Annual civil weekend. Im really pleased to introduce our first speaker of the day, dr. Lauren thompson, who is the samuel heading damien and charles samuel, professor of Early American History at Mckendree University near saint louis. She also serves as the director of ethnic and gender studies as shes the author of a terrific book, which is what prompted me to invite her for this weekend for our theme the information war the book is called friendly enemies soldier throughout the american civil war. I wanted to make sure we had that experience of the everyday soldier the way they received and shared consume information during the war and dr. Thompson is the perfect person to that part of the story. With us. And her lecture title today is holding correspondence with and giving intelligence to the enemy. How soldiers chad information across the lines lets give her a warm welcome to the podium. Thank you. Good good morning. Im so excited to go first today so and it looks like rain is on the forecast for the day and what i cant think of a better way to spend a rainy spring than talking about civil war all day. So im very excited ed and as paul said this project is very near and dear to me it actually began in 2008 when i was working on my masters and i was a seasonal ranger, fredericksburg and spotsylvania, military, and it turned into a dissertation and then a book and my book actually came out in july 2020, and that was right in, the heart of covid. So i never really got to go on a book tour and do things like this, except for when i was wearing pajamas and my kitchen on zoom and so better late than never right. And im very excited to speak with you this morning about some of the stories that i found and how those stories relate to the theme of this weekend, which is information session. And so i would like to begin with two stories and. The first story that i would like to begin with takes place on the Rappahannock River. And so. February 1863, a little bit of contextualization then is two months after the defeat of burnsides army at frederick seaburg . And for about five months the army of Northern Virginia in the army of the potomac are, encamped on the Rappahannock River. Now we know in a few months well see the battle chancellorsville and then continuing through the summer of 1863. But soldiers are encamped on the Rappahannock River and about every couple of days men will go down to the river with their unit and spend a 24 hour shift on picket duty. And so the u. S. Troops are informed. Across the river from fredericksburg. Confederate troops are in the city of fredericksburg. And heres what is going to transpire throughout those five months while these armies are to one another in winter and camp, it it. So this man right here is, a private from the 18th georgia named milton barrett. He and his regiment held one of these 24 hour shifts on picket duty. And upon returning to camp the following day, he wrote home in a letter his brother and sister, he writes, a regiment has just come picket. We stood close together. Oh, thank you. Thank you. We stood close together and could talk to each other. Then when the officers were not, we exchanged. We manage this. A small boat. Some of our boys went over and actually stayed a while. The yankees would us know when to come back. This correspondence has to be kept secret from the officers. So he was very excited to tell his brother sister that he did something bad right. Imagine a teenager the rules on the other side of the river, one of these yankees that he was speaking to is a soldier from the 100 and or sorry 71st pennsylvania private john. So step finn also writes about this experience and in a friend write in a letter he wrote to his friend he actually enclosed the paper that he received while fraternizing so he enclosed the confederate paper that he received. And along with that paper he wrote to his friend this paper was floated across the river to me by one of the sash pickets, and while reading on the bank the river, he asked me how i liked the paper, this paper i should delivered at Brigade Headquarters according to orders, but im thinking that i might as well send home. So again, he received this paper should have turned it in when he came back on picket duty. But not only did he not his orders, he sent it home to his friend. Now, course, when i was reading this in the archives was going through the folder. Wheres the paper . Wheres that paper . So the paper never made it into the archives, unfortunately. But the fact that this sent the paper home to look what i got shows kind of the experiences these men are having and theyre actually proud of it, right . Because theyre telling their what theyre doing and getting this information and its always against orders. So thats an experience we see in the wrap on the Rappahannock River between privates of opposing armies. So the second story i would like to tell you is going to happen a year later and its going to happen in georgia and its between two kind of different men of different rank. And so after the siege at chattanooga in the Winter Quarters between the army of the tennessee, now under sherman, when grant comes to virginia, shermans going to lead his men on a Campaign Similar to the Overland Campaign happening to get to atlanta thats the goal and while joe johnson and later john bel hoods army of tennessee is following, theyre going to meet up occasionally throughout this northwest georgian countryside. Well, i shouldnt say countryside. Its very mountainous. And along the rivers the chattahoochee the altoona creek, these armies are going to come insight into site with one another. So heres transpires in the spring and summer of 1864 again different armies Different Campaign ends and heres whats going to happen. So this named henry welch he is a private in the 123rd new york infantry. So he writes our picket line in speaking distance, the rebel pickets. We exchange papers with them every day they think or did think that lee was whipping grant they that they are going to drive us out georgia they also that hookers men fight differently western troops do they wanted to know if hookers men were mostly regular soldiers. And so in this case, you can see private welch writes in his diary that not only was he exchanging information, but also something that ill talk about in a little bit. These camp rumors with the enemy along the altoona creek. And this is a few days before the slaughter of the us troops at Kennesaw Mountain on june 27. And so some one that i want to show you or illustrate a reaction to is not a confederate soldier opposite of him, but rather his officer who observes this and that is his divisional commander, general or Brigadier GeneralAlpheus Williams. And so he has a division under hookers 20th corps and observes this position, and he is flabbergasted at these interact tions he sees with his men. And welch is in his. And so while watching and these other private soldiers heres what williams has to oh oh and this is the best part he writes this home in a letter to daughter which is also interesting. So he writes his daughter for the last few days our pickets completely fraternized, they have been exchanging papers, coffee, tobacco, the like. The next day i found them actually sitting together on the banks of a small stream. I was obliged stop fraternal intercourse. Isnt it strange that men in mortal strife one hour are on affectionate terms . The next, and apparently fast strange the incidents of war and so Alpheus Williams observes this and has no idea these men could go from fighting to fraternizing and compartmentalize using their attitudes and feelings and and all of the emotions they tied up towards the enemy so quickly and honestly. 160 years after the after this conflict, we usually feel that way about soldier fraternization, too. And so lets talk a little bit broadly before we kind of get in, dig into the information again about fraternization and so i think for all of us as scholars of the war, weve heard about it. And here are some places weve about it. This is the famous kunstler painting that depicts what i was talking about in first story between stephan and barrett on the icy waters of the Rappahannock River after the battle of fredericksburg you can see johnny reb with his cup of union coffee. You can billy yank with his goods southern tobacco right and you can see the staples the churches in fredericksburg behind. And theyre standing there kind of having this conversation. Well, that picture or this is trans translated and illustrated quite well in the gods and generals. Right. And so we kind of recognize that from the film, but you can see its almost identical to the counselor painting. We also see fraternization in the film gettysburg as well. And heres little me back in my park service attire and this is me, a tour on the sunken road at fredericksburg. And i talked about these exchanges of coffee and tobacco and this was a exhibit in the fredericksburg visitor center, if you can peep, the title of the exhibit that the title of my book. So it was a little wink to my time at fredericksburg getting that topic. But as you can see, its such a good, you know, the oxymoron itself makes us really think about how could these men do this . And so this is an exhibit in the in the Visitors Center at fredericksburg and. Oftentimes when we talk about yeah, Exchange Coffee and tobacco yeah they, they were nice. They did things together and even pulls itself up to the great war. And as many of us have heard about the 1914 Christmas Eve truce on the western front and when we look at soldier fraternization, what ive always tried to do is to think about what this for the individual soldier right . Why did he do it . And us today like general williams in 1864 are just so kind of flawed by how men could compartmentalize rather quickly who is their enemy and who is their friend. And so looking collect heavily at soldier fraternization. What i would like to do this morning is use conference theme of information often as a lens to investigate fraternization and order. Understand more about how the common Civil War Soldier fought and so what i would like to do is kind of start with talking about how soldiers received information. So say theres about theres many ways, but the three big major ways soldiers will receive information are these number one newspapers. So you can see on the left in this, edwin forbes sketch entitled, newspapers in camp right. Men were very excited to have enough money to go to the settlers tent and receive a paper. And what soldiers would usually do is with their friends and company. Everyone would buy one and then they would exchange them, right. So they would read these newspapers and that was their way. Understand the bigger events surrounding where they were. Right. So politics whats going on with the lincoln in the Davis Administration . Emancipation prisoner exchanges, other campaigns other Army Movements . Right. It was their connection to the homefront. And so newspapers were basically the social media of the that was their only way to understand the events surrounding their place, the ranks. Now, any time we have information could be biased, there could be ways to kind of promote something. There could be ways also affect us, right . Soldiers, right. All the time about how the stay at homes or the Armchair Generals are saying things about them when theyre in the ranks actually doing it. And so information can be good and it can boost morale, but it can also have the negative effect as well. But any time information, what comes with it is something that Jason Phillips writes about in his study, die hard rebels, which is rumors. Right. And so the second major way in which soldiers gained information was through camp rumors. Right. And so as men circulate or speculate about where are we going next, our new general, whos going to get promoted, where is tom . Right. Hes good at. Right. So theres a lot of speculation associated with camp rumors. But like it or not, its really all you have to grasp. And so camp rumors become a way that soldiers make sense of their duty and always trying to answer that question of whats next. Now the way and this relates to this picture you see here on, the right is you see all of these men writing letters. So the major way in which soldiers and also give information is through letters and from home. Now this if weve all read soldiers letters and a lot of times men will say write me more. And then theyre their loved ones are writing. The more the letters arent getting through right . And because they want to know that information and whats going on with the farm, the business my family, they want to know those personal, individual stories that obviously the newspapers in the camp rumors just cant provide and letters home are extremely important for soldiers to craft their again of where they stand in regards to the Bigger Picture of this war. And so between newspapers cameramen and letters thats how soldiers usually get information. But guess what . If they use the enemy as a fourth way to get information and thats exactly what theyre going to do. And so in order, look and investigate how soldiers gained information from the enemy, id like to break it up into two parts. The first is how right how do they go about doing this . Thats very important. And then secondly, why . And thats a discussion we can have all weekend, because i would love to hear your thoughts. Well, because the list is exhaust, right . Why do they do this . And ill give you my you know, my ideas. But id love to hear some of yours as well. And so beginning with how soldiers did, lets look at a of what i call the hot spots of fraternization. And so what happens is ice. Ive read accounts of soldier fraternization happening in july 61 at manassas all the way through five forks in 1865. So it happens throughout the entire war, but the places it happens most frequently are when soldiers are. Opposed to one another for a long periods of time. So if look here up at this map, which i is a kind of well, its not chronological, but ill go chronological is first place that we see soldiers positioned together for long period of time is where we started this talk on the Rappahannock River. But they also come back after chancellorsville for about almost two months before they move up north to gettysburg and then they also come back again with the mine run campaign in the fall of 63. So theyre there for a very long time. So we see a of fraternization on the rappahannock. The next place see it is actually vicksburg high. So in may june and july of 1863, when grant beseeches pemberton outside the city of vicksburg thats the first time we see it on the western theater. Its also the first time we see it during a siege. And ill talk about that here in a little bit. Were then to follow chronologically the western after chickamauga and then around chattanooga while grants armies besieged in the city. And then were going to see, as i mentioned before, on shermans Kind Campaign down to atlanta, a particular really theyre swimming parties and chattahoochee river between enemies so its in the book so swimming parties the guys get naked and they they together because its july and its hot right and then the then the siege in atlanta and so simultaneously to the siege in atlanta will then be petersburg and so petersburg is where were going to see fraternization for the entire or the siege, right. For nine, ten months, were going to see the armies at petersburg fraternized. And so we need to have the armies together. Because you cant fraternize if you dont have the other party. So thats kind of where fraternization will be happening. So look at how do it during what we would call i dont want to say its peacetime because still war, but mostly when soldiers are on picket duty and, certain times of the war, theyre given orders not to fire right their job on picket duty is to let someone if you see something happening, but dont take it upon yourself. And so that makes these exchanges interesting because theres less of a threat and it allows for men to do things this construct little boats right in the winter encampment they are bored bored and. If we can make little boats and, push them across the rappahannock and papers, then we are less bored right in crafting the boat, having this exchange and new things to read. And so the way that we soldiers share information on picket duty is through pushing little boats across the river. So i have a story. Okay, this is actually a soldier of the signal corps. So ed, bert roberts of the u. S. Signal corps wrote in a letter there a packet i found to be loaded with mail on deck. We found a charleston paper the richmond examiner and a couple other papers on neatly folded and in perfect position. Condition, sorry, condition it was accompanied with the request. Please send us the latest you have. According according lee, we sent them a new york herald, a Philadelphia Inquirer and, harpers weekly. We folded them, place them on board, and the packet sale was trimmed and turned around back to success again. Okay, so you see that these of interactions where, theyre sending these boats with these papers, theres always a send us more in return, right . Theres always reciprocity. Its never about like, im going to do something for you. Its like im going to do something nice for you because. I want something to write and well talk more about that here in a little bit. So sometimes if the river was shallow enough, if theres a pontoon boat from the pontoon, bridges happened to be lying around on the banks. Men would get in the boat. Or if they had horses, if they were cavalry as seen here. So if they had horses, if it was shallow enough, if they had a boat, if they could cross the river, not only would they just trade papers v a boat they would trade trade papers personally. And so therefore when they got to trade papers, they could talk a lot more as well. And so were going to see the Newspaper