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Volume CXXXIII, Number 12 |
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Organizing for war and preparing for the Peninsula
KID WONGSRICHANALAI
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
"My heart aches when I think of the horrors that are
coming," William Pitt Fessenden wrote of the Civil War, now a reality
in 1861, "but I am consoled with the belief that much good will come
out of it all. With my consent, there shall be no peace until all these
disturbing questions are definitely and properly settled. This contest
finds me prepared-I know it must terminate in good for the country-republicanism
can stand only when based on honest principles and should fall when perverted
from its true purpose, as ours has long been."
From his seat as Chair of the Senate Finance Committee,
Fessenden, Bowdoin class of 1823, was in a position of considerable power
and headache. Before him and his committee lay a daunting task. Funding
the northern Civil War effort would not be easy, especially since the
state of the nation's treasury was in poor shape. In fact, the Treasury
was bankrupt. Half of the country had just been severed below the line
of the Potomac River. Tariffs that came through Southern seaports were
already being denied to the Treasury. Also, without a national bank, currency,
or tax plan, the finances of the Union were in poor shape for war.
Elsewhere in the North, however, finances weren't too much
of a problem. Thomas Worchester Hyde, Bowdoin class of 1861, arrived in
Augusta to take command of Company D, of the 7th Maine Volunteers. Hyde
remembered that he was welcome with "all the honors and a supper
that no one can appreciate who has not eaten beans baked in a hole in
the ground." The son of a wealthy merchant, Hyde found that the men's
living conditions-camped in Sibley tents beside the Maine State House
and near the river-were quite hard when it began to rain. Hyde quickly
took the initiative and also his wallet to the nearest hotel and placed
the 80 men of his company in comfortable rooms! As for himself, however,
Hyde went back to the campsite, inviting his lieutenants to join him so
that they might learn what life as a campaigning soldier was like.
Back in Washington, D.C., Fessenden was hard at work. The
Senate Finance Committee backed plans for both a new income tax and an
increase in tariffs. Opposition to the tariff came from Massachusetts
Senator Charles Sumner, who feared that the bill would offend foreign
nations. Fessenden snapped back, saying that the good of the country was
more important than the profits of foreigners and pointed out that these
new tariffs were essential for financing the War. "I am willing to
risk the righteous indignation of those people abroad who think they will
not make as much money out of us as they ought to," the Maine senator
thundered.
The income tax bill, which taxed three percent of a person's
income-should it be more than $800-was easier in passing. Also, to the
measure of confiscating Confederate property, the senator was in full
support. For Fessenden, the remainder of 1861 was spent watching developments
and preparing for any other disasters that could come along. The Union
defeat at Bull Run caused a panic in the capitol that the senator did
not feel obliged to partake in. He was also unable to return to Bowdoin
to attend his youngest son, Sam's graduation.
Young Sam, always adventurous, was looking for even more trouble now that
he had graduated from college. Before entering Bowdoin, he had run away
to help fight for freedom in "bleeding Kansas." Now, the young
Fessenden was joining his two older brothers in the service of the Union
Army.
Sam Fessenden's friend from Bowdoin, Thomas Hyde, in the
meantime was elected major in the 7th Maine Volunteers. A true test of
Hyde's ability (he was only twenty at this point) came when he was ordered
to take the entire regiment (a regiment is usually led by a colonel, but
the Seventh's colonel had not yet arrived to take charge and neither had
his second in command) down to Washington, D.C. Hyde was probably the
most knowledgeable man in the regiment thanks to his previous experience
in an Illinois regiment before returning to Maine.
The newly elected major was thus in the lead of one thousand
Maine volunteers as they marched down to the train station and across
the mountains to war. Hyde remembered that train ride down to Boston:
"Handkerchiefs waved from every farmhouse, cheers arose at every
station, while out band played and the colors were flaunted from the car
platforms, and so we jolted on the most of the day, the excitement not
abating when in a column, nearly a thousand strong, we filed into Faneuil
Hall to take a lunch provided by the city of Boston."
On its way to the front Hyde's regiment was reassigned to
Baltimore, Maryland. Preparing to receive the riot that had welcomed the
6th Massachusetts when they marched through this city, the 7th Mainers
were shocked to learn that they had been given no ammunition along with
their muskets. Hyde's orders were thus for the use of the bayonet should
any trouble arise. Luckily no trouble came from the rebel sympathizing
elements of the populace. The next morning, however, Hyde noted that a
riot broke out when the men were unhappy with the quality of bread they
were given!
Fearing that the Army of the Potomac would leave the Seventh
Maine behind to guard the northern city, Hyde went to the headquarters
of Maine General Oliver Otis Howard, Bowdoin class of 1850, and asked
to be on his staff should a forward movement still find Hyde in Baltimore.
This move may have been unnecessary for Hyde's troopers were reassigned
to the field army and found themselves camping in Virginia. Once again
judging the campsite inadequate, Hyde found room at the luxurious Willard's
Hotel in Washington, D.C. The 7th Maine was placed in the Third Brigade
of the Second Division of the Sixth Army Corps.
But Hyde, like the entire nation, found that nothing really
resembling action was being done. Union commander George Brinton McClellan
was preparing for a massive invasion but seemed to have no guts to begin
an advance. (Of McClellan, Fessenden wrote that he had no faith in him
and also that the general was "utterly unfit for his position.")
In March of 1862, however, "Little Mac" moved and the War in
the east began.
Next Time: The Peninsula and the meaning of the War
Author's Note: Well, I never expected this series to last
so long! My plans were to wrap up the stories of Hyde and Fessenden in
one semester, but alas it is not meant to be. We shall thus continue with
the series in the Spring, and I also hope to launch the World War II project
sometime in March as well. Things of course may change, but at least I'll
be back on campus and you can all pelt me with snowballs should the progress
of my series this year be to your distaste. In any case, thanks for reading,
and Happy Holidays!
Some editing (by the Orient staff) may have occurred before
this piece was published. To view a full version of the entire series
(including source citations) please visit my website. (This site includes
the Chamberlain and Howard Series and is updated weekly during the school
year) at: http://www.bowdoin.edu/~kwongsri
Also, please send comments and ideas to: kwongsri@bowdoin.edu