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Intimate Stories of an Extraordinary Year
Elizabeth Laney, Park Interpreter
Redcliffe Plantation State Historic Site
December 31
This is the last night of the year!
Farewell to 1864!
Headlines from the Daily Chronicle & Sentinel, Augusta, GA 01 Jan 1865
Disasters Caused by Mismanagement
A Political Meeting at Nashville
Discussing the aftermath of the battle of Nashville
which took place Dec 15-16, 1864.
Reports from a Northern newspaper about a celebration
for the recent election of Abraham Lincoln & Andrew
Johnson as President and Vice President.
The United States and Great Britain
Reports of a resolution presented in the US Senate
regarding incursions being made into the US from
Canada.
One Thousand Negroes Called For
Repairing the damage from Sherman’s march
through Georgia.
Disasters Caused by Mismanagement
(From Richmond Examiner)
The accounts from Nashville are the statements of the enemy, and must be
received with much caution. It is probably that the real facts are
somewhat colored; that the number of prisoners and captured guns will be
discovered to have been somewhat smaller than supposed, and the loss of
General Thomas much greater than he would like to state in a bulletin. But
it is difficult to doubt that after gaining an expensive and worthless
victory at Franklin, through the valor of his troops, and in spite of the
most reckless generalship – or no generalship – Hood has now sustained a
defeat before Nashville, where he had no business to go.
December 15-16, 1864
Represented the end of
large-scale fighting in the
Western theater.
Confederate
A Political Meeting at Nashville
(Northern Extracts)
The colored people in Nashville had an immense torchlight procession in
honor of Lincoln and Johnson’s election. The Vice President elect, Col. Muzzy,
and Lt. Smith of New Jersey addressed the throng in front of the capitol.
Governor Johnson counseled his hearers to industry, forbearance, modesty
and virtue…and advised them to spend their surplus earnings on the
education of their children. “If you are not true to yourselves in this great
struggle,” he said,“you do not deserve to be free.”
Army of Tennessee, Lt. Gen.
John Bell Hood
Union
Federal Forces, Major Gen.
George H. Thomas
One of the Union’s largest
victories during the war.
A Resolution by Senator Chandler of Michigan
(Headline: The United States and Great Britain)
Whereas, recent raids have been organized in the Canadas and Nova Scotia,
and men enlisted in said British Provinces by men purporting to hold
commissions from the rebels of the United States for murdering and
robbing peaceable citizens of the United States, for burning cities and
villages, for practically capturing merchant vessels and murdering their
crews, and for a general system of murder, arson, robbery and plunder of
peaceable and unarmed citizens of the United States; and
Whereas, The people of the British Provinces seem disposed to protect
these thieves, robbers, incendiaries, pirates and murders… therefore
Resolved, That the Committee on Military Affairs be directed to inquire
into the expediency of organizing an army corps to watch and defend our
territory bordering on the lakes and the Canadian line, from all hostile
demonstrations and incursions.
Canada abolished slavery
in 1833 and served at the
terminus for the
Underground Railroad,
angering many Southern
States.
Economic ties bound
Canada to Northern
sympathies. Many
Canadians fought in the
Union army.
Despite British neutrality
Confederate operatives
used Canada as a base to
harass Union efforts.
Slave owners had to relinquish a
certain number of male slaves
when called for to:
-
Help construct military
fortifications, roads and
embankments.
-
Help rebuild buildings, roads,
railways, etc destroyed by the
Union.
Enslaved workers also labored in:
-
Ammunitions factories
-
Ceramics works
-
Shoe manufactories
-
And formed the primary crew
on most cargo ships.
BLOCKADE!
By 1862, the Union
blockade made it difficult to
get supplies like coffee into
the Confederate States.
The price of coffee rose
sharply and was among one
of the most sought after
blockade goods.
Coffee Substitutes During the Civil War
rye
peas
wheat
beets
okra cotton sweet
seeds seeds potatoes
DAILY CHRONICLE & SENTINEL, AUGUSTA, GA
acorns
molasses
September 27, 1861
Coffee.--This luxury--esteemed the greater from its present scarcity--is retailing from 38 to 40 cents per
pound for Rio in this city; rye and barely are being adopted as substitutes in many families; and sweet
potatoes, beets and ground peas are also brought into requisition.
All these, people say, make a very palatable drink; and we have no
doubt, if we try, we can bring ourselves to believe they each and all
make a beverage equal to the best Java or Mocha.
Life Goes On
1860 US Census for Hammond Township, Edgefield County, South Carolina
“My large family here over 60 black & white are doing well
enough & in good health enough.”
James Henry Hammond, Redcliffe, November 1862
Met in Washington, DC &
married in 1858.
Lived first at Redcliffe then
moved across the road to
Glen Loula in 1863.
Children:
“Pa & Ma have doubtless rec’d my letters in which
I mentioned the meager news of Beech Island. My
children are in perfect health. Maria has been
kidnapped by her Aunt Betty & I have never
recovered her since. She has been lost to me now
for a week. She still talks in a kind of ‘patois’ which
is unintelligible to us & unlike Claude she sputters
out her words very rapidly.”
Claude, b. 1859
Maria, b. 1861
Celeste, b. 1862
Catherine (Kitty), b. Jun1864
James Henry, b. Oct 1865
Loula Comer Hammond of
Glen Loula kept up a steady
correspondence with her
cousin Virginia Tunstall Clay
about life at Glen Loula during
the last years of the war.
1863
Excerpt from a letter from Loula Comer Hammond to her
Cousin Virginia Tunstall Clay, July 11, 1863
“We are gloomy here – The fall of Vicksburg – no
victory in Pennsylvania & fighting at Charleston makes
us drop below zero. Our refugees you know are
Charlestonians & they lose everything if Charleston
falls. All our troops have been sent off too & we are
very weak-handed though the fortifications are
perfect.We wait in breathless anxiety for today’s news.
God grant us relief from our enemy.We are not safe
here if either Charleston or Savannah fall but it would
be useless for us to move any farther into the interior.
Come on down & help us fight.”
Siege of Vicksburg ended on
July 4
Battle of Gettysburg was
fought July 1-3
-
Political hostess in
Washington, DC in 1850’s
-
Wife of Clement Clay (US &
later Confederate Senator
form Alabama)
-
Cousin of Loula Comer
Hammond, daughter-in-law of
Catherine Hammond
-
Co-author of “Belle of the
Fifties: The Memoirs of Mrs.
Clay of Alabama”
-
Activist with the United
Daughters of the Confederacy
in early 20th Century
Laurence M. Keitt
James Orr
SC Representative to US Congress
1853—1860
SC Representative to US Congress
1853—1859
James Buchanan
Robert Toombs
William W. Corcoran
US Senator from Georgia, 1853—1861
Banker, Philanthropist and Art Collector
15th President of the United States
26th Speaker House of Representatives
Sen. William H. Seward
US Senator from New York 1849 - 1861
A Metrical Glance at A Fancy Ball
To that gay capitol where congregate / The worst and wisest of this mighty state…
December 11, 1864
Sadder still this morning at poor Glen Loula! The light of the
house & treasure of all my hearts is gone! Little Kitty,
precious, beautiful little Kitty is dead! Impossible still it
seems tho her little marble form is in the parlor cold, cold.
She died most suddenly. I was awakened at 4 A.M. & at a
1/4 past 5 her spirit was in its celestial home far from Earth
& all things Earthly. Poor Loula is frantic with grief &
nothing to help her. God keep her! I keep watch by Kitty…
December 12th, 1864
At 3 P.M. today we laid away our precious little marble baby
in her last little bed! Her grave was to her grandfather’s
right hand! I trust her angelic spirit was closer!
Born June 29, 1864
Died December 12, 1864
Six-month-old Kitty
Hammond died just a month
after her grandfather, James
Henry Hammond.
“Play nurse, housekeeper & read
‘Memoirs of Count Grammont &
Charles 2nd.’”
“…a masterpiece of style and
witty portraiture.”
“The moon not yet visible, ½
past 8, but no blockade running
tonight.”
2-Term US Senator & 1-Term
Confederate Senator
Appointed CSA Commissioner
to Canada in April 1864
-
Secret, unsuccessful,
mission to secure
Democrats in Ohio, Indiana,
and Illinois as Confederate
allies in the run-up to the
fall presidential election.
-
Helped plan a failed
attempt to unite
representatives of the
northern peace faction
with Canadian forces to
free and arm Confederate
prisoners in Camp
Douglas, a Confederate
prison camp in Chicago.
-
Helped plan the infamous
raid on St. Albans, Vermont,
staging the attack from just
over the Canadian Border.
“These are terrible times. All
our young in the armies, not
men left to suppress a negro
insurrection, of which however
there are no symptoms yet…”
James Henry Hammond, 1862
“Loula buries her silver.”
Virginia Clay, 04 January 1865
From “Belle of the Fifties”
Just before the close of my refugee days on Beach Island, a young kinsman, George Tunstall,
who filled the sublime post of corporal in Wheeler's Brigade in camp a few hundred miles away,
learning of my presence there, obtained leave of absence and made his way, accompanied by
another youth, to Mrs. Hammond's to see me. The two soldiers were full of tales of thrilling
interest, of hairbreadth escapes and camp happenings, both grave and gay; and, rumours of
Sherman's advance being rife, our young heroes urged my cousin to take time by the forelock
and bury the family silver. "Redcliffe" being almost in direct line of the Yankee general's march,
the advice seemed good, and preparations at once began to put it into operation. Though there
was little doubt of the loyalty of the majority of the Hammond slaves, yet it seemed but prudent
to surround our operations with all possible secrecy. We therefore collected the silver, piece by
piece, secreting it in "crocus" bags, which, when all was ready, we deposited in a capacious
carry-all, into which we crowded. It was at early dusk when lurking figures easily might be
descried in corn-field or behind a wayside tree by our alert eyes. Declaring to those of the
servants who stood about as we entered the carriage, that we were taking some provisions to
Mrs. Redd, much to Lot's surprise, we dispensed with a coachman, and drove off. We had
many a laugh as we proceeded through the woods, at our absurdity in concealing our errand
from the family servants and in confiding our precious secret to two of Wheeler's men. They had
a terrible reputation for chicken stealing.
When we had driven a mile or more, Mr. Tunstall produced a hatchet and began to blaze the
trees. "There!" he said, after instructing us as to the signs he had made, "when you come to
where the blaze stops, you'll find your valuables!" and under his directions the silver was silently
sunk in the ground and the earth replaced.
Speaking of that episode, Mrs. Hammond said to me: "It was months before we succeeded in
finding the silver again. Though we dug the ground over and over in every direction where we
thought it was, we couldn't even find the blazes for a long time." A. S.
As written in Mrs. Clay’s
memoir “Belle of the
Fifties,” more than 40 years
after the event.
 The Augusta Chronicle & Sentinel for April 22, 1865
 Lee’s Surrender & Lincoln’s Assassination
 General Order # 9 & the Beech Island Agricultural Club
 The Amnesty Proclamation and Redcliffe
 Descriptions of the South following the war
 The Hammonds travel to Europe
 War Poetry of the South by William Gilmore Sims