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re: 150 years ago this day...
Posted on 9/13/14 at 8:25 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Posted on 9/13/14 at 8:25 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Wednesday, 14 September 1864
Confederate General Jubal Anderson Early was under pressure from all sides. Detached from General Robert Edward Lee’s army defending Petersburg, he was supposed to be raiding near Washington, DC, creating panic and a demand for Grant’s troops to be brought back North to defend the capital. This effort had not worked, and now Lee wanted him back to help with the siege defenses. Union General Phillip Henry Sheridan, a cavalry commander, had been brought in and given an army to encourage his departure as well. The only person who didn’t want Early to move South was...Jubal Early himself. He had tried sending back one corps, under General Richard Heron Anderson, but they had run into a large part of Sheridan's army so Anderson wisely withdrew back towards Early’s lines at Opequon Creek near Winchester, Virginia. Lee was becoming insistent, though, so today Early decided to try again at sending Anderson’s men South.
Another report: In the Shenandoah Valley, General Richard H. Anderson’s Confederate corps left Jubal Early’s army to reinforce the Army of Northern Virginia at Petersburg. This seriously depleted Early’s force. Pressure increased on Philip Sheridan’s Federals to break Early’s hold on the Shenandoah and his threat to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal.
Skirmishing also occurred in West Virginia, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Missouri.
Confederate General Jubal Anderson Early was under pressure from all sides. Detached from General Robert Edward Lee’s army defending Petersburg, he was supposed to be raiding near Washington, DC, creating panic and a demand for Grant’s troops to be brought back North to defend the capital. This effort had not worked, and now Lee wanted him back to help with the siege defenses. Union General Phillip Henry Sheridan, a cavalry commander, had been brought in and given an army to encourage his departure as well. The only person who didn’t want Early to move South was...Jubal Early himself. He had tried sending back one corps, under General Richard Heron Anderson, but they had run into a large part of Sheridan's army so Anderson wisely withdrew back towards Early’s lines at Opequon Creek near Winchester, Virginia. Lee was becoming insistent, though, so today Early decided to try again at sending Anderson’s men South.
Another report: In the Shenandoah Valley, General Richard H. Anderson’s Confederate corps left Jubal Early’s army to reinforce the Army of Northern Virginia at Petersburg. This seriously depleted Early’s force. Pressure increased on Philip Sheridan’s Federals to break Early’s hold on the Shenandoah and his threat to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal.
Skirmishing also occurred in West Virginia, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Missouri.
1
Posted on 9/14/14 at 9:10 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Thursday, 15 September 1864
Rear Admiral David Glasgow Farragut had seen a very busy War Between the States. Right at the moment, he was probably wishing for greater haste from the Union postal authorities, because he had sent a letter 27 August to Navy Secretary Gideon Welles asking for a little time off from active service. Secretary Welles just received the dispatch today and it rather torpedoed his plans. Despite the fact that, as Farragut pointed out, he had been on duty for more than five years, with only one short furlough during that time, Welles had intended to assign him to command of the assault on Wilmington, North Carolina. In view of Farragut’s request Welles changed his strategy. He assigned Admiral David Dixon Porter to the job, who was actually Farragut’s adoptive brother.
Though the Union forces dominated Mobile Bay, the South still possessed a number of ships at Mobile itself. Farragut informed Welles that the CSS Nashville, an ironclad which, he said, had been waiting for her plating for at least 12 months, was now ready for service. Farragut described her as mounting "...six of their heaviest rifles and has heavier backing and greater speed than the Tennessee." Referring to the battle of Mobile Bay the month before, the Admiral added: "If she had gotten out fully equipped, the Rebels would have made a stronger fight on the 5th day of August. The Mobile defenses also counted on the casemated ironclads Tuscaloosa and Huntsville, "...covered with 4 inches of iron, but, I understand, very unmanageable..." and three gunboats. "I have them guarded," Farragut wrote, "by the two ironclads, the Winnebago and Chickasaw, and four of our gunboats."
Rear Admiral David Glasgow Farragut had seen a very busy War Between the States. Right at the moment, he was probably wishing for greater haste from the Union postal authorities, because he had sent a letter 27 August to Navy Secretary Gideon Welles asking for a little time off from active service. Secretary Welles just received the dispatch today and it rather torpedoed his plans. Despite the fact that, as Farragut pointed out, he had been on duty for more than five years, with only one short furlough during that time, Welles had intended to assign him to command of the assault on Wilmington, North Carolina. In view of Farragut’s request Welles changed his strategy. He assigned Admiral David Dixon Porter to the job, who was actually Farragut’s adoptive brother.
Though the Union forces dominated Mobile Bay, the South still possessed a number of ships at Mobile itself. Farragut informed Welles that the CSS Nashville, an ironclad which, he said, had been waiting for her plating for at least 12 months, was now ready for service. Farragut described her as mounting "...six of their heaviest rifles and has heavier backing and greater speed than the Tennessee." Referring to the battle of Mobile Bay the month before, the Admiral added: "If she had gotten out fully equipped, the Rebels would have made a stronger fight on the 5th day of August. The Mobile defenses also counted on the casemated ironclads Tuscaloosa and Huntsville, "...covered with 4 inches of iron, but, I understand, very unmanageable..." and three gunboats. "I have them guarded," Farragut wrote, "by the two ironclads, the Winnebago and Chickasaw, and four of our gunboats."
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