So long a time has passed without my writing to you that I fear you may be almost surprised at receiving a letter from me. You will not however have ascribed my silence to change of feeling towards yourself. You know me too well to suspect me of fickleness in my friendships. You will have placed...
I am just from church, a church originally planned by Grandpapa, where I heard a good sermon from an Episcopalian Clergyman, a young man, the Revd Mr. Butler. I have been talking freely with my brother Jefferson on the subject of the ‘yellow children’ and will give you the substance of our...
October 24. We hear of the first act which was the forerunner of our Civil War. John Brown of Kansas notoriety attempted, with fifteen men and five negroes, to take forcible possession of the arsenal at Harper’s Ferry. They defended themselves for a day or two, but were killed or taken prisoners....
Schedule I.—Free Inhabitants in Second Ward, City of Madison in the County of Dane State of Wisconsin enumerated by me, on the 7th day of June 1860. Carl Habich Ass’t Marshal. Post Office Madison, Wis.
Schedule I.—Free Inhabitants in Huntington Township in the County of Ross State of Ohio enumerated by me, on the 14 & 15 day of June 1860. William Weaver Ass’t Marshal. Post Office Chillicothe.
November 6. Election day. Lincoln and Hamlin were chosen. Every Republican member of Congress from Massachusetts has been elected except Burlingame, who was defeated to my great joy by Mr. William Appleton. I had worked so hard that I was attacked by fever and violent cold, brought on by...
I recieved your letter last night and hope the directions for the pudding may reach you to-morrow mornging. I have just recovered from a sick head-ache but feel well except rather weak. I went to market to day. Miss Dyckmann’s leaves us to day; She says she can get her house in order more quickly...
December 23. South Carolina seceded on Friday, the twentieth, from the United States. The day, I am afraid, will be long remembered. Mr. William Amory, who returned from Washington yesterday, says that the Republicans will make no concessions and he thinks, as I do, that if that is the case the...
December 30. Major Anderson has evacuated Fort Moultrie and retired to Fort Sumter. The palmetto flag floats over the Charleston Custom House. In short, they are in open rebellion. The President’s (Buchanan) message took the ground that every State might secede, as there was no law to prevent it,...
January. The “Star of the West,” carrying supplies to Major Anderson, was fired into and driven away. Louisiana has seized the United States forts. The President seems at last to have decided to use stronger means and the sloop of war “Brooklyn” has been ordered to Charleston. Senator Seward*...
I have had a little photograph taken which they tell me is not much uglier than I am myself, and I enclose one in this letter for Sally & yourself. I cannot tell you how unhappy I am in the present conflict between the North & South. The idea of Civil war makes all the blood in my body...
February 18. Jefferson Davis has been chosen President and Stephens Vice-President of the Confederacy. In the meantime Lincoln, having been duly recognized as President on Ash Wednesday, the thirteenth, has left Springfield for Washington. He seems to talk everywhere to everybody.
April 9, 12, 13, and 14. Mr. Appleton and Mr. Amory decided to go to Charleston and see for themselves the true condition of affairs. They embarked on the steamer “Nashville.” On the twelfth Sumter was attacked by the rebels, and after fighting thirty hours without much damage on either side...
April 15. President Lincoln called out seventy-five thousand militia to suppress the rebellion, defend the capital, and retake the forts, mints, etc., seized by the insurgents. Two thousand men have been called from Massachusetts. Immense enthusiasm here to defend the flag and the Government. The...
April 19. The Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, which came from Lowell and Lawrence, was fired upon and stoned by the mob in Baltimore. The last company appears to have been the only one attacked; the report is that they had two men killed and some wounded, and shot down some ten of the assailants....
May 14. Mr. Appleton reached home, and left for Washington to take his seat in the extra session of Congress called for July fourth. Lord John Russell and the English sympathize with the South and talk of treating their pirates as belligerents, etc. The English have always been guided by their...
Since the recpt of yours conveying to us the sad news of the loss of your little innocent, I have been much hindered and so have not replied as soon as I desired to do, but I am consoled in the disappointment by the reflection that nothing that I could say, could in any wise strengthen the calm...
July 22. We went on board the old frigate “Constitution.” About ten feet are said to remain of the original vessel which took the “Guerrière” in the War of 1812. Whilst on board we were alarmed at the report of the complete overthrow of McDowell’s army at Bull Run near Manassas Gap. The fight...
Eighth Regiment:—The companies of this regiment are now full, and are lettered as follows. The field officers and company officers deserve credit for the soldierly and orderly behaviour of the men, and they for the attention and promptness with which they attend to their duties. The field and...
October 12. Left for Washington with Mr. Bartlett, William Amory, and Fred d’Hauteville. In New York called on General Burnside with Mr. Amory. He struck me as a very handsome, kind-looking man with the nostril of a race-horse,—what you call a fine fellow. At Washington, where we found Willard’s...
October 16. I rode to the farthest outpost of the army at Lewinsville, where we found a captain and twenty men. About two rifle-shots from us was a wood where the enemy’s pickets were placed. On our right we could see ten or twenty men approaching the wood. The captain informed us that they were...
Wednesday, October 17. I rode and our party drove twenty-six miles along the Maryland line to General Banks’s headquarters. Gordon’s regiment, the Massachusetts Second, was encamped close by. Towards evening on to General Stone’s headquarters to visit the Twentieth Massachusetts Regiment, at...
FROM THE EIGHTH REGIMENT. An Interesting Account of the Battle of Fredericktown. We received last evening a private letter from Major Jefferson, of the 8th Regiment, giving a very interesting account of the experiences of the Regiment since it left Camp Randall. Most of the facts have been...
Wednesday, December 4. We have the President’s message, a conservative, sensible document in much better English than his former one. The reports of the Secretary of the Navy and of the Army are also very interesting; the former showing that from a navy of five hundred guns, last spring much...
The Sixteenth Regular Infantry, about 500 strong, under command of Major Sidney Coolidge; and the 18th, about 1200 strong, under Col. Carrington, left Columbus, Ohio, a few days ago, for Louisville, Ky.