Description:

Civil War



Union General Thomas H. Ruger ALS Regarding Lincoln's Assassination: "the South had lost the best friend it had in the death of the President"; and Imminent Confederate Surrender: "all even the men in the ranks feel that the rebels are whipped conquered and ready to submit"

 

8pp ALS inscribed overall and signed by Union Brigadier General Thomas H. Ruger (1833-1907) as "Howard" at the center of the eighth page. Written in Raleigh, North Carolina on April 22, 1865. Comprised of two bifold bundles of cream blue-lined paper, both embossed "Paris" at upper left. Accompanied by a pre-stamped envelope addressed to "Mrs. Thos. H. Ruger / Care of H.R. Moore + Sons / Beloit / Wisconsin," letter-opened at right and with minor loss.  The letter shows expected paper folds and light overall toning, else near fine. 5" x 8".

 

In late April 1865, Brigadier General Ruger was stationed in Raleigh, North Carolina while attached to Major General William Tecumseh Sherman's Military Division of the Mississippi. In this letter to his wife Helen Lydia Moore Ruger (1837-1912), Ruger remarked on reactions to President Lincoln's assassination the week before. He noted with some surprise that even Confederates seemed to mourn Lincoln.

 

In part, with unchanged spelling and punctuation. Paragraph breaks have been added for increased legibility. Note that Ruger erroneously referred to Johnston as "Johnson" throughout the letter, with one exception found towards the end.

 

"The news of the murder of the President came in the midst of the universal joy at the favorable aspect of affairs, with a great shock and caused great gloom throughout the army from which it has not yet recovered. Most of the people here seemed to think it a blow to them, as well. The news came to Gen Sherman as he was talking to Johnson who it is said was very much affected and said that the South had lost the best friend it had in the death of the President."

 

With General Robert E. Lee's surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia a few weeks earlier at Appomattox Court House, Ruger speculated if Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston (1807-1891) would also surrender to Union forces. If Johnston did surrender, that would be another fall of the domino towards peace.

 

"When I last wrote we were under orders to march and then I expected to go the next morning. Instead we are resting quietly in camp having reviews by Gen. Sherman of the different corps and waiting for the result of the recent arrangement for the disbanding of all the rebel forces still in the field, which to be carried into effect needs the ratification of the government at Washington.

 

The morning to which I have referred as the one on which we were to have moved, the order for march was countermanded after the army had got under motion in consequence of a communication by flag of truce from Gen Johnson to Gen. Sherman asking for a suspension of hostilities until Gen Sherman could communicate with Gen. Grant and ascertain if Gen Johnson could surrender his army on the same terms as that granted to Gen. Lee. Gen Sherman replied that he had the power to treat on the subject, whereupon after personal interviews in which Gen Sherman sought for the surrender of all the rebel forces still in arms, it was agreed subject to ratification of the Gov at Washington that the rebel armies should be disbanded...

 

Gen. Sherman talks very freely about matters and from all I learn from his staff and his orders I think he confidently expects his agreement will be ratified…There should be great disappointment in the army if they should stop at trifles in the matter of opposing Gen Shermans action, as all even the men in the ranks feel that the rebels are whipped conquered and ready to submit to the laws for all time to come…I have a good deal of hope that there will be no trouble about minor matters and that Shermans agreement will be ratified. It will bring peace permanently."

 

Ruger's anxiety that Washington, D.C. would not approve Sherman's initial terms of surrender with Johnston proved correct. Sherman had technically agreed to terms without the necessary clearance from President Johnson, the war cabinet, or his superior officer General Grant, and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton publicly denounced Sherman. As we have seen, Ruger was of the opinion that Johnston's surrender should be secured at any cost. Wartime bureaucracy almost succeeded in derailing Johnston's surrender, but the matter was finally resolved on April 26, 1865.

 

On that day, Johnston relinquished his Army of the Tennessee, as well as Confederate forces in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. This was the culmination of three days' negotiation with Sherman on April 17, 18, and 26, 1865 at Bennett Place, near Durham, North Carolina. Johnston's surrender of over 89,000 soldiers was the single largest capitulation in the Civil War.

 

This letter underscores the difference between the myth of the Civil War's end and its reality. Schoolbooks usually cite Lee's surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, 1865 as the watershed moment, and indeed, it marked the beginning of the end. Yet the war officially dragged on until August 1866, when 17th U.S. President Andrew Johnson formally declared peace. Between April and November 1865, various Confederate generals, troops, vessels, and leaders surrendered one by one. The war's end was a process, not a precise moment.

 

Among other riveting end-of-war topics, Ruger also mentions Union Brigadier General James H. Wilson, who was winding down his raids against Confederate factories, arsenals, and naval yards in Georgia and Alabama between March and April 1865. Ruger noted that Wilson was currently in Macon, Georgia, which was captured on April 20, 1865.

 

Thomas H. Ruger was a West Point graduate who had retired from the army to become a lawyer in 1850s Wisconsin. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he reenlisted in the volunteer army and eventually achieved the rank of brigadier general. He saw action at the Battle of Antietam and led troops at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. He mustered out of the volunteer army after the war and received a colonel's commission in the regular army. He was brevetted a brigadier general for his actions at Gettysburg and served as the Provisional Governor of Georgia from January 13 through July 4, 1868, and the District of Alabama until February 1, 1869.

 

A fascinating glimpse into the waning days of the Civil War!

 


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