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Posted on 5/25/15 at 5:25 am to BadLeroyDawg
Posted on 5/25/15 at 5:25 am to BadLeroyDawg
Thursday, 25 May 1865
The reportedly unintentional "accidental explosion" of over 20 tons of gunpowder at the Confederate ordnance depot at Mobile, Alabama, causes an estimated $5,000,000 in damages to buildings, boats, and other property and kills and wounds approximately 300 people. The gunpowder was being stored in a warehouse used as an arsenal, and its detonation and fire directly led to many other blasts.
Second report: An ordnance explosion and the resulting fires causes extensive damage in Mobile. The explosion originated in Marshall's warehouse, which contained surrendered Confederate ammunition. Rear Admiral Henry Knox Thatcher noted that although the explosion occurred three quarters of a mile from the flagship, fragments of shell fell on board. Commander Edward Simpson was immediately dispatched with a number of sailors to render all possible aid. Simpson reported: "I visited the scene of the fire, and with a large force of sailors was enabled to do some service, the presence of the sailors in the neighborhood of the exploding shells tended much to restore a partial feeling of confidence to the firemen and others." He called particular attention to the bravery, of Quartermaster John Cooper who "...at the risk of being blown to pieces by exploding shells..." entered the fire and carried a wounded man to safety on his back. For this heroic deed, Cooper was awarded the Medal of Honor for a second time; his first award was for courageous devotion to duty on board U.S.S. Brooklyn at Mobile Bay in 1864. The tug U.S.S. Cowslip, commanded by Acting Master W. T. Bacon, towed three vessels to safety.
Francis Channing Barlow, U.S.A., is appointed Major General.
A Federal expedition travels from Bayou Boeuf to Bayou De Large, Louisiana, with a brief affair recorded at Bayou De Large, as the Yankees surprise the camp of 11 Confederates behind J. Terrion's plantation, capturing all of their weapons and provisions, as the partisans retreat into the woods.
Federal troops scout from Fort Ruby to the Humboldt Valley, Nevada, with a skirmish reported near Austin, Nevada, with the Piute and Bannock Indians who were committing deprivations against ranchers' livestock, about Austin, Grass Valley and in the Reese River Valley.
Because of his activities as a Confederate agent abroad and his torpedo activities, that many Northerners considered dastardly, Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury decided he would not be granted amnesty. Before the War, when he headed the United States Naval Observatory and was world famous for his pathfinding in oceanography, he had corresponded with many leaders from Europe including Heads of State. One of them had been Maximilian of Austria. In England he had renewed this correspondence and had dabbled in political intrigue with Emperor Napoleon and Maximilian before the latter proceeded in 1864 on his ill-fated venture as Emperor of Mexico. Hence Maury had continued on board Atrato which had departed Havana on the 24th for Mexico. This morning, Maury drafted a note to the United States Consul at Vera Cruz, enclosing a letter addressed "To the officer in command of the U.S. Naval forces in the Gulf of Mexico". He wrote:
"In peace as in war I follow the fortunes of my native old state [Virginia]. I read in the public prints that she has practically confessed defeat and laid down her arms. In that act mine were grounded also. I am here without command, officially alone, and am bound on matters of private concern abroad. Nevertheless, and as I consider further resistance worse than useless, I deem it proper formally so to confess; and to pledge you in the words of honor that, should I find myself before the final inauguration of peace within the jurisdiction of the United States, to consider myself a prisoner of war, bound by the terms and conditions which have been or may be granted to General Lee and his officers. Be pleased to send your answer through my son (Colonel R. L. Maury), a prisoner of war on parole in Richmond. In the meantime, until I hear to the contrary, I shall act as though my surrender had been formally accepted on the above named terms conditions."
Rear Admiral Thatcher reports that this date the defensive works at Sabine Pass, Texas, were evacuated and that the United States flag was hoisted at Forts Mannahasset and Griffin. The flags were raised by men from the U.S.S. Owasco, commanded by Acting Lieutenant Commander Lewis W. Pennington.
The U.S.S. Vanderbilt, commanded by Captain C. W. Pickering, arrives at Hampton Roads with the captured Confederate ram Columbia in tow. She was one of the largest ironclads ever built by the Confederacy, but had never seen service as she grounded when being outfitted at Charleston, South Carolina. Columbia was captured when Charleston capitulated and was subsequently salvaged.
The reportedly unintentional "accidental explosion" of over 20 tons of gunpowder at the Confederate ordnance depot at Mobile, Alabama, causes an estimated $5,000,000 in damages to buildings, boats, and other property and kills and wounds approximately 300 people. The gunpowder was being stored in a warehouse used as an arsenal, and its detonation and fire directly led to many other blasts.
Second report: An ordnance explosion and the resulting fires causes extensive damage in Mobile. The explosion originated in Marshall's warehouse, which contained surrendered Confederate ammunition. Rear Admiral Henry Knox Thatcher noted that although the explosion occurred three quarters of a mile from the flagship, fragments of shell fell on board. Commander Edward Simpson was immediately dispatched with a number of sailors to render all possible aid. Simpson reported: "I visited the scene of the fire, and with a large force of sailors was enabled to do some service, the presence of the sailors in the neighborhood of the exploding shells tended much to restore a partial feeling of confidence to the firemen and others." He called particular attention to the bravery, of Quartermaster John Cooper who "...at the risk of being blown to pieces by exploding shells..." entered the fire and carried a wounded man to safety on his back. For this heroic deed, Cooper was awarded the Medal of Honor for a second time; his first award was for courageous devotion to duty on board U.S.S. Brooklyn at Mobile Bay in 1864. The tug U.S.S. Cowslip, commanded by Acting Master W. T. Bacon, towed three vessels to safety.
Francis Channing Barlow, U.S.A., is appointed Major General.
A Federal expedition travels from Bayou Boeuf to Bayou De Large, Louisiana, with a brief affair recorded at Bayou De Large, as the Yankees surprise the camp of 11 Confederates behind J. Terrion's plantation, capturing all of their weapons and provisions, as the partisans retreat into the woods.
Federal troops scout from Fort Ruby to the Humboldt Valley, Nevada, with a skirmish reported near Austin, Nevada, with the Piute and Bannock Indians who were committing deprivations against ranchers' livestock, about Austin, Grass Valley and in the Reese River Valley.
Because of his activities as a Confederate agent abroad and his torpedo activities, that many Northerners considered dastardly, Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury decided he would not be granted amnesty. Before the War, when he headed the United States Naval Observatory and was world famous for his pathfinding in oceanography, he had corresponded with many leaders from Europe including Heads of State. One of them had been Maximilian of Austria. In England he had renewed this correspondence and had dabbled in political intrigue with Emperor Napoleon and Maximilian before the latter proceeded in 1864 on his ill-fated venture as Emperor of Mexico. Hence Maury had continued on board Atrato which had departed Havana on the 24th for Mexico. This morning, Maury drafted a note to the United States Consul at Vera Cruz, enclosing a letter addressed "To the officer in command of the U.S. Naval forces in the Gulf of Mexico". He wrote:
"In peace as in war I follow the fortunes of my native old state [Virginia]. I read in the public prints that she has practically confessed defeat and laid down her arms. In that act mine were grounded also. I am here without command, officially alone, and am bound on matters of private concern abroad. Nevertheless, and as I consider further resistance worse than useless, I deem it proper formally so to confess; and to pledge you in the words of honor that, should I find myself before the final inauguration of peace within the jurisdiction of the United States, to consider myself a prisoner of war, bound by the terms and conditions which have been or may be granted to General Lee and his officers. Be pleased to send your answer through my son (Colonel R. L. Maury), a prisoner of war on parole in Richmond. In the meantime, until I hear to the contrary, I shall act as though my surrender had been formally accepted on the above named terms conditions."
Rear Admiral Thatcher reports that this date the defensive works at Sabine Pass, Texas, were evacuated and that the United States flag was hoisted at Forts Mannahasset and Griffin. The flags were raised by men from the U.S.S. Owasco, commanded by Acting Lieutenant Commander Lewis W. Pennington.
The U.S.S. Vanderbilt, commanded by Captain C. W. Pickering, arrives at Hampton Roads with the captured Confederate ram Columbia in tow. She was one of the largest ironclads ever built by the Confederacy, but had never seen service as she grounded when being outfitted at Charleston, South Carolina. Columbia was captured when Charleston capitulated and was subsequently salvaged.
1
Posted on 5/26/15 at 3:56 am to BadLeroyDawg
Friday, 26 May 1865
At New Orleans, Confederate Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner, acting for General Edmund Kirby Smith, Confederate commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department, enters into a military convention with Federal Major General Peter Joseph Osterhaus, representing Major General Edward Richard Sprigg Canby. Under the terms of the surrender, all resistance would cease, and officers and men would be paroled under the terms similar to those of the Appomattox surrender. Confederate Brigadier General Joseph Orville Shelby refuses to capitulate, opting instead to go to Mexico, dispersing the remainder of his forces who refuse to go along with him. Some troops scatter with Shelby to Mexico, the Far West, or just go home. Now only Confederate Brigadier General Stand Watie, in charge of the Indian Division, remains as the last holdout yet to surrender.
Gershom Mott, U.S.A., is appointed Major General.
Union troops scout after a band of roving Confederates and skirmishing breaks out in Carroll and Ray Counties, Missouri, including in the Crook River timber, as the Yankees continue to inflict serious damage to the few remaining Rebels, partisans and guerrillas.
Federal cavalry scouts against Indians from Plum Creek, in the Nebraska Territory to the vicinity of Mullahla's Station, where a few head of cattle were stolen.
Federal operations continue against Indians near the Overland Stage Road on the Platte and Sweetwater Rivers, with skirmishes at Saint Mary's Station, Sweetwater Station, Platte Bridge, all in the Dakota Territory, Sage Creek in the Colorado Territory.
The attacking Indians burn some of the above stations, tear down telegraph lines, kill quite a few white men and soldiers, in addition to wounding many others.
Full report: General Edmund Kirby Smith’s subordinate, Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner, surrenders the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department to Major General Peter Joseph Osterhaus, representing Major General Edward Richard Sprigg Canby at New Orleans. Smith receives the same terms granted to General Robert Edward Lee. This ends virtually all effective organized resistance. One of the last Confederate generals to capitulate, Smith, who had become commander of the area in January 1863, was charged with keeping the Mississippi River open to the Southerners. Yet he was more interested in recapturing Arkansas and Missouri, largely because of the influence of Arkansans in the Confederate Congress who helped to secure his appointment.
Drawing sharp criticism for his failure to provide relief for Vicksburg, Mississippi in the summer of 1863, Smith later conducted the resistance to the Union’s failed Red River campaign of 1864. When the Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee and Joseph Johnston surrendered in the spring of 1865, Smith continued to resist with his small army in Texas. He insisted that Lee and Johnston were prisoners of war and decried Confederate deserters. This morning, General Simon Buckner, acting for Smith, meets with Union officers in New Orleans to arrange the surrender of Smith’s force under terms similar to Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, Virginia. Smith reluctantly agrees, and will officially lays down his arms at Galveston on June 2. Smith himself will flee to Mexico, and then to Cuba, before returning to Virginia in November 1865 to sign an amnesty oath. He was the last surviving full Confederate general until his death in 1893.
Twenty-three days after Smith’s surrender, Brigadier General Stand Watie, a Cherokee, would become the last Confederate field general to surrender.
At New Orleans, Confederate Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner, acting for General Edmund Kirby Smith, Confederate commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department, enters into a military convention with Federal Major General Peter Joseph Osterhaus, representing Major General Edward Richard Sprigg Canby. Under the terms of the surrender, all resistance would cease, and officers and men would be paroled under the terms similar to those of the Appomattox surrender. Confederate Brigadier General Joseph Orville Shelby refuses to capitulate, opting instead to go to Mexico, dispersing the remainder of his forces who refuse to go along with him. Some troops scatter with Shelby to Mexico, the Far West, or just go home. Now only Confederate Brigadier General Stand Watie, in charge of the Indian Division, remains as the last holdout yet to surrender.
Gershom Mott, U.S.A., is appointed Major General.
Union troops scout after a band of roving Confederates and skirmishing breaks out in Carroll and Ray Counties, Missouri, including in the Crook River timber, as the Yankees continue to inflict serious damage to the few remaining Rebels, partisans and guerrillas.
Federal cavalry scouts against Indians from Plum Creek, in the Nebraska Territory to the vicinity of Mullahla's Station, where a few head of cattle were stolen.
Federal operations continue against Indians near the Overland Stage Road on the Platte and Sweetwater Rivers, with skirmishes at Saint Mary's Station, Sweetwater Station, Platte Bridge, all in the Dakota Territory, Sage Creek in the Colorado Territory.
The attacking Indians burn some of the above stations, tear down telegraph lines, kill quite a few white men and soldiers, in addition to wounding many others.
Full report: General Edmund Kirby Smith’s subordinate, Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner, surrenders the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department to Major General Peter Joseph Osterhaus, representing Major General Edward Richard Sprigg Canby at New Orleans. Smith receives the same terms granted to General Robert Edward Lee. This ends virtually all effective organized resistance. One of the last Confederate generals to capitulate, Smith, who had become commander of the area in January 1863, was charged with keeping the Mississippi River open to the Southerners. Yet he was more interested in recapturing Arkansas and Missouri, largely because of the influence of Arkansans in the Confederate Congress who helped to secure his appointment.
Drawing sharp criticism for his failure to provide relief for Vicksburg, Mississippi in the summer of 1863, Smith later conducted the resistance to the Union’s failed Red River campaign of 1864. When the Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee and Joseph Johnston surrendered in the spring of 1865, Smith continued to resist with his small army in Texas. He insisted that Lee and Johnston were prisoners of war and decried Confederate deserters. This morning, General Simon Buckner, acting for Smith, meets with Union officers in New Orleans to arrange the surrender of Smith’s force under terms similar to Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, Virginia. Smith reluctantly agrees, and will officially lays down his arms at Galveston on June 2. Smith himself will flee to Mexico, and then to Cuba, before returning to Virginia in November 1865 to sign an amnesty oath. He was the last surviving full Confederate general until his death in 1893.
Twenty-three days after Smith’s surrender, Brigadier General Stand Watie, a Cherokee, would become the last Confederate field general to surrender.
Posted on 5/26/15 at 8:15 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Saturday, 27 May 1865
President Andrew Johnson orders most of the people imprisoned by military authorities to be discharged. This, of course, did not include the Lincoln Assassination conspirators who were still going through their trial or members of the Confederate Government. It did include Northerners incarcerated by Abraham Lincoln who were considered "Anti-War" and "Copperheads" as well as journalists who campaigned against the Southern Invasion.
Executive Order
May 27, 1865
WAR DEPARTMENT
Ordered , That in all cases of sentences by military tribunals of imprisonment during the war the sentence be remitted and that the prisoners be discharged. The Adjutant-General will issue immediately the necessary instructions to carry. this order into effect.
By order of the President of the United States:
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.
Minor skirmishing is reported with partisan guerrillas in Chariton County, Missouri, particularly at Switzer’s Mill.
Benjamin Henry Grierson, USA, is appointed to Major General.
Major General Peter J. Osterhaus, USA, is assigned to the command of the Federal Department of Mississippi, relieving Major General Gouverneur K. Warren.
Reporting to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles that he had visited the C.S.S. Stonewall in Havana, Rear Admiral Cornelius Kinchiloe Stribling wrote: "I...do not consider her so formidable a vessel as had been represented. In a seaway she would be powerless, and unless her speed was greater than that of her opponent her ram could do no harm."
The U.S.S. Pontiac, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Stephen Bleecker Luce, delivered several relics of Confederate warfare to the United States Naval Academy. These were sent from Charleston by Rear Admiral John A. B. Dahlgren and included a torpedo boat similar to the one "...that exploded a torpedo under the Ironsides on the night of October 10, 1863, and afterwards menaced our vessels constantly." He also sent two torpedoes similar to those which had sunk U.S.S. Patapsco and Harvest Moon. He credited Confederate torpedo warfare as "most troublesome" to the Union naval forces. Secretary Welles reported that "...torpedoes have been more destructive of our naval vessels than all other means combined."
Rear Admiral Stribling, commanding the East Gulf Squadron, reports to Secretary Welles the surrender to his forces of the C.S.S. Spray. The gunboat had been stationed in the St. Marks River guarding the water approaches to Tallahassee, Florida. Spray's commanding officer, Lieutenant Henry H. Lewis, surrendered the vessel upon learning that the troops at Tallahassee had capitulated.
The C.S.S. Shenandoah, commanded by Lieutenant James Iredell Waddell, captures the whaling bark Abigail near Shantarski Island in the northwestern reaches of the Sea of Okhotsk. Abigail's master, Ebenezer Nye, had been captured earlier in the war by Captain Raphael Semmes with the C.S.S. Alabama. One of Nye's mates turned to him and said, "You are more fortunate in picking up Confederate cruisers than whales. I will never again go with you, for if there is a cruiser out, you will find her." The following day, after taking on a stove from Abigail to warm Waddell's cabin, a large quantity of liquor found on board the prize to warm the men, and winter clothing essential to continued operations in these northern waters, the whaler was burned. Waddell proceeded southward along the Siberian Coast and Sakhalin.
General Israel Vogdes reports that he has "...caused Mr. (David Levy} Yulee to be arrested and brought to Jacksonville. He is now confined under guard according to your orders. Is it the intention of the General Commanding to have him confined, or may I admit him to parole? If the former, how strictly should he be confined? I do not think that there need be any apprehension of his attempting to escape, unless the General Commanding desires otherwise he might safely be admitted to parole pending appearance of the charges against him. I shall not take any steps in so admitting him until I receive the instructions from the Commanding General."
President Andrew Johnson orders most of the people imprisoned by military authorities to be discharged. This, of course, did not include the Lincoln Assassination conspirators who were still going through their trial or members of the Confederate Government. It did include Northerners incarcerated by Abraham Lincoln who were considered "Anti-War" and "Copperheads" as well as journalists who campaigned against the Southern Invasion.
Executive Order
May 27, 1865
WAR DEPARTMENT
Ordered , That in all cases of sentences by military tribunals of imprisonment during the war the sentence be remitted and that the prisoners be discharged. The Adjutant-General will issue immediately the necessary instructions to carry. this order into effect.
By order of the President of the United States:
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.
Minor skirmishing is reported with partisan guerrillas in Chariton County, Missouri, particularly at Switzer’s Mill.
Benjamin Henry Grierson, USA, is appointed to Major General.
Major General Peter J. Osterhaus, USA, is assigned to the command of the Federal Department of Mississippi, relieving Major General Gouverneur K. Warren.
Reporting to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles that he had visited the C.S.S. Stonewall in Havana, Rear Admiral Cornelius Kinchiloe Stribling wrote: "I...do not consider her so formidable a vessel as had been represented. In a seaway she would be powerless, and unless her speed was greater than that of her opponent her ram could do no harm."
The U.S.S. Pontiac, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Stephen Bleecker Luce, delivered several relics of Confederate warfare to the United States Naval Academy. These were sent from Charleston by Rear Admiral John A. B. Dahlgren and included a torpedo boat similar to the one "...that exploded a torpedo under the Ironsides on the night of October 10, 1863, and afterwards menaced our vessels constantly." He also sent two torpedoes similar to those which had sunk U.S.S. Patapsco and Harvest Moon. He credited Confederate torpedo warfare as "most troublesome" to the Union naval forces. Secretary Welles reported that "...torpedoes have been more destructive of our naval vessels than all other means combined."
Rear Admiral Stribling, commanding the East Gulf Squadron, reports to Secretary Welles the surrender to his forces of the C.S.S. Spray. The gunboat had been stationed in the St. Marks River guarding the water approaches to Tallahassee, Florida. Spray's commanding officer, Lieutenant Henry H. Lewis, surrendered the vessel upon learning that the troops at Tallahassee had capitulated.
The C.S.S. Shenandoah, commanded by Lieutenant James Iredell Waddell, captures the whaling bark Abigail near Shantarski Island in the northwestern reaches of the Sea of Okhotsk. Abigail's master, Ebenezer Nye, had been captured earlier in the war by Captain Raphael Semmes with the C.S.S. Alabama. One of Nye's mates turned to him and said, "You are more fortunate in picking up Confederate cruisers than whales. I will never again go with you, for if there is a cruiser out, you will find her." The following day, after taking on a stove from Abigail to warm Waddell's cabin, a large quantity of liquor found on board the prize to warm the men, and winter clothing essential to continued operations in these northern waters, the whaler was burned. Waddell proceeded southward along the Siberian Coast and Sakhalin.
General Israel Vogdes reports that he has "...caused Mr. (David Levy} Yulee to be arrested and brought to Jacksonville. He is now confined under guard according to your orders. Is it the intention of the General Commanding to have him confined, or may I admit him to parole? If the former, how strictly should he be confined? I do not think that there need be any apprehension of his attempting to escape, unless the General Commanding desires otherwise he might safely be admitted to parole pending appearance of the charges against him. I shall not take any steps in so admitting him until I receive the instructions from the Commanding General."
Posted on 5/27/15 at 7:48 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Sunday, 28 May 1865
The 8th Ohio Cavalry is ordered to seize and secure all Confederate arms known to exist in the interior of West Virginia, and to capture those who fail to surrender.
Seven Confederate soldiers--George R. Smith, Michael S. Barnhart, Hugh McGee, Nick Taylor, Jonas Myers, Rufus Holmes and Thomas Raney--arrive unarmed at Federal headquarters in the St. Charles Hotel in Pocahontas, Arkansas, in order to receive their paroles and go home to their families after four long years of hard warfare. Instead, they are bound, blindfolded and then shot on Bettis Street in front of the hotel. Two additional unnamed Confederates are wounded but live and three additional men are able to escape unharmed. A detachment of the 7th Kansas Cavalry, Company C--known as "Jennison's Jayhawkers"--approximately 45 in number, is responsible for the massacre.
Their gravestone at Cowan Cemetery reads: In Memory of Our Fallen Brothers, Murdered May 28, 1865. Tied, Blindfolded and Shot by U.S. Troops After They Had Surrendered.
Brevet Brigadier General George Spalding, 12th Tennessee Cavalry, USA, assumes command of the Federal District of North Missouri.
At 1400 hours the lookout on the CSS Shenandoah, commanded by Lieutenant James Iredell Waddell, cries..."Sail ho!" Waddell orders the Russian ensign hoisted and the chase begins. The whaling bark Abigail is separated from the Shenandoah by an ice floe that keeps both vessels on a parallel course. Upon reaching open water, the Shenandoah strikes her Russian colors, raises the Confederate flag, and fires a blank cartridge. After boarding the Abigail, a Confederate officer informs Captain Ebenezer Nye that the CSN has crafted a treaty with the whales to dispose of their mortal enemies. The Shenandoah takes 36 prisoners, some of whom shipped, and cargo needed for an Arctic cruise. The Abigail is burned.
The 8th Ohio Cavalry is ordered to seize and secure all Confederate arms known to exist in the interior of West Virginia, and to capture those who fail to surrender.
Seven Confederate soldiers--George R. Smith, Michael S. Barnhart, Hugh McGee, Nick Taylor, Jonas Myers, Rufus Holmes and Thomas Raney--arrive unarmed at Federal headquarters in the St. Charles Hotel in Pocahontas, Arkansas, in order to receive their paroles and go home to their families after four long years of hard warfare. Instead, they are bound, blindfolded and then shot on Bettis Street in front of the hotel. Two additional unnamed Confederates are wounded but live and three additional men are able to escape unharmed. A detachment of the 7th Kansas Cavalry, Company C--known as "Jennison's Jayhawkers"--approximately 45 in number, is responsible for the massacre.
Their gravestone at Cowan Cemetery reads: In Memory of Our Fallen Brothers, Murdered May 28, 1865. Tied, Blindfolded and Shot by U.S. Troops After They Had Surrendered.
Brevet Brigadier General George Spalding, 12th Tennessee Cavalry, USA, assumes command of the Federal District of North Missouri.
At 1400 hours the lookout on the CSS Shenandoah, commanded by Lieutenant James Iredell Waddell, cries..."Sail ho!" Waddell orders the Russian ensign hoisted and the chase begins. The whaling bark Abigail is separated from the Shenandoah by an ice floe that keeps both vessels on a parallel course. Upon reaching open water, the Shenandoah strikes her Russian colors, raises the Confederate flag, and fires a blank cartridge. After boarding the Abigail, a Confederate officer informs Captain Ebenezer Nye that the CSN has crafted a treaty with the whales to dispose of their mortal enemies. The Shenandoah takes 36 prisoners, some of whom shipped, and cargo needed for an Arctic cruise. The Abigail is burned.
Posted on 5/28/15 at 8:36 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Monday, 29 May 1865
By presidential proclamation and in an act of reconciliation, President Andrew Johnson grants amnesty and pardon to all people who directly or indirectly participated in "...the existing rebellion..." with a few exceptions. Though he had followed the pattern laid down by President Lincoln, except that people who participated in the War Between the States and had a taxable property of over $20,000 were excluded. There were numerous other excepted classes where those impacted could apply to the President where "...such clemency will be liberally extended as may be consistent with the facts of the case and the pace and dignity of the United States." Johnson was liberal in granting such clemency, which set the tone for his later Reconstruction policies.
Another report: President Andrew Johnson began implementing his version of former President Abraham Lincoln’s Reconstruction plan by issuing two proclamations. The "Amnesty Proclamation" pardoned those involved in the "existing rebellion" if they swore allegiance to the U.S. and acknowledged the end of slavery. Several classes of southerners were ineligible for amnesty, and they were required to personally request a presidential pardon and "...realize the enormity of their crime..." whereupon amnesty would be "...liberally extended."
The "North Carolina Proclamation" restored civil government in that state. Johnson appointed William Woods Holden as provisional governor; Holden was to organize a convention to draft a new state constitution. Convention delegates were required to swear allegiance to the United States, reject the ordinance of secession, repudiate the Confederate war debt, and ratify the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery. Ten percent of registered voters were required to approve the constitution before elections could be held for local, state, and federal offices.
The "North Carolina Proclamation" violated the United States Constitution’s guarantee of a republican form of government for each sovereign state because Holden was not popularly elected, and 10 percent of the voters overruled the other 90. Johnson, nevertheless, used this as the template for restoring the remaining conquered states--South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas--to the Union.
The territory in the Trans-Mississippi, south of the Arkansas River, is designated the Federal Military Division of the Southwest, by Major General Philip H. Sheridan. Operations commence under the Major General in Texas on the Rio Grande River--as Sheridan begins a mopping up campaign after the surrender of Lieutenant General E. Kirby Smith--overseeing the renamed Military Division, relocating troops and chasing Indians.
The Army of the Tennessee and the Army of Georgia (except the troops belonging to the East) are ordered to Louisville, Kentucky.
The District of East Louisiana is formed, to consist of the Districts of Baton Rouge and Port Hudson and the Post of Clinton, and Brigadier General Michael K. Lawler is assigned to its command.
Federal operations continue against partisan guerrillas in Johnson County, Missouri.
Brevet Major General John E. Smith assumes command of the Federal District of West Tennessee.
Charles Francis Adams, American Minister to Great Britain, claimed that the cruiser policy England had encouraged during the War had destroyed the United States thriving merchant marine. In a letter to the British Foreign Minister, Adams held English policy directly responsible for the 110,000 tons of American shipping burned or sunk then went on to broaden the indictment by adding that "...the action of these British built, manned and armed vessels has had the indirect effect of driving from the sea a large portion of the commercial marine of the United States." Although the American flag disappeared from the sea, the merchant ships that had flown it (except for the destroyed prizes) did not. More than 800,000 tons of American owned shipping was either transferred to foreign registry or sold to foreign ship owners in order to gain the shelter of a neutral flag. Prior to the War Between the States, the United States had become the world's leading maritime carrier measured by both tonnage of bottoms and value of cargo. The Civil War cost the nation this number one position.
By presidential proclamation and in an act of reconciliation, President Andrew Johnson grants amnesty and pardon to all people who directly or indirectly participated in "...the existing rebellion..." with a few exceptions. Though he had followed the pattern laid down by President Lincoln, except that people who participated in the War Between the States and had a taxable property of over $20,000 were excluded. There were numerous other excepted classes where those impacted could apply to the President where "...such clemency will be liberally extended as may be consistent with the facts of the case and the pace and dignity of the United States." Johnson was liberal in granting such clemency, which set the tone for his later Reconstruction policies.
Another report: President Andrew Johnson began implementing his version of former President Abraham Lincoln’s Reconstruction plan by issuing two proclamations. The "Amnesty Proclamation" pardoned those involved in the "existing rebellion" if they swore allegiance to the U.S. and acknowledged the end of slavery. Several classes of southerners were ineligible for amnesty, and they were required to personally request a presidential pardon and "...realize the enormity of their crime..." whereupon amnesty would be "...liberally extended."
The "North Carolina Proclamation" restored civil government in that state. Johnson appointed William Woods Holden as provisional governor; Holden was to organize a convention to draft a new state constitution. Convention delegates were required to swear allegiance to the United States, reject the ordinance of secession, repudiate the Confederate war debt, and ratify the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery. Ten percent of registered voters were required to approve the constitution before elections could be held for local, state, and federal offices.
The "North Carolina Proclamation" violated the United States Constitution’s guarantee of a republican form of government for each sovereign state because Holden was not popularly elected, and 10 percent of the voters overruled the other 90. Johnson, nevertheless, used this as the template for restoring the remaining conquered states--South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas--to the Union.
The territory in the Trans-Mississippi, south of the Arkansas River, is designated the Federal Military Division of the Southwest, by Major General Philip H. Sheridan. Operations commence under the Major General in Texas on the Rio Grande River--as Sheridan begins a mopping up campaign after the surrender of Lieutenant General E. Kirby Smith--overseeing the renamed Military Division, relocating troops and chasing Indians.
The Army of the Tennessee and the Army of Georgia (except the troops belonging to the East) are ordered to Louisville, Kentucky.
The District of East Louisiana is formed, to consist of the Districts of Baton Rouge and Port Hudson and the Post of Clinton, and Brigadier General Michael K. Lawler is assigned to its command.
Federal operations continue against partisan guerrillas in Johnson County, Missouri.
Brevet Major General John E. Smith assumes command of the Federal District of West Tennessee.
Charles Francis Adams, American Minister to Great Britain, claimed that the cruiser policy England had encouraged during the War had destroyed the United States thriving merchant marine. In a letter to the British Foreign Minister, Adams held English policy directly responsible for the 110,000 tons of American shipping burned or sunk then went on to broaden the indictment by adding that "...the action of these British built, manned and armed vessels has had the indirect effect of driving from the sea a large portion of the commercial marine of the United States." Although the American flag disappeared from the sea, the merchant ships that had flown it (except for the destroyed prizes) did not. More than 800,000 tons of American owned shipping was either transferred to foreign registry or sold to foreign ship owners in order to gain the shelter of a neutral flag. Prior to the War Between the States, the United States had become the world's leading maritime carrier measured by both tonnage of bottoms and value of cargo. The Civil War cost the nation this number one position.
Posted on 5/29/15 at 9:04 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Tuesday, 30 May 1865
Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court John Catron passed away in Nashville, Tennessee, at age 79. After his death, Congress eliminated his seat from the Court under the Judicial Circuits Act as a way of preventing President Andrew Johnson from appointing any justices to the Supreme Court.
The first storm of the 1865 Hurricane Season, a tropical gale in the Caribbean Sea, wrecked the Golden Rule. After the tempest subsided, the crew sailed to a deserted island where they were rescued by two United States ships 10 days later.
Under orders, the Federal 4th Army Corps is transferred from the Department of the Cumberland to the newly created Military Division of the Southwest.
The Congressional Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War concludes that the Union massacre of Native Americans at Sand Creek last November was "...the scene of murder and barbarity." The conduct of Colonel John M. Chivington disgraced "...the veriest savage..." and Colorado Territorial Governor John Evans’ testimony consisted of "...prevarications and shuffling." President Johnson demanded and received Evans’ resignation.
Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court John Catron passed away in Nashville, Tennessee, at age 79. After his death, Congress eliminated his seat from the Court under the Judicial Circuits Act as a way of preventing President Andrew Johnson from appointing any justices to the Supreme Court.
The first storm of the 1865 Hurricane Season, a tropical gale in the Caribbean Sea, wrecked the Golden Rule. After the tempest subsided, the crew sailed to a deserted island where they were rescued by two United States ships 10 days later.
Under orders, the Federal 4th Army Corps is transferred from the Department of the Cumberland to the newly created Military Division of the Southwest.
The Congressional Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War concludes that the Union massacre of Native Americans at Sand Creek last November was "...the scene of murder and barbarity." The conduct of Colonel John M. Chivington disgraced "...the veriest savage..." and Colorado Territorial Governor John Evans’ testimony consisted of "...prevarications and shuffling." President Johnson demanded and received Evans’ resignation.
Posted on 5/30/15 at 9:10 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Wednesday, 31 May 1865
Union Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus Vasa Fox orders a reduction in the East Gulf Blockading Squadron to 10 steamers and four tug boats. The same order re-designates the Squadron as the East Gulf Squadron. The South Atlantic Blockading Squadron is compressed to 15 steamers and six tug boats and is re-designated the South Atlantic Squadron. The West Gulf Squadron is also reduced to 15 steamers, one monitor and one river ironclad, and six tugs.
The following are today appointed Union Brigadier Generals: Henry Alanson Barnum, Robert Francis Catterson, William Thomas Clark, Americus Vespucius Rice, William Burnham Woods.
A Federal expedition travels from Barrancas, Florida, aboard the transports, Peabody, N.P Banks, Clyde, Hussar, and Tampico, as well as with the steamer, Itasca, to Apalachicola.
The firing on Fort Sumter in Charleston's harbor traditionally marks the opening salvos of the War Between the States. But before this assault on April 12, 1861, there was another battle--the first shots of the War--hundreds of miles to the south in Florida.
On 8 January 1861, United States Army guards repelled a group of Southern partisans intending to take Fort Barrancas in Pensacola Harbor. Some historians maintain this event could be considered the first hostile volleys fired in the Civil War.
Fort Barrancas, located on a barrier island, was one of four fortified areas that marked the southern defenses. Fort Barrancas has been a site for harbor citadels since 1763, when the British built a fort. The Spanish captured Pensacola from the British in 1781 and constructed their own stronghold on the site, calling it San Carlos de Barranca. The Spanish word barranca means bluff, which fairly describes the location of the fort.
The United States began constructing fortifications at Pensacola in the 1820s, when Pensacola Bay was chosen as the site for a Navy Yard. Along with Fort Barrancas, which defended the Navy Yard, there were Fort Pickens and Fort McRee, both located on islands at the entrance to the bay. The Advance Redoubt, near Fort Barrancas, was an infantry fort, designed to stop overland movement of enemy troops toward the Navy Yard.
Fort Pickens was the largest installation that guarded Pensacola Harbor. Constructed between 1829-1834, Pickens was located at the western tip of Santa Rosa Island, just offshore the mainland. Construction was supervised by Colonel William H. Chase of the Corps of Army Engineers. Employing slave labor, the fort used over 22 million bricks and was designed to be impregnable. Ironically, Chase was later appointed by the State of Florida to command its troops and seize for the South the very fort he had built.
That the defensive positions were of critical importance was realized by both the Union and the Confederacy. On 5 January, Senator David Levy Yulee wrote from Washington, DC, to Joseph Finegan at Tallahassee, "The immediately important thing to be done is the occupation of the forts and arsenals in Florida." Union soldiers in Florida occupied the Apalachicola arsenal at Chattahoochee, containing a small number of arms, 5,000 pounds of powder and about 175,000 cartridges; Fort Barrancas, with 44 cannons and ammunition; Barrancas barracks, where there was a field battery; Fort Pickens, equipped with 201 cannons with ammunition; Fort McRee, 125 seacoast and garrison cannons; Fort Taylor in Key West, with 60 cannons; Key West barracks, 4 cannons; Fort Marion, with 6 field batteries and some small arms; and Fort Jefferson on the Tortugas.
Senator Yulee pointed out, "The naval station and forts at Pensacola were first in consequence." There was then on the mainland one company of Federal artillery, commanded by John H. Winder, later to be promoted to general in the Confederate service. On account of Winder's absence Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer was in charge.
At the time of the Secession, Fort Pickens had not been occupied since the Mexican War. Lieutenant Slemmer, responsible for the U.S. forces at Fort Barrancas, decided that in spite of its dilapidated condition, Pickens was more defensible than any of the other posts in the area. His decision was accelerated around midnight of 8 January when his troops repelled a group of men intending to take the station. In consolidating his position, Slemmer destroyed over 20,000 pounds of powder at Fort McRee, spiked the guns at Barrancas, and evacuated his 80 troops to Fort Pickens. Because of his tactical thinking, Fort Pickens remained in Union hands throughout the Civil War.
Union Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus Vasa Fox orders a reduction in the East Gulf Blockading Squadron to 10 steamers and four tug boats. The same order re-designates the Squadron as the East Gulf Squadron. The South Atlantic Blockading Squadron is compressed to 15 steamers and six tug boats and is re-designated the South Atlantic Squadron. The West Gulf Squadron is also reduced to 15 steamers, one monitor and one river ironclad, and six tugs.
The following are today appointed Union Brigadier Generals: Henry Alanson Barnum, Robert Francis Catterson, William Thomas Clark, Americus Vespucius Rice, William Burnham Woods.
A Federal expedition travels from Barrancas, Florida, aboard the transports, Peabody, N.P Banks, Clyde, Hussar, and Tampico, as well as with the steamer, Itasca, to Apalachicola.
The firing on Fort Sumter in Charleston's harbor traditionally marks the opening salvos of the War Between the States. But before this assault on April 12, 1861, there was another battle--the first shots of the War--hundreds of miles to the south in Florida.
On 8 January 1861, United States Army guards repelled a group of Southern partisans intending to take Fort Barrancas in Pensacola Harbor. Some historians maintain this event could be considered the first hostile volleys fired in the Civil War.
Fort Barrancas, located on a barrier island, was one of four fortified areas that marked the southern defenses. Fort Barrancas has been a site for harbor citadels since 1763, when the British built a fort. The Spanish captured Pensacola from the British in 1781 and constructed their own stronghold on the site, calling it San Carlos de Barranca. The Spanish word barranca means bluff, which fairly describes the location of the fort.
The United States began constructing fortifications at Pensacola in the 1820s, when Pensacola Bay was chosen as the site for a Navy Yard. Along with Fort Barrancas, which defended the Navy Yard, there were Fort Pickens and Fort McRee, both located on islands at the entrance to the bay. The Advance Redoubt, near Fort Barrancas, was an infantry fort, designed to stop overland movement of enemy troops toward the Navy Yard.
Fort Pickens was the largest installation that guarded Pensacola Harbor. Constructed between 1829-1834, Pickens was located at the western tip of Santa Rosa Island, just offshore the mainland. Construction was supervised by Colonel William H. Chase of the Corps of Army Engineers. Employing slave labor, the fort used over 22 million bricks and was designed to be impregnable. Ironically, Chase was later appointed by the State of Florida to command its troops and seize for the South the very fort he had built.
That the defensive positions were of critical importance was realized by both the Union and the Confederacy. On 5 January, Senator David Levy Yulee wrote from Washington, DC, to Joseph Finegan at Tallahassee, "The immediately important thing to be done is the occupation of the forts and arsenals in Florida." Union soldiers in Florida occupied the Apalachicola arsenal at Chattahoochee, containing a small number of arms, 5,000 pounds of powder and about 175,000 cartridges; Fort Barrancas, with 44 cannons and ammunition; Barrancas barracks, where there was a field battery; Fort Pickens, equipped with 201 cannons with ammunition; Fort McRee, 125 seacoast and garrison cannons; Fort Taylor in Key West, with 60 cannons; Key West barracks, 4 cannons; Fort Marion, with 6 field batteries and some small arms; and Fort Jefferson on the Tortugas.
Senator Yulee pointed out, "The naval station and forts at Pensacola were first in consequence." There was then on the mainland one company of Federal artillery, commanded by John H. Winder, later to be promoted to general in the Confederate service. On account of Winder's absence Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer was in charge.
At the time of the Secession, Fort Pickens had not been occupied since the Mexican War. Lieutenant Slemmer, responsible for the U.S. forces at Fort Barrancas, decided that in spite of its dilapidated condition, Pickens was more defensible than any of the other posts in the area. His decision was accelerated around midnight of 8 January when his troops repelled a group of men intending to take the station. In consolidating his position, Slemmer destroyed over 20,000 pounds of powder at Fort McRee, spiked the guns at Barrancas, and evacuated his 80 troops to Fort Pickens. Because of his tactical thinking, Fort Pickens remained in Union hands throughout the Civil War.
Posted on 5/31/15 at 9:00 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Thursday, 1 June 1865
A Federal expedition travels through Pocahontas and Pendleton Counties, West Virginia, and Highland County, Virginia, reportedly in search of horse thieves. The Yankees moved to Huttonsville, Gatewood's, Back Creek Valley, Galltown, Monterey, New Hampton, and the surrounding areas, without finding any horse thieves.
Skirmishing breaks out at Sweetwater Station, in the Nebraska Territory.
In his report regarding the surrender of Confederate forces, Major General Edward R. S. Canby, commanding the Military Division of West Mississippi, noted: "...during the whole period of my command in the Southwest, I was materially aided by the zealous and efficient cooperation of the naval forces of the West Gulf and Mississippi squadrons, and a more effective acknowledgement than mine is due to Admiral Farragut, Commodore Palmer, Admiral Thatcher, successive commanders of the West Gulf, and Admirals Porter and Lee, of the Mississippi Squadron, and to their subordinates in both squadrons."
Lieutenant Commander Nathaniel Green, in the U.S.S. Itasca, commanded the naval units in a combined Army-Navy movement to occupy Apalachicola, Florida. Brigadier General Alexander Asboth, commanding the expedition, commended Green highly for his "...nautical skill and efficiency, as well as his friendly willingness to aid..." which, the General reported, materially contributed to the successful execution of the mission.
The last official orders of the War Between the States sees a Navy expedition head up the Red River north of Shreveport to take possession of the C.S.S. Missouri and a small naval flotilla which includes a number of submarines. Warned of underwater activity in the area, the wary sailors arrive to find the Missouri and her crew waiting for capture, and the submarines all scuttled and their crews escaped.
Full report: Lieutenant William E. Fitzhugh, in the U.S.S. Ouachita, leads a naval expedition of seven gunboats up the Red River escorting 4,000 troops under Major General Francis J. Herron. These troops were moving into the trans-Mississippi theater to garrison the forts and posts surrendered by Confederate General Kirby Smith and to establish law and order in the region. At Alexandria, Louisiana, Fitzhugh met with Lieutenant Jonathan H. Carter, the senior Confederate naval officer in the trans-Mississippi department and received the surrender of all naval vessels, equipment, and personnel in that region. The most formidable vessel surrendered was the stern-wheel ironclad, C.S.S. Missouri, commanded by Lieutenant J. H. Carter. The ship had been built in Shreveport and late in March, when the river had risen sufficiently, had steamed down river to Alexandria. There Carter had written enthusiastically to General Simon B. Buckner: "I will...be pleased to welcome you on the deck of the Missouri, when we arrive at Grand Ecore...I hope to be a valuable [addition] to your forces defending the valley." The Missouri, however, never had this opportunity for battle, although she had the distinction of being the last Confederate ironclad to be surrendered in home waters.
Before burning the Abigail, the commander of the C.S.S. Shenandoah, Lieutenant James Iredell Waddell, obtained a stove from her for his cabin, one of the many items that had not been provided when the C.S.S. Shenandoah hastily left the Liverpool the previous Autumn. He needed it in the ensuing days as he navigated along the frozen shores of Siberia. "I continued as far as the Chi-jinskiki Bay, but found it so full of ice the steamer could not be entered. I then stood along the land of eastern Siberia as far as Tausk Bay, when she was forced away by the ice, and I left for Shantaski [Shantarski] Island, but I found ice in such quantities before we reached the 150º meridian of east longitude that she was forced to the southward finding ice in almost every direction and apparently closing on her."
"The situation caused anxiety of mind, and I solved the seamanship problem before us. The scene was cold, the mercury several degrees below zero, the ice varied in thickness from fifteen to thirty feet and, although not very firm, was sufficiently so to injure the Shenandoah if we were not very careful. I wanted to reach Shantarski Island (called by whalers Greer Island) for there is fishing there and in the bays southwest of it."
In this chill sea, the Shenandoah met severe gales. "The damage from these gales is much increased by the heavy ice which a vessel is likely to be driven on and wrecked. We encountered the first one of those gales to windward of twenty miles of floe ice, and if we had been lying to with the ice under our lea, the Shenandoah would probably have been lost with her entire crew."
"It became imperatively necessary to relieve the ship of her perilous situation. She was run a little distance from and along the floe until a passage was seen from aloft through it with open water beyond. Into this passage she was entered and in a short time she was lying to under close reefed sails with the floe to windward, and this was the solution of that seamanship problem alluded to a little time before, for our dreaded enemy was now become our best friend, the fury of the sea was expended on it and not against the Shenandoah. It was a breakwater for the ship."
"She laid perfectly easy, the water was as smooth as a pond, while the seas on the weather edge of the floe broke furiously, throwing sheets of water twenty feet high, to all appearances a fog bank."
"It was so far away we could only hear the hurrying of wind as it piped louder and carried in it a penetrating mist. The Shenandoah being relieved of the threatened danger, the next thought was to prevent her from going into the ice during the thick weather, which now came on in fine rain and sleet. The wind was bitter cold, turning the rain into ice and forming a crust everywhere. The braces, blocks, yards, sails, and all the running rigging was perfectly coated with ice from a half to two inches thick, so that it was impossible to use the braces and icicles of great length and size hung from every portion of the rigging."
"The gale had passed over, and it was calm, the clouds were exhausted, the rosy tints of morn opened upon a scene of enchantment, and when the sunlight burst on us, the flash and sparkle from truck to deck, from bowsprit to topsail awakened exclamations of enthusiastic delight over the fair ship."
"The disposition was evidently not to disturb, but leave to enjoyment the crystal mantle of the Shenandoah. Finally the crew was sent aloft with billets of wood to dislodge the ice and free the running rigging. The large icicles falling from aloft rendered the deck dangerous to move upon, and it soon became covered with clear, beautiful ice, which was removed to the tanks, casks, and every vessel capable of receiving it."
A Federal expedition travels through Pocahontas and Pendleton Counties, West Virginia, and Highland County, Virginia, reportedly in search of horse thieves. The Yankees moved to Huttonsville, Gatewood's, Back Creek Valley, Galltown, Monterey, New Hampton, and the surrounding areas, without finding any horse thieves.
Skirmishing breaks out at Sweetwater Station, in the Nebraska Territory.
In his report regarding the surrender of Confederate forces, Major General Edward R. S. Canby, commanding the Military Division of West Mississippi, noted: "...during the whole period of my command in the Southwest, I was materially aided by the zealous and efficient cooperation of the naval forces of the West Gulf and Mississippi squadrons, and a more effective acknowledgement than mine is due to Admiral Farragut, Commodore Palmer, Admiral Thatcher, successive commanders of the West Gulf, and Admirals Porter and Lee, of the Mississippi Squadron, and to their subordinates in both squadrons."
Lieutenant Commander Nathaniel Green, in the U.S.S. Itasca, commanded the naval units in a combined Army-Navy movement to occupy Apalachicola, Florida. Brigadier General Alexander Asboth, commanding the expedition, commended Green highly for his "...nautical skill and efficiency, as well as his friendly willingness to aid..." which, the General reported, materially contributed to the successful execution of the mission.
The last official orders of the War Between the States sees a Navy expedition head up the Red River north of Shreveport to take possession of the C.S.S. Missouri and a small naval flotilla which includes a number of submarines. Warned of underwater activity in the area, the wary sailors arrive to find the Missouri and her crew waiting for capture, and the submarines all scuttled and their crews escaped.
Full report: Lieutenant William E. Fitzhugh, in the U.S.S. Ouachita, leads a naval expedition of seven gunboats up the Red River escorting 4,000 troops under Major General Francis J. Herron. These troops were moving into the trans-Mississippi theater to garrison the forts and posts surrendered by Confederate General Kirby Smith and to establish law and order in the region. At Alexandria, Louisiana, Fitzhugh met with Lieutenant Jonathan H. Carter, the senior Confederate naval officer in the trans-Mississippi department and received the surrender of all naval vessels, equipment, and personnel in that region. The most formidable vessel surrendered was the stern-wheel ironclad, C.S.S. Missouri, commanded by Lieutenant J. H. Carter. The ship had been built in Shreveport and late in March, when the river had risen sufficiently, had steamed down river to Alexandria. There Carter had written enthusiastically to General Simon B. Buckner: "I will...be pleased to welcome you on the deck of the Missouri, when we arrive at Grand Ecore...I hope to be a valuable [addition] to your forces defending the valley." The Missouri, however, never had this opportunity for battle, although she had the distinction of being the last Confederate ironclad to be surrendered in home waters.
Before burning the Abigail, the commander of the C.S.S. Shenandoah, Lieutenant James Iredell Waddell, obtained a stove from her for his cabin, one of the many items that had not been provided when the C.S.S. Shenandoah hastily left the Liverpool the previous Autumn. He needed it in the ensuing days as he navigated along the frozen shores of Siberia. "I continued as far as the Chi-jinskiki Bay, but found it so full of ice the steamer could not be entered. I then stood along the land of eastern Siberia as far as Tausk Bay, when she was forced away by the ice, and I left for Shantaski [Shantarski] Island, but I found ice in such quantities before we reached the 150º meridian of east longitude that she was forced to the southward finding ice in almost every direction and apparently closing on her."
"The situation caused anxiety of mind, and I solved the seamanship problem before us. The scene was cold, the mercury several degrees below zero, the ice varied in thickness from fifteen to thirty feet and, although not very firm, was sufficiently so to injure the Shenandoah if we were not very careful. I wanted to reach Shantarski Island (called by whalers Greer Island) for there is fishing there and in the bays southwest of it."
In this chill sea, the Shenandoah met severe gales. "The damage from these gales is much increased by the heavy ice which a vessel is likely to be driven on and wrecked. We encountered the first one of those gales to windward of twenty miles of floe ice, and if we had been lying to with the ice under our lea, the Shenandoah would probably have been lost with her entire crew."
"It became imperatively necessary to relieve the ship of her perilous situation. She was run a little distance from and along the floe until a passage was seen from aloft through it with open water beyond. Into this passage she was entered and in a short time she was lying to under close reefed sails with the floe to windward, and this was the solution of that seamanship problem alluded to a little time before, for our dreaded enemy was now become our best friend, the fury of the sea was expended on it and not against the Shenandoah. It was a breakwater for the ship."
"She laid perfectly easy, the water was as smooth as a pond, while the seas on the weather edge of the floe broke furiously, throwing sheets of water twenty feet high, to all appearances a fog bank."
"It was so far away we could only hear the hurrying of wind as it piped louder and carried in it a penetrating mist. The Shenandoah being relieved of the threatened danger, the next thought was to prevent her from going into the ice during the thick weather, which now came on in fine rain and sleet. The wind was bitter cold, turning the rain into ice and forming a crust everywhere. The braces, blocks, yards, sails, and all the running rigging was perfectly coated with ice from a half to two inches thick, so that it was impossible to use the braces and icicles of great length and size hung from every portion of the rigging."
"The gale had passed over, and it was calm, the clouds were exhausted, the rosy tints of morn opened upon a scene of enchantment, and when the sunlight burst on us, the flash and sparkle from truck to deck, from bowsprit to topsail awakened exclamations of enthusiastic delight over the fair ship."
"The disposition was evidently not to disturb, but leave to enjoyment the crystal mantle of the Shenandoah. Finally the crew was sent aloft with billets of wood to dislodge the ice and free the running rigging. The large icicles falling from aloft rendered the deck dangerous to move upon, and it soon became covered with clear, beautiful ice, which was removed to the tanks, casks, and every vessel capable of receiving it."
This post was edited on 6/1/15 at 1:28 pm
Posted on 6/1/15 at 9:01 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Friday, 2 June 1865
In Galveston, Texas, Confederate General E. Kirby Smith officially accepts the surrender terms as agreed upon in New Orleans the previous week.
Full report: Major General Edmund Kirby Smith officially approves the 26 May agreement made on his behalf by Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner surrendering his Southern forces under the same terms granted to General Robert Edward Lee at Appomattox. Some Confederates, including part of Jo Shelby’s command, refuse to surrender and flee to Mexico, head West, or just go home.
The terms of surrender of Galveston, Texas, are signed on board the U.S.S. Fort Jackson by General Smith on behalf of the Confederacy. Brigadier General Edmund Jackson Davis, a Southern Unionist born in Florida and raised in Texas, represents the Federal Army.
Ohio born Lambdin P. Milligan and Indiana native son William A. Bowles, condemned to be executed tomorrow, are reprieved by President Andrew Johnson who commutes the sentence to life imprisonment. Proceedings had been instituted in the Federal courts to reverse their conviction by military court-martial on charges of conspiring against the United States, giving aid and comfort to the Rebels, and inciting insurrection. The conviction of Bowles and the other co-conspirators went through the Federal courts, and eventually reached the United States Supreme Court, where Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase will issue writs of habeas corpus, freeing all of them, on 3 April 1866. On 17 December 1866, the U.S. Supreme Court will rule that since the civil courts were still functioning in Indiana at the time Bowles and the rest were convicted by the military commission, the convicted men had been robbed of some of their constitutional rights and had to be set free. Milligan, a prominent Indiana leader of the Copperheads, was arrested on 5 October 1864. In the 1850's Bowles had organized the Knights of the Golden Circle to counteract the Underground Railroad activity within the region. He helped to found the town of French Lick in 1857.
The British government officially withdraws belligerent rights from the Confederacy.
President Andrew Johnson lifts military restrictions on trade in the United States except on contraband of war.
Confederates surrender their last remaining seaport at Galveston, Texas. This is the last naval act of the War. Of 471 ships and 2,455 guns in active service during the War, only 29 vessels and 210 guns were still active by December.
Federal operations continue against Indians in the vicinity of Crystal Palace Bluff, about Fort Rice, in the Dakota Territory, as one man is reported dying from arrow wounds.
Lieutenant Commander Nathaniel Green, with the U.S.S. Itasca, is to command the naval units in a combined Army-Navy movement to occupy Apalachicola, Florida. Brigadier General Alexander Asboth, commanding the overall expedition, commends Green highly for his "...nautical skill and efficiency, as well as his friendly willingness to aid..." which, the General reported, materially contributes to the successful execution of the mission.
Assistant Secretary Gustavus Vasa Fox orders the Mississippi Squadron reduced to 15 ships "...with all possible dispatch." In his letter to Rear Admiral Samuel P. Lee of the Mississippi Squadron, Fox concluded: "Economize in the use of coal and give directions to all vessels to keep steam down, except in an emergency..." With the War completed, a number of similar steps were taken to cut expenditures to a minimum and reduce drastically what had become during the years of conflict the strongest Navy afloat.
In Galveston, Texas, Confederate General E. Kirby Smith officially accepts the surrender terms as agreed upon in New Orleans the previous week.
Full report: Major General Edmund Kirby Smith officially approves the 26 May agreement made on his behalf by Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner surrendering his Southern forces under the same terms granted to General Robert Edward Lee at Appomattox. Some Confederates, including part of Jo Shelby’s command, refuse to surrender and flee to Mexico, head West, or just go home.
The terms of surrender of Galveston, Texas, are signed on board the U.S.S. Fort Jackson by General Smith on behalf of the Confederacy. Brigadier General Edmund Jackson Davis, a Southern Unionist born in Florida and raised in Texas, represents the Federal Army.
Ohio born Lambdin P. Milligan and Indiana native son William A. Bowles, condemned to be executed tomorrow, are reprieved by President Andrew Johnson who commutes the sentence to life imprisonment. Proceedings had been instituted in the Federal courts to reverse their conviction by military court-martial on charges of conspiring against the United States, giving aid and comfort to the Rebels, and inciting insurrection. The conviction of Bowles and the other co-conspirators went through the Federal courts, and eventually reached the United States Supreme Court, where Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase will issue writs of habeas corpus, freeing all of them, on 3 April 1866. On 17 December 1866, the U.S. Supreme Court will rule that since the civil courts were still functioning in Indiana at the time Bowles and the rest were convicted by the military commission, the convicted men had been robbed of some of their constitutional rights and had to be set free. Milligan, a prominent Indiana leader of the Copperheads, was arrested on 5 October 1864. In the 1850's Bowles had organized the Knights of the Golden Circle to counteract the Underground Railroad activity within the region. He helped to found the town of French Lick in 1857.
The British government officially withdraws belligerent rights from the Confederacy.
President Andrew Johnson lifts military restrictions on trade in the United States except on contraband of war.
Confederates surrender their last remaining seaport at Galveston, Texas. This is the last naval act of the War. Of 471 ships and 2,455 guns in active service during the War, only 29 vessels and 210 guns were still active by December.
Federal operations continue against Indians in the vicinity of Crystal Palace Bluff, about Fort Rice, in the Dakota Territory, as one man is reported dying from arrow wounds.
Lieutenant Commander Nathaniel Green, with the U.S.S. Itasca, is to command the naval units in a combined Army-Navy movement to occupy Apalachicola, Florida. Brigadier General Alexander Asboth, commanding the overall expedition, commends Green highly for his "...nautical skill and efficiency, as well as his friendly willingness to aid..." which, the General reported, materially contributes to the successful execution of the mission.
Assistant Secretary Gustavus Vasa Fox orders the Mississippi Squadron reduced to 15 ships "...with all possible dispatch." In his letter to Rear Admiral Samuel P. Lee of the Mississippi Squadron, Fox concluded: "Economize in the use of coal and give directions to all vessels to keep steam down, except in an emergency..." With the War completed, a number of similar steps were taken to cut expenditures to a minimum and reduce drastically what had become during the years of conflict the strongest Navy afloat.
Posted on 6/2/15 at 9:30 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Saturday, 3 June 1865
Confederate naval forces on the Red River officially surrender this morning.
As the War between the Union and Confederacy is winding down, the United States Army begins to focus its attention on Native Americans in the West. The 11th Kansas Cavalry, under the command of Colonel Preston Plumb, engages in a skirmish with approximately 60 Indians at the Battle of Dry Creek, where the Indians attack the Platte Bridge Station--near modern-day Casper, Wyoming--in the Dakota Territory. One Indian is killed and five are reported wounded, while Plumb’s command sustains two fatalities and other casualties.
In the trial of the Lincoln conspirators, defense attorneys argue that Lewis Payne should not be found guilty by reason of insanity.
Union Major General Edward Richard Sprigg Canby assumes the command of the Department of the Gulf, Louisiana.
The 6th US Army Corps is reviewed in Washington, DC.
The CSS Shenandoah is being lashed by cold rain and snow, her rigging frozen in place by a coating of ice. The crew has been sent aloft with pieces of wood to beat the ice off so the sails could be trimmed. The ice that fell to the deck was stored in any vessel that would hold it providing several thousand gallons of fresh water.
The small boat carrying former Confederate officials General John C. Breckinridge and Colonel John Taylor Wood move out of the Indian River this morning into the Atlantic Ocean near Jupiter Inlet. The original plan called for the group to leave by way of the Inlet, but it was considered too hazardous to attempt this since there are blockaders in the area. A large steamer is noted later this afternoon approximately a mile off shore and again tonight a vessel, believed to be a blockader, was passed. Tomorrow morning, a landing is planned south of Jupiter Inlet where it is hoped there will be fresh water available.
George Davis--former attorney for the Confederacy, traveling under the assumed name of "Hugh Thompson" and carrying nothing except clothing in a saddle bag--arrives today at the plantation of his cousin, Mrs. Thomas Hill Lane, about twenty miles southwest of Lake City and about fifteen east of Olustee. After a rest, Davis is planning to move on to the plantation of James Chesnut, twelve miles outside of Gainesville.
Union General Israel Vogdes this morning issues the following order: "The importance of the incoming crop as a means of support for the people of this district renders it necessary that some prompt and efficient measures be taken to have it properly cultivated and secured; and in order that a uniform system of compensated labor may be introduced to aid in the accomplishment of this object, the following rules and regulations, are published for the guidance of all concerned and will be observed until the system adopted by the Freedmen’s Bureau is announced. Planters are recommended to make arrangements with the laborers on their plantations, entering into a written agreement either to pay them stated wages or to secure them an interest in the crops, as may be mutually satisfactory. All such agreements will be made in duplicate and witnessed by a disinterested party, one copy being furnished for file at the office of the nearest Provost Marshal. It will be the duty of the commanding officers of the several posts, upon complaint being made of the infraction of any such contract to see that its conditions are strictly enforced. It shall be the privilege of the employer as well as the employee, to hire or be hired where it may seem best suited to his own interest; but the contract being made, each party must abide its conditions. Whenever contracts have been entered, there will be selected by mutual agreement, from among the employees, as many as may be necessary to act as superintendents of labor, who will have authority to enforce order and discipline and a proper observance of all the conditions of the contract, important cases being referred to the nearest Provost-Marshal."
Confederate naval forces on the Red River officially surrender this morning.
As the War between the Union and Confederacy is winding down, the United States Army begins to focus its attention on Native Americans in the West. The 11th Kansas Cavalry, under the command of Colonel Preston Plumb, engages in a skirmish with approximately 60 Indians at the Battle of Dry Creek, where the Indians attack the Platte Bridge Station--near modern-day Casper, Wyoming--in the Dakota Territory. One Indian is killed and five are reported wounded, while Plumb’s command sustains two fatalities and other casualties.
In the trial of the Lincoln conspirators, defense attorneys argue that Lewis Payne should not be found guilty by reason of insanity.
Union Major General Edward Richard Sprigg Canby assumes the command of the Department of the Gulf, Louisiana.
The 6th US Army Corps is reviewed in Washington, DC.
The CSS Shenandoah is being lashed by cold rain and snow, her rigging frozen in place by a coating of ice. The crew has been sent aloft with pieces of wood to beat the ice off so the sails could be trimmed. The ice that fell to the deck was stored in any vessel that would hold it providing several thousand gallons of fresh water.
The small boat carrying former Confederate officials General John C. Breckinridge and Colonel John Taylor Wood move out of the Indian River this morning into the Atlantic Ocean near Jupiter Inlet. The original plan called for the group to leave by way of the Inlet, but it was considered too hazardous to attempt this since there are blockaders in the area. A large steamer is noted later this afternoon approximately a mile off shore and again tonight a vessel, believed to be a blockader, was passed. Tomorrow morning, a landing is planned south of Jupiter Inlet where it is hoped there will be fresh water available.
George Davis--former attorney for the Confederacy, traveling under the assumed name of "Hugh Thompson" and carrying nothing except clothing in a saddle bag--arrives today at the plantation of his cousin, Mrs. Thomas Hill Lane, about twenty miles southwest of Lake City and about fifteen east of Olustee. After a rest, Davis is planning to move on to the plantation of James Chesnut, twelve miles outside of Gainesville.
Union General Israel Vogdes this morning issues the following order: "The importance of the incoming crop as a means of support for the people of this district renders it necessary that some prompt and efficient measures be taken to have it properly cultivated and secured; and in order that a uniform system of compensated labor may be introduced to aid in the accomplishment of this object, the following rules and regulations, are published for the guidance of all concerned and will be observed until the system adopted by the Freedmen’s Bureau is announced. Planters are recommended to make arrangements with the laborers on their plantations, entering into a written agreement either to pay them stated wages or to secure them an interest in the crops, as may be mutually satisfactory. All such agreements will be made in duplicate and witnessed by a disinterested party, one copy being furnished for file at the office of the nearest Provost Marshal. It will be the duty of the commanding officers of the several posts, upon complaint being made of the infraction of any such contract to see that its conditions are strictly enforced. It shall be the privilege of the employer as well as the employee, to hire or be hired where it may seem best suited to his own interest; but the contract being made, each party must abide its conditions. Whenever contracts have been entered, there will be selected by mutual agreement, from among the employees, as many as may be necessary to act as superintendents of labor, who will have authority to enforce order and discipline and a proper observance of all the conditions of the contract, important cases being referred to the nearest Provost-Marshal."
Posted on 6/3/15 at 9:06 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Sunday, 4 June 1865
Minnesotans received news via the St. Paul Press newspaper this morning that the planned mustering out of the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th Minnesota Infantry Regiments had been revoked. The newspaper printed a scathing letter by Governor Stephen Miller, a Republican politician and the first Civil War veteran to serve as Governor, denouncing the revocation. He was the fourth Governor of Minnesota.
Federal operations ramp up against Indians near Fort Collins, in the Colorado Territory, as the Yankees travel to Virginia Dale and towards Laramie in search of horse stealing Indians.
General Israel Vogdes writes: "Owing to the want of land and water transportation I have not been able to distribute the troops as rapidly as desirable. The wreck of the Delaware prevented me from calling the troops from Fernandina to Saint Augustine. They have not yet all arrived. As soon as they do, which will probably be today or tomorrow, I will distribute them. I have, as already stated, sent General Tilghman with five companies of his regiment and five of the Seventeenth Connecticut to Tallahassee. Having been informed of some disturbance near Lake City, three companies of the Seventeenth were retained at that point. The amount of the disturbance, on investigation, proved to be greatly exaggerated. I shall make for the present the following disposition of the forces: General Tilghman with two companies of the Seventeenth Connecticut and three of his own regiment at Tallahassee; one of the Third U.S. Colored at Monticello; these to be under the command of General Tilghman. One company of the Seventeenth Connecticut and one of the Third U.S. Colored Troops at Lake City, to report direct to Headquarters. Major Allan with five companies of his own regiment and as many as can be spared from the Third U.S. Colored Troops, to take post at Gainesville, having a detachment at Waldo; at least one company at Newnansville, and one at Micopany; these two last to be supplied from Gainesville by land transportation, distance about fifteen miles. Newnansville appears to be somewhat unquiet, and will require probably a larger garrison. If possible, I will also occupy Ocala. Lastly, Captain Webster will be sent to Palatka. I will not occupy Enterprise unless I find it necessary, as that point is very sickly. If necessary, I will station troops at Mellonville, nearly opposite. Fort Gates may be occupied. I shall endeavor to post troops so that they may be easily united, if necessary, at the same time covering as large an extent of territory as possible. I have asked the General Commanding to send me one (white) additional regiment and one squadron of cavalry. If the regiment can be spared, it is very desirable. If, however, its services are very urgent elsewhere I will endeavor to get along without it, but I trust that a cavalry force will be sent to me, even if it should not exceed fifty men, as I very much need such force to patrol from point to point as may be required. I would mention that both the white regiments in this district are very small, the Seventeenth Connecticut, the only one I have distributed in the interior, only having about 350 men for duty."
Minnesotans received news via the St. Paul Press newspaper this morning that the planned mustering out of the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th Minnesota Infantry Regiments had been revoked. The newspaper printed a scathing letter by Governor Stephen Miller, a Republican politician and the first Civil War veteran to serve as Governor, denouncing the revocation. He was the fourth Governor of Minnesota.
Federal operations ramp up against Indians near Fort Collins, in the Colorado Territory, as the Yankees travel to Virginia Dale and towards Laramie in search of horse stealing Indians.
General Israel Vogdes writes: "Owing to the want of land and water transportation I have not been able to distribute the troops as rapidly as desirable. The wreck of the Delaware prevented me from calling the troops from Fernandina to Saint Augustine. They have not yet all arrived. As soon as they do, which will probably be today or tomorrow, I will distribute them. I have, as already stated, sent General Tilghman with five companies of his regiment and five of the Seventeenth Connecticut to Tallahassee. Having been informed of some disturbance near Lake City, three companies of the Seventeenth were retained at that point. The amount of the disturbance, on investigation, proved to be greatly exaggerated. I shall make for the present the following disposition of the forces: General Tilghman with two companies of the Seventeenth Connecticut and three of his own regiment at Tallahassee; one of the Third U.S. Colored at Monticello; these to be under the command of General Tilghman. One company of the Seventeenth Connecticut and one of the Third U.S. Colored Troops at Lake City, to report direct to Headquarters. Major Allan with five companies of his own regiment and as many as can be spared from the Third U.S. Colored Troops, to take post at Gainesville, having a detachment at Waldo; at least one company at Newnansville, and one at Micopany; these two last to be supplied from Gainesville by land transportation, distance about fifteen miles. Newnansville appears to be somewhat unquiet, and will require probably a larger garrison. If possible, I will also occupy Ocala. Lastly, Captain Webster will be sent to Palatka. I will not occupy Enterprise unless I find it necessary, as that point is very sickly. If necessary, I will station troops at Mellonville, nearly opposite. Fort Gates may be occupied. I shall endeavor to post troops so that they may be easily united, if necessary, at the same time covering as large an extent of territory as possible. I have asked the General Commanding to send me one (white) additional regiment and one squadron of cavalry. If the regiment can be spared, it is very desirable. If, however, its services are very urgent elsewhere I will endeavor to get along without it, but I trust that a cavalry force will be sent to me, even if it should not exceed fifty men, as I very much need such force to patrol from point to point as may be required. I would mention that both the white regiments in this district are very small, the Seventeenth Connecticut, the only one I have distributed in the interior, only having about 350 men for duty."
This post was edited on 6/4/15 at 3:45 am
Posted on 6/4/15 at 9:08 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Monday, 5 June 1865
Lieutenant General Hiram U. Grant departs Washington, D.C., for West Point, New York, in order to attend to the annual session of the military examining board.
Brevet Major General Benjamin H. Grierson, USA, is assigned to the command of the Cavalry Forces assigned to the Department of the Gulf, Louisiana.
The veteran portion of the 4th Army Corps is ordered to proceed from the Department of the Cumberland to New Orleans, Louisiana.
Captain Benjamin F. Sands, with the U.S.S. Cornubia and Preston, crossed the bar at Galveston, then landed and raised the United States flag over the custom house. New London and Port Royal were ordered to follow immediately. Terms of the surrender had been agreed upon by Major General E. Kirby Smith, CSA, on 2 June on board the U.S.S. Fort Jackson. The surrender of Galveston, combined with the capitulation of Sabine Pass and Brownsville, enabled Rear Admiral Henry Knox Thatcher to write Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles that "...blockade running from Galveston and the coast of Texas is at an end."
Lieutenant General Hiram U. Grant departs Washington, D.C., for West Point, New York, in order to attend to the annual session of the military examining board.
Brevet Major General Benjamin H. Grierson, USA, is assigned to the command of the Cavalry Forces assigned to the Department of the Gulf, Louisiana.
The veteran portion of the 4th Army Corps is ordered to proceed from the Department of the Cumberland to New Orleans, Louisiana.
Captain Benjamin F. Sands, with the U.S.S. Cornubia and Preston, crossed the bar at Galveston, then landed and raised the United States flag over the custom house. New London and Port Royal were ordered to follow immediately. Terms of the surrender had been agreed upon by Major General E. Kirby Smith, CSA, on 2 June on board the U.S.S. Fort Jackson. The surrender of Galveston, combined with the capitulation of Sabine Pass and Brownsville, enabled Rear Admiral Henry Knox Thatcher to write Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles that "...blockade running from Galveston and the coast of Texas is at an end."
Posted on 6/5/15 at 9:01 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Tuesday, 6 June 1865
Notorious Confederate partisan guerrilla leader, William Clarke Quantrill, dies while in Federal captivity in Louisville, Kentucky, from wounds received while being captured by Federal irregular troops near Taylorsville, in Spencer County, Kentucky, on 10 May 1865.
Leader of perhaps the most savage fighting unit in the Civil War, Quantrill developed a style of guerrilla warfare that terrorized civilians and soldiers alike. Quantrill was born in 1837 in Ohio, but little is known of his early life. It appears that after being a schoolteacher for several years, he traveled to Utah in 1858 with an army wagon train and there made his living as a gambler, using the alias of Charles Hart. After a year, he moved to Lawrence, Kansas, where he was again a schoolteacher from 1859 to 1860. But his past and predisposition soon caught up with him and, wanted for murder and horse theft, Quantrill fled to Missouri in late 1860.
Quantrill entered the War Between the States on the Confederate side with great enthusiasm. By late 1861, he was the leader of Quantrill's Raiders, a small force of no more than a dozen men who continuosly harassed Union soldiers and sympathizers along the Kansas-Missouri border and often clashed with Jayhawkers, the pro-Union guerrilla bands that reversed Quantrill's tactics by staging raids from Kansas into Missouri. Union forces soon declared him an outlaw, and the Confederacy officially made him a captain. To his supporters in Missouri, he was a dashing, free-spirited hero.
The climax of Quantrill's guerilla career came on August 21, 1863, when he led a force of 450 raiders into Lawrence, Kansas, a stronghold of pro-Union support and the home of Senator James H. Lane, whose leading role in the struggle for free-soil in Kansas had made him a public enemy to pro-slavery forces in Missouri. Lane managed to escape, racing through a cornfield in his nightshirt, but Quantrill and his men killed 183 men and boys, dragging some from their homes to murder them in front of their families, and set the torch to much of the city.
The Lawrence Massacre led to swift retribution, as Union troops forced the residents of four Missouri border counties onto the open prairie while Jayhawkers looted and burned everything they left behind. Quantrill and his raiders took part in the Confederate retaliation for this atrocity, but when Union forces drove the Confederates back, Quantrill fled to Texas. His guerrilla band broke up into several smaller units, including one headed by his vicious lieutenant, "Bloody Bill" Anderson, known for wearing a necklace of Yankee scalps into battle.
Even after his death, Quantrill and his followers remained almost folk heroes to their supporters in Missouri, and something of this celebrity later rubbed off on several ex-Raiders -- the James brothers, Frank and Jesse, and the Younger brothers, Cole and Jim -- who went on in the late 1860's to apply Quantrill's hit-and-run tactics to bank and train robbery, building on his legacy of bloodshed a mythology of the Western outlaw that remains fixed in the popular imagination.
After landing in Vera Cruz, Matthew Fontaine Maury proceeded to Mexico City. He was confident that Emperor Maximilian would give him a warm welcome. In December 1857 the then Archduke and head of the Austrian Navy had sent a present to Maury for his wife, and wrote: "I have observed, with intense interest and admiration, your noble and unequaled efforts, in order to forward the improvement of the scientific part of our profession. I trust you will accept this little present as a token of my gratitude towards a man whom all seafaring nations are bound to look upon with respect and thankfulness."
Maury proposed to offer his services not only as a torpedo expert but also on a broader scale that would be of far reaching benefit to his own loved people and to the new Empire--the emigration of Confederates to Mexico. At the time, it appeared to him that he might never be able to return home because of the several categories that applied to exclude him from the amnesty, including his leadership in the development of torpedoes and his overseas intrigue. Throughout this summer he received communications from home advising against his return. For example, on 19 June his daughter Elizabeth Herndon Maury wrote: "Don't trust to any parole or any promise. General Curtis of the U.S. Army, who is staying here, said to me this morning that you ought not to come under any circumstances. General Lee said to me the other day, 'Mrs. Maury, tell your father from me not to think of coming home.'"
Citizens of Missouri ratify a new state constitution abolishing slavery.
Confederate prisoners of war who are willing to take the oath of allegiance are declared released by President Andrew Johnson. Officers above the rank of army captain or navy lieutenant were exceptions.
Major General John Hartranft, concluding that the Lincoln conspirator prisoners were suffering too much while wearing hoods during the trial, ordered them removed.
Notorious Confederate partisan guerrilla leader, William Clarke Quantrill, dies while in Federal captivity in Louisville, Kentucky, from wounds received while being captured by Federal irregular troops near Taylorsville, in Spencer County, Kentucky, on 10 May 1865.
Leader of perhaps the most savage fighting unit in the Civil War, Quantrill developed a style of guerrilla warfare that terrorized civilians and soldiers alike. Quantrill was born in 1837 in Ohio, but little is known of his early life. It appears that after being a schoolteacher for several years, he traveled to Utah in 1858 with an army wagon train and there made his living as a gambler, using the alias of Charles Hart. After a year, he moved to Lawrence, Kansas, where he was again a schoolteacher from 1859 to 1860. But his past and predisposition soon caught up with him and, wanted for murder and horse theft, Quantrill fled to Missouri in late 1860.
Quantrill entered the War Between the States on the Confederate side with great enthusiasm. By late 1861, he was the leader of Quantrill's Raiders, a small force of no more than a dozen men who continuosly harassed Union soldiers and sympathizers along the Kansas-Missouri border and often clashed with Jayhawkers, the pro-Union guerrilla bands that reversed Quantrill's tactics by staging raids from Kansas into Missouri. Union forces soon declared him an outlaw, and the Confederacy officially made him a captain. To his supporters in Missouri, he was a dashing, free-spirited hero.
The climax of Quantrill's guerilla career came on August 21, 1863, when he led a force of 450 raiders into Lawrence, Kansas, a stronghold of pro-Union support and the home of Senator James H. Lane, whose leading role in the struggle for free-soil in Kansas had made him a public enemy to pro-slavery forces in Missouri. Lane managed to escape, racing through a cornfield in his nightshirt, but Quantrill and his men killed 183 men and boys, dragging some from their homes to murder them in front of their families, and set the torch to much of the city.
The Lawrence Massacre led to swift retribution, as Union troops forced the residents of four Missouri border counties onto the open prairie while Jayhawkers looted and burned everything they left behind. Quantrill and his raiders took part in the Confederate retaliation for this atrocity, but when Union forces drove the Confederates back, Quantrill fled to Texas. His guerrilla band broke up into several smaller units, including one headed by his vicious lieutenant, "Bloody Bill" Anderson, known for wearing a necklace of Yankee scalps into battle.
Even after his death, Quantrill and his followers remained almost folk heroes to their supporters in Missouri, and something of this celebrity later rubbed off on several ex-Raiders -- the James brothers, Frank and Jesse, and the Younger brothers, Cole and Jim -- who went on in the late 1860's to apply Quantrill's hit-and-run tactics to bank and train robbery, building on his legacy of bloodshed a mythology of the Western outlaw that remains fixed in the popular imagination.
After landing in Vera Cruz, Matthew Fontaine Maury proceeded to Mexico City. He was confident that Emperor Maximilian would give him a warm welcome. In December 1857 the then Archduke and head of the Austrian Navy had sent a present to Maury for his wife, and wrote: "I have observed, with intense interest and admiration, your noble and unequaled efforts, in order to forward the improvement of the scientific part of our profession. I trust you will accept this little present as a token of my gratitude towards a man whom all seafaring nations are bound to look upon with respect and thankfulness."
Maury proposed to offer his services not only as a torpedo expert but also on a broader scale that would be of far reaching benefit to his own loved people and to the new Empire--the emigration of Confederates to Mexico. At the time, it appeared to him that he might never be able to return home because of the several categories that applied to exclude him from the amnesty, including his leadership in the development of torpedoes and his overseas intrigue. Throughout this summer he received communications from home advising against his return. For example, on 19 June his daughter Elizabeth Herndon Maury wrote: "Don't trust to any parole or any promise. General Curtis of the U.S. Army, who is staying here, said to me this morning that you ought not to come under any circumstances. General Lee said to me the other day, 'Mrs. Maury, tell your father from me not to think of coming home.'"
Citizens of Missouri ratify a new state constitution abolishing slavery.
Confederate prisoners of war who are willing to take the oath of allegiance are declared released by President Andrew Johnson. Officers above the rank of army captain or navy lieutenant were exceptions.
Major General John Hartranft, concluding that the Lincoln conspirator prisoners were suffering too much while wearing hoods during the trial, ordered them removed.
Posted on 6/6/15 at 9:05 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Wednesday, 7 June 1865
The West Florida Seminary buildings in Tallahassee have now been expropriated by the Federal military and are being used as barracks. According to reports, the school furniture and most of the laboratory equipment have been ransacked and destroyed.
United States Secretary of War Edward M. Stanton appoints Major General George H. Thomas to the command of the Tennessee Military Division, embracing Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, with his headquarters at Nashville. The Department of Florida, now assigned to Major General Andrew Atkinson Humphreys, includes the entire state; Humphreys commands from Tallahassee.
Lieutenant Commander William E. Fitzhugh, piloting the U.S.S. Ouachita, seizes the Confederate ship Cotton (No. 2) and takes her to the mouth of the Red River. She had been purchased by the Confederate Navy, but the stipulated payment had not been made and for this reason she was returned to her former owners by Lieutenant Jonathan H. Carter, CSN, prior to surrendering the naval forces. Fitzhugh justifies his seizure of the vessel on the basis that she had been employed in military operations against the Union.
The West Florida Seminary buildings in Tallahassee have now been expropriated by the Federal military and are being used as barracks. According to reports, the school furniture and most of the laboratory equipment have been ransacked and destroyed.
United States Secretary of War Edward M. Stanton appoints Major General George H. Thomas to the command of the Tennessee Military Division, embracing Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, with his headquarters at Nashville. The Department of Florida, now assigned to Major General Andrew Atkinson Humphreys, includes the entire state; Humphreys commands from Tallahassee.
Lieutenant Commander William E. Fitzhugh, piloting the U.S.S. Ouachita, seizes the Confederate ship Cotton (No. 2) and takes her to the mouth of the Red River. She had been purchased by the Confederate Navy, but the stipulated payment had not been made and for this reason she was returned to her former owners by Lieutenant Jonathan H. Carter, CSN, prior to surrendering the naval forces. Fitzhugh justifies his seizure of the vessel on the basis that she had been employed in military operations against the Union.
Posted on 6/6/15 at 9:46 pm to BadLeroyDawg
This thread is just BadLeroyDawg posting to himself 
Posted on 6/8/15 at 3:48 am to mmonro3
Thursday, 8 June 1865
The Union Sixth Army Corps, which had missed the previous grand reviews, had its own parade in Washington, DC, this morning.
The remaining fleeing Confederate officials left the Biscayne Bay area and are currently hiding out somewhere in the Florida Keys. The plan is to push out into open waters tomorrow toward the Cuban coast. The sea is very rough and according to Confederate General, and former United States Vice-President, John Cabell Breckinridge’s description, "...the wind and the sea rose and during the whole night the waves ran very high." Colonel John Taylor Wood, grandson of President Zachary Taylor and nephew of President Jefferson Davis, estimates that some of the waves are "...at least twenty feet high..." and he describes it as the worst sea he has ever seen.
Attacks by Indians break out on the Overland Stage Road in Kansas and Colorado, with skirmishes at Fort Dodge, Kansas; Chavis Creek, near Cow Creek Station, Plum Butte and Pawnee Rock, Kansas.
The Union Sixth Army Corps, which had missed the previous grand reviews, had its own parade in Washington, DC, this morning.
The remaining fleeing Confederate officials left the Biscayne Bay area and are currently hiding out somewhere in the Florida Keys. The plan is to push out into open waters tomorrow toward the Cuban coast. The sea is very rough and according to Confederate General, and former United States Vice-President, John Cabell Breckinridge’s description, "...the wind and the sea rose and during the whole night the waves ran very high." Colonel John Taylor Wood, grandson of President Zachary Taylor and nephew of President Jefferson Davis, estimates that some of the waves are "...at least twenty feet high..." and he describes it as the worst sea he has ever seen.
Attacks by Indians break out on the Overland Stage Road in Kansas and Colorado, with skirmishes at Fort Dodge, Kansas; Chavis Creek, near Cow Creek Station, Plum Butte and Pawnee Rock, Kansas.
Posted on 6/8/15 at 7:33 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Friday, 9 June 1865
President Andrew Johnson, upon receiving word that Indians in the New Mexico Territory had been captured by United States Army troops and placed into slavery, issues an Executive Order forbidding the practice in the future.
Another reportedly, unintentional "accidental explosion" of the ammunition stored in the Confederate ordnance building occurs at Chattanooga, Tennessee, when the depot is set afire by a locomotive on a nearby siding. The blast and ensuing fire causes approximately 10 casualties. The commanding officer then orders the arrest of the ordnance officer for dereliction of duty.
Major General Peter J. Osterhaus, USA, assumes the command of the Department of Mississippi.
Union Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles orders that the East Gulf and the West Gulf Squadrons be combined and re-designated as the Gulf Squadron. He directs Rear Admiral Henry Knox Thatcher to relieve Rear Admiral Cornelius Kinchiloe Stribling and assume command of the newly formed Squadron with his headquarters at Pensacola.
Welles also instructs that the North and South Atlantic squadrons be combined and re-designated the Atlantic Squadron. At the same time he orders Rear Admiral John Adolphus Bernard Dahlgren to return to Washington, DC, and Rear Admiral William Radford to assume command of the squadron. Dahlgren will record in his diary under the date of 17 June: "And so ends a command of two years of one of the largest fleets ever assembled under American colors--as many as 96 at one time."
The C.S.S. Ajax, commanded by Lieutenant John Low, arrives at Liverpool, England, this afternoon from Bermuda. The Ajax had been detained at Bermuda by the British Governor after Low had made an unsuccessful attempt to arm his ship under the guise of taking a shipment of guns to Havana, Cuba. The vessel was released after the news reached Bermuda that the American War Between the States had ended in the capitulation of the Confederacy. Upon his arrival at Liverpool, Low turned the ship over to the local port authorities. The former lieutenant of the C.S.S. Alabama chose to remain in England rather than return to his homeland. He established his residence in Liverpool where he subsequently became a prosperous shipping and cotton mill executive. Years later Low was presented the Alabama's pennant by a Frenchman who had witnessed the Confederate cruiser's sea battle with the U.S.S. Kearsarge from a yacht, and had salvaged her pennant. Today, this pennant, seventy-five feet in length and bearing twenty-seven white stars on a blue field, with a red and white tail, is in the possession of John Low's grandson.
President Andrew Johnson, upon receiving word that Indians in the New Mexico Territory had been captured by United States Army troops and placed into slavery, issues an Executive Order forbidding the practice in the future.
Another reportedly, unintentional "accidental explosion" of the ammunition stored in the Confederate ordnance building occurs at Chattanooga, Tennessee, when the depot is set afire by a locomotive on a nearby siding. The blast and ensuing fire causes approximately 10 casualties. The commanding officer then orders the arrest of the ordnance officer for dereliction of duty.
Major General Peter J. Osterhaus, USA, assumes the command of the Department of Mississippi.
Union Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles orders that the East Gulf and the West Gulf Squadrons be combined and re-designated as the Gulf Squadron. He directs Rear Admiral Henry Knox Thatcher to relieve Rear Admiral Cornelius Kinchiloe Stribling and assume command of the newly formed Squadron with his headquarters at Pensacola.
Welles also instructs that the North and South Atlantic squadrons be combined and re-designated the Atlantic Squadron. At the same time he orders Rear Admiral John Adolphus Bernard Dahlgren to return to Washington, DC, and Rear Admiral William Radford to assume command of the squadron. Dahlgren will record in his diary under the date of 17 June: "And so ends a command of two years of one of the largest fleets ever assembled under American colors--as many as 96 at one time."
The C.S.S. Ajax, commanded by Lieutenant John Low, arrives at Liverpool, England, this afternoon from Bermuda. The Ajax had been detained at Bermuda by the British Governor after Low had made an unsuccessful attempt to arm his ship under the guise of taking a shipment of guns to Havana, Cuba. The vessel was released after the news reached Bermuda that the American War Between the States had ended in the capitulation of the Confederacy. Upon his arrival at Liverpool, Low turned the ship over to the local port authorities. The former lieutenant of the C.S.S. Alabama chose to remain in England rather than return to his homeland. He established his residence in Liverpool where he subsequently became a prosperous shipping and cotton mill executive. Years later Low was presented the Alabama's pennant by a Frenchman who had witnessed the Confederate cruiser's sea battle with the U.S.S. Kearsarge from a yacht, and had salvaged her pennant. Today, this pennant, seventy-five feet in length and bearing twenty-seven white stars on a blue field, with a red and white tail, is in the possession of John Low's grandson.
Posted on 6/9/15 at 9:22 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Saturday, 10 June 1865
Brigadier General John Newton, commanding the District of Key West and Tortugas, acknowledges receipt of the report from Major Edmund C. Weeks, Second Florida Cavalry, dated 30 May 1865, in which he announced the occupation of Tampa on 27 May and the surrender of Confederate military forces at Bronson, Bay Port, and Cedar Key. According to General Newton: "The surrender of the forces spoken of...comprise all armed bodies of Rebels on the West Coast of Florida."
Confederate General John C. Breckinridge, Colonel John Taylor Wood, and their remaining fleeing Southern party sailed through the worst part of the Gulf Stream this morning and have sighted the Double Headed Shot Cays--a group of elongated cays that extend northeastward from the Elbow Cays, incorporating the Water Cays and all islets and reefs up to the Deadman Cay--off the coast of Cuba on the northwest edge of Salt Key Bank. They are now safely out of the jurisdiction of the United States.
Colonel John D. Allen, 15th Union Missouri Cavalry, assumes the command of the District of Southwest Missouri.
After examining several witnesses today, the trial of the Lincoln conspirators adjourns until Monday.
Ward Hill Lamon, the United States Marshal for the District of Columbia and a close personal friend of slain United States President Abraham Lincoln, tenders his resignation this morning to President Andrew Johnson, effective on Monday.
Brigadier General John Newton, commanding the District of Key West and Tortugas, acknowledges receipt of the report from Major Edmund C. Weeks, Second Florida Cavalry, dated 30 May 1865, in which he announced the occupation of Tampa on 27 May and the surrender of Confederate military forces at Bronson, Bay Port, and Cedar Key. According to General Newton: "The surrender of the forces spoken of...comprise all armed bodies of Rebels on the West Coast of Florida."
Confederate General John C. Breckinridge, Colonel John Taylor Wood, and their remaining fleeing Southern party sailed through the worst part of the Gulf Stream this morning and have sighted the Double Headed Shot Cays--a group of elongated cays that extend northeastward from the Elbow Cays, incorporating the Water Cays and all islets and reefs up to the Deadman Cay--off the coast of Cuba on the northwest edge of Salt Key Bank. They are now safely out of the jurisdiction of the United States.
Colonel John D. Allen, 15th Union Missouri Cavalry, assumes the command of the District of Southwest Missouri.
After examining several witnesses today, the trial of the Lincoln conspirators adjourns until Monday.
Ward Hill Lamon, the United States Marshal for the District of Columbia and a close personal friend of slain United States President Abraham Lincoln, tenders his resignation this morning to President Andrew Johnson, effective on Monday.
Posted on 6/10/15 at 8:26 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Sunday, 11 June 1865
Confederate General John C. Breckinridge, Colonel John Taylor Wood, and the remaining crew of Southerners land at Cardenas on the northern coast of Cuba, approximately seventy-five miles east of Havana this morning. Upon the request of General Breckinridge, he later recalled: "Captain Wood again read prayers, and I am sure we all felt profoundly grateful for our deliverance." When they finally arrived in Havana, Breckinridge and the others were given a hero’s welcome.
The postmaster general this morning reports that over 15,000 letters arrive at the "dead letter office" each week due to insufficient postage.
Suspected former Confederate partisans raid the Texas Treasury building next to the state capitol building in Austin, Texas. Though armed citizens attempt to stop them, they are able to flee with approximately $250,000. After a century and a half, it is still Austin’s coldest case as the perpetrators have never been discovered nor has the money ever been recovered.
Full report: The robbery of the state treasury, one of the boldest crimes in Texas history, occurred on 11 June 1865, during the chaotic period immediately after the downfall of the Confederacy in the spring of 1865. As news of the surrender of Confederate forces reached Texas in the late spring of 1865, civil government and law enforcement quickly began disappearing. After failing to convene the Texas legislature to repeal the Secession Ordinance, Governor Pendleton Murrah and many Confederate officials fled to Mexico. Most other Confederate state government officials had been removed from office, and Union occupation forces had not yet arrived. As a result, citizens in the Austin area organized to protect the populace and property from the increasing threat of violence, coupled with the breakdown of civil justice. Captain George R. Freeman, a Confederate veteran from Hamilton, organized a small company of thirty volunteers to protect the state capital until Federal forces arrived. The company was formed in May 1865 to counter a riotous mob in control of Austin. "I found the public stores sacked and the whole city in turmoil..." Freeman wrote. After a series of unsuccessful attempts by citizens at maintaining order, Freeman's volunteers gained control and restored the peace. The group was then disbanded but subject to call if needed by the remaining local and state authorities.
Freeman related that on the night of 11 June 1865, he was informed by General Nathan G. Shelley of Austin that a robbery of the state treasury was imminent. A prearranged signal by the church bell was given to the volunteers to convene at the Christian Church, located at the southern end of Congress Avenue. To the alarm no more than twenty volunteers responded; many of these had been in church. The treasury building was located northeast of the Capitol. By the time the troops arrived the robbers were in the building and breaking into the safes. As Freeman's men approached the building, a brief gunfight erupted in which one of the robbers was mortally wounded by Al Musgrove and Fred Sterzing. Freeman himself was wounded in the arm. Of the estimated fifty desperadoes participating in the break-in, all but the one critically wounded man escaped. The thieves fled towards Mount Bonnell, west of Austin, carrying with them about $17,000 in specie, more than half of the gold and silver in the state treasury at the time. The wounded man was identified as Elex Campbell, a member of a group headed by a man known only as Captain Rapp. According to an audit delivered to Governor Andrew J. Hamilton in October 1865, a total of $27,525 in specie and $800 in Louisiana bank bills was located in the treasury at the time of the robbery. Several million dollars in United States bonds and coupons and other securities belonging to the state's school fund was also in the vaults at the time. The robbers failed to escape with any of the securities. Freeman reported that $25,000 in United States coupons clipped from the bonds was found on the floor of the treasury after one of the robbers apparently dropped the package in his attempt to escape. None of the other members of Rapp's company was captured. The loot was never recovered, although some of the money was found strewn between the treasury building and Mount Bonnell. Captain Freeman and his company of volunteers were later recognized by the state for their service in defending the public treasury, but the resolution providing a reward for their services never passed the then Union controlled legislature.
Confederate General John C. Breckinridge, Colonel John Taylor Wood, and the remaining crew of Southerners land at Cardenas on the northern coast of Cuba, approximately seventy-five miles east of Havana this morning. Upon the request of General Breckinridge, he later recalled: "Captain Wood again read prayers, and I am sure we all felt profoundly grateful for our deliverance." When they finally arrived in Havana, Breckinridge and the others were given a hero’s welcome.
The postmaster general this morning reports that over 15,000 letters arrive at the "dead letter office" each week due to insufficient postage.
Suspected former Confederate partisans raid the Texas Treasury building next to the state capitol building in Austin, Texas. Though armed citizens attempt to stop them, they are able to flee with approximately $250,000. After a century and a half, it is still Austin’s coldest case as the perpetrators have never been discovered nor has the money ever been recovered.
Full report: The robbery of the state treasury, one of the boldest crimes in Texas history, occurred on 11 June 1865, during the chaotic period immediately after the downfall of the Confederacy in the spring of 1865. As news of the surrender of Confederate forces reached Texas in the late spring of 1865, civil government and law enforcement quickly began disappearing. After failing to convene the Texas legislature to repeal the Secession Ordinance, Governor Pendleton Murrah and many Confederate officials fled to Mexico. Most other Confederate state government officials had been removed from office, and Union occupation forces had not yet arrived. As a result, citizens in the Austin area organized to protect the populace and property from the increasing threat of violence, coupled with the breakdown of civil justice. Captain George R. Freeman, a Confederate veteran from Hamilton, organized a small company of thirty volunteers to protect the state capital until Federal forces arrived. The company was formed in May 1865 to counter a riotous mob in control of Austin. "I found the public stores sacked and the whole city in turmoil..." Freeman wrote. After a series of unsuccessful attempts by citizens at maintaining order, Freeman's volunteers gained control and restored the peace. The group was then disbanded but subject to call if needed by the remaining local and state authorities.
Freeman related that on the night of 11 June 1865, he was informed by General Nathan G. Shelley of Austin that a robbery of the state treasury was imminent. A prearranged signal by the church bell was given to the volunteers to convene at the Christian Church, located at the southern end of Congress Avenue. To the alarm no more than twenty volunteers responded; many of these had been in church. The treasury building was located northeast of the Capitol. By the time the troops arrived the robbers were in the building and breaking into the safes. As Freeman's men approached the building, a brief gunfight erupted in which one of the robbers was mortally wounded by Al Musgrove and Fred Sterzing. Freeman himself was wounded in the arm. Of the estimated fifty desperadoes participating in the break-in, all but the one critically wounded man escaped. The thieves fled towards Mount Bonnell, west of Austin, carrying with them about $17,000 in specie, more than half of the gold and silver in the state treasury at the time. The wounded man was identified as Elex Campbell, a member of a group headed by a man known only as Captain Rapp. According to an audit delivered to Governor Andrew J. Hamilton in October 1865, a total of $27,525 in specie and $800 in Louisiana bank bills was located in the treasury at the time of the robbery. Several million dollars in United States bonds and coupons and other securities belonging to the state's school fund was also in the vaults at the time. The robbers failed to escape with any of the securities. Freeman reported that $25,000 in United States coupons clipped from the bonds was found on the floor of the treasury after one of the robbers apparently dropped the package in his attempt to escape. None of the other members of Rapp's company was captured. The loot was never recovered, although some of the money was found strewn between the treasury building and Mount Bonnell. Captain Freeman and his company of volunteers were later recognized by the state for their service in defending the public treasury, but the resolution providing a reward for their services never passed the then Union controlled legislature.
This post was edited on 6/10/15 at 8:42 pm
Posted on 6/11/15 at 8:28 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Monday, 12 June 1865
The resignation of United States Marshal for the District of Columbia, Ward Hill Lamon--President Abraham Lincoln's constant companion, best friend, and body guard--tendered on Saturday, became effective today.
The Cleveland Leader reports that rumors of former Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, who surrendered his command to Federal authorities ten days earlier, relocating to Mexico with a large amount of cash, were indeed true.
A Federal expedition maneuvers from the Pawnee Indian Village to the Platte and Niobrara Rivers, in the Nebraska and Dakota Territories, searching for "renegade" Indians.
The steamer Sonora arrives in Tampico, Mexico, after running the blockade from Matagorda Bay, Texas. Although originally loaded with 300 bales of cotton, disbanded Confederate troops had seized all but 38 bales.
Skirmishing breaks out at Cow Creek Station, Fort Dodge, Plum Butte and Pawnee Rock, Kansas.
The resignation of United States Marshal for the District of Columbia, Ward Hill Lamon--President Abraham Lincoln's constant companion, best friend, and body guard--tendered on Saturday, became effective today.
The Cleveland Leader reports that rumors of former Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, who surrendered his command to Federal authorities ten days earlier, relocating to Mexico with a large amount of cash, were indeed true.
A Federal expedition maneuvers from the Pawnee Indian Village to the Platte and Niobrara Rivers, in the Nebraska and Dakota Territories, searching for "renegade" Indians.
The steamer Sonora arrives in Tampico, Mexico, after running the blockade from Matagorda Bay, Texas. Although originally loaded with 300 bales of cotton, disbanded Confederate troops had seized all but 38 bales.
Skirmishing breaks out at Cow Creek Station, Fort Dodge, Plum Butte and Pawnee Rock, Kansas.
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