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The nations in Europe had other reasons for wishing to assist the Southern cause. The Federal blockade prevented English goods from reaching eager Southern markets. Many persons abroad looked on the Civil War as a struggle of the South for the right of self-determination. On the other hand, the British middle and working classes detested slavery. After Lincoln’s Emancipation, most Europeans believed that the North was waging a great struggle for freedom.
Judah P. Benjamin of Louisiana served successively as Confederate Attorney General, Secretary of War, and Secretary of State.
Although the South tried desperately to gain much-needed European support, it was largely unsuccessful. British and French shipbuilders did sell several vessels to the Confederate government. Yet this aid dropped to a thin trickle following Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Spectacular Federal victories at Vicksburg and Gettysburg forever doomed the South’s hopes for foreign aid.
Charles Francis Adams was the son of the 6th President of the U. S. In 1860 his affiliation with the Whig Party prevented him from receiving a post in Lincoln’s cabinet.
The one man who unquestionably did most to keep Europe neutral during the Civil War was the American minister to England, Charles Francis Adams. He skillfully thwarted the efforts of Confederate emissaries, expounded the North’s cause with vigor and tact, and let it be known at opportune times that assistance to the Confederacy could occasion war with the United States. Adams fought a host of Southern agents around the diplomatic tables of Europe. “When all the facts are considered,” one author has stated, “it must be admitted that the character and ability of Charles Francis Adams were as valuable as Union military victories in contributing to ultimate success in the war.”
SUGGESTED READINGS Adams, Charles Francis, Studies Military and Diplomatic, 1775-1865 (1911). Adams, Ephraim D., Great Britain and the American Civil War (2 vols., 1925). Bulloch, James D., The Secret Service of the Confederate States in Europe (2 vols., 1883, 1960). Callahan, James M., Diplomatic History of the Southern Confederacy (1901). Duberman, Martin B., Charles Francis Adams, 1807-1886 (1961). Jordan, Donaldson and Pratt, E. J., Europe and the American Civil War (1931). Meade, Robert D., Judah P. Benjamin: Confederate Statesman (1943). Monaghan, Jay, Diplomat in Carpet Slippers (1945). Owsley, Frank L., King Cotton Diplomacy (1925, 1961). Sears, Louise B., John Slidell (1925). Seward, Frederick W., Reminiscences of a War-Time Statesman and Diplomat, 1830-1915 (1916). ____, Ed., Autobiography of William H. Seward (1877). Sideman, Belle B., and Friedman, Lillian, eds., Europe Looks at the Civil War (1960). Woldman, Albert A., Lincoln and the Russians (1952).Confederate prisoners at Camp Douglas, near Chicago, Ill. This photograph was taken soon after the camp became a compound for prisoners.
VII. PRISONS AND PRISONERS OF WARThe Civil War was the first time that the nation had to contend with large numbers of war prisoners. As might be expected, therefore, policies and treatment varied greatly—and oftentimes sadly.
During the war the Confederates captured about 211,000 Federal soldiers. Of this number, 16,000 agreed to battlefield paroles—signed promises that they would not bear arms again. Conversely, Federal forces took some 215,000 Confederates as prisoners. At various times throughout the war, both sides made efforts to establish a workable program of prisoner exchange. (A ratio of exchange once existed whereby forty privates equalled one major-general.) However, owing to misunderstandings, violations of terms, and Grant’s determination late in the war to bring the South to its knees at all costs, prisoner exchange was slight and sporadic.
The most notorious Southern prisons were: Libby and Castle Thunder, which were converted warehouses in Richmond; Belle Isle in the James River; “Camp Sorghum” at Columbia, S. C.; and Camp Sumter at Andersonville, Ga. Among the worst of the Northern compounds were: Elmira Prison Camp in southwestern New York State; Point Lookout, on the Chesapeake Bay; Johnson’s Island, in Lake Erie a few miles offshore from Ohio; Camp Douglas, near Chicago; and Rock Island Prison Camp, Illinois.
Writing of these compounds in general, one historian has observed: “The prisons of the Civil War were of a considerable variety in structure and general make-up and for the most part consisted of temporary structures or old unused buildings not originally intended to confine prisoners. Most of them, judged by present-day standards of sanitation and safety, would have been condemned as uninhabitable.”
This is an artist’s conception of the horrors of life in Andersonville. The hastily built camp spread over 26 acres.
A Harper’s Weekly artist sketched an orderly and clean Elmira Prison that was a far cry from actual conditions. For a modest sum, curious townspeople were permitted to mount observation towers and view the prisoners.
Small wonder that great suffering existed in most prison camps, both North and South. In the nine-month history of the huge prison at Andersonville, Ga., a total of 45,613 Federals were jammed into a Stockade containing one polluted stream of water, few shelters, less food, and no sanitation. Over 12,900 prisoners died of disease, exposure, and starvation at Andersonville. Confederate authorities maintained that Federal prisoners in Andersonville received the same slim food ration as did their guards, and that the whole South suffered badly for want of medicines.
Only captured Federal officers were confined in Libby Prison. Several escapes, and innumerable charges of inhuman treatment, marked this compound’s four-year history.
The North’s prison camp at Elmira, N. Y., had many similarities to Andersonville. This Federal compound existed for a year. During that time, 2,963 of 12,123 Confederate prisoners died from various causes. In the twenty-month life of Rock Island Prison Camp, 1,960 of 12,400 Southern inmates succumbed to exposure and disease. At six remote tobacco warehouses in Danville, Virginia, 1,400 of 7,000 Federal prisoners died of smallpox, malnutrition, and intestinal disorders in the space of a year.
In all, the Chief of the U. S. Record and Pension Office reported in 1903, 25,976 Confederates and 30,218 Federals died in Civil War prisons.
It is difficult still to give an accurate and impartial summary of Civil War prisons. Conflicting facts, lost records, and bitter feelings hamper attempts to arrive at a just verdict. But perhaps Prof. James Ford Rhodes was not far from the truth when he stated: “All things considered the statistics show no reason why the North should reproach the South [about atrocious prison conditions]. If we add to one side of the account the refusal to exchange the prisoners and the greater resources, and to the other the distress of the Confederacy, the balance struck will not be far from even. Certain it is that no deliberate intention existed either in Richmond or Washington to inflict suffering on captives more than inevitably accompanied their confinement.”
The Confederate Commissary General Of Prisons was Gen. John H. Winder of Maryland.
Winder’s Federal counterpart, Gen. William H. Hoffman of New York, likewise was accused of many atrocities.
SUGGESTED READINGS Civil War History (University of Iowa quarterly journal), June, 1962, issue: “Civil War Prisons.” Cooper, Alonzo, In and Out of Rebel Prisons (1888). Douglas, Henry Kyd, I Rode With Stonewall (1940). Durkin, J. T., ed., John Dooley, Confederate Soldier, His War Journal (1943). Hemmerlein, Richard F., Prisons and Prisoners of the Civil War (1934). Hesseltine, William B., Civil War Prisons: A Study in War Psychology (1930). Holmes, Clay D., Elmira Prison Camp (1912). Isham, Asa B., Prisoners of War and Military Prisons (1890). McElroy, John, Andersonville (1879). Page, James M., The True Story of Andersonville Prison (1908). VIII. ARMS ARTILLERYAbout forty-eight different types and sizes of cannons were used in the Civil War. Identifying a particular weapon thus requires knowing such facts as the name of the gun, howitzer, rifle or mortar; whether it was a smoothbore (without rifling in the barrel) or a rifled gun (with barrel groovings), etc.
The two most popular cannons in the Civil War were the 12-pounder Napoleon smoothbore howitzer and the 10-pounder Parrott rifled field gun.
The Napoleon weighed about 1,200 pounds, fired a 12-pound spherical shell with a time fuse, and was very effective up to a range of 1,500 yards. The Parrott rifle—identifiable by a reinforced barrel seat—weighed 900 pounds. At a maximum range elevation of 12°, this piece was accurate to 3,000-3,500 yards (1¾-2 miles).
A Negro soldier stands guard over a Napoleon gun at Grant’s City Point, Va., supply-base. The Napoleon is attached to its caisson, which carried ammunition.
The Federals also made extensive use of mortars. Because of the ability of these squat, heavy weapons to lob large shells a great distance by high-angle fire, mortars were ideal for siege operations.
Artillerists used various types of shells, depending upon the action in which they were engaged. Solid shot was good for battering a fortification or for striking an enemy column in flank. Explosive shells and “spherical case” blanketed an area with what is known today as shrapnel. Canister, a shell filled with lead balls about the size of plums, was deadly for close action up to 300 yards. Somewhat similar to canister was grape shot. This type of shell, filled with balls the size of oranges, was effective to 700 yards. Yet grape shot was rarely used in land warfare.
The basic artillery unit was known as a battery. It normally consisted of 4-6 guns commanded by a captain. In battle, batteries normally supported infantry divisions.
A popular field piece among Confederates was the 12-pounder, breech-loading Whitworth gun. Made in England, these weapons fired a solid shot accurately to a range of 5 miles.
During the conflict of the 1860’s the North experimented with and used many new types of field weapons, including the machine gun and such cannons as Rodmans, Columbiads, and Dahlgrens. Despite the large variety, however, the Napoleons and Parrotts remained the “old reliables” to gunners on both sides.
Mortars were very effective during bombardments or siege operations. The most famous of these squat, heavy weapons was the “Dictator” (shown above). Used during Grant’s 1864 siege of Petersburg, this mortar fired a 200-pound ball at distances over 2 miles.
SMALL ARMSThe weapon most used by Civil War infantrymen was known officially as the United States Rifle Musket, Model 1861. Soldiers popularly called it the “Springfield”, since the Springfield, Mass., arsenal manufactured a majority of these guns.
The Springfield was a percussion-cap, muzzle-loading weapon, caliber .58, and weighed 9¾ pounds. The Springfield’s effective range was 500 yards, although it could deliver a ball twice that distance. It fired a soft lead Minie bullet—known then as now as the “minnie ball.” In all, over 670,000 Springfields were manufactured during the Civil War. They cost the government about $19 each.
The Springfield musket, not including its 18-inch bayonet, was 58½ inches in length. Contrary to popular belief, Civil War soldiers rarely used bayonets in battle.
Very popular among soldiers on both sides was the English Enfield Rifle Musket, Model 1853. About 820,000 of these rifles were purchased by North and South. The Enfield weighed 9 pounds, 3 ounces, had a caliber of .577, and was deadly up to 800 yards. It fired a bullet similar to the Minie projectile.
Great strides were made at this time in breechloaders. These weapons fired ready-made bullets, a series of which were inserted at one time in the rear of the barrel. Breechloaders could fire faster and more accurately than the single-shot, muzzle-loading Springfield or Enfield. The Spencer Repeating Carbine, first patented in 1860, was a seven-shot repeater that weighed 8¼ pounds and had an effective range of 2,000 yards. The Spencer was capable of 15 shots per minute—three times the firepower of the Springfield. Another popular carbine among Federal soldiers was the 15-shot Henry repeater, which was a .42-caliber, rimfire carbine of extraordinary accuracy. About 10,000 of these weapons saw service in
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