What Julia Wrote: January 23 to 29
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It’s been, and is still, a bear of a week on the U.S. East Coast. An ice storm hit this past weekend (in more ways than one). Still not much progress in digging out our driveway, although we’ve diligently hacked away every day.
From the comfort of my heated house, though, I think about what these conditions would have felt like in an Army encampment or an unheated shack.
And so, we look at how Julia Wilbur weathered (mostly figuratively—no climactic disasters this week for her) the days between January 23 to January 29.
As a reminder, Julia Wilbur (1815-1895) was an abolitionist and suffragist who kept a diary for 50 years. Original diaries are in Quaker & Special Collections, Haverford College, available through TriCollege Libraries Digital Collections. I drew on these diaries to write a biography of Wilbur, A Civil Life in an Uncivil Time, published by Potomac Books/University of Nebraska Press in 2017 and in my upcoming book, Alexandria on Edge: Civil War, Reconstruction, and Remembrance on the Banks of the Potomac.
Okay, let’s forge on to give a platform to our nineteenth-century friend.
(Note that the dates are sequential, but the years hop across the early- to mid-1860s.)
January 23, 1864
When Julia Wilbur couldn’t wrangle a pass to travel to Culpeper, VA, on January 23, 1864, she distracted herself by “stopping by” the White House.
What Julia Wrote on that day:
“Found that Charlotte & sis [her sister-in-law and niece] came to W[ashington]. yesterday. Left at 9 this morning for Culpeper. Mr. J.W. Griffin went with me to Col. Hardie to get pass, but he refused to give me one to go to the front. Too bad. Vexed & desperate I went to the White House as it was on my way & shook hands with the President & Mrs. Lincoln. Then mixing with the crowd. I studied both personages while others were presented. Abraham good natured & awkward & Betsey gorgeously dressed & silly looking.”
In another entry, Julia referred to Mary Todd Lincoln as Betsey, although I have not seen this anyplace else. In any event, Julia did not make it to Culpeper, about 50 miles west of Washington, where divisions of U.S. Army’s First Corps had set up winter camp, such as those here":
Pennsylvania soldiers near Culpeper Court House
January 24, 1863
On January 24, 1863, Julia Wilbur visited the Smithsonian.
Julia Wilbur, all 5 feet and 107 pounds of her
What Julia Wrote on that day:
“Went to Smithsonian, saw many interesting things. I shall not forget Native & crystallized sulphur from Sicily, Septaria from Texas, Cinnabar (sulphate of Mercury) weighing 400 lbs. & Tubipora Syringa from Feejee similar to a specimen that I have wh. was found in Brighton, N.Y. There were Condors & Rhinoceros Hornbill, & eatable birdnests, & Hair of all the Presidents except Lincoln. Armadillos, owls, Eagles, Turtles, seals, Marine specimens &c. &c.—Went into the Stanley Gallery of Indian Paintings, & into the Philosophical room. I weigh 107 lbs. & measure five ft.”
Love the part about her height and weight! I am assuming the “Philosophical Room” had a way to measure in an era without bathroom or even doctor’s scales.
January 25, 1865
On January 25, 1865, Julia Wilbur donated 75 books to Rev. Chauncey Leonard, the chaplain at L’Ouverture Hospital in Alexandria.
What Julia Wrote on that day:
“Went to L’Ouverture; & sent 75 books there for Mr. Leonard’s school. Improvements are being made there, at the same time things are going on which I disapprove. I wonder if the world will ever come round right?”
Leonard was one of fewer than 15 Black commissioned chaplains during the Civil War. He briefly went to Sierra Leone as part of the ill-conceived effort to encourage Black Americans to settle in West Africa and Haiti, and returned very ill. But he was nonetheless an energetic spiritual and educational leader during and after the war, including holding classes for Black patients.
January 26, 1862
In early 1862, Edwin Stanton replaced Simon Cameron as Lincoln’s Secretary of War. Would he be more or less accommodating to slavery interests? On Jan. 26, 1862, Julia Wilbur had an opinion.
What Julia Wrote on that day:
Edwin Stanton, in all his beardiness
“A Tribune Cor. says “That the nomination of Mr. Stanton for Sec. of War is felt to be a solemn condemnation by the Administration & regular Army, of the policy of Emancipation & arming the slaves of rebels, so strongly recommended by Mr. Cameron.”….Then again it is said….”That those who flatter themselves that the Border States, or the Rebels, or the cause of Slavery has gained an ally, will be charmingly disappointed. He believes Slavery to be the most vulnerable point in wh. to strike the rebellion &c.”
Well, we shall see. I hope this is not said to pacify the Anti-Slavery feeling of the North & West, but that it is really true.”
Stanton was not a strong abolitionist—but he wanted to win. And he saw Black emancipation (and arming of Black troops) as the route to do that.
January 27, 1863
Heartbreaking. On Jan. 27, 1863, tragedy for Emma, a servant working in the Alexandria boarding house where Julia Wilbur was staying at the time (still standing today).
What Julia Wrote on that day:
“Rainy all day. Emma’s baby died this morning. I went to order a coffin to be sent here at 3 P.M. Then I called to see Mrs. J. [Harriet Jacobs] & before I got back that baby had been taken away. Yes, before it was cold the men came with a coffin, put the baby into it & drove away, & the poor mother didn’t see it after it was laid out. Mrs. Churchill dressed it and & laid it on the floor in an empty room. Mr. K. [Kimball, the boarding house keeper] wd. not let it be laid upon a table, & had left it only a few moments, when they came for it, & Mrs. K. said “They might as well take it then as at any time, & it was not pleasant for the boarders to have a dead body in the house.” The husband & father stood by & saw it done & dared not object, & poor Emma does not know this evening that her baby has been taken away, but expects to see it before it is buried.”
We unfortunately don’t know much more about Emma, although she and her husband Charley are mentioned several times in later diary entries.
This building (still standing on the corner of Duke and Columbus Streets) was the boardinghouse where this incident took place.
January 28, 1865
Meanwhile, back to L;Ouverture. The background of this remains a mystery to me. On January 28, 1865, Julia Wilbur learned of an issue at L’Ouverture Hospital.
What Julia Wrote on that day:
“Serious affray at L’Ouverture last night. Men have been feeling hard towards the surgeons, & a slight occurrence caused an outbreak. White soldiers were called in, & the colored soldiers cleared them all out, & the doctors too. The white wardmaster & Dr. Platt ran for their lives.—2 cold. sol’s were wounded. I am sorry such an affair has happened for it will strengthen prejudice against them. But I am glad they have a spirit to defend their rights.”
Quartermaster’s Schematic of L’Ouverture Hospital
Anyone have information on this? This would have been after the successful resolution of a petition to ensure military burial rites for the USCT fallen.
January 29, 1864
On January 29, 1864, Julia Wilbur hosted her sister-in-law Charlotte and niece Mary Julia, known as Sis, who also visited the troops at Culpeper (see Jan. 23, 1864).
What Julia Wrote on that day about her niece:
“C & Sis refused to go the Slave Pen. I could not show them anything & they were evidently not interested, especially Sis, who seemed to care for nothing but getting back to W [ashington]. again. But I suppose both were tired after their jaunt to C [ulpeper]. So they rested while I got ready & we took the 4 P.M. boat to W….Sis showed no interest in anything on the trip, & at last I let her alone. She does not deserve nor appreciate the privileges she has.”
Complaining about the ingratitude of the younger generation is not new.
Looking back
During the week of January 23 through 29, across various years, Julia Wilbur visited President Lincoln, tried to get to the front in Culpeper, and witnessed the heartbreaking death (and lack of respect for the mourning parents) of a young Black baby.
To follow along
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