Octavia's Letter to her sister Jane

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Belvoir, [Md.] Feb. 5th, 1863

 

My Dear Sister,

 

I am at last able to write to youwith some prospect of my letters reaching you.I arrived here two weeks since, & would have written to pan soonerthan this knowing your anxiety to hear from home, but I have been quite sick,& am not yet well, but feel able to-day to write some letters for the firsttime since my arrival.I took cold incrossing the Bay which, from not taking proper care of myself, increased untilI became quite ill with fever & neuralgia in my head, & my sufferingswere intense. The fever left me some days ago, but the dreadful pain in my headremained�it is, however, gradually wearing off and I hope soon to be quite wellagain.

 

I left Port Gibson, or ratherGravelford,1 on the 28th Dec.I was in Town the week before I left, & all our friends werewell.I believe none of them thought Iwould be able to reach Marylandor I am sure they would have written by me�it seems so hopeless getting lettersto or from friends beyond the Confederacy that it is seldom anyone thinks ofwriting now.We never know whether youhad received our letters after the death of your dear son.� I heard only after my arrival here that youhad received them.We all wrotethen�Emily,2 Cousin Sarah,3 Sarah Shumaker,4& myself.We had a good opportunityby a gentleman from Louisville, ason of Dr. Breckenridge of Oakland Col.� He ran the blockade, spent a week or two withhis Father, & on his return was willing to take any number of letters.� We heard of his safe arrival in Memphis,but never knew whether he had succeeded in getting the letters through thelines.

 

I. have nomore particulars to tell you about poor dear Aaron's6 last days, andthe circumstances of his death, than you already know through thoseletters.Young DonalsonJenkins7�John's8 son�who is now on Earl's staff, & isa remarkably intelligent, promising young man, spoke to me at Grenada in thehighest terms & very affectionately of Aaron�said there was no truth in thereport that he had on a Federal uniform, so far from it, he had thrown off hiscoat on account of the heat, & was in his shirt sleeves, & was as cool,with his exceeding bravery & gallantry, as any man on the field�that Gen.Hindman9 said he never expected to have such another brave man onhis staff.Donelsonsaw him fall�stationed a guard over his body, & afterwards had him burieddecently, & his grave well marked.You know Earl with his command had not arrived there from Arkansas�Yourletter to Gen.________ I have forgotten his name, �was sent by Gen. Rosencrans [sic] with a flag of truce to Earl at HollySprings, after the battle of Corinth I think, requesting Earl to designate thegrave, & he would comply with your request�which was done.� Alas! how many distressing, heart-rendingcases there are in this terrible war.Poor Mrs. Martin's for instance�her son James10 (Capt.Martin) was mortally wounded at the battle of Sharpsburg�fell into the hands ofthe enemy, & died in the field hospital at that place�that is all they knowabout him�poor Mr. Martin begged me with tears in his eyes, & heart toofull almost for utterance, to write after I arrived in Md. and try to find outsomething about his last moments, & where his grave is, if possible, &have it marked that they might hereafter recover the dead body of their son�Notmany of our friends in old Claibourne have beencalled on to mourn the loss of friends in this terrible conflict, when weconsider how many have Fathers, sons & brothers in the army.� Poor Edward Archer was killed in one of thebattles before Richmond.� Young Steven Archer died at home from somedisease contracted in camp�Mrs. McAlpine�s two sonsEdward and John, I think was the other, were killed before Richmond�Maj. SidneyWilson was mortally wounded at Sharpsburg, & died afterward, inVirginia�Mrs. Lowry's son was killed also�I think those were all�John Colemanwas severely wounded, & it was thought would be lamed for life, but hasvery nearly recovered & has returned to duty in Va.� He is [a] Lieut. in Capt. George Fulkerson's Co.� He has lost his left arm.� George Lewis was discharged from duty onaccount of deafness.Andrew11has been serving in the ranks in the 12th. Miss.ever since the war commenced�has been in most of the battles in Va.& has never been hurt, always writes home cheerfully. & nevercomplains.Cousin George12enlisted in the ranks at the time Port Gibson was threatened, and is one of themost doughty of Confederate soldiers�he is now Ordnance Sargent[sic] at Port Hudson with Isaac13 who is Chief of Ordnance on Gen. Beall's staff with the rank of Captain�he and Eugenia cameon to Richmond with me�he having business there.� Emily is living in her house in Pt. Gibson,which is a very nice comfortable little establishment.� Bro Earl helps her some, besides Mr. M.14a little only now�and she has some music schollars[sic] �Mary Stanford & Jeanie P. also board with her & live in Miss M. Leghowner's house across the street.� Mary came from N. Orleans after its fall tobe able to hear from Ford who is Lieut. in Capt. Latrobe's battery now atVicksburg�Mary had of course to leave her servants in N. Orleans, which reducedher income so much that she is teaching school�about 20 children go to her& besides teaching them, she writes little plays which they perform at theTown Hal�have tableaux & recitations etc, all to raise socks for thesoldiers, and were having grans success when Ileft�Those little children have made altogether a thousand pairs of socks�Allthat the southern ladies think of�talk of�or work for now is to make clothingfor the army & our army was pretty well supplied when I left, & ourpeople have a plenty to eat�not the least danger of starvation, in spite of thewishes & prayers of our enemies, & the reports they get out to thateffect.The Southerners have, of course,to do without many articles of luxury they have been accustomed�to, but thenecessaries of life are plentiful, & they are satisfied in doing withoutthe luxeries [sic] �They do not wish to "returnto the flesh-pots of Egypt."� Many of the wealthiest family's have neitherflour or coffee, and sit down to corn bread & potatoes, & potatocoffee, or some other substitute, just as cheerfully as though they had all theluxeries in the land�They have learned to make cornbread so delicious, & in so many varieties, that I prefer it now to flourbread - and by sifting the corn meal several times through gause,as nice pound cakes & sponge cakes can be made as I ever saw.�� Mrs. Archer handed me some sponge cake (withhome-made blackberry wine) so nice that I thought it was made of flour�This warhas done the Southern ladies more good than anything that could havehappened�they have become so industrious & managing and ingenious ininventing substitutes for what they cannot get�You scarcely ever enter a housenow without hearing the sound of a spinning wheel or loom, & nearly everyplantation manufactures its own clothing�There are any quantity of goods in theConfederacy now, from England, France, etc, etc. but are enormously high &hard to get�for instance, coarse red flannel is $5 per yd, & from that upto ten for fine. Ladies shoes $15 & 20�DeLainedress patterns $60�pr of military boots $60�sack coffee $100�bbl Flour $100�andso on�How people live I cannot imagine, but all seem to get along very well,& I have never heard of any suffering among the poorer classes�I never wasat Cousin Sarah's without her having a little flour & coffee�Emilygenerally has some�Eugenia has never been without�Mrs. Parker the same�At thetime the soldiers were stationed there, I think most of the Port Gibson peoplesupplied themselves by exchanging corn meal for flour�two bblsmeal for one flour�with the Quarter Master of the Regt. �The soldiers encampedin Mrs. Parker�s woods near the Burkington15 lane�The girls nurseall in their glory at that time�Mrs. Coleman was manager general in thehospitals and every one took an active part in the good work.�

 

Well I have told pretty much allabout Port Gibson that I can think of, & now will tell you what I know youare most anxious to hear�about dear Earl�You need not believe one of thefalsehoods that have been circulated against him�he has been abused by themiserable editors because he offeneded them when hefirst took command of the Department of Miss.Up to that time no man in the army stood higher than he did�In the Armyof the Potomac it was said "they had lost almost their right arm"when he was appointed to the command in Missouri & Arkansas, or the �TransMiss. Dept." as it was called�That caused jealousy among Gen. Price'sfriends who were ready and eager to catch at anything to injure Earl�After theretreat from Corinth he was appointed to the command of Southern Miss. &East Louisiana, & was received with open arms�every one was delighted�thepapers and all, said it had infused new life into the Dept. & givenconfidence to all�At that time it was said there were many traitors in Miss.,many who tried to depreciate Confederate money & would give information tothe enemy from different points on the river�the whole of which the enemy thenhad possession of with the exception of that portion immediately in front ofVicksburg.Soon after Earl came toJackson it was represented to him that Judge Sharkey16 was trying todepreciate Confederate money�having determined to put a stop to it, Earl hadhim arrested as soon as he would the poorest man in the state�being a rich& influential man, with many personal & political friends, he &they have done all they could to injure him ever since.� Judge Sharkey was acquitted after trial, butthat did not make it seem any less Earl's duty to have him tried upon such acharge.

 

Earl also issued an order declaringmartial law in the Dept., and saying that any editor who should publishanything relating to the movement of troops, or anything calculated to impairthe confidence of the troops in the commanders the President had seen fit toplace over them, should be arrested and the paper suppressed.� All of which gave great offence to editorsall over the country�hence the vile slanders they have originated &circulated against him. �Editors, you know, lead the people by the nose atwill, & although Earl had many warm friends left, the people generallyjoined in the cry against him�particularly after the disaster at Corinth�he wasterribly abused after that, until Gen. Bowen brought the charges against him& the Court of Inquiry was called.The charges were said to be trivial, such as that Gen. Van Dorn had madethe attack on Corinth without due consideration�had not taken the precaution toacquaint himself with the topography of the country around, & half a dozenmore charges of the same nature.It gavehim an opportunity of self defence which he fullyavailed himself of, & requested that the charge of drunkenness(which had not been made by Gen. Bowen, but had been extensively circulated andbelieved, & which affected his character as an officer) should beinvestigated.It resulted in histriumphant acquittal, & Clem17 told me there had been a greatrevulsion of feeling in the Army since the Court of Inquiry had been held�andthe people had begun to praise him as much as ever, at the time I left Miss.which was immediately after his successful cavalry raid against Holly Springsetc.It was that raid that saved Mississippifrom being overrun by the enemy.Gen.Grant with a large Army was coming down on the Mobile & Ohio R.R. towardsColumbus, Miss, flanking us on the right�when Earl with 5000 Cavalry went upsuddenly, & with the celerity he is noted for, destroyed all of Gen.Grant's stores, and compeled him to retreat towardsMemphis�that was before our reinforcements had arrived, or our fortificationsat Grenada had been completed, & our whole Army in Miss, would have beenobliged to retreat into Alabama, & not only the state but the river, &all the states west of it, would have been lost to us�Earl has done goodservice to the South, and it will be acknowledged some day�He established &fortified the important post of Port Hudson whilst he was in command anddefended Vicksburg when, as his friends said, any other man would have given itup�& when the proceedings of the Court of Inquiry are published (as theyhave been by this time) full justice will be done him & he will not beblamed for the defeat at Corinth�that battle was a brilliant success at first,& would have been finally but for an accident which no human foresightcould guard against, & which he has explained fully to the WarDepartment.�At the time I left he was having published at Mobile 1000 pamphletscontaining the proceedings of the Court of Inquiry to be distributed in theArmy & among his friends everywhere.They were not out when I left but I read a copy in manuscript whilst atGrenada a week or ten days before I came on to Va.�After the summing up, Earl'sdefense was read in court by his Lawyer, and it was the most beautifullywritten & touching thing I ever read in my life�even old Gen. Price and theother Genls. sitting on the bench in the Court wereseen with tears streaming down their faces.I wish I could remember something of it to tell you�After provingclearly as the light of day and beyond the shadow of doubt or cavil that thecharges were all false�drunkeness & all�andmaking Brigadier Gen. Bowen appear so exceedingly small and ridiculous, &that without an ill-natured word against him or against anyone else�the defensewent on, and alluded in one short phrase only to the vile slanders against him-saying they were of a nature that could not be presented before that Court�iftrue they would stamp him as a character too base for consideration� (orsomething of that sort)�"but that they were born of malice and falsehood,and only escaped vindication by escaping investigation"�It then alluded tohis native state in whose defense he had been fighting for nearly a quarter ofa century�it had been his pride to serve her�his blood had always been ready toflow in her defense�he well remembered with what pleasure he returned, aftermany years of absence in her service, to his native state & beheld theskies that canopied the spot where first he saw the light, & to the soilwhere reposed the ashes of his parents�that he had used every exertion &bent every energy of his mind to defend that sacred soil.� Yet in the midst of it she had inflicted thisblow, & had assailed his character as a gentleman & an officer which itwas a soldiers pride to guard so jealously�and which had prompted him to placethis defense as an antidote beside the poison of Calumny which had stung him.�

You understand- I do not pretend togive the language, for it was as I said written beautifully, but thosewere something of the ideas presented towards the close of the defense.� I only wish I could have gotten one of thepamphlets before I left to send you.They must have been out as I came through Mobile,if I had only known it, for we travelled in the samecar part of the way with the President and his staff, & they were readingone of them.They were seated very nearme, and I heard their conversation, or rather a few remarks with regard toit.The President said "It was themost complete vindication he had ever see"�Gen. Joe Davis, his nephew said"Yes it sustained Van Dorn fully" and remarked how glad he was he hadseen it�Dear Earl bore all the abuse that was heaped upon him most nobly�andconducted himself throughout with much dignity and good sense, and in the rightkind of spirit�I was afraid his spirits and fortitude might sink under it all,as it was said poor Gen. A. Sidney Johnson's [sic] did, but no such thing, helooks as well as I ever saw him, if not better, and bears up bravely &nobly against it�he laughed and told me he had not a grey hair yet, nor had helost a meal in consequence of it�and he relates anecdotes as well & with asmuch spirit as ever.He hatesMississippians though, and Clem says he is a very unhappy man�Clem loveshim better: than any body in the world, except his mother, & says he wouldlay down his life for him at any moment.Earl says he has the satisfaction of knowing that those who know himbest love him the most.Clem thinks him agreat man, & that he has not his superior in the ConfederateArmy�Another thing I must tell you that Clem says�he will make oath, he says,that he has not seen the Genl. drink too much, orseen him under the effects of liquor, since he has had a separate command�thatonce or twice in the Army of the Potomac, at about Christmas time, when Gen.Beauregard was presenting battle flags to the different regiments, all the Genls. used to to dine with eachother around at their different head-quarters & that all of themsometimes indulged a little too freely, but not since, so far as his Uncle wasconcerned.� Earl said to me whilst I was at Grenada that he had been under acloud, but that he thought it was breaking away, & would soon pass�I said Ihoped so indeed, & that I thought there would be a reaction so soon as hisdefense was published, that the people would find they had done him aninjustice and would love him more than they ever did.�"But," said he,"they can never repair the injury they have me�before I came to Miss. Istood first on the list for promotion, & now I stand seventh"�Hevould have been the senior Lieut. Genl.but for all the injury they did him by writing this abuse to the President.�Thedefeat at Corinth alone would not have done it�Just before that battle he hadbeen removed by his own request from command in Miss. & appointed to theDept. of West Tennessee�He had to fight the enemy at Corinth, or Memphis, orsome other place in that vicinity before getting up to his head quarters, thatwas in accordance to orders�he & Gen. Price had been in correspondence onthe subject for weeks & had agreed to unite their forces and attack Corinthas the most assailable�In the Meantime Gen. Pemberton had been appointed totake command in Miss. & when the defeat of Corinth threw Earl back into theDept. of Miss, and all the abuse came so thick & fast upon him, then it wasinjustice was done Earl by the President & War Dept.�Gen. Pemberton wasmade Lieut. Gen. that he might take command over a Senior Major Genl. and five other Genls. werealso made Lieut. Genls. which threw Earl back to the seventhon the list�I hope that after the President having seen & approved of hisdefense, he will yet do something for Earl�Of course that is all false abouthis having left his wife, or of her suing for a divorce from him�I do not knowwhether he had heard the report or not, he did not mention it, but told me hehad received a letter from Caroline18 a few days before, and told mehow affectionately she had spoken of me�He intended going down to see her,& was to have gone that far with me, when the Cavalry expedition was decidedon and he could not go�I left home for Va. just as he returned from Grenada, he& Clem all safe, and the people were then loud in Earl's praises�I believeI have told you everything you would like to know about him, & my letter isgetting entirely too long�Did you wonder at my leaving the South at this time?� It was very hard for me to do, but I thoughtmy duty called me here to be with Octavia19 during her tryingtime and besides, I owed money here which I was anxious to come and pay�I wastoo late to be with poor Sis though�her little boy was five weeks old when Iarrived.I was glad to hear Douglas20had been here on a visit, but very sorry I had missed seeing him�Mr. Henry21was charmed with him, & he & Sis were sorry when he left them�They bothsend much love to yourself, Mag. & Douglass�towhich you must add mine also�Mr. H. says he would not inflict one of hisletters upon you, but got Mrs. Murray to write instead�he never write to anyone.When he is obliged to write he getsOctavia to write for him�he says he has sent you enough papers to keep you busyas long as the war lasts�Mrs. Murray has written you a long letter, & willwrite again, & sends you the "Baltimore Weekly Sun" everyweek.Mr. Henry says tell Missie he intends to kiss her the first time he sees herfor what she said about him in her last letter to Octavia�she says she had aletter on hand to you, & had nearly finished it when I arrived�She is sobad about writing I doubt whether she will ever get through with another toCalifornia or elsewhere, now that I have come back�Poor child!� Has she not had a servitude to babies?� Married only three years and has had threebabies!Dear little Hans22[?] is a little angel now and time has tempered our grief for his loss�but thememory of his sufferings causes a severe pang whenever we think of him�

 

I have tried Dear Jane23think of every thing to tell you that you would like to hear, but you know I amrather a poor letter writer, and although this letter seems long, I have asuspicion that there is very little in it of interest.� You must question me as to all you would liketo know & I will write to you faithfully, without any moreprocrastinations, & whether I hear from you or not will write immediatelywhenever I hear anything of interest from the South that is of private &particular interest�You of course see the general news in the newspapers�Sitdown and ask me all the questions you like & I will answer themimmediately.I feel great concern aboutMiss.We are very strong & veryconfident of success at Vicksburg & Port Hudson, but the enemy is makingsuch gigantic efforts to capture them and reopen the River we cannot helpfeeling some uneasiness�The battle, however, "is not always to thestrong" and we will continue to put our trust in Him who has alreadyhelped us so wonderfully. How terrible this war is!� All others sink into insignificance incomparison with it�May God in Mercy soon send us blessed peace once more.�

 

Isaac24 has not been ina battle yet & has only been under fire once, just before our Army left Corinthlast summer�but Clem has been in four or five, & has distinguished himselffor bravery.Earl says "he is asgallant as the bravest of men could be."He was taken prisoner at the Battle of the Hatchie�wasparoled & came down to Gravelford and spentnearly a month with us there before he was exchanged�I had so much satisfactionfrom his visit that I told him I was glad he had been taken prisoner�

 

I did not tell you of EarI's25(Emily's) being in the Army.Bro. Earlgot him a commission as Cadet, & he gets $40 per month, and is serving inthe Army at P. Hudson.Marshall26enlisted last summer when P. Gibson was threatened, but being under age, Emilysucceeded in getting him discharged & he now goes to school to Mr. Moore,who is still living in Mrs. Butler's27 house.� She's at �The Hill�28 which youknow she bought from Isaac & has improved very much�They are all delightedwith it as a residence�everything else is pretty much in status quo�Dr. Abbeyhas bought & lives at my old home the Oaken Squares29Syd & George30 both in the Army�& nearlyevery one else excepting Mr. Miller,31 Leonard,32 & afew others who ought to be in�John Parker has a substitute & stays at hometo attend to the business of the two families�Jimmie is in the ranks at PortHudson in a cavalry company & is a gallant soldier�his health would haveexempted him, but he would go in spite of everything�Sam Duncan & a greatmany of the wealthiest, men, of his stamp, are at home doing nothing�

 

Henry Hughes33 died lastsummer�William34 is at home�so is Jim Wood�Mary has two children�Sarahthree�Mrs. McCoy is living in her new house on the hill by Mrs. Coleman's�Mrs.Chaplain & all well as usual�Wm. Ellett &Katie Stowers are engaged to be married�Job Routh & Priscilla Jeffries were married just before Ileft home�and now I believe that is all the news�Give my best love to dearbrother Aaron38�tell him he never will write to me, but I love himas much as ever, and never pray for myself without praying for him & all ofyou.You do not seem so far off whilst Iam praying to Heaven for you in connection with those I love nearer to me.� When you write tell me all aboutyourselves�You, Mag & little Hattie�Aaron�&Douglas�I hope & trust he may have success in his new undertaking�I wascharmed with Aaron's account of his exploring expedition & would be glad tosee everything from his pen�Sis sends her love to her Uncle Aaron also�

 

Ann Murray & Elizabeth sendlove to you�the former seems extremely grateful to you for your efforts to findout [about] her son�

 

I hope you will write to me soon. �I pray that the blessing of Heaven may restupon you all my dear Sister, & that we may all meet once more�if not inthis world in a far better one, where the weary will be at rest forever.

 

Believe me everyour affectionate Sister,

�����������

����������������������������������������������������������� O.Sulivane

����������������������������������������������������������������������� [OctaviaSulivane]

 



Annotations on the Letter from Octavia Van Dorn Sulivane to her sister, Jane Van Dorn Vertner,February 5, 1863.

 

1.Gravelford, the writer's point of departure on December 28, 1862. There is nopresent place name in Claiborne Countylike that.The nearest I can come upwith is Grindstone Ford, a point where the old Natchez Trace cross the NorthFork of Bayou Pierre about six miles northeast of Port Gibson.� That road was in use at the time of the CivilWar and for many years afterward. Thisname bears further investigation on my part. (See Note. 24.)

 

2.Emily, Emily VanDorn Miller, the eighth of the nine children of Peter Aaron and Sophia Donelson Caffery Van Dorn.� In 1903 she published A Soldier's Honor�Reminiscences of His Comrades, an apologia andbiography of her brother, Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn, CSA.� For many years this was the only full-lengthbiography of Earl.She was named for herfirst cousin once removed, Emily Tennessee Donelson,at once first cousin and spouse of Andrew Jackson Donelson,Jackson's private secretary duringhis White House years.Emily Donelson was herself Jackson's official hostess at theWhite House during the first two years of his presidency.

 

3.Cousin Sarah, Mrs.Sarah Knox Sevier, a first cousin of Mrs. Sulivaneand her siblings, only surviving daughter of John and Mary (Polly) Caffery Knox. Mrs. Sevier was born at St. Elmo in Claiborne County, where her parents andgrandparents, John and Mary Donelson Caffery, were living in 1809.� Mrs. Caffery was anolder sister of Rachel Donelson RobardsJackson, Mrs. Andrew Jackson.Sarah KnoxSevier's father was a cousin of President James KnoxPolk.

 

The Knoxes returned to Nashville, Tenn., about 1814, after which both of theparents died and Sarah was taken in by the Jacksons and reared by them at TheHermitage.In 1829 she married Dr.George Washington Sevier, a dentist and grandson of Gen. John Sevier,Revolutionary War hero but later bitter political and personal enemy of AndrewJackson.The marriage of the two at TheHermitage was ironic in view of the enmity of the older people.

 

The Seviers came to Port Gibson,where they had several children.Two oftheir sons were killed in the Civil War.The Seviers are buried in Wintergreen Cemetery in Port Gibson and thereis a house still standing that older people recall as the "SevierHouse".

 

4.Sarah Shumaker,(the Van Dorn genealogy spells it "Shoemaker") oldest of the threechildren of John Overton and Mary Ann Van Dorn Lacy, oldest of the ninechildren of Peter Aaron and Sophia Van Dorn (q.v.). She was born near Franklin, La., and she and her family evenutally moved to Grass Valley, California .� Tradition has it they went west in the GoldRush of 1849, but they must have returned to Mississippifor a time.Eventually they made theirway back to California.� I am in possession of photos of SarahShoemaker and her husband and son.

 

5.Oakland College, a Presbyterian collegefounded in 1831, located closer to Rodney, Miss.,in Jefferson County,than to Port Gibson, but still in Claiborne County.� The college continued until it was sold bythe Presbyterian Synod of Mississippi to the State of Mississippiin 1869.

 

In 1871 the State of Mississippifounded Alcorn College (now Alcorn State University), the oldest land-grantcollege for blacks in the UStoday.The Presbyterians took theproceeds of the sale and used it to found Chamberlain-Hunt Academy, initially aboys' boarding school in 1879 (co-ed since 1970) in Port Gibson.� CHA is named for Dr. Jeremiah Chamberlain,founding father of Oakland, andDavid Hunt, a major landowner and planter and early benefactor of Oakland College.

 

Earl Van Dorn attended Oakland College beginning in 1837, the yearbefore he entered West Point, according to papers in hisfather's estate record.His brother,Aaron (q.v. Note 38) attended for one year beginning in 1839.

 

The identity of the "Dr. Breckinridge" bearsinvestigation, since it is to be suspected he was a relative of JohnBreckinridge, former Vice President of the USand unsuccessful candidate for the Presidency in 1860.

 

6.Aaron�Aaron VanDorn Vertner, son of John David and Jane Van Dorn Vertner of Port Gibson, a nephew of Earl Van Dorn and hissiblings, killed at Shiloh, Tenn.He wasa member of Moody's Battery, Madison Troops, moreparticularly of the Lake Providence(La.) Cadets.� I have in my possession a typescript of aletter describing in detail his death in battle and will donate a copy to TheArmy Military History Institute.Aaron Vertner's mother, Jane, already a widow, was the recipientof the letter which I am annotating.

 

7.Donalson (Donelson is the correctspelling) Jenkins, son of John Jenkins (q.v.), a cousin once-removed of the VanDorn siblings, descendant of Dr. John Jenkins and his wife, nee Nancy Caffery. Mrs. Jenkins was one of the eight daughters ofJohn and Mary Caffery (q.v.) and a sister of SophiaVan Dorn.

 

8.John Jenkins.� See the foregoing for his relationship to theVan Dorns.Ithink these people were from around Lake Providence, La.

 

9.Gen. Hindman.GeneralThomas Hindman of Helena, Ark., one of seven Confederate generalsfrom that area.He was a leader in whiteresistance to Reconstruction and was assassinated from ambush in the latter1860's, a crime which was never solved.

 

10.Capt. JamesMartin.I am not 100% sure of hisidentity, but suspect he was of a family who relate to me on my father's side,through his mother and the McCalebs.� In my boyhood there was still living a Mrs.Martin, the widow of John McCaleb Martin, aConfederate veteran and attorney who had died many years ago.� I recall my mother taking me with her as shewent to call on this elderly lady who lived about a block and a half south ofwhere we lived.It is possible thislady's late husband was a brother of James Martin.

 

11.Andrew.� Andrew Jackson Sevier, one of the sons ofSarah Knox Sevier, who was later killed the Civil War.� Two of the Sevier brothers perished in theCivil War.

 

The other names mentioned between Nos. 9 and 10 are notrelated to me, although I know of the family names.� I think John Coleman was the son of a JudgeColeman who built (ca. 1835-40) the house which I presently own and which hasbeen in the hands of my family since 1891.The Colemans were not related to myfamily.The Judge was a prominent Whigin Claiborne County,and there is an historical plaque in front of our house telling that HenryClay, the Whig candidate for the presidency, addressed a crowd from the frontporch of the house during the 1844 campaign.

 

12.CousinGeorge.George Sevier, another son ofthe Seviers, brother of Andrew.

 

13.Isaac.� Isaac Allison Ross, son of Octavia Sulivane by her first husband, Allison Ross, who died afterthey were married only two years, leaving her this one son.� Isaac Ross the son later married EugeniaCalhoun, a daughter of John C. Calhoun, Vice President of the United States during Andrew Jackson's first term,and later his bitter political foe.Thisis another irony in the fact that the younger people apparently ignored theanimosities of their parents and collateral antecedents.� Isaac Ross was a great-great nephew of Jackson'swife, Rachel.See my comments aboutSarah Knox Sevier (Note 3).

 

14.Mr. M.� William Trigg Miller, husband of Emily VanDorn Miller.See further mention of himon Page 11 of the typescript of the letter and also Note 31.

 

15.Burkington (correct spelling: BURLINGTON).� Home built for Emily Van Dorn Miller and herfamily, now known as McGregor, just east of the present Port Gibson city limitsalong State Highway 547.Burlington Lane is a short road that runs north of Highway547 at a point opposite the northeastern corner of the property on which thehouse stands.The present name of thehouse comes from Clan McGregor, of which the subsequent owners, surnamed Magruder, are descended.

 

16.JudgeSharkey.W. L. Sharkey, Chief Justice ofMississippi.� This is something that bears furtherinvestigation on my part.There isnothing in Hartje's book about this controversy, andthis is one of many ways that this letter by Octavia Sulivanesheds new light on Earl Van Dorn's career.Judge Sharkey, incidentally, is the namesake for the present Sharkey County, Miss., a Delta county ca. 40 miles north of Vicksburg,in which Peter Van Dorn's oldest daughter, Mary Ann Lacy, had a 600-acreplantation along Deer Creek.The areawas a part of Washington Countyat that time.

 

17.Clement. Clement(Clem) Sulivane, Octavia's son by her second husband,Dr. Vance (sometimes spelled "Vans") Sulivane.� He attended Princeton University and the University of Virginia, studied law and wasadmitted to the bar in South Carolina.� After the Civil War he settled in Maryland,where he practiced law and was active in Democratic politics.� I would like to do further investigation ofhim, including check to see if there is a collection of his papers in theMaryland State Archives.He died in1923.He was Earl Van Dorn's aide-decampuntil the latter's assassination May 7, 1863.

 

By now you should be grasping a pattern of nepotism in theappointment of staff officers by Earl Van Dorn.See footnote No. 7 on Donelson Jenkins.� Another analogous example involved Earl'sfirst cousin, Gen. John George Walker of Missouri,in his appointment of a much younger first cousin, DonelsonCaffery, II, of Louisianato his staff when the former was serving in Louisiana.Walkerwas the son of still another Caffery sister of SophiaVan Dorn, etc.This Cafferywas the son of the oldest son of John and Mary Caffery,and died when his son was only three months old.� The family seat was near Franklin, La., in St. Mary's Parish. See note No. 4on Sarah Shoemaker.

 

This is not to suggest that the junior appointees were notcapable or talented people.Donelson Caffery II later becamea U. S. Senatorfrom Louisiana.� I think Clement Sulivane'slater career was likewise commendable, though less conspicuous than Caffery's.

 

18.Caroline.� Caroline GodboldVan Dorn, left a widow with two pre-teen children by Earl Van Dorn'sassassination May 7, 1863,at Spring Hill, Tenn.� Of all the critical witnesses to this drama,Caroline Van Dorn is silent in pen and tongue.She was the daughter of a plantation owner and lived near Calvert, Ala.She endured long separations from her husband because of his army career.By Earl, she had two children, a daughter, Olivia, and a son, Earl, Jr.� The daughter died at age 27, leaving ahusband and four children.Caroline VanDorn survived the death of her daughter by only a few months.� The son died unmarried at age 29 in April,1884.With him the male line of PeterAaron Van Dorn's family became extinct.Apparently contact with the direct descendants of Earl Van Dorn was lostearly by descendants of Earl's siblings.I am eager to make contact with them, if any there be who can prove theconnection to my satisfaction.

 

There are two other things I wish to comment on at thistime.One is the discussion of Earl'sapparent frustration at being "passed over" for promotion tolieutenant general.This bears out thecriticism made by Hartje and other authors that hewas "greedy for glory".

 

Another is Octavia's discussion of allegations of a maritalrift between Earl and Caroline.This isthe first instance I have seen any mention of it.� This is another way in which this letter issignificant.Even though it is denied,that does not dispel the accusations, particularly in the light of events soonto transpire and culminating in Dr. Peters' murder of Earl on the grounds thathe was involved with the doctor's wife.There is too much documentary evidence�letters by Van Dorn'ssubordinates, both officers and enlisted, about his inappropriate attentions toladies�to gloss over the very real possibility of a separation or divorceinvolving the general and his wife had he lived.

 

19.Octavia.� Daughter of Octavia Sulivane,sister to Clement Sulivane, married to Ryder Henry in1859 at Prospect Hill in Jefferson County,seat of the Ross family, of which Octavia's first husband was a member.

 

20.Douglas.� Douglas Vertner,surviving son of Jane Van Dorn Vertner, also a lawyerand a public official in Columbus, Miss., after the Civil War.� He was a brother of Aaron Van Dorn Vertner.Jane Vertner was married to John David Vertner,son of Daniel Vertner.� The elder Vertnerwas a longtime friend and associate of Judge Peter Aaron Van Dorn.

 

Daniel Vertner was one of threeexecutors of the will of Isaac Ross I, (d. 1836 at Prospect Hill), father ofAllison Ross, first husband of Octavia Sulivane.� The significance of this was that the elder Ross,a Revolutionary War veteran who came to Mississippiand acquired some 5,000 acres in Jefferson County plus numerous slaves,somehow became disenchanted with the institution of slavery and joined theAmerican Colonization Society, which had as its purpose the return of Africanslaves to their ancestral continent.

In his will, Ross manumitted about 250 of his slaves and setaside money to transport them to New Orleansand eventually to West Africa.� The will was in litigation until 1848, whenthe Mississippi Supreme Court ruled it legal.Meanwhile Daniel Vertner had died severalyears before.The will was carried outand the slaves transported to Liberia,where descendants of them still live.These were among those of the privileged class displaced by a militarycoup some 10 years ago.

 

Daniel Vertner was also namedexecutor of the will of his friend, Judge Van Dorn, who died in February,1837.Earl Van Dorn and his youngerbrother Aaron brought suit against Vertner seeking anaccounting of his handling of their father's estate.� This was filed after Earl entered West Point, and was handled by Hugh Short, husband of a Jenkins firstcousin of the Van Dorn siblings.Again, Vertner died before this estate was settled.� It was a delicate matter in more than oneway, particularly because the husband of one of the Van Dorn sisters was theson of the executor.

 

21.Mrs. Murray.� Possibly this woman is a relative ofOctavia's husband, Dr. Vans Murray Sulivane.� My guess she is either a grandmother or anaunt by marriage. "Mag andDouglass"�Margaret Vertner (Mrs. Dunlop) andDouglass Vertner, surviving children of Jane Vertner.

 

22.Hans.� The name of the infant whose birth Octaviawent to attend should be "Vans" instead of "Hans".� The Van Dorn genealogy gives the name of adeceased child of the younger Octavia in this form.� Apparently this child died before he was sixmonths old.

23."DearJane," the recipient of the letter, Jane Van Dorn Vertner,third of the nine children of Peter Aaron and Sophia CafferyVan Dorn.I am not positive where shewas living at the time the letter was written.Perhaps the address is on the original envelope, if that survived.� My guess is that she was possibly in Columbus, Miss., where she lived in later life.� She died in 1870, according to the Van Dorngenealogy.

 

Jane Vertner, married to JohnDavid Vertner, son of Daniel Vertner(q.v.), became the guardian and foster mother of the orphaned children of her oldestsister, Mary Ann Van Dorn Lacy (my direct ancestress) upon the death of hersister on her Deer Creek plantation in August, 1837, six months after the deathof their father, Judge Van Dom.

 

The three children, Sarah (Mrs. Shumaker, spelled"Shoemaker" in the genealogy, John Overton Lacy, Jr., who died in1839, and Mary Lacy (Mrs. James D. Wood {q.v. Note 36), my great-grandmother,were fetched from the remote plantation in then-Washington County by theiruncle, Earl Van Dorn, age 17, and brought home, together with several slaves,household effects, etc., according to the estate papers.� They were taken into the household of Mrs. Vertner, who herself was left a widow with three smallchildren by the death of her husband in Galveston, Texas in 1840.� The father of the Lacy children had died in1834, at age 29, on their plantation near Franklin,La.� He died about five weeks before the birth ofhis daughter, Mary.

 

I have in my possession the family Bible of the Lacys, in which are also entries made by Mrs. Vertner concerning her family.� The Bible was presented to Mary Ann Van Dornupon the occasion of her marriage, at age 14, in April, 1827, to John O. Lacy,age 21.

 

24.Isaac.� Isaac Ross, Octavia Sulivane'sonly son by her first husband.Fromreading this and the sentence about Clem's having been taken prisoner at the Battleof the Hatchie, I have torevise my earlier statement about Gravelford, and nowconjecture that it is somewhere in north-central Mississippi,possibly around Grenada.� There are several rivers which have theIndian suffix "hatchie" in their name inthat area.

 

25.Earl (Emily'sEarl).Earl Van Dorn Miller, the olderof Emily Miller's two sons.This Earlwould have been working on 19 at the time of this letter.� Note here, too, the pattern of nepotismrepresented in his appointment as a cadet with the help of his uncle.

 

I need to digress here and say Earl Miller was the first ofseveral collateral relatives to be named for Earl Van Dorn.� The first Earl in his turn was named forRalph Eleazer Whitaker Earl, portrait artist wholived and worked in Nashville, andenjoyed the patronage and friendship of Andrew and Rachel Jackson.� Ralph Earl was the son of a well-known Connecticutartist, also named Ralph Earl, who studied under Benjamin West in England.

 

Ralph E. W. Earl was introduced to Jane Caffery,sister of Sophia, etc., by her aunt, Rachel Jackson, and they were married atThe Hermitage.She died less than a yearafter the marriage, after which the artist was invited to take up residence atThe Hermitage.He painted some 34portraits of Jackson, accompaniedhim to the White House and lived and worked there all during the Jacksonpresidency.He also painted a portraitof Rachel Jackson which the widowed President took with him to Washingtonand arranged it so that he looked at it when he retired to bed at night andagain when he arose in the morning.

 

Earl Van Dorn was born in 1820, the year of his Aunt Jane'sdeath, and so esteemed was the artist that the relatives in Mississippiapparently named their first son (fifth child) after him.

 

That Ralph Earl was the ultimate namesake is confirmed when Donelson Caffery II (q. v.) namedhis third son (born 1873) Ralph Earl Caffery.� Ralph Earl, in turn, married in 1913 andsired 12 children.He named one of hisolder sons Joseph Earl and another "Philip Van Dorn Liddell Caffery".TheLiddell part of the name commemorates another Confederate general, St. JohnRichardson Liddell, with whom this branch of the Cafferyfamily has a collateral connection through the mother of Ralph Earl Caffery, wife of the senator.� I have this on good authority from PatrickThompson Caffery, himself a former congressman and Louisianalegislator, the 11th of the children of Ralph Earl Caffery.� Gen. Liddell was a West Pointdropout who was a colonel under EVD at Corinth.

 

The name "Earl Van Dorn" is carried by some of mymother's Wood relatives, including a surviving first cousin who lives in Metairie, La., and a nephew of his whom I never met,who lives in New Orleans.

 

Again, a digression upon the pattern of naming people inaristocratic Southern usage.The name"Jane" has been in use in the Cafferyfamily and descendants from the time the future Mrs. Ralph Earl was born.� My own mother was nee "Sarah JanePearson," her mother before her, "Sarah Jane (Miss Sally) Wood."� My sister was christened "Jane Pearson Crisler", and her older daughter is "MaryJane".

 

Of the name "Sarah", the usage of this can betraced back continuously 250 years in the Cafferyfamily and descendants.My own daughteris "Sarah Emma Crisler".� Emma is my wife's name, and our daughter isthe fourth generation of her mother's family to carry that name.

 

26.Marshall (ThomasMarshall Miller).The younger of EmilyV. D. Miller's two sons.He was 15 in1862.

 

27.Mrs. Butler'shouse, (q.v. 28). The Mrs. Butler mentioned here is the widow of Rev. ZebulonButler, Presbyterian minister and founder of the First Presbyterian Church ofPort Gibson. Rev. Butler, a native of Pennsylvania,was a Princeton University(then King's College) classmate and friend of Alison Ross, first husband ofOctavia Van Dorn Sulivane. Rev. Butler was induced tocome to Port Gibson in 1827 in part through actions of Alison Ross. Rev. Butlerdied in Port Gibson December 23, 1860,on the eve of secession and civil war.

 

28."TheHill." The brick Federal-style house built ca. 1828 by Peter Aaron VanDorn.Earl Van Dorn spent his youthhere, and the two youngest children, Emily and the youngest, a boy named Jacob(died 1837) were born here.After thedeath of his wife, Judge Van Dorn mortgaged the property for something like$6,000 in 1834.This was stilloutstanding at his death, and the house had to be sold at auction by courtorder in 1841 to pay off the mortgage-holder, The Planters' Bank of Natchez.

 

It eventually passed into the hands of Isaac Ross, son ofOctavia, who sold it for $6,500 in June, 1860 to Rev. Butler.� Rev. Butler died there six months later.� The house, now uninhabitable in its presentstate, is listed on the National Register for Historic Places and is owned by adirect descendant of Sarah Knox Sevier.In the early 1970's the house and 5.3 acres of the surrounding land weredonated to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History for purposes ofhistoric preservation.An ambitiousprogram was conceived, but because of rising interest rates (to double-digitfigures) and lack of state money the MDAH reluctantly returned the Van Dornproperty to the donors several years later.A grant of some $7,000 was obtained by the owners which they had tomatch, and this was used to install a new metal roof on the house.

 

29."OakenSquares", called Oak Squaretoday, and located one-half block diagonally across Church Street from my own house in Port Gibson.� The original dwelling referred to here wasthe only house on a city block 100 yards square, and it later was badly damagedby fire in the early years of the 20th Century.The then-owners built the present structure ca. 1906 in a vastlydifferent style form the original.Thepresent structure is Neoclassical Revival.

 

In the intermediate past the surrounding land area wassubdivided so that the solitude of the house is no more.� There are five other dwellings on the block,plus a dependency of the present house that contains an apartment and agarage.One of the dwellings is owned bythe couple who own Oak Square,which they operate as a bed-and-breakfast and pilgrimage tour home.� The present owners bought Oak Square in 1974 and began some costly repairs andnew construction which included the dependency and an adjacent walled-incourtyard.

 

30.Syd and George.Sonsof Sarah Knox Sevier.

 

31.Mr. Miller, EmilyMiller's husband, William Trigg Miller.I know comparatively little about him.

 

32.Leonard.� Possibly the first husband of Jane Vertner's daughter, Margaret.� I have in my possession letters referring toMargaret as "Mrs. Leonard".Bythe time the Van Dorn genealogy was published in 1907, she was referred to asMargaret Dunlop.Again, I have a povertyof information, possibly something that has been allowed to developintentionally by my predecessors.

 

33.HenryHughes.Col. Hughes, 33 at the time ofhis death, is regarded by sociologists as the founder of their discipline andthe first to coin the term "sociology" in his book, Treatise onSociology, written in 1854 as a defense of slavery.� He traveled in Europe and was a student ofthe French philosopher August Comte and his work has a considerableintellectual cachet amongst sociologists, albeit the views presented are hardlythose of the liberal mind-set in that discipline of today.� He participated in First Manassas and died ofdisease in the summer of 1862.

 

34.William. Possiblyone of the several children of Sarah Knox Sevier, or else it is William TriggMiller, husband of Emily (31).

 

35.Jim Wood.� James Davenport Wood, my great-grandfatherwho served as a commissary sergeant in a Claiborne County company, and who was aplantation owner and slaveholder who had about 80 slaves.� His father, Francis Wood, emigrated from Marylandin 1810, living first in Jefferson County,from which he marched off to New Orleansas a captain in the militia of that county in January, 1815.

 

36.Mary. Mary LacyWood, wife of James (35), younger daughter of Mary Ann Van Dorn Lacy (see Note.23).She was born in 1834 and died in1917.My mother remembered her. I havein my possession a small oil-on-panel of her attributed to her uncle, Earl Van Dorn,who had some artistic talent. I also have several photos of her, including onemade in 1911 of her with a group of my mother's friends on the occasion of her5th birthday.My mother's own mother,Sarah Jane, was bora in February, 1867, the fourth ofthe Woods' seven children.

 

37.Sarah. I amconfused about the identity of this Sarah, unless it refers to the older sisterof Mary Wood, Sarah Shoemaker (Note 4).The genealogy refers to her as having only one son, however.

 

38.Aaron. Aaron VanDorn, younger brother of Earl Van Dorn, born two years after Earl almost to theday.Little is known about Aaron, and heis perhaps one of the most enigmatic members of the six members of hisgeneration who lived to adulthood.Researchers on the early history of Death Valley, Calif., however, have contacted me seekingmore information and sharing with me what they have.� They say this man had some talent as acartographer and the earliest official maps of that bleak region of the countrywere drawn by Aaron Van Dom about 1857, when he accompanied an Army expeditioninto that area for the purpose of mapping it.The originals of Aaron Van Dorn's maps are in the National Archives,according to these people.The mentionof the "exploring expedition" confirms something of what thenon-family researchers have said.

The genealogy gives Aaron's death ca. 1874, while theresearchers say he died in San Franciscoat least five years later.At any rate,he never married, lived apart from the family, and communicated little.

 

One other note from the researchers has it that Aaron VanDorn, for a time a resident of Falmouth, Va.,and was exchanged as a prisoner of war sometime in 1862.� He was an enlisted man in the ConfederateArmy for a time.

 

I have in my possession a 19th-century edition of BenjaminFranklin's Autobiography which has Aaron Van Dorn'sautograph on the end-papers.Apart fromwhat is contained in the estate packet of Peter Aaron Van Dorn, I have no otherprimary documents concerning Aaron Van Dorn.

 

[The letter is from the Murray J. Smith Collection in the U.S. Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Pa.� It is a typed transcription of a handwrittenletter.The annotations to the letterwere written 12-16 July 1993 by Edgar Crisler(deceased) of Port Gibson, Miss.,who located the letter.It was broughtto our attention by Tybring Hemphill.� None of the misprints, misspellings, orantiquated spellings were altered.Anerror in the numbering of the footnotes was corrected.]

 

Van Dorn Pages used with permission of Phil Miller, descendant.

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