A World on Fire_ Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War - Amanda Foreman [468]
67. Stephen R. Wise, Lifeline of the Confederacy: Blockade Running During the Civil War (Columbia, S.C., 1988), p. 24.
68. Anthony Trollope, North America (repr. London, 1968), p. 20.
69. New-York Historical Society, Narrative of Ebenezer Wells, October 13, 1861. Despite the relative disappointment of Lewinsville, McClellan decided that the 79th merited the return of its colors. They were handed over during a solemn ceremony.
70. Vizetelly provided the Illustrated London News with a sketch of the wounded being greeted by General McClellan. The accompanying description was completely over the top: “He raised his hat as each poor fellow was borne from the ambulance to the hospital; and many whose eyes were fast glazing in death raised themselves … and smiled a last smile at their young and beloved General.”
71. Russell, My Diary North and South, p. 318, October 10, 1861.
72. Ibid., p. 313, September 11, 1861.
73. Crawford (ed.), William Howard Russell’s Civil War, p. 125, W. H. Russell to Delane, September 13, 1861.
74. John Black Atkins, The Life of Sir William Howard Russell, 2 vols. (London, 1911), vol. 2, p. 72.
75. Nevins, The War for the Union, vol. 1, p. 300. McClellan actually had 152,000, but one-third were absent, under arrest, or otherwise unfit for duty.
76. PRO FO5/779, desp. 131, Consul Archibald to Lord Russell, September 25, 1861. By late summer, Archibald was making the five-hour journey to Lafayette on a weekly basis. He discovered extreme malnutrition among the men. Their food allotment should have been worth 43 cents a day, but theft by the guards reduced this to 10. Eugene H. Berwanger, The British Foreign Service and the American Civil War (Lexington, Ky., 1994), pp. 53–54.
77. Ibid., p. 55.
78. On September 25, Benjamin Moran wrote: “We have some very fine young fellows to see us for service in our army.” Two days later, he wrote again: “There were several fine gentlemanly Englishmen here today.” Wallace and Gillespie (eds.), The Journal of Benjamin Moran, vol. 2, pp. 883, 884, September 27, 1861.
79. Adams wrote that he was plagued with visitors because of “the notice current in the papers that I have authority to engage officers for the American service. The wish for adventure and pay is great in all the countries of Europe. I see something of it from almost every nation.” MHS, Adams MSS, Diary of Charles Francis Adams, vol. 76, September 30, 1861. Adams had to be extremely careful lest he attract the same charge of recruiting that led to the English minister, John Crampton, being expelled from Washington during the Crimean War. As far as he was concerned, the would-be Federals could do whatever they wished so long as the legation was not made a party to their plans.
80. Russell, My Diary, North and South, p. 291.
81. One issue of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper listed the Count de Sayre, the Baron de Schonen, and Major General Charles F. Havelock of the Imperial Ottoman Army all arriving simultaneously in Washington. Ella Lonn has identified dozens of British officers and soldiers of fortune who held positions of responsibility in the Union army. Two of the most distinguished were Robert Johnstone and John Lambert. Ella Lonn, Foreigners in the Union Army and Navy (New York, repr. 1969), p. 283. Robert Johnstone was lieutenant colonel of the 5th New York Cavalry until August 1863. When questioned about his reasons for joining, he explained that all his life he had delighted in anything big, and that he could not remain idle while so big a nation was being split asunder. And John Lambert was a captain in the 33rd New Jersey Volunteers who later became acting inspector general on General David Hunter’s staff.
82. New York State Library, Edwin Morgan MSS, box 19, f. 11, L.D.H. Currie to Governor Morgan, March 2, 1863.
83. PRO 30/22/35, f. 229–24, Lord Lyons to Lord Russell, September 9, 1861. (The origin of the anecdote remains a mystery. Lord Lyons merely wrote: “Seward exercises upon the reports of spies and informers, the power of depriving