Letters of a family during the war for the union, 1861-1865 ...

Front matter

^ v* N

^ d vv ^

V >

Chapter I. Just Before The War

The Fremont Campaign,

Mother and Abby at the South,

A Slave Auction, ....

John Brown,

Some of the Family go to Europe, Election of President Lincoln, The Secession Ordinance, Inauguration of President Lincoln,

Page I 2

19 26

Chapter II. First Year Of The War

The Firing on Fort Sumter, .

First Call to Arms,

Marching of the 7th New York,

Flag Presentation to the 2d Conn.,

The Sanitary Commission,

J. H. Joins the Army,

The Sisters Abroad Come Home,

37 38 44 52 62 71 78 96

Xll

CONTENTS

J. H's Regiment Passes Through New York, G., E. and C. go to Washington,

Camp at Cameron,

Mother's Reminiscences, .

Battle of Bull Run,

CHAPTER III. Three Months' Troops Disbanded, ... 135

Pioneer Women Nurses, 142

Hospital Work in Washington and at Home, . 150

Hospital Chaplains, 161

The Family at Lenox and Astoria, . . . . 172

G. and E. dine with General Scott, . . . 183

CHAPTER IV. Patent Office Hospital

F. B. with the Port Royal Expedition,

J. H. has Leave of Absence, .

H. and C. meet Major Anderson,

Thanksgiving Day, .

The Trent Affair, .

Christmas

189 197 200 208

215 222 227 231

Chapter V. Second Year Of The War

A New Year's Call on G. and E., Washington Jail, Mrs. Abby Hopper Gibbons, .

Mother goes to Washington, .

237 249 250 254

CONTENTS

General Seth Williams, .

C. C. W. goes to Roanoke Island,

" Arbutus from Camp," .

Chapter VI

J. H. becomes Colonel of the 16th N. Manassas Evacuated by the Rebels, The Peninsular Campaign Begun, . " A Rainy Day in Camp,"

G. and E. Plan to Follow the Army, J. S. W. at Work in New York, . H. L. H. goes to the Front, .

J. H. leaves for the Peninsula,

CHAPTER VII. The Floating Hospital Service, .... 312

G. and E. Nurses at Large, 312

Mother and Hatty wind up affairs in Washington, 314

Mrs. William Preston Griffin, .... 316

First Field Patients for E., 321

Yorktown Abandoned by the Rebels, . . . 326

F. B. with the Wounded Rebels at Fort Pulaski, . 333

C. W. W. Joins the Sanitary Commission, . . 337

The Ocean Queen, Hospital Transport, . . 338

Battle of West Point, Va., 16th N. Y. engaged, . 348

On the Knickerbocker, Hospital Transport, . . 356

Chapter I

When the members of the Woolsey family gave up toys they took up politics. Brought up by a mother who hated slavery, although her ancestors for generations had been Virginia slave-holders, they walked with her in the straight path of abolitionism and would none of the Democratic party. , The As long- ago as 1856, when the Fremont

Fremont to to J

cam- campaigners, with misguided zeal and loud enthusiasm, proposed to sing the "Pathfinder" into the White House, night after night this family, with the many young men who nocked to their standard, sang, doors and windows being all open, hour after hour, the patriotic doggerel of the campaign song book; and many a song went hot from No. 8 Brevoort Place, the New York home, to the campaign printing paign office, and was shouted at political meetings for the furtherance of a result which a merciful Providence averted.

We all cut our political teeth on the New York Tribune, and were in the right frame of mind to keep step with the steady march to the inevitable through the Kansas perplexities, the John Brown raid and the election of Mr. Lincoln, to the firing of the first gun by the rebels upon the national flag at Fort Sumter.

In the spring of 1859, Abby not having

Abby been very well during the winter, Mother

soulh Panned a little trip to the South for her

benefit, making up a party with Robert,

Mary, and little Mary.

They spent several days in Charleston,

and vexed their righteous souls with the

sights and sounds of an auction of slaves.

Abby writes to her cousin, Harriet Oilman :

Charleston, S. C, Feb. 6, 1859.

Slave auctions are of daily occurrence, and one of these we attended, seeing what perhaps no lady-resident of Charleston has seen. But for that sad insight we might have thought things had a pretty fair aspect, generally. Certainly nothing forced itself

Mother and unpleasantly on our attention, only every black face in the street reminded us of the system. I enclose you the list of some we saw sold. It is the list of only "one lot" put in by one trader. I could not get a full catalogue of sale ; it seemed very long, and the men who held them were marking off the names and the prices which they brought. One man, a great stout thorough African, ran up to $780, but that was "cheap." The sale was in Chalmers street — a red flag indicating the spot — hardly a stone's throw from the hotel. The slave yard was probably the largest in Charleston — a great empty square, with high walls on three sides and a platform where the auctioneer stood and around which the bidders were grouped. On the fourth side was a five or six-story brick building, dirty, ragged-looking, like our rear tenements, where the poor crowd were lodged. The gentlemen of our party, Mr. Robert Howland, and Mr. Charles Wolcott of Fishkill (who is here with his wife on a hasty tour), went in among the bidders. We ladies stood at the gate and looked in. Whole families of all ages were standing back against the walls, being questioned by purchasers and waiting their turn. A poor old woman, her head bowed, was sold with her son. They told us families are never separated except on account of bad behavior when they wish to get rid of some bad fellow — that this is so much the custom that the opposite course would not be tolerated. But mortgages, sheriffs' sales, sudden death of the owner, etc., must often, as we can imagine, infringe on this custom. Among the saddened lookers on, all colored women except ourselves, was a middle-aged black woman, with a child in her arms. Mother had much talk with her. "Ah! Misses," she said, "they leave me some of the little ones. They sell my boys away, but I expect that, and all I wish is that they may get a good Master and Misses. There ! Misses, that's one of my boys on the stand now ! I don't mind that, but its hard to have the old man ( her husband) drifted azvay. But what can I do? My heart's broke, and that's all." He had been sold some time ago, and was gone she didn't know where. We turned home sickened and indignant. The bidders were gentlemanly-looking people, just such as we met every day at the hotel table. The trader had come down with this very gang in the cars with the Wolcotts the day before, and was so drunk then he could hardly stand. Isn't Dr. Cheever justified?

. . . March, 1859.

Though this is March, the Japonicas are just passing out of blossom and the roses are in their first fresh glory — yellow and white Banksia, the Lamarque, and all those choice fresh varieties. I'll just run down in the garden here and pick you a rosebud. There it is — my voucher for the floral stories.

While Ave were at the Pulaski in Savannah, the great sale of Pierce Butler's slaves took place, and there all the gentlemen interested were congregated. You would never suppose the young meek pale little man, Pierce Butler, to be either a slaveowner or Mrs. Kemble's husband. He is the indignant vestryman, I am told, who walked ont of Rev. Dudley Tyng's Church when that sermon was preached. I am glad to hear that Mrs. Kemble has never drawn a dollar of her alimony, $3,000 a year, but allows it to accumulate for the children. She has the honest pride of maintaining herself, under the circumstances. Of course, you have read the Tribune's account; the girls sent it to us, and we have kept it well concealed, I assure you, for there are fire-eaters in the house, who would not hesitate to insult us. But now it is copied into the New York Herald — the only northern daily sold here — and has gone all through the city. There is a shrewd Philadelphian here, with his wife, Mr. Ashmead. He knew the agent at that sale. He attended the sale ; took notes of course, as every northerner had to do, and now and then made a modest bid — to appear interested as a buyer. He says : ' < All I can say of Doe-stick's account is it does not go one bit beyond the reality — hardly comes up to it, indeed." He heard all the remarks quoted about Daphney's baby; says the story of Dorcas' and Jeffrey's love is true ; and it was to himself and one other that the negro driver's remarks about the efficacy of pistols were made. He thought Mr. Ashmead was one of the same sort ! The latter was a Buchanan man ; he goes home an Abolitionist, and says: 1 « Now I can believe that everything in Uncle Tom's Cabin might really happen."

A As properly part of the history of the

auc- war, the following New York Tribune's account of this sale is valuable. It was found among Abby's papers, dated March 9th, 1859:

A GREAT SLAVE AUCTION. 4OO MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN SOLD.

1 1 The largest sale of human chattels that has been made in Star-Spangled America for several years took place on Wednesday and Thursday of last week at the Race Course, near the City of Savannah, Georgia. The lot consisted of four hundred and thirty-six men, women, children and intion.

fants, being that half of the negro stock remaining on the old Major Butler plantations which fell to one of the two heirs to that estate — Mr. Pierce M. Butler, still living and resident in the city of Philadelphia, in the free state of Pennsylvania. They were, in fact, sold to pay Mr. Pierce M. Butler's debts.

' ' The sale had been advertised largely for many weeks, and as the negroes were known to be a choice lot and very desirable property, the attendance of buyers was large. Little parties were made up from the various hotels every day to visit the Race Course, distant some three miles from the city, to look over the chattels, discuss their points, and make memoranda for guidance on the day of sale. The buyers were generally of a rough breed, slangy, profane and bearish, being, for the most part, from the back river and swamp plantations where the elegancies of polite life are not, perhaps, developed to their fullest extent.

' ' The negroes were brought to Savannah in small lots, as many at a time as could be conveniently taken care of, the last of them reaching the city the Friday before the sale. They were consigned to the care of Mr. J. Bryan, auctioneer and negro broker, who was to feed and keep them in condition until disposed of. Immediately on their arrival they were taken to the Race Course and there quartered in the sheds erected for the accommodation of the horses and carriages of gentlemen attending the races. Into these sheds they were huddled pell-mell, without any more attention to their comfort than was necessary to prevent their becoming ill and unsalable.

1 ' The chattels were huddled together on the floor, there being no sign of bench or table. They eat and slept on the bare boards, their food being rice and beans, with occasionally a bit of bacon and corn bread. Their huge bundles were scattered over the floor, and thereon the slaves sat or reclined, when not restlessly moving about or gathered into sorrowful groups discussing the chances of their future fate. On the faces of all was an expression of heavy grief.

1 ' The negroes were examined with as little consideration as if they had been brutes ; the buyers pulling their mouths open to see their teeth, pinching their limbs to find how muscular they were, walking them up and down to detect any signs of lameness, making them stoop and bend in different ways that they might be certain there was no concealed rupture or wound.

1 ' The following curiously sad scene is the type of a score of others that were there enacted :

" 'Elisha,' chattel No. 5 in the catalogue, had taken a fancy to a benevolent-looking middle-aged gentleman who was inspecting the stock, and thus used his powers of persuasion to induce the benevolent man to purchase him, with his wife, boy, and girl. 'Look at me, Mas'r; am prime rice planter ; sho' you won't find a better man den me ; no better on de whole plantation ; not a bit old yet ; do mo' work den ever ; do carpenter work, too, little; better buy me, Mas'r; I'se be good sarvant, Mas'r. Molly, too, my wife, Sa, fus rate rice hand ; mos as good as me. Stan' out yer, Molly, and let the gen'lem'n see.'

" Molly advances, with her hands crossed on her bosom, and makes a quick, short curtsy and stands mute, looking appealingly in the benevolent man's face. But Elisha talks all the faster. 'Show Mas'r yer arm, Molly — good arm dat, Mas'r — she do a heap of work mo' with dat arm yet. Let good Mas'r see yer teeth, Molly — see dat, Mas'r, teeth all reg'lar, all good — she'm young gal yet. Come out yer Israel ; walk aroun' an' let the gen'lm'n see how spry you be' —

"Then, pointing to the three-year-old girl who stood with her chubby hand to her mouth, holding on to her Mother's dress and uncertain what to make of the strange scene,— 'Little Vardy's on'y a chile yet;

io LETTERS OF A FAMILY

make prime gal by and by. Better buy us, Mas'r; we'm fus' rate bargain' — and so on. But the benevolent gentleman found where he could drive a closer bargain, and so bought somebody else.

1 ' In the intervals of more active labor the discussion of the re-opening of the slave-trade was commenced, and the opinion seemed to generally prevail that the reestablishment of the said trade is a consummation devoutly to be wished, and one red-faced Major, or General, or Corporal, clenched his remarks with the emphatic assertion that ' We'll have all the niggers in Africa over here in three years — we won't leave enough for seed.'

" One huge brute of a man, who had not taken an active part in the discussion save to assent with approving nod to any unusually barbarous proposition, at last broke his silence by saying in an oracular way 'You may say what you like about managing niggers; I'm a driver myself, and I've had some experience, and I ought to know. You can manage ordinary niggers by lickin' 'em and given' 'em a taste of the hot iron once in a while when they're extra ugly; but if a nigger really sets himself up against me I can't never have any patience with him. I just get my pistol and shoot him right down ; and that's the best way.'

JUST BEFORE THE WAR t j

"The family of Primus, plantation carpenter, consisting of Daphney his wife, with her young babe, and Dido a girl of three years old, were reached in due course of time. Daphney had a large shawl, which she kept carefully wrapped around her infant and herself. This unusual proceeding attracted much attention, and provoked many remarks, such as these :

1 ' < What do you keep your nigger covered up fer? Pull off her blanket!'

" < What's the fault of the gal? Ain't she sound? Pull off her rags and let us see her ! '

" 'Who's going to bid on that nigger, if you keep her covered up? Let's see her face!'

"At last the auctioneer obtained a hearing long enough to explain that there was no attempt to practice any deception in the case — the parties were not to be wronged in any way; he had no desire v to palm off on them an inferior article, but the truth of the matter was that Daphney had been confined only fifteen days ago, and he thought that on that account she was entitled to the slight indulgence of a blanket, to keep from herself and child the chill air and the driving rain.

"Since her confinement, Daphney had travelled from the plantations to Savannah, where she had been kept in a shed for six days. On the sixth or seventh day after her sickness she had left her bed, taken a railroad journey across the country to the shambles, was there exposed for six days to the questionings and insults of the negro speculators, and then on the fifteenth day after her confinement was put up on the block with her husband and her other child, and, with her new-born baby in her arms, was sold to the highest bidder.

1 ' It was very considerate in Daphney to be sick before the sale, for her wailing babe was worth to Mr. Butler all of a hundred dollars. The family sold for $625 apiece, or $2,500 for the four.

" There were some thirty babies in the lot; they are esteemed worth to the master a hundred dollars the day they are born and to increase in value at the rate of a hundred dollars a year till they are sixteen or seventeen years old, at which age they bring the best prices.

"Jeffrey, chattel No. 319, being human in his affections, had dared to cherish a love for Dorcas, chattel No. 278 ; and Dorcas, not having the fear of her master before her eyes, had given her heart to Jeffrey.

"Jeffrey was sold. He finds out his new master; and, hat in hand, the big tears standing in his eyes and his voice trembling with emotion, he stands before that master and tells his simple story:

"'I loves Dorcas, young Mas'r; I loves her well an' true ; she says she loves me, and I know she does ; de good Lord knows I love her better than I loves any one in de wide world — never can love another woman half so well. Please buy Dorcas, Mas'r. We'll be good sarvants to you long as we live. We're be married right soon, young Mas'r, and de chillun will be healthy and strong, Mas'r, and dey'll be good sarvants, too. Please buy Dorcas, young Mas'r. We loves each other a heap — do, really, true, Mas'r.'

' < At last comes the trying moment, and Dorcas steps up on the stand.

4 ' But now a most unexpected feature in the drama is for the first time unmasked ; Dorcas is not to be sold alone, but with a family of four others. Full of dismay Jeffrey looks to his master who shakes his head, for, although he might be induced to buy Dorcas alone, he has no use for the rest of the family. Jeffrey reads his doom in his master's look, and turns away, the tears streaming down his honest face.

1 * And tomorrow Jeffrey and Dorcas are to say their tearful farewell, and go their separate ways in life to meet no more as mortal beings.

' ' That night, not a steamer left that southern port, not a train of cars sped away from that cruel city, that did not bear each its own sad burden of those unhappyones. "

Abby's account from Charleston goes on : On Sunday Mother and I went to the African Baptist Church, and had a most interesting service, remaining to their communion. The new members, nine of them, were seated in the front pews ; the young women, in white dresses, shawls, and white ribbons on their straw bonnets. We had a seat of honor just behind them. The pastor, a slender, meek man in spectacles — a black man you know — "Dr. Cox," gave them the right hand of fellowship, with many touching words of counsel and passages of scripture. He and we, too, were equally moved, as to one (free) woman he said, "If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed," and to another, "Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith God shall make you free." He is free himself, I hear, but the Methodist minister is a slave. He is well taken care of — given his whole time, and is considered in an enviable position. The church was crowded — bandannas of every shade, and style of tie — and no small sprinkling of the gayest bonnets. The minister was a quiet, excellent speaker; "two broders" who assisted were roaring ones, and the "broder officers" who officiated were such

JUST BEFORE THE WAR I5

real darkies, and the singing was so like stories I have read, that altogether I had more a sense of sight-seeing than of worshipping, I am afraid. The service was very solemn, however, and we were deeply interested. There must have been three or four hundred communicants, for it was not close communion. The bread and wine were carried to every one, and up in the galleries too, and the eight baskets were emptied and the eight goblets were all emptied and filled three times. We shook hands with "Dr. Cox," who seemed gratified that we had remained, and as for us, we would not have missed it for a great deal.

John Abby's heart was full of the thought of

the slave market when, six months later, John Brown put his belief into action and attempted to bring about the forcible liberation of the slaves, acting as he thought and said "by the authority of God Almighty." Death by hanging was his reward. He left the jail at Charlestown and met his fate ' < with a radiant countenance and the step of a conqueror."

At the hour appointed for the execution, December 2d, 1859, thousands of Northern hearts were with him, and in Dr. Cheever's church, New York, prayers were offered.

8 Brevoort Place, Dec. 5, 1859.

My dear Eliza: I went round to Dr. Cheever's lecture room for half an hour. I found it crowded with men and women — as many of one as the other — hardfeatured men, rugged faces, thoughtful faces, some few Chadband faces; plain, quiet women ; none that looked like gay, idle, trifling people. I entered just as some one suggested five minutes of silent prayer, which I have no doubt every soul of us made the most of, and then Dr. Cheever, who had the chair, gave out that hymn, "Oh, glorious hour! Oh, blest abode! I shall be near and like my God," etc. Mr. Brace made a fervent prayer for John Brown. Then a Methodist brother made a few remarks — said * ' it did him good to cry Amen. It proved you to be on the right side and that you were not afraid to make it known, and it didn't need a polished education to help you do that much for truth." Then they sang, "Am I a Soldier of the Cross?" everybody singing with a will, and, indeed, throughout the meeting there was much feeling — some sobs and many hearty Amens.

The public feverish excitement constantly increased and carried our family along in its stream.

JUST BEFORE THE WAR i 7

Abby writes:

8 Brevoort Place, Dec. 17, 1859.

Dear Eliza: Georgy has gone to Professor Smith's class on church history and Jane has been out for a little air and exercise, to see if her head would feel better. She is in a highly nervous state, and says she feels as if she had brain fever, the over-excitement being the result of last night's meeting at the Cooper Institute, with speeches from Dr. Cheever and Wendell Phillips. She and Georgy went with Charley, and they say that the moment Dr. Cheever opened his mouth, Pandemonium broke loose. There seemed to be a thousand mad devils charging up and down the aisles with awful noises, and one of the rowdies near them plucked Charley and tried to draw him into a quarrel. This frightened Jane, but though Charley grew very white with rage he stood firm, and then Mr. Rowse joined them, and, as they couldn't get out, by degrees they worked their way to the platform, over the backs of the seats, and were high and dry and safe, and heard Phillips through. He was not so ornate in style as they expected, but a charming speaker.

All this had such an exciting effect on Jane that in her sleep last night she walked about; went into the little room next to ours and locked herself in ; barricaded the door with baskets and chairs, throwing one of the latter over and breaking it. She had previously closed the doors between our room and Mother's, so that Mother only heard the sounds indistinctly. Jane lay down on the little bed, without covering, and toward morning the cold waked her, to her great bewilderment.

some in the summer of 1 860 Robert and Mary, Family with little Mary and Bertha, went to go to Europe, taking with them Hatty and Carry, and on November 20th, i860, Mary's fourth little girl, baby Una, was born in Rome at the Casa Zuccara, via Quattro Fontane. She was christened Una Felice, in water brought from the Aqua Felice fountain. Mother's note refers to it all, and several of the following letters give peaceful little touches of home life before the storm broke :

Saturday Morning, Dec, i860.

My dear Eliza: Your very modest little, "may I Mother?" leads me to an immediate reply. Yes, my dear child, come and welcome, just as often as you possibly can and never feel it necessary to ask if you may come home, for this you know is

JUST BEFORE THE WAR T0

only another home. I am happy to enclose you a foreign letter bringing still further pleasant news. How much we have all to be thankful for that the travellers have so much enjoyment and so little interruption to it. Dear Mary finds, I dare say, comfort enough in the little new baby to compensate in a great measure for all the suffering consequent upon its arrival.

What do you think of Felice added to Una? Our opinions will be useless now, however, as before the last letters reach, the baptism will have been done. Did you see the paragraph stating that the continual assassinations in the streets of Rome render it unsafe to strangers and to residents after dark ! This is very comforting to anxious families who have friends there ! Hatty and Carry are certainly having a gay time at Naples. Just think of Vesuvius, a hurried dinner, rush to the Crocelli to meet a party of naval officers, a fourteenoared boat excursion, dancing, and other festivities on board the Admiral's ship-of-war, supper, etc., etc., all on one day! And after that the return civility of an egg nogg party! I am very glad they are under the care of a clergyman and his wife!

Election j t s. IV. to a Frie7id in Paris.

of President New York, Dec. 5, r86o.

Lincoln. We came down to Centre Harbor on the 6th of November ( the great day ) and there the Republican majorities came rolling in for Abraham Lincoln. Our host in that place was of a practical turn, and, having no artillery and having some rocks to blast in the garden, laid his trains and waited for the news; and when the stage coach came in from Meredith village he " stood by to fire," and all the rocks went off at once and made a pretty good noise. Georgy and I stopped in New Haven for a visit and had some delicious breezy, rushing, sparkling little sails in the bay and in the sound. We took to the salt water with a keen relish after nearly five months of mountains. Miss Rose Terry was in New Haven. She has just published a little volume of poems, and is writing New England stories for the magazines. Think of our national bird being in danger of splitting at last, like that odious fowl, the Austrian Eagle — a step toward realizing the vision of a " Bell-everett " orator in the late campaign, whose speech I read, and who saw the illustrious biped with < * one foot upon the Atlantic shore, one on the golden strand, and one upon the islands of the main!" Not that I care for secession ; let them go! We are told we "mustn't buy too many new dresses this winter," but still I say no matter — no compromises. Millions for defence, not one cent for tribute. I can live on a straw a day. "So can I" Georgy puts in here, "if one end of it

JUST BEFORE THE WAR 2 i

is in a sherry cobbler." But what a sight we must be to other peoples. Just as morning breaks over Italy with sunshine and singing, this evil cloud comes up in our heaven. Must there be a sort of systole and diastole in civilization, and must one nation go down in the balance as another goes up, till the great day that makes all things true ? You read all this stuff in the papers: how the North "hurls back with scorn the giant strides of that Upas Tree, the slave power!" and how the South will no longer be < ' dragged at the chariot wheels of that mushroom, the Northwest!" The money men look blue and the drygoodsy men look black. Charles Rockwell has just gone to Georgia, rather against the advice of some of his friends, for the R's are stout Republicans and given to being on their own side. Now and then an incident "comes home" that doesn't get into the papers. Here is one that came under my own knowledge. A young lady, being rather delicate, decided three or four weeks ago to go to her friends in Georgia for the winter. For some reason they could not send for her, or even meet her at Savannah, so she set out alone. During the little voyage there was some talk in the cabin about John Brown. "But we must allow he was a brave man," she said ; — nothing more. The steamer arrived in the night, and she with some others waited on board till morning. Soon after daybreak, while she was making ready to go ashore, three gentlemen presented themselves to her ; < ' understood she had expressed abolition sentiments, regretted the necessity," etc. — the usual stuff — "if she would consult her safety she would leave immediately by the Northern train ; her luggage had already been transferred ; they would see her safely to the station." She denied the charges, told who her relatives were (staunch Democrats), etc., in vain. They, with great politeness, put her into a carriage, escorted her to the station, presented her with a through ticket and sent her home, where she arrived safely, a blazing Abolitionist.