Lincoln Toures The Confederate Capital

Two day after the Confederate government evacuated Richmond, Virginia; on April 4^th 1865 President Abraham Lincoln toured the former capital.

President Abraham Lincoln and his son Thomas Tad Lincoln visited the former Confederate Capital of Richmond, Virginia on April 4^th 1865.  Just days after the Confederate forces evacuated, leaving the city in smoking ruins.  Lincoln who had only 12 soldiers as escort was quickly mobbed by former slaves as he made his way to the previous Confederate White House then being used as the Union military headquarters. He hoped to meet with his commanding general, but instead was faced with a delegation of Southerners looking for the war to be brought to an end.

Following the meeting Lincoln and his son rode through Richmond by carriage, making visits to Libby Prison and other famous sites around the city.  Once they reached Rocketts Landing, Lincoln and Tad boarded the USS Malvern.  The next morning Lincoln left Richmond.

Union Admiral David Dixon Porter said of the President’s trip to Richmond, "I should have preferred to see the President of the United States entering the subjugated stronghold of the rebels with an escort more befitting his high station, yet that would have looked as if he came as a conqueror to exult over a brave but fallen enemy. He came instead as a peacemaker, his hand extended to all who desired to take it."

Rudely Awaken

Union Brigadier General Edwin Henry Stoughton was captured while sleeping March 9^th 1863 at Fairfax Court House by Confederate Colonel John S Mosby.

Edwin Henry Stoughton was born June 23^rd 1838 in Chester, Windham, Vermont the son of Henry Evander and Laura (Clark) Stoughton.  He received an appointment to the United States Military Academy and graduated with the class of 1859 placing 17 out of a class of 22.  Stoughton served with the United States 4^th Infantry until 1859, when he was promoted to Second Lieutenant and transferred to the United States 6^th Infantry.

Stoughton resigned his commission in March 1861 with start of the Civil War.  In September 1861 he was appointed to the 4^th Vermont Infantry as their Colonel.  Stoughton led the 4^th through the Peninsula Campaign.  They saw action at the Battles of Williamsburg and Savage Station.  He was appointed to Brigadier General in November 1862; the youngest General in the Union Army at that time, and was placed in command of the 2^nd Vermont Brigade, replacing Colonel Asa P Blunt.

Stoughton held a party for his visiting mother and sister on March 8^th 1863 at the home of Antonia Ford.  Ford was a Confederate spy.  When Stoughton left the party he retired to his headquarters located in the town of Fairfax Court House.  Confederate Colonel John S Mosby captured Stoughton at 2am on March 9^th 1863, while he slept.  The story is that Stoughton was woken rudely and shouted out, "Do you know who I am?"  To this Mosby said, "Do you know Mosby, general?" "Yes! Have you got the rascal?" "No but he has got you!"  Stoughton spent two months in Libby Prison before being exchanged.  His appointment was not confirmed by the Congress and Stoughton resigned from the Union Army in May 1863.

Following the war Stoughton worked as an attorney in New York City.  He died December 25^th 1868 in New York City.  Stoughton is buried in the Immanuel Cemetery in Rockingham, Windham, Vermont.

A Long Running Raid

Col Abel D Streight

The first of a series of skirmishes known as Streight’s Raid, the Battle of Day’s Gap was fought on April 30th 1863 in Cullman County, Alabama.

The goal of Union Colonel Abel D Streight’s Raid was to cut off the Western & Atlantic Railroad, interrupting Confederate General Braxton Bragg’s supplies. Streight’s force made up of the 80th Illinois, 51st and 73rd Indiana, 3rd Ohio Infantry and 1st Middle Tennessee Cavalry, left Nashville, Tennessee and moved first to Eastport, Mississippi, then to Tuscumbia, Alabama. Leaving Tuscumbia on April 26th 1863 his march south was screened by Union Brigadier General Grenville M Dodge.

At Day’s Gap on the Sand Mountain, Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest attacked Streight’s rearguard on April 30th 1863. The Union troops held off the attack and continued the march to avoid further envelopment. This battle set in motion a series of engagements including Crooked Creek and Hog Mountain the same day. Streight’s Raid came to end on May 3rd 1863 when Forrest surrounded the exhausted Union troops about three miles from Cedar Bluff, Alabama, where they surrendered. Streight was sent to Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia, which he escaped from on February 9th 1864.

His Heart Gave Out

Career United States Army officer and Confederate General John Henry Winder died February 21st 1865.


John Henry Winder was born February 7th 1800 at his families plantation “Rewston” in Somerset County, Maryland, the son of Brigadier General William H and Gertrude [Polk] Winder. He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point graduating 11th in a class of 30 in 1820. After 4 years of military service Winder resigned to run the family plantation. Do to some family deaths and economic hardships Winder was forced to rejoin the army. He was promoted to First Lieutenant November 30th 1833 and given the job of teaching tactic at West Point, where one of his students was Jefferson Davis. Winder saw service during the Mexican - American war including the Battles of Contreras, Churubusco and Mexico City. Following the war Winder held the rank of Major in the United Army, receiving this promotion on November 22nd 1860.

Winder resigned his United State commission on April 27th 1860 and became a Colonel in the Confederate Army. He was made the Assistant Inspector General of Camps on June 21st 1861 with the rank of Brigadier General. Winder’s duties included prisons, handling deserters, setting prices for commodities and command of Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia. It was Winder who appointed Captain Henry Wirz in April 1864 to command the Confederate Prison camp in Georgia known as Andersonville Prison. On November 21st 1864 Winder was placed in charge of the Confederate Bureau of Prison Camps a post he held until his death.

Winder was on duty in Florence, South Carolina when he had a heart attack and died February 7th 1865. He is buried in the Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland.

Escape From Rat Hell

More than 100 Union soldiers broke out of the Confederate Libby Prison on February 9th 1864 in Richmond, Virginia.

Luther Libby ran a supply shop in the corner of a large warehouse in Richmond, Virginia. When the Civil War began the Confederates needed a prison to hold captured Union officers. They gave Libby fourty-eight hours to vacate his property. The sign “L Libby & Son, Ship Chandlers” remained on the building, and so it became known as Libby Prison.

Libby Prison took in an entire city block and on the south side of the prison was the James River. The prison was three stories high with a basement exposed on the river side. The first floor held offices for the Confederate guard unites, the second and third floor held prisoners. The basement was divided into three parts, a storage cellar, a carpenter’s shop and an abandoned kitchen. The kitchen area was abandoned because of flooding, and an infestation of rats. The area became known as “Rat Hell”.

Union officers broke into the “Rat Hell” by removing a stove and chipping into the chimney. From there they tunneled their way out. The floor in “Rat Hell” was covered in two feet of straw, which allowed the prisoners to hide the dirt from the tunnel. In seventeen days the Union Prisoners tunneled through to a vacant lot on the eastern side of the prison, coming up under a tobacco shed.

On the night of February 9th 1864 the Union officers began to escape Libby Prison in groups of two and three. The Confederate guards didn’t believe escape from Libby Prison was possible and weren’t looking for any of the signs. A hundred and nine men escaped the prison. At dawn on February 10th 1864, Union Colonel Harrison C Hobart replace the bricks in the fireplace, to cover the escape. The Confederate guards made their morning round unaware of the missing men.

Out of the 109 men who escaped Libby Prison on February 9th 1864, 59 of them made it back to Union lines, 48 of the prisoners were recaptured, and two of the drowned in the James River.

The Youngest Colonel

A lawyer and Union Army General, Edwin Henry Stoughton was born June 23rd 1838.


Edwin Henry Stoughton was born June 23rd 1838 in Chester VT, the son of Henry Evander and Laura [Clark] Stoughton. He received an appointment to West Point in 1854, and graduated 17th in his class of 1859. Stoughton started with the United States 4th Infantry, and in September 1859 was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant and transferred to the 6th Infantry.

In March 1861 Stoughton resigned his commission with the United States Army, and excepted an appointment to the 4th Vermont Infantry as their Colonel, where he lead them during the Peninsular Campaign. He was only 23 and the youngest Colonel in the Army at the time. In November 1862 he received a promotion to Brigadier General and took over command of the 2nd Vermont Brigade. On March 9th 1863 Stoughton was captured by Confederate Colonel John S Mosby at Fairfax Court House Virginia. He was held in Libby Prison in Richmond Virginia for two months before being exchanged. Stoughton saw no further military service.
Following the war he worked as a lawyer . Stoughton died December 25th 1868 in New York City. He is buried in the Immanuel Cemetery in Rockingham Vermont.
Another web site about this subject
Vermont-born Generals
Biographies

A Soldier's Artist

Artist and Civil War Medal of Honor winner Julian A Scott was born February 14th 1846.

Julian A Scott was born in Johnson Vermont February 14th 1846 the son of Charles and Lucy [Kellum] Scott. He attended Johnson State College. At the beginning of the Civil War several Scott brothers enlisted, including Julian’s older brother Lucian who was wounded at the Battle of Ball’s Bluff, taken prison and almost died in Libby Prison. Julian enlisted at the age of 15 in the 3rd Vermont Infantry, Company “E” as a fifer. He received the Medal of Honor in February 1865 for rescuing wounded at the Battle of Lee’s Mills while under fire.

Following the war Scott graduated from the National Academy of Design in New York City. He then traveled to Europe to continue his education in art. He produced many works of his experiences of the soldiers experience during the Civil War. Scott’s master work of art is the “Battle of Cedar Creek” now located in the Vermont State House in Montpelier. The painting illustrates the Vermonter’s roll in the battle. He would travel west as part of a 1890 census party and there painted Native Americans in Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona.

Scott died at 55. He is buried in the Hillside Cemetery in Scotch Plains New Jersey.

Another website to look at about this subject
Julian A Scott, Artist

A President's Cousin

Libby Prison

On January 12th 1865 Edwin Louis Hayes was brevetted Brigadier General.

Edwin L Hayes was born in Ellicottville,NY the son of Harvey B Hayes. He was a cousin of President Rutherford B Hayes, and was age 34 when he enlisted on August 26, 1862 to serve for three years. In September of 1863 he was captured and sent to Libby Prison for eleven months [he was part of the men who dug an escape tunnel from the prison]. After the war he spent a short time as the Reconstruction Governor of NC. He died at his home at the age of 98, the oldest living Civil War General.

General Godwin

Confederate Brigadier General Archibald Godwin was killed on September 20th 1864 during the 3rd Battle of Winchester.

General Godwin was the son of Jonathan and Julia [Campbell]Godwin, and was born in 1831 in Nansemond Co,VA. When he was 19 he followed the gold fever to California, and went on to build a nice fortune in mining, cattle, real estate and timber. In 1860 he lost the Democratic nomination for California Governor by just one vote.

When the Civil War broke out in 1861 Godwin moved backed to Virginia. He began his military career as the Assistant Provost Marshal in charge of Libby Prison, and the task of constructing the prison in Salisbury, North Carolinia. Godwin was at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and took part under Colonel Isaac Avery in the assault on Cemetery Hill in July 2nd 1863. Colonel Avery was wounded and Godwin took over the command, until November 7th 1863 when he was captured. When he was exchanged in 1864 he was promoted to Brigadier General and put in charge of what had been Hoke’s Brigade.

He had gotten a reputation as being cruel to Union POW’s. There was some talk after the war of trying Godwin for war crimes, until the Federal government found out he was dead.