Abolitionism Defined

Here is another old article concerning abolitionists and their goals, at least as perceived by their opponents.  The Covington Journal of May 27, 1854 printed this brief story. Slavery was a huge issue throughout the country, as the Kansas-Nebraska Act was close to being passed when the paper published these few lines.


Senator Brodhead of Pennsylvania, in an admirable speech in favor of the Nebraska bill, thus defines abolitionism:

"Sir, the spirit of abolitionism is thoroughly venomous and implacable. No concessions will satisfy or appease it - Inspired by a deadly, indistinguishable hatred of our system of confederate government, it would rush to the accomplishments of its designs over a prostrate Constitution, and through the baleful flames of a civil war. Destructive in all its instincts and passions, it is to be resisted as an enemy to whom no quarter is to be given, and to conciliate whom is to betray our country.

This story refers to Senator Richard Brodhead.

From govtrack.us

1854 Southern M.E. Church Conference and Slavery

I have taken this story from the Covington Journal, of June 10, 1854. This was shortly after the Kansas-Nebraska Act had passed Congress.


THE SOUTHERN M.E. CONFERENCE AND SLAVERY 

On the 25th inst. (says the Columbus Times,) the Conference acted upon the report of the committee appointed upon the 9th section of the Discipline. It will gratify the friends of the church everywhere in the South to learn that the 9th section was expunged, as well as all other parts of the Discipline which condemned the institution of slavery. The general rule, forbidding "the purchasing of men, women, and children, with the intention to enslave them," and which has reference to the African slave trade, was retained, though the vote upon the expurgation even of this rule, was 47 to 54." 

It is not a surprise that slavery was a major national issue in this time and that it affected even churches and their operation, but I have not come across a lot of specific examples like this in my own searching of  records, so I thought I would share this one.

The Covington Journal was published just one county away from where some of my ancestors lived at the time, so I think of this as a local newspaper and enjoy finding tidbits in it. Being located in a slave state, but along the Ohio River, just across from Ohio and not far from Indiana, it and its publishers were in a unique position regarding slavery support and opposition.

1853 Description of Harriet Beecher Stowe

The Covington Journal printed this piece on January 8, 1853, just a few weeks after Uncle Tom's Cabin had been published. Strangely enough, I could not find any reaction to the book in this newspaper around that time, though I will search through some later editions too.

The writer of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is thus described in the Boston Herald:

Mrs. Stowe is about forty years of age, low in stature, having a brilliant expressive eye, short features, hair thin and dark, with an occasional of grey, and her whole contour, as the French would say, being expressive of a highly nervous temperament, with quick perceptive powers of reading the minds of all present at a quick glance. All in all, however, she is not as good looking as her writings had led us to suppose.

The Springfield Republican Says: 
Some may get a better idea of Mrs. S' personal appearance from the following anecdote. Her husband, Professor Stowe, not being able to meet her personally at the railroad station on her expected arrival home, sent a student with the following directions to do the polite. He returned with an answer to the Professor that his wife did not come.  

'Impossible,' says the husband, 'she was certainly to arrive by this train with her children. ' 

'But she assuredly did not come - for the only female that arrived was an Irish woman with two children, who got into a carriage and drove off.' 

The Professor found his wife at home!

courtesy wikipedia

Brief 1862 Article about Abolitionists' Viewpoint

The Covington Journal of January 4, 1862 reprinted these few sentences, adding the headline "True, every Word of it." This was quite early in the war, before any significant Union military victories had occurred and before the Emancipation Proclamation existed. (The Covington Journal was published in Covington Ky, which, of course, was both a Union and a slave state.)

The Harrisburg (Pa) Patriot says:

If the Union could be restored to-morrow, without the destruction of slavery, the Abolitionists would interpose objections. No one can have observed their course without seeing that their object is to destroy slavery by the use of the war power, or, failing in that, to divorce the Northern states from connection with the institution by a dissolution of the Union. Just at this time their faith in the ability of the Government to crush rebellion is wavering; and their policy is to increase the enemies of the Union, and the power of the Confederacy, by driving off the Border States - then the next step will be to insist  upon universal emancipation and arming of the negroes as the last resort, and when that fails, they will say "This contest is hopeless. - We cannot subjugate the South. Let us consent to dissolution, and thank Heaven that we are rid of the great sin of slavery." 

Perhaps William Lloyd Garrison (pictured below) was an unnamed subject of these comments.

from biography.com

Reaction to Lincoln's First Inaugural

I thought this article about Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, from 155 years ago was appropriate now.  It is from the Covington Journal of March 9, 1861.  

The Coercive Policy of the New Administration

The refusal of Mr. Lincoln to recognize the Southern movement as a revolution accomplished must inevitably involve the most deplorable results. It shuts out negotiation, and thus precludes all hope of amicable adjustment.

Now, whether Mr. Lincoln chooses to recognize the fact or not it is nevertheless true that seven sovereign States have severed their connection with the federal Union. They have not only declared their independence but have formed a confederacy of their own, elected a President and Vice President, appointed civil and military offices, and, in short, have assumed all the duties and responsibilities of an independent government. That the people of the Confederate States are in earnest cannot be doubted; that they have the ability to maintain their position admits of little doubt. Mr. Lincoln says they are not out of the Union and are subject to the laws of the United States. They say they are independent of the old Union, and have laws of their own for their government. Mr. Lincoln will undertake to enforce the laws. There is now but one way to do that, and that is at the point of the bayonet. The Confederate States will resist force by force. War follows, and after the expenditure of thousands of lives and millions of treasure, we come back to the starting point, and must settle the question by negotiation. 

Would it be better for the United States government at once to act upon the indisputable truth that freed governments are based upon the "consent of the governed," and acknowledging that the Southern government is beyond its control, treat with the authorities of the Confederate States for an amicable adjustment of all perplexing questions? 

-----

The author used words and phrases like "revolution accomplished" and certainly took a pro-Southern view in claiming that the declarations of secession were enough to separate those states from the federal government, as though the administration should just take their words for it and not try to resist the breakup of the country. President Lincoln certainly proved to be more strong-willed than this author.

The Noble Stand of the Union Men

Students of the Civil War generally associate the term "Union Men" with those who supported the United States government against the Confederacy, including those who joined the "Union" army, but in the days before the war that term had a different meaning, at least to some people.

This brief article comes from the Covington Journal of October 27, 1860, shortly before the Presidential election of that year took place. This newspaper supported the John Bell - Edward Everett ticket, the "Constitutional Union Party" and used the term "Union" with that meaning in mind.

The Noble Stand of the Union Men

Whilst the leaders of the Republican party frantically appeal to Northern prejudices in behalf of "Northern men with Northern principles," and the Secessionists loudly call for a "united South" to resist the North, the Union men of the South make no idle threats, appeal to no national prejudices.

They repel with indignity the unjust assaults that are made upon their section, and earnestly demand their constitutional rights. In conjunction with their friends in the North they present as a candidate for the Presidency a man of great experience in public affairs and of undoubted conservative national opinions - a man who if elected will labor to repress sectional agitation and restore the administration of the general government to the broad basis of the Constitution.

If, after all, the Union men fail, if the majority no longer heed appeals to their sense of justice and love of country, and the dark days come upon us, when the collision of sectional opinion shall be "quickly followed by the clash of arms," they will  have the consolation of knowing that they labored to the last and did their utmost to prevent the dire result.

Bell - Everett poster courtesy loc.harpweek.com

1859 Article: "Free Soil" Press in Slave States

This story appeared in the Covington Journal of October 29 ,1859 and I found it to be interesting to see this viewpoint from one newspaper about others. Its opinion on the rise of such publications indicating the possible decline of slavery in border states is fascinating too, though I doubt it actually was accurate. Calling slavery "the institution" caught my eye as well.

Freesoil Press in Slave States

No haste of the growth of Black Republicanism is more alarmingly significant than the establishment of newspapers advocating freesoil principles in slave commonwealths. A few years since, such attempts would have been regarded as dangerous and incendiary. Now, in many of the border slave States, freesoil publications are not only tolerated, but looked on with an eye of favor by many of the population, all of which is ample evidence of the decrease of the strength of the institution in those States, truly foreshadowing early ultimate abolition there. 

There are, proudly remarks a Northern freesoil contemporary, now ten Black Republican journals printed in English and eight in German, making eighteen in all, published in slave States, distributed as follows:

The Missouri Democrat, St. Louis, Missouri; The Free Democrat, St. Joseph, Mo; The Sentinel, Kansas City, Mo.; The Free South, Newport, Ky.;  The Wheeling Intelligencer, Wheeling, Va.; The Wellsburg Herald, Wellsburg Va.; The Ceredo Crescent, Ceredo, Va.; The National Era, The Republic, Washington D.C.; The News and Advertiser, Milford, Del.

German - Der Anzeiger des Westens, Die Westliche Post, St. Louis, Mo,; Der Hermann Wochenblan, Hermann, Mo.; Der St. Charles Demokrat, St.Charles, Mo.; Die Deutsche Zeitung, St. Joseph, Mo.; Die Missouri Post, Kansas City, Mo.; Der Anzeiger, Louisville, Ky.; Der Baltimore Wecker, Baltimore, Md. 

We are of the opinion that several more ought to be added to the above list, but "sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." We shouldn't be surprised if moderate freesoil journals were published in this city in three years. With Seward as President, the "freedom of speech and of the press" would probably be protected. At all events Seward would make the attempts and with the office holders and power and patronage of the Federal Government to back him, he might be successful.

Republished from the New Orleans Crescent

----

Was this really a story saying a newspaper would be unhappy about freedom of the press being "protected?" That is how this article reads to me and I find it interesting. Was avoiding abolitionist sentiment more important than its own expressly listed Constitutional rights? 

The assumption that Seward would be the next President is also interesting, though not unusual for the time.

1862 Article: Impressment of slaves in Kentucky

This is a brief untitled story from the Covington Journal of August 30, 1862.

A special dispatch to the Cincinnati Commercial from Lexington, Ky., says that an order was issued Saturday to impress 1,200 slaves to repair the road between Lexington and Cumberland Gap. Impressment has been made in Fayette and Madison counties.

Loyal owners are to be paid laborer's wages, but rebels are to refer their claims to the Department at Washington for settlement. 

The rebels are in great distress. Many of their negroes have been taken while working in hemp fields. 

-------

Kentucky did not produce cotton like the states of the deep south. Hemp fields were one of the main areas where Kentucky farmers used slave labor.

This article was written during the Confederate invasion of the state, just one day before the Confederate victory at the Battle of Richmond, in the aforementioned Madison County, and just a few weeks before the Battle of Perryville ended Braxton Bragg's incursion into the Commonwealth.

This story also serves as an example of the strange situation in which Kentucky found itself. It remained part of the United States, yet still had thousands of slaves, similar to the Confederate states. Of course, this was three weeks before Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, so the abolition of slavery was not yet an official United States goal, though many people believed slavery had caused the war and that abolition would be a consequence of it. Even the Federal government was still willing at this point to use slave labor for necessary work. (The Confiscation Act of 1862, passed in July, would have allowed the federal government to take, without compensation, the slaves from Confederate officials who did not surrender, but it did not apply to Kentucky since the state was not occupied by the U.S. Army.)

A Period Kentucky Article on John Brown's Raid

From the Covington Journal of October 22 1859, this story is generally unremarkable, except I find it interesting that it never mentions John Brown's name, even while referring to the "impetuous leader."

I also note the term "established institutions" used as an euphemism for slavery. Placing blame on abolitionists and Henry Seward's famed "irrepressible conflict" speech was not unusual either. The reference to a "bloody drama" was rather accurate, though just how bloody it would be was something nobody could know.

The Abolition Insurrection

The Abolition insurrection at Harper's Ferry is a startling event.  We have had servile insurrections in the South. These, though serious, were neighborhood affairs, confined to blacks; entered upon without a digested plan of operation, utterly hopeless in their very nature and never repeated in the same locality. The insurrection at Haroer's Ferry was altogether different and much more formidable. A band of Abolitionists, after years of cautious planning, take up their abode in a slave State. They collect together arms and other warlike munitions sufficient to equipped fifteen hundred men. - they had the countenance of prominent and wealthy antislavery agitators, North and South, send the promise of aid from a host of desperate and revengeful fugitives. So complete were their arrangements that a plan for a provisional government had been agreed upon. The movement was doubtless precipitated by the impetuous leader. The aid promised was not at hand, and this, with the prompt action of the constituted authorities, brought the insurrection to a speedy termination. 

Take the affair altogether, it is one of the most daring attempts to subvert established institutions of which we have any account. It is practical Abolitionism, the result of the teachings of such men as Giddings and Garrison - the first act in the bloody drama prefigured in Seward's "irrepressible conflict."  

Will thus insurrectionary movement, so villainously fearful in its arrangement, so bloody in its termination, induce the masses of the North to turn a deaf ear to the incendiary teachings of heartless demagogues and canting fanatics, and impart to all a spirit of moderation and a determination to abide by the stable shed order of things? We may at least hope that such will be the result.

Image from Wikipedia 

Some 1861 Commentary and Questions on Kentucky Neutrality

I took another trip back into the  Covington Journal to search for interesting tidbits I may have overlooked previously. Today I found two brief commentaries on the subject of Kentucky's attempt at neutrality, both from July 13, 1861, just before he first Battle of Bull Run. They were on the same page, but not next to each other as they are here. This newspaper had favored John Bell in the 1860 Presidential Contest and generally took a pro-Union, but anti-abolitionist stance during the Civil War (the last available war issue is from August 1862.)

The Neutrality of Kentucky 

Mr. Mallory, the Representative of the Louisville District, speaking it would seem for the Union Representatives of Kentucky on the floor of the House, has pledged the State to stand by Lincoln's government in the prosecution of the war. 

And so falls to the ground the neutrality of Kentucky.

The neutrality of Kentucky was urged and defended by Mr. Crittenden. It was endorsed by the Legislature and sanctioned by the people. It has kept our beloved State out of the war, and secured her comparative quiet.

Is this principle to be given up at the bidding of a few politicians at Washington city? Let the people speak.

Disunion Completed

President Lincoln calls neutrality "disunion completed." The phrase, in itself, is meaningless, but it serves to convey Lincoln's detestation of neutrality.

Now we have a distinct recollection that Hon. Garrett Davis and Hon. W.L. Underwood, not a great while since, assured the public that President Lincoln would respect the neutrality of Kentucky. What have these gentlemen to say now?

Not two months since, John H. Harney, Geo. D. Prentice, Nat. Wolf, Hamilton Pope etc., constituting the "Union Democracy State Central Committee of Kentucky," issued an address to the people of the State, in which they said: 

"The government of the Union has appealed to her [Kentucky] to furnish men to suppress the revolutionary combination in the Cotton States. SHE HAS REFUSED. SHE HAS MOST WISELY AND JUSTLY REFUSED.

SHE OUGHT TO HOLD HERSELF INDEPENDENT OF BOTH SIDES, AND COMPEL BOTH SIDES TO RESPECT THE INVIOLABILITY OF HER SOIL." 

What say you now, Messrs. Harney, Prentice and Wolf? Do you stand by your deliberate declaration made in April last, or do you surrender that position and give your assent to the dictum of A. Lincoln, that neutrality is disunion completed? 

On the 7th of June, delegates representing the Union Democracy of the Tenth District met in Covington  to nominate a candidate for Congress. As is usual in such bodies, it was deemed proper to have a platform and a committee was formed to prepare one. 

The committee reported the resolutions of the last General Assembly (from the pen of Senator Fisk, if we mistake not) in which it is declared that "KENTUCKY OUGHT AT LEAST TO REMAIN NEUTRAL TILL THE END OF THE CONTROVERSY." After a sharp contest, the report of the committee was adopted by ayes 114, nays 18. Gentlemen of the late Congressional Convention, where do you stand to-day? Do you believe neutrality is "disunion completed?"

System of recruiting

After issuing General Order 18, as noted in my previous entry, Kentucky's Adjutant General of Volunteers John W. Finnell published a system of recruiting troops to help fill this call.

This also comes from the Covington Journal of July 19, 1862. It is nothing earth-shattering, but I liked the breakdown of the officers. Most of it is familiar, but I have never been full certain of the numbers or types of sergeants.

(Warning: This is a long entry)

Head-quarters Kentucky Volunteers
Adjutant General's Office, 
Frankfort, July 8, 1862.

CIRCULAR
The system of recruiting for the regiments to be raised under the late call will be as follows:

Second Lieutenants will be appointed at once and mastered into the service of the United States by a mustering officer. They will draw pay from the date of muster\, and will be assigned to recruiting stations. They will be entitled to transportation for their recruits and to a limited extent for themselves. They will be authorized at once to muster their men into service, provide subsistence at a rate not to exceed thirty cents pr day, and will be furnished clothing on their requisition. 

Any persons reporting here within fifteen days from the date hereof, and furnishing this department with certificates of good moral character, sober habits, and of their qualification for command from well known loyal citizens, and their own certificates on honor that they have thirty men enlisted who will consent to be immediately mustered into service under them, will be appointed Second Lieutenant, and so mustered. Should they fail within one week thereafter, to report at least that number of men in such camp as they may be ordered into, then they (illegible line) of sixty men or over, thus presented will be entitled to two Lieutenants, and full companies to a full set of officers.  Squads thus received will be combined into companies, and organized without delay. The appointment to the Lieutenancy, though it will secure the appointee the pay of his rank during the time he is engaged in recruiting, will of course be conditioned upon his being able to recruit a Lieutenant's command within the time specified in his letter of appointment -- and he will be expected, in the event of his failure to recruit the required number, within the specified time, to report such as he may have recruited to such camp as may be designated by his department. All proper blanks and instructions in detail will be furnished. 

The plan of organization is as follows:
Company Organization
Infantry
1 Captain
1 First Lieutenant
1 Second Lieutenant
1 First Sergeant
4 Sergeants
8 Corporals
2 Musicians
1 Wagoner
64 Privates, to 82 
--
83 Aggregate, to 101

Regimental Organization
Infantry
1 Colonel
1 Lieutenant Colonel
1 Major
1 Adjutant (A Lieutenant)
1 Regimental Q.M., (A Lieutenant)
1 Surgeon
1 Assistant Surgeon
1 Sergeant Major
1 Regimental Q. M. Sergeant
1 Regimental Com. Sergeant
1 Hospital Steward
2 Principal Musicians

Pay, Advance Pay, and Bounty
The officers, non-commissioned officers and privates, will, in all respects, be placed on the footing, as to pay  and allowances, of similar corps in the Regular army. Their allowances for clothing shall be $3.50 per month.

Every volunteer, non-commissioned officer, private, musician, and artificer who enters the service of the United States under this plan, shall be pain at the rate of fifty cents in lieu of subsistence for every twenty miles of travel from his place of enrollment to the place of muster, the distance to be measured by the shortest usually traveled routes, and when honorably discharged an allowance at the same rate from the place of his discharge to his place of enrollment and, in addition, thereto, the sum of one hundred dollars.

Any volunteer who may be received into the service of the United States under this plan, and who may be wounded or otherwise disabled in the service, shall be entitled to the benefits which have been or may be conferred on persons disabled in the regular service, and the legal heirs of such as die or may be killed in the service, in addition to all arrears of pay and allowance, shall receive the sum of one hundred dollars.

 A premium of two dollars shall be paid for each accepted recruit. Every volunteer who enlists for three years or during the war shall receive his first month's pay in advance upon the mustering of his company into the service of the United States; and shall in addition thereto, receive in advance twenty five dollars of the one hundred dollars bounty above specified, which shall be pain when the company has been raised to the minimum number. 

By order
John W. Finnell
Adj. Gen. Ky. Vols.

A Response to Lincoln's Call for 300,000 Troops

In response to Abraham Lincoln's July 1862 call for 300,000 more troops from the states for the Union army, the Adjutant General's Office, Headquarters Kentucky Volunteers, issued this directive, as published in the July 19, 1862 Covington Journal.

GENERAL ORDERS, No. 18
The President of the United States, acting upon a request from the Governors of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virgina, Michigan, Tennessee, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, ,Minnesota Illinois, Wisconsin and the President of the Military Board of Kentucky, has called into the service an additional force of three-hundred thousand men. Of this force, Kentucky is expected to furnish, as early as practicable, four regiments of infantry, a part of her quota under the late call.

(Note: Kentucky Governor Beriah Magoffin sympathized with the South and when Lincoln's first call for 75,000 volunteers went out after the firing at Fort Sumter, Magoffin promised "I will send not a man nor a dollar for the wicked purpose of subduing my sister Southern States" so the President did not even pretend that Kentucky's governor belonged on this list. Instead, John Baylor Temple represented Kentucky on this list.)

It is enough for loyal Kentuckians to know that their country needs their aid. The State has already in the service thirty-four regiments, two battalions and two batteries, and her troops (illegible) in the field have distinguished themselves at Wild Cat, at Ivy Mountain, at Middle Creek, at Mill Springs, at Fort Donelson, and at Shiloh! The battles in which her soldiers have been engaged have all been victories.

Other battles have to be fought, and more laurels are to be won. The rebellion has to be put down and the national unity and authority maintained. Towards the accomplishment of that great end, let Kentucky so act her part, that she will vindicate her claim to be called "the military State of the Union."

Relying upon the love of country and the courage of the people, there is no fear, but these regiments will speedily report themselves with their full complement, and be ready to take up the line of march to whatever point they may be required to go.

Special instructions to recruiting officers will be issued without delay. 

By order: 
John W. Finnell
Adj. Gen. Ky. Vols. 

--
The next post will give more details on the system of recruiting Finnell established and details on some army organization.

Provost Marshall Takes Action in Covington

From the Covington Journal of July 19, 1862 comes this untitled notice, again showing that even this town on the very northern border of this Union state (just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati) faced the challenge of dealing with southern sympathizers. 

Several citizens of Covington were served with the following notice on Tuesday last: 

Provost Marshall's Office,
Covington, July 14, 1862

"Information having been furnished me, that your house has been for months past the rendezvous of rebel sympathizers, it is, therefore, ordered, for the maintenance of peace and good order, that all crowds congregating within the limits of my supervision, whose actions and conduct place them as enemies to their country, and whose sentiments and sympathies are known to be in opposition to the Government, be warned that such connivance on heir part will be considered as a direct violation of the orders of General J. T. Boyle, for the government of this Department.

James L. Foley,
Provost Marshal of Kenton County"

google map showing location of Covingtion

The Charge Against Gen. Mitchell

Brigadier General Ormsby M. Mitchel

This article is from the Covington Journal of July 19, 1862 and is similar in subject to my previous post. General Mitchel was a multi-talented individual, almost like a 19th century Renaissance Man. See this link for some information about his various careers, including lawyer, astronomer and soldier.

He was also an important figure in the Civil War, especially in the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area, helping start the building of the local defenses on the hills south of the Ohio River in 1861. The biggest local fort, Fort Mitchel, was named in his honor and eventually this area became the town of Fort Mitchell, which still exists today, though nobody knows when the second "l" was added to the town name. (Even the story I transcribe today spelled it as "Mitchell" and I will leave it as is, though "Mitchel" is correct. Apparently the second "l" just makes it look better or more natural to anybody writing his name.)

He was also general who gave permission for the raid that became known as the "The Great Locomotive Chase," familiar to many through a 1950's Disney Movie

I have not been able to find what the specific charges were against Mitchel, but the story makes it seem it involved the behavior of the men under his command.

The Charge Against Gen. Mitchel
The Cincinnati Times gives the following as the foundation of the Louisville Journal's charge against Gen. Mitchell:

"One of Gen. Mitchell's brigades is commanded by Col. Turchin, of Illinois. Turchin is an old European soldier, a Prussian by birth, an accomplished soldier but loose in his morals. His own regiment, the 19th Illinois, forms part of his brigade."

"Since it has been in the service, the 19th Illinois has continually disgraced itself by committing depredations on citizens and especially upon Secessionists. At Bowling Green, their conduct was so outrageous, that Gen. Mitchell was compelled to interfere, and did so effectively. The regiment behaved themselves thereafter. After Gen. Mitchell's arrival in Alabama, he dispatched Turchin, with his brigade, to Athens. The troops were constantly subjected to assassination by the citizens of that town. Almost every hour, soldiers were murdered in cold blood, by assassins who could not be discovered. Turchin became enraged, and one day let his men loose upon the town. As the story goes, he agreed to 'shut his eyes' for two hours.

"The revenge of the men was fearful, no one being spared in the excesses which followed, and there is no doubt that crimes of a very grave character were perpetrated by the soldiery, especially by the 19th Illinois. At the end of the two hours, Turchin 'opened his eyes' and the excesses ceased."
--
Colonel Turchin was court-martialed for his actions. Here is a period article about the trial. Note that Colonel Marcellus Mundy, mentioned in my previous entry, was among the members of the court, along with future president James A. Garfield.

According to this additional link, the court convicted Turchin and cashiered him from the service, but the fortunate office received a break thanks to the kindness of President Lincoln. He remained in the service and even was promoted to Brigadier General. He resigned his position in late 1864 when poor health led him to resign.

Col. John B Turchin, courtesy wikipedia

A Defense of the Actions of Colonel Marcellus Mundy

 This story came from the Covington Journal of July 19, 1862. Mundy's unit, the 23rd Kentucky Infantry had been organized in and around Covington, so this story did have a local interest in it, but involved some national questions about the conduct of the war as well. See this fine article on Marcellus Mundy for more details on this officer's service and career. Some of the information within it serves as further examples of the difficult position Kentucky and Kentuckians were in, regarding saving the Union, but not opposing the abolition of slavery. Balancing those concepts was never easy in this state. 

(Note: I did break the below article up into multiple paragraphs to make it easier to read, but left the wording as it was originally published. I'm not sure the Colonel could have written a kinder recap of this time period  himself.)

Col. Marc Mundy Defended
Col. Marc Mundy. of the Twenty-third Kentucky Regiment, stationed at Pulaski, Tenn., has been charged with showing too much lenity to the rebels. A correspondent of the Louisville Journal, writing from Pulaski, comes to the defense of Col. Mundy, and makes a good showing in his behalf. We make an extract:

"Permit me to sketch briefly Col. Mundy's administration here, which may serve as a suggestion to other commanders, as well as justify what the Nashville Union has been pleased to call "child's play" policy. On his arrival at this post, he found anarchy reigning supreme. Injudicious laxity had permitted previous soldiery to retaliate upon the citizens for the raid of Morgan and his band, and the unlicensed depredations perpetrated upon the whole community by teamsters and hangers-on of the army, particularly of the Third Division train, had alarmed every man, woman and child in the community. His first work was to restore order, which seemed a comparatively easy task, seconded as he was by his courteous officers and highly disciplined men. To prevent depredations he posted his orders publicly forbidding soldiers even to enter upon private premises unless invited, and warning citizens against any act of rebellion, or expressions of sympathy with the rebel cause. When soldiers broke his orders, he punished them, and the county jail was soon found to be convenient quarters for some stubborn citizens. By free intercourse and courteous treatment, and a fearless discharge of his duties, he soon won the confidence of our community, and we were surprised one morning to find bills posted in our town and vicinity calling a public meeting at the Court House, to discuss an devise the best plan for restoring our State to her Federal relations. 

We were much more astonished when the day came, to find our large court room literally jammed full and overflowing with citizens from the town and country, anxious to hear discussion and find some way out of our present evils. Without meaning to pay Col. Mundy an empty compliment, which his intelligence and patriotism would equally reject, I can say that his highly-gifted genius as an orator was displayed in most brilliant manifestation on that occasion to his wrapt and breathless audience; that his speech, one of the finest ever listened to, enforced by a deeply earnest manner, convincing argument, and stirring appeals of eloquence, conquered more rebels in one hour than his well drilled and gallant regiment could have conquered with bullets in a day. He lifted up the veil which clouded the intelligence of our people, boldly attacked and drove prejudice from their minds, and shamed sectional hatred out of their hearts. He roused his audience to wild enthusiasm, and save a few stubborn stiff necks, that vast audience, which was address by Col. Jno. C. Walker and Mr. George Baker, left the Courthouse, at the close of the meeting, constitutional Union Men.

Col. Mundy, courtesy civilwarbadges.com

Bogus Colored Gentlemen

The Covington Journal of July 18, 1862 prints this story.

Two surgeons have returned to New York from Hilton Head on board the Ericsson, sent home by Gen. Hunter for refusing to dance attendance upon the rear of the negro brigade.


It is further stated that the tebels are taking advantage of the love for the negro displayed by General Hunter and other officers. White men, corked and wigged, have under cover of their darkness entered our lines and returned to the rebel camp with valuable information!

General David Hunter, courtesy wikipedia

 

 

 

 

Using War Phrasing to Advertise

I found this advertisement in the July 12, 1862 Covington Journal. I've been surprised not to find more people and business using words and imagery about war to sell their products. I realize this is not a "war" post, but finding stuff like this while reading period newspapers has been one of the interesting parts of my blogging experience.

I'll transcribe the top part of it here, with the words that drew my interest (hey, isn't that what advertising is supposed to do? I guess this worked, even 150 years later). I tried to do a screen shot of the ad, but it takes up an entire newspaper page column, and would be much too small to read if I tried to add it here.
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The Bugle Calls! The War  has Begun!

A War of Extermination against Bad Teeth, Bad Breath, Diseases Gums, Toothache, Earache and Neuralgia.

Our Artillery is

Dr. Wm. B. Hurd's 

DENTAL TREASURY!!
A Complete Set of Remedies for
Preserving the Teeth
Purifying the Breath and Mouth
and
Curing Toothache and Neuralgia

Interesting Personal Ad in the Newspaper

So this is not about the actual war, but it's a little glimpse of domestic life from the time. It sounds very similar to a runaway slave ad, especially the final line.

It is from the Covington Journal of July 4, 1862.

Notice
Whereas my wife Mary Hathaway has left my bed and board without any cause therefore; This is to warn all persons not to harbor or trust her on my account as I shall pay no bills of her contracting after this date, and shall hold all persons responsible for harboring her away from my house. I shall demand all money she shall earn as wages. 


July 3, 1862,   John Hathaway

1862 Article: Some Thoughts on the Cause of the War

This is reprinted in the Covington Journal of July 4, 1862, offering some commentary on what caused the Civil War

The Manitowoc Herald does not believe that slavery was the cause of the rebellion. Neither do we. It does not believe that the slavery agitation was a justifying cause of rebellion. Neither do we. it does not believe the North is solely responsible for the crime of rebellion. Neither do we. 

Rebellion agains the Constitution and laws of the United States has no justification. It can have none. We never intimated that it could be justified at any time, anywhere.

War, however, was the inevitable consequence of sectional agitation. And all who contributed needlessly, wantonly or recklessly to that agitation, North or South, contributed to the result which exists.  They caused the war; for sectional agitation is sectional alienation, and sectional alienation is essentially a condition of war. Our war commenced when North and South learned to hate each other, and it will continue until sectional hate is rooted out.    [Milwaukee News]

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My question is what did the author think caused the sectional agitation? What taught the sections to hate each other?  Also, the author did not believe the North was solely responsible for the war, but what about the South? The second paragraph seems to imply that the blame (or much of it) belongs to those in rebellion against the government. Still, he did not specify who "contributed needlessly" to the sectional controversy.

Secesh Poetry

These lines  come from the Covington Journal of July 4, 1862, providing another little bit of humor.

Secesh Poetry
A secesh girl writes to her cousin, who is a prisoner at Camp Morton, Indianapolis:
"I will bee for Jeffdavis till the tenisee river freezes over, and then be for him and scratch on the ice:"

'Jeffdavis rides a white horse,
and Lincoln rides a mule,
Jeffdavis is a gentleman,
and Lincoln is a fool.'

image from http://wbts-calendar.blogspot.com/