Moore, John (1826-1907) to Mary Moore Kelly
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04195.14 Author/Creator: Moore, John (1826-1907) Place Written: Vicksburg, Mississippi Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 5 July 1863 Pagination: 2 p. ; 24.7 x 19.3 cm. Order a Copy
They took possession of Vicksburg the previous day. All 27,000 prisoners will be paraded then released to spare expense. States that they took possession of "228 pieces of artillery between 30 and 40000 small arms and 27000 prisoners, including 16 generals. This is the biggest thing of the war. All prisoners will be paroled here and turned loose. This is done for two reasons: 1st is believed that the men will go home and will be difficult to get into the service again; 2nd it will save a vast expense in transportation and some 6 or 8000 of our own men as a guard. Those eight thousand can be better employed here." More than half the army has marched toward Jackson in pursuit of Joe Johnston. Grant has been a fine leader. "A good deal is said about the rebs being reduced to mule-meat before they surrendered. But it was not true; they had five days rations when they surrendered. They are no fonder of mules than our own people, though doubtless they will make capital of having been starved out."
After serving in the Utah War, Moore returned east, assigned to the Marine Hospital in Cincinnati until August 1862. As a newly promoted major, he transferred to the Army of the Potomac, assigned as medical director of the Central Grand division, where he participated in the second battle of Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and in Chancellorsville as medical director of the 5th Corps. In June 1863 Moore became the medical director of the Department of the Tennessee, assisting in the battles of Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, and Sherman's march on Atlanta, where he acted as medical director of the armies of Georgia, Tennessee, and Sherman's army, and was given the rank of lieutenant colonel and then colonel. Moore saw the end of the war in Missouri in St. Louis and Vicksburg.
Following the war Moore served two years at Fort Wadsworth and Fort Columbus in New York Harbor then practiced as a surgeon in the New York City area. After short stints in Europe, Virginia, Texas, Washington, and California, he was named Surgeon General in 1886. He retired in 1890 and continued living an active life in Washington, D.C. until his death in 1907.
Kelly is Moore's sister.
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