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re: 150 years ago this day...
Posted on 9/17/13 at 4:08 am to BadLeroyDawg
Posted on 9/17/13 at 4:08 am to BadLeroyDawg
Thursday, 17 September 1863
General Braxton Bragg, who had defended Tennessee so well for the Confederacy that he was now backed up into northern Georgia, had had a chance for the last week to attack General William Rosecrans' exceedingly scattered forces. Although several orders had admittedly been issued, for one reason or another no actual attacks had taken place. One result of this was that acrimonious notes, nastiness and name-calling were making the rounds between Bragg and his corps commanders. The other result of this was that the Union army was now reassembled in much better order, and Bragg had no choice but to attack the whole thing at once. The best plan he could come up with was a thrust at the Federal right, to cut off their line of retreat to Chattanooga. Unfortunately for Bragg, this thought had occurred to Rosecrans as well.
Reports of Confederate vessels building in the rivers of North Carolina were a source of grave concern to the Union authorities. Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles wrote Secretary of War Edwin Stanton suggesting an attack to insure the destruction of an ironclad– which would be CSS Albemarle and a floating battery, reported nearing completion up the Roanoke River. Should they succeed in getting down the river, Welles cautioned, "...our possession of the sounds would be jeoparded [sic]."
The USS Adolph Hugel, Acting Master Frank, seized the sloop Music off Alexandria, Virginia, for a violation of the blockade.
The steamer Marcella was seized and plundered by Confederate partisan guerrillas, in the vicinity of Dover Landing, ten miles below Lexington, Missouri. Four soldiers of company A, Fifth M. S. M.--Edwin Ross, Chris. Sele, Martin Fisher, and Charles Waggoner — were on the steamer visiting their homes at the latter place, on furloughs. They were taken out and marched off with the assurance that they were to be exchanged for other prisoners or paroled. When the Rebels had marched about two miles, they stopped and divided the plunder and money, which employed them about an hour, after which the prisoners were put in line, and instantly the order was given to fire, at which Ross, Sele, and Fisher fell dead, but young Waggoner, finding himself unhurt, sprang away for safety, and though shot after shot rattled past him, he finally made his way uninjured to the brush, and went into Lexington.
A Confederate raid was made upon a collection of vessels on the eastern shore of Virginia. The schooners Ireland and John J. Houseman were taken out to sea, plundered, and set adrift. The schooner Alexandria was also plundered, and the government schooner Alliance, loaded with stores valued at thirty thousand dollars, was captured.
Chat Discussion
General Braxton Bragg, who had defended Tennessee so well for the Confederacy that he was now backed up into northern Georgia, had had a chance for the last week to attack General William Rosecrans' exceedingly scattered forces. Although several orders had admittedly been issued, for one reason or another no actual attacks had taken place. One result of this was that acrimonious notes, nastiness and name-calling were making the rounds between Bragg and his corps commanders. The other result of this was that the Union army was now reassembled in much better order, and Bragg had no choice but to attack the whole thing at once. The best plan he could come up with was a thrust at the Federal right, to cut off their line of retreat to Chattanooga. Unfortunately for Bragg, this thought had occurred to Rosecrans as well.
Reports of Confederate vessels building in the rivers of North Carolina were a source of grave concern to the Union authorities. Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles wrote Secretary of War Edwin Stanton suggesting an attack to insure the destruction of an ironclad– which would be CSS Albemarle and a floating battery, reported nearing completion up the Roanoke River. Should they succeed in getting down the river, Welles cautioned, "...our possession of the sounds would be jeoparded [sic]."
The USS Adolph Hugel, Acting Master Frank, seized the sloop Music off Alexandria, Virginia, for a violation of the blockade.
The steamer Marcella was seized and plundered by Confederate partisan guerrillas, in the vicinity of Dover Landing, ten miles below Lexington, Missouri. Four soldiers of company A, Fifth M. S. M.--Edwin Ross, Chris. Sele, Martin Fisher, and Charles Waggoner — were on the steamer visiting their homes at the latter place, on furloughs. They were taken out and marched off with the assurance that they were to be exchanged for other prisoners or paroled. When the Rebels had marched about two miles, they stopped and divided the plunder and money, which employed them about an hour, after which the prisoners were put in line, and instantly the order was given to fire, at which Ross, Sele, and Fisher fell dead, but young Waggoner, finding himself unhurt, sprang away for safety, and though shot after shot rattled past him, he finally made his way uninjured to the brush, and went into Lexington.
A Confederate raid was made upon a collection of vessels on the eastern shore of Virginia. The schooners Ireland and John J. Houseman were taken out to sea, plundered, and set adrift. The schooner Alexandria was also plundered, and the government schooner Alliance, loaded with stores valued at thirty thousand dollars, was captured.
Chat Discussion
1
Posted on 9/18/13 at 4:45 am to BadLeroyDawg
Friday, 18 September 1863
The Army of Tennessee was on the march today. Leaving only three divisions near Ringgold, General Braxton Bragg moved all the rest across West Chickamauga Creek. These men would be joined by General James Longstreet’s Corps from the Army of Northern Virginia, which had been detached after Gettysburg and sent west to help Bragg’s sagging fortunes. On the Union side, General William Rosecrans swung General George Thomas’s men far to the northeast to guard the right flank and the roads to Chattanooga. This required a difficult forced march, as they were far to the south of where they needed to be. As the armies got closer to each other skirmishes flared all along the line, at Pea Vine Ridge, Stevens’ Gap, Spring Creek, and numerous fords and bridges. The Chickamauga may have been only a creek, but it flowed between steep rocky banks and could only be crossed at a few points.
General John McAllister Schofield, in command over Missouri, issued a General Order, stating that martial law would be enforced throughout his department against all persons who should in any manner encourage military insubordination, or endeavor to create disaffection among the troops and against all persons who should publish or utter publicly words calculated to excite insurrection, lawless acts among the people, or who should publish falsehoods or misrepresentations of facts, calculated to embarrass or weaken the military authorities, or in any way interfere with the men in the discharge of their duties. Any person guilty of either of the offenses above mentioned, should be punished by fine and imprisonment at the discretion of a military commission, and any newspaper which might contain said publications in violation of this order would be suppressed.
A party of soldiers, belonging to the Eighty-third Illinois Regiment, was attacked, about five miles above Fort Donelson, Tennessee, by a party of Confederate partisan guerrillas, led by their commander, George Hinson. The guerrillas were secreted in bushes, from which they fired a volley, killing two of the soldiers, named John Pickerel and A. P. Wolfe, of company E. The guerrillas melted away after the firing. The soldiers sent a man to the fort for an ambulance, removed a short distance from the road, and hid in the bushes. The guerrillas soon returned, when the soldiers fired on them five rounds. Hinson was shot in the head. The rest fled.
Major General John Adams Dix issued general orders, thanking the troops quartered in the city of New York, during the difficulties consequent upon the Draft Riots, for their admirable discipline and soldierly deportment.
Colonel Trusten Polk, formerly United States Senator from Missouri, with his wife and daughter, was captured at Bolivar Landing, Arkansas, and delivered to General Buford, commanding at Helena. Colonel Polk was General Holmes's Judge Advocate General, and was with the Confederates at New Madrid.
Chat Discussion
The Army of Tennessee was on the march today. Leaving only three divisions near Ringgold, General Braxton Bragg moved all the rest across West Chickamauga Creek. These men would be joined by General James Longstreet’s Corps from the Army of Northern Virginia, which had been detached after Gettysburg and sent west to help Bragg’s sagging fortunes. On the Union side, General William Rosecrans swung General George Thomas’s men far to the northeast to guard the right flank and the roads to Chattanooga. This required a difficult forced march, as they were far to the south of where they needed to be. As the armies got closer to each other skirmishes flared all along the line, at Pea Vine Ridge, Stevens’ Gap, Spring Creek, and numerous fords and bridges. The Chickamauga may have been only a creek, but it flowed between steep rocky banks and could only be crossed at a few points.
General John McAllister Schofield, in command over Missouri, issued a General Order, stating that martial law would be enforced throughout his department against all persons who should in any manner encourage military insubordination, or endeavor to create disaffection among the troops and against all persons who should publish or utter publicly words calculated to excite insurrection, lawless acts among the people, or who should publish falsehoods or misrepresentations of facts, calculated to embarrass or weaken the military authorities, or in any way interfere with the men in the discharge of their duties. Any person guilty of either of the offenses above mentioned, should be punished by fine and imprisonment at the discretion of a military commission, and any newspaper which might contain said publications in violation of this order would be suppressed.
A party of soldiers, belonging to the Eighty-third Illinois Regiment, was attacked, about five miles above Fort Donelson, Tennessee, by a party of Confederate partisan guerrillas, led by their commander, George Hinson. The guerrillas were secreted in bushes, from which they fired a volley, killing two of the soldiers, named John Pickerel and A. P. Wolfe, of company E. The guerrillas melted away after the firing. The soldiers sent a man to the fort for an ambulance, removed a short distance from the road, and hid in the bushes. The guerrillas soon returned, when the soldiers fired on them five rounds. Hinson was shot in the head. The rest fled.
Major General John Adams Dix issued general orders, thanking the troops quartered in the city of New York, during the difficulties consequent upon the Draft Riots, for their admirable discipline and soldierly deportment.
Colonel Trusten Polk, formerly United States Senator from Missouri, with his wife and daughter, was captured at Bolivar Landing, Arkansas, and delivered to General Buford, commanding at Helena. Colonel Polk was General Holmes's Judge Advocate General, and was with the Confederates at New Madrid.
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