The American Civil War: a Nation Divided (O16p464hiw)
THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR: A NATION DIVIDED (O16P464HIW)
Seminar Week 3:1862: The North Strikes Back
Document A) Gen. Ulysses S. Grant to Gen. Simon B. Buckner, Fort Donelson, 16 February 1862
How did this letter, and the subsequent action taken, change the war’s execution?
What nickname did Gen. U.S. Grant earn as a result of this letter?
Sir,
Yours of this date proposing armistice and appointing of commissioners to settle terms of capitulation is just received. No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted.
I propose to move immediately upon your works.
Document B) Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, General Orders No. 11, Department of Tennessee, 17 December 1862
Was racism in 19th-century America strictly a Southern phenomenon?
Should Ulysses S. Grant, whose face appears on the $50 bill, be considered a national hero?
The Jews, as a class violating every regulation of trade established by the Treasury Department and also department orders, are hereby expelled from the department within 24 hours from the receipt of this order.
Post commanders will see that all of this class of people be furnished passes and required to leave, and any one returning after such notification will be arrested and held in confinement until an opportunity occurs of sending them out as prisoners, unless furnished with permit from headquarters.
No passes will be given these people to visit headquarters for the purpose of making personal application for trade permits.
By order of Maj. Gen. U. S. Grant:
JNO. A. RAWLINS,
Assistant Adjutant-General
Document C) Gen. Benjamin Butler, General Orders No. 28, New Orleans, 13 May 1862
What does this order reveal in regards to women’s wartime experiences during the 19th century?
How could this order actually aid the Confederate war effort and undermine the Union war aim of reuniting the country?
As the officers & soldiers of the United States have been subject to repeated insults from the women (calling themselves ladies) of New Orleans in return for the most scrupulous non-interference and courtesy on our part, it is ordered that hereafter when any female shall by word, gesture, or movement insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the United States she shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a woman of the town plying her avocation.
By command of Major General Butler:
Geo. C. Strong,
Assistant Adjutant General & Chief of Staff
Document D) George Coppell to Gen. Benjamin Butler, New Orleans, 14 June 1862
How could the events referred to in the letters referred to in Documents D & E aid the Confederate war effort?
Why did the Lincoln administration feel so keen to step into this matter?
Sir, - I beg to inform you that great doubt exists in the minds of British subjects who, under the provisions of your Order No. 41 are called upon to subscribe to oaths therein set forth, as to the consequence of compliance with the behests of that order.
I would therefore respectfully request that you will inform me whether the oath prescribed in the first instance is intended, or in your understanding can be construed, to affect the natural allegiance they owe to the Government of their nativity.
Objections have also been very generally urged against the oath prescribed to duly registered aliens, on the ground that it imposes on them (in words at least) the office of spy, and forces them to acts inconsistent with the ordinary obligations of probity, honour, and neutrality.
Hoping that I may receive such explanations as may obviate the difficulties suggested.
Document E) Capt. P. Haggerty to George Coppell, New Orleans, 14 June 1862
Sir, - I am directed by the Major-General Commanding, to inform you that no answer is to be given to the note of George Coppell, Esq., of this date, until his credentials and pretensions are recognised by his own Government and the Government of the United States. All attempts at official action on Mr. Coppell’s part must cease. His credentials have been sought for, but not exhibited.
Document F) ‘Still Harping on My Daughter’, The London American, 10 December 1862
What does this article reveal about General Butler’s usefulness to the Union war effort?
How does it portray Anglo-American relations?
In the absence of Federal defeats and disasters the English journals indulge their spleen in commenting on the acts of United States officers and officials. General Butler was and is their especial mark for every fiery shaft of venom; every act of his is regarded in the light of tyranny, whether it be the banishing of some half-mad, wholly rebellious, and very foul-mouthed Southern female to a desolate island, or the establishing of order, trade, and security in a city so lately a prey to the most wanton riot and disorder. But, much to the gratification of the Times, another individual has turned up; and although he fills quite an humble position, he is considered worthy of being made to appear a monster simply for having done what he considered was his duty. The North is branded as a community of inhuman monsters, and the vast machinery of the English press sends the calumny to the very ends of the earth, and makes distant nations and people believe that the Yankees are not only beggars, braggers, and bankrupts, but that they are brutes into the bargain. We do not want to defend either General Butler or Constable Kennedy – they may have acted in an imprudent manner, and have taken upon them an amount of authority to which they had no right; but how is a nation that is struggling for its very existence to be aware of the particular faults of every individual of all the hundreds of thousands it employs? England should be the last to take particular note of the conduct of another nation in the way it deals with rebellious subjects. If we were to glean up memoirs of the year ’98 in Ireland, we should find incidents of barbarity perpetrated on a long-suffering people, a thousand times more monstrous than any thing that has yet taken place in America. ‘It is an old proverb which says that those who live in glass houses should not throw stones; and surely, if ever there was an illustration of the allegory, it is afforded by England. It is quite true that a nation possessing so much of what does not really belong to her, as England does, often finds herself in a position when it becomes almost imperative to be high-handed and cruel; but is it not a fact that England has a most extraordinary and unfortunate knack of getting herself disliked? If England chooses not to cultivate the friendship of the half-barbarous nations of the East, and despises alike their alliance and their hate, it is all very well, and it is nothing to us; but we would courteously remind the British Government that Americans are very different both from Chinese and Hindoos [sic]; and, though their friendship may not be worth a great deal their enmity might be more troublesome than that of all the peoples from the Caspian to Japan.
Document G) Pvt. James Foreman to Dollie Foreman, Yorktown, Virginia, 12 April 1862
After reading Documents G &H, determine what, other than combat, impacted the morale of soldiers?
Why is it I have not heard from you lately. Are you sick or anything very bad happened to you or Paul and our little girl. The last that I heard was from Lib announcing that Paul was very sick. Why have you not told me how you both were getting along. It has caused me a great many uneasy moments and then again I receive a short letter from Alma announcing that Father was not expected to live and since then no one has written me a word how he is. Thus you will see that I have received all the bad news without anything good.
Document H) Pvt. James Foreman to Dollie Foreman, Yorktown, Virginia, 26 April 1862
This morning I received your letter announcing the death of our little girl. What can I say to console you in our sad bereavement. It cannot be expected that I would feel her loss as you do as I never saw her and had not learned to love her as you had. I could realize your feelings better by placing Paul in her place. I could hardly keep from crying or reading your letter. How sad and lonesome you must be.
When is this accursed rebellion going to end. I fear not without the loss of thousands of more valuable lives. I believe it is carried on in the most uncivilized manner of any war known of late years.
Document I) Dr. Moses Gunn(Field Surgeon, 5th Michigan Inf. Regt.) to his wife, Williamsburg, Virginia, 7 May 1862
Why did doctors often have a more horrific experience during the war than the actual combat officers and soldiers?
What did surgeons do to treat soldiers who had been shot in an arm or leg (or both)?
Dismounting, I commenced my labors. It seemed I had hardly been engaged five minutes, when Captain LeFarren was brought back with the end of his nose shot off and his cheek horribly mangled; then in they came constantly-terribly shot and maimed, some dying as they were brought in. It seemed as though our regiment was being slaughtered! The rain continued to pour, the garments of the men and the ground on which they lay, literally soaking. None of us had on a dry thread; my own water-drenched trousers had dripped into my boots until my feet were in a bath.
Document J) Sgt. Charles H. Church (3rd Michigan Infantry Regiment) to his father, Virginia Peninsula, May 1862
How were war aims typically different between Union soldiers from New England and those from the rest of the North?
What does Sgt. Church imply by stating, ‘The majority in our Co. is Democratic’?
There is some very hot argaments [sic] amongst theWhat will be done with them. The mas [sic] of the soldiers are in favor of having them put upon some island & shoot the first one that attemps [sic] to leave it. We give the Nigers [sic] no quarters. The majority in our Co. is Democratic.
Document K) Dr. Moses Gunn to his wife, 20 miles east of Richmond, 21 May 1862
How were the realities of war different from the typical soldier’s preconceptions of military service?
We have reached that point where every one is uncomfortable; I, no more so, perhaps than others, but I cannot incur the hardships incident to field service much longer if a resignation will relieve me from them.
The nights are always cold and very damp, while the days are hot.
The truth is that the administration of the medical department of the army is utterly imbecile. The great mistake I made was in not applying for a brigade surgeoncy.
Did any one dream for a moment that a surgeon’s field had aught of glory about it? No! The glory consists of carnage and death. The more bloody the battle, the greater the glory. A surgeon may labor harder, must labor longer (we continued to fight three days), may exhibit a higher degree of skill, may exercise the best feelings of our poor human nature, may bind up many a heart as well as limb, but who so poor as to do him honor? There is no glory for our profession.
Document L) Pvt. James Foreman to Dollie Foreman, Fair Oaks Station, Virginia, 27 June 1862
What does this letter reveal about the changing perceptions of the seriousness of the war between North and South?
Ten months ago today our regiment was sworn into the service for three years. I was fool enough to believe that rebellion would soon be played out and if alive go home again where my thoughts so often wonder. My expectations of seeing you and Paul again before the three years is up is daily growing less and less.
I predict that our army will be repulsed here if so the South have achieved their independence.I do not believe there is ten men in this regiment but what would go home tomorrow if they could get a discharge. Presume when I write again I shall either be in Richmond, back at Fort Monroe or killed. God knows which.
Document M) ‘The Late Contest in Front of Richmond’, The London American, 23 July 1862
What is historically inaccurate about this article?
What does this article reveal about the purpose of journalistic propaganda?
There is no denying it that the late retreat of Gen. McClellan was caused by the blunder of somebody. From the day of his [McClellan’s] arrival on the peninsula, he has constantly moved forward in the face of a foe greatly outnumbering his own command. This ought not to have been – the besieging army should always be the stronger in numbers and equipments.