The Fortunes of Providence: The Motivations and Experiences of a Rhode Island Family in the Civil War
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The Fortunes of Providence: The Motivations and Experiences
of a Rhode Island Family in the Civil War
Anne O. Wray
A Thesis in the Field of History
for the Degree of Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies
Harvard University
November 2017
Abstract
This thesis examines the original correspondence of John Talbot Pitman, a Rhode
Islander serving in the Civil War (1861-1865), in an effort to contribute a greater understanding of Rhode Island Civil War History. While most soldiers in the Union
Army participated in the war for ideals such as duty, honor, or emancipation, John Talbot
Pitman was unusual in the fact that his overwhelming drive to enlist was one of personal ambition. Pitman utilized his social status, education, and rank to tirelessly pursue his goals in an effort to better his personal fortune and that of his family.
Table of Contents
I: Introduction: A Family Separated by Ambition ...... 1
II: The Pitmans: an Industrious, Multi-Generational Rhode Island Family ...... 5
The Reverend John Pitman……………………………………………………..…5
The Honorable John Pitman………………………………………………………6
John Talbot Pitman…………………………………………………………….…8
John and Caroline Pitman……………………………………………………..…11
III: Patriotic Fervor and Personal Opportunity: The Motivations for War ...... 14
IV: Leadership, Lassitude, and Letters: The Experience of War ...... 23
V: In Search of Better Fortunes ...... 33
VI: Undeterred Ambition ...... 44
VII: Conclusion: A Family Divided ...... 49
VIII: Bibliography ...... 52
iv
List of Figures and Table
Fig. 1: John Talbot Pitman (1812-1882)……………………………………………...…2
Table 1: Pitman Family Tree………………………………………………………….…4
Fig. 2: Rev. John Pitman (1751-1822)………………………………………………...…6
Fig. 3: The Hon. John Pitman (1785-1865)…………………………………………...….7
Fig. 4: Signature of John Talbot Pitman…………………………………………………11
Fig. 5: Pitman’s sketch of his officer’s quarters…………………………………………24
Fig. 6: A sketch of Col. Pitman at Battalion Drill……………………………...……..…26
Fig. 7: Joseph Story Pitman, John Talbot Pitman’s younger brother……………………35
Fig. 8: John Jr.’s drawing of his mess tent…………………………………………….…36
Fig. 9: Rhode Island Governor William Sprague…………………………………….…40
Fig. 10: Lt. Colonel Nelson Viall……………………………………………………...…47
v
I
Introduction: A Family Separated by Ambition
The American Civil War has been the subject of rigorous academic study and debate for the past 150 years. Countless books and journal articles have been published that explore all aspects of the war, from the political machinations that ultimately led to the war’s outbreak, to the military maneuvers of the armies, to the experiences of ordinary civilians, all of whose lives were touched by war. Together, these academic works make the Civil War the most written about period of American history.1
Despite the wealth of available sources, there still remain many aspects of the war that have not been investigated; one of the more neglected aspects is the state of Rhode
Island. The smallest state in the Union, it is the least studied of any of the original thirteen British colonies, and of that research, most focuses on the period of its founding by Roger Williams in 1636 to the outbreak of the Dorr War in 1846. 2 The amount of published research about this state drops precipitously before the Civil War period.
Despite its status as the smallest state, Rhode Island exceeded its federally mandated quota of 18,000 troops and sent over 23,000 men off to war to fight for the
Union army. Rhode Islanders were present at every major engagement of the Civil War, from Bull Run to Appomattox. While the most famous of these soldiers was Ambrose E.
1 James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), ix.
2 Dr. Luther Spoehr, Senior Lecturer in education and history, Brown University, in a personal interview with the author, Nov. 2013
1
Burnside, who rose to prominence as the Head of the
Union Army in 1863, thousands of ordinary Rhode
Islanders wrote down their experience of war and imparted it to the historic record.
One such Rhode Islander was John Talbot
Pitman (1812-1882), an attorney and member of a distinguished multi-generational Providence family
(Fig. 1). He and his son, John Jr. (1832-1933) left home to serve in the Union Army, leaving behind their family. The Pitmans wrote to each other throughout the Fig 1: John Talbot Pitman (1812- 1882) conflict and left behind a set of complete correspondence, one that serves to flesh out a distinct family portrait. By examining the correspondence of the Pitmans, this thesis aims to present a social history of this middle- class Rhode Island family in order to contribute to the greater understanding of the experiences of Rhode Islanders in the Civil War.
The reasons soldiers enlisted and reenlisted to fight in the Civil War were myriad, but most were compelled by a sense of duty to their country, or to maintain honor in their community. John Talbot Pitman was not motivated by these sentiments; from the very start his driving force was one of ambition. As a Harvard educated attorney, and also a member of an established, respected Providence family, Pitman possessed educational and social advantages that afforded him leverage beyond the average Rhode Island recruit. His status as an officer in the army automatically granted him leadership and influence, and as a member of Providence society he was privy to personal relationships
2
with people in positions of power, including the governor of Rhode Island, William
Sprague, and Rhode Island’s most famous soldier, General Ambrose Burnside. Pitman was cognizant of these advantages, and relied upon them frequently for personal gain in his unrelenting quest to better his fortunes. Pitman’s ambition geographically separated his family, drew his son into the conflict, and was the catalyst behind Pitman’s actions during the Civil War.
3
Table 1: Pitman Family Tree
Pitman Family Tree
Rev. John Pitman Rebecca Cox (1751-1822) (?-1792)
Mary Talbot Hon. John Pitman Four additional (?-1863) (1785-1863) adult siblings
Caroline Joseph Story Seven Richmond Pitman additonal adult (1818-1886) John Talbot (1819-1883) siblings Pitman (1812-1882)
John Talbot Mary "Monna" Caroline Pitman Jr. Pitman "Callie" Pitman (1842-1933) (1845-1878) (1846-1922)
4
II
The Pitmans: An Industrious, Multi-Generational Rhode Island Family
“Citizens of America, we live in the only free republic on earth, and in a land highly favored of Heaven. The freedom, the soil we possess were purchased by the toil and blood of our fathers. They compose an inheritance too precious to be wasted, which we have no right to sacrifice, but are bound to transmit unencumbered to posterity.”3
-The Hon. John Pitman
John Talbot Pitman was the product of generations of hard work coupled with scholastic aptitude. From his father and grandfather, Pitman inherited his name and a drive to better his lot in life. The Reverend John Pitman (Pitman’s grandfather) and the
Honorable John Pitman (Pitman’s father) worked tirelessly to provide for their families, but they also strove to elevate their professional lives (Table 1). John Talbot Pitman, the third generation, was not doubt influenced by this legacy of personal ambition from his predecessors.
The Reverend John Pitman
The first John Pitman, (John Talbot Pitman’s grandfather), was born in Boston in
1751 (Fig. 2). As an adolescent he had been apprenticed to be a rope maker, but he experienced a spiritual conversion event and dedicated himself to Christian ministry.
Starting in 1777, he traveled as an itinerant Baptist minister, and lived and worked in
3 John Pitman Jr, Esq, An Oration, Pronounced July 4, 1812, at the Request of the Republicans of the Town of Salem, in Commemoration of the Anniversary of American Independence. (Salem: Warwick Palfrey, 1812 ). 22-23 Accessed from https://books.google.com/books?id=ehJLAAAAYAAJ& printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false.
5
several northeastern states including New York,
Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It was in
Pennsylvania that Pitman met his first wife, Rebecca Cox,
and the two were married in 1778. By 1784 Rev. Pitman
and Rebecca had settled down in Providence, Rhode
Island, and by following year they had their first child, a
son also named John (“Jacky”) Pitman (1785-1863). The
Fig 2: Rev. John Pitman (1751- couple would go on to have four more children, before 1822) the elder Rebecca’s death in 1792.4
For the remainder of his life, John Pitman engaged in his dual professions:
ministry and rope making. He was the pastor of the Baptist Church in Warren, Rhode
Island, from 1784-1791, and then became the pastor of a congregation in Patuxet, RI
from 1791-1797. While preaching he also supplemented income for his family by
manufacturing rope and twine and selling it to local merchants. 5
In 1798 Rev. Pitman became the minister of the first Baptist Church in Seekonk,
Massachusetts, right on the Rhode Island border. In addition to this change in station,
Pitman attempted to transition his rope making into larger industry by co-owning a cotton
factory with his business partner William Holyrod. This venture failed, resulting in the
seizure of his Providence homestead, as well as other financial assets, in 1815. A
subsequent attempt at factory ownership failed in Medford, Massachusetts. Pitman
would eventually abandon his entrepreneurial pursuits and settle down to his ministry,
4 John Talbot Pitman Collection, Rhode Island Historical Society, Providence, Rhode Island.
5 Ibid.
6
living and teaching in Seekonk. He continued to preach at the first Baptist church in
Seekonk and retained this post until his death in 1822.6
The Honorable John Pitman
Rev. Pitman’s eldest son, also named John Pitman (1785-1863), would go on to have a distinguished legal career, and establish himself as a civic leader in the Providence community (Fig. 3). He enrolled at Rhode Island College (later Brown University), graduating in 1799. He passed the New York bar in 1806, and then went on to practice law in Kentucky before returning to Providence in
1808.
Pitman was a prolific writer and orator, and grew to earn a reputation as a talented wordsmith. He was frequently called upon to give speeches in local communities. These orations typically took place during celebrations of American independence, or to commemorate the founding of a colony. Fig. 3: The Hon. John Pitman (1785- 1863) Consequently, Pitman’s speeches were often full of republican sentiments and national pride:
“Citizens of America, we live in the only free republic on earth, and in a land highly favored of Heaven. The freedom, the soil we possess were purchased by the toil and blood of our fathers. They compose an inheritance too precious to be wasted, which we have no right to sacrifice, but are bound to transmit unencumbered to posterity.”7
6 Ibid.
7 Pitman, John Jr, Esq. An Oration, 22-23.
7
In 1812, John Pitman met his future wife Mary Talbot, and the two were married later that year. Over the next few years, the couple lived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Salem, Massachusetts, while Pitman practiced law and further established his career.
They returned home to Providence in 1820, and in that same year Pitman became the
District Attorney for the State of Rhode Island, a post he held for four years. His work attracted the attention of President James Monroe, who appointed Pitman as a federal judge in the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island, a post he filled in 1825 at the age of 39.
He would retain this position for 38 years, until his death in 1863.8
The Hon. John Pitman and Mary Talbot Pitman were married for fifty-one years.
Their marriage produced nine children, six of whom survived to adulthood. The oldest of these children was John Talbot Pitman (1812-1893). This new generation of Pitmans, particularly the eldest sons John and Joseph, benefitted from and built upon their father and grandfather’s educational and political legacies.9
John Talbot Pitman
John and his younger brother Joseph Story Pitman (1819-1883) pursued similar career paths. John Talbot Pitman attended Brown University from 1831-1832 but never graduated. He went on to attend Harvard University’s School of Law and graduated with a law degree in 1838. Younger brother Joseph graduated with a BA from Brown in 1839, and earned a law degree from Harvard in 1843. Both Pitman sons emulated the
8 John Talbot Pitman Collection, Rhode Island Historical Society, Providence, Rhode Island.
9 Ibid.
8
distinguished Hon. John Pitman and pursued careers in law, but from that point their similarities with their father ended.10
The outbreak of the Dorr rebellion, 1840-1842, proved to disrupt the political climate of Rhode Island and would prove to be John Talbot Pitman’s first military engagement. The Dorr Rebellion, known also as the Dorr Warr, sought to reform the outdated Rhode Island charter of 1663 and extend suffrage to the white middle class.
Rhode Island still adhered to a centuries-old guarantee of suffrage based on white male land ownership, and land ownership was scarce amongst the increasingly urban middle class. In 1842 Dorr and his supporters crafted their own state constitution and held their own elections, thereby establishing an entirely separate Rhode Island cabinet, with
Thomas Dorr as the governor. 11
John Talbot Pitman was swept up in this conflict; he sided with Rhode Island government, also known as the Charter government, the Law and Order government, or simply as the “Algerines”. Pitman was present during a raid on the Dorrites, as Dorr’s supporters came to be known, in Chepachet, Rhode Island. Dorr had just recently evaded capture and fled the town before the Algerines arrived, and frustrations threatened to boil over as the charter soldiers scoured the town, looking to arrest Dorr supporters. The encounter was related in an 1844 account of the Dorr War entitled Might and Right:
The column then moved on until they came in front of Gen. Sprague’s Hotel…Some one fastened the front door, shutting in a considerable number of the Charter soldiers, along with some unarmed citizens of the place... An effort was made by those on the outside to break down the door; but finding that impossible, Mr. John T. Pitman fired through the key-hole. Mr. Holbrook, of Boston, called out to him, “For God’s sake do not fire; you
10 Quinquennial Catalogue of the Law School of Harvard University, 1817-1904. (Harvard Law School, Cambridge, 1905), 127. Accessed from https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.35112103942993;view=1up;seq=5
11 William G McLoughlin, Rhode Island: A History (New York: W.W. Norton, 1986), 127, 134.
9
may kill some of your friends.” Just as the piece discharged, [Pitman] cried out, in great excitement “I don’t care a G’d d’n, if can only kill somebody!”12
The Dorr rebellion thrust John Pitman into the political and military landscape of
Rhode Island, and his actions were not subtle. According to this account, it appears he behaved in a reckless, headstrong manner, excited to “kill somebody”. Whether this “rash and murderous act,” of the gun and the key-hole is exaggerated or not is unknown, but it gives one a sense of the underlying passion and fervor contained within the 31 year old
Pitman, as well as a willingness to take risks and jump into the fray. 13
After the Dorr War came to a conclusion in 1843, Pitman continued his role within the Rhode Island militia. From January 1841 to July 1851 Pitman was an officer of the First Light Infantry Company in the 2nd Rhode Island Militia. Pitman started out as a
4th Lieutenant in 1841, and concluded his tenure with the Company with the rank of Lt.
Colonel in 1851. Like most militias, the First Light Infantry Company was more of a social group; it never mustered into active duty, but it provided military training for its members should the need ever arise. Pitman’s military experiences during this decade, both with suppressing the Dorr War and his decade long engagement with the First Light
Infantry, afforded him experience that would prove to be useful for the eventual outbreak of the Civil War. 14
12 Green, Francis Harriet. Might and Right (Providence: A.H. Stillwell, 1844), 275.
13 In October of 1843 Dorr turned himself in and was tried for treason in Providence. Joseph Story Pitman was present for the trial of Thomas Dorr in 1843 and recorded the official account of its proceedings in: “Report of the Trial of Thomas Wilson Dorr, for Treason Against the State of Rhode Island: Containing the Arguments of Counsel, and the Charge of Chief Justice Durfee.” This work was published in 1844 and circulated throughout the state. Source, Pitman, Joseph S. Report of the Trial of Thomas Wilson Dorr, for Treason against the State of Rhode Island: Containing the Arguments of Counsel, and the Charge of Chief Justice Durfee. (Boston: Tappan and Dennet, 1844). Accessed from https://archive.org/details/reporttrialthom00dorrgoog.
10
John and Caroline Pitman
Pitman married his wife Caroline in 1837, and over the next two decades he grew his family and nurtured his legal career. His eldest child, son John Jr. was born in 1842, followed by Mary “Monna” in 1845, and Caroline “Callie” in 1846. Pitman’s career as a patent attorney took his family abroad to England, where he filed patents in the London patent office. Pitman also regularly traveled to New York City to file patents on behalf of his clients. Despite his transatlantic responsibilities, Pitman’s wife, Caroline, and his children remained in Europe, and it was in Europe where the children were educated.
Monna and Callie attended school outside of London while son John went to secondary school in Germany.
John and Caroline Pitman’s marriage was a solid, affectionate partnership.
Pitman’s letters to Caroline brimmed with warmth; he filled his letters with loving expressions such as: “My dear and excellent wife,”15 “My most beloved wife,”16, or “My dear Caro”17 (Fig. 4). He Fig 4: Signature of John Talbot Pitman. It is prefaced by: “Your most affectionate spoke regularly of missing her and the husband” children. In addition to his romantic sentiments, Pitman also counted on Caroline to oversee the financial situation within the patent office in London while we was away in
New York. Many of the letters early in their correspondence deal with depositing checks, accounting for receipts and bills, and general financial management of both the
14 JTPC, RIHS.
15 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 9 April 1861.” JTPC, RIHS.
16 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 15 April 1861.” JTPC, RIHS.
17 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 19 April, 1861.” JTPC, RIHS.
11
household and the London legal offices. Pitman was confident in his wife’s ability and judgment in order to allocate such responsibilities while he was overseas; in this sense their marriage was a partnership between individuals who shared a mutual respect for each other he financial issues that dominate much of Pitman’s early correspondence with
Caroline also proved to be the greatest source of stress for the Pitman family. Despite
Pitman working in patent offices in both London and New York, financial constraints were a persistent burden on the family. Caroline struggled to pay their bills and patent fees, while Pitman regularly assured her that more money was on the way. Their financial issues even impacted their children’s education: “It can hardly be expected indeed it would be a great imposition to ask that the girls should be received again at school until at least a part be paid. Although I regret that they should lose the advantages of such an excellent school, there seems to be at present, no alternatives, and they must leave, in the hope that brighter days may arrive and that they can return—”18 During such letters,
Pitman alludes to Caroline’s sense of hopelessness: “My good and true wife do not give way to despondency, a whole week may change the whole aspect of affairs.”19
A religious Christian family, the will of God and the priority of prayer were regular refrains, particularly during such challenging circumstances, and Pitman weighed upon these heavily: “God in his kindest will not abandon us in these terrible hours. Let us pray for his aid and be not downcast- It has been dark and our hopes have almost left us before, but a kind Providence… relieve[d] us when we thought all was lost.”20 “I trust after this evidence of the kindness of our heavenly Father you will never despair but
18 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 9 April 1861.” JTPC, RIHS.
19 Ibid
20 Ibid
12
believe that we shall be taken care of…”21 A reliance on a benevolent God proved to be a powerful assurance during dark times in their married life, and this was invoked regularly throughout their correspondence.
The outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 occurred during this period of geographic separation and financial hardship, with John Pitman working in New York
City while Caroline and children resided in Europe. Once the war began, changes happened quickly, and in the spring of 1861, Pitman was asked to return to Providence to muster out with Rhode Island militia. His decision to accept this request would be the first in a long series of choices that would irrevocably alter his life as well as the lives of his wife and children.
21 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 13 April 1861.” JTPC, RIHS.
13
III
Patriotic Fervor and Personal Opportunity: The Motivations for War
“It is important that the opportunity should not be lost in fact all the influence that can be brought to bear should be employed[,] as there will never again be so many chances and I shall never have any influence if my position does not give it.”22
−John Talbot Pitman
John Talbot Pitman closely followed the slow but inexorable march to war between the states. He was an avid newspaper reader; he read the New York Times, the
Boston Journal, and the Providence Journal. Much of the pertinent information he gleaned from these pages he related to his wife Caroline, in London:
The situation of the country is just now rather gloomy but I think there is conservatism enough in Congress to settle the demands of the South upon fair and equitable principles- whether the South will accept our offers remains to be proved- if they will not come to an amicable adjustment. I see no other alternative but for us to let them know that we value the preservation of the Union in its entirety, enough to fight for it- I am particularly desiring that should the severance take place (it can only be by Rebellion) the border slave states will see the necessity of remaining with the North- as for S Carolina I think the best thing to happen in order to bring her back to her senses, could be to oblige her to remain out of the Union a year and a day- this would suffice to enable her people to feel + understand that mutual dependence and union has been the leading cause of our prosperity- now they seem and act like maniacs…23
While Pitman never declared an affiliation with a political party in any of his surviving correspondence,24 in this letter he makes it clear that he feels little pity for the
22 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 9 July 1861.” JTPC, RIHS.
23 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 6 January 1861.” JTPC, RIHS.
14
Southern states. He points out to Caroline that the Southern States not only “seem and act like maniacs”, but they are ignorant of the fact that a Union of states is worth fighting for, and that “mutual dependence and union has been the leading cause of our prosperity.”
Pitman supports the Union, and furthermore he finds the behavior of the southern states baffling.
Pitman’s views are largely reflective of the Rhode Island political establishment; indeed, in the decades leading up the war, Rhode Island tried to maintain their antislavery sympathies while at the same time sustaining a working relationship with the Southern slave states, whose cotton crop was indispensible to Rhode Island’s textile industry.
Rhode Islanders voted against the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. They voted for republicans
John C. Fremont and Abraham Lincoln in 1856 and 1860, respectively. William Sprague, a Republican and a wealthy textile mill manufacturer, was elected governor of Rhode
Island in 1860. Despite their Republican, antislavery leanings, Rhode Island sent delegates to the Virginia Peace Convention in November of 1860 in an attempt to mollify the Southerners and avert succession. They even repealed their state “personal liberty law”, which was originally passed to support runaway slaves in the wake of the Fugitive
Slave Act. This willingness to pacify the southerners demonstrated that while Rhode
Island political leaders were antislavery, they did not want to lose southern cooperation and most importantly, the southern cotton crop. Pitman’s observation of “mutual prosperity” of North and South was an economic reality for Rhode Islanders.25
24 Pitman’s political affiliation is unclear, but based on his perspective of the Southern states, Pitman was likely a Republican or a War Democrat.
25 McLoughlin, Rhode Island: A History, 145-146
15
The confederate seizure of the Federal garrison of Fort Sumter on April 14th,
1861, proved to be the tipping point between the free states and the southern slave states and ushered in the start of the Civil War. The next day President Lincoln issued a statement calling for 75,000 militiamen into federal service in order to confront the insurrection. Rhode Island, under the leadership of Governor Sprague, eagerly responded to Lincoln’s request. On April 16th, 1861, while still working in New York City, Pitman wrote about the outbreak of war to his wife:26
You will see that at last war has begun and that the administration has determined to act with all the energy it possess and with all the promptness…It seems as if the Magician27 has exercised his art over the citizens of New York for at once there seems to be a complete revolution of opinion among the merchants- many who a few days since favored secession are now warm supporters of the Government- and a favorer of secession dare hardly show his face-28
Pitman was affected by the patriotic fervor that gripped most of his fellow countrymen after the fall of Fort Sumter. The historian James McPherson describes a
“rage militaire” that swept northern towns and cities and galvanized men to enlist.
Recruiting rallies and patriotic orations further stoked the nationalistic fire. One young man who enlisted on April 15, 1861, described that in New York City “the feeling runs mountains high, and thousands of men are offering their services where hundreds only are required.” Pitman would have been witness to this intensity, and was likely not immune from it. He even mentions within the same letter that he heard the fiery orator and pastor “HWBeecher last evening deliver a most powerful and convincing discourse
26 McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 274
27 This is the only time in his correspondence that Pitman mentions “The Magician”. It is unclear as to whom he is referring with this term.
28 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 16 April 1861.” JTPC, RIHS.
16
on the Times…”, a speech that was no doubt designed to inspire and electrify with nationalistic sentiment. Indeed, the past 48 hours described within Pitman’s letter attests to the excitement and passion, feelings that permeated into the tone of this letter.29
Beyond the initial wave of “rage militaire,” Pitman’s status as a veteran of the Dorr
War proved to be just as instrumental in his decision to enlist. As he wrote the letter of
April 16th, 1861 to his wife, he received a letter from Colonel Brown, back in Rhode
Island. He hastily added an amendment to his already lengthy letter to Caroline:
The war excitement seems quite high in Providence- received a letter this morning from Col Brown a letter in which he says “Our Gov has offered to the President for duty at Washington the services of the Marine artillery and one thousand infantry that means my command with 100 or perhaps 150 or even 200 new- I have this moment had an interview with the Gov…says if his offer is accepted we shall all be in good order…thus the matter stands today, the feeling is “If we are needed I shall rely upon you being with us.30
This passage indicates that Pitman was familiar with high-ranking officials in the
Rhode Island militia. His friend, Colonel Brown, wrote a private letter to Pitman concerning the military events taking place back in Rhode Island; he detailed his interactions with Governor Sprague, and listed how many men were mustering to march south to Washington. Colonel Brown even personally requested Pitman to muster in with the Rhode Island troops: “If we are needed I shall rely on you being with us.” Such familiarity suggests that Pitman, a veteran of the Dorr War of 1842, and a former member of the First Light Infantry Company, maintained lasting and deep connections with other members of the Rhode Island militia. This not only provided him with an insider’s view into the military machinations taking place in his home state, but even more importantly, the earnest request from Colonel Brown indicates confidence in Pitman’s capacity for
29 James McPherson, For Cause and Comrades (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 16
30 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 16 April 1861.” JTPC, RIHS.
17
military duty.
While “rage militaire” and personal obligations to military comrades were strong motivations, perhaps the most powerful motivation of all for Pitman’s enlistment was the opportunity for personal gain, as he describes at the conclusion of the April 16th letter to his wife:
“You can see I am likely to get into the service again but as the duty is for Washington there is little prospect of any conflict, more like an excursion… I shall not regret the opportunity as it will serve me both for the Despatch Agency and perhaps for West Point.”31
Pitman regarded this three-month “excursion” to Washington as a chance to further his own career, and a position within the Despatch Agency would certainly afford the chance for adventure and opportunity. A Despatch Agent was an appointed position under the jurisdiction of the State Department; agents handled sensitive State Department communication within their own separate, secure mail system. Despatch Agents sorted, logged, and kept track of State Department mail. Because most United States diplomatic postings were overseas, Despatch Agents were also in charge of routing and protecting sensitive material on trans-Atlantic voyages. Indeed, the security of diplomatic material was as such that only ship captains, Despatch Agents, or authorized staff members of a consulate could handle State Department correspondence. For Pitman, a man who had spent time traveling to and from Europe, a position within the Despatch Agency would certainly be appealing.32
31 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 16 April 1861.” JTPC, RIHS.
32 United States State Department. Introduction to History of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security of the United States Department of State (Washington, Global Publishing Solutions: 2011), xxi. Accessed July 18, 2015, http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/176706.pdf
18
In addition to the Despatch Agency, Pitman also mentioned West Point. Pitman strongly desired his son to secure admission to the United States Military Academy at
West Point, New York. Founded in 1802, West Point is a prestigious four-year educational institution that produced top military leaders. A commission from West Point could set up Pitman’s son John Jr. for a successful future and perhaps a career in the
Army. 33
A sense of duty, ubiquitous in the letters of Union soldiers during those first three months of war in 1861, is noticeably absent from Pitman’s letter. Many Northern soldiers referred to their sense of duty to serve their country as their primary motivation for war, often using it as justification for leaving home when writing to console wives and parents. Duty, as James McPherson describes it, was a “binding moral obligation involving reciprocity: one had a duty to defend the flag under whose protection one had lived.”34 It spoke to a sense of conscience, of doing what was right, as described by one junior at Harvard: “It is every one’s duty to enlist, if he possibly can, and why is it not mine as much as other people’s?...If you are not willing to send your sons why should others be willing to send theirs?” A letter written by a Kentucky doctor regarding his enlistment explained: “I know no reason why I should not be as subject to duty as any man, as I have had the protection of the government all my life…an all absorbing, all- engrossing sense of duty, alike to country and family, impelled me.”35
33 “A Brief History of West Point.” United States Military Academy, accessed November 19, 2015, http://www.usma.edu/wphistory/SitePages/Home.aspx
34 McPherson, Cause and Comrades, 23
35 Ibid.
19
While Pitman was certainly affected by the rage militaire that also struck his peers, the mention of duty is absent from this letter. Instead, Pitman places primacy on the opportunity afforded by his brief venture into active military service. He is explicitly clear on what he hopes to gain from his military service: a chance to better his own employment, and perhaps secure a chance for his son to attend West Point. If he feels nationalistic stirrings of duty, he does not mention them in his letter.
Pitman’s son, John Jr., joins his father’s side at the war front in July of 1861, and then re-enlists with 11th Regiment, Rhode Island Volunteers, for duty in the defense of the city of Washington. Just 19 years old, his sentiments regarding the war are more emotional, with no shred of the opportunism espoused by his father. He wrote home to his mother on Nov. 9th, 1862, regarding the efforts of the Peace Democrats to end the war through compromise with the Confederacy:
I hear that the peace party are carrying the day in New York but hope they will be defeated elsewhere for if I dread anything it is a compromise with those infernal Rebels for if we make a compromise according to their terms and peace is patched up we shan’t be fit for much afterward. I came out here to assist in putting this insurrection down and don’t wish to be sent home like a…whipped dog[.]36
The underlined words infuse this letter with emotion. John Jr.’s reasons for enlistment and re-enlistment are simple: He is there to defeat this Southern
“insurrection”. This is of such importance that any compromise with the “infernal
Rebels” will degrade the endeavor. John Jr.’s writing features the more common themes that permeated Union letters at the time: along with a sense of duty, defense of Union against anarchy and destruction was also a frequent motivation espoused by Northern soldiers. “It is better to have war for one year than anarchy & revolution for fifty years,”
36 John Pitman Jr, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 9 November 1862.” JTPC, RIHS.
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wrote one Indiana lawyer in 1861, “ [for] if the government should suffer rebels to go on with their work with impunity there would be no end to it…”37 A Philadelphia printer expressed a similar sentiment before enlisting in 1861, citing “This contest is not between
North and South. It is government against anarchy, law against disorder.” 38
While his primary motivation is to aid in subduing the confederate rebellion, the idea of being “sent home…like a whipped dog” is intolerable to John Pitman Jr.
Maintaining his honor and saving face in front his family and neighbors is also of the utmost importance. Honor, like duty, was a powerful motivation for men to enlist. While duty is concerned more with one’s sense of obligation, honor pertains more towards one’s public standing in the community. As James McPherson describes it in For Cause and
Comrades, “To shirk duty is a violation of conscience; to suffer dishonor is to be disgraced by public shame.”39 The concepts of honor and shame were common refrains for soldiers writing home, as exemplified in the writings of an officer of the 20th
Massachusetts: “I would be ashamed of myself if I didn’t do something.” This sentiment was echoed by a soldier of the 54th Ohio: “We all of us have a duty to perform in this life…My honor is now bound up in the Army….God grant that my children may never blush for their father’s memory.” The concepts of duty, honor, as well as fear of shame were all powerful motivators for Northern men to enlist, and they certainly affected the young John Pitman Jr.40
37 McPherson, Cause and Comrades, 18.
38 Ibid.
39 McPherson, Cause and Comrades, 23.
40 McPherson, Cause and Comrades, 25.
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After the initial wave of patriotic fervor (rage militaire) subsided in the spring of
1861, the men of the Northern free states offered common motivations for enlistment in the army of the Potomac: duty, honor, and the preservation of the Union. Duty spoke to the fulfillment of an obligation; it was a private, moral decision. Men viewed the defense of the Union as their duty, they believed their fortunes were forged under the Union, and so they were obliged to defend it. On the other side of the same coin lay honor, which reflected men’s desire to fulfill society’s expectations. To forgo their duty would taint their honor and result in shame within their family and their community. Underlying both of these Victorian ideals was the desire to defend the Union from dissolution and anarchy. While nineteen-year-old John Jr.’s motivations to join the Union echoed these common themes of duty, honor, and preservation of the Union, his father’s sentiments are more nuanced. While John Pitman appears to have been affected by the rage militaire sweeping the northern states, he viewed the war first and foremost as an opportunity for personal gain.41 A 3-month excursion to Washington, as Pitman described to his wife, may provide a chance for career advancement in the Despatch Agency and perhaps secure a commission for their son to West Point. If John Pitman felt stirrings of honor or duty, he does not mention it to his wife. This powerful sense of opportunism would embroil John Pitman and his son within the Union Army for the next two years and geographically separate the Pitman family.
41 In James McPherson’s For Cause and Comrades, he describes the motivations that drove men to fight in the Civil War. Chief among these motivations were concepts of duty, honor, religious faith, the eradication of slavery, or a soldier’s loyalty to their state/regiment. Ambition, the primary sustaining factor for John Pitman’s participation in the war, is a motivation that is absent in McPherson’s work.
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IV
Leadership, Lassitude, and Letters: The Experience of War
“I shall endeavor to do my duty during the remainder of my term and if in doing it I fall, I shall submit to it as the will of God.”42 −John Talbot Pitman
On May 13th, 1861, John Talbot Pitman arrived at Camp Burnside, the headquarters of the Rhode Island Volunteer Regiments, which was stationed outside of
Washington, D.C. He wrote back to his wife regarding his new duties as a Captain in command of a company:
On Saturday morning I was assigned to Company G which has the reputation of being the worst company in the Regt- and I have been ever since engaged night + day in trying to put it in some kind of shape and you may be amused I have had no success of it- the great difficulty with it is not so much with the drilling as it is keeping the men under restraint, many of them having indifferent habits and very inpatient of the conduct of their officers…[but] I am told by my friends that already they can see a great improvement in the Company.43
From the start, Pitman occupied a position that placed him apart from the majority of Union soldiers: he was an officer. During the Civil War, officers typically came from the same community as their men, except they tended to be older, more educated, and were often respected members of their community. These volunteer armies elected or selected their own officers, which was a departure from the classic method of training, experience, and discipline that traditionally forged a professional officer. Pitman, with his
42 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 26 April, 1863.” JTPC, RIHS.
43 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 13 May, 1861.” JTPC, RIHS.
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legal education, already arrived bearing an advantage that placed him above the average recruit. As an attorney, Pitman was a member of the professional class, which occupied a particular subset of highly educated volunteers.44
Indeed, only about 3.2 % of all Fig 5: Pitman’s sketch of his officer’s quarters. This was included in a letter to Caroline dated November th Union men were members of the 30 , 1862 professional class, yet they accounted for 33% of all Union officers. This indicates a strong correlation between the amount of education one had received and the likelihood they were selected to assume command. Pitman’s education level, coupled with his ten- year tenure with the Rhode Island Militia, makes him the ideal candidate for an officer, and his election to command a company indicated his peers held him in high regard. 45
Pitman fully assumed his duties as an officer, and re-enlisted with 9th Regiment of
Rhode Island Volunteers (R.I.V.) after his initial 3 month commitment was complete. On
June 10th, 1862, Pitman was appointed Lt. Colonel, and on July 3, 1862, he was promoted to Colonel of the 9th Regiment. The 9th Regiment was stationed outside of Washington to protect the city in the event the Confederate Army crossed the Potomac. While the 9th never saw direct action, Pitman worked to keep his Regiment in top shape: “My official duties take about 2 or 3 hours in the morning,” he wrote home to Caroline, “The Battalion
44 The “professional” class denotes lawyers, physicians, college professors, engineers, or professional military officers. McPherson, Cause and Comrades, 54
45 McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 327. McPherson, Cause and Comrades, 54
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Drill about 2 1/2 after 4 oclk PM, the remainder of the day is variously employed, going to the different Forts or the City- studying, a nap of an hour, answering letters + thinking—”46
While the election of civilian officers could easily prove disastrous for those who did not easily learn the mechanics of army discipline and warfare; indeed at the Battle of
Bull Run, the first major engagement of the Union army, many officers panicked and left their regiments alone on the battlefield, but Pitman did not fall into this category. He proved to be a competent, respected, albeit peculiar officer, as vividly described by private A.D. Nickerson of the 9th R.I.V. while Pitman was still a Lt. Colonel:
All of our officers named had their peculiarities, but that our lieutenant-colonel was peculiarly peculiar; and yet I believe him to be every inch a soldier—at any rate, there was no such word as fear in his dictionary…He never threw up his commission, nor did he die. He remained with us to the last…Men everywhere—especially soldiers—admire pluck. Our lieutenant colonel had pluck, even though his heart seemed lacking in tenderness. He never winked at any breach of discipline on the part of an officer or a private while he was in command of the regiment. If he appeared to have too little consideration for his men, he never failed to exact the fullest measure of consideration for them from all others.47
Soldiers judged the competency of their officers by how well the officers treated them and looked out for their welfare. While Pitman is not described as a particularly warm individual, Nickerson praised his ability to “exact the fullest measure of consideration” for his soldiers, indicating that Pitman took good care of his men and ensured their overall wellbeing. Indeed, this respect and care towards their men was recognized as instrumental quality in a good officer. “The colonel of a Regiment in camp is compelled to be a father to a large family who call on him for everything,” wrote a
46 John Pitman Jr. “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 24 July, 1862.” JTPC, RIHS.
47 William Arnold Spicer, History of the Ninth and Tenth Regiments Rhode Island Volunteers, and the Tenth Rhode Island Battery (Providence: Snow and Farnham, 1892) 109-110.
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colonel of the 54th Ohio. “[A captain] must not only attend to their drill & obedience to orders,” wrote a captain of the 27th Massachusetts, “but he must look after their personal habits, their cleanliness, must listen to their little complaints, settle personal disputes & take care of them as of the same number of little children.” While Pitman focused more on the quality of drills and organization of the regiment in his letters, one senses his affection for his men after the death of a soldier of Company K after a brief illness: “We had been fortunate in not having lost a man + I hoped we might have gone home whole, but it was not meant to be. These affairs…have occupied my thoughts so completely that
I have with difficulty written what I have.”48
Along with caring about the welfare of their soldiers, bravery under challenging
circumstances also determined the merit of an officer in the
eyes of their men. Nickerson’s description of Pitman riding at
the head of a column is particularly poignant, for it illustrates
Pitman’s cool demeanor (Fig.6) is the face of a potential
battle. Indeed, his son, John Pitman Jr, who was serving in
the 11th R.I.V in the summer of 1863, described Pitman’s
unflappable demeanor during another march towards a
Fig. 6: A sketch of Colonel potential battle: “Father passed us on horseback how the Pitman at Battalion Drill boys cheered, he looked splendidly, perfectly cool with his blanket strapped behind his saddle and smoking his pipe as unconcerned as possible.”49
48 Mcpherson, Cause and Comrades, 54, John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 2 Aug 1862.” JTPC, RIHS.
49 John Pitman Jr. , “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 11 May, 1863.” JTPC, RIHS.
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This display of courage in the midst of a such conditions encouraged and inspired soldiers to follow their officers into the fray, and whether Pitman knew it or not, his calm attitude and his tendency to ride at the head of a column exemplified the hallmarks of an effective leader. A man of the 42nd Illinois described his awe at the behavior of his own colonel, writing: “When he goes and to meet the enemy he does not get in the rear and say Boys go and do this or that, but he goes in ‘front’ and says ‘Boys Come’ and there is but few in the Regt but that delights in going where he says.” That trust in a commanding officer was echoed by a sergeant in the 2nd Rhode Island, writing: “I will go whare and stay as long as eney of my officers will.”50
Although Pitman possessed the courage and fortitude to lead his men into battle, he never experienced direct combat. After his initial three month tenure in 1861 with the
First Rhode Island detached militia, Pitman re-enlisted twice, first with the 9th Regt
R.I.V., from June-Sept. 1862, and then with the 11th Regt R.I.V. from Oct. 1862 -July
1863. While Pitman’s companies were often on the periphery of engagements, none of these Rhode Island regiments saw the battlefield. As Colonel Spicer of the 9th R.I.V. recalled of his regiment’s defense of Washington: “The history of the 9th Regt. is necessarily brief and uneventful….important but not dazzling duties were assigned it, and these duties were quietly and faithfully performed.”51
Without the turmoil of battle to occupy his mind, the events at home were often the subject of Pitman’s correspondence. In January of 1862, Pitman learned his eldest daughter, Mary “Monna”, had been diagnosed with tuberculosis, and from this point on concerns about her health became a common topic in his letters: “Very sad indeed are the
50 Mcpherson, Cause and Comrades, 60.
51 Spicer, Ninth and Tenth Regiments Rhode Island Volunteers, 115.
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news you send me about our dear dear Monna but I trust and pray that her situation is not so critical as your fear would lead you to believe. Still every thing that we can do must be done to save her.”52 Monna’s health would preoccupy Pitman for the tenure of his military service. He dispensed medical advice to Caroline regarding remedies for tuberculosis, such as the benefits of horse back riding for the lungs, or fresh clear air outside of the city. Caroline would later take her daughters to Brattleboro, Vermont, for several months in 1862 in an effort to relieve Monna’s physical ailments.
In addition to Monna’s illness, Pitman also wrote regularly of missing his wife,
Caroline. His affection for her is palpable throughout their correspondence: “You know how I miss you both physically mentally socially I can hear you say the first he never loses sight of—“53 Although Caroline’s portion of the correspondence does not survive, one can deduce that she responded in kind to his affections, for they are frequent and undeterred among Pitman’s letters, ranging from the sexually intimate to the broadly romantic. One notable example of this can be found when Pitman reaffirmed his love and devotion to his wife during their silver wedding anniversary on August 2nd, 1862:
My dear wife This day twenty five years since commenced our wedded life, full of hopes and fears of sorrows and happiness. How short the period when looking back. How long to those just commencing their joint career!! …On the whole we have great reason to be thankful and truly grateful for the great mercies we have received and I hope we may show it not only with our life but in our deeds.
He concluded this letter with: “must close- so love and kisses to you.”
Letters from home could be a double-edged sword. On one hand, these letters could bring news from home that spoke of hardship and suffering, which could then provoke anxiety and reduce morale. The colonel of the 15th Wisconsin decried the negative letters
52 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 18 January, 1862.” JTPC, RIHS.
53 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 21 July, 1862.” JTPC, RIHS.
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married men received, stating they were filled with: “complaints, and whinings, asking him to ‘come home’ etc, [which] has more to do with creating discouragement and finally sickness and disease than the hardships he has to endure.”54 On the other hand, positive or even neutral letters could sustain the soldier away from home and boost confidence, as described by a lieutenant of the 10th Massachusetts: “Letters are the only thing that make existence tolerable…you do not realize how everything that savors of home, relishes with us.”
While Pitman had to grapple with the stress of Monna’s tuberculosis, it does not appear that Caroline filled her letter with “complaints and whinings.” Pitman does not once allude to a request to “come home” or anything that might undermine his military duty. Indeed, the sternest rebuke Pitman ever offers Caroline concerns her reluctance to visit the camp outside of Washington along with Monna: “I order you to bring her nonwithstanding what the Doctor says— it is about time to me to have my wishes gratified + my judgement [sic] taken in the matter.”55 Aside from this one episode,
Pitman’s letters rarely allude to negativity or difficulty stemming from Caroline’s letters.
In this sense Caroline proved to be a source of support for her husband while he was away from home.
While letters from his wife certainly fortified Pitman, the political news from home proved to be a source of frustration. By the summer of 1862 Republicans were beginning to realize that emancipation of the slaves may integral to winning the war and securing a lasting peace; restoring the Union to the way it was before the war may not be possible.
Pitman, like most Union soldiers, was dismayed to learn that the objective of the war may
54 McPherson, Cause and Comrades, 134.
55 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 14 February, 1863.” JTPC, RIHS.
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shift from the fighting an insurrection to freeing the slaves, especially when it involved criticism of the military:
I am very sorry to see that politicians are trying to get up an excitement against McClellan, for their own selfish purpose…in order to have generals who will carry out the war or abolition principle— I cannot yet believe they are so utterly wicked as to be willing to sacrifice so many lives and perhaps the country to carry out an abstract question which will, in the end, be settled with the war conducted as it is remains upon the broad principle of restoring the Constitution to its basics as established by our Fathers— I have every confidence in him myself and think the whole army has also— as well as the most of the people.56
Pitman did not believe abolitionist politics should affect the way the war was conducted; this was a notion shared by most northern fighting men, including New
Englanders. This did not necessarily mean that they condoned slavery, but at the outbreak of the war most did not regard the elimination of slavery as a motivation to enlist. As historian John McPherson describes, “They fought for Union and against treason; only a minority felt any interest in fighting for black freedom.”57 The Republican push for emancipation in 1862, and the resulting criticism of McClellan and the military, was intolerable to Pitman, who believed “wicked” politicians should not interfere in the conduct of the war and thereby “sacrifice so many lives and perhaps the country”.
Pitman’s perspective echoes that of Gen. McClellan himself, who wrote in a memorandum to President Lincoln on July 8th, 1862, that: “Military power should not be allowed to interfere with the relations of servitude…A declaration of radical views, especially upon slavery, will rapidly disintegrate our present armies.”58
56 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 13 July, 1862.” JTPC, RIHS.
57 McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 497.
58McClellan, George. B. McClellan’s Own Story. (Charles L. Webster and Company, New York: 1887), 487-489 Accessed from https://archive.org/details/mcclellansownsto00mccl.
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After the final Emancipation Proclamation on January 1 of 1863, which was preceded by preliminary Emancipation Proclamation that issued in September of 1862
(followed by), Union soldiers were transformed into “armies of liberation.”59 The end goal was no longer to merely subdue the southern insurrectionists, but to alter the very structure of the southern states by freeing the slaves. To many troops, emancipation was an idea that could dovetail easily with the original plan, as espoused by one Indiana colonel, who described how he wanted: “to destroy everything that…gives rebels strength…so this army will sustain the emancipation proclamation and enforce it with the bayonet.”60 Even General Halleck remarked of the necessity of this task in a letter to
General Grant, citing: “Every slave withdrawn from the enemy is the equivalent of a white man put hors de combat.”61
Despite this major shift in ideology of the Union Army, Pitman is notably silent on the issues of both slavery and emancipation. His letter to Caroline regarding the
“wicked” politicians (referenced previously) is his only mention of the Emancipation
Proclamation. For an individual who wrote hundreds of pages of detailed, thoughtful correspondence, the dearth of opinion regarding such a pivotal issue of the war is unusual. It is likely that Pitman eventually supported the abolishment of slavery, as by
1862 it was regarded as necessary for a successful Union victory in the war, but he never expressed his thoughts on paper.62
59 McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 558
60 McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 558.
61 McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 559.
62 Chandra Manning’s book What This Cruel War was Over explores what Union and Confederate
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John Talbot Pitman enlisted three times for the state of Rhode Island: he served first as a Captain with the 2nd Rhode Island detached militia, from May-August 1861, then was promoted from Major to Lt. Colonel, and then to Colonel with the 9th Regiment,
May-September 1862, and finally served as Lt. Colonel of the 11th Regiment from
October 1862 to July 1863. From the first day he mustered at Camp Burnside in the summer of 1861, Pitman occupied a place of prestige as an officer, a position that automatically placed him in the minority of his fellow Rhode Islanders. Although his regiments never saw direct combat, he proved himself an effective leader by caring for the welfare of his men, as well as displaying courage under challenging circumstances, such as when his regiments marched towards potential conflict. Aside from his position as an officer, Pitman’s wartime experiences were not dissimilar from other Union men: he saw little conflict, experienced periods of stagnation, sustained himself on letters from home, and above all, believed he was in the Army of the Potomac in order to crush the
Southern Insurrection. In this sense Pitman’s wartime experience was rather unremarkable, but as the next chapter will discuss, his persistent efforts to better himself during his deployments are exemplary.
soldiers thought about slavery in regard to their overall motivations for fighting in the war. She argues that while emancipation may not have been a driving factor for Union soldiers in the beginning of the war, a commitment to freedom for the slaves grew steadily as the war progressed, marking an overall shift in the ideology of the Union army. By the end of the war, Manning places emancipation as the central goal of the Union Army. This primacy on emancipation within the Union army makes it all the more unusual that Pitman is silent on this issue in his correspondence.
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V
In Search of Better Fortunes
“I had imagined that I was better fitted for Military life than any other but you see all do not agree with me—“ 63 −John Talbot Pitman
From the first day he arrived at Camp Burnside in May of 1861, John Pitman made it clear he had high aspirations for his time in the military. He had twin goals in mind: to obtain an elite position for himself that he could perhaps leverage into an appointment for the Despatch Agency, and to secure John Jr. a commission to West
Point. In his first letter home to Caroline, Pitman described his appointment as Captain of
Company G of the Second Rhode Island Detached militia, but in the same breath made it clear that the rank and the command he received was not to his liking, believing his desired rank of Lieutenant Colonel was deliberately withheld:
I hoped to have obtained the lt. colonel of the 2nd reg but Gov. Sprague who is a man of no generosity of disposition…who will never forgive Joseph for opposing his nomination this spring in the Dem. Convention and for the ground he took. In order, I think, to punish [me]…the Gov. has appointed Slocom …Col. [of the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment] and it is said Capt. Dexter will be its Major- its Lt. Col is not named yet- I have very little or no expectation of having it as the Gov treats me with hardly decent civility and if I can I am hardly displaced to pat him on the back as Slocum has been doing ever since the two came together here. He is a man of very small calibre but happened to have made a ten strike at the very neck to time-64
63 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 11 January, 1863.” JTPC, RIHS.
64 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 13 May, 1861.” JTPC, RIHS.
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This passage reflects the undercurrent of politics that simmered beneath the appointment of officers. Besides election by peers, political favor from Governors also resulted in the appointment of civilian officers, as Pitman directly observed.65 He vividly described the coziness between the Rhode Island state Governor, William Sprague, and
Colonel John S. Slocum, head of the 2nd Regt, R.I.V., by describing Slocum as subservient to Sprague and patting Sprague on the back “ever since the two came together here.” Slocum, Pitman believed, had clearly engaged in dubious maneuvers to win the Governor’s favor, as he “happened to have made a ten strike at the very neck to time.” 66
Pitman took Slocum’s appointment very personally; he viewed it not as a personal slight, but as a “punishment.” In his letter, he explains to Caroline how his desired rank of Lieutenant Colonel is out of his reach because Governor Sprague, “who is a man of no generosity of disposition… treats [him] with hardly any decent civility.” Pitman had a personal relationship with the Governor, and it apparently was not an amicable one. 67
The only clue Pitman provides as the impetus of this uncomfortable rapport is the politics of his brother, Joseph Pitman (Fig. 7), an attorney and career professional soldier who was also mustered at Camp Burnside. Joseph, according to Pitman, opposed
65 McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 328-329
66 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 13 May, 1861.” JTPC. RIHS. Colonel Slocum’s tenure with the Rhode Island Volunteers would prove to be short-lived; he was killed in the First Battle of Bull Run. Source: Denison, Frederic. Sabres and Spurs: The First Regiment Rhode Island Calvary in the Civil War. (Central Falls: E.L. Freeman, 1876), 50.
57John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 13 May, 1861.” JTPC, RIHS. Governor William Sprague was certainly a polarizing figure in Rhode Island history; nicknamed the “Boy Governor,” he was only thirty years old when he was elected to office. The heir of his father’s textile fortune, Sprague has already amassed considerable wealth and made a name for himself by the time he was elected. He led the Rhode Island Volunteers down to Washington in 1861, and even participated at the First Battle of Bull Run. Source: “William Sprague, a Featured Biography,” United States Senate. Accessed October 14, 2016. https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/Featured_Bio_Sprague.htm.
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Sprague’s nomination for governor in the democratic convention,
and as a result Sprague never forgave him “for the ground he took.”
While Joseph was a professional soldier (he had participated in the
Mexican-American War) and thus escaped Sprague’s
“punishment,”68 John Pitman was not as indispensible and
consequently absorbed enough of Sprague’s ire for both of them.
Pitman’s desire to make the most of his tour in the military is
evident in this letter. While he was appointed to the rank Captain
and given the command of a company, an honor for any civilian, he
instead focused on what lay beyond his reach, namely the rank of Lt.
Fig. 7: Joseph Story Colonel. Pitman’s aspirations are stymied by a unique set of Pitman, John Talbot Pitman’s younger brother circumstances: he has found himself the object of Governor’s
Sprague’s ill will, a sentiment that is a direct response to Joseph
Pitman’s adversarial political machinations.
Despite these stumbling blocks, Pitman fully assumed his duties as an officer, and
re-enlisted with 9th Regiment of Rhode Island Volunteers (R.I.V.) after his initial 3 month
commitment was up. While Pitman ably fulfilled his duties as an officer, he continued to
focus on bettering his position for both himself and his family. His letters during the
summer of 1861, during his first duty with the 2nd R.I.V., frequently mentioned the
absence of his son, John Jr, and they oscillate from wistful to logical to frustrated: “I wish
68 Joseph Story Pitman served in the Mexican American War (1846-1848), eventually rising to the rank of Major. From 1851-1856 he served as Brigadier General in the 2nd Rhode Island militia. A man of his experience and ability would have been highly valued at the start of the Civil War. Source: JTPC, RIHS.
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John were here to be with me.”69 “I think with regard to John that he had better come on and be with me as soon as possible- He will then be able to learn something about military matters and this…may facilitate his chances for W Point- There are several vacancies in September and if he is at Washington with me previously he may be successful then.”70 “If John prefers to come on immediately and can find the means, before going to Providence let him come-”71 “If John can be spared I wish you would send him on so as to be here Fig. 8: John. Jr’s drawing of his mess tent. In a letter home dated June 11, 1862, John Jr. listed all the soldiers of on Saturday night or next his mess because he believed his mother and sisters would recognize most of the names. morning- the earlier the better…It will give him a good opportunity to see some service and he may make himself useful, if he can it will increase his chances for the appointment-“72 I am very much disappointed that John has failed to come to me as I so much wished- I thought he was very anxious to be a soldier…if so he never should have let slip the present occasion.”73
John Jr. may not have realized it, but John Pitman Sr. recognized the opportunities afforded by military service. Pitman believed this crisis between the states would only
69 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 13 May, 1861.” JTPC, RIHS.
70 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 16 June, 1861.” JTPC, RIHS.
71 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 19 June, 1861.” JTPC, RIHS.
72 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 4 July, 1861.” JPTC, RIHS.
73 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 14 January, 1861.” JTPC, RIHS.
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last a few short months, and he wanted his son by his side to make the most of this excursion. The desperation is evident in these letters; Pitman thinks his son is running out of time to volunteer, and that the war may be over by the time John Jr. arrives in
Washington: “he never should have let slip the present occasion.”74 It is unknown if John
Jr. dreamt of going to West Point; his letters never mention it, but it was certainly a goal of John Sr. for his son to attend the prestigious military academy. This paternal insistence on John’s participation in the war was most likely the impetus for the 19 year old to enlist
(Fig. 8).
In addition to securing his son’s future, Pitman also worked to further his own aspirations. To do this he relied on the influence of his powerful friends, one of which was Rhode Island Republican Senator Henry B. Anthony: “I left camp this morning at 8
1/2 in order to go with Senator Anthony to see the Secretary of State in relation to the
Dispatch [sic] Agency- the object in particular being to introduce me to the Assistant
Secretary— .”75 Senator Anthony also proved helpful in Pitman’s quest for West Point: “I went with Senator Anthony to see the President about the Cadetship yesterday— Did not meet with a reception that promised nothing more than that the papers would be examined—.”76 While Pitman was grateful for Anthony’s help, he also wrote home to
Caroline that the distribution of personal favors did not come easy for the senator:
“Anthony does not like to use his influence if he has any he thinks he has none.”77
In addition to Senator Anthony, Pitman wrote about his relationship with General
74 John Pitman. “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 14 July, 1861.” JTPC, RIHS.
75 John Pitman. “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 31 July, 1861.” JTPC, RIHS.
76 John Pitman. “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 12 January, 1862.” JTPC, RIHS.
77 John Pitman. “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 12 January, 1862.” JTPC, RIHS.
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Ambrose Burnside, the most famous of Rhode Island soldiers, whom Pitman met in
January of 1862: “I write in Gen Burnside’s headquarters- met him by accident…and rode down with him on the Empire- was very affable but has not formed any place for me in his expedition…”78 Burnside quickly became a friend for Pitman, and Pitman hoped
Burnside could use his influence to further Pitman’s career prospects: “Intended at noon to go to Washington but when I called on General Burnside this morning to get him to add something to my certificate he informed me that there was likely to be a vacancy in one of the Field Offices of a New York Regiment and intimated that he would give it to me—if offered I cannot refuse it…”79 Burnside also dispensed advice to Pitman regarding John Jr.’s chance for West Point: “He recommended that I should apply for a
2d Lieutenancy for John instead of trying for WP. What do you think about it?”80
Pitman was fortunate to have working relationships with several powerful men within the state of Rhode Island. With the exception of Burnside, whom Pitman met by chance on a train to Washington, it is unknown when Pitman developed a relationship with Governor Sprague or with Senator Anthony. Perhaps it was because Pitman was from a multi-generational Rhode Island family, or perhaps it was because his father, the
Hon. John Pitman, was a federal judge. Perhaps it was because Pitman himself and his younger brother Joseph were both attorneys and worked in Providence. Whatever the case may be, Pitman’s social and family background likely played a role in the establishment of such professional connections. These connections placed Pitman in a
78 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 1 January, 1862.” JTPC, RIHS.
79 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 3 January, 1862.” JTPC, RIHS.
80 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 12 January, 1862.” JTPC, RIHS.
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position that elevated him above his already prestigious position as an officer, and as a result he occupied a very unusual place of privilege. Governor Sprague, Senator
Anthony, and General Burnside were some of the most powerful men within the state, and to have their ear was an advantage Pitman was all too willing to exploit for both personal and familial gain.
Indeed, after his dogged efforts to further his career during January 1862, Pitman wrote home describing his hopes and expectations:
The lines are named in the order of my hopes of obtaining the [position]: Coloncy of the 5th Regt which Sprague has told some are he was now going to fill up- A field Office in the Regt which Burnside is to reorganize on landing A clerkship The business of making Chromate of Potash81 The oil business— I suppose you think the last ought to be placed higher up—but the truth is I feel I have been disappointed to many times in Patents + new business that I am in a good deal of fear lest new ones should fail.82
Pitman makes it clear that he has invested his personal aspirations within military leadership, and would prefer not to resume his legal duties filing patents and investing in new products. With a clear focus, his military career advances steadily; in 1862 he was promoted from Major to Lt. Colonel, and then to Colonel with the 9th Regiment, in which he served from May-September 1862.While the 9th Regiment did not encounter direct combat, Pitman ably fulfilled his duties as an officer. However, it is during his tenure with the 11th Regiment, from October 1862 to July 1863, that Pitman’s career hit an unexpected obstacle.
81 Chromate of Potash, also known as Potassium Chromate, is a chemical compound with many industrial applications, including use as a pigment for paints and ink, and for plating metals. It is also highly toxic. Perhaps Pitman considered this compound to be lucrative due to his work with industrial patents, although he never personally filed a patent for this compound. Source: “Hazardous Fact Sheets,” New Jersey Dept. of Health, accessed April 30, 2017, http://nj.gov/health/eoh/rtkweb/documents/fs/1561.pdf.
82 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 24 January, 1862.” JTPC, RIHS.
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Since Pitman had served as Colonel of the 9th Regiment, he expected to be the
Colonel of the 11th Regiment as well. This promotion never came to pass, as Pitman described in 1863, in which he details Gov. Sprague’s withdrawal of the colonelcy:
I presume you have heard of the new promotions among others of Major Rogers as Colonel of this [regiment]— I felt very indignant at being so treated but more so for the reasons given by the Gov— he says “I had left this position vacant hoping I could give it to you but the accounts from the Regt and from our Senators and Representatives in Congress have left me no choice— You will ever have the credit for the most patriotic motives…but your tact to get on with men leads you into difficulties and in a measure neutralizes the efficiency of a command” I have written to the Governor [and] our two Senators…to know what these accounts are, as the statements have no foundation else of the most frivolous character— Shall try to ferret out the author if it be a possible thing— I intend (entre nous) to resign as soon as I can, after making somebody take back or prove what they have charged—83
According to Governor Sprague (Fig. 9), Pitman is
th denied the colonelcy of the 11 regt. due to accounts regarding Fig. 9: Rhode Island Governor William his “tact to get on with men”, which in turn “neutralizes the Sprague efficiency of a command.” Sprague does not elaborate further on specifics, and Pitman is left baffled, desperate to figure out just where things went wrong. Pitman does not leave any clues within his letters to Caroline as to any shortcomings in his leadership, but
Sprague’s letter offers a hint: Pitman’s relationship with his men was to blame—perhaps he was too lenient with his men, or too harsh? 84 In either case Pitman believes someone
83 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 4 January, 1863.” JTPC, RIHS.
84 The only other clue within the correspondence regarding the improper behavior between Pitman and his men is mentioned in Pitman’s letter on Feb 3, 1862: “To put my case in its proper light I have has a free conversation with [Col.] Rogers + asked him to inquire into the facts of the alleged disagreement with my men so as to be able to state them fully to the Gov—“ This passage alludes to a negative relationship between Pitman and his men, not an overly friendly one. Based on A.D. Nickerson’s description of Pitman as a man who “never winked at any breach of discipline,” one can assume that whatever Pitman’s transgressions were that cost him the Coloncy of the 11th, is was unlikely due to fraternization with his men.
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was out to falsely discredit him, blasting these statements as ones of the “most frivolous character.” He also expresses a desire to resign as “soon as I can”, a move which would thereby terminate his military career. 85 As a result of Gov. Sprague’s decision, Pitman is given the position of Lt. Colonel of the 11th R.I.V., a step down from his previous
th experience as Colonel of the 9 R.I.V., a demotion which Pitman regards as humiliating:
“It is a matter of much mortification to me to think that a man so much my junior in years
+ military life should be thought more competent to take command than myself—.”86
With the loss of the colonelcy of the 11th, and the subsequent curtailing of his ascendency through the ranks of the military, Pitman finds himself directionless. His driving motivation through the past two years of military service was to continually better himself and his rank so that a military career may support his family, and now this door has been closed. As the 11th regiment R.I.V. was stationed outside of the city of Suffolk,
VA, preparing for possible battle with the Confederates, Pitman wrote of his feelings of dissatisfaction and depression:
I have little or nothing to do, with a constant inclination to sleep whenever I undertake to read or write— and all my thoughts are dull, without decision and crude—Anxious to retire from the service and yet restrained from resigning by you as the mouthpiece of my friends—with nothing to look forward to when I have done so, I have become tired, disheartened and almost indifferent as to what may happen— and with little or no disposition to make any active expectation, or enter into the area + strife of business life—I trust I shall find a better state of feeling or thought soon, for should the present get too firmly seated I shall be but…fit only as food for gunpowder—87
Pitman was not alone in his melancholy musings; indeed, despondent letters home were not unusual. For most Union soldiers, morale was inextricably linked to success on the battlefield; victory boosted morale, which in turn could lead to more victories, while
85 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 4 January, 1863.” JTPC, RIHS.
86 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 8 January, 1863.” JTPC, RIHS.
87 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 27 April, 1863.” JTPC, RIHS.
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defeat was demoralizing and could lead to a downward spiral of desertion and further defeats in battle. “Every breath of air has seemed to moan over our great misfortune,” wrote a solider of the 22nd Massachusetts after the Union loss of the battle of
Chancellorsville in 1863, “Call it what you please, demoralization or discouragement, we dare not ford rivers, sleep standing, and fight running, when sure defeat always awaits a doomed army.” 88 “If you ever saw a discouraged regt. it is this,” wrote an officer of the
10th Massachusetts in 1862 after a successful Confederate counteroffensive, “No courage, no ambition, no hope.”89
When Pitman wrote his letter outside of Suffolk, VA, his tone was affected by the circumstances of his regiment; the 11th was busy digging rifle pits and breast works in preparation for a possible battle with Longstreet’s confederates. Pitman was frustrated by his regiment’s lack of movement or engagement, even though he could hear constant artillery fire in the distance: “I am not over anxious for a fight, if it can reasonably be avoided— but cannot help chafing at our inaction and seeing them [the rebels] allowed to taunt us in this manner—.”90 In this sense the stagnation of the 11th R.I.V. in the face of potential battle contributed to Pitman’s lowered morale and sense of frustration.
While military circumstance likely played a role, the primary source of Pitman’s misery in this letter stems from more personal matters, namely the untimely end of his military aspirations. He expresses a wish to resign his post, not because of the loss of a battle, or the dangers of combat, or even the sheer physical exhaustion of military life, but
88 McPherson, Cause and Comrades, 157.
89 McPherson, Cause and Comrades, 156.
90 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 27 April 1863.” JTPC, RIHS.
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because he has not achieved his personal goals to better his position. As a result of this, even life beyond the battlefield seems lackluster, for Pitman is reluctant to “enter into the area + strife of business life”. Indeed, the only thing that keeps Pitman at his post is the threat of dishonor if he resigns, citing Caroline “as the mouthpiece of my friends,” who apparently have discouraged such behavior.
Duty with the 11th R.I.V. would prove to be Pitman’s last enlistment; he finished his tenure with his regiment until his 9-month enlistment concluded in July of 1863. The
Civil War would continue for another two years, but Pitman was finished with his time on the battlefield. The final set of frustrations and roadblocks that dogged Pitman for the year of 1863 ultimately led to his decision not to re-enlist. In this decision we see his basic motivations for serving the war laid bare: he did not participate in the conflict because of rage militare, or duty, or honor; he was there to better his own fortunes, and the success or failure of this determined his motivation for further engagement.
John Talbot Pitman’s primary motivation for enlistment and re-enlistment with the
Rhode Island Volunteers stemmed from twin goals: to gain admission for his son to West
Point, and to secure a better career for himself. To achieve these ends, Pitman relied upon his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the state, including Governor
William Sprague, Senator Henry Anthony, and Gen. Ambrose Burnside. These relationships placed Pitman in a position of extreme privilege and elevated him beyond his already influential status as an officer. Despite such access, these privileged relationships were unable to deliver Pitman to his ultimate goal: a distinguished military career that could be leveraged to something greater once the war was over.
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VI
Undeterred Ambition
“The Chance of doing something is too good a one to be lost by me especially when every one else is looking to the Main chance—“91 -John Talbot Pitman
While in New York City, fresh from departing the 11th Regiment of Rhode Island
Volunteers, John Talbot Pitman received an important telegram, the contents of which he promptly relayed to his wife: “Presuming you will not be less pleased than myself I hasten to inform you that I have received the following telegram [:] Your son has been appointed a cadet Telegraph him to go to West Point at once.”92
The past two years of Pitman’s persistent personal efforts—the meetings, the letters, the petitions, not to mention John Jr.’s military service—had finally borne fruit.
John Pitman Jr. was on his way to West Point military academy, where, in his father’s eyes, he would secure a bright future.93 Pitman would be on hand to ensure his son would not miss the start of school: “Shall take the 3:30 boat for WP and expect to meet him
91 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 22 May, 1864.” JTPC, RIHS.
92 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 23 Sept. 1863.” JTPC, RIHS.
93 Pitman would prove to be correct about his son’s future: John Jr. graduated 10th in his class at West Point and went on to have a successful career in the military, eventually retiring at the rank of Brigadier General. He spent his career researching explosives, propellants, and small arms. His collection of historic cartridges, which he collected and wrote about during his lifetime, is still housed at West Point today. Source: “US Army Ordnance Corps Hall of Fame Nomination: Brigadier General John Talbot Pitman Jr.” US Army, accessed August 4, 2015, http://www.jmc.army.mil/Docs/History/pitman% 20HOFNom2.pdf.
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tonight or tomorrow morning— and remain until he is passed the Rubicon—“94 John Jr.’s reaction to the news is measured; he mentions his appointment while writing home from
West Point to his mother and sisters: “I suppose by this time you have heard of my appointment. I am present only awaiting the examination to be fully installed.”95
With John Jr.’s admission to West Point, Pitman had accomplished one of his two goals that he had iterated from the outbreak of war in 1861. With his son’s future on the right track, Pitman was free to focus on his other objective, which was to secure a better future for himself so as to better provide for his family.
In the fall of 1863 John Talbot Pitman was appointed to the Rhode Island Allotment
Commission. The Allotment Commission was responsible for paying soldiers their wages, and officers of the Allotment Commission frequently traveled to the battlefront to deliver pay. Pitman’s tenure in the Allotment Commission saw him travel to Kentucky,
Washington DC, Missouri, and New Orleans in support of Rhode Island soldiers.
It was during Pitman’s stay in New Orleans in the spring of 1864 that he devised a scheme for securing a tidy profit for himself, an idea that he explained at length to his wife, Caroline. The Allotment Commission was responsible for paying soldiers their wages, but it featured a unique set of conditions: if soldiers wanted to cash their checks immediately, 10% of their earnings would return home to their families, but if they wanted to keep the entire check for themselves, they would have to wait a whole month for the check to clear. The idea behind the one-month waiting period was that this would curb unnecessary or frivolous spending by the men, and it would encourage financial support for families back home. Pitman’s plan was to circumvent this: “When this is
94 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 23 Sept. 1863.” JTPC, RIHS.
95 John Pitman Jr., “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 27 Sept. 1863.” JTPC, RIHS.
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done, I intend to say to them that if any are determined to realize money on their allotment checks at any price, I can get them cashed for them at a less rate then anybody else (say 10 per d) + expect to find some thousands of dollars worth put in my hands— so that I may realize some 500 by the operation—“96 Pitman’s idea was that he would cash the checks for these men immediately, and secure a small percentage of their wages in return. In this sense the men could have their money without the one-month waiting period, and with less than 10% cut sent home.
This was certainly a dubious method of obtaining extra pay for himself, and Pitman seemed to sense it: “If…I had friends of the State not otherwise appropriated some question might be raised about the propriety of my course— but Fig. 10: Lt. Colonel Nelson Viall as I do it solely outside of my Commission I consider this operation just as legitimate as buying a lot of cotton.” Once again Pitman relies of the privileges of his friendships with powerful people in his pursuit of his own ends, although he seems to be working hard to justify his actions to his wife. He finished his explanation of his plan with an almost pleading caveat: “The Chance of doing something is too good a one to be lost by me especially when every one else is looking to the Main chance—.”97
Pitman’s “chance” ended almost as quickly as it began after a tumultuous encounter with Lt. Col. Nelson Viall of the 14th Regiment (Fig. 10), which was stationed in New
96 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 22 May 1864.” JTPC, RIHS.
97 Ibid.
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Orleans in June of 1864.98 Pitman described the confrontation in great detail, which started when Pitman paid a visit to Viall’s quarters and found Viall to be in a state of agitation:
[Viall was] getting with every word more + more excited, waving his arms + speaking loud enough to be heard 1/4 of a mile…he began on me — and accused me and the S Commissioner of being in league to swindle the soldiers out of their money—I told him at last he talked like a crazy man + that he didn’t know what he was talking about— I attempted to calm him down, but it was of no avail as soon as I began, he would interrupt me with his loud voice…
Viall had gotten wind of Pitman’s moneymaking scheme. After the accusation of
“swindling” the men, violence erupted:
— at last he began shaking his fist in my face + became so abusive that I said I should no longer sit there and listen to such language + was about getting up, when he said “get out of my quarters you damned rascal you” + instantly seizing me by the coat collar lifted me out of my chair + pulling + dragging me through the doorway towards the wide staircase…when he did let go + either then or before struck me several severe blows in the face — of course I stood my ground as well as possible but finding him perfectly furious + assisted by several soldiers collected by his noise—I left, his quarters + the house immediately…
Pitman’s career in the Allotment Commission ended promptly after this encounter.
Correspondence with Caroline stops from June to December of 1864, indicating Pitman’s return to Providence. It is unknown how or if the encounter with Viall resolved, as
Pitman only mentions this confrontation once more in his letters: “The matter of Viall still remains stationary—either intentionally or from neglect.”99 In any event, the plan to make extra money on the side, to look “to the Main Chance,” backfired.
The drive to better one’s self, to search for better fortunes, was never clearer than during Pitman’s brief tenure with the Allotment Commission. Pitman developed and
98 The 14th Regiment of Heavy Artillery was R.I.’s first black regiment, led by white officers. Lt. Col. Viall organized the regiment for battle and accompanied them southwards, and is described as having “great faith in his troops”. The 14th served on garrison duty in the South for two years, but never saw combat. Source: Bicknell, Thomas. The History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Vol. II. (New York, The American Historical Society Inc: 1920), 818. Accessed from https://archive.org/details/historyofstateof04inbick.
99 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 15 June 1864.” JTPC, RIHS.
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engaged in a reckless moneymaking scheme that he sensed at some level to be immoral, relying on “friends of the State” to turn a blind eye to his behavior. As a result, a fellow officer who took umbrage at his “swindling” of his soldiers verbally and physically assaulted Pitman, and the plan collapsed in spectacular fashion. Three years after the start of the Civil war, after three deployments in the Rhode Island Volunteers, and even after reaching the rank of Colonel, Pitman is still driven by his desire to secure better a better fortune for himself, a drive that by 1864 compromised basic morality and even his own physical safety.
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VII
Conclusion: A Family Divided
The conclusion of the Civil War saw the Pitman family much as they were in the beginning on the conflict: geographically separated from each other. In 1865, Caroline and her youngest daughter Caroline (“Callie”) remained in Providence, Rhode Island, while eldest daughter Monna attended boarding school in Vermont. John Jr. was about to start his second year at West Point Military Academy in New York. Ever the opportunist and adventurer, Patriarch John Talbot Pitman was making his way west to Montana to locate, map, and sell deeds of silver lodes to buyers in New York City. The Civil War had brought them from Europe back to Rhode Island, but from that point on the Pitman family was rarely together.
At the start of the Civil War, Pitman felt the patriotic fervor experienced by many of his countrymen, and like many other Rhode Islanders, he went and enlisted with the
Rhode Island Volunteers. Unlike most of his other countrymen in that summer of 1861,
Pitman’s sense of national duty soon dissipated and was eclipsed by a desire to better his lot in life. His goals were twofold: to secure a position for his son at the United States
Military Academy in West Point, and to establish a new career for himself, whatever that may be.
To accomplish the first goal, Pitman begged, pleaded, threatened, and cajoled his nineteen-year-old son to join him down at the front. Military service during this short
“excursion” would be crucial in securing an appointment to West Point. John Jr.
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eventually complied, and was present on the periphery during the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861. John Jr. went on to volunteer with the 9th and the 11th Regiments, and served in active duty until 1863, when he achieved that most remarkable of goals: a commission to
West Point.
To achieve his second goal, Pitman relied on his many privileges, most notably his education and his social standing. As a lawyer, Pitman was considered a member of the professional class, an elite group within the Rhode Island Volunteers. Only 3.2% of all
Rhode Island soldiers fell into this category, but 33% of all officers came from this class.
Like most other professionals who volunteered, Pitman was appointed as an officer, a position that afforded him more influence, and an opportunity to leverage his military standing into something greater once the war was over.
As an attorney, as member of a multi-generational Rhode Island family, and with a father who served as Federal Judge for the state of Rhode Island, Pitman occupied a position of privilege within the social fabric of Rhode Island. As a result Pitman relied on his powerful social connections to pursue myriad career opportunities. Pitman sought consul from Senator Anthony regarding John Jr.’s chances for West Point. General
Ambrose Burnside advised Pitman concerning his career options within the Rhode Island
Volunteers. Governor William Sprague proved to be a double edge sword, on one hand promoting Pitman and at the next turn denying him career advancement.
Pitman’s experiences in the military was unremarkable compared with other Union soldiers; he did not see combat, he experienced boredom, frustrations and missed his family. He was a capable officer and earned respect from his men, although he was not particularly effusive about his men in his writings. The experiences that defined the war
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for Pitman remained the same through his writings, and they all revolved around his relentless pursuit to better his own career. His emotions in his letters wax and wane in conjunction with his promotions or lack thereof, or with John Jr’s absence at camp or his attendance at camp, or with the promise of a new career path with the Despatch Agency or the termination of that aspiration. Unlike his contemporaries, Pitman’s letters are largely devoid of notions of duty, or honor, or Union, or country; indeed, Pitman’s naked ambition is the common thread throughout his writings, an ambition that propelled him for the “Next Chance” even after the war’s conclusion.
As a member of a multi-generational established Rhode Island family, as a lawyer, officer, and a man with privileged social relationships, Pitman saw the Civil War foremost as an opportunity to better himself and his family, and he used all influence at his disposal to secure these ends. As he wrote his wife during the summer of 1861, “It is important that the opportunity should not be lost in fact all the influence that can be brought to bear should be employed[,] as there will never again be so many chances and I shall never have any influence if my position does not give it.”100 Pitman’s opportunistic nature colored his experience of the war, brought his son into conflict, and ensured a lasting separation of his family for years to come.
100 John Pitman, “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 9 July 1861.” JTPC, RIHS.
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VIII
Bibliography
Abbreviations Used
JTPC: John Talbot Pitman Collection
RIHS: Rhode Island Historical Society
A Brief History of West Point. Accessed from http://www.usma.edu/wphistory/SitePages/Home.aspx. A concise summary of the history of the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Bicknell, Thomas. The History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. New York: American Historical Society, 1920. Accessed from https://archive.org/details/historyofstateof04inbick. Within this book there is a helpful description of Col. Viall (the officer who physically assaulted Pitman) and his devotion to his regiment.
Commager, Henry Steele, ed. The Blue and the Gray. New York: Fairfax Press, 1982. This book includes letters and perspectives from Confederate and Union soldiers interspersed with the larger narrative of the Civil War.
Denison, Frederic. Sabres and Spurs: The First Regiment Rhode Island Calvary in the Civil War. Central Falls: E.L. Freeman, 1876. This text describes some of the early engagements of Rhode Island soliders in the Civil War, and the death of Col. Slocum, Pitman’s rival for rank during his first deployment.
Dr. Luther Spoehr, (Senior Lecturer in education and history, Brown University) in a personal interview with the author, Nov. 2013. Prof. Spoehr guided the author regarding the initial research of Rhode Island Civil War History.
Emlen, Robert. “Pitman, John (1785-1864).” Brown University Office of the Curator: Portrait Collection. Brown University. Last modified August 2003. Accessed from http://library.brown.edu/cds/portraits/display.php?idno=118. This website features a portrait of the Honorable John Talbot Pitman as well as a very helpful biographical sketch.
Giesberg, Judith. Army at Home: Women and the Civil War on the Northern Home Front. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009. This book focuses on the experiences of women on the home front during the Civil War.
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Grandchamp, Robert. Rhode Island and the Civil War. Charleston: The History Press, 2012. One of the few texts that focuses exclusively on Rhode Island’s role in the Civil War.
Green, Francis Harriet. Might and Right. Providence: A.H. Stillwell, 1844. This text describes the Dorr War, in particularly the John Talbot Pitman’s confrontation with the Algernines.
Hewett, Janet B., ed. Supplement to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Part II: Record of Events. Volume 63: Pennsylvania Infantry, Rhode Island. Wilmington: Broadfoot Press, 1991. A printed, formatted copy of original military records of troop movements during the Civil War. This was helpful to keep track of the movements of Pitman’s regiments.
John Talbot Pitman Collection, Rhode Island Historical Society, Providence. This collection contains all of the original letters written by the Pitman family during the Civil War. This collection was the foundation of this thesis.
Manning, Chandra. What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and The Civil War. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007. This text examines the role emancipation played within the motivations for soldiers to fight in the Civil War.
Marvel, William. Burnside. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991. A comprehensive biography of Rhode Island’s most famous Civil War soldier, General Ambrose Burnside.
McClellan, George. B. McClellan’s Own Story. New York: Charles L. Webster and Company, 1887. Accessed from https://archive.org/details/mcclellansownsto00mccl. An autobiography of George B. McClellan, Major General of the Army of the Potomac during the first few years of the Civil War.
McPherson, James. Battle Cry of Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988. A comprehensive, one volume book on the history of the Civil War. An essential text.
McPherson, James. For Cause and Comrades. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. A thorough examination of what motivated men to fight in the Civil War. This text relied primarily on letters from home for evidence.
New Jersey Department of Health. Hazardous Substance Fact Sheet: Potassium Chromate. Accessed from http://nj.gov/health/eoh/rtkweb/documents/fs/1561.pdf. A brief, modern explanation of the compound Potassium Chromate, a substance Pitman was interested in for future business endeavors.
Pitman, John Jr, Esq. An Oration, Pronounced July 4, 1812, at the Request of the
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Republicans of the Town of Salem, in Commemoration of the Anniversary of American Independence. Salem: Warwick Palfrey, 1812. Accessed from https://books.google.com/books?id=ehJLAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&sou rce=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false. This pamphlet featured the 4th of July speech given by John Pitman (later the Honorable John Pitman); it contains several nationalistic sentiments.
Pitman, Joseph S. Report of the Trial of Thomas Wilson Dorr, for Treason against the State of Rhode Island: Containing the Arguments of Counsel, and the Charge of Chief Justice Durfee. Tappan and Dennet: Boston, 1844. Accessed from https://archive.org/details/reporttrialthom00dorrgoog. A slim volume written by Joseph Pitman (John Talbot Pitman’s brother) relating the trial of Thomas Wilson Dorr after the end of the Dorr War.
Quinquennial Catalogue of the Law School of Harvard University, 1817-1904. Cambridge, Harvard Law School Press: 1905. Accessed from: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.35112103942993;view=1up;seq=5. This served as a record of the law school graduation dates for both John Talbot Pitman and his brother, Joseph Pitman.
Rhodes, Robert Hunt. All for the Union: The Civil War Diary of Elijah Hunt Rhodes. New York: Orion Books, 1985. Perhaps the most famous of all Rhode Island Civil War narratives, Elijah Hunt Rhodes fought during all four years of the Civil War.
Silber, Nina and Mary Beth Sievans, eds. Yankee Correspondence: Civil War Letters between New England Soldiers and the Home Front. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1996. An excellent collection of letters of Civil War soldiers from New England.
Spicer, William Arnold. History of the Ninth and Tenth Regiments Rhode Island Volunteers, and the Tenth Rhode Island Battery, in the Union Army in 1862. Providence: Snow and Farnham, 1892. This book summarizes a soldier’s personal experiences serving in the 9th and 10th regiments of Rhode Island Volunteers, and gives a glimpse into daily life with the regiment.
“US Army Ordnance Corps Hall of Fame Nomination: Brigadier General John Talbot Pitman Jr.” US Army, accessed August 4, 2015, http://www.jmc.army.mil/Docs/History/pitman%20HOFNom2.pdf. This website features an excellent biographical sketch of John Talbot Pitman Jr.’s career in munitions after he graduated from West Point.
United States State Department. History of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security of the United States Department of State. Washington, Global Publishing Solutions: 2011. Accessed July 18, 2015, http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/176706.pdf. This website features a
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solid overview regarding the Despatch Agency, the government agency John Talbot Pitman included in his career goals.
“William Sprague, a Featured Biography,” United States Senate. Accessed October 14th, 2016. https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/Featured_Bio_Spr ague.htm. This Senate website contains a concise biographical sketch of Rhode Island Governor (and later Rhode Island Senator) William Sprague.
Image Credits
Fig. 1: John Talbot Pitman, photograph. Providence: Civil War Sesquicentennial Rhode Island. Accessed from http://www.rhodeislandcivilwar150.org/gallery.asp
Fig. 2: Wolever, Terry. Ed. “Rev. John Pitman.” In A Noble Company: Biographical Essays on Notable Paticular Regular Baptists in America. Springfield: Particular Baptist Press, 2014. Accessed from http://www.pbpress.org/blog/next-subject-in- the-noble-co-volume-5-john-pitman/
Fig. 3: Arnold, John Nelson. 1868. Honorable John Pitman. Oil paint on canvas. Providence: Brown University Portrait Collection. Accessed from http://library.brown.edu/cds/portraits/display.php?idno=118
Fig. 4: Pitman’s Signature. John Talbot Pitman. “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 30 August 1862.” JTPC, RIHS.
Fig. 5: Drawing of Quarters. John Talbot Pitman. “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 30 November 1862.” JTPC, RIHS.
Fig. 6: Spicer, William Arnold. 1892. “John Talbot Pitman at Battalion Drill.” In History of the Ninth and Tenth Regiments Rhode Island Volunteers, and the Tenth Rhode Island Battery, in the Union Army in 1862. Providence: Snow and Farnham, 1892.
Fig. 7: Joseph Pitman, photograph. Washington, D.C.: National Archives. Accessed from https://research.archives.gov/id/528176
Fig. 8: Drawing of Tent. John Talbot Pitman Jr. “Letter to Caroline Pitman, 11 June 1862.” JTPC, RIHS.
Fig. 9: Gov. William Sprague, photograph. Providence: Rhode Island Dept. of State Virtual Archives. Accessed from http://sos.ri.gov/virtualarchives/items/browse/tag/Civil+War/page/3.
Fig. 10: Col. Nelson Viall, photograph. Providence: Rhode Island Dept. of State Virtual
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Archives. Accessed from http://sos.ri.gov/virtualarchives/items/browse/tag/Civil+War/page/3.
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