Started By
Message
1
Posted on 5/19/13 at 2:00 pm to tigerpimpbot
May 19, 1863
With a huge assist from the US Navy, General Hiram U. Grant had conducted one of the great military campaigns of the War Between the States in the last few weeks, winning battle after battle and sweeping all before him in the campaign to recapture Vicksburg. The Confederate forces of General John C. Pemberton had stubbornly, finally retreated into the city itself, and Grant--with General William T. Sherman's corps to the north of town, General James B. McPherson holding the center, and General John Alexander McClernand covering the south--hoped to sweep into town today before entrenchments could be completed. This hope was in vain as the trenching work had been underway for some time. All attacks against the breastworks failed, with nearly 1000 Union casualties. Grant didn't easily learn the frontal assault lesson.
As the Union Army troops tried to take Vicksburg, Grant sought continuous naval support for his movements. He wrote Rear Admiral David D. Porter: ''If you can run down and throw shell in just back of the city it will aid us and demoralize an already badly beaten enemy." Sherman requested similar assistance: "My right [flank] is on the Mississippi. We have possession of the bluff down a mile or more below the mouth of the Bayou. Can't you send immediately a couple of gunboats down? They can easily see and distinguish our men, and can silence a water battery that is the extremity of their flank on the river and enfilade the left flank of their works.'' The USS Benton, under Lieutenant Commander James A. Greer, was ordered into action at once by Porter: "The moment you see the forts on the hills opening on our troops advancing toward the town, move up and open at long range with shell on such forts as may be firing. The object is to disconcert the enemy, and by firing shell at your longest range, you can do so. Do not come in range of the guns above the city, as there arc no forts there that can trouble our army. Fire on the forts on the hill, and try and drop your shell in them.''
Lieutenant Commander Reigart B. Lowry wrote Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles urging that naval officers and seamen not employed at sea be used to man forts and seacoast defenses: ''The most successful defenses made against us...at various points of the Mississippi and the seacoast have been made by ex-naval officers and seamen; in the last defense of Port Hudson the guns were worked by seamen and naval men, so at Vicksburg, at Galveston, and Charleston. The defenses of Sebastopol were entirely defended by Russian seamen for many months, while from the fort guarding that port they beat back the combined fleets of England and France."
The USS Huntsville, Acting Lieutenant W. C. Rogers in charge, seized the blockade running Spanish steamer Union in the Gulf of Mexico west of St. Petersburg.
The mortar schooner USS Sophronia, commanded by Acting Ensign William R. Rude, seized the schooner Mignonette at Piney Point, Virginia, attempting to smuggle whiskey.
The USS De Soto, under Captain W. M. Walker, captured the schooner Mississippian in the Gulf of Mexico, bound from Mobile to Havana with a cargo of cotton and turpentine.
Richmond, in Ray County, Missouri, was captured, together with the Federal force occupying it, by a band of partisan guerrillas, after a severe fight, in which three officers of the Twenty-fifth Missouri regiment were killed.
With a huge assist from the US Navy, General Hiram U. Grant had conducted one of the great military campaigns of the War Between the States in the last few weeks, winning battle after battle and sweeping all before him in the campaign to recapture Vicksburg. The Confederate forces of General John C. Pemberton had stubbornly, finally retreated into the city itself, and Grant--with General William T. Sherman's corps to the north of town, General James B. McPherson holding the center, and General John Alexander McClernand covering the south--hoped to sweep into town today before entrenchments could be completed. This hope was in vain as the trenching work had been underway for some time. All attacks against the breastworks failed, with nearly 1000 Union casualties. Grant didn't easily learn the frontal assault lesson.
As the Union Army troops tried to take Vicksburg, Grant sought continuous naval support for his movements. He wrote Rear Admiral David D. Porter: ''If you can run down and throw shell in just back of the city it will aid us and demoralize an already badly beaten enemy." Sherman requested similar assistance: "My right [flank] is on the Mississippi. We have possession of the bluff down a mile or more below the mouth of the Bayou. Can't you send immediately a couple of gunboats down? They can easily see and distinguish our men, and can silence a water battery that is the extremity of their flank on the river and enfilade the left flank of their works.'' The USS Benton, under Lieutenant Commander James A. Greer, was ordered into action at once by Porter: "The moment you see the forts on the hills opening on our troops advancing toward the town, move up and open at long range with shell on such forts as may be firing. The object is to disconcert the enemy, and by firing shell at your longest range, you can do so. Do not come in range of the guns above the city, as there arc no forts there that can trouble our army. Fire on the forts on the hill, and try and drop your shell in them.''
Lieutenant Commander Reigart B. Lowry wrote Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles urging that naval officers and seamen not employed at sea be used to man forts and seacoast defenses: ''The most successful defenses made against us...at various points of the Mississippi and the seacoast have been made by ex-naval officers and seamen; in the last defense of Port Hudson the guns were worked by seamen and naval men, so at Vicksburg, at Galveston, and Charleston. The defenses of Sebastopol were entirely defended by Russian seamen for many months, while from the fort guarding that port they beat back the combined fleets of England and France."
The USS Huntsville, Acting Lieutenant W. C. Rogers in charge, seized the blockade running Spanish steamer Union in the Gulf of Mexico west of St. Petersburg.
The mortar schooner USS Sophronia, commanded by Acting Ensign William R. Rude, seized the schooner Mignonette at Piney Point, Virginia, attempting to smuggle whiskey.
The USS De Soto, under Captain W. M. Walker, captured the schooner Mississippian in the Gulf of Mexico, bound from Mobile to Havana with a cargo of cotton and turpentine.
Richmond, in Ray County, Missouri, was captured, together with the Federal force occupying it, by a band of partisan guerrillas, after a severe fight, in which three officers of the Twenty-fifth Missouri regiment were killed.
Posted on 5/20/13 at 7:16 am to dallasga6
quote:
Gunboats blocked the river, and now Grant invested the city, completely surrounding it with fortifications. The siege was now absolute.
Vicksburg was completely surrounded and the shipping blockades were in place on May 18th... The Union Army refused to accept surrender until July 4th... I've heard the stories of people eating dead horses and mules, rats, cats , dogs and birds... Pretty much anything that would sit still long enough... There are old urban legends of cannibalism as well but there is no written proof of it.
Posted on 5/20/13 at 2:06 pm to reggierayreb
May 20, 1863
No single, large scale action took place today, but there were several smaller ones and other events. Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who had been unpleasantly (although not seriously) ill for several weeks, was officially ruled by his doctor to be on the mend today. After the carnage of the previous afternoon, General Hiram U. Grant decided that frontal assault was not the way to take Vicksburg, and was meditating on alternatives. Rear Admiral David G. Farragut wrote to Secretary Welles that the ships he had available for the coming attack on Port Hudson were pretty well battered: ''We are again about to attack Port Hudson. General Banks supported by the Hartford, Albatross and some of the small gunboats, will attack from above, landing probably at Bayou Sara, while General Augur will march up from Baton Rouge and will attack the place from below. . . . my vessels are pretty well used up, but they must work as long as they can."
Writing of the reports he had made to the Navy Department after the Charleston attack, Rear Admiral Samuel F. DuPont noted: ''I did not call a failure, a reconnaissance. I told them, to renew the attack would be to convert failure into disaster. I told them moreover that Charleston could not be taken by a purely naval attack-nor can it be in the ordinary professional acceptation of the term not that there is not power enough in the country to do it- but there is nothing to justify its application or to reward its success commensurate with the sacrifice etc. When Admiral Sir Charles Napier informed the Admiralty that to attack Cronstadt would be the destruction of the British fleet-or when the combined fleets withdrew from the attack of the forts at Sebastopol, it was not intended to convey, there was not wealth and life enough in Britain and France to accomplish it. Blood and treasure may do almost anything in war. Suvorov bridged marshes with human bodies, by forcing his advance guard into them, until the remainder of his army found a foot-hold on their fallen comrades."
A boat crew under Acting Master's Mate Charles W. Fisher of the USS Louisiana captured the schooner R. T. Renshaw in the Tar River, above Washington, North Carolina.
The wooden hulled, side wheeled steamer Margaret and Jessie, as well as the steamships Annie and Kate, arrived at Charleston, South Carolina, from Nassau, with "valuable cargoes," having run the blockade.
The schooner Sea Bird was captured and burned by the Rebels, while aground at the mouth of the Neuse River, North Carolina.
The steamer Eagle, having just left the harbor of Nassau, N. P., with a cargo intended for the Confederates, was captured by the Federal gunboat Octorora.
No single, large scale action took place today, but there were several smaller ones and other events. Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who had been unpleasantly (although not seriously) ill for several weeks, was officially ruled by his doctor to be on the mend today. After the carnage of the previous afternoon, General Hiram U. Grant decided that frontal assault was not the way to take Vicksburg, and was meditating on alternatives. Rear Admiral David G. Farragut wrote to Secretary Welles that the ships he had available for the coming attack on Port Hudson were pretty well battered: ''We are again about to attack Port Hudson. General Banks supported by the Hartford, Albatross and some of the small gunboats, will attack from above, landing probably at Bayou Sara, while General Augur will march up from Baton Rouge and will attack the place from below. . . . my vessels are pretty well used up, but they must work as long as they can."
Writing of the reports he had made to the Navy Department after the Charleston attack, Rear Admiral Samuel F. DuPont noted: ''I did not call a failure, a reconnaissance. I told them, to renew the attack would be to convert failure into disaster. I told them moreover that Charleston could not be taken by a purely naval attack-nor can it be in the ordinary professional acceptation of the term not that there is not power enough in the country to do it- but there is nothing to justify its application or to reward its success commensurate with the sacrifice etc. When Admiral Sir Charles Napier informed the Admiralty that to attack Cronstadt would be the destruction of the British fleet-or when the combined fleets withdrew from the attack of the forts at Sebastopol, it was not intended to convey, there was not wealth and life enough in Britain and France to accomplish it. Blood and treasure may do almost anything in war. Suvorov bridged marshes with human bodies, by forcing his advance guard into them, until the remainder of his army found a foot-hold on their fallen comrades."
A boat crew under Acting Master's Mate Charles W. Fisher of the USS Louisiana captured the schooner R. T. Renshaw in the Tar River, above Washington, North Carolina.
The wooden hulled, side wheeled steamer Margaret and Jessie, as well as the steamships Annie and Kate, arrived at Charleston, South Carolina, from Nassau, with "valuable cargoes," having run the blockade.
The schooner Sea Bird was captured and burned by the Rebels, while aground at the mouth of the Neuse River, North Carolina.
The steamer Eagle, having just left the harbor of Nassau, N. P., with a cargo intended for the Confederates, was captured by the Federal gunboat Octorora.
Posted on 5/21/13 at 3:33 pm to dallasga6
May 21, 1863
The actions of the Federal Navy in the river warfare of the Western Theater is little noted today, but during the war their effects were considerable. A flotilla was sent up the Yazoo River today; its destination Yazoo City. There was a Confederate naval yard there, and its occupants did not even wait for the flotilla to arrive. As soon as its mission became known the yard was abandoned, its shops destroyed, and three ships--two steamships and an uncompleted gunboat--were burned. Under Lieutenant Commander J. G. Walker, the USS Baron De Kalb, Choctaw, Forest Rose, Linden, and Petrel pushed up the Yazoo River from Haynes' Bluff to Yazoo City, Mississippi. As the gunboats approached the city, Commander Isaac N. Brown, CSN, who had commanded the heroic ram CSS Arkansas the preceding summer, was forced to destroy three ''powerful steamers, rams and a fine navy yard, with machine shops of all kinds, sawmills, blacksmith shops, etc. . . to prevent their capture." Porter noted that ''what he had begun our forces finished," as the city was evacuated by the Southerners. The Confederate steamers destroyed were the Mobile, Republic, and ''a monster, 310 feet long and 70 feet beam.'' Had the latter been completed, ''she would have given us much trouble.'' Porter's prediction to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles at the end of the expedition, though overly optimistic in terms of the time that would be required, was nonetheless a clear summary of the effect of the gunboats' sweep up the Yazoo: ''It is a mere question of a few hours, and then, with the exception of Port Hudson (which will follow Vicksburg), the Mississippi will be open its entire length.''
General Grant wrote Rear Admiral Porter, informing him of an anticipated Army attack on Vicksburg and requesting the assistance of the gunboats: ''I expect to assault the city at 10 a.m. tomorrow. I would request, and earnestly request it, that you send up the gunboats below the city and shell the rebel entrenchments until that hour and for thirty minutes after. If the mortars could all be sent down to near this point on the Louisiana shore, and throw shells during the night, it would materially aid me. I would like at least to have the enemy kept annoyed during the night." Porter responded and "kept six mortars playing rapidly on the works and town all night; sent the Benton, Mound City, and Carondelet up to shell the water batteries, and other places where troops might be resting during the night." Early the morning of 22 May, Mound City, Lieutenant Commander Wilson, engaged the hill batteries. An hour later she was joined by the USS Benton, Tuscumbia, and Carondelet. The combined fire temporarily silenced the Confederate work. Leaving Tuscumbia to prevent further action by the hill batteries, Porter proceeded with the other three gunboats against the water batteries. These guns opened on the Union ships "furiously," but Porter forced his way to within a quarter of a mile of them. By this time the gunboats had been engaged for an hour longer than Grant had requested, and, with no Army assault apparently forthcoming, the Admiral directed his ships to drop back out of range. The gunboats were hit ''a number of times'' but suffered little severe damage; they were, however, nearly out of ammunition when the attack was broken off. The Admiral later learned that the troops ashore had attacked Vicksburg, an unsuccessful assault that had been obscured from the squadron's view by the smoke and noise of its own guns and the Confederate batteries. Praising Grant's effort, Porter remarked: ''The army had terrible work before them, and are fighting as well as soldiers ever fought before, but the works are stronger than any of us dreamed of." Brigadier General John McArthur in turn praised the work of the gunboats. He wrote Porter: "I received your communication regarding the silencing of the two batteries below Vicksburg, and in reply would say that I witnessed with intense satisfaction the firing on that day, being the finest I have yet seen."
Rear Admiral David D. Farragut wrote Captain John R. Goldsborough, commanding the blockading force off Mobile: "I am much gratified to find that you are adding to the successes of the day by the number of captures recently made. . . . I know' that your service is one of great anxiety, and irksome, with but little compensation save the pleasure of knowing that you are doing your duty toward your country. I know your officers would be glad to be with me in the river, and gladly would I bring them here to my assistance were it not indispensable to have them on the blockade. I feel as if I was about to make the last blow at them [the Confederates] I shall for some time to come. The fall of Port Hudson will place Admiral Porter in command of the river, and I shall join my fleet outside, and trust I shall call on my officers outside for their exertions in the reductions of the last two places Mobile and Galveston."
The USS Union, under Acting Lieutenant Edward Conroy, seized the blockade running British schooner Linnet in the Gulf of Mexico, west of Charlotte Harbor, Florida.
The USS Currituck, Acting Master Linnekin in charge, USS Anacostia, piloted by Acting Master Nelson Provost, and USS Satellite, Acting Master John F. D. Robinson commanding, captured the schooner Emily at the mouth of the Rappahannock River.
A band of partisan guerrillas who day before yesterday plundered the town of Richmond, Missouri, this day visited Plattsburg, in the same State, and carried off eleven thousand dollars belonging to the State.
The Mobile Register of this date said: "We are informed by the Mayor that the British subjects residing in Mobile have formed a company, known as the British Consular Guards, commanded by F. J. Helton, Captain, and have offered their services to the Mayor to aid in the preservation of the good order of the city in case of insurrection, invasion, inundation, devastation by fire, or any other duty not inconsistent with the retaining of their original nationality."
Last night a large steamer was discovered by the gunboat Powhatan, coming out of Charleston by the North channel. She was fired at repeatedly, and finally driven back; but before she reached the bar again the Powhatan's fire, and that of two or three other blockaders that had slipped their cables and come up, was so heavy and well-directed that the British bound ship was bored through and through and sunk in about eight fathoms of water. Nothing but her topmasts were visible this morning at daylight. She was a very large steamer, loaded with an immense cargo of cotton and tobacco. Her name was not ascertained, nor the fate of her officers and crew.
An expedition of Union troops composed of levies from Massachusetts, New York, and Maine, left Bemis's Landing, Louisiana, this morning at daybreak.
William Robe, a citizen of Morgan County, Indiana, was shot while at work in his field, by a man named Bailey. Robe had been instrumental in collecting evidence against the Knights of the Golden Circle.
The Twelfth regiment of New York volunteers returned to Syracuse from the seat of war.
A Confederate camp near Middleton, Tennessee, was attacked and broken up by a party of Federal troops under the command of General Stanley.
The citizens of Richmond, Virginia, were organized for the defense of the city, and officers were appointed by General George W. Randolph, assisted by a select committee of the City Council. The people of Manchester, on the opposite bank of the James River, were invited to cooperate in the movement.
The actions of the Federal Navy in the river warfare of the Western Theater is little noted today, but during the war their effects were considerable. A flotilla was sent up the Yazoo River today; its destination Yazoo City. There was a Confederate naval yard there, and its occupants did not even wait for the flotilla to arrive. As soon as its mission became known the yard was abandoned, its shops destroyed, and three ships--two steamships and an uncompleted gunboat--were burned. Under Lieutenant Commander J. G. Walker, the USS Baron De Kalb, Choctaw, Forest Rose, Linden, and Petrel pushed up the Yazoo River from Haynes' Bluff to Yazoo City, Mississippi. As the gunboats approached the city, Commander Isaac N. Brown, CSN, who had commanded the heroic ram CSS Arkansas the preceding summer, was forced to destroy three ''powerful steamers, rams and a fine navy yard, with machine shops of all kinds, sawmills, blacksmith shops, etc. . . to prevent their capture." Porter noted that ''what he had begun our forces finished," as the city was evacuated by the Southerners. The Confederate steamers destroyed were the Mobile, Republic, and ''a monster, 310 feet long and 70 feet beam.'' Had the latter been completed, ''she would have given us much trouble.'' Porter's prediction to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles at the end of the expedition, though overly optimistic in terms of the time that would be required, was nonetheless a clear summary of the effect of the gunboats' sweep up the Yazoo: ''It is a mere question of a few hours, and then, with the exception of Port Hudson (which will follow Vicksburg), the Mississippi will be open its entire length.''
General Grant wrote Rear Admiral Porter, informing him of an anticipated Army attack on Vicksburg and requesting the assistance of the gunboats: ''I expect to assault the city at 10 a.m. tomorrow. I would request, and earnestly request it, that you send up the gunboats below the city and shell the rebel entrenchments until that hour and for thirty minutes after. If the mortars could all be sent down to near this point on the Louisiana shore, and throw shells during the night, it would materially aid me. I would like at least to have the enemy kept annoyed during the night." Porter responded and "kept six mortars playing rapidly on the works and town all night; sent the Benton, Mound City, and Carondelet up to shell the water batteries, and other places where troops might be resting during the night." Early the morning of 22 May, Mound City, Lieutenant Commander Wilson, engaged the hill batteries. An hour later she was joined by the USS Benton, Tuscumbia, and Carondelet. The combined fire temporarily silenced the Confederate work. Leaving Tuscumbia to prevent further action by the hill batteries, Porter proceeded with the other three gunboats against the water batteries. These guns opened on the Union ships "furiously," but Porter forced his way to within a quarter of a mile of them. By this time the gunboats had been engaged for an hour longer than Grant had requested, and, with no Army assault apparently forthcoming, the Admiral directed his ships to drop back out of range. The gunboats were hit ''a number of times'' but suffered little severe damage; they were, however, nearly out of ammunition when the attack was broken off. The Admiral later learned that the troops ashore had attacked Vicksburg, an unsuccessful assault that had been obscured from the squadron's view by the smoke and noise of its own guns and the Confederate batteries. Praising Grant's effort, Porter remarked: ''The army had terrible work before them, and are fighting as well as soldiers ever fought before, but the works are stronger than any of us dreamed of." Brigadier General John McArthur in turn praised the work of the gunboats. He wrote Porter: "I received your communication regarding the silencing of the two batteries below Vicksburg, and in reply would say that I witnessed with intense satisfaction the firing on that day, being the finest I have yet seen."
Rear Admiral David D. Farragut wrote Captain John R. Goldsborough, commanding the blockading force off Mobile: "I am much gratified to find that you are adding to the successes of the day by the number of captures recently made. . . . I know' that your service is one of great anxiety, and irksome, with but little compensation save the pleasure of knowing that you are doing your duty toward your country. I know your officers would be glad to be with me in the river, and gladly would I bring them here to my assistance were it not indispensable to have them on the blockade. I feel as if I was about to make the last blow at them [the Confederates] I shall for some time to come. The fall of Port Hudson will place Admiral Porter in command of the river, and I shall join my fleet outside, and trust I shall call on my officers outside for their exertions in the reductions of the last two places Mobile and Galveston."
The USS Union, under Acting Lieutenant Edward Conroy, seized the blockade running British schooner Linnet in the Gulf of Mexico, west of Charlotte Harbor, Florida.
The USS Currituck, Acting Master Linnekin in charge, USS Anacostia, piloted by Acting Master Nelson Provost, and USS Satellite, Acting Master John F. D. Robinson commanding, captured the schooner Emily at the mouth of the Rappahannock River.
A band of partisan guerrillas who day before yesterday plundered the town of Richmond, Missouri, this day visited Plattsburg, in the same State, and carried off eleven thousand dollars belonging to the State.
The Mobile Register of this date said: "We are informed by the Mayor that the British subjects residing in Mobile have formed a company, known as the British Consular Guards, commanded by F. J. Helton, Captain, and have offered their services to the Mayor to aid in the preservation of the good order of the city in case of insurrection, invasion, inundation, devastation by fire, or any other duty not inconsistent with the retaining of their original nationality."
Last night a large steamer was discovered by the gunboat Powhatan, coming out of Charleston by the North channel. She was fired at repeatedly, and finally driven back; but before she reached the bar again the Powhatan's fire, and that of two or three other blockaders that had slipped their cables and come up, was so heavy and well-directed that the British bound ship was bored through and through and sunk in about eight fathoms of water. Nothing but her topmasts were visible this morning at daylight. She was a very large steamer, loaded with an immense cargo of cotton and tobacco. Her name was not ascertained, nor the fate of her officers and crew.
An expedition of Union troops composed of levies from Massachusetts, New York, and Maine, left Bemis's Landing, Louisiana, this morning at daybreak.
William Robe, a citizen of Morgan County, Indiana, was shot while at work in his field, by a man named Bailey. Robe had been instrumental in collecting evidence against the Knights of the Golden Circle.
The Twelfth regiment of New York volunteers returned to Syracuse from the seat of war.
A Confederate camp near Middleton, Tennessee, was attacked and broken up by a party of Federal troops under the command of General Stanley.
The citizens of Richmond, Virginia, were organized for the defense of the city, and officers were appointed by General George W. Randolph, assisted by a select committee of the City Council. The people of Manchester, on the opposite bank of the James River, were invited to cooperate in the movement.
Posted on 5/22/13 at 3:22 pm to dallasga6
May 22 1863
General Hiram U. Grant launched his second attack on the fortified city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, today, and the results were, if anything, worse than the first. Again General William T. Sherman made the most progress, advancing to the top of one of the defender's trenches, but he was driven off. Grant lost over 3200 men out of his army of 45,000; Confederate losses were fewer than 500. President Jefferson Davis was trying to find any available forces to help General Joe Johnston lift the siege, but not having much luck.
Small boats from USS Fort Henry, Lieutenant Commander McCauley, captured the sloop Isabella in Waccasassa Bay, Florida.
The Union Army steamer Allison destroyed the schooner Sea Bird after seizing her cargo of coal near New Bern, North Carolina.
A brief skirmish took place near Middleton, Tennessee, between a full detachment of the One Hundred and Third Illinois, with a company of Tennessee Unionists, and a scouting party of eighteen men of the Second Mississippi Rebel regiment, under the command of Captain S. Street, terminating in the capture of eleven Confederates, six of whom were badly wounded, and the escape of the rest.
A force of Union troops under the command of Colonel J. Kilpatrick, returned today to Gloucester Point, after a raid into Gloucester and Mathews counties, Virginia, in conjunction with the gunboat Commodore Morris, Lieutenant Commanding Gillis in charge, and a transport, in the North and East Rivers. The parties were absent two days, during which time they captured a large number of horses, mules, and cattle; five mills filled to their utmost capacity with flour and grain, were burned, and a large quantity of corn and wheat collected in storehouses, was also destroyed.
The Bureau for Colored Troops was established in the department of the Adjutant General of the Army of the United States.
A reconnaissance under Colonel J. R. Jones, of the Fifty-eighth Pennsylvania regiment from Newbern, N. C., was made to Gum Swamp, resulting in the reported surprise and capture of a large number of Rebels. In the fight which occurred, Colonel Jones was killed.
The English schooner Handy was captured by the Federal gunboat Octorara.
The Baptist Missionary Union, in session at Cleveland, Ohio, adopted a series of resolutions, characterizing the war as just and holy, declaring their belief that the authors of the rebellion had inflicted the death-blow to slavery in the District of Columbia and the Confederate States; believing the war to be completely successful, and exhorting the Union to sustain the Administration by its prayers, influence, and personal sacrifices.
The Confederate steamer Beauregard, under the command of Captain Louis M. Coxetter, successfully ran the blockade into Charleston, South Carolina.
The British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society held its anniversary in London this day. Lord Brougham declined to preside, "as such a course seemed to him to be inconsistent with British neutrality." A letter from Mr. Adams, the American Minister, was read, conveying the thanks of President Lincoln for the proceedings in January last, and resolutions were adopted expressing strong sympathy with the success of the emancipation policy.
Mr. Clement Laird Vallandigham, from the military prison at Cincinnati, addressed a letter to the Democracy of Ohio. On 13 April 1863, Major General Ambrose E. Burnside, Commander of the Department Of The Ohio, had issued General Order No. 38, forbidding expression of sympathy for the enemy. On 30 April, Vallandigham addressed a large audience in Columbus, made derogatory references to the president and the war effort, then hoped that he would be arrested under Burnside's order, thus gaining popular sympathy. Arrested at his home at 2 a.m., 5 May, by a company of troops, he was taken to Burnside's Cincinnati headquarters, tried by a military court 6-7 May, denied a writ of Habeas corpus, and sentenced to 2 years' confinement in a military prison. Following a 19 May cabinet meeting, President Lincoln commuted Vallandigham's sentence to banishment to the Confederacy, but had not yet occurred.
The legitimate business between the cities of Washington and Georgetown, D. C., being "daily and flagrantly abused," an order was issued by the Secretary of War regulating the trade to and from those cities.
General Hiram U. Grant launched his second attack on the fortified city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, today, and the results were, if anything, worse than the first. Again General William T. Sherman made the most progress, advancing to the top of one of the defender's trenches, but he was driven off. Grant lost over 3200 men out of his army of 45,000; Confederate losses were fewer than 500. President Jefferson Davis was trying to find any available forces to help General Joe Johnston lift the siege, but not having much luck.
Small boats from USS Fort Henry, Lieutenant Commander McCauley, captured the sloop Isabella in Waccasassa Bay, Florida.
The Union Army steamer Allison destroyed the schooner Sea Bird after seizing her cargo of coal near New Bern, North Carolina.
A brief skirmish took place near Middleton, Tennessee, between a full detachment of the One Hundred and Third Illinois, with a company of Tennessee Unionists, and a scouting party of eighteen men of the Second Mississippi Rebel regiment, under the command of Captain S. Street, terminating in the capture of eleven Confederates, six of whom were badly wounded, and the escape of the rest.
A force of Union troops under the command of Colonel J. Kilpatrick, returned today to Gloucester Point, after a raid into Gloucester and Mathews counties, Virginia, in conjunction with the gunboat Commodore Morris, Lieutenant Commanding Gillis in charge, and a transport, in the North and East Rivers. The parties were absent two days, during which time they captured a large number of horses, mules, and cattle; five mills filled to their utmost capacity with flour and grain, were burned, and a large quantity of corn and wheat collected in storehouses, was also destroyed.
The Bureau for Colored Troops was established in the department of the Adjutant General of the Army of the United States.
A reconnaissance under Colonel J. R. Jones, of the Fifty-eighth Pennsylvania regiment from Newbern, N. C., was made to Gum Swamp, resulting in the reported surprise and capture of a large number of Rebels. In the fight which occurred, Colonel Jones was killed.
The English schooner Handy was captured by the Federal gunboat Octorara.
The Baptist Missionary Union, in session at Cleveland, Ohio, adopted a series of resolutions, characterizing the war as just and holy, declaring their belief that the authors of the rebellion had inflicted the death-blow to slavery in the District of Columbia and the Confederate States; believing the war to be completely successful, and exhorting the Union to sustain the Administration by its prayers, influence, and personal sacrifices.
The Confederate steamer Beauregard, under the command of Captain Louis M. Coxetter, successfully ran the blockade into Charleston, South Carolina.
The British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society held its anniversary in London this day. Lord Brougham declined to preside, "as such a course seemed to him to be inconsistent with British neutrality." A letter from Mr. Adams, the American Minister, was read, conveying the thanks of President Lincoln for the proceedings in January last, and resolutions were adopted expressing strong sympathy with the success of the emancipation policy.
Mr. Clement Laird Vallandigham, from the military prison at Cincinnati, addressed a letter to the Democracy of Ohio. On 13 April 1863, Major General Ambrose E. Burnside, Commander of the Department Of The Ohio, had issued General Order No. 38, forbidding expression of sympathy for the enemy. On 30 April, Vallandigham addressed a large audience in Columbus, made derogatory references to the president and the war effort, then hoped that he would be arrested under Burnside's order, thus gaining popular sympathy. Arrested at his home at 2 a.m., 5 May, by a company of troops, he was taken to Burnside's Cincinnati headquarters, tried by a military court 6-7 May, denied a writ of Habeas corpus, and sentenced to 2 years' confinement in a military prison. Following a 19 May cabinet meeting, President Lincoln commuted Vallandigham's sentence to banishment to the Confederacy, but had not yet occurred.
The legitimate business between the cities of Washington and Georgetown, D. C., being "daily and flagrantly abused," an order was issued by the Secretary of War regulating the trade to and from those cities.
Posted on 5/23/13 at 3:29 pm to dallasga6
May 23, 1863
It was a dark and stormy night on the Mississippi River bend known as Bayou Sarah tonight. This did not make for happy minds or stomachs among the men of General Nathaniel Banks who had to cross the waterway. Nevertheless the crossing was made, and the wobbly fighting men made their way to Port Hudson, where they committed some skirmishing on the Plains Store Road. The results were inconclusive.
The following petition was circulated in Columbus and other portions of Ohio: "The undersigned, citizens of Franklin County, respectfully represent that the most sacred rights of citizens are guaranteed by the Constitution of our fathers. It has been violated in the arbitrary arrest, illegal trial, and inhuman imprisonment of Hon. C. L. Vallandigham. We therefore demand of the President of the United States his immediate and unconditional release."
The Rebel sloop Fashion, having on board fifty bales of cotton, was captured by a boat expedition from the Federal steamer Port Royal, at a point forty-five miles above Apalachicola, Florida.
It was a dark and stormy night on the Mississippi River bend known as Bayou Sarah tonight. This did not make for happy minds or stomachs among the men of General Nathaniel Banks who had to cross the waterway. Nevertheless the crossing was made, and the wobbly fighting men made their way to Port Hudson, where they committed some skirmishing on the Plains Store Road. The results were inconclusive.
The following petition was circulated in Columbus and other portions of Ohio: "The undersigned, citizens of Franklin County, respectfully represent that the most sacred rights of citizens are guaranteed by the Constitution of our fathers. It has been violated in the arbitrary arrest, illegal trial, and inhuman imprisonment of Hon. C. L. Vallandigham. We therefore demand of the President of the United States his immediate and unconditional release."
The Rebel sloop Fashion, having on board fifty bales of cotton, was captured by a boat expedition from the Federal steamer Port Royal, at a point forty-five miles above Apalachicola, Florida.
Posted on 5/24/13 at 4:31 pm to dallasga6
May 24, 1863
After most of a month of almost constant battles, today seemed to be an occasion for everyone to pause for breath. Vicksburg was under siege but not attack; elsewhere on the Mississippi, Port Hudson was also isolated but intact. In Tennessee, the Federals under General William S. Rosecrans tended their sick and wounded and regrouped; their opponents under General Braxton Bragg scattered to Sparta, Wartrace and Tullahoma in the same state. The main hostilities were in Austin, Mississippi, which was burned by Federals irate that their boats had been fired upon. The Confederates had fired on the commissary and quartermaster boat of the Marine Brigade under Brigadier General A. Ellet above Austin, on the evening of 23 May. Before dawn, Ellet's forces went ashore, engaged Confederate cavalry some 8 miles outside of Austin, and, after a 2-hour engagement, compelled the Southerners to withdraw. Finding evidence of smuggling and in reprisal for the firing of the previous evening, Ellet ordered the town burned to the ground. ''As the fire progressed,'' Ellet reported, ''the discharge of firearms was rapid and frequent in the burning buildings, showing that fire is more penetrating in its search [for hidden weapons] than my men had been, two heavy explosions of powder also occurred during the conflagration."
A boat expedition under Acting Master Edgar Van Slyck from the USS Port Royal, Lieutenant Commander Morris in charge, captured the sloop Fashion above Apalachicola, Florida, with a cargo of cotton. Van Slyck also burned the facility at Devil's Elbow where the sloop had been previously repaired and destroyed a barge near Fashion.
Lieutenant Commander J. G. Walker ascended the Yazoo River with the USS Baron De KaIb, Forest Rose, Linden, Signal, and Petrel to capture transports and to break up Confederate movements. Fifteen miles below Fort Pemberton, Walker found and burned four steamers which were sunk on a bar blocking the river. Fire was exchanged with Confederate sharp shooters as the Union gunboats returned downriver. A landing party destroyed a large sawmill, and at Yazoo City "brought away a large quantity of bar, round, and flat iron from the navy yard." Walker next penetrated the Sunflower River for about 150 miles, destroying shipping and grain before returning to the mouth of the Yazoo River. Admiral Porter reported to Secretary Welles: ''Steamers to the amount of $700,000 were destroyed by the late expedition, nine in all.''
A wagon train, laden with commissary stores, with an escort of thirty troops was captured near Shawnee Creek, Kansas, by a small group of partisan guerrillas.
The schooner Joe Flanner was captured while trying to run the blockade of Mobile, Alabama, by the gunboat USS Pembina, a Unadilla-class screw gunboat.
Major Generals A. P. Hill and Richard S. Ewell, of the Confederate army, were appointed Lieutenant Generals.
General Samuel Ryan Curtis relinquished the command of the Department of the West of the army of the United States, and General John M. Schofield assumed it, and issued orders to that effect.
Considerable excitement existed in England regarding the depredations of the CSS Alabama--the cargoes of three of the vessels captured and destroyed by her on the South American coast being British property.
After most of a month of almost constant battles, today seemed to be an occasion for everyone to pause for breath. Vicksburg was under siege but not attack; elsewhere on the Mississippi, Port Hudson was also isolated but intact. In Tennessee, the Federals under General William S. Rosecrans tended their sick and wounded and regrouped; their opponents under General Braxton Bragg scattered to Sparta, Wartrace and Tullahoma in the same state. The main hostilities were in Austin, Mississippi, which was burned by Federals irate that their boats had been fired upon. The Confederates had fired on the commissary and quartermaster boat of the Marine Brigade under Brigadier General A. Ellet above Austin, on the evening of 23 May. Before dawn, Ellet's forces went ashore, engaged Confederate cavalry some 8 miles outside of Austin, and, after a 2-hour engagement, compelled the Southerners to withdraw. Finding evidence of smuggling and in reprisal for the firing of the previous evening, Ellet ordered the town burned to the ground. ''As the fire progressed,'' Ellet reported, ''the discharge of firearms was rapid and frequent in the burning buildings, showing that fire is more penetrating in its search [for hidden weapons] than my men had been, two heavy explosions of powder also occurred during the conflagration."
A boat expedition under Acting Master Edgar Van Slyck from the USS Port Royal, Lieutenant Commander Morris in charge, captured the sloop Fashion above Apalachicola, Florida, with a cargo of cotton. Van Slyck also burned the facility at Devil's Elbow where the sloop had been previously repaired and destroyed a barge near Fashion.
Lieutenant Commander J. G. Walker ascended the Yazoo River with the USS Baron De KaIb, Forest Rose, Linden, Signal, and Petrel to capture transports and to break up Confederate movements. Fifteen miles below Fort Pemberton, Walker found and burned four steamers which were sunk on a bar blocking the river. Fire was exchanged with Confederate sharp shooters as the Union gunboats returned downriver. A landing party destroyed a large sawmill, and at Yazoo City "brought away a large quantity of bar, round, and flat iron from the navy yard." Walker next penetrated the Sunflower River for about 150 miles, destroying shipping and grain before returning to the mouth of the Yazoo River. Admiral Porter reported to Secretary Welles: ''Steamers to the amount of $700,000 were destroyed by the late expedition, nine in all.''
A wagon train, laden with commissary stores, with an escort of thirty troops was captured near Shawnee Creek, Kansas, by a small group of partisan guerrillas.
The schooner Joe Flanner was captured while trying to run the blockade of Mobile, Alabama, by the gunboat USS Pembina, a Unadilla-class screw gunboat.
Major Generals A. P. Hill and Richard S. Ewell, of the Confederate army, were appointed Lieutenant Generals.
General Samuel Ryan Curtis relinquished the command of the Department of the West of the army of the United States, and General John M. Schofield assumed it, and issued orders to that effect.
Considerable excitement existed in England regarding the depredations of the CSS Alabama--the cargoes of three of the vessels captured and destroyed by her on the South American coast being British property.
This post was edited on 5/24/13 at 4:35 pm
Posted on 5/24/13 at 4:37 pm to dallasga6
Thanks for updating. 
Posted on 5/24/13 at 4:47 pm to dallasga6
Thanks for doing this, it's pretty cool.
Try to push for some more posters to be accepted onto the State board. Y'all haven't taken any in a while and I've been patient.
quote:
Hardy_Har
Try to push for some more posters to be accepted onto the State board. Y'all haven't taken any in a while and I've been patient.
Posted on 5/24/13 at 4:49 pm to TupeloReb
I'll try.
Posted on 5/24/13 at 4:56 pm to Hardy_Har
maybe something similar to what Sora did with starting a thread for suggestions Posted on 5/24/13 at 5:00 pm to TupeloReb
quote:
maybe something similar to what Sora did with starting a thread for suggestions
I'm DMing someone now. Let me check it out before I just start a thread that gets shite on.. You and who?
Posted on 5/24/13 at 5:51 pm to Hardy_Har
I don't know of anyone else
Posted on 5/24/13 at 6:10 pm to dallasga6
Posted on 5/25/13 at 6:30 pm to dallasga6
May 25, 1863
Representative Charles L. Vallandigham, D-Ohio, would in a later time have been known as a diehard peace advocate. He opposed secession, but also opposed the war to prevent it, and he opposed President Abraham Lincoln. Last year he had visited an Ohio regiment in camp near Washington and had been the target of rocks and garbage. Finally he was arrested for treason for allegedly expressing pro-Confederate sentiments, and sentenced to prison. Lincoln changed the sentence to exile from the United States. Today Vallandigham was turned over to Confederate authorities in Tennessee.
The CSS Alabama, commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes, captured and burned the ship Gildersleeve and bonded the Justina off Bahia, Brazil.
The Federal forces, under the command of General Michael Corcoran, were engaged in destroying the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroads, Virginia.
A small body of Confederate troops crossed the Cumberland River at Fishing Creek and Hartford, Kentucky, but were driven back by the Union forces after a brief skirmish.
An large scouting party from Germantown, Mississippi, under Colonel McCrellis, attacked a Rebel force at Senatobia, and drove them south of the Tallahatchie River, with a loss of six killed and three wounded of the Federal expedition.
Representative Charles L. Vallandigham, D-Ohio, would in a later time have been known as a diehard peace advocate. He opposed secession, but also opposed the war to prevent it, and he opposed President Abraham Lincoln. Last year he had visited an Ohio regiment in camp near Washington and had been the target of rocks and garbage. Finally he was arrested for treason for allegedly expressing pro-Confederate sentiments, and sentenced to prison. Lincoln changed the sentence to exile from the United States. Today Vallandigham was turned over to Confederate authorities in Tennessee.
The CSS Alabama, commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes, captured and burned the ship Gildersleeve and bonded the Justina off Bahia, Brazil.
The Federal forces, under the command of General Michael Corcoran, were engaged in destroying the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroads, Virginia.
A small body of Confederate troops crossed the Cumberland River at Fishing Creek and Hartford, Kentucky, but were driven back by the Union forces after a brief skirmish.
An large scouting party from Germantown, Mississippi, under Colonel McCrellis, attacked a Rebel force at Senatobia, and drove them south of the Tallahatchie River, with a loss of six killed and three wounded of the Federal expedition.
This post was edited on 5/25/13 at 6:31 pm
Posted on 5/26/13 at 2:58 pm to dallasga6
May 26, 1863
America, even with both north and south combined, was not a world power at the time of the War Between the States... Much of the material the Union needed to wage the Southern Invasion, as well as its defense, had to be purchased abroad, and gold went a lot further than paper money or trade goods. It was therefore a great relief to the Union government that a massive gold strike was found in Alder Gulch, in what would later be known as Montana. Previously, almost all the North's gold had come from the California mines, which were considered vulnerable to Confederate attack. Alder Gulch later became known as Virginia City.
General Nathaniel Banks wrote Rear Admiral David Farragut of the status of the assault on Port Hudson, adding: "Please let the mortars destroy the enemy's rest at night." The Admiral answered: "I shall continue to harass the enemy occasionally day and night. He was pretty well exercised last night both by the Hartford and the mortars....We have several mortar boats up half a mile nearer, and the ships will be ready to open the moment you give us notice....We will aid you all we can."
Commander Davenport reported the assistance rendered the Army in the occupation of Wilkinson's Point, North. Carolina. The USS Ceres, Shawsheen, and Brinker reconnoitered the area along the Neuse River, capturing and destroying a number of small schooners and boats. The gunboats then covered the landing of the troops and remained on station until the Army was solidly entrenched in its position.
Colonel J. T. Wilder, with his regiment of mounted infantry, returned to Murfreesboro, Tenn., from a scout in the direction of McMinnville, in search of the Confederate cavalry under the command of Colonel John Cabell Breckinridge. He encountered the Rebel pickets a short distance from Woodbury, and commenced an attack, which attracted the Southerners in the vicinity, and they having collected, a running fight was kept up for several miles. Twelve miles west of McMinnville, the Union forces came on the camp of the Confederates under Breckinridge, and after a short fight, routed them and captured nine prisoners, several horses and thirty head of cattle. Having secured the prisoners and burned the tents and baggage left by the Rebel cavalry, the Federals pushed forward, driving the enemy till within seven miles of McMinnville, when the pursuit was abandoned. On the return to Murfreesboro, the Federals scouted the country on both flanks, and succeeded in capturing a number of Confederate soldiers who were at home on furlough.
Colonel F. M. Cornyn, of the Tenth Missouri cavalry, left Corinth, Mississippi, in command of a strong force of cavalry, on a raid into Alabama.
Miss Hozier, a young woman residing a few miles from Suffolk, Virginia, was arrested while trying to reach Richmond. In the handle of her parasol were diagrams and papers giving in detail the character and location of all the fortifications in the vicinity of Norfolk, and the strength of the Federal forces garrisoning them, as well as a full statement of other forces and their positions.
The Thirty-second regiment of New York volunteers, under the command of Colonel Francis E. Pinto, returned to New York.
At Sheffield, England, Mr. Roebuck made an address, in which he was very violent in his attack upon America. The meeting adopted resolutions in harmony with Mr. Roebuck's views, although a respectable minority declared in favor of non-recognition of the Confederate government.
Joseph E. Brown, Confederate Governor of Georgia, issued the following address to the people of that State: "I have this day received a dispatch from General Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the army in Mississippi, stating that he is informed that numbers of stragglers from the army are reported going East through Georgia, especially the northern part, and requesting me to have them, officers as well as men, arrested and sent back to Jackson, employing for that purpose associations of citizens as well as State troops. I therefore order the commanding officers of the State troops, and all militia officers of this State, and request all good citizens, to be vigilant and active in arresting all stragglers and deserters, whether officers or men, and when arrested, to deliver them to Colonel G. W. Lee, commanding post at Atlanta, to be by him sent to Jackson, in obedience to the orders of General Johnston. Prompt and energetic action is necessary."
America, even with both north and south combined, was not a world power at the time of the War Between the States... Much of the material the Union needed to wage the Southern Invasion, as well as its defense, had to be purchased abroad, and gold went a lot further than paper money or trade goods. It was therefore a great relief to the Union government that a massive gold strike was found in Alder Gulch, in what would later be known as Montana. Previously, almost all the North's gold had come from the California mines, which were considered vulnerable to Confederate attack. Alder Gulch later became known as Virginia City.
General Nathaniel Banks wrote Rear Admiral David Farragut of the status of the assault on Port Hudson, adding: "Please let the mortars destroy the enemy's rest at night." The Admiral answered: "I shall continue to harass the enemy occasionally day and night. He was pretty well exercised last night both by the Hartford and the mortars....We have several mortar boats up half a mile nearer, and the ships will be ready to open the moment you give us notice....We will aid you all we can."
Commander Davenport reported the assistance rendered the Army in the occupation of Wilkinson's Point, North. Carolina. The USS Ceres, Shawsheen, and Brinker reconnoitered the area along the Neuse River, capturing and destroying a number of small schooners and boats. The gunboats then covered the landing of the troops and remained on station until the Army was solidly entrenched in its position.
Colonel J. T. Wilder, with his regiment of mounted infantry, returned to Murfreesboro, Tenn., from a scout in the direction of McMinnville, in search of the Confederate cavalry under the command of Colonel John Cabell Breckinridge. He encountered the Rebel pickets a short distance from Woodbury, and commenced an attack, which attracted the Southerners in the vicinity, and they having collected, a running fight was kept up for several miles. Twelve miles west of McMinnville, the Union forces came on the camp of the Confederates under Breckinridge, and after a short fight, routed them and captured nine prisoners, several horses and thirty head of cattle. Having secured the prisoners and burned the tents and baggage left by the Rebel cavalry, the Federals pushed forward, driving the enemy till within seven miles of McMinnville, when the pursuit was abandoned. On the return to Murfreesboro, the Federals scouted the country on both flanks, and succeeded in capturing a number of Confederate soldiers who were at home on furlough.
Colonel F. M. Cornyn, of the Tenth Missouri cavalry, left Corinth, Mississippi, in command of a strong force of cavalry, on a raid into Alabama.
Miss Hozier, a young woman residing a few miles from Suffolk, Virginia, was arrested while trying to reach Richmond. In the handle of her parasol were diagrams and papers giving in detail the character and location of all the fortifications in the vicinity of Norfolk, and the strength of the Federal forces garrisoning them, as well as a full statement of other forces and their positions.
The Thirty-second regiment of New York volunteers, under the command of Colonel Francis E. Pinto, returned to New York.
At Sheffield, England, Mr. Roebuck made an address, in which he was very violent in his attack upon America. The meeting adopted resolutions in harmony with Mr. Roebuck's views, although a respectable minority declared in favor of non-recognition of the Confederate government.
Joseph E. Brown, Confederate Governor of Georgia, issued the following address to the people of that State: "I have this day received a dispatch from General Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the army in Mississippi, stating that he is informed that numbers of stragglers from the army are reported going East through Georgia, especially the northern part, and requesting me to have them, officers as well as men, arrested and sent back to Jackson, employing for that purpose associations of citizens as well as State troops. I therefore order the commanding officers of the State troops, and all militia officers of this State, and request all good citizens, to be vigilant and active in arresting all stragglers and deserters, whether officers or men, and when arrested, to deliver them to Colonel G. W. Lee, commanding post at Atlanta, to be by him sent to Jackson, in obedience to the orders of General Johnston. Prompt and energetic action is necessary."
This post was edited on 5/26/13 at 3:07 pm
Posted on 5/27/13 at 1:00 pm to dallasga6
May 27th, 1863
May was not a good month for U.S. Gen. Nathaniel Banks, and even worse for those serving under him. Today he was in command of an army of some 13,000 soldiers, with orders to launch an attack on Port Hudson, Louisiana. The terrain was difficult, with heavy timber and deep ravines, and the defenders, under Major General Franklin Gardner, were well dug in. Banks' command skills were again evident as the disjointed, disorganized attack failed, with some 1995 casualties to 235 on the Confederate side. Confederate defenders turned back a major assault on Port Hudson, inflicting severe losses on the Union Army. General Banks' troops fell back into siege position and appealed to Rear Admiral Farragut to continue the mortar and ship bombardment night and day, and requested naval officers and Marines to man a heavy naval battery ashore. A week later, Farragut reported the situation to Welles: "General Banks still has Port Hudson closely invested and is now putting up a battery of four IX-inch guns and four 24 pounders. The first will be superintended by Lieutenant [Commander] Terry, of the Richmond, and worked by four of her gun crews and to be used as a breaching battery. We continue to shell the enemy every night from three to five hours, and at times during the day when they open fire on our troops. . . . I have the Hartford and two or three gunboats above Port Hudson; the Richmond, Genesee, Essex, and this vessel [Monongahela], together with the mortar boats below, ready to aid the army in any way in our power.
The gunboat USS Cincinnati, Lieutenant Bache, ". . . in accordance with Generals Grant's and Sherman's urgent request," moved to enfilade some rifle pits which had barred the Army's progress before Vicksburg. Though Porter took great precautions for the ship's safety by packing her with logs and hay, a shot entered Cincinnati's magazine, "and she commenced filling rapidly." Bache reported: ''Before and after this time the enemy fired with great accuracy, hitting us almost every time. We were especially annoyed by plunging shots from the hills, an 8-inch rifle and a 10-inch smoothbore doing us much damage. The shot went entirely through our protection-hay, wood, and iron." Cincinnati, suffering 25 killed or wounded and 15 probable drownings, went down with her colors nailed to the mast. General Sherman wrote: "The style in which the Cincinnati engaged the battery elicited universal praise.'' And Secretary Welles expressed "the Department's appreciation of your brave conduct." After the Cincinnati was sunk by the Rebel batteries at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Bache, gave the following report of the occurrence to Porter: "In obedience to your order, the Cincinnati got under way this morning at seven o'clock, and steamed slowly down until a little abreast of where the mortars lie. When we rounded to, the enemy fired several shots from a gun called 'Whistling Dick,' but soon gave it up. At half-past 8, with a full head of steam, we stood for the position assigned us. The enemy fired rapidly, and from all their batteries. When abreast of our pontoon, and rounding to, a ball entered the magazine, and she commenced sinking rapidly. Shortly after, the starboard tiller was carried away. Before and after this, the enemy fired with great accuracy, hitting us nearly every time. We were especially annoyed by plunging shots from the hills, and eight-inch rifled and ten-inch smooth-bore shots did us much damage. The shots went entirely through our protection ? hay and wood. And now, finding that the vessel would sink, I ran her up-stream as near the right-hand shore as our damaged steering apparatus would permit. About ten minutes before she sank we ran close in, got out one plank, and put the wounded ashore. We also got a hawser out to make fast to a tree to hold her until she sunk. Unfortunately, the men ashore left the hawser without making it fast. The enemy were still firing, and the boat commenced drifting out. I sung out to the men to swim ashore, thinking we were in deeper water (as was reported) than we really were. I suppose about fifteen were drowned and twenty-five killed and wounded, and one probably taken prisoner. This will sum up our whole loss. The boat sunk in about three fathoms of water; she lies level and can easily be raised, but lies within range of the enemy's batteries. The vessel went down with her colors nailed to her mast, or rather to the stump of one, all three having been shot away. Our fire, until the magazine was drowned, was good, and I am satisfied did damage. We only fired at a two-gun water-battery."
The CSS Chattahoochee, Lieutenant John J. Guthrie commanding, was accidentally sunk with what one Southern newspaper termed ''terrible loss of life" by an explosion in her boilers. Occurring while the gunboat was at anchor in the Chattahoochee River, Georgia, the accident cost the lives of some 18 men and injured others. She was later raised but never put to sea and was ultimately destroyed at war's end by the Confederates.
From Grand Gulf, Mississippi, Lieutenant Commander Elias K. Owen, piloting the USS Louisville, reported to Rear Admiral David Porter that, in accord with his order of the 23rd, the destruction of the abandoned Rock Hill Point Battery had begun. He also informed the Admiral that at "the earnest request of Colonel [William] Hall, late commanding this post, I went up Big Black some three miles and destroyed a raft the enemy had placed across the river, chained at both ends.
The USS Coeur de Lion, under Acting Master William G. Morris, burned the schooners Charity, Gazelle, and Flight in the Yeoeomico River, Virginia.
The USS Brooklyn , Commodore H. H. Bell in charge, captured the sloop Blazer with cargo of cotton at Pass Cavallo, Texas.
May was not a good month for U.S. Gen. Nathaniel Banks, and even worse for those serving under him. Today he was in command of an army of some 13,000 soldiers, with orders to launch an attack on Port Hudson, Louisiana. The terrain was difficult, with heavy timber and deep ravines, and the defenders, under Major General Franklin Gardner, were well dug in. Banks' command skills were again evident as the disjointed, disorganized attack failed, with some 1995 casualties to 235 on the Confederate side. Confederate defenders turned back a major assault on Port Hudson, inflicting severe losses on the Union Army. General Banks' troops fell back into siege position and appealed to Rear Admiral Farragut to continue the mortar and ship bombardment night and day, and requested naval officers and Marines to man a heavy naval battery ashore. A week later, Farragut reported the situation to Welles: "General Banks still has Port Hudson closely invested and is now putting up a battery of four IX-inch guns and four 24 pounders. The first will be superintended by Lieutenant [Commander] Terry, of the Richmond, and worked by four of her gun crews and to be used as a breaching battery. We continue to shell the enemy every night from three to five hours, and at times during the day when they open fire on our troops. . . . I have the Hartford and two or three gunboats above Port Hudson; the Richmond, Genesee, Essex, and this vessel [Monongahela], together with the mortar boats below, ready to aid the army in any way in our power.
The gunboat USS Cincinnati, Lieutenant Bache, ". . . in accordance with Generals Grant's and Sherman's urgent request," moved to enfilade some rifle pits which had barred the Army's progress before Vicksburg. Though Porter took great precautions for the ship's safety by packing her with logs and hay, a shot entered Cincinnati's magazine, "and she commenced filling rapidly." Bache reported: ''Before and after this time the enemy fired with great accuracy, hitting us almost every time. We were especially annoyed by plunging shots from the hills, an 8-inch rifle and a 10-inch smoothbore doing us much damage. The shot went entirely through our protection-hay, wood, and iron." Cincinnati, suffering 25 killed or wounded and 15 probable drownings, went down with her colors nailed to the mast. General Sherman wrote: "The style in which the Cincinnati engaged the battery elicited universal praise.'' And Secretary Welles expressed "the Department's appreciation of your brave conduct." After the Cincinnati was sunk by the Rebel batteries at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Bache, gave the following report of the occurrence to Porter: "In obedience to your order, the Cincinnati got under way this morning at seven o'clock, and steamed slowly down until a little abreast of where the mortars lie. When we rounded to, the enemy fired several shots from a gun called 'Whistling Dick,' but soon gave it up. At half-past 8, with a full head of steam, we stood for the position assigned us. The enemy fired rapidly, and from all their batteries. When abreast of our pontoon, and rounding to, a ball entered the magazine, and she commenced sinking rapidly. Shortly after, the starboard tiller was carried away. Before and after this, the enemy fired with great accuracy, hitting us nearly every time. We were especially annoyed by plunging shots from the hills, and eight-inch rifled and ten-inch smooth-bore shots did us much damage. The shots went entirely through our protection ? hay and wood. And now, finding that the vessel would sink, I ran her up-stream as near the right-hand shore as our damaged steering apparatus would permit. About ten minutes before she sank we ran close in, got out one plank, and put the wounded ashore. We also got a hawser out to make fast to a tree to hold her until she sunk. Unfortunately, the men ashore left the hawser without making it fast. The enemy were still firing, and the boat commenced drifting out. I sung out to the men to swim ashore, thinking we were in deeper water (as was reported) than we really were. I suppose about fifteen were drowned and twenty-five killed and wounded, and one probably taken prisoner. This will sum up our whole loss. The boat sunk in about three fathoms of water; she lies level and can easily be raised, but lies within range of the enemy's batteries. The vessel went down with her colors nailed to her mast, or rather to the stump of one, all three having been shot away. Our fire, until the magazine was drowned, was good, and I am satisfied did damage. We only fired at a two-gun water-battery."
The CSS Chattahoochee, Lieutenant John J. Guthrie commanding, was accidentally sunk with what one Southern newspaper termed ''terrible loss of life" by an explosion in her boilers. Occurring while the gunboat was at anchor in the Chattahoochee River, Georgia, the accident cost the lives of some 18 men and injured others. She was later raised but never put to sea and was ultimately destroyed at war's end by the Confederates.
From Grand Gulf, Mississippi, Lieutenant Commander Elias K. Owen, piloting the USS Louisville, reported to Rear Admiral David Porter that, in accord with his order of the 23rd, the destruction of the abandoned Rock Hill Point Battery had begun. He also informed the Admiral that at "the earnest request of Colonel [William] Hall, late commanding this post, I went up Big Black some three miles and destroyed a raft the enemy had placed across the river, chained at both ends.
The USS Coeur de Lion, under Acting Master William G. Morris, burned the schooners Charity, Gazelle, and Flight in the Yeoeomico River, Virginia.
The USS Brooklyn , Commodore H. H. Bell in charge, captured the sloop Blazer with cargo of cotton at Pass Cavallo, Texas.
Posted on 5/28/13 at 2:57 pm to dallasga6
May 28, 1863
At first it was unthinkable. Later it was just too risky politically. Finally it seemed inevitable, and so it was done: Blacks were allowed to enlist as soldiers in the United States Army. This morning, one of the first units allowed to be recruited was dispatched from its training facility near Boston. They were sent to Hilton Head, South Carolina, not far from a certain Confederate stronghold known as Fort Wagner.This created much excitement in Boston, on the occasion of the departure of the Fifty-fourth regiment, Black Massachusetts troops, for South Carolina. This was the first Black regiment sent from the North to occupy the South.
Rear Admiral David Porter instructed his gunboat squadron that "it will be the duty of the commander of every vessel to fire on people working on the enemy's batteries, to have officers on shore examining the heights, and not to have it said that the enemy put up batteries in sight of them and they did nothing to prevent it." The heavy firepower of the Union vessels- massed, mobile artillery-seriously hindered Confederate defenses and was a decisive factor in battle.
The USS Brooklyn, Commodore H. H. Bell, captured the sloop Kate at Point Isabel, Texas, with a cargo of cotton.
The Eighth Illinois cavalry, under the command of Colonel D. R. Clendenin, returned to the headquarters of the army of the Potomac, after a raid along the banks of the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers below Fredericksburg, Virginia. The regiment were on the scout for eleven days, during which time they reportedly captured five hundred horses and mules, destroyed twenty thousand pounds of bacon, and a large quantity of flour; burned one hundred sloops, yawls, ferry-boats, etc., laden with contraband goods, intended for the use of the Rebels, and valued at one million dollars; and brought into camp eight hundred and ten Negro men, women, and children as contraband, with a great deal of "personal" property, consisting of horses, mules, carts, clothing, etc., and also one hundred Southern prisoners, several of whom were officers of the Rebel army.
A scouting party of almost two hundred Confederate cavalry made a descent in Kentucky, near Somerset, and captured a force of Federals belonging to Wolford's cavalry.
Elections in occupied Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia, took place, resulting in the success of the Unionists.
The Confederate steamer Banshee, successfully ran the blockade of Wilmington, North Carolina.
At mid-day a severe skirmish took place on the Little Black River, in the vicinity of Doniphan, Missouri, between a force of Federal troops, under the command of Major Lippert, of the Thirteenth Illinois cavalry, and a body of Rebel guerrillas, terminating, after a desperate contest of half an hour's duration, in the defeat of the Union force, with the loss of eighty of their number in killed, wounded, and missing.
At first it was unthinkable. Later it was just too risky politically. Finally it seemed inevitable, and so it was done: Blacks were allowed to enlist as soldiers in the United States Army. This morning, one of the first units allowed to be recruited was dispatched from its training facility near Boston. They were sent to Hilton Head, South Carolina, not far from a certain Confederate stronghold known as Fort Wagner.This created much excitement in Boston, on the occasion of the departure of the Fifty-fourth regiment, Black Massachusetts troops, for South Carolina. This was the first Black regiment sent from the North to occupy the South.
Rear Admiral David Porter instructed his gunboat squadron that "it will be the duty of the commander of every vessel to fire on people working on the enemy's batteries, to have officers on shore examining the heights, and not to have it said that the enemy put up batteries in sight of them and they did nothing to prevent it." The heavy firepower of the Union vessels- massed, mobile artillery-seriously hindered Confederate defenses and was a decisive factor in battle.
The USS Brooklyn, Commodore H. H. Bell, captured the sloop Kate at Point Isabel, Texas, with a cargo of cotton.
The Eighth Illinois cavalry, under the command of Colonel D. R. Clendenin, returned to the headquarters of the army of the Potomac, after a raid along the banks of the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers below Fredericksburg, Virginia. The regiment were on the scout for eleven days, during which time they reportedly captured five hundred horses and mules, destroyed twenty thousand pounds of bacon, and a large quantity of flour; burned one hundred sloops, yawls, ferry-boats, etc., laden with contraband goods, intended for the use of the Rebels, and valued at one million dollars; and brought into camp eight hundred and ten Negro men, women, and children as contraband, with a great deal of "personal" property, consisting of horses, mules, carts, clothing, etc., and also one hundred Southern prisoners, several of whom were officers of the Rebel army.
A scouting party of almost two hundred Confederate cavalry made a descent in Kentucky, near Somerset, and captured a force of Federals belonging to Wolford's cavalry.
Elections in occupied Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia, took place, resulting in the success of the Unionists.
The Confederate steamer Banshee, successfully ran the blockade of Wilmington, North Carolina.
At mid-day a severe skirmish took place on the Little Black River, in the vicinity of Doniphan, Missouri, between a force of Federal troops, under the command of Major Lippert, of the Thirteenth Illinois cavalry, and a body of Rebel guerrillas, terminating, after a desperate contest of half an hour's duration, in the defeat of the Union force, with the loss of eighty of their number in killed, wounded, and missing.
This post was edited on 5/28/13 at 2:59 pm
Posted on 5/29/13 at 4:21 pm to dallasga6
May 29, 1863
There being little progress to be made on the land bound front, General Hiram U. Grant sent out some politely phrased orders to the naval forces under Admiral David D. Porter. First he asked for some support for Major General Frank P. Blair's efforts to blow the Mississippi Central Railroad bridge and clear the Confederates out of the Big Black and Yazoo River areas. Grant instructed Porter "to clear out the enemy between the [Big Black and Yazoo rivers, and, if possible, destroy the Mississippi Central Railroad Bridge" over the former. Grant pointed out that there was ''great danger'' of the Confederates cutting this expedition off in the rear and asked that Porter send "one or two gunboats to navigate the Yazoo as high up as Yazoo City,'' so that Blair would be assured an escape route if necessary. He also asked Porter for some heavy naval guns to be brought on land to annoy the defenders of Vicksburg. In the second letter, Grant wrote Porter: ''Will you have the goodness to order the Marine Brigade to Haynes' Bluff, with directions to disembark and remain in occupation until I can relieve them by other troops?. I have also to request that you put at the disposal of Major S. C. Lyford, chief of ordnance, two siege guns, ammunition, and implements complete, to be placed to the rear of Vicksburg. After they are in battery, and ready for use, I should be pleased to have them manned by crews from your fleet." Porter immediately replied that the brigade would leave early the next morning but that he had only one suitable large gun for use ashore and that one he was fitting on a mortar boat for close support ''to throw shell into the [rifle] pits in front of Sherman." There were, however, six 8-inch guns on board USS Manitou, he told Grant, and he would have them landed as soon as that ship returned from Yazoo City.
Also on this date, Lieutenant Commander Greer, USS Benton, reported firing on Confederates building rifle pits on the crest and side of a hill near the battery that commanded the canal. He drove them away after firing for an hour. This action was renewed during the next 2 days for brief intervals and Greer, on 31 May, reported to Porter: ''They return to their work as soon as the boats drop down."
The CSS Alabama, commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes, captured and burned the Jabez Snow in the South Atlantic, bound from Cardiff to Montevideo, Uruguay, with a cargo of coal.
The USS Cimarron, Commander Andrew J. Drake in charge, took the blockade runner Evening Star off Wassaw Sound, Georgia, with a cargo of cotton.
A large detachment of the First Vermont cavalry had a skirmish near Thoroughfare Gap, Virginia, with a scouting party of General J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry, consisting of about forty men, commanded by Captain Farleigh, of General Stuart's staff.
The Sixth regiment of Massachusetts volunteers, after two terms of service in the war, returned to Boston, where they were received with great enthusiasm.
Brigadier General Reed returned to Lake Providence, Louisiana, from an expedition into Mississippi. Three days ago he embarked with a portion of the First Kansas volunteers, and a regiment of Louisiana colored troops. Ascending the river ten miles, the troops landed near Moon Lake, from which place they advanced into the interior, and succeeded in capturing sixty head of cattle, and a large quantity of stores belonging to the Rebels.
There being little progress to be made on the land bound front, General Hiram U. Grant sent out some politely phrased orders to the naval forces under Admiral David D. Porter. First he asked for some support for Major General Frank P. Blair's efforts to blow the Mississippi Central Railroad bridge and clear the Confederates out of the Big Black and Yazoo River areas. Grant instructed Porter "to clear out the enemy between the [Big Black and Yazoo rivers, and, if possible, destroy the Mississippi Central Railroad Bridge" over the former. Grant pointed out that there was ''great danger'' of the Confederates cutting this expedition off in the rear and asked that Porter send "one or two gunboats to navigate the Yazoo as high up as Yazoo City,'' so that Blair would be assured an escape route if necessary. He also asked Porter for some heavy naval guns to be brought on land to annoy the defenders of Vicksburg. In the second letter, Grant wrote Porter: ''Will you have the goodness to order the Marine Brigade to Haynes' Bluff, with directions to disembark and remain in occupation until I can relieve them by other troops?. I have also to request that you put at the disposal of Major S. C. Lyford, chief of ordnance, two siege guns, ammunition, and implements complete, to be placed to the rear of Vicksburg. After they are in battery, and ready for use, I should be pleased to have them manned by crews from your fleet." Porter immediately replied that the brigade would leave early the next morning but that he had only one suitable large gun for use ashore and that one he was fitting on a mortar boat for close support ''to throw shell into the [rifle] pits in front of Sherman." There were, however, six 8-inch guns on board USS Manitou, he told Grant, and he would have them landed as soon as that ship returned from Yazoo City.
Also on this date, Lieutenant Commander Greer, USS Benton, reported firing on Confederates building rifle pits on the crest and side of a hill near the battery that commanded the canal. He drove them away after firing for an hour. This action was renewed during the next 2 days for brief intervals and Greer, on 31 May, reported to Porter: ''They return to their work as soon as the boats drop down."
The CSS Alabama, commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes, captured and burned the Jabez Snow in the South Atlantic, bound from Cardiff to Montevideo, Uruguay, with a cargo of coal.
The USS Cimarron, Commander Andrew J. Drake in charge, took the blockade runner Evening Star off Wassaw Sound, Georgia, with a cargo of cotton.
A large detachment of the First Vermont cavalry had a skirmish near Thoroughfare Gap, Virginia, with a scouting party of General J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry, consisting of about forty men, commanded by Captain Farleigh, of General Stuart's staff.
The Sixth regiment of Massachusetts volunteers, after two terms of service in the war, returned to Boston, where they were received with great enthusiasm.
Brigadier General Reed returned to Lake Providence, Louisiana, from an expedition into Mississippi. Three days ago he embarked with a portion of the First Kansas volunteers, and a regiment of Louisiana colored troops. Ascending the river ten miles, the troops landed near Moon Lake, from which place they advanced into the interior, and succeeded in capturing sixty head of cattle, and a large quantity of stores belonging to the Rebels.
Page 5 of 11
Popular
Back to top
Follow SECRant for SEC Football News