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Aug 24 • 8 tweets • 6 min read
#OTD in 1862 a #UnitedStates #soldier named John P. Jones wrote his wife while he was deployed in Medon, #Tennessee. Jone's identity has yet to be verified, but he possibly served in the 45th #Illinois. Jones' letter reveals his changing attitudes towards #slavery. Image
"I am getting to be more and more of an abolitionist. I believe that this accursed institution must go down," he wrote. Jones also realized that he was fighting to destroy slavery. He continued, "We can never have a permanent peace as long..."
"...as this curse stains our otherwise fair insignia. The ruler of nations can never prosper these United States until it blots slavery from existence. He can no longer wink at such atrocities. This must be the grand the final issue."
He also voiced his approval that the military was no longer returning fugitive enslaved people to their former enslavers. He professed, "Thank God the American Soldier is no longer to be used as a slave catcher, no longer to drive helpless women around..."
"...at the point of the bayonet, and be obliged to obey orders that make him almost ashamed of being an American Soldier." This was a result of the Confiscation Acts of 1861 and '62.

As stated earlier, Jones' identity has not been found on any muster rolls of #CivilWar regiments. A man named John P. Jones from #Missouri did enlist in the 45th Illinois but it is unclear if he was the same person who wrote the #letter.
The 45th Illinois fought in many major engagements during the #war and was given the honor to be the first regiment to march into #Vicksburg after it fell. The regimental national flag was raised above the Vicksburg Courthouse. Image
A soldier in the 45th Illinois named Wilbur Fisk Crummer wrote a book about his time with the regiment titled, "With Grant at Donelson, Shiloh, and Vicksburg." You can read it here:
archive.org/details/withgr…

#TheCivilWarDoc #USArmy #history #Union #OnThisDay #todayinhistory

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More from @TheCivilWarDoc1

TheCivilWarDoc Profile picture
Aug 26
#OTD in 1861, Hawaiian King Kamehameha IV declared neutrality after the outbreak of the Civil War. Allying with the United States would have provoked Confederate raids while recognizing the Confederacy would have seriously damaged international relations with the U.S. Image
King Kamehameha IV died on November 30, 1863, and was succeeded by Kamehameha V Lot Kapuāiwa. He wanted to keep favorable trade deals with the United States and worked diplomatically with the Lincoln administration to negotiate a new treaty of neutrality. Image
The Hawaiian public skewed toward the United States. Hawaii already abolished slavery in the Constitution of 1852. Many Hawaiian-born Americans (most of whom were the sons of American missionaries) supported the United States over the Confederacy.
Read 14 tweets
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Aug 25
Allan Pinkerton was born #OTD in 1819 in Glasgow, Scotland. He headed the Union Intelligence Service during the Civil War and helped lay the foundation for the U.S. Secret Service, FBI, and CIA. He also founded the famed Pinkerton National Detective Agency, which still exists. Image
Pinkerton emigrated to United States 1842 and founded a cooperage in Dundee, Illinois, just outside of Chicago. He became an abolitionist and operated a safe house for fugitive enslaved people on the Underground Railroad. Image
Pinkerton was appointed as the first Chicago police detective in 1849 after uncovering a counterfeit scheme. He founded what would become the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in 1850. The Pinkerton Agency specialized in investigating train robberies. Image
Read 12 tweets
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Aug 8
#OTD in 1863 Andrew Johnson freed the enslaved people at his home in Greenville, Tennessee. Johnson was the state's Military Governor at the time. All enslaved people were emancipated in Tennessee on October 24, 1864. A 🧵 about Jonson's complicated legacy regarding slavery. Andrew Johnson's home in Greenville, Tennessee.
Johnson was born into a poor family in Raleigh, North Carolina and grew up resenting the enslaving elite. His resentment did not keep him from enslaving others as an adult when he gained the financial ability to do so. In fact, Johnson very much supported slavery.
According to @flingsarahe, Johnson enslaved at least 5 individuals according to the 1860 slave schedule. Evidence suggests that Johnson was the father of two enslaved people named Liz and Florence. Their mother, Dolly, was listed as "black" while her children were "mulatto." Dolly with one of the Johnson children.
Read 14 tweets
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Jul 6
Edmond Pettus was born #OTD in 1821 in Limestone County, Alabama. He served as an officer in the Confederate Army and as a US senator after the War. He was also active in the Ku Klux Klan, serving as its Grand Dragon in Alabama. He is the namesake of the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
Born into an enslaving family, Pettus built a successful law career before enlisting in the Confederate Army when war broke out. While most of his home region of northern Alabama did not support secession, Pettus did. He was a pro-slavery ideologue steered by white supremacy.
During the War he rose to the rank of Brig. General and was captured as a POW three times. He was pardoned by Andrew Johnson on October 30, 1865. Pettus returned to Selma after the War and resumed his law practice.
Read 13 tweets
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Jul 5
We at The Civil War and the Fight for the Soul of America seek to educate people about the REAL history of the mid-nineteenth century and the Civil War, through the film itself, public history, and social media. We need your help to continue with this vitally important project!
For far too long our history has been white-washed, made to fit a Lost Cause narrative. The North may have won the Civil War, but the white South won the cultural war - a crisis that continues to plague America today.
We have set up a @gofundme page to aid fundraising efforts with a goal of $23,000!

With your donation you create jobs for M.A. and Ph.D.-level historians to work as research assistants: every single dime goes to paying them!

You can find our page here: gofund.me/fa492df5
Read 10 tweets
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Jul 5
#OTD in 1852 Frederick Douglass recited "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" before the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society at Corinthian Hall. Douglass attacked slavery by highlighting how white Americans could celebrate freedom while enslaving others.
Douglass referenced the Bible, Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution to argue that as long as slavery existed that Independence Day would be a day of mourning for African Americans, especially the enslaved.
He proclaimed "...justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.”
Read 6 tweets

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