Civil War History - The Eastern TheaterDiscuss any and all battles, movements, and events occuring in the Eastern Theater here! This includes any actions in tha area east of the Appalachian Mountains in the vicinity of the river capitals of Richmond and Washington D.C.
In September 1864, Wade Hampton led a raid behind union lines that became know as "The Beefsteak Raid". This raid ranks right up there with any raid by the other great cavalry men of the Civil War.
Hampton and his riders went behind union lines and absconded with all of Grant's cattle herd. The Confederate army ate well for awhile on union beef during the Petersburg siege.
This brings up a question about Lee's army. It was not starving as of September and even into January when the new commissary general took over and did a better job of feeding and suppling Lee's army.
Lee's army was melting away the winter of 1865 so something more then food was causing this to happen like what?
Lance from another post praised Hampton was one of the great cavalry men of the Civil War...
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"States Rights are about States Wrongs" - Jesse Jackson
Most certainly the troops ate well for a few days, but hanging beef doesn't keep and on the hoof, it needs to eat.
The roundup was certainly a major coup. But I'll expect that it was of little use in the long run. Seems I read somewhere that Lee's army got down to 1/8 rations. By the middle of February, supplies were coming only from North Carolina, and they would soon be cut off as well.
As 5fish has suggested, what else was there? Could be that Johnny knew the war was over and he was still hunkered down in the dirt. That could be kind of wearing.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
The re-election of Lincoln lead to mass dessertions from the Confederate lines. The troops believed they would have four more years of war. Letters home from soldiers of the ANV, had indicated that they were certain that Lincoln would lose and the war would end.
As winter of 1865 set in and Lee's AoNV was melting away, I have a question:
Lee's provost guard must have been busy rounding up deserters during the Winter of 1865. Did Lee execute the deserters that were being caught or at least make an example of a few? (Like Washington did at Valley Forge)
No one ever talks about Lee issuing orders to execute deserters or for any capital crime. I know Jackson executed men under his command but did Lee.
What was the name of the Lee's Provost Marshall at Petersburg?
I have not found anything that ever speaks of Lee executing anyone.. Can someone can shed some light on this issue..
__________________
"States Rights are about States Wrongs" - Jesse Jackson
During the winter of 1864/65 most deserters from the ANV simply crossed to the Union trenches. Sometimes by the entire company. Lee tried to increase the size of his army by issuing general pardons to those awol. This was not very successful.
As winter of 1865 set in and Lee's AoNV was melting away, I have a question:
Lee's provost guard must have been busy rounding up deserters during the Winter of 1865. Did Lee execute the deserters that were being caught or at least make an example of a few? (Like Washington did at Valley Forge)
No one ever talks about Lee issuing orders to execute deserters or for any capital crime. I know Jackson executed men under his command but did Lee.
What was the name of the Lee's Provost Marshall at Petersburg?
I have not found anything that ever speaks of Lee executing anyone.. Can someone can shed some light on this issue..
Here's a hint:
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Desertion continued to sap the man-power of the army. After Christmas, when the winter chill entered into doubting hearts, and every mail told the Georgia and Carolina troops of the enemy's nearer approach to their homes, more and more men slipped off in the darkness. Desertions between February 15 and March 18 numbered 2934, nearly 8 per cent of the effective strength of the army. From Pickett's division alone, a command that had won the plaudits of the world, 512 soldiers deserted about the middle of March, during the progress of a single move. There was suspicion that men from different brigades were communicating with one another and were arranging rendezvous. When they left, taking their arms with them, they usually went home, but not a few of the weaker-spirited joined the enemy. From one division, a good one at that, 178 were reported to have "gone over into the Union," in the language of the trenches. Conditions became so bad that when it was necessary to move one of Pickett's brigades through Richmond, Longstreet's adjutant general did not think it safe to let men wait long in the streets.
The reasons for this wastage in an army that had been distinguished for nothing more than for its morale were all too apparent — hunger, delayed pay, the growing despair of the public mind, and, perhaps more than anything else, woeful letters from wives and families telling of danger or privation at home.Lee noted with much distress that the largest number of desertions were among the North Carolina regiments, which previously had fought as valiantly as any troops in his command. The army was melting away faster than was the snow.
Lee had been able to do little about subsistence and the supply of horses, but desertion and the conditions it brought about were military problems. He faced them. After offering amnesty, he had to enforce very sternly the law for the execution of deserters who were recaptured, and when clemency was shown in a case where a court-martial had decreed the death penalty, he telegraphed: "Hundreds of men are deserting nightly, and I cannot keep the army together unless examples are made of such cases." He sent a large detachment to western North Carolina to bring back deserters, and he felt compelled to take from his insecurely held trenches a whole brigade to guard the crossings of the Roanoke River. The articles of war on desertion and the regulations forbidding any man to propose such a course, even in jest, were read throughout the army for three days.Longstreet issued an order in which he announced that he would recommend for commission with the proposed Negro regiments any man who thwarted the attempt of another soldier to desert.
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From Robert E. Lee: A Biography by Freeman, volume 3, Chapter XXIX, "The Winter of Growing Dispair"
One of the references in the above is to this message from Lee:
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HEADQUARTERS,February 25, 1865.
General S. COOPER,
Adjutant and Inspector General :
Private Huddleston's execution will be suspended, as directed. Have re-examined case, and he is not entitled to mercy under General Orders, No. 2. Hundreds of men are deserting nightly, and I cannot keep the army together unless examples are made of such cases.
R. E. LEE,
General.
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Apparently Lee had already ordered the execution, and higher HQ suspended it. This is Lee's response to that.
Tim
__________________ "Let us, then, consider all attempts to weaken this Union, by maintaining that each state is separately and individually independent, as a species of political heresy, which can never benefit us, but may bring on us the most serious distresses."
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina, 1740-1824, Revolutionary War soldier, one of the authors of the US Constitution in 1787, speaking at the South Carolina Ratifying Convention in 1788.
Thank you for sharing the [excerpt]HEADQUARTERS,February 25, 1865.
General S. COOPER,
Adjutant and Inspector General :
Private Huddleston's execution will be suspended, as directed. Have re-examined case, and he is not entitled to mercy under General Orders, No. 2. Hundreds of men are deserting nightly, and I cannot keep the army together unless examples are made of such cases.
R. E. LEE,
General.
[end of excerpt]
The Union had its share of deserters also. President Lincoln often pardoned soldiers if it reached to his desk. Rarely, did Lincoln let the military judicial system continue unmolested.
As an 'officer of the court,' President Lincoln, knew the law just as any judge, lawyer and 'court's marshall.' Provost Generals were often trained in law also. One example, from reading Lincoln's writing furnished from this particular list, was Lincoln's pardon of a soldier for sleeping on guard duty. It really is so easy to do when you are so very tired.
That said--I do agree with General Lee; there has to be an example and certainly when the war began; these examples were made and often.
However, when the military cannot fulfill basic needs of their soldiers, with food, clothing and equipment; the low pay or none at all --I can understand why--regardless of the excuses; deserting is a bad precedence.
Interesting that the majority of the deserters were from North Carolina. I wonder if that was because Sherman's next target was North Carolina, or the significant unionist sentiment in North Carolina, or both?
__________________ "There must be more historians of the Civil War than there were generals figthing in it... Of the two groups, the historians are the more belligerent." David Donald, Lincoln Reconsidered (1961)
Not only the Unionist sentiment and the proximity to Petersburg, but the NC governor made it fairly easy to come home and stay home. I can't cite a source for the latter, as it was in a chat with a knowledgeable Tar Heel (there are quite a few of them).
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
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Hampton's "Beefsteak Raid"..... 
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