re: 150 years ago this day...

Wednesday, 8 February 1865

President Abraham Lincoln signed a congressional joint resolution disqualifying the Confederate states from representation in the electoral college. Lincoln, however, refused to share his opinion on the matter.

General Robert E. Lee informed Secretary of War John C. Breckinridge that his forces had fought for nearly 72 straight hours, including during "...the most inclement day of the winter...Some of the men have been without meat for three days, and all are suffering from reduced rations and scant clothing, exposed to battle, cold, hail and sleet." Lee warned: "Taking these facts in connection with the paucity of our numbers, you must not be surprised if calamity befalls us."

Massachusetts and Pennsylvania become the 9th and 10th states to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment, which will attempt to abolish slavery in the Union states.

Major General William T. Sherman’s troops fought at various points as they continued advancing into South Carolina. Skirmishes broke out near White Pond and at Williston.

George Baird Hodge, CSA, is appointed Brigadier General.

A Union expedition moves down the Arkansas River, aboard the steamer, Davenport, near Little Rock, Arkansas, and forays against partisan guerrillas.

Federals scout from Helena to Madison, Arkansas, with skirmish, with partisan guerrillas near Madison, also destroying about 2,500 bushels of corn and large amounts of bacon.

Major General Grenville M. Dodge, USA, assumes the command of the territory formerly comprised in the Department of Kansas.

An affair occurred at New Market, Virginia, where partisan guerrillas captured and burned a train of 9 wagons; a skirmish at Bradfordsville, Kentucky, where the guerrillas killed 3 Union train guards they took as hostages, and then another skirmish at Hustonville, Kentucky, where the pursuing Yankees overtake and murder the guerrillas.

Actions take place with Indians on the North Platte River, near Rush Creek, in the Nebraska Territory.

Another skirmish occurs at Cannon's Bridge, South Edisto River, South Carolina, as well as at Walker's or Valley Bridge, on the Edisto River.

Flag Officer Samuel Barron received orders from Secretary of the Navy Stephen R. Mallory to return to the Confederacy. These orders symbolized the abandonment of the long cherished hopes of obtaining ironclad ships from Europe with which to break the ever-tightening blockade. Originally selected to be the flag officer in command of the turreted ironclads "294" and "295", Barron had arrived in England during October 1863. The Laird rams, however, had been seized by the British government on 9 October 1863 and Barron thereafter served the Confederacy in Paris. On 15 February, a week after receiving Mallory's dispatch, Barron replied to the Secretary in words that gave clear evidence of the degree to which the shores of the South were sealed by the Union squadrons: "I am endeavoring to get ready to leave in the Southampton steamer of March 2, which will take me to Cuba, and from that point I shall see how the land lies and make such arrangements as will most probably insure my earliest arrival in the Confederacy, where I feel every man is needed who can pull a pound. The closing of the port of Wilmington does, I fear, render the route through Texas the only one of security, but I shall not determine positively until after my arrival in Havana." Barron, however, did not return to the South, for on 28 February he resigned as senior Confederate naval officer on the continent.

The first troops of General John Schofield's Twenty-Third Army Corps were landed at Fort Fisher. By mid-month the entire Corps had moved by ocean-transport from Alexandria and Annapolis to North Carolina. The protection of the Federal Navy and the mobility of water movement had allowed the redeployment of thousands of troops from Tennessee to the eastern theater for the final great struggles of the war.

Friday, 10 February 1865

In South Carolina, fighting increased at Charleston, where Confederates under General William J. Hardee defended against a portion of General William T. Sherman’s advancing column as well as Union naval forces in the harbor. Meanwhile, Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard established headquarters at Columbia. Learning that Federals had wrecked the railroad connecting Charleston and Augusta, Beauregard wired General Daniel Harvey Hill to abandon Augusta and bring his troops to Columbia.

The Department of Kentucky is created, and assigned is Major General John M. Palmer to its command as the Department of the Cumberland is declared to consist of the State of Tennessee, all troops in the Department of Kentucky and such parts of Northern Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi as may be occupied by the troops under the command of Major General George Henry Thomas, except for those posts protecting the Mississippi River, which were subject to the order of Major General Edward Sprigg Canby.

The Department of the Gulf is declared to embrace the States of Louisiana and Texas.

President Abraham Lincoln reported the results of the Hampton Roads conference to Congress. Radicals expressed relief that Lincoln did not give up emancipation as a condition of peace, and most members of Congress praised Lincoln for standing firm.

Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens left Richmond for his home at Crawfordville, Georgia. Effectively resigning, Stephens said he would "...neither make any speech, nor even make known to the public in any way of the general condition of affairs, but quietly abide the issue of fortune."

The legislatures of Ohio and Missouri become the llth and 12th states to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment.

A Union expedition moves from Brashear City to Lake Verret, while another goes from Thibodeaux to Lake Verret, as the Yankees continue to try to ferret out guerrillas; this time coming up empty handed as they traversed the plantations in the area. A skirmish occurs at Kittredge's Sugar House, near Napoleonville, Louisiana, with a small band of Confederates.

A skirmish breaks out in Johnson's Crook, Georgia, as Union Major General James B. Steedman, commanding the District of the Etowah, has his men surprise the Confederates here, inflicting casualties.

The Department of Mississippi is declared to embrace as much of the State of Mississippi as was occupied by the troops of the Military Division of West Mississippi on the river.

An affair is reported 9 miles from Triune, Tennessee, at the house of the widow Patterson, where the Yankees surround Southerners, supposedly belonging to Lieutenant General John B. Hood's Army of the Tennessee, who were enjoying a ball held there. The Yankees estimate they killed 4 Rebels when they blindly fired into the house, as the citizens removed the bodies to hide the fact there were partisans partaking in the festivities.

Confederate Captain Raphael Semmes was promoted to Rear Admiral and given command of the James River Squadron, replacing Commodore John K. Mitchell.

Naval report: Captain Raphael Semmes was appointed Rear Admiral in the Provisional Navy of the Confederate States of America "...for gallant and meritorious conduct, in command of the steam-sloop Alabama." Secretary Mallory had created the Provisional Navy as a means of instituting selection to higher rank on the basis of ability rather than strict seniority. Semmes later wrote: "After I had been in Richmond a few weeks, the President was pleased to nominate me to the Senate as a rear-admiral. My nomination was unanimously confirmed, and, in a few days afterward, I was appointed to the command of the James River Fleet...An old and valued friend, Commodore J. K. Mitchell, had been in command of the James River Fleet, and I displaced him very reluctantly. He had organized and disciplined the fleet, and had accomplished with it all that was possible, viz., the protection of Richmond by water." Except for this powerful fleet backing up the forts and the extensive obstructions in the River, Richmond would have long since fallen.

The Confederate Navy began its last attempt to gain control of the James River and thus force the withdrawal of General Grant's army by cutting its communications at City Point. The expedition of 100 officers and men was led by the audacious naval lieutenant, Charles W. Read. He loaded four torpedo boats on wagons and started overland from Drewry's Bluff. The plan called for Marching to a place below City Point on the James River where the party would launch the boats, capture any passing tugs or steamers, and outfit these prizes with spats and torpedoes. The expedition would then ascend the river and attack and sink the Union monitors, leaving the Union gunboats at the mercy of the Confederate ironclads. The James, without which Grant would be denied transport and supplies, would be under Confederate control from Richmond to Hampton Roads.

On the night of the 11th Read and his men endured bitter cold as the weather worsened. On the 12th sleet slowed and finally stopped the expedition only a few miles from the place they were to ford the Blackwater River and rendezvous with Lieutenant John Lewis, CSN, who had been reconnoitering the area ahead of the main body of sailors. Master W. Frank Shippey wrote that while the men sought refuge from the storm in a deserted farmhouse, "...a young man in gray uniform came in and informed us that our plan had been betrayed, and that Lewis was at the ford to meet us, according to promise, but accompanied by a regiment of Federals lying in ambuscade and awaiting our arrival, when they were to give us a warm reception. Had it not been for the storm and out having to take shelter, we would have Marched into the net spread for us..."

Read directed the rest of the expedition to retrace their steps for about a mile; then he ventured forth alone to confirm the report of the young Confederate. Late in the afternoon of the 13th Read, "cool and collected as ever," returned to the campsite where his men were, informed them that the intelligence of the day before had been correct, and that they would have to fall back to Richmond. Thus, the bold Confederate thrust failed. Moreover, the constant exposure to the inclement weather took a heavy toll of the men. Shippey later wrote that "...of the hundred and one men who composed this expedition, fully seventy-five were in the naval hospital in Richmond, suffering from the effects of their winter March, on the sad day on which we turned our backs upon that city."

The USS Shawmut, under Lieutenant Commander J.G. Walker, engaged Confederate batteries on the east bank of the Cape Fear River while USS Huron, under Lieutenant Commander Thomas O. Selfridge, bombarded Fort Anderson. Fleet attacks were building up preliminary to full naval support of General Schofield's advance on Wilmington. Schofield planned to outflank General Hoke's defense force by marching from Fort Fisher up the outer bank and, with the aid of pontoons to be landed by the Navy on the coast side, cross Myrtle Sound to the mainland of the peninsula behind the Confederate lines. From the Cape Fear River and the sea coast the Navy was to contain the defenders in their trenches by shore bombardment.

Saturday, 11 February 1865

Fighting took place at Aiken, South Carolina as Major General William T. Sherman made his way across the state. The principal commanders were Union Major General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick and Confederate Major General Joseph Wheeler. General Wheeler was able to score a victory over Kilpatrick, as he very carefully devised a plan to trap Kilpatrick. Wheeler formed his cavalry in the shape of a ‘V’, with the bottom of the ‘V’ pointed west towards Augusta. The railroad and Park Avenue ran down the center of the 'V'. Thin lines of skirmishers were deployed between the top tips of the ‘V’, which paralleled Williamsburg Street. As Kilpatrick approached, the line would fall back towards the west. The plan was that Kilpatrick would be rash and would charge after the retreating Confederates. As they charged into the ‘V’, Wheeler would then pull his men in around the top of the ‘V’, collapse it around Kilpatrick, and thus surround him.

The best description of the battle is from John Reed from the 92nd Illinois Mounted Infantry:

"...we were within a half mile of the town of Aiken, when we dis­covered long lines of Rebel cavalry. The column halted...Kilpatrick came dashing up to the head of the column and desired to know the reason of the halt. Just then, a locomotive ran out in plain view near Aiken and whistled and whistled. Kilpatrick brought up the artillery and sent a few rifled shells toward the locomotive and into the town.

Kilpatrick also called on the 92nd Illinois Silver Cornet Band to play Yankee Doodle. The next thing in order was for the 92nd Illinois to charge into the town...Now we felt that we were going into a trap, but Kilpatrick took the lead.

General Atkins ordered the 9th Ohio into line of battle on the right of the road, flanking the artillery, and the 9th Mich. Cav. into line of battle flanking the artillery on the left of the road. holding the 10th Ohio Cav. in reserve.

The ladies of the town waved their handkerchiefs in welcome and smilingly invited the officers and men into their houses. But that kind of a welcome was unusual in South Carolina.

It was an additional evidence of danger. In the farther edge of the town the enemy was in line of battle..."

After the accidental shot per Reed: "...(the officers) quickly formed the regiment to charge back again to the brigade, the Rebels having formed in line in our rear.

Every man in the regiment appeared to be conscious that the only way to get out was to assault the Rebel line and cut a hole in it. We rode forward to the charge...the Rebels awaited our approach until within close range, when they demanded a halt and surrender, and were answered by every man in the regiment pumping into them the eight Spenser bullets in his trusty repeating rifle.

It was a desperate charge, and the men fought face to face and hand to hand.

Now the brigade bugle sounded the charge and with a yell the 9th Ohio and the 9th Michigan charged... into the town of Aiken...recapturing a great many of the boys that had been taken prisoners.

We were five miles from camp, where the balance of the division lay behind their rail barricades (Montmorienci).

The Rebels at Aiken, came thundering down upon our four little regiments, and the five miles back to camp was a battle field all the way..."

Private D. B. Morgan of the 5th Georgia Cavalry gives a Confederate account of the battle:

"General Wheeler was trying to entrap him and capture his whole force...This ruse, no doubt, would have worked well but for the extra enthusiasm of an Al­abama regiment (who)...opened fire and thus precipitated a general engagement...Our regiment had just been issued sabers with wooden scabbards, which were awkwardly attached to our saddles. I was mounted on a very fine mule. We charged the enemy through scrub oak forest and open peach orchard, through the village, driving them back...It was an all day fight. As we halted in one of the charges, my mule was shot from under me, the ball passing immediately under my left leg and entering the poor creature's heart. With an unearthly yell...she bounded into the air and in falling, caught me half dismounted, with my left leg under her body. The soft plowed ground on which I fell prevented its being broken..."

The Reverend John Henry Cornish of St. Thaddeus Church would write: "...Several shells came whizzing by us from a battery on Railroad Avenue...Two shells went through the house at the corner of Railroad Avenue and Laurens Street; one struck in the yard of the old parsonage...The enemy came nearly to the street passing the west end of the Aiken Hotel...The bugles sounded a charge. It is a marvelous what a different aspect was thrown over the scene in an instant. The horses started and came tearing down Richland Street, the men rising in their stirrups, with their pistols in their hands, yelling and screaming, each one looking as if he could devour a dozen Yankees...The enemy was driven back. There was a fight also in Williams' old field. The enemy was driven back to Pole Cat Pond (Montmorienci) ...Five of our wounded were brought to my house where the surgeons attended to them...Two of the killed were taken to the (St. Thaddeus) church yard, where they were put in coffins and buried."

Kilpatrick had been routed back to his defensive position at Monmorenci.

A later account of the battle reports that a Confederate cavalryman rode up to the General Kilpatrick and snapped his pistol at his chest, but the gun did not go off. The General then fled, losing his hat in the rout.

Johnson’s Station, near Sugar Loaf, at Battery Simkins and around Orangeburg, South Carolina, also saw fighting; skirmishing occurred at Clear Creek and Pine Bluff, Arkansas; and at Williamsburg, Virginia.

Sherman’s advancing Federals divided the Confederate defenders between Charleston on the east and Augusta on the west, with fighting erupting at several points. Confederates abandoned Branchville as Federals wrecked the railroad between Branchville and Charleston.

President Jefferson Davis wrote General William J. Hardee expressing optimism that if the troops could concentrate, they could repel Sherman from Charleston. General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard favored evacuating Charleston, however, because the Confederacy could not afford to lose Hardee’s army. They were still unaware that Sherman was only feigning an attack on Charleston while truly targeting Columbia.

General Robert E. Lee issued a general order pardoning all deserters who returned to the ranks within 20 days. The order included an address to Confederate troops declaring the choice had narrowed “between war and abject submission,” and “to such a proposal brave men with arms in their hands can have but one answer...Let us then oppose constancy to adversity, fortitude to suffering, and courage to danger, with the firm assurance that He who gave freedom to our fathers will bless the efforts of their children to preserve it.”

A Federal expedition began from Bermuda Hundred, Virginia.

Monday, 13 February 1865

Prospects for success remained dim for Confederates in South Carolina as General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard had only remnants of troops available to defend Augusta, Georgia.

In Richmond, Virginia and elsewhere throughout the South there was increasing insistence that General Joseph E. Johnston be put in overall command in the Carolinas, though General Robert E. Lee believed that continual command change was unwise, even though he personally had a good opinion of Johnston. General Lee rejected a petition signed by Vice President Stephens and 17 prominent Confederate senators to reinstate Joseph E. Johnston as commander of the Army of Tennessee. Lee asserted, "The three corps of that army have been ordered to South Carolina and are now under the command of Genl Beauregard. I entertain a high opinion of Genl Johnston’s capacity, but think a continual change of commanders is very injurious to any troops and tends greatly to their disorganization..."

In London, Foreign Minister John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, protested to U.S. Federal commissioners against the St. Albans raid of 19 October 1864, its aftermath in Canada, and general activity on the Great Lakes waterways.

A west Tennessee group expressed objections to military interference in civil affairs. President Lincoln told officers in the region that "...the object of the War being to restore and maintain the blessings of peace and good government, I desire you to help, not hinder, every advance in that direction."

Major General Samuel R. Curtis, USA, assumes the command of the Department of the Northwest, consisting of the Colorado Territory.

An action commenced at Station Four, Florida, where the Second US Colored Infantry contribute their quota of dead privates today, as the Yankees' path of destruction in this area is vigorously contested by the Confederates under Major General Samuel Jones, CSA, commanding the District of Florida, fighting a losing battle.

A skirmish broke out with partisan guerrillas in Mississippi County, Missouri.

A Union expedition began from Camp Russell (near Winchester) to Strasburg, Edenburg and Little Fort Valley, Virginia, and skirmishes with Brigadier General John McCausland's Confederate Cavalry, with fatalities on both sides.

General Sherman's on-rushing army approached the Congaree River, South Carolina. The soldiers would cross it on the 14th, heading for Columbia. With the fall of Columbia assured and with the supply route to Augusta, Georgia, already cut, General Hardee speeded up his preparations to evacuate Charleston and to take the troops he brought from Savannah to North Carolina where he planned to join Generals Joseph E. Johnson and Beauregard. Since Charleston would have to be abandoned and the Confederate naval squadron there scuttled, Commodore John R. Tucker, detached 300 men and officers from the CSS Chicora, Palmetto State, and Charleston, as well as the Navy Yard, and dispatched them, under the command of Lieutenant James H. Rochelle, to assist in the final defense of Wilmington. This naval detachment was assigned to Major General Robert F. Hoke's division which held the defensive line across the peninsula between Fort Fisher and Wilmington.

Thursday, 16 February 1865

Skirmishes occur about Columbia, South Carolina, between Major General William Tecumseh Sherman's invading hordes, and General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard's defending troops as the Union forces arrive on the south bank of the Congaree River, while Beauregard evacuates the city.

Milledge Luke Bonham, CSA, is appointed Major General.

Isaac Munroe St. John, CSA, is appointed Brigadier General.

A skirmish occurs 3.5 miles from Gurley's Tank, a town in Madison County, Alabama, as the partisan Confederates attack a Federal foraging party.

Federal operations about Bennett's Bayou and Tolbert's Mill, Arkansas, where the Yankees burn the mill, considered to be a meeting place for guerrillas.

A skirmish breaks out near Cedar Keys, Florida.

Indiana, Louisiana and Nevada become the 13th, 14th, and 15th Northern or Union controlled states to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment which could end slavery.

Federals scout from Fort Larned, Kansas, to the North fork of the Pawnee, northwest to Walnut Creek, up the South Fork of Walnut Creek, to a large body of timber about 120 miles from Fort Zarah, with no signs of Indians.

Federals scout in Ozark County, Missouri, and Marion County, Arkansas, against partisan rangers.

The Confederate Cavalry attacks led by Brigadier General John Crawford Vaughn upon the garrisons of Athens and Sweet Water, Tennessee--45 miles below Knoxville--result in the Rebels capturing both garrisons.

The USS Penobscot, under Lieutenant Commander A. E. K. Benham, forced the blockade running schooners Mary Agnes and Louisa ashore at Aransas Pass, Texas. Two days later the runners would be destroyed by a boat crew from the Penobscot.

As the combined operation to capture Wilmington vigorously got underway, ships of Rear Admiral David D. Porter's fleet helped to ferry General John M. Schofield's two divisions from Fort Fisher to Smithville, on the west bank of the Cape Fear River. Fort Anderson, the initial objective for the two commanders, lay on the west bank midway between the mouth of the river and Wilmington. On the morning of the 17th, Major General Jacob D. Cox would lead 8,000 troops north from Smithville. In support of the army advance on the Confederate defenses, the monitor Montauk, Lieutenant Commander Edward E. Stone in charge, and four gunboats heavily bombarded Fort Anderson and successfully silenced its twelve guns. Unable to obtain other monitors for the attack, Porter resorted to subterfuge and, as he had on the Mississippi River, improvised a bogus monitor from a scow, timber, and canvas. "Old Bogey", as she was quickly nicknamed by the sailors, had been towed to the head of the bombardment line, where she succeeded in drawing heavy fire from the defending Southerners.

Ships of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, including the USS Pawnee, Sonoma, Ottawa, Winona, Potomska, Wando, J.S. Chambers, and boats and launches from these vessels supported the amphibious Army landing at Bull's Bay, South Carolina. This was a diversionary movement in the major thrust to take Charleston and was designed to contain Confederate strength away from General William T. Sherman's route. Such diversions had been part of Sherman's plan from the outset as he took full advantage of Northern control of the sea. A naval landing party from the fleet joined the troops of Brigadier General Edward E. Potter in driving the Confederates from their positions and pushing on toward Andersonville and Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.

As Captain Daniel B. Ridgely later reported to Rear Admiral John A. B. Dahlgren: "I am confident that the expedition to Bull's Bay embarrassed the Rebels from the great number of men-of-war inside and outside of the bay and the great number of boats provided by the navy to disembark a large land force...I am of the opinion that the evacuation of Charleston was hastened by the demonstration made by the army and the navy at that point in strong force." Ridgely also pointed out another example of one of the aspects of Northern control of the sea throughout the War, the fact that the very capability of the Union to move wherever water reached forced the South to spread itself thin in an attempt to meet the Federals on all possible fronts. "The Rebels signaled our movements to Charleston day and night," he wrote, adding significantly, "and threw up intrenchments at every point where boats could land."

Saturday, 18 February 1865

As the city of Columbia, South Carolina, was just burning itself out, Union Major General William T. Sherman this afternoon added to its toll by ordering the destruction of all important buildings, railroad depots, railroad tracks, supply houses, military stores and any other public buildings that he deemed to be of any possible military significance that were not already burned by the fire that earlier swept through Columbia.

The Charleston mayor surrendered the city to Federal troops at 9 a.m. A northern reporter called it a "...city of ruins–silent, mournful, in deepest humiliation...The band was playing ‘Hail, Columbia,’ and the strains floated through the desolate city, awakening wild enthusiasm in the hearts of the colored people..."

The Union forces, led by Brigadier General Alexander Schimmelfennig of Sherman's army, occupies Charleston, South Carolina.

U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton ordered "...a national salute..." fired from "...every fort arsenal and army headquarters of the United States, in honor of the restoration of the flag of the Union upon Fort Sumter." Most black Charlestonians welcomed the occupying Federal troops, while most white residents abandoned the city. Federals burned cotton bales and war supplies. The twin falls of Columbia and Charleston devastated the South, and regarding Fort Sumter, Confederate President Jefferson Davis acknowledged, “This disappointment to me is extremely bitter.”

Federal naval units bombarded Fort Anderson on the Cape Fear River as the combined land and sea forces began their campaign for Wilmington, North Carolina. There was also skirmishing at Fort Anderson and Orton Pond, as the Yankees probed the land defenses below Wilmington.

Naval report: The big guns of Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter's fleet in the Cape Fear River silenced the Confederate batteries at Fort Anderson. Under a relentless hail of fire from the ships and with Union troops investing the fort from two sides, the Southerners evacuated their defensive position and fell back to Town Creek. Simultaneously, the Confederates dug in at Sugar Loaf Hill on the east bank of the river--adjacent to Fort Anderson--withdrew to Fort Strong, a complex of fortifications comprising several batteries some three miles south of Wilmington. The combined Army-Navy movement was now pushing irresistibly toward the city.

A scheduled vote on the recognition and admission of the reconstructed and now supposedly "restored state of Louisiana" to Congress was postponed in the United States Senate. The Radical Republicans sought to impose a more punitive reconstruction plan on the conquered states instead of President Abraham Lincoln’s more moderate policy.

The following are appointed Confederate Brigadier Generals: Collett Leventhorpe, William Raine Peck, and Reuben Lindsay Walker.

Galusha Pennypacker is appointed Brigadier General in the Union Army. To this day, he is the youngest person to hold the rank of brigadier general in the U.S. Army; at the age of 20, he remains the only general too young to vote for the president who appointed him.

The Confederate guerrilla attack on Fort Jones took place this morning, near Colesburg, Kentucky, where the 12th US Colored Heavy Artillery sustains many fatalities.

Union Major General John M. Palmer assumes the command of the Department of Kentucky.

The 13th and the 16th US Army Corps are constituted; the former from the Reserve Corps, the Military Division of West Mississippi, the latter from the troops arriving from the Army of the Cumberland, Missouri. Major General Gordon Granger is assigned to the command of the 13th US Army Corps, while Major General Andrew J. Smith is assigned to the command of the 16th US Army Corps.

A Union expedition travels from Camp Averell (near Winchester) into Loudoun County, Virginia, and skirmishes at Ashby's Gap, as the Federals take two prisoners from Lieutenant Colonel John S. Mosby's command of the 43rd Virginia Battalion along to point out the houses that might have belonged to Mosby's men. The Yankees find themselves attacked by a superior Cavalry force, with the majority of the expeditionary force--78 casualties--killed, captured, or wounded by Mosby's Rangers.

Federals scout in Prince William County, Virginia, with the destruction of "supposed" Rebel property.

Upon orders to evacuate Charleston, Commodore John R. Tucker scuttles the ironclads Palmetto State, Charleston and Chicora, takes charge of the remaining sailors in the area, and set out by train for Wilmington to join the naval detachment that had previously proceeded there under Lieutenant Rochelle. Tucker's detachment gets as far as Whiteville, about 50 miles west of Wilmington, where he learned that Union troops had cut the rail line between the two cities and that the evacuation of Wilmington was imminent. After unsuccessfully trying to obtain rail transportation for his detachment, which he pointed out was "unused to marching," Tucker set out across country on a 125 mile March to Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Rear Admiral Rafael Semmes assumed command of the Confederate James River Squadron. "My fleet..." he wrote, "...consisted of three ironclads and five wooden gunboats. The ironclads, each mounting four guns, were the CSS Virginia No. 2, Richmond, and Fredericksburg. The wooden ships included CSS Hampton, Nansemond, Roanoke, Beaufort, and Torpedo; all mounted two guns except Torpedo which was armed with one. Semmes noted: "The fleet was assisted, in the defence of the river, by several shore batteries, in command of naval officers..."

The CSS Shenandoah, commanded by Lieutenant James Iredell Waddell, having completed repairs at Melbourne, Australia, got underway before daybreak and steamed out of Port Philip Bay to resume her career on the high seas. As soon as the cruiser discharged her pilot and entered international waters, more than 40 stowaways who had come on board late the previous night appeared on deck. Shenandoah's log recorded: "Forty-two men found on board; thirty-six shipped as sailors and six enlisted as marines." This represented a net gain when balanced against the desertions induced by gold from the American consul. The Shenandoah paid a considerable price, however, for the three week stay in Melbourne. Waddell later wrote in his memoirs: "The delay of the Shenandoah had operated against us in the South Pacific. The whaling fleet of that ocean had received warning and had either suspended its fishing in that region or had taken shelter in the neighboring ports. The presence of the Shenandoah in the South Pacific..." he added "...dispersed the whaling fleet of that sea, though no captures were made there."

A boat expedition under Acting Ensign James W. Brown from the USS Pinola boarded and fired the armed schooner Anna Dale in Pass Cavallo, Texas. The prize had been fitted out as a cruiser by the Confederates. The long reach of the sea continued closing its iron grip on the South in events great and small from the Potomac to the Rio Grande and throughout the western waters.

The USS Forest Rose, under Acting Lieutenant Abraham N. Gould, dispersed a number of Confederates who had fired on the ship Mittie Stephens attempting to load cotton at Cole's Creek, Mississippi.

Confederate General-in-Chief Robert E. Lee this morning writes to Secretary of War John C. Breckinridge: "I fear it may be necessary to abandon all our cities, and preparation should be made for this contingency."

Monday, 20 February 1865

Union troops marched rapidly towards Wilmington, North Carolina. They had outflanked the defenders on the west bank of the Cape Fear River, but still faced opposition on the east bank.

Two Federal armies now advanced on North Carolina: Major Generals John M, Schofield’s from Tennessee and William T. Sherman’s from South Carolina. Federals outflanked Confederate defenders west of the Cape Fear River, leaving Wilmington open for conquest.

Union General-in-Chief Hiram U. Grant assigned Major General Philip Sheridan to close the potential escape route for General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia from Petersburg and Richmond. Sheridan was to leave the Shenandoah Valley, wreck railroads supplying Lee’s army, then join Major General William T. Sherman’s Federals in North Carolina.

President Abraham Lincoln wrote to Governor Thomas C. Fletcher of Missouri that although there was no organized Confederate military in the state, "...destruction of property and life is rampant every where." Lincoln called for citizens to take control of the situation.

The Confederate House of Representatives approved recruiting slaves as soldiers after long debate. Robert E. Lee supported this plan, arguing that blacks could be just as good soldiers as whites if induced into enlisting with the promise of freedom after their service. This could also counter the international view of northerners as liberators. Slaveholders had long tried stopping this measure from passing, even though only about 250,000 Southerners actually owned slaves.

Skirmishing occurred at Fort Myers, Florida and at Centre Creek, Missouri.

Union Brigadier General John S. Morgan is assigned to the command of the District of Arizona.

A Federal expedition travels to Greeneville and Warrensburg, Tennessee, in the pouring rain, with skirmishes near Greeneville as elections were held in the town.

Federal troops move from Nashville to Pine Wood, in Hickman County, Tennessee, and have an encounter with partisan guerrillas.

Following the evacuation of Fort Anderson, Rear Admiral David D. Porter's gunboats steamed seven miles up the Cape Fear River to the Big Island shallows and the piling obstructions and engaged Fort Strong 's five guns. Ship's boats swept the river for mines ahead of the fleet's advance. On the night of the 20th, the Confederates released 200 floating torpedoes, which were avoided with great difficulty and kept the boat crews engaged in sweeping throughout the hours of darkness. Although many of the gunboats safely swept up torpedoes with their nets, the USS Osceola, Commander M. B. Clita in charge, received hull damage and lost a paddle wheel box by an explosion. Another torpedo destroyed a boat from the USS Shawmut, inflicting four casualties. The next day, 21 February, one of Porter's officers wrote that "Old Bogey", the make-shift monitor fashioned by the Admiral to deceive the defenders, had taken part in the action: "Johnny Reb let off his torpedoes without effect on it, and the old thing sailed across the river and grounded in the flank and rear of the enemy's lines on the eastern bank, whereupon they fell back in the night. She now occupies the most advanced position of the line, and Battery Lee has been banging away at her, and probably wondering why she does not answer. Last night after half a days fighting, the Rebs sent down about 50 [sic] torpedoes; but although "Old Bogey" took no notice of them, they kept the rest of us pretty lively as long as the ebb tide ran".

Wednesday, 22 February 1865

Union soldiers captured Wilmington, North Carolina, without opposition. General Braxton Bragg’s Confederates had escaped before the Federals arrived the previous night.

General Joseph E. Johnston is assigned by General Robert E. Lee to the command of the Army of Tennessee, and was named commander of all the troops in the of the Confederate Department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, as well as the Department of Tennessee.

Pro-Union voters in Tennessee approved a new state constitution, which included abolishing slavery and repudiating all Confederate debts.

Kentucky rejected the Thirteenth Amendment, following Delaware which had previously voted it down.

Federals scout from Pine Bluff to Bayou Meto, Arkansas, and skirmish at Mrs. Voche's and Bayou Meto.

A Union expedition reconnoiters under Brigadier General Alexander Asboth commanding the District of West Florida, from Barrancas, aboard the steamer, Matamoras, to Milton, Florida, and skirmishes with partisans. The Yankees capture prisoners and supplies.

Union Brigadier General John McNeil is assigned to the command of the District of Central Missouri and Major General Andrew J. Smith assumes the command of the 16th US Army Corps, Missouri.

Skirmishes break out at Northeast Ferry and at Smith's Creek, North Carolina.

Skirmishes occur near Wateree River and Camden, South Carolina, as Major General William T. Sherman continues marching northward.

General Robert E. Lee laid optional plans to retreat to Burkeville, Virginia, and unite with the Confederate forces in North Carolina if he was forced to leave his defensive position around Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia.

In Richmond, Virginia, Confederate War Department clerk J.B. Jones wrote in his diary: "Today is the anniversary of the birth of Washington, and of the inauguration of Davis; but I heir of no holiday. Not much is doing, however, in the departments; simply a waiting for calamities, which come with stunning rapidity. The next news, I suppose, will be the evacuation of Wilmington! Then Raleigh may tremble. Unless there is a speedy turn in the tide of affairs, confusion will reign supreme and universally." Material suffering and the unwavering pressure of Union armies ashore and Federal ships afloat destroyed Southern hopes. In the Union 's strength at sea the Confederacy faced a doubled disadvantage. Not only did the fleet provide the North with massed artillery, great mobility, easy concentration, and surprise in attack, but it also provided a safe fortress to which the soldiers ashore could retreat as had been most recently shown during Major General Benjamin "Spoons" Butler's amphibious failure at Fort Fisher as 1864 ended.

Friday, 24 February 1865

The intention of the Navy Department to reduce the size of the operating forces as the end of hostilities neared was indicated in Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles' instruction to Rear Admiral Henry Knox Thatcher, commanding the West Gulf Squadron, to "...send North such purchased vessels as appear by surveys to require very extensive repairs...and all those no longer required. These will probably be sold or laid up. You will also send home any stores that are not required. Further requisition must be carefully examined before approval, and the commanders of squadrons are expected to use every possible exertion and care to reduce the expenses of their squadrons."

Secretary Welles similarly directed Rear Admiral John A. B. Dahlgren to send north vessels under his command that were no longer required, especially the least efficient. "The Department is of opinion that the fall of Fort Fisher and Charleston will enable it to reduce the expenses of the maintenance of the Navy." Even as the Union could begin to cut back its huge fleet, the effect of Northern sea power was felt more and more acutely in General Robert E. Lee's army. With its last access to the sea, Wilmington, now controlled by the North, the shortage of essential supplies--including shoes, artillery, blankets, lead, medicines, and even food for men and horses--became increasingly desperate. By now, much of Lee's famed cavalry, for want of horses, had become infantry.

General Lee wrote to the Confederate War Department expressing concern about the "...alarming number of desertions that are now occurring in the army."

Federals scout with the 60th US Colored Infantry, from Helena, aboard the steamer, Curlew, to Clarke's Store, Arkansas.

An affair occurs at Switzler's Mill, Missouri, where the partisan guerrilla Poe kills a man and hangs two Negroes, besides robbing another citizen. Lawlessness still prevails in some sections of this part of the United States.

A skirmish breaks out at Camden, South Carolina, as Union Major General William T. Sherman and Confederate Lieutenant General Wade Hampton continue to argue in writing over the murders of certain Union soldiers who were foraging. Hampton informs Sherman that he has ordered the death of all Federal troops caught burning the homes and properties of citizens of the Confederacy.