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Winter 2023 2 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (2); COURTESY OF THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; COVER: NATIONAL ARCHIVES/PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: BRIAN WALKER 38 OpportunityKnocks What Beauregard and Butler couldn’t get quite right at Bermuda Hundred

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WINTER 2023 3 Departments 6 LETTERS More on Little Round Top’s “Last Resort” 8 G RAPESHOT! The Confederate private who kept one stylish general looking his best 12 LIFE & LIMB Caught short at Wilson’s Creek 14 DIFFERENCE MAKERS From slave to politician, Abraham Galloway raised the bar 18 FROM THE CROSSROADS Select company: Quartermaster Rufus Ingalls 54 TRAI LSIDE Enchanting Frederick, Md., holds the history of battle’s horrors 58 5 QUESTIONS Shenandoah Valley sweethearts dissect the war 60 REVIEWS Day of hell at Spotsylvania; “Beast” Butler gets recast 64 FI NAL BIVOUAC Soldier of misfortune in the spotlight ON THE COVER: IOWA TRANSPLANT GRENVILLE MELLEN DODGE HAD AN IMPRESSIVE CAREER BEFORE AND AFTER THE CIVIL WAR. DURING IT, HE WAS GRANT AND SHERMAN’S GO-TO MAN. 28 Mission of Mercy West Point brotherhood unites enemy commanders after Missionary Ridge By Richard H. Holloway 20 46 ConditionalLove Juggling fear and fatherhood at the front By William Marvel The Unshakable Gen. Dodge Despite veneration from the likes of Grant, Lincoln, and even Teddy Roosevelt, this Union commander’s legacy has long remained in the shadows By Judith Wilmot ACWP-230100-CONTENTS.indd 3 8/30/22 4:30 PM

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Hilltop Clash

Jim Heenehan Bryn Mawr, Pa.

Dr. Desjardin also believes the hill had little value as an artillery platform. While Gettysburg historian Harry Pfanz wrote Little Round Top could not be a decisive Confederate artillery platform, he also argued: “Once the Confederates held the hill, artillery or not, the Cemetery Ridge line would have to be abandoned. It was as simple as that.” And if so, then Little Round Top may be more significant than suggested in your “Last Resort?” article.

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Fact Check

I believe, however, the Confederates had a better chance to take Little Round Top than suggested. First, the five attacking regiments totaled 2,400 men to just 1,300 in Colonel Strong Vincent’s brigade. Though the Union had the high ground and unified command, the Con federates had a real chance to take the summit before the arrival of 500 men in the 140th New York.

Tom Desjardin responds: While I understand the temptation to assess this by using knowledge of the battle’s details we have today, no one in July 1863 had that luxury. It is easy for us now to say, “Well, if you just move these units over here…” but in the throes of horrific combat that simply wasn’t the kind of information available to commanders

A few thoughts on the “Last Resort?” article in the Autumn 2022 issue.

Peach Orchard, Wheatfield, and on Cemetery Ridge. After the Rebels retook the Wheatfield, Union Colonel Freeman McGilvery assembled a scratch force of artillery to plug the hole along Ceme tery Ridge until infantry reinforcements could arrive. If those reinforcements are diverted to Little Round Top, maybe those batteries don’t get to Cemetery Ridge in time.

on either side. Collecting the remnants of six or seven regiments, assembling them in some staging area, and then launching them against a fortified hill— and doing so all within the two or so hours left before darkness—is beyond the limits of even modern commandand-control blessed with radios and more rapid means of troop transport.

A fanciful look at the Confederates’ attack on the 20th Maine’s position on Little Round Top, as envisioned by one 19th-century artist.

Author Tom Desjardin opens by asking whether the 20th Maine’s bayonet charge really saved Little Round Top before moving on to the more basic question: “Was there ever a possibility that the Rebels could have seized Little Round Top, placed artillery there, and used it to ‘shell the U.S. army into submission?’” In each case, he answers no. Had the 680 attacking Alabama troops defeated the 20th Maine, Desjardin argues, they still faced nearly 17,000 Union soldiers within a half-mile of the hill. In the unlikely event they took the hill, he says, they couldn’t have held it.

If amid this adversity someone with the proper authority could have pulled together a handful of shot-up units to resume any effort to seize the summit, they would have faced the same resistance that the 4th Texas did, as many soldiers of the regiment would write.

Remembered Sgt. Valerius Cincinnatus Giles of Co. B: “[B]y this time order and discipline were gone. Every fellow was his own general. Private soldiers gave commands as loud as the officers. Nobody paid any attention to either.”

For a new assault on Little Round Top to occur, someone on the Confederate side needed to act with the same level of authority and knowledge with which Gouverneur Warren acted in bringing Federal troops to the scene. That officer simply was not present in that section of Longstreet’s attacking force. Division commander John Bell Hood was badly wounded and out of the fight, and the Union left flank was nowhere near where the Confederates had assumed it would be when they planned the attack. Add to this the sudden discovery of Little Round Top’s importance, which becomes apparent only after one crests the ridge along Devil’s Den and realizes the height of the western slope. Also, the fact that virtually every Confederate unit within a half-mile was already heavily engaged means there is simply no hope of mounting an effective counterattack.

While I have great respect and affection for the late Harry Pfanz as a histo-

6 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR LETTERS IMAGESPICTURES/BRIDGEMANWINDNORTH

And while Desjardin assumes all 17,000 Union men within a half-mile could have responded, why are the Confederates limited to just the 680 Alabamians? Why not all within a halfmile? And many of the nearby Union troops were needed for support in the

@AmericasCivilWar

As I wrote, the path of least resistance to Little Round Top’s summit that evening was the less-steep southern approach guarded by the 20th Maine. Without reserves, enough water, and exhausted from a morning march of more than 20 miles, Oates’ 15th Alabama had little leverage with which to wipe out the entirety of Vincent’s brigade and seize the summit, even if the Maine boys had simply laid down their arms and surrendered.

I enjoyed “Last Resort?” in the Autumn issue, but Tom Desjardin asserts that the Confederates had no chance to take and hold Little Round Top and then use artillery to shell the Army of the Potomac into submission or retreat, or to threaten its supply lines.

3) Why did Colonel Oates write after the war that “Chamberlain’s skill and persistency and the great bravery of his men, saved Little Round Top and the Army of the Potomac from defeat”?

Tom Desjardin responds: During the charge, Chamberlain came face to face with Wicker, who fired his Colt pistol at the Union colonel but missed. With Chamberlain’s sword now at his throat, Wicker surrendered, relinquishing his pistol (a bit odd, as it still had four rounds in it) and his own sword. Chamberlain handed Wicker to one of his color guard, telling him to be sure he wouldn’t be harmed. Chamberlain likely sought to spare this officer for having stood his ground. (The captured pistol is now in the Maine State Museum.)

If this is true, I have three questions:

Alternative Truth?

There is uncertainty about what was actually said when Generals Hood and Longstreet met on the field, and Longstreet is said to have reiterated Lee’s orders to Hood. As commander of the troops on the far right of the attacking Confederate force, Oates was obligated to first envelop and then attack the Union left. General Evander Law, Oates’ commander, wouldn’t have been aware that the Union line had moved from near the Peach Orchard to a point near Devil’s Den or that Vincent’s brigade was now on the southern end of Little Round Top. When the assault began, Hood, Law, and Oates did not know that was where the end of the Union line was.

On my last visit to Little Round Top, I was told Chamberlain went only about 30 feet down the hill before running into the Confederate officer, Lt. Robert Wicker. Is that true? It sure wasn’t like that in the movie GettysburgGordon HendersonViae-mail

WRITE TO US E-mail: acwletters@historynet.com Letters may be edited. @ACWmag

Tom Desjardin responds: To the first question, there are a number of reasons (listed here in no particular order). The threat to Vincent’s brigade was very

opponent good enough to defeat them rather than saying something like, “This weak regiment, led by some idiot from some Northern state, badly defeated us at Gettysburg.” The stronger you make your opponent after the fact, the more acceptable the defeat becomes. Oates continued to express his belief postwar that he would have won the battle had he in fact dislodged the 20th Maine. To my knowledge, he never explained how exactly, given that he also would need to overcome the units in Weed’s brigade and the other nearby Union troops.

Chamberlain said he descended the hill, with the colors and what was left of the color guard, with the rock where the 20th Maine monument now stands “entirely on my left.” Essentially he traversed the modern paved pathway down to the little parking area. That gives some credence to the 30-feet idea, which is as good as any other guess.

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Brian Fansler Gold River, Calif.

Just a Stroll?

WINTER 2023 7 LETTERS IMAGESPICTURES/BRIDGEMANWINDNORTH

2) Why did Maj. Gen. John B. Hood order Colonel Oates to “find the Union left, turn it, and capture Round Top”?

As for the third question, a simple answer might be that one who loses a fight has a tendency to give credit to an

To the second question, I am not sure that Hood did. First, the name “Little Round Top” was not in use in 1863 and did not become common until a few years later. “Round Top” was the name of the hill to the south, commonly referred to today as “Big Round Top.”

1) Why did Colonel Strong Vincent order Colonel Chamberlain to “hold this ground at all costs”?

rian, gentleman, and friend, his assessment—like that of George Meade’s after the war—is often misjudged. Had Little Round Top fallen, Meade did say, he would have abandoned the position in favor of the Pipe Creek Line in Maryland. What Meade didn’t say, but is clearly implied, is that before he abandoned the field he first would have tried to retake the hill, and he had ample forces to do so. Likewise with Pfanz’s assessment: “Once the Confederates held the hill…” implies holding it not for a moment, but securely and indefinitely.

real and any collapse of the 20th Maine’s line of battle would have resulted in a very real threat and likely significant casualties among the other units in the brigade—just not the entire Union army. Vincent arrived on the hill prior to the arrival of other forces that helped strengthen the Union presence there. He could not have known either the strength of Federal forces in the area, nor the strength and ability of Southern forces to attack and hold the hill. Vincent also had no idea at that moment which direction any attacking enemy force might come from and with how many troops. Having never seen the northern end of the hill from its summit, Vincent had no way of knowing its limitations as an artillery platform. There is no question that even a glimpse of the western slope of Little Round Top portrayed a very formidable position, but a century and a half of studying the entire situation has given us a far more complete collection of details from which to draw conclusions.

In the spring of 1863, dapper Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee, a corps commander in the Army of Tennessee, began a search for a personal tailor. Word of that reached Pollard, and on May 6, Gall was officially detached from the 19th Louisiana to fill the po sition for Hardee. Gall’s sewing skills are evident in photos from this period of the fashionconscious general in uniform.

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In early 1862, Gall and his unit were sent north by train to Corinth, Miss., near the Tennes see border. On April 6, the 19th joined General Albert S. John ston’s early-morning surprise attack on Ulysses Grant’s army at Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., starting the Battle of Shiloh.

On December 11, 1861, Jacob Gall enlisted in the 19th Lou isiana Infantry at Camp Moore, La., home of the Confeder ate Army’s largest training facility in the Pelican State. The 28-year-old Jewish immigrant from Meschisko, Poland, had ventured to Louisiana’s Claiborne Parish with his wife, Menia, in the late 1850s, opening a mercantile store in the town of Minden. Now, with the Civil War in its sev enth month, he was ready to do his part as a soldier in furthering his adopted home land’s cause. Along with a num ber of his neighbors from Minden, he joined Company D of the 19th Louisiana—known as the “Claiborne Grays.”

8 AMERICA’S CIVIL

Hired Hands

Gall surely felt fortunate with the assignment, knowing he could stop worrying about dodg ing bullets in battle. And when Hardee desired to have new flags

GRAPESHOT!WAR

EXTRA ROUNDS

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A Blast of Civil War Stories

GEN. WILLIAM HARDEE FINDS A MASTER TAILOR DEEP IN THE RANKS

The regiment saw action primarily in the Hornet’s Nest, earning the nickname the “Bloody 19th” because of its heavy casualty count. Not long after the Confederate loss at Shiloh, the 19th was assigned as the “Army of Observation” in Pollard, Ala.—a more relaxing designation, of course, that would last nearly a year. It was responsible for keeping an eye on Yankee forces in nearby Florida.

No Quit

Pre- and War

Gall would be paid a princely sum of $80.92 and given authority to purchase 38 yards of Merino material, 30 yards of domestic cotton cloth, and eight spools of thread—at a whopping $951. He was also reimbursed $6 a day for travel expenses and assigned a personal guard.

While Gall crafted the banners for Hardee, the Army of Tennessee had begun a siege of Federal forces trapped in Chattanooga, Tenn. On November 25, 1863, Hardee’s Corps was positioned on Missionary Ridge, suffering the brunt of the Federal attack there one day after Joe Hooker’s victory at nearby Lookout Mountain (for more, read our feature story, “Mission of Mercy,” on P.28). Some of the standards Gall had created were captured during the Confederate retreat toward Georgia.

Gall was furloughed and served in another command for the rest of the war before returning to Minden and his mercantile store. He remained heavily involved in Shreveport’s United Confederate Veterans organiza tion until his death on February 3, 1901. He was 67 years old.

Surprising Empathy

Opposite: In this photo, taken during a UCV event in Shreveport, Jacob Gall stands just right of the double doors, holding his Confederate flag at an angle. Opposite below: The 38th Alabama flag that Gall sewed, still in pretty good condition.

Post-

During the chaotic fighting at Ware Bottom Church, Va., on May 20, 1864 (see P.40 for more on the critical Bermuda Hundred Campaign), Confederate Brig. Gen. William Walker acci dentally wandered into the 67th Ohio’s lines. Hoping to conceal his identity, Walker called out: “Hold your position firmly, boys, and I will ride back for reinforcements and we will drive these rebels to h–!” But the ruse failed, and Walker was struck by three bullets—his poor horse by 16. Amid cries of “Kill the damned rebel!” Walker was carried to 10th Corps surgeon John J. Craven, who happened to be in a foul mood, at one point muttering: “The day had been oppressively warm, our losses enormous, our gains nothing.” Upon seeing Walker, Craven recalled, “all promptings of patriotic hatred van ished.” Meekly, the wounded general asked, “Let me rest somewhere, and dictate some last words to my Wife and Commander.” That night the Union surgeon, nearly in tears, amputated his charge’s left leg. Walker survived, but his first major battle was also his last. The incident inspired Craven to take pity on Jefferson Davis while guarding the Confederate president at Fort Monroe. His account, The Prison Life of Jefferson Davis, factored into the U.S. decision not to try Davis for treason. —Sean Chick

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Gall eventually sewed 34 unit flags with distinctive designs indicating they belonged to Hardee’s Corps. Each fea tured a white circle centered on a blue field, and bordered in white—with the particular unit’s identification and battle honors painted on the obverse.

WINTER 2023 9 PHOTOSTOCKCOLLECTION/ALAMYHISTORICCONGRESS;OFLIBRARYLSUS;ATARCHIVESLOUISIANANORTHWESTOFCOURTESYCOLLECTION,BROCKERIC HISTORYANDARCHIVESOFDEPARTMENTALABAMA BurnsideAmbrose QUIZ Answers:A4,B1,C8,D6,E7,F3,G10,H9,I2,J5

Some of the flags Gall created during the war remain in pristine condi tion—testament to his skill and hard work. —Richard H. Holloway Our thanks to Greg Biggs for his assistance with this article.

Walker

issued for his corps in September 1863, he turned to his trusted new assistant, Gall.

Career Match the Civil War combatant with his earlier or later claim toA.fame:Ambrose E. Burnside B. Alexander Ashboth C. William C. Oates D. Josef Pulitzer E. Alexander Frank James F. John C. Frémont G. Joshua L. Chamberlain H. Julius Stahel I. Lew Wallace J. John S. Mosby 1. U.S. Minister to Argentina and Uruguay, 1866 2. Author, Ben-Hur, 1880 3. Governor of California, 1850 4. President, National Rifle Association, 1871 5. U.S. Consul to Hong Kong, 1878-85 6. Owner, Editor, New York World, 1883-1908 7. Bank and train robber, 1868-1876 8. Governor of Alabama, 1894-96 9. U.S. Consul General, Shanghai, 1884 10. Governor of Maine, 1867-71

—Confederate Maj. Gen. Howell Cobb, January 1865

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BATTLE RATTLE

In other preservation news, the ABT has preserved a 29-acre site in Mechanicsville, Va., upon which the “Old Cold Harbor Tavern” once operated as a tavern and hotel and was the site of critical fighting in both the 1862 Battle of Gaines Mill and the 1864 Battle of Cold Har bor. The historic structure burned down more than a century ago but has been re-created by the ABT through a digital interface.

Readers of America’s Civil War will recognize a famil iar name in the newly released 2023 American Battlefield Trust calendar. A photograph of a sunrise over the Shiloh battlefield by our own Director of Photography Melissa Winn is featured for the month of April. All current and new ABT members receive the calendar. Memberships starting at $35 have helped the ABT save more than 54,000 acres in 24 states. For more information visit: www.battlefields.org/give/membership.

CIVIL WAR ILLUSTRATED

The Union Army had its share of politiciansturned-generals during the war. Ben Butler, for example, who in 1862 served as military com mander of occupied New Orleans. Poor relations between U.S. troops and the city’s female occu pants led Butler to issue the controversial “Women’s Order.” Out of spite, many local women placed images like this inside their chamber pots.

The ABT also has saved the Slaughter Pen Farm site instrumental to the outcome of the December 1862 Bat tle of Fredericksburg, completing a 16-year, $12 million fundraising campaign—the most complex private battle field preservation effort in the nation’s history. “When we began this journey, the goal was beyond audacious,” said ABT President David Duncan. “It was orders of magni tude beyond anything we had attempted, but the unpar alleled historic significance of this land demanded that we stretch beyond what had then been considered possi ble. This is a milestone moment.”

SuccessPreservation

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“You cannot make soldiers of slaves, nor slaves soldiers.”theyistheorysoldierswillsoldiers….Ifofslavesmakegoodourwholeofslaverywrong—butwon’tmake

When they enlisted, many mounted Southerners brought their per sonal shotguns with them. The 52-inch length allowed a cavalryman to reload easily while riding, and the two barrels delivered heavy dam age at close range. They could also be reloaded quicker than the 20 seconds it usually would take to load a rifled musket.

That was possibly a local nickname for one of the passes, or perhaps the English potters botched the proper name of Fox’s Gap. In any event, the plate clearly illustrates how deeply the conflict pervaded all levels on the home front.

Southern blockade runners continued importing inexpensive Bel gian shotguns throughout the war, as verified by the presence of sev eral cases among many U.S. naval vessels’ prizes-of-war lists. Some of these captured shipments show markings of the Confederate gun com panies to which they were being shipped, put there by an agent who

had inspected the weapons for his company before it was shipped from a European port.

Twin Piqued

The Trans-Mississippi Theater was not the only place shotguns were used, however. In June 1864, a makeshift force of about 350 Virginia State Troops, and about 125 disabled factory workers and locals, accounted well for themselves in defending the Staunton River Bridge during the Wilson-Kautz cavalry raid in southwestern Virginia. Nearby Danville was a major Con federate supply hub, and the determined militia held off the attacking Federals until reinforcements could arrive, inflicting heavy casualties with their double-barreled shotguns. Albert L. LaBure

This child’s plate, made for the American market by Ellsmore & Forster of Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent, England, helped teach the alphabet and appease Northerners’ appetite for victory with a fanciful depiction of the September 14, 1862, Battle of South Mountain. Three mountain gaps figured prominently in that fighting: Crampton’s, Fox’s, and Turner’s. Obviously, none was named “Frog.”

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In the 1840s and 1850s, companies in Liege, Belgium, produced thou sands of double-barreled percussion shotguns. These imported 12-gauge models were popular among American hunters. At the onset of the Civil War, there is no evidence that state or national entities purchased these weapons in any significant number, but many mer chants would for private sale.

At the Battle of Wilson’s Creek, Mo., in August 1861, and during the 1862 New Mexico Campaign, close combat favored Confederates armed with shotguns against Union troops carrying rifled weapons.

While most of these imports did not have many markings on them, some did bear the popular Liege stamp, and a few had information linking them to American dealers inscribed on their barrels. Markings were typically located on the gun’s lock. Some, however, displayed markings on the barrel rib, the piece connecting the two barrels.

As the armies prepared to fight near Springfield, the lack of ambulances began to concern the medical departments. Each army had only a handful available, and they weren’t yet organized into an official ambulance corps. Both generals had plans to surprise

Ambulances such as this one were vital to transporting the wounded to better care, but were in short supply at early battles during the war.

By John Lustrea

The nonprofit NMCWM, based in Frederick, Md., explores the world of medi cal, surgical, and nursing innovation during the Civil War. To learn more about the stories explored in this and future columns, visit civilwarmed.org. The museum also hosts walking tours to the city’s Civil War hospital sites on Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. from April to October.

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most of Missouri. By mid-July, Lyon’s men had outmaneuvered the Missouri State Guard to the state’s southwest corner, near Springfield, and felt a decisive victory there would give Lyon the full control he desired.

Lyon’s 5,000-man force, however, faced sudden outbreaks of typhoid fever and dys entery—all too common early in the war, with large numbers of soldiers gathered together for the first time and many never before exposed to epidemic diseases such as small pox or measles. The number of sick quickly outpaced the army’s available hospital accom modations and the unfinished courthouse in Springfield was designated for the overflow. Davis was assigned to care for the sick and would end up stationed there for months car ing for the eventual Wilson’s Creek wounded.

WAS STARK PROOF NEITHER SIDE WAS READY FOR BLOODY WAR

ON AUGUST 11, 1861, Philip C. Davis, a U.S. Army surgeon, looked at the mayhem around him in Springfield, Mo., and saw the wretched result of civil war. “The churches, hotels, court house, and nearly all of the private dwellings were filled with wounded of both sides,” he wrote. The previous day, a battle had raged along the banks of nearby Wilson’s Creek, resulting in 1,800 wounded and more than 550 dead between U.S. and Confederate forces. For many of the wounded, their sad ordeal had only just begun.

Starting in May, Union forces commanded by Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon began securing

12 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR LIFE & LIMB ANTIQUESSURGICALWARCIVILAMERICANBATTLEFIELDNATIONALCREEKWILSON’S

THE 1861 TRANS-MISSISSIPPI SHOWDOWN AT WILSON’S CREEK

Missing Pieces

Wilson’s Creek was the first major battle west of the Mississippi. In the war’s early days, Federal soldiers had sparred with the Missouri State Guard, a secessionist militia unit, for control of the strategically important state. With access to both the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, a Federal arsenal in St. Louis, and vast natural resources and man power, it was vital to the Union cause that Missouri not fall under Confederate control.

Wakeup Call

to recover all the wounded Union soldiers who faced that predicament—due mostly to the lack of ambulances.

As the war progressed, medical evacua tion and leadership improved dramatically. The medical personnel’s experience at Wil son’s Creek was clear evidence about the importance of having ambulances and a medical director in place. But then again, such failed responses would occur fre quently in the war’s chaotic first year.

By midday, Lyon was dead and the Fed erals had been driven from the field. On August 11, they began a retreat to St. Louis, bringing 200 wounded along and leaving Springfield—and other wounded—to the enemy. Surgeon E.C. Franklin was left in charge of the remaining 500–600 Union wounded. He was helped by Davis, surgeon S.D. Smith, and assistant surgeon Samuel H. Melcher.

John Lustrea is the Director of Education at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine.

In addition to caring for the wounded already filling every available space in Springfield, the Federal surgeons focused on providing care to the Union soldiers still on the field desperately awaiting help. It took five to six days

Lifesaver

The medical response to the Battle of Wilson’s Creek was finally over. It took more than three months, illustrat ing perfectly that the bloody consequences of a Civil War battle lingered long after the guns fell silent and the armies moved on to new battlefields.

The extensive time it took to bring the wounded in from the field had dire consequences for those left behind. Melcher reported that the wounded brought in from the field were “swarming with maggots.” Insects were a nui sance in the hospital, too. “The flies were exceedingly trou blesome after the battle, maggots forming in the wounds in less than an hour after dressing them, and also upon any clothing or bedding soiled by blood or pus,” wrote Melcher, who ultimately rid himself and his patients of these pests by sprinkling calomel (a mercury-based med ication) on the open wound.

Once all the soldiers had been retrieved from the bat tlefield, the days slipped into weeks for exhausted Union surgeons. On September 7, Franklin left to rejoin the main Union force at St. Louis (a journey of more than 200 miles), presumably with patients who were recovered enough to move. On September 20, Smith and Davis left Springfield with about 50 patients, leaving Melcher with the remaining 209 sick and wounded. Throughout Octo ber, he sent 150 on their way to St. Louis. Finally, on November 11, Melcher took the remaining wounded via wagon train to St. Louis, arriving on November 19.

each other the morning of August 10, 1861, but rain the night before postponed the Confederate movement. Southern soldiers awoke at 5 a.m. to the sound of gunfire around them. The Battle of Wilson’s Creek had begun.

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Havilah Sprague was one of several Union surgeons who had to handle increasing casualties on their own.

Not long after the Federals departed, Confederate forces arrived and set up their own hospitals. According to surviving records, Confederate medical personnel seized most of the Federal medical supplies for their own wounded, leaving the Union surgeons with only a small quantity of supplies. Franklin was forced to purchase nec essary medicine, spending $5,000 for the purpose. Between the armies and the local merchants in a rela tively rural area, there surprisingly was no lack of medical supplies. Surgeons reported having plenty of chloroform for anesthesia, splints for setting broken bones, and cal omel, opium, and other vital medicines.

Surgeon W.H. White of the 1st Iowa was also on the field, tending to wounded on a slope in rear of his regiment. Few, if any, operations were done at these dressing sta tions. Rather, wounds would be stabilized by stopping the bleeding and performing tri age. With few ambulances available, medi cal personnel prioritized those to be sent farther behind the lines to more established hospitals, like the one at the courthouse.

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If there were any lessons to be learned from Wilson’s Creek, they were the importance of a well-trained ambu lance corps and medical leadership. Assistant Surgeon Sprague complained about the lack of an appointed medical director within the Fed eral forces operating in Missouri. “The reg iments had no community of action or feeling,” Sprague wrote. “Had the com manding general designated an officer of rank as his medical director, there could have been no reason why nine-tenths of the wounded could not have been cared for and sent to general hospital by the time our forces retreated.”

Neither side had a medical director to organize the casualty response. Direction from higher ranking medical officers could have saved many lives. As it was, when the shooting started, individual surgeons sprang into action as they saw fit. Assistant Surgeons Havilah Mowry Sprague and E.L. Patee of the 1st Kansas set up a field dressing station in a ravine behind the northern portion of the Union line, near where the National Park’s visitor center stands today. In addition to being sheltered in the ravine, they chose the location because there was an off shoot of Wilson’s Creek that passed through the low spot providing plenty of water. The sheltered nature of the area made it a logical place for wounded to seek shelter when leaving the front line. The wounded who could walk went there for sta bilizing medical care.

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IN HIS 33 SHORT YEARS OF LIFE, Abraham Galloway impacted the course of American history more than men who lived to be twice his age—beginning with his bold escape from slavery. In the span of just a little more than a decade, he risked his life as a spy for the Union Army during the Civil War, helped raise regiments of Black men fighting for the freedom of their race, campaigned for the rights of women and Blacks, and served two terms as a Republican state senator of the state into which he was born into Gallowaybondage.wasborn to an enslaved woman and White father on February 8, 1837, in Smithville (now South port), a small coastal town in Brunswick County, N.C. At 11, he was apprenticed to a brick mason, and eventually became skilled at the trade. Before Galloway’s 20th birth

By Ron Soodalter

In the four years prior to the Civil War, Galloway—not content to remain at liberty in Ontario (then known as “Canada West”)—traveled back across the border, estab lishing strong relationships with noted abolitionists. At great personal risk, he ranged from Ohio to New England giving fiery speeches.

day, his owner moved with him to Wilmington, N.C. At his earliest opportunity, the youth—along with another slave, and under the eye of a sympathetic captain— secreted himself in the cargo hold of a schooner bound for Philadelphia. From here, the abolitionist Vigilance Com mittee conducted him via the Underground Railroad to Canada and freedom.

In January 1861—just three months before the firing on Fort Sumter—the 23-year-old Galloway sailed to

14 AMERICA’S CIVIL

DIFFERENCEWAR

MAKERS RAILROADUNDERGROUNDTHE ARCHIVESNATIONAL

Renaissance Man

Restless Spirit

Abraham Galloway wasn’t known to settle, even as a slave in North Carolina. That determination buoyed him on his risky escape to Canada and freedom. It later carried him through the war and his relentless crusade for equality.

WHETHER AS UNION SPY, COALITION BUILDER, OR POSTWAR POLITICIAN, FORMER SLAVE MADE THE MOST OF A BRIEF LIFE

RAILROADUNDERGROUNDTHE ARCHIVESNATIONAL

Lincoln listened respectfully to their comments, and— according to the Anglo-African—gave them “assurances of his sympathy and cooperation.” The delegation then walked to the Capitol, where they distributed copies of

No details are known of his apprehension, or of how he regained his freedom. Certainly, if the Confederates had recog nized him as a spy, they would have peremptorily hanged him, so he might well have escaped. Galloway, much debilitated from his ordeal, made his way to Union-occupied New Bern, N.C., where a former slave helped restore his health.

to an observer, “a priceless gem among the sands of poor Beaufort.” Martha Ann shared her new husband’s burn ing passion for abolition and Black suffrage, and com posed several fiery missives for the Anglo- African newspaper.

Great Promise

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Haiti, along with several other militants, including Fran cis Merriam, a survivor of John Brown’s abortive raid on the Harpers Ferry arsenal. The group’s agenda was to recruit volunteers for a John Brown-style military inva sion of the Southern states, with Haiti as their base of operations. The opening salvos of the war put an abrupt end to their efforts, though, and he sailed back to the United States, resolved to aid in the Union effort.

At this time, he met and married 18- or 19-year old Martha Ann Dixon, the daughter of slaves, and according

DIFFERENCE MAKERS

After employing Galloway as an agent during his seizure of New Orleans, Butler sent him to Vicksburg along with six companies of the 4th Wiscon sin, to assess the city’s defenses. It led to his capture.

A powerful speaker, Galloway drew large crowds, whom he impressed with his eloquence and fervor. Com mented one observer who attended one of Galloway’s ora tions at New Bern’s Andrew Chapel, “He handled secessionists and…Copperheads without gloves, and his speech was received with roars of laughter and great applause.”

By the spring of 1864, the war still had another year to run. On April 29, Galloway led a delegation of Black Southern ers—some of them former slaves—to the nation’s capital, and into a meeting with Presi dent Abraham Lincoln. By now, there were tens of thousands of African Americans in blue uni forms, and Galloway’s priorities had grown from simply promot ing Black enlistments into the Union Army. Looking to a post war future, he broadened his scope to include unilateral Black suffrage, as well as social and political equality. To his thinking, America’s Blacks should, and eventually would, vote and hold public office.

After President Lincoln’s January 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, the U.S. Army aggressively recruited former slaves and free Blacks to military service with posters.

His career in espionage at an end, Galloway divided his time between creating entire regiments by recruiting African Americans from New Bern’s large Black popu lation into the Union Army, and actively advocating for abolition. In late 1863, he traveled 75 miles outside Union lines to Rebel-held Wilmington, N.C., from which he managed to spirit his mother to New Bern and free dom. And, in the words of biographer David S. Cecelski, he also “developed a genius for politics. Among North Carolina’s freed people, he became a grassroots orga nizer, a coalition builder, and an inspiring orator.”

Galloway then put his life and liberty at risk again by volunteering to return to the slave South—as a spy for the Union Army. For the next twoand-a-half years, he reported directly to Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, and traveled surrepti tiously through North Carolina, Louisiana, and Mississippi, dis appearing within Black com munities while gathering intelligen ce. All the while, he had to evade Rebel troops, slave catchers, and White civilians.

Although Lincoln had met with Northern Black luminar ies, including Frederick Doug lass, during the course of the war, according to biographer Cecelski, “[T]his seems to have been his first meeting with African American leaders from the South.” The delegation pre sented Lincoln with a petition, urging the President, in part, “to finish the noble work you have begun, and grant unto your petitioners that greatest of privileges…to exer cise the right of suffrage, which will greatly extend our sphere of usefulness, redound to your honor, and cause posterity, to the latest generation, to acknowledge their deep sense of gratitude.” The first signature on the peti tion was that of Abraham Galloway.

WINTER 2023 15

Veterans of the 35th United States Colored Troops Regiment pose with family members during a 1905 reunion in Plymouth, N.C. The 35th formed in nearby New Bern, N.C., on June 30, 1863.

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On his return to New Bern, Galloway was selected to represent North Carolina as a delegate to the National Convention of Colored Men of the United States, in Syr acuse, N.Y., from which was born the National Equal Rights League. It was a powerful assemblage, and Gallo way stood out as a major luminary. The Convention elected Frederick Douglass its president, and Galloway among its vice presidents. On taking office, Douglass asked Galloway to serve on the executive board.

Immediately after his visit to the White House, Gallo way led members of his delegation on a tour of the North ern states, during which he took every opportunity to speak on behalf of Black suffrage.

Ultimately, in advocating for Black suffrage and social equality, Abraham Galloway was a civil rights leader at a time when the concept of civil rights had not yet been fully formed. Had he lived longer, history might well have ranked him alongside Frederick Douglass as one of the most influential Black men of his time. As it was, his brief political career aside, Galloway’s contribution to the Union war effort alone was extraordinary, motivated by a driving commitment to the emancipation of his people. Perhaps his self-defined mission was best defined by biog rapher Cecelski: “Galloway’s war had little to do with that of Grant or Lee, Vicksburg or Cold Harbor. It had nothing to do with states’ rights or preserving the Union. Gallo way’s Civil War was a slave insurgency, a war of liberation that was the culmination of generations of perseverance and faith. It was, ultimately, the slaves’ Civil War.”

16 AMERICA’S CIVIL

delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Raleigh. The following year, Abraham Galloway—former escaped slave and self-made activist for his people—became North Car olina’s first Black elector. He was twice elected to the state Senate—in 1868 and again in 1870.

Returning to New Bern only briefly, he spent consider able time in New York City and Boston, fundraising and addressing political functions. “He seemed to appear everywhere,” Cecelski writes, “and at any time, always active and on the run.” Then, in mid-December 1864, Abraham’s and Martha Ann’s first son, John, was born. The John Brown League, of which Galloway had become president, presented the couple with a finely engraved Bible—the first family Bible either family had owned.

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the petition to the congressmen.

Abraham Galloway died unexpectedly on September 1, 1870, just six months after the birth of a second son, Abraham Jr., and shortly following his reelection to the state Senate. Despite constant threats on his life, there was no indication of foul play; Martha Ann later revealed that he had long suffered from both rheumatism and what she referred to as “heart troubles.” More than 6,000 people attended his funeral.

Ron Soodalter writes from Cold Spring, N.Y.

Two years after the war ended, Galloway was named a

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The Supply Chain

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McClellan relied on Ingalls to untangle the fishing knot encumbering the army’s transportation, because until the army reached Frederick, Md., where it would have rail communications, it would have to be supplied solely by wagons hauling supplies from depots around Washing ton. To get a sense of the magnitude of the task, the nearly 80,000 men and 32,000 horses and mules required a mil lion pounds of food and forage daily. The complex calcu lations to haul this quantity of supplies efficiently with horse-drawn wagons to combat units spread across a front of nearly 30 miles can be imagined. Ingalls also had to determine deficiencies in clothing and equipment and do his best to meet the direst situations so units had a basic kit with which to fight. He needed to become famil

Logistics posed an immense challenge for McClellan in assembling an army capable of maneuvering in the field. The Army of the Potomac still had considerable quanti ties of equipment arriving daily from the Virginia Penin sula, from where they had been withdrawn in August 1862 to reinforce Maj. Gen. John Pope’s Army of Virginia in northern Virginia. Logistics were not Pope’s strength, and his army’s wagon trains were in a muddle even before the defeat at Second Bull Run. Ingalls wrote with uncon cealed contempt that it “does not appear that the com mander of the Army of Virginia ever knew how many wagons there were, nor what quartermasters were on duty.” The chaotic retreat from Manassas to Washington threw both armies’ trains into even greater confusion.

18 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR FROM THE CROSSROADS (2)CONGRESSOFLIBRARY

TouchMagic

The enormity of the resources needed to keep Union armies supplied is clear in this photo of the wagon park at Brandy Station, Va. Rufus Ingalls (left) had few equals among U.S. Army quartermasters.

DURING THE 1864 Overland Campaign, staff officer The odore Lyman marveled at the skill of the Army of the Potomac’s chief quartermaster Rufus Ingalls. “How these huge trains are moved over roads not fit for a light buggy, is a mystery known only to General Rufus Ingalls, who treats them as if they were so many perambulators on a smooth side walk.” When Maj. Gen. George McClellan received orders on September 3, 1862, to assemble a field army to meet a possible Confederate invasion of Mary land, Ingalls was perhaps the most important soldier McClellan needed for that to happen. Napoleon purport

IN SUPPLYING THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC AT ANTIETAM, INGALLS SPRUNG ORDER OUT OF CHAOS

edly once wrote that an “army marches on its stomach.” Another frequently heard quip is that “amateurs talk strategy, professionals talk logistics.” Both reference the crucial role of logistics in maintaining armies in the field. Soldiers cannot fight without weapons, bullets, and shells, and if they lack food, fuel, clothing, equipment, and trans portation the army will soon come apart at the seams as soldiers straggle to meet basic needs, just as thousands of Confederate soldiers did in the Maryland Campaign. A good quartermaster was essential to an army’s ability to fight, and Ingalls was among the best in either army.

By D. Scott Hartwig

Some sense of the task’s magnitude was the fact that the Army of the Potomac was just under half the size of the city of Baltimore’s population of 212,000. It took more than a snap of the fingers to establish a smooth flow of abundant supplies to an army of this size over a transpor tation system that was not designed to supply so many people and animals in this part of Maryland. Colonel Charles Wainwright, the 1st Corps’ chief of artillery, grumbled on October 10 (nearly a month after Antietam) that the corps had “received next to no supplies, and is just as badly off as directly after the battle.”

WINTER 2023 19 (2)CONGRESSOFLIBRARY

transferred to wagons. Once the army reached the Antie tam battlefield, Ingalls established a depot at Hagerstown, where supplies could be carried via the Cumberland Val ley Railroad. From this depot, it was a 13.5-mile haul to the army around Sharpsburg, but this was better than the difficult 22-mile drive from Frederick, crossing Catoctin Mountain and South Mountain, which placed incredible stress on the animals pulling the heavy wagons.

iar with the quartermasters for the 1st, 9th, and 12th Corps—none of whom had operated with the Army of the Potomac—and assess their needs as well as their organi zational strengths and weaknesses. It was incessant work and demanded great skills. Ingalls related, without exag geration: “The labor, however, of arranging and perfecting this system of transportation, of bringing to each depot the requisite amount, and the details of trains for the dis tribution of these vast supplies to the different portions of the army, was excessively onerous night and day.”

The situation slowly improved but hadn’t been entirely sorted out when McClellan, prodded fervently by Lincoln and the War Department, moved his army from its Mary land camps into Virginia to start a new campaign. On November 7, McClellan was replaced by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside, but Ingalls was one McClellan legacy who fortunately remained and would continue to work logistical miracles for the army’s grateful commanders to follow: Burnside, Joe Hooker, and George Meade, as well as U.S. Army General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant.

FROM THE CROSSROADS

When the army reached Frederick, Ingalls’ problems eased momentarily, as supplies could be transported there by train. But when the army moved west to South Moun tain and Antietam, it became necessary to again haul those supplies by wagon, the Rebels having destroyed the railroad bridge over the Monocacy River. Supplies might be carried here by rail, but they had to be unloaded and

Ingalls likely would have told a soldier like Burlingame that the quartermasters did the best they could under the circumstances. Clothing and equipment resupply and better quality food would have to wait until the emer gency created by the Confederate invasion had passed. The soldiers responded by straggling and foraging, which created its own set of problems for McClellan.

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A “violent and destructive disease” that broke out among the army’s horses exacerbated the challenges, tak ing nearly 4,000 out of service. Despite the haste with which the army had to take the field when the Confeder ates entered Maryland in early September, Ingalls suc ceeded in keeping it adequately supplied. Adequate was a relative term, as many soldiers complained of shortages of clothing and equipment. Holmes Burlingame of the 104th New York wrote that his brigade “was in really bad condition, we had been without tents or blankets, with no change of clothing since we left our knapsacks on the field back near Thoroughfare Gap [Va.].” The uniforms “were ragged, our shoes no better,” and numbers lacked socks. Rations were also barely palatable, “unfit to eat almost,” the hardtack, “filled full of little black bugs.”

Scott Hartwig writes from the crossroads of Gettysburg.

The Union victory at Antietam and retreat of the Con federates to Virginia did not ease Ingalls’ labors. The period of quiet after the battle was spent trying to make good the shortages of which soldiers such as Burlingame complained. Ingalls and his quartermasters worked tire lessly, but the problem with getting clothing, forage, and equipment to the army—now spread out from Sharps burg to Harpers Ferry—proved maddeningly slow.

The overcoats were black, which would be of particular note during the March 1862 fighting at Pea Ridge (Elkhorn Tavern) in Arkansas.

Major General Grenville M. Dodge, in a photo taken late in the war. Note the prominent scabbing that resulted from a near-fatal head wound Dodge incurred when he was shot by a Confederate sharpshooter on August 19, 1864, during the Atlanta Campaign.

ods to support the spies’ endeavors. “I followed it throughout my service,” Dodge later wrote, “and found it of great benefit.”

Slight of built, weighing only 130 pounds, Dodge surely didn’t look like a brick. What did single him out was his incredible optimism, his indomi table will, and his love of action. A Massachusetts native and 1851 gradu ate of Vermont’s Norwich University—with a degree in civil engineering—he eventually relocated to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he had an opportune meeting with Abraham Lincoln while Lincoln was stumping for the Repub lican Party’s 1860 presidential nomination. He shared Lincoln’s vision for a transcontinental railroad and would use his influence at the 1860 Repub lican Convention to win Iowa for Lincoln.

20 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR

ThEGen.UNshakAbleDodgE

By Judith Wilmot

n describing Union Maj. Gen. Grenville Mellen Dodge to Ulysses S. Grant, his commander and friend, William Sherman usually kept it simple. “Dodge is a brick,” he once wrote Grant—perhaps the perfect compliment for a luminary who never quite made it into the Civil War Pantheon and continues to escape notice even today. Although Dodge fought in only two major battles—Pea Ridge in 1862 and Atlanta in 1864—his contributions to ultimate Union victory should not be under estimated. In Grant’s opinion, Dodge was both the best railroad-builder and best railroad-destroyer the war would see in either Army. He was, however, remarkable in many other ways.

Defying Death

After Fort Sumter in April 1861, Dodge dissolved his business interests and, at Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood’s behest, traveled to Washington, D.C., to obtain arms for Iowa volunteer regiments. There, he was offered colonelcy of the 4th Iowa Infantry. “I go into this war on principle, [which] pecuniarily will ruin me,” Dodge wrote his mother. “I put my trust in God; if I come out safe, I hope no one will have cause to regret my course.”

As senior officer at Fort Wyman in Rolla, Mo., Dodge was known to drill his men relentlessly, even before they had their weapons, uniforms, or equipment. While in Maj. Gen. John C. Frémont’s Western Department, Dodge created what he later called his “secret service.” Frustrated his cav alry often embarked on fruitless scouting excursions in response to enemy sightings, Dodge learned that the men in one independent Missouri cav alry unit were locals and were willing, if paid, to serve as his scouts in the region. It was a welcome proposal, and Dodge worked with his provost marshal to use funds that were collected through fines and related meth

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Behind the scenes, the Union commander did a little of everything to help produce Northern victory

Dodge was with Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis’ Army of the Southwest in December 1861 when he met another budding young luminary, Phil Sheridan. A captain at the time, Sheridan was the army’s quartermaster; Dodge commanded the 4th Division’s 1st Brigade. The two shared a tent, and Dodge listened intently as “Little Phil” complained about untrained officers who refused to limit the size of their wagon trains or to help forage for supplies. Dodge decided to fol low Sheridan’s example with his own men.

On a visit to St. Louis in October 1861, Dodge began personally outfitting the 4th Iowa. According to one soldier’s letter to the Council Bluffs newspaper: “Through [his] exertions...the 4th has been provided with a full outfit, from head to foot of winter clothing, of excellent material, well-made up. Also, extra heavy over coats for wintry days…new equipment of arms, knapsacks, haversacks, canteens, etc.”

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Maj. Gen. Samuel Curtis (left) and Colonel Eugene Carr, his Army of the Southwest 1st Division commander. A New York native, Curtis spent most of his life in Iowa, and served as an antebellum politician. For Pea Ridge, Carr would receive a Medal of Honor.

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By the end of the year, with the Confederates now camped in northern Arkansas, Davis directed Van Dorn to move back into Missouri, defeat Curtis, and

Dodge’s spies proved instrumental in the buildup to the fighting at Pea Ridge when they uncovered Van Dorn’s decision to split his army in order to attack Curtis’ rear. In command of five companies of the 4th Iowa and two compa nies of the 3rd Missouri Cavalry, Dodge “felled all the timber I could” across a key thoroughfare known as the Bentonville Detour to block the advance of Van Dorn’s and Price’s separated troops for several hours.

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Never a fan of Sheridan, Curtis would eventually relieve Little Phil from his army—the exact reason why has never been fully substantiated. Sher idan praised Dodge in his memoirs: “Several times I was on the verge of personal conflict with regimental commanders, but Colonel Dodge so sus tained me before General Curtis and supported me by such efficient details from his regiment—the 4th Iowa—that I shall hold him and it in great affection and lasting gratitude.”

The disputatious Price quarreled with McCulloch, however, compelling the famed former Texas Ranger to return to Texas in outrage. That caught President Jef ferson Davis’ attention. He assigned Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn command of what was to be called the Trans-Mississippi District of Department No. 2 and instructed McCulloch to return with his force to Mis souri. In addition to Price’s and McCulloch’s com mands, Van Dorn had the services of Brig. Gen. Albert Pike and about 1,000 Cherokee and Creek warriors—a combined force of roughly 16,500 men.

Dodge had railroad destruction high on his résumé, but here, prior to the Battle of Pea Ridge, it was the snow-covered Bentonville Detour—a major roadway—that he and his men worked diligently to wreck, felling trees to block the advance of troops in Earl Van Dorn’s Confederate army.

In late February, Van Dorn began moving toward Curtis’ army straddling the Missouri–Arkansas border. Knee-deep snow greatly hin dered the Confederate advance, but Van Dorn’s decision to leave his supply wagons behind for speed would be a regrettable mistake.

Pea Ridge Brain Trust

then head to St. Louis—an important Missis sippi River base for contesting Ulysses S. Grant’s forces in the Western Theater. Van Dorn had assumed command knowing little about the region’s terrain or the officers now under his command. He was reassured, however, by the fact his troops outnumbered Curtis’ Federals.

Timber!

The delay factored significantly in the Feder als’ Pea Ridge victory on March 8. Had the Southern troops succeeded in flanking Curtis’ army as Van Dorn intended, the battle’s out come may well have gone the other way.

Early on March 7, Dodge met with Curtis and fellow officers to deliberate plans for the coming battle. Dodge was “confident of [an] attack on our rear and right” and had his men break camp and follow him to the command council. Curtis soon learned that the pickets in Colonel Sem pronious H. Boyd’s 24th Missouri Infantry were being driven in and ordered his army to com

Earlier in the war, the principal Federal force in the region was known as the Army of the West. It was tasked with driving the Confederates out of Missouri, but the Battle of Wilson’s Creek in August 1861 had been a resounding defeat and had cost then-commander Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon his life. The Rebel force at Wil son’s Creek was composed of Brig. Gen. Benjamin McCulloch’s Western Army and the Missouri State Guard under Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, still not a formal Confederate force, as hotly contested Missouri had yet to secede (and never did).

Although Dodge had only 1,260 men (950 infantry, 310 cavalry) against Price’s three divi sions, he held fast with the adroit use of his artil lery, positioned behind a rail fence.

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Newspaper coverage of the victory quickly made Dodge a national hero. As T.J. McKenny, Curtis’ acting adjutant major, noted: “Col. Dodge of the 4th is a lion. The 4th and the 9th [Iowa] fought like tigers. One third fell in battle[,] no prisoners taken.”

Despite having three horses shot out from beneath him and suffering wounds to his side and hand, Dodge remained in the fray. But when the Confederates surged forward again at about 5 p.m., and with his men running out of ammu

A factor for that was Dodge’s decision to have two-story blockhouses

s he recovered from his wound, Dodge was promoted to brigadier general, and in June was assigned to Maj. Gen. Henry W. Hal leck’s Department of the Missouri in Corinth, Miss. At Halleck’s headquarters, Dodge came upon an old acquaintance, Sheridan, about to be appointed colonel of the 3rd Michigan Cavalry.

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pletely reverse its position—putting Dodge now on the army’s right flank. Curtis then ordered Dodge to march up the Telegraph Road toward Elkhorn Tavern.

Left behind in a house filled with Union wounded was Charles A. Baker, a hospital nurse. Price asked Baker for the identity of the man in the black coat who commanded the Federals. Informed it was Colonel Dodge of the 4th Iowa, Price replied, “Give my compliments to him and say to him that he has given me the best fight I ever witnessed.”

At one point, Van Dorn rushed forward sev eral batteries and went into action against Fed erals positioned in a hollow just off the Telegraph Road. To counter the Confederate build-up on his right, Dodge realigned his front. He ordered two guns placed on the Huntsville Road by Lieutenant Virgil A. David to open fire, and requested help from 1st Division com mander Eugene A. Carr, who lent him his only reserve force—Colonel David Shunk’s 8th Indi ana Infantry. The collapse of Colonel William Vandever’s 2nd Brigade on the other side of Telegraph Road put Dodge in danger of envel opment on the right, but he turned Price back by rushing in Shunk’s reserves.

Denouement at Pea Ridge

Confederate General Sterling Price, his arm in a sling, prepares a response for what would be the final Union attack at Pea Ridge on March 8, 1862. In the background, Federal troops advance toward Elkhorn Tavern.

nition, Dodge finally fell back about a half-mile to re-form his troops. While retiring, his men halted long enough to unleash a series of wellaimed volleys at the pursuing Rebels.

Assigned an 8,000-man division, Dodge was dispatched to repair of the Mobile & Ohio Railroad between Corinth and the Ohio capital, Columbus. In this role, Dodge created a “Pioneer Corps,” a unit made up primarily of contrabands and used for “repair or construction work needed during the War.” Dodge was an able antagonist to Confederate Brig. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was conducting raids between the Tennessee towns of Grand Junction and Jackson. Destruction of railroad bridges in his path was one of Forrest’s specialties, but he often found himself checked along Dodge’s Mobile & Ohio lines.

lthough he desired field action, Dodge knew Grant wanted him “in command of the District of Corinth; that it was a more important command than a divi sion in the field as it held his flank. He...left me there because he knew I would stay, which was an indication to me that he expected me to stay no matter what force came against me.”

Giving them a home at a deserted plantation and placing a 27th Ohio chaplain in charge, Dodge created what the famed Rev. John Eaton championed was one of the Union army’s most successful “Contraband Camps.”

Dodge spent 1862-63 defending Grant’s flank, chasing Forrest, repairing railroad lines, and destroying one of the breadbaskets that helped feed the Confederate army. At one point, he recalled, a two-mile line of contrabands from the “broad and fertile Tennessee Valley followed us. They came with their families loaded in all kinds of vehicles…they were the most motley and picturesque crowd that I ever saw.”

Dodge realized he could secure funds for his agents by selling cotton, and in January 1863 asked, and received, permission from Grant to retain all proceeds from the sale of contraband cotton to finance his intelligence operations. Long after the war, however, the Treasury Department wrote to Dodge—then president of the Union Pacific Railroad—seeking $17,099.95 “standing against you on the books of this office of secret service funds placed in your hands during the late war.” Dodge simply forwarded the demand to the War Department.

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For Dodge, report accuracy was a must. He would interview refugees and contrabands, read Southern newspapers, and have captured Rebels interrogated—and he would train his men in what he felt was the best manner to cross-examine prisoners. When satisfied that the intelligence was correct, Dodge then forwarded it to Grant and other officers. He kept the list of his agents to himself; only his adjutants general and provost

Some of Dodge’s spies were illiterate, and Dodge was known to take var ious approaches in training them. He had his agents memorize key infor mation and made sure they could provide accurate troop counts of those traveling either on foot or by train. Knowing that an apprehended spy faced likely death, Dodge advised them to be as forthright as possible if captured. They were not to obfuscate the truth about Union forces, in order to give the impression they were regular civilians.

In the Line of Defense

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Agents were to communicate with Dodge only indirectly. They were to carry Confederate money, gold, and goods to help bribe and barter behind the lines. At times, some even joined the Confederate army or pretended to be Confeder ate spies. Female spies were particularly valu able assets in towns where Confederates were known to be Concernedposted.aboutthe money he was spending, Dodge queried Grant: “I respectfully request instruction to me in relation to the secret service fund….The question is how much discretion I have in this matter and how can I account for this money.”

When Colonel John Rawlins, Grant’s chief of staff, recommended that Grant and Dodge meet so his commander would have an opportunity to test the Iowan’s mettle, Grant agreed. Dodge showed up for that meeting in Jackson, Tenn., still dressed in old trousers stuffed inside muddy boots, wearing a simple soldier’s blouse and a sagging hat. Worried about his appearance, Dodge would be reassured by Rawlins: “Never mind about the clothes. We know all about you.” Dodge later admitted he felt better once he saw Grant’s own uniform.

and stockades built along the line’s bridges and stations. Each would be assigned at least a single company, usually a force strong enough to hold off enemy threats (such as Forrest’s cavalry) long enough for reinforce ments to arrive. Grant was so impressed by Dodge’s novel approach that upon becoming commander of West Tennessee he ordered all bridges and stations along the region’s railroads fortified in this manner.

With rumors circling that Dodge was enrich ing himself by speculating in cotton, Grant told him simply to “grin and bear it.”

marshals knew of his intelligence operations.

For Army of the Tennessee commander Sher man, Dodge’s health was a constant concern, as Dodge’s weight had dropped to about 125 pounds in the summer of 1863. When General

Grant gave Dodge command of the Army of the Tennessee’s 2nd Divi sion and instructed him to ramp up his secret service system in order to determine the enemy’s overall strength.

This two-story blockhouse was erected in Arlington Heights, Va., just outside Washington, D.C. It was similar in style to the blockhouses Dodge became famous for constructing along the Mobile & Ohio Railroad to defend against cavalry raids at vulnerable bridges and train stations.

It was ironic that Dodge had benefited the Union war cause thus far mostly by building and repairing railroads, but as the Atlanta Campaign progressed, he was directed by Sherman to destroy railroads feeding Georgia’s important commercial hub city—the Western & Atlantic in par ticular. Dodge’s men created what were famously known as “Sherman’s neckties.” They would remove rails; stack up the wooden ties beneath, set them on fire, and then heat the rails; and once the rails were heated twist them into all sorts of contortions, sometimes doing so around trees.

General Joe Johnston’s Confederates had bent but not yet broken in delaying Sherman’s advance on Atlanta that summer, but Davis clearly believed a more aggressive response was needed from his commander and, on July 17, finally replaced Johnston with General John Bell Hood. Dodge learned of the change on July 19 when one of his spies showed him an Atlanta newspaper. Dodge sought out and informed Sherman, who was conferring with Army of the Ohio commander Maj. Gen. John Schofield. Knowing Hood well from their West Point days together, Schofield pre

On July 10, 1864, Sherman asked Dodge to build a double-tracked tres tle over the Chattahoochee River at Roswell, Ga. Three destroyed factories provided material for the bridge, although the owner of one of those fac tories, which flew a French flag, launched a protest to Dodge, who in turn telegraphed Sherman for advice on avoiding a potential international inci dent. “I know you have a big job but that is nothing new for you...,” was Sherman’s matter-of-fact response. “I know that the bridge at Roswell is important so that you may destroy all Georgia to make it good and strong.” The bridge would be finished by July 12.

Steel rails and wooden ties pried from a section of track outside Atlanta—the handiwork of Dodge and his men—are shown in this stereoview. The ties would be piled together, set on fire, and the rails bent within the flames.

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Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee pinned the Union army down in Chattanooga after the Bat tle of Chickamauga, Sherman ordered Dodge’s division up the Tennessee River Valley. It was Dodge’s assignment to repair and guard rail lines and roads between Nashville and Decatur, Ala.—needed by Grant to supply thousands of Federal troops. Dodge did not disappoint.

Sherman’s Neckties

Marveled Grant: “The number of bridges to rebuild was 182, many of them over deep and wide chasms; the length of road repaired was 102 miles.”

In his Personal Memoirs, Grant called Dodge a “most capable soldier” and applauded his ingenuity: “He had no tools to work with except those of the pioneers—axes, picks, and spades. With these he was able to intrench his men and protect them against surprise by small parties of the Withoutenemy.”access to a dependable supply base, Dodge had his men forage for grain and cattle, and had millers and blacksmiths within his ranks use local mills and shops to grind flour and cornmeal and make tools for railroad- and bridge-building. Others cut timber for bridges, stacked cordwood, or built water tanks.

n March 1864, Grant was promoted to lieutenant general and made Union Army General-in-Chief. Sherman took control of the Military Division of the Mississippi, and Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson assumed command of the Army of the Tennessee. This also meant a return to the front for Dodge, whom Grant advised Sherman “is too valu able an officer to be anywhere except at the front and one you can rely upon in any and every emergency.” Sherman was content to keep Dodge with him, giving him command of the 16th Corps.

Left blind for several days, Dodge was sent north with other wounded soldiers in a freight car—lying in a hammock that apparently swayed with the rhythm of the train. At Marietta, Ga., a nurse who had joined his army in Corinth examined his wound and gave him some “delicacies,” being sure to share the rest of the food with the other wounded lying on the boxcar’s floor. A few of those soldiers recounted feeling lucky to have been in the same car as the general, knowing it meant they would likely get more attention and more to eat. “[A]ll the way they endeavored to help me,” lamented Dodge. “I was absolutely helpless.”

The Federal noose around Atlanta continued to tighten as July turned to August. On August 18, Sherman ordered Dodge to “feel the enemy’s front.” While in a trench manned by the 7th Iowa Infantry, Dodge was cautioned not to lift his head above the trench, instead shown an observa tion peephole they had made. But, as Dodge recalled, the moment he put his eye to the hole, “a rebel shot me in the head”. It was a significant wound, but fortunately not mortal. “Kittoe, Dodge isn’t going to die; he is coming to,” Sherman declared anxiously after asking his own medical director, Edward Kittoe, to examine the wounded warrior.

James Birdseye McPherson graduated at the top of West Point’s elite Class of 1853, which included the Confederates’ Atlanta Campaign commander, Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood.

Like Sherman, Dodge mourned McPherson’s loss. “[His] death was a loss to me personally,” he wrote. “Being an engineer himself he took inter est in my railroad work during the campaign, and he also knew of General Grant’s friendship for me. In a kindly way giving me good advice.”

In October, Grant invited Dodge to his City Point, Va., headquarters and recommended he call on President Lincoln in Washington before return ing home to Iowa. At their meeting, the president asked Dodge his opinion of Grant, receiving affirmation the general was confident Grant would defeat Robert E. Lee and end the war. Lincoln warmly clasped Dodge’s hands, saying, “You don’t know how glad I am to hear you say that.”

Major General Francis Blair, 17th Corps commander, concurred:

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With fewer than 5,000 men, the 16th Corps had faced at least three times their number. If he had retreated rather than stand and fight,

dicted a Confederate attack within 24 hours. He was correct. With Sherman’s army divided, Hood went after Maj. Gen. George Thomas’ Army of the Cumberland at Peachtree Creek on July 20. The Confederate attack, though, was delayed, and despite some initial success for Hood, the Federals prevailed. The loss cost the Confederates about 5,000 total casualties.

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Meanwhile, the Army of the Ohio and Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson’s Army of the Ten nessee had moved to the east around Atlanta. On July 22, those forces clashed with Hood’s Confederates on the outskirts of the city in what would be known as the Battle of Atlanta. Hood ordered three divisions under Lt. Gen. William Hardee to attack the Union left, where McPher son had placed Dodge’s 16th Corps. Two attacks by Hardee were turned back.

Riding forward for a firsthand look, McPher son was exuberant at the 16th Corps’ deter mined stand and cried out “Hurrah for Dodge!” But as the popular Federal commander headed back he rode directly into a party of Confeder ates. Ordered to halt, he wheeled his mount to escape. Shots rang out, striking McPherson— killing him immediately.

In meeting with Sherman to report on the battle, Dodge wrote “he seemed rather surprised to see me, but greeted me cordially, and spoke of the loss of McPherson. I stated to him my errand. He turned upon me and said, “Dodge, you whipped them today, didn’t you?” I said, “Yes, sir.” Then he said: “Can’t you do it again tomorrow?” and I said, “Yes, sir”; bade him good-night, and went back to my command, determined never to go upon another such errand.”

he end of the war growing near, Dodge was given command of the Department of the Missouri, which had been combined with the Department of Kansas. Hostilities with American Indian tribes west of the Mississippi River remained an increasing threat for Dodge in his new command, particularly as it affected the region’s over land U.S. mail routes. He realized the November 1864 massacre of peace ful Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians at Sand Creek by Colonel

Dodge later wrote, “What would have been the result? I say that in all my experience in life, until the two forces struck, and the Sixteenth Corps stood firm, I never passed more anxious moments.”

“I witnessed the first furious assault...and its prompt and gallant repulse. It was a fortunate circumstance for that whole army that the 16th Army Corps occupied the position I have attempted to describe, at the moment of the attack; and although it does not become me to comment upon the brave conduct of the officers and men of that Corps, still I cannot refrain from expressing my admiration for the manner in which [they] met and repulsed the repeated and persistent attacks of the enemy.”

Blue Blood

The head of seven railroads and nine con struction companies, and an adviser to various presidents, Dodge enjoyed fabulous wealth after the war. He was touched by scandal during Grant’s administration, as a friend of speculator Jay Gould, but he remained respected. He would lead fundraising efforts for memorials to Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan, as well as O.O. Howard, and after Grant died in July 1885 he led the sev en-mile funeral procession for the former com mander and president through New York City.

John Chivington’s Colorado Volunteers had magnified the unrest, spurring united tribal attacks on civilians and U.S. authorities that impeded or outright halted settlers traveling west and gold shipments east.

Dodge left the Army in January 1866 and was offered the job of chief engineer of the Union Pacific. Assured he would have absolute control, he accepted and proved, as he had in uniform, to be a dynamic, hands-on leader. The Transcontinental Railroad was completed on May 10, 1869.

Dodge remained a friend to Grant’s widow, Julia, and children, and helped them finan cially—as he would for many widows and chil dren of former generals, former spies, and 4th Iowa veterans who had fallen on hard times.

The friendships of Dodge, Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan welded by the war would last throughout their lifetimes. Notably, Dodge—whose health issues and wounds had once greatly alarmed Sherman—outlived the other three by at least 15 years. Dodge was 84 when he died on January 3, 1916.

Judith Wilmot writes from St. Augustine, Fla. She was the author of “Humanity Forbade Them to Starve” in the January 2021 issue.

During a June 1902 event at West Point, The odore Roosevelt gave Dodge an astonishing trib ute: “I am going to say something to you that it will be hard for you to believe but it comes from my heart. I would rather have had your experi ence in the Civil War and have seen what you have seen and done than to be President of the United States.” No faint praise indeed.

Joyous Union

At Promontory Point, Utah, Dodge (right) and Samuel Montague of the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California shake hands at the “Golden Spike” ceremony celebrating the First Railroad’sTranscontinentalcompletion.

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In February 1865, Dodge sent word he was en route to Fort Kearny in the Nebraska Ter ritory. When Grant reached out to Edward Creighton, creator of the historic Overland Telegraph company, to ask “Where is Dodge?” Creighton replied, “Nobody knows where he is, but everybody knows where he had been.” Long-delayed freighters, stagecoach lines, and wagon trains began rolling by April 1, and never stopped.

September 21, 1865, would be an especially memorable for Dodge when he and 12 cavalrymen came upon about 300 supposedly hostile warriors at Cheyenne Pass in present-day Wyoming. Watching the warriors disap pear down a slope, Dodge ordered his men to follow and would discover a gradual, accessible descent to the plain below. By chance, he had found a long-sought pass for the pending Union Pacific railway.

OFMIsSIONmERCY

In the wake of the Union victory at Missionary Ridge, enemy commanders Hardee and Hooker team to find a popular Confederate colonel’s final resting place By Richard H. Holloway

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In Complete Control

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Ulysses Grant stands atop Orchard Knob watching the attack on Missionary Ridge unfold. “There he stood in his plain citizen’s clothes looking through his double field-glasses apparently totally unmoved,” a British reporter observed. “I could hardly believe that here was this famous commander, the model, it seemed to me, of a modest and homely but efficient Yankee general.”

Private Sam Watkins of the 1st Tennessee recalled that as Davis and his staff galloped by the Tennessee troops, the soldiers mixed cheers with chants of “Send us something to eat, Massa Jeff! I’m hungry!” Those supplications were answered by the end of October; Davis had made sure his men were much better fed and clothed. The 19th Louisiana Infantry, in Colo nel Randall Gibson’s Brigade occupying Mis sionary Ridge, were among those to draw jackets, pants, caps, shirts, drawers, shoes, and blankets. Private George A. Bruton, however, lamented the lack of a key item in winter time, writing to his sister: “As for clothes, I now have plenty of evry thing but socks. Socks can not be had for love or money.”

thin blankets, ragged clothes, and shoeless feet, than given by baring their breasts to the enemy.”

Nevertheless, as often happened with two

Douglas John Cater, the regiment’s drum major, described the unbalanced food situation: “Our cooks were with the wagons in the rear and brought rations to us between Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. For the first eight days these rations consisted of cornbread and bran coffee, but on the eighth day, Ram[e]y Lafitte, our company cook, got in possession of a yearling calf and made jerked beef of it. This was in addition to our bill of fare and we ate it with good relish.”

Private George A. Bruton of the 19th Louisiana (above) is well dressed and armed in this early war image, but as the conflict went on supplies grew short. Bruton lamented the lack of socks to ease his march-weary feet, and said that socks “can not be had for love or money.”

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Sore-footed Soldier

A petition was drawn up requesting that the Louisianans be left to fight together, circulated by the 19th’s commander, Colonel Wesley Parker Winans. To no avail. Recalled one gun ner: “[I]t was the first time the battery had been separated from Louisiana infantry units.”

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That’s not to say their counterparts in gray weren’t suffering, too. The torrential rains had muddied the roads to the Confederate positions, sig nificantly preventing the routine flow of supplies. As President Jefferson Davis noted of the Army of Tennessee during an October 10 visit: “[T]hey had given still higher evidence of courage, patriotism, and resolute deter mination to live freemen, or die freemen, by their patient endurance and buoyant, cheerful spirits, amid privations and suffering from half-rations,

Grant’s arrival in Chattanooga on October 23 had effectively opened a key Union supply chain into the city known as the “Cracker Line”—wel come relief not only for the starving Federal soldiers inside the city but also the army’s animals. “The men had been on half rations of hard bread for a considerable time,” Grant would note. “The besieged Union troops were happy to get the food supplies but they were without sufficient shoes or other clothing suitable for the advancing [winter] season.”

he Union Army’s 17th Missouri Infantry arrived at Bridgeport, Ala., on the Tennessee River in late November 1863. Known as the Western Turner Rifles, they fought in Maj. Gen. Peter Osterhaus’ 1st Division in the Army of the Tennessee’s 15th Corps, part of Ulysses S. Grant’s command reinforcing besieged Chattanooga, Tenn. “We have had hard times since I left you,” wrote Private William Heldman of the 17th. “First we had to fight every day and now we have marched about 200 miles without one day’s rest and not enough to eat. They are making a railroad bridge here across the river today. I don’t think we will stay here long. We have got the right wing of the army.”

The Confederates began bracing for “a big fight every day.” Wrote Lafitte: “[W]e are sta tion[ed] on a high Ridge from where we can see Yankee tents. They are just as thick as bees...” Bruton’s patriotic ferver was particularly appar ent. “Old Jeff Davis is determined to keep us here until my heads are as white as coton or I die with old age,” he wrote. “A great many men are geting out of servis by diserting but I will stay here for ever before I disert as many have done.”

Despite the supply relief, the Louisianans were disappointed to see some of their own moving on to another brigade. In General Brax ton Bragg’s reorganization of his forces, the 5th Company, Washington (La.) Artillery was sepa rated from Gibson’s Brigade, resulting in “quite a commotion.” Gibson’s infantryman shouted to the artillerists, “Boys, you will lose your guns to-day; we will not be there to stand by you.”

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armies in such close proximity for an extended period, enemy soldiers began trading goods with each other. Private William Hamner of the 19th Louisiana told his family that he had done so several times, and drum major Cater wrote that he saw his men “giving tobacco [to the Yankees] in exchange for coffee. In this way we found out that they too were some times almost without provisions.”

“We were on picket duty in the valley just below and to the right of the battlefield. We could see the charges made by the opposing lines as they wavered to and fro. The moun taintop was made dense with smoke and the air hideous with the cries and groans of the wounded. It was a grand yet solemn sight to behold. And at a late hour of the night, ere the battle ceased, the moon which was shining brightly was suddenly envel oped in darkness as if to show the powers of heaven upon the cruelties of war, and the painting of the earth below red with the blood of human lives. The battle at last hushed. Adjutant Ben Broughton of our regiment visited the picket line, having brought and almost whisperingly delivered orders to fall back. We took up the line of march east, and at the break of day we were ascending the west side of Missionary Ridge, which with its projecting rocks was difficult to do, and not without our lines becoming frequently disordered. Yet by sunup we had reached its summit….”

Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker (standing third from right) poses with members of his staff in front of Lookout Mountain in an undated photograph likely taken after the Battle of Missionary Ridge. Standing behind Hooker, looking away, is Maj. Gen. Dan Butterfield, Hooker’s chief of staff.

Victory Conference

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Lieutenant James E. Carraway of the 19th Louisiana had a prime view of Hooker’s attack:

n November 4, Braxton Bragg directed Lt. Gen. James Longstreet and his two divisions, reassigned from the Army of Northern Vir ginia, to advance toward Knoxville to deal with the threat posed by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside’s Army of the Ohio. Burnside had occupied the important city, only a few days’ march north of Chattanooga. It was up to Longstreet not only to keep Burnside’s army away from Bragg’s, but also to break the Union occupation of Knoxville.

time “to partake of some delicacies received from far off Louisiana”—joined by Breckinridge, his staff, and other dignitaries.

The next Union target was Lookout Mountain, which a 10,000-man force commanded by Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker captured on November 24. Unable to provide assistance, the men in the Washington Artillery were left to observe the battle as it unfolded. The famed gunners also took

Grant responded quickly when he learned of Longstreet’s departure. On November 23, he sent troops forward to capture a lightly occupied Confederate observation post on Orchard Knob, a small hill midway between Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge. Bragg responded to the loss of Orchard Knob by repositioning sections of his army. The 19th Louisi ana’s longtime division commander, Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge, was given command of the left side of the forces on Missionary Ridge, while Lt. Gen. William Hardee assumed command on the right. “The night we got to the Ridge, though late, thousands of camp fires were sparkling in the valley beneath,” wrote John Jackman of the 9th Kentucky Infantry. “A belt of fires encircled Chattanooga, showing the lines of the enemy and all around the base of the Ridge, our fires were glowing.”

The Union occupation of Lookout Mountain severely exposed Bragg’s left flank on Missionary Ridge, which required another troop shift.

The 19th Louisiana stacked arms near Breckinridge’s headquarters and hurriedly cooked up the five days’ rations that they had been issued, all the while allowing themselves ample time in the frigid temperatures to enjoy the heat of the fires. “[Bragg] ordered the line in single file which gave it the appearance of an army twice its real size,” remembered Car raway. “Then came an order for each company to build breastworks equal to its front, and all this was done while the dense fog hung between us and the enemy. But the greatest difficulty confronting us just at this moment was procuring of picks, spades, and other implements to enable us to build the breastworks which we had been ordered to do. Nothing of the kind could be commanded, and if ever such things were possessed by our army

s Colonel Winans had predicted upon his arrival on Missionary Ridge, pieces had begun to fall in place. “Another great fight is imminent at Chattanooga,” he wrote to this sister, Mary Winans Wall. “…I expect in the course of a month to test my luck or fate in the Waterloo of this revolution. Both sides are reinforcing—.”

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Recalled Langguth: “In due time after coffee, hardtack and replenishing ammunition in our cartridge boxes, the Union troops, our Division in the lead began their march down the moun tain winding their way like a large blue snake in the warm rays of the morning Sun. It was a

“After midnight having repulsed every attack of the Rebels, our Div. had a few hours rest with only an occasional picket shot along our line in our front, which ceased entirely towards dawn of the 25th of Nov.–” recalled Captain John G. Langguth of the 17th Missouri. “Soon daylight revealed the fact that the Johnnies had left Lookout Mt. and the Union troops were in full possession. With the rising of the Sun on that beautiful clear Nov morning, a mighty shout arose from the troops on the Lookout upon their seeing the Stars & Stripes again floating proudly to the breeze on the White House [today’s Cravens House, which the home’s owner called “Alta Vista” at the time]….”

beautiful morning and a grand Panorama—the distant thunder of Sherman’s artillery on the left of the line, the camps around and in Chatta nooga alive with massing troops, 1,000’s of glis tening guns, all moving in one direction, towards Bragg’s host’s [sic] on Missionary Ridge.”

For Carraway, the 19th Louisiana’s new posi tion elicited strong memories. “The face of the mountaintop…was covered with rocks of almost every conceivable shape and size,” he wrote. “We could no longer hold them [the Federals] in check, and for a while at different places along

they were far away with the wagon trains.”

“our Division in the lead began their march down the mountain winding their way like a large blue snake in the warm rays of the morning Sun”

On a Ledge

Federal soldiers surround Robert Cravens’ Confederate-occupied White House [Alta Vista] as victory nears for Hooker’s command at the November 24, 1863, Battle of Lookout Mountain.

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the line the Rebs and the Yanks were engaged in hand to hand combat, guns were clubed, bayo nets used and the artillery swabs instead of their being used in driving home the charge the empty guns were hurled in the face of the enemy until the line was enveloped in smoke.”

Contacted for assistance in locating Colonel Winans’ final resting place by his old West classmate-turned-Point enemy, Lt. Gen. William Hardee, Maj. Gen. Joe Hooker (right) did not hesitate to order a thorough inquiry on Hardee’s behalf.

Noble Gesture

“Our column—Hooker’s were out of sight[—]reached the Valley with out molestations, moving across Chattanooga Creek and thus forming the extreme Right of Genl. Grant’s Army; while thus marching through the woods, the Rebels send a shell occasionally our way. Our movements now brought us to the rear of the Rebel left (Breckin ridge’s Corps), some of the Johnnies showed their heads but were

Of the ensuing Union sweep up Missionary Ridge, Langguth wrote:

Scott praised his men in his after-action report. “[T]he enemy made a gallant assault but were soon scattered and driven back….,” he wrote. “Never did I witness men who appeared more cool, deliberate, and confident of being able to repel any force that could be brought against them than did our men on this occasion. No one seemed to dream of being driven from our posi tion….It was about this time the enemy began to fall back on the first charge that Colonel Winans received his wound and was carried to the rear.”

“A part of the regiment was rallied and gave the enemy fight again,” Scott would recall, “but we could not get the regiment reformed until we got near the bridge....”

The enemy “advanced and crossed Chickam auga Creek,” Cater recalled. “Our men in rifle pits on the ridge were about one man every ten or fifteen feet, and we were attacked in front. We could not check the advance of the enemy because they were three lines deep and our men were in single file. We did some good shooting but there were not enough of us. When the Fed erals which were on the left of us in the ridge were coming from that direction, making an enfilading fire on us, it was either leave the trenches or be killed, so we left them. We didn’t leave soon enough because we lost many of our best men before we got out of range of their guns. Our loved Col. Winans was killed on this ridge.”

As the regiment valiantly tried to rally, its ammunition began to dwindle. To stem the approaching tide of blue, some men resorted to throwing

Alreadyrocks.facing an attack from the base of the ridge, the Louisianans were shocked to watch the disintegration of the brigade to their left. Because of the extremely loud gunfire, Winans had split his command into two wings, with Captains Winfrey B. Scott and Michael G. Pear son operating each flank and Winans astride his horse, Delia, maintaining control of the center of the regiment. This allowed him to relay com mands easier amid the sounds of battle.

In addition to describing Winans’ fall, Carraway divulged his own near-fatal wounding that afternoon:

quickly induced to skedaddle or surrender, the terrible firing to our left indicated the charge of [Maj. Gen. George] Thomas’ troops, which soon became evident by a whole brigade of Confederates running our way & were captured, bag & baggage, with many stands of colors. Our Division then halted and we witnessed one of the greatest sights a soldier can ever witness: A Con quering Army. Regiment after regiment swept over the brow of Missionary Ridge amid hurrahs and excitement, following up the enemy, every man in his place in com pany front, stepping brisk & fresh with the stars & stripes carried proudly aloft, the many days or weeks of hardship were for gotten and only ‘Forward!’ ‘Forward!’ was their cry until late in the night.”

The last rebel out of sight, not a soul in view except those who were

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From Courtroom to Civil War Command

Beloved by his men, Colonel Wesley P. Winans (left) had graduated from Louisiana’s Centenary College and worked as a lawyer in Shreveport before the Civil War. Above: The white board attached to the tree designates the 19th Louisiana’s position during the Missionary Ridge fighting.

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As I lay there in this almost half conscious condition, four of my men threw a folding litter on the ground beside me and placed my helpless body on it. Shot was raining around us, raining a perfect whirlwind of dust and dirt. These true friends had not borne me far ere Andrew Davis, one of the bearers, fell with his back broken. He never uttered a word. This dropped me by the side of my dying com panion, and my shoulder was resting on his left arm. By this time I had located my wound. It was a crease in the back of my neck. So by an effort I arose to my feet. I knew the direction my command had gone, and also the one I wanted to go, but at first my legs were tottery and refused to lead me in that direction.

“[Winans] who was in command of our regiment was killed (hit by a minieball in the neck which failed to stagger him yet he was in ten minutes, even walked away from the line of battle a few steps to the rear) and the remains of the gallant [Winans] was all that was left to us. At this command of the regiment fell into the willing and gallant hands of Capt. Pierson [sic] who was the senior Captain of the regi ment. [The] regiment…had retreated more than one hundred yards from in the rear of the position from which we had been fighting, [soon] to rally. It was here, halting in obedience to the command of Captain Pierson I was shot down on the rocky mountain.

will want them as mementoes. I promise to pay forHardeethem.” inquired if the commanders and men in the Louisiana brigade or other nearby troops knew anything about Winans, without success. Having known Hooker while at West Point, Hardee decided to query the Union commander, who had graduated the year before him. Surely, someone in the Northern forces would remem ber a Confederate field grade officer wounded on the left side of the ridge where Hooker and his men under Generals Cruft, Geary, and Osterhaus had charged upon and overrun the Louisianans’ position atop the ridge. Hooker agreed to assist his old fellow cadet in Mary’s quest to determine her brother’s final hours. He asked his three division commanders to ques tion those in their command on what might have happened to Winans. Unfortunately, no

Mary implored Hardee to find out if anyone in his command was by Winans when he passed. “Did any kind soul give him water or hold his dying head? Did my brother say anything? Was he dead when the Federals found him and was he buried in the common graves? If he had a separate grave, can anyone identify it? My brother was the only ‘field officer’ who fell that day. He was about 5′8″ tall, had light hair, I think he had a mus tache, his eyes were black, and his feet and hands were very small. I sup pose some of his apparel was marked ‘W P W’ or ‘Winans.’ He had on gold or heavily gilded spurs, these had his name on them and the name of the giver, C[amp]. Flournoy. He wore his wife’s double cased gold watch. The stars on his coat were gold. I mention these particulars that you may be able to identify what person I inquire after. Though I mourn him as dead and it nearly kills me at the bottom of my heart. [C]an I suppose if you can recover those spurs and the watch, the person from whom you get them

Back in Louisiana, grief for lost loved ones was rampant. Mary Wall, Winans’ sister, was no exception. So distraught from not knowing what had happened to her brother’s remains, she wrote Hardee asking his assistance. The heart-wrenching missive said in part: “I had only one brother. Oh, how I loved him! He was handsome, popular, useful, necessary to many. On November 25, 1863, he was shot. He walked to the bottom of the hill, by the assistance of a friend. The surgeon told him that his wound was ‘mor tal.’ He said, ‘My regiment acted gallantly today.’ The Federals now pass ing our folks, and they were obliged to fall back. My brother was left in charge of a young man of his regiment while ‘they all passed by and left their Colonel alone to die.’ This man reports he took off the Colonel’s pis tol, and belt, leaned him against a tree and left him ‘not yet dead.’”

angguth was of course ecstatic in vic tory, crowing, “[T]hat great battle of the Civil War, which will ever stand as one of the greatest achievements of the American soldier—it was a picture no painter or artist can ever portray.” As the defeated Confederates moved south, they mounted a strong defense at nearby Taylor’s Ridge. Then, with harsher weather approach ing, Bragg’s army settled into winter quarters at Dalton, Ga.

John Geary, Charles Cruft, and Peter Osterhaus led the attack on the Confederate left flank. Fortunately, Geary and Cruft were able to submit definitive reports to General Hooker on Colonel Winans’ final hours.

Cruft

Lt. Gen. William Hardee, a native of Georgia, graduated in West Point’s Class of 1838, one year after Hooker. Hardee briefly left the Army of Tennessee after the Tullahoma Campaign but returned to Braxton Bragg’s command during the siege of Chattanooga.

seeking my life. I had not gone more than two hundred yards when in crossing a ravine I saw standing not far from me, in a sort of hill side ravine the horse [Delia] of our dead [colonel], who seemed to be waiting patiently for the coming of [her] master. I walked up to and climbed on...and made my way eastward.”

Hard Fighter

Osterhaus

Federal divisions under the command of Brig. Gens.

Geary

Union Onslaught

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This reproduction of the original flag made for the 19th Louisiana Infantry was sewn during the war by Private Jacob Gall while he was on detached duty from the unit as General Hardee’s personal tailor (see “Grapeshot,” P. 8). Gall created all the flags for Hardee’s Corps and finished them before the assault on Missionary Ridge, where many were captured.

Crafted With Care

Confederate Missionary Ridge prisoners at Chattanooga’s railroad depot. Twenty-nine members of the 19th Louisiana are likely among this lot. To avoid confinement or for other factors, four would join the U.S. Army, one the U.S. Navy.

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“I…made the assault on the extreme left of the enemy’s line,” Cruft wrote in his report. “As our lines moved northward along the ridge, I spied a Confederate officer who appeared to be mortally wounded & in great agony. He was reclining on the ground & leaning back against a tree. He

Uncertain Futures Ahead

Geary was a bit more informative after col lecting the reports of men under his command. He replied, “Two of my surgeons…think his name was Winans. They were called by some privates of my lines which they saw was that of a rebel colonel. They did not examine it. The casualty was about a quarter mile to our right from the final resting place of Gen. Hooker’s command for the night. A rebel officer said to be

one in the 17th Missouri or any other unit in Osterhaus’ command recalled seeing the mor tally wounded Winans.

a colonel was brought to a house by them as he was reported mortally wounded.”Atnearby Ringgold, Ga.,Winans was reportedly cared for by a Mrs. W. Donald, but little else was known. Agreeing with Geary’s findings, Maj. Gen. O.O. Howard forwarded the results to Hooker, who in turn sent the new information to Hardee via a flag of truce. Cruft remained an import ant part of the final key to obtaining further details on what had happened to Winans.

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state he was the only field officer of the enemy killed in front of this com mand. He was shot by a non-commissioned officer of the 18th Infantry. The officer in question was wounded at the left of the hilltop, along the southern end of the ridge. He was seen to fall from his horse. He had been injured in the left side of the abdomen passing through the body. The bri gade inspector, in posting the pickets that evening had [Winans] removed to a log cabin near the picket line.”

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Exact locations of the Confederate burials are unknown. When General Thomas was asked if he wanted the bodies buried by state, he replied, “No, no, mix them up. I’m tired of States’ Rights.” Although Mary Winans Wall never found her beloved brother’s final resting place, she knew Hardee and Hooker had done their best to bring her some peaceful closure. Amid the horror of war, humanity won out.

Spur of the Moment

Upon a reorganization of the regiment in July 1862, the popular Winans found himself promoted to colonel of the regiment. Flournoy was elected to captain their old company. On that occasion, Flournoy presented his old friend a pair of ornate gold spurs engraved “to Col Winans from Capt Flournoy.” Afterward, Winans proudly wore them daily until his death at Missionary Ridge. In the letter to General William Hardee, Mary Winans Wall mentions the spurs as a way to identify her brother.

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Cruft had no further information for Mary, but he did mention in his missive to Hooker, “[N]or was any portion of the personal effects described reported or heard of by me.” The query for information among the Federal com manders did have one last reply. Wanting a thorough inquiry, each division leader sent out a request to each regiment, who in turn sent the information to their company captains. Captain John B. Mattison of the 19th U.S. Infantry, who also served as the unit’s provost marshal, sent a message up the line that provided more details of Winans’ mortal wounding. He wrote, “[Here is the] information from the officers of this command relative to Colonel Winans, 19th Louisiana (Rebel) Vols….In reply, I have to

The general was attempting to provide as many details as possible to Mary to bring her some peace. In addition, Cruft noted in his response, “A surgeon was sent back, according to my hurried promise to look to him but no report as to his condition or fate. Some of my staff think they can remember a resemblance to the description given in the letter of Colonel Winans’ sister. The whole thing was momen tary. If this officer was Colonel Winans he prob ably died where he was seen by my staff, myself, or a very short way down the hill & was buried with the other dead. The wounded of the Con federates lying on the ground fought on by my division were all collected & sent, in the division ambulances, to Chattanooga during the night & the dead were buried soon after daylight the fol lowing morning by a burial detail. I saw two other Confederate officers lying on the field severely wounded whom I supposed to be at the time line officers.”

Richard H. Holloway, an ACW advisory board member, thanks Rodney Huffman, Beth Horner, and Robert Sears for their help with this article.

At the war’s start, several military companies in north Louisiana were organized. One of these, the “Caddo Tenth,” was formed from the citizens of Shreveport and the surrounding area. Prominent lawyer Wesley Parker Winans was elected captain of the unit and his friend, Camp Flournoy, was elected first lieutenant. The pair served side by side at the devastating Battle of Shiloh, where the 19th Louisiana Infantry earned the sobriquet the “Bloody 19th.”

Unfortunately, they seemed to disappear along with Winans’ body in the battle’s aftermath. The colonel’s daughter, Minnie, later came upon the spurs, with both Flournoy’s and her father’s name on them, in an Ohio antique story and immediately purchased them. They remain in the family today. —R.H.H.

These men likely both belonged to the 19th Louisiana, as Captain Andrew J. Handly was mortally wounded and Lieutenant Barney H. Sears suffered a bad wound to the head, from which it took him several months to recuperate.

Flournoy

spoke to me and asked to be cared for. I prom ised to send him a surgeon as soon as pos sible. The lines were now pressed forward at a charging pace and the interview with the officer was but momentary. A party of Confederate prisoners happening to be nearby, I ordered one of them to care for the officer & stay with him & if possible assist him to the rear or down the hill. One of the prisoners stepped out and said, ‘[I] would stay with him as he belonged to his regiment.’ I thought at the time that the wounded person was a field officer but do not know this to be so. He was well dressed and was an intelligent & gentlemanly man. He did not state his name or regiment or rank.”

By Sean Michael Chick

OpPortuniTyKnocks

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Benjamin Butler and P.G.T. Beauregard could only lament what might have been in the Bermuda Hundred Campaign

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n a war known for its provocative personalities, few could compete with Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler. An established antebellum politician, lawyer, and businessman, he gained fame during the conflict as one of the first Union generals who refused to return escaped slaves to their owners in accordance with the Fugitive Slave Act. He was also notorious for defending his opinions with an acidic tongue—a habit that once led Confederate Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor to observe dryly, “in the war of epithets [Butler] has proved his ability to hold his ground against all comers as did Count Robert of Paris with sword and lance.”

Like Butler, Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard had a provocative personality and a mixed record of success. Blessed with considerable dash, charisma, but also arrogance, the Creole com mander from New Orleans had been a Southern hero early in the war, for his success at forcing the surrender of Fort Sumter and then victory at the First Battle of Manassas. Despite a series of set backs in 1862, Beauregard’s resilient defense of Charleston in 1863 had restored his reputation, though his relationship with Confederate President Jefferson Davis had become almost irrevocably icy by the spring of 1864.

By fate, Butler and Beauregard found themselves at the head of opposing armies on the Virginia Peninsula in 1864: Butler in com mand of the Army of the James, Beauregard the Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia.

Their showdown in the Bermuda Hundred Campaign, lasting May 5 through June 7, 1864, remains one of the war’s most over looked military ventures. It should not be relegated to sideshow status, however. That spring, Butler’s army was handed the critical role as “Left Hook” in Ulysses Grant’s massive three-pronged advance on Richmond, and even though Butler seemed to have the parts in place to succeed, he was instead left to rue lost opportuni ties and to cast blame on his subordinates.

With roughly 40,000 men, the Army of the James featured a mixture of new recruits, battle-

tested regiments, and garrison regulars, as well as seven regiments of highly motivated yet inex perienced United States Colored Troops.

major factor in foiling Union naval attacks on Richmond and putting greater pressure on Butler’s land advance from Bermuda Hundred.

Although there had been missed Confederate openings too, one thing was certain by June 7: Beauregard had managed to turn back Butler’s onslaught and Grant had been stopped on the out skirts of Richmond. He would not claim the coveted Confederate capital for another 10 months.

Blocking Butler

n March 2, 1864, newly minted Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was named generalin-chief of the Union Army, tasked with defeating General Robert E. Lee in the field and, in so doing, finally bringing the destructive war to an end. The campaign Grant began planning that spring would be the largest and most complicated of the entire war. A force of nearly 180,000 men—the bulk in Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade’s Army of the Potomac— would advance on the Confederate capital of Richmond in four columns.

The exact credentials of Butler’s commanders were disputable, principally Maj. Gen. William F. “Baldy” Smith of the 18th Corps and Maj. Gen. Quincy Adams Gillmore of the 10th Corps. Though popular with his men, Smith was known for being hypercritical of his superiors, and in 1863 he had been sidelined because of his per sonal attacks on Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside. His good service under Grant at Chattanooga, however, had allowed him a return to promi nence. Grant, in fact, permitted Smith to send him repor ts, an indication that Butler did not have the general-in-chief’s complete trust.

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One of the 8-inch Columbiad cannons at Confederate Fort Darling, overlooking a bend in the James River at Drewry’s Bluff. The 100-foot-highwell-protected,bluffwasa

Still largely untested as a field commander, Butler met with Grant in Norfolk on April 1 to discuss the upcoming offensive. While the Army of the Potomac advanced through central Vir ginia and Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel followed suit in the Shenandoah Valley, Butler’s army was to proceed north along the James River, tying up forces that might otherwise aid Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.

Butler also had the services of Rear Adm. Samuel P. Lee’s North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, which included 41 warships and six ironclads. In the Bermuda Hundred Campaign, Lee’s squadron would be involved in the largest single amphibious landing of troops to take place the entire conflict.

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Union losses for the May 6-7 expedition, which claimed only a few hundred yards of quickly repaired track, were 413; the Confeder ate total was 280. Pickett directed Johnson to fall back to Swift Creek, which he believed was a better position for defending Petersburg.

nion naval forces were having no success either. On May 6, near Deep Bottom, a Confederate torpedo sank the gunboat Commodore Jones. The next day at Tur key Bend, Rebel artillery and infantry captured and burned USS Shawsheen, prompting Lee to show greater caution in subsequent river probes.

On May 6, Butler took up advanced posi tions and kept most of his men digging entrenchments to protect his base of opera tions. Only a few brigades ventured out to raid the Richmond & Petersburg Railroad, and Brig. Gen. Charles A. Heckman’s 2,700 man “Star Brigade” skirmished with ele ments of Brig. Gen. John Hagood’s South Carolina brigade at Port Walthall Junction. The fighting accomplished little save increas ing animosity between Smith and Gillmore, the latter having failed to support Heckman.

Beauregard

Detritus Mines, known at the time as torpedoes, were a constant concern for Union ships, as depicted in this sketch of the May 6, 1864, sinking of the Commodore Jones—the victim of an electronically detonated Confederate torpedo.

On May 7, Butler wrote to Vermont Senator Henry Wilson that Gillmore “may be a very good engineer officer, but he is wholly useless in the movement of troops.”

Butler began moving on May 4, with Brig. Gen. Edward Hinks’ USCT regiments quickly taking several positions along the James. The main landing, though, came May 5 at the historic port town of Bermuda Hundred, located near the confluence of the James and Appo mattox rivers. “No opposition thus far,” Butler would report to Grant: “Apparently a complete surprise.”

With a five-brigade section of roughly 8,000 men, the Federals attacked the junction in force on May 7. Although the Confederates had only 3,000 men and six cannons under Brig. Gen. Bushrod Johnson, they took advantage of a lack of cohesion of Union Brig. Gen. William T.H. Brooks’ relatively inexperienced command. The fighting was fierce, but it was hardly a fullfledged battle. Brooks would finally fall back to Ware Bottom Church, later claiming he lacked the adequate strength to do more.

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That it was a surprise was a bit of a stretch, but Brig. Gen. George Pick ett’s command in Petersburg had been left relatively isolated. He was instructed to hold out as reinforcements were rushed to Virginia.

As Butler amassed his forces, the Confed erate government in Richmond took note and began looking for a commander to fash ion an able response. At General Braxton Bragg and Lee’s behest, President Davis hes itantly turned to P.G.T. Beauregard. The command Beauregard received was scat tered, and he endured an early setback when an attack at New Bern, N.C., by Maj. Gen. Robert Hoke was called off prematurely.

On May 8, a frustrated Butler began destroy ing the railroad between Richmond and Peters burg in preparation for a May 9 strike in which most of the army was to take part. As the 10th Corps threatened Drewry’s Bluff, the bulk of the 18th Corps would head to Port Walthall Junc tion to tear up track, while others probed toward Petersburg. Meanwhile, Brig. Gen. Charles Gra ham’s army gunboat flotilla, aided by Hinks’

After the war, Butler contended he had wanted to attack Richmond that night, having been told by a spy that the capital was nearly defenseless. He claimed that Gillmore and Smith overruled his plan, and that one of them had flatly refused to carry out such an order. That was unlikely. Butler, for example, was not known for being aggressive, and Smith and Gillmore were rarely so blunt when dealing with their superior officer.

Butler, however, was generally pleased with the May 9 results and urged Smith and Gill more to press on to Petersburg with another strike at Swift Creek while Hinks threatened from City Point. Neither Smith nor Gillmore objected but, after calling Butler incompetent in private, drafted their own plan of attack.

Graham’s attack was a fiasco, with Samuel L. Brewster, the flotilla’s strongest ship, destroyed. Better news came from Gillmore, who diligently tore up track at Chester Station, and from Smith, who did the same at Port Walthall Junc tion. But a subsequent move on Petersburg in force by Butler and Smith was cut short, as elements of the 18th Corps found Johnson’s 4,300-man force at Swift Creek. Although John son lost about 600 men, mostly in a failed attack, the Federals failed to drive him off. Union Brig. Gen. Isaac Wistar probably summed it up best, calling the Swift Creek fighting “obscure in mag nitude and barren of results.”

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Beauregard finally arrived at Petersburg on May 10, taking over for Pickett, who was ill. The next day, Beauregard was ordered to send six brigades under Hoke to Richmond, threatened by Maj. Gen. Phil Sheri dan’s cavalry. With the rail line broken, however, Hoke’s men had to tra verse 10 miles of their route along the Richmond Turnpike, then march through Chesterfield Courthouse.

Controversial Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler commanded the Union forces engaged at Bermuda Hundred. Known more for his salty language than his battlefield acumen, Butler retained enough political pull to garner this opportunity. Above left: Butler’s Signal Corps erected this massive tower to relay messages to his commanders during the campaign.

On May 11, Butler began moving toward Richmond with 25,000 men, leaving behind 5,000 to guard Bermuda Hundred. Fortunately for the Confederates, the Federals missed running into Hoke, whose line was mired in a miserable, rain-soaked march. Inadvertently, Butler had lost a prime chance to inflict a decisive defeat on Beauregard’s Confederates.

Keeping an Eye on the Enemy

of War Edwin Stanton that Lee had been defeated at Spotsylvania. Butler felt it essential to attack Beauregard to prevent him from reinforcing Lee.

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Their commander rejected the revision, of course, and rebuked his subordinates. But by then he had decided upon a new plan of action himself, basing it on reports that Richmond was vulnerable and erroneous news from Secretary

A brief, successful raid in southern Virginia by Brig. Gen. August V. Kautz’s cavalry brought Butler some good news, as did a determined stand by members of Gillmore’s vanguard during an attack at Chester Station that resulted in 249 Confederate casualties. In Richmond, the fighting at Chester Station produced panic, with Secretary of War James Seddon writing to Beauregard: “THIS city is in hot danger. It should be defended with all our resources to the sacrifice of minor considerations.”

USCT units, would try to level Fort Clifton, shielding Petersburg on the Appomattox.

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A scratch brigade under Colonel Frederick F. Wead refused the Union right flank and held fast, but the rest of Ransom’s Division surged forward. As a defensive mea sure, Smith ordered telegraph wire strung up between tree stumps and ordered his artillery to the rear. Smith was perhaps prudent to fear his guns would be over run, but robbed his men of needed firepower. Never theless, the Rebel attack failed, and the fighting devolved into desultory long-range firing.

Beauregard had 18,000 men at his dis posal, divided into four divisions under Maj. Gen. Robert Ransom; Hoke; Whiting; and Colquitt (in reserve). Ransom, whose brother Matt commanded a brigade under Colquitt, was instructed to attack the Union right flank down the Old Stage Road. That, Beauregard hoped, would draw in the rest of Butler’s command and allow Hoke to attack the Union left.

Worn With Pride Company F badge belonging to 1st Lt. William T. Bradley of the 6th Connecticut, who was mortally wounded during the Bermuda Hundred fighting on May 20, 1864.

Lack of support from the Navy and Union cavalry continued to vex Butler. After Sheridan failed to penetrate the Richmond defenses, he shifted his command toward Bermuda Hundred on May 14. Butler hoped Sheridan would join his forces in attacking Chaffin’s Bluff, but “Little Phil”—his men exhausted—refused.

Maj. Gens. William “Baldy” Smith (left) and Quincy Gillmore were Ben Butler’s top subordinates. Butler wasn’t immune to Smith’s inclination to undermine his commanders. Gillmore proved more effective in arranging an impromptu defense of Washington against Jubal Early in July 1864.

The other regiments in Heckman’s command held briefly, forcing Gracie’s men to take cover. But Colonel William Terry’s Brigade surged forward to force a collapse. Heckman was captured, and both the 23rd and 27th Massachusetts lost their commanders.

When Beauregard requested naval support and for a delay until May 18 so Whiting could make it to Drewry’s Bluff, Seddon was incensed, insisting to Davis that Beauregard merely was stalling. Davis directed Beauregard to delay no lon ger, leaving the commander to revert to his original attack scheme.

Not on the Same Page

Ransom’s attack was scheduled for dawn May 16, but with a thick fog lingering over the fields and woods, he held off. Recalled Charles Loehr of the 1st Virginia: “[W]e were only aware that it was filled with our friends preparing for the desperate struggle ahead by the clear and dis tinct words of commands from invisible officers marshalling an invisible host.” The fog persisted, however. Finally, at 4:45 a.m., Ransom realized he could wait no longer and ordered the attack to proceed.

During a frontal assault by Johnson and Hagood on Brooks’ position at 6:30 a.m., Hagood’s men came under heavy fire after getting tangled in the wire Smith had strung around the tree stumps. The “boys were pumping

Hit first, the stunned 2nd USCT Cavalry fled so swiftly that it exposed the 9th New Jersey’s right flank. Overrun by Brig. Gen. Archibald Gra cie’s Confederates, the 9th would lose Colonel Abram Zabriskie, mortally wounded, and had 200 men surrender.

Despite suffering 700 casualties, mostly as prisoners, Heckman’s men inflicted heavy losses on the Rebels. Terry had lost more than 300 men, and three of Gracie’s regimental commanders were wounded. Even worse, in the fog Gracie’s and Terry’s brigades dissolved into mobs, making it hard to reestab lish a battle line. Many soldiers, in fact, simply plundered the Union camp.

Beauregard was hoping for reinforcements from Lee’s army, feeling it would allow him to destroy Butler first before recombining against the Army of the Potomac. When Davis turned him down, Beauregard agreed to attack Butler on his own. The two, however, were not in agree ment on how to use Whiting. Beauregard wanted his division to block Butler’s retreat path during the main Confederate attack; Davis preferred to have Whiting march to Drewry’s Bluff and serve as a flanking force.

ncessant rain May 12-14 disrupted both sides’ progress. When Maj. Gen. William H.C. Whiting arrived in Petersburg on May 13, he was unexpectedly placed in command of a division to guard the Confederate strong hold city. As Gillmore had managed to outflank the Confederates, forcing them into a main defensive line at Drewry’s Bluff, Beauregard responded by rushing north from Petersburg, accompanied by Brig. Gen. Alfred H. Colquitt’s veteran Georgian brigade.

Butler also wanted Lee to cover his right flank with ironclads, but the admiral refused, as the river there was too shallow for his liking. On May 12, a reluctant Kautz launched a five-day raid in which his men tore up track, torched supplies, and pinned down some Rebel units in Petersburg, but otherwise did little more than deprive Butler of critically needed cavalry.

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The rest of Hoke’s Division attacked the 10th Corps’ position. Clingman struck three brigades with only the 31st and 51st North Carolina and was easily repulsed. But the attack by Brig. Gen. Montgomery D. Corse’s Brigade on Gillmore’s left flank had some success. Though Corse was wounded, he remained at the front. Yet, as Clingman withdrew, Union flanking fire on Corse’s men ignited a long-range firefight.

Top: Earthworks near Point of Rocks, dug by Butler’s men on the left of the Federal line at Bermuda Hundred. Above: A contemporary drawing of Captain Amos Foster’s gunboat Commodore Perry in the waters outside Petersburg—the closest the Union Navy would get to the important city.

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Whiting stopped there, however. Exhausted from a lack of sleep and likely feeling the effects of alcohol withdrawal, he apparently never

Beauregard also sent the 24th and 49th North Carolina regiments, part of Rutledge’s com mand, to assist Johnson’s right. Colonel Leroy Magnum McAfee led this detachment, but both regiments also got lost in the fog and wandered into Union Colonel William B. Barton’s brigade. McAfee was wounded in the failed attack.

Colquitt sent in a brigade to help, but it failed to penetrate the Union lines. In the confusion, however, “Baldy” Smith moved Wistar’s brigade out of the line before reversing his decision. Taking advantage, Hagood swept into a salient and captured several cannons.

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By 10 a.m., Beauregard called off further attacks. It appeared Butler had won the battle, but the Union high command somehow unrav eled. Beginning about 7:45 a.m., Smith with drew to Half-Way House, then ordered Brig. Gen. Godfrey Weitzel’s division to attack Ran som’s disorganized forces. When Weitzel was unable to form his men, Smith decided to con tinue the Orderedretreat.byButler to attack, Gillmore instead concocted a complicated plan to disengage the 10th Corps toward Proctor’s Creek, as Smith’s retreat had created a gap between the two corps. Once new lines were formed, he hoped, the 10th Corps could Gillmore’sattack.retreat began about 9:30 a.m. The 39th Illinois made a spirited stand in the pro cess, losing one-third of its men. By 2 p.m., But ler had established a new line near Half-Way House and Proctor’s Creek—but at a heavy cost.

By now, Beauregard’s hopes were on Whiting, who had departed Petersburg about 5 a.m. with about 5,000 men under Brig. Gens. James Mar tin and Henry Wise, as well as two regiments of cavalry under Brig. Gen. James Dearing and a 10-gun artillery unit under Colonel Hilary P. Jones. Whiting soon ran into Brig. Gen. Adel bert Ames’ brigade, the Union army’s rearguard at Port Walthall Junction. About 8:30 a.m., Jones’ guns opened fire as Wise prepared to charge. Ames withdrew north, and though he would receive reinforcements, by 11 a.m. Whit ing had occupied Port Walthall Junction.

By Land and Water

Attempting to save the attack, Hoke sent the 8th and 61st North Carolina from Brig. Gen. Thomas Clingman’s Brigade to bolster Johnson, only to have them get lost in the fog and veer left. Their subsequent strike was ineffective.

Despite some success, Johnson’s and Hagood’s soldiers were worn out. Most of the senior regimental officers had gone down, killed or wounded.

lead into them as fast as they could load and fire,” wrote Martin A. Haynes of the 2nd New Hampshire. “The rebs came on again and again, until the ground in front of the Second was carpeted with dead and wounded.”

Johnson’s attack devolved into confusion. According to R.C. Sanders of the 25th/44th Tennessee, “there was a heavy fog hanging over the works, so thick that it was with difficulty a Federal could be distinguished from a Confederate.” The fog allowed some of Johnson’s men to get lodgments in the line. In capturing a single cannon, however, the 63rd Tennessee would lose half its strength.

The fighting that day had cost the Confeder ates nearly 3,000 casualties, the Federals roughly 4,100. The first three hours, according to Captain William H. Harder of the 23rd Ten nessee, had been “one of the most terrible actions recorded in the war’s rugged history.” Wistar echoed that, calling it “one of the hardest fought combats of the war.”

For the Union, the defeat was bitter. Butler succeeded in tying down troops until May 17 but failed to take either Richmond or Petersburg. Understandably it hung as a cloud over his record, as well as for Gillmore and Smith. All three men disappeared from the Army of the James by war’s end, finishing the conflict with tarnished military reputations.

heard the sounds of battle at Drewry’s Bluff—his attack signal. It proved critical. Rather than advance, Whiting sent ahead only Dearing, prompting Colonel David Harris, Beauregard’s chief engineer, to sneer: “Had he had a single dram…to clear his brain, Butler and his whole army would have been prisoners of war.”

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Drewry’s Bluff remained a point of anguish for Beauregard, who long grumbled, “We could and should have captured Butler’s entire army.” Davis’ already poor opinion of Beauregard only worsened and became one of mutual hatred after the war. Nevertheless, the Bermuda Hundred Cam paign was among the Confederacy’s last measurable strategic victories.

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he Union high command clearly failed at Drewry’s Bluff, as Smith and Gillmore had been too tentative overall and Butler chose to retreat despite tactical success. All the same, the Confederates hadn’t done much better. Coordination had been poor, and many of the soldiers blamed Ransom and espe cially Whiting. “[T]he hand of Fate had penned the decree of our defeat,” wrote Thomas R. Rou

Sean Michael Chick, like P.G.T. Beauregard a native of New Orleans, is the author of Grant’s Left Hook: The Bermuda Hundred Campaign, May 5–June 7, 1864 (Savas Beatie, 2021).

Hopscotch on the James Obstructions of assorted sizes and material, such as these shown below fortified Drewry’s Bluff, were sunk at critical points of the James River to prevent the passage of Federal gunboats capable of threatening Richmond from close range.

Drewry’s Bluff was an incomplete victory that left many Rebels dissat isfied, including Davis. Yet it was a victory. Morale soared in the Rebel ranks. More important, Butler no longer seemed a threat to Richmond. Wrote Colonel Alfred Roman of Beauregard’s staff: “The day was ours. Butler’s army was driven back, hemmed in, and reduced to comparative impotency, though not captured.”

After the war, Beauregard surmised: “The communications south and west of Richmond were restored. We had achieved the main object for which our forces had encountered the enemy.” The Union defeat and with drawal meant that Lee would receive those reinforcements. It also meant that the already shaky morale in the Army of the James dipped even fur ther. Colonel Joseph Hawley, for one, summed up the feelings of many when he wrote “I have no faith nor hope.”

At 1:15 p.m., Davis arrived at Drewry’s Bluff to oversee a seeming victory. Hearing rapid gun fire to the south, he proclaimed, “Ah, at last!” What Davis heard, however, was skirmishing between Dearing and Union stragglers at Ches ter Station. Dearing later contended that a vigorous pursuit would have paid off hand somely and had indeed advised Whiting to attack. By 1:30 p.m., Ames had received rein forcements and Whiting retreated to Swift Creek. A skittish Butler did not capitalize, however, finally ordering a retreat at 4 p.m.

lhac of the 49th North Carolina, “but of all those [blunders] which con tributed to our downfall, that of…Whiting, on the afternoon of May 16, 1864, was one of the most glaring and stupendous.”

Drewry’s Bluff was the campaign’s biggest and most important battle, but the fighting was hardly over. As Butler grappled with uncertainty, Beauregard amped up his aggressiveness. His May 20 victory at Ware Bottom Church added to Butler’s duress and allowed Beauregard to send more men to Lee’s aid. Although Beauregard wanted to use artillery to close off the James, his lack of enough heavy weaponry and the presence of Lee’s formidable fleet made that wishful thinking.

There was nothing to keep him in Vermont’s Orange County. His mother was long dead, his father had just remarried twice in merely four years, and there was no family farm for him to tend or inherit. He also had no close relationship with any member of the opposite sex, although he had been introduced to the ways of the flesh, apparently only recently. Sometime during that 1861 haying season, he had enjoyed the company of Sophronia Ann Prescott, a domestic for a nearby family who was several years his senior. She clearly didn’t mean enough to him to figure in his plans when he decided to enlist.

ConditIONalLove

By William Marvel

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Nineteen-year-old John Wilmot would have taken full advantage of that premium pay. He had been supporting himself for at least a couple of years, boarding and working at a farm near his childhood home in the village of Post Mills. Good weather continued through the second week of August 1861, but by then most farmers had their hay collected, and Wilmot had to choose between resuming life as a regular hand or indulging the exciting prospect of going to war. Army pay and the Vermont supplement would give him the same $20 a month he might earn at farm labor, but the federal government also promised a $100 bounty at the end of a three-year enlistment.

A young Yankee private navigates the horror of war in Virginia and sudden fatherhood back home

s an unattached young man, John Wilmot was clearly stirred by the extraordinary patri otic fervor circulating in the summer of 1861. A little time would show that he had also been stirred by something more common.

News of the Union disaster at the First Battle of Bull Run reached Vermont’s Con necticut River Valley in the midst of haying season. Barely a week after the battle, Gov ernor Erastus Fairbanks decided to raise two new regiments of volunteers, although most conceded that recruiting would lag while the crucial hay crop was being cut. The customary pay for farm hands in the area seldom exceeded $1 a day, but they could demand $1.50 or more per day from the middle of July until mid-August, when the last load had been collected. Army pay of $13 a month paled by comparison, even after considering the $7 monthly bonus the state had authorized for all the enlisted men in Vermont regiments.

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On September 9, Wilmot signed the roll of what was soon mustered in as Company H, 4th Ver mont Volunteers, and he arrived with that regiment in Washington, D.C., on September 23. After a couple of weeks around the U.S. Capitol, the 4th Vermont moved across the Potomac River to Camp Griffin, joining four other regiments from the Green Mountain State to form the Vermont Brigade. It remained there until spring.

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Patriotic Farm Boy

In a photo likely taken in early 1864, Wilmot wears a dress coat with its collar cut down for comfort and a veteran’s stripe on the left sleeve—authorized for those who reenlisted. This letter, dated February 14, 1864, was one of the last he wrote to Sophronia, whom he called Ann. He signed it “your ever affectionate husband.”

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t was a bad winter for the Vermonters, whose sick list exceeded that of any other brigade in the Army of the Potomac. Measles raced through the camps, as well as typhoid and remittent fever, and by January nearly a quarter of the 4th Vermont was under the surgeon’s care. Two men in Company H died that winter, and five more returned home with disability discharges. Wilmot was sent to the hospital for several weeks himself. When he emerged at the end of February, he believed he was frail enough to merit a discharge, yet he declined to apply for one, fearing it might disqualify him for the $100 federal bounty.

Wish You Were Here

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Sophronia’s older sister, whose perennially mis spelled first name was probably meant to be Melency, had borne a son out of wedlock barely four years before Sophronia’s liaison with Wil mot. The child Sophronia carried that winter of 1862 would be the first of no fewer than three she would conceive without benefit of matrimony. It would not be the last illegitimate child she credited to John either, although her other children were born years after Wilmot wasWilmotdead. did not seem to entertain any imme diate suspicion over Sophronia’s undisguised pecuniary motivation either. He promised her $20 of the $26 he would be paid at the end of every other month, but she wanted his $7 monthly state bonus as well. He had already given control of that money to his father, who would still be his legal guardian for two more years. His regular pay was another matter, but after he promised to send the bulk of that to

Beautiful Lake Fairlee, shown in these postwar images, is one of two freshwater lakes in Vermont’s Orange County, straddling the state’s border with New Hampshire. Wilmot and Sophronia Prescott were raised near here in the then-remote town of Post Mills, easily accessible today via Interstate 91.

The two of them had been raised in villages separated by only a few miles, on either side of Lake Fairlee, but in an age of pedestrian travel it might as well have been leagues. Otherwise, Wilmot might have under stood that chastity apparently didn’t run strong among the Prescott girls.

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By then he was in touch with Sophronia, who apprised him that she was pregnant. His first letter in reply does not survive, but internal evidence suggests that their correspondence had not been extensive when he wrote the second one, on March 5, 1862. There is no evidence of any understand ing between them, or of any communication from her until she informed him of her condition. Their intimacy appears to have been altogether casual—quite possibly a solitary encounter—but young John either assumed that the child was his or accepted Sophronia’s assertion that it was.

In his long reply to her letter, the young sol dier promised to do as well by her as he could, financially. He only asked—in vain—that she write to him weekly. Sophronia’s letters have not been preserved; their frequency and content can be judged only from the evidence in his, but she seems rarely to have written more often than monthly, if that.

Sophronia, he did not hear from her for another six months. When she finally did write, it was apparently to complain about a four-month period in which he had not been mustered for pay and she had not seen any money from him.

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The promise of a dependable $20 per month— as well as $100 in cash if honorably discharged from service—was an enticing offer for young “able bodied” Vermonters such as Wilmot. Much of the stipend that Wilmot received he would share with Sophronia.

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Steady Pay

After a two-month lapse in the spring of 1863, she insisted that she had written several times, yet Wilmot never received any of those letters. He did not challenge her claim, but so many letters flew in the face of her usual habit, and his situation was not then subject to any of the common causes of lost or delayed mail. He had been with his unit in the same camp all that time, where mail had reached him regularly for four months,

During her long silence, Wilmot had endured the entire Peninsula Campaign; he had also taken part in the harried retreat of Maj. Gen. John Pope’s Army of Virginia after the Second Battle of Bull Run in August 1862 and had fol lowed the fortunes of the 6th Corps through the late-summer fighting in Maryland. He wrote to her after the Antietam Campaign, but Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside had taken command of the Army of the Potomac before Wilmot learned that Sophronia and the baby girl she had delivered were alive and well. The child was then nearly seven months old, but Sophronia either failed to name it or to tell Wilmot what name she had chosen. He referred to her as “the baby,” or “the little girl.”

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stranger, as homesick young soldiers were wont to do. He knew so little of her that he seemed uncertain what she preferred to be called, addressing her alternately as Sophronia or Ann, or resorting to the perfectly neutral “My Dear Friend.”

Still living with her parents in her late 20s, with the burden of an ille gitimate child, it seems probable that Miss Prescott did not hesitate long before suggesting herself as a prospective bride for his hypothetical mar riage. Her acquiescence can also be inferred from his next letter, 12 weeks later, in which he sought her opinion on a significant life decision. The War Department had begun offering substantial inducements for reenlistment, hoping to retain the veterans whose terms would end the following spring and summer, and on December 19, 1863, Wilmot asked Sophronia what he should do.

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The federal government was paying a $300 bounty to all recruits by December 1863, and 1861 volunteers such as Wilmot were already owed their original $100 enlistment bonuses. On top of that, the War Depart ment added another $100 bounty for any veteran who reenlisted, along with the $2 recruiting bounty traditionally paid to anyone who persuaded someone else to enlist.

When she did write, it was to say that she was out of money or to ask when the army was going to be paid. In one letter, she mentioned her father’s annoyance at having to help support her child, prompting Wilmot to promise he would reimburse Mr. Prescott, too, when he came home. Her repeated appeals for more sup port may have moved him to doubt her ability to manage money, and by the end of 1862 he began directing much of his pay to his school teacher brother, Willard, to be saved until he returned. He still sent Sophronia small amounts if she avowed she could not “get along without it,” but no longer did he send her the lion’s share of his income.

including two earlier letters from her, with his customary address.

Vermont also offered a $125 bounty to any soldier enlisting under that state’s draft quota. That would give him $627, besides whatever bounty voters decided to offer in the town of Thetford, which encompassed Post Mills. Vermont town bounties were then fluctuating between $200 and $600, with most communities settling on $300. About a third of that money would come in cash, with the rest distributed over the course of

f any letters passed between them through the brutal summer of 1863, they have been lost, and none are hinted at in the surviving correspondence. Late in September, how ever, she wrote asking what he planned to do when he made it back to Vermont. With enough diffidence to show that they had never discussed the topic, he replied, “If I live to get home I shal get Married the first thing I do if any one will have me.”

At the age of 21, John Wilmot might have been a hardened veteran of several campaigns, but he was also a motherless boy far from home, ham-handedly proposing marriage to a virtual

Green Mountain State Camaraderie Private Wilmot spent his early days in the U.S. Army at Camp Griffin in Langley, Va., just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., and Montgomery County, Md. Four other Vermont regiments also made the camp their home as part of the “Vermont Brigade.”

ilmot would have no time to regret his decision, or to know Sophronia better. On May 4, the Vermont Brigade crossed the Rapidan River at Germanna Ford, and the next afternoon it ran head-on into Confederate Maj. Gen. Henry Heth’s Divi sion in the Wilderness, near the Brock Road’s intersection with the Orange Plank Road. Under the most furious fusillade the brigade faced during the war, some 1,200 Vermonters fell dead or wounded, including a score of men in the 4th Vermont’s Company H. Wilmot, freshly promoted to cor poral, lay among them with a bullet in his left leg.

From the State Coffers

baby by name, shortening Rohessie Ardell Wilmot to “Hessie.” He assured Sophronia that he was “the happiest man that ever lived,” but he also betrayed lingering apprehension at taking a wife he barely knew, adding, “I hope I shall never have occasion to regret my choice.”

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She had not been asked to approve of Wilm ot’s first decision to enlist, and likely was not even aware of it before he departed. His reen listment would yield abundant ready cash with periodic replenishment, and if they were mar ried those funds would allow her to live inde pendently of her parents, to whom she had been compelled to return late in her pregnancy. Even if Wilmot were killed, all the bounty money would accrue to his widow, if he had one, as would a small pension.

The Orange Plank Road running through the Wilderness. Wilmot was seriously wounded not far from here on May 5, 1864, while fighting Maj. Gen. Henry Heth’s Confederates on the three-day battle’s opening day.

The news of the promised furlough—with the implied opportunity for them to be married— may have been the deciding factor for her, as Wilmot seemed to intend. She surely gave her assent, but he must have assumed that she would, for he had already reenlisted four days before he wrote to her.

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A Father Meets his Fate

After establishing Sophronia in housekeeping in her own lodgings in Post Mills, Wilmot returned in February to his regiment’s camp at Brandy Station, Va. At last he began to call the

the reenlistment period. Wilmot would also have accumulated $189 in state subsidies by then, so if he enlisted again he would be worth well over $1,000 at a time when most laborers still earned only $300 a year. With the state bonus, he would also realize an additional $240 a year in pay.

After tallying all the benefits for Sophronia, Wilmot added one more slightly cryptic induce ment: “I forgot to tel you too[,] all that reenlist are granted a furlow of thirty days. Let me know in your next what you think I had better do.”

Wilmot came home after the first of the year, and on January 17, 1864, Thetford’s local jus tice of the peace united him and Sophronia in marriage. It was a busy season for the Prescott girls, and Melency also snared a husband, exchanging vows six weeks later with a former comrade of Wilmot’s in Company H who was a decade her junior.

State supplementary pay vouchers for 4th Vermont soldier Elias Dow, who served in the regiment with Wilmot and would be captured seven weeks after the Wilderness fighting. Sophronia had access to such funds, as well as the bonuses Wilmot was due after his death in June 1864.

Transported to Fredericksburg by ambulance and then to Washington by steamer, he landed finally at Mower General Hospital in Chestnut Hill, Pa. The bullet was removed weeks later, but he had a history of wounds that healed stubbornly, and he grew so weak that a bout of fever carried him off on June 17. He had turned 22 by the time he died.

s tempting as it is to gild John Wilmot’s experience with Sophro nia Prescott as the saga of a young man living up to his responsi bilities, it would be reasonable to wonder whether the responsibility was actually his. After all, the Prescott sisters clearly pursued carnal encounters more readily than was common among their contemporaries, who generally strove to address unexpected preg nancies with hasty nuptials. Moreover, Sophronia—whose birthdate is calculated as August of either 1837 or 1838—was as much as five years older than John, and she had long been living on her own when they shared their fateful moment together. That moment did not reflect a romantic relationship, and there is a distinct possibility that he was not her only partner that summer, although she may well have been his first.

In 1861, a single woman who found herself in a family way in Orange

Massive Complex Care for the wounded at the grand Mower General Hospital in Chestnut Hill, Pa., was considered among the best in the Union Army. Sent there after his wounding, Wilmot seemed to be recovering before, overcome by a fever, he died June 17.

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As soon as she learned that John was dead, Sophronia gave her case to a local claims agent, who collected all the paperwork she needed to obtain a widow’s pension of $8 a month. That was easy enough, and by the following spring, pension checks began arriving in Post Mills. An additional $4 monthly allowance for her daugh ter proved more difficult, because the child’s birth predated her mother’s marriage long enough that pension examiners questioned whether Wilmot was indeed the father. Wilmot’s letters appear to have been saved precisely because they provided evidence that he had accepted Hessie as his own, and after several years of wrangling with the Pension Bureau, Sophronia won the additional stipend.

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By then the widow had already had at least one liaison with another man, becoming preg nant only weeks after she began collecting her pension. A few days before the second anniver sary of Wilmot’s death, she gave birth to another girl, whose father she did not name, but that child died less than four months later. Hessie was 4 years old at the time and ought to have retained some memory of a baby sister, but Sophronia omitted the dead daughter from all renditions of her family history thereafter.

Had Sophronia remarried, she would have had to relinquish her pension, which may account for her avoidance of marriage, but she clearly did not avoid men. Ten years after John

While her son still lived with her, she con cocted another fiction to explain Alger’s birth, presenting herself as having been divorced from a nonexistent second hus band. Periodic relocation provided her with new communities in which to reinvent her past, and after her son left home, she moved to the quarry town of Barre with Hessie and her son-in-law, resuming the role of widow. There she died in late 1909, having drawn her pension without interruption for more than 45 years.

Wilmot died, she conceived yet again, bearing a son named Alger Wilmot in early 1875. He lived until 1936, whereupon his death certif icate revealed the family myth that John Wil mot had also been his father. Sophronia was probably the author of that deception, but it was a much later contrivance.

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County faced limited economic options. What industrial work the region offered was available only to men, and if women lacked either education or reputation, the role of schoolteacher was closed to them. Domestic work in a respectable family was usually out of the question for an unmar

William Marvel, who writes from South Conway, N.H., is the author of Radical Sacrifice: The Rise and Ruin of Fitz John Porter (UNC Press, 2021). His next book is tentatively titled Rebel Resurrection: Ten Weeks That Revived the Confederacy.

Below: John returned home on leave to Vermont to marry Sophronia on January 17, 1864, as confirmed by this handwritten notice signed by a justice of the peace in Thetford, Vt. Right: Application on Sophronia’s behalf, signed June 13, 1865, for an increase in her widow’s pension.

The behavior that Sophronia modeled had its effect on the next generation. Rohessie Wilmot was still 16 years old when she gave birth to her own first child, barely five months after an expe dited wedding, but as Hessie Lathrop she enjoyed a much more stable life than her mother had known. Conceived about the time of the First Bull Run disaster, she lived until the 99th anniversary of that battle. Public interest in the approaching Civil War centennial may have been what saved her mother’s collection of letters from the furnace.

Money appeared to be Sophronia’s primary concern, too. Considering how persistently she demanded cash support, her failure to even mention marriage in nearly two years demonstrates that personal regard and affection played little or no part in their phys ical interaction. She may have accepted enthusiastically enough when he finally introduced the subject, but by then the alliance would afford her considerable financial benefits. Becoming Wilmot’s wife gave her a modest life time income, which she never jeopardized by marrying the other men who impregnated her.

Widow’s Pension

HAD SOPHRONIA REMARRIED, SHE WOULD HAVE HAD TO RELINQUISH HER PENSION, WHICH MAY ACCOUNT FOR HER AVOIDANCE OF MARRIAGE

ried mother. Her only hope lay in the man, or men, whose passions she had indulged within the radius of a month or so. For Sophronia Prescott, John Wilmot had either been that man or one of the men. If he was not the sole candidate, he was young and gullible, and he enjoyed the steady income of Army pay and the generous Vermont supplement, on which many of the state’s soldiers supported entire families.

WINTER 2023 53 (2)ARCHIVESNATIONALCONGRESSOFLIBRARY

‘OneHospital’Vast

54 AMERICA’S CIVIL

Between September and January 1863, nearly 10,000 wounded soldiers passed through Frederick’s hospitals.

The Union Army would again march through Frederick on its way to the Battle

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of Gettysburg in July 1863, and a year later, Confederate General Jubal Early would force the city to pay a ransom of $200,000 or be burned. Local banks paid the fee with cash in buckets at the former City Hall, which still stands today and houses a favorite local restaurant and brewpub. In fact, the streets of Frederick are still lined with many of the historic churches and brick buildings that temporarily housed the battle-scarred. Walking tours and Civil War Trails signs are provided to guide visitors to them. A stroll down Market Street includes an enchanting assortment of shops and eateries to peruse. No visit to Frederick would be complete without a trip to the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, where visitors can learn much more about the treatment of the war’s sick and wounded and how wartime medical inno vations developed in this very town are still in practice today. —Melissa A. Winn

EXPLORE THIS HISTORIC TOWN’S SHOPS AND CHURCHES THAT HOUSED CIVIL WAR WOUNDED

TRAILSIDEWAR

PHOTOSTOCKSHELDON/ALAMYGEORGE (4)WINNA.MELISSABYPHOTOS

In September 1862, the war descended on Frederick, Md., en masse, as troops from both sides tramped through its streets en route to participate in the Maryland Campaign. After the bloody battles of South Mountain on September 14, and the Battle of Antietam on September 17, the sick and wounded from both clashes filled dozens of churches and buildings, prompting The Philadelphia Inquirer to note, the “city is one vast hospital, and yet hundreds of poor fellows continue to arrive….” By September 24, the Frederick Examiner reported that the wounded already filled 17 buildings and “the thousands of sufferers, thrown by the emergency of battle upon this community, is a grievous tax upon the citizens….”

Frederick, Md.

Trailside is produced in partnership with Civil War Trails Inc., which connects visitors to lesserknown sites and allows them to follow in the footsteps of the great campaigns. Civil War Trails has more than 1,400 sites across six states and produces more than a dozen maps. Visit civilwartrails.org and check in at your favorite sign #civilwartrails.

48 E. Patrick St.

Five

This 7,000-square-foot museum houses an impressive collection of Civil War–era medical artifacts, an original surgeon’s tent, a makeshift operating table from the Cedar Creek battlefield, medical Lincoln artificial arm. immersive exhibits Civil War medical army camp, from the battlefront, field dressing station, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., a.m.-5

and

TRAILSIDE

and Sunday 11

p.m. civilwarmed.org

Kemp Hall 52 N. Market St.

a field hospital, and a military hospital ward. Thurs.-Sat.

Kemp Hall was the capitol building of Maryland during the spring and summer of 1861, as the state came perilously close to leaving the Union. Because secession would have placed the U.S. capital, Washington, D.C., between the Confederate states of Maryland and Virginia, President Abraham Lincoln could not let it happen. In April 1861, Maryland Governor Thomas Hicks called the General Assembly into special session here in Frederick, a strongly Unionist city, to debate secession. The state capital, Annapolis, was seething with resentment over the recent Federal occupation of that city. The legislature continued to meet at Kemp Hall throughout the summer. Finally, lacking a quorum—primarily because of the arrest of so many secession-leaning senators and delegates—it adjourned in September without ever considering a secession bill.

innovations such as a

evacuation of the wounded

Evangelical Lutheran Church

31 E. Church St.

Following the Battles of South Mountain and Antietam, the Evangelical Lutheran Church served as a military hospital for four months. Sergeant Henry Tisdale of the 35th Massachusetts, treated here after being wounded at South Mountain, later wrote: “A rough board floor was laid over the tops of the pews. Folding iron bedsteads with mattresses, clean white sheets, pillows, blankets, and clean underclothing, hospital dressing gowns, slippers, etc. were furnished us freely. The citizens came in twice a day with a host of luxuries, cordials, etc. for our comfort. The church finely finished off within, well ventilated and our situation as pleasant and comfortable as could be made.”

National Museum of Civil War Medicine

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Lincoln’s Visit 79 S. Market St.

including

WINTER 2023 55 PHOTOSTOCKSHELDON/ALAMYGEORGE (4)WINNA.MELISSABYPHOTOS

issues: life in an

re-create aspects of

On October 4, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln spoke here from the railroad platform to residents gathering in the streets. Having returned from viewing the battlefields of South Mountain and Antietam, the president was heard to say, “I return thanks to our soldiers for the good service they have rendered, for the energies they have shown, the hardships they have endured, and the blood they have so nobly shed for this dear Union of ours; and I also return thanks not only to the soldiers, but to the good citizens of Maryland, and to all the good men and women in this land, for their devotion to our glorious cause.”

5201 Urbana Pike

154 W. Patrick St.

Frederick resident Barbara Fritchie became famous as the heroine of an 1863 John Greenleaf Whittier poem in which she pleads with an occupying Confederate general, “Shoot if you must this old gray head, but spare your country’s flag,” as she waved the U.S. flag from the window of her home. The tale has been debunked as folklore, but the house here—a 1927 reconstruction based on the original—still draws tourists. Today it’s an Airbnb and you can book a stay online at stayinfrederick.com

Brewer’s Alley 124 N. Market St.

Six miles from Frederick, on July 9, 1864, approximately 5,800 Federal soldiers under General Lew Wallace clashed with 14,000 Confederates under Jubal Early along the Monocacy River, as the Confederates advanced toward Washington, D.C. Wallace was outflanked and outnumbered and the battle ended with a Confederate victory, but it bought time for reinforcements to bolster the defenses of Washington, where Early headed next. The Monocacy National Battlefield preserves the site of the fight. Interpretation in the visitor center details the battle and its strategic importance. nps.gov/mono

Battle of Monocacy

Hessian Barracks

Barbara Fritchie House

242 S. Market St.

56 AMERICA’S CIVIL TRAILSIDEWAR PHOTOSTOCKBLACKLEY/ALAMYCHUCK&PAT(2);WINNA.MELISSABYPHOTOSPHOTO;STOCKBILOUS/ALAMYJON 1. Brewer’s Alley 2 Evangelical Lutheran Church 3. Kemp Hall 4. National Museum of Civil War Medicine 5. Barbara Fritchie House 6. Lincoln’s Visit 7. Hessian Barracks 8. Monocacy Battlefield ➍ ➊ ➎ ➋ ➏➌➐ ➑

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Built in 1777, British and Loyalist prisoners were housed here during the Revolutionary War. The barracks were used for various purposes during the 19th century, including as a state armory, silkworm-production site, and a military hospital, treating more than 30,000 sick and wounded Union and Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. Union Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks opened the first hospital here for three weeks in August 1861. In June 1862, it became U.S. Army General Hospital No. 1. On September 6, 1862, General Robert E. Lee captured the hospital and staff. Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan reoccupied Frederick a week later. The site continued to serve as a hospital throughout the war.

The first residents of Frederick built a town hall and market house on this location in 1765, which was completed in 1769. In 1864, Confederate General Jubal A. Early forced the city of Frederick to ransom itself for $200,000. Local banks paid the ransom here using bushel baskets full of cash. It was July 9, 1864, and soon thunder from nearby Monocacy—“the battle that saved Washington”—rent the air. Today the building houses Frederick’s original brewpub, serving upscale pub grub & house-label microbrews. brewers-alley.com

PHOTOSTOCKBLACKLEY/ALAMYCHUCK&PATWINN;A.MELISSABYPHOTOPHOTO;STOCKBILOUS/ALAMYJON The N SSA is America’s oldest and largest Civil War shooting sports organization. Competitors shoot original or approved reproduction muskets, carbines and revolvers at breakable targets in a timed match. Some units even compete with cannons and mortars. Each team represents a Civil War regiment or unit and wears the uniform they wore over 150 years ago. Dedicated to preserving our history, period firearms competition and the camaraderie of team sports with friends and family, the N-SSA may be just right for you. For more information visit us online at www.n-ssa.org. MortKünstler America’sMostCollectedCivilWarArtist www.mkunstler.com 800-850-1776 info@mortkunstler.com LimitedEditionPrints•Books HeroofLittleRoundTop DistantThunder ACWP-221005-001 Kunzler Painting Trade 1-2Horiz.indd 1 8/30/22 2:40 PM ANTIETAM THE BLOODIEST DAY LATEST RESEARCH REVEALS NEW DETAILS OF AN ICONIC BATTLEFIELD PHOTO ACWP-230100-TRAILSIDE.indd 57 8/30/22 4:31 PM

The Confederacy had a post office department, the only one in our history that actually made a profit. With secession, John Reagan was appointed postmaster general of the Confederacy and contacted every South erner working for the post office at the time

Another great thing about the collection is that it opens the door on southwestern Virginia itself—on what was going on in one of those overlooked backwaters that was, in fact, vitally important to the Confederacy, in part because it was home to the only east-west railroad, and it was a major source of lead, coal, and other such essentials. There’s a great deal from both Gabe and Nannie about what the Civil War was like here in the region.

Interview by Sarah Richardson

Gabe and WhartonNannie

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One of the very unusual things about this collection is that Nannie’s letters survived. Typically, a woman’s letters—wife, mother, whomever—didn’t survive because they got carried around in a soldier’s knapsack, got wet, or were read or reread until they fell apart. But General Wharton kept her letters, and every few months he would send them all back to her, telling her to put them all together into a book to preserve them.

About 50 years ago, I wrote a book about the Battle of New Market, Va., and I tracked descendants of almost all the commanders involved to see if there were any personal papers. I tracked down William Wharton, grandson of Gabriel Wharton, but he didn’t know of any. At that moment, two floors above him were 15 boxes and a couple of steamer trunks full of General Wharton’s papers. The Wharton family sold the home in 1988, and the small industrial firm that bought it donated the house to the city of Radford [Va.] as a museum and gallery. They discovered the collection in the attic, and it was moved to a garage in Florida. Then Sue Bell, General Wharton’s great-great-granddaughter, brought them all to her home in Amherst, Mass. Among the items was the volume of 524 letters stitched together, letters between Wharton and his wife, and thousands of documents.

Nannie and Gabe write and receive letters so frequently. How was that possible?

Civil War historian William C. “Jack” Davis, retired professor emeritus of American History at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, recently collaborated with Sue Bell on a project to edit letters dating from 1863 to 1865 between Bell’s great-great-grandparents: Anne “Nannie” Radford Wharton, 19, who had just wed Brig. Gen. Gabriel “Gabe” Wharton, a 37-yearold officer in the Confederate Army. Wharton would serve under Generals John Floyd, John Jones, Jubal Early, and John Echols, primarily in southwestern Virginia. The recently discovered letters, long stashed in descendants’ attics, are now published in The Whartons’ War (UNC Press, 2022). They allow an intimate look at the home front during the last two years of the war, as well as an astound ingly candid glimpse into the personal lives of two privileged Southern ers coming to grips with the dissolution of the world they have known.

How did you come across the extraordinary cache of letters?

58 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR 5 QUESTIONS FOUNDATIONHERITAGERADFORDGALLERY,ANDMUSEUMMANSION,GLENCOEOFCOURTESYGLENCOEOFCOURTESYVA;NEWBERN,MUSEUM,REGIONALROADWILDERNESSOFCOURTESY PRESSUNCOFCOURTESYFOUNDATION;HERITAGERADFORDGALLERY,ANDMUSEUMMANSION,

Love in the Ruins

General Wharton had so much sentimentality. What was his skill set?

To read the full interview, go to historynet.com/WhartonsWar

I was hoping for information about New Market, and there was in fact one full letter in good detail that wasn’t otherwise available. I really didn’t know what to expect otherwise because I didn’t know much about Wharton’s personality. Both he and his wife were very well-educated people. Responsible, very aware of what was going on in public events, and what I was hoping to find—and did—was an inner window to the dynamics of a high-ranking officer’s marriage during all the pressures of the war. We have a lot of material on the enlisted ranks and some from the general officer ranks, but not that much. What I did not expect was to find that they are really in their own way 21st-century people. They are kind of out of their time in their attitudes. Nannie is shrewd; she is a tough customer in business and she’s very, very direct, which is not the role that society expected of an upper middle-class woman in that era. Whereas General Wharton is all about feeling. It’s like someone today who at the drop of a hat will start gushing about how he’s feeling. I’m not saying he’s not manly. He’s doesn’t seem hung up in the male ethic of the

Wharton frequently criticized his superiors. Was there no fear of his letters being disclosed?

It is surprising how quickly the Whartons received their letters. She’s in Radford, and most of the war he was within 200 miles, especially when he was in the Shenandoah Valley. There are couriers, coaches, and trains going up and down the Valley every day. It usually took only 2-3 days for her to receive a letter from him.

He was clearly very intelligent. One of the biggest challenges in editing the correspondence of these two was tracking down the obscure quotations they keep throwing into their letters. They were very well read and expressed themselves well. He graduated 2nd in his class at VMI, a top-notch engineer. Very competent at all the skill sets required of a man of that era. What he didn’t have, and it relates to this sentimentality that is such a motivation in his personality, was the ability to be stern or tough with people, to say no. After the war, they experience almost constant monetary problems because he’s made loans to people who won’t pay him back and he won’t take them to court. It’s a big bone of contention between them. Nannie wanted to collect and goes about trying to do it herself. She even confronted a fellow with a pistol in Radford. She’s not afraid of anything.

time. He’s willing to be very sensitive and vulnerable, and his openness with her is pretty striking. There’s one letter in which he says he really didn’t care that, if she preferred, he would take her last name when they got married.

The Whartons’ letters offer a unique glimpse of wartime conditions in their hometown of Radford, Va. Pictured here is the Radford home that Gabe built for Nannie in 1875, which now serves as a museum and gallery.

Did you find what you hoped for in these letters?

WINTER 2023 59 5 QUESTIONS FOUNDATIONHERITAGERADFORDGALLERY,ANDMUSEUMMANSION,GLENCOEOFCOURTESYGLENCOEOFCOURTESYVA;NEWBERN,MUSEUM,REGIONALROADWILDERNESSOFCOURTESY PRESSUNCOFCOURTESYFOUNDATION;HERITAGERADFORDGALLERY,ANDMUSEUMMANSION,

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That’s not really uncommon in lower-level general officers’ correspondence to people whom they trust. If they dislike or resent a senior officer, they’re usually not hesitant to say so, or if they are critical of the way the war is being carried out. Both Gabe and Nannie are highly critical of the way the war is conducted. She doesn’t think much of Robert E. Lee; neither one of them has a good word to say about Jefferson Davis. Something else that surprised me was to see how conditional their sense of obligation or loyalty was to the Confederacy. The war was really getting in the way of their love affair, and they both talked about being willing to pick up stakes and leave it all behind.

and offered them a job. He told them if you take the job and come south, go to the stock room in your office first and stock up on letterhead, paper pencils, everything else. So Reagan kind of stole the post office—the route maps and everything else.

Open House

60 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR REVIEWS

And so the question becomes: How much is enough to tell the story and how much is too much? The fighting that day in May 1864 was indeed too much in a war already overflowing with excess hor ror, and Wert could not have picked a truer title: The Heart of Hell

The Heart of Hell: The Soldiers’ Struggle forBloodySpotsylvania’sAngle

By Jeffry D. Wert UNC Press, 2022, $37.50

The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House presents a challenge for writers that other battles don’t. For 24 hours, soldiers from the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia engaged in pointblank-range fighting in the pouring rain, and in mud over their ankles, in what became the most sustained hand-to-hand combat of the war. The May 12, 1864, fight quickly deteriorated into a death grapple, what John Haley of the 17th Maine called “a seething, bubbling, roar ing hell of hate and murder.”

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Wert gets the balance exactly right, offering a graphic account of the violence without teetering into gratuitousness. He handles the grim material with dexterity, and while he allows readers to come up for air, he reminds us the battle itself was

unrelenting, and so we plunge back in, time and time again, chapter after chapter, in a detailed account of “carnage infernal.”

‘CarnageInfernal’

IMAGESCOLLECTION/BRIDGEMANSTAPLETONTHE

In the early chapters, Wert summarizes Ulysses S. Grant’s ascension to command, the state of both armies on the eve of the spring campaign, the Battle of the Wilder ness, and the first four days of fighting at Spotsylvania—including the preparation of the Confederate defensive line, which fea tured a large horseshoe-shaped bulge that eventually became known as the Mule Shoe Salient. Robert E. Lee called it a “wretched line,” yet allowed it to stand.

Among people and actions getting perfunc tory treatment up front are Ambrose Burn side and the 9th Corps, but Wert does them justice in his account of the May 12 fighting, both in the morning action and in an ill-fated attack farther south a little later.

The fast pace begins to slow on page 65, where Wert lines Federals up near the Brown Farm, a mile north of the Mule Shoe, prepar ing to sweep forward in well-explained for

Every Civil War battle has its moments of intense fighting, and writ ers must find a way to capture the intensity of those experiences on the page. But Spotsylvania is different because it’s more—and not just a little more but by magnitudes—because of its duration, intensity, and proximity. “I have been in a good many hard fights, but I never saw anything like the contest of the 12th,” a Louisiana officer attested.

That’s a lot of ground to cover without get ting lost, but Wert keeps the narrative mov ing, providing all the salient details—no pun intended—to prep the reader for the princi pal action to come: the fighting at the Mule Shoe and especially the Bloody Angle.

As Leonard makes clear, these historical lowlights have obscured Butler’s achievements in New Orleans—among them the restoration of public order, the institution of poor relief, and the introduction of vital public health measures—as well as his personal provision of ongoing financial assistance to Mumford’s widow.

The fighting at Spotsylvania goes on for another week after the battle at the Mule Shoe. Wert glazes over those events at top speed, but here he could have used a little more caution. For instance, he tells only half the story of the May 14 fighting on Myers Hill. “With [Emory] Upton’s repulse,” he writes, “the armies settled in for the night.” In fact, Army of the Potomac commander George Gordon Meade was nearly captured during Upton’s repulse and so, his dander up, he ordered significant portions of the Union 5th and 6th Corps to launch a counterattack. Confederates abandoned the hill—and then everyone settled in for the night.

Coming of age in Lowell, Mass., Butler attended Waterville (now Colby) College before becoming a successful lawyer and Democratic politician as well as an astute businessman. He married a woman whom he adored and was a devoted father to four children. Unlike many of his peers, Butler also displayed a special empathy with society’s less fortunate that would eventually grow to include a lifelong commitment to the rights of women and Blacks.

—Rick Beard

Firsthand Look

Grant comes off as almost recklessly out of touch with events on the front line, driven by an aggressiveness never before seen by the Army of the Potomac, which traditionally strove not to lose rather than to win. Lee, on the other hand, puts himself dangerously close to the front line because he has woefully misjudged his opponent.

Benjamin Franklin Butler: A FearlessNoisy,Life

By Elizabeth D. Leonard UNC Press, 2022, $36

At the war’s outbreak, he called in political favors to garner an appointment as a brigadier general of militia. Butler’s military record would prove a contradictory mix. Heavy-handed dealings with civilians often overshadowed administrative successes, while his unsteady military generalship achieved few successes and late in the conflict led Grant to remove him from command.

Readers will feel some relief to see the Spotsylvania fighting begin to wind down. It is to Wert’s credit that he can weave together such a dark story in a way that keeps it mov ing while also insisting that readers bear wit ness. It is the soldiers’ struggle, and as Wert reminds us, it is a struggle unlike any other in the war. –Chris Mackowski

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AMONG CONFEDERATE SYMPATHIZERS, no Union military figure (except, perhaps, William Tecumseh Sherman) is more notorious than Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler. Contemporary labels of disdain—“Beast”; “Damnedest Yankee”; “Spoons”; and “Stormy Petrel”—continue to shape his historical legacy, and his less-thanheroic visage remains a target ripe for caricature.

Leonard, who teaches at Butler’s alma mater, is even-handed, weighing Butler’s foibles against his strengths, giving equal voice to his often-savage critics as well as his supporters. The reader is left with a portrait of an ambitious, accomplished man deserving better treatment than history has generally accorded him.

As military governor of New Orleans the following year, “Beast” Butler gained the eternal enmity of Southerners with an order instructing that any woman insulting or showing contempt for Union troops should be regarded as a “woman of the town plying her avocation” (i.e., a prostitute) as well as the execution of citizen William Mumford for tearing down a U.S. flag.

mation. Wert takes time to profile the various officers on both sides of the fight, but in the end, this is really a soldiers’ battle. “The long hours of combat belonged not to the armies’ senior leadership but to the captains, lieuten ants, sergeants, and privates trapped within a seemingly godforsaken place,” he writes.

But as illustrated in Elizabeth Leonard’s splendid new biography—the first complete survey of his life in over 30 years—Butler merits the closer, more nuanced examination she provides.

IMAGESCOLLECTION/BRIDGEMANSTAPLETONTHE

Alfred Waud, who accompanied the Army of the Potomac, ably captured the intensity of the May 12, 1864, fighting in this sketch, “The Struggle for the Salient.”

WINTER 2023 61 REVIEWS

As the fight erupts and then grinds on, the Mule Shoe “acted as a billowing whirlpool, pulling more than thirty-two thousand Union attackers and upward of 13,500 Con federate counterattackers,” Wert says.

Wert provides ample examples of the fight ing in the trenches, which, according to one South Carolinian, “was plainly a question of bravery and endurance....”

Today Butler is best known for three non-combat-related actions. In June 1861, while in command of Fort Monroe, he implemented the policy of treating fugitives from slavery as contraband of war. Soon embraced by the Lincoln administration, this policy sparked thousands of enslaved men and women to seek refuge with the Union Army.

Fred Lee Hord and Matthew D. Norman, Editors University of Illinois Press, 2022, $39.95

of Lincoln came from people of opposing political and cultural viewpoints and who used the memory of the martyred president to promote their own agendas. Conservative educator and self-improvement advocate Booker T. Washington’s address at the Republican Club of New York in February 1909 called for sectional

Every student of Abraham Lincoln needs this important anthology. The editors more than achieve their stated purpose “to present an extensive anthology of African American views of Lincoln that rep resents the complexity of these head-heart perceptions.” The contrib utors range from people who knew Lincoln personally or met him during his presidency to people who are alive and active today. Some were and are prominent personages who have left a significant histor ical footprint; others are resurrected in these pages and may be unfa miliar even to Lincoln scholars.

African American scholar and social histo rian Lerone Bennett Jr. has written that one’s identity “is based, at least in part, on what you think about Lincoln, the Civil War, and slavery.” Knowing Him By Heart should help us better understand and think more criti cally about all three. –Gordon Berg

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Throughout the latter part of the 19th century, African Americans observed Emancipation Day anniversaries and Lincoln’s birthday with celebrations and speeches. Many of these were printed in African American publications, including The Cleveland Gazette, The Savan nah Tribune, Colored American Magazine, The Standard Union, and The Christian Recorder. Significantly, Hord and Norman have uncov ered the voices of African American women on Lincoln; prominent ones including Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Mary Church Terrell, and Mary McLeod Bethune, as well as women almost lost to history such as H. Cordelia Ray, whose poem “Lincoln” was written for the dedication of the Freedman’s Monument in Washington, D.C., on April 14, Appreciations1876.

reconciliation as something Lincoln wanted and was the best way to honor him. Hubert H. Harrison was a socialist who become affiliated with Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association and favored Garvey’s “Back to Africa” move ment. In a four part series in 1921 for Negro World, Harrison concluded “Abraham Lin coln was not a friend of Negroes…and it is high time that we Negroes of today who boast of our education and culture should be aware of this simple historical fact.” In Sep tember 1962, Martin Luther King Jr. drafted a speech to commemorate the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation and urged that the nation could best honor Lincoln by working to fully realize the promise of free dom that document offered. Just more than a year later, Malcom X gave a speech at the University of California and averred that “the Civil War was actually fought to pre serve the Union, to keep the country intact for white Beyondpeople.”beingan indispensable historical resource and revealing the complexity of African American views on Abraham Lin coln, the documents Hord and Norman pres ent succeed in highlighting issues important for society today. They rightly contend that the content of these documents should pro voke “some reflection on an especially elusive but critically important question of how the image of Abraham Lincoln impacted—and still impacts—Black and White American identity.” Freshman Senator Barack Obama, commenting on Alexander Gardner’s famous 1865 photograph of Lincoln, wrote, “I cannot swallow whole the view of Lincoln as the Great Emancipator. As a law professor and civil rights lawyer and as an African Ameri can, I am fully aware of his limited views on race.” Obama, however, maintained that it was the man, not the icon, whom he saw in the war-weary face of the president. He believed Lincoln was aware of his imperfec tions and that it was those imperfections that made him so compelling.

As one expects, there are multiple contributions on a variety of top ics from Frederick Douglass. Surely less familiar is Alfred P. Smith of Saddle River, N.J., whose 1862 letter to Lincoln expressed his disap proval of Lincoln’s colonization proposal. There are multiple observa tions on the Emancipation Proclamation, including a laudatory address by Jeremiah B. Sanderson of San Francisco and a critical one by Californian James H. Hudson, who maintained “the proclamation should have been made to include every bondsman on the soil of America.” Isaac J. Hill of the 29th Connecticut Infantry wrote a lengthy account of Lincoln’s visit to Richmond on April 3, 1865, and aspiring poet Angeline B. Demby responded to Lincoln’s assassination with a deeply felt poem.

62 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR REVIEWS

Knowing Him By Heart: African Americans on Abraham Lincoln

This book has changed my perspective on Civil War soldiering. I bet it will change yours, too. —Stephen Davis

STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION (required by Act of August 12, 1970: Section 3685, Title 39, United States Code). 1. America’s Civil War 2. (ISSN: 1046-2899) 3. Filing date: 10/1/22. 4. Issue frequency: Quarterly. 5. Number of issues published annually: 4. 6. The annu al subscription price is $39.95. 7. Complete mailing address of known office of publication: HistoryNet, 901 N Glebe Rd, 5th Floor, Arlington, VA 22203. 8. Complete mailing address of headquarters or general business office of publisher: HistoryNet, 901 N Glebe Rd, 5th Floor, Arlington, VA 22203. 9. Full names and complete mailing addresses of publisher, editor, and managing editor. Publisher, Michael A. Reinstein, HistoryNet, 901 N Glebe Rd, 5th Floor, Arlington, VA 22203, Editor, Chris K. Howland, HistoryNet, 901 N Glebe Rd, 5th Floor, Arlington, VA 22203, Editor in Chief, Dana Shoaf, HistoryNet, 901 N Glebe Rd, 5th Floor, Arlington, VA 22203. 10. Owner: HistoryNet; 901 N Glebe Rd, 5th Floor, Arlington, VA 22203. 11. Known bondholders, mortgages, and other security holders owning or holding 1 percent of more of total amount of bonds, mortgages or other securities: None. 12. Tax status: Has Not Changed During Preceding 12 Months. 13. Publisher title: America’s Civil War. 14. Issue date for circulation data below: Autumn 2022. 15. The extent and nature of circulation: A. Total number of copies printed (Net press run). Average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months: 31,014. Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: 29,748. B. Paid circulation. 1. Mailed outside-county paid subscriptions. Average number of copies each issue during the preceding 12 months: 12,178. Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: 11,849. 2. Mailed in-county paid subscriptions. Average number of copies each issue during the preceding 12 months: 0. Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: 0. 3. Sales through dealers and carriers, street vendors and counter sales. Average number of copies each issue during the preceding 12 months: 3,970. Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: 3,732. 4. Paid distribution through other classes mailed through the USPS. Average number of copies each issue during the preceding 12 months: 0. Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: 0. C. Total paid distribution. Average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months: 16,148. Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date; 15,581. D. Free or nominal rate distribution (by mail and outside mail). 1. Free or nominal Outside-County. Average number of copies each issue during the preceding 12 months: 0. Number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: 0. 2. Free or nominal rate in-county copies. Average number of copies each issue during the preceding 12 months: 0. Number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: 0. 3. Free or nominal rate copies mailed at other Classes through the USPS. Average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months: 0. Number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: 0. 4. Free or nominal rate distribution outside the mail. Average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months: 666. Number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: 487. E. Total free or nominal rate distribution. Average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months: 666. Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: 487. F. Total free distribution (sum of 15c and 15e). Average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months: 16,813. Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: 16,068. G. Copies not Distributed. Average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months: 14,201. Actual number of copies of single issue pub lished nearest to filing date: 13,680. H. Total (sum of 15f and 15g). Average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months: 31,014. Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing: 29,748. I. Percent paid. Average percent of copies paid for the preceding 12 months: 96.0% Actual percent of copies paid for the preceding 12 months: 97.0% 16. Electronic Copy Circulation: A. Paid Electronic Copies. Average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months: 0. Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: 0. B. Total Paid Print Copies (Line 15c) + Paid Electronic Copies (Line 16a). Average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months: 16,148. Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: 15,581. C. Total Print Distribution (Line 15f) + Paid Electronic Copies (Line 16a). Average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months: 16,813. Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: 16,068. D. Percent Paid (Both Print & Electronic Copies) (16b divided by 16c x 100). Average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months: 96.1%. Actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: 97.0%. I certify that 50% of all distributed copies (electronic and print) are paid above nominal price: Yes. Report circulation on PS Form 3526-X worksheet 17. Publication of statement of ownership will be printed in the Winter 2022 issue of the publication. 18. Signature and title of editor, publisher, business manager, or owner: Kelly Facer, SVP, Revenue Operations. I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or mis leading information on this form or who omits material or information requested on the form may be subject to criminal sanction and civil actions.

Mental illness, the author finds, could manifest itself in various ways: restlessness, chronic depression, erratic work patterns, paranoia, and violent threats. Wives were often the first to notice men’s strange behavior. Many veterans were emotionless; others irritable and hyperaroused.

By Dillon J. Carroll LSU Press, 2021, $45

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Invisible Wounds: Mental Illness and Civil War Soldiers

REVIEWS

“Decline into poverty was a familiar story for mentally ill Civil War soldiers,” the author writes. Moreover, such symptoms persisted well after the war. Franklin Davis of the 134th Ohio, for instance, was not committed to a lunatic asylum until 1872.

Physicians struggled to make sense of these ailments, but most made the connection to “army life.” The incidence of combat wounds was an important factor. “He was sound and rugged until he got that wound,” related the wife of Theodore Otis, who was unable to hold a job after the war.

DR. CHARLES MINNEGERODE served capably during the war as Fitz Lee’s aide. Afterward, however, he sank into debt and depression. His family fretted over his nervous pacing and insomnia. Finally, in 1888 Minnegerode put a gun to his head and killedDillonhimself.J.Carroll tells this as one of the countless stories he has encountered of Civil War veterans, North and South, affected by mental illness caused by the war. Today we call it combat stress or PTSD; back then it was termed melancholia. St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, D.C., was filled with 1,500 veterans exhibiting symptoms of insanity during the war, and this doesn’t count those committed to state asylums. Thirteen hundred more veterans entered St. Elizabeth’s between 1865 and 1890, indicating that war-troubled soldiers suffered for decades. In the South, ex-Confederates bore the added psychological onus of defeat. In 1868, The Atlanta Constitution noted an uptick in suicides among Confederate veterans, attributing it simply to the “mental excitement arising from the events of the past six years.”

In an August 1862 letter to Lin coln, Zerman wrote: “Know with the draft you need good officers[;] there for Excellence I hope you will employ a man who has forty years of experi ence in the military career and who is disposed to sacrifice his life for our cause and whose Services will be sat isfactory to your opinion.”

JASTRZEMBSKIFRANKOFCOURTESY

Jean Napoleon Zerman’s unmarked grave in the Holy Cross Cemetery outside San Francisco. His wife and daughter are buried at his side.

BRIGADIER GENERAL

Soldier of Misfortune

Embroiled during the war in a blockade-running scandal to supply arms to the Mexicans against the French, Zerman left for Mexico and offered to serve as Emperor Maximil ian’s chief of his secret police. Expelled from Mexico in 1868 by the new Republican government, he returned to the United States. Two years later, he escaped an assassina tion attempt. Finally, on December 10, 1876, he died of natural causes at the age of 86. He is buried next to his wife and daughter in an unmarked grave at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, Calif. A GoFundMe campaign is now in place to provide this eccentric soldier a headstone: https://gofund.me/af80ed90. –Frank Jastrzembski

In 1848, Zerman opened a ship ballast business in San Francisco. Never distant from intrigue, however, he plotted with others to form a pro visional government in Baja Califor nia. Arrested by the Mexican governor upon landing in Baja’s capital of La Paz, Zerman was imprisoned for two years before acquittal by Mexico’s Supreme Court. He made his way back to the United States a free man.

Jean Napoleon Zerman

In August 1861, Maj. Gen. John Frémont added Zerman to his staff, reportedly to command a flotilla down the Mississippi. The next month, Maj. Gen. David Hunter appointed him the 1st Division’s inspector general and endorsed his promotion to brigadier general. Lincoln followed with a formal nom ination, although there was some powerful opposition—

Final Bivouac is published in partnership with “Shrouded Veterans,” a nonprofit mission run by Frank Jastrzembski to identify or repair the graves of Mexican War and Civil War veterans (facebook.com/shroudedvetgraves).

64 AMERICA’S CIVIL WAR FINAL BIVOUAC

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Born in Venice, Italy, on June 24, 1790, Zerman joined the French Navy in his youth and later returned to Italy in 1830 to participate in the failed attempt to overthrow AustroHungarian rule. He was arrested and sentenced to death for high treason by the Austrians. His sentence was commuted, however, and he served a lengthy prison term at the infamous Špilberk Castle.

Jean Napoleon Zerman was an enigmatic soldier of fortune, with an incredible knack for hairbreadth escapes. He spent a fair time in and out of prisons and evaded execution on more than one occasion. In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln nomi nated him as a brigadier general of volunteers—nearly adding U.S. general to his extraordinary resumé had Congress not had other plans. He now rests essentially forgotten in an unmarked grave in San Francisco’s so-called “City of the Dead.”

French ambassador Henri Mercier, in particular.Mercier, who knew Zerman from his time in Spain and for an incident in New York in 1850, called him a “detected adventurer and imposter.... he is a convicted swindler and forger, who has served in galleys and pined in the jails of Europe so often, that such facts ceased to be novelties worthNevertheless,mentioning.”New York Senator Ira Harris and other influential friends came to Zerman’s defense and the Senate confirmed the nomination on May 5, 1862, only to recall it on May 6 because of continued outrage from the foreign diplomatic corps.

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EXPLORE THE COMPLETE CIVIL WAR LETTERS OF ONE INDIANA FAMILY

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Between Home and the Front uses the words of the Walters family to bring a uniquely personal perspective to the suffering and sacrifices of the American Civil War. This well-referenced book uses letters, maps, and background information to illuminate one family's experiences and losses—the same kind of experiences and losses felt by millions due to war, both then and now.”

—Terry Reimer, Director of Research, National Museum of Civil War Medicine

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