Oregon in the Civil War

Oregon in the Civil War

The Forgotten Oregonians

Introduction

Member of President Lincoln's inner circle, notable Oregonian Edward Dickinson Baker was a skilled lawyer, a renowned orator, and Union soldier. He was also the only United States senator ever to die in a military engagement. Edward D. Baker of Oregon was killed on October 21, 1861, while leading his Union regiment in the Battle of Ball’s Bluff, Virginia.

At the outbreak of the Civil War (1861 - 1865), regular U.S. Army troops in the District of Oregon were withdrawn from posts in Oregon and Washington Territory and sent east. Volunteer cavalry and infantry were recruited in California and sent north to Oregon to replace the Federal troops and keep the peace and protect the populace. Oregon raised the First Oregon Cavalry that was activated in 1862, fought in the Snake War, served until June 1865, and was mustered out in 1866. During the Civil War, immigrants to the new found gold fields in Idaho and Oregon continued to clash with the Paiute, Shoshone and Bannock tribes of Oregon, Idaho and Nevada until relations degenerated into the bloody 1864 - 1868 Snake War. The First Oregon Volunteer Infantry Regiment was formed in 1864 and its last company was mustered out of service in July 1867. Both units were used to guard travel routes and Indian reservations, escort immigrant wagon trains, and protect settlers from Indian raiders. Several infantry detachments also accompanied survey parties and built roads in central and southern Oregon.

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern boundaries, respectively. The area was inhabited by many indigenous tribes before the arrival of traders, explorers, and settlers who formed an autonomous government in Oregon Country in 1843. The Oregon Territory was created in 1848, and Oregon became the 33rd state on February 14, 1859. Founded as a refuge from disputes over slavery, Oregon had a "whites only" clause in its original state Constitution.

Humans have inhabited the area that is now Oregon for at least 15,000 years. In recorded history, mentions of the land date to as early as the 16th century. By the 16th century, Oregon was home to many Native American groups, including the Coquille (Ko-Kwell), Bannock, Chasta, Chinook, Kalapuya, Klamath, Molalla, Nez Perce, Takelma, and Umpqua. The first Europeans to visit Oregon were Spanish explorers led by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo who sighted southern Oregon off the Pacific Coast in 1543. During the 18th and 19th centuries, European powers – and later the United States – quarreled over possession of the region until 1846 when the U.S. and Great Britain finalized division of the region.

 

 

The Oregon Country was a predominantly American term referring to a disputed ownership region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The Oregon Country was originally claimed by Great Britain, France, Russia, and Spain; the Spanish claim was later taken up by the United States. The extent of the region being claimed was vague at first, evolving over decades into the specific borders specified in the US-British treaty of 1818.

The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders prior to 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from the Columbia River frequented by ships from all nations engaged in the maritime fur trade, most of these from the 1790s through 1810s being Boston-based. The Oregon Treaty of 1846 ended disputed joint occupancy pursuant to the Treaty of 1818 and established the British-American boundary at the 49th parallel. Oregon was a distinctly American term for the region, while the British used the term Columbia District instead. 
 

In 1848, the U.S. portion of the Oregon Country was formally organized as the Oregon Territory. In 1849, Vancouver Island became a British Crown colony, with the mainland being organized into the colony of British Columbia in 1858. Shortly after the establishment of Oregon Territory there was an effort to split off the region north of the Columbia River, which resulted in the creation of Washington Territory in 1853.
 

The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Originally claimed by several countries, the region was divided between the U.S. and Great Britain in 1846. When established, the territory encompassed an area that included the current states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, as well as parts of Wyoming and Montana. The capital of the territory was first Oregon City, then Salem, followed briefly by Corvallis, and lastly as Salem, the seat of government for the State of Oregon.

 

 

Sentiment

Euro-American settlers, miners, and ranchers flooded into central and eastern Oregon in the 1850s and early 1860s. These newcomers moved through Native lands, sparking unrest between the Northern Paiute, Shoshone, and Bannock. Established as a new state in 1859, the inhabitants of Oregon felt the reverberations of Civil War from across the continent.

Among the settlers, there were a large number of Southern sympathizers. Union supporters called Jackson, Josephine, and Douglas Counties Oregon’s “Dixie” because of its support for the Confederacy. These counties were settled by people from the borderland states of Kentucky and Missouri or from heavily Democratic regions in southern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Many of these people brought with them the same sectional allegiance, racial prejudice, and political philosophy that were being debated on the national stage. Furthermore, the veterans of the Rogue River Indian War of the 1850s were still waiting for war reimbursements, which made them bitter towards the Federal government. As there was a majority of Union supporters in Oregon, the tensions resulted in no more than a rhetorical battle of words carried on between pro-Union and pro-Confederate supporters throughout the war. Although the settlers adopted these arguments from the national debate, they reflected in local politics and created distrust between neighbors.

Although the Civil War was a distant event for most Oregonians and the Native inhabitants of this region, it still had an indelible impact on their lives. Oregonians entered the national debate on slavery, emancipation, and states’ rights, and in turn, communities divided. These debates did not erupt in the kind of violence seen elsewhere in the country. Violence did occur between the Native population and the local regiments, in which Natives managed to elude the First Oregon Cavalry during the war. Although Oregon remained loyal to the Union, Democratic governor John Whiteaker recommended a “policy of defense only” given their distance from the field of battle. His idea of defense of the Union generally meant military campaigns against the Native inhabitants of Oregon. See also Oregon in the Civil War (1861-1865).

 

 



Civil War
 

According to the 1860 U.S. census, Oregon, a free state, had a population of 52,465. In 1860, the state’s population was comparable to the size of an average city in the United States. Although President Lincoln exempted Oregon from his initial Call For Troops on April 15, 1861, 1810 Oregonians, known as Oregon Volunteers, would serve the Union during the course of the Civil War. During the conflict, Oregon, as part of the Union's Department of the Pacific, raised one regiment of cavalry and one regiment of infantry. The First Oregon Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, officially First Oregon Cavalry, served from April 1862 to its mustering out on November 20, 1866, while the First Oregon Volunteer Infantry, respectively, was assigned to central Oregon and served from November 1864 to July 19, 1867. According to Fox's Regimental Losses, Oregon suffered 46 killed during the nation's four year Civil War, and the losses sustained by the state were the least of any Union state. Nevada, however, which received statehood on October 31, 1864, and just six months prior to cessation of hostilities, suffered 33 in killed.
Notable Oregonian Edward Dickinson Baker was a skilled lawyer, a renowned orator, and a member of President Lincoln’s inner circle. He was also the only United States senator ever to die in a military engagement. Edward D. Baker of Oregon was killed on October 21, 1861, while leading his Union regiment in the Battle of Ball’s Bluff, Virginia. As a Union colonel, he had led the regiment that he helped raise when the Civil War began in the spring of 1861.

The Battle of Ball's Bluff, VA, was a disastrous Union defeat in the first year of the Civil War when Confederate Brig. Gen. Nathan "Shanks" Evans stopped a badly coordinated attempt by Union forces under Brig. Gen. Charles P. Stone to cross the Potomac at Harrison's Island and capture Leesburg. On October 21, 1861, a Union force commanded by Col. Edward D. Baker crossed the Potomac River and scaled Ball's Bluff on the Virginia shore, determined to capture Leesburg. Quickly surrounded by confederates, Baker was killed and his men stampeded over the bluff. Many drowned, and their bodies washed ashore downstream in Washington. Ball's Bluff witnessed more than 900 Union casualties, while Confederate losses were approximately 150. This Union rout, coupled with Senator Baker's death, had severe political ramifications in Washington and led to the establishment of the Congressional Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, which investigated the defeat.

Baker had practiced law in Springfield, Illinois, before being elected to the House of Representatives in 1845, defeating his friend Abraham Lincoln for the Whig nomination. In 1846, he resigned from the House of Representatives to command a brigade in the Mexican War. Baker moved to Oregon in 1860 and was elected to the Senate that same year. A skilled orator, he made a lasting impression upon the Senate when, dressed in military uniform, he delivered his famous call to arms on August 1, 1861. “We will rally the people, the loyal people, of the whole country,” he exclaimed, “they will pour forth their treasure, their money, their men, without stint, without measure.” Senator Baker was struck during the Battle of Ball's Bluff at approximately four o’clock by a volley of bullets through his heart and brain that killed him instantly. Consequently, almost three years after his death (1864), Baker's widow, Mary Ann, was placed on the government pension roll, receiving $50 per month. Colonel Baker, however, was listed on the pension with the rank of brigadier-general (one rank above colonel) because at the time of his death, Lincoln had already nominated Baker for promotion to brigadier-general and said nomination had been pending confirmation by the US Senate.

 

 

While other notable persons with Oregon ties were some Medal of Honor recipients who spent their retirement years as Oregonians, Union Gen. George Wright, as a U.S. Army colonel prior to the Civil War, commanded the short-lived Department of Oregon (September 13, 1858 - January 15, 1861). See also Oregon Civil War Medal of Honor Recipients.

Prior to the Civil War, the United States Army established forts in the new territory to guard the Indian reservations and maintain a military presence, especially in areas where the settlers discovered gold. After Fort Sumter, the military believed it was necessary to move these detachments back east, which left state officials scrambling to restore a military presence. In 1861, a gold strike in Canyon City caused Native groups to retaliate against the scores of miners that were trespassing on their territorial land. The United States Army sent companies of volunteers from California to assist until the state was able to raise six companies of cavalry from its own population. The formation of the regiment began November 1861 and by the summer of 1862, the First Oregon Cavalry was serving throughout eastern Oregon and into southeastern Washington Territory. In early 1864, an infantry regiment was also raised. Company E of the First Oregon Cavalry was involved in a series of expeditions against Native population from 1863 to 1864. These expeditions were a part of the Snake Indian War, which refers to the major Native American conflicts in the Pacific Northwest in the Great Basin and Snake River areas of southeastern Oregon and southern Idaho. The Native groups were able to elude the First Oregon Cavalry until 1865. However, the United States Army was able to effectively subdue the Native population and force them onto reservations when they returned in 1866. Soldiers in the First Oregon Cavalry mustered out in 1866.

When general calls for troops from the Lincoln administration were placed upon the states at various dates during the war, no quotas were assigned to Oregon. While none of the state's units fought in any Civil War battle, the following narratives for both volunteer regiments indicate loyalty to the Union.

First Oregon Cavalry was organized at large in Oregon from February to April, 1862, and was under the command of Cols. Thomas R. Cornelius, Reuben F. Maury; Lieut.-
Cols. Reuben F. Maury, Charles S. Drew; Majs. Charles S. Drew, J. S. Rinearson, Sewall Truax. The regiment concentrated in Williamette Valley and ordered May, 1862, to Walla Walla Country and Mining Districts of Nez Perce and Salmon River Countries to protect emigrants and miners. Headquarters at Fort Walla Walla, Washington Territory.

Company "A" moved from near Oregon City to Fort Dalles; thence to Fort Walla Walls, Washington Territory, June 24-July 12, 1862. Left Fort Walla Walls July 25, 1862, for Salmon Falls on Snake River Expedition against Snake Indians in Idaho August 19-October 11, 1862, and protecting emigrant roads until November. At Fort Dalles until April, 1863. Ordered to Fort Walla Walla April 20. Expedition against Snake Indians in Idaho May 4-October 26, 1863. Expedition from Fort Walla Walla to Snake River, Washington Territory, February 16-23, 1864, and to Southeastern Oregon April 30-October 6, 1864. Expedition from Fort Boise to Salmon Falls, Idaho Territory, and skirmishes August 27-October 5, 1864. At Fort Vancouver and other stations in Oregon and Idaho until muster out. Expedition from Camp Lyon, Idaho Territory, to Malheur River, Ore., and skirmish July 2-13, 1865.

Company "B" moved from Salem, Ore., to Fort Vancouver; thence to Fort Walls Walla via Fort Dalles May 14-June 2, 1862. Left Fort Walla Walla July 25. 1862, for Salmon Falls on Snake River. Expedition against Snake Indians in Idaho August 19-October 11, 1862, and protect emigrant roads until November 1, 1862. At Fort Walla Walla until April, 1863. Moved to Fort Lapwai June 13, 1863; thence to Canyon City July 10. Ordered to Fort Vancouver September 29, 1863, and duty there until April. 1864. Expedition to Southeastern Oregon and skirmishes April 20-October 6, 1864. Duty at Forts Vancouver, Walls Walla, Boies and other points in District of Oregon until muster out. Expedition from Camp Lyon, Idaho Territory, to Malheur River, Ore., and skirmish July 2-13, 1865.

Company "C" moved from near Oregon City to Fort Vancouver June 24, 1862. (A Detachment ordered to Jacksonville, Ore., July 2, 1862.) Duty there and at Klamath operating against Indians in Rogue River District until June, 1865. At Fort Steilacoom and other points in District of Oregon until muster out.

Company "D" moved from near Oregon City to Fort Dalles; thence to Fort Walls Walla June 24-July 12, 1862. Left Fort Walla Walla July 25 for Salmon Falls on Snake River. Expedition against Snake Indians in Idaho and protecting emigrant roads August 19 to October 11, 1862. At Fort Walla Walla November, 1862, to April, 1863. Expedition from Fort Walla Walls against Snake Indians in Idaho May 4-October 20, 1863. Ordered to Fort Dalles October 29, and duty there until April, 1864. Expedition to Southeastern Oregon and skirmishes April 20-October 6, 1864. Ordered to Fort Vancouver October 6, 1864. Duty at Fort Vancouver, Fort Walla Walls and other points in the District of Oregon until muster out. Expedition from Camp Lyon, Idaho Territory, to Malheur River, Ore., and skirmish July 2-13, 1865.

Company "E" moved from Salem to Fort Vancouver; thence to Fort Walla Walla via Fort Dalles May 14-June 3, 1862. Duty at Fort Walls Walla until April, 1863. Expedition to Grand Ronde Prairie August 10-22, 1862. Expedition against Snake Indians in Idaho May 4-October 20, 1863. At Fort Walls Walla until April, 1864. Expedition from Fort Walls Walls to Snake River, Washington Territory, February 16-23, 1864. Expedition from Fort Walla Walla to Southeastern Oregon and skirmishes April 20-October 6, 1864. At Forts Dalles, Colville and other points in District of Oregon until muster out.

Company "F" moved from near Oregon City to Fort Dalles; thence to Fort Walla Walla June 24-July 12, 1862. Duty near Lewiston, Nez Perce Reservation, July 25 to November 1, 1862. Garrison at Fort Lapwai until May, 1865. Expedition from Fort Lapwai to the Meadows August 22 to September 20, 1863. At Fort Walla Walla and other points in District of Oregon May, 1865, to muster out.

Companies "G," "H," "I," "K," "L" and "M" authorized January, 1863. Companies "G" and "H" at Camp Watson on Rock Creek, Ore.; Company "I" Fort Klamath, Company "K" at Fort Dalles and Companies "L" and "M" at Fort Boise. Expedition from Camp Lincoln, near Canyon City, to Harney Lake Valley March 24-April 16, 1864 (Detachment). Skirmish, Harney Lake Valley April 7 (Detachment). Expedition from Siletz Block House to Coos Bay, Crooked River, April 21-May 12, 1864 (Co. "D"). Skirmish, Crooked River May 18 (Detachment). Skirmish near Fort Klamath June 24, 1864 (Detachment). Expedition from Fort Boise to Booneville July 20-August 17, 1864 (Detachment). Expedition from Fort Boise to Salmon Falls, Idaho, August 27-October 5, 1864 (Detachment). Skirmish, Harney Lake Valley September 23, 1864 (Cos. "F" and "H"). Operations on Canyon City Road January 1 to November 30. Skirmish on Owyhee River July 17, 1865 (Detachment). Regiment mustered out November 20, 1866.

First Oregon Infantry was organized at large November 11, 1864, to January 2, 1865. Ordered to Fort Vancouver, Washington Territory, December 19, 1864. Duty in District of Oregon by Detachments at Fort Vancouver, Fort Klamath, Fort Yamhill, Fort Steilacoom, Fort Dalles, Fort Walls Walls, Colville, Fort Hoskins and Fort Boise, Idaho Territory, covering Boise and Snake River Country and the Owyhee Mines from Indian Raids. Mustered out July 19, 1867.

The unit was under the command of Col. George B. Curry; Lieut.-Cols. George B. Curry, John M. Drake; Maj. William V. Rinehart. This regiment, recruited from the state at large, was mustered into the U.S. service between Nov., 1864, and June, 1865, to serve for one and three years. Its field officers were all serving as captains in the 1st Oregon cavalry when promoted. It saw service against the Indians in Oregon and Idaho during 1865 and 1866, being employed during the former year in guarding the roads between the Dalles and Boise, Boise and Salt Lake, Owyhee and Chico, and Owyhee and Humboldt, Cal. In the fall of 1865 a portion of the command went into winter quarters at old Fort Hall, at the junction of the Salt Lake, Virginia City and Boise roads, the station being called Camp Lander. Another detachment made its winter quarters at Camp Reed, on the Salmon Falls creek, having only tents for shelter. In 1866, in the Harney Lake valley, Co. H, Capt. Loren L. Williams, did some of the best fighting of the season, being compelled to march a long distance on foot, surrounded by Indians, both mounted and on foot. They succeeded in killing 15 of the Indians, and escaped with a loss of only 1 killed and 2 wounded. In Oct., 1866, orders were received to disband the Oregon volunteers, and the regiment was mustered out by companies at different dates from Oct. 31, 1866, to July 19, 1867. See also Oregon American Civil War History

Aftermath

Agriculture, mining and logging remained the major industries in Oregon during Reconstruction.

Although the First Oregon Cavalry mustered out in 1866, tensions between settlers and Natives did not abate. When the Army returned to Oregon, they effectively subdued the Natives and forced them onto reservations. Conflicts continued on into the 1870s, with the Bannock War of 1878. Settlers from the Eastern United States continued to come to Oregon after the war, including 15,000 Civil War veterans.

In the 1880s, the proliferation of railroads assisted in marketing of the state's lumber and wheat, as well as the more rapid growth of its cities. This included the connection of the state to the Eastern United States via links to the transcontinental railroads that allowed for faster movement of goods and people. Immigration to Oregon increased after the connection to the east. Additional transportation improvements included the construction of several locks and canals to ease river navigation. See also: Oregon American Civil War History and Oregon in the Civil War (1861-1865).

 

Ohio in the Civil War

Ohio in the Civil War

 

Introduction

 

During the American Civil War (1861-1865), the State of Ohio played a key role in providing troops, military officers, and supplies to the Union army. Due to its central location in the Northern United States and burgeoning population, Ohio was both politically and logistically important to the war effort. Despite the state's boasting a number of very powerful Republican politicians, it was divided politically. Portions of southern Ohio followed the Peace Democrats and openly opposed President Abraham Lincoln's policies. Ohio played an important part in the Underground Railroad prior to the war, and remained a haven for escaped and runaway slaves during the war years.

The third most populous state in the Union at the time, Ohio raised nearly 320,000 soldiers for the Union army, third behind only New York and Pennsylvania in total manpower contributed to the military. Several leading generals hailed from Ohio, including Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, and Philip H. Sheridan. Five Ohio-born Civil War officers would later serve as the President of the United States. The Fighting McCooks gained fame as the largest immediate family group ever to become officers in the U.S. Army. The state was spared many of the horrors of war as only two minor battles were fought within its borders. Morgan's Raid in the summer of 1863 spread terror among the populace. Ohio troops fought in nearly every major campaign during the war. More than 35,000 Ohioans died in the conflict and more than 30,000 wounded soldiers returned home.

 

Northwest Territory and Slavery

The United States created the Northwest Territory under the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Slavery was not permitted in the new territory. Settlement began with the founding of Marietta by the Ohio Company of Associates, which had been formed by a group of American Revolutionary War veterans. Following the Ohio Company, the Miami Company (also referred to as the "Symmes Purchase") claimed the southwestern section, and the Connecticut Land Company surveyed and settled the Connecticut Western Reserve in present-day Northeast Ohio.

The Northwest Territory originally included areas previously known as Ohio Country and Illinois Country. As Ohio prepared for statehood, the Indiana Territory was created, reducing the Northwest Territory to approximately the size of present-day Ohio plus the eastern half of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan and the eastern tip of the Upper Peninsula.

American settlement of the Northwest Territory was resisted by Native Americans in the Northwest Indian War. The natives were eventually conquered by the newly formed United States in 1794.

Under the Northwest Ordinance, areas of the territory could be defined and admitted as states once their population reached 60,000. Although Ohio's population numbered only 45,000 in December 1801, Congress determined that the population was growing rapidly and Ohio could begin the path to statehood. The assumption was that it would exceed 60,000 residents by the time it was admitted as a state. Furthermore, in regards to the Leni Lenape Native Americans living in the region, Congress decided that 10,000 acres on the Muskingum River in the present state of Ohio would "be set apart and the property thereof be vested in the Moravian Brethren . . . or a society of the said Brethren for civilizing the Indians and promoting Christianity."

The US Congress, furthermore, prohibited slavery in the territory. (Once the population grew and the territory achieved statehood, the citizens could have legalized slavery, but chose not to do so.) The states of the Midwest would be known as Free States, in contrast to those states south of the Ohio River. Migrants to the latter came chiefly from Virginia and other slaveholding states, and brought their culture and slaves with them.

As Northeastern states abolished slavery in the coming two generations, the Free States would be known as Northern states. The Northwest Territory originally included areas previously called Ohio Country and Illinois Country. As Ohio prepared for statehood, Indiana Territory was carved out, reducing the Northwest Territory to approximately the size of present-day Ohio plus the eastern half of Michigan's lower peninsula.

Slavery

Ohio's roots as an anti-slavery and abolitionist state go back to its territorial days in the Northwest Territory, which forbade the practice. When it became a state, the constitution expressly outlawed slavery. Many Ohioans were members of anti-slavery organizations, including the American Anti-Slavery Society and American Colonization Society. Ohioan Charles Osborn published the first abolitionist newspaper in the country, "The Philanthropist," and in 1821, the father of abolition Benjamin Lundy began publishing his newspaper the Genius of Universal Emancipation.

Ohio was a key stop on the Underground Railroad where prominent abolitionists played a role, including John Rankin. Ohio resident Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote the famous book "Uncle Tom's Cabin," which was largely influential in shaping the opinion of the North against slavery.

Sentiment

Much of southern Ohio's economy depended upon trade with the South across the Ohio River, which had served for years as passage and a link with the slave states of Virginia and Kentucky. The culture of southern Ohio was closer to those states than it was to northern parts of the state, owing to many settlers coming from the South and being formerly territory of the state of Virginia as part of the Virginia Military District. Most of the state's population was solidly against secession and in favor of a strong central government. During the 1860 Presidential Election, Ohio voted in favor of Abraham Lincoln (231,709 votes or 52.3% of the ballots cast) over Stephen Douglas (187,421; 42.3%), John C. Breckinridge (11,406; 2.6%), and John Bell (12,194; 2.8%).

A number of men with Ohio ties would serve important roles in Lincoln's Cabinet and administration, including Steubenville's Edwin M. Stanton as Attorney General and then Secretary of War, and former Ohio U.S. Senator and Governor Salmon P. Chase as Secretary of the Treasury. Prominent Ohio politicians in Congress included Senators John Sherman and Benjamin F. Wade.

During the war, three men would serve as Governor of Ohio– William Dennison, David Tod and John Brough. Without requests by the War Department, Dennison sent Ohio troops into western Virginia, where they guarded the Wheeling Convention. The convention led to the admission of West Virginia as a free state. Tod became known as "the soldier's friend," for his determined efforts to help equip and sustain Ohio's troops. He was noted for his quick response in calling out the state militia to battle Confederate raiders. Brough strongly supported the Lincoln Administration's war efforts and was key to persuading other Midwestern governors to raise 100-day regiments, such as the 131st Ohio Infantry in early 1864, to release more seasoned troops for duty in Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's spring campaign.

In January 1863, public sentiment within the state was strained by Abraham Lincoln’s issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. For some, this merely confirmed their fears that the war was truly about freedom for the slaves and not a war about restoring the Union. However, the greatest single strain on public sentiment arrived later in 1863 when Congress passed the conscription act, which authorized the Federal government to draft or force citizens into military service.

Through the middle of the war, the Copperhead movement had appeal in Ohio, driven in part by noted states’ rights advocate, Congressman Clement Vallandigham, a leading Peace Democrat. After General Ambrose E. Burnside issued General Order Number 38 in early 1863, warning that the "habit of declaring sympathies for the enemy" would not be tolerated in the Military District of Ohio, Vallandigham gave a major speech charging the war was being fought not to save the Union, but to free blacks and enslave whites.

Burnside ordered his arrest and took Vallandigham to Cincinnati for trial. At the trial, Vallandigham was found guilty. The court sentenced him to prison for the duration of the war. President Lincoln attempted to quiet the situation by writing the Birchard Letter, which offered to release Vallandigham if several Ohio congressmen agreed to support certain policies of the Administration. To try to prevent political backlash and preserve authority of Gen. Burnside, Abraham Lincoln changed Vallandigham's sentence to banishment to the South. The threat was imprisonment if Vallandigham returned to Northern soil. The South allowed Vallandigham to migrate to Canada, from where he ran an unsuccessful campaign for governor against Brough in 1863. Vallandigham's campaign bitterly divided much of southern Ohio.

Newspapers, nevertheless, remained engaged in very lively discussion of war issues, from the Republican, War Democrat and Copperhead perspectives. Public sentiment, however, shifted more in favor of the Lincoln Administration, particularly as Ohio generals rose in prominence, with military successes in the Atlanta Campaign, the Siege of Petersburg, and Sheridan's Valley Campaigns. In the 1864 Presidential Election, Ohio strongly supported Lincoln's reelection. The state gave the president 265,674 votes (56.4% of the total) versus 205,609 votes (43.6%) for General George McClellan.

En route to Washington, D.C. for his inauguration, President Lincoln passed through Ohio by train, with brief stops in numerous cities. His first formal speech given after his election was in Hudson, Ohio, a stop he made en route to Cleveland. Although Lincoln had visited the state several times before the war, he would not return during the Civil War. In 1865 his funeral train carried his body through the state, bound for Springfield, Illinois.

Civil War

According to the 1860 U.S. census, Ohio had a population of 2,339,511.

Nearly 320,000 Ohioans served in the Union army, more than any other Northern state except New York and Pennsylvania. Of these, 5,092 were free blacks. Ohio had the highest percentage of population enlisted in the military of any state. Sixty percent of all the men between the ages of 18 and 45 were in the service. Ohio mustered 230 regiments of infantry and cavalry, as well as 26 light artillery batteries and 5 independent companies of sharpshooters. According to Dyer (1908), the total fatalities among these units numbered 35,475 men, including hundreds of officers, which is more than 10% of all the Buckeyes in uniform during the war, and more than 30,000 wounded Ohioans returned home. Dead and wounded totaled more than 65,000.

In response to the call to arms by President Lincoln to suppress the rebellion in 1861, Ohio raised 23 volunteer infantry regiments for three months' service, 10 more regiments than the state's quota. When it became evident that the war would not end quickly, Ohio began raising regiments for three-year terms of enlistment. At first the majority were stocked with eager volunteers and recruits. Before the war's end, they would be joined by 8,750 draftees. Ohio troops fought in nearly every major battle and campaign during the war.

Numerous leading generals and army commanders hailed from Ohio. The General-in-Chief of the Union armies, Ulysses S. Grant, was born in Clermont County in 1822. Among the 19 major generals from Ohio were William T. Sherman, Philip H. Sheridan, Don Carlos Buell, Jacob D. Cox, George Crook, George Armstrong Custer, James A. Garfield, Irvin McDowell, James B. McPherson, William S. Rosecrans, and Alexander M. McCook (of the "Fighting McCook" family, which sent a number of generals into the service). The state would contribute 53 brigadier generals.

A handful of Confederate generals were Ohio-born, including Bushrod Johnson of Belmont County and Robert H. Hatton of Steubenville. Charles Clark of Cincinnati led a division in the Army of Mississippi during the Battle of Shiloh in 1862 and he became the Governor of Mississippi in 1863. Noted Confederate guerrilla Capt. William Quantrill was also born and raised in Ohio. In addition to Grant and Garfield, three other Ohio Civil War veterans would become President of the United States in the decades following the war: William McKinley of Canton, Rutherford B. Hayes of Fremont, and Benjamin Harrison of the greater Cincinnati area.

Dozens of small camps were established across the state to train and drill the new regiments. Two large military posts were created: Camp Chase in Columbus and Camp Dennison near Cincinnati. The 1st Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry (OVI) would eventually be joined on the muster rolls by more than 100 additional infantry regiments. Ohioans first engaged in military action at the Battle of Philippi Races in June 1861, where the 14th and 16th Ohio Infantry participated in the Union victory. Ohioans comprised one-fifth of the Union army at the April 1862 Battle of Shiloh, where 1,676 Buckeyes suffered casualties. Ohio would suffer its highest casualty count at the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863, with 3,591 killed or wounded. Another 1,351 men were taken prisoner of war by the Confederates. Among these prisoners, 36 men from the 2nd Ohio Infantry would perish in the infamous Andersonville prison, as did hundreds more Buckeye soldiers there.

Several Buckeye regiments played critical roles in other important battles. The 8th OVI was instrumental in helping repulse Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg. At the same battle, the 66th OVI flanked repeated Confederate assaults and helped secure the crest of Culp's Hill. George Nixon, great-grandfather of President Richard Nixon, died at Gettysburg in the 73rd OVI.

John Clem, celebrated as "Johnny Shiloh" and "The Drummer Boy of Chickamauga," became the youngest person to become a noncommissioned officer in United States Army history. More than 100 soldiers from Ohio units earned the Medal of Honor during the conflict. Several were awarded the medal for the ill-fated Great Locomotive Chase.

President Lincoln had a habit on the eve of a battle of asking how many Ohio men would participate. When someone inquired why, Lincoln remarked, "Because I know that if there are many Ohio soldiers to be engaged, it is probable we will win the battle, for they can be relied upon in such an emergency."

Small-scale riots commenced in ethnic German and Irish districts, and in areas along the Ohio River with many Copperheads. Holmes County, Ohio, was an isolated area dominated by Pennsylvania Dutch and some recent German immigrants. It was a Democratic stronghold and few men dared speak publicly in favor of conscription. Local politicians denounced Lincoln and Congress as despotic, seeing the draft law as a violation of their local autonomy. In June 1863, small scale disturbances commenced, but they ceased when U.S. army units arrived.

Unlike its neighbors West Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania, Ohio was spared from serious military encounters. In September 1862, Confederate forces under Brig. Gen. Henry Heth marched through northern Kentucky and threatened Cincinnati. They turned away after encountering strong Union fortifications south of the Ohio River. Not long afterwards, Brig. Gen. Albert G. Jenkins briefly passed through the extreme southern tip of Ohio during a raid. It was not until the summer of 1863 that Confederates arrived in force, when John Hunt Morgan's cavalry division traversed southern and eastern Ohio during Morgan's Raid. Although Morgan's Raid lacked tactical or strategic military significance, it terrorized the local populace and it culminated in Morgan's capture in Columbiana County. The Battle of Buffington Island was the largest fought in Ohio during the Civil War.

By the end of the war, the Union's top three generals–Ulysses S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, and Philip Sheridan–were Ohioans.

Prisoner-of-War Camps

Camp Chase

Camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio, was a military staging, training and prison camp during the Civil War. Camp Chase, also known as Camp Chase Prison, was one of the five largest prisons in the North for Confederate prisoners-of-war. Camp Chase's prison population peaked at 9,423 on January 31, 1865. The Army ensured that the graves of those who died were marked with thin headboards and "only the number of the grave and name of its individual occupant;" thus the "graves of the Confederate soldiers were not marked as soldiers, and remained thus inadequately," until the 20th century when Congress approved efforts to recognize the sacrifice of CSA soldiers.

Camp Chase was officially dedicated June 20, 1861. It is named in honor of Salmon Portland Chase (1808-1873), former governor of Ohio, the Secretary of the Treasury under President Abraham Lincoln, and later Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Initially designated as a training camp for new recruits in the Union Army, Camp Chase was converted to a military prison as the first prisoners of war arrived from western Virginia. In the early months of the Civil War, Camp Chase primarily held political prisoners--judges, legislators and mayors from Kentucky and Virginia accused of loyalty to the Confederacy. In early 1862, Camp Chase served briefly as a prison for Confederate officers. But after a military prison for Confederate officers opened at Johnson's Island, Ohio, Camp Chase housed only non-commissioned officers, enlisted men, and political prisoners.

In February 1862, 800 prisoners of war (officers and enlisted men) arrived at Camp Chase. Included among the 800 Confederate soldiers were approximately 75 African Americans; about half of whom were slaves, the other half being servants to the confederate officers. Much to the horror and dismay of the citizens of Columbus, these men continued to serve their master's in the prison camp. An Ohio Legislative committee was formed and protests over the continued enslavement of these men were sent to Washington D.C. The African Americans were finally released in April and May of 1862; some then enlisted in the Union army.

According to an exchange agreement reached between North and South on July 22, 1862, Camp Chase was to operate as a way station for the immediate repatriation (return to country of birth or citizenship) of Confederate soldiers. After this agreement was mutually abandoned July 13, 1863, the facility swelled with new prisoners, and military inmates quickly outnumbered political prisoners. By the end of the war, Camp Chase held 26,000 of all 36,000 Confederate POWs retained in Ohio military prisons. Crowded and unhealthy living conditions at Camp Chase took a heavy toll among prisoners. Despite newly constructed barracks in 1864, which raised the prison capacity to 8,000 men, the facility was soon operating well over capacity. Rations for prisoners were reduced in retaliation against alleged mistreatment at Southern POW camps. Many prisoners suffered from malnutrition and died from smallpox, typhoid fever or pneumonia. Others, even those who received meager clothing provisions, suffered from severe exposure during the especially cold winter of 1865. In all, 2,229 soldiers died at Camp Chase by July 5, 1865, when it officially closed.

Johnson's Island

Johnson's Island was a 300-acre island in Sandusky Bay, located on the coast of Lake Erie, 3 miles from the city of Sandusky, Ohio. It was the site of a prisoner-of-war camp for Confederate officers captured during the Civil War. Although Johnson's Island, also known as Johnson’s Island Prison Camp, was the only Union prison exclusively for Southern officers, it also detained some Confederate enlisted soldiers. The first prisoners arrived in April 1862. During the period of 40 months the prison was operational, at least 12,000 Confederate officers were imprisoned at Johnson's Island. Among the prominent Confederate generals imprisoned on Johnson's Island, both captured during the Battle of Gettysburg, were Isaac R. Trimble and James J. Archer.

More than 12,000 men passed through Johnson’s Island until it was closed in September 1865. Approximately 200 prisoners died as a result of the harsh winters, food and fuel shortages, and disease. Johnson's Island had one of the lowest mortality rates of any Civil War prison. Although Confederates made many escape attempts, including efforts by some to walk across the frozen Lake Erie to freedom in Canada, few escapes were successful.

 

Ohio Penitentiary  The Ohio Penitentiary, also known as the Ohio State Penitentiary, was a prison Columbus, Ohio. The Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus was a three-story stone structure with heavy iron bars on the windows and doors of cell blocks. It was used to house hardened convicts until July 30, 1863, when David Todd, governor of Ohio, informed Warden Nathaniel Merion that the prison would also detain Confederate prisoners-of-war. During the war, the penitentiary detained less than 400 men. Four days prior, Confederate cavalry General John Hunt Morgan and 364 of his men had been captured at the end of the longest cavalry raid of the war. They had terrorized the populations of Indiana and Ohio as they traveled and traversed more than 700 miles through said states in 25 days. Because Camp Chase, the prisoner-of-war camp outside Columbus, was not considered secure enough for Morgan’s Raiders, they were confined at the Ohio Penitentiary. Morgan and 30 of his officers were thrown into the general prison population of felons in the penitentiary. They were also denied all visitors, and had to endure the humiliation of having their heads shaved and wearing convict clothes. These soldiers were occasionally punished by being put on a bread and water diet and placed in solitary confinement in “dank, pitch-black prison cells.” Said treatment of Morgan and fellow Confederates was contrary to the rules governing the confinement of prisoners-of-war. However, on the night of November 27, 1863, Morgan and six of his officers escaped. They had toiled for 20 days with two small knives to gouge out a tunnel to freedom. Morgan returned to his cavalry activities in Tennessee after his escape, but, at Greeneville, Tennessee, in 1864, he was killed by Union cavalry. Aftermath Ohio's farm values were second highest in the nation both before and after the Civil War. Ohio developed large industrial and mining industries supporting the railroad industry. After the Civil War, Ohio became one of the major industrial states in the northern tier, connected to the Great Lakes area, from where it received raw commodities, and able to transport its products of manufacturing and farming to New York and the East Coast via railroads. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, its growing industries attracted thousands of new people for the expanding number of jobs, both blacks from the South, in the Great Migration, and immigrants from Europe. As a result, the cultures of its major cities and later suburbs became much more diverse with the traditions, cultures, foods and music of the new arrivals. Its industries were integral to US power during and after World War II. Economic restructuring in steel and other manufacturing cost the state many jobs in the later 20th century as heavy industry declined. New economic models have led to different kinds of development in the late 20th and 21st centuries.   See also Ohio Civil War History

North Carolina in the Civil War

North Carolina in the Civil War

Introduction

During the American Civil War, North Carolina provided at least 125,000 soldiers to the Confederacy, and the Tar Heel State recruited more soldiers than any Southern state. More than 620,000 died in the Civil War and approximately 40,000 were North Carolinians. (Total Union and Confederate Civil War Killed and Mortally Wounded (Dead), With Numbers for Each Northern and Southern State: North Carolina Emphasis.) The greatest loss sustained by any regiment (North or South) during the Civil War was the Twenty-sixth North Carolina Infantry Regiment at Gettysburg. It sent more than 800 men into action and more than eighty percent were disabled.

During the Civil War, North Carolina suffered the greatest loss of life, the most casualties, than any other Southern state. As a result, during Reconstruction, the State was devastated. The population of widows and orphans boomed across the State, and the only relief and assistance was to pick yourself up and keep on going. There was, however, very little, if any, assistance for most citizens from the State government. Widows and children now tended the farm, since agriculture dominated the State, and the boys became men and the girls became women. The wounded, including mentally disabled from the scars of Civil War, were an additional crisis for the State of North Carolina. Subsequently, insane asylums were created across the State. The Tar Heels, as they were known, gradually recovered through the same "grit and stickability of their forefathers."

Road to Secession

"In the agitation that pervaded the South previous to secession, North Carolina preserved its usual conservative calmness of action."

 

The people of North Carolina, although profoundly stirred and keenly alive to the gravity of the impending crisis, were loath to leave the Union cemented by the blood of their fathers. That retrospectiveness which has always been one of their marked characteristics, did not desert them then. Even after seven of her sister States had adopted ordinances of secession, "her people solemnly declared" -- by the election of the 28th of February, 1861, -- "that they desired no convention even to consider the propriety of secession."

But after the newly-elected President's Springfield speech, after the widespread belief that the Federal government had attempted to reinforce Fort Sumter in the face of a promise to evacuate it, and especially after President Lincoln's requisition on the governor to furnish troops (Governor John Willis Ellis: A Reply to President Lincoln) for what Governor Magoffin, of Kentucky, called "the wicked purpose of subduing sister Southern States," -- a requisition that, Governor Jackson, of Missouri, in a superflux of unlethargic adjectives, denounced as "illegal, unconstitutional, revolutionary, inhuman, diabolical" -- there was a rapid change in the feelings of the people of North Carolina. Strong union sentiment was changed to a fixed determination to resist coercion by arms if necessary. So rapid was the movement of public events, and so rapid was the revolution in public sentiment, that "just three months after the State had refused even to consider the question of secession, a convention composed of almost entirely of men who thought it was the imperative duty of their State to withdraw from the Union was in secession in Raleigh." (Southern States Secede: Secession of the South History.)
Secession

On May 20th, a day sacred to her citizens in that it marked the eighty-six anniversary of the colonial Declaration of Independence of England, the fateful ordinance that severed relations with the Union was adopted:

AN ORDINANCE TO DISSOLVE THE UNION BETWEEN THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA AND THE OTHER STATES UNITED WITH HER UNDER THE COMPACT OF GOVERNMENT ENTITLED THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.

 

We, the people of the State of North Carolina, in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That the ordinance adopted by the State of North Carolina in the Convention of 1789, whereby the Constitution of the United States was ratified and adopted, and also, all acts and parts of acts of the General Assembly, ratifying and adopting amendments to the said Constitution, are hereby repealed, rescinded and abrogated.

 

We do further declare and ordain, That the union now subsisting between the State of North Carolina and the other States under the title of the United States of America, is hereby dissolved, and that the State of North Carolina is in the full possession and exercise of all those rights of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free and independent State. [Ratified the 20th day of May, 1861.]

 

Sentiment

 

On April 13, 1861, Fort Sumter fell to South Carolina troops. President Lincoln, consequently, called for 75,000 troops to coerce and subdue the seceded states (Lincoln's Call For Troops). On April 15 the Lincoln administration demanded that North Carolina furnish two regiments for this undertaking.

 

On April 15, North Carolina Governor John Ellis promptly replied by telegram to President Abraham Lincoln and stated that "Your dispatch is received, and if genuine, which its extraordinary character leads me to doubt, I have to say in reply, that I regard the levy of troops made by the administration for the purpose of subjugating the states of the South, as a violation of the Constitution, and as a gross usurption of power. I can be no party to this wicked violation of the laws of the country and to this war upon the liberties of a free people. You can get no troops from North Carolina."

 

Zebulon Vance (right) arrived in Washington at the age 28 and was the youngest member of Congress and one of the strongest Southern supporters of the Union. In March of 1861, however, when indications reflected that the North Carolina legislature was going to vote for secession, Vance resigned his seat and returned home. Vance was soon elected as North Carolina's governor in 1862 and reelected in 1864. (North Carolina Governors.)

 

The young Vance was known throughout the Southern states as the "War Governor of the South," not because he was a war hawk, but because of his ability to wisely manage the state even during its most tumultuous hour. Many believed that the most remarkable Vance policy was his insistence of the rule of law in the midst of the devastation and confusion of Civil War. Vance had previously commanded the valiant 26th North Carolina Infantry.

 

 

Civil War

 

During the American Civil War, North Carolina provided at least 125,000 soldiers to the Confederacy, and the Tar Heel State recruited more soldiers than any Southern state. More than 620,000 died in the Civil War and approximately 40,000 were North Carolinians. (Total Union and Confederate Civil War Killed and Mortally Wounded (Dead), With Numbers for Each Northern and Southern State: North Carolina Emphasis.)

The Old North State provided 69 infantry regiments and 4 infantry battalions; 9 cavalry regiments and 9 cavalry battalions; 2 heavy artillery battalions, 4 artillery regiments, 3 light artillery battalions, and 4 light artillery batteries. Several North Carolina infantry regiments mustered 1,500 soldiers, while few regiments mustered as many as 1,800. Furthermore, North Carolina's sole legion, Thomas' Legion, mustered more than 2,500 soldiers, while the average Civil War regiment mustered 1,100 soldiers. Regarding the State's troops, A Guide to Military Organizations and Installations of North Carolina 1861-1865, explains the numerical designations according to branch of service and the nature and character of each unit's organization.

Approximately 10,000 white North Carolinians served the United States during the war, while more than 5,000 North Carolina African Americans joined the Union Army. These free blacks and escaped slaves served in segregated regiments led by white officers.

 

During campaigns, huge numbers of men and large quantities of equipment shifted and maneuvered across the landscape. Most North Carolina soldiers carried a haversack, an oilskin cloth, a blanket, a rifle, a bayonet, cartridges, percussion caps, a cartridge box, a drinking cup, and a canteen. Troops often marched twelve to fifteen miles a day. Seasoned soldiers soon learned to carry only essential items.

 

 

The following Major Civil War Campaigns, Expeditions, Operations, and Raids were fought on North Carolina soil:

Blockade of the Carolina Coast [1861]; Burnside's North Carolina Expedition [1862]; Goldsboro Expedition (aka Foster's Raid) [1862]; Longstreet's Tidewater Operations [1863]; Operations against Plymouth [1864]; Expedition against Fort Fisher [1864]; Operations against Fort Fisher and Wilmington [1865]; Campaign of the Carolinas [1865]; and Stoneman's Cavalry Raid [1865].

 

Early in the war, "General Robert E. Lee was fearful that General Ambrose Burnside would find out the defenseless condition of North Carolina and move forward. Every night General Lee telegraphed: 'Any movement of the enemy in your front to-day?'"

At the close of 1862, only two regiments of infantry were left in North Carolina, the Fiftieth and Fifty-first, and the Union forces on the coast could, had they been apprised of the heavy movement of troops, "have swept without opposition over all the State. A people less brave and less patriotic would never have consented to incur such a risk with so strong an enemy at its doors. The governor exposed his own capital to save that of the Confederacy." At the close of the Civil War, consequently, North Carolina had "forty regiments in Virginia."

 

The legislature directed General James Green Martin, late in September, to provide winter clothing, shoes, etc., for the troops. The time was short and it was no small task, but he went about it with his usual energy. He organized a clothing factory in Raleigh, under the leadership of Captain Garrett; every mill in the State was made to furnish every yard of cloth that was possible; Captain A. Myers was sent through North Carolina, South Carolina and as far south as Savannah, Georgia, purchasing everything that was available for clothing the troops. The ladies came nobly to their assistance and furnished blankets, quilts, and whatever they could. Many carpets were torn up, and by the combined efforts of the ladies and the officers, these were lined with cotton and made into quilts. The troops of North Carolina were clothed the first winter of the war, if not exactly according to military regulations, at least in such a manner as to prevent much suffering. After this winter the State was in better condition to supply the wants of the troops.

 

Regarding the preparing, organizing, and mobilizing of North Carolina for the Civil War: "The man [James Green Martin] thus trusted was a one-armed veteran of the Mexican war, a rigid disciplinarian, thoroughly trained in office work, and not only systematic but original in his plans. The State has never fully appreciated, perhaps never known, the importance of the work done for it by this undemonstrative, thoroughly efficient officer." Words of Daniel Harvey Hill, Jr., author of Confederate Military History Of North Carolina: North Carolina In The Civil War, 1861-1865

 

The United States Arsenal at Fayetteville was also enlarged and machinery that had been removed from the captured United States armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), was installed there. This manufacturing complex became the second-largest source (after Richmond) of domestically produced arms in the Confederacy. In addition, there were rifle-manufacturing sites in Asheville and Guilford County. A large bayonet factory was established in Raleigh, and in Kenansville a private concern made swords, bayonets, and other war-related goods. North Carolina's entire textile production during the war was used for uniforms and other military supplies.

 

 

In January of 1863, the troops of North Carolina were disposed, so far as the records show, as follows: Thirty-two regiments and one battalion of infantry; two regiments of cavalry and three battalions were with General Robert E. Lee; under the command of General Kirby Smith, the Fifty-eighth, Colonel Palmer, the Sixty-fourth, Colonel Allen, and Fifth Cavalry Battalion, Captain S. W. English, were stationed at Big Creek gap, Tennessee; the Sixty-second regiment, Colonel Love, was guarding bridges near Knoxville; the Seventh Cavalry Battalion was in Carter County, TN.; Walker's Cavalry Battalion of Thomas' Legion was in Monroe County, TN.; the Twenty-ninth, Colonel Vance, and the Thirty-ninth, Colonel Coleman, were in General Bragg's army. In North Carolina, General Whiting was in charge of the defenses of Wilmington, with 9,913 officers and men. General S. D. French, in charge of the Department of North Carolina, had his forces stationed as follows: General Pettigrew's brigade at Magnolia; General N. G. Evans' South Carolina brigade at Kinston; General Daniel's brigade, General Davis' brigade, Maj. J. C. Haskell's four batteries, Colonel Bradford's four artillery companies, and Captain J. B. Starr's light battery at Goldsboro; the Forty-second regiment, Colonel George C. Gibbs, and Captain Dabney's heavy battery at Weldon; the Seventeenth regiment, Colonel W. F. Martin, at Hamilton; General B. H. Roberson and three regiments of cavalry at Kinston; Thomas' Legion in the mountains. The field returns for January show that the forces scattered over the State aggregated 31,442 men.

In an effort to alleviate the state of affairs at the opening of 1864, a force of magnitude was sent to North Carolina. General George Pickett, a well-known soldier of great zeal and valor, with a division of troops, advanced to the State to assist the forces already there.

 

The close of 1863 was gloomy enough in eastern North Carolina. Moore thus describes it: "The condition of eastern North Carolina grew hourly more deplorable. Frequent incursions of the enemy resulted in the destruction of property of all kinds. Especially were horses and mules objects of plunder. Pianos and other costly furniture were seized and sent North, while whole regiments of 'bummers' wantonly defaced and ruined the fairest homesteads in eager search for hidden treasure. The 'buffaloes,' in gangs of a dozen men, infested the swamps and made night hideous with their horrid visitations. They and their colored coadjutors, by all manner of inducements, enticed from the farms such of the negro men as were fitted for military duty....To the infinite and undying credit of the colored race, though the woods swarmed with negro men sent back on detailed duty for the purpose of enlisting their comrades in the Federal army, there were less acts of violence toward the helpless old men, women and children than could have been possibly expected under the circumstances."

 

General Lee said if Fort Fisher fell he could not subsist his army.

 

"A great point would be gained in any event by the effectual destruction of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad." United States Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan

 

On October 25, 1836, construction began on the Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad to connect the port city of Wilmington with the state capital of Raleigh. In 1849 the North Carolina Railroad was created by act of the legislature to extend that railroad west to Greensboro, High Point, and Charlotte. During the Civil War the Wilmington-to-Raleigh stretch of the railroad would be vital to the Confederate war effort; supplies shipped into Wilmington would be moved by rail through Raleigh to the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia.

 

After Fort Fisher was captured in early 1865, the city of Wilmington soon capitulated, placing the vital Wilmington to Richmond rail line in Union hands, thus denying Lee the ability to resupply his troops in Virginia, and the bloody Civil War would soon come to an end. (Expedition against Fort Fisher and Operations against Fort Fisher and Wilmington.)

 

 

In January 1865, after a failed attempt in December 1864, "The U.S. navy department was able to concentrate before Fort Fisher a larger force than had ever before assembled under one command in the history of the American navy--a total of nearly sixty vessels." (See North Carolina Coast and the American Civil War: Operations, Campaigns, and Expeditions.)

 

"All day and all night on the 13th and 14th of January 1865," says Confederate Colonel Lamb, "the Union fleet kept up a ceaseless and terrific bombardment....It was impossible to repair damage at night. No meals could be prepared for the exhausted garrison; the dead could not be buried without new casualties. Fully 200 had been killed during these two days, and only three or four of the land guns remained serviceable."

No effort of any importance seems to have been made by the commanding general, Braxton Bragg, to assist the doomed fort.

 

“Then the massive land forces approached nearer and nearer by pits and shelter, and Colonel Lamb, and all their officers and men fight for the important fort; frequently did they signal for the aid they sorely needed.”

General Whiting, a most gallant and noble soldier, and Colonel Lamb, a determined veteran and warrior, were both severely wounded. On the 15th of January, after exhausting every energy, Fort Fisher was surrendered. The Federal loss is stated at 1,445. The Confederate garrison lost about 500. Few more gallant defenses against such odds are recorded. General Whiting died shortly after in a Northern prison.

Western North Carolina spent much of the conflict fighting against both Union incursions, i.e. Stoneman's Cavalry Raid, and bushwhackers, e.g. Captain Goldman Bryson's Union Volunteers.

 

North Carolina soon witnessed that great Battle of Bentonville--the largest battle fought in North Carolina and the last full-scale Confederate offensive--and the location's Harper House served as a Union field hospital. (See Official Order of Final Surrendering Confederate Forces of the American Civil War.)

 

Aftermath

 

North Carolina furnished roughly one-sixth of the entire Confederate Army. And at the surrender at Appomattox, one-half of the muskets stacked were from North Carolina. The last charge of the Army of Northern Virginia under Lee was made by North Carolina troops. The Old North State sent at least 125,000 soldiers into combat and more than 40,000 perished, which is roughly 1-in-3 or one-third of North Carolina’s army. North Carolina deaths were more than twice the percentage sustained by the soldiers from any other state. Roughly 6.5% of the total killed during the Civil War hailed from the Tar Heel State. North Carolina soldiers totaled a staggering 22% of all Confederate combat deaths (killed-in-action and mortally wounded). The South lost 25% of its military aged men, however, about 32% of North Carolina's combatants died. For every soldier killed in combat two died from disease. 12.5% of the entire Confederate Army that died from disease hailed from the Old North State. While 33 generals were North Carolinians, 9 were killed in battle (roughly 27% of the state's generals were killed-in-action). An estimated three-and-a-half million men (3,500,000) fought in the American Civil War and 620,000 perished, which is more than all of America's combined combat fatalities (includes combat statistics and fatalities for all American conflicts and wars). Diseases and Napoleonic Linear Tactics, consequently, were the contributing factors for the high casualties during the American Civil War.

 

Advance to:

 

North Carolina: American Civil War Battles and Battlefields

North Carolina Coast and the American Civil War

North Carolina Coast and the American Civil War: Operations, Campaigns, and Expeditions

Western North Carolina American Civil War History

North Carolina Civil War Regiments and Battles

American Civil War Generals Appointed by North Carolina

A Guide to Military Organizations and Installations of North Carolina 1861-1865

North Carolina: American Civil War Railroads

North Carolina Total Civil War Killed and Mortally Wounded (Dead) Numbers and Statistics: An Analysis

North Carolina: American Civil War Reconstruction to World War One