Q & A July 10, 2020

Q&A June 6, 2020

 The following are questions, comments, and rants I received over the past years from readers of my articles and books. Every new article generates a few e-mails, but some seem to grab the attention of a larger group of readers. Last year, for example, the article about Confederate memorials and the article about a fallen soldier at Gettysburg resulted in more correspondence than almost all other nearly 100 articles I have published.

 Recently, I received over thirty e-mails about the 2020 Memorial Day article, “Lincoln’s Young Friend” which recalled the tragic death of Col. Elmer Ellsworth. Most were just acknowledge-ments, but the following three e-mails brought a different perspective and may be of interest. Other readers commented on articles about the escape from Libby Prison and about the Northern born officer who joined the Confederacy based on his love for his wife.

 (Q)  While I enjoyed your article on Elmer Ellsworth, in the interest of accuracy I must point out a couple of bits of misinformation. Lincoln was not a friend or even an acquaintance of Ellsworth's father.  Ephraim was an impoverished handyman in New York. The only contact President Lincoln had with the senior Ellsworth was a letter of condolence Lincoln wrote to the family after young Ellsworth's murder.   Ellsworth had been introduced to Mr. Lincoln by Springfield Militia Commander John Cook shortly before Ellsworth took his Chicago-based U.S. Zouave Cadets on their sensational six-week tour in 1860.  Ellsworth and his Zouaves became a phenomenon.  Before that, Ellsworth was a law clerk and when Lincoln hired him shortly after the nomination, it was more as a campaign worker than as a clerk. Ellsworth was in charge of his newly recruited New York Fire Zouaves for less than two months when on May 24th they were ordered to help take Alexandria, Va.  However, they did not march across a bridge from Washington D.C. to Alexandria.  They took steamboats to Alexandria. This information is found in “1861, The Civil War Awakening” by Adam Goodheart and “Freedom Rising” by Ernest B. Furguson.

(A) Thank you for these corrections. I try to be historically accurate, however, I occasionally slip up. (Note: I have edited this e-mail a bit, just for space, but the writer’s factual information is intact.) I have now made these corrections to the article for the archives. I hope that these errors, whether Lincoln knew Col. Ellsworth’s father and the transportation Ellsworth used to get to Alexandria, do not detract from the story about a young soldier who died in the service to our country. My intent was a Memorial Day remembrance.

 (Q) I enjoyed your Memorial Day article about Union Colonel Ellsworth; however, for the third time, as I recall, for this special holiday, you wrote about the gallantry of a Union soldier. There were numerous examples of young Confederate soldiers who fought heroically and died in combat.  Do you not have similar regard for them?

(A) That is a fair question. In my mind, Memorial Day recognizes those who died serving the United States. I frankly had not given much thought to whether, or not, it also honors those who died fighting for the Confederacy. After about 1880, several Presidents and Congresses made conciliatory gestures to former Confederates to help try to heal the country. For example, they approved a Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery and there are Confederate soldiers buried there.  While some Southerners accepted the gestures regarding Arlington, most others did not. There are, however, numerous Confederate cemeteries throughout the South, and, in fact, the first Memorial Day observance was at one of these cemeteries where flowers were scattered on graves. Northern states realized the respect that bestowed and picked up the practice. A few Southern states still recognize a Confederate Memorial Day, but on different dates than the National holiday. I certainly grant you that there were many heroic acts by Southern soldiers, and their bravery should be remembered. (I have written about several such Confederate soldiers; Thomas Jackson, Sam Watkins, Will Thomas, John Mosby, and John Beall come to mind.) Their absence from my Memorial Day articles should not be seen as disrespect.

 (Q) The article you wrote about Union Colonel Ellsworth’s death at the hotel in Alexandria, Virginia is mis-guided at best and outright biased at worst. The only hero that day was James W. Jackson, the civilian owner of the hotel who defended his home and family against foreign invaders! Ellsworth was showboating when he went to the roof of the hotel, which was the private property of Mr. Jackson. Against five Yankee interlopers, really thieves, Jackson armed himself and stood his ground. He was killed by the other Yankee soldiers while in his home. It insults all Southerners for you to refer to him as the assailant. You should have selected another, more deserving Union soldier than Ellsworth to honor on Memorial Day and I would not have complained. Lincoln was a tyrant and I believe Ellsworth was trying to take a souvenir back to his boss. He deservedly paid the price. As an aside, you would be more of a historian and less of a bigot if you wrote occasionally about Southern heroes of that War of Northern Aggression.

(A)  (I should note that this letter is edited only for volume and repetition, but I did not change any key words; so, I believe I left intact the writer’s full message. The following is my reply to the writer.)  It is interesting to me that the very same event, after nearly 160 years, could be seen by two people so differently. We agree on the basic facts of the actual incident, but not the motives. The Confederate states, through their army and militias, instigated the Civil War. The state of Virginia did not rush to join other Southern states in secession and the United States Government had yet taken no action into Virginia. However, when Virginia voted to secede, over a month after the Civil War began, the proximity of Alexandria to Washington DC, just across the Potomac River, left the President with no choice to create a buffer to protect the Nation’s Capital from attack. The Confederate flag that Col. Ellsworth removed was a symbol of an insurgent power which would initiate any such attack, and I believe he did his duty as he saw it. The little research I have done on Mr. Jackson paints a picture of a very aggressive personality and a strong advocate for secession and slavery. I believe that most of the Alexandria citizens realized that the town would be occupied and they offered little resistance. There was no seizure of property by the Union soldiers and business were left intact; so, in my opinion, Mr. Jackson lost his temper at an inopportune time. He could have continued to operate his hotel, if he had chosen to do so. By the way, I did not portray Col. Ellsworth as having taken heroic action that day, only that he died while serving his country, and that is the only standard for being honored on Memorial Day.

(NOTE: The writer certainly is not alone in his view of Confederate history. For over 120 years, there was a plaque, displayed near the site of the shooting, honoring James Jackson as, “The first martyr to the cause of Southern Independence.” It was moved to a museum in 2017.)

 (Q) I read your article on General Arthur MacArthur, father of Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Have you researched the Custer family? Of course, George Armstrong Custer is famous for the debacle at Little Big Horn in 1876; but earlier, he and his brother were also heroes in the Civil War. What is your take on the Custers?

(A) The simple answer is that I agree that George and Thomas were heroes. In fact, a chapter of my latest book (yet to be published) has a chapter titled, Custer’s First Stands in which I highlight his Civil War record. He was a good officer and leader who deserves to be remembered for more than just his “Last Stand.” I did not include information about his brothers in the new book, simply for lack of space. His brother Thomas, also an officer in the 7th Cavalry, died with him at Little Big horn; however, in the Civil War, he was a two-time recipient of the Medal of Honor. The youngest brother, Boston, who also died at Little Big Horn, was serving as a civilian scout and forager to the 7th Cavalry, but did not serve in the Civil War. I have drafted an article, but not yet finished the research, tentatively titled “The Custer Boys” which I hope to publish in late 2020. If my book, “The Lincoln Era-Glimpses of Humanity in Chaotic Times” has not been published by then, I will probably include the chapter about George with the drafted article on all three brothers. They were a remarkable trio of young men!

 (Q) In April you published an article about John C. Pemberton, the Northern born General, who defected from the U.S. Army to join the Confederate Army supposedly because he loved his wife who was from Virginia. Two points: First he surely had a more philosophical or practical reason to defect; which is actually better described as to commit treason against the U.S. Further, why no photographs of the couple.

 (A) I do not believe there was another compelling reason for his decision; he loved his wife and her family, who were from Virginia. He did admire the heritage of Virginians in the founding of the nation, so that may have added to his decision. He had been stationed in Virginia for much of his military career, in the U.S. Army, and probably considered himself more a Virginian than a Pennsylvanian. Remember he remained in the Union Army even after the Civil War started and did not resign his commission until after Virginia voted to secede, in late May 1861. But overall, I believe his love for his wife Pattie, was his primary reason for joining the Confederacy. Also, I disagree with your characterization of his actions as traitorous. The federal legal position, as stated by Salmon Chase (when he became Chief Justice) held that those officers, who resigned their commission, did not commit treason; but did commit crimes against the government if they fought for the Confederate States of America. I agree that this is a very precise distinction without much difference. Yours is not the only request for photographs of this remarkable couple. I regret not including these photos in the original publication; it was a poor editing decision on my part trying to reduce the size of the article. While there are numerous photographs of John, as far as I know, only one photograph exists of his wife, Pattie. The following photo of John was taken soon after he joined the Confederate Army, but the lone photograph of Pattie is undated. Perhaps it was also near the start of the Civil War in 1861, when she would have been about 34 years old.

 PHOTO??

 (Q) When I first started your article about General Pemberton, who joined the Confederate Army because of his devotion to his wife, I anticipated that he died in the war. When I finished the story, and learned he survived the war, I wondered if he ever regretted his decision.

(A) Nothing I have read about him indicates regret. He did state on several occasions, (paraphrased), that if faced with the same choices, he would make the same decision. He lived another fifteen years after the war with his wife and children, and I like to think he was content.

 (Q) I was fascinated by the story of the escape from Libby prison by Union POWs. You note that Col. Thomas Rose returned to duty in the Union Army. An article I read recently stated that most POWs suffer some form of PTSD but it only referenced WWII and Viet Nam. Do you know if Civil War POWs experienced PTSD?

(A) Great question: In WWII, soldiers experiencing such trauma were often diagnosed with “shell shock or battle fatigue” and PTSD has only been a diagnosis for the past forty years or so. But, certainly some Civil War POWs, and other soldiers who were never captured, suffered from adverse phycological issues. In fact, Colonel Rose, who you mentioned, was a victim. He was in Libby prison for almost six months, planned and led the escape by a large number of POWs, but then was recaptured and returned to Libby until exchanged for a Confederate soldier a few months later. We know that his incarceration had an effect on him, because, after his release and return to duty, his fellow officers noticed changes in his demeanor and wrote about their observations. Colonel Rose had been an outgoing and energetic young officer; however, after his incarceration ended, they noted that he was reticent and quieter. In today’s world, he may have been diagnosed with PTSD and received treatment but, in the nineteenth century, he just labored on. War is traumatizing; no matter when, or where. Unfortunately, even today, successful treatment for PTSD can still be elusive.

(Q) I enjoyed the article about Abraham Lincoln initiating the Income Tax, but wanted to make one comment.  There was another major source of federal revenue prior to the Civil War, and that was the sale of public lands.  This began when the original 13 states gave up their claims to western lands during the ratification of the Constitution.  The proceeds from the sales of these lands could be used to pay off the public debt and to keep federal taxes low.  But Lincoln had a role to play here, too.  During the Civil War, with the southern states out of the Congress, the Republicans were able to get the Homestead Act of 1862 enacted.  That effectively ended land sales as a major source of federal revenue.  As a historical footnote on federal taxation, in the early 20th century groups favoring Prohibition supported the establishment of a federal income tax because one of the objections to banning the sale of alcohol was the loss of federal excise tax revenues.  Establishing a new income tax was seen as a way to compensate for that loss.  Little did anyone at the beginning of the 20th century foresee that the income tax would be THE primary source of federal revenues 50 years later!

(A) Thank you for the insight. You are correct about land sales, which also became a major source of funding for western states (Arizona included). I also think it is interesting that increasing tax revenues is also an argument for the legalization of a certain recreational drug, just as it was a concern during prohibition a hundred years ago. It is also interesting that the result after prohibition in the 1920s was both to retain the income tax and place new excise taxes on alcohol.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Contact the author at  gadorris2@gmail.com