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re: 150 years ago this day...
Posted on 3/29/15 at 9:25 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Posted on 3/29/15 at 9:25 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Thursday, 30 March 1865
Confederate Lieutenant Charles W. Read takes command of the ram CSS William H. Webb on the Red River, in Louisiana. Read reported to Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory that he found the ship "...without a single gun on board, little or no crew, no fuel, and no small arms, save a few cutlasses." Characteristically, the enterprising officer obtained a 30 Pound Parrott rifle from General Kirby Smith and readied Webb for her bold dash out of the Red River, intended to take her down the Mississippi some 300 miles, past New Orleans, and out to sea.
Skirmishing breaks out at Montevallo, Alabama, with Confederate Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest's troops contesting the advance of Brigadier General James H. Wilson's forces.
Federal expeditions maneuver from Baton Rouge to Clinton and the Comite River, Louisiana, including the capture of two Confederate soldiers who had slept in the woods and were enjoying a hot breakfast at the home of a Mrs. Simms. One of the suspected Rebels' grey horse indicates these are likely Confederate Cavalrymen.
Union Brigadier General Patrick E. Connor assumes the command of the District of the Plains, in the Nebraska Territory.
Skirmishes erupt near Five Forks, Virginia, as well as on the line of Hatcher's Run and Gravelly Run in the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign.
A skirmish occurs near Patterson's Creek, West Virginia, about 10 miles east of Cumberland, Maryland, where a band of partisan guerrillas attacked, captured and robbed a passenger train on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. The railroad refuses to accept Federal soldiers aboard for protection without receiving any compensation from the Union government.
Confederate Lieutenant Charles W. Read takes command of the ram CSS William H. Webb on the Red River, in Louisiana. Read reported to Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory that he found the ship "...without a single gun on board, little or no crew, no fuel, and no small arms, save a few cutlasses." Characteristically, the enterprising officer obtained a 30 Pound Parrott rifle from General Kirby Smith and readied Webb for her bold dash out of the Red River, intended to take her down the Mississippi some 300 miles, past New Orleans, and out to sea.
Skirmishing breaks out at Montevallo, Alabama, with Confederate Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest's troops contesting the advance of Brigadier General James H. Wilson's forces.
Federal expeditions maneuver from Baton Rouge to Clinton and the Comite River, Louisiana, including the capture of two Confederate soldiers who had slept in the woods and were enjoying a hot breakfast at the home of a Mrs. Simms. One of the suspected Rebels' grey horse indicates these are likely Confederate Cavalrymen.
Union Brigadier General Patrick E. Connor assumes the command of the District of the Plains, in the Nebraska Territory.
Skirmishes erupt near Five Forks, Virginia, as well as on the line of Hatcher's Run and Gravelly Run in the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign.
A skirmish occurs near Patterson's Creek, West Virginia, about 10 miles east of Cumberland, Maryland, where a band of partisan guerrillas attacked, captured and robbed a passenger train on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. The railroad refuses to accept Federal soldiers aboard for protection without receiving any compensation from the Union government.
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Posted on 3/31/15 at 5:29 am to BadLeroyDawg
Friday, 31 March 1865
This morning, the final offensive of the Army of the Potomac gathers steam when Union Major General Philip H. Sheridan moves against the left flank of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia near Dinwiddie Court House. The limited action set the stage for the Battle of Five Forks, Virginia, on 1 April.
This engagement took place at the end of the Petersburg, Virginia, line. For 10 months, the ever growing Union army had laid siege to Lee’s army at Petersburg, but the trenches stretched all the way to Richmond, some 25 miles to the north. Lee’s thinning army attacked Fort Stedman on 25 March in a futile attempt to break the siege, but the Union line, initially badly broken, regrouped with reserves and eventually held. On 29 March, Lieutenant General Hiram U. Grant, General-in-Chief of the Union Army and the field commander around Petersburg, had begun moving his men past the western end of Lee’s line.
Torrential rains almost delayed the move. Grant had planned to send Sheridan against the Confederates early on 31 March, but then called off the operation. Sheridan, however, would not be denied a chance to fight with his superior numbers. "I am ready to strike out tomorrow and go to smashing things!" he told his officers. They encouraged him to meet with Grant, who consented to begin the move today. Near Dinwiddie Court House, Sheridan's large force, along with Major General Gouverneur Kemble Warren's V Corps, advanced but was driven back by General George Pickett’s small division. Pickett, being alerted to the Union advance, decided during tonight's council to pull his men back to Five Forks. This set the stage for a major strike by Sheridan on 1 April, when the Yankees finally overwhelmed and crushed the Rebel flank and finally forced Lee to evacuate Richmond and Petersburg.
Actions commence near Montevallo, Alabama, where Union Brigadier General James Harrison Wilson and his Cavalry force destroys iron furnaces and equipment while combating Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest's Confederate troops.
Union troops under General Wilson occupy Asbyville, Alabama, and also see action at Six-Mile Creek.
Union Major General Frederick Steele's column reaches Stockton, Alabama, the Mobile Campaign.
Federal operations begin around Aquia Eria, in the New Mexico Territory, as the Yankees respond to a scared rancher reporting that Indians had crossed his ranch last night. Upon further scouting, the Yankees determine the horse tracks had been made by either peaceful Navajo or Pueblo Indians. The tracks were so close to his house that the nervous rancher referred to, might have been his own.
Skirmish at Galley's, and at Hookerton, North Carolina.
Union Major General Jacob D. Cox resumes the command of the 23rd US Army Corps, North Carolina.
Skirmishing breaks out at Magnolia, Tennessee.
Confederate Major General John Bankhead Magruder is assigned to the command of the District of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, and vice Major General John G. Walker is relieved of command.
Actions occur at the White Oak Road, or White Oak Ride, at Crow's House, and at Hatcher's Run, or Boydton Road, Virginia, in the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign.
The St. Mary's, a 115 ton schooner out of St. Mary's, Maryland, loaded with an assorted cargo valued at over $20,000, was boarded and captured off the Patuxent River in Chesapeake Bay by a Confederate raiding Party led by Master John C. Braine, CSN. The disguised Southerners were in a yawl and had come alongside the schooner on the pretext that their craft was sinking. Braine took St. Mary's to sea where they captured a New York bound schooner, the J. B. Spafford. The latter prize was released after the raiders had placed St. Mary's crew on board her and had taken the crew members' personal effects. The Confederates indicated to their captives that their intention was to take St. Mary's to St. Marks, Florida, attempting to run the blockade but they put into Nassau in April.
The USS Iuka, Lieutenant William C. Rogers in charge, captures the blockade running British schooner Comus off the coast of Florida with a cargo of cotton.
This morning, the final offensive of the Army of the Potomac gathers steam when Union Major General Philip H. Sheridan moves against the left flank of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia near Dinwiddie Court House. The limited action set the stage for the Battle of Five Forks, Virginia, on 1 April.
This engagement took place at the end of the Petersburg, Virginia, line. For 10 months, the ever growing Union army had laid siege to Lee’s army at Petersburg, but the trenches stretched all the way to Richmond, some 25 miles to the north. Lee’s thinning army attacked Fort Stedman on 25 March in a futile attempt to break the siege, but the Union line, initially badly broken, regrouped with reserves and eventually held. On 29 March, Lieutenant General Hiram U. Grant, General-in-Chief of the Union Army and the field commander around Petersburg, had begun moving his men past the western end of Lee’s line.
Torrential rains almost delayed the move. Grant had planned to send Sheridan against the Confederates early on 31 March, but then called off the operation. Sheridan, however, would not be denied a chance to fight with his superior numbers. "I am ready to strike out tomorrow and go to smashing things!" he told his officers. They encouraged him to meet with Grant, who consented to begin the move today. Near Dinwiddie Court House, Sheridan's large force, along with Major General Gouverneur Kemble Warren's V Corps, advanced but was driven back by General George Pickett’s small division. Pickett, being alerted to the Union advance, decided during tonight's council to pull his men back to Five Forks. This set the stage for a major strike by Sheridan on 1 April, when the Yankees finally overwhelmed and crushed the Rebel flank and finally forced Lee to evacuate Richmond and Petersburg.
Actions commence near Montevallo, Alabama, where Union Brigadier General James Harrison Wilson and his Cavalry force destroys iron furnaces and equipment while combating Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest's Confederate troops.
Union troops under General Wilson occupy Asbyville, Alabama, and also see action at Six-Mile Creek.
Union Major General Frederick Steele's column reaches Stockton, Alabama, the Mobile Campaign.
Federal operations begin around Aquia Eria, in the New Mexico Territory, as the Yankees respond to a scared rancher reporting that Indians had crossed his ranch last night. Upon further scouting, the Yankees determine the horse tracks had been made by either peaceful Navajo or Pueblo Indians. The tracks were so close to his house that the nervous rancher referred to, might have been his own.
Skirmish at Galley's, and at Hookerton, North Carolina.
Union Major General Jacob D. Cox resumes the command of the 23rd US Army Corps, North Carolina.
Skirmishing breaks out at Magnolia, Tennessee.
Confederate Major General John Bankhead Magruder is assigned to the command of the District of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, and vice Major General John G. Walker is relieved of command.
Actions occur at the White Oak Road, or White Oak Ride, at Crow's House, and at Hatcher's Run, or Boydton Road, Virginia, in the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign.
The St. Mary's, a 115 ton schooner out of St. Mary's, Maryland, loaded with an assorted cargo valued at over $20,000, was boarded and captured off the Patuxent River in Chesapeake Bay by a Confederate raiding Party led by Master John C. Braine, CSN. The disguised Southerners were in a yawl and had come alongside the schooner on the pretext that their craft was sinking. Braine took St. Mary's to sea where they captured a New York bound schooner, the J. B. Spafford. The latter prize was released after the raiders had placed St. Mary's crew on board her and had taken the crew members' personal effects. The Confederates indicated to their captives that their intention was to take St. Mary's to St. Marks, Florida, attempting to run the blockade but they put into Nassau in April.
The USS Iuka, Lieutenant William C. Rogers in charge, captures the blockade running British schooner Comus off the coast of Florida with a cargo of cotton.
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