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eHistory's Civil War Newsletter - Issue 05/01/2002
Date: 05/01/2002
Issue: Issue 05/01/2002
Author: Alethea Sayers
***************** HOLDING TOWNS FOR RANSOM ********************
No one knows what commander conceived the idea of exacting a ransom for a captured town rather than burn it. Nevertheless, during the Civil War, this concept would prove to be quite profitable.
A Federal officer may have been the first to try this. From Hudson, Missouri, on August 19, 1861, a directive was sent "to Mayor and Authorities, City of Palmyra, State of Missouri." These officials were ordered "to deliver up to the military authorities of this brigade, within six days, the marauders who fired upon the train bound west on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad on the evening of the 16th instant, and broke into the telegraph office."
Since compliance was unlikely, the Union demands ended with an offer of ransom that read: "If the guilty persons are not delivered up as required, and within the time herein specified, the whole brigade will be moved into your county, and contributions levied to the amount of $10,000 on Marion County and $5,000 on the city of Palmyra." The order was signed by Brig. Gen. Stephen A. Hurlbut, "under direction of John Pope, brigadier-general, commanding North Missouri."
Confederate Brig. Gen. John McCausland added a refinement in July 1864. Having demanded a huge collective ransom from the citizens of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, he then required individual residents and merchants to pay amounts ranging from about $150 to $750. McCausland failed to stress one clause of the agreement, if he mentioned it at all. Regardless of the ransom paid by an individual, if the town itself failed to come up with the entire sum demanded, the whole place would be torched.
Eager to retaliate for the Federals' burning of three Virginia homes, McCausland ordered the evacuation of the village and burned it to the ground. Years later, the state of Pennsylvania paid $1,628,431 to Chambersburg residents as compensation for their losses.
Confederate Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan had earlier employed a similar but simpler technique. During his July 1863 raid into Ohio, in Summansville and in Pomeroy he demanded that business owners pay ransoms to save their establishments. Unlike McCausland, Morgan spared the places whose owners dutifully paid; he didn't have time to destroy them.
THESE ARE ARCHIVED PAGES OF THE OLD EHISTORY SITE click here for the NEW eHistory site These pages are not actively maintained and may have errors in content and functionality
eHistory's Civil War Newsletter - Issue 05/01/2002
Date: 05/01/2002
Issue: Issue 05/01/2002
Author: Alethea Sayers
***************** HOLDING TOWNS FOR RANSOM ********************
No one knows what commander conceived the idea of exacting a ransom for a captured town rather than burn it. Nevertheless, during the Civil War, this concept would prove to be quite profitable.
A Federal officer may have been the first to try this. From Hudson, Missouri, on August 19, 1861, a directive was sent "to Mayor and Authorities, City of Palmyra, State of Missouri." These officials were ordered "to deliver up to the military authorities of this brigade, within six days, the marauders who fired upon the train bound west on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad on the evening of the 16th instant, and broke into the telegraph office."
Since compliance was unlikely, the Union demands ended with an offer of ransom that read: "If the guilty persons are not delivered up as required, and within the time herein specified, the whole brigade will be moved into your county, and contributions levied to the amount of $10,000 on Marion County and $5,000 on the city of Palmyra." The order was signed by Brig. Gen. Stephen A. Hurlbut, "under direction of John Pope, brigadier-general, commanding North Missouri."
Confederate Brig. Gen. John McCausland added a refinement in July 1864. Having demanded a huge collective ransom from the citizens of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, he then required individual residents and merchants to pay amounts ranging from about $150 to $750. McCausland failed to stress one clause of the agreement, if he mentioned it at all. Regardless of the ransom paid by an individual, if the town itself failed to come up with the entire sum demanded, the whole place would be torched.
Eager to retaliate for the Federals' burning of three Virginia homes, McCausland ordered the evacuation of the village and burned it to the ground. Years later, the state of Pennsylvania paid $1,628,431 to Chambersburg residents as compensation for their losses.
Confederate Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan had earlier employed a similar but simpler technique. During his July 1863 raid into Ohio, in Summansville and in Pomeroy he demanded that business owners pay ransoms to save their establishments. Unlike McCausland, Morgan spared the places whose owners dutifully paid; he didn't have time to destroy them.
Just before Morgan started toward Cincinnati, Confederate Lt. Gen. Jubal Early
