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re: 150 years ago this day...
Posted on 9/11/14 at 9:05 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Posted on 9/11/14 at 9:05 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Monday, 12 September 1864
President Abraham Lincoln and General Hiram U. Grant had a common worry today: General Phillip Henry Sheridan in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. It wasn’t that he was doing anything wrong; the problem was that he didn’t seem to be doing much of anything at all. To Lincoln this was a worry--he called it a “dead lock” in the Valley--because Sheridan was supposed to be catching up with General Jubal Early’s Confederate forces, which had been raiding and rampaging as far north as Pennsylvania for most of the summer.
Grant was heavily concerned about the situation too, with the additional personal complication that Sheridan was an old friend from the “western theater” who had been brought East and given an army at Grant’s personal recommendation. One factor neither seems to have allowed for was that Sheridan was a cavalryman, and had never actually commanded large numbers of foot soldiers before. Neither Sheridan's Union troops nor the Confederates under Early seemed to be making progress against each other around Winchester.
Early this morning, a Federal expedition began from Fayetteville, Arkansas.
President Abraham Lincoln and General Hiram U. Grant had a common worry today: General Phillip Henry Sheridan in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. It wasn’t that he was doing anything wrong; the problem was that he didn’t seem to be doing much of anything at all. To Lincoln this was a worry--he called it a “dead lock” in the Valley--because Sheridan was supposed to be catching up with General Jubal Early’s Confederate forces, which had been raiding and rampaging as far north as Pennsylvania for most of the summer.
Grant was heavily concerned about the situation too, with the additional personal complication that Sheridan was an old friend from the “western theater” who had been brought East and given an army at Grant’s personal recommendation. One factor neither seems to have allowed for was that Sheridan was a cavalryman, and had never actually commanded large numbers of foot soldiers before. Neither Sheridan's Union troops nor the Confederates under Early seemed to be making progress against each other around Winchester.
Early this morning, a Federal expedition began from Fayetteville, Arkansas.
1
Posted on 9/12/14 at 9:07 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Tuesday, 13 September 1864
The Battle of Mobile Bay was over, but as in all such conflicts, the end of the shooting merely signified the beginning of a lengthy cleanup operation. The one in this case was particularly tricky, since the bay had been extensively loaded with “water torpedoes”, what would in later years be called floating mines. Admiral David G. Farragut chose, for reasons unknown, to have the cleanup of the main channel done by crews in small boats, rather than blowing them up at long-distance with the cannons of the gunboats. His objective may have been to conserve ammunition. In any case, as he wrote to Union Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles today, that over one hundred such mines had been dismantled and sunk. “This part of the channel is now believed to be clear....though beyond doubt many more were originally anchored here.” He was quite right about that part: overlooked mines would break free from their anchor chains, float downriver, and cause trouble for Union and civilian ships for months to come.
Another report: Rear Admiral Farragut's sailors continued to clear the main ship channel at Mobile Bay of torpedoes such as the one that bad sunk USS Tecumseh on 5 August. He reported to Secretary Welles that 22 torpedoes had been raised. He added: "This part of the channel is now believed to be clear, for, though beyond doubt many more were originally anchored here, report says they have sunk over one hundred to the bottom." Despite the Admiral's efforts, Union ships would be destroyed in the vicinity of Mobile Bay by torpedoes in the months to come.
President Abraham Lincoln favorably responded to a political overture, but made no policy statements.
A Federal expedition began from Morganza, Louisiana, including the Second Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops.
Sporadic skirmishing occurred throughout the day in the Shenandoah Valley.
The Battle of Mobile Bay was over, but as in all such conflicts, the end of the shooting merely signified the beginning of a lengthy cleanup operation. The one in this case was particularly tricky, since the bay had been extensively loaded with “water torpedoes”, what would in later years be called floating mines. Admiral David G. Farragut chose, for reasons unknown, to have the cleanup of the main channel done by crews in small boats, rather than blowing them up at long-distance with the cannons of the gunboats. His objective may have been to conserve ammunition. In any case, as he wrote to Union Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles today, that over one hundred such mines had been dismantled and sunk. “This part of the channel is now believed to be clear....though beyond doubt many more were originally anchored here.” He was quite right about that part: overlooked mines would break free from their anchor chains, float downriver, and cause trouble for Union and civilian ships for months to come.
Another report: Rear Admiral Farragut's sailors continued to clear the main ship channel at Mobile Bay of torpedoes such as the one that bad sunk USS Tecumseh on 5 August. He reported to Secretary Welles that 22 torpedoes had been raised. He added: "This part of the channel is now believed to be clear, for, though beyond doubt many more were originally anchored here, report says they have sunk over one hundred to the bottom." Despite the Admiral's efforts, Union ships would be destroyed in the vicinity of Mobile Bay by torpedoes in the months to come.
President Abraham Lincoln favorably responded to a political overture, but made no policy statements.
A Federal expedition began from Morganza, Louisiana, including the Second Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops.
Sporadic skirmishing occurred throughout the day in the Shenandoah Valley.
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