Harper’s Weekly – December 24, 1864

Harper's Weekly archives ^ | December 24, 1864

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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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/4284958/posts

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Chief Justices of the United States – 1, 8
Barbarism – 2
Sherman – 2
Ultimus Romanorum – 2
On a Late Message – 2
“Chivalry” – 2
Mr. Webb’s Letter – 2-3
Lord Wharncliffe & Co. – 3
A Railroad “Accident” – 3
Literary – 3
Domestic Intelligence – 3-4
Foreign News – 4
The Safest Way of Taking a Lady Down to Dinner – 4
Capture of Plymouth, N.C. – 5-6, 8-9
Grant’s Military Railroad – 7, 9
Homes of Rebel Women – 9, 11
Guerrilla Depredations – 9, 16-17
Christmas Hymn – 9
Santa Claus’s Wish Council – 9-10
Interesting Items – 10
Dining-Corpulency-Leanness – 10, 12
Margaret Miller: A Story in Nine Chapters, Ch. III – 12-13
Fleet of Whalers at San Francisco – 14
Apparatus for Measuring the Velocity of Projectiles – 14-15
Humors of the Day – 18
Petroleum – 18

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from December 23 (reply #39).

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4284958/posts#39

Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, Volume Two

[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]

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

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Diary of Gideon Welles: Saturday, December 24, 1864 (“Called on the President to commute the punishment of a person condemned to be hung. He at once assented. Is always disposed to mitigate punishment”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2021/07/diary-of-gideon-welles-saturday.html

Major-General William T. Sherman to Major-General Henry W. Halleck, December 24, 1864 (Gen. Sherman’s plans for the next phase of his campaign.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2018/02/major-general-william-t-sherman-to_10.html

Lieutenant Colonel Charles Fessenden Morse: December 24, 1864 (Morse describes operations of the 2nd Massachusetts since Dec. 15.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/08/lieutenant-colonel-charles-fessenden_27.html

Diary of 1st Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Saturday, December 24, 1864 (“commenced putting up my cabin this morning; not quite up to-night; regimental dress parade this evening.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/08/diary-of-1st-lieutenant-lemuel-abbott_52.html

Diary of 1st Lieutenant Daniel L. Ambrose: December 24, 1864 (“unclad and unfed, their lamps of life flickered out in that worse than Egyptian bondage—a Confederate prison.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2024/03/diary-of-1st-lieutenant-daniel-l_83.html

Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: December 24, 1864 (“This diary must soon come to an end. Will fill the few remaining pages and then stop.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2019/02/diary-of-1st-sergeant-john-l-ransom_12.html

Francis Lieber to Senator Charles Sumner, December 24, 1864 (“I spoke of democratic absolutism in presence of Judge Story, or to him, when you were yet a Cambridge student.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/08/francis-lieber-to-senator-charles_8.html

Diary of 5th Sergeant Alexander G. Downing: Saturday, December 24, 1864 (“General Foster’s command is still in pursuit of the fleeing rebels through South Carolina.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/10/diary-of-5th-sergeant-alexander-g_10.html

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: December 24, 1864 (“There is something in the air that causes agitation in official circles. Mr. Secretary Seddon’s room was locked nearly all day yesterday.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2023/10/diary-of-john-beauchamp-jones-december_3.html

Diary of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire: December 24, 1864 (“The city was surrendered by its mayor, Arnold by name, and he seems to be worthy of the traitorous name.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/04/diary-of-judith-brockenbrough-mcguire_2.html

Diary of Dolly Lunt Burge: December 24, 1864 (“Christmas Eve, which has ever been gaily celebrated here, is an occasion now of sadness and gloom.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/07/diary-of-dolly-lunt-burge-december-24.html

Our Indian Troops, published December 24, 1864 (“General Stand Watie, commanding our Indian troops, has fully clothed and armed all his men, and is attacking and destroying Yankee wagon trains.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2023/10/our-indian-troops-published-december-24.html

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Today’s posts:

“Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, Volume Two,” reply #3
John G. Nicolay, #4
George Templeton Strong, #5
Links to 12 items at Civil War Notebook, #6

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Ping

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from December 21 (reply #25).

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4284958/posts#25

William J. Cooper, Jr., Jefferson Davis, American

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from December 21 (reply #22).

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4284958/posts#22

1

2

3

James Lee McDonough, William Tecumseh Sherman: In the Service of My Country, A Life

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Home Letters of General Sherman, edited by M.A. DeWolfe Howe, 1909

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from December 21 (reply #24)

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4284958/posts#24

Nathan Bedford Forrest: A Biography, by Jack Hurst

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Johnny Green of the Orphan Brigade: The Journal of a Confederate Soldier, Edited by A.D. Kirwan

[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]

Continued from December 24 (reply #3).

Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, Volume Two

[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]

Christmas Bells, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2012/12/christmas-bells.html

Diary of Gideon Welles: Sunday, December 25, 1864 (“The Rebellion is drawing to a close. These operations in the heart of the Rebel region are destroying their self-confidence”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2021/07/diary-of-gideon-welles-sunday-december.html

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, December 25, 1864 (“Fort Donaldson, as you are aware, was the scene of General Grant’s first great victory, and the starting-point to his present greatness.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/08/brigadier-general-thomas-kilby-smith-to_26.html

Diary of 1st Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Sunday, December 25, 1864 (“Rained all night; very muddy; working hard to finish my house by to-morrow night”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/08/diary-of-1st-lieutenant-lemuel-abbott_17.html

Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: December 25, 1864 (“General Kilpatrick told me I would probably not be called upon to do any more duty as I had done good service as a prisoner of war.”)
(“Shall not write any more, though I hardly know how I shall get along, without a self-imposed task of some kind.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2019/02/diary-of-1st-sergeant-john-l-ransom_21.html

Diary of 5th Sergeant Alexander G. Downing: Sunday, December 25, 1864 (“This is a cloudy, cool day and a lonesome Christmas. We are on one-third rations now and poor prospects of getting more soon.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/10/diary-of-5th-sergeant-alexander-g_11.html

Diary of Corporal Charles H. Lynch: December 25, 1864 (“Christmas at Halltown. We hope this will be our last Christmas in the service, and that the war will soon be over.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/09/diary-of-corporal-charles-h-lynch_1.html

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: Sunday, December 25, 1864 (“His son, Gen. Custis Lee, has mortally offended the clerks by putting them in the trenches yesterday, and some of them may desert.”)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2023/10/diary-of-john-beauchamp-jones-sunday.html

Diary of Dolly Lunt Burge: December 25, 1864 (Empty stockings and tears on Christmas morning.)

https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/07/diary-of-dolly-lunt-burge-december-25.html

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Today’s posts:

“Jefferson Davis, American,” reply #9
“William Tecumseh Sherman: In the Service of My Country, A Life,” #10
Letter from Sherman to Mrs. Sherman, #11
George Templeton Strong, #12
“Nathan Bedford Forrest: A Biography,” #13
Johnny Green, #14
John Jackman, #15
“Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, Volume Two,” #16
Elisha Hunt Rhodes, #17
Links to 9 items at Civil War Notebook, #18

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from December 25 (reply #10).

James Lee McDonough, William Tecumseh Sherman: In the Service of My Country, A Life