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Posted on 3/11/14 at 8:53 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Posted on 3/11/14 at 8:53 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Saturday, March 12 1864
Rear Admiral David D. Porter prepared two naval expeditions today, and led one of them. He ordered the gunboats Eastport, Essex, Ozark, Osage and Neosho, along with four wooden steamships, to proceed up the Red River in Louisiana. Admiral Porter himself took several ironclads, and three wooden paddle-wheelers on a trip up the Atchafalaya River toward Simmesport, where Federal troops were to be landing.
Porter's gunboats moved up the Red River to open the two month operation aimed at obtaining a lodgement across the border in Texas. The USS Eastport, Lieutenant Commander Samuel L. Phelps piloting, pushed ahead to remove the obstructions in the river below Fort De Russy, followed by the ironclads USS Choctaw, Essex, Ozark, Osage, and Neosho and the wooden steamers Lafayette, Fort Hindman, and Cricket. Porter took the ironclads USS Benton, Chillicothe, Louisville, Pittsburg, and Mound City and the wooden paddle-wheelers Ouachita, Lexington, and Gazelle into the Atchafalaya River to cover the Army landing at Simmesport.
A landing party from Benton, under Lieutenant Commander Greer, drove back Confederate pickets prior to the arrival of the transports. Next morning, 13 March, the soldiers disembarked and pursued the Confederates falling back on Fort De Russy. Meanwhile, the Eastport and the gunboats which had continued up the Red River reached the obstructions which the Southerners had taken five months to build. "They supposed it impassable," Porter observed, "but our energetic sailors with hard work opened a passage in a few hours." The Eastport and Neosho passed through and commenced bombarding Fort De Russy as the Union troops began their assault on the works; by the 14th it was in Union hands. Porter wrote: "The surrender of the forts at Point De Russy is of much more importance than I at first supposed. The Rebels had depended on that point to stop any advance of army or navy into Rebeldom. Large quantities of ammunition, best engineers, and best troops were sent there."
The USS Columbine, under Acting Ensign Francis W. Sanborn, supporting an Army movement up the St. Johns River, Florida, captured the Confederate river steamer General Sumter. Acting Master John C. Champion, commanding a launch from the USS Pawnee which was in company with the tug Columbine, took command of the prize, and the two vessels pushed on up the St. Johns, reaching Lake Monroe on the 14th. That afternoon, the naval force captured the steamer Hattie at Deep Creek. The expedition continued for the next few days, destroying a Southern sugar refinery and proceeding to Palatka, where the Army was taking up a fortified position.
The USS Aroostook, Lieutenant Commander Hatfield, captured the Rebel schooner Marion, off Rio Brazos near Velasco, Texas, with a cargo of salt and iron. The Marion sank in a gale off Galveston on the 14th.
The USS Massachusetts, Acting Lieutenant William H. West in charge, captured the Confederate sloop Persis in Wassaw Sound, Georgia, with a cargo of cotton.
This morning, President Lincoln ordered as follows:
I. Major-General Halleck is at his own request relieved from duty as General-in-Chief of the army, and Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant is assigned to the command of the armies of the United States. The headquarters of the army will be in Washington, and also with Lieutenant-General Grant in the field.
II. Major-General Halleck is assigned to duty in Washington, as chief-of-staff of the army, under the direction of the Secretary of War and the Lieutenant-General commanding. His orders will be obeyed and respected accordingly.
III. Major-General W. T. Sherman is assigned to the command of the military division of the Mississippi, composed of the departments of the Ohio, the Cumberland, the Tennessee, and the Arkansas.
IV. Major-General J. B. McPherson is assigned to the command of the department and army of the Tennessee.
V. In relieving Major-General Halleck from duty as General-in-Chief, the President desires to express his approbation and thanks for the able and zealous manner in which the arduous and responsible duties of that position have been performed.
Rear Admiral David D. Porter prepared two naval expeditions today, and led one of them. He ordered the gunboats Eastport, Essex, Ozark, Osage and Neosho, along with four wooden steamships, to proceed up the Red River in Louisiana. Admiral Porter himself took several ironclads, and three wooden paddle-wheelers on a trip up the Atchafalaya River toward Simmesport, where Federal troops were to be landing.
Porter's gunboats moved up the Red River to open the two month operation aimed at obtaining a lodgement across the border in Texas. The USS Eastport, Lieutenant Commander Samuel L. Phelps piloting, pushed ahead to remove the obstructions in the river below Fort De Russy, followed by the ironclads USS Choctaw, Essex, Ozark, Osage, and Neosho and the wooden steamers Lafayette, Fort Hindman, and Cricket. Porter took the ironclads USS Benton, Chillicothe, Louisville, Pittsburg, and Mound City and the wooden paddle-wheelers Ouachita, Lexington, and Gazelle into the Atchafalaya River to cover the Army landing at Simmesport.
A landing party from Benton, under Lieutenant Commander Greer, drove back Confederate pickets prior to the arrival of the transports. Next morning, 13 March, the soldiers disembarked and pursued the Confederates falling back on Fort De Russy. Meanwhile, the Eastport and the gunboats which had continued up the Red River reached the obstructions which the Southerners had taken five months to build. "They supposed it impassable," Porter observed, "but our energetic sailors with hard work opened a passage in a few hours." The Eastport and Neosho passed through and commenced bombarding Fort De Russy as the Union troops began their assault on the works; by the 14th it was in Union hands. Porter wrote: "The surrender of the forts at Point De Russy is of much more importance than I at first supposed. The Rebels had depended on that point to stop any advance of army or navy into Rebeldom. Large quantities of ammunition, best engineers, and best troops were sent there."
The USS Columbine, under Acting Ensign Francis W. Sanborn, supporting an Army movement up the St. Johns River, Florida, captured the Confederate river steamer General Sumter. Acting Master John C. Champion, commanding a launch from the USS Pawnee which was in company with the tug Columbine, took command of the prize, and the two vessels pushed on up the St. Johns, reaching Lake Monroe on the 14th. That afternoon, the naval force captured the steamer Hattie at Deep Creek. The expedition continued for the next few days, destroying a Southern sugar refinery and proceeding to Palatka, where the Army was taking up a fortified position.
The USS Aroostook, Lieutenant Commander Hatfield, captured the Rebel schooner Marion, off Rio Brazos near Velasco, Texas, with a cargo of salt and iron. The Marion sank in a gale off Galveston on the 14th.
The USS Massachusetts, Acting Lieutenant William H. West in charge, captured the Confederate sloop Persis in Wassaw Sound, Georgia, with a cargo of cotton.
This morning, President Lincoln ordered as follows:
I. Major-General Halleck is at his own request relieved from duty as General-in-Chief of the army, and Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant is assigned to the command of the armies of the United States. The headquarters of the army will be in Washington, and also with Lieutenant-General Grant in the field.
II. Major-General Halleck is assigned to duty in Washington, as chief-of-staff of the army, under the direction of the Secretary of War and the Lieutenant-General commanding. His orders will be obeyed and respected accordingly.
III. Major-General W. T. Sherman is assigned to the command of the military division of the Mississippi, composed of the departments of the Ohio, the Cumberland, the Tennessee, and the Arkansas.
IV. Major-General J. B. McPherson is assigned to the command of the department and army of the Tennessee.
V. In relieving Major-General Halleck from duty as General-in-Chief, the President desires to express his approbation and thanks for the able and zealous manner in which the arduous and responsible duties of that position have been performed.
1
Posted on 3/12/14 at 8:39 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Sunday, 13 March 1864
The Red River Expedition got seriously underway today as the ships of Admiral David D. Porter landed Union troops at Simmesport, in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. With the sun barely up, they began to sweep Confederate defenders before them. Simultaneously, gunboats under Lieutenant Commander Samuel L. Phelps got as far up the Red River as the obstructions laid in the water so as to render the waterway impassable. The Union sailors cleared it that same day, and proceeded to bomb Fort DeRussy.
A Union meeting was held at Huntsville, Alabama, at which resolutions were passed deprecating the action of the South, and calling upon the Governor of the State to convene the Legislature, that it might “...call a convention to provide some mode for the restoration of peace and the rights and liberties of the people.” Speeches were made by Jere Clemens and D. C. Humphreys in support of the resolutions.
General Benjamin "Spoons" Butler, learning that the Fifth and Ninth Virginia Cavalry, with a large force of armed citizens, were in the vicinity of King and Queen Court House, immediately dispatched an expedition from Yorktown under command of General Isaac Wistar, with which General Judson Kilpatrick and a portion of his command essayed to cooperate. This Confederate force was estimated to be one thousand two hundred strong, and the same that pursued and killed Colonel Ulric Dahlgren after his failed Richmond assassination raid. Kilpatrick left Gloucester Point on Tuesday night, March eighth, in charge of the cavalry, and was ordered to scout Gloucester County to the north and east as far as Dragon River, and drive the enemy up the Peninsula, while Wistar landed his forces by transports on Wednesday at Shepherd's warehouse, six miles above West Point, on the Mattaponi River, with the purpose of heading off their retreat and charging their front and rear. Owing to a misapprehension of General Wistar's orders, General Kilpatrick marched directly to West Point, where he arrived about the same time with General Wistar.
A small cavalry force was then dispatched to New Market, and the infantry and artillery moved out as far as Little Plymouth, while Kilpatrick scouted across the Dragon River and tried to cross at Old and New Bridge, but could not, owing to the swollen state of the stream. Our forces then moved down through the counties of King and Queen, Middlesex and Gloucester, making many captures and destroying large quantities of supplies. King and Queen Court House was destroyed, and when near Carrolton's store, Colonel Benjamin F. Onderdonk, commanding the First New York Mounted Rifles, and Colonel Samuel P. Spear, of the Eleventh Pennsylvania cavalry, came upon the sought after Confederate force of cavalry and citizens. This was in the midst of a severe rainstorm which had been pouring all day, and the mud was knee deep; yet the Rebels were gallantly charged, dispersed, and chased ten miles, their camp destroyed, about twenty killed, and seventy wounded and taken prisoners. The remainder made good their escape by recrossing the river into King William County.
The Union force comprised the Forty-fifth, Sixth, and Twenty-second National colored troops the First New York Mounted Rifles, the Eleventh Pennsylvania cavalry, parts of Hart's and Belger's batteries, and some five hundred of Kilpatrick's Richmond raiders. The only organized Southern forces encountered were the Fifth and Ninth Virginia cavalry, having, however, many mounted and armed, though non-uniformed citizens in their ranks, who claimed to be non-combatants.
On the raid large amounts of grain, provisions, arms, etc., were destroyed. One mill filled with corn belonging to the Ninth Virginia cavalry was turned. Several of Lee's soldiers at home on recruiting service were captured; two Union officers recently escaped from Libby Prison were rescued, and one of General James Longstreet's men captured.
The Federal forces returned to Yorktown today, without the loss of a man, and but very few horses, and the objects of the expedition were as fully accomplished as were possible. The enemy was severely punished for the death and brutalities perpetrated upon Colonel Dahlgren, and General Wistar highly complimented for the success of his expedition.
President Abraham Lincoln addressed the following to Michael Hahn, the newly elected Governor of Louisiana: “I congratulate you on having fixed your name in history as the first free State Governor of Louisiana: now you are about to have a commission which, among other things, will probably define the elective franchise. I barely suggest, for your private consideration, whether some of the colored people may not be let in, as, for instance, the very intelligent, and especially those who have fought gallantly in our ranks. They would probably help in some trying time to keep the jewel of Liberty in the family of freedom. But this is only a suggestion, not to the public, but to you alone.”
Two men belonging to the Thirty-second Missouri infantry, Archibald Towner, of company B, and Thomas Norris, of company D, while beyond their picket-lines, in Missouri, were taken prisoners by a party of guerrillas, who took them to the top of a mountain nearby and tied them to a tree, where they were kept until about sundown, when they were shot, robbed of every thing valuable, and thrown from the summit of the mountain down a precipice sixty feet. Norris miraculously escaped death, which he feigned while being handled by the murderers, and succeeded in reaching camp very much exhausted. He implicated many of the citizens who received their daily rations from the Government, and several in that vicinity were arrested for trial.
The body of Towner was found by the men of his regiment, while out in search of the guerrillas, and carried into camp.--Captain John T. Campbell's Report.
The Red River Expedition got seriously underway today as the ships of Admiral David D. Porter landed Union troops at Simmesport, in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. With the sun barely up, they began to sweep Confederate defenders before them. Simultaneously, gunboats under Lieutenant Commander Samuel L. Phelps got as far up the Red River as the obstructions laid in the water so as to render the waterway impassable. The Union sailors cleared it that same day, and proceeded to bomb Fort DeRussy.
A Union meeting was held at Huntsville, Alabama, at which resolutions were passed deprecating the action of the South, and calling upon the Governor of the State to convene the Legislature, that it might “...call a convention to provide some mode for the restoration of peace and the rights and liberties of the people.” Speeches were made by Jere Clemens and D. C. Humphreys in support of the resolutions.
General Benjamin "Spoons" Butler, learning that the Fifth and Ninth Virginia Cavalry, with a large force of armed citizens, were in the vicinity of King and Queen Court House, immediately dispatched an expedition from Yorktown under command of General Isaac Wistar, with which General Judson Kilpatrick and a portion of his command essayed to cooperate. This Confederate force was estimated to be one thousand two hundred strong, and the same that pursued and killed Colonel Ulric Dahlgren after his failed Richmond assassination raid. Kilpatrick left Gloucester Point on Tuesday night, March eighth, in charge of the cavalry, and was ordered to scout Gloucester County to the north and east as far as Dragon River, and drive the enemy up the Peninsula, while Wistar landed his forces by transports on Wednesday at Shepherd's warehouse, six miles above West Point, on the Mattaponi River, with the purpose of heading off their retreat and charging their front and rear. Owing to a misapprehension of General Wistar's orders, General Kilpatrick marched directly to West Point, where he arrived about the same time with General Wistar.
A small cavalry force was then dispatched to New Market, and the infantry and artillery moved out as far as Little Plymouth, while Kilpatrick scouted across the Dragon River and tried to cross at Old and New Bridge, but could not, owing to the swollen state of the stream. Our forces then moved down through the counties of King and Queen, Middlesex and Gloucester, making many captures and destroying large quantities of supplies. King and Queen Court House was destroyed, and when near Carrolton's store, Colonel Benjamin F. Onderdonk, commanding the First New York Mounted Rifles, and Colonel Samuel P. Spear, of the Eleventh Pennsylvania cavalry, came upon the sought after Confederate force of cavalry and citizens. This was in the midst of a severe rainstorm which had been pouring all day, and the mud was knee deep; yet the Rebels were gallantly charged, dispersed, and chased ten miles, their camp destroyed, about twenty killed, and seventy wounded and taken prisoners. The remainder made good their escape by recrossing the river into King William County.
The Union force comprised the Forty-fifth, Sixth, and Twenty-second National colored troops the First New York Mounted Rifles, the Eleventh Pennsylvania cavalry, parts of Hart's and Belger's batteries, and some five hundred of Kilpatrick's Richmond raiders. The only organized Southern forces encountered were the Fifth and Ninth Virginia cavalry, having, however, many mounted and armed, though non-uniformed citizens in their ranks, who claimed to be non-combatants.
On the raid large amounts of grain, provisions, arms, etc., were destroyed. One mill filled with corn belonging to the Ninth Virginia cavalry was turned. Several of Lee's soldiers at home on recruiting service were captured; two Union officers recently escaped from Libby Prison were rescued, and one of General James Longstreet's men captured.
The Federal forces returned to Yorktown today, without the loss of a man, and but very few horses, and the objects of the expedition were as fully accomplished as were possible. The enemy was severely punished for the death and brutalities perpetrated upon Colonel Dahlgren, and General Wistar highly complimented for the success of his expedition.
President Abraham Lincoln addressed the following to Michael Hahn, the newly elected Governor of Louisiana: “I congratulate you on having fixed your name in history as the first free State Governor of Louisiana: now you are about to have a commission which, among other things, will probably define the elective franchise. I barely suggest, for your private consideration, whether some of the colored people may not be let in, as, for instance, the very intelligent, and especially those who have fought gallantly in our ranks. They would probably help in some trying time to keep the jewel of Liberty in the family of freedom. But this is only a suggestion, not to the public, but to you alone.”
Two men belonging to the Thirty-second Missouri infantry, Archibald Towner, of company B, and Thomas Norris, of company D, while beyond their picket-lines, in Missouri, were taken prisoners by a party of guerrillas, who took them to the top of a mountain nearby and tied them to a tree, where they were kept until about sundown, when they were shot, robbed of every thing valuable, and thrown from the summit of the mountain down a precipice sixty feet. Norris miraculously escaped death, which he feigned while being handled by the murderers, and succeeded in reaching camp very much exhausted. He implicated many of the citizens who received their daily rations from the Government, and several in that vicinity were arrested for trial.
The body of Towner was found by the men of his regiment, while out in search of the guerrillas, and carried into camp.--Captain John T. Campbell's Report.
Posted on 3/13/14 at 9:05 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Monday, 14 March 1864
Fort DeRussy, on the Red River, was one of the first stops of Admiral David D. Porter’s expedition. His ships bombed from the river, General Andrew Jackson Smith’s troops assaulted by land, and the fort was promptly surrendered. The Army-Navy cooperation yielded some surprising results. As Porter said in his report: “The Rebels had depended on that point to stop any advance of army or navy into rebeldom. Large quantities of ammunition, best engineers and best troops sent there...”
Major General John Pope, from his headquarters, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, issued an official notice to emigrants by the way of the Missouri River and across the upper plains to the Idaho mines, warning them of the dangers of that route from hostile Indians, and recommending them to communicate with General Sully before attempting to pass that way.
A Commission consisting of Captain George P. Edgar, A. D. C., Captain George I, Carney, A. Q. M., and M. Dudley Bean, of Norfolk, were appointed by Major General Benjamin "Spoons" Butler, for the purpose of caring for and supplying the needs of the poor white people in Norfolk, Elizabeth City, and Princess Anne counties, Virginia, who were a charge upon the United States, and employing such as were willing to work and were without employment, etc.
Minor skirmishing occurred at Cheek's Crossroads, Tennessee, between Colonel Garrard's National cavalry and Colonel Giltner's Confederate troops. The outnumbered Rebels eventually retreated.
President Abraham Lincoln issued an order calling for another two hundred thousand men, in order to supply the force required to be drafted for the navy, and to provide an adequate reserve force for all contingencies, in addition to the five hundred thousand men called for back on February first.
Fort DeRussy, on the Red River, was one of the first stops of Admiral David D. Porter’s expedition. His ships bombed from the river, General Andrew Jackson Smith’s troops assaulted by land, and the fort was promptly surrendered. The Army-Navy cooperation yielded some surprising results. As Porter said in his report: “The Rebels had depended on that point to stop any advance of army or navy into rebeldom. Large quantities of ammunition, best engineers and best troops sent there...”
Major General John Pope, from his headquarters, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, issued an official notice to emigrants by the way of the Missouri River and across the upper plains to the Idaho mines, warning them of the dangers of that route from hostile Indians, and recommending them to communicate with General Sully before attempting to pass that way.
A Commission consisting of Captain George P. Edgar, A. D. C., Captain George I, Carney, A. Q. M., and M. Dudley Bean, of Norfolk, were appointed by Major General Benjamin "Spoons" Butler, for the purpose of caring for and supplying the needs of the poor white people in Norfolk, Elizabeth City, and Princess Anne counties, Virginia, who were a charge upon the United States, and employing such as were willing to work and were without employment, etc.
Minor skirmishing occurred at Cheek's Crossroads, Tennessee, between Colonel Garrard's National cavalry and Colonel Giltner's Confederate troops. The outnumbered Rebels eventually retreated.
President Abraham Lincoln issued an order calling for another two hundred thousand men, in order to supply the force required to be drafted for the navy, and to provide an adequate reserve force for all contingencies, in addition to the five hundred thousand men called for back on February first.
Posted on 3/14/14 at 9:53 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Tuesday, 15 March 1864
Celebrations for the capture of Fort DeRussy on the Red River, below Alexandria, Louisiana, this day by the combined military and naval forces of the United States--the gunboats of Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter and the ground forces of General Andrew Jackson Smith--were brief. Captured yesterday, the fort was being destroyed this morning by the ironclads USS Benton and Essex. Three of the remaining boats were headed upriver at the highest speed they could muster, in hopes of cutting off the Confederate boats before they could ready the rapids at Alexandria. The Rebels escaped by half an hour, with one ship burned to avoid capture.
After ordering the Benton and Essex to remain at Fort DeRussy in support of the Army detachment also engaged in destroying the works, Admiral Porter convoyed the main body of troops up the Red River toward Alexandria. Porter dispatched the USS Eastport, Lexington, and Ouachita ahead to try to overtake the Confederate vessels seeking to escape above the Alexandria rapids. The Confederate ships were too far ahead, however, and the Union gunboats arrived at the rapids half an hour behind them. The Confederate steamer Countess grounded in her hasty attempt to get upstream and was destroyed by her crew to prevent capture.
The USS Nyanza, under Acting Lieutenant Samuel B. Washburn, captured the schooner J. W. Wilder in the Atchafalaya River, Louisiana.
Owing to the disturbance of the popular mind produced by the enrollment of slaves for the Army in Kentucky, Governor Thomas Elliott Bramlette issued an address to the people of that State, suggesting moderation, and calling upon them “...to uphold and maintain the Government as constituted, and obey and enforce its just demands, as the only hope of perpetuating free institutions.”
Celebrations for the capture of Fort DeRussy on the Red River, below Alexandria, Louisiana, this day by the combined military and naval forces of the United States--the gunboats of Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter and the ground forces of General Andrew Jackson Smith--were brief. Captured yesterday, the fort was being destroyed this morning by the ironclads USS Benton and Essex. Three of the remaining boats were headed upriver at the highest speed they could muster, in hopes of cutting off the Confederate boats before they could ready the rapids at Alexandria. The Rebels escaped by half an hour, with one ship burned to avoid capture.
After ordering the Benton and Essex to remain at Fort DeRussy in support of the Army detachment also engaged in destroying the works, Admiral Porter convoyed the main body of troops up the Red River toward Alexandria. Porter dispatched the USS Eastport, Lexington, and Ouachita ahead to try to overtake the Confederate vessels seeking to escape above the Alexandria rapids. The Confederate ships were too far ahead, however, and the Union gunboats arrived at the rapids half an hour behind them. The Confederate steamer Countess grounded in her hasty attempt to get upstream and was destroyed by her crew to prevent capture.
The USS Nyanza, under Acting Lieutenant Samuel B. Washburn, captured the schooner J. W. Wilder in the Atchafalaya River, Louisiana.
Owing to the disturbance of the popular mind produced by the enrollment of slaves for the Army in Kentucky, Governor Thomas Elliott Bramlette issued an address to the people of that State, suggesting moderation, and calling upon them “...to uphold and maintain the Government as constituted, and obey and enforce its just demands, as the only hope of perpetuating free institutions.”
Posted on 3/15/14 at 9:57 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Wednesday, 16 March 1864
On Albermarle Sound, North Carolina, Union Navy operatives were becoming increasingly concerned about reports they were hearing of a new Confederate ship under construction up the Roanoke River. The newest information indicated that the ship would be a ram, and would be made with not one, but two, layers of iron, upping the ante for the single-layered Monitor class. The reports, which were being received from spies and other agents across the remarkably porous border, claimed the CSS Albermarle was supposed to sail early next month.
Another report: Lieutenant Commander Charles W. Flusser reported to Rear Admiral Samuel P. Lee on information reaching him regarding the Confederates' progress in completing the CSS Albemarle on the Roanoke River, North Carolina. The ram was reported to have two layers of iron and to be ready to proceed to Williamston on 1 April. Two days later, Flusser again wrote Lee, informing him that he had just heard the rumor that Albemarle was to have 7 inches of plating. "I think," he observed, "the reporters are putting on the iron rather heavy. I am inclined to believe her armor is not more than stated in one of my former letters-3 inches." The Albemarle actually carried two layers of 2-inch armor. By 24 March, Flusser reported that intelligence, "...which would seem reliable," indicated that the ironclad ram was at Hamilton and that the torpedoes placed by the Confederates in the Roanoke River below Williamston were being removed to permit her passage downstream.
Nine Union vessels had arrived at Alexandria, Louisiana, by morning and a landing party under Lieutenant Commander Thomas Oliver Selfridge, from the USS Osage, occupied the town prior to the arrival of Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter and the troops. At Alexandria, Porter's gunboats and the soldiers awaited the arrival of Major General Nathaniel Prentiss Banks' Army, which was delayed by heavy rains.
The advance of General A. J. Smith's forces, cooperating with General Banks', and under the command of Brigadier General John A. Mower, reached Alexandria, Louisiana, accompanied by Admiral Porter and his fleet of gunboats.
Rear Admiral James L. Lardner, commander of the West Indies Squadron, ordered the USS Neptune, under Commander Joseph P. Sanford, and the USS Galatea, Commander John Guest in charge, to convoy California steamers operating in the Caribbean. This was a measure designed to protect the merchant ships, which often carried quantities of vital Union gold, from the highly regarded Confederate cruisers.
A party of partisan guerrillas belonging to Roddy's command made an attack upon the Chattanooga Railroad, at a point between Tullahoma and Estelle Springs, and, after relieving the Yankee passengers of their valuables, fled on the approach of another train loaded with soldiers. Among other atrocious acts allegedly committed was the following: There were four colored boys on the train acting in the capacity of brakemen, and two black men who were officers' servants. These six poor creatures were placed in a row, and a squad of about forty of the robbers, under a Captain Scott, of Tennessee, discharged their revolvers at them, actually shooting the poor fellows all to pieces.
An engagement took place at a point two miles east of Fort Pillow, Tennessee, between a large body of Federals and less than one thousand Rebels, who were routed with a loss of fifty killed and wounded.
Captains Sawyer and Flynn, who had been held at Libby Prison, under sentence of death, in retaliation for the execution of two Rebel soldiers, hanged in Kentucky by General Ambrose Burnside, were released. They were exchanged for General W. F. Lee and Captain Winder, who were held by the United States as personal hostages for their safety.
On Albermarle Sound, North Carolina, Union Navy operatives were becoming increasingly concerned about reports they were hearing of a new Confederate ship under construction up the Roanoke River. The newest information indicated that the ship would be a ram, and would be made with not one, but two, layers of iron, upping the ante for the single-layered Monitor class. The reports, which were being received from spies and other agents across the remarkably porous border, claimed the CSS Albermarle was supposed to sail early next month.
Another report: Lieutenant Commander Charles W. Flusser reported to Rear Admiral Samuel P. Lee on information reaching him regarding the Confederates' progress in completing the CSS Albemarle on the Roanoke River, North Carolina. The ram was reported to have two layers of iron and to be ready to proceed to Williamston on 1 April. Two days later, Flusser again wrote Lee, informing him that he had just heard the rumor that Albemarle was to have 7 inches of plating. "I think," he observed, "the reporters are putting on the iron rather heavy. I am inclined to believe her armor is not more than stated in one of my former letters-3 inches." The Albemarle actually carried two layers of 2-inch armor. By 24 March, Flusser reported that intelligence, "...which would seem reliable," indicated that the ironclad ram was at Hamilton and that the torpedoes placed by the Confederates in the Roanoke River below Williamston were being removed to permit her passage downstream.
Nine Union vessels had arrived at Alexandria, Louisiana, by morning and a landing party under Lieutenant Commander Thomas Oliver Selfridge, from the USS Osage, occupied the town prior to the arrival of Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter and the troops. At Alexandria, Porter's gunboats and the soldiers awaited the arrival of Major General Nathaniel Prentiss Banks' Army, which was delayed by heavy rains.
The advance of General A. J. Smith's forces, cooperating with General Banks', and under the command of Brigadier General John A. Mower, reached Alexandria, Louisiana, accompanied by Admiral Porter and his fleet of gunboats.
Rear Admiral James L. Lardner, commander of the West Indies Squadron, ordered the USS Neptune, under Commander Joseph P. Sanford, and the USS Galatea, Commander John Guest in charge, to convoy California steamers operating in the Caribbean. This was a measure designed to protect the merchant ships, which often carried quantities of vital Union gold, from the highly regarded Confederate cruisers.
A party of partisan guerrillas belonging to Roddy's command made an attack upon the Chattanooga Railroad, at a point between Tullahoma and Estelle Springs, and, after relieving the Yankee passengers of their valuables, fled on the approach of another train loaded with soldiers. Among other atrocious acts allegedly committed was the following: There were four colored boys on the train acting in the capacity of brakemen, and two black men who were officers' servants. These six poor creatures were placed in a row, and a squad of about forty of the robbers, under a Captain Scott, of Tennessee, discharged their revolvers at them, actually shooting the poor fellows all to pieces.
An engagement took place at a point two miles east of Fort Pillow, Tennessee, between a large body of Federals and less than one thousand Rebels, who were routed with a loss of fifty killed and wounded.
Captains Sawyer and Flynn, who had been held at Libby Prison, under sentence of death, in retaliation for the execution of two Rebel soldiers, hanged in Kentucky by General Ambrose Burnside, were released. They were exchanged for General W. F. Lee and Captain Winder, who were held by the United States as personal hostages for their safety.
Posted on 3/15/14 at 10:00 pm to BadLeroyDawg
I salute your dedication for this thread 
Haven't read all of it yet, but trying to a little at at a time.
Haven't read all of it yet, but trying to a little at at a time.Posted on 3/16/14 at 9:18 pm to 2close2Gainesville
Thank you, good sir. When I started, was pretty sure could finish the drill. Now, am almost convinced, God willing and the creek don't rise. A year from now, Lee's within 2 weeks of his last offensive strike, and a few days later heading to Danville for the final train south to meet up with Johnston in North Carolina. Remember The Band's song..."The night they drove old Dixie down"? Unfortunately for him and the South, Appomattox is waiting. Appreciate the feedback!
Posted on 3/16/14 at 9:19 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Thursday, 17 March 1864
Never a big fan of paperwork, it took until today for Lieutenant General Hiram U. Grant to formally assume the job of commander of all the armies of the United States, which he had had for several days. To finish his conference with Major General William T. Sherman, Grant took him to Cincinnati to talk in private. They settled the details of what ultimately became known as the Anaconda Plan, which, eventually, squeezed the Confederacy out of existence.
After Grant formally assumed the command of the armies of the Union, he issued this following order on the subject:
Headquarters of the Armies of the United States, Nashville, Tenn., March 17, 1864.
General orders, No. 12.
In pursuance of the following order of the President:
"Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C., March 10, 1864.
Under the authority of the Act of Congress to appoint the grade of Lieutenant General in the army, of February 29, 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, U. S. A., is appointed to the command of the armies of the United States.
Abraham Lincoln."
I assume command of the armies of the United States. Headquarters will be in the field, and, until further orders, will be with the Army of the Potomac. There will be an office headquarters in Washington, D. C., to which all official communications will be sent, except those from the army where the headquarters are at the date of their address.
Colonel William B. Stokes, in command of the Fifth Tennessee Cavalry, surprised a party of Confederate partisan guerrillas under Champ Ferguson, at a point near Manchester, Tennessee, and after a severe fight with the vastly undermanned Rebels, overwhelmed them thereby compelling them to leave behind twenty-one in killed and wounded.
Early this morning, at a little before three o'clock, an attempt was made on Seabrook Island by a large force of Confederates, who came down the Chechessee River in boats. They approached in two large flats, filled with men, evidently sent forward to reconnoiter, with a numerous reserve force further back, to cooperate in case any points were found to be exposed. One of the boats came down to the mouth of Skull Creek, where they attacked a picket-boat containing a corporal and four men of the Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania. They first fired three shots and then a whole volley, and succeeded in capturing the boat and those in it, after a severe hand-to-hand fight. Whether there were any casualties could not be ascertained. Further on, meeting an unexpected resistance with superior forces, they retreated.
Never a big fan of paperwork, it took until today for Lieutenant General Hiram U. Grant to formally assume the job of commander of all the armies of the United States, which he had had for several days. To finish his conference with Major General William T. Sherman, Grant took him to Cincinnati to talk in private. They settled the details of what ultimately became known as the Anaconda Plan, which, eventually, squeezed the Confederacy out of existence.
After Grant formally assumed the command of the armies of the Union, he issued this following order on the subject:
Headquarters of the Armies of the United States, Nashville, Tenn., March 17, 1864.
General orders, No. 12.
In pursuance of the following order of the President:
"Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C., March 10, 1864.
Under the authority of the Act of Congress to appoint the grade of Lieutenant General in the army, of February 29, 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, U. S. A., is appointed to the command of the armies of the United States.
Abraham Lincoln."
I assume command of the armies of the United States. Headquarters will be in the field, and, until further orders, will be with the Army of the Potomac. There will be an office headquarters in Washington, D. C., to which all official communications will be sent, except those from the army where the headquarters are at the date of their address.
Colonel William B. Stokes, in command of the Fifth Tennessee Cavalry, surprised a party of Confederate partisan guerrillas under Champ Ferguson, at a point near Manchester, Tennessee, and after a severe fight with the vastly undermanned Rebels, overwhelmed them thereby compelling them to leave behind twenty-one in killed and wounded.
Early this morning, at a little before three o'clock, an attempt was made on Seabrook Island by a large force of Confederates, who came down the Chechessee River in boats. They approached in two large flats, filled with men, evidently sent forward to reconnoiter, with a numerous reserve force further back, to cooperate in case any points were found to be exposed. One of the boats came down to the mouth of Skull Creek, where they attacked a picket-boat containing a corporal and four men of the Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania. They first fired three shots and then a whole volley, and succeeded in capturing the boat and those in it, after a severe hand-to-hand fight. Whether there were any casualties could not be ascertained. Further on, meeting an unexpected resistance with superior forces, they retreated.
Posted on 3/17/14 at 8:53 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Friday, 18 March 1864
A number of groups, collectively called the Sanitary Commission was, during the War years, the closest thing the United States had to a department of public health. They supplied clothing, blankets, wholesome food, and care for the sick. Although the leadership of these commissions (and the related, but separate, Christian Commission) was of course primarily male, most of the workers were women. Like any charitable private group their biggest problem was often fundraising. They held “Sanitary Fairs”, often featuring prominent speakers. President Abraham Lincoln said at one today “...if all that has been said...since the creation of the world in praise of women applied to the women of America, it would not do them justice for their conduct during the war."
Lieutenant General F. Kirby Smith, CSA, ordered the steamer New Falls City taken to Scopern's Cutoff, below Shreveport on the Red River, where she was to be sunk if the Union movement threatened that far upriver. Next day the General directed that thirty torpedoes be placed below Grand Ecore to obstruct the Red River. An officer from the CSS Missouri was detailed for this duty. General Smith's foresight would shortly pay dividends, for the hulk of New Falls City did block the way of the Union gunboats, as well as the USS Eastport, a former Confederate vessel, was to be severely damaged by a torpedo.
Colonel Stokes's Fifth Tennessee Cavalry again overtook Champ Ferguson and his small band of partisan guerrillas on a little stream called Calfkiller River, near where it empties into Caney Fork, Tennessee, and there killed eight of them.
The behavior of the Confederate Brigade under General James Johnston Pettigrew at the battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was vindicated in this day's Richmond Enquirer. Pettigrew, left for dead on the field the previous year at the 1862 Battle of Seven Pines, recovered to lead the strongest Confederate brigade--mustering an impact of over 2,500 officers and men--in Major General Henry Heth's Division of Lieutenant General A.P. Hill's Third Corps. Some of his regimental officers were also members of the North Carolina planter "aristocracy," including Colonel Collett Leventhorpe leading the 11th North Carolina Infantry and twenty-one-year-old Harry Burgwyn at the head of the 26th North Carolina Regiment, the largest Confederate regiment at Gettysburg.
A number of groups, collectively called the Sanitary Commission was, during the War years, the closest thing the United States had to a department of public health. They supplied clothing, blankets, wholesome food, and care for the sick. Although the leadership of these commissions (and the related, but separate, Christian Commission) was of course primarily male, most of the workers were women. Like any charitable private group their biggest problem was often fundraising. They held “Sanitary Fairs”, often featuring prominent speakers. President Abraham Lincoln said at one today “...if all that has been said...since the creation of the world in praise of women applied to the women of America, it would not do them justice for their conduct during the war."
Lieutenant General F. Kirby Smith, CSA, ordered the steamer New Falls City taken to Scopern's Cutoff, below Shreveport on the Red River, where she was to be sunk if the Union movement threatened that far upriver. Next day the General directed that thirty torpedoes be placed below Grand Ecore to obstruct the Red River. An officer from the CSS Missouri was detailed for this duty. General Smith's foresight would shortly pay dividends, for the hulk of New Falls City did block the way of the Union gunboats, as well as the USS Eastport, a former Confederate vessel, was to be severely damaged by a torpedo.
Colonel Stokes's Fifth Tennessee Cavalry again overtook Champ Ferguson and his small band of partisan guerrillas on a little stream called Calfkiller River, near where it empties into Caney Fork, Tennessee, and there killed eight of them.
The behavior of the Confederate Brigade under General James Johnston Pettigrew at the battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was vindicated in this day's Richmond Enquirer. Pettigrew, left for dead on the field the previous year at the 1862 Battle of Seven Pines, recovered to lead the strongest Confederate brigade--mustering an impact of over 2,500 officers and men--in Major General Henry Heth's Division of Lieutenant General A.P. Hill's Third Corps. Some of his regimental officers were also members of the North Carolina planter "aristocracy," including Colonel Collett Leventhorpe leading the 11th North Carolina Infantry and twenty-one-year-old Harry Burgwyn at the head of the 26th North Carolina Regiment, the largest Confederate regiment at Gettysburg.
Posted on 3/18/14 at 8:56 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Saturday, March 19 1864
The Legislature of the State of Georgia passed a couple of resolutions on the subjects of war and peace. The first simply expressed confidence in the leadership and decisions of President Jefferson Davis. The second was a little trickier. It resolved that the Confederate Government in Richmond should, after each Southern victory, offer to end the war. Terms would be independence for the South, of course, as well as self-determination for border states.
From the Mobile Papers...The Legislature of Georgia in both branches today adopted Linton Stephens's peace resolutions, earnestly “recommending that our government, immediately after every signal success of our arms, when none can impute its action to alarm instead of a sincere desire for peace, shall make to the government of our enemy an official offer of peace, on the basis of the great principle declared by our common fathers in 1776, accompanied by the distinct expression of a willingness, on our part, to follow that principle to its true logical consequences, by agreeing that any Border State whose preference for our association may be doubted, (doubts having been expressed as to the wishes of the Border States,) shall settle the question for herself, by a convention to be elected for that purpose, after the withdrawal of all military forces on both sides from her limits.”
They also adopted his resolution declaring that “the recent act of Congress to suspend the writ of habeas corpus in cases of arrests, ordered by the President, Secretary of War, or general officer commanding the Trans-Mississippi military department, is an attempt to maintain the military in the usurpation of the constitutional judicial functions of issuing warrants, and to give validity to unconstitutional seizures of the persons of the people; and the said act, by its express terms, confines its operation to the upholding of the class of unconstitutional seizures, the whole suspension attempted to be authorized by it, and the whole act itself, are utterly void.”
“That in the judgment of this General Assembly, the said act is an alarming assault upon the liberty of the people, without any existing necessity to excuse it, and beyond the power of any possible necessity to justify it; and our Senators and Representatives in Congress are earnestly urged to take the first possible opportunity to have it blotted from the record of our laws.”
Both houses also adopted a resolution turning over to the confederate government all persons between the ages of seventeen and eighteen, and forty-five and fifty years.
They also unanimously adopted a resolution expressive of confidence in the President, and thanks to the confederate armies for reenlisting for the war.
The correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette, at Washington, DC, Mr. Whitelaw Reid, wrote as follows concerning the Emancipation Proclamation:
A recent allusion to the fact that Mr. Secretary Chase's pen supplied the concluding sentence of the Emancipation Proclamation, has been received with a surprise that indicates a less general knowledge on the subject than might have been expected.
When the final draft of the Proclamation was presented by the President to the Cabinet, it closed with the paragraph stating that the slaves if liberated would be received into the armed service of the United States. Mr. Chase objected to the appearance of a document of such momentous importance without one word beyond the dry phrases necessary to convey its meaning; and finally proposed that there be added to the President's draft the following sentence:
“And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.”
Mr. Lincoln adopted the sentence as Mr. Chase wrote it, only interlining after the word “Constitution” the words, “upon military necessity ;” and in that form the Proclamation went to the world, and history.
The President originally resolved upon the policy of issuing this Proclamation in the summer of 1862. As he has expressed it himself, every thing was going wrong; we seemed to have put forth about our utmost efforts, and he really didn't know what more to do, unless he did this. Accordingly, he prepared the preliminary Proclamation, nearly in the form in which it subsequently appeared, called the Cabinet together, and read it to them.
Mr. Montgomery Blair was startled. “If you issue that proclamation, Mr. President,” he exclaimed, “you will lose every one of the fall elections.”
Mr. Seward, on the other hand, said: “I approve of it, Mr. President, just as it stands. I approve of it in principle, and I approve the policy of issuing it. I only object to the time. Send it out now, on the heels of our late disasters, and it will be construed as the convulsive struggle of a drowning man. To give it proper weight, you should reserve it until after some victory.”
The President assented to Mr. Seward's view, and it was withheld till the fall, when it was issued almost precisely as originally prepared. The one to which Mr. Chase supplied the concluding sentence was the final Proclamation, issued on the subsequent first of January.
The Legislature of the State of Georgia passed a couple of resolutions on the subjects of war and peace. The first simply expressed confidence in the leadership and decisions of President Jefferson Davis. The second was a little trickier. It resolved that the Confederate Government in Richmond should, after each Southern victory, offer to end the war. Terms would be independence for the South, of course, as well as self-determination for border states.
From the Mobile Papers...The Legislature of Georgia in both branches today adopted Linton Stephens's peace resolutions, earnestly “recommending that our government, immediately after every signal success of our arms, when none can impute its action to alarm instead of a sincere desire for peace, shall make to the government of our enemy an official offer of peace, on the basis of the great principle declared by our common fathers in 1776, accompanied by the distinct expression of a willingness, on our part, to follow that principle to its true logical consequences, by agreeing that any Border State whose preference for our association may be doubted, (doubts having been expressed as to the wishes of the Border States,) shall settle the question for herself, by a convention to be elected for that purpose, after the withdrawal of all military forces on both sides from her limits.”
They also adopted his resolution declaring that “the recent act of Congress to suspend the writ of habeas corpus in cases of arrests, ordered by the President, Secretary of War, or general officer commanding the Trans-Mississippi military department, is an attempt to maintain the military in the usurpation of the constitutional judicial functions of issuing warrants, and to give validity to unconstitutional seizures of the persons of the people; and the said act, by its express terms, confines its operation to the upholding of the class of unconstitutional seizures, the whole suspension attempted to be authorized by it, and the whole act itself, are utterly void.”
“That in the judgment of this General Assembly, the said act is an alarming assault upon the liberty of the people, without any existing necessity to excuse it, and beyond the power of any possible necessity to justify it; and our Senators and Representatives in Congress are earnestly urged to take the first possible opportunity to have it blotted from the record of our laws.”
Both houses also adopted a resolution turning over to the confederate government all persons between the ages of seventeen and eighteen, and forty-five and fifty years.
They also unanimously adopted a resolution expressive of confidence in the President, and thanks to the confederate armies for reenlisting for the war.
The correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette, at Washington, DC, Mr. Whitelaw Reid, wrote as follows concerning the Emancipation Proclamation:
A recent allusion to the fact that Mr. Secretary Chase's pen supplied the concluding sentence of the Emancipation Proclamation, has been received with a surprise that indicates a less general knowledge on the subject than might have been expected.
When the final draft of the Proclamation was presented by the President to the Cabinet, it closed with the paragraph stating that the slaves if liberated would be received into the armed service of the United States. Mr. Chase objected to the appearance of a document of such momentous importance without one word beyond the dry phrases necessary to convey its meaning; and finally proposed that there be added to the President's draft the following sentence:
“And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.”
Mr. Lincoln adopted the sentence as Mr. Chase wrote it, only interlining after the word “Constitution” the words, “upon military necessity ;” and in that form the Proclamation went to the world, and history.
The President originally resolved upon the policy of issuing this Proclamation in the summer of 1862. As he has expressed it himself, every thing was going wrong; we seemed to have put forth about our utmost efforts, and he really didn't know what more to do, unless he did this. Accordingly, he prepared the preliminary Proclamation, nearly in the form in which it subsequently appeared, called the Cabinet together, and read it to them.
Mr. Montgomery Blair was startled. “If you issue that proclamation, Mr. President,” he exclaimed, “you will lose every one of the fall elections.”
Mr. Seward, on the other hand, said: “I approve of it, Mr. President, just as it stands. I approve of it in principle, and I approve the policy of issuing it. I only object to the time. Send it out now, on the heels of our late disasters, and it will be construed as the convulsive struggle of a drowning man. To give it proper weight, you should reserve it until after some victory.”
The President assented to Mr. Seward's view, and it was withheld till the fall, when it was issued almost precisely as originally prepared. The one to which Mr. Chase supplied the concluding sentence was the final Proclamation, issued on the subsequent first of January.
Posted on 3/19/14 at 7:48 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Sunday, March 20 1864
Not all assignments of a new captain to a ship of his own were happy ones. First Lieutenant Charles Carroll Simms, CSN, was given command of the CSS Baltic. He was also given naval constructor John L. Porter's inspection report. He wrote his boss, Commander Catesby ap Roger Jones "...he has made a very unfavorable report on the condition of the ship [Baltic] and recommended that the iron be taken from her and put upon one of the new boats that were built...Between you and I the Baltic is rotten as punk and is about as fit to go into action as a mud scow." By July, the Baltic had been dismantled and her armor transferred to the CSS Nashville.
Arriving off Cape Town, South Africa, Captain Raphael Semmes, commanding the CSS Alabama, noted that there were no Union cruisers in the vicinity, though he was well aware that many had been dispatched from Northern ports to capture him. He recalled later: "That huge old coal-box, the Vanderbilt, having thought it useless to pursue us farther, had turned back, and was now probably doing a more profitable business, by picking up blockade-runners on the American coast. This operation paid-the Captain might grow rich upon it. Chasing the Alabama did not."
The USS Honeysuckle, under Acting Ensign Sears, captured the blockade running sloop Florida in the Gulf of Mexico west of Florida, with a cargo of powder, shot, nails, and coffee.
This morning, while off Elbow Light, in latitude twenty-six degrees thirty-three minutes north, longitude seventy-six degrees twenty-five minutes west, the USS Tioga, Lieutenant Commander Edward Y. McCauley in charge, overhauled and captured the blockade running sloop Swallow. She was bound from the Combahee River, a short black water waterway in the southern Low-country region of South Carolina, to Nassau, laden with one hundred and eighty bales of cotton, eighty barrels of rosin, and twenty-five boxes of tobacco. These and other stores were found on board the prize.
The expedition, composed of the steamers Columbine and Sumter, that left Palatka, Florida, for Lake George, to capture the Confederate steamer Hattie Brock, returned to the former place, having been successful.
Not all assignments of a new captain to a ship of his own were happy ones. First Lieutenant Charles Carroll Simms, CSN, was given command of the CSS Baltic. He was also given naval constructor John L. Porter's inspection report. He wrote his boss, Commander Catesby ap Roger Jones "...he has made a very unfavorable report on the condition of the ship [Baltic] and recommended that the iron be taken from her and put upon one of the new boats that were built...Between you and I the Baltic is rotten as punk and is about as fit to go into action as a mud scow." By July, the Baltic had been dismantled and her armor transferred to the CSS Nashville.
Arriving off Cape Town, South Africa, Captain Raphael Semmes, commanding the CSS Alabama, noted that there were no Union cruisers in the vicinity, though he was well aware that many had been dispatched from Northern ports to capture him. He recalled later: "That huge old coal-box, the Vanderbilt, having thought it useless to pursue us farther, had turned back, and was now probably doing a more profitable business, by picking up blockade-runners on the American coast. This operation paid-the Captain might grow rich upon it. Chasing the Alabama did not."
The USS Honeysuckle, under Acting Ensign Sears, captured the blockade running sloop Florida in the Gulf of Mexico west of Florida, with a cargo of powder, shot, nails, and coffee.
This morning, while off Elbow Light, in latitude twenty-six degrees thirty-three minutes north, longitude seventy-six degrees twenty-five minutes west, the USS Tioga, Lieutenant Commander Edward Y. McCauley in charge, overhauled and captured the blockade running sloop Swallow. She was bound from the Combahee River, a short black water waterway in the southern Low-country region of South Carolina, to Nassau, laden with one hundred and eighty bales of cotton, eighty barrels of rosin, and twenty-five boxes of tobacco. These and other stores were found on board the prize.
The expedition, composed of the steamers Columbine and Sumter, that left Palatka, Florida, for Lake George, to capture the Confederate steamer Hattie Brock, returned to the former place, having been successful.
Posted on 3/20/14 at 9:01 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Monday, 21 March 1864
A group with a very interesting, and somewhat contradictory, name got a fascinating talk today from a man not previously known for his expertise in Economics. The New York Workingmen’s Democratic-Republican Association received an address on “Property, Wealth and Ownership” by Abraham Lincoln. “Property is the fruit of labor...” he said. “Property is desirable--it is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich, shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another.”
Confederate forces at Sabine Pass, Texas, destroyed the steamer Clifton (the former USS Clifton) to prevent her re-capture by blockading Union naval forces. The 900-ton Clifton had been attempting to run out of the Texas port, with over a thousand bales of cotton, when she ran aground on the bar. The vessel remained immovable, and was burned to prevent her from falling into the hands of the Federals.
The USS Hendrick Hudson, under Lieutenant Commander Charles J. McDougal, rammed the blockade runner Wild Pigeon, bound from Havana to the Florida coast. She struck the Wild Pigeon amidships and the schooner sank immediately.
Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Russell Mallory wrote Commander James Dunwoody Bulloch in Europe disagreeing with Bulloch's conclusion that the Confederacy needed no additional cruisers since "...there is no longer any American commerce for them to prey upon..." Mallory countered "We have, it is true, inflicted a heavy blow and great discouragement upon the Federal foreign commerce, but the coasting trade and fisheries, embracing the California trade, has suffered but little from our cruisers, and it can and must be struck."
A battle occurred at Henderson's Hill, located about 3.5 miles southwest of Boyce, Louisiana, as part of the Red River Campaign between a portion of General A. J. Smith's troops, under the command of Brigadier General John A. Mower, and the Confederate forces under General Richard Taylor.
At Alexandria, Louisiana, early this morning, an expedition was organized against the Confederate strong point at Henderson’s Hill. This undertaking, involving the command of Mower of the 16th Corps, included three brigades of Smith’s command and a brigade of cavalry of the 19th Corps under Colonel Lucas of the 16th Indiana Volunteers.
Confederate forces, which included the 2nd Louisiana Cavalry under the command of Colonel William G. Vincent, and William Edgar’s battery of light artillery, were surprised by the Federal units. Vincent escaped, but 250 Confederates were captured along with Edgar’s four-gun battery. Eight Confederates were killed and one Federal soldier was reported wounded. In a skirmish previous to the battle, Colonel H. B. Sargent--of General Nathaniel P. Banks's staff--was wounded severely.
Late last night, a body of Confederates made an attack on the Union pickets, near Jenkins's Island, South Carolina, but were repulsed at every point by the larger Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania regiment, Colonel Campbell in charge, doing duty at that point. The partisan Rebels approached in eight large flatboats, and came in force, evidently with a view of cutting off the pickets. Another attempt to gain a foothold on the island this night was baffled by Captain Kness's company of the Seventy-sixth, which fired several deadly volleys into the boats, and drove them off. Few casualties were reported on the Union side in either affair.
The steamer Chesapeake, previously surrendered by the British authorities, arrived at Portland, Maine.
A group with a very interesting, and somewhat contradictory, name got a fascinating talk today from a man not previously known for his expertise in Economics. The New York Workingmen’s Democratic-Republican Association received an address on “Property, Wealth and Ownership” by Abraham Lincoln. “Property is the fruit of labor...” he said. “Property is desirable--it is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich, shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another.”
Confederate forces at Sabine Pass, Texas, destroyed the steamer Clifton (the former USS Clifton) to prevent her re-capture by blockading Union naval forces. The 900-ton Clifton had been attempting to run out of the Texas port, with over a thousand bales of cotton, when she ran aground on the bar. The vessel remained immovable, and was burned to prevent her from falling into the hands of the Federals.
The USS Hendrick Hudson, under Lieutenant Commander Charles J. McDougal, rammed the blockade runner Wild Pigeon, bound from Havana to the Florida coast. She struck the Wild Pigeon amidships and the schooner sank immediately.
Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Russell Mallory wrote Commander James Dunwoody Bulloch in Europe disagreeing with Bulloch's conclusion that the Confederacy needed no additional cruisers since "...there is no longer any American commerce for them to prey upon..." Mallory countered "We have, it is true, inflicted a heavy blow and great discouragement upon the Federal foreign commerce, but the coasting trade and fisheries, embracing the California trade, has suffered but little from our cruisers, and it can and must be struck."
A battle occurred at Henderson's Hill, located about 3.5 miles southwest of Boyce, Louisiana, as part of the Red River Campaign between a portion of General A. J. Smith's troops, under the command of Brigadier General John A. Mower, and the Confederate forces under General Richard Taylor.
At Alexandria, Louisiana, early this morning, an expedition was organized against the Confederate strong point at Henderson’s Hill. This undertaking, involving the command of Mower of the 16th Corps, included three brigades of Smith’s command and a brigade of cavalry of the 19th Corps under Colonel Lucas of the 16th Indiana Volunteers.
Confederate forces, which included the 2nd Louisiana Cavalry under the command of Colonel William G. Vincent, and William Edgar’s battery of light artillery, were surprised by the Federal units. Vincent escaped, but 250 Confederates were captured along with Edgar’s four-gun battery. Eight Confederates were killed and one Federal soldier was reported wounded. In a skirmish previous to the battle, Colonel H. B. Sargent--of General Nathaniel P. Banks's staff--was wounded severely.
Late last night, a body of Confederates made an attack on the Union pickets, near Jenkins's Island, South Carolina, but were repulsed at every point by the larger Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania regiment, Colonel Campbell in charge, doing duty at that point. The partisan Rebels approached in eight large flatboats, and came in force, evidently with a view of cutting off the pickets. Another attempt to gain a foothold on the island this night was baffled by Captain Kness's company of the Seventy-sixth, which fired several deadly volleys into the boats, and drove them off. Few casualties were reported on the Union side in either affair.
The steamer Chesapeake, previously surrendered by the British authorities, arrived at Portland, Maine.
Posted on 3/21/14 at 9:26 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Tuesday, March 22, 1864
Like all charitable groups, the United States Sanitary Commission needed to conduct fundraising in order to carry out its work of providing blankets, treatments, transportation and other services to sick and wounded soldiers. It therefore was today holding a “Sanitary Fair” in Washington. One of the items gathered for auction was an autograph album. This did not hold just signatures, but comments by the notables who wrote therein. In it Abraham Lincoln wrote: “I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any 'good' thing, that no man desires for himself.”
Major General Lewis "Lew" Wallace, later to author the novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, assumed command of the Middle Department, Eighth Army Corps, headquartered at Baltimore, Maryland, and issued orders in accordance therewith.
The Supreme Court of Georgia this morning unanimously affirmed the constitutionality of the Confederate anti-substitute law.
A heavy snowstorm prevailed in Richmond, Virginia, and vicinity, the average depth being about one foot.
Major General Nathaniel P. Banks, from his Headquarters at New Orleans, Louisiana, issued general orders constituting a Board of Education, and defining their duties and powers.
Like all charitable groups, the United States Sanitary Commission needed to conduct fundraising in order to carry out its work of providing blankets, treatments, transportation and other services to sick and wounded soldiers. It therefore was today holding a “Sanitary Fair” in Washington. One of the items gathered for auction was an autograph album. This did not hold just signatures, but comments by the notables who wrote therein. In it Abraham Lincoln wrote: “I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any 'good' thing, that no man desires for himself.”
Major General Lewis "Lew" Wallace, later to author the novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, assumed command of the Middle Department, Eighth Army Corps, headquartered at Baltimore, Maryland, and issued orders in accordance therewith.
The Supreme Court of Georgia this morning unanimously affirmed the constitutionality of the Confederate anti-substitute law.
A heavy snowstorm prevailed in Richmond, Virginia, and vicinity, the average depth being about one foot.
Major General Nathaniel P. Banks, from his Headquarters at New Orleans, Louisiana, issued general orders constituting a Board of Education, and defining their duties and powers.
Posted on 3/22/14 at 9:01 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Wednesday, March 23, 1864
Lieutenant General Hiram U. Grant wrapped up several days of consultations in Cincinnati, Ohio, with Major General William T. Sherman. Grant was headed back to Washington to get to work, and Sherman was directed back to Nashville for finalizing the plan to begin invading Georgia and attempting to take Atlanta.
The Fifth Corps of the Army of the Potomac had been commanded by Major General George Sykes. He was replaced today by Gouverneur Kemble Warren, the former signal officer who had likely saved Little Round Top, the Union left, and possibly the Union itself, at Gettysburg. The 1st and 2nd Divisions were consolidated into one 1st Division, under General Griffin. Crawford's 3rd Division of Pennsylvanians remained unchanged, although it was due to be mustered out of the service in a few weeks. The I Corps was merged into the V as the 2nd and 4th Divisions, under Generals John C. Robinson and James S. Wadsworth respectively.
Warren and his new Corps would soon be engaged at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor in May and June, losing over 12,000 of the 28,000 troops in the command within a forty-three day period. During this time of Grant's Overland Campaign, Warren would at times show flashes of brilliance, but there were ever increasing examples of clashes between Warren's tactical concepts and Grant's. Constantly pushed into directions or attacking when he thought that there was a better way, his doubts will increase and his trust in Grant's strategies erode.
He will try to do it Grant's way, throwing in his Corps without support from the rest of the Army, only to see it cut to pieces and his mens' lives thrown away for no gain, other then to wear General Robert E. Lee down. He makes a comment during that time that this was "...not war, but butchery!"
John Patrick Halligan sets up shop in Selma, Alabama, to build a submarine for use in Mobile Bay.
An expedition under the command of General Steele left Little Rock, Arkansas, and went in pursuit of the Confederate General SterlinT Price.
The following order was issued by Brigadier General Nathan Kimball on assuming command of troops in the department of Arkansas:
The Commanding General intends to protect, to the fullest extent of his power, all citizens who may be in the country occupied by troops under his command, in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; knowing that in so doing he will assist in accomplishing the primary object of the government he serves.
He will devote all his energies to the defeat of the enemies of that government; and although, as a soldier, he can feel respect for those openly in arms against it, yet robbers and guerrillas who have taken advantage of the unsettled state of the country to burn dwellings, murder their neighbors, and insult women, are in no respect soldiers, and when taken will not be treated as such.
He requires all citizens to aid and assist the officers of the United States Government, and to stand firm in their allegiance to it.
The loyal shall be protected, and the sympathizers with rebellion, though they may have taken the oath of allegiance to the Government of the United States, will be treated as rebels, unless they conform, in word and act, to the spirit of that oath.
A daring Confederate raid was made into the southern part of Green County to within five or six miles of Springfield, Missouri, by a band of rebels numbering from eight to twelve, yesterday. Among the number were Louis Brashears and William Fulbright, (youngest son of Ephraim Fulbright,) both formerly of that county. The citizens collected and drove them out of the county today, and in a little fight with them killed Fulbright. In their flight southward the Rebels killed Elijah Hunt and one Dotson, both of whom had formerly been in the rebel service.--Missouri Democrat
Lieutenant General Hiram U. Grant wrapped up several days of consultations in Cincinnati, Ohio, with Major General William T. Sherman. Grant was headed back to Washington to get to work, and Sherman was directed back to Nashville for finalizing the plan to begin invading Georgia and attempting to take Atlanta.
The Fifth Corps of the Army of the Potomac had been commanded by Major General George Sykes. He was replaced today by Gouverneur Kemble Warren, the former signal officer who had likely saved Little Round Top, the Union left, and possibly the Union itself, at Gettysburg. The 1st and 2nd Divisions were consolidated into one 1st Division, under General Griffin. Crawford's 3rd Division of Pennsylvanians remained unchanged, although it was due to be mustered out of the service in a few weeks. The I Corps was merged into the V as the 2nd and 4th Divisions, under Generals John C. Robinson and James S. Wadsworth respectively.
Warren and his new Corps would soon be engaged at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor in May and June, losing over 12,000 of the 28,000 troops in the command within a forty-three day period. During this time of Grant's Overland Campaign, Warren would at times show flashes of brilliance, but there were ever increasing examples of clashes between Warren's tactical concepts and Grant's. Constantly pushed into directions or attacking when he thought that there was a better way, his doubts will increase and his trust in Grant's strategies erode.
He will try to do it Grant's way, throwing in his Corps without support from the rest of the Army, only to see it cut to pieces and his mens' lives thrown away for no gain, other then to wear General Robert E. Lee down. He makes a comment during that time that this was "...not war, but butchery!"
John Patrick Halligan sets up shop in Selma, Alabama, to build a submarine for use in Mobile Bay.
An expedition under the command of General Steele left Little Rock, Arkansas, and went in pursuit of the Confederate General SterlinT Price.
The following order was issued by Brigadier General Nathan Kimball on assuming command of troops in the department of Arkansas:
The Commanding General intends to protect, to the fullest extent of his power, all citizens who may be in the country occupied by troops under his command, in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; knowing that in so doing he will assist in accomplishing the primary object of the government he serves.
He will devote all his energies to the defeat of the enemies of that government; and although, as a soldier, he can feel respect for those openly in arms against it, yet robbers and guerrillas who have taken advantage of the unsettled state of the country to burn dwellings, murder their neighbors, and insult women, are in no respect soldiers, and when taken will not be treated as such.
He requires all citizens to aid and assist the officers of the United States Government, and to stand firm in their allegiance to it.
The loyal shall be protected, and the sympathizers with rebellion, though they may have taken the oath of allegiance to the Government of the United States, will be treated as rebels, unless they conform, in word and act, to the spirit of that oath.
A daring Confederate raid was made into the southern part of Green County to within five or six miles of Springfield, Missouri, by a band of rebels numbering from eight to twelve, yesterday. Among the number were Louis Brashears and William Fulbright, (youngest son of Ephraim Fulbright,) both formerly of that county. The citizens collected and drove them out of the county today, and in a little fight with them killed Fulbright. In their flight southward the Rebels killed Elijah Hunt and one Dotson, both of whom had formerly been in the rebel service.--Missouri Democrat
Posted on 3/23/14 at 9:29 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Thursday, 24 March 1864
Lieutenant Commander Charles W. Flusser, US Navy, was not a happy man today. Intelligence reports were coming in from North Carolina indicating that the long-anticipated completion date had arrived early for the ram-ship CSS Albermarle. This formidable vessel featured a double layer of iron plating, instead of one as was usual in ironclads. The “torpedoes”, or floating mines, were being pulled out of the river below Hamilton, North Carolina, to allow her to go to sea.
A closely coordinated Army-Navy expedition departed Beaufort, North Carolina, on board the side-wheel steamer USS Britannia. Some 200 soldiers were commanded by Colonel James Jourdan, while about 50 sailors from the ships USS Keystone State, Florida, and Cambridge were in charge of Commander Benjamin M. Dove. The aim of the expedition was the capture or destruction of two schooners used in blockade running at Swansboro, North Carolina, and the capture of a Confederate army group on the south end of Bogue Island Banks. Arriving off Bogue Inlet late at night, the expedition encountered high winds and heavy seas which prevented landing on the beach. Early on the morning of the 25th, a second attempt was made under similarly difficult conditions, but a party got through to Bear Creek where one of the schooners was burned. Bad weather persisted throughout the day and the expedition eventually returned to Beaufort on the 26th with its mission only partially completed.
Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter reported that his forces had seized more than 2,000 bales of cotton, as well as quantities of molasses and wool, since entering the Red River.
The USS Stonewall, under Master Henry B. Carter, captured the sloop Josephine of Tampa, in Sarasota Sound, Florida, with a cargo of cotton.
Major General William H. French having been detached from the Army of the Potomac in consequence of its reorganization, issued his farewell order to his command.
General Neal Dow delivered an address in Portland, Maine, describing his captivity in the South.
A large force of Confederates, under General Nathan Bedford Forrest, captured Union City, Kentucky, and after destroying the buildings, carried off the entire force of the Union garrison as prisoners of war.
Lieutenant Commander Charles W. Flusser, US Navy, was not a happy man today. Intelligence reports were coming in from North Carolina indicating that the long-anticipated completion date had arrived early for the ram-ship CSS Albermarle. This formidable vessel featured a double layer of iron plating, instead of one as was usual in ironclads. The “torpedoes”, or floating mines, were being pulled out of the river below Hamilton, North Carolina, to allow her to go to sea.
A closely coordinated Army-Navy expedition departed Beaufort, North Carolina, on board the side-wheel steamer USS Britannia. Some 200 soldiers were commanded by Colonel James Jourdan, while about 50 sailors from the ships USS Keystone State, Florida, and Cambridge were in charge of Commander Benjamin M. Dove. The aim of the expedition was the capture or destruction of two schooners used in blockade running at Swansboro, North Carolina, and the capture of a Confederate army group on the south end of Bogue Island Banks. Arriving off Bogue Inlet late at night, the expedition encountered high winds and heavy seas which prevented landing on the beach. Early on the morning of the 25th, a second attempt was made under similarly difficult conditions, but a party got through to Bear Creek where one of the schooners was burned. Bad weather persisted throughout the day and the expedition eventually returned to Beaufort on the 26th with its mission only partially completed.
Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter reported that his forces had seized more than 2,000 bales of cotton, as well as quantities of molasses and wool, since entering the Red River.
The USS Stonewall, under Master Henry B. Carter, captured the sloop Josephine of Tampa, in Sarasota Sound, Florida, with a cargo of cotton.
Major General William H. French having been detached from the Army of the Potomac in consequence of its reorganization, issued his farewell order to his command.
General Neal Dow delivered an address in Portland, Maine, describing his captivity in the South.
A large force of Confederates, under General Nathan Bedford Forrest, captured Union City, Kentucky, and after destroying the buildings, carried off the entire force of the Union garrison as prisoners of war.
Posted on 3/24/14 at 8:15 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Friday, 25 March 1864
The name of Nathan Bedford Forrest was enough to strike fear in the hearts of Union men anywhere in the Western theater. Forrest himself led his cavalry in an attack today on Paducah, Kentucky. Aiming for Fort Anderson, which protected the city on the Ohio River, Forrest raised havoc. The Fort batteries, in conjunction with the gunboats Pesota and PawPaw in the river, drove him off after a day.
Another report: The USS Peosta, Acting Lieutenant Thomas E. Smith, and the USS Paw Paw, Acting Lieutenant A. Frank O'Neil, engaged Confederate troops who had launched a heavy assault on Northern positions at Paducah, Kentucky. Under the wooden gunboats' fire the Southerners were halted and finally forced to withdraw. The value of the force afloat was recognized by Brigadier General Mason Brayman, who later wrote of the action: "I wish to state during my short period of service here the Navy has borne a conspicuous part in all operations. The Peosta, Captain Smith, and Paw Paw, Captain O'Neil, joined Colonel Hicks at Paducah , and with gallantry equal to his own shelled the rebels out of the buildings from which their sharpshooters annoyed our troops. A large number took shelter in heavy warehouses near the river and maintained a furious fire upon the gunboats, inflicting some injury, but they were promptly dislodged and the build-ings destroyed. Fleet Captain Pennock, of the Mississippi Squadron, representing Admiral Porter in his absence, and Lieutenant Commander Shirk, of the Seventh Division, who had charge above Cairo and on the Tennessee, were prompt, vigilant, and courageous and cooperated in everything. That the river line was kept open, considering the inadequate force at my control, I regard as due in a great degree to the cooperation of the Navy."
Close cooperation and support between land and sea forces continued to mark Northern efforts in the War Between the States. On 21 March, Major General Quincy A. Gillmore wrote Commodore Stephen C. Rowan that, though the Army had five steam transports operating in the vicinity of Port Royal on picket duty and as transports, he had "...no officer possessing sufficient experience to properly outfit and command such vessels. My steamboat masters are citizens, and know nothing of artillery. My artillery officers are not sailors, and are not acquainted with naval gunnery." The General thus requested that an officer from the blockading squadron be assigned to assist the Army in this regard. "It would," Gillmore wrote, "be of advantage to this army..." This date, Rowan, temporarily commanding the naval forces in the absence of Rear Admiral John Adolphus Bernard Dahlgren, ordered Acting Ensign William C. Hanford to assist the General as requested.
Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles called President Abraham Lincoln's attention to the scarcity of seamen in ships afloat and suggested the transfer of 12,000 men from the Army to the Navy. The transfer was later effected as a result of a bill sponsored by Senator James Wilson Grimes of Iowa.
Lieutenant Commander Babcock, of the USS Morse, submitted a report to Rear Admiral Samuel P. Lee on all the Confederate material seized by his ship between 1 and 12 February on the York River. He wrote that the articles included a small schooner, a sloop, corn, wheat, oats, salt, tobacco, plows, a cultivator, plow points, plow shares, and molding boards. Seemingly inconsequential in themselves, these articles lost were multiplied many-fold by the ceaseless efforts of the Navy in river and coastal waters; it was their steady attrition which was so sorely felt by Confederate fighting men and civilians alike.
A boat expedition under Acting Master Edward H. Sheffield from the USS Winona, Lieutenant Commander A. W. Weaver in charge, after making extensive reconnaissance of the area, captured the blockade runner Little Ada loading cotton at McClellanville in the South Santee River, South Carolina. As Union sailors sought to bring the prize out, Confederate artillery opened on the vessel with devastating accuracy. The attack by Sheffield, carried on deep in Confederate-held territory, had begun in darkness, but as It was now fully light, the riddled prize had to be quickly abandoned to prevent capture of the boarding party.
Major General Nathaniel P. Banks arrived at Alexandria, a week later than originally planned. The main force of the Red River expedition was now assembled.
Major Generals Newton and Pleasanton, having been relieved of their commands in the Army of the Potomac, issued general orders in accordance therewith.
The steamer La Crosse was captured and burned by a party of Confederate partisan guerrillas, at a point on the Red River, below Alexandria; her crew was released, but the officers were carried off.
The name of Nathan Bedford Forrest was enough to strike fear in the hearts of Union men anywhere in the Western theater. Forrest himself led his cavalry in an attack today on Paducah, Kentucky. Aiming for Fort Anderson, which protected the city on the Ohio River, Forrest raised havoc. The Fort batteries, in conjunction with the gunboats Pesota and PawPaw in the river, drove him off after a day.
Another report: The USS Peosta, Acting Lieutenant Thomas E. Smith, and the USS Paw Paw, Acting Lieutenant A. Frank O'Neil, engaged Confederate troops who had launched a heavy assault on Northern positions at Paducah, Kentucky. Under the wooden gunboats' fire the Southerners were halted and finally forced to withdraw. The value of the force afloat was recognized by Brigadier General Mason Brayman, who later wrote of the action: "I wish to state during my short period of service here the Navy has borne a conspicuous part in all operations. The Peosta, Captain Smith, and Paw Paw, Captain O'Neil, joined Colonel Hicks at Paducah , and with gallantry equal to his own shelled the rebels out of the buildings from which their sharpshooters annoyed our troops. A large number took shelter in heavy warehouses near the river and maintained a furious fire upon the gunboats, inflicting some injury, but they were promptly dislodged and the build-ings destroyed. Fleet Captain Pennock, of the Mississippi Squadron, representing Admiral Porter in his absence, and Lieutenant Commander Shirk, of the Seventh Division, who had charge above Cairo and on the Tennessee, were prompt, vigilant, and courageous and cooperated in everything. That the river line was kept open, considering the inadequate force at my control, I regard as due in a great degree to the cooperation of the Navy."
Close cooperation and support between land and sea forces continued to mark Northern efforts in the War Between the States. On 21 March, Major General Quincy A. Gillmore wrote Commodore Stephen C. Rowan that, though the Army had five steam transports operating in the vicinity of Port Royal on picket duty and as transports, he had "...no officer possessing sufficient experience to properly outfit and command such vessels. My steamboat masters are citizens, and know nothing of artillery. My artillery officers are not sailors, and are not acquainted with naval gunnery." The General thus requested that an officer from the blockading squadron be assigned to assist the Army in this regard. "It would," Gillmore wrote, "be of advantage to this army..." This date, Rowan, temporarily commanding the naval forces in the absence of Rear Admiral John Adolphus Bernard Dahlgren, ordered Acting Ensign William C. Hanford to assist the General as requested.
Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles called President Abraham Lincoln's attention to the scarcity of seamen in ships afloat and suggested the transfer of 12,000 men from the Army to the Navy. The transfer was later effected as a result of a bill sponsored by Senator James Wilson Grimes of Iowa.
Lieutenant Commander Babcock, of the USS Morse, submitted a report to Rear Admiral Samuel P. Lee on all the Confederate material seized by his ship between 1 and 12 February on the York River. He wrote that the articles included a small schooner, a sloop, corn, wheat, oats, salt, tobacco, plows, a cultivator, plow points, plow shares, and molding boards. Seemingly inconsequential in themselves, these articles lost were multiplied many-fold by the ceaseless efforts of the Navy in river and coastal waters; it was their steady attrition which was so sorely felt by Confederate fighting men and civilians alike.
A boat expedition under Acting Master Edward H. Sheffield from the USS Winona, Lieutenant Commander A. W. Weaver in charge, after making extensive reconnaissance of the area, captured the blockade runner Little Ada loading cotton at McClellanville in the South Santee River, South Carolina. As Union sailors sought to bring the prize out, Confederate artillery opened on the vessel with devastating accuracy. The attack by Sheffield, carried on deep in Confederate-held territory, had begun in darkness, but as It was now fully light, the riddled prize had to be quickly abandoned to prevent capture of the boarding party.
Major General Nathaniel P. Banks arrived at Alexandria, a week later than originally planned. The main force of the Red River expedition was now assembled.
Major Generals Newton and Pleasanton, having been relieved of their commands in the Army of the Potomac, issued general orders in accordance therewith.
The steamer La Crosse was captured and burned by a party of Confederate partisan guerrillas, at a point on the Red River, below Alexandria; her crew was released, but the officers were carried off.
Posted on 3/25/14 at 8:42 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Saturday, 26 March 1864
Several days ago, President Abraham Lincoln had issued a proclamation declaring that US military personnel who were absent without leave would be permitted to return to their units without penalty, so long as they arrived by April 1, based on an original Amnesty Proclamation of December last. He was obliged to issue a second proclamation on the subject today to clarify that the amnesty did not apply to deserters who had already been captured and put in prison.
He also authorized every commissioned officer in the United States service, either naval or military, to administer the oath of allegiance, and imposed rules for their government, in the premises.
An official announcement from Washington was made, that Illinois was twelve thousand four hundred and thirty-six “...ahead of all quotas under the calls of President Lincoln for more troops.”
General William Starke Rosecrans, from his headquarters at St. Louis, Missouri, issued the following special orders:
The attention of the General Commanding has been called to various articles of an incendiary, disloyal, and traitorous character, in a newspaper entitled the Metropolitan Record, without ecclesiastical sanction, called a “Catholic family newspaper,” published in New York March twenty-sixth, 1864. The articles on “ Conscription,” the “Raid upon Richmond,” “Clouds in the West,” and the “Address of the Legislature of Virginia,” contain enough to satisfy the General Commanding that the reasonable freedom, nor even license, of the press, suffice for the traitorous utterances of those articles. They are a libel on the Catholics, who as a body are loyal and national; no man having a drop of Catholic charity or patriotism in his heart could have written them, expressing, as they do, hatred for the nation's efforts to resist its own dissolution, and friendship for those who are trying to destroy the great free government under which so many have found an asylum from oppression in other lands.
The Provost Marshal General will cause to be seized all numbers of the Metropolitan Record containing those articles; and venders of them, if found guilty of having sold or distributed them, knowing their traitorous contents, will be punished.
To protect the innocent from imposition, the circulation of this paper is prohibited in this department until further orders.
Several days ago, President Abraham Lincoln had issued a proclamation declaring that US military personnel who were absent without leave would be permitted to return to their units without penalty, so long as they arrived by April 1, based on an original Amnesty Proclamation of December last. He was obliged to issue a second proclamation on the subject today to clarify that the amnesty did not apply to deserters who had already been captured and put in prison.
He also authorized every commissioned officer in the United States service, either naval or military, to administer the oath of allegiance, and imposed rules for their government, in the premises.
An official announcement from Washington was made, that Illinois was twelve thousand four hundred and thirty-six “...ahead of all quotas under the calls of President Lincoln for more troops.”
General William Starke Rosecrans, from his headquarters at St. Louis, Missouri, issued the following special orders:
The attention of the General Commanding has been called to various articles of an incendiary, disloyal, and traitorous character, in a newspaper entitled the Metropolitan Record, without ecclesiastical sanction, called a “Catholic family newspaper,” published in New York March twenty-sixth, 1864. The articles on “ Conscription,” the “Raid upon Richmond,” “Clouds in the West,” and the “Address of the Legislature of Virginia,” contain enough to satisfy the General Commanding that the reasonable freedom, nor even license, of the press, suffice for the traitorous utterances of those articles. They are a libel on the Catholics, who as a body are loyal and national; no man having a drop of Catholic charity or patriotism in his heart could have written them, expressing, as they do, hatred for the nation's efforts to resist its own dissolution, and friendship for those who are trying to destroy the great free government under which so many have found an asylum from oppression in other lands.
The Provost Marshal General will cause to be seized all numbers of the Metropolitan Record containing those articles; and venders of them, if found guilty of having sold or distributed them, knowing their traitorous contents, will be punished.
To protect the innocent from imposition, the circulation of this paper is prohibited in this department until further orders.
Posted on 3/25/14 at 8:46 pm to BadLeroyDawg
One day i will read this entire thread. Awesome stuff 
Posted on 3/26/14 at 7:27 am to jellyfish
Keep an eye on the Red River Campaign, jellyfish. Gonna get interesting real soon near you. Thanks for the reply!
Posted on 3/26/14 at 8:57 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Sunday, 27 March 1864
Many times during the War Between the States there were outbreaks of fighting against the Federal government by its own citizens who sympathized with the “other side” because of issues like States' Rights or the freedoms granted by the Constitution, such as Habeas Corpus or Freedom of the Press. One such occurred overnight and well into tomorrow in Charleston, in central Illinois. “A dreadful affair took place in our town...”, the local newspaper said, when a group of about 100 Copperheads attacked Union troops who were home on leave. Five were killed and more than 20 wounded before reinforcements arrived and restored order.
Colonel John M. Hughes, commanding the Twenty-fifth Tennessee Confederate regiment, made application to Colonel William B. Stokes, in command of the Federal forces at Sparta, Tennessee, for the purpose of taking the oath of allegiance to the United States, and surrendering his command.
It was also on this date in Tennessee that General James Longstreet’s Confederates received their orders to back off from their positions north of Knoxville to eventually rejoin General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Without a pause, they stepped off that direction, though it would take nearly a month for them to arrive in the eastern theatre.
Many times during the War Between the States there were outbreaks of fighting against the Federal government by its own citizens who sympathized with the “other side” because of issues like States' Rights or the freedoms granted by the Constitution, such as Habeas Corpus or Freedom of the Press. One such occurred overnight and well into tomorrow in Charleston, in central Illinois. “A dreadful affair took place in our town...”, the local newspaper said, when a group of about 100 Copperheads attacked Union troops who were home on leave. Five were killed and more than 20 wounded before reinforcements arrived and restored order.
Colonel John M. Hughes, commanding the Twenty-fifth Tennessee Confederate regiment, made application to Colonel William B. Stokes, in command of the Federal forces at Sparta, Tennessee, for the purpose of taking the oath of allegiance to the United States, and surrendering his command.
It was also on this date in Tennessee that General James Longstreet’s Confederates received their orders to back off from their positions north of Knoxville to eventually rejoin General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Without a pause, they stepped off that direction, though it would take nearly a month for them to arrive in the eastern theatre.
This post was edited on 3/27/14 at 5:39 am
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