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 25, 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/4312544/posts
Continued from April 25 (reply #22)
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4312544/posts#22
Nathan Bedford Forrest: A Biography, by Jack Hurst
All for the Union: The Civil War Diary and Letters of Elisha Hunt Rhodes, edited by Robert Hunt Rhodes
Diary of Gideon Welles: Saturday, April 29, 1865 (“it is true Chase and his men have tied up matters by legislation, literally placing the government in the hands of the Treasury”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2022/02/diary-of-gideon-welles-saturday-april.html
Diary of Brigadier-General Rutherford B. Hayes, Saturday, April 29, 1865 (“Johnston’s surrender I regard as the end of the war. Celebrate it by wearing a white collar, first time in service, four years!”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2022/07/diary-of-brigadier-general-rutherford-b.html
Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, April 29, 1865 (“General Hurlbut has gone on a mission to Kirby Smith. So that this department is fast winding up the rebellion in this quarter.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/09/brigadier-general-thomas-kilby-smith-to_18.html
Major Charles Wright Wills: April 29, 1865 (“They don’t pretend to love our ‘erring brethren’ yet, but no conquered foe could ask kinder treatment than all our men seem disposed to give these Rebels.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2021/08/major-charles-wright-wills-april-29-1865.html
Diary of 1st Lieutenant John S. Morgan: Saturday, April 29, 1865 (“at the Mouth of Red river The Rebs were communicating for flag of truce relative to a speedy surrender by Kirby Smith of all the army west of the Mississippi.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/02/diary-of-1st-lieutenant-john-s-morgan_27.html
Diary of 5th Sergeant Alexander G. Downing: Sunday, April 29, 1865 (“By order of General Howard we are to lay over here until Monday, when we will continue our journey.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/03/diary-of-5th-sergeant-alexander-g_35.html
Diary of Dolly Lunt Burge: April 29, 1865 (“Our leaders, to whom the people looked for wisdom, led us into this, perhaps the greatest error of the age.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/07/diary-of-dolly-lunt-burge-april-29-1865.html
Major Charles Wright Wills: Sunday, April 30, 1865 (“A Philadelphia paper gives us our first intimation of the hue and cry against Sherman, for the terms he offered Johnston”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2021/08/major-charles-wright-wills-sunday-april.html
Diary of 5th Sergeant Alexander G. Downing: Monday, April 30, 1865 (“We had a heavy rain last night, but it is clear and warm today. A man from the Fifteenth Iowa preached in our camp at early candlelight this evening.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/03/diary-of-5th-sergeant-alexander-g_6.html
Continued from April 23 (reply #10)
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4312544/posts#10
William J. Cooper, Jr., Jefferson Davis, American
Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, May 1, 1865 (“We are under marching orders for Alexandria, via Richmond, so the grand military division of the James, including the Army of the Potomac, has just existed about one week.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/03/major-general-george-g-meade-to_2.html
Major Charles Wright Wills: May 1, 1865—4:30 p.m. (“one told the boys she wished them to come back after they were mustered out, for ‘you have killed all our young men off.’”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2021/08/major-charles-wright-wills-may-1.html
Diary of 1st Lieutenant John S. Morgan: Monday, May 1, 1865 (“News the Reb Sec. of war has surrendered everything under his control.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/03/diary-of-1st-lieutenant-john-s-morgan.html
Diary of 5th Sergeant Alexander G. Downing: Monday, May 1, 1865 (“No foraging parties are allowed on this march, and no railroad or any kind of property is to be destroyed.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/03/diary-of-5th-sergeant-alexander-g_9.html
Proclamation of Andrew Johnson, May 2, 1865 (President Johnson holds Jefferson Davis and a group of Confederates in Canada responsible for Lincoln’s assassination.)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2018/01/proclamation-of-andrew-johnson-may-2.html
Diary of Gideon Welles: May 2, 1865 (“A proclamation duly prepared was submitted by Stanton with this paper of Holt, which he fully indorses, offering rewards for their apprehension.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2022/04/diary-of-gideon-welles-may-2-1865.html
Charles Sumner to Francis Lieber, May 2, 1865 (“[President Johnson] said at once that he accepted every word of it; that colored persons are to have the right of suffrage”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2018/01/charles-sumner-to-francis-lieber-may-2.html
Senator John Sherman to Major General William T. Sherman, May 2, 1865 (“For a time, you lost all the popularity gained by your achievements. But now the reaction has commenced, and you find some defenders”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2013/09/senator-john-sherman-to-major-general_7.html
Major Charles Wright Wills: May 2, 1865 (The 103rd IL marching north. Now at Shady Grove, NC)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2021/08/major-charles-wright-wills-may-2-1865.html
Diary of 1st Lieutenant John S. Morgan: Tuesday, May 2, 1865 (“The Maj tells us that it is a truth strange as it may seem that the pickets of both armies occupy Citroville amicably”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/03/diary-of-1st-lieutenant-john-s-morgan_2.html
Diary of 5th Sergeant Alexander G. Downing: Tuesday, May 2, 1865 (“We crossed the Tar river at 10 this morning, and passed through some very fine country this afternoon. There is nothing new.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/03/diary-of-5th-sergeant-alexander-g_97.html
Dr. Spencer G. Welch to Cordelia Strother Welch, May 2, 1865 (Dr. Welch on events from Petersburg to Appomattox to the end.)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2023/06/dr-spencer-g-welch-to-cordelia-strother.html
Diary of Sarah Morgan: Tuesday, May 2, 1865 (“Last Saturday, the 29th of April, seven hundred and fifty paroled Louisianians from Lee’s army were brought here — the sole survivors of ten regiments who left four years ago so full of hope and determination.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/05/diary-of-sarah-morgan-tuesday-may-2-1865.html
Continued from April 24 (reply #16).
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4312544/posts#16
Jean Edward Smith, Grant
Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, May 3, 1865 (“It is generally believed that after the army is assembled in Washington it will be disbanded.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/03/major-general-george-g-meade-to_3.html
Major Charles Wright Wills: May 3, 1865 (“We are marching too hard. It is using up lots of men.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2021/08/major-charles-wright-wills-may-3-1865.html
Diary of 1st Lieutenant John S. Morgan: Wednesday, May 3, 1865 (“Rumors of the day — a deserter reports Forest 75 miles from here with 2500 men determined to fight us.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/03/diary-of-1st-lieutenant-john-s-morgan_13.html
Diary of 5th Sergeant Alexander G. Downing: Wednesday, May 3, 1865 (“There are a great many rebel soldiers throughout the country here, who have just returned from the armies of Johnston and Lee.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/03/diary-of-5th-sergeant-alexander-g_85.html
Major Charles Wright Wills: May 4, 1865 (“We crossed the N. C. and Va. line about three miles this side of the river. Good country, and people all out gazing.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2021/08/major-charles-wright-wills-may-4-1865.html
Diary of 1st Lieutenant John S. Morgan: Thursday, May 4, 1865 (“Maj says that the no. of Rebs from Lees army in Mobile out number the yankees”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2017/03/diary-of-1st-lieutenant-john-s-morgan_4.html
Diary of 5th Sergeant Alexander G. Downing: Thursday, May 4, 1865 (“went into bivouac within a mile of the Roanoke river. The Fifteenth Corps is in advance of us and their rear crossed the river this evening.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/03/diary-of-5th-sergeant-alexander-g_89.html
Diary of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire: May 4, 1865 (“General Johnston surrendered on the 26th of April. ‘My native land, good-night!’”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/05/diary-of-judith-brockenbrough-mcguire_5.html
Continued from April 15 (reply #11).
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4311134/posts#11
Douglas Southall Freeman, Lee, an abridgement by Richard Harwell
Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, May 5, 1865 (“Last evening Markoe Bache, who had been to see his friend Custis Lee, was told by him that his father, General Lee, would be glad to see me. I called there to-day and had a long talk with him.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/03/major-general-george-g-meade-to_4.html
Brigadier-General Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, May 5, 1865 (Gen. Hayes considers quitting public life when his Congressional term is over and opening a law office.)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2022/07/brigadier-general-rutherford-b-hayes-to_44.html
Major Charles Wright Wills: May 5, 1865 (“The army is very sore over the affair. We can’t bear to have anybody say a word against Sherman, but he did act very strangely in this thing.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2021/08/major-charles-wright-wills-may-5-1865.html
Diary of 5th Sergeant Alexander G. Downing: Friday, May 5, 1865 (“News came that the two men who killed the president and stabbed Seward had been shot. All is quiet.”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2016/03/diary-of-5th-sergeant-alexander-g_10.html
Diary of Malvina S. Waring, May 5, 1865 (“We are all here; nobody killed in battle; nobody dead from disease. Have we not something, after all, to be thankful for?”)
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2025/03/diary-of-malvina-s-waring-may-5-1865.html