Harper’s Weekly – December 3, 1864

Harper's Weekly archives ^ | December 3, 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/4280960/posts

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Exchange of Prisoners – 1-2
Martinsburg – 1, 16
Thanksgiving (Poem) – 2
Peace – 2
Railroad Travel – 2-3
The End of Rebel Logic – 3
The Position of New York – 3
Thanksgiving – 3-4, 11, 15
The Bird of America – 4
Petroleum – 4
Domestic Intelligence – 4
Foreign News – 4
Interesting Items – 4-5
Uncle Sam’s New Butler – 5
Bellycose Appearance of our Brave Boys after Thanksgiving – 5
The Blockade off Wilmington – 6-7
The Late Mr. John Leech – 7-8
Thanksgiving Pumpkin – 8-9
Tunnel under Pittsburgh – 8, 12
“Quite Alone,” by George Augustus Sala, Ch LVIII-LIX – 9-10, 12
A Lament – 12
Uncle Godfrey – 12-14
How English Working-People Live – 14
Humors of the Day – 14

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from November 24 (reply #41).

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4279390/posts#41

Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, Volume Two

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Diary of Gideon Welles: Saturday, December 3, 1864 (“The President read his message at a special Cabinet-meeting to-day and general criticism took place. His own portion has been much improved.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2021/06/diary-of-gideon-welles-saturday_27.html

Speaker Schuyler Colfax to Corydon E. Fuller, December 3, 1864 (“I intend to get a clerkship for you, in preference to a dozen other applicants from my district pressing for appointment.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/08/speaker-schuyler-colfax-to-corydon-e_13.html

Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, December 3, 1864 (“I received the two volumes of the Army and Navy Review (British) and have read with great interest Captain Chesney’s critique of the battle of Gettysburg.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/01/major-general-george-g-meade-to_10.html

Diary of Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes, Saturday, December 3, 1864 (“Rode around our works. Too numerous for our force. Too extensive for less than forty thousand infantry or more.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2021/09/diary-of-colonel-rutherford-b-hayes_40.html

Lieutenant-Colonel Theodore Lyman to Elizabeth Russell Lyman, December 3, 1864 (Gen. Meade’s innocence about money and caring for newly arrived contrabands.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/04/lieutenant-colonel-theodore-lyman-to_2.html

Captain Charles Wright Wills: December 3, 1864 (“a dispatch from Bragg to — had been intercepted yesterday, that stated that he was moving on us from Savannah, with 10,000 infantry and Dick Taylor’s Cavalry.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2020/11/captain-charles-wright-wills-december-3.html

Diary of 1st Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Saturday, December 3, 1864 (“General Stevenson wants to put me on his staff . . . told him I preferred a fighting position”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/08/diary-of-1st-lieutenant-lemuel-abbott_5.html

Diary of 1st Lieutenant Daniel L. Ambrose: Saturday, December 3, 1864 (“The country is all wrapped in flame; how terrible the sweep of an unchecked army!”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2024/03/diary-of-1st-lieutenant-daniel-l_93.html

Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: December 3, 1864 (“Blackshear is an out-of-the-way place, and shouldn’t think the Yankee army would ever find us here. The climate is delightful.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2018/09/diary-of-1st-sergeant-john-l-ransom_13.html

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Saturday, December 3, 1864 (“At Millen there was located one of those hell-holes, a rebel prison, where the rebels kept about thirteen hundred of our men as prisoners.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/09/diary-of-corporal-alexander-g-downing_19.html

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: December 3, 1864 (“Roger A. Pryor fell into the hands of the enemy the other day while exchanging newspapers with their pickets. They have him at Washington”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2023/08/diary-of-john-beauchamp-jones-december_59.html

General Braxton Bragg to Colonel John B. Sale, December 3, 1864—6 p.m. (“Our cavalry is pressing on the rear, and all available means are being thrown to their front by rail.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2023/08/general-braxton-bragg-to-colonel-john-b_14.html

[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]

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

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, December 4, 1864 (“I send you a telegram from the Secretary and my reply, which will show you the vexed question is at last settled.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/01/major-general-george-g-meade-to_11.html

Diary of Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes, Sunday, December 4, 1864 (“All talk is of Sherman and Georgia or Hood and Tennessee. This week is likely to inform us of their movements and so determine our own.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2021/09/diary-of-colonel-rutherford-b-hayes_90.html

Captain Charles Wright Wills: December 4, 1864 (“Almost all of the people from this section have sloped. I think I have not seen more than 12 white male citizens since we left Atlanta”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2020/11/captain-charles-wright-wills-december-4.html

Diary of 1st Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Sunday, December 4, 1864 (“am feeling some better, but do want to go to my regiment: men complaining, but I can’t help it, there’s no quartermaster; am busy with clothing rolls”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/08/diary-of-1st-lieutenant-lemuel-abbott_7.html

Diary of 1st Lieutenant Daniel L. Ambrose: Sunday, December 4, 1864 (“Now and then occasional firing is heard on the flanks, front and rear, but nothing very threatening as yet has confronted us.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2024/03/diary-of-1st-lieutenant-daniel-l_68.html

Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: December 4, 1864 (“Would like to have seen this guard hold us last summer at Andersonville.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2018/09/diary-of-1st-sergeant-john-l-ransom_23.html

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Sunday, December 4, 1864 (“Good crops were raised the past season, the work having been done by old men and negro women. Most of the citizens have left their homes.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/09/diary-of-corporal-alexander-g-downing_23.html

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: Sunday, December 4, 1864 (“The Northern papers say our army under Hood in Tennessee has met with a great disaster. We are still incredulous—although it may be true.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2023/08/diary-of-john-beauchamp-jones-sunday_13.html

General Braxton Bragg to Colonel John B. Sale, December 4, 1864—Received 1 p.m. (“I have had all ferryboats destroyed, and ordered all roads to and from river to be broken up and blockaded by felling heavy timber.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2023/08/general-braxton-bragg-to-colonel-john-b.html

Diary of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire: Sunday, December 4, 1864 (McGuire tells the life story of Angus McDonald, whose funeral she attended today.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/04/diary-of-judith-brockenbrough-mcguire.html

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Today’s posts:

John G. Nicolay, reply #6
Elisha Hunt Rhodes, #7
George Templeton Strong, #8
Links to 10 items at Civil War Notebook, #9

[Hebrews 11:6]

Dick the Pet Sheep was never going to die of old age. He fell victim to the eternal verity best expressed by the timeless tale of the Frog and the Scorpion.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from November 11 (reply #44).

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4275856/posts#44

David Herbert Donald, Lincoln

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from November 16 (reply #27).

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4277826/posts#27

Douglas Southall Freeman, Lee, an abridgement by Richard Harwell

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, Volume Two

[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]

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

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Diary of Gideon Welles: Monday, December 5, 1864 (“Mr. Seward sent for my perusal a draught of an executive order forbidding the Japanese vessel from leaving, and authorizing the Navy Department to purchase.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2021/06/diary-of-gideon-welles-monday-december.html

Gerrit Smith to Senator Charles Sumner, December 5, 1864 [Extract] (“An amendment implying that without it, the constitution would authorize or even tolerate slavery, would do great injustice to those who adopted the constitution.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2018/04/gerrit-smith-to-senator-charles-sumner.html

Lieutenant-Colonel Theodore Lyman to Elizabeth Russell Lyman, December 5, 1864 (“I saw you kill it, with my own eyes; and there it lies dead!” — when — the sheep hopped up and ran away.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/04/lieutenant-colonel-theodore-lyman-to_3.html

Captain Charles Wright Wills: December 5, 1864 (“Sherman’s order is not to let any more go with us than we can use and feed.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2020/11/captain-charles-wright-wills-december-5.html

Diary of 1st Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Monday, December 5, 1864 (“am told by the Commanding Officer I shall probably get an order to go to Washington to-night”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/08/diary-of-1st-lieutenant-lemuel-abbott_9.html

Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: December 5, 1864 (“Half a dozen got away from here last night, and guards more strict to-day, with an increased force.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2018/10/diary-of-1st-sergeant-john-l-ransom.html

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Monday, December 5, 1864 (“A force of eight thousand rebels left Oliver this morning for Savannah. They came into the town last night and throwing up earthworks made preparations for a fight”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/09/diary-of-corporal-alexander-g-downing_40.html

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: December 5, 1864 (“Our people think, in the Federal accounts of a victory over Gen. Hood, at Franklin, Tenn., they perceive a Confederate victory.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2023/08/diary-of-john-beauchamp-jones-december_44.html

General Robert E. Lee to Jefferson Davis, December 5, 1864 (“Reports of Early and Longstreet have not yet been corroborated but the whole preparations of the enemy indicate some movement against us.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/03/general-robert-e-lee-to-jefferson-davis_23.html

Captain Francis H. Wigfall: December 5, 1864 (“The fight at Franklin was very severe — while it lasted, and though our loss was heavy, everybody is in the finest humor — and ready for the fight again”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/11/captain-francis-h-wigfall-december-5.html

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Today’s posts:

“Lincoln,” reply #12
“Lee,” #13
“Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, Volume Two,” #14
John Jackman, #15
George Templeton Strong, #16
Mary B. Chesnut, #17
Links to 10 items at Civil War Notebook, #18

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from November 30 (reply #24)

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4280960/posts#24

Bruce Catton, Never Call Retreat