“Millerism” and the preaching of Millerite doctrines in the winter
of 1842-43. It is doubtful if any other religious movement of modern
times, and certainly few in all historic time, have ever, in so short
a period, awakened so vast a religious excitement and terror as the
announcement and promulgation of these doctrines. Ten years before Rev.
William Miller, of Pittsfield, Mass., began preaching upon the subject
of the second coming of Christ, and claimed to have discovered some
key to the prophecies by which the near approach of the end of the
world and of the judgment day was clearly shown. His earnest manner
and elaborate arguments, apparently fortified with abundant historic
proof, had attracted great attention and started many followers to
adopt and preach the doctrines, so that, at the period named, the
excitement attending it throughout Christendom was at its highest
point. The time for this holocaust had been definitely fixed by these
modern interpreters. The year was 1843 and February was the month
when all things were to collapse and end. Even the day was fixed by
some. On that, however, all did not agree. Some fixed the 14th and
others the 16th of February, and others still other days in that month
for the happening of this terrible event. When we recall that the
doctrine found millions of believers in the most civilized centers
of the world, and for a time seriously paralyzed business in London,
New York and Philadelphia, we will not wonder that with the people
then living in the dreary solitudes of Dallas, such a doctrine found
ready listeners and willing believers almost everywhere. The old log
schoolhouse was not large enough to hold the meetings, and others were
started in different places. A very large one was conducted at the
“Goss” or “Corner” schoolhouse. The time was getting short, and with
the nearing of the fatal day excitement increased. Half the people
of the community were in some degree insane. Many people refused to
do any business, but devoted themselves entirely to religious work
and meditation. These meetings were started early in the fall, and
were kept up continuously through the winter. The plan and intention
of the leaders was to convert everyone in Dallas township, and with
a few exceptions the plan succeeded. Of course there were different
degrees of faith. Some were so sure of the dissolution of all things
on the appointed day that they refused to make any provisions for a
longer existence. One man, Christian Snyder, refused to sell corn or
grain, but was willing to give it away to the needy, and only desired
to keep enough for the needs of himself and family until the fixed
final day. Many of the people spent that dreadful winter reading the
Bible, praying and pondering over that horrible interpretation. The
memorable meteoric shower which extended almost over the whole world on
the night of the 12th and 13th of November, 1833, was still fresh in
the memory of almost every adult, and was well calculated to prepare
the mind to believe the proofs and prophecies of such a catastrophe.
That never-to-be-forgotten rain of fire must have been frightfully
impressive even to the most scientific man who could best understand
the causes which produced it. It has no parallel in recorded history,
and one can quite readily understand how such an interpretation of the
holy prophecies, following immediately such a fiery manifestation in
the heavens, should find easy believers.
Converts were frequently baptized that winter by immersion through
holes cut in the ice, and in one instance, I am credibly informed, when
a parent only succeeded in converting a doubting daughter on the night
before the supposed fatal day, he took her himself on that bitter cold
night to the nearest mill-pond, cut a hole in the ice and baptized her
by immersion. The man was personally well known to me, and to the day
of his death, which occurred only within the last decade, he remained
firm in his faith in similar interpretations of the prophecies, and
continued calculating and fixing new dates in the future for the coming
of the end of all things. He was never disconcerted by any failures,
but seriously accounted for it by saying that he had made a little
error in his calculation, and gave you a new and corrected date further
on. This man was Christopher Snyder.
An anecdote is told of Harris in connection with the meteoric shower
above referred to, illustrating the common belief that the stars had
actually fallen from the heavens. On the evening following the shower,
Mr. Harris said he could see a great diminution of the number of
stars in the heavens, and ventured the belief that a few more showers
like the one of the evening before would use up the rest of them. So
common was this belief that the stars had actually fallen, so great
and memorable was the event, that to this day, among the older men
about Dallas, you will occasionally hear men trying to fix the date or
year of some long past occurrence, and not infrequently one will say
something like this: “Well, I know it happened then because the stars
fell in thirty-three, and this happened just so many years after” (or
before, just as the case may be)--“now figure it up yourself.”
SOCIAL THINGS
Of “apple cuts” I can speak in lighter vein. They were generally
occasions of great merriment.
It has been truly said that a country is poor indeed when it is so poor
that dried apples become a luxury. Before the days of cheap sugar and
canned fruits, dried apples and cider apple sauce, the latter made of
apples boiled to a pulp in cider, were luxuries and necessities both
in many places besides ours. Apples were always abundant and cheap
in Dallas. In fact, when the forests are cleared away, apple trees
are found to spring up spontaneously in some places, and only need
a little trimming and protection to become good orchards. This fact
was accounted for to the writer by the owner of one such orchard as
follows: He said a good many people had marveled at the natural growth
of his orchard, and had asked him how he could account for it. “Of
course you know,” said he, “that it has always been my habit to give
such things a good deal of thought. I could never be satisfied, like
most folks, to just sit down and take things as they come without
trying to understand them, and I always keep at them until I cipher
them out. Now, you see it’s just like this about these apple trees:
Some day or ’nuther, probably millions of years ago, this hull country
was overflowed by the ocean. That’s plain enough to any man who takes
the trouble to think about these things. Well, right about over here
somewhere there has been a shipwreck some day, and a ship load of
apples has sunk right here, and these apple trees have sprung from the
seeds. You know a seed will keep a great while and then grow.”
The work of paring the apples and removing the cores for an ordinary
family’s winter supply of dried apples and apple butter, before the
days of machines for that purpose, was a task of no little magnitude.
All had to be done by hand and as sometimes happened, many bushels had
to be so treated. It was a task that would have occupied the working
portion of an ordinary family several days, and thus much of the fruit
would, from long keeping, have lost its value for cider appliance by
becoming stale and partly dried. For this reason there seemed almost
a necessity for calling in help sufficient to do the required amount
of work in a very short period of time. The apple cut solved this
difficulty successfully. When a family had once determined on having
an apple cut, it was given out to the nearest neighbors, and from them
it spread of its own accord for miles around. Those who heard of it
could go if they chose to. No special invitations were required. The
apple cut was an evening festivity, and was most “prevalent” just after
buckwheat thrashing, when the nights were cool and the roads not very
muddy. I am told that in later years it began to be considered “bad
form” to go to an apple cut without special invitation; but apple cuts
were degenerating then, and they died soon after when the apple parer
in its present improved form was introduced.
The old-fashioned apple cut was a very informal affair. Each guest
upon arrival was expected to take a plate and knife, select a seat and
some apples, and begin work without disturbing anyone else. The “cut”
usually lasted for an hour or two. Twenty or thirty people could, and
did usually, accomplish a good deal in that time in the way of work as
well as say and do a great many of the commonplace things that country
people ordinarily indulge in when thus congenially thrown together.
After the work was finished and the _débris_ cleared away, a
surreptitious fiddle was sometimes pulled from an old grain bag and
started up. “Fisher’s Hornpipe,” “Money Musk” and “The Arkansaw
Traveler” composed the stock of the average fiddler thereabouts in
those days, and any of them was enough to set all heels, with the
slightest proclivities in that way, to kicking in the French Four,
Virginia Reel or Cotillion. At some houses dancing was looked upon
as improper, and in its stead some simple games were played. The
festivities usually broke off early, as all had long distances to go.
Dissipation in the matter of late hours could not be indulged in very
much, because of the very general country habit of early rising.
The gentlemen did not often forget or fail to be gallant in the matter
of escorting the ladies home. Usually the demands of etiquette were
satisfied with the gentleman “going only as far as the chips,” as it
was commonly expressed, meaning, of course, the place where the wood
was hauled in front of the house and chopped up for firewood.
“Going as far as the chips” was an expression as common and as
generally understood in that day as going to the front gate would be
now. The front gate then was generally a few improvised steps to assist
in climbing over the rail fence at some point near the “chips” or wood
pile.
“Spinning Bees” and “Quilting Bees” were exclusively feminine
industries. With each invitation to a “spinning bee” was sent a bunch
of tow sufficient for two or three days’ spinning, which the recipient
was expected to convert into thread or yarn by or before the date fixed
for the party. The acceptance of the tow was equivalent to a formal
acceptance of the invitation. On the appointed day each lady took her
bunch of spun tow and proceeded early in the afternoon to the house of
the hostess. The afternoon was usually spent in the usually easy and
unconventional manner that might be expected when a dozen or fifteen
able-bodied women of the neighborhood, who had not seen each other
lately, are assembled. This was, of course, long before the newspaper
or magazine had reached their present perfection, and before the daily
paper “brought the universe to our breakfast table.”
The surest way for a lady to avoid being the subject of comment was to
be at the meeting. The gentlemen always came in time for tea and to see
the ladies home.
“Quilting Bees” define themselves in their name. They were very similar
to spinning bees, except that the work was done after the guests had
assembled.
Of “Stoning Bees,” “Logging Bees” and “Raising Bees,” description is
unnecessary. The names are almost self-explaining, though just why
they were called “Bees” I cannot learn, unless it is because those who
came were expected to, and usually did, imitate the industrial virtues
of that insect. They were also sometimes called “frolics,” possibly
for the reason that the frolicking was often as hard and as general
as the work. Strong and hearty men were much inclined to playful
trials of strength and other frivolities when they met at such times.
This tendency was much enhanced in the earlier days by the customary
presence of intoxicants.
These amusements were varied and extended far beyond those above
mentioned. They exhibited and illustrate much of the character,
surroundings and habits of those early people. They wanted no better
amusement. It was, in their esteem, a wicked waste of time and in
conflict with their necessary economies to have parties or gatherings
of any kind exclusively for amusement, and unaccompanied with some
economic or industrial purpose like those indicated above.
The dancing party or ball was a thing of later date, but even when it
came, and for many years after, it was looked upon by the more serious
people as not only wicked and degrading in a religious and moral point
of view, but very wasteful in an economic sense.
Their hard sense taught them that their industrio-social gatherings,
together with the church meetings and Sunday-schools, furnished ample
occasions for the young to meet and become acquainted, while the
elements of evil that crept into modern society elsewhere were there
reduced to a minimum.
A THRIFTY STOREKEEPER
A good story is told of Joseph Hoover dating well back in the first
half of the century. He went one day to the store of Mr. Jacob R----,
in a neighboring town, to get a gallon of molasses, taking with him
the jug usually used for that purpose. As it happened that day, the
son, Isaac, who usually waited on him, was otherwise engaged, and the
father, Jacob, went down cellar to draw the molasses. After being gone
some time, Jacob called up from the cellar to Joseph and said that the
jug did not hold a gallon. “Call Isaac,” replied Hoover, “and let him
try; he has always been able to get a gallon in that jug!”
THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC
A PAGE OF HISTORY CORRECTED
III
HALLECK AND POPE
The fourth letter[13] contains a sentence which almost takes one’s
breath. It is bunglingly constructed--a thing unusual in Pope’s
communications. He had received a letter from Halleck, dated November
7, intimating that the Secretary of War would order a court of inquiry,
and he answers, conveying the following:
“The overt act at Alexandria, during the engagement near Centreville,
can be fully substantiated by letters from many officers since I have
been here [St. Paul], it is quite certain [Now mark!] _that my defeat
was predetermined_, [Now mark again!] and I think you must now be
conscious of it.”
Pope does not even intimate who predetermined that “overt act,”
although he intimates rather clearly that Halleck is conscious of the
facts. It is difficult to see, however, how either McClellan, Porter or
Griffin could “predetermine” either a victory or a defeat at that time.
On the 25th day of November, 1862, the very day set by General Pope,
Major-General Halleck ordered a general court-martial for the trial
of Major-General Fitz-John Porter, and on that same day he made
his official report of the battle in which he certified to Pope’s
efficiency, as the latter had demanded in those uncanny letters. And on
the 5th day of December, Major-General Pope declared under oath:
“This is all I have yet done”: _i. e._, “in my official reports of the
operations of the army, to set forth all the facts as they transpired
on the field. I have not preferred charges against him. I have merely
set forth facts in my official reports,” etc.
The “Official Records” referred to show that he “set forth” certain
facts [or fancies] in his private letters to Halleck, which, by some
mysterious influence have found their way into print, and suggest that
an explanation is in order to reconcile his sworn testimony with the
fact that he was urging General Halleck to action, by military court,
and even threatening him in case he should neglect such action.
He says: “No man knows better than yourself the constancy, the energy,
and the zeal with which I endeavored to carry out your programme in
Virginia. Your own letters and dispatches, from beginning to end, are
sufficient evidence of this fact, and also of the fact that I not only
committed no mistake, but that every act and movement met with your
heartiest concurrence.”
[_Note._--This statement is fully corroborated by the “Official
Records.” It is as certain as anything can be that Halleck formulated
the plan and that Pope executed it. If he appeared to be making
mistakes, he was obeying orders, and Halleck should be chargeable.]
Pope continues: “Your own declarations to me up to the last hour I
remained in Washington bore testimony that I had shown every quality to
command success.”...
“Having, at your own urgent request [Mark that well! and what follows
also. This paragraph shows that Halleck himself was the instigator
of the charges against Porter], and from a sense of duty [!] laid
before the Government, the conduct of McClellan, Porter and Griffin,
and substantiated the facts stated by their own written documents, I
am not disposed to push the matter further, unless the silence of the
Government [this means Halleck, as has been shown Halleck was the only
objector to the gratification of Pope’s wishes], in the midst of the
unscrupulous slander and misrepresentation purposely put in circulation
against me and the restoration of these officers, without trial, to
their commands, coupled with my banishment to a distant and unimportant
department, render it necessary as an act of justice to myself.”
How keenly Pope feels his disgrace, having been used as a tool and then
flung aside, is shown clearly. He continues:
“As I have already said, I challenge and seek examination of my
campaign in Virginia in all its details, and unless the Government by
some high mark of public confidence, such as they have given to me in
private, relieves me from the atrocious injury done to my character as
a soldier ... justice to myself and to all connected with me demands
that I should urge the court of inquiry.... This investigation, under
the circumstances above stated, I shall assuredly urge in every way. If
it cannot be accomplished by military courts, it will undoubtedly be
the subject of the inquiry in Congress.”
Then follows a darkly ominous hint: “It is especially hard, in view of
my relations with you [Note that!] that I should be compelled even to
ask at your hands the justice which it is your duty to assure to every
officer of the army.... I tell you frankly that by the time Congress
meets such influences as can not be resisted will be brought to bear on
this subject.... I prefer greatly that you should do me this justice of
your own accord.”[14]
Altogether this letter is a rare specimen of the chiaroscuro in the art
epistolary; it tells of Halleck’s acts of injustice which Pope will
right by every means in his power. At times it breathes hatred and
vengeance, and closes with such a loving assurance as this:
“I write you this letter with mixed feelings. Personal friendship and
interest in your welfare, I think, predominate. I am not so blinded as
not to know that it gave you pain to allow such scandal against me and
to take such action as you thought the peculiar circumstances required.
Much as I differ with you on the subject, I am not ready to blame you
or to feel bitterly.”
Then follows that warning: “I impress upon you the necessity for your
own sake of considering carefully the suggestions I have presented,”
and closes with the assurance, “I shall not again address you a letter
on such a subject.”
This assurance was not fulfilled. Indeed, Pope wrote several letters
on the subject, as will appear. Queer letters were they, to be written
by a major-general commanding a department, to his superior, the
general-in-chief, to whom he administers the medicine _à la cheval de
trait_.
To summarize: Pope makes these charges against Halleck.
(1) That the plan of campaign was Halleck’s.[15]
(2) That Pope was but an instrument in the hands of the
general-in-chief.[16]
(3) That Pope faithfully executed Halleck’s plans.[17]
(4) That the latter fully approved every act of the former, thereby
making himself responsible, so far as Pope was concerned, for the final
result.[18]
Here a pause. These charges are fully substantiated by letters and
telegrams passing between Halleck and Pope, which appear in parts II
and III, of Vol. XII, of the Official Records. Pope was regularly
advising Halleck of his movements, and Halleck was as regularly
approving the same. And as late as August 26, 11:45 A. M., Halleck
wired Pope: “Not the slightest dissatisfaction has been felt in regard
to your operations on the Rappahannock,” etc.
Returning to the charges:
(5) That Pope had made the charges against Generals McClellan, Porter
and Griffin “at Halleck’s own urgent request.”[19] Halleck was the real
instigator.
(6) That Halleck had not assigned him [Pope] to command of the western
department, which, as Pope says, “would at once have freed me [Pope]
from the odium and abuse which have so shamefully and unjustly been
heaped upon me by the papers and people,” etc.[20]
(7) That he found himself banished to the frontier.[21]
(8) That his character and reputation as a soldier had been deeply and
irretrievably injured.[22]
(9) That the Government refused to allow him to publish the facts[23]
and
(10) That General-in-Chief Halleck declined to acknowledge his services
publicly.
All through the letters are insinuations and charges against McClellan,
Porter and Griffin. And he makes categorical demand in these words:
“I said, and say now, that one of three things I was entitled to; any
one of them would have satisfied me. The dictates of the commonest
justice gave me the right to expect one of them at least:
1st. That the court of inquiry be at once held and the blame be fixed
where it belongs. It is now too late for that, as the delay has already
made the worst impression against me that is possible.
2d. That the Government should acknowledge publicly, as it had done
privately, my services in Virginia, or
3d. That in case neither of these things could be done, then that
the Government bestow upon me some mark of public confidence, as its
opinion of my ability warranted.
None of these things have been done,” etc.
He continues: “You know me well enough I think, to understand that I
will never submit if I can help it. The court of inquiry, which you
inform me has been ordered, will amount to nothing for several reasons.
It is too late, so far as I am concerned. Its proceedings, I presume,
will be secret, as in Harper’s Ferry business. The principal witnesses
are here with me, and I myself should be present. The Mississippi River
closes by the 25th of November [Note that date!]; frequently sooner
than that. It is then next to impossible to get away from this place. A
journey through the snow of 200 miles is required to communicate with
any railroad.”[24]
And on the very day which Pope had named, November 25, 1862,
General-in-Chief Halleck issued his order for the court-martial of
Fitz-John Porter, and issued his report certifying to the efficiency
of General Pope, thus avoiding the court of inquiry which Pope had
threatened to demand.
Such a court, if honestly conducted, would have laid bare the truth,
and shown to the world that Halleck himself had prevented the
reinforcements from reaching Pope, caused the defeat of Second Bull
Run, imperiled the national capital, and opened the door of Maryland to
Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee.
This conclusion is supported both by Halleck’s official report and by
his testimony before the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War. In
the former, he says: “Had the Army of the Potomac arrived a few days
earlier, the rebel army could have been easily defeated and, perhaps,
destroyed.” His testimony before that committee, on March 11, 1863.[25]
“Question. To what do you attribute the disastrous result of General
Pope’s campaign?
Answer. I think our troops were not sufficiently concentrated so as to
be all brought into action on the field of battle; and there was great
delay in getting reinforcements from the Army of the Potomac to General
Pope’s assistance.
Question. To what is that delay attributable?
Answer. Partly, I think, to accidents, and partly to a want of
energy in the troops, or their officers, in getting forward to
General Pope’s assistance. I could not say that that was due to any
particular individual. It may have resulted from the officers generally
not feeling the absolute necessity of great haste in re-enforcing
General Pope. The troops, after they started from the Peninsula, were
considerably delayed by heavy storms that came on at that time.”
[_Note._--General Halleck has not told that committee, what his own
letters and telegrams conclusively prove, that the principal delay of
those reinforcements was due to his own wilfully false telegrams to
Generals McClellan, Burnside, and Porter, and that he also prevented
General Franklin and the Sixth Army Corps from reaching Pope from
Alexandria by refusing to provide transportation. The next question and
answer fixes the blame directly upon Halleck himself]: