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re: 150 years ago this day...
Posted on 1/5/14 at 9:31 pm to BadLeroyDawg
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.
1
Posted on 1/6/14 at 7:53 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Thursday, 7 January 1864
Yesterday, Confederate President Jefferson Davis had commuted the death sentence of a young private from Virginia. Today, although he could not have known of Davis’ gesture, Union President Abraham Lincoln also set aside the ruling of a court-martial that a deserter be put to death, as military regulations prescribed. When asked for a reason, he could only reply wearily “...because I am trying to evade the butchering business lately.” Under the regulations, all court-martial sentences of death had to be reviewed by the Commander in Chief, and Lincoln was notorious for commuting death sentences to terms of imprisonment, particularly in cases of desertion, most particularly if the offender was young. This infuriated many of Lincoln’s generals, who felt that the gesture undermined disciplinary efforts.
Following reports from an informant, Rear Admiral John Adolphus Bernard Dahlgren ordered all ships of the Charleston blockading force to take stringent precautions against attack by Southern torpedo boats, and noted: "There is also one of another kind, which is nearly submerged and can be entirely so. It is intended to go under the bottoms of vessels and there to operate." Regarding the submarine H.L. Hunley, he warned: "It is also advisable not to anchor in the deepest part of the channel, for by not leaving much space between the bottom of the vessel and the bottom of the channel it will be impossible for the diving torpedo to operate except on the sides, and there will be less difficulty in raising a vessel if sunk."
Major General Benjamin F. "Spoons" Butler's plan to send the Army steamer Brewster, Ensign Arnold Harris, Jr., into Wilmington harbor under the guise of a blockade runner "...for the purpose of making an attempt upon the shipping and blockade runners in the harbor..." was abandoned upon learning of the Confederates' protective precautions. Brigadier General Charles K. Graham reported to Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee that while it might be possible to run past Forts Caswell and Fisher under the proposed ruse, it would be frustrated by the chain that stretched across the channel at Fort Lee; all blockade runners were required to come to at that point until permission for their further advance was received from Wilmington. Under these circumstances, Graham concluded, "...it would be madness to make the attempt."
The USS Montgomery, Lieutenant Edward H. Faucon, and the USS Aries, Lieutenant Edward F. Devens, chased the blockade runner Dare. The steamer, finding escape impossible, was beached at North Inlet, South Carolina, and was abandoned by her crew. Boat crews from both Montgomery and Aries boarded but, failing to refloat the prize, set her afire.
The USS San Jacinto, Lieutenant Commander Ralph Chandler, captured the schooner Roebuck at sea, bound from Havana for Mobile.
Madisonville, Louisiana, was entered and occupied by the Federal forces.
Twenty shells were thrown into the city of Charleston, South Carolina, from the National batteries under the command of General Quincy Adams Gillmore.
Caleb B. Smith, Judge of the United States Court for the District of Indiana, and late Secretary of the Interior, died suddenly at Indianapolis.
The Confederate schooner John Scott, while attempting to run the blockade from the harbor of Mobile, Alabama, was captured by the Union gunboat USS Kennebec.
Yesterday, Confederate President Jefferson Davis had commuted the death sentence of a young private from Virginia. Today, although he could not have known of Davis’ gesture, Union President Abraham Lincoln also set aside the ruling of a court-martial that a deserter be put to death, as military regulations prescribed. When asked for a reason, he could only reply wearily “...because I am trying to evade the butchering business lately.” Under the regulations, all court-martial sentences of death had to be reviewed by the Commander in Chief, and Lincoln was notorious for commuting death sentences to terms of imprisonment, particularly in cases of desertion, most particularly if the offender was young. This infuriated many of Lincoln’s generals, who felt that the gesture undermined disciplinary efforts.
Following reports from an informant, Rear Admiral John Adolphus Bernard Dahlgren ordered all ships of the Charleston blockading force to take stringent precautions against attack by Southern torpedo boats, and noted: "There is also one of another kind, which is nearly submerged and can be entirely so. It is intended to go under the bottoms of vessels and there to operate." Regarding the submarine H.L. Hunley, he warned: "It is also advisable not to anchor in the deepest part of the channel, for by not leaving much space between the bottom of the vessel and the bottom of the channel it will be impossible for the diving torpedo to operate except on the sides, and there will be less difficulty in raising a vessel if sunk."
Major General Benjamin F. "Spoons" Butler's plan to send the Army steamer Brewster, Ensign Arnold Harris, Jr., into Wilmington harbor under the guise of a blockade runner "...for the purpose of making an attempt upon the shipping and blockade runners in the harbor..." was abandoned upon learning of the Confederates' protective precautions. Brigadier General Charles K. Graham reported to Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee that while it might be possible to run past Forts Caswell and Fisher under the proposed ruse, it would be frustrated by the chain that stretched across the channel at Fort Lee; all blockade runners were required to come to at that point until permission for their further advance was received from Wilmington. Under these circumstances, Graham concluded, "...it would be madness to make the attempt."
The USS Montgomery, Lieutenant Edward H. Faucon, and the USS Aries, Lieutenant Edward F. Devens, chased the blockade runner Dare. The steamer, finding escape impossible, was beached at North Inlet, South Carolina, and was abandoned by her crew. Boat crews from both Montgomery and Aries boarded but, failing to refloat the prize, set her afire.
The USS San Jacinto, Lieutenant Commander Ralph Chandler, captured the schooner Roebuck at sea, bound from Havana for Mobile.
Madisonville, Louisiana, was entered and occupied by the Federal forces.
Twenty shells were thrown into the city of Charleston, South Carolina, from the National batteries under the command of General Quincy Adams Gillmore.
Caleb B. Smith, Judge of the United States Court for the District of Indiana, and late Secretary of the Interior, died suddenly at Indianapolis.
The Confederate schooner John Scott, while attempting to run the blockade from the harbor of Mobile, Alabama, was captured by the Union gunboat USS Kennebec.
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