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re: 150 years ago today...August 20th, 1863...
Posted on 8/11/13 at 3:38 pm to dallasga6
Posted on 8/11/13 at 3:38 pm to dallasga6
August 11, 1863
In Charleston Harbor, where the whole shooting match had begun, the battle was nowhere near over. The guns of Fort Sumter roared again this morning, joined by other firepower from James Island and Battery Wagner, but now they were firing on Union troops. The latter were the men who had taken positions at the end of Morris Island, where they were furiously excavating trenches. The fire substantially slowed, but did not stop, the digging.
Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren, seeking to clear the way for his ironclads through the heavy Confederate obstructions in Charleston Harbor, suggested that "...a vessel constructed of corrugated iron and fashioned like a boat, but closed perfectly on the top, so that it could he submerged very quickly..." could be a means of delivering a large amount of powder directly upon the impediments. "Such a weapon," Dahlgren wrote Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, "...would dislocate any nice arrangements." Dahlgren later described to Welles the nature of the formidable harbor defenses at Charleston against which the Admiral pitted his ironclads. There was a "continuous line of works" extending from Fort Moultrie on the right to Fort Johnson on the left. Fort Ripley, supported by CSS Chicora, Charleston, and Palmetto State, and Castle Pickney were to the right beyond Moultrie. A line of piles had been driven into the harbor in front of Fort Ripley. Rope obstructions were stretched between Forts Sumter and Moultrie, and anchored torpedoes were placed in the harbor as well.
In the North, the Permanent Commission examines plans submitted by Ensign Andrew Hartshorn for a small one-man submersible which he hoped to use against harbor defenses and river obstructions throughout the Confederacy. At least one such vessel was built, as records refer to tests being made with the boat.
A meeting involving some of the citizens of North Carolina, representing every county in the First and Second Congressional districts and a portion of the Third, was held at Washington, North Carolina. The 1st North Carolina Union regiment, stationed at that point, participated in the meeting. Addresses were made and resolutions adopted expressing sympathy with the great conservative movement of North Carolina, declaring an energetic prosecution of the war in that department to be the only means by which the Union sentiment in the interior of the State could be made practically useful in restoring her to the national jurisdiction, asking the Government for reinforcements for this purpose, accusing the Confederate government of perfidy and cruelty toward North Carolina, declaring that her people were therefore absolved from any further obligations to sustain it, placing the responsibility for the destruction of slavery upon President Jefferson Davis and his co-conspirators against the Union, expressing the belief that North Carolina would, notwithstanding, find ample compensation in the blessings of free labor for the present inconveniences of emancipation, rejoicing in the recent Union victory at the Kentucky election, denouncing "copperhead-ism" in the North, and commending the ability and patriotism of the Federal Administration in the conduct of the war, and especially in the sound national currency originated by the Secretary of the Treasury.
President Abraham Lincoln closed the correspondence with the Governor of New York, Horatio Seymour, relative to the cessation of the Federal Draft to invade the South and overthrow secession.
In Charleston Harbor, where the whole shooting match had begun, the battle was nowhere near over. The guns of Fort Sumter roared again this morning, joined by other firepower from James Island and Battery Wagner, but now they were firing on Union troops. The latter were the men who had taken positions at the end of Morris Island, where they were furiously excavating trenches. The fire substantially slowed, but did not stop, the digging.
Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren, seeking to clear the way for his ironclads through the heavy Confederate obstructions in Charleston Harbor, suggested that "...a vessel constructed of corrugated iron and fashioned like a boat, but closed perfectly on the top, so that it could he submerged very quickly..." could be a means of delivering a large amount of powder directly upon the impediments. "Such a weapon," Dahlgren wrote Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, "...would dislocate any nice arrangements." Dahlgren later described to Welles the nature of the formidable harbor defenses at Charleston against which the Admiral pitted his ironclads. There was a "continuous line of works" extending from Fort Moultrie on the right to Fort Johnson on the left. Fort Ripley, supported by CSS Chicora, Charleston, and Palmetto State, and Castle Pickney were to the right beyond Moultrie. A line of piles had been driven into the harbor in front of Fort Ripley. Rope obstructions were stretched between Forts Sumter and Moultrie, and anchored torpedoes were placed in the harbor as well.
In the North, the Permanent Commission examines plans submitted by Ensign Andrew Hartshorn for a small one-man submersible which he hoped to use against harbor defenses and river obstructions throughout the Confederacy. At least one such vessel was built, as records refer to tests being made with the boat.
A meeting involving some of the citizens of North Carolina, representing every county in the First and Second Congressional districts and a portion of the Third, was held at Washington, North Carolina. The 1st North Carolina Union regiment, stationed at that point, participated in the meeting. Addresses were made and resolutions adopted expressing sympathy with the great conservative movement of North Carolina, declaring an energetic prosecution of the war in that department to be the only means by which the Union sentiment in the interior of the State could be made practically useful in restoring her to the national jurisdiction, asking the Government for reinforcements for this purpose, accusing the Confederate government of perfidy and cruelty toward North Carolina, declaring that her people were therefore absolved from any further obligations to sustain it, placing the responsibility for the destruction of slavery upon President Jefferson Davis and his co-conspirators against the Union, expressing the belief that North Carolina would, notwithstanding, find ample compensation in the blessings of free labor for the present inconveniences of emancipation, rejoicing in the recent Union victory at the Kentucky election, denouncing "copperhead-ism" in the North, and commending the ability and patriotism of the Federal Administration in the conduct of the war, and especially in the sound national currency originated by the Secretary of the Treasury.
President Abraham Lincoln closed the correspondence with the Governor of New York, Horatio Seymour, relative to the cessation of the Federal Draft to invade the South and overthrow secession.
1
Posted on 8/12/13 at 12:23 pm to dallasga6
August 12, 1863
These were only practice shots. They came from Parrott guns, which were named for their inventor and not any tropical birds. These were special Parrott guns though, heavier in caliber than normal and rifled inside the barrel for greater accuracy and range. The Federal forces had finally gotten them ashore on Morris Island in Charleston Harbor and installed them on their mountings in the sand. They fired off calibration shots today, intending only to test the aim of the weapons. They eventually blew holes in the brick walls of Ft. Sumter with these test shots.
Rear Admiral Charles H. Bell, commanding the Pacific Squadron, ordered the USS Narragansett, Commander Fabius Maximus Stanly piloting, to cruise regularly between San Francisco and Acapulco, Mexico, for the protection of Pacific mail steamers. In addition, he warned Stanly to keep two-thirds of his officers on board the ship at all times, and to maintain a regular sea watch whenever in a port with Confederate sympathies to avoid being boarded and taken.
The USS Princess Royal, under Commander Melancthon Brooks Woolsey, seized the British schooner Flying Scud at Brazos, Texas. She was reported to have run the blockade and landed over 65,000 pounds of powder, 7 tons of horseshoes, and tens of thousands of dollars worth of much needed medical supplies.
The 123rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry with over one thousand troops-temporarily known as the Mounted Infantry, 123rd Regiment-under command of Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Biggs, returned to Winchester, Tennessee, from a trip into Alabama, with the aim of disbanding a small group of partisan guerrillas, near the junction of Larkin's Fork and Point Rock River. As part of the "Wilder Lightning Brigade" the 123rd was among the first units fighting in the Civil War to receive the Spencer repeating carbine. About three hundred soldiers of the 11th Regiment, Texas Infantry were encountered and driven back, being closely followed a considerable distance down Point Rock River. A number of prisoners were taken, and refugees, issuing from their hiding places among the mountains, poured in continually until Colonel Biggs's command withdrew toward Winchester.
The United States Steamer Wateree was launched at Chester, Pennsylvania, this morning. The Wateree, a 1173-ton Sassacus class "double-ender" side-wheel steam gunboat, was unlike her numerous wooden sister ships, as she was constructed with an iron hull.
These were only practice shots. They came from Parrott guns, which were named for their inventor and not any tropical birds. These were special Parrott guns though, heavier in caliber than normal and rifled inside the barrel for greater accuracy and range. The Federal forces had finally gotten them ashore on Morris Island in Charleston Harbor and installed them on their mountings in the sand. They fired off calibration shots today, intending only to test the aim of the weapons. They eventually blew holes in the brick walls of Ft. Sumter with these test shots.
Rear Admiral Charles H. Bell, commanding the Pacific Squadron, ordered the USS Narragansett, Commander Fabius Maximus Stanly piloting, to cruise regularly between San Francisco and Acapulco, Mexico, for the protection of Pacific mail steamers. In addition, he warned Stanly to keep two-thirds of his officers on board the ship at all times, and to maintain a regular sea watch whenever in a port with Confederate sympathies to avoid being boarded and taken.
The USS Princess Royal, under Commander Melancthon Brooks Woolsey, seized the British schooner Flying Scud at Brazos, Texas. She was reported to have run the blockade and landed over 65,000 pounds of powder, 7 tons of horseshoes, and tens of thousands of dollars worth of much needed medical supplies.
The 123rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry with over one thousand troops-temporarily known as the Mounted Infantry, 123rd Regiment-under command of Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Biggs, returned to Winchester, Tennessee, from a trip into Alabama, with the aim of disbanding a small group of partisan guerrillas, near the junction of Larkin's Fork and Point Rock River. As part of the "Wilder Lightning Brigade" the 123rd was among the first units fighting in the Civil War to receive the Spencer repeating carbine. About three hundred soldiers of the 11th Regiment, Texas Infantry were encountered and driven back, being closely followed a considerable distance down Point Rock River. A number of prisoners were taken, and refugees, issuing from their hiding places among the mountains, poured in continually until Colonel Biggs's command withdrew toward Winchester.
The United States Steamer Wateree was launched at Chester, Pennsylvania, this morning. The Wateree, a 1173-ton Sassacus class "double-ender" side-wheel steam gunboat, was unlike her numerous wooden sister ships, as she was constructed with an iron hull.
Posted on 8/12/13 at 9:25 pm to dallasga6
Since I have a full day tomorrow, I'm posting an update for:
August 13, 1863
The day dawned sunny and hot in Kansas City, MO; a normal day, by any measure, with people bustling up and down Grand Avenue. But within hours, the air was filled with dust, screams and cries. A small pile of bodies was stacked by Union solders, outside of what had been #13 Grand - bodies of Confederate women jailed by the Union under suspicion of "providing aid" to their family members - members of Quantrill's Partisan Rangers.
Years before shots were fired on Fort Sumter, fighting raged along the Missouri-Kansas border. Trouble started with the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which repealed the Missouri Compromise. The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed the residents of these new territories to vote on the issue of slavery - it was expected that Nebraska would be free, and Kansas a slave state. However, abolitions from the East Coast states provided aid and relocation costs to those that shared their views - ensuring that Kansas would vote to outlaw slavery. Fighting soon broke out along the border area between southern-sympathizing Missourians, and "Jayhawkers" - armed mobs of Union sympathizers who were essentially terrorists that crossed the border to steal. They often burned the homes of resisters, and hung or shot the home owners.
Fast-forward to 1861, and this fighting had grown especially bitter and violent. Following Gen. Sterling Price's victory over the Yankees at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, Price's troops continued on their mission to eradicate the Kansas presence in Missouri. James Lane's Jayhawkers invaded behind him and attacked the city of Osceola, MO, stealing what they could carry and sending wagon loads of Missouri goods back to their warehouses in Lawrence, KS. Osceola was burned to the ground, displacing 3,000 residents and leaving them both homeless and penniless. Some of these men, as well as others from the border counties, joined together under William Quantrill, an officer under Price, and formed a band of Partisan Rangers to defend Missouri from the Jayhawker terrorists. (For anyone who wonders about how deeply the bad feelings still run...In September, 2011 lingering bad feelings over the raid and the sesquicentennial of the event prompted the Osceola Board of Aldermen to pass a resolution asking the University of Kansas to no longer use "Jayhawk" as their mascot and nickname. Further, the resolution asks Missouri residents to stop spelling Kansas or KU with a capital letter because "neither is a proper name or a proper place".)
By 1863, Quantrill was causing major headaches for the Jayhawkers. Adopting some Indian fighting tactics from the Cherokee, they were the founders of guerilla warfare in the US. They struck quickly, quietly, and were very well-armed cavalrymen. They were deadly. And, since most of them had lost loved ones and/or property to the Jayhawkers, they fought brutally and with a desire for revenge.
In an effort to undermine both the Confederate sympathy in Western Missouri and, in particular, Quantrill's troops, General Ewing, commander of the Union forces in the area, began ordering the arrest (and in some cases, summary execution) of people suspected of supporting the Confederacy. During the winter months, men suspected of Confederate leanings were taken from their homes and shot, and their homes burned to the ground - leaving their families left with nothing, in sub-zero temperatures. By the summer, Ewing began ordering the arrest of women related to Quantrill's men; they were accused of aiding the enemy, and imprisoned in Kansas City. After a few temporary locations, they were eventually moved to #1 Grand Avenue - a 6-year old building owned by George Caleb Bingham, a well known Missouri politician and artist - and a man who hated Gen. Ewing. The first floor was a grocery; the upper floors housed the female prisoners. Gen. Ewing appropriated the building, possibly in an attempt to annoy Bingham, who was living in Jefferson City at the time.
Among the prisoners were the 3 young sisters of William "Bloody Bill" Anderson (ages 13-18), as well as wives and sisters of several of Quanrill's men. It is believed that 17 women were held there, until plans could be made to send them east for trial. For the "crime" of providing medical supplies and food to their family members.
In the days leading up to August 13, 1863, there was activity in the basement cellar area. For some reason, pillars that supported the ceiling joists were removed by Union soldiers. The grocer on the first floor began removing his merchandise from the basement because the building was cracking and showing signs of being unstable. Guards twice reported their concerns about the safety of the building, pointing out cracks in the walls and ceilings, as well as the foundation. But an investigator sent by Gen. Ewing found the building safe for the prisoners.
Then, sometime after dinner on August 13, 1863, when there was strangely only 1 guard on duty, women began screaming as the building began shuddering and collapsed in on itself It pulled the building next door down with it. Union soldiers in the area and passersby began trying to pull the women from the rubble.
Of the 17 women and 1 young boy held there, 5 were killed, and several others were maimed or crippled for life. Observers on the street immediately began stating that it was done deliberately by the Yankees. As for Ewing and his men, there were several excuses thrown out: hogs were rutting along one side of the building, weakening the foundation; the building was in disrepair, even though it was only 6 years old and the upper stories had recently been remodeled; and that the prisoners were digging in the cellar, trying to tunnel out - though how they would have accomplished this from the 2nd floor was unexplained. Ultimately, Bingham himself had the building investigated and sued the army for having removed the supporting pillars in the basement/cellar and causing the building to fall.
Whether it was done deliberately is in question today. But, in the minds of Quantrill's men, who were grief-stricken and outraged at the news, there was certainty that their sisters and wives were deliberately targeted and killed or injured. Bloody Bill was especially affected - 1 of his sisters died, another had 2 broken legs, and the third was left permanently crippled. One of Bob and Cole Younger sisters (from James Gang infamy) was injured, and died 2 years later, partially due to the injuries she sustained there.
Targeting women was a new low, even for the Jayhawkers who were in part of the Union forces in Kansas City. One of Quantrill's men was heard to say, "We could stand no more."
Throughout that time period, Lawrence, KS, located about 40 miles southwest of Kansas City, was on Quantrill's list of targets due to it being the home of the Jayhawker leader, James Lane. There were a number of warehouses in Lawrence that were known to hold stolen items from homes the Jayhawkers had plundered in Missouri. A raid on Lawrence was moved to the top of the list, and plans for an attack went into high gear.
August 13, 1863
The day dawned sunny and hot in Kansas City, MO; a normal day, by any measure, with people bustling up and down Grand Avenue. But within hours, the air was filled with dust, screams and cries. A small pile of bodies was stacked by Union solders, outside of what had been #13 Grand - bodies of Confederate women jailed by the Union under suspicion of "providing aid" to their family members - members of Quantrill's Partisan Rangers.
Years before shots were fired on Fort Sumter, fighting raged along the Missouri-Kansas border. Trouble started with the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which repealed the Missouri Compromise. The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed the residents of these new territories to vote on the issue of slavery - it was expected that Nebraska would be free, and Kansas a slave state. However, abolitions from the East Coast states provided aid and relocation costs to those that shared their views - ensuring that Kansas would vote to outlaw slavery. Fighting soon broke out along the border area between southern-sympathizing Missourians, and "Jayhawkers" - armed mobs of Union sympathizers who were essentially terrorists that crossed the border to steal. They often burned the homes of resisters, and hung or shot the home owners.
Fast-forward to 1861, and this fighting had grown especially bitter and violent. Following Gen. Sterling Price's victory over the Yankees at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, Price's troops continued on their mission to eradicate the Kansas presence in Missouri. James Lane's Jayhawkers invaded behind him and attacked the city of Osceola, MO, stealing what they could carry and sending wagon loads of Missouri goods back to their warehouses in Lawrence, KS. Osceola was burned to the ground, displacing 3,000 residents and leaving them both homeless and penniless. Some of these men, as well as others from the border counties, joined together under William Quantrill, an officer under Price, and formed a band of Partisan Rangers to defend Missouri from the Jayhawker terrorists. (For anyone who wonders about how deeply the bad feelings still run...In September, 2011 lingering bad feelings over the raid and the sesquicentennial of the event prompted the Osceola Board of Aldermen to pass a resolution asking the University of Kansas to no longer use "Jayhawk" as their mascot and nickname. Further, the resolution asks Missouri residents to stop spelling Kansas or KU with a capital letter because "neither is a proper name or a proper place".)
By 1863, Quantrill was causing major headaches for the Jayhawkers. Adopting some Indian fighting tactics from the Cherokee, they were the founders of guerilla warfare in the US. They struck quickly, quietly, and were very well-armed cavalrymen. They were deadly. And, since most of them had lost loved ones and/or property to the Jayhawkers, they fought brutally and with a desire for revenge.
In an effort to undermine both the Confederate sympathy in Western Missouri and, in particular, Quantrill's troops, General Ewing, commander of the Union forces in the area, began ordering the arrest (and in some cases, summary execution) of people suspected of supporting the Confederacy. During the winter months, men suspected of Confederate leanings were taken from their homes and shot, and their homes burned to the ground - leaving their families left with nothing, in sub-zero temperatures. By the summer, Ewing began ordering the arrest of women related to Quantrill's men; they were accused of aiding the enemy, and imprisoned in Kansas City. After a few temporary locations, they were eventually moved to #1 Grand Avenue - a 6-year old building owned by George Caleb Bingham, a well known Missouri politician and artist - and a man who hated Gen. Ewing. The first floor was a grocery; the upper floors housed the female prisoners. Gen. Ewing appropriated the building, possibly in an attempt to annoy Bingham, who was living in Jefferson City at the time.
Among the prisoners were the 3 young sisters of William "Bloody Bill" Anderson (ages 13-18), as well as wives and sisters of several of Quanrill's men. It is believed that 17 women were held there, until plans could be made to send them east for trial. For the "crime" of providing medical supplies and food to their family members.
In the days leading up to August 13, 1863, there was activity in the basement cellar area. For some reason, pillars that supported the ceiling joists were removed by Union soldiers. The grocer on the first floor began removing his merchandise from the basement because the building was cracking and showing signs of being unstable. Guards twice reported their concerns about the safety of the building, pointing out cracks in the walls and ceilings, as well as the foundation. But an investigator sent by Gen. Ewing found the building safe for the prisoners.
Then, sometime after dinner on August 13, 1863, when there was strangely only 1 guard on duty, women began screaming as the building began shuddering and collapsed in on itself It pulled the building next door down with it. Union soldiers in the area and passersby began trying to pull the women from the rubble.
Of the 17 women and 1 young boy held there, 5 were killed, and several others were maimed or crippled for life. Observers on the street immediately began stating that it was done deliberately by the Yankees. As for Ewing and his men, there were several excuses thrown out: hogs were rutting along one side of the building, weakening the foundation; the building was in disrepair, even though it was only 6 years old and the upper stories had recently been remodeled; and that the prisoners were digging in the cellar, trying to tunnel out - though how they would have accomplished this from the 2nd floor was unexplained. Ultimately, Bingham himself had the building investigated and sued the army for having removed the supporting pillars in the basement/cellar and causing the building to fall.
Whether it was done deliberately is in question today. But, in the minds of Quantrill's men, who were grief-stricken and outraged at the news, there was certainty that their sisters and wives were deliberately targeted and killed or injured. Bloody Bill was especially affected - 1 of his sisters died, another had 2 broken legs, and the third was left permanently crippled. One of Bob and Cole Younger sisters (from James Gang infamy) was injured, and died 2 years later, partially due to the injuries she sustained there.
Targeting women was a new low, even for the Jayhawkers who were in part of the Union forces in Kansas City. One of Quantrill's men was heard to say, "We could stand no more."
Throughout that time period, Lawrence, KS, located about 40 miles southwest of Kansas City, was on Quantrill's list of targets due to it being the home of the Jayhawker leader, James Lane. There were a number of warehouses in Lawrence that were known to hold stolen items from homes the Jayhawkers had plundered in Missouri. A raid on Lawrence was moved to the top of the list, and plans for an attack went into high gear.
This post was edited on 8/12/13 at 9:32 pm
Posted on 8/13/13 at 9:00 am to semotruman
Thanks for contributing Semo... 
August 13, 1863
An unknown chaplain with the Confederate service in the Western Theater wrote to President Jefferson Davis today. He was not a happy man, as few were since the fall of Vicksburg. "I beseech of you to relieve us of these drones and pygmies," he said, specifically mentioning the names of Gen John C Pemberton and Theophilus H. Holmes. "Every disaster than has befallen us in the West has grown out of the fact that weak and inefficient men have been kept in power." Holmes would not be replaced until the following March.
A naval force under Lieutenant George Mifflin Bache reconnoitered the White River above Clarendon, Arkansas, to gain information as to the whereabouts of Confederate General Sterling Price's Army, to destroy the telegraph at Des Arc and capture the operator, and catch the steamboats Kaskaskia and Thomas Sugg. The force, including the USS Lexington, under Lieutenant Bache; the USS Cricket, Acting Lieutenant Langthorne commanding; and the USS Marmora, Acting Lieutenant R. Getty in charge, with Army troops embarked, burned a large warehouse at Des Arc, destroyed the telegraph lines for a half a mile, and "...obtained some information that we wanted..." Next day, the gunboats proceeded upriver, the Lexington and Marmora advancing to Augusta, and Cricket searching the Little Red River for the Confederate steamers. At Augusta, Bache learned that "...the Southern army were [sic] concentrating at Brownsville, intending to make their line of defense on Bayou Meto. Price was there and Kirby Smith in Little Rock. Marmaduke had recrossed the White some days before, and was then crossing the Little Red." Returning downstream, Bache left Marmora to guard the mouth of the Little Red River and ascended the tributary himself, meeting Cricket. Langthorne had captured the steamers Kaskaskia and Thomas Sugg with cargoes of cotton, horses, and arms at Searcy and had also destroyed General Marmaduke's pontoon bridge across the river, thereby slowing his movements. Reporting on the successful expedition, Bache noted: "The capture of the two boats, the only means of transportation the Rebels had on this river, is a great service to us." Though operations of this nature passed almost unnoticed by the public, it was precisely the Navy's ability to thrust incessantly into the vitals of the Confederacy that helped to keep the South on the defensive. The casualties on the Union side were five men wounded, two of whom died.
An expedition under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Phillips, of the Ninth Illinois infantry, left La Grange, Tennessee, for Central Mississippi.
Major General Ambrose E. Burnside issued an order regulating the employment and subsistence of negro contraband laborers.
This night a party of Confederate cavalry made a descent upon a signal station, located on Water Mountain, near Warrenton, Virginia, capturing every thing except the officers and one glass. Sixteen horses, several wagons, the camp equipage, together with a number of telescopes, fell into the hands of the Rebels. The officers had sufficient warning to enable them to escape before the Southerners reached them, but their private property was lost.
The first full regiment of colored men, raised in Pennsylvania, left Philadelphia by steamer for Morris Island, South Carolina, to reenforce the army under General Gillmore.
Colonel Catherwood, commanding the Sixth Missouri cavalry, sent the following dispatch to headquarters, from his camp at Pineville, Missouri: Colonel Coffee attacked me today, and was completely routed, with over thirty killed and wounded. We have a large number of prisoners, all his ammunition wagons, commissary stores, arms, horses, cattle, etc. We scattered all his force except two hundred with himself. Our force is following him closely. My horses are so worn down that they cannot move further until rested. Colonel Hirsch, just in, reports that he killed thirty-five and wounded a large number.
August 13, 1863
An unknown chaplain with the Confederate service in the Western Theater wrote to President Jefferson Davis today. He was not a happy man, as few were since the fall of Vicksburg. "I beseech of you to relieve us of these drones and pygmies," he said, specifically mentioning the names of Gen John C Pemberton and Theophilus H. Holmes. "Every disaster than has befallen us in the West has grown out of the fact that weak and inefficient men have been kept in power." Holmes would not be replaced until the following March.
A naval force under Lieutenant George Mifflin Bache reconnoitered the White River above Clarendon, Arkansas, to gain information as to the whereabouts of Confederate General Sterling Price's Army, to destroy the telegraph at Des Arc and capture the operator, and catch the steamboats Kaskaskia and Thomas Sugg. The force, including the USS Lexington, under Lieutenant Bache; the USS Cricket, Acting Lieutenant Langthorne commanding; and the USS Marmora, Acting Lieutenant R. Getty in charge, with Army troops embarked, burned a large warehouse at Des Arc, destroyed the telegraph lines for a half a mile, and "...obtained some information that we wanted..." Next day, the gunboats proceeded upriver, the Lexington and Marmora advancing to Augusta, and Cricket searching the Little Red River for the Confederate steamers. At Augusta, Bache learned that "...the Southern army were [sic] concentrating at Brownsville, intending to make their line of defense on Bayou Meto. Price was there and Kirby Smith in Little Rock. Marmaduke had recrossed the White some days before, and was then crossing the Little Red." Returning downstream, Bache left Marmora to guard the mouth of the Little Red River and ascended the tributary himself, meeting Cricket. Langthorne had captured the steamers Kaskaskia and Thomas Sugg with cargoes of cotton, horses, and arms at Searcy and had also destroyed General Marmaduke's pontoon bridge across the river, thereby slowing his movements. Reporting on the successful expedition, Bache noted: "The capture of the two boats, the only means of transportation the Rebels had on this river, is a great service to us." Though operations of this nature passed almost unnoticed by the public, it was precisely the Navy's ability to thrust incessantly into the vitals of the Confederacy that helped to keep the South on the defensive. The casualties on the Union side were five men wounded, two of whom died.
An expedition under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Phillips, of the Ninth Illinois infantry, left La Grange, Tennessee, for Central Mississippi.
Major General Ambrose E. Burnside issued an order regulating the employment and subsistence of negro contraband laborers.
This night a party of Confederate cavalry made a descent upon a signal station, located on Water Mountain, near Warrenton, Virginia, capturing every thing except the officers and one glass. Sixteen horses, several wagons, the camp equipage, together with a number of telescopes, fell into the hands of the Rebels. The officers had sufficient warning to enable them to escape before the Southerners reached them, but their private property was lost.
The first full regiment of colored men, raised in Pennsylvania, left Philadelphia by steamer for Morris Island, South Carolina, to reenforce the army under General Gillmore.
Colonel Catherwood, commanding the Sixth Missouri cavalry, sent the following dispatch to headquarters, from his camp at Pineville, Missouri: Colonel Coffee attacked me today, and was completely routed, with over thirty killed and wounded. We have a large number of prisoners, all his ammunition wagons, commissary stores, arms, horses, cattle, etc. We scattered all his force except two hundred with himself. Our force is following him closely. My horses are so worn down that they cannot move further until rested. Colonel Hirsch, just in, reports that he killed thirty-five and wounded a large number.
Posted on 8/14/13 at 2:12 pm to dallasga6
August 14, 1863
There was very little going on in the eastern war beyond more test firing of the Union Parrot guns in Charleston Harbor. More holes were inflicted on Fort Sumter. In the west, however, the action was a little more intense. Various skirmishes, actions, expeditions and other nastiness occurred in West Point, Arkansas, and numerous places in Missouri including Sherwood, Wellington, and the greater metropolitan area of Jack's Ford.
Timely intelligence reports played an important role in alerting the Union blockaders. This morning, Rear Admiral Theodorus Bailey advised Lieutenant Commander Edward Yorke McCauley, piloting the USS Fort Henry: "I have information that the steamers Alabama and Nita sailed from Havana on the 12th, with a view of running the blockade, probably at Mobile, but possibly between Tampa Bay and St. Marks [Florida]; also that the steamers Montgomery (formerly Habanero), the Isabel, the Fannie, the Warrior, and the Little Lily were nearly ready for sail, with like intent. . . the Isabel, which sailed on the 7th, has undoubtedly gone either to Bayport, the Waccasassa, or the Suwanee River. You will therefore keep a sharp lookout for any of these vessels".... Four of the seven ships were captured by the blockading forces within a month.
The USS Bermuda, under Acting Master J. W. Smith, seized the British blockade runners Carmita, with a cargo of cotton, and Artist, with cargo including liquor and medicine, off the Texas coast.
Major General Gouverneur Kemble Warren assumed temporary command of the Second Corps of the Army of the Potomac.
A small party of Confederate partisans made a descent upon Poolesville, Maryland, capturing the telegraph operator and all of his instruments, then destroying the wires. After resupplying their stores and necessities, they retired.
Brigadier General Thomas Welch, commanding the First Division of the Ninth Army Corps, died at Cincinnati, Ohio.
There was very little going on in the eastern war beyond more test firing of the Union Parrot guns in Charleston Harbor. More holes were inflicted on Fort Sumter. In the west, however, the action was a little more intense. Various skirmishes, actions, expeditions and other nastiness occurred in West Point, Arkansas, and numerous places in Missouri including Sherwood, Wellington, and the greater metropolitan area of Jack's Ford.
Timely intelligence reports played an important role in alerting the Union blockaders. This morning, Rear Admiral Theodorus Bailey advised Lieutenant Commander Edward Yorke McCauley, piloting the USS Fort Henry: "I have information that the steamers Alabama and Nita sailed from Havana on the 12th, with a view of running the blockade, probably at Mobile, but possibly between Tampa Bay and St. Marks [Florida]; also that the steamers Montgomery (formerly Habanero), the Isabel, the Fannie, the Warrior, and the Little Lily were nearly ready for sail, with like intent. . . the Isabel, which sailed on the 7th, has undoubtedly gone either to Bayport, the Waccasassa, or the Suwanee River. You will therefore keep a sharp lookout for any of these vessels".... Four of the seven ships were captured by the blockading forces within a month.
The USS Bermuda, under Acting Master J. W. Smith, seized the British blockade runners Carmita, with a cargo of cotton, and Artist, with cargo including liquor and medicine, off the Texas coast.
Major General Gouverneur Kemble Warren assumed temporary command of the Second Corps of the Army of the Potomac.
A small party of Confederate partisans made a descent upon Poolesville, Maryland, capturing the telegraph operator and all of his instruments, then destroying the wires. After resupplying their stores and necessities, they retired.
Brigadier General Thomas Welch, commanding the First Division of the Ninth Army Corps, died at Cincinnati, Ohio.
Posted on 8/15/13 at 10:38 am to dallasga6
August 15, 1863
A very unusual seagoing vessel was delivered by two covered railroad flatcars to General P.G.T. Beauregard today in South Carolina. Commander of the defenses of Charleston Harbor, Beauregard had decided this mechanism was to possibly be his secret weapon against the mighty Union fleet. The former cylindrical iron steam boiler, which was deepened and also lengthened through the addition of tapered ends, had evolved into the CSS Hunley, one of the very first submarines to be used in warfare and would become the first and only submarine to sink an enemy ship until World War I. Propelled by seven men turning a crankshaft to drive her propeller, and steered by a eighth, the Hunley had so far proved far more lethal to her two initial crews than to Federal warships. She killed nearly everyone who set foot in her, including H.L Hunley, the financier who had put up the money for her construction and who may have contributed some ideas for the design.
Once the submersible had arrived in Charleston on the two covered cars, Brigadier General Thomas Jefferson Jordan, who had accompanied his long-time friend and mentor, Beauregard, to South Carolina as chief of staff, advised Mr. B.A. Whitney that a reward of $100,000 dollars would be paid by John Fraser and Company for the destruction of the USS New Ironsides. He added that "...a similar sum for destruction of the wooden frigate Wabash, and the sum of fifty thousand dollars for every monitor sunk..." was also being offered. The next day, Jordan ordered that "...every assistance be rendered in equipping the submarine with torpedoes". Jordan also noted "...that General Beauregard regarded H. F. Hunley as the most formidable engine of war for the defense of Charleston now at his disposition & accordingly is anxious to have it ready for service..."
Major William S. General Rosecrans issued an order, holding the citizens in the Department of the Cumberland responsible for any partisan guerrilla operations in the area.
A very unusual seagoing vessel was delivered by two covered railroad flatcars to General P.G.T. Beauregard today in South Carolina. Commander of the defenses of Charleston Harbor, Beauregard had decided this mechanism was to possibly be his secret weapon against the mighty Union fleet. The former cylindrical iron steam boiler, which was deepened and also lengthened through the addition of tapered ends, had evolved into the CSS Hunley, one of the very first submarines to be used in warfare and would become the first and only submarine to sink an enemy ship until World War I. Propelled by seven men turning a crankshaft to drive her propeller, and steered by a eighth, the Hunley had so far proved far more lethal to her two initial crews than to Federal warships. She killed nearly everyone who set foot in her, including H.L Hunley, the financier who had put up the money for her construction and who may have contributed some ideas for the design.
Once the submersible had arrived in Charleston on the two covered cars, Brigadier General Thomas Jefferson Jordan, who had accompanied his long-time friend and mentor, Beauregard, to South Carolina as chief of staff, advised Mr. B.A. Whitney that a reward of $100,000 dollars would be paid by John Fraser and Company for the destruction of the USS New Ironsides. He added that "...a similar sum for destruction of the wooden frigate Wabash, and the sum of fifty thousand dollars for every monitor sunk..." was also being offered. The next day, Jordan ordered that "...every assistance be rendered in equipping the submarine with torpedoes". Jordan also noted "...that General Beauregard regarded H. F. Hunley as the most formidable engine of war for the defense of Charleston now at his disposition & accordingly is anxious to have it ready for service..."
Major William S. General Rosecrans issued an order, holding the citizens in the Department of the Cumberland responsible for any partisan guerrilla operations in the area.
Posted on 8/16/13 at 12:39 pm to dallasga6
August 16, 1863
Wartime usually prompts rapid technological innovation, and the Civil War was certainly no exception. Torpedoes, or what would today be called mines, were developed for use on both land and water. The land versions were condemned by both sides as inhuman, but both sides used them anyway. A water-borne variety was in use today on the Stono River in Charleston, South Carolina. They were set afloat to drift into Union shipping, where they caused chaos but little damage. Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren promptly ordered a net strung across the river to nab any future explosive charges.
The USS Pawnee, under Commander George Balch, escaped undamaged when a floating Confederate torpedo exploded under her stern, destroying a launch, shortly after midnight at Stono Inlet, South Carolina. Four hours later, another torpedo exploded within 30 yards of the ship. In all, four devices exploded close by, and two others were picked up by the mortar schooner C. P. Williams. In addition, a boat capable of holding 10 torpedoes was captured by the Pawnee. Commander Balch informed Rear Admiral Dahlgren that "the torpedoes were ingenious and exceedingly simple" and suggested that 'they may be one of the means" which the Confederates would use to destroy Northern ships stationed in the Stono River. The threat posed by the torpedoes floating down rivers caused grave concern among Northern naval commanders, and Dahlgren came to grips with it at once. Within 10 days, Lieutenant Commander Bacon, piloting the USS Commodore McDonough, reported from Lighthouse Inlet that a net had been stretched across the Inlet "for the purpose of stopping torpedoes..."
Rear Admiral David D. Porter wrote Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus Fox regarding an attack on Mobile: "I think the only way to be successful is a perfect combination of Army and Navy; it is useless for either branch of service to attempt anything on a grand scale without the aid of the other." Though joint operations were planned for some time, it was Rear Admiral David G. Farragut who, a year later, was to steam into Mobile Bay, achieve a great naval victory and close the last Gulf port open to the Confederacy.
The USS Rhode Island, Commander Stephen Trenchard in charge, seized the blockade running British steamer Cronstadt from Wilmington, North Carolina, at a point some forty miles north of Man of War Cay, Abaco, with a cargo of turpentine, cotton, and tobacco.
Bridgeport, Alabama, was evacuated by the Confederate forces.
At last Federal troops were moving in Tennessee. After urging from Washington, Rosecrans and the Army of the Cumberland started toward the Tennessee River and Chattanooga from the area south of Tullahoma.
Rosecrans had delayed, he said, because of ripening crops to be harvested, repair of railroads, and need of support on both flanks. Major General Burnside left Camp Nelson, KY near Lexington, and headed for east Tennessee, reaching the Tennessee River on 20 August.
What was to become the Chickamauga Campaign had begun. Meanwhile, Major General Braxton Bragg, with the Army of Tennessee, called for more troops. Plans were laid quickly to supply him with whatever units could be spared from elsewhere.
Rosecrans planned to cross the Tennessee south and west of Chattanooga while feinting at the Tennessee north of Chattanooga; thus he hoped to trap Bragg between his army and Burnside’s.
In Charleston Harbor Federal guns on Morris Island continued practice firing. For the past several weeks crews of laborers at Fort Sumter had been filling in damaged masonry with sand, strengthening the faces near Morris Island and removing many of the guns, leaving only thirty-eight with a garrison of five hundred.
Wartime usually prompts rapid technological innovation, and the Civil War was certainly no exception. Torpedoes, or what would today be called mines, were developed for use on both land and water. The land versions were condemned by both sides as inhuman, but both sides used them anyway. A water-borne variety was in use today on the Stono River in Charleston, South Carolina. They were set afloat to drift into Union shipping, where they caused chaos but little damage. Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren promptly ordered a net strung across the river to nab any future explosive charges.
The USS Pawnee, under Commander George Balch, escaped undamaged when a floating Confederate torpedo exploded under her stern, destroying a launch, shortly after midnight at Stono Inlet, South Carolina. Four hours later, another torpedo exploded within 30 yards of the ship. In all, four devices exploded close by, and two others were picked up by the mortar schooner C. P. Williams. In addition, a boat capable of holding 10 torpedoes was captured by the Pawnee. Commander Balch informed Rear Admiral Dahlgren that "the torpedoes were ingenious and exceedingly simple" and suggested that 'they may be one of the means" which the Confederates would use to destroy Northern ships stationed in the Stono River. The threat posed by the torpedoes floating down rivers caused grave concern among Northern naval commanders, and Dahlgren came to grips with it at once. Within 10 days, Lieutenant Commander Bacon, piloting the USS Commodore McDonough, reported from Lighthouse Inlet that a net had been stretched across the Inlet "for the purpose of stopping torpedoes..."
Rear Admiral David D. Porter wrote Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus Fox regarding an attack on Mobile: "I think the only way to be successful is a perfect combination of Army and Navy; it is useless for either branch of service to attempt anything on a grand scale without the aid of the other." Though joint operations were planned for some time, it was Rear Admiral David G. Farragut who, a year later, was to steam into Mobile Bay, achieve a great naval victory and close the last Gulf port open to the Confederacy.
The USS Rhode Island, Commander Stephen Trenchard in charge, seized the blockade running British steamer Cronstadt from Wilmington, North Carolina, at a point some forty miles north of Man of War Cay, Abaco, with a cargo of turpentine, cotton, and tobacco.
Bridgeport, Alabama, was evacuated by the Confederate forces.
At last Federal troops were moving in Tennessee. After urging from Washington, Rosecrans and the Army of the Cumberland started toward the Tennessee River and Chattanooga from the area south of Tullahoma.
Rosecrans had delayed, he said, because of ripening crops to be harvested, repair of railroads, and need of support on both flanks. Major General Burnside left Camp Nelson, KY near Lexington, and headed for east Tennessee, reaching the Tennessee River on 20 August.
What was to become the Chickamauga Campaign had begun. Meanwhile, Major General Braxton Bragg, with the Army of Tennessee, called for more troops. Plans were laid quickly to supply him with whatever units could be spared from elsewhere.
Rosecrans planned to cross the Tennessee south and west of Chattanooga while feinting at the Tennessee north of Chattanooga; thus he hoped to trap Bragg between his army and Burnside’s.
In Charleston Harbor Federal guns on Morris Island continued practice firing. For the past several weeks crews of laborers at Fort Sumter had been filling in damaged masonry with sand, strengthening the faces near Morris Island and removing many of the guns, leaving only thirty-eight with a garrison of five hundred.
Posted on 8/17/13 at 3:13 pm to dallasga6
August 17, 1863
Several new holes had appeared last week in the walls of the fort where the Civil War began. These were only love pats as the guns were being sighted in and set for proper elevation. Today the REAL bombardment began in earnest. The over-sized rifled Parrott cannons on Morris Island were joined by other weaponry on Moise Island as well as gunboats. The shooting was not completely one-sided though. Gunfire from Fort Wagner killed Captain George W. Rodgers, chief of staff to Union Admiral John Dahlgren, as well as Acting Assistant Paymaster Josiah G. Woodbury.
Naval forces under Dahlgren, including the ironclads USS Weehawken, Catskill, Nahant, Montauk, Passaic, Patapsco, New Ironsides, and the gunboats Canandaigua, Mahaska, Cimarron, Ottawa, Wissahickon, Dai Ching, Seneca, and Lodona, renewed the joint attack on the Confederate works in Charleston Harbor in conjunction with troops of Brigadier General Quincy Adams Gillmore. The naval battery ashore on Mossie Island under Commander F. A. Parker contributed some 300 rounds to the bombardment, "the greater portion of which," Parker reported, "struck the face of Sumter or its parapet." The USS Passaic and Patapsco also concentrated on Fort Sumter, though the Navy's chief fire mission, as it would be for the next five days of the engagement, was to heavily engage Confederate batteries and sharpshooters at Fort Wagner in support of Gillmore's advance.
In the face of the Union threat, Flag Officer John R. Tucker, flying his flag in the CSS Chicora, ordered Lieutenant Dozier to have the torpedo steamers under his command ready for action without the least delay "...in the event that the ironclads passed Fort Sumter." During the day's fierce exchange of fire, Dahlgren's Chief of Staff, Captain G. W. Rodgers, piloting the USS Catskill, was killed by a shot from Fort Wagner. "It is but natural that I should feel deeply the loss thus sustained, for the close and confidential relation which the duties of fleet captain necessarily occasion impressed me deeply with the worth of Captain Rodgers. Brave, intelligent, and highly capable, [he was] devoted to his duty and to the flag under which he passed his life. The country," added the Admiral in his report to Naval Secretary Gideon Welles, "can not afford to lose such men."
The USS De Soto, Captain W.M. Walker, captured the Confederate steamer Nita, from Havana, in Apalachicola Bay, Florida, with a cargo of provisions and medicines. Walker observed: "The fact that steamers are employed at great cost with all the attendant risk, in transporting provisions from Havana to Mobile is the most conclusive evidence I have yet had of the scarcity of supplies in the Gulf States.".
The USS Satellite, under Acting Master Robinson, seized the schooner Three Brothers in Great Wicomico River, Maryland.
The USS Crocus, piloted by Acting Ensign J. LeGrand Winton, ran aground at night and was wrecked at Bodie's Island, North Carolina.
Major General John Adams Dix, from his headquarters at New York, issued an address to the citizens of that place, in view of the renewed enforcement of the draft, about to take place, imploring them to preserve order.
Robert Toombs, of Washington, Georgia, addressed the following letter to Dr. A. Bees of Americus: My dear Sir. Your letter of the fifteenth instant, asking my authority to contradict the report that 'I am in favor of reconstruction,' was received this evening. I can conceive of no extremity to which my country could be reduced in which I would for a single moment entertain any proposition for any union with the North on any terms whatever. When all else is lost, I prefer to unite with the thousands of our own countrymen who have found honorable deaths, if not graves, on the battlefield. Use this letter as you please.
An order, regulating the discharge of prisoners, was issued from the War Department.
Captain William S. Hotchkiss, commander of the Union gunboat General Putnam, was killed while engaged in an expedition up the Piankatank River, Virginia, by a party of partisan guerrillas.
Several new holes had appeared last week in the walls of the fort where the Civil War began. These were only love pats as the guns were being sighted in and set for proper elevation. Today the REAL bombardment began in earnest. The over-sized rifled Parrott cannons on Morris Island were joined by other weaponry on Moise Island as well as gunboats. The shooting was not completely one-sided though. Gunfire from Fort Wagner killed Captain George W. Rodgers, chief of staff to Union Admiral John Dahlgren, as well as Acting Assistant Paymaster Josiah G. Woodbury.
Naval forces under Dahlgren, including the ironclads USS Weehawken, Catskill, Nahant, Montauk, Passaic, Patapsco, New Ironsides, and the gunboats Canandaigua, Mahaska, Cimarron, Ottawa, Wissahickon, Dai Ching, Seneca, and Lodona, renewed the joint attack on the Confederate works in Charleston Harbor in conjunction with troops of Brigadier General Quincy Adams Gillmore. The naval battery ashore on Mossie Island under Commander F. A. Parker contributed some 300 rounds to the bombardment, "the greater portion of which," Parker reported, "struck the face of Sumter or its parapet." The USS Passaic and Patapsco also concentrated on Fort Sumter, though the Navy's chief fire mission, as it would be for the next five days of the engagement, was to heavily engage Confederate batteries and sharpshooters at Fort Wagner in support of Gillmore's advance.
In the face of the Union threat, Flag Officer John R. Tucker, flying his flag in the CSS Chicora, ordered Lieutenant Dozier to have the torpedo steamers under his command ready for action without the least delay "...in the event that the ironclads passed Fort Sumter." During the day's fierce exchange of fire, Dahlgren's Chief of Staff, Captain G. W. Rodgers, piloting the USS Catskill, was killed by a shot from Fort Wagner. "It is but natural that I should feel deeply the loss thus sustained, for the close and confidential relation which the duties of fleet captain necessarily occasion impressed me deeply with the worth of Captain Rodgers. Brave, intelligent, and highly capable, [he was] devoted to his duty and to the flag under which he passed his life. The country," added the Admiral in his report to Naval Secretary Gideon Welles, "can not afford to lose such men."
The USS De Soto, Captain W.M. Walker, captured the Confederate steamer Nita, from Havana, in Apalachicola Bay, Florida, with a cargo of provisions and medicines. Walker observed: "The fact that steamers are employed at great cost with all the attendant risk, in transporting provisions from Havana to Mobile is the most conclusive evidence I have yet had of the scarcity of supplies in the Gulf States.".
The USS Satellite, under Acting Master Robinson, seized the schooner Three Brothers in Great Wicomico River, Maryland.
The USS Crocus, piloted by Acting Ensign J. LeGrand Winton, ran aground at night and was wrecked at Bodie's Island, North Carolina.
Major General John Adams Dix, from his headquarters at New York, issued an address to the citizens of that place, in view of the renewed enforcement of the draft, about to take place, imploring them to preserve order.
Robert Toombs, of Washington, Georgia, addressed the following letter to Dr. A. Bees of Americus: My dear Sir. Your letter of the fifteenth instant, asking my authority to contradict the report that 'I am in favor of reconstruction,' was received this evening. I can conceive of no extremity to which my country could be reduced in which I would for a single moment entertain any proposition for any union with the North on any terms whatever. When all else is lost, I prefer to unite with the thousands of our own countrymen who have found honorable deaths, if not graves, on the battlefield. Use this letter as you please.
An order, regulating the discharge of prisoners, was issued from the War Department.
Captain William S. Hotchkiss, commander of the Union gunboat General Putnam, was killed while engaged in an expedition up the Piankatank River, Virginia, by a party of partisan guerrillas.
Posted on 8/18/13 at 1:29 pm to dallasga6
August 18, 1863
The second day of the bombardment of Fort Sumter continued today off the coast of South Carolina. Union guns on Morris Island, Moise Island, and various gunboats were taking part in the assault. Sumter was not the only target today. Other blasts were directed at Battery (or Fort) Wagner and Battery Gregg. Although large numbers of holes had been blown in old Sumter's walls, the incredibly sturdy installation was nowhere near to being put out of service yet.
The USS Niphon, under Acting Master Breck, chased the British steamer Hebe north of Fort Fisher, at Wilmington, North Carolina. She was carrying a cargo of drugs, clothing, coffee, and provisions when she was run aground and abandoned. Because of a strong gale, Breck determined to destroy her rather than attempt to get her off. Three boat crews sent to the steamer for that purpose were captured by the Confederates when the boats were either stove in or swamped by the heavy seas. The USS Shokokon, Lieutenant Cushing in charge, assisted in the destruction of the Hebe by commencing a heavy fire, that soon "riddled her." Rear Admiral Lee reported in summation: "She was as thoroughly burned as the water in her would allow."
the British steamer Hebe was run ashore near New Inlet, N. C., and afterward destroyed by the United States steamer Niphon. One of the Niphon's boats was swamped, and her crew captured by the rebels, who lined the shore, firing on the boats charged with the destruction of the Hebe.
The CSS Oconee, commanded by Lieutenant Oscar F. Johnston, foundered in heavy seas near St. Catherine's Sound, Georgia, after running the blockade out of Savannah the night before. She was carrying a cargo of cotton "on navy account," Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory reported. All hands were saved, but 2 days later a boat containing four officers and 11 men was captured by the USS Madgie, Acting Master Woodbury H. Polleys piloting. Polleys noted that "...it was probably her [Oconee's] intention to obtain plate iron on her return trip, in order to ironclad the new rams now building at Savannah."
Lieutenant Bross, with a detachment of the Engineer regiment, on an expedition about twelve miles south of Pocahontas, Arkansas, was attacked by Colonel Street's company, at a point where defense was difficult. After a brief skirmish, Bross drew his men in line of battle, and charged upon the Confederates, who being vastly outnumbered, formed an orderly retreat. They were pursued for five miles, when four were captured, along with several of their horses and mules. Colonel Street was among those followed. He was subsequently discovered and chased, and pressed so hard, that he jumped from his horse, and hid himself in a swamp and undergrowth. In Street's saddle bags were found the payroll of a company of the First Mississippi militia, as follows: "One hundred and fifty men all told, twenty-two prisoners of war, forty-two absent without leave, and nine turned over to another company, leaving his present strength seventy-one men."
President Lincoln tested the new Spencer Rifle in Washington by firing a few shots in Treasury Park.
Inland skirmishes flared at Bristoe Station, VA; near Pasquotank, NC and near Crab Orchard and Albany, KY. In New Mexico Territory Federal troops skirmished with Indians at Pueblo Colorado.
The Forty-seventh regiment of Massachusetts volunteers, under the command of Colonel Marsh, returned to Boston, from the seat of war
The second day of the bombardment of Fort Sumter continued today off the coast of South Carolina. Union guns on Morris Island, Moise Island, and various gunboats were taking part in the assault. Sumter was not the only target today. Other blasts were directed at Battery (or Fort) Wagner and Battery Gregg. Although large numbers of holes had been blown in old Sumter's walls, the incredibly sturdy installation was nowhere near to being put out of service yet.
The USS Niphon, under Acting Master Breck, chased the British steamer Hebe north of Fort Fisher, at Wilmington, North Carolina. She was carrying a cargo of drugs, clothing, coffee, and provisions when she was run aground and abandoned. Because of a strong gale, Breck determined to destroy her rather than attempt to get her off. Three boat crews sent to the steamer for that purpose were captured by the Confederates when the boats were either stove in or swamped by the heavy seas. The USS Shokokon, Lieutenant Cushing in charge, assisted in the destruction of the Hebe by commencing a heavy fire, that soon "riddled her." Rear Admiral Lee reported in summation: "She was as thoroughly burned as the water in her would allow."
the British steamer Hebe was run ashore near New Inlet, N. C., and afterward destroyed by the United States steamer Niphon. One of the Niphon's boats was swamped, and her crew captured by the rebels, who lined the shore, firing on the boats charged with the destruction of the Hebe.
The CSS Oconee, commanded by Lieutenant Oscar F. Johnston, foundered in heavy seas near St. Catherine's Sound, Georgia, after running the blockade out of Savannah the night before. She was carrying a cargo of cotton "on navy account," Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory reported. All hands were saved, but 2 days later a boat containing four officers and 11 men was captured by the USS Madgie, Acting Master Woodbury H. Polleys piloting. Polleys noted that "...it was probably her [Oconee's] intention to obtain plate iron on her return trip, in order to ironclad the new rams now building at Savannah."
Lieutenant Bross, with a detachment of the Engineer regiment, on an expedition about twelve miles south of Pocahontas, Arkansas, was attacked by Colonel Street's company, at a point where defense was difficult. After a brief skirmish, Bross drew his men in line of battle, and charged upon the Confederates, who being vastly outnumbered, formed an orderly retreat. They were pursued for five miles, when four were captured, along with several of their horses and mules. Colonel Street was among those followed. He was subsequently discovered and chased, and pressed so hard, that he jumped from his horse, and hid himself in a swamp and undergrowth. In Street's saddle bags were found the payroll of a company of the First Mississippi militia, as follows: "One hundred and fifty men all told, twenty-two prisoners of war, forty-two absent without leave, and nine turned over to another company, leaving his present strength seventy-one men."
President Lincoln tested the new Spencer Rifle in Washington by firing a few shots in Treasury Park.
Inland skirmishes flared at Bristoe Station, VA; near Pasquotank, NC and near Crab Orchard and Albany, KY. In New Mexico Territory Federal troops skirmished with Indians at Pueblo Colorado.
The Forty-seventh regiment of Massachusetts volunteers, under the command of Colonel Marsh, returned to Boston, from the seat of war
Posted on 8/18/13 at 2:31 pm to dallasga6
On August 18, 1863, Union General Ewing issued General Order #10. The order started out innocuously enough. It instructed the military to assist any free people who wished to relocate into Kansas by escorting them to ensure their safe passage.
But, it went much further. This order called for the arrest of all guerillas and any people who had helped them; they were to be taken in for prosecution. The families of all guerillas were to be removed from their homes and sent to Kansas City for transport into the deep South. They were to e allowed to take with them livestock, household goods and personal belongings. The written order prevented any soldier from burning or destroying any property, crops or livestock unless under direction from a superior. However, they were to destroy any blacksmith shops or stations, including blacksmith tools, unless they were part of a military outpost. Finally, the order stated that no one not a member of Union forces was to accompany solders on these missions to remove Confederate fighters and their families except guides.
Now, here's what actually happened. Ewing was encouraged to issue and execute this order by Senator Lane, the leader of the Jayhawkers. And Jayhawker troops, who were not actual Union troops, led these missions. The families and other supporters of the guerilla fighters, as well as those who had joined Confederate Army units, were pulled from their homes. Some were simply turned out with nowhere to go, others were taken to Kansas City to be sent south. Some were simply murdered. Their livestock was butchered, and their homes and crops burned. They were allowed a few personal items, if anything - no household goods to help them reestablish their lives elsewhere.
These acts further enraged Quantrill and his men, who were already reeling from what they perceived as a deliberate attack on the women who were killed or injured in the jail collapse. Among the guerillas were refugees from Oceola - the town burned by Lane's Jayhawkers in 1981. The stage was then set for the events that occurred a few days later.
_______________________________________________________________
But, it went much further. This order called for the arrest of all guerillas and any people who had helped them; they were to be taken in for prosecution. The families of all guerillas were to be removed from their homes and sent to Kansas City for transport into the deep South. They were to e allowed to take with them livestock, household goods and personal belongings. The written order prevented any soldier from burning or destroying any property, crops or livestock unless under direction from a superior. However, they were to destroy any blacksmith shops or stations, including blacksmith tools, unless they were part of a military outpost. Finally, the order stated that no one not a member of Union forces was to accompany solders on these missions to remove Confederate fighters and their families except guides.
Now, here's what actually happened. Ewing was encouraged to issue and execute this order by Senator Lane, the leader of the Jayhawkers. And Jayhawker troops, who were not actual Union troops, led these missions. The families and other supporters of the guerilla fighters, as well as those who had joined Confederate Army units, were pulled from their homes. Some were simply turned out with nowhere to go, others were taken to Kansas City to be sent south. Some were simply murdered. Their livestock was butchered, and their homes and crops burned. They were allowed a few personal items, if anything - no household goods to help them reestablish their lives elsewhere.
These acts further enraged Quantrill and his men, who were already reeling from what they perceived as a deliberate attack on the women who were killed or injured in the jail collapse. Among the guerillas were refugees from Oceola - the town burned by Lane's Jayhawkers in 1981. The stage was then set for the events that occurred a few days later.
_______________________________________________________________
Posted on 8/19/13 at 2:56 pm to semotruman
August 19, 1863
The last time they had tried to hold the drawings for the Federal draft in New York City a massive riot had broken out which led to lynchings, arson, looting, as well as the deaths of several hundred people. Negroes were hunted down simply for retribution. Troops who had just been through the three day battle of Gettysburg had to be called in to restore order. There was no escaping the inevitable, though, and today the call up was resumed. The bitterness of recent immigrants, primarily the Irish, who had no desire to fight for the liberation of slaves who they saw as competition in the search for jobs, had not abated, but violent resistance ceased. Some took the $300 bounty offered to serve as substitutes for others. Some took it several times under different names. As the drafting commenced in the City, and was conducted without any disturbance, the tensions eased. Governor Horatio Seymour issued a proclamation, counseling peace and submission to the draft, and repeating his determination to test the constitutionality of the law under which the draft was made.
An armed boat expedition, consisting of a launch from the USS Norwich and two cutters from the USS Hale, attacked two Confederate signal stations on the St. Johns River tonight. One post was taken, after surprising the picket and surrounding the installation before the Confederates were even aware of the Federal approach. A heavy rain squall interfered with the attempts to capture the second station. It is reported that five Confederates were captured, together with three Enfield rifles and bayonets, belts, pouches, and boxes, sixteen rounds of ball cartridges, two signal torches, flags, spy glasses, and one saddle. The Federals say that the capture of this station, just three miles outside Jacksonville, will seriously interfere with Confederate communications throughout the St. Johns area and between northeast Florida and other parts of the South.
The USS Restless, Acting Master William R. Browne in charge, captured the schooner Ernti with a cargo of cotton southwest of the Florida Keys.
Guerrilla leader and Confederate supporter William Quantrill gathers 294 men in Columbus, Missouri, organizes them into four companies and plans out a raid on Lawrence, Kansas.
Union General Rosecrans, concentrating his troops for an assault on Chattanooga, moves his own headquarters to Stevenson in the northeast corner of Alabama. Everything is starting to close in on Chickamauga Creek.
The last time they had tried to hold the drawings for the Federal draft in New York City a massive riot had broken out which led to lynchings, arson, looting, as well as the deaths of several hundred people. Negroes were hunted down simply for retribution. Troops who had just been through the three day battle of Gettysburg had to be called in to restore order. There was no escaping the inevitable, though, and today the call up was resumed. The bitterness of recent immigrants, primarily the Irish, who had no desire to fight for the liberation of slaves who they saw as competition in the search for jobs, had not abated, but violent resistance ceased. Some took the $300 bounty offered to serve as substitutes for others. Some took it several times under different names. As the drafting commenced in the City, and was conducted without any disturbance, the tensions eased. Governor Horatio Seymour issued a proclamation, counseling peace and submission to the draft, and repeating his determination to test the constitutionality of the law under which the draft was made.
An armed boat expedition, consisting of a launch from the USS Norwich and two cutters from the USS Hale, attacked two Confederate signal stations on the St. Johns River tonight. One post was taken, after surprising the picket and surrounding the installation before the Confederates were even aware of the Federal approach. A heavy rain squall interfered with the attempts to capture the second station. It is reported that five Confederates were captured, together with three Enfield rifles and bayonets, belts, pouches, and boxes, sixteen rounds of ball cartridges, two signal torches, flags, spy glasses, and one saddle. The Federals say that the capture of this station, just three miles outside Jacksonville, will seriously interfere with Confederate communications throughout the St. Johns area and between northeast Florida and other parts of the South.
The USS Restless, Acting Master William R. Browne in charge, captured the schooner Ernti with a cargo of cotton southwest of the Florida Keys.
Guerrilla leader and Confederate supporter William Quantrill gathers 294 men in Columbus, Missouri, organizes them into four companies and plans out a raid on Lawrence, Kansas.
Union General Rosecrans, concentrating his troops for an assault on Chattanooga, moves his own headquarters to Stevenson in the northeast corner of Alabama. Everything is starting to close in on Chickamauga Creek.
Posted on 8/20/13 at 1:01 pm to dallasga6
August 20, 1863
When a vote was taken to decide if Tennessee would leave the Union, the outcome was very close. The eastern part of the state had been heavily against secession, but that did not mean the Federal effort to reclaim them was going to be easy. Today General William Rosecrans and his Army of the Cumberland were nearing the Tennessee River as they slowly closed in on Chattanooga. Their target, General Braxton Bragg, was sending increasingly hysterical telegrams to President Jefferson Davis demanding reinforcements. By Bragg's calculations, his 40,000 troops were now facing 60,000 with Rosecrans and another 30,000 to arrive shortly under General Ambrose Burnside.
Acting Brigadier General B. F. Onderdonk, of the First New York Mounted Rifles, and two companies of the Eleventh Pennsylvania cavalry, returned to Portsmouth, Virginia, from a raid into North Carolina. They passed through Edenton, and opened communication with Captain Roberts, in command at South Mills. Thence they proceeded to Pasquotank and Hertford, and while about half-way between the two places, were attacked by partisan guerrillas, and in the skirmish lost two mounted riflemen. They reported killing thirty guerrillas, and drove several into the Dismal Swamp, where they were presumed drowned; captured ninety horses, thirty mules, and other livestock, including several head of cattle.
Quantrill & his men traveled through out the night of the 20th. Just before dawn on the 21'st the guerrilla forces under William Clarke Quantrill approached the unsuspecting town of Lawrence Kansas. As the sun peeked over the horizon, the men could see how large of a town was below them. They had expected to take it at night, while the 2,000 residents were sleeping. During the day, it would be a wholly different matter. Some wanted to call it off. “You can do as you please,” Quantrill told them. “I am going to Lawrence.”
In the Far West Colonel Christopher “Kit” Carson had been commanding expeditions against the Navajo Indians in the Arizona Territory. Today Carson’s command left Pueblo, Colorado Territory and will operate until 16 December in the area of Canon de Chelly in reprisal against Indian depredations. The plan was for the government to move them to a reservation at Bosque Redondo on the Pecos near Fort Sumner, New Mexico Territory.
In an expedition that will last until 28 August, Federals operated from Vicksburg, MS to Monroe, LA.
Confederate Lieutenant Colonel A. H. McCormick informs Captain Wilkinson Call at Camp Finegan of the capture of his signal station at St. Johns Mill last night by Federals.
The commander of the prize steamer James Battle has been ordered to fit the vessel out for a three weeks’ expedition, “the object of which is to scour the coast between Tampa Bay and St. Marks where it is believed one or more steamers . . . are now engaged in landing and receiving cargoes for the rebels."
Florida Attorney General J. B. Galbraith advises Governor Milton that the Chief Executive, under state law, may take summary action immediately against any distillery violating the act recently passed by the legislature. “It was the intention of the legislature,” according to this opinion, “entirely and effectually to suppress all distillations of spirituous liquors in the state.” The Governor, the Attorney General says, has authority to proceed against these illegal distilleries, using military force, and whatever other force he feels necessary, to take unlawful distilleries into his possession, “together with the liquor distilled and to prevent the further distillation, or he may direct the destruction of the distillery all together.” According to the Act, “persons unlawfully distilling liquor should, when their distilleries are abated in the manner provided, be themselves arrested, examined and bound over for trial under the act, by the court of competent jurisdiction.”
When a vote was taken to decide if Tennessee would leave the Union, the outcome was very close. The eastern part of the state had been heavily against secession, but that did not mean the Federal effort to reclaim them was going to be easy. Today General William Rosecrans and his Army of the Cumberland were nearing the Tennessee River as they slowly closed in on Chattanooga. Their target, General Braxton Bragg, was sending increasingly hysterical telegrams to President Jefferson Davis demanding reinforcements. By Bragg's calculations, his 40,000 troops were now facing 60,000 with Rosecrans and another 30,000 to arrive shortly under General Ambrose Burnside.
Acting Brigadier General B. F. Onderdonk, of the First New York Mounted Rifles, and two companies of the Eleventh Pennsylvania cavalry, returned to Portsmouth, Virginia, from a raid into North Carolina. They passed through Edenton, and opened communication with Captain Roberts, in command at South Mills. Thence they proceeded to Pasquotank and Hertford, and while about half-way between the two places, were attacked by partisan guerrillas, and in the skirmish lost two mounted riflemen. They reported killing thirty guerrillas, and drove several into the Dismal Swamp, where they were presumed drowned; captured ninety horses, thirty mules, and other livestock, including several head of cattle.
Quantrill & his men traveled through out the night of the 20th. Just before dawn on the 21'st the guerrilla forces under William Clarke Quantrill approached the unsuspecting town of Lawrence Kansas. As the sun peeked over the horizon, the men could see how large of a town was below them. They had expected to take it at night, while the 2,000 residents were sleeping. During the day, it would be a wholly different matter. Some wanted to call it off. “You can do as you please,” Quantrill told them. “I am going to Lawrence.”
In the Far West Colonel Christopher “Kit” Carson had been commanding expeditions against the Navajo Indians in the Arizona Territory. Today Carson’s command left Pueblo, Colorado Territory and will operate until 16 December in the area of Canon de Chelly in reprisal against Indian depredations. The plan was for the government to move them to a reservation at Bosque Redondo on the Pecos near Fort Sumner, New Mexico Territory.
In an expedition that will last until 28 August, Federals operated from Vicksburg, MS to Monroe, LA.
Confederate Lieutenant Colonel A. H. McCormick informs Captain Wilkinson Call at Camp Finegan of the capture of his signal station at St. Johns Mill last night by Federals.
The commander of the prize steamer James Battle has been ordered to fit the vessel out for a three weeks’ expedition, “the object of which is to scour the coast between Tampa Bay and St. Marks where it is believed one or more steamers . . . are now engaged in landing and receiving cargoes for the rebels."
Florida Attorney General J. B. Galbraith advises Governor Milton that the Chief Executive, under state law, may take summary action immediately against any distillery violating the act recently passed by the legislature. “It was the intention of the legislature,” according to this opinion, “entirely and effectually to suppress all distillations of spirituous liquors in the state.” The Governor, the Attorney General says, has authority to proceed against these illegal distilleries, using military force, and whatever other force he feels necessary, to take unlawful distilleries into his possession, “together with the liquor distilled and to prevent the further distillation, or he may direct the destruction of the distillery all together.” According to the Act, “persons unlawfully distilling liquor should, when their distilleries are abated in the manner provided, be themselves arrested, examined and bound over for trial under the act, by the court of competent jurisdiction.”
This post was edited on 8/20/13 at 1:04 pm
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