re: 150 years ago this day...

Saturday, 11 March 1865

In southern North Carolina, the left wing of Major General William T. Sherman’s Union troops occupy Fayetteville, an important city on the Cape Fear River. The second step of Sherman’s Carolina Campaign comes to an end with the occupation of Fayetteville. The whole army pulls up to the city in the southeastern part of the state after light skirmishing.

Sherman dispatches messengers upriver to Wilmington, North Carolina, to make contact with Major General John M. Schofield, in order to report his presence and arrange for coordination with the armada coming in from the sea and form a two-pronged attack against Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston’s (commanding all Southerners in the region) meager forces.

Sherman reports: "Up to this period I had perfectly succeeded in interposing my superior army between the scattered parts of my enemy." Johnston warns General Robert E. Lee that if Sherman and Schofield joined forces, "...their march into Virginia cannot be prevented by me."

President Abraham Lincoln proclaims a pardon to all soldiers and sailors who had deserted from the military or naval forces of the United States and return to their units, stations and ships within sixty days. If they do not return, they will forfeit their rights of citizenship.

The United States Senate adjourns after a brief special session to deal primarily with confirming Lincoln’s executive appointments. Presidential secretary John George Nicolay was also confirmed as the U.S. consul in Paris, France.

The steamer Ajax puts into Nassau, Bahamas. Lieutenant John Low, who had been on board as a "...passenger assumed command, and on 25 March transferred her registry." Governor Rawson W. Rawson of Bermuda carefully examines the ship and concludes that "...nothing [was] found on her..." She now appears to be intended for a tug. It is suspected that she was intended as a tender to the Confederate Ironclad vessel [Stonewall], said to be now in a Spanish Port, watched by two Federal cruisers. By early April, the Ajax was ready to sail for Bermuda.

More skirmishes break out around Fayetteville, North Carolina, as the Union vessels USS Eolus, Lenapee, Maratanza and Nyack sail up the Cape Fear River towards the town.

Full report: Lieutenant Commander George W. Young, senior officer present off Wilmington, leads a naval force consisting of the USS Eolus and boat crews from USS Maratanza, Lenapee, and Nyack up the Cape Fear River to Fayetteville, where the expedition rendezvoused with General Sherman's army. The naval movement had been undertaken at the request of Major General Alfred Terry, who, Young reported, had said on the morning of the 11th "...that he was about starting an expedition up the North West Branch [of the Cape Fear River] for the purpose of clearing the way to Fayetteville, and wished to have one of the gunboats, as a support, to follow." The expedition was halted for the night at Devil's Bend because of "...the circuitous nature of the river..." but resumed the next morning and arrived at Fayetteville on the evening of the 12th. In addition to opening communications between Sherman and the Union forces on the coast the naval units arrived in time to protect the General's flank while he crossed the river.

In Virginia, Major General Philip H. Sheridan’s Federals skirmish at Goochland County Court House and are now in a position to threaten Richmond.

Skirmishing occurs in Missouri and Arkansas.

Brigadier General Edmund J. Davis, USA, is assigned to the command of the District of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

A Federal expedition travels from Fortress Monroe aboard steamers, into Westmoreland County, Virginia, and skirmishes near Warsaw, Virginia, with the destruction of all Confederate property of any value.