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Posted on 8/11/15 at 8:23 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Posted on 8/11/15 at 8:23 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Saturday, 12 August 1865
Rear Admiral Sylvanus William Godon arrived with the flagship U.S.S. Susquehanna in the harbor of Bahia, Brazil, pursuant to orders of the Federal Navy Department appointing him to command the Brazil Squadron. This squadron, dating back to the early 1820's, was reactivated after being temporarily discontinued during the War Between the States. Its station extended from the Amazon River to the Straits of Magellan and its commander was directed to protect "...our flag from insult and the property of our citizens from unlawful seizure." Godon's command consisted of the U.S.S. Monadnock, Chippewa, Monticello, Canonicus, Shawmut, Fahkee and Wasp. He had commanded the 4th Division of Admiral David Dixon Porter's fleet at the first and second battles of Fort Fisher, North Carolina, in December 1864 and January 1865.
Rear Admiral Sylvanus William Godon arrived with the flagship U.S.S. Susquehanna in the harbor of Bahia, Brazil, pursuant to orders of the Federal Navy Department appointing him to command the Brazil Squadron. This squadron, dating back to the early 1820's, was reactivated after being temporarily discontinued during the War Between the States. Its station extended from the Amazon River to the Straits of Magellan and its commander was directed to protect "...our flag from insult and the property of our citizens from unlawful seizure." Godon's command consisted of the U.S.S. Monadnock, Chippewa, Monticello, Canonicus, Shawmut, Fahkee and Wasp. He had commanded the 4th Division of Admiral David Dixon Porter's fleet at the first and second battles of Fort Fisher, North Carolina, in December 1864 and January 1865.
1
Posted on 8/13/15 at 8:52 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Monday, 14 August 1865
Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee hauled down his flag on the U.S.S. Tempest and the Mississippi Squadron ceased to exist. The squadron had played a major role in fashioning the Union's ultimate victory. In the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers campaign, naval actions had been decisive in rolling back the Confederacy's northern frontier from Kentucky to Mississippi and Alabama. Its Mississippi River operations at Vicksburg and elsewhere, combined with Rear Admiral David Glasgow Farragut's victory at New Orleans, Louisiana, had finally severed the Confederacy and denied to the eastern portion the vital supplies of the provision-rich western half, as well as troops late in the War. Finally, the squadron's operations on the tributaries of the Mississippi, including support of the Army, had projected Union striking power into the deepest reaches of the Confederacy. The five remaining vessels of the former eighty ship fleet were placed under the operational control of Commodore John W. Livingston, commanding the Mound City Naval Station, the only remaining functional station on the western rivers.
Lee was born at "Sully" in Fairfax County, Virginia to Francis Lightfoot Lee II and Jane Fitzgerald. He was the grandson of Richard Henry Lee, great-nephew of Francis Lightfoot Lee I, brother-in-law of Francis Preston Blair, Jr., and of Montgomery Blair, and was third cousin of Robert Edward Lee. He was appointed a midshipman in the U.S. Navy in November 1825 and subsequently saw extensive service at sea, including combat action during the Mexican–American War and exploration, surveying and oceanographic duty. At the outbreak of the War Between the States in 1861, he held the rank of commander and was captain of the sloop of war Vandalia in the East Indies, sailing her home on his own initiative to join the blockade of the Southern coast. Commander Lee commanded the new steam sloop Oneida during the New Orleans campaign and subsequent operations on the Mississippi River in the first half of 1862. Lee became well known in Washington society due to the influence of his wife, the former Elizabeth Blair, of Maryland.
Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee hauled down his flag on the U.S.S. Tempest and the Mississippi Squadron ceased to exist. The squadron had played a major role in fashioning the Union's ultimate victory. In the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers campaign, naval actions had been decisive in rolling back the Confederacy's northern frontier from Kentucky to Mississippi and Alabama. Its Mississippi River operations at Vicksburg and elsewhere, combined with Rear Admiral David Glasgow Farragut's victory at New Orleans, Louisiana, had finally severed the Confederacy and denied to the eastern portion the vital supplies of the provision-rich western half, as well as troops late in the War. Finally, the squadron's operations on the tributaries of the Mississippi, including support of the Army, had projected Union striking power into the deepest reaches of the Confederacy. The five remaining vessels of the former eighty ship fleet were placed under the operational control of Commodore John W. Livingston, commanding the Mound City Naval Station, the only remaining functional station on the western rivers.
Lee was born at "Sully" in Fairfax County, Virginia to Francis Lightfoot Lee II and Jane Fitzgerald. He was the grandson of Richard Henry Lee, great-nephew of Francis Lightfoot Lee I, brother-in-law of Francis Preston Blair, Jr., and of Montgomery Blair, and was third cousin of Robert Edward Lee. He was appointed a midshipman in the U.S. Navy in November 1825 and subsequently saw extensive service at sea, including combat action during the Mexican–American War and exploration, surveying and oceanographic duty. At the outbreak of the War Between the States in 1861, he held the rank of commander and was captain of the sloop of war Vandalia in the East Indies, sailing her home on his own initiative to join the blockade of the Southern coast. Commander Lee commanded the new steam sloop Oneida during the New Orleans campaign and subsequent operations on the Mississippi River in the first half of 1862. Lee became well known in Washington society due to the influence of his wife, the former Elizabeth Blair, of Maryland.
Posted on 8/14/15 at 9:08 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Tuesday, 15 August 1865
The C.S.S. Shenandoah stood steadily for the empty South Atlantic. Up to the time of deciding to steer for the relative safety of England, Lieutenant James Iredell Waddell wrote that the ultra-successful Confederate commerce raider "...had made more than forty thousand miles without an accident. I felt sure a search would be made for her in the North Pacific and that to run the ship south was important to all concerned. Some of the people expressed a desire that I should take the Shenandoah to Australia or New Zealand or any near port rather than attempt to reach Europe. There seemed however to me no other course to pursue but the one I had decided upon, and I considered it due the integrity of all to reject anything and everything like flinching under the severe trial imposed upon us. If was my duty as a man and a commanding officer to be careful of the honor as well as the welfare of the one hundred and thirty-two men placed in my hands."
A peace treaty is signed at the mouth of the Little Arkansas River, with the following Indian Nation tribes: Apache, Arapahoe, Comanche, and Kiowa.
The C.S.S. Shenandoah stood steadily for the empty South Atlantic. Up to the time of deciding to steer for the relative safety of England, Lieutenant James Iredell Waddell wrote that the ultra-successful Confederate commerce raider "...had made more than forty thousand miles without an accident. I felt sure a search would be made for her in the North Pacific and that to run the ship south was important to all concerned. Some of the people expressed a desire that I should take the Shenandoah to Australia or New Zealand or any near port rather than attempt to reach Europe. There seemed however to me no other course to pursue but the one I had decided upon, and I considered it due the integrity of all to reject anything and everything like flinching under the severe trial imposed upon us. If was my duty as a man and a commanding officer to be careful of the honor as well as the welfare of the one hundred and thirty-two men placed in my hands."
A peace treaty is signed at the mouth of the Little Arkansas River, with the following Indian Nation tribes: Apache, Arapahoe, Comanche, and Kiowa.
Posted on 8/18/15 at 8:58 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Saturday, 19 August 1865
World famous hydrographer and Commander (in both the Confederate and United States Navy) Matthew Fontaine Maury, known worldwide as the "Pathfinder of the Seas", was today written by his sage friend, Rear Admiral Marin H. Jansen of the Royal Netherlands Navy. Writing from Delft, Holland, Jansen again proved a prophet when he gave an added reason for Maury's not proceeding with his plan for the Southern colonization of Mexico. He would probably lose his head with the Emperor if he remained. "As long as Maximilian tries to make what is called a civilized government his position is unstable and I should not like you to stay there, however sweet and pleasant it may be in the shade of an Emperor's crown. . . You may run the chance as his Prime Minister to be a Prince of Empire or to be hung or shot or something worse."
The members of Maury's family also again urged him to abandon the plan and go to Russia, accepting the invitation of the Grand Duke Constantine, or to France where Napoleon III had invited him to live. Many nations sought the great mind of Maury, leading naval scientist of his time. Before the War Between the States began, he was the most honored, and possibly most noted, living American among other nations of the world.
Maury's reply to his family was characteristic of the stout integrity and dedication of so many naval officers on both sides in the Civil War. He did not want to be a court drone, but to earn a living--and to help make a better world. "I have come here to provide a home for such of the conquered people as like to emigrate," he, wrote. "Suppose they do not thank me--well, there is still useful and honourable occupation for me here. There are many things here with which I may identify myself and do good, such as organizing the census, a land survey for the Empire, a system of internal improvements; and though last, not least, the introduction of chinchona cultivation." Chincona is an evergreen South American tree or shrub of the bedstraw family, with fragrant flowers and refined for its bark. Once dried, the bark is a source of quinine and other medicinal alkaloids.
Introduction of chinchona was a long cherished idea. Before leaving England, Maury had discussed it with a distinguished geographer who had developed plantations in India. In Mexico, he had early applied himself to study of the country's geography, one purpose being to determine the best location for chinchona planting and processing. The bark of this tree, variously called Calisava, Jesuit's or Peruvian Bark, was a source of quinine vitally needed in the treatment of malaria. Maury left a continuing heritage of good in his wake through life.
World famous hydrographer and Commander (in both the Confederate and United States Navy) Matthew Fontaine Maury, known worldwide as the "Pathfinder of the Seas", was today written by his sage friend, Rear Admiral Marin H. Jansen of the Royal Netherlands Navy. Writing from Delft, Holland, Jansen again proved a prophet when he gave an added reason for Maury's not proceeding with his plan for the Southern colonization of Mexico. He would probably lose his head with the Emperor if he remained. "As long as Maximilian tries to make what is called a civilized government his position is unstable and I should not like you to stay there, however sweet and pleasant it may be in the shade of an Emperor's crown. . . You may run the chance as his Prime Minister to be a Prince of Empire or to be hung or shot or something worse."
The members of Maury's family also again urged him to abandon the plan and go to Russia, accepting the invitation of the Grand Duke Constantine, or to France where Napoleon III had invited him to live. Many nations sought the great mind of Maury, leading naval scientist of his time. Before the War Between the States began, he was the most honored, and possibly most noted, living American among other nations of the world.
Maury's reply to his family was characteristic of the stout integrity and dedication of so many naval officers on both sides in the Civil War. He did not want to be a court drone, but to earn a living--and to help make a better world. "I have come here to provide a home for such of the conquered people as like to emigrate," he, wrote. "Suppose they do not thank me--well, there is still useful and honourable occupation for me here. There are many things here with which I may identify myself and do good, such as organizing the census, a land survey for the Empire, a system of internal improvements; and though last, not least, the introduction of chinchona cultivation." Chincona is an evergreen South American tree or shrub of the bedstraw family, with fragrant flowers and refined for its bark. Once dried, the bark is a source of quinine and other medicinal alkaloids.
Introduction of chinchona was a long cherished idea. Before leaving England, Maury had discussed it with a distinguished geographer who had developed plantations in India. In Mexico, he had early applied himself to study of the country's geography, one purpose being to determine the best location for chinchona planting and processing. The bark of this tree, variously called Calisava, Jesuit's or Peruvian Bark, was a source of quinine vitally needed in the treatment of malaria. Maury left a continuing heritage of good in his wake through life.
This post was edited on 8/19/15 at 5:01 am
Posted on 8/28/15 at 6:51 am to BadLeroyDawg
Monday, 28 August 1865
Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter, who had commanded the Mississippi Squadron in the early part of the War Between the States and the South Atlantic Squadron in the latter part of the conflict, was this morning appointed Superintendent of the Naval Academy. Under his supervision the school will be returned to its pre-war location at Annapolis, Maryland. At the outbreak of the conflict, the Academy had been moved to Newport, Rhode Island, where the resort hotel Atlantic House and the historic frigate U.S.S. Constitution were utilized for housing and classrooms. Porter is also eventually confronted with the task of refurbishing the buildings and grounds which, during the War, had been used as an army post and field hospital. Porter will serve as Superintendent for four years and while at the Academy will be promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral.
The Powder River Expedition of 1865 (aka the Powder River War or Powder River Invasion) begun on 1 July, was a large and far-flung military operation of the United States Army against the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians in the Montana and Dakota Territory. Although soldiers destroyed one Arapaho village and established Fort Connor to protect travelers on the Bozeman Trail, the expedition is considered ineffectual because it failed to defeat the Indians and secure peace in the region.
Brigadier General Patrick E. Connor, along with mountain man Jim Bridger serving as a guide, Colonel James H. Kidd and their 675 soldiers, Indian scouts, and teamsters march north from Fort Connor this morning, where his Pawnee scouts find an Arapaho village of about 600 people on the Tongue River near present day Ranchester, Wyoming.
Tomorrow, 29 August, Connor will attack the village, whose leader was Black Bear, with 250 cavalrymen, and 80 Pawnee Scouts. The people found in the village are primarily women, children, and old men. Most of the warriors were absent, engaged in a war with the Crow on the Bighorn River. The surprised Indians fled the village, but regroup, then counterattack and Connor was dissuaded from pursuing them. The soldiers destroyed the village, captured about 500 horses, and 8 women and 13 children who were subsequently released. Conner will claim to have killed 35 Arapaho warriors, a highly exaggerated estimate, at a cost to himself of 5 dead. Connor then turns around and proceeds to Fort Connor, harassed by the Arapaho en route. The Arapaho, who had not been overly hostile before, now join with the Sioux and Cheyenne Indian in their reprisals.
Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter, who had commanded the Mississippi Squadron in the early part of the War Between the States and the South Atlantic Squadron in the latter part of the conflict, was this morning appointed Superintendent of the Naval Academy. Under his supervision the school will be returned to its pre-war location at Annapolis, Maryland. At the outbreak of the conflict, the Academy had been moved to Newport, Rhode Island, where the resort hotel Atlantic House and the historic frigate U.S.S. Constitution were utilized for housing and classrooms. Porter is also eventually confronted with the task of refurbishing the buildings and grounds which, during the War, had been used as an army post and field hospital. Porter will serve as Superintendent for four years and while at the Academy will be promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral.
The Powder River Expedition of 1865 (aka the Powder River War or Powder River Invasion) begun on 1 July, was a large and far-flung military operation of the United States Army against the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians in the Montana and Dakota Territory. Although soldiers destroyed one Arapaho village and established Fort Connor to protect travelers on the Bozeman Trail, the expedition is considered ineffectual because it failed to defeat the Indians and secure peace in the region.
Brigadier General Patrick E. Connor, along with mountain man Jim Bridger serving as a guide, Colonel James H. Kidd and their 675 soldiers, Indian scouts, and teamsters march north from Fort Connor this morning, where his Pawnee scouts find an Arapaho village of about 600 people on the Tongue River near present day Ranchester, Wyoming.
Tomorrow, 29 August, Connor will attack the village, whose leader was Black Bear, with 250 cavalrymen, and 80 Pawnee Scouts. The people found in the village are primarily women, children, and old men. Most of the warriors were absent, engaged in a war with the Crow on the Bighorn River. The surprised Indians fled the village, but regroup, then counterattack and Connor was dissuaded from pursuing them. The soldiers destroyed the village, captured about 500 horses, and 8 women and 13 children who were subsequently released. Conner will claim to have killed 35 Arapaho warriors, a highly exaggerated estimate, at a cost to himself of 5 dead. Connor then turns around and proceeds to Fort Connor, harassed by the Arapaho en route. The Arapaho, who had not been overly hostile before, now join with the Sioux and Cheyenne Indian in their reprisals.
Posted on 9/4/15 at 9:09 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Tuesday, 5 September 1865
Brigadier General Alexander Schimmelfennig, who was a German (Prussian) soldier and political revolutionary that became a Union Army general, dies near Wernersville, Pennsylvania, this morning while trying to recuperate from camp fever (tuberculosis) which had afflicted him for a very long time.
Another engagement occurs with the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians at Powder River, in the Montana Territory. In desperate need of supplies, Colonels Nelson D. Cole and Samuel Walker had earlier decided to follow the Powder River north, in search of Brigadier General Patrick E. Connor's column, and his wagon train. The expeditions had continued north to the mouth of Mizpah Creek in what is now Custer County, Montana. There, the two Colonels decided to turn back around and retrace their steps south down the Powder River, to search for Connor's left column. The Indians attack this afternoon and on tomorrow morning, the 5th. They will continue to harass Cole and Walker as the soldiers move further south downriver.
Steadily proceeding with the colonization plan proposed by renowned hydrographer and Commander (in both the Navy of the Confederate and United States) Matthew Fontaine Maury--known worldwide as the "Pathfinder of the Seas"--whom he deeply respected, Emperor Maximilian I issues a decree that begins..."We, Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, in consideration of the sparseness of the population in the Mexican territory, in proportion to its extent, desiring to give to immigrants all possible security for property and liberty...do decree as follows: Mexico is open to immigrants of all nations. Immigration agents shall be appointed, whose duty it will be to protect the arrival of immigrants, install them on the lands assigned them, and assist them in every possible way in establishing themselves. These agents will receive the orders of the Imperial Commissioner of Immigration, especially appointed by us, and to whom all the communications relative to immigration shall be addressed."
Brigadier General Alexander Schimmelfennig, who was a German (Prussian) soldier and political revolutionary that became a Union Army general, dies near Wernersville, Pennsylvania, this morning while trying to recuperate from camp fever (tuberculosis) which had afflicted him for a very long time.
Another engagement occurs with the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians at Powder River, in the Montana Territory. In desperate need of supplies, Colonels Nelson D. Cole and Samuel Walker had earlier decided to follow the Powder River north, in search of Brigadier General Patrick E. Connor's column, and his wagon train. The expeditions had continued north to the mouth of Mizpah Creek in what is now Custer County, Montana. There, the two Colonels decided to turn back around and retrace their steps south down the Powder River, to search for Connor's left column. The Indians attack this afternoon and on tomorrow morning, the 5th. They will continue to harass Cole and Walker as the soldiers move further south downriver.
Steadily proceeding with the colonization plan proposed by renowned hydrographer and Commander (in both the Navy of the Confederate and United States) Matthew Fontaine Maury--known worldwide as the "Pathfinder of the Seas"--whom he deeply respected, Emperor Maximilian I issues a decree that begins..."We, Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, in consideration of the sparseness of the population in the Mexican territory, in proportion to its extent, desiring to give to immigrants all possible security for property and liberty...do decree as follows: Mexico is open to immigrants of all nations. Immigration agents shall be appointed, whose duty it will be to protect the arrival of immigrants, install them on the lands assigned them, and assist them in every possible way in establishing themselves. These agents will receive the orders of the Imperial Commissioner of Immigration, especially appointed by us, and to whom all the communications relative to immigration shall be addressed."
Posted on 9/5/15 at 9:34 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Wednesday, 6 September 1865
In Nashville, Union General George Thomas receives a scathing letter this afternoon from his Commander-In-Chief, President Andrew Johnson, about Johnson’s home in Tennessee, now under the control of Thomas:
September 4, 1865, EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Washington, D. C. Pres. Johnson to Maj. Gen. G. H. THOMAS, in Nashville, Tenn.:
I have information of the most reliable character that the negro troops stationed at Greeneville, Tenn., are under little or no restraint, and are committing depredations throughout the country, domineering over, and in fact running the white people out of the neighborhood. Much of this is said to be attributable to the officers, who countenance and rather encourage the negroes in their insolence and in their disorderly conduct. The negro soldiery take possession of and occupy property in the town at discretion, and have even gone so far as to have taken my own house and inverted it into a rendezvous for male and female negroes, who have been congregated there, in fact making it a common negro brothel. It was bad enough to be taken by traitors and converted into a rebel hospital, but a negro whore house is infinitely worse. As to the value of the property, I care nothing for that, but the reflection that it has been converted into a sink of pollution, and that by our own forces, is, I confess, humiliating in the extreme. The people of East Tennessee above all others are the last who should be afflicted with the outrages of the negro soldiery. It is a poor reward for their long and continued devotion to the country through all its perils. It would be far better to remove every negro soldier from East Tennessee, and leave the people to protect themselves as best they may. I hope you will at once give instructions to every officer in command of negro troops to put them under strict discipline and reduce them to order. I also hope, as suggested in a former dispatch, that you will relieve that part of the State from negro troops as soon as practicable. If they are not needed for the public service in your department, let them be sent where they are, or, if not needed at all, it would be better that they be taken to the proper points and mustered out of service, and thereby reduce the enormous expense of the Government. Cannot instructions be given Gen. Gillem to attend to and see that proper discipline and order are without delay restored and enforced?
ANDREW JOHNSON
General Robert Edward Lee advises Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury against remaining in Mexico. He writes: "We have certainly not found our form of government all that was anticipated by its original founders; but this may be partly our fault in expecting too much, and partly due to the absence of virtue in the people. As long as virtue was dominant in the Republic, so long was the happiness of the people secure. I cannot, however, despair of it yet; I look forward to better days, and trust that time and experience--the great teachers of men under the guidance of our ever-merciful God--may save us from destruction, and restore to us the bright hopes and prospects of the past. The thought of abandoning the country, and all that must be left in it, is abhorrent to my feelings, and I prefer to struggle for its restoration, and share its fate rather than to give up all as lost." He admires Mexico but still loves Virginia.
"I shall be very sorry if your presence will be lost to Virginia. She has now sore need of all her sons, and can ill afford to lose you. I am very much obliged to you for all you have done for us, and hope your labours in the future may be as efficacious as in the past, and that your separation from us may not be permanent."
ROBERT E. LEE
In Nashville, Union General George Thomas receives a scathing letter this afternoon from his Commander-In-Chief, President Andrew Johnson, about Johnson’s home in Tennessee, now under the control of Thomas:
September 4, 1865, EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Washington, D. C. Pres. Johnson to Maj. Gen. G. H. THOMAS, in Nashville, Tenn.:
I have information of the most reliable character that the negro troops stationed at Greeneville, Tenn., are under little or no restraint, and are committing depredations throughout the country, domineering over, and in fact running the white people out of the neighborhood. Much of this is said to be attributable to the officers, who countenance and rather encourage the negroes in their insolence and in their disorderly conduct. The negro soldiery take possession of and occupy property in the town at discretion, and have even gone so far as to have taken my own house and inverted it into a rendezvous for male and female negroes, who have been congregated there, in fact making it a common negro brothel. It was bad enough to be taken by traitors and converted into a rebel hospital, but a negro whore house is infinitely worse. As to the value of the property, I care nothing for that, but the reflection that it has been converted into a sink of pollution, and that by our own forces, is, I confess, humiliating in the extreme. The people of East Tennessee above all others are the last who should be afflicted with the outrages of the negro soldiery. It is a poor reward for their long and continued devotion to the country through all its perils. It would be far better to remove every negro soldier from East Tennessee, and leave the people to protect themselves as best they may. I hope you will at once give instructions to every officer in command of negro troops to put them under strict discipline and reduce them to order. I also hope, as suggested in a former dispatch, that you will relieve that part of the State from negro troops as soon as practicable. If they are not needed for the public service in your department, let them be sent where they are, or, if not needed at all, it would be better that they be taken to the proper points and mustered out of service, and thereby reduce the enormous expense of the Government. Cannot instructions be given Gen. Gillem to attend to and see that proper discipline and order are without delay restored and enforced?
ANDREW JOHNSON
General Robert Edward Lee advises Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury against remaining in Mexico. He writes: "We have certainly not found our form of government all that was anticipated by its original founders; but this may be partly our fault in expecting too much, and partly due to the absence of virtue in the people. As long as virtue was dominant in the Republic, so long was the happiness of the people secure. I cannot, however, despair of it yet; I look forward to better days, and trust that time and experience--the great teachers of men under the guidance of our ever-merciful God--may save us from destruction, and restore to us the bright hopes and prospects of the past. The thought of abandoning the country, and all that must be left in it, is abhorrent to my feelings, and I prefer to struggle for its restoration, and share its fate rather than to give up all as lost." He admires Mexico but still loves Virginia.
"I shall be very sorry if your presence will be lost to Virginia. She has now sore need of all her sons, and can ill afford to lose you. I am very much obliged to you for all you have done for us, and hope your labours in the future may be as efficacious as in the past, and that your separation from us may not be permanent."
ROBERT E. LEE
Posted on 9/10/15 at 9:29 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Monday, 11 September 1865
This morning, Emperor Maximilian I approved Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury's "Regulations and Instructions" prepared to accompany the Immigration decree. The pamphlet provided general information on Mexico's climate, topography, mineral wealth, as well as agricultural possibilities. This evening after dinner with the royal family, in private conference with the Emperor, Maury told him, shared afterwards in a letter to Mrs. Maury: "I can't manage immigration through the Ministers. I must transact business with you directly, and not through them; nor must they have anything to do with it. 'That's what I intend,' said he. Said I, 'I have not seen my wife and children for three years; I want to be quick, organize immigration, and take the steamer of 13th November for France.' 'Certainly,' said he. Then he said, 'I wish you to continue the conversation with the Empress; I have something pressing to do. She will make notes, give me verbal explanations, and have it all ready for me by four o'clock in the morning, when I will attend to it.' Empress Carlotta was walking in the garden. He referred me to some books on the table, and went to look for her. She came, and we commenced discussing matters, she making notes nearly as fast as I could talk...we discussed, with approbation, my going to see you [Maury's wife]; the appointments of agents in the South and their salaries, and the organization of a land office. She is very clever, practical and businesslike. I told her I thought she could do more business in a day than all of the Ministers put together could do in a week. She said, I believe I could'."
There was more light skirmishing with the Cheyenne, Sioux, and Arapaho including the Cheyenne chief Roman Nose, against Colonel Nelson D. Cole's and Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Walker's columns of the Powder River Expedition who were encamped near the confluence of the Little Powder River, and the Powder River, in the Dakota and Montana Territories.
This morning, Emperor Maximilian I approved Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury's "Regulations and Instructions" prepared to accompany the Immigration decree. The pamphlet provided general information on Mexico's climate, topography, mineral wealth, as well as agricultural possibilities. This evening after dinner with the royal family, in private conference with the Emperor, Maury told him, shared afterwards in a letter to Mrs. Maury: "I can't manage immigration through the Ministers. I must transact business with you directly, and not through them; nor must they have anything to do with it. 'That's what I intend,' said he. Said I, 'I have not seen my wife and children for three years; I want to be quick, organize immigration, and take the steamer of 13th November for France.' 'Certainly,' said he. Then he said, 'I wish you to continue the conversation with the Empress; I have something pressing to do. She will make notes, give me verbal explanations, and have it all ready for me by four o'clock in the morning, when I will attend to it.' Empress Carlotta was walking in the garden. He referred me to some books on the table, and went to look for her. She came, and we commenced discussing matters, she making notes nearly as fast as I could talk...we discussed, with approbation, my going to see you [Maury's wife]; the appointments of agents in the South and their salaries, and the organization of a land office. She is very clever, practical and businesslike. I told her I thought she could do more business in a day than all of the Ministers put together could do in a week. She said, I believe I could'."
There was more light skirmishing with the Cheyenne, Sioux, and Arapaho including the Cheyenne chief Roman Nose, against Colonel Nelson D. Cole's and Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Walker's columns of the Powder River Expedition who were encamped near the confluence of the Little Powder River, and the Powder River, in the Dakota and Montana Territories.
Posted on 9/15/15 at 9:25 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Saturday, 16 September 1865
The C.S.S. Shenandoah, still adroitly commanded by Lieutenant James Iredell Waddell, rounded Cape Horn this afternoon and entered the Atlantic enroute to Liverpool, England, continuing to avoid the large flotilla of Union ships diligently searching the high seas for her. In the vast Pacific Ocean, the Shenandoah had struck the New England Yankee whaling industry a blow as least as devastating as that administered Great Britain's whaling commerce in 1813 by the U.S.S. Essex mastered by Captain David Porter, father of future Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter and step-father of Rear Admiral David Glasgow Farragut. There was cold, hard truth in the boast made by Waddell in later years when he reminisced, "I made New England suffer."
The C.S.S. Shenandoah, still adroitly commanded by Lieutenant James Iredell Waddell, rounded Cape Horn this afternoon and entered the Atlantic enroute to Liverpool, England, continuing to avoid the large flotilla of Union ships diligently searching the high seas for her. In the vast Pacific Ocean, the Shenandoah had struck the New England Yankee whaling industry a blow as least as devastating as that administered Great Britain's whaling commerce in 1813 by the U.S.S. Essex mastered by Captain David Porter, father of future Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter and step-father of Rear Admiral David Glasgow Farragut. There was cold, hard truth in the boast made by Waddell in later years when he reminisced, "I made New England suffer."
Posted on 9/16/15 at 8:27 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Sunday, 17 September 1865
After rounding Cape Horn and heading north into the Atlantic, the C.S.S. Shenandoah took a northeast gale which forced her "...to west longitude of 24º 40' before she reached the parallel of 40º S..." Day after day, icebergs and savage blocks of ice came dangerously near. "We were without a moon to shed her cheerful light over our desolate path, and the wind blow so fiercely that the ship's speed could not be reduced below five knots. It was more prudent to go ahead than to heave to, for I was without observations for several days and in an easterly current. Some of the icebergs were castellated..." The struggles of the ship accorded with the endeavors that "...filled our minds." Alone on the friendless sea, "...we were without a home or country, our little crew all that were left of the thousands who had sworn to defend that country or die with her, and there were moments when we would have deemed that a friendly gale which would have buried our sorrowful hearts and the beautiful Shenandoah in those dark waters. What a contrast to those gay hopes and proud aspirations with which we had entered upon the cruise. How eager we had been to court danger. Now gloomily and cautiously we avoided recognition. The very ship seemed to have partaken our feelings and no longer moved with her accustomed swiftness."
After rounding Cape Horn and heading north into the Atlantic, the C.S.S. Shenandoah took a northeast gale which forced her "...to west longitude of 24º 40' before she reached the parallel of 40º S..." Day after day, icebergs and savage blocks of ice came dangerously near. "We were without a moon to shed her cheerful light over our desolate path, and the wind blow so fiercely that the ship's speed could not be reduced below five knots. It was more prudent to go ahead than to heave to, for I was without observations for several days and in an easterly current. Some of the icebergs were castellated..." The struggles of the ship accorded with the endeavors that "...filled our minds." Alone on the friendless sea, "...we were without a home or country, our little crew all that were left of the thousands who had sworn to defend that country or die with her, and there were moments when we would have deemed that a friendly gale which would have buried our sorrowful hearts and the beautiful Shenandoah in those dark waters. What a contrast to those gay hopes and proud aspirations with which we had entered upon the cruise. How eager we had been to court danger. Now gloomily and cautiously we avoided recognition. The very ship seemed to have partaken our feelings and no longer moved with her accustomed swiftness."
Posted on 10/24/15 at 6:13 am to BadLeroyDawg
Tuesday, 24 October 1865
Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury's oldest son, Richard, and the only member of the family who voiced any enthusiasm for his Confederate-Mexican resettlement plan, arrives in Mexico with his wife this morning. He, crippled like his father, would be Maury's understudy in directing immigration and would run the office of Imperial Commissioner of Immigration when his father eventually departs for England to see Mrs. Maury.
On 10 October, the command of the North Atlantic Squadron passed from Rear Admiral William Radford, born in Fincastle, Virginia, to Commodore Joseph Lanman, former commander of the U.S.S. Minnesota. Radford reported to Washington, DC, and assumed command of the Washington Navy Yard.
On 11 October: The C.S.S. Shenandoah, still ably commanded by Lieutenant James Iredell Waddell, crossed the equator about midway between South America and Africa as she steered for Great Britain. Application had been made to Waddell to take the ship to Capetown. He inflexibly held to his decision to sail back to England, believing this best served the welfare and honor of all.
On 12 October, Waddell logs: The C.S.S. Shenandoah fell in "...with a great many sail but kept at a polite distance from them, working her way along under sail through calms and light airs. In latitude 10º N. we took the trades."
Skirmishing occurred in and around Shepherdstown, West Virginia, earlier this month on October 16 & 17, 1865.
Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury's oldest son, Richard, and the only member of the family who voiced any enthusiasm for his Confederate-Mexican resettlement plan, arrives in Mexico with his wife this morning. He, crippled like his father, would be Maury's understudy in directing immigration and would run the office of Imperial Commissioner of Immigration when his father eventually departs for England to see Mrs. Maury.
On 10 October, the command of the North Atlantic Squadron passed from Rear Admiral William Radford, born in Fincastle, Virginia, to Commodore Joseph Lanman, former commander of the U.S.S. Minnesota. Radford reported to Washington, DC, and assumed command of the Washington Navy Yard.
On 11 October: The C.S.S. Shenandoah, still ably commanded by Lieutenant James Iredell Waddell, crossed the equator about midway between South America and Africa as she steered for Great Britain. Application had been made to Waddell to take the ship to Capetown. He inflexibly held to his decision to sail back to England, believing this best served the welfare and honor of all.
On 12 October, Waddell logs: The C.S.S. Shenandoah fell in "...with a great many sail but kept at a polite distance from them, working her way along under sail through calms and light airs. In latitude 10º N. we took the trades."
Skirmishing occurred in and around Shepherdstown, West Virginia, earlier this month on October 16 & 17, 1865.
Posted on 10/24/15 at 8:18 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Wednesday, 25 October 1865
When the C.S.S. Shenandoah had "...nearly run out of the trades and her sails fanning her along, a masthead lookout cried sail O! The cry sail O! brought many to their feet who were indulging repose, and their anxious glances evinced their stare of mind, for if a Federal cruiser was to be found anywhere she would be in that region of ocean..." The stranger was a steamer, apparently a warship. If of the U.S. Navy, the Shenandoah had to avoid her, but the courses converged. "The sun was thirty minutes high and the sky was cloudless. We could make no change in the course of the ship or the quantity of sail she carried, for to arouse the suspicions of the sail might expose the Shenandoah to investigation. Whatever she was she had seen our ship and might be waiting to speak to her. The Shenandoah was perceptibly shortening the distance between herself and the sail, and there was danger that she would approach too near during daylight for she could already be seen from our deck. The propeller had been lowered to impede her progress, but the favoring night seemed to come on more slowly than I had ever before known it...There was but one hope, and that was in a drag, two ends of a hawser made fast and the bite thrown overboard would retard in some degree her progress through the water...When darkness closed between us we could not have been more than three miles distant. The Shenandoah's head was turned south and steam was ordered. At nine o'clock while our sails were being furled the moon rose and the surface presented a little before by the Shenandoah being greatly diminished by that maneuver it would be difficult to find where she lay."
"The Cardiff coal makes a white vapor which could not be seen two hundred yards off, and now that the engines were working and the steamer heading east, we had all the advantages to be expected. It was the first time our ship had been under steam since crossing the line in the Pacific Ocean, indeed the fires were not lighted during a distance of over thirteen thousand miles. The Shenandoah was five hundred miles southeast of the Azores, and if there was an American cruiser in that locality on the 25th day of October, 1865, we were probably in sight of each other. I have been told that the U.S. steamer Saranac, commanded by Captain Walke, was probably the vessel."
As he wrote elsewhere, Waddell again felt: "I believe the Divine will directed and protected that ship in all her adventures."
Just four years prior on this day in 1861--signaling an important shift in the history of naval warfare--the keel of the Union ironclad Monitor was laid at Greenpoint, New York.
Union Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles appointed an Ironclad Board when he heard rumors that the Confederates were trying to build an iron-hulled ship, as such a vessel could wreak havoc on the Union’s wooden armada. In September 1861, the board granted approval for engineer John Ericsson, a native of Sweden, to begin constructing the U.S. Navy’s first ironclad.
The wooden keel was laid at the Continental Iron Works at Greenpoint. Carpenters worked around the clock on the frame while the iron sheathing was prepared for the hull. The vessel was not large—172 feet long and 41 feet wide—but its design was unique. The craft had an unusually low profile, rising from the water only 18 inches. A 20-foot cylindrical turret in the middle of the ship housed two 11-inch Dahlgren guns that topped the flat, iron deck. The ship had a draft of less than 11 feet so it could operate in the shallow harbors and rivers of the South.
Ericsson pushed the production to be as speedy as possible, but he could not deliver the ship by the January 12, 1862, delivery date. It was finally launched into New York’s East River on January 30. Many small engine problems also needed to be solved before the craft was commissioned on February 25. The Monitor sailed for Virginia soon after, arriving at Chesapeake Bay on March 6. On March 8, 1862, it engaged in one of the most famous naval duels in history when it clashed with the Confederate ironclad, the C.S.S. Virginia (which had been constructed from the captured Union ship Merrimack). A day of heavy pounding produced a draw; each ship was essentially immune from the other’s shots, but a new era had dawned.
When the C.S.S. Shenandoah had "...nearly run out of the trades and her sails fanning her along, a masthead lookout cried sail O! The cry sail O! brought many to their feet who were indulging repose, and their anxious glances evinced their stare of mind, for if a Federal cruiser was to be found anywhere she would be in that region of ocean..." The stranger was a steamer, apparently a warship. If of the U.S. Navy, the Shenandoah had to avoid her, but the courses converged. "The sun was thirty minutes high and the sky was cloudless. We could make no change in the course of the ship or the quantity of sail she carried, for to arouse the suspicions of the sail might expose the Shenandoah to investigation. Whatever she was she had seen our ship and might be waiting to speak to her. The Shenandoah was perceptibly shortening the distance between herself and the sail, and there was danger that she would approach too near during daylight for she could already be seen from our deck. The propeller had been lowered to impede her progress, but the favoring night seemed to come on more slowly than I had ever before known it...There was but one hope, and that was in a drag, two ends of a hawser made fast and the bite thrown overboard would retard in some degree her progress through the water...When darkness closed between us we could not have been more than three miles distant. The Shenandoah's head was turned south and steam was ordered. At nine o'clock while our sails were being furled the moon rose and the surface presented a little before by the Shenandoah being greatly diminished by that maneuver it would be difficult to find where she lay."
"The Cardiff coal makes a white vapor which could not be seen two hundred yards off, and now that the engines were working and the steamer heading east, we had all the advantages to be expected. It was the first time our ship had been under steam since crossing the line in the Pacific Ocean, indeed the fires were not lighted during a distance of over thirteen thousand miles. The Shenandoah was five hundred miles southeast of the Azores, and if there was an American cruiser in that locality on the 25th day of October, 1865, we were probably in sight of each other. I have been told that the U.S. steamer Saranac, commanded by Captain Walke, was probably the vessel."
As he wrote elsewhere, Waddell again felt: "I believe the Divine will directed and protected that ship in all her adventures."
Just four years prior on this day in 1861--signaling an important shift in the history of naval warfare--the keel of the Union ironclad Monitor was laid at Greenpoint, New York.
Union Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles appointed an Ironclad Board when he heard rumors that the Confederates were trying to build an iron-hulled ship, as such a vessel could wreak havoc on the Union’s wooden armada. In September 1861, the board granted approval for engineer John Ericsson, a native of Sweden, to begin constructing the U.S. Navy’s first ironclad.
The wooden keel was laid at the Continental Iron Works at Greenpoint. Carpenters worked around the clock on the frame while the iron sheathing was prepared for the hull. The vessel was not large—172 feet long and 41 feet wide—but its design was unique. The craft had an unusually low profile, rising from the water only 18 inches. A 20-foot cylindrical turret in the middle of the ship housed two 11-inch Dahlgren guns that topped the flat, iron deck. The ship had a draft of less than 11 feet so it could operate in the shallow harbors and rivers of the South.
Ericsson pushed the production to be as speedy as possible, but he could not deliver the ship by the January 12, 1862, delivery date. It was finally launched into New York’s East River on January 30. Many small engine problems also needed to be solved before the craft was commissioned on February 25. The Monitor sailed for Virginia soon after, arriving at Chesapeake Bay on March 6. On March 8, 1862, it engaged in one of the most famous naval duels in history when it clashed with the Confederate ironclad, the C.S.S. Virginia (which had been constructed from the captured Union ship Merrimack). A day of heavy pounding produced a draw; each ship was essentially immune from the other’s shots, but a new era had dawned.
Posted on 11/1/15 at 7:04 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Wednesday, 1 November 1865
James Brooks, formerly of the United States Ram Fleet and Union Mississippi Marine Brigade, this evening wrote a brief sketch of the ram fleet history to Brigadier General L. B. Parsons, Chief of Transportation Department in St. Louis: "The idea...of destroying the enemy's fleet by the use of rams originated with Colonel Charles Ellet, Jr....About the last of March, 1862, the Secretary of War invited him to his office to consult on the subject, and ordered him...to procure the boats and make the necessary alterations...It (the ram fleet) was at Memphis on the morning of the 6th of June (1862) and participated in the battle...The result was a great triumph for the rams, and fully came up to the expectations of Colonel Ellet and the Government...In November, 1863, the Secretary of War decided upon enlarging the fleet by...what was known the Mississippi Marine Brigade...The fleet was continued in the service until August 1864, when the War Department thought the necessity of such an organization no longer existed, and it was mustered out of the service and the boats turned over to the quartermasters...to be used as transports."
James Brooks, formerly of the United States Ram Fleet and Union Mississippi Marine Brigade, this evening wrote a brief sketch of the ram fleet history to Brigadier General L. B. Parsons, Chief of Transportation Department in St. Louis: "The idea...of destroying the enemy's fleet by the use of rams originated with Colonel Charles Ellet, Jr....About the last of March, 1862, the Secretary of War invited him to his office to consult on the subject, and ordered him...to procure the boats and make the necessary alterations...It (the ram fleet) was at Memphis on the morning of the 6th of June (1862) and participated in the battle...The result was a great triumph for the rams, and fully came up to the expectations of Colonel Ellet and the Government...In November, 1863, the Secretary of War decided upon enlarging the fleet by...what was known the Mississippi Marine Brigade...The fleet was continued in the service until August 1864, when the War Department thought the necessity of such an organization no longer existed, and it was mustered out of the service and the boats turned over to the quartermasters...to be used as transports."
Posted on 11/1/15 at 9:22 pm to BadLeroyDawg
& Colonel Ellet had assumed room temperature...
Posted on 11/4/15 at 9:09 pm to Sancho Panza
Sunday, 5 November 1865
A special squadron of four vessels commanded by Commodore John Rodgers departed from Hampton Roads for the Pacific via Cape Horn. The ships consisted of the U.S.S. Vanderbilt, Tuscarora, Powhatan and Monadnock and were intended to increase the Pacific Squadron to a fourteen ship force. Even so, this was a small number for the vast responsibilities of the United States already rapidly increasing in this mighty ocean where so much history would be written.
Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles ordered all naval vessels to resume rendering honors when entering British ports and to begin again exchanging official courtesies with English men of war. Early in the war, the Navy had been ordered to cease rendering these traditional courtesies to the national flag of any nation that accorded recognition to Confederate belligerency. This order continued in effect against Great Britain until that nation lifted the last of the restrictions that had been placed on American naval vessels entering British ports or waters.
On November 5, 1865, we entered St. George's Channel, making Tuskar lighthouse, which was the first land we had seen for 122 days, after sailing 23,000 miles, and made it within a few moments of when it was expected. Could a higher proof of the skill of our young navigator, Irvine S. Bulloch, be desired? That night we took a Liverpool pilot, who confirmed all the news we had heard. He was directed to take the ship to Liverpool.
On the morning of November 6 the brave ship steamed up the river Mersey with the Confederate flag at her peak, and was anchored by the pilot, by Captain Waddell's order, near H. B. M. guardship Donegal, Captain Paynter, R. N., commanding. Soon after a lieutenant from the Donegal came on board to learn the name of our vessel and advised us officially of the termination of the war. At 10 A. M. November 6, 1865, the last Confederate flag was hauled down and the last piece of Confederate property, the C. S. S. Shenandoah, was surrendered to the British nation by letter to Earl Russell, from Captain Waddell, through Captain Paynter, royal navy, commanding H. M. S. Donegal.
The gallant little ship had left London thirteen months before as the Sea King, and had, as a Confederate cruiser, defied pursuit, for twelve months and seventeen days, had captured thirty-eight vessels valued at $1,172,223, bonding six and destroying thirtytwo-second only to the C. S. S. Alabama in number; had circumnavigated the globe, carrying the brave flag around the world and into every ocean on the globe except the Antarctic; traveling over a distance of about 60,000 miles, without the loss of a single spar.
Captain Waddell's letter to Earl Russell set forth the unvarnished facts and work of our cruise and surrendered the vessel to the British nation. The Shenandoah was placed under custody of British authorities, the gunboat Goshawk being lashed alongside.
United States Minister Adams, on November 7 addressed a letter to the Earl of Clarendon, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, requesting that necessary steps be taken to secure the property on board, and to take possession of the vessel with view to her delivery to the United States. Minister Adams' letter, with that of Captain Waddell, with other documents relating to the Shenandoah, were referred to the law officers off the Crown on November 7, 1865, who advised in substance as follows:
"We think it will be proper for her Majesty's government, in compliance with Mr. Adams' request, to deliver up to him, in behalf of the government of the United States, the ship in question, with her tackle, apparel, etc., and all captured chronometers or other property capable of being identified as prize of war, which may be found on board of her . . . . With respect to the officers and crew . . . if the facts stated by Captain Waddell are true, there is clearly no case for any persecution on the ground of piracy in the courts of this country, and we presume that he Majesty's government are not in possessio of any evidence which could be produced before any court or magistrate for the purpose of contravening the statement or showing that the crime of piracy has, in fact, been committed . . . With respect to any of the persons on the Shenandoah who cannot be immediately proceeded against and detained under legal warrant upon any criminal charge, we are not aware of any ground upon which they can properly be prevented from going on shore and disposing of themselves as they think if, and we cannot advise her Majesty's government to assume or exercise the power of keeping them under any kind of restraint."
The law officers who gave this advise and these opinions, and whose names were attached thereto, were Sir Roundell Palmer, Sir R. P. Collier and Sir Robert Phillmore.
In consequence of these opinions of the law officer of the Crown, instructions were sent to Captain Paynter, of her majesty's ship Donegal, to release all officers and men who were not ascertained to be British subjects. Captain Paynter reported on November 8 that, on receiving these instructions he went on the Shenandoah, and being satisfied that there were no British subjects among the crew, or at least none of whom it could be proved were British subjects, he permitted all hands to land with their private effects.
Thus ended our memorable cruise-grand in its conception. Grand in its execution and unprecedentally, awfully grand in its sad finale. To the four winds the gallant crew scattered, most of them never to meet again until called to the Bar of that Highest of all Tribunals.
The ship was handed over to the United States agents, a Captain Freeman was appointed to take her to New York, but going out and encountering high west winds, lost light spars and returned to Liverpool. It was not tried again. The noble vessel was put and sold to the Sultan of Zanzibar. She finally was lost on a coral reef in the Indian Ocean in 1879-fourteen years after the last Confederate flag was hauled down.
A special squadron of four vessels commanded by Commodore John Rodgers departed from Hampton Roads for the Pacific via Cape Horn. The ships consisted of the U.S.S. Vanderbilt, Tuscarora, Powhatan and Monadnock and were intended to increase the Pacific Squadron to a fourteen ship force. Even so, this was a small number for the vast responsibilities of the United States already rapidly increasing in this mighty ocean where so much history would be written.
Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles ordered all naval vessels to resume rendering honors when entering British ports and to begin again exchanging official courtesies with English men of war. Early in the war, the Navy had been ordered to cease rendering these traditional courtesies to the national flag of any nation that accorded recognition to Confederate belligerency. This order continued in effect against Great Britain until that nation lifted the last of the restrictions that had been placed on American naval vessels entering British ports or waters.
On November 5, 1865, we entered St. George's Channel, making Tuskar lighthouse, which was the first land we had seen for 122 days, after sailing 23,000 miles, and made it within a few moments of when it was expected. Could a higher proof of the skill of our young navigator, Irvine S. Bulloch, be desired? That night we took a Liverpool pilot, who confirmed all the news we had heard. He was directed to take the ship to Liverpool.
On the morning of November 6 the brave ship steamed up the river Mersey with the Confederate flag at her peak, and was anchored by the pilot, by Captain Waddell's order, near H. B. M. guardship Donegal, Captain Paynter, R. N., commanding. Soon after a lieutenant from the Donegal came on board to learn the name of our vessel and advised us officially of the termination of the war. At 10 A. M. November 6, 1865, the last Confederate flag was hauled down and the last piece of Confederate property, the C. S. S. Shenandoah, was surrendered to the British nation by letter to Earl Russell, from Captain Waddell, through Captain Paynter, royal navy, commanding H. M. S. Donegal.
The gallant little ship had left London thirteen months before as the Sea King, and had, as a Confederate cruiser, defied pursuit, for twelve months and seventeen days, had captured thirty-eight vessels valued at $1,172,223, bonding six and destroying thirtytwo-second only to the C. S. S. Alabama in number; had circumnavigated the globe, carrying the brave flag around the world and into every ocean on the globe except the Antarctic; traveling over a distance of about 60,000 miles, without the loss of a single spar.
Captain Waddell's letter to Earl Russell set forth the unvarnished facts and work of our cruise and surrendered the vessel to the British nation. The Shenandoah was placed under custody of British authorities, the gunboat Goshawk being lashed alongside.
United States Minister Adams, on November 7 addressed a letter to the Earl of Clarendon, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, requesting that necessary steps be taken to secure the property on board, and to take possession of the vessel with view to her delivery to the United States. Minister Adams' letter, with that of Captain Waddell, with other documents relating to the Shenandoah, were referred to the law officers off the Crown on November 7, 1865, who advised in substance as follows:
"We think it will be proper for her Majesty's government, in compliance with Mr. Adams' request, to deliver up to him, in behalf of the government of the United States, the ship in question, with her tackle, apparel, etc., and all captured chronometers or other property capable of being identified as prize of war, which may be found on board of her . . . . With respect to the officers and crew . . . if the facts stated by Captain Waddell are true, there is clearly no case for any persecution on the ground of piracy in the courts of this country, and we presume that he Majesty's government are not in possessio of any evidence which could be produced before any court or magistrate for the purpose of contravening the statement or showing that the crime of piracy has, in fact, been committed . . . With respect to any of the persons on the Shenandoah who cannot be immediately proceeded against and detained under legal warrant upon any criminal charge, we are not aware of any ground upon which they can properly be prevented from going on shore and disposing of themselves as they think if, and we cannot advise her Majesty's government to assume or exercise the power of keeping them under any kind of restraint."
The law officers who gave this advise and these opinions, and whose names were attached thereto, were Sir Roundell Palmer, Sir R. P. Collier and Sir Robert Phillmore.
In consequence of these opinions of the law officer of the Crown, instructions were sent to Captain Paynter, of her majesty's ship Donegal, to release all officers and men who were not ascertained to be British subjects. Captain Paynter reported on November 8 that, on receiving these instructions he went on the Shenandoah, and being satisfied that there were no British subjects among the crew, or at least none of whom it could be proved were British subjects, he permitted all hands to land with their private effects.
Thus ended our memorable cruise-grand in its conception. Grand in its execution and unprecedentally, awfully grand in its sad finale. To the four winds the gallant crew scattered, most of them never to meet again until called to the Bar of that Highest of all Tribunals.
The ship was handed over to the United States agents, a Captain Freeman was appointed to take her to New York, but going out and encountering high west winds, lost light spars and returned to Liverpool. It was not tried again. The noble vessel was put and sold to the Sultan of Zanzibar. She finally was lost on a coral reef in the Indian Ocean in 1879-fourteen years after the last Confederate flag was hauled down.
Posted on 11/4/15 at 9:21 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Bruh. You're skipping days on me. I want to know what happened 150 years ago Oct. 25-31 and Novemember 2nd and 3rd
Posted on 11/6/15 at 5:07 am to BadLeroyDawg
Monday, 6 November 1865
The C.S.S. Shenandoah, still ably commanded by Lieutenant James Iredell Waddell, sailed up the Mersey River into Liverpool, 123 days and 23,000 miles from the Aleutians. This had been a non-stop cruise made almost exclusively under sail. The raider resorted to steam only on the one occasion at night in the mid-South Atlantic to evade the U.S.S. Saranac. The following morning the boiler fires were banked and Waddell proceeded under sail and arrived at his destination without sighting another vessel. The Shenandoah entered Liverpool harbor with the Confederate flag flying and became the only ship to circumnavigate the globe under the flag of the Stars and Bars. Waddell reported his arrival to the British Foreign Ministry and was officially informed that the War Between the States had ended. He thereupon lowered the last official Confederate flag and turned over his ship, himself and crew to Captain J. G. Paynter, RN, commanding H.M.S. Donegal. After a few days' confinement to the ship, Waddell and his crew were set at liberty by the English government.
Before reaching port, Waddell had divided prize money "...captured prior to the surrender of the Southern armies and other money which had been captured after the surrender of the Southern armies. The former I directed to be divided among the officers and crew according to the law on the subject of prize money, of which I declined to receive the portion which I would be entitled to, and it was divided among the officers and crew with the rest of the money. That which was captured after the surrender of the Southern armies was surrendered to Paymaster Robert W. Warwick, H.M. ship Donegal."
Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles bitterly denounced the release of the Confederates in a letter to Secretary of State William Henry Seward and urged that demands be made for Waddell and his crew to be delivered over to the United States. "The close of the career of the Shenandoah on the high seas," wrote Welles, "was notoriously and indisputably that of a pirate, and the piracy was of the most odious and despicable character. It was not the plunder of richly laden barks belonging to 'merchant princes,' who could afford the loss, though they might feel it, but the wanton destruction of the property of individuals seeking a humble subsistence in one of the most laborious and perilous of callings, and who could make no show of resistance to the overwhelming force of the pirate. No other description of robbery upon the high seas could have inflicted so much individual distress upon persons so little able to bear it, and so little deserving of it."
The Shenandoah was subsequently delivered over to the American Minister, Charles Francis Adams, who, after an abortive attempt to have her sent to the United States, ordered her sold at auction. She was purchased for $108,632.18 by the Sultan of Zanzibar who intended to convert her into a luxury yacht. After this proved economically unfeasible, the Sultan placed the ex-raider in the Indian Ocean ivory trade under the name Majidi.
For a number of years she sailed out of this far off Muslim island kingdom where in 1963 the U.S.S. Manley sped from a Southeast African visit to rescue Americans threatened by a Communist infiltrated revolution that destroyed the Muscat monarchy long sustained by British law and order. The Shenandoah's career ended in 1879, eighty-four years ahead of the Sultan's rule, when she ripped her bottom out on an uncharted reef in the Indian Ocean.
Waddell chose to remain in England rather than return to his homeland where Secretaries Welles and Stanton were publicly calling him the "Anglo-Rebel Pirate Captain". He finally returned to the United States in 1875 and was employed as a master by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company.
The C.S.S. Shenandoah, still ably commanded by Lieutenant James Iredell Waddell, sailed up the Mersey River into Liverpool, 123 days and 23,000 miles from the Aleutians. This had been a non-stop cruise made almost exclusively under sail. The raider resorted to steam only on the one occasion at night in the mid-South Atlantic to evade the U.S.S. Saranac. The following morning the boiler fires were banked and Waddell proceeded under sail and arrived at his destination without sighting another vessel. The Shenandoah entered Liverpool harbor with the Confederate flag flying and became the only ship to circumnavigate the globe under the flag of the Stars and Bars. Waddell reported his arrival to the British Foreign Ministry and was officially informed that the War Between the States had ended. He thereupon lowered the last official Confederate flag and turned over his ship, himself and crew to Captain J. G. Paynter, RN, commanding H.M.S. Donegal. After a few days' confinement to the ship, Waddell and his crew were set at liberty by the English government.
Before reaching port, Waddell had divided prize money "...captured prior to the surrender of the Southern armies and other money which had been captured after the surrender of the Southern armies. The former I directed to be divided among the officers and crew according to the law on the subject of prize money, of which I declined to receive the portion which I would be entitled to, and it was divided among the officers and crew with the rest of the money. That which was captured after the surrender of the Southern armies was surrendered to Paymaster Robert W. Warwick, H.M. ship Donegal."
Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles bitterly denounced the release of the Confederates in a letter to Secretary of State William Henry Seward and urged that demands be made for Waddell and his crew to be delivered over to the United States. "The close of the career of the Shenandoah on the high seas," wrote Welles, "was notoriously and indisputably that of a pirate, and the piracy was of the most odious and despicable character. It was not the plunder of richly laden barks belonging to 'merchant princes,' who could afford the loss, though they might feel it, but the wanton destruction of the property of individuals seeking a humble subsistence in one of the most laborious and perilous of callings, and who could make no show of resistance to the overwhelming force of the pirate. No other description of robbery upon the high seas could have inflicted so much individual distress upon persons so little able to bear it, and so little deserving of it."
The Shenandoah was subsequently delivered over to the American Minister, Charles Francis Adams, who, after an abortive attempt to have her sent to the United States, ordered her sold at auction. She was purchased for $108,632.18 by the Sultan of Zanzibar who intended to convert her into a luxury yacht. After this proved economically unfeasible, the Sultan placed the ex-raider in the Indian Ocean ivory trade under the name Majidi.
For a number of years she sailed out of this far off Muslim island kingdom where in 1963 the U.S.S. Manley sped from a Southeast African visit to rescue Americans threatened by a Communist infiltrated revolution that destroyed the Muscat monarchy long sustained by British law and order. The Shenandoah's career ended in 1879, eighty-four years ahead of the Sultan's rule, when she ripped her bottom out on an uncharted reef in the Indian Ocean.
Waddell chose to remain in England rather than return to his homeland where Secretaries Welles and Stanton were publicly calling him the "Anglo-Rebel Pirate Captain". He finally returned to the United States in 1875 and was employed as a master by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company.
This post was edited on 11/9/15 at 10:33 pm
Posted on 11/9/15 at 10:30 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Friday, 10 November 1865
Confederate Captain Henry Wirz, the commandant of the notorious Confederate prison camp at Andersonville, Georgia, who proclaimed innocence throughout his trial, was found guilty of atrocities against Federal prisoners, and is hanged this morning.
Full report: On this day in 1865, Henry Wirz, a Swiss immigrant and the last commander of Andersonville prison in Georgia, is hanged for the murder of soldiers incarcerated there during the Civil War. Although Union POW camps had similar death rates per capita as Andersonville--in states where food, medicine and supplies were plentiful--no one was ever tried for those Northern atrocities.
Wirz was born in Switzerland in 1823 and moved to the United States in 1849. He lived in the South, primarily in Louisiana, and became a physician. When the War Between the States broke out, he joined the Fourth Louisiana Battalion. After the First Battle of Manassas, Virginia, in July 1861, Wirz guarded prisoners in Richmond, Virginia, and was noticed by Inspector General John Winder. Winder had Wirz transferred to his department, and Wirz spent the rest of the conflict working with prisoners of war. He commanded a prison in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; escorted prisoners around the Confederacy; handled exchanges with the Union; and was wounded in a stagecoach accident. After returning to duty, he traveled to Europe and likely delivered messages to Confederate envoys. When Wirz arrived back in the Confederacy in early 1864, he was assigned the responsibility for Andersonville prison, officially known as Camp Sumter.
While both sides confined prisoners under horrible conditions, Andersonville is always given special mention for the circumstances under which its inmates were kept. A stockade held thousands of men on a barren, polluted patch of ground. Barracks were planned but never built; the men slept in makeshift housing, called “shebangs,” constructed from scrap wood and blankets that offered little protection from the elements. A small stream flowed through the compound and provided water for the Union soldiers, but this became a cesspool of disease and human waste. Erosion caused by the prisoners turned the stream into a huge swamp. The prison was designed to hold 10,000 men but primarily due to Grant's losses during his Overland Campaign against Lee, the Confederates had no choice but to pack it with more than 31,000 inmates by August 1864.
No mention is ever made of Camp Lawton, a major Civil War prison built by Confederates in the summer of 1864 near Millen, Georgia, to house many thousands of prisoners who were being shipped South on a weekly basis. In operation for only three months because of the movements of the Union Army of the Tennessee, Lawton enclosed an area of 42-acres and had starting taking in some of the inmates that were overcrowding Andersonville.
Wirz oversaw an operation in which thousands of inmates, as well as those guarding them, died. Partly a victim of circumstance, he was given few resources with which to work, and the Union had ceased prisoner exchanges in 1864 since Grant knew the only resource without which the Confederacy could not survive were soldiers. As the Confederate States began to dissolve, food and medicine for prisoners were impossible to obtain. When word about Andersonville leaked out, Northerners were horrified. Poet Walt Whitman saw some of the camp survivors and wrote, "There are deeds, crimes that may be forgiven, but this is not among them."
Wirz was charged with conspiracy to injure the health and lives of Union soldiers, as well as murder. His trial began in August 1865, and ran for two months. During the trial, some 160 witnesses were called to testify. Though Wirz did demonstrate indifference towards Andersonville’s prisoners, he was, in part, a scapegoat and some evidence against him was fabricated entirely. He was found guilty and sentenced to die on November 10 in Washington, D.C. On the scaffold, Wirz reportedly said to the officer in charge, "I know what orders are, Major. I am being hanged for obeying them." The 41-year-old Wirz was one of the few people convicted and executed for crimes committed during the Civil War.
Confederate Captain Henry Wirz, the commandant of the notorious Confederate prison camp at Andersonville, Georgia, who proclaimed innocence throughout his trial, was found guilty of atrocities against Federal prisoners, and is hanged this morning.
Full report: On this day in 1865, Henry Wirz, a Swiss immigrant and the last commander of Andersonville prison in Georgia, is hanged for the murder of soldiers incarcerated there during the Civil War. Although Union POW camps had similar death rates per capita as Andersonville--in states where food, medicine and supplies were plentiful--no one was ever tried for those Northern atrocities.
Wirz was born in Switzerland in 1823 and moved to the United States in 1849. He lived in the South, primarily in Louisiana, and became a physician. When the War Between the States broke out, he joined the Fourth Louisiana Battalion. After the First Battle of Manassas, Virginia, in July 1861, Wirz guarded prisoners in Richmond, Virginia, and was noticed by Inspector General John Winder. Winder had Wirz transferred to his department, and Wirz spent the rest of the conflict working with prisoners of war. He commanded a prison in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; escorted prisoners around the Confederacy; handled exchanges with the Union; and was wounded in a stagecoach accident. After returning to duty, he traveled to Europe and likely delivered messages to Confederate envoys. When Wirz arrived back in the Confederacy in early 1864, he was assigned the responsibility for Andersonville prison, officially known as Camp Sumter.
While both sides confined prisoners under horrible conditions, Andersonville is always given special mention for the circumstances under which its inmates were kept. A stockade held thousands of men on a barren, polluted patch of ground. Barracks were planned but never built; the men slept in makeshift housing, called “shebangs,” constructed from scrap wood and blankets that offered little protection from the elements. A small stream flowed through the compound and provided water for the Union soldiers, but this became a cesspool of disease and human waste. Erosion caused by the prisoners turned the stream into a huge swamp. The prison was designed to hold 10,000 men but primarily due to Grant's losses during his Overland Campaign against Lee, the Confederates had no choice but to pack it with more than 31,000 inmates by August 1864.
No mention is ever made of Camp Lawton, a major Civil War prison built by Confederates in the summer of 1864 near Millen, Georgia, to house many thousands of prisoners who were being shipped South on a weekly basis. In operation for only three months because of the movements of the Union Army of the Tennessee, Lawton enclosed an area of 42-acres and had starting taking in some of the inmates that were overcrowding Andersonville.
Wirz oversaw an operation in which thousands of inmates, as well as those guarding them, died. Partly a victim of circumstance, he was given few resources with which to work, and the Union had ceased prisoner exchanges in 1864 since Grant knew the only resource without which the Confederacy could not survive were soldiers. As the Confederate States began to dissolve, food and medicine for prisoners were impossible to obtain. When word about Andersonville leaked out, Northerners were horrified. Poet Walt Whitman saw some of the camp survivors and wrote, "There are deeds, crimes that may be forgiven, but this is not among them."
Wirz was charged with conspiracy to injure the health and lives of Union soldiers, as well as murder. His trial began in August 1865, and ran for two months. During the trial, some 160 witnesses were called to testify. Though Wirz did demonstrate indifference towards Andersonville’s prisoners, he was, in part, a scapegoat and some evidence against him was fabricated entirely. He was found guilty and sentenced to die on November 10 in Washington, D.C. On the scaffold, Wirz reportedly said to the officer in charge, "I know what orders are, Major. I am being hanged for obeying them." The 41-year-old Wirz was one of the few people convicted and executed for crimes committed during the Civil War.
Posted on 11/27/15 at 10:06 am to BadLeroyDawg
Monday, 27 November 1865
By late this morning, Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury--head of the office of Imperial Commissioner of Immigration for Emperor Maximilian I--could report that "...about 40 of our people..." had already arrived at New Virginia, the name he had given his proposed colony. Maury described it as "...a garden spot..." between Mexico City and Vera Cruz. Maury didn't leave for Great Britain before month's end, however, as he originally planned. It had taken longer than he had anticipated for him to establish the administrative organization for the emigration program's process and to get it going smoothly. He did travel later to England and events would conspire so that he could never again return to Mexico.
By late this morning, Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury--head of the office of Imperial Commissioner of Immigration for Emperor Maximilian I--could report that "...about 40 of our people..." had already arrived at New Virginia, the name he had given his proposed colony. Maury described it as "...a garden spot..." between Mexico City and Vera Cruz. Maury didn't leave for Great Britain before month's end, however, as he originally planned. It had taken longer than he had anticipated for him to establish the administrative organization for the emigration program's process and to get it going smoothly. He did travel later to England and events would conspire so that he could never again return to Mexico.
Posted on 11/27/15 at 6:40 pm to BadLeroyDawg
quote:
BadLeroyDawg
tl dr
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