the battle cry - Sarasota Civil War Round Table

V o l u me 10 , I ss ue 9
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M a y 1 9, 2 01 5
THE BATTLE CRY
CSA President Jefferson Davis, under guard, in Fortress Monroe after his attempted escape and capture
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Mosby
1
Jeff Davis
1- 3
May, 1865 Events
2-3
Bannerman’s
3,6
Sneak Attack
By Jamie Malanowski
Map by Martin Sanders
Trivia; Surrenders and Smithsonian articles.
5
Smithsonian. April, 2015
Volume 46, Number 1
The Rebel States of California
and Oregon.
5-6
Administration/Officers
6
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Fairfax, Virginia
Lt. John Singleton Mosby—the Confederacy’s legendary “Gray Ghost”—staged
one of the war’s greatest coups in the home of Dr. William P. Gunnell, a handsome twostory brick house at 10520 Main Street, Fairfax (now occupied by offices for the Truro
Anglican Church). Before dawn on March 9, 1863, Mosby led 29 men through the
woods that filled a gap in the Union lines above Fairfax Courthouse. He was searching
for a colonel in the New Jersey cavalry whose father, an English lord, had sneeringly
labeled Mosby and his rangers a “pack of horse thieves.” The colonel had gone to
Washington, but there was a consolation prize available: Brig. Gen. Edwin Stoughton,
who had headquartered himself at Gunnell’s home. Stoughton, far from enemy positions, had not deployed guards; danger seemed unfathomable until the moment Mosby
entered his bedroom.
Mosby recalls slapping the sleeping officer on the [backside] and asking, “General,
did you ever hear of Mosby?”. “Yes,” replied Stoughton. “Have you caught
him?”. Along with Stoughton, Mosby’s men absconded with two captains, 30 enlisted men and 58 horses. Among Rebels, the exploit was widely celebrated, but
some cavalry officers, perhaps jealous, harrumphed at the loose ways of Mosby’s
men. When Mosby turned Stoughton over to Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, the cavalry officer
(and nephew of Robert E. Lee) snubbed the Gray Ghost while warmly greeting the
West Point classmate who was now his prisoner.
President Lincoln later observed that he “didn’t mind the loss of the brigadier as
much as the horses, for I can make a much better general in five minutes, but the
he horses cost one hundred and twenty-five dollars apiece.”
Page 2
American Civil War May 1865
May 1865 saw the final moments of the American Civil War even if the Confederacy had surrendered in April. Jefferson Davis had yet to hand himself in and a hefty reward was put up for him.
A few groups of Confederates had yet to surrender and lay down their weapons but for the first
time since April 1861 most of the American people could think in terms of peace.
May 1st:
A military commission made up of eight army officers was established by President Johnson to
try the people arrested over Lincoln’s assassination.
May 2nd:
Johnson offered a reward of $100,000 for Jefferson Davis. Johnson, along with many other people in the North, believed that Davis had something to do with Lincoln’s assassination.
Davis himself met the army commanders he had left and told them that the fight could go on, as
Southerners would rally around him. They told him bluntly that it could not.
May 4th:
President Lincoln was buried in Springfield, Illinois.
42,000 Confederate troops surrendered at Citronelle, Alabama. This was the remaining force for
Alabama, Mississippi and eastern Louisiana.
May 9th:
Davis disbanded the large retinue of troops protecting him and chose to travel in a much smaller
group. Those soldiers who had been protecting Davis were told to go home.
May 10th:
President Johnson declared that resistance “may be regarded as virtually at an end.”
Jefferson Davis was captured at Irwinsville, Georgia, by men from the 4 th Michigan Cavalry.
May 12th:
Those accused of being involved in the assassination of Lincoln were put on trial. All pleaded
not guilty. However, the mood of the people was barely forgiving and this was resonated by
those in charge of the military commission. Mercy was not expected. Even the lady, Mary Surratt, who owned the boarding house where John Wilkes Booth stayed, was on trial for her life.
All eight arrested were found guilty and four, including Surratt, were sentenced to death. These
four were hanged on July 7th – despite many calls for clemency for Surratt. The other four received prison sentences; one died in prison but by 1869 the other three had all been pardoned.
Continued on page 3
“TH E BA TTL E C RY ”
P a ge 3
May 22nd:
Johnson announced that all trade restrictions with Southern ports would be lifted from July 1 st,
with the exception of Galveston, La Salle, Brazos Santiago and Brownsville.
Jefferson Davis was held in irons at Fort Monroe, Virginia.
May 23rd:
The Army of the Potomac paraded through the streets of Washington DC.
May 24th:
Sherman’s army, which had done so much to weaken the military ability of the South, paraded
through the capital. Sherman was still not popular with some political figures in the government,
primarily Secretary of War Stanton, and many in the South hated his name. However, his military achievements in the field were considerable in that he achieved what he set out to achieve,
regardless of the method.
May 27th:
Johnson ordered the release of many of those held as prisoners of war.
May 29th:
Johnson issued a general amnesty for those who had fought against the North. All property was
restored except for slave ownership. However, there were exceptions. Senior political and military figures had to personally apply for a pardon, as did those who had left a military or judicial
position in the North to join the Confederate Army. However, Johnson was generous in this and
by the end of 1865, he had granted 13,000 pardons.
MLA Citation/Reference
"American Civil War May 1865". HistoryLearningSite.co.uk. 2014. Web.
Jefferson Davis’ escape and capture, The U.S. War Department's false assumption
that he was complicit in the assassination of Lincoln. A $100,000 reward was promised for anyone who could
bring in the president and his aides. .Reaching the farming community of Irwinville, in Irwin County, on the evening of
May 9, the remaining hopefuls, still assuming that they were a step ahead of their pursuers, set up camp near a creek
bed. .Early the next morning the camp was awakened by a pop of gunfire and within minutes was surrounded by members of the First Wisconsin and Fourth Michigan cavalries. Not one shot was fired by the Confederates. Through some
confusion Davis made a quick dash toward the creek. He had thrown his wife's raglan, or overcoat, on his shoulders. This
led to the persistent rumor that he attempted to flee in women's clothes. A popular song of the era was "Jeff in Petticoats," and the major tabloids featured artists' renderings of the fallen leader dressed in everything from a wig to a hoop
skirt. A zealous member of the Michigan detail quickly apprehended Davis, and he was transported to Fortress Monroe,
Virginia, where he remained a prisoner for more than two years. His poor treatment and its subsequent exposure in the
press helped strengthen the cause of Southern nationalism.
Page 4
TRIVIA QUESTIONS


What Virginiaborn artillerist
named four of his
cannons Matthew, Mark, Luke
and John?
Why did some
members of Federal units refuse
to fight at First
Bull Run?

Where was rank
insignia worn on
the uniforms of
Confederate and
Union officers?

When did the surrender of Richmond, Virginia
occur?

What disease
was treated
(wrongly) with injections of ink?

What Union general did Mosby
kidnap from the
large Union encampment at
Fairfax Courthouse?
Volume 10, Issue 9
April 23, 2015 THE REBEL STATES OF CALIFORNIA AND OREGON, By Philip Leigh.
Although California and Oregon never seceded, they defied federal law during the Civil
War. When the US Treasury released its first paper money as “legal tender for all debts,
public and private” (also proclaimed on the face of today’s bills) the two states refused to
honor the notes at face value. A little background explains the situation.
Prior to the Civil War the federal government was authorized to stamp gold and silver
coins (specie), but was prohibited from issuing paper currency. While independent banks
might print paper money, consumers expected that such banknotes could be redeemed
for specie upon demand. Any bank failing to promptly honor such redemptions suffered a
loss of public faith in its banknotes, which were no longer accepted at face value, if at
all. Thus, before the war, America’s currency in circulation consisted of specie and private banknotes, amounting to about $450 million of which specie accounted for $250 million.
However, the Civil War confronted the US Treasury with unprecedented challenges. For
example, the federal budget in 1860 was only about $80 million but grew to $1.3 billion in
1865. As the table below indicates, taxes met only 25% of the needs. Although the bulk of
the remainder came from borrowings, the government also issued paper currency, which
amounted to 18% of total funding.
After the February 1862 Legal Tender Act about $430 million in greenback paper money
was issued. Although not redeemable in specie, the federal government tried to mandate
greenback acceptance by declaring the bills “legal tender for all debts, public and private.”
There were two exceptions that had to be paid in specie. One was the broad category of
tariffs and the other was interest on federal bonds. Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase
proposed to make greenbacks more palatable by adding the “In God We Trust” motto that
he had earlier put on coins but Lincoln suggested wryly, “If you are going to put a legend
on the greenbacks, I would suggest that of Peter and John, ‘Silver and gold I have none,
but such as I have I give to thee.’”
Consequently, as the graph below illustrates, greenbacks traded at fluctuating discounts
to specie. At the low point in the early summer 1864, when Grant was stalled before Petersburg and Sherman did not seem to be making much progress in Georgia, a greenback
dollar was only worth forty cents in specie. (The vertical axis indicates the number of
greenback dollars required to buy a single gold dollar.)
Since gold was common on the West Coast, Californians and Oregonians were contemptuous of greenbacks. In November San Francisco merchants refused to accept greenbacks at
anything above the discounted quoted rates. In April the following year the California
legislature adopted a Specific Contracts Act. It clarified that contracts entered on the basis
of specie were enforceable in specie, no matter what the federal government said. Finally
the California state government refused to accept greenbacks in payment of taxes.
NEXT PAGE
Page 4
BANNERMAN’S MILITARY WEAPONS, A
MECCA FOR CIVIL WAR COLLECTORS
AND MORE.
Photo of Frank Bannerman
Pollepel—An Island
Steeped in History
Bannerman’s Castle
Home and Storage on the
Hudson River
by Jane Bannerman (Granddaughter-in-law of the builder of the castle, Frank Bannerman VI)
A tiny jewel in the setting of the Hudson Highlands is called Pollepel, now familiarly
known as Bannerman Island. Once an uninhabited place, accessible only by boat, it was
considered haunted by some Indian tribes and thus became a refuge for those trying to escape them. These superstitions and others promoted by later Dutch sailors make for many
fanciful tales. Even the name Pollepel (Polopel) originated with a legend about a young
girl named (Polly) Pell who was romantically rescued from the breaking river ice and
landed on the island shore, where she was promptly married to her sweetheart, who rescued her and her companion. The island was thereafter called Pollepel.
History reveals a connection to the American Revolution in attempted defense of the Highlands against the British fleet in 1777 using the famous “chevaux de frise”. These were
devices constructed of wooden cribs sunken in the river, filled with metal-tipped, pointed
logs to obstruct the passage of ships up the river by damaging their hulls, built by men
commandeered from the local prison. The attempt was however, unsuccessful, as the British took to flat bottom boats and avoided the chevaux de frise. One of the “points” is now
on display at Washington’s Headquarters in Newburgh, New York.
Since the time of the revolution there have been only five owners – William Van Wyck of
Fishkill, Mary G. Taft of Cornwall, Francis Bannerman of Brooklyn, New York, and The
Jackson Hole Preserve (Rockefeller Foundation), which donated the island to the people
of the State of New York (Hudson Highlands State Park, Taconic Region, New York
State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.)
Continued on Page 6
Page 6
“The Battle Cry”
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Oregon quickly followed California. For years gold had been the exclusive Oregon currency. Shortly after the San Francisco merchants’ agreement those in Salem and Portland followed suit. Portland merchants also circulated a black list of residents and businesses that tried to settle bills with greenbacks. Finally, the state’s Supreme Court ruled
that it was unconstitutional to accept greenbacks for tax payments.
Ultimately, greenbacks were redeemable at par in 1879, but that’s a controversial Reconstruction story. Nonetheless, the wartime defiance of California and Oregon is a rare
example of state sovereignty successfully resisting federal authority.
If you would like to learn more interesting Civil War stories, consider reading one, or
more, of my three books:
Lee’s Lost Dispatch and Other Civil War Controversies
Trading With the Enemy
Co. Aytch: Illustrated and Annotated
More information at my blog Civil War Chat
Phil Leigh
3911 W. San Pedro
Tampa, Florida 33629
813-368-0764
[email protected]
BANNERMAN’S (con’t from p. 4)
The business, known everywhere as “Bannerman’s” was founded in 1865 in Brooklyn. As
more and more material was acquired, it moved several times, finally arriving at 501
Broadway, in Manhattan. From the Spanish War so much equipment and ammunition
was bought that the laws of the city forced them to look for storage outside the city limits.
At the end of the Civil War he increased his wares by buying surplus stock at government
auctions.
Jane Bannerman is the Granddaughter-in-law of the builder of the castle, Frank Bannerman VI.)
Bannerman’s New York City
501 Broadway
SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER (15TH)—ENJOY YOUR SUMMER—VISIT A CIVIL WAR SITE