March 5, 1865 The part of this letter that most stood out to me was a comment made by Abbott in respect to hospitals that speaks of the larger conflict as a whole. He says, “but a hospital here and one in the states are different institutions entirely.” At this point, Abbott is in Chattanooga, clearly still in the South. What’s interesting to pay attention to is the fact that he says a hospital in the South is completely different from one in the states (emphasis on "states" here). I think it’s commonly known that the northern United States and the Confederacy were viewed as separate entities during the war but it’s still striking to see it stated so plainly. Despite the fact that these two parts really were one big country, and had been until very recently, no longer mattered. It does seem that Abbott views the southern states as not being in the United States. It’s interesting to consider that Union soldiers didn’t consider themselves to be in the United States anymore when they were in places like Tennessee or Georgia. Again, this is something I knew about before, yet it is definitely strange to think about. Imagine going to Florida or Texas and needing a passport? Indeed, the two halves of the country really were opposite cultures from one another. The South was overwhelmingly agricultural (one of the reasons why slavery was still viewed as a valuable institution there) and had very few industrial areas. On the flip side, the North featured far more industrial centers and factories. Slavery was nonexistent with a large part of the labor force being European immigrants. Northerners typically held careers in such areas as “business, medicine, or education.” Additionally, these children were more likely to go to school than their Southern counterparts. Now, this is just my thought, but it really does appear that the North was progressing more satisfactorily than the South, which seemed very much stuck in the past. One of the biggest differences, and one that we frequently read about in Abbott’s letters, is that of the railroad. Around 35% of the United States’ railroad tracks were in the South pre-Civil War. This is consistent with the fact that the North was more industrialized, since it would have more need to utilize trains to transport products. Abbott frequently talks about pulling up railroad lines in the South as well as how important trains were in transporting soldiers. With almost ¾ of the country’s tracks in the North, the Union army certainly had a significant advantage over the South, especially in terms of weapons production (with the factories) and transportation of supplies and troops. It is definitely weird to think about how different the two parts of the country were during the Civil War. It is true today that there are differences between the various parts of the United States. But I don’t think they are as extreme as they were during the Civil War. The North and South were viewed as completely different cultures, whereas today the different cultural regions in the U.S. are all viewed to comprise an overall United States culture. The image I’ve included is a chart from the Civil War Trust website comparing the North and South in a few different ways. I thought it was a good example of the stark contrasts between the two halves. Works Cited/Photo Credit: The Civil War Trust: Saving America’s Civil War Battlefields. “North and South: Different Cultures, Same Country.” http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/civil-war-overview/northandsouth.html (accessed March 19, 2014).
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February 28, 1865 The most interesting part of today’s letter is when Abbott mentions everyone is in “cheerful spirits and joyous over the good news from Sherman and the Coast” and they are optimistic “that the Confederacy is about wound up.” This statement is referencing William T. Sherman’s “March to the Sea,” which occurred towards the end of 1864 and greatly affected the final months of the war. After reaching Savannah, Georgia, completing the “March” on December 21, 1864, Sherman began his movements towards the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. According to the North Carolina Civil War Sesquicentennial website, Sherman’s troops would join with Ulysses S. Grant’s at Richmond, thus ensuring “final victory for the Union by crushing Confederate general-in-chief Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.” Before this, however, Sherman would make his way to the Carolinas, with the Goldsboro, North Carolina as his final destination. This is what Abbott more than likely is speaking of in the letter. In early February 1865, Sherman began his campaign through the Carolinas, starting with South Carolina. The Union soldiers “laid waste to much of the state, reaching its capital, Columbia, which was captured by February 17, highlighting the effectiveness of the campaign. General Lee ordered General Joseph E. Johnston to take control of forces to combat Sherman’s march as he moved from South to North Carolina. Sherman’s advances showed just how ineffective the Confederacy’s resistance tactics were. Eventually, Sherman’s troops, combined with Grant’s, would succeed in squashing Robert E. Lee’s Virginia army. It’s cool that soldiers were aware of others aspects of the war. That might seem like a strange statement but think about it: efficient and timely methods of communication were essentially nonexistent, so it isn’t so unrealistic to be surprised at the fact that soldiers were able to receive news about other areas of fighting. This is especially true if you consider that regiments were constantly moving around. It also makes me wonder if they also knew just how significant the events they were hearing of were. Obviously, today we can look back and know what battles were important and why. But during the war, it had to have been difficult to gauge what battles had been effective and were having the most impact on the war as a whole. Abbott seems to recognize that Sherman’s successes definitely were problematic for the Confederacy’s chances of victory but was he equally aware of the significance of battles such as Gettysburg or Antietam? * the map included with this post is from the Library of Congress website. By following this link, you can view it in more detail: http://www.loc.gov/resource/g3871s.cw0090000/ Works Cited: North Carolina Civil War Sesquicentennial (North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources). “Sherman’s March through North Carolina.” http://www.nccivilwar150.com/history/sherman.htm (accessed January 29, 2014). Prairie Public. “Map: Sherman’s Savannah and Carolinas Campaign.” http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/war/map18.html (accessed January 29, 2014). Photo Credit: The Library of Congress April 5, 1865 Today is the last letter Isaac Mark Abbott wrote during his time as a Civil War soldier. Written four days before General Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House, Abbott definitely is aware that the end of the conflict is near, as he mentions that the regiment had heard news of Grant still being “in pursuit of Lee’s fleeing and demoralized Army!” He notes that his fellow soldiers are extremely excited about the prospect of the war ending. Additionally, he comments that he learned Grant and the Union had captured Richmond, the Confederate capital, and taken 20,000 prisoners. On April 3, the Union army took over Richmond, flying the United States flag from the city’s capitol building, thus reclaiming the city for the United States. Union General Godfrey Weitzel wired a message to Grant, saying, “We took Richmond at 8:15 this morning. I captured many guns. The enemy left in great haste. The city is on fire in two places. Am making every effort to put it out. The people received us with enthusiastic expressions of joy.” Winning Richmond was really the beginning of the end for the Confederacy. Since this letter marks the collection’s conclusion of the war, I thought it would be good to recap how the war would end over the course of April/May 1865. April 9 saw the surrender of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, followed throughout the next month by every main Confederate Army. President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, cast a somber light over the happy occasion of the war being over. On May 10, 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was captured, marking the last key component to resolve. Roughly 617,000 Americans had been killed and the Southern way of living completely decimated. In the years following the war, the United States entered a period of Reconstruction, in which the country began piecing itself together again. Following the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in January 1865, which officially abolished slavery, Congress in June 1865 passed the Fourteenth Amendment, granting citizenship to everyone born in the country. A few years later, in 1869, the Fifteenth Amendment was created, guaranteeing “that no American would be denied the right to vote on the basis of race.” On these foundations, the United States began restructuring itself. Works Cited: McPherson, Dr. James. The Civil War Trust: Saving America’s Civil War Battlefields. “A Brief Overview of the American Civil War: A Defining Time in Our Nation’s History.” http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/civil-war-overview/overview.html (accessed January 27, 2014). The Civil War Trust: Saving America’s Civil War Battlefields. “Abraham Lincoln, President.” http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/biographies/abraham-lincoln.html (accessed January 27, 2014). The Civil War Trust: Saving America’s Civil War Battlefields. “The Fall of Richmond, Virginia.” http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/warfare-and-logistics/warfare/richmond.html (accessed January 27, 2014). Prairie Public. “The Civil War and Emancipation.” https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2967.html (accessed January 29, 2014). |
AuthorTessa Wakefield, student intern at the Concordia College Archives, assembled these blog entries in 2013-2014 for the Isaac Mark Abbott Civil War Letters Collection. The posts summarize the content of the letters, interpret Abbott's experiences and place them in the larger context of the Civil War. Archives
March 2014
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