Christmas Eve 1864 for a Notre Dame Student-Soldier

Just before Christmas Day 1864, Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman sent a famous telegram to President Abraham Lincoln:

"I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the City of Savannah with 150 heavy guns & plenty of ammunition & also about 25.000 bales of cotton."

In Sherman's army, camped outside the captured city with the 74th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, was Notre Dame student-soldier Orville T. Chamberlain. You can learn more about Chamberlain in a previous blog post (here).

In another previous post (here), I provided a detailed Bibliography of the sources used to write my book, Notre Dame and the Civil War: Marching Onward to Victory (The History Press, 2010).

Among those sources was a group of wartime letters written by Orville T. Chamberlain to family and friends. The letters are part of the "Joseph W. and Orville T. Chamberlain Papers, 1829–1932," held by the Indiana Historical Society.

A good number of these letters, from Orville's days as a student at Notre Dame to his final letter home describing news of the surrender of the Confederate forces and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, are quoted in the book.

In the spirit of Christmas, here is an excerpt from a letter in the collection, written by Chamberlain on Christmas Eve 1864, from outside Savannah. Note that he mentions a "Hardin Shutt"...Schutt was also a Notre Dame student-soldier! You can learn more about the "Pulaski Monument" here.

Enjoy...and Merry Christmas to You and Yours!

Christmas Eve, 1864

Dear Father:

I am well, but I am very anxious to hear that all the members of our family are ditto.

We are comfortably encamped 1 1/4 miles from Savannah. I visited the city today. It is about as large as Indianapolis. The streets are very narrow. I saw Pulaski's Monument, the old U. S. Battery, Public Squares, Parks, Churches, and etc.

Tell Mr. Schutt as soon as possible that Hardin (who by the way has been promoted to the Adjutancy of the Reg't) has the measles very badly. He has a private room at the residence of J.C. Sturtevant, and is well cared for. Although he has the measles hard, I do not think he is in a dangerous condition.

I had returned to my Comapny, but Adjutant Schutt's illness again left the Regiment without an Adjutant and Col. Morgan has again ordered me on duty as Acting Adj. We are preparing for a grand review by Maj. Gen. Sherman - "Crazy Bill," and I will have to work very hard...

OTC

"Notre Dame in the Civil War" Featured in South Bend Tribune!

Notre Dame in the Civil War: Marching Onward to Victory (The History Press, 2010) was featured in today's (December 19, 2010) issue of the South Bend (IN) Tribune! Many thanks to Mr. Howard Dukes, a staff writer at the Tribune, for asking some great questions in our telephone interview last week!

You can read the entire article online here!

Thanks, Mr. Dukes!

Sources?! We Don't Need No Stinking Sources! (Wait, Yes We Do!)

Civil War enthusiasts and readers can be a tough crowd when it comes to evaluating sources used for books and articles, and rightly so.


They (justly) demand an emphasis on original subject matter or interpretations, the (judicious) use of primary and archival sources, and "evidence" in reliable footnotes and endnotes.


Publisher-extraordinaire (and a happy mentor to many of us, including me!) Ted Savas at Savas-Beatie had an excellent post ("Going Archival") and poll on this matter a few months back at his excellent "A Publisher's Perspective" blog (make sure you check out the "Comments" also).

Many experienced Civil War readers begin a book - in fact, make a decision whether to even read or buy a book - based on a glance at the Bibliography and/or footnotes/endnotes.

Every publisher has its own philosophy when it comes to Bibliographies and/or Notes (and indexes, as well).

My new book, Notre Dame and the Civil War: Marching Onward to Victory (The History Press) does indeed have detailed endnotes. However, due to style and (especially) space considerations, it does not have an index or Bibliography.

But Fear Not! I happily provide a comprehensive Bibliography below!

In future posts I will provide hyperlinks (where available) to some of the sources and detail how important each of the different kids of sources was.

I do hope readers will be encouraged by the use of a broad array of sources, especially primary and archival material (and even more especially from the University of Notre Dame Archives ), and perhaps find some new leads for their own research! Enjoy!


Archives

Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia

Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, Notre Dame, Indiana


Indiana Historical Society (IHS) - Indianapolis, Indiana

• Joseph W. andOrville T. Chamberlain Papers

Indiana Province Archives Center (IPAC), Congregation of the Holy Cross - Notre Dame, Indiana


Library of Congress - Washington, DC

• Abraham Lincoln Papers

Louisiana Secretary of State - Baton Rouge, Louisiana

• Pension Records

National Archives and Records Administration - Washington, D.C.

• War Department - Compiled Service Records

University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA) - Notre Dame, Indiana

• Notre Dame Scholastic


• CCON (David Power Conyngham Papers)


• CCOO (Peter Paul Cooney Papers)


• CEWI (Thomas Ewing Manuscripts)


• CGAR (Grand Army of the Republic Notre Dame Post 569 Records)


• CNDS (Notre Dame Student Collection)


• CSHR (William T. Sherman Family Papers)


• PDNP (Notre Dame Printed and Reference Material Dropfiles)


• ULDG (Financial Ledgers)


• UPEL (Notre Dame Presidents' Letters)

Newspapers


Adams County (PA) News
Elgin (IL) Weekly Gazette
Elkhart (IN) Review
Elkhart (IN) Truth
Gettysburg (PA) Compiler
St. Joseph County (IN) Forum
St. Joseph (IN) Valley Register


Books

Barber, E. M., The Wright-Chamberlin Genealogy: From Emigrant Ancestors to Present Generations (Binghamton, NY: Vail-Ballou Company, 1914).


A Brief History of the University of Notre Dame du Lac, Indiana from 1842 to 1892 (Chicago, IL: Werner Co., 1895).


Brinton, J. H., Personal Memoirs of John H. Brinton (New York: Neale Publishing Co., 1914).


Corby, W. , Memoirs of Chaplain Life: Three Years with the Irish Brigade in the Army of the Potomac, ed. Lawrence F. Kohl (New York: FordhamUniversity Press, 1992).


Costin, M. G., Priceless Spirit: A History of the Sisters of the HolyCross, 1841–1893 (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1994).


Deahl, A., ed., A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Elkhart County, Indiana (Chicago, IL: Lewis Publishing Company, 1906).


Donnelly, E. C., Crowned With Stars (Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame University, 1881).


Emerson, S.E. (ed.), Life of Abby Hopper Gibbons (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1897).


Father Corby at Gettysburg (Philadelphia, PA: McManus, c. 1909).


History of St. Joseph County, Indiana (Chicago, IL: Chas. C. Chapman,1880).


Hope. A. J.. Notre Dame: One Hundred Years (Notre Dame, IN:University Press, 1948).


Howard, T. E., A History of St. Joseph County, Indiana, vol. 2 (Chicago, IL: Lewis Publishing Co., 1907).


Howard, T. E., Musings and Memories (Chicago, IL: Lakeside Press, 1905).


Jacob, K. A., Testament to Union: Civil War Monumentsin Washington D.C. (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998).


Livermore, M., My Story of the War: A Woman’s Narrative of Four Years Personal Experience (Hartford, CT: A.D. Worthington, 1890).


Maher, M.D., To Bind Up the Wounds: Catholic Sister Nurses in the U.S. Civil War (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1999).


Marszalek, J. F., Sherman: A Soldier’s Passion for Order (New York: Free Press, 1993).


McAllister, A. S., Ellen Ewing: Wife of General Sherman (New York: Benziger Brothers, 1936).


McAllister, A. S., Flame in the Wilderness: Life and Letters of Mother Angela Gillespie, C.S.C., 1824–1887 (Paterson, NJ: St. Anthony GuildPress, 1944),


Miller, R.J., Both Prayed to the Same God: Religion and Faith in the American Civil War (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2007).


Miscamble, W. D., ed., Go Forth and Do Good: Memorable Notre Dame Commencement Addresses (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2003).


Mulholland, St. C. A., The Story of the 116th Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry (Philadelphia, PA: F.M. McManus, Jr,. & Co., 1899).


Nichols, T. L., Forty Years of American Life (London: Longman,Green, & Co., 1874).


O’Connell, M. R., Edward Sorin (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre DamePress, 2001).


On the King’s Highway: A History of the Sisters of the Holy Cross—NotreDame, Indiana (New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1931).


Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, vol. 4 (Springfield, IL:Phillips Bros., 1901).


Rudy, W., The Campus and a Nation in Crisis: From the American Revolution to Vietnam (Madison, NJ: Farleigh Dickinson University Press, 1996).


Sherman, W. T., Memoirs of General William T. Sherman, vol. 1 (New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1886).


Sherman’s Civil War: Selected Correspondence of William T. Sherman, 1860–1865, Brooks D. Simpson and Jean V. Berlin, eds. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999).


Silver Jubilee of the University of Notre Dame (Chicago, IL: E.B. Meyers, 1869).


Smith, W. H., Schuyler Colfax: The Changing Fortunes of a Political Idol (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Bureau, 1952).


Sorin, E.. The Chronicles of Notre Dame du Lac, trans. WilliamToohey, ed. James T. Connelly (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1992).


Stevenson, D., Indiana’s Roll of Honor, vol. 1 (Indianapolis, IN: A.D.Streight, 1864).


A Story of Fifty Years: From the Annals of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, 1855–1905 (Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria, 1905).


Thorndike, R. S., ed., The Sherman Papers: CorrespondenceBetween General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1894).


The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of theUnion and Confederate Armies, 128 vols. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1880–1901).


Articles


“Females Not Suitable for Nurses,” American Medical Times, July 18,1861.


Jensen, O., “War Correspondent: 1864,” American Heritage 31, No. 5 (August–September 1980).


Marszalek, J. F., “Call to Arms,” Notre Dame Magazine, 21, no. 3 (Fall 1992).


McAvoy, T., “The War Letters of Father Peter Paul Cooney ofthe Congregation of the Holy Cross,” Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, vol. 44 (1933).


“The Naval Hospital Boat ‘Red Rover,’” Harper’s Weekly, May 9, 1863.


Wall, B.M., “Grace Under Pressure: The Nursing Sisters of the Holy Cross, 1861–1865,” Nursing History Review 1 (1993).


Manuscripts


Loomis, E.K., “History of the U.S. Navy Hospital Ship Red Rover,”Navy Department, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Division of Naval History, Ships’ History Section, Report No. OP 09B9, 1961.


Pratt, D.O., “Notre Dame and the Civil War Draft,” Unpublished Manuscript.

And This Book Goes Out To.... (DEDICATION)

My new book, Notre Dame and the Civil War: Marching Onward to Victory (The History Press, 2010), is dedicated to a wonderful man who happens to live almost 8,000 miles away:

To Father Peter Meis, O.F.M., Cap., in admiration of his more than forty years of devoted and loving missionary work to the indigenous peoples of Papua New Guinea.

Fr. Pete is my (second) cousin (my mother's first cousin) and it is a privilege to call him family.

Although it has been some time since I last saw him, he has been an important part of our lives for as long as I can remember.

When he returned to Kansas during (infrequent) breaks from his missionary service during my youth, he would say Mass in our home and share photos and slides of his work among the natives of Papua New Guinea.

Letters from Fr. Pete (like the recent one below) were especially treasured by me as they added to my stamp collection.

The Dedication to Fr. Pete is both sincere and fitting: His work among the native people of Papua New Guinea is a modern example of the same missionary zeal that brought the founders of Notre Dame from France to our shores and its Holy Cross priests to the camps and battlefields of the Civil War.

Fr. Pete's family visited New Guinea earlier this year as his parish there celebrated its 50th anniversary. His sister was kind enough to share some photos, one of which appears in the book with the Dedication.

Enjoy, and please keep Fr. Pete and his beautiful people in your thoughts and prayers.

If you just happen to be in the Pacific, though, don't spoil the surprise! He doesn't know about the Dedication yet (although his family does!).

I sent him a copy of the book late last week...I'll tell you what he says!

Giving THANKS! ("No Nonfiction Writer is an Island")"

Thanksgiving Day was already a week ago; I don;t want to let another day pass without thanking all the people who helped with my new book, Notre Dame in the Civil War: Marching Onward to Victory (The History Press, 2010).

I think there is a romantic notion that writing is a solitary venture, but from my own experience it requires a lot of assistance, support, and cooperation.

This book was the product of more than a decade’s interest and research and the kind, enthusiastic and expert cooperation and support of many people.

To that end, I am happily in debt to:

First and foremost, the wonderful staff of the University of Notre Dame Archives, especially Kevin Cawley (Archivist and Curator of Manuscripts), Peter Lysy (Archivist for University Records), Sharon Sumpter (Assistant Archivist, Reference) and Elizabeth Hogan (Archivist Photographs), who have answered questions and supplied me with a host of material for many years now.

Sister Bernice Hollenhorst (Archives and Records of the Sisters of the Congregation of the Holy Cross) and Ms. Deb Buzzard and Father James Connelly (Archives of the Indiana Province of the Congregation of the Holy Cross) also provided advice, documents and photographs from their wonderful collections.

The story of the University of Notre Dame is intimately connected to the story of the state of Indiana. As such, the assistance of the following people was essential and much appreciated:

Suzanne Hahn (Director of Reference Services) of the Indiana Historical Society assisted me with photographs and the wartime letters of Notre Dame student-soldier Orville T. Chamberlain in the Joseph W. and Orville T. Chamberlain papers.

Diana Zornow of the Elkhart County (Indiana) Historical Museum provided copies of local period newspaper articles and books relating to Notre Dame student-soldier Frank Baldwin.

Susan Lowery of the Mishawaka (Indiana) Heritage Center provided copies of essential wartime articles from South Bend (IN) newspapers.

The reference staff—especially Patricia Bicknell—at my hometown Montgomery County (Texas) Memorial Library were friendly and helpful as always.

Tim Deichl was a kind and early supporter of this project and provided rare documents and photographs related to his family history—especially important were items concerning Notre Dame student-soldier, and Union general, William F. Lynch.

Likewise, Linda Fluharty shared her remarkable genealogical research on student-soldier Michael Quinlan.

Jay Odom, proprietor of www.civilwardocs.com, expertly retrieved soldier service records from the National Archives.

Dave Powell, author, historian and battlefield tour guide, kindly shared correspondence from his collection regarding the Battle of Chickamauga.

Professional photographer Pat Brownewell, Notre Dame graduate and Navy veteran Corrine Rypka, author and historian Michael Aubrecht, historical marker expert Craig Swain and lifelong friend Curtis Fears all kindly provided much-needed (and excellent) modern photographs of monuments and memorials from Indiana, Pennsylvania, Missouri and Washington, D.C., of Notre Dame’s service in the war.

In all of my writing endeavors, I have received the generous advice and support of professional and academic historians, and this project was no different. Dr. Dorothy Pratt of the University of South Carolina kindly provided her unpublished—and essential—manuscript regarding the effect of the draft on Notre Dame in the Civil War.

Dr. John F. Marszalek, Professor Emeritus, Mississippi State University—and executive director of the Ulysses S. Grant Association—read the manuscript and provided expert comments and sage advice that made the final work all the better.

Guy R. Hasegawa—dear friend, estimable author and historian in his own right and expert editor—applied his sharp eye and blue pencil to the manuscript but mostly offered me his encouragement.

Joseph Gartrell, my editor at The History Press, saw merit in this project and championed its publication, and for that—and his friendship—I am most grateful.

My wife Susan; our children Katherine, Robert and Michael; and my parents, brothers, sisters, in-laws, grandparents, aunts, uncles and other family and friends provided loving support as always.

See?! I told you it took a lot of help! Thanks EVERYONE!

Civil War Artifacts at Notre Dame - A Famous Flag

The University of Notre Dame is home to a wonderful legacy of its own contributions during the American Civil War, which I have written about in Notre Dame and the Civil War: Marching Onward to Victory (The History Press, 2010).

The university is also home to a wonderful collection of Civil War artifacts and correspondence, including the Sherman Family Papers (about which I posted earlier here) and wartime manuscript collections in the Rare Books and Special Collections section of the library (including images and transcriptions here).

Also in the collection is one of the famous and beautiful Tiffany-crafted flags that belonged to one of the regiments of the famous Irish Brigade. The stories of the regiment, the brigade, the colors (and abiding myths), how the colors came to the university, and how - almost 150 years later - they were properly restored and conserved, are the subject of a terrific book: Blue for the Union & Green for Ireland: The Civil War Flags of the 63rd Regiment New York Volunteers, Irish Brigade by Peter J. Lysy (University of Notre Dame Archives) and available through the archives here.

Although seemingly short at 60 pages, the book is packed with information and more than 60 illustrations, most of them in color and some of them quite rare, indeed!

The book is divided into five main parts: The flags of the 63rd New York How the regiment's "second" (aka "Tiffany" colors) came to Notre Dame in the 1890s The conservation of the colors in 2000 Historical Documents (1861-65) Historical Documents (1892-1998)

The book first describes the organization of the New York regiments of the Irish Brigade and the importance - both practical and inspirational - of flags (colors) in the Civil War armies. The 63rd NY was bestowed with no less than four sets of national and regimental colors over the course of the war.

The author makes the important point that the Irish Brigade is a very popular subject for modern military painters and - given the beauty and iconic nature of the brigade's regimental colors - that they can hardly help themselves in including them in their paintings, even though they were not always (indeed, rarely) carried in battle.

The flag was given to the university in the 1890s and was proudly displayed in her "Irish Hall" along with other artifacts of the war and Irish heritage. The colors changed hands at the university, being held in turn in the school's art galleries and the ROTC "Military Museum" before being given to the university's archivists.

The book includes more than twenty color illustrations of flag detail before and during the restoration process, which took place in 2000. The book closes with a collection of wartime and modern documents that detail the original crafting and presentation of the colors to the regiment, soldiers' mentions of the colors during the war, their transmittal to the university in the 1890s, and their restoration.

This TERRIFIC, handsome, and affordable (only $16.95!) book will be of great interest to readers interested in the 63rd New York, the Irish Brigade, and in Civil War vexillology (the scholarly study of flags) and flag restoration!

1864 Election Night - Notre Dame Style!

Tonight, November 2, 2010, is a mid-term election night, and (hopefully) readers of this blog will have voted today and many may be watching the returns tonight. You think today's politics are tough?! Wait until you read how the votes at Notre Dame almost ruined election night for the Speaker of the House in 1864!

Read part of the story below and read the entire tale in Notre Dame and the Civil War: Marching Onward to Victory (The History Press, 2010), available in just a few weeks!

In the midterm elections of 1862 – a tough proposition for the party in power – South Bend, Indiana's representative, Republican Schuyler Colfax, had faced stiff competition from Democrat “Dirty Dave” Turpie and won the election by a slim margin of less than 300 votes. In 1864, even as the powerful Speaker of the House, Colfax faced another difficult election at home. The voting public’s anxiety over wartime inflation and a burgeoning fifth column of Copperheads in Indiana compelled Colfax to write Lincoln, “the odds are heavy against us in Indiana.” Colfax would again face Turpie, who was still stinging from his close defeat in 1862 which the Democrats attributed to “fraud and trickery.” So motivated was Turpie to “lay Schuyler Colfax upon the shelf” that he turned down his party’s nomination as lieutenant governor.

On the eve of the election, the generally politically astute Notre Dame president, Fr. Sorin, wrote a friend that Colfax was devoted to him and that he (Sorin) sometimes availed myself of this good will. Fr. Sorin boasted of the power he had, writing that Colfax knew he had at his disposal from sixty to seventy-five votes at Notre Dame each election, either for him or against him. Colfax, who had always counted on those votes from Notre Dame, needed them in 1864. To that end, he visited Fr. Sorin to express his anxiety over the political landscape and reminded the good father of the draft exemptions and other political favors the Republican Party had secured for him.

Fr. Sorin understood Colfax’s not-so-subtle intimations and called a meeting of the priests and brothers that lasted for several hours and resulted in a resolution which was calculated to have the best result: that is, that no other ticket than the Republican or Union ticket shall be voted by the members of the Holy Cross congregation. Unfortunately, the person responsible for passing on this important information to the other members of the Notre Dame community failed to carry out this critical assignment, and the result was that - as Fr. Sorin reported to his superior – “three-fourths…voted against [Colfax]." (!)

Why did the priests and brothers vote against Colfax?
Did Colfax win?
How did Colfax retaliate against Notre Dame?
How did a thousand Haily Mary's (and a famous general's wife!) save the day?
Did Fr. Sorin (and Schuyler Colfax) learn a lesson?

Find out by reading Notre Dame and the Civil War: Marching Onward to Victory (The History Press, 2010), available November 24!