“I am Fighting to Put Down Rebellion”

I found these stories in the Cincinnati Enquirer of January 26, 1862 and felt this perspective was worth sharing. 

It is not unusual to read of a Union soldier or group of soldiers opposed to the abolition of slavery as a war aim, so seeing anti-abolition sentiments in this letter from a soldier in the first few months of the war is not a shock. I do find myself wondering what this private felt about the Emancipation Proclamation, preliminarily issued about 8 months later, if he survived that long. 

This story further interests me because the 44th Ohio was one of the units in the northern Kentucky area around or just after the Siege of Cincinnati, a topic this blog has mentioned several times. It is kind of a local angle to this story. 

Also note that both this newspaper and the individual who wrote the letter were from Ohio, a “free state” in the North, yet both still expressed anti-abolitionist attitudes. That is not surprising from Cincinnati, which had many ties to the South, and is pretty typical of the Enquirer’s attitudes.

Abolition Tracts Among the Volunteers

Camp Piatt, January 12, 1862

To the Editors of the Enquirer:

SIR: Inclosed you will find a cursed Abolition document - it will speak for itself - which the negro worshippers are distributing among the soldiers in large quantities. Comment, if it is worth comment - and of course it is - I leave you to make. If I had time, I would write a long article on the subject, but I have not, as I’m but a private - and that is the reason I got the document. Privates are supposed to have no sense, or just sense enough to be made to believe and do anything; but the paper got into the wrong hands this time. And, further, I will say, or ask, if such papers are allowed to be distributed among the soldiers so profusely, when will this war end? This much I would like to say to them: I am not fighting to free negroes; and if they want them freed, let them do the fighting themselves. I will not. I would as soon shoot a real Abolitionist as a Secesh. I consider that they are as much the instigators of this war as any man in the South, and even more so; yet they claim to be Union men. Such Union men ought to be in purgatory. They now boldly declare their purpose, and are distributing their infernal trash among the ignorant soldiers, as they suppose; But there are some of them sharp enough to see what they are driving at. 

I am a native of Ohio, but not an Abolitionist, by any means; and I am fighting to put down rebellion, not to free negroes.

A Soldier,

Forty-fourth Ohio Regiment

———————

Here is how the editor reacted to this letter. In the first paragraph, I added the emphasis in bold because that is a line I’ve often seen or heard in discussions of slavery, but it is the first time I remember seeing it so explicitly stated in a period newspaper.

Cincinnati Enquirer January 26, 1862   

VOICE OF A SOLDIER 

We publish elsewhere a letter from a volunteer in the Forty-fourth Ohio Regiment  in relation to the distribution among the troops of Abolition documents. Accompanying the letter was a tract Entitled “CATECHISM FOR WORKINGMEN.”  It purports you have been  published by the “American Reform and Tract and Book Society of Cincinnati, Ohio.”  We have before noticed Abolition tracts issued from this manufactory, and designed for circulation among the troops. The one before us is filled with the usual Abolition sophistries, that slavery produced the war and ought to be destroyed. Purporting to be written “by the son of a blacksmith,” it makes an appeal to workingmen to aid in wiping slavery from off the face of the land. Every intelligent workingman knows that liberating four million slaves, to be the competitors in the field of voluntary labor with laboring whites, is not going to elevate but rather degrade the whites. The laboring whites at the South, though poor, know that they are not on a level with the blacks, as this tract asserts they are, but are a superior race. It is that knowledge that makes them take the interest they do in thwarting the schemes of the Abolitionists. The tract before us aims to induce the white laboring man and woman to aid in putting themselves on a level with the blacks. 

“A SOLDIER” sees through the game, and tells the intermeddlers, who are the primary cause of the war, that he regards them in the same light he does the rebels, that he is fighting to put down the rebellion, not to free the slaves, and that he can not be made their tool. That is plain talk, and we rejoice to hear it from such a source. 

Crossing the Ohio River

I'm not really sure how to approach this idea that popped into my head today, but it seems like a good idea or question to mention here and maybe help me think about it or about how to approach it. This will probably be kind of a stream-of-consciousness post as I figure out what to say or how to explore it.

I live in northern Kentucky and work in Cincinnati, so I cross the Ohio River every day, along with thousands (or tens of thousands) of others, some going north like me, but many heading south. It's not a big deal; I've even walked home from work many times, a distance of about 2.5 miles.

150+ years ago, however, even that short distance was much longer than it seemed, at least for many African-Americans. The Ohio River was an unofficial border between the slave state of Kentucky and the free state of Ohio (as well as Indiana and Illinois - check out a map - Kentucky has a long northern border along the Ohio.)

If a slave tried to run away, oftentimes reaching the Ohio River, with stations on the Underground Railroad along its banks, north and south, was a major goal and milestone. It did not guarantee safety - Cincinnati was not the most progressive city regarding racial relations (some people even today say Cincinnati is like part of Kentucky, while others claim Northern Kentucky is more like Cincinnati than the rest of the state) and if escaping slaves could cross the river, so could slave catchers.

Nonetheless, it was an important boundary between North and South, free and slave, and it made cities like Cincinnati and Louisville into important trading ports. The border along the Ohio River was a key reason Abraham Lincoln considered keeping Kentucky in the Union to be so important. If the Confederates could set up defenses along the lower banks of the river, they could devastate Union trade in the west, prevent Union forces from penetrating the Deep South in the West (think Vicksburg, Shiloh, Corinth, Nashville among the key southern cities in this theater) and perhaps have a launching pad for attacking the Illinois, Indiana, Ohio or other Northern states with more than an occasional John Hunt Morgan raid.

Despite this, I cross this river twice a day and until today never really thought about it in a historical context. Does it make sense for me to try to picture escaping slaves (like Margaret Garner for one famous, though unsuccessful, example) while I'm in an air-conditioned (in the summer, heated in the winter) bus? Should it help me appreciate my good fortune or to understand better the differences between now and the past? How many African Americans would have absolutely loved to have safe, reliable transportation from my beloved Kentucky into Ohio or another northern state?

To me, the Ohio River is just a piece of everyday life, nothing really special or noteworthy, except for an occasional flood. Historically, however, this was a key border, a major crossing point, a place of hope for people to try to reach freedom, to escape bondage, to try to have some control over their lives. It is not a famous battlefield of dozens or hundreds of acres, with monuments and gift shops and tourists taking pictures. It is simply a wonder of Nature that human mapmakers once used as a separation point of what we call states, and which continues to flow southwards, just as it did 150 years ago. It has no mind or desires or other human emotions, but steadfastly flows until it reaches the mighty Mississippi. Yet this river, one of many throughout the country, even as constituted in 1865 and before, was very important, as a border into potential freedom and as a goal, to countless people who wanted to better their lives.

I often wonder what it would be like to live near a really famous battlefield like Gettysburg or Antietam or Shiloh. My appreciation for Perryville grows as I understand it more, but even that is a couple of hours away.

Yet here is an important place, just a few minutes from my home, that absolutely played a role in 19th century America and in the slavery controversy that at least contributed (though I believe caused) the bloody Civil War.

This is a perspective I had not considered before. I'm sure I'll think about it more often now, as I routinely cross this border so frequently and easily.

The above is a picture I took in April 2009 from downtown Cincinnati, with a brief view of the river separating the states.

Camp Dennison Civil War Event June 25-26

Camp Dennison Reenactment

This is courtesy of the Ohio Civil War 150 blog, a very informative blog that I do recommend for people interested in the Civil War in and around the Buckeye State.

Here are a couple of links with some more information about Camp Dennison  including Camp Dennison Civil War page

The Christian Waldschmidt homestead will host the event and I recommend visiting it, including the house which was built in the very early 1800s. It's a neat place and the Daughters of the American Revolution do a terrific job with it

"Kentucky" Regiments?

The Covington Journal continues to follow these regiments that were forming in Ohio. Here is their report from May 25, 1861.

Officers have gone from Cincinnati to Cleveland, Ohio, to pick up recruits for the "Kentucky Regiments."  Extra inducements are held out, but evidently the work drags. 

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See previous entries on a similar topic here and here

Underground Railroad Driving Tour

This sounds like something interesting to do this summer. Clermont County is just across the river from my home county, Campbell County, Kentucky.


Underground Railroad in Clermont County, OH

The Hero of Corinth

Here's another interesting story from The Civil War in Song and Story 1860-1865, collected and arranged by Frank Moore. It is from the 1882 version and this story comes from page 465 (with links, of course, added by me.)

It is an example of how much importance was placed on a unit's battle flag, the pride that soldiers took in protecting their own or capturing their enemy's.



The Hero of Corinth - Private Orrin B Gould, of company G, Twenty-seventh Ohio, was the hero of the battle of Corinth. The following letter to Governor Tod, from Colonel John W. Fuller, commanding the Ohio Brigade, embodies a history of young Gould's resplendent conduct.

      Headquarters, First Brigade, Second
              Division, Army of the Mississippi,
                        Near Ripley, Miss., Oct. 9, 1862

To the Governor of Ohio:

   SIR:  I have the honor of forwarding to your Excellency the "Battle-Flag" of the Ninth Texas regiment, which was captured by a private of the Twenty-Seventh Ohio infantry, at the battle of Corinth, Oct. 4, 1862.

   The rebels, in four close columns, were pressing with gallantry, amounting to recklessness, upon the Ohio brigade, with the evident intention of breaking our lines, when the terrible and incessant fire of our men drove them back in the utmost confusion.

   The Sixth Texas bore down upon the left centre of the 27th Ohio, with this flag at the head of their column, and advanced to within six or eight yards of our lines, when Orrin B. Gould, a private of company G, shot down the color-bearer, and rushed forward for the rebel flag. A rebel officer shouted to his men to "save the colors," and at the same moment put a bullet into the breast of Gould; but the young hero was not to be intimidated. With the flagstaff in his hand and the bullet in his breast, he returned to his  regiment, waving the former defiantly in the faces of the enemy.

   After the battle, when visiting the hospitals, I found young Gould stretched upon a cot, evidently in great pain. Upon seeing me, his pale face was instantly radiant with smiles, and pointing to his wound, he said, "Colonel, I don't care for this, since I got their flag."

   I have the honor to be, your Excellency's obedient servant,
    JOHN W. FULLER
    Colonel, Twenty-seventh Ohio, commanding
    First Brigade, Second Division
                                

Here is a  story about the 9th Texas Infantry which claims theirs was not the flag Private Gould captured.

 The below photograph is of Colonel John Fuller, courtesy of http://www.parkerscrossroads.com/Battle_Information/forces/fuller.htm

Ohio Civil War 150 website

http://www.ohiocivilwar150.org/

I just found this site a few days ago and think it's a very nice one. I am glad to see Ohio is at least preparing to acknowledge the sesquicentennial (it's not much easier to type that than it is to say it) of the war and to provide sources for information about the war. I think it will be a great resource to keep checking on for updates in the region and any events that are planned.

I know the 2011-2015 period seems a long time away, but it's really only 1 year from starting; with the 150th anniversary of Lincioln's nomination and election both occuring in 2010, the prelude to this bigger anniversary is even closer.

This period may be a great opportunity - the greatest of our liftime, at least for those of us who did not live through the centennial of the war in the early 1960s - to spark interest in our country's bloodiest and most terrible conflict.

Perhaps using words like "bloody" may seem a strange way to try to attract positive attention to something, but I feel it is appropriate, maybe even mandatory to do so, as the pain, suffering, and death that occurrred during these years greatly impacted this nation and its future. Americans were fighting and killing each other, and in many instances, the cliche of "brother against brother" or "neighbor against neighbor" were literally true. Why did this happen? How did this happen? What did such a terrible war do to change the United States and its future? These are just some of the questions that more people will soon have the chance to explore and ponder. At least I do firmly hope that is the kind of opportunity these few years will provide.

This year's bicentennial of Lincoln's birth has witnessed an outpouring of new books, articles and discussions of the 16th President,  and even when I walked through grocery stores, Lincoln magazines had prominent places on the magazine racks. Who ever thought I'd buy an Abraham Lincoln publication at Remke's?

Something similar will - hopefully - take place starting in 2011, perhaps on an even grander scale. Time for planning events and coming up with ideas will pass by quickly, so I am glad to see this site from the state neighboring my home. I also am glad to see the list of states that also have similar sites, according to a link on Ohio's, including Arkansas, Connecticut, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. (Here's a link to get to those pages:  http://www.ohiocivilwar150.org/links/ )

Unfortunately, my beloved native Kentucky is not on that list. Hopefully that changes soon.  These four years can hopefully help people, especially children, develop and further interest in the Civil War and history overall.

At the James A Ramage Civil War Museum, I know that one of the key goals of 2010 will be to start developing plans for 2011 and beyond (especially 2012, the 150th anniversary of the Siege of Cincinnati.) Coming up with ideas, determining which ones to pursue and how to do them will all be important steps. Hopefully (I know I use that word a lot in describing this anniversary period) we may even be able to collaborate with other local history and Civil War groups in at least some events.

This will take a lot of planning and effort, and I'm glad to see several states have already started this process with these websites dedicated to the war's 150th anniversary. Hopefully (again) more states start soon, or have already started, but just not with websites yet.

Again, I give credit to the Ohio Historical Society for developing this website, as well as to other state societies. I look forward to watching them for updates, event schedules, ideas and other ways to promote the exciting Civil War sesquicentennial.