Soldier's Stories

[thea_447]

Confederate POW's Letter to the New York Times (1867)
The following is a letter to the Editor of the New York Times about the conditions in Union POW camps.
Female College
Huntsville, Ala.
Tuesday, June 18 1867
To the Editor of the New York Times:
My attention has been called to an article in your paper of 3lst ult., in which, replying to some remarks of the Richmond Enquirer in regard to the treatment of prisoners, it said: "Nobody on either side ever pretended for a moment that rebel prisoners ever died in our hands or even seriously suffered for lack of food or clothing or shelter. No such charge has been made."
Will you then permit such charges to be made through your columns? I was captured in October, 1863, and spent six months in Camp Morton. In March, 1864, I was removed to Fort Delaware, where I remained until June, 1865. The winter of 1863-4 is well known to have been intensely severe.
Many rebel prisoners, to my own knowledge, spent that winter without a blanket, and the scant and ragged summer clothing worn when captured. The barracks were the old cattle sheds used when the prison was a fair ground, and open enough for the winter winds to sweep through freely.
Scores of the men in the dead of winter slept in these sheds, upon the bare ground without covering, huddling together like hogs to keep from freezing.
It is well known to hundreds now living that several died, actually frozen to death, while large numbers were so badly frostbitten as to be lamed for Life.
During the larger portion of the time the hospital arrangements were shamefully deficient, and by many of the surgeons and attendants the sick were not only grossly neglected but most inhumanly treated.
Men barely able to crawl through weariness from insufficient food and disease consequent upon exposure, were forced, in the severest winter weather, to stand at roll call for two and often three or more hours in line, like soldiers on dress parade, and cursed like brutes or beaten over the heads with sabres or clubs, and sometimes shot at for moving a little to keep from freezing.
In several instances prisoners were shot on most the frivolous pretexts. A quiet orderly man, an Englishman named Coats, belonging to my division was murdered in cold blood by a private of the Invalid Corps named Baker, who was a guard.
Instead of being tried and punished, Baker, though a private, was sent next morning to take charge, as Sergeant, of our division, in which position he heaped upon the defenseless men every indignity that so inhuman a wretch could devise.
At the very time that such an outcry was raised about the mortality among Northern soldiers in Southern prisons, the inmates of Camp Morton knew the mortality then in proportion to the number of men to be several percent greater. At Fort Delaware our barracks were more comfortable, but the rations were miserably insufficient, and prisoners who could not obtain money from friends with which to procure extra supplies from the suttlers suffered the pangs of hunger day and night, and reduced to skeletons, and eaten up by scurvy from scantly and unwholesome food fell ready victims to disease, and died by the hundreds.
At the close of the war, of about seven thousand men in one pen, fully one-half, if not three-fourths, were but walking skeletons, hundreds of them ruined for life with scurvy.
It was a daily occurrence for large numbers of men to be beaten over the head with bludgeons, or kept for hours tied up by the thumbs in the most agonizing torture. A Dutch Lieutenant, Deitz, in charge of our pen, was for weeks, in the habit of coming in with a large cowhide whip and lashing the men most unmerciful--in one instance cutting a gash in the face of an Alabamian named Pardue, in which your finger could have been laid.
It was no uncommon thing for the guards, upon the slightest pretext to fire into the quarters in which were 300 or 400 men, and several prisoners were needlessly and recklessly killed by them.
The above, and the half has not been told, are plain, unexaggerated facts, which can be substantiated by most unquestionable testimony, and for the truth of which I pledge my character and reputation as a minister of the gospel. I request the insertion of this as an act of justice.

J. G. Wilson
President of Huntsville Female College

[thea_447]

William Edward Short,29th Mass., to his sister Ann:

Fair Oaks Station, Advance Guard
6 miles from Richmond

[approx. June 6, 1862]

Dear Sister,

Having got a few leisure moments to spare, I will pen you a few lines. We arrived here last week after a hard journey. I am well as usual but feel pretty well played out. I tell you I have just begun my soldiering. We are on the very ground where the bloody battle was fought. I would like to give you all the particulars what I know but time and paper won't admit.

The ground is covered with clothing and equipment and at the right of us is an open field. The ground is completely covered with dead. I couldn't believe it could be as it is, but the dead lay in heaps. The Rebels are laying on top of the ground with just a little dirt over them, and some of them lay out on the ground. They stunk so, our men couldn't stand it to cover them and there they lay, and our own men are in a little better state, covered a little deeper and their name and regiment marked on a board at their head. There is10 Rebels to one of our men. There is an awful stench comes from the field. I could see what killed a good many of them. Some of their legs were shot off; others an arm. And some with their heads completely knocked off of their shoulders and I notice some of them had got their strops and tied it tight around their legs to stop the blood. There they lay just as they fell. The field looks like a new potatoe field. The graves are so thick. We are camped close beside the railroad. We are throwing up a breast work about a mile long. The Rebels have got a cannon on a platform car. They run down on the track within a mile, throw a few shells, then run back out of the way. When we go on guard now we have a picket, then a company, then a regiment with a battery then a brigade so the Rebels can't surprise us. Our artillery is constantly fighting with the Rebel artillery, and the sharp shooters are always at it.

We have a Salem Company with us. They stay in the woods so as to protect the pickets from the Rebel's sharp shooters, of which there is some good ones. There is a tree close by us. We can see the steeples in Richmond and a good many camps of the Rebels. We are in Meagher Brigade, Richardsons division, Sumners Corps. If there is another fight before Richmond I will be in it as we are in the fighting brigade; it was this brigade that turned the battle here. Meagher makes his men charge. He won't let them turn off and fire.

I have forgot whether I wrote you a letter when I was in Suffork or not. We marched there in one day 27 miles. Stayed there 3 days and left for this place. I will draw to a close, Direct to C. B 29 Mass, Meagher Brigade, Sumners Division Army of the Potomac. I will write as often as I can get time. Hoping to get out of this soon. I will bid you good bye.

In haste -- From your Brother
Excuse this Wm E. Short
bad writing

[thea_447]

William Edward Short,29th Mass., to his sister Ann:

Tanellytown, Maryland
Sept. 4, 1861 [1862]

Dear Sister

Having at last got a chance to write to you I will improve it. I am well as usual after a long seige of marching and crowded on steam boats. I haven't wrote since you wrote when I was at Harrisons Landing. Well I didn't march with the army from there. I was unwell and the Lieutenant told me to go down on the boats. I did but instead of getting on the express, I got on the hospital boat and was carried to N.Y. While I was there 2-1/2 days I had a good time and I ain't sorry I got carried there. While I was there ...?... and Lib ...?... came out to see me. I went to Fort Hamilton, I would have wrote while I was there but I hadn't one cent. I got $2.00 of ...?... before I left then I hadn't time. Well I went back and met the army at Yorktown. We took a steamer and landed on Aquia Creek on the Potomac then marched to Fredericksburg, back again to the Creek Landing, took a steamer and landed at Alexandri. Marched out to Clouds Mills, back again to Fort Corcoran then down to Fairfax Court-house where our army was fighting, although we didn't have any fighting to do. And to make a long story short the whole U.S. Army have been whipped and now we are back again in sight of our own Capitol. Words can't begin to express the sight that we see. It seems that the whole army was panic stricken.

It will take 4 weeks to get the army settled down. Well I won't begin to tell all the particulars. We came back and crossed the Potomac this morning. Charlie's regiment is pretty badly cut up. Charles saw a fellow that belonged to this regiment. He said Charles was hunting after his regiment and going toward the battle field. He said Charles looked tough and hearty. The whole of Banks corps have passed us this day and I haven't seen the 12th. They must be in MacDowells Corps. Colonel Webster is killed and 11 Line Officers. That's what I hear when we were at Centreville.

I haven't time now to write a long letter but I will if ever I get a chance and every time I can. I guess the box is lost or at least I have given it up as lost. We will get paid within 8 days. We wooded before only for these moves. This is the first day that we have laid still since we left Harrisons Landing.

If you wish direct your L..?.... to Washington D.C.

I will write soon as I can
Good night

From your brother
Wm

[unionblue]

In the bluegrass country of central Kentucky, John Montgomery Ashley assembled his slaves in the great hall of his home and told them about the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Although Kentucky was a border state and thus exempt from the proclamation's provisions, Ashley had decided to give his servants the choice of continuing as his chattel or striking out on their own. He carefully explained the meaning of the document, then asked them what they wished to do.

For several minutes the blacks were silent. Then Uncle Dan, the oldest of the slaves, stepped forward. "Freedom are an unbroke filly and mighty skittish," he said, looking intently at his master. "But I are goin' to mount her just the same--rheumatiz, cane, and all. Marse Jack, you been a good master to these people, but there's nothin' like freedom--'cepting freedom."

And with that he hobbled out of the house, never to be seen by Ashley again.

From the book, 1863, The Rebirth of a Nation, by Joseph E. Stevens.

Unionblue

[thea_447]

The End Of The Civil War
From
"Reminiscences Of The Civil War" by Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon, CSA
http://www.civilwarhome.com/endofwar.htm

[thea_447]

Sherman in Georgia!

http://www.civilwarhome.com/shermangeorgia.htm



The Treatment Of Prisoners During The War Between The States.
Compiled by Rev. Wm. Jones, Secretary of Southern Historical Society

http://www.civilwarhome.com/prisonertreatment.htm

[unionblue]

From an account by Major George W. Nichols, USA, inside South Carolina, February 5, 1865.

"The land improves as we advance into the interior. The region though which we are now traveling is rich in forage and supplies, and the army is once more reveling in the luxurious experiences of the Georgia campaign--turkeys, geese, ducks, chickens, nicely-cured hams, potatoes, honey, and abundance of other luxuries for the soldiers, and plenty of corn and fodder for the animals. The soil does not seem to be very prolific in Barnwell County, as it has a large proportion of sand, yet the planters, judging from their houses and the outbuildings, seem to have been wealthy. Nearly all these places are deserted, although here and there we find women and children, whom it is difficult to persuade they are not at once to be murdered. Wide-spreading columns of smoke continue to rise wherever our army goes...It is grievous to see a beautiful woman, highly cultured and refined, standing in the gateway of her dismantled home, perhaps with an infant in her arms, while she calls upon some passing officers to protect her home from further pillage for the advance guard, who have just been skirmishing with the enemy or some stragglers, have entered and helped themselves to what they needed or desired. No violence is done to the inmates, but household furniture is pushed about somewhat. The men of the house have all run away...These people have one cry in common, now that they feel the bitterness of war. They pray God that it may cease upon any terms, any thing, any time, but give them peace. They say, with the most emphatic unanimity, that they never for a moment thought the war would come to South Carolina. Oh no, her sacred soil was forever to be free from the touch of the hated, despised Yankee! But here we are; and where our footsteps pass, fire, ashes, and desolation follow in the path..."

Unionblue

[thea_447]

A SOLDIER'S RECOLLECTIONS:
LEAVES FROM THE DIARY OF A YOUNG CONFEDERATE,
WITH AN ORATION ON THE MOTIVES AND AIMS
OF THE SOLDIERS OF THE SOUTH:
Electronic Edition.
McKim, Randolph Harrison, 1842-1920

You must scroll very far down the page to begin the narrative. He discusses Jeb Stuart, Gettysburg, etc.

http://docsouth.unc.edu/mckim/mckim.html

[thea_447]

Humorous Incidents
of the
Civil War
The Experience of a Young Private
Confederate Soldier
BY A. C. MCLEARY

http://docsouth.unc.edu/mcleary/mcleary.html

[bill_torrens]

Many soldiers' stories relate to their experiences during the war. But in this case the real story is the improbable – indeed extraordinary – path which the soldier travelled in order to find himself participating in the war at all. I give you the story of George Tomlin Gordon – Englishman, Gentleman, Con Man, Adulterer & Confederate Lieutenant-Colonel.

He was born in London on 8th August 1823. His father was the Reverend John Gordon, the vicar of Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire. His mother was Sarah Matthews, reputedly an actress. He was educated at Westminster School, one of the most prestigious Public [ie private] Schools in the country, and at Jesus College, Cambridge. On 15th June 1847 he married Harriet Harrison. In the 1851 census he was recorded as a landed proprietor living at Cuckney Hall in Nottinghamshire. He also served as an officer in a local militia regiment – service which was later to be regularly represented in American sources as having been in the British Army.

This was a wealthy man of social status. There was absolutely no reason for him to emigrate, and yet the fact is that in 1860 he was appointed Treasurer of the colony of Vancouver Island. This appointment was duly recorded in various official publications in England and, on 31st December 1860, one of these came to the attention of a member of the British Government, the Duke of Newcastle under Lyne. He did a double-take, and then promptly picked up his pen and wrote a hasty letter to the Vancouver authorities:

“I am bound to tell you that this person resided for some years in my neighbourhood and was obliged to leave the country in consequence of his seduction of his friend’s wife under circumstances of peculiar aggravation. It was then discovered that he had for years carried on a complete system of fraud and swindling. I fear he may be led into some serious fraud upon the Colonial Revenue and the sooner you can get rid of him the better for all concerned. You should at once, though without making any unnecessary stir, have an examination of the accounts.”

Whether checks were carried out immediately on receipt of the Duke’s letter is unclear. But, almost exactly a year later, Gordon was arrested for embezzlement. The arrest was reported in the Christmas Day edition of The British Colonist:

“The feeling in town yesterday morning, wherever a Colonist containing an account of the defalcation was read, was one of unfeigned regret. Of all our public officers, none have been more uniformly kind and obliging to those having business at the offices than Capt. Gordon - a circumstance which rendered him very popular – but as a business man he was notoriously deficient, even in the simplest details. Added to his gentlemanly bearing, sympathy for his large and interesting family will exert a powerful influence in his favor. Capt. Gordon’s friends, both here and in England, are numerous and influential…”

But – in the time-honoured tradition of newspapers everywhere – the Colonist had changed its tune by the time of Gordon’s conviction at the end of January 1862:

“For several moments [after the jury’s verdict] a deep silence prevailed throughout the court room. The prisoner seemed stunned by the verdict, and, pale as death, with his head bowed low on his breast, he stood motionless as a statue….as the wretched man, accompanied by the officers, passed out of Court on the way to his cell, several of the few – and they are very few – friends who had stood manfully by his side during the whole period of his incarceration and disgrace, gathered around, and grasping his hand, silently and tearfully bid [sic] him good-bye. The scene was a most affecting one…”

Because of legal technicalities too tedious to record here, Gordon’s case ran to three separate trials, during which he was housed in the Debtors’ Prison. The resolution of this saga was recorded in The British Colonist of 19th May 1862:

“Yesterday morning Captain G.T. Gordon, ex-Treasurer of this colony, who has been confined in the debtor’s prison ever since the rendition of the notable decision of Chief Justice Cameron upsetting the indictment against him for embezzlement, made his escape from the debtor’s prison by unlocking with a false key the gate between the barracks and the kitchen. The last seen of the Captain by any one about the jail was about seven o’clock in the morning, when he drank a cup of tea in the kitchen, and he is thought to have made his escape immediately thereafter…the Captain had all along been allowed a great deal of liberty, and was therefore not missed until about one o’clock in the afternoon. Search was made yesterday by the authorities, but it is doubtful if he can be found, and very few will weep if he is not. The runaway was seen about eight o’clock yesterday morning taking long strides across the vacant lots near the corner of Douglas and Kane streets, en route to Beacon Hill, where he probably obtained a boat for the American side.”

The next thing we know about Gordon is that, on 13th December 1862, he was commissioned Major of the 34th North Carolina Infantry. He was promoted Lt-Colonel on 6th May 1863. He was wounded in the leg at Gettysburg on 3rd July 1863, and in the leg in June 1864. In October 1864 he became Inspector General on the staff of General Whiting. He spent the months after the fall of Fort Fisher on Braxton Bragg’s staff, and was present at Bentonville.

In her “Foreigners In The Confederacy”, Ella Lonn described Gordon as “a big, soldierly-looking man with red whiskers, and with such beautiful manners that he was received as a constant visitor in many of the most refined Southern homes. Despite his constant support of the corps which maintained a notorious gambling club near the Spottswood Hotel in Richmond, he was recognised as a real fighter.”

Somewhat less impressed was W.W. Glenn, a Baltimore journalist of Confederate sympathies, who recorded in his diary for 25th June 1865 that

“In New York last week I saw one pretty girl who would stick by Col. Gordon. He had been repeatedly faithless to his wife, he had run away with his Major’s wife and been forced to sell out in England (of the Coldstreams I think), he had left his wife and six children to take care of themselves, he had committed forgery in Vancouver’s Island, been tried & convicted and lastly he had received in Baltimore $700 for Col. Ransom to be handed him in Richmond and appropriated it himself. It was no use. He had fought and bled for the South. The lovely Sally would forgive him. As for the fact of his having condescended to obtain a commission in the Northern Army, in the beginning of the war, that she simply did not believe.”

Although Glenn was clearly mistaken about some details of Gordon’s past, the “Col. Ransom” referred to was in fact his brother-in-law, Ambrose Ranson. And so it is reasonable to assume that Glenn got this story straight from the horse’s mouth.

Gordon next washed up in New Orleans. And there, on 26th February 1866, he died. He had evidently made a favourable impression on his new neighbours in the closing months of his life, since a local newspaper wrote that

“How nobly he performed what he considered his duty thousands of his fellow citizens can testify. It is but seldom that memories of the warlike events which occurred around Richmond are looked upon by his surviving comrades without a tribute being paid to his memory by those who had so many opportunities of admiring and respecting him for his gallantry as a soldier and his worth as a man.”

Gordon appears to have been a brave man with many winning ways. But best to keep clear water between him and your money…and your wife.