Day 37. April 6, 1862.
37
I felt like anything else but laughing….
April Sunday 6
A very fine morning. We have a bright morning. I have been in camp all day. We have not much smiling in the camp of a soldiers life. There was one lieutenant of Col Ashby cavalry and two privates* went in this evening to the town of Winchester and lodge in the Jail* for safe keeping until tomorrow and I hope we may soon have a Sabbath day respected and live in peace and harmony. I received a letter from Mrs Burket but was somewhat disappointed as I did not get as long a letter as I expected. This was a delightful day is getting cloudy this evening
Civil War Weather in Virginia Robert K. Krick P. 54
“7a.m. 37; 2p.m. 63; 9p.m. 50. Very heavy frost.”
Note: Both Ephraim & Strother write about these same two deserters:
A Virginia Yankee in the Civil War The Diaries of David Hunter Strother David Hunter Strother P. 27
APRIL 6, SUNDAY.—Bright and mild.
“A sergeant brought in two deserters* from Ashby’s Cavalry. They were brothers, youths from Baltimore who had volunteered eight months ago. They were tired of the service and said many others were in the same condition and would desert when they got an opportunity. They said Jackson was at Mt. Jackson removing the stores. Their wagons were few and it would take them a long time to get them all away. They confirm the report of panic and disorganization and say there is talk of resisting at Staunton and the militia are engaged in fortifying there.”
Note: 1864:
Terrible Swift Sword Bruce Catton P. 233
“Many of them, naturally, cut and ran for it without delay. Part of Sherman’s division simply disappeared, and by noon there were thousands of Union fugitives glued to the ground on the river bank at Pittsburg Landing, men so overwhelmed by terror that no conceivable effort could get them back into action: Grant estimated later that at no time during the day were more than 25,000 Federals actually fighting.”
In the Presence of Mine Enemies: The Civil War in the Heart of America, 1859-1864 Edward Ayers P. 235
“‘The slaughter on both sides has been immense,” read a Franklin paper, and “hundreds of bodies and the carcasses of horses innumerable lay festering in the sun, while the air seemed black with buzzards, attracted thither by the stench which filled the atmosphere for miles around.” The Confederates lost seventeen hundred killed and eight thousand wounded; the Federals lost almost exactly the same numbers and the same proportions. “We had the bodies of the dead piled up in places like cord wood. It was the most terrific battle even fought in this country,” Colonel F.S. Stumbaugh of Franklin wrote home.’”
Nature’s Civil War: Common Soldiers and the Environment in 1862 Virginia Kathryn Shively Meier P. 135
“In the winter of 1861 to 1862, Jackson refused to rest his men by granting furloughs; instead, he drilled them until he received permission to pursue his Romney campaign. As discussed earlier, the campaign was a bitter January endeavor both in weather and in lack of significant strategic gains. Pvt. Charles W. Trueheart, an artillerist, provided a start portrait. “The roads were so slippery with sleet, that the poor [horses] could not keep their feet in pulling the cannon & wagons, but fell continually– sometimes 3 out of 4 of a team would be down at once. Splotches and puddles of blood frequently marked the places where they fell… Many of us got our feet and hands frostbitten. My feet were so badly bitten that I could scarcely walk.” The soldiers faced freezing temperatures on the march and when they reached Romney had nowhere to sleep. Historian Peter Cozzens writes, “The men took it upon themselves to find shelter” in private houses, churches, and stores. That winter, Col. Turner Ashby’s cavalry became particularly notorious for employing the lengthier French Furlough, sometimes for up to four weeks. Such extended stays were risky, as they smacked of permanence, alerting commanders to the prospect of desertion.”
Note: There is the old saying, “Nemo bene imperat, nisi qui paruerit imperio” – “No one governs well who will not submit to be governed.”
DESERTERS.
“OCT 24.—Saw a large squad of our own deserters, (over 300) surrounded with a cordon of arm’d guards, marching along Pennsylvania avenue. The most motley collection I ever saw, all sorts of rig, all sorts of hats and caps, many fine-looking young fellows, some of them shame-faced, some sickly, most of them dirty, shirts very dirty and long-worn, &c. They tamp’d along without order, a huge huddling mass, not in ranks. I saw some of the spectators laughing, but I felt like anything else but laughing. These deserters are far more numerous than would be thought. Almost every day I see squads of them, sometimes two or three at a time, with a small guard; sometimes ten ten or twelve, under a larger one. (I hear that desertions from the army now in the field have often averaged 10,000 a month. One of the commonest sights in Washington is a squad of deserters.)” Walt Whitman
The Civil War: The Complete Text of the Bestselling Narrative History of the Civil War– Based on the Celebrated PBS Television Series Ward, Ward, & Burns P. 223 Ken Burns interview with Shelby Foote
Note: 1862:
“Foote: Shiloh was the first big battle– the first great bloody battle; first Manassas, or Bull Run as it’s sometimes called, was nothing compared to Shiloh. It was fought in early April [of 1862]. The trees were leafed out and the roads were meandering cowpaths. Nobody knew north from south, east from west. They’d never been in combat before, most of them, especially on the southern side. So it was just a disorganized, murderous fistfight, a hundred thousand men slamming away at each other. The generals didn’t know their jobs, the soldiers didn’t know their jobs. It was just pure determination to stand and fight and not retreat.
The bloodiness of Shiloh was astounding to everyone. Out of 100,000 men, over 20,000 were killed, wounded, captured, or missing. Shiloh had the same number of casualties as Waterloo [which ended the Napoleonic wars]. And yet, when it was fought, there were another twenty Waterloos to follow. Grant, shortly before Shiloh, said he considered the war to be practically over, that the South was ready to give up. The day after Shiloh he said, “I saw it was going to have to be a war of conquest if we were to win.” Shiloh also corrected a southern misconception which had said, “One good southern soldier is worth ten Yankee hirelings.” They found out that wasn’t true by a long shot. Shiloh did that. It sobered the nation up something awful to realize that they had a very bloody affair on their hands. And it called for a huge reassessment of what the war was going to be.”
America Aflame: How the Civil War Created a Nation David Goldfield P. 244
“In the meantime, the war would go on for three more bloody years. For Abraham Lincoln, God had obviously willed the war to continue, as no side appeared to gain a conspicuous advantage. Although it was not possible yet to discern God’s plan for America, He must have a purpose in perpetuating the conflict. While waiting for God to decide, Union soldiers transformed Shiloh Chapel into a field hospital and ripped up the wooden floorboards to make coffins for their dead.”
Note: Some men were stranded, injured, dying, on the field after Shiloh for two days or more, & they glowed blue-green due to being covered with parasitic worms (nematodes, who have photorhabdus luminescens in their digestive tracts). Those who glowed brightest (“Angel’s Glow”) lived, because the burrowed larva ate bad bacteria then vomited it back out into men’s wounds. Imagine the men laying there, glowing fluorescent lime with the limn of sunset mixed in. Battle of Shiloh: 23,000 dead & wounded. More casualties than all of America’s previous wars combined. Grant defeats Johnston in southwest Tennessee. Beauregard assumes command following Johnston’s death. Confederate losses: 1,723 dead, 8,012 wounded, 959 missing.
Union losses: 1,754 dead, 8,408 wounded, 2,885 missing. Over 5,000 Confederates taken prisoner after Island No. 10, in the Mississippi River, is captured by the Union. Now the Mississippi is open to the Union clear down to Fort Pillow, Tennessee. Uh oh.
See: GAR monument to Tennessee Union soldiers located in the Knoxville National Cemetery. Go ahead & take a long look. It’s okay, I’ll wait. http://nps.gov/nr/travel/national_cemeteries/tennessee/knoxville_national_cemetery
The Civil War: The Complete Text of the Bestselling Narrative History of the Civil War– Based on the Celebrated PBS Television Series Ward, Ward, & Burns. P. 402
“Confederate soldier to General Longstreet during the retreat to Appomattox:
“My shoes are gone; my clothes are almost gone. I’m weary, I’m sick, I’m hungry. My family have been killed or scattered…. And I have suffered all this for my country. But if this war is ever over, I’ll be damned if I ever love another country.’”
The View from the Ground: Experiences of Civil War Soldiers Edited by Aaron Sheehan-Dean P. 82
“‘When he considered defeat, a South Carolinian said it “better that every man, woman & child in the South should be buried together in one wide, common grave.” By 1865 these Confederates saw the war an an all-or-nothing proposition. If victory or death were the soldier’s only honorable choices, independence or mass suicide were the only admirable options for the country.’”
Note: Shades of Jonestown yet again.
Lincoln Day by Day: A Chronology 1809-1865 Volume III: 1861-1865 C. Percy Powell P. 105
“April 6, 1862: Sec. Stanton drops in, makes few slighting remarks, tells President there is no change below. Lincoln refers to his telegram sent Gen. McClellan at 8P.M.: “I think you better break the enemie’s lines from York-town to Warwick River, at once.’”
Note: 1865:
On this day, VA. Governor William Smith, having fled from Richmond, passes through Appomattox County, VA., where Federal & Confederate soldiers had never been, but were rapidly approaching. He warns residents of their imminent arrival, which sets off a panic.
The Most Fearful Ordeal: Original Coverage of the Civil War by Writers and Reporters of the New York Times P. 314-315 Introduction and Notes by James McPherson (New York Times excerpt) https://www.nytimes.com/1865/04/10/archives/the-victory-thanks-to-god-the-giver-of-victory-honors-to-gen-grant.html (Excerpt):
THE VICTORY
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Thanks to God, the Giver, of Victory.
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A NATIONAL SALUTE ORDERED.
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Two Hundred Guns to be Fired at the Headquarters of Every Army, Department, Post and Arsenal.
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FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF RICHMOND—THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION IN THE CITY—WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR IT?—THE LIBBY AND CASTLE THUNDER—SUFFERING FOR FOOD—DISTRIBUTION OF SUPPLIES—LEE’S FAMILY.
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From Our Own Correspondent.
RICHMOND, THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 1865.
“Let me say, though, at the outset, that the best part of the city is a ruin. That the awful fire kindled by the enemy, and which at first promised to consume but a few buildings, was so fanned by the rising wind, that before it could be got under subjection, thirty squares, comprising not less than eight hundred buildings in the very best and most valuable business parts of Richmond were in ashes. What the pecuniary loss is no one can estimate. Nearly all the principal mills, factories, warehouses, stores, banks and insurance offices were destroyed, and the losses being so heavy, the insurance companies, perhaps insolvent already from their countenance of the rebel currency, are now more than bankrupted, and thousands of property owners, computed wealthy in their actual possessions three days ago, are now reduced to beggary. It is among the things easily discernible, that this ruin, wrought by their own friends, to whom they have given all, and to whose tyranny they have submitted, with even cheerfulness, is the cause of far deeper gloom among many than that produced by the loss of the city or the defeat of their army. It is apparent indeed that the transfer of the city to the Union flag was not only not distasteful to a very large portion of the people, many of them among the best classes, but even highly gratifying. No captured city, not even Savannah nor Columbia, can present the ruin apparent here in Richmond. It will carry the painful evidences for half a score of years, and the only thing which will speedily alleviate the dire distress that must prevail, and give the city a chance for a speedy recovery from its present stagnation, is immediate peace. It is Richmond’s only salvation. The origin of the fire and the incendiaries are so well and positively known that no extended investigation on these points is required. It seems that Gen. Lee was not responsible for it, but that Jeff. Davis and his Secretary of War, Breckenridge, were. The destruction of the supplies and the arsenal involved the destruction of the city, and it was so decided by the leading citizens. Gen. EWELL and Maj. CARRINGTON both protested against it in the most earnest manner, as did also a committee of citizens, but BRECKENRIDGE, in reply, exclaimed that he didn’t care a d-m if every house in Richmond was consumed, the warehouses must be burned. Thus this wretched rebel, foisted into a powerful position with no constituents, is responsible for the dreadful ruin, and his master DAVIS is likewise responsible, because he silently countenanced it.
The fire was started in two places, among the supply warehouses near the wharves, and at the Danville Depot, where there were 1,500 hogsheads of tobacco belonging to the Confederate Government. This consumed the Danville Depot, also the Petersburgh Depot, and the bridge over the James to Manchester. The famous Libby Prison, and Castle Thunder, as I have already informed you, were not burned. They were reserved for a far more appropriate fate.”
Note: Today, 1862, Stanton closes recruiting offices. Everyone’s saying the North’d be in Richmond by July 4th, recover that balled up flag in the corner somewhere, & “would dine” on some of them fine southern grits in a minute. But in comes a wind: the Federal Government had now wrested control from all northern states. And it will never revert back. Some consider that a contentious issue down to the present day.
Note: Desertions out of the 110th:
According to desertersroster.psu.edu at Pennsylvania State University Civil War Deserters Database, first published in 1866 by the Provost Marshal General’s Office at the request of the Pennsylvania Legislature, 224 men total deserted out of the 110th between 1861 and 1865. Out of Ephraim’s Co. D, eleven men deserted in total. (A=32, Blair County; B=39, Huntingdon County; C=7, Blair and Bedford Counties; D=11, Huntingdon County; E=47, Philadelphia; F=18, Philadelphia; G=0, Philadelphia; H=6, Blair County; I=34, Philadelphia; K=24, Centre and Clearfield Counties.)
Note that “J” was generally not used as a company letter because it was too easily confused with “I.” Also, although I found no deserters out of Co. G, it doesn’t mean there weren’t any.
Interestingly, in what appears now to have been an organized action, on 10/28/62, 35 men deserted from the 110th. Two others deserted that week as well. Out of Ephraim’s Co. D, four soldiers left on 10/28. Other than “unknown” as the deserter date– which the army estimated to be around 12/30/62– 10/28/62 was the largest single date of desertion in the war out of the 110th. And siblings would often desert together. Note also that 49 men out of the 110th were court-martialed– likely for desertion or for falling asleep on guard duty– including Chaplain Jeremiah Schindel, Colonel James Crowther, Captain J.L. Jeffries, Captain James Doyle, Captain John L. Jeffries, Captain William H. Stephens, Lieutenant John Cottrell, Lieutenant E.G. Dorsey, and Lieutenant J.T. Marshall. The rest were Privates. For a link to a picture of Schindel, see March 30.
Edit to add 3/25, at minimum one former 110th soldier was executed: