The Union Army Retreats

William Howard Russell (1820–1907)
From The Civil War: The First Year Told by Those Who Lived It

Interesting Links
July 4, 1861: North and South mark the first Fourth of July of the Civil War (Reader’s Almanac)

The poet-soldiers of the Civil War: Ambrose Bierce, John W. De Forest, Fitz-James O’Brien, Nathaniel Southgate Shaler (Reader’s Almanac)

Previously from
Story of the Week:
“Celebration in Charleston,” William Howard Russell

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The Civil War: The First Year Told by Those Who Lived It
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July 21 marks the 150th anniversary of the First Battle of Bull Run (also known as the First Battle of Manassas), the first major battle of the Civil War. The commander of the Union troops, General Irvin McDowell, had no experience in field command and “did not lack intelligence or energy—but he turned out to be a hard-luck general for whom nothing went right,” writes James McPherson in Battle Cry of Freedom. McDowell’s plan to capture the railroad junction at Manassas might have worked if he had had experienced troops and officers, but most of the troops were green and the ninety-day terms of many Union recruits were about to expire. He was reluctant to advance into Virginia without more time to train his troops, but his plea for a postponement was overruled by Lincoln himself.

In spite of the shortcomings, McPherson notes, “McDowell’s attack came within an ace of success.” During the early hours of the battle, Confederate forces were giving ground and “McDowell appeared to be on the verge of a smashing success.” But Confederate reinforcements arrived, and everything began to go horribly wrong. Into the thick of the resulting chaos, oblivious of the change in events, rode William Howard Russell, whose vivid and colorful account appeared in The Times of London. (Russell’s earlier account from Charleston, describing the events immediately after the Battle of Fort Sumter, appeared previously on Story of the Week.)

Notes: Russell’s friend, Mr. Warre, is Frederick Warre, an attaché at the British legation in Washington. Viaticum (page 464) are provisions for a journey. Mr. Raymond (481) refers to Henry J. Raymond, cofounder and editor of The New York Times. Mr. Brady (483) is the photographer Mathew Brady. A chausée (488) is a causeway or highway. Alexis Benoit Soyer and Marie-Antoine Careme (489) were noted French chefs and authors. Lord Lyons (490) refers to Richard Lyons, 1st Viscount Lyons, British envoy in Washington during the Civil War.

Punctual to time, our carriage appeared at the door, with a spare horse, followed by the black quadruped on which the negro boy sat with difficulty, in consequence of its high spirits and excessively hard mouth. I swallowed a cup of tea and a morsel of bread, put the remainder of the tea into a bottle, got a flask of light Bordeaux, a bottle of water, a paper of sandwiches, and having replenished my small flask with brandy, stowed them all away in the bottom of the gig; . . . If you don't see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!

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Celebration in Charleston

William Howard Russell (1820–1907)
From The Civil War: The First Year Told by Those Who Lived It

Interesting Links
“From Election to Sumter: How the Union Fell Apart”: an interview with historian Adam Goodheart (Smithsonian.com)

“South Carolina secedes from the United States 150 years ago today”: December 20, 2010 (Reader’s Almanac)

Previously from
Story of the Week
“Artemus Ward on His Visit to Abe Lincoln,” Artemus Ward

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The Civil War: The First Year Told by Those Who Lived It
Over 120 pieces • more than sixty participants • 816 pages
List price: $37.50
Web Store price: $32.00
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Bombardment of Fort Sumter; view from
Fort Moultrie. Lithograph by Currier & Ives.
(Library of Congress) Click to enlarge

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the commencement of the American Civil War, and during the next few years there will be countless commemorations, memorials, and reassessments of the conflict’s many battles and events. The clash that famously opened the devastating conflict was the Battle of Fort Sumter. On April 10, 1861, Confederate General P. Gustave Toutant Beauregard, commander of the provisional forces in Charleston, demanded the surrender of the Union garrison at Fort Sumter. After Major Robert Anderson refused, Confederate batteries launched their attack on April 12, the garrison capitulated the next day, and the fort was turned over to Confederate forces on April 14. The battle itself was “bloodless”—although an accidental cannon explosion after the ceasefire killed two Union soldiers and wounded two others.

Famous for his coverage a decade earlier of the Crimean War, London Times correspondent William Howard Russell covered the first year of the American war and gathered his account in My Diary North and South (1863). He arrived in Charleston three days after the surrender and traveled out by boat to see the ruins of Fort Sumter. His diary entry for the day chronicles his tour of a jubilant city and includes astute observations of unruliness and disorderliness among the volunteer Confederate forces—including most memorably the drunk, self-appointed Confederate colonel Louis T. Wigfall, a Senator from Texas who had, without authorization, rowed out to the fort to accept Anderson’s surrender, negotiating terms that had not been approved by Beauregard.

The following is Russell’s journal entry for April 17, reprinted in the forthcoming anthology The Civil War: The First Year Told By Those Who Live It (which has just this week arrived from the printer).

Notes: Solferino (page 281) was a major battle in 1859 during the Second War of Italian Independence, in which the Austrians were defeated. Bobadil (page 287) is a fictional braggart soldier in Ben Jonson’s play Every Man in His Humour. St. Calhoun (page 287) refers to South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun; Ransome Calhoun (page 293) was his nephew. Ironsides (page 290) was the name given to cavalry led by Oliver Cromwell in the English Civil War. Lord Lyons (page 292) was the British minister to the U.S. For more on the assault on Senator Charles Sumner, see the Wikipedia entry. The Latin text on page 293 is from Horace’s Odes: “The man of upright life and pure from wickedness, O Fuscus, has no need of the Moorish javelins or bow, or quiver loaded with poisoned darts.” (Aristius Fuscus was Horace’s friend.)

April 17th.—The streets of Charleston present some such aspect as those of Paris in the last revolution. Crowds of armed men singing and promenading the streets. The battle-blood running through their veins—that hot oxygen which is called “the flush of victory” on the cheek; restaurants full, revelling in bar rooms, club-rooms crowded, orgies and carousings in tavern or private house, in tap-room, from cabaret—down narrow alleys, in the broad highway. . . . If you don't see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!

This selection may be photocopied and distributed for classroom or educational use.