Copperhead County- Holmes County Ohio Newspapers in the Civil War

Holmes County, Ohio, nestled in northeastern part of the state which during the Civil War proved a bastion of Republican power, was an abberation- a blue county in a sea of red. The county then was home to a large population of Amish farmers, who at the time were largely Democrats. Holmes County, then as now, was an agrarian county with a population of about 20,000 people. (It is interesting to note that Holmes County had about the same population from 1850 to 1970, and is about 40,000 population today.) Millersburg was the county seat and at the outset of the war boasted two newspapers, the Republican Holmes County Republican and the Democratic Holmes County Farmer under James A. Estill. Chronicling America has an entire run of the Farmer covering the war years of 1861-65 and beyond, but coverage of the Republican ends with the April 17, 1862 issue. 

Map of Ohio with Holmes County circled in red. 


As could be expected, the two newspapers represented vastly opposed strains of political thought- the Republican was a staunch friend of the Lincoln administration while the Farmer espoused the Copperhead sentiments best enunciated by Clement L. Vallandigham. Throughout the Civil War, Judge Estill maintained a firefight with the varied editors of the Republican- James Caskey who sold the paper in April 1862, and G.T. Griffith of Cincinnati who purchased it from Caskey. Estill had a healthy respect for Caskey and complimented him on running an honorable (if wrong headed) newspaper, but as time progressed, he developed a loathing for Griffith who (Estill claimed) used the pages of the Republican for "disparagement of the town and county, to the destruction of our business interests, to slander and falsehood, to the incitement of contention and strife among neighbors, and to the instigation of mobs and violence upon our peaceful citizens." Issues of the Republican are only available online through Caskey's sale of the paper in April 1862, so one is left to wonder what Griffith reported that stoked Estill's ire to such a fever pitch. But it is reasonable to assume to Griffith reported unsavory details of the Holmes County Rebellion and other local unpleasantries- it would be wonderful to read, but we are left to speculate. (Patrick Drouhard's It Don't Look Right for the Times: A Factual History of the Holmes County Rebellion is a good read for those intrigued by the mere mention of rebellion in Ohio during the Civil War.) 

 Holmes County, in many respects, was a bastion of Copperheadism. Republican candidates lost by about a 2 to 1 margin during the 1862, 1863, and 1864 elections, which makes it no surprise that the Holmes County Republican struggled financially throughout the war and ceased publication in mid April 1865. Judge Estill had the pleasure of reporting the departure of the despised Griffith in the same issue in which he reported the assassination of a perhaps equally despised President Lincoln, whom Estill lampooned during the 1864 election as the "Widow Maker." In all fairness, Estill lamented that Lincoln had been assassinated, yet the violence of his anti-administration rhetoric throughout Lincoln's term leaves this researcher questioning the sincerity of his editorial tears shed in April 1865. 

 Aside from politics and of primary interest to this blog is the endless pursuit for soldiers' correspondence, and the two papers did not disappoint, especially in the early stages of the war. Letters from soldiers in the 16th Ohio Infantry (both three months' and three years' service) abound, and a one correspondent worthy of note is First Lieutenant Manuel B. DeSilva of Co. E who was dismissed in the summer of 1863 for his disloyal letters published in the Farmer- they certainly make interesting reading. Company F of the 65th Ohio had a number of correspondents who wrote to the Farmer, as did Co. C of the 67th Ohio whose best correspondent (Captain Marcus M. Spiegel) went on to become colonel of the 120th Ohio before being killed in action at Snaggy Point, Louisiana in May 1864. Private Charles Hay of Co. H, 23rd Ohio wrote a superb series of letters describing the movements of the Kanawha Division during the summer campaign of 1862 which culminated at South Mountain and Antietam. A few letters from men in the 32nd Ohio, 51st Ohio, 102nd Ohio, and 120th Ohio make their way into the pages, as well as a few out of state accounts from Illinois and Iowa regiments. My recent blog post "A Buckeye at Pea Ridge" (http://dan-masters-civil-war.blogspot.com/2018/06/a-buckeye-at-pea-ridge.html) features one of these letters; and one can find accounts of the battles of Philippi, Rich Mountain, Cheat Mountain, Fort Donelson, First Kernstown, Cumberland Gap, South Mountain, Antietam, Chickasaw Bayou (several from members of the 16th OVI which lost half its numbers there), Stones River, Prairie Grove, and Vicksburg. As is typical of Democratic papers, the volume of correspondence really diminishes after the 1863 gubernatorial election. 

 Overall, I was impressed with the quality of many of the accounts and would rate the Farmer as one of the better Democratic papers (at least as far as volume of variety of soldiers' correspondence) of the state. The Republican didn't have quite the volume of letters, and available issues run out just about the time when things started to get very interesting for the Holmes County units. The Farmer ran about 140 letters, most of them prior to May 1863, while the Republican published 35 between May 1861 and April 1862. 

 That said, I have constructed an index for both newspapers and posted it online for your viewing pleasure at: https://columbianarsenal.com/newspaper-indexes

 Chronicling America link to Holmes County Republican: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84028821/

 Chronicling American link to Holmes County Farmer: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84028822/

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular Posts

Arming the Buckeyes: Longarms of the Ohio Infantry Regiments

Image
     A common question that comes up in conversation about Civil War Buckeye regiments is "What were they armed with?" We are fortunate in that the state of Ohio kept good records of how the regiments were armed when they went into service, this being especially true for those regiments which went into service in 1861 and 1862. The state adjutant general's reports for 1861 and 1862 have been heavily drawn upon to construct this article, as well as consultation with Phil Spaugy who has done extensive research on how Ohio's troops were armed during the war.      Buckeyes carried a fairly wide variety of weapons into the field, and the below article breaks this down into weapons of both domestic manufacture and imported arms. The early days of the war found the state of Ohio practically bereft of longarms; as an example, when the 1st and 2nd Ohio Volunteer Militia left the state in late April 1861, they left unarmed, being armed at Lancaster, Pennsylvania on t...
Read more

Bullets for the Union: Manufacturing Small Arms Ammunition During the Civil War

Image
       Civil War bullets are perhaps the most common item collected from the era; the two armies expended bullets by the millions during the four years’ conflict and spent or deformed bullets of all shapes and sizes have made fascinating and affordable collectibles since the guns went silent in 1865.       I recently acquired a display piece featuring 35 different types of small arms ammunition used during the Civil War, including everything from a small .28 caliber ball up to a .69 caliber three-ring Minie and it triggered some questions: how did the Federal army obtain its small arms ammunition during the war? Where did the lead come from to make the bullets, and where and how was the ammunition manufactured? This post seeks to answer those questions. A typical .58 caliber 3-ring Minie bullet   “Whenever the blasts of war blow in the ears of men who trade in the implements of destruction, they are apt to experience more joy than the true ...
Read more

Dressing the Rebels: How to Dye Butternut Jeans Cloth

Image
     In the early days of the Civil War,  the Southern states found themselves with an abundance of cotton but a shortage of cloth with which to make army uniforms. The trade in cloth prior to the war had largely been to send raw cotton or wool north to New England (or Great Britain) where it was converted into usable cloth; but now that trade was broken and the Southern states were thrown upon their own resources in their efforts to properly clothe the Confederate army.  This collection of Confederate enlisted men's frock coats and shell jackets gives some indication of the variety of shades of butternut worn during the war. All of them are shades of yellow brown, some heavier on the yellow and some heavier on the brown. The blue used around the collar or as rank insignia indicates that the soldier was in the infantry. Surviving Confederate uniforms are considered rather rare and command quite a healthy price in the collecting market. For an in-depth study of h...
Read more

The Wizard of Oz and the Civil War

Image
T he 1939 film The Wizard of Oz has delighted viewers for 85 years and ranks as a personal favorite, especially during the Halloween season. While watching it with the family the other night, I wondered if there were any connections between the film and the Civil War. Not surprisingly, the answer is yes and those connections touch both the blue and the gray.           Interestingly both “witches” in the film not only had Civil War ancestors but had connections with Civil War soldiers from Ohio. Margaret Hamilton, the “Wicked Witch of the West,” was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 9, 1902, to attorney Walter Jones Hamilton and his wife Mary Jane Adams; Margaret’s grandfather was Judge Edwin Timothy Hamilton. Judge Hamilton had served as a private in Co. D of the 84 th Ohio Infantry during the summer of 1862. The 84 th Ohio, a three months’ regiment, served nearly the whole of its service attached to the Railroad District in western Ma...
Read more

The Vaunted Enfield Rifle Musket

Image
     The English-made Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield Rifle Musket was widely regarded as the best infantry arm in the world at the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861. Favorable international press describing its efficiency in the Crimean War and in suppressing the Indian rebellion led to the widespread desire of American infantrymen (both Federal and Confederate) to be armed with these accurate and well-made arms. The lock plate of this well-worn P1853 Enfield rifle musket produced in 1862 shows the typical markings of a British-made weapon that made it through the Federal blockade.  ( Army of Tennessee Relics ) Enfield-pattern weapons were imported into the states by the tens and hundreds of thousands during the war years; one estimate stated that the Federal government purchased 500,000 while the Confederates purchased another 400,000. The Confederate government dispatched Captain Caleb Huse to Europe in April 1861 to purchase weapons and Huse focused on se...
Read more

In front of Atlanta with the 68th Ohio

Image
  The arrow corps badge of the 17th Army Corps was worn by many members of the 68th Ohio in the latter days of the war.       Private Edward A. Bigelow of Co. F of the 68th Ohio Volunteer Infantry wrote this brief account of the Battle of Atlanta just two days afterwards to his father back home in Henry County, Ohio. The regiment formed a part of Colonel Robert K. Scott's three regiment all-Ohio brigade consisting of the 20th, 68th, and 78th regiments, being designated the Second Brigade of the Third Division of Frank Blair's 17th Army Corps. Bigelow's letter originally appeared in the Napoleon Press newspaper and was copied in the Toledo Daily Commercial which was providential as no known copies exist today of the wartime Napoleon Press.  
Read more

Charging Battery Robinett: An Alabama Soldier Recalls the Vicious Fighting at Corinth

Image
W riting 30 years after the Battle of Corinth, James A. McKinstry of the 42 nd Alabama recalled his experiences storming Battery Robinett with Colonel William P. Rogers of the 2 nd Texas and expressed guilt that it was perhaps his action that brought about the colonel’s demise. “On seeing a line of Federals approaching, and before giving the situation a thought, I immediately raised my gun and fired full into the breast of a Federal sergeant, who was in front of the column, and only a short distance from us.  'Twas then that Captain George Foster shouted, "Cease firing, men! cease firing!" and waved his handkerchief, then I realized the true situation. 'Twas too late! That fatal volley had been turned on our little band from the muzzles of 1,500 muskets. I was still standing just as I was when I fired my last shot, and within a few feet of Colonel Rogers, when a Minie ball went crashing through my left hip and turned me half round; another went tearing through my ...
Read more

Cook & Brother of New Orleans

Image
    The lockplate of a New Orleans-made Cook & Brother Enfield rifle produced in 1862 shows the fine craftsmanship that became the hallmark of the maker throughout the Civil War. Note the stars and bars flag at left, an emblem used on C&B's production throughout the war and the Cook & Brother, N.O. 1862 markings. Earlier production weapons at New Orleans had the flag located just above the maker's name while later weapons produced in Athens, Georgia would have a modified flag and Athens on the plate followed by the serial number.        In the spring of 1861, two English-born businessmen, Ferdinand and Francis Cook of New Orleans, perceived the need for the South to have its own domestic production of firearms and  set out to prove "that rifles could made here as well as in Yankee land or in Europe." The brothers  elected to produce copies of the British Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield rifle as this was considered the benchmark longarm...
Read more

I Want to See a Battle: A Hoosier at Shiloh

Image
W riting in his diary, Private Manius Buchanan of the 29 th Indiana recalled the eagerness with which his regiment marched towards Savannah, Tennessee with the sounds of the battle of Shiloh ringing in their ears.           “The forced march was kept up until 2 p.m. when we were halted until 4 p.m,” he noted. “The rest was really needed, but the continual question is ‘Why are we stopped here?’ The sound of battle increased in volume and anxiety to be up and doing grows more intense. As I am weak from a late sickness, I am urged to fall to the rear; but no, in common with all, I want to see a battle and fear this will be my only chance.” The regiment would go into action the following afternoon, and of the four neighborhood boys who had enlisted together in Co. B, only Buchanan escaped unscathed. One afternoon's exposure to the horrors of battle was all it took to satisfy this Hoosier's desire to see the elephant. “I wanted to see a battl...
Read more

An Interview with Forrest in May 1864

Image
  “The noise of battle is the only music that ravishes the senses of Forrest.” I t was May 1864. Back east, the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac were locked in the deadly dance of the Overland Campaign while in Georgia, General William Tecumseh Sherman's army squared off against General Joseph E. Johnston and the Army of the Tennessee in the campaign for Atlanta.       Based in relatively quiet northern Mississippi, General Nathan Bedford Forrest bided his time waiting for a Federal advance from Memphis. Earlier in the month, General Samuel Sturgis led a brief campaign into Mississippi but Forrest was sure Sturgis would venture out again. In the meantime, he tried to keep his reorganized command intact despite persistent demands from his superiors that he return the absentees and deserters who inflated his ranks (nearly 1,000 in number) to their original commands.      Around this same time,  an old acquaintance from Me...
Read more