ON THIS DAY: Friday, Dec. 20, 1861

“Muddy, Dirty, God-forsaken”

By now, Fayetteville in western Virginia resembles a fallen woman. Once a quiet little place of about 60 houses, a courthouse and a dozen or so other buildings, Fayetteville has become tawdry and tired looking since November. That’s when Union forces moved in to wait out the winter, taking over the buildings and re-naming the place “Camp Union.”

Most inhabitants have fled, perhaps because their sympathies lay with the South or because they feared the town would become a battleground. Although pro-Union sentiment dominate western Virginia, the region is also home to a number of Confederate sympathizers. Some of these wage guerilla warfare on the Union forces.

Lt. Col. Rutherford B. Hayes of the 23^rd Ohio records in his diary today that Camp Union shelters 1,430 men from the 23^rd, 26^th, and 30^th Ohio infantry regiments, plus an artillery battery and a company of cavalry.

With this many men crammed into what was only a pretty little village, Fayetteville has become, in the words of one soldier, “muddy, dirty, [and] God-forsaken.” Trampled by hundreds of soldiers and escaped slaves, the streets are deep with mud. Trees and fences have been cut down for fuel. Abandoned by its rightful inhabitants, Fayetteville is forlorn looking place.

On the other hand, no guerillas are operating in the immediate area and it is doubtful Confederate regulars will show up any time soon, so the Ohioans can look forward to a quiet, if boring, winter.

It would make little difference if the Ohioans were on their own soil. At Camp John McLean (yet another mudhole), near Cincinnati, Sgt. Oscar D. Ladley writes his family in Yellow Springs that “there is no excitement in camp of any kind. It is the same routine over every day. Drill eat and sleep.”

It is much the same everywhere. Soldiers and civilians alike wait and wonder what is coming.

ON THIS DAY: Thursday, Dec. 19, 1861

“The Contrabands”

Sometimes they creep furtively out of the woods and sometimes they walk boldly down the road; sometimes they come in groups and sometimes singly; but they all have the hunted look of men and women trying to get away from something.

They are runaway slaves, and the men in the Union army have a word for them: “contrabands.”

Despite Southerners’ claims of how well they treat slaves, slaves have been escaping northward for decades. Within weeks after the fall of Fort Sumter, they began showing up at the Virginia military base of Union Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler.

Butler put the escapees to work. He called them “contrabands,” because they had been assets to the Confederates and therefore subject to confiscation under the rules of war. But in these early days of the war the Lincoln administration is treading lightly on the issue of slavery and putting national reunion as its first priority. By degrees, Lincoln and the Congress begin freeing slaves, but until after the war emancipation will be a “work in progress,” rife with ambiguity.

Escaped slaves are showing up at many Union army camps, where they get differing welcomes. Sometimes Union officers return slaves to their owners, trying to dampen secessionism. Many other officers, however, are unable to stomach slavery and harbor the runaways.

Lt. Col. Rutherford B. Hayes is one of these, and as escapees come into the camp of the 23^rd Ohio in Fayetteville, western Virginia, he does his best to accommodate them until they can be sent westward to Ohio. “Quite a number have come to me,” Hayes writes Uncle Sardis Birchard in Fremont, Ohio. He urges his uncle to accept a family that he is directing to Fremont. “Allen…will do for a house servant….His wife can cook. If you don’t want them, you can safely recommend them…these are the pick of the lot.”

With slightly less than full confidence in what he is doing, Hayes opines that the family is “entitled to freedom, as I understand the rule adopted by our government. The rule is, I believe that slaves coming to our lines, especially if owned by Rebels, are free.” Hayes is probably referring to the “Confiscation Act” passed by Congress on August 6, the first in a series of steps freeing certain slaves that will lead to Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863.

ELSWHERE: Apart from a skirmish in Maryland—no casualties reported—all, is quiet on the front lines. In Cairo, Illinois, Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant fires of a flurry of short, crisp dispatches on routine matters. St. Louis, Brig. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman wonders what will become of him, now that he has returned to duty after his “rest break.” In Ohio, recruits drill at Camp Chase in Columbus and Camp Dennison, near Cincinnati, waiting for their regiments to fill and worrying that the war will be over before they can see some action.

ON THIS DAY: Wednesday, Dec. 18, 1861

Oh, to be a general!

Many a Civil War-era lad fell asleep to dream of becoming the heroic commander of a great army. Popular lithographs by Currier & Ives and other publishers pictured warfare in an impossibly romantic way. Under blue skies with only an occasional fleecy cloud, neat rows of soldiers fired at each other on an impeccable landscape. Generals rode prancing white horses and did a lot of waving of swords. Only a few bodies, remarkably unbloodstained, could be seen lying on the grass, and sometimes the grass looked as if it had just been mowed. (Above: Gen. William S. Rosecrans, an Ohioan)

Balderdash.

Being a general in the Civil War was tough, dangerous work with very little job security. As the war went on, President Lincoln learned to not tolerate inaction or failure by commanders of the Army of the Potomac and that job took on a revolving-door quality. Very few men were temperamentally equipped to command a large army, anyway, and a West Point education and long service in the military was no guarantee of success. As Ulysses S. Grant and others will show us in days to come, leadership in war requires something innate that is hard to detect in advance.

There is also something innate in the nature of a general’s daily work, and that is tedium. Most of a general’s days are spent shuffling paperwork, administering discipline to recalcitrant underlings, and keeping the wheels of an enormous machine oiled.

On this weekday, Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, writes his sister, Mary, and (with original spelling retained) gives us a glimpse of his work life:

I wish you could be here for a day or two to see what I have to go through from breakfast until 12 O Clock at night, seven days a week. I have just got through with my mail for to-night, and as its is not yet 12 and the mail does not close until that time, I will devote the remainder of the time in pening you a few lines. I have no war news to communicate however.

Whilst I am writing several Galena gentlemen are in talking. They will remain until the office closes so you must excuse a disconnected letter….

Apparently, Grant was prompted to write this letter while trying simultaneously to entertain “several Galena gentlemen” because Mary had complained of a lack of mail from her brother. On this day alone, Grant’s other letters show he has to deal with the appointment of a Catholic chaplain, as a result of complaints from the 18^th Illinois; information about the enemy brought in by a spy and a deserter; a pass for a soldier needing to go to St. Louis, an appointment related to management of railroad equipment, and an order for reports from a quartermaster.

Oh, to be a general!

Elsewhere in the Western Theater: From the 23^rd Ohio’s winter quarters in Fayetteville, western Virginia, Lt. Col. Rutherford B. Hayes writes the very pregnant Lucy Hayes in Cincinnati to tell her, “I suspect I am getting more anxious about you than the people at home. You must keep up good heart. We shall be together pretty soon again.”

And in Washington: President Lincoln and his Cabinet try to figure out what to do about the embarrassing Trent affair, which has angered the British government and public.

The Big Picture: Except for some Union scouting missions in Kansas, Missouri, and Virginia, all is quiet on the front lines. Both sides have shut down most military operations for the winter and are using the time to build up their armies. The United States remains split from East to West along almost exactly the same line it was in September. Will anything change in the next few months?

ON THIS DAY: Tuesday, Dec. 17, 1861

“Gloomy & Unnatural”

After a two-week home leave to soothe his jangled nerves, Brig. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman (pictured here) reports for duty at the St. Louis headquarters of Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, commander of the Union’s Department of the Missouri. Still upset over the December 11 Cincinnati Commercial article headlined “General William T. Sherman Insane,” Cump writes Ellen, “I cannot see that affairs here are materially changed in my absence” and “Matters here look gloomy & unnatural.”

Sherman still doubts his ability to command effectively: “I am not yet assigned a command and hardly know whether to push it, or take it easy, leaving Halleck time to assign me.” He also fears the outcome of the war: “If I could see any end to this war, save ruin to us all, I could occasionally feel better, but I see no hope at all.”

And yet others are laboring on his behalf. Brother John had discussed Cump during a long interview with President Lincoln and reported “the President felt kindly to him.” Ellen wrote a blistering letter to a Louisville newspaper that had copied the Commercial story and Ellen and John was able to persuade both the Louisville and Cincinnati papers to publish retractions. Brother Philemon Sherman had already written the Commecial to refute its claim, enclosing a letter from Halleck to that effect. In St. Louis, Halleck spoke reassuringly to Cump (while privately telling his wife “certainly he has acted insane”).

For a West Point-trained warrior, William Tecumseh Sherman is off to a very bad start in this war.

IN NEWS ELSEWHERE: Newspapers arriving here from abroad reveal the anger of the British public over the Trent affair. Suddenly, the U.S. Navy’s halting of the British ship to arrest two Confederate envoys doesn’t seem the brilliant idea it had at first. The New York Times editorializes hopefully that this is no more than “the work of the excited English press, and not at all the utterance of the English government.” The Times is wrong, and even it admits the reaction by English newspapers “threw Wall Street into such a paroxysm of alarm, and created so much excitement in [New York City] at large.”

Washington, we have a problem.

THE BIG PICTURE: So far, the Confederacy seems to be doing well and the Union has made progress here and there, but the situation is troubling to both. The Confederacy controls 11 states, plus significant portions of Kentucky and Missouri. And yet, there are troubling developments. The Union navy is nibbling away at the Confederacy’s coastline, with scattered toeholds Fortress Monroe in Virginia to Ships Island, Louisiana. And, thanks in large part to Ohio troops, western Virginia has effectively been wrested from Confederate control and the largest portion of Kentucky is still in Union hands. Further west, Ulysses Grant is consolidating his grip on southeastern Missouri and thinking ahead to more dramatic achievements. But in the Eastern Theater, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s huge Army of the Potomac is going nowhere

ON THIS DAY: Monday, Dec. 16, 1861

“Love You Much”

Lt. Col. Rutherford B. Hayes, whiling away the winter with his 23^rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry in Fayetteville, western Virginia, writes a loving note to Lucy, his very pregnant wife, who is expecting to give birth any day now at their home in Cincinnati.

“Dearest,” Rud writes. “I think of you constantly now. Let me know all about you all the time. I will send you a dispatch a dispatch from as here as soon as our [telegraph] operator is at work just to show you that we are not far apart…Kisses for all the boys and 'love you much.'

R."

ELSEWHERE IN THE NEWS: The ever-perplexing Clement L. Vallandigham (pictured above), Congressman from Ohio, offers the House a resolution commending Capt. Charles Wilkes, captain of the Navy warship San Jacinto for capturing Confederate envoys Mason and Slidell. The Trent affair (named for the British ship from which the commissioners were forcibly removed, has infuriated the English and turned into a huge embarrassment for the United States. Right now, the U.S. government is discussing “at the highest level” (meaning Lincoln and his cabinet) how to get out of this mess. What on earth was Vallandigham thinking? Was he trying to cause mischief for the U.S.? Or was he, a bitter opponent of the war who nonetheless considered himself a patriot and opposed secession, sincere? In any case, the House quickly buries the resolution in committee.

ON THIS DAY: Sunday, Dec. 15, 1861

“We bear it with patience”

Early in September, two young farmers from Huron County in north central Ohio had travelled more than 50 miles to enlist for three years in the 21^st Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The 21st was organizing in Findlay, a small town in northwest Ohio.

Why they travelled so far from their own area to join a regiment of northwest Ohio men may have had to do with the reputation the 21^st had established in its earlier incarnation as a three-month regiment. Instead of remaining in camp as some three-month regiments had, the 21st had seen some serious action in western Virginia, but lost only four men in battle. Re-born as a three-year regiment, it retained the same colonel (Jesse S. Norton) and lieutenant colonel (James M. Neibling) as before. To adventure-hungry young men, the “new” 21^st sounded like a good outfit.

The 21^st was composed of men primarily from six northwestern Ohio counties, Hancock and Wood counties most of all. The two brothers from Huron County—Alfred Searles, 27, and Addison Searles, 21, were assigned to Company H, made up mostly of men from Wood and Seneca counties. One of the Wood County men was Liberty Warner (pictured above), another fresh-faced farm boy, who had joined over the misgivings of his parents.

Warner’s letters home give a glimpse of life in the early days of the three-year version of the 21^st. The regiment had filled quickly in Findlay during September, received its arms at Camp Dennison, near Cincinnati, on October 2, and--still green as grass--was rushed out the same day to Kentucky. In that disputed border state, Brig. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman was growing frantic over apprehensions the Confederates would attack and overwhelm him.

Young Liberty Warner, son of a minister, was dismayed by what he found at first in camp in Kentucky: “This is a hard place,” he wrote his parents. I have been fully disgruntled with the profanity and vulgarity of the soldiery and do not fall in with it.”

Addison Searles has slightly different take. Today he writes his father (original spelling retained):

We are within 8 miles of the rebels line and they hav [been] arond evry day. This 8 mils is won camp on both sides of the rode. And for 2 or 3 mils behind us our trops is a crosing the Green River evry day and in a few days we shall go to see old Buckner [Confederate Brig. Gen. Simon B. Buckner]….and I no not who is to fall from our company, but I hop that it will be some of them.

Ar commender Mitchel [Brig. Gen. Ormsby M. Mitchel, the “astronomer-soldier” from Cincinnati, commander of the 3^rd Division of the Army of the Ohio, led by Brig. Gen. Don Carlos Buell, another Ohioan]…was here to make us a visit this evening. While on dress praid and he spoke a few words to us. He says that with the help of us and the help of God that he …must hav the best division in the hole union.

We ma stay here fore days and we ma not stay 4 hours. This is all that we can tell of our life. We no not what moment we shall be cald upon to fight. Tho we bare it with pations, for we think God will help us to fight it through and we shall com out victorious in the end and come home to you all agane, if God is wiling that we should.

Well, tell all to rite to me and father pleas escuse my bad spelling and rite soon.

To Mr. E.G. Searls from his son Addison Searls
Good by all, if I hear I will rite to all agan.
So good by to all of the children.

Remember well and bare in mind
A constant friend is hard to find
And when you get one kind and true
Don't change an old one for a new

In less than two years, Addison Searles will be dead. In less than three, both his brother Alfred and Liberty Warner will die as well.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NEWS: President AbrahamLincoln reviews plans to connect Washington to forts as far south as Key West, Florida, by underwater cable. Secretary of State William H, Seward interrupts President Lincoln and friends at tea to report that Great Britain regards the Trent affair, in which a U.S. Navy ship stopped a British vessel and forcibly removed two Confederate envoys, to be a violation of international law.

ON THIS DAY, Saturday, Dec. 14, 1861

One Happy Soldier

Rutherford B. Hayes, lieutenant colonel of the 23^rd Volunteer Infantry, is a doting husband and father, and a successful lawyer in Cincinnati. He also is loving the life of a volunteer soldier in the mountains of western Virginia, faithfully recording in his diary every sunny morning, including today’s: “A fine day, warm and bright—the tenth [such day]!"

Only the day before he recorded, with apparent pleasure, his rough-and-ready lifestyle:

Since I came to [western] Virginia in July, I have not shaved; for weeks at a time I have slept in all clothes except boots (occasionally in boots and sometimes with spurs), a half dozen times on the ground without shelter, once on the snow. I have worn no white clothing (shirts, drawers, etc.) for four months…

Hayes’ sunny disposition—he almost sounds as if he wakes up singing—mayhelp the morale of some of his men, but must irritate others who are homesick and tired of snow, cold, and boredom.

>>> Elsewhere, Brig Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, alerted to a possible enemy attack on his outposts along the Mississippi River south of Cairo, Illinois, tells his commanders to keep their men close by. (The danger will fade away, however.)

IN THE NEWS ELSEWHERE: Today, President Abraham Lincoln turns over to the Senate the documents it requested in the case of Col. Dixon S. Miles, alleged to have been drunk at the Battle of Bull Run. Although a military court of inquiry had found that a fellow officer was justified in calling Miles drunk, the court decided evidence was lacking for a court martial and, moreover, organizing the court would cause the Army “the greatest inconvenience at the present” and would “not be for the interests of the service.” With 21st Century hindsight, that was a very bad call. Slightly more than a year later, Miles’ inept defense of the Union position at Harpers Ferry will result in the largest surrender of U.S. troops in the war. Miles will be mortally wounded by an artillery shell, which some will say was fired by his own men, angry at his poor performance. Was all that in "the interests of the service"?