j LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF
3NIA
.GO
OLD ABE,
fllPUTH WTCPflKMM WilB
Mbii WIMUDIMN WAii
A FULL ACCOUNT OF HIS CAPTURE AND ENLISTMENT, EX-
PLOITS IN WAR AND HONORABLE AS WELL AS
USEFUL CAREER IN PEACE.
WITH AN APPENDIX,
O
}
By F. A. F.
MADISON, WIS.
CURRAN AND BOWEN.
1885.
Copyright, 1885, by JOHN \\. CCRRAN, of the 5th Wisconsin, and
EUGENE BOWEN, of the 92d New York.
CRAMER, AIKENS & CRAMER,
Printers and Stereotypers,
Milwaukee, Wis.
NOTE.
HTHIS little volume, concerning the most famous bird of
. . ancient or modern times, was not written for display
or fame.
It was prepared to furnish a means whereby a few veter-
ans, maimed in the service of their country, might turn an
honest penny.
It contains, as far as the author knows and believes, noth-
ing false or discolored; and, though humble, forms as unde-
niably a part of the history of the Eebellion as the doings of
Grant or Sherman.
F. A. F.
MADISON, Wis., May, 1885.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. Page.
THE EAGLE'S ANCIENT FAME, .... .... 7
CHAPTER II.
CAPTURE AND EARLY LIFE OF OLD ABE, 10
CHAPTER III.
IN THE SERVICE, .... 15
CHAPTER IV.
ON TO THE FRONT, - 18
CHAPTER V.
CONDUCT IN BATTLE, - - 23
CHAPTER VI.
ANTICS IN CAMP, 26
CHAPTER VII.
CORINTH AND OTHER BATTLES, - 30
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CAMPAIGN IN TENNESSEE AND MISSISSIPPI, 34
CHAPTER IX.
THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG, - 40
CHAPTER X.
THE RED RIVER AND OTHER EXPEDITIONS, . 43
CHAPTER XI.
OLD ABE AT HOME ON A FURLOUGH, 47
CHAPTER XII.
RETURNING TO THE FRONT, - - - 50
CHAPTER XIII.
MUSTERED OUT ; WAR REMINISCENCES, 55
CHAPTER XIV.
THE WAYS OF PEACE ; NORTHWESTERN SANITARY FAIR, 60
CHAPTER XV.
MILWAUKEE SOLDIERS' HOME AND SOLDIERS' ORPHANS' HOME, - - 64
6 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVI. Pose.
PITTSBURGH AND PEOKIA GATHERINGS, • - 68
CHAPTER XVII.
OLD ABE NOMINATES GRANT FOR PRESIDENT, - - - 71
CHAPTER XVIII.
CELEBRATIONS AND REUNIONS, - 73
CHAPTER XIX.
AT THE CENTENNIAL, - -77
CHAPTER XX.
Two MONTHS IN BOSTON,
CHAPTER XXI.
MORE REUNIONS ; THE GRANT BANQUET, - . - - 85
CHAPTER XXII.
OLD ABE'S SEMI-TRAGIC DEATH, - 90
CHAPTER XXIII.
ANECDOTES AND CHARACTERISTICS, - 97
APPENDIX.
OLD ABE'S BATTLES, - - 101
His ATTENDANTS IN WAR, -105
His ATTENDANTS IN PEACE, 105
TROOPS IN THE UNION ARMY, WITH BOUNTIES BY STATES, - 106
CASUALTIES, ... 108
(i EN K HALS OF THE AllMY, - - - 103
STATISTICS OF THE REGULAR ARMY, 1789-1879, - 109
HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN FLAG, .... ... 100
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REBELLION, - 117
MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA, - - 170
SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA, - 171
SHERIDAN'S RIDE, - - 172
OLD ABE AT CORINTH, - 173
ILLUSTRATIONS.
OLD ABE, - - Frontispiece
r. s. GRANT, ... 53
A\'M. T. SHERMAN, ... 95
PHILIP H. SHERIDAN, .... - 137
OLD ABE.
CHAPTER I.
THE EAGLE'S ANCIENT FAME.
"Ah! that Eagle of Freedom! when cloud upon cloud
Swathed the sky of my own native land with a shroud —
When lightnings gleamed fiercely and thunderbolts rung,
How proud to the tempest those pinions were flung !
Though the wild blast of battle swept swiftly the air
With darkness and dread, still the Eagle was there.
I'nquailing and towering, his high flight was on,
Till the Rainbow of Peace crowned the victory won."
THE eagle had been the emblem of nations, courts
and warriors for centuries before America was even
discovered; so in painting him on our banners and grav-
ing him on our shields and coins as heraldic of freedom,
fearlessness and power, we but acted the part of imita-
tors.
Nevertheless, we can hardly be classed any longer as
imitators, for the eagle is now as distinctively our own
representative of spirit and valor as the lion is of Brit-
ish bravery and strength, although he is also found on
the insignia of other nations.
And as the nations of the world now rank, this is well;
for as the lion is king of beasts, so the eagle is king of
birds. Homer called him " the strong sovereign of the
plumy race," and another has written : " The banner of
the tribe of Dan, borne by Prince Ahiezer, was of a
bright green color, charged with an eagle as a component
(2) 7
8 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
part of the cherubim, denoting wisdom and sublimity.
The eagle was considered to be the symbol of Daniel,
because he spoke with angels and received visions which
relate to all time; of Christ, because of his divine
nature; of John the Evangelist, because he soars to
Heaven in the Revelations."
The eagles of the Roman legions are familiar in his-
tory, but Xenophon says the golden eagle, with extended
wings, was the ensign of the Persian monarchs long
before it was adopted by the Romans. He also declares
that " it is probable the Persians borrowed the symbol
from the Assyrians, on whose banners it waved till
imperial Babylon bowed her head to the yoke of
Cyrus."
The Romans had for their earliest military standards
the eagle, the boar, the horse and the minotaur, but soon
abandoned all but the first. The Etruscans adopted the
eagle as a token of both civic and military honor, and
he was the sacred bird of the Hindoos, and of the Greek
Zeus. With the Scandinavians he was the bird of
wisdom, sitting on the boughs of the uggrasill tree. The
double-headed eagle was in use among the Byzantine
emperors, " to indicate their claims to the empire, both of
the east and the west." In the 14th century the German
emperors adopted an eagle emblem. The arms of Prus-
sia were distinguished by the black and those of Poland
by the white eagle, and Napoleon made him the emblem
of imperial France, represented in natural style, with the
thunderbolts of Jupiter in his talons.
THE EAGLE'S ANCIENT FAME. 9
Thus has this mighty bird been more or less hon-
ored by nearly all civilized nations, and even in America
Columbus found the heads of aboriginal chiefs and war-
riors plumed with the feathers of the eagle — especially
of the black eagle, the swiftest and fiercest of his kind.
The present popularity of the eagle, as symbolic of
the American nation, is a matter that has been growing
upon us. For his earliest use on flags and banners
there was no recognized authority, though nothing could
have been more natural. After the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas
Jefferson were appointed to prepare a device for a great
seal of the United States.
The result of their labors underwent various modifi-
cations until June 20, 1782, when our present great seal
was adopted. It represents the escutcheon on the
breast of the American eagle, holding in his dexter
talon an olive branch, in his sinister a bundle of thir-
teen arrows, and in his beak a scroll inscribed with the
motto, E Pluribus Unum. The olive signified peace, the
arrows themselves war, while their number, thirteen,
represented the original thirteen colonies. " The escutch-
eon is borne on the breast of the American eagle with-
out any other supporters to denote that the United States
of America ought to rely on its own virtue."
From this device on the great seal of the United
States doubtless arose the custom, which has grown
into a law, of otherwise putting forth the eagle as our
national emblem, in peace as well as war.
CHAPTER II.
CAPTURE AND EARLY LIFE OF OLD ABE.
HAVING generalized thus briefly, we come now to
Old Abe, the famous war-eagle of Wisconsin. He
was captured during sugar-making time in 1861, on the
Flambeau River, near the line between Ashland and
Price counties, in Wisconsin, by a Chippewa Indian
named Chief Sky.
His birthplace was in a large tub-like nest of mud
and sticks, on a tall pine, which the Indian felled,
amidst the screams and menaces of the old birds, for
the purpose of capturing the young.
Chief Sky was the son of Thunder of Bees, chief of
the Flambeau band of Chippewas, who, a few weeks
later, led his people down the river for the purpose of
disposing of their baskets, furs and moccasins. While
on the road he sold the young bird to Daniel McCann,
of Eagle Point, for a bushel of corn.
And for this paltry sum was the noble bird sold from
freedom to captivity, from barbarism to civilization,
from the moan of pines to the crash of battles, from
obscurity to fame.
McCann carried the eagle to Chippewa Falls and
attempted to sell him to a company just recruiting there
for the First Wisconsin Battery. Failing in this, he
proceeded a little later to Eau Claire and offered the
10
CAPTURE AND EARLY LIFE OF OLD ABE. 11
bird, now nearly full-grown and handsome, but spiteful
as a scorpion, to what subsequently became Company C,
of the Eighth or Eagle Regiment.
Capt. John E. Perkins hesitated at first about accept-
ing such a strange volunteer, but finally agreed to take
him to the front.
The following letter, written to the officers of the
Wisconsin State Historical Society soon after Old Abe's
death, seems to contain authentic information :
BRADFORD, PA., May 23, 1881.
GENTLEMEN: Having seen by the papers the death of the
eagle, Old Abe, and having read so many stories of his early
life up to the time of his enlistment, none of which conveyed
the exact truth, I thought it might not be out of place for me
to give the true history of him, as I had probably seen more
of him up to that time than anyone else.
I was at the house of my brother-in-law, T. W. Martin, at
Chippewa Falls (he is still living there), when the eagle was
brought to him by Daniel McCann, from up thejChippewa
River, where he is still living. The bird was about the size of
a full-grown hawk. McCann said he had bought him of an
Indian, and wanted to sell him. Martin did not buy him, but
allowed McCann to put him in the back yard, where he re-
mained about a week.
At that time Capt. Perkins was organizing a company at
Eau Claire for the Eighth Regiment. I went to Eau Claire
the day the company left to see some of my friends off, and
while there McCann brought the eagle down and offered to
sell him to the company.
A subscription was started. A Mr. Mills, keeping a saloon,
through some misunderstanding, refused to [give anything,
which caused no little indignation among the boys; but he
soon came to an understanding of the matter and bought the
eagle himself of McCann, for $5.00, and presented him to the
company. This is the true history of Old Abe up to the time
of his enlistment.
*****•*•**
Yours very respectfully,
THOS. McEiEAN,
Late of Chippewa Falls.
12 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
In due time the eagle was sworn in by putting around
his neck red, white and blue ribbons, and on his breast
a rosette of the same colors. Thus caparisoned, James
McGinnis craved the privilege of being his keeper, to
which all assented. In a few days he produced a re-
spectable perch; and two patriotic ladies made little
flags to be carried on either side of him when on the
march.
As familiar to all as the general appearance of the
eagle is, it may, nevertheless, be proper to insert here a
description of Old Abe before going farther, written by a
close observer while the bird was living:
His weight is ten and a half pounds. His breast is
full and heavy, trembling with ardent emotions. His
head is large, and well developed in front, towering up
in moral aspect, and flattened a little toward the neck,
where it is the widest. His beak, measuring two and
three-quarter inches, bends in a semi-circle over the
mandible, having its edges cut sharp clear to the point,
where it is as hard as steel and of a beautiful flint color,
but changing gradually toward the base into a sparkling
saffron. The neck is short and thick, the body large
and symmetrical; the wings are long and tail rounded;
the legs a bright yellow, the tarsus three inches long, bare
for the lower two-thirds, and covered with hard, tough
scales; the foot short and full; the toes free, tuberculous
beneath ; the four curved taloris on each foot have sharp
ends, and look like grappling steels; the thighs are
remarkably thick, strong and muscular, covered with
CAPTURE AND EARLY LIFE OF OLD ABE. 13
long feathers pointing backwards; the conformation of
the wings is admirably adapted for the support of so
large a bird, measuring, from tip to tip, six feet and a
half; length of one, two feet on the greater quills; the
longest primaries, twenty inches and upwards of one
inch in circumference where they enter the skin; the
scapulars are very large and broad, spreading from the
back to the wing to prevent the air from passing through .
The plumage is compact and imbricated; the feathers
on the breast, back and top of the wings are a dark brown
with a changeable gloss; those on the head, neck and
breast are narrow and pointed; the other parts more
rounded. The general color of the plumage is brown
with a golden tinge; the head and greater part of the
neck and coverts are a fine snowy* white; the tail is also
white, and spotted black on the upper feathers for about
half their length; the quills are brownish black with
lighter shafts.
The eyes are clear and round, encircled with yellow
papillary linings, fringed on their inside with thin,
elastic, black bands or plates, like concentric rings; the
iris is a brilliant straw color, and appears like the sky,
changing in luster just as his moods change; the pupil
is large, intensely black and piercing, contracting and
expanding with microscopic and telescopic action at
every light and shade. When looking backward, his
head appears in a position as natural as when looking
forward. The expression of his eye is most fascinating:
when inspired with ambition it is a burst of sunlight
14 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
through a white cloud; when angry, every feather in
ruffled rage, it is the lightning amidst the storm, and at
all times it burns and glitters like fire.
Indeed, the eye of an eagle is his most remarkable
part. In addition to its intense power and brightness, he
has, according to good authority, the power of altering
the focus just as he pleases; he has only to look at an
object at the distance of two feet or two miles, in order
to see it with perfect distinctness. The ball is sur-
rounded by fifteen little plates, called sclerotic bones.
They form a complete ring, and their edges slightly
overlap each other. When he looks at a distant object,
this little circle of bones expands and the ball of the eye,
being relieved from the pressure, becomes flatter; and
when he looks at a very near object, the little bones press
together, and the ball of the eye is thus squeezed into a
rounder or more convex form. The effect is very
familiar to everybody : a person with very round eyes
is near-sighted, and only sees clearly an object that is
close to him; and a person with flat eyes, as in old age,
can see nothing clearly except at a distance. The eagle,
by the mere will, can make his eyes round or flat, and
see with equal clearness at any distance.
CHAPTER III.
IN THE SERVICE.
ON September 6, 1861, with bands playing, banners
flying and people shouting, the Eau Claire Eagles
marched from camp down to the Chippewa River, on
their way to Camp Randall, at Madison, where they were
to be mustered in. Abe, though somewhat astonished,
seemed to thoroughly enjoy the novel and inspiriting
scene, perched proudly on his shield between the flags
presented by the Ladies' Aid Society, his smooth, grace-
ful neck encircled with ribbons of red, white and blue.
Right heartily did the people cheer the boys as they
marched away ! Many remarked : " They will never
be whipped while they follow that bird," and the Free
Press properly enquired : " Who could not fight under
such glorious emblems ? "
The boys boarded the steamer Stella Whipple amidst
the sobs, blessings and good-byes which all soldiers
have witnessed and will never forget, and in a gloomy
rain-storm which nobody noticed.
After steaming rapidly down the Chippewa and the
Mississippi, the company reached La Crosse in the
afternoon of the second day. As the boat was made
fast to the levee, the guns of the First Wisconsin Bat-
tery boomed forth a salute, the band struck up " Yankee
Doodle" and the assembled throngs sent up a tremen-
dous shout. 15
16 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
Abe, borne at the head and high above the marching
column, attracted all eyes and brought forth a fresh
huzza at each street and corner. The enthusiasm rose
to such a height in La Crosse that an offer of $200 was
made for Abe to Capt. Perkins, who promptly and
proudly replied: "No, the eagle belongs to the com-
pany and can't be bought."
From La Crosse the boys were transported by rail to
Camp Randall at Madison, the capital of the State,
where they met a royal reception. The company
marched to a martial quick-step through the principal
streets of the city, passing the capitol, the colors and
eagle displayed in fine style. At Camp Randall occurred
a remarkable scene. As the company approached the
hill, its musicians struck up the tune of " Yankee
Doodle." The Seventh Wisconsin and fractional parts
of the Eighth Avere there awaiting accessions; seeing the
Eau Claire boys and their eagle coming, they ran to the
gate of entrance and opened right and left. During all
this commotion the majestic bird sat quietly on his
perch; but just as .the company was passing the gate,
defiling between the rows of spectators, with a dart of
his piercing eye to the flag floating close over his head,
he seized one end of it with his beak, and spread his
wings with a continuously flapping motion. He held
the flag during the time of crossing the grounds
through the excited crowd to the front of Col. R. C.
Murphy's headquarters.
IN THE SERVICE. 17
The Madison State Journal of the 10th thus mentions
the incident:
An incident occurred yesterday, as the Chippewa company
arrived at Camp Randall. They bore in advance of them a
platform on which was a live eagle, surmounted by a small
American flag. Just as they entered camp, the eagle
expanded his wings and seized the flag in his beak. The
incident attracted much attention, and if it had happened in
other days, in a Roman camp, would have been regarded by
the augurs as a singularly favorable omen.
At Camp Randall the eagle's visitors numbered
many thousands, among whom were governors, judges,
generals, and other high dignitaries. And it was here
that Capt. Perkins invested his living emblern of free-
dom and valor with the title of Old Abe, in honor of
the patriot President, Abraham Lincoln.
By popular vote the men of Company C were styled
the Eau Claire Eagles and the Eighth, of which they
became a part, was named the Eagle Regiment, a proud
and famous title in the military history of the Army of
the Tennessee.
As Old Abe was now a soldier, sworn into the service
of his country, Quartermaster Francis L. Billings, at the
expense of the State, had a new perch constructed. It
was a shield in the shape of a heart, on which was
drawn the stars and stripes, and along the base were
legibly painted, "8th Reg. W. V." Raised a few inches
above the shield, was a grooved cross-piece for the roost,
on each end of which were three arrows, pointing out-
ward, representing war.
CHAPTER IV.
ON TO THE FRONT.
ON the 12th of October, 1861, the aggregate strength
being nine hundred and ninety men, the regiment,
under command of Col. Murphy, took its departure for
the front. As the long train of cars passed through the
villages and cities of Wisconsin, great was the enthusi-
asm of the people. They poured forth rounds of
cheers that fired the soldiers with patriotism. At Janes-
ville the crowd was immense and intensely excited.
Rock county, of which Janesville is the seat, had given
the first fruits of her patriotism to the country — Com-
pany G, of the Eighth, led by Capt. Wm. B. Britton —
hence the peculiar interest of the people on that
occasion.
After a continuous ovation over the entire route, the
regiment arrived in Chicago near the close of the day,
and marched through the city with Abe under the col-
ors. How the scene electrified Chicago! A correspond-
ent of the Eau Claire Free Press says :
Formed in platoons, we took our way through the ciiy, our
Colonel and Governor Alex. W. Randall leading us on horse-
back. Our progress was marked by many demonstrations of
enthusiasm — the regiment as a whole, and our "glorious bird "
carried aloft at the head of our company appearing to divide
about equally the general attention and applause. I fancied
the eagle seemed for once to be of more importance than the
Eagles, and received cheers and flattering comment enough
to spoil any less sensible bird.
18
ON TO THE FRONT. 19
The Chicago Tribune, under date of October 13, thus
alludes to the reception :
A noticeable feature among them was the Eau Claire Eagles
— Capt. Perkins' company — a company of first-class, stal-
wart fellows. The live eagle which they brought with them
was an object of much curiosity. He is a majestic bird and
well trained. When marching, the eagle is carried at the
head of the company, elevated on a perch at the top of a
pole. The eagle was caught on the head-waters of the Chip-
pewa [Flambeau] River by an Indian. Capt. Perkins' com-
pany takes it to the war. The men were offered a large sum
for it in Madison, but they will not part with it. They swear
it shall never be taken by the enemy. No doubt the Eau
Claire Eagles and their pet bird will be heard of again.
On the morning of the 14th, the regiment arrived at
the Mississippi, opposite St. Louis. The ferry-boat
steamed to the shore and received the Wisconsin cargo
with brisk orders. When approaching the city, the
band played the "Star Spangled Banner," hearing
which, the ladies waved a proud welcome with their
handkerchiefs.
Knowing that Union soldiers had recently been fired
upon by confederate sympathizers, difficulties were antic-
ipated; but what was their surprise to find that, instead
of confederates, Unionists showed signs of belligerency.
What did it mean ? Like the confederates, our soldiers
were then dressed in gray, and were at first supposed to
bt Southerners; and though excessively hot, they were
for this reason obliged to put on their blue overcoats to
satisfy the patriotic Unionists that they were not rebels.
When the regiment was preparing to enter one of the
principal streets, a promiscuous crowd huddled around,
20 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
and seeing the eagle, cried out, " a crow ! " "a wild
goose 1 " "a turkey buzzard ! " As if resolved upon a
demonstration of defiance to these insults against his
highness, Old Abe crouched low for a spring, half-pois-
ing his wings, and darted impetuously upward, break-
ing the cord that held him to his perch, and then scud
just over the heads of the motley crowd, even flapping
caps with the tips of his pinions; then shooting higher,
he sailed up, up, a thousand voices shouting after him,
and majestically alighted upon the chimney of an aristo-
cratic mansion.
The whole regiment was thrown into such excitement,
especially Company C, that the men could scarcely be
wheeled into rank and file for marching order through
the city. In the general confusion several soldiers sped
after the eagle, scattering in different alleys and con-
stantly watching him on his inaccessible eyrie.
The flight heightened the curiosity of the spectators.
Being informed it was an eagle from the North, they
were in ecstasies. Meantime, Old Abe sat on his new
perch, leisurely surveying the crowds below. Within
half an hour, however, he scooped down to an obscure
sidewalk, where he was caught and conveyed thence to
his regiment.
This being the first band of warriors from the North-
west, bringing, too, a live eagle, the reception extended
to them by the loyal people was the heartiest that could
be imagined. One old Dinah attracted particular atten-
tion, she laughed so heartily, showing her white teeth
ON TO THE FKONT. 21
and big eyes, and crying at the top of her voice: "Go in,
boys ! go in! God bress ye! "
Halting at one of the principal hotels, the regiment
was welcomed to the city by Governor Gamble, who, in
the course of his patriotic address, frequently pointed
to the eagle, and was cheered by the soldiers. Arriving
at Benton Barracks the boys were addressed by Secre-
tary Simon Cameron and Gen. Thomas, who highly
complimented them for their fine appearance, and threw
in a good word for Old Abe.
Here a wealthy and ardent Union man of St. Louis
tendered $500 for Old Abe, to which Capt. Perkins re-
sponded as before: " No price can buy him."
Scarcely had the regiment unpacked at Benton Bar-
racks ere it was ordered to advance, and on the evening
of the 15th of October, 1861, the inexperienced band
pushed forward on a long and perilous adventure.
But it was a gala time. At Big River — where the
bridge had been burned by the enemy — the men trans-
ported their baggage across on their backs, wading waist
deep. Abe, noticing the ripples and fishes, whistled a
merry note with the rest. Thus the feeling became uni-
versal that there could be no better companion to inspire
hilarity and enthusiasm under difficulties. As he led
the van of the column, in sight of all the soldiers, over
that variegated country, and in all their subsequent
marches, he was not only a constant reminder of their
oath of trust, but of the loftiness of ambition. He often
played under the waving colors, watching other birds in
22 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
the far-up blue which no human eye could reach, pant-
ing and aspiring to rise on peerless wing, monarch of all.
As all soldiers know, Company C is the " color com-
pany;" so the color-bearer and the bearer of Old Abe
marched side by side at the front. What leaders for
patriot-warriors doing battle for the integrity of their
beloved country !
CHAPTER V.
CONDUCT IN BATTLE.
ON the 20th the boys marched all night and slept in
the streets of Fredericktown, Mo., until noon of the next
day, when they were startled by the sharp and sudden
blast of bugles. The enemy was discovered in the
woods hard by, and an engagement was on. It was the
first active service put upon the Eagles, and at this
time, too, they were reserves.
Chained on the roof of the court-house, only a half-
mile distant from the scene of action, Abe watched with
intense interest the dark-winged lines rush on to the
shock of battle. His trepidation was plainly discern-
ible, and as the rattle of musketry, the hastening of
ambulances, the shouting of officers, the screams of pro-
jectiles and the shrieks of the wounded burst upon his
senses in the full tide of battle, he became wild with
excitement, leaping and screeching, and gnawing his
perch as if crazed by the tumult and destruction going
on around him.
After the battle he calmed down, apparently well
pleased with the result — victory.
After winterquarters at Sulphur Springs, Mo., Old
Abe moved up to Cairo, 111. He was now stern and
heroic, from his military experience, although he had
seen no fighting at closer range than from the court-
house roof at Fredericktown.
24 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
The first pitched battle in which Abe was an active
participant was at Farmington, Miss., on May 9, 1362,
where a single brigade of Union men met Gen. Beaure-
gard with 25,000 well-equipped confederates.
The Eagles and Twenty-sixth Illinois were sent forth
to rake the woods. Up rose the foe, quick and defiant;
but these two regiments held the ground for half an
hour under a raking fire. Anxious for the safety of Old
Abe, Capt. Perkins ordered the bearer to keep well in
the rear, but within hailing distance of his company.
As the enemy pressed on with irresistible destruction,
the boys were ordered to prostrate themselves on the
ground in the open field behind a knoll.
Not being conspicuously exposed, the bearer deter-
mined to remain upright, but Abe, seeing the men on
their faces, imitated their example. He was picked up,
with stern orders to keep his perch, but refused to obey.
This experiment failing for the fifth or sixth time, the
bearer threw the perch on the ground and crouched low
with the rest, whereupon the eagle crept close to his
side, where he remained till the bugle sounded, when he
leaped to his perch with the rising men. The author of
"Army Life and Stray Shots from a Staff Officer of the
Eighth Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers," thus describes
this scene :
At the battle of Farmington, May 9, 1862, the men were
ordered to lie down. The instant they did so, it was impos-
sible to keep .Abe upon his perch. He insisted on being pro-
tected as well as they, and, when liberated, flattened himself
on the ground, and there remained till the men arose; when,
CONDUCT IN BATTLE. 25
with outspread wings, he resumed his place of peril and held
it till the close of the contest.
i
This strange piece of imitative sagacity is corrobo-
rated by David McLane, a member of Company C, who,
in a letter dated " Camp near Vicksburg, Miss., Feb.
18, 1865," wrote:
The first fight the eagle was in was the battle of Farming-
ton, Miss., where he showed a great deal of sagacity. When
we were ordered to lie down on the ground, under a dreadful
artillery fire from the enemy's batteries, he flew off his perch,
getting as low as he could, and lay there until he saw the regi-
ment rise to advance, when he flew upon his perch again, and
remained there through the engagement.
In this battle Capt. Perkins fell mortally wounded,
and Lieut. Victor Wolf succeeded him in command.
In his report, Gen. Palmer highly complimented the
" regiment that bore the eagle."
Old Abe was in the battle before Corinth, on the 28th
of May. As the army sent up a shout when the Union
flag appeared on the enemy's works, he, the emblem and
herald of the victory, was seen " whirling, dancing and
screaming in the wildest delight on his perch," apparently
comprehending the situation to the fullest extent.
A soldier avers that, soon after the cheering, and
while Abe was eating a rabbit, the bugle of the regiment
called to pursue the enemy. A convalescent soldier
ordered him to mount his standard. As if appreciating
the urgency of the moment, Abe devoured the remain-
ing half of his rabbit at one swallow and leaped to his
perch, wiping his beak as he rode to the colors as if to
say, " You bet Fm well-fixed, boys."
CHAPTER VI.
ANTICS IN CAMP.
ABE'S first bearer, James McGinnis, being taken sud-
denly ill, Thomas J. Hill succeeded him at this point,
though several others craved the honor. In shoulder-
ing the perch and donning the socket-belt, Tom fell a
little behind. As he rushed forward to regain his
proper station he stumbled into a clump of bushes, to
the great disgust of Old Abe, who, as soon as the dis-
comfited pair emerged from the brush, struck his talons
into the neck and face of his bearer.
This was a grave military offense, but under the
circumstances there was no court-martial.
Soon after, the brigade went into quarters at Clear
Creek, where for some time Abe had a gay frolic, learn-
ing a great deal that was both mischievous and amus-
ing— running at large, catching bugs with his claws in
puddles of water, fishing in the creek, catching bullets
rolled upon the ground, running off with the ball in the
hilarious game, tipping over water-pails, visiting the
sutler's tent and tearing up soldiers' clothes.
One day a soldier cut off the heads of some chickens
and left them a few moments to flutter, while preparing
to cook them. Old Abe noticed the movement at a lit-
tle distance, and slyly hurried to the spot, passing some
soldiers who warned the cook of the bird's foraging
attitude. 26
ANTICS IN CAMP. 27
As the man turned to look for his chickens in one
direction, Abe perceived one in the grass just behind
him, and snatched it up and whirled off like a rocket,
amid the cheers of the spectators. The cook, furious
with rage, ran puffing and swearing after Abe, without
overtaking him.
At this point, Clear Creek, Abe always "went in
swimming " with the boys, and was not behind them in
enjoyment of the water-frolics.
Day by day his fame extended. During one of his
periods of excessive hilarity, a farmer accosted the
bearer, offering to give the eagle a chicken for the privi-
lege of exhibiting him to the children. Tom accepted,
and on arriving at the house a fair young lady appeared
among the children, who vainly coaxed the bird for the
privilege of touching his royal plumage, remarking
that she " never expected to see the celebrated eagle
which she had heard was carried by a Yankee regi-
ment."
After satisfying the curiosity of the children, Abe
was liberated among the fowls. He stalked toward the
chickens, threw his head swiftly from side to side, as
he always did on such occasions, walked around his
selected victim with a stealthy air, and then made his
terrible lunge.
Drawing the chicken directly under him and stand-
ing defiantly upon it, he opened his wings to a hovering
position, bent down his tail spread out like a fan, rustled
up his feathers and uttered a shrieking chuckle of satis-
28 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
faction. These incantations over, he plunged his beak
into the heart and devoured it palpitating. Looking on
and shuddering, the children exclaimed, "Oh ! Oh ! "
But Tom gave the beautiful brunette a significant wink,
saying: " He is from Wisconsin."
To the soldiers he served as a barometer. If the
weight of the atmosphere indicated a storm, he was
uneasy to find a shelter ere it came on, and, if tethered,
was very lively. No one but his bearer could approach
him then without severe reproof.
If the lightning flashed his eye was lighted with a
new fury; and, as the thunder followed, he listened
with rapt suspense, screaming in terrible revelry for
minutes at a time; but if the rain continued steady and
heavy, he grew calm, and hiding his head under his
wing, slept contentedly until the sunlight appeared.
Abe drank after the manner of all other birds, but
when no better chance availed itself, he would throw
back his head, open his mouth and permit his bearer
to pour water down his throat from a canteen.
He was also very friendly with his keeper, shaking
hands with him and taking his fingers with a gentle
pressure in his beak. Yet he was extremely sensitive
as to his rights, and never forgot the person who abused
him.
One day a sergeant tormented him with rough hand-
ling, and affronted him by mimicking his manner of
self-defense. Like an Indian he laid up a store- of
vengeance for the future and when, several months later,
ANTICS IN CAMP. 29
the sergeant returned from a journey, Abe fixed his
kindling eye upon him, and the moment he came into
his presence flew at his head with fury, actually driv-
ing him off.
While taking a bath in the creek a mischievous Negro
tormented him. After submitting as long as it was
thought appropriate, he flew at the African with terrific
force, chasing him out of camp. From that time on the
colored brethren kept at a respectful distance; and Abe
always hated them.
He hated dogs, too, though early in the campaign he
took a deep interest in a regimental dog named Frank,
because Frank was a good hunter, bringing in numer-
ous rabbits, rats and mice. Whenever he heard Frank's
sharp bark in the adjoining brush or fields, he lowered
his head and stretched forth his neck, listening with all
the earnestness of an eager stomach.
CHAPTER VII.
CORINTH AND OTHER BATTLES.
BEARER HILL having been promoted, David McLane,
of Menomonie, Wisconsin, was placed in charge of Abe
on August 18, 1862.
On discovering that the enemy was concentrating for
a grand attack on Corinth, then held, by our forces, Rose-
crans rallied on the 3d* of October, 1862, to meet 42,000
Southern troops combined under Price, Van Dorn and
Lovell. At this time the Eagles stood near the base of the
hill, in front of the line, Old Abe in the advance. Before
the battle commenced, Gen. Price, having heard of the
eagle, and knowing his capture would electrify the
South, ordered his men to take him at any hazard; and
if they could not do that, to kill him.
On this point McLane, who carried Abe through the
engagement, wrote:
The rebel Gen. Price saw him there and ordered his men
either to capture or kill him at all hazards, stating that he
had heard of that bird before, and would rather capture him
than the whole brigade. I had this statement from rebel pris-
oners and believe it to be true.
Col. J. W. Jefferson verifies what others have testi-
fied:
One of Gen. Price's men, who was captured by us, told me
Price said to his men that he would rather have them capture
the eagle of the Eighth Wisconsin than a "dozen battle-flags,"
and that if they succeeded, he would give the lucky (or
30
CORINTH AND OTHER BATTLES. 31
unlucky) confederate "free pillage in Corinth!" The val-
iant rebels did not succeed, however, but, instead, many of
them were captured.
A confederate soldier, brother of a guerrilla chief, visit-
ing Madison in 1875, informed one of the eagle's attend-
ants that while in the Southern service, during one of
the battles, he heard his general say: "I would rather
capture Old Abe than a whole brigade."
During a lull in the battle, as the enemy was prepar-
ing again to fire from the brow of the hill, distant not
over thirty rods from the Eighth Regiment, the eagle
being exposed in plain sight of the enemy, a confeder-
ate officer was heard by several in Company C to say:
" There he is — the eagle — capture him, boys! "
No sooner was this command given than their artil-
lery opened upon our forces, under the cover of which a
column moved briskly over the crest to break and scat-
ter our front, and capture the prize. During these move-
ments Abe scanned with fire-lit eye every movement on
the hill, and, as the confederate infantry came in sight,
whistled a startling note of alarm.
Instantly both armies met in a deafening shock,
midst a boom and crash of cannon that trembled forest
and valley. Shouts rent the air, while death mowed his
swath through both armies, the bloody gaps closing up
again and again.
During the conflict the eagle leaped up with a des-
perate spring, breaking his cord, if it was not cut by a
Minie-ball, and was seen by the combatants circling
and careering in the sulphurous smoke.
32 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
The enemy pressed on exultant, sending bullets thick
as hailstones after the noble bird. Once he wavered and
careened, as if wounded, but at once recovered and con-
tinued to mount, circle and scream as if mad with
excitement and exultation.
After viewing the combat for a time from his sky-
eyrie, he appeared suddenly to catch sight of his regi-
ment and flag, and came sweeping down with frightful
speed, alighting hard by with a peculiar whistle which
everybody recognized as one of satisfaction.
At the close of the battle — the victory, bloody and
dear though it was — an examination revealed the fact
that when Abe careened in his upward flight, he had
been slightly struck by one of the many deadly missiles
the confederates sent after him.
Soon after the battle, some one in the regiment had
the audacity to crop the tail and one wing of the eagle,
to prevent him from flying away during an engagement.
It was argued by the shabby party who did the crop-
ping, that Abe u might get lost." He no longer looked
like himself; and his disheveled appearance mortified
the soldiers and regimental officers exceedingly.
Disgusted with the treatment his bird had received,
McLane resigned his eagle commission on the 1st of No-
vember, 1862, and Edward Homaston, of Eau Claire, was
tendered the honor. Having been reared among the Green
Mountains of Vermont, where in boyhood he watched the
flight of eagles every day, he took to Old Abe naturally.
CORINTH AND OTHER BATTLES. 33
Their friendship for one another was very strong; they
slept together like brothers.
At Oxford, where the confederate citizens, especially
the women, called Abe " a dirty crow," " a Yankee buz-
zard," and the like, a squad of barefooted little urchins
congregated about the bird, which was tethered on the
ground. One boy, who drew especially near, was the
possessor of a pair of feet which, by reason of mud and
exposure, had reached the color and appearance of a
large, lazy toad.
The eagle fastened his eye on them at once, and began
to throw his head from side to side, as was customary
before pouncing upon game.
An officer chanced to see the performance, and by a
sharp yell drove the urchin back in great fright just in
time to save his tawny feet from laceration.
Abe was possessed of undoubted intelligence. When
on the march he kept constantly on the watch, was alive
to every sound, and invariably informed his bearer of
any danger from the limb of a tree, or the approach of
an enemy, by a note of alarm. Even when the army
rested at night, if any one approached, however cau-
tiously, he would suddenly withdraw his head from his
wing and utter a short screech. His quick ear detected
the faintest tread and his powerful eye the remotest
appearance of danger, which he never failed to make
known.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CAMPAIGN IN TENNESSEE AND MISSISSIPPI.
ON THE swift march to Grand Junction Abe was com-
pelled to go several days without food. The boys had
little or nothing to divide, so Homaston was forced to
sally out in the night and capture a couple of plump
confederate chickens with which to break the fast.
As winter drew on at La Grange, Tennessee, no meat
could be procured for the eagle. This was a very serious
matter, for meat was his principal diet.
Capt. Wolf attempted repeatedly to purchase some
chickens of a well-to-do planter near by, but without
success. Finally, taking the eagle with him, he went yet
again to the farmer and threatened that if no chickens
could be bought Old Abe should be let loose to capture
whatever he pleased.
Thereupon the Southerner came forth and said he
would compromise on a Guinea-hen, provided Abe
could kill her in a fair fight. As half a loaf is better
than no bread, Capt. Wolf accepted this proposition.
During the parley quite a crowd, including several
regimental officers, gathered to witness the battle. Eying
his prey with a measuring glance, Abe sprung forward,
when the hen uttered her peculiar squall — a sound
entirely strange to his quick ear — which so startled him
that he paused for further examination. Improving
84
THE CAMPAIGN IN TENNESSEE AND MISSISSIPPI. 35
the cessation of hostilities the hen scud off to the oppo-
site corner. Enraged at this procedure, the eagle made
another dash, which was followed by the same unearthly
squall. Thoroughly astonished, Abe paused again to
look at the author of the strange squawk.
There was no possibility of outflanking the hen,
neither did she dare to meet the eagle in mortal combat;
so round and round they flew, amid roars of laughter,
till at length the Guinea escaped under a building,
where the eagle, swelled and ruffled in anger, could not
penetrate.
This bit of fun mellowed the planter, who now per-
mitted Abe to try his skill on a Shanghai. Quickly
selecting his victim and poising himself for a spring, he
caught up the pullet with an unerring sweep and was
soon chuckling and ruffling his feathers over a feast.
The cotton bales at La Grange, of which the breast-
works were made, afforded immense sport for Abe. He
plucked and tore the fleecy substance in great glee and
cluttered the soft fragments into a bed on which to lie
in the sun, or sleep at night.
Capt. A. G. Weissert, of the Eighth, relates the fol-
lowing :
During the spring of 1863 the brigade of which the Eighth
Wisconsin formed a part was for a short time encamped at
Germantown, Tennessee, not far from the Mississippi line.
A fort had been built on a commanding position north of the
town, and near it was the camp of that regiment.
The brigade commander was Gen. Joe A. Mower, who
joined as a colonel and left a major-general. A braver soldier
never lived.
36 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
The Eighth was not so fortunate as to remain long in camp
on any occasion, and so it proved at Germantown. One
morning the regiment unexpectedly received orders to forth-
with break camp and report to the brigade commander on
the Memphis road. It took the old regiment but a few min-
utes to strike tents and get itself into marching order, as it
had often received similar orders before under like circum-
stances. Old Slack, the regimental bugler, had sounded the
assembly and orders were given to " fall in," and in less time
than this incident can be told the boys were in line, ready to
march. But they did not march. Again an aid-de-camp hur-
riedly delivered orders to the colonel commanding, directing
him to report with his regiment as before ordered — still the
regiment did not move. The rear companies asked the cause
of the unusual delay, when their attention was directed to
the eagle-bearer, out in a field near a great forest, looking
skyward. There, soaring high above the bearer was Old Abe,
the pet of the regiment.
Gradually the eagle circled his way toward his keeper, who
stood below with shield extended as a signal for him to return.
This he did, and when the bearer with the eagle took his place
near the colors, the regiment moved off with light hearts and
soon reported to the brigade commander, but not until it had
been ordered to do so for the third time. As the regiment
came marching along with the long, swinging step so common
with the Western soldiers, the colonel saluted Gen. Mower,
who, in an impetuous manner, said :
"Colonel, did you not receive orders to report here with
your command some time ago ? "
"Yes, sir," replied the colonel.
"Then, why did you not report promptly — you have kept
the column waiting nearly an hour."
" General," said the colonel, " Old Abe was off when your
unexpected orders were received, and the boys of the Eighth
would not march without their eagle."
"I don't blame them, under the circumstances," said the
old general, " d — d if I would have marched, either."
On the \ 1th of March, 1863, the Eagles were ordered
to Memphis — welcome news, for they anticipated a rest
amid the gayeties and luxuries of city life. Old Abe
remained on his perch all that day, watching the prep-
aration. Having become impatient at what he must
have regarded as unnecessary delay, the bugle-blast to
THE CAMPAIGN IN TENNESSEE AND MISSISSIPPI. 37
march was so electrifying to his patriotic nerves that he
snatched up the cord, stiff from a recent cold rain, and-
bit it in twain as clean and smooth as if his beak had
been a sharp knife; and then, with an unmistakable
" come on, boys!" he soared over the regiment with a
whirr of exultation, higher and higher, on easy wing,
sailing round and round in the dark sky, and, when up
to a shooting point, scooped far off in a grand circle
and back over the army again, the whole brigade gazing
and thousands of voices shouting, "Bravo, Old Abe!"
After completing his gyrations he settled leisurely
down near a spring where he had been accustomed to
drink, and was easily captured and transferred to his
perch, though his eyes glistened with a roguish twinkle.
The stay at Memphis was unexpectedly short. The
boys were ordered to Helena. On the journey they
encountered a violent hurricane, which made no end of
trouble for Old Abe and finally blew him, entangled in
his cord, into a tree, severely bruising a leg.
On April 1, 1863, they landed at Ducksport and went
into camp on the Louisiana side, nine miles from Vicks-
burg. Here the soldiers were addressed by Gen. G. H.
Thomas. As his eye glanced over the stalwart ranks
he caught a view of Old Abe, whom he had not seen since
the greeting in St. Louis, about two years before.
Brightening up as if he had unexpectedly met an old
friend, he added : " I had supposed that all present were
strangers to me, but I see one familiar personage at least
38 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
— that majestic eagle of the Eighth Wisconsin, the
emblem now of universal freedom in this Republic."
Gen. Tuttle's Division soon passed further down,
reaching Hard Times Landing on the 7th of May. Just
as each company had stacked arms in the middle of the
road, Generals Mower, Smith, Sherman and Grant
came dashing by, inspecting the army. As they passed
the old Eighth, Grant doffed his hat to the eagle, at
which the regiment cheered, the bird responding with
true military spirit by a shrill scream and a quick
flap of his wings.
Crossing the Mississippi and then marching to Grand
Gulf, Fort Gibson and Rocky Springs, the Eagles skir-
mished on the 12th with the enemy at Fourteen-Mile
Creek. Here Gen. Sherman, frequently riding with his
staff during the day in their rear, noticed the dash and
skill of the men, and paid them a high compliment,
remarking : " You are worthy to carry the American
eagle."
The next day, on entering Raymond, Abe witnessed
another skirmish, during which the ememy was driven
to Mississippi Springs; " and it was fun," says a soldier,
" to see how drolly he watched the ' butternuts ' as they
skedaddled into the tangled brush."
The scene at the battle of Jackson, Miss., was such
as to afford a revelry of delight to the wild and stormy
spirit of an eagle. The federal attack was impetuous, but
nature's battle — the attack of the elements — was even
fiercer. The swift movements of the troops, the dashing
THE CAMPAIGN IN TENNESSEE AND MISSISSIPPI. 39
rain, the rush and roar of battle, the flash of light-
ning and the peal of thunder, all overhung by a black
and angry sky that reached heavily down to mingle
with the smoke of the conflict, combined to make a
scene of sublimity which man is not often permitted to
witness.
Abe was all spirit and fire. He flapped his pinions
and sent his powerful scream high above the din of
battle.
The federals won and Old Abe, with the " lightning
playing on his pinions," entered the capital of Missis-
sippi at the head of the victorious army.
The confederate flag was soon hauled down and the
Union colors hoisted in its stead, and Old Abe, the liv-
ing emblem of our free and undivided country, perched
on his shield of stars and stripes, was placed in the
beautiful park in front of the steps of the capitol build-
ing, on which, in other days, hundreds of human
beings had been sold at auction into hopeless slavery.
What a contrast!
CHAPTER IX.
THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG.
AT THE headlong assault on Vicksburg, a few days
later, Homaston tripped and fell. At the very instant
of the fall a bullet struck Abe a glancing blow on the
breast, the shock of which so frightened him that he
made a desperate upward spring, dragging Homaston
some feet. Although both were somewhat injured by the
mishap, the wonderful strength of the bird saved Hom-
aston'slife; for as Abe dragged him along a bullet struck
the spot he had that instant vacated.
Noticing this series of accidents, Lieut. Butler ordered
a sergeant to watch Homaston, and, if he should be
killed, to secure Abe at all hazards.
Recovering from the shock, Homaston hurried along
to join his company. Having done this he planted the
perch on which the eagle sat, by the side of the colors,
under a large tree in plain view of the enemy's guns,
less than a hundred rods distant.
Evidently espying the eagle and colors, as one account
has it, the rebels poured a special fire of grape upon the
group, sending a well-aimed shell which struck the top
of the tree and cut it off and burst, with a horrid scat-
tering, the pieces tearing many holes in the flag, and
killing several, among whom were Lieut. W. D. Chap-
man, of Company F, and Capt. Stephen Estee, of Com-
40
THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG. 41
pany H. The eagle sprung for a flight again, but was
held fast, and both he and his bearer escaped unharmed.
Lowering the colors and eagle, they lay down under the
shivered tree expecting annihilation; but, resolving to die
at the best price, continued to fire upon the enemy.
Finally an adjutant rode briskly to the spot and an-
nounced the order to " go forward into the ravine, and
avoid the slaughter."
The regiment recoiled over swaths of the slain, receiv-
ing an appalling storm of shot. Many fell, but Old Abe
and his bearer came out without a scratch.
As the crowd gathered in the ravine, a soldier, chuck-
ling over his trophy, brought a live rabbit which he had
caught in the bushes. "Here, Abe!" said he, "you've
earned this fellow," and threw it to the perch. The eagle
caught it in his claws, and there, amidst the rage of bat-
tle, as shell and shot were playing overhead, he devoured
his prey, heedless of noise and excitement. His self-
possessed demeanor pleased the boys, it was so brave and
military.
Leaving the eagle to enjoy his meal, the bearer took
several canteens to fill with water at a spring directly
under the enemy's guns. Whilst busy with this a shell
fell near him with thundering crash and exploded, hitting
his canteen and dashing it to pieces. Paying no atten-
tion to it, he deliberately went on filling the remainder.
"You take it cool, Ed," said a soldier standing by.
" Yes, cool place, this," replied Ed; " but run and see if
42 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
Abe is hurt ! " The pet bird was still uninjured, gorging
on his rabbit.
So it was everywhere; the soldiers often forgot them-
selves, but never forgot Abe, their playmate in camp and
their companion and emblem of victory in battle.
Finally, after forty-six days of struggle and priva-
tion, hardship and peril, and during sixteen days of
which the average for each man was but a single cracker
per day, the federal army, with the Black Eagle of Illi-
nois* at its head and the bald eagle of Wisconsin scream-
ing at his left, entered Vicksburg amidst wild huzzas and
the blare of trumpets, on July 4, 1863.
The Eagle Regiment now turned further south.
* Gen. John A. Logan.
CHAPTER X.
THE RED RIVER AND OTHER EXPEDITIONS.
WHILE stationed at Messenger's Ford, during the lat-
ter part of July, to protect property and life against
guerrilla hordes, a squad of the Ninety-third Illinois
came to see the eagle. Having heard of his dislike of
strangers, they were careful not to approach within the
length of his cord. But the boys of the Eighth, ever
alert for fun, importuned one of the visitors to throw up
his cap and " see the eagle catch it."
Abe sat in a tree surveying his guests with severe
scrutiny. Up went the cap, when the bird, catching it
with his claws and glancing down at the soldier with a
roguish whistle, trampled it under his feet, hovering and
rustling his wings. Then tearing it up with his beak,
he flung the shreds down with a disdainful chuckle.
Soon after this incident, while Abe was on his perch
surveying the trappings of war, a Negro passed under
him carelessly. Quick as a flash he reached down and
caught the darkey's cap and ripped it to threads with
many demonstrations of satisfaction.
Long, severe campaigning and absence from home and
the influence of loved ones, frequently lead soldiers to
do things that, in the quiet decorum of peace, may not
be considered entirely orthodox. In this respect Abe
was like his companions.
•13
44 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
At Bear Creek he discovered a cup of peach brandy
near a tent, which, at an opportune moment, he quickly
swallowed. Whoever has seen a fifteen-year-old boy
on his first drunk will know just what a figure Old
Abe cut.
His eye lost its fierce penetration and his feathers
were drooping and disheveled. He tumbled and
retched, lay flat on his side, lolled and twitched his
head — in short, made a general fool of himself.
Abe's antics were very droll and laughable, yet the
boys felt no little humiliation while contemplating the
spectacle of the king of birds and the proud emblem of
their country groveling in a drunken stupor.
In September, 1863, Homaston resigned, and John
Buckhardt, a sturdy German of Eau Claire, was chosen
eagle-bearer. He first marched at the front, with Old
Abe above him, at Logan's victorious charge on Browns-
ville.
He next, after guarding Vicksburg for a time, went
on the Red River expedition. At Bayou de Glaise, in
March, 1864, the Creole people greeted the Northern
soldiery with many demonstrations of loyalty and
delight. He eyed their waving banners and handker-
chiefs in a quizzicaljway, as much as to say: " We take
no stock in your sudden loyalty."
Abe, screaming, was one of the first to scale the ram-
parts and invest Fort de Russy. Thence the march was
to Alexandria, where, the eagle having become so
famous, there arose a general clamor to have him
THE RED RIVER AND OTHER EXPEDITIONS. 45
become the property of the entire regiment, so each
company could in turn have the honor of carrying, pro-
tecting and fighting under him.
To this proposition Company C protested with spirit.
They simply wouldn't have any such plan carried out,
and presented to Gen. Mower an elaborate document in
writing, setting forth the manner in which they origi-
nally came into possession of the coveted emblem at
Eau Claire, how they had cared for and clung to him
for over two years, and ending with a square declaration
that Old Abe could not be had by peaceable means.
That did the business, Gen. Mower deciding at once
that Company C was the rightful owner of the bird.
At Henderson's Hill Gen. Mower came upon the
enemy strongly entrenched. He dared not attack them
in front, so marched stealthily by night fifteen miles
through a swamp, to reach the rear of the stronghold.
Suddenly, at midnight, while the boys were creeping
along, Abe gave his note of alarm. It was unmistak-
able— short, sharp and startling. They listened, heard
a footstep, and prepared for an emergency. It was a
confederate courier with dispatches to Gen. Taylor, ask-
ing for re-inforcements.
Thinking, very naturally, in the darkness, that he
had fallen in with confederates, he gave the confederate
countersign and was captured.
Although enraged at the eagle, the Yankees and fate,
he was compelled to lead the way back to the fort, where
Abe had the pleasure of witnessing the capture of the
46 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
entire garrison, with its horses, arms, ammunition and
stores.
As some delicate eagle food was among the trophies,
Abe had a feast to pay for his good work.
Proceeding on their journey up the Red River, the
boys found the enemy at Grand Ecore. Here another
dispute arose as to what company should carry Old Abe,
Company C having been detailed as provost guard at
division headquarters.
At last, with the regimental colors, he was assigned
to Company I during the period covered by guard duty,
and that was the only time Abe was out of the possession
of the company in which he enlisted and to which he
clearly belonged.
From this time to May 24, 1864, when Abe and his
regiment reached Vicksburg, the boys saw much hard
fighting and much sickness. Nor was this all. Their
rations were short — sometimes very short — and their
clothing wholly insufficient; yet the tireless spirit and
unwavering courage of Old Abe kept them up.
CHAPTER XI.
OLD ABE AT HOME ON A FURLOUGH.
IT WAS now time to consider the question of re-enlist-
ment. Would the fragments of the Eagle Regiment re-
enlist? There was but one answer. Of course they
would. They would veteranize, secure a thirty-day
furlough in which to visit their homes, and then return
to complete the overthrow of treason.
Accordingly on June 19, 1864, the veterans and their
eagle left Memphis for Wisconsin. Before reaching
Madison the State authorities had been notified of their
approach, and prepared to extend a royal welcome. An
extract from the Wisconsin State Journal describes the
scene :
The re-enlisted veterans of the Eighth Wisconsin regiment
arrived on the afternoon train, Tuesday, and after a good din-
ner prepared for them at Mosher's Railroad House, marched
up town to the Capitol Park, where the reception took place
a little after (i o'clock. A large concourse of citizens had
assembled to witness the spectacle. Flags were displayed
along the streets, the bells of the city rung, and the national
salute fired.
The live eagle, Old Abe, and the tattered and riddled colors
of the regiment attracted all eyes. Since we first saw him at
Camp Randall, in 1861, Old Abe has grown considerably, and
has acquired dignity and ease of bearing. He sits on his perch
undisturbed by any noise or tumult, the impersonation of
haughty defiance. He has shared all the long marches of this
regiment, including Sherman's great raid and the campaign
np Red River, and passed through a great number of battles,
in which he has once or twice had some of his feathers shot
away, but has never received a scratch from a rebel bullet
sufficient to draw blood. He is the pet of the whole regiment.
47
48 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
Gen . Lucius Fairchild, in his eloquent address to the
veterans, thus spoke of the bird:
We welcome your eagle, that national emblem whose fame
has been widely spread and become historic through pen and
song. I have often wondered what sensations must have filled
the minds of rebels as you bore him proudly with your regi-
ment, and while they remember the present attitude they
maintain toward our government, one would think that the
very sight of Old Abe would cause them to hide their heads
in shame. Bear him ever aloft with your advancing shout,
and let the rebels remember — yes, teach them that —
" Ne'er shall the rage of the conflict be o'er,
And ne'er shall the warm blood of life cease to flow —
Arid still 'mid the smoke of the battle shall soar
Our eagle— till scattered and fled be the foe."
At the conclusion of Gen. Fairchild's remarks, Col.
Jefferson briefly responded, returning the thanks of the
regiment for the cordial welcome that had been extended,
and proposed " three cheers and an eagle " for the Union,
the President of the United States, and the State officers
of Wisconsin. Three cheers were given with "great en-
thusiasm by the boys of the Eighth. The eagle evi-
dently understood his part, for at the third hurrah he
stretched himself to his full height and expanded his
wings to the utmost.
Early on the morning of Sunday, June 26, a remnant
of Company C and Old Abe arrived at Eau Claire, and
were greeted with booming cannon, martial music, patri-
otic songs, and an abundant feast.
Abe was given a pleasant place in a spacious yard
under a large oak, where he received old acquaintances
with his usual dignity — so much dignity, in fact, that
scarcely anyone dared to go near him. He had been
OLD ABE AT HOME ON A FURLOUGH. 49
bothered so much by strangers that whenever anyone
not known to be a friend approached, there was an
unmistakable demonstration of war.
After receiving a visit from nearly every citizen and
laudation from every newspaper in Eau Claire, Abe was
transported to his native county of Chippewa,* but his
captors, Chief Sky and Thunder of Bees, who, in placing
upon him the chains of slavery had given him greater
fame than any other bird ever mentioned in history,
were not present to greet him.
Every newspaper in Wisconsin now contained articles
about the war-eagle, and people went long distances to
look upon the bird that had ridden at the front of battle
and whose name was as familiar as that of President
Lincoln.
On the 4th of July, 1864, the Union people celebrated
our Day of Independence at Chippewa Falls. The fur-
loughed soldiers and Old Abe were present. A huge
wigwam had been constructed for the purpose of serv-
ing a feast, the proceeds to go to our suffering soldiers.
Headed by a band of music and the eagle on his old
perch followed by his companions in arms, the enthusi-
astic procession marched through the streets singing
patriotic songs and hurrahing for the Union and Old
Abe.
* The spot 011 which Old Abe was born is now in Price County.
CHAPTER XII.
RETURNING TO THE FRONT.
THE furloughs of those who veteranized expired and
the boys started for the front on or about the 1st of
August.
Buckhardt, with the eagle on his perch, boarded a
passenger train on the Illinois Central Railway in Chi-
cago, and took a seat for himself and Abe. When the
conductor appeared — a surly fellow declared by the boys
to be a copperhead — he demanded full fare for Abe.
Buckhardt tendered his own fare, but refused to pay for
his companion.
" Pay for that thing, or I'll put you both out! " mut-
tered the enraged conductor, placing his hand with
heavy force upon the bearer's shoulder.
" Te eakel is von free pirdt — free 'Merigan eakel — und
he ride free, too," responded John, with some emphasis.
Matters grew squally. The conductor seized John by
the collar, when, with a menace, several soldiers circled
around, demanding fair play. Seeing this unlooked-for
demonstration, and realizing that nearly all the passen-
gers sympathized with the German, the conductor
showed his valor by sliding into another car.
This incident afforded a deal of amusement for the
passengers, many of whom gave John money with
50
RETURNING TO THE FRONT. 51
which to buy meat for Abe, who continued unmolested
as a first-class passenger to Cairo.
While at home on his furlough Abe underwent a
marked change in appearance. The reason for this may
as well be stated here as elsewhere, to do which we shall
quote Maria I. Cummings in Our Young Folks :
Old Abe belongs to the bald-headed, or more correctly, the
white-headed family, a species that in some respects are all
young veterans, inasmuch as, at three or four years old, their
head-feathers, which were originally brown, have become
snowy white, giving them a dignified and venerable appear-
ance. The other name of bald-head is derived from a spot
between the beak and eyes, which is almost wholly destitute
of feathers, so that the bald eagle, which is the emblem of
America, assumes in his youth the honors which belong
to a bald head and a hoary crown, although one would think
he might afford to wait longer for them, as the eagle is a very
long-lived bird, instances having been known of his living to
be a hundred years old.
And so with the country of which the bald-head is the
representative. Although America is a young nation, she has
had so much experience and has progressed so much faster
than the nations of the Old World, that, if she could see her-
self in the mirror of history, she would appear with a fresh,
ruddy face and a strong frame, but a little wrinkled and bald
about the temples, and with hair which care and anxiety have
turned prematurely gray. But long life to her, and a high
place among the nations ! and if she, too, has become a veteran
in her youth, may it be with her as with our eagle — only the
courage, strength and wisdom which she has acquired on her
many hard-fought fields entitle her to the name.
Abe participated in but one more engagement, which
is thus described in J. 0. Barrett's "Old Abe's Last
Battle " :
Rallying again around the flag and the eagle in Gen. A. J.
Smith's Division, there was a rush, on August 13, 1864, after
Forrest and his hosts. Crossing the Tallahatchie River and
skirmishing near Abbeville— Old Abe, on his war-shield, car-
ried by Mr. Buckhardt— the Union army met the enemy at
52 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
Hurricane Creek, Miss. Having two batteries on a distant
eminence to back his advance, Gen. Joseph A. Mower, who
had so long distinguished himself, led his faithful brigade with-
in a mile of the hill that peeved up a hundred feet above the
open field. The batteries of the rival forces played upon
each other until night, when, under its cover, our cavalry, by
an expert movement, flanked the rebel lines on both sides,
leaving the front open for a charge. On they rushed, inter-
cepted by a muddy creek and thick clump of alders, but
forming on the other side, the steady columns moved like a
tornado, the Eagles wheeling to the back of the hill, when
Old Abe, again in all his glory, with eye of lightning, with
head and neck elongated to swiftest dash, with a whistle quick
and startling to nerve and pluck, charged with them up, up
the ramparts, flinging the enemy off as with the sweep of an
eagle's wing, frightened, dismayed, broken, narrowly escaping
at a fearful loss. As the dead and wounded lay side by side —
brothers there, as by right they should be, at the portal of
death — the very ground trembled for the shout of the victors,
while the scream of the war-bird was heard clear and distinct
amid the general carnival of groans and rejoicings.
This was Old Abe's last battle in the Great Rebellion. He
was the hero of about twenty-five great battles and as many
skirmishes. To what agency may we attribute his " charmed
life," when the story must be told again and again by patriot
sires to their worthy sons, that, though in the fiercest fights,
not a bearer of the colors or of the eagle — ever conspicuous
marks for the enemy — was shot down ? The eagle seemed as
protective to these bearers as was the standard of the cross in
the battles of Constantine. In the great battle against Lucin-
ius, which gave Constantine the undivided mastery of the
Roman world, one man, who in terror transferred the stand-
ard to another, was immediately pierced by a spear, while the
bearer of it passed on unhurt amid a shower of javelins, and
not a man in its immediate neighborhood was even wounded.
If the eagle could dodge bullets, as the soldiers declare he
did, not so the bearers. Many a sharp-shooter fired at these
boys, but failed to kill one of them. In the bloodiest carnage
they and their living standard were unharmed. Did it not
portend the preservation of the Union ?
CHAPTER XIII.
MUSTERED OUT — WAR REMINISCENCES.
RETURNING to Memphis on the 19th, in pursuit of
Forrest, who was then fighting Gen. C. C. Washburn, Old
Abe parted with the regiment for the last time. Hav-
ing served the three years for which they enlisted, a
portion of Company C was to be mustered out. Now
the serious question arose: What shall be done with
the soldier-bird ? A discussion followed : some were in
favor of giving him to the county of Eau Claire, others
to the national government at Washington, others still
to the State of Wisconsin.
The last proposition seemed most reasonable and
just, and finally prevailed by a unanimous vote. There-
fore, twenty -six of Company C, with their precious
charge, started for the North. They reached Chicago
on September 21, 1864, where Buckhardt resigned his
commission and was succeeded by John F. Hill as
bearer.
Having been severely wounded at Corinth, John was
compelled to rest occasionally at the street corners,
where crowds of citizens gathered eagerly to listen to
the story of Old Abe's career, for his fame was in every-
body's mouth.
Arriving at Madison on September 22, the scarred
and weary soldiers were paid for their services and dis-
55
56 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
charged. The State authorities then turned their atten-
tion to Abe. Still clinging to the perch on which he
was mustered in, and which he had learned to ride with
dignity and grace, the eagle was borne through the
shady avenues of the park and into the wide, cool aisles
of the capitol, where, as though he were a king, he was
met by Gov. James T. Lewis and Quartermaster-Gen-
eral N. F. Lund. The official account of the latter fur-
nishes some interesting information, as follows :
MADISON, Sept. 26, 1864.
Received from the governor the live eagle, Old Abe, of the
Eighth Reg't Wis. Vol. Infantry.
The eagle was formally presented to the governor, in his
office, to-day at 3 o'clock, by Capt. Victor AVolf, of Com-
pany C, in behalf of the company and the regiment, the above
named company having brought the eagle into Camp Randall,
in [September, 1861, from Eau Claire, and carried him through
all the marches and battles of the regiment since that time.
This having been the color company, the eagle has been borne
by them beside the colors of the regiment. The majority of
the company had within the past three days been paid off and
mustered out of service. They arrived here on the 22d inst.
In presenting the eagle to the governor, Capt. Wolf said he
had been a good soldier, and never had flinched in battle or
march; that he had been well cared for by Company C, and
he hoped he would be as well taken care of by the State. In
reply, the governor assured the captain that the eagle should
be well and carefully taken care of and as safely kept as possi-
ble, as long as he lived. N. F. LUND,
Quartermaster- General.
Old Abe's fighting days were now over, yet we may
with interest refer a little further to his military career,
especially to a description of his appearance in battle,
quoting again from Barrett's brochure :
The constant excitement of march and battle, of the hur-
rying and affrighted populace, roused all the native fire and
inspiration of our military bird. His appearance was per-
MUSTERED OUT — WAR REMINISCENCES. 57
feclly magnificent. To be seen in all his glory was when
the battle commenced. At the sound of the regimental bugle,
which he had learned to recognize, however engaged he might
be, he would start suddenly, dart up his head, and then bend
it gracefully, anticipating the coming shock; and when con-
scious of its reality, his eyes would flash with uncommon
luster. Then, with a silent, excited animation he would sur-
vey the moving squadrons, and, as they rushed into line, his
breast would tremble like the human heart, intensified to
warring action between hope and fear— and undaunted sus-
pense— a blending of caution and courage, a precipitancy
of will, inspiring and sublime. Click would go a thousand
locks, and he would turn again, curving that majestic neck,
scrutinizing the ranks, and dipping his brow forward to await
the crash; and when it came, rolling fiery thunder over the
plain, he would spring up and spread his pinions, uttering his
startling scream, heard, felt and gloried in by the soldiers.
As the smoke enveloped him he would appear to be bewil-
dered for a moment, but when it opened again, folding up from
the soldiers like a curtain, he would look down intently, as if
inquiring: "How goes the battle, boys? What of that last
charge ? "
Said a writer in the Washington Chronicle, who was
often with Abe in battle :
As the engagement waxed hot, as the roar of the heavy
guns shook the earth, and the rattle of small arms pierced the
dim and sulphurous cloud that hung about the line of battle,
the eagle would flap his wings and mingle his voice with the
tumult in the fiercest and wildest of his screams.
Wrote another :
When the battle is commenced, the eagle, with spread
pinions, jumps up and down on his perch, uttering such wild,
fearful screams as an eagle alone can utter. The fiercer ana
louder the storm of battle, the fiercer, wilder and louder the
screams. What a grand history he will have — what a grand
eagle he will be a hundred years hence! Pilgrims will come
from all parts of the world to see the eagle that was borne
through this, our second war for independence.
Said an article in Harper's Weekly:
When the battle raged most fiercely, and the enthusiasm
of the soldiers was at its highest, then it was that Old Abe
58 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
seemed to be in his own element. He flapped his wings in
the midst of the furious storm, and, with head erect, faced the
flying bullets and the crashing shells with no signs of fear.
Old Abe triumphs with the triumph of the flag, and seems in
some measure conscious of his relationship with the emblem
of a victorious Republic.
Col. J. W. Jefferson testified:
Old Abe was with the command in nearly every action.
He enjoyed the excitement; and I am convinced, from his pe-
culiar manner, he was well informed in regard to army move-
ments, dress parade and preparations for the march and battle.
Upon parade, after he had been a year in the service, he al-
ways gave heed to "Attention! " With his head obliquely to the
front, his right eye directly turned upon the parade com-
mander, he would listen to and obey orders, noting time accu-
rately. After parade had been dismissed, and the ranks were
being closed by the sergeants, he would lay aside his soldierly
manner, flap his wings, and make himself generally at home.
When there was an order to form for battle, he and the colors
were first upon the line. His actions upon those occasions
were uneasy, his head turning anxiously from right to left,
looking to see when the line was completed. Soon as the
regiment got ready, faced and put in march, he would assume
a steady and quiet demeanor. In battle he was almost con-
stantly flapping his wings, haying his mouth wide open, and
many a time would scream with wild enthusiasm. This was
particularly so at the hard-fought battle of Corinth, when our
regiment repulsed and charged, or, you might say, made a
counter-charge on Price's famous Missouri brigade.
David McLane, one of his bearers, also wrote :
The eagle seems to have a dread, like all old soldiers, of
heavy musketry; but is in all his glory when the roar of artil-
lery commences. I have had him up to batteries when they
were firing into the rebel ranks as fast as they could load, and
then he would scream, spread his wings at every discharge,
and revel in the smoke and roar of the big guns.
Gen. Lucius Fairchild, in his welcome-home address,
said:
I have often wondered what sensations must have filled the
minds of rebels as you bore him proudly with your regiment;
and while they remember the present attitude they maintain
toward our government, one would think that the very sight
of Old Abe would cause them to hide their heads in shame.
MUSTERED OUT — WAR REMINISCENCES. 59
Gen. Fairchild was not far amiss. At Memphis and
other places the confederate citizens showed great respect
for Abe, purchasing meat for his dinner, though contin-
ually arrayed in hostility against him.
The confederate soldiery, too, both feared and re-
spected Old Abe, as the following incident, written by
Lieut. Lansing for the New York Ledger, will show:
The only time I ever saw the eagle was at the rear of Vicks-
burg, just before it was carried on the field at Champion Hills,
during which engagement he was seen by thousands of soldiers,
both federal and rebel. There are many stories circulating
among the soldiers relative to the sensations and sad, regret-
ful longings for loyalty and peace excited in the rebel soldier's
heart, on beholding the American eagle hovering over the
avenging army. To listen to them, as told by the private sol-
dier, while sitting by his camp-fire, they are intensely inter-
esting to the loyal mind, and I wish I had the power to repro-
duce them with equal effect; but my pen must acknowledge
its weakness. There is one incident, however, that came un-
der my own observation. A large wooden building in the
rear of the field at Big Black Ridge was filled with rebel
wounded, and after our own soldiers' wounds were dressed, I
was sent thither for duty. While extracting a ball from a
rebel's leg, I was much surprised to find it round, and a buck-
shot imbedded in the flesh with it, an indication of having
come from rebel guns. It had entered at the back part of the
thigh, and made its appearance just beneath the skin on the
fore-side. As I cut on it and learned its nature, I inquired
of the man how he received it — for I was impressed with the
belief that it was not discharged from a Yankee gun. " Well,
sir," said he, "I have always been a great lover of French and
American history, in which the eagle figures so extensively as
an emblem of freedom; and when I saw a live eagle floating
and fluttering over your soldiers yesterday, Justin front of my
regiment, all my old love of American freedom and loyalty
returned; and shortly after, when we were obliged to run, I
believed our cause was unjust, and so haunted was I with
thoughts of disloyalty, and being an enemy, too, and fighting
against that eagle, that I determined to desert the rebel cause
and come to his protection ! The first opportunity I saw was
this morning, when I made a rush for your lines, and was
fired on by one of our men."
CHAPTER XIV.
THE WAYS OF PEACE — NORTHWESTERN SANITARY FAIR.
"PEACE hath her victories no less renowned than
war." As often as he cheered and brightened the
Union boys, and as much as he exasperated and dis-
couraged the confederates, Abe's civil was far more use-
ful to his country than his military career.
His presence at sanitary fairs and his numerous
triumphant journeys through the country accomplished
as much for charity and did as much to awaken patri-
otism and elevate our regard for the soldier, as any other
agency.
During the winter of 1864-5 the enterprising and
patriotic ladies of the Northwestern Sanitary Commis-
sion projected a great fair at Chicago, the proceeds
to be devoted to sick and wounded soldiers.
J. 0. Barrett, of Glenbeulah, Wisconsin, suggested to
Gov. James T. Lewis that Abe's presence at the fair
would prove an additional attraction and source of rev-
enue. The governor coincided with this view.
Accordingly, in charge of John H. McFarland, state
armorer, and John F. Hill, attendant, Abe marched
away to Chicago amidst swords, guns and tattered flags,
and was given the place of honor, surrounded by para-
phernalia of war and specimens of our vast natural
resources from all parts of the country.
60
THE WAYS OF PEACE — SANITARY FAIR. 61
He proved even a more potent attraction than had
been anticipated. No visitor to the fair went home
without a close inspection of Old Abe. Such of his
feathers as naturally loosened were eagerly sought, and
frequently brought five dollars each.
Mr. Barrett had prepared a little pamphlet history of
the bird, which, with his photographs, were sold by
A. L. Sewall, and netted to the fund for sick and dis-
abled soldiers the handsome sum of $16,000.
Many notable tenders were made at thfs time for Old
Abe himself. A western gentleman of wealth offered
$10,000, and P. T. Barnum, through Col. Wood, of the
Chicago Museum, offered $20,000 for him. All advances
of this character were, of course, rejected.
The brave bird, sleek and well groomed as the ward
of the State, received more distinguished homage than
any person or thing at the fair. Benjamin F. Taylor
thus paid tribute to him :
And there the bird of our banner holds grand levee from
day to day, his white crest like the snowy plume of Henry of
Navarre, that eye upon you that can look undazzled on the
sun. The Eagle of Chippewa — the children have plucked the
bird out of the old flag and have set him living at the head of
their legions. We bare our brow to him, the grandest con-
tributor to the fair, and we leave the strangely assorted group
to the reader: the tattered, bloody colors yonder, and then
the little shoemaker that has a heart in it, and the eagle that
ought to have a soul to be saved — harmonious workers in
mercy's sweet rivalry.
While Gen. Wm. T. Sherman was addressing the
people at the fair, in the main room of the exposition
building, enthusiastic over the recent victories of our
62 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
arms, he mentioned the emblems of the nation around
him, and among them the eagle. As he did so he pre-
cipitately put out his hand to stroke the plumage of our
hero-bird, who sat in proud but quiet dignity near.
Abe wheeled upon his perch with a savage screech at
the general, his white feathers ruffled, prepared to fight
against such presumption. The vast audience roared
with laughter, and Gen. Sherman, quickly withdrawing
his hand, smilingly observed: "I must retreat this
time."
So much did the incidents of the fair add to Abe's
renown that Leonard W. Volk, the sculptor, proposed to
make a statue of him. No other eagle ever sat in life
for his statue. Volk himself has described the inter-
esting event thus :
In June, 1865, Abe was brought to my studio, and " posed "
on his perch for a model in clay, full size, of his eagleship.
Think I took six or eight sittings. I produced from it a model
in plaster, with wings partly spread, and arranged to surmount
a monumental shaft or column, holding a flag in its beak, the
flag drooping down and covering part of the column. Two of
these were made in marble for monuments — one ordered by
the cadets of West Point for a monument to a deceased com-
rade, erected at Macomb, Illinois; the other for a soldiers'
monument — I forget where it was erected. When at work on
the model of Old Abe I had to keep a sharp lookout for his
beak and claws. When I applied the callipers to measure him,
and would steal up to him in front, rear or flank as silently as
possible, when he appeared asleep, instantly his keen eye
would open with a flash; sometimes he would snatch the calli-
pers with his claws from my hands and drop them to the floor.
Occasionally he would give me a dig with his sharp claws and
take a piece of skin from my hand with his needle-pointed
beak. Sometimes with a shrill screech he would try and break
away from his fastenings, floundering about with his powerful
wings, which would of course raise a dust and knock things
about the studio generally, especially during the absence of
THE WAYS OP PEACE — SANITARY FAIR. 63
his keeper. I think he was heartily glad when the sitings
terminated, as he did not appear to relish the confinement,
nor did he evince a very high regard for spread-eagle art.
But he was a splendid old bird, and behaved himself quite as
well as some other two-legged sitters who have honored my
studio.
Mr. Volk's model was destroyed by the great fire of
1871 in Chicago.
CHAPTER XV.
MILWAUKEE SOLDIERS5 HOME — SOLDIERS' ORPHANS' HOME.
SOME time before the close of the war, Milwaukee
had become a noted center for disabled Union soldiers.
It is stated that during the last year of the Rebellion
more than 8,000 of them were cared for in a single
building on West Water street.
This gave rise to the idea of establishing in that
beautiful white city a permanent soldiers' home. Accord-
ingly, before the Chicago fair had drawn to a close,
preparations were made, mostly by the ladies, for a
gigantic fair and bazaar. John F. Hill transported
Abe direct from Chicago to Milwaukee, where he was
placed in a large tent called " Tangle's Feature," presided
over by " Tangle " McCracken, as queer a genius as one
would care to see.
In the center of this tent were extensive evergreen
rings, rising one above another, and at the topmost was
a pretty circular platform whereon the eagle perched.
Below him were mud-turtles, peacocks, Devon cows,
sheep, cranes, hawks, owls, rabbits, foxes, badgers, doves,
a bloodhound, a bear, a coon which the Twelfth Wis-
consin Battery had in the war and afterwards gave to
the State, and three other eagles on their several perches,
MILWAUKEE SOLDIERS7 HOME — ORPHANS' HOME. 65
of different species, called, respectively, Gen. Grant,
Phil. Sheridan and Gen. McClellan .
Abe had the uppermost seat of honor and attracted the
most attention. The other birds had neither character
nor history — were not warriors and diplomatists like
Old Abe, but merely imitated him in a vulgar way by
assuming distinguished names.
But at this time Abe possessed a deep interest for the
people in addition to that imparted by his remarkable
career of activity and achievement; he had received the
name of Abraham Lincoln, recently assassinated by a
desperate confederate, John Wilkes Booth. Near him,
too, were the " assassination flags," so-called, loaned for
the occasion, and consisting of the banner in which
Booth caught his spur as he leaped to the stage in
Ford's theater, and the one grasped by Lincoln as he
fell by the assassin's bullet.
Here even the smallest feathers of Abe's plumage
commanded higher prices than ever, and were eagerly
sought. Many distinguished people secured them in
one way and another, one being officially presented by
the lady managers to Gen. Benjamin F. Butler.
There are few lovelier spots on the footstool than that
magnificent charity, the Milwaukee Branch of the Na-
tional Soldiers' Home, with its immense grounds,
shaded with oaks, maples and elms.
Old Abe materially helped to establish and endow
that institution, the net proceeds of the fair being more
than $110,000, a goodly portion of which came directly
66 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
from the enthusiastic interest felt by the people to see
him and purchase his photographs.
Louis P. Harvey, a great-hearted man, was elected
governor of Wisconsin in the fall after Beauregard fired
upon Fort Sumter. He took an active part in rais-
ing and equipping troops, and entered with heart and
soul into the work of defending the Union. Following
his soldiers to the South, in order to see with his own
eyes their sufferings and thus be able more intelli-
gently to determine and minister to their wants, he met
death accidently on the Mississippi River early in the
spring of 1862.
His wife, Mrs. C. A. P. Harvey, attempted to fill his
place, and did so as far as was in her power, in allevi-
ating the hardships of Wisconsin volunteers, and in
pursuing this course conceived the idea of erecting a
Soldiers' Orphans' Home at Madison.
Her first step in this direction was to secure permis-
sion from Gov. Lewis to exhibit Old Abe at the Wis-
consin State Fair at Janesville, in September, 1865. The
quartermaster-general gave her the use of two large tents
and Wm. J. Jones, a one-armed soldier, was detailed to
take the bird to the fair.
In one of these tents Capt. Jones perched the eagle,
accompanied by a coon brought from Georgia by the
Twelfth Wisconsin Battery, and, charging ten cents for
admission, cleared nearly 8500. In the meantime Mrs.
Harvey circulated a subscription paper and obtained
MILWAUKEE SOLDIERS' HOME — ORPHANS' HOME. 67
such a large sum of money that the Home was at once
begun.
The Soldiers' Orphans' Home of Wisconsin, located
on a beautiful shaded slope on the shores of Lake Mo-
nona, was a noble charity, and Old Abe had the lasting
honor of earning the first money with which it was
erected.
CHAPTER XVI.
PITTSBURGH AND PEORIA GATHERINGS.
IN 1866, when Congress and President Andrew John-
son were in a struggle over what means should be
adopted for the proper reconstruction of the lately rebell-
ious states, a mass convention was called to meet at
Pittsburgh, Penn., on September 25 and 26, to " sustain
the measures adopted by Congress for the restoration of
the Union." It was one of the most magnificent out-
bursts of popular feeling ever manifested in the history
of our country.
There were representatives from all the Northern
states and some of the Southern — the great West pre-
ponderating in numbers — and, sitting side by side with
them on the platform, to indicate the democratic spirit
of the convention, were such privates as L. Edwin Dud-
ley, " the patriotic clerk of Washington; " Robert Hen-
dershott, "the Drummer Boy of the Rappahannock; "
John Burns, the famous hero of Gettysburg; and Serg.
Geo. Robinson, of Maine, who saved the life of Secretary
Seward on the night of the assassination of President
Lincoln.
Old Abe had been invited, and, of course, accepted
the invitation to be present. Having received many
ovations on the journey, he reached Pittsburgh on the
68
PITTSBURGH AND PEORIA GATHERINGS. 69
24th in care of Capt. McDonald, and was quartered at
the St. Charles Hotel with a large number of other war-
riors not less distinguished than himself.
The City Hall, in which the convention was held, was
decorated with evergreens, flowers and flags. Between
the windows hung badges of twenty-five army corps, and
on the platform were the emblems of war and peace —
white flags and sheaves of wheat. Over the entrance was
inscribed: " There can be no lasting peace while the flag of
the Union can not wave unmolested over the graves oj our
fallen comrades."
The hall was densely packed; in one of the aisles
stood delegates from a neighborhood sixty strong, every
one of whom had been wounded in the service, with
their colors. The jam of people was so great at the
door that Capt. McDonald found it almost impossible
to advance with his eagle.
Gen. Benjamin F. Butler had just begun a speech,
when the presiding officer, Gen. J. D. Cox, catching
sight of Abe, interrupted and shouted to the dense
throng to " make way for the veteran war-eagle of Wis-
consin."
The crowd parted like magic, and McDonald, with
Abe perched like winged Jove above his head, marched
up to the platform. The audience arose and sent up
cheer upon cheer, fairly splitting the air, while the band
played martial music. Abe, recalling the excitement of
other days in which he reveled, flapped his wings and
sent forth his wildest scream — such a scream as was
70 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
never heard in the City Hall of Pittsburgh before or
since.
On motion of Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, Abe was
assigned a position near the chairman, where he
stretched up and flapped his pinions every time the
people cheered Gen. Butler, who was speaking.
On the evening of September 25 a torchlight proces-
sion five miles in length marched through the city, led
by Gen. Negley. "The streets," said a newspaper
account, " were ablaze, and filled for miles with people.
Such popular enthusiasm has seldom been equaled.
The city was one glorious illumination of blazing ban-
ners and sentiments steeped in fire. There was an
unsurpassed display of beautiful designs and models
in brilliant lights in moving lines."
Old Abe, gayly decorated with red, white and blue,
sat on his perch in an open carriage drawn by four white
horses. As he moved along, the most conspicuous object
in the procession, the people shouted and cast into his
carriage wreaths, mottoes and bouquets without number.
It was an inspiring scene, and one which Abe enjoyed,
his eyes flashing like dots of lightning.
CHAPTER XVII.
OLD ABE NOMINATES GRANT FOR PRESIDENT.
THE next public appearance of our plumaged warrior
was at Peoria, 111., on October 11, 1866, whither he went
with Capt. A. G. Weissert arid Capt. A. R. McDonald,
state armorer, to dedicate a soldiers' monument.
Forty thousand people, a large portion of them vet-
eran soldiers, were present, and greeted Abe with shouts
and huzzas. The great speeches were by Gen. John A.
Logan, the Black Eagle of Illinois, Col. Robert G. Inger-
soll and Gen. Benjamin F. Butler. Abe was perched
near them on the grand stand, where he cheered with
the crowd and in every way added spirit to the occasion.
One of the notable gatherings of the period was the
Soldiers and Sailors' Convention, which met in Chicago
on May 19, 1868. The truth is, that caravans of soldiers
gathered from all the Northern states to demand the
nomination by the Republican- Union National Conven-
tion, then in session in the same city, of Unconditional
Surrender Grant; and a mighty gathering it was,
The delegates marched in procession to Turner Hall,
headed by Gen. Jeremiah M. Rusk, with the tattered
battle-flags of Wisconsin, and on his right Old Abe.
" The procession," said a current newspaper account,
" was three-quarters of a mile in length and four sol-
diers deep. The streets along the entire route were
(4) 71
72 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
thronged with people. The march was full of life and
incident, the line joining in singing their old battle-
songs as in the Southern marches. Upon entering the
hall the scene was one of wild enthusiasm, cheer upon
cfcteer being given for the portrait of Grant which hung
over the platform, the bust of Lincoln which stood upon
the rostrum, and for Old Abe, the war-eagle."
As his bearer marched with Abe up to the platform,
on which sat such as John A. Logan, Daniel E. Sickles,
Lucius Fairchild, Alfred Pleasanton, John Cochrane and
Joseph B. Hawley,
"At once there rose so wild a yell
Within that dark and narrow dell,
As all the fiends from heaven that fell
Had pealed the banner-cry of hell."
And in that great shout there was no sound so pierc-
ing, wild and powerful as the scream of Old Abe. He
caught up the spirit of the soldiers and reveled in the
excitement and enthusiasm of the moment. Said the
Chicago Tribune:
When the resolution proposing Gen. U. S. Grant as candi-
date for the Presidency was passed, as the vast multitude rose
and cheered, and the band struck up " Hail to the Chief," Old
Abe, as if understanding it all, stretched high his proud form
and repeatedly flapped his wings in approbation of the nomi-
nation.
CHAPTER XVIII.
CELEBRATIONS AND REUNIONS.
DURING this year, 1868, Eugene Bowen, a one-armed
veteran of the 92d New York, carried Abe to White-
water, Wis., to participate in a Fourth of July celebra-
tion. The bird rode on a cannon in the procession,
attracting much attention.
The weather was dry and the streets dusty. The
heat, the long march and the clouds of dust caused Abe
to become so thirsty that he whistled for water. It was
brought to him in the usual form of glass goblets, out
of which he drank with evident satisfaction. The pop-
ulace were pleased to observe the eagle drinking with
his bearer from the same glass.
At a State soldiers' reunion, held in Milwaukee on
September 27 and 28, 1870, Gen. Harrison C. Hobart
formally presented Old Abe to the audience while cheers
rent the air, and Col. Charles H. Clark read a poem
which contained a clever reference to the bird.
On the following day, with Abe by his side, Matt. H.
Carpenter addressed, on the fair grounds, thirty thou-
sand people. The eagle was cheered everywhere, and
was showered also with sweetmeats and knickknacks.
From this period on Old Abe was kept so constantly
moving about to fulfill his reunion engagements that it is
73
74 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
almost impossible to follow him. He went with Capt.
McDonald to Fond du Lac, Burlington, La Crosse,
Evansville, Racine, Neillsville, and elsewhere, and at-
tended several reunions at his home in Madison, and
was always the center of attraction.
At the reunion of the First Wisconsin Regiment in
Madison on February 22, 1872, Abe sat beneath an
archway in the Park Hotel, scanning the crowds in
dignified silence. He listened to all the poems and ad-
dresses without making any demonstration, but when
he heard a ringing response to the toast, " The federal
Union — may wisdom cement what valor saved," he
stretched up and screamed his hearty approbation.
In the spring of 1875 Old Abe fell ill from neglect
and hunger — so ill, in fact, that he was pushed aside as
dead by some unfeeling, if not hostile, habitues of the
capitol at Madison. While in this condition he was dis-
covered by a friendly veteran, who wrapped him in a
warm blanket and for three days nursed and watched
the old warrior, finally bringing him out all right.
But for this timely discovery and tender vigilance,
Old Abe would not have survived, having fallen, through
a change of administration, into unfriendly hands.
He had scarcely recovered his full strength and spirit
when the reunion of the Grand Army of the Republic
took place in Chicago, lasting from May 11 to May 14,
1875, at which he was an honored guest, with head-
quarters at the Grand Pacific Hotel with Generals Sher-
CELEBRATIONS AND REUNIONS. 75
man, Sheridan, Hartranft and other distinguished mili-
tary leaders.
On May 13 occurred the procession, which was wit-
nessed by 150,000 people. The Chicago Times said that
"Abe, perched on his shield, was loudly cheered when-
ever the crowd caught sight of him," and that " he fre-
quently flapped his wings and looked majestic."
The Tribune also observed:
The greatest feature of the procession, aside from the vete-
ran organization, composed of men who know what it is to be
a soldier, and whose tattered regimental flags indicated the
services they had done, was the war-eagle, Old Abe, a noted
leader of the Eighth Wisconsin; he was the chief lion of the
day, sitting upon his perch with immense dignity, flapping
his wings and screaming.
While the procession was moving toward the exposi-
tion building a band of patriotic ladies presented to the
eagle, who rode in a splendid barouche, a large wreath
of roses set in evergreens, which was at once placed
around his perch. He appeared pleased with the gift,
scanned it closely and then cast his flashing eye up
to the crowded balconies as much as to say, " What do
you think of that ? "
During the same year Abe attended, in state, an
extensive reunion at Milwaukee, during which, a cold
steady rain setting in, he became so thoroughly chilled
that he was compelled to retire from the procession.
Usually he was a pretty rugged bird, but at this time,
probably, there still lingered about him traces of the
spring congestion which came so near taking his life.
76 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
While, at these many reunions, the boys never tired
of singing " Marching Through Georgia" and other stir-
ring songs, they frequently surrounded Old Abe and
struck up L. J. Bates' composition, music by T. Martin
Towne, entitled " The Battle-Eagle: "
" They come, but the ranks are shrunken and thiu ;
Oh! large be the welcome that gathers them in !
They come with the flags in the glad sunlight,
A cloud of peace, that is feathery white.
And still o'er the standards they bear on high,
There hovers the Eagle of Victory-
Hurrah for the Eagle, our bold battle-Eagle !
The terror of traitors and king of the sky ! "
CHAPTER XIX.
AT THE CENTENNIAL.
IT WAS now time to prepare for the magnificent Cen-
tennial celebration which took place at Philadelphia
during the following year, the hundredth anniversary of
the birth of freedom in America; and Old Abe was
down on all the Wisconsin programmes.
The " Women's State Centennial Executive " had
been appointed, and the people were active everywhere
throughout the State. For the purpose of kindling the
fires of enthusiasm and patriotism, a meeting of the
Centennial Club of the State was called to celebrate
Independence Day at Madison, on the evening of
July 5, 1875.
For the occasion Mrs. Ole Bull, wife of the famous
Swedish violinist, whose home was in Madison, designed
a tableau which she called Old Abe. Although, as the
Wisconsin State Journal declared, " the entire ovation "
was one of which they " were proud to speak," the tab-
leau was the principal feature.
The assembly chamber in the state capitol had been
transformed by artistic hands into a fairy grotto, a mys-
terious curtain hanging near the speaker's desk.
" The Day We Celebrate," the personation of King
George's time by Gen. Geo. B. Smith, the floral exuber-
ance, the eloquent addresses of E. G. Ryan and Col. W.
77
78 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
B. Slaughter, the representation of Gen. Washington
making his " first visit to the fair young widow, Mrs.
Custis, who, with her two children playing at her feet, is
surprised at his entrance," the proffer of the services of
Gen. LaFayette to Washington to help fight the battles
of American liberty — all these were, indeed, life-dramas
of the Revolution seldom surpassed in beauty of per-
sonation. But another scene eclipsed them all. When
the curtain rose, there stood the famous war-eagle on
his perch, surrounded by state and national flags and
stands of arms, as the living ideal of our prowess a
hundred years ago. Maj. C. G. Mayers, in the costume
of Paul Jones, recited in a very spirited manner a poem
by Lizzie Doten, entitled " The Eagle of Freedom."
Under the auspices of this same committee, Abe
received an invitation to attend a " Legislative Leap-
year Party," given in the legislative halls of the capitol
in Madison, on February 17, 1876.
The terpsichorean drama, says J. 0. Barrett, opened
with the Marseillaise hymn, by Mrs. H. M. Page,
who, attired in appropriate costume, appeared as the
" Daughter of the Regiment," admirably singing and
tapping her drum, with accompaniments by Bach's
band. The war-bird, on his Centennial perch, stood
one side, a little in front of the vivandiere, listening with
a noticeable dignity, animated most at the sound of the
drum that recalled the reveille of other days; and when
she finished the "Star Spangled Banner," feeling the
AT THE CENTENNIAL. 79
deep inspiration of the audience, he encored with a
loud clapping of wings.
Of course Old Abe was going to the Centennial.
The Wisconsin Legislature, by joint resolution, author-
ized Gov. Harrison Ludington to detail a veteran sol-
dier, at state expense, to take the bird to Philadelphia
and care for him during the exposition.
If any person or thing in this broad Republic was to
remain quietly at home on such a splendid occasion, it
would not be the plumaged warrior of the Eighth Wis-
consin; so the utmost was made of his name and fame
everywhere.
Under the legislative resolution mentioned, Gov.
Ludington appointed John F. Hill, of Eau Claire, one
of the first volunteers in the original Company C, to go
with Abe to the Centennial ; and he took with him, to
sell to the millions of visitors to that stupendous pano-
rama of progress and civilization, many copies of Bar-
rett's "Old Abe," a little book which has been of much
service in compiling the volume now in hand.
Minnie B. Culver, of Madison, also painted a medall-
ion of Abe for the Women's Department of the Wis-
consin branch of the Centennial, concerning which, on
March 26, 1876, she herself wrote the following happy
letter :
The portrait of the Eighth Wisconsin eagle, which is to be
painted for the Centennial Exposition, I would say, is to he
something less than half life-size, on a gilt medallion, to he
framed in carved ebony and placed upon the top of an ebony
cabinet. This state cabinet is to contain the books and music
80 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
written by the women of Wisconsin, also choice ornaments
and specimens of art. The panels in the sides and doors of
the lower part are to be decorated with flowers, grasses and
vines, done in oil. The upper part is open, the shelves are
irregular, after the Japanese style, and are surrounded by ele-
gant hand-carving, executed by Mr. G. Haug, of Milwaukee.
On Wednesday, the 15th of March, Old Abe honored me with
a sitting; he was attended by his keeper, to whom he seems
greatly attached. I was astonished at the color and expres-
sion of his eye, which forcibly reminded me of the description
given by a countryman, who said, " The eagle has a shrill
eye! " and at the size and cruel strength of his beak, which
had the appearance of yellow ivory. The sharp look of inquiry
he gave me seemed to ask, " what is all this bother about, any-
way? " Fortunately, for my peace of mind, the mahl-stick
seemed to make this king of birds quaij. He stood upon his
standard with the United States shield beneath him, gazing
over the waters of Mendota with a far-off look, but a tap of
my brush on the easel would recall his thoughts and cause
him to turn his head quickly in the desired position. It was
in one of these moments of surprise that I caught the expres
sion of his " shrill " eye. When nearly through with the
sitting, the flag was draped in his talons over the standard.
The sight of the stars and stripes seemed to arouse old memo-
ries, and he uttered several screams which I thought might
mean a declaration of war. His keeper assured me, however,
that it was only a feeling of joy that animated him; but as lie
began to tear the bunting with his great beak in a very decided
manner, and as his meal-time was approaching, he having
fasted two or three days as is his custom, this part of the pict-
ure was rapidly executed, and he went off to his dinner of
rabbit, which I hope he enjoyed as fully as I did mv morning
with Old Abe.
Abe's presence at Philadelphia was one of the popu-
lar features of the great Centennial celebration. He had
a place in Agricultural Hall, and was constantly, dur-
ing the entire period of the exhibition, surrounded with
visitors. His fame had long before penetrated Europe,
and foreigners appeared to be as interested and as numer-
ous around his perch as Americans.
AT THE CENTENNIAL. 81
Of course Abe went further into history by receiving
honorable mention in the great tomes comprising the
official report of the Centennial exposition, and his
photographs and pamphlet copies of his life were sold
to visitors by the thousand.
CHAPTER XX.
TWO MONTHS IN BOSTON.
PERHAPS the most satisfactory trip Old Abe ever made
was that to Boston, where for nearly three months, in
the winter of 1878-9, he was a conspicuous and admired
figure at the Old South Church fair.
This church is an ancient building in Boston in
which, during the Revolution, the British stabled their
horses. In order that it should not fall a prey to the
destroying march of business, and that it might remain
to nourish our pride and love of country in the future,
patriotic ladies purchased the structure for the sum of
$400,000, and began holding fairs therein for the pur-
pose of raising money to liquidate the debt.
It was proper, under these circumstances, that Abe
should attend the fair of 1879 and aid in swelling its
income. Gov. Wm. E. Smith, therefore, consented to
grant the request of the lady managers, and despatched
Peter B. Field with the proud old bird to Boston in
December, 1878.
He attracted a great deal of attention and received
more callers, probably, than any other feature of the fair.
He had a roomy cage in the church, and Field had per-
mission to go to market daily and purchase, at the expense
of the fair, fish, pigeons, pheasants, chickens and other
delicacies for his bird, who lived like a prince all winter.
82
TWO MONTHS IN BOSTON. 83
For the amusement of the visitors he would perch upon
Field's arm or head and march through the crowds, and,
to show his powerful spread of wing, would sail grace-
fully over their heads and return to his proper place.
On speech-making occasions, when the audience
cheered Abe flapped his wings and screamed, to the
amusement and delight of the Bostonians, who never
knew before that an eagle understood the proprieties of
enthusiastic public meetings.
The bird became so popular in Boston that many
persons who were unable to leave their rooms asked to
have him brought to them. Whenever possible, Field
complied with these requests, and on one occasion
received a liberal check from a helpless but wealthy
lady in Beacon street.
He also attended a private theatrical given at the
Tudor mansion, in Beacon street, for the benefit of the
Old South Church fund, and was royally welcomed.
Field drolly relates that he was " not compelled to take
a check for his overcoat, which was of such common
stuff he knew he would get it back again; no one would
take it."
Among Abe's visitors in church were some blind
children who wished to touch the plumage of the old
warrior. Field placed his arm over the bird's neck and
head, so his terrible beak could not reach their tender
hands, and the sightless sight-seers smoothed the eagle
with many expressions of delight.
While strangers were never allowed to lay hands on
84 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
him, Abe received the caresses of soldiers in uniform
with apparent satisfaction. Scores and scores of times
had this been illustrated, and was again proven in Bos-
ton when a uniformed soldier from the arsenal entered
the church, walked straight up to the bird and stroked
his plumage. On these occasions Abe curved his neck
gracefully and said gently: " Teete-teete, teete-teete."
CHAPTER XXI.
MORE REUNIONS — THE GRANT BANQUET.
DURING the three years of his stewardship Field also
carried Abe to many soldiers' reunions — to St. Paul,
Minn., Newark, 0., and other places. In relation to
these gatherings it is the same old story: the boys
cheered the old bird and he cheered them; they all
marched, ate hard-tack and " sow-belly," sang " March-
ing Through Georgia," and had a glorious good time.
At the Newark, 0., reunion, in July, 1878, Abe had a
rousing reception. A military delegation, headed by a
band, met him at the depot and escorted him to the
residence of Col. C. D. Miller, where he was quartered
under a shady walnut-tree. And when Maj. Miller
issued the report of the Newark reunion, in a handsome
volume of 300 pages, he could not resist the temptation
to devote Chapter II to " Old Abe, the War Eagle," and
to adorn the book with a portrait of the famous bird.
Mark Smith succeeded Field as keeper, in 1879, and
carried Abe more or less continuously for a year.
At the soldiers' reunion at Aurora, 111., in the autumn
of 1879, where there were 150,000 present for several
days, Smith was pretty thoroughly tired out. He
stood day after day and answered the countless ques-
tions of strangers, each and every one being anxious
to know all about the bird — what he ate, how he slept,
85
86 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
where he was caught, how he acted in battle, etc., etc.
When night came, after these sieges, he was so hoarse
he could not speak aloud.
At this reunion Smith slept on a cot in the City
Hall and Abe was locked in one of the cells, of which
there were a large number, in the basement. He says
he could have sold every one of the bird's wing and tail
feathers at $10 each.
Partisan newspapers had repeatedly asserted that
Abe was dead, and that the eagle alleged to be the gen-
uine war-eagle was a fraud. In 1879 Smith carried the
bird to a reunion at Menomonie, Wis., near the place of
his birth and enlistment. Numbers of the old Eighth
Regiment were present and instantly recognized the eagle
as Old Abe, though they had not seen him in fifteen
years.
And the boys emphatically claim the bird recog-
nized them, too, and was delighted to see them.
One of the memorable occasions to which Abe lent
grace and spirit was the banquet given to Gen, U. S.
Grant in 1879, on the return from his trip around the
world. He had been on the road for some days and
was, therefore, weary and sleepy. He did not take a
place in the parade, but had a conspicuous position at
the banquet in the Palmer House.
On arriving at the door of the banquet hall the man-
agers proposed to take in Abe, but not his keeper,
Smith. " No, sir," said Mark. " Where this bird goes,
I go."
MORE REUNIONS — THE GRANT BANQUET. 87
"But," interposed the esthetes, "this is a private
dinner and you have no invitation."
"All right," responded Mark. " I was good enough
to fight with Grant, if I am not good enough to eat with
him. If this place is too good! for me, it is too good for
Abe," and he turned to go.
That speech did the business, and Mark, with his
long raven locks, broad sombrero hat and flashing black
eyes, stumped up to the head of the hall on his wooden
leg, and sat by the side of his plumaged veteran until
3 o'clock of the following morning.
Abe was so tired that he did not take a very lively
interest in the proceedings, but when Col. Wm. F. Vilas
mounted a table and uttered the splendid tribute to
Grant which made him famous, and, the Chicago Tribune
claims, made him also Cleveland's postmaster-general,
he flapped his wings and responded with one of his
piercing battle- screams.
During the Northern State Fair at Oshkosh, Wis.,
Smith and Abe were present, quartered in a tent, for
entering which a fee of ten cents was charged. The
proceeds went to the Methodist Church Association.
He had many visitors.
While there Smith gave his bird a fine Dominique
rooster for a feast. Crowds gathered to see how he
killed and devoured his prey; but, curiously enough,
he looked kindly on the handsome young rooster, made
friends with him and thereafter the two roosted con-
88 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
tentedly together on the same perch until the fair closed,
when the Dominique was released.
Smith was succeeded in the spring of 1880 by
George Gillies, a sturdy Scotchman, who was Abe's last
keeper. The latter had much more traveling to do than
the earlier keepers, because, as Abe's fame spread and
soldiers' reunions became more numerous, the demand
for his presence on such occasions was almost constant.
At the great reunion in Columbus, 0., in 1880,
George and his bird were quartered in a fine private
residence in the suburbs.
When night of the first day came the hostess gave
Abe one of the nicest rooms in the house. " Oh! " ex-
claimed the practical keeper, " Don't give to the bird the
like of that ; let him sit in his cage on the porch."
" No," insisted the ladies, " nothing is too good for Old
Abe and his keeper ; put him in there." And so in he
went, into a room richly carpeted and elegantly fur-
nished.
George also carried the bird to the reunion at
Canton, O., during the same year, where the veterans
enjoyed themselves heartily. " Man, man," says he yet,
" but Ohio is the State for you. There was nothing good
enough for Old Abe or me in the entire commonwealth.
We rode free, ate free, and had the best of everything
everywhere."
In 1880, while 100,000 people were assembled in
Chicago in the Republican National Convention, a
soldiers' reunion on a vast scale was being held in Mil-
MORE REUNIONS — THE GRANT BANQUET. 89
waukee. The veterans published a daily newspaper and
also a " Reunion Roster " — a quarto volume of liberal
thickness, containing names, regiments and similar infor-
mation in relation to soldiers.
Old Abe was there, sleek and majestic, but well-
pleased. In that great procession, which required hours
to pass a given point, no two figures attracted so much
attention as the eagle and Gen. Grant. The two were
close together near the head of the columns, with front
and rear covered by bands of music and either flank by
veterans bearing tattered regimental colors. It was a
stirring scene.
No outward sign on the face of the grim commander
indicated that he knew aught about the desperate strug-
gle of three giants of the Republican party — Roscoe
Conkling, John A. Logan 'and J. Donald Cameron — only
eighty miles away, to compass the defeat of Elaine and
the nomination of himself for the Presidency; and Abe,
close to a noisy drum-corps, was equally complacent and
self-satisfied, though his magnificent eyes blazed with
the inward excitement and pleasure always manifested
on military occasions.
That was the last public appearance of Old Abe in
Wisconsin. The people cheered him lustily, showing
that though he had been before the public for twenty
years his popularity had increased rather than dimin-
ished.
CHAPTER XXII.
OLD ABE'S SEMI-TRAGIC DEATH.
TOWARD evening of a cold day in the winter of 1881
a fire started mysteriously in a quantity of paints and
oils stored in the basement of the capitol, near Old
Abe's large cage. The blaze created an enormous vol-
ume of black and offensive smoke, which at once filled the
cage to suffocation.
Abe, understanding full well the nature of what was
going on around him, sent forth such a scream as had
never before been heard in that building. Attendants
and watchmen rushed below to learn the cause of the
startling outcry, and before attacking the flames, opened
the door of the perch-room. The eagle, with another
piercing screech, swept swiftly out and away from the
smudge.
He seemed to be either frightened or injured by the
smoke, for his breast heaved, his heart labored heavily
and his plumage was disheveled. Nor was he ever well
thereafter. He ate sparingly or not at all; his eyes lost
their wonderful luster; he sat around in a half-comatose
condition fora few days, and on March 26, 1881, with a
slight tremor and a few feeble flaps of his wings, expired
in the arms of his stout keeper, George Gillies.
George said that Abe seemed to know he was about
to die, for when he asked solicitously, " must we lose
90
OLD ABE'S SEMI-TRAGIC DEATH. 91
you, Abe?" the old bird raised up his head and
looked wistfully into his keeper's face and then sunk
back into his arms and passed away. Around him
were numbers of one-legged and one-armed veterans
whose sad faces showed that they had lost a beloved
comrade.
At first the general desire among the soldiers was to
have Abe buried in the beautiful Forest Hill Cemetery,
where rest two hundred Union and one hundred and
fifty confederate dead, with appropriate military cere-
monies, and under a handsome monument.
The suggestion that the taxidermist's art would pre-
serve him to the sight for an indefinite period dispelled
these notions, and he was turned over to Maj. C. G.
Mayers, who, after preserving and stuffing the warrior-
bird, fixed him firmly to a neat perch, as he now stands
in the War Museum of the capitol.
Maj. Mayers was familiar with Abe's habits and
appearance and was, therefore, successful in securing
that majestic poise of the head, graceful curve of the
neck and animated flash of the eye which are remem-
bered by those who have seen him when a strain of
lively martial music first fell on his ear.
While preparing Abe's carcass for preservation, Maj.
Mayers discovered that the lungs had grown firmly to
the ribs, which fact explains the fatal result of the
smoke and fright.
The cause of this malformation is alleged to have
been numerous colds and congestions resulting from
92 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
changing the bird suddenly from his warm cage in the
basement of the capitol to the cold outer air in winter.
On the day following the death of Old Abe the Mil-
waukee Republican contained an interview with Maj. W.
J. Dawes, who commanded a company in the Eagle
Regiment. It contains some interesting points, stated
in a soldier's hearty way, as follows :
Old Abe was well known all over the world. His reputa-
tion is as wide-spread as that of any general who fought in
the same battles with him.
My first acquaintance with him was in the spring of 1861,
just about twenty years ago. now. The Eighth Wisconsin
Regiment, a company of which I had the honor to command,
was going into camp at Camp Randall, in Madison, and with
one of the companies — that commanded by Capt. Perkins —
came the eagle, then a chicken about half or two-thirds
grown.
Whether the idea had been formed before he came into
camp of making him a part of the regiment for the war, or
whether it was developed afterwards, I do not now recollect;
but it was understood before we left camp that the bird had
enlisted, and he was christened Old Abe.
One of the tallest men in the regiment was detailed to
carry and take care of him, with the understanding that at
the end of the war he was to convey him to Washington and
present him to his namesake, the President.
A standard, with a slanting platform on it, over which was
a carved quiver and arrows for him to stand upon, was
obtained, and upon this he made his way when on the inarch.
A cord attached to his leg secured him to this standard, and
standing on his perch, over the shoulder of his bearer and
near the colors of the regiment, he was the observed of all
observers.
Several times he escaped from the boys, but never for a
long time. The most noted was the battle of Corinth. Gen.
Mower's horse was shot under him; I lost one-third of all the
men I had, either killed or wounded; was shot myself, and a
bullet cut Old Abe's cord — all in a moment of time.
The Johnnies were down on us with a whoop and a yell.
I saw our eagle soaring (that is a pretty classical word to us,
but it alone can express the dignity of the flight) away over
OLD ABE'S SEMI-TRAGIC DEATH. 93
the rebels, and supposed he was gone for keeps, as did we all,
and sorry enough we were.
We were in trouble enough: licked for the time being, our
friends killed and wounded, old Joe's horse shot (we all liked
the old fellow on his master's account), and, above all, our
engle gone over to the rebs.
Some of the men gathered me up in a blanket and took me
along the best they could, and we had not gone far before Old
Abe came swooping back to his perch, which was being
brought along, for we did not mean to let the Johnnies crow
over that, anyhow.
This sounds almost too poetical to be believed, but there
were too many eye-witnesses to it to be successfully contra-
dicted. I know these things of my own knowledge, and assert
them to be true.
How do you account for the eagle knowing the regiment,
and where to find his place ? was asked of Maj. Dawes.
I don't account for it. All I have to do is to state facts. If
you want reasons and causes, you must go to some philoso-
pher. I believe the eagle knew our regiment as well as we
knew it ourselves, and that he could tell it as far off as any of us.
When soldiers from other regiments visited us and called
on him, as they usually did, he did not appear the same before
them as before any members of the Eighth that happened to
be near him. It was a common understanding among the
boys that Old Abe knew who belonged to his regiment and
who did not. This was not a peculiarity of the eagle alone.
The colonel had a dog with us that evidently knew the per-
sonnel of the regiment entirely — better, perhaps, than any
one belonging to it. I ani not superstitious, but 1 fully believe
that bird could think.
As to food, confederate chicken seemed to agree with his
constitution remarkably well. He never suffered for want of
edibles as the rest of us sometimes did. I have seen the
whole regiment on chase after a rabbit for his supper across
the field, after a hard day's march, whooping like fiends. Of
course it was fun, but being in behalf of the eagle helped the
fun wonderfully.
During an engagement he was always in the thickest of the
fight, near the colors, usually on the ground, occasionally flying
to his perch and screaming terrifically. He seemed to know
that business was being transacted and the nature of it.
He would stand by a cannon which was being served with
the greatest rapidity, without flinching, and the rattle of small
arms appeared to delight him. Of course he did not know
what it was to be hurt by the balls, but I believe that he ap-
preciated that trouble came to those about him by this means.
94 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
Army men were then and have been since enthusiastic
about Abe. He was a bird only, but he was the embodiment
of a principle, a companion of our service, which was a good
deal. And there will be a great many wet eyes when the news
of his death reaches the survivors of the Eighth Regiment. I
have about as much dignity as people generally have, but
I would not feel that it was in the least compromised by my
acting as pall-bearer at the funeral of Old Abe, should he be
buried.
W. T. SHERMAN.
CHAPTER XXIII.
ANECDOTES AND CHARACTERISTICS.
ABE was like a person; he had individual peculiari-
ties which all who knew him remembered. Capt.
Britton says that, although the old fellow was often
given his freedom while in camp, he never straggled
away or fell behind, as did other soldiers.
He loved rabbits, squirrels, robins, pigeons, chickens
and fresh meat, but he loved rats best of all. He could
discern a rat at a great distance and the approach of his
attendant with one of these rodents in hand was the signal
for the liveliest manifestations of anticipation. On such
occasions he jumped up and down, swung his neck in
graceful curves from side to side and kept up a low but
gleeful chuckle.
It was not unusual, after he had partaken of a good
meal, to see Abe go for several days without tasting
food of any kind. Sometimes this was because he did
not like what was thrown to him; but generally, when
he went on a journey of two or three days, he would
eat nothing until his return.
It is probable that Abe fully understood a joyous
sound, for the regiment or any audience of which he
formed a part, never sent up a hearty cheer without a
resounding scream from him. And such screams ! The
human voice could no more imitate their startling in-
97
98 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
tensity than man could follow an eagle's magnificent
nights.
Abe never indorsed the XIV amendment. He seemed
to entertain a malicious hatred of the Negro race. No
colored person could approach him without meeting a
terrific attack.
He hated dogs, too, and if one came within reach of
his powerful beak and talons the result invariably was
a cyclone of yelps, barks and fur.
But his hatred was not confined to dogs and colored
people. His dislike of certain members of his regiment
was emphatic. While it was never safe for strangers to
approach and touch him, it was always dangerous for
those whom he believed to be his enemies to get within
his reach; he would tear them with his beak and talons
with vicious vigor.
Homaston, one of his bearers, said Abe had a lan-
guage and that it was easy to understand. When sur-
prised, he whistled a wild melody, toned to a melan-
choly softness; when hovering over his food, he gave a
spiteful chuckle; when pleased to see an old friend,
he would say, " how do you do ?" with a plaintive coo-
ing; but his scream in battle was wild and commanding,
consisting of five or six notes uttered in quick succession
with a wild trill that was perfectly inspiring to the
soldiers.
His memory was as keen as his all-piercing eye.
After the war, it is related by J. 0. Barrett, Edward
Homaston chanced to see the eagle in a crowd at the
ANECDOTES AND CHARACTERISTICS. 99
depot in Madison. He knew the bird, but feigning
otherwise, exclaimed, " Why, here is an eagle ! " and
put out his hand to pat him on the head. The bird's
attendant checked him, saying, " Take care, there, the
eagle will hurt you ! " " Hurt me ? " said Homaston.
" See here, man ! " and he actually embraced the eagle,
who extended his wings and screeched and cooed, well
pleased at once more greeting his old bearer.
Abe's idea of justice was simple — revenge. A Rocky
Mountain eagle, named Andy Johnson — a lean and un-
prepossessing bird when compared with Abe — was given
to the State by the Forty -ninth Regiment, Wisconsin
Volunteer Infantry. Although vicious and compara-
tively unattractive, he had a home near his companion.
During pleasant days the eagles sat on perches in
the large and beautiful park that surrounds the capitol
at Madison. One evening the eagle attendants went out
together to bring in their feathered charges for the
night, each driving a bird by means of a long cord
attached to the legs.
Abe was sick and weak. Andy, watching his oppor-
tunity, darted fiercely upon his companion the moment
the length of his tether would permit. Both keepers
did their utmost, in the darkness, to part the combat-
ants, but before they succeeded, Abe, ill-prepared for a
fight, was partially vanquished.
The battle was a terrible one, the combatants being
in such a powerful embrace that their keepers could
100 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
hardly separate them. After that, of course, the utmost
caution was exercised to keep the birds apart.
Abe, however, never forgot the fight nor took his
piercing eye from the ruffled plumage of his adversary;
and a year later, as Andy passed under his perch, he
darted upon the poor bird with a wild scream of re-
venge, and in a few moments, before attendants could
put a stop to the engagement, had nearly killed him.
It is probable that Andy received a fatal wound from
Abe's powerful talons, for he was never himself after
that, and after pining for a brief period, died in the
spring of 1874. His skin was set up by a taxidermist,
and occupies a place in the same room with Abe, in the
War Museum, but no one enquires for or takes much
interest in him. He was not a thoroughbred, not a
patriot, not a diplomatist. His inferiority in grace,
beauty and majesty was, and is even in death, clearly
apparent to those who have never before seen eagles.
Had it not been for the propensity of boys and
strangers to bother Abe — thrust sticks at him and other-
wise disturb and annoy him — he could have been taught
anything, almost, save to speak.
In his cage was a small table on which he fed.
Keeper Gillies, drawing near in the morning, would fre-
quently ask: "Are you hungry, Abe ?" Silence was
the bird's negative answer; but in case he desired to
reply in the affirmative, he instantly jumped down and
began picking on the bare table.
More than once has the writer, when Gillies was
ANECDOTES AND CHARACTERISTICS. 101
taking strangers to see the bird, observed how well Abe
understood what was wanted of him. To the com-
mand, " Come out here, Abe ! I want you out," he
would fly down with a gentle whistle and jump along
out of his cage.
"Now, get up on that stool and show yourself,"
would be the further order, and up he would go, with a
rustle of his feathers.
What may seem strange to many, Abe loved his
home, his cage. He didn't enjoy the hundreds of trips
he was compelled to make to reunions and other gather-
ings, and at every return manifested the greatest delight.
He was exceptionally cleanly, bathing at least twice
a week, and always in clean water. For this purpose
he had a large tub made expressly for him.
After having been out for several days on a journey
he would scream when within sight of the basement
entrance leading to his cage, and on being released
would scamper down the hallway and plunge into the
tub for a bath.
A great number of Old Abe's pictures have been sold
in the form of photographs, chromos, lithographs and
engravings. Many of these were fair representations,
but more were random sketches of the eagle family with
Abe's name forged upon them.
He was in every respect a more spirited and hand-
some bird than any portrait can represent him; never-
theless the picture in this volume is a faithful outline of
102 OLD ABE, THE EIGHTH WISCONSIN WAR EAGLE.
the old bird, made from a photograph taken from life as
he sat on a bronze cannon in the capitol park.
Volke's, Culver's, and other representations of Abe
have already been mentioned. Stewart, a Louisville
artist, painted, life-size, a portrait of the eagle which
hangs in the Executive Chamber at Madison, in a costly
frame, and while in Boston he was painted from life by
two unknown artists.
One pleasant morning, says Peter B. Field, who had
charge of Abe at the Old South Church Fair, a bright-
faced woman approached and asked whether she might
not hang up a shawl and " sit behind it in the corner and
watch the Wisconsin war-eagle."
Peter, though white-haired, is gallant to the fair sex.
He thought this a strange proceeding, yet he could not
refuse a request so gentle from lips so sweet.
The " watching " continued for hours, the fair watcher
hidden away from the crowd. When the shawl was
removed Peter discovered that his quiet visitor had
sketched Old Abe in oil, life-size. What became of the
painting or who the lady was he never knew.
A wealthy lapidarist of Boston also had an oil por-
trait made of Abe, and photographs in great number
have been made in Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Madi-
son and elsewhere. They may be found in almost every
album in the North, especially the Northwest.
Abe's feathers as well as his photographs are pretty
widely distributed. They are held largely by governors,
congressmen, judges, generals and people of wealth who
ANECDOTES AND CHARACTERISTICS. 103
purchased them at round figures. A New York gentle-
man has one mounted in gold, and many important
documents have been signed with pens made from Abe's
quills. Some of them are in Europe and every one is
highly prized.
The handsome octagonal case of black walnut and
plate glass in which Abe is enclosed, stands in the War
Museum at Madison, near long rows of tattered battle
flags carried by Wisconsin regiments.
His visitors are as numerous now as before death,
except among children, and questions relative to his life
and career do not diminish.
He looks the warrior even now, and stands in the
majestic and animated poise shown in the portrait of
him presented in this volume.
No other bird ever achieved so much fame or reached
such a distinguished place in history.
APPENDIX.
OLD ABE'S BATTLES.
Fredericktown, Mp.,
Siege of New Madrid and Island No.
Point Pleasant, Mo.,
Farmington, Miss.,
Before Corinth, Miss.,
luka, Miss.,
Burnsville, Miss.,
luka, Miss.,
Corinth, Miss.,
Tallahatchie, Miss.,
Mississippi Springs, Miss., .
Jackson, Miss.,
Assault on Vicksburg, Miss.,
Mechanicsburg, Miss.,
Richmond, La.,
Vicksburg, Miss.,
Surrender of Vicksburg, Miss.,
Brownsville, Miss.,
Fort Scurry, La.,
Fort de Russy, La.,
Henderson's Hill, La.,
Grand Ecore, La.,
Pleasant Hill, La.,
Nachitoches, La.,
Kane River, La.,
Clouterville and Crane Hill, La.,
Bayou Rapide, La., .
Bayou La Moore, La.,
Bayou Roberts, La., .
Moore's Plantation, La.,
Mansura, La.,
Maysville, La.,
Calhoun's Plantation, La., .
Bayou de Glaise, La.,
Lake Chicot, La.,
Hurricane Creek, La.,
101
Oct. 21, 1861
10, Mo., M'handAp, 1862
. M'ch 20, 1862
May 9, 1862
. May 28, 1862
Sept. 12, 1862
. Sept. 13, 1862
Sept. 16, 18, 1862
. Oct. 3, 4, 1862
Dec. 2, 1862
. May 13, 1863
May 14, 1863
. May 22, 1863
June 4, 1863
. June 15, 1863
June 24, 1863
. July 4, 1863
Oct. 14, 1863
. M'ch 13, 1864
M'ch 15, 1864
. M'ch 15, 1864
April 2, 1864
. April 8, 9, 1864
April 20, 1864
. April 22, 1864
April 23, 1864
. May 2, 1864
May 3, 1864
. May 4-6, 1864
May 8-12, 1864
. May 16, 1864
May 17, 1864
. May 18, 1864
May 18, 1864
. June 6, 1864
Aug. 13, 1864
OLD ABE'S ATTENDANTS IN WAR AND IN PEACE. 105
HIS ATTENDANTS IN WAR.
1. James McGinnis, of Eau Claire, from Sept. 1. 1861, to
May 30, 1862.
2. Thos. J. Hill, of Eau Claire, from May 30, 1862, to
August 18, 1862.
3. David McLane, of Menomonie, from Aug. 18, 1862, to
October, 1862.
4. Edward Homaston, of Eau Claire, from October, 1862,
to September, 1863.
5. John Buckhardt, of Eau Claire, from September, 1863
to September, 1864.
6. John F. Hill, during transit from Chicago to Madison,
September, 1864.
HIS ATTENDANTS IN PEACE.
1. John McFarland, State Armorer.
2. Angus R. McDonald, State Armorer, Eleventh Wiscon-
sin Infantry.
3. John G. Stock, State Armorer, Fourth Wisconsin Cav-
alry.
4. E. G. Linderman, State Armorer, Fifth Wisconsin In-
fantry.
5. William J. Jones, Sixteenth Wisconsin Volunteer In-
fantry.
6. Geo. W. Baker, Nineteenth Wisconsin Volunteer In-
fantry.
7. I. E. Troan, civilian.
8. John F. Hill, Eighth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry.
9. Peter B. Field, civilian.
10. Mark Smith, Seventh Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry.
11. George Gillies, Second Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry.
106
APPENDIX.
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108 APPENDIX.
CASUALTIES.
The number of casualties in the volunteer and regu-
lar armies of the United States during the war, 1861-65,
was reported by the Provost-Marshal General in 1866,
as follows:
Killed in battle, 61,362; Died of wounds, 34,727; Died of
disease, 183,287; Total died, 279,376; Total deserted, 199,105.
Number of soldiers in the Confederate service who died of
wounds or disease (partial statement), 133,821. Deserted
(partial statement), 104,428.
Number of United States troops captured during the war,
212,608; Confederate troops captured, 476,169.
Number of United States troops paroled on the field,
16,431 ; Confederate troops paroled on the field, 248,599.
Number of United States troops who died while prisoners,
29,725; Confederate troops who died while prisoners, 26,774.
GENERALS OF TBE ARMY.
The following is a list of generals who have com-
manded the army since 1775, with the dates of command
as far as can be ascertained from the official records :
Major-General George Washington, June 15, 1775, to De-
cember 23, 1783.
Major-General Henry Knox, December 23, 1783, to June 20,
1784.
Lieutenant-Colonel Josiah Harmer, general-in-chief by
brevet, September, 1788, to March, 1791.
Major-General Arthur St. Clair, March 4, 1791, to March,
1792.
Major-General Anthony Wayne, April 11, 1792, to December
15, 1796.
Major-General James Wilkinson, December 15, 1796, to
July, 1798.
Lieutenant-General George Washington, July 3, 1798, to his
death, December 14, 1799.
Major-General Jarnes Wilkinson, June 1800, to January',
1812.
Major-General Henry Dearborn, January 27, 1812, to June,
1815.
STATISTICS OF THE REGULAR ARMY.
109
Major-General Jacob Brown, June, 1815, to February 21,
1828.
Major-General Alexander Macomb, May 24, 1828, to June,
1841.
Major-General Winfield Scott (brevet lieutenant-general),
June, 1841, to November 1, 1861.
Major-General George B. McClellan, November 1, 1861, to
March 11, 1862.
Major-General Henry W. Halleck, July 11, 1862, to March
12, 1864.
Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant, March 12, 1864, to
July 25, 1866, and as General to March 4, 1869.
General William T. Sherman, March 4, 1869, to November
1, 1883.
Lieutenant-General Philip H. Sheridan, since November
1, 1883.
STATISTICS OP THE REGULAR ARMY. 1789-1879.
The following table exhibits the strength of the regu-
lar army of the United States, from 1789 to 1879, as
fixed by acts of Congress. The figures are for the aggre-
gate of officers and men:
Year. Strength of Army.
1789. 1 Reg't Infantry. 1 Bat. Art . 840
1792. Indian Border Wars, . 5,120
1791. Peace establishment, . 3,629
1S01 5,144
1807 3,278
1810. ..... 7,154
1812. War with Great Britain, 11,831
1815 9,413
1M7-182X. Peace establishment, 9,980
1822-1832. " " 6,184
1833-1837. " " 7,198
1838-1842. Florida War. . , 12,539
1843-1846. Peace establishment, 8,613
Year. Strength of Army.
is (7. Mexican War, . . 17,812
1848. " " " . . 30,890
1849-1RS5. Peace establishment, 10,320
1856-1861. " " 12,931
1862. Civil War, . 39,273
1868-1865. " " . . 43,332
1867. Peace establishment,54.641
1868-1869.
1870.
1871.
1872-1874.
1875-1879.
52,922
37,313
85,353
82,264
27,489
HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN FLAG.*
MEN, in the aggregate, demand something besides
abstract ideas and principles. Hence the desire for
* The National Hand-Book contained a goodly portion of the facts
herein used, in 1865.
110 APPENDIX.
symbols — something visible to the eye and that appeals
to the senses. Every nation has a flag that represents
the country; every army a common banner, which, to
the soldier, stands for that army. It speaks to him in
the din of battle, cheers him in the long and tedious
march, and pleads with him on the disastrous retreat.
In ancient times the Hebrew tribes had each its own
standard. That of Ephraim, for instance, was a steer;
of Benjamin, a wolf. Among the Greeks, the Athenians
had an owl, and the Thebans a sphynx. The standard
of Romulus was a bundle of hay tied to a pole; after-
wards a human hand, and finally an eagle.
Eagles were at first made of wood; then of silver,
with thunderbolts of gold. Under Caesar they were all
gold, without thunderbolts, and were carried on a long
pike. The Germans formerly fastened a streamer to a
lance, which the duke carried in front of the army.
Russia and Austria adopted the double-headed eagle
The ancient national flag of England, all know, was the
banner of St. George — a white field with a red cross.
This was at first used in the American colonies, but sev-
eral changes were afterwards made.
Of course, when they separated from the mother
country, it was necessary to have a distinct flag of their
own, and the Continental Congress appointed Dr. Frank-
lin, Mr. Lynch and Mr. Harrison a committee to take the
subject into consideration. They repaired to the Amer-
ican army — a little over 9,000 strong — then assembled
at Cambridge, and after due consideration, adopted one
HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN FLAG. Ill
composed of seven white and seven red stripes, with the
red and white crosses of St. George and St. Andrew con-
joined on a blue field in the corner, and named it " The
Great Union flag." The crosses of St. George and St.
Andrew were retained to show the willingness of the
colonies to return to their allegiance to the British
crown, if their rights were secured. This flag was first
hoisted on the first day of January, 1776. In the mean-
time, the various colonies had adopted distinctive
badges, so that the different bodies of troops that flocked
to the army had each its own banner. In Connecticut
each regiment had its own peculiar standard, on which
were represented the arms of the colony, with the
motto: "Qui transtidit sustinet " — he who transplanted us
will sustain us. The one that Gen. Putnam gave to the
breeze on Prospect Hill on the 18th of July, 1775, was a
red flag with this motto on one side, and on the other,
the words inscribed, "An Appeal to Heaven." That of
the floating batteries was a white ground with the same
"Appeal to heaven " upon it. It is supposed that at
Bunker Hill our troops carried a red flag with a pine
tree on a white field in the corner. The first flag in
South Carolina was blue, with a crescent in the corner,
and received its first baptism under Col. Moultrie. In
1776 Col. Gadsen presented to Congress a flag to be used
by the navy, which consisted of a rattlesnake on a yel-
low ground, with thirteen rattles, and coiled to strike.
The motto was, "Don't tread on me." "The Great
Union Flag," as described above, without the crosses,
112 APPENDIX.
and sometimes with the rattlesnake and motto, " Don't
tread on me," was used as a naval flag, and called the
" Continental Flag."
As the war progressed, different regiments and corps
adopted peculiar flags, by which they were designated.
The troops which Patrick Henry raised, and called the
" Culpepper Minute Men," had a banner with a rattle-
snake on it, and the mottoes, " Don't tread on me," and
"Liberty or death," together with their name. Mor-
gan's celebrated riflemen, called the "Morgan Rifles,''
not only had a peculiar uniform, but a flag of their
own, on which was inscribed, " XI Virginia Regiment,"
and the words, " Morgan's Rifle Corps." On it was also
the date, 1776, surrounded by a wreath of laurel.
Wherever this banner floated the soldiers knew that
deadly work was being done.
When the gallant Pulaski was raising a body of cav-
alry, in Baltimore, the nuns of Bethlehem sent him a
banner of crimson silk, with emblems on it, wrought by
their own hands. That of Washington's Life Guard was
made of white silk, with various devices upon it, and
the motto, "Conquer or die."
It doubtless always will be customary in this country,
during a war, for different regiments to have flags pre-
sented to them with various devices upon them. It was
so during the recent war of the Rebellion, but as the
stars and stripes supplant them all, so in our revolution-
ary struggle the "Great Union Flag," which was raised in
HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN FLAG. 113
Cambridge, took the place of all others and became the
flag of the American army.
But in 1777, Congress, on the 19th day of June,
passed the following resolution:
Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be
thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be
thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new con-
stellation.
A constellation, however, could not well be represented
on a flag, and so it was changed into a circle of stars, to
represent harmony and union. Red is supposed to
represent courage, white, integrity of purpose, and blue
steadfastness, love and faith. This flag, however, was
not used till the following autumn, and waved first over
the memorable battle-field of Saratoga.
" The first flag, according to this design," says Wm.
J. Canby, " was made by Mrs. Elizabath Ross. Three
of her daughters in Philadelphia confirm this fact,
founding their belief, of course, not upon what they saw,
for it was made many years before they were born, but
upon what their mother had often told them.
"A niece of this lady, Mrs. Margaret Boggs, aged
ninty-five years, residing in Germantown, is conversant
with the fact.
" The house in which the flag was made still stands
— No. 239 Arch street, Philadelphia — the last of an old
row.
" It is related that when Congress had decided upon
the design, Col. Geo. Ross and General Washington
114 APPENDIX.
visited Mrs. Ross, and asked her to make the banner.
She said: 'I don't know whether I can, but I'll try,'
and directly suggested to the gentlemen that the design
was wrong, in that the stars were six-cornered and not
five-cornered, as they should be. This was corrected,
she made the flag, Congress accepted it, and for half a
dozen years this lady furnished the government with all
the national flags, having, of course, a large assistance.
This lady was also the wife of Claypole, one of the lineal
descendants of Oliver Cromwell."
Thus our flag was born, which to-day is known,
respected, and feared round the entire globe. In 1794
it received a slight modification, evidently growing out
of the intention at that time of Congress to add a new
stripe with every additional State that came into the
Union, for it passed that year the following resolution :
Resolved, That from and after the 1st day of May, Anno
Domini 1795, the flag of the United States be fifteen stripes,
alternate red and white. That the union be fifteen stars,
white in a blue field.
In 1818 it was, by another resolution of Congress,
changed back into thirteen stripes, with twenty-one
stars, in which it was provided that a new star should
be added on the admission of each new State. That
resolution has never been rescinded, and now thirty-
eight stars blaze on our banner. The symbol of our
nationality, the record of our glory, it has become dear
to the heart of the people. On the sea and on the land
its history has been one to swell the heart with pride.
HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN FLAG. 115
The most beautiful flag in the world in its appearance,
it is stained by no disgrace, for it has triumphed in
every struggle. Through three wars it bore us on to
victory, and in the last terrible struggle against treason,
though baptized in the blood of its own children, not a
star was effaced, and it still waves over a united nation.
When freedom from her mountain height,
Unfurled her standard to the air,
She tore the azure robe of night,
And set the stars of glory there !
She mingled with its gorgeous dyes
The milky baldric of the skies,
And striped its pure celestial white
With streakings of the morning light.
Then, from his mansion in the sun,
She called her eagle-bearer down,
And gave into his mighty hand
The symbol of her chosen laud !
Majestic monarch of the cloud.
Who rear'st aloft thy regal form,
To hear the tempest trumping loud
And see the lightning lances driven,
When strive the warriors of the storm
And rolls the thunder-drum of heaven!
Child of the sun ! to thee 'tis given
To guard the banner of the free ;
To hover in the sulphur smoke,
To ward away the battle-stroke,
And bid its blcudings shine afar
Like rainbows on the cloud of war —
The harbingers of Victory !
Flag of the brave! thy folds shall fly,
The sign of hope and triumph high!
When speaks the signal-trumpet tone,
And the long line comes glistening on,
(Ere yet the life-blood, warm and wet,
Hath dimmed the glistening bayonet),
Each soldier's eye shall brightly turn
To where thy sky-born glories burn;
And as his springing steps advance,
Catch war and vengeance from the glance.
And when the cannon mouthings loud
Heave in wild wreaths the battle-shroud,
And gory sabers rise and fall
Like shoots of flame on midnight's pall —
There shall thy meteor-glances glow,
And cowering'foes shall sink beneath
Each gallant arm that strikes below
That lovely messenger of death.
116 APPENDIX.
Flag of the seas ! on ocean wave
Thy stars shall glitter o'er the brave,
When death, careering on the gale,
Sweeps darkly 'round the bellied sail,
And frightened waves rush wildly back
Before the broadside's reeling rack,
Each dying wanderer of the sea
Shall look at once to heaven and thee,
And smile to see thy splendors fly
In triumph o'er his closing eye.
Flag of the free heart's hope and home —
By angel hands to valor given !
Thy stars have lit the welkin dome,
And all thy hues were born in heaven.
Forever float that standard sheet !
Where breathes the foe that falls before us,
With Freedom's soil beneath our feet,
And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us !
— J. Rodman Drake.
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE
REBELLION.
1851K
11. A Southern Convention at Vicksburg, Miss., at which
eight States are represented, passes resolutions in favor of
opening the slave trade.
JUNE.
8. A Slaveholders' Convention assembles at Baltimore,
Md. Delegates from each county represented.
OCTOBER.
16. John Brown and fifteen white men and five negroes
seize the arsenal at Harper's Ferry and kill four of the
inhabitants.
17. The militia and Federal troops arrive at Harper's Ferry
and besiege Brown and his men in the armory buildings.
18. The armory captured by Colonel Lee (now General).
One marine and twelve of Brown's men killed. Brown and
four men taken prisoners, and two escape, but are recaptured.
NOVEMBER.
19. The people of Charleston, Va., excited by the rumors
of an attempt to rescue John Brown and Governor Wise calms
their fears by guarding the place with a Richmond regiment.
30. In the House of Representatives of South Carolina a
resolution is offered that "South Carolina is ready to enter,
together with other slave-holding States, or such as desire pres-
ent action, into the formation of a Southern Confederacy."
DECEMBER.
2. John Brown and two negroes hung.
20. The medical students from Southern States in Philadel-
§hia colleges resolve to secede and join colleges in their own
tates.
H7
118 APPENDIX.
I860.
FEBRUAEY.
2. The trial of Stevens commenced at Harper's Ferry.
MARCH.
16. Stevens and Hazlitt hung at Charleston, Va.
APRIL.
5. Scene in Congress between Messrs. Potter and Roger
A. Pryor.
23. The Democratic National Convention assembles at
Charleston, S. C.
30. The Cincinnati Platform rejected by the National
Democratic Convention, and upon the adopting of a platform,
the Southern delegates secede.
MAY.
4. The National Democratic Convention adjourns until
June 18.
9. The Constitutional Union Convention at Baltimore
nominate John Bell for President and Edward Everett for
Vice.
11. A scene in the House between Messrs. Thayer and
Grow.
16. The National Republican Convention assembles at
Chicago.
18. The Republican Convention nominate Abraham Lin-
coln, of Illinois, for President, and Hannibal Hamlin, of
Maine, for Vice.
JUNE.
1. Maryland prohibits the manumission of slaves.
12. The National Democratic Convention meets at Rich-
mond and adjourns until the 21st.
18. The Baltimore Convention (Bell and Everett) re-
assembles.
20. Serious fight in the Baltimore Convention.
23. The National Democratic Convention meets at Balti-
more, and nominates Douglas and Fitzpatrick; the seceders
also meet and nominate Breckinridge and Lane.
JULY.
20. Visit of the Savannah Blues to New York. — A remark-
able meteor makes its appearance.
AUGUST.
16. A Douglas State Convention at Syracuse forms a
Union ticket.
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. 119
OCTOBER.
18. The Governor of South Carolina calls an extra session
of the Legislature.
NOVEMBER.
6. Abraham Lincoln elected President and Hannibal
Hamlin Vice-President; Lincoln and Hamlin, 180 electoral
votes; Bell and Everett, 39; Breckinridge and Lane, 72; Doug-
las and Johnson, 12.
22. Banks in Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia
suspend specie payment.
DECEMBER.
5. The United States Treasury suspends specie payment.
6. A Committee of thirty-three appointed by the House
to take measures for the perpetuity of the Union.
11. Resignation of Howell Cobb, Secretary of the Treasury.
12. General Scott arrives in Washington to advise with the
President.
13. Joint resolution introduced into Congress proposing
important amendments to the Constitution.
14. Lewis Cass, Secretary of State, resigns.
15. President Buchanan appoints January 4th a day of
fasting and prayer.
17. A Secession Convention assembles in Columbia, S. C.,
but adjourns to Charleston in consequence of the small-pox.
20. The Convention at Charleston passes the ordinance
carrying South Carolina out of the Union.
24. Attempted removal of ordnance from the arsenal at
Pittsburg, Pa., prevented by the citizens.
26. Fort Moultrie evacuated by Major Robert Anderson,
who retires with his troops to Fort Sumter.
29. John B. Floyd, Secretary of War, resigns.
30. Seizure by the citizens of the arsenal at Charlestown,
S. C.
1861.
3. The Crittenden compromise resolutions offered in the
Senate.
4. Fort Morgan, Mobile Harbor, seized by State troops.
5. The Postmaster at Charleston refuses to make returns
to the United States Government.— The Star of the West
chartered and sent to Fort Sumter to re-inforce Major Ander-
son.
8. Forts Johnson and Caswell, N. C., seized by rebels.—
Secretary Thompson resigns from the Interior Department.
120 APPENDIX.
9. Mississippi secedes. — The first gun of the rebellion
fired ; the forts on Morris Island fire on the Star of the West,
and she puts to sea.
10. The steamer Joseph Whitney leaves Boston with re-in-
forcements for the troops at Pensacola, Fla.— Gen." John A.
Dix made Secretary of the Treasury. — Florida secedes.
11. Alabama secedes.
12. The Pensacola Navy-yard seized by rebels and the
cutter Lewis Cass seized at New Orleans.
14. The Senators from Mississippi withdraw from Con-
gress.
15. The coast survey steamer Dana seized at St. Augus-
tine, Fla.
17. Batteries commanding the Mississippi erected at Vicks-
burg.
19. Georgia secedes. — Fort Neale, at Little Washington, N.
C., captured by the rebels.
20. The fort at Ship Island captured by rebels.
21. The Alabama delegation in Congress leave. — Fort
Neale, at Little Washington, N. C., retaken by a party of
sailors.
22. Seizure in New York of muskets intended for Savan-
nah.
23. The State of Connecticut makes military preparations.
24. Ex-President John Tyler arrives in Washington as a
Commissioner from Virginia. — The arsenal at Augusta, Ga.,
seized by State troops.
25. Rhode Island repeals her Personal Liberty Bill.
26. Louisiana secedes.
29. The Georgia Convention empower the governor to
grant letters of marque.
30. The North Carolina Legislature calls a State Conven-
tion to meet February 28. — The forts on the Tortugas re-in-
forced. — Tennessee appoints commissioners to proceed to
Washington.
FEBRUARY.
1. The Charlestonians prepare to besiege FortSumter. —
Texas passes the Ordinance of Secession.
2. The gold in the New Orleans mint seized by the State.
4. The Peace Congress assembles at Washington.— The
Southern States convene at Montgomery, Ala. — Slidell and
Benjamin, of Louisiana, leave the Senate.— The Virginia elec-
tion for delegates to a convention results in nineteen-twen-
tieths in favor of Union.
8. Governor Brown, of Georgia, seized seven vessels at
Savannah in retaliation for the detention of arms in New
York. — The arsenal at Little Bock, Ark., seized.
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. 121
9. Jefferson Davis elected President and Alexander H.
Stephens Vice-President of the Southern Confederacy by the
Convention at Montgomery, Ala., which also adopts the Con-
stitution of the United States as its Constitution. — At the Ten-
nessee election, a large majority is given in favor of Union. —
Governor Pickens declares Sullivan's Island under martial
law.
13. Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin officially de-
clared elected President and Vice-President.
18. Jeff. Davis and Alexander H. Stephens inaugurated at
Montgomery, Ala. — Twiggs, surrenders the military ports in
Texas to Van Dorn.
22. Discovery of a plot in Baltimore to assassinate Mr.
Lincoln; the President elect passes through Baltimore dis-
guised in a Scotch cap and plaid cloak.
27. The propositions of the Peace Congress presented to
and adopted by the Senate, and the resolutions of the Com-
mittee of thirty-three by the House.
28. Congress agrees to amend the Xllth Article of the
Constitution.
MARCH.
1. The amended Fugitive Slave Bill passes the House.
2. General Twiggs dismissed the service for treason. —
The Texans capture the cutter Dodge at Galveston.
4. Mr. Lincoln inaugurated. — Texas declared out of the
Union.
11. The Maine Personal Liberty Bill repealed.
19. The New York vessels at Savannah released.
21. Alabama cedes a district ten miles square at Mont-
gomery for a seat of government for the Confederacy.
26. The South Carolina Convention re-assembled at
Charleston.
27. The Peace Conference proposition defeated in the
Virginia Convention.
APRIL.
6. The Virginia Convention adopts a resolution favoring
secession.
8. Heavy re-inforcements of troops leave for Fort Sumter.
11. Beauregard demands the surrender of Sumter.
12. The bombardment of Fort Sumter commenced and
continued throughout the night.
13. Major Anderson surrenders Fort Sumter.
14. Major Anderson leaves Fort Sumter in the Baltic2 after
having formally surrendered the fort and saluting his flag
with the honors of war; several men killed by the explosion
of a gun while saluting ; no lives lost in the bombardment.
122 APPENDIX.
15. The President calls out 75,000 troops.
16. Viriginia secedes. — Fort Pickens re-inforced.
17. Jeff. Davis grants letters of marqne. — Harper's Ferry
Arsenal destroyed by order of Lieutenant Jones, U. S. A. —
The Star of the West captured off Indianola.
19. Attack on the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment while
passing through Baltimore. — The Seventh New York State
militia leave for Washington.— A blockade of Southern ports
ordered by the President.
20. General Dix issues his order, " Whoever dares to pull
down the American flag, shoot him on the spot."
21. The Portsmouth, Va., Navy-yard and the vessels there-
at destroyed by the rebels.
2-1. Fort Smith. Ark., seized by the State troops.
26- Owing to the destruction of the railroad and telegraph
lines communication is opened with Washington by water.
27. The arsenal at Fayetteville, N. C., seized by the rebels.
29. The President orders an additional volunteer force,
making 158,000 men in all, and an increase of the regular army
to 85,000.
30. The rebel Congress meets at Montgomery, Ala. — Ten-
nessee secedes.
MAY.
3. The President again calls for more troops.
6. Arkansas secedes.
7. Arlington Heights, opposite Washington, seized by
Virginians.
9. Lieutenant-Colonel Reeve and 313 men surrender to
Van Dorn at San Antonio, Texas.
10. Captain Lyon captures Frost's brigade, in camp near
St. Louis. — The pirate Spray captures the schooner Atwater,
off Apalachicola.
13. General Butler occupies Baltimore.
19. Engagement between the Sewall's Point Battery and
four gunboats.
21. North Carolina secedes.
24. Colonel Ellsworth occupies Alexandria, Va., and is
killed. — Kentucky passes resolutions of mediation and neu-
trality.— General Butler declares slaves to be contraband of
war.
30. Secretary Cameron declares slaves contraband of war.
31. Engagement at Acquia Creek, Va.; attack by the gun-
boats.
JUNE.
2. The pirate Savannah captured off Charleston by the
brig Ferry. — Colonel Kelly has an engagement at Philippa,
Va., and routs the rebels.
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. 123
3. Stephen A. Douglas dies at Chicago.
10. Union troops, under General Butler, defeated at Big
Bethel, Va. — The pirate Wm. H. Webb captured by the Niagara
off Key West, Fla.
14. Harper's Ferry evacuated by the rebels.
17. General R. C. Schenck makes a reconnoissance with
a railroad train on Vienna. — General Lyoii has an engagement
with Price at Boonville, Mo.
24. The English ship Minion, with arms for the rebels,
captured off Charleston.
26. President Lincoln made an LL. D. by Columbia Col-
lege.— The President officially recognizes Governor Pierpont,
of West Virginia.
27. Captain James H. Ward, of the Potomac flotilla, killed
at Matthias Point, Va.
29. The pirate Sumter escapes from New Orleans.
JULY.
1. General Patterson crosses the Potomac at Williams-
port, Md., and surprises the enemy at Haynesville. — A divi-
sion of General H. A. Wise's army routed at Buchanan, Va.,
by General Morris.
2. General Patterson routs the rebels near Martinsburg,
Va. — The Legislature of West Virginia organizes.
3. General Fremont assigned to the Department of the
West.— Galveston, Texas, blockaded.
4. The extra session of Congress convenes. — General Pat-
terson pursues the rebels through Martinsburg, Va. — The
pirate Sumter captures the brig Cuba, bound from Trinidad to
London.
5. Engagement between Colonel Sigel and the rebels un-
der Jackson and Raines at Brier Forks, near Carthage, Mo.
6. The pirate Jeff. Davis captures the John Welch off Hat-
teras. — The pirate Sumter arrives off Cienfuegos with seven
vessels, captured off the Cuban coast.
7. The Captain General of Cuba releases the Sumter
prizes.
8. $5,000,000 loaned to the government by New York mer-
chants in five hours.— General Patterson heavily re-inforced at
Martinsburg. Va.
9. The Jeff . Davis captures five prizes off Nantucket, and
on the Long Island coast. — The rebels evacuate Guyandotte,
Va.
- 10. The President authorized Jo call out 500,000 volunteers.
11. The Army and Navy Appropriation Bills pass Con-
gress.— Battle at Rich Mountain, Va., in which General Mc-
Clellan defeats Pegram.
124 APPENDIX.
12. The rebels evacuate Laurel Hill, Va.
13. General McClellan occupies Beverly, Va. ; Garnett de-
feated and killed at Carrick's Ford, Va. ; Pegrarn surrenders.
15. Johnson breaks camp at Bunker Hill and retreats on
Winchester, Va. ; Patterson follows and occupies Bunker Hill.
16. The entire army, under General McDowell, moves
toward Manassas in five divisions.
17. General Patterson occupies Charlestown, Va. — Fort
Lafayette designated as a military prison.
18. Johnston moves from Winchester toward Manassas
Gap.
19. Johnston re-inforces Beauregard at Bull Run, and Gen-
eral McDowell's forces are in line of battle.
21. Battle of Bull Run, Va. ; the Union army defeated,
and falls back on Washington in confusion; Union loss, 481
killed; 1,011 wounded, and 700 prisoners; rebel loss, 269
killed; and 1,483 wounded. — General Dix takes command in
Baltimore.
22. General McClellan summoned to the command of the
army.
23. Re-inforcements for Washington called for.
25. Governor Morgan calls for 25,000 more troops. — Gen-
eral Cox occupies Charlestown, on the Kanawha River, Va.
27. Hampton, Va., evacuated and burned by Union
troops.
AUGUST.
1. The rebel gunboat Petrel sunk off Charleston, S. C., by
a broadside from the St. Lawrence.
2. General Lyon has an engagement at Dug Spring, Mo.,
with McCulloch; the rebels defeated.
6. Congress adjourns sine die.
7. Breckinridge makes a speech in Baltimore, and is
mobbed.
9. Battle at Wilson's Creek, Mo.; General Lyon killed. —
The entire debt of the United States, $111,000,000.
16. The President issues a proclamation confiscating the
property of rebels.
18. The pirate Jeff. Davis wrecked on St. Augustine Bar,
Fla.
19. A battle at Charleston, Mo. ; rebels defeated. — Missouri
admitted into the Southern Confederacy.
26. Captain Foote (afterward Admiral), of the North Caro-
lina, ordered to the Western fleet. Engagement at Cross
Lane, Va. ; the rebels defeated.
28. Commodore Stringham's fleet opens fire on Fort Clark,
Hatteras Inlet, and reduces it.
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY ~'OF THE REBELLION. 125
29. Forts Hatteras and Clark, Hatteras Inlet, N. C., sur-
render to Commodore Stringham and General Butler, with
Commodore Barren, rebel navy, and 694 prisoners.
30. Fort Morgan, at Ocracoke Inlet, N. C., abandoned by
the rebels.
SEPTEMBER.
1. The rebels routed at Boone C. H., Va., and the town
burned.
5. General Grant announces the invasion of Hickinan,
Ky., by rebels.
6. Paducah, Ky., occupied by General Grant.
10. Battle of Carnifax's Ferry, in which Rosecrans de-
feats Floyd.
11. The gunboat Kearsarge launched at Portsmouth, N. H.
12. The President modifies Fremont's emancipation proc-
lamation.
14. The pirate Judith destroyed in Pensacola Harbor.
16. General Dix arrests the officers and members of the
Maryland Legislature, and sends them to Fort McHenry.
18. Price repulsed at Lexington, Mo., by Colonel Mul-
ligan.
20. Colonel Mulligan and his entire command surrender
to Price, at Lexington, Mo.
23. Commodore Stringham relieved by Commodore Golds-
borough.
26. The first national fast day under President Lincoln's
administration.
28. Governor Morgan made Major General of Volunteers.
OCTOBER.
8. General W. T. Sherman takes command of the Depart-
ment of the Cumberland, relieving General Robert Ander-
son.
9. " Billy " Wilson's Camp on Santa Rosas Island, Fla.,
attacked by the rebels, but the enemy is driven off.
17. Mason and Slidell arrive at Havana in the Nashville.
21. Battle of Ball's Bluff; Colonel E. D. Baker killed.—
Zollicoffer repulsed at Wild Cat, Ky.
22. The Potomac blockaded by rebel batteries at Matthias
Point,
25. Commodore Paulding appointed to command the
Brooklyn Navy-yard. — Springfield, Mo., captured by the
troops under Fremont.
29. The naval expedition leaves Hampton Roads for Port
Royal, S. C., under Commodore Dupont.
31. General Scott resigns as Brevet Lieutenant General,
and retires to private life.
126 APPENDIX.
NOVEMBER.
1. General Scott's resignation accepted by the Presi-
dent, who appoints General McClellan to the chief command
of the armies. — General Dix issues an' order regulating the
Maryland elections. — Floyd defeated by Rosecrans at Gauley
Bridge.
2. Fremont relieved of command in the Army of the
West, by General David Hunter.
4. The expedition of Commodore Dupont arrives off Port
Royal, S. C.
7. Battle at Belrnont, Mo.; the rebels under Sidney A.
Johnston defeated by Grant. — Naval engagement in Port Royal
Harbor; the rebel forts Beauregard and Walker captured.
8. General Buell assigned to the Department of Ken-
tucky.— James M. Mason and John Slidell, rebel ministers to
England and France, seized on board the Trent, by Commodore
Wilkes, of the SanJacinto. — Rebels defeated at Piketon, Ky.,
by General Nelson.
9. . General Scott and Mr. Thurlow Weed leave on a mis-
sion to Europe.
10. The rebels capture Guyandotte, Va., and massacre the
garrison. — Floyd defeated on the Kanawlia River, Va.'
12. General Halleck assigned to the Department of Mis-
souri.— The pirate Beauregard captured.
15. The troops in the volunteer service now number
480,000 men.
22. A general bombardment of Pensacola and the navy-
yard by Colonel Brown at Fort Pickens; the town and navy-
yard destroyed.
23. The pirate Sumter escapes from the Iroquois at Mar-
tinique.
27. The gunboat Coeur d'Leon runs the blockade of the
Potomac, and arrives at Fortress Monroe. — The Constitution
leaves Hampton Roads with General Phelps, first part of the
Butler expedition to New Orleans.
DECEMBER.
4. John C. Breckinridge expelled from the United States
Senate. — Mr. Saulbury's peace resolutions tabled by the Sen-
ate.— Holman's Crittenden resolutions tabled by the House.
6. Beaufort, S. C., occupied by General Stevens of Gen-
eral W. T. Sherman's command.
11. No more regiments to be raised by governors of States,
except upon special order irom the War Department; Senator
Wilson says there are men enough in the army.
13. Battle at Alleghany Camp, Pocahontas County, Va.;
rebels defeated.
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. 127
14. General Burnside's expedition against the North Caro-
lina coast leaves New York for Annanolis.
20. General Ord defeats the rebels at Dranesville, Va.
23. Price passes through Springfield, Mo., in full retreat
for Arkansas.
26. General Scott returns to New York from Europe. —
Mr. Seward agrees to surrender Mason and Slidell; Bull Run
Russell "acts as if he heard good news."
28. The New York banks suspend specie payments.
1862.
JANUARY.
1. Mason and Slidell surrendered. — Engagements at Port
Royal Ferry, S. C., and Pensacola, Fla.
4. General Milroy burns Huttonsville, Va.
9. General Burnside's expedition leaves Annapolis. —
General Lander evacuates Romney, Va.
10. Polk and Johnston, of Missouri, expelled from the
Senate.
11. The Pensacola runs the blockade of the Potomac and
arrives at Hampton Roads.
12. General Garfield occupies Prestonburgh, -Ky.
13. General Cameron resigns from the War Department.
17. Ex-President John Tyler dies at Richmond, Va. —
Mr. Cameron confirmed as Minister to Russia.
19. Battle of Mill Spring, Ky.
20. Rebels evacuate Mill Spring, Ky.
24. Commerce, Mo., sacked by Jeff. Thompson.
27. The President orders a forward movement of all the
armies, to take place on February 22.
30. The Monitor launched at Green Point, L. I.
FEBRUARY.
1. It is ordered that pirates shall be placed on the same
footing as prisoners of war.
4. General Grant arrives at Fort Henry, Tenn., and com-
mences the attack.
6. Fort Henry surrenders to General Grant and Flag-
officer Foot, after an engagement.
7. General Lander occupies Romney, Va. — General Burn-
side gains a victory on Roanokellsland, N. C. — The rebels
evacuate Bowling Green, Ky., in consequence of General
Grant's successes. — Appropriations made for twenty iron-clad
vessels.
10. An expedition ascends the Tennessee to Florence, Ala,
128 APPENDIX.
13. General Grant invests Fort Donelson, Tenn.
14. Battle of Fort Donelson, Tenn., commenced. — The
President offers an amnesty to the rebels.
16. Clarksville, Tenn., evacuated by the rebels. — Fort
Donelson surrenders to General Grant.
21. Battle at Valverde, Texas.
22. General Gillmore completes the investment of Fort
Pulaski, Ga.
23. General Curtis occupies Fayetteville, Ark.
24. General Nelson, of Buell's command, occupies Nash-
ville, Tenn.
25. The Monitor put into commission.
27. General Banks occupies Charlestown, Va.
28. The rebels evacuate Columbus, Ky.
MARCH.
2. General Banks occupies Martinsburg, Va.
3. Columbus, Ky., occupied by Union troops.
5. General Banks occupies Bunker Hill, Va.
6. General Joe Johnston falls back from Manassas in con-
sequence of McClellan's forward movement. — Battle of Pea
Ridge, Ark., commences and continues on the next day.
8. The President divides the Army of the Potomac into
five corps.— Union victory at Pea Ridge, Ark. — The fight be-
tween the Monitor and Herrimac in Hampton Roads.
9. Winchester, Va., evacuated by the rebels.
11. General McClellan occupies Manassas, Va.
14. General Burnside defeats the rebels at Newbern, N. C.
15. Flag-officer Foote commences the bombardment of
Island No. 10.
19. General Burnside occupies Little Washington, N. C.
22. General Banks occupies Luray, Va.
23. Battle at Winchester, Va.
26. Battle at Achape Pass, New Mexico.
31. General Geary occupies Union City, Tenn.
APRIL.
4. Apalachicola, Fla., occupied. — General McClellan lands
upon the Peninsula and commences the siege of Yorktown, Va.
6 and 7. Battle at Pittsburg Landing, Tenn.; rebels
defeated.
7. Island No. 10 surrenders to Flag-officer Foote.
10. General Gillmore commences the bombardment of Fort
Pulaski, Ga.
11. General Mitchell occupies Huntsville, Ala. — Fort Pu-
laski surrenders. — The siege of Fort Macon, N. C., commenced.
— Pocahontas, Ark., occupied by General Curtis. ;
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. 129
12. Stevenson, Ala., occupied.
14. Bombardment of Fort Pillow, Tenn., commenced.
16. Battles at Lee's Mill, Va.; McClellan's advance on
Wilmington Island, Ga.
17. General Banks occupies Mount Jackson, Va.
18. General McDowell occupies Falmouth, Va.
24. Commodore Farragut passes Forts St. Phillip and
Jackson.
25. Fort Macon, N. C., surrenders to General Parke.
26. New Orleans surrenders to Commodore Farragut. —
Battle at Warwick Creek, Va.
28. Forts Jackson and St. Phillip surrender to Porter.
MAY.
1. Jasper, Ala., occupied by General Mitchell.
4. General Lee evacuates Yorktown, Va.
5. Battle of Williarnsburg, Va.
7. Battle at West Point, Va.
8. Engagement at McDowell, Va.
10. Norfolk surrenders to General Wool. — Pensacola, Fla.,
surrenders.
11. The ram Merrimac blown up by Tatnall.
16. Naval engagement at Fort Darling, Va.
20. General Stoneman occupies New Bridge, Va.
21. General McClellan's army within five miles of Rich-
mond, Va.
23. General Banks evacuates Strasburg, Va., in conse-
quence of the advance of Jackson. — Commodore Farragut
shells Grand Gulf. Miss.— Battle at Lewisburg, Va.
25. General McDowell occupies Fredericksburg, Va.
27. General Williams occupies Baton Rouge, La.— Battle
at Hanover Court-house, Va.
28. General Halleck attacks Beauregard at Corinth, Miss.
29. Corinth, Miss., evacuated by the rebels.
31. Battle at Fair Oaks, Va.
1. Jackson retreats from Strasburg, Va. — Battle of Seven
Pines, Va.
5. Fort Pillow evacuated by the rebels.
6. Memphis surrenders after the defeat of the rebel
navy. — Jackson routed at Harrisonburg.
7. General Negley opens fire on Chattanooga.
8. Battle at Cross Keys, Va.
9. Jackson defeated at Port Republic, Va.
13. Stuart makes a foray on the right wing of McClellan's
army.
130 APPENDIX.
16. Battle on James' Island, S. C.
18. General Morgan occupies Cumberland Gap, Ky.
23. Commodore Farragut opens fire on Vicksburg,"Miss.
26. General McClellan commences his change of base to
James River.
27. Fremont relieved from the Mountain Department.
28. Pope takes command of the Department of Virginia. —
Farragut passes the Vicksburg batteries.
30. Battle of Nelson's Farm, Va.
JULY.
1. The President calls for 300,000 men.— Battle of Mal-
vern Hills; end of the seven days' fight.
4. General McDowell occupies Warrenton, Va.
10. The War Department orders general exchange of
prisoners. — General Curtis occupies Clarendon, Ark.
13. Murfreesboro, Tenn., surrenders.
15. Naval engagement on the Mississippi.
17. Battle at Cynthiana, Ky.
20. Engagement at Beaver Dam, Va.
22. Military and naval commanders ordered to confis-
cate rebel property. — General Halleck appointed General-in-
chief.
24. Farragut retires from before Vicksburg, Miss.
28. Battle at Moore's Mills, Mo.
AUGUST.
4. The President orders a draft of 300,000 men.
5. Battle of Baton Rouge, La.
6. The ram Arkansas destroyed above Vicksburg.
8. The President prohibits citizens from leaving the
country.
9. Battle of Cedar Mountain Va.
16. General McClellau evacuates Harrison's Landing with
his army.
22. Raid on Pope's rear by Jackson.
23. Battle of Catlett's Station, Va., and retreat of Pope.
29. Second Batt e of Bull Run, Va.
31. General McDowell evacuates Fredericksburg, Va.
SEPTEMBER.
2. General McClellan appointed to the defences of Wash-
ington.
4. Jackson invades Maryland.— The Oreta (Florida) runs
the blockade of Mobile.
5. Pope relieved from command.
6. McDowell relieved from command.
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. 131
9. Jackson invades Maryland at Poolesville.
10. Jackson occupies Hagerstown, Md. — Battle at Gauley,
Va.
12. General Burnside occupies Frederick, Md., in pursuit
of Jackson.
14. Battles at Mumfordsville, Tenn., and South Mountain,
Md.
15. Harper's Ferry, Va., surrenders to Jackson.
17. Mumfordsville, Tenn., surrenders to Bragg. — The
pirate Alabama captures her first prize, a whaler. — Battle of
Antietam, Md.
19. Battle of Inka, Miss.
20. Engagement on the banks of the Potomac.
22. The President issues his Emancipation Proclamation.
24. The President suspends the writ of habeas corpus.
29. General Nelson killed by General Jeff. C. Davis at
Louisville, Ky.
OCTOBER.
1. Sabine Pass, Texas, occupied.
2. The navy takes possession of St. John's Eiver, Fla.
3 and 4. Battle of Corinth, Miss.
8. General Grant occupies Grand Junction, Miss. — Battle
of Perryville, Ky.
9. Jacksonville, Fla., evacuated bv Union troops.
10. Jeb. Stuart invades Maryland at Mercersburg and
Pennsylvania at Chambersburg.
11. Bragg evacuates Camp Dick Robinson, Ky.
15. Engagement at Island No. 10.
16. Bragg makes his escape from Kentucky pursued by
Buell.
22. Battle at Pocotaligo, S. C.
23. General Schotield occupies Huntsville, Ala.
26. Indianola, Texas, surrendered.
29. General Pleasonton occupies Upperville, Va., in pur-
suit of Jackson.
30. France proposes intervention to England and Russia.
NOVEMBER.
7. General McClellan relieved of command of the Army
of the Potomac by General Burnside.
13. England declines the proposition of France to inter-
vene.
15. Successful trial of fifteen-inch guns in monitor turrets.
18. General Sumner, with the advance of the Army of the
Potomac, arrives at Falmouth, Va.
132 APPENDIX.
21. General Burnside demands the surrender of Freder-
icksburg, Va.
22. Tampico, Mexico, occupied by the French.
DECEMBER.
3. General Geary captures Winchester, Va.
4. General Banks' expedition leaves New York for New
Orleans.
7. The Alabama captures the mail steamer Ariel, and
bonds her. — Battle of Crawford's Prairie, Ark.
13. Battle of Fredericksburg, Va.
15. Burnside evacuates Fredericksburg, Va.
16. General Grover occupies Baton Rouge, La.
18. Battle of Lexington, Tenn.
20. Holly Springs, Miss., captured by Van Dorn. — The
rebels repulsed from Davis' Mills, Miss., with heavy loss.
21. General W. T. Sherman commences a movement upon
Vicksburg in the rear of Haines' Bluff.
28. Stuart makes an unsuccessful foray on Burnside 's army
at Falmouth, Va.
29. Battle of Haines' Bluff (Vicksburg), Miss.; General
Sherman repulsed. — Island No. 10 evacuated by order of Gen-
eral Jeff. C. Davis.
31. The Monitor sunk in a gale off Hatteras.
1863.
JAKTJAKY.
1. The President issues his Emancipation Proclamation.
— The rebels estimate their losses thus far at 20,898 killed,
59,615 wounded, and 21,169 prisoners. Total, 209,116.— Battles
of Hunt's Cross Roads, Tenn., and Galveston Texas.
2. General Sherman's expedition against Vicksburg with-
drawn.— Battle of Stone River, Tenn.
3. The rebels retreat across Stone River to Tullahoma.
4. Rosecrans pursues Bragg through Murfreesboro, Tenn.
5. General Banks assigned to the Department of the
Gulf.
9. The President divides the Army of the Cumberland
into corps under Thomas, McCook and Crittenden. — Battle of
Springfield, Mo.
10. General Grant removes his headquarters to Memphis,
Tenn., preparatory to entering upon the Vicksburg expedi-
tion.— General Sherman captures Arkansas Post, Ark.
11. A naval engagement in Galveston Bay, in which the
pirate Alabama sinks the gunboat Hatteras.
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. 133
12. Engagement at Patterson ville, La. — General Wool
takes command of the Department of the East.
16. Mound City, Ark., destroyed by our gunboats in retal-
iation.— The pirate Oreta (Florida) runs out of Mobile. — St.
Charles, Ark., captured by our gunboats. — Acapulco, Mexico,
bombarded by the French.
17. The fleet of monitors leave to rendezvous~at Port
Royal, S. C., preparatory to an attack on Fort McAllister.
18. Duval's Bluff and Des Arc, Arkansas, captured by Gen-
eral Gorman.
20. Fitz-John Porter cashiered by sentence of court-mar-
tial.— Authority given to Governor Andrew to raise Negro
troops. — The steamers Morning Light and Velocity seized at
Sabine Pass by the rebels.
21. General McClernand commences siege operations
against Vicksburg.
23. Mr. Cameron resigns'as Minister to Russia.
25. General Burnside relieved of the command of the
Army of the Potomac; also Generals Sumner and Franklin,
(the cause alleged to be a'delay in moving and dissatisfaction
of the officers).
26. General Hooker assigned to the command of Army of
the Potomac.
27. The monitor Montauk bombards Fort McAllister, Ga. —
The Senate passes a bill indemnifying the President for sus-
pending the writ of habeas corpus."
31. Naval engagement in Charleston Harbor; the rebel
rams attack our fleet.
FEBRUARY.
1. Federal occupation of Franklin, Term.
2. Second bombardment of Fort McAllister by the Mon-
tauk.— The House passes the bill for the enlistment of Negro
soldiers.
3. Rebels attack Fort Donelson, Tenn.,and are driven off.
—The Queen of the West runs past Vicksburg. — General Foster
re-iuforces Hunter at Port Royal, S. C.
4. General Grant takes "command of the armies in the
field operations against Vicksburg.
5. The Queen of the West destroys the rebel vessels in Red
River and returns.
6. Mr. Seward declines the French offer of mediation.
7. Engagement at Burnt Ordinary, Va.
10. The Queen of the West again runs the rebel batteries at
Vicksburg and cruises on the 12th in the Atchafalaya.
• 12. The House passes the National Currency Bill and the
bill providing- Cor the emancipation of the slaves in Missouri.
13. The Indianola runs the Vicksburg batteries.
134 APPENDIX.
14. The Queen of the West captured by the rebels in Ked
River.
16. The Senate passes the Conscription Bill.
18. Bombardment of Vicksburg commenced by General
Grant and the fleet.
24. The Indianola captured by the rebels below Vicksburg;
she is blown up through fear of Porter's mock monitor.
25. The Conscription Bill passes the House.
27. The Montauk destroys the Nashville in Ogeechee River,
Georgia.
28. The amended Conscription becomes a law. — The Presi-
dent calls an extra session of the Senate.
MARCH.
1. The Cold water Pass expedition of Porter's reaches
Moon Lake.
3. Nevada admitted as a State.
4. The pirate Retribution condemned at Nassau.
5. Battle at Thompson's Station, Tenn.
7. Battle at Spring Hill, Ark.
10. Jacksonville, Fla., occupied by Negro troops.
11. C. M. Clay confirmed as Minister to Russia.
12. The Coldwater expedition arrives at Fort Pemberton,
Mississippi.
13. Battle at Newbern, N. C. ; the rebels attempt to retake
the town.
14. Admiral Farragut runs past the Port Hudson batteries
in the Hartford.
15. The pirate Chapman captured in San Francisco harbor.
19. Admiral Farragut passes the batteries at Grand Gulf,
Miss., and anchors below Vicksburg on the 21st.
21. Death of General Sunnier.
22. Burnside's corps moves into Kentucky.
23. General Burnside assigned to the Department of the
Ohio. — The rebel ram Vicksburg captured by Admiral Porter.
— Pensacola, Florida, burned and evacuated by Federals.
25. The ram Lancaster sunk while passing the Vicksburg
battery. — Battle at Brentwood, Tenn.
27. Jacksonville, Fla., destroyed by Colonel Montgomery's
brigade of Negro troops. — Colonel Dandy effects a landing
upon Coles' Island, S. C.
28. The pirate Georgia leaves England.
30. Engagement at Somerset, Ky.
31. Admiral Farragut silences the batteries at Grand Gulf,
Miss.
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. 135
APRIL.
1. Admiral Farragut destroys transports in Red River.
4. The siege of Fort Pemberton, Miss., raised by the
Coldwater expedition.
5. The iron clad fleet arrives off Charleston Bar.
. 7. Admiral Farragut destroys Bayou Saraha. — Admiral
Dupont attacks Fort Sutnter; the Keokuk is sunk and the fleet
subsequently withdraws.
9. The Alexandra (supposed pirate) seized at Liverpool.
14. Pattersonville, La., occupied by General Banks, after
an engagement. — The rebels raise the siege of Washington,
N. C.
16. Five gunboats and three transports run the batteries of
Vicksburg. — The Queen of the West recaptured in Grand
Lake, La.
17. Colonel Grierson's cavalry starts on a raid through
Mississippi to sever railroad communication.
21. General Bapks captures Washington, La.
22. General Reynolds captures McMinnville, Tenn. — Six
gunboats and twelve transports, bearing the advance of Grant's
army, pass the Vicksburg batteries.
23. General Dodge captures Tuscumbia, Ala.
25. The pirate Georgia burns the ship Dictator.
27. The Army of the Potomac prepare for the Chancellors-
ville battle.
28. Colonel Grierson destroys valuable railroad property
at Benton, Miss. — Naval engagement at Grand Gulf, Miss.
29. General Dodge destroys Tower Creek, Ala.
30. National fast observed by order of President Lincoln.
— Porter's squadron passes the batteries at Grand Gulf, Miss.,
and General Grant fights the battle of Branlinsburg, and
lands his troops. — General Stoneman raids upon Hanover
Court-house, Va.
MAY.
1. Battle of Port Gibson, Miss. —General Kilpatrick
within two miles of Richmond, Va.
2. Battle of Chancellorsville, Va., commenced. Stone-
wall Jackson mortally wounded. — The tracks diverging from
Gordonsville destroyed by General Buford. — General Stone-
man destroys the railroad at Columbia, Va.
3. Second day of the battle of Chancellorsville, Va. —
Battle of Nansemond, Va.; Longstreet re-inforces Lee. — Fred-
edeksburg. Va., captured by General Sedgwick. — Iron works
at Round Mountain destroyed by Colonel Streight.
4. General Sedgwick evacuates Fred ericksburg, Va. —
136 APPENDIX.
Admiral Porter captures Fort De Russy, Ark., after an engage-
ment.— Colonel Streight's command surrenders to Forrest.
5. Vallandigham arrested in Dayton, Ohio, for treason,
by order of General Burnside. — The Army of the Potomac
retreats from Chancellorsville, Va.
6. Alexandria, La., captured by Porter's fleet. — The
pirate Florida captures the Clarence, and converts her info a
pirate.
7. Van Dorn (rebel general) shot at Chattanooga.
8. The President gives sixty-five days' warning to alien
residents. — The bombardment of Port Hudson commenced
by Farragut.
10. Stonewall Jackson dies.
11. Crystal Spring, Miss., destroyed by Grant's advance.
13. General Keys occupies West Point, Va. — Return of
several New York two years' regiments from the war.
14. General Grant occupies Jackson, Miss., after an engage-
ment.
16. Battle of Champion Hills, Miss.
17. Grant evacuates Jackson, Miss., and has an engage-
ment at Black.River Bridge. — Puebla, Mexico, surrenders to
the French.
18. General Grant occupies Haines' Bluff, and completes
the investment of Vicksburg, Miss.
19. Fire opened on Vicksburg from General Grant's bat-
teries.
20. The navy-yard at Yazoo City, Miss., destroyed by
Porter.
21. Engagement in the rear of Port Hudson, La. — Mexico
(City) evacuated by the Mexicans.
23. Port Hudson, La., invested by General Banks.
24. C. L. Vallandigham banished to the South. — Eight
rebel steamers destroyed on the Yazoo River.
20. General Weitzel's command joins Banks in the rear of
Port Hudson, La.
27. An assault on Port Hudson repulsed.
30. Rev. H. W. Beecher leaves for Europe on a mission.
— Engagement at Catlett's Station, Va.
JUXE.
1. James' Island, S. C., evacuated by the rebels.
3. Lee prepares for the invasion of the North.
5. General Hooker makes a reconnoissance at Deep Run,
Va.
6. Battle at Milliken's Bend, Mips.; Negro troops engaged.
11. Mosby makes a foray on Poolesville, Md.
PHILIP H. SHERIDAN.
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OP THE REBELLION. 139
12. The Clarence captures the Tacony, converts her into a
pirate, and is burned.— General Gillmore relieves Hunter of
the Department of the South.
14. General Hooker moves from Falmouth to Bull Run in
pursuit of Lee. — Federal forces at Winchester and Berryville
defeated and fall back.
15. The President calls for 120,000 men to repel invasion.
— The rebels occupy Hagerstown, Md., Chambersburg and
Greencastle, Pa.
16. Harper's Ferry invested by the rebels.
17. The rebel rava Atlanta captured.
18. New York militia leave for Harrisburg, Pa. — Cham-
bersburg evacuated by the rebels.
19. The rebel ram Chattahoochee blown up. — The Alabama
captures the Conrad, and converts her into a pirate. — Federal
foray on Lenon Station, Tenn.
20. Governor Bowman inaugurated Governor of West Vir-
ginia.— Frederick, Md., occupied by Stuart.
21. Stuart evacuates Frederick, Md., and the advance of
the Army of the Potomac enters.
22. The rebels invade Paoli, Ind. — Vallandigham arrives at
Bermuda.
23. The rebels capture Brashear, La. — Rebels advance on
Shippinsburg, Pa.
24. General Rosecrans occupies Shelbyville, Tenn.
25. General Knipe evacuates Carlisle, Pa. — The Tacony
captures the Archer, converts her into a pirate, and is burned.
26. The Archer, in an attempted raid on Portland, Me., is
captured. — Gettysburg occupied by the rebels. — The rebels
retreat on Tullahoraa, Tenn.
27. The barracks at Carlisle, Pa. .burned by the rebels. —
Rosecrans occupies Manchester, Tenn.
28. The bridge at Columbia, Pa., burned to prevent the
advance of the enemy. — General Hooker relieved of com-
mand by General George W. Meade. — The War Department
orders the organization of a Veteran Reserve Corps. — Union
troops evacuate Donaldsonville.
29. General Granger occupies Shelbyville, Tenn.
JULY.
1. Battle at Gettysburg, Pa., commenced. — General Rose-
crans occupies Tullahoma, Tenn., and Winchester the next
day.
3. Negotiations for the surrender of Vicksburg, Miss.,
opened.
4. Vicksburg surrenders to General Grant. — Lee defeated
at Gettysburg, Pa.— Battle at Helena, Ark.— A. H. Stephens
140 APPENDIX.
comes down the James River on a mission, but returns un-
successful.
5. Lebanon, Ky., surrenders to Morgan. — Sherman de-
feats Johnson at Black River, Miss.
6. General Ransom occupies Natchez, Miss.
7. Bragg retreats across the Tennessee at Bridgeport, Ala.
— Negotiations for the surrender of Port Hudson, La.,
opened.
8. Generals Grant and Meade promoted. — Port Hudson,
La., surrenders to General Banks, and the Mississippi is
thereby opened. — Morgan occupies Corydon, Ind. — Lee s rear-
guard defeated at Hagerstown, Md.
9. General Terry lands his troops on James' Island, S. C.
10. Morgan captures Salem, Ind. — Rebels defeated on
Morris Island; General Gillmore eflects a landing and com-
mences the siege of Charleston.
11. Morgan captures Madison, Ind. — The draft com-
menced in New York. — Battle at Jackson, Tenn.
12. General Meade decides not to attack Lee on the
banks of the Potomac. — General Stanley occupies Huntsville,
Ala.
13. Lee's army crosses into Virginia. — General Herron
captures Yazoo City. — The President thanks General Grant
for Vicksburg. — First day of the draft riots in New York
City.
14. Battle with Lee's rear guard at Falling Waters, Va. —
Morgan occupies Unionville, Ohio.
15. The President appoints a day of Thanksgiving for
recent victories.
10. The militia return to New York. — Johnston evacuates
Jackson, Miss. — Battles on James' Island, S. C., and at Honey
Spring, Indian Territory.
17. Vallandigham at Niagara Falls, Canada. — Quiet re-
stored in New York. — Battles at Fort Gibson, Ark.
18. General Dix takes command of the Department of the
East. — Rebels defeated at Morris Island, S. C., and at Rienzi,
Miss.
24. Rebels defeated at Wytheville, Va.
26. Morgan defeated at Salineville, Ohio. — Death of John
J. Crittenden.
27. Rebels defeated at Richmond, Ky.
29. Rebels defeated at Paris, Ky. — Wm. L. Yancey dies at
Montgomery, Ala. — The pirate Alabama repairs at Cape Town,
Cape Good Hope.
AUGUST.
1. Jeff. Davis offers an amnesty to deserters.
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. 141
3. The President orders retaliation for cruel treatment of
prisoners of war.
9. The rebels defeated at Sparta, Tenn.
14. General Gillrnore mounts the "Swamp Angel" on
Morris Island, S. C.
15. Rebels defeated at Piiieville, Mo. — Fort Sumter
breached by siege guns.
17. Rebels defeated at Granada, Miss. — The Mississippi
declared open for trade. — Captain George W. Rodgers killed
in Charleston Harbor.
18. An expedition to Granada, Miss., destroys vast quanti-
ties of railroad materials.
19. The draft resumed in New York.
21. The citizens of Lawrence, Kansas, massacred by
Quantrell.— General Rosecrans arrives in front of Chattanooga.
— The brig Bainbridge founders at sea. — General Gillmore
throws Greek fire into Charleston.
23. General Gillmore announces that Fort Sumter is a
shapeless mass of ruins, incapable of further offensive opera-
tions.— General Steele occupies Clarendon, Ark.
26. Gillmore assaults Fort Wagner on Morris Island after
siege approaches. — Jeff. Thompson captured at Pocahontas,
Ark. — John B. Floyd dies. — General Steele captures Browns-
ville, Ark.
27. Rebels defeated at Hanover, Tenn., and Bayou Meteor,
Ark.
28. The draft completed in New York city.
29. Five bounty-jumpers shot in the Army of the Po-
tomac.— A rebel ram launched at Laird's Yard, Liverpool.
31. The draft commenced in Brooklyn. — General Burn-
side seizes Emory's Gap, Tenn. — The pirate Sumter sunk in
Charleston Harbor.
SEPTEMBER.
1. Fort Smith, Ark., evacuated by the rebels. — Knoxville,
Tenn., occupied by General Burnside's advance.
2. Burnside's main column occupies Knoxville, and is
welcomed by the inhabitants.
3. The pirate Florida enters Brest, France.— Rebels
defeated at Diamond Gap, Tenn. — Federals repulsed from
Fort Gregg, S. C. — Bread riot at Mobile, Ala.
5. Forts Gregg and Wagner, S. C., assaulted.
6. Forts Wagner and Gregg evacuated by the rebels and
occupied by General Gillmore. — Our forces defeated at Moore-
field, Va.
7. General Rosecrans occupies Trenton, Ga.
8. Chattanooga, Tenn., evacuated by the rebels. — Naval
engagement in Charleston Harbor; a naval attack on Fort
142 APPENDIX.
Sumter repulsed. — Union forces defeated at Sabine Pass,
Texas.
9. Chattanooga occupied by General Crittenden. — Cum-
berland Gap surrenders to General Burnside. — Union forces
defeated at Tipton, Tenn.
10. General Steele occupies Little Rock, Ark. — Longstreet
re-inforces Bragg.
11. Battle at Dalton, Ga. — The pirate Florida detained at
Brest, France.
12. Culpepper, Va., occupied by General Meade's ad-
vance.
13. Engagements near Culpepper, Va., and at Bird's Gap,
Ga.
15. The President suspends the writ of habeas corpus.
18. General Burnside's advance at Bristol, Tenn., when
an engagement takes place.
19. Rebels defeated at Fort Smith, Ark.
19 and 20. Battle of Chickamauga.
22. Battle near Carter's Station, Tenn.
24. The President raises the blockade at Alexandria, Va.
27. Jonesboro, Tenn., re-occupied by rebels.
28. General Hooker leaves Virginia to re-5nforce Rose-
crans.
29. Greenbacks declared a legal tender by the Court of
Appeals of New York. — Visit of English, Russian and French
fleets to New York.
30. Aggregate value of naval captures to date, $30,000,000.
OCTOBER.
1. The Eleventh and Twelfth Corps, General Hooker,
arrive at Bridgton, Ala. — Rebels defeated at Anderson's Cross
Roads, Tenn., and at Franklin, La.
2. General Franklin occupies Franklin, La.
3. The President appoints a day of National Thanksgiv-
ing.— Guerrillas repulsed from McMinnville, Tenn.
5. The rebel s attempt to blow up the New Ironsides.
6. Quantrell massacres General Blunt's body guard at
Baxter Springs, Mo., after defeating his troops.
8. Quantrell burns Carthage, Mo. — Rebels defeated at
Lannington, Miss.
10. Lee commences a flank movement on Meade, but the
rebels are defeated at Robertson's Ford, Va. — Fight at Blue
Springs, Tenn.
11. General Meade falls back to meet Lee. — The rebel
forces driven out of East Tennessee.
12. General Meade rests his army on Manassas Plains,
having foiled Lee's'plans.
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OP THE REBELLION. 143
14. Battle of Bristow Station, Va.
15. Lee ceases his pursuit of Meade, and commences a
retrograde movement.
16. The rebels defeated at Blackburn's Ford, Va.— Gen-
eral McPherson raids upon Canton, Miss.
17. Engagement at Charlestgwn, Va. — Imboden over-
powers the garrison.— The President calls for 300,000 more
men.
18. Gefieral Meade starts in pursuit of Lee.
19. Rosecrans superseded by General Thomas, and the
new Military Department of the Mississippi created and
placed under General Grant, who is given plenary powers.
21. General Meade ceases the pursuit of Lee. — General
Franklin occupies Opelousas, La. — Battle at Cherokee Station,
Ala.
22. Battle at Columbia, Ky.
23. General Grant arrives at Chattanooga.
24. Battle at Danville, Ky. — Jeff. Davis visits Mobile.
25. Battle at Pine Bluff, Ark.
26. General Gillmore renews the bombardment of Surn-
ter.
27. General W. F. Smith executes a flank movement at
Lookout Mountain, Ga.
28. General Hooker's " Battle in the Clouds" at Lookout
Mountain. — Engagement at Wauhatchie, Ala. — General Blair
occupies Tuscumbia, Ala. — 181 Federal prisoners arrive at
Fortress Monroe from Libby prison, in a starving condition.
29. The exchange of prisoners stopped. — General Butler
takes command of the Department of Virginia at Fortress
Monroe.
31. A furious bombardment of Fort Sumter.
. NOVEMBER.
1. General Dana occupies Brazos de Santiago, Texas.
3. Fort Brown, Texas, evacuated by the rebels.
4. The gunboat Kearsarge arrives in Cork, Ireland.
5. Battle at Carrion Crow Bayou, La.
7. Engagement at Kelley's Ford, Va.
8. Lee's army moves across the Rapidan.
10. Engagement at Droop Mountain, Va.
11. Lord Lyons notifies Mr. Seward of the plot in Canada
to release rebel prisoners at Sandusky.
13. The resignation of General Burnside accepted.
14. Longstreet crosses the river for an advance in East
Tennessee.
15. Battle at Raccoon Ford, Va. — The iron-clad Camanche
sunk in San Francisco harbor.
144 APPENDIX.
16. Burnside falls back on Lenoir Station from Longstreet's
advance.
17. Burnside falls back on Knoxville when he is attacked
by Longstreet. — General Banks captures Aransas Pass, Texas.
18. Three hundred starved Union prisoners arrive at Fort-
ress Monroe.
19. Thanksgiving Day in Dixie.
20. Lougstreet again attacks Burnside at Knoxville, Tenn.
23 and 25. Battle of Chattanooga.
26. Meade advances against Lee.
27. Battle of Raccoon Ford, Va.
28. Lee falls back to Mine Run, Va.— John Morgan escapes
from the Columbus (Ohio) penitentiary.
2^. Engagement at Fort Saunders, near Knoxville.
30. General Gillmore commenced to shell Charleston, S. C.,
from Morris Island, over five miles. — The rebels evacuate and
blow up Fort Esperanza, Texas.
DECEMBER.
1. Generals Hooker and Palmer evacuate Ringgold,Ga. —
The Army of the Potomac crosses to the North side ol the
Rapidan.
2. Bragg relieved by Hardee.
3. Rebels repulsed from Raccoon Ford, Va. — General
Sherman arrives at Knoxville, Tenn., to re-inforce Burnside.
— The enemy burns Lafayette, Tenn.
4. Longstreet raises the siege of Knoxville, Tenn.
6. Longstreet's rear guard attacked at Clinch Mountain,
Tenn. — The steamer Chesapeake captured by piratical pas-
sengers.— The monitor Weehaivken sunk in a gale.
7. General Foster announces Longstreet in full retreat
from Tennessee, whereupon the President orders a Thanks-
giving.— General Grant's captures during the war-announced
as 472 cannon and 90,000 prisoners. — Congress organizes; Mr.
Colfax chosen Speaker of the House.
8. Congress passes joint resolutions of thanks to General
Grant.
9. The President thanks General Grant for the victory in.
East Tennessee. — General Averill leaves Harper's Ferry on a
foray. — Jeff. Davis denounced by Henry S. Fqote, in the Rebel
Congress. — Rebels driven from Bean's Station, Tenn. — The
President issues a Proclamation of Amnesty.
10. Engagement at Morristown, Tenn.; Longstreet's army
at Rogersville.
11. The pirate Cliesaptake leaves Shelburne, N. S.
12. Rebels refuse to receive any supplies for Union pris-
oners.
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. 145
13. Rebels repulsed at Catlett's Station, Va.
14. Engagement at Bear Station, Tenn. — General Wistar
makes a foray on Charles City C. H., Va.
16. The Virginia and Tennessee Road cut at Salem, by
General Averill.
17. The pirate Chesapeake captured at Sambro, N. S., by
the Ella <fc Aniia. — Rebel foray on Sangster's Station, Va.
19. The pirates of the CJiesapcake rescued by a mob in
Halifax.
21. General Averill returns from his foray.
23. Passports required of persons leaving New York.
26. The Dictator launched.
27. General Joe Johnston takes command of Bragg's army .
1804.
JANUARY.
1. Proposals issued for a loan of $35,000,000 to the
United States.
3. Discovery of $6,000,000 in Confederate bonds printed
in New York for the Confederate Government. — Maximilian's
acceptance of the Mexican throne announced. — Surrender of
300 Union troops to the rebels at Jonesville, Va.
9. The steamer Chesapeake (seized by rebels and run
into Halifax, N. C.), ordered by the Admiralty Court to bei
returned to her owners in New "York.
11. Proclamation of Major General Banks for holding an
election in Louisiana for State officers.
12. Gunboats and transports of Sherman's and Porter's
expedition up the Yazoo River attacked by 3,000 rebels.
20. General Seymour, at Olustee, Florida, defeated by the
rebels. — Fight between General Sturgis and the rebels under
Hood and Johnston at Danville, Tenn.
22. Fight between United States troops and the rebels in
Arkansas.
23. Restrictions on trade in Missouri and Kentucky
removed by order of the Secretary of the Treasury.
29. Capture of Scottsville, Ky., by the rebels.
31. A wagon train captured by the rebels near Williams-
port, Md. — Union troops at Bachelor's Creek, N. C., defeated
by rebels.
FEBKUARY.
1. President Lincoln issues a proclamation for 500,000
men for three years.
2. Raid by the rebels on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ;
estimated damage to property .$1,000,000. — Rebel attack on
146 APPENDIX.
Newbern, N. C., repulsed; the gunboat Undenvriter captured
and destroyed by the rebels. — Roddy's rebel cavalry driven
out of Tennessee.
3. Fight on the upper Potomac between the rebels under
Colonel Rosser and the Union troops under General Averill;
defeat of the former.
4. Union forces capture Jackson City and Yazoo City,
Miss.
6. President Lincoln issues a proclamation removing
restrictions on trade in the States of Kentucky and Missouri.
7. An expedition, under General Gillmore, ascends St.
John's River, Fla., enters Jacksonville, and captures 100 pris-
oners, 8 pieces of artillery, and other property.
8. Fight with the rebels at Germania Ford, Va., without
definite results. — Advance of Union troops from Jacksonville,
Fla., into the interior, and capture of property valued at
$1,500,000.
9. Severe cavalry fight with rebels at Strawberry Plains,
Tenn.
10. General decline in the prices of stocks at New York.
15. Advance in the price of stocks. — The pirate Georgia
escapes from the port of Cherbourg.
18. Generals Smith, Sherman and others make a success-
ful raid into Alabama; they destroy over 1,000,000 bushels of
corn, and capture 1,500 mule and'horses, and over 300 pris-
oners.
19. The Enrollment Bill passed the Senate by a vote of 26
to 16, and the House (on the 12th), by 93 to 60.
22. Unconditional Union State Convention of Maryland
held at Baltimore, and resolutions pass in favor of instructinr
the delegates to the National Union Convention to vote fog
Abraham Lincoln first, last and all time.
23. Bombardment of Fort Powell, Mobile Harbor, by Ad-
miral Farragut.
25. Tunnel Hill, Tenn., captured by Union troops under
General Grant. — Athens, Ala., captured by the rebels under
General Roddy.
26. The rebels beaten at Athens and Florence, Ala., by
Union troops. — The rank of Lieutenant General conferred
upon Ulysses S. Grant, of the United States Army.
28. Successful reconnoissance by General Custer toward
Gordonville, Va.; capture of rebel camp.
MARCH.
1. Annihilation of a colored regiment by guerrillas at
Tecumseh Landing, near Grand Lake, Miss.
2. Successful raid by General Kilpatrick near Richmond.
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. 147
5. The rebels attack Yazoo City, Miss., and are defeated.
8% General Sherman returns to Vicksburg from a success-
ful raiding expedition into Alabama and Mississippi, having
destroyed over §2,000,000 worth of property, and captured
8.000 Negroes and 4,OpO prisoners. — State election in New
York decided that soldiers may vote.
9. Gold market excited; price advanced; stock market
rampant. — Major General Grant receives his commission as
Lieutenant General from President Lincoln. — Council of war
between the President, the Cabinet and General Grant.
10. Expedition under General A. J. Smith left Vicksburg
for the Red River. — Constitutional Convention of West Vir-
ginia adopts a resolution to abolish slavery.
14. Fort De Russy, on Red River, Louisiana, captured by
Union troops under General A. J. Smith; 11 guns and 300
prisoners taken. — Major General Halleck retired from the
position of Commander-in-Chief.
15. The rebels make a daring attempt to recapture Sea-
brook, near Hilton Head, S. C.. used as a depot for coal for
United States vessels.— Call by President Lincoln for 200,000
men for the army, navy and marine.
J7. Advance in gold notwithstanding the passage of the
Gold Bill. — Lieutenant General Grant assumes command of all
the armies of the United States. — Fort De Russy blown up
accidentally; four men killed and six wounded.
18. The rebels appear on a new raiding expedition toward
Washington.
20. Reconnoissance by Union troops under General Mower
up the Red River, La.; 200 rebels and four cannon captured.
21. Act of Congress to admit Nevada and Colorado as
States passed.
23. The rebels under General Forrest commence an inva-
sion of Kentucky. — President Lincoln issues an order for the
re-organization of the army.
24. Union City, Term., attacked by rebels under General
Forrest; Colonel Hawkins, in charge, surrenders to the rebels.
— Capture of Alexandria, La., by Union troops.
25. The rebels under General Forrest enter Paducah, Ky.;
the rebels were repulsed and driven from the city. — Severe
gale; several vessels driven ashore along the coast.
26. President Lincoln issues a new amnesty proclamation.
27. Gold advances from 164 to 169. — Union troops under
General Mower capture 17 cannon from the rebels near Alex-
andria, La.
28. Gold declines from 169 to 166J.— Election in Louisiana
for delegates to a State Convention to revise and amend the
Constitution of the State.— General Forrest (rebel) with 7,000
148 APPENDIX.
men advances to the vicinity of Columbus, Ky., and creates
great alarm there.
30. An expedition of Union troops under Colonel Clayton
to Mount Elba and Longview, Ark., captured 320 prisoners,
300 horses, about 40 wagons laden with camp and garrison
equipments, beside 300 contrabands, and killing and wound-
ing about 200 rebels. — United States steamer Maple Leaf blown
up in St John's River, Florida, by a rebel torpedo; four of the
crew killed.
APRIL.
1. A band of rebels attack the United States Government
plantations on the Yazoo River, and set fire to the buildings ;
several Negroes perish in the flames.
3. Union troops defeated by the rebels at Shreveport, La.
8. Defeat of Union troops under General Stoneman at
Pleasant Hill, La. ; loss 2,000 in killed, wounded and prisoners.
9. Fight between rebels and Union gunboats at New Falls
City, near Shreveport, La.; defeat of the rebels; from 500 to
600 of them killed or wounded. — Fight with rebels at Grand
Ecore, La.; capture of 2,000 rebels and 20 cannon by
Union troops. — The rebels attempt to blow up the United
States frigate Minnesota, lying in Hampton Roads, with a tor-
pedo, but fail.
12. Capture of Fort Pillow by the rebels under General
Forrest; all found in the garrison, except about 200, massacred
after they had surrendered — men, women and children. —
Steamer Golden Gate, laden with United States Government
stores, captured by rebels near Memphis. — Maximilian in-*
vested with his new honors as Emperor of Mexico at his
Castle of Meramar.
13. The surrender of Fort Halleck, Columbus, Ky., de-
manded by the rebels under General A. Buford.
14. About 100 rebels, 200 horses, 400 saddles and 300 small
arms captured by Union troops at Half Mountain, Ky.
15. Explosion of a boiler on board of the United States gun-
boat Chenango, in New York harbor; many seamen killed or
sustain appalling injuries.
16. The issue of gold certificates by the sub-treasury,
New York, suspended.
17. The rebels attempt to capture Plymouth, N. C., but
are repulsed with great slaughter. — A portion of Hockman,
Ky., burned by the rebels.
18. A rebel ram at Plymouth, N. C., attacks and sinks the
gunboats Bombshell and Southfield. — Great panic in Wall street,
New York; many heavy failures among the leading bull opera-
tors; a great panic also 'in the stock market — one of the sever-
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. 149
est ever witnessed; decline in prices. — Act of Congress to
admit Nebraska as a State.
20. Surrender of General Wessels and 2,500 Union troops
at Plymouth, N. C., after four hours' fighting.
22. Fight between Union troops under General Banks
and the rebels at Cane Eiver, near Alexandria, La.; 1,000
rebels and nine cannon captured.
25. One hundred thousand troops for one hundred days
tendered by the Governors of Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and
Illinois, and accepted by President Lincoln — Advance in gold
to 183. — A train of 250 wagons with a cavalry escort and four
cannon captured by rebels near Pine Bluff, Ark.
27. Decline in stocks; gold falls from 181 to 178.
29. Madison Court-house, Va., burned by Union troops,
on account of rebels firing upon them from the windows in
the place.
MAY.
1. Gunboat 'Eastport and two transports blown up by
Union forces near Alexandria, La., to prevent her falling into
possession of rebels.
o. Admiral Wilkes suspended from duty for three years
and publicly reprimanded. — General Grant commences move-
ments against Richmond. — Fight between Union cavalry under
Generaf Sturgis and a brigade of rebels under General For-
rest; defeat and retreat of the latter.
4. Union troops under General Butler advance up the
Peninsula toward Richmond, and occupy Yorktown, West
Point, etc. — The army of the Potomac, under General Grant,
cross the Rapidan without opposition.
5. General Butler transfers his army from Yorktown and
West Point to City Point and Bermuda Hundred. — Two
United States gunboats and three transports destroyed by the
rebels near Alexandria, La.
6. Battle at Mine Run between the rebels under General
Lee and the Army of the Potomac under General Grant; the
rebels defeated and driven back; Brigadier General James
S. Wadsworth and Brigadier Alex. Hays among the killed.
7. General Thomas occupied Tunnel Hill, Ga.
8. Dalton, Ga., occupied by Union troops under General
Thomas. — Severe battle between the Union army under Gen-
eral Grant and the rebels under General Lee near Spott-
sylvaniaCourtrhouse; Major General John Sedgwick killed.
9. The gunboats of General Banks and Admiral Porter's
expedition tip Red River succeed in getting down over the
Falls near Alexandria, through the engineering skill of Lieu-
tenant Colonel Bailey. — Fight betwen Union troops under
General Butler and the rebels under General Hill near Peters-
150 APPENDIX.
burg, Va. ; the latter handsomely whipped. — Another terrible
battle near Spottsylvania Court-house between the Union and
rebel armies.
10. General Sheridan completes a successful raid in the
rear of Lee's rebel army in Virginia, recapturing 500 Union
soldiers and destroying eight miles of railroad, two locomo-
tives and three trains. — Fight between General Butler's troops
and those of General Beauregard, without definite results.
11. The rebel army in Georgia driven by General Sher-
man to Buzzard's Eoost Mountain.
12. Major General Hancock captures 7,000 rebels and thirty
guns in a battle near Spottsylvania, Va. — Union troops evacu-
ate Little Washington, N. C., when rebels enter and burn all
the houses in the place except about twenty; women robbed
and turned adrift without food or shelter. — The outer line of
works of Fort Darling carried by Union troops under Gen-
erals Gillmore and Smith. — General Sheridan captures the
outer line of fortifications in front of Richmond. — Dalton, Ga.,
evacuated by the rebels under General Joe Johnston and occu-
pied by Union troops under General Sherman.
14. Bombardment of Charleston and Fort Sumter, S. C.,
renewed with vigor.
15. Resaca, Ga., captured by General Sherman's army,
with 1,200 prisoners, ten guns and six trains going South for
supplies; Union loss in killed and wounded 2,700. — General
Sigel defeated at Rood's Hill in the Shenandoah Valley.
16. President Lincoln calls upon Governor Parker, of New
Jersey, for all the militia he can raise for one hundred days'
service. — Defeat of the rebels under Johnston at Resaca, by
General Sherman.
18. A bogus proclamation of President Lincoln published
in the World and Journal of Commerce; the publication of the
World and Journal of Commerce stopped by the Government. —
Battle between Union troops under General A. J. Smith and
a rebel division in Louisiana; 300 rebels captured.
20. Defeat of Union troops under General Sigel by rebels
under General Breckinridge in the Shenandoah Valley.
21. The rebels make a furious assault on General Butler's
lines, near Fort Darling, and are repulsed.
23. The Union army, under General Grant, makes a grand
flank movement against the rebels under General Lee, result-
ing in a sharp fight and repulse of the rebels. — Joseph How-
ard, Jr., and Francis A. Mallison arrested and sent to Fort
Lafayette, charged with forging the bogus proclamation of
President Lincoln. — General Lee's rebel army falls back to the
South Anna River; over 600 rebel soldiers captured by Union
troops.
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. 151
24. Advance in gold to 185.
25. The rebels, under General Fitz Hugh Lee, attack the
Union forces at Wilson's Wharf, on the Jaines River, and are
repulsed.
26. General Grant makes another flank movement on
Lee's rebel army, crossing the Pamunkey River at Hanover-
town Ferry, and reaching a point within fourteen miles of
Richmond. — Surgeon-General Hammond, U. S. A., convicted
by court-martial. — Act of Congress creating the Territory of
Montana.
28. Rapid advance in the price of gold to 188.
29. Fight between the rebels and General McPherson's
corps of Sherman's army, at Dallas, Ga. ; the rebels driven
back with a loss of 5,500 in killed, wounded and prisoners.
31. Gold advances to 194.
JUNE.
1. National Convention of Radical Republicans at Cleve-
land, nominated John C. Fremont for President, and John
Cochrane for Vice-President. — A rebel iron-clad descends
James River from Richmond and attacks some Union moni-
tors, but is repulsed after two hours' fighting. — Fight between
Union and rebel troops near Mechanicsville, Va.; about 4,000
rebels captured.
2. John C. Fremont resigns his position as Major-General
in the United States Army. — A portion of General Sherman's
army advances to occupy Allatoona Pass, Ga. — United States
steamer Water Witch, 5 guns, captured by rebels in Ossabaw
Sound, Ga. — Successful advance of General Grant's army to
Cold Harbor. Va. — General Fitz Hugh Lee and 500 rebel cav-
alry- captured by General Butler's troops near White House,
Virginia.
3. General Grant attempts to drive the rebels across the
Chickahominy River, and is repulsed; Union loss, 3,000;
Union loss in three days, 7,500. — National Bank Act passed.
4. The rebels, under General Lee, attack I'nion lines
near Bottom's Bridge, on the Chickahominy, but are repulsed.
5. General John C. Fremont and General John Cochrane
accept their nominations for President and Vice-President.
6. General Hunter defeats the rebels at Staunton, Va.;
captures 1,500 prisoners, 3,000 stand of arms and )! cannon,
besides a large amount of stores, etc.; the rebel General W.
E. Jones, killed. — The rebels attack the Union troops under
General Burnside, and are repulsed.
7. National Union Convention assembles at Baltimore. —
Gold advances to 194.
152 APPENDIX.
8. Gold advances to 195£. — John Morgan's rebel forces
enter Eastern. Kentucky and capture the town of Mount Ster-
ling.— The Baltimore Convention nominates Abraham Lincoln
for President, and Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, for Vice-
President.
9. John Morgan and his rebel band defeated at Mount
Sterling, Ky. ; he subsequently attacks Lexington, Ky., and
burns the railroad depot there. — Advance in price of gold
from 195 to 198.
10. General Kautz, with his Union cavalry troops, charges
the rebel works in front of Petersburg, Va.,* and enters the
place, but not being supported by General Gillmore, is com-
pelled to retire.
11. Fight between Union cavalry under General Sheridan,
and the rebels under General J. E. B. Stewart; defeat of the
rebel troops and death of General Stewart. — General Hunter
burns the Virginia Military Institute, Governor Letcher's
house, and captures 6 cannon, 600 horses and a large amount
of stores.
12. Maximilian makes a triumphant entry into the city of
Mexico. — John Morgan, rebel general, captures Cynthiana,
Ky., and two Ohio regiments; General Burbridge, with Union
troops, subsequently arrives, defeats the rebels, captures 400
prisoners and 1,000 horses.
13. Expedition of 8,000 Union troops under General Stur-
gis defeated by 10,000 rebels under Generals Forrest, Lee and
Roddy; wagon and ammunition trains lost. — Lexington, Va.,
captured by Union troops under Generals Crook and Averill.
14. Bids for the $75,000,000 loan opened at the Treasury
Department; over §90,000,000 offered.— Army of the Potomac,
under General Grant, makes another flank movement, crosses
the Chickahominy River, also the James River to the south
side of Richmond.
15. General (Baldy) Smith attacks the rebel defences in
front of Petersburg and captures 13 cannon and about 350
prisoners. — Bill passed by the House of Representatives in
favor of prohibiting slavery by a Constitutional amendment
defeated by the United States Senate.
16. Vallandigham returns to Ohio from his exile without
permission of President Lincoln, claiming his right to do so.
17. Desperate, but ineffectual attempt to capture Peters-
burg, Va., by Union troops; loss 8,000 men.
18. Repulse of Union troops under General Hunter while
attempting to capture Lynchburg. — Surrender of Union troops
at Bardstowu, Ky., to a few rebels without pulling a trigger. —
General Sherman enters Marietta, Ga., the rebels having evac-
uated the place.
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. 153
19. Fight off Cherbourg between the rebel cruiser Ala-
bama, under Captain Semmes, and the United States steamer
Kearsarqe, under Captain Winslow; the former sunk after an
hour's fight. — The rebels commence an invasion of Maryland
and Pennsylvania.
21. Advance in gold from 198 to 208.— Fight with the reb-
els in Georgia; an important position gained by General Sher-
man; rebel loss 700 men. — Fight with and repulse of the
rebels at White House, Va. — Rebel cavalry attack the Union
lines at Pine Bluff, Ark., and are repulsed. — Inter-Continental
Telegraph Bill passed by Congress.
22. Desperate fight between rebel and Union troops on
the line of the Petersburg & Weldon railroad; the Union
troops driven from their position, but afterward regain it; a
Union brigade gobbled up. — A gold panic in Wall street, New
York; rises from 208 to 226, and then falls to 210, with a cor-
responding effect in price of flour, pork, etc. — Isaac Hender-
son, Navy Agent, New York, arrested on charges of having
defrauded the government. — The rebels under General Mag-
ruder, near White River, whipped by Union troops.
23. Bill to repeal the Fugitive Slave Law passed by Con-
gress.— Gold advances from 210 to 215.
24. The rebels capture the tinclad gunboat Queen City, and
blockade the river between Memphis and Little Rock. — The
Constitutional Convention of Maryland adopt, by a vote of 53
to 27, a bill in favor of prohibiting slavery in the State, except
as a punishment for crime.
26. General Hunter completes a successful raid into Dixie,
capturing and destroying over $5,000,000 worth of property.
27. Advance in price of gold from 218 to 233. — General
Sherman makes an unsuccessful assault upon the rebel lines
at Kenesaw Mountain; Union loss 2,500.
28. Gold advances from 233 to 240.
29. Gold advances to 244.
30. Hon. Salmon P. Chase resigns his position as Secre-
tary of the Treasury.— New Tariff Bill passed by Congress.—
New Internal Revenue Act passed. — Act passed to raise four
hundred millions of dollars by six per cent, bonds.
1. Hon. Win. P. Fessenden, of Maine, appointed and
confirmed as Secretary of the Treasury, in place of Mr. Chase,
resigned. — Advance in gold from 250 to 280; it subsequently
falls to 240.
2. Union cavalry under General Wilson return from a
succesttful raid south of Petersburg, having destroyed 50 miles
154 APPENDIX.
of railroad and other rebel property.— Act of Congress to re-
peal the Gold Bill of June 17.
3. The rebels commence a new invasion of Maryland and
Pennsylvania. — General Sigel's forces attacked at different
points, and driven from Martinsburg. — General Sherman
flanks the enemy at Kenesaw Mountain and compels them to
retreat.
5. Harper's Ferry and Hagerstown occupied by rebels;
the stores at Hagerstown robbed; New York and other States
called upon to send troops to repel the invaders. — The habeas
corpus suspended and martial law declared in Kentucky by
proclamation of President Lincoln.
6. Advance in price of gold to 259.
7. Advance in gold to 273. — The rebels push their invad-
ing columns toward Pennsylvania and repulse small bodies of
Union troops found at different points.
8. Artillery fight in front of Petersburg, Va. ; the town
set on fire by shells from Union guns. — Frederick, Md., evac-
uated by Union troops under General Wallace and occupied
by rebels, who levy $200,000 on the citizens.
9. Union troops under General Wallace defeated by the
rebels at Monocacy Bridge.
10. The steamship Electric Spark, of New York, and four
other vessels, captured and destroyed by the rebel cruiser
Florida. — Gunpowder Bridge, on the Baltimore and Philadel-
phia Railroad, destroyed by rebels; trains of cars also stopped
and passengers robbed by them.— -President Lincoln issues a
proclamation relative to a reconstruction of the Union. — Rock-
ville, Md., entered and robbed by the rebels.
11. Governor Bradford's house robbed and burned by the
rebels. — The rebels approach within 6 miles of Washington.
12. Frederick, Md., re-occupied by Union troops.
13. The rebels, after an unsuccessful attempt to capture
Washington, retire across the Potomac.
14. Decline in price of gold from 268 to 260. — Fight be-
tween Union and rebel troops at Tupelo, Miss.; defeat of the
latter.
15. Decline in gold from 260 to 250.
16. General Sherman's army successfully crosses theChat-
tahoochee River. — Advance in gold from 250 to 256.
18. Advance in gold from 256 to 266.— Rebels whipped at
Snicker's Gap by General Crook. — President Lincoln issues a
proclamation for 500,000 more volunteers.
20. Severe fight between the armies of General Sherman
and General Hood in front of Atlanta; severe assault of Hood
successfully repulsed.
21. Peace Conference at Niagara Falls; Horace Greeley
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. 155
acts as President Lincoln's agent, and offers the rebel Com-
missioners a safe conduct to Washington and back. — Gold
declines from 262 to 258. — Part of the rebel invading force
overtaken at Winchester by General Averill, and whipped;
200 prisoners and four cannon captured.
22. Gold declines from 258 to 251.— Terrible battle in front
of Atlanta; rebel loss estimated at 7,000; 15 stand of color,
and 5,000 stand of arms; Union loss about 3,200; General Mc-
Pherson (Union) killed.
24. General Rousseau (Union) completes a successful raid
in Alabama and Georgia, capturing 800 mules and horses, and
about 700 contrabands. — Advance in gold to 257.
25. Secretary Fessenden advertises for bids to the new
$200,000.000 loan.
20. Union troops under General Averill defeated by rebels
at Martinsburg, Va.
27. The rebel troops on North side of James River re-
pulsed and defeated, and four of them captured.
2S. Decline in price of gold to 250. — Severe fight in front
of Atlanta, Ga., between the rebel and Union armies; the
rebels attack General Sherman, and are repulsed with the loss
of 1,000 in killed and wounded.
30. A mine exploded under the rebel fortifications at
Petersburg, Va., which are blown up with the troops in them ;
a terrific battle ensues; the Union storming column is repulsed
with fearful slaughter; Union loss 6,000.
31. A rebel force enter and burn nearly the 'whole of
Chambersburg, Pa., and rob the inhabitants, leaving them in
the most destitute condition.
AUGUST.
3. Rebels under General Early again occupy Martinsburg,
Va., and Hagerstown, Md.
4. Fight between rebel and Union troops at New Creek,
Md.
5. United States fleet, under Admiral Farragut, passes
Forts Morgan, Gaines and Powell into Mobile Harbor, and
captures the iron-clad ram Tennessee (with Admiral Buchanan
on hoard) and gunboat Selma; the Union gunboat Tecumseh
sunk by a torpedo or guns of Fort Morgan.
6. Another rebel mine exploded in front of General
Grant's lines without doing much damage, the event being
prepared for.
7. Advance in the price of gold to 260. — General Sherman
makes an important flank movement in front of Atlanta.— The
rebels make an attempt to recapture Admiral Buchanan from
Pensacola.
156 APPENDIX.
8. Fort Gaines, entrance of Mobile Harbor, with 26 guns,
56 officers, and 818 enlisted men, surrendered to the United
States forces. — Fort Powell, with 18 guns, blown up and aban-
doned by the rebels. — Union troops under General Averill
defeat the rebels under McCausland, capture their artillery,
400 horses and equipments, three battle-nags and a large num-
ber of small arms.
10. Explosion of army ordnance boat at City Point, Va. ;
53 men killed and 126 wounded, and a large amount of Gov-
ernment property destroyed.
11. Pilot boat James "Funk and pilot boat No. 22, of New
York, captured by the rebel pirate Tallahassee within 60 miles
of New York Harbor.
13. Defeat of the rebels on the north side of James River;
over 500 of the rebels, 13 cannon and 2 mortars captured.
14. About 300 rebels make an attack on Selma, Ky., and
are repulsed. — Union troops, under General Hancock, advance
•011 the north side of James River to witbin 7 miles of Rich-
mond, and capture 600 rebels, 6 cannon and 2 mortars.
15. Special State election in Connecticut on the question
of allowing absent soldiers to vote; adopted. — General Wheel-
er (rebel) demands the surrender of Dalton, Ga.; his troops
driven off.
16. Another advance by Union troops on the north side
of James River; several hundred prisoners and a few heavy
guns captured.
17. General Merritt's cavalry attacked in the Shenandoah
Valley by Kershaw's rebel cavalry; Union loss 2 stand of
colors ami 276 prisoners.
18. A Peace Convention assembles at Syracuse, attended
by Vallandigham, F. Wood and others. — Advance of Union
troops under General \Varren across the Petersburg and Wei-
don Railroad; a terrible battle ensues without definite
results; Union loss about 2,500. — Severe fight at Graysville,
Ga., between rebels under General Wheeler and Union troops
under General Stedman. without definite results. — The rebels
attack Union troops under General Birney, and are repulsed
with great slaughter.
19. Severe fight between the rebels and Union troops under
General Warren; the rebels repulsed; Union loss 2,800.—
Martinsburg, Va., re-occupied by rebel troops.
21. Another battle on the line of the Weldon and Peters-
burg Road, between Union troops under General Warren and
the rebels; the latter repulsed with fearful slaughter; Union
loss about 3,000. — Forrest, with three brigades of cavalry, at-
tacks Memphis, and endeavors to capture Generals Wash-
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. 157
burne and Hurlbut; they fail in their object, and are driven
out by Union troops.
22. Fight between rebel and Union troops near Charles-
town, Va., without decisive results. — The rebels make another
desperate effort to drive General Warren from the Petersburg
and Weldon Railroad, but are again repulsed with heavy
loss. — General Kilpatrick returns from a successful raiding
expedition; tears up 14 miles of railroad, captures 4 cannon
and 200 prisoners.
23. Fort Morgan, Mobile Harbor, Ala., with all its guns,
ammunition, etc., surrenders to the United States forces.
24. A large fire in Atlanta, caused by shells from General
Sherman's batteries.
25. The rebel pirate Georgia captured by the United States
frigate Niagara. — Fight between advance troops of the rebel
General Early and a reconnoitering force of General Sheri-
dan's, near Leetown, Va.; a number of rebels captured. — The
rebels make another assault upon Union troops under Gene nil
Warren, 011 line of Weldon and Petersburg Kailroad, and re-
capture 4 miles of the road; loss on each side 5,000.
29. Decline in gold from 245 to 239. — National Democratic
Convention assembles at Chicago. — A rebel cavalry force at-
tacks Lebanon, Ky., and captures the Union guard.
31. Secretary Fessenden advertises for proposals foT *.">!,-
500,000, the balance of sixes of 1881. — The Chicago Convention
nominates George B. McClellan, of New Jersey, for President,
and George H. Pendleton, of Ohio, for Vice-President of the
United States.
SEPTEMBER.
1. Simeon Draper appointed Collector of New York.
2. Atlanta, Ga., captured by Union troops under Majo»
General Sherman; 27 guns and 1,000 rebel prisoners taken. —
Fight in the Shenandoah Valley, near Berry ville, Va. ; defeat
of the rebels; 20 wagons, 2 battle-flags and many prisoners
captured.
4. Fight with rebels at Greenville, Tenn.; John Morgan,
the notorious gueirilla, killed, and his force dispersed.
5. President Lincoln issues a proclamation of thanks to
Admiral Farragut and Generals Can by, Granger, Sherman and
Sheridan for their signal victories over the rebels.
8. General McClellan accepts his nomination for the
Presidency.
9. Successful night attack by Union troops on the rebel
lines in front of Petersburg, Va. ; an important position gained.
16. Daring raid by the rebels near Petersburg, Va.; they
capture 3,000 head of cattle.
158 APPENDIX.
18. Averill's corps at Martinsburg, Va., attacked by the
Confederate General Gordon; the latter repulsed.
19. Desperate fight with rebels at Opequan Creek, She-
nandoah Valley ; the Union troops, under General Sheridan,
capture 3,000 prisoners, 15 battle-flags and 5 guns — Some
rebels capture the steamers Parsons and Island Queen, on
Lake Erie, and convert them into pirates.
20. The British Government order that no vessel belong-
ing to the Confederates or United States shall enter British
ports for the purpose of being dismantled or sold.
21. Two steamers, seized by the rebels on Lake Erie,
re-captured, and the pirates arrested. — General J. C. Fremont
and General John Cochrane withdraw from the Presidential
contest.
22. General Sheridan gains a great victory at Fisher's Hill,
Shenandoah Valley ; captures 20 guns, beside caissons, horses
and 1,100 prisoners; Union General Russell killed.
26. Gold panic in Wall street, New York.
27. Potosi, Mo., captured by the rebels.
29. Rebel fortifications on Chapin's Farm, Richmond, Va.,
stormed and taken by Union troops; 15 guusand 200 prisoners
captured.
30. Invasion of Missouri by the rebels; railroad property
at Franklin destroyed. — The rebels make three unsuccessful
attempts to drive the Union troops from Chupin's Farm, in
front of Richmond. — Advance of Union troops and defeat of
the rebels at Poplar Grove, near Petersburg, Va.
OCTOBER.
1. Secretary Fessenden advertises for a loan of $40,000,000.
— Pilot Knob, Mo., attacked by the rebels, without important
results.
4. Severe fight between General Sherman's forces and the
rebels at Allatoona, Tenn. — Great excitement in Missouri in
consequence of the invasion of the State by the rebels under
General Price. — Capture of Athens, Ala., by the rebels.
7. The rebel pirate Florida, with 12 officers and 58 of her
crew, captured in the Bay of Bahia, Brazil, by the United
States steamer Wachusetts.
8. Desperate fight with the rebels near Richmond; severe
loss of life on both sides. — Rome, Georgia, re-capture i by the
rebels; some officers and 3,600 Negroes taken prisoners.
9. Fight with the rebels near Strasburg, Va.; about 350
rebels and 1J guns captured.
12. Election in Maryland to decide upon the adoption or
rejection of a new Constitution abolishing slavery; the new
Constitution adopted. — Death of Chief Justice Taney.
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OP THE REBELLION. 159
14. Bids opened for $40,000,000 loan at the Treasury
Department; $20,000,000 offered in excess of the amount asked
for.
17. Capture of Ship's Gap, Tenn., by General Sherman.—
Lexington and Warrensburg, Mo., occupied by the rebels.
18. A party of twenty-five armed rebels enter St. Albans,
Vt., and rob three banks of $150,000, and shoot five citizens;
then flee to Canada, where they are arrested by the Cana-
dian authorities.
19. Great battle in the Shenandoah Valley between Union
forces, under General Sheridan, and the rebels, under General
Early; defeat of the latter, and capture of 43 guns, beside cais-
sons, horses and prisoners.
22. General Blunt defeated by the rebels under General
Price at Lexington, Mo.
28. The rebel ram Albemarle blown up in Roanoke River
by a United States torpedo boat, under the command of Lieu-
tenant Gushing. — Fight between General Pleasanton's Union
army and General Price's rebel army at Newtown, Mo. ; defeat
of the latter; 1,000 rebels and 7,100 stand of arms captured.
30. The State of Nevada admitted to the Union, officially
announced.
31. Capture of Plymouth, N. C., by Union troops.
NOVEMBER.
3. Fight between the Union forces under General Sher-
man and the rebels under General Hood; defeat of the latter.
— Armed bands of rebels appear on the likes and occasion
great excitement and alarm along the Northern frontier.—
Rebel troops under General Price attack Fayetteville, Ark.,
and are repulsed with a loss of about 1,000 in killed and
wounded.
4. Destruction of six United States vessels by two new
rebel cruisers, the Chickamauga and Oluslee, announced.
7. Night attack by rebels on Union troops in front of
Petersburg, Va.; repulse of the former.
8. Presidential election; Abraham Lincoln carries every
State except Delaware, Kentucky and New Jersey.
9. Advance of 12£ per cent, in the price of gold.— Gen-
eral Sherman 'starts on a march through Georgia to the coast.
11. Rebels rush into Atlanta, supposing it to have been
evacuated by Union troops, and are handsomely whipped;
900 of them taken prisoners.
14. The rebels under General Breckinridge attack the
Union troops under General Gillem at Bull Gap, and capture
400 Union troops.
160 APPENDIX.
17. The rebels repulsed in a night attack on Union lines
at Bermuda Hundred.
18. Severe fight between the rebel and Union troops at
Strawberry Plains, Tenn., without decisive results. — Forty-five
Union scouts captured by the rebel General Mosby, near
Charlestown, Va.
19. Norfolk, Va., Fernandina and Pensacola, Florida,
opened for trade, the blockade being partially raised by
proclamation of President Lincoln. — The pirate Florida
collides with the Alliance in Hampton Roads.
20. Decline in gold to 216.
22. Battle between the rebel and Union troops at Rood's
Hill, Va., without important results.
24. Waynesboro, Tenn., occupied by rebel troops under
General Hood.
25. An agent from England, with a numerously signed
peace petition to be presented to President Lincoln, arrives at
New York. — Several hotels of New York City set on fire by
Southern incendiaries.
26. General Hood makes an assault on Union lines at
Columbus, south of Duck River, Tenn.
27. General Butler's despatch steamer Greyhound de-
stroyed by fire; General Butler, General Schenck and Admiral
Porter have a narrow escape.
28. Rebels under General Paine occupy New Creek and
Piedmont, and destroy considerable property; they are finally
driven from the last named place. — The Florida sinks in
Hampton Roads.
29. Roger A. Pryor, of Virginia, captured by Union pick-
ets in front of Petersburg.
DECEMBER.
1. Gold 228. — Hood moving his forces against Thomas at
Nashville.— The President orders the organization of the First
Army Corps by General Hancock. — Hon. Wm. L. Dayton,
Minister to France, dies at Paris.
2. General Sherman's advance reaches Millen.
4. Six Southerners arrested in New York by order of
General Dix, on suspicion of being engaged in a plot to fire
the city.
5. General Burbridge moves against Breckinridge at Bean
Station, Tenn. — The second session of the Thirty-eighth Con-
gress opens at Washington. — James L. Speed, of Tennessee,
nominated for Attorney General, vice Bates. — General Sher-
man's army united and marching on Savannah. — A fight near
Pocotalgo, S. C.
6. General Sherman skirmishes with the rebels 25 miles
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. 161
from Savannah.— General Foster and Admiral Dahlgren land
near Pocotalgo and cut the Charleston road.
7. Mr. Stevens' Gold Bill tabled by the House.— The Elec-
toral Colleges of the several States meet and cast their votes
for President. — General Warren moves down the Weldon
Road toward Hicksford Junction.— General Rosecrans relieved
by General Dodge, in command of Department of Missouri. —
The gunboat Narcissus blown up in Mobile Bay by a torpedo.
9. The rebel General Lyon crosses the Cumberland, above
Fort Donelsou, for a raid into Kentucky.— General Foster
reaches the Meherrin River, having destroyed the railroad
thus far. — Captain Duncan, of General Ho ward's scouts, leaves
Sherman's Army to communicate with the coast.
12. The House passes the Bankrupt Bill. — Heavy skirmish-
ing between Hood and Thomas. — Admiral Dalilgren and
General Sherman in communication. — The rebel General Lyon
enters Hopkinsville, Ky.
13. The Senate authorizes the construction of six revenue
cutters for the lakes. — A bill authorizing the President to ter-
minate the Reciprocity Treaty passes the House. — The Cana-
dian Courts decide that they have no jurisdiction in the case
of the St. Albans and Lake Erie pirates, and release them. —
General Sherman investing Savannah. — Admiral Porter's ex-
pedition leaves Fortress Monroe lor Wilmington.
14. General Dix issues an order directing pursuit of rebel
raiders over .the Canada border. — The Canadian imbroglio
discussed in Congress. — Resolution offered demanding in-
demnity from England for the depredations of rebel pirates. —
The House passes a bill naturalizing aliens who have been in
the Army or Navy. — Fort McAllister carried by storm.
15. General Thomas defeats Hood in front of Nashville. —
Generals Stoneman and Burbridge at Glade Springs, Va.,
raiding on the Tennessee Road.
16. General Thomas again victorious over Hood; the
rebel army in full flight.
17. Secretary Seward orders that passports be required of
all persons entering or leaving the country. — General Thomas
still pushing Hood. — Peace resolutions introduced in the rebel
House. — General McCook defeats Lyon at Ashbyville, Ky. —
The exchange of prisoners completed at Charleston.
18. General McCook again defeats Lyon at Hopkiusville,
Ky., taking all his artillery.
19. Gold 211 i.— Call of the President for 300,000 more
men. — Fifteen steamers at Nassau, waiting to run the block-
ade.
20. The bill creating the rank of Vice-Admiral passes
Congress. — Gold 224. — Re-arrest of one of the St. Albans raid-
162 APPENDIX.
ers in Canada. — Reaction of sentiment. — Hood crosses Duck
River after losing half his army, 51 guns and nearly all his
Generals; General Thomas in close pursuit. — Hardee evacu-
ates Savannah by the Union causeway. — Saltville, Va., occu-
pied by Union troops, and the works destroyed.
21. Rear Admiral Farragut confirmed by the Senate as
Vice Admiral. — Admiral Porter's fleet in Bight of Wilmington.
— Hoke's Brigade of Longstreet's Corps, leaves Richmond for
the South. — General Palmer occupies Bower Hill, eight miles
from Portsmouth, Va. — General Sherman makes a triumphal
entry into Savannah.
22. Hood at Pulaski in full retreat, with a demoralized
mob, and a victorious army upon his heels.— General Custer
attacks Rosser near Harrisonburg, Va.,and then moves toward
Gordonsville.
23. All of Porter's expedition in sight from Fort Fisher.
24. Gordonsville occupied by a Union force. — The naval
and military expedition under Porter and Butler make an
attack on Fort Fisher, and the powder boat is exploded with-
in 300 yards of the fort.
25. General Stedman moving on Decatur on Hood's rear.
— The attack on Fort Fisher renewed, and troops lauded in
the rear. — Capture of three of the St. Albans robbers at Con-
cord, N. H.
26. Admiral Porter continues the bombardment of Fort
Fisher.
27. The expedition against Wilmington withdrawn. — Ad-
miral Porter continues the attack. — Hood crosses the Tennes-
see on pontoons; General Thomas pursuing.
28. Brilliant success of Generals Stoneman and Burbridge ;
Tennessee and Kentucky clear of rebels.
30. General Stoneman returns to Nashville from his great
raid in Tennessee and Virginia. — General Thomas announces
the close of his campaign.
31. General Thomas countermands his order for winter-
quarters, and directs a concentration of his command for a
renewal of hostilities.
18O5.
JANUARY.
1. The head of Dutch Gap Canal blown out, but it results
in a fiasco. — Admiral Farragut commissioned as Vice-Admiral.
2. The passport system goes into operation on the fron-
tier.
6. General Sherman and his army thanked by Congress;
he crosses New River and moves on Grahamsville, S. C.
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. 163
8. General Butler relieved from command and ordered to
Lowell, Mass.
11. F. P. Blair, Sen., goes to Richmond on a peace mis-
sion.
12. Admiral Porter's and General Terry's joint expedition
arrives off Fort Fisher, N. C.
13. The attack on Fort Fisher commenced; troops landed
above the Fort.
14. Parson Brownlow nominated for Governor of Tennes-
see. Missouri declared a Free State. — Capture of Pocotalgo.
S. C.
15. Fort Fisher, N. C., captured. — Hon. Edward Everett
died.
16. " Sunset " Cox's peace resolution tabled by the House.
— Explosion of the magazine of Fort Fisher.
17. Loss of the monitor Patapsco in Charleston Harbor. —
Fort Caswell and the pirates Chicamauga and TallaJiassee blown
up by the rebels.
18. General Ord assigned to the Army of the James. — Five
blockade-runners enter New Inlet, N. C., and are trapped. —
The Harriet Lane destroyed at Havana.
19. Congress thanks Terry, Thomas, and Porter.
20. Mr. Blair, Sen., leaves on a second mission to Rich-
mond.— The rebel Secretaries of War and State resign. — Gen-
eral Thomas reports 13,189 prisoners and 72 cannon taken from
Hood between September 7, 1864, and date.
23. General Butler sends a challenge to Hon. James
Brooks. — General Schofield's corps leaves Louisville for opera-
tions in the East. — Hood relieved of his command; Dick Taylor
succeeds him.
24. The rebel iron-dads descend the James, but are driven
back, and the Virginia blown up.— H. S. Foote expelled from
the rebel Congress.
25. Congress thanks General Sheridan.— George B. Mc-
Clellan leaves for Europe. — General Lee made General-in-
Chief by Jeff. Davis, who also appoints a Fast Day.
26. The rebel rain Stonewall leaves Nantes, France.—
Twenty-five blockade-runners lying idle at Nassau, N. P.
28. The rebel House resolves to arm the Negroes. — An at-
tempt to destroy Savannah by fire.
30. Stephens, Hunter and Campbell enter General Grant's
lines as Peace Commissioners.— General Sherman commences
his South Carolina campaign.
31. The Constitutional Amendment prohibiting slavery
passes the House by a vote of 119 to 56. — General Lee made
General-in-Chief of the rebel army. — The gunboat Honduras
refused anchorage at Nassau, N. P.
164 APPENDIX.
FEBKUAEY.
1. Mr. Seward goes to Fortress Monroe to meet the rebel
Peace Commissioners. — Maryland House, and Illinois ratify
the Constitutional Amendment. — John S. Rock, a colored
lawyer of Massachusetts, admitted to practice in the United
States Supreme Court.
2. The President leaves Washington to meet the rebel
Peace Commissioners. — The New York Senate and Rhode
Island Legislature ratify the Constitutional Amendment. — The
Canadian Alien Act passes the Lower House. — General Sher-
man's advance at Braxton's Bridge.
3. The New Nork Assemby, and Massachusetts, Pennsyl-
vania and Maryland Senate ratify the Constitutional Amend-
ment.— Louisiana left out of the Electoral College.
4. Failure of the Peace negotiations; Mr. Lincoln and Mr.
Seward return to Washington; the rebels demand recognition,
and it is refused. — Fernando Wood makes a war speech. —
Gold in Richmond 4,400. — General Sherman flanks the rebels
at Solkahatchee, and they retire to Branchville. — The rebel
ram Stonewall puts in at Ferrol, Spain.
6. Engagement at Hatcher's Run, Ya.; a reconnoissance
of the left.
7. Maine ratifies the Constitutional Amendment. — The
amended Enrollment Bill passes the Senate. — The rebel Sen-
ate refuse to employ Negroes in the army.
8. Colonel Baker makes a raid on the bounty-jumpers
and brokers. — Official declaration of the Presidential vote;
Abraham Lincoln, 212, and George B. McClellan, 21. — Dela-
ware refuses to ratify the Constitutional Amendment; Ohio,
Minnesota and Kansas ratify it.
10. Indiana ratifies the Constitutional Amendment. — The
President signs the notice to Great Britain for the termination
of the treaty respecting the naval force on the Lakes. — Gen-
eral Gillmore takes command of the Department of the South,
and moves against Charleston. — The rebels repulsed from Fort
Meyers, Fla.
11 . The Senate thanks General Thomas.— II. S. Foote, late
rebel Senator, leaves in the City of Cork for Europe.
13. The national debt, $2,153,735,444.26; interest, $93,131,-
901.36.
16. General Sherman shells Columbia, S. C.
17. Columbia, S. C.. captured by General Sherman. — Fort
Anderson, Cape Fear River, shelled by our forces. — General
Schofield advancing from Smithfield, N. C. — Rebel dollar esti-
mated by the rebels as worth two cents in specie. — Charleston
evacuated. — Louisiana ratifies the Constitutional Amendment.
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. 165
18. Charleston surrendered to General Gillmore. — Gen-
eral Lee urges the employment of Negroes in the army.
19. Fort Anderson, N. C., captured by General Terry.
20. The rebel House passes the bill to raise 200,000 Negro
soldiers, but the Senate rejects it.
21. The draft commenced in Brooklyn. — Generals Crook
and Kelly captured by guerrillas. — Wilmington evacuated.
22. The Kentucky Senate rejects the Constitutional
Amendment. — Wilmington, N. C., occupied by General Scho-
field.
23. General Johnston takes command of the forces operat-
ing against General Sherman. — Camden, S. C., captured. —
Georgetown, S. C., surrendered.
24. Columbia, S. C., burned. — Beall, the pirate and spy,
bung on Governor's Island. — Wisconsin ratifies the Constitu-
tional Amendment.
26. The pirate Shenandoah arrives at Melbourne, Australia.
27. General Sheridan leaves Winchester, Va., on an expe-
dition.
28. General Sherman's forces enter North Carolina. — Lord
Lyons resigns as British Minister, and is succeeded by Sir
Frederick Bruce.
MAKCH.
1. The President officially notified of his re-election.
2. Staunton, Va., captured by General Sheridan; General
Custer has an engagement at Waynesboro, Va.
3. Chesterfield Court-house, S. C. , captured by the Twen-
tieth Corps.
4. President Lincoln and Vice-President Johnson inaugu-
rated.— The rebels defeated at Natural Bridge, Va.
6. General celebration of the recent victories; a proces-
sion and fireworks in New York. — General Sheridan raiding
on the James River Canal, destroying the great feeder to
Richmond.
7. Hugh McCulloch confirmed as Secretary of the
Treasury.
8. The Canadian passport order rescinded. —General
Sherman at Laurel Hill, N. C.
9. Bragg repulsed at Kingston, N. C., by Schofield's
advance.
10. Jeff. Davis's Fast Day. — Cavalry engagement near
Fayetteville, N. C., and the fight at Kingston, N. C., renewed;
the rebels defeated; Fayetteville captured.— General Sheridan
occupies Columbia, Va.
1 1 . The President orders the disfranchiseinent of non-re-
166 APPENDIX.
porting deserters. — General Sheridan opens communication
with Wilmington, N. C., by means of scouts.
13. Generals Crook and Kelly exchanged.
14. Sheridan pursuing Early and his body guard, all that
is left of his army.— General Sherman leaves "Fayetteville, N.
C., destroys the arsenal, and moves on Goldsborp.
16. The rebel Congress declares that it is impossible to
issue any more Treasury Notes. — The rebels undermine and
blow up Fort Hell, but no damage is done. — Hardee defeated
at Averysboro, N. C., and falls back on Bentonville.
17. John Bigelow appointed Minister to France, vice Day-
ton, deceased.
18. The rebel Congress adjourns sine die. — A movement
against Mobile commenced.
19. General Sheridan's entire command arrives at White
House, Va. — Johnston defeated at Bentonville, N. C. — Golds-
boro evacuated, and the rebel forces fall back on Smithfield.
General Steele leaves Pensacola, Fla., to attack Mobile.
. 21. Gold falls to 153, creating a panic in the market. — Gen-
eral Schofield occupies Goldsboro,N. C.1— The pirate Stonewall
leaves Ferrol, Spain, but is pursued by the Niagara, and
returns, afraid to fight.
22. Concentration of Sherman's, Schofield's and Terry's
forces at and around Goldsboro, N. C.
23. The President leaves Washington for General Grant's
headquarters. — The first company of Negro State troops raised
in Richmond.
25. Captain Kennedy, the spy and incendiary, hung at
Fort Lafayette. — The rebels attack and carry Fort Steadman,
but the fort is re-taken by a vigorous charge of the Ninth
Corps; the President witnesses the action. — General Granger
commences a co-operating movement against Mobile.
27. General Sherman arrives at General Grant's head-
quarters.— General Stoneman captures Boone, N. C. — General
Wilson moves on Greenville, Ala. — A general advance made
on Spanish Fort, Mobile Bay. — The Stonewall arrives at Lisbon,
Portugal, having escaped from Ferrol, Spain, and is ordered
to leave the harbor.
28. A Council of War held, at which the President, Gen-
erals Grant, Sherman, Sheridan and Ord are present; the
Army of the Potomac moves. — The fleet moves tip Mobile
Bay against Spanish Fort.
29. The St. Albans raiders discharged at Montreal. — Mr.
Seward visits the President at City Point, Va. — General Sheri-
dan passes through Dinwiddie Court-house; the advance of
Meade encounters the enemy near Gravelly Run. — General
Steele joins General Canby at Blakely, Ala. — The Niagara and
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. 167
Sacramento fired upon by the Portuguese forts at Lisbon ; the
Niagara struck on the poop and both vessels then anchor.
30. Genera] Meade's left threatening the South Side Road.
31. The rebels drive our left from Dabney's Milis, but are
in turn forced back. — The transport General Lyon burned off
Hatteras, and nearly five hundred lives are lost.
1. Battle of Five Forks, Va.; the rebel right doubled up
on the center, and a portion of the wing cut off.
2. General Grantorders an attack on the whole line, and,
after desperate fighting, both wings are rested on the Appo-
mattox; the South Side Road is cut, and during the day and
night RICHMOND AND PETERSBURG ARE EVACUATED, and Lee's
army is in full retreat for Danville; the rebel General A. P.
Hill killed. — Selma, Ala., captured by General Wilson's cav-
alry, together with the greater portion of Forrest's and Roddy's
commands.
3. The evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond dis-
covered, and General Grant starts in pursuit of Lee; General
Weitzel occupies Richmond. — Gold closes at 146£. — Jeff. Davis
at Danville, Va., a fugitive.
4. The steamer Harriet Deford captured on the Patuxent
River by rebels. — The President visits Richmond and holds a
levee in Jeff Davis's house. — Spanish Fort, Mobile Harbor,
completely invested by land and water.
5. Mr. Seward thrown from his carriage and breaks his
arm and jaw. — General Sheridan and an infantry column
reaches Burkesville, Va., heading off Lee, who is at Amelia
Court-house; an engagement at Lamer's Cross Roads in which
the rebels are defeated.
6. Governor Fenton appoints the 14th as a day of thanks-
giving.— H. S. Foote returns to New York in the steerage of
the Etna. General Sheridan attacks Lee west of Burkesville
and routs him, capturing Ewell and a number of other gener-
als.— The news of the capture of Richmond announced to
Sherman's army.
7. General Grant urges Lee to surrender to save the fur-
ther effusion of blood; Lee asks for terms. — An informal meet-
ing of the Virginia Legislature held in Richmond to consider a
proposition from Mr. Lincoln.
8. General Grant states the terms of surrender, upon
which Lee asks an interview. — Governor Fenton postpones the
thanksgiving to the 20th inst., by request.
9. GENERAL LEE SURRENDERS THE ARMY OF NORTHERN
VIRGINIA TO GENERAL GRANT. — The President and Mrs. Lincoln
(6)
168 APPENDIX.
return to Washington. — Mobile captured; 300 guns and 3,000
prisoners.
10. General rejoicing all over the country. — All the St.
Albans raiders, except Young, released. — The President issues
a proclamation closing certain Southern ports.
11. The President makes a speech in which he defines the
States of the rebellion and hints at plans for restoration.— He
issues a proclamation respecting the treatment of our national
vessels in foreign ports, and threatens retaliation for discourt-
esey. — A Te Deum chanted in Trinity Church. — Lyuchburg,
Va., surrenders to a Union scouting party.
12. A convention of prominent men in Virginia called for
the 25th, with the intention of bringing the State back into the
Union.
13. PRACTICAL END OF THE WAR; General Grant arrives in
Washington and advises that the draft be stopped, that recruit-
ing cease, and that the military establishment be reduced. —
Lee reported to have advised Johnston to surrender to Sher-
man.
14. The Europa arrives with news that the American Min-
ister at Lisbon has demanded satisfaction for the outrage on
the American flag. — THE PRESIDENT ASSASSINATED IN FORD'S
THEATER, WASHINGTON, BY J. WILKES BOOTH, who escapes;
another assassin proceeds to Mr. Seward's residence and
seriously stabs him in the throat, also assaulting Mr. Freder-
ick W. Seward.
15. The President dies about half- past seven o'clock;
Andrew Johnson becomes President of the United States.
18. Paine and Powell, who endeavor to assassinate Secre-
tary Seward, arrested at Mrs. Surratt's house in Washington;
Mrs. Surratt arrested. — General Sherman arranges prelimi-
naries for the surrender of all the remaining confederate
forces with General Johnston, commanding Southern army
in North Carolina, with consent of Confederate Secretary of
War and Jeff. Davis. — It includes the basis of general peace
and a policy of re-construction. — It is sent to the federal gov-
ernment for their approval or rejection.
19. Funeral ceremonies Of President Lincoln at Washing-
ton.— Funeral services all over the North. The body is carried
in state to Springfield, 111., stopping at prominent places on
the route, and visited by great numbers of people; 700,000
were said to have been in the procession at New York.
21. General Sherman's arrangements with Johnston dis-
approved by the government, and he is ordered to resume
hostilities. — Steamboat Sultana blows up on the Mississippi,
and about 1,300 TL S. soldiers returning home were killed.
24. General Grant visits Sherman.
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. 169
25. J. W. Booth, the assassin of the President, taken
prisoner near Port Royal, Va. — Refusing to surrender, Boston
Corbett, a soldier, shot him, contrary to orders; he died in
four hours, amidst universal execration.
26. Johnston surrenders to General Sherman all the con-
federate troops in his command, on terms granted to General
Lee.
29. Arms and stores of General Johnston's army delivered
to U. S. authority at Greensboro, N. C.
2. Reward offered for capture of Jeff. Davis of $100,000,
as President Johnson believed him accessory to the murder
of Lincoln.
4-9. All the confederate forces disband or surrender to
U. S. officers, east and west of the Mississippi River.
10. Jeff. Davis captured in Georgia, in a woman's water-
proof, just at break of day, by General Henry Harnden, of
Wisconsin, and Colonel Pritchard, of Michigan, between
whose commands the reward of $100,000 was divided.
170 APPENDIX.
MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
Bring the good old bugle, boys ! we'll sing another song —
Sing it with a spirit that will start the world along—
Sing it as we used to sing it, fifty thousand strong,
While we were marching through Georgia.
CHORUS :
Hurrah ! hurrah ! we bring the Jubilee !
Hurrah ! hurrah ! the flag that makes you free !
So we sang the chorus from Atlanta to the sea,
While we were marching through Georgia.
How the darkies shouted when they heard the joyful sound !
How the turkeys gobbled which our commissary found !
How the sweet potatoes even started from the ground !
While we were marching through Georgia.
Chorus —
Yes, and there were Union men who wept with joyful tears,
When they saw the honored flag they had not seen for years—
Hardly could they be restrained from breaking forth in cheers,
While we were marching through Georgia.
Chorus —
Sherman's dashing Yankee boys will never reach the coast!
So the saucy rebels said; and 'twas a handsome boast,
Had they not forgot, alas ! to reckon with the host,
While we were marching through Georgia.
Cliorus —
So we made a thoroughfare for Freedom and her train,
Sixty miles in latitude, three hundred to the main;
Treason fled before us, for resistance was in vain,
\Vhile we were marching through Georgia.
Chorus —
SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA. 171
SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA.
Our camp-fire shone bright on the mountains
That frowned on the river below,
While we stood by our guns in the morning,
And eagerly watched for the foe ;
When a rider came out from the darkness
That hung over mountain and tree,
And shouted, "Boys, up and be ready,
For Sherman will march to the sea."
Then cheer upon cheer for bold Sherman,
Went up from each valley and glen,
And the bugles re-echoed the music
That came from the lips of the men.
For wo knew that the stars on our banner
More bright in their splendor would be,
And that blessings from Northland would greet^us
When Sherman marched down to the si ;i.
Then forward, boys, forward to battle,
We marched on our wearisome way,
And we stormed the wild hills of Reseca —
God bless those who fell on that day !
Then Kent-saw, dark in its glory,
Frowned down on the flag of the free,
But the East and the West bore our standards,
And Sherman marched down to the sea.
Still onward we pressed till our banners
Swept out from Atlanta's grim walls,
And the blood of the patriot dampened
The soil where the traitor's flag falls ;
But we paused not to weep for the fallen,
Who sleep by each river and tree,
Yet we twined them a wreath ot the laurel,
As Sherman marched down to the sea.
Oh, proud was our army that morning,
That stood where the pine proudly towers,
When Sherman said, "Boys, you are weary,
This day fair Savannah is ours !"
Then sung we a song for our chieftain,
That echoed o'er river and lea.
And the stars in our banner shone brighter,
When Sherman marched down to the sea.
And now, though our marching is over,
And peace and the Union are sure,
We think we will finish our labor,
And all that we fought for secure,
By voting for wise men and true men
That they may our sentinels be,
To guard what our gallant men went for,
When Shermau marched down to the sea.
172 APPENDIX.
SHERIDAN'S RIDE.
By T. Buchanan Read.
Up from the South at break of day,
Bringing to Winchester fresh dismay,
The affrighted air with a shudder bore
Like a herald in haste to the chieftain's door,
The terrible grumble, aud rumble, nnd roar,
Telling the battle was on once more,
And Sheridan twenty milts away !
And wider still those billows of war
Thundered along the horizon bar ;
And louder yet into Winchester rolled
The roar of that red sea uncontrolled,
Making the blood of the listener cold
As he thought of the stake in the fiery fray,
With Sheridan twenty miles away!
But there's a road from Winchester town,
A good broad highway leading down:
And there thro' the flash of the morning light,
A steed as black as the steeds of night
Was seen to pass, as with eagle flight,
As if he knew the terrible need,
He stretched away with the utmost speed:
Hills rose and fell, but his heart was gay,
With Sheridan fifteen miles away.
Under his spurning feet the road
Like an arrowy Alpine river flowed,
And the landscape flowed awiy behind,
Like an ocean flying before the wind;
And the steed, like a bark fed with furnace-ire,
Swept on with his wild eyes full of fire ;
But lo! he is nearing his heart's desire,
He is snuffing the smoke of the roaring fray,
With Sheridan only five miles away!
The first that the General saw were the groups
Of stragglers, and then the retreating troops;
What was done— what to do— a glance told him both,
And, striking hisspurs, with a terrible oath
He dashed down the lines 'mid a storm of hurrahs,
And the wave of retreat checked its course there, because
The sight of the master compelled it to pause.
With foam and with dust the black charger was gray;
By the flash of his eye and his nostril's play
He seemed to the whole great army to say :
"I've brought you Sheridan all the way
From Winchester town to save the day ! "
Hurrah ! hurrah I for Sheridan !
Hurrah ! hurrah ! for horse and man !
And when their statues are placed on high,
Under the dome of the Union sky—
The American soldier's temple of fame —
There with the glorious general's name
Be it said, in letters both bold and bright,
1 ' Here is the steed that saved the day
By carrying Sheridan into the 1'mht
From Winchester, twenty miles away ! "
OLD ABE AT CORINTH. 173
OLD ABE AT CORINTH.
By J. H. Whitney, of the Twenty-First Massachusetts.
Above the lines of glistening steel
That swiftly into buttle wheel,
Borne bravely up by loyal hands,
The peerless bird of freedom stands,
Beside the banner of the free,
A sentinel of liberty;
Before the host arrayed in blue,
A living symbol of the true.
Above the crash and angry roar,
Awhile he seeks in vain to soar;
One mighty effort more— and see,
The fetters break, and he is free !
Then upward toward his native sky
He mounts, and with prophetic eye,
Surveys the fearlul scene below,
A target for the angry foe.
Unharmed, he sweeps across the plain
Of fire and smoke and leaden rain;
Then hovers o'er his own brave men,
As if to cheer them on again.
O, Eagle-King ! Thou hfidst thy part
In strengthening the nation's heart,
When men lost faith, and treason stood
In the way of human brotherhood.
Heroes, with strength arid fortitude
Thy dauntless spirit hath imbued,
And taught the land from sea to sea
The greatness of true loyalty.
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