A Quiet Corner of the War: The Civil War Letters of Gilbert and Esther Claflin, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, 1862–1863

Foreword

A Quiet Corner of the War consists of the edited Civil War correspondence of Gilbert and Esther Claflin, a farming couple from the town of Oconomowoc in southeastern Wisconsin. The Claflins wrote these letters between November 1862 and September 1863 when Gilbert Claflin served in the Thirty-Fourth Wisconsin Infantry Regiment of the Union Army. The regiment had its origins in a state draft enacted in the fall of 1862 by Governor Edward Salomon at the insistence of U.S. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. When the Thirty-Fourth formed for nine-month service at Camp Washburn , Milwaukee, in December 1862, its ranks included large numbers of German Americans opposed to conscription, a government measure these immigrants thought they had left behind in their homelands upon migrating to the United States. Gilbert Claflin’s earliest letters describe numerous desertions from his regiment while in barracks and en route south. On January 18, 1863, he opined that “the 34th regiment of drafted men will be of little service to the government.” Claflin was not alone in expressing such a pessimistic assessment . A Wisconsin newspaper correspondent characterized the ThirtyFourth as being plagued with poor discipline, having little understanding of the use of arms, and being almost strangers to battalion drill. Army oªcers, likely influenced by anti-German sentiments, were “in the habit of saying that the regiment is a humbug, and many uncharitable persons are prone to believe them.”1 Perhaps because of the Thirty-Fourth’s short term of enlistment and problems with desertion and discipline, Union military authorities sent it xi Foreword keith bohannon at the end of January 1863 to Columbus, Kentucky, for garrison duty. A sizeable portion of the Thirty-Fourth, including Claflin’s company, remained there for the duration of its service. Columbus, located on high ground along the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, had been heavily fortified by the Confederates during their occupation of the post. The fall of Forts Henry and Donelson to Union forces in February 1862 prompted the Confederate evacuation of Columbus—poorly named the “Gibraltar of the West”—on March 2, 1862. Union troops marched in the following day. The letters that Gilbert Claflin sent home from Columbus are noteworthy for providing details of occupation duty in a fortified town in the Upper South. Unlike many men in the Thirty-Fourth, Claflin was patriotic and at times actually took to soldiering, claiming in the fall of 1862 that he liked drilling first rate. Several months later, Gilbert told Esther that he had “but little faith in the Union sentiment of the majority of the people that I have seen in Kentucky.” As Benjamin F. Cooling relates in Fort Donelson’s Legacy, Union soldiers in garrisons like Columbus worried constantly about guerrilla raids, and Gilbert’s letters describe the measures taken to guard against such incursions. Some of the most striking passages in Gilbert Claflin’s correspondence concern the ex-slaves who congregated in Columbus seeking freedom within Union lines. Claflin, a staunch abolitionist, related successful e¤orts to recruit freedmen into regiments of U.S. Colored Troops. Claflin personally encouraged ex-slaves to join the Union Army, noting that many had “such a burning hatred towards the slave master that they would not hesitate a moment were they in their power to strike the deadly blow.” Gilbert Claflin, a deacon in the Congregationalist Church, also took a keen interest in the spiritual activities of freedpeople. A May 25, 1863, letter o¤ers a vivid description of two “Negro meetings,” one of which included a sermon delivered by an African American preacher. The scriptural story of “Moses’ passage through the Red Sea leading the children of Israel through safely; whilst the Egyptians were destroyed” had been chosen to “awaken strong feelings in the hearts of [the] colored listeners.” After o¤ering details about ex-slaves shouting, clapping, and “weeping for joy,” Claflin concluded that “few I believe can look upon such a scene and have a heart to ridicule or disturb them.” Claflin and other white Union soldiers in Columbus did more than just observe African Americans worshipping. The soldiers helped build a church for these people, Claflin investing a “small sum” in the endeavor. While xii Foreword Gilbert unfortunately related few additional details in his correspondence home about this activity...