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re: 150 years ago this day...
Posted on 11/16/13 at 6:23 am to BadLeroyDawg
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.
1
Posted on 11/17/13 at 5:42 am to BadLeroyDawg
Tuesday, 17 November 1863
There had been several attempts to tackle the Western jewel of the Confederate States of America, the state and former republic of Texas, but none so far had succeeded very well or lasted very long. Another such strike was made today, and this time considerably greater force was being employed. The USS Monongahela was the escort gunboat for a fleet of troop transporters. They, in turn, were carrying more than a thousand Federal soldiers as they traveled toward Aransas Pass, Texas. The immediate target was the Confederate garrison guarding this pass from Mustang Island. After a preliminary softening-up barrage from the ships' guns, an amphibious landing was made. The defenders, trapped, had no solution but to surrender, and the first day went well for the Union.
The USS Mystic, under Acting Master William Wright, assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, seized the schooner Emma D. off Yorktown, Virginia. The same day, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus Fox wrote Rear Admiral S.P. Lee praising the effectiveness of the squadron: "I congratulate you upon the captures off Wilmington. Nine steamers have been lost to the Rebels in a short time, all due to the 'fine spirit' of our people engaged in the blockade. It is a severe duty and well maintained and Jeff Davis pays us a higher compliment than our own people when he declares that there is but one port in 3500 miles (recollect that the whole Atlantic front of Europe is but 2900 miles) through which they can get in supplies."
Nearly a hundred prisoners captured by General William Woods Averill in his engagement with the Confederates at Pocahontas County, Virginia, arrived at Wheeling, West Virginia this morning, and were committed to the Athenaeum. There was scarcely a whole suit of clothes in the party, and many of them were without shoes. Judging from the fact that a fall of snow was lately announced in the vicinity of where the fight took place, these shoeless Rebels must have suffered terribly from the cold.
The schooner Joseph L. Gerity, on a voyage from Matamoras to New York, with a cargo of cotton and six passengers, was seized by those six travelers, who overcame the captain and his crew; and after keeping them in confinement for eight days, set them adrift at sea in a small boat, in which they eventually landed on the coast of Sisal. After the crew and captain were put in the boat, the captors hoisted the Confederate flag and fired a salute with pistols, declaring that they would carry the vessel and her cargo into Honduras and sell them for the Southern cause.
There had been several attempts to tackle the Western jewel of the Confederate States of America, the state and former republic of Texas, but none so far had succeeded very well or lasted very long. Another such strike was made today, and this time considerably greater force was being employed. The USS Monongahela was the escort gunboat for a fleet of troop transporters. They, in turn, were carrying more than a thousand Federal soldiers as they traveled toward Aransas Pass, Texas. The immediate target was the Confederate garrison guarding this pass from Mustang Island. After a preliminary softening-up barrage from the ships' guns, an amphibious landing was made. The defenders, trapped, had no solution but to surrender, and the first day went well for the Union.
The USS Mystic, under Acting Master William Wright, assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, seized the schooner Emma D. off Yorktown, Virginia. The same day, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus Fox wrote Rear Admiral S.P. Lee praising the effectiveness of the squadron: "I congratulate you upon the captures off Wilmington. Nine steamers have been lost to the Rebels in a short time, all due to the 'fine spirit' of our people engaged in the blockade. It is a severe duty and well maintained and Jeff Davis pays us a higher compliment than our own people when he declares that there is but one port in 3500 miles (recollect that the whole Atlantic front of Europe is but 2900 miles) through which they can get in supplies."
Nearly a hundred prisoners captured by General William Woods Averill in his engagement with the Confederates at Pocahontas County, Virginia, arrived at Wheeling, West Virginia this morning, and were committed to the Athenaeum. There was scarcely a whole suit of clothes in the party, and many of them were without shoes. Judging from the fact that a fall of snow was lately announced in the vicinity of where the fight took place, these shoeless Rebels must have suffered terribly from the cold.
The schooner Joseph L. Gerity, on a voyage from Matamoras to New York, with a cargo of cotton and six passengers, was seized by those six travelers, who overcame the captain and his crew; and after keeping them in confinement for eight days, set them adrift at sea in a small boat, in which they eventually landed on the coast of Sisal. After the crew and captain were put in the boat, the captors hoisted the Confederate flag and fired a salute with pistols, declaring that they would carry the vessel and her cargo into Honduras and sell them for the Southern cause.
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