Harper’s Weekly – November 30, 1861

Harper's Weekly archives ^ | November 30, 1861

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[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/4015092/posts

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Major-Gen. Halleck, U.S.A. – 1-2
The Prospect – 1, 3
The Lounger – 3-4
Humors of the Day – 4-5
Domestic Intelligence – 5
Foreign News – 5
Head-Quarters of General Wright at Fort Walker, Hilton Head, South Carolina, Formerly those of General Drayton, of the Rebel Army – 6
The Capture of Beaufort, South Carolina – 7, 11-14
Shells – 8, 15
Forts Runyan and Albany – 9-10
Success and Failure – 14-15
The Last Men at Beaufort, S.C. – 15
The McClellan Celebration – 16, 23
The Capture of the Rebel Commissioners to Europe – 17-20
The Little Wonder – 17
The Picket-Guard – 21
A Strange Story, by sir E. Bulwer Lytton, Ch. XL – 21-23

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from November 27 (reply #16).

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4015092/posts#16

Bruce Catton, Terrible Swift Sword

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Saturday, November 30, 1861 (“Granting furloughs to four men from each company keeps me busy.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/05/diary-of-lieutenant-colonel-rutherford_13.html

Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, November 30, 1861 (“All the people hereabouts are crowding in to take the oath of allegiance.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/05/lieutenant-colonel-rutherford-b-hayes_14.html

Major Wilder Dwight: November 30, 1861 (“the whole hospital system is a blunder, if not a crime. It wants entire reorganization.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/01/major-wilder-dwight-november-30-1861.html

Diary of Corporal David L. Day: November 30, 1861 (“Our thanksgiving dinners are just beginning to arrive, and our camp is literally piled up with boxes and bales containing good things from the dear ones at home.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2019/10/diary-of-corporal-david-l-day-november.html

Diary of Josephine Shaw Lowell: November 30, 1861 (“Who one short year ago would have imagined that we should have shiploads of cotton picked by paid negroes?”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/11/diary-of-josephine-shaw-lowell-november.html

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: November 30, 1861 (“Mr. Benjamin has been defeated for the C. S. Senate.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/07/diary-of-john-beauchamp-jones-november_22.html

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Commandant Samuel F. DuPont to Gustavus V. Fox, December 1, 1861 (DuPont wants better press coverage.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2019/01/commandant-samuel-f-dupont-to-gustavus_27.html

Commandant Samuel F. DuPont to Gustavus V. Fox, December 1, 1861 (DuPont appeased.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2019/02/commandant-samuel-f-dupont-to-gustavus.html

Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Sunday, December 1, 1861 (“Read Halleek’s “Lectures on the Science and Art of War.” Goodish.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/05/diary-of-lieutenant-colonel-rutherford_15.html

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: December 1, 1861 (“To-day a rebel gunboat steamed up from Columbus and fired a few shots into Fort Holt.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2020/05/diary-of-private-daniel-l-ambrose_59.html

John L. Motley to Mary L. Motley, December 1, 1861 (More gloom over the Trent affair.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/07/john-l-motley-to-mary-l-motley-december.html

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: December 1, 1861 (“The people here begin to murmur at the idea that they are questioned about their loyalty, and often arrested, by Baltimore petty larceny detectives”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/07/diary-of-john-beauchamp-jones-december_23.html

Lieutenant-Colonel John T. L. Preston to Margaret Junkin Preston, December 1, 1861 (Preston with Gen. Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/02/lieutenant-colonel-john-t-l-preston-to_11.html

[Homer_J_Simpson]

The Civil War Papers of George B. McClellan: Selected Correspondence 1860-1865, edited by Stephen W. Spears

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Major-General Henry W. Halleck to Major-General George B. McClellan, December 2, 1861 (General S[herman’s] physical and mental system is so completely broken by labor and care as to render him for the present entirely unfit for duty.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2020/04/major-general-henry-w-halleck-to-major_25.html

Brigadier General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, December 2, 1861 (“The most important piece of intelligence I have to communicate is that I have bought another horse. He is a fine black horse that was brought out to camp by a trader, for sale.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2013/10/brigadier-general-george-g-meade-to_20.html

Commodore Samuel F. Du Pont to Senator James W. Grimes, December 2, 1861 (DuPont thanks Sen. Grimes for his flattering letter of Nov. 23.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/09/commodore-samuel-f-du-pont-to-senator.html

Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, December 2, 1861 (“I should like a first-rate pair of military boots — not so high as common — high in the instep and large.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/05/lieutenant-colonel-rutherford-b-hayes_19.html

Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Monday, December 2, 1861 (“Snows all day in the mud.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/05/diary-of-lieutenant-colonel-rutherford_16.html

Major Wilder Dwight: Monday Night, December 2, 1861 (“I am awaiting, with some interest, the President’s Message. I shall like to see how he will pronounce a policy.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/01/major-wilder-dwight-monday-night.html

Captain William Thompson Lusk to Elizabeth Adams Lusk, December 2, 1861 (Life at Hilton Head is fine for Capt. Lusk.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/06/captain-william-thompson-lusk-to.html

Diary of Corporal David L. Day: December 2, 1861 (“The troops encamped around here have been formed into three brigades, and will be commanded by Brigadier Generals [John G.] Foster, [Jesse] Reno and [John G.] Parke; the whole to be under command of Gen. A. E. Burnside and known as Burnside’s coast division.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2019/10/diary-of-corporal-david-l-day-december.html

George William Curtis to Charles Eliot Norton, December 2, 1861 (“At the Astor we saw General and Mrs. Fremont. She seems bitter, I think, but he is the same old simple, winning soul that he always was.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/11/george-william-curtis-to-charles-eliot_15.html

Brigadier-General Lloyd Tilghman to Captain E. D. Blake, December 2, 1861 (“I have assumed command of the defenses of the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers on the line of Forts Donelson and Henry and of the country immediately adjacent thereto.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2019/10/brigadier-general-lloyd-tilghman-to.html

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: December 2, 1861 (“Gen. Lee has now been ordered South for the defense of Charleston and Savannah, and those cities are safe!”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/07/diary-of-john-beauchamp-jones-december.html

[BroJoeK]

"Major-General Henry W. Halleck to Major-General George B. McClellan, December 2, 1861 (General S[herman’s] physical and mental system is so completely broken by labor and care as to render him for the present entirely unfit for duty.”)"

For anyone who imagines that a Union victory was "preordained" or "inevitable", just consider how long it would have taken the Union to collapse with the likes of McClellan & Halleck at the helm.

[BroJoeK]

"Brigadier-General Lloyd Tilghman to Captain E. D. Blake, December 2, 1861 (“I have assumed command of the defenses of the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers on the line of Forts Donelson and Henry and of the country immediately adjacent thereto.”)"

I'm guessing, CSA Gen. Tilgham has about two months to get his defenses in good order.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

I'm guessing, CSA Gen. Tilgham has about two months to get his defenses in good order.

With McClellan, Halleck and Buell working on a plan to take Nashville, Tilghman should be ready to meet the Union offensive in July or August 1862.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from November 13 (reply #33).

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4011123/posts#33

David Herbert Donald, Lincoln

[Homer_J_Simpson]

David W. Blight, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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

[Homer_J_Simpson]

The Civil War Papers of George B. McClellan: Selected Correspondence 1860-1865, edited by Stephen W. Spears

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: December 3, 1861 (Jones has allies for his anti-passport position, and a delegation of them want to see President Davis to press their point.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/07/diary-of-john-beauchamp-jones-december_24.html

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Today’s posts:

“Team of Rivals,” reply #14
“Lincoln,” #15
“Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom,” #16
Lincoln’s message to Congress, #17
George B. McClellan, #18
Link to John Beauchamp Jones diary entry at Civil War Notebook, #19