Started By
Message
re: 150 years ago this day...
Posted on 11/20/13 at 4:20 am to BadLeroyDawg
Posted on 11/20/13 at 4:20 am to BadLeroyDawg
Friday, 20 November 1863
At yesterday’s dedication ceremony of the new National Military Cemetery at Gettysburg, Edward Everett, the noted orator, had spoken for some two hours. He was followed by President Abraham Lincoln, who spoke for less than two minutes. The newspapermen in attendance, not all of whom had even been able to hear the President clearly, had been exceedingly lukewarm to harsh in their opinions of his address. This morning, however, it was Everett who sent Lincoln a letter of congratulations on his speech. Lincoln had better grasped “the central idea of the occasion,” he said. Lincoln, modestly, wrote back to Everett his thanks. “I am pleased to know that, in your judgment, the little I did say was not entirely a failure.”
Rear Admiral David G. Farragut, eager to return to sea duty in the Gulf, informed Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles from New York that the USS Hartford and Brooklyn "will not be ready for sea in less than three weeks, from the best information I can obtain. I particularly regret it, because I see that General Banks is in the field and my services may be required." The Admiral noted that he had received a letter from Commodore Bell, commanding in his absence, which indicated that there were not enough ships to serve on the Texas coast and maintain the blockade elsewhere as well. Farragut noted that some turreted ironclads were building at St. Louis and suggested: "They draw about 6 feet of water and will be the very vessels to operate in the shallow waters of Texas , if the Department would order them down there." Three days later, the Secretary asked Rear Admiral Potter to "...consider the subject and inform the Department as early as practicable to what extent Farragut's wishes can be complied with." Porter replied on the 27th that he could supply Farragut with eight light drafts "...in the course of a month" and that "six weeks from today I could have ten vessels sent to Admiral Farragut, if I can get the officers and men..."
The Solicitor of the War Department, Mr. William Whiting, in a letter to a gentleman in Boston, wrote as follows: There are several serious difficulties in the way of continuing an exchange of prisoners. One is the bad faith of the enemy in putting into active service many thousands of paroled prisoners, captured at Vicksburg and elsewhere, without releasing any of our soldiers held by them. But another difficulty of still grater importance is the peremptory refusal by the enemy to exchange colored soldiers and their white officers upon any terms whatever. It is well known that they have threatened to sell colored captured soldiers into slavery, and to hang their white officers. The Government demands that all officers and soldiers should be fairly exchanged, otherwise no more prisoners of war will be given up. The faith of the Government is pledged to these officers and troops that they shall be protected, and it cannot and will not abandon to the savage cruelty of slave-masters a single officer or soldier who has been called on to defend the flag of his country, and thus exposed to the hazards of war. It has been suggested that exchanges might go on until all except the colored troops and their white officers have been given up. But if this were allowed, the rebels would not only be relieved of the burden of maintaining our troops, but they would get back their own men, retaining their power over the very persons whom we are solemnly bound to rescue, and upon whom they could then, without fear of retaliation, carry into execution the inhuman cruelties they have so basely threatened. The President has ordered that the stern law of retaliation shall, without hesitation, be enforced, to avenge the death of the first Union soldier, of whatever color, whom the enemy shall in cold blood destroy or sell into slavery. All other questions between us may be postponed for future settlement, but the fair exchange of colored soldiers and of their white officers will be insisted on by the Government before another rebel soldier or officer will be exchanged.
At yesterday’s dedication ceremony of the new National Military Cemetery at Gettysburg, Edward Everett, the noted orator, had spoken for some two hours. He was followed by President Abraham Lincoln, who spoke for less than two minutes. The newspapermen in attendance, not all of whom had even been able to hear the President clearly, had been exceedingly lukewarm to harsh in their opinions of his address. This morning, however, it was Everett who sent Lincoln a letter of congratulations on his speech. Lincoln had better grasped “the central idea of the occasion,” he said. Lincoln, modestly, wrote back to Everett his thanks. “I am pleased to know that, in your judgment, the little I did say was not entirely a failure.”
Rear Admiral David G. Farragut, eager to return to sea duty in the Gulf, informed Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles from New York that the USS Hartford and Brooklyn "will not be ready for sea in less than three weeks, from the best information I can obtain. I particularly regret it, because I see that General Banks is in the field and my services may be required." The Admiral noted that he had received a letter from Commodore Bell, commanding in his absence, which indicated that there were not enough ships to serve on the Texas coast and maintain the blockade elsewhere as well. Farragut noted that some turreted ironclads were building at St. Louis and suggested: "They draw about 6 feet of water and will be the very vessels to operate in the shallow waters of Texas , if the Department would order them down there." Three days later, the Secretary asked Rear Admiral Potter to "...consider the subject and inform the Department as early as practicable to what extent Farragut's wishes can be complied with." Porter replied on the 27th that he could supply Farragut with eight light drafts "...in the course of a month" and that "six weeks from today I could have ten vessels sent to Admiral Farragut, if I can get the officers and men..."
The Solicitor of the War Department, Mr. William Whiting, in a letter to a gentleman in Boston, wrote as follows: There are several serious difficulties in the way of continuing an exchange of prisoners. One is the bad faith of the enemy in putting into active service many thousands of paroled prisoners, captured at Vicksburg and elsewhere, without releasing any of our soldiers held by them. But another difficulty of still grater importance is the peremptory refusal by the enemy to exchange colored soldiers and their white officers upon any terms whatever. It is well known that they have threatened to sell colored captured soldiers into slavery, and to hang their white officers. The Government demands that all officers and soldiers should be fairly exchanged, otherwise no more prisoners of war will be given up. The faith of the Government is pledged to these officers and troops that they shall be protected, and it cannot and will not abandon to the savage cruelty of slave-masters a single officer or soldier who has been called on to defend the flag of his country, and thus exposed to the hazards of war. It has been suggested that exchanges might go on until all except the colored troops and their white officers have been given up. But if this were allowed, the rebels would not only be relieved of the burden of maintaining our troops, but they would get back their own men, retaining their power over the very persons whom we are solemnly bound to rescue, and upon whom they could then, without fear of retaliation, carry into execution the inhuman cruelties they have so basely threatened. The President has ordered that the stern law of retaliation shall, without hesitation, be enforced, to avenge the death of the first Union soldier, of whatever color, whom the enemy shall in cold blood destroy or sell into slavery. All other questions between us may be postponed for future settlement, but the fair exchange of colored soldiers and of their white officers will be insisted on by the Government before another rebel soldier or officer will be exchanged.
1
Posted on 11/21/13 at 4:10 am to BadLeroyDawg
Saturday, 21 November 1863
The Union armies that had been bottled up in Chattanooga since the battle of Chickamauga had reached its disastrous conclusion were about to be idle no longer. General Hiram U. Grant was on the scene and settling the last details of the breakout battle with his commanders. General William Sherman was to engage in a complicated movement requiring not one, but two crossings of the Tennessee River to get to the Confederate right flank. General George Thomas was to strike the center, a formation known as Missionary Ridge. General Joseph Hooker, who was doing much better since his reassignment to the west, was to move into the valley below Lookout Mountain then attack the Confederate left.
The USS Grand Gulf, under Commander George M. Ransom, and the Army transport Fulton seized the blockade running British steamer Banshee south of Salter Path, North Carolina.
The steamer Welcome was attacked this morning at Waterproof, Louisiana, by partisan guerrillas, with cannon planted on the levee, and twelve balls and shells fired through and into the cabin and other parts of the boat, besides nearly three hundred Minie balls from the sharpshooters along the banks of the river.
Acting Master J. F. D. Robinson, commander of the Satellite, and Acting Ensign Henry Walters, who was in command of the Reliance, were dismissed from the Navy of the United States, for gross dereliction in the case of the capture of their vessels on the twenty-third of August, 1863. The Department of the Navy regretted "...the necessity of this action in the case of Acting Ensign Walters, inasmuch as the Court report that 'during the attack he acted with bravery and to the best of his ability, and which, in some measure, relieves his want of precaution against surprise from its otherwise inexcusable character, and shows that his failure to take them proceeded more from inexperience than negligence.' "
At Little Rock, Arkansas, a large Union meeting was held, at which the "...restoration of State Rights under the old Government" was advocated, and a great number of persons took the oath of allegiance and enrolled themselves for home defense.
The British Confederate blockade-runner steamer Banshee, was captured by the United States Steamers Delaware and Fulton, off of Wilmington, North Carolina.
The steamer Black Hawk, when about half a mile below Red River Landing, on the Mississippi River, was fired into from the east bank of the river by a battery of ten or twelve guns, and about fifteen round shot and shell struck the boat. One shell exploded in the Texas, setting fire to and burning that part of the boat and pilot-house. As soon as the captain and officers found the boat on fire, they ran her on a sandbar on the west side of the river, and immediately put all the passengers on shore, after which the fire was extinguished. While the boat lay aground on the sand-bar, the sharp-shooters were pouring in their murderous Minie balls, of which some three hundred struck the boat in different parts of her cabin and hull. It was the guerrillas' intention to follow the boat, but the gunboat stationed at the mouth of Red River followed them so close, pouring in shell among them, that she drove them back, after which the gunboat took the Black Hawk in tow, and carried her back to Red River, where she repaired sufficiently to proceed on her way. The casualties on board the boat were very severe. Mr. Samuel Fulton, a brother of the captain, was shot in the leg by a cannon-ball. His leg was afterward amputated below the knee. A colored man, by the name of Alfred Thomas, had his head blown off while lying flat down on the cable-deck. James Keller, of Louisville, belonging to the Twenty-second Kentucky volunteers, received a wound in the arm from a fragment of a shell. His arm was afterward amputated, and he soon after died. A passenger was slightly wounded in the arm.
The Union armies that had been bottled up in Chattanooga since the battle of Chickamauga had reached its disastrous conclusion were about to be idle no longer. General Hiram U. Grant was on the scene and settling the last details of the breakout battle with his commanders. General William Sherman was to engage in a complicated movement requiring not one, but two crossings of the Tennessee River to get to the Confederate right flank. General George Thomas was to strike the center, a formation known as Missionary Ridge. General Joseph Hooker, who was doing much better since his reassignment to the west, was to move into the valley below Lookout Mountain then attack the Confederate left.
The USS Grand Gulf, under Commander George M. Ransom, and the Army transport Fulton seized the blockade running British steamer Banshee south of Salter Path, North Carolina.
The steamer Welcome was attacked this morning at Waterproof, Louisiana, by partisan guerrillas, with cannon planted on the levee, and twelve balls and shells fired through and into the cabin and other parts of the boat, besides nearly three hundred Minie balls from the sharpshooters along the banks of the river.
Acting Master J. F. D. Robinson, commander of the Satellite, and Acting Ensign Henry Walters, who was in command of the Reliance, were dismissed from the Navy of the United States, for gross dereliction in the case of the capture of their vessels on the twenty-third of August, 1863. The Department of the Navy regretted "...the necessity of this action in the case of Acting Ensign Walters, inasmuch as the Court report that 'during the attack he acted with bravery and to the best of his ability, and which, in some measure, relieves his want of precaution against surprise from its otherwise inexcusable character, and shows that his failure to take them proceeded more from inexperience than negligence.' "
At Little Rock, Arkansas, a large Union meeting was held, at which the "...restoration of State Rights under the old Government" was advocated, and a great number of persons took the oath of allegiance and enrolled themselves for home defense.
The British Confederate blockade-runner steamer Banshee, was captured by the United States Steamers Delaware and Fulton, off of Wilmington, North Carolina.
The steamer Black Hawk, when about half a mile below Red River Landing, on the Mississippi River, was fired into from the east bank of the river by a battery of ten or twelve guns, and about fifteen round shot and shell struck the boat. One shell exploded in the Texas, setting fire to and burning that part of the boat and pilot-house. As soon as the captain and officers found the boat on fire, they ran her on a sandbar on the west side of the river, and immediately put all the passengers on shore, after which the fire was extinguished. While the boat lay aground on the sand-bar, the sharp-shooters were pouring in their murderous Minie balls, of which some three hundred struck the boat in different parts of her cabin and hull. It was the guerrillas' intention to follow the boat, but the gunboat stationed at the mouth of Red River followed them so close, pouring in shell among them, that she drove them back, after which the gunboat took the Black Hawk in tow, and carried her back to Red River, where she repaired sufficiently to proceed on her way. The casualties on board the boat were very severe. Mr. Samuel Fulton, a brother of the captain, was shot in the leg by a cannon-ball. His leg was afterward amputated below the knee. A colored man, by the name of Alfred Thomas, had his head blown off while lying flat down on the cable-deck. James Keller, of Louisville, belonging to the Twenty-second Kentucky volunteers, received a wound in the arm from a fragment of a shell. His arm was afterward amputated, and he soon after died. A passenger was slightly wounded in the arm.
Page 1 of 1
Popular
Back to top
Follow SECRant for SEC Football News