Christmas in Camp, Fairfax Station, December 1862

A few weeks ago I wrote about a new project that I am undertaking for the Fairfax Station Railroad Museum. As I researched tales of soldiers and civilians around the station during the Civil War, I began to think about turning my research into blog posts. The museum agreed that this would be a good idea. Writing posts will help to focus my research efforts and build content for the museum. Moreover, I hope that such posts will encourage my readers to come forward with additional information about wartime life along the Orange & Alexandria near Fairfax Station. With my annual Christmas post, I venture for the first time into this new territory for All Not So Quiet Along the Potomac, and I look forward to sharing more discoveries in the future.

***

As Christmas 1862 approached, soldiers of the Second Vermont Brigade were busy protecting positions along the strategic Orange & Alexandria R.R. around Fairfax Station. Two divisions of the Army of the Potomac's Twelfth Corps were also encamped in the neighborhood of the station. The corps had fought only a few months before in the bloody engagement at Antietam. Reentering Virginia in November, the men marched through Loudoun County and made their way to Fairfax Station.

Fairfax Station during the Civil War (courtesy of William Graham's War Between the States)

On December 24, Gen. Alpheus Williams held a grand review and inspection of his Twelfth Corps division. According to William Tuttle of the 107th New York, the activity was "very tiresome for the men, more than a day's march." (in Tappan 63) He returned to his campsite and "just laid down by the fire, looked into the flames and blazing coals, and thought of friends far away, of Christmas Eves and Christmas trees until I fell asleep." (in Tappan 63.)

That night, Gen. John Geary, commander of the corps' second division, sat down to write his little daughter Mary a rather sentimental letter:

On this Christmas eve I have no doubt you have been enjoying yourself, perhaps with the toys of the season, eaten your nuts and cakes, hung up your stockings in the chimney corner for old Krisk[r]inkle, when he comes along with his tiny horses "dunder and blixen" and his little wagon to fill in lots and gobs of sweet things....Well, when I was a little boy. . . I was very fond of such things myself. And when I look back, they were indeed the happiest days of my life. (in Blair & Wiley 74.)

On Christmas Day, the soldiers were blessed with mild and pleasant weather, not unlike predictions for this year's holiday. As Pvt. Henry Bayless of the 137th New York wrote to his parents, "today is clear and quite warm, so we can sit in the sun without our overcoats on with comfort." (in Creutz 73.) Capt. Robert Gould Shaw (future commander of the 54th Massachusetts) and fellow officers of the 2nd Massachusetts also sat "out of doors," eating a Christmas dinner of chicken, oysters, potatoes, and other culinary delights. (in Duncan 273).

"Christmas," L. Prang & Co., c. 1862 (courtesy of Digital Public Library of America).

Gen. Geary, like many of the Union commanders, "issued an order allowing the men of my command a recreation from all military duties, except such as could not be dispensed with." (in Blaid & Wiley 76.) He emerged from his quarters that morning to find that "the men had erected two triumphal arches of evergreens before my tent." (in Blaid & Wiley 76.) As he told his sons, "the Holly is beautiful & Green covered with berries. The whole thing was the most beautifully wreathed affair I ever saw." (in Blaid & Wiley 76.) Geary's thoughts turned to his family, and how much he wanted to be with them on this holiday. The "forsaken country" around Fairfax Station surely did little to diminish his homesickness. (in Blair & Wiley 75.)

Tuttle of the 107th New York found little to celebrate on Christmas. As he lamented in his diary:

It is not a happy Christmas day with us today. . . We have been moving our camp again. . . . This is the fourth camp we have occupied near Fairfax Station, and a great many are in the worst of humor over the perplexities and botherations which always attend a change of camp. We marched about two miles this morning, laid out our new camp ground, put up our tents and have just had our dinner, Christmas Dinner! which was no great affair today. (in Tappan 62-63.)

The men of 137th NY made do with rations of soft bread and beef. Charles Engle prepared a "hearty" Christmas breakfast of fried beef with a cup of coffee, but wished instead for "cakes and sausage and butter." (in Creutz 73.) Bayless and his messmate got more creative and fried the bread in a gravy made with bacon and beef grease. They sat on their blankets with plates on their laps and devoured the Christmas meal.

Over in the camp of the Second Vermont Brigade, the soldiers were excused from all but the most pressing duties. Pvt. Herzon Day went with a few friends to Fairfax Station "to see the country but got back in time for Christmas dinner, which consisted of beefsteak and potatoes, both excellent." (letter to parents on 16th Vermont blog.) Horace Barlow of the 12th Vermont enjoyed "[t]aking it easy in the A.M. & playing foot-ball &c in the P.M." (diary on 16th Vermont blog.)

Some officers had the privilege of leaving camp to celebrate Christmas elsewhere. In the 107th Pennsylvania, Tuttle's captain and first lieutenant headed to Alexandria to spend the holiday with friends. Tuttle was frustrated, writing in his diary: "Of course I could not go. I am not an officer." (in Tappan 63.) (He later would become a commissioned officer, so perhaps the holidays got better for him!)

Dr. James Dunn, surgeon of the 109th Pennsylvania, took four days' leave and traveled from Fairfax Station to Washington City. On Christmas morning he met a fellow physician at Willard's. The two at some point "visited around Washington where all is quiet." (in Kerr 60.) The doctor even "saw Old Abe":

He looks as if the load resting on him was too much. He is care worn and troubled. Political opposition is killing him. (in Kerr 60.)

After the holiday, Dunn returned to his regimental encampment and the drudgery of army life. For the surgeon and many others at Fairfax Station, Christmas 1862 was a day of rest and relaxation. Even if the holiday meal was a little less appetizing than many of the men would have preferred, the warm weather was certainly a welcome present from Mother Nature. The enlisted men and their commanders dreamed of Christmas among family and friends. Perhaps the new year would bring an end to war and fighting. But Christmas would come and go two more times before Christmas at home became a reality. President Lincoln had reason to feel "troubled."

On a personal note, I'd like to wish my readers Happy Holidays and a Very Merry Christmas! See you in 2016!

Sources
William L. Blair (ed.) & Bell Irvin Wiley, A Politician Goes to War: The Civil War Letters of John White Geary (1995); David Cleutz, Fields of Fame & Glory: Col. David Ireland and the 137th New York Volunteers (2010); Russell Duncan (ed.), Blue Eyed Child of Fortune: The Civil War Letters of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw (1999); Letters from the 16th Vermont (blog); Lynne M. Kennedy, "GORDON'S REGULARS": The 2nd Massachusetts Infantry in the Civil War (1999); Paul B. Kerr, Civil War Surgeon -- Biography of James Langstaff Dunn, MD (2012); George Tappan (ed.), The Civil War Journal of Lt. Russell M. Tuttle, New York Volunteer Infantry (2006).

Christmas 1864 in Washington City

Just as with Thanksgiving, I have been covering Christmas for each year of the Sesquicentennial. Over the past week, I've re-posed to Facebook my previous entries covering the first three Christmases of the war. Now we've at long last come to the final holiday season celebrated by a divided nation.

During the first winter of the war, Washington was surrounded by the sprawling camps of the Army of the Potomac. Soldiers talked longingly of home at Christmas, and many anxiously awaited their first encounter with the enemy in battle. By the end of 1862, this same army had experienced much carnage and scored few successes. Military hospitals lined the streets of Washington, and caring citizens mobilized to feed the sick and wounded. The following year, the inhabitants of the nation's capital celebrated the major Union victories of the past summer and fall. The press coverage was enthusiastic and hopeful. However, by Christmas 1864, the war had taken a tremendous toll in death and suffering. The papers describe a somewhat subdued holiday observance. Perhaps people were just a tad more jaded this year, after the bloodshed at places like the Wilderness and Cold Harbor, and the continuing grind of siege warfare before Petersburg. The end was drawing near, but it hadn't come just yet, and it couldn't come fast enough.

"Christmas Morning," Harper's Weekly, Dec. 31, 1864 (courtesy of sonofthesouth.net).

A "drizzling rain" fell on Sunday, December 25, and Washington's streets "were merged in mud." (Wash. Even. Star, Dec. 27, 1864.)  Despite the dreary weather, congregants filled the churches in the nation's capital. As the Daily National Republican reported:

The Episcopal and Catholic churches (as is their custom) were appropriately and beautifully decorated with festoons, garlands, and wreaths of evergreen, and the anniversary exercises in commemoration of the natal day of the Saviour of the World were of the most impressive character. In all of the churches choirs, rich in melody, chanted the praises of him whom the wise men of the East came to worship over eighteen hundred years ago, and at the announcement of whose birth the shepherds of Judea were astounded. 

With the religious community the day was one, therefore, of peculiar pleasure and satisfaction, for the pulpits were all occupied by eloquent and feeling divines, who, for the time, dropping sectarian and doctrinal feelings, plead the merits of the Savior. . . .(Dec. 27, 1864.)

The paper also made a few other observations about the holiday among the non-churchgoing crowd:

With the irreligious portion of the community, or those who did not attend church, the day was also a comparatively quiet one. There was no rowdyism upon the streets, but all was quiet and peaceable. True, guns, pistols, and "villainous gunpowder" in the shape of squibs and firecrackers were let off to the annoyance of some, but this was confined to a few localities, and the police and other authorities were indefatigable in their efforts to prevent the breach of Sabbath day order and propriety. (Dec. 27, 1864.)

As in years past, the patients in the city's military hospitals also took part in the holiday celebrations. At Campbell Hospital, the men sat down to "a table laden with turkeys, vegetables, sauces, preserves, jellies and a multitude of other eatables to which they did ample justice." (Wash. Even. Star, Dec. 27, 1864.) That evening, a social ball was held in the "gaily decorated" reading-room hall, "where "patients, officers and visitors mingled, and all enjoyed themselves to the fullest extent; the excellent band of the hospital adding largely to the pleasures of the occasion." (Wash. Even. Star, Dec. 27, 1864.)

"The Union Christmas Dinner," Harper's Weekly, Dec. 31, 1864 (courtesy of sonofthesouth.net). As the newsweekly described the theme of the illustration: "Today, then, under the Christmas evergreen, the country asks only for peace, and breathes only good will to all men. Despite the sharp war, its bountiful feast is spread, It stands, as Mr. [Thomas] NAST represents in the large picture in today's Number, holding the door open to welcome the rebellious children back to the family banquet. It does not forget one of their crimes. It remembers the enormity of their attempt. It will take good care that the root of bitterness is destroyed forever, and that the peace of the household shall be henceforth secure. But it asks what it can command. It invites where it can enforce. It says now, as it has said from the beginning, 'Submit to the laws made by all for the common welfare, and there will be no more war.'"

At Stanton Hospital, the patients took dinner in the dining hall "beautifully decorated with evergreens, American flags and shields being displayed from prominent positions." (Wash. Even. Star, Dec. 27, 1864.) In the middle of the room "stood a large Christmas tree, tastefully trimmed, which attracted the attention of all present, and which many of the patients declared reminded them of Christmas times at home." (Wash. Even. Star, Dec. 27, 1864.)

At Lincoln Hospital, "an examination of the colored school (composed mostly of the children of the contraband laborers employed about the hospital. . .) took place in the presence of the parents and friends of the scholars, numbering about 100, and after its conclusion. . . each scholar received a Christmas gift of a cornucopia with candies. . . ." (Wash. Even. Star, Dec. 27, 1864.) Following a big Christmas dinner, an effigy of Jefferson Davis was lit on fire over the stove in plain view of the patients, "giving a vivid representation of the Union soldier's idea of the arch traitor's 'hereafter.'" (Wash. Even. Star, Dec. 27, 1864.) According to the Evening Star, "[t]his affair caused great excitement and Jeff was groaned lustily, while many exclaimed 'Amen' to the doom foreshadowed to him." (Dec. 27, 1864.)

Presumably because Christmas fell on the Sabbath, Monday "was observed as the grand festival-day." (Wash. Daily Natl. Rep., Dec. 27, 1864.) That morning the residents of Washington awoke to the boom of a tremendous 300-gun salute at Franklin Square in honor of Gen. William T. Sherman's recent capture of Savannah. The rest of the day was a bit more low-key:

The prominent business places of the city were closed, no papers were issued during the day, and all gave themselves up to enjoyment. There was more shooting and more noise than upon the Sabbath, but all must acknowledge that it was one of the most quiet Christmas celebrations known here for a long time. There was but little intoxication and no serious brawls, and it is safe to assert that no city the size of Washington, and its mixed population, passed a more orderly holiday. (Wash. Daily Natl. Rep., Dec. 27, 1864.)

That evening, "social parties were given, and the theatres and other places of amusement were open, and the citizens and strangers gave themselves up to enjoyment." (Wash. Daily Natl. Rep., Dec. 27, 1864.)

Overall, Christmas 1864, despite the two-day holiday, seemed a bit subdued in the streets of Washington. Inhabitants of the war-weary capital attended services and headed to various performances around town, but if press reports shed any light, intoxicating beverages played a less prominent role! The patients at the military hospitals also enjoyed bountiful dinners and in-house entertainment, although without many of the high-profile guests who had attended in previous years. President Lincoln, for his part, had received a rather satisfying "Christmas gift" from General Sherman, and the news of the latest victory surely helped to boost spirits and engender hope that the Confederacy's fate would soon be sealed.

Last, but not least, I'd like to wish my readers a Very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Thanks for following the blog, and see you next year!

Sources

Washington Daily National Republican, Dec. 27, 1864; Washington Evening Star, Dec. 27, 1864).

Christmas in Washington, 1863: A Merry Time Was Had by All

As the end of the year 1863 fast approached, Washington City prepared to celebrate Christmas. Citizens in the nation's capital and elsewhere across the North had witnessed some important victories over the last twelve months, although at the cost of far too many dead and wounded. Perhaps the hope for an end to hostilities in the upcoming year took the sting off the awareness that the country was once again celebrating Christmas while divided and at war.

The weather in Washington leading up to the holiday was "quite cold," and "much ice was formed not only on the creeks and ponds, but in the river." (Alex. Gazette, Dec. 28, 1863.) The predicted snowfalls, however, never materialized. Residents woke up on Christmas morning to find "the river was nearly frozen across" to the point where "navigation became impeded." (Alex. Gazette, Dec. 28, 1863.)

"Christmas, 1863," Harper's Weekly, Dec. 26, 1863 (courtesy of sonofthesouth.net)

Despite the cold and frosty weather, the residents of the nation's capital got out and celebrated the holiday with cheer and "remarkable good order for so large and miscellaneous a population as Washington city now shelters." (Wash. Even. Star, Dec. 26, 1863.) As the Washington Evening Star reported:

Most of the business places were closed, and trade was for the time suspended, and all had the one end in view -- enjoyment. The restaurants and saloons were open and large bowls of the favorite Christmas drink, "egg-nogg," displayed upon innumerable sideboards, invited the attention of drinkers. The street cars ran all day, and many availed themselves of the opportunity to enjoy a ride and visit their friends about the city and Georgetown. But Washington never experienced a more quiet and orderly Christmas, and there was no evidence whatever of rowdyism. The day passed off admirably, and in many churches the people assembled in the morning to celebrate in a religious manner the natal day of the Saviour. . . . The theatres too were open, and attracted large audiences, both afternoon and evening. (Wash. Even. Star, Dec. 26, 1863.)

Curiously, the same edition of the Evening Star indicates a few episodes of "rowdyism" involving African-Americans in the northern part of the city. Either the editor missed the inconsistencies, or the paper drew a divide based on race when tallying incidents of rowdyism.

Campbell Army Hospital (courtesy of N.I.H.)

Patients at the U.S. military hospitals in Washington also marked the holiday, and several political dignitaries attended the festivities to offer their support. The Evening Star described the scene at Campbell Hospital, located at the northern boundary of 5th and 6th Street, N.W.:

Previously to partaking of the dinner the visitors were shown through the buildings and grounds, finding all the hospital department in admirable order -- the men in each ward having apparently tried to outdo those of the others in decorating their wards, and in some the decorations were very tasty, consisting of colored paper, cut into a variety of shapes, evergreens, etc. In all the wards were well arranged aquariums, containing a variety of beautiful fish. The company assembled in the reading-room while the tables in the dining-room were being prepared, where they were regaled with excellent music from the band of the 14th N.H. regiment. (Wash. Even. Star, Dec. 26, 1863.)

Dinner was served at 3 o'clock. Sen. Jacob Collamer of Vermont "urg[ed] the soldiers to remember that in this war, more than in any other, had they the sympathies of the people who rejoice with them that the beginning of the end is approaching." (Wash. Even. Star, Dec. 26, 1863.) The 200 patients and their guests partook in "an excellent dinner, consisting of turkeys, chickens, oysters, a variety of vegetables, pies, cakes, &c." (Wash. Even. Star, Dec. 26, 1863.) Afterwards, "a band of minstrels gave a concert, followed by a short play, and a promenade to the music of the band closed the festivities." (Wash. Even. Star, Dec. 26, 1863.)

Sen. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts visited the patients at Emory Hospital, east of the Capitol. The Evening Star reported:

After a sumptuous dinner had been partaken of, the visitors were entertained with a concert of Ethiopian and other melodies by the soldiers. These entertainments have been found to have a good effect on the patients. (Wash. Even. Star, Dec. 26, 1863.)

Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Senator Edwin Morgan of New York, and Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts all visited Stanton Hospital (along I Street, N.W. between 2nd and 3rd Streets, N.W.). The entire place "was dressed in evergreens with admirable taste." (Wash. Even. Star, Dec. 26, 1863.) The Secretary made a few patriotic remarks to the assembled patients:

Soldiers, I hope that when the next anniversary of the day you are now celebrating occurs, that this war will be ended, and you will have returned to your homes and your firesides. When you shall have so returned, you will be considered as honored guests of the nation. You have periled your lives upon the battle-field, or you have suffered in camps from the ravages of disease incidental to great armies. . . .

 . . . If we can end this rebellion with the extinction of Slavery, will it not be a great triumph? You will, at the end of this great rebellion, when making a review of it, have the satisfaction of knowing that you have aided the Government of the United States in discharging the duties incumbent on that Government when it was in peril. And, furthermore, you will experience the feeling that you have materially aided to make the country free. (N.Y. Times, Dec. 29, 1863.)

The men greeted Stanton's speech with applause, and Morgan then made a short speech, which was likewise "well received." (N.Y. Times, Dec. 29, 1863.) The soldiers at Stanton Hospital also enjoyed a full Christmas meal.

Similar celebrations occurred at other hospitals around town. Senator Morgan appeared at Douglas Hospital, where 300 patients ate Christmas dinner. Meanwhile, "[t]he patients at Lincoln Hospital. . .were gratified by a visit from Senator Sumner." (Wash. Even. Star, Dec. 26, 1863.) Armory Square Hospital "was decorated for the occasion, and was well supplied with tables loaded down with all the desirable delicacies and substantials." (Wash. Even. Star, Dec. 26, 1863.) Patients there presented the chaplain with a "handsome gold watch." (Wash. Even. Star, Dec. 26, 1863.)

By all accounts, Christmas 1863 in the nation's capital was celebrated with as much merriment as a people at war could muster. The sick and wounded at the Union military hospitals also enjoyed a welcome change from the everyday routine. As the skies turned rainy towards the end of December and 1864 began, civilians and soldiers alike faced a hard year ahead. And yet another Christmas would come and go before the nation would celebrate the holidays united once more.

Sources

Alexandria Gazette, Dec. 28, 1863; N.Y. Times, Dec. 29, 1863; Washington Evening Star, Dec. 26, 1863; R.D. Winthrop, "The War Hospitals, 1861-1865, Washington, DC," available at PA-Roots.

A Plea to Remember the Sick and Wounded at Christmas

The other day while doing research for my annual Christmas post, I came across a moving piece in the December 9, 1863 edition of the New York Times. By the end of the war's third year, U.S. military hospitals in Washington and elsewhere were filled with thousands of sick and wounded soldiers. The Times made an impassioned and thoughtful plea for readers to remember these patients at Christmas. I will have more to say next week about Christmas 1863 in Washington's military hospitals. For now, I thought the Times article was worth sharing in its entirety:

Christmas in the Hospitals

During the next four weeks there will be a very large sum, we dare not guess how much, spent here and elsewhere in the purchase of books, jewelry, pictures and ornaments to make a merrier Christmas for children and friends, and relatives of all degrees. There is no period of the year at which the sale of luxuries is so great, and in which money is spent with such an open hand; and this lavish outlay is intended, and rightly intended, to mark the glow which, in all Christian countries, the season and its associations are sure to communicate -- the best and tenderest passions of the heart. There are very few -- and these few must be strangely constituted -- who do not find their sympathies enlarged and quickened, their asperities smoothed down, and all their affections warmed as the great Feast of Peace and Good Will draws near. Against marking it by as costly gifts as people's purses may bear, or their feelings prompt, we should, in ordinary years, have not a word to say.       

But it seems to us that this is an extraordinary year, and that we are all called on for an extraordinary recognition of the terrible weight of the responsibilities which it has imposed upon us. It has been a year filled from first to last with blood and tears; a year which has spread sorrow, like a tide, over the whole land; which has brought bereavement into a thousand homes; put out the fires on thousands of happy hearths, and taken all hope and all joy out of thousands of lives, which, until 1863, were filled with both one and the other. We cannot, and we do not expect those whom misfortune has not touched, to be constantly dwelling on these things. The ordinary business of life would have to be suspended, if we were all of us to make it our duty to keep our thoughts constantly fixed on the havoc of the war. No nerves could long resist the influence of perennial mourning. The work of the world has to be done, no matter how many fall or how many weep; and it can only be done by people whose ordinary thoughts are cheerful, and whose imagination is not forever haunted by scenes of blood and suffering. We have, therefore, no sympathy with the cant which declares all enjoyment unbecoming, as long as our young men are in the field and the cannon are sounding. If this were so, we should soon be all of us unfit for either war or peace.       

But there are undoubtedly some seasons when we are bound to think of those who suffer, and, above all, those who suffer on our behalf; think of them with our whole hearts and souls, and think of little else; seasons when we are bound, not less for their sake than for our own, to weep with, those that weep, and Christmas is certainly the chief of them. We are nearly all of us supporters of this war. There will hardly be a man, woman or child seated round a fireside next Christmas Day who has not in some way or other helped to send soldiers to the field, either by advice, by influence, by taunts, by exhortation, or by money. We have filled the air with trumpet calls, and hundreds of thousands of young men, in the very pride of life, have answered them. They have gone out because we thought it was a brave and noble thing to do, and because they hoped to live through it, and come back to enjoy our thanks and admiration. Thousands of them -- we will not say how many thousand -- have, during the past six months, fallen in our cause. Many thousands are dead -- are past all help and all sympathy, leaving vacant places in homes all over the country that can never be filled up. But a very much larger number have been prostrated by wounds or disease, and are now lying scattered in hospitals all across the continent, suffering in various ways, and in various degrees, for want of proper clothing, of proper food, of proper nursing; depressed, anxious, lonely. Thousands more are dragging their scarred of mutilated or broken-down bodies homeward, to struggle for life as best they may. We advised them to take up arms for the Union a year or two years ago, and clapped our hands and waved our handkerchiefs when they marched away. We surely, when Christmas comes round, and we are seeking to quicken our love for all in any way connected with or dependent on us, will keep the plight of these men in our memories, and open our hands for them, also, when they are so open for everybody else.       

We hope, therefore, that those who are blessed with the means of offering handsome and costly gifts to their friends at Christmas time, will not forget, when they sally out to make their purchases, that there is not a cent of the money they propose to spend which might not make a wounded soldier happier, better or more comfortable -- which might not either render his death easier, or his recovery more certain; and that there is hardly a sick or wounded man in one of the hospitals whom we, who are here at home eating and drinking and making merry, have not had some hand in bringing there. The war will not last always; the indications are, at present, that it will soon be over, and by this time next year the hospital patients will all either be dead or well enough to dispense with our aid. All we ask for them, therefore, is the charity of one Christmas, and it only needs a very little self-restraint to bestow it. We are satisfied that there are very few of the young people who are the usual recipients of Christmas presents who would not gladly consent to have the money that would be spent on them handed over for the relief of the soldiers, and we are quite certain that they would feel all the happier and all the better for having made such a sacrifice. There are, we are satisfied, few women who would not willingly forego a piece of jewelry -- if she were sure its price would make life a little brighter or make death a little less painful to a sick or wounded man.       

If the matter is only laid in this light before families, who usually look forward to a Christmas made merry by presents, we believe we know what the response would in a vast majority of cases be. It is not often that the chance offers itself of doing a noble act at so fitting a season, and we believe thousands have only to think about it, to avail themselves of it. 

The WOMAN's CENTRAL ASSOCIATION OF BELIEF, which has for the two last years been the branch of the Sanitary Commission in this City which devotes itself to the collection and forwarding of supplies for the sick and wounded, finds, for some reason or other, that its stores were never so low as at present; the aid it receives from branch associations in the country never so scanty; and the want of general interest in its operations apparently never so small; and yet its needs are as great as ever. This ought not to be. There is nobody who has ever had a hand in this work who ought not to be ashamed of wearying of it, as long as our soldiers do not weary of death and wounds and sickness. These men are still ready for the march and the battle, fall just as freely, flinch just as little now as a year ago. Can we not stand by them for one year more? Ought we not to be ready to stand by them for ten years more, if they ask it, or need it? The Woman's Central Association are in want of everything -- of woolen shirts and drawers; of sheets, of blankets, of quilts, of old clothes; of tea, coffee, sugar, wine, brandy, jollies -- in fact, of everything that a sick or wounded man, lying half dead in torn and bloody and mud-covered clothes, can possibly require. Everybody can think of something that will make him comfortable, or save him; and every one who wants to do an act of Christian charity -- we say nothing of helping a great cause -- on this great Christian festival, can do it by sending boxes containing the above articles to the WOMAN's CENTRAL RELIEF ASSOCIATION, No. 10 Cooper Union, New-York. Those who prefer it can send money; but there is hardly anybody in this land of plenty who cannot send something. E.L.G.

Ward in Carver General Hospital, Washington, DC (courtesy of Civil War Washington)

Reflecting the same spirit 150 years later, I would also encourage readers to support the men and women who have been wounded fighting for our country in today's wars. This Christmas, please consider a donation to the Wounded Warrior Project or other such charity.

Christmas in Washington 1862: A Dinner for the Sick and Wounded

As Christmas of 1862 approached, Elizabeth Smith, the wife of Interior Secretary Caleb B. Smith, was busy organizing a holiday dinner for patients of the military hospitals in and around Washington.  Following the carnage at Fredericksburg, many wounded soldiers were transported to the nation's capital for treatment.  Their presence added to the numbers of the Union Army's sick and wounded who were already recuperating in Washington.   Theses men faced the sad reality of Christmas away from loved ones back home, and Smith and others like her were determined to bring some holiday cheer to the hospital wards.

Smith and her fellow volunteers raised donations from across the Union to help defray the cost of the Christmas meal.  The New York Times noted that "a large outlay will of course be required," and informed readers that "[a]ny sums left with United States Marshal MURRAY, at his office in Chambers-street, will be duly acknowledged and forwarded to Washington."  (N.Y. Times, Dec. 10, 1862.)  The City of Philadelphia alone raised three thousands dollars, while the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad "volunteered to transport supplies over their road free of charge."  (Daily Morning Chronicle (Wash., D.C.), Dec. 25, 1862, in Hay & Hill at 294-95.) 

The editors of the Daily National Republican (Wash., D.C.) could barely contain their enthusiasm on Christmas morning:

To-day, this city is to witness a scene never witnessed  here before--the Christmas dinner to the sick and wounded soldiers in the hospitals, got up under the auspices of Mrs. Secretary Smith and the noble ladies associated with her in this grand Christian effort.  (Daily National Republican, Dec. 25, 1862.)

The Cleveland Morning Leader described the grand Christmas event for readers:

Accounts say that nowhere else in the world than in America could have been seen the sight which made this holiday remarkable and memorable--the banqueting of 35,000 wounded and sick soldiers upon a Christmas dinner, spread by the hands of individual benevolence.

Tables were set and abundantly and elegantly covered in the largest wards of the different hospitals.  The room were ornamented by volunteer hands with evergreens and flowers.  Volunteer waiters, gentlemen and ladies of the first families in the land, tenderly and devotedly served the wounded warriors in every hospital, waiting first on those too injured to be moved to the tables.  (Cleveland Morning Leader, Dec. 29, 1862.)

The dinner also provided the soldiers with entertainment and a chance to rub elbows with some of Washington's bigwigs:

To make the festive occasion more complete in most of the hospitals, hired or volunteer singers sang songs of home and country; in others, members of Congress and Cabinet officers made speeches happily fit to the occasion, and moved socially among the tables.  (Cleveland Morning Leader, Dec. 29, 1862.)

President Lincoln and the First Lady even visited the sick and wounded soldiers at several of the hospitals.  The couple "rejoiced the hearts of the brave volunteers . . . with their presence and soothing and consoling words."  (Daily National Republican, Dec. 27, 1862.)  The pro-Administration Daily National Republican noted:

Many were the exclamations heard of "Honest man, God bless you;" "Here is one volunteer who prays for your long life and happiness;" "May Heaven protect you;" "Providence must have selected you to rule us in such an hour" . . . . (Daily National Republican, Dec. 27, 1862.)

"Washington, D.C. Mess hall at Harewood Hospital heated by elaborate stoves" (courtesy of Library of Congress).

The Cleveland Morning Leader reported that "[o]ver seven thousand turkeys and chickens were consumed at this novel Christmas dinner."  (Cleveland Morning Leader, Dec. 29, 1862).  The paper explained that "this immense amount of poultry came mostly from Maryland and Pennsylvania, but four car loads of it came all the way from Chicago."  (Cleveland Morning Leader, Dec. 29, 1862.)  In addition, "[t]hree hundred turkeys, sent from ever-generous Albany, came cooked and ready for the table."  (Cleveland Morning Leader, Dec. 29, 1862.) 

Given the magnitude of the event and the number of actors, there were a few glitches.  The Daily National Republican stated that "[i]n some of the hospitals. . . through the non-arrival of a portion of the supplies. . . there was delay and annoyance."  (Daily National Republican, Dec. 27, 1862.)  Moreover, "in one or two cases the unaccommodating spirit and incompetency of the officers in charge, had a very unpleasant effect."  (Daily National Republican, Dec. 27, 1862.)  Overall, however, Mrs. Smith and her volunteers pulled off quite the organizational feat.  As the Daily National Republican exclaimed, "the ladies have every cause for gratulation and praise."  (Daily National Republican, Dec. 27, 1862.)

The Christmas dinner in Washington's military hospitals offered a grateful nation the opportunity to do something for the men who were fighting to put down the rebellion.  The year had proven a very difficult one, and there were two more wartime Christmases yet to come.  Violent and savage battles, as well as sickness and disease, had already extracted a heavy toll in suffering and death.  At least on this one day, the sick and wounded soldiers in and around Washington could try to enjoy a little holiday cheer and hope for the time when they would be reunited with loved ones.

"Santa Claus in Camp," Harper's Weekly, Jan. 3, 1863 (courtesy of sonofthesouth.net)

Finally, I'd like to wish all of my readers Happy Holidays!  As always, thanks for taking the time to visit and read the blog.  See you in 2013!

Sources

"Bridging the River," National Review, Dec. 24, 2007; Cleveland Morning Leader, Dec. 29, 1862; Daily National Republican, Dec. 25, 1862; Daily National Republican, Dec. 27, 1862; N.Y. Times, Dec. 10, 1862; John Hay & Douglas Hill, An Idler: John Hay's Social and Aesthetic Commentaries for the Press During the Civil War, 1861-1865 (2006);

Christmas in the Camps Around Washington

As Christmas fast approaches, many of us Civil War enthusiasts may wonder what the holiday was like 150 years ago during the first winter of the conflict. The Washington area was home to thousands of young men who had never been away from home for Christmas.  The soldiers had to celebrate as best as they could, combating homesickness while trying to experience just a little holiday cheer.  Lucky for us, many accounts remain of what Christmas was like for the Union soldiers encamped across the Potomac from the nation's capital.

The Philadelphia Press reported that the weather in Washington that first December 25 was "very un-Christmas like."  During the early part of the week leading up to Christmas, the region "was threatened with a  heavy storm and fall of snow," but "the threat past away in bluster, and the morning came upon us with all the beauty and associations of a Pennsylvania May-day."   The correspondent had a "theory" that it was "impossible to enjoy this great holiday without a sheet of snow over the earth to beautify and brighten it -- and a hard frozen, ridgey road over the house-tops, for the easy-travelling of Kriss-Kringle. . . ."   He observed, "except that . . . the hills over in Virginia looked brown and dreary, it would have been accepted and recorded as a pleasant day in spring." 

Official Washington had closed down for the holiday, the hotels did a brisk business, and the streets were filled with sight-seers.  The correspondent was pleased to report that "[o]ur boys over the river had quite a jovial time, all things considered."  Perhaps with a bit of exaggeration, the Press noted that "[t]here was a relaxation of discipline, and none of the monotonous drilling and guard duty."  The soldiers also tried their hand at holiday decorating.  According to the Press, "[t]he cedars and pines were stripped of their branches, and the tents and camp-lanes were improvised into pretty pastoral retreats."  (Martha Stewart, eat your heart out!)

Most importantly, the Union troops took some time to celebrate on December 25.  Then, as today, eating played a central role in the festivities.  As war correspondent Charles Carleton Coffin recalled in his book Following the Flag, "Christmas came.  The men were in winter quarters, and merry times they had, — dinners of roast turkey, plum-pudding and mincepies, sent by their friends at home."  (Coffin 42.)

The men of the 3rd Pennsylvania Reserves at Camp Pierpont in Langley also partook in holiday meals with victuals from the home front:

And the boys were not forgotten by those they held dear, for many were the Christmas boxes received, filled with roast fowls, cake and sweetmeats, and many happy hearts there were in camp that day. Innumerable little dinners were given by comrades of boyhood days, and if the turkey or chicken was not so hot, the cakes and other delicacies not so fresh and nice as at home, the repast was sweetened by the thought they came from dear home. (Woodward 56.)

Surely the delivery companies did a brisk business in the days leading up to Christmas.  The Pennsylvania Daily Telegraph (Harrisburg, Pa.) reported that "[i]t is estimated that five thousand turkeys, already roasted, went down to the soldiers on the Potomac, by Adams' Express, about Christmas time, together with other etceteras necessary to make them go down appetizingly." 
 
The men rounded out their holiday with numerous activities:

After dinner [the soldiers] had games, sports, and dances, chasing a greased pig, climbing a greasy pole, running in a meal-bag, playing ball, pitching quoits, playing leap-frog, singing and dancing, around the camp-fires through the long Christmas evening. (Coffin 42.)

The 3rd Pennsylvania Reserves held the normal dress parade.  However, at the conclusion of the drill, a captain "stepped forward and presented their colonel with a pair of holsters containing a magnificent pair of naval revolvers, which, in a neat and appropriate speech, he presented to the colonel in behalf of his brother officers."   (Woodward 56.)  The colonel accepted the gift and "replied in a few neat and eloquent remarks, which were received with great enthusiasm by the officers and men."  (Woodward 56.)

"The bright side of the war - holiday festivities of the 44th New York Volunteers at their camp, Hall's Hill, Virginia," Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, Jan. 18, 1862 (courtesy of George Mason University)

The 44th New York was encamped around Hall's Hill in present-day Arlington.  The men found an interesting way to celebrate the holiday by organizing "a burlesque parade" (pictured above):

All of the officers gave over their commands to the men.  Bob Hitchcock, a member of the band, whose avoirdupois was about 300 pounds, was duly promoted and mustered as Colonel of the parade. He was dressed in a manner becoming his high rank. He was mounted upon a horse that surpassed in inferiority the famous Rozinante [Don Quixote's horse]. He rode with his face turned toward the horse's tail so that he might at all times watch his command. The horse was embellished with a pair of trousers on his fore legs, and a pair of drawers on his hind legs. . . .  The men were uniformed in most dissimilar and fantastic garbs. As a whole the rank and file easily surpassed Falstaff and his famous command. The commands given and the manner of their execution were unprecedented and quaint. The tactics of Scott, Hardee and Casey would be searched in vain to find precedent for those impromptu evolutions. The dress parade which followed was unique in its dissimilarity from anything promulgated in army regulations. No words can describe it. Frank Leslie's Illustrated paper only faintly depicted a short section of it but it lingers in the memory like a bright spot in that winter's experience of army life.  (Nash 56.)

Some civilians in Washington wanted to visit the soldiers in camp on Christmas day, perhaps to see relatives and friends, or simply to show appreciation and offer gifts.  The Press reported that "[t]here was a very general desire to cross over into Virginia, but the provost marshal was stringent in his regulations, and comparatively few were gratified."  Soldiers, on the other hand, seemed a bit luckier.  According to the Press correspondent, "[a] great many soldiers were in town, the Avenue and diverging streets presenting a soldierly appearance."  Some of these men even had the opportunity to visit the "halls, corridors, chambers and rotunda" of the Capitol.

As the men reflected on the holiday, they may have shared the sentiment expressed in an editorial appearing in the Pennsylvania Daily Telegraph on December 24:

The Christmas of 1861 sees the world full of strife and our own land full of rebellious contentions and traitorous designs. . . .  If man has failed in the performance of his duty to man. . . . Christmas comes to us shorn of none of its holy glory or diminished in no degree in any of its sublime promises.  It is still the anniversary of the Savior's birth, an epoch in the world's history unequalled by any other for glory, grandness, and Heavenly love. . . . It must be the Christmas of the soul, though our hearts are sorrowful.  It must be a Christmas for those at home, though many homes are now made desolate by the absence of their ornaments; and we trust, too, that while men are arrayed in battle, the Christmas of the year will be made glad for the children of the land.

As the soldiers around the nation's capital looked to the year ahead, they could only guess as to where they would be next Christmas.  Camp was no substitute for home, but at least the soldiers had made the most of the holiday.  Now the men would return to army life, hoping that next year, they would be gathered around the fire with loved ones.

Sources

Charles Carleton Coffin, Following the Flag (1886); Eugene Arus Nash, A History of the Forty-Fourth Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry (1911); Pennsylvania Daily Telegraph (Harrisburg, Pa.), Dec. 24, 1861; Pennsylvania Daily Telegraph (Harrisburg, Pa.), Jan. 7, 1862; Philadelphia Press, Dec. 27, 1861; Evan Morrison Woodward, History of the Third Pennsylvania Reserve (1883).

For a look at the Pennsylvania Reserves at Christmas, check out this post from last year.

Christmas at Camp Pierpont, December 1861

Readers by now are quite familiar with Camp Pierpont, the quarters of the Pennsylvania Reserves in Langley, Virginia during the winter of 1861-62.  The Pennsylvania boys, many away from their families for the first time, marked the Christmas holiday that December in a variety of ways.  Some soldiers received packages from home and shared the bounty with their comrades-in-arms. According to Private Adam Bright of Co. C, 9th Pennsylvania Reserves:

I had a very nice dinner on Christmas day. One of my friends had a box sent to him by express containing 4 large Shanghi [sic] roosters stuffed, a number of pound cakes, and pies, pickles and apples. You may be sure I did them all justice.

Soldiers also received clothing like "socks and comforters," as well as "a little Old Rye." (Letter from Newsboy, Philadelphia Sunday Transcript, Dec. 24, 1861.)  The whiskey sometimes led to mischief.  The History of Company H, 4th Pennsylvania Reserves recalls:

Christmas being at hand, the boys solicited boxes from home to somewhat alleviate the rugged realities of camp life. In many of these bottles of whiskey figured cheerfully amidst other luxuries for their holiday festivities. The provost-Marshal, learning of this new feature of Northern liberality, by order of the General, opened the boxes on their arrival, confiscated all contraband goods and removed them to headquarters, to be "used by the mess," so the soldier lads said. They becoming enraged by this unwarrantable intrusion upon their rights, confiscated a quantity of poultry received by General [George A.] McCall from a friend by way of retaliation for their wrongs.

Soldiers also had other distractions during the holiday season.  The 11th Pennsylvania Reserves, for instance, took part in an amusing "friendly fire" episode:

Some of the boys . . . had Santa Claus, with a full-rigged suit of Secesh [sic]Clothes, stuck up in a tree. One of the guards, being put on post, and not knowing of the aforesaid gentleman being in the neighborhood, while walking his lonely beat, cast his eye that way, and, seeing Mr. Man, came to the conclusion that it was one of the men of J. Davis & Co. . . . .  He determined to make a hero of himself and fired, putting a ball through our Christmas friend, when the rest of the boys jumped up, exclaiming "Guard house, Guard House." (Letter from Newsboy, Philadelphia Sunday Transcript, Dec. 24, 1861.)

"Christmas Boxes in Camp, Christmas, 1861," Harper's Weekly, Jan. 4, 1862  (courtesy of sonofthesouth.net)

All lightheartedness aside, the Pennsylvanians showed that the spirit of Christmas was alive and well at Camp Pierpont.  Private William H. Jayne of  Co. C, 6th Pennsylvania Reserves was wounded at the Battle of Dranesville on December 20 and spent the holiday recovering at a field hospital.  In a December 26, 1861 letter to the Honesdale Democrat he expressed his appreciation for the generosity of his fellow soldiers:

Our boys received some luxuries from Wayne county for Christmas, which they sent to the Hospital for the wounded and we had as merry a Christmas as ever such a lot of cripples enjoyed.

Other soldiers could not help but notice that the war left little reason to celebrate.  William R. Brown of Easton's Battery, which has seen action at Dranesville, wrote to the Raftsman's Journal on Christmas Day, lamenting that "there are none of those scenes of frivolity and good cheer with which Pennsylvanians are wont to regard this annual holiday to divert the mind from the daily routine of camp life."

Brigadier General George G. Meade, commander of the Second Brigade of the Pennsylvania Reserves, offered a glimmer of hope amidst the conflict that had torn the country apart.  In a December 25, 1861 letter to his wife, he expressed the sentiments likely shared by many that holiday season:

I write a few lines on this day of rejoicing and festivity, to let you know I am well, and though absent from you in the body, that I am with you and my dear children in spirit and thought. As this day is the anniversary commemorating the great promise held out to all mankind, let us hope it may promise speedy peace and happiness to us in this world as well as the one to come. God grant it may be so!

As I drive down Georgetown Pike and through Langley from the comfort of my own heated car, I can't help but think about the homesick men in blue who tried to celebrate Christmas as best as they could under the hardships of winter camp.

On a personal note, I would like to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

Note on Sources:

I am eternally indebted to the Pennsylvanian Reserve Volunteer Corps Historical Society, whose website makes available a multitude of soldiers' letters, including those cited above. 

Meade's entire letter can be found in The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Volume I, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1913, p. 239 (available on Google Books).

Civil War Christmas on the Web



"Christmas Eve, 1862" Harper's Weekly, January 3, 1863 (drawing by Thomas Nast, courtesy of sonofthesouth.net)


As we approach the Christmas holiday, I thought that readers might be interested in how Christmas was celebrated at the time of the Civil War.  There is an abundance of material concerning the Civil War and Christmas available on the Internet.  Rather than reinvent the wheel based on these secondary sources, I thought that I would share links to some of the more interesting sites out there on this topic:

The Smithsonian Civil War Studies Institute has published an article entitled "Christmas North and South," which examines Christmas in America during the 1860s.  The Smithsonian describes how the holiday was evolving from a day of somber reflection to a more festive celebration.

The Fort Ward Museum and Historic Site provides a relatively detailed look at Christmas for each year of the Civil War.  The article, "Ought it not be a Merry Christmas? Holiday Observances During the American Civil War," is based on the book We Were Marching on Christmas Day: A History and Chronicle of Christmas During the Civil War by Kevin Rawlings. Although wartime Christmas was marked by hardship and sadness across the North and South, soldiers still found ways to celebrate the holiday in camp.

Finally, the Civil War blog TOCWOC ("The Order of Civil War Obsessively Compulsed") has published a post entitled "Christmas in the 1860's," which illustrates some differences in how Americans celebrated Christmas in the mid-19th century.  Particularly outlandish is the quote from the head of a nativist Know-Nothing lodge, who commented, "we’ll have . . . no Popish ceremonies like a Christmas Tree." Talk about a Scrooge!