Southeastern Ohio's Soldiers and Their Families During the Civil
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
They Fought the War Together: Southeastern Ohio’s Soldiers and Their Families During the Civil War A Dissertation Submitted to Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Gregory R. Jones December, 2013 Dissertation written by Gregory R. Jones B.A., Geneva College, 2005 M.A., Western Carolina University, 2007 Ph.D., Kent State University, 2013 Approved by Dr. Leonne M. Hudson, Chair, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Dr. Bradley Keefer, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Members Dr. John Jameson Dr. David Purcell Dr. Willie Harrell Accepted by Dr. Kenneth Bindas, Chair, Department of History Dr. Raymond A. Craig, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements.............................................................................................................iv Introduction..........................................................................................................................7 Chapter 1: War Fever is On: The Fight to Define Patriotism............................................26 Chapter 2: “Wars and Rumors of War:” Southeastern Ohio’s Correspondence on Combat...............................................................................................................................60 Chapter 3: The “Thunderbolt” Strikes Southeastern Ohio: Hardships and Morgan’s Raid....................................................................................................................................95 Chapter 4: “Traitors at Home”: Civilians, Soldiers, and the Power of the Press.................................................................................................................................143 Chapter 5: “Let it be what it is”: Communal Connection through Religion and Family..............................................................................................................................186 Chapter 6: Disease, Suffering, and Death: The Cost of War...........................................229 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................270 Bibliography....................................................................................................................283 Maps and Tables Map 1: Morgan’s Path Through SEO.............................................................................113 Map 2: Southeastern Ohio Counties...............................................................................275 Map 3: Southeastern Ohio Cities....................................................................................276 Table 1: Cost of War.......................................................................................................277 Table 2: Occupational Breakdown..................................................................................279 Table 3: Correspondence Database.................................................................................281 iii Acknowledgements No matter how hard an individual may work, the research and writing process is a group effort. Although my name will appear on the title page, there are a number of talented and gracious individuals who spent time directly assisting my work. First I owe a debt of gratitude to a number of archival locations throughout southeastern Ohio. Pat Medart did an excellent job of introducing me to the Stone family collection at the Ross County Historical Society in Chillicothe, Ohio. The state of the art archives at both Ohio University’s Mahn Center and Marietta College were both full of rich sources and helpful staff. The kind folks in Gallia and Meigs counties similarly helped me with procuring the primary sources that support this work. I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Leonne M. Hudson, for helping to see this work through to completion. I appreciate Dr. Bradley Keefer, Dr. John Jameson, Dr. David Purcell, and Dr. Willie Harrell for serving on my dissertation committee. In addition to my committee members, I want to thank Dr. Elizabeth Smith-Pryor and Dr. Tim Scarnecchia for their sympathetic ear and helpful guidance throughout my graduate experience. Liz and Tim both cultivated my love for teaching in the midst of the other hurdles of graduate school. I also need to thank Dr. Ken Bindas for always literally having his door open both for teaching guidance and writing advice. I am a better scholar and teacher because of him. There are a whole host of colleagues who assisted me in a variety of ways in this iv process. Perhaps no one deserves more credit for helping on this project than Dr. Matt McDonough and Dr. Adam Hodge. These fine gentlemen were not only excellent scholars, but good friends who helped foster this dissertation from the time it was an idea. I look forward to many years of more projects, conferences, and teaching discussions with them. Early in my “career” vaunted Civil War living historian and scholar Scot Buffington offered encouragement that continues to sustain my study of the Civil War. He deserves thanks as well. Kent State University provided me with graduate school colleagues who supported me in a variety of ways. Special thanks to David Demaree, Chad Lower, Tim Wintour, Erika Briesacher, Monika Flaschka, Julie Mujic, Jeff O’Leary, Matt Phillips, Bryan Kvet, and Emily Kasecamp for their encouragement and, at times, commiseration. I also need to give a hat tip to my good friend Randy Texter for his assistance in formatting the final product. Long before I ever set foot on Kent State’s campus I spent four years at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, PA. It was there that a few important professors worked to inspire me to pursue “higher” education. My undergraduate advisor Dr. Eric Miller deserves far more credit than I can give him. He cultivated my writing and historical thinking with pastoral care and intellectual rigor. It was Dr. Brad Frey’s suggestion that I read his brother’s Letters from ‘Nam that first made me openly weep on the subject of history. In several of Brad’s classes that followed, I realized I had a calling to teach and an aspiration to teach like him. Finally, Dr. Don Opitz developed in me a genuine love for my profession of teaching, but also a way of loving people in the midst of my calling. v These gentlemen taught me far more than subject matter. I can never thank them enough. I am now quite glad to call them my colleagues. Although professors and colleagues provided much of the big picture support on completing this work, it was my family that sustained me in the day to day. I have to give credit to my parents, to whom this work is dedicated, for their guidance. I thank my father, C. Keith Jones, for exemplifying for me the perseverance to finish projects, and my mother, Patricia E. Jones, for teaching me a deep love for history. With regard to family, I thank my wife Jennifer for her constant love and laughter that helps me to not take myself too seriously. It is one of my greatest joys in life that she and I share in the parenting of our daughter Sadie, who was born in the middle of this project. Finally, I pray God’s blessing on this work, for it was completed day-by-day and minute-by-minute for His glory alone. vi It has been said ‘Bring up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it’ you believe this and you still hope of your son; but remember you sent him to the army a mere boy- a child almost his education incomplete and without any fixed principles and in the army his education is finished and Oh! how it is finished! Pray again fond mother pray for peace that the corrupting influence of war may cease. It is your only hope. These young men after this course of training are to return to society, may in fact to form society to control it to a great degree. So you shuder at the thought.1 -Andrew Jones, Co. D, 76th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Journal entry February 10, 1865 Introduction This dissertation examines the relationship between the soldiers of southeastern Ohio and their families during the Civil War. It began as a question of soldier motivation, but morphed into a much larger and more complicated journey to discover the connection between the soldiers and the home front. For many thousands who never left their southeastern Ohio homes, the Civil War was a sacrificial and excruciatingly painful time. They watched their loved ones leave, never to return. They saw some return battered and bruised, some unable to work or function again. The central thesis of this dissertation is that the soldiers and their families fought the war together. Despite the complications on the home front, the difficulties at war, and the horrific suffering for everyone involved, through constant correspondence and involvement in the war effort, the soldiers and civilians of southeastern Ohio struggled to fight the Civil War. These citizen soldiers of southeastern Ohio were largely farmers, laborers, and miners who joined the war effort for many reasons. However, by deconstructing their understanding of the war and by viewing them in relationship with their communities and 1 Andrew Jones, Co. D, 76th Ohio, journal entry, Washington County, Ohio, February 10, 1865, no location given, Washington County Historical Society, Box 505, Marietta, Ohio. 7 8 families, a clearer picture emerges as to who these men were as soldiers and as Americans. While some historians have focused solely on the importance of the home front, this research shows that the home