This edition is published by PICKLE PARTNERS PUBLISHINGwww.picklepartnerspublishing.com
To join our mailing list for new titles or for issues with our books picklepublishing@gmail.com
Or on Facebook
Text originally published in 1963 under the same title.
Pickle Partners Publishing 2015, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.
Publishers Note
Although in most cases we have retained the Authors original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern readers benefit.
We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.
FROM THE CANNONS MOUTH The Civil War Letters of General Alpheus S. Williams
Edited with an introduction by Milo M. Quaife
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Grateful Acknowledgement is made to the Mary E. Murphy Fund of the Detroit Historical Society for financial assistance toward the editing and publication of these letters.
FOREWORD
HENRY D. BROWN DIRECTOR DETROIT HISTORICAL MUSEUM
The publication of selections from the General Alpheus S. Williams Papers on the Civil War marks an important new undertaking for the Detroit Historical Society and Wayne State University Press, both of which have enjoyed a long and fruitful association. This is their first sponsorship of the reproduction and editing of original source materials, a type of publication that makes original sources more readily available to those who in turn write about our heritage for the general reader. The book will be a contribution for writers and students of the history of the American Civil War. The Press and the Society consider publication of this type of basic source material a logical part of their contribution to a deeper understanding of our local and national heritage.
It is singularly appropriate that this initial project of scholarly editing of original sources should be concerned with the period of the Civil War, for the coming centennial of that conflict has directed national attention to the need for additional published source materials. While the major contribution of the volume will be to make more readily available important original materials on the Civil War, the letters themselves contain some of the finest depictions of warfare as it actually is which can be found anywhere in literature.
The publication of the Alpheus S. Williams Papers was made possible through the bequest of the late Mrs. Fred T. Murphy to the Detroit Historical Society. For fifteen years prior to her death in November 1956, Mrs. Murphy had been most active in local history projects as a member of the Museum Building Fund Committee, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Detroit Historical Society, and a member of the Detroit Historical Commission, 1946-1956.
As a daughter-in-law of General Russell A. Alger, the wife of Frederick M. Alger from 1901 until his death in 1933, Mrs. Murphy was deeply concerned over the proper means of emphasizing the important contributions of Union participants in the Civil War. General Alger, a contemporary of General Williams, was not only a distinguished participant in that conflict but later served as commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, Michigan Governor and Senator, and Secretary of War. It may be recalled that it was through Mrs. Murphy that the late Mrs. Charles B. Pike, daughter of General Alger, became interested in the proposed building for the Detroit Historical Museum, and that her generous gift initiated the building fund drive, which culminated in the present Museum structure.
The Detroit Public Library generously granted permission for the Society to publish the Alpheus Williams Papers in the Burton Historical Collection and cooperated wholeheartedly in the details incident to preparing them for publication. While the bulk of the papers had been copied some years ago, much copying and recopying of material still had to be done. Members of the Museums administrative staff, particularly Miss Patricia Butkowski, Secretary to the Director, contributed substantially to the completion of this phase of the work.
Dr. Milo M. Quaife, from 1924 to 1947 Secretary-Editor of the Burton Historical Collection of the Detroit Public Library and a distinguished historian and editor, called our attention to the significance of the Alpheus S. Williams Papers. The Society and the Press were fortunate in enlisting Dr. Quaifes services as editor. His long and important contributions in the field of editing original source materials is well known to many of the individuals who will make use of this volume. Members of the Society will recall that Dr. Quaife delivered the Lewis Cass Lecture in 1954 and that in 1956 he was presented a citation by the American Association for State and Local History for distinguished contributions to the field of American national and local history.
PREFACE
My procedure in preparing the letters for publication should be explained to the reader. Since they are chiefly family letters, written by a devoted parent to his young daughters, the originals contain a great deal of domestic and private material which possesses no interest for the present-day reader. Partly for this reason, in part to avoid useless expense, all of this material has been deleted from the present version. Like all other authors. General Williams occasionally committed errors of grammar or of orthography. To reproduce these in print would serve no useful purpose, and such corrections as the individual circumstances required have been made; also as a matter of course, such details as capitalization and punctuation have been standardized. It is perhaps unnecessary to add that none of the deletions and changes have been animated by the motive of suppressing or altering Williams expressions of opinion.
I am under obligation to numerous individuals and institutions for assigning the editorial task to me and making the publication of General Williams letters possible. I am grateful to Mrs. Margaret Barbour, the generals granddaughter, for her sympathetic interest and support. Mr. Henry D. Brown, Director of the Detroit Historical Museum, and Dr. Harold A. Basilius, Director of Wayne State University Press, whose respective institutions have jointly sponsored and financed the book, have given me their constant support, along with much technical assistance. Professor Alexander Brede, Editor of the Wayne State University Press, has competently performed the copy readers task of whipping the manuscript into final shape for printing. From Mrs. Elleine Stones, former Chief, and Mr. James Babcock, present Chief, of the Burton Historical Collection of the Detroit Public Library, within whose pleasant domain the editorial work has been chiefly performed, I have received unfailing service and cooperation in facilitating the task. Nor should acknowledgement be omitted of the helpful interest of Dr. Alfred H. Whittaker or the many services rendered by Miss Dorothy Martin, Archivist of the Burton Collection, along with the usual courteous services of the remaining members of the staff, which contribute so much to render the Collection a peaceful haven of historical research. For the reproduction of the old illustrations I am indebted to the excellent photography of Mr. Joseph Klima, Jr. The index is the work of Mr. Simon Greenfield, Last but not least may be noted the help accorded by Letitia, my permanent secretary and wife.
