Thanksgiving Day was supposedly set as the last Thursday in November by President Abraham Lincoln in his 1863 proclamation, but in 1865 President Andrew Johnson declared December 7 as the National Day of Thanksgiving. Wisconsin Governor James T. Lewis had issued a proclamation declaring November 30th, but then changed the date when President Johnson issued his proclamation.
As has been our custom, we include the Thanksgiving artwork—1865’s by famed illustrator Thomas Nast—from Harper’s Weekly. .
From The Polk County Press of November 29, 1865:
Gov. Lewis has changed the day for thanksgiving from November 30th to December 7, the day appointed by the President. .
From The Prescott Journal of November 11, 1865:
Proclamation for Thanksgiving.
MADISON, Oct. 28.—Governor Lewis to-day issued the following proclamation :
BY THE GOVERNOR :
Peace again smiles upon us. The work of death has ceased. The authority of the government has been fully established, and traitors who once defied it, now bow in humble submission. The accursed institution of African Slavery has perished. The Union established by our fathers, cemented anew by the blood of their patriot sons, sends forth a brighter and a purer light to the oppressed of other nations.
The people of our State have enjoyed the blessings of health and prosperity and the privileges of education and divine worship. Our territory has not been polluted by the tread of the invader, our substance has been preserved.
For these and the many other favors and blessings which our Heavenly Father in His goodness has vouchsafed to us in providing for our wants and guarding us from danger, we should thank and praise Him. While we enjoy the gift let us not forget the Giver.
Feeling that we should express our gratitude and thankfulness for all these blessings and favors, I, James T. Lewis, Governor of the State of Wisconsin in accordance with a time-honored, custom, do here appoint
THURSDAY, the 30th Day of NOV., A. D. 1865,
a day of THANKSGIVING, PRAYER and PRAISE to ALMIGHTY GOD, and do recommend to the people that they meet on that day, in their usual places of worship, and
“Praise God from whom all blessings flow,”¹
thank Him for His goodness towards us during the year that has passed, and ask for the continuence [sic] of his favors and blessing.
Given under my hand and the seal of the State in the Executive Chamber at Madison,
[L. S.] this 28th day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred . .and sixty-five.
By the President of the United States of America :
WHEREAS, It has pleased Almighty God, during the year which is now coming to an end, to relieve our beloved country from the fearful scourge of civil war, and to permit us to secure the blessings of peace, unity, and harmony, with a great enlargement of civil liberty;
AND WHEREAS, Our Heavenly Father has also, during the year, graciously averted from us the calamities of foreign war, pestilence, and famine, while our granaries are full of the fruits of an abundant season;
AND WHEREAS, Righteousness exalts a nation, while sin is a reproach to any people;
Now, Therefore, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do hereby recommend to the people thereof that they do set apart and observe the First Thursday of December as a day of National Thanksgiving to the Creator of the universe for these deliverances and blessings; and I do further recommend that on that occasion the whole people make confession of our national sins against His infinite goodness, and with one heart and one mind implore the Divine guidance in the ways of national virtue and holiness.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this 28th day of October, in the year of our Lord 1865, and of the Independence of the United States the 90th.
[Signed.] ANDREW JOHNSON.
By the President : . .WM. H. SEWARD, Sec’y of State.
.
“We Thank Thee O God Our Heavenly Father!” is the caption on the main image from “Harper’s Weekly”²
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1. The first line from the doxology known as “Old One Hundreth” or simply Old Hundred.²
2. From the December 9, 1865, issue of Harper’s Weekly. The University of Wisconsin-River Falls’ Chalmer Davee Library has microfilm copies of Harper’s Weekly for 1858-1865 (UWRF online catalog).
The following appeared in The Prescott Journal’s normal “By Telegraph” column on September 2, 1865. The two inside pages of The Polk County Press are identical to the Journal’s inside pages for September 2, 1865. No explanation is given in either newspaper; it may have happened during microfilming.
Today Andersonville Prison is a National Historic Site and and the cemetery is a National Cemetery, both run by the U.S. National Park Service. On their website for Andersonville, they state: “Andersonville National Cemetery was established to provide a permanent place of honor for those who died in military service to our country. The initial interments, beginning in February 1864, were trench burials of the prisoners who died in the nearby military prison. In fourteen months, nearly 13,000 soldiers were buried here. … Burial locations can be located online using the Nationwide Graveside Locator” and limiting your search to Andersonville National Cemetery, Ga.
B Y T E L E G R A P H
NEW YORK, Aug. 25.—Tribune’s special says Capt. James M. Moore,¹ A. Q. M., who left here on the 8th of July last, for Andersonville, Ga., for the purpose of decently burying the remains of our murdered heroes, returned to this city this morning, having accomplished the object of his visit. The captain records that he arrived at Andersonville on the 25th ult., after having experienced considerable difficulty in procuring transportation for himself, his party of mechanics and clerks. The work of painting and lettering the head boards for the graves was immediately commenced and finished, occu-[pying] nearly the whole time of the party’s stay.
There were 13,000 head boards set up, all appropriately lettered, giving the names, and as far as known, the regiment and company of the deceased. The Captain found the graves nearly all marked with a neatly painted stake, numbered—the numbers on the stakes corresponding with a record kept in the hospital of the prison, giving the names of those buried. The cemetery is about fifty acres in extent, and nearly 300 yards from the stockade. The dead were buried in trenches—in many cases over 100 in a trench. Mounds were created over each body, thus forming graves. A neat white fence has been erected around the cemetery, and the place made to look as well as possible. Pleasant walks are being laid out which are to be shaded by trees.
Grounds at Andersonville, from “Harper’s Weekly”²
1. James Miles Moore (1837-1905) was, at this time, a captain, Assistant Quartermaster General, U. S. Army, as of July 2, 1864. His obituary states, “General Moore was among the first to enlist in the Civil War, joining the Nineteenth Pennsylvania Infantry on April 18, 1861. He served two years in the line and was then transferred to the Quartermaster’s Department in which he remained until his promotion to colonel in 1901. He was promoted to brigadier general on the retired list in 1904.”
In 1866 the U.S. Government Printing Office published Moore’s official report of this expedition and his list of the dead buried at Andersonville, entitled The Martyrs Who For Our Country Gave Up Their Lives In the Prison Pens In Andersonville, Ga; it is available digitally on the HathiTrust Digital Library. Moore’s list of dead was published by the government to compete with Dorence Atwater’s list of the Andersonville dead. Atwater was a Union soldier in Andersonville who was one of several prisoners charged with maintaining the death register, which he secretly copied. He worked with Clara Barton, who helped get it published by the New York Tribune in 1866 as A List of the Union Soldiers Buried at Andersonville; it is available digitally on the Internet Library.
2. “Grounds at Andersonville, Georgia, Where Are Buried Fourteen Thousand Union Soldiers, Who Died in Andersonville Prison,” from the October 7, 1865, issue of Harper’s Weekly. The picture includes Clara Barton raising the national flag, in far background, which happened on August 17, 1865. The University of Wisconsin-River Falls’ Chalmer Davee Library has microfilm copies of Harper’s Weekly for 1858-1865 (UWRF online catalog).
The following articles about the 4th of July, 1865, in northwest Wisconsin come from the July 1 and July 8, 1865, issues of The Polk County Press and The Prescott Journal.
From The Polk County Press of June 24th:
Proceedings of the 4th of July Meeting at Osceola.
At a meeting of the citizens of Osceola and Farmington, held at the school house in this village on Friday evening to take into consideration the celebration of the 4th of July, WM. KENT, ESQ., was chosen Chairman, and SAM S. FIFIELD, JR., Secretary.
The object of the meeting being stated by the Chairman, the following resolution was presented and unanimously adopted :
RESOLVED, That the citizens of Osceola and Farmington accept the invitation of our neighbors at Taylor’s Falls, and join them in celebrating the coming Fourth of July in a becoming manner.
An Executive Committee of five was appointed to make suitable arrangements for the trip to the Falls, as follows :
Joel F. Nason, Geo. Wilson, and Robert Kent, Osceola ; James Cording, Chapin Kimball, Farmington.
On motion SAM. S. FIFIELD, JR., was elected Marshal.
The following Committee of ladies were appointed to superintend the Comissary [sic] Department :
Mrs. Ashael Kimball, Mrs. Wm. A. Talboys, Mrs. W. C. Guild, Mrs. Benj. Jones, Mrs. M. C. Goodwin, Mrs. S. S. Fifield, Mrs. A. Ramsey, Mrs. H. H. Hanscom.
The Sabbath Schools of Osceola and Farmington were invited to accompany the citizens as an organization. The invitation was accepted.
The meeting instructed the Executive Committee to procure fire works for the evening at Osceola.
The meeting then adjourned.
WM. KENT, Chairman.
S. S. FIFIELD, JR., Secretary.
There will be a meeting of the Executive Committee at the school house next Friday evening.
A cordial invitation is extended to the citizens throughout the county, to join in the celebration. The citizens of Polk county will meet at St. Croix Falls, and stables for teams will be furnished by the citizens of that place, for all that come. The Enterprise has been chartered to transport the citizens of this place and will meet the St. Croix delegation at the Toll Bridge. The bridge will be free during the day.
It is expected that our citizens will turn out en masse and go in for a glorious time.
ST. CROIX.—At a meeting of the citizens of the Falls St. Croix, held on Thursday the 22d inst., for the purpose of taking into consideration the celebrating of the 4th of July, it was resolved that we join with the people of Taylor’s Falls in the celebration on that day. On motion of H. D. BARRON a Committee was appointed to confer and make arrangements with the citizens of Osceola to join us at Falls St. Croix in procession to march to said Taylor’s Falls on that occasion.
HIRAM CALKINS, Chairman.
WM. J. VINCENT, Secretary.
From The Polk County Press of June 24th and again on July 1st:
4 T H O F J U L Y !
GRAND CELEBRATION AT TAYLOR’S FALLS, MINN.
_____________
Order of Exercises, Ect. [sic]
At a meeting of the Committee to make arrangements for celebrating the coming Fourth, held at the Post Office, in Taylor’s Falls, June 21st, 1865, the following business was transacted :
The officers for the day were appointed, as follows:
MARSHALS—LUTHER WYCKOFF, and HIRAM CALKINS.
President.—Hon. W. H. C. FOLSOM.
Vice Presidents.—N. M. HUMPHREY, Taylor’s Falls ; C. H. STAPLES, Osceola ; SAM’L EMORY, Saint Croix Falls ; ANDREWS HOLM, Chisago Lake ; PAUL MUNCH, Franconia ; SMITH ELISON, Sunrise.
Orator of the day,
Hon. S. H. CLOUGH, Osceola.
Reader Declaration of Independence.
Hon. H. D. BARRON, St. Croix.
Chaplain.—Rev. WM. McKINLEY.
Toast Master.—C. B. WHITING.
Toast Committee.—M. FIELD, H. D. BARRON, HIRAM CALKINS.
The following resolution was adopted :
Resolved, That a general invitation be extended to the citizens of Chisago and Polk Counties to meet at Taylor’s Falls July 4th, 1865. All are requested to meet between the hours of nine and ten o’clock A. M. to celebrate the glorious old Fourth as in former days.
Resolved, That we have a picnic dinner and that all are requested to bring along a little of the “hardtack.”
Resolved, That we meet and celebrate at Wyman Folsom’s Grove.
ORDER OF EXERCISES.
1st. Salute at Sunrise.
2d Procession will be formed at ten o’clock near the Methodist church under the direction of the Marshals and march to the grove in the following order :
Peace-Fourth of July, 1865, from “Harper’s Weekly”¹
1. Band of Music.
2. Color Bearer.
3. Returned Soldiers.
4. President and Chaplain.
5. Vice Presidents.
6. Orator and Reader.
7. Ladies.
8. Children of Schools and teachers.
9. Independent Societies.
10. Ladies and gentleman.
11. Citizens.
ORDER OF EXERCISES AT THE GROVE.
1. National air—tune America.
2. Prayer by the Chaplain.
3. Martial Music by the Band.
4. Reading Declaration of Independence.
5. Singing—Star Spangled Banner.
6. Oration.
7. Martial Music.
8. Drummer.
9. Toasts and firing of cannon.
10. Singing by Children.
11. Address to children by Chaplain.
12. Music by Band.
Resolved, That a copy of these proceeding be published in the Taylor’s Falls Reporter and Polk County Press.
By order of Executive Com., . .LUTHER WYCKOFF, . .Secretary.
From The Polk County Press of July 1st:
Programme for the 4th.
A procession will be formed at the School House in this village [Osceola] at 7 o’clock, headed by a martial band, and march to the steamer at the levee.—The column will start for the boat at past 7 o’clock, punctually.
The order of the procession will be as follows :
1st. Music.
2d. Ladies and gentlemen.
3d. Union Sabbath School.
4th. Citizens.
On the arrival of the steamer at Taylor’s Falls the procession will form in the same order and march to form a junction with the St. Croix delegation, after which a place will be assigned the county delegation by the Marshal of the day.
The excursionists are requested to send their donations of “hardtack” to Dresser, Wilson & Co.’s store on Monday evening and Tuesday morning early—by 6 o’clock.
There will be a committee to superintend the provision stores, and see them safely delivered on the grounds.
The color bearers appointed are Robert Downend, late of the Second Wis. Cav., and Joseph Nutter, late of the 4th Wis. Cavalry.
Per order Executive Com.
— Stillwater [Minn.] is to celebrate the coming Fourth with a pic-nic² dinner, etc., etc.
— The citizens of Prescott are to celebrate the coming Fourth at Hastings. Hon. A. J. Jones, of Anoka, Minn., is the orator of the day.
— Owing to the fact that we wish to celebrate the 4th of July with the rest of humanity, we shall publish but a half sheet next week.
FOURTH OF JULY BALL.—There is to be a grand ball at Taylor’s Falls [Minn.] on the evening of the 4th of July. Supper at BALLARD’s. A general invitation is extended.
From The Prescott Journal of July 1st:
THE FOURTH.—Arrangements are being made for celebrating the Fourth at Hastings [Minn.] in fine style. A large number of our citizens intend going there.
From The Prescott Journal of July 8th:
The Fourth.
There was no fromal [sic] celebration of the Fourth here, but the places of business were closed, and many of our citizens went to other places.
At Hastings [Minn.] there was a creditable celebration, and a large party in the evening, which was attended by a large number from here. DRAPER conducted the ceremonies in his usual affable manner, and the supper at the HERNDON HOUSE was a very excellent one. The fact is, HERNDON “knows how to keep hotel.” No one while boarding with him, if a person of any taste, would sing the hymn,
“I would not live alway.”
The best remedy we know of for “the hollowness of life,” is such fare as HERNDON provides.
At Trimbelle there was a fine pic nic² celebration. About two hundred were gathered together, the tables were tastefully decorated and bountifully supplied, and all enjoyed a good time. Capt. O. T. MAXSON [Orrin T. Maxson] did the talking.
A large number of the people of Clifton attended a pic nic² celebration in the adjoining town of Troy. They had a good time, STEPHEN COLLINS, Esq., speaking the principal piece.
In this Valley, there was less “pomp and circumstance” than is common to the day, but not less of pride in the “OLD FLAG,” nor of heartfelt satisfaction that it has come to its own again.³
The Fourth of July, Eighteen Hundred and Sixty-Five, from “Harper’s Weekly”³
1. “Peace—Fourth of July, 1865,” from the July 8, 1865, issue of Harper’s Weekly. The University of Wisconsin-River Falls’ Chalmer Davee Library has microfilm copies of Harper’s Weekly for 1858-1865 (UWRF online catalog).
2. Frequently spelled pic-nic or pic nic, it seems to rarely be spelled as one word—picnic— the way we do today.
3. “The Fourth of July, Eighteen Hundred and Sixty-Five,” from the July 8, 1865, issue of Harper’s Weekly. The University of Wisconsin-River Falls’ Chalmer Davee Library has microfilm copies of Harper’s Weekly for 1858-1865 (UWRF online catalog).
The following articles on the funeral of President Abraham Lincoln come from The Polk County Press and The Prescott Journal of April 29, 1865. The Journal also had an article titled “The National Calamity” on this date, which is about the details of the assassination.
From The Polk County Press:
THE NATIONAL CALAMITY.
Funeral of President Lincoln.
WASHINGTON, April 19.
The solemn funeral rites and obsequies of the late President Lincoln, were paid to-day in the Capital of the country. No greater fealty to the memory of the illustrious dead was ever demonstrated in the annals of civilization.
The dawn that was ushered in by the heavy boom of minute guns from the fortifications around the city, never broke purer, or brighter, or clearer, than on this day. The morning that succeeded, all the day that followed, to the setting of the sun, was the loveliest of the season ; the heavens were undimmed by even a passing cloud.
Between 10 and 11 A. M. the military escort arrived and formed in line on Pennsylvania Avenue, the left resting on Fifteenth street. The escort consisted of two regiments of infantry, two battalions of cavalry eight pieces of artillery and one battalion of marines. The marines were headed by a full marine band ; and the other military companies were also accompanied by bands. By 12 o’clock Pennsylvania Avenue was lined from street to house-tops, all the way to the White House, with people of all ages.
At that hour the ceremonies commenced in the east room where the ceiling was draped with crape, and the resplendent mirrors are hung on the borders with emblems of mourning, while the drapery gave the room a dim light that added to the solemnity of the scene. All that remained of Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth President of the United States, lay in a grand and gloomy catafalque,¹ which was relieved, however, by choice flowers.
President Lincoln’s Funeral—Service at the White House—April 19, 1865 , from “Harper’s Weekly²
Cards of admission to the executive mansion were issued to the number of six hundred, of which 40 were to the clergymen and twenty to the members of the press ; the rest included Governors of nearly all the northern States, friends of the family and officials. Perhaps the most touching grief, and which moved all present, was that of little Thaddeus Lincoln, the favorite son. He and his elder brother were the only mourners of the family present during the funeral ceremonies.
President Johnson [Andrew Johnson] stood beside the remains of his lamented predecessor during the funeral oration.—Gen. Grant [Ulysses S. Grant] sat at the head of the corpse, while members of the Cabinet and ex-Vice President Hamlin were grouped about these eminent personages. Rev. Dr. Hall, rector of the church of Epiphany, rose and read portions of the Episcopal service, for the burial of the dead.
Bishop Simpson, of the Methodist church, then offered prayer, in which he fervantly [sic] alluded to emancipation and other noted acts of the President. Rev. Dr. Gurley then read a funeral oration. [Phineas Densmore Gurley (1816-1868), was minister of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, a few blocks east of the White House, where the Lincolns rented a pew; he had conducted Willie Lincoln’s funeral three years earlier]
At 2 P. M. the funeral procession started. All the bells in the city were tolling while minute guns were fired. Pennsylvania avenue from the Treasury to the Capitol was entirely clear from curb to curb. The procession moved, headed by a colored regiment with arms trailed. From the house-tops, where thousands were congregated, the sight was the most sublime and magnificent one ever seen in this city or country. The fires across the Potomac sent up their curling smoke with the echo of minute guns that were in the city limits. Preceeding [sic] the hearse was a military escort over one mile long. At short intervals bands discoursed dirges, and drums beat muffled sounds.
After the hearse came the family, consisting only of Robert Lincoln and his little brother and their relatives. Mrs. Lincoln did not go out. The procession was two hours and ten minutes passing a given point, and was about three miles long ; the center of it had reached the Capitol, and was returning before the rear had left Willard’s.
To-morrow the remains will lie in state and the next day they will go, under escort, to Illinois, via Baltimore, Harrisburgh [sic], Pittsburgh and Chicago to Springfield, and thus will end the funeral of Abraham Lincoln.
From The Prescott Journal:
PRES’T LINCOLN’S FUNERAL.
A Very Imposing Demonstration.
Extracts from Sermon and Prayers.
A Washington Dispatch dated the 19th, gives the following account of the funeral obsequies of President LINCOLN at the capital on that day :
The day was beautiful and quite warm. Business was suspended and every available spot filled with people to witness the ceremonies.
In the immediate neighborhood of the mansion [the White House] a dense crowd had assembled during the forenoon. Various bodies met at the Treasury department, separate rooms having been assigned them there by Assistant Secretary Harrington, who had charge of the admission to the Executive Mansion. They included the Assistant Secretaries, the Assistant Postmaster Generals and the Assistant Attorney General, Senators and Representatives in Congress, Governors of the several States, the Judiciary and others of prominence. None could enter the mansion without tickets, room having been provided for six hundred persons only upon the raised platform and steps on the east, north and south sides of the room. The corpse lay about the centre, space being reserved all around the catafalque with chairs for the occupation of the family of the deceased. It was here, in the east room, that the bodies of Presidents Harrison and Taylor ay in state, but the arrangements on these occasions were far inferior to the present.
At 11 o’clock the guests began to arrive, a body of about 60 clergymen being the first to enter, then the heads of government bureaus, governors of states, member of municipal governments, prominent officers of the army and navy, the diplomatic corps, &c., &c.
At noon, the President of the United States, in company with his cabinet, except Secretary Seward [William H. Seward], approached the catafalque and took a last but brief look at his illustrious predecessor, and then retired to a position immediately on the east and in full view of the coffined remains.
At 10 minutes past 12 o’clock, amid profound silence, Rev. Dr. Gurley, approaching the head of the catafalque, announced the order of the religious services, when Dr. Hall, Episcopalian, read a portion of the Scriptures according to the form of that church. [Dr. Charles H. Hall (d. 1895), rector at the nearby Church of the Epiphany]
The opening prayer was made by Bishop Simpson, (Methodist Episcopal,) who, in the course of it, said that in the hands of God were the issues of life and death, and that our sins had called for His wrath to descend upon us, as individuals. For the sake of our blessed Redeemer thanks were returned for the gift of such a man as our Heavenly Father had just taken from us, and for the many virtues which distinguished all his transactions ; for the integrity, honesty and transparency of character bestowed upon him, and for having given his counsellors [sic] wisdom to guide our nation through a period of unprecedented sorrow. Thanks were also returned that his arm was strengthened, and wisdom and firmness given his heart to pen a declaration of Emancipation, by which were broken the chains of millions of the human race. [Matthew Simpson (1811-1886), from Philadelphia, was a leading Methodist]
He concluded as follows :
God be thanked that the assassin who struck down the Chief Magistrate had not the hand to again bind the suffering and oppressed. The name of the beloved dead would ever be identified with all that is great and glorious with humanity on earth. May the spirit of rebellion soon pass away. God grant that the sun may soon shine on a free people from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Lakes to the Gulf. May He not only safely lead us through the struggle, but give us peace with all the nations of the earth. God bless the weeping widow, as in her broken heartedness she bows under a sad stroke, more than she can bear. Encircle her in thy arms. God be gracious with the children left behind. Endow his sons with wisdom,
“We pray Thee to make the assassination of personal profit to our hearts, while by the remains of the deceased, whom we had called a friend, we pray Thee that our Republic may be made the stronger for this blow, while here we pledge ourselves to set our faces as a flint against every form of opposition which may rise up for its destruction, so that we the children may enjoy the blessed advantages of a government delivered from our fathers.”
He concluded by repeating the Lord’s Prayer.
The Rev. Dr. Gurley then delivered a sermon, standing on the steps near the head of the coffin. He commenced by saying :
“We recognize and we adore the sovereignty of God. His throne is in the heavens, and His kingdom ruleth over all. It was a cruel hand, that dark hand of the assassin that smote our honored, wise and noble President, and filled the land with mourning ; but above this hand there is another, which we must see and acknowledge. In the midst of our rejoicing we needed this stroke, this discipline, and therefore God has sent it. Our affliction has not come forth from the dust, and our trouble from the ground. Beyond the act of assassination let us look to God, whose prerogative is to bring light out of darkness, and good out of evil. He who had led us so far and prospered us so wonderfully during the last four years of anxiety and conflict will not forsake us now. He may chasten but will not destroy.”
Rev. Dr. Gray, Baptist [Dr. Edwin H. Gray, pastor of the E Street Baptist Church and chaplain of the U.S. Senate], closed the solemn services by delivering a prayer, concluding
“God of the bereaved, comfort and sustain this mourning family ; bless the new Chief Magistrate, let the mantle of his predecessor fall upon him. Bless the Secretary of State and his family. Bless all the members of the Cabinet, endow them with wisdom from above. Bless the commanders in our armies and navy, and all the brave defenders of the country. Give them continued success. Bless the embassadors [sic] from foreign courts, and give us peace with all the nations of the earth.
“Oh, God let treason that has deluged our land with blood and desolated our country and bereaved our homes and filled them with widows and orphans, which has at length culminated in the assassination of the nation’s chosen ruler,—God of justice and avenger of the nation’s wrong,—let the work of treason cease and let the guilty perpetrators of this horrible crime be arrested and brought to justice. Oh, hear the cry and the prayer and the wail rising from the nation’s smitten and crushed hearts, deliver us from the power of our enemies, and send speedy peace unto all our borders through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Lincoln Funeral Procession on Pennsylvania Avenue, from the Library of Congress³
The corpse was then removed to the hearse in front of the door of the executive mansion, and at 2 o’clock the procession was formed it took the line of Pennsylvania avenue. The rooms, portico, and windows and all elevated points were occupied by interested spectators. As the procession started minute guns were fired, in the rear of St. John’s church, the City Hall, and the Capitol. All the bells were toiled.
First in the order of the procession was a detachment of colored troops. Then followed white regiments of infantry, bodies of artillery and cavalry, the navy and marine corps, and army officers on foot, and the pallbearers in carriages. Next the hearse, drawn by six white horses, the coffin prominent to every beholder. The floor on which it rested was strewn with evergreens and white flowers. Then followed the president and cabinet, the diplomatic corps, members of congress, governor of states, the delegations from various states, fir companies, civic associations, clerks of departments, and others, together with many public and private carriages, closing up with a large number of colored men.
The body was conveyed to and deposited in the rotunda of the capitol.
This was the largest and most imposing funeral procession ever in Washington. An hour and a half was occupied in passing a given point. The nearest relatives of the late president’s family now here are the two sons of the deceased—Capt. Robert ad Thaddeus Lincoln, N. W. Edwards and C. N. Smith, of Springfield, brother-in-law of the president, and Dr. Lyman Todd, of Lexington, Ky., and Gen. J. B. Todd of Dakotah, cousins of Mrs. Lincoln.
Mrs. Lincoln was not present at the funeral. It is said that she has not even seen her husband’s corpse since the morning of his death.
1. A catafalque is a raised bier, box, or similar platform used to support the casket, coffin, or body of the deceased during a funeral or memorial service. The Lincoln catafalque was hastily constructed to support the casket of Abraham Lincoln while the president’s body lay in state. The catafalque has since been used for all those who have lain in state in the Capitol Rotunda, including President John F. Kennedy. The Lincoln catafalque is a simple bier of rough pine boards nailed together and covered with black cloth. Although the base and platform have occasionally been altered to accommodate the larger size of modern coffins and for the ease of the attending military personnel, it is basically the same today as it was in Lincoln’s time.
2. “President Lincoln’s Funeral—Service at the White House—April 19, 1865,” from the May 6, 1865, issue of Harper’s Weekly. The University of Wisconsin-River Falls’ Chalmer Davee Library has microfilm copies of Harper’s Weekly for 1858-1865 (UWRF online catalog).
3. “Lincoln’s Funeral on Pennsylvania Ave.,” unknown photographer. This digital image is available at the Library of Congress,Prints and Photographs Division.
The following comes from the April 22, 1865, issue of The Polk County Press, the first issue published after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and the stabbing of Secretary of State William H. Seward, Sr.
WAR DEPARTMENT, }
Washington, April 15, 1:30 A.M. }
This evening about 9:30 P. M., at Ford’s Theatre, the President, while sitting in his private box with Mrs. Lincoln, Mrs. Logers and Major Rathburn [sic],¹ was shot by an assasin [sic], who suddenly entered the box and approached behind the President.
The assassin then leaped upon the stage brandishing a large dagger or knife, and made his escape in the rear of the theater. The pistol balls entered the back of the President’s head, and penetrated nearly through the head.
The wound is mortal. The President has been insensible ever since it was inflicted, and is now about dying.
About the same hour an assassin, not known whether the same or not, entered Mr. Seward’s apartments, and under pretense of having a prescription, was shown to the Secretary’s sick chamber. The assassin immediately rushed to the bed and inflicted two or three stabs in the throat and two in the face.
It is hoped the wounds may not be mortal. My apprehensions are that they will prove fatal. The nurse alarmed Mr. Fred. Seward who was in an adjoining room, and he hastened to the door of his father’s room, where he met an assassin who inflicted upon him one or more dangerous wounds. The recovery of Fred. Seward is doubtful. It is not not probable that the President will live through the night.
Gen. Grant [Ulysses S. Grant] and wife were advertised to be at the theatre this evening but he started to Burlington at 6 o’clock this evening. At a cabinet meeting at which Gen. Grant was present, the subject of the state of the country and prospect of a speedy peace was discussed. The President was very cheerful, and hopeful, and spoke very kindly of Gen. Lee [Robert E. Lee] and others of the Confederacy.
E.M. STANTON, . .Sec. of War.
Later.
WAR DEPARTMENT, 10 A. M. }
Washington, April 15, 1865. }
To Major General Dix :
Abraham Lincoln died this morning at 22 minutes past 7 o’clock.
E. M. STANTON, . .Secretary of War.
WASHINGTON, April 15—11 A. M.
The Star extra says: At 7:20 o’clock the President breathed his last. He closed his eyes as if gently falling asleep.
CHICAGO, April 15.
Dispatches just received from Washington say that Secretary Seward died at 9:30 this morning.
FULL PARTICULARS OF THE ASSASSINATION.
WAR DEPARTMENT, }
WASHINGTON, April 15, 1865. }
Official notice of the death of the late President, Abraham Lincoln, was given by the head of this department this morning to Andrew Johnson, Vice President, upon whom the Constitution devolved the office of President. Mr. Johnson, upon receiving this notice appeared before Chief Justice Chase [Salmon P. Chase] and took the oath of President of the United States and assumed its duties and functions at 12 o’clock.
The President [Andrew Johnson] met of the heads of departments in cabinet meeting at the Treasury building, and among other business the following was transacted :
1st. The arrangements for the funeral of the late President were referred to the several respective departments.
2d. T. W. Hunter, Esq. [William Hunter], was appointed acting Secretary of State during the disability of Mr. Seward and his son, Fred. Seward, the Assistant Secretary.
3d. The President formally announced that he desired to retain the present Secretaries of Departments and his Cabinet, they would go on and discharge their respective duties in the same manner as before the deplorable event that had changed the head of the Government. All business in the Departments was suspended during the day. surgeons report that the condition of Mr. Seward remains unchanged. He is doing well. There is no improvement in Mr. Fred. Seward. The murderers have not yet been apprehended.
E. M. STANTON, . .Secretary of War.
WAR DEPARTMENT, April 15.
To Maj. Gen. Dix:
The President continues insensible and is sinking. Secretary Seward remains without change. Frederick Seward’s skull is fractured in two places, besides a severe cut on the head. The attendant is till alive but hopeless. Major Seward’s wounds are not dangerous.
It is now ascertained with reasonable certainty, that two assassins were engaged in the horrible crime—J. Wilkes Booth being the one that shot the President, and the other a companion of his, whose name is not known, but whose description is so clear that he can hardly escape.
It appears from a letter found in Booth’s trunk that the murder was planned before the 4th of March, but fell through then because the accomplice backed out until Richmond could be heard from. Booth and his accomplice were at the livery stable at six o’clock last evening, and left their horses about ten o’clock, or shortly before that hour.
It would seem that they had been seeking their chance, but for some unknown reason, it was not carried into effect until last night. One of them has evidently made his way to Baltimore; the other had not yet been traced.
E. M. STANTON.
“The Assassination of President Lincoln,” from the Library of Congress²
WASHINGTON, April 14
President Lincoln and wife, with other friends, visited Ford’s Theatre, for the purpose of witnessing the performance of “Our American Cousin.”
The theatre was densely crowded, and everybody seemed delighted with the scene before them. During the third act and while there was a temporary pause for one of the actors to enter, a sharp report of a pistol was heard which attracted attention but suggested nothing serious until a man rushed to the front of the President’s box waving a long dagger in his right hand and exclaiming :
“Sic semper tyrannis.”³
He immediately leaped from the box which was the rear tier of the stage beneath, and ran accross [sic] to the opposite side of the stage, making his escape amid the bewilderment of the audience from the theatre and mounting a horse fled.
The screams of Mrs. Lincoln first disclosed the fact to the audience that the President had been shot ; when all present rose to their feet and and [sic] rushed toward the stage immediately, exclaiming “hang him !”
The excitement was of the wildest possible description, and of course there was an abrupt intermission in the theatrical performances.
There was a rush toward the President’s box, when cries were heard : “Stand back and give him air.” “Has anyone stimulants ?”
On a hasty examination it was found that the President had been shot through the head, and back of the temporal bone, and that some of the brains were oozing out.
He was removed to a private house opposite the theatre and the Surgeon General of the army and other surgeons were sent for to attend to his condition.
On examination of the President’s box blood was discovered on the back of the cushioned rocking chair in which the President had been sitting, also on the partition and on the floor.
NEW YORK, April 17.
Maj. Gen. Auger [Christopher C. Augur] has offered a reward of $10,000 for the murderer of the President, and the assassin of the Secretary of State. Booth’s mistress has attempted to commit suicide.
The day before yesterday Booth called upon Mr. Hess, treasurer of Grover’s theatre, and urged him to announce some new and exciting play for Friday evening, and invite the President and other officers, and get up a sensation.
The best data that can be obtained shows that there was not more than five or ten minutes difference between the time of the assault on the President and Mr. Seward, showing that it was not done by the same person.
Various arrests have been made of parties supposed to be implicated.—Some have proven their innocence, but others are held. Evidence sufficient has accumulated to implicate some six different persons is the diabolical plot, all of them from this section and Maryland.
Two pairs of handcuffs, and a gag were found in Booth’s trunk. He hired a horse from a livery stable in the afternoon, took it to the alley, hired a servant to watch the horse while he perpetrated the deed.
WASHINGTON, April 15—11 A. M.
The Star says: “At 7 1-4 [7¼ or 7:15] o’clock the President breathed his last, closing his eyes as if falling asleep, and his countenance assuming an expression of perfect serenity. There were no indication of pain. The Rev. Dr. Gurley, of the New York Presbyterian Church, immediately on its being ascertained that life was extinct knelt at the bedside and offered an impressive prayer, which was responded to by all present.
Dr. Gurley then proceeded to the front parlor where Mrs. Lincoln, Captain Robert Lincoln, Mr. John Hay, the private secretary, and others, were waiting where he again offered a prayer for the consolation of the family.
NEW YORK, April 17.
The N. Y. Time’s Washington special says, Secretary Seward will recover. Frederick Seward is still unconscious, he breathes calmly and has an easy pulse. His head is dreadfully contused.
An invalid soldier nurse, saved Mr. Seward’s life.
WASHINGTON, April 16.
Sec. Seward still lives, and strong hopes are entertained for his recovery.
WASHINGTON, April 15.
An autopsy was held this morning over the body of President Lincoln, by Surgeon General Barnes and Dr. Stone, assisted by other eminent medical men. The coffin is of mahogany, is covered with black cloth, and lined with beads, the latter being covered with white satin. A silver plate upon the coffin over the breast bears the following inscription “Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the Untied States, born July 12th, 1809, died April 15th, 1865.”
The remains have been embalmed. A few locks of hair were removed from the President’s head for the family, previous to the remains being placed in the coffin.
The person who attacked Secretary Seward left behind him a slouched hat and an old rusty navy revolver. The chambers were broken loose from the barrel as if done by striking.
The loads were drawn from the chambers one being but a rough piece of lead. The balls were smaller than the chambers and were wrapped in paper as if to keep them from falling out.
WASHINGTON, April 15—1:30 A. M.
I have just visited the dying couch of Abraham Lincoln. He is now in the agonies of death, and his physicians say he cannot live more than an hour.
President Lincoln on His Death Bed, from “Harper’s Weekly” 4
He is surrounded by the members of his Cabinet, all of whom are bathed in tears. Senator Sumner is seated on the right of the couch on which he is lying, the tears streaming down his cheeks, and sobbing like a child. All around him are his physicians. Surgeon General Barnes is directing affairs. The President is unconscious, and the only sign of life he exhibits is by the movement of his right hand, which he raises feebly.
Mrs. Lincoln and her two sons are in an adjoining room, into which Secretary Stanton has just gone to inform them that the President’s physicians have pronounced his case hopeless.
As I pass through the passage to the front door I hear shreaks [sic] and cries proceeding from the room is which the grief stricken wife and children are seated.
We obtain from Quartermaster Gen. Meigs [Montgomery C. Meigs] the following account of the assassination: About half past ten o’clock, a man dressed in dark suit and hat, entered the private box in which Mr. Lincoln and his party, consisting of Mrs. Lincoln, Miss Harris, a daughter of Senator Harris, and Captain Rathbone, of Albany, were seated. Immediately upon opening the door he advanced toward Mr. Lincoln, with a six-barreled revolver in his right hand and a bowie knife in his left.
The President, who was intent upon on the play, did not notice the interruption, and the gentleman who was seated beside him rose to inquire the the [sic] reason of his entry. Before he had time to ask the assassin what he wanted, he had fired one charge from his revolver, which took effect in the back the President’s head. The ball passed through and came out at the right temple. Capt. Rathbone, who was in the box with Mr. Lincoln, attempted to arrest the murderer, and on doing so received a shot in his arm. The assassin then leaped from the box on to the stage.
Before he disappeared behind the the [sic] curtain, he turned, with a tragic flourish and tone, waved his handkercheif [sic] and shouted, “Sic Semper Tyrannis.”³ So sudden was the affair that, for some moments after its occurrence, the audience supposed it to be a part of the play, and were only undeceived by the manager announcement from the stage that the President of the United States had been shot. The shock fell upon the audience like a thunderbolt, and loud cries were immediately made to kill or capture the assassin. The murderous emissary of the slave power escaped from the theatre easily and rapidly, and mounted a horse and rode off. The mass of evidence to-night is that J. Wilkes Booth committed the crime. Whoever it is there are reasons for thinking that the same bold and bloody hand attempted the life of Mr. Seward.
WASHINGTON, April 15.
When the fatal shot was fired, Mrs. Lincoln who was beside her husband exclaimed, “Oh! why didn’t they shoot me! why didn’t they shoot me!”
There is evidence that Secretary Stanton was marked for assassination. On the receipt of the intelligence at the War Department of the attack on the President two employees of the department were sent to summon the Secretary. Just as they approached the house a man jumped out from behind a tree box in front of the house and ran away. It is well known to be the custom of the Secretary to go from the Department to his house between 9 and 12 o’clock P. M., and usually unattended.
It is supposed that the assassin intended to shoot him as he entered the house, but failed from the fact that Mr. Stanton remained at home during the evening.
The horse of the man who made the attack on Secretary Seward has been found near Lincoln Hospital, bathed in sweat, and with blood upon the saddle-clothes.
The same special states that Secretary Seward has given a detailed description of the assassin. It was evident that he was a different person from the President’s murderer.
Frederick Seward is in a most critical condition, and surgeons are removing the broken fragments of his skull.
A private dispatch to Mr. Seward’s nephew in this city from a member of the family says, “I have just left Mr. Seward’s house. His wounds are not mortal. He has lost much blood but no arteries are cut. Fred’s skull was fractured badly in two places.”
1. Henry Reed Rathbone (1837-1911) was sitting with his fiancée, Clara Harris (daughter of Senator Ira Harris), next to the President and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, when John Wilkes Booth entered the president’s box at Ford’s Theatre and fatally shot Lincoln. When Rathbone attempted to prevent Booth from fleeing the scene, Booth stabbed and seriously wounded him. Clara Harris and Major Rathbone married and had three children. In 1883, Major Rathbone shot his wife, leaving three young children to be raised by their mother’s sister. Rathbone was committed to an asylum for the insane near Hanover, Germany. He remained in the institution for the rest of his life until his death in 1911. Their son, Henry Riggs Rathbone entered politics and represented Illinois in the 68th Congress.
2. “The Assassination of President Lincoln, at Ford’s Theatre, Washington, D.C., April 14th, 1865,” by Currier & Ives. This digital image is available at the Library of Congress,Prints and Photographs Division. 3. “Sic semper tyrannis,” or “Thus always to tyrants,” is believed to have been said by Marcus Brutus during the assassination of Julius Caesar. It is also the state motto of Virginia.
4. From the May 6, 1865, issue of Harper’s Weekly. The University of Wisconsin-River Falls’ Chalmer Davee Library has microfilm copies of Harper’s Weekly for 1858-1865 (UWRF online catalog).
Christmas in 1864 seems a little cheerier than earlier Civil War years.
From The Prescott Journal, December 24, 1864:
CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR.—The Editor of the Hudson Times thus pleasantly writes, and we adopt his language as our own :
CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR.—Dear Readers, a “Merry Christmas” and a “Happy New Year” to you all again.
One year ago, surrounded by these same dingy walls, and sitting in this same easy chair, we wrote of Christmas and New Year, with their joys and festivities—of the marvelous Santa Claus, with his reindeer team, and the eager, wondering children—of little stockings filled with all sorts of dainty things, and the eyes that sparkled as little hands drew out the treasures—of all the terrible war red with blood and fiercer than fire, that was crimsoning and consuming the land, and to-day, again before laying aside the pen and scissors for a week of holiday, we renew the greeting.
I this brief year just closing, many have been the changes, although we hardly note them. We have changed ourselves, writer and reader, all have changed ; and as we pause here upon the threshold of the New Year, let each for himself look back over his shoulders upon the past, and prepare for the duties of the future.
Had we time and space, we would gladly review the most important events of the year and weave pleasant fancies of future joys, but the Printer’s call for “copy” cuts us short, and in this last word of the year we say with PRENTICE¹ :
. .“Tis a time
For memory and for tears. Within the deep
Still chambers of the heart, a spectre dim,
Whose tones are like the wizard voice of Time,
Heard from the tomb of ages, points its cold
Solemn fingers to the beautiful
And holy visions that have passed away,
And left no shadow of their loveliness
On the dead waste of life. That spectre lifts
The coffin-lid of Hope, and Joy, and Love,
And, bending mournfully above the pale,
Sweet forms that slumber there, scatters dead flowers
O’er what has passed to nothingness.
. .The year
Has gone, and with it many a glorious throng
Of happy dreams. Its mask is on each brow,
Its shadow in each heart. In its swift course,
It waved its sceptre o’er the beautiful—
And they are not. It laid its pallid hand
Upon the strong man,—and the haughty form
Is fallen, and the flashing eye is dim.
It trod the hall of revelry, where thronged
The bright and joyous,—and the tearful wail
Of stricken ones, is heard where erst the song
And reckless shout resounded.”
Thomas Nast’s 1864 Christmas centerfold for “Harper’s Weekly”²
From Harper’s Weekly, December 24, 1864:
“SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1864. CHRISTMAS. It is a merry Christmas although the cloud of war yet rests upon the land. It is merry because the great gale if victory parts the cloud, and gives glimpses of the heaven of peace beyond. It is merry because every man feels now that the people are able to subdue the rebellion; and merriest of all because they have just declared that they will do it, and show from the Mississippi to the sea that they are doing it. “
“Yet now, as from the beginning of the war, the purpose of the country is only peace and good will to all men. It has learned that a peace which is simply unquestioning submission to the meanest injustice is only more fearful war. Neither baseness nor cowardice are peace, except as death is. War is sorrowful, but there is one thing infinitely more horrible than the worst horrors of war, and that is the feeling that nothing is worth fighting for, and the blindness which can not see that war is often the safest, surest, shortest, and least bloody way of peace.”
“More truly than ever before the legend of this country is good will to all men. If it will hold fast to it peace is forever secure. The strongest and most unfailing force in the world is an idea. The most visionary and impracticable of men is he who sneers at ideas. If this famously practical people had hitherto believed in principles it would have had no civil war. If it will only cleave hereafter to the principles it now acknowledges it will never have war again. It is bullies and bad men who are always fighting. It is the just men who are at peace.”
“Today, then, under the Christmas evergreen, the country asks only for peace, and breathes only good will to all men. Despite the sharp war, its bountiful feast is spread. It stands, as Mr. Nast represents in the large picture in today’s number, holding the door open and welcome the rebellious children back to the family banquet. It does not forget one of their crimes. It remembers the enormity of their attempt. It will take a good care that the root of bitterness is destroyed forever, and that the peace of the household shall be henceforth secure. But it asks what it can command. It invites where it can enforce. It says now, as it has said from the beginning, ‘Submit to the laws made by all for the common welfare, and there will be no more war.”³
“Nor does that country for a moment forget the sad and solitary hearts and hearths upon which the light of the holy season shines. It is a grief too deep for anger, and it requires that such sorrow as this Christmas sun beholds shall be made impossible hereafter. They rest their labors, the young and brave who have made this country better worth living in. The hearts that are broken with those completed lives time will soothe, but can never wholly heal. Yet never did seed sown more surely grow and flower and crown the happy harvest home than those precious lives. In a deeper national faith, in a purer national purpose, in soberer, simpler, nobler individual lives the harvest of that heroism shall be seen.”
“‘Come home come home, then,’ says the mother. ‘While you refuse you shall be scourged with fire. I have no anger. Your crime grew because I suffered it to grow. I have no anger, for in the heart’s-blood of my darlings my sin is washed away. I ask for peace, I breathe only good will. But Peace you have learned that I mean to.’”
“Christmas Morning,” the cover of the December 31, 1864, “Harper’s Weekly”³
1. This is the middle portion of a poem called “Close of the Year,” by George Dennison Prentice (1802-1870), who was a lawyer and a newspaper editor (New England Weekly Review, Louisville Journal). His editorials in the Journal supported the Know-Nothing Party, and were pro-slavery, anti-Catholic, and anti-foreigner. In 1864 he created the famous “Sue Mundy” guerrilla character to mock the incompetence of Union General Stephen G. Burbridge, then military commander of Kentucky.
2. “The Union Christmas Dinner: Peace on Earth and Good Will Toward Men,” by Thomas Nast, reflects the nation’s hopes that the Civil War will end soon. Nast shows Abraham Lincoln, holding out a hand of friendship to the South, opening the door to a large banquet hall and inviting hungry rebels in from the cold. The large central image is surrounded by small vignettes; the lower left one showing Robert E. Lee’s “Unconditional Surrender” to Ulysses S. Grant, simply a hope at this time but in four months it would be a reality. The University of Wisconsin-River Falls’ Chalmer Davee Library has microfilm copies of Harper’s Weekly for 1858-1865 (UWRF online catalog).
3. “Christmas Morning” was the cover of the December 31, 1864, issue of Harper’s Weekly. It portrays a family of children enjoying their presents while their parents look on from the doorway. One boy, dressed as a soldier and playing with a toy sword, is the only reminder that the country was still embroiled in the Civil War.
In 1864 Thanksgiving Day fell on November 24. The proclamation by Wisconsin Governor James T. Lewis appeared in several issues of The Polk County Press in November, and the short “Notice for Thanksgiving” appeared in the November 19, 1864, issue.
Notice for Thanksgiving.
Notice is hereby given, that there will be appropriate religious services held at the School House, in the village of Osceola, on Thursday the 24th of November, being the day set apart by the Chief Magistrate of our State and Nation, as a day of “Thanksgiving and Praise.”
Services in the forenoon at 11 o’clock, conducted by Rev. Joel Brown.
Services in the evening at 6 o’clock, conducted by Rev. Samuel T. Catlin.
Dated Nov. 14th, 1864.
Signed in behalf of the M. E. Quarterly conference, Osceola.
W. A. TALBOYS,
Secretary.
Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1864, United We Stand, from “Harper’s Weekly”¹
PROCLAMATION.
Another year has passed; its trials, its victories, its rewards, its punishments, its blessings have been recorded: its fruits have been gathered in. In reviewing them, how manifest are the reasons and thankfulness and praise to God for his wonderful goodness to the children of men. For the many tokens of Divine favor, the many blessings they have been permitted to enjoy, the people of Wisconsin have great reason to be thankful. Pestilence and famine have been kept far from us. The labors of the miner, the mariner, the mechanic, and the husbandman have been rewarded. The privileges of education and of worshiping God according to the dictates of conscience have been enjoyed by all.
The honor and loyalty of Wisconsin have been most nobly vindicated by her sons on many a battlefield. Wherever our liberties have been assailed, an All-Wise Creator has given us stout hearts and strong arms to defend them.
The free institutions established by our fathers have been protected and preserved, and a wicked and unholy rebellion brought near to its close.
While the people of our sister States have suffered from the devastations caused by hostile armies in their midst, our people have been spared this calamity. For all these and numerous other blessings, which God in his goodness has vouchsafed to us ; for His loving kindness. His constant care and abundant mercies, we should with grateful hearts thank and praise him.
Therefore, I, JAMES T. LEWIS, Governor of the State of Wisconsin, in accordance with a worthy and time-honored custom, do hereby designate and appoint
THURDAY THE 24th DAY OF NOVEMBER,
1864, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to Almighty God, and I would recommend to the people, laying aside secular pursuits, they meet on that day in their accustomed places of worship, and offer thanks to God for the many blessings we have been permitted to enjoy during the past year, and with their thanks let the earnest, fervent prayer ascend for the protection of the widow and the orphan, the noble soldier and his suffering family, that we may all grow wiser and better, that all our blessings may be continued, and that peace may soon again visit and bless our land.
In testimony whereof, I have here unto subscribed my name and caused the great seal of the State of Wisconsin to be affixed. Done at Madison, this 22d day of October, in the year of our Lord on thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
JAMES T. LEWIS.
By the Governor, LUCIUS FAIRCHILD, . .Secretary of State.
1. The University of Wisconsin-River Falls’ Chalmer Davee Library has microfilm copies of Harper’s Weekly for 1858-1865 (UWRF online catalog).
The following roundup of the week’s war-related news is from the August 27, 1864, issue of The Polk County Press.
The first item concerns what has become known as the Battle of Globe Tavern, also known as the Second Battle of the Weldon Railroad. It was fought south of Petersburg, Virginia, on August 18-21, 1864, and was the Union Army’s second attempt to sever the Weldon Railroad. A Union force under General Gouverneur K. Warren destroyed miles of railroad track while withstanding strong attacks from Confederate troops under Generals P.G.T. Beauregard and A. P. Hill. It was the first Union victory in the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign. (The First Battle of the Weldon Railroad is better known as the Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road, which took place June 21-23, 1864.)
The second item refers to the Battle of Summit Point, also known as Flowing Springs or Cameron’s Depot. The battle was part of Union General Philip H. Sheridan’s Shenandoah Valley Campaign, and took place on August 21, 1864, near Charles Town, West Virginia. Although Sheridan’s army did withdraw, the result of the battle is considered inconclusive.
The item beginning “On Thursday last Gen. Forrest …” concerns Confederate General Nathan B. Forrest’s raid into Memphis, Tennessee, known now as the Second Battle of Memphis. On August 21, 1864, at 4 o’clock in the morning, General Forrest led around 4-500 troops—including two of his brothers—in the raid. One brother, Captain William H. Forrest,¹ rode his horse into the lobby of the Gayoso Hotel looking for General C. C. Washburn. Having been tipped off, Washburn escaped out the back of the Hotel and down an alley. Today there is an alley named “General Washburn’s Escape Alley” in Memphis.
After the embarrassing defeat at Brice’s Crossroads (June 10, 1864), Washburn had sent a large force to destroy the Confederate stronghold at Oxford, Mississippi. General Forrest gave orders for General Chalmers [James R. Chalmers] to defend Oxford for as long as possible while Forrest lead the raid into Memphis, objectives being to capture the three Union generals listed below in the news item, to free Confederate prisoners being held in the Irving Block Prison, and to cause the recall of the Union forces attacking General Chalmers in northern Mississippi. The raid did not succeed in its objectives except for the recall of the Union troops.² Union General Stephen A. Hurlbut was later quoted as saying, “There it goes again! They superseded me with Washburn because I could not keep Forrest out of West Tennessee, and Washburn cannot keep him out of his own bedroom!”
The News.
— The rebels made on the 21st another attempt to drive Grant’s army from the Weldon road, but were unsuccessful. They lost 500 or 600 in killed and wounded and 400 prisoners. Our loss was about 150. Our forces are strongly entrenched, but it is not likely they will be allowed to hold their important position without further contests. A dispatch of the 22d states the rebels are making a desperate attempt to retake the Weldon road, but it is believed that they cannot dislodge us. [Ulysses S. Grant]
—The rebels have appearently [sic] given up the attempt to dislodge Warren from the Weldon Road, and have retired to their works at Petersburg. It is rumored that a cavalry dash on the Danville Road has been made.
— There has been severe fighting in the Shenandoah Valley, near Charlestown [sic], which resulted, according to the dispatches, to the advantage of the rebels, as our army retired.
LATEST.—The news from the Upper Potomac shows that Gen. Early is in large force, and has succeeded in driving our forces out of the Shenandoah Valley, with considerable loss, and that another Northern invasion is threatened. [Jubal A. Early] .
Forrest’s Raid Into Memphis—The Rebels at the Gayoso House.—(Sketched by George H. Ellsbury), from “Harper’s Weekly”³
— On Thursday last Gen. Forrest left Gen. Smith’s front [A. J. Smith] at Oxford, Miss., and on Sunday made his appearance in the streets of Memphis, calling ot [sic: at] the headquarters of Generals Washburne [sic], Buckland [Ralph P. Buckland] and Hurlbut, and the Gayoso House. Fortunately these generals were absent, so Forrest was soon after compelled to leave without paying his respects to them. Washburne [sic] will doubtless issue a proclamation against such visits in future.
Forrest’s Raid Into Memphis—Rebel Attack on the Irving Prison.—(Sketched by George H. Ellsbury), from Harper’s Weekly and Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War³
.
— The rebels have possession of Martinsburg, and rumors are afloat that they are crossing the Potomac. The people of Maryland are again fleeing to Pennsylvania for protection.³
— A dispatch from Atlanta states that the rebel force was 80,000 men, and their works very strong. Continued efforts are being made to break Sherman’s communications, but so far no serious damage has been done. [William T. Sherman]
— A dispatch from New York says that Sherman’s plans for the reduction of Atlanta are working to the best advantage.
— There is another report from New York, that President Lincoln has sent five Commissioners, three Republicans and two Democrats, to Richmond to arrange terms of peace. We think there is some grounds for the report, for gold has fallen 4 per cent. [Abraham Lincoln]
News Items.
On the 16th the following sums of money were sent from Washington for the payments of troops :
Maj. Paulding, Washington,
$1,000,000
Maj. Brice, Baltimore,
500,000
Maj. Usher, Fortress Monroe,
500,000
Maj. Allen, Louisville,
1,000,000
Maj. Cumback, Cincinnati,
1,000,000
Maj. Leshe, New York,
500,000
— A member of Gen. Burnside’s staff states that the General is not relieved, but is on a twenty days’ leave of absence. It is extremely doubtful, however, if such is the fact, that he will return to his late command in the Army of the Potomac at the expiration of that period. [Ambrose E. Burnside]
— A correspondent of a Philadelphia paper, writing from this city, states that the new Roman Catholic Archbishop of this diocese, and Bishop Potter, have signed a petition to the President praying for an armistice.—N. Y. Times.
— A Mobile paper states that Chalmers defeated a body of Federals at Abbeville, Miss., recently ; while a Memphis dispatch announces that Smith gained a victory over Forest [sic], at Hurricane Creek, Mississippi, on the 13th.
— A letter from a Federal officer of high rank, conversant with the military situation, avers that Johnston [Joseph E. Johnston] has been replaced by Hood [John Bell Hood], at Atlanta, not because the former was not the better man, but to release him to what the rebel leaders regard a far more important mission—no less than to head the invasion of Pennsylvania. The evidences are on the increase that give a probability to this view.
— Captain William Livingston, charged with being a rebel spy, was hung in the jail-yard at St. Louis on the 19th. He died repeating the Lord’s Prayer and protesting his innocense [sic]. The execution caused much surprise, as Gen. Rosecran’s [sic: William S. Rosecrans] promised the prisoner’s wife that he would be respited for a week, and probably have the sentence commuted. It is believed that an order for a respite, through the neglect of some surbordinate [sic], did not reach the officers having charge of the execution. The deceased was respectably connected in Missouri.
1. William Hezekiah Forrest (1825-1871) was a younger brother of General Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821-1877). Before the Civil War he lived in Memphis where he was in the slave trade with brothers Nathan B. and Aaron H. (1828-1864). William joined the Confederate Army in June or July, 1861, along with brothers Nathan B. and Jeffrey E. (1837-1864). William served as a cavalry officer and rose in rank to captain and then major. He led the charge against Colonel Abel D. Streight’s column at the Battle of Sand Mountain (Alabama), where he was wounded April 30, 1863. William skirmished for two miles before he received a ball through his thigh, breaking the bone.
2. As of August 27, 2014, there was a fine discussion of the raid on a CivilWarTalk forum (“General Washburn’s Escape Alley,” posted May 26, 2014). For printed resources, try Notes of a Private, by John Milton Hubbard, Forrest’s Cavalry Corps, C.S.A. (Memphis: E.H. Clarke & Bro., 1909); available digitally on the Internet Archive, and The Campaigns of Lieut.-Gen. N. B. Forrest, and of Forrest’s Cavalry, by Thomas Jordan and J. P. Pryor (Memphis: Blelock & Co., 1868); available digitally on the Internet Archive.
3. The September 10, 1864, issue of Harper’s Weekly included these two illustrations on page 588. The University of Wisconsin-River Falls’ Chalmer Davee Library has microfilm copies of Harper’s Weekly for 1858-1865 (UWRF online catalog). The second illustration (Irving Prison) also appeared in Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil, page 574, with the caption “Forrest’s Raiders Attacking Irving Prison.” Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War, by Alfred H. Guernsey and Henry M. Alden (Chicago: McDonnell, 1866-68) is available in the UWRF Archives (E 468.7 .G87 1866).
Following is the Polk County Press’ summary of the week’s war news, from its April 30, 1864, issue.
The first item refers to the Battle of Plymouth, which was fought from April 17 through April 20, 1864, near Plymouth, North Carolina. The Union leader was Henry W. Wessells,¹ not General Godfrey Weitzel, as stated in the aricle.
In a combined operation with the CSS ram Albemarle, Confederate forces under Maj. Gen. R.F. Hoke, attacked the Federal garrison at Plymouth on April 17. On April 19, the ram appeared in the river, sinking the Smithfield, damaging the Miami, and driving off the other Union ships supporting the Plymouth garrison. Confederate forces captured Fort Comfort, driving defenders into Fort Williams. On the 20th, the garrison surrendered.
Union forces had 2,000 casualties and Confederate forces 800, considerably different than the loses listed in the following article.
The News.
The news of the week seems to be of the disasterous [sic] order again.
On the 29th [sic] the rebels attacked our forces at Plymouth, N. C., under Gen. Weitzel. After a four days battle Gen. Weitzel was forced to surrender. Our loss is 150 killed and wounded, 2000 prisoners, post stores, 3000 stand of small arms, and 24 cannon. The rebel loss is 1,500 killed and wounded. As at Fort Pillow, all negroes captured were murdered.
The Rebel Ram Attacking Federal Gun-Boats at Plymouth, North Carolina, from “Harper’s Weekly”²
The sword contest at the New York Sanitary Fair is ended. Gen. Grant [Ulysses S. Grant] won the sword by 16,000 majority.
The rebel account of the surrender of Fort Pillow acknowledges that an indiscriminate massacre followed.
A dispatch from Washington gives reasons why the people should not be discouraged at the recent disasters. The government is pursuing the policy that has been called for by the whole country, of concentrating its forces for a mighty blow at the heart of the rebellion, while the rebels are pursuing the scatteration policy.
1. Henry Walton Wessells, Sr. (1809-1889) was a career military officer who graduated from West Point in 1833 and served in the Seminole Indian wars and the Mexican War. In the 1850s, he served on the frontier in the Dakotas and Kansas. During the Civil War he served on the Missouri border war, the Peninsular Campaign and was wounded at the Battle of Fair Oaks. After four days’ hard fighting in the defense of Plymouth, he was compelled to capitulate and was a prisoner of war from April 20 to August 3, 1864. Wesselss was promoted to lieutenant colonel, U.S. Army, in February, 1865, and for the next year was in command of the draft rendezvous at Hart’s Island, N.Y. He mustered out of the Volunteer service on January 15, 1866. After the War, he commanded U.S. military forts in Nebraska and Dakota Territory, and retired from active service in January 1871.
2. The May 7, 1864, issue of Harper’s Weekly included a story on “The Rebel Ram at Plymouth, North Carolina,” along with this illustration. The University of Wisconsin-River Falls’ Chalmer Davee Library has microfilm copies of Harper’s Weekly for 1858-1865 (UWRF online catalog).
Following is a detailed account of the death of Colonel Ulrich Dahlgren, reprinted from several Southern newspapers. It appeared in the April 9, 1864, issue of The Prescott Journal. The italics in the reprinted articles was added by the Journal.
K I L P A T R I C K ‘ S E X P E D I T I O N.
Fury of the Richmond Press.
COL. DAHLGREN’S OPERATIONS & DEATH.
FEROCIOUS RETALIATION URGED.
Nothing has aroused the ire of the rebels like the recent raid on Richmond, if we are to judge of their sentiments by the expressions of the Richmond papers. It is however quite probable that the occasion is siezed [sic] on to “fire the Southern heart” anew, by startling misrepresentations of the acts and purposes of the Union troops, and that the fury and indignation exhibited by the organs of the JEFF. DAVIS [Jefferson Davis] is partially assumed. We subjoin some extracts to show their spirit :
The first article below, as it appeared in other newspapers of the time, consisted of more paragraphs before the ones printed in the Journal. Those additional paragraphs put what follows into context, so are printed here:
[From the Richmond Examiner,¹ March 7th.]
“The column of Yankees under Dahlgren took on their route two prisoners, Captain Dement² and Mountcastle, who accompanied the force from Goochland to the debut at Walkerton. From these gentlemen and other sources of information we gather some interesting accounts of Dahlgren’s excursion. Dahlgren came down the Westham plank road, with eight hundred or a thousand men. The Armory Battalion was on the enemy’s flank and appears to have been completely surprised. But when the enemy came in contact with Henley’s Battalion the cavalry broke at the first fire. The first volley of musketry seems to have done all the disaster that occurred. There were eleven Yankees killed and some thirty or forty wounded. After the affair Dahlgren seemed to be anxious for his retreat and divided his forces, so as to increase the chances of escape. The force under his immediate command moved down the south bank of the Pamunkey and crossed the river at Dabney’s ferry.
“The Late Colonel Ulric Dahlgren,” from Harper’s Weekly³
“Their exact number was not at first easily ascertained ; and, as usual, the most exaggerated accounts were soon circulated throughout the county, increasing as they spread, until the miserable fugitives from the Richmond defenses were magnified into a full brigade. From the ferry they proceeded by the most direct route to Aylett’s, on the Mattapony, watched closely at every step by scouts detached from Lieutenant James Bellard’s company of Lee’s Rangers, now on picket duty and recruiting service in King William, the residence of most of its members. The ferry boat having been previously removed, and Pieutenant Pollard’s arrangements for disputing their passage when they reached the King and Queen side of the river being suspected, they dashed across the river as precipitately as possible, under the fire of a small squad of rangers left on the south bank for that purpose. While passing through King William they captured one prisoner, William Edwards, and several horses, and mortally wounded a man attached to the signal corps, whose name we could not learn. Subsequently Colonel Dahlgren, in command of the party, ordered the release of Edwards and the restoration of his horse and of some valuables which were forcibly taken from his person when captured.
“The Yankees had no sooner reached King and Queen county than they were harassed, both front and rear, by the Rangers, showing fight as they advanced, until Lieutenant Pollard was reinforced by Magruder’s and Blake’s companies of the Forty-second Virginia Battalion, now on picket duty in King and Queen, and Fox’s company of Fifth Virginia Cavalry, on furlough in the same county. Here the fight became general, resulting in the death of Colonel Dahlgren, and the capture of the greater number of the party, the rest having fled in disorder and panic to the nearest woods. It is believed that few, if any, will reach Gloucester Point alive, as the Home Guard of King and Queen, whose bravery was conspicuous during the whole affair, are scouring the country and cutting off escape.
“A large body of this raiding party was pushing toward the peninsula at last accounts, preferring that route to the rather hazardous attempt to reach Gloucester Point through King William and King and Queen. We regret this very much, as in both counties, adequate preparations were made to prevent the soil of either county from being converted into a highway, as in the earlier period of the war, for Yankee robbers, whose track is marked, wherever they are permitted to obtain a foothold, with desolation and blood.”
In The Prescott Journal, the reprint from the Richmond Examiner began here:
COLONEL DAHLGREN—HIS DEATH.
(From the Richmond Examiner¹ 7th.)
The publication of Dahlgren’s programme for the sack of Richmond was the occasion of constant excitement Saturday, and curiosity to know what course the authorities would pursue towards the three or four hundred land pirates put in durance at Libby. To Dahlgren’s budget of villainy and cowardice are to be added some incidents which show, in the most striking colors, the character of this commander.
When the Yankee’s appeared at Frederick’s Hall they captured there Captain Dement,² and this prisoner was taken in company with Dahlgren over the whole of his route. Captain Dement reports that he witnessed the execution of the negro guide, and that Dahlgren furnished the reign from his own horse with which the unhappy victim was hung.
Captain Dement effected his escape in the fight near Walkerton. When Dalgren found the small body of Confederate cavalry in his front, he insisted upon Captain Dement riding by his side, as he advanced to demand their surrender. The reply of our officers to the demand of surrender, was “Give them hell, boys.” Dahlgren fell at the first fire and the horse of Captain Dement was shot under him, the rider fortunately escaping without injury. Dahlgren received two bullets in the head, two in the body and one in the hand. He died instantly.
Captain Demens escaped to a skirt of woods and hearing some of the Yankee fugitives expressing a desire to find him and surrender to him, came forward and received the surrender of almost the entire party. Dahlgren’s body has been stripped naked and was lying on the road, and it was by Captain Dement’s orders that it was interred.
Both Captain Dement and Mr. Montcastle describe Dahlgren as a most agreeable and charming villain. He was very civil to the prisoners, shared his food with Captain Dement, and on several occasions invited him to take a nip of whiskey with him. He was a fair haired, very young looking man, with manners as soft as a cat’s.
The Richmond Whig adds to this :
Capt. DEMENT states that DAHLGREN’S men were completely fagged out, having lost six nights sleep, and were in no condition to fight. Although Capt. Dement was with Daldgren four days and nights, he said and heard nothing of the infernal designs against Richmond until the papers, which have been published, were found on his dead body.
“Ambuscade and Death of Colonel Dahlgren,” from Harper’s Weekly³
COLONEL DALGREN’S BODY.
[From the Richmond Examiner, March 8.]
Dahlgren’s body was boxed up at Walkerton with the object, we understand, of its positive identification, and the establishment of the fact of the finding of the infamous documents upon it, all of which have been attested by witnesses. Henceforth the name of Dahlgren is linked with eternal infamy, and in the years to come defenceless women and innocent childhood will peruse, with a sense of shrinking horror, the story of Richmond’s rescue from the midnight sack and ravage led by Dahlgren. It would seem something of the curse he came to bestow upon others lighted upon his own carcass, when it fell riddled by avenging southern bullets. Stripped, robbed of every valuable, the fingers cut off for the sake of the diamond rings that encircled them, when the body was found by those sent to take charge of it, it was lying in a field, stark naked, with the exceptions of the stockings. Some humane person had lifted the corpse from the pike and thrown it over into the field, to save it from the hogs. The artificial leg worn by Dahlgren was removed, and is now at General Elzey’s headquarters. It is of most beautiful design and finish.
Yesterday afternoon the body was removed from the car that brought it to the York River Railroad depot and given to the spot of earth selected to receive it. Where that spot is no one but those concerned in its burial know or care to tell. It was a dog’s burial, without a coffin, winding sheet or service. Friends and relatives at the North need inquire no further ; this is all they will know—he is buried a burial that befitted the mission upon which he came.
COL. DALGREN’S BODY.
[From the Richmond Whig, March 8.]
The body of Col. Ulric Dahlgren, killed in the swamps of King and Queen, by the Ninth Virginia Cavalry, was brought to the city Sunday night, and laid at the York River depot during the greater part of the day yesterday, where large numbers of persons went to see it. It was in a pine box, clothed in confederate shirt and pants, and shrouded in a confederate blanket. The wooden leg had been removed by one of the soldiers. It was also noticeable that the little finger of the left hand had been cut off. Dahlgren was a small man, thin, pale, and with red hair and a goatee of the same color. His face wore and expression of agony. About two o’clock P. M., the corpse was removed from the depot and buried—no one knows, or is to know, where.
[Col. Dahlgren used no wooden leg. The stump had not yet become sufficiently hardened to admit it ; when he rode, his leg was strapped to the saddle. Col. D. had light, flaxen hair—not red. Otherwise the description is correct.—ED. N. Y. TIMES]
THE CAPTURED BANDITS.
[From the Richmond Whig, March 7th.]
Are these men warriors ! Are they soldiers, taken in the performance of duties taken as legitimate by the loosest construction of the code of civilized warfare ? or are they assassins, barbarians, thugs, who have forfeited (and expect to lose) their lives ? Are they not barbarians redolent of more hellish purposes than were ever the Goth, the Hun or the Saracen ! The consentaneous voice of all Christendom will shudderingly proclaim them monsters, whom no sentimental idea of humanity, no timorous views of expediency, no trembling terror of consequences, should have shielded from the quickest and the stearnest death.
What more have we to dread from Yankee malice of brutality than we now know awaits us, success attend them ? What have we to hope from their clemency ? Will justice meted out to those poor creatures stimulate either the brutality of the Yankees on the one hand, or increase their capacity and means for diabolism on the other ? Both are no in the fullest exercise.
If these men go unpunished, according to the exceeding magnitude of their crimes, do we not invite the Yankees to a similar, and, if possible, still more shocking effort s? If we would now what we ought to do with them, let us ask what would ere now have been their fate, if, during a war, such a body of men, with such purposes and such acts, had made an attempt on and were taken in London or Paris? The English blow fierce and brutal Sepoys, who disregard and exceed the just limits of war, from the mouths of cannon ; the French fusilade them. If we are less powerful, have we less pride and self-respect than either of these nations ? These men have put the caput lupinum,4 on themselves. They are not victims ; they are volunteers for remorseless death. They have rushed upon fate, and struggled in voluntary audacity with the grim monster. Let them die, not by court-martial, not as prisoners but as hostes humans generis [sic],5by general order from the President, Commander-in-Chief [Jefferson Davis].
Will the Cabinet and President have the nerve do what lies palpable before them ? This is the question in all mouths. What concerns this people most now is not whether its public officers will come out of this war with brilliant European reputations—not whether, after leading the people out of Egypt, they shall have the reputation that Moses preserved of being very meek—but they wish protection to themselves, their wives and children and their honor.
HOW THE PRISONERS ARE TREATED.
[From the Richmond Whig, March 8th.]
Four Yankee negro soldiers, captured in James City county, were brought to this city yesterday, and delivered at the Libby, where they were distributed, as far as they would go, into the solitary cells of the Yankee officers captured during the recent raid. This is a taste of negro equality, we fancy, the said Yankee officers will not fancy overmuch.
INSINUATIONS AGAINST JEFF. DAVIS.
[From the Richmond Sentinel, March 5th.]
If the Confederate capital has been in the closest danger of massacre and conflagration, if the President and Cabinet have run a serious risk of being hanged at their own doors, do we not owe it chiefly to the milk and water spirit in which this war has hitherto been conducted !
It is time to ask, in what light are the people of the Confederate States regarded by their own government ? As belligerents resisting by war an invasion from a foreign people—or as a gang of malefactors evading and postponing the penalty of their crimes ?
But “we are to consider,” it seems, “not what wicked enemies may deserve, but what it becomes us, as Christians and gentlemen, to inflict.” Oh, hypocrisy; and thou forty person power which alone can sound its praise through they forty noses ! What cant is this ? We wonder whether Mr. Davis is aware of what many very honest people begin to mutter and murmur. They say, can this man be saving up for himself, in case of the worst, a sort of plea in mitigation of punishment ? If the cause for which a hundred and fifty thousand of us have died, be borne down at last, is this Christian meekness of his intended to save his own life ? They say what comfort are these fine sentiments to the houseless families who have been driven from their homes in Tennessee or Virginia, when they find that our armies, even on the enemy’s soil, are withheld from giving the invaders a taste of real war in their own quenched hearths and blazing barns ? For what have we set over us a government at all if it be not to protect us against our enemies ; to avenge us of our enemies when need is ; to uphold our cause in all its fulness and grandeur, and to keep our banner flying high ? But this is lowering the cause and dragging the banner through the dust ; this is encouraging, inviting our invaders to ravage and pillage us at pleasure, sure that they will not be visited with the like in their turn.
1. The Richmond Examiner During the War; or, The Writings of John M. Daniel: with a Memoir of his Life, by his Brother Frederick S. Daniel (New York: Printed for the Author, 1868) is available on the Internet Archive.
2. Probably William Fendley Dement (1826-1907), 1st Maryland Artillery Battery (Confederate). A farmer before the War, he was the first lieutenant of the Battery on its organization in Richmond, Virginia, in July 1861. He was appointed captain in June 1862 when R. Andrews Snowden was promoted. During his service, he participated in the engagements at Seven Pines, the Seven Days Battles, the fights on the Gorkoron peninsula, Second Battle of Bull Run (Manassas), the battles of Cedar Run and Manchester, the capture of Harper’s Ferry, and the battles of Sharpsburg, Gettysburg, and Cold Harbor. He surrendered at Appomattox on April 9, 1865. After the War, he returned to farming and also worked for the Treasury Department.
3. The March 26, 1864, issue of Harper’s Weekly featured Ulric Dahlgren’s story, along with these two illustrations. The University of Wisconsin-River Falls’ Chalmer Davee Library has microfilm copies of Harper’s Weekly for 1858-1865 (UWRF online catalog).
4. Latin, used in the English legal system to refer to a person considered to be an outlaw.
5. Another Latin term, correctly spelled Hostis humani generis, literally meaning “enemy of mankind.” It is a legal term originating from admiralty law, before the adoption of public international law. Maritime pirates and slavers were held to be beyond legal protection, and could be dealt with as seen fit by any nation, even if that nation had not been directly attacked.
Gov. Lewis has changed the day for thanksgiving from November 30th to December 7, the day appointed by the President.
The Civil War and Northwest Wisconsin 