The Civil War Round Table of New York, Inc.

Volume 63, No. 6 577th Meeting February 2014

Barondess • Guest: Barondess Lincoln Award winner: Award winner The winner of the prestigious Bar- James Oakes ondess/Lincoln award is James Oakes for Freedom National, the history of • Cost: the emancipation that partnered the po- Members: $40 litical initiatives of President Abraham Non-Members: Lincoln and the Republicans in Con- $50 gress, along with the actions of Union soldiers and runaway slaves in the rebellious South. • Date: By the summer of 1861, the federal government Wednesday, invoked military authority to begin freeing slaves in the th February 12 seceded South immediately and without compensation to their masters. Oakes shows that Lincoln’s landmark • Place: 1863 proclamation marked neither the beginning nor the You must call The Three West Club, end of emancipation, but it triggered a more aggressive 718-341-9811 by 3 West 51st Street, part of military freedom, sending Union soldiers onto February 5th, if you plantations to entice slaves to flee and even to enlist in plan to attend the • Time: the Union army. February meeting. Dr. Oakes is a Distinguished Professor of History and We need to know how Dinner at 6:00 pm, Graduate School Humanities Professor at the City Uni- many people to order Doors open 5:30 pm, versity of New York Graduate Center. His most recent food for. Cash Bar 5:30 – 7 pm book, The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Dou- glass, , and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics, won the Lincoln Prize.

The Rathbones of Hannover (Germany)

(Who, in April 1865, sat near President Lincoln the night he rear side of her house on 24th of this month a few minutes was assassinated.) before 6AM. The latter (H.R.) caused a shot and a stab wound into the chest so that death yet resulted from this ... According to the 1883 and 1911 interment register books and Rathbone afterwards caused himself several perilous stabs Clara Harris’s death report, the couple lived in Heinrichstr. into the chest whereby at present he is seriously laid low, 27a, 2nd floor, rear side. Clara Harris died on December 24, shall at time have had a fit of mental confusion [here, the ar- 1883, about 6 a.m. as testified and signed by surgeon Dr. ticle’s author, Eva Lennartz, wrote that she tried to translate Guertler and Royal Police inspector Urban on December 25, close to the old German language.] 1883. A police report was attached to the death report, ex- Major Rathbone passed away on August 14, 1911, due to cerpts of which are below: infirmity. The person specified in the attachment was found assassinated by her husband, Henry Rathbone, in her bedroom, 2nd floor, From The Surratt Courier September 2013 2014 • MEETING SCHEDULE • 2014 • March 12th • • April 9th • • May 14th • Gettysburg Story Bell I. Wiley Award Allen C. Guelzo Jake Boritt James McPherson Fletcher Pratt Award 2 President’s Message Imagine the cold winter of 1864 with both armies waiting for the inevitable resumption of bloody conflict in the coming Spring. In Washington, on February 1st, the House of Rep- resentatives passes a bill reviving the rank of Lieutenant General. It had not been done be- fore “partly in deference to the memory and prestige of the revered George Washington.” Now, on February 24th, the bill passes the Senate, and Lincoln is ready to comply with its wishes. Very soon, the Union’s premier warrior, Ulysses S. Grant, will take command! Can you believe we’re half way through the Round Table’s 2013-2014 season? If you’ve been here for the first five meetings, think of the incredible speakers we’ve hosted. • and his “Fifty Objects” (Harold could have brought in 500 objects, and we’d still be listening with rapt attention) • Bobby Krick and his perceptive views on “The Seven Days” campaign (Bobby could have continued for the rest of 1862, and we’d want even more) Founded January 24, 1951 • Lt. Col. David Siry and the “Dual Classes of 1861” (Just listening to those sad, poignant stories in Col. Siry’s Kentucky “drawl” makes me want to explore the The Dispatch is published monthly, cemetery at West Point) except July and August, by • Pat Schroeder and “The 5th New York” (Pat makes it crystal clear why our “living historians” at the National Park Service are our true National treasures) The Civil War Round Table • Timothy Sedore and “Virginia’s Confederate Monuments” (Tim truly made of New York, Inc., “LEE/JACKSON NIGHT” the tribute that it was always meant to be) So what do we have to look forward to for the rest of the year? If you can believe it, 139-33 250th Street, it may be even better than the fantastic start that we’ve already had. Why? It’s all our Rosedale, N.Y. 11422 AWARD MEETINGS—and more! Telephone CWRT/NY at (718) 341-9811 • February is the BARONDESS/LINCOLN AWARD, and our winning author is During business hours. James Oakes for his stimulating, nuanced, Lincoln prize-winning book: “Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States.” • March is Jake Boritt, documentary filmmaker, producer, and son of Gabor Boritt. OFFICERS He will be showing and discussing his documentary, “The Gettysburg Story.” President Martin Smith • April is the BELL I. WILEY AWARD presentation to legendary author and V.P. Programs Paul Weiss Pulitzer-Prize winning historian, James McPherson. V.P. Operations Michael Connors • May is the FLETCHER PRATT LITERARY AWARD for the best Civil War Secretary Pat Holohan non-fiction book, and this year’s award winner isAllen Guelzo for his great work, Treasurer Bud Livingston “Gettysburg: The Last Invasion.” • Finally, June is our BATTLEFIELD TOUR presentation from none other than the foremost expert on Custer, author and Licensed Gettysburg Battlefield Guide, BOARD OF DIRECTORS Jim Hessler. Term Expiring 2014 Won’t you please join us on February 12, 2014, Lincoln’s Birthday, for the presentation of Charles Mander the BARONDESS/LINCOLN AWARD to two-time Lincoln Prize Winner James Oakes? Dan McCarthy See you there! Term Expiring 2015 — Martin Smith Alan Florin Book Review Cindy Hochman Term Expiring 2016 Lincoln’s Code William F. Finlayson by John F. Witt Judith L. Hallock The most important figure in Lincoln’s Code is not the 16th president himself but Francis Lieber, introduced in the first Editor E.A. (Bud) Livingston page of the book. He was a German emigré who had experi- Copy Editor/ enced war at Waterloo, survived and obtained a doctorate in Club Liaison Joan McDonough mathematics at Jena. Teaching positions not being available to P.R. Martin Smith him, he left for England and then for the United Sates where Merchandise Paul Weiss he taught at South Carolina College and then Columbia University. His travels left behind sons who fought for the Confederacy and for the Union. Lieber became Email: [email protected] widely recognized for his grasp of war and its tactics as well as its place in history. He numbered among his friends many of America’s intellectuals, including Gen- Website: http://www.cwrtnyc.org

Continued on page 4 3 February during LINCOLN’S VISIT TO THE the Civil War GETTYSBURG BATTLEFIELD Could even the perennially beleaguered, surprisingly indif- 1862 ferent tourist Abraham Lincoln have resisted the precious 8 – Ambrose Burnside shows his mettle by taking Roa- opportunity to personally inspect the most famous battlefield of the Civil War on the one and only occasion it was virtually noke Island on the Atlantic Coast. This will be the high at this doorstep? point in his career during the war. After a century-and-a-half, the question lingers –and remains 15 – John Floyd and Gideon Pillow flee Fort Donelson. frustratingly unanswered. Floyd fears he will be hanged for his antebellum activities Two days before he was to deliver his “appropriate remarks” as secretary of war in the Buchanan administration. Grant at the dedication of the new Gettysburg National Soldiers’ is disappointed to see Pillow gone as he was doing the Cemetery, Lincoln had still not decided on his final itinerary. Union cause a great deal of good. On November 17, 1863, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton proposed a number of alternatives, including the proposal 1863 that Lincoln depart for Pennsylvania at 6AM on November 19 “arriving at Gettysburg at 12 noon, thus giving two hours 2 – The Queen of the West goes South. She runs the to view the ground before the dedication ceremonies com- batteries at Vicksburg, showing Grant that it can be done. mence.” But Lincoln replied by scribbling on Stanton’s note: 16 – Refusing to shut the windows at the Capitol, the “I do not like this arrangement. I do not wish to so go that Senate sets up a real Draft, the first one in the North. Contrary by the slightest accident we fail entirely, and at the best, the to what you may have heard on a PBS series, the first draft in whole to be a mere breathless running of the gauntlet.” So America was in the South, in 1862. Stanton devised a plan that would bring Lincoln to the hal- lowed village a day before the ceremonies -ostensibly giving 1864 the President even more time to “view the ground,” if he chose....But between the evening of November 18 and the af- 3 – Jefferson Davis gets envious of Lincoln’s suspension of ternoon of November 19, no one seems to agree about what the writ of habeas corpus and institutes his own version of it. Lincoln did with himself, beyond closeting himself at the 22 – In one of N.B. Forrest’s most impressive victories Wills House as long as possible and devoting all of his spare (he had a lot of them), he humiliates W. Sooy Smith’s time to massaging his brief but crucial address. On the morn- federals near Okolona, Miss. ing of the 19th, Lincoln had ample time to mount a horse and tour the battlefield. Stanton had implied in his original itiner- 1865 ary message that he expected the President indeed wanted to do so. But did he? We are not sure. 3 – At the , everyone gets along and even hears some of Lincoln’s stories, but nothing gets The Lincoln Forum May 2013 done in the effort to effect peace. The Southerners want an armistice and Lincoln says, “no way.” 17 – Columbia, South Carolina burns. Was it cotton set afire by Wade Hampton’s men? Nah, it must have been nasty old Cump Sherman and his vandals. NEW | NEW | NEW | NEW SADDLE UP FOR GETTYSBURG We are emailing the Dispatch. If you want it sent 57TH ANNUAL BATTLEFIELD TRIP via email, please let the editor know: September 12th, 13th + 14th, 2014 [email protected]. It’s boots and saddles as this will be an all-cavalry tour on the battlefield of Gettysburg and beyond. See where J.E.B. Stuart, G.A. Custer, John Buford and Wade Hampton clashed saber to saber. On one day, you will become real horse soldiers as you ride on horseback (or if you prefer, a horse-drawn carriage) over the battlefield. We will ride to the sound of the guns with our tour guide Jim Hessler (author of Sickles at Gettysburg, and the upcoming Custer at Gettysburg). So if you want to have a good time, jine the cavalry with a $100 deposit to reserve your mount as we ride into history. Send your check to CWRTNY Tour 139-33 250th Street, Rosedale, NY 11422 Continued from page 2 eral Henry Halleck, and it was through this channel that he Dixie in the Bowery came to the attention of President Lincoln, who asked him to try to codify the laws of war. The issue surfaced early in “Dixie’s Land, as it was then known, was first per- the Civil War over subjects such as guerilla warfare, slaves formed in a theater at 472 Broadway in 1859 by as property, contrabands, etc. The issue of laws of war had arisen even before the Civil War but Lincoln’s initiative and Bryant’s Minstrels, the most popular blackface Lieber’s pen started the movement which would lead to the troupe in the city. A member of the troupe, an Ohioan eventual acceptance of a standard for conducting a conflict. named Daniel D. Emmett, claimed authorship for The effort was aided by the fact that both sides in the war came out of the same military tradition - the battle of Gettys- this number, which was an instant success with lower burg looked like a West Point Alumni reunion - something Manhattan’s white, working-class audiences among that could not have been said for most European based con- whom sympathies for the Southern cause ran high. flicts.The author does a masterful job of tracing events lead- ing up to the Civil War; of how America wrestled with how “Dixie” draws from both black and white folk to conduct a war within certain moral and legal boundaries, traditions, and its authorship, like that of many and continued to do so even after 1865. Lincoln knew, given minstrel tunes, is tangled. Three miles from Emmett’s the moral imperatives connected with the conflict, that it required maximum commitment, effort, and total war, to grave in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, the gravestone of Ben and bring about a successful conclusion to the most serious Lew Snowden, sons of freed slaves from the South, is problem to confront the United States. No less than 9/11, the inscribed, “They taught ‘Dixie’ to Dan Emmett. Civil War presented America with a dilemma that required dealing with a significant threat within the bounds of law, morality, and decency. Witt is to be commended for a superb From the New York Times FYI column from a long study. The dialogue continues after Lieber, who contributed time ago so much to it, has disappeared into the fold of history. by Tom Ryley