Description:

Civil War



Union General Thomas H. Ruger ALS: "… Johnson has surrendered and the war may truly be said to be over"

 

4pp ALS inscribed overall and signed by Union Brigadier General Thomas H. Ruger (1833-1907) as "Howard" at center of fourth page. Written in Raleigh, North Carolina on April 27, 1865. On bifold cream blue-lined paper, 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.  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 celebrated the surrender of Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston (1807-1891) the previous day.

 

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

 

"My darling wife

 

As you will know before this reaches you, Johnson has surrendered and the war may truly be said to be over. The surrender by Johnson including all rebel forces East of the Chattahoochee River. All organized rebel troops left are those of Dick Taylor in Alabama and Mississippi not a large force and those west of the Mississippi lines under Kirby Smith. I was told at Gen Shermans to day that they were by this time getting ready to surrender.

 

The 14th + 20 Corps under Slocum and the 15th + 17th under Howard start what are known as the armies of Georgia and Tennessee respecting start as soon as they can get ready for Richmond Va. by early marches, + there take supplies to contrive as supposed Alexandria. The 'Army of the Ohio' the 23d and 10th Corps under Gen Schofield remain in North Carolina - how long I do not know. Schofield takes charge of the matter of surrender.

 

I have heard but not officially that our corps will go to Greensboro. It is supposed that a large portion of the army will soon be mustered out, all not needed in the field. Now you want to know whether I shall stay in the army. I cannot tell yet…"

 

Johnston relinquished his Army of the Tennessee, as well as Confederate forces in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, after three days of 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. Ruger rejoiced that all lands east of the Chattahoochee River--a 430-mile-long waterway running parallel to the Alabama / Georgia border--was at peace. Union armies were on the move north towards Virginia. Would Ruger remain in the army or go home?

 

Ruger's letter mentions prominent Union Civil War personalities General U.S. Grant, Lieutenant John M. Schofield, Major General Henry Warner Slocum, and Major General Oliver Otis Howard, as well as Confederates Lieutenant General Richard "Dick" Taylor and General Edmund Kirby Smith.

 

Dick Taylor (1826-1879) was the son of 12th U.S. President Zachary Taylor. An 1845 Yale University graduate, the younger Taylor inherited a large Louisiana sugar cane plantation upon his father's death. Taylor joined the Confederate Army and was eventually promoted to Lieutenant General. He commanded Louisiana regiments in the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana. Taylor surrendered his army at Citronelle, Alabama to Union General Edward Canby on May 4, 1865.

 

Edmund Kirby Smith (1824-1893) commanded the Trans-Mississippi Department (extending from the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi River) after 1863. Following the siege and fall of Vicksburg, Kirby Smith's domain, called "Kirby Smithdom" by wits, was effectively split off from the rest of the Confederacy. He surrendered his army at Galveston, Texas to Canby on June 2, 1865.

 

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.

 

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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