re: 150 years ago this day...

quote:

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Thanks, Patton, really appreciate that. If that is your surname, BTW, George S. Patton, Sr. was a Confederate Colonel during the War and the grandfather of George Patton of WWII fame.

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Wow, I had no clue. Thanks for keeping up with this thread, it's always a great read.

Friday, 26 February 1864

The list of items for which soldiers could receive the death penalty was not terribly long. Mutiny, sedition, desertion, assaulting a superior officer, and sleeping on guard covered most instances. All capital sentences of courts-martial, though, had to be personally reviewed by the President, and Lincoln almost never signed any. This morning, he got rid of the problem by ordering that death sentences, at least for deserters, would be commuted to imprisonment during the War. Many Union generals detested the policy, saying it undermined discipline.

While on night picket duty at Charleston Harbor, a boat commanded by Acting Master's Mate William H. Kitching, Jr., from the USS Nipsic, was captured by a Confederate cutter from the CSS Palmetto State. The Union boat encountered her captors in a thick fog and was unable to withdraw rapidly enough against the flood tide to escape. Kitching and his five crew members were taken prisoner and confined initially on board the CSS Charleston near Fort Sumter.

A boat expedition under the command of Acting Master Edmund Cottle Weeks, from the USS Tahoma, destroyed a large salt works belonging to the Confederate government on Goose Creek, near St. Marks, Florida. As Rear Admiral Theodorus Bailey noted in his report to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles: "...the works to be destroyed were under the protection of a Rebel cavalry company, whose pickets the expedition succeeded in eluding."

Sunday, 28 February 1864

One of the largest camps for the confinement of Union prisoners of war was right in the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia. This was not comfortable for either side, and the city was frequently swept with rumors of riots and escapes. Today the threat was real. A contingent of over 3500 Union cavalry left Stevensburg, Virginia, led by General Judson Kilpatrick, was on its way to free the men. Kilpatrick might have been known for some recklessness; his nickname was “Kill-cavalry". General Custer, with another body of Union cavalry left headquarters at Culpeper Court House, Virginia, to cooperate with the force under Kilpatrick, in his expedition to Richmond.

Lieutenant Robert D. Minor, CSN, reporting on the progress being made on the ram CSS Albemarle, told Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory: "...with the exception of some little connecting work to be completed [the ironclad] may be considered as ready. Steam will probably be raised on Friday next. The iron is all on the hull...the carpenters are now bolting the first layers of plate on the shield, and as long as iron is available the work will progress. The Rudder is in place. Shell room and magazine prepared. Officer quarters arranged and berth deck ready for either hammocks if allowed the ship or bunks if the canvas cannot be obtained...The ship is now afloat and when ready for service will I think draw between 7 to 8 feet...The guns, carriages, and equip-ment have not yet arrived, but are expected on the 4th of March..." The Albemarle was launched less than two months later, on 17 April.

The USS Penobscot, under Lieutenant Commander Andrew F. K. Benham, seized the British schooner Flusser in the Brazos River, attempting to run the blockade at Velasco, Texas, with a cargo of powder.

Colonel Robert Vinkler Richardson, the noted partisan guerrilla leader, was captured at a point below Rushville, Indiana south of the Cumberland River.

A detachment of the Seventh Tennessee cavalry, which left Union City yesterday in pursuit of guerrillas, just before daylight this morning came up with a squad of Rebels at Dukedom, about fifteen miles from Union City, and dispersed them; captured one prisoner, four horses, four revolvers, one carbine, and some of the clothing of the party.

Monday, 29 February 1864

The USS Monticello crept quietly up to the vicinity of Smithville, N.C. and dropped a landing party led by Lt. William Cushing, USN. His mission: capture Gen. Louis Hebert, CSA. Cushing managed to sneak all the way into the general’s quarters, only to find he had left for Wilmington. Cushing reported to his boss, Admiral Lee: “..my deep regret that the general was not in when I called.”

Another report: Two boats from the USS Monticello led by Lieutenant William B. Cushing landed at Confederate-held Smithville, North Carolina, at night to attempt the capture of General Louis Hebert. The daring Cushing found his way with three of his men to the General's quarters in the middle of town and within fifty yards of the Confederate barracks. Cushing was disappointed to find that Hebert had gone to Wilmington earlier that day and instead reported to Rear Admiral Lee: "I send Captain Kelly, C.S. Army, to you, deeply regretting that the general was not in when I called."

The U.S. consular agent at Calais, France, sent Captain Winslow, of the USS Kearsarge, a detailed description of the CSS Flusser, captained by Lieutenant William P. A. Campbell, under the impression that she would soon attempt to begin a cruise on the high seas. The Rappahannock had been purchased for the Confederacy in England by Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury the previous year and in November had been brought to Calais to continue necessary repairs. Late in January, Flag Officer Barron had instructed Campbell to rendezvous with the CSS Flusser, Lieutenant William E. Evans commanding, as soon as possible in order to transfer the latter's guns to the Rappahannock. Though the Georgia subsequently made her way to the appointed place of rendezvous off Morocco, the Rappahannock never left Calais, detained by want of crew members and the French Government. She did, however, serve the Confederacy as a depot for men and supplies intended for other ships.

The USS Penobscot, under Lieutenant Commander Benham, captured the blockade running schooners Stingray and John Douglas with cargos of cotton off Velasco, Texas.

The schooner Rebel, while attempting to run the blockade, was captured by the Federal bark Roebuck, off Indian River, Florida.

The USS Virginia, under Acting Lieutenant C. H. Brown, captured the Confederate schooner Camilla with a cargo of cotton off the coast at Galveston, Texas. The sloop Catherine Holt was also captured with a cargo of cotton, but she went aground off San Luis Pass and was burned.

Major General Frederick Steele, from his headquarters at Little Rock, issued an address to the people of Arkansas, announcing the initiation of proceedings for the restoration of the civil law, and the establishment of order throughout the State.

Wednesday, March 2 1864

The failed raid by Union Cavalry forces under General H. Judson Kilpatrick and Colonel Ulric Dahlgren, son of Rear Admiral John Adolphus Bernard Dahlgren, to free Federal prisoners and kidnap or kill President Jefferson Davis and his Cabinet was becoming more of a debacle by the day. Dahlgren’s men, unable to penetrate Richmond’s defenses, hastily tried to escape pursuit by riding north and east of the city for their own lines. His detachment of over 500 men made it as far as Mantapike Hill before they were attacked by Fitzhugh Lee’s horsemen and Home Guards in King and Queen County near Walkerton. Dahlgren was killed in the ensuing battle, his atrocious orders taken and more than 100 of his men were captured. Those papers found on Dahlgren’s body that ordered him to burn Richmond and assassinate Davis and his cabinet caused a political furor. Southerners accused the North of initiating “a war of extermination.” Meade, Kilpatrick, and Lincoln all disavowed any knowledge of the Dahlgren Papers.

Rear Admiral David D. Porter, in anticipation of the proposed campaign into Louisiana and Texas, arrived off the mouth of the Red River to coordinate the movements of his Mississippi Squadron with those of the Army. Previous attempts to gain control of Texas by coastal assault had not succeeded, and a joint expedition up the Red River to Shreveport was decided upon. From there the Army would attempt to occupy Texas. Ten thousand men from Major General William T. Sherman's army at Vicksburg would rendezvous with Major General Nathaniel P. Banks' army and Porter's gunboats at Alexandria by 17 March. The naval forces would provide vital convoy and gunfire support up the river to Shreveport, where Major General Frederick Steele was to join them from Little Rock. This date, however, Porter wrote Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, advising him of an unforeseen development that cast dark shadows on the entire expedition: "I came down here anticipating a move on the part of the army up toward Shreveport, but as the river is lower than it has been known for years, I much fear that the combined movement can not come off, without interfering with plans formed by General Grant." Porter was referring to the fact that the troops Sherman had detailed for the Red River campaign were committed to Grant after 10 April for his spring campaign. To wait for a rise in the river, Porter feared, would mean failure to meet that deadline; however, to ascend the river at its present stage would also jeopardize the large scale movement. Porter nevertheless pushed swiftly ahead to ready his squadron for the operation.

Rear Admiral David G. Farragut wrote his son Loyall about his recent sighting of the Confederate ram Tennessee, commenting that "...she is very long, and I thought moved very slowly." Nevertheless, this heavily armored and well-fought ship was to prove a formidable opponent for the Admiral's squadron in Mobile Bay.

The USS Dan Smith, under Acting Master Benjamin C. Dean, seized the blockade running British schooner Sophia stranded in Altamaha Sound, Georgia, with an assorted cargo. The Sophia was subsequently lost at sea in a heavy gale which disabled her and forced her abandonment on 8 May 1864 by Acting Ensign Paul Armandt and the prize crew.

Bridadier General George Custer's expedition, which left Culpeper on the twenty-eighth of February to cooperate with the forces under General Kilpatrick, returned this day with only four men slightly wounded, and one rather badly so. He captured and brought in about fifty prisoners, a large number of Negroes, some three hundred horses, and reportedly had destroyed a large quantity of valuable stores at Stanardsville, Virginia, besides inflicting other damage to the Rebels.

President Abraham Lincoln directed that the sentences of all deserters who had been condemned to death by court-martial, and that had not been otherwise acted upon by him, be mitigated to imprisonment during the War at the Dry Tortugas, Florida, where they would be sent under suitable guards by orders from the army commanders.

Captain Ross and twelve of his men, deserters from General Sterling Price's Confederate Army, arrived at Van Buren, Arkansas.

Colonel Abel Delos Streight made a report to the Committee on Military Affairs, of the lower house of Congress, in relation to the treatment the Union officers and soldiers received from the Confederate authorities at Richmond and elsewhere in the South.

Saturday, 5 March 1864

Some Southern nautical ingenuity was employed today by Commander John Taylor Wood, CSN. He led 15 men in a barge across Chesapeake Bay to Cherrystone Point, Virginia. This obscure locale held a Union telegraph station, which was promptly given new management, with the original telegraphers tied up outside. Woods and company then surprised two small steamers, whose occupants followed the telegraphers in being tied up and left ashore. They then wrecked the telegraph offices and some warehouses, sank one of the newly-acquired ships and sailed off in the other.

Another report: Commander John Taylor Wood, CSN, led an early morning raid on the Union-held telegraph station at Cherrystone Point, Virginia. After crossing the Chesapeake Bay at night with some 15 men in open barges, Wood landed and seized the station. Small Union Army steamers Aeolus and Titan, unaware that the station was in enemy hands, put into shore and each was captured by the daring Southerners. Wood then destroyed the telegraph station and surrounding warehouses, and disabled and bonded the Aeolus before boarding the Titan and steaming up the Piankatank River as far as possible. A joint Army-Navy expedition to recapture her was quickly organized, but Wood adroitly evaded the USS Currituck and Tulip in the still early morning haze. A force of five gunboats under Commander Foxhall Alexander Parker followed the Confederates up the river on the 7th, where Titan was found destroyed by Wood, "...together with a number of large boats prepared for a raid."

Early this morning, the Confederates under Lawrence Sullivan "Sul" Ross and Robert V. Richardson began a vigorous attack on the Federal picket on the Benton Road just outside of Yazoo City, Mississippi. The Union troops were collected in two redoubts, commanded respectively by Major George C. McKee, with the 11th Illinois Infantry, and Lieutenant Colonel Ferdinand E. Peebles, with part of the 8th Louisiana Colored Infantry, and in the city, where Colonel James H. Coates, leader of the Federal expedition, was in command. By 10 a.m. the whole Federal line had become engaged, Coates saw an attempt was being made to outflank him, and before the four companies of the 8th Colored Infantry which he hurried to the support of the detachment of the 1st Mississippi Colored Cavalry at that point could reach their destination Richardson's whole command was in the city, between McKee and Coates' headquarters.

Several times McKee was called on to surrender, but each time refused, even after he had been almost entirely surrounded. Coates posted his men in doorways and buildings and opened a telling fire upon the enemy in the streets. Subsequently he brought up a piece of artillery from one of the gunboats and under cover of its fire a charge was made at 2 p.m. Acting Master Thomas McElroy, commanding the USS Petrel, seeing the attack on the Confederates, opened up with heavy gunfire, supported by the USS Marmora, under Acting Master Thomas Gibson.

The result was the driving out of the Confederates in the town. Southern troops surrounding McKee, on seeing their comrades giving way, fell back. The Federal loss in the expedition, which was a part of the Meridian campaign, was 31 killed, 121 wounded and 31 captured or missing, the larger part of whom fell at Yazoo City. The Confederate loss on the 5th was reported as 6 killed and 51 wounded. The Union expedition hastily abandoned Yazoo City the next day.

A strike force of Confederate cavalry attacked ninety-three men of the Third Tennessee regiment at Panther Springs, in eastern Tennessee. The Union loss was reported as two killed, eight wounded and twenty-two captured. The Southerners were estimated as having about thirty casualties.

Monday, 7 March 1864

Confederate President Jefferson Davis sometimes had as much trouble getting his generals to do what he wanted as Union President Abraham Lincoln did. This morning, he wrote to General James Longstreet, based in Greeneville, Tennessee, pressing him to get a move on into Kentucky. He implored, he pleaded, he cajoled, he did everything but send reinforcements. Longstreet had asked for them repeatedly, and simply refused to budge without them.

The first Negro prisoners of war arrived in Richmond, Virginia, and were placed in Libby Prison. The Examiner thus noticed the fact: “They were genuine, sure members of the original Corps d'Afrique, ranging in color from gingerbread-brown to tobacco-black, greasy and loud-smelling, encased in blue uniforms, close buttoned up to the chin. They were captured on the second instant, within a few miles of Williamsburg, with arms in their hands, having been pushed forward by Massa Butler with a Negro command on a foraging and thieving expedition. Their names and military connection were recorded as follows: James W. Cord and P. F. Lewis, Fifth United States volunteers; R. P. Armstead and John Thomas, Sixth United States volunteers. As they claimed to be ‘Butler's pets,’ and it being understood that a great affection and fondness for each other existed between them and the officers captured from the recent sacking and plunder expedition, Major Turner very considerately ordered that they be placed in the cells occupied by their white co-patriots, each being accommodated with a sable boon companion. We are glad that our officials are inclined to carry out Greeley's idea of amalgamation of the races, so far as it affects the Yankee prisoners in our care. It will result in mutual good. The only party likely to be seriously affected, either in status or morals, is the Negro. The Yankee cannot be degraded lower; the Negro probably can be.”

Under the caption of “A Premium Uniform,” the Richmond newspapers published the following: “Recently Mrs. White, of Selma, Alabama, went through the lines to Lexington, Kentucky, and being a sister (Todd) of Mrs. Lincoln, was permitted to go on to Washington. On her return, several weeks ago, she was allowed to carry nothing back, save a uniform for a very dear friend of hers who was battling in the Southern cause. The uniform arrived in the Confederacy several days since, and on inspection all the buttons were found to be composed of gold coin--two and a half, five, ten, and twenty-dollar gold pieces, set in the wooden button and covered with Confederate cloth. The gold thus brought through is valued at between thirty and forty thousand dollars--all sewed upon a uniform.”

Considerable excitement existed in Frederick and Washington counties, Maryland, growing out of Confederate movements on the Virginia side of the Potomac, supposed to be premonitory of a cavalry raid through the upper counties of the State.

Decatur, Alabama, was captured by the Federal forces under the command of Brigadier General Grenville Mellen Dodge.

True dat, Grumio_Poppaea, especially with the Federal Gubbmint having become so empowered that it doesn't matter one hawt damn what you and your state decide to do anymore. Unless the Attorney General wants you "to simply ignore the law", huh?. And I might also argue who really "won" with you sometime. But it is what happened, day by day. Thanks for the response.

Wednesday, March 9 1864

The rank of lieutenant general had not been in use in the US Army in some time. In fact, the only man in American history to have held the distinction had been George Washington, and it had been retired so that no lesser man, who might dishonor it, should hold it. Today it was revived by act of Congress. A ceremony was held in Washington wherein President Abraham Lincoln, with the entire Cabinet in attendance, awarded a commission of this rank to Hiram Ulysses “Sam” Grant. Speeches were made, although both Lincoln and Grant spoke only briefly. Grant then promptly left town, in order to conduct a conference with General George Meade. Others could hold parties and parades, but Sam Grant had work to do.

The President had addressed Grant thus:

“General Grant: The nation's appreciation of what you have done, and its reliance upon you for what there remains to do in the existing great struggle, are now presented with this commission constituting you Lieutenant-General in the army of the United States. With this high honor devolves upon you also a corresponding responsibility. As the country herein trusts you, so, under God, it will sustain you. I scarcely need to add that with what I have spoken for the nation, goes my own hearty personal concurrence.”

To which Grant replied as follows:

“Mr. President: I accept this commission with gratitude for the high honor conferred. With the aid of the noble armies that have fought on so many fields for our common country, it will be my earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. I feel the full weight of the responsibilities now devolving on me, and I know that if they are met, it will be due to those armies, and, above all, to the favor of that Providence which leads both nations and men.”

The President then introduced the General to all the members of the Cabinet, after which the company were seated and about half an hour was spent in conversation.

Rear Admiral David D. Porter directed Lieutenant Commander James A. Greer, piloting the USS Benton, to advise him as soon as General William T. Sherman's troops were sighted coming down river on transports. The Admiral wanted to move quickly upon the arrival of the troops in order to meet Major General Nathaniel P. Banks at Alexandria, Louisiana, on 17 March. Porter had gathered his gunboats at the month of the Red River for the move. They included the ironclads USS Essex, Benton, Choctaw, Chillicothe, Ozark, Louisville, Carondelet, East port, Pittsburg, Mound City, Osage, and Neosho; the large wooden steamers Lafayette and Ouachita; and the small paddle-wheelers Lexington, Fort Hindman, Cricket, and Gazelle.

Confederate Secretary of War James A. Seddon authorized Thomas E. Courtenay to employ "...a band of men, not exceeding twenty-five in number, for secret service against the enemy.

For the destruction of property of the enemy or injury done, a percentage shall be paid in 4 per cent bonds, in no case to exceed 50 per cent of the loss to the enemy, and to be awarded by such officer or officers as shall be charged with such duty...The waters and railroads of the Confederate States used by the enemy are properly the subjects and arenas of operations..." Courtenay had aided in the development of the coal torpedo.

The USS Shokokon, Morse, and General Putnam, under Lieutenant Commander Charles A. Babcock, convoyed an Army expedition up the York and Mattapony Rivers. After disembarking troops from the transports, Babcock remained at Sheppard's Landing throughout the 10th as requested by Brigadier General Isaac J. Wistar. Then the naval force withdrew downriver, arriving at Yorktown on the 12th. While enroute on the 11th, Babcock met a naval force under Acting Lieutenant Edward Hooker of the Potomac Flotilla and arranged for him to "...keep a vigilant lookout for our forces, and also prevent any rebels from crossing from the mouth of the Piankatank River to Mosquito Point on the Rappahannock." As Rear Admiral Lee wrote: "...the naval part of the expedition was well arranged and executed."

The USS Yankee, Acting Lieutenant Hooker in charge, reconnoitered the Rappahannock River to within a mile of Urbanna, Virginia. "We learned," he reported to Commander F. A. Parker, "that there is now no force of any importance at or near Urbanna, although the presence of troops a short time ago was confirmed." Two days later, penned: "Major General Butler having requested me to 'watch the Rappahannock from 10 miles below Urbanna to its mouth,' " Parker directed Hooker to "lend such assistance...as you can...Continuing operations in the river by the Union Navy tended to deny to the Confederates use of the inland waters for even marginal logistic support of their operations. This decisive function of sea-power was just as valid on the inland waters as on the high sea.

A fight took place near Suffolk, Virginia, between a force of Confederates and a portion of the Second Virginia Colored Regiment, commanded by Colonel Cole, resulting in casualties of twenty Rebels, and twenty-five killed, wounded, and missing of the Federals.

Forty of the Thirtieth Pennsylvania cavalry were captured by partisan guerrillas about a mile and a half from Bristoe Station, Virginia. They were surrounded and compelled to surrender. Several of them afterward escaped.

The steamer Hillman was attacked by a force of partisan guerrillas, stationed on the Missouri shore opposite Island No.18 in the Mississippi River, and several persons were killed and wounded.

Major General Peck, in general orders, issued the following from his headquarters at Newbern, N. C.:
The moment when we are threatened with an advance by the enemy, is the proper time to remind the gallant officers and soldiers of this command of the results of the recent operations in North Carolina.

Besides the repulse of General Pickett's army at Newbern, the following have been captured: Six officers, two hundred and eighty-one prisoners and dangerous rebels, five hundred contrabands, two hundred and fifty arms and accoutrements, one hundred and thirty-eight horses and mules, eleven bales of cotton, one piece of artillery, caisson complete, one flag, many saddles, harnesses, and wagons. Much property of the rebel government has been destroyed from inability to remove it, as appears by a partial list: Two hundred and fifty thousand pounds of pork, eighty barrels of lard, seventy-five barrels of meat, twenty thousand bushels of corn, thirty-two barrels of beef, five hogsheads of sugar, five thousand empty sacks, one corn-mill, ten wagons, one ton of tobacco, eighteen mules, two warehouses of salt, and two extensive salt manufactories. Thousands of deserters have entered the lines, and resumed their allegiance to the Federal Union with joy and gladness. These valuable services will be appreciated by the Government and the people, and this brief allusion to them should stimulate all to renewed energy in the final campaign against the revolutionists.

The Southern version:

Weldon, March 9.

The enemy occupied Suffolk in force on Sunday. We attacked them today, and, after a short struggle, drove them in a rout out of the town, killing a number, capturing one piece of artillery and a large quantity of commissary and quartermaster stores. The enemy are flying to Portsmouth, burning bridges, and leaving every thing behind. We pursued them beyond Bernard's Mills.

M. W. Ransom, Brig. Gen.
G. E. Pickett, Major Gen.

Friday, March 11 1864

Yesterday, Lieutenant General Hiram U. Grant had spent the day in consultations and discussions of management theory with General George Gordon Meade, commander of the Army of the Potomac. This morning, he returned to Washington, but just long enough to catch a train. He was setting out for Nashville, Tennessee, to have just the same sort of meeting with General William T. Sherman, who was henceforth to be the commander in the Western Theater. Sherman had sent Grant a letter after he had been informed that he (Grant) would be placed in command of the overall Union war effort. In the letter, Sherman had strongly recommended that Grant keep his headquarters in the field and stay as far away from Washington as possible, to avoid “meddling” by Lincoln and other politicians. This was, in fact, precisely what Grant wound up doing.

Boats under Acting Ensign Henry B. Colby, from the USS Beauregard, and Acting Master George Delap, from the USS Norfolk Packet, seized the British schooner Linda at Mosquito Inlet, Florida, with an assorted cargo including salt, liquor, and coffee.

The USS San Jacinto, under Commander James F. Armstrong, captured the schooner Lealtad, which had run the blockade at Mobile with a cargo of cotton and turpentine.

The chooner Julia Baker was boarded by Confederate partisan guerrilla forces near Newport News, Virginia. After taking $2,500 in cash and capturing the master and five men, the boarders burned the schooner.

The USS Beauregard, Acting Master Francis Burgess piloting, captured the blockade running British sloop Hannah off Mosquito Inlet, Florida, with a cargo of cotton cloth.

A detachment of the Seventh Tennessee cavalry, commanded by Colonel Hawkins, captured eleven guerrillas in the vicinity of Union City, Kentucky.

The United States steamer Aroostook--Lieutenant Commander Chester Hatfield in charge--captured, in in the Gulf of Mexico south of Velasco, Texas, (latitude twenty-eight degrees fifty minutes north, longitude ninety-five degrees five minutes west) the British schooner Mary P. Burton, loaded with a cargo of iron and shot. She cleared from Havana, and purported to be bound to Matamoras. When first seen she was steering direct for Velasco, some two hundred miles out of her course.