Wartime Diary of Gen. Lawrence Pike Graham – This hand-inked diary covers Gen. Graham’s service during the year 1864. Graham was an active U.S. Army officer during the Seminole and Mexican Wars, serving in cavalry and dragoon regiments, exhibiting significant and meritorious service. As a career military officer, Pike served as an instructor and recruiter at the famed Carlisle Barracks; at the onset of the Civil War, he was appointed Brigadier General of a Brigade in the Army of the Potomac. In 1862, he directed the Siege of Yorktown and was Chief of Cavalry to the camp of instruction near Annapolis, Maryland, in 1863. For the remainder of the war, he acted as President of a General Courts Martial and on the Board for Examination of Invalid Officers at Annapolis. After the war, he served various frontier posts, until retiring in December 1870. He became one of the most well-known Shakespearean scholars in Washington, D.C. where he lived until his death. This diary, written completely in Gen. Graham’s hand, covers the entire year of 1864, with all of the pages and days completely filled, as well as several pages of “Memoranda” – the latter represent various financial dealings. During this period, Gen. Graham was in charge of the Board of Examination of Invalid Officers, based in Annapolis, Maryland. Graham discusses his attending to meetings of “the Board”, in Annapolis, as well as mentioning other military figures, to include Gens. Grant, McClellan and Gibbon; there are numerous references to Graham’s wife, Julia. The diary remains in superior condition and is highly readable; the cover has a small mouse nip area on the spine. On the interior second page is inked:

“Maj. Gen^l L. P. Graham

U.S. Army

Baltimore, M^d”

Lawrence Pike Graham 1815 – 1905

Graham, Lawrence P., brigadier-general, was born in Amelia county, Va., Jan. 8, 1815. He was appointed 2nd lieutenant in the 2nd dragoons in 1837, was subsequently promoted 1st lieutenant and captain, and on June 14, 1858, major. He was made lieutenant-colonel of the 5th cavalry in Oct.1861, colonel of the 4th cavalry, May 9, 1864, and was promoted brigadier-general U. S. A. by brevet March 13, 1865, for meritorious services during the Civil war. He took an active part in the Seminole war in Florida from 1837 to I842, being present at the battle of Lochahatchee, and in the Mexican war won the brevet of major for gallantry in the engagements of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. In Aug. 1861, he was commissioned brigadier- general in the volunteer army, and in 1862 he raised and commanded a brigade of cavalry in the Army of the Potomac. He afterward acted as president of a general court-martial in St. Louis, and of a board for the examination of invalid officers at Annapolis. He was mustered out of the volunteer service Aug. 24, 1865. Gen. Graham was retired at his own request, Dec. 15, 1870, after more than thirty years of continuous service in the army.

Born: 1/8/1815 in Amelia County, VA

Died: 9/12/1905 in Washington, DC

Carlisle Barracks and the Mounted Recruiting Service

by d c caughey

The theory behind cavalry recruiting changed little with the advent of the war.  The process was relatively simple.  Mounted regiments were tasked to provide officers, noncommissioned officers and sometimes musicians to man recruiting stations at selected cities in the United States.  Periodically these recruits were forwarded from the recruiting stations to Carlisle Barracks.  Here the “Permanent Company,” a training cadre, provided them basic instruction as a cavalryman.  Once the troopers could demonstrate a reasonable aptitude in both the mounted and dismounted tasks of the “School of the Trooper,” as defined in the Cavalry Tactics manual, they were dispatched in detachments to their designated regiments.  This movement was frequently supervised by the same officers and soldiers who originally recruited them.  While this process did not change noticeably in substance during the war, it changed significantly in scope.

Whereas prior to the war only one or two recruiting stations were active at a time, during the course of the Civil War nineteen different cities had stations active at various times.  These were in addition to the stations utilized for the initial recruiting of the twelve companies of the 6^th U.S. Cavalry in 1861, which did not fall in the purview of Carlisle Barracks.  It also did not cover the recruiting of volunteers in their camps which occurred near Harpers Ferry in the Eastern Theater in October 1862.  It did, however, include the additional companies, usually designated L and M, added to existing regiments during the war, as well as companies consolidated within the regiments and sent to Carlisle to refit.

Recruiting for the mounted regiments was the responsibility of the “Mounted Recruiting Service.”  This was a purely administrative command, as Congress had not authorized such an organization outside the scope of the existing regiments.  As with all such taskings, the required officers and soldiers were taken “out of hide” from the regiments in the field.  The post commander of Carlisle Barracks had the additional title and responsibilities of the “Superintendent, Mounted Recruiting Service.”  Before the war, this was a major’s position, but during the war it was held by a captain and briefly by a lieutenant.

The commander at the outbreak of the war was Major Lawrence Pike Graham of the 2^nd Dragoons.   Graham was something of a legend in the mounted forces.  He was appointed a second lieutenant in the 2^nd Dragoons in 1837, and spent the next several years in the Seminole Wars in Florida.  During the Mexican War, he commended the other company in Captain Charles May’s squadron during the famous charge at Resaca de la Palma.  During the Sioux campaign of 1854-55, he commanded a squadron of his own. Other than the post commander, only the surgeon and the chaplain were permanently assigned to the post.  Surgeon Burton Randall served as the post surgeon until September 1861, when he was assigned to a hospital in Annapolis.  A Maryland native, Randall graduated as a physician from University of Pennsylvania in 1828.  He entered service as an assistant surgeon in 1832, and was promoted to surgeon in 1838.  He served as one of the principal military surgeons of the Mexican War while assigned to the 5^th U.S. Infantry.  Surgeon and assistant surgeon were ranks for doctors, and this denoted pay grade, not level of skill or ability.  A civilian physician, D.A. Mahon, served as post surgeon until May 1862, when he was replaced by Assistant Surgeon Joseph Jefferson Burr Wright.  J.J.B. Wright was appointed an assistant surgeon in 1833, and served as the medical director for the Department of Missouri prior to his assignment to Carlisle Barracks.  James A. Ross served as the post chaplain throughout the war.

At least two lieutenants were placed on extra duty from their regiments and assigned temporarily to Carlisle Barracks.  One of these normally served in charge of the permanent company, and the other was in charge of the current group of unassigned.  Equally important, and probably consuming far more of their time, were their additional duties.  One served as Acting Assistant Quartermaster and Acting Assistant Commisary of Subsistence for the post, while the other served as the post adjutant.

1861 was a relatively quiet year for the depot.  The regiments were too busy trying to reach their assigned destinations to worry about replacements, and there were too few experienced officers and noncommissioned officers present to detach many for recruiting duty.  Three recruiting stations were opened in 1861, Boston, Cincinnati and New York City.  Training at the depot continued and small detachments were forwarded once trained.  Only three events of significance took place at Carlisle.

The first was the arrival of the 2^nd U.S. Cavalry in April following their exodus from Texas.  They spent April and part of May remounting the regiment and filling their ranks, gaining 174 recruits from the depot in April.  They temporarily emptied the depot, but it put a nearly full-strength cavalry regiment into the field near Washington D.C.

The second was the assignment of newly appointed cavalry officers to Carlisle Barracks to undertake their initial training as well.  New subalterns who were experienced noncommissioned officers remained with their regiments, while those appointed from civilian life reported for various lengths of time to receive their initial training as well.  While veterans like John Mix, Thomas Dewees and Samuel Whitside stayed in the field, others like Theophilus Rodenbough, Isaac Dunkelberger and George Sanford were put through their paces by the permanent company.

The third event was the first wartime change of command at Carlisle Barracks.  On September 4, 1861, Major Graham was appointed a brigadier general of volunteers, and reassigned to Washington. 

Lewis Pike Graham

Born: January 8, 1815

Birthplace: Amelia County, Virginia

Father: William Graham 1757 – 1845

Mother: Ann Hartley 1768 – 1851

Wife: Julia Hutchinson 1815 – 1903

(Buried: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia)​

Children:
Lt. James Duncan Graham 1843 – 1868​

(Buried: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia)​

​Charles McDougall Graham 1850 – 1865​

(Buried: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia)​

Occupation before War:
2^nd​ Lt. United States Army Dragoons​

​Served in the Seminole War in Florida​

​1^st​ Lt. United States Army Dragoons​

​Captain United States Army Dragoons​

​Won Brevet in the Mexican – American War​

​1858 – 1864: Major United States Army Dragoons​

Civil War Career:

1861 – 1865: Brigadier General of Union Army Volunteers​

​1862: Served in the Siege of Yorktown, Virginia​

​Chief of Cavalry for camp of Instruction in Annapolis, Maryland​

​President of General Court Martial in St. Louis, Missouri​

​President of board of examination of invalid officers in Annapolis, Maryland​

​1864 – 1870: Colonel of United States Army, 4^th​ Cavalry Regiment

​1865: Mustered out of Volunteer service on August 24^th​​

​1865: Brevetted to the rank of Brigadier General for Service​

Occupation after War:
1864 – 1870: Colonel of United States Army 4^th​ Cavalry Regiment​

​1870: Retired from United States Army on December 15^th​​

​1870 – 1905: Accomplished Shakespearean Scholar Washington, D.C.​

​1905: Suffered from fracture of the left hip in July​

Died: September 12, 1905

Place of Death: Providence Hospital, Washington, D.C.

Cause of Death: exhaustion and result of the fracture

Age at time of Death: 90 years old

Burial Place: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia

Lawrence Pike Graham Veteran  memorial

Birth

8 Jan 1815

Death

12 Sep 1905 (aged 90)

Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia, USA

Burial

Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia