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re: 150 years ago this day...
Posted on 3/20/15 at 8:39 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Posted on 3/20/15 at 8:39 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Tuesday March 21, 1865
Union Major General William T. Sherman’s troops kept up the pressure on Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston’s forces at Bentonville, North Carolina. The men of Major General Joseph A. Mower moved from the far Federal right around the Confederate left flank late in the afternoon and threatened the Mill Creek Bridge on Johnston’s retreat line. Counter-attacks halted the menace after considerable fighting, which effectively ended the Battle of Bentonville, the last significant Confederate effort to halt Sherman’s advance. During the night, Johnston decisively ordered evacuation after reports that Union Major General John M. Schofield had taken Goldsboro. Casualties for the Federals totaled more than 1,500 while Confederates sustained more than 2,600 losses, many of whom were captured.
President Jefferson Davis wrote to Confederate General-in-Chief Robert E. Lee, agreeing with him that Mobile, Alabama, should be held at all practicable costs and "...all the recent indications are that the purpose of the enemy is to cut off all communication with Richmond..."
Union General-in-Chief Hiram U. Grant sent a follow-up message from yesterday to Major General Philip H. Sheridan: "There is now such a possibility, if not probability, of Lee and Johnston attempting to unite that I feel extremely desirous not only of cutting the lines of communication between them, but of having a large and properly commanded cavalry force ready to act with in case such an attempt is made..."
A Federal expedition begins from Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
The CSS Stonewall, commanded by Captain Thomas Jefferson Page--a grandson of a signer of the Declaration of Independence--having been detained in Ferrol, Spain, for several days because of foul weather, attempted to put to sea. The seas outside, however, were still too heavy and the ironclad put back into port. Two days later, another attempt would be made to get to sea but met with similar results. Page then off-loaded some 40 tons of coal to make her more seaworthy.
Lieutenant Commander Arthur R. Yates, commanding the USS J.P. Jackson, in Mississippi Sound, reported to Rear Admiral Henry Knox Thatcher that he had issued food from his ship's stores to relieve the destitute and starving condition of people in Biloxi, cut off from Mobile from which provisions had been formerly received. Yates' actions illustrated the rarely used humanitarian heritage of the Navy.
The heavy guns of Union gunboats supported the landing of troops of General Edward Richard Sprigg Canby's command at Dannelly's Mills on the Fish River, Alabama. This was a diversionary operation intended to prevent the movement of additional Confederate troops to Mobile during the week prior to the opening of the Yankee attack against that city.
Union Major General William T. Sherman’s troops kept up the pressure on Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston’s forces at Bentonville, North Carolina. The men of Major General Joseph A. Mower moved from the far Federal right around the Confederate left flank late in the afternoon and threatened the Mill Creek Bridge on Johnston’s retreat line. Counter-attacks halted the menace after considerable fighting, which effectively ended the Battle of Bentonville, the last significant Confederate effort to halt Sherman’s advance. During the night, Johnston decisively ordered evacuation after reports that Union Major General John M. Schofield had taken Goldsboro. Casualties for the Federals totaled more than 1,500 while Confederates sustained more than 2,600 losses, many of whom were captured.
President Jefferson Davis wrote to Confederate General-in-Chief Robert E. Lee, agreeing with him that Mobile, Alabama, should be held at all practicable costs and "...all the recent indications are that the purpose of the enemy is to cut off all communication with Richmond..."
Union General-in-Chief Hiram U. Grant sent a follow-up message from yesterday to Major General Philip H. Sheridan: "There is now such a possibility, if not probability, of Lee and Johnston attempting to unite that I feel extremely desirous not only of cutting the lines of communication between them, but of having a large and properly commanded cavalry force ready to act with in case such an attempt is made..."
A Federal expedition begins from Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
The CSS Stonewall, commanded by Captain Thomas Jefferson Page--a grandson of a signer of the Declaration of Independence--having been detained in Ferrol, Spain, for several days because of foul weather, attempted to put to sea. The seas outside, however, were still too heavy and the ironclad put back into port. Two days later, another attempt would be made to get to sea but met with similar results. Page then off-loaded some 40 tons of coal to make her more seaworthy.
Lieutenant Commander Arthur R. Yates, commanding the USS J.P. Jackson, in Mississippi Sound, reported to Rear Admiral Henry Knox Thatcher that he had issued food from his ship's stores to relieve the destitute and starving condition of people in Biloxi, cut off from Mobile from which provisions had been formerly received. Yates' actions illustrated the rarely used humanitarian heritage of the Navy.
The heavy guns of Union gunboats supported the landing of troops of General Edward Richard Sprigg Canby's command at Dannelly's Mills on the Fish River, Alabama. This was a diversionary operation intended to prevent the movement of additional Confederate troops to Mobile during the week prior to the opening of the Yankee attack against that city.
1
Posted on 3/21/15 at 9:48 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Wednesday, 22 March 1865
At Bentonville, North Carolina, Major General William T. Sherman ended his brief pursuit of General Joseph E. Johnston and issued orders to link with Major General John M. Schofield’s Federals at Goldsboro. Some of Sherman’s advance units arrived in the town today. Johnston moved his forces back toward Raleigh and Weldon; Johnston wrote to General Robert E. Lee, "Sherman’s course cannot be hindered by the small force I have. I can do no more than annoy him."
Sherman issued a congratulatory order to his Federal troops: "After a march of the most extraordinary character, nearly 500 miles over swamps and rivers deemed impassable to others, at the most inclement season of the year, and drawing our chief supplies from a poor and wasted country, we reach our destination in good health and condition."
Theodore Washington Brevard, CSA, is appointed Brigadier General.
Brigadier General James Harrison Wilson's US Cavalry Raid, 13,500 strong, begins advancing from Chickasaw to Selma, Alabama, to not only capture the important communications center, but to divert attention from the major assault planned on Mobile. Wilson then travels on to Macon, Georgia, in an attempt to destroy one of the last remaining munitions manufacturing facilities of the Confederacy.
Brigadier General Edward Hatch, USA, assumes the command of all the troops of the Cavalry Corps, the Military Division of the Mississippi, remaining at Eastport, Mississippi.
Guerrilla's operations commence about Stephenson's Mill, 16 miles southwest of Salem, Missouri, on the Current River, as partisans set fire to, and burn the fort there, in part, for retaliation for the local miller failing to have the much needed quantity of meal ground for 250 Rebels they had demanded yesterday.
Skirmishes broke out at Black Creek, at Hannah's Creek, and at Mill Creek, North Carolina; as well as at Celina, Tennessee.
Skirmish 9.5 miles from Patterson Creek Station, West Virginia, as a large contingent of Union Cavalry attacks McNeill's Partisan Rangers.
Union Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus Vasa Fox directed Commodore John B. Montgomery, Commandant of the Washington Navy Yard, to have the USS Bat ready to convoy the steamer River Queen at noon the next day: "The President will be in the River Queen, bound to City Point." Lincoln was headed for a conference with his top commanders. In a hard fought battle, Major General William T. Sherman had just defeated a desperate slashing attack by General Joseph E. Johnston at Bentonville, midway between his two river contacts with the sea at Fayetteville and Goldsboro. At Goldsboro, Sherman was joined by General John M. Schofield's army, which had been brought to Wilmington by ships. Confident of the security of his position, Sherman could leave his soldiers for a few days and take the steamer Russia to City Point and the meeting with Lincoln, Lieutenant General Hiram U. Grant, and Rear Admiral David D. Porter.
Bonus report; 250 years ago today...In an effort to raise funds to pay off debts and defend the vast new American territories won from the French in the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763), the British government passes the Stamp Act on this day in 1765. The legislation levied a direct tax on all materials printed for commercial and legal use in the colonies, from newspapers and pamphlets to playing cards and dice.
Though the Stamp Act employed a strategy that was a common fundraising vehicle in England, it stirred a storm of protest in the colonies. The colonists had recently been hit with three major taxes: the Sugar Act (1764), which levied new duties on imports of textiles, wines, coffee and sugar; the Currency Act (1764), which caused a major decline in the value of the paper money used by colonists; and the Quartering Act (1765), which required colonists to provide food and lodging to British troops.
With the passing of the Stamp Act, the colonists’ grumbling finally became an articulated response to what they saw as the mother country’s attempt to undermine their economic strength and independence. They raised the issue of taxation without representation, and formed societies throughout the colonies to rally against the British government and nobles who sought to exploit the colonies as a source of revenue and raw materials. By October of that year, nine of the 13 colonies sent representatives to the Stamp Act Congress, at which the colonists drafted the “Declaration of Rights and Grievances,” a document that railed against the autocratic policies of the mercantilist British empire.
Realizing that it actually cost more to enforce the Stamp Act in the protesting colonies than it did to abolish it, the British government repealed the tax the following year. The fracas over the Stamp Act, though, helped plant seeds for a far larger movement against the British government and the eventual battle for independence. Most important of these was the formation of the Sons of Liberty, a group of tradesmen who led anti-British protests in Boston and other seaboard cities, and other groups of wealthy landowners who came together from the across the colonies. Well after the Stamp Act was repealed, these societies continued to meet in opposition to what they saw as the abusive policies of the British empire. Out of their meetings, a growing nationalism emerged that would culminate in the fighting of the American Revolution only a decade later.
At Bentonville, North Carolina, Major General William T. Sherman ended his brief pursuit of General Joseph E. Johnston and issued orders to link with Major General John M. Schofield’s Federals at Goldsboro. Some of Sherman’s advance units arrived in the town today. Johnston moved his forces back toward Raleigh and Weldon; Johnston wrote to General Robert E. Lee, "Sherman’s course cannot be hindered by the small force I have. I can do no more than annoy him."
Sherman issued a congratulatory order to his Federal troops: "After a march of the most extraordinary character, nearly 500 miles over swamps and rivers deemed impassable to others, at the most inclement season of the year, and drawing our chief supplies from a poor and wasted country, we reach our destination in good health and condition."
Theodore Washington Brevard, CSA, is appointed Brigadier General.
Brigadier General James Harrison Wilson's US Cavalry Raid, 13,500 strong, begins advancing from Chickasaw to Selma, Alabama, to not only capture the important communications center, but to divert attention from the major assault planned on Mobile. Wilson then travels on to Macon, Georgia, in an attempt to destroy one of the last remaining munitions manufacturing facilities of the Confederacy.
Brigadier General Edward Hatch, USA, assumes the command of all the troops of the Cavalry Corps, the Military Division of the Mississippi, remaining at Eastport, Mississippi.
Guerrilla's operations commence about Stephenson's Mill, 16 miles southwest of Salem, Missouri, on the Current River, as partisans set fire to, and burn the fort there, in part, for retaliation for the local miller failing to have the much needed quantity of meal ground for 250 Rebels they had demanded yesterday.
Skirmishes broke out at Black Creek, at Hannah's Creek, and at Mill Creek, North Carolina; as well as at Celina, Tennessee.
Skirmish 9.5 miles from Patterson Creek Station, West Virginia, as a large contingent of Union Cavalry attacks McNeill's Partisan Rangers.
Union Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus Vasa Fox directed Commodore John B. Montgomery, Commandant of the Washington Navy Yard, to have the USS Bat ready to convoy the steamer River Queen at noon the next day: "The President will be in the River Queen, bound to City Point." Lincoln was headed for a conference with his top commanders. In a hard fought battle, Major General William T. Sherman had just defeated a desperate slashing attack by General Joseph E. Johnston at Bentonville, midway between his two river contacts with the sea at Fayetteville and Goldsboro. At Goldsboro, Sherman was joined by General John M. Schofield's army, which had been brought to Wilmington by ships. Confident of the security of his position, Sherman could leave his soldiers for a few days and take the steamer Russia to City Point and the meeting with Lincoln, Lieutenant General Hiram U. Grant, and Rear Admiral David D. Porter.
Bonus report; 250 years ago today...In an effort to raise funds to pay off debts and defend the vast new American territories won from the French in the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763), the British government passes the Stamp Act on this day in 1765. The legislation levied a direct tax on all materials printed for commercial and legal use in the colonies, from newspapers and pamphlets to playing cards and dice.
Though the Stamp Act employed a strategy that was a common fundraising vehicle in England, it stirred a storm of protest in the colonies. The colonists had recently been hit with three major taxes: the Sugar Act (1764), which levied new duties on imports of textiles, wines, coffee and sugar; the Currency Act (1764), which caused a major decline in the value of the paper money used by colonists; and the Quartering Act (1765), which required colonists to provide food and lodging to British troops.
With the passing of the Stamp Act, the colonists’ grumbling finally became an articulated response to what they saw as the mother country’s attempt to undermine their economic strength and independence. They raised the issue of taxation without representation, and formed societies throughout the colonies to rally against the British government and nobles who sought to exploit the colonies as a source of revenue and raw materials. By October of that year, nine of the 13 colonies sent representatives to the Stamp Act Congress, at which the colonists drafted the “Declaration of Rights and Grievances,” a document that railed against the autocratic policies of the mercantilist British empire.
Realizing that it actually cost more to enforce the Stamp Act in the protesting colonies than it did to abolish it, the British government repealed the tax the following year. The fracas over the Stamp Act, though, helped plant seeds for a far larger movement against the British government and the eventual battle for independence. Most important of these was the formation of the Sons of Liberty, a group of tradesmen who led anti-British protests in Boston and other seaboard cities, and other groups of wealthy landowners who came together from the across the colonies. Well after the Stamp Act was repealed, these societies continued to meet in opposition to what they saw as the abusive policies of the British empire. Out of their meetings, a growing nationalism emerged that would culminate in the fighting of the American Revolution only a decade later.
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