God And Money

The phrase “In God We Trust” was suggested by Reverend M R Watkinson November 13^th 1861 in a letter to United States Secretary of Treasury Salmon P Chase.

During the Civil War there was an increased religious feeling in the country.  The Reverend M R Watkinson of Ridleyville, Pennsylvania, wrote a letter November 13^th 1861 to US Treasury Secretary Salmon P Chase asking that a proclamation be placed on our money recognizing “Almighty God”.  Chase wrote soon after to the Director of the Philadelphia Mint, that no “nation can be strong except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defense. The trust of our people in God should be declared on our national coins"

Chase wouldn’t formally submit the motto to the treasury until December 9^th 1863.  The act ratified that the motto be placed on the one cent and a newly designed two cent piece on April 22^nd 1864.

The wording of the original letter from Reverend Watkinson is:

"Dear Sir: You are about to submit your annual report to the Congress respecting the affairs of the national finances.

One fact touching our currency has hitherto been seriously overlooked. I mean the recognition of the Almighty God in some form on our coins.

You are probably a Christian. What if our Republic were not shattered beyond reconstruction? Would not the antiquaries of succeeding centuries rightly reason from our past that we were a heathen nation? What I propose is that instead of the goddess of liberty we shall have next inside the 13 stars a ring inscribed with the words PERPETUAL UNION; within the ring the allseeing eye, crowned with a halo; beneath this eye the American flag, bearing in its field stars equal to the number of the States united; in the folds of the bars the words GOD, LIBERTY, LAW.

This would make a beautiful coin, to which no possible citizen could object. This would relieve us from the ignominy of heathenism. This would place us openly under the Divine protection we have personally claimed. From my hearth I have felt our national shame in disowning God as not the least of our present national disasters.

To you first I address a subject that must be agitated."

No Draft

One of the first draft riots during the Civil War occurred November 12^th 1862 in Wisconsin.

On the morning of November 12^th 1862, William Pors a Wisconsin draft officer entered the County Court House at Port Washington, Wisconsin to begin working on a draft.  A mob made up mostly of immigrants dragged him out of the Courthouse and threw Pors down the steps.  Pors hid in the basement of the Post Office while the mob marched on his home and other nearby houses.  They moved on through the town chanting “No draft, no draft” looting, starting fires and causing destruction.  The mob took the town cannon, normally used in the 4^th of July celebration.  The rioters formed a line along the river and prepared to battle the Union Army, which they heard was on its way.

Union troops located in Ulao, Wisconsin marched to Port Washington where they set up a line surrounding the village.  In the meantime the 28^th Wisconsin was brought up by steamer and dropped behind the rioters.  Most of the mob fled, but 136 were captured were transported to Madison, Wisconsin and placed in Camp Randall, where they were held for about a month.  Of these 13 were drafted into the army.

The End Of A Prophet

Nathaniel Turner the leader of a slave rebellion in Virginia was hung November 11^th 1831.

Nat Turner was born October 2^nd 1800 in Virginia, a slave owned by Samuel Turner.  He was a bright man who learned to read and write when a child.  Turner was quite religious and was often found reading the Bible.  When he was 22 Turner ran away from his owner, but returned in about a month, after he “received” a vision from God telling him to.  He began to preach to other slaves, and was known as “The Prophet”.

In May 1828 Turner was working in the fields when he had a message from God telling him to "slay my enemies with their own weapons."  Beginning in February 1831, Turner came to believe that certain atmospheric conditions were to be interpreted as a sign that he should begin preparing for a rebellion against the slave owners.  A solar eclipse occurred in Virginia February 11^th 1831 and Turner took it as sign that the time for the revolt was near.  When another eclipse occurred on August 13^th 1831, Turner took it as the final sign; he began the rebellion a week later.  With a few fellow slaves, Turner moved from house to house killing white people and freeing slaves.  They used axes, hatchets, knives and whatever else was handy.  Turner confessed to killing a woman with a fence post.  Before the local militia could respond Turner’s group killed 60 people.

The revolt was put down within two day, but Turner stayed on the run until October 30^th 1831 when he was found hiding in a hole.  He was placed on trial and sentenced to death November 5^th 1831.  Turner was hung in Jerusalem, Virginia November 11^th 1831, after which his body was desecrated.

A Slow Death

Heinrich Hartmann Wirz the commander of the Confederate Prisoner of War Camp known as Andersonville was executed November 10^th 1865.

Heinrich Hartmann Wirz was born in Zurich, Switzerland November 25^th 1823.  He attended the University of Zurich and practiced medicine before immigrating to the United States in 1849.  Wirz married in Kentucky a widow who had two daughters.  They moved to Louisiana where Wirz started another medical practice and added another daughter to his family.

When the Civil War started Wirz joined the 4^th Louisiana Volunteers as a private.  While serving during the Battle of Seven Pines he was wounded and lost the use of his right arm.  Do to the loss of his arm Wirz was assigned to the staff of Confederate General John Henry Winder, who was in charge of Confederate prisoner of war camps.  In March 1864 Wirz was placed in command of Camp Sumter located near the railroad depot of Anderson, Georgia, which would come to be batter known as Andersonville.  The prison was designed to be used as a temporary holding place for Union prisoners waiting to be exchanged.  With the end of prisoners exchanges, Andersonville would end up holding about 32,000 Union prisoners.

Wirz was arrested in May 1865 and taken to Washington, DC where he was placed on trial for causing the deaths of Union prisoners of war.  A military tribunal was convened July 1865 and presided over by Union Major General Lew Wallace.  The court took testimony from Union prisoners of war, residents who lived near Andersonville and Confederates who had served with Wirz.  The commission found Wirz guilty of conspiracy and eleven counts of murder.  He was sentenced to death.  He wrote a letter to President Andrew Johnson asking for clemency, but never received a reply.  He was hung to death November 10^th 1865 on First Street in Washington, DC where the Supreme Court building is located.  Wirz’s neck didn’t break when the gallows dropped and so he slowly strangled to death.  Wirz is buried in the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington, DC.

The Fort Only Lasted A Year.

Fort Duffield built outside of West Point, Kentucky was started November 3^rd 1861, and finished in two months.

Union General William Tecumseh Sherman was worried about the Confederates located at Bowling Green and Columbus, Kentucky, and a possible attack using the Ohio River and the Louisville Nashville Turnpike.  He ordered a fort the be built on Pearman Hill at West Point Kentucky to protect the Union supply base located at Elizabeth, Kentucky.  The 37^th Indiana and 9^th Michigan began construction of the fort on November 3^rd 1861.  They finished it in two months.

The Fort Duffield was named after Rev George Duffield of Detroit, Michigan.  The Rev’s son Colonel William W Duffield was the commander of the 9^th Michigan.  The fort wasn’t built in the traditional star like shape, but had more of a serpentine shaped wall about 1000 foot long.  There was a fresh water source inside in the fort and the trees were removed for a mile around the fort.  About 61 men died from disease while working on the fort.  There were about 950 soldier stationed in Fort Duffield.

Fort Duffield never saw any action, and was abandoned in the fall of 1862.  Interestingly had the Fort remained in use, they may have stopped Confederate General John Hunt Morgan’s 1863 Raid, which was carried out in the area.

A Small Bayou Battle

The Battle of Bayou Bourbeux was fought November 2^nd 1863 in Southwestern Louisiana.

The Battle of Bayou Bourbeux [also known as Battle of Grand Coreau] took place west of the town Grand Coteau, Louisiana November 2^nd 1863.  Confederate Brigadier General Thomas Green received orders to make an attack on the Union camp located there, from Confederate Major General Richard A Taylor.  The Union camp was under the command of Brigadier General Stephen Gano Burbridge.

The casualties were light with  26 Union dead and 42 Confederate dead.

He Ordered The Great Train Chase

Union Major General Ormsby McKnight Mitchel who ordered the Great Locomotive Chase died October 30^th 1862.

Ormsby McKnight Mitchel was born August 28^th 1809-10 in Union County, Kentucky.  He grew up in Lebanon, Ohio where he worked as a clerk until receiving an appointment to West Point in 1825.  Mitchel graduated 15^th out of 46 in 1829.  He stayed on at West Point for three years where he taught mathematics.  Mitchel passed the bar and became an attorney, before returning to teaching mathematics and natural philosophy at Cincinnati College.  In 1845 Mitchel was appointed director of the observatory at the College, which had the second largest refracting telescope in the world.  In 1859 he moved on the Dudley Observatory in Albany, New York, as their superintendent.

When the Civil War started Mitchel joined the Union army as a Brigadier General.  He commanded the Union Department of the Ohio from September to November 1861.  During this time Mitchel worked with James J Andrew to steal a train in Georgia to disrupt Confederate railroads, at the time Mitchel planned an attack on Chattanooga, Tennessee.  Although the plan failed and Andrew was captured and hanged the raid become known as “The Great Locomotive Chase”.  Mitchel led a division in the Army of the Ohio until July 1862.  He seized the city of Huntsville, Alabama without a shot being fired in April 1862.  He received a promotion to Major General for this.  Mitchel was place in command of Tenth Corps and the Department of the South at Hilton Head, South Carolina in September 1862.  He died in Beaufort, South Carolina of Yellow Fever October 30^th 1862, and is buried in the Green Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.