0:00

You're listening to an Airwave

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Media Podcast. Listen

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to History That Doesn't Suck on Spotify. Hey

1:00

everyone, thanks for tuning in to the 444th episode of

1:02

our Civil War podcast.

1:04

I'm Rich.

1:14

And I'm Tracy. Hello y'all. Welcome

1:17

to the podcast. With

1:19

this show, we're going to pick right back

1:21

up with our look at what happened in

1:24

1863. We looked at

1:26

June and got a start on July

1:28

last time. So with this episode, we'll

1:30

begin with, yes, you guessed it, the

1:33

rest of July. On

1:35

Friday, July 10th, the Federals begin

1:37

another attempt to get at Charleston,

1:39

South Carolina. Supported

1:42

by naval guns and also by

1:44

federal artillery on Folly Island, Union

1:47

infantry commanded by Brigadier General George

1:49

Crockett Strong land on the south

1:51

end of Morris Island, on

1:54

the south side of the mouth of Charleston

1:56

Harbor. Their objective

1:58

is Battery Wagner, of

2:00

the harbor's main defensive strong points. The

2:03

first federal assault on Wagner on July 11th

2:06

will be unsuccessful.

2:09

Within a week with considerable

2:11

reinforcements, the Yankees will try

2:13

again. On

2:15

July 11th, draft officers begin drawing

2:17

names in heavily Democratic New York

2:19

City where sentiment against

2:22

emancipation and conscription runs high.

2:24

This is especially the case

2:27

among hardscrabble Irish workers who

2:29

are troubled and angered by

2:32

low wages and high

2:34

unemployment and live with their

2:36

families in overcrowded tenements that

2:38

are seedbeds of crime and

2:40

disease. Many Irishmen

2:42

are still seething with resentment

2:44

at being replaced by black

2:47

stevedores during a bitter longshoreman's

2:49

strike in June and

2:51

they worry about the same thing happening

2:53

if they're drafted since at

2:55

this time black men aren't considered

2:57

citizens and thus aren't eligible for

3:00

the draft. In

3:02

addition to the fear of losing their jobs

3:04

to blacks, they are angry

3:06

that the $300 fee for the

3:08

government requires for legally evading the

3:11

draft is for the

3:13

vast majority of Irish laborers an

3:15

impossible amount to raise. Today's

3:18

draft lottery goes smoothly but the

3:21

following day, a Sunday, crowds of

3:23

angry people, many of them fueled

3:25

by cheap liquor, will plot to

3:28

stop the drawings. On

3:30

July 13th, Abraham Lincoln composes a

3:33

note to Ulysses S. Grant, quote,

3:35

as a grateful acknowledgement for the

3:38

almost inestimable service you have done

3:40

the country. Lincoln

3:43

goes on to make a small confession. He'd

3:46

thought that once Grant got below Vicksburg

3:48

he should have continued on down the

3:50

Mississippi River to link up with Nathaniel

3:53

Banks and when Grant instead

3:55

crossed his army to the east bank of

3:57

the river and set off into the interior.

4:00

of Mississippi to approach Vicksburg from

4:02

the south and east, Lincoln

4:05

thought Grant had made a bad decision.

4:08

I feared it was a mistake, Lincoln

4:10

tells Grant, and then writes,

4:13

I now wish to make the personal

4:15

acknowledgment that you were right, and

4:18

I was wrong. From

4:30

July 13th to 17th, New

4:33

York City erupts into bloody mob violence.

4:36

The uprising begins that Monday with

4:38

thousands of people skipping work to

4:41

protest outside the draft office on

4:43

Third Avenue. Someone hurls

4:45

a stone through an office window, someone

4:48

else fires a pistol, and

4:50

the protest transforms into a riot,

4:53

initially led by members of a company of

4:56

firemen, one of whom has just been

4:58

drafted. Surging into

5:00

the office, the rioters smash everything

5:02

inside. The draft

5:04

officials barely escape with their lives as

5:06

the mob sets fire to the building,

5:09

imperiling hundreds of people who live on the

5:11

floors above. Outside,

5:13

as the firemen stand by and watch

5:16

the building burn, rioters

5:18

cut telegraph wires and

5:20

attack the small force of police and

5:22

soldiers that city authorities muster to try

5:24

to stop them. The

5:27

mob's fury builds and widens

5:29

to include Republicans, soldiers, the

5:31

wealthy, and especially black people

5:33

and the businesses that employ

5:36

them. Harper's Weekly

5:38

will report, quote, one

5:40

of the first victims to the

5:42

insane fury of the rioters was

5:44

a Negro Cartman residing in Carmine

5:46

Street. He was beaten,

5:49

hanged, and set afire. Colonel

5:52

Henry O'Brien of the 11th New York

5:54

Infantry is another victim, beaten,

5:56

shot, and pummeled with stones as he is

5:58

dragged through the building. through the streets

6:00

before he finally dies. The

6:04

mob besieges Horace Greeley in the offices

6:06

of the New York Tribune, setting the

6:08

first floor on fire. The

6:11

rioters also attack the headquarters of the

6:13

New York Times, but are turned away

6:16

by borrowed Gatling guns. The

6:19

mob loots and burns the four-story

6:21

colored orphan asylum, even as

6:23

its staff and 233 children escape

6:26

to safety. Staff

6:28

troops fresh from the Battle of Gettysburg arrive

6:31

in the city and help restore order.

6:34

The draft is temporarily suspended in

6:36

New York City as Washington sends

6:38

in more troops and

6:40

the human cost of the violence becomes

6:42

clear. Hundreds have

6:44

been injured and at least 105 people, including 11 blacks

6:46

and 8 soldiers, have

6:50

been killed. On

6:52

July 16, halfway around

6:55

the world, in the Straits

6:57

of Shimano-Sikai, Japan, USS Wyoming,

7:00

on patrol against Confederate commerce raiders,

7:03

emerges victorious from a battle with

7:05

the makeshift fleet of a Japanese

7:08

warlord who was intent on driving

7:10

foreigners from those well-traveled waters. This

7:14

marks the first US naval engagement

7:16

with Japanese forces since

7:18

Commodore Matthew Perry and his

7:20

warships were instrumental in opening

7:22

Japan to American and European

7:25

vessels in After

7:29

Wyoming's victory, the situation will

7:31

remain volatile. President

7:34

Lincoln will state in his December message to

7:36

Congress, quote, Our

7:39

relations with Japan have been brought

7:41

into serious jeopardy through the

7:43

perverse opposition of the hereditary

7:45

aristocracy of the Empire to

7:48

the enlightened policy designed to bring

7:50

the country into the society of

7:52

nations. It is

7:54

hoped, although not with entire confidence,

7:57

that these difficulties may be peacefully

7:59

over-attached. come. On

8:01

Saturday, July 18, 6,000

8:04

Union soldiers commanded by Brigadier General

8:06

Truman Seymour make a

8:09

frontal assault on the formidable Battery

8:11

Wagner on Morris Island in Charleston

8:13

Harbor. Leading the

8:15

attack is the 54th Massachusetts,

8:18

a black regiment commanded by Colonel

8:20

Robert Gould Shaw. Searching

8:23

forward through withering enemy fire,

8:25

the men of the 54th

8:27

managed to gain a tenuous

8:29

toehold atop Wagner's parapet, but

8:32

neither they nor any of Seymour's

8:34

other regiments can crack the Confederate

8:36

defenses, and the federal attack

8:38

is repulsed with heavy losses. Sergeant

8:42

Lewis Douglas, son of famed

8:45

abolitionist Frederick Douglass, will

8:47

write to his future wife Amelia

8:49

telling her, quote, men

8:52

fell all around me, a shell

8:54

would explode in clearer space, our

8:56

men would close up again, but it was

8:58

no use. The 54th

9:01

Massachusetts suffered 272 casualties in the

9:05

assault, including Colonel Shaw, who

9:07

was killed. Later, when

9:09

the federal's attempt to retrieve Shaw's remains,

9:11

they are told by the rebels that

9:14

they buried him with the bodies of

9:16

20 of his black soldiers piled on

9:18

top of him. It's

9:20

intended as an insult, but when Shaw's

9:22

father is given the news, he says

9:24

he can think of no more fitting

9:27

place for his son to be buried

9:29

than with the men he led into

9:31

battle. On

9:33

July 30th, grappling with the problem

9:35

of how to ensure the safety

9:37

of black soldiers and their white

9:39

officers captured by Confederates, Abraham

9:42

Lincoln states there will be an eye

9:44

for an eye policy, quote,

9:47

the government of the United States will

9:49

give the same protection to all of

9:51

its soldiers. And if the

9:53

enemy shall sell or enslave anyone

9:55

because of his color, the offense

9:58

shall be punished by retaliation. upon

10:00

the enemy's prisoners in our

10:03

possession. It is therefore ordered that

10:05

for every soldier of the United States killed

10:07

in violation of the loss of war, a

10:10

rebel soldier shall be executed, and

10:13

for every one enslaved by the enemy

10:15

or sold into slavery, a rebel soldier

10:17

shall be placed at hard labor on

10:19

the public works. But

10:22

Lincoln's eye for an eye order is

10:24

unacceptable to many and impractical

10:26

to enforce, so the policy will

10:28

never be carried out. The

10:31

problem, however, will remain. After

10:45

the failed assault on Battery Wagner,

10:47

Lewis Douglas wrote to Amelia proudly

10:49

declaring, quote, This

10:52

regiment has established its reputation as

10:54

a fighting regiment. I

10:56

wish we had a hundred thousand colored troops.

10:59

We would put an end to this war. On

11:02

August 10th, Lewis's father, Frederick

11:04

Douglas, meets with Abraham Lincoln

11:06

and vehemently protests the disparity

11:08

of pay between white and

11:11

black soldiers, a policy

11:13

in violation of assurances originally

11:15

made to recruits. In

11:18

his post-war autobiography, Douglas reports

11:20

that the president responded that

11:23

in view of the prevailing racial

11:25

prejudice, quote, the fact that they

11:27

were not to receive the same pay as white

11:29

soldiers seemed a necessary concession

11:32

to smooth the way to their

11:34

employment at all as soldiers, but

11:37

they ultimately would receive the same.

11:40

However, given past broken promises and

11:42

the present pressing needs of their

11:45

families ultimately isn't

11:47

a satisfactory timeframe for the

11:49

black soldiers who are still

11:51

refusing to accept any pay

11:53

until the discriminatory policy is

11:56

reversed. On

11:58

August 14th in Missouri. which

12:00

is the scene of vicious guerrilla warfare, another

12:03

tragic chapter in that saga begins

12:06

with a terrible accident when

12:08

five women, the wives and

12:10

sisters of men fighting as rebel bushwhackers,

12:13

are killed in the collapse of a

12:15

Kansas City building in which federal authorities

12:17

have jailed them. Enraged

12:20

at the deaths of their women

12:22

folk and determined to exact vengeance,

12:24

scattered bands of bushwhackers come

12:27

together until more than 400

12:29

guerrillas have assembled under the

12:31

command of William Quantrill. On

12:34

Wednesday, August 19, with 6,000 federal troops

12:37

now on hand, the draft

12:40

which had been suspended after the

12:42

July riots now resumes in New

12:44

York City. On

12:46

Friday, August 21, staff

12:49

officer and mapmaker Jedidiah

12:51

Hotchkiss, serving in the

12:53

Army of Northern Virginia, writes in his

12:55

diary, quote, This

12:58

is a fast day proclaimed by the

13:00

President of the Confederate States, and

13:02

has been observed as a Sabbath in the camp.

13:06

Mr. Lacy preached at our headquarters,

13:08

and nearly a thousand soldiers and

13:10

many officers came to hear him.

13:13

He gave us a noble discourse

13:15

in which he handled unsparingly our

13:18

sins as an army and people, but

13:21

held out that God must be on

13:23

our side because we are in the

13:25

right as proven by our deeds, and

13:28

our enemies had shown themselves cruel

13:30

and bloodthirsty. General

13:32

Lee, I noticed, spoke to each lady

13:34

there and to all the children. Also

13:38

in August in the north,

13:40

Louisa May Alcott, previously a

13:42

writer of undistinguished fairy tales

13:44

and short stories, established

13:46

her literary reputation with

13:48

the publication of Hospital

13:50

Sketches, which is a

13:53

fictionalized account of the six weeks she

13:55

served as a nurse in a Washington

13:57

hospital until illness forced her to live.

14:00

leave. One

14:02

passage reads, There they were,

14:04

our brave boys, as

14:06

the papers justly call them, the

14:09

sight of several stretchers, each

14:11

with its legless, armless, or

14:14

desperately wounded occupant, entering

14:16

my ward, admonished me that I was

14:18

there to work, not to wonder or

14:20

weep. So I corked up

14:23

my feelings and returned to the path of

14:25

duty, which was rather a hard

14:27

road to travel just then. On

14:41

August 21st, issuing orders to

14:43

kill every male and burn every house,

14:46

William Quantroll leads a force of

14:48

over 400 Confederate guerrillas in

14:51

an attack on the free soil town

14:53

of Lawrence in eastern Kansas, where

14:55

they murder more than 180 men and boys and burn 185 buildings before

15:01

escaping back to Missouri.

15:03

This act of vengeance will

15:06

beget vengeance. The

15:08

Lawrence massacre so enrages the

15:10

area's Federal commander, General Thomas

15:12

Ewing, that on August 25th he

15:15

will issue General Orders number 11, under

15:18

which Union forces will sweep

15:20

four western Missouri counties clear

15:23

of all but the most certainly

15:25

loyal inhabitants, in the

15:27

process turning more than 10,000 other

15:29

Missourians out onto the

15:32

roads as refugees, with only

15:34

the clothes and belongings they

15:36

can carry. The bitterness this

15:38

unhappy episode inspires will last

15:40

long after the war. On

15:43

August 29th, the third of

15:45

the Confederacy's experimental submarines,

15:48

H.L. Hundley, named after

15:50

the businessman and inventor who

15:52

is financing its development, sinks

15:55

in Charleston Harbor when it's swamped by

15:57

the wake of a passing vessel as

16:00

it maneuvers on the surface with an open

16:02

hatch. Five crewmen

16:05

are lost, three survive. Unlike

16:08

its two predecessors, Hunley will be recovered

16:10

and efforts will continue to try to

16:12

develop it so it can be deployed

16:15

in combat against the enemy. On

16:18

August 30th, Union soldier David Lane,

16:21

serving in a Michigan regiment, complains

16:23

in his diary, Oh,

16:26

these vexatious postal delays, they

16:28

are the bane of my life. I

16:31

wonder if postmasters are human beings with

16:34

live hearts inside their jackets. You

16:39

see, mail is vital, to Lane and

16:41

to hundreds of thousands of other soldiers

16:44

on both sides of the lines. To

16:47

receive a letter from home is almost always

16:49

a morale booster for the men in the

16:51

armies. But bad

16:53

news or no news from

16:55

home can cause worry and stress,

16:58

especially for Confederate soldiers whose families

17:00

are in the path of federal

17:02

advances. Lieutenant

17:05

James Billingsley Mitchell were right to

17:07

his mother in Alabama in October,

17:09

asking, Why don't someone

17:11

from home write to me? I have

17:14

not received a line since I left Chattanooga. I

17:17

am beginning to fear the Yankees have come up and

17:19

there has been a battle at home, as

17:21

there seems to be a perfect cessation

17:23

of all communication. You

17:26

must not forget that I am always as anxious

17:28

to hear from home as

17:30

you are to hear from me. On

17:48

September 2nd, Ambrose Burnside and his small army

17:51

of the Ohio occupies

17:53

Knoxville, fulfilling Abraham Lincoln's

17:55

two-year dream of liberating

17:58

Unionist East Tennessee. Knoxville

18:01

was evacuated by the Confederates when

18:03

the division occupying the town headed

18:05

toward Chattanooga to join Braxton Bragg.

18:09

Meanwhile, William Rosecrans, having bested

18:11

Bragg in the Tullahoma campaign,

18:14

moves the Army of the

18:16

Cumberland toward strategically important Chattanooga

18:18

in the southeast corner of

18:20

the Volunteer State. U.S.

18:23

Ambassador to Great Britain, Charles Francis

18:25

Adams, writes a stern warning to

18:28

the British Foreign Minister, Lord John

18:30

Russell, on September 5th about

18:33

what have come to be called the Laird

18:35

Rams. Built by

18:37

the British company John Laird & Sons,

18:40

the powerful vessels were contracted

18:42

for by James Bullock, the

18:44

Confederacy's naval agent in England.

18:47

British law officers, however, have been claiming

18:49

that they have no evidence the ships

18:52

are being built for the Confederacy, and

18:55

thus they cannot seize them as

18:57

violations of British neutrality. But

19:00

Adams knows better. What

19:02

he doesn't know is that two

19:04

days before his warning to Russell,

19:06

the Foreign Minister decided to seize

19:08

the two vessels, thus

19:10

avoiding a diplomatic crisis with the

19:13

United States. The

19:15

Rams will eventually be commissioned in the British

19:17

Navy. On September

19:19

6th, in South Carolina, Confederates

19:22

vacate Battery Wagner after

19:24

intensive naval bombardment and

19:27

in anticipation of an imminent

19:29

federal infantry assault. The

19:31

first regiment of Union troops to move

19:34

into the abandoned fort will be

19:36

the 54th Massachusetts. Back

19:39

in Tennessee, as the Confederate division

19:41

that recently withdrew from Knoxville arrives

19:43

in Chattanooga, joining more

19:45

than 10,000 other reinforcements that have

19:48

arrived from Mississippi, Braxton

19:50

Bragg, on September 8th, decides

19:53

to evacuate Chattanooga. He

19:56

is leery of becoming trapped

19:58

there should Rose Crance occupy

20:00

the surround. The next day,

20:02

after federal troops occupy the town

20:04

without a fight, a despondent

20:07

Jefferson Davis declares, We

20:09

are now at the darkest hour of our political

20:11

existence. Also

20:13

on September 8 at Sabine

20:16

Pass on the Texas-Louisiana border,

20:18

Confederates manning a small fort employ deadly

20:20

accurate artillery fire and hand an embarrassing

20:22

defeat to a Federal Army Navy expedition

20:24

comprising four gunboats and a seven troop

20:27

transports. Though a minor

20:29

victory, the action provides a morale boost to the

20:31

Confederacy. Jefferson

20:34

Davis will later refer to it as the thermopoly

20:36

of the Civil War. On

20:40

September 9 in Raleigh, North Carolina, Confederate

20:42

soldiers plunder the offices

20:45

of a newspaper, the North Carolina

20:47

Standard. The

20:54

paper's publisher, William H. Holden,

20:56

is now considered a traitor

20:58

by many Confederates after

21:00

he reached the conclusion that the Confederacy

21:02

can't win the war, and

21:04

he has been emptying on that assumption,

21:07

organizing anti-war meetings and printing editorials advocating

21:09

a negotiated peace with the North. That same

21:11

day in Charleston Harbor, United States Marines and

21:13

sailors attempt a night landing at Fort Sumter

21:15

in Charleston Harbor and are repulsed with heavy casualties.

21:24

The attempt

21:26

fails in part because Confederates have a

21:29

captured code book from USS Keocook, which

21:31

was wrecked during an earlier assault on

21:33

Charleston. Using

21:37

the code book, the rebels are able to

21:39

read the flag signal sent back and forth

21:42

between Union commanders during

21:44

the operations planning. In

21:47

Virginia, Jefferson Davis overrides the objections

21:49

of Robert E. Lee and

21:52

sends General James Longstreet and two of

21:54

his divisions from the Army of Northern

21:56

Virginia to reinforce Braxton Bragg near Chattanooga,

21:58

the Army of Northern Virginia. Because

22:01

the Yankees now occupy Knoxville and

22:04

Chattanooga, these 12,000 Confederate

22:06

reinforcements are forced to take a

22:08

roundabout route to reach Bragg. Only

22:11

about 6,000 will arrive in time

22:14

to take part in the Battle of Chickamauga.

22:27

In Arkansas on September 10, the state

22:30

capital of Little Rock falls to the

22:32

Federals, a loss that severely

22:34

threatens the entire Confederate trans-Mississippi, which is

22:37

already cut off from the rest of

22:39

the Confederacy by the fall of Bicksburg

22:41

and the loss of Port Hudson and

22:43

Union control of the Mississippi River.

22:47

The Confederate

22:51

state government that pulls out of

22:53

Little Rock ahead of the Federals

22:55

will re-establish itself from the town

22:57

of Washington to the southwest. Unionist

23:01

Arkansans will establish their own state government early

23:03

in 1864. These

23:07

two opposing governments will hold sway

23:09

over different sections of the state,

23:11

roughly divided by the Arkansas River,

23:14

for the remainder of the war. As

23:17

three scattered columns of Rosecrans Army

23:19

of the Cumberland search for Braxton

23:21

Bragg's Confederates in wooded

23:24

and mountainous North Georgia, the

23:26

Federals are facing the growing danger that

23:28

Bragg will attack each of the columns

23:31

in turn when they are isolated and

23:33

vulnerable. On September 12, Union

23:36

Brigadier General John Beatty writes in

23:38

his diary, quote, the

23:41

roads up and down the mountains

23:43

are extremely bad, and our progress

23:45

has therefore been slow, in the

23:47

march here a tedious one. The

23:50

boys have had no time to rest during the

23:52

day and have done much night work, but they

23:54

hold up well. Six

23:57

days later, as the Federal columns

23:59

converge, the and Beatty moves his

24:01

men up to a position on Chickamauga Creek,

24:03

he will note, occasional

24:06

shots along the line indicated that

24:08

the enemy was in our immediate

24:10

front. The

24:13

next day, the 19th, and also

24:16

the next, the 20th, the

24:18

bloodiest battle of the war in the

24:20

Western theater takes place in the wooded

24:22

terrain near Chickamauga Creek in North Georgia,

24:25

some 12 miles south of Chattanooga,

24:28

as 66,000 Confederates led

24:30

by Braxton Bragg clash

24:32

with 60,000 Federals of

24:34

William Rosecrans, Army of the Cumberland.

24:37

The Federals hold their own through the

24:39

first day of bitter combat, but midway

24:42

through day two, the rebels exploit a

24:44

gap in the Union line and send

24:46

their Rosecrans army in two. The

24:49

Confederates push most of the Yankees on the

24:51

southern part of the battlefield, and

24:54

Rosecrans himself into a full-scale

24:56

retreat toward Chattanooga. Throughout

24:59

the battle, Major General George Thomas

25:01

has held the Federal Left. As

25:05

the Confederates crack open the Union line,

25:07

Thomas and his men, assisted

25:09

by reinforcements led by Gordon Granger,

25:12

continue to hold out on Horseshoe Ridge,

25:15

saving the army from complete disaster.

25:18

Thomas doesn't withdraw from the field until

25:20

nightfall. His defensive stand

25:23

earns him the nickname, Rock of

25:25

Chickamauga. The butcher's

25:27

bill at Chickamauga will exceed 34,000 Federal

25:30

and Confederate soldiers killed,

25:33

wounded or missing. Braxton

25:35

Bragg doesn't believe his battered army is

25:37

in any shape to closely pursue

25:39

the retreating enemy. After

25:42

the Yankees reached Chattanooga and set

25:44

up strong defensive lines there, Bragg

25:47

has his force occupy the surrounding

25:49

heights, including Lookout Mountain

25:51

and Missionary Ridge, thereby

25:53

cutting the main Federal supply line into

25:56

the town. Chicago,

26:00

Abraham Lincoln attends a nighttime meeting

26:02

at the War Department with Secretary

26:04

of War Edwin Stanton and General

26:07

and Chief Henry Halleck. The

26:10

news that William Rosecrans left the

26:12

battlefield while fighting still raged is

26:14

not well received in Washington. When

26:18

old Rosie sends a long message

26:20

giving the reasons for his defeat

26:22

at Chicago, Stanton grumbles, I

26:24

know the reasons well enough. Rosecrans

26:27

ran away from his fighting men and did

26:29

not stop for 13 miles. With

26:33

the Army of the Cumberland now, for

26:35

all intents and purposes, trapped at Chattanooga,

26:38

Lincoln, Stanton, and Halleck decide they

26:40

must send reinforcements if the place

26:42

is to be held. Their

26:45

decision sets in motion the largest movement

26:47

of troops by rail during the war.

26:50

Performing administrative and logistical miracles,

26:53

Stanton organizes the immediate transport

26:55

by rail of more than

26:57

20,000 men from the

27:00

11th and 12th Corps of the Army of

27:02

the Potomac. The

27:04

force will be commanded by Major General

27:06

Joseph Hooker, who has remained on active

27:08

duty even after his removal from command

27:11

before the Battle of Gettysburg. The

27:14

Union reinforcements will complete the 1,200

27:16

mile journey to the vicinity of

27:18

Chattanooga within 11 days. On

27:22

September 24th, Abraham Lincoln writes to

27:24

his wife Mary, who is currently

27:26

staying at the Fifth Avenue Hotel

27:28

in New York City, telling

27:30

her, quote, we now

27:32

have a tolerably accurate summing up

27:35

of the late battle between Rosecrans

27:37

and Bragg, end quote. Lincoln

27:40

then breaks the sad news to Mary

27:42

that one of the Confederate generals reported

27:45

killed at Chickamauga is her brother-in-law, Benjamin

27:47

Hardin Helm, who was shot in the

27:50

chest while leading a brigade during the

27:52

fighting. This sad

27:54

news adds to the growing burden

27:56

of grief pressing upon Kentucky-born Mary

27:58

and her family. as

28:01

three of her brothers have perished fighting

28:03

for the Confederacy, and now

28:05

her sister Emily's husband has been killed. The

28:09

news is particularly heartbreaking for Abraham,

28:11

who had personally offered Helm a

28:13

position in the Union Army in a

28:15

vain attempt to keep him from siding

28:17

with the Confederacy. The

28:20

President's friend, Judge David Davis, will

28:22

recall after the war, I

28:26

never saw Mr. Lincoln more moved than

28:28

when he heard that his young brother-in-law,

28:30

Ben Hardin Helm, had been killed. I

28:33

saw how grief-stricken he was, so

28:35

I closed the door and left him alone.

28:45

That means it's time for this

28:47

episode's book recommendation, and our recommendation

28:49

this time is Abraham

28:51

and Mary Lincoln by Kenneth

28:54

J. Winkel. You

28:56

know the Lincolns are one of the more

28:58

interesting stories connected to the Civil War. What

29:01

Winkel says was, quote, a

29:04

fascinating and enigmatic marriage,

29:08

and he does a fine job in just 125 pages or so

29:10

of giving us a picture of this complicated

29:14

partnership between Abraham and Mary.

29:18

Anyway, this is one of the

29:20

titles in the Southern Illinois University

29:23

Press's Concise Lincoln Library, so

29:25

there you go. You can

29:27

find a list of all

29:29

of our book recommendations if

29:31

you head over to the

29:34

podcast website at www.CivilWarPodcast.org. Also

29:37

with the website you can find

29:39

information on joining the Strahf-Up Brigade

29:41

over on Patreon and supporting the

29:43

podcast in that way, just like

29:46

Alex M., Mark, and

29:48

Mike did this past week. Thanks,

29:50

guys. And thanks to all

29:52

of you for listening to this episode of the podcast.

29:56

Tracy and I do hope that you'll join us

29:58

again next time, but until then, take care. care.

30:01

Thanks everyone. Bye.