Unforeseen Problems

While local defense concerns and the day-to-day hardships of life occupied the minds of most Southerners during the war, Civil War-era letters are filled with commentary about the war’s significant events.

John D. Pittman, a student at the University of Virginia from 1860-1862, wrote several letters to his mother, Martha Pittman, who lived in Jackson County, Florida. Well written and insightful, Pittman’s letters describe wartime life at the university and provide commentary on important political and military developments. 

In this letter from November 1861, Pittman comments on the Union’s capture of James Murray Mason and John Slidell, Confederate diplomatic commissioners to Britain and France, respectively.

The U.S.S. San Jacinto intercepted and arrested the Confederate diplomats on their way to Europe. Mason and Slidell were traveling onboard the Trent, a British mail ship, which they had boarded in Cuba after eluding the Union blockade. The British saw the incident as a violation of international maritime law, a belligerent act against British neutrality, and an affront to their honor.

Public opinion in the North hailed the capture of the Confederate officials, whom the North imprisoned, and called for defiance of the British government, which many Northerners believed to be sympathetic to the Confederacy. Despite public pressure, the Lincoln administration eventually decided to free the Confederates rather than risk a war with the British.

Pittman’s letter also addresses the question of wartime freedom of the press, which he blames for the capture of Mason and Slidell.



Enlarge this image Enlarge this image

J. D. Pittman to My Dear Mother

Nov. 18th, 1861
University of Virginia

My Dear Mother:



[end Page 1]


[end Page 2]


[end Page 3]


My room-mate is named Mr.

[end Page 4]



[end Page 6]

cotton in South Carolina.



[end Page 7]


Yr. aff. Son,
J. D. Pittman

Pittman’s description of the confused state of Confederate finances points to the difficulty the South had in trying to forge a nation out of a group of fiercely independent states.

Because secession happened so quickly, the Southern states still had to deal with outstanding issues from their recent membership in the United States. Many former federal employees now living in the Confederacy never received payment for work they had performed for the U.S. government in 1860. Some of these men petitioned their respective states to compensate them for salaries lost due to secession.

In the following petition, former U.S. Marshal E. E. Blackburn requests that the State of Florida pay money owed to him and others for work as federal census takers in North Florida. The petition lists the names of all the census takers in the Northern District of Florida, which was the former federal jurisdiction for the state covering all counties north of Charlotte Harbor.

Petition of E. E. Blackburn and Others, November 23, 1861

(Series 887, Florida Legislative Records, 1845-1911)

Enlarge this image Enlarge this image


To The Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Florida in General Assembly convened: The petition of E. E. Blackburn late Marshal of the late United States in and for the Northern District of Florida, for himself and his Assistant Marshals, respectfully Shewith that he and his Assistants did during the year A. D. 1860, take the Census of the said Northern District of Florida; that the work was done to the entire Satisfaction of the Government of the late United States; that a large amount of the fees earned for the taking of the Said Census has not yet been paid; that he believes the following Sums are yet due, the parties hereinafter named to wit: himself and Clerk, by agreement with the Secretary of the Interior, he and his Clerk were to receive----$500.00