[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents U.S. History, 1861-1865: Seminar and Discussion Forum
The American Civil War, as seen through news reports of the time and later historical accounts

First session: November 21, 2015. Last date to add: May 2025.
Reading: Self-assigned. Recommendations made and welcomed.

Posting history, in reverse order

https://www.freerepublic.com/tag/by:homerjsimpson/index?tab=articles

To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by reply or freepmail.

Link to previous Harper’s Weekly thread

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4225326/posts

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Colonel Ulric Dahlgren – 1-2, 5
General Grant as Lieutenant-General – 1, 6
General Custer’s Raid – 1-3, 10
A Danger – 2
Mr. Chase – 2-3
General Frémont – 3
A Sophism – 3
Abominable Good-Nature – 3
The New Thing – 3
From Chattanooga – 3
Harper for April – 3
The New Pictures – 3
Humors of the Day – 3-4
Domestic Intelligence – 4
Foreign News – 7
Army and Navy Items – 7
Dr. Peregrine’s Page – 7-8, 10
Quite Alone, by George Augustus Sala, Ch. VII-VIII – 10-12
What Might have Been – 12
“My Little Sister” – 12-13
Mobile and Its Defenses – 14-15
Honorable Michael Hahn, Governor of Louisiana – 15
By the River – 15
Paris Fashions for March – 15-16

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from March 18 (reply #32).

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4223681/posts#32

Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, Volume Two

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Inside Lincoln’s White House: The Complete War Diary of John Hay, edited by Michael Burlingame and John R. Turner Ettlinger

[Homer_J_Simpson]

The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Diary of Gideon Welles: Saturday, March 26, 1864 (“In this whole matter of procuring seamen for the Navy there has been a sorry display of the prejudices of some of the military authorities. Halleck appears to dislike the Navy more than he loves his country.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2018/11/diary-of-gideon-welles-saturday-march.html

Brigadier-General John A. Rawlins to Mary Emeline Hurlburt Rawlins, March 26, 1864 (“I trust, however, that this monotony will soon be broken by the movement of the unbroken columns of this splendidly equipped and well fed army of veterans against the famed Army of Northern Virginia.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/02/brigadier-general-john-rawlins-to-mary_23.html

Senator John Sherman to Major General William T. Sherman, March 26, 1864 (“While [Grant] must despise the fickle fools who run after him, he, like most others, may be spoiled by this excess of flattery.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2013/05/senator-john-sherman-to-major-general.html

Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Mead, March 26, 1864 (“I believe Grant is honest and fair, and I have no doubt he will give me full credit for anything I may do, and if I don’t deserve any, I don’t desire it.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/09/major-general-george-g-meade-to_20.html

Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes to Sophia Birchard Hayes, March 26, 1864 (“Lucy schools the larger boy with a young soldier who is a good deal older than Birch, but not so far advanced”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2019/08/colonel-rutherford-b-hayes-to-sophia_27.html

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant George G. Smith: March 26, 1864 (The 1st Louisiana Infantry (U.S.) embarks for Alexandria.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/12/diary-of-2nd-lieutenant-george-g-smith_79.html

Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: March 26, 1864 (“Appearances would seem to indicate that I am thirty or thereabouts, but as I was born on the 20th day of March, 1843, I must now be just twenty-one years of age”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/05/diary-of-1st-sergeant-john-l-ransom.html

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: March 26, 1864 (“Returning, we bring through a prisoner captured by Company F, who reports Forrest in Memphis and Longstreet in Knoxville.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2023/05/diary-of-private-daniel-l-ambrose-march_7.html

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: March 26, 1864 (“It is to be hoped that as money gets scarcer, food and raiment will get cheaper.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2021/04/diary-of-john-beauchamp-jones-march-26.html

Diary of Private Louis Leon: March 26, 1864 (“We were visited to-day by our Governor, Zeb Vance, who made us a speech of two and a half hour’s duration. With him on the platform was General Lee, General Ewell and several others.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2023/10/diary-of-private-louis-leon-march-26.html

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Diary of a Confederate Soldier: John S. Jackman of the Orphan Brigade, Edited, with an introduction, by William C. Davis

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Brigadier-General John A. Rawlins to Mary Emeline Hurlburt Rawlins, March 27, 1864 (“I have seen it alluded to though incorrectly in some of the papers, that “U. S.” are not the real initials of General Grant’s name. In order to put you in possession of the facts, I will tell you his original Christian name and how it came to be changed to what it is now. . . .”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/02/brigadier-general-john-rawlins-to-mary_24.html

Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Mead, March 27, 1864 (“Cheerfully will I give him all credit if he can bring the war to a close.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/09/major-general-george-g-meade-to_21.html

Major-General John Sedgwick to his Sister, March 27, 1864 (“I doubt whether he will be able to effect much more than other Generals we have had in command here. The truth is, we are on the wrong road to take Richmond.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/09/major-general-john-sedgwick-to-his_5.html

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant George G. Smith: March 27, 1864 (“On the way up two men hailed us from the shore in the woods. We took them in and found they were deserters from the gun boats at Fort De Russey.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/12/diary-of-2nd-lieutenant-george-g-smith_9.html

Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: March 27, 1864 (“New prisoners die the quickest and are buried in the near vicinity, we are told in trenches without coffins.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/05/diary-of-1st-sergeant-john-l-ransom_2.html

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: March 27, 1864 (“Nothing new to-day, save some fine horses brought in this evening by the foraging parties. The Seventh is feasting high to-night.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2023/05/diary-of-private-daniel-l-ambrose-march.html

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: March 27, 1864 (“Collards coming up. Potatoes all rotted in the ground during the recent cold weather. I shall rely on other vegetables, which I am now beginning to sow freely.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2021/04/diary-of-john-beauchamp-jones-march-27.html

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from Continued from March 14 (reply #16).

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4223681/posts#16

Douglas Southall Freeman, Lee, an abridgement by Richard Harwell

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Diary of Gideon Welles: Monday, March 28, 1864 (The President intercedes in the matter of transferring soldiers from the army to the navy.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2018/11/diary-of-gideon-welles-saturday-march_16.html

Brigadier-General John A. Rawlins to Mary Emeline Hurlburt Rawlins, March 28, 1864 (“General Grant returned this afternoon from Washington much disgusted with the news from General Banks, who was to have been at Alexandria on the Red River by the 17th instant, but instead of being there was on the 18th instant still at New Orleans”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/02/brigadier-general-john-rawlins-to-mary_25.html

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant George G. Smith: March 28, 1864 (“Arrived at Alexandria at four p. m. and encamped on the same ground we did the year before”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/12/diary-of-2nd-lieutenant-george-g-smith_10.html

Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: March 28, 1864 (“Wirtz comes inside and has began to be very insolent. Is constantly watching for tunnels. He is a brute. We call him the ‘Flying Dutchman’”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/05/diary-of-1st-sergeant-john-l-ransom_3.html

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: Monday, March 28, 1864 (“The details are now very heavy patroling, foraging, scouting, &c.—but we live sumptuously upon what little fat of the land yet remains.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2023/05/diary-of-private-daniel-l-ambrose_68.html

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: March 28, 1864 (“It is said that Gen. Longstreet is marching with expedition down the Valley of the Shenandoah, to flank Meade or Grant. I doubt it. But the campaign will commence as soon as the weather will permit.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2021/04/diary-of-john-beauchamp-jones-march-28.html

Diary of Private Louis Leon: March 28, 1864 (“We were reviewed to-day by our Governor. When I say reviewed, I mean all the North Carolina troops in our corps. After the review we went to Ramseur’s Brigade, where he spoke again.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2023/10/diary-of-private-louis-leon-march-28.html

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Simon Cameron to Abraham Lincoln, March 29, 1864 (Cameron thinks Sec. Seward or Gen. Dix has presidential ambitions threatening Lincoln’s re-election.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/11/simon-cameron-to-abraham-lincoln-march.html

Diary of Gideon Welles: Tuesday, March 29, 1864 (Welles and Sec. Chase discussed the thorny issue of trade within the rebel lines.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2018/11/diary-of-gideon-welles-tuesday-march-29.html

Brigadier-General John A. Rawlins to Mary Emeline Hurlburt Rawlins, March 29, 1864 (“To-morrow the General goes to General Butler’s Department. Colonel [Cyrus] Comstock and I will accompany him.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/02/brigadier-general-john-rawlins-to-mary_26.html

Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: March 29, 1864 (“Raiders getting more bold as the situation grows worse. Often rob a man now of all he has, in public, making no attempt at concealment.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/05/diary-of-1st-sergeant-john-l-ransom_4.html

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: Tuesday, March 29, 1864 (“The boys are scouring the country in every direction for horses and mules this evening.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2023/05/diary-of-private-daniel-l-ambrose_61.html

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: March 29, 1864 (“Great crowds are funding their Treasury notes to-day; but prices of provisions are not diminished. White beans, such as I paid $60 a bushel for early in this month, are now held at $75. What shall we do to subsist until the next harvest ?”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2021/04/diary-of-john-beauchamp-jones-march-29.html

General Robert E. Lee to Brigadier General G. W. Custis Lee, March 29, 1864 (“If Grant operates the army in Virginia, he will concentrate a large force on one or more lines. Unless we can take the initiative in the West to disturb their plans, we shall have to concentrate to meet him.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/02/camp-orange-co.html

General Robert E. Lee to Margaret Stuart, March 29, 1864 (“The indications at present are that we shall have a hard struggle. General Grant is with the Army of Potomac.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/02/general-robert-e-lee-to-margaret-stuart_11.html

Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Mead, March 29, 1864 (“I tried very hard to retain Sykes, Newton, and even French, as division commanders, but without avail. I had very hard work to retain Sedgwick.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/09/major-general-george-g-meade-to_23.html

[Homer_J_Simpson]

1

2

With Lincoln in the White House: Letters, Memoranda, and Other Writings of John G. Nicolay, 1860-1865, edited by Michael Burlingame

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Diary of Gideon Welles: Wednesday, March 30, 1864 (Fascinating discussion at Welles’s party. Sec. Seward and artist Francis B. Carpenter on key events early in the war.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2018/12/diary-of-gideon-welles-wednesday-march.html

Lieutenant-Colonel Theodore Lyman to Elizabeth Russell Lyman, March 30, 1864 (“For Chief of Cavalry we are to have a General Sheridan, from the West. He is, I believe, on his way.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/11/lieutenant-colonel-theodore-lyman-to_20.html

Brigadier-General John A. Rawlins to Mary Emeline Hurlburt Rawlins, March 30, 1864 (“Deserters from Lee’s army say there is a rumor in their camps that General Lee said recently that the Army of the Potomac has been long enough at Culpepper and that he intended to start it from there soon.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/02/brigadier-general-john-rawlins-to-mary_27.html

Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: March 30, 1864 (“Seems as if our government is at fault in not providing some way to get us out of here, the hot weather months must kill us all outright.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/05/diary-of-1st-sergeant-john-l-ransom_5.html

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: Wednesday, March 30, 1864 (“The detachment now consists of Companies F, H and K. We are now eight miles from the headquarters at Baily Springs, and eight miles from the Tennessee river.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2023/05/diary-of-private-daniel-l-ambrose_7.html

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: March 30, 1864 (“The papers publish an account of a battle of snow-balls in our army, which indicates the spirit of the troops, when, perhaps, they are upon the eve of passing through such awful scenes of carnage as will make the world tremble at the appalling spectacle.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2021/04/diary-of-john-beauchamp-jones-march-30.html

General Robert E. Lee to Jefferson Davis, March 30, 1864 (“we can assume that if General Grant is to direct operations on this frontier, he will concentrate a large force on one or more lines, and prudence dictates that we should make such preparations as are in our power.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/03/general-robert-e-lee-to-jefferson-davis_8.html

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, edited by C. Vann Woodward

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Diary of Colonel William F. Bartlett, March 31, 1864 (“——1 came back last night. He is going to resign, I am sorry to say. His wife has persuaded him. It is the weakest thing I ever saw in him. I lose faith in man’s firmness and woman’s fortitude.
1 One of his most valued officers.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/07/diary-of-colonel-william-f-bartlett_15.html

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: Thursday, March 31, 1864 (“At day-light we charge into Florence and intercept two rebels in the act of crossing the river to their command.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2023/05/diary-of-private-daniel-l-ambrose.html

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: March 31, 1864 (“No war news, though it is generally believed that Longstreet is really in the valley.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2021/04/diary-of-john-beauchamp-jones-march-31.html

Diary of Sarah Morgan: March, 1864 (A grieving Sarah Morgan relates the story of the death of her two brothers.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/05/diary-of-sarah-morgan-march-1864.html

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Diary of Gideon Welles: Friday, April 1, 1864 (“Chase calls for largely additional taxes which I have no doubt are necessary. There should have been heavier taxes the last two years.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2018/12/diary-of-gideon-welles-friday-april-1.html

Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Mead, April 1, 1864 (“I came up [to Washington] yesterday with Grant, am going to-day before the committee to answer Dan Butterfield’s falsehoods.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/09/major-general-george-g-meade-to_24.html

Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: April 1, 1864 (“It is said that Wirtz shot someone this morning. Often hear the guards shoot and hear of men being killed. Am not ambitious to go near them.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/05/diary-of-1st-sergeant-john-l-ransom_6.html

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: April 1, 1864 (“The plow is standing still; starvation and suffering are inevitable if the angel of peace comes not soon upon its mission to this stricken people.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2023/06/diary-of-private-daniel-l-ambrose-april_77.html

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: April 1, 1864 (“the papers have an account of the shooting of an infant by some Yankees on account of its name. This shows that the war is degenerating more and more into savage barbarism.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2021/04/diary-of-john-beauchamp-jones-april-1.html

Diary of Private Louis Leon: April 1, 1864 (“Our brigade went on picket at Raccoon Ford, and picketed up to Moulton’s Ford.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2023/12/diary-of-private-louis-leon-april-1-1864.html

Diary of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire: April 1, 1864 (“My diary has been somewhat neglected, for after looking over commissary accounts for six hours in the day, and attending to home or hospital duties in the afternoon, I am too much wearied to write much at night.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/01/diary-of-judith-brockenbrough-mcguire_11.html