Buglers in the Civil War

These heroic men, Union or Confederate were in large part the foundation of any camp during the Civil War. They would provide entertainment, alarm services for duties, and relayed calls during battle. Buglers were generally associated with cavalry and artillery, while drums were with the infantry.

Gustav Shurmann known as "The Little Bugler" rode with several commanders, one was Daniel Sickles…which if you have followed my blog, you know I have a fascination for this man.

Gustav was only 12 years old when he started riding in the war. Buglers would ride alongside the commanders in battle, it was thought since the sound of the bugle carried so well…it was the best source of organization during battle. During the heat of battle, you could still hear the bugles play above the cannons and guns.

The letters from Union Sergeant William A. Smith, mention the buglers regularly. After reading the letters, I felt the buglers were the glue holding the men together and helped them get through each day whether battle or at rest.

Smith's Letter dated February 15th, 1862 with location Cape Girardeau, Missouri

My Dear Wife
I once more take my pen to address you a few lines to let you know that I am still on times side of Eternity, enjoying good health and I believe a reasonable mind, hoping you and the children are in good health.
…A man cannot die in a better cause….The Captain goes to Cairo by the first boat, to get our carbines….
(and he ends his letter) …The bugle is sounding 8 o’clock roll call, so good night.

Knights of the Golden Circle 1860 Election

11/5/1860 a letter from Union Soldier refers to the election about to begin and how they arrested Knights of the Golden Circle!!! KGC was to lay the groundwork for annexation of territories in Mexico, Central America, & Caribbean to be included w US as slave states.

Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC) was a secret society originally founded to promote the interests of the Southern United States.

Most of the time, families knew more what was going on than the soldiers. Families had the advantage of reading the paper. Soldiers would wait for newspapers to be sent from home to learn the news.

1860 was historical for many reasons, but probably the most important was the election of Lincoln! This one act would set off a chain of southern states secessions.

The Presidential Election of 1860

Abraham Lincoln won the support of the Republican National Convention.

The Democratic National Convention was held in South Carolina, with a second meeting in Maryland. During the convention, 110 Southern Delegates, walked out when the party would not adopt a platform endorsing the expansion of slavery into new/future territories. The Democrats that remained, nominated Stephen A. Douglas for the presidency. The Southern Democrats held another convention in Virginia, nominating John Breckinridge.

The former Know Nothings with some Whigs formed the Constitutional Union Party running on a platform supporting the Constitution.

November 6; Republican Candidate Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States, with Hannibal Hamlin as his Vice President. This brought on the secession of the Southern States, starting with South Carolina.

Quote by Thomas Jefferson

"Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you. " Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson died in 1826, long before the Civil War. I just think he was brilliant and my mom is named after him....

My Great Grandfather was named after Thomas Jefferson. My mother was named after her grandfather, (there were no boys), her name is Jeff Bratton.

Nurses, Spys, Union and Confederate Soldiers, Sutlers

There were a few women awarded pensions after the war. The numbers vary, but were around 300 +- women served. These women would dress and present themselves as men, wearing loose clothing, short hair, bathed in their underwear, and sometimes sporting fake mustaches.
One I found very interesting was Loreta Valezquez. She laid many claims in her memoirs in later years; even without validation of all her claims, she had a very interesting life. She claimed she was disguised as a female spy at one point for the Confederate Army. Imagine, a woman pretending to be a man, pretending to be a woman. She served as Lieutenant Harry Buford fighting at the First Bull Run, Fort Donelson, and Shiloh.

Many women served as nurses and Sutlers assisting the troops in the field and at home. Sutlers were basically merchants; selling goods to the troops.

Ahhh the prostitutes! Must have been relatively common; as I read through letters from Union and Confederate soldiers, they refer to these women coming in and out of camp on a regular basis.

Officers had their wives come into camp and stay with them in their tents. These women would cook, clean and take care of their men.

Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1863

By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln