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re: 150 years ago this day...
Posted on 1/4/14 at 8:16 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Posted on 1/4/14 at 8:16 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Tuesday, 5 January 1864
There were decidedly different views expressed at each end of Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., today on the subject of Federal bounties paid to new recruits in the Union army. Yesterday, Congress had cancelled the payments outright. In the early days of the War Between the States, bounties had often been raised and paid out of civic pride (or a need to fill recruitment quotas) at the state, county and even city level. Over time, as troop needs escalated again and again, the task had moved to the Federal level, which, having to pay, clothe, arm and feed the men once recruited, was reluctant to pay to hire them in the first place. President Abraham Lincoln on the other hand sent a request to Capitol Hill this morning suggesting strongly that they reconsider. First, he requested that the bounties be kept in place for at least another month. Then, to emphasize the seriousness of the matter, he proposed that they be increased.
Commander George B. Balch reported to Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren, commanding the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, that prices continue to rocket in blockaded Charleston: "...boots sell at $250 a pair."
The Fourth Virginia Confederate Cavalry surprised an infantry picket belonging to the Army of the Potomac, at a point near El Dorado, in Culpeper County, Virginia, and captured three of their number.
There were decidedly different views expressed at each end of Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., today on the subject of Federal bounties paid to new recruits in the Union army. Yesterday, Congress had cancelled the payments outright. In the early days of the War Between the States, bounties had often been raised and paid out of civic pride (or a need to fill recruitment quotas) at the state, county and even city level. Over time, as troop needs escalated again and again, the task had moved to the Federal level, which, having to pay, clothe, arm and feed the men once recruited, was reluctant to pay to hire them in the first place. President Abraham Lincoln on the other hand sent a request to Capitol Hill this morning suggesting strongly that they reconsider. First, he requested that the bounties be kept in place for at least another month. Then, to emphasize the seriousness of the matter, he proposed that they be increased.
Commander George B. Balch reported to Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren, commanding the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, that prices continue to rocket in blockaded Charleston: "...boots sell at $250 a pair."
The Fourth Virginia Confederate Cavalry surprised an infantry picket belonging to the Army of the Potomac, at a point near El Dorado, in Culpeper County, Virginia, and captured three of their number.
1
Posted on 1/5/14 at 9:31 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Wednesday, 6 January 1864
Little known history even to serious students of the War Between the States were actions which took place in the very-far-western theater, territories neither in the Confederate, nor yet the United, States of America. We note this day a campaign which took place over the course of most of January in New Mexico Territory. The participants were Federal troops under commander Kit Carson on one side, and the Navajo Nation on the other. Skirmishes and raids had begun yesterday near Fort Sumner, New Mexico, and today continued. Action raged from Fort Canby to the Canon de Chelly region. Perhaps these conflicts are better described as "early Indian Wars" actions than as Civil War fights anyway.
Major General John Gray Foster, from his headquarters at Knoxville, issued the following order: “All able-bodied colored men, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, within our lines, except those employed in the several staff departments, officers' servants, and those servants of loyal citizens who prefer remaining with their masters, will be sent forthwith to Knoxville, Loudon, or Kingston, Tennessee, to be enrolled under the direction of Brigadier General Davis Tillson, Chief of Artillery, with a view to the formation of a regiment of artillery, to be composed of troops of African descent.”
By orders from General Foster, Brigadier General Orlando Bolivar Wilcox was assigned to the command of the district of Clinch, including the region between the Cumberland and Clinch Mountains, and extending from Big Creek Gap on the west, to the eastern line of the State of Tennessee, on the east.
Little known history even to serious students of the War Between the States were actions which took place in the very-far-western theater, territories neither in the Confederate, nor yet the United, States of America. We note this day a campaign which took place over the course of most of January in New Mexico Territory. The participants were Federal troops under commander Kit Carson on one side, and the Navajo Nation on the other. Skirmishes and raids had begun yesterday near Fort Sumner, New Mexico, and today continued. Action raged from Fort Canby to the Canon de Chelly region. Perhaps these conflicts are better described as "early Indian Wars" actions than as Civil War fights anyway.
Major General John Gray Foster, from his headquarters at Knoxville, issued the following order: “All able-bodied colored men, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, within our lines, except those employed in the several staff departments, officers' servants, and those servants of loyal citizens who prefer remaining with their masters, will be sent forthwith to Knoxville, Loudon, or Kingston, Tennessee, to be enrolled under the direction of Brigadier General Davis Tillson, Chief of Artillery, with a view to the formation of a regiment of artillery, to be composed of troops of African descent.”
By orders from General Foster, Brigadier General Orlando Bolivar Wilcox was assigned to the command of the district of Clinch, including the region between the Cumberland and Clinch Mountains, and extending from Big Creek Gap on the west, to the eastern line of the State of Tennessee, on the east.
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