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Posted on 1/8/14 at 9:01 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Saturday, 9 January 1864
There was little hostile action on any front today (with the exception of a very tiny skirmish at the equally tiny Terman’s Ferry, Kentucky) but the rumors were vast and numerous. They were also mostly naval: in Washington, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles received a disturbing telegram from Admiral C.H. Bell in California. According to Bell, he had himself just received word that the Confederates were constructing a large new raider in an unexpected place, Vancouver, British Columbia. Welles’ agents had largely blocked Southern attempts to get ships in Europe, but had overlooked the Canadian option. In Richmond, Jefferson Davis was sending notice to commanders in Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia that Admiral David G. Farragut was preparing to attack Mobile.
Reflecting the increased Union concern over Confederate torpedoes, President Abraham Lincoln granted an interview to one Captain Lavender, a New England mariner, to discuss a device for discovering and removing underwater obstructions. Though many ideas for rendering Confederate torpedoes ineffective were advanced, none solved the problem, and torpedoes sank an increasing number of Union ships.
Mr. James O. Putnam, U.S. Consul at Le Havre , France, notified Captain John Winslow of the USS Kearsarge "...that it was the purpose of the commanders of the Georgia, the Florida, and Rappahannock, to rendezvous at some convenient and opportune point, for the purpose of attacking the Kearsarge after she has left Brest." This attack never took place; six months later it was Kearsarge which met another Confederate raider, Alabama, off Cherbourg.
Rear Admiral Charles H. Bell, commanding the Pacific Squadron, advised Secretary Welles of the report that a Confederate privateer was outfitting at Victoria, Vancouver Island: "I would also respectfully suggest the expediency of having at all times a small steamer, under the direction of the [Mare Island] navy yard, ready to be dispatched at a few hours' notice whenever a similar occasion arises. The want of a vessel so prepared may be of incalculable injury to the mercantile interests of our western coast.
Today the noted guerrilla McCown and three of his men were captured by the Forrester New York cavalry regiment, reconnoitering in the direction of Sperryville, Virginia.
A fight took place in Mobile Bay, between the Confederates in Fort Morgan and the Federal gunboats stationed on the blockade. On the discovery, this morning, of a steamer ashore under the guns of the Fort, all the gunboats of the fleet got under way; and, while some repaired to the flagship for instructions, the Octorara steamed in and opened fire on the Rebel craft, which speedily drew a reply from the Fort. The rest of the fleet soon steamed in and took up their positions, when the fire became quite spirited. The Southern steamer was struck several times, and abandoned; but she lay so near the Fort, it was impossible to get her out. Finding the efforts to set her on fire were fruitless, the fleet withdrew, after firing two hours.
A squad of Confederate cavalry entered Cleveland, Tennessee, and conscripted every man able to perform service.
There was little hostile action on any front today (with the exception of a very tiny skirmish at the equally tiny Terman’s Ferry, Kentucky) but the rumors were vast and numerous. They were also mostly naval: in Washington, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles received a disturbing telegram from Admiral C.H. Bell in California. According to Bell, he had himself just received word that the Confederates were constructing a large new raider in an unexpected place, Vancouver, British Columbia. Welles’ agents had largely blocked Southern attempts to get ships in Europe, but had overlooked the Canadian option. In Richmond, Jefferson Davis was sending notice to commanders in Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia that Admiral David G. Farragut was preparing to attack Mobile.
Reflecting the increased Union concern over Confederate torpedoes, President Abraham Lincoln granted an interview to one Captain Lavender, a New England mariner, to discuss a device for discovering and removing underwater obstructions. Though many ideas for rendering Confederate torpedoes ineffective were advanced, none solved the problem, and torpedoes sank an increasing number of Union ships.
Mr. James O. Putnam, U.S. Consul at Le Havre , France, notified Captain John Winslow of the USS Kearsarge "...that it was the purpose of the commanders of the Georgia, the Florida, and Rappahannock, to rendezvous at some convenient and opportune point, for the purpose of attacking the Kearsarge after she has left Brest." This attack never took place; six months later it was Kearsarge which met another Confederate raider, Alabama, off Cherbourg.
Rear Admiral Charles H. Bell, commanding the Pacific Squadron, advised Secretary Welles of the report that a Confederate privateer was outfitting at Victoria, Vancouver Island: "I would also respectfully suggest the expediency of having at all times a small steamer, under the direction of the [Mare Island] navy yard, ready to be dispatched at a few hours' notice whenever a similar occasion arises. The want of a vessel so prepared may be of incalculable injury to the mercantile interests of our western coast.
Today the noted guerrilla McCown and three of his men were captured by the Forrester New York cavalry regiment, reconnoitering in the direction of Sperryville, Virginia.
A fight took place in Mobile Bay, between the Confederates in Fort Morgan and the Federal gunboats stationed on the blockade. On the discovery, this morning, of a steamer ashore under the guns of the Fort, all the gunboats of the fleet got under way; and, while some repaired to the flagship for instructions, the Octorara steamed in and opened fire on the Rebel craft, which speedily drew a reply from the Fort. The rest of the fleet soon steamed in and took up their positions, when the fire became quite spirited. The Southern steamer was struck several times, and abandoned; but she lay so near the Fort, it was impossible to get her out. Finding the efforts to set her on fire were fruitless, the fleet withdrew, after firing two hours.
A squad of Confederate cavalry entered Cleveland, Tennessee, and conscripted every man able to perform service.
Posted on 1/9/14 at 8:22 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Sunday, 10 January 1864
Lockwoods Folly Inlet proved well-named (at least the "folly" part) for the ill-fated USS Iron Age. The ship of the blockade ran aground on an unnoticed sand bar off the South Carolina coast. It was destroyed by artillery fire from shore batteries. The blockade as a whole, though, was tighter than ever, and an ever growing number of ships were being captured.
Another report: While helping to salvage the hulk of grounded and partially burned blockade runner Bendigo near Lockwood's Folly Inlet, South Carolina, the USS Iron Age, under Lieutenant Commander Edward E. Stone, herself grounded. Efforts to get her off were futile, and, as Confederates positioned a battery within range, the ship was ordered destroyed to prevent her capture. Reporting on the loss of the small screw steamer and on blockade duty in general, Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee noted: "This service is one of great hardship and exposure; it has been conducted with slight loss to us, and much loss to the Rebels and their allies, who have lost twenty-two vessels in six months, while our loss has only been two vessels on the Wilmington blockade during the war."
Boat crews from the USS Roebuck, under Acting Master John Sherrill, captured the blockade running Confederate sloop Maria Louise with a cargo of cotton off Jupiter Inlet, Florida.
General J. C. Sullivan sent the following to headquarters:
Major Cole's camp at Loudon Heights, Virginia, was attacked this morning. He fought gallantly and drove the attacking party off. I send you his report:
I have the honor to report that my camp was attacked this morning at about four o'clock, by Lieutenant Colonel John Singleton Mosby and his command.
After a brisk fight of about one hour, they were repulsed and driven from the camp. Our loss is two men killed and thirteen wounded. Among the latter is Captain Vernon, seriously, and Lieutenant Rivers, slightly.
There are some missing, but it is impossible to give the exact number at present. The Confederates left four dead in the camp--one captain, and one a lieutenant.
They left three prisoners in our hands, two of them wounded, and one a lieutenant.
The United States bark Roebuck captured the Confederate sloop Marie Louise while attempting to run out of Jupiter Inlet, Florida. She was of about eight tons register, and laden with three thousand pounds of Sea Island cotton.
Eighteen shells were thrown into the city of Charleston, South Carolina, from the Federal defenses around that city.
Lockwoods Folly Inlet proved well-named (at least the "folly" part) for the ill-fated USS Iron Age. The ship of the blockade ran aground on an unnoticed sand bar off the South Carolina coast. It was destroyed by artillery fire from shore batteries. The blockade as a whole, though, was tighter than ever, and an ever growing number of ships were being captured.
Another report: While helping to salvage the hulk of grounded and partially burned blockade runner Bendigo near Lockwood's Folly Inlet, South Carolina, the USS Iron Age, under Lieutenant Commander Edward E. Stone, herself grounded. Efforts to get her off were futile, and, as Confederates positioned a battery within range, the ship was ordered destroyed to prevent her capture. Reporting on the loss of the small screw steamer and on blockade duty in general, Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee noted: "This service is one of great hardship and exposure; it has been conducted with slight loss to us, and much loss to the Rebels and their allies, who have lost twenty-two vessels in six months, while our loss has only been two vessels on the Wilmington blockade during the war."
Boat crews from the USS Roebuck, under Acting Master John Sherrill, captured the blockade running Confederate sloop Maria Louise with a cargo of cotton off Jupiter Inlet, Florida.
General J. C. Sullivan sent the following to headquarters:
Major Cole's camp at Loudon Heights, Virginia, was attacked this morning. He fought gallantly and drove the attacking party off. I send you his report:
I have the honor to report that my camp was attacked this morning at about four o'clock, by Lieutenant Colonel John Singleton Mosby and his command.
After a brisk fight of about one hour, they were repulsed and driven from the camp. Our loss is two men killed and thirteen wounded. Among the latter is Captain Vernon, seriously, and Lieutenant Rivers, slightly.
There are some missing, but it is impossible to give the exact number at present. The Confederates left four dead in the camp--one captain, and one a lieutenant.
They left three prisoners in our hands, two of them wounded, and one a lieutenant.
The United States bark Roebuck captured the Confederate sloop Marie Louise while attempting to run out of Jupiter Inlet, Florida. She was of about eight tons register, and laden with three thousand pounds of Sea Island cotton.
Eighteen shells were thrown into the city of Charleston, South Carolina, from the Federal defenses around that city.
Posted on 1/10/14 at 9:37 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Monday, 11 January 1864
Yesterday saw the loss of the USS Iron Age in Lockwoods Folly Inlet after she ran aground and was destroyed by shore batteries. Today saw the loss of two more ships of the Federal blockade in the same inlet. In this case they were chased by Confederate ships too close to shore, and also ran aground. They were then burned to the waterline to prevent capture.
Flag Officer Samuel Barron, senior Confederate naval officer in France, reported to Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory that he had placed Lieutenant Charles M. Morris in command of the CSS Florida, relieving Commander Joseph N. Barney whose ill health prevented active service afloat. The Florida had completed her repairs and on a trial run "...made 13 knots under steam." The CSS Rappahannock was "...repairing slowly but surely..." as she would be armed with the battery from the CSS Georgia, no longer fit for duty as a cruiser. He concluded: "You are doubtless, sir, aware that three Confederate 'men-of-war' are now enjoying the hospitality and natural courtesies of this Empire-a strange contrast with the determined hostility, I may almost say, of Earl Russell Louis Napoleon is not Lord John Russell!"
The USS Minnesota, Daylight, Aries, and Governor Buckingham intercepted the blockade runner Ranger, commanded by Lieutenant George W. Gift, CSN, and forced her aground at the Western Bar of Lockwoods Folly Inlet, South Carolina. Since Southern sharpshooters precluded salvage, the Ranger, carrying a cargo for the Confederate government, was destroyed by Union forces. The Aries, under Acting Lieutenant Edward F. Devens, also investigated a fire observed between Tubb's and Little River Inlets and found the "fine-looking double propeller blockade runner" Vesta beached and in flames. The Vesta had been sighted and chased the night before by the USS Keystone State, Quaker City and Tuscarora.
The USS Honeysuckle, Acting Ensign Cyrus Sears, captured the blockade running British schooner Fly near Jupiter Inlet, Florida.
Boat crews from the USS Roebuck, Acting Master Sherrill in charge, captured the blockade running British schooner Susan at Jupiter Inlet with a large cargo including salt.
Yesterday saw the loss of the USS Iron Age in Lockwoods Folly Inlet after she ran aground and was destroyed by shore batteries. Today saw the loss of two more ships of the Federal blockade in the same inlet. In this case they were chased by Confederate ships too close to shore, and also ran aground. They were then burned to the waterline to prevent capture.
Flag Officer Samuel Barron, senior Confederate naval officer in France, reported to Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory that he had placed Lieutenant Charles M. Morris in command of the CSS Florida, relieving Commander Joseph N. Barney whose ill health prevented active service afloat. The Florida had completed her repairs and on a trial run "...made 13 knots under steam." The CSS Rappahannock was "...repairing slowly but surely..." as she would be armed with the battery from the CSS Georgia, no longer fit for duty as a cruiser. He concluded: "You are doubtless, sir, aware that three Confederate 'men-of-war' are now enjoying the hospitality and natural courtesies of this Empire-a strange contrast with the determined hostility, I may almost say, of Earl Russell Louis Napoleon is not Lord John Russell!"
The USS Minnesota, Daylight, Aries, and Governor Buckingham intercepted the blockade runner Ranger, commanded by Lieutenant George W. Gift, CSN, and forced her aground at the Western Bar of Lockwoods Folly Inlet, South Carolina. Since Southern sharpshooters precluded salvage, the Ranger, carrying a cargo for the Confederate government, was destroyed by Union forces. The Aries, under Acting Lieutenant Edward F. Devens, also investigated a fire observed between Tubb's and Little River Inlets and found the "fine-looking double propeller blockade runner" Vesta beached and in flames. The Vesta had been sighted and chased the night before by the USS Keystone State, Quaker City and Tuscarora.
The USS Honeysuckle, Acting Ensign Cyrus Sears, captured the blockade running British schooner Fly near Jupiter Inlet, Florida.
Boat crews from the USS Roebuck, Acting Master Sherrill in charge, captured the blockade running British schooner Susan at Jupiter Inlet with a large cargo including salt.
Posted on 1/11/14 at 8:58 am to TbirdSpur2010
Only 17 years old too, TBirdSpur. Also read about William Thomas Overby, From Coweta County, GA and only a 24 year old, IIRC. Known as "The Nathan Hale of the Confederacy." Was offered his life in exchange for betraying his comrades in the 43rd VA Cavalry. Refused and was hanged as a spy in September 1864.
And Yankees wonder why their first name in these parts is usually Damn.
And Yankees wonder why their first name in these parts is usually Damn.
This post was edited on 1/11/14 at 3:01 pm
Posted on 1/11/14 at 8:59 am to TbirdSpur2010
*
This post was edited on 1/11/14 at 9:00 am
Posted on 1/11/14 at 5:38 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Tuesday, 12 January 1864
Although not technically a War Between the States operation, Federal troops were obliged to take part in two days of hostilities commencing this morning, in the rather unlikely setting of Matamoros, Mexico, just a few miles across the border from Brownsville, Texas. Since the days of the United States of America’s last great military adventure--the Mexican War--the political situation south of the now Confederate environs had existed in fluctuating states of steadiness. This was not one of the more stable of times with the Great American War raging just north of the country's boundary anyway, and now two Hispanic political factions of roughly equal influence were contending for control of this city.
Federal forces were obliged to step in when it seemed that the person and residence of the American Consul in Mexico--Maine native Leonard J. Pierce--had become a target of hostilities. As the War roared to the north, Matamoros became a center of Confederate commerce. Texans shipped cotton from the un-blockaded port, while Unionist refugees fleeing Texas collected in the town. Pierce's principal responsibilities were the care of refugees from Confederate territory and the military enlistment of Union sympathizers. During his service he reported relocating about 700 refugees and sending about 300 men to enlist in the Union army. Pierce was, at the end of the action, escorted out of town for his own protection.
Under cover of the USS Yankee, Currituck, Anacostia, Tulip, and Jacob Bell, commanded by Acting Lieutenant Edward Hooker, Union cavalry and infantry under General Gilman Marston landed on the peninsula between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers, capturing "...a small body of the enemy and a large number of cavalry horses." The gunboats supported the Army operations on the 13th and 14th, and covered the re-embarkation of the soldiers on the 15th.
A large portion of Colonel Edward Moody McCook's cavalry attacked the Eighth and Eleventh Texas Confederate Regiments, at Mossy Creek, Tennessee, and forced an orderly retreat, killing fourteen and capturing forty-one of them.
Numerous contributions were made in Georgia to equip a new command for Confederate General John Hunt Morgan according to the Richmond Whig. Among the contributors was Governor Joseph E. Brown, who gave five hundred dollars.
Although not technically a War Between the States operation, Federal troops were obliged to take part in two days of hostilities commencing this morning, in the rather unlikely setting of Matamoros, Mexico, just a few miles across the border from Brownsville, Texas. Since the days of the United States of America’s last great military adventure--the Mexican War--the political situation south of the now Confederate environs had existed in fluctuating states of steadiness. This was not one of the more stable of times with the Great American War raging just north of the country's boundary anyway, and now two Hispanic political factions of roughly equal influence were contending for control of this city.
Federal forces were obliged to step in when it seemed that the person and residence of the American Consul in Mexico--Maine native Leonard J. Pierce--had become a target of hostilities. As the War roared to the north, Matamoros became a center of Confederate commerce. Texans shipped cotton from the un-blockaded port, while Unionist refugees fleeing Texas collected in the town. Pierce's principal responsibilities were the care of refugees from Confederate territory and the military enlistment of Union sympathizers. During his service he reported relocating about 700 refugees and sending about 300 men to enlist in the Union army. Pierce was, at the end of the action, escorted out of town for his own protection.
Under cover of the USS Yankee, Currituck, Anacostia, Tulip, and Jacob Bell, commanded by Acting Lieutenant Edward Hooker, Union cavalry and infantry under General Gilman Marston landed on the peninsula between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers, capturing "...a small body of the enemy and a large number of cavalry horses." The gunboats supported the Army operations on the 13th and 14th, and covered the re-embarkation of the soldiers on the 15th.
A large portion of Colonel Edward Moody McCook's cavalry attacked the Eighth and Eleventh Texas Confederate Regiments, at Mossy Creek, Tennessee, and forced an orderly retreat, killing fourteen and capturing forty-one of them.
Numerous contributions were made in Georgia to equip a new command for Confederate General John Hunt Morgan according to the Richmond Whig. Among the contributors was Governor Joseph E. Brown, who gave five hundred dollars.
Posted on 1/12/14 at 9:07 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Wednesday, 13 January 1864
Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston, operating out of Dalton, Georgia, was becoming increasingly surrounded, and felt his force was in danger at its present location. His options, however, were severely constrained when he got a telegram from President Jefferson Davis, informing him that any fallback or withdrawal would have devastating political as well as military consequences. “I trust you will not deem it necessary to adopt such a measure...” Davis wrote. He was not the only president communicating with men in the field today. Abraham Lincoln sent a telegram to General Nathaniel Banks in New Orleans, prodding him to move more quickly to reestablish civil government in Louisiana. Former Confederates, of course, were ineligible to serve.
Captain Thornton A. Jenkins, senior officer present off Mobile, wrote Commodore Henry H. Bell, temporary commander of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron: "I must be permitted to say that, in my judgment, our present weakness at this point, and the incalculable benefits to accrue in the event of success, are a most tempting invitation to the enemy to attack us and endeavor to raise the blockade by capturing or destroying our vessels and to open the way to other successes.
Rear Admiral David G. Farragut, who had arrived in Key West, Florida, on 12 January, was soon to resume command of the West Gulf Squadron.
Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren urged Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles to employ torpedo boats in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, similar to the Confederate CSS David, who made the successful attack on the USS New Ironsides, then participating in the blockade of Charleston. "Nothing better could be devised for the security of our own vessels or for the examination of the enemy's position..." he wrote. "The length of these torpedo boats might be about 40 feet, and 5 to 6 feet in diameter, with a high-pressure engine that will drive them 5 knots. It is not necessary to expend much finish on them."
A boat crew from the USS Two Sisters--a tender to the United States flag-ship San Jacinto--under Acting Master Thomas Chatfield, captured the British schooner William, from Nassau, off Suwannee River, Florida, with a cargo of salt, bagging, and rope.
The Confederate Congress, having passed a joint resolution of thanks to General Robert E. Lee, and his officers, Adjutant General Cooper issued an order announcing the fact, with the following preface:
The President, having approved the following joint resolution of Congress, directs its announcement in general orders, expressive of his gratification at the tribute awarded the patriot officers and soldiers to whom it is addressed.
For the military laggard, or him, who, in the pursuits of selfish and inglorious ease, forgets his country's need, no note of approbation is sounded. His infamy is his only security from oblivion. But the heroic devotion of those, who, in defense of liberty and honor, have periled all, while it confers in an approved conscience the best and highest reward, will also be cherished in perpetual remembrance by a grateful nation. Let this assurance stimulate the armies of the Confederacy everywhere to greater exertion and more resolute endurance, till, under the guidance of Heaven, the blessings of peace and freedom shall finally crown their efforts. Let all press forward in the road to independence, and for the security of the rights sealed to us in the blood of the first revolution. Honor and glory attend our success. Slavery and shame will attend our defeat.
General Benjamin "Spoons" Butler addressed a characteristic letter to the Perfectionists of the city of Norfolk, Virginia.
The following report was made by Colonel James A. Mulligan, from his headquarters at New Creek, Virginia: “A soldier of ours, James A. Walker, company H, Second Maryland regiment, captured in the attack upon the train at the Moorfield and Alleghany Junction, on the third instant, by the enemy under General Fitz-Hugh Lee, escaped when near Brocks's Gap, on the fifth instant, and reported to me this morning. He informs me that thirteen of the enemy were killed and twenty wounded, in the skirmish. He also states that there was present under the command of General Fitz-Hugh Lee, three companies of negro troops, cavalry, armed with carbines. They were not engaged in the attack, but stationed with the reserve. The guards, he reports, openly admitted to the prisoners that they were accompanied by negro soldiers, stating, however, that the North had shown the example.”
Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston, operating out of Dalton, Georgia, was becoming increasingly surrounded, and felt his force was in danger at its present location. His options, however, were severely constrained when he got a telegram from President Jefferson Davis, informing him that any fallback or withdrawal would have devastating political as well as military consequences. “I trust you will not deem it necessary to adopt such a measure...” Davis wrote. He was not the only president communicating with men in the field today. Abraham Lincoln sent a telegram to General Nathaniel Banks in New Orleans, prodding him to move more quickly to reestablish civil government in Louisiana. Former Confederates, of course, were ineligible to serve.
Captain Thornton A. Jenkins, senior officer present off Mobile, wrote Commodore Henry H. Bell, temporary commander of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron: "I must be permitted to say that, in my judgment, our present weakness at this point, and the incalculable benefits to accrue in the event of success, are a most tempting invitation to the enemy to attack us and endeavor to raise the blockade by capturing or destroying our vessels and to open the way to other successes.
Rear Admiral David G. Farragut, who had arrived in Key West, Florida, on 12 January, was soon to resume command of the West Gulf Squadron.
Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren urged Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles to employ torpedo boats in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, similar to the Confederate CSS David, who made the successful attack on the USS New Ironsides, then participating in the blockade of Charleston. "Nothing better could be devised for the security of our own vessels or for the examination of the enemy's position..." he wrote. "The length of these torpedo boats might be about 40 feet, and 5 to 6 feet in diameter, with a high-pressure engine that will drive them 5 knots. It is not necessary to expend much finish on them."
A boat crew from the USS Two Sisters--a tender to the United States flag-ship San Jacinto--under Acting Master Thomas Chatfield, captured the British schooner William, from Nassau, off Suwannee River, Florida, with a cargo of salt, bagging, and rope.
The Confederate Congress, having passed a joint resolution of thanks to General Robert E. Lee, and his officers, Adjutant General Cooper issued an order announcing the fact, with the following preface:
The President, having approved the following joint resolution of Congress, directs its announcement in general orders, expressive of his gratification at the tribute awarded the patriot officers and soldiers to whom it is addressed.
For the military laggard, or him, who, in the pursuits of selfish and inglorious ease, forgets his country's need, no note of approbation is sounded. His infamy is his only security from oblivion. But the heroic devotion of those, who, in defense of liberty and honor, have periled all, while it confers in an approved conscience the best and highest reward, will also be cherished in perpetual remembrance by a grateful nation. Let this assurance stimulate the armies of the Confederacy everywhere to greater exertion and more resolute endurance, till, under the guidance of Heaven, the blessings of peace and freedom shall finally crown their efforts. Let all press forward in the road to independence, and for the security of the rights sealed to us in the blood of the first revolution. Honor and glory attend our success. Slavery and shame will attend our defeat.
General Benjamin "Spoons" Butler addressed a characteristic letter to the Perfectionists of the city of Norfolk, Virginia.
The following report was made by Colonel James A. Mulligan, from his headquarters at New Creek, Virginia: “A soldier of ours, James A. Walker, company H, Second Maryland regiment, captured in the attack upon the train at the Moorfield and Alleghany Junction, on the third instant, by the enemy under General Fitz-Hugh Lee, escaped when near Brocks's Gap, on the fifth instant, and reported to me this morning. He informs me that thirteen of the enemy were killed and twenty wounded, in the skirmish. He also states that there was present under the command of General Fitz-Hugh Lee, three companies of negro troops, cavalry, armed with carbines. They were not engaged in the attack, but stationed with the reserve. The guards, he reports, openly admitted to the prisoners that they were accompanied by negro soldiers, stating, however, that the North had shown the example.”
Posted on 1/13/14 at 12:04 am to BadLeroyDawg
Until I read your post I was not aware of the use of torpedo boats in the Civil War. This made me wonder as to whether there may have been some connection with those and the Japanese Kaiten which was a manned suicide submarine utilized in WW II. I was able to see the one pictured in this LINK while visiting Pearl Harbor and found the information concerning these fascinating though their success was reportedly very limited. I was curious as to whether the torpedo boats caused significant damage during the Civil War--I guess one did cause some damage to a Union boat per your post.
Here's another link regarding the Kaiten which is a bit more descriptive. LINK
Here's another link regarding the Kaiten which is a bit more descriptive. LINK
This post was edited on 1/13/14 at 12:32 am
Posted on 1/13/14 at 7:15 am to Litigator
The War Between the States is called the first modern day war because it saw a number of innovations in warfare, especially naval warfare, including these first Confederate torpedo boats. They carried spar torpedoes to attempt and counter the blockade. By WWI, self-propelled torpedoes were in common use, so the idea of an attack changed considerably. Good LINKs BTW.
Posted on 1/13/14 at 8:50 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Thursday, 14 January 1864
Following in the footsteps of W.R. Browne and the USS Restless, Acting Master Sherrill and his USS Roebuck took over the task of terrorizing the salt suppliers of South Florida, or at least making life miserable for the parties transporting the valuable preservative. On this day, patrolling in Jupiter Inlet, Sherrill used small boats to pursue the British sloop Young Racer. This vessel, tragically for her captain, crew and owners, lived up to neither half of her name, and was overhauled in a short time. Before she could be captured, though, she was set on fire by her crew. Overloaded with salt, she sank rapidly.
The CSS Alabama, commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes, captured and burned the ship Emma Jane off the coast of Malabar, southwest India.
Having failed in efforts to pull the grounded USS Iron Age off the beach at Lockwoods Folly Inlet, the Federal blockaders applied the torch and blew her up. "As an offset to the loss...." reported Lieutenant Commander Stone, "I would place the capture or destruction of 22 blockade runners within the last six months by this squadron [the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron]."
The USS Union--a screw steamer built at Mystic, Connecticut, and commissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 16 May 1861, commanded by Acting Lieutenant Edward Conroy--captured the blockade running steamer Mayflower near Tampa Bay, Florida, with a cargo of cotton.
The blockade-runner, steamer schooner Cumberland, with a cargo of cotton from the coast of Florida, arrived at Havana, Cuba. She had been chased by the United States gunboat USS De Soto, a fast wooden-hulled, side-wheel steamship, but to no avail.
Major General R. B. Vance, made a raid toward Terrisville, Tennessee, and captured a train of twenty-three wagons. He was pursued by Colonel Palmer, who recaptured the wagons, and took one ambulance, loaded with medicines, one hundred and fifty saddle-horses and one hundred stand of arms. General Vance and his assistant adjutant-general and inspector general are among the prisoners captured.--General Grant's Report.
A force of about two hundred Confederates made an attack on a party of Union Cavalry, stationed at Three Miles Station, near Bealeton, Virginia, but were repulsed and driven off, after several desperate charges, leaving three dead and twelve wounded. The Federal casualties were two wounded, one severely.
The official correspondence between the agents of exchange of prisoners of war, together with the report of Mr. Robert Ould, Confederate chief of the bureau, was made public. Prior to the War, Ould was a District Attorney in Washington, DC, in which office one of his first duties was the prosecution of (later to be Union General) Daniel E. Sickles for the killing of Philip Barton Key, son of Francis Scott Key. Sickles defended himself by adopting a defense of temporary insanity, the first time the defense had been used in the United States.
The body of a Union soldier was found hanging at Smith Mills, Virginia, with the following words placarded upon it: “Here hangs private Samuel Jones, of the Fifth Ohio regiment, hung by order of Major General Pickett, in retaliation for private David Bright, of the Sixty-second Georgia regiment, hung December eighteenth, by order of Brigadier General Wild.”
The Richmond Examiner held the following language: “Surely British-protection patriots of the Emerald Isle here, have, we are credibly informed, recently shouldered their shillelaghs, and cut stick for the land of Lincoln. Sundry others, too, born this side of the Potomac, have wended their way in the same direction, all leaving their families behind them to sell rum or make breeches and other garments for the clothing bureau. When mothers and sisters, sweethearts and wives, thus intentionally, and by a cunning arrangement, left behind, present themselves at the clothing bureau for a job, they represent, with the most innocent faces imaginable, that their male protectors are in General Lee's army, and thus enlist sympathy, and sponge on the Confederacy. To poor females every kindness and aid should be extended as long as they and. those belonging to them are true to us; but it is past enduring that able-bodied fellows should go North, and leave as a charge here people whom we are under no obligations to support, and who, by false representations, shut out the wives and other female relatives of gallant fellows, who are confronting our ruthless enemies.”
Lieutenant Gates, with a party of the Third Arkansas cavalry, made a reconnaissance near Clinton, Arkansas, and succeeded in capturing twelve prisoners, whom he surprised at Cadson's Cave.
Following in the footsteps of W.R. Browne and the USS Restless, Acting Master Sherrill and his USS Roebuck took over the task of terrorizing the salt suppliers of South Florida, or at least making life miserable for the parties transporting the valuable preservative. On this day, patrolling in Jupiter Inlet, Sherrill used small boats to pursue the British sloop Young Racer. This vessel, tragically for her captain, crew and owners, lived up to neither half of her name, and was overhauled in a short time. Before she could be captured, though, she was set on fire by her crew. Overloaded with salt, she sank rapidly.
The CSS Alabama, commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes, captured and burned the ship Emma Jane off the coast of Malabar, southwest India.
Having failed in efforts to pull the grounded USS Iron Age off the beach at Lockwoods Folly Inlet, the Federal blockaders applied the torch and blew her up. "As an offset to the loss...." reported Lieutenant Commander Stone, "I would place the capture or destruction of 22 blockade runners within the last six months by this squadron [the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron]."
The USS Union--a screw steamer built at Mystic, Connecticut, and commissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 16 May 1861, commanded by Acting Lieutenant Edward Conroy--captured the blockade running steamer Mayflower near Tampa Bay, Florida, with a cargo of cotton.
The blockade-runner, steamer schooner Cumberland, with a cargo of cotton from the coast of Florida, arrived at Havana, Cuba. She had been chased by the United States gunboat USS De Soto, a fast wooden-hulled, side-wheel steamship, but to no avail.
Major General R. B. Vance, made a raid toward Terrisville, Tennessee, and captured a train of twenty-three wagons. He was pursued by Colonel Palmer, who recaptured the wagons, and took one ambulance, loaded with medicines, one hundred and fifty saddle-horses and one hundred stand of arms. General Vance and his assistant adjutant-general and inspector general are among the prisoners captured.--General Grant's Report.
A force of about two hundred Confederates made an attack on a party of Union Cavalry, stationed at Three Miles Station, near Bealeton, Virginia, but were repulsed and driven off, after several desperate charges, leaving three dead and twelve wounded. The Federal casualties were two wounded, one severely.
The official correspondence between the agents of exchange of prisoners of war, together with the report of Mr. Robert Ould, Confederate chief of the bureau, was made public. Prior to the War, Ould was a District Attorney in Washington, DC, in which office one of his first duties was the prosecution of (later to be Union General) Daniel E. Sickles for the killing of Philip Barton Key, son of Francis Scott Key. Sickles defended himself by adopting a defense of temporary insanity, the first time the defense had been used in the United States.
The body of a Union soldier was found hanging at Smith Mills, Virginia, with the following words placarded upon it: “Here hangs private Samuel Jones, of the Fifth Ohio regiment, hung by order of Major General Pickett, in retaliation for private David Bright, of the Sixty-second Georgia regiment, hung December eighteenth, by order of Brigadier General Wild.”
The Richmond Examiner held the following language: “Surely British-protection patriots of the Emerald Isle here, have, we are credibly informed, recently shouldered their shillelaghs, and cut stick for the land of Lincoln. Sundry others, too, born this side of the Potomac, have wended their way in the same direction, all leaving their families behind them to sell rum or make breeches and other garments for the clothing bureau. When mothers and sisters, sweethearts and wives, thus intentionally, and by a cunning arrangement, left behind, present themselves at the clothing bureau for a job, they represent, with the most innocent faces imaginable, that their male protectors are in General Lee's army, and thus enlist sympathy, and sponge on the Confederacy. To poor females every kindness and aid should be extended as long as they and. those belonging to them are true to us; but it is past enduring that able-bodied fellows should go North, and leave as a charge here people whom we are under no obligations to support, and who, by false representations, shut out the wives and other female relatives of gallant fellows, who are confronting our ruthless enemies.”
Lieutenant Gates, with a party of the Third Arkansas cavalry, made a reconnaissance near Clinton, Arkansas, and succeeded in capturing twelve prisoners, whom he surprised at Cadson's Cave.
Posted on 1/14/14 at 8:25 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Friday, 15 January 1864
Most Southern newspapers in this year were somewhat becoming propaganda outlets for the Confederacy and its war effort. Exhortations for the people to stand fast, and gird for the struggle to come, were necessary. Off the public stage, Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory ordered Commander James W. Cooke to command the massive new warship CSS Albermarle, which was nearing completion in Halifax, North Carolina. Under Cooke's guidance she was rapidly readied for service and played a major role in Albemarle Sound from April until her destruction in October. President Abraham Lincoln, on the other hand, was attending to more and more to plans for re-incorporating seceded states into the Union as soon as possible after they were occupied by Federal forces.
“The utmost nerve,” said the Richmond Whig, “the firmest front, the most undaunted courage, will be required during the coming twelve months from all who are charged with the management of affairs in our country, or whose position gives them any influence in forming or guiding public sentiment.” “Moral courage,” says the Wilmington Journal, “the power to resist the approaches of despondency, and the faculty of communicating this power to others, will need greatly to be called into exercise; for we have reached that point in our revolution which is inevitably reached in all revolutions, when gloom and depression take the place of hope and enthusiasm — when despair is fatal and despondency is even more to be dreaded than defeat. In such a time we can understand the profound wisdom of the Roman Senate, in giving thanks to the general who had suffered the greatest disaster that ever overtook the Roman arms, ‘because he had not despaired of the Republic.’ There is a feeling, however, abroad in the land, that the great crisis of the war — the turning-point in our fate — is fast approaching. Whether a crisis be upon us or not, there can be in the mind of no man, who looks at the map of Georgia, and considers her geographical relations to the rest of the Confederacy, a single doubt that much of our future is involved in the result of the next spring campaign in Upper Georgia.”
Regarding Southern Red River defenses, Major General Taylor, CSA, wrote to Brigadier General William R. Boggs: "At all events, we should be prepared as far as possible, and I trust the remaining 9-inch gun and the carriages for the two 32-Dahlgrens will soon reach me. For the 9-inch and 32-pound rifle now in position at Fort De Russy, there were sent down only 50 rounds of shot and shell; more should be sent at once. The Missouri, I suppose, will come down on the first rise.
Commodore H. H. Bell wrote confidentially to Commander Robert Townsend, piloting the USS Essex, off Donaldsonville, Louisiana: "The rams and ironclads on Red River and in Mobile Bay are to force the blockade at both points and meet here [New Orleans], whilst the army is to do its part. Being aware of these plans, we should be prepared to defeat them. The reports in circulation about their ironclads and rams being failures may be true in some degree; but we should remember that they prevailed about the redoubtable Merrimack before her advent." Of the ironclads, however, only the CSS Tennessee could be regarded as formidable.
The USS Beauregard, under Acting Master Francis Burgess, captured the blockade running British schooner Minnie, of and from Nassau, south of Mosquito Inlet, Florida, with a cargo including salt and liquor.
The Fifty-second regiment of Illinois volunteers, under the command of Colonel J. S. Wilcox, re-enlisted for the war, returned to Chicago.
The blockade-runner Isabel arrived at Havana. She ran the blockade at Mobile, and had a cargo of four hundred and eighty bales of cotton, and threw overboard one hundred and twenty-four bales off Tortugas, in a gale of wind.
Most Southern newspapers in this year were somewhat becoming propaganda outlets for the Confederacy and its war effort. Exhortations for the people to stand fast, and gird for the struggle to come, were necessary. Off the public stage, Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory ordered Commander James W. Cooke to command the massive new warship CSS Albermarle, which was nearing completion in Halifax, North Carolina. Under Cooke's guidance she was rapidly readied for service and played a major role in Albemarle Sound from April until her destruction in October. President Abraham Lincoln, on the other hand, was attending to more and more to plans for re-incorporating seceded states into the Union as soon as possible after they were occupied by Federal forces.
“The utmost nerve,” said the Richmond Whig, “the firmest front, the most undaunted courage, will be required during the coming twelve months from all who are charged with the management of affairs in our country, or whose position gives them any influence in forming or guiding public sentiment.” “Moral courage,” says the Wilmington Journal, “the power to resist the approaches of despondency, and the faculty of communicating this power to others, will need greatly to be called into exercise; for we have reached that point in our revolution which is inevitably reached in all revolutions, when gloom and depression take the place of hope and enthusiasm — when despair is fatal and despondency is even more to be dreaded than defeat. In such a time we can understand the profound wisdom of the Roman Senate, in giving thanks to the general who had suffered the greatest disaster that ever overtook the Roman arms, ‘because he had not despaired of the Republic.’ There is a feeling, however, abroad in the land, that the great crisis of the war — the turning-point in our fate — is fast approaching. Whether a crisis be upon us or not, there can be in the mind of no man, who looks at the map of Georgia, and considers her geographical relations to the rest of the Confederacy, a single doubt that much of our future is involved in the result of the next spring campaign in Upper Georgia.”
Regarding Southern Red River defenses, Major General Taylor, CSA, wrote to Brigadier General William R. Boggs: "At all events, we should be prepared as far as possible, and I trust the remaining 9-inch gun and the carriages for the two 32-Dahlgrens will soon reach me. For the 9-inch and 32-pound rifle now in position at Fort De Russy, there were sent down only 50 rounds of shot and shell; more should be sent at once. The Missouri, I suppose, will come down on the first rise.
Commodore H. H. Bell wrote confidentially to Commander Robert Townsend, piloting the USS Essex, off Donaldsonville, Louisiana: "The rams and ironclads on Red River and in Mobile Bay are to force the blockade at both points and meet here [New Orleans], whilst the army is to do its part. Being aware of these plans, we should be prepared to defeat them. The reports in circulation about their ironclads and rams being failures may be true in some degree; but we should remember that they prevailed about the redoubtable Merrimack before her advent." Of the ironclads, however, only the CSS Tennessee could be regarded as formidable.
The USS Beauregard, under Acting Master Francis Burgess, captured the blockade running British schooner Minnie, of and from Nassau, south of Mosquito Inlet, Florida, with a cargo including salt and liquor.
The Fifty-second regiment of Illinois volunteers, under the command of Colonel J. S. Wilcox, re-enlisted for the war, returned to Chicago.
The blockade-runner Isabel arrived at Havana. She ran the blockade at Mobile, and had a cargo of four hundred and eighty bales of cotton, and threw overboard one hundred and twenty-four bales off Tortugas, in a gale of wind.
Posted on 1/15/14 at 9:12 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Saturday, 16 January 1864
Dandridge, Tennessee, and its environs were the scene of a sizeable cavalry battle on this day and the next. The Federal forces were somewhat undermanned because General William Sooy Smith had led a cavalry expedition from Memphis towards Meridian, Mississippi, where he would eventually run into trouble of his own with General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Back and forth the action went today , extending nearly to Clark’s Ferry, and inflicting large numbers of casualties on both sides. At the end of the engagement the Federals sporadically withdrew to the area of Strawberry Plains, Tennessee.
Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory wrote Captain John K. Mitchell of the Rebel James River Squadron urging that action be taken against the Union armada downriver at the earliest opportunity.
"I think that there is a passage through the obstructions at Trent's Reach. I deem the opportunity a favor able one for striking a blow at the enemy if we are able to do so. In a short time many of his vessels will have returned to the River from Wilmington and he will again perfect his obstructions. If we can block the River at or below City Point, Grant might be compelled to evacuate his position. The clamor for action increased as the months passed. On 15 May Lieutenant Robert D. Minor, First Lieutenant and ordnance officer for the Squadron, wrote his wife: "There is an insane desire among the public to get the iron dads down the river, and I am afraid that some of our higher public authorities are yielding to this pressure of public opinion- but I for one am not and in the squadron we know too much of the interest at stake to act against our judgment even if those high in authority wish to hurry us into an action unprepared and against vastly superior forces. . . ."
The Richmond Enquirer reported that 26 ships on blockading station off Wilmington "...guard all the avenues of approach with the most sleepless vigilance. The consequences are that the chances of running the blockade have been greatly lessened, and it is apprehended by some that the day is not far distant when it will be an impossibility for a vessel to get into that port without incurring a hazard almost equivalent to positive loss. Having secured nearly every seaport on our coast, the Yankees are enabled to keep a large force off Wilmington."
Henry Hotze, commercial agent of the Confederate States, wrote from London to Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin suggesting complete government operation of blockade running: "The experiments thus far made by the Ordnance, Niter, and other Bureaus, as also the Navy Department, demonstrates that the Government can run the blockade with equal if not greater chances than private enterprise. But the public loses the chief advantages of the system, first, by the competition of private exportation; secondly, by the complicated and jarring machinery which only serves to grind out large profits in the shape of commissions, etc.; thirdly, by confounding the distinctive functions of different administrative departments. If blockade running was constituted an arm of the national defense, each would perform only its appropriate work, which therefore would be well done, The Treasury would procure without competition the raw material and regulate the disposition of the proceeds; the Navy, abandoning the hope of breaking the blockade and throwing all its available energies into eluding it, would purchase, build, and man the vessels for this purpose." As the war progressed, more and more blockade runners commanded by naval officers did operate under the Confederate government.
Boat crews from the USS Fernandina, under Acting Master Edward Moses, captured the sloop Annie Thompson in St. Catherine's Sound, Georgia, with a cargo of cotton, tobacco, and turpentine.
The USS Gertrude, Acting Master Henry C. Wade in charge, captured the blockade running schooner Ellen off Mobile with an assorted cargo.
General Sturgis's cavalry, in pursuit of General Longstreet, reached Dandridge, Tennessee, thirty miles east of Knoxville, and drove the Confederate videttes out of the town.
President Lincoln, in a note to the proprietors of the North-American Review, said:
The number for this month and year was duly received, and for which please accept my thanks. Of course, I am not the most impartial judge; yet, with due allowance for this, I venture to hope that the article, entitled ‘The President's Policy,’ will be of value to the country. I fear, I am not quite worthy of all which is therein kindly said of me personally.
The sentence of twelve lines, commencing at the top of page 252, I could wish to be not exactly as it is. In what is there expressed, the writer has not correctly understood me. I have never had a theory that secession could absolve States or people from their obligations. Precisely the contrary is asserted in the inaugural address; and it was because of my belief in the continuance of these obligations, that I was puzzled for a time as to denying the legal rights of those citizens who remained individually innocent of treason or rebellion. But I mean no more now than to merely call attention to this point.
The sentence referred to by Mr. Lincoln is as follows:
Even so long ago as when Mr. Lincoln, not yet convinced of the danger and magnitude of the crisis, was endeavoring to persuade himself of Union majorities at the South, and to carry on a war that was half peace, in the hope of a peace that would have been all war — while he was still enforcing the fugitive slave law, under some theory that secession, however it might absolve States from their obligations, could not escheat them of their claims under the Constitution, and that slaveholders in rebellion had alone, among mortals, the privilege of having their cake and eating it at the same time — the enemies of free government were striving to persuade the people that the war was an abolition crusade. To rebel without reason was proclaimed as one of the rights of man, while it was carefully kept out of sight that to suppress rebellion is the first duty of government.
Dandridge, Tennessee, and its environs were the scene of a sizeable cavalry battle on this day and the next. The Federal forces were somewhat undermanned because General William Sooy Smith had led a cavalry expedition from Memphis towards Meridian, Mississippi, where he would eventually run into trouble of his own with General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Back and forth the action went today , extending nearly to Clark’s Ferry, and inflicting large numbers of casualties on both sides. At the end of the engagement the Federals sporadically withdrew to the area of Strawberry Plains, Tennessee.
Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory wrote Captain John K. Mitchell of the Rebel James River Squadron urging that action be taken against the Union armada downriver at the earliest opportunity.
"I think that there is a passage through the obstructions at Trent's Reach. I deem the opportunity a favor able one for striking a blow at the enemy if we are able to do so. In a short time many of his vessels will have returned to the River from Wilmington and he will again perfect his obstructions. If we can block the River at or below City Point, Grant might be compelled to evacuate his position. The clamor for action increased as the months passed. On 15 May Lieutenant Robert D. Minor, First Lieutenant and ordnance officer for the Squadron, wrote his wife: "There is an insane desire among the public to get the iron dads down the river, and I am afraid that some of our higher public authorities are yielding to this pressure of public opinion- but I for one am not and in the squadron we know too much of the interest at stake to act against our judgment even if those high in authority wish to hurry us into an action unprepared and against vastly superior forces. . . ."
The Richmond Enquirer reported that 26 ships on blockading station off Wilmington "...guard all the avenues of approach with the most sleepless vigilance. The consequences are that the chances of running the blockade have been greatly lessened, and it is apprehended by some that the day is not far distant when it will be an impossibility for a vessel to get into that port without incurring a hazard almost equivalent to positive loss. Having secured nearly every seaport on our coast, the Yankees are enabled to keep a large force off Wilmington."
Henry Hotze, commercial agent of the Confederate States, wrote from London to Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin suggesting complete government operation of blockade running: "The experiments thus far made by the Ordnance, Niter, and other Bureaus, as also the Navy Department, demonstrates that the Government can run the blockade with equal if not greater chances than private enterprise. But the public loses the chief advantages of the system, first, by the competition of private exportation; secondly, by the complicated and jarring machinery which only serves to grind out large profits in the shape of commissions, etc.; thirdly, by confounding the distinctive functions of different administrative departments. If blockade running was constituted an arm of the national defense, each would perform only its appropriate work, which therefore would be well done, The Treasury would procure without competition the raw material and regulate the disposition of the proceeds; the Navy, abandoning the hope of breaking the blockade and throwing all its available energies into eluding it, would purchase, build, and man the vessels for this purpose." As the war progressed, more and more blockade runners commanded by naval officers did operate under the Confederate government.
Boat crews from the USS Fernandina, under Acting Master Edward Moses, captured the sloop Annie Thompson in St. Catherine's Sound, Georgia, with a cargo of cotton, tobacco, and turpentine.
The USS Gertrude, Acting Master Henry C. Wade in charge, captured the blockade running schooner Ellen off Mobile with an assorted cargo.
General Sturgis's cavalry, in pursuit of General Longstreet, reached Dandridge, Tennessee, thirty miles east of Knoxville, and drove the Confederate videttes out of the town.
President Lincoln, in a note to the proprietors of the North-American Review, said:
The number for this month and year was duly received, and for which please accept my thanks. Of course, I am not the most impartial judge; yet, with due allowance for this, I venture to hope that the article, entitled ‘The President's Policy,’ will be of value to the country. I fear, I am not quite worthy of all which is therein kindly said of me personally.
The sentence of twelve lines, commencing at the top of page 252, I could wish to be not exactly as it is. In what is there expressed, the writer has not correctly understood me. I have never had a theory that secession could absolve States or people from their obligations. Precisely the contrary is asserted in the inaugural address; and it was because of my belief in the continuance of these obligations, that I was puzzled for a time as to denying the legal rights of those citizens who remained individually innocent of treason or rebellion. But I mean no more now than to merely call attention to this point.
The sentence referred to by Mr. Lincoln is as follows:
Even so long ago as when Mr. Lincoln, not yet convinced of the danger and magnitude of the crisis, was endeavoring to persuade himself of Union majorities at the South, and to carry on a war that was half peace, in the hope of a peace that would have been all war — while he was still enforcing the fugitive slave law, under some theory that secession, however it might absolve States from their obligations, could not escheat them of their claims under the Constitution, and that slaveholders in rebellion had alone, among mortals, the privilege of having their cake and eating it at the same time — the enemies of free government were striving to persuade the people that the war was an abolition crusade. To rebel without reason was proclaimed as one of the rights of man, while it was carefully kept out of sight that to suppress rebellion is the first duty of government.
Posted on 1/16/14 at 7:56 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Sunday, 17 January 1864
Ironclad gunboats were the first item and also the last item on the “want” list of Admiral David G. Farragut on this day. He wrote to Admiral David D. Porter, pointing out that for the upcoming assault on Mobile Bay, Alabama, he was eager to attack at Mobile but needed ironclads to cope with the Confederate ram Tennessee and other Southern vessels: “...I am therefore anxious to know if your monitors, at least two of them, are not completed and ready for service; and, if so, can you spare them to assist us? If I had them, I should not hesitate to become the assailant instead of awaiting the attack. I must have ironclads enough to lie in the bay to hold the gunboats and rams in check in the shoal water.”
In the event that this correspondence should sound a bit less formal than was the custom in military circles at this time, there is a good reason for this. Farragut and Porter were brothers in every way but blood. When Farragut was orphaned at an early age he was adopted by Porter’s father, also named David D., and the two were raised together.
This morning the Confederates made a desperate attack upon the Union lines near Dandridge, Tennessee. They threw out no skirmishers, but pressed down upon the Federals in full force, seemingly determined to sweep them from the field. Observing their desperate determination, General Samuel Davis Sturgis ordered Colonel Edward M. McCook, who was in command of a division of Elliott's cavalry, to charge the enemy on horse. This order was obeyed most gallantly. The charge of this division turned the fortunes of the day, which, up to this time, had been decidedly against the Yankees. The First Wisconsin, which bore the brunt of the enemy's attack, lost sixty in killed and wounded. The Union loss in all did not exceed one hundred and fifty.
A fire occurred at Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, destroying the officers' quarters and quartermaster's stores. Captain Dimon and Lieutenant Bennett, of the Thirty-eighth Illinois cavalry, were burned to death, and two other lieutenants were badly injured.
The bombardment of Charleston, South Carolina, by the forces under General Quincy Adams Gillmore, was continued with great fury, several new Parrott guns having been opened on the city from Battery Gregg.
Ironclad gunboats were the first item and also the last item on the “want” list of Admiral David G. Farragut on this day. He wrote to Admiral David D. Porter, pointing out that for the upcoming assault on Mobile Bay, Alabama, he was eager to attack at Mobile but needed ironclads to cope with the Confederate ram Tennessee and other Southern vessels: “...I am therefore anxious to know if your monitors, at least two of them, are not completed and ready for service; and, if so, can you spare them to assist us? If I had them, I should not hesitate to become the assailant instead of awaiting the attack. I must have ironclads enough to lie in the bay to hold the gunboats and rams in check in the shoal water.”
In the event that this correspondence should sound a bit less formal than was the custom in military circles at this time, there is a good reason for this. Farragut and Porter were brothers in every way but blood. When Farragut was orphaned at an early age he was adopted by Porter’s father, also named David D., and the two were raised together.
This morning the Confederates made a desperate attack upon the Union lines near Dandridge, Tennessee. They threw out no skirmishers, but pressed down upon the Federals in full force, seemingly determined to sweep them from the field. Observing their desperate determination, General Samuel Davis Sturgis ordered Colonel Edward M. McCook, who was in command of a division of Elliott's cavalry, to charge the enemy on horse. This order was obeyed most gallantly. The charge of this division turned the fortunes of the day, which, up to this time, had been decidedly against the Yankees. The First Wisconsin, which bore the brunt of the enemy's attack, lost sixty in killed and wounded. The Union loss in all did not exceed one hundred and fifty.
A fire occurred at Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, destroying the officers' quarters and quartermaster's stores. Captain Dimon and Lieutenant Bennett, of the Thirty-eighth Illinois cavalry, were burned to death, and two other lieutenants were badly injured.
The bombardment of Charleston, South Carolina, by the forces under General Quincy Adams Gillmore, was continued with great fury, several new Parrott guns having been opened on the city from Battery Gregg.
Posted on 1/17/14 at 9:00 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Monday, 18 January 1864
In the days of the original popular votes in the Southern states to secede from the Union, there had been definite sectional divisions of opinion in many states. The coastal part of Virginia, for example was strongly secessionist, while the western mountain regions felt so strongly the other way that the state of West Virginia eventually resulted. Similar sentiments existed in western North Carolina, northwestern Georgia and eastern Tennessee, and it was beginning to cause serious problems for the Confederacy, especially since the draft laws had been extended and strengthened. Draft dodging was a problem, even in the face of patrols to seek them out, along with deserters. Now, open public meetings were beginning to be held to protest the draft.
Rear Admiral David G. Farragut arrived off Mobile Bay to inspect Union ships and the Confederate defenses. He had sailed from New York in his renowned flagship Hartford after an absence of five months, and was to officially resume command of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron on 22 January at New Orleans. Farragut was concerned about the reported strength of the Confederate ram CSS Tennessee, then in Mobile Bay, and determined to destroy her and silence the forts, closing Mobile to the blockade runners. To this end, he immediately began to build up his forces and make plans for the battle.
Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles directed Captain Henry A. Walke, in charge of the USS Sacramento, to search for "...the piratical vessels now afloat and preying upon our commerce..." adding: "You will bear in mind that the principal object of your pursuit is the Alabama." The CSS Alabama had by this date taken more than 60 prizes, and the effect of all raiders on Union merchantmen was evident in the gradual disappearance of the U.S. flag from the ocean commerce lanes. Boat crews from the USS Roebuck, Acting Master Sherrill, captured the sloop Caroline off Jupiter Inlet, Florida, with a cargo of salt, gin, soda, and dry goods.
The USS Stars and Stripes, under Acting Master Charles L. Willcomb, captured the blockade running steamer Laura off Ochlockonee River, Florida, with a cargo including Cuban cigars.
In the days of the original popular votes in the Southern states to secede from the Union, there had been definite sectional divisions of opinion in many states. The coastal part of Virginia, for example was strongly secessionist, while the western mountain regions felt so strongly the other way that the state of West Virginia eventually resulted. Similar sentiments existed in western North Carolina, northwestern Georgia and eastern Tennessee, and it was beginning to cause serious problems for the Confederacy, especially since the draft laws had been extended and strengthened. Draft dodging was a problem, even in the face of patrols to seek them out, along with deserters. Now, open public meetings were beginning to be held to protest the draft.
Rear Admiral David G. Farragut arrived off Mobile Bay to inspect Union ships and the Confederate defenses. He had sailed from New York in his renowned flagship Hartford after an absence of five months, and was to officially resume command of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron on 22 January at New Orleans. Farragut was concerned about the reported strength of the Confederate ram CSS Tennessee, then in Mobile Bay, and determined to destroy her and silence the forts, closing Mobile to the blockade runners. To this end, he immediately began to build up his forces and make plans for the battle.
Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles directed Captain Henry A. Walke, in charge of the USS Sacramento, to search for "...the piratical vessels now afloat and preying upon our commerce..." adding: "You will bear in mind that the principal object of your pursuit is the Alabama." The CSS Alabama had by this date taken more than 60 prizes, and the effect of all raiders on Union merchantmen was evident in the gradual disappearance of the U.S. flag from the ocean commerce lanes. Boat crews from the USS Roebuck, Acting Master Sherrill, captured the sloop Caroline off Jupiter Inlet, Florida, with a cargo of salt, gin, soda, and dry goods.
The USS Stars and Stripes, under Acting Master Charles L. Willcomb, captured the blockade running steamer Laura off Ochlockonee River, Florida, with a cargo including Cuban cigars.
Posted on 1/18/14 at 9:15 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Tuesday, 19 January 1864
Much is often made of the disadvantages the “agricultural, pastoral” South faced in fighting the “industrialized, technological” North during the Civil War. This should not be taken to extremes, however. The Confederacy certainly had manufacturing capabilities, and moreover had some very ingenious persons employed in the war effort to use creativity in weapons design. One such was a nasty, little item devised around this time: the “coal torpedo.” It was a hollow lump of cast iron, the hollow part of which was packed with gunpowder and sealed. This was then milled, ground and painted until it looked like a perfectly ordinary lump of coal. All that was required was for a passerby at a Union naval fueling station to drop this into a coal pile about to be loaded onto a ship. When the bomb was shoveled into the ship’s boiler it didn’t even need a fuse to turn it into a devastating explosive. Not enough were made to have much of an effect, although one would come close next year in City Point, Virginia.
Thomas E. Courtenay, engaged in secret service for the Confederacy, informed Colonel Henry E. Clark, that manufacture of "coal torpedoes" was nearing completion, and stated: "The castings have all been completed some time and the coal is so perfect that the most critical eye could not detect it." These devices, really powder filled cast iron bombs, shaped and painted to resemble pieces of coal, were to be deposited in Federal naval coal depots, from where they would eventually reach and explode ships' boilers. During the next few months Rear Admiral David D. Porter, commanding the Mississippi Squadron, became greatly concerned over Confederate agents assigned to distribute the coal torpedoes, and wrote Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles that he had "given orders to commanders of vessels not to be very particular about the treatment of any of these desperadoes if caught- only summary punishment will be effective."
Boats from the USS Roebuck, under Acting Master Sherrill, seized the British schooner Eliza and sloop Mary inside Jupiter Inlet, Florida. Both blockade runners carried cargoes of cotton. Three days later the Mary, en route to Key West, Florida, commenced leaking, ran aground, and was wrecked. The prize, crew and most of the cotton were saved. In ten days, Sherrill's vigilance and initiative had enabled him to take six prizes.
This evening a party scouting for Colonel Williams, in command of the military post at Rossville, Arkansas, returned to camp, having captured in the Magazine Mountains, some fifteen miles east of the post, the county records of Vernon and Cedar Counties, Missouri. The books and papers so captured and retained were worth one million dollars to those counties.
Colonel Powell Clayton attacked Brigadier General Joseph Orville Shelby's smaller Southern force, twenty miles below Pine Bluff, Arkansas, on the Monticello Railroad. The fight lasted half an hour, when the enemy fled, pursued by Clayton with his command, for two hours and a half. The Confederates were driven seven miles. Shelby's force was estimated at almost eight hundred. Colonel Clayton marched sixty miles in twenty-four hours, and made fight and gained a victory.
An unsuccessful attempt was made to burn the residence of President Jefferson Davis, at Richmond, Virginia.
A sale of confiscated estates took place at Beaufort, South Carolina.
Much is often made of the disadvantages the “agricultural, pastoral” South faced in fighting the “industrialized, technological” North during the Civil War. This should not be taken to extremes, however. The Confederacy certainly had manufacturing capabilities, and moreover had some very ingenious persons employed in the war effort to use creativity in weapons design. One such was a nasty, little item devised around this time: the “coal torpedo.” It was a hollow lump of cast iron, the hollow part of which was packed with gunpowder and sealed. This was then milled, ground and painted until it looked like a perfectly ordinary lump of coal. All that was required was for a passerby at a Union naval fueling station to drop this into a coal pile about to be loaded onto a ship. When the bomb was shoveled into the ship’s boiler it didn’t even need a fuse to turn it into a devastating explosive. Not enough were made to have much of an effect, although one would come close next year in City Point, Virginia.
Thomas E. Courtenay, engaged in secret service for the Confederacy, informed Colonel Henry E. Clark, that manufacture of "coal torpedoes" was nearing completion, and stated: "The castings have all been completed some time and the coal is so perfect that the most critical eye could not detect it." These devices, really powder filled cast iron bombs, shaped and painted to resemble pieces of coal, were to be deposited in Federal naval coal depots, from where they would eventually reach and explode ships' boilers. During the next few months Rear Admiral David D. Porter, commanding the Mississippi Squadron, became greatly concerned over Confederate agents assigned to distribute the coal torpedoes, and wrote Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles that he had "given orders to commanders of vessels not to be very particular about the treatment of any of these desperadoes if caught- only summary punishment will be effective."
Boats from the USS Roebuck, under Acting Master Sherrill, seized the British schooner Eliza and sloop Mary inside Jupiter Inlet, Florida. Both blockade runners carried cargoes of cotton. Three days later the Mary, en route to Key West, Florida, commenced leaking, ran aground, and was wrecked. The prize, crew and most of the cotton were saved. In ten days, Sherrill's vigilance and initiative had enabled him to take six prizes.
This evening a party scouting for Colonel Williams, in command of the military post at Rossville, Arkansas, returned to camp, having captured in the Magazine Mountains, some fifteen miles east of the post, the county records of Vernon and Cedar Counties, Missouri. The books and papers so captured and retained were worth one million dollars to those counties.
Colonel Powell Clayton attacked Brigadier General Joseph Orville Shelby's smaller Southern force, twenty miles below Pine Bluff, Arkansas, on the Monticello Railroad. The fight lasted half an hour, when the enemy fled, pursued by Clayton with his command, for two hours and a half. The Confederates were driven seven miles. Shelby's force was estimated at almost eight hundred. Colonel Clayton marched sixty miles in twenty-four hours, and made fight and gained a victory.
An unsuccessful attempt was made to burn the residence of President Jefferson Davis, at Richmond, Virginia.
A sale of confiscated estates took place at Beaufort, South Carolina.
Posted on 1/19/14 at 6:57 am to BadLeroyDawg
And 207 years ago, Robert Edward Lee was born. Columnist Paul Greenberg penned this on January 19, 2006 as a remembrance...
In the writings of the Ephesians there was this precept, constantly to think of some one of the men of former times who practiced virtue. — Marcus Aurelius
It always sneaks up on me, the arrival of January 19th in the midst of gray winter. Like a sudden shaft of light. Can any observance as quaint as Lee's Birthday still be on the calendar? It rings strange in these postmodern times, as archaic as a reference to St. Crispin's Day. Except to hobbyists and Civil war buffs, even the names of the storied old battles — Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg — begin to acquire the faded resonance of Agincourt.
Who now thinks, let alone thinks constantly, on Robert E. Lee except professional Southerners and professional debunkers? And which separate but equally showy tribe would the old general have despised more? For his was a Greek restraint, as out of place in this deconstructed age as a classical ruin next to one of post-mod architect Frank Gehry's outsized plumbing fixtures.
Lee's Birthday? It doesn't compute. At a time when the dominant mode of discourse is responsibility-free irony, how are we to respond, if at all, when told to consider men of former times, and even speak of Virtue? Is it even possible to say the word anymore without a smirk, or expecting one in response? What matters in our virtual reality, everyone knows even if not everyone will say it aloud, is winning. And, hey, the old guy was a loser. C'mon, change the channel.
No, Robert E. Lee was not a modern figure; he was not even a contemporary one. He would not countenance the kind of advanced strategies that have become the hallmark of warfare in our so much more advanced times — terrorism, mass reprisals, war on civilians . . . . All of that Lee left to Sherman and Sherman's counterparts on the Confederate side.
Even in his own time, the General seemed a remnant of some earlier, classical period. And he could no more change over the course of the war than a figure on a Greek frieze might. A gentleman lost in the first stages of modernity, he resisted the frenzy of secession before the war just as he did the despair of defeat afterward. He did not boast of victories or try to shift the blame for defeats. He just went on.
At Chancellorsville, which a British military historian would call the most perfectly executed feat of arms in American history, Lee would twin with Jackson to defeat a force two and a half times the size of his own and better equipped in every respect. At Gettysburg, which would prove decisive, all went wrong. But all he would say after Pickett's Charge had failed, and the Southern cause with it, was: "All this has been my fault."
Lee remained the same at Gettysburg as he had been at Chancellorsville: masterful at everything he could control, resigned to what he could not. If he could not command events, he would always command his response to them.
It is neither the victorious nor the defeated Lee who speaks clearest to us now, but the Lee beyond victory or defeat. He has emerged victorious over the very idea of victory or defeat. He was one Civil War general — sometimes he seems the only one — who did not write a self-serving memoir after the guns fell silent. Instead of dwelling on the deeds of his generation, he would just return to Virginia to teach the next.
There is a scene in Stephen Vincent Benet's "John Brown's Body": A young officer pauses before entering Lee's tent to deliver his dispatch, loath to disturb the General, who is bent over his papers in the candlelight. The messenger knows the war is winding down — indeed, is all but lost by now — and he can only wonder:
What keeps us going on? I wish I knew. Perhaps you see a man like that go on. And then you have to follow.
What held that disparate, desperate, not quite definable idea called the South together so long? And holds it together still from generation to generation? Despite all our defeats and limitations and sins against one other, the idea of the South still lives — even if we cannot agree on just what Southernness is, and even if its meaning keeps changing from era to era.
The South is so much — land, language, history, folkways . . . and something so little as a certain light in the air. For even in eclipse, there is still a corona around our sun. And if there is a single name for that remaining light in these latitudes, it is Lee.
In the writings of the Ephesians there was this precept, constantly to think of some one of the men of former times who practiced virtue. — Marcus Aurelius
It always sneaks up on me, the arrival of January 19th in the midst of gray winter. Like a sudden shaft of light. Can any observance as quaint as Lee's Birthday still be on the calendar? It rings strange in these postmodern times, as archaic as a reference to St. Crispin's Day. Except to hobbyists and Civil war buffs, even the names of the storied old battles — Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg — begin to acquire the faded resonance of Agincourt.
Who now thinks, let alone thinks constantly, on Robert E. Lee except professional Southerners and professional debunkers? And which separate but equally showy tribe would the old general have despised more? For his was a Greek restraint, as out of place in this deconstructed age as a classical ruin next to one of post-mod architect Frank Gehry's outsized plumbing fixtures.
Lee's Birthday? It doesn't compute. At a time when the dominant mode of discourse is responsibility-free irony, how are we to respond, if at all, when told to consider men of former times, and even speak of Virtue? Is it even possible to say the word anymore without a smirk, or expecting one in response? What matters in our virtual reality, everyone knows even if not everyone will say it aloud, is winning. And, hey, the old guy was a loser. C'mon, change the channel.
No, Robert E. Lee was not a modern figure; he was not even a contemporary one. He would not countenance the kind of advanced strategies that have become the hallmark of warfare in our so much more advanced times — terrorism, mass reprisals, war on civilians . . . . All of that Lee left to Sherman and Sherman's counterparts on the Confederate side.
Even in his own time, the General seemed a remnant of some earlier, classical period. And he could no more change over the course of the war than a figure on a Greek frieze might. A gentleman lost in the first stages of modernity, he resisted the frenzy of secession before the war just as he did the despair of defeat afterward. He did not boast of victories or try to shift the blame for defeats. He just went on.
At Chancellorsville, which a British military historian would call the most perfectly executed feat of arms in American history, Lee would twin with Jackson to defeat a force two and a half times the size of his own and better equipped in every respect. At Gettysburg, which would prove decisive, all went wrong. But all he would say after Pickett's Charge had failed, and the Southern cause with it, was: "All this has been my fault."
Lee remained the same at Gettysburg as he had been at Chancellorsville: masterful at everything he could control, resigned to what he could not. If he could not command events, he would always command his response to them.
It is neither the victorious nor the defeated Lee who speaks clearest to us now, but the Lee beyond victory or defeat. He has emerged victorious over the very idea of victory or defeat. He was one Civil War general — sometimes he seems the only one — who did not write a self-serving memoir after the guns fell silent. Instead of dwelling on the deeds of his generation, he would just return to Virginia to teach the next.
There is a scene in Stephen Vincent Benet's "John Brown's Body": A young officer pauses before entering Lee's tent to deliver his dispatch, loath to disturb the General, who is bent over his papers in the candlelight. The messenger knows the war is winding down — indeed, is all but lost by now — and he can only wonder:
What keeps us going on? I wish I knew. Perhaps you see a man like that go on. And then you have to follow.
What held that disparate, desperate, not quite definable idea called the South together so long? And holds it together still from generation to generation? Despite all our defeats and limitations and sins against one other, the idea of the South still lives — even if we cannot agree on just what Southernness is, and even if its meaning keeps changing from era to era.
The South is so much — land, language, history, folkways . . . and something so little as a certain light in the air. For even in eclipse, there is still a corona around our sun. And if there is a single name for that remaining light in these latitudes, it is Lee.
Posted on 1/19/14 at 9:08 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Wednesday, 20 January 1864
For all of American history it had been the ultimate responsibility of the Commander in Chief of the armed forces to rule on the verdict of any court-martial of a member of said forces in capital cases. In peacetime, of course, few such cases made it as far as the President’s desk, as the more usual punishment was fines, possibly imprisonment, and then dishonorable discharge. Under the stresses of war, however, the stream of orders of execution ballooned to vastly higher numbers. In many cases the charges were the same as those that would cause any civilian court of the day to impose a death sentence: murder of civilians, rape and the like. There was one category of offense, however, that was unique to the military, that of desertion. As the war dragged on this was becoming more of a problem, and more death sentences were being handed out. Five such warrants reached Lincoln’s office today, and he did what he almost invariably did, he suspended the sentences. This annoyed many generals, who pointed out that sanctions that were unenforced were ignored.
Correspondence showing the operations of Southern agents and individuals at the North, in the cotton trade, and making other revelations, were made public.
Major Henry H. Cole and the Maryland cavalry under his command, were officially praised for their gallantry in repelling the assault made upon his camp on Loudon Heights, on the tenth instant, by the Confederate partisan ranger, John Singleton Mosby.
A squad of men sent from Charleston, Missouri, in pursuit of a band of guerrillas, killed the leader of the band and wounded two or three others. The remainder escaped to the swamp. Five prisoners were carried in, charged with harboring guerrillas.
Thirty-two guerrillas were captured near Paris, Kentucky, and taken to Columbus.
For all of American history it had been the ultimate responsibility of the Commander in Chief of the armed forces to rule on the verdict of any court-martial of a member of said forces in capital cases. In peacetime, of course, few such cases made it as far as the President’s desk, as the more usual punishment was fines, possibly imprisonment, and then dishonorable discharge. Under the stresses of war, however, the stream of orders of execution ballooned to vastly higher numbers. In many cases the charges were the same as those that would cause any civilian court of the day to impose a death sentence: murder of civilians, rape and the like. There was one category of offense, however, that was unique to the military, that of desertion. As the war dragged on this was becoming more of a problem, and more death sentences were being handed out. Five such warrants reached Lincoln’s office today, and he did what he almost invariably did, he suspended the sentences. This annoyed many generals, who pointed out that sanctions that were unenforced were ignored.
Correspondence showing the operations of Southern agents and individuals at the North, in the cotton trade, and making other revelations, were made public.
Major Henry H. Cole and the Maryland cavalry under his command, were officially praised for their gallantry in repelling the assault made upon his camp on Loudon Heights, on the tenth instant, by the Confederate partisan ranger, John Singleton Mosby.
A squad of men sent from Charleston, Missouri, in pursuit of a band of guerrillas, killed the leader of the band and wounded two or three others. The remainder escaped to the swamp. Five prisoners were carried in, charged with harboring guerrillas.
Thirty-two guerrillas were captured near Paris, Kentucky, and taken to Columbus.
Posted on 1/20/14 at 6:44 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Thursday, 21 January 1864
A little-discussed aspect of the United States during the War of Northern Aggression was that the nation was divided into Departments by the Army. Usually named after states, they did not necessarily follow existing state borders, and frequently contained more than one state. The Department of Ohio, for example, was immense, stretching from the western half of Pennsylvania to include all of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and, for a time, Missouri. Although departmental commanders did not have the full authority of martial law, they did have the responsibility to coordinate not just collection and assignment of state troop quotas, but considerable influence over what would normally be “private sector” activities. For example, today in that same Department of Ohio, an order was issued forbidding the distillation of whiskey by Major General John Gray Foster. The reasons given were a shortage of grain and the need to save what was available for food purposes.
The Unadilla-class gunboat USS Sciota, under Lieutenant Commander George H. Perkins, in company with the side wheel-propelled USS Granite City, Acting Master Charles W. Lamson in charge, joined several hundred troops in a reconnaissance of the Texas coast. The Sciota and Granite City covered the troops at Smith's Landing, Texas, and the subsequent foray down the Matagorda Peninsula. From the war's outset, this type of close naval support and cooperation with the army had been a potent factor in Union success in all theaters of the conflict.
The movement of the cavalry belonging to the Federal forces, in their hurried retreat from Strawberry Plains, Tennessee, reached Sevierville. Skirmishing was kept up all day between the Union troops on one side of the Holston River, and the Confederates on the other. The latter had a battery on College Hill, near Strawberry Plains, from which they played on the Yankees, while crossing the river. Comparatively little damage was done, the Union loss being little over a half-dozen wounded.
The shelling of Charleston, South Carolina, from Fort Putnam continued night and day at intervals of ten minutes. One gun alone has fired over one thousand, one hundred rounds, at an elevation of forty degrees.
Rear Admiral David G. Farragut, accompanied by his staff, arrived at New Orleans this morning.
A little-discussed aspect of the United States during the War of Northern Aggression was that the nation was divided into Departments by the Army. Usually named after states, they did not necessarily follow existing state borders, and frequently contained more than one state. The Department of Ohio, for example, was immense, stretching from the western half of Pennsylvania to include all of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and, for a time, Missouri. Although departmental commanders did not have the full authority of martial law, they did have the responsibility to coordinate not just collection and assignment of state troop quotas, but considerable influence over what would normally be “private sector” activities. For example, today in that same Department of Ohio, an order was issued forbidding the distillation of whiskey by Major General John Gray Foster. The reasons given were a shortage of grain and the need to save what was available for food purposes.
The Unadilla-class gunboat USS Sciota, under Lieutenant Commander George H. Perkins, in company with the side wheel-propelled USS Granite City, Acting Master Charles W. Lamson in charge, joined several hundred troops in a reconnaissance of the Texas coast. The Sciota and Granite City covered the troops at Smith's Landing, Texas, and the subsequent foray down the Matagorda Peninsula. From the war's outset, this type of close naval support and cooperation with the army had been a potent factor in Union success in all theaters of the conflict.
The movement of the cavalry belonging to the Federal forces, in their hurried retreat from Strawberry Plains, Tennessee, reached Sevierville. Skirmishing was kept up all day between the Union troops on one side of the Holston River, and the Confederates on the other. The latter had a battery on College Hill, near Strawberry Plains, from which they played on the Yankees, while crossing the river. Comparatively little damage was done, the Union loss being little over a half-dozen wounded.
The shelling of Charleston, South Carolina, from Fort Putnam continued night and day at intervals of ten minutes. One gun alone has fired over one thousand, one hundred rounds, at an elevation of forty degrees.
Rear Admiral David G. Farragut, accompanied by his staff, arrived at New Orleans this morning.
Posted on 1/21/14 at 8:52 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Friday, 22 January 1864
In a major shake-up of military commands in the western areas of the Union, Major General William S. Rosecrans was appointed military governor of the Department of the Missouri. Missouri was something of a booby prize for Union generals being kicked upstairs out of combat command. This territory, although no longer under attack by official “Confederate” military forces, was riddled with militia units which had started out as “home guards” but in too many cases degenerated into bands of armed thugs. In addition, it had its own mini-civil war going on between different factions of Union supporters. The former officer, Major General John McAllister Schofield, fared no better than his numerous predecessors had at managing the mess. He would shortly be reassigned to the larger, but calmer, Department of the Ohio.
Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren wrote Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus V. Fox regarding Charleston: "...do not suppose that I am idle because no battles are fought; on the contrary, the blockade by four monitors of such a place as this, and the determined intentions of the Rebels to operate with torpedoes, keep all eyes open."
Acting Ensign James J. Russell, commanding the USS Restless, accompanied by two sailors, captured the blockade running schooner William A. Kain in St. Andrew's Bay, Florida. Russell and his men had intended originally to reconnoiter only, but after discovering and capturing the Captain and several of the crew members of the blockade runner in the woods near the vessel, he determined to take her himself. Compelling his prisoners to row him out to Kain, Russell captured the remaining crew members and managed to sail Kain from Watson's Bayou out into the bay and under the protection of the Restless' guns.
Skirmishing took place at Armstrong's Ferry, a point six miles above Knoxville, Tennessee.
Captain George P. Edgar was ordered to the headquarters of Major General Benjamin "Spoons" Butler to investigate into the condition of the poor of Norfolk, Virginia, and to organize a system for their relief.
In a major shake-up of military commands in the western areas of the Union, Major General William S. Rosecrans was appointed military governor of the Department of the Missouri. Missouri was something of a booby prize for Union generals being kicked upstairs out of combat command. This territory, although no longer under attack by official “Confederate” military forces, was riddled with militia units which had started out as “home guards” but in too many cases degenerated into bands of armed thugs. In addition, it had its own mini-civil war going on between different factions of Union supporters. The former officer, Major General John McAllister Schofield, fared no better than his numerous predecessors had at managing the mess. He would shortly be reassigned to the larger, but calmer, Department of the Ohio.
Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren wrote Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus V. Fox regarding Charleston: "...do not suppose that I am idle because no battles are fought; on the contrary, the blockade by four monitors of such a place as this, and the determined intentions of the Rebels to operate with torpedoes, keep all eyes open."
Acting Ensign James J. Russell, commanding the USS Restless, accompanied by two sailors, captured the blockade running schooner William A. Kain in St. Andrew's Bay, Florida. Russell and his men had intended originally to reconnoiter only, but after discovering and capturing the Captain and several of the crew members of the blockade runner in the woods near the vessel, he determined to take her himself. Compelling his prisoners to row him out to Kain, Russell captured the remaining crew members and managed to sail Kain from Watson's Bayou out into the bay and under the protection of the Restless' guns.
Skirmishing took place at Armstrong's Ferry, a point six miles above Knoxville, Tennessee.
Captain George P. Edgar was ordered to the headquarters of Major General Benjamin "Spoons" Butler to investigate into the condition of the poor of Norfolk, Virginia, and to organize a system for their relief.
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