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Strategy to save Virginia

"The two armies are now too far apart unless we consent to give up Petersburg, and place the capital in jeopardy. If Genl Lee will fall back behind the Chickahominy, engaging the enemy so as to draw fire on him, Genl Beauregard can bring up fifteen...

GLC08899.01

Memorandum on strategy

"The forced reconnaissance of today has shown that it is not prudent, at this juncture, to send off to the North side James River, Ransom's Brigade, which constitutes over one third of the Infantry force at present available here."

GLC08899.02

to A. P. Mason

Writes to Colonel Mason about the shelling of Columbia, Tennessee and the situation of prisoners during the Tennessee Campaign: "I told him [Union General Edward Hatch] that we had no forces in the town excepting a skirmish line, that his fire has...

GLC08900

to James B. McPherson

Major General Hurlbut writes to Major General McPherson, commander of the Department of the Tennessee, about military strategy and organization. Counsels against consolidating "Memphis & Vicksburgh into the 'District of the Miss. River." Outlines...

GLC08901

to Henry W. Halleck

Discusses strategy to engage General Robert E. Lee's army. After much deliberation he decided "to attempt the movement by his right, throwing the whole army rapidly & secretly, across the Rappahannock at Banks ford & Fredericksburg & taking...

GLC08902

to Abraham Lincoln

Intensely vitriolic letter sent to President Lincoln shortly after his election: "God damn your god damned old Hellfired soul to hell god damn you...Now you God damned old Abolition son of a bitch God damn you..." Attached to a board with a...

GLC08904

to William B. Stone

Discusses debts and financial arrangements. Also comments on slaves being used as collateral: "We regret that you have had so much trouble with Keybird the lien on the Negroes is ample security for our debt." Hopkins Brothers was a commission firm...

GLC08905

to Jason Brown and others

Discusses the fighting between pro-slavey and anti-slavery activists in Kansas. Explains that "Events of the most stirring character are now passing within hearing distance...more than 200 shots have been fired within the past half hour, and within...

GLC08906

[Civil War diary of William R. Buchanan]

Diary of U. S. soldier covering the Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Chattanooga campaigns. The entries are sporadic near the beginning of the year but near-daily from March until December. On 3 July 1863, at Gettysburg, he writes: "at daylight...

GLC08910

[Pay and Muster roll with wages for former slaves]

Lists approximately 100 freedmen by name on the "Mdme. Rosts Hermitage Plantation, Parish St. Charles," Louisiana, who were under the charge of Federal officer Henry B. Fitch. Next to their names are their ages and wages. In some cases there are...

GLC08912

[Civil War letters of Grove Bell, a private in the Union Army] [decimalized]

This collection is a series of 15 letters and one printed poem from Private Grove Bell to a number of recipients, including his sister. The poem is dedicated to the Ladies of Portland, Connecticut, Bell's hometown. Private Bell enlisted in the 20th...

GLC08913

[Collection of Peter E. Rifenburgh and Louis Brooks, 128th regiment, New York, infantry] [decimalized]

This collection consists mostly of a series of letters from Private Peter E. Rifenburgh and Sergeant Louis Brooks of Clermont, New York. Private Rifenburgh enlisted in the Union army on August 12, 1862, when he was 19, in Germantown, New York. On...

GLC08914

List of Casualties in 6th Reg't Conn Vols 1st Brigade Morris' Island

Lists men in the regiment and details of their injuries. Additional casualties and their type (killed, wounded, taken prisoner) are marked in pink ink next to the names at later dates. Some of the casualties were from the siege of Fort Wagner...

GLC08915

to John Biddle

Indicates that the British attacked Washington, D.C., without any horses and may try to seize them wherever they land. Instructs Biddle to remove all horses from possible landing points for the British. The British had recently captured and...

GLC02978.02

[Committee of Defence authorization for Dr. Robert M. Patterson to lead a Corps of Field Engineers]

The committee, empowered by the General Committee of Philadelphia, made Patterson the chief engineer and organizer of the corps and charged them with "the Defence of the City and its Environs."

GLC02978.01

[Court depositions]

Depositions of various people concerning their acquaintances with the following men; William Lux, George Lux, Daniel Bowly, and William Russell. Includes the depositions of Richard Ridgely, Jacob Stergars, Jonathan Weily, Martin Eichelberger, Maria...

GLC03545.24.09

to James Gadsden

Introduces Mr. Robert Rose, who is hand delivering this letter, as a businessman connected with building the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, of which Gadsden is an advocate. Writes that if Gadsden is successful in securing a treaty with Mexico for...

GLC03587.05

Passage through Baltimore

Comments on Abraham Lincoln's stealthy trip through pro-South Baltimore on his way to Washington to be inaugurated. Lincoln's plans were changed in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on 22 February 1861 to avoid trouble in Baltimore. He boarded a special train...

GLC00493.02

The Battle in Baltimore April 19th 1861

What Volck calls a "battle" has been more often been described as the Baltimore Riot. Shows the 6th Massachusetts Regiment travelling through Baltimore to Washington, answering Lincoln's call for 75,000 volunteers for ninety days' service to defend...

GLC00493.04

Marylanders crossing the Potomac to join the Southern Army

Depicts four Marylanders rowing south across the Potomac River into Virginia to join the army of Robert E. Lee. One man is standing in the boat in an echo of George Washington in Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze's famous painting "George Washington Crossing...

GLC00493.08

Election in Baltimore, November, 1862

Depicts Federal troops overseeing the election. They are intimidating the respectable citizens attempting to vote while encouraging those of less reputable character. Unruly Unionist members of the crowd, at least some of whom appear to be African...

GLC00493.09

Southern confederacy. [Vol. 2, no. 235 (November 19, 1862)]

Prints a description of the movements of the Army of Misssissippi, entitled "Gen. Bragg's Kentucky Campaign." Other articles include: "Late Washington Gossip" and "Grand Army Stealing." Includes accounts of troop movements and battle reports...

GLC05959.09.099

Southern confederacy. [Vol. 2, no. 248 (December 4, 1862)]

"Late Northern Intelligence" features news from Washington, including Governor Yates of Illinois's complaints to the President, Native American prisoners, and the Confederate occupation of Fredericksburg. "The Yankee Estimate of General Lee"...

GLC05959.09.105

Southern Confederacy. [Vol. 2, no. 294 (January 28, 1863)]

This newspaper is from the Southern Confederacy and includes main articles on the new exemption from service bill and related amendments, the Expectation of Another Battle, and Small Pox Prevailing in Almost Every Neighborhood in Washington.

GLC05959.09.130

Southern confederacy. [Vol. 3, no. 25 (March 12, 1863)]

"Capture of the U.S. Gunboat Indianola" report from Washington on March 2, 1863, includes a description of the ship.

GLC05959.09.153

Southern confederacy. [Vol. 3, no. 31 (March 19, 1863)]

Includes an article entitled "A Negro Regiment has Landed in Memphis From Above." "Anti-Blockade Rumor", reprinted from the Charleston Courier, reports that Mercier, the French Minister in Washington, supports ending the blockade.

GLC05959.09.156

Southern confederacy. [Vol. 3, no. 44 (April 4, 1863)]

"Movement for the Impeachment of Lincoln" reports that individuals in Washington have begun to call for the impeachment of President Lincoln, and that the articles of impeachment have already been drawn up, while asserting that Lincoln is worse than...

GLC05959.09.166

Worship of the North

Depicts Lincoln in front of an altar with a black idol sitting on a platform with the words "Chicago Platform" on it. A sheet hanging from the platform says "The end justifies the means." Shows a white person being sacrificed in front of it. Henry...

GLC00493.01

Searching for arms

Depicts arrogant Northern soldiers rummaging for weapons through the house of a Southern sympathizer. A woman is holding her scared daughter in the right foreground. The two women are in nightgowns and have wrapped themselves in a curtain to cover...

GLC00493.05

Enlistment of Sickles Brigade

Shows the duplicitous agents of Daniel Sickles recruiting the brigade he raised and equipped himself at considerable expense. A throng of bedraggled men congregate around a Federal officer who holds out a medal and wears a "Colonel Sickle's Brigade"...

GLC00493.06

Buying a substitute in the North during the war

Image comments negatively upon the Northern policy of allowing men to find a substitute to take their place in the draft. Shows a well-dressed and dandified agent with a holstered pistol showing a timid gentleman into a low class pub where the...

GLC00493.07

Stone Blockade off Charleston, S.C.

Depicts the treacherous route into Charleston Harbor with several sunken ships. Size in extent is for the mount. The actual size of the etching is 20.5 x 26.6 cm. Title in pencil on verso.

GLC00493.10

Making clothes for the boys in the army

Depicts three women sitting in a crowded bedchamber, engaged in the entire process of making clothing. On the far left, a woman wearing a bonnet spins the raw material into thread. The thread is then woven into cloth by the woman working the loom. On...

GLC00493.11

Slaves Concealing Their Master From a Search Party

One etching entitled, "Slaves Concealing Their Master From a Search Party," by Adalbert John Volck, political cartoonist and sympathist with the Confederacy. Depicts an enslaved woman, directing mounted Federal soldiers as the enslaver hides in the...

GLC00493.12

Return of a raiding party from Pennsylvania

Depicts the booty of a very successful Confederate cavalry raid. Shows soldiers driving dozens of captured cattle and pigs. A wagon train, possibly full of pilfered goods, snakes in the background. Size in extent is for the mount. The actual size of...

GLC00493.13

Valiant men "Dat Fite Mit Siegel"

Depicts a house being plundered and burned while a woman kneels, begging Federal officers to spare her children from the flames. The officers appear haughty and indifferent to her pleas. The threat of sexual violation is implicit as an officer with a...

GLC00493.14

Tracks of the armies

Depicts a Confederate soldier returning home to find his home destroyed and his wife and dog dead. All of his belongings lay scattered and ruined, while in the distance another building burns. Vultures are perched above, more symbols of death. It is...

GLC00493.15

Formation of guerrilla bands

Foreground depicts an angry figure trying to convince a farmer, who has had his homestead destroyed by Union forces, to take revenge by joining a guerrilla band in the background. The farmer sits with his wife and son among the ruins of what appears...

GLC00493.16

Southern confederacy. [Vol. 2, no. 159 (August 21, 1862)]

Prints an article titled "Special Correspondence of the Southern Confederacy from Stonewall Jackson's Command: Battle of Cedar Run," caption reads "the hardships of the 14th Georgia -- Its proudest day -- Preparations for battle -- Almost a panic --...

GLC05959.09.066

Southern confederacy. [Vol. 2, no. 160 (August 22, 1862)]

Prints an article titled "The Northern Account of the Battle of Cedar Mountain," written "on the field, Cedar Run, eight miles sout of Culpepper V.A." on Sunday Aug 9, 1862. The article gives 2 different detailed accounts of the battle, followed by 4...

GLC05959.09.067

Southern confederacy. [Vol. 2, no. 163 (August 26, 1862)]

Prints "The Official Report of General Pope of the Battle of Cedar Mountain" Written to Major General Halleck, the General in Chief, on August 18, 1862. Occupies 1 full column. Article followed by the "Congratulatory Dispatch from General Halleck to...

GLC05959.09.068

Southern confederacy. [Vol. 2, no. 180 (September 14, 1862)]

Prints various articles regarding the war, including "Bragg's Proclamation", "Jackson & Longstreet Moving on Harper's Ferry", "Order of Major General McClellan", and "The Writ of Habeas Corpus Suspended in Atlanta." Includes letters from soldiers...

GLC05959.09.069

Southern confederacy. [Vol. 2, no. 183 (September 18, 1862)]

"Position of the Union Cause" features excerpts from an article originally printed in the New York Times, which describes the failures of the Union Army in recent campains. "Riot in New York Regiment" reports on a mutiny of the 53rd New York regiment...

GLC05959.09.070

Southern confederacy. [Vol. 2, no. 186 (September 23, 1862)]

Reprints "The Official Report of Gen. Pope--His Excuses for His Defeat"; caption reads "As a prominent feature in the history of this war, we give Pope's official report of the battles of Manassas. It is pregnant with lies". Other articles include:...

GLC05959.09.072

Southern confederacy. [Vol. 2, no. 187 (September 24, 1862)]

Reports multiple Confederate victories; articles include "From Cumberland Gap," "Fight at Corpus Christi--Enemy Beaten Off," "Expedition in Louisiana," and "Quantrell in Missouri." Shorter pieces include "Mr. Buchanan's Position," about ex-President...

GLC05959.09.073

Southern confederacy. [Vol. 2, no. 190 (September 27, 1862)]

"Yankee Accounts of the Great Battle of Sharpsburg" gives a detailed report of the Battle of Shapsburg (Antietam) and reprints multiple excerpts from the New York Herald which report on the same event. Includes accounts of troop movements and battle...

GLC05959.09.074

Southern confederacy. [Vol. 2, no. 191 (September 28, 1862)]

A battlefied report written from Sharpsburg on Sept. 17, 1862 titled "The Battle of Sharpsburg -- Terrible Conflict -- The Enemy Repulsed" lists those killed and wounded. An article, "Martial Law and Military Usurpations: Important Letter from Vice...

GLC05959.09.075

Southern confederacy. [Vol. 2, no. 192 (September 30, 1862)]

A report originally published in the Savannah Republican titled "Battle of Boonesboro Gap -- Important Movements", details the central events and figures involved in the battle, followed by multiple letters from soldiers. Prints another piece of army...

GLC05959.09.076

Southern confederacy. [Vol. 2, no. 194 (October 2, 1862)]

Features a printing of President Lincoln's preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, dated September 22, 1862 and signed by Lincoln and Secretary of State William H. Seward. Title reads: "By the President of the United States -- A Proclamation." Also...

GLC05959.09.077

Southern confederacy. [Vol. 2, no. 195 (October 3, 1862)]

An article titled "What the Northern Press is Saying About President Lincoln's Abolition Proclamation" features excerpts from various Northern newspapers, including the New York Herald, the New York Tribune, and the New York World. Other articles...

GLC05959.09.078