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re: 150 years ago this day...
Posted on 11/15/13 at 4:21 am to BadLeroyDawg
Posted on 11/15/13 at 4:21 am to BadLeroyDawg
Sunday, 15 November 1863
The bombardment of Fort Sumter had been going on for a few days now, and 2328 shells had been thrown at the dilapidated pile of masonry since Thursday. This evening the defenders responded, and the guns at Confederate Fort Moultrie commenced their own bombardment of Cummings Point on Morris Island elsewhere in Charleston Harbor. Concerned that this might presage an amphibious attack, Union General Quincy Adams Gilmore asked his Navy counterpart, Admiral John A. Dahlgren, to send some ships to screen the point. Dahlgren promptly sent the requested vessels, some tugs and the USS Lehigh, but it was after dark before they reached station. The Lehigh promptly ran aground. It proved impossible to free her till the tide turned at dawn, and she attracted heavy fire before getting out of range.
Another report: Confederate-held Fort Moultrie opened a heavy, evening bombardment on the Union Army positions at Cummings Point, Morris Island, lasting well into the morning. Brigadier General Gillmore immediately turned to Rear Admiral Dahlgren for assistance. "Will you have some of your vessels move up, so as to prevent an attack by boats on the sea face of the point," he wired late at night. The Admiral answered "...at once" and ordered the tugs on patrol duty to keep "...a good lookout." The USS Lehigh, under Commander Andrew Bryson, grounded while covering Cummings Point and was taken under heavy fire the next morning before the USS Nahant, Lieutenant Commander John J. Cornwell in charge, got her off. Landsmen Frank S. Gile and William Williams, gunner's mate George W. Leland, coxswain Thomas Irving, and seaman Horatio N. Young from Lehigh were subsequently awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism while carrying a line from their ship to the Nahant, thus enabling the Lehigh to work free from her desperate position. “Thursday morning last until yesterday (Saturday) at sundown, one thousand five hundred and twenty-three mortar shells and rifled shots were fired at the fort. The Union fire has ceased to be of any injury to that defense.”
The USS Lodona, under Acting Lieutenant Brodhead, seized the blockade running British schooner Arctic southwest of Frying Pan Shoals, North Carolina, with a cargo of salt.
Conrad Posey, a Brigadier General in the Confederate service, died at Charlottesville, Vitrginia, from a wound received in the fight at Bristoe Station, Virginia. General Posey was formerly colonel of the Forty-eighth Mississippi regiment, belonging to General Featherstone's brigade, and when the latter was transferred from the army of Virginia to the West, General Posey was commissioned to succeed him. The firing on Fort Sumter continued steadily. From
Major General Stephen Augustus Hurlbut, from his headquarters, Sixteenth Army Corps, at Memphis, Tennessee, issued the following general order:
I. The people in the District of West-Tennessee and the northern counties of Mississippi having shown no disposition, and made no attempt to protect themselves from marauders and guerrilla bands, but having submitted themselves, without organized resistance, to the domination of these petty tyrants, and combined, in many instances, with the known enemies of the United States to procure from corrupt traders in the city of Memphis and elsewhere, supplies for the use of the public enemy, have proved themselves unworthy of the indulgence shown them by the Government.
It is therefore ordered, that the lines of pickets around the several military posts of this command, in Tennessee and Mississippi be closed, and that no goods of any description be allowed to pass out, nor any thing be brought in, except fire-wood and provisions, by any citizen, without the written order of some general officer, each of which permits, and the reason for granting the same, will be reported to these headquarters, and for the necessity of which each officer granting will be held rigidly responsible.
II. All merchants, and others doing business, will be held responsible for knowledge of the residence of the parties to whom they sell, and the sale of merchandise to persons beyond the lines of pickets will be punished with the highest rigor known to the laws of war.
III. All persons residing under the protection of the United States, and physically capable of military duty, are liable to perform the same in a country under martial law. Especially in the city of Memphis, where it is known many have fled to escape liability to military service at home, this rule will be strictly applied. In pursuance, therefore, to orders to this effect from Major-General W. T. Sherman, commanding department and army of the Tennessee, all officers commanding districts, divisions, and detached brigades of this corps, will immediately proceed to impress into the service of the United States such able-bodied persons liable to military duty as may be required to fill up the existing regiments and batteries to their maximum. Those persons so levied upon, if they enlist for three years or the war, will be entitled to the full benefits provided by the acts of Congress. If not, they will receive clothing and rations, and be borne at the foot of each company roll with remarks stating their time of service and the advances made by the Government in clothing; a certificate of which will be given them when discharged from such forced service, the question of pay or other compensation to be settled by proper authorities hereafter. They will be discharged when no further military necessity appears for their enforced service.
IV. The senior surgeons and inspectors present will constitute a Board of Inspection on the physical capacity of recruits.
Early this morning, a party of Confederate cavalry crossed the Rapidan River in front of Kilpatrick's line, at Morton's Ford, Virginia, attacked the pickets, capturing some six or eight of them, and retreated across the river again. This morning the affair was reported to Brigadier General George Custer, who was temporarily in command of the division, when he immediately ordered a regiment of cavalry and Pennington's battery of three-inch rifled guns down to the rear, and drove them back from the ford, notwithstanding they had brass twelve-pounders. This was done in the midst of a heavy rain-storm. No serious casualties were reported to Major General Alfred Pleasanton.
The bombardment of Fort Sumter had been going on for a few days now, and 2328 shells had been thrown at the dilapidated pile of masonry since Thursday. This evening the defenders responded, and the guns at Confederate Fort Moultrie commenced their own bombardment of Cummings Point on Morris Island elsewhere in Charleston Harbor. Concerned that this might presage an amphibious attack, Union General Quincy Adams Gilmore asked his Navy counterpart, Admiral John A. Dahlgren, to send some ships to screen the point. Dahlgren promptly sent the requested vessels, some tugs and the USS Lehigh, but it was after dark before they reached station. The Lehigh promptly ran aground. It proved impossible to free her till the tide turned at dawn, and she attracted heavy fire before getting out of range.
Another report: Confederate-held Fort Moultrie opened a heavy, evening bombardment on the Union Army positions at Cummings Point, Morris Island, lasting well into the morning. Brigadier General Gillmore immediately turned to Rear Admiral Dahlgren for assistance. "Will you have some of your vessels move up, so as to prevent an attack by boats on the sea face of the point," he wired late at night. The Admiral answered "...at once" and ordered the tugs on patrol duty to keep "...a good lookout." The USS Lehigh, under Commander Andrew Bryson, grounded while covering Cummings Point and was taken under heavy fire the next morning before the USS Nahant, Lieutenant Commander John J. Cornwell in charge, got her off. Landsmen Frank S. Gile and William Williams, gunner's mate George W. Leland, coxswain Thomas Irving, and seaman Horatio N. Young from Lehigh were subsequently awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism while carrying a line from their ship to the Nahant, thus enabling the Lehigh to work free from her desperate position. “Thursday morning last until yesterday (Saturday) at sundown, one thousand five hundred and twenty-three mortar shells and rifled shots were fired at the fort. The Union fire has ceased to be of any injury to that defense.”
The USS Lodona, under Acting Lieutenant Brodhead, seized the blockade running British schooner Arctic southwest of Frying Pan Shoals, North Carolina, with a cargo of salt.
Conrad Posey, a Brigadier General in the Confederate service, died at Charlottesville, Vitrginia, from a wound received in the fight at Bristoe Station, Virginia. General Posey was formerly colonel of the Forty-eighth Mississippi regiment, belonging to General Featherstone's brigade, and when the latter was transferred from the army of Virginia to the West, General Posey was commissioned to succeed him. The firing on Fort Sumter continued steadily. From
Major General Stephen Augustus Hurlbut, from his headquarters, Sixteenth Army Corps, at Memphis, Tennessee, issued the following general order:
I. The people in the District of West-Tennessee and the northern counties of Mississippi having shown no disposition, and made no attempt to protect themselves from marauders and guerrilla bands, but having submitted themselves, without organized resistance, to the domination of these petty tyrants, and combined, in many instances, with the known enemies of the United States to procure from corrupt traders in the city of Memphis and elsewhere, supplies for the use of the public enemy, have proved themselves unworthy of the indulgence shown them by the Government.
It is therefore ordered, that the lines of pickets around the several military posts of this command, in Tennessee and Mississippi be closed, and that no goods of any description be allowed to pass out, nor any thing be brought in, except fire-wood and provisions, by any citizen, without the written order of some general officer, each of which permits, and the reason for granting the same, will be reported to these headquarters, and for the necessity of which each officer granting will be held rigidly responsible.
II. All merchants, and others doing business, will be held responsible for knowledge of the residence of the parties to whom they sell, and the sale of merchandise to persons beyond the lines of pickets will be punished with the highest rigor known to the laws of war.
III. All persons residing under the protection of the United States, and physically capable of military duty, are liable to perform the same in a country under martial law. Especially in the city of Memphis, where it is known many have fled to escape liability to military service at home, this rule will be strictly applied. In pursuance, therefore, to orders to this effect from Major-General W. T. Sherman, commanding department and army of the Tennessee, all officers commanding districts, divisions, and detached brigades of this corps, will immediately proceed to impress into the service of the United States such able-bodied persons liable to military duty as may be required to fill up the existing regiments and batteries to their maximum. Those persons so levied upon, if they enlist for three years or the war, will be entitled to the full benefits provided by the acts of Congress. If not, they will receive clothing and rations, and be borne at the foot of each company roll with remarks stating their time of service and the advances made by the Government in clothing; a certificate of which will be given them when discharged from such forced service, the question of pay or other compensation to be settled by proper authorities hereafter. They will be discharged when no further military necessity appears for their enforced service.
IV. The senior surgeons and inspectors present will constitute a Board of Inspection on the physical capacity of recruits.
Early this morning, a party of Confederate cavalry crossed the Rapidan River in front of Kilpatrick's line, at Morton's Ford, Virginia, attacked the pickets, capturing some six or eight of them, and retreated across the river again. This morning the affair was reported to Brigadier General George Custer, who was temporarily in command of the division, when he immediately ordered a regiment of cavalry and Pennington's battery of three-inch rifled guns down to the rear, and drove them back from the ford, notwithstanding they had brass twelve-pounders. This was done in the midst of a heavy rain-storm. No serious casualties were reported to Major General Alfred Pleasanton.
1
Posted on 11/16/13 at 6:23 am to BadLeroyDawg
Monday, 16 November 1863
After Gettysburg, General James Longstreet's corps had been detached from the Army of Northern Virginia and sent West to assist the Army of Tennessee. Due the circuitous route taken with the fall of Chattanooga previously, they had arrived just in the nick of time to help win the Battle of Chickamauga, the second bloodiest battle in the entire War Between the States. Since then, he and his troops had little to do except help maintain the siege of the Union forces hunkered down back in Chattanooga. Finally, they had headed in the direction of Knoxville, and this morning Longstreet was at the little town of Campbell's Station. General Ambrose Burnside's forces had been nearby, in the small town of Lenoir, Tennessee, but quickly evacuated upon learning of the advance of Longstreet and eventually had to face him and fight a battle at Campbell's Station. The fight lasted for some hours on and off until nightfall. Had Confederate intelligence had been just a little better, or if the army could have moved just a little faster, events could have been greatly different. Longstreet, however, did not move quite fast enough to cut off Burnside's retreat, and his forces all hastily escaped into Knoxville.
The effect of the Union's western successes was severely felt by the Confederate effort in the cast. Commander John K. Mitchell wrote Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory that there was a critical shortage of fuels for manufacturing purposes and naval use. "The occupation of Chattanooga by the enemy in August has effectually cut off the supply from the mines in that region, upon which the public works in Georgia and South Carolina and the naval vessels in the waters of those States were dependent. Meager supplies have been sent to Charleston from this place [ Richmond ] and from the Egypt mines in North Carolina . . . ." He reported that there was a sufficient amount of coal in the Richmond area to supply the Confederate ships operating in Virginia waters and rivers, and he felt that wood was being successfully substituted for coal at Charleston and Savannah. Mitchell paid tribute to the thoroughness of the Union blockade when he wrote of the economic plight of the Confederate States: "The prices of almost all articles of prime necessity have advanced from five to ten times above those ruling at the breaking out of the war, and, for many articles, a much greater advance has been reached, so that now the pay of the higher grades of officers, even those with small families, is insufficient for the pay of their board only; how much greater, then, must be the difficulty of living in the case of the lower grades of officers, and, the families of enlisted persons. This difficulty, when the private sources of credit and the limited means of most of the officers become exhausted, must soon, unless relief be extended to them by the Government, reach the point of destitution, or of charitable dependence, a point, in fact, already reached in many instances."
This morning, the USS Monongahela, under Commander James Hooker Strong, escorted the Army transports and covered the landing of more than a thousand troops on Mustang Island, Aransas Pass, Texas. The Monongahela's sailors manned a battery of two howitzers ashore, and the ship shelled Confederate works until the vastly out-numbered defenders surrendered. General Nathaniel Prentice Banks wrote in high praise of the "great assistance" rendered by the Monongahela during this successful operation.
After Gettysburg, General James Longstreet's corps had been detached from the Army of Northern Virginia and sent West to assist the Army of Tennessee. Due the circuitous route taken with the fall of Chattanooga previously, they had arrived just in the nick of time to help win the Battle of Chickamauga, the second bloodiest battle in the entire War Between the States. Since then, he and his troops had little to do except help maintain the siege of the Union forces hunkered down back in Chattanooga. Finally, they had headed in the direction of Knoxville, and this morning Longstreet was at the little town of Campbell's Station. General Ambrose Burnside's forces had been nearby, in the small town of Lenoir, Tennessee, but quickly evacuated upon learning of the advance of Longstreet and eventually had to face him and fight a battle at Campbell's Station. The fight lasted for some hours on and off until nightfall. Had Confederate intelligence had been just a little better, or if the army could have moved just a little faster, events could have been greatly different. Longstreet, however, did not move quite fast enough to cut off Burnside's retreat, and his forces all hastily escaped into Knoxville.
The effect of the Union's western successes was severely felt by the Confederate effort in the cast. Commander John K. Mitchell wrote Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory that there was a critical shortage of fuels for manufacturing purposes and naval use. "The occupation of Chattanooga by the enemy in August has effectually cut off the supply from the mines in that region, upon which the public works in Georgia and South Carolina and the naval vessels in the waters of those States were dependent. Meager supplies have been sent to Charleston from this place [ Richmond ] and from the Egypt mines in North Carolina . . . ." He reported that there was a sufficient amount of coal in the Richmond area to supply the Confederate ships operating in Virginia waters and rivers, and he felt that wood was being successfully substituted for coal at Charleston and Savannah. Mitchell paid tribute to the thoroughness of the Union blockade when he wrote of the economic plight of the Confederate States: "The prices of almost all articles of prime necessity have advanced from five to ten times above those ruling at the breaking out of the war, and, for many articles, a much greater advance has been reached, so that now the pay of the higher grades of officers, even those with small families, is insufficient for the pay of their board only; how much greater, then, must be the difficulty of living in the case of the lower grades of officers, and, the families of enlisted persons. This difficulty, when the private sources of credit and the limited means of most of the officers become exhausted, must soon, unless relief be extended to them by the Government, reach the point of destitution, or of charitable dependence, a point, in fact, already reached in many instances."
This morning, the USS Monongahela, under Commander James Hooker Strong, escorted the Army transports and covered the landing of more than a thousand troops on Mustang Island, Aransas Pass, Texas. The Monongahela's sailors manned a battery of two howitzers ashore, and the ship shelled Confederate works until the vastly out-numbered defenders surrendered. General Nathaniel Prentice Banks wrote in high praise of the "great assistance" rendered by the Monongahela during this successful operation.
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