Masters of Fate: Efficacy and Emotion in the Civil War South

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Masters of Fate: Efficacy and Emotion in the Civil War South MASTERS OF FATE: EFFICACY AND EMOTION IN THE CIVIL WAR SOUTH by KYLE NICHOLAS OSBORN (Under the direction of John C. Inscoe) ABSTRACT This dissertation uses social-cognitive theory to analyze the emotions of white Southerners as they experienced secession and the Civil War. It argues that white Southerners showcased two major personality types of high-efficacy and low-efficacy during this timeframe. It furthermore suggests that that each personality type heavily influenced how individual Southerners envisioned secession, their Northern enemy, and the necessary level of brutality in waging the war for Southern independence. INDEX WORDS: Civil War, secession, Old South, emotions history, social-cognitive theory. MASTERS OF FATE: EFFICACY AND EMOTION IN THE CIVIL WAR SOUTH by KYLE N. OSBORN B.A., EAST TENESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY, 2004 M.A., EAST TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERITY, 2007 M.A.T., EAST TENNSEE STATE UNIVERSITY, 2007 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2013 © 2013 Kyle N. Osborn All Rights Reserved MASTERS OF FATE: EFFICACY AND EMOTION IN THE CIVIL WAR SOUTH by KYLE NICHOLAS OSBORN Major Professor: John C. Inscoe Committee: Stephen Berry James C. Cobb Laura Mason Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia August 2013 iv ACKNOWLDGEMENTS Many people have helped make this dissertation possible. Professor Laura Mason has provided tremendous theoretical insight in the realm of cultural studies, a tricky terrain for even the most sure-footed student. Professor James Cobb especially helped me circumvent some of the pitfalls of repetition that come inherent in a study of North-South relations, a topic that historians have wrote upon voluminously for generations. Professor Stephen Berry has likewise guided me through some of the bustling terrain of emotions history and the concept of emotionality itself. I have no doubt greatly benefitted from working with such fine and courteous scholars. Professor John Inscoe has provided a mentorship that went miles beyond what any graduate student could even whimsically expect of a major advisor. His approach to the discipline of history, the craft of teaching, and the culture of academia are absolute models of inspiration to all who know him. He patiently oversaw this dissertation as it “evolved” from a study of Appalachian racial attitudes, to Appalachian visions of Northern society, to Southern visions of Northern society, to, finally, a study of Southern emotions during the Civil War era. It is my great fortune to include myself among the proud column v of Inscoe students who have contributed so tremendously (and will contribute more) to the fields of Appalachian and Southern history. If I ever become half the scholar Dr. Inscoe is, I will consider myself a wild success. If errors in fact or interpretation appear in my dissertation, they are of course mine, and mine alone. I would also like to thank Professor Andrew Slap at East Tennessee State University. However cruel it may have seemed at times, Andy originally encouraged me toward a career as an academic historian after I survived his fascinating graduate seminar in the Civil War era. I would like to thank my students at the University of Georgia for always providing me with fresh insights on history and (unknowingly to them most likely) for constantly re-generating my love for history and teaching even as I wandered into the dark and lonely corridors of completing a dissertation. I would like to thank my parents for always showing faith in my extended educational endeavors, even when they clearly deserved nothing of the sort. Finally, a great deal of gratitude goes to Cindy and my daughter Maya. Cindy did not help me conduct research, she did not type out my manuscript, nor, to my knowledge at least, has she ever read a single word of the document that appears below. Nevertheless, I can safely say that I probably would never have completed this dissertation without her. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMETNS . vi INTRODUCTION: The Masters of Fate . 1 CHAPTER 1 THEIR NORTHS: ANTEBELLUM SOUTHERN TRAVELLERS AND SECTIONAL IDENTITY . 22 2 THE SPLIT PERSONALITY OF THE SECEDING SOUTH . 60 3 AN EMOTIONAL REBELLION: THE COMING OF THE CIVIL WAR AS A DOUBLE REVOLUTION FOR CONFEDERATE WOMEN . 93 4 WAR BY HATE: HIGH-EFFICACY CONFEDERATES AND THE CONTAGIOPN OF ANGER . 134 5 WAR BY FATE: LOW-EFFICACY CONFEDERATES AND PROVIDENITAL FATALISM . 171 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 204 1 INTRODUCTION: THE MASTERS OF FATE Southern blood was running hot by March 1861. From Montgomery, Alabama, a group of elites passed the time in a hotel parlor by pondering their impending conflict with the North. The conversation inevitably turned to attacks against the Yankee character, which was supposedly epitomized by President Abraham Lincoln despite his Kentucky birth and Illinois residence. The recently-inaugurated Republican was, according to one woman, emblematic of the “kind who are always at corner stores sitting on boxes, whittling sticks, and telling stories as funny as they are vulgar.” Another man opined that any future civil war would end promptly once Yankee pockets felt the slightest financial pinch. At this point, a woman of Northern nativity among the group objected to the string of banalities cast against her regional homeland. “Yankees are no more mean and stingy than you are,” she protested, and “people at the North are as good as people at the South.” The congregants apologized and sat silently as the Northern defender continued her plea. But under that silence stewed fiery wrath, at least in the heart of Mary Chestnut. “If I were at the North I should expect them to belabour us and should hold my 2 tongue,” she recalled bitterly. For “we are divorced, North and South, because we hated each other so.”1 While Chestnut’s remark resonates with the power of cold finality, it was not the emotional experience of all Southerners as they severed their ties with the national Union. From Mississippi, Ann Lewis Hardeman felt far more trepidation than rancor. “This day the president elect [Lincoln] is to be inaugurated,” she somberly recorded in her diary on the fourth day of March, “no one knows what a day may bring forth – O that God may make our cause His own.” Hardeman had been wrestling with tortured anxiety for months. Weeks earlier she had learned from her nephew that sectional “war with all its horrors was inevitable!,” and Yankee invasion imminent. “I cannot describe my feelings,” she wrote in helpless refrain, “Lord have mercy upon me and sustain me in time of sore trial and danger – ‘thou O God art my only refuge.’” Why did Chestnut and Hardeman react with such disparate emotions to secession and the prospect of war? How did these emotions impact their visions of their newly refashioned Northern antagonists? How would these sentiments shape the war to follow? These are the major questions this study seeks to address.2 1 Diary Entry of 14 March 1861, in Ben Ames Williams, ed., A Diary from Dixie by Mary Boykin Chestnut (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980), 19-20. 2 Diary Entries of 4 March 1861, and 9 February 1861, in Ann Lewis Hardeman Diary, in Michael O’Brien, ed., An Evening when Alone: Four Journals of Single Women in the South, 1827-1867 (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993), 322, 319. 3 This dissertation will argue that these divergent reactions of anger and anxiety (probably the two most dominant Southern sentiments during the sectional conflict) corresponded with entrenched personalities developed during the antebellum era; and that these dual personalities proved highly influential in both how Southerners embraced secession, and then how they demanded the Civil War be fought. While most scholars, including historians, have used the term “personality” without giving it much explicit thought or analysis, seeing it as something ethereal and indefinable, psychologists have long analyzed the concept with rigor and precision. For example, psychologist Richard Ryckman defines personality as an individual’s “dynamic and organized set of characteristics . that uniquely influences his or her cognitions, motivations, and behaviors in various settings.” In other words, personality is the patterns and consistencies shown in one’s thoughts, actions, and emotions over time, the propensity for a person to react to a dramatic event like Lincoln’s election with passive fright as opposed to fiery indignation.3 But, of course, the real question becomes - what creates personality? What factors help explain why Southerners were inclined to react as they did in 1861? Here, social psychology 3 Richard M. Ryckman, Theories of Personality (Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2008), 4; While no historian has dealt explicitly with personality theory per se, historian Peter N. Stearns advocated for something similar with his theorization for “behavioral history.” See Stearns, ed., American Behavioral History: An Introduction (New York: New York University Press, 2005), 1-16. 4 provides insight through its focus on social factors like cultural learning and life experience, treating personality as a learned (and historical) phenomenon rather than the manifestation of inborn traits or characteristics. According to the bellwether theories of Albert Bandura, the most prominent social psychologist dedicated to the topic, the key to personality formation lies in a person’s “efficacy expectations,” meaning the perceived degree to which people can successfully manipulate and control their circumstances to attain favorable outcomes. In brief, according to Banudra’s theories, individuals with high-efficacy expectations tend to attack challenging situations with confidence and aggression (and show less tolerance for obstructions to their “best laid schemes”), while their low-efficacy counterparts consistently shy away from scenarios they deem beyond their competency to master.
Recommended publications
  • Diplomacy and the American Civil War: the Impact on Anglo- American Relations
    James Madison University JMU Scholarly Commons Masters Theses, 2020-current The Graduate School 5-8-2020 Diplomacy and the American Civil War: The impact on Anglo- American relations Johnathan Seitz Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/masters202029 Part of the Diplomatic History Commons, Public History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Seitz, Johnathan, "Diplomacy and the American Civil War: The impact on Anglo-American relations" (2020). Masters Theses, 2020-current. 56. https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/masters202029/56 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the The Graduate School at JMU Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses, 2020-current by an authorized administrator of JMU Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Diplomacy and the American Civil War: The Impact on Anglo-American Relations Johnathan Bryant Seitz A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of History May 2020 FACULTY COMMITTEE: Committee Chair: Dr. Steven Guerrier Committee Members/ Readers: Dr. David Dillard Dr. John Butt Table of Contents List of Figures..................................................................................................................iii Abstract............................................................................................................................iv Introduction.......................................................................................................................1
    [Show full text]
  • “What Are Marines For?” the United States Marine Corps
    “WHAT ARE MARINES FOR?” THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS IN THE CIVIL WAR ERA A Dissertation by MICHAEL EDWARD KRIVDO Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2011 Major Subject: History “What Are Marines For?” The United States Marine Corps in the Civil War Era Copyright 2011 Michael Edward Krivdo “WHAT ARE MARINES FOR?” THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS IN THE CIVIL WAR ERA A Dissertation by MICHAEL EDWARD KRIVDO Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved by: Chair of Committee, Joseph G. Dawson, III Committee Members, R. J. Q. Adams James C. Bradford Peter J. Hugill David Vaught Head of Department, Walter L. Buenger May 2011 Major Subject: History iii ABSTRACT “What Are Marines For?” The United States Marine Corps in the Civil War Era. (May 2011) Michael E. Krivdo, B.A., Texas A&M University; M.A., Texas A&M University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Joseph G. Dawson, III This dissertation provides analysis on several areas of study related to the history of the United States Marine Corps in the Civil War Era. One element scrutinizes the efforts of Commandant Archibald Henderson to transform the Corps into a more nimble and professional organization. Henderson's initiatives are placed within the framework of the several fundamental changes that the U.S. Navy was undergoing as it worked to experiment with, acquire, and incorporate new naval technologies into its own operational concept.
    [Show full text]
  • Honoring the Southern Cause 150 Years
    3B Company B May This event calendar is for the Georgia Cavalry to capture times for rides, meetings, or any event you would like to share with others. This list is just for your information on events around the South. We will update and send out every two weeks. So if you have an event you want to let others know about, send it in for us to post. Send events to [email protected]. After an event date has passed on the calendar event will be deleted. Honoring the Southern Cause 150 Years Happy Memorial Day By proclamation of General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, the first major Memorial Day observance is held to honor those who died “in defense of their country during the late rebellion.” Known to some as “Decoration Day,” mourners honored the Civil War dead by decorating their graves with flowers. On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried in the cemetery. The 1868 celebration was inspired by local observances that had taken place in various locations in the three years since the end of the Civil War. In fact, several cities claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day, including Columbus, Mississippi; Macon, Georgia; Richmond, Virginia; Boalsburg, Pennsylvania; and Carbondale, Illinois. In 1966, the federal government, under the direction of President Lyndon B. Johnson, declared Waterloo, New York, the official birthplace of Memorial Day.
    [Show full text]
  • Slavery and the Underground Railroad at the Eppes Plantations, Petersburg National Battlefield Cover: Appomattox Manor at City Point, Virginia
    National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Petersburg National Battlefield Petersburg, Virginia Slavery and the Underground Railroad at the Eppes Plantations, Petersburg National Battlefield Cover: Appomattox Manor at City Point, Virginia. Photo courtesy National Park Service. SLAVERY AND THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD At the Eppes Plantations Petersburg National Battlefield Special History Study by Marie Tyler-McGraw Prepared for Organization of American Historians Under cooperative agreement with Northeast Region National Park Service U. S. Department of the Interior Printed December 2005 Contents Acknowledgements 10 Executive Summary Research Methods and Summary of Findings 11 Chapter 1 Frontiers and Boundaries (1640s – 1765) 15 Landscape and settlement on the James River and Appomattox colonial frontier. Origins of slavery and early resistance Chapter 2 Revolutions (1765 – 1816) 20 Revolutions in Agricultural Production, Government, Religious Practice and Belief in Eastern Virginia Escape to the British and service in the Continental Armies during the Revolution Slavery in early Federal Virginia Chapter 3 The Great Divide (1816 – 1844) 26 East Virginia slavery, fugitives and free blacks in the national political divisions over slavery Chapter 4 Calculating the Costs (1848 – 1862) 31 Leaving and staying in the age of sectional hostility Shrinking distances and a nearby Underground Railroad Daily life on the late antebellum Eppes plantations Chapter 5 Contraband: Escape During the Civil War (1861 – 1867) 42 Escape and return in the Civil War era Chapter 6 The Underground Railroad in Petersburg 46 In the region of the Eppes plantations Footnotes 57 Appendices I. Richard Eppes’s Code of Laws for the Island Plantation 66 II. Enslaved Families on the Eppes Plantations 70 III.
    [Show full text]
  • The Causes of the Civil War
    THE CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR: A NEWSPAPER ANALYSIS by DIANNE M. BRAGG WM. DAVID SLOAN, COMMITTEE CHAIR GEORGE RABLE MEG LAMME KARLA K. GOWER CHRIS ROBERTS A DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Communication and Information Sciences in the Graduate School of The University of Alabama TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA 2013 Copyright Dianne Marie Bragg 2013 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT This dissertation examines antebellum newspaper content in an attempt to add to the historical understanding of the causes of the Civil War. Numerous historians have studied the Civil War and its causes, but this study will use only newspapers to examine what they can show about the causes that eventually led the country to war. Newspapers have long chronicled events in American history, and they offer valuable information about the issues and concerns of their communities. This study begins with an overview of the newspaper coverage of the tariff and territorial issues that began to divide the country in the early decades of the 1800s. The study then moves from the Wilmot Proviso in 1846 to Lincoln’s election in 1860, a period in which sectionalism and disunion increasingly appeared on newspaper pages and the lines of disagreement between the North and the South hardened. The primary sources used in this study were a diverse sampling of articles from newspapers around the country and includes representation from both southern and northern newspapers. Studying these antebellum newspapers offers insight into the political, social, and economic concerns of the day, which can give an indication of how the sectional differences in these areas became so divisive.
    [Show full text]
  • Articles  195
    ARTICLES 195 HOW A CALIFORNIA SETTLER UNSETTLED THE PROSLAVERY LEGISLATURE OF ANTEBELLUM LOUISIANA ALEXANDRA HAVRYLYSHYN* Introduction lavery in the antebellum American South depended upon a set of laws designed Sto enslave and exploit individuals on the basis of their race, while protecting the owners of human property. A long line of literature has established this.1 One might expect that those at the bottom of the hierarchy — enslaved women and girls of African descent — would have no hope of contesting their status. R ecent literature demonstrates that there were in fact legal pathways to freedom.2 Thispaper was awarded first place in the California Supreme Court Historical So- ciety’s 2018 CSCHS Selma Moidel Smith Student Writing Competition in California Legal History. * JD, PhD, 2018, University of California Berkeley School of Law. 1 Derrick Bell, Race, Racism, and American Law (New York: Aspen Publishers, 2004); Eugene Genovese, Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made (New York: Pantheon Books, 1974); Ulrich Bonnell Phillips, American Negro Slavery: A Survey of the Supply, Employment and Control of Negro Labor as Determined by the Plantation Regime (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1966); Thomas Morris,Southern Slavery and the Law, 1619–1860 (Cha- pel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1996); Kenneth Stampp, The Peculiar Institu- tion: Slavery in the Ante-Bellum South (New York: Vintage Books, 1989). 2 Rosemary Brana-Shute and Randy Sparks, Paths to Freedom: Manumission in the Atlantic World (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2009); Alejandro de 196 CALIFORNIA LEGAL HISTORY ✯ VOLUME 14, 2019 This article uncovers the little-known history of Judge John McHenry, a trial judge at the First District Court of New Orleans.
    [Show full text]
  • Indian Place-Names in Mississippi. Lea Leslie Seale Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College
    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1939 Indian Place-Names in Mississippi. Lea Leslie Seale Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Seale, Lea Leslie, "Indian Place-Names in Mississippi." (1939). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 7812. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/7812 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. MANUSCRIPT THESES Unpublished theses submitted for the master^ and doctorfs degrees and deposited in the Louisiana State University Library are available for inspection* Use of any thesis is limited by the rights of the author* Bibliographical references may be noted3 but passages may not be copied unless the author has given permission# Credit must be given in subsequent written or published work# A library which borrows this thesis for vise by its clientele is expected to make sure that the borrower is aware of the above restrictions, LOUISIANA. STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 119-a INDIAN PLACE-NAMES IN MISSISSIPPI A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisian© State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In The Department of English By Lea L # Seale M* A*, Louisiana State University* 1933 1 9 3 9 UMi Number: DP69190 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted.
    [Show full text]
  • A History of Heat in the Subtropical American South
    Mississippi State University Scholars Junction Theses and Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 1-1-2017 By Degree: A History of Heat in the Subtropical American South Jason Hauser Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td Recommended Citation Hauser, Jason, "By Degree: A History of Heat in the Subtropical American South" (2017). Theses and Dissertations. 943. https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td/943 This Dissertation - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Scholars Junction. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholars Junction. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Template A v3.0 (beta): Created by J. Nail 06/2015 By degree: A history of heat in the subtropical American south By TITLE PAGE Jason Hauser A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Mississippi State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in United States History in the Department of History Mississippi State, Mississippi August 2017 Copyright by COPYRIGHT PAGE Jason Hauser 2017 By degree: A history of heat in the subtropical American south By APPROVAL PAGE Jason Hauser Approved: ____________________________________ James C. Giesen (Major Professor) ____________________________________ Mark D. Hersey (Minor Professor) ____________________________________ Anne E. Marshall (Committee Member) ____________________________________ Alan I Marcus (Committee Member) ____________________________________ Alexandra E. Hui (Committee Member) ____________________________________ Stephen C. Brain (Graduate Coordinator) ____________________________________ Rick Travis Dean College of Arts and Sciences Name: Jason Hauser ABSTRACT Date of Degree: August 11, 2017 Institution: Mississippi State University Major Field: United States History Major Professor: James C.
    [Show full text]
  • John Taylor Wood: Man of Action, Man of Honor
    The Cape Fear Civil War Round Table John Taylor Wood: Man of Action, Man of Honor By Tim Winstead History 454 December 4, 2009 On July 20, 1904, a short obituary note appeared on page seven of the New York Times. It simply stated, "Captain John Taylor Wood, grandson of President Zachary Taylor and nephew of Jefferson Davis, died in Halifax, N.S. yesterday, seventy-four years old." The note also stated that Wood served as a United States Navy midshipman, fought in the Mexican War, served as a Confederate army colonel on the staff of Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee's army, escaped the collapse of the Confederacy with General Breckinridge to Cuba, and was a resident of Halifax, Nova Scotia when he passed. In one paragraph, the obituary writer prepared the outline of the life of a man who participated in many of the major events of the American Civil War. John Taylor Wood's story was much more expansive and interwoven with the people and history of the Civil War era than the one paragraph credited to him by the Times. This paper examined the events in which Wood found himself immersed and sought to determine his role in those events. The main focus of the paper was Wood's exploits during his service to the Confederate States of America. His unique relationships with the leadership of the Confederacy ensured that he was close at hand when decisions were made which affected the outcome of the South's gamble for independence. Was John Taylor Wood the Forrest Gump of his day? Was it mere chance that Wood was at Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862, at Drewry's Bluff on May 15, 1862, abroad the USS Satellite in August 1863, aboard the USS Underwriter at New Berne in February 1864, abroad the CSS Tallahassee in August 1864, or with Jefferson Davis on the "unfortunate day" in Georgia on May 10, 1865? Was it only his relationship with Jefferson Davis that saw Wood engaged in these varied events? This paper examined these questions and sought to establish that it was Wood's competence and daring that placed him at the aforementioned actions and not Jefferson Davis's nepotism.
    [Show full text]
  • Help Save 120 Acres at Fisher's Hill
    HELP SAVE 120 ACRES AT FISHER’S HILL “THERE WAS SATAN TO PAY” ● THE BATTLE OF FISHER’S HILL “There was Satan to pay on the right…a volcano of cannonade and musketry.” – U.S. Capt. John William DeForest, 12th Connecticut Infantry Sketch of battle by James E. Taylor. Courtesy the Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio “THE ONLY PLACE WHERE A STAND COULD BE MADE” from the VI Corps, in the center of the Union line, advanced to the ridgeline opposite Pegram’s Hill, prompting a furious response from After a series of victories in the summer of 1864 by Confederates southern artillery. Capt. Fitts remembered [how] “The rushing and under Gen. Jubal A. Early had thrown the north into an uproar screaming of the ponderous missiles filled the air.” and imperiled Abraham Lincoln’s reelection, Union Gen. Philip H. Sheridan was sent to the Shenandoah Valley to bring an end to Crook launched his assault about 4 pm, scattering the Confederate Confederate dominance. After Sheridan’s much-larger force cavalry and hitting the end of the southern line “like a thunderbolt.” delivered a crushing defeat to Early’s army at Third Winchester Gen. Stephen Dodson Ramseur’s men initially put up a stubborn on September 19, Early withdrew his army south to the imposing resistance, but broke under pressure from multiple directions. defensive position of Fisher’s Hill, which Early believed “was the Sheridan ordered the rest of the Federals forward. In the center, the only place where a stand could be made.” The Federals pursued, troops of the VI Corps moved across the target property, past Pifer’s and by September 21 the armies faced each other again.
    [Show full text]
  • CHAIRMEN of SENATE STANDING COMMITTEES [Table 5-3] 1789–Present
    CHAIRMEN OF SENATE STANDING COMMITTEES [Table 5-3] 1789–present INTRODUCTION The following is a list of chairmen of all standing Senate committees, as well as the chairmen of select and joint committees that were precursors to Senate committees. (Other special and select committees of the twentieth century appear in Table 5-4.) Current standing committees are highlighted in yellow. The names of chairmen were taken from the Congressional Directory from 1816–1991. Four standing committees were founded before 1816. They were the Joint Committee on ENROLLED BILLS (established 1789), the joint Committee on the LIBRARY (established 1806), the Committee to AUDIT AND CONTROL THE CONTINGENT EXPENSES OF THE SENATE (established 1807), and the Committee on ENGROSSED BILLS (established 1810). The names of the chairmen of these committees for the years before 1816 were taken from the Annals of Congress. This list also enumerates the dates of establishment and termination of each committee. These dates were taken from Walter Stubbs, Congressional Committees, 1789–1982: A Checklist (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1985). There were eleven committees for which the dates of existence listed in Congressional Committees, 1789–1982 did not match the dates the committees were listed in the Congressional Directory. The committees are: ENGROSSED BILLS, ENROLLED BILLS, EXAMINE THE SEVERAL BRANCHES OF THE CIVIL SERVICE, Joint Committee on the LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, LIBRARY, PENSIONS, PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS, RETRENCHMENT, REVOLUTIONARY CLAIMS, ROADS AND CANALS, and the Select Committee to Revise the RULES of the Senate. For these committees, the dates are listed according to Congressional Committees, 1789– 1982, with a note next to the dates detailing the discrepancy.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Gorgas, Josiah. the Journals of Josiah Gorgas, 1857-1878. Edited
    Gorgas, Josiah. The Journals of Josiah Gorgas, 1857-1878. Edited by Sarah Woolfolk Wiggins. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1995. Joining the Confederacy, 37 Review of first year of war, 41-45 Nathaniel Lyon, 42 Robert S. Garnett, 41-42 Albert Sidney Johnston, 43 Monitor and Merrimac, 43-45 Seven Pines, 45 Jefferson Davis, Beauregard, Corinth, 46 England, France, diplomatic recognition, 46 Loss of New Orleans, 47 Seven Days campaign, 47-48 Railroads poorly run, 49 Jefferson Davis confirmed in Episcopal church, 49-50 Morality of generals, Pope, Jackson, Bragg, Buell, 50 Conscription, 51 Lincoln, Pope, McClellan, 51 Antietam campaign, 52- Bragg's Kentucky campaign, 52-55 Emancipation Proclamation, 53 Explosion at laboratory on Brown's Island, women killed, 57 Jefferson Davis and defense of Mississippi, 57-58 Food prices, blockade running, fortunes made, 58 Fasting, humiliation, and prayer, 58 Richmond bread riot, 59-60 Charleston, Fort Sumter, Union bombardment, 61-62 Conscription, 61 Sulfolk campaign, 62-63 Chancellorsville campaign, 63-67 Wounding of Stonewall Jackson, death, 65-66 Union, draft, Lincoln, divisions at the North, length of war, 66 Vicksburg campaign, 67-75 Gettysburg campaign, 70-75 Falls of New Orleans and Mansfield Lovell, 70 Winchester, Milroy, 71 Jefferson Davis seriously ill, 72 Alexander H. Stephens peace mission, 72 Jefferson Davis, Joseph Johnston, and Vicksburg, 74 Condition of Confederacy after Gettysburg and Vicksburg, 75 William L. Yancey death, 76 Confederate sympathizers wish to go aboard, 78-79 Demoralization
    [Show full text]