“IT IS A SHAMEFUL SIGHT, WHEN BROTHERS OF ONE FAMILY DO CHIDE, Ch: 17

“IT IS A SHAMEFUL SIGHT, WHEN BROTHERS OF ONE FAMILY DO CHIDE Ch: 17

Chapter 17

“IT IS A SHAMEFUL SIGHT, WHEN BROTHERS OF ONE FAMILY DO CHIDE, FALL OUT, AND FIGHT . “

So go the lines of an old rhyme. They have a homely setting and were probably employed on many occasions to rebuke the quarrelling younger members of a family. However, they contain a truth that, at times, must have caused more adult persons to cease from bickering’s that would have lead to actual strife. It is to be very much regretted that more forbearance by both sides in the disagreement in the United States in the mid 1800′ s was not exercised before actual fighting took place. It was not a cut and dried dissension between the Northern States and the Southern, On this point it is interesting to note that when the South fired on Fort Sumter, beginning the war, there were eight slave states in the Union and only seven in the Confederacy. But when Lincoln called for an invasion of the South, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas left the Union. Even the states with Ulster Scots heritage that remained in the Union reacted to this call with outrage. The governor of Kentucky contemptuously replied that his state would furnish no troops “for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern States.”

Claiborne Fox Jackson, Missouri’s governor, sent a wire claiming that such an idea was “illegal, unconstitutional, and revolutionary in its object, inhuman and diabolical, and cannot be complied with.” for many in the South would have supported the abolition of slavery viewpoint, and there were sections of the population in the North that saw no harm in keeping slaves. Indeed, it has been pointed out by several writers, among them Whitelaw Reid, that the first anti-slavery actions began, not in the Northern States, as is usually assumed, but among the Scotch and the Scotch-Irish of South Carolina and East Tennessee. That happened some 20 odd years before any voice was raised against the practice in the North. It has also been recorded that it was the refusal of a Covenanter pastor in New York to accept a call to a church there in the early 19th century, because of some slave owning members of it, that led to the Presbytery enacting that Communion be with- held from slave-holders.

John Rankin, the noted anti-slavery leader, stated in 1820 that it was safer to make Abolition speeches in Kentucky or Tennessee than in Northern States. With this wide divergence of views in the regions, it was a calamity that the differences could not have been resolved without recourse to arms.

The Civil War was a conflict between members of a nation with so much in common. Sometimes members even of the same family fought on opposite sides. It was a tragic occurrence. In a young developing nation, then of some four score years, harmony among all its peoples was a vital necessity for progress. Prominent people in both the North and the South tried by impassioned speeches to halt the drift to open
conflict. These were men who had the wider vision to foresee the disastrous effects of a war within a nation. They knew that, not only would it lead to much loss of lives and damage to property, but that the bitter feelings of suspicion, distrust, and even hatred would poison relationships for many years afterwards. Such a prominent man was Sam Houston, the Hero of Texas and its first governor.

His love for the United States as a whole had been demonstrated previously when, as a leader of the Lone Star State, he did much to have it embodied in the Union. He had shown that he would have gone to any lengths to have this brought about. Like that other great patriot of Ulster stock, Andrew Jackson, he foresaw that it was only as a united nation that America could best fulfil her destiny. Like Old Hickory, too, Houston was no romantic idealist, but a man who had experienced violence and war at its most vicious. He had taken strong action against even his own fellow Texans to make the State a real
community. In 1844 he declared martial law and had several dangerous lawbreakers arrested and imprisoned.

In the developing crisis between Northern and Southern interests, even although a man of seventy, he decided to take action according to what he deemed was best for the whole nation. The inclusion of Texas within the Union had been opposed vehemently by some Northern States, because they thought it could lead to an extension of slave holding. So Houston knew exactly how fierce would be the opposition within his own state to any attempts at reconciliation. In spite of threats to his life and most hostile receptions at meetings he addressed, he went throughout the State of Texas speaking forcefully against seceding from the Union. He warned that it would lead to Civil War and would bring ruin to the South but few listened.

In March, 1861, at a great meeting of the most influential men of Texas, he had only one backer when he voted against a proposal that all State office-holders would have to swear allegiance to the Confederacy, the name given to the alliance of seceding states. It was passed by 109 votes to 2. Afterwards he refused to swear thus and thereby sacrificed his position as governor. In March, 1863, he made his final appeal. This was in the middle of the hard-fought Civil War. He again revealed his whole-nation patriotism when he spoke with great feeling of “his dream of an empire as vast and expansive for a united people as the bounds of American civilization.” Even at that stage he pleaded for a healing of the breach between the peoples of the nation, and begged his hearers “to resist to the last that worst of all tyranny fraternal hate.” Surely the words of a high mlnded statesman.

The same charitableness and hopes were to be voiced by that other great Ulster

Scot, Ulysses S. Grant, to the Southern commander-in-chief, General Lee, after the latter’s surrender at Appomattox. General Robert E. Lee, himself, had similar forebodings to Houston when he wrote before the outbreak of war, “I can contemplate no greater calamity than a dissolution of the Union.” But he expressed a reservation. “Still a union that can only be maintained by swords and bayonets,and in which strife and civil war are to take the place of brotherly love and kindness has no charm for me.”He refused to strive against his own state, and his own family. He resigned his commission in the American army. Lee, like many in high and in lowly positions at that time had to make most painful decisions. His own brother was to command the naval forces of the North. The wife of President Lincoln had three brothers killed while fighting with the Confederate army. Members of the same race were to oppose each other in that bloody conflict, which left three quarters of a million dead – the finest of that generation – and men that the developing nation could ill afford.

Among that vast number were to be many thousands of Ulster ancestry, who fell while fighting on opposing sides. They displayed the same high standard of courage and devotion to duty that has typified their race on battlefields throughout the world and in all ages. The Northern army records shows that the State of Pennsylvania supplied the most volunteers for service in the Northern cause. This State will be remembered as the “hub of the Scotch-Irish settlements” in the early 18th century. From North Carolina, the Scotch-Irish State of the South, came a similar record number of recruits for the Confederate forces. Both these states also had the highest number of losses on the battlefields. One particular battle occasioned a distressing number of slain for these two areas. It was the battle of Gettysburg, fought on the first of July, 1863. A pivotally significant date in Ulster’s history. The conflict at Gettysburg was a decisive one. The Southern armies under General Lee were threatening to take part of Pennsylvania, and it looked as if President Lincoln would be forced to order the withdrawal of troops from around Vicksburg in the vital Western theatre, to bolster up the Union forces in the East. The sufficiency of man-power and military equipment was beginning to be a worry, also, for the leader of the Southern forces. The Northern soldiers were holding the Cemetery Ridge South of the town of Gettysburg against Confederate attacks from what was known as the Seminary Ridge. Fighting around three vital locations Cemetery Hill, Round Top, and another lesser elevation, Little Round Top, had been especially fierce.

Lee decided to make an all-out attack on a part of the enemy-held
ridge, called “The Angle.” He chose for this main assault one of his most distinguished units the 26th North Carolina Regiment, under the Ulster Scottish generals Trimble and Pettigrew. It was the greatest infantry charge of the war, consisting of 15,000 men on a mile-wide front. The assault was met with equal fierceness by the 151st Pennsylvania Regiment. It was in all senses “a fight to the death.” Both regiments were practically wiped out. The Southem attack failed and the result had a signifigant effect on the whole war. This action was but one example of occasions on which men of Ulster blood strove against each other on hardest-fought battlefields. As John Dalzell stated in a memorable speech at Pittsburgh in 1890,

“On many a battlefield of the Civil War men faced each other, who were sons of Scotch-lrish settlers, inheritors of a common history and sharers of it’s glory. Borne apart by the accident of fortune, the Scotch-Irishman of the South, rallying to the support of the Stars and Bars, met the Scotch-Irishman of Pennsylvania following the Stars and Stripes. In conflict, deadly, desperate, hand-to-hand, the iron blood of Irish Scotland met its kind and men died, as their fathers would have them die. For some the ebbing tide of life crimsoned the gray, for some the blue. But under either flag death only added new proof of the verdict of history, that for the peerless courage that men honour and women love, America owes a need of pride for her Scotch-Irish sons.”

General Robert E. Lee confirmed, too, the excellence of the fighting quality of the soldiers of Ulster stock. To a visiting Scottish minister who had asked him which race in his opinion made the best soldiers, the general replied:

“The Scotch who came to this country by the way of Ireland because they have all the dash of the Irish in taking a position,and all the stubbornness of the Scotch in holding it.”

Praise indeed, from a man who had proved he was the most outstanding military leader of his day, and who had ample opportunities to judge. As we have seen previously several of the military leaders of the Revolutionary forces were men whose forefathers had come from Ulster. Many of the generals of the Civil War were of a similar racial background. For the Northern or Union armies outstanding leadership was given by Generals Irvin McDowell, George B. McClellan, James B. McPherson, and Ulysses S. Grant, while among the commanders of the Confederates were Generals Joe Johnston, Leonidas Polk, J.E.B. Stuart and Thomas Jonathan (Stonewall) Jackson. Several of them had earned high reputations in the war against Mexico, and felt themselves called on to serve again when the Civil War broke out in 1861.

Both Irvin McDowell”s and James McPherson’s ancestors had arrived in New England in 1718 in the large emigration from Ulster in that year. They had, like many others, had to settle in the dangerous frontier areas, where Indian attacks happened frequently. Some of their descendants inevitably would serve with the Colonial forces in the War of Independence. General McDowell was one of the first generals called on by the Northem authorities. He led about 33,000 Union soldiers at
the battle of Bull Run near Washington. It was the first major engagement of the war and resulted in heavy casualties for both sides. General McPherson was an outstanding officer, well-known, not only for his soldierly qualities, but also for his straight-dealing and sense of justice. He was much respected by his men, and his loss in battle was a severe one, not only to those under his command, but to his fellow-officers, too.

General Grant, on hearing of his death said, ‘”The country has lost one of its best soldiers, and I have lost one of my best friends.” Right from the outset of the war, General Joe Johnston was in action. He was in command of some 11,000 Confederate troops in the Shenandoah Valley and their progress in that area caused the Northern Commander to detach a large number of his best men to meet the threat. Later, General McClellan had his army transported down Union Chesapeake Bay, in an attempt to encircle a large Southern force. Johnston took immediate steps to conquer this move. When a Corps crossed the strategically important Chickahominy River, the Southern general led an attack on this dangerous threat.

In the fierce fighting that ensued, the gallant Johnston was seriously wounded. A measure of his patriotism was revealed by his remark shortly afterwards, when he said, ‘The shot that struck me down is the very best that has been fired for the Southern cause yet.” This was his compliment to his successor, General Robert E. lee. Johnston’s abilities as a master strategist were well displayed also in the Western theatre, where he took over command when only partially recovered from his wounds. He led his troops with such skill, particularly after the fall of Vicksburg, that, although opposed by much bigger forces under Sherman, he managed to keep his army intact. It had become a war of attrition, and, at times, he best served his cause by withdrawing tactics.

However, his opponents could not take his actions for granted, as was
proved at Kennesaw Mountain. There, from a strong position, he launched an unexpected attack that sent the enemy reeling back. But he was forced again to retreat to near Altanta. He was the last Southern general to surrender – in April, 1865. It was in the Western theatre, too, around Shiloh and later at Vicksburg that General (and Bishop) Leonidas Polk gave distinguished leadership to Southern forces. His ancestor, Robert, was one of the earliest Ulster settlers in America, reaching Maryland about 1660. There were several revolutionary officers among his descendants, as well as James Knox Polk, 11th President of U.S.A.

George B. McClellan was a direct descendant of James McClellan, who was appointed the first town Constable of the town of Worcester in Massachusetts, in 1724. This was six years after he had landed with many Ulster settlers from the “Robert” near Boston. George B. was sometimes referred to as “the pocket Napoleon” and in many ways lived up to this description. He and “Stonewall” Jackson were classmates at West Point, the Military Academy which has helped to
produce many of America’s war leaders. Soon afterwards they were both serving as officers in the Mexican War. After that conflict, McClellan resigned his commission, and was employed in the country’s railway system. He became a competent chief at the Illinois Central network. During his work in that capacity he displayed several qualities that were to suit him for a distinguished army career in the future.

He had an exceptional flair for organizing, an ability to get on well with men, a patience to concentrate on every aspect and detail of problems, until they could be seen to fit into their proper place to provide the solution, and finally he had a tireless energy. His work as a railway boss brought him into contact with many people, but with one man it was to effect profoundly the future lives of both. That man was Abraham Lincoln, the President during the Civil War. He was employed as one of the railway’s lawyers. On the outbreak of hostilities, McClellan offered his services to the Northern authorities. Following the setback sustained at Bull Run Creek, he was given command of the Union army in the North East. Only 35 years, of age, he applied himself with his usual thoroughness to the building up of a first class fighting force. According to most historians he made a really good job of it, and the” Army of the Potomac” was termed by one writer as “a superb instrument of war.”

One of the factors which made General George Washington’s leadership of the Revolutionary forces most difficult was the short term enlistment permitted to those offering themselves for war service. This enabled them to go home when that agreed period was over, no matter the military position at the time. One of the first things that McClellan did was to change the 90 days militia undertaking into a 3 year volunteering. This meant that a unit commander had no worries concerning the strength of his forces at a future date, with all the advantage to forward planning that that introduced. “Little Mac”, as he was nicknamed by his troops, displayed the same supreme self-confidence, decisiveness, and lack of deference to his superiors as another Ulsterman of the Second World War many years later was to show – he was Field Marshal Montgomery. McClellan insisted on the same build-up of superior forces and completion of his plans before his taking action as ‘Monty’, held to before the battle of Alamein.

As the fighting in 1861 was at times close to Washington itself, it was inevitable that there would be no shortage of “armchair generals” among newspaper editors and politicians who gave advice to the officers in charge of warfare. The spate of criticism did not seem to effect “Little Mac’s” plans or operations in the slightest. Even the President, himself, seemed to have been treated with scant regard.
According ‘to President Truman, the former rail road boss had trouble in remembering that Lincoln was no longer one of the railway employees and was very rude to him at times. On one occasion some friends of Abe’s told him that they were surprised that he accepted such treatment. Lincoln replied that he would hold McClellan’s horse, if he would only bring him success. He also said that the whole thing reminded him of the fellow whose unruly horse got its hoof caught in the stirrup and he told it, if it wanted to get on, he would get off.

After the battle of Antietam, where there were heavy losses on both sides, the President visited the battlefield, and told McClellan that there was some criticism of his slowness in the campaign. The general replied, “You may find those who will go faster than I, Mr. President, but it is very doubtful if you will find many who will go farther.” Little Mac, himself, was loudly cheered by his men after that particular battle.

In several of the engagements, he was opposing two master strategists, generals Lee who had his own share of critical newsopaper editors to contend with. In a conversation with a Senator Hill, Lee replied much to the shock at first of the senator, “We made a great mistake, Mr. Hill in the beginning of our struggle, and I fear in spite of all we can do, it will prove to be a fatal mistake. The clearly shaken senator asked “What mistake General?” to which Lee replied “Why Sir, in the beginning we appointed all our worst generals to command our armies and all our best generals to edit our newspapers!” and Jackson. It is reckoned by several historians that he did extremely well in keeping intact his “Army of the Potomac” in spite of many attempts by his opponents to encircle it.

General J.E.B. (Jeb) Stuart’s great-great-grandfather was born in the city of Londonderry, in Ulster, from where he emigrated to America in the early 18th century. General Stuart has been described as a very fine Calvary officer, but as well as leading his troops into battle, he helped Generals Robert E. Lee and (Stonewall) Jackson in a particularly effective way. With great daring and cunning, gained from experience, he used his men to find out in advance of battles the numbers and positions of the enemy. Stuart, himself, directed and often led these daring scouting expeditions and then assessed the information gained before conveying it to the commander. In the undulating surface of the Virginia countryside this kind of intelligence, was invaluable for planning the movements of the Southern troops, prior to the actual fighting, as often there were superior numbers of Union forces.

The army of the Potomac had the great advantage, too, of a well-developed system of field telegraph. This was controlled by a battery wagon from which a very fine gauge insulated wire, some 1/8 of an inch in diameter, was taken on reels, carried on pack mules. These were taken along and the wire put on quickly improvised poles clear of the ground.

This was the first employment in war of the Morse Code, invented by another Ulster Scot, Samuel Finley Breese Morse. It has been recorded that Grant, the final Union commander, could get in touch with his officers in any part of the zone of operations. They used the clicks of small magnets to convey messages. The Scouting parties of General Stuart afterwards picked up the transmissions by tapping the wires, and this forced the use of codes by the Northern operators. Both Lee and Jackson spoke highly of the help given them by JEB Stuart. By means of the information obtained by him and his men’ from these dangerous scouting trips, well into enemy-held ground, they were able to plan their strategy.

Thomas Jonathan Jackson’s great grandfather, John, was born at Ballinarry House, The Birches, Portadown, Co. Armagh, in Ulster. He emigrated to America about 1748. Today, there are reportedly more Jacksons living in this part of Co Armagh than in any other region of Northern Ireland and they are convinced of the local connection with “Stonewall” Jackson s family. John Jackson is traced by the Co Armagh Jacksons as a grandson of Robert Jackson, and a son of John Jackson, who is buried in Tartaraghan Parish Churchyard. Another John Jackson, from this area, fought with King William III at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 and his sword and cutlass carried by him in the battle, have been displayed at Carrickfergus Castle in Co Antrim The Jacksons of Co Armagh have always been strong supporters of the Orange- Protestant cause in Ireland and today that tradition is manifested in their membership of various Orange lodges in a region, where the Orange Order was founded in 1795, following the battle of the Diamond.

These Jacksons primarily belong to the Church of Ireland (Episcopal) and if the American link is authentic, it would have meant that the emigrant John Jackson and his family almost certainly converted to Presbyterianism when they reached America. John Jackson had a brief sojourn in London before he reached Maryland in 1748. It was there that he met the girl he was to marry, Elizabeth Cummins, the daughter of a London hotelier, who, when her father died and her mother remarried, decided to emigrate. Elizabeth was a highly educated woman of a large stature, and it was said she was “as remarkable for her strength of intellect as for beauty and physical vigour”. John Jackson was a “spare diminutive man, of quiet but determined
character, sound judgment and excellent morals”. The pair married in 1755 and within two years they headed to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia with the great flow of Scots-Irish families, who had moved from Ulster. They settled at Moorefield in Hardy County, West Virginia, but after the French-Indian War of 1754-63, they moved 150 miles westwards to find a home at Buckhannon in Randolph County, Virginia.

In his exploits as an Indian fighter and scout John Jackson amassed sizeable land holdings in the Shenandoah Valley and these he distributed to his eight children. The Jacksons in time became one of the leading families in the Valley. In terms of wealth and influence, Jackson was a Randolph County justice and, in 1779, at the age of 74,
he served as a captain of a frontier militia regiment. Elizabeth Jackson, who had possession of 3,000 acres of land in her own right at Buckhannon, survived her husband and she lived until she was 105. She also showed tenacity and courage in fending of Indian attacks on their home and family records show that even in the most dangerous situations, she never wilted.

Two sons rose to high office. Edward (1759-1828), grandfather of “Stonewall”, was Randolph County surveyor, militia colonel, commissioner of revenue and high sheriff. He represented Lewis County in the Virginia Assembly and was “a citizen who acquired some knowledge of medicine, was an expert millwright, and a farmer of more than usual ability”. George, his older brother, after service as a colonel in the Revolutionary War, completed three terms in the American Congress and was a close associate of General Andrew Jackson, later to become President. George and Andrew Jackson were not related, but they frequently talked about their first generation Ulster connections who had moved to America several decades earlier. George Jackson’s son, John George Jackson replaced his father in Congress and, as lawyer, he was an articulate spokesman in Washington for the Shanendoah Valley dwellers. Jonathan Jackson , father of “Stonewall”, studied law at the Clarksburg office of his uncle and, although married to the daughter of a merchant from Parslbury, West Virginia, Julie Beeleith Neale, he was never a man of great wealth. He died when his son Jonathan was only three.

John George Jackson married Mary Payne of Philadelphia, a sister of Dolly Madison, wife of James Madison, the fourth President of the United States. This increased the influence of the Jackson clan to the highest level and John George was appointed by Madison s successor in the White House James Monroe, as the first federal judge for the western part of Virginia. A brother, Edward Burke Jackson, was the army surgeon during the Creek Indian War of 1812, a Clarksburg doctor and a member of the American Congress for four years. It was from this noble family tradition of soldiering and public service that Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson emerged and in 1842, at the age of 18, he was given a Congressional appointment to the premier American military academy at West Point.

He, himself, had been born at Clarksburg, in Virginia (now W. Virginia) in 1824. His father died when his son was young, and Thomas had to assume family responsibility at a very early age. It is more than likely that this duty thus forced upon him increased the seriousness of his outlook on life at a later date. His abilities as a military leader were soon recognised in the Mexican War, during which he was promoted to the rank of major. He displayed exceptional coolness under fire and
resourcefulness in dangerous situations in that war that were good indications of his future excellence for leadership. He resigned his commission afterwards and was appointed Professor of Artillery atactics at a military institute in Virginia. There he gained the reputation of being a most conscientious instructor and a rather stern
Presbyterian. During his time at that training centre he must have added considerable knowledge of the terrain of the Shenandoah Valley to his youthful familiarity with it. This was to prove a great asset to him and to his troops during the fighting in that region in the Civil War.

On the outbreak of that war, he offered his services to the Virginia authorities and was appointed Colonel. One of his first actions was at Harper’s Ferry on the Baltimore to Ohio Railway and at the junction of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers. This had been one of the most strategically important positions in Virginia since the establishment of a ferry there by an Ulster Scot, Robert Harper, in 1734. It was surrounded by the Loudain and Maryland Heights and other steep mountains with
almost impassable gaps, so it was an ideal place for an important National Armoury that was constructed there. Incidentally, it was where the famous John Brown, the abolitionist, remembered even yet, in song, seized the armoury buildings and held them against the local militia for about three weeks, before being overcome. Thirteen of his eighteen supporters were either killed or badly wounded. He, himself, was tried and later hanged, an event which added to the growing ill-feeling between the North and the South.

Jackson, with a surprisingly quick move, seized the Maryland Heights which commanded the whole position. As a result large stores of military supplies, heavy guns and ammunition came into the hands of the Southern army, and they were able, too, to transfer much of the machinery to Richmond. The seizure was of great importance, because it was just before the vital battle at nearby Antietam. It was at the battle of Bull Run Creek (sometimes referred to as the Battle of Mannassas) near Washington that Jackson gained his legendary reputation and nickname of “Stonewall”. Indeed the whole brigade with which he was most closely connected became universally known as the”Stonewall Brigade.” The nucleus of that military unit were volunteers from the Ulster-Scottish educational establishment of the South, which started off as Augusta Academy and later became the Washington and Lee University.

Even in face of a highly concentrated and murderous fusillade, the whole brigade, under the orders of their undaunted commander, stood so firmly that General Lee, who had been observing the incident, said to a nearby officer, “There is Jackson standing there like a stone wall.” It was the start of the legend. He had another nickname given to him by his troops, who held him in high regard – “Old Blue Light” It was their soldierly recognition of the menacing gleam that came into his eyes before battles. His unshakable religious faith gave him the bold assurance in his military tactics that almost always ensured success.

Even against the very efficient and powerful Army of the Potomac, his close knowledge of the important passes off into the Appalachian and Blue Ridge Mountains from the Shenandoah Valley enabled him to out-manoeuvre and harass larger enemy forces. On several occasions, with timely and skilful attacks he prevented the link-up of two main parts of the Union forces that would have brought considerable risk to General Lee’s whole campaign. Even President Lincoln praised the brilliant generalship of this great leader, and described him as “a brave, honest Presbyterian soldier.”

His clever, unpredictable tactics at times had brought his army very close to Washington itself. The great effects of such a capture could hardly be assessed, although the cutting off and destruction of a major part of the Union armies would have been worse militarily. The shock of the taking of their capital would have been a severe blow to Northern confidence and morale. It was inevitable that, when the sudden attacks by General Jackson endangered Washington, there would be much criticism by influential Northern politicians and others of the Union generals and even Lincoln himself.

Several generals had been replaced, and in 1863, “Fighting Joe” Hooker was appointed as Chief in-Charge in the North Eastern theatre. It was at a critical state of the War. The Union army had suffered heavy losses at Fredericks burg and the next encounter at Chancellorsville was to be a decisive one. It was to prove a momentous one for the South. Again the skilful tactics of Lee and Jackson were to prove successful even against the drive of Hooker. Again there was a danger that the Army of the Potomac under General McClellan would be cut-off. It was certainly a victory for Southern arms but even in the midst of such triumph came the seeds of their eventual downfall.

The sending out of reconnaissance parties or patrols to obtain vital information regarding enemy strength and positions was a practice well established in warfare. Immediately after a battle much information could be gleaned by a daring sortie near the enemy lines, for there would be then much confusion and possible lack of alertness by sentries. At about 9 o’clock in the evening after the battle of Chancellorsville, a small party was seen approaching from the battlefield towards the position occupied by a Southern regiment. Thinking it was an enemy patrol, some of the troops opened fire. One of those coming nearer was seen to fall. Immediately there were shouts from the other members of the party. With horror it was discovered by those who had fired that it was their commanding officer who had been hit.

In a way that was customary to him, Stonewall Jackson was always ready and willing to undertake dangerous missions along with his men. So had it been on this tragic occasion. The legendary Confederate leader died the following day, the 10th May, 1863. General Lee said on hearing the news, “I have lost my right arm.” It was a catastrophe for the Southern forces. The universally highly rated reference book “Encyclopaedia Britannia” writes of him, “He ranks among the most skilful tacticians in military history.” Surely a high commendation from such a distinguished source. After the war during a ride in the country on his trusty steed Traveller, Lee remarked to a friend, “If I had had Stonewall Jackson at Gettysburg we should have won a great victory.” As it was Gettysburg eventually would prove to be the Confederacies Waterloo.

As the conflict dragged on seemingly interminably, in the North too, war weariness was mounting on the home front. In the midwest particularily, which had been badly hit by the loss of Southern markets and where inevitably, the peace wing of the democratic party were making inroads. Politics which appeared to favour blacks were not likely to win many votes. Indeed, racial prejudice was never far below the surface of Northern opinion. Already there had been race riots in a number of major Northern cities, such as Toledo and Cincinnati, often provoked by Irish and German immigrants, fearful for their jobs. Northern newspaper editors warned of “millions of ‘semi-savages’ intermingling with the sons and daughters of white families.” Others talked of, “free labor being ‘degraded’ by the competition of these blacks, many of whom will have to be supported as paupers and criminals at the public expense.”

Even Archbishop Hughes of New York had proclaimed that, “Catholics are willing to fight to the death for the support of the constitution, the government and the laws of the country. But if…..they are to fight for the abolition of slavery, then they would turn away in disgust from the discharge of what would otherwise be a patriotic duty.” In the same year 1862, Lincons own state of Illinois voted to ban the further settlement of blacks within its borders. Northern soldiers reflected these attitudes, too, and not all of them welcomed the ‘contrabands.’

When a delegation of leading free blacks visited the Whitehouse in August to plead the emancipation cause, Lincoln urged they consider emigration instead. Congress subsequently voted $600,000 to encourage voluntary colonisation of freed slaves and much of it went in resettling 450 black Americans on an island near Haiti, which turned out to be prone to smallpox. When most of them died from it,
Washington evacuated the survivors. The same month, August, Lincoln replied to a request from Horace Greeley at the New York Tribune urging that he turn the war into crusade for freedom with the words:

“My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union and it is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves I would do it. If I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it. If I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.”

The commander of all the Union armies at the end of the Civil War was Ulysses Simpson Grant. He was the great-grandson of a County Tyrone man, John Simpson, who was born at Dergina, Ballygawley, not far from Dungannon in that county in 1738. His historic birth place now bears a commemorative plaque unveiled there in 1965 by the then American Consul in Northern Ireland. At that time, Miss Isobel Simpson, great niece of the future general and 18th president of the United States of America was the hospitable owner of the little snow-white cottage with such historic associations. A sign on the wall states, “The house is small, but the welcome is great.” Like many of his fellow-countrymen of the time, John Simpson emigrated to America in 1760. His grand-daughter, Hannah Simpson, married a skilled leather-worker, whose people had come from Scotland and had settled in Galena, in Illinois, a small town situated near that state’s boundary with Wisconsin. There had been a prosperous lead-mining industry carried on near it in the 19th century, but it did not continue. There the Grants began a harness-making business and in that picturesque place with its steep streets and handsome buildings Ulysses was born. The hard-working leather artisan tried to interest his son ,in the business
without success. Disappointed, he contacted some of his political friends, and the young man was accepted for officer-training at West Point. But there, too, he showed a greater liking for horsemanship than for military routine. However, on the outbreak of the war in Mexico, he was sent there with the rank of lieutenant. He quickly demonstrated he had a flair for leadership in war, and a knack of bringing the maximum pressure on an enemy. This latter ability was illustrated by the incident previously related, when he had a heavy gun mounted in a commanding position on top of a church tower to bring about an almost immediate surrender by the opposing force. During the war he was promoted to the rank of captain.

After the end of hostilities against Mexico his interest in the army seemed to flag again, and he resigned his commission- There followed a most unsettled time for the future general, when he tried several occupations with success. His wife, formerly Julia Dent, for whom we had great affection, maintained her faith in him. Her father gave him some wooded land near St. Louis, and there Ulysses built his own log cabin, which he named “Hard Scrabble.” This is now visited every year as a national monument by many thousands of interested patriots. He cleared some acres for farming, but it turned out a time of recession for farm produce, and again the result for him was failure.

Shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War, he offered his services to the Northern authorities. They must have recalled the military skill he had displayed a few years before, as he was appointed colonel. There was no delay either in putting into active service the unit to which he was detailed, the 21st Illinois Regiment. Within a few days they moved into Missouri for operations. It was a theatre of changing fortunes in warfare. There, his forces were opposed by those “under another general of Ulster blood, Leonidas Polk. In the first battle of Shiloh the Union forces had suffered a setback, but Grant mounted a surprise counter attack. The general in over-all command of the Southern armies, Albert Sydney Johnston, was killed, and victory was gained for the North. The losses on both sides were very heavy, almost 25,000 men. Grant was promoted to Brigadier, an event which pleased his father, who counselled him to be sure and not lose such a good job. His views on tactics were bluntly expressed in his response to a query if he had read a popular book by a French strategist. He said that all one had to do was to seek out the enemy and “hit him with everything you’ve got, and keep on at it.”

There was this relentless persistence displayed in most of his campaigns. In 1862, as well as his victory at Shiloh, he pushed on to capture the strategically important Forts Henry and Donelson on the Tennessee River. His greatest victory in the West was the taking of Vicksburg on the Mississippi. It was largely surrounded by soggy,
swampy land on the main approach routes, and it was only from the East that it could be taken. His campaign was masterly. He struggled with his men through the Louisiana swamps, to reach a position from which the gunboats and transports could float down past the defence batteries. They were almost beyond the range of the guns with their lights out and engines stopped, when firing began. However, the plan
had succeeded. They reached firmer ground and went Eastwards to reach the town of Jackson. From there they began a successful siege and Vicksburg was surrendered at the time of the battle of Gettysburg in the East. About that time someone had said to Lincoln that Grant was a heavy whisky drinker.

The unimpressed President replied that. if his informer could find out the brand of spirits, he would get some for some of the rest of his generals. Grant, himself. was not given to display. The President once remarked, “I don’t know what to make of Grant. he’ s such a quiet fellow. The only way I know he’ s around is by the way he makes things git.” In March, 1864, Lincoln appointed Grant Commander of all the Union armies, and he took on the immediate command of the North-Eastern sector. His dogged, tenacious, approach to war, soon stamped itself on operations. It was to be a conflict of attrition. When he led the Northern forces over the river Rapid and to begin the “Wilderness” campaign, the fighting became even more vicious, and losses heavier. His advance took on a relentless character, and, although General Lee’s forces struck back very hard, and inflicted many casualties, still the Northern army kept pressing forward.

Meanwhile Sherman had begun his destructive march to the sea. This was largely against civilians, crops, and property. It finally brought his forces to Georgia, and the Carolinas, inflicting 100 million dollars worth of damage, most of which was admitted as “simply waste and destruction”. Lee held out in the strategically vital centre of communications, Petersburg, hoping to break out to link up with General Joe Johnston’s forces. But it was not to be. They did break out. but were hemmed in again at Appomattox. General Lee was left with no alternative, but to surrender. One can well understand his painful statement, ‘There is nothing left for me to do, but to go and see General Grant. I would rather die a thousand deaths.”

However, he was to find the Northern Commander most magnanimous. They met on Palm Sunday, April 9th, 1865. Grant said that the Confederate soldiers were not, treated as those conquered, but as fellow countrymen. He ordered that those who had claim to horses should be allowed to take them, and, on their word of parole, were to go home to start life anew. He even forbade any mocking cheering from his men as General Robert E. Lee rode away.