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Posted on 1/23/14 at 4:48 am to BadLeroyDawg
Posted on 1/23/14 at 4:48 am to BadLeroyDawg
Saturday, 23 January 1864
This morning President Abraham Lincoln announced a plan which would allow slaveowners in Union territory to manumit their slaves, then re-hire them as free laborers to get plantations and farms back into production. He urged the military commanders of the various departments and territories to support the system and publicize it in their areas. This was just the latest in a succession of plans--what under the Clinton administration would be called “trial balloons”--which Lincoln proposed in an attempt to solve what he deemed to be the “Negro problem.” Lincoln, like nearly all whites including ardent abolitionists, found it inconceivable that blacks and whites could ever live together as equals. The buyout plan did not fly and was eventually, quietly abandoned.
Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren in a letter to President Lincoln wrote: "The city of Charleston is converted into a camp, and 20,000 or 25,000 of their best troops are kept in abeyance in the vicinity, to guard against all possible contingencies, so that 2,000 of our men in the fortifications of Morris and Folly Islands, assisted by a few ironclads, are rendering invaluable service...No man in the country will be more happy than myself to plant the flag of the Union where you most desire to see it." The Union 's ability to attack any part of the South's long coastline from the sea diverted important numbers of Confederate soldiers from the main armies.
The Nashville Union of this date contained the following:
Indications that the next battle will occur in the vicinity of Knoxville accumulate. We yesterday conversed with several well informed parties--two of them east Tennessee refugees--and all the witnesses concur in the statement that every train from north Virginia comes loaded with troops from Lee's army; and that these legions are immediately added to the force now under Longstreet. It is even believed by many that Lee himself, feeling the absolute necessity for the reoccupation of east Tennessee, will leave his old command--or what will remain of it--and take charge of the campaign in the region of Knoxville. He and Jefferson Davis argue this way: If Tennessee is not repossessed, Richmond must be abandoned; if in reinforcing Longstreet's army the capital is lost, it must be regained, provided the assault on Grant is successful; and there is a chance that Meade, like some of his predecessors, may remain inactive, with but a small force confronting him, and in that event Knoxville may be retaken and Richmond saved.
We only hope the Rebels will make an early attack on Foster's command. Nothing would be more gratifying to those who understand the disposition and strength of our forces. Offensive operations on the part of Longstrect would insure the defeat and dispersion of his army, though all Lee's forces were with him. Upon this subject we speak from a thorough knowledge of the situation; and dared we publish the facts, the public would feel as much assured on that point as we do.
General Hiram U. Grant left for the front night before last, and will be ready to personally superintend operations when commenced.
A small detachment of Federal cavalry belonging to the forces in pursuit of General Longstreet, made a dash into Cocke County, Tenn., capturing twenty-seven wagons loaded with bacon and flour, and eighty-five prisoners. They reported that Longstreet was stripping the country of provisions and compelling Union families to leave.
A very exciting debate occurred in the Confederate Congress upon the act to increase the efficiency of the Rebel army, by the employment of free Negroes and slaves in certain capacities.
Restrictions upon trade with Missouri and Kentucky, with some exceptions, were annulled and abrogated by the Secretary of the Treasury.
General Wirt Adams, in command of a party of Confederate cavalry, entered Gelsertown, near Natchez, Mississippi, and captured thirty-five prisoners, sixty wagons and teams, several lots of cotton going to Natchez, and about eighty Negroes.--Richmond Enquirer.
This morning President Abraham Lincoln announced a plan which would allow slaveowners in Union territory to manumit their slaves, then re-hire them as free laborers to get plantations and farms back into production. He urged the military commanders of the various departments and territories to support the system and publicize it in their areas. This was just the latest in a succession of plans--what under the Clinton administration would be called “trial balloons”--which Lincoln proposed in an attempt to solve what he deemed to be the “Negro problem.” Lincoln, like nearly all whites including ardent abolitionists, found it inconceivable that blacks and whites could ever live together as equals. The buyout plan did not fly and was eventually, quietly abandoned.
Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren in a letter to President Lincoln wrote: "The city of Charleston is converted into a camp, and 20,000 or 25,000 of their best troops are kept in abeyance in the vicinity, to guard against all possible contingencies, so that 2,000 of our men in the fortifications of Morris and Folly Islands, assisted by a few ironclads, are rendering invaluable service...No man in the country will be more happy than myself to plant the flag of the Union where you most desire to see it." The Union 's ability to attack any part of the South's long coastline from the sea diverted important numbers of Confederate soldiers from the main armies.
The Nashville Union of this date contained the following:
Indications that the next battle will occur in the vicinity of Knoxville accumulate. We yesterday conversed with several well informed parties--two of them east Tennessee refugees--and all the witnesses concur in the statement that every train from north Virginia comes loaded with troops from Lee's army; and that these legions are immediately added to the force now under Longstreet. It is even believed by many that Lee himself, feeling the absolute necessity for the reoccupation of east Tennessee, will leave his old command--or what will remain of it--and take charge of the campaign in the region of Knoxville. He and Jefferson Davis argue this way: If Tennessee is not repossessed, Richmond must be abandoned; if in reinforcing Longstreet's army the capital is lost, it must be regained, provided the assault on Grant is successful; and there is a chance that Meade, like some of his predecessors, may remain inactive, with but a small force confronting him, and in that event Knoxville may be retaken and Richmond saved.
We only hope the Rebels will make an early attack on Foster's command. Nothing would be more gratifying to those who understand the disposition and strength of our forces. Offensive operations on the part of Longstrect would insure the defeat and dispersion of his army, though all Lee's forces were with him. Upon this subject we speak from a thorough knowledge of the situation; and dared we publish the facts, the public would feel as much assured on that point as we do.
General Hiram U. Grant left for the front night before last, and will be ready to personally superintend operations when commenced.
A small detachment of Federal cavalry belonging to the forces in pursuit of General Longstreet, made a dash into Cocke County, Tenn., capturing twenty-seven wagons loaded with bacon and flour, and eighty-five prisoners. They reported that Longstreet was stripping the country of provisions and compelling Union families to leave.
A very exciting debate occurred in the Confederate Congress upon the act to increase the efficiency of the Rebel army, by the employment of free Negroes and slaves in certain capacities.
Restrictions upon trade with Missouri and Kentucky, with some exceptions, were annulled and abrogated by the Secretary of the Treasury.
General Wirt Adams, in command of a party of Confederate cavalry, entered Gelsertown, near Natchez, Mississippi, and captured thirty-five prisoners, sixty wagons and teams, several lots of cotton going to Natchez, and about eighty Negroes.--Richmond Enquirer.
1
Posted on 1/23/14 at 9:30 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Sunday, 24 January 1864
Most of the major fronts, both eastern and western, were all quiet on this day. Some Union pickets failed to remain alert near Love Hill, Alabama, and were captured. Operations and skirmishes occurred near Natchez, Mississippi, and Tazewell, Tennessee. A Federal expedition left today on a trip up the James River in Virginia.
A large cavalry detachment from Fort Smith made a successful reconnaissance into Polk County, Arkansas. They passed through Caddo Gap and found the notorious Captain Williamson, with less than forty men, posted within log houses. The advance, under Lieutenant Williams, charged into the village and attacked the Confederates, killing Williamson and five of his men, wounding two, and taking two lieutenants and twenty-five men prisoners.
The Union loss was one killed; Lieutenant Williams and a private were slightly wounded. All the arms in the place were destroyed. The distance travelled was one hundred and seventy-two miles.
Shelling continues all day on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, the bombardment having been nearly uninterrupted since 12 August 1863.
Most of the major fronts, both eastern and western, were all quiet on this day. Some Union pickets failed to remain alert near Love Hill, Alabama, and were captured. Operations and skirmishes occurred near Natchez, Mississippi, and Tazewell, Tennessee. A Federal expedition left today on a trip up the James River in Virginia.
A large cavalry detachment from Fort Smith made a successful reconnaissance into Polk County, Arkansas. They passed through Caddo Gap and found the notorious Captain Williamson, with less than forty men, posted within log houses. The advance, under Lieutenant Williams, charged into the village and attacked the Confederates, killing Williamson and five of his men, wounding two, and taking two lieutenants and twenty-five men prisoners.
The Union loss was one killed; Lieutenant Williams and a private were slightly wounded. All the arms in the place were destroyed. The distance travelled was one hundred and seventy-two miles.
Shelling continues all day on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, the bombardment having been nearly uninterrupted since 12 August 1863.
Posted on 1/24/14 at 9:00 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Monday, 25 January 1864
Corporal Lucius W. Barber, a member of Company D of the 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, took advantage of a slow day in at Camp Cowan, Mississippi, to write a letter home. “A good many of the boys were engaged in making keepsakes out of 'Pemberton Oak'...the wood being gotten out of the tree under which Pemberton and Grant sat when the final terms of the surrender of Vicksburg were agreed upon. There was not a root or branch remaining...”
Union forces of the 9th Illinois Mounted Infantry under Captain Emil Adams were attacked at the Federal garrison in Athens, Alabama. At about four in the morning, almost 600 men of the Confederate 1st Alabama Cavalry under Lieutenant Colonel Moses W. Hannon made an attack against the Federal defenders. Adams’ men were able to hold out for over two hours, and finally force the Confederates to retreat. There were about twenty Union and thirty Confederate casualties.
Brigadier General Charles Kinnaird Graham, by direction of Major General Benjamin "Spoons" Butler, went with three armed transports and a competent force, to the Peninsula, made a landing on the James River, seven miles below Fort Powhatan--known as the Brandon Farms--and captured twenty-two of the enemy, seven of the signal corps, and brought away ninety-nine negroes.
They also destroyed twenty-four thousand pounds of pork and large quantities of oats and corn, and captured a sloop and schooner, and two hundred and forty boxes of tobacco, and five Jews preparing to run the blockade, and returned without the loss of a man.
Corinth, Mississippi, was evacuated by the Federal forces, and every thing of value in that section was transported to Memphis, Tennessee.
The bombardment of Charleston, South Carolina, continued. The Courier, published in that city, said: “This is the one hundred and ninety-fourth day of the siege. The damage being done is extraordinarily small in comparison with the number of shots and weight of metal fired, and that creates general astonishment. The whizzing of shells overhead has become a matter of so little interest as to excite scarcely any attention from passers-by. We have heard of no casualties. Some of the shells have exploded, and pieces of the contents been picked up, which, on examination, have been found to be a number of small square slugs, held together by a composition of sulphur, and designed to scatter at the time of explosion.”
The following special order was issued by General Butler, at Fortress Monroe: “That Mrs. Jennie Graves, of Norfolk, having a husband in the rebel States, and having taken the oath of allegiance on the second instant, as she says, to save her property; and also having declared her sympathies are with the South still, and that she hopes they will be successful, be sent through the lines and landed at City Point, so that she may be where her hopes and sympathies are.”
Major Burroughs, a partisan guerrilla, was shot by the guard at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, while attempting to escape from the pest-house where he was under treatment for the small-pox. A Negro sentinel belonging to Colonel John A. Nelson's regiment shot Burroughs for attempting to escape from the hospital at Portsmouth, Virginia. Burroughs was captured shortly after Butler assumed command of the Department, was tried, and sentenced to death as a guerrilla; and while awaiting execution was seized with the small-pox and conveyed to the hospital. Colonel Wheldon, upon his convalescence, gave orders for his removal to the jail; but the Lieutenant commissioned to execute these orders brought no warrant, and was refused admission by the negro sentinel. Burroughs, supposing from the altercation that friends had come to his assistance, tried to escape through the window. On hearing the noise the sentinel opened the door, and seeing the prisoner in the act of climbing out fired at and killed him.
Several hospital buildings at Camp Winder, near Richmond, Virginia, were destroyed by fire.
Corporal Lucius W. Barber, a member of Company D of the 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, took advantage of a slow day in at Camp Cowan, Mississippi, to write a letter home. “A good many of the boys were engaged in making keepsakes out of 'Pemberton Oak'...the wood being gotten out of the tree under which Pemberton and Grant sat when the final terms of the surrender of Vicksburg were agreed upon. There was not a root or branch remaining...”
Union forces of the 9th Illinois Mounted Infantry under Captain Emil Adams were attacked at the Federal garrison in Athens, Alabama. At about four in the morning, almost 600 men of the Confederate 1st Alabama Cavalry under Lieutenant Colonel Moses W. Hannon made an attack against the Federal defenders. Adams’ men were able to hold out for over two hours, and finally force the Confederates to retreat. There were about twenty Union and thirty Confederate casualties.
Brigadier General Charles Kinnaird Graham, by direction of Major General Benjamin "Spoons" Butler, went with three armed transports and a competent force, to the Peninsula, made a landing on the James River, seven miles below Fort Powhatan--known as the Brandon Farms--and captured twenty-two of the enemy, seven of the signal corps, and brought away ninety-nine negroes.
They also destroyed twenty-four thousand pounds of pork and large quantities of oats and corn, and captured a sloop and schooner, and two hundred and forty boxes of tobacco, and five Jews preparing to run the blockade, and returned without the loss of a man.
Corinth, Mississippi, was evacuated by the Federal forces, and every thing of value in that section was transported to Memphis, Tennessee.
The bombardment of Charleston, South Carolina, continued. The Courier, published in that city, said: “This is the one hundred and ninety-fourth day of the siege. The damage being done is extraordinarily small in comparison with the number of shots and weight of metal fired, and that creates general astonishment. The whizzing of shells overhead has become a matter of so little interest as to excite scarcely any attention from passers-by. We have heard of no casualties. Some of the shells have exploded, and pieces of the contents been picked up, which, on examination, have been found to be a number of small square slugs, held together by a composition of sulphur, and designed to scatter at the time of explosion.”
The following special order was issued by General Butler, at Fortress Monroe: “That Mrs. Jennie Graves, of Norfolk, having a husband in the rebel States, and having taken the oath of allegiance on the second instant, as she says, to save her property; and also having declared her sympathies are with the South still, and that she hopes they will be successful, be sent through the lines and landed at City Point, so that she may be where her hopes and sympathies are.”
Major Burroughs, a partisan guerrilla, was shot by the guard at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, while attempting to escape from the pest-house where he was under treatment for the small-pox. A Negro sentinel belonging to Colonel John A. Nelson's regiment shot Burroughs for attempting to escape from the hospital at Portsmouth, Virginia. Burroughs was captured shortly after Butler assumed command of the Department, was tried, and sentenced to death as a guerrilla; and while awaiting execution was seized with the small-pox and conveyed to the hospital. Colonel Wheldon, upon his convalescence, gave orders for his removal to the jail; but the Lieutenant commissioned to execute these orders brought no warrant, and was refused admission by the negro sentinel. Burroughs, supposing from the altercation that friends had come to his assistance, tried to escape through the window. On hearing the noise the sentinel opened the door, and seeing the prisoner in the act of climbing out fired at and killed him.
Several hospital buildings at Camp Winder, near Richmond, Virginia, were destroyed by fire.
Posted on 1/25/14 at 7:52 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Tuesday, 26 January 1864
President Abraham Lincoln this morning issued new regulations on the ticklish issue of “trading with the enemy.” The practice had, needless to say, been strictly prohibited. As Union forces moved into larger areas of the South, however, many regions were no longer considered enemy territory. More liberal rules were therefore needed, and plans were to extend them as practicable as possible when new areas were liberated.
William L. Dayton, the U.S. Minister to France, noted in a dispatch to Secretary of State William H. Seward: "I must regret that, of the great number of our ships of war, enough could not have been spared to look after the small Rebel cruisers now in French ports. It is a matter of great surprise in Europe, that, with our apparent naval force, we permit such miserable craft to chase our commerce from the ocean; it affects seriously our prestige."
A small party of Confederate partisan guerrillas made an attack on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad at Cameron, Virginia, and after firing upon a train, then fled. They were pursued by a squadron of cavalry under the command of Lieutenant Jackson, and one of their number captured.
The Federal cavalry under General Sturgis achieved a victory over the Confederate cavalry near Fair Gardens, about ten miles east of Sevierville, Tennessee. General McCook's division drove the enemy back about two miles, after a stubborn fight, lasting from daylight to four P. M., at which time the division charged with the sabre and a yell, and routed the enemy from the field, capturing two steel rifled guns and over one hundred prisoners. The Southern loss was considerable, sixty-five of them being killed or wounded in the charge. Generals Garrard and Wolford's divisions came up, after a forced march, in time to be pushed in pursuit, although their horses were jaded.
General Palmer, with General Davis's division, moved toward Tunnel Hill, Georgia, on a reconnaissance. The Twenty-eighth Kentucky and the Fourth Michigan drove in the Confederate advance pickets and captured a company of Rebel cavalry. The Southerners retreated from Tunnel Hill during the night. They lost thirty-two killed and wounded. The Union casualties were two wounded. The object of the reconnaissance was effected.
The following report was sent by General Thomas, from his headquarters at Chattanooga, to the Federal war department:
Colonel Boone, with a force of four hundred and fifty men, Twenty-eighth Kentucky mounted infantry, and Fourth Michigan cavalry, left Rossville January twenty-first, moved through McLamore's caves, crossed Lookout Mountain into Brownton Valley; thence across Taylor's Ridge to eight miles beyond Deertown, toward Ashton, attacked a small camp of home guards, Colonel Culbertson, commanding, routed them, destroying the camp, a considerable number of arms, and other property, and retired to camp without any casualties in his force. Friday, twenty-second January, sent flag of truce under Colonel Burke, with Ohio infantry, with Confederate surgeons and a proposition to exchange our wounded at Atlanta for Rebel wounded here.
A dispatch from Colonel H. B. Miller, Seventy second Indiana, commanding division, Bluewater, twenty-sixth, via Pulaski, Tennessee, twenty-seventh, reports Johnston's brigade of Roddy's command crossed Tennessee River at Bainbridge, three miles, and Newport Ferry, six miles below Florence, intending to make a junction with a brigade of infantry who were expected to cross the river at Laub's and Brown's Ferry, thence proceed to Athens and capture our forces; then we engaged them near Florence; routed them, killing fifteen, wounding quite a number, and taking them prisoners, among them three commissioned officers. Our loss, ten wounded.
Lieutenant A. L. Cady, of the Twenty-fourth New York battery, proceeded with his command to Tyrrell County, North Carolina, and captured five men who had been engaged in a number of robberies and murders; also, two Rebel officers, and returned to headquarters with one thousand sheep.
A party of Confederate cavalry made a dash on the lines of Colonel Chapin's brigade, on guard duty five miles above Knoxville, Tennessee, on the Scott's Mill road. Their pickets being captured, the camps of the Thirteenth Kentucky and Twenty-third Michigan were completely surprised, and five men of the former and seven of the latter were taken prisoners, one being mortally wounded. Immediately on being advised of the attack on these two regiments, Colonel Chapin sent the One Hundred and Eleventh Ohio and One Hundred and Seventh Illinois to their relief, and the Rebels were put to flight, leaving in their track a number of blankets and small-arms.
Brigadier General Carter, Provost Marshal General at Knoxville, Tennessee, sent the following letter to Reverend W. A. Harrison: “On account of your persistent disloyalty to the Government of the United States, it has been decided to send you and your family South, within the Rebel lines. You are hereby notified to be at the railroad depot in time for the morning train, on Saturday next, with all your family, prepared to leave permanently. As baggage, you will be permitted to take your wearing apparel and the necessary blankets. You can also take three or four days provisions with you.”
The steamer Freestone, while at Carson's Landing, on the Mississippi, fifteen miles above the White River, was attacked by partisan guerrillas, who were driven off without inflicting any serious damage on the boat.
In the Confederate Congress, Mr. Miles, from the Committee on Military Affairs, reported back the following joint resolutions of thanks to General Beauregard and the officers and men of his command, which were unanimously adopted:
Resolved, That the thanks of Congress are eminently due, and are hereby cordially tendered, to General P. G. T. Beauregard and the officers and men of his command, for their gallantry and successful defense of the city of Charleston, South Carolina--a defense which, for the skill, heroism, and tenacity displayed by the defenders during an attack scarcely paralleled in warfare, whether we consider the persistent efforts of the enemy, or his boundless resources in the most improved and formidable artillery and the most powerful engines of war hitherto known, is justly entitled to be pronounced “glorious” by impartial history and an admiring country.
Resolved, That the President be requested to communicate the foregoing resolutions to General Beauregard and the officers and men of his command.
President Abraham Lincoln this morning issued new regulations on the ticklish issue of “trading with the enemy.” The practice had, needless to say, been strictly prohibited. As Union forces moved into larger areas of the South, however, many regions were no longer considered enemy territory. More liberal rules were therefore needed, and plans were to extend them as practicable as possible when new areas were liberated.
William L. Dayton, the U.S. Minister to France, noted in a dispatch to Secretary of State William H. Seward: "I must regret that, of the great number of our ships of war, enough could not have been spared to look after the small Rebel cruisers now in French ports. It is a matter of great surprise in Europe, that, with our apparent naval force, we permit such miserable craft to chase our commerce from the ocean; it affects seriously our prestige."
A small party of Confederate partisan guerrillas made an attack on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad at Cameron, Virginia, and after firing upon a train, then fled. They were pursued by a squadron of cavalry under the command of Lieutenant Jackson, and one of their number captured.
The Federal cavalry under General Sturgis achieved a victory over the Confederate cavalry near Fair Gardens, about ten miles east of Sevierville, Tennessee. General McCook's division drove the enemy back about two miles, after a stubborn fight, lasting from daylight to four P. M., at which time the division charged with the sabre and a yell, and routed the enemy from the field, capturing two steel rifled guns and over one hundred prisoners. The Southern loss was considerable, sixty-five of them being killed or wounded in the charge. Generals Garrard and Wolford's divisions came up, after a forced march, in time to be pushed in pursuit, although their horses were jaded.
General Palmer, with General Davis's division, moved toward Tunnel Hill, Georgia, on a reconnaissance. The Twenty-eighth Kentucky and the Fourth Michigan drove in the Confederate advance pickets and captured a company of Rebel cavalry. The Southerners retreated from Tunnel Hill during the night. They lost thirty-two killed and wounded. The Union casualties were two wounded. The object of the reconnaissance was effected.
The following report was sent by General Thomas, from his headquarters at Chattanooga, to the Federal war department:
Colonel Boone, with a force of four hundred and fifty men, Twenty-eighth Kentucky mounted infantry, and Fourth Michigan cavalry, left Rossville January twenty-first, moved through McLamore's caves, crossed Lookout Mountain into Brownton Valley; thence across Taylor's Ridge to eight miles beyond Deertown, toward Ashton, attacked a small camp of home guards, Colonel Culbertson, commanding, routed them, destroying the camp, a considerable number of arms, and other property, and retired to camp without any casualties in his force. Friday, twenty-second January, sent flag of truce under Colonel Burke, with Ohio infantry, with Confederate surgeons and a proposition to exchange our wounded at Atlanta for Rebel wounded here.
A dispatch from Colonel H. B. Miller, Seventy second Indiana, commanding division, Bluewater, twenty-sixth, via Pulaski, Tennessee, twenty-seventh, reports Johnston's brigade of Roddy's command crossed Tennessee River at Bainbridge, three miles, and Newport Ferry, six miles below Florence, intending to make a junction with a brigade of infantry who were expected to cross the river at Laub's and Brown's Ferry, thence proceed to Athens and capture our forces; then we engaged them near Florence; routed them, killing fifteen, wounding quite a number, and taking them prisoners, among them three commissioned officers. Our loss, ten wounded.
Lieutenant A. L. Cady, of the Twenty-fourth New York battery, proceeded with his command to Tyrrell County, North Carolina, and captured five men who had been engaged in a number of robberies and murders; also, two Rebel officers, and returned to headquarters with one thousand sheep.
A party of Confederate cavalry made a dash on the lines of Colonel Chapin's brigade, on guard duty five miles above Knoxville, Tennessee, on the Scott's Mill road. Their pickets being captured, the camps of the Thirteenth Kentucky and Twenty-third Michigan were completely surprised, and five men of the former and seven of the latter were taken prisoners, one being mortally wounded. Immediately on being advised of the attack on these two regiments, Colonel Chapin sent the One Hundred and Eleventh Ohio and One Hundred and Seventh Illinois to their relief, and the Rebels were put to flight, leaving in their track a number of blankets and small-arms.
Brigadier General Carter, Provost Marshal General at Knoxville, Tennessee, sent the following letter to Reverend W. A. Harrison: “On account of your persistent disloyalty to the Government of the United States, it has been decided to send you and your family South, within the Rebel lines. You are hereby notified to be at the railroad depot in time for the morning train, on Saturday next, with all your family, prepared to leave permanently. As baggage, you will be permitted to take your wearing apparel and the necessary blankets. You can also take three or four days provisions with you.”
The steamer Freestone, while at Carson's Landing, on the Mississippi, fifteen miles above the White River, was attacked by partisan guerrillas, who were driven off without inflicting any serious damage on the boat.
In the Confederate Congress, Mr. Miles, from the Committee on Military Affairs, reported back the following joint resolutions of thanks to General Beauregard and the officers and men of his command, which were unanimously adopted:
Resolved, That the thanks of Congress are eminently due, and are hereby cordially tendered, to General P. G. T. Beauregard and the officers and men of his command, for their gallantry and successful defense of the city of Charleston, South Carolina--a defense which, for the skill, heroism, and tenacity displayed by the defenders during an attack scarcely paralleled in warfare, whether we consider the persistent efforts of the enemy, or his boundless resources in the most improved and formidable artillery and the most powerful engines of war hitherto known, is justly entitled to be pronounced “glorious” by impartial history and an admiring country.
Resolved, That the President be requested to communicate the foregoing resolutions to General Beauregard and the officers and men of his command.
Posted on 1/26/14 at 7:46 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Wednesday, 27 January 1864
President Abraham Lincoln this morning issued orders to General Frederick Steele in Arkansas regarding the reestablishment of civil authority. In some states it had been necessary to appoint a formal military government. In this case, however, Lincoln told Steele that the civil authorities could be allowed to remain in charge. There was one provision, though: the new government was required to keep the newly formed state constitution abolishing slavery, something that had yet to be done in any slave holding Union state.
General John M. Palmer sent an expedition to capture a small force of Confederate cavalry in Jones and Onslow counties, North Carolina. They succeeded in surprising the enemy, and captured twenty-three men with their horses and equipment. They also destroyed from one hundred and fifty thousand to two hundred thousand pounds of pork, seventy bushels of salt, ten thousand barrels of tobacco, thirty-two barrels of beef, and captured a number of mules, horses, and other material.
Fourteen men belonging to the Eightieth Indiana regiment, were captured, and two wounded, by a squad of Confederate cavalry, within seven miles of Knoxville, Tennessee, on the Tazewell road. The men were on a foraging expedition, and were picked up before they had any chance of offering much resistance.
President Abraham Lincoln this morning issued orders to General Frederick Steele in Arkansas regarding the reestablishment of civil authority. In some states it had been necessary to appoint a formal military government. In this case, however, Lincoln told Steele that the civil authorities could be allowed to remain in charge. There was one provision, though: the new government was required to keep the newly formed state constitution abolishing slavery, something that had yet to be done in any slave holding Union state.
General John M. Palmer sent an expedition to capture a small force of Confederate cavalry in Jones and Onslow counties, North Carolina. They succeeded in surprising the enemy, and captured twenty-three men with their horses and equipment. They also destroyed from one hundred and fifty thousand to two hundred thousand pounds of pork, seventy bushels of salt, ten thousand barrels of tobacco, thirty-two barrels of beef, and captured a number of mules, horses, and other material.
Fourteen men belonging to the Eightieth Indiana regiment, were captured, and two wounded, by a squad of Confederate cavalry, within seven miles of Knoxville, Tennessee, on the Tazewell road. The men were on a foraging expedition, and were picked up before they had any chance of offering much resistance.
Posted on 1/27/14 at 6:13 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Thursday, 28 January 1864
There were occasions when the US Army felt the need for a ship that the US Navy did not sense the need to provide. Thus it developed that the Army procured some ships of their own, and one of them was busy off the southern shores today. It was a successful joint Army-Navy maneuver today as the U.S. Army transport steamer Western Metropolis captured the British blockade-runner Rosita off the southern coast of Florida near Key West, bound from Havana for Mobile, at a point west of the Tortugas. Thanks to the efforts of the Army crew, and two Navy officers, Acting Lieutenant Lewis W. Pennington and Acting Master Daniel S. Murphy, who chanced to be on board, the cargo was successfully confiscated. The shipment consisted of the goods that could be resold at the highest profit in the Southern cities suffering under the afflictions of war: liquor and cigars.
Captain Henry S. Stellwagen, commanding the USS Constellation, reported from Naples "It is my pleasant duty to inform you of the continued [friendly] demonstrations of ruling powers and people of the Kingdom of Italy toward our country and its officers." When the problems of blockading the hazardous Atlantic and Gulf coasts and running down Confederate commerce raiders compelled the Navy Department to employ its steamers in these tasks, sailing warships were sent out to replace them on the foreign stations. These slow but relatively powerful vessels, the historic Constellation in the Mediterranean, St. Louis west of Gibraltar on the converging trade routes, Jamestown in the East Indies, became available to escort merchant ships and, more important, to deter the approach of raiders. Though they received few opportunities to carry out their military missions, these veterans of the Old Navy rendered most effective service protecting American interests and maintaining national prestige abroad.
The USS Beauregard, Acting Master Burgess, seized the blockade running British sloop Racer north of Cape Canaveral, Florida, with a cargo of cotton.
The Federal forces under the command of Colonel Phillips drove the Confederate General Roddy to the south side of the Tennessee River and captured all his trains, consisting of over twenty mule teams, two hundred head of cattle, six hundred head of sheep, and about one hundred head of horses and mules, and destroyed a factory and mill which had largely supplied the Southern armies.--General Dodge's Report.
This morning, two forage-wagons and some men of the Eighty-first Ohio, near Sam's Mills, a distance of about nine miles from Pulaski, Tennessee, were captured by a party of Confederates. The wagons were going for forage with a small guard, and when they reached a brick church on the Shelbyville pike, two or three miles from the mills, they were attacked by about thirty Southern cavalrymen, and captured. The two wagons were burned, the mules, arms, and equipment and the men were hurried off. A mounted force from Major Evans's command was sent in pursuit, but without overtaking them. Private Mills, of company G, was wounded and left by the Rebels. Five men of company G and three of company K were captured.
Needed supplies were appropriated by a body of Confederates under the command of Colonel Hamilton in Scottsville, Kentucky.
Brigadier General J. C. Sullivan, from his Headquarters at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, issued the following general orders: “It appearing that the leaders of the rebellion against the Government of the United States have passed laws conscripting all males between certain ages, and have appointed agents to enforce such conscript laws; and such agents having made their appearance in the counties of Berkeley, Jefferson, Clarke, and Loudon, counties not occupied by or under the control of insurgent troops; and believing that a large portion of the citizens of these counties are anxious to remain at home, and to preserve their faith and allegiance to the Federal Government, and to receive the protection which is due them; and knowing that the poorer class of citizens of these counties have been hostile to the usurpation of the rebel authorities, and have been compelled by them to shoulder the musket, while the rich man's sons have worn the sword, notice is hereby given to the inhabitants of said counties: That, upon representation being made to these headquarters by any person of the conscripting and forcing into the Rebel ranks of father, husband, brothers, or sons, the nearest and most prominent secessionist will be arrested and imprisoned and held until the return of such conscript.”
There were occasions when the US Army felt the need for a ship that the US Navy did not sense the need to provide. Thus it developed that the Army procured some ships of their own, and one of them was busy off the southern shores today. It was a successful joint Army-Navy maneuver today as the U.S. Army transport steamer Western Metropolis captured the British blockade-runner Rosita off the southern coast of Florida near Key West, bound from Havana for Mobile, at a point west of the Tortugas. Thanks to the efforts of the Army crew, and two Navy officers, Acting Lieutenant Lewis W. Pennington and Acting Master Daniel S. Murphy, who chanced to be on board, the cargo was successfully confiscated. The shipment consisted of the goods that could be resold at the highest profit in the Southern cities suffering under the afflictions of war: liquor and cigars.
Captain Henry S. Stellwagen, commanding the USS Constellation, reported from Naples "It is my pleasant duty to inform you of the continued [friendly] demonstrations of ruling powers and people of the Kingdom of Italy toward our country and its officers." When the problems of blockading the hazardous Atlantic and Gulf coasts and running down Confederate commerce raiders compelled the Navy Department to employ its steamers in these tasks, sailing warships were sent out to replace them on the foreign stations. These slow but relatively powerful vessels, the historic Constellation in the Mediterranean, St. Louis west of Gibraltar on the converging trade routes, Jamestown in the East Indies, became available to escort merchant ships and, more important, to deter the approach of raiders. Though they received few opportunities to carry out their military missions, these veterans of the Old Navy rendered most effective service protecting American interests and maintaining national prestige abroad.
The USS Beauregard, Acting Master Burgess, seized the blockade running British sloop Racer north of Cape Canaveral, Florida, with a cargo of cotton.
The Federal forces under the command of Colonel Phillips drove the Confederate General Roddy to the south side of the Tennessee River and captured all his trains, consisting of over twenty mule teams, two hundred head of cattle, six hundred head of sheep, and about one hundred head of horses and mules, and destroyed a factory and mill which had largely supplied the Southern armies.--General Dodge's Report.
This morning, two forage-wagons and some men of the Eighty-first Ohio, near Sam's Mills, a distance of about nine miles from Pulaski, Tennessee, were captured by a party of Confederates. The wagons were going for forage with a small guard, and when they reached a brick church on the Shelbyville pike, two or three miles from the mills, they were attacked by about thirty Southern cavalrymen, and captured. The two wagons were burned, the mules, arms, and equipment and the men were hurried off. A mounted force from Major Evans's command was sent in pursuit, but without overtaking them. Private Mills, of company G, was wounded and left by the Rebels. Five men of company G and three of company K were captured.
Needed supplies were appropriated by a body of Confederates under the command of Colonel Hamilton in Scottsville, Kentucky.
Brigadier General J. C. Sullivan, from his Headquarters at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, issued the following general orders: “It appearing that the leaders of the rebellion against the Government of the United States have passed laws conscripting all males between certain ages, and have appointed agents to enforce such conscript laws; and such agents having made their appearance in the counties of Berkeley, Jefferson, Clarke, and Loudon, counties not occupied by or under the control of insurgent troops; and believing that a large portion of the citizens of these counties are anxious to remain at home, and to preserve their faith and allegiance to the Federal Government, and to receive the protection which is due them; and knowing that the poorer class of citizens of these counties have been hostile to the usurpation of the rebel authorities, and have been compelled by them to shoulder the musket, while the rich man's sons have worn the sword, notice is hereby given to the inhabitants of said counties: That, upon representation being made to these headquarters by any person of the conscripting and forcing into the Rebel ranks of father, husband, brothers, or sons, the nearest and most prominent secessionist will be arrested and imprisoned and held until the return of such conscript.”
Posted on 1/28/14 at 8:55 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Friday, January 29 1864
Blockade running provided desperately needed resources to the Confederacy, and blockade runners were careful to keep funds on hand to pay off United States Navy captains they might encounter on the seas. The amounts had to be considerable, since they were compensated to match. Lieutenant Commander James C. Chaplin, USN, of the USS Dai Ching, was morally outraged by this, and wrote today to Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren about the situation from information obtained from the master of the captured blockade runner George Chisholm: “...vessels running out from Nassau, freighted with contraband goods for Southern ports...always skirt along on soundings and take the open sea through the North East Providence Channel by Egg and Royal Islands, steering from thence about N.N.W. course toward Wilmington or ports adjacent on the Carolina coast, while those bound to Mobile run down on the east side of Cuba through Crooked Island Passage, sweeping outside in a considerable circle to avoid the United States cruisers in the vicinity. The vessels bound to the coast of the Carolinas take their point of departure from a newly erected light-house in the neighborhood of Man of War Cay. They are provided with the best of instruments and charts, and, if the master is ignorant of the channels and inlets of our coast, a good pilot. They are also in possession of the necessary funds (in specie) to bribe, if possible, captors for their release. Such an offer was made to myself...of some £800. The master of a sailing vessel, before leaving port, receives $1,000 (in coin), and, if successful, $5,000 on his return; those commanding steamers $5,000 on leaving and $15,000 in a successful return to the same port." The British pound was then the hardest currency in the world, making the bribe worth some $4000 US, a not-inconsiderable amount to poorly paid Naval officers.
Commander Thomas H. Stevens, piloting the USS Patapsco, reported to Admiral Dahlgren on an extended reconnaissance of the Wilmington River, Georgia, during which Confederate sharpshooters were engaged. Stevens concluded: "From what I can see and learn, an original expedition against Savannah at this time by a combined movement of the land and sea forces would be probably successful." Though the Navy kept the city under close blockade and engaged the area's defenses, troops for the combined operation did not become available until late in the year.
Last night, a train of about eighty wagons was sent out from New Creek, heavily laden with commissary stores for the garrison at Petersburg, in Grant County, West Virginia, and accompanying the train was an escort of about eight hundred men, being detachments from the Twenty-third Illinois (Irish brigade), Fourth Virginia cavalry, Second Maryland, First and Fourteenth Virginia infantry, and one hundred of the Ringgold Cavalry battalion, the whole under command of Colonel J. W. Snyder. Nothing unusual occurred until the train got about three miles south of Williamsport today, when it was suddenly set upon at different points by open and concealed forces of the rebels. Although somewhat surprised by the suddenness of the attack, the guard at once formed and deployed for action. Then it was that a hard fight ensued, commencing at three o'clock in the afternoon and lasting for over four hours, at the expiration of which time it was found that the Federals had lost about eighty in killed and wounded. The enemy's loss was reported to be about one hundred.
In the early part of the fight, the Rebels opened fire from four pieces of artillery. The superiority of their strength — there being in all about two thousand men — also gave them the advantage in outflanking movements, and they exercised their ingenuity simultaneously to operate on the front, rear, and flanks of Colonel Snyder's command. They, however, completely failed of their object, which seemed to be to try to surround, and, if possible, capture the whole party. Several times the Confederate lines were broken, and several times the Southern charges were repulsed. At last, as night closed, the superior numbers of Rebels gained them a success.
Colonel Jourdan, commanding the sub-district of Beaufort, made a dash into Jones and Onslow counties, North Carolina, for the purpose of surprising and capturing detachments of cavalry near Swansboro and Jacksonville. He returned to Morehead City this day, having been entirely successful, the expedition being a complete surprise to the rebels. He captured about thirty prisoners, (cavalry,) including one lieutenant, a large number of horses, arms, and equipment, and destroyed a large quantity of ammunition and other property. His command consisted of detachments of the One Hundred and Fifty-eighth New York, Ninth Vermont, Twelfth and Mix's cavalry — in all, about three hundred men. They marched one hundred miles in about fifty hours, meeting with no loss whatever.
The Twenty-first Missouri regiment, in command of Major Moore, left Memphis yesterday, on board the steamer Sir William Wallace, and today, while passing the foot of Islands Nos. 70 and 71, the boat was fired upon from the Mississippi shore by a large party of guerrillas, who were lying in ambush at a place where boats had to run close to shore. There were from fifty to one hundred shots fired in the space of about ten minutes, resulting in killing one man and wounding six others.
Yesterday evening, Colonel Thoburn, in command of the Union garrison at Petersburg, West Virginia, evacuated that post in consequence of receiving information that the enemy in large force would attack him in the morning. The enemy did attack Petersburg this morning with artillery. They made regular approaches, and finally charged, but found no opposing force. Colonel Thoburn was within hearing with his retreating column.
A party of seven men belonging to the steamer Southwester were sent ashore at Bolivar Landing, Tennessee, on a foraging expedition, taking with them nine mules and horses and wagons. They had scarcely got out of sight when they were set upon and surrounded by nine guerrillas, who leaped from the bushes with shouts to surrender. This they did. The animals were cut from the wagons, and the prisoners ordered to mount, when they were taken to the interior.
Blockade running provided desperately needed resources to the Confederacy, and blockade runners were careful to keep funds on hand to pay off United States Navy captains they might encounter on the seas. The amounts had to be considerable, since they were compensated to match. Lieutenant Commander James C. Chaplin, USN, of the USS Dai Ching, was morally outraged by this, and wrote today to Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren about the situation from information obtained from the master of the captured blockade runner George Chisholm: “...vessels running out from Nassau, freighted with contraband goods for Southern ports...always skirt along on soundings and take the open sea through the North East Providence Channel by Egg and Royal Islands, steering from thence about N.N.W. course toward Wilmington or ports adjacent on the Carolina coast, while those bound to Mobile run down on the east side of Cuba through Crooked Island Passage, sweeping outside in a considerable circle to avoid the United States cruisers in the vicinity. The vessels bound to the coast of the Carolinas take their point of departure from a newly erected light-house in the neighborhood of Man of War Cay. They are provided with the best of instruments and charts, and, if the master is ignorant of the channels and inlets of our coast, a good pilot. They are also in possession of the necessary funds (in specie) to bribe, if possible, captors for their release. Such an offer was made to myself...of some £800. The master of a sailing vessel, before leaving port, receives $1,000 (in coin), and, if successful, $5,000 on his return; those commanding steamers $5,000 on leaving and $15,000 in a successful return to the same port." The British pound was then the hardest currency in the world, making the bribe worth some $4000 US, a not-inconsiderable amount to poorly paid Naval officers.
Commander Thomas H. Stevens, piloting the USS Patapsco, reported to Admiral Dahlgren on an extended reconnaissance of the Wilmington River, Georgia, during which Confederate sharpshooters were engaged. Stevens concluded: "From what I can see and learn, an original expedition against Savannah at this time by a combined movement of the land and sea forces would be probably successful." Though the Navy kept the city under close blockade and engaged the area's defenses, troops for the combined operation did not become available until late in the year.
Last night, a train of about eighty wagons was sent out from New Creek, heavily laden with commissary stores for the garrison at Petersburg, in Grant County, West Virginia, and accompanying the train was an escort of about eight hundred men, being detachments from the Twenty-third Illinois (Irish brigade), Fourth Virginia cavalry, Second Maryland, First and Fourteenth Virginia infantry, and one hundred of the Ringgold Cavalry battalion, the whole under command of Colonel J. W. Snyder. Nothing unusual occurred until the train got about three miles south of Williamsport today, when it was suddenly set upon at different points by open and concealed forces of the rebels. Although somewhat surprised by the suddenness of the attack, the guard at once formed and deployed for action. Then it was that a hard fight ensued, commencing at three o'clock in the afternoon and lasting for over four hours, at the expiration of which time it was found that the Federals had lost about eighty in killed and wounded. The enemy's loss was reported to be about one hundred.
In the early part of the fight, the Rebels opened fire from four pieces of artillery. The superiority of their strength — there being in all about two thousand men — also gave them the advantage in outflanking movements, and they exercised their ingenuity simultaneously to operate on the front, rear, and flanks of Colonel Snyder's command. They, however, completely failed of their object, which seemed to be to try to surround, and, if possible, capture the whole party. Several times the Confederate lines were broken, and several times the Southern charges were repulsed. At last, as night closed, the superior numbers of Rebels gained them a success.
Colonel Jourdan, commanding the sub-district of Beaufort, made a dash into Jones and Onslow counties, North Carolina, for the purpose of surprising and capturing detachments of cavalry near Swansboro and Jacksonville. He returned to Morehead City this day, having been entirely successful, the expedition being a complete surprise to the rebels. He captured about thirty prisoners, (cavalry,) including one lieutenant, a large number of horses, arms, and equipment, and destroyed a large quantity of ammunition and other property. His command consisted of detachments of the One Hundred and Fifty-eighth New York, Ninth Vermont, Twelfth and Mix's cavalry — in all, about three hundred men. They marched one hundred miles in about fifty hours, meeting with no loss whatever.
The Twenty-first Missouri regiment, in command of Major Moore, left Memphis yesterday, on board the steamer Sir William Wallace, and today, while passing the foot of Islands Nos. 70 and 71, the boat was fired upon from the Mississippi shore by a large party of guerrillas, who were lying in ambush at a place where boats had to run close to shore. There were from fifty to one hundred shots fired in the space of about ten minutes, resulting in killing one man and wounding six others.
Yesterday evening, Colonel Thoburn, in command of the Union garrison at Petersburg, West Virginia, evacuated that post in consequence of receiving information that the enemy in large force would attack him in the morning. The enemy did attack Petersburg this morning with artillery. They made regular approaches, and finally charged, but found no opposing force. Colonel Thoburn was within hearing with his retreating column.
A party of seven men belonging to the steamer Southwester were sent ashore at Bolivar Landing, Tennessee, on a foraging expedition, taking with them nine mules and horses and wagons. They had scarcely got out of sight when they were set upon and surrounded by nine guerrillas, who leaped from the bushes with shouts to surrender. This they did. The animals were cut from the wagons, and the prisoners ordered to mount, when they were taken to the interior.
This post was edited on 1/29/14 at 7:12 am
Posted on 1/29/14 at 7:59 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Saturday, 30 January 1864
This was the day on which several important Union departments officially changed hands. The Federal Department of Missouri was a black hole for Union commanders, into which they tended to disappear, never to be seen in high command again. The whole state, although officially “Union” throughout the war, was a hotbed of factionalism and political infighting. Today saw the departure of Major General John M. Schofield. He was succeeded by Major General William S. Rosecrans, who had been found lacking in battlefield skills after Chickamauga and so was sent upstairs to administration. In addition, Major General Frederick Steele assumed full command of the Department of Arkansas. Major General Rosecrans, at his headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, issued the following address:
In relieving General Schofield, who, in assuming the arduous duties connected with this command, relinquished high prospects of a brilliant career as commander of Thomas's old division in the then opening campaign of the army of the Cumberland, I tender him my compliments for the admirable order in which I have found the official business and archives of this department, and my best wishes, as well as hopes, that in this new field of duty he may reap that success which his solid merits, good sense, and honest devotion to his duty and his country so well deserve.
While commanding here, I sincerely trust I shall receive the honest, firm, and united support of all true National and Union men of this department, without regard to politics, creed, or party, in my endeavors to maintain law and reestablish peace and secure prosperity throughout its limits. The past should be remembered only for the lessons it teaches, while our energies should be directed to the problem of assuring our future, based firmly on the grandeur of our position, and on the true principle of humanity and progress to universal freedom, secured by just laws.
Harper’s Weekly reprints an article from the French Le Monde Illustré which describes a Confederate submarine designed by Anstilt that is 69’ long. A M. Olivier de Jalin sends to the French Le Monde Illustré drawings of a submarine vessel which we reproduce on this page, abridging his description. There has just been finished, he says, at Mobile a very curious little vessel, designed by Mr. Anstilt, which seems capable of destroying any ship in the world. It is of iron, 23 yards long. The interior is divided longitudinally by a partition into two portions: in the upper one are the machinery, armament, rudders, and reservoirs of compressed air; in the lower are chambers to hold air or water, as the case may demand, coal-bunkers, provision-lockers, and the like. On the deck, which is hermetically closed, are pipes for discharging air and steam, a smoke-stack, and a look-out, the upper part of which is of thick glass. The motive-power is a screw, worked either by steam or by electricity. At the stern is an ordinary rudder; at the bows another rudder, working on a horizontal axis, the object of which is to raise or lower the vessel. Now when no enemy is in sight the air-chambers are filled, and the vessel is managed like any other steamer. But when an enemy is in view the air-chambers are filled with water; down goes the vessel, and nobody is the wiser for its presence. Her perpendicular course is determined by the bow rudder, just as her horizontal course is regulated by her stern rudder. Turn it one way, and up she goes; turn it the other, and down she sinks. A pressure-gauge shows just the depth to which she has at any moment sunk. The man in the glass look-out governs the movement of the vessel. If it is sunk three feet below the surface it is invisible. On each side of the deck are placed iron cases filled with powder, joined two-and-two by chains of proper length. If a vessel lying at anchor is to be attacked, the submarine boat dives down, lets slip one of these twin torpedoes directly under the enemy; these rise by their specific gravity, and hug the enemy, one on either side, but kept from escape by the chain which, passing under the keel, unites them. The submarine, having accomplished her work, backs off to a safe distance, explodes these torpedoes by means of a galvanic battery, and up goes the enemy, in more pieces than one can well count. If a vessel under sail or steam is to be assaulted, the submarine dives down and lies hidden right under the track of her foe; then at the exact moment loosens a torpedo furnished with a percussion apparatus; the enemy strikes this, explodes it, and up she goes past all hope of redemption. The submarine, in the mean time, has dived down into the water so deep as to be quite safe from the shock which she has occasioned. “I can’t stop to describe to you,” concludes M. Olivier de Jalin, “the system of pumps to drive out the foul air, the air and water-pipes by means of which, with the aid of the compressed air, the air-tanks may in a few moments be filled with water or emptied.” We believe M. Olivier has sold our French friend, and think that if our fleet has nothing to contend with more formidable than the invention of Mr. Anstilt it will not suffer much damage.
This morning, a reconnoitering force that had been sent out from Colonel Campbell's command, returned to headquarters of his department of West Virginia, after having gone to Romney. There they divided into three columns, one going out on the Winchester road thirty miles, the other down the Grassy Lick road to the vicinity of Wardensville, and the third on the Old Moorfield Road. None of these columns met with serious opposition on their advance. The information which they gained proved to be of high importance.
A party of Southern sympathizers were banished from Knoxville, Tennessee.
This was the day on which several important Union departments officially changed hands. The Federal Department of Missouri was a black hole for Union commanders, into which they tended to disappear, never to be seen in high command again. The whole state, although officially “Union” throughout the war, was a hotbed of factionalism and political infighting. Today saw the departure of Major General John M. Schofield. He was succeeded by Major General William S. Rosecrans, who had been found lacking in battlefield skills after Chickamauga and so was sent upstairs to administration. In addition, Major General Frederick Steele assumed full command of the Department of Arkansas. Major General Rosecrans, at his headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, issued the following address:
In relieving General Schofield, who, in assuming the arduous duties connected with this command, relinquished high prospects of a brilliant career as commander of Thomas's old division in the then opening campaign of the army of the Cumberland, I tender him my compliments for the admirable order in which I have found the official business and archives of this department, and my best wishes, as well as hopes, that in this new field of duty he may reap that success which his solid merits, good sense, and honest devotion to his duty and his country so well deserve.
While commanding here, I sincerely trust I shall receive the honest, firm, and united support of all true National and Union men of this department, without regard to politics, creed, or party, in my endeavors to maintain law and reestablish peace and secure prosperity throughout its limits. The past should be remembered only for the lessons it teaches, while our energies should be directed to the problem of assuring our future, based firmly on the grandeur of our position, and on the true principle of humanity and progress to universal freedom, secured by just laws.
Harper’s Weekly reprints an article from the French Le Monde Illustré which describes a Confederate submarine designed by Anstilt that is 69’ long. A M. Olivier de Jalin sends to the French Le Monde Illustré drawings of a submarine vessel which we reproduce on this page, abridging his description. There has just been finished, he says, at Mobile a very curious little vessel, designed by Mr. Anstilt, which seems capable of destroying any ship in the world. It is of iron, 23 yards long. The interior is divided longitudinally by a partition into two portions: in the upper one are the machinery, armament, rudders, and reservoirs of compressed air; in the lower are chambers to hold air or water, as the case may demand, coal-bunkers, provision-lockers, and the like. On the deck, which is hermetically closed, are pipes for discharging air and steam, a smoke-stack, and a look-out, the upper part of which is of thick glass. The motive-power is a screw, worked either by steam or by electricity. At the stern is an ordinary rudder; at the bows another rudder, working on a horizontal axis, the object of which is to raise or lower the vessel. Now when no enemy is in sight the air-chambers are filled, and the vessel is managed like any other steamer. But when an enemy is in view the air-chambers are filled with water; down goes the vessel, and nobody is the wiser for its presence. Her perpendicular course is determined by the bow rudder, just as her horizontal course is regulated by her stern rudder. Turn it one way, and up she goes; turn it the other, and down she sinks. A pressure-gauge shows just the depth to which she has at any moment sunk. The man in the glass look-out governs the movement of the vessel. If it is sunk three feet below the surface it is invisible. On each side of the deck are placed iron cases filled with powder, joined two-and-two by chains of proper length. If a vessel lying at anchor is to be attacked, the submarine boat dives down, lets slip one of these twin torpedoes directly under the enemy; these rise by their specific gravity, and hug the enemy, one on either side, but kept from escape by the chain which, passing under the keel, unites them. The submarine, having accomplished her work, backs off to a safe distance, explodes these torpedoes by means of a galvanic battery, and up goes the enemy, in more pieces than one can well count. If a vessel under sail or steam is to be assaulted, the submarine dives down and lies hidden right under the track of her foe; then at the exact moment loosens a torpedo furnished with a percussion apparatus; the enemy strikes this, explodes it, and up she goes past all hope of redemption. The submarine, in the mean time, has dived down into the water so deep as to be quite safe from the shock which she has occasioned. “I can’t stop to describe to you,” concludes M. Olivier de Jalin, “the system of pumps to drive out the foul air, the air and water-pipes by means of which, with the aid of the compressed air, the air-tanks may in a few moments be filled with water or emptied.” We believe M. Olivier has sold our French friend, and think that if our fleet has nothing to contend with more formidable than the invention of Mr. Anstilt it will not suffer much damage.
This morning, a reconnoitering force that had been sent out from Colonel Campbell's command, returned to headquarters of his department of West Virginia, after having gone to Romney. There they divided into three columns, one going out on the Winchester road thirty miles, the other down the Grassy Lick road to the vicinity of Wardensville, and the third on the Old Moorfield Road. None of these columns met with serious opposition on their advance. The information which they gained proved to be of high importance.
A party of Southern sympathizers were banished from Knoxville, Tennessee.
Posted on 1/29/14 at 11:40 pm to BadLeroyDawg
I enjoy reading these .....thx
Posted on 1/30/14 at 8:12 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Sunday, 31 January 1864
Major General Benjamin "Spoons" Butler had not exactly endeared himself to the populace of New Orleans, but in many ways he had proven to be a competent administrator of an occupied city. Aside from a fondness for lining his pockets with confiscated cotton, silverware and church bells, he had improved sanitation (probably averting a yellow fever epidemic in the process), kept the peace and averted outright bloodshed. His replacement, Major General Nathaniel P. Banks, was not quite so adept at politics, so today he received some advice from a master of the art. President Abraham Lincoln wrote that he was to prepare for elections. He could “...adopt any rule which shall admit to vote any unquestionably loyal free state men and none others.” Of course, a loyalty oath was a required ticket to this dance.
In planning the strategy for the joint Army-Navy Red River Campaign, Major General William T. Sherman wrote to Major General Nathaniel P. Banks: "The expedition on Shreveport should be made rapidly, by simultaneous movements from Little Rock on Shreveport, from Opelousas on Alexandria, and a combined force of gun-boats and transports directly up Red River. Admiral Porter will be able to have a splendid fleet by March 1." The Army relied on Porter's gunboats both to spearhead attack with its powerful guns and to keep open the all-important supply line.
An expedition comprising some 40 sailors and 350 soldiers with a 12-pound howitzer, under command of Lieutenant Commander Charles W. Flusser, marched inland from the Roanoke River in North Carolina, "...held the town of Windsor several hours, and marched back 8 miles to our boats without a single shot from the enemy."
The town of Warsaw, North Carolina, was destroyed by fire.
Governor Hamilton Rowan Gamble died at St. Louis, Missouri. Gamble had been the chief justice of the Missouri Supreme Court at the time of the Dred Scott Decision in 1852, when his colleagues voted to overturn the 28-year precedent in Missouri of "once free always free". He wrote a dissenting opinion. He was appointed as the 16th Governor of Missouri by a Constitutional Convention after Union forces captured the state capital at Jefferson City and deposed the duly elected governor, Claiborne Jackson.
Major General Benjamin "Spoons" Butler had not exactly endeared himself to the populace of New Orleans, but in many ways he had proven to be a competent administrator of an occupied city. Aside from a fondness for lining his pockets with confiscated cotton, silverware and church bells, he had improved sanitation (probably averting a yellow fever epidemic in the process), kept the peace and averted outright bloodshed. His replacement, Major General Nathaniel P. Banks, was not quite so adept at politics, so today he received some advice from a master of the art. President Abraham Lincoln wrote that he was to prepare for elections. He could “...adopt any rule which shall admit to vote any unquestionably loyal free state men and none others.” Of course, a loyalty oath was a required ticket to this dance.
In planning the strategy for the joint Army-Navy Red River Campaign, Major General William T. Sherman wrote to Major General Nathaniel P. Banks: "The expedition on Shreveport should be made rapidly, by simultaneous movements from Little Rock on Shreveport, from Opelousas on Alexandria, and a combined force of gun-boats and transports directly up Red River. Admiral Porter will be able to have a splendid fleet by March 1." The Army relied on Porter's gunboats both to spearhead attack with its powerful guns and to keep open the all-important supply line.
An expedition comprising some 40 sailors and 350 soldiers with a 12-pound howitzer, under command of Lieutenant Commander Charles W. Flusser, marched inland from the Roanoke River in North Carolina, "...held the town of Windsor several hours, and marched back 8 miles to our boats without a single shot from the enemy."
The town of Warsaw, North Carolina, was destroyed by fire.
Governor Hamilton Rowan Gamble died at St. Louis, Missouri. Gamble had been the chief justice of the Missouri Supreme Court at the time of the Dred Scott Decision in 1852, when his colleagues voted to overturn the 28-year precedent in Missouri of "once free always free". He wrote a dissenting opinion. He was appointed as the 16th Governor of Missouri by a Constitutional Convention after Union forces captured the state capital at Jefferson City and deposed the duly elected governor, Claiborne Jackson.
This post was edited on 1/31/14 at 4:07 am
Posted on 1/31/14 at 4:08 am to pirate75
You're welcome, pirate. Appreciate the response.
Posted on 1/31/14 at 9:16 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Monday, 1 February 1864
President Abraham Lincoln today issued an order that another half-million plus men be drafted on or before March 10. The period of enlistment was to be three years, or the duration of the war, whichever was longest. Pressure was also used to encourage troops whose time was nearly up to re-enlist on the same basis. At the beginning of the war, enlistments of nine, six, and even three months had been permitted.
An army expedition supported by minor naval forces--including the converted ferry boat USS Commodore Morris, under Lieutenant Commander James H. Gillis, and launches from the USS Minnesota--was repulsed by Confederate sharpshooters near Smithfield, Virginia, with the loss of the Army gunboat Smith Briggs. The troops, whose original object had been the capture of a Confederate camp and a quantity of tobacco on Pagan Creek, then re-embarked on the transports and withdrew downstream.
The USS Sassacus, Lieutenant Commander Francis A. Roe in charge, captured the blockade runner Wild Dayrell aground at Stump Inlet, North Carolina. Roe attempted to get the steamer off for two days but, unable to do so, burned her.
A boat expedition from the USS Braziliera, commanded by Acting Master William T. Gillespie, captured sloop Buffalo with a cargo of cotton near Brunswick, Georgia.
A fight took place late this afternoon in the New Creek Valley, Virginia, between an advancing column of the troops and one column of Federals. After a sharp engagement the Rebels were repulsed and driven back over two miles.
A fight took place at Bachelor's Creek, North Carolina, between a large force of Confederates under the command of Generals Pickett and Hoke, and the Union forces under General J. W. Palmer, resulting in the retreat of the latter with considerable loss in men and material.
President Abraham Lincoln today issued an order that another half-million plus men be drafted on or before March 10. The period of enlistment was to be three years, or the duration of the war, whichever was longest. Pressure was also used to encourage troops whose time was nearly up to re-enlist on the same basis. At the beginning of the war, enlistments of nine, six, and even three months had been permitted.
An army expedition supported by minor naval forces--including the converted ferry boat USS Commodore Morris, under Lieutenant Commander James H. Gillis, and launches from the USS Minnesota--was repulsed by Confederate sharpshooters near Smithfield, Virginia, with the loss of the Army gunboat Smith Briggs. The troops, whose original object had been the capture of a Confederate camp and a quantity of tobacco on Pagan Creek, then re-embarked on the transports and withdrew downstream.
The USS Sassacus, Lieutenant Commander Francis A. Roe in charge, captured the blockade runner Wild Dayrell aground at Stump Inlet, North Carolina. Roe attempted to get the steamer off for two days but, unable to do so, burned her.
A boat expedition from the USS Braziliera, commanded by Acting Master William T. Gillespie, captured sloop Buffalo with a cargo of cotton near Brunswick, Georgia.
A fight took place late this afternoon in the New Creek Valley, Virginia, between an advancing column of the troops and one column of Federals. After a sharp engagement the Rebels were repulsed and driven back over two miles.
A fight took place at Bachelor's Creek, North Carolina, between a large force of Confederates under the command of Generals Pickett and Hoke, and the Union forces under General J. W. Palmer, resulting in the retreat of the latter with considerable loss in men and material.
Posted on 2/1/14 at 8:26 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Tuesday, 2 February 1864
Despite the vast superiority of the Federal naval forces over the fledgling Confederate flotilla, as reflected in the ever-tightening noose that they were inflicting on shipments into almost all Southern ports, things did not all go the Union way at this point in the war. Early this morning, a Confederate boat expedition planned and boldly led by Commander John Taylor Wood, CSN, manning inconspicuous small skiffs rather than great warships, snuck up on the four gun side-wheel steamer USS Underwriter, under Acting Master Jacob Westervelt. They then boarded, captured and eventually destroyed her while anchored in the Neuse River near New Bern, North Carolina. The boats had been shipped by rail from Petersburg, Virginia, to Kinston, North Carolina, and from there started down the Neuse.
Wood, grandson of President Taylor and nephew of Southern President Jefferson Davis, silently approached the warship about 2:30 a.m. and was within 100 yards of the gunboat before the vessels were sighted. The Underwriter's guns could not be brought to bear in time, and the Confederates quickly boarded and took her in hand-to-hand combat, during which Westervelt was killed. Unable to move the Underwriter because she did not have steam up, Wood destroyed her while under the fire of nearby Union batteries. He later wrote Colonel Lloyd J. Beall, Commandant of the Confederate Marine Corps, commending the Marines who had taken part in the expedition: "Though their duties were more arduous than those of the others, they were always prompt and ready for the performance of all they were called upon to do. As a body they would be a credit to any organization, and I will be glad to be associated with them on duty at any time."
Lieutenant George W. Gift, CSN, who took part in what Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory termed "this brilliant exploit," remarked: "I am all admiration for Wood. He is modesty personified, conceives boldly and executes with skill and courage." The intent of the mission had been to sail the Underwriter into a Confederate port and switch her allegiance, but such was not to be the case. Unable to get underway, and threatened by other Union ships as well as shore batteries, they had no choice but to set her afire, sink her, and make good their escape.
Major General William T. Sherman, who had recently arrived at Vicksburg on board the USS Juliet, Acting Master J. Stoughton Watson in charge, preparatory to commencing his expedition to Meridian , Mississippi , expressed his appreciation for the assistance Watson had given him. "I am very obliged to you personally and officially for the perfect manner [in which] you have contributed to my wants. You have enabled me to assemble and put in motion troops along the Mississippi , and have contributed to the personal comfort of myself and staff." In order to further assist Sherman 's move,the stern-wheel gunboats Marmora, Romeo, Exchange and tinclad Petrel supported a diversionary expedition up the Yazoo River . Sherman had written Lieutenant Commander Elias K. Owen, commanding the gunboats: "I desire to confuse the enemy as to our plans [to March across Mississippi and attack Meridian ], and know that the appearance of a force up the Yazoo as far as possible will tend to that result." Moreover, such a showing of the flag would impress the people with the force available to Union commanders should it be necessary to use it.
The U.S. Tug Geranium, Acting Ensign David Lee, captured eight members of the Confederate Torpedo Corps off Fort Moultrie, in Charleston Harbor, while they were attempting to remove stores from a grounded blockade runner.
One hundred and twenty-nine deserters from the Confederate army under the command of General Joseph E. Johnston, who had effected their escape during his late movement, entered the provost-marshal's office at Chattanooga, and took the oath of allegiance to the United States.
This morning eleven prisoners and ten horses, belonging principally to the Sixth Virginia cavalry, were captured near Blue Ridge, in the vicinity of Thornton's Gap, Virginia
The British steamer Presto, in attempting to slip into Charleston Harbor, ran ashore off Sullivan's Island, where she was destroyed by the Federal fleet.
Despite the vast superiority of the Federal naval forces over the fledgling Confederate flotilla, as reflected in the ever-tightening noose that they were inflicting on shipments into almost all Southern ports, things did not all go the Union way at this point in the war. Early this morning, a Confederate boat expedition planned and boldly led by Commander John Taylor Wood, CSN, manning inconspicuous small skiffs rather than great warships, snuck up on the four gun side-wheel steamer USS Underwriter, under Acting Master Jacob Westervelt. They then boarded, captured and eventually destroyed her while anchored in the Neuse River near New Bern, North Carolina. The boats had been shipped by rail from Petersburg, Virginia, to Kinston, North Carolina, and from there started down the Neuse.
Wood, grandson of President Taylor and nephew of Southern President Jefferson Davis, silently approached the warship about 2:30 a.m. and was within 100 yards of the gunboat before the vessels were sighted. The Underwriter's guns could not be brought to bear in time, and the Confederates quickly boarded and took her in hand-to-hand combat, during which Westervelt was killed. Unable to move the Underwriter because she did not have steam up, Wood destroyed her while under the fire of nearby Union batteries. He later wrote Colonel Lloyd J. Beall, Commandant of the Confederate Marine Corps, commending the Marines who had taken part in the expedition: "Though their duties were more arduous than those of the others, they were always prompt and ready for the performance of all they were called upon to do. As a body they would be a credit to any organization, and I will be glad to be associated with them on duty at any time."
Lieutenant George W. Gift, CSN, who took part in what Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory termed "this brilliant exploit," remarked: "I am all admiration for Wood. He is modesty personified, conceives boldly and executes with skill and courage." The intent of the mission had been to sail the Underwriter into a Confederate port and switch her allegiance, but such was not to be the case. Unable to get underway, and threatened by other Union ships as well as shore batteries, they had no choice but to set her afire, sink her, and make good their escape.
Major General William T. Sherman, who had recently arrived at Vicksburg on board the USS Juliet, Acting Master J. Stoughton Watson in charge, preparatory to commencing his expedition to Meridian , Mississippi , expressed his appreciation for the assistance Watson had given him. "I am very obliged to you personally and officially for the perfect manner [in which] you have contributed to my wants. You have enabled me to assemble and put in motion troops along the Mississippi , and have contributed to the personal comfort of myself and staff." In order to further assist Sherman 's move,the stern-wheel gunboats Marmora, Romeo, Exchange and tinclad Petrel supported a diversionary expedition up the Yazoo River . Sherman had written Lieutenant Commander Elias K. Owen, commanding the gunboats: "I desire to confuse the enemy as to our plans [to March across Mississippi and attack Meridian ], and know that the appearance of a force up the Yazoo as far as possible will tend to that result." Moreover, such a showing of the flag would impress the people with the force available to Union commanders should it be necessary to use it.
The U.S. Tug Geranium, Acting Ensign David Lee, captured eight members of the Confederate Torpedo Corps off Fort Moultrie, in Charleston Harbor, while they were attempting to remove stores from a grounded blockade runner.
One hundred and twenty-nine deserters from the Confederate army under the command of General Joseph E. Johnston, who had effected their escape during his late movement, entered the provost-marshal's office at Chattanooga, and took the oath of allegiance to the United States.
This morning eleven prisoners and ten horses, belonging principally to the Sixth Virginia cavalry, were captured near Blue Ridge, in the vicinity of Thornton's Gap, Virginia
The British steamer Presto, in attempting to slip into Charleston Harbor, ran ashore off Sullivan's Island, where she was destroyed by the Federal fleet.
Posted on 2/2/14 at 7:56 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Wednesday, February 3 1864
On this morning, over 26,000 men following Major General William Tecumseh Sherman, with the Sixteenth Army Corps, under the command of Major General Stephen Augustus Hurlbut, and the Seventeenth Army Corps, commanded by General James Birdseye McPherson, left Vicksburg, Mississippi, heading for Meridian, with the purpose of tearing up railroads and generally wreaking all the havoc that opportunity presented to them. They were supposed to be accompanied by 9500 more cavalrymen under the command of General William Sooy Smith, but the horsemen were late in arriving for the march. Sherman was already of the opinion that cavalry was a low, slow and unreliable fighting force. Smith’s delay did little to help matters.
The blockade runner Presto was yesterday discovered aground under the batteries of Fort Moultrie. The monitors USS Lehigh, piloted by Commander Andrew Bryson; USS Nahant, Lieutenant Commander John J. Cornwell in charge, and USS Passaic, under Lieutenant Commander Edward Simpson, fired on the steamer for three days, finally satisfying themselves on 4 February that she was destroyed.
Last evening, Major General Quincy A. Gillmore advised Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren of his intention over the next three weeks "...to throw a force into Florida on the west bank of St. John's River." He requested the support of two or three naval gunboats for the operation. Dahlgren promptly detailed the small screw steamers USS Ottawa and Norwich to convoy the Army troops to Jacksonville, and ordered the screw steamer USS Dai Ching, and side-wheelers USS Mahaska and Water Witch up the St. John's. The Admiral himself went to Florida to take a personal hand in directing his forces to "...keep open the communications by the river and give any assistance to the troops which operations may need..." With the gunboats deployed according to Dahlgren's instructions, the soldiers, under Brigadier General Truman Seymour, landed at Jacksonville, moved inland, captured fieldpieces and took a large quantity of cotton. As Dahlgren prepared to return to Charleston on 10 February, General Gillmore wrote: "Please accept my thanks for the prompt cooperation afforded me." A strong Confederate counterattack commenced on 20 February and compelled the Union troops to fall back on Jacksonville where the gunboats stood by to defend the city; naval howitzers were put ashore in battery, manned by seamen. Commander Balch, senior naval officer present, reported: "I had abundant reasons to believe that to the naval force must our troops be indebted for protection against a greatly superior force flushed with victory." Seymour expressed his appreciation for Balch's quick action" at a moment when it appeared probable that the vigorous assistance of the force under your command would be necessary.
The USS Petrel, Marmora, Exchange, and Romeo, under Lieutenant Commander Owen, silenced Con-federate batteries at Liverpool, Mississippi, on the Yazoo River, as naval forces began an expedition to prevent Southerners from harassing Sherman's expedition to Meridian, Mississippi. In the next two weeks, Owen's light-draft gunboats pushed up the Yazoo Rivet as far as Greenwood, Mississippi, engaging Confederate troops en route. Confederates destroyed the steamer Sharp to prevent her capture before the Union naval force turned back. "This move," Rear Admiral Porter later reported to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles,"...has had the effect of driving the partisan guerrillas away from the Mississippi River, as they are fearful it is intended to cut them off."
The USS Midnight, Acting Master Walter H. Garfield, captured the blockade running schooner Defy off Doboy Sound, Georgia, with a cargo of salt.
The guard of one company of infantry posted at Patterson Creek Bridge, eight miles east of Cumberland, Virginia, was attacked at half-past 1 P. M. yesterday, by five hundred Confederate cavalrymen, under General Thomas Lafayette (Tex) Rosser, and after a brief resistance, in which two were killed and ten wounded, the greater part of the company was captured. This accomplished, the Rebels set fire to the bridge, and leaving it to destruction, started off with their prisoners in the direction of Romney. The employees of the railroad succeeded in staying the fire, and saved the bridge, with only slight damage. General Averill, with his command of nearly two thousand cavalry, and who had been sent out from Martinsburg, West Virginia, by General Kelley, this morning overtook the Southerners near Springfield, and a severe engagement ensued. The Rebels were driven through Springfield, and thence to and south of Burlington, West Virginia. Many of the Confederates were killed and wounded, and the Union captures were reported large, including the recovery of the men taken yesterday at Patterson's Creek, and many horses. The enemy retreated to the back country, pursued by the Union cavalry.
A fight took place at Sartartia, Mississippi, between a body of Rebels numbering about three thousand, under General Ross, and the Federal gunboats, on an expedition up the Yazoo River to cooperate with General Sherman.
On this morning, over 26,000 men following Major General William Tecumseh Sherman, with the Sixteenth Army Corps, under the command of Major General Stephen Augustus Hurlbut, and the Seventeenth Army Corps, commanded by General James Birdseye McPherson, left Vicksburg, Mississippi, heading for Meridian, with the purpose of tearing up railroads and generally wreaking all the havoc that opportunity presented to them. They were supposed to be accompanied by 9500 more cavalrymen under the command of General William Sooy Smith, but the horsemen were late in arriving for the march. Sherman was already of the opinion that cavalry was a low, slow and unreliable fighting force. Smith’s delay did little to help matters.
The blockade runner Presto was yesterday discovered aground under the batteries of Fort Moultrie. The monitors USS Lehigh, piloted by Commander Andrew Bryson; USS Nahant, Lieutenant Commander John J. Cornwell in charge, and USS Passaic, under Lieutenant Commander Edward Simpson, fired on the steamer for three days, finally satisfying themselves on 4 February that she was destroyed.
Last evening, Major General Quincy A. Gillmore advised Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren of his intention over the next three weeks "...to throw a force into Florida on the west bank of St. John's River." He requested the support of two or three naval gunboats for the operation. Dahlgren promptly detailed the small screw steamers USS Ottawa and Norwich to convoy the Army troops to Jacksonville, and ordered the screw steamer USS Dai Ching, and side-wheelers USS Mahaska and Water Witch up the St. John's. The Admiral himself went to Florida to take a personal hand in directing his forces to "...keep open the communications by the river and give any assistance to the troops which operations may need..." With the gunboats deployed according to Dahlgren's instructions, the soldiers, under Brigadier General Truman Seymour, landed at Jacksonville, moved inland, captured fieldpieces and took a large quantity of cotton. As Dahlgren prepared to return to Charleston on 10 February, General Gillmore wrote: "Please accept my thanks for the prompt cooperation afforded me." A strong Confederate counterattack commenced on 20 February and compelled the Union troops to fall back on Jacksonville where the gunboats stood by to defend the city; naval howitzers were put ashore in battery, manned by seamen. Commander Balch, senior naval officer present, reported: "I had abundant reasons to believe that to the naval force must our troops be indebted for protection against a greatly superior force flushed with victory." Seymour expressed his appreciation for Balch's quick action" at a moment when it appeared probable that the vigorous assistance of the force under your command would be necessary.
The USS Petrel, Marmora, Exchange, and Romeo, under Lieutenant Commander Owen, silenced Con-federate batteries at Liverpool, Mississippi, on the Yazoo River, as naval forces began an expedition to prevent Southerners from harassing Sherman's expedition to Meridian, Mississippi. In the next two weeks, Owen's light-draft gunboats pushed up the Yazoo Rivet as far as Greenwood, Mississippi, engaging Confederate troops en route. Confederates destroyed the steamer Sharp to prevent her capture before the Union naval force turned back. "This move," Rear Admiral Porter later reported to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles,"...has had the effect of driving the partisan guerrillas away from the Mississippi River, as they are fearful it is intended to cut them off."
The USS Midnight, Acting Master Walter H. Garfield, captured the blockade running schooner Defy off Doboy Sound, Georgia, with a cargo of salt.
The guard of one company of infantry posted at Patterson Creek Bridge, eight miles east of Cumberland, Virginia, was attacked at half-past 1 P. M. yesterday, by five hundred Confederate cavalrymen, under General Thomas Lafayette (Tex) Rosser, and after a brief resistance, in which two were killed and ten wounded, the greater part of the company was captured. This accomplished, the Rebels set fire to the bridge, and leaving it to destruction, started off with their prisoners in the direction of Romney. The employees of the railroad succeeded in staying the fire, and saved the bridge, with only slight damage. General Averill, with his command of nearly two thousand cavalry, and who had been sent out from Martinsburg, West Virginia, by General Kelley, this morning overtook the Southerners near Springfield, and a severe engagement ensued. The Rebels were driven through Springfield, and thence to and south of Burlington, West Virginia. Many of the Confederates were killed and wounded, and the Union captures were reported large, including the recovery of the men taken yesterday at Patterson's Creek, and many horses. The enemy retreated to the back country, pursued by the Union cavalry.
A fight took place at Sartartia, Mississippi, between a body of Rebels numbering about three thousand, under General Ross, and the Federal gunboats, on an expedition up the Yazoo River to cooperate with General Sherman.
Posted on 2/3/14 at 8:40 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Thursday, 4 February 1864
The pursuit of blockade-runners was a constant activity, not as well remembered as many battles but likely more important in the course of the war than many of them. On this early morning, the newly built British side-wheel steamer Nutfield, bound from Bermuda to Wilmington, North Carolina, tried to run the gauntlet into New River Inlet in that state. Lieutenant Commander Francis A. Roe, though, was vigilant aboard the USS Secaucus and chased her until she ran aground. Unable to refloat her, Roe offloaded the cargo of quinine and rifles, and burned her to the waterline. The quinine in particular was of incalculable importance, far more so than a few muskets more or less. Quinine was the only treatment available for malaria for men on both sides. Ignorance of proper dosage, combined with the fact that there often just wasn’t enough to go around, resulted in men getting just enough quinine to get them back on their feet, but not enough to cure them.
J. L. McPhail, Maryland 's Provost Marshal General, wrote Commander Foxhall A. Parker of the Potomac Flotilla, informing him that a known Southern sympathizer was the agent for schooner Ann Hamilton's owners. McPhail recommended that she be taken, but it later developed that the U.S. Revenue Steamer Hercules had already seized Ann Hamilton off Point Lookout, Maryland, on 4 February. A search of the schooner confirmed McPhail's suspicions: quantities of salt and lye and more than $15,000 in Confederate money were found on board. Parker ordered her to Washington for adjudication.
Captain John R. Tucker reported that the boiler of the CSS Chicora had given out and that henceforth she could be used only as a floating battery in the defenses of Charleston Harbor.
The USS De Soto, under Captain Gustavus H. Scott, seized the blockade running British steamer Cumberland in the Gulf of Mexico south of Santa Rosa Island with a cargo of arms, gunpowder, and dry goods.
The pursuit of blockade-runners was a constant activity, not as well remembered as many battles but likely more important in the course of the war than many of them. On this early morning, the newly built British side-wheel steamer Nutfield, bound from Bermuda to Wilmington, North Carolina, tried to run the gauntlet into New River Inlet in that state. Lieutenant Commander Francis A. Roe, though, was vigilant aboard the USS Secaucus and chased her until she ran aground. Unable to refloat her, Roe offloaded the cargo of quinine and rifles, and burned her to the waterline. The quinine in particular was of incalculable importance, far more so than a few muskets more or less. Quinine was the only treatment available for malaria for men on both sides. Ignorance of proper dosage, combined with the fact that there often just wasn’t enough to go around, resulted in men getting just enough quinine to get them back on their feet, but not enough to cure them.
J. L. McPhail, Maryland 's Provost Marshal General, wrote Commander Foxhall A. Parker of the Potomac Flotilla, informing him that a known Southern sympathizer was the agent for schooner Ann Hamilton's owners. McPhail recommended that she be taken, but it later developed that the U.S. Revenue Steamer Hercules had already seized Ann Hamilton off Point Lookout, Maryland, on 4 February. A search of the schooner confirmed McPhail's suspicions: quantities of salt and lye and more than $15,000 in Confederate money were found on board. Parker ordered her to Washington for adjudication.
Captain John R. Tucker reported that the boiler of the CSS Chicora had given out and that henceforth she could be used only as a floating battery in the defenses of Charleston Harbor.
The USS De Soto, under Captain Gustavus H. Scott, seized the blockade running British steamer Cumberland in the Gulf of Mexico south of Santa Rosa Island with a cargo of arms, gunpowder, and dry goods.
This post was edited on 2/4/14 at 4:59 am
Posted on 2/3/14 at 11:35 pm to BadLeroyDawg
I haven't scrolled back to see but I'm pretty sure I read this one before and it is dated a month ago. Did you intend to post something else instead?
Posted on 2/4/14 at 4:41 am to Litigator
Thanks for the heads-up, Litigator. The Davis' reply seemed familiar, but Lee will be writing for food for the next 13+ months. He will have less than 25,000 troops by the time Petersburg is evacuated in early April '65. Corrected now.
This post was edited on 2/4/14 at 4:45 am
Posted on 2/4/14 at 12:19 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Posted on 2/4/14 at 8:16 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Friday, 5 February 1864
Major General William T. Sherman led his men this morning on another leg of the trip from Vicksburg. Specifically, they left the vicinity of Bolton Depot and marched to Meridian, a distance of about eighteen miles. There was still no formal, organized opposition to Sherman’s march. That did not mean, however, that the people of the countryside were thrilled to have them come for a visit. The entire trip was so plagued with snipers, traps, deadfalls and other impediments that the men referred to it as an eighteen-mile skirmish. They did finally make it to Meridian.
The Fourteenth Illinois cavalry, commanded by Major Davis, which had been out on an expedition from Knoxville, Tennessee, reported at headquarters, after having performed one of the more daring raids of the war. Evading the Confederate cavalry, the force dashed round into Jackson County, North Carolina, surprised the camp of Thomas's celebrated Indian Legion, capturing fifty of them — among whom were three lieutenants and an Indian doctor — besides killing and wounding a large number. Thomas, himself, with a remnant of his band escaped. Before the war he was the United States agent for the Cherokees of east Tennessee and North Carolina, a position which gave him great influence with the natives.
The Union loss in the fight was three killed, among whom was Lieutenant Capran, son of the colonel who first commanded the regiment, and five wounded. A detachment of the Forty-ninth Ohio were sent to bring in the prisoners.
Two days ago, a scouting party sent out from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, by Colonel J. B. Rogers, under command of Captain Shelby, Second regiment of cavalry, M. S. M., attacked a large band of partisan guerrillas under the noted chief, John F. Bolin, killed seven, and captured eight men, thirteen horses, and fifteen wagons loaded with corn. Bolin was captured and confined in the guard house at that post.
At a late hour tonight, he was forcibly taken by the soldiers and citizens from the custody of the guard, and hanged without trial. No intimation of the act reached the officers until the deed was perpetrated. The officers did all in their power to suppress the violation of the law, but to no avail. Bolin made the following confession before his execution:
I was at Round Pond; there were eight men killed; two by Nathan Bolin and one by John Wright. They were killed with handspikes. I emptied one revolver. At Round Point I shot one man; at Dallas I wounded another. I captured eight men on Hickory Ridge; I told them I was going to shoot them, but their soldiers recaptured them before I could do so. I have killed six or seven men; I killed my cousin; I ordered him to halt; he would not, and I shot him down.
Governor Richard Yates, of Illinois, issued a proclamation, saying that that State, under every call, had exceeded her quota, and was not, on the first of January or at any other time, subject to a draft.
The day before yesterday, an expedition, under command of Colonel Jourdan, left Newport, North Carolina, for the White River, for the purpose of making a reconnaissance. The command was made up of Vermont and New York troops, and a part of the Second North Carolina regiment, who rendered efficient service as guides. Last evening they came upon a body of cavalry about five miles from Young's Cross-Roads, and captured the entire party, numbering twenty-eight men and thirty horses, with their arms and equipment. A quantity of corn was also captured and brought in. The command returned to Newport this day, without losing a man.
The steamer Emma was fired into at a point fifteen miles below Helena, Arkansas, with cannon and musketry. The shells were filled with Greek fire, three of which exploded in various parts of her, setting her on fire, but the flames were extinguished.
The bombardment of Fort Sumter was continued; eighty-six shots were fired at the city of Charleston during the day.
Major General William T. Sherman led his men this morning on another leg of the trip from Vicksburg. Specifically, they left the vicinity of Bolton Depot and marched to Meridian, a distance of about eighteen miles. There was still no formal, organized opposition to Sherman’s march. That did not mean, however, that the people of the countryside were thrilled to have them come for a visit. The entire trip was so plagued with snipers, traps, deadfalls and other impediments that the men referred to it as an eighteen-mile skirmish. They did finally make it to Meridian.
The Fourteenth Illinois cavalry, commanded by Major Davis, which had been out on an expedition from Knoxville, Tennessee, reported at headquarters, after having performed one of the more daring raids of the war. Evading the Confederate cavalry, the force dashed round into Jackson County, North Carolina, surprised the camp of Thomas's celebrated Indian Legion, capturing fifty of them — among whom were three lieutenants and an Indian doctor — besides killing and wounding a large number. Thomas, himself, with a remnant of his band escaped. Before the war he was the United States agent for the Cherokees of east Tennessee and North Carolina, a position which gave him great influence with the natives.
The Union loss in the fight was three killed, among whom was Lieutenant Capran, son of the colonel who first commanded the regiment, and five wounded. A detachment of the Forty-ninth Ohio were sent to bring in the prisoners.
Two days ago, a scouting party sent out from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, by Colonel J. B. Rogers, under command of Captain Shelby, Second regiment of cavalry, M. S. M., attacked a large band of partisan guerrillas under the noted chief, John F. Bolin, killed seven, and captured eight men, thirteen horses, and fifteen wagons loaded with corn. Bolin was captured and confined in the guard house at that post.
At a late hour tonight, he was forcibly taken by the soldiers and citizens from the custody of the guard, and hanged without trial. No intimation of the act reached the officers until the deed was perpetrated. The officers did all in their power to suppress the violation of the law, but to no avail. Bolin made the following confession before his execution:
I was at Round Pond; there were eight men killed; two by Nathan Bolin and one by John Wright. They were killed with handspikes. I emptied one revolver. At Round Point I shot one man; at Dallas I wounded another. I captured eight men on Hickory Ridge; I told them I was going to shoot them, but their soldiers recaptured them before I could do so. I have killed six or seven men; I killed my cousin; I ordered him to halt; he would not, and I shot him down.
Governor Richard Yates, of Illinois, issued a proclamation, saying that that State, under every call, had exceeded her quota, and was not, on the first of January or at any other time, subject to a draft.
The day before yesterday, an expedition, under command of Colonel Jourdan, left Newport, North Carolina, for the White River, for the purpose of making a reconnaissance. The command was made up of Vermont and New York troops, and a part of the Second North Carolina regiment, who rendered efficient service as guides. Last evening they came upon a body of cavalry about five miles from Young's Cross-Roads, and captured the entire party, numbering twenty-eight men and thirty horses, with their arms and equipment. A quantity of corn was also captured and brought in. The command returned to Newport this day, without losing a man.
The steamer Emma was fired into at a point fifteen miles below Helena, Arkansas, with cannon and musketry. The shells were filled with Greek fire, three of which exploded in various parts of her, setting her on fire, but the flames were extinguished.
The bombardment of Fort Sumter was continued; eighty-six shots were fired at the city of Charleston during the day.
Posted on 2/5/14 at 8:32 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Saturday, 6 February 1864
In Richmond on this morning, a law took effect that was intended to accomplish two things: display defiance toward the Federal government, and relieve the desperate shortage of supplies. In the first part of the law, it was declared illegal to use US paper money in any transaction. In the second, no export of cotton, tobacco, sugar, molasses or rice was to leave port unless the Confederate government was given half the proceeds of the sale of the total tonnage.
Special Commissioner of the Confederate States A. Dudley Mann wrote Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin from London: "The iron hull is superseding the wooden hull just as steam is superseding canvas. The rich and exhaustless ore fields and coal mines of the 'Island Giant', her numerous workshops and shipyards, the abundance and constant augmentation of her seamen, will probably in less than a score of years produce for her a mercantile navy three times as large as that of all the world besides. The old American Union was her only rival in bottom carrying. That rival has disappeared." Mann here referred to the fact that the U.S. merchant vessels were increasingly sailing under foreign registry because of Southern commerce raiders.
The USS Cambridge, under Commander William F. Spicer, found the blockade running steamer Dee aground and in flames near Masonboro Inlet, North Carolina. She had grounded the preceding night and was set afire to prevent capture. Finding it impossible to extinguish the flames or to get her off, Spicer abandoned the attempt and completed the destruction of the blockade runner by firing into her, along with the cargo of lead, bacon, and distilled spirits she had so bravely purveyed.
The Sixteenth Army Corps, General Stephen A. Hurlbut, and Seventeenth corps, General James B. McPherson, under orders of Major General William T. Sherman, entered Jackson, Mississippi, the enemy offering but little resistance.
A large party of Yankees went to Windsor, in Bertie County, North Carolina, in boats, while another party landed on the Roanoke River, eight miles below, and marched on the town, where they made a junction with those that went up in boats. They burned up some meat, destroyed some salt, and carried off the Reverend Cyrus Walters, of the Episcopal Church, and several others. They attacked Captain Bowers' camp, and routed the small force there; but, Captain Bowers escaped and being reinforced with a small body of cavalry, after some extremely sharp fighting, the Yankees made off in a hasty retreat.
A detachment of the Seventh Indiana entered the town of Bolivar, Tennessee, under the impression that the place was still occupied by the Federal troops. Much to their surprise, they found a regiment and a half of Rebels in possession. They were in the town, and demanded what troops they were. The reply was, Mississippi. The Indianans, with the shout, “Remember Jeff Davis!” made a furious attack upon the astonished and disconcerted Confederates, and drove them out of Bolivar in the utmost confusion, killing, wounding, and capturing about thirty. The Union loss was one killed and three wounded.
In the Confederate Congress, the following resolution was introduced this day:
Whereas, The President of the United States, in a late public communication, did declare that no propositions for peace had been made to that Government by the Confederate States, when in truth such propositions were prevented from being made by the President, in that he refused to hear or even to receive two commissioners appointed to treat expressly of the preservation of amicable relations between the two governments; nevertheless that the Confederate States may stand justified in the sight of the conservative men of the North of all parties, and that the world may know which of the two governments it is that urges on a war unparalleled for fierceness of conflict, and intensifying into a sectional hate unsurpassed in the annals of mankind; therefore resolved,
That the Confederate States invite the United States through their government at Washington, to meet them by representatives equal to their representatives and senators in their respective congresses----, on the day of----, next----, to consider, first, whether they cannot agree upon a recognition of the Confederate States of America. Second, in the event of declining such a recognition, whether they cannot agree upon the formation of a new government, founded upon the equality and sovereignty of the States; but if this cannot be done, to consider, third, whether they cannot agree upon treaties offensive, defensive, and commercial.
In Richmond on this morning, a law took effect that was intended to accomplish two things: display defiance toward the Federal government, and relieve the desperate shortage of supplies. In the first part of the law, it was declared illegal to use US paper money in any transaction. In the second, no export of cotton, tobacco, sugar, molasses or rice was to leave port unless the Confederate government was given half the proceeds of the sale of the total tonnage.
Special Commissioner of the Confederate States A. Dudley Mann wrote Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin from London: "The iron hull is superseding the wooden hull just as steam is superseding canvas. The rich and exhaustless ore fields and coal mines of the 'Island Giant', her numerous workshops and shipyards, the abundance and constant augmentation of her seamen, will probably in less than a score of years produce for her a mercantile navy three times as large as that of all the world besides. The old American Union was her only rival in bottom carrying. That rival has disappeared." Mann here referred to the fact that the U.S. merchant vessels were increasingly sailing under foreign registry because of Southern commerce raiders.
The USS Cambridge, under Commander William F. Spicer, found the blockade running steamer Dee aground and in flames near Masonboro Inlet, North Carolina. She had grounded the preceding night and was set afire to prevent capture. Finding it impossible to extinguish the flames or to get her off, Spicer abandoned the attempt and completed the destruction of the blockade runner by firing into her, along with the cargo of lead, bacon, and distilled spirits she had so bravely purveyed.
The Sixteenth Army Corps, General Stephen A. Hurlbut, and Seventeenth corps, General James B. McPherson, under orders of Major General William T. Sherman, entered Jackson, Mississippi, the enemy offering but little resistance.
A large party of Yankees went to Windsor, in Bertie County, North Carolina, in boats, while another party landed on the Roanoke River, eight miles below, and marched on the town, where they made a junction with those that went up in boats. They burned up some meat, destroyed some salt, and carried off the Reverend Cyrus Walters, of the Episcopal Church, and several others. They attacked Captain Bowers' camp, and routed the small force there; but, Captain Bowers escaped and being reinforced with a small body of cavalry, after some extremely sharp fighting, the Yankees made off in a hasty retreat.
A detachment of the Seventh Indiana entered the town of Bolivar, Tennessee, under the impression that the place was still occupied by the Federal troops. Much to their surprise, they found a regiment and a half of Rebels in possession. They were in the town, and demanded what troops they were. The reply was, Mississippi. The Indianans, with the shout, “Remember Jeff Davis!” made a furious attack upon the astonished and disconcerted Confederates, and drove them out of Bolivar in the utmost confusion, killing, wounding, and capturing about thirty. The Union loss was one killed and three wounded.
In the Confederate Congress, the following resolution was introduced this day:
Whereas, The President of the United States, in a late public communication, did declare that no propositions for peace had been made to that Government by the Confederate States, when in truth such propositions were prevented from being made by the President, in that he refused to hear or even to receive two commissioners appointed to treat expressly of the preservation of amicable relations between the two governments; nevertheless that the Confederate States may stand justified in the sight of the conservative men of the North of all parties, and that the world may know which of the two governments it is that urges on a war unparalleled for fierceness of conflict, and intensifying into a sectional hate unsurpassed in the annals of mankind; therefore resolved,
That the Confederate States invite the United States through their government at Washington, to meet them by representatives equal to their representatives and senators in their respective congresses----, on the day of----, next----, to consider, first, whether they cannot agree upon a recognition of the Confederate States of America. Second, in the event of declining such a recognition, whether they cannot agree upon the formation of a new government, founded upon the equality and sovereignty of the States; but if this cannot be done, to consider, third, whether they cannot agree upon treaties offensive, defensive, and commercial.
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