1861_ The Civil War Awakening - Adam Goodheart [0]
Published by Alfred A. Knopf
Copyright © 2011 by Adam Goodheart
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by
Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
www.aaknopf.com
Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks
of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Goodheart, Adam.
1861 : the Civil War awakening / Adam Goodheart.— 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
eISBN: 978-0-307-59666-6
1. United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865 —Causes.
2 . United States—Politics and government— 1861–1865. 3. United States—
Intellectual life— 19 th century. I. Title. II. Title: Civil War awakening.
E 459 .G 66 2011
973.7′11 —dc 22 2010051326
Jacket image: Cumberland Landing, Virginia. Federal Encampment
on the Pamunkey River by James F. Gibson, May 1862 (detail).
Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Jacket design by Joe Montgomery
v3.1
For my family
and in memory of
Rose Sudman Goodheart
(Teleneshty, Russian Empire, 1905–Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1997),
who made America’s history ours, too.
Union rally, San Francisco, 1861 (photo credit fm.1)
ARM’D year! year of the struggle!
No dainty rhymes or sentimental love verses for you, terrible year!
Not you as some pale poetling, seated at a desk, lisping cadenzas piano;
But as a strong man, erect, clothed in blue clothes, advancing, carrying a rifle on your shoulder,
With well-gristled body and sunburnt face and hands—with a knife in the belt at your side,
As I heard you shouting loud—your sonorous voice ringing across the continent;
Your masculine voice, O year, as rising amid the great cities,
Amid the men of Manhattan I saw you, as one of the workmen, the dwellers in Manhattan;
Or with large steps crossing the prairies out of Illinois and Indiana,
Rapidly crossing the West with springy gait, and descending the Alleghanies;
Or down from the great lakes, or in Pennsylvania, or on deck along the Ohio river;
Or southward along the Tennessee or Cumberland rivers, or at Chattanooga on the mountain top,
Saw I your gait and saw I your sinewy limbs, clothed in blue, bearing weapons, robust year;
Heard your determin’d voice, launch’d forth again and again;
Year that suddenly sang by the mouths of the round-lipp’d cannon,
I repeat you, hurrying, crashing, sad, distracted year.
—WALT WHITMAN, “1861”
It seems as if we were never alive till now; never had a country till now.
—A YOUNG WOMAN IN NEW YORK WRITING
TO A FRIEND, MAY 1861
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
PROLOGUE
A Banner at Daybreak
Charleston Harbor, December 1860
CHAPTER ONE
Wide Awake
Boston, October 1860
CHAPTER TWO
The Old Gentlemen
Washington, January 1861
CHAPTER THREE
Forces of Nature
Central Ohio, February 1861
CHAPTER FOUR
A Shot in the Dark
Charleston Harbor, April 1861
CHAPTER FIVE
The Volunteer
Lower Manhattan, April 1861
CHAPTER SIX
Gateways to the West
Lower Carson River, Nevada Territory, May 1861
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Crossing
Washington, May 1861
CHAPTER EIGHT
Freedom’s Fortress
Hampton Roads, Virginia, May 1861
CHAPTER NINE
Independence Day
Washington, July 1861
Postscripts
Notes
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
A Note About the Author
Storm flag of the United States garrison at Forts Moultrie and Sumter, 1860–61 (photo credit fm.2)
PROLOGUE
A Banner at Daybreak
Then over all, (aye! aye!) my little and lengthen’d pennant shaped like a sword,
Runs swiftly up indicating war and defiance—and now the halyards have rais’d it,
Side of my banner broad and blue, side of my starry banner,
Discarding peace over all the sea and land.
—WALT WHITMAN,
“Song of the Banner at Day-Break” (1860–61)
Charleston Harbor, December 1860
NIGHT FELL AT LAST. Boats slipped off the beach, swift and almost silent, drawn by skilled oarsmen across the water. The rowers labored hatless and in shirtsleeves, breath visible in