MAY 14th. — The weather is very warm. Day before yesterday the wheat was only six or eight inches high. To-day it is two or three feet in height, headed, and almost ripe for the scythe. At every station [where I can write a little] we see crowds of men, and women, and boys; and [...]

Civil War Portraits—Leaders, Influencers, and the Incidentally Important #011 Captain James Buchanan Eads (May 23, 1820 – March 8, 1887) was a world-renowned American civil engineer and inventor, holding more than 50 patents. In 1861, after the outbreak of the American Civil War, Eads was called to Washington at the prompting of his friend, Attorney [...]

May 14, 1861 A Chronological History of the Civil War in America1 A schooner loaded with arms seized at Baltimore; arms seized in other parts of the city. Ross Winans arrested.2 St. Louis and Memphis mail contract annulled, and mails stopped. Gun-boat “Quaker City” captured ship “Argo” with $150,000 worth of tobacco. A Chronological History [...]

Civil War Era Photographic Portraiture #002 Half-plate ambrotype of Confederate officer Captain William F. McRorie of Co. A, 4th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, Richmond, Virginia.—C. R. Rees & Co. Cased images by Rees included in the Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs at the Library of Congress show a studio setting identical to this [...]

MAY 13th. —We traveled all night, and reached Wilmington, N. C., early in the morning. There I saw a Northern steamer which had been seized in retaliation for some of the seizures of the New Yorkers. And there was a considerable amount of ordnance and shot and shell on the bank of the river. The [...]

May 13th.—We have been down from Montgomery on the boat to that God-forsaken landing, Portland, Ala. Found everybody drunk—that is, the three men who were there. At last secured a carriage to carry us to my brother-in-law’s house. Mr. Chesnut had to drive seven miles, pitch dark, over an unknown road. My heart was in [...]

May 13, 1861 George McClellan [US] appointed Commander, Department of Ohio. The following day he is promoted major general, his rank in the Ohio militia. Only General-in-Chief Winfield Scott held a higher rank. Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom issues a “proclamation of neutrality” which recognizes the Confederacy as having belligerent rights. The First Wheeling [...]

Civil War Era Photographic Portraiture #001 Title: [Unidentified cadet in Virginia Military Institute uniform] Date Created/Published: 1845. Medium: 1 photograph : sixth-plate daguerreotype ; 9.4 x 8.1 cm (case) Summary: Portrait of a young man who, in later years, might have fought in the Civil War as a Confederate soldier. The initials VMI, visible on [...]

MAY 12th. — To-day I set out for Montgomery. The weather was bright and pleasant. It is Sunday. In the cars are many passengers going to tender their services, and all imbued with the same inflexible purpose. The corn in the fields of Virginia is just becoming visible; and the trees are beginning to disclose [...]

Sunday, May 12th, 6 p.m. Several men from Alabama arrived here to-day with their backs beaten blue. We caught another spy last night. The drums rolled last night at 11 and we all turned out in the biggest, dark and deepest mud you ever saw. It was a mistake of the drummer’s. Six rockets were [...]

Charles Francis Adams To His Mother Fort Independence, May 12, 1861 The truth is that in garrison life, with guard duty three times in two weeks, five hours drill a day and the necessity of waiting on oneself, it is difficult either to write or read much in a room about the size of our [...]

May 12, 1861 Benjamin Butler takes control of Federal Hill and threatens to fire on downtown Baltimore if Southern sympathizers protest. (During night of May 12/13) A Chronological History of the Civil War in America1 Renewed attempts of the rebels to destroy bridges on the railroads leading to Baltimore. A Chronological History of the Civil [...]

Civil War Portraits—Leaders, Influencers, and the Incidentally Important #011 Robert Anderson (June 14, 1805 – October 26, 1871) was a United States Army officer during the American Civil War. He was the Union commander in the first battle of the American Civil War at Fort Sumter in April 1861 when the Confederates bombarded the fort [...]

MAY 11th. —Robert Tyler has arrived, after wonderful risks and difficulties. When I left Mr. Tyler in the North, the people were talking about electing him their representative in Congress. They tempted him every way, by threats and by promises, to make them a speech under the folds of the “star spangled banner” erected near [...]

May 11, 1861 A Chronological History of the Civil War in America1 Blockade of Charleston established. Government troops again attacked by the St. Louis mob—four rioters killed, etc. Great Union demonstration in San Francisco. A Chronological History of the Civil War in America by Richard Swainson Fisher, New York, Johnson and Ward, 1863

MAY 10th. – The ladies are postponing all engagements until their lovers have fought the Yankees. Their influence is great. Day after day they go in crowds to the Fair ground where the 1st S. C. Vols. are encamped, showering upon them their smiles, and all the delicacies the city affords. They wine them and [...]

Camp Wilkins, Pittsburgh, Penn., Friday, May 10, 1861. Dear Sister L.:— I hardly know where to begin or what to write. My mind is, perhaps, in the same condition as yours–a good deal confused. It is a damp, rainy morning, so rainy that no companies will be out for drill until the weather is more [...]

May 10, 1861 Nathaniel Lyons [US] takes control of St. Louis to end rioting, seizing Camp Jackson (Confederate militia) and 1200 1855 Springfield Rifles A Chronological History of the Civil War in America1 The President, by proclamation, declared martial law upon the island of Key West, the Tortugas, and Santa Rosa, Fla. Mob attack upon [...]

MAY 9th. – The Examiner still fires shot and shell at Gov. Letcher and the dominant majority in the Convention, on account of recent appointments. It is furious over the selection of Mr. Baldwin, recently a leading Union man, for inspector-general; and seems to apprehend bad results from thrusting Union men forward in the coming [...]

May 9th.—Virginia Commissioners here. Mr. Staples and Mr. Edmonston came to see me. They say Virginia “has no grievance; she comes out on a point of honor; could she stand by and see her sovereign sister States invaded?” Sumter Anderson has been offered a Kentucky regiment. Can they raise a regiment in Kentucky against us? [...]

May 9, 1861 A Chronological History of the Civil War in America1 C. S. Congress authorized the President to accept all the volunteers that offer. First landing of Union troops by steamers at Baltimore. The “Winans Steam Gun” captured on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. A brigade of rebel militia encamped near St. Louis surrendered [...]

MAY 8th.– The Convention has appointed five members of Congress to go to Montgomery: Messrs. Hunter, Rives, Brockenborough, Staples, and ——. I have not yet seen Mr. Hunter; he has made no speeches, but no doubt he has done all in his power to secure the passage of the ordinance, in his quiet but effective [...]

May 8, 1861 A Chronological History of the Civil War in America1 Governor of Ohio made a call for 100,000 men, to be held as a force of reserved militia. A Chronological History of the Civil War in America by Richard Swainson Fisher, New York, Johnson and Ward, 1863

Memphis Daily Appeal Tennessee May 7, 1861 A large quantity of clothing for the military companies is on hand, and the number of ladies having it in charge is inadequate to the work. All ladies who can assist, are requested to call at the residence of Mrs. Owen, corner of Madison and Second streets, and [...]