The Travelling Blogger

My apologies for the scarcity of posts over the last week or two, but we’ve reached that time of year when those who teach young college and university cadets to become army officers must head to the great northwest to train them at summer camp. Things have been a bit hectic getting settled and prepared for the summer’s events, but I am now more or less comfortably ensconced in my hotel (not, fortunately, the one with the bedbug problem) and ready to resume posting. I don’t have all of my resources due to space and airline weight restrictions, but posting will resume at a rate of one to two posts per week as time permits. The last Charles Bates letter for 1863 will post tomorrow, to be followed by several Fiddler’s Green entries, monthly updates on the 6th Cavalry in 1862, and another series of letters by an enlisted man in a different regiment. At least one book will be reviewed as well, as soon as my Father's Day present makes it from JD to Gina to me out here in Washington. Stay tuned.

Bates Letters - November 5, 1863

Brownsville, Ala Nov 5th

Dear Parents

It is so long since I have written to you that I suppose you have long since thought me in the Richmond Prisons, or perhaps in the grave, but thank God I am still in “the land of the free,” and in as good health as any mortal is privileged to enjoy. Since writing to you last (at Salem, Tenn.) my adventures have been rather of the fatiguing order, and nothing marvelous has fallen to my own particular lot, if I except my capture by the “rebs” and escape from bondage, all of which hapned (sic) since last Sunday.

I was with the advance of Gen. Stanleys Cavalry last July on its advance into Alabama, and have been with the regiment ever since. At the beginning of the famous Chickamauga battle my brigade, commanded by Colonel Mintty was the first in action, loosing 198 men the first day skirmishing. And my Regiment was the last to enter Chattanooga, being on the rear guard.

When Wheeler crossed the river at Washington to make his “raid” around our army my regiment was the first to encounter his force, (and the first to run away) and we perserveringly followed him until he recrossed the river at Rogersville. I charged on two “rebs” singlehanded and captured both, horses, revolvers and one rifle being the “spoils of war” accrueing to Government from my exploit.

My old War-horse, Jayhawker, got shot in the foreleg and disabled at McMinnville, and I have since been riding “common stock.” I got a very good horse from one of my captive rebs, but lost him last since by getting myself taken prisoner. I heard $800.00 offred for him (in secesh money) and refused the same day. I am now without a horse, and no prospect of getting another speedily.

The Secesh got possession of all my clothing at McMinnville, and I was left without a change of shirt but hope to make them pay for it some time. We are living on the country most of the time, having only been --- issued with eighteen days rations in two months, but we manage to exist even without “hard-tack.” I am so far from any news dept that newspapers are fifteen days old before they get here and news is out of the question here. It may be news to you to learn that 33,000 men from the Army of the Mississippi under command of General Sherman are within one days march of here at present, and coming up to join the Army of the Cumberland at Chattanooga. They are in fine condition as I hear from some of our men who were with them yesterday, and I expect that Something is going to be done soon.

It is so long since I have written any that my fingers get cramped up so I shall say good bye for the present. Give my love to all and write to me at earliest opportunity.

I am affectionately

Charles E. Bates
Co E 4th U.S. Cavalry
Maysville, Ala.

Offical reports vs private journals

It is sometimes interesting to compare what people say in their official reports to what they may record in their diaries or letters home. Two such accounts of the same event by the same person are pretty rare, but I’ve come across a case on this same day in 1862.

Captain August V. Kautz was directed to take an expedition consisting of his squadron (Companies B and H) of the 6th U.S. Cavalry and two squadrons of the 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry to burn the ferries across the Pamunkey River and arrest Doctor Carter W. Wormley. At this time his was the only squadron in the regiment armed with carbines. Listed below are his official report of the event from the Official Records, and an excerpt from his journal for these two days, published in the Supplement to the Official Records by Broadfoot Publishing.

The official report, submitted to brigade headquarters:

“Camp near Richmond, Va.,
June 3, 1862

Sir: In obedience to instructions received I have to report that I proceeded with my squadron, armed with carbines, and two squadrons of Lancers to New Castle, on the Pamunkey River, yesterday afternoon, where I found the ferry-boat destroyed by some previous party. I ascertained the same to be true at Bassett’s and Pipingtree, farther down the river, by sending a squadron of Lancers to each point. I arrived at Wormley’s Ferry so late last evening that I could do nothing, as the boats were on the opposite side of the river, as is also Dr. Wormley’s residence, where I expected to find him. I therefore returned to New Castle and encamped.

Through information obtained last evening and the aid of a slave recently escaped I was enabled to find the ferry-boat belonging to Dr. Wormley’s ferry concealed in a creek near by on the north side of the river, together with the sloop Golden Gate, about 25 tons, from Norfolk, eight wooden boats, and one metallic life-boat, each capable of carrying from 20 to 30 persons. The ferry-boat would carry two teams with their horses. All these were rendered entirely useless. The sloop was burned.
A small canoe enabled me to send Lieutenant Balder and 6 men, who succeeded in arresting Dr. Wormley. I sent him immediately to the provost-marshal-general by Lieutenant Balder, who was directed also to report in person at headquarters the result of the expedition, as I was delayed several hours in destroying the boats. These boats were about a mile above New Castle by the road, on Dr. Wormley’s farm, and were concealed, as the entrance of the creek was hidden by the foliage of newly-felled trees. The river was flooded and still rising to-day, and troops could not be crossed without fixing a line.

I could collect no satisfactory information that a force was organizing or existed on the north side of the river, as I supposed in my instructions. Having complied with my instructions I returned to camp with my command this afternoon.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
AUGUST V. KAUTZ,
Captain, Sixth Cavalry, Commanding Expedition.

Lieut. J. C. Audenried,
Sixth Cavalry, Acting Asst. Adjt. Gen., Cavalry Brigade."

And the entry from his journal for the same period:

“June 2. --- The morning was spent in camp. After dinner an order came for me to take my squadron and two squadrons of lancers and proceed to the Pamunkey River and burn the ferries and destroy all communications across the Pamunkey above Pipingtree to Doctor Wormley’s Ferry, to arrest Doctor Wormley and to ascertain all I could about a force organizing in King William County. The ferry’s having already been destroyed or removed, I could do nothing this evening except to camp. I sent one squadron to Pipingtree to ascertain if the ferry was destroyed. We ordered supper with Mr. Patterson, the overseer, and I devoted myself to hunting up information for the work to-morrow. Through Dennis, Captain Savage’s servant, I learned all that is necessary for tomorrow.

"June 3. --- It rained very hard last night, and I was driven to take shelter under the porch of the overseer’s house. I sent the other squadron of Lancers down to Bassett’s Ferry to see if it could be used, whilst I took a contraband and proceeded to Doctor Wormley’s Ferry, with my squadron. We sent a man across the stream, where he found a canoe in which Lieutenant Balder crossed with five or six men and proceeded to arrest Doctor Wormley, whilst we proceeded to destroy the ferry boat and a sloop of twenty-five tons, the Golden Gate of Norfolk and eight yawl boats and one metallic life boat, which we found concealed in the mouth of little creek near by. The doctor was very violent. I sent him to the Provost Marshal General and returned to camp with my command and wrote my report. More rain….”

In this case, it appears the two accounts are very close. The only differences, that Captain Savage’s servant actually obtained the information and a trooper had to swim the Pamunkey to get the canoe, are pretty minor.

Sources:
Official Records, Series I, Volume 11, Part I, pages 997-998.

Supplement to the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, Volume 2, page 123.

Bates Letters - May 31, 1863

Note: Charlie's letters get pretty infrequent for the rest of the year, so they'll be posted in the near future instead of on the appropriate days. In this missive, we learn of the regiment's strength as campaigning begins, an interesting packing list, and fish habits near rebel prisons. I haven't had any luck with the locations that he mentions as yet, they should be somewhere near his home in Connecticut.


Murfreesboro, May 31st, 1863

Dear Parents,

I have been waiting to hear from you the last week but not a word, not a line, not a syllable has come from you. And I should perhaps have thought you all had got Conscripted if I had not got a letter from Julia today with the news that you were still in Status quo (There’s latin for you). I don’t wonder at not hearing from Johnson if he is as near gone as Julia represents, for she gives a woeful account of his doings with the gals, and from her writing I judge he will soon be labeled as “Benedict the married man.” Well poor fellow I pity him. I suppose he does nothing but sit in the moonlight and dream of his simmatora, his board must prove a good speculation for you, if he lives on moonlight and poetry after the fashion of young fellows in love. If you haven’t plenty of moonlight down there, send your patient down here to pasture. The moon is shining almost as bright as day now, and almost makes me ready to fall in love, the only obstacle is, the absence of any fair being to waste my affections and romance upon, ---

I expect to start (I speak for the army) I expect to start on a campaign to-morrow and the Lord only knows when it will be terminated, you need not be frightened if you don’t hear from me for the next two weeks, as I shall not have a chance to write while out on the war path. The men are only allowed to take a change of under-clothes with them, and so I shall have no letter stock along. If we get back safe however, and I have no doubt of it but we shall, you may expect to hear of something to our advantage; The fourth cavalry is only three hundred strong in the field but every man is in the Davy Crockett style, and they will do something if they get a chance.

Our regiment is as well known in the southern army , as the old sand peddler who used to drive an ox was to the denizens of Woodbury, Cat-swamp and Weekeepeemee. I have not had the satisfaction of painting my sword with southern blood yet, onlys a pig which I transfixed at franklin was a southern, so I am a little anxious to get into a fight.

I had an awful pain in my right shoulder last night, but the Doctor painted it with iodine (my shoulder, not the pain he painted) and now it’s among the things that were. The Doctor said ‘twas a sort of wet rheumatism brought on by the rain of the last two days. He has however “warranted me for one year without repairing.” I am sorry to leave this camp and yet I am glad to go, sorry because I leave all the nice mulberries and strawberries behind, glad because the flies will a good share of them be left with the berries, and besides I want to see more of the country. I have no desire of pushing my researches quite as far as one of our Regiment did who got back to us today. He was taken prisoner last December and has been in the Confed’s prisons since. He tells pretty much the same story as all returned men about times in Dixie. He says while confined at Jackson they managed to procure a fish hook and line, and commenced to indulge in visions of fries, roasts, and stews, to accrue from their labors in the pisctory profession, but on trial found the fish would not bite; the evidently smelled the Yankee, and kept shy. I have to make up for the sleep lost last night by the shoulder and as its after Tattoo

Goodbye
My love to all
Charles E. Bates

Johnson may have use for some poetry in his wooing allow me to recommend the following to his notice

The Devil thought to injure me
By cutting down my apple tree
But he did not injure me at all
For I had apples all the fall

Happy Birthday, 2nd US Cavalry!

Yesterday marked the 172nd birthday of the 2nd US Cavalry, the oldest active continuously serving regiment in the Army. Currently mounted on Strykers, the regiment is serving outside of Baghdad as the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment.

An article from the Stars & Stripes on the event is here.

Happy Birthday, Dragoons! Best wishes for continued success and a safe return home. Toujours Pret!

New Releases Aren't Supposed to be Secret, Are They?

Several people have discussed writing,publishing and marketing over the last month or so here in the blogosphere, most noticeably here and here. Responding relatively well to being hit with something repeatedly (though my wife might dispute this), I pay a little more attention to these things than I had previously. So new Civil War releases of nearly any sort catch my eye.

As I was looking through my latest catalog from The Scholar's Bookshelf yesterday, I noticed that a biography of Civil War cavalryman and later general August Valentine Kautz is due to be published on June 30th. I have an interest in Kautz, since it wasn't all that long ago that he was popping up everywhere I looked for information in my research. So I thought I'd look for more information on the book. It sounded like something that could be a good addition to my library. Kautz was, after all, one of then original company commanders of the 6th US Cavalry. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find out much.

A disclaimer before I proceed: I have absolutely nothing against this book, its author, or its publisher. Indeed, as noted above I'm very interested in it and will possibly buy it. I wish the author all the best and hope the book does well. I intentionally don't mention names, as that isn't the purpose of the post. But the situation seems to violate all of the rules for how things "should" work according to recent blog posts by folks who know about such things, and may not get the book off to the marketing start that it deserves.

The catalog didn't have a great deal of information on the book, but among other things it did list the author and publisher. I pulled up the publisher's website and looked for the book. I found it, on page 3 of the books on the Civil War. Not under a "new releases" category, or on the homepage since the book's about to come out, but buried amongst older books. Neither the book nor the author have a website, and the book's description on the publisher's website was very brief. Curiously, the book is listed elsewhere more prominently than at the publisher's website, notably on Amazon's "Hot New Releases" and on Eurospan Books. Perhaps the marketing effort won't start until closer to the publishing date, but I wasn't able to learn too much about the work.

The book appears to be a comprehensive look at Kautz' entire military career, based on personal journals and other correspondence. There is a focus on Civil War activities, but his pre-war assignments in the Pacific Northwest are covered as well. If it as well-written as I suspect, I think it will be a worthy addition to the body of knowledge on the war.

Kautz is a very good subject for a biography, given his various activities before, during, and after the war. I personally don't think he gets a fair shake, as his reputation at times appears to be that of a not-so-competent commander. This is primarily a result of the disastrous Wilson-Kautz Raid in 1864, which wasn't his idea and of which he wasn't even the primary commander. Unfortunately, however, he didn't have advantage of a successful cavalry expedition into Alabama at the end of the war to make up for it as his compatriot did.

If this post draws attention to the book and helps with its marketing and sales by getting the word out, great. If it makes people angry, sorry.

The best place to find information on this book currently is here. I'll post more once I'm able to obtain a copy. I look forward to its publishing, I'm just saddened that so few may hear of it.

Of Taylors and McLeans

This is one of those threads that led to a huge ball of string. I’ve been working for the last couple of weeks on a Fiddler’s Green entry for Hancock Taylor McLean, an officer of the 6th U.S. Cavalry. Previously, I’d written an entry for Joseph Hancock Taylor, who served in the same regiment. Indeed, they were both original officers of the regiment. And both were from Kentucky. And there is the name similarity. Since Kentucky was not the most populous of states prior to the Civil War, particularly in the area of well-to-do families, a connection seemed likely. Were they related?

The answer is yes, in a somewhat convoluted series of marriages between two families. The first is Judge John McLean, associate justice of the Supreme Court. The other family is that of President Zachary Taylor. Rank hath its privileges, so we’ll start with the Taylors. Zachary Taylor had only one son, Confederate general Richard Taylor. He also had two brothers.

Zachary Taylor’s older brother, Hancock Taylor, had ten children. Hancock’s second child, Mildred Jane Taylor, married Judge John McLean’s son, also named John, in Jefferson county, Kentucky. Their first child was Hancock Taylor McLean.

Zachary Taylor’s younger brother, Joseph Pannill Taylor, married Judge John McLean’s second child, Eveline Aurilla McLean. Eveline was John’s older sister. Her fifth child was Joseph Hancock Taylor.

The short answer is that they were first cousins. As officers were initially assigned to companies as the 6th U.S. Cavalry was forming, Joseph H. Taylor was assigned as captain of Company F. The company’s first lieutenant was Hancock T. McLean.

Well, it’s always been said that the army is a small place….