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PREFATORY NOTE.
PREFATORY NOTE.
This volume, though historic, is not a history of the Rebellion, but a record of personal observations and experiences during the war, with an occasional look at affairs in general to give clearness to the narrative. The time has not arrived for the writing of an impartial history of the conflict between Slavery and Freedom in the United States. Reports of military operations are incomplete; documents in the archives at Washington are inaccessible; much material remains to be gathered before the
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INTRODUCTORY. BEGINNING OF THE CONFLICT.
INTRODUCTORY. BEGINNING OF THE CONFLICT.
June, 1861. After four years of war our country rests in peace. The Great Rebellion has been subdued, and the power and authority of the United States government are recognized in all the States. It has been a conflict of ideas and principles. Millions of men have been in arms. Great battles have been fought. There have been deeds of sublimest heroism and exhibitions of Christian patriotism which shall stir the hearts of those who are to live in the coming ages. Men who at the beginning of the s
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CHAPTER I. AROUND WASHINGTON.
CHAPTER I. AROUND WASHINGTON.
June, 1861. In March, 1861, there was no town in Virginia more thriving than Alexandria; in June there was no place so desolate and gloomy. I visited it on the 17th. Grass was growing in the streets. Grains of corn had sprouted on the wharves, and were throwing up luxuriant stalks. The wholesale stores were all closed; the dwelling-houses were shut. Few of the inhabitants were to be seen. The stars and stripes waved over the Marshall House, the place where Ellsworth fell. A mile out from the cit
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CHAPTER II. BULL RUN.
CHAPTER II. BULL RUN.
July, 1861. At noon, on the 17th of July, the troops under General McDowell took up their line of march toward Fairfax, without baggage, carrying three days' rations in their haversacks. One division, under General Tyler, which had been encamped at Falls Church, marched to Vienna, while the other divisions, moving from Alexandria, advanced upon Fairfax Court-House. It was a grand pageant, the long column of bayonets and high-waving flags. Union men whose homes were at Fairfax accompanied the mar
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CHAPTER III. THE FALL OF 1861.
CHAPTER III. THE FALL OF 1861.
Oct., 1861. The months of August and September passed away without any action on the part of General McClellan, who had been appointed commander of the Army of the Potomac. The disaster at Ball's Bluff occurred on the 21st of October, just three months after the battle of Bull Run. On the afternoon of the 22d the news was whispered in Washington. Riding at once with a fellow-correspondent, Mr. H. M. Smith of the Chicago Tribune , to General McClellan's head-quarters, and entering the anteroom, w
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CHAPTER IV. AFFAIRS IN THE WEST.
CHAPTER IV. AFFAIRS IN THE WEST.
Jan., 1862. The church-bells of Louisville were ringing the new year in as with the early morning we entered that city. There was little activity in the streets. The breaking out of the war had stopped business. The city, with a better location than Cincinnati, has had a slow growth. Cassius M. Clay gave the reason, years ago. "Why," he asked, "does Louisville write on an hundred of her stores 'To let,' while Cincinnati advertises 'Wanted'? There is but one answer,—Slavery." Many of the houses w
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CHAPTER V. CENTRAL KENTUCKY.
CHAPTER V. CENTRAL KENTUCKY.
Feb., 1862. The tide of success during the year 1861 was almost wholly in favor of the Rebels; but at length there came a change, in the defeat of Zollicoffer by General Thomas at Mill Springs, on the 19th of January. I hastened to the centre of the State to watch operations which had suddenly become active in that quarter. It was on the last day of January that the zealous porter of the Spencer House, in Cincinnati, awoke me with a thundering rap at five o'clock, shouting, "Cars for Lexington."
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CHAPTER VI. THE OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN IN TENNESSEE.
CHAPTER VI. THE OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN IN TENNESSEE.
Feb., 1862. At last the Rebel lines were broken. Commodore Foote had opened a gateway to the heart of the Confederacy by the capture of Fort Henry on the 6th of February. While up Green River I learned of the intended movement, and hastened to be present, but was delayed between Evansville and Paducah, and was not in season to see the engagement. Late on the Friday evening after I saw Commodore Foote in Cairo. He had just returned from Fort Henry. "Can you favor me with an account of the affair?
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CHAPTER VII. PITTSBURG LANDING, FORT PILLOW, AND MEMPHIS.
CHAPTER VII. PITTSBURG LANDING, FORT PILLOW, AND MEMPHIS.
April, 1862. The battle of Pittsburg Landing, or Shiloh as it is sometimes called, was fought on the 6th and 7th of April. It was a contest which has scarcely been surpassed for manhood, pluck, endurance, and heroism. In proportion to the numbers engaged the loss in killed and wounded was as great as that of any battle of the war. The disasters to the Rebel cause in Tennessee moved Davis to hurry reinforcements to Corinth, which was the new base of Johnston's operations. Beauregard was sent into
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CHAPTER VIII. INVASION OF MARYLAND.
CHAPTER VIII. INVASION OF MARYLAND.
August, 1862. Great events were transpiring in Virginia. The magnificent army which passed down the Potomac in March, which had thrown up the tremendous fortifications at Yorktown, which had fought at Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Gaines's Mills, Savage Station, Glendale, and Malvern, was once more at Washington. Manassas was a bloody plain. Pope had been defeated, sacrificed by Fitz John Porter. Day after day the booming of cannon had been heard in Washington, borne by the breezes along the wooded v
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CHAPTER IX. INVASION OF KENTUCKY.
CHAPTER IX. INVASION OF KENTUCKY.
October, 1862. Simultaneous with Lee's advance into Maryland was that of General Bragg into Kentucky. As there were no indications that McClellan would follow Lee into Virginia, I hastened to Kentucky to observe the events transpiring in that department. General Buell was still in command of the Union forces. He had been lying quiet through the summer, occupying Chattanooga on the east, Florence on the west, and spreading his troops over a large territory. There were detachments at Nashville, Mc
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CHAPTER X. FROM HARPER'S FERRY TO FREDERICKSBURG.
CHAPTER X. FROM HARPER'S FERRY TO FREDERICKSBURG.
Nov., 1862. Returning to Virginia I accompanied the army of the Potomac in the march from Berlin and Harper's Ferry to the Rappahannock. The roads were excellent, the days mild, the air clear. Beautiful beyond description the landscape, viewed from the passes of the Blue Ridge. Westward in the valley of the Shenandoah was Longstreet's corps, traced by rising clouds of dust and the smoke of innumerable camp-fires. Eastward was the great army of the Union, winding along the numerous roads, towards
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CHAPTER XI. BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG.
CHAPTER XI. BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG.
Dec., 1862. At five o'clock on the morning of the 11th of December two signal-guns were fired on the heights of Fredericksburg. Deep and heavy their roar, rolling along the valley, echoing from hill to hill, and rousing the sleepers of both armies. We who listened upon the Falmouth hills knew that the crossing was not a surprise, but that the Rebels were ready for battle. And now as the day dawned there came a rattling of musketry along the river. The Rebel pickets opened the fire. The gunners a
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CHAPTER XII. THE WINTER AT FALMOUTH.
CHAPTER XII. THE WINTER AT FALMOUTH.
Dec., 1862. After the battle of Fredericksburg, both armies prepared for the winter. Two great cities of log-huts sprang up in the dense forests on both sides of the Rappahannock, peopled by more than two hundred thousand men. It was surprising to see how quickly the soldiers made themselves comfortable in huts chinked with mud and roofed with split shingles. These rude dwellings had a fireplace at one end, doors hung on leathern hinges, and bunks one above another, like berths in a steamboat. T
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CHAPTER XIII. CHANCELLORSVILLE.
CHAPTER XIII. CHANCELLORSVILLE.
April, 1863. General Burnside having accepted the command of the army with reluctance, was relieved at his own request, and General Hooker was appointed his successor. He made a thorough reorganization. The system of grand divisions was abolished, and the corps organization adopted. The First Corps was commanded by General Sickles, the Fifth by General Meade, the Sixth by General Sedgwick, the Eleventh by General Howard, and the Twelfth by General Slocum. The cavalry was consolidated into a sing
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CHAPTER XIV. CAVALRY OPERATIONS.
CHAPTER XIV. CAVALRY OPERATIONS.
May, 1863. "The Yankees can't ride horses; they were made to go on foot and dig in the dirt; but the men of the South are true-born cavaliers, accustomed from their childhood to the sports of the field," said a Richmond newspaper at the beginning of the war; but Zagoni's charge at Springfield, Pleasanton's at Barber's Cross-Roads, and Dahlgren's at Fredericksburg showed that the men of the North could ride to some purpose. Up to this time the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac had taken little p
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CHAPTER XV. THE ATLANTIC COAST
CHAPTER XV. THE ATLANTIC COAST
March, 1863. The encounter between the Merrimack and the Monitor had set the world agog on the matter of armored vessels. A fleet of ironclads had been prepared, with the special object in view of recapturing Fort Sumter. It was an event looked forward to with intense interest, not only in the North, but throughout the civilized world. Having a desire to witness that attack, I proceeded South, leaving New York on the 7th of February, 1863, on board the steamer Augusta Dinsmore, belonging to Adam
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CHAPTER XVI. THE IRONCLADS IN ACTION.
CHAPTER XVI. THE IRONCLADS IN ACTION.
April, 1863. After vexatious delays, the ironclad fleet was ready for action. It was deemed desirable to test their armor, before attacking Sumter, by making a reconnoissance of Fort McAllister, on the Ogeechee. It was late on the afternoon of March 1st, when the steamer George Washington left Hilton Head for a trip to Ossabow Sound. The Passaic, Montauk, Nahant, and Patapsco, ironclads of the Monitor pattern, were already there. The Washington took the "inside" route up Wilmington River and thr
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CHAPTER XVII. THE INVASION OF PENNSYLVANIA.
CHAPTER XVII. THE INVASION OF PENNSYLVANIA.
June, 1863. The second invasion of the North was planned immediately after the battle of Chancellorsville. The movement of General Lee was upon a great circle,—down the valley of the Shenandoah, crossing the Potomac at Williamsport with his infantry and artillery, while General Stuart, with the main body of Rebel cavalry, kept east of the Blue Ridge to conceal the advance of the infantry. General Hooker, at Fredericksburg, the first week in June, received positive information that Lee was breaki
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CHAPTER XVIII. THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.
CHAPTER XVIII. THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.
July, 1863. On Tuesday evening, the 30th of June, General Reynolds was in camp on Marsh Run, a short distance from Emmettsburg, while General Howard, with the Eleventh Corps, was in that town. Instructions were received from General Meade assigning General Reynolds to the command of the First, Eleventh, and Third Corps. General Reynolds moved early in the morning to Gettysburg, and sent orders to General Howard to follow. General Howard received the orders at 8 o'clock in the morning. General Ba
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CHAPTER XIX. FROM THE RAPIDAN TO COLD HARBOR.
CHAPTER XIX. FROM THE RAPIDAN TO COLD HARBOR.
May, 1864. There are few months in the calendar of centuries that will have a more conspicuous place in history than the month of May, 1864. It will be remembered on account of the momentous events which took place in one of the greatest military campaigns of history. We are amazed, not by its magnitude merely, for there have been larger armies, heavier trains of artillery, greater preparations, in European warfare,—but by a succession of events unparalleled for rapidity. We cannot fully compreh
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CHAPTER XX. TO PETERSBURG.
CHAPTER XX. TO PETERSBURG.
June, 1864. General Grant had tried to break Lee's lines at Cold Harbor, and had been repulsed with great loss. The Richmond newspapers were jubilant. "He is floundering in the swamps of Chickahominy. He has reached the graveyard of Yankee armies," said they. The newspapers opposed to the war and in sympathy with the Rebellion, in the North, made Cold Harbor an occasion for glorifying General McClellan, their candidate for the Presidency. "Grant is a butcher. He has sacrificed a hundred thousand
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CHAPTER XXI. SIEGE OPERATIONS.
CHAPTER XXI. SIEGE OPERATIONS.
June, 1864. The Norfolk Railroad enters Petersburg through a ravine. In the attack upon the enemy's lines, on the 18th of June, the hollow was gained and held by Burnside's troops, their most advanced position being about four hundred feet from the Rebel line. Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Pleasants, commanding the Forty-Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment, a practical miner, conceived the idea of excavating a tunnel under the Rebel works and exploding a mine. He submitted the plan to Burnside, who approved
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CHAPTER XXII. THIRD INVASION OF MARYLAND.
CHAPTER XXII. THIRD INVASION OF MARYLAND.
July, 1864. The armies of the Union in Virginia, in the West, beyond the Mississippi, and along the Gulf were controlled by General Grant. The chess-board was continental in its dimensions, but everything upon it seemed within reach of his hand. He had two armies under his immediate direction,—the Army of the Potomac and the Army of the James. He was in constant communication with Sherman at Atlanta, and his orders reached the forces a thousand miles distant on the Mississippi! The details were
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CHAPTER XXIII. SHERMAN'S ARMY
CHAPTER XXIII. SHERMAN'S ARMY
Dec., 1864. The army under General Sherman fought its way from Chattanooga to Atlanta, and then marched to the sea, capturing Fort McAllister, and opening communication with the fleet under Dupont on the 13th of December, and a few days later made its grand entrée into Savannah. A brief review of Sherman's campaign is necessary to a clear understanding of what afterward transpired in his department. While the Army of the Potomac was pushing through to the south side of the James, the Army of the
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CHAPTER XXIV. CHRISTIANITY AND BARBARISM.
CHAPTER XXIV. CHRISTIANITY AND BARBARISM.
Dec., 1864. When Sherman's army entered Savannah the people of that city were on the verge of starvation. The Rebel authorities had not accumulated sufficient supplies for a long defence. They were ignorant of the intentions of Sherman when he left Atlanta, and were unable to see through his plan till too late to put the place in condition to withstand a siege. Breastworks were hastily thrown up on the west side of the city. The eastern approaches were strongly protected by a series of forts, tu
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CHAPTER XXV. SCENES IN SAVANNAH.
CHAPTER XXV. SCENES IN SAVANNAH.
Dec., 1864. As I intended to spend some days in Savannah, I set out one afternoon in search of lodgings more commodious than those furnished at the Pulaski House, and I was directed to a house owned by a gentleman who, during the war, had resided in Paris,—a large brick mansion, fronting on one of the squares, elegantly finished and furnished. It had been taken care of, through the war, by two faithful negroes, Robert and his wife Aunt Nellie, both of them slaves. I rang the bell, and was ushere
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CHAPTER XXVI. SHERMAN IN SOUTH CAROLINA.
CHAPTER XXVI. SHERMAN IN SOUTH CAROLINA.
Dec., 1864. General Sherman received, soon after his arrival in Savannah, instructions from General Grant to hasten with his army to James River. Transports were sent down for the shipment of the troops. Grant desired to combine the two great armies, throw Sherman upon his own left flank, and sever Lee's communications with the South, and also prevent his escape. Through all the long months of summer, autumn, and winter,—from June to February,—Grant had put forth his energies to accomplish this
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CHAPTER XXVII. SOUTH CAROLINA BEFORE THE WAR.
CHAPTER XXVII. SOUTH CAROLINA BEFORE THE WAR.
Dec., 1864. To fully comprehend the fitting punishment of South Carolina we must keep in remembrance her position before the war. We must behold her as she appeared in 1860,—the leader and chief conspirator against the Republic. She had always taken a prominent part in the political affairs of the nation. Although a State, she was hardly a republican commonwealth, and very far from being a democracy. The State was ruled by a clique, composed of wealthy men, of ancient name, who secured privilege
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CHAPTER XXVIII. SUMTER.
CHAPTER XXVIII. SUMTER.
Feb., 1865. Fort Sumter was evacuated by the Rebels and occupied by the Union troops on the 18th of February, 1865; but before entering upon the events of that ever-memorable morning it will give breadth and color to the picture to glance at the scenes witnessed there at the beginning and during the Rebellion. On the 17th of December, 1860, Governor Pickens sent a strictly confidential letter to President Buchanan. "To spare the effusion of blood," said he, "which no human power may be able to p
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CHAPTER XXIX. CHARLESTON.
CHAPTER XXIX. CHARLESTON.
Feb., 1865. A city of ruins,—silent, mournful, in deepest humiliation. It was early morning when we reached the wharf, piled with merchandise, not busy with commercial activity as in other days, but deserted, its timbers rotting, its planks decayed, its sheds tumbling in and reeling earthward. The slips, once crowded with steam and sailing vessels, were now vacant, except that an old sloop with a worm-eaten gunwale, tattered sails, and rigging hanging in shreds, alone remained. A few fishermen's
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CHAPTER XXX. THE LAST CAMPAIGN.
CHAPTER XXX. THE LAST CAMPAIGN.
March, 1865. Hastening northward, I joined the Army of the Potomac in season to be an observer of Grant's last campaign. It was evident that the power of the Rebellion to resist was rapidly on the wane. In the West there were several small Rebel forces, but no large organized body. Hood's defeat at Nashville had paralyzed operations east of the Mississippi. Johnston was falling back before Sherman, without ability to check his advance. Grant had strengthened his own army. Schofield was at Wilmin
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CHAPTER XXXI. RICHMOND
CHAPTER XXXI. RICHMOND
April, 1865. There was no longer the semblance of a Confederacy. Jeff Davis and Breckenridge were fugitives, without country or home. The Rebel army was flying. Richmond was in flames. The Rebellion had gone down in a night,—in darkness as it originated, and as it ought to die. At three o'clock, Monday morning, an explosion took place which shook Richmond to its foundations, and made even the beds in the hospital at City Point heave as if by an earthquake. It was occasioned by the blowing up of
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CHAPTER XXXII. THE CONFEDERATE LOAN.
CHAPTER XXXII. THE CONFEDERATE LOAN.
April, 1865. The attitude of Great Britain towards the United States during the Rebellion will make a strange chapter in history. The first steamship returning from that country after the firing upon Fort Sumter brought the intelligence that the British government had recognized the Rebels as belligerents. Mr. Adams, the newly appointed Minister to the Court of St. James, was on his way to London, but without waiting to hear what representations he might have to make, the ministry with unseemly
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CHAPTER XXXIII. SURRENDER OF LEE.
CHAPTER XXXIII. SURRENDER OF LEE.
April, 1865. At three o'clock Monday morning, April 3d, Wilcox's division of the Ninth Corps entered Petersburg just in season to see the rear guard of Lee's army disappear over the hills on the north bank of the Appomattox, having burned the bridges and destroyed all the supplies which could not be transported. Lee's army was divided,—Longstreet, Pickett, and Johnson being south of the stream, fifteen miles west of the city. Gordon, Mahone, Ewell, and Elzy, with the immense trains of supplies a
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CHAPTER XXXIV. CONCLUSION.
CHAPTER XXXIV. CONCLUSION.
April, 1865. Day was breaking on the 12th of April, when General Grant, accompanied by his staff, alighted from the cars at City Point, after a tedious night ride from Burkesville. He walked slowly up the steep bank to his head-quarters, not with the air of a conqueror, but as if sleep and rest would be far more acceptable than the congratulations of a noisy crowd. Four years had passed since he left his quiet home in Illinois, a humble citizen, unknown beyond his village borders; but now his na
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