cook’s article in that April 29 edition, mocked

Lee by writing: “We suspect…that the profits of slave labor…had something to do with this revolt for Southern rights….” Lee’s assertion that by April 1865 slavery could have been readily bargained away for peace seems unlikely. The Confederate Constitution expressly protected the institution and prohibited any attempt by the Confederate Congress to legislate it away. No peace treaty based on emancipation would have been possible without a Confederate constitutional amendment. Also, in October 1864, in the midst of manpower shortages among its forces, the Confederate government passed on a chance to resume prisoner exchanges on the condition that former slaves who had enlisted in the Union Army be included in such exchanges. In addition, in early 1865, the Confederate government in Richmond continued to oppose efforts to formally enlist slaves as soldiers.

erhaps the most remarkable part of the interview was Lee’s expressions of concessions he expected from the victors. He stressed throughout the interview that he fervently hoped for peace, contending that was a sentiment shared across the South as well. Yet again, Lee placed the responsibility for achieving peace on the United States—or, as Cook put it, “implying in his remarks that peace was now at our option.” Cook wrote that Lee “was particular to say that should arbitrary or vindictive or revengeful policies be adopted [by the victorious North] the

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Lee asserted that the “question of slavery did not lie in the way at all” to a felicitous reunion

Lee’s Personal Secession Lee’s April 20, 1861, resignation letter to Winfield Scott. “To no one Genl. have I been as much indebted as to yourself for kindness & Consideration...,” Lee would write, later declaring, “Save in the defense of my native state, I never desire again to draw my sword.”

ARLINGTON HOUSE, THE ROBERT E. LEE MEMORIAL

ook would acknowledge that he had taken no notes during his interview but had accurately related Lee’s views and opinions. According to Cook, Lee asserted that “the question of slavery did not lie in the way at all” to a felicitous reunion, noting that Lee had added: “The best men of the South have long been anxious to do away with this institution, and were quite willing to-day to see it abolished.” Lee raised an important caveat when it came to slavery: “What will you do with the freed people?” Cook wrote that Lee saw this as “the serious question to-day, and one that cannot be winked at. It must be met practically and treated intelligently.” According to Lee, “The negroes must be disposed of, and if their disposition can be marked out the matter of

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ARLINGTON HOUSE, THE ROBERT E. LEE MEMORIAL

end was not yet.” Lee cautioned that “[t]here yet remained a great deal of vitality and strength in the South....There were undeveloped resources, and hitherto unavailable sources of strength which harsh measures on our part would call into action; and that the South could protract the struggle for an indefinite period.” As portrayed by Cook, it was on this issue that Lee in many ways remained his most resolute. Lee was speaking eight days after Lincoln’s assassination at Ford’s Theatre, and it is notable that the surrender terms Grant had offered at Appomattox have long been considered among the most generous ever given a defeated army. Writing in 2015 at the 150th anniversary of the Appomattox surrender, Harry Rubenstein of Smithsonian Magazine noted: “Healing the country, rather than vengeance, directed Grant’s and the Lincoln administration’s actions. There would be no mass imprisonments or executions, no parading of defeated enemies through Northern streets. Lincoln’s priority—shared by Grant—was ‘to bind up the nation’s wounds’ and unite the country together again as a functioning democracy under the Constitution; extended retribution against the former Confederates would only slow down the process.” On April 20, Lee had written a letter to Jefferson Davis advising the president on the condition and prospects of remaining Southern forces and the Confederacy as a whole (see P.38). “From what I have seen and learned,” Lee wrote, “I believe an army cannot be organized or supported in Virginia, and as far as I know the condition of affairs, the country east of the Mississippi is morally and physically unable to maintain the contest unaided with any hope of ultimate success. A partisan war may be continued, and hostilities protracted, causing individual suffering and the devastation of the country, but I see no prospect by that means of achieving The Fugitive a separate independence.” The day of the interview, Jefferson Davis was still In his interview with Cook three days on the run. “Why,” Lee later, Lee was perhaps wary that the new asked Cook, “should he Andrew Johnson administration would not suffer more than others?” be as conciliatory toward the South as Lincoln had evidently been. Notably, he did caution Cook that if the terms imposed on the South were particularly harsh, Southern resistance could continue to bankrupt the nation: We might, it was true, destroy all that remained of the country east of the Mississippi river by a lavish expenditure of men and means; but then we would be required to fight on the other side of the river, and, after subduing them there, we would be compelled to follow them into Mexico, and thus the struggle would be prolonged until the whole country would be impoverished and ruined…

Surrender at Appomattox This Louis Guillaume painting depicts Grant and Lee’s meeting in Wilmer McLean’s parlor. Lee donned his best uniform, certain he would be taken prisoner once he surrendered. To Cook, Lee cautioned that the Southern people would pursue this vindictive course “if extermination, confiscation, and general annihilation and destruction are to be [U.S.] policy....for if a people are to be destroyed they will sell their lives as dearly as possible.” In light of his articulation of his real opinion of the matter—as revealed in the April 20 letter to Davis—Lee arguably was using the Cook interview to present a bold front to the Northern public in order to influence the ultimate peace terms imposed on the South. Cook probed Lee on what peace terms Lee thought should be presented to the South. Lee demurred, Cook reporting, “Here there was, perhaps naturally and properly, more reticence than on any other topic.” To his credit, Cook did seek to draw out Lee on the issue. Cook suggested to Lee that a general amnesty might be forthcoming, the sole exception being that “the political leaders of the South be held to a strict accountability.” Would such Northern generosity be welcome? Lee refused to entertain any such compromise. “Would that be just?” Lee retorted, asking Cook: “What has Mr. Davis done more than any other Southerner that he should be punished? It is true that he has occupied a promiNOVEMBER 2021

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Robert E. Lee revealed his true feelings about the Confederacy’s prospects in this letter to Jefferson Davis, sent just three days before he would be interviewed for The New York Herald. Richmond, Virginia April 20, 1865 Mr. President The apprehensions I expressed during the winter, of the moral condition of the Army of Northern Virginia, have been realized. The operations which occurred while the troops were in the entrenchments in front of Richmond and Petersburg were not marked by the boldness and decision which formerly characterized them. Except in particular instances, they were feeble; and a want of confidence seemed to possess officers and men. This condition, I think, was produced by the state of feeling in the country, and the communications received by the men from their homes, urging their return and the abandonment of the field. The movement of the enemy on the 30th March to Dinwiddie Court House was consequently not as strongly met as similar ones had been. Advantages were gained by him which discouraged the troops, so that on the morning of the 2d April, when our lines between the Appomattox and Hatcher’s Run were assaulted, the resistance was not effectual: several points were penetrated and large captures made. At the commencement of the withdrawal of the army from the lines on the night of the 2d, it began to disintegrate, and straggling from the ranks increased up to the surrender on the 9th. On that day, as previously reported, there were only seven thousand eight hundred and ninety-two (7892) effective infantry. During the night, when the surrender became known, more than ten thousand men came in, as reported to me by the Chief Commissary of the Army. During the succeeding days stragglers continued to give themselves up, so that on the 12th April, according to the rolls of those paroled, twenty-six thousand and eighteen (26,018) officers and men had surrendered. Men who had left the ranks on the march, and crossed [the] James River, returned and gave themselves up, and many have since come to Richmond and surrendered. I have given these details that Your Excellency might know the state of feeling which existed in the army, and judge of that in the country. From what I have seen and learned, I believe an army cannot be organized or supported in Virginia, and as far as I know the condition of affairs, the country east of the Mississippi is morally and physically unable to maintain the contest unaided with any hope of ultimate success. A partisan war may be continued, and hostilities protracted, causing individual suffering and the devastation of the country, but I see no prospect by that means of achieving a separate independence. It is for Your Excellency to decide, should you agree with me in opinion, what is proper to be done. To save useless effusion of blood, I would recommend measures be taken for suspension of hostilities and the restoration of peace. I am with great respect, yr obdt svt R.E. Lee, Genl

lthough Cook had gotten his scoop, it proved unfortunate that he had not delved deeply into many of the statements Lee made, leaving them both unchallenged and without any explanation that could have illuminated Lee’s thinking. Perhaps Cook was concerned (as he intimated in his article) that he risked overstaying his welcome with the eminent Confederate. Possibly Cook was just in awe of the opportunity he had been given and hesitant to challenge Lee, whom he clearly admired. Or perhaps Cook just wanted to give Lee the stage to say what he wanted. In that respect Cook succeeded, and his readers to that extent profited. Now little remembered, Lee’s New York Herald interview said perhaps as much about the interviewer as the interviewee. Kevin C. Donovan, a recently retired lawyer, is author of “How the Civil War Continues to Affect the Law,” published in Litigation: The Journal of the Section of Litigation; “The Court-Martial of Fitz-John Porter,” in Columbiad; and “From Walnuts To Appomattox: The Opinions of The Confederate States Attorneys General,” in North & South.

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PHOTO BY MELISSA A. WINN; HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

Heart of the Matter

nent position as the agent of a whole people, but that has made him no more nor less a rebel than the rest. His acts were the acts of the whole people, and the acts of the whole people were his acts. He was not accountable for the commencement of the struggle….Why, therefore, should he suffer more than others?” Cook wrote that in taking his leave he assured Lee “that he was greatly respected by a very large body of good men at the North, and that as a soldier he was universally admired, and that it was earnestly hoped that he would yet lead an army of United States’ troops in the enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine”—referring to the continuing French incursion in Mexico occurring as the Civil War reached its conclusion. Among other topics addressed in the interview were Lee’s reaction to Lincoln’s assassination (“the General considered this event itself one of the most deplorable that could have occurred”); the prospect Southern young men would now leave for other countries (“the country needs these young men….wisdom demands that no effort be spared to keep them in the country and pacify them”); and the fate of the Custis family slaves at Arlington (Lee saying he did right by them in setting them free when required by his father-in-law’s will).

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House of Cards

ARLINGTON HOUSE, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, at Arlington National Cemetery reopened to the public in June for the first time since 2018, following a $12 million rehabilitation and reinterpretation that includes an increased emphasis on those who were enslaved there. The stately Greek Revival-style mansion was built between 1808 and 1818 by George Washington’s step-grandson, George Washington Parke Custis, as a home and a place to display his large collection of George Washington heirlooms and memorabilia. The estate, which included 1,100 acres of land, was a working plantation, and the mansion was built by enslaved African Americans. Robert E. Lee and his wife, the Custis’ only child, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, inherited it in 1857, including the 196 enslaved persons who lived and worked there. On May 24, 1861, Union troops occupied the Arlington estate and Lee and his family, all who had fled the home by then, would never reside in it again. Located on strategic high ground across from the nation’s capital, the estate was used as a camp and headquarters. When Mrs. Lee failed to pay taxes in person, as was then required by law, the federal government confiscated the land and Arlington House, purchasing it on January 11, 1864, “for Government use, for war, military, charitable, and educational purposes.” When the war’s mounting human toll overwhelmed the capacity of Washington, D.C.-area cemeteries, Brig. Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs, quartermaster general of the U.S. Army, authorized military burials on the land and on June 15, 1864, the Army formally designated 200 acres of the property as a military cemetery. Situated at the heart of Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, now includes the

mansion, a museum, reconstructed slave quarters, and gardens. The recent rehabilitation of the site includes restorations of the home and grounds, and new exhibits that interpret the stories of all who lived there: the Custis and Lee families and the slaves who labored on the plantation. National Park Service curators conserved and restored more than 1,000 historic objects and acquired 1,300 antiques or reproductions, including several artifacts associated with African American history that will be displayed for the first time. “Our goal is to create a place of dialogue and learning,” Charles Cuvelier, George Washington Memorial Parkway superintendent, said upon its reopening. “We invite visitors to be curious, to connect with the stories, and to be open to hard questions.” Arlington House is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Throughout the war, the Arlington estate also supported thousands of African Americans fleeing slavery in the South. On December 4, 1863, the federal government dedicated Freedman’s Village, a planned community for freed slaves on the southern portion of the property. Freedman’s Village grew to a community of 1,500, with a hospital, two churches, schools, and a home for the elderly. Freed African Americans lived and farmed there until 1900, when the government closed the village and incorporated the land into Arlington National Cemetery. —Melissa A. Winn

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Home FRont HErOes 12 extraordinary civilians who impacted the Civil War

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Cream of the Crop Four years of civil war devastated communities in all theaters. Fortunately, as seen on the following pages, the inhabitants of these cities, towns, and villages comprised a remarkable class of civilians eager to do their part in noncombatant roles throughout the war.

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nderstandably, much attention in a war’s aftermath is devoted to the officers and soldiers who bore arms during the conflict. Scrutiny also tends to go to the armies’ supporting casts, the men who served in positions such as engineer or quartermaster, as well as the politicians who led the warring factions in civil servant roles. But what of the civilians? The following is Part 1 of a two-part series giving some of these noncombatants their due—a closer look at 24 figures who made a significant difference on the home front throughout the war. The 12 individuals we’ve included below, in alphabetical order, represented both Northern and Southern interests, ranging from a diplomat to a former-slave-turned-seamstress to a chief justice to a uniform manufacturer. Regardless of vocation, each stood out during the most divisive period in the nation’s history. It is fitting to acknowledge their deeds.

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CHRONICLE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

Charles Francis Adams (1807–1886) Charles Francis Adams came from distinguished roots as the son of America’s sixth president, John Quincy Adams, and grandson of the second, John Adams. In May 1861, he became ambassadorial U.S. Minister to Great Britain, his tenure lasting until 1868. He fought for the Union on the diplomatic front, using words, persuasion, information, and personal charm in battles against the Confederates. Adams made two particularly critical contributions to the Union cause. The first came in the fall of 1861 when U.S. sailors boarded a British ship and seized two Confederate envoys headed to Europe, what became known as the Trent Affair. This invasion of British sovereignty brought the United States and Britain close to war. Adams was a key communication conduit between London and Washington, D.C., in brokering a solution to the crisis involving the release of the Confederates. Adams also made London the focal point of tracking and countering Confederate commerce raiders in European waters. The Confederate Navy built and bought many ships using front companies in Britain, servicing them in neutral ports. Adams documented these transactions and forcefully argued that they were neutrality violations, creating as many roadblocks to Confederate efforts as possible. In 1865, he persuaded Britain to seize several Confederate ships under construction and took control of CSS Shenandoah when it turned up in Liverpool in November 1865. As Confederate ships plied the waters around Britain and Western Europe, Adams created a network among the U.S. consular officials to track their movements and communicate that intelligence to captains of Federal warships. In June 1864, this network alerted Captain John Winslow of USS Kearsarge to CSS Alabama’s arrival in Cherbourg, resulting in Alabama’s sinking. These efforts proved important to Union victory. Adams is an insufficiently heralded civilian hero of the Civil War. —Christopher L. Kolakowski

Loose Lips Sink Ships Charles Adams’ “spy” network helped USS Kearsarge sink CSS Alabama on June 19, 1864 (top)—a critical break for the North, as Alabama had terrorized and sunk Union ships around the world for months. NOVEMBER 2021

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Henry Whitney Bellows (1814–1882)

Mr. Clean Below: A diagram delineating the various aid channels formed by the U.S. Sanitary Commission. Above: Four young girls pose at a Sanitary Commission fair. The props make it clear: This is all being done for the soldiers.

Henry Whitney Bellows was instrumental in creating the U.S. Sanitary Commission during the Civil War and became the organization’s president. Born in Boston on June 11, 1814, he and his twin brother, Edward, were raised in a Unitarian household. When the twins were 2, their mother died; they were raised by an aunt until their father remarried. Bellows attended Harvard and upon graduation taught in New York and Louisiana. While in the South, he confronted the slave system and soon embraced abolitionism. Bellows returned to Harvard to attend divinity school and upon graduation preached at a Unitarian Church in Mobile, Ala. He refused an offer to remain there permanently and returned home—ostensibly because of slavery. Bellows preached at a Unitarian Church in New York City and sermonized that the institution of slavery was evil but that individual slaveholders were not. He advocated a constitutional end to slavery. A dynamic speaker, Bellows often addressed health-related issues in lectures. On April 25, 1861, he met with the New York Infirmary for Women. Days later, he helped create the Women’s Central Organization of Relief. Its goal was to provide medical care for infirmed soldiers. Military camps were rife with disease. The Army refused to accept aid from a civilian organization, however, and Bellows traveled to Washington to appeal for official recognition. His efforts succeeded, and in June 1861 the U.S. government designated Bellows president of the newly chartered Sanitary Commission. He expanded the mission to include aid to the wounded and in tending to bodies of the dead. The organization raised millions of dollars and sent thousands of volunteers to field hospitals to treat both Union and Confederate soldiers. It also sought humane treatment for prisoners, which in the future influenced the Geneva Convention. With the U.S. Sanitary Commission, Bellows provided the template for other future humanitarian groups, such as the Red Cross. —Jeffery S. Prushankin

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COURTESY OF LAURA NELLE O’CALLAGHAN/NEW GEORGIA ENCYCLOPEDIA; HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS (2); THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MUSEUM

In a far corner of the Confederacy, a doctor-scientist went to work and found ways to give Louisiana much-needed medicines. Dr. Bartholomew Egan remains one of the least known medical professionals of the war. All his life, he spoke with an Irish accent gained at his birthplace in Killarney and education at Dublin’s Trinity College. The learned scholar emigrated to America in 1818 and studied medicine at the University of Virginia. The promise of greater opportunities westward drew him to northern Louisiana. He continued medical practice and worked as one of the first professors at the Baptist denomination’s Mount Lebanon University. In 1864, Louisiana Governor Henry Watkins Allen appointed him superintendent of a new state laboratory. His accomplishments among a long-suffering population, while cut off from the rest of the South by blockade and occupation, proved extraordinary. With generous support from Governor Allen, Egan transformed the college into a manufacturing laboratory. In short order, he employed a staff of five assistants, 29 enslaved men, and a druggist at the university 40 miles east of Shreveport. Administrative duties

SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY; HN ARCHIVES

Bartholomew Egan (1795–1879)

Samuel Griswold (1790–1867)

COURTESY OF LAURA NELLE O’CALLAGHAN/NEW GEORGIA ENCYCLOPEDIA; HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS (2); THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MUSEUM

SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY; HN ARCHIVES

Northern-born Samuel Griswold was one of the Confederacy’s leading weapon manufacturers. Born in Burlington, Conn., on December 27, 1790, he moved to the newly opened Indian lands in the southeastern United States in 1815. On his arrival in Georgia, he and his family settled in Clinton, about 20 miles west of the state capital of Milledgeville, where he made his fortune producing cotton gins. He quickly became the largest gin manufacturer in the nation and founded an industrial town, Griswoldville, 10 miles south of Clinton. When the Civil War began, he answered Governor Joseph E. Brown’s request for pikes, believing that such weapons would be useful for soldiers who did not have muskets. The theory was that infantry could take down cavalry with the spear-like weapons. In 1862, Griswold sent more than 800 to the armory in the state capital, where they earned the nickname “Joe Brown’s Pikes.” In April 1862, Griswold contracted with the Confederate government to produce pistols and his factory planned to turn out 50–60 pistols per week at a price of $40 each. It was a six-shooter percussion-cap pistol patterned after the .36-caliber Colt Navy revolver. The weapon was known as a Griswold & Gunnison revolver since Griswold’s co-owner was New Hampshire native Arvin Nye Gunnison. The small town and factory were burned by enemy cavalry on November 20, 1864. Two days later, it was hit again in a chance encounter between Confederate cavalry and Union soldiers. The Battle of Griswoldville on November 22 was the first battle during Sherman’s March to the Sea. Because Griswoldville was a factory town and Samuel Griswold was in feeble health, he chose not to rebuild and the village that carried his name disappeared after his death on September 14, 1867. The total number of pistols his factory produced would be nearly 3,700, more than any other manufacturer in the South and nearly as many as all other manufacturers combined. —Anne Bailey

Weapons of War Sam Griswold’s armory in the heart of Georgia helped equip Confederate armies. Among weapons he produced were the revolver above and what became known as a “Joe Brown Pike.”

included scrounging for distilling Cherished Relief apparatus and gathering native Countless Southern soldiers plants, roots, and bark—all for benefited from medical supplies pharmaceutical ingredients. manufactured at the laboratory Egan made the facility a model run by Bartholomew Egan. of efficiency with its production of turpentine, alcohol, opium, pure whiskey, castor oil, and carbonate soda— substances that provided relief for soldiers and civilians alike. In addition, the laboratory manufactured musket cartridges for the entire district. Egan even delivered barrels of the state’s finest whiskey to military and civilian authorities. His only regret was that, due to the war, the gifts could not be properly aged. The fighting ended in 1865 and Egan’s innovative techniques have been forgotten. He had made the most of challenging circumstances and proved that civilian innovation could improve wartime conditions. —Henry Robertson NOVEMBER 2021

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Emilie Todd Helm (1836–1930)

Despite serving as mayor of Philadelphia throughout the war, Alexander Henry remains fairly unknown. He, however, played a critical role in maintaining order in a municipality almost as divided politically as was the nation as a whole. After graduating from Princeton in 1840, Henry opened a successful law practice before moving into Philadelphia politics. After serving on the City Council, he was elected mayor in 1858 on the People’s Party ticket, which though aligned with the Republican Party played down its antislavery ideology in order to appeal to the city’s more conservative voters. In the mayoral election of 1860, Henry would actually lose, but through Republican chicanery he would be reelected—a providential outcome, as events would show. Henry established a reputation as an efficient administrator and a strict upholder of law and order. Although the predominant prewar mood of the city was in support of Southern states’ rights over the issue of secession; that changed once Fort Sumter was fired upon by Confederate batteries on April 12, 1861. Thereafter, Philadelphians voiced opposition

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COURTESY OF THE MOORLAND-SPINGARN RESEARCH CENTER, HOWARD UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES HOWARD UNIVERSITY, WASHINGTON, D.C.; SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY; READING ROOM 2020/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

Alexander Henry (1823–1883)

KENTUCKY DIGITAL ARCHIVE (2); DANA B. SHOAF COLLECTION/PHOTO BY MELISSA A. WINN; LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA

Family Feud Emilie Helm and her husband, Brig. Gen. Benjamin Hardin Helm, killed at Chickamauga. Below: A Minié ball. Helm scolded her brother-in-law, Lincoln, “your Minnie bullets have made us what we are.”

Few civilians represent the divisiveness of the Civil War as much as Emilie Todd Helm, the half-sister of Mary Todd Lincoln. Although some of Emilie’s siblings were Unionists and her brother-inlaw, President Abraham Lincoln, was the Union commander-in-chief, multiple members of the Todd family supported the Confederacy. This included Emilie’s husband, Confederate Brig. Gen. Benjamin Hardin Helm. The family also suffered great tragedy. Two of the Todd brothers were killed fighting for the Confederacy, and another was severely wounded at Vicksburg. Emilie’s husband was also mortally wounded at the Battle of Chickamauga. Lincoln wept when he heard the news. A mourning Emilie traveled to the White House, where she had a heartbreaking reunion with her sister, Mary. “We could only embrace each other in silence and tears,” Emilie wrote. President Lincoln later said to her, “I hope you do not feel any bitterness or that I am in any way to blame for all this sorrow.” Emilie eventually returned to Kentucky, but family resentment was unavoidable. Frustrated by financial difficulties and hoping to travel south to sell cotton that she owned, Emilie told the president “that your Minnie bullets have made us what we are.” The notion that Lincoln was ultimately responsible for the deaths of their family members ended Emilie’s relationship with the Lincolns. The president’s assassination in April 1865 only widened that familial gap. After the war, Emilie embraced reconciliation. She represented the family at events commemorating the fallen president, including statue unveilings and the 1909 cornerstone dedication for the monument at his birthplace in Hodgenville, Ky. In 1930, the 93-year-old Emilie burned her diary, citing that “there’s too much bitterness in it.” Her war was over, and she was determined to bury her family’s divisive past. —Stuart W. Sanders

Elizabeth KecklEy (1818–1907)

COURTESY OF THE MOORLAND-SPINGARN RESEARCH CENTER, HOWARD UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES HOWARD UNIVERSITY, WASHINGTON, D.C.; SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY; READING ROOM 2020/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

KENTUCKY DIGITAL ARCHIVE (2); DANA B. SHOAF COLLECTION/PHOTO BY MELISSA A. WINN; LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA

Born into slavery, subjected to humiliation, whippings, family separations, and rape, Elizabeth Keckley emerged from years of oppression (“the savage efforts to subdue my pride”) a woman of dignity, talent, ambition, and charity. After purchasing her own freedom, Keckley (spelled Keckly in some resources) became a dressmaker to elite White women. She styled herself a modisté—a skilled artisan of custom-made gowns, what we might today call designer fashion. In this capacity, she became not only the dressmaker to Mary Todd Lincoln, but also her close friend, traveling companion, and confidante from 1861 to 1868. Her 1868 memoir, Behind the Scenes, Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House, the first tell-all book about life inside the Executive Mansion, became a valuable source for historians and biographers. Her revelations included Mary’s political views, tensions in her marriage, and the Lincolns’ heartbreaking reaction to the death of son Willie in 1862. Keckley intended the book as a defense of Mary’s reputation following the “Old Clothes Scandal,” but miscalculated; Mary reacted with outrage to what she viewed as an invasion of her privacy. What has been ignored in the focus on the book as a source of understanding the Lincolns’ A Keckley Creation Keckley made this elaborate inner life are Keckley’s own wartime sacrifice (her soldier son gown for Mary Todd Lincoln—just one of many died at Wilson’s Creek) and her she designed for the First founding in 1862 of the ContraLady in happier times. band Relief Association, devoted under her leadership to helping some 40,000 former slaves who fled captivity and were living destitute in feculent refugee camps around Washington, D.C. Her activism included the establishment of a dressmaking school for freedwomen. Keckley’s unsung heroism lies in this: She was a resilient woman who, in the now unfashionable tradition of Booker T. Washington, struggled upward, crafted her own narrative, and refused to let racism and resentment define her self-image. —Frank J. Wetta

to Confederate aggression Call to Arms and attacks on pro-Southern A sketch depicting newspapers and sympathiza rally recruiting ers began. Henry continued Union soldiers outside to maintain order by effecHenry’s Philadelphia tively using the city’s police office. Despite his city’s force to keep pro-Union and Northern location, pro-Confederate groups from Henry had his hands rioting as they had in other quite full with proConfederate residents. cities in the North. He led efforts to recruit troops and to build up the fortifications of the city during the Antietam and Gettysburg campaigns despite an indifferent response from the citizenry. Elected to a third term in 1863, Henry continued to serve the city honorably to the end of the war. He declined to run a fourth time but served the city in other public functions until his death in 1883. —Theodore J. Zeman NOVEMBER 2021

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Andrew D. Lytle (1834–1917)

The War in Pictures Lytle stayed busy taking photos for both sides. This early one shows boats anchored at Baton Rouge’s dock.

Born April 4, 1834, photographer Andrew D. Lytle became proficient in the daguerreotype process in the mid-1850s while at William Southgate Porter’s Art Palace in Cincinnati. The Ohio native later traveled through the South before establishing a permanent studio in Baton Rouge, La., in 1857. At the outset of the Civil War, Lytle began creating portraits of Confederate soldiers in the Louisiana capital. “Lytle’s gallery is crowded every day with ‘our boys,’ getting their pictures before leaving home for the wars,” proclaimed Baton Rouge’s Daily Advocate. When Federal forces occupied Baton Rouge in May 1862, Lytle—a true entrepreneur—began working professionally with the Union Army and Navy, taking photographs of military encampments that had been set up on the northern edge of town, among other locations. For Rear Admiral David Farrugut’s fleet, now patrolling the Mississippi River along the capital city, Lytle would move his equipment to the waterfront to take photos. He was even given an opportunity to do his work aboard some of Farragut’s vessels. Taking advantage of a special pact with the U.S. military, Lytle acquired supplies and chemicals from the New York firm of E.&H.T. Anthony. There was speculation, however, that Lytle was working clandestinely as a Confederate spy, something Union authorities apparently didn’t suspect. In 1911, Lytle’s son, Howard, told a publisher that his father “used to signal with flag and lantern from the observation tower on the top of the ruins of the Baton Rouge capitol to Scott’s Bluff [farther up the river], whence the messages were relayed to the Confederates near New Orleans; but he found this provided such a tempting target for the Federal sharpshooters that he discontinued the practice.” Still in his adopted hometown, Lytle died in June 1917 at the age of 83 . Thankfully, today his rich photographs provide such an indispensable visual look at Civil War Baton Rouge. —Ron Field

A line of men wound up the path to Justice Richmond M. Pearson’s North Carolina home, there to plead their cases for exemption from conscription into the Confederate Army. Pearson usually accommodated them, initiating a showdown with Confederate leadership. Without a Confederate Supreme Court, the government had little redress. A graduate of the University of North Carolina and Justice Leonard Henderson’s law school, Pearson had been on the bench since 1836, and since 1849 on the state supreme court. A decade later, he was nominated chief justice. All the while, Pearson ran a law school from his home, Richmond Hill. Among his students were North Carolina Governor John Ellis, General Rufus Barringer, U.S. Congressman John Kerr Jr., and Confederate Congressman George W. Logan. Eventually three governors, 12 U.S. congressmen, and seven justices—along with seemingly countless state representatives—passed through his classroom. Despite his influence spanning decades, Pearson’s hostility to conscription impeded the Confederate armies. Pearson believed the law passed in 1862 allowed exemptions for certain men and gave all men the option of providing substitutes. In 1864,

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FATHER RYAN’S POEMS; NEW YORK FREEMAN’S JOURNAL; HARPER’S WEEKLY

(1805–1878)

COURTESY OF LSU LIBRARIES SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (2); NORTH CAROLINA HISTORY COLLECTION

Justice Richmond M. Pearson

Abram Joseph Ryan (1838–1886)

Dissenting Opinions Right: Confederate deserters. Richmond Pearson (opposite page) opposed Confederate conscription laws, frustrating Southern politicians and generals. FATHER RYAN’S POEMS; NEW YORK FREEMAN’S JOURNAL; HARPER’S WEEKLY

COURTESY OF LSU LIBRARIES SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (2); NORTH CAROLINA HISTORY COLLECTION

In Margaret Mitchell’s fictionalized account of wartime Atlanta, Gone With the Wind, Father Abram Ryan was a frequent visitor at the home of Melanie Wilkes. “He charmed gatherings there with his wit,” Mitchell wrote, “and seldom needed much urging to recite his ‘Sword of Lee’ or his deathless ‘Conquered Banner,’ which never failed to make the ladies cry.” The real-life Abram Joseph Ryan, known as the Poet Laureate of the Confederacy, was a Catholic priest and later a leading voice of Lost Cause ideology. A Way With Words Born February 5, 1838, in Hagerstown, Md., Ryan rarely masked his feelings. ”Furl that banner! softly, slowly Matthew Abraham Ryan soon moved with his – Treat it gently, it is holy...” he family to St. Louis. In 1855, after graduating wrote in The Conquered Banner. from the College of St. Mary’s of the Barrens, near Perryville, Mo., he entered the Vincentian order and was sent to the Seminary of Our Lady of the Angels near Niagara Falls, N.Y., where on September 12, 1860, he was ordained into the priesthood. Ryan, nevertheless, identified so strongly with the South that when Lincoln was inaugurated he changed his first name from Abraham to Abram. Feeling alienated in New York, Ryan asked his superiors to return him to St. Mary’s. Once criticized for not conducting services at the burial of a Union soldier, Ryan is said to have responded, “On the contrary, I would like to bury them all.” By April 1862, unable to express his support for the Confederacy, Ryan asked to be released from his oath and left his order to become a chaplain in the Army of Tennessee. His most famous poem, “The Conquered Banner,” was published in the New York Freeman’s Journal in June 1865. Its theme was the heroic martyrdom of the Confederate soldier, which came to define Lost Cause ideology and made its author the most popular poet in the South. —Thomas W. Cutrer

when the Confederacy suspended the writ of habeas corpus, Pearson refused to enforce the suspension and continued discharging those who applied for relief. Many generals, such as D.H. Hill and William Dorsey Pender, complained of Pearson’s actions, leading to dissension in other states. The chief justice survived the war, was elected when the state constitution changed in 1868, presided over the impeachment of Governor W.W. Holden in 1870, and was almost impeached himself. Yet he was well-loved by his former students in the General Assembly. Pearson’s role as both educator and jurist is often overlooked, but his impact on the war is undeniable. —Michael C. Hardy NOVEMBER 2021

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John H. Steele (1807–1871)

Thomas W. Cutrer, professor emeritus of history at Arizona State University, is a faculty associate at Texas A&M University–Texarkana. He is author of Theater of a Separate War: The Civil War West of the Mississippi River, 1861–1865.

Contributors Georgia system and the author/editor of eight books on the war, including Invisible Southerners: Ethnicity in the Civil War.

Stephen Davis is a member of America’s Civil War’s editorial advisory board and a frequent contributor to the magazine. He writes from Cumming, Ga.

Witness: The Civil War Through Photography and Its Photographers and Bluejackets: Uniforms of the United States Navy in the Civil War Period, 1852–1865.

Ron Field is a military historian, based in the United Kingdom, and author of more than 45 books, including Silent

Michael C. Hardy is the author of numerous books about the Civil War, including General Lee’s Immortals—A

History of the BranchLane Brigade. He volunteers at North Carolina’s Historic Richmond Hill Law School. Richard H. Holloway is a member of America’s Civil War’s editorial advisory board and a frequent contributor. He has written essays in Confederate

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COURTESY OF RICHARD HOLLOWAY; HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS

Anne J. Bailey is a retired professor of history in the University of

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; COURTESY OF STEPHEN DAVIS

Atlanta Landmarks Top: George Barnard took this photo of the Intelligencer’s office after Sherman captured Atlanta in September 1864. Above: Headstone of Steele and his wife in Atlanta’s Oakland Cemetery.

Edward Pollard of the Richmond Examiner, John Forsyth of the Mobile Advertiser, and a few others have long been regarded as the most distinguished editors of Confederate newspapers. John H. Steele of the Atlanta Daily Intelligencer must be included in that estimable echelon. Steele joined the paper in April 1862 and edited it from March 1863 until his death in 1871. During the war, he trumpeted Confederate patriotism, consoled his readers in dark times, and opined learnedly on political matters. During his tenure, the Intelligencer scolded President Jefferson Davis so soundly that Davis, in a speech at Macon, termed the editorialist “a scoundrel.” (Steele didn’t write the column, however—it was the Intelligencer’s associate editor. Nevertheless, Davis’ remark has made the history books.) During his wartime stint, Steele wrote both as editor and news commentator. He celebrated such Confederate victories as Chancellorsville and mourned the death of Stonewall Jackson. He put the best spin he could on Vicksburg. (“Let us never forget that our cause is in the hands of a just God, who will defend the right.”) He tried to encourage his readers as Joe Johnston retreated through northern Georgia in 1864. Steele also decided what stories went into his pages. Within the confines of Victorian morality, the Intelligencer reported the rape by Northern soldiers of a 17-year-old girl and described “the maniac gaze” of the troubled victim. He contended with slow mail service that brought him other papers (“exchanges,” a major source of news). He complained about ink and paper shortages that drove the Intelligencer to raise prices eight times during the war. And, of course, he excoriated the Yankees—“the fellows with cerulean abdomens or azure corporations.” —Stephen Davis

Peter Tait (1828–1890)

COURTESY OF RICHARD HOLLOWAY; HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; COURTESY OF STEPHEN DAVIS

A native Scotsman, Peter Tait moved to Limerick, Ireland, at a young age and married a local lass. Unsuccessful as a department store employee, he embarked on an entrepreneurial career that would bring him much business during war. He began selling shirts from a basket on his arm and by 1862 parlayed his success into advertising for 500 employees to help him run the business. Using the newly available Singer sewing machines, Tait developed a lucrative venture fulfilling military contracts for the British Army during the Crimean War, making more than 120,000 uniforms. In December 1863, Tait signed a contract with the Confederate government for 50,000 caps, greatcoats, jackets, trousers, shirts, blankets, boots, stockings, and haversacks. Tait also entered into a separate agreement to supply similar items to the state of Alabama a few months later. All these contracts had a particular hindrance to delivering the finished goods—the U.S. Navy had a very effective blockade of Southern ports. While Great Britain maintained its neutrality, a brisk sale of goods by its companies did make its way to the Southern states. To circumvent the blockade, Tait enlisted blockade runners such as Evelyn to transport his completed inventory to the Confederacy. After five successful runs, Evelyn departed in October 1864 and did not return until a year later. Another hired vessel, Condor, ran aground off North Carolina, but the supplies were recovered safely. Notably, famed spy Rose O’Neal Greenhow was on the same ship and drowned. Thousands of Tait’s items were worn throughout the South. His jackets were easily identifiable by the eight-button front equipped with brass buttons marked “P. Tait & Co., Limerick” on the back. Because of Tait’s dedication to quality workmanship and earnest efforts to have his uniforms delivered, the Confederate Army had some of the best-clothed soldiers on the field of battle. —Richard H. Holloway

Generals in the TransMississippi, Vol. 3 and Vicksburg Besieged. Christopher L. Kolakowski is director of the Wisconsin Veterans Museum in Madison. He has written and spoken on many aspects of military history from 1775 to the present and is the author of four

books on the Civil War and World War II.

the Army of the Trans-Mississippi.

Jeffery S. Prushankin is Visiting Professor of Civil War Era Studies at Pennsylvania’s Millersville University. He is author of A Crisis in Confederate Command: Edmund Kirby Smith, Richard Taylor, and

Henry Robertson, a South Carolina native, is the Hogan Family Professor of History at Louisiana College. Stuart W. Sanders, former executive director of the Perryville Battlefield Preservation

Superior Quality Above left: Peter Tait as postwar mayor of Limerick, Ireland. Above: An eight-button artillery jacket and two brass buttons from one of Tait’s Confederate uniforms.

Association, is author of the e-book Lincoln’s Confederate Little Sister: Emilie Todd Helm. Frank J. Wetta, author of The Louisiana Scalawags, is former Leverhulme British Commonwealth/United States Visiting Scholar, Keele University, United Kingdom.

Theodore J. Zeman received his Ph.D. from Temple University in 2000 under the direction of the late Russell F. Weigley. He currently teaches history at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and at Penn State University–Abington in Montgomery County, Pa. NOVEMBER 2021

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TwO-Front War General Charles Smith’s distinguished military career nearly unraveled in Paducah, Ky.— the “victim of a base conspiracy”

COURTESY OF WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY

By Allen H. Mesch

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rom his early days at the U.S. Military Academy, Ulysses S. Grant placed Charles Ferguson Smith in elite company. “I regarded General [Winfield] Scott and Captain C.F. Smith…as the two men most to be envied in the nation,” Grant would write in his Personal Memoirs. “I retained a high regard for both up to the day of their death.” Grant graduated in West Point’s Class of 1843, the same year Smith— 15 years his senior—completed his term as the academy’s commandant of cadets. The two served together during the Mexican War, but their military careers soon headed in abruptly different directions. By the outbreak of the Civil War, Smith had become one of the U.S. Army’s most celebrated officers. Grant, meanwhile, having left the service in disgrace in July 1854, was working at his father’s tanning business in Galena, Ill. Although the Civil War provided the two a welcome reunion in the Western Theater, it would prove brief and painful. Smith died in April 1862 due to complications from a freak injury suffered while he was jumping into a boat in Savannah, Tenn. Grant, of course, eventually became the Union Army’s top general and finally engineered Northern victory in 1865. How different the outcome would have been had Smith survived his wound is one of the war’s many intriguing unknowns.

COURTESY OF WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY

n the late summer of 1861, Grant and Smith were both serving in the Department of the West—Grant, a brigadier general, as commander of the District of Southeastern Missouri; Smith, a brevet brigadier, the District of Western Kentucky. Based in Cairo, Ill., Grant learned on September 6 that a Confederate force under Brig. Gen. Gideon Pillow had occupied Columbus, Ky., and was preparing to attack nearby Paducah. Grant informed Department of the West commander Maj. Gen. John C. Frémont of Pillow’s invasion and announced he “was taking steps to secure” Paducah. Without Frémont’s approval, however, he headed downriver with a force of two gunboats, three steamboats, two regiments under Brig. Gen. Eleazer Paine and Colonel John McArthur, and four light artillery pieces. Paducah would fall without a struggle when the small defending force under Brig. Occupiers Gen. Lloyd Tilghman fled rather than conUnion troops front Grant. To the alarmed residents, assemble at the Grant promptly read a proclamation of northern terminus of the peace and also instructed his men “to take Mobile & Ohio Railroad during the September special care and precaution that no harm is 1861 occupation of done to inoffensive citizens.” Paducah, Ky., in Placing the city under Paine’s command, a sketch published Grant returned to Cairo. Paine, however, in Frank Leslie’s disregarded Grant’s orders. Considering Illustrated Newspaper. Paducah a conquered town, he treated the pro-Confederate locals harshly, arresting several citizens and allowing his undisciplined volunteer troops to commit robbery and vandalism. Some residents resorted to sabotage, even poisoning wells used by soldiers and cutting telegraph lines. Transferred from his command at Fort Columbus, N.Y., in August, Smith was soon given command of the District of Western Kentucky and replaced Paine at Paducah. The new commander relented that the locals were in “hot secession,” but he would be treated in a better light by them by his decision to treat them fairly. That at least put an end to the rampant pillaging and stealing.

Smith’s first few days at Paducah were marked by a flurry of activity as he organized his command and prepared for a potential attack by Pillow’s Confederates. Everyone was “exhorted to learn and discharge their duties” and, soldiers were ordered to “sleep on their arms.” Smith conceded that his men did not look “much like soldiers, but he thought they might prove to be excellent.” Still, he complained that he had only two officers from whom he could expect any assistance: Paine and Major Joseph D. Webster. Pleased with Smith’s posting, Grant finally had the opportunity to meet his former mentor at Paducah on September 30. Ironically, by virtue of his earlier appointment, Grant was Smith’s superior officer, which made for a potentially awkward situation. A nervous Grant later admitted to shrinking “like a modest schoolboy” in anticipation of the meeting. Even though he outranked Smith, Grant said, “It does not seem quite right for me to give [him] orders.” To Smith’s credit, the reversal in position never bothered him. He expressed pride in his former pupil. At their meeting, Smith and Grant discussed plans for both “defense or attack,” and when it had finished, Grant revealed that his admiration and esteem of Smith was even greater because “there was not the slightest trace of jealousy or disappointment in [his] manner.” Their “private and personal conferences” would only increase their friendship, he noted.

mith’s brand of discipline did impact his rough-hewn volunteers, but after two months of training many realized the general was teaching them valuable combat skills. A colonel admitted to Smith: “The boys didn’t like [you] much at first; thought you were too damned strict; but they think it all right now and say you are just the person they want to make them soldiers.” Nevertheless, newer recruits were quick to challenge Smith’s authority, leading to what would be the most difficult period of his military career. The adversity was spurred by a Paducah resident’s decision to express his political sentiments, which blossomed into a near-mutiny among one of Smith’s regiments. As reported in The St. Louis Democrat, a secessionist known only as Woolfolk had hung a Rebel flag out a window and had “hurrahed for Jeff Davis” as Union troops passed his house. When reported to Smith, he elected not NOVEMBER 2021

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move past the incident as quickly as possible in order to prepare his men for potential fighting. Desiring to treat the officers and soldiers of the 11th Indiana in a “kindly spirit,” he decided to use the event as a teaching opportunity. Smith denounced “the transaction as a great violation of good order and military discipline,” believing that after consideration, the guilty parties would recognize the violation’s seriousness. “In this spirit the Commanding General appeals to the intelligence of officers and soldiers to know that he is sent here by the Government as the protector of a loyal State, which, though occupied by rebel armies, is not an enemy’s country,” Smith said, “and that success requires him by the patient exercise of moderation, obedience, and charity to earn that character from both friends and foes.” Smith asked the soldiers to demonstrate “by their conduct in the future, their gentleness to friends, and their moderation towards unarmed enemies, living under the shadow of our flag,” the “necessity of order and are willing to enforce it.”

mith, however, was now fighting on two fronts: internal attacks on his loyalty by fellow officers and politicians and external threats to his command by Confederate forces. In late November, U.S. Rep. Lucian Anderson (Ky.) and a colleague presented a list of complaints “relative to the management and control of the Army of the U.S. at this place” to Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, Department of the Missouri commander. They cited four examples of Smith’s mismanagement: 1) failure to send U.S. troops to rescue a Union man who was later killed by a “band of murderers”; 2) delay in confiscating wheat and hogs that were being sent to Confederate troops in Columbus; 3) refusal to confiscate hogs being purchased by Confederate agents; and 4) actions associated with removal of the Confederate flag from Woolfolk’s house. “Unless some changes are made here,” Anderson warned, “bad results will certainly flow, for the soldiers...are almost prepared to rise against the policy which has thus far been pursued.” Halleck forwarded Anderson’s accusations to Smith. The general barely had time to respond when new condemnations appeared in the papers. Reported The Chicago Tribune: “General Charles F. Smith, in command of the Federal forces at Paducah, has been making an ass of himself, which is stating the case mildly.” The Tribune claimed under Smith’s weak rule, Union troops had “been subjected to gross insults from disloyal residents, with no chance given to them to fight back.” In an early December edition, the Tribune added that Smith was “exceedingly unpopular both with the officers and men,” and accused him “of sympathizing with the rebels and refusing to aid Union men who have been driven from their homes, and whose property has been plundered by the secesh.” An editorial in the Cincinnati Commercial

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Growing Fame Ulysses Grant began the war as colonel of the 21st Illinois, and in July 1861 was promoted to brigadier general, as shown here.

Civic Unrest The source of controversy for General Smith was this house in Paducah, still standing, where a local secessionist named Woolfolk hung a Confederate flag out a window and harassed Union troops as they passed in the street.

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to interfere. According to the paper, Smith’s failure to stop this demonstration “caused great indignation among the troops, and doubts of his loyalty were freely expressed...” When Woolfolk’s actions were reported to Brig. Gen. Lew Wallace, one of Smith’s subordinates, Wallace sent his aide-de-camp and a squad of soldiers to order Woolfolk to take down the “traitorous flag” and “erect the Stars and Stripes over his house.” Woolfolk refused, and appealed to Smith for assistance. After Wallace’s aide did as instructed, one of Smith’s men arrived and ordered the Union flag taken down. The order was refused, Wallace telling Smith the flag should not be lowered “while there was a live man in his brigade.” Worse for Smith, Paine supported Wallace’s actions and leaped on the opportunity to embarrass his commander. As the Democrat concluded: “The affair has created intense excitement among the soldiers, and Wallace’s insubordination is enthusiastically approved.” The flagrant noncompliance dismayed Smith. Not only had the officers, belonging to the 11th Indiana, refused to obey his orders, they had also violated Grant’s directive not to harm “inoffensive citizens.” In Smith’s view, Wallace was guilty of failing to control his officers and soldiers and enforce Grant’s orders. Although the behavior of the Indianans bordered on mutiny, Smith realized he needed to

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likewise blamed Smith for failing to capture Columbus during the Battle of Belmont on November 7, 1861, claiming, “in all the action of that General he favors Secession.” Smith labeled the attacks “scurrilous and malignant articles.” Some of his friends—“the true soldiers of the camp”—began a vigorous writing campaign to the newspapers on his behalf. The accusations and innuendo had their intended effect, though. Smith’s confirmation as brigadier general was delayed in the Senate, and Halleck was forced to investigate. Major General George McClellan, the Union Army’s general-in-chief, gave Halleck the authority to remove Smith from command if deemed necessary. Before acting, Halleck sent a delegation of officers to Paducah to inspect Smith’s post and assess its condition. The officers reported back that Smith’s whole command was in excellent condition and that his forces were “in the best discipline & order of any one in the department,” saying the problems between Smith and his subordinates were caused by others and not Smith. Convinced there were “no real grounds of complaint” against Smith—certainly none “sufficient to justify his withdrawal”—Halleck told McClellan that Smith was “the victim of a base conspiracy among his own subordinates.” Smith was relieved when Grant’s command was redesignated the District of Cairo and Paine was given command of Union forces at Bird’s Point, Mo. “What a howling on one side, what a rejoicing on the other,” Smith noted with glee. “There never was a more crestfallen man in the world than when he [Paine] received the order to leave here and go to the Bird’s Point…[a] very hell hole.” The general noted his pleasure that while Paine Far West Command and his “companions in iniquity” were enjoying the prospect of After serving in Albert Sidney Johnston’s Utah Paine replacing him at Paducah, a “shell fell in their midst.” Expedition in 1857, C.F. Smith commanded the Still plagued, though, by rumors and accusations, Smith on Department of Utah until the outset of the Civil War. December 26 responded formally to each of the charges of command mismanagement against him. The first had cited his “failure” to send troops to rescue from civilian authorities an imprisoned soldiers should generally conduct themselves. Union man in nearby Mayfield, later killed by a “band of murderers.” Colonel George W. Cullum, Halleck’s chief engineer and aide-de-camp, reassured the Calling it a “private broil” and noting that the “Union” man was justifiably in a local jail for murdering a judge, Smith said he chose not to send beleaguered Smith he enjoyed Halleck’s confia force based merely on a supposition. He also noted that neither Paine dence and support of “your old army friends nor Wallace “importuned me to send out” a force, and fumed at claims here.” The general, Cullum reported, “defended he preferred to protect secessionists and not unionists, declaring, “This your reputation and protected you against the imputation on my loyalty is an unmitigated calumny and falsehood. political cabal in Kentucky and Washington.” According to the second charge, Smith had refused to act on Paine’s Complaining, “I have long known that a base request to remove supplies intended for Rebel forces at Columbus until conspiracy was on foot...to remove [me] from he could “get some proper grounds for action.” In response, Smith command and place General Paine in charge,” charged Paine with spending too much time investigating the loyalties Smith branded anyone who questioned his loyof people in Paducah to the “neglect of his military duties.” Many of the alty “an unmitigated liar and scoundrel.” arrests based on Paine’s assertions were discharged, he noted. Smith The accusations were the low points of his also cited Paine’s failure to obey orders to destroy a mill and bring its military career. Smith, in fact, continued to flour and grain to Paducah. function under a black cloud until his success To the third charge—that he “failed to send and seize all the hogs in in battle propelled Grant’s capture of Fort Union county Kentucky”—Smith noted he did not have enough cavalry Donelson in February 1862. And then, just two to authorize such an expedition or to send a large enough force of infanmonths later, he was gone. try to secure the animals, as it would weaken his defenses at Paducah. The final charge concerned Smith’s involvement in the 11th Indiana’s Allen H. Mesch writes from Plano, Texas. He is the author of Teacher of Civil War Generflag-raising incident at the secessionist Woolfolk’s house. Smith called als: Major General Charles Ferguson Smith, it a sad affair, meant “merely to annoy the family.” He enclosed his Soldier and West Point Commandant (2015). order commenting on the 11th Indiana’s behavior and explaining how NOVEMBER 2021

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Front Royal, Va.

Kith & Kin

the only time in U.S. military history that two regiments of the same numerical designation and from the same state have engaged one another in battle. The fight was literally brother against brother, when Captain William Goldsborough of the 1st Maryland Infantry CSA captured his brother Charles Goldsborough of the 1st Maryland Infantry USA and took him prisoner. Fighting continued through the streets until nearly 700 Federal troops surrendered after a failed last stand on the edge of town, which also left Kenly wounded. Visitors can follow a driving path tour of nearly a dozen Civil War Trails signs through town and around, with detailed action and accounts of the fighting that took place here. Majestic views of the Shenandoah will captivate you, and charming historic homes and buildings make it easy to imagine the shocking impact on the townspeople here when thousands of troops literally brought the war to their doorsteps. —Melissa A. Winn

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PHOTOS BY MELISSA A. WINN (3)

Trailside is produced in partnership with Civil War Trails Inc., which connects visitors to lesser-known sites and allows them to follow in the footsteps of the great campaigns. Civil War Trails has to date 1,552 sites across five states and produces more than a dozen maps. Visit civilwartrails.org and check in at your favorite sign #civilwartrails.

In the spring of 1862, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s 48-day Shenandoah Valley Campaign sought to retain control of the heart of the Confederacy. “If the Valley is lost, Virginia is lost,” he claimed, and many in the South believed if Virginia was lost, the Confederacy was doomed. Following a Confederate victory at McDowell on May 8, the second battle of the campaign, Union Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks, in control of the Northern Valley, sent 1,000 men under the command of Colonel John R. Kenly, mostly 1st Maryland Infantry USA, to Front Royal to cover his left flank. On the morning of May 23, Jackson rode ahead of his 17,000-man army to scout a concealed route to Front Royal. With an insider tip from a Warren County native in his ranks, Jackson ordered the 1st Maryland Infantry CSA to lead his army into town on a lesser-known road. After successfully sneaking past Federal pickets on the outskirts of town, men from both armies confronted each other at the Court House. It’s

PHOTO BY MELISSA A. WINN

UNION AND CONFEDERATE 1ST MARYLANDERS BATTLED HERE WITH CONTROL OF THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY AT STAKE

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Court House 1 E. Main St. As Colonel Bradley Johnson’s 1st Maryland Infantry CSA confronted Colonel John Kenly’s 1st Maryland Infantry USA, the street fighting grew especially hot here, between the Warren County Court House and the Confederate military hospital just across the street. When Federal troops delivered “hot musketry fire” from the windows of one of the hospital buildings, General Richard Ewell asked Johnson, “Can you take that building?” He replied, “Yes, sir, in five minutes.” The building was secured in less than three minutes. The tide of battle then flowed from the courthouse area north. House-to-house fighting ensued as the Federals retreated to Richardson’s Hill.

Asbury Chapel 123 Windy Meadows Ct. Asbury Chapel (now Asbury United Methodist Church) was built in 1848. On May 23, at 8 a.m., the Confederate advance halted here before Maj. Gen. Stonewall Jackson ordered them into town via a concealed road, today’s Rocky Lane. The church was used as a field hospital after the Battle of Front Royal. In 1916, when the building was dismantled, floorboards stained with blood were discovered. The church’s congregation completed the present structure in 1917, using mostly original materials.

Bel Air 5597 Bel Air Ave.

Prospect Hill Cemetery

PHOTOS BY MELISSA A. WINN (3)

PHOTO BY MELISSA A. WINN

200 E. Prospect St. When Confederate artillery reached this high point, they could see the whole field of battle and local legend says Stonewall Jackson watched part of the battle from here. The monument here to Mosby’s Rangers was erected in 1899 by the survivors of Mosby’s command as a memorial to the seven Rangers executed by Union cavalry in Front Royal in September 1864. The monument is flanked by two 30-pounder Parrott Rifles.

Built in 1795, the Buck family mansion was about a quarter of a mile outside Front Royal, and witness to the battle there. Lucy Buck, an avid diarist, lived in the mansion with her family. Her journal documented the impact of the war on civilians, including on her own family. A number of slaves also lived here, and many of them selfemancipated during the war. In the summer of 1863, Lucy wrote: “Ma told me that the [household slaves] had all left in the night and carried our three horses with them. Laura and I went to milk the cows while Ma, Grandma, and Nellie cleaned the house, got the breakfast, and dressed the children.”

Richardson’s Hill Royal and 15th Streets Atop this “cherty” ridge, as Stonewall Jackson called it, Colonel John Kenly posted the two-cannon section of Knap’s Battery E, Pennsylvania Light Artillery. The 10-pounder Parrott rifles pinned down the Confederates on the plain below while Kenly’s infantry gathered here to support the guns. “I prepared to hold the position as long as possible,” Kenly later wrote. Surrounded by Confederates not long after taking their stand, however, Kenly ordered a retreat north across the forks of the Shenandoah River.

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1. Asbury Chapel 2. Court House 3. Prospect Hill Cemetery 4. Bel Air 5. Richardson’s Hill 6. The Bridges 7. Guard Hill 8. Fairview 9. Belle Boyd Cottage and the Laura Virginia Hale Archives

The Bridges Royal Avenue Flanked out of his position on Richardson’s Hill, Kenly hurried his men north to the bridges spanning the forks of the Shenandoah River. The Front Royal Turnpike Bridge stood at this spot on the South Fork; with the Manassas Gap Railroad bridge just east. As the Federals crossed, the 1st Maryland Infantry CSA pressed their rear while Louisiana troops attacked the flanks. Kenly ordered the bridges burned to thwart pursuit, but the Louisianans charged in to beat out the flames. The old bridge embankments that stood during the war can still be seen.

Guard Hill Riverton Landing Pursued by the 8th Louisiana Infantry, Kenly’s rear guard occupied Guard Hill just west of here. The prominence of Guard Hill offered him a good position to slow down the Southern advance. Lieutenant Charles Atwell’s guns held off the Rebels for nearly an hour, despite being shelled by Captain John A. Lusk’s battery from Atwell’s former position on Richardson’s Hill. When Kenly rode forward to check the progress of his bridge-burning orders, he found “the river below...alive with horsemen [i.e., the 6th Virginia Cavalry] crossing” at two points. Kenly ordered a retreat. The site of Guard Hill is today a park and picnic area.

Fairview 7181 Winchester Rd. Located along Winchester Highway, “Fairview” was the wartime home of Thomas McKay. Here, Kenly rallied his 1st Maryland for a futile last stand. General Stonewall Jackson had ordered Colonel Thomas S. Flournoy’s 6th Virginia Cavalry in pursuit as Kenly’s troops retreated from Guard Hill. As Kenly tried to deploy his men, they were overrun by Flournoy’s troopers, unable to fix bayonets or form a front. Kenly ordered the 5th New York Cavalry to countercharge, but it was too late. The 6th Virginia’s charge, which Jackson later said was the most gallant and effective he had seen, overwhelmed Kenly’s force, which soon surrendered. Kenly would be wounded and captured. The Battle of Front Royal was over.

The famed Confederate spy Belle Boyd lived in this house with her aunt and uncle early in the Civil War. In May 1982 the Warren Heritage Society moved the structure to this site from its original location behind 317 East Main Street. Belle’s information on Union troop dispositions helped General Stonewall Jackson win the Battle of Front Royal.

PHOTOS BY MELISSA A. WINN (4)

Belle Boyd Cottage and the Laura Virginia Hale Archives 101 Chester Street

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TODAY IN HISTORY AUGUST 8, 1974 PRESIDENT RICHARD M. NIXON ANNOUNCED HIS RESIGNATION. UNDER SUBPOENA THE NIXON WHITE HOUSE RELEASED TAPES OF PHONE CONVERSATIONS TO THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE ON AUGUST 5, 1974. THE MOST DAMNING PIECE OF EVIDENCE OBTAINED WAS THE INFAMOUS “SMOKING GUN” TAPE, WHICH DOCUMENTED THE EARLY STAGES OF THE WATERGATE COVERUP. NIXON ACCEPTED BLAME FOR HIS ROLE IN THE COVERUP, CITING A MEMORY LAPSE REGARDING WHITE HOUSE INVOLVEMENT. For more, visit WWW.HISTORYNET.COM/ TODAY-IN-HISTORY

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5 QUESTIONS

Interview by Nancy Tappan

Lincoln never lost his sense of curiosity and philosophical approach to life, even at the war’s darkest moments.

no eye for the magnificence and grandeur of the scene—for the rapids, the mist, the angry waters and the roar of the whirlpool.” According to Herndon, Lincoln was “heedless of beauty or awe.” Obviously, Herndon didn’t know him so well, because the whole point of the fragment is to show Lincoln’s understanding of beauty and awe. That’s why I argue that there was a private Lincoln behind the public Lincoln we meet in the traditional biographies.

Abraham Lincoln is, justifiably, considered the greatest orator among all American presidents. But while his speeches are well-known, Lincoln’s lifelong habit of scribbling notes for his eyes only is less celebrated. Although many of these private notes were believed lost, several were found after Lincoln’s death by his secretaries John Nicolay and John Hay, who included them in their 10-volume Abraham Lincoln: A History. In Lincoln in Private: What His Most Personal Reflections Tell Us About Our Greatest President (Penguin Random House, 2021), Ronald C. White Jr. examines these surviving notes and invites readers to draw their own conclusions on how Lincoln felt about the great issues of his day and how he found the courage to ask his fellow countrymen to accept a new America.

Among the surviving note fragments is one from 1848, during Lincoln’s lone term in Congress, about a visit to Niagara Falls. Talk about how this panegyric to America’s first tourist attraction illuminates his private character and thought processes. One of the book’s purposes is to show the wider range of Lincoln’s thinking and writing. We think of him as very logical and rational, which he was, but his visit to Niagara Falls prompted him to write about it in terms that I would call lyrical or poetic. It almost sounds like Henry David Thoreau. Lincoln scholars know about this passage because of a comment made by Lincoln’s longtime law partner in Springfield, Ill., William Herndon, who claimed, “I know Lincoln better than anyone.” Lincoln’s commentary about the Falls left Herndon unmoved. “He had

Lincoln rarely let his emotions show in public, but the notes occasionally reveal his true feelings. While debating Stephen Douglas, he purchases “Slavery Ordained by God,” a book by Alabama minister Frederick Augustus Ross, compiling the biblical arguments being used to justify slavery. Lincoln never mentions the book during the debate, but in a note to himself about it, you can feel his anger rising. “As a

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A New Side of Lincoln

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Another note you highlight, offering practical advice for new lawyers, is a window into Lincoln’s ambitions. You differ with biographers about when it was written. What was his intention? Remember that Lincoln spent 24 years as a lawyer, only 12 as a politician. He returned from Congress in 1849 and was a fulltime lawyer for the next five years, spending much of his time traveling in Illinois’ 8th Judicial Circuit—an area twice the size of Connecticut. Many aspiring lawyers wanted to study with Lincoln, but as he was out on the circuit 175 or 185 days a year, I think he concluded he didn’t have time to tutor law students. This fragment tells us how Lincoln defines himself. It begins: “I am not an accomplished lawyer. I find quite as much material for a lecture in those points where I have failed as in those where I have been moderately successful.” This tells us a great deal about Lincoln’s character. He was an accomplished lawyer. Can you imagine a present-day leader, a CEO, a college president, saying, “I find quite as much material in points where I have failed?” He’s willing to say, “I learned from my own failures.” This is why Lincoln, although fully a 19th-century person, still speaks to us today.

5 QUESTIONS good thing slavery is peculiar. It is the only good thing which no man seeks the good of for himself. Nonsense! Wolves devouring lambs not because it is good for their own greedy maws but because it is good for the lambs!!!”

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After getting elected, Lincoln continued his practice of writing down his thoughts. One fragment that survives from the period between November 1860 and his inauguration in March 1861 refers to correspondence with future Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens. Lincoln hoped to convince Stephens to oppose secession. How? Lincoln and Stephens were friends in Congress. Learning Stephens had spoken against secession, he thought, ‘Well, here is a moderate Southerner he could persuade to join his Cabinet.’ So he writes Stephens: “Do the people of the South really entertain fears that a Republican administration would directly, or indirectly, interfere with their slaves, or with them, about their slaves? If they do, I wish to assure you, as once a friend, and still, I hope, not an enemy, that there is no cause for such fears....You think slavery is right and ought to be extended; while we think it is wrong and ought to be restricted. That I suppose is the rub. It certainly is the only substantial difference between us.” Stephens warns Lincoln that using military force to hold the Union together would be “nothing short of a consolidated despotism.” He implores the president-elect to “do what you want to save our common country.” Stephens quotes Proverbs: “A word fitly spoken by you would be like ‘apples of gold in pictures of silver.’” Lincoln does not reply, but in a fragment about preserving the Union, he writes about Stephens’ use of the metaphor. Lincoln muses that the reference could be used in an analogy about the Republic’s founding principles. Considered the more valuable metal, gold refers to the Declaration of Independence, which declares that all men are equal. Lincoln sees the reference to silver, secondary in value, as related to the Constitution. He concludes that the central principle of the American system is the Declaration’s demand for “liberty for all.” This he saw as a rebuke to slavery and led him to a final split with Stephens.

Although the date it was written is debated, one of the most notable fragments from Lincoln’s presidency was apparently composed at a time of great crisis, possibly early September 1862. Can you explain the significance of the note, known now as the “Meditation on the Divine Will”? In every aspect of Lincoln’s life, he’s on a journey. Scholars, however, have not delved deeply into his journey toward faith. In his youth, he rejected the evangelical fervor of the

Baptist Church his parents attended. But his attitude toward religion changed as a result of life experiences, including his grief over the death of his second son, Eddie, in 1850 and the death of his third son, Willie, in 1862. He was also deeply affected by the crucible of the Civil War. Lincoln began to ask himself about the meaning of God in the midst of this horrible bloodshed. He begins more frequently to walk through Lafayette Park to New York Avenue Presbyterian Church for worship services. The minister, Phineas Densmore Gurley, I think is the missing person in the Lincoln story in Washington. After the Union defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run, Lincoln convenes an emergency Cabinet meeting. Three of those present kept diaries, and one of them, Attorney General Edward Bates, wrote that Lincoln told the gathering that “he was struck with so much anguish he felt almost like hanging himself.” I think the president took the afternoon of September 2, 1862, and sat down to write this remarkable document. One lingering question about Lincoln concerns his religion. In his Second Inaugural, he mentions God 14 times, quotes the Bible four times, and invokes prayer three times in 701 words. Some scholars have argued that this was not really Lincoln but a shrewd politician using the language of an audience he knew was religiously oriented. So how do we answer that question? I think the answer is contained in what Hay called the “Meditation on the Divine Will.” At the outset of this fragment, we hear the logical Lincoln: “In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time. In the present Civil War it is quite possible that God’s purpose is something different from the purposes of either party….I am almost ready White to say that this is probably true—that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet.” At the end of the fragment, Lincoln writes these remarkable words: “He could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest…and having begun, He could give the final victory to either side on any day.” Do we understand why he never made this public? Lincoln is suggesting that God could give the final victory as easily to the Confederates as to the Union. I think this fragment is a remarkable signpost on Lincoln’s faith journey. On the date of the Second Inaugural, no one is aware this document exists. In Chapter 10, I compare the major arguments of the Meditation and those of the Second Inaugural. You see how absolutely parallel they are to one another. It’s one of the most significant fragments in helping us understand the private Lincoln behind the public Lincoln. To read the full interview, go to bit.ly/PrivateLincoln NOVEMBER 2021

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REVIEWS Early Morning Bloodshed Army of the Potomac troops try to cross the Rappahannock River into Fredericksburg under fire the morning of December 13, 1862.

Transformed Lives the far-reaching impact of a single battle. “More concerned with the personal than the political,” author John Matteson eschews history on the grand scale for a view shaped by the experiences of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., John Pelham, Walt Whitman, Arthur Fuller, and Louisa May Alcott. Matteson follows the five from Antietam through the Union debacle at Fredericksburg three months later, arguing that we “would now inhabit a different nation” had each of these individuals not been transformed by their witness to the war’s slaughter. Today Holmes, Alcott, and Whitman are familiar names; Pelham and Fuller, neither of whom survived the war, less so. John Pelham commanded J.E.B. Stuart’s “horse” artillery and played a key role in the Confederate repulse of the Union assaults on Marye’s Heights at Fredericksburg. Christened the “perfect lion” by a biographer, Pelham met an early death, at 25, at Kelly’s Ford in March 1863 and in Matteson’s telling became “a unique icon” reminding Southerners then (and now) that “the war had not been horrible, but courtly and glorious.”

A Worse Place Than Hell: How the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg Changed a Nation By John Matteson W.W. Norton & Company, 2021, $35

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A Worse Place Than Hell is a cogent, elegantly written examination of

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REVIEWS Arthur Fuller, younger brother of the Transcendentalist luminary Margaret, was a chaplain for the 16th Massachusetts at Fredericksburg. About to be sent home due to his failing health, he chose instead to join Union troops crossing the Rappahannock and was killed by a Rebel sniper. “Much less an icon than an emblem,” Matteson argues, Fuller “believed the war could be fought on ethical terms,” despite growing evidence to the contrary. Whitman was drawn to the Virginia battlefield in search of his wounded brother, George. After witnessing the battle’s human costs, the poet traveled to Washington to spend the remainder of the war caring for wounded Union soldiers. His experience, suggests the author, restored his vision of America and, by the poet’s own admission, had a greater impact on him than any other of his life. Alcott’s direct contact with the war was limited to six weeks in Washington, working as a nurse in a Union hospital beginning in December 1862. While there she treated many of the Fredericksburg casualties before contracting typhoid and being forced to return home. Matteson maintains that Alcott’s brief experience at the hospital lent an air of reality to Little Women that was largely absent from other contemporary children’s literature. The thrice-wounded Holmes was at Fredericksburg but unable to fight. His service, writes Matteson, taught Holmes that people “live amid largely random forces.” How the law could and should respond to this uncertainty would become the question animating his jurisprudence. All five, Matteson concludes, “tried to find a core of virtue that could balance and justify the evil….The war drove a thinking person in one of two directions.” For Whitman and Alcott, their time in Union hospitals “led them toward a redoubled insistence on the necessity of community and compassion.” Holmes, on the other hand, “came to see all of life in terms of power and struggle.” Matteson’s excellent book offers a fresh approach to Civil War studies. May it inspire other scholars to follow his path. —Rick Beard

UNIT HISTORIES The eagerness of African Americans to contribute to the effort to preserve the Union enabled the U.S. government to tap a rich and invaluable source of manpower for its armies. Upon receiving authorization from the War Department to do so in early 1863, Massachusetts Governor John Andrew wasted little time raising a regiment of African American soldiers that would win fame as the 54th Massachusetts Infantry. Although not yet 20, in March 1863 Luis F. Emilio joined the regiment’s all-white officer corps as a second lieutenant. Both his and the 54th Massachusetts’ most famous moment came a few months later, with Emilio temporarily ascending to command of the regiment during the July 1863 assault on Fort Wagner that would provide the climactic scene in the 1989 film Glory. After publishing an account of the fight at Fort Wagner in 1887, Emilio decided to write a full history of the 54th Massachusetts. In the time since its publication (the first edition came out in 1891; three years later an expanded and revised edition appeared), Emilio’s study has been recognized as a work of value and importance by students of the war. Glory may have ended with Fort Wagner and the death of Robert Gould Shaw, but Emilio shows there was much more to the regiment’s story. After chronicling its organization, he describes its trip to South Carolina and initial operations. He then offers a full account of the assault on A Brave Black Fort Wagner and siege operations on Regiment: Morris Island that followed before The History of the 54th Massachusetts, describing how the regiment traveled to Florida in early 1864 to fight at 1863-1865 Olustee and afterward returned to By Luis F. Emilio South Carolina to participate in operBoston Book Company, ations highlighted by actions at Honey 1894 [CreateSpace Independent Publishing, Hill and Boykin’s Mills. 2017, $7.99] Emilio’s extensive research and keen eye for detail enabled him to provide compelling accounts not just of operations, but the controversy over pay and ordeals members of the unit endured as prisoners of war as well. Still, this remains very much a traditional military history told more from the perspective of an officer than the men in the ranks and leaves the modern reader wanting to know more about the latter—their motivations, perspectives, prewar and postwar experiences, and what these tell us about them and their times. For all the undeniable merits of Emilio’s book, Glory, and Russell Duncan’s scholarship on Shaw, there remains much more to be said about this “brave black regiment.” —Ethan S. Rafuse NOVEMBER 2021

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REVIEWS From Arlington to Appomattox: Robert E. Lee’s Civil War Day by Day, 1861-1865 By Charles R. Knight Savas Beatie, 2021, $39.95

IT’S BEEN A HALF-CENTURY since Earl Schenck Miers’ Lincoln Day by Day was published, but finally Robert E. Lee has been accorded the same scholarly attention. Richmond native Charles Knight focuses here on General Lee’s activities from April 17, 1861, to April 15, 1865, earning a nod from the inestimable Robert K. Krick, who rightly calls this “a gigantic piece of research.” Thanks to Savas Beatie’s happy practice of printing footnotes, one quickly sees evidence of Knight’s prodigious sleuthing. He draws on the Official Records, of course, but also hundreds of published works, as well as manuscripts at three dozen repositories across the land. Obviously, some entries are longer than others (e.g., Dec. 13, 1862—Fredericksburg, including a couple of dangerous shell blasts). Each daily account notes the general’s whereabouts. Often Knight even offers info on the weather that day. And what do we learn about Marse Robert? A lot of things, big and small. On September 19, 1864, for example, Lee wrote President Jefferson Davis, suggesting that General P.G.T. Beauregard should replace Hood as commander of the Army of Tennessee. (Davis did not reply.) On Christmas Day 1862, when E. Porter Alexander called upon headquarters, Lee gave Alexander’s teenage servant $1 as a gift. Even a casual perusal of such entries puts one in the famous general’s company. Benet called Lee “the marble man”; Knight effectively de-lapidifies him. The Robert E. Lee bookshelf boasts the works of D.S. Freeman, Emory Thomas, Margaret Sanborn, and plenty of others. From Arlington to Appomattox now joins that laudable library. —Stephen Davis 62

It’s uncertain whether Horace Greeley actually ever said, “Go West young man.” What’s not uncertain, according to Kevin Waite, is that a coalition of powerful Southern nationalists and plantation grandees harbored dreams of a slavery-based empire stretching to the Pacific in the decades preceding the Civil War. Waite presents a cogently argued, carefully organized, and deftly written history of their transcontinental vision, which contained much of the Manifest Destiny ideology that fueled America’s march to becoming a world power in the decades after the war. Only with the defeat of the Confederacy in 1865, Waite maintains, would slaveholders’ dreams of a transcontinental empire finally die. After the Mexican War, the United States acquired vast territories west of the Mississippi. Powerful Southern nationalists quickly realized that a land route to California from Texas, through the New Mexico, Arizona, and southern Utah territories, could open vast Asian markets, particularly China, to plantation cotton and other similarly produced products. Historians have long focused primarily on Cuba, Central America, and the Caribbean islands as potential areas where Southern nationalists sought to introduce a slavery-based economy under their control. By understanding that slavery’s proponents had carefully crafted designs on lands in the Continental West, Waite “presents new ways of understanding America’s slaveholders, the conflicts they unleashed, and the West of Slavery: world they made.” The Southern Dream Waite sets an ambitious agenda in the of a Transcontinental book’s three sections. First, “how southEmpire ern powerbrokers imagined the far end By Kevin Waite of the continent” by employing various transportation schemes to bring the UNC Press, 2021, $29.95 region into their political and economic orbit; second, “how residents of California, New Mexico, Arizona, and southern Utah embraced key parts of the proslavery agenda”; and, third, “how the logic of westward expansion shaped Confederate grand strategy during the war and ultimately sowed the seeds of slavery’s demise.” Throughout, Waite shows that many plantation owners were not mere reactionary grandees seeking to preserve an antiquated way of life, but, rather, a proactive coalition of politically savvy, economically astute entrepreneurs, envisioning new ways to access global markets with their most exportable commodity, namely cotton. By 1860, Waite concludes, “slaveholding prospects in the Far West had never appeared brighter.” Indeed, the Confederacy’s first Far West incursion occurred the same day as First Bull Run in Virginia when Colonel John Baylor and 250 Texans entered the territory of New Mexico. But by March 1865, when Jefferson Davis authorized Baylor to again invade New Mexico, the surrender of Robert E. Lee 1,800 miles away finally squelched the South’s dream of a transcontinental Confederacy. —Gordon Berg

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REVIEWS

The Boy Generals: George Custer, Wesley Merritt, and the Cavalry of the Army of the Potomac By Adolfo Ovies Savas Beatie, 2021, $34.95

THIS IS NOT YOUR USUAL Civil War book and well worth reading—a powerful, balanced, dual biography of George Custer and Wesley Merritt, two of the nation’s greatest cavalry generals. It examines their time together—and their differences—at West Point, during the Civil War, and postwar fighting in the West. Both achieved their share of glory. Custer famously met a horrific death in Montana on June 25, 1876; Merritt commanded the expedition that captured Manila in the Philippines during the Spanish-American War and ended his service as the Army’s second ranking officer, living well into old age. The generals’ once-cordial relationship eventually deteriorated to the point of open warfare, particularly when Merritt ascended to command of the Army of the Potomac’s 1st Cavalry Division after Maj. Gen. John Buford’s death in December 1863. According to Ovies, Custer was openly insubordinate to his former friend, now commander. Even after Custer’s death, Merritt’s association with his rival remained controversial, as shown in Merritt’s ruling during the 1879 Court of Inquiry into Marcus Reno’s alleged “cowardice” during the Battle of Little Bighorn as well as his role in the placement and configuration of a statue of Custer at West Point. Ovies’ comprehensive study, organized into 13 chapters, includes fascinating stories about the two luminaries and looks at how Custer gained from his relationship with George McClellan and Alfred Pleasonton. Ovies articulates, meanwhile, that it was Merritt’s fighting prowess against the Confederates that led to his promotion. —David R. Marshall

Studies of the post-Civil War diaspora of Confederates typically focus on Canada, Mexico, England, and even Cuba. Brazil? Not so much. But, as geographer Alan P. Marcus reveals, Confederados—as these migrants were called—“were the largest organized group of white Americans to ever voluntarily emigrate out of the United States.” Furthermore, he concludes, it was “the result of a carefully thought out and calculated move, driven by a combination of push and pull factors.” Who were these Confederados? What factors attracted them to Brazil? How many of them were there, where did they settle, and how did they fare? Marcus finds many were Confederate veterans, including doctors, dentists, educators, and agriculturalists. They belonged “not to the poorest or most affluent families in the U.S. South but families somewhere in between (albeit certainly privileged).” These were not exclusively members of the plantation hierarchy seeking to re-create their antebellum success in a country where slavery remained legal, but those who would bring a “combination of urban-and ruralbased occupations and mentalities.” The typical Confederado left behind a shattered economic, social, and agricultural structure to seek a new life in Brazil because Brazil and its leader, Emperor Dom Pedro II, actively Confederate sought immigrants, particularly White immi- Exodus: Social and grants. One, Dr. James McFadden Gaston, Environmental explains the lure of the new land: “To our SouthForces in the ern people the empire of Brazil embodies the Migration of U.S. character and sentiment among the better class Southerners of citizens, very much in keeping with our stanto Brazil dard of taste and politeness.” By Alan P. Marcus Citing an 1865 New York Herald report, Mar- University of Nebraska cus notes: “The Brazilians are aware that AmerPress, 2021, $60

icans are the best emigrants for this country, because they bring with them intelligence and energy to introduce agricultural implements which are needed to take the place of the decreasing power —slavery.” In Marcus’ estimate, there were between 4,000 and 10,000 Confederados. Interestingly, both Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee “urged Southerners not to leave for Brazil” and Richmond’s Daily Dispatch advised “our countrymen to think twice before they make the experiment...” According to Marcus, Baltimore became a pivotal player, benefiting from the reciprocal trade of wheat flour to Brazil and importation of coffee through Baltimore: “Every ship leaving the United States for Brazilian ports...between 1868 and 1869 carried immigrants,” he contends. In addition, Protestant leaders who lived in and traveled to Brazil were among those encouraging migration, and immigration agents in both the U.S. and Brazil helped promote and finance the process. New scientific thinking also influenced Brazilian elites to favor bringing immigrants of European stock to Brazil. The Brazilian government offered various inducements to immigrants and also provided them favorable political, agricultural, and economic conditions. —Gordon Berg NOVEMBER 2021

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FINAL BIVOUAC

BRIGADIER GENERAL

Edward Augustus Wild mand of what was known as “Wild’s here are resting the bones of an African Brigade” in North Carolina, a American hero,” Charles Patrick unit composed mostly of escaped Decker wrote from Medellín, Colomslaves. Wild joined the Army of the bia, on December 25, 1909, to the James in the spring of 1864. headquarters of the Massachusetts Unable to practice medicine with his disability, Wild entered the minG.A.R. “Today, while visiting the ceming business postwar. In July 1891, etery, I saw an ill-kept and neglected grave. At one time a wooden fence he left for South America to help surformed a sort of tomb, but it has rotvey a route for a railroad from the ted away, a discolored wooden cross, Magdalena River to Medellín. He died once white, but now weather-beaten on August 28, at the age of 65, after and dry-rotted, bears the legend: suffering for days from persistent ‘Wild, Brigadier General U.S. Volundiarrhea or possibly malaria. His final teers, born in Brookline, Mass., and words, according to his friend and died in Medellin, 1891’.…Here he lies, traveling companion Anthony Jones, unhonored, unsung and unwept. I were “Good,” after a doctor placed an placed a bouquet of roses on the cross, ice cube in his mouth. and as long as I live here I shall place Colombian customs called for the funeral to take place 12–15 hours a bouquet on each Decoration day and a small flag if I can get them.” after Wild’s death. Jones oversaw the The son of a doctor and Harvard arrangements and paid for a plot at graduate, Edward Augustus Wild was the Cementerio de San Pedro. A comborn on November 25, 1825. He would pany of Colombian soldiers escorted his remains to the cemetery and the graduate from his father’s alma mater funeral was attended by the city’s in 1844, and in 1847 opened a medical governor and governmental officers. practice in Brookline. When the Jones had a wood cross made and Crimean War began in 1853, he joined the Ottoman Army as a surgeon. placed at the gravesite. Frances Ellen Wild was appointed a captain in Wild sent a Kodak No. 4 to Jones, the 1st Massachusetts Infantry on likely the camera used to snap the May 22, 1861. At Seven Pines (Fair only known photo of her husband’s Oaks) on May 31–June 1, 1862, he grave. She never visited it herself. was severely wounded in the right Israel H. De Wolf, Massachusetts hand. Returning home, he was G.A.R. department commander, Lost in Colombia appointed colonel of the 35th Massaintended to return Wild’s remains in Edward Wild’s gravesite in chusetts Infantry in August. The fola metallic coffin to the United States Medellín, as photographed in the late 19th century. All remnants of lowing month, while leading the and buried with full military honthe site are long gone. regiment at South Mountain, an ors—possibly at Arlington National Cemetery. Wild’s widow halted the exploding shell shattered his left arm. “I told the surgeons if they found it necessary to ampueffort, reasoning her husband always avoided notoriety tate the arm, not to let me wake and find it on,” he later and wouldn’t have wished his remains to be disturbed. declared. The surgeons obliged. The original wooden cross is gone, and the exact location In May 1863, Wild, now a brigadier general, took comof Wild’s remains unknown. –Frank Jastrzembski Final Bivouac is published in partnership with “Shrouded Veterans,” a nonprofit mission run by Frank Jastrzembski to identify or repair the graves of Mexican War and Civil War veterans (facebook.com/shroudedvetgraves).

HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS; HARVARD UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES

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