Day 107. June 15, 1862.
107
a mule, albeit a small mule, disappear into the mud up to his ears….
June Sunday 15 1862
Quite cool this morning. I found myself in Washington City D.C.* I sleept in the barracks without blanket or anything else. I got up went into the Soldiers Retreat saloon and got my breakfast coffee and soft bread. I was very tired. I have been in all day accept around the Capital this morning for a walk. I came back I lay down to rest as I appear to be entirely woren out and weak. I have a pain in my back. The afternoon is quite cool and I think I will suffer to night if it keeps cool as I have no blankets to cover us. I wish I was home with my dear family where I could spend the day with more pleasure
Civil War Weather in Virginia Robert K. Krick P. 59-60
“On the 15th a powerful front moved through, with thunder and lightning and rain, “and the air cooled greatly,” dropping from 93 to 66 degrees. Cool weather held on through June 19th, then warmed steadily. Heintzelman’s thermometer measured 93 degrees on June 22.”
P. 62
“7a.m. 78 degrees; p.m. 71; 9p.m. 63. Rainfall: .11.”
Lincoln Day by Day: A Chronology 1809-1865 Volume III: 1861-1865 C. Percy Powell P. 121
“June 15, 1862: President writes Gen. Frémont that Gen. “Stonewall” Jackson’s “game” is to keep “our troops” away from Richmond, and “our game” is not to allow this.”
“War Department, June 15, 1862.
Major-General McClellan.
My dear Sir : The night between your two late battles of Saturday and Sunday I went earnestly to work to find a way of putting General Wool’s force under your control without wounding any one’s feelings. But, after all, General Dix was a little hurt at being taken from an independent command and put in a dependent one. I could not help this without giving up the principal object of the move. So soon as you can (which I do not expect is yet), I wish you to give me the benefit of your suggestions as to how an independent command can be given him without detriment.
The Secretary of War has turned over to me your despatch about sending McDowell to you by water, instead of by land. I now fear he cannot get to you either way in time. Sheild’s [sic] division has got so terribly out of shape, out at the elbows, and out at toes, that it will require a long time to get it in again. I expect to see McDowell within a day or two, when I will again talk with him about the mode of moving. McCall’s division has nearly or quite reaehed you by now. This, with what you get from General Wool’s old command, and the new regiments sent you, must give you an increase since the late battles of over twenty thousand. Doubtless the battles and other causes have decreased you half as much in the same time; but then the enemy have lost as many in the same way. I believe I would come and see you were it not that I fear my presence might divert you and the army from more important matters.
Yours truly, A. Lincoln.”
1865 New York Daily Tribune Editorial attributed to Horace Greeley (jury is out):
“Washington is not a place to live in. The rents are high, the food is bad, the dust is disgusting and the morals are deplorable. Go West, young man, go West and grow up with the country.”
Lincoln’s Spies: Their Secret War to Save a Nation Douglas Waller P. 145
“At the beginning of 1862, McClellan’s army had turned Washington into an armed camp. Quartermaster troops had built more than four hundred new structures, military tent cities surrounded the capital, 150 bakers baked 50,000 loaves of bread a day for the troops, and roads into and out of the city were clogged with marching infantrymen, galloping cavalrymen, and horses pulling wheeled artillery, ambulances, and commissary wagons. The city took on a rougher edge, with surly northern yeomen replacing distinguished-looking southern gentlemen, buildings appearing shabbier, government structures like the Washington monument* remaining unfinished, and streets reeking with mud and manure.”
CATTLE DROVES ABOUT WASHINGTON.
“Among other sights are immense droves of cattle with their drivers, passing through the streets of the city. Some of the men have a way of leading the cattle by a peculiar call, a wild, pensive hoot, quite musical, prolong’d, indescribable, sounding something between the cooing of a pigeon and the hoot of an owl. I like to stand and look at the sight of one of these immense droves—a little way off—(as the dust is great.) There are always men on horseback, cracking their whips and shouting—the cattle low—some obstinate ox or steer attempts to escape—then a lively scene—the mounted men, always excellent riders and on good horses, dash after the recusant, and wheel and turn—a dozen mounted drovers, their great slouch’d, broad-brim’d hats, very picturesque—another dozen on foot—everybody cover’d with dust—long goads in their hands—an immense drove of perhaps 1000 cattle—the shouting, hooting, movement, &c.” Whitman Poetry and Prose Walt Whitman Penguin Putnam Inc. P. 739
Living Hell: The Dark Side of the Civil War Michael C.C. Adams P. 93
“As soon as possible, postsurgical patients left for major hospitals, usually located in urban centers, to complete their recovery. But even with wartime expansion in medical transportation, many delays occurred in moving casualties from field hospitals. The sheer volume of wounded from a major engagement temporarily overwhelmed resources. The ubiquitous rains stopped traffic, as did the depredations of raiders, taking out railroads and bridges. While on hold, postoperatives endured dirt, thirst, and hunger. Colonel James A. Mulligan, Union commander in the fight at Lexington, Missouri, September 1861, recalled: “Our supply of water had given out and the scenes in the hospital were fearful to witness, wounded men suffering agonies from thirst and in their frenzy wrestling for the water in which the wounded had been bathed.”
P. 21
D.C. alone boasted some 450 brothels with 7,000 women. These houses of ill repute continued to be unhygenic. A provost’s guard raiding “The Hospital,” a bordello near the Capitol, encountered sickening stench, filth, and a soldier in a louse-ridden bed. Prostitutes followed the armies. The Louisiana Tigers brought with them into service “disgusting looking creatures” passed off as ministering angels.”
A SILENT NIGHT RAMBLE.
“October 20th.—To-night, after leaving the hospital at 10 o’clock, (I had been on self-imposed duty some five hours, pretty closely confined,) I wander’d a long time around Washington. The night was sweet, very clear, sufficiently cool, a voluptuous half-moon, slightly golden, the space near it of a transparent blue-gray tinge. I walk’d up Pennsylvania avenue, and then to Seventh street, and a long while around the Patent-office. Somehow it look’d rebukefully strong, majestic there in the delicate moonlight. The sky, the planets, the constellations all so bright, so calm, so expressively silent, so soothing, after those hospital scenes. I wander’d to and fro till the moist moon set, long after midnight.” Whitman Poetry and Prose Walt Whitman Penguin Putnam Inc. P. 738
Photographic History of the Civil War: Vicksburg to Appomattox William C. Davis and Bell I. Wiley Published by The Civil War Times P. 239
“The man who gave form and reason to the management and treatment of wounded on the battlefield was Major Jonathan Letterman, medical director of Army of the Potomac. He reorganized the field hospital system and instituted mobile hospitals and ambulance service so effectively that his plan has served as a model ever since.”
Note: Lincoln’s line “Sheild’s [sic] division has got so terribly out of shape, out at the elbows, and out at toes, that it will require a long time to get it in again” shows he was well aware of the soldiers’ poor condition; out at the elbows & toes was a common idiom in the 1860s, dating from the late 1500s & out of use today, a descriptive term like so many of them.
Note: Tomorrow, Ephraim will walk to the Paymaster’s Office to sign for his pay. William Wheeler, 13th New York Light Artillery, in a 1/28/62 letter home describes a typical day when soldiers finally get paid:
“The noises and rows, which always accompany pay-day, have subsided to a sufficient extent to permit me to take off my sabre and pistol, with which I have been prowling through the company street, ‘a terror to evil-doers’….”
civilwarmonitor.com/blog/extra-voices-payday 3/13/20
And another description of payday, this from July 2, 1863:
Osborn H. Oldyoyd of the 20th Ohio Infantry, writes of payday & General Johnston during the Vicksburg Campaign:
“The rumor now runs that the paymaster will be at hand tomorrow, but he is about as reliable as Johnston, for we have been something like a week looking for both these gentlemen. I confess I would rather meet greenbacks than gray backs. civilwarmonitor.com/blog/extra-voices-payday 3/13/20
*Speaking of payday: in a hundred years to come– 2/14/63 –a record 80 million will tune in as Jackie Kennedy shows off her White House decorating. Note too: Both the White House & the Washington Monument are sinking because they are built on swamp. One estimate for their demise: 113,053 A.D.
**Certainly true, if you consider the first American Revolution was also in part about preserving American slavery despite England’s disapproval. How large a part that played is still debated by historians. See the NYT 1619 Project of 2019 controversy, essay by Nikole Hannah-Jones. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html However, also noted is that the Somerset case in 1772 ended slavery in England & Wales, but English slavery continued another 60 years in the Caribbean colonies, the less than the half a hemisphere that’s theirs now, like a sword broke in half where the exact place becomes a weight they were forced to drop.
Soldiers of Blair County Pennsylvania: Military and Genealogical Records 1940 Floyd G. Hoenstine P. 131-134 (various selections)
Note: 1863, & here comes Lee:
“Well informed circles, especially the newspapers of the north, did not believe that the southern army would attempt an invasion, in fact they calmed any alarm of danger, and on the 15th of June, with the rebels in possession of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, the country had not yet awakened to the immediate threat of an invasion of the State in force.
As a precautionary measure, the War Department, on the 9th of June, 1863, created two new military departments, one in the Monongahela River, and the other extending from the Laurel Hill range, eastward to the Delaware River, and to be known as the Susquehanna Department. This later department was placed under the command of Major-General Darius N. Couch, and on assuming command, orders were issued calling for the people of the State to volunteer as members of the various units which would constitute the Army Corps of the Susquehanna. The Governor’s proclamation of the 12th of June, in support of General Couch’s orders, stated that, “Information has been obtained by the War Department, that a rebel force, composed of cavalry, artillery, and mounted infantry, has been prepared for the purpose of making a raid into Pennsylvania.”
Note: Tried 3x but some of the rest of these following paras will not singlespace. I swear to christ I’m going to have a nervous breakdown soon.
The situation becoming more serious, the President, on the 15th, called for one hundred thousand men, to serve for a period of six months, unless sooner discharged, fifty thousand to be from the State of Pennsylvania. Governor Curtin’s proclamation followed, urging all men capable of bearing arms to enroll themselves in military organizations, and to urge all others to give aid and assistance in the emergency. At that time the care and gathering of the crops was uppermost in the minds of many, while others were busily engaged in carrying on their daily work, tasks made harder by the absence of many men who were then in the service, so that few realized the pending danger, until the rebel army had crossed the Pennsylvania border and his ultimate destination became a matter of grave concern.
To the people of south-central Pennsylvania every cloud of dust on the distant highway became a possible enemy patrol. Alarms sprang up everywhere and organizations of volunteers marched towards the south to guard the passes in the mountains, to protect the railroad bridges, and the towns. The rebel army continued its march without serious opposition, and it was not until the first of July, when General Meade, with his army of the Potomac, hastening northward by forced marches along parallel roads to that which the enemy were following, came in contact with General Lee’s invading army at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and during the days, July 2nd, 3rd and 4th, fought one of the world’s greatest battles.
“THE CHICKEN RAIDERS”
“Blair County being a community of military importance, by reason of having large railroad shops at Altoona, a main railroad system traversing the county, and being a highly developed farming center, was therefore, a possible destination for the southern army. The Hollidaysburg Register and Blair County Weekly News, of the 1st of July, 1863, states that, “The rebels had for weeks been threatening an invasion of the State, but not until two weeks ago did we fully realize the truth of their threats, and their purpose to carry them out.”
On Monday evening, the 14th of June, the residents of Blair County began to organize a force to resist the advancing enemy, when several units of an emergency force was formed.
The force consisted of men of the community, many of them too old or young for regular military duty, and many of them had families and other responsibilities, which exempted them from military services. However, when their homes and firesides were threatened by an invasion from the rebel army, they laid aside all duties of civil life and took up arms in defense of their homes. They were not enrolled, mustered or sworn into the service of the State or the Federal Government, neither were they examined for physical fitness, but went forth as the minute-men of Revolutionary War days to prepare defenses with which to obstruct the advance of the enemy, and if necessary to offer their bodies to the enemy’s bullets, and their lives in defense of their country.
For want of a military title, this army of emergency troops, were called Pennsylvania Emergency Militia, or Minute-men, but in later years they were referred to locally as the “Chicken Raiders”. This latter title was acquired probably by reason of an inadequately organized commissary department, and when sufficient rations were not forthcoming, it became necessary for the soldiers to, individually and in groups, visit the farms in the neighborhood of their camps, in order to secure food. Some provisions and possessions of the farmers were requisitioned and paid for eventually, but no doubt much was obtained by these emergency soldiers without formalities, and chickens being plentiful, easy to prepare, and pleasing to the taste, constituted the principal item on the menu during the week that the “Chicken Raiders” marched to the vicinity of Everett, and returned to their homes in Blair and elsewhere.
On Tuesday, the 23rd of June, Colonel Higgins, with a part of his forces, advanced as far as McKee’s Gap, where he took possession of that point and under the direction of Captain R.H. Lamborn, began to fortify the pass by constructing trenches along the mountain side, and by building obstructions to be placed in the road. Colonel McAllister, with a detachment of one hundred men took possession of Loy’s Gap, near Pattonville, and began to obstruct it in a similar manner.
On the 24th, part of the forces at McKee’s Gap moved to Loy’s Gap, and the following day the main body of the troops marched in the direction of St. Clairsville, Bedford County, from where they intended to take possession of all the gaps and passes fronting the valley and lying upon the eastern slope of the Allegheny Mountains. They arrived at a pass south of St. Clairsville about three o’clock, and commenced to construct a series of fortifications, work on which was continued during the night and part of the following day.
During the 26th of June orders were received from General Milroy, then at Bedford, for Colonel Higgins to march his forces immediately toward Bloody Run. The troops moved at once by way of Bedford and arrived at their destination in due course of time. Colonel Higgins and his staff, being mounted, proceeded by way of Morrison’s Cove and arrived at Bloody Run in advance of the main body.
The following letter, published in War of the Rebellion, addressed to Major General Couch, from N.L. Yarnall, Lieutenant Colonel, Commanding, and dated at Altoona, the 28th of June, 1863, deals with the matter of local defense; “I have been out examining the country. I find three or four gaps from fifteen to twenty miles out, that should be guarded, in order to protect this place. I can guard them with twelve hundred or fifteen hundred men and four or six pieces of artillery. I leave here with five companies at 12 o’clock today for McKee’s Gap, and if I had a mustering officer at this place I could raise the remaining number sufficient to guard the gaps. Can you send me four or six pieces, or can I get them from Pittsburgh? We have the men for them. It is necessary that I should have them.”
The Hollidaysburg Register of the 1st of July, 1863, contains the following item, “The six hundred of our citizens of Hollidaysburg who were serving as “Minute Men” in defense of our country, have returned to their homes, because the authorities did not wish their services longer, unless they would consent to be mustered into the United States service for six months. They were willing to remain while the emergency might last but could not have been sworn in for six months, as when they shouldered the musket they left business and other considerations at an hour’s notice. Many of them will return to the service in companies which are being formed under the call for ninety days.”
The rebel forces did not cross the county line into Blair County. However, they did invade Bedford County on the south, and some action took place below Bloody Run. Blair County did not escape the rumors of war and like many towns and villages of the southern part of Pennsylvania, it had its war scare. This occurred on the 2nd of July, 1863, while the battle of Gettysburg was raging in all its fury.
The effect of the war scare at Hollidaysburg, as recorded by the Hollidaysburg Register of the 18th of July, was as follows: “Early on Thursday morning last, our citizens were aroused from their slumber by the ringing of the Court House bell. All kinds of reports were in circulation on the streets, such as that the rebel advance guard had entered Martinsburg, on the night before, and ordered the women and children to be taken out, as they intended to fire the town, and many other rumors equally alarming. Great excitement was the consequence,—frightened citizens were on the streets adding to the rumors which were in circulation, until it was thought that the rebels were certainly “coming”.
“Preparations were made for their arrival,—valuables were secreted, the county records and other valuable documents belonging to the county were hastily packed by the officials, horses and cattle were sent to the mountains, terrified clothing dealers removed their stock to places of safety, recruiting officers suddenly appeared in citizen’s dress, and consternation reigned supreme. The report which had been received by messenger from McKee’s Gap, was that the rebel pickets were eight miles on the other side of Martinsburg. Mounted scouts from town were sent out in different directions, who returned in the evening, and reported that the excitement had been caused by little or nothing, and that the rebels had not been nearer to us than usual, as far as they could learn, and that the Broad Top Railroad was still in operation, notwithstanding the reliable (?) information which we had received that eight hundred rebels had visited Marklesburg and other places along the railroad.”
Some consolation may have been felt by the more timid persons of this vicinity, when on the following day a squad of rebel prisoners who had been captured below Bloody Run, were taken through Hollidaysburg. It is not recorded that any person sought vengeance on these prisoners for the confusion and the unnecessary excitement of the previous day, and it is more likely that the food and refreshments were provided for the captured foe.”
Note: I don’t know if Ephraim took any part in the mounting defense of Blair County during the 1863 scare. He certainly would have known about it. Naturally, I wish he had taken out his diary again, written even a couple lines. I wonder how differently he would have thought about a pending rebel invasion because he had been a soldiers & been in battle, versus various of his friends & relatives who were never or at least not yet in the army.
Note: Tomorrow, in 1858, Lincoln delivers his ‘House Divided’ speech, accepting nomination to the U.S. Senate. Excerpt: “Of strange, discordant, and even hostile elements, we gathered from the four winds, and formed and fought the battle through, under constant hot fire of a disciplined, proud, and pampered enemy.” Edmund Wilson, in Patriotic Gore (P. 111), relays that it was said at the time, Lincoln “was a good while preparing it . . . he was at it off and on about one month.’”
Edmund Wilson provides background on the year 1858, on pages 110-111:
“But in the critical year of 1858, the forty-nine-year-old Lincoln, now a public figure, who had served in Congress and is running against Stephen A. Douglas for the Senate, takes definitely a new stand. The struggle over slavery in Kansas and Nebraska was intensifying political antagonisms. The new Republican party had already been organized—in 1854—by Democratic and Whig opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and northern Democrats who had nor become Republicans were now being alienated by the efforts of the Democratic President, James Buchanan, to forestall secession by appeasing the South. The debates, in their campaign for the Senate, between the Republican Lincoln and one of these anti-Buchanan Democrats drove Lincoln to make bold statements and to formulate a point of view which still exerts a very strong authority over the Northerner’s conception of the Civil War. He had already in Springfield, on June 16, made his “House Divided” speech which reverberated all through the political world and which is echoing still in our minds: “’A house divided against itself cannot stand.’ I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved—I do not expect the house to fall—but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other.’”
.
I walk’d up Pennsylvania Avenue….
Bones in a bag that’s being carried. It’s time to cash out. He doesn’t have to die to cap his story. He has only just now arrived in town but Whitman’s been walking it, his moon full on the page of his streets later.
Ephraim is directly headed home to his farm to spend not more than 30 days with his people. Writes the word suffer. He’s right on the edge, here & now, on the verge, in a strange place, in a world he’s not of, in pain, & worn out past anything he ever imagined. There are few breakwaters for a man in his situation, & not even a blanket.
Right now the Army of the Potomac has 11k men too sick to fight, which is about 1/10th the entire army. They lose 705 to death & disease in June. Looks like Ephraim was around the 335th man if we count back to the day he got the pass. And he’s barely hanging on.
.
FAIR USE NOTICE. Terms of Use. This non-profit, non-commercial, for educational purposes only website contains copyrighted material for the purpose of teaching, learning, research, study, scholarship, criticism, comment, review, and news reporting, which constitutes the Fair Use of any such copyrighted material as provided for under Section §107 of the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976.