Your search returned 100 results in 46 document sections:

Colonel Theodore Lyman, With Grant and Meade from the Wilderness to Appomattox (ed. George R. Agassiz), chapter 3 (search)
II. in winter quarters [toward the end of December, the army being then well settled in winter quarters, Lyman obtained leave of absence, passed Christmas at home, and returned to the army about the middle of January. He found Headquarters almost deserted, General Meade sick in Philadelphia with an attack of inflammation of the lungs, General Humphreys, and his tent-mate Rosencrantz, away on leave of absence, and Barstow sick and weak, with a cold on the lungs.] Headquarters, Army of Potomac January 23, 1864 Yesterday came General Humphreys, to my great content. His son, with Worth and myself, rode down to bid him welcome. Such a sea of mud round Brandy Station was enough to engulf the most hardy. There is no platform to get on; nothing but the driest spot in the mud. You should have seen the countenances of the unfortunate officers' wives, as they surveyed, from the height of the platform, this broad expanse of pap! Then the husband would appear, in great excitement,
A negro soldier's speech.--At a celebration of Christmas by a negro regiment at New-Orleans, one of, the men made the following speech: Fellow-soldiers ob de Sebenth Regiment: I is mighty glad to enjoy dis ‘portunity for enjoying dis fust free Christmas in dis world what we live in. A year ago, where was we? We was down in de dark land of slavery. And now where are we? We are free men, and soldiers of de United States. And what have we to do? We have to fight de rebels so dat we never more be slaves. When de day of battle come, what will we do? I speak for me, and I say for myself, I go and fight de rebels till de last man die. Yes, under de flags what was presented to us from New-York, we fight till de last man die; and if I be de last man, what will I do? I hold up de flags, and if I die, den I go to my grave cousified for doing my duty. De President of de United States is one great man what has done more good dan any oder man whatever was borned. I bless de Lor
n on until night. As the advance guard reached one corner of the public square, several companies of the Second Michigan Cavalry with no idea that Morgan's men were near, rode into sight a few yards away. In the melee which ensued, one Federal was killed and two wounded, and a Confederate captain and one soldier were mortally and one lieutenant slightly wounded. Twenty prisoners were captured, among them the adjutant of the regiment, whose equipment the writer appropriated. A number of Christmas turkeys which these excellent foragers had strapped to their saddles were also taken by us. Ten miles north of Glasgow, on December 25th, with our company of fifty men a mile in advance of the main column, the vedette reported the Federals in line of battle in our front. We were ordered to load and cap our guns, and then rode briskly forward. When about two hundred yards from the Federal lines, Captain Quirk halted us, called off horse-holders, and we advanced on foot. Reaching the
Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 10. (ed. Reverend J. William Jones), Defence and fall of Fort Fisher. (search)
ed to do, and if they are permitted to remain there the reduction of Fort Fisher is but a question of time. This has been notified heretofore frequently both to yourself and to the department. I will hold this place to the last extremity, but unless you drive that land force from its position I cannot answer for the security of the harbor. The fire has been and continues to be exceedingly heavy, surpassing not so much in its volume as in its extraordinary concentration, even the fire of Christmas. The garrison is in good spirits and condition. I am, General, Very respectfully, your obedient servant, W. H. C. Whiting, Major-General. General Bragg goes on to say: As a good officer had been sent in command of the reinforcements I ordered General Whiting on Saturday evening to report to me in person. This order he declined to obey, as he had done one before about moving troops. My mind was now made up as to his condition and I felt that the safety of the fort requi
Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 10. (ed. Reverend J. William Jones), The killing of Colonel Dennis J. Halisey. (search)
The killing of Colonel Dennis J. Halisey. By Captain George B. Eastin. On what was known in Morgan's command as the Christmas raid into Kentucky, from the fact of its having taken place during Christmas week of 1862, it became necessary for us to leave the State rather precipitately, because of our being pressed by a large Federal cavalry force in our rear. It also became necessary, on our retreat from the State, for us to flank the town of Lebanon, Kentucky, which lay in our most direct road south, from the fact that the garrison there had been heavily reinforced, and the town occupied by a large force of the enemy. This necessitated our leaving the turnpike road at Springfield on the evening of December 30th, 1862; and on that bitter night, which will be long remembered by every member of the command, we made the famous all-night march around Lebanon, and owing mainly to the almost impassable condition of the mud roads, found ourselves at day-light the next morning only abou
rom the north-east angle of Fort Fisher. We then reopened heavily, but more to the left than we had previously fired, to avoid annoying our own troops, who were seen approaching the fort. The effect of this last heavy fire was apparently severe upon the casemated works to the southward and westward of Fort Fisher. At this time a succession of explosions was heard in the rear of these casemates, followed by the blaze of a large building, which continued to burn during the greater part of Christmas night. My impression with regard to the defensibility of the post (battered as it was) against a combined attack of the army and navy is, that it could have been carried by assault on either of the evenings of the twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth instant. I do not suppose that it was deemed possible entirely to demolish a casemated earthwork like Fort Fisher, but I am satisfied that everything was done that could be done on the part of the navy to render it untenable, the enemy having b
d. A young man of our regiment, when told that he must die, and who had carefully attended to the reading of his Testament, said, I had thought until this morning that I would again be permitted to see my dear mother, but I know I shall never see her in the flesh; tell her I cannot go to her, but she can come to me; I am dying in the arms of Jesus, my Redeemer, and will welcome her on the shores of a better land. Another chaplain wrote from Evansport on the Potomac: I spent all Christmas with our men, and I am sure I never spent it more agreeably. Some of our men wished to visit their old friends in a neighboring regiment, but would not do so on account of the drunkenness and profanity going on in their midst. I know the mother of one of the young men, and I hope to return to Georgia when the war is over and tell her how Charlie looked as I met him returning to his camp, unwilling to risk himself among them. We are considered the most moral, best behaved regiment connec
C. Edwards Lester, Life and public services of Charles Sumner: Born Jan. 6, 1811. Died March 11, 1874., Section Twelfth: his character and fame. (search)
l there, tremulous to every sweep of Memory's wing. In such cases, the tenderness that is still cherished, to all appearances in vain, for the departed one, takes a new direction; and the love for such a mother as Charles Sumner had, may grow dearer with each coming year. Each new silver hair, slowly stealing in among the tresses of fresher days, only clothes the head with the charm of a new consecration. A similar—nearly a parallel case—inspired these verses, addressed as a little Christmas carol, to a very venerable, but still radiantly beautiful lady, who did so much to brighten the life of the writer: So gently has Old Father Time Laid his cold fingers on thy head, I fain would ring for him another chime, For he grows young in thee—there are no dead. His fingers now seem soft and warm; The ice has melted from his frosty hand; His touch passed gently o'er thy faultless form, He must have breathed on thee from Summer Land. And so the years go harmless by thee, Leaving no s<
l there, tremulous to every sweep of Memory's wing. In such cases, the tenderness that is still cherished, to all appearances in vain, for the departed one, takes a new direction; and the love for such a mother as Charles Sumner had, may grow dearer with each coming year. Each new silver hair, slowly stealing in among the tresses of fresher days, only clothes the head with the charm of a new consecration. A similar—nearly a parallel case—inspired these verses, addressed as a little Christmas carol, to a very venerable, but still radiantly beautiful lady, who did so much to brighten the life of the writer: So gently has Old Father Time Laid his cold fingers on thy head, I fain would ring for him another chime, For he grows young in thee—there are no dead. His fingers now seem soft and warm; The ice has melted from his frosty hand; His touch passed gently o'er thy faultless form, He must have breathed on thee from Summer Land. And so the years go harmless by thee, Leaving no s<
Lydia Maria Child, Letters of Lydia Maria Child (ed. John Greenleaf Whittier, Wendell Phillips, Harriet Winslow Sewall), Reply of Mrs. Child. (search)
itary during the Christmas holidays; but, since emancipation, not a soldier is to be seen. A hundred John Browns might land there without exciting the slightest alarm. To the personal questions you ask me, I will reply in the name of all the women of New England. It would be extremely difficult to find any woman in our villages who does not sew for the poor, and watch with the sick, whenever occasion requires. We pay our domestics generous wages, with which they can purchase as many Christmas gowns as they please; a process far better for their characters, as well as our own, than to receive their clothing as a charity, after being deprived of just payment for their labor. I have never known an instance where the pangs of maternity did not meet with requisite assistance; and here at the North, after we have helped the mothers, we do not sell the babies. I readily believe what you state concerning the kindness of many Virginia matrons. It is creditable to their hearts: but