Harper’s Weekly – August 13, 1864

Harper's Weekly archives ^ | August 13, 1864

[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/4256614/posts

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Gen. Sherman’s Advance – 1, 15-17
The Arch Rebel – 2
Major-General McPherson – 2, 7-8
Major-General Oliver O. Howard – 2, 8
The New Government Loan – 2-3
The Call for Men – 3
The Nation Not a Confederacy – 3
A Pleasant Programme – 3
An Important Beginning – 4
Cunning Outwitted – 4
The Appeal to Cowardice – 4
Death of Mrs. General Barlow – 4
No Military Autocrat – 4
“The Stonington Line” – 4
Domestic Intelligence – 4
Interesting Items – 4-5
General Grant’s Campaign – 5-8, 11
Sweet Faces – 8
A School-Girl’s Story – 8-10
The Lucky Blunder – 10
Give Him No Chance – 12
Quite Alone, by George Augustus Sala, Ch. XL – 12-13
Won at Last – 13-14
Humors of the Day – 14
Clara’s Pledge – 16-18
A Madman’s End – 18
Pennsylvania Prepared for the Next Invasion – 18

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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

Possibly the same Col. Archer=> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_J._Archer

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Mead, August 13, 1864 (Gen. Meade asks Gen. Grant face to face why Sheridan was placed in command of the Middle Division and not Meade himself. Grant is not forthcoming.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/11/major-general-george-g-meade-to_23.html

Diary of Brigadier-General William F. Bartlett: Saturday, August 13, 1864 (“Worse and weaker to-day. No surgeon, no medicine, no food suitable. I shall not write much more in this book. I hope it will reach home”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/11/diary-of-brigadier-general-william-f_18.html

Lieutenant-Colonel Theodore Lyman to Elizabeth Russell Lyman, August 13, 1864 (“This was an unaccustomed noise, for Burnside is commonly not musical, and I was speculating on the subject when, on entering the circle of tents, I beheld a collection of Generals”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/01/lieutenant-colonel-theodore-lyman-to_31.html

Diary of 1st Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Saturday, August 13, 1864(“If there were only more fighting generals and fewer get-along-easy fellows, what a splendid thing it would be for the country.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/02/diary-of-1st-lieutenant-lemuel-abbott_26.html

Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: August 13, 1864 (“A nice spring of cold water has broken out in camp, enough to furnish nearly all here with drinking water. God has not forgotten us. Battese brings it to me to drink”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2018/01/diary-of-1st-sergeant-john-l-ransom_86.html

Diary of Corporal Charles H. Lynch: August 13, 1864 (“We can see the enemy over on the hills near Strasburg. Skirmish fighting is kept up between the lines during the day”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/04/diary-of-corporal-charles-h-lynch_79.html

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Saturday, August 13, 1864 (“This is general scrub-day, and we are cleaning up the wards of the hospital. We have good food for the sick served to them on their cots”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/06/diary-of-corporal-alexander-g-downing_6.html

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: August 13, 1864 (“No war news, except the continuation of the movement of troops northward. Hampton’s division of cavalry, at least three brigades, passed this morning”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2022/05/diary-of-john-beauchamp-jones-august-13.html

[Demiurge2]

The “Nation Not a Confederacy” article point to a little-noted aspect of the Civil War - it was ultimately a war between the America of 1776 and the America of 1860. The former lost.

[Moonmad27]

Thank you for all these. I enjoyed the School Girl’s Story and will read more of those stories in the magazine. It’s odd to be reading a story that probably no one else has read in over 100 years!

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from August 5 (reply #42).

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4255075/posts#42

Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, Volume Two

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from Continued from August 6 (reply #3).

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4256614/posts#3

Douglas Southall Freeman, Lee, an abridgement by Richard Harwell

[Homer_J_Simpson]

All for the Union: The Civil War Diary and Letters of Elisha Hunt Rhodes, edited by Robert Hunt Rhodes

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Diary of Brigadier-General William F. Bartlett: Sunday, August 14, 1864 (“Felt a little better after sat up this A. M.; have got a prayer-book, great comfort in it; have been reading it all the morning”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/11/diary-of-brigadier-general-william-f_22.html

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw Lowell, Sunday Morning, August 14, 1864 – 7 A. M. (“you mustn’t let yourself or your friends talk about my leaving the army, — we are bound, if any one is, to do our all to see the war well finished”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/06/colonel-charles-russell-lowell-to_11.html

Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes to Sardis Birchard, August 14, 1864 (“You see we are again up the famous Valley; General Sheridan commands the army; General Early and Breckinridge are in our front”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2020/12/colonel-rutherford-b-hayes-to-sardis_4.html

Lieutenant-Colonel Theodore Lyman to Elizabeth Russell Lyman, August 14, 1864 (“General Parke got back from his sick leave and took command of the 9th Corps”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/02/lieutenant-colonel-theodore-lyman-to.html

Diary of 1st Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Sunday, August 14, 1864 (“Have remained idle all day; enemy occupy the other side of Strasburg. Our pickets are just this side of town”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/02/diary-of-1st-lieutenant-lemuel-abbott_27.html

Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: August 14, 1864 (“Battese very hopeful, as exchange rumors are afloat. Talks more about it than ever before”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2018/01/diary-of-1st-sergeant-john-l-ransom_38.html

Diary of Corporal Charles H. Lynch: August 14, 1864 (“we are reminded that every battle kills a soldier, some one’s dear friend killed, as we see them brought in from the skirmish line”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/04/diary-of-corporal-charles-h-lynch_14.html

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Sunday, August 14, 1864 (“Resolved, That I may once a day or more offer thanks to my Savior for his help; and, above all, that I may try to live a true Christian until death. May God help me so to live, is my prayer”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/06/diary-of-corporal-alexander-g-downing_7.html

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: August 14, 1864 (“Rumors of a fight down the river yesterday, driving the enemy from Deep Bottom, and grounding of the Richmond”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2022/05/diary-of-john-beauchamp-jones-august-14.html

Diary of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire: August 14, 1864 (“Norfolk, poor Norfolk! nothing can exceed its long-suffering, its night of gloom and darkness”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/03/diary-of-judith-brockenbrough-mcguire_2.html

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Today’s posts:

“Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, Volume Two,” reply #7
“Lee,” #8
Elisha Hunt Rhodes, #9
John G. Nicolay, #10
Mary B. Chesnut, #11
Links to 10 items at Civil War Notebook, #12

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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

[Homer_J_Simpson]

All for the Union: The Civil War Diary and Letters of Elisha Hunt Rhodes, edited by Robert Hunt Rhodes

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant to Major-General Henry W. Halleck, August 15, 1864—9 p.m. (“My withdrawal now from the James River would insure the defeat of Sherman.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2020/06/lieutenant-general-ulysses-s-grant-to_23.html

Diary of Brigadier-General William F. Bartlett: Monday, August 15, 1864 (“Sunday morning I sat up and seemed to feel better. Took calomel and opium pills and whiteoak-bark solution. I can hardly account for the change”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/11/diary-of-brigadier-general-william-f_23.html

Diary of Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Monday, August 15, 1864 (“Rebels attacked our picket line and drove it after a brisk skirmish. (The) Twenty-third and Thirty-sixth supporting soon check the Rebels”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2020/12/diary-of-colonel-rutherford-b-hayes_12.html

Diary of 1st Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Monday, August 15, 1864 (“have got to make three days’ rations last four, as Mosby captured some of our train”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/02/diary-of-1st-lieutenant-lemuel-abbott_28.html

Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: August 15, 1864 (“The water is a God-send. Sanders better and Rowe worse.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2018/01/diary-of-1st-sergeant-john-l-ransom_55.html

Diary of Corporal Charles H. Lynch: August 15, 1864 (“Sometimes both sides seem to get tired of the continual popping of the guns and cease firing”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/04/diary-of-corporal-charles-h-lynch_17.html

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Monday, August 15, 1864 (“I would like to go, too, but the doctor tells me that I can do more good by staying here and caring for the sick”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/06/diary-of-corporal-alexander-g-downing_40.html

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: August 15, 1864 (“To-day Colonel Rowett assumes command of the Third Brigade”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2023/10/diary-of-private-daniel-l-ambrose_52.html

Samuel Cooper: General Orders, No. 65, August 15, 1864 (Regarding foreigners in the Confederate Army.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2022/07/samuel-cooper-general-orders-no-65.html

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: August 15, 1864 (Dispatch from Gen. Maury at Mobile.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2022/05/diary-of-john-beauchamp-jones-august-15.html

Diary of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire: August 15, 1864 (“An account from my relatives, of the raid of the 19th of June into the village of Tappahannock, has lately reached me. . . .”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/03/diary-of-judith-brockenbrough-mcguire_5.html

The Political Situation [From the Richmond Examiner]

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-political-situation.html

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from Continued from August 14 (reply #8).

Douglas Southall Freeman, Lee, an abridgement by Richard Harwell

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant to Major-General Philip H. Sheridan, August 16, 1864—1:30 p.m. (“I think they should be taken and kept at Fort McHenry, or some secure place, as hostages for the good conduct of Mosby and his men. Where any of Mosby’s men are caught hang them without trial.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2020/04/lieutenant-general-ulysses-s-grant-to_27.html

Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant to Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, August 16, 1864 (“The rebels have now in their ranks their last men. The little boys and old men are guarding prisoners, railroad bridges, and forming a good part of their garrisons for intrenched positions. A man lost by them cannot be replaced.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2013/08/lieutenant-general-ulysses-s-grant-to_22.html

Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, August 16, 1864 (“Hancock has been fighting for two days across the James, and though he has met with success, yet he has not been able to break through the enemy’s lines”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/11/major-general-george-g-meade-to_24.html

Diary of Brigadier-General William F. Bartlett: Tuesday, August 16, 1864 (“I am not so impatient now that I am getting better. It is not the horror of living but of dying here, that troubles me”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/11/diary-of-brigadier-general-william-f_24.html

Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, August 16, 1864 (“Yesterday with [the]Twenty-third and Thirty-sixth had a very brisk skirmish; lost two killed, twelve wounded”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2020/12/colonel-rutherford-b-hayes-to-lucy-webb_51.html

Lieutenant-Colonel Theodore Lyman to Elizabeth Russell Lyman, August 16, 1864 (Lt. Col. Lyman on the Petersburg mine explosion.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/02/lieutenant-colonel-theodore-lyman-to_4.html

Diary of 1st Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Tuesday, August 16, 1864 (“Quite a game of chess seems to be going on between the armies. It has been very dull since we left Harper’s Ferry”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/03/diary-of-1st-lieutenant-lemuel-abbott.html

Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: August 16, 1864 (“Still in the land of the living. Capt. Wirtz is sick and a Lieut. Davis acting in his stead.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2018/01/diary-of-1st-sergeant-john-l-ransom_43.html

Diary of Corporal Charles H. Lynch: August 16, 1864 (“General Sheridan is now in command. Many movements and maneuvers are often made that are puzzling and hard to understand by the average soldier”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/04/diary-of-corporal-charles-h-lynch_96.html

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Tuesday, August 16, 1864 (“I sold my American lever watch today for $33.50, which is $4.50 more than I paid for it in Davenport, Iowa”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/06/diary-of-corporal-alexander-g-downing_88.html

From the 18th Iowa (“Our regiment will give Abraham a handsome majority. We all think that Fremont has acted the part of a dog. I have not yet heard a man say he will vote for him”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2008/10/from-18th-iowa.html

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: August 16, 1864 (“Col. Moseby has taken 200 of the enemy near Berryville, burning 75 wagons, and capturing 600 horses and mules. His loss trifling”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2022/05/diary-of-john-beauchamp-jones-august-16.html

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from August 7 (reply #10).

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4256614/posts#10

Jean Edward Smith, Grant