Seeking refuge
from the South across Northern lines.
Another of the
resulting hardships of the Civil War was the wide spread dislocation
of thousands of families who were forced to "pile up their plunder
and scoot". The cost, in terms of the suffering endured by
civilians, is incalculable. As the armies advanced or retreated, any
structure, whether it be a
House (the Balfour house, Corrinth,
Mississippi), hotel, office, or barn, encountered along their lines, and was
suitable for their needs was thus used, regardless.
The approaching darkness saw an end to the days
long and bloody Battle of Fredricksburg
with the Federals on the losing
end of the exchange.
The men dropped to the ground and slept on their arms where they had
been standing
they had been standing, the weather having turned mild enough so that they
could do this without too much discomfort.
Some of the troops on the field were shifted during the night. U.S. Captain
John W. Ames later recorded that the brigade he belonged to made its way
among
"many dead horses...and many more dead men"
John Ames continues:
"Here stood a low brick house with an open door...
from which shone a light, and into which we peered when passing. Inside sat
a woman gaunt and hard-featured, with crazy hair...still sitting by a smoking
candle, though it was nearly two hours past midnight. But what woman could
sleep alone in a house between two hostile armies - two corpses lying across
her doorstep, and within, almost at her feet, four more! So with wild eyes
and face lighted by her smokey candle, she stared across the dead barrier
into the darkness outside with the look of one who heard and saw not..."
Civilian Mary Livermore kept a detailed journal
of events in her life during the Civil War and these are a few paragraphs
from that journal. Here, after staying with her ill father she has boarded
a train bound for Chicago from Boston:
"All along the route were groups of people eager
for news from Washington, and everywhere was displayed the national flag.
At Albany [New York], where we halted for dinner, we learned [about] the
reception given the Massachusetts Sixth in their pass through Baltimore the
day before. A vast and angry crowd [of cecessionists] had aposed their
progress; showers of stones and other missiles were hurled at them from the
streets and housetops; the soldiers had defended themselves and fired into
the mod; and the dead, dying, and wounded lay in the streets...the war had
indeed begun...."
Emma Balfour, the wife of a prominent doctor
in Vicksbug, Pennsilvania, writes in her diary on May, 27th while under
siege by Union forces:
"Nothing from the outside world yet. All day and all night the shells from
the mortars are falling around us....Most people spend their time entirely
in the caves for there is no safety anywhere else.
Indeed, there is no safety there. Several accidents have occurred. In one
cave nearly a whole family were killed or crippled."
Judging by the words of Emma Balfour she was
a staunch cessessionist. On May 30th she entered this into her diary.
"The general impression is that they fire at the
city...thinking they will wear out the woman and children and sick, and
General John C. Pemberton will be abliged to surrender the place on that
account; but they little know the spirit of the Vicksburg woman and children
if the expect this. Rather than let them know they are causing any suffering
I would be content to suffer martyrdom."
More war time refugees ALL of their belongings packed onto a
wagon.
Mary Tippee sutler
(an army camp follower who peddled
provisions to the soldiers. Most if not all of the peddlers new full well
how much the soldiers missed home and family and the comfort a man could
find in a simple dime novel, some chewing gum or even a cigar. Weilding that
knowledge some peddlers often sold their goods at exsorbatant prices.) with
Collis Zouaves, 114th Pennsylvania
Menu
House
(the Balfour house, Corrinth,
Mississippi), hotel, office, or barn, encountered along their lines, and was
suitable for their needs was thus used, regardless.
Battle of Fredricksburg
with the Federals on the losing
end of the exchange.
