Siege of Atlanta

William T. Sherman (leaning on breach of cannon) and staff at Federal Fort No. 7 outside Atlanta

By the second week of July, Sherman's forces had reached the outskirts of Atlanta, then a city of about 20,000 that served as a rail hub and manufacturing center.  On July 20, 1864 Union cannons reached a position where shells could hit Downtown Atlanta. For the next 36 days; defensive fortifications, factories, homes, stores and streets were bombarded. Fortunately, a reduced civilian population meant the number of non-combatants killed (around 25) was much smaller than it might have been.

Unsustainable Losses

Coincidentally, the first shells started falling on the same day the battles for Atlanta would begin in earnest. Over the next six weeks, a series of battles would change history. General Hood, now that he was in command, decided not to rely exclusively on the extensive defensive fortifications ringing Atlanta and instead went on the attack. 

John Bell Hood

Hood's first offensive took place on July 20 at the Battle of Peachtree Creek mentioned in the previous post. Despite Hood's determined assault, the Union forces held and were victorious. With an almost 3 to 1 deficit in casualties, the losses were of a magnitude the Confederates could not continue to sustain if they wanted to retain Atlanta. [According to the CWSAC Battle Summary, total casualties were 6,506 (US 1,710; CS 4,796)]

Hood's second offensive followed close on the heels of the first in the Battle of Bald Hill (Also called the Battle of Atlanta) on July 22, 1864.  Hood intended to attack the Union troops from both east and west. The fighting centered on a hill east of the city known as Bald Hill. The Federals had arrived two days earlier, and began to shell Atlanta proper. A savage struggle, sometimes hand-to-hand, developed around the hill, lasting until just after dark. The victorious Federals retained the hill and this important entrance to Atlanta, while the Confederates retired away from the hill.  A major Union loss in this battle was the death of General James McPherson killed by Confederate skirmishers. [CWSAC Battle Summary, total casualties were 12,140 (US 3,641; CS 8,499)]

The Battle of Ezra Church occurred on July 28, 1864. Up until the end of July, Sherman had approached Atlanta from the east and north. He now decided to attack from the west and cut one of Hood's last railroad supply lines. Hood, in what he thought would be a surprise, sent forces to block the move at Ezra Church.

Union General Oliver Howard predicted such a maneuver based on his knowledge of Hood from their time together at West Point before the war. Howard's troops were already waiting in their trenches when Hood reached them. Instead of striking the Union flank, the Confederates hit the Union center, where the Yankee troops were positioned behind barricades made from logs and pews taken from the church. Several attacks were made on the Union lines. Each was turned back, and the Confederates were not able to get around the Union flank. Nevertheless, despite the Union victory, the Federals failed to cut the railroad line. [CWSAC Battle Summary, total casualties were 3,562 (US 562; CS 3000)]

Federal soldiers relaxing by guns of captured fort during Siege of Atlanta

The Battle of Jonesboro, August 31 to September 1, 1864, would be the final blow against the Confederate defense of Atlanta. With it now clear that Hood could no longer effectively confront Union forces in the field, Sherman stepped up the artillery bombardment of Atlanta and maneuvered to permanently cut the Confederate railroad supply lines.

In previous raids by small detachments, temporary success had been achieved through destruction of parts of the railroad. However, the Confederates had always quickly repaired the damage. Sherman now believed that if he could completely sever Hood's last railroad, the Confederates would be forced to evacuate Atlanta. 

On August 25 Sherman began moving six out of his seven infantry corps against the railroad between the towns of Rough and Ready and Jonesboro. In response, two Confederate corps were sent to halt and possibly rout the Union troops. However, Hood failed to realize that the majority of Sherman's army was approaching in force. The Confederate defending forces were highly outnumbered. Once the last rail line fell to the federal onslaught, Hood realized saving Atlanta was a hopeless cause. He evacuated the city on September 1, 1864. A long munitions train was blown up  as he left the city so that it wouldn’t fall into Union hands. [CWSAC Battle Summary, total casualties were 3149 (US 1149; CS 2000)] 

Casualty figures are a vivid indicator of the circumstances that led to the ultimate Confederate defeat in Atlanta. Since battle figures may vary considerably depending on sources, I have decided to refer to one probably reliable source; the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Battle Summaries. These indicate the total cumulative casualties for each side from the four battles experienced during the Siege of Atlanta as follows: Union 7,062; Confederate 18,295. Given that the Confederate Army forces at Atlanta were outnumbered from the beginning, losses of more that 2.5 to 1 were unsustainable.

Commentary

With his mention of General Howard and William's experience the previous day, in the first two paragraphs he is describing the Battle of Ezra Church. 

In the third paragraph he reflects back to July 20th and the Battle of Peachtree Creek. 

He seems to think that Sherman does not want to destroy the city given the ability to throw shells over the city combined with not so much Union shelling. 

William's mention of the breastworks gives a more positive view early on than the words highlighted below written two weeks later by his commanding officer Col. Crane.

Failure to pay the soldiers seems to be a continuing problem with the Union Army. Seven months in arrears is quite a bit. William would certainly put the money to good use.

General Hooker's July 22nd request of Sherman to be relieved of command duty is mentioned in the previous post. 

Given the constrained distance between the two army's lines, it is not surprising that Union skirmishers get so close to the Confederate lines that the Rebs can not use all their artillery.

Col. Nirom M Crane

The excerpts in the following letter written on August 12, 1864 by Nirom M. Crane, Commander of the 107th NY Volunteers, William Graham's Regiment, give his commanding officer's view of the the six week siege:  

   "Just now, we are within three hundred yards of the enemy's main line, and are compelled to burrow like rabits to escape the bullets and shells which are aimed at us from every available point and at all hours of day and night. We have laid in the trenches nearly three weeks, and I can assure you, this sort off work is wearing us out very fast—however, we can and do stand it with a good heart. 

   Our army line is now about twelve miles long and I think we are good for the work before us. Hood's army has been very recently strongly reinforced; and how soon we shall take Atlanta I cannot tell, but hope quite strongly."

Commentary

[This letter was written 5 days after Atlanta fell to Sherman's Army but provides details regarding its final days as it slipped out of Confederate control. I consider this the gem of William's letters. He clearly states his views and his reasoning on a broad range of topics. I agree with virtually all he says. Wonder how far he would have gone in his life with a better education and different circumstances.]

Note at top of William's letter - Don’t show this letter to anybody, it is so badly written. On side - I have had sweet potatoes today & different good things. Excuse the writing for the ink won’t flow

The Copperheads were a vocal group of Democrats in the Northern United States who opposed the American Civil War, wanting an immediate peace settlement with the Confederates. The name Copperheads was given to them by their opponents, the Republicans, because the venomous, although not usually deadly, copperhead snake can strike without warning (unlike a rattlesnake). The Copperheads nominally favored the Union and strongly opposed the war, for which they blamed abolitionists, and they demanded immediate peace and resisted draft laws. They wanted Lincoln and the Republicans ousted from power, seeing the president as a tyrant who was destroying American republican values with his despotic and arbitrary actions.

Abraham Africanus I is a rare Copperhead political pamphlet from 1864 that satirically depicts Abraham Lincoln making a pact with the Devil to become the monarchical ruler of the United States

This letter was written during the campaign leading up to the 1864 election where Abraham Lincoln won a second term. Sherman's capture of Atlanta contributed to Lincoln's victory at the polls. Lincoln had been a Republican but he ran under the National Union Party banner against his former top Civil War general, the Democratic candidate, George B. McClellan, and the Radical Republican Party candidate, John C. Frémont. 

Jefferson Fenis Davis

Jefferson Davis was President of the Confederate States. At the adoption of an ordinance of secession by Mississippi on January 9, 1861, Davis resigned from the United States Senate (where he was a senator from Mississippi) and returned to Mississippi. On February 9, 1861, a Constitutional convention at Montgomery, Alabama named him provisional President of the Confederate States of America and he was inaugurated on February 18, 1861. In meetings of his own Mississippi legislature, Davis had argued against secession; but when a majority of the delegates opposed him, he gave in.

William Graham's description of the ruling forces in the South as a stinkin aristocracy of slaveholders is probably the most vivid depiction in these letters of his strong feelings regarding the Confederacy. Remaining a loyal soldier of the Union army for almost three years through numerous battles, despite a debilitating illness, backs his words with strong action.

Public education, whether for whites or blacks, was nonexistent in the South before slavery ended. Wealthy whites sent first their sons and later their daughters off to private schools and colleges in the North and England. They objected to paying taxes to support education for those with lesser means regardless of race.

As soon as slavery ended, freed people began setting up schools all over the South. Many southern whites were shocked, appalled, infuriated by this phenomenon. Some responded by burning down schools, threatening teachers, whipping and killing black teachers and writing editorials dripping with disgust. 

Eventually though, some white elites began to notice that former slaves were outpacing poor whites on the educational front. Powerful whites began to discuss the need to provide schooling for poor whites. Then, during Congressional Reconstruction when black men and white Northern Republicans were elected to legislatures in the South, states passed laws that provided for public schooling for whites and blacks and imposed taxes to fund the schools.

Woodcut of early schoolroom, 1826-27

William Graham's words, "... that others, the oppressed of all nations, might here have a home in a free country." signify that this poor Irish immigrant (1) possesses a strong bond with poor immigrants from throughout the world and (2) has powerful feelings of appreciation for the value placed on the individual in his adopted country. 

There was no general military draft in America until the Civil War. The Confederacy passed its first of 3 conscription acts 16 April 1862, and scarcely a year later the Union began conscripting men. Government officials plagued with manpower shortages regarded drafting as the only means of sustaining an effective army and hoped it would spur voluntary enlistments.

Compulsory service embittered much of the public, who considered it an infringement on individual free will and personal liberty and feared it would concentrate arbitrary power in the military. Believing with some justification that unwilling soldiers made poor fighting men, volunteer soldiers despised conscripts. Conscription nurtured substitutes, bounty-jumping, and desertion. Charges of class discrimination were leveled against both Confederate and Union draft laws since exemptions and commutation clauses allowed propertied men to avoid service, thus laying the burden on immigrants and men with few resources. Occupational, only-son, and medical exemptions created many loopholes in the laws. Unpopular, unwieldy, and unfair, conscription sometimes seemed to raise more discontent than soldiers.

Union pickets relaxing after successful siege of Atlanta

Hood evacuated Atlanta on September 1, 1864 and the 20th Corps took possession the next morning, ending the Atlanta Campaign.

Sherman pursued Hood to Lovejoy but found him concentrated with his entire command in a position that was too strong to be assaulted. Union forces returned to Atlanta September 4-8, 1864. This was probably the reconnaissance beyond the Chattahoochee River described by William in his letter.

Thomas's command (Army of the Cumberland - where William Graham and the 107th Regiment fought) occupied Atlanta. Howard's (Army of the Tennessee) was located nearby at East Point 20 miles southwest of the city, and Schofield's (Army of the Ohio) was at Decatur 10 miles to the east. Unable to advance farther, but determined to hold his gains, Sherman evacuated the Southern civilians from the city and converted it into an armed camp that could be held with the smallest possible force. Sherman was busy hatching plans to lead the bulk of his army elsewhere.

General Henry Slocum

General Henry Warner Slocum (September 24, 1827 – April 14, 1894), was a Union general during the American Civil War and later served in the United States House of Representatives from New York. During the war, he was one of the youngest major generals in the Army and fought numerous major battles in the Eastern Theater and in Georgia and the Carolinas. 

Controversy arose from his conduct at the Battle of Gettysburg, where he was accused of indecision and a dilatory advance to the battlefield, earning him the derogatory nickname "Slow Come".

Slocum was born in Delphi, a hamlet in Onondaga County, New York. He attended Cazenovia Seminary and worked as a teacher. He obtained an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he did well academically—considerably better than his roommate, Philip Sheridan.

As indicated in William Graham's letter, General Slocum was in command of the 20th Corps. General Joseph Hooker asked to be relieved of duty and Sherman replaced him with Slocum.

Sherman's Atlanta Campaign

Map illustrating the Atlanta Campaign

The days of guard duty along the Tennessee railroad were no more. On April 4, 1864, the 11th and William's 12th corps were combined into a new Twentieth Army Corps. Together with other army corps, they would form an army of 100,000 under General William T. Sherman, which would become of one of the most famous armies in the history of warfare. 

The map to the left (Click to enlarge) graphically represents the movements of Sherman's new army from May to September 1864. Hopefully it will help the reader follow the Campaign's progress as discussed in the letters and commentary that follow.

Sherman's army was part of the plan to devastate the underbelly of the Confederacy. Starting on May 4, 1864, the Twentieth Corps joined the Atlanta campaign, participating during the next four months in all the important battles. 

During the first month, the hardest fighting occurring at Resaca on May 15, 1864 and at New Hope Church on May 25, 1864. 

William's 107th Regiment fought hard in the many skirmishes and battles on its way to Atlanta, losing a great many men in the battle of New Hope Church. The 107th would be among the first troops to enter Atlanta, ultimately becoming its police force and guard against any future Confederate attacks. 

 

Commentary

Cassville is sometimes referred to as the "Battle that never was", as Johnston had hoped to isolate and destroy part of Sherman’s army here. However, the trap was not sprung after John Bell Hood hesitated in the face of what he believed was a much larger Union force. Cassville was destroyed by Sherman (11/5/64) in retaliation for Southern guerrilla activity in the area. It was not rebuilt until the 20th century.

Rocky Face Ridge (May 7-12)

At Rocky Face Ridge, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston had entrenched his army on the long, high mountain of Rocky Face Ridge and eastward across Crow Valley. 

General Joseph Johnston

When Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman approached the trenches he decided to make contact against the position with two columns while he sent a third one to the right through Snake Creek Gap to hit the Western & Atlantic Railroad at Resaca. 

The two remaining Union columns under Sherman's direct command engaged the enemy at Buzzard Roost (Mill Creek Gap) and at Dug Gap. In the meantime, the third column, under Maj. Gen. James Birdseye McPherson, passed through Snake Creek Gap and on May 9th advanced to the outskirts of Resaca where it found Confederates entrenched. 

Fearing defeat, McPherson pulled his column back to Snake Creek Gap. On the 10th, Sherman decided to take most of his men and join McPherson to take Resaca. The next morning, Sherman’s army withdrew from in front of Rocky Face Ridge. Discovering Sherman’s movement, Johnston retired south towards Resaca on the 12th.

Resaca (May 13-15)

In the Battle of Resaca casualties were about equal on both sides. This is the battle William Graham describes in his letter.

Gen. Joseph E. Johnston had withdrawn from Rocky Face Ridge to the hills around Resaca. On the 13th, the Union troops tested the Rebel lines to pinpoint their whereabouts. The next day full scale fighting occurred, and the Union troops were generally repulsed except on the Rebel right flank where Sherman did not fully exploit his advantage. On the 15th, the battle continued with no advantage to either side until Sherman sent a force across the Oostanula River, at Lay’s Ferry, towards Johnston’s railroad supply line. Unable to halt this Union movement, Johnston was forced to retire.

Battle of Resaca

New Hope Church and Dallas (May 25-June 1) 

 

The Battles of New Hope Church and Dallas occurred as a series of engagements beginning after William's May 21 letter was sent. Prior to the battle, Johnston’s army fell back from the vicinity of Cassville-Kinston, first to Allatoona Pass and then to the Dallas area and entrenched. Sherman’s army tested the Rebel line while entrenching themselves.

The Battle of New Hope Church occurred with intense trench warfare and skirmishing associated with an attack on May 25 and 26 under Hooker's 20th Corps command. It was reported that 703 Union soldiers were killed and 350 taken prisoner as a result of this battle. The Battle of Dallas occurred on May 28 when Confederate Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee’s forces, looking for any weakness, probed the Union defensive line held by Maj. Gen. John A. Logan’s forces. Fighting ensued at two different points. The Rebels were repulsed, suffering some 600 more casualties than the Union forces.

Sherman looked for a way around Johnston’s line, and, on June 1, his cavalry occupied Allatoona Pass, which had a railroad and would allow his men and supplies to reach him by train. Sherman abandoned his lines at Dallas on June 5 and moved toward the railhead at Allatoona Pass forcing Johnston to follow soon afterwards. Since Sherman took great pains to ensure security measures for his supply and communications lines, he could be fairly confident that supplies would continue to flow without interruption. The battle resulted in a Union victory.

Confederate Strategic Error 

 

The unwillingness of Confederate authorities in Richmond to temporarily abandon Mississippi and to utilize the substantial forces available there to counter the primary Union threat against Atlanta demonstrated the flaws in Confederate President Davis’ command system. Union diversionary operations in Mississippi effectively kept Forrest – probably the only cavalry leader who could have seriously threatened Sherman’s logistics – away from the Union commander’s railroad lifeline. Because of Sherman’s detailed advance planning, the railroad from Chattanooga to Atlanta (the part of the line in Union hands) was well defended, and the Union army well maintained.

Commentary

William Tecumseh Sherman received recognition for his outstanding command of military strategy as well as criticism for the harshness of the "scorched earth" policies that he implemented in conducting total war against the Confederate States. Military historian Basil Liddell Hart famously declared that Sherman was "the first modern general".[1]

General William Tecumseh Sherman

Sherman served under General Ulysses S. Grant in 1862 and 1863 during the campaigns that led to the fall of the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg on the Mississippi River and culminated with the routing of the Confederate armies in the state of Tennessee. In 1864, Sherman succeeded Grant as the Union commander in the western theater of the war. 

He proceeded to lead his troops to the capture of the city of Atlanta, a military success that contributed to the re-election of President Abraham Lincoln. Sherman's subsequent march through Georgia and the Carolinas further undermined the Confederacy's ability to continue fighting. He accepted the surrender of all the Confederate armies in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida in April 1865.

Prior to Atlanta, William Graham's 107th Regiment participated in two more battles after Dallas; Kennesaw Mountain at the end of June and Peachtree Creek two days after this letter was written.

Kennesaw Mountain (June 27)

The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain took place on June 27, 1864. On the night of June 18-19, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, fearing envelopment, withdrew his army to a new, previously selected position astride Kennesaw Mountain. This entrenched arc-shaped line, to the north and west of Marietta, protected the Western & Atlantic Railroad, the supply link to Atlanta. Having defeated General John B. Hood troops at Kolb’s Farm on the 22nd, Sherman was sure that Johnston had stretched his line too thin and, therefore, decided on a frontal attack with some diversions on the flanks. On the morning of June 27, Sherman sent his troops forward after an artillery bombardment. At first they made some headway overrunning Confederate pickets. However, attacking an enemy that was well dug in is usually futile. The fighting ended by noon, and Sherman suffered high casualties - 3000 to 1000 for the Rebels.

Major General Joseph Hooker

Joseph Hooker became known as "Fighting Joe" during the Civil War. He gained a reputation as a solid commander when he was transferred westward to reinforce the Army of the Cumberland around Chattanooga, Tennessee. Hooker was in command at the Battle of Lookout Mountain, playing an important role in Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's decisive victory at the Battle of Chattanooga. He was brevetted to major general in the regular army for his success at Chattanooga, but he was disappointed to find that Grant's official report of the battle credited his friend William Tecumseh Sherman's contribution over Hooker's.

Hooker led his now 20th Corps (William Graham's Corps) competently in the 1864 Atlanta Campaign under Sherman, but asked to be relieved before the capture of the city because of his dissatisfaction with the promotion of Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard to command of the Army of the Tennessee, upon the death of Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson.

 

Chattahoochee River Line  (July 8 - 9)

Example of pontoon bridge used to quickly cross rivers

The Chattahoochee River Line was revolutionary in its design and formidable in its strength. Sherman called it "one of the strongest pieces of field fortifications I ever saw". It stretched about seven miles along a ridge on the northern bank of the Chattahoochee River. The fortifications included 36 distinctive small forts called Shoupades after their designer, Confederate Brigadier General Francis A. Shoup. A network of trenches connected them.

General Joseph Johnston's Confederates took up the line as a defensive position following the battle of Kennesaw Mountain. The River Line was such a well-engineered defensive system that Union forces declined a direct assault; instead they dug themselves in to engage in daily artillery duels.

At the River Line on July 8 and 9, Union forces feigned to the right, but crossed the Chattahoochee by the left. Rapidly assembled bridges soon spanned the Chattahoochee, and wagons and men of Sherman’s army were pouring across the waterway to flank the Confederate position. This was the pontoon bridge mentioned in William's letter. Johnston abandoned the River Line on the evening of July 9, 1864.

To secure the real prize – the city of Atlanta – the Federals had to sever its railroads; four lines radiating out of the city to various vital points of the Confederacy. Once across the Chattahoochee, Sherman controlled the first, the Western & Atlantic railroad. Johnston was forced once more to retreat.

Johnston's strategy throughout the Atlanta Campaign seemed to be withdrawal. He would prepare strong defensive positions, only to see Sherman maneuver around them, causing Johnston to fall back in the general direction of Atlanta. Johnston saw the preservation of his army as most important. He handled his army well, slowing the Union advance and inflicting heavier losses than he sustained. However, given the Union's advantage in numbers, it was not enough.

Peachtree Creek (July 20)

By noon of July 17th Johnston's forces waited behind his first line of entrenchments (prepared in advance for this very occasion) south of Peach Tree Creek, an east to west flowing stream, about three miles north of Atlanta. Confederate President Jefferson Davis becoming increasingly irritated by Johnston's withdrawal strategy removed Johnston from command on July 17, 1864.  Lt. General John Bell Hood was substituted to command the Confederate army on July 18, 1864, the date of William Graham's letter. 

Sherman split his army into three columns for the assault with George H. Thomas’s Army of the Cumberland moving from the north. Johnston had decided to attack Thomas, but it was Hood who actually attacked on July 20, 1864 after Thomas's army crossed Peach Tree Creek. The determined assault threatened to overrun the Union troops at various locations. Ultimately, though, the Yankees held, and the Rebels fell back. Victory went to the Union with the Confederates suffering a level of casualties which they could not long sustain: 4,796 to the Union's 1,710.

Clement Vallandigham

Clement Laird Vallandigham was an Ohio member of the Copperhead faction of anti-war, pro-Confederate Democrats during the American Civil War. Vallandigham was a vigorous supporter of Constitutional "States' Rights" and although personally opposed to slavery, believed that the federal government had no power to regulate the institution. He further believed that the Confederacy had a right to secede and could not constitutionally be conquered militarily.

He supported the Crittenden Compromise and proposed (February 20, 1861) a division of the Senate and of the electoral college into four sections, each with a veto. He strongly opposed every military bill, leading his opponents to allege that he wanted the Confederacy to win the war. He was the acknowledged leader of the Copperheads and in May 1862 coined their slogan, "To maintain the Constitution as it is, and to restore the Union as it was."

Wartrace

View from the railroad tracks of Wartrace's downtown area. This area of the town is listed
on the National Register of Historic Places as the Wartrace Historic District.

Commentary

The name Wartrace came from a Cherokee Indian trail that once passed through the area. Wartrace is connected to Shelbyville by the Walking Horse and Eastern Railroad, a historic rail line that is still in part-time operation. The town, initially known as "Wartrace Depot," was established in the early 1850s as a stop on the newly constructed Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad.

During the Civil War, the rail line was strategic to both the Union and Confederate armies. The Tennessee campaigns of 1862 and 1863 saw Union troops force the Confederates from Nashville all the way to Chattanooga along the line of the railroad. The tracks and bridges were repeatedly damaged and repaired, and the rolling stock was largely destroyed. At different times the trains carried supplies for both armies.

During the Civil War, the town was the winter headquarters of Confederate General William J. Hardee following the Battle of Stones River. The Old Chockley Tavern in Wartrace was a gathering place for Confederate officers during the Tullahoma Campaign. A skirmish was fought at Wartrace on April 11, 1862. The town eventually came under Union control toward the end of 1863.

With the increase in rail travel in the late 19th century, Wartrace experienced a boom period. At its height, the town had six inns and hotels, and serviced 13 trains per day. One hotel, the Walking Horse Hotel, is still in business today.

William did not have an ordinary peasant's taste in newspapers. He hungered for knowledge, not sensationalism. He sided with those wronged by a slave owning society. He was an abolitionist.

Horace Greeley

The New York Tribune was one of the major newspapers of the day. The Tribune was created by Horace Greeley in 1841 to provide a trustworthy media source in an era when newspapers such as the New York Sun and New York Herald thrived on sensationalism. Although considered the least partisan of the leading newspapers, the Tribune did reflect some of Horace Greeley's idealist views. During the Civil War the Tribune was radical Republican in view, supporting abolition of slavery and subjection of the Confederacy instead of negotiated peace.

Harriet Beecher Stowe, a strong abolitionist wrote for both the New York Evangelist and the Independent...”

The NY Evangelist was published from 1830 to 1902. To give a sense of the opinion of the publications read by William Graham, a writer for the New York Evangelist wrote on July 25, 1861: We are now opening our eyes to the unwelcome fact that they are enemies of the country, and must be dealt with as TRAITORS. This once settled, scruples fast vanish about the mode of conducting the war. We feel bound to use every means in our power to put down a rebellion which is striking at the very life of the nation.

In the same issue the Evangelist asked: why not make a speedy end of this dreadful business by at once proclaiming freedom to the slaves?…Whatever rights they [southerners] had before as loyal citizens, they have forfeited by their treason and rebellion.

There are 74 Comstock’s with NY regiments, none with the 107th. In the 1860 Census the only male Comstock of young man age in Schuyler County (Town of Reading) was John age 13, which would have made him 17 in 1864.

Davids' Island is a 78 acre island off the coast of New Rochelle, New York. It is about 5 miles north of Throg's Point, the location of Fort Schuyler, on the western end of Long Island Sound. Currently uninhabited, the island has been owned by the City of New Rochelle for more than 30 years. After a number of false starts, including a brief attempt by Donald Trump to develop the island, its future use remains undetermined. Remaining structures on the island were demolished by the city in 2008. So much for history.

The U.S. Government in April, 1862 rented the island for hospital purposes from the then owner, Thaddeus Davids. Wooden structures were immediately erected which housed thousands of wounded prisoners from the battlefields of the Civil War. At the end of the war, Congress authorized its purchase for military purposes and it was conveyed to the United States in 1867. It was later converted to a coastal artillery defense post and was given the name Fort Slocum after Major General Henry W. Slocum, U.S. Volunteers.

Fort Slocum on David's Island in 1968

Uncle Bell was the father of Dr. Robert Bell. Uncle Bell's first wife Elizabeth died in 1846 and was the sister of William Graham's father.

The writing of love letters for another is one practice that seems to have disappeared in our society. It still occurs in societies on this planet where literacy is less universal. Not sure who was the Boyes for whom William was writing love letters.

 

Commentary

 

William Graham's comments about living in "the midst of sin" and his frequent references to the Lord indicate he was a religious man of the stricter sort. At the same time, his comments about slave owners and his preferences in newspapers would indicate that he was an abolitionist.

Abolitionism had a strong religious base including Quakers, and people converted by the revivalist fervor of the Second Great Awakening in the North in the 1830s. Belief in abolition contributed to the breaking away of some small denominations, such as the Free Methodist Church. 

Evangelical abolitionists founded some colleges, most notably Bates College in Maine and Oberlin College in Ohio. In the North, most opponents of slavery supported other modernizing reform movements such as the temperance movement, public schooling, and prison- and asylum-building. They split bitterly on the role of women's activism.

William was raised a Presbyterian in Ireland. The Free Methodist Church was founded in 1860 in western New York near where William Graham worked as a farmer. They opposed slavery, supporting freedom for all slaves in the United States.

The denomination was more conservative than the regular Methodists with regards to drinking, smoking, gambling, jewelry and modern dancing. Given these beliefs, and the association of his descendants in Schuyler County with the Methodist Church, there is a strong possibility that William was a Free Methodist.

Methodist camp revival meeting in the 1830s

Guy C. Adams is recorded as being with the 107th by the Nat’l Park Service database. Like William, he went in as a private and out as a Sergeant. Guy Adams, age 15 is listed in 1860 Census living in the Town of Dix. Guy, who would have been 19 in 1864, is mentioned in a number of William Graham's letters.

Dr. Robert Bell - Detailed information on his life may be found in William's Letter Correspondents.

This mention of a shilling is the only indication in William Graham's surviving letters of his Irish origins.

Anna is mentioned in a number of William Graham's letters. In 2008 one might call her a girl friend, but his comments about her to his sister convey an ambivalent feeling on both sides. Whatever transpired in their relationship, he eventually married another woman, Mary Platt.

Blockhouse at Union camp guarding the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad

 

Commentary

Rural New Yorker, a farm paper founded in 1850 as Moore's Rural New Yorker, dedicated "to home interests of both country and town residents."

Interesting the importance placed on the photo, the picture of loved person as a representation of that loved one. Photography was then a new technology and had a fascination and significance which has diminished today.

The rumors about heading to Kentucky were wrong. William's suspicion in that regard was correct. However, change was indeed afoot. The Atlanta Campaign which would culminate in the fall and burning of that city would begin in a little over a month - on May 7, 1864.

William and the 107th Regiment would again experience the stress, fear and excitement of battle. The boredom and sins of the last six months would be no more. Now a different sort of horror would bathe the land of Georgia.

Army of the Cumberland

Civil War period map of eastern Tennessee and adjacent states with the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad highlighted.
Places where stationed and letters written are underlined in red.

Commentary

The Army of the Potomac was the major Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. The 107th was transferred from that Army to the Army of the Cumberland in September 1863, right after William Graham rejoined his regiment on the Rappahannock River in Virginia.

During the American Civil War the Rappahannock River provided a recurring barrier and defensive line for the movement of troops. It was an especially difficult barrier for Union troops in attempts to advance into southern Virginia. Control of the river changed hands multiple times during the course of the war. Significant battles fought along the river include the Battle of Fredericksburg and the Battle of Rappahannock Station, fought in 1862. The defensive line of the river was finally circumvented by Ulysses S. Grant in the Overland Campaign of 1864, resulting in the final Union victory in the war.

A railroad engine under the control of the US Military Railroad

The Tennessee letters begin on October 4, 1863, the day after William arrived in Tennessee to carry out railroad guard duty. This guard duty in Tennessee would last from October 1863 until April 1864.

William would not be joining the 11th Corps in Chattanooga to reinforce Rosecrans as he expected. His brigade in its guard duties would support the success of the Army of the Cumberland, but luckily for William, in a less lethal way than that of their comrades.

Guarding of the railroad supply line was crucial to the Union cause and not an easy task as indicated by this excerpt from Ulysses S. Grant's Memoirs: "Sherman had started from Memphis for Corinth on the 11th of October. His instructions required him to repair the road in his rear in order to bring up supplies. The distance was about three hundred and thirty miles through a hostile country. His entire command could not have maintained the road if it had been completed. The bridges had all been destroyed by the enemy, and much other damage done. A hostile community lived along the road; guerilla bands infested the country, and more or less of the cavalry of the enemy was still in the West. Often Sherman’s work was destroyed as soon as completed, and he only a short distance away."

The 107th Regiment probably traveled in similar boxcars to Tennessee

The railroad journey to Tennessee took 10 days from September 24, 1863 to October 3, 1863 and extended over 1200 miles. The sights seen on that journey were quite an eye opener for a poor farmer from rural Ireland. Given the railroad track routes existing at the time, William may have been a bit optimistic about the number of state capitals they passed through. Columbus, Ohio and Indianapolis, Indiana were the most likely.

The journey was initiated on September 23, 1863 when President Lincoln ordered the 11th and 12th Corps detached from the Army of the Potomac and sent to Tennessee to reinforce the Army of the Cumberland. When traveling through southern states, the US Military Railroad carried the troops and their equipment. The two Corps were sent to the Western Theatre  after the disastrous Union defeat at the battle of Chickamauga. They were placed under command of General Hooker.

Brig. General Alpheus Williams

The 107th Regiment was in the 1st division of the 12th Corps, That division was under the command of Brig. General Alpheus Williams. In Tennessee, the 1st division was stationed along the railroad from Murfreesboro to Bridgeport. The 2nd division of the 12th Corps moved to the front at Chattanooga under Geary.

Decherd

William's initial letter was mailed from Decker Station (a misspelling of Decherd), a town on the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad which the 107th Regiment was charged with guarding.  The places where William was stationed during his period of guard duty per his letters are underlined in red on the map at the beginning of this post.

Decherd was founded in the mid 1800's. 'Decker' was most likely Decherd Station, and 'Decker' was a phonetic representation of what was originally a French word.

Decherd owed its beginning to the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad which was completed in 1851 through what was to become the town of Decherd. The town was named for Peter S. Decherd, who gave the rights-of-way to the railroad company with the provision that a depot be located near the "Decherd Plantation". Mr. Decherd came to Franklin County from Virginia in the early 1800's.

The Civil War dominated life in Decherd in the 1860s. No major battles were fought in the area, but several skirmishes were fought over control of the railroad and the Elk River.

Federal General Don Buell established headquarters in Decherd in August, 1862 before moving north to encounter Confederate forces under the command of General Braxton Bragg.

In 1863 Federals under Colonel John T. Wilder drove a Confederate force from Decherd and destroyed about 300 yards of the railroad. Telegraph and commissary stores of the Confederate forces were burned in the raid.

Battle of Hoover's Gap (June 23)

During the end of June 1863, three months prior to this letter, and before the arrival of the 107th Regiment in Tennessee, the Battle of Hoover's Gap with a Union victory occured in this area.

Gen. William Rosecrans

Union forces were under the command of Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans. General Braxton Bragg was commander of the opposing Confederate Army of Tennessee. Rosecrans’s superiors, fearing that Bragg might detach large numbers of men to help break the Siege of Vicksburg, urged him to attack the Confederates.

On June 23, 1863, Rosecrans deployed forces to feign an attack on Shelbyville while massing forces against Bragg's right. Although slowed by rain, Rosecrans moved forward, forcing Bragg to give up his defensive line and fall back to Tullahoma. Bragg evacuated his forces from Middle Tennessee and withdrew to the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Rosecrans followed and captured that city on September 8, 1863.

Rosecrans' pursuit of Bragg ended during the bloody Battle of Chickamauga, where his unfortunately worded order mistakenly opened a gap in the Union line and Rosecrans and a third of his army were swept from the field. But for the saving action of Union Maj. Gen. William Thomas, all of the Union forces might have been lost. Besieged in Chattanooga, Rosecrans was later relieved of command by Grant.

Commentary

 

Shelbyville 

Shelbyville is in Middle Tennessee on a Highland Rim limestone bluff upon the banks of Duck River, which flows around the southern and eastern sides of town.

Shelbyville, the only Union town of Tennessee
Harpers Weekly, Oct. 18, 1862

Shelbyville and Bedford County were divided on issues related to the civil war. When an election was held June 8, 1861 to vote for or against separation from the Union and representation in a Confederate Congress, the county voted to remain in the Union by a majority of nearly 200. When the time came for military action, the county furnished almost as many soldiers to the Northern as to the Southern army.

So loyal was Shelbyville to the Union as to earn for the town the name of "Little Boston." Being on the line of march of both armies, Shelbyville witnessed many movements and counter-movements of large bodies of troops. Some residents asserted that though much damage was sustained to property and not a few lives lost, the consequences were no more serious than could have been expected in time of war.

In 1863 a lively skirmish occurred between the Fifth Tennessee Cavalry and the Confederate Cavalry under Gen. Wheeler at nearby Wartrace. Subsequently, Gen. Wheeler again had a brush with the Federal Cavalry (between 3,000 and 4,000 men being in the fight) two miles west of Shelbyville, in which quite a number were killed and wounded.

In May, 1864, twelve soldiers belonging to the Fourth Tennessee Mounted Infantry (Federal), were captured by Robert B. Blackwell while guarding the Shelbyville depot, which was stored with hay. Blackwell was the head of a company of bushwhackers, The depot and contents were burned, and the twelve soldiers escorted a short distance from town and shot.
 

Chattanooga (Fall 1863)

Abraham Lincoln was keenly aware of the importance of the City of Chattanooga. The President had said that, "...taking Chattanooga is as important as taking Richmond." Rails from the city linked major distribution centers of the Confederacy. It was a key link in his plan to "divide and conquer" the Confederacy.

Maj Gen George H. Thomas

After their disastrous defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga, Union forces under Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans retreated to Chattanooga. Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee besieged the city, threatening to starve the Union forces into surrender. Bragg's troops occupied Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain, both of which had excellent views of the city, the river, and the Union's supply lines. Confederate troops launched raids on all supply wagons heading toward Chattanooga, which made it necessary for the Union to find another way to feed their men.

Lincoln ordered reinforcements to the city and gave Ulysses S. Grant command of all forces west of the Appalachians. Grant relieved Rosecrans of his command and replaced him with Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas (known as "The Rock of Chickamauga") as commander of the 40,000 troops in Chattanooga. From Virginia, Joseph Hooker moved 20,000 men. From Mississippi, William Tecumseh Sherman came with another 20,000. Grant's first priority upon reaching Chattanooga was to resupply the Union army.  

While William Graham was marching back and forth near Shelbyville, the Battle of Wauhatchie finally opened the supply lines to the besieged city of Chattanooga. 

Battle of Chattanooga - Charge near Orchard Knob on Nov. 24, 1863

A Union force had seized Brown's Ferry on the Tennessee River, opening a means to supply the Union army in Chattanooga. Confederate forces attempted to dislodge the Union force defending the ferry and again close this supply line but were defeated.

Wauhatchie was one of the few night battles of the Civil War. Victory was assured when Union forces charged up a steep hill in the face of the enemy and using bayonets drove James Longstreet's veterans out of their entrenchments.

Later that Fall, the Battle of Chattanooga (including the Battle of Lookout Mountain and the Battle of Missionary Ridge) was fought November 23–25, 1863. A part of the 11th Corps under Maj General Joseph Hooker was actively engaged at Missionary Ridge. In coordination with William T. Sherman's forces it helped bring about the rout of Bragg's army, ending the siege of Union forces in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

As a result of these battles, one of the Confederacy’s two major armies was routed. Union forces held Chattanooga, the “Gateway to the Lower South" for the remainder of the War.  Chattanooga became the supply and logistics base for Sherman’s 1864 Atlanta Campaign. After this battle the 11th Corps was ordered to East Tennessee for the relief of Knoxville.

Fort Schuyler

William was hospitalized for nine months from December 1862 to August 1863. His letters indicate that he was suffering from what we now call typhoid fever, probably as a result of poor sanitation during camp duty near Antietam. After an initial placement in St. Paul's Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia, he was eventually transferred to Fort Schuyler located on Throgs Neck at the eastern entrance to New York Harbor.

During the Civil War, Fort Schuyler held as many as 500 prisoners of war from the Confederate States Army and military convicts from the Union Army. It also included the MacDougall Hospital, which had a capacity of 2,000 beds.

Disease Among Civil War Soldiers

Union Army field hospital

Disease was the biggest killer of the war. Of the Federal dead, roughly three out of five died of disease, and of the Confederate, perhaps two out of three.

About half of the deaths from disease during the Civil War were caused by intestinal disorders, mainly typhoid fever, diarrhea, and dysentery. The remainder died from pneumonia and tuberculosis. Camps populated by young soldiers who had never before been exposed to a large variety of common contagious diseases were plagued by outbreaks of measles, chickenpox, mumps, and whooping cough.

The most significant cause of illness was the shocking filth of the army camp itself. An inspector in late 1861 found most Federal camps 'littered with refuse, food, and other rubbish, sometimes in an offensive state of decomposition; slops deposited in pits within the camp limits or thrown out; heaps of manure and offal close to the camp." As a result, bacteria and viruses spread through the camp like wildfire.

Bowel disorders constituted the soldiers' most common complaint. The Union army reported that more than 995 out of every 1,000 men eventually contracted chronic diarrhea or dysentery during the war; the Confederates fared no better.

Google Map view of Throgs Neck, the site of Fort Schuyler on New York City's East River

Commentary

Fort Schuyler, during the American Civil War, included the MacDougall Hospital which had a capacity of 2,000 beds. It can be safely assumed this is where William received his medical care.

Fort Schuyler also held as many as 500 prisoners of war from the Confederate States Army and military convicts from the Union Army. This is most likely why William felt kept like a convict at Fort Schuyler.

Aerial View of Fort Schuyler in 1924

 

Military Draft

The facility was a location where units heading to war would rendezvous and be outfitted and trained before being deployed. From January 1863 until July 1865, the Fort was garrisoned by the 20th Independent Battery, New York Volunteer Artillery, a unit originally recruited to fight in the war. Duty at the fort was reported to be a dull assignment as the men took the roles of guards and hospital stewards, not artillerymen.

The Enrollment and Conscription Act was passed by Congress on March 3, 1863. William's discussion of the military draft was probably related to that action which occurred the day before this letter was written.

There was no general military draft in America until the Civil War. The Confederacy passed its first of three conscription acts in April 1862, and scarcely a year later the Union began conscripting men. Government officials plagued with manpower shortages regarded drafting as the only means of sustaining an effective army and hoped it would spur voluntary enlistments.

But compulsory service embittered the public, who considered it an infringement on individual free will and personal liberty and feared it would concentrate arbitrary power in the military. Believing with some justification that unwilling soldiers made poor fighting men, volunteer soldiers despised conscripts. Conscription also undercut morale, as soldiers complained that it compromised voluntary enlistments and appeared as an act of desperation in the face of repeated military defeats.

Conscription nurtured substitutes, bounty-jumping, and desertion. Charges of class discrimination were leveled against both Confederate and Union draft laws since exemption and commutation clauses allowed propertied men to avoid service, thus laying the burden on immigrants and men with few resources. Occupational, only-son, and medical exemptions created many loopholes in the laws.

Rioters and Federal Troops clash in July 1863

Doctors certified healthy men unfit for duty, while some physically or mentally deficient conscripts went to the front after sham examinations. Enforcement presented obstacles of its own; many conscripts simply failed to report for duty. Several states challenged the draft's legality, trying to block it and arguing over the quota system. Unpopular, unwieldy, and unfair, conscription raised more discontent than soldiers.

Under the Union draft act men faced the possibility of conscription in July 1863 and in Mar., July, and Dec. 1864. Draft riots ensued, notably in New York in 1863. Of the 249,259 18-to-35-year-old men whose names were drawn, only about 6% served, the rest paying commutation or hiring a substitute.

The first Confederate conscription law also applied to men between 18 and 35, providing for substitution (repealed Dec. 1863) and exemptions. A revision, approved 27 Sept. 1862, raised the age to 45; 5 days later the legislators passed the expanded Exemption Act. The Conscription Act of Feb. 1864 called all men between 17 and 50. Conscripts accounted for one-fourth to one-third of the Confederate armies east of the Mississippi between Apr. 1864 and early 1865.

Commentary

Andrew Scobey seemed to have done quite well in his land dealing. According to the 1860 Census, his property was worth $9,000, not a bad sum in those days. In the 1894 business directory for Schuyler County, New York he is listed as a "retired merchant farmer".

The Union experienced substantial inflation as a result of deficit financing during the war. The consumer price index rose from 100 at the outset of the war to 175 by the end of 1865. However, this less than a doubling in prices was significantly less than what the Confederacy suffered. Prices there increased almost 40 times between 1860 and 1865.

Inflation tends to fall on those who are least able to afford it. One group that tends to be vulnerable to a sudden rise in prices is wage earners. During the war years, wages adjusted for inflation declined as the goods they could purchase decreased. In the North the real wage value declined almost 20%. In the South the decline was almost 90%.

Since William had many more months yet to spend in the hospital, one might wonder whether he was being entirely honest about his health. An upset stomach won't keep you in the hospital. Maybe the dispepsia is associated with the 'bad' food. There was a family story that his early death 12 years after the war was in part due to the poor food he received while convalescing.

Interesting regarding no 'furloughs'. According to historical records, about 16% of patients at Fort Schuyler were lost by desertion and failure to return from furlough.

"Family butter at 70 cents, eh? Not so long's I've any cart-grease left!"

Greenbacks were the new paper currency put in circulation by the Union in 1862. They were originally issued directly into circulation by the U.S. Treasury to pay expenses incurred by the Union during the American Civil War.

William speaks perceptively of the difficult task that will be before the nation in the next three years. The arduous fight with the Rebels would test this country as it has never been before or since. In a little over two years, he himself would be participating in a full bore attack by the Union forces - with no half measures - upon the heartland of the South.

His advice to his sister regarding 'affections' is certainly different than the norm regarding male/female relations in many places today. I wonder how typical it was in 1862.

He says that a woman should not expect to feel affection for a man. Her affection for her children is sufficient. In describing his own disappointment in placing his affections on a woman, he appears to be saying the same for men toward women. Love between man and woman is a phenomenon not within his experience and therefore not to be achievable by others? He is quite a pessimist it would appear.

Commentary

Has the Republican Party of Lincoln weakened its support for the war? Not exactly sure to what he is referring with regard to party strife. Perhaps it is the 'conservative movement' referred to in the Harper's Weekly article, "Tweedledum and Tweedledee" of March 7, 1863. Then again he may be referring to the split in the Democratic Party. The March 21, 1863 Harper's article reported a meeting at the Cooper Institute in New York City where leaders of the Democratic Party voiced their support for vigorous prosecution of the war. These Democrats were in opposition to the Copperhead movement in their own party and its attempts to divide the North.

William believes a united North with greater sacrifice by its people is crucial to putting down the rebellion. His denouncement of the 'peace movement', then associated with the Copperheads, indicates where he stands regarding the party strife. His belief that making peace with the rebels at that time will open the North to a future of ten thousand wars is an interesting perspective. He is clearly a thoughtful and intelligent person who understands, despite his rudimentary education, the significant stakes at issue in this war.

Cartoon related to the failed Copperhead mission to Richmond

Although other patients are permitted by the doctors to return to their regiments at the front, William's doctor still does not believe his health is strong enough to give his permission. Interesting that based on his height from the enlistment document and his weight revealed here, his stature is virtually the same as mine

There is still the frustration regarding his inability to get a furlough. As it worked out, he never received one during his three years in the war. It says something about his belief in the cause, despite the lack of a furlough and delay in receiving his pay, that he was still such a strong supporter of the Union war effort.

General John E. Wool

General John E. Wool is a most interesting figure. In the early days of the Civil War, Wool's quick and decisive moves secured Fort Monroe, Virginia, for the Union. In May 1862, Wool's troops occupied the navy yard, Norfolk, and the surrounding towns after the Confederates abandoned them, He was then promoted to the full rank of major general in the regular army.

Col. Robert Van Valkenburg

In January 1863, he assumed command of the Department of the East, and led military operations in New York City during and after the draft riots the following July. Shortly thereafter, on August 1, 1863, General Wool retired from the army following more than fifty years of service. He was the oldest general officer to execute active command in either army during the war.

Col. Robert Van Valkenburg was in command of the recruiting depot in Elmira, New York and organized a number of regiments early in the Civil War. Van Valkenburg was elected as a Republican to Congress during the war. He served as Colonel of the 107th Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, and was its commander at the Battle of Antietam.

Interesting that William sees Andrew Scobey's acquisition of more land as an expression of confidence in the Union forces. There is no animosity toward Scobey, who improves his circumstances during the war, while William contributes his health and the chance for a long life.

Commentary

 

Furlough

 

The subject of a furlough has come up a number of times in William's letters. This time he appears angry and quite certain that any attempt to get a furlough would fail. 

My first reaction was that William was exaggerating about the difficulties in obtaining a furlough in the Union army. A little research quickly disabused me of that belief.

Furlough requests in both the northern and southern armies were torturous affairs. Requests were subject to approval from a long line of offices, and it could take months to receive a definitive answer. Moreover, this long wait often ended in disappointment, with the request denied. Perhaps inevitably, the seeming capriciousness of commanders in determining who would and would not receive furloughs led to conspiracy theories among the rank and file. 

Sundry

 
His reference to Easter Sunday as signifying the eating of eggs is different from current custom which in its secular side usually results in egg decoration followed by children going on a egg hunt. This is the first of his letters where I recall him mentioning the attendance at a Sunday sermon.

The orders that able bodied soldiers should report to their regiment does not seem to apply to William, as he remained a resident patient at the hospital until August. He still has not given up on his relationship with Anna.

Wonder what the rings looked like that he is paying a soldier to make as presents.

This is the last letter of which I am aware written by William during his period of hospitalization. Since we know that he was hospitalized until August 1863 when he returned to his regiment, more than four months of letters from this period may still exist in the possession of unknown persons or institutions. Alternatively, they may not have survived.