“peace at any price”?

Posted on August 19, 2014 by SUMPTER

150 years ago New York State Peace Democrats held a meeting in Syracuse ahead of the National Democrat Convention in Chicago beginning on August 29th. Fernando Wood from New York City and Clement L. Vallandigham were featured speakers. The delegates voted down a resolution to send an alternate delegation to Chicago in an advisory capacity.

From The New-York Times August 19, 1864:

THE PEACE CONVENTION.; The Assembling of the Magnates at Syracuse–Speeches by Vallandigham and Wood–Resolutions Passed–Peace at Any Price–A Delegation to Chicago. SECOND DISPATCH.

SYRACUSE, Thursday, Aug. 18 — Noon.

The Mass Peace Convention called to meet in this city this afternoon, promises, to be largely attended.

Comparatively few are here from New-York or from the counties south of Albany, with the exception of Suffolk, but large delegations are coming in from Utica, Rome, Oswego, and the villages hereabouts and nearly all the Western counties are represented. …

SYRACUSE, Thurday, Aug. 18.

The weather this afternoon proves fine, and the main streets are crowded with several thousand strangers.

The mass meeting was divided into two throngs, one on Franklin-square and the other surrounding the Syracuse House, from the balcony of which the speakers addressed the people.

The principal and largest meeting, numbering, perhaps 3,000, is in Franklin-square, C.L. VALLANDIGHAM and FERNANDO WOOD being announced to speak from that stand. This meeting was organized by the election of Hon. J.N. HOUGH, as President, eight Vice-Presidents and three Secretaries. …

[???]n[???] response to loud and enthusiastic calls. Mr. VALLANDIGHAM stepped forward and addressed, the multitude for an hour or more, holding their closest attention, except when interrupted by applause. He said he was not here to parade his private griefs, not to speak of what he had done or suffered in the cause. All such things were, indeed, insignificant in comparison to the great national interests that are at stake. He would only say that time has already vindicated, almost to the utmost extent, his views in regard to national affairs. … There is now but one question before the country — war or peace. He assumed that it was the desire of all who love their country that first her liberties shall be made secure, and then her material prosperity restored. There were some who believed that these objects could be best secured by war, while a great mass of the Democracy held that they could be obtained only through peace. A majority determined to try war. We were obliged to submit. Had he possessed the power, not one drop of blood would have been shed. There would have been no marshaling of hosts, no hostile cannon, no mighty debt; none of the calamities which have made this country a land of mourning and taxation would have been known, except as known to our fathers. But war has been tried. The President has had all the men and all the money he demanded. Never was there such an example of submission by a people. Nothing has been wanting that constitutional power conceded, or that audacious usurpation could take from the people. And what is the result? With more battles fought by the three greatest conquerors of the world in any five years of their power, is the Union restored? No. A single State brought back? No. Is the Constitution maintained or observed? No. Are our liberties respected? No. Have we had a free press, free assemblages, the right of habeas corpus or arrests by due process of law? No, no. How is it in a material point of view? A debt of nearly four thousand millions, a daily expenditure of nearly five millions, and a currency worth about thirty-eight cents on the dollar, which two months ago was worth 100 per cent. more than it is now, and which two months hence will be worth 100 per cent. less. Ruin is impending, and now, in the fourth year of the war, what better is the prospect of success by war? We failed in 1861 and 1862, not for want of courage, for no braver men ever went to battle. The campaign of 1863 opened under more auspicious circumstances, and we were told that the rebellion would be speedily crushed out by force of arms; but the end of that year found us but little advanced. The campaign of 1864 opened with the largest armies the war had yet seen — those armies composed largely of three-year veterans, and concentrated for attack upon two or three vital points, and with what result? Let the record of carnage and blood answer. Having tried war so long, shall we now try some other means? He was for trying conciliation and compromise. We submitted to necessity. You have had your trial. You have tried war for four years; now let us try our plan. Our forefathers made our Constitution in convention, with pen, ink and paper, after a debate, by free speech, coming from the hearts of freemen, and for seventy-three years we prospered under it as no other people ever prospered. Yet we had our differences. During that period more than once the Union was endangered. The differences of 1820 were reconciled by compromise, and by the same instrumentality the calamity was avoided in 1850. CLAY, WEBSTER, BENTON, CASS and DOUGLAS were there then, and compromise prevailed through their advice and efforts. SUMNER, CHASE and HALE, the leaders of the party now in power, and which has brought the country so near to irretrievable ruin, were there too, and then as now, they were against compromise. With a Republican form of Government it is impossible to keep the States together by force of arms, it is contrary to the spirit of free institutions. But if it were otherwise, the war has been utterly perverted by the administration. To-day it is not a war for the Union or under the Constitution, and the eyes of the people are being opened to this fact. Hence it is that through all the States, the cry for a cessation of hostilities is being loudly uttered. He regarded the call for five hundred thousand more men as a confession that the war is to be prolonged through 1865. If you send more men, demand that the war shall be successful, and conducted to the end for which alone it was inaugurated. …

Here’s some reviews.

From the same issue of the Times:

The mass State Peace Convention met at Syracuse yesterday,and was moderately well attended. VALLANDIGHAM was the chief attraction, and made one of his characteristic speeches, thoroughly impregnated with venomous falsehoods. The proposition to appoint a delegation to Chicago was finally voted down.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch August 24, 1864:

The peace meeting at Syracuse.

–The peace meeting at Syracuse, New York, on the 17th [sic], was a very large affair. The resolutions adopted call for peace, and present, in strong colors, the outrages of Lincoln upon the liberties of the people of the United States. The following resolution contains the action of the body:

“Resolved, That, speaking for the many thousands here assembled, gathered together from every county of the State of New York, we believe that it is the duty of the coming convention, to meet at Chicago on the 29th of August, to give expression to this beneficent spirit of peace, and to declare as the purpose of the Democratic party, if it shall recover power, to cause this desolating war to cease by the calling of a national convention, in which all the States shall be represented in their sovereign capacity; and that to this end an immediate armistice shall be declared, of sufficient duration to give the States and the people ample time and opportunity to deliberate upon, and finally conclude, a form of Union.”

Vallandigham, Fernando Wood and others made strong speeches for peace.

In its September 3, 1864 issue Harper’s Weekly summarized the Syracuse meeting as it previewed the Chicago Convention. From Son of the South:

THE CHICAGO CONVENTION.

WE give on this page portraits of C. L. VALLANDIGHAM and FERNANDO WOOD, the leaders of the Peace Party ; also a view of the WIGWAM in which the Democratic Convention is to be held on Monday the 29th. These two gentlemen recently held a Peace Convention at Syracuse, New York, the object of which was to coerce the Chicago Convention by a vast popular demonstration in favor of peace. The meeting was of no significance. They each made speeches, earnestly begging the people by their fear of severe wounds and of heavy taxes not to resist the rebellion any longer with arms, but to settle our difficulties by compromise. As our ” difficulties” are nothing but the armed resistance of certain citizens to the laws, with the declared intention of destroying the Government, it is not easy to understand what kind of compromise with them is possible, except submission to the degradation of the Government. The plan of Messrs. VALLANDIGHAM and WOOD undoubtedly contemplates a temporary separation, with the hope of an ultimate reunion upon terms that will permanently secure the Southern ascendency. Of course there is as yet no open declaration of such a scheme, but no man familiar with our politics and with the course of these two leaders will doubt it. Their silence, and the studied manner in which they always speak of the Union as endangered by the loyal men of the North, instead of the rebels at the South, and the constant declaration that the authority of the Government can not be maintained by force, are sufficiently significant of their views. …

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peace train

Posted on August 16, 2014 by SUMPTER

150 years ago today Clement L. Vallandigham made his way to Syracuse, New York for an upcoming peace meeting.

From The New-York Times August 17, 1864:

Movements of Vallandigham.

DUNKIRK, N.Y., Tuesday, Aug. 16.

Hon. C.L. VALLANDIGHAM passed through here at 4 P.M., to-day, en route to Syracuse, to address the Peace Democracy that is to assemble in Mass State Convention at that place on Thursday, the 1[8]th inst.

SYRACUSE, Tuesday, Aug. 16.

Hon. C.L. VALLANDIGHAM arrived to-day, and will be present and speak at the Mass Peace Convention on Thursday.

A rare old game of shuttlecock (1864?; LOC: LC-USZ62-42030)

landing in Syracuse?

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a productive, destructive August

Posted on August 14, 2014 by SUMPTER
John Taylor Wood (http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h00001/h00616.jpg)

Commander Wood

150 years ago this month the CSS Tallahassee, commanded by Zachary Taylor’s grandson John Taylor Wood, was disrupting Yankee commerce off the northern coast. Here’s a summary from the Navy:

After she was commissioned and prepared for sea Tallahassee was placed under Comdr. J. T. Wood, CSN, who took her through the blockade on 6 August 1864 and made a brilliant 19-day raid off the Atlantic coast as far north as Halifax, N.S. Being unable to procure enough coal to continue, Cdr. John Taylor Wood was forced to return to Wilmington where he arrived safely on the 26th. During this short cruise Tallahassee destroyed 26 vessels and captured 7 others which were bonded or released.

From The New-York Times August 15, 1864:

NY Times 8-15-1864

NY Times 8-15-1864

SANDY HOOK, Sunday Noon, Aug. 14.

The boatman of the Associated Press of this point has landed here and furnishes the following report:

I have boarded the bark Suliote, of Belfast. Me., from Cow Bay for New-York. She was captured on the 12th inst., off Montank Point, thirty-five miles distant, by the pirate Tallahassee. The pirate bonded the bark for $5,000, and put on board of her 300 passengers from the ship Adriatic, the latter having been burned by the pirate. No water or provisions were given them. The Suliote also has on board Mr. CALLAHAN and crew of the pilot-boat Wm. Bell, No. 24, which vessel was burned on the 12th, off Mantauk Point by the pirates. Several other persons from destroyed vessels are on board the Suliote. The Suliote reports seeing a vessel burning on the night of the 12th. The pirate stated to some of the captured persons that he was coming into New-York harbor. When last seen the Tallahassee was steering southeast. The pilot-boat James Funck is her tender.

The Suliote passed the frigate Susquehanna Sunday morning, lying still south of Sandy Hook.

The Suliote has no provisions or water on board. …

CSS Tallahassee

CSS Tallahassee

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grounded steamers captured

Posted on August 13, 2014 by SUMPTER

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in 1863:

A Rebel Raid into Illinois.

 

ARJohnson

Stovepipe and men captured grounded steamers

CAIRO, ILL., Aug. 13 [sic?]. About 500 rebel [c]avalry, under Col. Jonson [sic], crossed the Ohio river into Illinois, at Saline Bar Saturday.

The steamers Kate Robinson, Jimmy Perkins, Nightingale, Fanny Brandon and Clara Hall were aground at that place, and were captured by them.

These steamers had a large amount of stock on board, and those in charge of them had to pay several thousand dollars each to save them from destruction.

It is reported in the Herald that Maj. General Butler will soon arrive in Washington, for the purpose of relieving Mr. Stanton as secretary of War.

You might question the truth of this story since General Butler never became War Secretary, but here’s some confirmation of the raid part of the story from south of Mason-Dixon. Apparently the Dispatch picked up the same report as the Seneca County paper. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch August 22, 1864:

A raid into Illinois–five steamers captured and Bonded.

Cairo, August 15.

NYT 8-19-1864

NY Times 8-19-1864

–About five hundred rebel cavalry, under Colonel Johnson, crossed the Ohio river into Illinois, at Saline Bar, on Saturday. The shipsteamers Kate Robinson, Jenny Perkins, Nightingale, Famine, Brandon and Clara Hall were all aground at that place, and were captured, with a large amount of stock on board. The boats were compelled to pay several thousand dollars each to save them from destruction.

I think there is a good chance that Colonel Johnson is Stovepipe Johnson, who “[o]n August 21, 1864, … was blinded by an accidental shot from one of his own men during an attack at Grubb’s Crossroads near Princeton, Kentucky. He was subsequently captured by the Federals and imprisoned for much of the rest of the war in Fort Warren.”

You can read a more complete account of the raid in an article from the August 17, 1864 issue of the Illinois Daily State Journal at Northern Illinois University. There was speculation that the Johnson’s band was headed for Elizabethtown to free some captured rebels, but that didn’t happen.

Western border states (c.1861)LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/99447025/)

still fighting along the border (map c.1861)

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

back over here

nyt 8-13-1914

first boatload of American refugees to flee Europe arrive in USA (NY Times 8-13-1914)

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exchanged

Posted on August 12, 2014 by SUMPTER

150 years ago today Yankee wounded soldiers and medical personnel, , including the renowned Miss Dr. Walker, left Richmond for a swap on the James.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch August 13 1864:

Departures by flag-of-truce.

–Four hundred and twenty-five wounded Yankee soldiers, nurses, &c., left this city yesterday morning in the shipsteamer Schultz for Varina [aka Aiken’s Landing], whence they will take the flag-of- truce shipboat North in exchange for an equal number of Confederates now confined in Yankee prisons. Among the number were sent from Castle Thunder the notorious Miss Doctor Mary E. Walker, Surgeons of the Fifty-second Ohio regiment, Dr. Culbertson and Hambleton, from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and Captain Samuel Stears, who was formerly a Yankee Custom-House officer. When Miss Dr. Walker emerged from the confines of the Castle she gave vent to an audible huzzah, and raising her hat from her head made an obeisance to the officers of the prison, which plainly indicated that she had no regrets in leaving there, and would remember them in her communications which would be made after her arrival home.

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a whittlin’ in the sun

Posted on August 11, 2014 by SUMPTER

A Richmond newspaper reprinted the following report, in which a British war correspondent doubts that General Grant and the Union forces were going to defeat the South, with its armies motivated by hatred for the enemy and love of states’ rights. On the other hand, Northern soldiers fight for a variety of reasons; if the South effectively left the Union it would be no big deal to a soldier from Maine. One disadvantage of reprinting month old material – I’m pretty sure Mobile cares about Farragut’s flotilla now.

Forgive me, but Mr. Russell’s depiction of General Grant whittling as the dead and wounded piled up kind of reminded of Madame DaFarge knitting her way through the French Revolution.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch August 11, 1864:

Russell on the Situation.
[From the London Army and Navy Gazette, July 13, 1864.]

Lieutenant-General Ulysses Grant seems to us to be in what he would most probably term, in his own nervous diction, “a very tight place.” It is quite true that in his present position he must give much anxiety to the enemy, and that he menaces the Confederate capital with a greater danger than any the tenacious and valiant Southerners have yet had to encounter from Federal foes; but it is scarcely possible that he can retain that position under the fire of the July and August sun; and as yet any attempt to improve it by advancing has not been attended with encouraging results. As a line is length without breadth, and as a circle is bounded by a line, General Grant may maintain that he has not departed from his pledge to fight out the possession of Richmond “on this line” by moving round the capital, but it is difficult to perceive what advantage he has gained by approaching it now from the south side if he fails in his purpose of cutting the Confederate communications. That the combination on which he relied for that purpose has signally failed cannot be doubted. Hunter may have done damage to the western lines, but he has suffered dearly for his interference, and the injury was speedily repaired.

The cavalry, in which the Federal seem to have established a decided preponderance, have failed to effect a permanent destruction; and an attempt made by an expedition under Wilson to break up the line between Richmond, via Petersburg and Weldon, must have ended badly, if it be true that the Confederates intercepted the horsemen and forced Meade to march a whole corps and a division to their assistance, with results yet unknown to us. Sheridan, from whom a good deal was expected, has not turned out to be a Zeidlitz, a Murat, or even a Paget. He failed in a very feeble effort to reach Hunter, and he has since lost, we are told, one thousand men in a scamper across the Peninsula, south of Richmond, with the view of getting his corps across the James river to aid the cavalry force belonging to Grant’s army. The next great Federal army, on which the hopes of the North have so long been fixed, promises to become a source of fearful anxiety. Sherman, if not retreating, is certainly not advancing; and if the Confederates can interfere seriously with his communications, he must fall back as soon as he has eaten up all the supplies of the district.

At Charleston all is quiet, and Mobile has ceased to care for Farragut’s flotilla. The blockade cannot keep out arms, supplies and special correspondents, or keep in cotton in the South. On every point of the ragged circle which the Federal seek to penetrate, they are encountered by skillful, resolute and successful opponents. All the enormous advantages possessed by the Federal have been nullified by want of skill, by the interference of Washington civilians, and by the absence of an animating homogeneous spirit on the part of their soldiery. Some fight for pay, others because they can’t help it; some fight for the Union, others for abolition; some for confiscated land, others because they dislike a slave-owning aristocracy. Every Southerner fights because, conscript though he be, he hates his enemy, and is striking for the principle of State rights, which converts the land of his birthplace into a fatherland for him against all the world. Who can be a native of a Union? A native of Georgia or Virginia has something tangible to point to when he is asked where is his country. If the Union were destroyed formally to-morrow, as we believe it has been practically long ago, the man of Maine or Ohio could go back to his home, not much damaged in any way, except in a certain windy pride, and in the happiness derived from the contemplation of excessive size, which rendered him a disagreeable companion to the rest of the world.

New York, indeed, would lose some trade, and tariffs would be modified in some States; but there the mischief would cease. Far otherwise would it be with Georgia or Virginia. If the South were crushed he would become an outcast, a pariah, the scorn of bitter enemies. Therefore, the Southerners fight to the death against the invading revolutionary North and all their hordes, sustained by such a spirit as would have animated the people of England had the First Consul thrown himself on their shores at the head of a Republican and Jacobin army. That, all things considered, the North had the elements of military superiority to such an extent as justified an impartial observer in predicting they would obtain possession of the principal strategic points, the ports, arsenals, large cities, railway termini and rivers in the South, cannot reasonably be denied. It is true they are very far from the attainment of their object now, after all their losses in money and men; nor does it look as if Grant were going to achieve it.–Even if Richmond fell, the South would fight long and desperately. But Petersburg bars the way, and Grant is still sitting in front of the Confederate earthworks whittling sticks, as is his wont, filling the hospitals with the living, and fattening the rank soil with his dead.

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‘accidental explosion’ … City Point

Posted on August 9, 2014 by SUMPTER
City Point, Virginia. Wharves after the explosion of ordnance barges on August 4, 1864 (1864 Aug; LOC: LC-DIG-cwpb-03927)

“City Point, Virginia. Wharves after the explosion of ordnance barges on August [9], 1864”

150 years ago today a huge explosion occurred at the wharf at City Point, a major Union supply depot and General Grant’s headquarters. At the time most people assumed it was an accident. It was later learned that Confederate saboteur John Maxwell, with the help of an accomplice, had managed to get his “horological torpedo” on a supply barge, the J. E. Kendric. The time bomb exploded as planned and caused a great deal of death and destruction. In addition to Civil War Daily Gazette you can read other good accounts at The Siege of Petersburg Online and Military History Online.

People in Richmond could have read a quick telegraph about the mysterious explosion and then later a more detailed report by a New-York Daily Tribune correspondent (according to the Richmond editors). The Tribune reporter speculated on possible non-accidental causes.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch August 11, 1864:

From Petersburg.

Petersburg, August 9.

–About noon to-day a heavy explosion occurred in rear of the enemy’s lines, on the City Point road. The cause is unexplained. There was rather more than the usual sharpshooting and mortar shelling this evening.–The weather is sultry. There was a slight rain to-day.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch August 17, 1864:

The ammunition explosion at City Point — terrible effects.

Fifty-eight Yankees were killed and one hundred and twenty-six wounded by the ammunition explosion at City Point on the 9th instant. A correspondent of the New York Tribune, who witnessed it, says:

Every frame-house in the town was jarred by the concussion alone to the extent of having its inside plastering knocked off, beside other damages by missiles, &c. Against the houses and other obstructions near the wharf, and even upon the hill, hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of broken, twisted and splintered muskets, and such debris, lay in drifts, like straw drifted by the wind; and all over the ground for at least a quarter of a mile from the scene of the explosion, shell, solid shot, grape, cannister, musket and Minnie balls, pieces of shells, nails, screws, bolts and bolt-heads, and fragments of almost everything — wooden, iron and leaden — you can think of, are strewn and drifted like hail and chunks of ice-immediately after a dreadful hail storm.

Everywhere are seen the rents, dents, deep abrasions and scarred furrows of the iron and leaden storm. The thousandth part cannot be told.

My first thought was that an ammunition car had exploded just ahead of the one I was on, and that it would be of little use to try to escape the storm that had gone up and would come down — that one was about as safe in one place as another; and oh! how it did rain and hail all the terrible instruments of war.

City Point, Va., July 5, 1864 (City Point, Va., July 5, 1864 by Timothy H. O'Sullivan; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-33286)

“City Point, Va., July 5, 1864”

It was not a railroad car, but the ammunition barge J. E. Kendrick, that had exploded from the careless handling of percussion shells or some other kind of ammunition, it is supposed. No one that was aboard of the boat remains to tell the tale of her destruction. The splinters that strew the river may be hers, or they may be not. The section of the twisted ribs of a keel that lie in the most frequented part of the town, on the hill, two hundred yards distant, may be hers, or they may belong to one of her disappeared consorts.

You have read of eruptions of Vesuvius, such as buried Herculaneum and Pompeii. You have seen illustrations of them in the books. This must have been such an explosion as one of these, except that, instead of lava and dust and ashes, it rained over the circle of a mile, in whole packages and by piece-meal, everything you can imagine at a military depot. Entire boxes of fixed ammunition came down among the tents in the town, a quarter of a mile distant, and scarcely a tent, or house, or boat, can be found within the circle of a mile that is not riddled by shell, solid shot, or small ammunition.

City Point, Va. African Americans unloading vessels at landing (Between 1860 and 1865; LOC: LC-DIG-cwpb-01748)

“City Point, Va. African Americans unloading vessels at landing”

How many were blown in atoms into the river from Kendrick, never to be heard of, is not known. The captain of the Kendrick is safe, having been absent at the time of the explosion on another boat. The other boats entirely destroyed and sunk were the General Meade and the J. C. Campbell.

The massive pine wharf in front of where these boats lay, which was bolted down upon piles and sleepers of pine trees, is brushed aside for about a third of its length, as if it had been made of the paper I write on, while the substantial plank warehouse, with massive beams, built for at least a quarter of a century, has been crushed nearly its entire length, as if it had been a lady’s band-box.–The freight train that was just ready to start when the explosion happened, is shattered in nearly every car, though not past repair; and I had the uninteresting satisfaction of seeing where my remains would probably have lain, on the heads of the whiskey barrels, if I had remained in the car I first occupied.

The pine-board row, in which were the post-office, Adams’ Express office, and a quartermaster’s office, was also crushed by the concussion and the heavier forces brought against it, like a band-box, but fortunately, or rather miraculously, none of its occupants were seriously injured.

Various theories are afloat as to the cause of the explosion. Some say the careless handling of ammunition; others, an old-time torpedo; some surmise a rebel spy in the matter; while others attribute the disaster to a rebel shell or shot from across the river. The matter will be thoroughly investigated to-day. The Government stores in the big warehouse were considerably injured by water and otherwise, but to no very great extent.

You can view Arthur R. Waud’s sketch of the explosion at Son of the South

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accidental explosion … Manchester

Posted on August 8, 2014 by SUMPTER
Richmond 1864

explosion at foot of Mayo’s Bridge

An explosion at a Virginia foundry on August 6, 1864 maimed and killed eight people – slaves working at the foundry and three white boys who had been warned about the danger. Some shells picked up from battlefields to be recycled turned out to be live.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch August 8, 1864:

Terrible explosion of shell–eight Pending killed.

–On Saturday last the town of Manchester was the scene of an accident attended with the most serious and deplorable results. It seems that at about two o’clock, on that day, two wagons, loaded with shells taken from the battle-field, drove up to C. Bradley’s foundry in Manchester, near the foot of Mayo’s bridge, at which it was intended to recast them. One of these wagons having been unloaded, was driven off some distance, and its driver returned to assist in unloading the other wagon.–Several persons, among them three white boys, were standing around the wagon. While throwing out the shells, one of them, which unfortunately turned out to be loaded, was exploded, communicating fire to a number of others in the wagon, which, by some terrible mistake or oversight, were also loaded. The report which ensued was distinctly heard in all parts of this city, and resembled in sound that of the loudest clap of thunder, succeeded by occasional reports of a less violent character, causing surmises the most strange and improbable. Fragments of shells were thrown to the four quarters, some to a considerable distance, others passing through the rear of Mr. Bradley’s foundry, without, however, inflicting any other damage than that caused by several large holes cut through the house, the workmen escaping without injury. Sad to relate, those who were immediately around the spot fared far differently, and every one of them, eight in number, were killed. Three of the number were little white boys, who had been in the habit of playing around the foundry, and were repeatedly warned by Mr. Bradley of the danger risked in doing so. Besides the shocking manner in which they were mutilated, the clothes of the victims took fire and burnt almost entirely off them.

The following is a correct list of those who were killed:

William Seaward, aged eleven years; son of Joseph E. Seaward, an employee at Bradley’s foundry, had both arms broken, both feet cut off and his body mangled.

John Stywald, aged six years, son of William E. Stywald, Mr. Bradley’s foreman, entrails cut out, legs and arms broken and head mashed.

William Massaker, aged about nine years, son of William Massaker, who is engaged at the Manchester cotton factory, wounded through the body, limbs and head.

Charles Thomas, slave of Mrs. Gee, of Culpeper; Abner Johnson, slave of Alexander Hill’s estate; Davy, slave of — Hudson, of this city; Robert, slave of Alexander Moody, of Chesterfield, and Charles, slave of James Cooper, of Manchester. The three last named were employees at the Manchester foundry. The bodies of these negroes were literally blown to pieces, the brains of one of them having been carried in one connected lump to a considerable distance, while fragments of limbs strewed the ground, presenting a spectacle alike ghastly and revolting. At one spot could be seen the head of a negro, as it seemed with the brains scooped out; at others, pools of smoking bloody causing the spectator to turn away in horror and sickness of heart. Even the poor animals attached to the wagons did not escape, two of them being severely cut about the legs and another having his eyes entirely put out, while the wagon itself was torn to atoms.

One of the negroes did not die until a few hours after the explosion, though it is remarkable, considering the nature of his injuries, that his death was not instantaneous. Both of his eyes were put out, half of his mouth and chin were cut off, one foot and one hand were cut off, the flesh from his left arm was torn off, a hole was cut through his skull large enough to insert an egg, and other ghastly wounds were observable on different parts of his body. Notwithstanding all these wounds, he lay on the ground, struggling and rolling about in his own gore, and occasionally ejaculating, “Oh, Lord,” “Come to me,” “Go away,” &c.

Strange to say, all who were struck by the shells were killed, and not another person was wounded, though Mr. Bradley himself, who was in the rear part of his shop, was so near to the scene of the explosion that his face was blackened very much by the powder, and a fragment of shell which entered the building passed within a half an inch of his head. This gentleman lost an arm about three years since by the explosion of a shell with which he was experimenting. His escape from death is truly astonishing.

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the bugs of August

Posted on August 7, 2014 by SUMPTER

150 years ago tonight Walter Taylor began another letter[1] to his girlfriend. “Lee’s Adjutant” didn’t have to endure life in the trenches, but the intense heat and omnipresent insects were getting on his nerves.

Camp at Violet Bank:

Sunday night 7th Aug ’64

The time is propitious Bettie and as the flies have retired for the night, I think I may attempt a letter to you without danger of losing my temper, though even now it is being subjected to a pretty severe trial by the numerous candle bugs and other plagues that are hovering around my light. We have here every variety of insect that ever was heard of, & these together with the scorching sun constitute a thorough destroyer of the last lingering spark of amiability that an Adjt General may have once possessed; still i am able to report myself jolly even under these adverse circumstances. …

I wish I had remembered to check out this book last week. In an August 1st letter Colonel Taylor wrote about the Battle of the Crater and then his impression of what he saw under the flag of truce on August 1st[2]:

It was a strange sight to witness Federals & Confederates commingling together between the lines; in some cases there was too much intimacy. I could not have approached the creatures whilst immediately before my eyes were hundreds of black soldiers, no doubt the majority of them having once owned masters in happy Virginia homes. There was but little mercy shown them in the engagement. They first cried “no quarter” and our men acted upon this principle. What is the next play we know not, perhaps another mine. Of course everybody will hear mining now along the entire line – but our troops will become used to this mode of warfare as they have to all others. Grant has much yet to accomplish. …

- Violet Bank, U.S. Route 1 vicinity, Colonial Heights, Colonial Heights, VA (LOC: HABS VA,21-____,4--1)

General Lee’s headquarters at Violet Bank

  1. [1]Tower, R. Lockwood with John S. Belmont, eds.Lee’s Adjutant: The Wartime Letters of Colonel Walter Herron Taylor, 1862-1865. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1995. Print. page 179.↩
  2. [2]ibid.page 178↩
Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Confederate States of America, Military Matters, Siege of Petersburg | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

egg-shell election

Posted on August 6, 2014 by SUMPTER
Governor Zebulon Vance Statue in Raleigh, North Carolina

victorious Vance

In July 1864 a Democrat-leaning newspaper in New York State asserted:

There is no doubt but that the South is anxious for peace, – they proclaim it and declare themselves willing at all times to enter into negotiations, looking to the settlement of all our difficulties honorable alike to both parties.

Not all the South was anxious for peace, apparently. On August 4, 1864 the white men of North Carolina overwhelmingly re-elected Governor Zebulon Vance, who was opposed by “peace candidate” William Woods Holden.

An Southern editorial 150 years ago today applauded North Carolina for rejecting treasonous peace. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch August 6, 1864:

The North Carolina election.

Unidentified young boy wearing secession badge and holding a rifle (between 1861 and 1865; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-34266)

staying the course (“Unidentified young boy wearing secession badge and holding a rifle” Library of Congress)

To every man who really loves his country, the news from this election will be as refreshing as would be the tidings of a great victory in Georgia or on the Appomattox. The old North State has crushed treason like an egg-shell in her mighty hand. Hereafter let no man imagine aught against the staunch fidelity of her adhesion to her sister States, or her zeal in prosecuting the war which we are waging for the salvation of us all. It is astonishing what a noise a small faction can make, with a newspaper or two at its disposal. A little knot of disappointed politicians had half persuaded the rest of the Confederacy that old North Carolina was untrue to the cause. But she has put an end forever to all doubt upon that subject. Her response to the noble army which she has in the field is worthy of that army and of herself. All honor to the glorious old State.

Alexisrael’s photo of the Vance statue is licensed by Creative Commons

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