1865 June 3: The Grand Review—Full Details of the Great Event

We have already heard some about the Grand Review from Edwin Levings, of the 12th Wisconsin Infantry, who participated in the second day of the review (letter of May 29, 1865).  Here is a much more detailed report from the June 3, 1865, issue of The Prescott Journal.

C E N T R A L   I N T E L L I G E N C E.

THE GRAND REVIEW.

Full Details of the Great Event—Immense Crowds—
80,000 Troops in Line—Flowers for the Brave—
Gen. Custar [sic] on a Raid—The School Children—
Order of March—Honors to the President, Gens. Grant and Sherman.

WASHINGTON, May 23.—A more beautiful day for the purposes of the grand military review could not have been asked than this has been.  The recent heavy rains had cooled and purilled¹ the atmosphere, and cleansed the streets.—The sun shone brilliantly, and throughout the jocund day stood on tiptoe, and all nature was gay and happy.  At daylight the streets were already thronged with pedestrians, seeking favorable positions to observe the military pageant.

THE CROWD.

By 8 o’clock every available spot along the route was taken up by the anxious spectators.  Windows and housetops were thronged.  Impromptu stands were erected on the sidewalks and intersection of streets.  Guards were placed along the outer line of the pavement to prevent any encroachment upon the streets, which from curb to curb were completely occupied by the military procession.

NEAR THE WHITE HOUSE.

In the vicinity of the White House, the scene was brilliant and gay in the extreme.  Here were assembled upon and near the stand the elite of the country upon the wide pavement in front of the Executive Mansion, a large stand was erected for the President [Andrew Johnson], Gen. Grant [Ulysses S. Grant], members of the Cabinet, distinguished officers of the Army and Navy and the Diplomatic Corps.  This stand was tastefully draped with flags and handsomely covered with floral devices.  On either side of this stand were two immense stands for the invalid soldiers and distinguished visitors.  Opposite this, on the other side of the street, was a row of stands reaching the entire length of Franklin Square, which were occupied by State delegations.  All these stands were likewise decorated with flags and banners.  About three-fourths of the occupants of all these standards were women, most elegantly attired, presenting gay and lively appearance.

THE COLUMN.

At 25 minutes past 9 o’clock the head of the column, led by General Meade [George G. Meade], passed by the main stand but as yet none of the reviewing officers had appeared, and it was nearly 10 o’clock before the President arrived.—in a few minutes after, General Grant, General Sherman [William T. Sherman], and members of the Cabinet took their positions at the side of, and around the President.  The column of cavalry continued to pass along each regiment being headed by a full band of music, making melodious the air with one continuous and unbroken strain of martial airs ;  and thus it continued until 20 minutes past three o’clock this afternoon.

ENTHUSIASM OF THE SOLDIERS.

As the several regiments passed the reviewing officers, the soldiers cheered, and as the various division commanders appeared in front of the stand, the President, Gen. Grant and the members of the Cabinet would rise to their feet.  All along the line of march, cheer upon cheer greeted the soldiers, the ladies waving their handkerchiefs.

THE SCHOOL CHILDREN.

Meantime, at an early hour in the morning, the children of the common schools had gathered, to the number of 4,000 or 5,000 on the north side of the capital grounds.  As the procession passed they sung patriotic songs and presented to the officers boquets [sic] and wreaths of flowers and evergreens.

GEN. CUSTAR’S [sic] RAID.

One of the stirring incidents of the day happened just after the President and Gen. Grant had taken their positions upon the stand.  The gallant Gen. Custar [sic: George A. Custer] at this time entered the square, at the head of his division, upon a magnificent blooded stallion.  A lady threw a large wreath to the General, which he caught.  His charger took fright, reared, plunged, and dashed away with his rider at an almost break-neck speed, running nearly the whole length of the square before Gen. Custar [sic] had gained control of him.  As the horse made his first plunge, Gen. Custar’s [sic] hat flew off and he lost his sword, which, at the moment, was lying loosely in his lap and left arm.  He held onto the wreath of flowers with his right-hand and managed his horse with his left.  The The [sic] whole affair was witnessed by thousands of spectators, who were enchained breathlessly by the thrilling event, and, for a time, the perilous position of the brave officer.  As he rode back to the head of the column, round upon round of hearty applause greeted him, the reviewing officers joining it.

EFFECT ON THE REVIEW.

The review from the treasury, looking down Pennsylvania avenue to the capital, was among the grandest that age ever looked upon, especially when the infantry had fully occupied the avenue and illuminated it with flashing steel.

HONORS TO THE PRESIDENT.

During the interval between the departure of the 9th corps from the reviewing stand, and the appearance of the 8th corps, the spectators in the vicinity gathered in a large body in front of the President, and called for him.  He rose, bowed, and sat down.  Then there was a universal call for General Grant, and he, too, rose in acknowledgment of the compliment.  Then Sherman was called for heartily, but it turned out that he had just left the stand, and there was no opportunity afforded to judge fully the kind of greeting he would have received, but there was every indication that it would have been most cordial.

THE DISTINGUISHED SPECTATORS.

In the front row of the reviewing stand, under a canopy formed of flags and banners, sat the President, with Secretary Stanton [Edwin M. Stanton], General Grant, Attorney General Speed [James Speed] and Secretary Wells [sic: Gideon Welles], Postmaster General Dennison [William Dennison], General Sherman and Barnard [John G. Barnard] on his left.  without occupying several columns, it would be impossible to give full details of the various military corps, divisions and companies.  There appeared in the procession 80,000 troops, comprising what is left here of the Potomac army.

SHERMAN’S ARMY.

To-morrow Gen. Sherman’s army, estimated at 117,000, will be reviewed.  The city is all alive this evening.  Bands of music are passing through the streets playing patriotic airs, among them “Dixie,”² and one general carnival of pleasure prevails.

PHOTOGRAPHIC VIEWS.

The people will have ample opportunity for obtaining pictures of the scenes of to-day, as S. M. Fassett, of Chicago; Brady [Mathew Brady], of New York, and Gardener [Alexander Gardner], of this city, took a number of stereoscopic and photographic views.

A stereoscopic view (stereograph) showing the Grand Review³

ORDER OF MARCH.

The immense column moved in the following order:

Headquarters Army of the Potomac, Gen. Meade commanding.

General staff headquarters—squadron 1st Mass. cavalry, Capt. Flint⁴ commanding—Maj. Gen. Merritt [Wesley Merritt] commanding.

General staff headquarters—escort 58th [sic: 5th] U. S. cavalry, Lt. Col. Urban⁵ [sic: just lieutenant] commanding ;  3d cavalry, Maj. Gen. Custar [sic] commanding.

This officer [Custer] was vociferously cheered at various points of the line, and was somewhat encumbered by wreaths and bouquets which had been presented to him.  Other officers were similarly honored with cheers and floral gifts and the waving of handkerchiefs by ladies.

Next the 2d and 1st cavalry divisions, commanded respectively by Gen. Davies [Henry E. Davies] and Gen. Devins [sic: Thomas C. Devin] ;  the horse artillery brigade, the Provost Marshal General’s brigade, and the Engineers brigade.  The troops comprising these bodies were composed in a large part from New York, West Virginia, Vermont, Connecticut, Ohio, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Ninth Corps, Gen. Parke [John G. Parke] commanding—The 1st division by Brig. Gen. Griffin [Simon G. Griffin], and the 3d division by Gen. Carlin [William P. Carlin].  These troops were from Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.

Next followed a division of the 14th army corps, commanded by Brig. Gen. Dwight [William Dwight], including an artillery brigade, the troops being from Maine, New York, Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

The 5th corps, General Griffin [Charles Griffin] commanding.  The 1st division was commanded by Gen. Chamberlain [Joshua Chamberlain] ;  the 2d division by Gen. Ayres [Romeyn B. Ayres], and the 3d division by Gen. Crawford [Samuel W. Crawford].  These troops were composed of volunteers from Pennsylvania, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Indiana, Delaware and Wisconsin with U. S. Artillery.

Next came the 2d corps—General Humphrey [sic: Andrew A. Humphreys]—the 1st division commanded by Brig. Gen. Ramsay [George D. Ramsay] ;  the 2d by Gen. Barlow [Francis C. Barlow], and the 3d by General Mott [Gershom Mott].  The troops were principally from New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Delaware, Ohio, Western Virginia , New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine and Indiana.

THE EFFECT.

The troops as as they moved along Pennsylvania avenue presented a grand appearance, all arms of the service being represented.  The occasional insertion of a body of Zouaves served to relieve the sameness and gave a fine effect.

THE FLAGS.

Looking up Pennsylvania avenue there was a continuous moving line as far as the eye could reach of national, State, division, brigade, regimental and other flags.  Some of them were new, the stars of gold glittering in the sun, and these contrasted strongly with the flags borne in the procession, tattered in battle, or mere shreds.  Others were thickly covered with names and dates of battle-fields where victories were won by these proud veterans.  The flag-staffs were decorated with flowers, and very many bonquets [sic] hung from the muzzles of muskets.

DRESS.

These troops did not, as to dress, present a war-worn appearance.  They were all well and cleanly clad, and their fine marching elicited praise from every tongue.

THE STANDS.

On the south side of the avenue fronting the Executive Mansion, a stand was placed, hung handsomely and festoon with national flags.  At various points were the inscriptions, “Atlanta, Wilderness, Stone River, South Mountain, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Savannah, Richmond, Petersburg, and Cold Harbor.”  This stand was in part occupied by President Johnson, Members of the Cabinet, Generals Grant and Sherman, and other distinguished officers.—On the left were members of the Diplomatic Corps and their families, 200 tickets having been issued to this class of spectators.

DISTINGUISHED SPECTATORS.

On the stands provided for the purpose were Hon. Geo. Bancroft⁶  and the following Governors of States:⁷  Crapo, Buckingham, Andrew, Fenton, Fairchilds [sic], Bradford, Curtin, and Smith ;  Senators⁸ Wade, Sherman, Wilson, Johnson, Chandler, Harris, Hendrickson [sic], Dixon, Foster, Morgan, Conness, Land [sic], of Kansas ;  and Representatives⁹ Schenck, Hooper, Marston, Lynch, Hays [sic], Porter, Kelly [sic], Jencks [sic], Loan and Ex-Speaker Grows [sic].  There were at least thirty naval officers, bearing the highest rank, and as many officers, including Gens.¹⁰ Hancock, Wilcox [sic], Cadwallader [sic], Hitchcock, Newton and Rawlins.  As corps and divisions passed in review before the President and Gen. Grant, their commanders severally left the column and took seats on the platform.  The Judges of the Courts, the chiefs of the Government bureaus, and other public officers, were similarly accommodated.

The crowd in that part of the city was extremely dense, it being the main point of attraction, as the reviewing place, where were assembled the highest dignitaries.

HONORS TO THE PRESIDENT.

Between the rear of the 9th corps and the advance of the 5th corps, there was an interval of ten or fifteen minutes.  An immense number of persons rushed into the opening, which was in front of the stand occupied by President Johnson, General Grant and the members of the Cabinet, and gave each one repeated cheers.  These gentlemen severally rose and bowed their acknowledgments of the honor.

The troops occupied six hours in the review from nine o’clock in the morning till three in the afternoon.  The “cadence step” was taken from the Capitol to Seventeenth street, from which point the various organizations proceeded on the march to their separate quarters.  The review is spoken on this continent.  It was a grand affair, and suggestive of the trials and victories of the Army of the Potomac.

WASHINGTON, May 24—1 p. m.

The city was much crowded to-day ;  weather delightful.

The armies of Tennessee and Georgia were reviewed by Lieut. Gen. Grant.—The President and members of the cabinet, distinguished army and navy officers, and others, occupied the stand as before.  Gen. Sherman headed the column and was vociferously cheered.  All along the line other officers were similarly complimented.  The military display was grand and imposing.

The tastefully decorated stands near the Executive mansion were again occupied by President Johnson, members of the Cabinet, and Lieut. Gen. Grant, together with distinguished army and navy officers, chiefs of executive bureaus, the diplomatic corps and families, and others.  The vicinity of the reviewing point was densely crowded over a larger area than yesterday.  The Army of the Tennessee moved from the Capitol at 9 a. m., proceeding towards the Executive Mansion.  At the head of the column rode Major General Sherman, who was vociferously cheered.  The greeting of this hero was in the highest degree enthusiastic.  He had been presented with two large wreaths of flowers, on of which has been placed around the horse’s neck; the other hung upon his own shoulder.  Major General Sherman was accompanied by Major Gen. Hoard [sic: should be O. O. Howard].  Next followed Major Gen. Logan [John A. Logan], staff and escort.—He yesterday assumed command of this army.  Maj. Gen. Logan appeared at the head of the command.  This corps is comprised of troops from Wisconsin, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Indiana, and Minnesota.

The 17th army corps was preceded by its commander, Maj. Gen. Blair [Francis P. Blair], with his staff, followed by the headquarters escort.  The troops of this corps are from Ohio, Illinois, New York, Wisconsin, Indiana, Minnesota and Michigan.  The rest in review was the army of Georgia, Major Gen. Slocum [Henry W. Slocum] commanding.

The 20th corps was commanded by Maj. Gen. Mower [Joseph A. Mower], and composed of volunteers from Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Ohio, Delaware, Indiana, and Michigan.

This was succeeded by the 14th army corps, Brev. [brevet] Major Gen. J. C. Davis [Jefferson C. Davis], commanding.  It was composed of volunteers from Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Minnesota and Kentucky.

The respective commanders of the armies, divisions and brigades bore upon their persons profusions of flowers, and as they passed along the line, cheers were given and flags waved.

There was also a fair representation of the spade and axe department, the implements being carried on the shoulder of both white and black soldiers.

Much amusement was occasioned by a display of pack horses and mules.  They were all heavily loaded with commissary supplies, including chickens, a coon, a dog and a goat were comfortably fastened to three of the saddles.  These were the pets of soldiers.

Two black soldiers of the largest six riding two small mules, their feet nearly touching the ground, was regarded as a comic scene.  In connection with this part of the display, and which occasioned general laughter, an interesting feature in the parade was the exhibition of flags and banners of various patterns, some of them entirely new, others were carried, torn by bullets and reduced to shreds, while others, entire as to material, were faded by exposure to the weather, or blackened by the smoke of battle.  Several staffs were carried from which the flags had been shot away.

All the spear-heads were ornamented with flowers.  It was remarked as in contrast with the army of the Potomac, that the troops comprising the armies of Georgia and Tennessee wore the wide brim felt hats, regulation pattern.  Their appearances in all respects was equal to that of the Potomac, not withstanding they had performed more marching service.  Their movements were much admired and applauded.

The commander of each army and corps and division, attended by one staff officer, dismounted after passing the General-in-chief and joined him until his army corps or division had passed the reviewing stand, when he joined his command.

Brigade bands, as consolidated field music, turned out and played as their brigades passed.  One band to each division performed during the march from Capitol to the Treasury building.

After the troops passed the respective officers, they were marched to their respective quarters.  Secretary Seward [William H. Seward], not withstanding his severe physical affliction, took a deep interest in the review.  Gen. Augur [Christopher C. Augur] made him comfortable, and furnished him with a good position at the headquarters of the defense of Washington, that he might witness the grand military display.

The armies of Tennessee and Georgia occupied six hours in passing ;  the same length of time required yesterday for the review of the Army of the Potomac.

 1.  A word that is hard to find in a dictionary, but can be found in some 19th century books to mean “cleaned.”
2.  Listen to and read the lyrics of “Dixie” on the Civil War Trust website’s Civil War Music: Dixie page.
3.  “The Grand Review”: Stereograph showing the Grand Review of the Union Army veterans marching on Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C., May 23-24, 1865, from the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division (LC-DIG-stereo-1s02879).
4.  Edward A. Flint was born in Concord, Massachusetts, on March 30, 1790, and died in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, on November 25, 1870. He became a well known captain in the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War, serving under Major General George G. Meade. He was captain of Company C,  Massachusetts Cavalry.
5.  Gustavus Urban (1836-1870) was from Prussia. He entered the U.S. Army on July 18, 1855, and by September 16, 1861, had moved from private to corporal to sergeant to quarter master sergeant in the 2nd U.S. Cavalry. From there he was promoted to 2nd lieutenant and then 1st lieutenant (1862) in the 5th U.S. Cavalry. He was brevetted captain in 1863 for gallantry and meritorious service at the Battle of Beverly Ford, and brevetted major in 1864 for gallantry and meritorious service at the Battle of Deep Bottom. Urban was promoted to captain in the regular army on July 28, 1866.
6.  George Bancroft (1800-1891) was the 17th U.S. Secretary of the Navy (1845-46) and established the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. He was the U.S. Minister to the United Kingdom (1846-49). Bancroft was also a well-known scholar and historian.
7.  Governors:

• Henry H. Crapo, Michigan
• William A. Buckingham, Connecticut
• John A. Andrew, Massachusetts
• Reuben E. Fenton, New York
• Lucius Fairchild, governor-elect of Wisconsin
• Augustus Bradford, Maryland
• Andrew C. Curtin, Pennsylvania
• William Smith, Virginia.

8.  Senators:

• Benjamin F. Wade, Ohio
• John Sherman, Ohio
• Henry Wilson, Massachusetts
• Reverdy Johnson, Maryland
• Zachariah Chandler, Michigan
• Ira Harris, New York
• Thomas A. Hendricks, Indiana
• James Dixon, Connecticut
• Lafayette S. Foster, Connecticut
• Edwin D. Morgan, New York
• John Conness, California
• James H. Lane, Kansas.

9.  Representatives:

• Robert C. Schenck, Ohio
• Samuel Hooper, Massachusetts
• Gilman Marston, New Hampshire
• John Lynch, Maine
• Rutherford B. Hayes, Ohio
• Albert Gallatin Porter, Indiana
• William D. Kelley, Pennsylvania
• possibly Michael H. Jenks, Pennsylvania
• Benjamin F. Loan, Missouri
• Galusha A. Grow, Pennsylvania.

10.  Generals:

• Winfield S. Hancock
• Orlando B. Willcox
• George Cadwalader
• Ethan Allen Hitchcock
• John Newton
• John A. Rawlins.

1865 May 27: More Details on the Capture of Jefferson Davis—In a Dress

The following two articles on the capture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis come from the May 27, 1865, issues of The Polk County Press and The Prescott Journal.

From The Polk County Press:

Capture of Jeff. Davis.

WAR DEP’MT., WASHINGTON, }
May 12, 1865. }

Major Gen. Dix [John A. Dix] :

Official information has reached this Department of the capture of Jeff. Davis and his staff by Col. Prichard [Benjamin D. Pritchard], of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry, on the morning of the 10th inst. at Irwinville, Irwin County, Georgia.

(Signed,)          .E. M. STANTON,
.                               .Secretary of War.

A dispatch from Col. Pritchard, of the 4th Michigan Cavalry, dated at Cumberlandville, Ga., May 11, says :

I have the honor to report that at daylight at Irwinville I surprised, and captured Jeff. Davis, and family together with his wife’s sister, and mother.  His Post Master General, his Private Secretary, Col. Harrison, Col. Johnson, A. D. C. on Davis’ Staff, Col. Morris, Lieut. Lubrec and Lieut. Hathaway, and several important persons, also a train of five wagons and three ambulances making a most perfect success.  Had not a most painful mistake occurred by which the 4th Michigan and the 1st Wis. came in contact we should have done better.

This mistake cost us two killed and Lieut. Boutle wounded through the arm in the 4th Michigan, and four men wounded in the 1st Wis.  This occurred just at daylight after we had captured the camp.  We returned to this point last night and shall move right on to Macon.  It will take me at least three days to reach Macon as we are 75 miles out, and our stock is exhausted.  I hope to reach Hawkinsville to-night.

From The Prescott Journal:

Jeff. Davis’ Capture.

NEW YORK, May 21.

The Herald’s correspondent gives the particulars of the arrest of Jeff. Davis, fully confirming the official accounts already published :

When the guard went to the tent they were met by Mrs. Davis, en dishabille [sic],¹ with—“Please gentlemen, don’t disturb the privacy of ladies before they have time to dress.”—“All right, madam,” said the corporal, “we will wait till you have on your dress.”  Presently there appeared at the door an ostensible old lady, with a bucket on her arm, escorted by Mrs. Davis and her sister.  “Please let my old mother go to the spring for some water to wash in,” said Mrs. D. in a pleading tone.  “It strikes me your mother wears very large boots,” said the guard, as he hoisted the old lady’s dress with his sabre, and discovered a pair of number 13 calfskin boots—“And whiskers, too,” said the sergeant, as he pulled the hood from her face, and Jeff Davis in all his littleness stood before them.—A Spencer was immediately pointed at his ear, and he was marched back to his tent and placed in durance vile.²

Only about $8,000 in specie was with the parties, though several boxes were not searched.  They were brought along however, and will be delivered to the authorities at Washington.  There was found on the person of Postmaster Gen’l Regan [sic]³ evidence that a large amount of specie had been shipped for London, which will also be delivered to the authorities by Col. Pritchard.  The later, with his prisoners, started immediately for Macon.  The parties were all sullen and Davis remarked to Pritchard, that had they not been taken by surprise, they would not have succeeded without a fight.  While on the road they recived [sic] a copy of President Johnson’s Proclamation offering $100,000 for Davis.  Davis read it, his hands trembled[,] dropped to his side, and with a groan he dropped the paper.  His wife, picked it up, read it aloud, and the entire party burst into tears.  The cavalcade arrived at Macon on the 10th, and soon after took a special train for Atlanta and thence to Augusta.

Sheet music, 1865, from the Library of Congress (see footnote 4)

1.  En déshabillé  is a French expression meaning partly dressed in a loose or careless manner, or even undressed.
2.  Durance vile can mean a very long prison sentence, or, in this case, restraint by physical force.
3.  John Henninger Reagan (1818-1905) was a Texas politician and the Confederate postmaster general. Before the Civil War he was the first county judge of Henderson County, a member of the 2nd Legislature of Texas, and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas (1857-1861). Reagan resigned his seat in Congress on January 15, 1861, and on January 30th attended the Texas Secession Convention (Texas seceded on February 2). Within a month Reagan was appointed postmaster general of the Confederacy. After the Confederate defeat, he called for cooperation with the federal government and thus became unpopular. He returned to public office when his predictions of harsh treatment for resistance were proved correct. Reagan served again as a U.S. Representative from Texas (1875-1887) and as a U.S. senator from Texas (1887-1891). In Congress, he advocated for federal regulation of railroads and helped create the Interstate Commerce Commission. Appropriately, he also served as the first chairman of the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads.
4.  “Jeff’s double quick. The last words of the Confederacy: ‘Jeff’s war hoops’” (Philadelphia: Lee & Walker, 1865). Sheet music cover, “published for the benefit of the Western Sanitary Fairs of Chicago, Ill. and Milwaukee Wis.” Shows a comic version of Davis, clad as a woman and holding a wooden pail, being discovered by a trooper, who lifts the skirts of the fugitive to reveal a pair of black boots. Davis’s wife (at right) protests, saying, “Only my mother.” From the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division.

1865 May 29: Edwin Levings on The Grand Review — “The moments of that day will long linger in the memories of our boys”

A typescript copy of this letter is in the Edwin D. Levings Papers (River Falls Mss BO), in the University Archives and Area Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.  Not having done it ourselves, we cannot vouch for the accuracy of the transcription.  The beginning and end of this letter are almost identical to parts of Edwin’s letter of May 27th. At this time, the 12th Wisconsin Infantry was part of the Army of the Tennessee (Oliver O. Howard), XVII Corps (Francis P. Blair), Third Division (Mortimer D. Leggett), 1st Brigade (Charles Ewing). For more details on the Grand Review, see The Prescott Journal’s article on June 3, 1865.

Washington D.C. 12th Wis. Vol. May 29, 1865

Dear Parents,

                          It has been some time since my last, but so much has transpired that I did not have the time.  You are doubtless wondering when we are to come home.  As yet there is but one order from the War Department mustering out and discharging troops, and that applies to those only whose terms of service expire prior to October 1, 1865.  Our impatience to know what the War Department has in mind for us has been great, but we are contented to wait until it shall be their pleasure to inform us.  With so many troops to be discharged, there are many minute matters to be looked after, requiring much time.  If they will simply pay and discharge us, I will abide their time, be it weeks or months.

Well, the Big Grand Reviews are over, and never was Washington in such a merry or receptive mood.  The Army of the Potomac passed in review the day before us, on the 23rd.  We were fortunate and got a chance to see them and they presented a grand sight — all had new uniforms, polished brass on their accoutrements, guns shining brightly and most of them wore white gloves. all wore white gloves.  In precision, they marched down Pennsylvania Avenue — their non-commissioned Officers wearing sabres and their band gaily decked out in spendid [sic] uniforms with bearskin hats.  Next day was our day to perform and what a comparison it will be.  We were to march as we always did — no pomp and ceremony for us.  Some of the boys were issued new pants and we did the best to shine our battle-scared guns, clothing and what little brass there was left among us.  Homer and I spent considerable time washing and fixing our steeds — at least we could do that much.  That day we all fell in, and it seemed the minute the order was given, our boys took on an appearance of glory and holiness, and they marched, oh how they marched, never before did they stride like that.  Just imagine the scene, Mother and Father, if you can !  Men marching in their old worn-out uniforms, some with new pants that stood out like sore thumbs, scuffed shoes, the guns seeming to speak out “we have seen better days,” our flags tattered and torn, and all along the way, crowds upon crowds of people, cheering so loudly they deafened our ears.  Down Pennsylvannia [sic] Avenue we proceeded, and I fancied myself a “little Napolean” [sic] on my horse — and she lived up to qualifications by prancing as if she had been trained purposely for this type of duty and performance.  Homer looked like a Roman soldier upon his stallion, presenting himselr [sic] in the best fashion to the onlookers.  General Sherman [William T. Sherman] headed the column, followed by General Logan [John A. Logan], and each Brigade, headed by its own General and Staff.  We were up front of our Brigade with General Leggett [Mortimer D. Leggett].  How proud we were.  The color bearers carried the flags that told of our conflicts with the enemy.  As we passed the reviewing stand, all eyes went right, and the boys did right shoulder arms in perfect timing.  President Johnson [Andrew Johnson] with his Government Officials, some Foreign Officers and General Grant [Ulysses S. Grant] stood up and cheered us as we passed.  I thought we would all lose some more buttons for our chests swelled up and our hearts throbbed.  On we marched and back to Crystal Springs.  Not one minute of the march did we think how hungry we were and that our breakfast had only been hardtack and coffee that morning.  The moments of that day will long linger in the memories of our boys — though they looked like a lot of Bummers, they did not feel it in the least, and I feel sure the people appreciated them all the more for it.  They know we have not had an easy time of it during this conflict, and are aware of it more now.

We do not live too well since we came to Washington.  Homer says to tell you if they don’t pay us soon there is apt to be some foraging going on right here in our Nation’s Capitol [sic], for the boys cannot live without eating.

Hold on —

There is an order this morning stopping the muster-out of any more troops in the District, and it is said we shall proceed as organizations to our respective States, there to complete the work.  There are good reasons for it.  The boys, many of them, behave rather badly, and there is no doubt that if paid off here and let loose, many would lose all their money, and many would never get home.  By the way, the Western boys do not hitch well with the Potomac chaps.  Washington is in more danger today than when defended by McClellan’s troops [George B. McClellan].  I do not mean to say our soldiers are deficient in good morals generally, but simply to say our soldiers that in the presence of so many troops of all characters, the elements are stronger, and that society is much disturbed.  [paragraph break added by UWRF Archives]

I have not been down town to see any sights.  As it has been, and is, I am on duty two hours in every eighteen and we are Camped 4 miles North of town.  As soon as I can though I mean to get down and see some of the things of interest.  It was impossible to see anything the days of the 23rd and 24th even if we had the time.  We were fortunate that General Leggett had the curiosity the day of the Potomac boys march for we would not have had the chance to see them otherwise.  Cant’ tell you any more about our muster-out and I must go to my duty.

Until next time, I am your son,        .Edwin

Grand review of Sherman’s grand army, at Washington on May 24, 1865, looking up Pennsylvania Avenue from the Treasury Buildings, image from the Library of Congress¹

1.  “Grand review of the great veteran armies of Grant and Sherman at Washington, on the 23d and 24th May, 1865. Sherman’s grand army. Looking up Pennsylvania Ave. from the Treasury Buildings, during the passage of the “Red Star” Division,” by Mathew B. Brady (New York : E. & H. T. Anthony & Co., American and Foreign Stereoscopic Emporium, 501 Broadway, 1865 May). Albumen photographic print on stereo card, cropped by UWRF Archives for this blog post. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-stereo-1s02873 (digital file from original stereograph, front) LC-DIG-stereo-2s02873 (digital file from original stereograph, back) LC-USZ62-57018 (b&w film copy neg. of full stereo) LC-USZ62-107052 (b&w film copy neg. of half stereo, left side).

1865 May 6: The End Approaches—An Editorial

The following editorial on the end of the Civil War comes from the May 6, 1865, issue of The Polk County Press.  We continue with a few more articles from May 6 because we do not have issues of the Press for May 13, only from The Prescott Journal.

The End Approaches.

The end of treason draws near.  After four years of carnage, the fire created by “firing the Southern heart” has burnt itself to a bed of cold ashes, strewn over the broad field of battle, extending from the “Potomac to the Rio Grande.”  The armies of the Union remain masters of the situation.  They have marched against the ranks of treason in every Southern State.  They have bearded the lion in his den, and with victorious banners now occupy the entire strong ___ [fold in the newspaper obscures this word].

Where is the proud “Southern Confederacy” now ?  Its Capital is peopled by Uncle Sam’s children, and the bayonet of the loyal soldier—though a negro—shines brightly in the sun, as he marches proudly over the sacred soil of Virginia’s metropolis, enforcing law and order ;  its Cabinet officers are scattered to the four winds of Heaven ;  its armies are conquered, beaten and disbanded ;  its resources are wasted ;  its debt is unpaid ;  its leading men sent head-long into poverty, and its President, the vilest wretch of all the traitor crew, is a fugitive from justice—an outlaw, seeking with the craftiness of a thief to steal out of the land he has so long dishonored with his contaminating presence.

The vile wretch.  We fear after all that the gallows will get cheated of its due.

And where, O where ! is Toombs [Robert A. Toombs], and Cobb [Howell Cobb], and the other fellows who “fired the Southern heart ;” and that bloated pimp, Wigfall [Louis T. Wigfall], of Texas—the fire-eater and whiskey soaker ?  They too are running—evidently forgetting to hide in that “last ditch.”

And thus the boasted “Southern Confederacy,” whose corner stone was the poor despised negro’s back, has fallen to pieces, and Sambo is master now ;  for with the blue coat, and bright musket, he stands sentinel over the trator’s [sic] cities, and the traitor citizens are made to respect him as a loyal man.  In the language of a popular song,

“The whip am lost and the hand-cuff broken
… And the master’s got his pay,
He’s old enough, big ’nough, and oughter knowed better,
…Than to went and run’d away.¹

When we look over the events of the past four years, we can but wonder at the mighty results which have transpired.  From a peaceable and commercial people, we have been changed to a nation of warriors.—Great battles have been fought and won ;  cities have been destroyed, and the whole land deluged in blood.  The manicles [sic] of the slave have been stricken from his limbs, and he has gained his liberty forever more.  In the “mudsils” and “greasy mechanics” of the North have been found the elements of victory, and by their strong arms and stout hearts they have taught the rotten epithet flinging aristocracy of the South, that they are the true noblemen of the soil.  In the hearts of the loyal people the deep seated principle of universal Liberty has remained steadfast to the glorious end.  By the firmness and power of the Administration the Union has been preserved, the Constitution protected and upheld, and the Laws vindicated and enforced.

And now at the end of these four years of war and civil commotion, the curtain rises upon the last act—the fearful tragedy is ended in the assassination of ABRAHAM LINCOLN, the nation’s second Washington.

And the end approaches.  Peace, though laggard, will soon shine serenely over all, and “in the future as in the past” the country will remain one and indivisible.  God be praised.

1.  The last lines of a song entitled “Kingdom Coming.” The Library of Congress has two published versions of the song. The words are slightly different than the ones used here.

De whip am lost, hand-cuff broken;
….But old massa will hab his pay—
He’s old enough and big enough, and ought to known better,
….Than to went and run away.

De whip is lost, de han’-cuff broken,
….but de massa’ll hab his pay;
He’s ole enough, big enough, ought to known better,
….dan to went, an’ run away.

From the Library of Congress, American Memory

1865 April 29: Senator Doolittle on the In-coming President

The following speech by U. S. Senator from Wisconsin James R. Doolittle comes from the April 29, 1865, issue of The Prescott Journal.

THE NEW PRESIDENT.

His Antecedents and Character.

S p e e c h   o f   S e n a t o r   D o o l i t t l e.

(Made to the People of Racine at a Union meeting
held in the Presbyterian Church of that City,
on Sunday Evening, April 10th.)
.

James R. Doolittle, ca. 1860-65, from the Library of Congress¹

Friends, Neighbors and Fellow-Citizens :

Abraham Lincoln is dead.  He has fallen at the hand of an assassin.

His confidential adviser, the Secretary of State, has also been stabbed by an assassin, and, from some strange confusion in telegraphic reports, we do not know at this hour whether he is dead or alive.  [William H. Seward]

My soul is overwhelmed, and would sink utterly but that I know God lives, and our country is in His holy keeping.

To any other people than my own neighbors, I could not now open my mouth to speak at all.  And even to you, on this occasion, I will only answer such earnest inquiries as you have pressed upon me, and claim that I ought to answer.

And those questions do not concern President Lincoln nor Secretary Seward.  You all know their good and great qualities.  Though dead, they yet live ;  live in their writings, in their speeches, in their great deeds, and in the grandest event of history, in which they have been chief actors.  As in the revoluary [sic] period, in which our Republic was founded, George Washington was the great character and Hamilton was his confidential adviser ;  so when future generations shall read the history of this second revolutionary crisis, in which our Republic is now redeemed and regenerated from the curse of slavery, Abraham Lincoln will stand out the greatest man of the age, and William H. Seward will be associated with him, as Hamilton is with Washington, to the latest generation.

But it is not of them that you wish to hear, nor that I would speak to-night.

You ask me to speak of Andrew Johnson.

Andrew Johnson, ca. 1865, from the Library of Congress²

Who is he ?  what is he ?  and what will be his policy ?  And you insist that I shall give you, as a neighbor and a friend, what information I may have upon that most important subject.  I will answer you briefly, and from the best information I have.

He is, I think, a native of North Carolina.  He was an humble mechanic, a tailor by trade, and, it is said, received instructions in the first rudiments of education from his devoted wife.  He is a man of full medium stature, compact and strong-built, of dark complexion and deep set black eyes.  He is of bilious temperament, of strong intellect, indomitable energy and iron will, in whose character I should say, the strongest feature of all is that of stern justice, and a general hatred of all forms of aristocracy and oppression, and a patriotism so ardent that it amounts to a passion—almost a religion.  He was the real author of the homestead law, although it did not pass both houses until after the rebellion began.  On account of his determined and constant support of that measure of the people, and which, of itself, would bar slavery out of all the new territories, the aristocratic slaveholders of the South—Mason [James M. Mason], Slidell [John Slidell], Toombs [Robert A. Toombs], Davis [Jefferson Davis], and the like—long before the rebellion, hated him with a perfect hatred.

I have occasion to know now much he reciprocated their feelings toward him, for when I was occasionally, as a young Senator, engaged in controversy with them, he always took great pleasure in referring me to the necessary documents to enable me successfully to controvert them.

But, you ask me, is he a sober man ?  Such was certainly his character during all the time he was in the Senate of the United States.  My best impression is that he did not drink at all at that time.  After his leaving the Senate to go to Tennessee as a Brigadier General to act as military governor, I, of course, do not know whether he did or did not, like a great many of the officers in the army, indulge in drinking.  I am informed that when he left Tennessee to come on to Washington to attend the inauguration, he was just recovering from severe illness.  That he came upon most urgent solicitation, against his own preferences.  That he was sustained and kept up more or less by stimulants prescribed and recommended by his physician.  On the day of his inauguration, what occurred then has given rise to a thousand criticisms and apprehensions.  I shall not go farther into that than to say, I saw him several times afterwards and before I left Washington, at the house of Mr. Francis P. Blair, where he was staying by invitation in company with the Hon. Preston King³ of New York and I found him recovering from his illness and, so far as I could judge in all respects, as he was in the Senate.

I do not believe that Andrew Johnson, who always lived a temperate and upright life until past fifty years of age, now that the great responsibilities of the Presidency are thrown upon him, can or will permit himself to indulge in the use of intoxicating drinks, and thus endanger that Republic for which he has done and suffered so much, and for which he would willingly lay down his life. I would sooner believe that he would forswear all intoxications whatsoever.

But you ask me again what policy will he pursue ?

As to the re-construction question, he will undoubtedly pursue the same policy of Mr. Lincoln.  In his address, when inaugurated, speaking of the States, he said, “They are not dead, but sleeping.”  He is fully committed in favor of the reorganized free states of Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana.  As to this affair of Gen. Weitzel [Godfrey Weitzel] in Virginia he has not spoken, and  of course I cannot assume to speak for him.

But what course will he pursue toward the traitors ?  We can only judge by his record early in the rebellion, during the last days of Buchanan’s administration [James Buchanan].  On the 2d of March, 1861, in a speech, in reply to Lane [Joseph Lane], of Oregon, speaking of the firing upon the Star of the West, and seizure of our arsenals, docks, forts and navy yards, he used the following memorable language :

“Show me who has been engaged in these conspiracies, who has given instructions to take our forts and custom houses, our arsenals and dock yards, and I will show you a traitor.”  (Applause in the galleries.  When order was restored, he conclude.)  “WERE I PRESIDENT of the United States, I would  so as Thomas Jefferson did, In 1800 , with Aaron Burr.  I would have them arrested, and if convicted within the meaning and scope of the constitution, BY THE ETERNAL GOD I WOULD EXECUTE THEM.”

He is now President.  Has anything since occurred to make him repent that solemn oath, or change his stern resolve ?

His wife and children have been captured by rebels, and are suffering all but death.—His property has been confiscated by them ;  his sons imprisoned ;  his neighbors and friends shot—murdered in cold blood—hung, gibbetted⁴ for no offense but that of loyalty to the United States Government.  I see nothing in all this calculated to change his convictions or his purpose.  On the other hand, in his speech upon the fall of Richmond and Lee’s surrender [Robert E. Lee], while most others in the delirium of joy and exultation over our success and of the approach of peace, spoke of amnesty, he alone did not forget the stern demands of justice ;  he is made of sterner stuff.  Upon this subject he said this :  “The halter to intelligent, influential traitors.  To the honest boy, the deluded man, who has been deceived into the rebel ranks, I would extend leniency.  I would say, renew your support to the Government, and become a good citizen ;  and the leaders I would hang.”

And now, after the culmination of all the wickedness of rebellion in the assassination of the President and the Secretary of State, as he lifts his hand by the dead body of the President to repeat the solemn oath administered by the Chief Justice, I see nothing to change his convictions.  When he uttered those words :  “The duties are mine ;  I will perform them, trusting in God,” I think I see the same patriotic indignation beaming from his deep black eyes, and lighting up that iron face, which I saw four years ago, when he uttered, in the Senate, those words, now so terrible to traitors :  “BY THE ETERNAL GOD I WOULD EXECUTE THEM !”

In this respect, I think Mr. Johnson’s administration may differ from that of Mr. Lincoln.

Mr. Lincoln would have dealt with the rebels as an indulgent father deals with erring children.  Mr. Johnson will deal with them more like a stern and incorruptible judge.  Thus, in a moment, the sceptre of power has passed from a hand of flesh to a hand of iron.

How strangely overruled have all things been to destroy slavery and the aristocracy founded upon it.  Its maddened fanatical leaders made war upon the government to regain political power.  That power has been utterly destroyed.  They made war to extend and strengthen slavery.  The war has destroyed it and set free every slave.

And now, by madly wreaking vengeance upon the head of the great, generous, magnanimous Lincoln, who, in the overflowing goodness of his heart, was just ready to issue a proclamation of amnesty to save them ;  they have put the necks of their leaders into a halter, with no power to save but in the clemency of one sternly just, who, four years ago, declared in the most solemn form that, if President, he would execute them, and whose subsequent career and experience have all tended to strengthen rather than weaken that resolution.

Knowing them both as I do, I have said to Mr. Lincoln, be strong of heart and of good courage.  Justice demands the punishment of the great criminals.

To Mr. Johnson I would say, While administering justice remember mercy.

I have thus, my friends, very hastily, but without reserve, given you an answer to your earnest inquiries.

Of course I speak by no authority, and merely from first impressions, rather as a matter of duty to you, as a neighbor and friend, having had some greater and better opportunities for personally knowing the man upon whom, by this terrible calamity, the great office of President has been thrown in these troublous times.

1.  “Doolittle, Hon. James R. of Wisc. 36th Senate,” digital image from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
2.  “Andrew Johnson,” digital image from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
3.  Preston King (1806-1865) was a lawyer and politician from New York. He was a member of the New York State Assembly (1835-38), a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York (1843-47 and 1849-53), and a U.S. senator from New York (1857-63). He served as White House Chief of Staff during the early days of the Johnson Administration. On August 14, 1865, King was appointed Collector of the Port of New York, in an effort to eliminate corruption in the Port of New York and to heal divisions within the Republican Party. Despairing of success, King committed suicide on November 13, 1865.
4.  Publicly executed.

 

 

 

1865 April 29: The National Calamity—Funeral of President Lincoln in Washington, D.C.

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.

1865 April 22: President Lincoln Assassinated—A Nation Mourns

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. }

To Major Gen. Dix [John A. Dix] :

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).

1865 April 15: Battles of White Oak Road, Dinwiddie Court House, Five Forks, and Third Petersburg

The Prescott Journal ran a lengthy article on the early battles of the Appomattox Campaign in its April 15, 1865, issue.  This is the first half of the article; the second portion will be posted tomorrow.

Overview of Appomattox Campaign
Wednesday	March 29	Battle of Lewis’s Farm
Friday	March 31	Battle of White Oak Road¹; Battle of Dinwiddie Court House
Saturday	April 1	Battle of Five Forks
Sunday	April 2	3rd Battle of/Fall of Petersburg; Battle of Sutherland’s Station
Monday	April 3	Battle of Namozine Church
Wednesday	April 5	Battle of Amelia Springs (5-6)
Thursday	April 6	Battle of Rice’s Station; Battle of Sailor’s (Sayler’s) Creek
Friday	April 7	Battle of High Bridge; Battle of Cumberland Church
Saturday	April 8	Battle of Appomattox Station
Sunday	April 9	Battle of Appomattox Court House and surrender of Lee
.

[Battle of White Oak Road]

NEW YORK, April 3.

The Tribune’s specials give the following account of Friday’s fighting:

“At day break a movement was made to secure a position to advance upon the enemy, covering the White Oak road, the object being to possess that road, which intersects the Clairborne road leading to the South Side R. R.  At 8 o’clock Ayres’ division [Romeyn B. Ayres], supported by Crawford’s [Samuel W. Crawford] and Gibbon’s [John Gibbon], advanced and immediately met resistance from the rebel skirmishers, who were pushed back within a mile of the White Oak road.  At this junction the enemy massed and with their usual yell charged.

“At one o’clock Miles’ division [Nelson Miles] was ordered to strike the enemy on the left flank, while the fifth corps again essayed to get possession of the White Oak road, by advancing simultaneously.  The 5th corps moved upon the enemy, who stubbornly held his ground for some time, when rapid volleys from the right and the loud cheer of the successful issue of Miles’ attack on the rebel flank as he rolled up the enemy’s line, now broken, routed and falling back, incontinently followed by Warren’s 5th corps [Gouverneur K. Warren], which was soon in possession of the coveted road.

“The field showed on every hand traces of sanguinary conflict.  Huge pines were cut down by shot and the ground over which Miles swept down en echelon on the enemy’s flank was covered with rebel dead.

“While this was going on, heavy skirmishing was taking place on our lines as far as Hatcher’s Run and our troops in that direction were advanced several hundred yards and entrenched, while the sharp shooters were engaged silencing the rebel battery.”

[Battle of Dinwiddie Court House]

Of the cavalry fight on Friday the Times‘ special says:

“At one o’clock P. M. Smith’s brigade of Crook’s division resting on Stony Creek, was west of Dunwiddie C. H., supported by Gregg, Davies and Fitzhugh’s brigades, the latter facing west and covering a place near Stony Creek, where five roads come together, known as the ‘five forks,’ held by the enemy, and which we tried to take the day before but did not for obvious reasons.  Stagg’s Michigan brigade was in position on Gravelly Branch, and a portion of Gibbs’ brigade was in reserve.  [Charles H. Smith, George R. Crook, J. Irvin Gregg, Henry E. Davies, Jr., Charles L. Fitzhugh, Peter Stagg, and Alfred Gibbs]

“At 6 P.M. the enemy attacked Smith in considerable force, but unsuccessfully.  An hour later Maj Robbins [Walter R. Robbins], of Davies Brigade, holding the bridge over Stony Creek, with a battalion of the New Jersey 1st, was attacked and driven slowly back to their brigade.  At this juncture the enemy moved three columns across the creek at three points, and at once with superior numbers, was enabled to flank Davies’ brigade, after a stubborn fight with the advancing column in front.

“Other commands at once changed their respective positions to meet the change of affairs.  The fight continued until about 5 o’clock, P. M., at which time the enemy had cut off Deveno, with Smith and Fitz Hugh’s [sic] brigades, and forced them back in a northeasrerly [sic] direction to the Boydtown plank road, a little east of north from Dunwiddie, and on which this portion of the command, during the evening moved to that place.

“Gibbs’ brigade for a long time held its position, and made two successful charges, in one of which the 1st United States, Capt. Lord [Richard S. C. Lord], and the 1st Pennsylvania, drive the enemy’s strong line of infantry, and captured about 100 men. During this charge, several hundred of the rebels threw down their arms, and attempted to rush into our lines.  Unfortunately, the movement was not generally opened into them.  This caused a hesitation, long enough for their officers to cover them with fire from the rear.”

“When Custar [sic: George A. Custer] went to the scene of action, the wildest excitement prevailed.  Capehart [Charles E. Capehart] had his brigade on the left, and Pennington [Alexander C. M. Pennington] on the right, and before anything to fight behind could be put up, the enemy came swarming out of the woods, as if confident of demolishing everything before them.  Custar [sic] and his men were received with cheers.  He instantly set Capehart’s bands to playing ‘Hail Columbia,’ and other patriotic pieces.  This revived the spirits of all present, and the music brought forth cheers from thousands of wearied men.

“As the enemy opened upon the line, Gens. Sheridan [Philip H. Sheridan] and Custar [sic] with their staff officers rode along the line with their respective colors displayed.  This demonstration elicited renewed enthusiasm along the whole line, and by the time this was over a heavy fire had been opened with artillery accompanied by Lord and Woodford’s guns. The enemy charged several times and were repulsed with great slaughter.”

“Capehart saw one of his regiments, the 1st Virginia, dashing off, not having given the order, he followed, and found Gen. Merritt [Wesley Merritt] and Col. Forsyth [James W. Forsyth] of Sheridan’s staff, and others at the head of the regiment.  The enemy fell back hastily before these troops, and did not attempt to again force our line.

“The result of Friday’s fighting, says the Times‘ correspondent, was, we swung the left round three miles north of the Boydtown plank road, leaving between it and the South Side railroad but a single line of breastworks thrown up.  We have captured about a 1,000 prisoners, and our own loss is not over 2,000 in aggregate.  enemy suffered much more heavily and their forces were becoming demoralized very rapidly in the evening, and he could not be induced to make another charge on the 5th corps’ front, although they had fought desperately early in the day.”

HEAD QUARTERS POTOMAC ARMY, April 1.

The greater portion of this army has not been engaged with the enemy to-day.  The time has been occupied in erecting works on the new line, and repairing the roads connecting the different corps.  The late rains had rendered it almost impossible to move the wagon trains as fast as the troops advanced.  One train took 48 hours to move 5 miles, with the assistance of 10,000 men, but through the untiring industry and perseverance of the officers in charge of the quartermaster and commissary departments, the army has been as well supplied as when in the old quarters.

When the news of Sheridan’s repulse reached here last night, a part of the 5th corps was at once despatched to his aid, and it is expected that to-night or in the morning we shall receive good news from that quarter.  It appears that Sheridan was moving on the road leading to a place called the “Five Forks,” about three miles from the South Side railroad, where two cavalry brigades of Picket’s division, which had been moved out in a great hurry, came down on a road running from Sutherland Station.  As Sheridan’s cavalry had most of them passed the junction, the movement of the enemy threatened to cut him off.  He, however, discovered his danger in time to get his command back, with only a slight loss, at the same time taking 100 prisoners.  Both the Lees were spectators, but one of them kept a respectful distance.

On being reinforced this morning by the 5th Corps, the enemy fell back so rapidly that their dead and many of their wounded fell into our hands, as well as those of our won that were unavoidably left behind yesterday afternoon.  The attack made on the enemy’s line in front of the 24th Corps was by Foster’s division, and about 200 prisoners were brought in, the 148th New York taking most of them.  Some 300 or 400 yards of ground was taken from our picket lines.  At 4. M. this morning this position was assaulted and a few of our men captured, but in a very short time it was retaken, with about 60 prisoners and a stand of colors.  Our losses up to the present time will not exceed 2,500, while that of the enemy in some parts of the line at least was greater than our own, but of course the total cannot be given.

NEW YORK, April 4.

Of Saturday’s operations, the Tribune‘s correspondence says :

“At 7 A. M. the 5th Corps was again in motion, passing by the left along White Oak road to join Sheridan, executing the difficult movement of marching by flank in the presence of the enemy, withdrawing divisions in the rear of each other and marching them off successively from right to left, the left division (Crawford’s) executing some movements by brigade.

“While this was taking place, the 2d Corps moved toward White Oak road by a more direct route, and established connection with the right of the 5th Corps.

“Meanwhile Sheridan with four divisions, passing around the left of the whole army, went through Dinwiddle C. H., toward the South Side Railroad, with his usual rapidity.  The force which drove Crawford and Ayres across Gravelly Run, however, at once turned their attention to him, moving rapidly to the right, and after a desperate conflict he also was forced back within a mile of Dinwiddle C. H., but soon, joined by Warren’s corps, he again took the offensive, and in turn drove the enemy, captured a position know as ‘Five Forks’ together with about 4000 prisoners and several batteries of artillery.

“He was then joined by Miles’ division of the 2d corps and pushed westward for the Southside railroad.  This he soon reached and took position upon it.  The 5th corps, supporting cavalry also took 15 guns and about 2000 prisoners, enabling Sheridan to drive back the force which on Friday afternoon checked his advance near Dinwiddle Court House.

“On receiving this news, it was determined to give the enemy no time to send troops to the right, and at once a simultaneous attack was ordered along the lines, by the 9th, 6th, 24th and 2d corps.  An order was given about 9 0’clock at night, and in less than an hour a furious battle began on the rebel entrenchments in front.  Three several charges, resulted in the enemy’s being driven in from their front into their second line of works, with the loss of over 5,000 prisoners, several forts, and about 20 pieces of artillery.

“The 2d corps were engaged all day in their front, and in spite of the terrible fire of musketry poured into their ranks behind their works, succeeded in maintaining their new lines several hundred yards in advance of the line they occupied in the morning.

“The 24th corps occupied the center of our line, its left connecting with the 2d at Hatcher’s Run and its right going tot eh left of the 6th corps.  Before daylight Sunday morning the rebels made a furious assault on the position of this line, driving a portion of the 3d brigade from their breast works and capturing about 100.  Their success however did not last long, the 20th Pennsylvania by a gallant charge driving them beyond their first battle line.

“A sharp fire was kept up all day by both sides.  Owing to the hot fire by our sharp shooters the enemy was unable to work his guns, consequently very few casualties occurred to our side from shells.  Our boys however rained incessant fire into their intrenchments.

“There was little fighting in front of the 6th Corps till night, when considerably shelling occurred.  Quiet also reigned in front of the 9th Corps.

“So matters stood until 10 o’clock, when the 2d Corps was startled into a sharper attention by a few shots on their front swelling into rattling volleys.  The boys joined in the clamor, firing spread rapidly to the front of the 24th Corps and on to the 6th, thence away till it reached the 9th about 11 o’clock, at which time the fighting was at its height.

“Presently cheers broke out on the front of the 2d as the fire slackened.  By 2:30 the fire had nearly ceased along the whole line, but at 4 in the morning it suddenly broke out again nearer than ever to the 2d Corps, while sharp artillery practice was heard far to the right, and again the crash of battle spread from end to end of the line.

“At 6 o’clock the battle was raging fiercely, but our colors are advancing all along the line.”

The World‘s correspondence recounts the attack on the Petersburg defences :

“It was to take place on Friday morning at 4 o’clock, but the failure on the left was doubtless the cause of the postponement.  The plan of this last phase of the action was ties :  Gen. Grant [Ulysses S. Grant] on reception of the news of Sheridan’s victory at ‘Five Forks,’ immediately despatched couriers in conjunction with the telegraph leading to his headquarters, to each of the corps commanders, directing them, without loss of time, to open with both artillery and infantry upon the works of Petersburg.

“Sheridan, it will be remembered, attained his success by half-past seven Saturday night.  At nine Grant heard of it, and before ten our columns had passed the picket line and were on their way to the rebel intrenchments—Parke on the right [John G. Parke], Wright in the centre [Horatio G. Wright], and Ord on the left [Edward O.C. Ord]—marched almost at the same instant.

“The 6th, Wright’s, was arrayed in line of battle, and without ceremony they threw themselves en masse into the ditch and up the parapet.  The contest was short, terrible and desperate.  Hand to hand conflict occurred.  The deadly bayonet lunge, the impulsive and fitful clashes of musket, the crossing of awards, the valley now and then, when our men poured an enfilading fire down the inside of the parapet, the yells and groans, the galloping of couriers to and fro from end to end of the lines.  In places the ditches were heaped with living and dying combatants, tumbled together promiscuously, but every now and then Northern cheers told how the conflict went on each side of the 6th corps.

“The scene was the same opposite Fort Hell.  The rebels had a fort called Fort Heaven, at which they fought like Satan’s legions.”

[Battle of Five Forks]

The World has a graphic account of Sheridan’s battle of “Five Forks,” which was the turning point in the great conflict and which under Sheridan’s generalship will take rank with anything on record.  It appears that Grant was not satisfied with the day’s business on Friday and placed Sheridan in supreme command of the whole of Warren’s corps and all the cavalry.  Sheridan at once maneuvered with his cavalry, dismounting a portion in front of the rebels and gradually pressed them back into their works under the most terrific fighting of the war.  While this was being done, and done slowly by order, Sheridan set about forming the infantry, showing the same genius of infantry tactics that he has in cavalry.  It was marvelous to see so paltry a force of cavalry press back and hold in check 16,000 rebel infantry.  Still they did it, and in such an manner as to completely hide the movement of our infantry.  They were driven back step by step into their works.  Then the signal was given and the infantry closed on the works like a huge barn door.  The rebels saw their situation but did not appear to appreciate how desperate were their circumstances.  They fell back to the left only to see four close lines of battle waiting to drive them across the field.  At the right horsemen charged them in their vain attempt to fight out, and in their rear foot and cavalry began to assemble.  Slant-fire, cross-fire and direct fire by file and volley, rolled perpetually, cutting down upon them, slashing and trampling them into confusion.  They had no commanders to lead them out of the toils onto which they had fallen.  A few more vollies, a new charge, a command to “die or surrender,” and 5,000 men are Sheridan’s prisoners.  Those escaping were pursed by the fiery Custer, and they were pressed far into the desolate forest.

The Herald’s Washington special says a dispatch dated Spottswood House, Richmond, 8 P. M. Monday, says but little property was destroyed by fire, which was confined mainly to tobacco warehouses.  The receallption of the union troops was enthusiastic beyond all expectation, proving that there were large numbers of Unionists in the city.  Many Union flags were displayed yesterday on the anniversary of Grant’s taking command of the army in person at Culpepper [sic] C. H., Va.

.
[Third Battle of Petersburg]

HEADQUARTER POTOMAC ARMY, April 2.

The most important victory the Army of the Potomac has gained in Virginia was won to-day, and the outer-breastworks, which we have been trying in vain for months to overcome, has at last yielded to our victorious arms, and a greater portion of this army are to-night within a mile and a half of the city on the south-west side.  The struggle made by the enemy to retain there works has been of the most desperate character, and for the success obtained to-day we are indebted, not only to the strategy exercised by the commanders, but to the overwhelming numbers and bravery of the troops that did the work.

The orders for an attack on the line cast and south of Petersburg, by the 6th and 9th corps, were carried out punctually at daylight, the artillery having been hammering away the greater part of the night along the entire line held by the above corps.  Such a furious cannonade has very seldom been heard during the war, not even surpassed by that by which was heard on the occasion of the mine explosion in front of Petersburg.

The 9th corps troops engaged in action were the 2d and 3d divisions and Col. Sam. Harriman’s (37th Wisconsin) brigade of the 1st division.  The charge was made in front of forts Hell and Rice, on the Jerusalem road, and were so far successful by 8 o’clock A. M. we were in possession of those fortifications, fort [sic] Mahone being the most elaborate and extensive.  The works contained fourteen guns, some of which were at once opened on the enemy by men from our infantry regiments.  Just inside and about one hundred yards from Fort Mahone was another work to which the rebels retreated, and from which they threw a most destructive fire upon our men, causing them to retire from the forts, when the rebels made a dash thinking to recover it entirely, but the guns on the right wing as well as in the center had been manned and shotted and to the assailants were driven back.

From this time till late in the afternoon, the struggle continued, the enemy making every effort to recover, while our men were as determined to retain possession.

About noon, the chances seemed that we should lose it, but soon after the Provisional Brigade, under Gen. Callis [sic],³ (formerly of the 7th Wisconsin,) the Engineer Brigade, under Gen. Benham [Henry W. Benham], with Gen. Hamlin’s [sic] Brigade, of the 6th Corps, came on the ground, and by their timely aid saved the gallant men in the fort from capture, and again caused the enemy to retire.  The fire which rained on the ground and around the fort was of the most terrible and fearful character, and at dark the position of the contestants was the same as during the day.

Gen. Wilcox, with part of his division, made an attack in front of Fort McGilvery, near the Appomatox [sic], and took part of the line, but was soon after forced to retire to his former position owing to lack of supports.  The loss of the 9th corps will reach from 800 to 1,000 in killed, wounded, and prisoners, among whom are General Potter [Robert B. Potter], commanding the 8th division, who is badly wounded in the groin, but not fatally, it is thought.  This corps has taken 14 guns, about 200 prisoners and 2 battle flags.  The latter were taken by the 211th Pa.

The 6th corps struck the enemy’s line in front near the celebrated lead works, and carried them with very slight loss.  They at once pushed for the South Side road, which they reached about 9 o’clock, and in a very short time several miles of it were torn up and destroyed.  They then moved on down towards Petersburg, driving the rebels before them across Town run, and into their inner line close to the city.  They took a large number of prisoners, about 2000, and some 20 guns.

No attack on the inner line has been made as yet, as the position is a strong one, and will either be defended to the last or evacuated during the night.

The 9th Corps, holding the line north of Hatcher’s Run and south of the Duncan road, connecting with the 6th Corps on the right, and the 2d on the left, advanced at daylight and took the works in their front with slight loss.  Over 1,000 prisoners were captured here by Foster’s [Robert S. Foster] and Turner’s [John W. Turner] divisions, under Gen. Gibbons [sic]. They were supported by the Colored Division of the 25th Corps, bu the latter did not get into action.

The 2d corps, who held this run, a mile and a half east of the Boydtown road and over a mile west of it, delayed advancing road until Sheridan, with the 5th corps, go within supporting distance on the extreme left, when the entire line moved forward, carrying the works almost without opposition.  The enemy was found to have fallen back from this part of the line, owing tot he 6th corps cutting them off, they having reached the South side road early in the forenoon and were busy tearing it up.

This, of course, cut the rebel army in two, and two divisions thus caught between the 6th and 2d corps at once started across the south side road, toward the Appottomax [sic], hoping to be able to ford it and thus escape capture, but it appears they ran against Sheridan, and putting on a bold appearance made a show to fight.  News to this effect reaching headquarters, two divisions of the 2d corps were at once sent to flank, and if possible capture the entire command.

Our losses during the day cannot be given, but is believed 2,000 will cover them.  Many valuable officers are among the number, whose names, however, are not obtainable to-night.

Our captures will sum up about 9,000 prisoners and 38 guns, including those taken by Gen. Sheridan yesterday.  The loss of the enemy in killed and wounded is not estimated, but in front of the 9th corps they lie on the ground very thick.  They were mown down by the hundred at each effort to regain lost ground.  Gen. Ransom [Matt W. Ransom] is badly wounded and a prisoner in our hands.  He was found at a house on the Boydtown road, from which it was dangerous to move him.  Gen. A. P Hill is reported killed by prisoners.

WASHINGTON, April 4.

All Sunday night, before evacuating Richmond, the rebels blew up their forts and rams in the James.  There is a good authority for the statement that the rebel prisoners taken by Grant’s army will amount to 20,000.  During Sunday night, the rebels fired and blew up buildings in and around Petersbug.

A passenger from City Point who left there early yesterday morning, says that late Sunday night our men commenced laying a railroad track from Pitkin’s Station to Petersburg, a distance of three miles, and also began throwing bridges over the river, the former ones having been destroyed,  The work now in progress will establish the complete line ten miles from City Point to Petersburg.  Only a few hours are required to establish telegraphic communication with all points.

Very little property was destroyed by the rebels in Petersburg, who, during Sunday night, made a hasty retreat.  It was supposed there that Lee was endeavoring to escape by way of the Danville Railroad, and a portion of our army was following in that direction.  Correspondence from City Point states that Lee has divided the remnant of his army, and is retreating in two small columns.  Our prisoners at noon, yesterday, exceeded 25,000.  The rebel destruction of property, on their retreat, utterly beggars description.  Stragglers and deseerters are even in excess of what was anticipated.

1.  Also known as the Battle of Hatcher’s Run, Gravelly Run, Boydton Plank Road, and White Oak Ridge.
2.  “Battle of Five Forks, Va.—Charge of Genl. Sheridan April 1st 1865.” This digital image is from an original 1886 Kurz & Allison print, available at the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. The UWRF University Archives & Area Research Center has in its Special Collections a copy of Battles of the Civil War: The Complete Kurz & Allison Prints, 1861-1865, Birmingham, Ala.: Oxmoor House, 1976 (Oversized E 468.7 .B3 1976), which includes a copy of this print.
3.  The Journal is mistaking General Collis for John B. Callis, from Lancaster, Wisconsin. Callis was captain of Company F, 7th Wisconsin Infantry; promoted to major of the 7th (January 1863); promoted lieutenant colonel of the 7th (March 1863); wounded at Gettysburg; resigned December 1863 because of his wound; and appointed lieutenant colonel V.R.C. (February 1865). Callis was never a general.

1865 March 11: Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address — “With malice toward none, with charity for all”

Unlike today, in the 1860s the president took office in early March.  President Abraham Lincoln’s second inauguration was on March 4, 1865, and he gave his inaugural address from the steps of the nearly-completed U.S. Capitol building.  His address appeared in The Polk County Press of March 11, 1865.  Editor Sam Fifield wrote a short editorial about the speech, which we transcribe first as an introduction.  As usual, the speech as printed in the Press has small differences from what as become the standard version—extra punctuation and paragraph breaks, plus a very few words missing or changed.

Lincoln’s inaugural speech also appeared in The Prescott Journal, one week later in its March 18, 1865, issue.  The Journal added a paragraph before and after the speech, which we put here at the end.

The Inaugural Message.

President LINCOLN’s second inaugural message will be found in our columns to-day.  It will be recognized by the people of to-day, and by history forever, as the wise and thoughtful utterance of an eminently conscientious ruler.

The nation has a conscience, residing wherever among the people, love to God and man, and hatred of oppression and wrong, reside.  To the sentiments of the message, this uncorrupted national conscience will respond heartily, amen !  Those whose hearts rankle with malignity at the prospects of the elevation and enfranshisement of an oppressed and suffering race, will denounce the large hearted philanthropy of the message as “abolition twaddle.”

Those who, being of a christian people, and living in the moral atmosphere of christendom, yet regard christianity as a humbug, useful for amusing the masses, but especially out of place in State relations, will characterize the religious expressions of the message as “pious cant” ill becoming the office and the occasion.  But the people, the honest God-fearing ones, will see in this document, that the honest God-fearing heart of the man of their choice, and will say spontaneously “may God bless ABRAHAM LINCOLN !”

Chief Justice Chase [Salmon P. Chase] administered the oath of office on the eastern portico, where the President delivered his inaugural address.

The inaugural ceremonies were grand, notwithstanding the rain, and mud that prevailed.

Abraham Lincoln delivering his second inaugural address, March 4, 1865, from the Library of Congress¹

The President’s Second Inaugural.

WASHINGTON, March 4,—the following is the President’s message :

Cropped close-up of Lincoln giving his inaugural address, from the Library of Congress¹

FELLOW COUNTRYMEN :—At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first.  Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper ;  now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented.

The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all.  With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured on the occasion corresponding to this four years ago.  All thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war ;  all dreaded it ;  all sought to avoid it.  While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war ;  seeking to dissolve the Union and divide the effects by negotiation.  Both parties deprecated war ;  but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish.  So the war came.

One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it.—These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest.  All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war.  To strengthen, perpetuate and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war.  While the government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it, neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained ;  neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease, or even before the conflict itself should cease, each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding ;  both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other.

It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us ‘judge not, that we be not judged.’

The prayers of both should not be answered—that of neither has been answered fully.

The Almighty has His own purpose—“woe unto the world because of offences, for it must needs be that offences come, but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh.”

If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offences which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that he gives to both North and South this terrible war as the “woe due to those by whom the offence came,” shall we discern there is any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always attribute to him ?

Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away ;  yet if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsmen’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and until every drop of blood “drawn with the lash shall be by another drawn with the sword,” as was said three thousand years ago,—so still it must be said “the judgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”  With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, and care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

From The Prescott Journal:

The inauguration took place at noon to-day.  There was a large concourse of people to witness the ceremony, though rain was falling and the streets almost impassable from mud.  The procession escorting the President elect reached the Capitol at about 11:45 A. M.  Chief Justice Chase administered the oath of office on the eastern portico of the Capitol, where the President delivered his address.  There was a very large attendance, and the scene was one of marked interest.

After the Inauguration of the President that of the Vice President [Andrew Johnson] took place in the Senate chamber, where he delivered an eloquent address.  The floor of the Senate chamber was crowded to its utmost by Senators, Members elect and Ex-members of Congress, Justices of the Supreme Court, army and naval officers, foreign ministers in full dress, governors of states and territories, all the members of the cabinet and other distinguished personages.  The President entered the Senate Chamber after the Vice President had delivered his address, and while the retiring Vice President was administering to him the oath to support and defend the Constitution, and also the oath of allegiance.  The galleries were densely filled.  Thousands of strangers came hither to-day to witness the ceremonies.  To-night the Executive Mansion was thrown open for a public reception.  The pressure was immense.

1.  “[Abraham Lincoln delivering his second inaugural address as President of the United States, Washington, D.C.],” Alexander Gardner, photographer. A digital copy is available from the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. LC-DIG-ppmsca-23718 (digital file from original) LC-USZ62-1676 (b&w film copy neg.) LC-USZ6-83 (b&w film copy neg.)

1865 February 25: Charleston Evacuated: “The egg of cockatrice has been crushed in its nest”

The following editorial from the St. Paul Daily Press was reprinted by The Prescott Journal in its February 25, 1865, issue.

THE WAR.

CHARLESTON EVACUATED.

(From the St. Paul Daily Press.)

Charleston, S.C., the Mills House, with Adjacent Ruins, 1865³

Charleston is evacuated.  The egg of cockatrice¹ has been crushed in its nest.  Not quite four years ago, on the 12th day of April, 1861, the same city of  Charleston fired the signal gun of the slaveholder’s rebellion—set the match to the train of revolutionary elements she had been preparing for thirty years.

Charleston was drunk with joyous exultation then ;  champagne  flowed in torrents ;  the bells rang ;  ladies waved handkerchiefs ;  people cheered ;  it was glorious.  She had put forth her mailed² hand, and at a single blow, struck down the National authority in eleven Southern States.  And it was so easily done !

Not quite four years have passed ;  the champagne has not flowed so cheerily ;  the bells have not rung so merrily since then.  It was not done so easily after all !  Hundreds of thousands of Southern men and boys have perished in atonement for that act of mad ambition.  Every Southern household has been draped in mourning.  Nearly all her towns are in ruins. Her fields are desolated.  Her wealth is ashes.  Her people are fugitives and vagabonds on the face of earth.  Woe and horror have settled in a thick cloud over every Southern home.  And slowly, day by day and hour by hour, the nursed vengeance of the nation has been creeping through the blackened heavens and the war-blasted earth towards the cradle of the rebellion, as if reserving it a terrific catastrophe of retribution, commensurate in its awful proportions with the gigantic crime of which the doomed city had been guilty, and the fearful horror she had caused.

She boasted that she was going to make a Saragossa defense, and we inwardly thanked God for the obstinacy that justified the razing her in fire from the face of the earth.  We were going to honor her overmuch.  The result has proved that she was not equal to the occasion.  She has no ambition for the martyr’s crown, except in figures of speech.

The thunderbolt fell indeed, but she dodged it.  Fire and brimstone were ready to burst upon her—and she evacuated.  The sublime expiation, of a hero  death were something too good for this traitor city.  Her name is to go down to posterity with no such glorious epic famous Troy or Saragossa, but linked with derision and shame to the latest generation, as the Bob Acres⁴ of the Rebellion.

Chainmail glove

1.  A cockatrice is a medieval mythical beast that looks like a two-legged dragon with a rooster’s head.
2.  Chainmail armour.
3.  [Charleston, S.C. The Mills House, with adjacent ruins], George N. Barnard, photographer, April 1865. From the Photographs and Prints Division, Library of Congress.
4.  Bob Acres is a character in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s play The Rivals. Acres was a coward, whose “courage always oozed out at his finger ends.”