A Decision That Caused The Fall of the Confederacy

October 1861:

According to Wikipedia October 3 was the day that Governor Thomas Moore of Alabama (actually he was Governor of Louisiana) declared an embargo that restricted the export of cotton from the state to England and other European nations. 

Governor Thomas Moore

This was done to force an artificial shortage of cotton driving unemployment and unrest in these nations. It was hoped that such an outcome would pressure the governments of these countries to recognize and assist the Confederacy in its struggle for independence. This policy was quickly adopted by the national government, headed by President Jefferson Davis, and put into effect. The ‘Law of Unintended Consequences’ quickly went into play.

At that time the Union blockade was paper thin and easily bypassed by ships of all nations. The Confederate embargo had the unforeseen effect of making the Blockade appear more effective than it actually was in fact. This resulted in strengthening the Union claim that this was an internal affair of suppressing rebellious provinces, and that the Confederacy was not an independent nation as it claimed to be. The European Monarchies of the time, despite their intense dislike of the American Republic, hated and feared breakaway provinces in their own countries even more. Instead of rallying to the Confederate cause, the Europeans watched and waited, withholding the recognition so desired by the Confederates.

Wharfs  Stacked With Cotton Bales

Great Britain was especially thrown into turmoil by the cotton shortage.The ruling politicians were, by and large, favorably disposed toward the Confederacy’s struggle for independence. The British were more than happy to see the upstart Americans tear themselves apart in Civil War. Two quarreling nations instead of a larger united country would be less of an economic rival to the United Kingdom. This was in keeping with long established British European policy of not allowing one power to dominate the Continent of Europe that had worked so well keeping peace on the Continent since the days of Napoleon. Moreover, many British workers in the textile mills were rendered unemployed by the cotton shortage, and the demands for relief for such workers swiftly mounted. Such developments came close to bringing the British to recognize the Confederacy.

Civil War Cotton Fields

Countering these inclinations was the deeply held detestation of slavery by the British common people, even those who were unemployed by the lack of cotton. No British government could ignore the will of the people so expressed, and hope to remain in power, no matter their own personal inclinations. The unemployment was partly assuaged by the expanding arms and ship building industries fueled by the demands of the American War. Abraham Lincoln had shipments of foods and other commodities sent to the workers of Great Britain, and even today, a statue of Lincoln stands in Manchester England in gratitude for such generosity. Cotton growers in Egypt and India, both under British rule at the time, were more than happy to step up production to fill the gaps caused by the loss of American cotton.

By the time the Confederate Government recognized their embargo as a failed policy, the blockade had become markedly more effective, prices of needed military supplies had risen due to demands of the War, and the value of the Confederate dollar, backed only by the word of the Confederate Government, had fallen to a fraction of the original face value. Furthermore, many blockade runners found cargoes of luxury items, rather than military supplies to be more financially rewarding, further damaging the Confederate military effort.

Blockade Runner

Hindsight is of course often a 20/20 vision of what should have or could have been done differently. In this case a better plan for the Confederates in 1861 might have been to conduct a massive shipment of the available cotton to Europe where it could have been stored in the event of a long war, and then used as a financial underpinning for the Confederate paper money. Few people in 1861 predicted a long or protracted war. The Confederate policy of States Rights might very well have led to legal challenges to the authority of the government to take such drastic action.

In the Ken Burns Series ‘The Civil War’ there is a quote stating the on the tombstone of the Confederacy is written: 

Confederate President Jefferson Davis

"If the Confederacy fails," CSA President Jefferson Davis lamented, "...there should be written on its tombstone: Died of a Theory."

Written by Brother Gerard Devine MD, Patriotic Instructor
Presented by Brother Wendell G. Small Jr, Camp Chaplain
Major General Thomas H. Ruger Camp #1

Lincoln’s Melancholy

Lincoln’s Melancholy

Abraham Lincoln holds a unique place in American History. During his lifetime, and certainly during his Presidency, he was reviled by his political opponents, both in the North as well as in the South. Following his assassination he was revered as the savior of the nation’s unity in the North and greatly respected and even loved in the South for his mild (compared to what actually happened) Reconstruction policies. Times and opinions change, however, and Southerners now regard him more as did their war time ancestors, not as did their 20th century forbearers.

Historians have written about the shifting of the fortunes Lincoln’s reputation and have attempted several explanations to account for this change.  Some have reasoned that Lincoln was motivated by racial or economic factors. Others have commented on his supposed periods of depression, which in the 19^th century was referred to as ‘melancholy’, and tried to portray him as being in the grips of mental illness, that he was something of a manic depressive, which the psychiatrists now call the bi-polar state. In other words, his reputation is erratic because his behavior was erratic.

It is always a difficult task to diagnose mental conditions, and doubly so when the patient has not been personally examined by the diagnostician. Moreover, the word ‘depression’ has many different meanings, and has to be carefully defined by the user. A review of some of the incidents of Lincoln’s life should give any armchair psychiatrist pause before trying to attach a label of any mental illness to the man.

Lincoln’s early life was scarred by a harsh father, and only somewhat eased by a kind stepmother.  His first love of his life, Ann Rutledge, died at an early age, and his subsequent courting of Mary Todd was tumultuous, to say the least.

Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln

The marriage was also marked by recurrent wifely tantrums, as reported by contemporaries, but nonetheless the relationship managed to endure. 

A son, Edward, died before the election and this loss was understandably difficult for both parents to bear.  

Edward Baker Lincoln

When the Lincolns took office on March 4, 1861, Mary’s achievement of her lifelong ambition to be First Lady should have given her the happiness she always craved.  Instead the War torn the nation apart, and several of Mary’s relatives, who disliked Lincoln to begin with, openly served the Confederacy and exposed her to charges of disloyalty. These divisions of her family, coupled with her extravagant spending habits were sources of criticism both for Mary and also for the President, who was dealing with the Fort Sumter crisis, and could afford little time to be so distracted.

The War had barely begun when Col Elmer Ellsworth was shot and killed in Alexandria, Virginia in May 1861. 

Col. Elmer Ellsworth 

Ellsworth was regarded as a son by the President, and his death was an intensely painful experience for Lincoln, one which he was trying to come to terms with when the first Battle of Manassas/Bull Run was fought.

Col. Edward Baker

In October of that year, Lincoln’s close friend and political ally Col Edward Baker, for whom his deceased son had been named, was killed at the Battle of Ball’s Bluff, causing another heavy personal burden for Lincoln, who was then entangled in the diplomatic issue of the Trent Affair and trying to avoid war with Great Britain.

In February 1862, 11 year old Willie Lincoln died in the White House.

Lincoln and Son Willie

Perhaps the favorite child of the family, Lincoln’s grief over Willie’s death not only severely strained his own emotions, but he was powerless to deal with his wife’s intense anguish, and the exacerbation of her already erratic behaviors to the point of, and perhaps beyond, the bounds of sanity.  Two weeks later, he was faced with the issue of the Confederate ironclad Virginia (Merrimack).

In June and July of 1863, the twin crises of Gettysburg and Vicksburg competed for Lincoln’s attention. However, Mary had sustained a life threatening head injury during a buggy ride, and spent several weeks in uncertain recovery, which was by no means guaranteed. In September of that year, the Confederates managed to win a great (but essentially meaningless for them) victory at Chickamauga. Confederate General Ben Helms was killed in the action. 

Confederate General Ben Helms

He was the brother in law of the Lincolns, and was apparently one of the few Todd relatives who both was liked by and who in turn liked Lincoln. Mourning at the White House for the fallen general was sincere, but had to be conducted in secret in order to allay the rumors of disloyalty which were always just below the surface for anyone to use to criticize the President.

The Overland campaign in 1864 was not only bloody, but appeared to be at best a stalemate, not a victory. Lincoln faced bitter opposition for his re-nomination by the Republicans due to the perception that he could not be re-elected. Only Sherman’s capture of Atlanta and Sheridan’s dramatic ride to victory at Cedar Creek in September and October enabled Lincoln to win on a Union, not Republican, Party ticket.

The spring of 1865 should have been a happy time for the Lincolns. The War was close to being won, and the plans for peace were being made. Critics of the President then took aim at his son Robert, sometimes referred to as ‘Prince of Rails’, who had spent the war safely at Harvard. 

Robert Todd Lincoln

Lincoln was agreeable for Robert to serve in the military, and was uncomfortable with the charge that he sent other men’s sons to fight, but kept his own son in safety.  Mary was bitterly opposed to placing her son in such danger. As a compromise, General Grant secured Robert a safe from the battlefield staff position.  This protected Lincoln from the somewhat justified critics, but earned the unending hatred of the by now overtly unbalanced Mary. During a visit in late March by the wives of several dignitaries and officers, including Mrs. Grant, Mary exhibited such an embarrassing emotional outburst that Mrs. Grant refused to accompany the Lincolns to their fateful visit to Ford’s Theater in April.

Assassination at Ford Theater 

Mary Todd Lincoln in her Mourning Cloth

The trials that Lincoln faced both before and especially during his time in the White House make the assumption of mental illness difficult to sustain. Indeed, his ability to persevere in the face of such trials speaks volumes for his essential mental stability.

Presented: Brother Gerard Devine MD, Patriotic Instructor
Major General Thomas H. Ruger Camp #1.

A Plot in Baltimore

Presented: October 11, 2014

The Plot in Baltimore to Assassinate Abraham Lincoln

- Fact or Fiction - 

Implications for History

The Republican Ticket

In November 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States. He was winner due to the division of the Democratic Party into Northern and Southern wings, which predicted the war soon to follow. Lincoln failed to win a majority of the popular votes, and indeed, failed to win any votes in the Deep South where he was not even placed on the ballots.

The election of this minority and sectional candidate was the spark that lit the fuse of Secession, first of South Carolina, followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. On the 4th of February of 1861 delegates from these states (Texas excepted) met in Montgomery, Alabama to form their own new political entity: the Confederate States of America. Meeting behind closed doors the delegates adopted a provisional constitution by the 8th, and a provisional President on the 9th.

Jefferson Davis

The day after he was notified of his selection, Jefferson Davis left his home in Brierfield Mississippi and arrived, sternly triumphant, in Montgomery on the 16th, was sworn in on the 18th and started his Presidency. This pace of accomplishment in American political life has not been matched before or since. It was said, with grim justification that “The man and the hour have met.”

In contrast to the largely popular and uncontested travels of Davis, Lincoln also had to make his way to Washington City to take command of what remained of the United States.

Lincoln left Springfield on February 11th, crossing over into Indiana, then Ohio, followed by Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, again entering Pennsylvania and the city of Philadelphia on the 21st. Along the route he was greeted by both supporters and the merely curious, was officially declared the winner of the Presidential Election by the Electoral College on the 12th,  was feted by civic banquets and receptions, and was guarded by an informal company of friends, political cronies, and a few military officers loosely managed by William S. Wood. This was an altogether inadequate arrangement.

Presidential Train

The last leg of the journey required Lincoln to pass from Philadelphia through Baltimore, change trains-a journey of approximately a mile - and then go on to Washington City. Changing trains in cities was reflective of the state of the art of railroading in the 1860s, due not only to the danger of fires and explosions, but also the multiple small distance lines that completed with one another. Baltimore was unique in many ways as a stop in the Lincoln itinerary, it was part of Maryland – the only slave state on the tour, it was the only city that did not plan an official welcome to the Lincoln, which in the other cities was made part of the change of trains procession, and, most ominously, had made no security arrangements for the President Elect’s party. This last omission was not easily excused given that the President elect had daily received threats of death by gun knife poisoned ink and even a spider filled dumpling. The pro Southern sympathies of Baltimore Mayor George William Brown, Baltimore Chief of Police Marshal George Proctor Kane and Maryland Governor Thomas Holliday Hicks were instrumental in contributing to this lack of security.

Samuel Morse Felton

In Philadelphia railway executive Samuel Morse Felton, president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad was alerted by an employee, George Stearns that a plot was forming in Baltimore. Felton believed that the president-elect and those surrounding him had failed to grasp the seriousness of his position. Rumors had reached Felton that secessionists might be mounting a “deep-laid conspiracy to capture Washington, destroy all the avenues leading to it from the North, East, and West, and thus prevent the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln in the Capitol of the country.” For Felton, whose track formed a crucial link between Washington and the North, the threat against Lincoln and his government also constituted a danger to his railroad.

“I then determined,” Felton recalled later, “to investigate the matter in my own way.” By the end of January, with barely two weeks remaining before Lincoln was to depart Springfield, Detective Allan Pinkerton was on the case.

Allan Pinkerton

History has not been kind to Pinkerton’s role in the Civil War. His wildly exaggerated estimations of the Confederate forces facing the ever cautious General McClellan in the Peninsular Campaign in 1862 left the reputations of both men in doubt. In 1861 however he was considered to be a brilliant and skilled operator. He and his associates, both male and female, soon discovered what they claimed to have been a determined plot to assassinate Lincoln while he was in transit in or near Baltimore.

Historians disagree on the validity of the existence of the plot, but Pinkerton was convinced that members of the Knights of the Golden Circle and other societies of Southern sympathizers such as the paramilitary National Volunteers (officially the Breckinridge and Lane Club) were in active conspiracy.

Knights of Golden Circle Broadside

He befriended Otis K. Hillard, a known Southern loyalist, who introduced him to William H.H. Turner, clerk of the Baltimore Circuit Court, Cypriano Ferrandini, a barber in Barnum’s Hotel, a known hangout for Southern Partisans, quoting Ferrandini as saying “If I alone must do it, I shall- Lincoln shall die in this city. Unknown to him and acting independently on the orders of General Winfield Scott, were detectives from New York City, sent by Superintendent John Kennedy, who were also investigating possible plots.

Inauguration of President Abraham Lincoln

Presented: Brother Gerard Devine MD, Patriotic Instructor
Major General Thomas H. Ruger Camp #1

General Early's Raid

General Jubal Early's Raid

General Jubal Early

In 1864 Union General Ulysses S. Grant began his coordinated attack on the confederates on several fronts. The Army of the Potomac crossed into the Virginia Wilderness and engaged the Army of Northern Virginia in a series of battles known as the Overland campaign.

President Lincoln and US Grant

This was President Lincoln’s idea, to attack and use the Union’s overwhelming manpower to defeat all the Confederate forces in the field, breaking the Rebellion. General Grant and  General William Tecumseh Sherman were the men for the job, but General  Benjamin Franklin Butler was ineffective and David Hunter was out-generaled by General Robert E. Lee and General Jubal Early.

Forces and Movements:

General Sherman

General Sherman marched towards Atlanta from the north Georgia Mountains.

General Butler

General Ben Butler was to threaten Richmond from the area known as Bermuda 100.

General Hunter

General Hunter was to disrupt the supply line to the Army of Northern Virginia from the Shenandoah Valley, without which provisions the Army of Northern Virginia could not be sustained in the field.

Confederate Forces:

General Robert E. Lee

Robert E. Lee was concerned about General Hunter's advances in the Valley, which threatened critical railroad lines and provisions for the Virginia-based Confederate forces. He directed  General Jubal Early's corps to sweep Union forces from the Valley; “If possible…” as General Lee often included in his orders, “to menace the Federal Capital in Washington City.”  This was done in the hope of compelling General Grant to dilute his forces against General Lee at Petersburg.

Portrait General Jubal Early

Arriving June 19^th in Lynchburg, General Early got off to a good start. He drove down through the Valley without opposition. General Hunter had retreated to West Virginia claiming lack of supplies, crossed the Potomac into Maryland. In the days that followed, panic swept the Capital and there were frantic attempts to organize Union defenses. Many of the regiments that had manned the ring of forts around Washington D.C. in relative safety and luxury, were now with General Grant facing Lee at Petersburg. The political response in calling for the troops to return to DC in the face of the military necessity of keeping them in Petersburg was intense to say the least. Not for the first time, President Lincoln was pressured from multiple sides.

As June stretched into July, and the Confederate forces moved ever closer to the Union Capital, Grant bowing to the political necessity of saving the frightened members of Congress,  dispatched two brigades of the VI Corps, about 5,000 men, on July 6, 1864. Until those troops arrived however, the only Federal force between General Early and the Capital was a command of 6,300 mostly green short term volunteers known as 100 Day men, commanded by Major General Lew Wallace.

Union General Lew Wallace

At the time General Wallace, who would eventually become best known for his book Ben Hur, was the head of the Union's Middle Atlantic Department, headquartered at Baltimore.  General Wallace was a talented battlefield commander, but his career was derailed when he was blamed for the high casualties taken at the Union victory at the Battle of Shiloh. Uncertain whether Baltimore or Washington, D.C. was the Confederate objective, Wallace knew he had to delay their approach until reinforcements could reach either city.

Wallace saw Monocacy Junction, also called Frederick Junction, three miles southeast of Frederick, as the most logical point of defense for both Baltimore and Washington. The Georgetown Pike to Washington and the National Road to Baltimore both crossed the Monocacy River as did the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. If General Wallace could stretch his force over six miles of the stream. Thus protecting turnpike bridges, the railroad bridge, and several fords, he could make General Early reveal the strength and objective of the Confederate force and delay him as long as possible.

After the War General Wallace proposed to collect the bodies of the dead in a burial ground on the battlefield where he proposed a monument to read; "These men died to save the National Capital.”  They did in fact save it, unfortunately the monument was never built.

Monocacy cost General Early a day's march and his chance to capture Washington. Thwarted in the attempt to take the capital, the Confederates retreated back into Virginia, ending their last campaign to carry the war into the North.

General Early wrote in a report of the 1864 campaign; “Some of the Northern papers stated that, between Saturday and Monday, I could have entered the city; but on Saturday I was fighting at Monocacy, thirty-five miles from Washington, a force which I could not leave in my rear; and after disposing of that force and moving as rapidly as it was possible for me to move, I did not arrive in front of the fortifications until after noon on Monday, and then my troops were exhausted.”  

General Grant also assessed Wallace's delaying tactics at Monocacy; “If Early had been but one day earlier, he might have entered the capital before the arrival of the reinforcements I had sent.... General Wallace contributed on this occasion by the defeat of the troops under him, a greater benefit to the cause than often falls to the lot of a commander of an equal force to render by means of a victory.”

After the battle Early resumed his march on Washington, arriving at its northeast border around noon on July 11^th, near Silver Spring. This is where the Union Fort Stevens was located. Because of the battle at Monocacy and the march through stifling summer heat, and unsure of the strength of the Federal position in front of him, Early decided to not send his army against the fortifications around Washington until the next day.

Around 3 p.m. in the afternoon, with the bulk of their force present, the Confederates attacked. At this time the lead elements of the Union veteran reinforcements arrived at the fort, bolstering the defenses at the critical moment. The battle intensified around 5 p.m. when Confederate cavalry pushed through the advance Union picket line, but a counterattack drove them back and the two opposing lines confronted each other throughout the evening with periods of intense skirmishing.

Monocacy Junction, also called Frederick Junction

On July 9^th General Wallace’s 5,800 patched together troops held off General Early’s 14,000 veterans for the entire day, slowing the Confederate advance for at least 24 hours before retreating toward Baltimore. As the Confederates regrouped and rested from their victory, the delay allowed the VI Corps troops to arrive from Petersburg and confront the Confederates with fresh veterans. The Union defeat at Monocacy slowed the Confederates just long enough that the Union Capital could be saved.

Fort Stevens Washington DC

At about the time the Union troops were arriving in Washington, Early's corps began to arrive at the breastworks of Fort Stevens. Yet Early still delayed the attack because he remained unsure of the federal strength and with his troops exhaustion having been on the march since June 13. Additionally, many of the Confederate troops had looted the home of Montgomery Blair, the Postmaster General. They found barrels of whiskey in the basement of the mansion, and many troops were too drunk to get a good start in the morning. This allowed for further fortification by Union troops.

Union Battery at Fort Stevens Washington DC

Spectators Watched from the Hill Tops

President Lincoln with his wife Mary, accompanied by some officers rode out to observe the attack, on July 11. They were briefly under enemy fire that wounded a Union surgeon standing next to Lincoln on the Fort Stevens parapet. Lincoln was brusquely ordered to take cover by an officer, possibly Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., who shouted, “Get down, you damn fool.”

Additional Union reinforcements from the VI and XIX Corps arrived overnight and were placed in reserve behind the line. The skirmishing continued into July 12, when General Early finally decided that Washington could not be taken without heavy losses which would be too severe to warrant the attempt. He abandoned any further thoughts of taking the city. Early withdrew during the night, marching toward White’s Ford on the Potomac, thus ending his invasion of Maryland. “We didn’t take Washington,” General Early told his staff officers, “but we scared Abe Lincoln like Hell.”

Presented: Brother Gerard Devine MD, Patriotic Instructor
Major General Thomas H. Ruger Camp #1