The Good Old People Could Identify Her and Tell of Her Doings
She Rode on a Broomstick
by Egbert T. Bush, Stockton, N.J.
published in the Hunterdon County Democrat, May 1, 1930
Here are some more of the Delaware Township gentlemen who took sides during the early years of the Civil War—men who joined the Democratic Club of Delaware Township in 1863, and also men living in the same vicinity who supported the Administration.1
This is a continuation of the diary of Benjamin H. Ellicott of Baltimore during the events of the Civil War in 1863. During the latter half of July, the famous draft riots broke out in New York City, and later in the month, Ellicott describes a scene of violence in Baltimore. Meanwhile, Lee and his army become elusive, and the second blockade of Charleston is begun.1
As the weather heated up in the summer of 1863, so did the Civil War, with the siege of Vicksburg finally completed, and then the momentous Battle(s) at Gettysburg. Benjamin Ellicott, writing from his home in Baltimore, struggled to make sense of what was happening, in an age when communications were still quite primitive, compared to our instant access to events. Despite telegrams and the telegraph, news was hard to get, and reliable news even harder. Ellicott’s journal shows us how different life is for civilians in a civil war compared to a war fought overseas, on someone else’s territory.1
This article is a follow-up to the Democratic Club of Delaware Township, published last spring.
The previous article described the Club’s principles and resolutions, reflecting the alarm felt by Hunterdon Democrats at the war measures taken by President Lincoln. The article was published in the Hunterdon Historical Newsletter.1 But because of length restrictions, short biographies of the club’s officers had to be postponed to a future newsletter.
June 1863. The Civil War has been going on for over two years now, with no end in sight. Benjamin H. Ellicott, watching it all from his home in Baltimore, has written an amazing diary of events.1 His skepticism about official reports and his access to both southern and northern newspapers makes him a valuable observer. And it doesn’t hurt that he was very articulate.
There is a tiny burying ground located on a plot of land across from the Delaware Township Municipal Building that is used during the summer by the Sergeantsville Farmers’ Market. It is hidden in a clump of trees, and very few people know of its existence.
Benjamin H. Ellicott’s Diary for May 1863 is full of very dramatic War News: Confederate incursions into western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, the assault on Fredericksburg and the failures of General Hooker and the Army of the Potomac, the battles of Chancellorsville and Spotsylvania, the death of Stonewall Jackson, capture of British vessels by Federal gunboats enforcing the blockade of Charleston, and Grant’s continued assault on Vicksburg.
The following is the keynote speech I delivered on September 19, 2015 for the 2nd Annual Cemetery Seminar, sponsored by the Hunterdon Co. Historical Society and others. It is somewhat modified to make it more readable, less like a speech.