January 29, 1865---Unexpected Guests

JANUARY 29, 1865:                    

The Confederate Peace Commissioners arrive at Union lines without notice. A flurry of telegrams passes between the front line, General Grant’s headquarters at City Point, the War Department and The White House, among which are these:

'Alex. H. Stephens, R. M. T. Hunter, and J. A. Campbell desire to cross my lines, in accordance with an understanding claimed to exist with Lieutenant-General Grant, on their way to Washington as peace commissioners. Shall they be admitted? They desire an early answer, to come through immediately. Would like to reach City Point to-night, if they can. If they cannot do this, they would like to come through at 10 a.m. to-morrow morning. 

'O. B. WILLCOX,

' Major-General, Commanding Ninth Corps.'

and

"Respectfully referred to the President for such instructions as he may be pleased to give. 

"EDWIN M. STANTON,

 "Secretary of War."

President Lincoln finds himself in a bind. The unexpected arrival of the Peace Commissioners is timed (whether by chance or by intention) to throw the ongoing debate and the upcoming vote on the Thirteenth Amendment into chaos. Believing that the Confederates are about to surrender, many fence-sitting Congressmen who have doubts about Emancipation suddenly announce that they will not vote for the Amendment if the war can be ended without it. 

Lincoln has to convince the fence-sitters that there is no chance of peace without Emancipation, but as long as the meeting is pending he cannot prove any such thing, and if he meets with the Southerners he may ultimately be accused of trading peace for Emancipation. Playing for time, Lincoln stalls. And "Honest Abe" fibs to Congress.

January 28, 1865---"The Confederacy Is Safe"

JANUARY 28, 1865:           

      

Robert E. Lee writes angrily to the Confederate Quartermaster and Commissary Corps, lambasting them for their failure to provide adequate food, clothing, and other supplies to the Confederate Army. Desertions are at unprecedented levels. The men who remain are in rags and are dying of malnutrition. Scurvy, Pellagra, Beri-beri, and a host of diseases brought on by failing immune systems are consuming the remaining Confederate soldiers in The Army of Northern Virginia like a brushfire. 

General Sherman’s forces, which have been bogged down in Savannah due to inclement weather, begin to move in force into South Carolina. Robert E. Lee writes to the Governor of South Carolina, saying that “the Confederacy is safe”, as long as the civilian population does not lose heart. As Sherman’s men pour into the Palmetto State, Confederate forces throw down their arms.

Having heard out Preston Blair, Jefferson Davis appoints three Peace Commissioners to meet with Union representatives in an attempt to end the war. Confederate Vice-President Stephens, Confederate President of the Senate, R.M.T. Hunter and former U.S. Supreme Court judge John Campbell are selected for this errand. Davis and Stephens despise each other (Davis believes Stephens to be a Unionist), and Hunter and Davis despise each other (Hunter considers Davis too moderate), while Campbell is an old friend of Lincoln’s. Davis clearly has no hopes of a negotiated peace and intends it to fail.  Having been appointed, the three men set out for Washington D.C.

 

January 27, 1865---Overthrowing The Union: Sabotaging the Savannah Armory

JANUARY 27, 1865:                    

An immense fire breaks out in the Savannah Armory, consuming tons of ordnance and severely damaging the surrounding area. With explosive shells raining down and tens of thousands of rounds firing off, the City Fathers can do nothing to stop the fire which burns for two days. Although the reason the fire started is never discovered, it is widely suspected that pro-Confederates set the fire to deny the ammunition to the Yankees. 

Union soldier Cornelius C. Platter writes:

The Rebel arsenal . . . was destroyed by fire --- At times the explosions were terrific. A great many buildings were burned and a number of lives, were lost. The 'fire engines" could do but very little to extinguish the flames on account of the bursting of the shells . . . 

January 26, 1865---"I resign’d myself . . . To sit by the wounded and soothe them . . . " *

JANUARY 26, 1865:                   

Walt Whitman served as a civilian male nurse during the Civil War. Now widely acknowledged to be gay, it is unknown whether Whitman had any lovers during the war, but it is known that re routinely corresponded with a select few of his former patients, openly acknowledging his affections for them. He wrote to many for decades.

Whitman, some years after the Civil War. 

On this day, Christopher and Maria Smith, the parents of Bethuel Smith Second U.S. Cavalry Company F, write to Whitman on their son’s behalf. Whitman had nursed Bethuel in late 1863. Their letter (as written) reads in part:

Mr. Walt Whitman, 

Kind Sir we have received your kind letters and perused them with much pleasure we will assure you that your letters will always be very acceptible with us your Comrad Bethuel Smith has gone . . . to work by the Day . . . [H]is health is not very good yet . . . ]H]e will rite when he gets home we have got your papers you sent and thank you for them . . .  [W]e think the war will last four long years more at least . . . [W]e have three sones here that will be liable to the draft and two in Pennsylvania . . . 

Bethuels wounds are all sound and well . . . but has not got well of the diaraee . . . he has had it ever since he was wounded . . . [I]f you [k]now of any . . . cure . . . i should like to have you write what it is [.]

[P]erhaps i have rote enough at presant we live in hopes we may see each other yet if our lives are spared 

this from Bethuels father and Mother 

* The title of the post is taken from Whitman's poem "Drum-Taps," published in 1865

January 25, 1865---Overthrowing The Union: Burning The Castle?

JANUARY 25, 1865:                   

A destructive fire breaks out in “The Castle” of the Smithsonian Institution. Much historical correspondence and a trove of scientific reports perish in the flames. The fire is later blamed on a defective flue, but Confederate sabotage is a possibility.

 

January 24, 1865---Prisoner Exchanges resume

JANUARY 24, 1865:                   

After almost two years of refusing to abide by Northern demands to treat captured U.S.C.T. as regular Prisoners of War, the Confederate Congress agrees (“in principle”) to do so. This action reestablishes the suspended system of Prisoner Exchanges, potentially freeing tens of thousands of men from the hellish conditions of Civil War P.O.W. Camps.  The Confederate decision to do so is one born of desperation.

 

General Ulysses S. Grant U.S.A. had for two years been perfectly pleased to let Union prisoners stay where they were since they were acting as a drain on Southern resources. 

The Confederacy can no longer even take marginal care of its own wounded and needy, much less captured prisoners, and word of the ever-worsening conditions and the spiraling death rates at Southern P.O.W. Camps appalled the General to the point where he no longer felt the price was one worth paying. Hence, he accepted the Confederate offer. 

Northern camps were no better, in truth. 56,000 P.O.W.s died during the war, out of a total (North and South) of 425,000 men held captive.