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.
The following editorial on the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution comes from the February 25, 1865, issue of The Prescott Journal.
The Amendment.
The passage by Congress of the amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting slavery in the United States, except for the crime, is a triumph of all that is noble in our Government over all that is disloyal and base. It marks a new era in the life of the Nation, or more correctly speaking, a return to the principles upon which the Government was based. This act is not so much an amendment to the Constitution, as it is an authoritative exposition of its true meaning and intent.
Every man who has ever read the debates of the Convention which adopted the Constitution of the United States, knows that it was the universal belief and the almost universal desire that Slavery—a noxious plant grafted upon colonial soil by European greed—would soon die out under the benign influence of its freedom-breathing spirit. For this reason, some little concessions were made to it, but all mention of the word was carefully excluded, and the Constitution wisely and purposely so framed and worded that slavery might pass away and there would be nothing in our organic law to tell that it ever existed—it should leave no trace or stain to mar the beauty or impugn the juice of our National law.
But slavery proved peculiarly profitable in some of the states. Contrary to public expectation, it grew in strength and its advocates became arrogant as it grew strong.
It is not necessary to trace its progress—how it gradually assumed the control and dictated the policy of the Government, until it became a monster of collosal [sic] proportions—a blot upon our fame—a disgrace to our civilization—a reproach to our christianity [sic]—a libel upon our professions—a distorter of our peace—a traitor to our Government.
But it was strong. Twelve years ago you could count on your fingers the men in public life who dared openly and boldly resist its encroachments. Good men prayed for its overthrow, and the mass of the North saw its evil, but it was so hedged about with enactments, an entrenched behind statutes, that no way for its extinction seemed open. Honorable, law-abiding men could see no hope, except as the long train of years might bring noblet principles into practice, and slowly obliterate the evil.
To-day what a change from four years ago ! The National Capitol no longer holds a slave. Maryland and Missouri have joined the fair sisterhood of Free States. Kentucky longs to be delivered from the curse which has enslaved her. The great apostle of Free Soil sits Chief Justice in our highest court, and an American Congress has solemnly resolved that slavery shall die.
It is a proud thing to live in such a day, when the principles of our Government are potent realities instead of “glittering generalities.”
Henceforth no American need blush for the shame of slavery. It may linger for a while ; the amendatory act may not be ratified at once, and pass into organic law, but slavery is outlawed, dethroned, doomed. The Government has purged itself of its opprobium [sic] and shame, and reiterated anew the sublime truths enunciated by the founders of the Republic.—It is fitting that joy should fill the heart of every American citizen for this most righteous legislation, and he should give thanks as for a great victory won.
The following article on what will become the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and on peace, comes from the February 11, 1865, issue of The Polk County Press.
The Constitutional Amendment–Peace &c.
The States of Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Rhode Island, New York and West Virginia have ratified the Constitutional amendment abolishing slavery in the United States.
The subject of ratification is also up before the legislature of every other State, not in rebellion, in the Union. Wisconsin will, without doubt, ratify the amendment with but little opposition.
In Illinois the Democrats to a man voted against it, and we dare say that in the Legislature of our won State, such bright lights of Democracy as SAT. CLARK,¹ will be furious, and will in long winded speeches endeavor to defeat the object. Happily, however, there is a large majority of loyal men in our Legislature, there being but very few Democrats of the SAT. CLARK school in that body.
Freedom and the Union is henceforth joined together, for the people WILL ratify the amendment.
The South by their late action in the peace movement have shown us that there is no peace except the Government acknowledge their independence. This, the Government of the United States, will never do.
The people have spoken in tones of thunder from the Pine Tree State to the Golden Sands of California, that the “Union must and shall be preserved.” The people will back “Honest Old Abe” in his firm stand to crush the rebellion by force of arms. The war MUST go on ; the armies MUST BE FILLED ; the people MUST sacrifice still of their blood and treasure, for the Union MUST be the basis of the only peace “our land of liberty” will ever see.
We have, upon which to place our hopes, a gallant navy, and the best army the world ever produced. Our trust is in the All Wise, who will guide them to victory. Let all men take courage. The end will be glorious !
1. Satterlee Clark (1816-1881) was the Wisconsin state senator from Horicon from 1862-1872.
The following articles appeared in the February 4, 1865, issue of The Polk County Press.
News from Rebeldom.
NEW YORK, Jan. 31.
In the rebel House last Thursday there was an interesting debate on the bill to put slaves into the army. During the debate Jeff. Davis was severely denounced by members. [Jefferson Davis]
Mr. Torney, of North Carolina, said he looked upon the bill as a project to arm the slaves. The President had declared in favor of it, and when he gets them in the army as when he gets them in the army as teamsters and cooks, he can make them drill, or perform any other duty. He would be willing to surrender the slaves for independence. The only objection he had to making soldiers of slaves was that they would not fight on our side. They would prove the enemy’s best allies in accomplishing our overthrow and devastation. Mr. Torney said the county had been too long and too often delayed and deceived by the President’s plans, projects and prophecies. Not one of his prophecies had been fulfilled ; no one of his projects or plans had proven successful ; yet the President proposes new and dangerous schemes with unable confidence in his own judgment. When Susanna, Corporal Trim and the servants sat down by the kitchen fire for a talk, Corporal Trim said he had been so often deceived in his own judgment that he now had doubts of its accuracy, even when he knew he was right. The President had been much oftener deceived in his judgment than the Corporal, and it is time he had learned some mistrust of his judgment. He must not look for an unlimited support either from Congress or the country, when he proposes the wild, mail scheme of arming slaves. The country was beginning to learn that all the abolitionists were not in the North, and our own President had proposed abolition in a way that created suspicion as to his soundness. Mr. Torney said it was time that Congress should express their opinion upon arming slaves, and stamp upon it the indelible stamina of public abhorrence.
Mr. Leach of North Carolina, said he was unalterably opposed to such a measure. He believed that the day on which such a policy was adopted would sound tho death-knell of our cause. It would make a Domingo of our land.
Others from South Carolina and elsewhere expressed similar views.—The question was not disposed of.
The rebel papers say Gen. Kirby Smith commanding the rebel Trans Mississippi department, has repeatedly refused to comply with orders from Richmond directing him to transfer his troops on the east side of the Mississippi river.
The opponents of Jeff. Davis among his own people grow bitterer daily in their denunciations of him, and it is admitted that his humiliation was the design of the Congressional action to place Lee at the head of the armies. [Robert E. Lee]
The Union raiding force up the Chowan River, North Carolina, in the direction of Weldon, is said to number between 6,000 and 10,000 men, including infantry, cavalry and artillery.
General Beauregard contradicts the reports that Union meetings have been held in Georgia. [P.G.T. Beauregard]
From the April 9, 1864, issue of The Prescott Journal.
FROM WASHINGTON.
Gen. Grant in Washington—The Missouri Faction—New Hampshire Election—
Gov. Randall—Gov. Doty—Disaster in Florida—Recklessness of Gen. Seymour— Congressional matters [sic]—Wisconsin Men at the Capitol.
Correspondence of the State Journal.
WASHINGTON, March 10, 1864.
The arrival of Gen. Grant [Ulysses S. Grant] is just now the great sensation in the city, and whether he will remain here, or continue in the field is a question on every tongue. He was hardly known to be in the city when he appeared at the President’s levee last night. His entrance, as soon as it became known, caused a tremendous excitement in the crowded rooms of the White House, and such was the rush to him that a modest man could not get within forty feet of him, while the occupants of crinoline,¹ who happened to be in the crowd, were squeezed quite to their hearts content and to the ruin of their gay habiliments.
The General came in about 10 o’clock unheralded, and soon the Secretaries not present were sent for, and came to welcome the distinguished hero of thirty-seven battles. He bears his honors well and looks hale and hearty, as though he could shoulder his new responsibilities without damage and meet the requirements of his place where so many failed. What will be done with Halleck [Henry W. Halleck], or what his position is to be is matter of earnest speculation. It is confidently hoped that many evils arising from his personal hostility to certain earnest men and strong measures will be cured by the appointment of General Grant to the first position under the Commander-in-Chief.
The controversy which is now kept up between the rival factions in Missouri, has entered upon the floor of Congress and provoked some feeling. So far as it partakes of personalities between the members it had better been excluded. But I confess, radical as I am, and with all my sympathies with the opposition to Schofield & Co. [John M. Schofield], the more I see of the case the stronger the conviction that rivalry and personal, rather than public considerations are inciting nausea. I cannot forget that the now so-called conservative champion, General Blair [Francis P. Blair], was the first to raise the banner of Emancipation in Missouri, and to stem manfully and boldly the pro-slavery torrent, while many of these now radical abolitionists were arrayed under the black flag of slavery, and doing their worst to destroy the germ which the former so successfully planted. I cannot sympathize with those who are seeking to embitter this controversy and extend it abroad for the purpose of using it against Mr. Lincoln, and in favor of some of his rival aspirants. Better far to conciliate and harmonize these local and personal conflicts between parties in the same great common cause of freedom.
The glorious result in New Hampshire was not expected here, and demonstrates how much can be done by proper effort. The representatives from there spoke discouragingly, but called for aid, and the response has been effective and satisfactory. Gov. Randall,² who attained such distinction as an effective laborer and speaker in the New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut canvases, was pressed into the service in New Hampshire, and all who have heard him on the stump can fully credit the report that he was among the most powerful of the speakers in that canvass.
By the way, at the time of leaving the city on his way north, the Governor was the subject of a pretty severe practical joke. While procuring his ticket at the railroad depot he was very quietly relieved of all his loose money to the amount of $140! He undoubtedly neglected to read the notice so prominently posted there : “Beware of pick-pockets ;” so I suppose he alone is responsible for the loss. He nevertheless went on his mission though robbed and moneyless.
Gov. Doty,³ now of Utah, has been here for some weeks, leaving the administration of affairs of his office in the hands of Amos Reed, Secretary of the Territory. He went out as Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Utah, in which capacity he rendered most important service in reconciling the Indians and securing their loyalty. Several valuable and important treaties negotiated by him with different tribes in Utah have been ratified by the Senate. No man is better fitted for his present position, and he will acquit himself creditably and to the honor of the nation. He looks ten years younger than when he went out—the influence of the climate, &c., having removed all his old rheumatism and renewed his age.
The disaster in Florida is a serious and unexpected one, and wholly unnecessary, and apparently attributable to rashness and over anxiety on the part of West Point General commanding to achieve a name as a fighter. He was most reckless, and the lesson he has learned has cost the nation heavily. The loss in killed, wounded and prisoners will be near 2,500 from all private accounts. It seems to have been so unnecessary that one gets exasperated at the thought of it. The force suddenly thrust down there from Charleston and Savannah could not long have been spared to remain there, and if Seymour had invited an attack at his station at Barber, he could have successfully repelled it against heavy odds. Had the enemy refused to advance upon him, he could have remained until the rebel force was defeated by necessary demands elsewhere and then made a successful advance. There appears also to have been a great want of skill in the management of his forces, though in personal courage he is not wanting. [Truman Seymour]
A strange fatatity [sic] seems to attend all the operations on the Atlantic coast. The commanders of the army and the navy in the Southern department have seemed to be generally unequal to their responsibility, and an inscrutable providence has struck down the only two men sent there, who were able to cope with the many difficulties to be encountered—viz: Gen. Mitchell and Admiral Foote [Andrew H. Foote]. Thus far it has been the most expensive and the least effective department of the service. The blockade, however, in now rendered perfect at Charleston and along the entire coast save at Wilmington, North Carolina.
If a respectable force is kept at Jacksonville it will open the St. John’s River country and secure supplies of lumber and turpentine, &c., and will divide the forces and attention of the enemy and be of great ultimate advantage. But there is no use of talking of or relying upon the “Union element of the South ;” save among the negroes, it is not there. Slavery has tainted the moral and political atmosphere to such a degree that the whiskey drinking “cracker” and the swaggering slaveholder are alike embittered against the “Yankees,” and will fight until exhausted. Every tallow-faced female throughout the South is a preacher of vengeance and thoroughly possessed by the demon of slavery. Even while living upon the liberality of the government and protected from the suffering resulting from the rebellion, they breathe out curses upon the heads that feed them, and foam in vindictive rage at the flag which shields them. While there is a vestige of hope, they will fight and will only yield to advancing civilization, when the strong arm of federal power demonstrates the advantages of freedom and the blessings, moral and physical, of the Republican Institutions.
The whiskey question having been temporarily disposed of by Congress, the gold question has taken its place, and both attract the personal attention of speculators. The proposition of Mr. Boutwell4 to put the excess of government gold into circulation by anticipating the payment of interest, seems to obviate the objections existing against authorizing the sale and U have little doubt but this will finally be adopted.
The bill before the Senate granting lands to Minnesota for a railroad from St. Paul to Lake Superior is contested by our Senators who are faithfully guarding the interests of Wisconsin and are seeking to obtain the grant for her to open the road from Tomah to Superior.
Gen. Simeon Mills5 arrived here on Tuesday, and J. R. Brigham6 of Milwaukee has been here some days, it is understood on business connected with the Milwaukee Post Office, to which C. L. Sholes7 was appointed some time since, but whose appointment was suspended. D. H. Richards is here representing the Canal Company8 and a number of Wisconsin lawyers in attendance upon the Supreme Court.
The impeachment of Andrew J. Miller seems not to be very probable this session; not certainly for the want of adequate evidence so much as from the persistent efforts of interested lawyers and parties representing non-residents, and who derive a good business from connection with that court. I fear the blighting curse has rested so long upon the people of that State that it can only be removed by God himself.
. . . . . . . .R.
Cutaway diagram showing a crinoline, from Punch magazine, August 1856
1. By 1850, the word “crinoline” had come to mean a stiffened petticoat or rigid skirt-shaped structure of steel designed to support the huge skirts of a woman’s dress into the required fashionable shape worn in the 1850s and 1860s. The “occupants of crinoline” would have been the society ladies in their party dresses with the large hoops.
2. Former Wisconsin Governor Alexander W. Randall, who at this time was in Washington, D.C., because he was the assistant postmaster general.
3. Wisconsin’s second governor, and Utah Territory’s 5th governor, James Duane Doty (1799-1865).
4. George Sewall Boutwell (1818-1905) was the 20th governor of Massachusets (1851-1853), the first Commissioner of Internal Revenue (1862-1863), a U. S. Representative from Massachusetts (1863-1860), the 28th U. S. Secretary of the Treasury under Grant (1869-1873), and a U. S. senator from Massachusets (1873-1877). Secretary Boutwell controversially reduced the national debt by selling Treasury gold and using greenbacks to buy up Treasury bonds, and Representative Boutwell was instrumental in writing and passing the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U. S. Constitution.
5. Simeon Mills (1810-1895) was a Wisconsin state senator best known for introducing the bill that became the charter for the University of Wisconsin. an efficient businessman, he served as clerk to various government agencies and as Wisconsin paymaster during the Civil War.
6. Jerome Ripley Brigham (1825-1897) was a Wisconsin lawyer, city attorney of Milwaukee (1880-1882), state assemblyman (1877), member of the Milwaukee board of city fire and police commissioners (1885-1888), and a regent of the University of Wisconsin (1870- 1875).
7. Christopher Latham Sholes (1819-1890) was a Wisconsin newspaperman, politician, and inventor. Sholes helped to organize the Free Soil and Republican parties in Wisconsin, supporting both Lincoln and then Johnson. He was state senator (1848-1849, 1856-1857) and state assemblyman (1852-1853). During the Civil War, Sholes also served for a time as Milwaukee postmaster, and was later port collector and commissioner of public works.
8. Daniel H. Richards (1808-1877) was one of the founders of the Milwaukee Advertiser. The Milwaukee and Rock River Canal Company, “which had for its purpose the construction of a canal connecting Lake Michigan by way of the Waukesha lakes with the Rock River, and thus establishing a waterway to the Mississippi River. Congress made a land grant for the purpose, surveys and estimates were made and during the twelve years preceding the admission of the state to the Union repeated efforts had been made to carry out the enterprise. … During the twelve years from 1836 to 1848, when the prospect was abandoned, the only actual work done besides making surveys was the construction of a dam across the Milwaukee river at Milwaukee. … The advent of railroad building was the chief influence in bringing about an abandonment of the canal project.” Bonds had been sold to pay for the building of the canal and there were claims against the State of Wisconsin—who had issues the bonds—filed with the U.S. Congress, with D. H. Richards listed as a claimant. (For more information, see the Dictionary of Wisconsin History entry for the Canal Company.)
This is the third and final part of Colonel Harrison C. Hobart’s address to the Wisconsin State Legislature. The following is from the March 12, 1864, issue of The Prescott Journal. The whole article is very long and we have split it into three postings, the first is about Libby Prison, the second part details the famous escape, and today’s has Hobart’s closing remarks and his views on how to end the War.
COL. H. C. HOBART’S RECEPTION.
COL. HOBART’S VIEWS ON THE WAR.
Vigorous War the only Road to Peace.
From the Daily State Journal of March 3d.
Having concluded the narrative portion of his remarks, Col. Hobart said he wished to add a few more words as a citizen of Wisconsin, and a resident of the state almost from the date of its settlement and to give some of the impressions which he had gathered from what he had seen and experienced at the South respecting the war. He believed that the rebels would move heaven and earth in order to achieve success the present year. They would dash their entire strength upon us. They were massing as far as possible all their military forces and not an element of power which they could control would be shared. It was his firm belief that there was a strong Union sentiment even in Richmond, while it pervaded the rank and file of the army, but not the leaders. They were determined and desperate. It was the purpose of Mr. Davis [Jefferson Davis] and his associates to fight on to the bitter end. Did the audience wish to know what he, the speaker, thought of the result ? He believed that if the North would stand firm, if our people continue united as they have been, if we push forward the war with vigor, striking resolute blows, that the worst was over, and that the present season would witness the termination of the war upon a large scale. He might be asked if he believed there was any mode of settlement except by fighting. He has seized every opportunity while in the South to ascertain what the real sentiment of the people was. At Atlanta, Augusta, Raleigh and Richmond, he had conversed with both officers and privates in the rebel army, for had felt a great interest in this subject. Certainly if it were possible to settle the difficulties between the two sections of the country without the further effusion of blood, he should be most earnestly in favor of that method. But it was his deliberate conviction that there could be no restoration of the Union, and no peace until we have whipped their armies. Nothing but hard blows will shake their purpose. When their armies are shipped, it was his impression, that the southern people would act as other people do under like circumstances, they would yield. Nothing but a vigorous prosecution of the war could ever reconstruct this Union. He said it with sorrow, knowing what war was, knowing that it meant suffering, sorrow and death to thousands.
The subject of slavery was a foregone thing. The Southern people understood well, that if we succeeded there is to be no slavery. They are prepared to accept this result in the event of their defeat. They know it involves an entire change in their system of labor, for the philosophic element that underlaid this whole struggle, was the antagonism between the labor systems of the North and South.—This war was a death grapple between free and slave labor. (Applause.) One system or the other has got to succeed. He asked his friends to consider what would be the condition of the country if the South were to triumph. He was aware that it was said that the country was in danger from the soldiers, that there was danger of their allying themselves with the fortune s of some military leader and subverting the Government. He wished to say that for nearly three years past he had been by the camp fire, and among the soldiers, and he declared from his own knowledge that if there was any zeal for liberty in this country it could be found to-night about the camp fires of our army. (Applause) When it ceased to exist there, there would be no liberty for the North. But if we defeated their armies, would not the South remain in sentiment as hostile as ever? No. As the army advances into the South it effects great changes. The population there, was changing. Their country was becoming filled with Yankees. The soldiers were marrying Southern women. We were peopling the country as we went along. (Great laughter, interrupting the speaker for some time.)
Col. H. resuming and looking to the galleries, I would say to the soldiers present, is it not true boys? (Renewed Laughter) Gen. Thomas [George H. Thomas] made a remark when with the army of Tennessee, that would be historical. It gave a correct idea of the effects of the war. He said “that this war was a slow process of colonization.” Nashville, Baltimore, Washington and other southern cities had been almost transformed. Northern men and northern ideas were gaining the ascendency in them. Moreover when the way is closed some of our warmest friends would be found among those now in the Southern army. There was no personal hostility of feeling between the men composing the opposing armies. Many a time he had seen the cordial intercourse of northern and southern soldiers on picket. He had seen the blue and gray uniforms sharing the same blanket. They were friends until the actual clash of battle came, then they fought fiercely and earnestly. But when the war was over, there would be found no bar to reconciliation between them: on the contrary it would be the bravest men on both sides who would make the best friends.
The following letter from Captain Orrin T. Maxson, written on November 3, 1863, appeared in the November 21, 1863 issue of The Prescott Journal. Unfortunately, someone cut out an article on page two (the back side of our letter) that takes out a large section of this letter. Instead we are left to gape through the hole at what appears on page 3! The missing information appears to be more election results from the 12th Infantry.
A warning before reading this letter: toward the end, Captain Maxson recounts the story of how a slave owner was treating one of his “laborers” and the punishment the Union officials gave him. In relaying the account, Maxson uses the “N” word several times.
L. A. TAYLOR : Sir :—As election is one of the battles of our times which are to decide the fate of our Country and the question of Democratic Governments for this generation, I take it for granted you would receive the result of the day in the precinct of Natchez.
The 12th Wisconsin cast 510 votes for Lewis, 12 for Palmer, 40 for Young, 26 for Elwell; Winn, 24; Thayer, 20; Maynard, 14; Sands 5; Lauder, 5; Wilcox and Hatch each one.
[. . .] heads to another years’ stay in the ___.¹ Of such the 12th had 12.
We are now taking the world very easy, we have an important duty, that of keeping the Mississip [Mississippi River] free from guerillas [sic] for a distance of about seventy-five miles. This we do by frequent expeditions into the country each side of the river. We have built barracks for winter use, but winter does not come. One shuns the heat of the sun here now, as you would in the hottest days of July in Wis. The leaves are green, and gardens clothed with flowers, as in July. An iceberg from our Wisconsin homes would be grateful in our water pail.
We occasionally have a little fun with the old planters, who have been in the habit of treating their laborers with much more severity than they would their mules, as they did not fear the mules, while the everlasting nigger might get too high notions; consequently many believed they should beat them at least once a week to keep them good niggers. A case occurred here a few days since; a Dr. Wood, a man much the form of Dunbar’s clock man — well, for stomach, a good match for John Dale, with a decided pompous style, accustomed to command with iron rule, appeared at the Provost Marshall’s office with a complaint of insubordination against his chambermaid.
On investigation it was proven that the girl had made his bed, and the wife caused it to be made over. It still was unsatisfactory, and the girl received orders to re-do her work. She protested she could do it no different, when the Dr. knocked her down with his cane, and beat her, cutting her head severely, and desisted only when the cane was broken. She, being contaminated with the notions which the Blacks in general have received from the soldiers, fled, and the case came before the Provost Marshall [sic].—The Dr. claimed the girl; the girl claimed protection. After a hearing, the Provost ordered the Dr. to accompany a guard, to whom a commitment to jail was given. Both started, but as on leaving the court-house the guard led the way toward the jail, Mr. gold-headed cane man halted and asked where they were going. The guard told him to follow and he would learn, whereupon the Dr. refused, but being told he could take his choice, followed, or be followed by a bayonet, he concluded to make a philosopher of himself and submit to his necessity. As the boys say, we was left playing checkers with his nose in the grates of the jail window. The supposition is a few games will teach him that some folks have rights and feelings a well as others.
Hoping that the Union men will not only carry Wisconsin, but carry it by a crushing majority,
I am respectfully yours, . . . . . . . . . . . . .O. T. MAXSON.
1. The top half of the letters making up this last word in the sentence are missing, victims of the cut-out article. It looks like it could be “herd,” but without more context it is hard to say for sure what the word is.
The following news items are from The Prescott Journal of February 18, 1863.
NEWS ITEMS.
– The average weekly receipts at the Bureau of Internal Revenue are about $1,500,000.
– Gen. Stoneman [George Stoneman] is re-appointed Chief of Cavalry of the army of the Potomac. He held the position during a portion of the time McClellan [George B. McClellan] was in command of the army.
– The figures at the War Department show that we are now discharging, from our armies in the field, disabled soldiers at the rate of 1,000 a week.
– Messrs McINDOE [Walter D. McIndoe] and Sloan of this State voted for the bill authorizing the employment of colored soldiers and soilors [sic]. Mr. Potter’s name does not appear in the list of Ayes and Noes.¹
– Three rebel young ladies, in their enthusiasm for the war, announce thro’ the columns of the Raleigh (N. C.) Standard, that they will provide clothes for three soldiers as long as the war continues, if the soldiers whom they select will consent to marry them when the war is over.
– Gen. Butler [Benjamin F. Butler] closed a recent speech in reply to a serenade at Boston, with the following strong statement of his hatred of the rebellion : “Rather than not have it quelled, I for one am ready to begin over again, with a ship load of emigrants at Plymouth and Jamestown, and start fair again if we have so far mistaken our road, and anything short of that would be treason to the country, treason to the world, and treason to liberty forever.”
– The English Census shows that the rebel States lost only 458 fugitive slaves during the ten years from 1850 to 1860. South Carolina, which began this unholy war, lost 58 slaves in that time or one in 17,501 of her whole number. No other specie of property in the United States was ever so safe and so well protected as that in human beings ; and yet the slave-owners rebelled. Can any judgment be too severe against the disturbers of a nation’s peace.
– Four iron clads are ordered to be prepared for sea at once, and from the activity prevailing in the Navy Department, it is judged that important events are at hand.
– General Butler has not yet accepted the command of the Department of the Gulf, though it is understood that he has the subject under consideration.
– A Washington letter writer says that the Army of the Potomac has been in winter quarters since the middle of November. Hooker [Joseph Hooker] has fire, impetuosity, courage, and ambition. He would move if [sic: if] it were possible, but it is not possible. He would drill his men if that were possible, but it is not. “Stuck in the mud,” is the record placarded all along the south bank of the Rappahannock by the rebels, and they have added in derision, the words of the President’s Proclamation, posted in big black letters on sign boards.
– A rather important step on the subject of slavery has been taken by the Spanish Government. An order has been published in the official Gazette, Dated Madrid, December 11, 1862, by which it is decreed that slaves going with their Cuban masters to the United States North, or to any free country, become thereby free, the same as if they had gone to Spain.
– The Governor of Michigan² has issued an order for the draft in that State, and about three thousand men will be thus obtained for military purposes. The press of the State does not seem to regard the prospect with any satisfaction.
– Adjutant General Thomas [Lorenzo Thomas] names and notifies ninety-five army officers that unless they successfully defend themselves against certain specifications within ten days, they will be dismissed from the service.
– Gen. Hunter [David Hunter], now in command of the Department of the South, has notified the Express Companies that all crinoline and wearers of it are henceforth contraband. Officers’ wives will be sent North.
– Gen. Butler has charged himself in account with the War Department, with one million and eighty-eight thousand dollars, as having been received by him from military assessments and confiscations.
– The select Committee on Emancipation in the House, in a few days, will report a bill for the establishment of a Bureau of Emancipation.
1. Andrew Scott Sloan (1820-1895), a U.S. Congressman from Wisconsin from March 1861 to March 1863. John Fox Potter (1817-1899), U.S. Congressman from Wisconsin from March 1857 to March 1863. Potter served as chairman of the important House Committee on Public Lands, but gained fame largely because of his personal quarrel in 1860 over the slavery question with Virginia’s fiery Congressman, Roger Pryor.
2. Austin Blair (1818-1894) was the 13th governor of Michigan. He was a a strong opponent of slavery and secession.
Ed and Homer Levings were in Company A—Prescott’s Lyon Light Guards—of the 12th Wisconsin Infantry, which moved to Bolivar, Tennessee, on October 1, 1862. The bloody Battle of Perryville took place on October 8, the day before Ed Levings is writing this letter, but he obviously does not know about it yet. The 12th Wisconsin will be ordered to reinforce General Stephen A. Hurlbut and will make a forced march of thirty miles in ten hours, but still be too late to take part in the pursuit of the Confederate forces to the Hatchie River after the Battle of Corinth. Perhaps we will hear about that in a future letter. In this letter, Ed describes a small “reconnoitering expedition” the regiment went on, the preparations they are making for a possible attack by Confederate troops under Sterling Price, and the local economy. Be warned that Ed uses multiple terms for the slaves that we today find offensive.
The original 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.
Camp Bolivar Oct 9th/62
Dear Father and Mother;
You see I have taken a large sheet and I need not tell you I have considerable to say, but I must not stop to make many preliminaries. I doubt not yesterday came into your minds many times and you do not need to be reminded that just one year ago yesterday we took our farewell leave of you to engage in our prestnt present perilous pursuit. [paragraph break added]
Well I will tell you where we have been the last two days. Our Regt. is now quite busy at one thing and another. We have just returned from a reconnoitering expedition. Day before yesterday while at dinner orders came to prepare for a march immediately and put up two days rations. Companies A, D & E were soon in line, and the 28th Ills. Inty., & section of artillery and 4 Companies Cavalry started, going directly west. Encamped that night at the Pikeville mills 9 miles distant. The forenoon of next day we halted at the corner of the roads running through a large open country and the Cav. advanced, but not returning as soon as expected and often much waiting to know where to go we took a swoop through the valley several miles to the south and finally came round to the camp ground of the preceeding [sic] night. Cavalry had not showed themselves up to that time, but no enemy having been seen by us as expected we gave up the chase and slept in the woods near the river, or creek rather. We got back to-day noon all night. We had a first rate time. —
The way we gobbled up the sweet potatoes would make you laugh. At one place a darky [sic] was plowing them up — the boys followed after him and took half the batch before leaving, carrying off many bushels. — They made a big fires and roasted them. — I like them tolerably well. Hogs, chickens &c fell into our hands also. Was not that right? I tell you the country is almost desolate of provisions. I mean among the secesh planters. I saw plantations of thousands of acres in corn & cotton, but the former is most gone. A planter in many instances would have a 100 negroes [sic] & 30 to 40 negro house [sic] about him and were it not for the war this would be a rich country. But the people—white ones understand—what an ignorant set. A woman accosted some of the boys in this way in a whining sharp voice. What all youn1 folks come down here & kill all our men and we’en,1 children for? [paragraph break added]
Lately we both worked a day felling timbers so that the artillery can sweep the country. They are throwing up breastworks & fortifying as strongly & rapidly as possible for they expect old Price [Sterling Price] up here shortly but if he comes he’ll rue the day he comes for the place is very strong. He was to have taken dinner here on Sunday last & I worked that day cutting trees as I never did before & so did many others, but we worked cheerfully and willingly and gladly too. You must not infer we have to work like niggers & are most killed, for that in not so, nor that we are starved or ill treated. The Regts. are building winter houses rapidly & the prospect is we shall winter here. I hope there will be an advance but that can not be, with safety to our-selves, while Bragg’s [Braxton Bragg] rebel army are is behind us & McClellan [George B. McClellan] continues to sit on the banks of the Potomac so you see how we are. We draw a dress suit to-morrow & new clothes generally, & pay day is near by. [paragraph break added]
We read your letter of the mailed the 21st day before yesterday & one the day before that from Uncle Myron which I enclose. We don’t know why our letters do not get to you. This is the 4th I have written from this place & no answer to them yet. I expect one to-day from you, however. As you have expressed a wish oftentimes you could follow us in our wanderings, we mail you a war map.2 [paragraph break added]
The overcoats, blankets, & stockings have come & we thank you very much for your thoughtfulness, and we can easily see what you did to them & while we enjoy them this winter we shall think of you who have taken so much pains to make us comfortable. We know you think of us & pray for us often & God grant your entire wishes may come to hap, but I must close now. Excuse this miserable scrawl, though and let us hear from you very soon. So good night all and we will both write soon in return.
Yours in health & love
Edwin & Homer Levings
Co. A 12 Regt
Wis. Volunteers
___________
1. Ed’s attempt at writing a Southern accent.
2. The map is not included in Edwin Levings’ papers.
Edwin Levings letter of October 9, 1862, from the Edwin D. Levings Papers (River Falls Mss BO) in the University Archives & Area Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls
Following is an excerpt from The New York Times obituary for Eugene D. Genovese, a noted historian who wrote about slavery and slave life in the antebellum South, who died September 26. His controversial books were both praised and criticized by scholars. The Times obituary is by Douglas Martin and was published September 29, 2012.
Genovese’s 1974 book, Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made [see number 8 below], won Columbia University’s Bancroft Prize for books about diplomacy or the history of the Americas. Historian Edward L. Ayers called it “the best book ever written about American slavery.” (The New Republic, 1994) Genovese most fully articulated his thesis on slavery in Roll, Jordan, Roll.
Martin wrote in the Times obituary:
Praised for his meticulous research, Mr. Genovese argued that slave life in the pre-Civil War South was not one of continuous cruelty and degradation. Rather, he described a system of “paternalism” in which slaves had compelled their owners to recognize their humanity. This, he said, allowed the slaves to preserve their self-respect as well as their aspirations for freedom while enabling their owners to continue to profit from their labor. . . .
But others criticized the book [Roll, Jordan, Roll] as being weak in its analysis of the economics of the period and took issue with its view that a paternalistic relationship was peculiar to slavery in the United States. Some said that the buying and selling of slaves could hardly be considered paternalistic; parents do not normally sell their children, the historian Eric Foner wrote in 1982.
The University of Wisconsin-River Falls Library has the following Genovese books:
Consuming Fire: The Fall of the Confederacy in the Mind of the White Christian South (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1998, E 449 .G3724 1998; also available as an electronic resource with your Falcon number)
Fatal Self-Deception: Slaveholding Paternalism in the Old South, with his wife, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011)
From Rebellion to Revolution: Afro-American Slave Revolts in the Making of the Modern World (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1979, HT 1048 .G43; reprinted in 1992, HT 1048 .G43 1992)
Fruits of Merchant Capital: Slavery and Bourgeois Property in the Rise and Expansion of Capitalism, with Elizabeth Fox-Genovese (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983, HT 871 .F69 1983)
In Red and Black: Marxian Explorations in Southern and Afro-American History (New York: Pantheon Books, 1971, E 441 .G4)
The Mind of the Master Class: History and Faith in the Southern Slaveholders’ Worldview, with Elizabeth Fox-Genovese (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005, F 213 .F69 2005)
Political Economy of Slavery: Studies in the Economy & Society of the Slave South (New York: Pantheon Books, 1965, E 442 .G45)
Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made (New York: Vintage Books, 1976, c.1974, E 443 .G46 1976)
Slave Economy of the Old South: Selected Essays in Economic and Social History, edited by and introduction by Genovese (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1968, HC 107 .A13 P66)
The Civil War and Northwest Wisconsin 