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re: 150 years ago this day...
Posted on 6/2/14 at 8:52 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Posted on 6/2/14 at 8:52 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Friday, 3 June 1864
If 5 p.m. yesterday was considered too late to start a battle, then 4:30 a.m. today was not considered too early. At the designated time, some 51,000 of the 108,000 Union troops opened a full-scale charge on the dug-in Confederates at Cold Harbor, Virginia, barely eight miles from Richmond. Apparently the bloody lessons of the Sunken Road at Sharpsburg, Marye’s Heights at Fredericksburg or more recently the Bloody Angle and Mule Shoe Salient at Spotsylvania on May 12, had not yet been learned by Grant; that an attacking force has little chance against a well commanded and entrenched defense even if heavily outnumbering them, in this case over two to one. The Union troops were simply unable to break through. Grant later admitted that ordering this assault was the worst mistake he ever made. This ended almost a month, thirty days in fact, of nearly continuous warfare that had cost the Federals over 50,000 killed, wounded and missing soldiers.
At 4:30 this morning, the Second, Sixth, and Eighteenth Corps launched the main advance through the darkness and fog. As the attack began, the corps quickly became entangled in the swamps, ravines, and heavy vegetation, losing contact with each other. Angles in the Confederate works allowed Lee’s men to easily enfilade the Federal ranks as they advanced. An estimated 7,000 men were killed or wounded within the first twenty minutes of the assault and the massacre continued throughout the morning. In Hancock’s sector, elements of the Second Corps managed to seize a portion of the Rebel works only to be bombarded by Confederate artillery that turned the trenches into a deathtrap. Smith’s Corps was unfavorably funneled into two ravines and subsequently mowed down when they reached the Confederates' position. Pinned down by the tremendous volume of Southern fire, the remaining Federals dug trenches of their own, sometimes including bodies of dead comrades as part of their improvised, grisly earthworks. Shortly after 12:30 pm, after riding the beleaguered Union lines himself, Grant suspended his attack.
General Robert E. Lee, commanding the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, wrote to Confederate President Jefferson Davis about the victory at Cold Harbor, “Our loss today has been small, and our success, under the blessing of God, all that we could expect.” But Lee lacked the reserves to drive the Federals off, and the Confederate capital at Richmond remained in grave danger.
A Confederate boat expedition of some 130 officers and men under the command of Lieutenant Thomas P. Pelot, CSN, surprised and captured the USS Water Witch, Lieutenant Commander Austin Pendergrast in charge, in an early morning raid off Ossabaw Island, Georgia. In pitch darkness at 2:00 a.m., Pelot silently guided his party to the anchored blockaders' and was within 50 yards of her when discovered. Before the Union sailors could man their stations, the Confederates had boarded the Water Witch and a wild hand-to-hand melee ensued. "The fight," Rear Admiral John Dahlgren recorded in his diary after learning of the incident, "was hard, but brief." Though the Southerners overwhelmed the defenders, Pelot and five others were killed and 17 were wounded in taking the prize. Lieutenant Joseph Price, who assumed command of the expedition when Pelot fell, said of his comrade: "In his death the country has lost a brave and gallant officer, and society one of her highest ornaments." The Water Witch, a 380-ton sidewheeler, was taken into the Vernon River and moored above the obstructions guarding Savannah. Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory wrote: "The plan and gallant execution of the enterprise reflect great credit upon all who were associated with it, and upon the service which they adorn. The fall of Lieutenant Pelot and his gallant associates in the moment of victory, and the suffering of his companions wounded, sadden the feelings of patriotic pleasure with which this brilliant achievement is everywhere received."
The valor with which Southern sailors fought on against great and ever-increasing odds helped keep Confederate hopes alive throughout the last dark year of the war.
Confederate Commander James D. Bulloch wrote Mallory, enumerating some of the difficulties he experienced as Confederate Naval Agent abroad: "At no time since the completion of the Alabama has there been anything like money enough in hand, or within my control to pay for the ships actually under contract, and if no political complications had to delay the completion of these ships and they had been ready for delivery at the dates specified in the contracts, I should not have been able to pay for them...If these were ordinary times and the agent of your department could treat openly and in person with the European governments, we could doubtless obtain very good ships from several of the Continental navies, but acting through intermediaries who care for nothing beyond their commissions, we can not get anything but the cast-off vessels of other services, which either possess some radical defect of design rendering them unfit for cruisers, or are so dilapidated as to be worthless."
In response to the increasing number of Confederate hit-and-run attacks upon river shipping on the western waters, Major General Canby wrote to Rear Admiral David Porter offering the cooperation of land forces: "I have ordered reserves of troops and of water transportation to be held in readiness at different points on the Mississippi, for the purpose of operating against any Rebel force that may attempt to interrupt the navigation of the river. If you will direct naval commanders to give early notice of any movements of this kind to the commanders of the military districts, a sufficient military force can be sent at once to cooperate with the gunboats in destroying or driving off the Rebels."
The USS Coeur de Lion, under Acting Master William G. Morris, seized schooner Malinda in the Potomac River for violating the blockade.
In Georgia, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston learned of William T. Sherman’s movement around Johnston’s right. Johnston planned to abandon the New Hope Church area and respond to a Federal movement once more.
President Abraham Lincoln this afternoon signed the National Banking Act of 1864 into law. This established a national currency through the sale of government bonds. This also established a Bureau of Currency with an Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, authorized to regulate nationally chartered banks. The banking laws enacted by Lincoln and the Republican Congress gave government a virtual monopoly over currency, ending the currency competition that had facilitated the nation’s rapid economic growth prior to the war. Besides the (future) emancipation, these new banking laws fundamentally changed the U.S. more than anything else in the War.
Lincoln also wrote this evening to a New York political group, “My previous high estimate of Gen. Grant has been maintained and heightened by what has occurred in the remarkable campaign he is now conducting...”
Over fifty thousand casualties in only 30 days...
If 5 p.m. yesterday was considered too late to start a battle, then 4:30 a.m. today was not considered too early. At the designated time, some 51,000 of the 108,000 Union troops opened a full-scale charge on the dug-in Confederates at Cold Harbor, Virginia, barely eight miles from Richmond. Apparently the bloody lessons of the Sunken Road at Sharpsburg, Marye’s Heights at Fredericksburg or more recently the Bloody Angle and Mule Shoe Salient at Spotsylvania on May 12, had not yet been learned by Grant; that an attacking force has little chance against a well commanded and entrenched defense even if heavily outnumbering them, in this case over two to one. The Union troops were simply unable to break through. Grant later admitted that ordering this assault was the worst mistake he ever made. This ended almost a month, thirty days in fact, of nearly continuous warfare that had cost the Federals over 50,000 killed, wounded and missing soldiers.
At 4:30 this morning, the Second, Sixth, and Eighteenth Corps launched the main advance through the darkness and fog. As the attack began, the corps quickly became entangled in the swamps, ravines, and heavy vegetation, losing contact with each other. Angles in the Confederate works allowed Lee’s men to easily enfilade the Federal ranks as they advanced. An estimated 7,000 men were killed or wounded within the first twenty minutes of the assault and the massacre continued throughout the morning. In Hancock’s sector, elements of the Second Corps managed to seize a portion of the Rebel works only to be bombarded by Confederate artillery that turned the trenches into a deathtrap. Smith’s Corps was unfavorably funneled into two ravines and subsequently mowed down when they reached the Confederates' position. Pinned down by the tremendous volume of Southern fire, the remaining Federals dug trenches of their own, sometimes including bodies of dead comrades as part of their improvised, grisly earthworks. Shortly after 12:30 pm, after riding the beleaguered Union lines himself, Grant suspended his attack.
General Robert E. Lee, commanding the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, wrote to Confederate President Jefferson Davis about the victory at Cold Harbor, “Our loss today has been small, and our success, under the blessing of God, all that we could expect.” But Lee lacked the reserves to drive the Federals off, and the Confederate capital at Richmond remained in grave danger.
A Confederate boat expedition of some 130 officers and men under the command of Lieutenant Thomas P. Pelot, CSN, surprised and captured the USS Water Witch, Lieutenant Commander Austin Pendergrast in charge, in an early morning raid off Ossabaw Island, Georgia. In pitch darkness at 2:00 a.m., Pelot silently guided his party to the anchored blockaders' and was within 50 yards of her when discovered. Before the Union sailors could man their stations, the Confederates had boarded the Water Witch and a wild hand-to-hand melee ensued. "The fight," Rear Admiral John Dahlgren recorded in his diary after learning of the incident, "was hard, but brief." Though the Southerners overwhelmed the defenders, Pelot and five others were killed and 17 were wounded in taking the prize. Lieutenant Joseph Price, who assumed command of the expedition when Pelot fell, said of his comrade: "In his death the country has lost a brave and gallant officer, and society one of her highest ornaments." The Water Witch, a 380-ton sidewheeler, was taken into the Vernon River and moored above the obstructions guarding Savannah. Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory wrote: "The plan and gallant execution of the enterprise reflect great credit upon all who were associated with it, and upon the service which they adorn. The fall of Lieutenant Pelot and his gallant associates in the moment of victory, and the suffering of his companions wounded, sadden the feelings of patriotic pleasure with which this brilliant achievement is everywhere received."
The valor with which Southern sailors fought on against great and ever-increasing odds helped keep Confederate hopes alive throughout the last dark year of the war.
Confederate Commander James D. Bulloch wrote Mallory, enumerating some of the difficulties he experienced as Confederate Naval Agent abroad: "At no time since the completion of the Alabama has there been anything like money enough in hand, or within my control to pay for the ships actually under contract, and if no political complications had to delay the completion of these ships and they had been ready for delivery at the dates specified in the contracts, I should not have been able to pay for them...If these were ordinary times and the agent of your department could treat openly and in person with the European governments, we could doubtless obtain very good ships from several of the Continental navies, but acting through intermediaries who care for nothing beyond their commissions, we can not get anything but the cast-off vessels of other services, which either possess some radical defect of design rendering them unfit for cruisers, or are so dilapidated as to be worthless."
In response to the increasing number of Confederate hit-and-run attacks upon river shipping on the western waters, Major General Canby wrote to Rear Admiral David Porter offering the cooperation of land forces: "I have ordered reserves of troops and of water transportation to be held in readiness at different points on the Mississippi, for the purpose of operating against any Rebel force that may attempt to interrupt the navigation of the river. If you will direct naval commanders to give early notice of any movements of this kind to the commanders of the military districts, a sufficient military force can be sent at once to cooperate with the gunboats in destroying or driving off the Rebels."
The USS Coeur de Lion, under Acting Master William G. Morris, seized schooner Malinda in the Potomac River for violating the blockade.
In Georgia, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston learned of William T. Sherman’s movement around Johnston’s right. Johnston planned to abandon the New Hope Church area and respond to a Federal movement once more.
President Abraham Lincoln this afternoon signed the National Banking Act of 1864 into law. This established a national currency through the sale of government bonds. This also established a Bureau of Currency with an Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, authorized to regulate nationally chartered banks. The banking laws enacted by Lincoln and the Republican Congress gave government a virtual monopoly over currency, ending the currency competition that had facilitated the nation’s rapid economic growth prior to the war. Besides the (future) emancipation, these new banking laws fundamentally changed the U.S. more than anything else in the War.
Lincoln also wrote this evening to a New York political group, “My previous high estimate of Gen. Grant has been maintained and heightened by what has occurred in the remarkable campaign he is now conducting...”
Over fifty thousand casualties in only 30 days...
This post was edited on 11/12/15 at 9:53 pm
1
Posted on 6/3/14 at 9:17 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Saturday, 4 June 1864
Yesterday, Union troops had launched a massive assault on Lee's entrenched position. In less than an hour, several thousands of Federals lay dead or dying between the lines. Grant's fallen Yankees were pinned down. They could neither advance nor retreat. Using cups, plates and bayonets, the desperate Federal soldiers tried their best to dig their own trench for protection.
Although the fighting was over, hundreds of wounded Federal troops remained on the field for four days. Grant was unwilling to ask Lee for a cease-fire as this would be an admission of a Union defeat and with President Lincoln facing stiff competition in a primary election, he didn't think they could afford that admission.
When the cease-fire was eventually agreed upon by Grant and Lee, most of the wounded Union soldiers caught in no man's land were dead. They had cooked under the Virginia sun. Their bodies were buried where the lay as they were bloated and black from four days of exposure.
In the Battle of Cold Harbor, the Union army suffered 13,000 casualties compared to 2,500 by the Confederates. The number of casualties was shocking to the Federal soldiers and, indeed, to the entire country. One of (commander of the 2nd Division) John Gibbon's soldiers said of Cold Harbor, "We felt it was murder, not war, or at best a very serious mistake had been made."
One of those wounded was Joseph T. Jones of the 91st Pennsylvania. Jones was wounded when a shell exploded at his feet. Severely injured, Jones lay in a trench for over 24 hours before aid reached him. He would never fully recover from his wounds and this would be the reason for his discharge from the Army of the Potomac.
Although Grant wired Washington that he had "gained no decisive advantage" and that his "losses were not severe," he wrote in his Personal Memoirs that he regretted for the rest of his life the decision to send in his men. The two opposing armies faced each other for nine days of trench warfare, in some places only yards apart. Sharpshooters worked continuously, killing many. Union artillery bombarded the Confederates with a battery of eight Coehorn mortars; the Confederates responded by depressing the trail of a 24-pound howitzer and lobbing shells over the Union positions. Although there were no more large-scale attacks, casualty figures for the entire battle were twice as large as from the June 3 assault alone.
U.S. 4th artillery officer, Frank Wilkeson wrote...Every corpse I saw was as black as coal. It was not possible to remove them. They were buried where they fell...I saw no live man lying on this ground. The wounded must have suffered horribly before death relieved them, lying there exposed to the blazing southern sun o' days, and being eaten alive by beetles o' nights.
The trenches were hot, dusty, and miserable, but conditions were worse between the lines, where thousands of wounded Federal soldiers suffered horribly without food, water, or medical assistance. Grant was reluctant to ask for a formal truce that would allow him to recover his wounded because that would be an acknowledgment he had lost the battle. He and Lee traded notes across the lines from June 5 to 7 without coming to an agreement, and when Grant formally requested a two-hour cessation of hostilities, it was too late for most of the unfortunate wounded, who were now bloated corpses. Grant was widely criticized in the Northern press for this terrible lapse of judgment.
In Georgia, General Joseph Johnston’s Confederates redeployed in a night rainstorm from New Hope Church northward to an already prepared position along Lost, Pine, and Brush Mountains. The mountains intersected the Western & Atlantic Railroad, about eight miles below Acworth. Johnston again shifted into the Federals’ front before they could complete their movement and established a strong defensive position. Sporadic skirmishing erupted at various points.
As Johnston’s army was moving around New Hope Church, Georgia, three of his troops took advantage of the lack of fighting to do some informal re-supply. Private John Jackman wrote home today that two of his friends killed a hog and were scalding it in a pot when the owner of both pig and pot caught them in the act. “The old lady,” Jackman reported, “after giving them a piece of her tongue, reported them to Capt. S. in charge of the brigade skirmishers. He immediately had them arrested. When the old lady had gone (being satisfied as the Capt. had promised to report the offenders to the 'General') the culprits were turned loose and went on with their cooking.”
The success of the CSS Tacony against shipping off the New England coast the previous year prompted a committee in Gloucester, Massachusetts, to address a request to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles: "In behalf of the citizens and businessmen of this town interested in the fishing business, to ask your attention to the necessity of some protection for our fishing fleet the coming season...it is necessary that a steamer, properly armed, should be detailed for the special service of cruising in the Gulf of St Lawrence until the close of the fishing season." Welles ordered the USS Ticonderoga, under Captain Charles Steedman, on this duty.
The USS Fort Jackson, Captain Sands in charge, captured the blockade running steamer Thistle at sea east of Charleston. Her cargo, except for a cotton press, was thrown overboard during the six hour chase.
In the Shenandoah, General David Hunter’s Federals indiscriminately destroyed homes and farms while advancing toward Staunton, Virginia.
Brigadier General Samuel D. Sturgis’s 8,000 plus Federal cavalrymen advanced from Memphis into northern Mississippi to confront fewer than 3,500 Confederate troopers under General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest was harassing Federal operations on the Mississippi River and threatening William Sherman’s long supply lines from Memphis. Sturgis was hampered by heavy rain, but he had canceled a similar expedition last month and refused to cancel another.
General John Hunt Morgan’s Confederate raid into Kentucky that began last month continued, as Morgan skirmished with Federal defenders while advancing on Lexington.
A Federal expedition began from Huntersville, Arkansas.
Yesterday, Union troops had launched a massive assault on Lee's entrenched position. In less than an hour, several thousands of Federals lay dead or dying between the lines. Grant's fallen Yankees were pinned down. They could neither advance nor retreat. Using cups, plates and bayonets, the desperate Federal soldiers tried their best to dig their own trench for protection.
Although the fighting was over, hundreds of wounded Federal troops remained on the field for four days. Grant was unwilling to ask Lee for a cease-fire as this would be an admission of a Union defeat and with President Lincoln facing stiff competition in a primary election, he didn't think they could afford that admission.
When the cease-fire was eventually agreed upon by Grant and Lee, most of the wounded Union soldiers caught in no man's land were dead. They had cooked under the Virginia sun. Their bodies were buried where the lay as they were bloated and black from four days of exposure.
In the Battle of Cold Harbor, the Union army suffered 13,000 casualties compared to 2,500 by the Confederates. The number of casualties was shocking to the Federal soldiers and, indeed, to the entire country. One of (commander of the 2nd Division) John Gibbon's soldiers said of Cold Harbor, "We felt it was murder, not war, or at best a very serious mistake had been made."
One of those wounded was Joseph T. Jones of the 91st Pennsylvania. Jones was wounded when a shell exploded at his feet. Severely injured, Jones lay in a trench for over 24 hours before aid reached him. He would never fully recover from his wounds and this would be the reason for his discharge from the Army of the Potomac.
Although Grant wired Washington that he had "gained no decisive advantage" and that his "losses were not severe," he wrote in his Personal Memoirs that he regretted for the rest of his life the decision to send in his men. The two opposing armies faced each other for nine days of trench warfare, in some places only yards apart. Sharpshooters worked continuously, killing many. Union artillery bombarded the Confederates with a battery of eight Coehorn mortars; the Confederates responded by depressing the trail of a 24-pound howitzer and lobbing shells over the Union positions. Although there were no more large-scale attacks, casualty figures for the entire battle were twice as large as from the June 3 assault alone.
U.S. 4th artillery officer, Frank Wilkeson wrote...Every corpse I saw was as black as coal. It was not possible to remove them. They were buried where they fell...I saw no live man lying on this ground. The wounded must have suffered horribly before death relieved them, lying there exposed to the blazing southern sun o' days, and being eaten alive by beetles o' nights.
The trenches were hot, dusty, and miserable, but conditions were worse between the lines, where thousands of wounded Federal soldiers suffered horribly without food, water, or medical assistance. Grant was reluctant to ask for a formal truce that would allow him to recover his wounded because that would be an acknowledgment he had lost the battle. He and Lee traded notes across the lines from June 5 to 7 without coming to an agreement, and when Grant formally requested a two-hour cessation of hostilities, it was too late for most of the unfortunate wounded, who were now bloated corpses. Grant was widely criticized in the Northern press for this terrible lapse of judgment.
In Georgia, General Joseph Johnston’s Confederates redeployed in a night rainstorm from New Hope Church northward to an already prepared position along Lost, Pine, and Brush Mountains. The mountains intersected the Western & Atlantic Railroad, about eight miles below Acworth. Johnston again shifted into the Federals’ front before they could complete their movement and established a strong defensive position. Sporadic skirmishing erupted at various points.
As Johnston’s army was moving around New Hope Church, Georgia, three of his troops took advantage of the lack of fighting to do some informal re-supply. Private John Jackman wrote home today that two of his friends killed a hog and were scalding it in a pot when the owner of both pig and pot caught them in the act. “The old lady,” Jackman reported, “after giving them a piece of her tongue, reported them to Capt. S. in charge of the brigade skirmishers. He immediately had them arrested. When the old lady had gone (being satisfied as the Capt. had promised to report the offenders to the 'General') the culprits were turned loose and went on with their cooking.”
The success of the CSS Tacony against shipping off the New England coast the previous year prompted a committee in Gloucester, Massachusetts, to address a request to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles: "In behalf of the citizens and businessmen of this town interested in the fishing business, to ask your attention to the necessity of some protection for our fishing fleet the coming season...it is necessary that a steamer, properly armed, should be detailed for the special service of cruising in the Gulf of St Lawrence until the close of the fishing season." Welles ordered the USS Ticonderoga, under Captain Charles Steedman, on this duty.
The USS Fort Jackson, Captain Sands in charge, captured the blockade running steamer Thistle at sea east of Charleston. Her cargo, except for a cotton press, was thrown overboard during the six hour chase.
In the Shenandoah, General David Hunter’s Federals indiscriminately destroyed homes and farms while advancing toward Staunton, Virginia.
Brigadier General Samuel D. Sturgis’s 8,000 plus Federal cavalrymen advanced from Memphis into northern Mississippi to confront fewer than 3,500 Confederate troopers under General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest was harassing Federal operations on the Mississippi River and threatening William Sherman’s long supply lines from Memphis. Sturgis was hampered by heavy rain, but he had canceled a similar expedition last month and refused to cancel another.
General John Hunt Morgan’s Confederate raid into Kentucky that began last month continued, as Morgan skirmished with Federal defenders while advancing on Lexington.
A Federal expedition began from Huntersville, Arkansas.
Posted on 6/4/14 at 8:04 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Sunday, 5 June 1864
For almost the first three years of the war, the Confederate cavalry had more or less humiliated their Yankee counterparts. It had taken immense effort, but the Union cavalry could now more than hold their own. This morning, Brigadier General William Edmondson “Grumble” Jones led almost 5500 men in an effort to evict approximately 9,000 Northerners under Major General David Hunter who were burning, raiding and generally wreaking havoc in the Shenandoah Valley. There were fierce skirmishes all day long, culminating at the Battle of Piedmont in a pitched battle in midafternoon. Jones was shot in the head and killed while leading a charge against a superior attacking force.
Wounded soldiers in the field at Cold Harbor languished all day--slowly dying of injury, wounds, thirst, or exposure--waiting on Hiram U. Grant to propose a truce to Robert E. Lee in order to collect the dead and dying soldiers still left in no man's land there. When medical teams finally entered the field days later, only two survivors remained.
The USS Keystone State, Commander Crosby in charge, seized the blockade running British steamer Siren off Beaufort Harbor, North Carolina, with a cargo including hoop iron and barrels of liquor.
In Georgia, William Sherman’s Federals continued shifting northeastward toward Joseph Johnston’s new line on the mountains in front of Marietta.
Federal forces today fired 319 rounds into Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.
In Washington, DC, politicians speculated whether President Abraham Lincoln’s vice president--Hannibal Hamlin--should be replaced with a pro-war Democrat in the upcoming nominating convention.
For almost the first three years of the war, the Confederate cavalry had more or less humiliated their Yankee counterparts. It had taken immense effort, but the Union cavalry could now more than hold their own. This morning, Brigadier General William Edmondson “Grumble” Jones led almost 5500 men in an effort to evict approximately 9,000 Northerners under Major General David Hunter who were burning, raiding and generally wreaking havoc in the Shenandoah Valley. There were fierce skirmishes all day long, culminating at the Battle of Piedmont in a pitched battle in midafternoon. Jones was shot in the head and killed while leading a charge against a superior attacking force.
Wounded soldiers in the field at Cold Harbor languished all day--slowly dying of injury, wounds, thirst, or exposure--waiting on Hiram U. Grant to propose a truce to Robert E. Lee in order to collect the dead and dying soldiers still left in no man's land there. When medical teams finally entered the field days later, only two survivors remained.
The USS Keystone State, Commander Crosby in charge, seized the blockade running British steamer Siren off Beaufort Harbor, North Carolina, with a cargo including hoop iron and barrels of liquor.
In Georgia, William Sherman’s Federals continued shifting northeastward toward Joseph Johnston’s new line on the mountains in front of Marietta.
Federal forces today fired 319 rounds into Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.
In Washington, DC, politicians speculated whether President Abraham Lincoln’s vice president--Hannibal Hamlin--should be replaced with a pro-war Democrat in the upcoming nominating convention.
Posted on 6/6/14 at 4:18 am to BadLeroyDawg
Monday, 6 June 1864
By this point in the war it must have seemed to both Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston and Union General William T. Sherman that they had spent half of eternity fighting against each other, with occasional breaks to fight other foes. Today the armies of the two men faced each other uneasily over the Big Shanty Creek and Raccoon Creek. The only actual fighting, though, occurred over by Pine Mountain.
Lieutenant Commander Elias Kane Owen, piloting the USS Louisville, covered the embarkation of 8,000 Union troops under General Andrew Jackson Smith on transports near Sunnyside, Arkansas, on the Mississippi River. Under Owen's charge, the transports had landed the Federal force on 4 June, and the soldiers had engaged Confederate units near Bayou Macon, Louisiana, forcing the Southerners into the interior. Owen noted in his report to Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter: "The object that brought the enemy here in the first place doubtless still remains, and I may expect him any time after the departure of General Smith. Unless Marmaduke's forces, with his artillery, are driven away or destroyed, they will very much annoy navigation between Cypress Bend and Sunnyside."
The USS Metacomet, Lieutenant Commander James Edward Jouett in charge, captured the blockade running steamer Donegal off Mobile with a large cargo of munitions.
In the Shenandoah, Major General David Hunter's Union troops occupied Staunton and destroyed warehouses, mills, workshops, and railroads. Gangs of soldiers looted private homes and businesses, and Hunter became the most hated man among Valley residents.
The Federal and Confederate armies remained entrenched in Cold Harbor, Virginia, where Lieutenant General Hiram U. Grant still stubbornly refused to ask for a truce to recover his dead, dying and wounded.
More skirmishing occurred in West Virginia and Arkansas.
By this point in the war it must have seemed to both Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston and Union General William T. Sherman that they had spent half of eternity fighting against each other, with occasional breaks to fight other foes. Today the armies of the two men faced each other uneasily over the Big Shanty Creek and Raccoon Creek. The only actual fighting, though, occurred over by Pine Mountain.
Lieutenant Commander Elias Kane Owen, piloting the USS Louisville, covered the embarkation of 8,000 Union troops under General Andrew Jackson Smith on transports near Sunnyside, Arkansas, on the Mississippi River. Under Owen's charge, the transports had landed the Federal force on 4 June, and the soldiers had engaged Confederate units near Bayou Macon, Louisiana, forcing the Southerners into the interior. Owen noted in his report to Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter: "The object that brought the enemy here in the first place doubtless still remains, and I may expect him any time after the departure of General Smith. Unless Marmaduke's forces, with his artillery, are driven away or destroyed, they will very much annoy navigation between Cypress Bend and Sunnyside."
The USS Metacomet, Lieutenant Commander James Edward Jouett in charge, captured the blockade running steamer Donegal off Mobile with a large cargo of munitions.
In the Shenandoah, Major General David Hunter's Union troops occupied Staunton and destroyed warehouses, mills, workshops, and railroads. Gangs of soldiers looted private homes and businesses, and Hunter became the most hated man among Valley residents.
The Federal and Confederate armies remained entrenched in Cold Harbor, Virginia, where Lieutenant General Hiram U. Grant still stubbornly refused to ask for a truce to recover his dead, dying and wounded.
More skirmishing occurred in West Virginia and Arkansas.
This post was edited on 6/6/14 at 4:49 am
Posted on 6/6/14 at 7:39 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Tuesday, 7 June 1864
A convention assembled in Baltimore to nominate candidates for president and vice president in the upcoming election. To broaden support, the Republican Party changed its name to the National Union Party and invited pro-war Democrats to join them. Delegates from 25 northern states attended. Despite his waning popularity, most delegates supported re-nominating Abraham Lincoln for president.
Another report: There had been much discussion that the convention should not be held at all, what with the War ongoing; but it was. It was called the National Union Convention to acknowledge the presence of some War Democrats at what was otherwise the Republicans' gathering. Support for President Abraham Lincoln was virtually unanimous. It was not so for Hannibal Hamlin, Vice-President and former Senator from Maine, who felt completely useless in this role and spent most of his time back home raising regiments anyway. He wanted off the ticket.
The days following the failed attack at Cold Harbor were miserable for both sides, with the stench of the dead and dying in the Virginia heat so close at hand. This trench warfare was also deadly for anyone raising their head above the Union breastworks and understatedly deadly for the wounded caught between lines. On June 5, two days after the initial assault, Grant had begun written communication with Lee to negotiate a truce to retrieve the wounded, dead and dying from between the lines, trying very hard to make it sound as if both sides needed a truce to retrieve casualties. Lee responded he had no casualties to retrieve. Lee had decidedly won the fighting and he ultimately won this war of words. Finally, after Grant swallowed his pride and sent a message that only mentioned his own wounded, Lee agreed. This afternoon, a two-hour flag of truce is raised, but by then only two of the wounded are found alive. Some had crawled back to their lines under fire, some had been retrieved by comrades during hours of darkness, but thousands died crying out for water under the summer sun over the course of these past four days.
Tonight, Grant finally makes his feelings known to his headquarters staff: "I regret this assault more than any one I have ever ordered. I regarded it as a stern necessity, and believed it would bring compensating results; but, as it has proved, no advantages have been gained sufficient to justify the heavy losses suffered." With that said, as was his manner, Grant focused his energies on planning his next moves. He seldom spoke of Cold Harbor again.
The Union and Confederate armies remained entrenched. The Federals could not penetrate the Confederate line to get to Richmond, and they had no more room to maneuver north of the James River. Therefore, Hiram U. Grant devised a plan to move the massive Army of the Potomac across the James to attack both Richmond and Petersburg from the south. To mask his move, Grant send a Federal cavalry detachment under Major General Philip Sheridan west to attack Confederate railroad supply lines and divert Confederate cavalry from scouting the main movement. The Federal Army of the James would also assist by attempting a breakout from Bermuda Hundred, where they were pinned on the Virginia peninsula by General P.G.T. Beauregard's Confederates.
The Confederate transport steamer CSS Etiwan grounded off Fort Johnson and was sunk by Union batteries on Morris Island in Charleston Harbor.
Suspecting that Confederates were using cotton to erect breastworks on the banks of the Suwannee River, Florida, a boat expedition commanded by Acting Ensign Louis R. Chester, composed of men from the USS Clyde and Sagamore, proceeded upriver and captured over 100 bales of cotton in the vicinity of Clay Landing.
President Jefferson Davis wrote to a Louisiana citizen that he hoped “...to prevent the oppression and redress the wrongs of citizens, but I cannot hope to have effected all I desired.”
Skirmishing occurred in Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri.
A convention assembled in Baltimore to nominate candidates for president and vice president in the upcoming election. To broaden support, the Republican Party changed its name to the National Union Party and invited pro-war Democrats to join them. Delegates from 25 northern states attended. Despite his waning popularity, most delegates supported re-nominating Abraham Lincoln for president.
Another report: There had been much discussion that the convention should not be held at all, what with the War ongoing; but it was. It was called the National Union Convention to acknowledge the presence of some War Democrats at what was otherwise the Republicans' gathering. Support for President Abraham Lincoln was virtually unanimous. It was not so for Hannibal Hamlin, Vice-President and former Senator from Maine, who felt completely useless in this role and spent most of his time back home raising regiments anyway. He wanted off the ticket.
The days following the failed attack at Cold Harbor were miserable for both sides, with the stench of the dead and dying in the Virginia heat so close at hand. This trench warfare was also deadly for anyone raising their head above the Union breastworks and understatedly deadly for the wounded caught between lines. On June 5, two days after the initial assault, Grant had begun written communication with Lee to negotiate a truce to retrieve the wounded, dead and dying from between the lines, trying very hard to make it sound as if both sides needed a truce to retrieve casualties. Lee responded he had no casualties to retrieve. Lee had decidedly won the fighting and he ultimately won this war of words. Finally, after Grant swallowed his pride and sent a message that only mentioned his own wounded, Lee agreed. This afternoon, a two-hour flag of truce is raised, but by then only two of the wounded are found alive. Some had crawled back to their lines under fire, some had been retrieved by comrades during hours of darkness, but thousands died crying out for water under the summer sun over the course of these past four days.
Tonight, Grant finally makes his feelings known to his headquarters staff: "I regret this assault more than any one I have ever ordered. I regarded it as a stern necessity, and believed it would bring compensating results; but, as it has proved, no advantages have been gained sufficient to justify the heavy losses suffered." With that said, as was his manner, Grant focused his energies on planning his next moves. He seldom spoke of Cold Harbor again.
The Union and Confederate armies remained entrenched. The Federals could not penetrate the Confederate line to get to Richmond, and they had no more room to maneuver north of the James River. Therefore, Hiram U. Grant devised a plan to move the massive Army of the Potomac across the James to attack both Richmond and Petersburg from the south. To mask his move, Grant send a Federal cavalry detachment under Major General Philip Sheridan west to attack Confederate railroad supply lines and divert Confederate cavalry from scouting the main movement. The Federal Army of the James would also assist by attempting a breakout from Bermuda Hundred, where they were pinned on the Virginia peninsula by General P.G.T. Beauregard's Confederates.
The Confederate transport steamer CSS Etiwan grounded off Fort Johnson and was sunk by Union batteries on Morris Island in Charleston Harbor.
Suspecting that Confederates were using cotton to erect breastworks on the banks of the Suwannee River, Florida, a boat expedition commanded by Acting Ensign Louis R. Chester, composed of men from the USS Clyde and Sagamore, proceeded upriver and captured over 100 bales of cotton in the vicinity of Clay Landing.
President Jefferson Davis wrote to a Louisiana citizen that he hoped “...to prevent the oppression and redress the wrongs of citizens, but I cannot hope to have effected all I desired.”
Skirmishing occurred in Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri.
This post was edited on 6/7/14 at 5:07 am
Posted on 6/7/14 at 9:09 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Wednesday, 8 June 1864
General John Hunt Morgan paid a visit to Mount Sterling, Kentucky today. The official purpose of the visit was to capture the Union garrison in the town, and this was indeed accomplished with Morgan’s usual dispatch. Military matters having been attended to, some of the men in the band took advantage of time on their hands by robbing the city bank. The exact disposition of the funds has never been accounted for, as it was never established that the robbery was done at Morgan’s orders. Private James Pleasant Gold managed to get himself taken prisoner by those Union forces that evaded capture. This group headed at high speed for Lexington.
Lieutenant Commander Ramsay, piloting the USS Chillicothe, led an expedition up the Atchafalaya River, Louisiana, accompanied by the USS Neosho, Acting Lieutenant Howard in charge, and the USS Port Hindman, under Acting Lieutenant Pearce, to silence a Confederate battery above Simmesport. The Union gunboats, after a short engagement, forced the Southerners to abandon their position and a landing party captured the guns.
In Georgia, Federals marched through rain and mud to the Western & Atlantic Railroad. William Sherman’s forces were depleted by garrisoning the railroad back to Chattanooga. Fighting erupted at various points.
In the Shenandoah, David Hunter’s Federals were joined by General George Crook’s Army of the Kanawha arriving from the west. With 18,000 men and 30 guns, Hunter continued advancing up the Valley to Lexington and Lynchburg.
At the National Union Convention, delegates nominated Abraham Lincoln for a second term as president. All delegations except Missouri voted for Lincoln; Missouri then switched from Hiram U. Grant to Lincoln to make it unanimous. Republican Vice President Hannibal Hamlin of Maine was replaced by pro-war Democrat Andrew Johnson of Tennessee to broaden the ticket’s appeal. Johnson had been the only southern senator who did not resign his seat when his state seceded, and Lincoln had rewarded him by previously appointing him Tennessee’s military governor.
The National Union platform supported continuing the war until the rebellion was suppressed, and “...as Slavery was the cause, and now constitutes the strength, of this Rebellion… (we) demand its utter and complete extirpation from the soil of the Republic.” This call for a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery undermined the Radical Republicans’ platform, which had also called for such an amendment last month. However, the platform did not endorse the Radicals’ call for confiscating the property of Confederates.
General John Hunt Morgan paid a visit to Mount Sterling, Kentucky today. The official purpose of the visit was to capture the Union garrison in the town, and this was indeed accomplished with Morgan’s usual dispatch. Military matters having been attended to, some of the men in the band took advantage of time on their hands by robbing the city bank. The exact disposition of the funds has never been accounted for, as it was never established that the robbery was done at Morgan’s orders. Private James Pleasant Gold managed to get himself taken prisoner by those Union forces that evaded capture. This group headed at high speed for Lexington.
Lieutenant Commander Ramsay, piloting the USS Chillicothe, led an expedition up the Atchafalaya River, Louisiana, accompanied by the USS Neosho, Acting Lieutenant Howard in charge, and the USS Port Hindman, under Acting Lieutenant Pearce, to silence a Confederate battery above Simmesport. The Union gunboats, after a short engagement, forced the Southerners to abandon their position and a landing party captured the guns.
In Georgia, Federals marched through rain and mud to the Western & Atlantic Railroad. William Sherman’s forces were depleted by garrisoning the railroad back to Chattanooga. Fighting erupted at various points.
In the Shenandoah, David Hunter’s Federals were joined by General George Crook’s Army of the Kanawha arriving from the west. With 18,000 men and 30 guns, Hunter continued advancing up the Valley to Lexington and Lynchburg.
At the National Union Convention, delegates nominated Abraham Lincoln for a second term as president. All delegations except Missouri voted for Lincoln; Missouri then switched from Hiram U. Grant to Lincoln to make it unanimous. Republican Vice President Hannibal Hamlin of Maine was replaced by pro-war Democrat Andrew Johnson of Tennessee to broaden the ticket’s appeal. Johnson had been the only southern senator who did not resign his seat when his state seceded, and Lincoln had rewarded him by previously appointing him Tennessee’s military governor.
The National Union platform supported continuing the war until the rebellion was suppressed, and “...as Slavery was the cause, and now constitutes the strength, of this Rebellion… (we) demand its utter and complete extirpation from the soil of the Republic.” This call for a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery undermined the Radical Republicans’ platform, which had also called for such an amendment last month. However, the platform did not endorse the Radicals’ call for confiscating the property of Confederates.
Posted on 6/7/14 at 10:43 pm to BadLeroyDawg
I picked up a Bonnie blue at the confederate memorial hall today. It's a true hidden gem in the city of Nola and mich have the best collection of pure artifacts
Posted on 6/8/14 at 5:42 pm to heartbreakTiger
Great place to visit. BTW, loved y'alls combo LSU/Battle Flag when we played.
Posted on 6/9/14 at 4:06 am to BadLeroyDawg
Thursday, 9 June 1864
Crowds of people who had been in attendance at the National Union Party Convention--formerly the Republican Party--in Baltimore, Maryland, yesterday took trains today to Washington, DC, to congratulate the party’s nominee. To no one's surprise, it was the incumbent President Abraham Lincoln. They did not, however rush to glad hand with the incumbent Vice-President Hannibal Hamlin, as he had been quietly sacked and replaced by Andrew Johnson of Tennessee. Johnson's main attraction was that he was that he had stuck with the Union despite the secession of the state that elected him. Possibly Lincoln, a native of Kentucky, felt that another border state man, one who like himself had family on both sides of the war, would be more likely to promote reconciliation rather than revenge once the conflict was finally ended.
Illustrative of the vast difference in capabilities of the two navies were the reactions North and South during the aftermath of the capture of USS Water Witch on 6 June. The Northern fleet was concerned that she might escape to sea and attack Union coastal positions. "We must try to block the Water Witch," Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren wrote, anticipating an offensive effort such as he would make in similar circumstances. The South, however, hoping to conserve this unexpected gain in strength by the capture, had no intention of risking the gunboat in such an adventure. Rather, every effort was made to bring her to Savannah as additional defense for the city. Flag Officer William W. Hunter, CSN, this date ordered Lieutenant William W. Carnes, CSN, commanding Water Witch: "Keep powder enough to blow her up say 100 pounds in the event the enemy may be enabled to recapture her." The North, with free access to the sea and with an abundance of material and great facilities available, could remain on the offensive. The South, in desperate need of ships and supplies, was committed to the defensive.
Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles decided "...to retire the Marine officers who are past the legal age, and to bring in Zeilin as Commandant of the Corps." Retirement of over aged naval and marine officers was one of the difficult administrative problems of the War.
The stringent material limitations with which the Confederate Navy had to operate greatly restricted its capabilities and prevented its taking offensive action. Menaced by the advance of Major General Benjamin "Spoons" Butler's troops along the James River below Drewey's Bluff and by the Union squadron at Trent's Reach, Flag Officer Mitchell commanding the Confederate James River Squadron, sought to attack "without delay...the enemy in Trent's Reach." This morning, the leading officers of his squadron advised against such an assault "...under existing circumstances." They wrote Mitchell that the Union squadron was "...a force equal to, if not superior to our own, that it was better supported ashore, that the Southern ships were not maneuverable enough for efficient use in the narrow confines of the Reach, and that obstructions would additionally hamper their movements. Thus, they were opposed to risking the "whole force" of Southern naval strength in an attack and suggested instead the more defensive but potentially less costly alternative of sending fire rafts and floating torpedoes downriver against the Union squadron.
The USS Proteus, piloted by Commander Robert W. Shufeldt, captured the blockade running British schooner R.S. Hood at sea north of Little Bahama Bank.
The USS New Berne, Acting Lieutenant Thomas A. Harris in charge, chased blockade running steamer Pevensey aground near Beaufort, North Carolina, with a cargo including arms, lead, bacon, and clothing. She blew up shortly thereafter.
The USS Rosalie, under Acting Master Peter F. Coffin, captured the steamer Emma at Marco Pass, Florida, with a cargo of blacksmith's coal.
Lodner Phillips and his partner Mr. Peck submit plans for a submarine that is steam-powered, carries enough compressed air for a crew of five for 24 hours, employs a saw for cutting underwater obstructions, and could fire a cannon both at the surface and from underwater. Phillips was the most respected expert in submarine technology in North America, but had withheld any input until now perhaps because of the rejection by the USN of a submarine developed and used by himself (and Peck) on the Great Lakes from 1851-55. The vessel also used an underwater cannon in salvage operations and was commercially successful.
Crowds of people who had been in attendance at the National Union Party Convention--formerly the Republican Party--in Baltimore, Maryland, yesterday took trains today to Washington, DC, to congratulate the party’s nominee. To no one's surprise, it was the incumbent President Abraham Lincoln. They did not, however rush to glad hand with the incumbent Vice-President Hannibal Hamlin, as he had been quietly sacked and replaced by Andrew Johnson of Tennessee. Johnson's main attraction was that he was that he had stuck with the Union despite the secession of the state that elected him. Possibly Lincoln, a native of Kentucky, felt that another border state man, one who like himself had family on both sides of the war, would be more likely to promote reconciliation rather than revenge once the conflict was finally ended.
Illustrative of the vast difference in capabilities of the two navies were the reactions North and South during the aftermath of the capture of USS Water Witch on 6 June. The Northern fleet was concerned that she might escape to sea and attack Union coastal positions. "We must try to block the Water Witch," Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren wrote, anticipating an offensive effort such as he would make in similar circumstances. The South, however, hoping to conserve this unexpected gain in strength by the capture, had no intention of risking the gunboat in such an adventure. Rather, every effort was made to bring her to Savannah as additional defense for the city. Flag Officer William W. Hunter, CSN, this date ordered Lieutenant William W. Carnes, CSN, commanding Water Witch: "Keep powder enough to blow her up say 100 pounds in the event the enemy may be enabled to recapture her." The North, with free access to the sea and with an abundance of material and great facilities available, could remain on the offensive. The South, in desperate need of ships and supplies, was committed to the defensive.
Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles decided "...to retire the Marine officers who are past the legal age, and to bring in Zeilin as Commandant of the Corps." Retirement of over aged naval and marine officers was one of the difficult administrative problems of the War.
The stringent material limitations with which the Confederate Navy had to operate greatly restricted its capabilities and prevented its taking offensive action. Menaced by the advance of Major General Benjamin "Spoons" Butler's troops along the James River below Drewey's Bluff and by the Union squadron at Trent's Reach, Flag Officer Mitchell commanding the Confederate James River Squadron, sought to attack "without delay...the enemy in Trent's Reach." This morning, the leading officers of his squadron advised against such an assault "...under existing circumstances." They wrote Mitchell that the Union squadron was "...a force equal to, if not superior to our own, that it was better supported ashore, that the Southern ships were not maneuverable enough for efficient use in the narrow confines of the Reach, and that obstructions would additionally hamper their movements. Thus, they were opposed to risking the "whole force" of Southern naval strength in an attack and suggested instead the more defensive but potentially less costly alternative of sending fire rafts and floating torpedoes downriver against the Union squadron.
The USS Proteus, piloted by Commander Robert W. Shufeldt, captured the blockade running British schooner R.S. Hood at sea north of Little Bahama Bank.
The USS New Berne, Acting Lieutenant Thomas A. Harris in charge, chased blockade running steamer Pevensey aground near Beaufort, North Carolina, with a cargo including arms, lead, bacon, and clothing. She blew up shortly thereafter.
The USS Rosalie, under Acting Master Peter F. Coffin, captured the steamer Emma at Marco Pass, Florida, with a cargo of blacksmith's coal.
Lodner Phillips and his partner Mr. Peck submit plans for a submarine that is steam-powered, carries enough compressed air for a crew of five for 24 hours, employs a saw for cutting underwater obstructions, and could fire a cannon both at the surface and from underwater. Phillips was the most respected expert in submarine technology in North America, but had withheld any input until now perhaps because of the rejection by the USN of a submarine developed and used by himself (and Peck) on the Great Lakes from 1851-55. The vessel also used an underwater cannon in salvage operations and was commercially successful.
Posted on 6/9/14 at 8:29 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Friday, 10 June 1864
The Battle of Brice’s Crossroads occurred between the forces of Federal Brigadier General Samuel Davis Sturgis and Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest about 100 miles southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, near Baldwyn in Lee County, Mississippi. Forrest correctly predicted that mud and hot weather would result in Federal cavalry arriving first, and he attacked while the enemy was just slightly larger in numbers. This brilliant tactical victory against long odds cemented Forrest’s reputation as one of the foremost mounted infantry leaders of the war.
Ineffective command led to Federal disaster; the cavalry was easily defeated, and when the infantry finally arrived, the exhausted troops were quickly routed and sent fleeing in panic. The Federals suffered 2,240 casualties, including about 1,500 captured, while the Confederates lost only 492. This was Forrest’s greatest victory.
Another report: General Samuel D. Sturgis, USA, had been chasing General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s Confederate cavalry force. Today an awful thing happened; he actually caught up with them. In what is variously known as the Battle of Brice’s Crossroads or Tishomingo Creek, Mississippi, Forrest slammed into Sturgis’ men, who were in a sorry state anyway from a fast forced march in extremely hot weather. The fight turned into a rout and Forrest captured most of the artillery and quite a few troops.
The USS Elk, Acting Lieutenant Nicholas Kirby in charge, captured the blockade running sloop Yankee Doodle at the middle entrance of the Pearl River, Mississippi Sound, with a cargo of cotton.
The USS Union, under Acting Lieutenant Edward Conroy, took the sloop Caroline attempting to run the blockade at Jupiter Inlet, Florida.
John Hunt Morgan’s Confederates raided Lexington, Kentucky, burning the Federal depot and stables, and capturing about 7,000 horses. Morgan’s men then broke into two columns, with Morgan’s unit advancing on Cynthiana.
In Georgia, William T. Sherman’s three Federal armies moved cautiously toward the mountains, with various fighting breaking out.
The combined Federal Armies of the Shenandoah and the Kanawha under Generals David Hunter and George Crook continued their advance southward up the Shenandoah Valley to Lexington and Lynchburg. To stop them, General Robert E. Lee sent Confederates under General John Breckinridge back to the Valley in an effort to protect this major supply line.
The Confederate Congress expanded the Conscription Act by increasing the military draft eligibility age range from 18 and 45 down to 17 and up to 50.
The Battle of Brice’s Crossroads occurred between the forces of Federal Brigadier General Samuel Davis Sturgis and Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest about 100 miles southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, near Baldwyn in Lee County, Mississippi. Forrest correctly predicted that mud and hot weather would result in Federal cavalry arriving first, and he attacked while the enemy was just slightly larger in numbers. This brilliant tactical victory against long odds cemented Forrest’s reputation as one of the foremost mounted infantry leaders of the war.
Ineffective command led to Federal disaster; the cavalry was easily defeated, and when the infantry finally arrived, the exhausted troops were quickly routed and sent fleeing in panic. The Federals suffered 2,240 casualties, including about 1,500 captured, while the Confederates lost only 492. This was Forrest’s greatest victory.
Another report: General Samuel D. Sturgis, USA, had been chasing General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s Confederate cavalry force. Today an awful thing happened; he actually caught up with them. In what is variously known as the Battle of Brice’s Crossroads or Tishomingo Creek, Mississippi, Forrest slammed into Sturgis’ men, who were in a sorry state anyway from a fast forced march in extremely hot weather. The fight turned into a rout and Forrest captured most of the artillery and quite a few troops.
The USS Elk, Acting Lieutenant Nicholas Kirby in charge, captured the blockade running sloop Yankee Doodle at the middle entrance of the Pearl River, Mississippi Sound, with a cargo of cotton.
The USS Union, under Acting Lieutenant Edward Conroy, took the sloop Caroline attempting to run the blockade at Jupiter Inlet, Florida.
John Hunt Morgan’s Confederates raided Lexington, Kentucky, burning the Federal depot and stables, and capturing about 7,000 horses. Morgan’s men then broke into two columns, with Morgan’s unit advancing on Cynthiana.
In Georgia, William T. Sherman’s three Federal armies moved cautiously toward the mountains, with various fighting breaking out.
The combined Federal Armies of the Shenandoah and the Kanawha under Generals David Hunter and George Crook continued their advance southward up the Shenandoah Valley to Lexington and Lynchburg. To stop them, General Robert E. Lee sent Confederates under General John Breckinridge back to the Valley in an effort to protect this major supply line.
The Confederate Congress expanded the Conscription Act by increasing the military draft eligibility age range from 18 and 45 down to 17 and up to 50.
Posted on 6/10/14 at 8:42 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Saturday, 11 June 1864
U.S. Major General David "Black Dave" Hunter was in the middle of a campaign in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia that would make Sherman’s March Through Georgia pale in comparison. While General Phillip Sheridan was busy fighting the Battle of Trevilian Station--claimed by some to be the biggest cavalry battle of the War--to join him, Hunter was busy in Lexington. First he burned the Virginia Military Institute, most of whose faculty, staff and students were off serving the Confederacy. He then committed depredations on historic Washington College, including, allegedly, stabling his men’s horses in the main building. The major military consequence of this was that Hunter’s delay allowed Confederate General Jubal Early to join forces with John Breckinridge at Lynchburg.
General Robert E. Lee dispatched General Wade Hampton and about 4,700 Confederate cavalrymen to prevent Federal General Philip Sheridan’s cavalry from joining David Hunter in the Shenandoah Valley. The Battle of Trevilian Station occurred, as dismounted Confederates attacked Federal troopers on the Trevilian road, but Confederate reinforcements under General Fitzhugh Lee did not arrive. When the Federals attacked in full force, Hampton withdrew.
Another report: David Hunter’s Federals captured Lexington amidst skirmishing. The Federals destroyed homes, barns, and farms, including most of Lexington’s livestock. They also burned the Virginia Military Institute, prompting Virginia Governor John Letcher to endorse guerrilla warfare “...upon the vandal hordes of Yankee invaders.” When Hunter learned of Letcher’s proclamation, he ordered the burning of the governor’s home.
The CSS Alabama--commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes--badly in need of repairs, arrived at Cherbourg, France. Lieutenant Arthur Sinclair, CSN, an officer on board the Confederate raider, later recorded his impressions upon entering this, her last port: "We have cruised from the day of commission, August 24, 1862, to June 11, 1864, and during this time have visited two-thirds of the globe, experiencing all vicissitudes of climate and hardships attending constant cruising. We have had from first to last two hundred and thirteen officers and men on our payroll, and have lost not one by disease, and but one by accidental death." The Confederate Commissioner in France, John Slidell, assured Semmes that he anticipated no difficulty in obtaining French permission for the Alabama to use the docking facilities. William L. Dayton, U.S. Minister to France, immediately protested the use of the French port by a vessel with a character "...so obnoxious and so notorious". Intelligence of the material condition and strength of the Alabama was relayed by the American Vice-Consul at Cherbourg to Captain John Ancrum Winslow of the USS Kearsarge at Flushing.
Brigadier General Samuel D. Sturgis’s retreating Federals fought rearguard actions at Ripley and Salem, Mississippi after their defeat at Brice’s Crossroads yesterday.
John Hunt Morgan’s Confederate column raided Cynthiana, in what proved to be his last Kentucky raid. Morgan's men advanced into the state from southwestern Virginia. This morning, they met resistance from Union soldiers and home guard at Cynthiana. When the Unionists took cover in buildings, the Confederates ignited several of the structures. Union reinforcements arrived by train, but, after a sharp fight, they surrendered. Morgan captured some 300 Federals.
Fighting broke out a various points between units of William T. Sherman and Joseph E. Johnston’s armies.
U.S. Major General David "Black Dave" Hunter was in the middle of a campaign in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia that would make Sherman’s March Through Georgia pale in comparison. While General Phillip Sheridan was busy fighting the Battle of Trevilian Station--claimed by some to be the biggest cavalry battle of the War--to join him, Hunter was busy in Lexington. First he burned the Virginia Military Institute, most of whose faculty, staff and students were off serving the Confederacy. He then committed depredations on historic Washington College, including, allegedly, stabling his men’s horses in the main building. The major military consequence of this was that Hunter’s delay allowed Confederate General Jubal Early to join forces with John Breckinridge at Lynchburg.
General Robert E. Lee dispatched General Wade Hampton and about 4,700 Confederate cavalrymen to prevent Federal General Philip Sheridan’s cavalry from joining David Hunter in the Shenandoah Valley. The Battle of Trevilian Station occurred, as dismounted Confederates attacked Federal troopers on the Trevilian road, but Confederate reinforcements under General Fitzhugh Lee did not arrive. When the Federals attacked in full force, Hampton withdrew.
Another report: David Hunter’s Federals captured Lexington amidst skirmishing. The Federals destroyed homes, barns, and farms, including most of Lexington’s livestock. They also burned the Virginia Military Institute, prompting Virginia Governor John Letcher to endorse guerrilla warfare “...upon the vandal hordes of Yankee invaders.” When Hunter learned of Letcher’s proclamation, he ordered the burning of the governor’s home.
The CSS Alabama--commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes--badly in need of repairs, arrived at Cherbourg, France. Lieutenant Arthur Sinclair, CSN, an officer on board the Confederate raider, later recorded his impressions upon entering this, her last port: "We have cruised from the day of commission, August 24, 1862, to June 11, 1864, and during this time have visited two-thirds of the globe, experiencing all vicissitudes of climate and hardships attending constant cruising. We have had from first to last two hundred and thirteen officers and men on our payroll, and have lost not one by disease, and but one by accidental death." The Confederate Commissioner in France, John Slidell, assured Semmes that he anticipated no difficulty in obtaining French permission for the Alabama to use the docking facilities. William L. Dayton, U.S. Minister to France, immediately protested the use of the French port by a vessel with a character "...so obnoxious and so notorious". Intelligence of the material condition and strength of the Alabama was relayed by the American Vice-Consul at Cherbourg to Captain John Ancrum Winslow of the USS Kearsarge at Flushing.
Brigadier General Samuel D. Sturgis’s retreating Federals fought rearguard actions at Ripley and Salem, Mississippi after their defeat at Brice’s Crossroads yesterday.
John Hunt Morgan’s Confederate column raided Cynthiana, in what proved to be his last Kentucky raid. Morgan's men advanced into the state from southwestern Virginia. This morning, they met resistance from Union soldiers and home guard at Cynthiana. When the Unionists took cover in buildings, the Confederates ignited several of the structures. Union reinforcements arrived by train, but, after a sharp fight, they surrendered. Morgan captured some 300 Federals.
Fighting broke out a various points between units of William T. Sherman and Joseph E. Johnston’s armies.
Posted on 6/10/14 at 9:08 pm to BadLeroyDawg
have you read Jefferson Davis's books? I should be getting The Rise of the Confederacy tomorrow.
Posted on 6/11/14 at 7:01 am to heartbreakTiger
Haven't read 'The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government' by Jefferson Davis, heart, but would like to get a bit of feedback when you finish. Davis was a brilliant man, just based on his accomplishments prior to the War, much less running a four year war on a one year budget. His major problem was the idea of "States Rights" itself. He lamented many times that had he the power to force the individual states to follow the national government's lead, like Lincoln did, he would have had a much easier time of accomplishing the goal.
Posted on 6/11/14 at 9:13 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Sunday, 12 June 1864
The Army of the Potomac appeared to give up after several days of bloody, devastating fighting at Cold Harbor, Virginia. They had a very slick surprise in mind, though. After pulling back in apparent dejection, they went on a double time march towards the James River. There, in an operation long planned, they immediately crossed the bridgeless river on pontoons which had been previously placed. The entire army, except for Gouverneur K. Warren’s corps which was covering the movement, was soon in place near Petersburg.
Another report: This evening, the 105,000-man Union Army of the Potomac began one of the great movements in military history by preparing to secretly cross the 2,100-foot wide James River. A token force of one corps remained at Cold Harbor to feign an attack and deceive the Confederates, which succeeded. For the first time in the Overland Campaign, Robert E. Lee misunderstood Hiram U. Grant’s strategy.
The Battle of Trevilian Station continued, as Federals under George A. Custer attacked Wade Hampton’s Confederates west of Trevilian Station. However, Fitzhugh Lee’s Confederate troopers arrived and repulsed Custer with heavy losses. The battle was reported as a Federal victory, but the Confederates prevented Philip Sheridan’s cavalry from linking with David Hunter in the Shenandoah Valley. Sheridan withdrew to rejoin the Army of the Potomac, moving leisurely to keep the Confederate cavalry occupied as long as possible. Federals suffered 1,007 casualties during the campaign, while Confederates lost 612.
The USS Flag, Commander James C. Williamson in charge, captured the blockade running sloop Cyclops shortly after she ran out of Charleston with a cargo of cotton.
The USS Lavender, under Acting Master John H. Gleason, struck a shoal off North Carolina in a severe squall. The 175-ton wooden steamer was destroyed and nine crewmen lost before the survivors were rescued on 15 June by the Army steamer John Farron.
John Hunt Morgan’s Confederates were badly defeated at Cynthiana, Kentucky. Morgan withdrew to Abingdon in southwestern Virginia. Morgan’s Kentucky raid served no significant purpose except to boost Southern morale. Attempts to draw Federal manpower away from other points to defend Kentucky were generally unsuccessful.
Samuel D. Sturgis’s shattered Federal force continued retreating to Memphis as expeditiously as possible, but with fighting breaking out along the way.
In Georgia, William T. Sherman continued positioning his troops and strengthening his supply and communication lines from Chattanooga.
The Army of the Potomac appeared to give up after several days of bloody, devastating fighting at Cold Harbor, Virginia. They had a very slick surprise in mind, though. After pulling back in apparent dejection, they went on a double time march towards the James River. There, in an operation long planned, they immediately crossed the bridgeless river on pontoons which had been previously placed. The entire army, except for Gouverneur K. Warren’s corps which was covering the movement, was soon in place near Petersburg.
Another report: This evening, the 105,000-man Union Army of the Potomac began one of the great movements in military history by preparing to secretly cross the 2,100-foot wide James River. A token force of one corps remained at Cold Harbor to feign an attack and deceive the Confederates, which succeeded. For the first time in the Overland Campaign, Robert E. Lee misunderstood Hiram U. Grant’s strategy.
The Battle of Trevilian Station continued, as Federals under George A. Custer attacked Wade Hampton’s Confederates west of Trevilian Station. However, Fitzhugh Lee’s Confederate troopers arrived and repulsed Custer with heavy losses. The battle was reported as a Federal victory, but the Confederates prevented Philip Sheridan’s cavalry from linking with David Hunter in the Shenandoah Valley. Sheridan withdrew to rejoin the Army of the Potomac, moving leisurely to keep the Confederate cavalry occupied as long as possible. Federals suffered 1,007 casualties during the campaign, while Confederates lost 612.
The USS Flag, Commander James C. Williamson in charge, captured the blockade running sloop Cyclops shortly after she ran out of Charleston with a cargo of cotton.
The USS Lavender, under Acting Master John H. Gleason, struck a shoal off North Carolina in a severe squall. The 175-ton wooden steamer was destroyed and nine crewmen lost before the survivors were rescued on 15 June by the Army steamer John Farron.
John Hunt Morgan’s Confederates were badly defeated at Cynthiana, Kentucky. Morgan withdrew to Abingdon in southwestern Virginia. Morgan’s Kentucky raid served no significant purpose except to boost Southern morale. Attempts to draw Federal manpower away from other points to defend Kentucky were generally unsuccessful.
Samuel D. Sturgis’s shattered Federal force continued retreating to Memphis as expeditiously as possible, but with fighting breaking out along the way.
In Georgia, William T. Sherman continued positioning his troops and strengthening his supply and communication lines from Chattanooga.
Posted on 6/12/14 at 8:52 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Monday, 13 June 1864
Some of the most violent conflicts during the War for Southern Independence have no battlefield memorials today because they were fought at sea. The career of Confederate Captain Raphael Semmes and his ship, the CSS Alabama, was perhaps the most brilliant example. Circling the world, he harassed, captured and destroyed Union shipping from India and Australia to South Africa and Brazil. He had recently pulled into Cherbourg, France for a badly needed refit. Today the USS Kearsarge sailed from Dover, England. Captain John A. Winslow intended to patrol off Cherbourg Harbor for as long as necessary.
The bulk of the Federal Army of the Potomac moved rapidly from Cold Harbor toward the James River. Learning that the Federals at Cold Harbor were gone, Robert E. Lee sent troops across the Chickahominy River to guard the Richmond approaches, failing to realize that Richmond was not Hiram U. Grant’s objective. As Lee prepared to attack the Federals outside Richmond, the Federals were crossing the James below the capital. The lead Federal unit--the Second Corps--reached the James while pontoon bridges were still under construction. Meanwhile, Grant ordered Benjamin Butler to obstruct navigation of the James by sinking old hulks in the river.
Lee, unaware of Grant’s move and concerned about David Hunter in the Shenandoah, further divided his army by sending his Second Corps under General Jubal Early west. Early was instructed to defend Lynchburg, drive Hunter from the Valley, and if possible, move north to threaten Maryland or even Washington, DC. This would force Grant to send troops to defend the capital, thus easing Federal pressure on Richmond.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis replied to complaints of neglect by General Edmund Kirby Smith in the Trans-Mississippi Department that “...my ability to sustain you will be the measure of the assistance rendered to you.” There was little help Davis could offer.
Lieutenant General Richard Ewell was assigned to command the Department of Richmond. He replaced Major General Robert Ransom, Jr., who was assigned to the Department of Western Virginia.
Federal expeditions began from Morristown, Tennessee and Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
In Georgia, fighting again erupted between units of Major General William T. Sherman and General Joseph E. Johnston’s armies.
What was left of Brigadier General Samuel Davis Sturgis’s defeated Federals finally returned to Tennessee.
Some of the most violent conflicts during the War for Southern Independence have no battlefield memorials today because they were fought at sea. The career of Confederate Captain Raphael Semmes and his ship, the CSS Alabama, was perhaps the most brilliant example. Circling the world, he harassed, captured and destroyed Union shipping from India and Australia to South Africa and Brazil. He had recently pulled into Cherbourg, France for a badly needed refit. Today the USS Kearsarge sailed from Dover, England. Captain John A. Winslow intended to patrol off Cherbourg Harbor for as long as necessary.
The bulk of the Federal Army of the Potomac moved rapidly from Cold Harbor toward the James River. Learning that the Federals at Cold Harbor were gone, Robert E. Lee sent troops across the Chickahominy River to guard the Richmond approaches, failing to realize that Richmond was not Hiram U. Grant’s objective. As Lee prepared to attack the Federals outside Richmond, the Federals were crossing the James below the capital. The lead Federal unit--the Second Corps--reached the James while pontoon bridges were still under construction. Meanwhile, Grant ordered Benjamin Butler to obstruct navigation of the James by sinking old hulks in the river.
Lee, unaware of Grant’s move and concerned about David Hunter in the Shenandoah, further divided his army by sending his Second Corps under General Jubal Early west. Early was instructed to defend Lynchburg, drive Hunter from the Valley, and if possible, move north to threaten Maryland or even Washington, DC. This would force Grant to send troops to defend the capital, thus easing Federal pressure on Richmond.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis replied to complaints of neglect by General Edmund Kirby Smith in the Trans-Mississippi Department that “...my ability to sustain you will be the measure of the assistance rendered to you.” There was little help Davis could offer.
Lieutenant General Richard Ewell was assigned to command the Department of Richmond. He replaced Major General Robert Ransom, Jr., who was assigned to the Department of Western Virginia.
Federal expeditions began from Morristown, Tennessee and Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
In Georgia, fighting again erupted between units of Major General William T. Sherman and General Joseph E. Johnston’s armies.
What was left of Brigadier General Samuel Davis Sturgis’s defeated Federals finally returned to Tennessee.
Posted on 6/13/14 at 9:13 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Tuesday, 14 June 1864
Pine Mountain, Georgia, was the scene of sporadic fighting between Winfield Scott Hancock’s Union Second Corps and the Confederate forces of Joseph E. Johnston, William J. Hardee and Leonidas Polk. The three men were conferring after Hardee expressed concern to Johnston that the position at Pine Mountain--occupied by a division of his Corps under Major General William B. Bate--was too far out in front of the main line, leaving the men posted there considerably exposed, when they observed some Union artillery from Oliver O. Howard's Fourth Corps, firing in their direction. Agreeing that the discussion was best concluded, they started to go their separate ways when a puff of smoke came from one of the Federal guns.
William T. Sherman had noticed the group and was amazed at the audacity of the Confederates gathered on the heights some 600 yards distant, in plain view and well within range. "How saucy they are!" he exclaimed, and directed Howard to make them take cover. A shell struck Lieutenant General Polk full in the left arm, went through his chest, and exited from his right armpit killing him instantly. Polk was the only ordained bishop to attain the rank of general in either army. One story declares that after Sherman’s troops captured Pine Mountain, they found a handwritten note attached with a bayonet to a tree that cursed, “You damned Yankee sons of bitches have killed our old Gen. Polk.”
Polk's roommate at West Point was Albert Sidney Johnston, killed at Shiloh in April 1862, and he became close friends with a cadet from Mississippi two years his junior--Jefferson Davis. Another classmate, Robert E. Lee, would later write that Polk was considered by officers and cadets alike "...as a model for all that was soldierly, gentlemanly, and honorable." He was a second cousin of President James K. Polk. He also served as Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana and was for that reason known as The Fighting Bishop.
On Sunday, June 12, Polk had led his staff in worship, leading the singing of hymns and conducting the service, according to an aide, with the "...dignity and solemnity of a prophet of old." This emotional religious service would take on added significance given what would follow two days later; in effect, Polk was conducting his own anointment for burial. He seemed re-energized the next day, receiving and writing dispatches to Johnston, Bragg, Hood and William Hardee, along with a note to Jefferson Davis, asking that General Nathan Bedford Forrest's cavalry be reassigned from Alabama to harass the railroads in north Georgia.
He also penned a long, heartfelt letter to his newly married daughter Lilly, advising her: "Do always what is right, not calculating what is expedient, but try and find out what is right, and with a pure heart and true devotion go straightforward and do it. Be always kind and considerate of the feelings and rights of others, and you will be very apt to have your feelings and rights respected.' He closed, 'May the good Lord bless and keep you and yours, my dear child, in all your coming experiences and trial of life, and afterward receive you to glory, is the prayer of your affectionate father."
Hiram U. Grant transferred the Eighteenth Corps to Benjamin "Spoons" Butler’s Army of the James via water and ordered them to attack Petersburg once more. Grant assured General-in-Chief Henry W. Halleck that Petersburg would be captured before Confederate reinforcements could arrive. Meanwhile, the Army of the Potomac’s Second Corps began crossing the James, and Federals continued indicating to Robert E. Lee they intended to attack north of the James.
The USS Kearsarge, under Captain John A. Winslow--who had sailed from the Dutch coast in response to an intelligence report that the Alabama was badly in need of repairs--arrived off Cherbourg, France. The ship log recorded: "Found the Rebel privateer Alabama lying at anchor in the roads." Kearsarge took up the blockade in international waters off the harbor entrance. Captain Semmes stated: "...My intention is to fight the Kearsarge as soon as I can make the necessary arrangements. I hope they will not detain me more than until tomorrow evening, or after the morrow morning at furthest. I beg she will not depart before I am ready to go out." With the famous Confederate raider at bay, Kearsarge had no intention of departing-the stage was set for the famous duel. As a poet on board Alabama wrote:
"We're homeward, we're homeward bound,
And soon shall stand on English ground.
But ere that English land we see,
We first must fight the Kearsargee."
The USS Courier, Acting Master Samuel C. Gray in charge, ran aground and was wrecked on Abaco Island, Bahamas; the sailing ship's crew and stores were saved.
Julius Kroehl submits a set of plans for his second submarine, Explorer, which are accepted for review by the U.S. Navy. The Explorer is unique in that the bottom of the boat could be opened while submerged (compressed air keeping the seawater out) while divers exited and entered the boat. Explorer is completed later in the summer but declined for service by the U.S. Navy. The boat is taken to Panama where it was used successfully by the Pacific Pearl Mining Company for many years.
The Confederate Congress passed a law imposing new taxes on property and income and then, due to Federal military pressure on Richmond, adjourned.
Pine Mountain, Georgia, was the scene of sporadic fighting between Winfield Scott Hancock’s Union Second Corps and the Confederate forces of Joseph E. Johnston, William J. Hardee and Leonidas Polk. The three men were conferring after Hardee expressed concern to Johnston that the position at Pine Mountain--occupied by a division of his Corps under Major General William B. Bate--was too far out in front of the main line, leaving the men posted there considerably exposed, when they observed some Union artillery from Oliver O. Howard's Fourth Corps, firing in their direction. Agreeing that the discussion was best concluded, they started to go their separate ways when a puff of smoke came from one of the Federal guns.
William T. Sherman had noticed the group and was amazed at the audacity of the Confederates gathered on the heights some 600 yards distant, in plain view and well within range. "How saucy they are!" he exclaimed, and directed Howard to make them take cover. A shell struck Lieutenant General Polk full in the left arm, went through his chest, and exited from his right armpit killing him instantly. Polk was the only ordained bishop to attain the rank of general in either army. One story declares that after Sherman’s troops captured Pine Mountain, they found a handwritten note attached with a bayonet to a tree that cursed, “You damned Yankee sons of bitches have killed our old Gen. Polk.”
Polk's roommate at West Point was Albert Sidney Johnston, killed at Shiloh in April 1862, and he became close friends with a cadet from Mississippi two years his junior--Jefferson Davis. Another classmate, Robert E. Lee, would later write that Polk was considered by officers and cadets alike "...as a model for all that was soldierly, gentlemanly, and honorable." He was a second cousin of President James K. Polk. He also served as Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana and was for that reason known as The Fighting Bishop.
On Sunday, June 12, Polk had led his staff in worship, leading the singing of hymns and conducting the service, according to an aide, with the "...dignity and solemnity of a prophet of old." This emotional religious service would take on added significance given what would follow two days later; in effect, Polk was conducting his own anointment for burial. He seemed re-energized the next day, receiving and writing dispatches to Johnston, Bragg, Hood and William Hardee, along with a note to Jefferson Davis, asking that General Nathan Bedford Forrest's cavalry be reassigned from Alabama to harass the railroads in north Georgia.
He also penned a long, heartfelt letter to his newly married daughter Lilly, advising her: "Do always what is right, not calculating what is expedient, but try and find out what is right, and with a pure heart and true devotion go straightforward and do it. Be always kind and considerate of the feelings and rights of others, and you will be very apt to have your feelings and rights respected.' He closed, 'May the good Lord bless and keep you and yours, my dear child, in all your coming experiences and trial of life, and afterward receive you to glory, is the prayer of your affectionate father."
Hiram U. Grant transferred the Eighteenth Corps to Benjamin "Spoons" Butler’s Army of the James via water and ordered them to attack Petersburg once more. Grant assured General-in-Chief Henry W. Halleck that Petersburg would be captured before Confederate reinforcements could arrive. Meanwhile, the Army of the Potomac’s Second Corps began crossing the James, and Federals continued indicating to Robert E. Lee they intended to attack north of the James.
The USS Kearsarge, under Captain John A. Winslow--who had sailed from the Dutch coast in response to an intelligence report that the Alabama was badly in need of repairs--arrived off Cherbourg, France. The ship log recorded: "Found the Rebel privateer Alabama lying at anchor in the roads." Kearsarge took up the blockade in international waters off the harbor entrance. Captain Semmes stated: "...My intention is to fight the Kearsarge as soon as I can make the necessary arrangements. I hope they will not detain me more than until tomorrow evening, or after the morrow morning at furthest. I beg she will not depart before I am ready to go out." With the famous Confederate raider at bay, Kearsarge had no intention of departing-the stage was set for the famous duel. As a poet on board Alabama wrote:
"We're homeward, we're homeward bound,
And soon shall stand on English ground.
But ere that English land we see,
We first must fight the Kearsargee."
The USS Courier, Acting Master Samuel C. Gray in charge, ran aground and was wrecked on Abaco Island, Bahamas; the sailing ship's crew and stores were saved.
Julius Kroehl submits a set of plans for his second submarine, Explorer, which are accepted for review by the U.S. Navy. The Explorer is unique in that the bottom of the boat could be opened while submerged (compressed air keeping the seawater out) while divers exited and entered the boat. Explorer is completed later in the summer but declined for service by the U.S. Navy. The boat is taken to Panama where it was used successfully by the Pacific Pearl Mining Company for many years.
The Confederate Congress passed a law imposing new taxes on property and income and then, due to Federal military pressure on Richmond, adjourned.
Posted on 6/15/14 at 8:22 am to BadLeroyDawg
Wednesday, 15 June 1864
Petersburg, Virginia, the back door to Richmond, should have fallen by this afternoon to the massive Army of the Potomac. Had it done so, the War could easily have been ended in the East in weeks, if not days. Instead, a combination of delays, errors, misunderstood orders, inaccurate maps and, of all things, a temporary lack of rations, allowed almost 3000 Confederates under the occasionally brilliant General P.G.T. Beauregard to hold off over 16,000 Federal troops long enough to receive reinforcements. Grant had succeeded in tricking Lee into thinking his army was still north of the James River while actually sneaking them across on pontoon bridges. It all went for naught.
President Jefferson Davis and General Robert E. Lee did not heed warnings from General P.G.T. Beauregard that the Federal Army of the Potomac would target Petersburg, not Richmond. Beauregard could muster only 3,000 men to face an attacking force of about 16,000. Beauregard placed most of his troops on the eastern defense line and wired Lee to hurry to Petersburg.
Meanwhile, the lead Federal unit withdrew because its commander overestimated the city’s defenses, and the Eighteenth Corps had been decimated at Cold Harbor and was reluctant to attack. After several hours of vacillation, the Federals finally advanced, but it was too late to capture Petersburg. The Federal Second Corps arrived at 7 p.m. but deferred to the Federal commanders already on the scene. Meanwhile, Confederate reinforcements began pouring into the city, and the opportunity to capture the vital railroad city was lost.
As the Federal Army of the Potomac continued crossing the James River, President Lincoln wired General Hiram U. Grant, “...I begin to see it. You will succeed. God bless you all.”
Confederate artillery opened fire in the early morning hours on the wooden side-wheeler USS General Bragg, under Acting Lieutenant Dominy, lying off Como Landing, Louisiana. The return fire from the General Bragg forced the Southerners to move to Ratliff's Landing where they fired on the small paddle-wheel steamer USS Naiad, Acting Master Henry T. Keene in charge. The USS Winebago, a double-turreted river monitor, alerted by the sound of gunfire, soon hove into sight, and the combined firepower of the three ships temporarily silenced the field battery. Next day, the General Bragg was again taken under fire by Confederate guns on the river bank and another spirited engagement ensued, during which a shot disabled the ship's engine.
The Confederate transport J. R. Williams, carrying supplies up the Arkansas River, Oklahoma, from Fort Smith to Fort Gibson, "...was taken under fire by Union artillery..." The steamer was run aground and abandoned by her crew, and Federal forces subsequently destroyed her.
Lieutenant Bache, commanding the USS Lexington, and a boat crew from the USS Tyler, captured three steamers off Beulah Landing, Mississippi. Reports had reached Bache that the steamers Mattie, M. Walt, and Hill, were "...in communication with Rebel soldiers, openly receiving them on the boats, and trading with them..."
In Georgia, General George Thomas’s Federal Army of the Cumberland moved around General Joseph Johnston’s right flank, advancing on Kennesaw Mountain. The Federal Armies of the Tennessee and the Ohio also pressed ahead against Confederate entrenchments, and fighting occurred at various points.
Former Democratic Congressman Clement Laird Vallandigham returned to Ohio after being exiled to the Confederacy by President Lincoln last year. Vallandigham had been banished for opposing the war and encouraging men to evade the draft. Lincoln urged the Ohio governor to watch the former congressman closely and “...arrest all implicated...” if Vallandigham resumed organizing War protests.
The Federal House of Representatives voted 95 to 66 to approve a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery, but it failed to obtain the two-thirds majority needed for passage. The amendment had previously passed the Senate by the required two-thirds margin.
Federals evacuated Pass Cavallo, Texas.
The USS Lexington captured three riverboats at Beulah Landing, Mississippi.
Skirmishing occurred in Louisiana, Tennessee, Missouri, and in the Indian Territory.
Petersburg, Virginia, the back door to Richmond, should have fallen by this afternoon to the massive Army of the Potomac. Had it done so, the War could easily have been ended in the East in weeks, if not days. Instead, a combination of delays, errors, misunderstood orders, inaccurate maps and, of all things, a temporary lack of rations, allowed almost 3000 Confederates under the occasionally brilliant General P.G.T. Beauregard to hold off over 16,000 Federal troops long enough to receive reinforcements. Grant had succeeded in tricking Lee into thinking his army was still north of the James River while actually sneaking them across on pontoon bridges. It all went for naught.
President Jefferson Davis and General Robert E. Lee did not heed warnings from General P.G.T. Beauregard that the Federal Army of the Potomac would target Petersburg, not Richmond. Beauregard could muster only 3,000 men to face an attacking force of about 16,000. Beauregard placed most of his troops on the eastern defense line and wired Lee to hurry to Petersburg.
Meanwhile, the lead Federal unit withdrew because its commander overestimated the city’s defenses, and the Eighteenth Corps had been decimated at Cold Harbor and was reluctant to attack. After several hours of vacillation, the Federals finally advanced, but it was too late to capture Petersburg. The Federal Second Corps arrived at 7 p.m. but deferred to the Federal commanders already on the scene. Meanwhile, Confederate reinforcements began pouring into the city, and the opportunity to capture the vital railroad city was lost.
As the Federal Army of the Potomac continued crossing the James River, President Lincoln wired General Hiram U. Grant, “...I begin to see it. You will succeed. God bless you all.”
Confederate artillery opened fire in the early morning hours on the wooden side-wheeler USS General Bragg, under Acting Lieutenant Dominy, lying off Como Landing, Louisiana. The return fire from the General Bragg forced the Southerners to move to Ratliff's Landing where they fired on the small paddle-wheel steamer USS Naiad, Acting Master Henry T. Keene in charge. The USS Winebago, a double-turreted river monitor, alerted by the sound of gunfire, soon hove into sight, and the combined firepower of the three ships temporarily silenced the field battery. Next day, the General Bragg was again taken under fire by Confederate guns on the river bank and another spirited engagement ensued, during which a shot disabled the ship's engine.
The Confederate transport J. R. Williams, carrying supplies up the Arkansas River, Oklahoma, from Fort Smith to Fort Gibson, "...was taken under fire by Union artillery..." The steamer was run aground and abandoned by her crew, and Federal forces subsequently destroyed her.
Lieutenant Bache, commanding the USS Lexington, and a boat crew from the USS Tyler, captured three steamers off Beulah Landing, Mississippi. Reports had reached Bache that the steamers Mattie, M. Walt, and Hill, were "...in communication with Rebel soldiers, openly receiving them on the boats, and trading with them..."
In Georgia, General George Thomas’s Federal Army of the Cumberland moved around General Joseph Johnston’s right flank, advancing on Kennesaw Mountain. The Federal Armies of the Tennessee and the Ohio also pressed ahead against Confederate entrenchments, and fighting occurred at various points.
Former Democratic Congressman Clement Laird Vallandigham returned to Ohio after being exiled to the Confederacy by President Lincoln last year. Vallandigham had been banished for opposing the war and encouraging men to evade the draft. Lincoln urged the Ohio governor to watch the former congressman closely and “...arrest all implicated...” if Vallandigham resumed organizing War protests.
The Federal House of Representatives voted 95 to 66 to approve a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery, but it failed to obtain the two-thirds majority needed for passage. The amendment had previously passed the Senate by the required two-thirds margin.
Federals evacuated Pass Cavallo, Texas.
The USS Lexington captured three riverboats at Beulah Landing, Mississippi.
Skirmishing occurred in Louisiana, Tennessee, Missouri, and in the Indian Territory.
Posted on 6/15/14 at 8:58 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Thursday, 16 June 1864
The first assault on Petersburg yesterday started out as a masterpiece of surprise and degenerated into a textbook example of how delays and poor communications can sometimes ruin an attack. All was not lost, however, as Robert E. Lee, still believing that Hiram U. Grant could not be south of the James River, was slow to move to the Petersburg defense. He sent George E. Pickett’s division, though, and that proved to be enough. With that extra help, Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, outnumbered at the beginning over 6 to 1, was able to stave off defeat yet again.
Captain Raphael Semmes, still commanding the CSS Alabama, wrote Flag Officer Samuel Barron in Paris: "The position of Alabama here has been somewhat changed since I wrote you. The enemy's steamer, the Kearsarge, having appeared off this port, and being but very little heavier, if any in her armament than myself, I have deemed it my duty to go out and engage her. I have therefore withdrawn for the present my application to go into dock, and am engaged in coaling ship." Semmes noted in his journal "The enemy's ship still standing off and on the harbor."
Commander Catesby ap R. Jones, Commandant of the Confederate Naval Gun Foundry and Ordnance Works at Selma, Alabama, wrote Major General Dabney H. Maury at Mobile, that "the submersible torpedo boat Saint Patrick, built by John P. Halligan, would be launched in a few days." He added: "It combines a number of ingenious contrivances, which, if experiments show that they will answer the purposes expected, will render the boat very formidable. It is to be propelled by steam (the engine is very compact), though under water by hand. There are also arrangements for raising and descending at will, for attaching the torpedo to the bottom of vessels, etc. Its first field of operation will be off Mobile Bay, and I hope you may soon have evidence of its success. Although the South hoped to take the Saint Patrick against the blockading forces off Mobile as the submarine H. L. Hunley had operated earlier in the year off Charleston, delay followed delay in getting her to sea and it was not until January 1865 that she went into action.
A minor joint expedition under Acting Lieutenant George W. Graves, commander of the USS Lockwood, departed New Bern, North Carolina. Graves with a detachment of sailors from the USS Louisiana and a dozen soldiers, embarked on the Army transport Ella May. The small sidewheeler USS Ceres was in company. Near the mouth of Pamlico River the schooners Iowa, Mary Emma, and Jenny Lind were captured and two others destroyed. With the USS Valley City joining the expedition, Graves scoured the Pungo River area for five more days before returning to New Bern, where he arrived early morning on 23 June.
The first assault on Petersburg yesterday started out as a masterpiece of surprise and degenerated into a textbook example of how delays and poor communications can sometimes ruin an attack. All was not lost, however, as Robert E. Lee, still believing that Hiram U. Grant could not be south of the James River, was slow to move to the Petersburg defense. He sent George E. Pickett’s division, though, and that proved to be enough. With that extra help, Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, outnumbered at the beginning over 6 to 1, was able to stave off defeat yet again.
Captain Raphael Semmes, still commanding the CSS Alabama, wrote Flag Officer Samuel Barron in Paris: "The position of Alabama here has been somewhat changed since I wrote you. The enemy's steamer, the Kearsarge, having appeared off this port, and being but very little heavier, if any in her armament than myself, I have deemed it my duty to go out and engage her. I have therefore withdrawn for the present my application to go into dock, and am engaged in coaling ship." Semmes noted in his journal "The enemy's ship still standing off and on the harbor."
Commander Catesby ap R. Jones, Commandant of the Confederate Naval Gun Foundry and Ordnance Works at Selma, Alabama, wrote Major General Dabney H. Maury at Mobile, that "the submersible torpedo boat Saint Patrick, built by John P. Halligan, would be launched in a few days." He added: "It combines a number of ingenious contrivances, which, if experiments show that they will answer the purposes expected, will render the boat very formidable. It is to be propelled by steam (the engine is very compact), though under water by hand. There are also arrangements for raising and descending at will, for attaching the torpedo to the bottom of vessels, etc. Its first field of operation will be off Mobile Bay, and I hope you may soon have evidence of its success. Although the South hoped to take the Saint Patrick against the blockading forces off Mobile as the submarine H. L. Hunley had operated earlier in the year off Charleston, delay followed delay in getting her to sea and it was not until January 1865 that she went into action.
A minor joint expedition under Acting Lieutenant George W. Graves, commander of the USS Lockwood, departed New Bern, North Carolina. Graves with a detachment of sailors from the USS Louisiana and a dozen soldiers, embarked on the Army transport Ella May. The small sidewheeler USS Ceres was in company. Near the mouth of Pamlico River the schooners Iowa, Mary Emma, and Jenny Lind were captured and two others destroyed. With the USS Valley City joining the expedition, Graves scoured the Pungo River area for five more days before returning to New Bern, where he arrived early morning on 23 June.
Posted on 6/16/14 at 8:23 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Friday, 17 June 1864
After three days of mostly heavy fighting, some of the surprise factor was wearing off the Union army's attempt to capture Petersburg, Virginia. Robert E. Lee was at last convinced that Hiram U. Grant was attacking there instead of Richmond, and started sending the rest of the Army of Northern Virginia to its defense. After the Southerners repulsed more Federal attacks just after midnight, they successfully counterattacked later in the day and drove the invaders back. The command of the Second Corps went to David Bell Birney after Winfield Scott Hancock was incapacitated by a reopening of the wound he had received a year earlier at Gettysburg.
The USS Commodore Perry, Acting Lieutenant A. P. Foster in charge, shelled Fort Clifton, Virginia, at the request of Major General Benjamin "Spoons" Butler. Bombardment by the ship's heavy guns was almost a daily part of the continuing naval support of Army operations along the James River.
The CSS Florida, Lieutenant Charles M. Morris, at 30 degrees N, 62 degrees 40 minutes W, captured and burned the brig W. C. Clarke bound from Machias, Maine, to Matanzas with a cargo of lumber.
In Georgia, the right flank of Major General William T. Sherman’s Federal Army of the West launched a fierce attack on General Joseph E. Johnston’s new Confederate line at Mud Creek. The Federals made some gains against the Confederate Corps under General William Hardee.
President Abraham Lincoln and his family returned to Washington, DC, from their Philadelphia trip.
An explosion occurred in the cartridge-manufacturing building of the Washington Arsenal, killing or mortally wounding 18 and injuring about 20 people more.
In the Shenandoah, Jubal Early’s Confederates joined John Breckinridge’s defenders at Lynchburg to face David Hunter’s advancing Federals.
After three days of mostly heavy fighting, some of the surprise factor was wearing off the Union army's attempt to capture Petersburg, Virginia. Robert E. Lee was at last convinced that Hiram U. Grant was attacking there instead of Richmond, and started sending the rest of the Army of Northern Virginia to its defense. After the Southerners repulsed more Federal attacks just after midnight, they successfully counterattacked later in the day and drove the invaders back. The command of the Second Corps went to David Bell Birney after Winfield Scott Hancock was incapacitated by a reopening of the wound he had received a year earlier at Gettysburg.
The USS Commodore Perry, Acting Lieutenant A. P. Foster in charge, shelled Fort Clifton, Virginia, at the request of Major General Benjamin "Spoons" Butler. Bombardment by the ship's heavy guns was almost a daily part of the continuing naval support of Army operations along the James River.
The CSS Florida, Lieutenant Charles M. Morris, at 30 degrees N, 62 degrees 40 minutes W, captured and burned the brig W. C. Clarke bound from Machias, Maine, to Matanzas with a cargo of lumber.
In Georgia, the right flank of Major General William T. Sherman’s Federal Army of the West launched a fierce attack on General Joseph E. Johnston’s new Confederate line at Mud Creek. The Federals made some gains against the Confederate Corps under General William Hardee.
President Abraham Lincoln and his family returned to Washington, DC, from their Philadelphia trip.
An explosion occurred in the cartridge-manufacturing building of the Washington Arsenal, killing or mortally wounding 18 and injuring about 20 people more.
In the Shenandoah, Jubal Early’s Confederates joined John Breckinridge’s defenders at Lynchburg to face David Hunter’s advancing Federals.
Posted on 6/17/14 at 8:53 pm to BadLeroyDawg
Saturday, 18 June 1864
Hiram U. Grant was nothing if not realistic, and he conceded today that he was not going to take Petersburg, Virginia, by direct assault. Especially not after Robert E. Lee had finally realized Grant's intent and quickly moved the entire Army of Northern Virginia in to defensive positions, he wasn’t. Therefore, he settled into a siege mentality. The Union controlled two-fifths of the railroad lines and several roads. Grant had Lee outnumbered by over two-to-one and had the means necessary to replenish his losses, virtually forever. He had more food sources for his men and animals, more and better equipment and armaments, so he concentrated his efforts on gaining possession of the remainder of the transportation system and cutting off the flow of supplies to the Army of Northern Virginia. All Lee had left was determination, duty and honor. And a very wicked sense of stubbornness.
Another report: Most of Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia arrived to defend Petersburg. The battle continued, but Federal attacks were repulsed due to exhaustion, poor leadership, and Confederate resolve. The 1st Maine lost 632 men, the heaviest battle loss of any Union regiment in the War. (The 26th North Carolina's at Gettysburg was worse.) Four days of heavy fighting had cost another 8,150 Federal casualties without any substantial result.
Major General George Meade, commanding the Federal Army of the Potomac, ordered the Federals to dig entrenchments. Meade conceded that the “...moral condition of the Army...” was broken after two months of continuous fighting and defeats. Federal General-in-Chief Grant arrived and admitted that Petersburg could not be captured by direct assault. He told his subordinates, “I have determined to try to envelop Petersburg.”
Grant resolved to surround the city and seize the five railroads and primary roads supplying Petersburg. These were the siege tactics that Grant had used at Vicksburg last year, and it initiated a new style of trench warfare. It also ended six weeks of movement and battle that had begun at the Rapidan River.
In the Shenandoah, David "Black Dave" Hunter decided against attacking Lynchburg, convinced he was facing 20,000 Confederates, as opposed to the undefended towns and cities he previously had been sacking. Hunter’s failure to advance on Charlottesville first as Grant had urged enabled the Confederates to seize a vital railroad that threatened the Federal line of retreat. Hunter hurriedly withdrew toward Staunton.
In Georgia, Joseph E. Johnston’s Confederates realigned their defenses once more, forming a semicircle above Marietta along the Big and Little Kennesaw Mountains. Opposing forces skirmished at Acworth and Allatoona, as William T. Sherman began planning to attack this nearly impregnable defensive line.
A Federal expedition began from Kansas City.
Hiram U. Grant was nothing if not realistic, and he conceded today that he was not going to take Petersburg, Virginia, by direct assault. Especially not after Robert E. Lee had finally realized Grant's intent and quickly moved the entire Army of Northern Virginia in to defensive positions, he wasn’t. Therefore, he settled into a siege mentality. The Union controlled two-fifths of the railroad lines and several roads. Grant had Lee outnumbered by over two-to-one and had the means necessary to replenish his losses, virtually forever. He had more food sources for his men and animals, more and better equipment and armaments, so he concentrated his efforts on gaining possession of the remainder of the transportation system and cutting off the flow of supplies to the Army of Northern Virginia. All Lee had left was determination, duty and honor. And a very wicked sense of stubbornness.
Another report: Most of Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia arrived to defend Petersburg. The battle continued, but Federal attacks were repulsed due to exhaustion, poor leadership, and Confederate resolve. The 1st Maine lost 632 men, the heaviest battle loss of any Union regiment in the War. (The 26th North Carolina's at Gettysburg was worse.) Four days of heavy fighting had cost another 8,150 Federal casualties without any substantial result.
Major General George Meade, commanding the Federal Army of the Potomac, ordered the Federals to dig entrenchments. Meade conceded that the “...moral condition of the Army...” was broken after two months of continuous fighting and defeats. Federal General-in-Chief Grant arrived and admitted that Petersburg could not be captured by direct assault. He told his subordinates, “I have determined to try to envelop Petersburg.”
Grant resolved to surround the city and seize the five railroads and primary roads supplying Petersburg. These were the siege tactics that Grant had used at Vicksburg last year, and it initiated a new style of trench warfare. It also ended six weeks of movement and battle that had begun at the Rapidan River.
In the Shenandoah, David "Black Dave" Hunter decided against attacking Lynchburg, convinced he was facing 20,000 Confederates, as opposed to the undefended towns and cities he previously had been sacking. Hunter’s failure to advance on Charlottesville first as Grant had urged enabled the Confederates to seize a vital railroad that threatened the Federal line of retreat. Hunter hurriedly withdrew toward Staunton.
In Georgia, Joseph E. Johnston’s Confederates realigned their defenses once more, forming a semicircle above Marietta along the Big and Little Kennesaw Mountains. Opposing forces skirmished at Acworth and Allatoona, as William T. Sherman began planning to attack this nearly impregnable defensive line.
A Federal expedition began from Kansas City.
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