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The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records

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  • The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records

    I found an online site at OSU that contains the Official Records for The War of the Rebellion: eHistory at OSU | Online Books | The Official Records of the Civil War

    I've picked out a few interesting passages from the last week of the war since I was just at Petersburg and Appomattox a few weeks back.

    This first passage is Lincoln passing on his congratulations for the breakthrough at Five Forks, which unhinged Lee's defensive lines at Petersburg and force him to attempt his withdrawal to link up with Johnston's forces in North Carolina.

    eHistory at OSU | Online Books | The Official Records of the Civil War

    Lieutenant-General GRANT:

    Allow me to tender to you and all with you the nation's grateful thanks for this additional and magnificent success. At your kind suggestion I think I will meet you to-morrow.

    A. LINCOLN.
    I found this interesting because of the tact and respect Grant used in telling the Commander-in-Chief that he wasn't going to meet him at the train station.

    eHistory at OSU | Online Books | The Official Records of the Civil War

    APRIL 2, 1865.

    Colonel T. S. BOWERS:

    If the President will come on the 9 a.m. train to Patrick's Station I will send a horse and an escort to meet him. It would afford me much pleasure to meet the President in person at the station, but I know he will excuse me for not doing so when my services are so liable to be needed at any moment. If 9 is an inconvenient hour telegraph me the hour when the President will start and he will find his escort awaiting him when he arrives.

    U. S. GRANT,

    Lieutenant-General.
    The following is the dialogue between Grant and Lee that initiated the surrender process at Appomattox.

    eHistory at OSU | Online Books | The Official Records of the Civil War

    HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES,
    April 7, 1865-5 p. m.

    General R. E. LEE,

    Commanding C. S. Army:

    GENERAL: The result of the last week must convince you of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and regard it as my duty to shift from myself the responsibility of any further effusion of blood by asking of you the surrender of that portion of the C. S. Army known as the Army of Northern Virginia.

    Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

    U. S. GRANT,

    Lieutenant-General, Commanding Armies of the United States.

    APRIL 7, 1865.

    Lieutenant General U. S. GRANT,

    Commanding Armies of the United States:

    GENERAL: I have received your note of this date. Though not entertaining the opinion you express of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia, I reciprocate your desire to avoid useless effusion of blood, and therefore, before considering your proposition, ask the terms you will offer on condition of its surrender.

    R. E. LEE,

    General.
    "So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3

  • #2
    The dialogue between Grant and Lee is fascinating.
    “He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”

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    • #3
      Originally posted by TopHatter View Post
      The dialogue between Grant and Lee is fascinating.
      Keep in mind that Sherman's army, fat off of the march through the south was about a week's march from joining the Armies of the Potomac, James, and Shenandoah, and Lee and Johnston with approximately 60K would have faced a combined force of 250K. Not pretty, despite Lee's protests to the contrary.
      "So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3

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      • #4
        i wonder how many could have slipped through the cracks a la alexander's suggestion. that one talk by lee about the ultimate futility and destruction that option would cause probably saved the US from at least a generation of guerrilla war.
        There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov

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        • #5
          Originally posted by astralis View Post
          i wonder how many could have slipped through the cracks a la alexander's suggestion. that one talk by lee about the ultimate futility and destruction that option would cause probably saved the US from at least a generation of guerrilla war.
          Gary Gallagher argues pretty convincingly to me that the Southern ethos towards war made it pretty much impossible to have signed up for a guerilla style war from the get go. I don't think that changes much by the end of the war, and to a certain extent, I think we saw the manifestation of guerilla warfare in response to Radical Republican influence in the deep south.
          "So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3

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          • #6
            Shek

            I heard Gary make that same point in a seminar at Pamplin Park last year. It was just not within the spirit. And if you look at the morale of the Southern soldier...well, it was shot. Not denigrating them but the spirit was just not there to try to keep going on a large scale.

            Side point on the ORs. I remember spending hundreds of hours poring over them during grad school in the library....and then about 12 years ago I bought a CD with the entire set for 79.99. Plus you got Dyer's Comendium AND Fox's Regimental Losses!!!

            Man I went to grad school too soon!!!!
            “Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
            Mark Twain

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Albany Rifles View Post
              Man I went to grad school too soon!!!!
              I just had dinner at a friend's parents' house. His dad got his PhD in either the late 80's or very early 90's. He had a typist type his dissertation. Of course, if you did your dissertation a decade ago, you'd complain about how you didn't have the high speed footnote/endnote software available like there is now. Maybe I should wait for a decade or two so I can just babble about and have the computer translate speech into typing
              "So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3

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              • #8
                Undergrad, I typed every paper with 2 typewriters... one for paper one for the end notes.

                Grad school...an Apple II with AppleWorks!!!

                My wife did her thesis in Wordstar.
                Last edited by Albany Rifles; 01 Nov 09,, 20:05. Reason: Because I am an idiot
                “Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
                Mark Twain

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Albany Rifles View Post
                  Undergrad, I typed every paper with 2 typewriters....one for the typewriter one for paper one for the end notes.

                  Grad school...an Apple II with Office Works!!!
                  I typed papers in grade school on the black/green monitor of an Apple IIc. High tech!

                  Originally posted by Albany Rifles
                  My wife did her thesis in Wordstar.
                  [cue music]Was this located on the Death Star?[/music off]
                  "So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3

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                  • #10
                    shek,

                    Gary Gallagher argues pretty convincingly to me that the Southern ethos towards war made it pretty much impossible to have signed up for a guerilla style war from the get go. I don't think that changes much by the end of the war, and to a certain extent, I think we saw the manifestation of guerilla warfare in response to Radical Republican influence in the deep south.
                    depends on a few factors, i think. had the radical republicans got their way and hung lee, johnston, and davis at the end of the war, along with a much harsher military occupation, you would have see the bushwhacking.

                    in my view, it was the combination of both lee, grant, and lincoln's fundamental desire to avoid further bloodshed (see second inaugural) that prevented it. what would have been frightening to contemplate is if booth or someone else had killed lincoln during the electoral season of '64, sweeping revenge-minded radical republicans into power.
                    There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by astralis View Post
                      what would have been frightening to contemplate is if booth or someone else had killed lincoln during the electoral season of '64, sweeping revenge-minded radical republicans into power.
                      Timing here is critical. During the summer of 1864, it would have been seen as a favor. After the fall of Atlanta, then it could have been bad juju.
                      "So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        What would have been frightening to contemplate is if booth or someone else had killed lincoln during the electoral season of '64, sweeping revenge-minded radical republicans into power.


                        Can you imagine what the Georgia and Carolina Campaign, the Selma Campaign, and the culmination of the Petersburg campaign would ahve been like if thsi had occurred? I can't and I don't want to.
                        “Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
                        Mark Twain

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