MaineMilitia.com

Hello all...

I was wondering how many of you may have checked out, A Confederate Yankee: The Journal of Edward William Drummond, A Confederate Soldier From Maine. It was published by the UT Press, a part of the Voices of the Civil War Series.
Although this was not one of the more fascinating or dramatic discoveries of Confederate war time (or postwar) memoirs/journals like for example The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government by President Jefferson Davis, The War Between the Union and the Confederacy by Colonel William C Oates, or Memoirs of Service Afloat During the War Between the States by Admiral Raphael Semmes, it is unique. I think that it is a worthy read for any War for Confederate Independence buff from Maine regardless of whether your flag is crossed or spangled.

Edward Drummond was born in October of 1838 in Winslow, ME. The home of his birth still exists there today. Edward decided to move to Savannah, Georgia in 1859. He was motivated by the prospect of marrying Mary Ann Dixon, a Savannah girl he had met in 1857.
He did in fact marry Miss Dixon in Savannah in the spring of 1860 while working as a bookkeeper.

When Georgia seceded in January of the following year, Edward remained in Savannah, sticking his lot with his new home and his new country.
Meanwhile, following the battle of Fort Sumter, Edward's younger brother, George Clark Drummond went down the Kennebec several miles from his home in Winslow to enlist with the 3rd Maine infantry company G being organized in Augusta. As with the case of Edward and George Drummond, and thousands of other brothers in 1861, the phrase "Brother against Brother," was not simply a metaphor but a tragic reality.

During the battle of First Manassas, William's brother, Private George Drummond had been wounded and though the regiment performed more bravely than most on their side, their baggage train had been captured.
Drummond recovered and returned to service.

Less than a month later the older Drummond enlisted with the Chapman Artillery.
His wife wrote, "When the call 'To Arms' in defense of homes and firesides resounded through the South, many dear to us responded: fathers, sons, brothers, and husbands, leaving homes and families in answer to the call. Oh! what a sad time it was for us all!
But we women of the South, knowing the cause to be a just one, bade our boys good-bye with cheerful faces, reserving the heartaches and tears until they departed. Need I tell of the sorrowing hearts and lonely firesides; of the different scenes enacted; of the little ones crying for Papa, and, while our hearts ached, trying to make them understand why their Papa's were away? I think not, for all will understand how much we were called upon to endure.
My husband, Edward W. Drummond, enlisted for the war, and went with the Chatman Artillery to Fort Pulaski, while we were very miserable on account of the absence we were able to communicate with them by letter."

So, for a little less than nine months, Edward served within the confines of the garrison. Every soldier had an undoubted confidence that Fort Pulaski with its twenty-five million brick walls and rifled heavy artillery was all but indestructible. In September of 1861 Drummond was appointed commissary sergeant and assigned with the quartermaster department on the staff of the First Georgia Regiment.

For the next several months, the garrison remained hotly engaged with an ever growing Federal presence from the sea. The yankee forces began to gather at Tybee Island and other points surrounding along the mouth of the Savannah River.

This is where Commissary Sergeant Edward Drummond's war journal begins.

Following the bombardment and capture of Fort Pulaski and the entire force defending it, Drummond and his regiment were shipped to the war-prison at Governors Island in New York Harbor.
While imprisoned, Edward shared correspondence with his family in Maine including his cousin Josiah H. Drummond who was then Attorney-General of Maine. He had written to Vice President Hamlin hoping to secure his Confederate-cousin's release to no avail.

In June Drummond and his regiment and other POWs were transferred to Johnson's Island Prison in Ohio. There they maintained much of their time with the "cross over," new favorite pass-time, base ball.

One of the things I found really interesting regarding Drummond's account while in prison is the constant series of false news that new prisoners would share with the old. One example, which is repeated and described in detail that England was in the process of recognizing the Confederate government. From these pages, you gain an appreciation on just how isolated from the world that War for Confederate Independence POWs or POWs from any war truly are!

In September Commissary Sergeant Drummond and his comrades were exchanged in Vicksburg, MISS. There his war journal ends, however editor Roger Durham continues on to the ending events of the war.

In early July 1863 George Clark Drummond celebrated his twenty-third birthday near the scene of one of his unit's greatest moments, Gettysburg. Of his regiment's deadly service in the Wheat Field, two days before, Maj. General Sickles admitted, "the little 3rd Maine saved the army today."

George Drummond's niece was born in Savannah, sharing her Union uncle's own birth date, July 4th. Edward and Mary named her Ina Florence Drummond.
That same month, eleven companies of Commissary Sergeant Edward Dummond's regiment, the First Georgia successfully defended Battery Wagner, located near Charleston, SC against repeated attacks from both the land and sea.
During the spring of 64, Drummond had risen to the rank of captain. The First Georgia as a part of General Mercer's brigade soon joined Joseph Johnston's Army defending Northern Georgia. Edward was ordered to the post of brigade commissary.
In that same June, the 3rd Maine's enlistment period expired and though many of the veterans reenlisted, younger Drummond chose to instead, return home to Maine.

Down in Georgia, Edward was mentioned for his gallantry for rallying his brigade's skirmishers and had his horse shot from beneath him. He participated in all the bloody battles leading to Atlanta. On July 25th, the Maine Confederate was promoted to the rank of Major.

Following the fall of Atlanta and the even more tragic campaign in Tennessee that closed the dark year of 1864, Major Drummond's wife and children were facing the horrific reality of Sherman's war against Georgia. The family had chosen to stay, although their black hired manservant chose to flee, admitting to Mary Drummond, "I am afraid of the yankees." Most of Savannah, white and black, wisely shared his sediment, choosing to flee ahead of the fires also. Many there had been familiar with Sherman's infamous Order#11 which had read,
"There is a class of people (in the South), men, women and children, who must be killed or banished before you can hope for peace and order." "...to the petulant and persistent secessionist, why, death is mercy, and the quicker he or she is disposed of the better."

This chapter includes a great account written by Mary Drummond of her experiences during the occupation of Savannah. Interestingly her account portrays a rare act of goodness by the 'enemy.' Upon allowing a Union soldier a cup of coffee in her family's home, the grateful yankee swore to protect the home and "everything around it. He had kept his word. None of her property had been stolen or vandalized.

Yet, soon after the Union authorities demanded that all secesh women and families had to leave the city. In great detail, Major Drummond's wife, Mary, describes her family's dramatic days as a civilian refugee, one of the millions of women and children forced from their homes during the war.

Major Drummond's last action was at Averasboro and Bentonville, North Carolina in April of 1865. Soon after Johnston surrendered the Army of Tennessee, Drummond was paroled and it wasn't until May that he was able to return home in Savannah. The city was still smoldering.

He wrote, "Found the folks all well and I felt like myself once more though it cut me to quick find I was now compelled to take off my uniform or subject myself to arrest as orders had been issued prohibiting the wearing of the dear old Grey and as I like the rest, had to obey, as I was in Savannah without a dollar (except a silver one) in my pocket."

His wife wrote, "After getting home our men had to have all insignia of Office removed from the uniforms-the dear old coats of grey! We covered their buttons with black cloth instead of taking them off.
Of course we had much to contend with in various ways. To try to tell what indignities we suffered for a long time after the war ended would be impossible...We had to begin life in a manner, over again-as everything was lost."
She continued to write that her husband had started his business again.

Mary Drummond then gave tribute to her faithful manservant, Joe, who had returned and stayed with the family until he had married. She wrote of he and others of his race who had served and sacrificed as much as the rest, "...I hope to live to see a Monument raised to their memory for they deserve it, and we bless them for their faithfulness..."

Following the worst of the "reconstruction," years, Edward and his family paid several visits to Maine, visiting his birthplace, his brother, and family.
Interestingly, George Clark Drummond, years following the war, moved from Maine to Atlanta Georgia where he opened a photograph gallery.
He died in 1918 and his remains were returned to Maine.

In the summer of 1876, tragedy, worse than the war itself hit Edward Drummond's home. Yellow fever. In August and September, Edward and Mary's nine year old Edward Lee Drummond, thirteen year old Ina Florence, and four year old Mary Lillian passed away. A week later, on September 27, Edward passed away, just thirty-eight.
Edward and the three children were buried in Laurel Grove Cemetery. Only widowed Mary Ann and oldest son, George William survived. In March 1883, she too passed.

I apologize for sharing more of the details of this book than I had initially wanted to. But a story being retold such as this, cannot be brief.

Again, I hope y'all will check it out. For right now, I am reading, Last Flag Down which is the story of the Lt. Whittle and the CSS Shenandoah. In November 1865, it was the last official surrender in the Confederate military.
(I promise that review, if any, will be shorter.)

Yours,
Zac Tims
14th LA
Company F