Famous Civil War Documents and Speeches

Bob Blaisdell

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780486448510
• eBook ISBN: 9780486122335
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: American Civil War History
• Index: History

"We must have peace, not only in Atlanta, but in all America," declared General Sherman to the civic leaders who protested against the evacuation and burning of their city. "We don't want your Negroes, or your horses, or your lands, or anything you have, but we do want and will have a just obedience to the laws of the United States. That we will have, and if it involves the destruction of your improvements, we cannot help it."
Sherman's impassioned but well-reasoned reply to the city fathers is but one of the many key documents, memorable speeches, and moving letters and reports in this collection of historic statements from the American Civil War. Even the most dedicated of buffs is likely to find something new in this compendium, which ranges from familiar items such as the Gettysburg Address to private reflections, including Stonewall Jackson's message to his wife after the Battle of First Manassas, and excerpts from the diary of a Confederate soldier at the siege of Vicksburg.
Other highlights include "The War and How to End It," a lecture by Frederick Douglass; Robert E. Lee's farewell to the Army of Northern Virginia; an eyewitness account of the clash between the Monitor and Merrimack; and reports by commanding officers from both sides of the Mason-Dixon line--Ulysses S. Grant on the battle at Shiloh, Joseph Hooker's account of Antietam, and James Longstreet's Wilderness Campaign report.

Recruitment Proclamation to the People of Missouri by Confederate Brigadier-General Jeff Thompson of the Missouri State Guards (August 1, 1861)

Early on in the war, Meriwether Jeff Thompson (1826–1876), a native of Virginia but more recently a mayor of St. Joseph, Missouri, was one of the boldest and most charismatic of the Confederacy’s western guerillas, heading a raiding force nicknamed the “Swamp Rats.”

HEADQUARTERS MISSOURI STATE GUARD,
BLOOMFIELD, MO.

MISSOURIANS! STRIKE FOR YOUR FIRESIDES AND YOUR HOMES!

To the People of Missouri:

Having been elected to command the gallant sons of the First Military District of Missouri in the second war of independence, I appeal to all whose hearts are with us, immediately to take the field. By a speedy and simultaneous assault on our foes, we can, like a hurricane, scatter them to the winds; while tardy action, like the gentle South wind, will only meet with Northern frosts, and advance and recede, and like the seasons, will be like the history of the war, and will last forever. Come now, strike while the iron is hot! Our enemies are whipped in Virginia. They have been whipped in Missouri. General Hardee advances in the centre, Gen. Pillow on the right, and Gen. McCulloch on the left, with 20,000 brave Southern hearts to our aid. So leave your ploughs in the furrow, and your oxen in the yoke, and rush like a tornado upon our invaders and foes, to sweep them from the face of the earth, or force them from the soil of our State! Brave sons of the Ninth District, come and join us! We have plenty of ammunition, and the cattle on ten thousand hills are ours. We have forty thousand Belgian muskets coming; but bring your guns and muskets with you, if you have them; if not, come without them. We will strike your foes like a Southern thunderbolt, and soon our camp fires will illuminate the Merrimac and Missouri. Come, turn out!

JEFF THOMPSON,
Brig-General Commanding

Regarding Martial Law in Missouri: Union General J. C. Frémont, President Lincoln, Confederate Brigadier-General Jeff Thompson Proclamation of Martial Law in Missouri by Union Major-General J. C. Frémont (August 30, 1861)

[OR: SERIES II, VOL. 1, PT. 1, 221]

 

Letter from President Lincoln to Major-General Frémont
(September 2, 1861)

[OR: SERIES II, VOL. 1, PT. 1, 766]

 

Retaliatory Proclamation by Confederate
Brigadier-General Jeff Thompson
(September 2, 1861)

[OR: SERIES II, VOL. 1, PART 1, P. 181]

John Charles Frémont (1813–1880), one of California’s first leaders, had been the Republican presidential candidate in 1856. Not accustomed to compromise or following orders, Frémont took the law in Missouri into his own hands to free the slaves. President Lincoln, politically wiser and personally cooler, gently pointed out exactly the repercussions to expect from Frémont’s “emancipation proclamation” that the guerilla Thompson then promised. From the middle of 1862, Frémont sat out the war.

PROCLAMATION

HEADQUARTERS WESTERN DEPARTMENT,
Saint Louis, August 30, 1861

CIRCUMSTANCES in my judgment are of sufficient urgency to render it necessary that the commanding general of this department should assume the administrative powers of the State. Its disorganized condition, helplessness of civil authority, and the total insecurity of life and devastation of property by bands of murderers and marauders who infest nearly every county in the State and avail themselves of public misfortunes in the vicinity of a hostile force to gratify private and neighborhood vengeance and who find an enemy wherever they find plunder finally demand the severest measures to repress the daily increasing crimes and outrages which are driving off the inhabitants and ruining the State.

In this condition the public safety and success of our arms require unity of purpose without let or hindrance to the prompt administration of affairs. In order therefore to suppress disorders, maintain the public peace and give security to the persons and property of loyal citizens I do hereby extend and declare established martial law throughout the State of Missouri. The lines of the army occupation in this State are for the present declared to extend from Leavenworth by way of posts of Jefferson City, Rolla and Ironton to Cape Girardeau on the Mississippi River. All persons who shall be taken with arms in their hands within these lines shall be tried by court-martial and if found guilty will be shot. Real and personal property of those who shall take up arms against the United States or who shall be directly proven to have taken an active part with their enemies in the field is declared confiscated to public use and their slaves if any they have are hereby declared free men.

All persons who shall be proven to have destroyed after the publication of this order railroad tracks, bridges or telegraph lines shall suffer the extreme penalty of the law. All persons engaged in treasonable correspondence, in giving or procuring aid to the enemy, in fermenting turmoil and disturbing public tranquility by creating or circulating false reports or incendiary documents are warned that they are exposing themselves.

All persons who have been led away from allegiance are required to return to their homes forthwith. Any such absence without sufficient cause will be held to be presumptive evidence against them.

The object of this declaration is to place in the hands of military authorities power to give instantaneous effect to the existing laws and supply such deficiencies as the conditions of the war demand, but it is not intended to suspend the ordinary tribunals of the country where law will be administered by civil officers in the usual manner and with their customary authority while the same can be peaceably administered.

The commanding general will labor vigilantly for the public welfare and by his efforts for their safety hopes to obtain not only acquiescence but active support of the people of the country.

J. C. FRÉMONT,
Major-General, Commanding
WASHINGTON, D. C., September 2, 1861

MAJOR-GENERAL FRÉMONT

MY DEAR SIR: Two points in your proclamation of August 30 give me some anxiety:

First. Should you shoot a man according to the proclamation the Confederates would very certainly shoot our best men in their hands in retaliation; and so man for man indefinitely. It is therefore my order that you allow no man to be shot under the proclamation without first having my approbation or consent.

Second. I think there is great danger that the closing paragraph in relation to the confiscation of property and the liberating slaves of traitorous owners will alarm our Southern Union friends and turn them against us, perhaps ruin our rather fair prospect for Kentucky. Allow me therefore to ask that you will as of your own motion modify that paragraph so as to conform to the first and fourth sections of the act of Congress entitled “An act to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes,” approved August 6, 1861, and a copy of which act I herewith send you.

This letter is written in a spirit of caution and not of censure. I send it by special messenger in order that it may certainly and speedily reach you.

Yours, very truly,

A. LINCOLN

PROCLAMATION

HDQRS. FIRST MILITARY DIST., MISSOURI STATE GUARD,
Camp Hunter, September 2, 1861

To whom it may concern:

Whereas, Major General John C. Fremont, commanding the minions of Abraham Lincoln in the State of Missouri, has seen fit to declare martial law throughout the whole State and has threatened to shoot any citizen soldier found in arms within certain limits, also to confiscate the property and free the negroes belonging to the members of the Missouri State Guard: therefore, know ye that I, M. Jeff. Thompson, brigadier-general of the First Military District of Missouri, having not only the military authority of brigadier-general but certain police powers granted by Acting Governor Thomas C. Reynolds and confirmed afterward by Governor Jackson do most solemnly promise that for every member of the Missouri State Guard or soldier of our allies the armies of the Confederate States who shall be put to death in pursuance of said order of General Fremont I will hang, draw and quarter a minion of said Abraham Lincoln.

While I am anxious that this unfortunate war shall be conducted if possible upon the most liberal principles of civilized warfare and every order that I have issued has been with that object, yet if this rule is to be adopted (and it must first be done by our enemies) I intend to exceed General Frémont in his excesses and will make all tories that come in my reach rue the day that a different policy was adopted by their leaders. Already mills, barns, warehouses and other private property have been wastefully and wantonly destroyed by the enemy in this district while we have taken nothing except articles strictly contraband or absolutely necessary. Should these things be repeated I will retaliate ten-fold, so help me God.

M. JEFF. THOMPSON,
Brigadier-General, Commanding

The Surrender at Fort Donelson, Correspondence between Confederate Brigadier General S. B. Buckner and Union Brigadier-General U. S. Grant (February 16, 1862)

[RR-IV:139]

The taking of Fort Donelson by Ulysses S. Grant’s troops distinguished Grant (1822–1885) for the first time in his military career. He would become the most important and effective general of the war. His success here and the plain-speaking of his note to Simon Bolivar Buckner (1823–1914), a former colleague, helped make him popular and gave him, for a time, the nickname (playing off his apparent initials) “Unconditional Surrender” Grant. His commander, Major-General Henry Halleck, effused in a message on February 20: “I have received with the highest gratification your reports and letters from Fort Donelson, so gallantly captured under your brilliant leadership. I, in common with the whole country, warmly congratulate you upon this remarkable achievement, which has broken the enemy’s center, dispersed the rebels, and given a death-blow to secession. The prisoners by thousands have arrived here, and will be sent off by to-morrow to their respective destinations.”

HEADQUARTERS FORT DONELSON,
February 16, 1862

SIR: In consideration of all the circumstances governing the present situation of affairs at this station, I propose to the commanding officer of the Federal forces, the appointment of Commissioners to agree upon terms of capitulation of the forces and post under my command, and in that view suggest an armistice until twelve o’clock to-day.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

S. B. BRUCKNER,
Brigadier-General, C. S. A.

 

HEADQUARTERS ARMY IN THE FIELD,
Camp near Donelson, Feb. 16

To Gen. S. B. Buckner Confederate Army:

Yours of this date, proposing armistice and appointment of Commissioners to settle terms of capitulation, is just received. No terms, other than an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted.

I propose to move immediately upon your works. I am sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

U. S. GRANT,
Brig.-Gen. U. S. Commanding

 

HEADQUARTERS DOVER, TENN.,
February 16, 1862

To Brig.-Gen. U. S. Grant, U.S.A.:

SIR: The distribution of the forces under my command, incident to an unexpected change of commanders and the overwhelming force under your command, compel me, notwithstanding the brilliant success of the confederate arms yesterday, to accept the ungenerous and unchivalrous terms which you propose. I am, sir, your very obedient servant,

S. B. BUCKNER,
Brig.-Gen. C.S.A.

Address to the People of Georgia by Howell Cobbs, R. Toombs, M. J. Crawford, Thomas R. R. Cobb (February 1862)

[RR-IV:192–193]

While short on educational, economic, or judicial equality, the Confederacy boasted an abundant crop of eloquent politicians, few of whom were ever at a loss to condemn the United States for fighting back. All four of the signers of this document were members of the provisional Confederate Congress. Thomas R. R. Cobb (1823–1862), a leader of Georgia’s secessionist movement, would serve as a general at Fredericksburg in December 1862, where he was killed. His brother, Howell (1815–1868), a pre-war governor of Georgia and former U. S. Treasury Secretary, also served as a general. Robert Toombs was the Confederacy’s first Secretary of State, but resigned to become a gene...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Note
• Bibliography
• “Sovereignty of South Carolina” The Address of the People of South Carolina, Assembled in Convention, to the People of the Slaveholding States of the United States (December 21, 1860)
• First Inaugural Address, President Abraham Lincoln (March 4, 1861)
• Recruitment Proclamation by Virginia Governor Letcher (May 3, 1861)
• Proclamation to the People of Loudon, Fairfax, and Prince William Counties, Virginia by Confederate Brigadier-General G. T. Beauregard (June 5, 1861)
• Response to the Virginia Convention’s Call for Soldiers by U.S. Army Colonel P. St. G. Cooke (June 6, 1861)
• Address Objecting to Secession, to the People of Virginia by the Delegates Assembled in Convention at Wheeling (June 24, 1861)
• Letter Regarding the Battle of First Manassas, by Confederate General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson to His Wife (July 23, 1861)
• Address Congratulating the Soldiers of the Army of the West by Union Major-General George B. McClellan (July 16, 1861)
• Regarding “Contraband,” Query by Union General Benjamin Butler to Secretary of War Simon Cameron (July 30, 1861)
• Recruitment Proclamation to the People of Missouri by Confederate Brigadier-General Jeff Thompson of the Missouri State Guards (August 1, 1861)
• Regarding Martial Law in Missouri: Union General J. C. Frémont, President Lincoln, Confederate Brigadier-General Jeff Thompson Proclamation of Martial Law in Missouri by Union Major-General J. C. Frémont (August 30, 1861)
• The Surrender at Fort Donelson, Correspondence between Confederate Brigadier General S. B. Buckner and Union Brigadier-General U. S. Grant (February 16, 1862)
• Address to the People of Georgia by Howell Cobbs, R. Toombs, M. J. Crawford, Thomas R. R. Cobb (February 1862)
• Order Respecting Bell-Metal to the Planters of the Mississippi Valley by Confederate General G. T. Beauregard (March 8, 1862)
• Report on the U.S.S. Monitor and Merrimack Fight in Hampton Roads, Virginia, by Union Captain G. J. Van Brunt (March 10, 1862)
• Address to the Army of the Potomac by Union Major-General George B. McClellan (March 14, 1862)
• Lecture, “The War and How to End It,” by Frederick Douglass at Rochester, New York (March 25, 1862)
• Official Report of the Battle at Pittsburgh Landing (Shiloh), Tennessee (fought April 6–7, 1862), by Union General U.S. Grant (April 9, 1862)
• Capture of New Orleans, Official Report of Union Commodore David Farragut and Commodore David D. Porter (April 25, April 29, April 30, 1862)
• Confederate General Order No. 17, A Call to Destroy Cotton; Secretary of War George W. Randolph and Assistant Adjutant-General J. G. Pickett (May 3, 1862)
• Official Correspondence from Union Major-General Benjamin Butler and Flag-Officer David Farragut to and from the mayor and military governor of Vicksburg (May 18, 1862)
• Report on the Morse Magnetic Telegraph and Balloon Reconnaissance, by Parker Spring, Superintendent of Construction of U.S. Military Telegraph Lines (June 2, 1862)
• Address by the Confederate Colonel of Cavalry John H. Morgan to His Guerrillas after the Defeat of Union General Buell’s Cavalry on the Hartsville Road, Tennessee (August 22, 1862)
• Despatches on the Second Battle of Manassas Junction (Bull Run) from Confederate General Robert E. Lee to Confederate President Jefferson Davis (August 29-Sept. 3, 1862)
• Proclamation to the People of Maryland by Confederate General Robert E. Lee (September 8, 1862)
• Despatch on the Battle of Antietam by Union General Joseph Hooker (September 17, 1862)
• Measure by the Mississippi House of Representatives Sustaining Confederate President Davis on Retaliation for Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation (October 11, 1862)
• Letter after Antietam from President Lincoln to Major-General George B. McClellan (October 13, 1862)
• Appeal to the People for the Wants of the Army, by North Carolina Governor Vance (October 15, 1862)
• Farewell Address to the Army of the Potomac, by Union General George B. McClellan (November 7, 1862)
• Report on an Inspection of the Union Army’s Horses by John S. Rarey to Commander in Chief of the Union Army, Major-General H. W. Halleck (December 19, 1862)
• Final Emancipation Proclamation by President Lincoln (Jan. 1, 1863)
• Report on the Alabama’s Destruction of the U.S.S. Hatteras, by Confederate Captain Raphael Semmes (January 11, 1863)
• Vicksburg Siege Diary of a Confederate Soldier, John W. Sattenwhite (May 18–July 4, 1863)
• Official Correspondence Ending the Siege of Vicksburg between Union General U.S. Grant and Confederate Lieutenant-General J.C. Pemberton (July 3–4, 1863)
• Address to the Soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia on the Advance into Pennsylvania by Confederate General R. E. Lee (June 27, 1863)
• Address on Taking Command of the Army of the Potomac by Union General George Meade (General Order No. 66) (June 28, 1863)
• Account of the Battle of Gettysburg by Union Sergeant John W. Plummer of Company D, First Minnesota (July 1–4, 1863)
• Journal on Confederate Calvary Brigadier-General John Morgan’s Raid through Kentucky by Lieutenant-Colonel R. A. Alston (July 1–8, 1863)
• Offer of Resignation by Confederate General R. E. Lee (August 8, 1863) to Confederate President Jefferson Davis; Reply by President Davis (August 11, 1863)
• President Lincoln’s letter to Representative Conkling of Illinois on the Public Dissatisfaction with His Presidency (August 16, 1863)
• Statement by the Attaché of the Provost Marshall Office, William Kempf, on the Massacre of Union Sympathizers in Lawrence, Kansas (August 21, 1863)
• Union War Department General Orders Number 329, on the Enlistment of Colored Troops (October 13, 1863)
• Address Delivered at the Dedication of the Cemetery at Gettysburg, by President Abraham Lincoln (November 19, 1863)
• Letter on the Treatment of “Secesh” by Union Major-General W. T. Sherman to Major R. M. Sawyer (January 31, 1864)
• Witness Testimony on the Fort Pillow Massacre (April 12, 1864), before the Joint Commission on the Conduct and Expenditures of the War (April 18–22, 1864)
• “The Returned Prisoners,” Joint Commission on the Conduct and Expenditures of the War, Testimony by Surgeon A. Van Derkieft to the U.S. Senate Committee (May 6, 1864)
• Wilderness Campaign Report of Confederate Lieutenant-General James Longstreet (April 11–May 6, 1864)
• Battle at Cold Harbor, by Union soldier George E. Place, Co. B, 12th New Hampshire Volunteers (June 1–3, 1864)
• Report on the Sinking of the Alabama by the Kearsarge, by Union Captain John A. Winslow (July 30, 1864)
• Letter from Union Major-General W. T. Sherman to the Mayor and City Council of Atlanta (September 12, 1864)
• Second Inaugural Address, President Lincoln (March 4, 1865)
• Correspondence Regarding Surrender between Union Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant of the Army of Potomac and Confederate General R. E. Lee, Commander of the Confederate States Armies
• Farewell Address to His Army by Confederate General R. E. Lee (April 10, 1865)
• Last Public Address, President Lincoln (April 11, 1865)
• Telegraph Message on the Assassination of President Lincoln, from Secretary of State Stanton to Union Major-General W. T. Sherman (April 15, 1865)
• The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution (December 6, 1865)
• A CATALOG OF SELECTED DOVER BOOKS IN ALL FIELDS OF INTEREST