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re: 150 years ago this day...
Posted on 11/24/13 at 7:33 am to BadLeroyDawg
Posted on 11/24/13 at 7:33 am to BadLeroyDawg
Tuesday, 24 November 1863
The efforts which took the collective name of "The Battle of Chattanooga" entered their second day today with what is known as the Battle of Lookout Mountain. Three divisions under General Joseph Hooker clambered across Lookout Creek in the morning and started to fight their way up the hill. Heavy fog shrouded the area, and commanders down below had no way of observing the action, causing this day's event to be known as "The Battle Above the Clouds." About halfway up the mountain was a level patch known as Craven's Farm, and there the Confederates put up a spirited defense for a short time. They soon withdrew, as planned, to the main defensive line on Missionary Ridge. General William T. Sherman's men triumphantly took the north end of the ridge, thinking they had pulled off a brilliant flanking maneuver. They would have, except for the fact that a large ravine separated the piece of turf they were now holding from the one the Confederates were actually on.
Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee wrote US Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles regarding a conversation with General Benjamin F. "Spoons" Butler while reconnoitering the Sounds of North Carolina: "I gave him my views respecting the best method of attacking Wilmington, viz, either to March from New Berne and seize the best and nearest fortified inlet on the north of Fort Fisher, thence to cross and blockade the Cape Fear River, or to land below Fort Caswell (the key to the position) and blockade the river from the right bank between Smithville and Brunswick." Four days later, Commander W. A. Parker supported the Admiral's views after making his own observations. Recommending a joint Army-Navy assault to capture Fort Fisher, he wrote: "I am of the opinion that 25,000 men and two or three ironclads should be sent to capture this place, if so large a force can be conveniently furnished for this purpose. . . . The ironclads . . . should be employed to divert the attention of the garrison at Fort Fisher during the landing of our troops at Masonboro Inlet, and to prevent the force there from being used to oppose the debarkation. . . . Fort Fisher would probably fall after a short resistance, as I have been informed that the heavy guns all point to seaward, and there is but slight provision made to resist an attack from the interior." Union efforts in the east were concentrated on the capture of Charleston at this time, however, and a thrust at Wilmington was postponed. The city continued as a prime haven for blockade runners until early 1865.
Under cover of the USS Pawnee, Commander Balch in charge, and the USS Marblehead, piloted by Lieutenant Commander Richard W. Meade, Jr., Army troops commenced sinking piles as obstructions in the Stono River above Legareville, South Carolina. The troops, protected by Marblehead, had landed the day before. The naval force remained on station at the request of Brigadier General Schimmelfennig to preclude a possible Confederate attack.
A court of inquiry convened by order of the Confederate War Department to examine and report facts and circumstances attending the capture of the city of New Orleans, in April, 1862, and the defense of the city by the Rebel troops under the command of General Mansfield Lovell, gave as their opinion that General Lovell's "...conduct was marked by all the coolness and self-possession due to the circumstances and his position; and that he evinced a high capacity for his command, and the clearest foresight in many of his measures for the defense of New Orleans."
Herschel V. Johnson, in a speech at Milledgeville, Georgia, used the following language: "There is no step backward. All is now involved in the struggle that is dear to man ? home, society, liberty, honor, every thing ? with the certainty of the most degraded fate that ever oppressed a people, if we fail. It is not recorded in history that eight millions of united people, resolved to be free, have failed. We cannot yield if we would. Yield to the Federal authorities ? to vassalage and subjugation! The bleaching of the bones of one hundred thousand gallant soldiers slain in battle would be clothed in tongues of fire to curse to everlasting infamy the man who whispers yield. God is with us, because He is always with the right." He closed in counselling a firm reliance on Providence, and the cultivation of a spirit of reliance and devotion.
The Richmond Examiner's morning edition contained the following: "Five balls advertised, and flour one hundred and twenty-five dollars per barrel! Who prates of famine and want? Who is suffering for the necessaries of life? Does not all go 'merry as a marriage bell?' If the skeleton come in, put a ball-ticket at five dollars into its bony fingers, a masquerade ball costume upon its back of bony links, and send the grim guest into the ball-room to the sound of cotillion music."
The second day of the battle of Chattanooga, Tennessee. General Hooker, in command of Geary's division of the Twelfth corps, Osterhaus's division of the Fifteenth corps, and two brigades of the Fourteenth corps, carried the north slope of Lookout Mountain with small loss, and a loss to the rebels of five or six hundred prisoners.
There was continuous fighting from twelve o'clock until after nightfall, but the National troops gallantly repulsed every attempt of the enemy to retake the position. General Sherman crossed the Tennessee River before daylight this morning, at the mouth of South Chickamauga, with three divisions of the Fifteenth corps, one division of the Fourteenth corps, and carried the northern extremity of Missionary Ridge.
The efforts which took the collective name of "The Battle of Chattanooga" entered their second day today with what is known as the Battle of Lookout Mountain. Three divisions under General Joseph Hooker clambered across Lookout Creek in the morning and started to fight their way up the hill. Heavy fog shrouded the area, and commanders down below had no way of observing the action, causing this day's event to be known as "The Battle Above the Clouds." About halfway up the mountain was a level patch known as Craven's Farm, and there the Confederates put up a spirited defense for a short time. They soon withdrew, as planned, to the main defensive line on Missionary Ridge. General William T. Sherman's men triumphantly took the north end of the ridge, thinking they had pulled off a brilliant flanking maneuver. They would have, except for the fact that a large ravine separated the piece of turf they were now holding from the one the Confederates were actually on.
Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee wrote US Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles regarding a conversation with General Benjamin F. "Spoons" Butler while reconnoitering the Sounds of North Carolina: "I gave him my views respecting the best method of attacking Wilmington, viz, either to March from New Berne and seize the best and nearest fortified inlet on the north of Fort Fisher, thence to cross and blockade the Cape Fear River, or to land below Fort Caswell (the key to the position) and blockade the river from the right bank between Smithville and Brunswick." Four days later, Commander W. A. Parker supported the Admiral's views after making his own observations. Recommending a joint Army-Navy assault to capture Fort Fisher, he wrote: "I am of the opinion that 25,000 men and two or three ironclads should be sent to capture this place, if so large a force can be conveniently furnished for this purpose. . . . The ironclads . . . should be employed to divert the attention of the garrison at Fort Fisher during the landing of our troops at Masonboro Inlet, and to prevent the force there from being used to oppose the debarkation. . . . Fort Fisher would probably fall after a short resistance, as I have been informed that the heavy guns all point to seaward, and there is but slight provision made to resist an attack from the interior." Union efforts in the east were concentrated on the capture of Charleston at this time, however, and a thrust at Wilmington was postponed. The city continued as a prime haven for blockade runners until early 1865.
Under cover of the USS Pawnee, Commander Balch in charge, and the USS Marblehead, piloted by Lieutenant Commander Richard W. Meade, Jr., Army troops commenced sinking piles as obstructions in the Stono River above Legareville, South Carolina. The troops, protected by Marblehead, had landed the day before. The naval force remained on station at the request of Brigadier General Schimmelfennig to preclude a possible Confederate attack.
A court of inquiry convened by order of the Confederate War Department to examine and report facts and circumstances attending the capture of the city of New Orleans, in April, 1862, and the defense of the city by the Rebel troops under the command of General Mansfield Lovell, gave as their opinion that General Lovell's "...conduct was marked by all the coolness and self-possession due to the circumstances and his position; and that he evinced a high capacity for his command, and the clearest foresight in many of his measures for the defense of New Orleans."
Herschel V. Johnson, in a speech at Milledgeville, Georgia, used the following language: "There is no step backward. All is now involved in the struggle that is dear to man ? home, society, liberty, honor, every thing ? with the certainty of the most degraded fate that ever oppressed a people, if we fail. It is not recorded in history that eight millions of united people, resolved to be free, have failed. We cannot yield if we would. Yield to the Federal authorities ? to vassalage and subjugation! The bleaching of the bones of one hundred thousand gallant soldiers slain in battle would be clothed in tongues of fire to curse to everlasting infamy the man who whispers yield. God is with us, because He is always with the right." He closed in counselling a firm reliance on Providence, and the cultivation of a spirit of reliance and devotion.
The Richmond Examiner's morning edition contained the following: "Five balls advertised, and flour one hundred and twenty-five dollars per barrel! Who prates of famine and want? Who is suffering for the necessaries of life? Does not all go 'merry as a marriage bell?' If the skeleton come in, put a ball-ticket at five dollars into its bony fingers, a masquerade ball costume upon its back of bony links, and send the grim guest into the ball-room to the sound of cotillion music."
The second day of the battle of Chattanooga, Tennessee. General Hooker, in command of Geary's division of the Twelfth corps, Osterhaus's division of the Fifteenth corps, and two brigades of the Fourteenth corps, carried the north slope of Lookout Mountain with small loss, and a loss to the rebels of five or six hundred prisoners.
There was continuous fighting from twelve o'clock until after nightfall, but the National troops gallantly repulsed every attempt of the enemy to retake the position. General Sherman crossed the Tennessee River before daylight this morning, at the mouth of South Chickamauga, with three divisions of the Fifteenth corps, one division of the Fourteenth corps, and carried the northern extremity of Missionary Ridge.
1
Posted on 11/24/13 at 7:36 am to BadLeroyDawg
24 November continued...
The Richmond Examiner published the following: While a furious invading enemy is laying waste our fair fields, demanding unconditional submission to its government, offering no terms of peace, not even hinting at negotiation for peace upon any other basis, but avowing the unanimous purpose to deprive us of all right, of all law and of all property; and while our devoted armies are in the field, with their arms in their hands and their banners flying, to defy and resist and beat back that foul invasion, we do not comprehend how any man in the Confederacy can ? we do not say get "honorable peace" --but even talk of honorable peace, save by vanquishing those invading enemies. If the political system of those invading enemies break up, by reason of reverses in war, or financial troubles; if certain States of their "Union" remember that they have state rights, and act upon them by seceding from the Union, and offering us a peace, so far as they are concerned, it will be well; that will aid us materially in the one single task we have to achieve ? the task of defeating and destroying the military power of our enemies. But reasonable confederates would be at a loss to know how we can contribute to that happy state of things, except by continued and successful resistance in arms. Our sole policy and cunningest diplomacy is fighting; our most insinuating negotiator is the confederate army in line of battle.
Now we perceive, that just as Congress is about to meet, certain newspapers of the Confederacy are preparing the way for discussions in that body about some other method of obtaining peace. The other method suggested, in so far as we can comprehend it, consists in the several States of the Confederacy taking the matter out of the hands of the confederate government, ignoring the government and the army, and all that army has done and suffered for the independence of the Confederacy, and then making peace, each State for itself, as best it can. There would be an honorable peace!
We are sorry to have to mention that such an idea has shown itself. It was believed that it was confined to about two newspapers, both of Raleigh, North-Carolina. But something very similar is to be found in two other newspapers of Atlanta. As it is extremely essential that the time of this Congress should not be diverted for one instant from the business of carrying on the war by any vain palaver about peace, peace, when there is no peace, we reluctantly advert to the disagreeable circumstance in order that the small distracting element may be disposed of and made innocuous the more speedily.
Governor Vance, in a message to the Legislature of North Carolina, said: We know, at last, precisely what we would get by submission, and therein has our enemy done us good service ? abolition of slavery, confiscation of property, and territorial vassalage. These are the terms to win us back. Now, when our brothers bleed and mothers and little ones cry for bread, we can point them back to the brick-kilns of Egypt ? thanks to Mr. Seward--plainly in view, and show them the beautiful clusters of Eschol which grow in the land of independence, whither we go to possess them. And we can remind them, too, how the pillar of fire and the cloud, the vouchsafed guidon of Jehovah, went ever before the hungering multitude, leading away, with apparent cruelty, from the fulness of servitude. With such a prospect before them, people will, as heretofore, come firmly up to the full measure of their duty if their trusted servants do not fail them. They will not crucify afresh their own sons, slain in their behalf, or put their gallant shades to open shame, by stopping short of full and complete national independence.
The Richmond Examiner published the following: While a furious invading enemy is laying waste our fair fields, demanding unconditional submission to its government, offering no terms of peace, not even hinting at negotiation for peace upon any other basis, but avowing the unanimous purpose to deprive us of all right, of all law and of all property; and while our devoted armies are in the field, with their arms in their hands and their banners flying, to defy and resist and beat back that foul invasion, we do not comprehend how any man in the Confederacy can ? we do not say get "honorable peace" --but even talk of honorable peace, save by vanquishing those invading enemies. If the political system of those invading enemies break up, by reason of reverses in war, or financial troubles; if certain States of their "Union" remember that they have state rights, and act upon them by seceding from the Union, and offering us a peace, so far as they are concerned, it will be well; that will aid us materially in the one single task we have to achieve ? the task of defeating and destroying the military power of our enemies. But reasonable confederates would be at a loss to know how we can contribute to that happy state of things, except by continued and successful resistance in arms. Our sole policy and cunningest diplomacy is fighting; our most insinuating negotiator is the confederate army in line of battle.
Now we perceive, that just as Congress is about to meet, certain newspapers of the Confederacy are preparing the way for discussions in that body about some other method of obtaining peace. The other method suggested, in so far as we can comprehend it, consists in the several States of the Confederacy taking the matter out of the hands of the confederate government, ignoring the government and the army, and all that army has done and suffered for the independence of the Confederacy, and then making peace, each State for itself, as best it can. There would be an honorable peace!
We are sorry to have to mention that such an idea has shown itself. It was believed that it was confined to about two newspapers, both of Raleigh, North-Carolina. But something very similar is to be found in two other newspapers of Atlanta. As it is extremely essential that the time of this Congress should not be diverted for one instant from the business of carrying on the war by any vain palaver about peace, peace, when there is no peace, we reluctantly advert to the disagreeable circumstance in order that the small distracting element may be disposed of and made innocuous the more speedily.
Governor Vance, in a message to the Legislature of North Carolina, said: We know, at last, precisely what we would get by submission, and therein has our enemy done us good service ? abolition of slavery, confiscation of property, and territorial vassalage. These are the terms to win us back. Now, when our brothers bleed and mothers and little ones cry for bread, we can point them back to the brick-kilns of Egypt ? thanks to Mr. Seward--plainly in view, and show them the beautiful clusters of Eschol which grow in the land of independence, whither we go to possess them. And we can remind them, too, how the pillar of fire and the cloud, the vouchsafed guidon of Jehovah, went ever before the hungering multitude, leading away, with apparent cruelty, from the fulness of servitude. With such a prospect before them, people will, as heretofore, come firmly up to the full measure of their duty if their trusted servants do not fail them. They will not crucify afresh their own sons, slain in their behalf, or put their gallant shades to open shame, by stopping short of full and complete national independence.
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