Research Notes
Research Notes
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Following are notes gathered over a period of time. The quotes are
direct from each book recited are not of my writing. Footnotes are
numbered as found in the different books. This should help in referring
back to the particular book and/or footnote. Chestnut, Mary Boykin. Mary Chestnut's Civil War. Edited
by C.Vann Woodward. New Haven and London/Yale University Press, 1981. Page 183. August 31, 1861. "Jenny Barron, Jenny Cooper,7 and Mary Hammy have
gone to have their photographs taken as 'tricoteuses,' each armed
with their knitting. It will be a lovely group." Page. 138. Sometime between August 8, 1861 and August 12, 1861. "General and Mrs. Cooper came to see us. She is Mrs. Smith Lee's sister, Senator Mason's sister. 'Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother'--&c.1. They were talking of old George Mason,2 in Virginia a name to conjure with. George Mason violently opposed the extension of slavery. He was a thorough aristocrat and gave as his reason for refusing the blessing of slaves to the new states-southwest and northwest-that vulgar new people were unworthy of so sacred a right as that of holding slaves. It was not an institution intended for such people as they were. Mrs. Lee said, 'After all-what good does it do my sons? They are Light Horse Harry Lee's grandsons-and George Mason's. I do not see that it helps them at all.' When Mrs. Lee and the Coopers had gone, what a rolling of eyes and uplifting of hands. Fitzhugh Lee3. And Rooney were being promoted-hand over fist! Up they go. Custis Lee is A.D.C. to the president-they say because his father wishes it. If he prefers to be in active service, that matters not. He must stay where he can do most good. That was the drawing room hum at the Arlington." Page 133 August 5, 1861. "Such a nice Lieutenant Cooper,8 son of the adjutant
general, a nephew of Mr. Mason. He was on Sullivan's Island with us
a few years ago. Reminded him of that Silvey9 affair-how
we arrived so silently at the scene of embarkation that we saw Lieutenant
Silvey knock a man head-foremost into deep water, where he had to
be fished out, and tie another to the main mast, where he howled like
a wild Indian. Lieutenant Silvey, who had been so soft and silvery
with us-as if butter could not melt in his mouth. Lieutenant Cooper
had vivid recollections of Mary W's 1 beauty and the ravings
of Vogdes & Co.2 when that lovely apparition suddenly
arose on that lonely island and its lonelier garrison." Page 358 June 3, 1862. "Lieutenant Cooper has risen in rank. Lieutenant Silvey, somebody
said, was paralyzed &c&c&c." Page 103 July 19, 1861 "At Bulls Run Bonham's brigade-Ewell's-Longstreet's-encounter the foe and repulsed him.3 Six hundred prisoners sent here. Yesterday afternoon, thanks to the fact that it was bitters in that vial and not laudanum-and a light dinner of peaches-I arose, as the Scripture says, and washed my face and anointed my head and went downstairs.4 At the foot of them stood General Cooper, radiant, one finger nervously arranging his shirt collar, or adjusting his neck to it, after his fashion. He called out: 'Your South Carolina man bonhomie has done a capital thing at Bulls
Run-driven back the enemy if not defeated him, killed, and prisoners--&c&c&c.'
" Page 572 February 20, 1864. "Mrs. Huger says Bragg is to supersede General Cooper. Est-il
possible? 'No matter,' she says. 'It will be several years before
that slow coach Cooper finds it out.' " Page 579 March 8, 1864. "Met an antique virgin of vinegar aspect, whose mind seemed occupied by the unmentionable horrors we had so narrowly escaped. No one else as far as I know had thought of all that. J.C., when I told him her apprehensions in figurative language, cited to me Lord Byron's 'Siege of Ishmael' in Don Juan, where I would find the same kind of talk from the same kind of person. Bragg does not supersede General Cooper, but is Mr. Davis's chief of staff. Read 'Jean Val Jean.'8 What a beastly little ingrate
is Cosette. Genius can make a hero of a man who has dragged himself
through all the sewers of Paris." Page 316-317 March 20, 1862. "Last night Mrs. Pickens met General Cooper. Madame knew General Cooper only as our adjutant general-and Mr. Mason's brother-in-law. In her slow, graceful, impressive way, her beautiful eyes eloquent with feeling, she inveighed against Mr. Davis's wickedness in always sending men born at the North to command at Charleston. General Cooper is on his way to make a tour inspection there now. "The dear general settled his head in his cravat with the aid of his forefinger; he tugged rather more nervously with the something that is always wrong inside of his collar. And looked straight up through his spectacles. Someone crossed the room, stood back of Mrs. Pickens, murmured in her ear: 'General Cooper was born in New York.' "Sudden silence. "Dined with General Cooper at the Prestons. General Hampton
and Blanton Duncan were there also. The latter a thoroughly free and
easy western man-handsome and clever. More audacious that either,
perhaps. He pointed to Buck. 'What's that girl laughing at?' " "There is a tradition in the Dawson family, that Fitz had paid
special court to Jennie Cooper, his cousin, during the war and after,
and that she left him unrequited.32 This may have been
true, but his papers contain a set of letters written to another belle
of Richmond during the war years which bespeak the gayest and giddiest,
but for the purpose, clever kind of flirtatious small talk. The letters
were written to Nannie Enders who later married Maj. Caskie Cabell
of Richmond. She was the center of young society in the area……." "With this background on 'Miss Nannie,' the ensuing excerpts
of Fitz's phrases for her may have some or more meaning. In April
1866, Fitz wrote Misses Jennie Cooper and Nannie in reply to their
joint letter: Precious-pretty - priceless - prime prim princesses-! Joint letter
warmly received …. Thought it was a piece of pseudography with
a debilitation of idiomatic phrases concocted by persons affected
with hydrocephalus who placed in crampons had better be hoisted to
the fourth story of a lunet . . .34 " Page 18 "….In August, Fitz's mother was visiting the Chesnuts
in company with General and Mrs. Samuel Cooper, Mrs. Smith Lee's sister.
For awhile, the conversation revolved around their famous ancestor
George Mason and his opposition to the approval of slavery to the
West, where uncouth people were not prepared for the peculiar responsibilities
of slave-owning. Mrs. Chesnut cants her entry as though the Mason
sisters were at the moment a bit family conscious, for suddenly, she
has Fitz's mother explain: 'After all-what good does it do my sons.
They are Light Horse Harry Lee's grandsons - and George Mason's……….." Page 9 "The 2d Cavalry came to Texas via an overland march from Jefferson
Barracks, Missouri, in the winter of 1855-56. They arrived in mid-winter
at the forks of the Brazos. Colonel Johnston soon established Camp
Cooper, named after Fitz's kins - Adj. General Samuel Cooper, on the
clear Fork to the southwest; Fort Belknap was on the North Fork." Davis, Jefferson. The Rise And Fall Of The Confederate Government,
Vol. I, Da Capo Press, "During the same period the army was increased by the addition of two regiments of infantry and two of cavalry. The officers of these regiments were chosen partly by selection from those already in service in the regular army and partly by appointment from civil life. In making the selections from the army I was continually indebted to the assistance of that pure-minded and accurately informed office, Colonel Samuel Cooper, 1 the Adjutant General, of whom it may be proper here to say that, although his life had been spent in the army, and he, of course, had the likes and dislikes inseparable from men who are brought into close contact and occasional rivalry, I never found in his official recommendations any indication of partiality or prejudice toward anyone. When the first list was made out, to be submitted to the President,
a difficulty was found to exist which had not occurred either to Colonel
Cooper or myself. This was that the officers selected purely on their
military record did not constitute a roster conforming to that distribution
among the different states, which, for political considerations, it
was thought desirable to observe-that is to say, the number of such
officers of Southern birth was found to be disproportionately great…….." Page 266-267 Davis talks about the formation of the C.S.A. Army: "Therefore, against considerations of self-interest, and impelled
by devotion to principle, they severed the ties, professional and
personal, which had bound them from their youth up to the time when
the Southern states, asserting the consecrated truth that all governments
rest on the consent of the governed, decided to withdraw from the
union they had voluntarily entered, and the Northern states resolved
to coerce them to remain in it against their will. These officers
were-first, Samuel Cooper, a native of New York, a graduate of the
United States Military Academy in 1815, and who served continuously
in the army until March 7, 1861, with such distinction as secured
to him the appointment of adjutant general of the United States army.
Second, Albert Sidney Johnston……… Third, Robert E.
Lee, a native of Virginia………" "Samuel Cooper was the first of these to offer his services
to the Confederacy at Montgomery. Having known him most favorably
and intimately as adjutant general of the United States army when
I was Secretary of War, the value of his services in the organization
of a new army was considered so great that I invited him to take the
position of adjutant general of the Confederate army, which he accepted
without a question either as to relative rank or anything else. The
highest grade then authorized by law was that of brigadier general,
and that commission was bestowed upon him." Lee, Capt. R. W. Recollections And Letter of General Lee.
Garden City Publishing Col, Inc., Garden City, New York. 1924, From a letter by R.E.L. to his wife, Mary, on December 1, 1867,
while R.E.L. was in Richmond: "…..I also went to Mrs. Dunlop's and saw there General
and Miss Jennie Cooper. The latter looked remarkable well, but the
former is very thin. They will remain here some weeks." Page 420-421 "This letter to General Cooper (Adjutant General of the Confederate
States Army), written at this time, explains itself, and is one of
many witnesses of my father's delicate consideration for old soldiers
in distress: Lexington, Virginia, August 4, 1870 "General S. Cooper, "Alexandria Virginia. "My Dear General: "Impressed, with all the people of the South, with your merits and services, I have with them admired your manly efforts to support your family, and have regretted that more remunerative occupation, better suited to your capacities and former habits, had not presented itself. This has been a subject of conversation with some of us here, and when in Savannah last sprint I presented it to General Lawton, Colonel Cole, and others, and suggested that efforts be made to raise a sum for the relief of any pressing necessity. The idea was cordially adopted, and it was hoped that an amount would be contributed that would enable you to receive some relaxation. I have received a letter from General Lawton regretting the smallness of the sum collected, $300, and explaining the delay that had occurred, the general poverty of the people, the many calls upon them, and the disposition to procrastinate when facts are not known to them personally. To this sum I have only been able to add $100, but I hope it may enable you to supply some immediate want and prevent you from taxing your strength too much. You must also pardon me for my moving in this matter, and for the foregoing explanation, which I feel obliged to make that you might understand the subject. "With my best wishes for your health and happiness and for the useful prolongation of your honorable life, I am, with true regard, "Your friend and servant. "R. E. Lee." Davis, Jefferson. The Rise And Fall Of The Confederate Government,
Vol. II, Da Capo Press, "The Adjutant General, Samuel Cooper, a man as pure in heart
as he was sound in judgment, was the classmate of Winder; their live
had been passed in the army in frequent intercourse; General Cooper,
in a letter of July 9, 1871, wrote that 'General Winder, who had the
control of the Northern prisoners, was an honest, upright, and humane
gentleman, and as such I had known him for many years. He had the
reputation, in the Confederacy, of treating the prisoners confined
to his general supervision with great kindness and consideration.'
" Lee, General Fitzhugh. General Lee. First De Capo Edition,
New York, N.Y. Reprint 1984 "On August 31st the President nominated to the Senate
five persons to be generals in the Confederate army: First, Samuel
Cooper, from May 15, 1861; second, A. S. Johnston, May 28th;
third, R. E. Lee, June 14th; fourth, J. E. Johnston, July
4th; fifth, G. T. Beauregard, July 21st. Officers
who resigned from the United States Army had been promised by the
Confederate Government when it was first established at Montgomery,
Ala., that they should hold the same relative rank to each other when
commissioned in the army of the Confederate States. Cooper, who had
been the adjutant general of the United States Army, was the senior
colonel. Albert Sidney Johnston resigned a colonelcy, General Lee
a colonelcy, which he had only held a short time , and Beauregard
a captaincy." DeLeon, Thomas Cooper, Four Years In Rebel Capitals. Time
Life Series, Reprinted 1983 from the 1890 edition. Montgomery, AL. was the first capital of the C.S.A. When the "new"
government to office, most of them lived in one of the two hotels:
"Montgomery Hall, of bitter memory-like the much-sung 'Raven
of Zurich,' for uncleanliness of next and length of bill-had been
the resort of country merchants, horse and cattle-men; but now the
Solon of the hour dwelt therein, and the possible hero of many a field.
The Exchange-of rather more pretensions and vastly more comfort-was
at that time in the hands of a northern firm, who 'could keep a hotel.'
The latter was political headquarters-the President,
the Cabinet and a swarm of the possible great residing there."
Ibid., p.24 DeLeon speaking about President Davis and dinner with Samuel Cooper:
"He looked worn and thinner; and the set expression of the
somewhat stern features gave a grim hardness not natural to their
lines. With scarcely a glance around, he returned the general salutations,
sat down absently and was soon absorbed in conversation with General
Cooper, who had recently resigned the adjutant-generalship of the
United States army and accepted a similar post and a brigadier's commission
from Mr. Davis." Ibid., p 25 Samuel Cooper moves from the 'Exchange' hotel: "Tiring of experimental camping-out in a hotel, a few gentlemen
hired a house and established a 'mess.' They were all notables-General
Cooper, General Meyers, Dr. DeLeon, Colonel Deas and others, the three
first being adjutant-general, quartermaster-general and surgeon-general
of the new army. A chief of department, or two and this writer, completed
the occupants of 'the Ranche,' as it was early christened by 'the
colonel;' and its piazza soon became the favorite lounging-place in
the evening of the better and brighter elements of the floating population."
Ibid., p.28
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