Introduction

 March, 1864 was a busy time, and a time of great changes in the Army of the Potomac.

General Meade, commanding the Army, focused on consolidating his forces into 3 solid corps instead of 5 thin ones.  The two smallest corps, the 1st & 3rd would be dissolved and their men placed in either the 2nd, 5th or 6th Corps. The men in camp had heard these rumors, but the idea seemed to be stalled.  While in Washington addressing this plan, the general found to his great surprise, a cabal of his political enemies, trying to force his removal from command of the army.   Generals Daniel Sickles, and Abner Doubleday among others, without General Meade’s knowledge, were giving testimony to a Congressional Committee that Meade didn’t want to fight the battle of Gettysburg.   On top of this, Meade did not know if his new boss,  General Grant, when he eventually took command, would keep him on, or have him replaced.

 The commander of the Army of the Potomac was not to be envied.

Brigadier-General Daniel Sickles, Brigadier-General Albion Howe & Benjamin F. Wade, Chairman of the Committee on the Conduct of the War.   Sickles & Howe testified to the committee that General Meade did not want to fight the battle at Gettysburg, and in fact wished to retreat.  Benjamin Wade immediately went to President Lincoln to suggest General Meade be relieved of command of the Army of the Potomac.  Mr. Wade lied to General Meade two days later and said they were not investigating him, but merely writing their chronicle of the war.  More of this will be addressed on the next website page; March, 1864, Part 2.

In Washington, on March 8, General Grant arrived to meet President Lincoln for the first time, and to accept his Lieutenant-General’s commission.  Charles N. Richards, formerly a private soldier in the 13th MA Vols. happened to be in the room that night.    On the 10th, Grant, in his new position as Chief of all the Armies,  took a train to Brandy Station to meet General Meade.  Accounts say it was a cordial visit.  But heavy rain prevented them from seeing anything in camp, so they both returned to Washington the next day, in order to dine with the President.  Grant’s inspection of the Army would come later in April.

Meanwhile at Mitchell’s Station the 1st Brigade of Gen. John C. Robinson’s 2nd Division, continued doing outpost duty along the Rapidan river, in conjunction with the patrolling cavalry pickets of General Wesley Merritt’s Division.  Confederate deserters continued to cross the river into Union lines.

Occasionally the 2nd brigade came down on the trains from Culpeper to relieve them  with picket duty for a while, and then the 1st Brigade schedule was filled up with military drills.  For the entirety of the winter, it was either picket duty,  guard duty, or military drill, for the soldiers of the 13th MA.

WHATS ON THIS PAGE

The narrative on this page begins with commentary at Army Headquarters concerning General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick’s cavalry raid to Richmond, which was already under way.  Kilpatrick’s objective was to take the city of Richmond by stealth, and free Union prisoners incarcerated at Belle Isle and Libby Prisons.  The excursion was supposed to be a secret, but that wasn’t really the case.  Another section follows up with commentary upon the end of the raid.  The actual raid itself will be reported on another page of this website.

At the regimental level, the good news is, ––the pithy comments from the diary of 13th MA  Private Calvin H. Conant are back. 

In early July this year, (2024) I traveled to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and  visited the archives at the US Army Heritage & Education Center, where the small pocket-sized 1864 diary resides.  I spent the morning of July 1st photographing the pages of his diary.  The bad news is my camera failed and the photos from January through March were blurry, and often times illegible. I was on a tight travel schedule that day, so I made the mistake of not checking my photos before leaving Carlisle. To compound that error, his handwriting is difficult to decipher.

Fortunately his diary entries for these months repeat in patterns.  This makes guessing at the blurry words a bit easier.  And, with the help of photoshop, I was remarkably able to retrieve much more of the entries than I would have otherwise thought possible.   Because of the blurry photos I'm posting the first diary entries here, for the month of March.  Calvin’s company G was detailed for guard duty at headquarters during the entire winter.

To fill out the stories from the picket line, there are entries from the 13th MA regimental history, entries from Sam Webster’s diary, letters from Warren Freeman and George Henry Hill, and stories from the magazine Bivouac, authored by different men from the 13th.

Ladies were still present in camp and Mary Ellen Pierce’s journal entries continue to chronicle her 7 week stay with husband Elliot.  One of the highlights on this page is the “catty” letter she wrote her sister, about a wild time the officers had one night, drinking and partying til 1 in the morning. On a previous night two of the Yeager sisters were present, and a Boston officer was paying them considerable attention.     The prize winning quote from the letter is, “they are far inferior to New England girls…”  Read the rest for yourself.

Mary Ellen’s high time is followed up by an interesting section titled “When President Lincoln Met General Grant.”  The historic occasion is described in newspaper accounts and by eye witnesses.  An interesting aside in the midst of this, is a brief biography of 13th MA soldier Charles N. Richards.  He was badly wounded in the face at Antietam.  Charles had a very interesting post-war career outlined here.

On March 10, an alarm was raised in camp.  It was reported Rebel Cavalry made a dash upon the lookout station at Garnett’s Peak.  The story was repeated in the regimental history.  But it appears from all evidence to be just a “camp story” that gained legs.  Nothing serous really happened, which shows you can’t always trust every story that  made it into the regimental history.  Charles Wainwright gives a long discourse on recruiting efforts then taking place.  On October 17, 1863 President Lincoln put out a call “for 300,000 volunteers for the various companies and regiments in the field from their respective states.”  On February 1st, 1864, “the President ordered a draft for 500,000 men to be made on the first of March if the quotas are not filled before that time.”*  Also in this journal entry, Col. Wainwright snickers at the raising of the 20th U.S. Colored Troops in New York.  The aristocrat Wainwright, is doubtful… 

A great section follows about “boxes from home.”  Charles Davis writes an homily to all those who supported soldiers in the field with clothing and other comforts from home. Fittingly, Warren Freeman receives not one, but two boxes from school-mates, who wrote a delightful letter to him about their efforts.  The denouement of this section comes from an article found in the pages of Bivouac Magazine, 1885.  Some sneaky boys in the 13th, believe it or not, tried to smuggle contraband whiskey into camp, not once but twice !!

The stories and letters for the month of March continued at length, so I divided the stories for the month in two.  This page ends with “Baseball” & “Farewell.”  A noteworthy game of ball between the 104th NY and the 13th MA was memorialized in the regimental history and given here.  It is followed by an article about another game of ball between some New York Infantry and Cavalry at Brandy Station.  These show the popularity of the new sport in its infancy.

All women were ordered out of camp on March 10.  This page ends with Mary Ellen parting from her husband, on the morning train to Washington, March 14.

There is much more to come for March 1864, in part 2.

*Wainwright Journal entry February 5, 1864; Diary of Battle, (p. 318); edited by Alan Nevins.

PICTURE CREDITS:  All Images are from the LIBRARY OF CONGRESS DIGITAL COLLECTIONS with the following exceptions:  13th MA personnel David H. Bradlee, N. W. Batchelder, S. C. Whitney, J. A. Howe, O.C. Livermore, E. C. Pierce and Ezra Trull, are from, U.S. Army Heritage Education Center, Carlilsle, PA, MASS MOLLUS Collection;  Portrait of William R. Warner in Winter Camp,  from the Westboro Historical Society;  Portrait of Colonel Samuel H. Leonard, 13th MA, from Digital Commonwealth at: https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org;  Portrait of Lt. Col. Theodore Lyman is from the Internet Archive from , 'Meade's Headquarters, 1863-1865, Boston, 1922;   Portraits of  David Whiston & Mary Ellen Pierce, courtesy of the MA Historical Society;  Photo of Charles Wainwright's diagram map & Sam Webster's sketch of his winter hut,  are from the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, photographed by the author;  Picture of Dr. Reuben A. Long's home, "Wellington" is from the Culpeper Public Library, Local History Room, (1933 WPA Study of historic homes in Culpeper Coutny).  General Grant's portrait is from The Photographic History of the  Civil War in 10 Volumes, by Francis Trevelyan Miller, 1911;  /Portrait of Charles N. Richards, is from, "Charles N. Richards and his Puritan Forebears, printed privately by Sexton Richards, 1971, sent to the author by Mr. Tom Richards, Descendant; Graphic card of Pres. Lincoln meeting Gen. Grant was found at Card Cow (cardcow.com);  Confederate Cavalry photo by Buddy Secor (ninjapix) used with permission;  Portrait of Charles Barber, from is book, "The CW Letters of Charles Barber Private 104 NY Vol. Inf." ed. by Raymond G. Barber & Gary E. Swinson 1991; (rec'd from Fredericksburg Nat'l. Battlefield Park);  Photo of the Rixey House, Culpeper from Culpeper History Museum, courtesy of John Christiansen;  The Charles Reed sketches on this page can be found at the Library of Congress under “Charles Wellington Reed Papers.”;  Images from Harper’s Weekly including “2oth U.S Colored Troops” (March 19, 1864)  is from sonofthesouth.net ; Images from Frank Leslie's Illustrated History of the Civil War; accessed digitally on the Internet Archive at [https://archive.org/details/importantevents00franrich];   ALL IMAGES HAVE BEEN EDITED IN PHOTOSHOP.

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Prologue:  Headquarters, Army of the Potomac, March 1 & 2; Kilpatrick's Raid Begun

A brief look at some of the commentary going on at Army Headquarters, regarding General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick's Raid to Richmond.

Letter of Theodore Lyman, Aid to Gen'l. Meade

The following is from, Meade's headquarters, 1863-1865 : letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness to Appomattox, Boston, 1922.  (p. 76-78).

Headquarters Army of the Potomac     
March 1, 1864        

… For some days General Humphreys has been a mass of mystery, with his mouth pursed up, and doing much writing by himself, all to the great amusement of the bystanders, who had heard, even in Washington, that some expedition or raid was on the tapis, and even pointed out various details thereof.  However, their ideas, after all, were vague; but they should not have known anything.   Que voulez-vous?  A secret expedition with us is got up like a picnic, with everybody blabbing and yelping.  One is driven to think that not even the prospect of immediate execution will stop Americans from streaming on in their loose, talking, devil-may-care ways.  Kilpatrick is sent for by the President; oh, ah!  everybody knows it at once:  He is a cavalry officer; it must be a raid.  All Willard’s chatters of it.  Everybody devotes his entire energies to pumping the President and Kill-cavalry! (General Andrew A. Humphreys, pictured.)

Some confidential friend finds out a part, tells another confidential friend, swearing him to secrecy, etc., etc.  So there was  Eleusinian* Humphreys writing mysteriously, and speaking to nobody, while the whole camp was sending expeditions to the four corners of the compass!

On Saturday, at early morn, Uncle John Sedgwick suddenly picked up his little traps and marched with his Corps through Culpeper and out towards Madison Court House, away on our right flank.  The next, the quiet Sabbath, was broken by the whole of Birney’s division, of the 3d Corps, marching also through Culpeper, with the bands playing and much parade.  We could only phancy the feeling of J. Reb contemplating this threatening of his left flank for his signal station on Clark’s Mountain.**  Then the flaxen Custer at the head of cavalry passed through, and wended his way in that same direction.  All this, you see, was on our right.  That night Kilpatrick, at the head of a large body of cavalry, crossed at Ely’s Ford, on our extreme left, and drew a straight bead on Richmond!  At two oclock that night he was at Spotsylvania C. H., and this is our last news of him.   He sent back word that he would attack Richmond at seven this morning.

The idea is to liberate the prisoners, catch all the rebel M. C.’s that are lying round loose, and make tracks to our nearest lines.  I conceive the chances are pretty hazardous, although the plan was matured with much detail and the start was all that could be asked…

NOTES
**Eleusinian mysteries:  the annual rites performed by the ancient Greeks at the village of Eleusis near Athens in honor of Demeter and Persephone.
*See photo of Clark's Mountain below, with Calvin Conant diary entry.

Major-General John Sedgwick, commanding 6th Army Corps, Major-General David  Birney, commander 3rd Army Corps, Brigadier-General George A. Custer, commander 3rd Cavalry division.

Letter of General Meade to his wife, March 2, 1864

The following is from, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Major-General United States Army by George Meade, New York, 1913.

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Outpost Duty, Mitchell's Station, March 1 - 4:  Mississippi Deserters

The narrative from the 39th MA nicely opens the month of March, 1864.

The following is from, “The Thirty-ninth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, 1862-1865;” by Alfred S. Roe, 1914.

March started off rainy and cold with usual rumors as to immediate orders for some sort of a move, but duty on the picket line continued just the same, and not a few remarked on the discomforts of those who had gone out to Madison Court House and were compelled to bivouac in the snow, into which the rain had changed.

For the 2d day of the month, the return of the Sixth Corps and its cavalry accompaniment was chronicled along with the fact that nothing had been heard from Kilpatrick.

Even in wartimes, it did not always rain and the 3rd, being “a splendid day,” some of the men climbed up the sides of Cedar or Slaughter Mountain for the view, and to look up traces of the fierce encounter, August 9, 1862, when the Second and Third Corps,* Generals Banks and McDowell respectively, all under General John Pope, were beaten by “Stonewall” Jackson and his men.  Having encamped so long under the shadow of the eminence, the trip was particularly enjoyable and there was no difficulty in locating many of the prominent features of the bloody day which served as a prelude to the still bloodier battle of Second Bull Run.

*NOTE:  This is the 2nd & 3rd Corps of Major-General John Pope's Army of Virginia.   Following the end of General Pope's disastrous Summer Campaign of 1862, his army would be incorporated into the Army of the Potomac.  Pope's 2nd Corps under Major-General Nathaniel Prentiss Banks would become the 12th Corps, commanded by Major-General Joseph K. Mansfield, and General Irvin McDowell's 3rd Corps, under Pope, would become the 1st Army Corps, commanded by Major-General Joseph Hooker, during the Maryland Campaign of September, 1862.

View from the Shelf of Cedar Mountain

View towards the Cedar Mountain Battlefield from the northern most spur of Cedar Mountain.  The picture is taken on a prominent spur of the mountain, about 1/2 way between the valley floor and  Rev. Phillip Slaughter's home.  Parts of  Joseph Latimer's & Nathaniel Terry's batteries were positioned here. Some of the Union batteries positions are indicated.  Three regiments of Gen. Samuel W. Crawford's brigade swept across the weak left flank of Stonewall Jackson's line at "The Point."  The farm buildings in the foreground mark where the Brandt farm once stood.  The Union line followed the axis of Mitchell's Road, with Clermont Best' battery on the Union right, and  Freeman McGilvery's Battery anchoring the left of the Union battle line.

*NOTE:  This is the 2nd & 3rd Corps of Major-General John Pope's Army of Virginia.   Following the end of General Pope's disastrous Summer Campaign of 1862, his army would be incorporated into the Army of the Potomac.  Pope's 2nd Corps under Major-General Nathaniel Prentiss Banks would become the 12th Corps, commanded by Major-General Joseph K. Mansfield, and General Irvin McDowell's 3rd Corps, under Pope, would become the 1st Army Corps, commanded by Major-General Joseph Hooker, during the Maryland Campaign of September, 1862.

The Diary of Calvin H. Conant, Company G, 13th Mass. Vols.

Calvin's entry of May 3rd, (just before the Overland Campaign kicked off) he said “the men of Co G are to be relieved from thier duty at Head Quarters to day and will do duty in Company after this; we have had the job 4 months.”   Thus, he reveals that Company G of the 13th MA Vols, was detached as 1st Brigade Headquarters Guard for the months of January, February, March & April, in fact, the entire time the Brigade was on outpost duty at Mitchell's Station.  As such he and others of the company were orderly's for the officers on post. Occasionally he mentions getting the mail, or taking in the Stacks of Arms during bad weather.   Whiskey was more plentiful at headquarters, and Calvin enjoyed the chance of getting some whenever the opportunity availed itself.

Calvin never left headquarters to go on picket.  His entries always begin with weather conditions, and then a statement as to whether he was on duty or off duty.

I would like to add that his spelling is very erratic, and for ease of reading and interpretation, I am going to attempt to clean it up.  Some examples of his ideosyncratic hand;  he writes "plesent" for "pleasant",  "of" for "off", "loots" for "lots",  "Reg" for "Regiment", "Co" for "Company", and "Brig" for  "Brigade."  Going forward,  I will make it a goal to continue to decipher those entries currently illegible at least until the time when I can return to Carlisle.

Clark's Mountain:  Confederate Look-out Post

Clark's Mountain, on the south side of the Rapidan River was a Confederate Lookout Station.  The highest peak for miles around, it still dominates the Culpeper Valley.  View looking south about a mile north of Mitchell's Station.

From The Diary of Calvin Conant:

March 1, 1864.
        Still raining to day    I am off guard  the Regiment to Inline Pickett   some? brig? drlll?   cold in the afternoon

Wednesday, March 2, 1864.
        Clear Cold day    it Cleared up and froze quite hard last night    I am off  duty     read a letter from home   We can see the   Rebs signilisin very plain from Clarks Mountain*

Thursday, March 3, 1864.
        Pleasant day  I am on duty to day    Company & Brigade drill

Friday, March 4, 1864.
        Pleasant day    I am off duty    Company and Brigade drill     tried to make me come out  but the Colonel said  I wasnt up    I am not well

MISSISSIPPI DESERTERS CROSS THE PICKET LINE

The following passages document the desertion of a number of Mississippi conscripts from the Rebel Army in early March.  The first mention comes from the regimental history of the 9th NY Vol. Infantry, [Baxter's 2nd Brigade] which sent a detachment down from their camp at Culpeper, to help out with the picket duty.  The second story by Clarence Bell, 13th MA, comes from the Bivouac magazine, in 1885.

The following is from, “History of the Ninth Regiment N.Y.S.M.––N.G.S.N.Y. (Eighty-third N.Y. Volunteers.) 1845-1888”, by George A. Hussey, Edited by William Todd, 1889.

The 3rd of March found a detail from the regiment, with other portions of the brigade, on picket at Mitchell’s Station.  A large number of deserters from the Forty-eighth Mississippi regiment came in during the first week of the month, and if their stories were to be believed, a very general feeling of discontent pervaded the whole Confederate Army.  That such was not the case, however, was amply proven by the manner in which Lee’s army fought during the year.

THE CONFEDERATE SOLDIER (Excerpt.)
Bivouac, A Military Magazine,  June 1885
  by Clarence Bell (13th MA Vols.)

In the Federal army, whenever there was a location long enough to admit of it, full rations in variety were issued, accompanied by soft bread.

During the winter and early spring of 1864, we were quartered at Mitchell’s Station, near the Rapidan, and as the Confederacy, even then, betrayed symptoms of approaching collapse, there were numerous desertions to our lines. 

One morning two conscripts from a Mississippi regiment came in, and before being forwarded to headquarters, were regaled with a hearty breakfast of beefsteak, coffee and soft bread.  They ate with remarkably good appetites, and the quantity was unstinted.

 

When at last they sat back from the table in satiety, one of them turned to me with a glow of generosity spreading over his pleasant face, and drew from his haversack two small loaves of cornbread that looked as if they might have been mixed with swamp water gathered after dark, and baked in the ashes.  These were presented to me.

Somewhat startled at the gift, I courteously declined the “dingbats,” and suggested that although his breakfast was safely hoisted in, there might be some doubts as to when the bell would ring for dinner.  He dumped them back into the haversack that looked as if it had been in constant service since the firing on Sumter, while I concluded to stick to the soft bread diet for a spell longer.

The fact was apparent, however, that the contents of this man’s haversack was a fair sample of the supplies issued to the Confederate troops after several months in winter quarters, with lines of communication in good order, and Richmond but a few hours ride distant by rails.

The chronology  for the month of March continues with the 39th MA narrative:

Thirty-Ninth Mass., by Alfred Roe, cont'd.
        A two hours’ brigade drill on the 4th, under Colonel Leonard, took all available men to the extensive plains across Cedar Run.  As an illustration of the degree to which neatness was carried, it should be stated that from their respective company funds pay was given to men, detailed for the purpose, who should do the company washing, hence no excuse for uncleanliness would avail thereafter.

Alloway Farm

Pictured are the level fields of Alloway Farm, adjacent to the hill-side winter encampment of the First Brigade.  This land is bordered on the south side by Cedar Run as mentioned in Alfred's Roe's account.  According to Historian Roe, Colonel Leonard conducted Brigade Drill here on March 4th.  A graphic black & white illustration by Frederick Ray has been colorized and superimposed over the photo of Alloway.

Woburn Townsman; March 6, 1864 Letter from Alpha, 39th MA Vols.

The 39th MA was camped close by the 13th.  The following letter was originally transcribed and posted on the now defunct website, Letters of the Civil War, operated by Tom Hayes of Massachusetts. The site can still be accessed on the Internet Archive, Wayback Machine.

Camp at Mitchell’s Station, Va.,      
March 6th, 1864.     

Dear Townsman: –– On the occasion of the late movement across the Rapidan, by the cavalry, supported by the 6th Corps, we were ordered to pack up and be ready to start with three days’ rations at a moments notice.  Therefore all was bustle and confusion, but ere we had exhausted the order, it was changed, and finally it ended in being under arms, “more scared than hurt.”  At night we were treated to a Brigade dress parade, at the conclusion of which we were resolved into a committee of the whole, in the shape of a prayer meeting, the men all being together, and too good an opportunity to be lost.  At any rate we had the pleasure of hearing the stentorian voice of our Chaplain, which, when heard make a note of.

On Monday we were mustered in for two months pay, up to the 1st of March, before which we showed our marching qualities by passing in review before our new Surgeon, Thorndike, formerly of the 34th Mass., and Lieut. Meade, of the Div. Staff.

On Tuesday night, rather unexpectedly, Gage’s lost box arrived, after a quick passage of a week, and the contents duly distributed.  As has been said before, “they are a fixed institution.”

On Thursday, our pickets were relieved by the 2d Brigade [Baxter's] of our Division, who have been stationed at Culpepper, and came up on the cars for three days picket, which will enable us to have battalion and brigade drills, from which, much to our sorrow, we have been exempted.  This will give us nine days off duty, instead of four, as has been the case heretofore all winter.

Last Friday we were “put through” a Brigade drill under Col. Leonard, acting Brigadier, and which is, probably, a precurser of more of the same sort.  By a late order, we are to drill two hours, company’s in the forenoon, and battalion every afternoon, which will not give us as much time as heretofore.

There has been a few changes among the officers of our regiment.  Sergeant Major E. W. Mills has been promoted 2d Lieut. Co. K, vice Lt. L. F. Wyman, transferred into A.  Private Edward Crockett, of Co. C, was appointed in his place.  Corp. Chas. K. Conn, has been detached from the regiment as Clerk at Div. Headquarters.  We are all reluctant to lose him, but rejoice in his good luck and wish him every success.  Private Julius F. Ramsdell, has been detached from Co. K, as Clerk at Regimental Headquarters.

                                                                        Alpha

Acknowledgement. – The following note acknowledging the receipt of a box containing caps, towels, and mittens, for the National Rangers, has been received from Lieut. L. R. Tidd.

(Woburn Townsman; March 18, 1864; pg. 2, col. 4.)

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Kilpatrick's Raid Ended

Lt.-Col. Theodore Lyman, Aid to General Meade, was no fan of General Kilpatrick.  Lyman writes in a March 5th letter to his wife about the failure of the raid.  He also wrote about the failed expedition in his private notebooks, published, 2007.

The following is from, Meade's Army, The Private Notebooks of Lt. Col. Theodore Lyman, Kent State University Press, 2007.

March 4, Friday.  Scouts that came in last night report they cut the wire from Lee's army on Sunday night at 11.  That the next day Dahlgren* came in to Frederickshall, destroyed the rail &c and passed within 500 yards of the Rebel Reserve Artillery without destroying it, or discovering it (!)  That he saw large fires towards Hanover Junction &c.  Later there came a telegraph from Kilpatrick at Williamsburg (!) saying he had failed in the Grand Object of the expedition, but had driven the enemy through their fortifications to the suburbs; destroyed railroads, mills &c;  and lost––less than 150 men!!

Confound the vaporing braggart!  He proposed and got up the expedition, & insisted on it with the President; told Pleasonton he would succeed or die; and now runs down to Butler's lines with a loss of 4 men in each 100!  After letting those wretched prisoners hear the hopeful sound of his guns.  He should be relieved from his command and degraded to his favorite company––newspaper reporters!

*Colonel Ulric Dahlgren accompanied Kilpatrick on his raid. Dahlgren was killed in an ambush.

Letter of Theordore Lyman to his wife, March 5, 1864 [excerpt.]

The following is from, Meade's headquarters, 1863-1865 : letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness to Appomattox, Boston, 1922.  (p. 76-78).

 Pa Meade is at Washington but I hope to have him back to-morrow.  Behold my prophecy in regard to Kill-cavalry’s raid fulfilled.  I have heard many persons very indignant with him.  They said he went to the President and pressed his plan; told Pleasonton*  he would not come back alive if he didn’t succeed;  that he is a frothy braggart, without brains and not over-stocked with desire to fall on the field; and that he gets all his reputation by newspapers and political influence.

These charges are not new and I fancy Kill has rather dished himself.  It is painful to think of those poor prisoners hearing the sound of his guns and hoping a rescue was at hand!  Now all that cavalry must be carried back in steamers, like a parcel of old women going to market!  Bah!  Pour moi, I say nothing, as I never criticize superior officers; but I have mine own opinions, quite strong.  However, these raids and the like do not much affect the War one way or the other.  Nor does such a thing as the Florida reverse.  Things have narrowed down now to two or three great centres and upon large operations there depends the result.

It is a favorite remark of General Meade, that “there is but one way to put down this rebellion, namely, to destroy the military power of the Rebels.”  Their great armies must be overwhelmed, and there will end their hopes…

*NOTES:  General Alfred Pleasonton, Chief of Cavalry.

General Meade in Washington

As Lyman stated, General Meade had gone to Washington, in his own words, “on business connected with the reorganization of the army.”  He was surprised on his arrival, “to find the whole town talking of certain grave charges of Generals Sickles and Doubleday, that had been made against me in their testimony before the Committee on the Conduct of the War.  On Saturday I was summoned before the committee.”  General Meade had unexpectedly discovered a cabal existed to have him removed from the command of the Army of the Potomac.  Consequently his only comment on the Kilpatrick raid occured at the very end of his March 6 letter to his wife.   After he had returned to the army, and written her about all the intrigue in Washington, he added,  “You have doubtless seen that Kilpatrick's raid was an utter failure. I did not expect much from it.  Poor Dahlgren I am sorry for.”  Colonel Ulrich Dalghren had attached himself to Kilpatrick's endeavor, and was killed on the expedition.  More on the cabal against General Meade is posted on the next page, of this website, March, Part II

Boston Herald; Massachusetts Officers Still at Libby Prison

David Whiston, when he was a sergeant at Williamsport, and Lt. Samuel E. Cary, 13th Mass. Vols.  Image of Whiston from the Massachusetts Historical Society.

The following appeared in the newspaper based on information dated February 28.  It is interesting that the day this was issued, a daring expedition to free the Union prisoners in Richmond, was just then ending in failure.

Lieutenants Sam Cary and David Whiston are the two 13th MA officers listed as being still incarcerated at Libby Prison.  Captain Morton Tower had only recently successfully  escaped in the breakout of February 9th, after 7 months imprisonment.  I recently acquired a photo of David Whiston which I am happy to add to the website here.

Colonel Charles Wainwright comments on the Kilpatrick Raid, March 6, 1864.

Indtroductory Comments

Colonel Wainwright , Chief of the First Corps Artillery, departed camp February 5th, on a long leave of absence.  At home in New York state, he visited Governor Horatio Seymour, hoping to get from him some of the new 800 unassigned recruits at the Governor's disposal.  But the Governor's stipulations  were disagreeable to the Colonel.  “He would only give them to me on condition of my taking a certain number of civilians with them as officers, which I would not do.”  While on leave, Wainwright saw old friends at home, and visited the city of Albany which was all a-bustle with soldiers on furlough and recruiting officers and agents trying to raise men to meet the new state quotas recently called for by the Government.  ( President Lincoln issued a call for 300,000 volunteers, October 17, 1863, for various companies and regiments in the field from their respective states.” )*  While at Albany, Wainwright observed “The agents have booths in the park, and offices everywhere; from all that one sees in the newspapers and hears everywhere the greater part of them must be the biggest sort of rascals.  Not content with the fee they are entitled to, they try to cheat the recruit out of a large part of his bounty, and often succeed in pocketing from a half to three-quarters of it.  The provost-marshals are but little better as a general thing, conniving at if not taking part in the rascality.”  By February 26, Wainwright wrote that he was anxious to get back to camp and look after his command.

He arrived back in Culpeper on the afternoon of February 29.  “When I reached here I found the whole army under orders to be ready to move at short notice; from which state we were relieved today.” [March 3rd]. It was all on account of Kipatrick's raid.   He commented, “Kilpatrick attempts something rash.  He has just lost his wife and only child, and they say he is gloomy and desperate; just in the state to try something wild.”

*NOTE:  Quoted from Alan Nevins, editor of Wainwright's memoirs, ( p. 381).

In addition to his comments on Kilpatrick, Wainwright talks of many other things.  He mentions Generals Sickles' and Doubleday's backstabbing of Gen'l. Meade, towards the end of this long entry, ––and characterizes them as, “A Pretty Team ! Rascality and Stupidity.”  His characterizatoin of them is more accurate than his portrayal of President Lincoln, “one of the smallestof men, ever harping on trifles.”*

*Journal entry March 13, 1864.

From, “A Diary of Battle, The Personal Journals of Colonel Charles S. Wainwright, 1861-1865”;  Edited by Allan Nevins; 1962.

March 6, Sunday.   Kilpatrick has reached Yorktown, but Jefferson Davis still sits enthroned in Richmond, and our prisoners still suffer on Belle Isle. The whole thing has been a failure; resulting, so far as we yet know, in nothing but the burning of one or two railroad bridges, and the pretty thorough using up of most of the 3,000 horses.  That is, if Dahlgren gets in safely:  he was detached with 500 men and sent to cross the James above Richmond, but has not since been heard of.^#1

These raids have never amounted to anything on either side beyond a scare, and proving that once in within the enemy’s line a good body of cavalry can travel either country with perfect freedom for a long time.  When Jeb Stuart first went round McClellan’s army at the Peninsula it was something new, and as it was not known how easily such feats could be performed, he deserved some considerable credit for it:  the moral effect, too, amounted to something then.  Now it is known that any sharp fellow acquainted with the roads could make the circuit of either army with 100 men, but he would cause very little scare and do very little harm.  General Sherman has been trying a raid too out West, but on a very much larger scale;  still, he does not seem to have accomplished any more than Kilpatrick.  These raids make a big noise in the papers, and so glorify their commander; who is generally a man of that kind who court newspaper renown.

I understand that the army has been quite gay during my absence.  The Third Corps ball was followed by one in the Second, to which many ladies from Washington came down;  Barry brought his two daughters, who stopped with Mrs. Webb.  I must go over and call on Madame some day soon.

General Rice, commanding our First Division, has had a bevy of girls at his headquarters, a private theatre and what not.^#2  Heard says he was over there once or twice, and tells a good story of his mother when giving her name to a shop girl in Baltimore being asked if she was any relation to Dr. Heard of the First Corps, who the shop girl said she knew very well, having met him during her visit to General Rice, in the army.  Imagine Mamma’s disgust, she having just social standing enough to feel such a thing.^#3

(Junior Medical Director, 1st A.C., J. Theodore Heard, pictured. Formerly of 13th MA Vols.)

I am still busy with regimental matters; the Adj’t Gen’ls office I find require a monthly return of recruits from me including reenlisted men: these I have got to get in. When such returns are called for I wish that mine was an infantry regiment so that I had all the companies together: but I do much better this year as the army lies pretty compactly, & orderlies can pass directly between the Batt’s here & myself.  Some recruits are beginning to arrive; 11 came for “L” Co today.  As most of those secured by my own party are mustered for the regiment at large, I have ordered the companies to which they may arrive to take them up as unassigned recruits & notify me of their arrival. Have applied to Genl Hunt^#4 about getting them down here. –– I got a queer letter  from Lt Crego, of “D” Co. today, which has “Riled” me a good deal. I tried to do all I could for him last spring, & thought I was conferring a favor by assigning him to “D”;  but it seems he does not like it, & has been doing all he can to spite Winslow,^#5 without rendering himself liable to dismissal.  I wrote to him on my return offering to transfer him to either “K” or “I” Co: this letter was his reply.  In it he says: “If I cannot serve the interests of the reg’t in “A” Co; then I am of no service to you or the Reg’t.”  It was downright impertinence, but not bad enough to break him & I do not care to prefer charges which would only bring a reprimand.  I have therefore accepted his idea that he is no service to the regiment & have recommended him to resign.

(Brigadier-General Henry J. Hunt, Chief of Artillery, Army of the Potomac, pictured.)

Returns from enough officers have come in to enable me nearly to complete my Register.  There are some items which  I do not know how to fill up; & though I have written to Washington twice on the subject have red’d no answer:  they all hinge on what constitutes a volunteer’s “original entry into the service:”  his first muster as an officer or his enlistment as a private. –– On the 1st /of January there were 46 officers in the reg’t, 5 Field; 11 Captains; 16 First Lieuts; & 14 second Lts.  Of these 3 Captains, & 3 first Lts hold the rank with which they originally entered it, the rest have all been promoted;  6 of the  1st Lts & all the 2d Lts originally entered as enlisted men;  making 20 promotions from the ranks.

45 Officers have left the regiment, as follows; 2 killed in battle / Bailey & Van Valkenburg / 3 discharged on account of wounds; 2 on account of disease incurred in line of duty;  & 2 have died of disease in the service.  3 have been dismissed; 3 discharged on reccommendation of an Executive board; 4 have been mustered out as supernumeraries; 5 to accept promotion out of the reg’t;  & 19 have resigned. ––It will be hard work to fill up the column “Action in which each officer was engaged;” some claiming only those in which they were actually engaged; others every thing they saw, smelled or heard.  Bates, Wilson & Barry I can easily fill up for they have not been under fire once.  Eight of those now in the reg’t have been wounded in battle.

We are existing without cook or waiter; that is all.   Now my groom says he wants to leave.  I am getting desperate, and shall turn pig, like the rest of mankind.

General Newton still has his wife with him.   Stewart and Reynolds have brought theirs down, too;  the latter is exceedingly pretty and ladylike in appearance.^#6

The New York Times  says that General Meade has been summoned to Washington to answer charges brought against him before the Committee on the Conduct of the War about Gettysburg, by Sickles and Doubleday. A pretty team! ––Rascality and Stupidity.  I wonder which hatches the most monstrous chicken.

The weather continues fine; so that my batteries are having a good spell of drilling.  Reynolds’s park and stables look beautifully now that he has the all finished and his carriages painted up.  His men are great on baseball and have a lovely ground for it in front of the stables.  Here too he exercises his horses every day that he cannot have a battery drill.

(I find I have got neighbors during my absence: Gen’l Newton finding that there were no infantry on this side the Rail road, got frightened, & moved the M’ld brigade over: Fortunately they are not near enough to give me any trouble. )

On the diagram above, “a” represents Wainwright's headquarters; “B – G” represent his different batteries.

---

NOTES:  (Most of these notes are written by Alan Nevins who edited Wainwright's published journals.)
#1.  Ulric Dahlgren, son of admiral and ordnance inventor John A. Dahlgren, had lost a leg while on Meades staff at Gettysburg, but haad retruned to service.  He commanded part of Kilpatrik's brigade on its raid to Richmond.  He was ambushed after his force lost its way.
#2. William F. Barry had advised McClellan to organize an overwhelming force of guns ––he held an important staff position in the War Dept. since September 1862. / James Clay Rice, a Massachusetts man and Yale graduate who was practicing law in New York when the war began, struggled up from 1st lieutenant in the 39th NY to beome division commander. He was a daring officer.
#3.  Surgeon J.T.Heard was from a wealthy brewing family.  He returned to the states from Europe when the war broke out and originally enlisted as Ass't. Surgeon in the 13th MA Vols.  He was Junior Corps Medical Officer at this time.
#4.  General Henry  Hunt, Chief of Artillery, Army of the Potomac.
#5.  Captain George B. Winslow, of the 1st NY Light Artillery.
#6. Captain Gilbert H. Reynolds, 1st NY Batteries E & L; Lt. James Stewart, 4th US Artillery Battery B.

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Ladies in Camp

Mary Ellen Pierce's visit to her husband Elliot, of the 13th MA continues.  Elliot was soon to be promoted to Major of the regiment, but at the time, he was a captain in the Ambulance Corps.  I've been fortunate in identifying most of the officers and people she mentioned in her journal, with the exception of Lieutenant Babcock.  She introduces a new person in Captain Dow March 3rd.  This is probably Captain Edwin C. Dow of the 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery, which was assigned to the Army of the Potomac at this time period.  Another person she meets is Nurse Helen Gilson of Massachusetts.  A brief biography of Nurse Gilson follows the diary entry.

The Journal of Mary Ellen Baker Pierce [7 January - 4 April] is found in the On-Line Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society.  It is part of the Thayer Family Papers Collection.

Tuesday March 1st
        Rode out towards Brandy with Elliot. spend the eve at Capt Hulses, played Eucre  Capt & I beat Elliot & Bab. [Lt. Babcock]

Thursday March 3
        Elliot & I rode to 1st Brigade 3d Div. visited several Regts  met Maj Hall  Capt Dow  Col [blank]  [Major Hall is probably Thomas M. Hall, 121st PA, 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 1st Corps.  He had just been promoted Lt.-Col.  He was soon discharged due to sickness and he died in November.  See February page for his picture and biography.]

Friday March 4th
        Capt Hulse, Elliot & I rode Hospital in 3d Corps, Called on Miss Gilson  [Nurse Helen Gilson]  Very pleasant lady.  rode to Captain's [Charles F. Hulse, 121 PA] on our return, got some ale.

Saturday 5th
        Elliot, George & I rode to the 1st Brigade [at Mitchell's Station] in company with Capt McClure & Lt Clark had an entertainment in eve of nigger dancing. [George is Col. Leonard or Elliot's servant.  She calls all the other people she meets by their formal pre-fix.  She mentions George again on March 9th.  Captain Charles McClure, Division Commissary].

Sunday 6th
        Elliot rode up to C [Culpeper] and reviewed his train.  came back in P. M.

Nurse Helen Gilson

From, “Angel of Light: Helen L. Gilson, Army Nurse.”  Civil War History 43, no 1 (March 1997): 17-37.

Helen Gilson ( 1836 –– 1868) of Boston joined the war effort as a nurse in the spring of 1862.  Formerly a school teacher and governess, Gilson was passionate about the war and wanted to support the troops directly in the field.  She applied for her nursing diploma in 1861 but was turned down by Dorethea Dix, superintendent of army nurses, because she was too young.  Undeterred, Gilson volunteered under her uncle, Francis B. Fay, who primarily cared for the Army of the Potomac.  During her time in the war, Gilson was instrumental in renovating the dilapidated hospital for the “colored troops” of the Army of the Potomac at City Point in Petersburg, Virginia.  Gilson cared for all soldiers, no matter their race, and as a result was known as an “angel of mercy.”  As Robert McAllister wrote in a letter home, [Nurse Gilson’s] whole time and thoughts are devoted to the sick and wounded soldiers …She is truly a benevolent lady.

Gilson contracted malaria during the war and never fully recovered.  She died on April 2, 1868, in childbirth due to her weakened state.  She was photographed on January 18, 1865, in the Boston studio of James Wallace Black and John G. Case, the largest in the city at the time.

Chelsea Telegraph & Pioneer, March 5, 1864.

The following letter was originally transcribed and posted on Tom Hayes'  now defunct website, Letters of the Civil War.

NURSE –– MISS GILSON     
A Recollection of Gettysburg.

    A few days after the dreadful battle of Gettysburg, when more than twenty thousand badly wounded men filled the inns, the private homes, the farm houses, the barns, the sheds, the extemporized canvas hospitals, which made that fair region a spectacle of boundless misery,  I went out to the field-hospitals of the third corps, four miles from town, where twenty-four hundred men lay in their tents, a vast camp of mutilated humanity. Who can ever describe, or would ever ? to describe if he could, the various and horrible forms of injury represented in the persons of the victims of that glorious and decisive fight! But amid all their sufferings, an air of triumph animated the pale faces of those ranks of heroes, even on their dying beds. No murmurs mingled with the sighs of their exhaustion or the groans of their anguish.

    One woman, young and fair, but grave and earnest, clothed in purity and mercy, ––the only woman in the whole vast camp––moved in and out of the hospital tents, speaking some tender word, giving some cordial, holding the hand of a dying boy, or receiving the last words of a husband for his widowed wife. I can never forget how, amid scenes which, under ordinary circumstances, no woman could have appeared in without gross indecorum, she who pity and purity of this angel of mercy made her presence seem as fit as though she had indeed dropped out of heaven. The men themselves sick or well, all seemed awed and purified by such a resident among them.

    Separated from the main camp by a shallow stream, running through a deep ravine, was a hospital where, with perhaps fifty of our own men, more than two hundred wounded rebels had been placed. Under sudden and violent rains, this shallow stream had in a few hours swollen to such a torrent as actually to sweep away, beyond recovery, several wounded men who lay, thoughtless of any new peril, sleeping on its banks. For three days the flood kept at an unfordable height, and the wretched hospital of the rebels were cut off from medicine and supplies by the impossibility of reaching it. A brave young lieutenant repeatedly swam the torrent with a bag of medicines and small comforts, the only communication that was had meanwhile.

    Accompanied by the young woman above named, I found my way, at the earliest moment possible, to this unwillingly neglected scene. The Place was a barn and stable. Every foot of it was occupied by a wretched sufferer, clad in ragged gray or the rebel uniform. Those above in the barn might also be said to be in heaven, as compared to those below in the stable, who might with equal truth be said to be in hell. For upon heaps of dung, reeking with rain, and tormented with vermin, the wounds still undressed, and many longing for amputation, as the happy long for food or drink, lay fair and noble youth, with evidences of gentle breathing in their fine-cat features, and hunger, despair, and death in their bright and hallow eyes. The surgeon had at length got to work among them, and limbs just cut off (one I recollect, with the heavy shoe and stocking still upon it,) lay in dreadful carelessness, in full view, about the place.

    Having exhausted the little store with comforts we had brought with us, one of the sufferers said to Miss G., “Ma'am, can't you sing us a little hymn.”   "O yes, I'll sing you a song that will do for either side;” and there, in the midst of that band of neglected sufferers, she stood, and with a look of heavenly pity and earnestness, her eyes raised to God, sung,––“When this cruel war is over," in a clear, pleading voice, that made me remove my hat, and long to cast myself upon my knees!  Sighs and groans ceased; and while the song when on pain seemed charmed away. The moment it stopped one poor fellow, who had lost his right arm, raised his left and said, “O ma'am, I wish I had my other arm back, if it was only to clap my hands for your song.”

    In that barn a noble matron from Philadelphia was doing her utmost for those two hundred wounded prisoners. She had been with them all this time, using such scanty means as she could muster to alleviate their misery. I returned to Gettysburg and went out to those poor wretches that night a heavy wagon load of supplies, food, medicines and clothing –– Rev. Dr. Bellows.

(Chelsea Telegraph and Pioneer March 5, 1864. pg. 1 col 4.)

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March 5 - 9;
“I Desert” & “Mary Ellen's Big Night”

Calvin Conant's diary, continued:
        (Calvin's Company G is posted at Brigade Headquarters as Headquarters Guard.)

Saturday March 5, 1864.
        Pleasant day    I am on duty   Company drill this fore noon and fatigue party this afternoon to clean up camp    Brigade  Surgeon was over    is back at camp    Wm  Briggs  got his box to night    loots of good things now*

*NOTE:   Brigade Surgeon Allston W. Whitney, (13th MA)  had been incarcerated at Libby Prison between June, 1863, & January 1864.  He had recently returned to the front. He makes a joke about his release in his toast to Colonel Tilden, who had escaped from Libby in the breakout on February 9th, as mentioned in the article at the end of the next page.  WILLIAM R. BRIGGS; age, 21; born, Woburn, Mass.; shoemaker; mustered in as priv., Co. G, July 16, '61; mustered out, Aug. I, '64; wounded, July 3. '63.

Letter of Colonel Leonard to MA Asst. Adjt. Gen'l. William Rogers, March 5, 1864.

Some of the letters found in the 13th MA Executive Correspondence collection of the Massachusetts State Archives shed light on the business of running an organization like the 13th Volunteers.  In this case, Col. Leonard is trying to get his next round of officer promotions approved, yet protocols [red tape?] still need to be followed.  Major Rogers of the Massachusetts Adjutant General's office, with whom Col. Leonard corresponded regarding regimental promotions,  wanted Col. Leonard's Brigade Commander to approve his recommendations for promotion in the 13th Regiment.  But Col. Leonard was the Brigade Commander.

This item from:   Executive Correspondence; 13th Regiment; MA State Archives;  Colonel Leonard to Major William Rogers.

Pictured below are Adjutant David H. Bradlee, Lieutenant-Colonel N. Walter Batchelder, &  Lieutenant S. C. Whitney, all of the 13th Mass.  They are all mentioned in Sam Webster's Journal entry of March 6th.

From the Diary of Samuel D. Webster, Company D:
        Excerpts of this diary (HM 48531) are used with permission from The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

Sunday, March 6th, 1864
        Wind north and fire smoky –– always is when wind is North.  Inspected by Adj’t Bradley, ––now Brigade Provost Marshal.  Said our “Shebang” was the neatest he’d seen.  Have a floor in it, now, –– some one’s door, it was.   Mr. Wm. Hooper, of Martinsburg is in camp –– visits Lt. Colonel Batchelder.  Whitney, of D, is Sergeant of Guard at Brigade headquarters.  Col. Leonard commanding.

Pictured is Sam's cabin, he christened, “The Winter Palace.”

Monday, March 7th 1864.
        A Jersey Dutchman, trying to desert, came into our lines last night.  He had passed the Corps piquets, near Culpeper, and the camp guard of the Cavalry on the hill back of us, and naturally thought in crossing Cedar Run he was crossing the Rapidan.  He said, when stopped by our Camp Guard, (we lie on the south side of Cedar Run), that he “belonged wit the Shersy brigade, unt vas runs avay from camp, and desert,” and wouldn’t be convinced of his error until he saw the Brigade Flag.

13th Mass. Historian Charles E. Davis, Jr.,  retells Sam's story.

The following is from, “Three Years in the Army,” by Charles E. Davis, Jr; Estes & Lauriat, Boston, 1894.

An odd incident occurred on the 7th, [March] while our regiment  was on picket, that afforded us considerable amusement.  A Dutchman belonging to a New Jersey brigade, becoming dissatisfied with fighting for Uncle Sam, concluded to transfer his valuable services to the enemy, and accordingly started for the rebel lines  On his way, he passed through the picket lines of the corps and the cavalry line without being stopped.  Imagining that he had passed the outpost lines of the Union army, and that our line was the rebel picket line, he boldly advanced and announced to us that he “Belonged mit the Shersey brigade, but was run away from camp and desert.”  Though we informed him of his error, he was not convinced until he was shown the brigade flag, and then he was too well convinced for his own comfort. He was a man of intelligence, as was shown by the remark he made in speaking of himself, “I’m a tam fool.”

“Be sure you are right, then go ahead,” was the sound advice of David Crocket.

The story of the Jersey deserter was told in Bivouac almost exactly as Sam Webster tells it above.  According to that story this happened the following day:

This snippet is from, Bivouac, A Military Magazine, 1885.

The day following [the Jersey man incident] a darkey came into our lines.  He carried a leather bag as if it were quite heavy.  The two men who accompanied him back to the provost marshal, on returning, reported that he had quite an amount of gold in the bag, which he said he had dug up from where his master had hidden it.

Mitchell's Station, March 7 - 9;  “Mary Ellen's Big Night”

In a letter to her sister Mary Ellen describes the wild time she had with the boys one evening at Brigade Headquarters.

Mary Ellen's Journal, continued:

Monday 7th.
        Stormy in morning.  pleasant in P.M.  14th Brooklyn Musical company came down to the Brigade gave an entertainment in 16th Maine Chapel.  After which serenaded Col. Leonard and were invited into the house to supper.  Mrs. Leonard & I took supper afterwards.

Pictured left to right; Captain Jacob A. Howe, Captain Oliver C. Livermore, Captain Elliot C. Pierce, Mrs. Lucy Leonard, and  Mary Ellen Pierce.

Tuesday 8th.
        Pleasant.  Capt. Howe [Jacob A. Howe, 13th MA] Capt Livermore, [Oliver C. Livermore, 13th MA] & Elliot, Mrs. L. [Lucy Leonard] & I took a long ride through the woods.

Two Yager girls spent evening with us –– played cards.

Dr. Reuben A. Long House, known as "Wellington"

 Dr. Long's abandoned home, known as Wellington, was 1st Brigade Headquarters at Mitchell's Station.  The building was torn down in 1958.  The party of March 8, that Mary Ellen writes home about took place here

Letter from Mary Ellen Pierce to sister Julia Ashford Baker, March 9, 1864

The following is from the Thayer Family Papers Collection at the Massachusetts Historical Society:  Letter from Mary Ellen Baker Pierce to Julia Ashford Baker, 9 March 1864.

Dear Julia
        I am back to Culpeper, again after an absence of 4 days.  We came up from the Brigade in the cars this morning, it rained all Monday night and Tuesday forenoon  So the traveling is very bad, and Elliot thought it best to let George bring up the horses.  It seemed very funny to be sleeping in a tent on a bed of hay and listen to the rain pattering on the roof above, it seemed as though it couldn’t help wetting through, but I slept as dry as if I were in my own room at home. 

Elliot & I had a tent to ourselves with a nice little stove in it, a table, chair &c.  I enjoy staying there very much wish Elliot could have his quarters there.  it is pleasant, because they are all together and have jolly times, & I like Mrs. Leonard very much, she enters into all the fun and seems as young as I do.  I rather expected to find her a sober sort of a person, but she isn’t at all.

there is a house close by their tents about half demolished but they manage to make it comfortable so that they take their meals there, and they are very lively ones too.  Monday evening we had two secesh females to spend the evening with us,  the Yager sisters, who live not far away from Hd Quarters.

Capt. Porter Ass’t Adjt-Gen., is paying attentions to one of them, whether he has any serious motives I don’t know but should hardly think it possible.  they are far inferior to New England girls in intellect appearance &c., as indeed are all the females I have met here, and the Capt. is a person of very fine education and quite accomplished, plays the Piano beautifully, is a widower Lawyerer.

Last evening the musical Society from the 14 Brooklyn Zouaves came down to Serenade Col. Leonard, they are the same company who have established the Academy of Music here in town and give entertainments nearly every evening to crowded houses. They sent word beforehand that they would come, so that the Chapel of the 16th Maine Regt. was engaged for them to give an entertainment in, and all the Officer’s Ladies in the Brigade invited, it was really very good indeed.

After our return to Hd. Qtrs. they stood out in front of the Col’s tent, and gave a serenade, were then invited into the house to supper, where they made themselves merry till about one o’clock, then were packed off into one of the other rooms to sleep, and Mrs. L. & I went in & had a cup of coffee  Some mince pie & cheese, which didn’t affect my dreams at all, for three nights I have been up till one o’clock and past, and I reckon I’ll sleep pretty soundly to-night.

We are very dissipated here in the Army, the Officers & men mean to have a good time as long as they can, and they  don’t blame them, they see hardships enough.

The weather is lovely to day.  I am sitting in my room with the window open and the birds are singing beautifully.  I suppose by the time I get home you will be just commencing to have such weather as we have had all the time  I have been here.  haven’t I got rid of the cold weather nicely.  I think Mother would like living here.  Elliot sends love

with much love ––your sister Mary.

[written up the side]
Ask Mother what Regt her nephew is in and if his name is Wallace Holmes.  There is only one Maine Regt in this Corps and that is the 16th.  I believe that is not the one.

Wednesday 9th
        Elliot & I returned to Culpeper, in cars, on account of mud.  George brought up the horses     order came to-night for all ladies to leave the Army.  Lt. Babcock & Capt. Hulse spent eve with us, and played cribbage.

Capt Charles Hunt Porter, 39th MA, &  Lt. Charles F. Hulse, 121 PA.

View of Culpeper, 1863.  The Old Court-House was torn down and its replacement built in a new location, on the other side of A.P. Hill's boyhood home.  The other 3 buildings still stand, but the steeple of the  Baptist Church was removed and its facade has been greatly altered. Same for the Hill home.  Mary Ellen's lodgings at the Rixey home were down the road (modern day Main street) between the Hill home and the courthouse moving to the right, a couple of blocks.

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When President Lincoln Met General Grant

The following is from, “History of the Ninth Regiment N.Y.S.M.––N.G.S.N.Y. (Eighty-third N.Y. Volunteers.) 1845-1888”, by George A. Hussey, Edited by William Todd, 1889. (p. 315  - 316).

At this time the army was better supplied with rations than ever before.  Such vegetables as potatoes, carrots and turnips were served;  the trains bringing the supply from Alexandria daily. The Government was evidently preparing the soldier with a good “stomach for a fight.”

Another measure and one fraught with weal to the cause, was the promotion of Major-General Ulysses S. Grant to a Lieutenant-Generalcy, and his assignment to the command of all the Union armies in the field, a bill having been passed by Congress on the 29th [February] for that special purpose.  By his successful operations in the West, General Grant had made himself the most prominent soldier in the Union Army, and as a general’s abilities are measured by the victories he obtains, the taciturn, undemonstrative Grant, stood at the head. Therefore the country demanded, and Congress and the President voiced that demand, that a general should be placed at the head of all the armies, who would take the field in person, and continue to win victories until the rebellion was crushed and the Union re-established.

General Grant had been summoned to Washington, in order that the President might personally present him with his new commission, and invest him with the higher command.  He arrived on the 9th and the interesting ceremony was performed in the White House.  

Willard's Hotel, Washington, D.C., where General Grant stayed.

General Meade's Volunteer Aid, Lt.-Col. Theodore Lyman, was traveling home on furlough, and happened to be in Willard's Dining Room, when General Grant unexpectedly entered.

The Thomas Nast illustration below depicts the Gentlemen's parlor at Willard's Hotel, during Inauguration Week, February, 1861.  It may give a visual cue of the scene in the dining room when General Grant entered.

The following is from, Meade's Army, The Private Notebooks of Lt. Col. Theodore Lyman, Kent State University Press, 2007.

March 7,  Gen. Meade having given me leave, prepared to go home tomorrow ––Gloria!

March 8, Tuesday
        After breakfast, took the 9.45 train to Washington.  Found there Lt. Col. Kingsbury  en route for the same.

Rain, quite hard. There is a truss bridge for the R. R. now over the Rappahannock;  also a new pier bridge (parallel to the long bridge, over the Potomac) nearly done.  Got at about 2.30 to the station, whence to Willard’s for a warm bath, shave and dinner.  While taking diner, Gen. Grant came in, with his little boy;  and was immediately bored by being cheered, and then shaken by the hand by the Hoi polloi.

He is rather under middle height, of a spare, strong build; light brown hair, and short light brown beard.  His eyes of a clear blue;  forehead high;  nose aquiline;  jaw squarely set, but not sensual.  His face has three expressions; deep thought; extreme determination;  and great simplicity and calmness.  “Biggy” Lawrence* was there, deaf and clammy, as usual.

Took the 7.30 train for New York.  No sleeping car, great crowd, and the night made hideous by re-enlisting soldiers, who, like jack ashore, were rather too full of whisky.  The most, to do them justice, were quite respectable & sober; but it is indeed shameful to hear them swear––a mere trick and in good part the fault of their officers.

*Timothy Bigelow Lawrence (Harvard, 1846).

 Boston Evening Transcript March 9, 1864

Dining Room of Willard's Hotel

Another Account

 Boston Evening Transcript,  March 10, 1864.

Francis B. Carpenter Painting; When Lincoln Met Grant

Charles Nehemia Richards, 13th MA

When Lincoln Met Grant; Charles N. Richards, Veteran of Company B, 13th MA Vols. was present in the room.

A Veteran of the 13th Mass. Vols. was present in the room when President Lincoln met General Grant for the first time.  Charles N. Richards, formerly of Company B, enlisted in the company at age 19 with his mother’s reluctant consent.  (His father Lysander, had died in 1852.)   At the time Charles had been working at his Uncle’s tannery in Bleeker, N.Y., since age 11, as partial support for his widowed mother and the rest of the family;  four sisters and a younger brother.  (Charles’ older brother Lysander, also worked to support the family as postmaster of Quincy, MA.)

He followed the fortunes of the regiment until severely wounded at the Battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862.  A bullet tour through his nose and cheek and upper jaw and carried away with it most of his teeth and part of his face.  Charles would say, “He lost his head at Bull Run and his cheek and jaw at Antietam.”

His Company B comrade, Levi L. Dorr wrote of Charlie, “He was one of us thirteen of Company B who were wounded at Antietam, nearly all but him hit in the legs.  Charlie caught it plumb in the nose and spit the bullet out very soon;  I think he has it now.  We were fortunate in having only buck and ball come our way.  Well, Chalrlie was a sight the next morning, his face looking like the full moon with ears.  His other features were less recognizable than that glorious orb.  He struck the train for Washington that day, where the Chief of Police was his cousin.”**

Charles was hospitalized for several months at the old Pension Office building in Washington.  Skillful surgery reduced the eventual damage to a life-long dependence on a single nostril and the loss of most of his teeth. He received his honorable discharge November 26, 1862.

 The young soldier had some powerful family friends including Senator Charles Sumner whose influence helped in gaining Charles Richards an appointment to the stationary office of the United States Senate.  The appointment dated May 1, 1864, and he served as “keeper of stationary”  for 44 years until his death in office on October 20, 1918.  He knew personally every president from Lincoln to Wilson, as well as John Quincy Adams and enjoyed the close and intimate camaraderie of more United States senators than any man who has ever lived.”

One of the stories related by Charles, …was that on March 8, 1864 he was at the evening reception in the Red Room of the White House where Lincoln and Grant met for the first time.  The occasion was the presentation to Grant of a commission as lieutenant general and field commander of the Union Army.  Standing close to the president were his secretary, John Hay, Generals Sickles and Oglesby, Secretary of State Seward and Secretary of War Stanton.  Charles was about to shake hands with him when word came that General Grant had arrived.  As Grant  entered the room Lincoln advanced several steps to greet the great soldier and extending his hand said:

“General Grant, I am glad to greet you.  I believe this is the first time we have met.” 

General Grant, who seemed impressed with the importance of the occasion, with bowed head modestly replied:

“You are right, Mr. President, this is the first time we have met.”  In his diary for that day Charles wrote, “Scarcely ever saw a man as unassuming.  After a while Mrs. Lincoln promenaded with Gen. Grant.”

SOURCE:  Charles N. Richards and His Puritan Forebears; privately printed, Minneapolis, MN 1971. (p. 32).
        **Levi L. Dorr, August 31, 1915 letter to Charles H. Bingham, found in 13th Regiment Ciruclar  #29, November, 1916.

Boston Evening Transcript, March 10, 1864

Ceremony of General Grant’s Commission as Lieutenant General.  Washington, 9th.  President Lincoln this afternoon formally presented to Major General Grant his commission as Lieutenant General. The ceremony took place in the Cabinet Chamber, in the presence of the entire Cabinet;  Gen. Halleck, Representative Lovejoy, and others.  Gen. Grant having entered the room, the President arose and addressed him thus:

General Grant:  The nation’s approbation of what you have done and its reliance upon you for what remains to do in the existing great struggle are now presented with this commission, constituting you Lieutenant General of the Army of the United States.  With this high honor devolves upon you a corresponding responsibility.  As the country herein trusts you, so under God it will sustain you. I scarcely need to add, that with what I here speak for the nation goes my own hearty personal concurrence.

To which Gen. Grant replied as follows

Mr. President: I accept this commission with gratitude for the high honor conferred.  With the aid of the noble armies that have fought on so many fields for our common country, it will be my earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations.  I feel the full weight of the responsibilities now devolving on me, and I know that if they are met it will be due to those armies, and above all to the favor of that Providence which leads both nations and men.

The President then introduced  the General to all the members of the Cabinet, after which the company was seated, and a half-hour spent in social conversation.

Boston Evening Transcript, March 11, 1864.

Woburn Townsman, March 18, 1864

The following letter was originally transcribed and posted on Tom Hayes'  now defunct website, Letters of the Civil War.

Woburn Townsmen, March 18, 1864.

Washington, D. C., March 15, 1864.

Dear Editor: – We were but just recovering from the daring raid of the dashing Killpatrick when the Hero of Vicksburg unostentatiously came among us.  There was a rush at the President’s Levee on Tuesday evening last to see him.  Major and Brigadier Generals were of no account on the occasion, but they seemed as full of homage and congratulation as the humblest citizen.  You could feel the floor of the brilliant East Room spring with the swaying throng.  The ladies suffered the crush of crinoline smilingly and felt repaid for broken hoops (whose limits inexorable fashion is so fast curtailing) and crumpled silks, when they had touched the hand that wields the sword so victoriously, and bears’ with so much modesty “his blushing honors thick upon him.”  The President seemed as glad as any one to see him.  The two together were a picture worth beholding; the statesman and the hero of the age!  President Lincoln wore his usual transparent honest countenance, and Gen. Grant his service worn uniform.  They went through with the protracted ceremony of shaking hands with the crowd with far less pretentious and pompous deportment than many of those who sought their acquaintance.

Gen. Grant is a smaller man that I was prepared to see.  He looks not more than five feet eight inches high, has a well knit frame, brown hair and whiskers, both cropped close, and a manner very modest, and even bordering upon embarrassment.  There is no prominent look about him that would enable one to select him from a crowd, and one wonders where all the secret springs of his success are concealed, that they show so little.  At times the ----- was so great that he was crowded upon the ----, but all were in the best of humor, from congressmen to clerks.  At the close of the levee, three rousing cheers were given for “Unconditional Surrender,” and three more for some one whose name I did not hear, and then three more spontaneous, tremendous ones for President Lincoln, which seemed as if they would tottle down the White House, and leave it as ruined as did the British in 1814.

Gen. Grant in company with Gen. Halleck, inspected the defences of Washington, and visited that great military pendelum,  the army of the Potomac, in a rain storm.  Rumor is rife in connecting his name with its re-organization, and declares that he is to superintend in person its first Spring operation.  If he would retain his laurels he must keep at least 5 west of Washington.  He lingered but four days in the court martial breeding atmosphere.  His sudden departure was a disappointment not only to many who had “set their hearts on seeing him,” but to the manager of one of the theatres who had secured plethoric houses on two succeeding nights by advertising that he would occupy one of the boxes, and was obliged to apologize to his audiences.  But neither apologies nor decorated walls, the presence of the President and a part of his cabinet, nor the fine rendering of Hamlet by Booth seemed to atone for the disappointment.  But “the chief who in triumph advances” was away preparing himself for the part he is to act in the tragic theatre of war the coming season.

A recent order relieves Maj. Gen. Halleck from duty as General-in-chief of the Army, at his own request, and assigns Gen. Grant to the command of the armies of the United States.  The headquarters of the army will be in Washington, and with Gen Grant in the field.  Gen. Halleck is assigned to duty here, as chief of staff of the army, though it is expected that he will perform nearly the same duties as heretofore.

Some one seems determined to have General Meade court-martialed, though no one seems to know what for.  Six months ago every one was lauding him to the skies:  fault-finders and jealous generals have since made themselves heard.  Rome once spared a Manline, who was about to be executed in sight of the capitol he had saved, and afterwards dashed him to pieces on the Tarpeian rock.  Scotland deserted her idol hero when in peril; and she soon had nothing left to venerate but his memory.  Our government, becoming dissatisfied with a man, does not rob him of life, but of labor and the chances of greatness.  The unfortunate general who makes a single blunder has, afterwards, a large salary, and nothing to do but spend it, and writes an account of his campaigns, or have his wife writes “story of his guard.”

Washington is having a very large and successful fair, for the benefit chiefly of the soldiers from this District.  It is held in the north hall of the Patent Office, which is not yet completed, but the defects are concealed by evergreens and decorations.  Twenty or thirty rebel flags hang over the entrance, while cannons, muskets, swords, shells, and other trophies of Gettysburg, Chattanooga, and numerous well fought fields, are exhibited in various parts of the hall.  It is crowded nightly, and raffling is very brisk.  Most of the contributions are from the northern states.  The “New England Kitchen” attracts a great many visitors.  Masons and Odd Fellows, whose orders are very flourishing in these parts, have attended in bodies, wearing their regalia.  The colored people were “allowed to attend” yesterday, and their sable band “discoursed most eloquent music.”  The fair had a “cloud of witnesses.”

The political cauldron has almost ceased to bubble since Sec. Chase has withdrawn his name, and anticipations as to the bitterness of the presidential campaign have been much allayed by it.  There seems but little doubt that the “second term system” will be served by the Baltimore convention in June, and the usage of the last thirty years reversed.  So mote it be!

J. F. G.

(Woburn Townsman; March 18, 1864; pg. 2, col. 3.) br [Digital Transcription by James Burton.]

Boston Evening Transcript

General Grant traveled by train to Brandy Station to meet General Meade, March 10th.

It was raining heavily March 10th, the day Generals Grant and Meade met at Meade's Headquarters at Brandy Station (pictured).  Because of the rain Grant could not tour the camps and decided to come back another time and return to Washington the next day.  General Meade accompanied him  They were both invited to dine with the president on Saturday March 12th, and General Meade wasted to testify to the Committee on the Conduct of the War which was secretly building a case to have him removed from command of the Army of the Potomac.  According to General Meade, the two generals got along very cordially.  We will hear more about this on the next page.

 Return to Table of Contents

The Mysterious Alarm On March 10

Introductory Essay

All in all, the report that 150 Rebel Cavalry crossed the Rapidan River and attacked the Signal Station at Garnett's Peak, and was repulsed, leaving two dead, seems to be nothing more than a camp story that got out of hand.  But that is what Charles Barber (104th NY), wrote in a letter home, and Sam Webster recorded the incident, (without details) in his diary, and Charles Davis, repeated it in the 13th MA Regimental History.  Calvin Conant on duty at Brigade Headquarters reported some, “considerable firing at the picket last night and the brigade was ordered under arms in the morning for a couple hours.”  That much is true.  The 39th MA history makes no mention of it in their daily journal of the regiment.  And,  Major Abner Small, Adjutant of the 16th Maine, reported that his regiment lay under arms at 5 A.M., March 10.  When he wrote his memoirs, Adjutant Small said,  “before daylight, something excited our picket line, and our regiment was turned out; but nothing happened.”

Photo by Buddy Secor.

In a letter of Charles Barber, 104th NY, dated March 10,  there is further mention of a skirmish on the picket line: “our picket line was attacked at 2 oclock last night by 150 rebel cavalry  the rebs lost 2 killed and several wounded our side did not loose a man   our whole brigade was called out into line and the rebs fell back.”  Was he a witness or just repeating the report he heard?

Below are all the mentions of the incident I could find in my various sources from the 1st Brigade.

The correspondence printed in the Official Records, between General Merritt and Army Headquarters follows. It seems to confirm Abner Small's conclusion that nothing happened.  Camp story anyone?

Perhaps it was the following incident which caused the alarm, as described in a letter from James Ross in the 2nd Brigade, (Henry Baxter's Brigade).  James was a purposeful observer, and wrote about everything, yet he does not mention an altercation with the enemy at the Signal Station.  On the 10th of March he was in camp at Culpeper.  But he wrote that every 10 days or so, a squad from his regiment (9th NY Milita, Baxter's Brigade), went down to the Signal Station for picket duty.  In a letter dated March 16, after a friend of his had returned from the picket post, he wrote:  T“here was a great row a squadron charged where they supposed the enemy was, and when they were returning the infantry mistaking them in the dark gave them a volley and killed a horse and with this the affair ended"  Is that what really happened?

Diary of Calvin Conant, continued:

Tuesday, March 8, 1864.
        Wet rainy day  I am off guard  very dull in Camp   most all of our boys are on Pickett line     Company [Company G]  received of Capt [William] Cary,  all old Members,  four  dollars    all Recruits two dollars    Subs got nothing    this was company money[?]

Wednesday, March 9, 1864.
        Plesant day I am on duty our boys that were on Picket this wer relieved by the Second brigades they are on the half of the Picket duty in future

Thursday, March 10, 1864.
        Lousey  day rained some ( this morning  the Brigade was ordered under arms at 6 o clock this morning  considable firing heard at the picket line last night  I was on duty this morning and had to  stack all arms when the order came in   they was dismissed at  9 o’clock 

Sam Webster's account of the disturbance was repeated in the regimental history, but it seems to be a mistaken account of whatever really did happen.

Diary of Sam Webster:
        Thursday March 10th, 1864.  Regiment out under arms.  Rebel cavalry made a dash at our signal station out on “Bald Pate” (the further side of Cedar Mtn) but were repulsed.  Very rainy.

Bald Pate, or Garnett's Peak, the southern-most knoll of Cedar Mountain.  The Fort surrounding the Signal Station stood at the crest where the clump of trees stands today.

Letter of Charles Barber; March 10, 1864

Charles regiment, the 104th New York, was in the same brigade as the 13th MA.  He expands upon the story and gives further details, but it would seem these are just exaggerations as the story spread over camp.

The following correspondence in the Official Records doesn't mention any attempt by the enemy to take the Signal Station at Garnett's Peak on March 10th, let alone any men killed.  In fact it states there was very little action along the river, aside from a brief parley under a flag of truce,

Alfred Gibbs to Headquarters, Cavalry Reserve Brigade, March 11, 6 p.m.

Colonel Alfred Gibbs, and Genereal Wesley Merritt.

General Wesley Merritt to Cavalry Headquarters, March 12, 1864

A.A. Humphreys, Headquarters Chief of Staff to Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, Chief of Cavalry

General A. A. Humphreys, General Meade's Chief of Staff & General Alfred Pleasonton, Commanding Cavalry Corps

General Pleasonton's Response

In the end, I would have to agree with Major Abner R. Small of the 16th Maine, who in his personal memoirs titled, The Road to Richmond, (p. 125) wrote:

“Early March brought us talk of General Grant, though not the man himself. March 10th , before daylight, something excited our picket line, and our regiment was turned out; but nothing happened.  A rainstorm began,  which lasted nine days.”

The Journal of Charles Wainwright, March 10, 1864

From, “A Diary of Battle, The Personal Journals of Colonel Charles S. Wainwright, 1861-1865”;  Edited by Allan Nevins; 1962.

March 10 Thursday.  Today we have a real pouring rain, such an one as we have not had before for a long while   I trust that now the time for active operations approaches we are not going to make up for the long spell of fine weather we have enjoyed by an equally long one of bad.  Starting before daylight and marching halfway through the night, to say nothing of fighting, is bad enough under every advantage:  but when you add cold rains and mud thereto, it becomes almost intolerable.  I do not, however, expect an early opening of the campaign on our part, for so far as I can learn, we have not now over 60,000 men present in this army.

A large number of re-enlisted men, including many of my own, have only just received their veteran furlough, and consequently will not be back before the middle of April.  Of those who went  off in January a number have been very late in getting back, and some have not returned at all. The regiments that went home as organizations are returning; I do not hear of any of them having been able to fill up to the maximum.  Colonel Bragg of the Sixth Wisconsin told me he was about 600 strong.

The newspapers say that we have from 200,00 to 250,000 more men in service now than at the same time last year.  Where are they?  I am sure that I cannot imagine, unless they are in the heavy artillery regiments around Washington and in the depots.  Why don’t they send the men to the army?  Surely there can be no good reason for keeping them more than ten days or a fortnight at the depots.  If they would only remember how necessary drill is to these new men, and how much their health depends on their learning how to take care of themselves in camp, before they start on active service; as well as their efficiency there, on their acquiring now some knowledge of what they have to do.  Squads of a  hundred recruits, or so, arrive every few days for this corps;  but they ought to average a thousand a week to give the regiments here their proportion of the men said to have been raised.  Some of them are terribly hard-looking chaps;  regular “bounty-jumpers”;  who never intended to come into the field.  Others are of a superior class and mean to do their best.

I met a most amusing incident with one of these last, belonging to the Fourteenth Brooklyn, the other day, as I was walking through the streets of Culpeper.  He had been placed as a sentinel there only three days after arriving, and of course without having received any instruction.  I had just passed him when he called out “Halt Halt!  I say, you there, halt!”  Turning around, I said to him pretty sharply:  “Is that the way you speak to an officer?”  His reply, “That’s just it; you be an officer, be’nt you?”  showed me at once how green the fellow was, so I quickly informed him that I was.  “Well,” says he, “they told me I was to salute all officers when they went by, and I want you to show me how.”   The man was so honest and simple in his desire to do what was right that I really pitied him.  But as I could hardly be expected to give him his first lesson in the manual of arms then and there, I advised him to apply to the first sergeant of his company so soon as he was relieved.

(Illustration of a 14th Brooklyn soldier, pictured.)

I have Major Fitzhugh’s report up to the end of February complete, by which it appears that the recruiting party had secured 274 men up to that date;  31 were reported to him as mustered between then and the 6th inst.  He had been down to Elmira, but does not seem to have got any accurate information there; the men, they told him, had been forwarded to Fort Schuyler.  He says that he has official information of 404 men mustered into the regiment, and estimates that by the 20th of March 650 men will be enlisted for it altogether, but he fears large losses from desertion.

The question has  been up in New York as to allowing soldiers from the state to vote, and has been decided in the affirmative.  Mr. Lincoln telegraphed the news down himself!   I suppose he thought to make himself popular by so doing, and perhaps he will;  but for myself I think it would be more becoming the dignity of the President to telegraph his thanks after a victory than such small news.  I am sorry the thing has been so decided, as it will open a door for political discussion and influence which may be very damaging to discipline.  A soldier’s business is to obey; he forms a part of the executive, not of the legislative force in the country.

Most amusing stories are told of the number of re-enlisted men who have been married while on their thirty-five day furlough.  In some companies a third and even a half have been spliced while away.  Some four or five hundred dollars cash in hand set the girls wild after the men, so that it was hard work to get clear of them.  The most steady got married; the others let the women have it without marrying.

My copy of the Herald the last week has been like a daily edition of Punch to me.  Each number has had some very clever articles on the negro regiment which the Union League in New York have been getting up;  and each night as I read them I have roared with laughter.  The hits on ex-Governor King,*  “the pink of propriety” and “flower of aristocracy,” were capital.  As it has been decided to employ niggers as soldiers, do it by all means;  but why make more fuss over them than if they were white?  No regiment leaving New York since the spring of 1861 has had half such an ovation.  Really respectable ladies presented the colours, and threw bouquets to great buck niggers.  William saw the regiment marching down Broadway, and says that had they been white men under the same length of drill, they would have been thought to march badly;  being black, the Times and Tribune say they surpassed the Seventh.**  For my part, I wish all the negroes in the country were safely back in Africa.* note.

Pictured, Harper's Weekly, March 19, 1864.  The illustration shows Presentation of Colors to the 20th U.S.C.T. in Union Square on March 5, 1864.

It is now certain that Grant is to have the new post of lieutenant-general, just created by act of Congress.  This marks him officially as our major-general  “most distinguished for courage, skill, and ability.”  I trust that he may prove himself so, and not only that, but equal in all respects to the greatest generals of history.  But it is hard for those who knew him when formerly in the army to believe that he is a great man; then he was only distinguished for the mediocrity of his mind, his great good nature, and his insatiable love of whiskey.  He will  doubtless now be placed in supreme control of all the armies; and as the radicals must see that they have nothing more to gain by prolonging the war, we shall probably have matters pushed with great energy the coming campaign.

 

Street scene in Culpeper, 1862.

We are all agog now with regard to consolidation;  the order carrying it out was expected today for certain. The division generals and all staff officers are shaking in their shoes for fear that they will be dropped from their present high estate.  It is certain that this and the Third Corps will be sunk, but whether they will be absorbed bodily or broken into fragments is not known.  My good friend Dr Heard will certainly lose his position as he is junior corps medical director in the army.  I shall be sorry to be separated from him, but there is not another member of the corps staff who could not easily be improved upon.  For myself, it is a mere choice of commanders.  At present I lean toward Hancock and the Second Corps, though when the time comes I shall probably leave it to chance to decide for me.  I intended riding up to see Hunt about it today, but the rain has prevented.

My Court Martial has finished business & will be adjourned tomorrow;  one of the cases has to go up to gen'l Meade for approval, & the question of my power to call such court will then be decided. ––Lt. Matthewson has made an application for a Captaincy in the Adj't Gen'ls Dept. ––

Congress has again extended the time for paying the extra bounties to the first of April. All ladies are ordered home out of camp:  the first step towards activity.

NOTES:  Alan Nevins' Notes, from Diary of Battle:  *John A. King, who had been elected governor of New York on the Republican ticket in 1856, was a lifelong opponent of the expansion of slavery, and while in  Congress had assailed the Fugitive Slave Act in bitter terms  He was a son of Rufus King, a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and minister to Great Britain.  *The Twentieth United States, a regiment organized against the opposition of Governor Horatio Seymour, but with the strong support of the Union League Club and such citizens as William Cullen Bryant and Peter Cooper, acquitted itself well, and was followed by two more regiments of colored New Yorkers.

**The Seventh was an exclusive New York Militia group with many members from New York's social elite. ––B.F.

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Boxes From Home

Charles Davis decided to place his homily to boxes from home in this section of the regimental history.  It dovetails nicely with some letters of Sergeant Warren Freeman, Company A.  A more humorous discourse follows, from the pages of Bivouac Magazine, about trying to smuggle some contraband into camp.

The following is from, “Three Years in the Army,” by Charles E. Davis, Jr; Estes & Lauriat, Boston, 1894.

The winter did not pass without our receiving boxes from home;  those remembrances, prepared by mothers and sisters, were filled with choice eatables, and frequently contained things to wear.  These evidences of thoughtfulness of friends at home were very cheering, and as each little mess shared their contents they brought pleasure to many.  There were others, besides our immediate friends, who were working for the soldier.

Young ladies were busy knitting stockings and mittens and making comfortable articles of wearing apparel, which were sent out as fast as collected.  These were all highly appreciated.  We were not always aware who these kind friends were, though now and then a name would be found tucked away in  some corner and when discovered, often started a pleasant correspondence which was not the least of the pleasures that grew out of their anxiety for the welfare of the soldiers.

This noble work was carried on during the war with an unremitting labor, and a devotion that should never be forgotten while a solder is alive to express his appreciation of the practical good that it did.  Nor were the women our only friends.

There were men in Boston, as well as in other parts of the State, who were untiring in their efforts in behalf of the soldiers.  They not only contributed time and labor, but gave large sums of money to help along the work that was being done by the women.  It was a disinterested work for which they got nothing not even a “thank you” from the men whose interest they had so much at heart.  Soldiers were too far away without suitable opportunities for expressing the appreciation they felt at this patriotic service that was being carried on in their absence.  The names of some of these men became known through our correspondence with friends, and are cherished among the recollections of that exciting period.

It is difficult to estimate how much good was done by these earnest patriotic men and women to give encouragement to soldiers, or how much they did to keep alive patriotism in others.  Soldiers should never forget, that without the aid of these people at home, the war could not have been successfully carried on.

Letter of Warren H. Freeman, Co. A; March 8, 1864

From “Letters from Two Brothers Serving in the War for the Union,”  Printed for Private Circulation, Cambridge, 1871.

TO.  SERGEANT WARREN H. FREEMAN, THIRTEENTH REGIMENT MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS, MITCHELL’S STATION, VIRGINIA.

West Cambridge, March 8, 1864.

Dear Warren, –– Old friends and school-mates have unanimously decided to show their appreciation of your patriotic and self-sacrificing spirit –– and it was decided that a soldier’s box would, perhaps, be the most acceptable manifestation of our feelings.

We wish you could see us here assembled at your father’s house, with smiling faces and cheerful contributions, for it is a pleasure that we all readily enjoy with our whole hearts. 

Your father kindly provided us with a box, but it was not large enough; and we reluctantly came to the conclusion, that, on account of its incapacity, our contributions must be divided and a part sent now, while the remainder was reserved for a few days.  Doubtless you will enjoy it more, and it will of course make no material difference to us.

Your good mother was, indeed, very efficient in packing;  in fact, we really don’t know what we should have done without her.  She was indispensable, as she always is.

We should, any of us, be very happy to be favored with a letter, but we are fully aware of the many inconveniences you are subject to when you attempt to write.

Hoping you will kindly accept, and heartily enjoy our testimonial of good-will, we all remain,

Your affectionate friends and school-mates.

                                Sue A. Dodge,                       Simeon Barker,
                                        M. Addie Blanchard,          Sam A. Lewis,
                                        Julia A. Cutter,                   Addison Hill, Jr.
                                        Sarah E. Dexter,                 Joseph H. Eaton,
                                        Helen M. Hill,                      John Schwamb,
                                        Annette E. Hill,                   Jacob Schwamb, Jr.
                                        Almina L. Hill,                     Horace Lewis,
                                        Julia Frances Freeman,       Ira Russell,
                                        Lizzie D. Schouler.

Letter of Warren Freeman. March 11; On Picket 3 Days

SPICED RUM AND BUTTERED SLING
From Bivouac, A Military Magazine, February 1885, p. 56.

In the winter of 1864 the brigade to which my regiment was attached was doing outpost duty at Mitchell’s Station, Va., seven or eight miles in advance of the main body of the army, which was in quarters in and around Culpeper Court House and Brandy Station.   We were guarding the crossing of the Orange and Alexandria railroad over the Rapidan river, and had much duty to perform, having both an outlying picket line near the river and an inlying picket nearer camp.   Our communications with friends at home were much interrupted, as only occasional trains came out to bring our supplies and those needed by  a cavalry force camped about a half mile in our rear.

Supplies, especially in the case of boxes and packages for individuals, had to be reshipped at Culpeper, and orders were strictly enforced forbidding packages bearing the semblance of those containing liquor from coming through. We never knew what became of many such packages which we were advised by mail had been sent to us, but suspected the provost-guard in the rear had appropriated them to their own use.  We therefore set our wits to work to thwart them if we could.

We sent directions home to have a box made of the ordinary size and appearance of those coming to soldiers from loving friends at home, and to have another strong tin one enclosed which would hold about five gallons of liquid.  In due time the box arrived, filled with “Old Medford.”  We had such a jubilee that night that the memories of “buttered sling” and “spiced rum” are still vivid in my mind.

A former member of our regiment, who had been promoted to a captaincy in another Massachusetts regiment in the brigade was invited over to participate in the festivities.  [This would be Captain Ezra J. Trull in the 39th MA, pictured––BF]  In the small hours of the morning we concluded to accompany him back to his command, –– for obvious reasons, ––and upon arriving at his camp he insisted upon turning out his company for a roll-call.  And such a roll-call!  Only eight or ten men appeared, but they took it upon themselves to answer for those who did not appear.  But the captain did not stop here.  He proceeded to call the names of the members of the company to which he had belonged in our regiment, many of whom could not have answered unless they had risen from the dead.  He then ordered his men to their tents and we returned to camp.

In  a few days we were as dry as ever, and the box was returned with the request that it be filled again and sent back to us.  The return of that box was anxiously looked for, and all sorts of plans were made for a “time.”  Our best friends in the brigade were invited to be with us on its arrival, and preparations were made for other concoctions than the “buttered sling” and “spiced rum” of the previous occasion. We even made preparations with a cautious friend at Culpeper to notify us by a special messenger as soon as it arrived there.  After a long time, as it seemed to us, word came that it was on its way between Culpeper and our camp, and we gathered to welcome it.

When it was actually in the camp of our regiment it appealed to our olfactory nerves with great effect, and we therefore began to fear that something had happened to it.  A closer examination proved this to be only too true, for the box having been broken partly open and nailed together again several times, it had got rather shaky, and to ensure its safe delivery, some careful soul during its passage out had driven several nails into the cover, –– no doubt with the kindest intentions, –– and one of the nails had entered the tin  inclosure and the precious contents had trickled out drop by drop till the box and wagon it came in smelt like a distillery.  Upon opening it only a half pint remained.

We sipped a little all around, mournfully reflecting upon the transitoriness of earthly expectations. The man who had endeavored to do a good deed by strengthening the box was strongly condemned, and army transportation was the especial theme of our maledictions, while our invited friends maliciously soothed us with inquiries in regard to the box.

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Baseball & Farewell

The game of baseball is mentioned at least 4 times in the various soldiers' papers from the 13th Mass. Vols. which I have come across, and it is mentioned at least twice in the regimental history.  A game of ball between the officers and enlisted men was played on Thanksgiving day at Williamsport in 1861.  At another time the right wing played the left wing of the regiment. I think that was also at Williamsport in the first winter of the war.   It was played during the Mine Run Campaign in November, 1863, to relieve tension built up after waiting all night for an expected frontal charge against strong enemy fortifications, ––that was fortunately cancelled.  And, it is mentioned here, in March, 1864, in a game between the men of the 13th MA & 104th New York.  Apparently the men of the 13th MA were good ball players and it was a blow out.  Why not?  They were very competitive at everything else.

I found another mention of the game being played in the 2nd Corps in April, 1864, and added it here for additional interest.

The diary of Calvin Conant, continued:
        Friday, March 11, 1864.     Rainy day I am on duty   about 3 oclock  [cannot decipher this line it looks like rod a fella depart  - Col & Mrs Leonard did leave this day]   Shower poured down in large streams acompanied by very heavey thunder and some sharp lightninng   Reg on Inline Picket to day    plenty of Cider at head quarters to day     Col Leonard, goes Home with his wife on leave of absence

Saturday, March 12, 1864.
        Cleared of quite pleasant  We clean up our tent and open the same to dry    Big time with some of them? at football  & privates? reading the famous? names of Shoulder Straps

In contrast to the baseball mentioned by Charles Davis, Calvin Conant witnessed a football game, which Sam Webster says he particpated playing.

Diary of Sam Webster:
        Saturday, March 12, 1864.
        Had a very lively game of football  and got very sore about the legs and back  and will be stiff in the morning.

Baseball

The following is from, “Three Years in the Army,” by Charles E. Davis, Jr; Estes & Lauriat, Boston, 1894.

On the 12th of March we had a game of base-ball with some members of the One Hundred and Fourth New York Regiment.  As opportunities for indulging our love for this pastime were not very frequent, we got a deal of pleasure out of it.

The score was as follows:

Let the young people of to-day (1893) ponder on that score as they recall sitting all the afternoon to see professional clubs play without making a point on either side.  While modesty forbids commending our own playing, there is no reason why we should refrain from bestowing praise on the One Hundred and Fourth New York, though it is evident enough that they must have played a fine game to have won even twenty points.

More baseball...

The following is from an unknown newspaper in the 108th N.Y. Vols.  files of the New York State Military Museum.

The 108th New York Volunteers vs. The 8th New York Cavalry

Farewell, ––The end of Mary Ellen Pierce's 7 week visit to Culpeper

  As mentioned in Charles Wainwright's journal entry of March 10, all ladies were ordered to leave camp for home.  Mary Ellen departed from her lodgings at  Rixey house in town, on March 12th.  March 13th was her last night in camp.

The Rixey House, Downtown Culpeper.  The House no longer stands.

Mary Ellen Pierce's Journal, continued:

Thursday 10th
        Colonel,  Mrs. Leonard & Johnny [John Smith Leonard, b. July 26, 1852; 12 years old at this time.] came up from the front to-day –– dined with us –– Capt Livermore called.

Friday 11th
        Stormy –– Mrs. Leonard left this morning for home. Col. accompanying her to Washington ––Capt Hulse also left on “leave”

Saturday 12th
        Left Mrs. Rixie’s to-night removed to Capt Hulse’s quarters to remain the rest of my stay.  played cribbage in eve.

Sunday 13th
        pleasant –– muddy walked up to the Park to see Elliot ––review his train.  Last night in Culpeper

Monday 14th (14th?)
        Left Culpeper at half past 8.

Post Script:
        When Mary Ellen left for home, Elliot Pierce entered into his diary, March 14, that his wife had visited him for 7 weeks, and that he would surely miss her.  He called her his true wife, who made his burden light.

Good Bye

 

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© Bradley M. Forbush, 2024.

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