"This Terrible Conflict of the American People": The Civil War Letters of Thaddeus Minshall

EDITED BY LISA M. BRADY

ew of us would relish our private correspondence being made public, and Thaddeus Minshall of Chillicothe, , was no exception. In a letter to Fa friend in 1862, Minshall wrote: "Esteemed Friend, With much trepida- tion I bring myself to the task of writing you a letter. This may seem a strange introduction for a letter from a friend. But I have in view that terrible drawer into which it may be dropped, and produced in judgement [sic] against me in after years."1 The publication of his Civil War letters nearly a century and a half after their writing is not intended to elicit judgment against Minshall, but rather to serve a purpose that he himself might judge appropriate and worthwhile. Captain Thad- deus Armstrong Minshall of the 33rd Ohio Vol- unteer Infantry wrote eloquent, insightful, and descriptive let- ters that were at times profoundly serious, at oth- ers, humorous and light-hearted. Through these letters, Minshall The , bequeathed to posterity not the means by which to judge him, but instead an Kentucky, fought October opportunity to understand the complexity of a culture and society that made 8, 1862. Sketched by terrible war upon itself. Mr. H. Mosler. Harper's Captain Minshall served with the 33rd Ohio from September 1861 through Weekly, November 1,1862. The Filson the end of the Civil War, when he mustered out as acting at the age Historical Society

The editor wishes to thank Dr. Mark Wetherington, James Holmberg, and the staff of The Filson Historical Society for their assistance. The description for the letters in the Minshall collection can be accessed at http://www.filsonhistorical.org

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of 31. His unit distinguished itself early in the war at such critical battles as Perryville, Kentucky, and Stones River in . He and his men took part as well in the bloodbath at Georgia's Chickamauga Creek, the capture of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the destruction of Atlanta, Georgia. The regi- ment then joined in William T. Sherman's famous "March to the Sea" and fought in the ensuing Carolinas campaign, ending its service with the surrender of Confederate General Joseph Johnston at Durham Station, North Carolina, mustering out on July 12, 1865, in Louisville, Kentucky. For its continuous service and participation in some of the fiercest battles of the war, the 33rd Ohio ranked in William F. Fox's post-war compendium among the federal army's top three hundred fighting regiments.2

inshall survived the war, returned to his law practice in Chillicothe, and in 1873 married Julia E. Pearson. His election as judge of Mthe court of common pleas in 1876 initiated a quarter-century of public service, which culminated in his election to the Ohio Supreme Court in 1885. Indeed, between 1889 and 1902, Judge Minshall served as chief justice of the state's highest court for three terms, during which he wrote opinions that were "models of brevity and conciseness, and bear evidence of learning, careful thought, and study."3 Like his legal opinions, Min- shall's Civil War correspondence reflects his education and keen sense of observation. He recorded not only the tangible, but also the philosophical character of the conflict.4 Minshall covered a wide range of topics, including the contents of his mess kit, the landscapes he marched through, national and international politics, and the propriety of courtship. He displayed in his letters a passionate loyalty to the Union and bemoaned the war's destruction of the "fair Landing of Ohio troops face of nature," yet all the while he deferred to his female correspondent's at Louisville, Kentucky. sensibilities, apologizing when his letters strayed from subjects appropriate for Sketched by Mr. H. Mosler. a "true woman."5 As such, the letters reveal much about prevailing gender Harper's Weekly, January 11, 1862. TheFilson norms for the period. Historical Society Indeed, in that respect Minshall's letters are an historian's dream, contain- ing not only beautiful prose and a goldmine of factual information, but also explicit commentaries on the gendered assumptions associated with the "Cult of True Womanhood," which maintained a strong hold even in the midst of great

OHIO VALLEY HISTORY crisis. We can also identify a continued influence of Romantic ideas of nature, views that would eventually develop into the modern notions of conservation, preservation, and environmentalism. MinshalPs letters also firmly establish him as a member of the rising middle class, with access to an extended and liberal education. The political thoughts he espoused in his letters demonstrate an intimate familiarity with American and world history, political philosophy, and a wide variety of literary genres.6 As with many of his peers, Minshall also kept abreast of the period's popular culture, detailing in one letter the recent performance of a noted tightrope walker.7 His breadth of subjects and his impressive grasp of the subtleties of human nature and ideas make Minshall's letters essential reading for any student of the Civil War. They illustrate the complexity of American society and provide crucial insight into "this terrible conflict of the American people."8

he editor has included here only his early letters, written while still in his native Ohio Valley. As the war progressed, Minshall's unique Tphilosophical view became a casualty of the conflict, and thus his later letters, while historically important, lack the literary appeal of those written while still "green."9 Except where noted, the spelling, grammar, and emphatic markings are his own. Notes point to additional information or to related sources of interest, and, where necessary, provide broader historical context or clarification. In his letters, Minshall expounded on the justness of the Union's cause and provided vivid pictures of the wages of war; at the same time, he commented on the resiliency of nature against the onslaught of battle and on the tenacity of human hope for a better, more just future.

Cp. Jefferson, Near Bacon Creek Ky, Jan 2nd 1861 [1862]i0 Dear Friend, Capt. McCoy arrived yesterday and paid me a visit to-day handing me your letter written on Christmas. He took dinner with me, produc- ing Hannah's Cake, which constituted the chief ornament of the board. It was well relished and highly complimented, I can tell you by all the participants. Tell Hannah she has placed me under renewed obligations, and if ever I return I shall surely make her another mush stick. I must not forget to tell you what a nice mess chest we have just got. Lieut. Waddle had it sent by a friend from ].11 It is one of the handiest things for a migratory life that ever you seen. It contains a set of Britania Cups, of large white cups, saucers and plates, tin boxes for sugar, coffee tea &c a castor and numerous other articles of a necessary character, all neatly & ingeniously arranged within for transportation.12 We are now pretty well prepared for soldiering. It would do you good to see how we men can adapt ourselves to circumstances. I begin almost to doubt the necessity of women in the social order. But hold -1 guess I will retract

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that. It is women's smiles and sympathies (and pound cake) which next to country encourages the soldier in his arduous life.13 It is seldom we see a woman in this distracted region. Nothing but the grim Molock of War looms up on every side.14 The terror stricken inhabitants have fled in every direction, their deserted houses have been turned into Hospitals. Around hearths where a year ago happy families were wont to assemble in all the quiet and security of home crowds the miserable soldier upon whom disease has cast his shadow, silently musing of a home far away where he could know no want.15 Of all the woebegone looking objects I ever seen a sick soldier is the most miserable. Hope seems to forsake them, and no wonder a military Hospital is the most loathsome place in creation. I mostly have my men taken care of in their tents. They as a general

-~ thing do much better and recover much sooner than in Hospital.16 The Confederate Ah! My Dear Friend thank your stars that you live in a state untrod by destruction of the Bacon the foot of the invader. No one can form an idea of the evils of war but Creek Bridge on the one who has been in the vicinity of an army. How terrible is the retribu- Louisville and Nashville Railroad line in Hart tion justice. Have not these people long "sinned with a high hand and County, Kentucky. outstreched arm" against the rights of man? And is not their hour of Frank Leslie's Illustrated tribulation now come? All I have to say is so mote it be. My heart is Newspaper, January stealed to their misery. - We had grand review day before yesterday of all 25, 1862. TheFilson the troops in this division by Gen. Buel[l] the Department Commander.17 Historical Society [Final sentence fragment omitted.]

Letter fragment, no date [likely a continuation of January 2, 1862, letter]. I received from the Squire by Capt McCoy a most amusing letter. He tells me Hedge has broke out in a new place. Has been all the way to Pennsylvania with the running gears of a broken down Catholic Priest and with whom he is cooperating to bring about a close to the war. That he says the sword never did do any thing to benefit society and never will. Well now I am disposed to deal fairly with my Old Friend. I know him and all his eccentricities and know that beneath a world of oddities is as genuine a heart as ever beat in a man. But he will fly off in tangents from the general mode of thinking. I will not quarrel with him about the policy of nonresistance. But I would like to ask him if after Ft Sumpter [sic] was fired into our national flag trampled underfoot and

OHIO VALLEY HISTORY honor stained by the rebel ingrates of the south, he honestly believes any other alternative was left us as a people but to draw the sword and swear the insult should be wiped out and the rebellion put down.18 Does he believe a peace policy would have saved our homes in the north from the horrors of a southern invasion. And does he know but at this day had such a policy been persued, the beau[ti]ful valley of the Scioto might be suffering all the outrages of Southern vandalism. I wish him to call to mind the incident of our last meeting when he took me by the hand as I was about to leave and said, "Thad I can[']t go with you - I wish I could - but remember here is where you will always find sympathy." How that encouraged me, and as I turned and slowly walked away from his comfortable little cotage, I can't but remember how the man was overcome by the feelings of nature, and I wept. That last interview has encouraged me in many an hour of hardship and privation, Yes many a time as I have lain down upon the wet ground, with but a blanket to cover me in a pitaless rain, tired and hungary [sic]. Those words have come to me, cheery with encouragement "in me you shall always find sympathy." But while I cherish the man I must break with his opinions. I subscribe to this "Whosoever draweth the sword shall perish by the sword." The South has made war upon our cherished institutions, and rot the name in infamy and forgetfulness that will not rally to their defense. They were the price of blood and treasure, they are worth the price any time. I take up the refrain of the immortal Henry, "Give me liberty or give me death."19 I know you may say this is splendid talk, but I am ready any day to back it up with deeds. I have counted the cost, and what is the life of one man, oh, of a million to the World's progress or its brightest jewels civil liberty and self-government. Who that is a man would not rather see our loved America sunk by an earthquake, than let it become a land of despotism. I always did admire the self abnegation of the citizens of Moscow, who burnt their city rather than submit to an invader.20 I today would rather see every city in the land laid waste in ashes than oerrun by the myrmidony21 of the Southern rebellion. What in the name of God do the people in the North mean? Are they so purblind as not to see the tendency of things? Can they not see the sequence of yielding to the demands of the South? Is this a mere contest between two sections. Far be it. Far be it. I have read history with too much care to be deceived myself. It is a renewal of the Old contest between liberty and absolute power. See how monarchists the world over have chuckled with delight at what they are pleased to call our "domestic troubles." How prompt England is - monarchical England for her genuine republicans are with us in sympathy - to seize on any thing for the purpose of embarrassing us. Mason & Slidel[l] have been released.22 But this only whets her ap- petite for a difficulty with us. Rumor says she now contests our right to

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blockade with stone the Southern ports - to do as we please with what belongs to us. If this be so I do sincerely hope our government will not delay a moment in recalling our ministers and dismissing hers from our capitol and promptly take up the quarrel so insolently provoked and ap- pealing as our fathers to the God of Battle fight anew the cause of 76. But probably I am manifesting too much feeling on this to suit a woman and I may be infatuated, yet I believe I am as same as I ever was.23 Be this as it may as it is getting late I must close. I am going to Louisiana tomorrow on the cars on business for the Regt connected with this months muster and shall mail at that place. I wrote you last Christmas Eve a letter which I suppose has reached you before this. Tell Hedge my opinions and give him my kindest wishes. Tell Eddie I shall surely attend to nashing my teeth for his sake, but I want him to grow up a patriot. Jennie that the mittens are most sensible, but not to give one to Ed unless he is a Secesh. Jona. the blanket is just the thing. Hannah well I have spoken of the cake.24 With my best wishes for all of you and the Doctor who I suppose is too busy to write I am truly yours, Respt, Thad A. Minshall 33d OVUSA.

Bacon Creek Ky, Febry 9th 1862 Dear Friend: The Rev. Capt. Byers goes home tomorrow and I improve [?] the op- portunity of sending you a few lines by him. It is Sunday and a fine day too - the sun shining brightly, though rather cold. Sunshine is so seldom in this region - notwithstanding it belongs to the "Sunny South" that such a day is regard as a great treat by the soldiers. We received the news yesterday of the capture of Ft. Henry.25 Capt Byers at the close of Evening Parade last evening proposed three cheers for the Gun Boats which were given with a most lusty vociferousness. We expect to move in a few days. Col Sill26 directed us this morning to get every thing needed for the men in the way of pants shoes &c as it might be the last opportunity to do so for some time as he thought we would move in the course of the week. The men are in good spirits and anxious to make a strike. The number of available men in our regiment is small, from the amount of sickness that has prevailed; but what there are, I believe as effective as any in the Division.27 I know this is the opinion of our Col, now acting Brigadier, and we have his assurance that the 33d shall have a post of honor. I rec'd a quite interesting letter from the Squire a few days ago. Give him my thanks and tell him I will answer it in a few days, unless we should move as before mentioned and then he will have to wait until I get an opportunity. I answered a few days ago the letter, I received enclosed with your last from Fred Hedge. I don[']t know how he will receive it but I wrote him

OHIO VALLEY HISTORY in good faith. I seen Capt McCoy last week. He is well. The Squire tells me that he thinks the "mat- ter" unalterable, fixed between him and Kate. Does any one ob- ject? I don[']t see why they should. Hasn't he shown himself a true man? And what more can a true woman want?28 Don[']t fret about B4TTKM OF (JHlCKAMAlit. A boring me with your letters. lean Battle of Chickamauga, assure you that they give me the greatest delight. I wrote Jennie some 1890 Kurz & Allison print. time ago, but have not yet received an answer. I hope she will not forget Cincinnati Museum Center, to do so. Her letters are written with such good tast[e] I like to read Cincinnati Historical them unusually well. And Hannah she might write and give me a few Society Library ideas from her extensive culinary experience. I have often wondered if her ideas of heaven didn't have a smack of a well arranged kitchen. And Jonny, too, couldn't he send a few lines as well as birds. The birds are highly relished and thankfully received, I can assure him, but then I can appreciate something else as well as birds. Eddy I thank him for always sending something when others write. Ann will as usual. Hope you are all well. Yours Sincerely, Thad

Locust Grove, S. [?] House,29 Aug. 9th 1862 Esteemed Friend, With much trepidation I bring myself to the task of writing you a let- ter. This may seem a strange introduction for a letter from a friend. But I have in view that terrible drawer into which it may be dropped, and produced in judgement [sic] - against me in after years. I like to be cut loose from all the guyes [sic] of antecedents that I may sway backward and forward ad libitum. Freedom! I like freedom to act and freedom to think. But only think how hampered is a man against whom letters are

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held, that record his past opinions and sentiments. My mind is very much changed in regard to Sumner as being a martyrer [sic] to fanaticism rather than a high moral conviction.30 But only see you have me on the record, in that drawer, as one of his most unqualified admirers. Douglas never rose to a higher atitude of moral sublimity, than when he claimed in his speech in the Senate the privilege to change his opinions as often as his convictions were changed.31 But some may say this was insanity: I make no point about this, it is only the principle - that evry one must admire. Ah the record is a terrible thing for politicians and the reporters are making it more so. But again there are my terrible critics with yard stick in hand, ready to measure the length of my word which may unfortunately not string out to too great length by a glib pen. -1 will mention no names. With all these reflections hanging over a fellow, I ask you if there is not sufficient to trepidate the heart of Thaddeus Minshall letter a lyon [sic] and to constitute a sufficient appology for my impressions. fragment, no date. The When Blondin, last Wednesday, climbed to the top of the high wooden Filson Historical Society structure at the head of Point street, in Chillicothe, and set his foot up the rope that stre[t]ched from thence to the apex of the cupola of the Court House, to walk it, he could with the hard street many feet beneath him, he could hardly have summoned more courage to the performance of his arduous feat, than I have in commencing this letter under the cir- cumstances. By the way this brings me to speake more particularly of Blondin and his feat. Although he is one of the "lyons" [sic] of America the people were in no wise cautious about having him caged and he officiated in the preparation for [h]is feat with perfect freedom; an object of interest to all eyes "and not a cent to pay" He is small in stature, but athletically built. Has sandy hair and com- plexion. A regular sanguine bilious temperament.'2 His eyes are small and squinting and were as hidden by the brow that overhung them, and the lines that converged around them, that we could not ascertain their color; but think they are light. His whole features wore the expression of impurturable [sic] resolution. At the hour of four P.M. he appeared standing on an omnibus that bore him to the point of ascension, attired as Logan the Indian Chief. As he passed along the most deafening shouts greeted him from the vast

10 OHIO VALLEY HISTORY crowd that had assembled to witness the performance. He climbed up the structure for his ascension with an agility that attested the great physi- cal powers of the man, and was soon followed by his agent; when after some adjustment of his attire, he took his pole and prepared for the walk. As he placed his foot upon the rope the most death like silence ensued. Every eye was steadfastly fixed upon him; and thousands of hearts beat with tremulous solicitude for his success. After cautiously balancing himself upon the rope, he took a few steps as if for a trial, and then ran glibly along for about [a] quarter of the distance, and stopping, he poised himself on the tip of his foot, and with the other extended backward, bent forward until he touched the rope with his pole. The attitude was striking and the suspense painful. But when he resumed his position, and seated himself as to rest upon the rope with the nonchalance of a farmer on his fence, an[d] waved his hand in respectful recognition to the crowd, the shout of applause that went up from the street, the win- dows and the housetops made the welkin ring.33 After resting a moment he resumed his position again, and ran along to the point at which the rope ascended to the cupola. Here, again, he performed the same feat, rested as before and started for the steep ascent of the rope. This was done cautiously but with complete success, and when he reached the parapet, took off his Indian plumes and waved his hand to the crowd, another mighty burst of applause went up. He rested here about ten minutes, surveying the crowd with the seeming satisfaction of an eagle perched upon a butting crag of some high mountain; and then started for what was the most difficult part of his performance, the descent from the cupola. As he descended, slowly, and cautiously placing his feet on the rope, the suspense was again painful, and a breathless silence awaited the issue; but he accomplished it with entire success; rested a moment and again ran along to the center of the rope amid the shouts of the crowd, and stepping time to the music as he went. Here he performed the most thrilling exploits. Fastening his bal- ance pole and plumb to the rope, he turned over several times, and then let himself down to the rope that hung festooned from the main one. Here he turned over several times and catching either side in his hands, he stood up in the loop and turned over and over with such rapidity he looked like a revolving wheel. This done, he [illegible] himself hand over hand up to the walking rope, and rested for some time, for he seemed much exhausted; and then performed his last and most thrilling exploit - standing erect upon his head with his hands upon his pole for a con- siderable space. This was real[l]y terrific; his head resting on nothing but an inch and a half rope, his feet seeming to prop the blue sky and the hard street 60 or 70 feet beneath him on which he would have been dashed to pieces by the least tergiversation.34 But the whole was accom-

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plished without the least seeming difficulty and he returned to his point of departure without a single accident, after having performed some of the most wonderful feats, in the list of human achievements. When he descended to the street below he was borne in a chair on the shoulder of three or four men to his hotel the crowd following and cavorting at their heels. And so ended the first ascension of Blondin. We have not room to answer your question what will it all amount to? Suffice it to say it was a great public entertainment by which the people were taught to look up for their amusements - a rather uncommon thing these degenerate days. Remember me to Hannah, Jane and Jonathan. And I had almost forgot Eddie but him of course. Give my respects to the Dr., Tell him I think [illegible]. [Written in the right margin] If you find mistakes as you doubtless will, hope you will correct them and then commit to the flames. [Written in the left margin] Would like to have said more concerning other things - but Blondin has filled my letter as he did Chil[licothe] the other day. Am well - commenced School last Monday. Dismissed last Tuesd until Mon [illegible] being too warm.'5 Yours Sincerely, Thad.

Camp at Edgefield Junction Tenn. Nov 26th, 1862^ Dear Friend: It is so long since I have heard from you directly, that I begin to think my letters must have miscarried. I have as yet received no answers to my two last letters. Maybe they did not merit answers, which is most likely, but I will not believe you thought so, for I know your indulgence would but too freely overlook deficiencies in any one you deem a friend. I have missed your kind and sympathetic letters. I never read them, but I am lead away from the world of fact that surrounds me into the pleasing re[al]ms of human sympathy. I hear kind words, see smiling faces and pleasing home scenes. Of course in such a life as this, such fancies cannot long be indulged without the occurrence of something to recall the mind to the realities around it; but the return is made with chastened feelings and a [illegible] sympathy for our fallen beings. Oh! war is a terrible thing. In its tread it desolates the fair face of nature - all the works of the husbandman, and tramples out all the divine parts of human nature. How long has it been since the most trifling accident would have shocked me - a contused wound or a broken arm. At Per- rysville I passed men with their arms shot away, others with their legs, and hundreds laying stuck dead or mangled in evry conceivable form, with such a caloused indiference that in my reflective moments I can hardly

12 OHIO VALLEY HISTORY persuade myself it was a reality.'7 But such, and of necessity must be, the "trade of war". Let us hope that "Out of evil, good will yet be educed" in this terrible conflict of the American people.38 How is Aunt Margaret? There is something strange in her dreams and supernatural impressions - bordering so near as they do, the confines of truth, in their revelations of the future. When I was home she told me she was impressed that I, and others she named, would go through the war unharmed. Well, since then, I have been in several places of more or less danger and have passed through all unscathed. I thought of this prediction at Chaplin Hills, whilst in the midst of the fight, and when it had closed, lying at night with our broken regiment in a ravine, close to the great Aleddaura39 of the battle that had just closed, I reviewed the events of the past day, and felt, as if, indeed, I had been shielded by the panoply of a "charmed life."40 Corporal Woolem of Co. C, this regiment has just returned. He is one of the number sent on last spring by Gen Mitchell to burn bridges on the RR between Atlanta & Chattanooga. They failed in their ef- fort, were taken prisoners, tried by a Court-Martial and condemned to death, as spies. A number including their Leader Andrews was executed. But he and several others including Corporal Dorsey of my company broke jail and after much suffering and many adventures Woolem and a man belonging to the 21st Ohio succeeded in reaching Corinth. Dorsey we understand has got through safely, but where he is have not yet learned. We had given him up as hopelessly lost. On breaking Jail they separated, he and a man by the name of Hawkins Co. A, 33d took one direction. Woolem and the 21st Ohioan took another, which 41 accounts for their not all arriving together. THADDEVS A. M1NSHALL. CHIRP JCSTSCK. Edgefield Junction is the point of intersection of the Louisville & Nashville R.R. and a branch of the same running by Russelvill[e]. All around is a fine country but sadly desolated by the effects of war. The Ohio Hundred Year Book, Cumberland runs close to, and furnishes us with an abundance of good p. 458 (c. 1901) water. The nights are cool and frosty but the days are clear and fine. The Autumn is fast passing away "Chill November's surly blast has made fields and forests bare" and "Heaped in the hollows of the grove, the withered leaves lie dead."42 One year ago, yesterday, we arrived at Louisville after our campaign in E Ky. How quick the moments fly. It has been a year full of events to the 33d. How many brave fellows, who were with us then - hail and hearty - are no more, or are drag[g]ing out a miserable existence, with constitutions all broken and shattered by disease &C exposure. But what is past we care not for, it is what is to come. It is well we cannot forestal the future or how many would cease fighting the obstacles of life and lie down and die.

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How is Milt getting along[?]. I have been told he is going to quit sol- diering and enlist in a better cause. Give him by best wishes. But Mat B, poor girl, will she not have to take up the song of Balthazar. Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more; Men were deceivers ever; One foot in Sea, and one on shore; To one thing constant never;" and "The fraud of men was ever so. Since summer first was leavy. "43

Well I don't think it is right to thus trifle with affection, but so it has been in affairs of the heart ever since Cupid bent his first bow - Alice. I suppose is still teaching and laughing. Well, I can't see, but that it is as well to laugh away life as to brood it away. Last evening as I was return- ing from a visit to the pickets I rode in by a snug little cot[t]age. A young damsel was sitting on the porch. It was a lovely evening and the sun was just setting - As I passed she looked up. Her face was pale and sad, but lovely. I sense she had no heart for a union soldier and so passed on in silence, only saluting her as respectfully as I could. I felt a strange interest in her story but felt to[o] modest to break with her concerning it. Was she grieving for her country's misfortunes, or the absence of the object of her hearts deepest sympathy. - How is Hannah and the culinary department getting along[?]. Tell her I have a fine fat turkey that I am going to have killed tomorrow, with which to keep Thanksgiving. I purchased it 8 or 10 days ago & have been feeding it all the corn it would eat ever since. I have employed a colored woman that lives just across the way to roast it and supply all the necessary fixins - I have also just had completed a new mess box, a moddle of my own genius. We lost our Old one in the retreat from Ft. McCook last summer.44 We are now getting tolerably well rested, we have not been on the march for a week. Have plenty to eat are sound & hearty, and well contented. Give my best wishes to the Col. Eddy, Jennie & Hannah and believe me - Yours Truly, Thad

Camp Near Murfreesboro Tenn, Mch 26. 1863.4S Dear Friend, A few days since I received a letter from you dated 26th Febry. You said you had not received a line from me for a long time. I suppose, however, you have received a letter since as I have written. I have been a little negligent in answering letters for some time, not because I take no interest in my friends, but from an idiosyncrasy continually leading me into negligence. I have had so many letters to write that I got tired

14 OHIO VALLEY HISTORY of scribbling. I like well enough to read them, but not always as well to write answer them. This is not a very generous trait, I admit, but why not as well acknowledge the truth as conceal it, and endeavor to slap up a plausible apology. The spring here is coming on apace but is not as forward as it was last year. The buds of the trees are beginning to open; peach trees and plum trees are in bloom, and the birds are busy singing and building their nests. I can but reflect how nature and man are at war. Nature is strug[g]ling to give ev[e]ry thing a renewed appearance, but the grim monster, war[,] stalks on in the same unvaried course of deso- lation and ruin. Terrible '- , ^L , / will be the condition of the South this season, nothing but the sponta- neous effort of nature to indicate that the pursuit of agriculture is possible in the country. The con- dition of the people of this country is [w]re[t]ched. They are half starved and almost naked. It Thaddeus Minshall letter is folly to talk about what they might do. Man cannot work without the written near Murfreesboro, encouragement that he has a reasonable hope of enjoying the proceeds Tennessee, March 26, 1863. TheFilson of his labor. The experience of the last year has taught them the pre- Historical Society cariousness of this, and which will be much more so this as the hostil[e] armies are ten times larger than they were last. The people of the South will soon have to consider whether in the prosecution of this war they cannot spare a portion of their abundance to alleviate miseries of the poor people of the South as far as our armies have gone. I care not for them men and hardly for the women, for many of them have done all they could to instigate their sons and brothers to join the rebel army, but the children innocent of any offense, [']tis hard that they should suffer for all the most common necessities of life, through the wickedness of their fathers and mothers. We never go out on an expedition but we see numerous instances of the most miserable destitution and want among children. They come into our camps and gather up eagerly the refuse rations of the men. A few days since we were out at Versailles some 12 m[ile]s from here, and a little boy with bright blue eyes came along on an old starved horse, with no clothing but a pair of old ragged but- ternut je[a]ns pants, an old ragged shirt and a coffee sack thrown over his shoulders. He said he had been down to the mill to get a little meal, but could get none. When we were moving on Murfreesboro, our Div. started on the Franklin pike and had to cross through the country to the

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Nolin Pike, where a brisk fight was in progress. We passed by a house in what had once been a very peaceful little rural district. The roads be- ing bad we passed through the yard. On the porch stood a thinly clad, little blue eyed and fair haired girl of 7 or 8. Her eyes were full of tears, I stopped and asked her for a drink. She handed it to me with a timid hand but said not a word. How I wished to 1. Ross County, Ohio be able to li[gh]ten her heart. I gave her some 2. Camp Jefferson, Hart County, Kentucky money and passed on. I sometimes wish that 3. Perrysvillc, Kentucky if war must be carried on it could be done in 4. Camp Near Edgefield Junction, Tennesst

5. , Near some uninhabited country. Murfreesboro, Tennessee I sent you a picture sometime since of the 6. Camp Near Locust Grope, Jefferson County, Kentucky Battle of Murfreesboro. It is a very good one, and represents the part taken by our Brig, and Starkweather's in the fight.46 I was only in the first day[']s fight being detailed with Co. K to guard the wagons & prevent a Stampede among teamsters. We were at- tacked frequently by the rebel cavalry but dispersed them every time. It is hard to tell what will be done in this dept. for the present, the apprehension of another invasion of Kentucky has I think disconcerted the plans of the General. The idea of another retreat to Louisville is not very desirable on our part. Although Minshall and Rosecrans has declared, however, that he will hold this place. He probably his regiment marched has information not generally known. The rebels have been quite active throughout the Ohio on the front for sometime. The front lines were drawn in a week or so Valley during the war, ago, and the impression is they were feeling out to see what it meant. the shaded areas on this map indicate places of I sent a letter to Jane some weeks ago to which I have not yet received particular importance, an answer. I am looking for the same. including Minshall's home This time last year I was at home, would like to be there now, but I am county in Ohio, major thankful that my health is so good, that it does not require it. You will battle sites, and long-term encampments. soon be going to the woods after fresh wood for the fences. If I was there now I could help you over the fence without breaking down, and carry a bigger load of dirt than Johnny. And then too I would enjoy the thing hugely. The wild flowers are peeping out all through the woods, and a mayapple - we are encamped in a woods - is growing right beneath my desk. Give my best wished to Johnny, Hannah, Jennie & Eddy. Also to Capt. McCoy was sorry he was compelled to resign. Enclosed is a piece of our old Flag. It has been in two big fights. It was riddled at Perrysville by bullets and shell went through it at Stone River. We have recently been presented with a beautiful stand by the citizens of Portsmouth & Chillicothe inscribed with Chaplin Hills & Stone River. Yours affectionately, Thad (write soon)

16 OHIO VALLEY HISTORY he letters that Thaddeus Minshall wrote while in service in the Ohio Valley end here. Although he later participated in one of the war's most Tfamous campaigns, Minshal's letters while on march with Sherman through Georgia and the Carolinas are less compelling than those he wrote nearer to home. Perhaps the relative familiarity of the landscapes of his native Ohio Valley roused his philosophical nature; or perhaps the march through Georgia was significantly less eventful than his experiences in Kentucky and Tennessee and he feared disappointing his reader; or perhaps war simply had worn him down, like it did so many other soldiers and civilians, and he could write no more about it. That his letters survive at all, rather than having been dropped into that "terrible drawer" he mentioned, allows us to benefit from his observations, his perspective, and his insights on the war and the society that fought it. §

1. Thaddeus Minshall to Friend, August 9, 1862, Papers of 3. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, v. 12 Judge Thaddeus A. Minshall, Filson Historical Society, (Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms, 1967), 273. See Louisville, Kentucky (hereinafter cited as Minshall Letters, also Elliot Howard Gilkey, ed., The Ohio Hundred Year FHS). Book, a Handbook of the Public Men and Public Insti- 2. The following description of the 33rd Ohio is taken from tutions of Ohio from the Formation of the North-West William F. Fox, Regimental Losses in the American Civil Territory (1787) to July 1, 1901 (Columbus, Oh.: Fred J. War, 1861-1865 (Albany, NY: Albany Publishing, 1889): Heer, State Printer, 1901), 458. Minshall is also included "Organized in August, 1861, at Portsmouth, Ohio, and in Conspectus of American Biography (Clifton, NJ: James commenced active service in Kentucky, having been assigned T. White and Co., 1973), 353; Henry Holcomb Bennett, to General Nelson's command. In December, 1861, while at ed., State Centennial History of the County of Ross (Ohio) Louisville, it was placed in Sill's Brigade of General O. M. (Madison, Wis.: S.A. Brant, 1902; reprint, Baltimore: Gate- Mitchel's Division, with which it marched to Bacon Creek, way Press, 1981), v. 2, 90, 181-82, 610-11, and passim; and Ky., where it went into winter-quarters. In February Mitch- in Who Was Who in America with World Notables, Vol. IV el advanced to Bowling Green, Ky., and thence to Nashville; (Chicago: Marquis, 1961), a component volume of Who's during the next month his division marched through Ten- Who in American History (Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, nessee, and then to Huntsville, Ala., the summer of 1862 Inc., 1968), 666. being spent in the vicinity of Huntsville and Bridgeport. 4. Minshall attended district schools, the Mt. Pleasant Acad- In September, upon Bragg's advance into Kentucky, the emy in Kingston, Ohio, and studied law under S.L. Wallace army fell back to Louisville, and on October 8, 1862, the of Chillicothe. Ohio Hundred Year Book, 458. Ross Coun- regiment was engaged at the battle of Chaplin Hills, near ty, Ohio is identified as no. 1 on the accompanying map. Perryville, Ky. It was then in Harris's Brigade, Rousseau's 5. Although the identity of Minshall's "Friend" is unknown, Division, McCook's Corps; loss, 21 killed, 78 wounded and his language alludes to (and upon occasion explicitly indi- 10 missing,—out of about 400 engaged. At Stone's River, cates) her gender. That the letters are to his future wife is the Thirty-third, under command of Captain Ellis, fought in unverifiable. Scribner's (1st) Brigade, Rousseau's (1st) Division, Four- teenth Corps,—same brigade and division as before; loss, 2 6. On domesticity, gender, and the "cult of true womanhood," killed, 21 wounded, and 11 missing. The Army lay at Mur- see Barbara Welter, "The Cult of True Womanhood, 1820- freesboro during the ensuing six months, and then started 1860," American Quarterly 18 (Summer 1966): 150-74; on its advance on Chattanooga. At Chickamauga—General Paula Baker, "The Domestication of Politics: Women and Baird commanding the division— the regiment lost 14 American Political Society, 1780-1920," American Histori- killed, 63 wounded, and 83 missing or captured, out of 343 cal Review 89 (June 1984): 620-647; Mary Beth Norton, engaged. Major Ephraim J. Ellis was killed in this action. "The Evolution of White Women's Experience in Early While on the ,—then in Carlin's (1st) America," American Historical Review 89 (June 1984): Brigade, Johnson's (1st) Division, Fourteenth Corps,—the 593-619; Linda Kerber, "Separate Spheres, Female Worlds, regiment had a hard fight at Resaca, in which it suffered the Woman's Place: The Rhetoric of Women's History," Journal severest loss of its experience. Having reenlisted, it served of American History 75 (June 1988): 9-39; Nancy Cott, The until the end of the war"(321). See also Whitelaw Reid, Bonds of Womanhood: "Woman's Sphere" in New Eng- Ohio in the War: Her Statesmen, Generals, and Soldiers, 2 land, 1780-1835 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977). vols. (Cincinnati: Moore, Wilstach, and Baldwin, 1867-68; On the Civil War era, see Barbara Cutter, Domestic Devils, reprint, Columbus, Oh.: Eclectic Publishing, 1893) and Battlefield Angels: The Radicalism of American Woman- Angus L. Waddle, Three Years with the Armies of the Ohio hood, 1830-1865 (DeKalb: Northern University and the Cumberland (Chillicothe, Oh.: Scioto Gazette Book Press, 2003). On the middle class, see Stuart Blumin, "The and Job Office, 1889). Hypothesis of Middle Class Formation in Nineteenth-Cen-

SPRING 2004 17 "THIS TERRIBLE CONFLICT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE"

tury America: A Critique and Some Proposals," Ameri- nineteenth century, was very popular in the . can Historical Review 90 (April 1985): 299-338; Paul E. Made of an alloy of tin and antimony that is spun, rolled, Johnson, A Shopkeeper's Millennium: Society and Revivals and formed into shape rather than cast, it resembles highly in Rochester, New York, 1815-1837 (New York: Hill & polished silver. Wang, 1978); Mary Ryan, Cradle of the Middle Class: The 13. Ideas of gender and masculinity are often tied up in soldiers' Family in Oneida County, New York, 1790-1865 (New reasons for fighting, frequently reflecting their desire to York: Cambridge University Press, 1981); Karen Haltunnen, protect their families. The associations between a nation- Confidence Men and Painted Women: A Study of Middle state and a female figure (whether mothers, spouses, or Class Culture in America, 1830-1879 (New Haven: Yale lovers) are implicit in social constructions of gender. For University Press, 1982); and Stuart Blumin, The Emergence examinations of masculinity in nineteenth-century America, of the Middle Class: Social Experience in the American City, see E. Anthony Rotundo, American Manhood: Transforma- 1760-1900 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981). tions in Masculinity from the Revolution to the Modern Era On nature and Romanticism, see Roderick Nash, Wilder- (New York: Basic Books, 1993) and David G. Pugh, Sons ness and the American Mind (New Haven: Yale University of Liberty: The Masculine Mind in Nineteenth-Century Press, 1982); Donald Worster, Nature's Economy: A History America (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1983). In his of Ecological Ideas (New York: Cambridge University Press, introduction, Pugh suggests that Americans "have always 1994), 81-92; Robert Dorman, A Word for Nature: Four envisioned their nation and the land as feminine, which is to Pioneering Environmental Advocates, 1845-1913 (Cha- say, something to be revered by men but also something to pel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998); and be defeated and controlled by them as a means of expressing Lawrence Buell, The Environmental Imagination: Thoreau, their maleness" (xvii). Minshall never expressed the need Nature Writing, and the Formation of American Culture to conquer or control the feminine landscape, but he did (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, write reverently about both his female correspondent and 1995). the landscapes he described. On the connections between 7. Minshall here describes a performance he saw in Chilli- gender and military service, see R. Claire Snyder, Citizen cothe, Ohio. The tightrope-walker "Blondin" was born Soldiers and Manly Warriors: Military Service and Gender Jean Francois Gravelet in France in 1824 and studied at the in the Civic Republican Tradition (New York: Rowman &c Ecole de Gymnase at Lyons beginning at the age of five. He Littlefield, 1999). See also James M. McPherson, For Cause performed in Europe, but became famous in the U.S. after and Comrade: Why Men Fought in the Civil War (New his 1859 crossing of Niagara Falls some 160 feet above the York: Oxford University Press, 1997) and Earl J. Hess, The water. Union Soldier in Battle: Enduring the Ordeal of Combat 8. Letter to Friend, November 26, 1862, Minshall Letters, (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1997). FHS. Minshall's words here mirror those of Abraham 14. A demon. Lincoln, who called the war in his July 4, 1861, message to 15. Home was a powerful symbol during the Civil War for Congress "a people's contest." soldiers and civilians alike. For the soldiers' perspective, 9. The first letter is incomplete, as is the second; however, the see Reid Mitchell, The Vacant Chair: The Northern Soldier second letter is likely the final section of the first, as his tone Leaves Home (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993). and some of his subjects are the same in both, most notably For an excellent introduction to the significance of home on a cake sent to him by "Hannah." Both letters (or portions the home front, see Phillip Shaw Paludan, War and Home: of the same) have been edited slightly, with the incomplete The Civil War Encounter (Marquette, Wis.: Marquette sentence ending the first and an incomplete paragraph University Press, 1998); for a more thorough study of the beginning the second omitted. northern home front and home, see Paludan, "A People's 10. The 1862 date is correct based on the events Minshall Contest": The Union and Civil War, 1861-1865 (New describes in his letter. Camp Jefferson sat approximately York: Harper and Row, 1988). thirty miles south of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, at the 16. For a brief but insightful description of the effects of disease junction of Bacon Creek and the Louisville and Nashville on the physical and psychological health of Civil War sol- Railroad (present-day Bonnieville, Hart County, Kentucky). diers, see James M. McPherson, : The Although Minshall does not give any indication of the Civil War Era (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), precise location, a private in Co. H, 21st Ohio Volunteer In- 485-488. McPherson argues, "Soldiers who believed they fantry, wrote a letter home from the same camp a day after were more likely to get well outside a hospital than inside it Minshall wrote his, providing more specific geographical may have been right," attributing this to the "state of medi- information. See Liberty Warner to Aunt, January 3, 1862, cal knowledge" rather than to "the particular incompetence Liberty Warner Papers, Center for Archival Collections, MS of army doctors" and notes that the Civil War "was fought 624 mf, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, at the end of the medical Middle Ages." Ohio. Transcriptions of Warner's letters are accessible 17. Refers to General , commander of the at: http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/cac/transcripts/ federal Department of the Ohio. Buell was relieved of his msO624tb.html. Angus Waddle also noted the location of command after the battle at Perryville. Minshall's more the camp in his book Three Years with the Armies of the intimate acquaintances remain unidentified. Ohio and Cumberland. 18. Minshall means Fort Sumter, in the Charleston, South 11. Lieutenant Angus L. Waddle served as First Lieutenant for Carolina, harbor, where the first shots of the war were fired Co. H of the 33rd Ohio. He wrote an account of the 33rd on April 12, 1861. Ohio's service in the war that was published originally in Ohio Soldier, later published as a book. Bennett, ed., State 19. Minshall's reference is to Patrick Henry's famous speech Centennial History of the County of Ross (Ohio), v. 2, 90. given before the House of Burgesses on March 23, 1777. 12. Britannia ware, also known as "White Metal," first manu- factured in Great Britain in the late-eighteenth or early-

18 OHIO VALLEY HISTORY 20. Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Russia in 1812 and attacked 30. was a U.S. senator from Massachusetts. the city of Moscow in September. Rather than allow Napo- He was an abolitionist whose views were passionate leon to take the city intact, Count Fyodor Rostopchin, the enough to be seen by many as extreme. governor of Moscow, ordered the city set afire. Curtis Cate, 31. Stephen Douglas was a U.S. senator from Illinois. His de- The War of the Two Emperors: The Duel Between Napo- bates with in 1858 gained him notoriety. leon and Alexander, Russia, 1812 (New York: Random House, 1985), 273. For a first-hand account, see Carl von 32. Quick or hot tempered. Clausewitz, The Campaign of 1812 in Russia (London: J. 33. Colloq.: made a very loud sound. Murray, 1843, reprint; New York: Da Capo Press, 1995). 34. Equivocation. 21. Henchmen. 35. It is unclear what school Minshall refers to. 22. Confederate president tapped James Mason 36. Number 4 on map. of Georgia and John Slidell of Louisiana as the Confeder- acy's diplomats to Great Britain and France, respectively. 37. On October 7, 1862, Confederate forces under Braxton They were en route to Europe via Cuba on the British mail Bragg and federal forces under Don Carlos Buell fought steamer the Trent when, on November 8, 1861, Captain near Perryville, Kentucky (no. 3 on map). A drought in the James Wilkes of the U.S.S. San Jacinto intercepted the ship, area caused water to become the main objective of both fired twice upon it, and took the two emissaries prisoner. armies. The battle was significant not only for the relative- Great Britain's Parliament and prime minister objected ly high numbers of casualties on both sides - 4,200 Federals vociferously, demanding both a formal apology for the and 3,400 Confederates - but also because the Union vic- affront and the release of Mason and Slidell. France tacitly tory repulsed the first Confederate invasion of Union-held sided with Great Britain, although without issuing its own territory, thereby dissipating any European recognition of ultimatum. President Lincoln and his secretary of state, the Confederacy. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 858). William Seward, freed the two men, thus appeasing the See also Kenneth W. Noe, Perryville: This Grand Havoc of two European powers, while at the same time asserting the Battle (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2001), Earl principle of neutral rights. J. Hess, Banners to the Breeze: The Kentucky Campaign, Corinth, and Stones River (Lincoln: University of Nebraska 23. Refers to the "cult of domesticity" and its expectation that Press, 2000), and James Lee McDonough, War in Ken- women were neither interested in nor capable of discussing tucky: From Shiloh to Perryville (Knoxville: University of political matters. Tennessee Press, 1994). 24. This sentence in particular indicates the connection between 38. Refers to the Latin phrase ex malo bonum; transl.: from the first and second letters as being two parts of one incom- evil good comes. plete letter. 39. Minshall likely means adularia, or fracture. 25. The February 6, 1862, Union capture of Fort Henry on the Tennessee River opened the way for Union troops and gun- 40. Likely reference to bluffs of the Chaplin River near the Per- ships to assail Fort Donelson, which troops under Ulysses S. ryville battlefield. Grant took on February 16, gaining control over Tennessee 41. Minshall refers to the famous Union raid and capture of the and Kentucky. locomotive "General." In April 1862, Brigadier-General 26. Joshua W. Sill of Chillicothe, Ohio, a West Point graduate Ormsby M. Mitchel ordered the destruction of bridges and who resigned his army commission briefly in 1860, served track along the Western and Atlantic Railroad in order to as a colonel and a brigade commander over Minshall's regi- isolate Chattanooga. Several members of the 33rd Ohio, ment until his promotion to brigadier-general in late 1861. along with several from the 21st and 2nd Ohio regiments, He was killed at Stones River, near Murfreesboro, Ten- undertook this "daring deed," which was, according to nessee, on December 31, 1862. Bennett, State Centennial William F. Fox, "without an equal in its thrilling story of History of the County of Ross (Ohio), 92-93; Reid, Ohio in danger" (Fox, Regimental Losses in the American Civil the War, v. 1, 919-920. War, 496). J.J. Andrews of Kentucky led the raid; members of the 33rd who participated were John Woolam (or Whol- 27. Disease took a terrible toll on Civil War soldiers. For every lan), Daniel A. Dorsey, Jacob Parrot, Samuel Roberson, soldier, Union or Confederate, who died in combat, two Samuel Slavens, Corporal William Reddick, and Martin J. died of disease or infection. Diseases such as malaria, dys- Hawkins. Andrews and seven of the raiders were captured entery, cholera, typhoid, pneumonia, and measles frequently and hanged, but several men received Medals of Honor attacked the troops, especially those from rural areas who either for their bravery in this operation or for other had not been exposed before and those who were new to remarkable service during the war. Table D, Medals of army life. Honor Recipients, October 31, 1864, annual report to Sec- 28. On sexuality and marriage in relation to true womanhood, retary of War, The War of the Rebellion: Official Records see John D'Emilio and Estelle , Intimate Matters: of the Union and Confederate Armies (Washington, D.C., A History of Sexuality in America (New York: Harper & 1881-1901) [hereinafter cited as OR], ser. Ill, vol. 4, 814. Row, 1988; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999); See also Reid, Ohio in the War, 591-616; [Joseph Holt], on marriage, true womanhood, and moral reform, see Chris Ohio Boys in Dixie: The Adventures of Twenty-two Scouts Dixon, Perfecting the Family: Antislavery Marriages in Sent by Gen. O.M. Mitchell to Destroy a Railroad (New Nineteenth-Century America (Amherst: University of Mas- York: Miller & Mathews, 1863), and Waddle, Three Years, sachusetts Press, 1997). 12-13. 29. Minshall may be referring to Springfield, a farm neighbor- 42. The first quotation comes from Robert Burns, "Man Was ing the estate of William and Lucy Clark Croghan, Locust Made to Mourn: A Dirge." The second from William Cul- Grove. len Bryant's "Death of the Flowers." Minshall misquotes the two slightly, adding "has" in the first and substituting "withered" for "autumn" in the second.

SPRING 2004 19 "THIS TERRIBLE CONFLICT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

43. From William Shakespeare's play, "Much Ado About Noth- ing," Act II, Scene 3. "Leavy" should be "leafy." 44. Fort McCook was located on Battle Creek near Jasper, Ten- nessee, overlooking the Tennessee River. 45. Confederates under attacked Union forces under William S. Rosecrans early on December 31, 1862, along the Stones River near Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The battle ended on January 1, 1863, as a marginal Union vic- tory, but both sides suffered some fourteen thousand casual- ties. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 582. 46. John C. Starkweather was colonel of the 1st Wisconsin Vol- unteer Infantry. A twenty-two-year-old lawyer from Coo- perstown, New York, Starkweather lost nearly one-third of his regiment at Perryville, but received official commenda- tion from his superior officers for his role at the battle. See reports of Alexander M. McCook and Lovell S. Rousseau, both in OR, ser. I, v. 16, 1040, 1043, 1048, 1155-6.

20 OHIO VALLEY HISTORY