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re: 150 years ago this day...
Posted on 9/15/14 at 9:41 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Posted on 9/15/14 at 9:41 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Friday, 16 September 1864
In the days before mechanical refrigeration, keeping ones' troops in food required some interesting logistics. Hardtack could be shipped and stored, but if the troops were to have beef one had to store it on the hoof. Confederate cavalry under Wade Hampton took advantage of superior Union stocks by staging a raid at Coggins' Point, Virginia, where they captured over 300 Federals and, more importantly, what they were guarding--a herd of some 2400 cattle. Getting them back to Petersburg would take several days and several skirmishes, but the food was desperately needed by the besieged forces there.
Another report: General Wade Hampton’s Confederate cavalry delivered a herd of cattle to General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia under siege at Petersburg. Hampton had raided Federal supply lines since 11 September, capturing 304 Federal prisoners and nearly 2,500 cattle consisting of almost two million pounds of beef for Lee’s hungry troops. This became known as the “beefsteak raid,” and Hampton’s cavalrymen were nicknamed the “cowboys.”
Commander James Dunwoody Bulloch wrote Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen R. Mallory from Liverpool: "The loss of the Alabama occurred just at a time when the financial condition of the Navy Department began to improve and...I took immediate steps to look up a successor. I have now the satisfaction to inform you of the purchase of a fine composite ship, built for the Bombay trade, and just returned from her first voyage. She is 1,160 tons builder's measurement, classed A-1...frames, beams, etc., of iron, but planked from keel to gunwhale with East Indian teak...My broker has had her carefully examined by one of Lloyd's inspectors, who pronounced her a capital ship in every respect...The log of the ship shows her to be a fast sailor under canvas, for with screw up she has made 330 miles in 24 hours by observation." Bulloch was describing the steamer Sea King, a ship which would shortly become renowned as the raider the CSS Shenandoah. He also informed Mallory that contracts had been let for the torpedo boats which the Secretary had ordered two months before.
A boat expedition from the USS Arid, Acting Master James J. Russell in charge, captured over 4,000 pounds of cotton in the vicinity of Tampa Bay, Florida.
General Nathan Bedford Forrest and about 4,500 Confederate cavalrymen left Verona, Mississippi to raid Major General William T. Sherman’s Federal supply and communication lines in northern Alabama and southern Tennessee.
Generals Hiram U. Grant and Philip H. Sheridan conferred at Charles Town, West Virginia. Sheridan informed Grant that General Jubal Early’s Confederate army in the Shenandoah was depleted because a corps had been transferred to reinforce Confederates at Petersburg. Grant approved Sheridan’s plan to cut Early’s supply lines south of Winchester.
In the days before mechanical refrigeration, keeping ones' troops in food required some interesting logistics. Hardtack could be shipped and stored, but if the troops were to have beef one had to store it on the hoof. Confederate cavalry under Wade Hampton took advantage of superior Union stocks by staging a raid at Coggins' Point, Virginia, where they captured over 300 Federals and, more importantly, what they were guarding--a herd of some 2400 cattle. Getting them back to Petersburg would take several days and several skirmishes, but the food was desperately needed by the besieged forces there.
Another report: General Wade Hampton’s Confederate cavalry delivered a herd of cattle to General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia under siege at Petersburg. Hampton had raided Federal supply lines since 11 September, capturing 304 Federal prisoners and nearly 2,500 cattle consisting of almost two million pounds of beef for Lee’s hungry troops. This became known as the “beefsteak raid,” and Hampton’s cavalrymen were nicknamed the “cowboys.”
Commander James Dunwoody Bulloch wrote Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen R. Mallory from Liverpool: "The loss of the Alabama occurred just at a time when the financial condition of the Navy Department began to improve and...I took immediate steps to look up a successor. I have now the satisfaction to inform you of the purchase of a fine composite ship, built for the Bombay trade, and just returned from her first voyage. She is 1,160 tons builder's measurement, classed A-1...frames, beams, etc., of iron, but planked from keel to gunwhale with East Indian teak...My broker has had her carefully examined by one of Lloyd's inspectors, who pronounced her a capital ship in every respect...The log of the ship shows her to be a fast sailor under canvas, for with screw up she has made 330 miles in 24 hours by observation." Bulloch was describing the steamer Sea King, a ship which would shortly become renowned as the raider the CSS Shenandoah. He also informed Mallory that contracts had been let for the torpedo boats which the Secretary had ordered two months before.
A boat expedition from the USS Arid, Acting Master James J. Russell in charge, captured over 4,000 pounds of cotton in the vicinity of Tampa Bay, Florida.
General Nathan Bedford Forrest and about 4,500 Confederate cavalrymen left Verona, Mississippi to raid Major General William T. Sherman’s Federal supply and communication lines in northern Alabama and southern Tennessee.
Generals Hiram U. Grant and Philip H. Sheridan conferred at Charles Town, West Virginia. Sheridan informed Grant that General Jubal Early’s Confederate army in the Shenandoah was depleted because a corps had been transferred to reinforce Confederates at Petersburg. Grant approved Sheridan’s plan to cut Early’s supply lines south of Winchester.
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Posted on 9/16/14 at 8:56 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Saturday, 17 September 1864
John Charles Fremont, known as the "Pathfinder" and, as former commander of the Union forces in St. Louis, Missouri, issuer of the 30 August, 1861 first Emancipation Proclamation of Slaves in the state, where he spent far more time fighting with Frank Blair, Jr. than marching to fight Sterling Price’s Confederates, performed a most noble deed today. He informed a committee of the Radical Republicans that he was declining their request to run for President in the primary against Abraham Lincoln. Although he regarded Lincoln as a complete failure (the fact that Lincoln had relieved him of command in St. Louis may have influenced this opinion), he disliked the Democrat, George B. McClellan, even more. McClellan’s victory, Fremont said, would result in “...separation or re-establishment [of the Union] with slavery...” still intact.
Second account: Savannah, Georgia, native and Radical Republican John C. Fremont, who was chosen as his party's first candidate for president in 1856, withdrew his candidacy for president this afternoon. Fremont still considered President Abraham Lincoln an abject failure, but he wanted to prevent a Republican Party--now called the National Union Party--split that would allow Democrat George B. McClellan to win the upcoming election. Behind the scenes, Radicals in Congress had indicated a willingness to facilitate Fremont’s withdrawal in exchange for assurances from Lincoln, such as dismissing cabinet members who opposed Radical policies. Fremont’s withdrawal, along with recent Federal military victories, unified the Republican/National Union Party and gave Lincoln strong momentum in the upcoming race.
In the Shenandoah Valley, two years to the day after the Battle of Sharpsburg at Antietam Creek, General Jubal Early’s Confederates advanced along the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad from Stephenson’s Depot, just north of Winchester, toward Martinsburg. Early had less than 12,000 men to oppose over 40,000 Federals in three corps under General Philip Sheridan. Despite this handicap, Early had his forces dispersed and did not place his troops in better defensive positions with more adequate supply lines.
John Charles Fremont, known as the "Pathfinder" and, as former commander of the Union forces in St. Louis, Missouri, issuer of the 30 August, 1861 first Emancipation Proclamation of Slaves in the state, where he spent far more time fighting with Frank Blair, Jr. than marching to fight Sterling Price’s Confederates, performed a most noble deed today. He informed a committee of the Radical Republicans that he was declining their request to run for President in the primary against Abraham Lincoln. Although he regarded Lincoln as a complete failure (the fact that Lincoln had relieved him of command in St. Louis may have influenced this opinion), he disliked the Democrat, George B. McClellan, even more. McClellan’s victory, Fremont said, would result in “...separation or re-establishment [of the Union] with slavery...” still intact.
Second account: Savannah, Georgia, native and Radical Republican John C. Fremont, who was chosen as his party's first candidate for president in 1856, withdrew his candidacy for president this afternoon. Fremont still considered President Abraham Lincoln an abject failure, but he wanted to prevent a Republican Party--now called the National Union Party--split that would allow Democrat George B. McClellan to win the upcoming election. Behind the scenes, Radicals in Congress had indicated a willingness to facilitate Fremont’s withdrawal in exchange for assurances from Lincoln, such as dismissing cabinet members who opposed Radical policies. Fremont’s withdrawal, along with recent Federal military victories, unified the Republican/National Union Party and gave Lincoln strong momentum in the upcoming race.
In the Shenandoah Valley, two years to the day after the Battle of Sharpsburg at Antietam Creek, General Jubal Early’s Confederates advanced along the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad from Stephenson’s Depot, just north of Winchester, toward Martinsburg. Early had less than 12,000 men to oppose over 40,000 Federals in three corps under General Philip Sheridan. Despite this handicap, Early had his forces dispersed and did not place his troops in better defensive positions with more adequate supply lines.
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