September 11, 1862 Voices

"General, I wish we could stand still and let the damned Yankees come to us!" James Longstreet, September 11 1862

Longstreet to Lee after he is ordered to proceed on to Hagerstown and to leave D.H. Hill at Boonsboro.  From Taken at the Flood Robert E. Lee & Confederate Strategy in the Maryland Campaign of 1862 by Joseph L. Harsh.  Kent:  The Kent State University Press, 1999. page 184

"All evidence that has been accumulated from various sources since we left Washington goes to prove most conclusively that almost the entire rebel army in Virginia, amounting to not less than 120,000 men, is in the vicinity of Frederick City.

George B. McClellan,  September 11 1862

McClellan in a letter to Halleck from Rockville MD

From The Maryland Campaign of September 1862 Vol. 1 South Mountain. Edited by Tom Clemens. New York:  Savas Beatie, 2010. page 183 

September 10, 1862 Voices

Confederate troops moving through Frederick

"their friends were anxious to get rid of them and of the penetrating ammoniacal smell they brought with them."

Lewis H. Steiner September 10 1862

Doctor Steiner of the U.S. Sanitary Commission watches the reaction of the citizens as the Confederate Army left Frederick. 

From Taken at the Flood Robert E. Lee & Confederate Strategy in the Maryland Campaign of 1862 by Jospeh L. Harsh.  Kent:  The Kent State University Press, 1999. page 171

 

Ambrose Powell Hill

"Donning his coat and sword he mounted his horse and dashed to the front of his troops, and looking like a young eagle in search of his prey, he took command of his division to the delight of all his men" George Mills

September 10 1862

A North Carolina officer describing the suspension of A.P. Hill's arrest and his return to duty commanding the Light Division.

From General A. P. Hill - The Story of a Confederate Warrior by James I. Robertson.  New York:  Random House, 1987. page 135

September 9, 1862 Voices

A Union Soldier

"We have bully times out here. We went out yesterday and caught four hogs and skinned them and roasted them over the coals. This morning we fetched in another hog and some ducks and chickens. We live first rate out here….Who would not be a soldier?"

Andrew Tehrune September 9, 1862

Rookie soldier Private Andrew Tehrune of the 13th NJ writing his cousin about foraging. From  "Who Would Not Be A Soldier?" by Scott D. Hartwig. The Antietam Campaign. Ed. Gary Gallagher  Chapel Hill:  The University of North Carolina Press,  1999. page 149.

A Confederate Soldier

"What a set of ragamuffins they looked! It seemed as if every cornfield in Maryland had been robbed of its scarecrows and propped up against the fence….My costume consisted of ragged pair of trousers, a stained, dirty jacket; an old slouch hat, the brim pinned up with a thorn; a begrimed blanket over my shoulder, a grease covered haversack full of apples and corn, a cartridge box full and a musket. I was barefooted and had a stone bruise on each foot...there was no one there who would not have been 'run in' by the police had he appeared on the streets of any populous city, and would have been fined the next day for undue exposure. Yet those grimy, sweaty, lean, ragged men were the flower of Lee's army. Those tattered, starving unkempt fellows were the pride fo their sections."

Harvey Judson Hightower of the 20^th Georgia describes himself.September 9, 1862

A confederate describes himself.  From Burnside's Bridge The Climactic Struggle of the 2nd and 20th Georgia at Antietam Creek by Phillip T. Tucker. Mechanicsburg:  Stackpole, 2000. page 5

 

September 8, 1862 Voices

Joseph Mansfield

 "Brig. Gen. J.K.F. Mansfield, U.S. Volunteers, is relieved from duty in the Army of Virginia and will report in person to Major General McClellan."

E.D. Townsend, September 8 1862. Special Order 229 assigning Mansfield to the Army of the Potomac. From OR 19 (2), page 214.

H. Watters Berryman, 1st Texas Regimen

"I never saw such pretty country or an old one in my life,…splendid crops have been raised in this part of Maryland and everything good to eat."

H. Watters Berryman, September 8 1862.  Pvt Watters Berryman of Co I 1st Texas describes Maryland. From "First Texas in the Cornfield." by George E. Otott.  The Maryland Campaign of 1862 Civil War Regiments:  A Journal of the American Civil War. Vol 5, No 3. Campbell CA:  Savas Publishing Company, 1998. page 77

September 7, 1862 Voices

U.S. Ambassador to France William L. Dayton

"Truthfulness is not, as you know, an element in French diplomacy to manners.  No man but a Frenchman would ever have thought of [Charles} Talleyrand's famous bon mot, that the object of language was to conceal thought."

William L. Dayton, September 7 1862.

Dayton, US ambassador to France expressing frustration toward the French at a critical moment in the war when French or British mediation is a possibility.  From Blue and Gray Diplomacy by Howard Jones. Chapel Hill:  The University of North Carolina Press, 2010.

page 285

 

Confederate President Jefferson Davis

"That under these circumstances, we are driven to protect our own country by transferring the seat of war to that of an enemy, who pursues us with a relentless and, apparently aimless hostility;"

Jefferson Davis, September 7 1862

Part of a proclamation drafted by President Davis for Lee to use in Marylad

OR 19 (2) page 598

September 6, 1862 Voices

"It was a hard march.  The men were falling out of the ranks all along the road.  I fell out about a mile behind the regiment and slept on the porch of a house."

Albert A. Pope September 6, 1862

Lt Albert A. Pope of the 35th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry  describes the march on September 6, 1862. From  "Who Would Not Be A Soldier?" by Scott D. Hartwig. The Antietam Campaign. Ed. Gary Gallagher  Chapel Hill:  The University of North Carolina Press,  1999. page 148.

"Maryland, from her eastern shore to the Blue Ridge, is throbbing with the hope of early deliverance, and sits uneasy in her chains."

Charleston Mercury.  September 6 1862

A Charleston Editor on the issue of Maryland awaiting liberation.  From "Maryland Our Maryland." by William A. Blair. The Antietam Campaign, Ed. Gary Gallagher Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999. page 89

 

September 5, 1862 Voices

Abraham Lincoln

"I must have McClellan to reorganize the army and bring it out of chaos.  But there has been a design-a purpose in breaking down Pope without regard of consequences to the country.  It is shocking to see and know this, but there is no remedy at present.  McClellan has the army with him."  Abraham Lincoln to John Hay.  September 5, 1862. From Until Antietam The Life and Letters of Major General Israel B. Richardson, U.S. Army by Jack Mason.  Carbondale IL:  Southern Illinois Press, 2009. Originally from Diary of Gideon Welles by Gideon Welles.  New York:  Houghton Mifflin, 1911.

Robert E. Lee

 "It makes no difference to you, my man.  Keep up with your regiment."  Robert E. Lee while walking in Leesburg replies to a soldier who asked the distance to White's Ford. September 5, 1862. From Taken at the Flood Robert E. Lee & Confederate Strategy in the Maryland Campaign of 1862 by Joseph L. Harsh.  Kent:  The Kent State University Press, 1999. Originally from Harrison Family Memoirs. Typescript. Loudon Museum, Leesburg, Virginia.