Major-General Ulysses S. Grant: Special Orders, No. 180, July 4, 1863

SPECIAL ORDERS, No. 180.}

HDQRS. DEPT. OF THE TENNESSEE,        

Near Vicksburg, Miss., July 4, 1863.

I. On the surrender of Vicksburg, Major-General Herron will advance one brigade of his division to within the fortifications of the enemy. He will throw out guards to prevent all persons, soldiers or citizens, from entering or leaving the city. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan is assigned temporarily to the command of the city of Vicksburg, and will march his division within the intrenchments of the enemy, to a suitable camp-ground. He will furnish all the guards necessary to prevent the escape of citizens or prisoners from Vicksburg, or the entrance of soldiers and all outside parties into the city. One regiment will be immediately placed on guard in the city, to preserve order, and to prevent pillaging and other destruction of property. Five companies, commanded by a competent field officer, will report at once to Lieut. Col. J. D. Bingham, chief quartermaster, to collect and guard all captured property, and to superintend working parties of such negroes as may be collected and employed in discharging boats, and other labor in the quartermaster's department. No citizens will be permitted to land from steamers until authority may be given hereafter. All the able-bodied negro men in the city will be immediately collected and organized into working parties, under suitable officers. They will at once be set to policing the city and the grounds within the intrenchments. Captain Comstock, chief engineer, will direct the destruction of the outside approaches made to the enemy's works. All necessary details will be made for this purpose by the commander of the Seventeenth Army Corps, either from his pioneer corps, negroes collected, or by details from the ranks. All heavy artillery will be moved into the intrenchments and properly located for defense. Division engineer officers, or, in their absence, division quartermasters, will collect and save all mining-tools belonging to their respective commands.

II. Lieut. Col. William L. Duff, chief of artillery, will immediately collect and take care of all ordnance stores outside of the enemy's works at Vicksburg. He will call on Major-General McPherson and Major-General Herron for such details as he may require in carrying out this order.

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By order of Maj. Gen. U.S. Grant:

[JNO. A. RAWLINS,]        

Assistant Adjutant-General.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 24, Part 3 (Serial No. 38), p. 477

Captain Quincy A. Gillmore to Brigadier-General Thomas W. Sherman, December 30, 1861

[Copy]

Confidential

Office of Chief Engineer Ex Corps

Hilton Head S.C. Dec. 30" 1861

Brig, Genl" T. W. Sherman

Commanding Ex Corps

Hilton Head S.C.

Sir,

I have the honor to communicate some information obtained from the colored man Brutus who accompanied me from Tybee this morning. He is the most intelligent slave I have met here, and is quite familiar with the rivers and creeks between Savannah City and Tybee Island. He made his escape from Wilmington Island last week in a canoe.

He says the enemy's pickets are thrown forward every day to the eastern extremity of Wilmington Island; that the Skiddaway battery is about three miles above the position abandoned at Wassaw and mounts 6 guns; that the Thunderbolt battery is six miles higher up still and mounts 6 guns — (possibly 8 by this time) and that the road from the Skiddaway battery to Savannah, passes within half a mile of the Thunderbolt battery and is commanded.

He also communicates the very important piece of information, that boats of not over 10 ft dft", can pass from Wassaw Sound to Savannah River at high tide, through Wilmington Narrows and St. Augustine Creek, leaving Wilmington Island on the left and thus turning the Skiddaway and Thunderbolt batteries. There were no guns on Wilmington Narrows when Brutus came from there. By this route St. Augustine Creek is entered about three miles to the Northward of the Thunderbolt battery.

The Steamer St Mary one of those observed to be in attendance on Fort Walker before its capture — has been plying on this route for the last two or three summers.

In entering Savannah River from St. Augustine Creek, it is necessary to pass within about two or two and a quarter miles of Fort Jackson. Elba Island, in Savannah River just below Fort Jackson, and opposite the entrance to St. Augustine Creek, is several miles in length and contains some fine ground. There is a ship channel on both sides of it. Savannah River has no tributary on the South side, between St. Augustine Creek, and Fort Pulaski. Oyster Creek makes in so near the Savannah River, about 3 miles above Fort Pulaski, that a vessel in it, would appear to an observer on Tybee Light House, to be directly beyond the Fort. Oyster Creek, some miles above the point where the passage leads from it to Wilmington Narrows, loses itself in the marsh, or as the negro says, “runs out to nothing.”

I must say that I place great reliance on Brutus' statement, for everything he said of Big Tybee Inlet, was verified with remarkable accuracy by my examination. What he says is moreover confirmed by other slaves at Tybee Island. I recommend a gun boat reconnaisance up Wilmington Narrows, and solicit the privilege of accompanying it.

If we can get into Savannah River, by a line of communication that we can retain and control, it seems to me a far better policy to reduce Pulaski by cutting off its supplies, than by the very doubtful and very expensive operation of bombardment from Tybee Island.

I estimate, that after the armament applied for arrives, it will require at least one month of hazardous labor to get the pieces in position ready for opening on the Fort. A preliminary work of three or four weeks, will certainly be necessary to prepare the platforms, embrasures, bomb-proofs and service and store magazines. The landing of the ordnance stores will be an immense operation of itself. If we suppose all the mortars to be 13 in, and all the solid shot to be thrown from 8in Columbiads, we will require storage room and land transportation for about,

300	Tons of	powder
1900	"      "	shells
470	"      "	shot

The powder will require an immense magazine. I disclaim any wish to shrink from this labor, but as there seems to be at least two ways of accomplishing the reduction of Pulaski, we ought to select the one offering the greatest advantages as regards rapidity and economy.

The reduction by bombardment and cannonade I deem practicable, on the supposition of exhaustless means. Whether it is expedient to make the attempt, and incur the risk of failure is another matter. Fort Pulaski is fully as strong a work as Fort Pickens, and we are informed that the interior arrangements to protect the garrisons are extensive.

We cannot reach the casemate blindage except by fragments of shells, which would do them very little injury. My chief reliance would be, as I have already intimated to you, in heavy rifled guns, to be used in breaching the walls and dismounting the guns. I respectfully ask the Commanding Generals cordial attention to this subject, in all its bearings.

Appended to this is a tracing which gives a general idea of Big Tybee inlet, as developed by my examination of it, and also of the Islands and waters between Tybee Island and Wilmington River, as I understand them from the statements of Brutus and other negroes, claiming to be familiar with that neighborhood.

Very Respectfully

Your most Obdt Servt

Q. A. GlLLMORE

Capt" & Chf" Eng Ex Corps  

SOURCE: Robert Means Thompson & Richard Wainwright, Editors, Publications of the Naval Historical Society, Volume 9: Confidential Correspondence of Gustavus Vasa Fox, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, 1861-1865, Volume 1, p. 90-3

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: November 1, 1863

No news from any of the armies this morning. But Gen. Whiting writes that he is deficient in ordnance to protect our steamers and to defend the port. If Wilmington should fall by the neglect of the government, it will be another stunning blow.

However, our armies are augmenting, from conscription, and if we had honest officers to conduct this important business, some four or five hundred thousand men could be kept in the field, and subjugation would be an impossibility. But exemptions and details afford a tempting opportunity to make money, as substitutes are selling for $6000 each; and the rage for speculation is universal.

The President is looked for to-morrow, and it is to be hoped that he has learned something of importance during his tour. He will at once set about his message, which will no doubt be an interesting one this year.

How we sigh for peace, on this beautiful Sabbath day! But the suffering we have endured for nearly three years is no more than was experienced by our forefathers of the Revolution. We must bear it to the end, for it is the price of liberty. Yet we sigh for peace — God knows I do — while at the same time we will endure the ordeal for years to come, rather than succumb to the rule of an oppressor. We must be free, be the cost what it may. Oh, if the spirit of fanaticism had been kept down by the good sense of the people of the United States, the Union would have been preserved, and we should have taken the highest position among the great powers of the earth. It is too late now. Neither government may, for a long series of years, aspire to lead the civilized nations of the earth. Ambition, hatred, caprice and folly have combined to snap the silken cord, and break the golden bowl. These are the consequences of a persistency in sectional strife and domination, foreseen and foretold by me in the “Southern Monitor,” published in Philadelphia; no one regarded the warning. Now hundreds of thousands are weeping in sackcloth and ashes over the untimely end of hundreds of thousands slain in battle! And thousands yet must fall, before the strife be ended.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 85-6

Diary of Captain Luman Harris Tenney: Friday, January 13, 1865

Drew some extra ordnance. Inspected by Corps Inspector. Complimented by him. Have very neat quarters and neat ground.

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 142

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Luman Harris Tenney: May 1, 1864

Busy getting ordnance boxes returned to Dept. till 10 o'clock. Regt. marched at 11. Train off at about 1 P. M.—12 wagons. Thede and I stayed behind to get receipts for property. Left Washington between 5 and 6 o'clock. Capt. and A. D. C. on Maj. Gen. Auger's staff disliked to give me a pass for fear we would be gobbled! Caught up just as the regt. camped 9 or 10 miles from Washington. Supper and to bed at 10 P. M. Slept well, beautiful day.

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 114

Diary of Gideon Welles: Wednesday, December 30, 1863

Not long since I was blamed for not building more of the turret vessels; just now the same persons and papers abuse me for building so many. There is like inconsistency in regard to ordnance. I am attacked for not having more vessels before Wilmington, Mobile, and other places and thus making the blockade completely effective, and accused of neglect and indifference for not sending off twenty ships to hunt up the Alabama. Webb has just completed a frigate for the Italians, and I am found fault with because so skillful a mechanic as Webb is not employed by the Government, when he is building a large and more powerful vessel, the Dunderberg, for us. I have reason to believe that Webb himself is implicated in this assault on the Department, in order to help himself. He is a skillful builder and quite as skillful an intriguer. I would not deprive him of any credit, but I cannot award him any superiority over Lenthall or Delano as a naval constructor.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 499

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Luman Harris Tenney: November 2, 1863

Wrote a letter home. Helped make our ordnance returns —about square in everything. Was kept busy till quite late. Ordered to be ready to march tomorrow at daylight. Plenty of rumors. Col. Kautz came to inspect the cavalry — all wished he would come to stay.

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 96

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: June 16, 1863

We have nothing from the West to-day. But it is believed that Hooker is retiring toward Manassas — that fatal field — where another (and the third) battle may be fought. Lee's army is certainly on the march, and a collision of arms cannot be averted many days. It is believed Gen. Ewell, successor of Jackson, has beaten Milroy at Winchester.

But, while terrible events are daily anticipated in the field, all the civilians seem to have gone wild with speculation, and official corruption runs riot throughout the land. J. M. Seixas, agent of the War Department, writes from Wilmington that while the government steamers can get no cotton to exchange abroad for ordnance stores, the steamers of individuals are laden, and depart almost daily. This is said to be partly the work of the “Southern Express Company,” believed to be Yankees (a portion of them), which contracts to deliver freight, and bribes the railroads and monopolizes transportation. This is the company on whose application Judge Campbell, Assistant Secretary of War, granted so many exemptions and details! It takes a great number of able-bodied men from the army, and then, by a peculiar process, absolutely embarrasses, as Gen. Whiting says, the conduct of the war.

Judge Dargan, of Alabama, writes that private blockade-runners are ruining the country — supplying the enemy with cotton, and bringing in liquors and useless gew-gaws.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 350

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: May 21, 1863

There was a rumor on the street last night that Gen. Johnston had telegraphed the President that it would be necessary to evacuate Vicksburg. This has not been confirmed to-day, and I do not believe it. It would be irremediably disastrous.

Mr. N. S. Walker writes from Bermuda, May 11th, 1863, that seventeen additional British regiments have been ordered to Canada. A large amount of ordnance and ordnance stores, as well as several war steamers, have likewise been sent thither. He states, moreover, that United States vessels are having their registers changed. Does this really mean war?

Strawberries were selling in market this morning at $4 for less than a pint. Coal $25 per load, and wood $30 per cord.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 329

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: September 2, 1862

Winchester is evacuated! The enemy fled, and left enough ordnance stores for a campaign! It was one of their principal depots.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 151

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Thursday, January 28, 1864

A fine morning. Most of the companies have been fixing their streets; have been at work all day on Lieut. Ezra Stetson's ordnance returns, and have not got them done yet; will try and finish them in the morning. The regiment got no mail to-night. Corporal C. B. Lee's remains were sent home Tuesday; had a dress parade to-night in which the recruits took part. Those of Company B never had a gun in their hands till this morning.

SOURCE: Lemuel Abijah Abbott, Personal Recollections and Civil War Diary, 1864, p. 12-3

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Friday, January 29, 1864

It has been really uncomfortable all day, it's been so warm. Lieut G. E. Davis started for Vermont this forenoon; have completed the ordnance return but it's not mailed yet. Most of the officers have been playing ball this afternoon. The non-commissioned officers have given us a challenge to play for the oysters to-morrow, and the Colonel has accepted it; received a letter from brother Roy and wife and one from home; have been reading army regulations, etc. Colonel A. B. Jewett has refused to approve Lieut. E. P. Farr's application.

SOURCE: Lemuel Abijah Abbott, Personal Recollections and Civil War Diary, 1864, p. 13

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: June 17, 1862

It is not yet ascertained what amount of ordnance stores we gained from the battle.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 134

Major-General George B. McClellan to Major-General John A. Dix, September 12, 1861

Head-quarters of the Army of the Potomac,

September 12, 1861

I have telegraphed to you inquiring about heavy guns, and of what calibre you require. As soon as I know your wants I will direct them to be supplied.

The enemy is in heavy force in front of us. I do not think he will dare to attack our works on the other side of the river: if be does he will be routed most disastrously. I do not think he will attempt to cross in from below us; it would be a very difficult operation; and I am scouring that whole region thoroughly; so that, with the aid of the strong naval force in the river, I feel but little apprehension in that quarter. I do think, however, that the enemy may take the desperate alternative of crossing the river above and moving on Baltimore. The Potomac is so closely watched that they cannot cross south of Harper's Ferry without being observed and strongly opposed.

I send to-morrow three more regiments, a battery, and some companies of cavalry to General Stone. If the enemy cross above I will at once move on his flank, and force him either to attack me in a position of my own selection, or else attack his column when least prepared to resist.

The political situation of the rebels may force them to this desperate step. I think that Baltimore can best be covered by increasing the army with which I shall attack him.

SOURCE:  Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 32

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Tuesday, January 19, 1864

The wind has been blowing furiously all day from the northwest; has rained very little; commencing to freeze this evening; have been looking over ordnance returns this afternoon; no time to study to-day. Lieut. Ezra Stetson is expected to-morrow, also Governor Smith, as he didn't come to-night. Lieut. D. G. Hill has been in this evening; wind blows a gale.

SOURCE: Lemuel Abijah Abbott, Personal Recollections and Civil War Diary, 1864, p. 9

A Young Arsenal

We saw on the Sucker State, which passed up Monday, quite a collection of warlike projectiles; among them grape-shot, conical ball and shell, round ball and shell, &c.  A musket-barrel was in the lot which had run against a cannon ball, and been twisted into a shape like a piece of a grape-vine that had grown around a tree. – These relics of the battlefield were sent by Capt. Foster, to his family at Le Claire, and no doubt will be highly prized years hence as mementoes of the great rebellion.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Wednesday Morning, May 21, 1862, p. 1

Immense Projectiles

Eight solid cast iron balls were lately sent from Pittsburgh for the great 15-inch Rodman gun at Fortress Monroe.  It had been intended to use shells chiefly in this gun, to avoid undue strain upon it, but the solid shot are furnished to crush in the sides of the Merrimac should she attempt to pass out into the Chesapeake.  Such shot at 200 yards range, would crush all through the sides of the strongest iron clad frigate yet built.

– Published in the Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 12, 1862, p. 2

Affairs at Fortress Monroe --- Artillery Practice

FORTRESS MONORE, March 29. – On Friday evening the rebels threw a ball from one of the rifled guns at Sewall’s Point, which came within about 300 yards of the shipping in the upper roadsteads.

The Lincoln gun has been mounted, and this morning was tested in order to test the range.  Only ten shots were fired.  The second shot was a splendid ricochet.  The immense ball, weighing 437 pounds, after making three plunges and renewed flights, finally sunk away off near  Sewall’s Point.  If the Merrimac can stand ten of these Lincoln pills, as they are called here, she is proof against all appliances of modern gunnery.

There were some signs of activity towards Norfolk this a. m.  A steam tug came down to Sewall’s Point, and the smoke from a large vessel could be seen off, above Craney Island apparently.  A gunboat also came down the James River, within about three miles of Newport News, after reconnoitering, returned up the river.

The present high wind and low water, however, forbid all expectation of the approach of the Merrimac until the storm is over.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 5, 1862, p. 4

Captain Porter’s Atlantic Mortar Expedition -- The Rendezvous At Key West

(Key West Correspondence Boston Journal.)

The steamer Harriet Lane, Lieutenant, Wainwright commanding, arrived here on the 27th, bringing Commander Porter of the mortar flotilla.  On her passage from New York she captures a brig called the Joanna Ward, with a cargo of coffee and cigars, from Matanzas, and bound into any Southern port where she could run the blockade.  Her officers and crew were taken prisoners, and a prize crew placed on board the brig, which was sent to Philadelphia.

All but one of the mortar schooners of Commander Porter’s flotilla have arrived here, and all but one have come into port in excellent condition.  The schooner “Norfolk Packet” fired her mortar on the passage to try its range and effect upon the vessel.  With a full charge of twenty pounds of powder, a thirteen inch shell weighing two hundred pounds was thrown two-and-a-half miles, and exploded with a bursting charge of six pounds, the mortar having an elevation of forty-five degrees.  The hull of the vessel was not affected the least, but the shock of the discharge was so great as to shatter the light wood work and cause considerable commotion among the furniture and other portable articles.  A few doses of these thirteen inch pills dropped into a rebel fortification or town will be likely to produce something of a sensation among the confederates.

There have been several fine exhibitions of boat practice since the fleet arrived here. – Forty were out at one time under Lieutenant Queen, commanding the second division, and drilled in the necessary movements for attacking the enemy.

Since the arrival of Commander Porter the Greatest activity has prevailed in the squadron.  The commander has worked earnestly and unceasingly in perfecting the details of the expedition, visiting all the vessels and personally inspecting the men at the mortar and broadside guns.  The flotilla is a most complete navy in itself, and everything pertaining to the vessels and their armament is trim and neat as if the officers and men had a naval experience of years instead of weeks.  I have no desire to raise false hopes in the public mind, but I have every reason for re-affirming what was intimated in a former letter, that a terrible blow, the greatest yet dealt, is soon to be struck against the rebels on the Gulf coast. – The flower of the United States navy is now concentrated in these waters, and all that fine  ships, formidable and effective batteries, skillful and gallant officers and brave seamen can do, will soon be done to crush out this infamous and already too long-lived rebellion.

As I stated in my letter of yesterday, the mortar flotilla is all in the harbor, and expected to have left this morning (5th inst.)  We had a fine breeze during the night, but when the signal gun was fired at 6 o’clock this morning ordering the fleet to weigh anchor and get under way, it was perfectly calm, and consequently the vessel did not sail.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 22, 1862, p. 3

It appears there were on board the Monitor . . .

. . . in her attack upon the Merrimac, fifty wrought iron shot of one hundred and sixty-eight pounds each, which Capt. Ericsson believes would have reached the vitals of the rebel monster had they been tried; but that they were not tired because of an express interdict from the Ordnance Department.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 22, 1862, p. 1