Tag: Abraham Lincoln

Today In Western History: The Sanitary Commission Fair Closes

Posted on by larry

 

On this day in 1864, the U.S. Sanitary Commission Fair in Washington, D.C., closes with President Abraham Lincoln commending the organization for its work on behalf of Union soldiers.

Abraham Lincoln, 16th US President
Abraham Lincoln, 16th US President

Established in 1861 as a federal government agency, the Sanitary Commission was responsible for coordinating the efforts of thousands of volunteers during the Civil War. The group’s workers raised some $25 million in donations and medical supplies; sent inspectors to military camps to oversee the establishment of clean water supplies, latrines, and cooking facilities; worked alongside doctors and nurses on the frontlines to help evacuate wounded troops; they sewed uniforms and blankets and even provided lodging and meals to injured soldiers returning home on furlough. Although the program was administered by men, the organization was made up primarily of female volunteers and represented a major contribution by Yankee women to the war effort.

Some generals and Army doctors found Sanitary Commission volunteers annoying and meddlesome, especially when they criticized the military’s medical practices, such as performing operations drunk or failing to clean their instruments between operations.  One physician complained about what he saw as “sensation preachers, village doctors, and strong-minded women” interfering with his work and that of his colleagues.  Prominent among the group’s members was the formidable and no-nonsense Mary Ann Bickerdyke, who became the commission’s agent to the Army of the Tennessee before the

Mary Ann Bickerdyke, known as "Mother Bickerdyke" for her care of the wounded soldiers
Mary Ann Bickerdyke, known as “Mother Bickerdyke” for her care of the common soldiers

Battle of Shiloh in April 1862.  She quickly became known to all the soldiers as “Mother Bickerdyke”.  Bickerdyke was dedicated to caring for common soldiers and she wasn’t afraid to challenge doctors and officers when she thought troop care was being compromised. At Chattanooga, Tennessee, Bickerdyke ordered timbers for breastworks burned to keep wounded soldiers warm. When military police asked her who had authorized the burning, she replied, “Under the authority of God Almighty. Have you got anything better than that?”  At one point, some medical officers complained to General William Sherman about her  but got nowhere, as Sherman just said in exasperation, “I can do nothing, she ranks me!”  The Sanitary Commission’s work fit traditional roles for 19th-century American women as caretakers and nurturers of men. However, the group’s activities also enabled women to gain work experience outside the home, and in that way can be seen as a step forward for the women’s rights movement. At the closing of the March 1864 Sanitation Commission Fair, Lincoln stated: “If all that has been said by orators and poets since the creation of the world in praise of women applied to the women of America, it would not do them justice for their conduct during this war.”

 

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Photo courtesy of wikipedia.com

 

 

Today In Western History: Lincoln Signs War Order #3

Posted on by larry

March 11 —

Abraham Lincoln, 16th US President
Abraham Lincoln, 16th US President

On this day in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issues War Order No. 3, a measure making several changes at the top of the Union Army command structure.  Lincoln divided the war into sections and created three departments, placing Henry Wager Halleck in charge of the

General Henry W. ("Old Brains") Halleck
General Henry W. (“Old Brains”) Halleck

West, John C. Fremont in command of troops in the Appalachian region, and George McClellan in charge in the East.

John C. Fremont, The Great Pathfinder"
John C. Fremont, The Great Pathfinder”
Union General George B. McClellan
Union General George B. McClellan

The most significant change in the order removed McClellan from his post as general-in-chief of all Union armies, though he retained command of the Army of the Potomac, the most important Union force. McClellan had assumed leadership of that army after it was defeated at the First Battle of Bull Run, Virginia, in July 1861. He quickly installed an efficient command structure and began training an effective fighting force. Three months later, Lincoln elevated McClellan to general-in-chief. However, the relationship between the president and his commanding officer was strained and some-times contentious. The arrogant McClellan was contemptuous of the president and often ignored Lincoln’s communica-tions or kept information from him.  McClellan was stretched thin as general-in-chief, and even he recognized this fact. He was bothered by the March 1862 demotion, but wrote to Lincoln that he would “work just as cheerfully as ever before, and… no consideration of self will in any manner interfere with the discharge of my public duties.” For McClellan, this was a rare show of grace and deference towards Lincoln. The move allowed McClellan to spend more time planning his upcoming campaign against the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia.

For a time, there was no general-in-chief, and the three regional commanders reported to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. The post did not stay empty for long, though, as Halleck was elevated to general-in-chief five months later.

 

 

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Photo courtesy of wikipedia.com

 

 

Today In Western History: Lincoln Is Inaugurated The 16th President

Posted on by larry

 

On this day in 1861, Abraham Lincoln becomes the 16th president of the United States. In his inauguration speech Lincoln extended an olive branch to the South, but also made it clear that he intended to enforce federal laws in the

Abraham Lincoln, 16th US President
Abraham Lincoln,
16th US President

states that seceded.  Since Lincoln’s election in November 1860, seven states had left the Union. Worried that the election of a Republican would threaten their rights, especially slavery, the lower South seceded and formed the Confederate States of America. In the process, some of those states seized federal properties such as armories and forts. By the time Lincoln arrived in Washington, D.C., for his inauguration, the threat of war hung heavy in the air. Lincoln took a cautious approach in his remarks, and made no specific threats against the Southern states. As a result, he had some flexibility in trying to keep the states of the upper South–North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware–in the Union.

In his inaugural address, Lincoln promised not to interfere with the institution of slavery where it existed, and pledged to suspend the activities of the federal government temporarily in areas of hostility. However, he also took a firm stance against secession and the seizure of federal property. The government, insisted Lincoln, would “hold, occupy, and possess” its property and collect its taxes. He closed his remarks with an eloquent reminder of the nation’s common heritage:

“In your hand, my fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect, and defend it… We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

Six weeks later, the Confederates fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, and the Civil War began.

 

                                                                                      

To purchase a signed copy of Larry Auerbach’s novel “THE SPIRIT OF REDD MOUNTAIN”, Click Here

Photo courtesy of wikipedia.com

 

WESTERN HISTORY TODAY: Abraham Lincoln Leaves For Washington, D.C.

Posted on by larry

February 11  —

Abraham Lincoln, 16th US President
Abraham Lincoln,
16th US President

On this day in 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln leaves home in Springfield, Illinois, and embarks on his journey to Washington, D.C.  On a cold, rainy morning, Lincoln boarded a two-car private train loaded with his family’s belongings, which he himself had packed and bound.  His wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, was in St. Louis on a shopping trip, and joined him later in Indiana. It was a somber occasion. Lincoln was leaving his home and heading into the maw of national crisis. Since he had been elected, seven Southern states had seceded from the Union. Lincoln knew that his actions upon entering office would likely lead to civil war. He spoke to a crowd before departing: “Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have pass-ed from a young man to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever, I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of that Divine Being… I cannot succeed. With that assistance, I cannot fail… To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell.”

A bystander reported that the president-elect’s “breast heaved with emotion and he could scarcely command his feelings.” Indeed, Lincoln’s words were prophetic—a funeral train carried him back to Springfield just over four years later.

 

                                                                                      

To purchase a signed copy of Larry Auerbach’s novel “A MATTER OF HONOR”, Click Here

Photo courtesy of wikipedia.com