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UNION ARMY CRIMES AGAINST SOUTHERN CIVILIANS
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UNION ARMY CRIMES AGAINST SOUTHERN CIVILIANS
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The speaker discusses the concept of total war and its impact on the Southern people during the Civil War. They argue that total warfare, which includes war against civilians, is a serious problem influenced by Marxism. They emphasize the need to repudiate this ideology and provide evidence of the atrocities committed against the South. They highlight the devastation and destruction caused by the Union armies, the lack of medical supplies for both Confederate and Union soldiers, and the blame placed on the Confederates for the actions of the Union. They also mention the Ukrainian famine in the 1930s and question why the US government supported Russia despite knowing about the atrocities. The speaker uses Union Army archives as sources but includes some Southern perspectives to give a vivid picture of events. Well, welcome back, folks, and welcome to Whistlin' Dixie number 25, and we will be moving along with a new subject today, and that will be none other than the fact of total war, which was brought to bear on the Southern people. And the one thing I want to get across in this lesson is that total warfare is, which means war against civilians, and which means that war against civilians is okay, is a serious problem, people, because that is the methodology of Marxism, and it has been played down through history over and over and over again. And that is something that we need to repudiate, because America has allowed itself, since the wall of Northern aggression, the South and America have allowed themselves to become that which our brave ancestors fought to defeat, and that is a Communist-inspired and a Communist-driven government. So what I'm hoping to do here, folks, is to provide evidence, stone-cold, hard, irrefutable evidence of the atrocities that were committed against the Southern people. Now, to do this, the thing that I want to do more than anything else is to make sure that the sources of my presentation here are reputable, and that is why I'm going to lean almost entirely upon the Wall of the Rebellion, which is the official documents of the wall between the states, and these are primarily nothing but Union documents. And that, I believe, I don't know how that we can say, or that an opponent could come up and say, well, you know, that stuff you're saying there, Rebel Madman, that stuff, that is just not true. Well, then what I need to do is to be able to point to the fact, well, it's your records, not mine, that I'm quoting. Now, from time to time, I will be bringing up some books for reference here, and I would ask you folks to, if you truly want to delve into this, that these will be some great sources for you. Now, there was a gentleman by the name of Alan Nevins, who in 1962 published a book called The Statesmanship of the Civil War. But in that book, Mr. Nevins makes some remarkable points, and for those of you who have the book, page 149 and 150. Now, Mr. Nevins notes that one aspect of the war, as I quote, too generally ignored, was the devastation involved, which became, and I quote again, more and more systematic as time passed. Now, Mr. Nevins gives three reasons why it has been ignored in our history. And the first thing he noticed was the facts were left out of official reports. And number two, the story of the devastation is too painful and unpleasant. And number three, the recounting of the devastation quickly becomes monotonous. Now, Dr. Nevins remarks that by 1862, the war in the South had degenerated into what he called general depredation, and by 1863, into wanton destruction, and by 1864, into organized devastation, which Dr. Nevins compares, property-wise, with the worst chapters of the two world wars. Now, folks, that is quite significant. Now, Mr. Nevins notes that although quite a few details of these atrocities against the people of the South had been omitted from official reports and letters, there were some that he says were not blinded to these facts. And he calls attention especially to, and I highly recommend this book as well, to Mr. John T. Trowbridge's 1866 book, which is titled A Picture of the Desolated States. Now, folks, last time I checked, which was today, that book is available at Amazon and several other locations. And in the preface to his work, Mr. Trowbridge refers to the Union armies not as our heroic armies, but as our destroying armies. Now, that should make all of us stop and reflect for just a moment. But from early 1861 throughout the war, the entire war, not just the end, not just Sherman's March, and not just the other atrocities that took place, but the Lincoln administration kept medicines and medical supplies on the list of contraband of war, and would not permit any of their importation into the Confederacy, if at all possible. Even the supplies in the hands of private physicians in the South were destroyed upon discovery. Not only did wounded and sick Confederate soldiers and civilians suffer terribly without these means of helping themselves or treating their wounds or treating their conditions or what have you, but so did thousands of Union soldiers held in Southern prison camps, including Andersonville, which is just a few miles to the east of where I sit. But these also caused death of Union soldiers in Libby Prison, Belle Isle Prison, Salisbury, Florence, and other Confederate prisons. It is interesting, or should be, to note that such action today would be an atrocity. See Army, see the Army Field Manual, number 27-10, which was created in July of 1956, and it's called The Law of the Land Warfare, which happens to be paragraph 234, for those of you who might be interested. But here I think we see a pattern beginning. Lincoln and his minions cared nothing for the Union soldiers. Their own men cared nothing for them in the hands of the Confederacy, because they wouldn't send—they put embargoes on food, they destroyed food, they put embargoes on medicine, anything that could be used to treat these men. And then after the war, the Confederates were blamed for what the Union had did, and let's not forget that the Union also stopped any prisoner exchange late in the war, which really troubled the administration in the South. They could not understand why, but this is the Marxist way. The Marxist way is that if we trade prisoners with you, we're giving you men to fight against us and we would rather our men die in your hands. Folks, you have to understand Marxism. If you do not and cannot understand Marxism, it's done, because this is the very actual point that we really need to understand. And yesterday on my program on RBN, last night, I made the mention of the correlation of the atrocity that happened in the Ukraine in the early 1930s. And that was Stalin sent in his henchmen, and they went into the Confederacy, and—I'm sorry, I said Confederacy, first day with my new brain, I'm sorry. They went into the Ukraine and immediately, because the Ukrainian farmers would not do as directed by Stalin's government, they were starved out, and somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 million Ukrainians perished. Now, the thing—that is an atrocity of massive magnitude, but yet our question should be is why did the United States government, led at that time by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, not only become the first country to recognize Russia, but became a close ally, knowing full well the atrocities that had been committed? Now, as I stated before, one of the primary objectives here is to use the Union reports and letters. But in some ways, by doing that, I will deprive those who are listening of a vivid picture of events which actually took place from a Southern perspective. And I'm going to throw those in because, as I said, the majority of this presentation will be—all come from Union Army archives, Union Army collections, and not the South. But anyway, let's go—let's take a look at this, and this was told in the Southern perspective by a Louisiana lady, after General Nathaniel P. Banks' army passed through where she and her family lived. Now, it would be taken—if you want to read this, it would be on pages 150 and 151 by Mr. Alan Nevins, as I mentioned before, but I'm going to read this one paragraph for you here. And again, this is from a Southern perspective. Quote, I was watching from my window the apparently orderly march of the first Yankees that appeared in view and passed up the road, when suddenly, as if by magic, the whole plantation was covered with men, like bees from an overthrown hive. And as far as my vision extended, an inexorable medley of men and animals met my eye. In one place, excited troopers were firing into our flock of sheep, in another officers and men were in pursuit of our boys' ponies, and in another a crowd were in excited chase of all of our work animals. Our kitchen was soon filled with some carrying off the cooking utensils and the provisions of the day. The yard was filled with others pursuing our poultry. They penetrated under the house, into the outbuildings, and into the garden, stripping it in a moment of all its vegetables. This continued throughout the day, and amid a bewildering sound of oaths, profanity, and imprecations, when the army had passed, we were left destitute." Well, we can also find something listed in the State, which was a newspaper which was published at Orangeburg, South Carolina. And there was an article written by Mrs. Augustus Jennings, and it was based on what her mother had told her numerous times over the years. And her mother was Mrs. Sarah A. Moorer, M-O-O-R-E-R, who died at age 83 in August of 1903. Mrs. Moorer's husband was Henry H. Moorer, who was absent and away with the Confederate Army. At the time of the events Mrs. Moorer describes, Mrs. Jennings was a young girl attending Columbia Female College, but she, her sisters, and other students had been taken to the upper part of the State to keep them out of the way of Sherman's advancing hordes. This event allegedly, and as she stated, took place in February of 1865, so well near the end of the war. Mrs. Jennings relates how her mother and a friend were eating breakfast when the entire travesty began, and I will quote, While seated at breakfast they saw a squad of Union cavalry coming from the direction of Orangeburg. They came yelling and screaming in the yard and into the house, frightening everyone. In a short period of time they came in immense crowds, overrunning the yard and the house and terror broke loose everywhere. These soldiers acted like maniacs, yelling and hurrying, breaking open doors, emptying the provisioned houses, running down all of our poultry, and at last building a bonfire and burned everything they could not carry off for themselves. Some of the Negroes were screaming with fright, and yet some were exultant that the Yankees were here. One faithful house servant was whipped until she disclosed the hiding place of our silver and any other family treasures. Great hulking boars of Yankees with their soled and dirty boots jumped in the lard troughs, pouring in syrup and vinegar, trumpled it into a slush, and then pouring syrup over the floors of the residence, emptied barrels of flour on it, and then trampled it with their feet. Numbers of bales of cotton were burned, which my father had removed from near his buildings, hoping to be able to save them. Everything of value that we owned was stolen or burned, including all of our clothing. When my mother attempted to remonstrate with those wrecking the dwelling, she was approached by an officer from Ohio, advising her to say nothing, for if they made his soldiers mad, he could not answer for her life. A squad of the marauding Yankees, in the promiscuous destruction of property, seized upon the old family horse, which we kept out of sympathy. They hitched him to an old buggy, loaded with chickens, turkeys, and geese, and left the yard with the entire load. The old horse reluctantly left with the load, but when they attempted to drive him past the lot gate, he refused to go, whereupon he was beaten unmercifully. Such meager supplies as could be raked together after the wreckage was all the provisions left on this once prosperous plantation, with its bounteous stores for numerous slaves, who were also deprived of food, clothing, and in some cases even shelter. The sun that day arose on a scene of plenty and contentment to only set on a field of want and despair. This is just one of the many homes upon which fell this blackness of darkness and vandal warfare." So now, let's take a look at another publication that I think would be most interesting for those who pursue this subject, and this one is called The Rebellion Record, A Diary of American Events. Now it was being published while the war was going on, and it was edited later by a gentleman by the name of Frank Moore. Now this book was republished in 1977 by the Arno Press, a New York Times company, and it contains a remarkable document described as Document 63, Treatment of Southerners. Now this is a certified letter, document, from General William in the Yankee Holdings. This is a letter of General William Tecumseh Sherman dated January 31, 1864 at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and it's addressed to Major R. M. Sawyer, AA, General, Army of the Tennessee at Huntsville, Alabama. Now it's quite a long letter, so I'm not going to bore you with all of that, I'm just going to throw some parts in here. Now Sherman starts with the premise that we of the North are, beyond all question, right in our lawful cause. Should we treat as absolute enemies all in the South who differ from us in opinion or prejudice, or should we just kill and banish them, unquote. And then Sherman attempts to justify, just like the, you know, the Emancipation Proclamation was an attempt to justify what they had done up until that point of time. But let me read more from Mr. William Tecumseh Sherman's letter, quote, the government of the United States has in North Alabama any and all rights which they may choose to enforce in war, to take their lives, their homes, their lands, to take their everything. Because war does exist there, and war is simply power totally unrestrained by constitution or compact. Next year their lands will be taken, for in war we can take them, and rightfully too, and in another year they may beg in vain for their very lives, unquote. Well folks, there you got Sherman proclaiming that he is not restrained by any constitution. War is the deciding element. Near the very end of his letter, he wrote this, and I think it is most relevant. And that is, quote, to the petulant and persistent secessionist why death is mercy, and the quicker he or she is disposed of, the better, unquote. So there Mr. Sherman takes the position of all Marxists, if you do not go along with their government, with their tyrannical totalitarian government, then you should be disposed of, because that makes it better for everyone, including you. Now surely Sherman was not referring to battlefield deaths when he speaks of secessionists begging in vain for their lives, and of their being disposed of. Equally clearly, he was advocating the murder of women as well as men by using the words he or she. So folks, we're left to wonder what he proposed to do with the children. Of course, we do not for a moment believe that he ever intended to carry out such crime. Really? He didn't. But who can say what he may have instigated by talking and writing this to others? Well, folks, I tell you, this is going to be something else as we jump into this. But it's something to think about, and especially why I chose to use primarily the Union's own records, because it's hard to argue with those. You can always just dismiss anything that came from the South with, oh, well, that's biased. Well, here is the thing that really troubles me. And that is that no one wanted to actually put a stop to this. But we do have, and I believe this has to be covered here, and that is General Order Number 100. And that is passed, well, issued on April 24, 1864, and it was General Order, as I said, Number 100. And the title was Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field, Prepared by Marxist Francis Lieber, and Revised by a Board of Officers of which Major General E.A. Hitchcock was the President. And it was approved by Abraham Lincoln. And he commanded that these orders be published for the information of all concern. Now most of the provisions of these instructions included a final declaration that each could be totally disregarded if considered necessary by the current field commander. In Section 1, Part 16 was the statement, military necessity does not admit of the wanton destruction of a, or devastation of any particular district. Now we all know that was never adhered to because it was left up to the battlefield commander. Well, Secretary of War James A. Seddon, S-E-D-D-O-N, spoke for the Confederate States on June the 24th of 1863 about General Order Number 100 or the Lieber Code. And Secretary of War Seddon made this statement, Order Number 100 is a confused compilation from the publicist of the last two centuries. Some obsolete, others repudiated, and a military commander under the code may pursue a line of conduct in accordance with the principles of justice, or he may justify conduct correspondent with the warfare of the barbarous hordes who overran the Roman Empire. The war that the United States is carrying on against the Confederate States is opposed to the fundamental principle of their own constitution, self-government, or consent of the governed. To accomplish subjugation of our Confederate States, our Yankee enemies have adopted a barbarous system of warfare. It is in this code of military necessity that the acts of society, I'm sorry, that the acts of atrocity and violence have been committed by the officers of the United States Union Army and have shocked the moral sense of all civilized nations. The country that adopts as allies murder, rape, cruelty, incendiarism, and revenge is condemned by the very voice of the civilized world." Now although that I am again going to begin reading from the official records, War of the Rebellion, here's something I think that we should know and should take into consideration and that is the fact that the Union crimes appearing in the official records can only be a fraction of the total number. Now we know this by the content of many of the reports which will be quoted. There were a number of southern towns and villages pillaged, burned, and the people killed, the women raped, without mention in any federal correspondence. Excesses by Confederates did occur. We have to admit that if we're going to be honest. But they were very limited in number and ferocity as contrasted with irregularities by the Union Army. And it's really important that we understand that the majority of these southern excesses occurred in Missouri, where in the minds of the people there, fire was being fought with fire. Now it was somewhat providential that federal officers and others who wrote these Civil War reports of atrocities and depredations had no idea at the time that many years later folks like you and I would be looking at their correspondence and that it would even be published in the official records. Had they known, most of these soldiers, I do not believe, would not have written them into the official records, because they are a self-indictment of their own actions. And never forget, without truth, history will always be a lie. And that's too simple, isn't it? But there are just so many acts of violence. And what hundreds of thousands of these lawless, many of them men who couldn't even speak English, most of them, a great number, were not even American citizens. What they did to the South should never be forgotten. Not only that, we, whose ancestors were victims of this, we should always make darn sure that the descendants of the men who committed them be forced to admit that this actually happened. Maybe I'm just out there, I'm not sure. But I sure as the Dickens cannot look at this and look at the crimes that were committed by Joseph Stalin. And did he learn that from history? Did he learn that from William Tecumseh Sherman, Turchin, and others? Was that where he learned? Because it happened about several years before this happened, didn't it? For several decades. Well, now I'm going to start reading from the official reports from the law of the rebellion. So here we will start. And what I wanted to illustrate is many of these crimes, these atrocities that were committed against Southern civilians began even before the first major battle of the war, which would be called either, you know, First Manassas or the Battle of Bull Run. So, and that is why this battle took place in July. So listen to the dates on some of these crimes that took place in the official records. So here, let's take a look. In Arlington, Virginia, on May the 29th of 1861, Brigadier General Irvin McDowell, commanding the Department of Northeastern Virginia, reported to Lieutenant General Winfield Scott, who at that time was General-in-Chief of the United States Army. And I will quote from his report. There have been rumors of outrages committed by volunteers in Alexandria, and Colonel Daniel Butterfield of the 12th New York has reported several cases of trespass, depredation, and attempts at burglary in his vicinity. The Battalion of Georgetown, the District of Columbia, volunteers at the head of the Chain Bridge are acting harshly towards the inhabitants on this side." Lieutenant McDowell, again, on June the 4th, again, a full month before the first battle, advised Army Headquarters, and I quote, the presence on this side of some Corps indifferently commanded has led to numerous acts of depredation and pillage. Pardon my stuttering there. Then on July the 18th, McDowell at Fairfax Courthouse, during the advance of his Army through Fairfax Courthouse and Fairfax Railroad Station and Germantown toward the first battle, notified Headquarters, and I quote, I have to report excesses by our troops. The excitement of the men found vent in burning and pillaging. The same day in General Order Number 18, McDowell communicated to all officers and enlisted men in his command, and I quote, hardly had we arrived at this place when several houses were broken open and others were in flames by the acts of our own soldiers, unquote. And then at Fort Monroe, Major General Benjamin F. Butler, also known as Spoons Butler or, what, Beast Butler, commanding the Department of Virginia, telegraphed General Winfield Scott, and I quote, volunteer troops seem to have adopted the theory that all property of the inhabitants is subject to their plunder. The outrages to be investigated are extremely grave, unquote. Brigadier General William S. Rosecrans, commanding the Army of Occupation of Western Virginia, which today would be West Virginia, at Clarksburg, the birthplace of Stonewall Jackson, on July the 28th, in General Order Number 3, stated to his command, and I quote, numerous instances of plunder by timsters in the employment of the U.S. Quartermaster's Department and others of citizens along the train routes have been reported and or discovered. Continuing on here, and let me see, here's one. In Quincy, Illinois, on July the 14th, 1861, Brigadier General Stephen A. Hurlbut, commanding Headquarters Brigade, Illinois Militia, wrote to Colonel Robert F. Smith, 16th Illinois, and I quote, violence and misrule have some scope in the 16th Regiment serving in Missouri, unquote. Two days later, Hurlbut notified Colonel John B. Turchin, and oh boy, are we going to get into this one with the rape of Athens, Alabama, but let me continue where we are right now. And Colonel John B. Turchin commanded the 19th Illinois, and here was what came from General Hurlbut. He said, the 19th, on duty in Missouri, have violated private rights of property and of persons by excess and violence, unquote. Well, Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon, in command of the Army of the West in Springfield, Missouri, on July the 26th, informed his troops in an order, the cases of plundering, wanton destruction of property, and disregard of personal rights of which the general commanding has heard with pain, have been disgraceful to our troops. Lyon's brigade commanders were Major Samuel D. Sturgis, 1st U.S. Cavalry, Colonel Franz Siegel, who was one of the 48ers, an avowed Marxist member of the Communist clubs. He was in charge of the 3rd Missouri Union Troops, and Lieutenant Colonel George L. Andrews, 1st Missouri Union Troops, and Colonel George W. Deitzler of the 1st Kansas Union Troops. Now, John T. K. Hayward, who was a strong Unionist, and he was the general agent of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, wrote from St. Louis on August the 10th to General John C. Fremont in St. Louis, and I quote, You already know the many depredations committed by our soldiers. Many citizens were ready to run from fright. It occurred, to my knowledge, in a good many cases where men thus ran and did not obey the order to halt, which they very likely did not understand, even if they heard it, they were fired upon, not single shots but volleys, in the presence but without the command of officers. It has been reported to me that soldiers have repeatedly fired from trains at quiet, peaceful citizens. The present week, Mr. John McAfee, Speaker of the last Missouri House of Representatives, was arrested and required by General Hurlbut to dig trenches in the hot sun all day. Hurlbut himself told me he forced him to do it. Now, here, folks, is something that's just not talked about very much, but it must be discussed because it's part of what happened. Now, Hayward, the same one, Mr. John T. K. Hayward, on August the 13th, three days later, sent a letter to J. W. Brooks of Boston, who on August the 27th sent copies of Hayward's letter to Secretary of War Simon Cameron in Washington, and here is the exact report. In northern Missouri, the irregularities of the soldiery, such as taking poultry, pigs, milk, butter, preservers, potatoes, horses, and, in fact, anything they want, entering and searching houses and stealing, in many cases, and committing rapes on the Negroes and such like things, the effect has been to make a great many former Union men our inveterate enemies. These things are not exaggerated by me, and though they do not characterize all of the troops, several regiments have conducted themselves in this manner, and no punishment for none of any account has ever been meted out to them. Then, drunkenness is the great curse of officers and men throughout our Army. Fremont entrusts these matters to Brigadier General John Pope and to Hurlbut. I can fully substantiate everything that I have written. Then, in St. Louis, on August the 30th, General Fremont, commanding the Western Department in General Order No. 6, admonished his troops, quote, the irregularities and license of a few have reflected discredit upon our cause and upon ourselves, unquote. Then, from Captain William E. Prince, 1st U.S. Infantry Commandant of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on September the 9th, sent a message to Brigadier General James H. Lane of the Kansas Brigade, Fort Lincoln, Kansas, and I quote, I hope you will crush out this marauding which is being enacted in Colonel James R. Jennison's name as also yours by a band of men representing themselves as belonging to your command. Doubtless, there many atrocities in Missouri have been already presented to you to no avail. Then, General Wayne, on September 24th, reported the skirmish at and the destruction of Osceola, Missouri, 90 miles south-southeast of Kansas City, on September the 22nd, to General Fremont, and I quote, the enemy ambushed the approaches to the town of Osceola, and after being driven from them by the advance under Colonels James Montgomery of the 3rd Kansas Cavalry and William Weir of the 4th Kansas Cavalry, they took refuge in the buildings of the town to annoy us. We were compelled to shell them out, and in doing so, we burned the place to ashes. I trust you will approve the match on Osceola and its complete destruction. Fremont, on October the 3rd, telegraphed to Colonel Thomas S. Scott, Assistant Secretary of War in Washington, and I quote, Lane chased Confederate Brigadier General James S. Raines of the Missouri State Guard into Osceola and was compelled to shell the place to dislodge the rebels. In doing so, he accidentally burned the town, unquote. Yeah. On October 9th, Lane wired his close personal friend, President Abraham Lincoln, and I quote, while the Kansas Brigade was being organized, Governor Charles Robinson exerted his utmost endeavor to prevent the enlistment of men. Since its organization, he has constantly vilified myself and abused the men under my command as marauders and thieves. The 3rd Regiment in Lane's Brigade was the 5th Kansas Cavalry, Colonel Hamilton P. Johnson. Lane, who was a radical Marxist Republican, just also happened to be a United States Senator from Kansas. Well, John C. Fremont in Warsaw, Missouri, 68 miles west-southwest of Jefferson City, on October the 20th of 1861, in General Orders Number 23, announced the following. And I quote, depredations by individuals of the United States Union troops now marching southward are a subject of frequent and in many instances of just complaint. Plundering and marauding and rape are crimes of enormity. Okay. Colonel Joseph B. Plummer, 11th Missouri of the Union Army, commanding an expedition reported from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, on October 31st to Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant, District of Southeast Missouri, with headquarters in Cairo, Illinois. The details of an engagement against a force under Brigadier General M. Jeff Thompson, Missouri State Guard, which was a Confederate force, fought one mile south of Frederictown, Missouri, 45 miles north-northwest of Cape Girardeau. On October 21st, and I quote, soldiers, after their return to Frederictown, believing the citizens who nearly all sympathized with the enemy, had cooperated with them in their endeavor to lead us into an ambuscade, became exasperated and some acts of violence ensued. Six or seven buildings were completely burned." Unquote. Regiments under Plummer's command, the 11th Missouri, Lieutenant Colonel William E. Panabaker, 17th Illinois, the 20th Illinois, the 21st Illinois, and there's more units in it, probably not worth citing them all. But John C. Fremont, on November the 1st of 1861, ordered Brigadier General Charles F. Smith, commander at Paducah, Kentucky, to make demonstrations on Columbus, Kentucky. At the same time, now folks, think about that, to make demonstrations on Columbia, Kentucky. Kentucky did not secede, and yet the Union Army was going to war against a state that did not secede. Are you beginning to get the gist of this Marxist moment in our history? Well, about this same time, he was ordered to make a demonstration on Columbia, Columbus, Kentucky, at the same time that General Useless Grant was to demonstrate across the Mississippi River against Belmont, Missouri, on November the 7th. Smith assigned the mission to Brigadier General E. Liazor A. Payne, 1st Brigade. In regard to the conduct of Payne's troops, Smith, on November the 11th, issued General Order Number 32, and I will read that for you. Reports of the most painful character have reached the commanding general from different sources in regard to the conduct of a portion of the troops recently marched to Milburn, 31 miles southwest of Paducah, under command of Brigadier General E. A. Payne. The imputations are of the most discreditable, most disgraceful character to them as soldiers or even men. That in returning several regiments, the 9th and the 12th Illinois accepted straggled home and parties without any semblance of military array, a mere armed mob, and that the property of citizens was wantonly destroyed, and in some instances, robbery by extreme violence was committed." Unquote. Well, let me touch on a few more here, folks, and we'll end our first podcast on this for Substack, but I promise you there will be several more to come. But Union forces commanded by Major General Benjamin F. Butler—oh, there's the beast again— captured Confederate forts Hatteras and Clark at Hatteras Inlet in North Carolina on August the 28th and 29th of 1861. Second Lieutenant Francis U. Farquhar, U.S. Corps of Engineers, reported at Hatteras Inlet on September the 7th, 1861, and I quote, "'All the inhabitants that I conversed with unite in complaining of the complete vandalism of our troops, some houses being completely rifled.'" And then on that same day, Colonel Rush C. Hawkins of the 9th New York, Commandant of Fort Clark, reported, and I quote, "'Conduct of the men and some of the officers of the 20th New York has been that of mere vandals. They have plundered and destroyed. The next day they commenced breaking open private homes and private stores, and I saw party after party go into those homes, some of them headed by highly commissioned officers, loaded down with stolen items, the results of their plundering.'" Also on that same day, Hawkins wired this information to Major General John E. Wool, Department of Virginia, Fort Monroe. On September 9th, Wool reported, and I quote, "'I am recalling Colonel Max Weber's German Regiment, the 20th New York, much complained of by the inhabitants for depredations and various outrages upon them.'" These German Regiment's people were all communists. On September the 11th, ooh, imagine that date, 1861, Secretary of War Simon Cameron instructed Major General Nathaniel P. Banks, commanding federal forces near Darnestown, Maryland, and I quote, "'Passage of any act of secession by the legislature of Maryland must be prevented. If necessary, all or any part of the members will be arrested.'" Previously, good old Abraham Lincoln had suspended the writ of habeas corpus in Maryland. What they have said right there, what Secretary of War Simon Cameron said, that anyone who attempts to employ the right of the governed or consent of the governed, they must be prevented and arrested. Well, between September 12th and 17th, members of the Maryland legislature and other prominent citizens were arrested by agents of the federal government. In Baltimore, Major General John A. Dix, Department of Pennsylvania, on September the 13th wrote to General Wood at Fort Monroe, and I quote, "'The following,' and he lists the men, "'have been taken into custody by order of the government. George William Brown, Mayor of Baltimore, members elect of the legislature,' and they list all of those people. And Mr. Henry May, a member of Congress, F. Key Howard, Andrew A. Lynch, and Thomas W. Hall, all citizens of Baltimore. The direction of the Secretary of War is to keep them in close custody, suffering absolutely no one to communicate with them.'" Following that old Constitution right there. Well, General Banks, on September the 30th, reported to Major General George B. McClellan, commanding the Army of the Potomac, and I quote, "'All the members of the Maryland legislature assembled at Frederick City on the 17th instant known or suspected to be disloyal in their relations to this government have been arrested. The names of the parties thus arrested, and there is a complete list of all of the ones which is available should you so desire.' But on September the 20th, Colonel Robert Cowden, C-O-W-D-I-N, 1st Massachusetts, reported to Brigadier General Joseph Hooker at Lower Marlborough, Maryland, 20 miles southeast of the District of Columbia on the peninsula between Chesapeake Bay and the Patuxent River." And here is that dispatch. "'In your communication of the 18th instance, you say rumors have reached you of irregularities committed by my command. All cases brought to my notice have been investigated and the parties punished. I believe that same of the cavalry, two companies under Captain William H. Hamblin, while on detached duty, have been chiefly the cause of the majority of these complaints, it being almost impossible to control them. Numbers of them have been intoxicated and unfit to perform their duty for days.' General George McClellan, on October the 1st, issued General Order Number 19, and I quote, "'The attention of the General has been directed to depredations of an atrocious character that have been committed upon the persons and property of citizens of Virginia by the troops under this command. The property of inoffensive people has been lawlessly and violently taken from them, their homes broken open, and in some instances their homes have been burned to the ground.' Brigadier General William W. Slocum, 2nd Brigade, reported from Alexandria on October 6th, details of an expedition on October the 3rd to Pohick Church, 12 miles southwest of Alexandria, with the objective of capturing a body of Confederate cavalry at that church. The expedition was commanded by Colonel William H. Christian, 26th New York, and the force consisted of 300 infantry from the regiments of the 2nd Brigade and one cavalry company. In his report, Slocum wrote, and I quote, "'The expedition proved an entire failure, and what is still more annoying to me and disgraceful to my command is the fact that instead of being marched back to the camp in good order, a large portion of the command was allowed to disband beyond our line of pickets, and this force was converted into a band of raiding marauders who plundered alike friend and foe.'" Well, General William S. Rosecrans, in Wheeling, Northwestern Virginia, on March the 4th, 1862, wrote to Congressman Frank P. Blair, Jr., who was chairman of the military committee, and I quote, "'Owing to the negligence of officers or their inability to control the men under their command, much property has been unnecessarily destroyed by the troops in this department. Fences and houses have been burned, horses seized and appropriated without authority or any want of necessity. Claims for property so taken or destroyed are most daily presented to me.'" On November the 11th, 1861, Brigadier General Thomas W. Sherman, commanding Expeditionary Corps at Hilton Head, South Carolina, in General Order Number 24, stated, and I quote, "'The General is paying to know that some of the troops of his command have, without orders, invaded the premises of private individuals and committed gross depredations upon their property, and that some commissioned officers have not only connived of such outrages, but have actually participated in them.'" In operations, December the 1st to the 13th, 1861, around Mill Spring and Somerset in southeast Kentucky, near the Cumberland River, Brigadier General Albin Schoff, 1st Kentucky Brigade Union, obviously a Marxist German, reported from Somerset on December the 8th to Brigadier General George H. Thomas, and I quote, "'The cavalry under my command, Colonel Frank Walford's 1st Kentucky Cavalry, are a nuisance, and the sooner they are disbanded, the better. They are scouring the country, a disturbance to the quiet citizens of the country. Captain T.S. Everett has just joined me in reports of a series of irregularities by stragglers of this regiment as having passed under his notice in the several villages through which he passed.'" Wanton destruction of private property, over and over and over again. An expedition from Cairo into southwest Kentucky was ordered by Major General Henry W. Halleck, Department of the Missouri, St. Louis on January the 6th of 1862, when he directed Ulysses S. Grant to make a demonstration in force on Mayfield and in the direction of Murray. This expedition lasted from January the 10th to the 21st, and in regard to it, Grant and Cairo on January the 13th in General Orders No. 3 declared, "'Disrepute, having been brought upon our brave soldiers by the bad conduct of many of their numbers, showing on all occasions, when marching through territory occupied by sympathizers of our enemy, a total disregard of any rights of the citizens, and being guilty of wanton destruction of private property, the General intends to enforce a change.'" Now remember, folks, that's early 1862. Did any change happen under Grant, or did it get worse? Fort Henry in northwest Tennessee, on the east bank of the Tennessee River, was surrendered on February the 6th, 1862, by Confederate Brigadier General Lloyd Tillman to Army and Naval forces commanded by Ulysses Grant. On February the 9th at Fort Henry, Grant, in General Field Order No. 5, warned his troops, and I quote, "'The pilfering and marauding disposition shown by some of the men of this command has determined the General to make an example of someone, to fully show his disapprobation of such conduct. It is astounding that men can be found wanton as to destroy, pillage, and burn indiscriminately.'" Major General Don C. Buell, Department of the Ohio, on February the 26th in Nashville, issued General Order No. 13A, and I quote, "'The most frequent depredations are those which are committed by worthless characters who straggle from the ranks on the plea of being unable to march.'" Unquote. So folks, where did all of this come from? Well, the official records, the War of the Rebellion, all Union Army documents. Well folks, there we have it. We've covered some of the depredations against the people of the South by the Union Army. So we were just able to cover a very few months so far. And I'm going to continue, because folks, this needs to be a subject of discussion. And it's not. Just like the subject of maybe as many as almost a half a million blacks dying at the hands of the Union Army in contraband camps. The truth must prevail here, folks. It must, because the lies of our own history are destroying us post-haste. So anyway, look forward to getting back with you with the next Whistling Dixie. And if you can in any way, get your fellow Confederates to support me, or even those reluctant Yankees to support me at my substack, michaelgaddy.substack.com. Because there's going to be lots more of this coming. And I hope that you are here to listen. And I hope that in some way I can help you to educate yourself. So God bless everyone. Take care. Look forward to Whistling Dixie again.
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