Three Cheney Brothers and the End of the American Civil War

Justice (or Justus) Cheney
DOB: May 11, 1835 (or 1839), Hopkinton, NY
Deceased: June 3, 1864
Relation to Author: 2nd Great Grand Uncle

Judson Cheney
DOB: May 11, 1838, Hopkinton, NY
Deceased: September 29, 1864
Relation to Author: 2nd Great Grand Uncle

Jesse Cheney
DOB: May 7, 1849 (or 1848), Hopkinton, NY
Deceased: October 1, 1929
Relation to Author: 2nd Great Grandfather

In the Spring of 1864 the American Civil War was in its last year and three Cheney men (you’ll see that I use the term men loosely – one was still a boy) played their part. Before I get to each man in subsequent posts, and their specific lives (and deaths) in the war, I want to set the stage for the last year of the war.

In the previous year (1863), Lee’s Army of Virginia invaded the north and was soundly defeated at Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863). He retreated to Virginia where there were smaller battles around the Rapidan River in the fall of 1863. In March of 1864, President Lincoln made Ulysses S. Grant General-in-Chief of the United States Army.

The fighting in 1864 – that the Cheneys would contribute to – continued around Virginia as Grant sought to capture Richmond and finally defeat Lee. In the spring and summer, Grant tried to get around Lee’s flank. In the fall, and through the winter and following spring of 1865, the two armies would settle into trench warfare around Petersburg, Virginia before Lee’s final surrender in April of 1865.

Grant earned the reputation of a butcher – of a general that cared little about the lives of his soldiers and would use the North’s troop advantage to win the war - in part due to the battles of 1864. Whether this is fair or not, it is true that there was much bloodshed in 1864 as the war finally moved to its conclusion.

As we will see in future posts, two Cheneys died in this last year (one in the flanking campaign and one in the trenches) and one entered the war late and was present for Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Courthouse.

President Lincoln, in his second inaugural address (March 4, 1865), reflected on the bloodshed during the war:

Fondly do we hope -- fervently do we pray -- that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

He spoke these words one month before Lee surrendered and five weeks before his own assassination. The war was soon to pass away. But two Cheneys were already dead.

I wonder if you agree with Lincoln; I’m not sure I do. Were His judgments true and righteous? Maybe society as a whole – even those that opposed it – should pay for such a terrible scourge as slavery. Maybe. Or maybe people that did not own slaves (this includes Union as well as many Confederate soldiers) or did not condone slavery should not have had to give their blood by the sword to repay the blood drawn by the lash.

Whether it was fair, just, or righteous, that was in fact what happened. Two Cheneys died – and many hundreds of thousands more. They paid with their blood and thus ended a horrible institution.

In future posts, we’ll learn more about each of the Cheneys – how they lived and how they died. We’ll learn where they came from, and which battles they fought in.