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This Week in Georgia Civil War History
This Week in Georgia Civil War History
March 26, 1865: United States President Abraham Lincoln arrived in City Point, Virginia, where he would hold a council of war on the following day with Generals Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, and Admiral David Porter.
Grant's Headquarters at City Point, Virginia
City Point Waterfront
March 27, 1865: A Georgia soldier in Virginia wrote his wife about being ill, but recovering. He also had heard some overly optimistic reports on recent fighting, and commented on some of the blacks joining the army.
"...About 10 or twelve days ago I was taken quite sick with severe cold and fever, and one of the hardest chills on 19th inst. I ever had in my life. On 20th our Regt. received marching orders and the Surgeon sent me here. I had no more chills and am nearly well now. I shall return to my Regt. tomorrow. I do not know where they are but suppose they are not far from Petersburg. ...
The war news is highly encouraging, and our troops are in the best of spirits. Johnson has checked Sherman in his wild career, twice, and Lee captured a few days ago a considerable portion of the Yankee works in front of Petersburg with a large number of prisoners. ...
The negroe troops have been called out. I have seen two companies. I hope it will work well. I will close up. Tell Henry [his son] I have his cup yet, and that I want to see him mighty bad. May God bless you all. Pray for me. ..."
Source: Jeffrey C. Lowe and Sam Hodges (eds.), Letters to Amanda: The Civil War Letters of Marion Hill Fitzpatrick, Army of Northern Virginia (Macon: Mercer University Press, 1998), pp. 204-206.
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A Georgia soldier wrote to his uncle, telling him the sad news of the death of his brother in North Carolina.
"...I deeply regret to announce the death of Another beloved Brother in this cruel war. I enclose you the telegram. ... It has been some time in reaching me in Consequence of the wares [telegraph wires] being down. I wrote Bessie immediately on Seeing the two reports both official, one reporting that he was Killed. & the other wounded hoping that the latter would prove the correct news in the end, but alas, it is not so. & the Sad and Severe stroke has fallen upon us again. I write you to get you to See poor Bessy and break the Sad, Sad, news to her. I have felt for her much in her anxiety and suspense, but more, far more, in her sad bereavement. May our Heavenly Father support her in this dark hour. ..."
Source: T.H. Galloway (ed.), Dear Old Roswell: Civil War Letters of the King Family of Roswell, Georgia (Mercer University Press, Macon, Georgia, 2003), p. 120.
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Eliza Frances Andrews wrote in her diary of visiting a general, but having to travel on some treacherous roads.
"Went to call on the Callaways, Mallarys, and Dahlgrens. The general and his wife were just starting out to make calls when we drove up, so we went along together. The roads are so perfectly abominable that it is no pleasure to go anywhere. At one place the water was half a foot deep in the bottom of the carriage, and we had to ride with our feet cocked up on the seats to keep them dry. Some of the ponds were so deep as almost to swim the mules, and others were boggy. We stopped at the post office on our way home and found a letter from Mec urging us to come over to Cuthbert right away."
Source: Eliza Frances Andrews, The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, 1864-1865 (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1908), pp. 121-122.
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The Richmond Times Dispatch printed a report on the Battle of Fort Stedman, where the Confederate forces were led by Georgian General John B. Gordon, who would become a major political figure in his native state after the war.
General John B. Gordon
March 28, 1865: A Georgia soldier who had been in a Virginia hospital (see March 27) wrote his wife of missing a battle (Battle of Fort Stedman) where many of his friends were killed or captured.
"...While was gone the Regt. got into a severe fight. It was on the 25th and like to have all got killed or captured. ... The loss of the Regt. is 6 killed, 25 wounded, 118 captured. ...
From what I can gather about the fight is this. Above here in front of Petersburg our forces attacked the yanks taking a number of prisoners and a good portion of their works. To retaliate they attacked our pickette line, in front of this place capturing many but never got to our main line, and in trying to reestablish our pickette line our Regt. got so badly cut up and failed to do it that day which was the 25th. Yesterday they reestablished the line with little loss. All is quiet now again but it is sad and heart sickening to look at our Regt. now. It seems that Providence ordained that I should miss it, or else I might now have been captured or killed. ...
I feel sad and lonesome now, all my mess is gone, and I am alone again, but I can get along about that. The weather is pleasant now but it is uncertain about its continuing so long. ..."
Source: Jeffrey C. Lowe and Sam Hodges (eds.), Letters to Amanda: The Civil War Letters of Marion Hill Fitzpatrick, Army of Northern Virginia (Macon: Mercer University Press, 1998), pp. 206-207.
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Eliza Frances Andrews wrote in her diary of her sympathy for a slave being punished.
"Misses Caro and Lou Bacon spent the day with us, but I could not enjoy their visit for thinking of the poor boy, Anderson, who has been sent to jail. He implored me to beg "missis" to forgive him, and I couldn't help taking his part, though I know he deserved punishment. He refused to obey the overseer, and ran away four times. A soldier caught him and brought him in this morning with his hands tied behind him. Such sights sicken me, and I couldn't help crying when I saw the poor wretch, though I know discipline is necessary, especially in these turbulent times, and sister is sending him to jail more as an example to the others than to hurt him. She has sent strict orders to the sheriff not to be too severe with him, but there is no telling what brutal men who never had any negroes of their own will do; they don't know how to feel for the poor creatures."
Source: Eliza Frances Andrews, The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, 1864-1865 (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1908), p. 122.
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The Southern Recorder of Milledgeville printed an editorial calling for all bickering (like that between Georgia Governor Joseph E. Brown and Confederate President Jefferson Davis) to stop; all the South needed to be united.
The Confederate Union of Milledgeville printed an editorial which came down squarely on the side of Governor Brown, accusing President Davis of trying to obtain the powers of a dictator.
The Richmond Times Dispatch printed a more detailed account of the Battle of Fort Stedman.
March 29, 1865: A Georgia soldier in Virginia wrote a hurried postscript to a letter he had written the previous day.
"...I will drop you a few more lines this evening. Major Gibson's boy Watt will start in the morning. I failed to say to you that our forces did not hold the works above Petersburg and (our) pickette line here. ... I am trying to write (with) a sorry pen (sitting) on the ground and don't (know) if you can read it. ...
Source: Jeffrey C. Lowe and Sam Hodges (eds.), Letters to Amanda: The Civil War Letters of Marion Hill Fitzpatrick, Army of Northern Virginia (Macon: Mercer University Press, 1998), p. 208.
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A fellow officer of a Georgia soldier who had been killed in North Carolina wrote to his wife with the particulars of his death.
"...I thought My duty as the friend & bother officer of your deceased husband to write you, giving the particulars of his death.
Col. King Returned to the Comman from the Hospital at Charlotte, N.C. (where he had been for a few days with slight illness) on the 9th inst. on the morning of the 10th our brigade was ordered to charge the camp of the Yankee Genl Kilpatrick, The Cobb Legion under Col King led the charge which was entirely Successful until the enemy rallied & the Cobb Legion again charged the Yankee Battery in which charge the Col Recd a mortal wound while most gallantly leading his men in the fight. when I first met him he was speachless therefore, I did not hear his last words. I learned from those who were very near him at the time that his last Remark was, (Say to My wife I die willingly defending My country).
I trust Madam that you will accept My Sincere Sympathy in your great very great bereavement. You have lost a Kind good husband, I a true & tried friend, and our common country a staunch & noble patriot. ...
I trust Madam that you May have the fortitude to bear your loss as becomes the wife of So brave & noble a man, Again I tender you My heart felt Sympathies..."
Source: T.H. Galloway (ed.), Dear Old Roswell: Civil War Letters of the King Family of Roswell, Georgia (Mercer University Press, Macon, Georgia, 2003), pp. 121-122.
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An Augusta woman wrote in her diary of her despondency as the war neared its end, and of two of her friends who had lost children in the war.
"At times I feel as I was drifting on, on, ever onward to be at last dashed against some rock and I shut my eyes...almost wish it was over, the shock encountered and I prepared to know what destiny awaits me. I am tired, oh so tired, of this war. I feel the restraint of the blockade and as port after port becomes blockaded, I feel shut up, pent up and am irrestibly reminded of the old story of the iron shroud contracting more and more each hour, each moment . . . . I may perhaps be glad hereafter that I have lived through this war but now the height of my ambition is to be quiet, to have no distracting cares – the time to read – leisure to think and write – and study . . . . Country, glory, and patriotism are great things but to the bereaved hearts of Mrs. Stovall and Mrs. Clayton, each moaning for the death of their first born, what bitter mockery there must be in the words . . . . Thus it is – I strive to get away, to forget in reading or in writing or in talking the ever present, the one absorbing theme of war and thus it is thrust upon me – I make no plans for the future."
Source: Virginia Ingraham Burr (ed.), The Secret Eye: The Journal of Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas, 1848-1889 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1990), p. 257.
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Union General Ulysses S. Grant opened his spring offensive by sending a cavalry and infantry corps to turn the right of the Confederate defenses around Petersburg in the Battle of Lewis's Farm near Dinwiddie Court House, Virginia. This battle was part of the Appomattox Campaign.
Appomattox Campaign Map, National Park Service
The following brief report from the Richmond Times Dispatch shows how lawlessness was a problem in many places (Georgia in this case) as the Civil War approached its end.
A fight in Macon county, Georgia.
A few days since, a mob, headed by Mr. Jerry Wilcher, cause not stated, assembled on Cedar creek, Macon county, Georgia, to drive what they deemed a suspicious character from the neighborhood. The man and some women fought bravely for their homes, and, in the fight, Jerry Wilcher and a man by the name of Hickory were killed, and another of the attacking party severely wounded. The rest left. |
March 30, 1865: A Georgia soldier wrote to his sister concerning the death of their brother - not the first loss they had suffered during the war.
"...I know not how to Express my feelings in this Second great loss that has fallen upon our family a beloved Brother, affectionate Son and above all a devoted Husband & Father has been taken from us. I did hope when I wrote you immediately on Seeing the two notices of Lieut Coln 'B.L. King' Knowing that it refered to him notwithstanding the Light Error in the name but trusted all along that he was only wounded. But alas! it was a hope in vain. ... Can it be that we shall never more hear his deliberate voice, nor See him manly form again on Earth? Who Can tell the amount of bitter anguish that has been wrung from devoted hearts during the Existence of this cruel war! I am forced to Exclaim My God! when, when, Shall these things Cease, & where shall we be, when they are accomplished? ..."
Source: T.H. Galloway (ed.), Dear Old Roswell: Civil War Letters of the King Family of Roswell, Georgia (Mercer University Press, Macon, Georgia, 2003), pp. 123-124.
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The Richmond Times Dispatch printed an item on what Georgia was doing to try to prevent slaves from escaping.
To prevent the escape of Negroes.
The Georgia Legislature, at the late session, passed an act authorizing the Governor to establish a line of mounted pickets, of such number and at such points, as he may deem sufficient for the purpose of preventing the escape of slaves to the enemy at Savannah; and to organize the men into a battalion of cavalry, to be composed of such as will mount and arm themselves. |
March 31, 1865: Eliza Frances Andrews wrote in her diary of making herself a dress from material that made it through the Union blockade, and of witnessing a fire that reminded her of the "lower regions."
""Mrs. Callaway gave a large dining, and I wore a pretty new style of head dress Cousin Bessie told me how to make, that was very becoming. It is a small square, about as big as my two hands, made of a piece of black and white lace that ran the blockade, and nobody else has anything like it. One point comes over the forehead, just where the hair is parted, and the opposite one rests on top of the chignon behind, with a bow and ends of white illusion. It has the effect of a Queen of Scots cap, and is very stylish. The dining was rather pleasant. Kate Callaway's father, Mr. Furlow, was there, with his youngest daughter, Nellie, who is lovely.
As we were coming home we passed by a place where the woods were on fire, and were nearly suffocated by the smoke. It was so dense that we could not see across the road. On coming round to the windward of the conflagration it was grand. The smoke and cinders were blown away from us, but we felt the heat of the flames and heard their roaring in the distance. The volumes of red-hot smoke that went up were of every hue, according to the materials burning and the light reflected on them. Some were lurid yellow, orange, red, some a beautiful violet, others lilac, pink, purple or gray, while the very fat lightwood sent up columns of jet-black. The figures of the negroes, as they flitted about piling up brush heaps and watching the fire on the outskirts of the clearing, reminded me of old-fashioned pictures of the lower regions."
Source: Eliza Frances Andrews, The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, 1864-1865 (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1908), pp. 123-124.
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The Battle of Dinwiddie Court House, Virginia - part of the Appomattox Campaign - took place. Union forces had tried to turn the right of the Confederate defenses at the Battle of Lewis's Farm two days earlier (see March 29), but on this day - in a rare Confederate victory - Confederate forces were able to meet the Union advance and turn it back. Union reinforcements arrived late and the Confederates pulled back to establish a stronghold at an important intersection called Five Forks.
On this same day the Union did gain ground toward Five Forks in a separate area, establishing control of an important communication line in the Battle of White Oak Road.
Apr. 1, 1865: Eliza Frances Andrews and her sister enjoyed playing April Fools jokes with friends, one of which included a fictitious Yankee raid. She also had some comments on slavery near the end of her entry for this day.
"There was fooling and counter fooling between Pine Bluff and Gum Pond all day. Jim Chiles and Albert Bacon began it by sending us a beautiful bouquet over which they had sprinkled snuff. We returned the box that had held the flowers, filled with dead rats dressed up in capes and mob caps like little old women. Then Albert tried to frighten us by sending a panicky note saying a dispatch had just been received from Thomasville that the Yankees were devastating the country round there, and heading for Andersonville. We pretended to believe it, and sister wrote back as if in great alarm, inquiring further particulars. Albert got his father to answer with a made-up story that he and Wallace had both gone to help fight the raiders at Thomasville. They must have thought us fools indeed, to believe that the enemy could come all the way from Tallahassee or Savannah to Thomasville, without our hearing a word of it till they got there, but we pretended to swallow it all, and got sister to write back that Metta and I were packing our trunks and would leave for Albany immediately, so as to take the first train for Macon; and to give color to the story, she sent word for Tommy, who was spending the day with Loring Bacon, to come home and tell his aunties good-by. They were caught with their own bait, and Albert and Jimmy, fearing they had carried the joke too far, came galloping over at full speed to prevent our setting out. We saw them coming across the field, and Mett and I hid ourselves, while sister met them with a doleful countenance, pretending that we had already gone and that she was frightened out of her wits. She had rubbed her eyes to make them look as if she had been crying, and the children and servants, too, had been instructed to pretend to be in a great flurry. When the jokers confessed their trick, she pretended to be so hurt and angry that they were in dismay, thinking they had really driven us off, though all the while we were locked in our own room, peeping through the cracks, listening to it all, and ready to burst with laughter. They had mounted their horses and declared that they would go after us and fetch us back, if they had to ride all the way to Albany, when old Uncle Setley spoiled our whole plot by laughing and yawping so that he excited their suspicion. They got down from their horses and began to look for wheel tracks on the ground, and at last Jim, who missed his calling in not being a detective, went and peeped into the carriage-house and saw the carriage standing there in its place. This convinced them that we had not gone to Albany, but where were we? Then began the most exciting game of hide-and-seek I ever played. Such a jumping in and out of windows, crawling under beds and sliding into corners, was never done before. The children and servants, all but old fool Setley, acted their parts well, but Jimmy was not to be foiled. They bid sister good-by several times and rode away as if they were going home, then suddenly returned in the hope of taking us by surprise. At last, after dark, we thought they were off for good, and went in to supper, taking the precaution, however, to bar the front door and draw the dining-room curtains. But we had had hardly begun to eat when Jimmy burst into the room, exclaiming:
"Howdy do, Miss Fanny; you made a short trip to Albany."
We all jumped up from the table and began to bombard him with hot biscuits and muffins, and whatever else we could lay hands on. Then Mr. Bacon came in, a truce was declared, and we sat down and ate supper - or what was left of it - together. After supper we made Uncle Aby hitch up the carriage and drive us over to Gum Pond to surprise the family there. I dressed myself up like an old cracker woman and went in and asked for a night's lodging. Maj. Bacon thought I was Leila trying to play a trick on him, so he dragged me very unceremoniously into the middle of the room, under the lamp, and pulled my bonnet off. It was funny to see his embarrassment when he saw his mistake; he is so awfully punctilious. He said he was in the act of writing a note to send after us to Albany, when I came in. They were all so delighted at finding they had not frightened us out of the country, that we had a grand jubilee together. We counted up before returning home, and found that forty-four miles had been ridden back and forth during the day on account of this silly April-fooling. I don't think I ever enjoyed a day more in my life. It began happily, too, with Anderson's return from jail early in the morning, and peace-making with his "missis." I expect we were all as glad of the poor darkey's release as he was himself. Mett says she wouldn't care much if they could all be set free - but what on earth could we do with them, even if we wanted to free them ourselves? And to have a gang of meddlesome Yankees come down here and take them away from us by force - I would never submit to that, not even if slavery were as bad as they pretend. I think the best thing to do, if the Confederacy were to gain its independence, would be to make a law confiscating the negroes of any man who was cruel to them, and allowing them to choose their own master. Of course they would choose the good men, and this would make it to everybody's interest to treat them properly. "
Source: Eliza Frances Andrews, The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, 1864-1865 (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1908), pp. 124-127.
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While fun was being had in south Georgia, a major engagement took place in Virginia - the Battle of Five Forks - an important intersection of roads used for communication and supplies. Union forces had gained control over one of the roads at the Battle of White Oak Road the previous day, and on this day were able to overwhelm the Confederate defenders. The Confederates lost almost three thousand men - many of them captured - while the Union lost less than one thousand. The Confederate army was now surrounded on three sides, with its last supply line being threatened.
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This Week in Georgia Civil War History Table of Contents
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