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re: 150 years ago this day...
Posted on 12/14/13 at 10:27 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Posted on 12/14/13 at 10:27 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Tuesday, 15 December 1863
There were those who fought their parts of the American War Between the States, and had as much, or more, effect as a great many who marched and fired guns, but who never came near battlefields. One such person was United States Ambassador to England Charles Francis Adams. Confederate Captain Barron wrote today from London to Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory. Barron was in a cold rage. Spies, he wrote bitterly, “...are to be found following the footsteps of any Confederate agent in spite of all the precautions we can adopt.” Anywhere Southern agents went to arrange for ship repairs, fuel supplies, or armaments purchases, one of these “spies” would get word to Adams and shortly thereafter the promised work or purchase would be cancelled. And it wasn’t just in London that this happened; it was hard to get work done in any port in Europe. The shrewd U.S. diplomat moved time and again to frustrate Southern efforts in Europe.
Captain Raphael Semmes, after cruising for some time in Far Eastern waters, determined to change his area of operations. Leaving the island of Condore in CSS Alabama, he wrote: "The homeward trade of the enemy is now quite small, reduced, probably, to twenty or thirty ships per year, and these may easily evade us by taking the different passages to the Indian Ocean...there is no cruising or chasing to be done here, successfully, or with safety to oneself without plenty of coal, and we can only rely upon coaling once in three months...So I will try my luck around the Cape of Good Hope once more, thence to the coast of Brazil, and thence perhaps to Barbados for coal, and thence? If the war be not ended, my ship will need to go into dock to have much of her copper replaced, now nearly destroyed by such constant cruising, and to have her boilers overhauled and repaired, and this can only be properly done in Europe." The cruise of the most famous Confederate commerce raider went into its final six months.
Admiral Buchanan wrote Commander C. ap R. Jones regarding the CSS Tennessee: "The Tennessee will carry a battery of two 7-inch Brooke guns and four broadsides, 6.4 or 9 inch...There is a great scarcity of officers and I know not where I will get them. I have sent the names of 400 men who wish to be transferred from the Army to the Navy, and have received only about twenty. Jones replied, "Strange that the Army disregard the law requiring the transfer of men."
President Lincoln's Amnesty Proclamation was under consideration in the Confederate Congress. Mr. Foote presented the following preamble and resolution:
Whereas a copy of the truly characteristic proclamation of amnesty recently issued by the imbecile and unprincipled usurper who now sits enthroned upon the ruins of constitutional liberty in Washington City, has been received and read by the members of this House; now, in token of what is solemnly believed to be the most undivided sentiment of the people of the Confederate States:
Be it resolved, That there never has been a day or an hour when the people of the Confederate States were more inflexibly resolved than they are at the present time, never to relinquish the struggle of arms in which they are engaged, until that liberty and independence for which they have been so earnestly contending shall have been at least achieved, and made sure and steadfast beyond even the probability of a future danger; and that, in spite of the reverses which have lately befallen our armies in several quarters, and cold and selfish indifference to our sufferings thus far, for the most part evinced in the action of foreign powers, the eleven millions of enlightened freemen now battling heroically for all that can make existence desirable, are fully prepared, alike in spirit and in resources, to encounter dangers far greater than those which they have heretofore bravely met, and to submit to far greater sacrifices than those which they have heretofore so cheerfully encountered, in preference to holding any further political connection with a government and people who have notoriously proven themselves contemptuously regardless of all the rights and privileges which belong to a state of civil freedom, as well as of all the most sacred usages of civilized war.
Mr. Miles regretted that the gentleman from Tennessee had introduced such a resolution. The true and only treatment which that miserable and contemptible despot, Lincoln, should receive at the hands of this house was silent and unmitigated contempt. This resolution would appear to dignify a paper emanating from that wretched and detestable abortion, whose contemptible emptiness and folly would only receive the ridicule of the civilized world. He moved to lay the subject on the table.
Mr. Foote was willing that the preamble and resolution should be tabled, with the understanding that it would indicate the unqualified contempt of the House for Abraham Lincoln and his message and proclamation alluded to.
Mr. Miles said there would be no misunderstanding about that.
The motion was unanimously adopted.
Similar resolutions, offered by Mr. Miller of Virginia, went the same way.
There was yesterday in the Libby Prison and its dependencies at Richmond, Virginia, over ten thousand abolition captives. In this number are included nine hundred and eighty-three commissioned officers, domiciled at the Libby under the immediate supervision of Major Thomas P. Turner. By the record it appears that nine were received on the fourteenth instant. Twelve died the same day. The arrivals for several day's past have not been very numerous. On last Friday night, Captain Anderson, of the Fifty-first Indiana cavalry (Streight's command), Lieutenant Skelton, of the Nineteenth Iowa regiment, (a redheaded, bullet-eyed, pestilential abolitionist), escaped from the hospital of the Libby Prison by bribing the sentinel, one Mack, a member of the Tenth Virginia battalion of heavy artillery. This person was purchased for four hundred dollars.
This night, about eight o'clock, Rosser's brigade, of Stuart's Confederate cavalry, came upon the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, from the south, near Sangster's Station, Virginia, and destroyed two bridges over Pope's Run.
Authentic information having been received that Acting Masters John Y. Beall and Edward McGuire, together with fifteen men, all belonging to the Confederate States navy, are now in close confinement in irons at Fort McHenry, to be tried as pirates, our efficient and energetic Agent of Exchange, Judge Ould, notified General Meredith that Lieutenant Commander Edward P. Williams and Ensign Benjamin H. Porter and fifteen seamen, now Yankee prisoners in our hands, have been placed in close confinement and irons, and will be held as hostages for the proper treatment of our men.
A list of steamers destroyed on the Mississippi River since the beginning of the war, was made public. Over one hundred and seventy-five were burned or sunk.
There were those who fought their parts of the American War Between the States, and had as much, or more, effect as a great many who marched and fired guns, but who never came near battlefields. One such person was United States Ambassador to England Charles Francis Adams. Confederate Captain Barron wrote today from London to Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory. Barron was in a cold rage. Spies, he wrote bitterly, “...are to be found following the footsteps of any Confederate agent in spite of all the precautions we can adopt.” Anywhere Southern agents went to arrange for ship repairs, fuel supplies, or armaments purchases, one of these “spies” would get word to Adams and shortly thereafter the promised work or purchase would be cancelled. And it wasn’t just in London that this happened; it was hard to get work done in any port in Europe. The shrewd U.S. diplomat moved time and again to frustrate Southern efforts in Europe.
Captain Raphael Semmes, after cruising for some time in Far Eastern waters, determined to change his area of operations. Leaving the island of Condore in CSS Alabama, he wrote: "The homeward trade of the enemy is now quite small, reduced, probably, to twenty or thirty ships per year, and these may easily evade us by taking the different passages to the Indian Ocean...there is no cruising or chasing to be done here, successfully, or with safety to oneself without plenty of coal, and we can only rely upon coaling once in three months...So I will try my luck around the Cape of Good Hope once more, thence to the coast of Brazil, and thence perhaps to Barbados for coal, and thence? If the war be not ended, my ship will need to go into dock to have much of her copper replaced, now nearly destroyed by such constant cruising, and to have her boilers overhauled and repaired, and this can only be properly done in Europe." The cruise of the most famous Confederate commerce raider went into its final six months.
Admiral Buchanan wrote Commander C. ap R. Jones regarding the CSS Tennessee: "The Tennessee will carry a battery of two 7-inch Brooke guns and four broadsides, 6.4 or 9 inch...There is a great scarcity of officers and I know not where I will get them. I have sent the names of 400 men who wish to be transferred from the Army to the Navy, and have received only about twenty. Jones replied, "Strange that the Army disregard the law requiring the transfer of men."
President Lincoln's Amnesty Proclamation was under consideration in the Confederate Congress. Mr. Foote presented the following preamble and resolution:
Whereas a copy of the truly characteristic proclamation of amnesty recently issued by the imbecile and unprincipled usurper who now sits enthroned upon the ruins of constitutional liberty in Washington City, has been received and read by the members of this House; now, in token of what is solemnly believed to be the most undivided sentiment of the people of the Confederate States:
Be it resolved, That there never has been a day or an hour when the people of the Confederate States were more inflexibly resolved than they are at the present time, never to relinquish the struggle of arms in which they are engaged, until that liberty and independence for which they have been so earnestly contending shall have been at least achieved, and made sure and steadfast beyond even the probability of a future danger; and that, in spite of the reverses which have lately befallen our armies in several quarters, and cold and selfish indifference to our sufferings thus far, for the most part evinced in the action of foreign powers, the eleven millions of enlightened freemen now battling heroically for all that can make existence desirable, are fully prepared, alike in spirit and in resources, to encounter dangers far greater than those which they have heretofore bravely met, and to submit to far greater sacrifices than those which they have heretofore so cheerfully encountered, in preference to holding any further political connection with a government and people who have notoriously proven themselves contemptuously regardless of all the rights and privileges which belong to a state of civil freedom, as well as of all the most sacred usages of civilized war.
Mr. Miles regretted that the gentleman from Tennessee had introduced such a resolution. The true and only treatment which that miserable and contemptible despot, Lincoln, should receive at the hands of this house was silent and unmitigated contempt. This resolution would appear to dignify a paper emanating from that wretched and detestable abortion, whose contemptible emptiness and folly would only receive the ridicule of the civilized world. He moved to lay the subject on the table.
Mr. Foote was willing that the preamble and resolution should be tabled, with the understanding that it would indicate the unqualified contempt of the House for Abraham Lincoln and his message and proclamation alluded to.
Mr. Miles said there would be no misunderstanding about that.
The motion was unanimously adopted.
Similar resolutions, offered by Mr. Miller of Virginia, went the same way.
There was yesterday in the Libby Prison and its dependencies at Richmond, Virginia, over ten thousand abolition captives. In this number are included nine hundred and eighty-three commissioned officers, domiciled at the Libby under the immediate supervision of Major Thomas P. Turner. By the record it appears that nine were received on the fourteenth instant. Twelve died the same day. The arrivals for several day's past have not been very numerous. On last Friday night, Captain Anderson, of the Fifty-first Indiana cavalry (Streight's command), Lieutenant Skelton, of the Nineteenth Iowa regiment, (a redheaded, bullet-eyed, pestilential abolitionist), escaped from the hospital of the Libby Prison by bribing the sentinel, one Mack, a member of the Tenth Virginia battalion of heavy artillery. This person was purchased for four hundred dollars.
This night, about eight o'clock, Rosser's brigade, of Stuart's Confederate cavalry, came upon the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, from the south, near Sangster's Station, Virginia, and destroyed two bridges over Pope's Run.
Authentic information having been received that Acting Masters John Y. Beall and Edward McGuire, together with fifteen men, all belonging to the Confederate States navy, are now in close confinement in irons at Fort McHenry, to be tried as pirates, our efficient and energetic Agent of Exchange, Judge Ould, notified General Meredith that Lieutenant Commander Edward P. Williams and Ensign Benjamin H. Porter and fifteen seamen, now Yankee prisoners in our hands, have been placed in close confinement and irons, and will be held as hostages for the proper treatment of our men.
A list of steamers destroyed on the Mississippi River since the beginning of the war, was made public. Over one hundred and seventy-five were burned or sunk.
1
Posted on 12/15/13 at 9:53 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Wednesday, 16 December 1863
There was a major shuffling of commanders in the Western Theater of the Confederate States of America today. At the headquarters of the Army of Tennessee, Lieutenant General William Hardee was out, General Joseph Eggleston Johnston was in. Hardee’s appointment had only been a temporary one--filling in after Bragg’s departure--anyway. Johnston’s departure from Brandon, Mississippi, left a vacancy at the head of the Army of Mississippi, which was filled by General Leonidas Polk. One promotion was noted on the Union side of the field: John Buford, cavalryman and the Federal savior of the first day at Gettysburg, received a long-overdue promotion to Major General. It is good that this honor was not delayed any further, as six hours after the papers arrived, Buford died of typhoid fever in Washington, D.C.
In acknowledging resolutions of congratulations and appreciation passed by the Chamber of Commerce of New York for "one of the most celebrated victories of any time" the capture of New Orleans Rear Admiral David G. Farragut wrote: "That we did our duty to the best of our ability, I believe; that a kind Providence smiled upon us and enabled us to overcome obstacles before which the stoutest of our hearts would have otherwise quailed, I am certain."
Thomas Savage, U.S. Consul General at Havana, reported to Commodore H. H. Bell regarding blockade runners in that port: "A schooner under Rebel colors, called Roebuck, 41 tons, with cotton arrived from Mobile yesterday. She left that port, I believe, on the 8th. She is the only vessel that has reached this port from Mobile for a very long time... The famous steamer Alice, which ran the blockade at Mobile successfully so many times, is now on the dry dock here fitting out for another adventure."
The USS Huron, under Lieutenant Commander Stevens, captured the blockade runner Chatham off Doboy Sound, Georgia, with a cargo of cotton, tobacco, and rosin.
The USS Ariel, Acting Master William H. Harrison in charge, captured the sloop Magnolia off the west coast of Florida. She was inbound from Havana with a cargo of spirits and medicines.
A fire broke out this evening in the hospital of the One Hundred and Forty-eighth New York regiment at Yorktown, Virginia, and in a few moments the building was all on fire, and as there were no engines or water near, it was impossible to subdue it. The Government bakery also took fire, and communicated it to the Arsenal. For several hours, the loaded shell stored within exploded, until the magazine was reached, when a terrific explosion took place, scattering the building and shell in every direction. The loss was estimated at one million dollars.
The steamer Chesapeake was recaptured in Mud Cove, Sambro Harbor, Nova Scotia, by the Federal steamer Ella and Anna, under the command of Lieutenant Commander John F. Nichols.
There was a major shuffling of commanders in the Western Theater of the Confederate States of America today. At the headquarters of the Army of Tennessee, Lieutenant General William Hardee was out, General Joseph Eggleston Johnston was in. Hardee’s appointment had only been a temporary one--filling in after Bragg’s departure--anyway. Johnston’s departure from Brandon, Mississippi, left a vacancy at the head of the Army of Mississippi, which was filled by General Leonidas Polk. One promotion was noted on the Union side of the field: John Buford, cavalryman and the Federal savior of the first day at Gettysburg, received a long-overdue promotion to Major General. It is good that this honor was not delayed any further, as six hours after the papers arrived, Buford died of typhoid fever in Washington, D.C.
In acknowledging resolutions of congratulations and appreciation passed by the Chamber of Commerce of New York for "one of the most celebrated victories of any time" the capture of New Orleans Rear Admiral David G. Farragut wrote: "That we did our duty to the best of our ability, I believe; that a kind Providence smiled upon us and enabled us to overcome obstacles before which the stoutest of our hearts would have otherwise quailed, I am certain."
Thomas Savage, U.S. Consul General at Havana, reported to Commodore H. H. Bell regarding blockade runners in that port: "A schooner under Rebel colors, called Roebuck, 41 tons, with cotton arrived from Mobile yesterday. She left that port, I believe, on the 8th. She is the only vessel that has reached this port from Mobile for a very long time... The famous steamer Alice, which ran the blockade at Mobile successfully so many times, is now on the dry dock here fitting out for another adventure."
The USS Huron, under Lieutenant Commander Stevens, captured the blockade runner Chatham off Doboy Sound, Georgia, with a cargo of cotton, tobacco, and rosin.
The USS Ariel, Acting Master William H. Harrison in charge, captured the sloop Magnolia off the west coast of Florida. She was inbound from Havana with a cargo of spirits and medicines.
A fire broke out this evening in the hospital of the One Hundred and Forty-eighth New York regiment at Yorktown, Virginia, and in a few moments the building was all on fire, and as there were no engines or water near, it was impossible to subdue it. The Government bakery also took fire, and communicated it to the Arsenal. For several hours, the loaded shell stored within exploded, until the magazine was reached, when a terrific explosion took place, scattering the building and shell in every direction. The loss was estimated at one million dollars.
The steamer Chesapeake was recaptured in Mud Cove, Sambro Harbor, Nova Scotia, by the Federal steamer Ella and Anna, under the command of Lieutenant Commander John F. Nichols.
Posted on 12/16/13 at 8:57 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Thursday, 17 December 1863
War can be a cruel and evil thing, all scholars and most assuredly all participants generally agree. While it has elements of excitement and pageantry, such as inspired General Robert E. Lee to observe at Fredericksburg: "It is good that war is so terrible, lest we grow too fond of it..." most efforts over the centuries have been to impose rules and restraints on the worst of the cruelties and unnecessary destruction. Still, acts of gratuitous wickedness were not unknown, and one such occurred today. Lieutenant Commander Fitch, in charge of the USS Moose, sent landing parties ashore from his gunboat on Seven Mile Island and Palmyra, on the Tennessee River. There, acting on information from local informants, they sought out and destroyed a facility producing materiel which gave notable aid and comfort to Confederate guerilla and partisan bands operating in the area. Such is war, but it was nonetheless cruel that, nine days before Christmas, this treatment was given to their whiskey distilleries.
From his headquarters at Memphis, Tennessee, General Stephen A. Hurlbut issued the following general order: "The recent affair at Moscow, Tenn., has demonstrated the fact that colored troops, properly disciplined and commanded, can and will fight well, and the General commanding deems it to be due to the officers and men of the Second regiment West Tennessee infantry of African descent, thus publicly to return his personal thanks for their gallant and successful defense of the important position to which they had been assigned, and for the manner in which they have vindicated the wisdom of the Government in elevating the rank and file of these regiments to the position of freemen and soldiers."
The Richmond Enquirer, in an article on the exchange of prisoners, held the following language: "The Yankees are not going to send their negro troops in the field: they know as well as we do that no reliance can be placed upon them; but as depot-guards, prison-guards, etc., they will relieve their white troops. This is the use that will be made of them. Should they be sent to the field, and be put in battle, none will be taken prisoners-our troops understand what to do in such cases."
President Abraham Lincoln sent a message to the Congress of the United States, communicating a letter addressed to him from a committee of gentlemen, representing the Freedmen's Aid Societies of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati, in relation to the freedmen under the proclamation of emancipation.
The United States bark Roebuck, under Acting Master John Sherrill, captured off the mouth of Indian River, Florida, the British schooner Ringdove, twenty-three tons burden, of and from Nassau, with a crew of five men. Her cargo consisted of one hundred and ninety bales of salt, three bags of coffee, two half chests of tea, and three barrels of whisky. When first discovered, she attempted to escape, but on being fired at, ran aground on the bar.
For several days past the detectives at Richmond, Virginia, have been on the hunt for parties who are either suspected of stealing the clothing sent by the Yankee Government for the prisoners now in our hands, or receiving the same, knowing it to have been stolen. Several soldiers, wearing the Confederate uniform, have lately been seen with blankets branded "U. S.," and in some cases, shoes, with the Yankee mark on them, have been sold to citizens at uncommonly low figures by some of the guards of the prisons. Several individuals have been arrested on the above charge.
Colonel Carter, of the First Confederate Virginia cavalry, with six other persons, was captured at Upperville, Virginia, by a detachment of the Twenty-second Pennsylvania cavalry.
An entire company, belonging to the Third North-Carolina Confederate cavalry, was captured near Washington, North Carolina, by a party of the Fiftieth Pennsylvania regiment, commanded by Captain Blakely. Yesterday, at sunset, the Federals left Washington, and after a march of twenty-four miles, came upon the enemy's camp. The night was dark and rainy, rendering it possible for the troops to come upon the Rebels unheard, and a complete surprise was consequently effected, the enemy being taken in their tents asleep, without the firing of a gun. The number taken was thirty-four, with their horses, equipment, and arms. The surprising party was led by Mr. Henn, who acted as guide, and who previously had been of great use upon cavalry expeditions. On this occasion he entered the rebel camp alone in advance of the attack, and reconnoitered the enemy's position.
Confederate General Stand Watie, one of only two Native Americans on either side of the Civil War to rise to a brigadier general's rank (the other being Ely S. Parker, a Seneca who fought on the Union side), with a portion of his partisan Cherokee force, made an attack upon the outposts of Fort Gibson, Arkansas, but was repulsed, and eventually compelled to retreat across the Arkansas River.
A small body of General J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry made a descent at eight o'clock this night upon company I, of the One Hundred and Fifty-fifth New York regiment, stationed at Sangster's, three miles west of Fairfax Station, Virginia, slightly wounding one man, capturing four, and burning the tents belonging to the company. The attack was unexpected, but, nevertheless, the guard made a gallant defense. On being charged upon by the enemy, they withdrew behind their encampment, pouring in repeated volleys upon the Rebels, and finally compelling them to retire.
War can be a cruel and evil thing, all scholars and most assuredly all participants generally agree. While it has elements of excitement and pageantry, such as inspired General Robert E. Lee to observe at Fredericksburg: "It is good that war is so terrible, lest we grow too fond of it..." most efforts over the centuries have been to impose rules and restraints on the worst of the cruelties and unnecessary destruction. Still, acts of gratuitous wickedness were not unknown, and one such occurred today. Lieutenant Commander Fitch, in charge of the USS Moose, sent landing parties ashore from his gunboat on Seven Mile Island and Palmyra, on the Tennessee River. There, acting on information from local informants, they sought out and destroyed a facility producing materiel which gave notable aid and comfort to Confederate guerilla and partisan bands operating in the area. Such is war, but it was nonetheless cruel that, nine days before Christmas, this treatment was given to their whiskey distilleries.
From his headquarters at Memphis, Tennessee, General Stephen A. Hurlbut issued the following general order: "The recent affair at Moscow, Tenn., has demonstrated the fact that colored troops, properly disciplined and commanded, can and will fight well, and the General commanding deems it to be due to the officers and men of the Second regiment West Tennessee infantry of African descent, thus publicly to return his personal thanks for their gallant and successful defense of the important position to which they had been assigned, and for the manner in which they have vindicated the wisdom of the Government in elevating the rank and file of these regiments to the position of freemen and soldiers."
The Richmond Enquirer, in an article on the exchange of prisoners, held the following language: "The Yankees are not going to send their negro troops in the field: they know as well as we do that no reliance can be placed upon them; but as depot-guards, prison-guards, etc., they will relieve their white troops. This is the use that will be made of them. Should they be sent to the field, and be put in battle, none will be taken prisoners-our troops understand what to do in such cases."
President Abraham Lincoln sent a message to the Congress of the United States, communicating a letter addressed to him from a committee of gentlemen, representing the Freedmen's Aid Societies of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati, in relation to the freedmen under the proclamation of emancipation.
The United States bark Roebuck, under Acting Master John Sherrill, captured off the mouth of Indian River, Florida, the British schooner Ringdove, twenty-three tons burden, of and from Nassau, with a crew of five men. Her cargo consisted of one hundred and ninety bales of salt, three bags of coffee, two half chests of tea, and three barrels of whisky. When first discovered, she attempted to escape, but on being fired at, ran aground on the bar.
For several days past the detectives at Richmond, Virginia, have been on the hunt for parties who are either suspected of stealing the clothing sent by the Yankee Government for the prisoners now in our hands, or receiving the same, knowing it to have been stolen. Several soldiers, wearing the Confederate uniform, have lately been seen with blankets branded "U. S.," and in some cases, shoes, with the Yankee mark on them, have been sold to citizens at uncommonly low figures by some of the guards of the prisons. Several individuals have been arrested on the above charge.
Colonel Carter, of the First Confederate Virginia cavalry, with six other persons, was captured at Upperville, Virginia, by a detachment of the Twenty-second Pennsylvania cavalry.
An entire company, belonging to the Third North-Carolina Confederate cavalry, was captured near Washington, North Carolina, by a party of the Fiftieth Pennsylvania regiment, commanded by Captain Blakely. Yesterday, at sunset, the Federals left Washington, and after a march of twenty-four miles, came upon the enemy's camp. The night was dark and rainy, rendering it possible for the troops to come upon the Rebels unheard, and a complete surprise was consequently effected, the enemy being taken in their tents asleep, without the firing of a gun. The number taken was thirty-four, with their horses, equipment, and arms. The surprising party was led by Mr. Henn, who acted as guide, and who previously had been of great use upon cavalry expeditions. On this occasion he entered the rebel camp alone in advance of the attack, and reconnoitered the enemy's position.
Confederate General Stand Watie, one of only two Native Americans on either side of the Civil War to rise to a brigadier general's rank (the other being Ely S. Parker, a Seneca who fought on the Union side), with a portion of his partisan Cherokee force, made an attack upon the outposts of Fort Gibson, Arkansas, but was repulsed, and eventually compelled to retreat across the Arkansas River.
A small body of General J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry made a descent at eight o'clock this night upon company I, of the One Hundred and Fifty-fifth New York regiment, stationed at Sangster's, three miles west of Fairfax Station, Virginia, slightly wounding one man, capturing four, and burning the tents belonging to the company. The attack was unexpected, but, nevertheless, the guard made a gallant defense. On being charged upon by the enemy, they withdrew behind their encampment, pouring in repeated volleys upon the Rebels, and finally compelling them to retire.
This post was edited on 12/17/13 at 5:01 am
Posted on 12/17/13 at 8:09 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Friday, 18 December 1863
Aside from a few confusing months in early 1861, Missouri had always been a state firmly in Union hands. It had, however, in the time since, probably caused more defeats and debacles for Union military men than three openly Confederate states combined. The problem was politics: a Union general would be assigned to be military administrator of the district, and would then be plunged into the morass of backbiting and infighting that was Missouri--particularly St. Louis--power struggles. This was not a situation which could be solved with musketry, and none of the generals handled it well. The latest victim was General John M. Schofield. President Abraham Lincoln had been receiving a steady stream of complaints about his performance in St. Louis, and today wrote to Secretary of War Edwin McMasters Stanton that perhaps it was time for Schofield to be relieved. To spare Schofield’s feelings he would get a promotion to major general; the next sacrificial lamb, Lincoln proposed, perhaps should be the long-suffering General William Rosecrans.
The Richmond Dispatch of this morning contained the following:
We can assure such members of the Confederate Congress as feel disposed at this decisive crisis in the national affairs to give undue prominence to querulous complaints and denunciations of the government, that they do not represent the public sentiment of the country — nay, so far from that, they are arousing in the minds of a people whose salvation depends upon the harmony and cooperation of all the public servants, deep and stern dissatisfaction.
At this solemn moment, when every patriot should be willing to postpone all minor differences to a period when the enemy shall not be thundering at the gates, the country has a right to demand that the voice of faction shall be hushed, and that every man shall smother his private griefs, and give his heart and hand to the common salvation.
We are all embarked in the same vessel, we are all tossing upon the same stormy sea, and, in the event of shipwreck, none has as much to lose as the officers of the ship, and especially the man whom we have ourselves called to the quarterdeck, and who has every conceivable motive to do the utmost for our preservation that human wisdom and energy can accomplish.
Would to heaven that, for a time at least, till this hour of imminent peril be passed, the voice of dissension and discord could be hushed, and the counsels of patriotism and prudence govern the pulsations of every heart, and the utterance of every lip. We can assure Congress, that nothing so disheartens the true friends of the country as the fault-finding abuse heaped upon the public servants, at a time when we should all be engaged in beating back the public enemy.
It would be mournful enough that our cause should be borne down by our vile and dastardly foes, but a far deeper humiliation, an unspeakable disgrace, that it should perish by our own hands. But the people will not let it perish either by the hands of indiscreet friends or open foes, and we warn them both to stand clear of an avalanche which will inevitably fall upon their own heads.
Captain Leeper, commanding Federal scouts in southeast Missouri, overtook three partisan guerrillas, belonging to Reeve's band, near Black River, and succeeded in killing the entire party.
A fight took place at Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, between a party of guerrillas, under William Clarke Quantrell, and six hundred Federal troops, belonging to the Indian brigade, commanded by Colonel Phillips. The engagement lasted over five hours, and resulted in the retreat of the guerrillas.
The chaplains of General Robert Edward Lee's Army of Northern Virginia held a meeting at Orange Court House, Virginia, today. Most interesting reports were made, showing a high state of religious feeling throughout the army. The great success of the army is due to the religious element which reaches every corner of it; whilst, on the other hand, I am very much disposed to fear, from what I have been told by officers who have served in the army of Tennessee, that the lack of success of that army is due, in a large measure, to the want of religious influence upon the troops.--Richmond Dispatch.
In the Virginia House of Delegates, Mr. Hutcheson offered a series of resolutions deprecating the Amnesty Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln as “...degrading to freemen, that, having calmly counted the cost and weight, the dangers and difficulties, necessary for the achievement of the rights and independence they covet, the people of the Old Dominion spurn with contempt the proffered pardon and amnesty.”
Five military executions for desertion took place in the respective divisions to which they belonged, in the Army of the Potomac.
Commodore Gershom Jaques Van Brunt, of the United States Navy, died at Dedham, Massachusetts.
Aside from a few confusing months in early 1861, Missouri had always been a state firmly in Union hands. It had, however, in the time since, probably caused more defeats and debacles for Union military men than three openly Confederate states combined. The problem was politics: a Union general would be assigned to be military administrator of the district, and would then be plunged into the morass of backbiting and infighting that was Missouri--particularly St. Louis--power struggles. This was not a situation which could be solved with musketry, and none of the generals handled it well. The latest victim was General John M. Schofield. President Abraham Lincoln had been receiving a steady stream of complaints about his performance in St. Louis, and today wrote to Secretary of War Edwin McMasters Stanton that perhaps it was time for Schofield to be relieved. To spare Schofield’s feelings he would get a promotion to major general; the next sacrificial lamb, Lincoln proposed, perhaps should be the long-suffering General William Rosecrans.
The Richmond Dispatch of this morning contained the following:
We can assure such members of the Confederate Congress as feel disposed at this decisive crisis in the national affairs to give undue prominence to querulous complaints and denunciations of the government, that they do not represent the public sentiment of the country — nay, so far from that, they are arousing in the minds of a people whose salvation depends upon the harmony and cooperation of all the public servants, deep and stern dissatisfaction.
At this solemn moment, when every patriot should be willing to postpone all minor differences to a period when the enemy shall not be thundering at the gates, the country has a right to demand that the voice of faction shall be hushed, and that every man shall smother his private griefs, and give his heart and hand to the common salvation.
We are all embarked in the same vessel, we are all tossing upon the same stormy sea, and, in the event of shipwreck, none has as much to lose as the officers of the ship, and especially the man whom we have ourselves called to the quarterdeck, and who has every conceivable motive to do the utmost for our preservation that human wisdom and energy can accomplish.
Would to heaven that, for a time at least, till this hour of imminent peril be passed, the voice of dissension and discord could be hushed, and the counsels of patriotism and prudence govern the pulsations of every heart, and the utterance of every lip. We can assure Congress, that nothing so disheartens the true friends of the country as the fault-finding abuse heaped upon the public servants, at a time when we should all be engaged in beating back the public enemy.
It would be mournful enough that our cause should be borne down by our vile and dastardly foes, but a far deeper humiliation, an unspeakable disgrace, that it should perish by our own hands. But the people will not let it perish either by the hands of indiscreet friends or open foes, and we warn them both to stand clear of an avalanche which will inevitably fall upon their own heads.
Captain Leeper, commanding Federal scouts in southeast Missouri, overtook three partisan guerrillas, belonging to Reeve's band, near Black River, and succeeded in killing the entire party.
A fight took place at Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, between a party of guerrillas, under William Clarke Quantrell, and six hundred Federal troops, belonging to the Indian brigade, commanded by Colonel Phillips. The engagement lasted over five hours, and resulted in the retreat of the guerrillas.
The chaplains of General Robert Edward Lee's Army of Northern Virginia held a meeting at Orange Court House, Virginia, today. Most interesting reports were made, showing a high state of religious feeling throughout the army. The great success of the army is due to the religious element which reaches every corner of it; whilst, on the other hand, I am very much disposed to fear, from what I have been told by officers who have served in the army of Tennessee, that the lack of success of that army is due, in a large measure, to the want of religious influence upon the troops.--Richmond Dispatch.
In the Virginia House of Delegates, Mr. Hutcheson offered a series of resolutions deprecating the Amnesty Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln as “...degrading to freemen, that, having calmly counted the cost and weight, the dangers and difficulties, necessary for the achievement of the rights and independence they covet, the people of the Old Dominion spurn with contempt the proffered pardon and amnesty.”
Five military executions for desertion took place in the respective divisions to which they belonged, in the Army of the Potomac.
Commodore Gershom Jaques Van Brunt, of the United States Navy, died at Dedham, Massachusetts.
Posted on 12/18/13 at 8:59 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Saturday, 19 December 1863
It may not sound like much of an accomplishment. Certainly few theses were ever written on it, and absolutely no military songs or marches ever were aired in honor of this voyage of the USS Restless. But her captain, Acting Master W.R. Browne, had his assignment and pursued his enemy relentlessly: the salt suppliers of St. Andrew’s Bay, Florida. He had been on this mission for some weeks all along the Florida shore, and had achieved quite a bit of demolition, and today even Browne may have been startled when he sat down to write up his official report. Articles destroyed included “within the past 10 days 290 saltworks, 33 covered wagons, 12 flatboats, 2 sloops (five tons each), 6 ox carts, 4000 bushels of salt, 268 buildings at the different saltworks, 529 iron kettles averaging 150 gallons each, 105 iron boilers for boiling brine.” And, he added, “it is believed that the enemy destroyed as many more to prevent us from doing so.”
Another report: An expedition under Acting Master W. R. Browne, comprising the USS Restless, Bloomer, and Caroline, proceeded up St. Andrew's Bay, Florida, to continue the destruction of Confederate salt works. A landing party went ashore under Bloomer's guns and destroyed those works not already demolished by the Southerners when reports of the naval party were received. Browne was able to report that he had "...cleared the three arms of this extensive bay of salt works...Within the past ten days," he added, "290 salt works, 33 covered wagons, 12 flatboats, two sloops (3 ton each) 6 ox carts, 4,000 bushels of salt, 268 buildings at the different salt works, 529 iron kettles averaging 150 gallons each, 103 iron boilers for boiling brine [were destroyed], and it is believed that the enemy destroyed as many more to prevent us from doing so."
Mrs. Patterson Allan, charged with carrying on a treasonable correspondence with persons in the North, was arraigned before Commissioner Watson, at Richmond, Virginia. The letter which she was charged with writing, was enclosed in a box, and directed to Reverend Morgan Dix; both were then placed in a buff envelope, and addressed to Miss H. Harris, New York.
Captain George Washington Alexander--commandant at Castle Thunder, a Confederate prison in Richmond, Virginia--was relieved from command at that point, and confined to his quarters, under arrest, charged with malfeasance in office. It was alleged that he extorted large sums of money from prisoners confined in that institution, by promising to use his influence for their benefit, and in some cases permitting the prisoners to go at large, upon paying him large sums of money. He was also charged with trading largely in greenbacks.
Colonel A. D. Streight, and his Adjutant, Lieutenant Reed, in attempting to escape from Libby Prison, at Richmond, Virginia, were detected, and “put in the dungeon.”
Major General Hiram U. Grant arrived at Nashville, Tennessee.
It may not sound like much of an accomplishment. Certainly few theses were ever written on it, and absolutely no military songs or marches ever were aired in honor of this voyage of the USS Restless. But her captain, Acting Master W.R. Browne, had his assignment and pursued his enemy relentlessly: the salt suppliers of St. Andrew’s Bay, Florida. He had been on this mission for some weeks all along the Florida shore, and had achieved quite a bit of demolition, and today even Browne may have been startled when he sat down to write up his official report. Articles destroyed included “within the past 10 days 290 saltworks, 33 covered wagons, 12 flatboats, 2 sloops (five tons each), 6 ox carts, 4000 bushels of salt, 268 buildings at the different saltworks, 529 iron kettles averaging 150 gallons each, 105 iron boilers for boiling brine.” And, he added, “it is believed that the enemy destroyed as many more to prevent us from doing so.”
Another report: An expedition under Acting Master W. R. Browne, comprising the USS Restless, Bloomer, and Caroline, proceeded up St. Andrew's Bay, Florida, to continue the destruction of Confederate salt works. A landing party went ashore under Bloomer's guns and destroyed those works not already demolished by the Southerners when reports of the naval party were received. Browne was able to report that he had "...cleared the three arms of this extensive bay of salt works...Within the past ten days," he added, "290 salt works, 33 covered wagons, 12 flatboats, two sloops (3 ton each) 6 ox carts, 4,000 bushels of salt, 268 buildings at the different salt works, 529 iron kettles averaging 150 gallons each, 103 iron boilers for boiling brine [were destroyed], and it is believed that the enemy destroyed as many more to prevent us from doing so."
Mrs. Patterson Allan, charged with carrying on a treasonable correspondence with persons in the North, was arraigned before Commissioner Watson, at Richmond, Virginia. The letter which she was charged with writing, was enclosed in a box, and directed to Reverend Morgan Dix; both were then placed in a buff envelope, and addressed to Miss H. Harris, New York.
Captain George Washington Alexander--commandant at Castle Thunder, a Confederate prison in Richmond, Virginia--was relieved from command at that point, and confined to his quarters, under arrest, charged with malfeasance in office. It was alleged that he extorted large sums of money from prisoners confined in that institution, by promising to use his influence for their benefit, and in some cases permitting the prisoners to go at large, upon paying him large sums of money. He was also charged with trading largely in greenbacks.
Colonel A. D. Streight, and his Adjutant, Lieutenant Reed, in attempting to escape from Libby Prison, at Richmond, Virginia, were detected, and “put in the dungeon.”
Major General Hiram U. Grant arrived at Nashville, Tennessee.
This post was edited on 12/19/13 at 7:09 am
Posted on 12/19/13 at 8:15 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Sunday, 20 December 1863
The recent command changes at the top of the Confederate Army of Tennessee seemed to have settled down. After Braxton Bragg had come General William J. Hardee; replacing Hardee now was General Joseph Eggleston Johnston. As he settled into the intricacies of his new office there was the expected bureaucratic tangle of orders, requisitions and paperwork of all sorts to be gone through. At the top of the pile was the obligatory letter from his President, Jefferson Finis Davis. To call it a letter of congratulations, under the circumstances, would not be quite correct, but not yet was it a missive of condolence. “The difficulties of your new position,” Davis wrote, “are realized, and the Government will make every possible effort to aid you...” What Davis did not need to write, because Johnston, like every other Confederate commander, already knew it, was that there was precious little that Richmond could do to aid the effort in the West. The effort of sending Longstreet’s corps of the Army of Northern Virginia to Tennessee had, in the end, been a failure.
The steamer Antonica ran aground on Frying Pan Shoals, North Carolina, attempting to run the blockade. Boat crews from the USS Governor Buckingham, under Acting Lieutenant William G. Saltonstall, captured her crew but were unable to get the steamer off. Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee noted: "She will be a total loss..." Antonica had formerly run the blockade a number of times under British registry and the name of Herald, "...carrying from 1,000 to 1,200 bales of cotton at a time."
The USS Connecticut, under Commander John Jay Almy, seized the British blockade running schooner Sallie with a cargo of salt off Frying Pan Shoals, North Carolina. Almy would eventually become a U.S. Navy Rear Admiral and hold the record for the longest period of seagoing service-27 years, 10 months.
The Third Wisconsin cavalry returned to Fort Smith, Arkansas, from a successful reconnaissance southward. They were within five miles of the Red River, but finding that the Rebels had changed position since last advices, they were unable to proceed further. Their return was a constant skirmish for over one hundred miles, strong bodies of the enemy being posted at all the crossroads to intercept them. They, however, cut their way through. In some places they evaded the enemy by taking blind mountain passes. Their loss was small.
Mrs. Anne Johnston, of Cincinnati, Ohio, was tried at Nashville, Tennessee, before the Military Committee, for acting as a Confederate spy and smuggling saddles and harness from Cincinnati into the Rebel lines. The articles were packed in barrels, purporting to contain bacon, for the shipment of which permits had been regularly obtained.
The schooner USS Fox, Acting Master George Ashbury in charge, tender to the United States flagship San Jacinto and assigned to the East-Gulf squadron, destroyed in the Suwanee River, Florida, a Rebel steamer, supposed to be the Little Leila, formerly the Paw-Paw, and before that the Flushing. She was set fire to by a boat's crew belonging to the Fox. The Fox then captured the steamer Powerful at the mouth of the Suwannee River. The steamer had been abandoned by her crew on the approach of the Union ship, and, unable to stop a serious leak, Ashbury ordered the blockade runner destroyed.
The recent command changes at the top of the Confederate Army of Tennessee seemed to have settled down. After Braxton Bragg had come General William J. Hardee; replacing Hardee now was General Joseph Eggleston Johnston. As he settled into the intricacies of his new office there was the expected bureaucratic tangle of orders, requisitions and paperwork of all sorts to be gone through. At the top of the pile was the obligatory letter from his President, Jefferson Finis Davis. To call it a letter of congratulations, under the circumstances, would not be quite correct, but not yet was it a missive of condolence. “The difficulties of your new position,” Davis wrote, “are realized, and the Government will make every possible effort to aid you...” What Davis did not need to write, because Johnston, like every other Confederate commander, already knew it, was that there was precious little that Richmond could do to aid the effort in the West. The effort of sending Longstreet’s corps of the Army of Northern Virginia to Tennessee had, in the end, been a failure.
The steamer Antonica ran aground on Frying Pan Shoals, North Carolina, attempting to run the blockade. Boat crews from the USS Governor Buckingham, under Acting Lieutenant William G. Saltonstall, captured her crew but were unable to get the steamer off. Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee noted: "She will be a total loss..." Antonica had formerly run the blockade a number of times under British registry and the name of Herald, "...carrying from 1,000 to 1,200 bales of cotton at a time."
The USS Connecticut, under Commander John Jay Almy, seized the British blockade running schooner Sallie with a cargo of salt off Frying Pan Shoals, North Carolina. Almy would eventually become a U.S. Navy Rear Admiral and hold the record for the longest period of seagoing service-27 years, 10 months.
The Third Wisconsin cavalry returned to Fort Smith, Arkansas, from a successful reconnaissance southward. They were within five miles of the Red River, but finding that the Rebels had changed position since last advices, they were unable to proceed further. Their return was a constant skirmish for over one hundred miles, strong bodies of the enemy being posted at all the crossroads to intercept them. They, however, cut their way through. In some places they evaded the enemy by taking blind mountain passes. Their loss was small.
Mrs. Anne Johnston, of Cincinnati, Ohio, was tried at Nashville, Tennessee, before the Military Committee, for acting as a Confederate spy and smuggling saddles and harness from Cincinnati into the Rebel lines. The articles were packed in barrels, purporting to contain bacon, for the shipment of which permits had been regularly obtained.
The schooner USS Fox, Acting Master George Ashbury in charge, tender to the United States flagship San Jacinto and assigned to the East-Gulf squadron, destroyed in the Suwanee River, Florida, a Rebel steamer, supposed to be the Little Leila, formerly the Paw-Paw, and before that the Flushing. She was set fire to by a boat's crew belonging to the Fox. The Fox then captured the steamer Powerful at the mouth of the Suwannee River. The steamer had been abandoned by her crew on the approach of the Union ship, and, unable to stop a serious leak, Ashbury ordered the blockade runner destroyed.
Posted on 12/20/13 at 6:21 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Monday, 21 December 1863
Warfare in wintertime was relatively rare, due in large part to the ease with which inclement weather could make movement of large forces impossible. Common sense on the other hand required continual patrols around the areas where the forces were encamped, lest a combination of good weather, good luck and ignorance of military custom cause somebody to sneak up on one another. When patrols from one side ran into parties from the other, hostilities might be undertaken, but were regarded as of little account. Most such activities appeared to be going on in Tennessee, where encounters are recorded as happening in and around Cleveland and Charleston, as the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad bridge was here vitally connecting Knoxville and Chattanooga, as well as skirmishing near Fayette, Mississippi.
Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren wrote Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles that, after 10 days of "wretched" weather at Charleston, a quantity of obstructions had been washed down from the upper harbor by the "...wind, rain, and a heavy sea." The Admiral added: "The quantity was very considerable, and besides those made of rope, which were well known to us, there were others of heavy timber, banded together and connected by railroad iron, with very stout links at each end...This is another instance of the secrecy with which the Rebels create defenses; for although some of the deserters have occupied positions more or less confidential, not one of them has even hinted at obstructions of this kind, while, on the other hand, the correspondents of our own papers keep the Rebels pretty well posted in our affairs."
Admiral Franklin Buchanan wrote Commander Catesby ap Roger Jones at the Confederate Naval Gun Foundry and Ordnance Works in Selma, Alabama: "Have you received any orders from Brooke about the guns for the Tennessee? She is all ready for officers, men, and guns, and has been so reported to the Department many weeks since, but none have I received."
The bark Tuscaloosa--formerly the Conrad, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania--captured by the CSS Alabama, was seized at St. Simon's Bay, Cape of Good Hope, by British officers, upon an alleged violation of British laws.
Warfare in wintertime was relatively rare, due in large part to the ease with which inclement weather could make movement of large forces impossible. Common sense on the other hand required continual patrols around the areas where the forces were encamped, lest a combination of good weather, good luck and ignorance of military custom cause somebody to sneak up on one another. When patrols from one side ran into parties from the other, hostilities might be undertaken, but were regarded as of little account. Most such activities appeared to be going on in Tennessee, where encounters are recorded as happening in and around Cleveland and Charleston, as the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad bridge was here vitally connecting Knoxville and Chattanooga, as well as skirmishing near Fayette, Mississippi.
Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren wrote Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles that, after 10 days of "wretched" weather at Charleston, a quantity of obstructions had been washed down from the upper harbor by the "...wind, rain, and a heavy sea." The Admiral added: "The quantity was very considerable, and besides those made of rope, which were well known to us, there were others of heavy timber, banded together and connected by railroad iron, with very stout links at each end...This is another instance of the secrecy with which the Rebels create defenses; for although some of the deserters have occupied positions more or less confidential, not one of them has even hinted at obstructions of this kind, while, on the other hand, the correspondents of our own papers keep the Rebels pretty well posted in our affairs."
Admiral Franklin Buchanan wrote Commander Catesby ap Roger Jones at the Confederate Naval Gun Foundry and Ordnance Works in Selma, Alabama: "Have you received any orders from Brooke about the guns for the Tennessee? She is all ready for officers, men, and guns, and has been so reported to the Department many weeks since, but none have I received."
The bark Tuscaloosa--formerly the Conrad, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania--captured by the CSS Alabama, was seized at St. Simon's Bay, Cape of Good Hope, by British officers, upon an alleged violation of British laws.
Posted on 12/20/13 at 7:35 pm to BadLeroyDawg
quote:
Good points and we all remember where Andrew Johnson called home. Unfortunately, Andy Jackson was a Democrat and Tennessee became largely Democrat Party in the population centers (as did most Southern States) during his term and after.
The North was actually less unified than the South, however, and Davis lamented the fact that Lincoln could impose martial law, suspend habeas corpus, parts of the First and Second Amendments as well as most of the Constitution when necessary to prosecute the invasion of the South, while he couldn't.
And remember that Missouri and Maryland both voted to secede and join the Confederacy, only to see the Federal Army prevent that by overthrowing the duly elected governments of those sovereign states.
Thanks for the reply.
Jackson would've stopped it before it started. In fact, he did stop it when he threatened Calhoun with troops in South Carolina. But unfortunately he only delayed the war as Calhoun's ideas would pick up steam later.
The US, imo, was doomed from the beginning to go to war if radical social and ideological changes didn't happen. We made a compromise for the sake of the Revolutionary War but we never did hammer out those issues the way we should've instead of putting them off.
Ironically, had Richard Henry Lee's wife, author of the Lee Resolution which was the Constitutional Congress' authorization to authorize and draft the Declaration of Independence, not fallen ill when it was time to draft the Declaration things might've turned out differently. Lee was highly influential in getting delegates to vote for independence and was an abolitionist who saw slavery as immoral and proposed a gradual phase out as a solution. When his wife fell ill the Declaration moved to Thomas Jefferson who was a disciple of sorts but without Lee there Jefferson lost his nerve and worried he couldn't gain support on a divisive issue (although Jefferson did include a condemnation of slavery in his first draft although more than one founding father warned that it would be our doom not to address the issue then and there).
It's funny to think how much the Lee family shaped American history and not just Richard Henry or Robert but other Lees.
Posted on 12/21/13 at 5:59 am to Prof
True enough, Prof, on the Lees' influence throughout our history. One Virginia Yankee Lee, Samuel Phillips Lee, grandson of Richard Henry Lee, and five years junior to Robert Edward, was instrumental in the blockade of his home state and others, being named Acting Rear Admiral and given command of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron during September 1862.
Unfortunately, I believe you're right; the US was doomed to go to war if for no other reason than the division of power (and responsibility) between the individual states and the national government. The compromise that was made over slavery in the late 18th century could have easily been worked out before the dawn of the 20th century, IMHO, had fire-eaters and hard-core abolitionists been reigned in by their respective parties. Sounding familiar in today's political morass?
Unfortunately, I believe you're right; the US was doomed to go to war if for no other reason than the division of power (and responsibility) between the individual states and the national government. The compromise that was made over slavery in the late 18th century could have easily been worked out before the dawn of the 20th century, IMHO, had fire-eaters and hard-core abolitionists been reigned in by their respective parties. Sounding familiar in today's political morass?
Posted on 12/21/13 at 9:56 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Tuesday, 22 December 1863
The winter continued severely in most parts of the country, and those fortunate enough to have shelter did their best to remain in it as often and as long as possible. Some scouting activity took place in eastern Tennessee, one of the few parts of the state where Union forces were actually somewhat welcomed by a populace which had been largely opposed to secession from the beginning. Mountain people, it is said, seldom care to take part in the disputes of the flatlanders and wish only that the folk of the lowlands would do likewise.
Captain Raphael Semmes of the CSS Alabama noted the effect of Confederate commerce raiding on Northern shipping in the Far East: "The enemy's East India and China trade is nearly broken up. Their ships find it impossible to get freights, there being in this port [Singapore] some nineteen sail, almost all of which are laid up for want of employment...the more widely our blows are struck, provided they are struck rapidly, the greater will be the consternation and consequent damage of the enemy."
A fight occurred at Fayette, sixteen miles from Rodney, Mississippi, between a party of Federals, belonging to General Ellet's Marine Brigade, under the command of Colonel Curry, and a slightly smaller number of partisan Rebels, attached to the forces under General Wirt Adams. After a brief skirmish, the Confederates retreated, leaving ten of their number in the hands of the Yankees.
The bark Saxon arrived at New York last night, in charge of Acting Master E. S. Keyser. She was captured by the gunboat Vanderbilt, on the twenty-ninth of October, on the west coast of Africa, four hundred miles north of the Cape of Good Hope, and had on board part of the cargo of the bark Conrad which vessel was captured by the pirate Alabama, and afterward converted into the CSS Tuscaloosa.
Brigadier General Averill, arrived at Edray in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, having successfully accomplished his expedition to cut the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad.
A squad of about forty men, under Major White, of the First regiment of Confederate cavalry, made a daring dash into Cleveland, Tennessee, driving in the Federal pickets, killing one, wounding several, and capturing six, besides twelve horses, and some small arms.
John Kelly was killed by a party of partisan guerrillas, on the Arkansas shore of the Mississippi River, opposite Memphis, Tennessee.
Union General Michael Corcoran died at Fairfax Court House, Virginia, from injuries received from a fall from his mount; he was crushed to death under his horse.
General Joseph E. Johnston, in command of the Confederate Department of Mississippi, relinquished it, by order of President Jefferson Davis, to Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk, and issued farewell orders, as follows:
Having felt great pride in this army, the undersigned leaves it with much regret. He assures his brave comrades of his full appreciation of the high soldierly qualities they have exhibited. Harmony of opinion and purpose has existed in all ranks. Amid events tending to produce gloom and despondency, they have presented the rare spectacle of the constant improvement of all arms in efficiency and discipline. He offers them his best wishes for their future success.
In leaving this command, it is a source of great satisfaction to him that it devolves upon the distinguished General chosen for it by the President-one who, on each of so many bloody battle-fields, has proved himself worthy of such troops as constitute this command.
The winter continued severely in most parts of the country, and those fortunate enough to have shelter did their best to remain in it as often and as long as possible. Some scouting activity took place in eastern Tennessee, one of the few parts of the state where Union forces were actually somewhat welcomed by a populace which had been largely opposed to secession from the beginning. Mountain people, it is said, seldom care to take part in the disputes of the flatlanders and wish only that the folk of the lowlands would do likewise.
Captain Raphael Semmes of the CSS Alabama noted the effect of Confederate commerce raiding on Northern shipping in the Far East: "The enemy's East India and China trade is nearly broken up. Their ships find it impossible to get freights, there being in this port [Singapore] some nineteen sail, almost all of which are laid up for want of employment...the more widely our blows are struck, provided they are struck rapidly, the greater will be the consternation and consequent damage of the enemy."
A fight occurred at Fayette, sixteen miles from Rodney, Mississippi, between a party of Federals, belonging to General Ellet's Marine Brigade, under the command of Colonel Curry, and a slightly smaller number of partisan Rebels, attached to the forces under General Wirt Adams. After a brief skirmish, the Confederates retreated, leaving ten of their number in the hands of the Yankees.
The bark Saxon arrived at New York last night, in charge of Acting Master E. S. Keyser. She was captured by the gunboat Vanderbilt, on the twenty-ninth of October, on the west coast of Africa, four hundred miles north of the Cape of Good Hope, and had on board part of the cargo of the bark Conrad which vessel was captured by the pirate Alabama, and afterward converted into the CSS Tuscaloosa.
Brigadier General Averill, arrived at Edray in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, having successfully accomplished his expedition to cut the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad.
A squad of about forty men, under Major White, of the First regiment of Confederate cavalry, made a daring dash into Cleveland, Tennessee, driving in the Federal pickets, killing one, wounding several, and capturing six, besides twelve horses, and some small arms.
John Kelly was killed by a party of partisan guerrillas, on the Arkansas shore of the Mississippi River, opposite Memphis, Tennessee.
Union General Michael Corcoran died at Fairfax Court House, Virginia, from injuries received from a fall from his mount; he was crushed to death under his horse.
General Joseph E. Johnston, in command of the Confederate Department of Mississippi, relinquished it, by order of President Jefferson Davis, to Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk, and issued farewell orders, as follows:
Having felt great pride in this army, the undersigned leaves it with much regret. He assures his brave comrades of his full appreciation of the high soldierly qualities they have exhibited. Harmony of opinion and purpose has existed in all ranks. Amid events tending to produce gloom and despondency, they have presented the rare spectacle of the constant improvement of all arms in efficiency and discipline. He offers them his best wishes for their future success.
In leaving this command, it is a source of great satisfaction to him that it devolves upon the distinguished General chosen for it by the President-one who, on each of so many bloody battle-fields, has proved himself worthy of such troops as constitute this command.
Posted on 12/22/13 at 8:48 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Wednesday, 23 December 1863
Things were not nearly active enough in the Department of Tennessee to suit the Confederate needs. Union forces essentially controlled the entire state, peace and order was largely in place, and nobody except Nathan Bedford Forrest was doing much of anything to combat this. President Jefferson Davis took this day to write a letter to General Joseph E. Johnston urging more strenuous efforts. He hoped that Johnston would “...soon be able to commence active operations against the enemy.”
Rear Admiral David G. Farragut advised Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles from the New York Navy Yard that the USS Hartford, which had served so long and well as his flagship in the Gulf, was again ready for sea save for an unfilled complement. The Admiral, anxious to return to action, suggested that the sailors might be obtained in Boston and other ports.
Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren ordered retaliatory steps taken against the Confederates operating in the Murrell's Inlet area where two Union boat crews had recently been captured. "I desire...he wrote Captain Green of the USS Canandaigua, "...to administer some corrective to the small parties of rebels who infest that vicinity, and shall detail for that purpose the steamers Nipsic, Sanford, Geranium, and Daffodil, also the sailing bark Allen and the schooner Mangham, 100 marines for landing, and four howitzers, two for the boats, two on field carriages, with such boats as may be needed." The force left its anchorage at Morris Island on 29 December.
A bill, prohibiting dealing in the currency of the United States, was passed in the Confederate Congress: “Any person violating the provisions of the act was subject to indictment and prosecution in the Confederate court holden for the district within which the offence was committed, and should, upon conviction, forfeit the amount so bought, sold, circulated, or used, or a sum equal thereto, and be moreover subject to a fine of not more than twenty thousand dollars, nor less than five hundred, and be imprisoned not less than three months, nor more than three years, at the discretion of the court; and it was declared the duty of the judges of the several Confederate courts to give the act specially in charge to the grand jury: Provided, that the purchase of postage stamps should not be considered a violation of the act.”
The Confederate forces, under General James Longstreet, still remained in the neighborhood of Rutledge and Morristown, Tennessee. “General Longstreet was unable to follow up his advantage in consequence of the large number of bare-footed men in his command. The weather was extremely cold, and the mountains covered with snow.”
A party belonging to the Confederate Colonel Harrison's partisan guerrilla band, headed by James Cavalier, reportedly entered Omega, Louisiana, and after capturing twelve or fourteen negroes, proceeded to murder them in cold blood, after which they hurried away upon mules captured in the town.
In discussing the conscription proposed by the Confederate Congress, the Raleigh Progress says:
There is not another man to spare from the farms or other industrial pursuits of the country, and a further draft on this class will be fraught with the most disastrous consequences. If more men are wanted in the line, let the thousands of able-bodied men already in the pay of the government be placed there, and the drones and non-producers who insult honest toil by their constant swagger, and who have been shielded by the corruptions of office-holders since the war commenced, be gathered up and compelled to fight for that liberty for which they ever profess to be so ready to pour out their precious blood.
Congress, we fear, is disposed to run into extremes, especially those members whose States are largely or entirely in the hands of the enemy. If this war is to be fought out to the last man and the last dollar, if we are really battling for independence, we must husband our resources. We must have men to fight, and we must have something to feed them on. Beware of destroying the seed-corn.
From an article in this morning's Richmond Dispatch. The Yankees made a raid on Luray, Virginia, and burned P. B. Borst's large tannery, the old Baptist Church, and Mr. Booton's workshop; broke open all the stores, and robbed them of all their goods, and what they could not take off, they distributed among the negroes. They also broke open the meat-houses, and stole, carried away, and destroyed nearly all the pork and bacon in the place, besides killing nearly all the chickens they could find. They also burnt the tannery of William R. Barbee, about six miles east of Luray.
Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk, assuming command of the Confederate army in Mississippi, issued an order at Meridian, in which he recognizes the defeats and discouragements the Confederate cause has sustained of late, but seeks to stimulate his troops to fresh efforts, by assuring them that there is still, in the South, ample material for a continued and successful prosecution of the war. “The vigorous employment of our own resources,” he closed by saying, “with unity, harmony, and an unflinching determination to be true cannot, under God, but crown our efforts with triumphant success.”
Things were not nearly active enough in the Department of Tennessee to suit the Confederate needs. Union forces essentially controlled the entire state, peace and order was largely in place, and nobody except Nathan Bedford Forrest was doing much of anything to combat this. President Jefferson Davis took this day to write a letter to General Joseph E. Johnston urging more strenuous efforts. He hoped that Johnston would “...soon be able to commence active operations against the enemy.”
Rear Admiral David G. Farragut advised Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles from the New York Navy Yard that the USS Hartford, which had served so long and well as his flagship in the Gulf, was again ready for sea save for an unfilled complement. The Admiral, anxious to return to action, suggested that the sailors might be obtained in Boston and other ports.
Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren ordered retaliatory steps taken against the Confederates operating in the Murrell's Inlet area where two Union boat crews had recently been captured. "I desire...he wrote Captain Green of the USS Canandaigua, "...to administer some corrective to the small parties of rebels who infest that vicinity, and shall detail for that purpose the steamers Nipsic, Sanford, Geranium, and Daffodil, also the sailing bark Allen and the schooner Mangham, 100 marines for landing, and four howitzers, two for the boats, two on field carriages, with such boats as may be needed." The force left its anchorage at Morris Island on 29 December.
A bill, prohibiting dealing in the currency of the United States, was passed in the Confederate Congress: “Any person violating the provisions of the act was subject to indictment and prosecution in the Confederate court holden for the district within which the offence was committed, and should, upon conviction, forfeit the amount so bought, sold, circulated, or used, or a sum equal thereto, and be moreover subject to a fine of not more than twenty thousand dollars, nor less than five hundred, and be imprisoned not less than three months, nor more than three years, at the discretion of the court; and it was declared the duty of the judges of the several Confederate courts to give the act specially in charge to the grand jury: Provided, that the purchase of postage stamps should not be considered a violation of the act.”
The Confederate forces, under General James Longstreet, still remained in the neighborhood of Rutledge and Morristown, Tennessee. “General Longstreet was unable to follow up his advantage in consequence of the large number of bare-footed men in his command. The weather was extremely cold, and the mountains covered with snow.”
A party belonging to the Confederate Colonel Harrison's partisan guerrilla band, headed by James Cavalier, reportedly entered Omega, Louisiana, and after capturing twelve or fourteen negroes, proceeded to murder them in cold blood, after which they hurried away upon mules captured in the town.
In discussing the conscription proposed by the Confederate Congress, the Raleigh Progress says:
There is not another man to spare from the farms or other industrial pursuits of the country, and a further draft on this class will be fraught with the most disastrous consequences. If more men are wanted in the line, let the thousands of able-bodied men already in the pay of the government be placed there, and the drones and non-producers who insult honest toil by their constant swagger, and who have been shielded by the corruptions of office-holders since the war commenced, be gathered up and compelled to fight for that liberty for which they ever profess to be so ready to pour out their precious blood.
Congress, we fear, is disposed to run into extremes, especially those members whose States are largely or entirely in the hands of the enemy. If this war is to be fought out to the last man and the last dollar, if we are really battling for independence, we must husband our resources. We must have men to fight, and we must have something to feed them on. Beware of destroying the seed-corn.
From an article in this morning's Richmond Dispatch. The Yankees made a raid on Luray, Virginia, and burned P. B. Borst's large tannery, the old Baptist Church, and Mr. Booton's workshop; broke open all the stores, and robbed them of all their goods, and what they could not take off, they distributed among the negroes. They also broke open the meat-houses, and stole, carried away, and destroyed nearly all the pork and bacon in the place, besides killing nearly all the chickens they could find. They also burnt the tannery of William R. Barbee, about six miles east of Luray.
Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk, assuming command of the Confederate army in Mississippi, issued an order at Meridian, in which he recognizes the defeats and discouragements the Confederate cause has sustained of late, but seeks to stimulate his troops to fresh efforts, by assuring them that there is still, in the South, ample material for a continued and successful prosecution of the war. “The vigorous employment of our own resources,” he closed by saying, “with unity, harmony, and an unflinching determination to be true cannot, under God, but crown our efforts with triumphant success.”
Posted on 12/23/13 at 7:26 am to BadLeroyDawg
I'm sure he understands the discipline of history and why studying it is important. He's just saying that he doesn't find the Civil War all that interesting or at least presumably not as interesting as other periods of history.
I like the politics of the Civil War. The Election of 1860, the Missouri Compromise, etc. The war itself though (battles, tactics, generals, etc.) doesn't really do it for me.
I like the politics of the Civil War. The Election of 1860, the Missouri Compromise, etc. The war itself though (battles, tactics, generals, etc.) doesn't really do it for me.
Posted on 12/23/13 at 7:32 am to BadLeroyDawg
quote:
BadLeroyDawg
Thanks for doing these
Posted on 12/23/13 at 11:43 am to DCRebel
Without seeming too contrary, DCRebel, I am not real sure very many Americans today understand the "discipline of history" nor why studying it is paramount to everything we, and the rest of the world, shall likely face this century. As far as "the war itself" goes, just looking back at the recent posts, we see subjects as diverse as the United States Ambassador to England Charles Francis Adams continually thwarting Southern efforts in Europe; Henry Stuart Foote, a former United States Senator and a member of the Confederate House of Representatives, criticizing the Confederate leadership; a discussion of President Lincoln's Amnesty Proclamation for those wishing to rejoin the Union; Yankees from the USS Moose on the Tennessee River destroying Confederate whiskey distilleries nine days before Christmas; Confederate General Stand Watie, one of only two Native Americans on either side of the Civil War to rise to a brigadier general's rank; Mrs. Patterson Allan, charged with carrying on a treasonable correspondence with persons in the North; Mrs. Anne Johnston, of Cincinnati, Ohio, being tried at Nashville, Tennessee, for acting as a Confederate spy; and a bill being passed in the Confederate Congress, prohibiting anyone dealing in the currency of the United States. And who cannot appreciate the most unusual name of all in that of Commander Catesby ap Roger Jones? Just saying...
Posted on 12/23/13 at 11:46 am to TbirdSpur2010
You're more than welcome, TbirdSpur. I enjoy doing them, following these events day-by-day. And really enjoy your feedback more.
Posted on 12/23/13 at 9:08 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Thursday, 24 December 1863
Confederate Admiral Franklin Buchanan got a letter from Selma today that the guns for his ship CSS Tennessee would be sent to him "...as soon as they are ready..." Or as soon as the Selma Gun Foundry was repaired from an explosion that took place while trying to cast the bottom section of a gun pit. Commander Catesby ap Roger Jones, who sent the letter, was there when it happened and lost his hat, coat and pants in the ensuing fire. Now presumably re-clothed, he wrote that he felt at the time that he was in more danger there “...than if I were in command of the Tennessee.” Jones letter read in full: "We had an accident that might have been very serious. An explosion took place while attempting to cast the bottom section of a gun pit. The foundry took fire, but was promptly extinguished. Fortunately but two of the molds were burned. I had a narrow escape, my hat, coat, and pants were burned. Quite a loss in these times, with our depreciated currency and fixed salaries. As a large casting is never made without my being present, I consider my life in greater danger here than if I were in command of the Tennessee, though I should expect hot work in her occasionally. What chance have I for her?"
The schooner USS Fox, Acting Master Ashbury in charge, seized the blockade running British schooner Edward off the mouth of the Suwannee River, Florida, after a two hour chase during which the schooner attempted to run down the smaller Union ship. She was carrying a cargo of lead and salt from Havana.
The CSS Alabama, commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes, captured and burned the bark Texan Star in the Strait of Malacca with a full cargo of rice. The ship Martaban, bound from Moulmein to Singapore, was later captured and destroyed by the Alabama.
The USS Sunflower, Acting Master Van Sice in charge, captured blockade runner Confederate sloop Hancock near the lighthouse at Tampa Bay, Florida, with a cargo including salt and borax.
The USS Antona, under Acting Master Zerega, seized blockade running schooner Exchange off Velasco, Texas, with cargo including coffee, nails, shoes, acids, wire, and cotton goods.
Yesterday, a foraging party was sent out from the Union camp at Tullahoma, Tennessee, under the command of Lieutenant Porter, of the Twenty-seventh Indiana volunteer infantry. There was a guard of the Fourth Tennessee cavalry, and a detail from the battery, to guard and load forage. They went to Lincoln County, loaded up, and were on the way to camp for the night. The train was divided--one half under Sergeant James, of the battery, was in camp about one mile ahead; Lieutenant Porter, with the rear part of the train, was on his way to the same place. There was one wagon considerably ahead of the others, accompanied by George Jacobs, driver; John Wesley Drought and Newell Orcutt, foragers; and James W. Foley, battery wagonmaster — when they were surprised by four partisan guerrillas, and told to surrender or they would blow their brains out. They being unarmed, could make no successful resistance. Lieutenant Porter then came riding up, when he was seized also. They were then taken through the woods some eight miles, and halted to camp, as the guerrillas said, for the night. They then tied their hands behind their backs, asked if they were ready, and fired, when all fell except the Lieutenant, who being uninjured, ran. The bodies were then dragged to the end of the bluff and thrown into Elk River. Drought was killed instantly. His body floated down and lodged on a tree top. Jacobs was only wounded in the arm and was drowned. Orcutt was shot through the bowels, and managed to get out of the river, but died next day. Foley having loosed his hands, reached shore, but being severely wounded in the groin, lay near the river all night, where he was found next day by a citizen and properly cared for.
A battle took place near Bolivar, Tennessee, between a party of Confederate raiders belonging to the command of General Nathan Bedford Forrest, and five hundred of the Seventh Illinois cavalry, under Colonel Edward Prince, who had been sent out to scout and patrol the crossings on the Mississippi Central Railroad. Finding himself overpowered by numbers, Colonel Prince retreated and fell back on Summerville, with a loss of three killed and eight wounded.
The Confederate House of Representatives, by a vote of four to one, resolved that a “...person otherwise liable to military duty shall no longer be exempt by reason of having provided a substitute. It declared also that the substitute should not be discharged, and rejected a proposition to refund to the principal any portion of the money paid for his substitute.”
The enlistment of colored troops at Nashville, Tennessee, continued with great success.
Confederate Admiral Franklin Buchanan got a letter from Selma today that the guns for his ship CSS Tennessee would be sent to him "...as soon as they are ready..." Or as soon as the Selma Gun Foundry was repaired from an explosion that took place while trying to cast the bottom section of a gun pit. Commander Catesby ap Roger Jones, who sent the letter, was there when it happened and lost his hat, coat and pants in the ensuing fire. Now presumably re-clothed, he wrote that he felt at the time that he was in more danger there “...than if I were in command of the Tennessee.” Jones letter read in full: "We had an accident that might have been very serious. An explosion took place while attempting to cast the bottom section of a gun pit. The foundry took fire, but was promptly extinguished. Fortunately but two of the molds were burned. I had a narrow escape, my hat, coat, and pants were burned. Quite a loss in these times, with our depreciated currency and fixed salaries. As a large casting is never made without my being present, I consider my life in greater danger here than if I were in command of the Tennessee, though I should expect hot work in her occasionally. What chance have I for her?"
The schooner USS Fox, Acting Master Ashbury in charge, seized the blockade running British schooner Edward off the mouth of the Suwannee River, Florida, after a two hour chase during which the schooner attempted to run down the smaller Union ship. She was carrying a cargo of lead and salt from Havana.
The CSS Alabama, commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes, captured and burned the bark Texan Star in the Strait of Malacca with a full cargo of rice. The ship Martaban, bound from Moulmein to Singapore, was later captured and destroyed by the Alabama.
The USS Sunflower, Acting Master Van Sice in charge, captured blockade runner Confederate sloop Hancock near the lighthouse at Tampa Bay, Florida, with a cargo including salt and borax.
The USS Antona, under Acting Master Zerega, seized blockade running schooner Exchange off Velasco, Texas, with cargo including coffee, nails, shoes, acids, wire, and cotton goods.
Yesterday, a foraging party was sent out from the Union camp at Tullahoma, Tennessee, under the command of Lieutenant Porter, of the Twenty-seventh Indiana volunteer infantry. There was a guard of the Fourth Tennessee cavalry, and a detail from the battery, to guard and load forage. They went to Lincoln County, loaded up, and were on the way to camp for the night. The train was divided--one half under Sergeant James, of the battery, was in camp about one mile ahead; Lieutenant Porter, with the rear part of the train, was on his way to the same place. There was one wagon considerably ahead of the others, accompanied by George Jacobs, driver; John Wesley Drought and Newell Orcutt, foragers; and James W. Foley, battery wagonmaster — when they were surprised by four partisan guerrillas, and told to surrender or they would blow their brains out. They being unarmed, could make no successful resistance. Lieutenant Porter then came riding up, when he was seized also. They were then taken through the woods some eight miles, and halted to camp, as the guerrillas said, for the night. They then tied their hands behind their backs, asked if they were ready, and fired, when all fell except the Lieutenant, who being uninjured, ran. The bodies were then dragged to the end of the bluff and thrown into Elk River. Drought was killed instantly. His body floated down and lodged on a tree top. Jacobs was only wounded in the arm and was drowned. Orcutt was shot through the bowels, and managed to get out of the river, but died next day. Foley having loosed his hands, reached shore, but being severely wounded in the groin, lay near the river all night, where he was found next day by a citizen and properly cared for.
A battle took place near Bolivar, Tennessee, between a party of Confederate raiders belonging to the command of General Nathan Bedford Forrest, and five hundred of the Seventh Illinois cavalry, under Colonel Edward Prince, who had been sent out to scout and patrol the crossings on the Mississippi Central Railroad. Finding himself overpowered by numbers, Colonel Prince retreated and fell back on Summerville, with a loss of three killed and eight wounded.
The Confederate House of Representatives, by a vote of four to one, resolved that a “...person otherwise liable to military duty shall no longer be exempt by reason of having provided a substitute. It declared also that the substitute should not be discharged, and rejected a proposition to refund to the principal any portion of the money paid for his substitute.”
The enlistment of colored troops at Nashville, Tennessee, continued with great success.
Posted on 12/24/13 at 10:33 am to BadLeroyDawg
quote:
Confederate General Stand Watie
Wow it's been awhile since I've heard that name. I read a great book on General Watie in the 7th or 8th grade
Still enjoy checking in on this thread BadLeroyDawg.Posted on 12/24/13 at 12:35 pm to tigers32
Glad you do, tigers32. The same day I posted about General Stand Watie, I wrote that he was one of only two Native Americans on either side of the Civil War to rise to a brigadier general's rank; the other being Ely S. Parker, a Seneca Indian who was with General Grant's staff for the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House. Thanks for the feedback!
Posted on 12/24/13 at 8:57 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Friday, 25 December 1863
As a great many members of the Union army had signed two-year enlistments in 1861, it was becoming a matter of great concern to get as many of them to re-enlist as possible, as this saved the considerable expense of training new enlistees from scratch. (Common wisdom of the day claimed that it took two years to make a cavalryman, although the process had speeded up considerably by now.) Captain Kennedy of the 9th NY Volunteer Cavalry celebrated the decision of several of his men to re-up by holding the swearing-in ceremony on Christmas Day, at Culpepper Court House, Virginia.
Two masked Confederate batteries on John's Island opened an early morning attack on the USS Marblehead, under Lieutenant Commander Meade, at anchor near Legareville, South Carolina, in the Stono River. The Marblehead sustained some 20 hits as the USS Pawnee, Commander Balch in charge, contributed enfilading support, and the mortar schooner C.P. Williams, Acting Master Simeon N. Freeman piloting, added her firepower to the bombardment. After more than an hour, the Confederates broke off the engagement and withdrew. Meade later seized two VIII-inch sea coast howitzers.
The USS Daylight, commanded by Acting Lieutenant Francis S. Wells, and the USS Howquah, Acting Lieutenant MacDiarmid in charge, transported troops from Beaufort, North Carolina, to Bear Inlet, where the soldiers and sailors were landed without incident under the Daylight's protecting guns. Wells reported: "Four extensive salt works in full operation were found at different points along the coast and near the inlet, which were all thoroughly destroyed."
Colonel Prince and his cavalry once again advanced upon the Confederate forces under General Nathan Bedford Forrest, and attacked them, but in a few moments discovered that he was surrounded on all sides. He did not surrender, but after fighting for three hours, with terrible loss, cut his way out, and carried most of his command safely into La Grange.
Colonel R. R. Livingston, of the First Nebraska cavalry, assumed command of the district of northeastern Arkansas, headquarters at Batesville, and issued a proclamation in accordance therewith.
A correspondent of the Richmond Sentinel says: “The plate that is in our country, and its value to the government, if the people can be induced to relinquish it, has doubtless occurred to many minds — been, perhaps, weighed and repudiated; but yet, I presume to think, might be made to act, if not a principal, a valuable subsidiary part in any well-digested scheme to restore the credit of the Treasury, to give stability to any system of finance, to arrest depreciation of confederate notes and stock, by furnishing that in kind, which is the basis of all credits — gold and silver. I think we have it, and in large amount. We have in the possession of our people, in the form of gold and silver plate, a vast and unproductive fund — every household more or less of it. Was there ever a better time to bring it forward?--ever greater need for it?--ever stronger inducements to tender it to the government for the common good?"
Brigadier General B. F. Kelley sent the following from his headquarters at Harper's Ferry, Virginia: “General Sullivan's column has returned safely, bringing in one hundred prisoners, about one hundred horses, equipments, etc. My different columns are all now safely back. They have captured in all over four hundred prisoners and a large amount of property. My plans and others have been promptly and faithfully executed, with a single exception, and with but a small loss on our part.”
As a great many members of the Union army had signed two-year enlistments in 1861, it was becoming a matter of great concern to get as many of them to re-enlist as possible, as this saved the considerable expense of training new enlistees from scratch. (Common wisdom of the day claimed that it took two years to make a cavalryman, although the process had speeded up considerably by now.) Captain Kennedy of the 9th NY Volunteer Cavalry celebrated the decision of several of his men to re-up by holding the swearing-in ceremony on Christmas Day, at Culpepper Court House, Virginia.
Two masked Confederate batteries on John's Island opened an early morning attack on the USS Marblehead, under Lieutenant Commander Meade, at anchor near Legareville, South Carolina, in the Stono River. The Marblehead sustained some 20 hits as the USS Pawnee, Commander Balch in charge, contributed enfilading support, and the mortar schooner C.P. Williams, Acting Master Simeon N. Freeman piloting, added her firepower to the bombardment. After more than an hour, the Confederates broke off the engagement and withdrew. Meade later seized two VIII-inch sea coast howitzers.
The USS Daylight, commanded by Acting Lieutenant Francis S. Wells, and the USS Howquah, Acting Lieutenant MacDiarmid in charge, transported troops from Beaufort, North Carolina, to Bear Inlet, where the soldiers and sailors were landed without incident under the Daylight's protecting guns. Wells reported: "Four extensive salt works in full operation were found at different points along the coast and near the inlet, which were all thoroughly destroyed."
Colonel Prince and his cavalry once again advanced upon the Confederate forces under General Nathan Bedford Forrest, and attacked them, but in a few moments discovered that he was surrounded on all sides. He did not surrender, but after fighting for three hours, with terrible loss, cut his way out, and carried most of his command safely into La Grange.
Colonel R. R. Livingston, of the First Nebraska cavalry, assumed command of the district of northeastern Arkansas, headquarters at Batesville, and issued a proclamation in accordance therewith.
A correspondent of the Richmond Sentinel says: “The plate that is in our country, and its value to the government, if the people can be induced to relinquish it, has doubtless occurred to many minds — been, perhaps, weighed and repudiated; but yet, I presume to think, might be made to act, if not a principal, a valuable subsidiary part in any well-digested scheme to restore the credit of the Treasury, to give stability to any system of finance, to arrest depreciation of confederate notes and stock, by furnishing that in kind, which is the basis of all credits — gold and silver. I think we have it, and in large amount. We have in the possession of our people, in the form of gold and silver plate, a vast and unproductive fund — every household more or less of it. Was there ever a better time to bring it forward?--ever greater need for it?--ever stronger inducements to tender it to the government for the common good?"
Brigadier General B. F. Kelley sent the following from his headquarters at Harper's Ferry, Virginia: “General Sullivan's column has returned safely, bringing in one hundred prisoners, about one hundred horses, equipments, etc. My different columns are all now safely back. They have captured in all over four hundred prisoners and a large amount of property. My plans and others have been promptly and faithfully executed, with a single exception, and with but a small loss on our part.”
Posted on 12/26/13 at 4:41 am to BadLeroyDawg
Saturday, 26 December 1863
The CSS Alabama, commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes of the Confederate States Navy, now less than a week arrived from the Indies to South Africa, managed to capture and destroy the American ships Sonora and Highlander, both in ballast, at anchor near the western entrance of the Straits of Malacca. Semmes wrote home that: "They were monster ships, both of them, being eleven or twelve hundred tons burden." One of the masters told the commerce raider: “Well, Captain Semmes, I have been expecting every day for the last three years to fall in with you, and here I am at last. . . The fact is, I have had constant visions of the Alabama, by night and by day; she has been chasing me in my sleep, and riding me like a nightmare, and now that it is all over, I feel quite relieved." The major financial impact of Semmes' efforts was on the rapidly rising insurance rates being charged to US flag shipping companies.
As the year drew to a close, it became evident that the much-hoped-for European aid, if not actual intervention, on behalf of the Confederacy would not be forthcoming. This was expressed by Henry Hotze, Confederate Commercial Agent in London, in a letter this date to Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin: "...it is absolutely hopeless to expect to receive any really serv-iceable vessels of war from the ports of either England or France, and...our expenditure should therefore be confined to more practicable objects and our naval staff be employed in eluding, since we can not break, the blockade."
The USS Reindeer, under Acting Lieutenant Henry A. Glassford, with the Army steamer Silver Lake No. 2 in company, reconnoitered the Cumberland River at the request of General Hiram U. Grant. The force moved from Nashville to Carthage without incident but was taken under fire five times on the 29th. The Confederates' positions, Glassford reported, "...availed them nothing, however, against the guns of this vessel and those of the Silver Lake No. 2; they were completely shelled out of them. The gunboats continued as far as Creelsboro, Kentucky, before the river gave unmistakable signs of a fall." The ships subsequently returned to Nashville.
General Thomas Lafayette Rosser returned to Orange Court House, Virginia, having completed an entire circuit of the Federal army, starting from Fredericksburg and entering the valley at Conrad's Store. He burnt the bridge over Pope's Head Run, near Sangster's Station, just out from Alexandria, capturing and dispersing the troops left as a guard. Owing to the high water and bad weather, he was prevented from doing more damage. Brigadier General David Gregg's Yankee cavalry pursued, but could not overtake him. General Rosser was forced to swim Bull Run. His loss was very slight. The enemy, while in pursuit, destroyed two tanneries and a lot of leather at Sperryville, Rappahannock County; also, two tanneries, a flour-mill and some government workshops at Luray, in Page County. They also committed many other excesses, including the taking away of negroes, and shot a Confederate soldier named Smedley, at Washington, in Rappahannock County, after he had surrendered.
The CSS Alabama, commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes of the Confederate States Navy, now less than a week arrived from the Indies to South Africa, managed to capture and destroy the American ships Sonora and Highlander, both in ballast, at anchor near the western entrance of the Straits of Malacca. Semmes wrote home that: "They were monster ships, both of them, being eleven or twelve hundred tons burden." One of the masters told the commerce raider: “Well, Captain Semmes, I have been expecting every day for the last three years to fall in with you, and here I am at last. . . The fact is, I have had constant visions of the Alabama, by night and by day; she has been chasing me in my sleep, and riding me like a nightmare, and now that it is all over, I feel quite relieved." The major financial impact of Semmes' efforts was on the rapidly rising insurance rates being charged to US flag shipping companies.
As the year drew to a close, it became evident that the much-hoped-for European aid, if not actual intervention, on behalf of the Confederacy would not be forthcoming. This was expressed by Henry Hotze, Confederate Commercial Agent in London, in a letter this date to Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin: "...it is absolutely hopeless to expect to receive any really serv-iceable vessels of war from the ports of either England or France, and...our expenditure should therefore be confined to more practicable objects and our naval staff be employed in eluding, since we can not break, the blockade."
The USS Reindeer, under Acting Lieutenant Henry A. Glassford, with the Army steamer Silver Lake No. 2 in company, reconnoitered the Cumberland River at the request of General Hiram U. Grant. The force moved from Nashville to Carthage without incident but was taken under fire five times on the 29th. The Confederates' positions, Glassford reported, "...availed them nothing, however, against the guns of this vessel and those of the Silver Lake No. 2; they were completely shelled out of them. The gunboats continued as far as Creelsboro, Kentucky, before the river gave unmistakable signs of a fall." The ships subsequently returned to Nashville.
General Thomas Lafayette Rosser returned to Orange Court House, Virginia, having completed an entire circuit of the Federal army, starting from Fredericksburg and entering the valley at Conrad's Store. He burnt the bridge over Pope's Head Run, near Sangster's Station, just out from Alexandria, capturing and dispersing the troops left as a guard. Owing to the high water and bad weather, he was prevented from doing more damage. Brigadier General David Gregg's Yankee cavalry pursued, but could not overtake him. General Rosser was forced to swim Bull Run. His loss was very slight. The enemy, while in pursuit, destroyed two tanneries and a lot of leather at Sperryville, Rappahannock County; also, two tanneries, a flour-mill and some government workshops at Luray, in Page County. They also committed many other excesses, including the taking away of negroes, and shot a Confederate soldier named Smedley, at Washington, in Rappahannock County, after he had surrendered.
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