Items about the War Between the States (Civil War)
Battle Flag of the Confederacy
Newspaper Article: Tunnel Escape from Libby Prison There is propably [sic] no event in the whole history of the Civil War in which the patriotism, energy, courage and ingenuity of the Union soldier is better displayed than in the celebrated tunnel escape from Libby Prison, Richmond, Va., on the night of February 9, 1864. Escapes from southern prisons were frequent occurrences, but in the history of them there is not one that compares with this in the conception of the project, the working of its details, and the number of men that gained their liberty.There is propably [sic] no event in the whole history of the Civil War in which the patriotism, energy, courage and ingenuity of the Union soldier is better displayed than in the celebrated tunnel escape from Libby Prison, Richmond, Va., on the night of February 9, 1864. Escapes from southern prisons were frequent occurrences, but in the history of them there is not one that compares with this in the conception of the project, the working of its details, and the number of men that gained their liberty.
Newspaper Article: The Death of Robert E. Lee - Date Unknown News of the death of Robert E. Lee, beloved chieftain of the Southern army, whose strategy mainly was responsible for the surprising fight staged by the Confederacy, brought a two-day halt to Richmond's business activities.
Newspaper Article: Surrender of Fort Sumter - The Effect of the News on Richmond - Richmond Enquirer / April 15, 1861 So soon as the news of the surrender of Fort Sumter reached Richmond a procession of citizens was formed, which marched up Main street, headed by Smith’s Armory Band, and bearing the flag of the Southern Confederacy. The procession had swelled to about three thousand persons, by the time the column halted at the Tredegar Iron Works, to witness the raising of a large Southern Confederacy flag over the main building of the works, which was done by the employees of the establishment. Without delay, the flag was hauled up, the band playing the Marsellaise, and cannon (manufactured at the Tredegar for the use of the Confederate Government) thundered a welcome to the banner of the South.
Newspaper Article: Surrender of Fort Sumter - Celebration in Richmond - Richmond Dispatch / April 15, 1861 The interest of our citizens in the exciting events lately occurring in the neighborhood of Charleston, South Carolina, always intense, as manifested by the crowds that have thronged around the bulletin boards of the different newspapers during the past week, culminated on Saturday evening on the reception of the news of the surrender of Fort Sumter, in one of the wildest, most enthusiastic and irrepressible expressions of heartfelt and exuberant joy on the part of the people generally, that we have ever known to be the case before in Richmond. Nothing else was talked of, or thought of, save the great triumph achieved by the heroic troops of the glorious Southern Confederacy in obliterating one of the Illinois ape’s standing menaces against the assertion of Southern rights and equality. – So far as the opinion of the people is concerned, it would have been more to the old rail-splitter’s credit had he ordered Anderson to leave Fort Sumter, as an untenable and undesirable place, than to attempt, as he and his coadjutors did, to make the undoubtably gallant Major the scapegoat of his insidious and damnable views. We repeat, that had wise counsels prevailed, the old ape would have had all the credit between a graceful leave taking and an ignominious expulsion at the cannon’s mouth.
Newspaper Article: Soldier's Guide - August 10, 1863 Apportionment of General Hospitals in Department of Henrico, showing to which Hospital the Sick and Wounded of each State are sent: For the information of the friends of the sick and wounded soldiers, we give below the different Hospitals in which the soldiers from each State are placed, and their locations. It will be found accurate, as it has been kindly furnished by a distinguished surgeon in authority.
Newspaper Article: Funeral Procession in Honor of Lieut. Gen. Thom. J. Jackson - August 13, 1863 The funeral procession which yesterday took place in token of regard for the lamented Jackson afforded the best evidence of the high estimation in which the deceased was held by the country which is now called to mourn over his death.
Newspaper Article: Death of George W. Alexander - March 3, 1895 Colonel George W. Alexander died in Laurel, Md., last week of paralysis. He was one of the most conspicuous, notable men in Richmond during the war. A sketch of his life will doubtless be interesting to all, but especially to the comparatively few of our citizens who were here during that time and knew him.
Magazine Article by Dr. Douglas Southall Freeman: The Confederate Tradition of Richmond - June, 1932 Richmond was a name in 1860; the War Between the States made her a symbol. She had been the home of a few great men; she became the center of a great tradition. Her ways had been the ways of pleasantness; her fame is that of war. With Loydon and Londonberry her stout defence won her a place in history; the success of that defence took on the same moral significance that led men to regard the tricolor on the citadel of Verdun as the symbol of allied victory or defeat in 1916. As long as Richmond defied the foe, the Southern Confederacy never lost hope. When Richmond fell, the Southern cause collapsed.
Survivor of Iron-clad 'Virginia' Tells of Stirring Naval Battles - February 9, 1934 "I was in the Confederate Navy, suh, and mighty proud of it"---and the man who is probably the only living survivor of the old iron-sided Virginia told of the days when he was "gunner's powder-monkey on this superdreadnaught of the South." Born in Hanover County in 1848, William Martin Butler enlisted at Richmond in the navy when he was 14-years old. He first shipped on the Patrick Henry, but later was transferred to the Virginia, the ship that but a few months before had "made obsolete the navies of the world" when she steamed out from Confederate defense of Norfolk clad in iron.
Park Commemorates Petersburg Siege - October 21, 1934 The Petersburg National Military Park, scene of the siege which opened June 15, 1864, and ended April 2, 1865, is rapidly being converted into a beautiful historical park attracting nation-wide attention, and under the direction of the National Park Service it will become one of America's most sacred shrines.
A. P. Hill (Part 4) - November 4, 1934 After Jackson's death Lee threw his full weight of dependence on Hill's third army corps. General A. L. Long, after the war, described the corps commander well when he said: "No man was more distinguished throughout the war for chivalric bearing than this brave soldier. On every field where appeared Army of Northern Virginia, he bore a conspicuous part." Longstreet was not so kind. He resented Hill's elevation to a corps commander on Stonewall's death. He accused Lee of favoritism to Virginians and declared, "General Daniel H. Hill was the superior of General A. P. Hill in rank, skill, judgment and distinguished services."
A. P. Hill, Soldier of the South (Part 5) - November 11, 1934 Bolivar Heights, one of the three great promontories, about a mile and a half west of, and overlooking Harper's Ferry, was where A. P. Hill, with his Thirteenth Virginia Infantry, began service for the Confederacy.
Charles F. E. Minnegerode, Rector St. Paul's Church - November 11, 1934 Although not a Virginian by birth; not even an American, probably no resident of Rchmond has been held in higher esteem than was the late Rev. Charles F. E. Minnegerode, D. D., the scholarly and well-beloved wartime rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church--that cathedral of Confederacy where General Lee and President Davis worshipped in those ghastly days of 1861-65.
Richmond Light Infantry Blues - December 23, 1934 It has been established that from the beginning of their picturesque organization, about 145 years ago, members of the Richmond Light Infantry Blues have drunk enough toasts to drown the whole Japanese fleet, about which so much concern is being aired these days, but, so far as the records show, the drinking was never done officially at Christmas.
J. L. Sherrard Tells Story of McNeil's Raid during the Civil War - January 6, 1935 Today in a rambling old Colonial residence at 3207 Seminary Avenue in Ginter Park the student-warrior of 74 years ago, now silvered and glad to rest in his easy chair before a fire, reviews those stirring days of his youth with a mental relish undimmed by the passing time. But of all the epochal events of those four years of war the one that burns brightest in his memory is that least recorded by historians, yet paradoxically acclaimed the most daring feat of either side--the capture of two Union generals within their own lines--the Cumberland raid of McNeil's Rangers.
'Honest John' Letcher, Wartime Governor - January 13, 1935 All Virginians are so familiar with the great deeds and illustrious names of those who played the leading roles in the tragic drama of the War Between the States that a number of the participators are today as truly living personalities as they were when here in the flesh. But there is one who served his State faithfully and well, yet toward whom the historians have been somewhat stingy in the space they have allotted to him. That man is John Letcher, who was Governor of Virginia from 1860 to 1864. What we are told about him is very much in his favor, but the pages given over to his story are all too few.
'Honest John' Letcher, Wartime Governor - January 13, 1935 All Virginians are so familiar with the great deeds and illustrious names of those who played the leading roles in the tragic drama of the War Between the States that a number of the participators are today as truly living personalities as they were when here in the flesh. But there is one who served his State faithfully and well, yet toward whom the historians have been somewhat stingy in the space they have allotted to him. That man is John Letcher, who was Governor of Virginia from 1860 to 1864. What we are told about him is very much in his favor, but the pages given over to his story are all too few.
"Stonewall" Jackson at V. M. I. - January 27, 1935 It was rather a dismal afternoon and the clouds were hanging low over the Virginia Military Institute barracks, but Major Jackson's cadets drilled on. There were no horses, and the cadets pulled the heavy artillery carriages through movement after movement as Major Jackson put the full force of his deep voice into his commands. A cloud, blacker than the rest, appeared and released a torrent that seemed as if it would wash away the very guns and caissons themselves. But still Major Jackson's cadets drilled on.
Confederate Women's Home - January 27, 1935 A home of gleaming white Indiana limestone, beautiful in its simplicity, emulating in its pillared front and classic lines the First Home of the nation, a home of hundred rooms, a home for the Confederacy's brave women--that is the Southland's "House of Memories."
Robert E. Lee, a Biography by Dr. Douglas Southall Freeman - February 24, 1935 The concluding volumes of Dr. Freeman's monumental work on Robert E. Lee have just issued from the press and have received remarkable notices by reviewers the country over. There are several reasons for this acclaim. In the first place the work is the first detailed life of Lee and in the second place (and more important) it is exceedingly readable.
Major John Pelham - March 26, 1935 Seventy-six years ago, March 17, 1863, Major John Pelham, "The great cannoneer," died at Culpeper Courthouse, Va. He doubtless possessed more natural skill at artillery practice than any other gunner on either the Confederate or Federal armies. He had just been wounded about six miles away at a fight where he was technically a spectator. A girl, perhaps the chief cause of his then being in Culpeper County, watched him die. "The gallant Pelham," so named in official reports, would never again come calling to the Shackelford house after he left it this time. He was 24 years old, surely too young to die, Bessie Shackelford must have thought.
The Trail that Led to Appomattox - March 31, 1935 Two unforgettable events in the annals of Virginia's history, and that of the South's and nation's as well, will pass in review before the minds of all theose who cherish Confederate traditions, when the seventieth anniversary of the burning of Richmond is commemorated on April 3 --- and that of General Lee's surrender at Appomattox on April 9.
JEB Stuart's Boxwood Trees Still Stand - June 2, 1935 Visitors to the Stuart homeplace in Patrick County, Va., where once lived the widowed mother of the gallant General, "Jeb," always carry away with them a strong realization of earnest living, true worth and greatness.
Newspaper Article: Lee Chapel at Washington and Lee University - August 4, 1935 Men in grey will continue to honor the memory of the great commander, Robert E. Lee, for many a year to come, for the grey-clad cadets of Virginia Military Instutute never pass Lee Chapel in Lexington where General Lee is buried, without a reverential salute.
Sallie Partington - August 4, 1935 This is the story of Richmond's own favorite actress, Sallie Partington, whose career began here as a child, who became the idol of the soldiers of the South, who on the stage of the Richmond Theatre played leading roles opposite the great Wallack and Joe Jefferson, and many of the other stars, and in after years lived in obscurity and poverty within seven short blocks of the scene of her wartime triumphs.
Johnson Isle - Memories of a Yankee Prison Camp - October 6, 1935 The Richmond Howitzers, which had organized as a company in November 1859, became a battalion bearing the same name in May 1861. This company went on the firing line at an early date. What these men did helped to make history. James Blythe Moore, then a boy of 17, left Washington and Lee University, at Lexington, Va. (with no one's permission), and joined the Howitzers. He was assigned to a detachment of Mosby's cavalry, where he fought with the spirit of a man, and the strength of a youth, with an enthusiasm that carried him through the hardships and privations that surrounded the men who fought for "The Lost Cause." He, as second lieutenant and drill master of Company C, in August of 1863, was captured near Orange Courthouse. Quotes from an old scrap book of his give a vivid description of life in a Union prison camp.
The Alabama vs. The Kearsarge - Circa 1936 The death roll of the battle was very small considering its severity. Three men of the crew died on board the Kearsarge from wounds received on board the Alabama. It is believed that they had suffered amputations. Eleven wounded, some having broken bones and others, burns, were taken to the Cherbourg Naval Hospital. All of them were saved. One officer only, Dr. Lewellyn, the Alabama's surgeon, perished by drowning while he was finishing the dressing of the wounds of one of the crew who was saved. Captain Semmes was reported to have been seriously wounded at the hand. Another officer wounded was rescued by the small boat of Major-General Roze and died on board the said boat on which it is reported that there were ladies.
Capitol Square Guards are Veteran Officers - 1936 Few State employees have much occasion to come in daily contact with the public. Yet, one of the most interesting of the groups of State employees, known to practically every Richmonder and greeted intimately by many daily, are the guards stationed in Capitol Square. And in this group of four men represented a total of 127 years of continuous service to the State. In order of their length of service, they are: J. P. Pettis, T. A. Carroll, John William Truslow and Wilborn Wooldridge.
Sailors of the Confederacy - 1936 Every school boy knows the story of the capture of the Dutch fleet, frozen in the texel, by Napoleon's cavalry. But how many have heard of the "inland voyages" of the Confederate naval forces after the fall of Richmond? And who remembers that the South's largest force of sailors and marines surrendered after fighting their last battle, at Sailor's Creek, in Prince Edward County, Virginia.
History of Confederate Museum (White House of the Confederacy) - February 16, 1936 The Confederate Museum, "White House of the Confederacy," was erected in the early days of Richmond in a section which was then the most fashionable part of the city, and was considered one of the most handsome residences of that time. It was built by Dr. John Brockenbrough around 1817-18. When the builder retired to Warm Springs, of which he was proprietor, he sold his Richmond home to James M. Morson. Mr. Morson added the third story, stuccoed the house and among the other improvements added the beautiful Carrara marble mantels. When he retired he disposed of the property to his law partner, James A. Seddon. The new owner had been a member of Congress from Virginia and a representative of Virginia in the Peace Congress held January 19, 1961, in Washington, and later became secretary of war of the Confederate States. A few years before the war Mr. Seddon removed to Sabot Hill and the residence again changed hands, Lewis D. Crenshaw becoming the owner. He sold the property to the City of Richmond for 35,000. The city furnished it to the extent of $8,000 and tendered it to President Jefferson Davis when the capital was removed to this city. Mr. Davis declined to accept it and only consented to occupy it on the condition that full rent be paid. This was done by the Confederate Government on June 10, 1861.
Clopton Hospital - April 19, 1936 During the bloody summer of 1862 the Clopton Hospital near the northwest corner of Fourth and Franklin Streets was opened on May 28 as an emergency unit by Captain Isaul Warner. Two hundred and eighty men were brought from Ashland on May 31 by order of General Winder, according to old records now in possession of the Clopton Descendants. All were retained with the exception of 12
General Battle and the Stolen Colt - May 3, 1936 Perhaps it was the number of veterans who were present at this particular gathering that accounts for the talk's eventual turn to war episodes, but it was in one of those lulls in general conversation that the lady from Tennessee asked the question which instantly crystallized the attention of every one present. "Do you not believe that had the South been victorious in its struggle that it would have imposed more grievous terms on the North, than the North did on the South?" her clear voice queried. "For a while," says Mr. Battle, "I am told that no one answered, and then in a sort of bustle of expectancy a youngish man replied with this story which I am giving out now. It was Mr. Watts, and in these words he began:
Memorial to Stonewall Jackson - May 10, 1936 Commemorating the death of General Stonewall Jackson, which occurred May 10, 73 years ago today, a stained glass window in a Negro church in Roanoke, Va., picturizing the last words of the great military genius, is one of the most touching of the Confederacy's memorials.
Fort Sumpter Fired On during the Civil War - August 9, 1936 What boy living in Charleston, S.C. during the War Between the States would not remember General Beauregard, and the stirring times around Fort Sumter. Some time ago in Charleston, I met George McDonald, nearly 90 years old. Thin and active, his chief delight is to talk about "those terrible days," and the men who made history then. Perhaps he likes best to talk about General Beauregard, who was in command of the provisional army of the Confederacy, with headquarters at Charleston during the early days of the war.
"Dixie," by Daniel D. Emmett - September 20, 1936 "Dixie," by Daniel D. Emmett (Page with Music) Had it not been for a dreary spell of weather one of our most loved songs might never have been written. One Sunday morning nearly 78 years ago Daniel Decatur Emmett looked out of a gloomy lodging-house window in New York City and exclaimed, "I wish I was in Dixie," and affixed his name forever to the roll of American song writers.
Newspaper Article: Secret Service Tales of the Confederacy - Part 1 - November 29, 1936 The "bureau" was by day and night a center of interest to higher officials and to newspaper reporters. The great majority of people in Richmond thought it was only a sort of headquarters for the officers and men of the Signal Corps. A few others knew enough to stimulate the imagination with some sense of mystery. Only a small number, even of the well-informed, knew that from those rooms was conducted a correspondence, usually in cipher, with numerous agents beyond the limits of the Confederacy, that in them, with occasional interruptions, mail was received from Washington almost as regularly as from Charleston, and that through them cipher dispatches between generals in the field and the departments were constantly passed.
Newspaper Article: Pickett's Last Man - September 28, 1936 Although he spent much time defending his chief, General Longstreet, Captain Nelson's account of the famous charge is graphic and awe-inspiring: The deadly stillness of the hours of waiting before a battle, "when the men lay in the tall grass in the rear of the artillery line, the July sun pouring its scorching rays almost vertically down upon them . . . the awful silence of the vast battlefield was broken by a cannon shot that opened the greatest artillery duel of the world." All the horror of this losing battle with death can be felt as one listens to this aged man tell his story.
Newspaper Article: Secret Service Tales of the Confederacy - Part 2 - December 6, 1936 The Yankees were as shrewd as we were at signalling tricks. But General Early in his Valley Campaign, finding that Sheridan's signalmen were reading his messages, cunningly availed himself of the fact to create a diversion. He instructed his men to flag to himself the following message:
General Longstreet was supposed by Sheridan to be (as he really was) with Lee in front of Petersburg. The bogus message, therefore, greatly mystified not only General Sheridan, but Halleck in Washington and Grant in Front of Lee. They never solved the puzzle. When General Early was asked about it after the war, he only smiled and said nothing.
John Pelham, The Cannoneer - March 28, 1937 Seventy-four years ago this past month, a boy died violently at Culpeper Courthouse. Had he lived three weeks longer, he would have been a lieutenant-colonel in the Confederate Army; he was 24 years old. [A more detailed account than the following article]
Uncle Lud Brown fought in '65 - May 16, 1937 We often hear of the rapidly diminishing number of men who wore the blue and gray, and with the passing of each one, we face the fact anew that only a few more years and the line will have passed out entirely. All of the white men of Brookneal who fought in the War Between the States have gone on. The only Confederate veteran who lives there is a well-respected Negro, and each day it would seem that his steps become a little slower and his gray beard and hair little more grayer. But, with all the infirmities of his 90 or more years, "Uncle Lud Brown" is daily seen meeting the Norfolk and Western train; getting his share of the mail, then going to the post office for more mail, and on to the Virginian Railway station to deliver the mail in time for the train. He has never "taken to" an automobile, but drives a horse and buggy which, like their owner, have seen better days. The old man and his horse, however, continue to plod along in an effort to do the job in a creditable manner. The mail is gotten from the Virginian train and taken to the post office, a distance of about three-fourths of a mile. This work has continued for a period of about 20 years.
'On to Richmond' (Enemy Approaching the City) - January 23, 1938 I wonder if that printer who got out those handbills at white heat during those hours of Kilpatrick's raid and if the man who worded them so thrillingly and so poignantly had any notion how close they would make the War Between the States seem to 1938--to people who are going about their business over 70 years later. All the busy people I showed this handbill to, stopped their business to read it and re-read it. (Some of them, like the old New England lady who had just finished "Gone With the Wind" said "damn the Yankees").
John J. Craven - May 7, 1939 During more than 45 years which have passed since the organization of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, hundreds of memorials have been erected throughout the South, but none, I am sure, of more significance than the one which was unveiled Thursday in honor of Bvt. Lieutenant-Colonel John J. Craven, M. D., late surgeon, U. S. Volunteers, and physician to Jefferson Davis, president, C. S. A., while a prisoner of war at Fortress Monroe, Va.
The VMI Cadets at the Battle of New Market - May 14, 1939 Seventy-five years ago . . . . And today there is only one survivor of the battle in which a small band of V. M. I. cadets fought shoulder to shoulder with veteran troops to repell an invasion of the Shenandoah Valley on May 15 of 1864. That sole survivor, William M. Wood, was but a lad of 19 when he marched the 82 miles from Lexington to New Market to participate in the battle in which the cadet corps contributed materially to the Confederate victory.
The Richmond Light Infantry Blues Look Back 150 Years - May 14, 1939 The Blues, pride of Richmond and glory of Virginia, are marking 150 years of a noble career this week end. Historic commands of the Centennial Legion have joined the sesquicentennial of the famous battalion, to produce one of the most colorful and brilliant events in the long existence of that body, whose name has been linked with the very fabric of the city's traditions almost from the outset.
Bombers for General Lee - January 15, 1950 Packed away today in a crate at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington is a model of a machine that might have turned the tide of the War Between the States. It is an airplane model, designed by a Confederate engineer with the idea of providing a fleet of bombers for General Robert E. Lee. With control of the air, the South might have broken the North's naval blockade and opened the road to Washington for the men of General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson and the legions of Stuart, Longstreet and Early.
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