charles francis adams

1863: “We Will Give A Checkmate To The Foreign Hopes Of The Rebels”

/ Sarah Kay Bierle / 5 Comments

London. 23 January, 1863.

My dear Charles:

I have but a moment till it grows dark and the [mail] bag closes, but I don’t think I have much to say, so it don’t matter. I’ve had a hard day’s work too, as we generally do on Fridays, and am tired. We are in the dark as to movements at home since the 8th, no steamer being yet in owing I suppose to the awful gales.

We are as usual very quiet, having been dragged to rounds of the Christmas pantomimes and bored to death with them. I wish you or John were here to be funny and amuse people; you know I never could do it, and now I grow stupider and stupider every year as my hair grows thinner. I haven’t even the wit left to talk to girls. I wish I were fifty years old at once, and then I should feel at home. Continue reading →

10 Things To Know About Europe During The American Civil War

/ Sarah Kay Bierle / 14 Comments

Here are ten things you’ll want to know about Europe and European rulers and their roles during the American Civil War. The facts we’re briefly presenting tie to the blockade runner situation, and it’s not a comprehensive list. Europe and the American Civil War is a complicated topic, and today is a cliff-note version.

(My apologies for missing the maritime post last week. You’ll get an extra post soon!) Continue reading →

1862: “A Confederate War Vessel”

/ Sarah Kay Bierle / 5 Comments

UNITED STATES CONSULATE

Liverpool, July 9, 1862.

Sir: In accordance with the suggestion of Earl Russell, in a communication to Mr. Adams, the American minister in London, I beg to lay before you the information and circumstances which have come to my knowledge relative to the gunboat being fitted out by Messrs. Laird, at Birkenhead, for the confederates of the southern United States of American, and intended to be used as a privateer against the United States. Continue reading →

1862: “It Is The Practice Of The Commander Of The Conquering Army To Protect”

/ Sarah Kay Bierle / 8 Comments

Confidential.

Brocket, 11 June, 1862.

My Dear Sir, – I cannot refrain from taking the liberty of saying to you that it is difficult if not impossible to express adequately the disgust which must excited in the mind of every honorable man by the general order of General Butler given in the inclosed [enclosed] extract from yesterday’s Times. Even when a town is taken by assault it is the practice of the Commander of the conquering army to protect to his utmost the inhabitants and especially the female part of them, and I will venture to say that no example can be found in the history of civilized nations till the publication of this order, of a general guilty in cold blood of so infamous an act as deliberately to hand over the female inhabitants of a conquered city to the unbridled license of an unrestrained soldiery. Continue reading →

1862: “A New Era In Warfare”

/ Sarah Kay Bierle / 4 Comments

1862_-in-their-wordsLondon, April 4, 1862

The late military successes have given us a season repose. People are changing their notions of the power of the country to meet such a trial, which is attended with quite favorable consequences to use in our position. Our diplomacy is almost in a state of profound calm. Even the favorite idea of a diversion into two states is less put forward than it was. Yet the interest with which the struggle is witnessed grows deeper and deeper. The battle between the Merrimack and our vessels has been the main talk of the town ever since the news came, in Parliament, in the clubs, in the city, among the military and naval people. The impression is that it dates the commencement of a new era in warfare, and that Great Britain must consent to begin over again. I think the effect is to diminish the confidence in the result of hostilities with us. In December we were told that we should be swept from the ocean in a moment, and all our ports would be taken. They do not talk so now. So far as this may have an effect to secure peace on both sides it is good…. Continue reading →

1861: “A Glorious Indifference Is Coming Over Me”

/ Sarah Kay Bierle / 5 Comments

Gazette665 Blog Series 1861: In Their WordsBoston, December 10, 1861

…We have blundered all summer long and now we have capstoned our blunders by blundering into a war with England. So be it. While there’s life, there’s hope; but I go into the army with a bitter feeling against those under whose lead we hae come to this pass, and amid all the shattered idols of my whole life I don’t feel as if I cared much when my turn came. Continue reading →