Vignettes of a Solider's Life at Camp Pierpont

While researching for my article on the Battle of Dranesville, I came across an interesting memoir by A.F. Hill of the 8th Pennsylvania Reserves.*  Published in 1864, Our Boys: The Personal Experiences of a Solider in the Army of the Potomac tells Hill's story from enlistment through the Battle of Antietam, where Hill was wounded and lost his left leg.  Hill belonged to Company D ("Brownsville Grays"), which was raised in Brownsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania.  He rose to the rank of sergeant before being discharged after Antietam.  Hill dedicated Our Boys to George B. McClellan, "our loved and honored commander."  I have not yet read the entire book, but it seems like a lively and perhaps sentimental account of life in the Union Army.  I hope to add a first edition of Our Boys to my antique book collection in the near future!

There are a few passages from the book that are worth sharing for the window they provide into the everyday life of the Pennsylvania Reserves at Camp Pierpont in Langley during the winter of 1861-62.  I particularly like this excerpt, which describes the heart of the camp along what is today the Georgetown Pike, or VA-193:

The Pennsylvania Reserve Corps was encamped so as to occupy, about equally, both sides of the "Georgetown and Leesburg" pike. This road was to us as Broadway to New York—as Chestnut Street to Philadelphia; it was our thoroughfare—our most public avenue. A number of independent sutlers had erected their temporary store-houses by the pike; several generals, among them [George A.] McCall and [John F.] Reynolds, had established their head-quarters immediately by it; and it was altogether quite a public street. (Hill 176.)

The pike is now a two-lane commuter road, lined with large homes and sometimes choked with traffic, but the Langley Ordinary, site of McCall's HQ, survives as a witness to the war years. 

Flag of the 8th Pennsylvania Reserves (courtesy of Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee)

Hill and his friend, Dave Winder, decided at one point in December 1861 to pay a visit to Winder's acquaintances at Camp Griffin, where Gen. "Baldy" Smith's division had its winter quarters.  After "a very muddy walk of three-fourths of a mile" from Camp Pierpont to the neighboring encampment, Winder found his friends and immediately launched into a story.  (Hill 177.)  As Hill describes the scene:

I thought he would never get done telling his friends stories of the battle of Drainesville [sic], in which he asserted that our regiment had been hotly engaged. He stated that, three separate times, our regiment repulsed a brigade of five thousand rebels; and he expressed it as his belief, that the Eighth Regiment alone, unsupported, could charge clear to Richmond. When, at length, he did pause, I suggested the propriety of returning to the pike. Winder, with difficulty, succeeded in tearing himself away from his friends, informing them, as he bade them farewell, that he expected soon to be made captain of the company to which he belonged—that our former captain had been killed in the battle of Drainesville, and that the company would not hear to any other man than himself assuming the position.  (Hill 177.)

Winder certainly enjoyed telling tall tales, as the 8th Pennsylvania Reserves did not even fight at Dranesville, and the Confederate force was considerably smaller than 5,000.  Hill's anecdote about Winder, however, shows the extent to which Union soldiers in Virginia were riveted by the victory at Dranesville in late December 1861.  After all, this engagement was a much-needed win at a time when the North was recovering from defeats at Bull Run and Ball's Bluff, and any man who fought there was likely viewed by other soldiers with esteem or awe.  Winder played on that sentiment.

I've also taken a recent research interest in drinking and army life during the first winter of the war.  (In fact, the other day I wrote about excessive alcohol consumption in the Confederate winter camps around Centreville.)  Hill's story covers the bases when in comes to the use of adult beverages at Camp Pierpont.  Hill notes that "[t]he sale of liquor in the army being prohibited, it was frequently vended by sutlers and others 'on the sly.'"  (Hill 181.)  The veteran recounts a trick that Winder played on a soldier who was desperately looking for some rye:

On reaching the pike we stopped for a few minutes by a sutler's establishment, around which was collected quite a crowd. While there we heard one soldier ask another, in a whisper, if he could inform him where "something to drink" could be procured. (Hill 181.)

Winder told the poor lad, who happened to be from Smith's division, that drink could be procured from a nearby tent.  When the solider went to ask for whiskey, it turned out that Winder had sent him to a colonel's tent.  The officer chased the enlisted man through camp, but he managed to get away and presumably made it back to Camp Griffin.

Whiskey advertisement from Feb. 22, 1862 edition of Harper's Weekly (courtesy of sonofthesouth.net). 

Hill was luckier in meeting his own needs:

On arriving in camp, I was informed, by my messmates, that a "box" had been sent to one of them from home, containing, among other things, two half-gallon tin cans, tightly sealed, one marked in big letters—"preserved Peaches," the other, "Currant Jelly." Now, the one marked "preserved peaches" contained whiskey; that marked "currant jelly" contained whiskey, too. Thus one gallon of the " poison" had walked slyly into camp, beneath the very noses of provost-marshals, officers of the day, etc.

Haman, Dick, Ort, and Enos had been imbibing, and were already right merry when I entered our domicile. They urged me to take "something." Well, I do not think it any harm to take a little now and then while in camp, especially in damp and muddy weather, so I did take a "little" three or four times. By and by all became boozy; Haman and Dick called in everybody that passed by, made everybody drink several times till nearly every man in the company felt right happy.  (Hill 185.)

That night, excessive drinking led to a fight, and one of Hill's messmates was almost shot, but Hill managed to grab the musket from the aggressor.  An officer eventually intervened and put the culprit in the guard house to sober up.  Hill's stories, aside from being just plain entertaining, provide insights into the role that alcohol played in winter camp.

I look forward to reading through other parts of Our Boys, and I will be certain to share with readers any other insights from the book concerning life at Camp Pierpont.  And wish me luck on my search for a first edition!

Note
*There seems to be some degree of confusion over Hill's actual first name. Our Boys lists the author as "A.F. Hill" on the title page and elsewhere.  Google Books indicates that A.F. Hill is "Alonzo F. Hill."  However, the National Park Service database, which is also available on Ancestry.com, indicates that A.F. Hill from Co. D, 8th Pennsylvania Reserves is "Ashbol F. Hill," while a Pennsylvania genealogy site has A.F. Hill from Co. D listed as "Archibald F. Hill."

Please Pardon the Interruption

If I ever figure out how Google Reader works, I will be a happy man.  For some reason the final version of the post that I published accidentally last night before it was complete does not show up as a new entry in the Reader feed.  To see the final article, "Winter in the Confederate Camps Around Centreville, Part II: Sickness, Leave, and Reenlistment," just click here or look at the original feed, which contains the updated version. Sorry again for the confusion.

Winter in the Confederate Camps Around Centreville, Part II: Sickness, Leave, and Reenlistment

Weather was not the only enemy that the Confederate soldiers confronted during the first winter of the war in Centreville.  The cramped, unsanitary conditions in camp were the perfect breeding ground for disease.  The men suffered from measles, mumps, typhoid fever, pneumonia, and other illnesses.  As Tom Goree, an aide to Gen. James Longstreet, wrote to his relatives at the start of January 1862, "[a] great many of our troops are off on sick furlough, many are sick here and not in condition for a fight. . . ."  (in Cutrer 66).  Doctors struggled to treat the large numbers of sick, and disease claimed many lives as the winter progressed.

Because the soldiers usually hailed from rural areas where they were less exposed to germs than those who lived in cities, they had never developed immunity to diseases, and the infection rate was even higher than it might otherwise have been. (Glatthaar 50-51.)  As Gen. John B. Gordon recalled in his memoirs:

There was much sickness in camp. It was amazing to see the large number of country boys who had never had the measles. Indeed, it seemed to me that they ran through the whole catalogue of complaints to which boyhood and even babyhood are subjected. They had everything almost except teething, nettle-rash, and whooping-cough. I rather think some of them were afflicted with this latter disease.  (Gordon 49.)

Gen. John B. Gordon was a lieutenant colonel of the 6th Alabama at the start of 1862 (courtesy of Library of Congress).  Gordon himself dealt with a severe bout of diarrhea throughout February and March 1862.

While sickness diminished the army's effective strength, the Confederates dealt with other threats to their preparedness.  On January 14, 1862, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, the commander of the Department of Northern Virginia, wrote to Secretary of War Judah P. Benjamin:

Since the supply in the neighborhood was exhausted the Quartermaster's Department has been unable to furnish full forage. Hay and fodder are rarely to be had, consequently our horses are in wretched condition. (OR, 1:5, 1028.)

Goree likewise worried that "many of our horses are very poor, and almost too weak to draw heavy artillery." (in Cutrer 66.)

Given the monotony of camp life, the cold and muddy weather, and the prevalence of disease, it is not surprising that some men decided to take leave without permission.  Soldiers from nearby towns were particularly susceptible to the lure of family and friends back home.  The 8th Virginia, for example, was comprised of men from Leesburg, Virginia, about 25 miles from Centreville.  Several soldiers of the 8th disappeared so that they could spend time in their home town, away from the misery of winter in camp.  The situation apparently became so bad that the regimental commander published an order in the Richmond, Leesburg, and Warrenton papers:

All officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers, belonging to the 8th Virginia Regiment, who have not been detailed, by special order emanating from General Headquarters, and who are not actually disabled by sickness for duty, will immediately join this Regiment.

It is an outrage now, become too apparent, that whilst the brave and faithful are suffering all the hardships incident to camp life, the trifling and self-indulgent, are to deselect to their duty, as to absent themselves from their companies, thus throwing all of the work upon the few good soldiers who maintain their posts, to the scandal and disgrace of the fair name of the 8th Virginia Regiment, won on the fields of Manassas and Leesburg.  (Richmond Daily Dispatch, Jan. 25, 1862.)

The Confederate government offered soldiers a legitimate alternative to taking unauthorized leave.  Most men had volunteered for twelve months terms, which would expire in the spring.  Gen. Johnston estimated that about two-thirds of his command was composed of "one year" regiments. (OR, 1:5, 1058.)  Facing a potential manpower crisis, the Confederate Congress passed the so-called Bounty and Furlough Act in December 1861.  The law offered soldiers a fifty dollar bounty and a maximum 60-day furlough, with transportation expenses covered to home and back, if they would reenlist for two additional years, or the duration of the war.  Soldiers could even switch branches of the service, or change companies.

The law worried Johnston, who thought that the promise of a furlough would drain his ranks to dangerous levels.  He argued to Benjamin in January that it would "be unsafe to allow any large number of men to leave here; and without sustaining such a loss I do not see how the object of the law can be accomplished."  (OR, 1:5, 1037.)  Benjamin urged Johnston to understand that "the eager desire for a furlough during the inclement season will form the strongest inducement for your men, and thus afford the best guarantee of you having under your orders a large force of veteran troops when active operations recommence." (OR, 1:5, 1045.)  Johnston was told to "go to the extreme verge of prudence in tempting your twelve-month's men by liberal furloughs, and thus secure for yourself a fine body of men for the spring operations." (OR, 1:5, 1045.) 

Excerpt of the Bounty and Furlough Act from The Statutes at Large of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America (1864) (courtesy of Google Books).

The camps around Centreville were predictably abuzz with talk of reenlistment and the associated inducements.  Some men rushed to reenlist, while others struggled with the decision and decided to wait things out.  In the 1st Maryland, Randolph McKim was apparently the first to sign up again, even though "not many followed his example."  (Howard 65.)  According to messmate McHenry Howard, McKim reenlisted "not for the sake of the furlough, but animated by high patriotic motives."  (Howard 65.)  To hear McKim tell the story, however, the furlough might have had a little something to do with it.  He wrote:

Words cannot express the delight a soldier felt at the prospect of a return to "civilization" for the space of thirty days. To have the opportunity of a daily bath, or at least a daily "wash up"; to change one's clothes; to sleep in a bed; to hear no "reveille" at four in the morning; not to be disturbed in the evening by the inevitable "taps"; to sit down at a table covered with a white cloth; . . . . — yes, to feast on the "fat of the land " before the land had grown lean and hungry, as it did in another twelvemonth; to bask in the smiles of the noble women of the Confederacy; to enjoy once more their delightful society; to be welcomed and feted like a hero wherever you went by the men as well as the women. . . .(McKim 62-63.)

In mid-February, Goree told to his uncle that "[t]he men are re-enlisting much more readily than I supposed they would.  Before spring, I think that the majority of the 12-mo's men will re-enlist."  (in Cutrer 74.)  Johnston, trying to preserve some semblance of military strength, limited the furloughs to the "rate of 20 per cent. of the men present for duty."  (OR, 1:5, 1065.)  Johnston, however, remained concerned that the army was "much weakened by loss of officers from sickness and soldiers on furlough. . . ."  (OR, 1:5, 1075.)  Soon the Confederacy would take another approach to raising and maintaining an army.  Virginia enacted a state draft law in February 1862, followed by the new Confederate Congress' Conscription Act in April.

The Confederates would remain in Centreville until March 1862.  The men endured many hardships, including weather and sickness, although they managed to find some comfort in little things like reading, writing letters, or playing cards.  Whiskey made life a little more tolerable, even if it led to trouble.  More than a few men got to visit home under the new bounty and furlough law, while others decided to take a leave of absence without asking.  The upcoming spring campaign would try the soldiers in battle as many of them had never been tried before.  Perhaps camp life wouldn't seem so bad after all when matched up against the horrors of warfare on the Peninsula and beyond.

For Part I of this series, see here.

Sources

Aside from the OR the following sources were useful in compiling this post:

"Civil Liberties in Virginia during the Civil War," Encyclopedia Virginia; Thomas W. Cutrer, Longstreet's Aide: The Civil War Letters of Major Thomas J. Goree (1995); "Desertion (Confederate) During the Civil War," Encyclopedia Virginia; Charles L. Dufour, The Gallant Life of Roberdeau Wheat (1985); Ralph Lowell Eckert, John Brown Gordon: Soldier, Southerner, American (1989); Joseph T. Glatthaar, "Confederate Soldiers in Virginia, 1861," in William C. Davis & James I. Robertson, Jr., Virginia at War 1861 (2005); John B. Gordon, Reminiscences of the Civil War (1904); McHenry Howard; Recollections of a Maryland Confederate Soldier and Staff Office Under Johnston, Jackson, and Lee (1914); Robert Howison, "A History of the War," Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. 38, No. 3 (March 1864); John J. Kundahl, Confederate Engineer: Training and Campaigning with John Morris Wampler (2000); Lawrence R. Laboda, From Selma to Appomattox: The History of the Jeff Davis Artillery (1994); James M. Matthews (ed.), The Statutes at Large of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America (1864); Randolph H. McKim, A Soldier's Recollections: Leaves from the Diary of a Young Confederate (1921); Richmond Daily Dispatch, Jan. 25, 1862; Emory Upton, The Military Policy of the United States, 64th Cong., 2nd Session, Senate Doc. No. 329 (1916); Lee A. Wallace, Jr., 17th Virginia Infantry (1990).

Oops...Please disregard the recent post

As some of you may have noticed, I accidentally published Part II of the story on the Confederate winter camps around Centreville before it was ready for prime time. I have no idea how to recall it from Google Reader, and it has already been sent to email subscribers.  I will be posting the finished product tomorrow.  Sorry for the confusion.  Ah technology!

Winter in the Confederate Camps Around Centreville, Part I: Weather, Shelter, and Daily Life

As readers may have noticed, I've spent a considerable amount of time on the Union camps around Langley and Lewinsville during the first winter of the war.  This week I've decided to shift my focus to take a closer look at the Confederate side of the story.  As I have written in previous posts, the bulk of the Confederate Army in Northern Virginia, around 40,000 men, withdrew to the Centreville area in mid-October 1861.  Here the men settled down for what was to become a very long and quiet winter. 

By all accounts, the Confederate soldiers around Centreville faced harsh winter conditions as 1862 got underway.  The men surely needed the woolen socks that they received from home over Christmas!  As a correspondent for the Richmond Daily Dispatch dramatically described his trip to the Confederate camps:

The weather, oh the weather! Cold stormy weather, chilly winds moving through leafless tress, sweeping in boreal blasts along barren mountain and meadow; fitful showers drizzling destruction on the fair snow; thick fog stealthily looming up from the semi thawing earth; gurgling troubled streams swelling o'er dessicate fields; sad and timid stars lured by "the momentary blue sky;" struggling frowning clouds giving dismal glimpses of the pale sky moon; dying campfires emitting spasmodic sparks and a great gloomy silence prevailing all around are the chief features that marked my journey from our out-posts line to [Centreville]. . . .  (Daily Dispatch, Jan. 24, 1862.)

The men were seemingly obsessed with the fury that Mother Nature had sent their way.  Another correspondent for the Daily Dispatch remarked how "[r]ain, snow, sleet, mist, fog, mud, and the state of the weather generally, have for the time being, monopolized conversation to the exclusion of that everlasting topic 'the advance and the expected battle.'"  (Daily Dispatch, Jan 27, 1862.)  John B. Gordon, at the time a Lt. Col. of the 6th Alabama, recalled that "[t]he winter was a severe one and the men suffered greatly—not only for want of sufficient preparation, but because those from farther South were unaccustomed to so cold a climate."  (Gordon 49.)

"Centreville, Va.  Confederate winter quarters, south view" (courtesy Library of Congress). This picture was taken when the Union Army occupied the area in March 1862.

The future general was a little off the mark when it came to the soldiers' preparedness.  As cold weather descended on Northern Virginia, the men constructed log huts to provide at least some shelter from the elements.  These crude structures were the subject of a well-known period photograph.  (See above.)  By the end of 1861, the Confederates had built about 1,500 huts.  Not everyone was equally gifted when it came to the use of a saw.  McHenry Howard of the 1st Maryland described his messmate's efforts to erect a hut at their camp near Fairfax Station:

Each company constructed a row of cabins, fronting on a wide street between two companies, the officers' houses at the end of each street and facing down it. In my mess of about eleven there was not one who had done any manual work before the war and we felt rather helpless in our inexperience. But by watching others, at least half of whom were countrymen, and getting some help, we managed to get out the trimmed logs, notch them at the ends and set up the four walls of our residence. . . . (Howard 61.)

Howard was not ashamed to admit that completing the roof "was too much for us and we hired comrades to do it." (Howard 61.)

"Rebel Winter-Quarters at Centreville, Virginia. With Bull Run in the Distance," Harper's Weekly, March 29, 1862 (courtesy of sonofthesouth.net).  Like the photograph above, this sketch depicts the camp as it looked after the Confederate evacuation.

The Richmond Daily Dispatch reporter felt that the cabins "have quite an air of neatness and home comfort, with their stick and plaster chimneys, and their one window of six and four lights, and their new plank door."  (Daily Dispatch, Jan. 27, 1862.)  He informed readers that "[t]o supply the windows, of course every deserted house between Centreville and the outside of the lines had to furnish its quota."  (Daily Dispatch, Jan. 27, 1862.)  In one instance, an "old lady" had spent the afternoon with a friend, only to return and find no windows in her house.  (Daily Dispatch, Jan. 27, 1862.)  The soldiers believed that because "no smoke was coming from the chimney" it was a "deserted property" and they simply helped themselves to the windows.  (Daily Dispatch, Jan. 27, 1862.)     

The men in the camps around Centreville passed the days in a variety of ways when not drilling or on picket duty.  Howard's messmate, Randolph H. McKim, sent his mother a letter on January 27, 1862 which provides an intimate glimpse into the soldiers' daily life in the camps:

Wouldn't you like to peep in on us some evening as we sit around our stove amusing ourselves until it is time to retire? We are a happy but a boisterous family, as the neighbors next door will tell you. Our amusements are various — reading, singing, quarreling, and writing. We employ the twilight in conversation, the subject of which is the "latest grape-vine" (i.e., rumor), or a joke on the Colonel, or when we are alone, our domestic concerns. We amuse ourselves with the many-tongued rumors which float about on the popular breeze, that England or France has recognized the Confederacy, or that the Confederates have gained a new victory, etc., etc. Then there are frequent domestic quarrels, free fights, passes with the bayonet, and hand to hand encounters, to vary the monotony of our peaceful life here. As soon as night sets in the candles are lit and we draw round the stove and take down our books, or else someone reads aloud till the newspaper arrives, when other occupations are suspended, and we listen to the news of the day. Then someone proposes a song and "Maryland, my Maryland" is generally the first.  (McKim 52-53.)

McKim, who later became an army chaplain, also began to hold prayer meetings with faithful soldiers in his regiment.  He even managed to procure a tent for the express purpose of hosting the religious services and installed "rude benches" for 25 to 30 men, although this "would hardly give seats to as many as would come."  (McKim 60.)

Many Confederate soldiers turned to the bottle rather than the Lord.  Alcohol could relieve the boredom of life in camp, but also led to trouble.  In one episode that occurred towards the end of 1861, the rough-and-tumble Louisiana Tigers brawled with members of the 21st Georgia who had stolen their bottle of whiskey.  All of the drinking worried men of the cloth.  As the chaplain of the 23rd North Carolina wrote in February 1862:

If we ever meet with a defeat in this army, it will be in consequence of drunkenness. Young men that never drank at home are using spirits freely in camp. I fear that while Lincoln may slay his thousands, the liquor-maker at home will slay his tens of thousands. (in Jones 268.)

The editor of a Southern paper blamed the drunkenness during this period of inactivity on the officers, who were both "profane and hard drinkers."  (in Jones 268.)  He believed that if the next battle was lost, it would be because "whisky whipped our men."  (in Jones 269.)   Gambling became another common distraction in the camps and was as equally condemned by those of religious persuasion.  The author of Christ in Camp observed that even officers would "win from the private soldier his scant pay, which he ought to have sent home to his suffering family."  (Jones 270.)  Luckily for the men's spiritual health, the idleness of camp life would end by March, when the Confederates moved out of Centreville.

In the next installment on life in the Confederate camps, I take a look at sickness and desertion.

Sources
Biblical Recorder, Feb. 19, 1862; Charles L. Dufour, Gentle Tiger: The Gallant Life of Roberdeau Wheat (1985); John B. Gordon, Reminiscences of the Civil War (1904); McHenry Howard, Recollections of a Maryland Confederate Solider and Staff Officer Under Johnston, Jackson, and Lee (1914); John William Jones, Christ in Camp (1904); Terry L. Jones, "A Tiger Execution," New York Times: Disunion, Dec. 13, 2011; Charles Mauro, The Civil War in Fairfax County: Civilians and Soldiers (2006);  Randolph H. McKim, A Soldier's Recollections: Leaves from the Diary of a Young Confederate (1921); Richmond Daily Dispatch, Jan. 22, 1862; Richmond Daily Dispatch, Jan. 24, 1862; Richmond Daily Dispatch, Jan. 27, 1862.

Hell on DC-Area Roads, Civil War-Style

Commuting in the Washington, DC metro region is certainly no walk in the park.  My daily drive of nine miles home from the city can take up to an hour or more on any given day.  Washington consistently wins top honors for having the worst traffic in the country.  And bad weather like snow turns the roads into a sheer commuter nightmare.  The study of history, however, often puts things in perspective, and that certainly was the case when I came across a Civil War-era account of a trip over roughly the same route I follow everyday.

In January 1862, Hugh Young, the editor of the Wellsboro (Pa.) Agitator, came to Washington City.  He intended to pay a visit to the Pennsylvania Reserves at Camp Pierpont in Langley.  Going to the Old Dominion in those days required a military pass, so Young headed first to the Provost Marshal's Office.  Here, "with the assistance of a line . . . vouching for our loyalty" from Speaker of the House Galusha Grow of Pennsylvania, he procured "a pass into the land of Dixie." 

Young headed next to the Langley Stage Office at the Clay Hotel to find transportation across the Potomac to the camps.  From the hotel situated on Pennsylvania Avenue between 3rd and 4 1/2 Streets,* a "diligence" or "long covered wagon with hard seats" ran the eight miles to Langley twice a day for a fare of one dollar.  The editor boarded the wagon with his traveling companion and around a dozen others.  Now the fun really began.

As Young described the journey:

. . . soon we were on the road to the Chain Bridge. And such a road! Properly speaking, it was a canal filled to the depth of six to twelve inches with a sloshy mud, through which the horses waded with a slow and patient gait.**

Section of 1862 Union Army map of N.E. Virginia and the Vicinity of Washington showing likely route taken by Young from the Clay Hotel in Washington to Langley, Virginia (courtesy of Library of Congress).  A modern view of approximately the same route can be found here.

Along the way, soldiers stopped the wagon to examine the passengers' passes, likely causing additional delay.  The last check occurred at the entrance to the Chain Bridge.  Incredibly, the editor recognized the soldier as a Simon Doorlacher from Wellsboro, who was serving with the Tioga Invincibles, or Company H of the 6th Pennsylvania Reserves.  After crossing Chain Bridge, the wagon headed up the Leesburg-Georgetown Turnpike and traveled a few more miles to Langley, where it was already "quite dark."  All told, Young seemed pleased that the trip had taken "just four hours."


"Washington, D.C. Chain Bridge over the Potomac; Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in foreground (courtesy of Library of Congress)

My own route home is very similar, but starts a little further west at 17th and G Streets, N.W.  I avoid the heart of the city and Georgetown by taking the Whitehurst Freeway and drive along Canal Road until I hit Chain Bridge.  Rt. 123 on the other side takes me to a point just beyond Langley.  This route can be nerve-wracking and time-consuming, but I have nothing on the editor of the Agitator.  The next time I feel myself becoming annoyed and impatient with my commute, I will think back 150 years and remember that things could be much worse.

Notes
*Today, 4 1/2 Street, N.W. does not intersect with Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.  The hotel was likely located around the present-day site of the Federal Courthouse.

**The diligence probably traveled through the streets of Washington City, most likely Pennsylvania Avenue, and into Georgetown. From there, it may have taken the carriage road along the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal to Chain Bridge. John G. Barnard, former chief engineer to the Army of the Potomac, described this carriage road as "excellent" in his report on the defenses of Washington.  (Barnard 2.)  The editor of the Agitator may have disagreed with him on this point!

Sources
John G. Barnard, A Report on the Defenses of Washington to the Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army (1871); Johnson's Map of Georgetown and the City of Washington, 1862; Washington National Republican, Mar. 4, 1862; Wellsboro (Pa.) Agitator, Jan. 29, 1862.

The Presentation of the Colors to the Victors of Dranesville

The month of January 1862 was cold, damp, and miserable for the Pennsylvania Reserves encamped at Langley.  The men huddled inside their crude huts as the snow and rain fell and the ground outside turned into mud.  The winter weather even interfered with the daily routine of army life.  As a soldier from the 7th Pennsylvania Reserves wrote to the Philadelphia Press, "owing to the unfavorable weather with which we have been visited, drill and other duties have been almost suspended."  Nothing, however, not even the elements, could get in the way of bestowing honors on the victors of Dranesville. 

The Pennsylvania Reserves had become the darling of  the political and military establishment ever since the battle.  At the end of the December, Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin visited the Reserves at Camp Pierpont and declared that the regiments involved at Dranesville would have the name of the battle inscribed on their standards.  (See here for a recent post on the governor's visit.)  The flags were soon sent to Washington to be painted with the battle honors. 

Flag of the 6th Pennsylvania Reserves with a barely visible "Dranesville" inscription (courtesy of Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee)

Flag of the 9th Pennsylvania Reserves with a faded "Dranesville" inscription (courtesy of Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee)

A couple weeks later, on January 11, the entire division participated in the presentation of the colors to the men who had won the day at Dranesville.  All fifteen regiments, "in full uniform," formed and marched out to the parade ground, which was "in a wretched condition, occasioned by the rains of the previous day."  ("Letter from Camp Pierpont," Phila. Press, Jan. 20, 1862.)  A fifteen-gun salute was fired by the Reserves' artillery, and various regimental bands "returned the compliment."  ("Letter from Camp Pierpont," Phila. Press, Jan. 20, 1862.)  Speaker of the House Galusha Grow of Pennsylvania traveled to Langley for the occasion and met the Reserves on the parade ground.  As the soldier from the 7th Pennsylvania Reserves described the scene:

. . . the color companies attached to the different regiments in [E.O.C.] Ord's brigade took an advanced position, when the flags on which were neatly inscribed the word "DRANESVILLE," in honor of the late victory, were presented by [Grow] -- the ceremony winding up with a few complimentary remarks from that gentleman.  The cavalry and artillery that accompanied the brigade were also on the ground, and were presented with new flags similarly inscribed.*

Rep. Galusha Grow,  Speaker of the House, 1861-63 (courtesy of Wikipedia)

The regiments then filed past Grow and the other notables gathered on the parade ground.  Overall, the soldier from the 7th considered that "the affair passed off admirably" despite the muck and mire.  Perhaps the review lifted more than a few spirits in the middle of the harsh winter.  The glow of Dranesville, however, would grow dimmer as the new year progressed and the war's toll grew to unimaginable proportions.

Note
*Ord's brigade was comprised of the 6th, 9th, 10th, and 12th Pennsylvania Reserves.  All of these regiments were engaged at Dranesville. The 1st Pennsylvania Rifles ("the Bucktails"), although not part of Ord's brigade, also participated in the battle, and it is likely that they also received the inscribed flag during the ceremony.

Sources
"Letter from Camp Pierpont," dated Jan. 14, 1862, Philadelphia Press, Jan. 20, 1862;  O.R. Howard Thomson & William H. Rauch, History of the "Bucktails" (1906).

A Visit to President Lincoln's Cottage

My birthday falls a couple days after Christmas, so I usually have the fortune of being on vacation then and can take full advantage of the day off.  This year, I had intended to tour Ball's Bluff out near Leesburg.  Unfortunately, the forecast called for torrential downpours, and I had no desire to tromp around the battlefield in the rain and mud.  This trip would have to wait until clearer skies.  Instead, I decided on a visit to President Lincoln's Cottage in northwest DC.  My father-in-law, also known as "the Colonel," accompanied me on the outing.

The Gothic Revival style cottage, part of the Soliders' Home, served as Lincoln's residence from June to November 1862-1864.  Think of it as a Civil War-era Camp David.  The cottage was built by Washington banker George Riggs in 1842.  The National Trust for Historic Preservation spent $15 million restoring the home, which opened to the public in 2008.  The historic property is located on the campus of the current-day Armed Forces Retirement Home at the corner of Upshur St., N.W. and Rock Creek Church Rd., N.W.  The tour of the cottage requires a ticket, and advanced purchase is recommended.  I reserved our tickets on-line before going.

History of Lincoln's Cottage and the Soldiers' Home

The story of the Soldiers' Home dates to the antebellum era, when key military and political leaders pushed for the establishment of a residence for retired and disabled soldiers.  Gen. Winfield Scott, who was general-in-chief of the Union Army at the start of the Civil War, exacted a tribute of $150,000 from Mexico during the Mexican War and set aside $100,000 of this money for a soldiers' home.  Robert Anderson, future commander of the Federal garrison at Ft. Sumter, was also instrumental in the effort to provide for the nation's elderly and disabled soldiers.  Senator Jefferson Davis, who later became President of the Confederacy, was the primary mover on Capitol Hill.  He introduced legislation to create a "U.S. military asylum," which finally became law in March 1851.

North side of President Lincoln's Cottage.  A statue of Lincoln and his horse is located to the left of the photograph.

The government purchased the cottage and surrounding 256 acres from Riggs in 1851 for use as the Soldiers' Home.  Three additional buildings were constructed on the campus prior to the Civil War.  All four of these buildings survive today.  James Buchanan was the first President to reside at the Soldiers' Home.  (Incidentally, he stayed in a different cottage from Lincoln's.)  Located three miles from downtown Washington on the third highest point in the city, the Soldiers' Home offered a cool and tranquil getaway from the oppressive humidity and maddening bustle of the city.



Wartime view of the south side of the cottage from Mary Todd Lincoln's personal photo album (courtesy of National Park Service).  As Mrs. Lincoln told a friend in July 1862, "We are truly delighted with this retreat."



Current view of the south side of the cottage

Lincoln visited the Soldiers' Home not long after his inauguration, but the turbulent events of the first summer of the war got in the way of staying there in 1861.  The following year, Lincoln and his family took up residence in the cottage.  At the Soldiers' Home, Lincoln sought distractions from the stresses of everyday life, and often enjoyed reading, playing with his son Tad, and entertaining visitors.  The war, however, was never very far away, and Lincoln could not escape his presidential responsibilities for long.

Close-up view of the life-sized sculpture of Lincoln and his horse in front of the cottage's north side

Historical marker in front of the Lincoln statue pictured above

Each day, Lincoln commuted to the White House in the morning and returned later in the evening.  A cavalry escort accompanied Lincoln on his daily ride, but the President objected to such protection and was sometimes uncooperative with his security detail.  The 150th Pennsylvania Regiment, Co. K, served as a presidential guard and encamped on grounds of the Soldiers' Home when Lincoln resided there.  In July 1864, Lincoln and his family were evacuated from the Soldiers' Home as Confederate Gen. Jubal Early approached Ft. Stevens, about two miles from the cottage.  This precautionary measure still did not stop Lincoln from riding out to observe the ensuing battle.

Lincoln took advantage of his time at the Soldiers' Home to reflect on the issues facing the nation, including the momentous policy of emancipation.  Lincoln likely worked on revisions to the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation at the cottage over the course of the summer of 1862.  The President also held meetings at the cottage to discuss military affairs, including the removal of Gen. George B. McClellan from command.  The President apparently visited the Soliders' Home for one last time on April 13, 1865, just one day before he was assassinated at Ford's Theatre.

Tour of Lincoln's Cottage

The Colonel and I started our tour of the cottage at the Visitor Education Center, which features four informative permanent exhibits covering the history of the Soldiers' Home, Lincoln as commander-in-chief, wartime Washington, and the Lincoln family at the Soldiers' Home.  Not surprisingly, the display on Lincoln's presidency places a heavy emphasis on emancipation, and the exhibits do a thorough job of walking visitors through the entire story of emancipation, including such topics as contraband, the First and Second Confiscation Acts, and the 13th Amendment.  This effort at public education goes beyond the simplistic "Lincoln freed the slaves" story that so many tourists likely learned in school.

Visitor Education Center, located across from President Lincoln's Cottage.  (Photography is prohibited inside the Visitor Education Center and Lincoln's Cottage, so I was unable to get interior shots.)

As an enthusiast of local history, I was also pleased to discover a temporary exhibit on historic prints of the nation's capital during the Civil War.  The maps and engravings offer visitors a way to visualize what Washington was like at the time of Lincoln's presidency.  (This exhibit only runs through January 15, 2012, but the National Trust should consider making it permanent.)  We did not have time to stop by "Lincoln's Toughest Decisions Gallery," which allows visitors to interact with digital letters and other documents to decide how they would have advised Lincoln as a member of his Cabinet.

After viewing a short audiovisual presentation at the Visitor Center, we headed to the cottage for our guided tour.  The building contains 34 rooms, but we saw only a fraction of them during the hour-long tour.  The National Trust has opted on a minimalist approach to furnishing, which leaves the visitor to reflect more on the spirit of the place than on historical trappings.  The guide tied the cottage into the larger picture of Lincoln's life and presidency, including his beliefs on equality of opportunity and slavery.  Once again, there was an emphasis on emancipation, and the guide even highlighted the role of U.S. Colored Troops in winning the war.  The National Trust also supplemented the tour with multimedia technology.  Unfortunately, on the day I was visiting, a glitch in a video projection distracted a bit from the flow of the tour, but overall the technology was well-integrated into the guide's narrative. 

As we left the cottage, I felt that I had come away with a better understanding of the place that the Soldiers' Home occupied in Lincoln's presidency.  The National Trust really has done the country a valuable service in preserving and interpreting this treasure for future generations.  Visitors to our nation's capital, as well as local residents, should not miss the opportunity to check out this historic site.

Sources and Additional Information

President Lincoln's Cottage maintains a website with an excellent overview of the history of the Soldiers' Home and Lincoln's time there.  Additional information, including hours of operation and directions, can also be found on the website.  Tickets for the tour can be purchased here.

Parking is located on the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home, a welcome relief from the challenges of parking on DC city streets.

For additional information on Lincoln and the Soldiers' Home, check out these sources:
The Lincoln Institute, "Soldiers' Home," Mr. Lincoln's White House; National Park Service, "President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home," Discover our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary: American Presidents; National Park Service, "President Lincoln's Cottage: A Retreat," Teaching with Historic Places Lesson Plans; National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, U.S. Soldiers' and Airmen's Home.