"The Dark Clouds of War" - Part Seven

 

 

“The Dark Clouds of War”

The Civil War Diary of John Zimmerman of Alexandria, Virginia (1861-1865) 

Transcribed, Edited and Narrated by Jack Sullivan

Foreword:  Beginning in 2012, I was tasked at the Historical Division of the Alexandria VA Library with transcribing into a computer the hand-written diary of John Zimmerman, a local confederate soldier who kept a diary throughout the five years of the Civil War.  While it was anticipated that the diary would be put on the library website, that did not occur and the sesquicentennial of the conflict has passed.  Believing that this fascinating document is worthy of more attention, I have prepared a summary in seven parts that has been posted here every four days throughout April.  This post wraps it up.     

    Part Seven:  Battle of Five Forks, Retreat, Surrender, Home

On March 4 the 17th Virginia received orders to prepare for active field service.  Subsequently the unit was marched from one place to another, filling gaps to counter Union cavalry and infantry movements threatening Richmond.  Zimmerman continued on the move with his comrades until March 16 when his abdomen and limbs broke out in sores to the point where he could scarcely walk or wear a belt.  Sent to the Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond, he was diagnosed as suffering from impetigo, and the doctor prescribed burning his skin ulcers with silver nitrate.  On March 22 he told his diary:  “I think I am better today.  Probably more due to a change in my diet than to the treatment of the surgeon, which I do not approve of.”  Still in the hospital five days later and chafing to get back to his unit, he upset the surgeon by telling him to prepare his discharge:  “I think from his manner I trod on his professional corns....”  Released the next day, Zimmerman headed southwest of Petersburg and joined the 17th Virginia at Five Forks, site of a battle sometimes called “The Waterloo of the Confederacy.”  Several skirmishes, principally with Gen. Sheridan’s cavalry, caused a few casualties in the 17th Virginia during the several days leading up to the main battle.  As always the Alexandrian was unhurt.  The historic clash at Five Forks occurred on April 1,1865.  Zimmerman described the height of the fierce combat with Union forces:

About two P.M. they began massing heavy bodies of infantry in front of the left of our Division and making strong demonstrations along that part of our line and soon the fire of the musketry on the left of our line became very heavy and continued steadily to increase in volume until it became a perfect roar and we noticed it was extending gradually to our rear. But we thought it due to the contour of our line but soon bullets began to whistle about us from several directions and we then realized the enemy were pressing back the left of our line.  Two Regts were sent to their support and a battery of artillery was rushed by us to reinforce and aid that section of our line.  But soon the drivers returned with their horses calling out to us as they passed us, “Oh boys, they got our guns.”  They had just placed the guns in position and unlimbered when the enemy broke through our thin line at that point and captured the guns. The White Oak Road, along which our line was formed, immediately back of our line, was at the time densely crowded with men and I fully expected the captured guns would be turned on us and knew in that case our loss would be very great, but not a gun was fired.  

Turning, I looked down our broken line through which the enemy were now pouring and pressing down toward our flank and rear - forcing back our men onward through the woods.  But they continued to fight bravely to contest every foot of the ground.  We were now pressed on three sides and the minnies were singing right merrily about us it seemed from every quarter and the men were jumping from one side of the little breastwork to the other, not knowing which was really our front.  

As the Confederate defenses crumbled and attempts to regroup the battered troops proved unavailing, Zimmerman heard his regimental commander, Colonel Herbert, say “Men get out as best you can, each for himself.”  He did not hesitate but moved off to the right and eventually found where members of his division were assembling and began to move with them west toward Amelia Court House.  The retreating Confederates were being constantly harassed by Union cavalry as they moved.  Marching day and night the troops had little or nothing to eat, forced to parch and consume kernels of corn dropped by feeding horses.  By April 6, the remnants of Lee’s army passed through Amelia Court House and headed for Farmville, Virginia.  On April 6, at Sailor’s Creek, a large Union force caught up with the Confederates and Zimmerman came close to death: 

Then too the loud blast of a bugle call on our left sounding and a squadron of Yankee Cavalry immediately swept obliquely across our front to the support (I suppose) of those attacking our wagon train, and our line of skirmishers were at once ordered forward and the racket began and was soon in full blast.  The remains of Pickett's Div also moved forw'd and they drove back the Cavalry and recovered two of the captured guns but the overwhelming mass of the enemy's infantry pressed forward and the battle was on in earnest and the fighting was indeed furious and fierce.  The artillery of the enemy was also well served and was used on us with terrible effect.  One shell struck Sgt Saunders, beside whom I was lying but a few minutes before when ordered forward, and seemed to explode at the moment it struck him and almost literally blowing him to pieces.  Several others were killed and wounded by the same shell and Corp. Will Perry's (near me) face and hands were much pitted by the grains of powder driven under the skin by the force of the concussion.  The Divisions of Gen Anderson and Custis Lee formed near us but the great wave of the enemy lines of infantry began breaking through our thin lines, killing, wounding and capturing many of our officers and men and also a large part of Gen Ewell and Custis Lee Divisions. 

The Confederate losses in killed, wounded and captured were great.  Among those taken prisoner was Zimmerman’s brigade commander, General Corse, and other senior officers.  Zimmerman recounted that the 17th Virginia suffer heavily and that among members of his Company A, only he and one other soldier escaped.  With others who had avoided capture he headed down the road to Farmville.  On the way, General Lee himself rode by.  Zimmerman described the moment:

Soon after starting, Gen Lee, mounted on Traveller, passed me.  He was riding calmly along, leisurely and serenely, unaccompanied by any of his staff - not even a courier or an orderly.  His horse's gait and his whole manner and bearing seemed like that I imagined his morning ride about Arlington, his estate near Alexandria.  He bowed courteously & gracefully to his weary soldiers as he rode by them, frequently turning to them and gently raising his hat.  I especially noted his frequent turning his head from right to left, scanning closely the forms and faces of the men, but not a word of rebuke or reproof  to anyone of the poor, hungry and worn out fellows who were plodding along so wearily.

Hunger began to dominate Zimmerman’s thoughts and actions.  Nearing Farmville, he spotted a slave cabin and was able to beg some cornbread and rye coffee.  Later he came upon a pile of hams that had just been unloaded from a train.  Famished soldiers made a dive for the meat.  He wrote:  And in the melee I secured a noble ham by crawling between the legs of a tall fellow and managed to get safely out of the struggling mass of hungry men with my prize....I soon divided the ham with my less fortunate, hungry comrades and then pushed on....

On April 8, 1865, Zimmerman was camped near Appomattox Court House.  He recounted that among the remaining soldiers a number had become disheartened about the Southern cause. They were leaving the army and striking out across country to their homes.  Although he professed to be for continuing the fight, he recognized that the Yanks had a stronger force and were both at the Confederate front and rear: “...We are now, I think, in a pretty bad fix.”  When Lee surrendered the next day, Zimmerman’s immediate reaction was to be despondent:

But we have sad - very sad - hearts, and also very empty stomachs and having no food are terribly hungry.  And from no food being in sight from any source we are indeed in a sad plight.  But bad as they are, they are but secondary matters in the loss of our cause for which we have so long & forcefully contended - and the many cherished hopes for our cause - for these we grieve most deeply and sincerely & from the very bottoms of our hearts.  But they, our dead comrades, were spared the terrible humiliation of defeat and so were blessed compared with us who remain.

 

Provided with a small amount of rations by the Union army and paroled on April 12, Zimmerman was put in a considerably brighter mood by the prospect of returning home.  He and his Northern Virginia comrades were required to walk the 100 miles back to Richmond where General Grant had arranged for steamships to take them north.  Reaching the Richmond, he found the city now much in ruins by fires set by the Confederates as they left.  By now so footsore he could barely walk, Zimmerman boarded the U.S. government steamer Kelso and was taken to City Point.  There he embarked on the steamboat I. J. Brady bound for Alexandria.  It made a short stop at Point Lookout where Zimmerman professed a desire to see his old prison camp but the boat soon headed up the Potomac River.  The following morning, he reached Alexandria about 7 A.M. It was April 18, only nine days after Lee’s surrender.  He surprised his mother and family in a joyous reunion.  In his diary for that day, the last entry of his Civil War experience, Zimmerman mused about what had befallen him and his comrades:

And now I am home again - but with what different thoughts and feelings from those I had on that morning of May 24/61 when with my Comrades we marched out of our dear old town, sad though we were because we were compelled to leave those most dear.  But we were animated and cheered by the thought that we would soon return and drive out the insolent invaders.  But now all is changed and all hope is gone and added to this is the sad thought that so many of my brave and noble hearted Comrades, who on that morning full of life and hope and with firm step and buoyant hearts marched out with us, are now sleeping their last sleep on a distant battlefield or some quiet hillside or some yet more lonely and secluded spot which God only knows - but His loving eyes are over all.  He knows what is best and will have them in His holy keeping.  

I must now bring to a close this my diary which I have faithfully kept each day during the four long and eventful years of the war.  But before doing so I must record my deep and abiding sense of love and gratitude to Him who though all the years and all the vicissitudes of war with its hardship, trials, and dangers has cared for me and preserved me through them all and brought me in health and safety to my home and loved ones.  To Him be all praise, honor, and glory.

[Signed]  John R. Zimmerman

Co A 17th Va Infantry, Corse's Brigade

Pickett's Division, Longstreet's Corp, A. N. Va

 April 18/65

"The Dark Clouds of War" -- Part Six

 

“The Dark Clouds of War”

The Civil War Diary of John Zimmerman of Alexandria, Virginia (1861-1865) 

Transcribed, Edited and Narrated by Jack Sullivan

Foreword:  Beginning in 2012, I was tasked at the Historical Division of the Alexandria VA Library with transcribing into a computer the hand-written diary of John Zimmerman, a local confederate soldier who kept a diary throughout the five years of the Civil War.  While it was anticipated that the diary would be put on the library website, that did not occur and the sesquicentennial of the conflict has passed.  Believing that this fascinating document is worthy of more attention, I have prepared a summary in seven parts that will be posted here every four days  throughout April.

             Part Six:   Into Union Lines, Messages Home, Safe Return

While Zimmerman was at Fort Gilmer he embarked on what might have been the most perilous adventure of his Civil War experience.  Although he has been absent from his unit for long periods for illness and imprisonment, he had never had a furlough.  Much desired, it came on February 4, 1865.  With John Sutherland, a comrade from Fairfax County, Zimmerman had hatched a plot to sneak through Union lines to Alexandria to see his family.  The pair boarded a train to Fredericksburg where the Confederate provost marshal forbid them to go even to Fairfax County for fear of capture.  After promising they would not go inside Union lines, they promptly headed North on foot.  In order not to be taken for Southern spies, they wore their Confederate uniforms, covering them with captured Yankee blue regulation overcoats.  Knowing the homes of Southern sympathizers, they stopped for meals and overnight accommodations along the way, amid winter snows and strong winds.  On February 6, Zimmerman recorded:

We are now in Prince Wm County but after crossing the Occoquan we shall be in Fairfax County, and as we will then be, I think, about fifty miles outside our lines and the same within the enemy line, we shall have to be on the alert and exercise great caution to prevent being captured by the prowling bands of  “Home Guards,” U.S. Cavalry and their scouts.  

A friendly merchant in Stafford County agreed to take them in his wagon over the Davis Ford in the Occoquan and into Fairfax County.   By three o’clock the next day they had neared the Sutherland home near Burke.  HIs companion became disoriented and they began walking in circles.  Zimmerman took the lead, moving in a direction indicated by Sutherland, and soon they stood in front of his house.  Their appearance received a mixed reaction from the inhabitants:

And then followed such a scene I shall never forget when his mother and a lot of children rushed out and recognized him.  All of them became greatly excited and hysterical alternately, laughing and crying for excess of joy.  So for a time there “What did you come here for?  The house will be burned down and all of us will be carried off to Washington to the Old Capitol prison.”  And I doubt not it would be the certain fate of all, if not worse if we were caught in their house.  But soon they said, “Get in the house and hide up in the loft while we get you something to eat.” 

They soon determine that it is much too dangerous to stay at the Sutherlands.  The house lay close to a forested area where a number of black woodcutters were cutting timber for a Yankee army depot in Alexandria.  They were guarded by Union soldiers who plainly could be seen from the house.   Zimmerman and his companion soon were packed off to the home of Isaac Hall, an elderly man living with two spinster sisters, who lived off the road.  Although the Halls had Negro servants, the pair were able to stay there in relative safety.  Zimmerman still harbored thoughts of sneaking into Alexandria. The Halls quickly disabused him of his chances of seeing his family:

They thought the trip would be very hazardous to both myself & them, and would be most probably fruitless because of the location of our house and surrounded as it is by guards & picket posts. One in front of our house and another just above and a large hospital (“The Slough”) just in rear of Mother's home, and a line of pickets extending to Cameron Run.  They told me freely the location of each Camp, picket posts, etc.  I may possibly get in but it will be at a great risk of bringing serious trouble on Mother & Sisters & my young brother. 

Alexandria Virginia during the Civil War

 

They also told him that it would be virtually impossible to get a letter into Alexandria.  At the outer picket on Cameron Run, the Yankees had pitched a tent with a woman in charge where every Southern woman attempting to enter the city was disrobed and thoroughly examined to insure that no letters or writings were on her person.  Zimmerman recorded that he was in utter despair that “all my plans and risks had come to naught,” when one of the Hall sisters came into the room wearing a “slat” sun bonnet.  He had an inspiration:

Quickly taking it from her head and pulling out the slats of pasteboard, I folded my letters the length, width and thickness of the slats and put them in the place of the strips of pasteboard handed the bonnet to her, when she at once exclaimed, “Oh that is all right.  I never heard of that trick.”  And also said she would wear it into Alexandria to my Mother's house and let my sisters deliver the letters and in like manner bring others out to me.  

Zimmerman’s strategy worked.  Miss Jane Hall carried his letters to his family and friends to Alexandria in her  “well-filled” sunbonnet.  She returned the next day with many letters in response, similarly hidden, as well a variety of items that the soldier had requested.  Encouraged by this exchange, he wrote another round of correspondence and again the letters were successfully delivered.  By this time he and Sutherland had been hiding at Hall’s house for ten days and their presence was becoming known in the neighborhood.  People were dropping by to see the Rebs who were 65 miles inside Union lines.  The situation changed drastically on the night of Feb. 18, 1865, when word came that a detachment of U.S. cavalry had entered a house about two miles away, found two Southern soldiers believed to be spies, summarily executed them, stripped their bodies and sent the corpses to Alexandria.  Even more alarming, the Yankees were overheard to say that if they had had time they would have “gone for the other two.”  The inference pointed to Zimmerman and Sutherland.   Leaving the Hall house and sleeping that night in the snow in a nearby pine woods, the pair immediately set out the next morning to return south to their regiment.  

Their return would turn out to be even more perilous than their coming.  With detachments of Union cavalry all around, they found they were unable to ford the Occoquan River that was at flood stage from melting snow and were forced to hide with friends near the river while someone hunted up a boat.  Most craft had been destroyed or damaged by Union forces to discourage such crossings.  Zimmerman recounted what happened next:

 Mr. Davis had succeeded in finding a small and rickety old battered dugout with the bow stoved in, into which we all climbed.  Mr. Davis sat in the center and paddled the old boat while Sutherland & I sat in the stern to keep the bow well raised up out of the water and at the same time bailing the boat for dear life to keep it from sinking.  The river was very high & the current like a millrace & I was very doubtful of our getting safe across but the same kind Providence who has preserved us on our perilous journey continued with us & after a great struggle with the strong, swift current the battered old craft landed us safe on the Southern side of the stream.  And surely was right glad to be again on solid ground.  I think my comrade was equally glad for between the high boiling waters, the swift current & the rickety old boat with its bow stoved in, it was indeed a very close shave.  

Once again the pair set off on foot, being on constant alert for Union troops and remembering the fate of the two Southern spies.  Although the return trip was fatiguing they found people in Stafford County friendly and hospitable.  Arriving in Fredericksburg inside Confederate lines on February 24, the following day they boarded a train back to Richmond.  During their absence the 17th Virginia had been moved from Fort Gilmer back to its old location on the Howlett Line.  Their arrival in camp caused a stir: “All had given us up having heard we were captured by Yanks.”  Not everyone was so welcoming. When Zimmerman approached the division paymaster for his back pay, he was refused on the grounds he had overstayed his leave.  Indignant, the Alexandrian went directly to the commanding officer, General Pickett.  Finding him out, he made his case to the general’s aide and subsequently was paid.

Late February and early March 1865 on the Howlett Line proved to be a dismal experience.  Cold, raw weather persisted and the soldiers were inadequately clothed.  Rations had been cut back steadily and were now barely above starvation levels.  The news of Southern defeats regularly arrived.  Desertions were becoming more and more common.  Even the usually optimistic Zimmerman confessed to his diary, “I know things do look dark, very dark just now....”  [End of Part 6]

The Dark Clouds of War -- Part Five

 

“The Dark Clouds of War”

The Civil War Diary of John Zimmerman of Alexandria, Virginia (1861-1865) 

Transcribed, Edited and Narrated by Jack Sullivan

Foreword:  Beginning in 2012, I was tasked at the Historical Division of the Alexandria VA Library with transcribing into a computer the hand-written diary of John Zimmerman, a local confederate soldier who kept a diary throughout the five years of the Civil War.  While it was anticipated that the diary would be put on the library website, that did not occur and the sesquicentennial of the conflict has passed.  Believing that this fascinating document is worthy of more attention, I have prepared a summary in seven parts that will be posted here every four days  throughout April.

Part Five:  Paroled with a Secret Message;  Protecting Richmond

Zimmerman’s concerns about his guards soon receded behind his desire to be paroled, that is, to be exchanged and able to go South to rejoin his beloved 17th Virginia Regiment.  The release came for him on March 14, 1864, and the next day he with other prisoners in the exchange was put on a steamboat and taken to City Point, a base the Federals had established on the James River in Virginia.  There under a flag of truce the newly freed prisoners were picked up by Confederate ships and taken to Richmond.  Only then, six days later, was the Alexandria private willing to disclose, even to his diary, his secret role as a courier:

Now that I am safe and on Southern soil, I must record my experience at Pt Lookout the day we were ordered to pack up to go South, which I did not think wise or prudent to do at that time.  On hearing I was among those who were to go South for exchange my friend Mr. Atty Edey gave me two papers which he charged me to deliver in person at Richmond - one to Gen SW Randolph, Sec of War, and the other to Surgeon Gen Moore.  These papers he had obtained (how I do not know) while he was visiting a friend then at Gen Butler Hdqrs while he was held there a prisoner awaiting an agreement between the two Commissions of Exchange.  

So after we were all in line and Capt Patterson had ordered Sergt Finnegan “to have the prisoners searched and all blankets taken away, to see that there were no cases of smallpox, and to turn back into Camp all who had letters,” I thought I was in for the war and possibly worse trouble if the papers I had in my pocket were discovered and I was greatly puzzled what to do, as I was told by Mr. Edey they were of importance to our Government and I was anxious to deliver them as I had promised.  I did not read them as I did not want to know their contents and could plead ignorance if they were found on me.    

After Capt Patterson kindly said I could go to my tent for the night I racked my brain for a plan to conceal them and after much thought I remembered two straps and buckle on the back of my pants, so I took off my pants and then the buckle and opening the two ends of the strap, and folding very small the two papers and pushed one in each end of the strap.  And sewing up the ends and then on the buckle and buckling the ends together I was ready for Mr Yanks search.  But must say I was somewhat scared and puzzled for the safety of the papers till I thought of the buckle and the two straps. 

General Randolph

 Will add, delivered the papers to the Sec of War, General Randolph & Sur Gen Moore.  The orders were issued by Gen Butler and were in regard to rebel prisoners of war.  How Edey managed to get them I do not know, but I suppose through his friend who was in Gen Butler's office, but do not know in what capacity.  The less I knew of it just then, I thought, the better for me, so asked no questions.

While Zimmerman was in Richmond he was able to draw back pay for his eight months in the prison camp as well as clothing and rations.  Although he had been paroled, he had not yet been declared officially “exchanged.”  As a result he could not immediately resume a combat role, leaving him relatively free to set his own course.  He visited his brother in Clarksville, Virginia; then traveled down to see his old comrades now encamped near Kinston, N.C.; returned briefly to visit relatives in Richmond; hied off to Gordonsville to stay with friends, and finally returned again to Richmond.  There he obtained a permit from the War Department to visit the Tredegar Iron Works and State Armory, prime sources of war materials for the Confederate Army.  He was much impressed with the facility.  Although intermittently reporting to military authorities, Zimmerman did not receive the official notice of exchange until May 2,1964, fully six weeks after his release from the prison camp.  It allowed him to rejoin the 17th Virginia and he hastened back to the regiment’s encampment near Kinston.  

Shortly after he arrived there his brigade was ordered north into Virginia to provide protection for Petersburg and the railroad lines between Petersburg and Richmond that were being threatened by Union forces.   Almost immediately the regiment was deployed west of Richmond to counter a Yankee cavalry raid against the Richmond & Danville Railroad at a place called Flat Creek Bridge in Amelia County.  There, for the first time in months, Zimmerman would encounter what he often called “hot work.”  On May 14, the Union cavalry attacked with the objective of burning the railroad bridge, but the 17th held steady and repulsed the Yankees after a fire fight of four hours.  Describing the action in detail, he expressed satisfaction with the outcome to his diary:

We have had a pretty lively time today but we got through with the work much sooner than I expected and we beat the Yanks bad at their own game - and that with fewer men....They have paid dearly for their attack on us and from the rapidity of their movements on the ride, I think them a greatly demoralized force & broke down and [we] killed many horses and expect a large part of the command will have to be remounted should they succeed in regaining their lines.

Two days later on May 16, the 17th Virginia would be deeply involved in another fight, this one more serious, known as the Battle of Drewery’s Bluff. Although a Southern victory, Zimmerman’s regiment lost a significant number of officers and men.  As usual, he seemed to lead a charmed life.  He was struck in the chest by a nearly spent bullet that fell off his jacket and, as he recorded, “no harm done.”  He described some of the action:

Battle of Drewery's Bluff

Just then, off to our left, we saw very weird & novel sight:  A long line of legs moving in unison and in battle order to their line of works.  The dense fog prevented our seeing their bodies above their waist, so making a rather uncanny scene.  But soon the mist began to lift and revealed their line of uniforms, and we were ordered to throw off our knapsacks & blankets and prepare to charge, followed quickly by the order from Gen Corse, who had mounted the parapet of our works, “Foreward…Charge.”  And away we went over the top with a loud wild ringing yell such as only Confederates can give and on through the felled timber rifle pits and entrenchments of the enemy, driving them from all and then across a large field to a distance, I think, of full three quarters of a mile, killing and wounding many in our charge and capturing over a hundred Germans who could scarce speak a word of English. 

This would be Zimmerman’s last direct combat for almost a year.  Although the 17th was engaged in the bloody battle at Cold Harbor and again suffering significant casualties, Zimmerman was in the Chimborazo Military Hospital in Richmond.  Beginning on May 23, he was in great pain with his face swollen and one eye shut by what appeared to be an abscessed tooth. He was sent to the hospital where the abscess was lanced and he began to feel better, but again was struck by another violent pain in his face and head.  Doctors diagnosed it as “neuralgia,” the name given to a wide range of symptoms.  Recovering slowly he was not released from the hospital until June 7.  By that time Cold Harbor was history.  [End of Part Five]

"The Dark Clouds of War" -- Part Four

 

“The Dark Clouds of War”

The Civil War Diary of John Zimmerman of Alexandria, Virginia (1861-1865) 

Transcribed, Edited and Narrated by Jack Sullivan

Foreword:  Beginning in 2012, I was tasked at the Historical Division of the Alexandria VA Library with transcribing into a computer the hand-written diary of John Zimmerman, a local confederate soldier who kept a diary throughout the five years of the Civil War.  While it was anticipated that the diary would be put on the library website, that did not occur and the sesquicentennial of the conflict has passed.  Believing that this fascinating document is worthy of more attention, I have prepared a summary in seven parts that will be posted here every four days  throughout Apri

        Part Four:  A Prisoner:  Washington, DC & Point Lookout, MD 

Zimmerman was now a Yankee prisoner of war. Although he expressed thoughts of escaping to his diary, he did not attempt it. He and his fellow prisoners were ultimately marched to Warrenton, Virginia, where on July 27 the captive rebels were loaded onto a train for Washington, one that took them into Alexandria.  

We reached Alexandria about 7 P.M., the train stopping in front of Uncle Burton Richard's house, cor Duke & Fayette Sts., and soon we had a great crowd of friends & relatives rushing to the cars to see us.  After an absence of over two years there was, of course, great rejoicing and very many questions asked and answered.  I saw Mother, sister Alice & brother Willie, Aunt Susan and Richards and many others.  After a delay of about an hour we changed cars and moved on to Washington, amid a great waving of handkerchiefs and leavetaking as we slowly moved off.  We anticipate a happy day tomorrow when our relations and friends come to see us as all promised to do.  I was happy to see Mother, sister & brother.  My great regret was not seeing Sister Laura.  But what wonderful changes we noted during our very brief stay & in passing through of our old historic and much loved town.  It...has been through much of the war the base of supply for the great Northern Army and, of course, there is great bustle and activity in supplying their army and the constant movement forward of great and small bodies of troops and munitions of every kind. 

The Yankees proved to be very lenient toward the captured Confederates, perhaps hoping the soldiers would defect.  They allowed visits by relatives and friends and gave the prisoners meals somewhat more elaborate than the Southern army provided, as Zimmerman recorded on July 28, 1863:

Throughout the entire day we Alexandrians have been kept busy, writing to and receiving our relatives and friends who have come up to see us.  Many from Washington also came to visit us, each bringing us something for our comfort or enjoyment - money, clothing, eatables, till our every want is about supplied. Sister Laura, Brother Will, Aunt Susan, Cousin Horace Johnson and many others called.  John Summers sent me a large valise containing a complete suit of clothes, shorts.  Am sorry indeed that Mother could not come.  They required her to take the Oath of Allegiance to the U.S. and she refused to do so.  During the early part of the day they were permitted to enter the building and converse with us, but in the afternoon they were compelled to stand without the gate and talk to us. 

 

We are now quartered in the “Soldier's Rest,” near the Baltimore & Ohio Depot and but a short distance from the Capitol.  This building is used as its name indicates for a temporary rest for US soldiers passing to & from their Army.  It is a large frame building about one hundred feet long and twenty five feet wide and in rear of it is a large yard enclosed by a high board fence.  Guards are stationed at the gate and around the outside of the building to prevent our wandering off.  Another proof of their consideration for our comfort and happiness:  a few steps off are several other large buildings for mess houses and quartering troops in transit to & from the Army.  About 12 PM we were formed in line & roll called and we were then marched to the mess hall where we were furnished with dinner.  The mess hall is about eighty feet long & about twenty five feet wide and was decorated with wreathes and festoons of cedar and box.  It contained tables running the entire length of the building.  In front of each man as we stood was a plate and bowl and on each plate a thick slice of bread, two slices of boiled salt pork.  The bowls were used for drinking coffee, of which large wooden buckets full were ranged at intervals along the long lines of the tables and each one could help himself to as much as he wanted.  This of course we greatly enjoyed as the coffee was delicious and we rarely see or taste it in Dixie.

On the evening of July 30, 1863, Private Zimmerman and other prisoners were marched down to the wharf in Washington and embarked on the steamer, John Brooks, to Point Lookout, Maryland, the peninsula of land where the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay come together.  He was among the first prisoners to arrive there in a location which was just beginning to be developed as a large Yankee prison camp.  He enjoyed the view of the river and bay.  In early diary entries he complimented the Union soldiers for trying to make the prisoners comfortable.  They were allowed to bathe in the Bay daily, catch crabs using a tiny piece of salt pork, and hunt on the beach for oysters.  When some of his fellow Confederates objected to work details and some were punished, Zimmerman had a different perspective:

 So I shall, when detailed for work in about the Camp for our comfort, will do it faithfully and without murmuring as I would in our own army.  I am trying to keep always before me for my line of conduct, that I am a Confederate soldier and so will do nothing unworthy of the name and cause, and will be true to my convictions and principles.  But will also bear in mind that by the fortunes of war I am a prisoner of war and so will obey very strictly all orders & try to so conduct myself as not to bring reproach upon our cause or upon myself as a Southern Soldier and gentleman.

With time, conditions changed drastically. As the population of the camp expanded and escapes from Point Lookout become more common, high walls were erected around the compound and earlier privileges were rescinded. The quality of the food deteriorated. Smallpox and other diseases became rampant in the camp.  A bright spot was mail.  For a time Zimmerman was able to correspond regularly with his mother, siblings and friends in Alexandria.  Packages containing food, clothing, books, writing paper, “greenbacks” (Union money), and other items were showered on him by family and other Alexandria residents who knew of his plight.  Among those he recorded sending items were his former employer J. H. Parrott, Mrs. J. B. Daingerfield, Miss Hattie Henderson, Miss Elizabeth Hazard, and Miss “Lizzie” Smythe.  Although Zimmerman was an Episcopalian, an Alexandria Catholic priest, Father Krause, sent him religious books to be given to Catholic prisoners.  He often distributed the largesse to his fellow prisoners, especially to those from Alexandria in the camp hospital.  Visiting the hospital on November 4, he found Willie Packard, the son of Dr. Joseph Packard of the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria.  Over the next few days Zimmerman wrote:

Again at the hospital.  Wilie Packard very low.  Dr told me he could not live. I wrote to his father....I have spent much of the day at the hospital with poor Willie Packard.  In the morning he was delirious but was conscious in the afternoon and I read and conversed with him.  I hope he will recover but he is very ill....Willie Packard better today.  Was moved down to the Gen Hospital on the Point...Much shocked to hear of the death of Willie Packard.  He died on Monday at the Gen Hospital on the Point.  Heard his Mother came down today.  Have not seen her but would like much to do so and tell her of his illness in our camp.  

As winter bore on, the situation in the camp deteriorated further.  Many prisoners had inadequate clothing for the cold and wind.  Sickness was rampant.  Packages from relatives and friends were curtailed as was correspondence from the outside. The prevailing mood among prisoners at Point Lookout was boredom while hoping for an exchange.  Excitement occurred on February 25 when the New Hampshire troops that had been guarding the prisoners were relieved by black soldiers.  Zimmerman never expressed racist feelings to his diary and was strongly in favor of the South recruiting slaves as soldiers and freeing them at the end of the war.  This changing of the guard, however, clearly bothered him:

At last we are guarded by Negro soldiers and we have had great excitement in our prison Camp all day and I expected serious trouble to occur before night but thus far (7 PM) only one prisoner, Pat Suddith of my Regt (Co K) from Warrenton Va has been hurt.  He was struck brutally over his head by an officer with a large sized Colt revolver, causing the blood to flow freely but without breaking his skull.  We heard early this morning the Negro soldiers were to be put on guard and many assembled at the main gate to see them relieve their white comrades and how each would act.  The White guards were as angry as we were and we expected trouble - some saying they would desert at the first opportunity.  

I think this was the cause of those attempting to desert last night from the Regt next to us (5th N.H.).  We heard the noise and commotion and the firing and this morning could see two dead Yanks lying on the Beach and later we were told several other Yanks were wounded.  I think they were trying to escape in a boat.  About nine AM, the hour for relieving the guard, the Negroes arrived and were marched up on the platform surrounding the camp on the outside of the wall and overlooking the Camp and its prisoners.  Some of the White guards refused to give the Negroes their instructions when relieved and the sergeants had to do it.  Four of the new Negro guards were then brought into Camp to relieve the guards at the Mess houses.  They all had their guns and also had large Navy revolvers in their belts.   They were accompanied by two Yankee officers and an orderly, all mounted and armed.  One of the officers, seeing Suddith laughing at the comical appearance of the much scared Negroes in uniform, cursed him, calling him a traitor and telling him the Negroes were better than he was and struck him over his head with a large Colt revolver which he held in his hand, making an ugly scalp wound which bled profusely.  

Throughout the day they have had squads of Negroes marching through the camp streets, holding revolver in their [hands.]  This seems to have been done purposely by the Yanks to insult us and probably to pick a quarrel so they could have an excuse to fire on us, and their conduct throughout the entire day seemed to point decidedly to that end.  They tell us if a Negro is hurt they will take one of the prisoners out and hang him .  During the day the gunboats laying off the Camp have been in position to fire on our Camp and their Regts of Infantry and Artillery have also been held ready for the same purpose.  Should we say or do the least thing to furnish the squads of Negros patrolling our streets with an excuse to fire on us, I fear some of the daring and reckless ones during the night will throw things at the Negro patrol and they will then fire into our Camp.  A detail was ordered out to unload vessels on the Point but when a Negro guard was put over them, they refused to work but the Yanks by force compelled them to work.  Some of the Negroes guarding us, I am told, are owned by some of the prisoners here and others were recognized and are well known to other prisoners.  

I must now stop as the Negroes are patrolling the streets with arms in their hands and calling out, “Put out dat 'ar light in dar.”  But the day will long be remembered by us and if our lives are spared we will make the Yanks pay dearly for the great and wholly unnecessary insults heaped on us today. [End of Part 4]

"The Dark Clouds of War -- Part Three

 

“The Dark Clouds of War”

The Civil War Diary of John Zimmerman of Alexandria, Virginia (1861-1865) 

Transcribed, Edited and Narrated by Jack Sullivan

Foreword:  Beginning in 2012, I was tasked at the Historical Division of the Alexandria VA Library with transcribing into a computer the hand-written diary of John Zimmerman, a local confederate soldier who kept a diary throughout the five years of the Civil War.  While it was anticipated that the diary would be put on the library website, that did not occur and the sesquicentennial of the conflict has passed.  Believing that this fascinating document is worthy of more attention, I have prepared a summary in seven parts that will be posted here every four days  throughout April.

Part Three:  Hunted, Captured and Interrogated

Following the first battle of Fredericksburg, John Zimmerman and the 17th Virginia Infantry Regiment spent that winter in a number of locations in central Virginia, seeing little action. In the spring, the unit would be part of the inconclusive siege of the Union garrison at Suffolk.  Later the men were camped for a time near Hanover Junction. In his entry for May 25, 1863, at that location Zimmerman recalled that it had been exactly two years before that he had left Alexandria to fight for the Confederacy:

What a flood of memories come trooping through the mind as I recall the incidents of that (to us) memorable day.  Our being aroused about light in our barracks.  The hasty packing of knapsacks and falling into the hurried march through the streets to the Lyceum.  The assembling of the different commands.  Then the sound of the Yankee drums approaching.  Quick step, our march up Prince Street and on through West End.  The passing my home, with my Mother and sisters waving me on.  The stopping of the trains.  Our embarking and our arrival at Manassas and the entering of the soldier's life.  And then follows the long, long train of thoughts of all I have passed through since that day and with these thoughts come the deep feeling of gratitude to Him who has cared for me and preserved me through them all and an earnest prayer that He will continue to do so to the end. 

In June 1863 Zimmerman’s brigade was detached from Lee’s Army and sent to multiple locations in Virginia where Yankee attacks were feared.  At the same time General Lee (“Marse Robert”) and General Longstreet (“Old Pete”) -- as Zimmerman often called them --moved through Virginia and invaded Maryland and ultimately Pennsylvania.  As a result, the Alexandria private missed the major battles at Second Manassas and Gettysburg.  On June 30, 1963, he was, as he recorded, “again moving,” this time to Richmond:

Since reaching the depot a number of our Alexandria friends have come up to see us.  Lt McKnight and the fine men who were captured at the South Anna Bridge - and who escaped - have rejoined.  As they were being conducted to the rear after being captured, when they noticed a small body of our men they immediately broke from the guard and ran toward our men, holding up a white handkerchief as they ran.  The guard did not pursue them or fire on them and so they escaped, to their great joy.

As Lee’s army retreated from Gettysburg in early July 1863, Zimmerman’s brigade was quickly sent north toward Winchester to help guard passes in the Blue Ridge Mountains where, it was feared, the pursuing Union Army would pour into the Shenandoah Valley.  He arrived on the scene on July 21, 1863, a day he recounted at length:

This has indeed been a eventful day to me, more than any other day of my life.  Adventure.  Danger and fatigue.  A hurried march.  Fording two streams.  Toiling up the mountain.  A lively race down.  Pursued by cavalry.  

Hiding in the bushes.  Captured. Questioned. Threatened.  And in all, a prisoner under guard, and wondering what will be next.  

All were aroused before light this morning in our bivouac at Cedarville.  Then a hurried breakfast and about light the Brigade moved off briskly, taking the road for Front Royal.  Soon we heard from some of our Cavalry the enemy had possession of Snickers, Ashby, and Manassas Gaps in the Blue Ridge and were now moving across to Chester Gap and that we were being hurried over to get possession of the latter Gap.  Pushing on we reached the North and South Branches of the Shenandoah River, both of which were very high and the currents strong and rapid - particularly in the latter.  Several (myself among the number) came near drowning.  Gen Corse and his staff and the field officers of the Brigade being mounted rode about in the streams and rendered valuable assistance in rescuing the men  who were being carried down by the strong currents.  My blanket, haversack, rations and ammunition got soaking wet when I was carried down.  Some lost various articles that were dropped in the river as they struggled in the swift current or rocky bed of the river.  

After crossing we met a portion of a Brigade of Cavalry who had been driven from Ashby's Gap on yesterday by the superior numbers of the enemy. From them we heard our cavalry still held Manassas and Chester Gap, though the enemy were hourly expected to arrive there.  Pushing on we passed through the town of Front Royal and after getting a short distance beyond the town my regiment was ordered to take the road leading up to Manassas Gap while the rest of the Brigade moved on to occupy Chester Gap.  

After marching about a mile and a half Co's “B” & “C” were detached and sent over on another road to Wappen to establish a picket.  We then were moved a short distance when we were halted and Co's “E,” “G” my Co “A” were detailed for picket under the command of Capt James Stewart of Co. “E.”  The remaining companies were held at this point for a reserve.  The three Cos under Capt Stewart then continued on up the Gap.  After marching about two miles over the rough winding mountain road and when near the top where we were to establish the picket, we discovered away off to our right on the mountainside a body of cavalry about three quarters of a mile off from us.  Some said they were Yanks; others, they were our men.  Capt S thought they were Confederates but ordered to “halt, close up and load.”  But before we could do so, we saw plainly they were the enemy and that they had discovered us and were moving down on us and were also making signals to others in their rear to come on.  I omitted to say that our road up the Gap skirted the mountain on the leftwards and on the right open country extending across towards Chester Gap.  It was through this open country the enemy's cavalry was moving down on us.  So Capt S gave the order to fall back into the woods and move rapidly back to the reserve.  And this we did.   Some, I with them, thought we could make better time in the road along the woods, kept part of the time in the woods and then in the road.  We were now all quite exhausted after toiling up the mountain and the long race down.  Some went further back into the woods thinking the cavalry would not follow them. 

I did the best I could to reach the reserve-some times in the woods and then would try the road.  I soon became completely exhausted and hearing the clatter of the horsemen just behind realized my only hope of escape was hiding in the thick scrubby bushes and taking advantage of a sudden sharp bend in the road,  I sprang into the woods and crept under a thick cluster of young pin oaks.  I had scarcely laid down under their friendly shelter when the Yanks came galloping up shouting and swearing at a furious rate.  Rounding the bend in the road they halted just opposite me.  Posted two men.  Formed line and charged down toward our reserve and soon I heard them popping away at our boys and they cheering and returning their fire very lively.  And soon the minnies were singing merrily over and about me but I had only to lay close to avoid them or as our boys would say, “lay low and grab a root.”  But at times thought it likely a stray minnie would find me.  That which I objected to was being shot by my friends.  Late another detachment came up and charged down in column and this continued until the whole regiment was send forward.  Later on I heard a movement in the undergrowth and raising myself slightly on my elbows, I saw a line of dismounted cavalry moving as skirmishers obliquely through the woods.  The line swept by me within a few feet of me but not one saw me.  I scanned their faces closely as they moved by and must say I never saw a more nervous, scared lot of men.  I owed my escape to their moving obliquely past me.  [If] I had two or three of our men with me and we had given one good rebel yell in the woods, I believe the whole line would have taken to their heels.

Probably about an hour later a mounted officer from the front rode back through the woods with pistol from his holster in hand.  He halted two or three paces from the brushes under which & putting spurs to his mount moved off, to my great delight.  My safety lay in his fixing his gaze directly in front at the open country.  If he had but half turned his head I do not think he could have failed to see me.  I certainly was happy he moved forward down to the road, leaving me unseen and undisturbed.  During all the time I could hear quite plainly the two troopers who had been posted by a big tree near me at the bend of the road, talking to each other.  About three P.M. another mounted regiment came forward.  This one moving across the great field in front and beyond the road [illegible] opposite me.  After having been passed and repassed so often without being seen, I felt quite safe and thought at night I would make my way through the woods into our lines and rejoin my regiment.  Just then too I thought I would take a look at the newcomers and so parted the bushes a very little. But it was my undoing and all my hopes were blasted by hearing a keen-eyed trooper exclaim, “There is a gray back under the bush.”   

They called to me to come over and surrender, so there was nothing left me but to do so.  But to say that I was mad but feebly expressed my feelings; I was mad all over and with that Regt and that keen-eyed trooper in particular.  And myself yet moreso for my imprudence in parting the bushes to look forward.  I arose and walked direct to the head of the regt., passing the cavalryman who had come forward for me.  Without speaking I walked up to a group of officers (the Adjt Lt Col & Col).  The Adjt asked me what Regt and Brigade I belonged to.  I said that the 17th Va and that I had no further information.  Another then began to question me but I refused to answer questions.  Then another, the Col I think, said they had captured a number of my regiment & began to question me but I refused positively to give any information.  The officers then laughed quite heartily, probably at my stubbornness & temper I showed and ordered one of the men to take me to the rear.  [End of Part 3]