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This Week in Georgia Civil War History
This Week in Georgia Civil War History
Oct. 30, 1864: A Georgia private was paroled from the Union prison at Point Lookout, MD on this day; he would be exchanged at Venus Point on the Savannah River, with his part in the war finished. The same thing happened to a lieutenant being held at Fort Delaware. These are two examples of a number of prisoners being paroled and exchanged - primarily those wounded or too sick to continue fighting. Wholesale exchanges of healthy prisoners were not taking place - as the Union military leadership did not want them released to again fight for the Confederacy. This policy was largely responsible for the overcrowded conditions at Confederate military prisons like Camp Sumter - Andersonville prison, and Camp Lawton near Millen, Georgia.
Union Soldiers at Andersonville
Oct. 31, 1864: The Richmond Times Dispatch published Confederate Vice-President (and native Georgian) Alexander Stephens' response to a messenger from Union General William T. Sherman, suggesting the two meet in Atlanta to discuss possible terms of peace.
Vice-President Stephens's and Sherman's Proposition to negotiate.
The letter from Vice-President Stephens to William King, the messenger from General Sherman, with propositions to negotiate, is published. The invitation was for the Vice-President to meet the Yankee in Atlanta. After expressing his anxiety to promote the termination of this "fratracidal war," Mr. Stephens says:
'But, in the present instance, the entire absence of any power on my part to enter into such negotiations, and the like absence of any such power on his part, so far as appears from his message, necessarily precludes my acceptance of the invitation thus tendered. In communicating this to General Sherman, you may also say to him, that if he is of opinion that there is any prospect of our agreeing upon terms of adjustment, to be submitted to the action of our respective governments, even though he has no power to act in advance in the premises, and will make this known to me in some formal and authoritative manner, (being so desirous for peace himself as you represent him to have expressed himself,) I would most cheerfully and willingly, with the consent of our authorities, accede to his request thus manifested, and enter, with all the earnestness of my nature, upon the responsible and arduous task of restoring peace and harmony to the country upon of honor, right and justice to all parties. This does not seem to me to be at all impossible, if truth and reason should be permitted to have their full away.'
Yours, most respectfully,
Alexander H. Stephens.
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Alexander Stephens
Nov. 1, 1864: A Wisconsin soldier in Atlanta wrote to his wife that they were packing for a campaign, but his guess as to where they would go was incorrect.
"We have orders to prepare at once for an active campaign with very limited transportation. We will have to store our baggage in Chattanooga. General Thomas' headquarters have been moved back to that place and all property has been removed from Atlanta. I think the idea is to send a small garrison there and mass the army to operate against Hood in northern Alabama. There are some indications that he intends to invade Tennessee; in that case, he will fare about as well as Price did in Missouri. I don't think we will have a very long campaign or a bloody one."
Source: Civil War Letters of Major Fredrick C. Winkler, 1864 in 26th Wisconsin Infantry Volunteers Home Page
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The Confederate Union of Milledgeville published an eloquent appeal from General Howell Cobb for all the people of Georgia to do whatever they can to overthrow the Northerners invading their home state.
The Southern Recorder of Milledgeville reprinted an editorial from a Virginia newspaper, which they decidedly agreed with, arguing against the arming of blacks.
The Richmond Times Dispatch published a report on the financial condition of Georgia.
Nov. 2, 1864: A Georgia man made a short entry into his journal; worrying about war time and possible worse events on the way.
"Hands gathering up corn and some trifling folks at it too, but this is war time and maybe worse is coming, but we must try and bear it as best we can."
Source: Franklin M. Garrett, Atlanta and Its Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1969 reprint of original 1954 volume), p. 648.
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In an otherwise relatively insignificant war event, a Confederate blockade runner was captured in the Atlantic Ocean on this day. The crew on board were taken to Point Lookout prison in Maryland, where they would be held for the next four months. The young signal officer on that ship would go on to become of Georgia's most celebrated writers, particularly for his poetry - Sidney Lanier. Unfortunately, while in prison he contracted tuberculosis, which would trouble him for the rest of his life, and cut that life short.
Young Sidney Lanier
Nov. 3, 1864: The same Georgia man who had expressed his worry to his journal the previous day, was even more desperate and terse today.
"What will become of us. God only knows."
Source: Franklin M. Garrett, Atlanta and Its Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1969 reprint of original 1954 volume), p. 648.
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A Wisconsin soldier in Atlanta wrote home to his wife; he was finally starting get some idea about what they would be doing next.
"The all engrossing thought and subject of speculation now is the impending campaign. I had a call from Colonel Dustin today, who has been commanding our division till within a few days, General Ward being on leave of absence. The surmises are that Atlanta will be destroyed and abandoned, the railroads leading to and from it destroyed as far as possible, a portion Of Sherman's army to demonstrate against Hood from Chattanooga, Huntsville or Rome, and the balance, including the 20th Corps, to cut loose from all communications and move deep into the enemies' country, either towards Mobile or Savannah, to find a new base of operations. General Slocum has told Colonel Smith of the 1st Brigade, that he would afterwards regret if he did not participate in this campaign. It will doubtless be an interesting one, into a new country, living on the land as we go along, no hostile fires to oppose us. We will go in strong force. The enemies' main armies will be employed elsewhere. Their cavalry may pick up our stragglers, but otherwise no evil can befall us. We may be called upon to start at any moment after the 4th of November. We have had a good long rest and must not complain. We have to send all our things away tomorrow, keep nothing but a change of clothes, blankets and writing material. I have two five dollar notes, secession money, one payable six months and one two years after the ratification of peace between the Confederate States and the United States of America. Ah! are they not elegant rags? I have today read a most eloquent speech, delivered by General Meagherat Nashville in favor of the election of Lincoln and Johnson. We will probably be cut off from communication for a long time. When you get letters again they may have to go by way of some port on the gulf or the Atlantic coast. We will probably be long on the way."
Source: Civil War Letters of Major Fredrick C. Winkler, 1864 in 26th Wisconsin Infantry Volunteer Home Page
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A Georgia soldier in Virginia wrote home to his wife, describing how he and his fellow soldiers were preparing for the upcoming winter. He also offered his thoughts on using blacks in the army.
"...The most of them are busily engaged preparing for winter, which is fast approaching here. Instead of building huts as formerly, they dig a hole in the ground about 6 feet deep and 10 ft. square, put over the top a layer of large logs. On that a layer of boughs and leaves, and cover the whole with dirt which they pile on till it is shaped like a potatoe hill. They then fix a chimney and are not only very comfortable but protected from the enemy's shells. ...
The Conscription of negroes in the South is freely discussed now. It is a serious and momentous question. I am not competent to decide which is the best for us. I had much rather gain our independence without it but if necessary I say put them in and make them fight. But I hope it will not be necessary. ..."
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.181-182.
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Below is an affidavit discharging a Georgia soldier who had become deaf.
Courtesy of the Georgia Archives
Nov. 4, 1864: A Wisconsin soldier in Atlanta wrote to his wife that he was ready to get started on their fall campaign.
The Richmond Times Dispatch published a letter from Macon, Georgia; the writer (who called himself Alabama) opposed any notion except a "conquering peace."
Letter from Georgia.
[Correspondence of the Richmond Dispatch.]
Macon, October 25, 1864.
It might not be imprudent to publish, when this reaches you, where the point is towards which General Hood's army is tending; but I will not say now what, probably, even then, should not be, for military reasons, divulged. Important movements are on foot here, which, if successful, will make every Confederate heart leap for joy; but as their success might be jeoparded by their premature announcement, I forbear. From the great popular interest manifested in the movements of the army, I am satisfied that the heart of this country is true to the Confederate cause, and will compromise with nothing short of conquering a peace, whatever individuals may suggest of other methods for the attainment of the desired boon. The rebuke of Mr. Boyee, of South Carolina, by the people of the vicinage, shows very clearly that the old Palmetto State will be true to her instincts, and will tolerate no doubtful or equivocal language, even in a cherished son, as to the method of attaining the result - solving the great problem. From conversations with several leading gentlemen of Georgia since I entered the State, I derive the assurance that, whatever may float to the surface in the shape of individual opinion or suggestion, even upon the part of distinguished men, the heart of the State is sound to the core; the success of the Confederate cause is uppermost in the minds of everybody, and nothing they desire so much as to see a hearty co-operative effort, upon the part of the Government and people, for the recuperation and support of the armies. The late order revoking details meets with universal approval, and the people are fully prepared for other and more effectual methods of increasing their strength, such as the repeal of the agricultural clause of the late military bill and the contribution of the reserve forces, now limited to the States, to the Confederate force in the field. The resolutions passed at the late Convention of Governors at Augusta meet with a universal feeling of approbation; and great good, in harmonizing discrepancies of opinion rather than interest, is expected to result from it. The President's visit south has been attended with good results, in imparting new life and hope to the cause, and in causing him to be better understood and more understandingly appreciated. I think he enjoys a higher degree of the popular confidence as a man of wisdom, purity and patriotism than ever before, for the reason that he is better understood than ever before. I cannot but indulge the wish and the hope that the country and the Congress will rally to his support in a spirit of lofty self-abnegation; the first, by willingly yielding to the cause all its resources of men and means; the last, by the exercise of a spirit of grave and earnest wisdom in its deliberations, not heretofore its prime characteristic. If they should, our cause is no longer a problem, but a success.
Alabama.
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The Richmond Times Dispatch also printed a brief item on a home for Atlanta exiles being established in Terrell County.
Nov. 5, 1864: The Richmond Times Dispatch printed the following brief report on action in Georgia - not much of it as Sherman prepared for the next step in his campaign against Georgia.
From Georgia.
The best news that we have from Georgia is, that our troops have commenced active operations against the foraging parties which the Yankees, in Atlanta, are sending out. Last week, our cavalry captured a forage train in the vicinity of the city, and brought off three hundred and fifty mules. The wagons were not brought off.
There was a cavalry attack by Kilpatrick on Wheeler, last week, which was repulsed.
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This week's edition of Harper's Weekly printed an image of a soldier in a rifle pit near Petersburg - many soldiers from both sides, including Georgians serving in Virginia - spent much of their days in such places.
Image Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library / University of Georgia Libraries
Harper's Weekly also published a cartoon that showed racist views were not confined to the South; this portrayed their view of a "charge" by a colored regiment.
Image Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library / University of Georgia Libraries
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This Week in Georgia Civil War History Table of Contents
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