116

John M. Stevenson.

Letters describing service in what sounds like the worst regiment in the Union Army, under the famous Colonel Tevis.

Louisiana, 15 April and 21 June 1864
Pair of Autograph Letters Signed as surgeon of the 3rd Maryland Cavalry to friend William B. Hill, Secretary of State of Maryland. 4 and 6 pages, 10 x 7¾ inches, on folding sheets; partial separations at folds, moderate wear. With a partial manuscript transcription, and a typescript copy of a 1955 provenance letter by Hill's nephew.

John M. Stevenson (circa 1842-1879) was a surgeon in the Union Army who was wounded at Gettysburg, and then transferred into the 3rd Maryland Cavalry. The regiment was composed partly of Confederate prisoners of war who agreed to serve the Union cause. It was led by Washington Carroll Tevis, who had gained modest fame as a soldier of fortune in the Crimean War under the name Nessim Bey. Writing to a top official in his state's government, Stevenson presents a picture of a regiment fractured by cowardice, dissipation, disloyalty, and corruption--and he insists that he can prove it all.

These letters find the 3rd Maryland on duty in Louisiana in the Red River Campaign.  On 15 April 1864 in Alexandria, LA, Stevenson describes the recent Union defeat at the Battle of Mansfield: "The Rebels through the impetuosity of their attack threw our army into confusion, routed the 13th Army Corps and, after much heroic fighting on both sides, the enemy compelled our army to retreat to Grand Ecore, a distance of forty-five miles." He asserts that the main focus of Union generals in this department was enriching themselves through cotton speculation. He also talks about his famous commanding officer: "Colonel Tevis is under arrest and will be court-martialed for complicity in selling a government horse & racing government horses for money. . . . Two cliques exist who hate each other heartily. I take no part in such affairs, but let them fight their jealousies out." On the former Confederate prisoners who made up much of the regiment: "The four Rebel companies proved failures. Nearly three hundred of them have deserted. The regiment is in an unhappy state of discord and confusion. I fear Gov. Bradford was not wrong in his estimate of Colonel Tevis." 

Stevenson's other letter is from Morganzia, LA on 21 June 1864. On his commander's court martial, "Col. Tevis has not received the sentence yet. The evidence was suppressed in the trial in consequence of the dishonesty of the Judge Advocate here.  I do not think much will come of it. . . . I believe Col. Tevis to be an unscrupulous, malicious and dishonest man. One who will destroy his best friends to benefit himself . . . to gratify his passion or his pocket. . . . I have known him to insidiously attack some of his officers behind their back while pretending to be well disposed to them in their presence. . . . Lt. Col. Kirby has led  the regiment through all its battles, its perils & hardships, and yet Tevis--luxuriating, bathing in the vices of New Orleans, under arrest--was slandering and abusing Kirby in the hotels, the bar rooms & houses of ill fame in that city. He had no access to any other society save one respectable house where the father of the Jewess, the last woman he has courted, resides. The Jewess, he told me, has a cool $40,000, and he intended marrying her. What a heart! . . . The officers who arranged themselves conspicuously on the side of Col. Tevis sneaked off when stern duty confronted them, under pretense of sickness (not by my authority granted) or begging to be detached, or by direct desertion to New Orleans & to the idol of their worship." Stevenson then recounts several specific instances of treachery by several of the company officers. Captain De Vere "was arrested in New Orleans for tearing off the shutters & otherwise assaulting a Negro house of ill fame, and put in the watch house." Major Kesley has been confined to the hospital "suffering from syphilis, which he keeps kindled by occasional sprees. Today he is a moving living rotten thing." 

The villain of this story, Colonel Tevis, received an honorable discharge from the army on 20 July, with a brevet commission as brigadier general. He went on to serve in the armies of several nations, and also worked as a war correspondent. 

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