A Sailor’s Visit to Ford’s Theatre to see President Lincoln Turns to Horror
I Held Lincoln: A Union Sailor’s Journey Home. By Richard E. Quest. Illustration maps, 224 pp., 2018. Potomac Books of the University of
With over 2,200 books about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln among 16,000 books and pamphlets published about the sixteenth president, one w ders if there is anything left say about him. The answer is, course, “yes.” The stories abo participants of the Civil War tinue to fascinate and interes This is the first time that a or’s visit to see Lincoln at F Theatre has been published. Union Navy Lt. Benjamin W. Loring limped, from war wounds to Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865, to see President Lincoln attend Our American Cousin. This evening would turn into a expected horror. Looking to the presidential box, Loring saw the Lincolns a another couple enter the box a the play had started. At about 10:15 p.m., Loring heard a gun shot. He looked toward the pre idential box and saw a man (la identified as John Wilkes Boot jumping from the balcony to th stage. He exited out by the re
the President to the floor. Lo cut Lincoln’s tie to help his breathing. Loring, with three ers, carried Lincoln from the ater to the Petersen House acr the street, where Lincoln was to die at 7:22 the next mornin April 15th. Having enlisted in the Unit States Navy in 1862, Loring co manded a gun division aboard t USS Galena during the battle o Drewry’s Bluff. In 1863 he par ticipated in the naval assault Fort Sumter. He was promoted to lieutenant and was given co mand of the USS Wave. On May 6, 1864, Loring and his crew were attacked by Confederates when the Wave was powerless due to lack of coal. After fending them off, Loring was forced to surrender his ve sel. He and his crew were sent Camp Groce, a prisoner of war camp in Texas. Loring and his men faced abuse and starvation On his second attempt, usin false passes, Loring escaped. After a grueling 25-day journe across Texas, wearing a stolen Confederate uniform and surviv ing on dry corn, he finally ma his way to a Union gunboat in Louisiana Loring then learned after r porting to the Washington Navy Yard in Washington that his reputation had been destroyed because of his surrender of th Wave. He set about describing ship’s dilemma and lack of coa to Admiral Farragut. He obviously convinced his commanding admiral; he received a new command as head of the “Naval Rendezvous” at the Washington Navy Yard. The war appeared over when General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia. Loring learned that President Lincoln would be attending Ford’s Theatre and he purchased a ticket to attend. was hoping to enjoy an evening entertainment—only to serve hi country again by administering its fallen chief magistrate.
The War Outside My Window: The Civil War Diary of LeRoy Wiley Gresham, 1860–1865. Edited by Janet Elizabeth Croon. Illustrations maps, footnotes, source notes, index, 480 pp., 2018. Savas
Publishing the Civil War-er diary of a soldier, politician civilian who witnessed “the la unpleasantness” is a tradition that dates back over a century or more. Some have become classics, such as the daily jo nal of Union soldier Elijah Hu Rhodes. Renowned civilian diaries include those penned by N York attorney George Templeton Strong and Confederate sociali Mary Chesnut. Many, if not most, however, offer the reader little in the of thoughtful insight, with th diarist’s entries generally no more than mundane comments on the weather or the food at han That is hardly the case wit diary of LeRoy Wiley Gresham— an educated and highly observa twelve-year-old Georgia lad when his diary begins in June 1860. That this diary remained unpublished for so long is a s unto itself and is explained i publisher’s preface. It repres the first-ever published diary male teenage civilian—North or South—who experienced the entire Civil War. For the most p Leroy’s thoughts and observa-
As a consequence of that affluence, young Gresham had access to the best of everything Southe culture could offer. This realit apparent in everything he sees and records. Yet the one thing LeRoy could never obtain was good health. He was practically an invalid, his leg having been crushed in 1856 when a collapsing chimney fell upon him. Worse, it was an injury that never properly heale Only a few years later he contracted the illness that would eventually prove fatal, which we now know was a form of tuberculosis (also popularly known at the time as “consumption”). As his seven-volume diary opens, his father had made plans to tak young Gresham to Philadelphia to seek the best possible medica treatment. It was a trip that wo prove fruitless. Macon was an important Confederate depot, allowing LeRoy to witness and record all of the various troops that came and went. Yet until the time of General William Sherman’s “March to the Sea” in late 1864, LeRoy’s Civil War was somewhat distant, something to be read about in the papers, and young Gresham was indeed a voracious reader of anything he could acquire. As he read of the distant battles and politics, his remark display confidence—and perhaps a youthful naiveté—in the Confederate cause, yet also a ma ture skepticism about newspaper accuracy. Nevertheless, it is hi astute observations on his family’s travails and his slow physi decline that are engaging. As for the contentious slavery issue, LeRoy wrote matter-of-factly. Unfortunately for the modern reader, he offers no eloquent rumination either defending or disparaging the South’s chattel slavery system. Though he routinely mentions his family’s slaves by their fir names, it is apparent that he viewed the institution simply as given, a mere fact of Southern l that was all he knew. LeRoy’s la entry was on June 9, 1865, just weeks after the final Confederat surrender and only nine days be-
superior to endnotes for reading ease) are plentiful and place Gresham’s remarks in full context. As a result, a reader somewhat unfamiliar with the Civil War could easily understand and enjoy this book. The extras provided in this book are first-rate. In addition to Gresham’s diary, a “dramatis personae” section identifies all close and distant relatives, friends, family slaves, politicians and soldiers mentioned in the text. Dennis A. Rasbach, MD, has provided a superb medical foreword and afterword, in which Gresham’s tuberculosis is placed in full historical perspective and how modern science diagnosed young Gresham’s disease. Hundreds of Civil War books are published each year. While many may be well-researched and written, only a small number are truly important in that they significantly advance our understanding of the rebellion or offer the reader something unique or previously unknown. This work is one of those relative few. It has set a new bar for publishers and editors with regard to publishing any Civil War diary that may come to light in the future. Gresham’s diary is an amazing primary source document that, unbeknownst to its author at the time, slowly chronicles his own demise while concurrently documenting the Confederacy’s collapse. As such, I highly recommend this book.
Paul Taylor is an award-winning author of seven books pertaining to the Civil War era. His newest book is titled “The Most Complete Political Machine Ever Known”: The North’s Union Leagues in the American Civil War, published by Kent State University Press.
Vol. 42, No. 3 Battlefield Of Franklin Land Prese By GreGory L. Wade
FRANKLIN, Tenn. — What is considered the bloodiest acreage i the Nov. 30, 1864, Battle of Frank is now being reclaimed as part of evolving Carter Hill Battlefield P Local preservation leaders recentl
from owners Reid and Brenda Lovell after a months-long process
of coordinating various funding sources for the critical 1.6 acres adjoin the Carter House, a major battle landmark. Details were recently provided a press conference led by Franklin Charge board member Julian Bibb, who praised the “remarkable transition” of the Franklin battlefiel
Franklin’s Charge is a coalition o civic and preservation groups who joined together more than ten year ago to purchase local battleground Over 150 years ago the Army of Tennessee stepped off in a series of charges to be virtually destroy by Federals under John Schofield i hopes of taking Franklin and later
Nashville. At that time, most of the terra was open farmland on the outskirts of what was once a small Middle Tennessee farming community. Over time development covered much of the battlefield with houses, light dustry, and small businesses. All that remained of the critic area where the Confederates tem-
porarily broke the Federal line wa the small farmhouse and a few acre known as the Carter House farm. The 1.6 acres purchased, which adjoin the southern boundary of th Carter House property, is comprise of two lots. Today, they are occup
that were turned over to the City of Franklin Parks Department by Franklin’s Charge and the Battle o Franklin’s Trust (BOFT), managers of the Carter House the nearby Car ton Plantation. The structures wil removed in coming months, possibly relocated for other use. The purchase is only the latest in a long and arduous effort to re
build the Franklin battlefield. “It had to be a miracle,” quipp Civil War Trust (CWT) President James Lighthizer, referring to the most recent acquisition. Local res ident Michael Grainger, long time Trust board member and former chairman, said, “Local leadership has been incredible and will conti
ue to be a partner [with the CWT]. In 2005, after years of frustra attempting to preserve Franklin ba tleground, local preservationists cided it would have to be done the hard way, by buying properties, of ten with buildings on them. The largest parcel of land was originally a local golf course sla
to be sold to a developer to build houses on what was the right flank of the Confederate attack north to ward the Federal lines just south the town. It was then that Franklin’s Cha came into existence. Funds have
chase from private donors, the CWT the City of Franklin and others. T
110-acre segment, now fully interpreted and known as the Eastern Flank Battlefield, is what got the preservation ball rolling in Frank Since that time nine other parc in proximity to the Carter House have been purchased and have been, or will be, turned over to the Fra
lin Parks Department, according t Bibb. But it was the land just south Carter House, long considered the
most bloodied ground in Franklin, and some say in America, that was the most coveted. BOFT Chief Executive Officer Eric Jacobson noted, “to not have this ground reclaimed and preserv would be like having Omaha Beach cut out of Normandy.” The most recent acquisition
the BOFT began discussions with t Lovells, who have a strong sense the history of the land, having g up in Franklin. “I was born and raised in Fran lin on ground many believe should have been a national park,” said Lovell. He recalled when visitors came to town and had to envision
what happened, not walk on ground where it transpired. “My great-grandfather, who fou here, and my parents would be pro of what we are doing here today,”
said at the press conference. The Franklin Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted unanimously in February to fund part of the
remaining debt on the Lovell property purchase. The previously
paid by the city on a non-interes basis over seven years. These funds will cover the bal now bridged by a local bank and w
be derived from the city’s hoteltel tax. Local banker Chuck Isaac was instrumental in working out t loans. All the city funds are all
by his employer, First Farmers an Merchants Bank.
Charles Hoffer. Annotations, 231 pp., 2018. Oxford University
History professor Peter Hoffe new book Uncivil Warriors is an efficiently-written examination of the influence which lawyers exerted on the Civil War from it genesis to its denouement. The book nicely fulfills its promise scope in one sense but falls sho in another. Mid-nineteenth cent America was a nation in which lawyers occupied a prominent place in the social/political fa Living in a country which was founded in 1787 as a “nation of laws,” men of ambition flocked to the legal profession unconstrained by any requirements of formal education as a condition for admission to the bar. It is this context that Hoffer analyze the ways in which the Civil War was as much a contest of competing legal principles as one o sectional wills and differences and of military combat. He addresses his topic chrono logically, beginning with the
cession. What follows covers the roles of, and differences betwee the opposing cabinets; struggles over the writ of habeas corpus i wartime, centered on the litigation of Ex Parte Merryman; legal
blockade of Southern ports; development of the “Lieber Code” (General Order 100) to
regulate the treatment of prison ers of war and non-combatants; and Lincoln’s proclamation of
emancipation. Hoffer closes with the legal battles over the adopti
Constitutional Amendments and over Reconstruction.
Hoffer concludes that the fina Union victory represented a triumph influenced by lawyers, culminating in a fundamental change from the pre-war notion of a Constitution which strictly limited the Federal government to a document which embraced broad central authority. Hoffer’s analysis is heavily skewed towards the role of lawyers on the Union side. There are any number of reasons why this is unavoidable. The Union’s chief executive, Lincoln, was a highly accomplished lawyer while his counterpart, Jefferson Davis, was not an attorney. Lincoln’s cabine was stuffed with leading lawyers, including Secretary of Stat William Seward, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, and Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase. There were attorneys in Davis’s cabinet as well—notably Vice President Alexander Stephens— but they exercised less influence The United States Congress was strongly active throughout the war, for good or for ill, while i Confederate analogue was far less so. Moreover, the United States Supreme Court continued to operate while the proposed Confederate Supreme Court was never actually established. The context of an American civil war meant that legal issues would occupy a central role. For example, the Lincoln administration needed to utilize what in effect was a blockade but to do s by walking the legal tightrope to avoid conferring nation-status on the seceded states—thus the Prize Cases decided by the Supreme Court. Because the war involved Americans on both sides, including civilians, and the ultimate Northern objective was reunification, it had to be prosecuted in manner which could be perceived
Code,” General Order 100. And, of course, there was the core issue of slavery which led to secession and war. An emancipa-
tion order required legal dressin for legitimacy.
and persuasive. This book represents a missed opportunity in one respect, however. The officer
rosters on both sides included a large number of lawyers. Hoffer fails to cover the experiences of attorneys in uniform such as Francis Barlow, Jacob Cox, Rutherford B. Hayes, W.H.L. Wallace, Rutherford B. Hayes
and many others. It would be of interest to know how and whether their training as lawyers had an
impact on methods of command, on how they dealt with desertion
and courts martial, and similar subjects. Moreover, where lawyer-generals stepped into the areas treated by Hoffer, there isn’t much here. He briefly touches on Benjamin Butler’s 1861 foray into emancipation; Henry Halleck’s involvement in the “Lieber Code” and William T. Sherman’s loose application of that instrument; as well as Patri Cleburne’s efforts at Confederate emancipation. But several officers had roles which likely calle on their legal training. For example, on the Union side its firs general-in-chief, Winfield Scott, who formulated the “Anaconda Plan” strategy, had a brief legal career. Thomas Ewing Jr. issued General Order No. 11 which removed hundreds of civilians from western Missouri. George H. Sharpe established the first effective military intelligence agency, the Bureau of Military Information. Even Butler’s Civil War experience was filled with abundant legal controversies connected not only to his premature 1861 emancipation order in Virginia, but also to his occupation of New Orleans. Examples on the Confederate side include John Mosby, whose partisan warfare wracked Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley, and Jubal Early who in July 1864 burned Chambersburg, Pennsylvan after failing to extort a ransom payment. For the most part Hoffer has used relevant primary sources, supplemented by carefully chosen secondary works. The writing is clear and legal concepts are made accessible to the non-lawyer. Aside from its unfortunate choice of a title that was used f 1935 “Three Stooges” short, this book certainly is a worthwhile
matter which has been dealt with more narrowly by others. It does, however, leave much room for an author to explore the uncovered
torney in Boston with a lifelong interest in the Civil War. He is descended from Isaac Foskett,
who served for three years in the Engineer Battalion with the Army of the Potomac. In addition to nu he has given Civil War Roundtable presentations on the subject of Civil War field artillery tactics
European Arms in the Civil War. By Marc Schwalm and Klaus Hofmann. Footnotes, index, 192 pp., 2018. Mowbray
It is no secret to those of more than a passing interest in Civil War that European firearm were heavily used by the Union army in the first half of the c flict. Because the Confederacy, lacking an industrial base, nev developed a viable firearms man ufacturing industry, the South used them throughout the confli In their new book European Arms in the Civil War, Marc Schwalm and Klaus Hofmann provide us with a comprehensive and scholarly look at those imported arm using original sources from bot sides of the Atlantic. The authors, both from Germany, provide a unique assessment of the European arms development, manufacturing, and supply system of the era, using European records prior research ers did not have access to. The note that while many original
destroyed as companies dissolved and the World Wars took
their toll, they have nonethele discovered some very interesting surviving material. Althoug much excellent work has been done on British firearms of the Civil War era in recent years, continental European research has lagged until now. Schwalm and Hofmann provide a much needed view of the sales of arms to the combatants in America from a European perspective, detailing what was going on internally in countrie such as Belgium, a sort of catc all for weapons reconditioning and export. They also address t confusing German situation. The country was not yet unified and there were numerous German principalities mostly copying Prussian arms developments but often adding their own small de tails. These in turn can establ a weapon’s origin and aid in a determination as to whether it actually saw service in America The authors’ primary source research is outstanding and includes exhaustive footnotes plu period reports and data on arms in both Union and Confederate service. European Arms in the Civil War should be on the bookshelf of every serious Civil War weap ons scholar, as it provides inf mation unavailable elsewhere. I heartily recommend it.
Joe Bilby writes the regular “B Powder, White Smoke” column for
or programs & workshops ing Historians since 1990