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re: 150 years ago today...August 20th, 1863...
Posted on 7/13/13 at 1:25 pm to dallasga6
Posted on 7/13/13 at 1:25 pm to dallasga6
July 13, 1863
On the military front things were mostly grim for the Union today: General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia made good its escape over the Potomac River from the desultory pursuit by General George Meade. On the civilian front they were downright disastrous as the New York Draft Riots broke out. There had been grumbling about the draft since the law was passed. The rules allowing the wealthy to buy "substitutes" and exemptions led to slogans like "a rich man's war is a poor man's fight". Lots were drawn Saturday and published in the newspapers on Sunday. This day, a mob of mostly immigrant workingmen formed. Talk turned to speeches, and these progressed to an attack on the draft office. This spread to looting of businesses and then wholesale chaos. Police and what few army men were on hand were overwhelmed and soon gave up trying to control the mobs. Additional troops were ordered to rush to New York to restore order; they came from Gettysburg.
A combined expedition up the Yazoo River captured Yazoo City, Mississippi. The USS Baron de Kalb, Kenwood, Signal, New National, and Black Hawk, under Lieutenant Commander J. G. Walker, convoyed some 5,000 troops under Major General Herron in the oration. Arriving below Yazoo City in midafternoon, the Baron de Kalb, leading the force, struck a torpedo and sank within 15 minutes. "Many of the crew were bruised by the concussion, which was severe, but no lives were lost," Rear Admiral David D. Porter reported. As the Federal troops landed, the Confederates evacuated the city.
Commander Isaac Newton Brown, commander of the heavy artillery and ships at Yazoo City, ordered shipping in the area destroyed to prevent its falling into Union hands. Subsequently, a correspondent for the Atlanta Appeal wrote: ''Though the Yankees gained nothing, our loss is very heavy in boats and material of a character much needed. Commander Brown scuttled and burned the Magenta, Mary Keene, Magnolia, Pargoud, John Walsh, R. J. Lockland, Scotland, Golden Age, Arcadia, Fred Kennett, F.J. Gay, Peytona, Prince of Wales, Natchez and Parallel in the Yazoo River, and Dewdrop, Emma Bett, Sharp and Meares in the Sunflower. We have only left, of all the splendid fleet which sought refuge in the Yazoo River, the Hope, Hartford City, Ben McCulloch and Cotton Plant, which are up the Tallahatchie and Yalobusha. . . . This closes the history of another strongly defended river.'' In addition, the Union forces captured the steamer St. Mary. The spectacular Union victories in the West did not eliminate the need for continued attention by the forces afloat on the rivers. "While a rebel flag floats anywhere," Porter observed, "gunboats must follow it up."
The USS Forest Rose, Acting Lieutenant G. W. Brown in charge, with the USS Petrel in company, captured the steamer Elmira on the Tensas River, Louisiana. Meanwhile, another phase of the expedition under Lieutenant Commander Selfridge, wuth the USS Rattler and Manitou, captured the steamer Louisville in the Little Red River. She was described as "...one of the finest of the Mississippi packets.'' Selfridge reported to Porter: ''The result of the expedition is the capture of the steamers Louisville and Elmira, two small steamers burned, 15,000 rounds smooth-bore ammunition, 1,000 rounds Enfield [rifle shells], ditto. . . . He also destroyed a large sawmill "...with some 30,000 feet of lumber and a quantity of rum, sugar and salt."
The USS Katahdin, Lieutenant Commander P.C. Johnson piloting, seized the British the blockade runner Excelsior off San Luis Pass, Texas. "With the exception of two bales of cotton," Johnson reported, "she had no cargo."
A landing party from the USS Jacob Bell, under Acting Master Gerhard C. Schulze, went ashore near Union Wharf on the Rappahannock River, and seized contraband goods consisting of blockade running flatboats and cargo of alcohol, whiskey, salt, and soda. Lacking transport for the captured goods, Schulze destroyed them.
A fight took place at Donaldsonville, Louisiana, between the Confederate troops and a force of Federal troops under the command of Brigadier General Dudley and Colonel Morgan, resulting in the collapse of the Yankees' lines and total defeat of the Unionists with a loss of four hundred and fifty killed and wounded, and two guns.
President Abraham Lincoln wrote the following letter to Major General Hiram U. Grant: “My dear General: I do not remember that you and I ever met personally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the almost inestimable service you have done the country. I wish to say a word further. When you first reached the vicinity of Vicksburg I thought you should do what you finally did, march the troops across the neck, run the batteries with the transports, and thus go below; and I never had any faith, except a general hope that you knew better than I, that the Yazoo Pass expedition, and the like, could succeed. When you got below and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf, and vicinity, I thought you should go down the river and join General Banks; and when you turned northward, east of the Big Black, I thought it was a mistake. I now wish to make the personal acknowledgment that you was right and I was wrong.”
The funeral of Brigadier General Samuel K. Zook, who was killed at the battle of Gettysburg, took place at New York City.
General George G. Meade issued a proclamation in reference to depredations committed by citizens, or Rebel soldiers in disguise, and announced the punishment therefor.
A riot was threatened in Newark, New Jersey.
D. H. Hill, the Confederate Major General, was appointed Lieutenant General, and assigned to command by President Jefferson Davis.
Williamston, on the Roanoke River, was bombarded by four Union gunboats under Captain Flusser; the bridge across Gardner's Creek was destroyed, and the citizens there driven entirely from the river.
The case of Clement L. Vallandigham was elaborately discussed in the New York World.
Fort Powhatan, on the James River, Virginia, was taken possession of by the Federal fleet under Admiral Lee. The Confederate forces had removed the guns before evacuating the Fort.
As the draft was resisted, and riots broke out in New York City, the offices of the provost-marshals were burned, the machinery for the drawing destroyed, telegraph wires cut, railroad tracks torn up, private houses sacked, the Colored Orphan Asylum burned, and a number of the police force badly injured, among them Superintendent Kennedy.
On the military front things were mostly grim for the Union today: General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia made good its escape over the Potomac River from the desultory pursuit by General George Meade. On the civilian front they were downright disastrous as the New York Draft Riots broke out. There had been grumbling about the draft since the law was passed. The rules allowing the wealthy to buy "substitutes" and exemptions led to slogans like "a rich man's war is a poor man's fight". Lots were drawn Saturday and published in the newspapers on Sunday. This day, a mob of mostly immigrant workingmen formed. Talk turned to speeches, and these progressed to an attack on the draft office. This spread to looting of businesses and then wholesale chaos. Police and what few army men were on hand were overwhelmed and soon gave up trying to control the mobs. Additional troops were ordered to rush to New York to restore order; they came from Gettysburg.
A combined expedition up the Yazoo River captured Yazoo City, Mississippi. The USS Baron de Kalb, Kenwood, Signal, New National, and Black Hawk, under Lieutenant Commander J. G. Walker, convoyed some 5,000 troops under Major General Herron in the oration. Arriving below Yazoo City in midafternoon, the Baron de Kalb, leading the force, struck a torpedo and sank within 15 minutes. "Many of the crew were bruised by the concussion, which was severe, but no lives were lost," Rear Admiral David D. Porter reported. As the Federal troops landed, the Confederates evacuated the city.
Commander Isaac Newton Brown, commander of the heavy artillery and ships at Yazoo City, ordered shipping in the area destroyed to prevent its falling into Union hands. Subsequently, a correspondent for the Atlanta Appeal wrote: ''Though the Yankees gained nothing, our loss is very heavy in boats and material of a character much needed. Commander Brown scuttled and burned the Magenta, Mary Keene, Magnolia, Pargoud, John Walsh, R. J. Lockland, Scotland, Golden Age, Arcadia, Fred Kennett, F.J. Gay, Peytona, Prince of Wales, Natchez and Parallel in the Yazoo River, and Dewdrop, Emma Bett, Sharp and Meares in the Sunflower. We have only left, of all the splendid fleet which sought refuge in the Yazoo River, the Hope, Hartford City, Ben McCulloch and Cotton Plant, which are up the Tallahatchie and Yalobusha. . . . This closes the history of another strongly defended river.'' In addition, the Union forces captured the steamer St. Mary. The spectacular Union victories in the West did not eliminate the need for continued attention by the forces afloat on the rivers. "While a rebel flag floats anywhere," Porter observed, "gunboats must follow it up."
The USS Forest Rose, Acting Lieutenant G. W. Brown in charge, with the USS Petrel in company, captured the steamer Elmira on the Tensas River, Louisiana. Meanwhile, another phase of the expedition under Lieutenant Commander Selfridge, wuth the USS Rattler and Manitou, captured the steamer Louisville in the Little Red River. She was described as "...one of the finest of the Mississippi packets.'' Selfridge reported to Porter: ''The result of the expedition is the capture of the steamers Louisville and Elmira, two small steamers burned, 15,000 rounds smooth-bore ammunition, 1,000 rounds Enfield [rifle shells], ditto. . . . He also destroyed a large sawmill "...with some 30,000 feet of lumber and a quantity of rum, sugar and salt."
The USS Katahdin, Lieutenant Commander P.C. Johnson piloting, seized the British the blockade runner Excelsior off San Luis Pass, Texas. "With the exception of two bales of cotton," Johnson reported, "she had no cargo."
A landing party from the USS Jacob Bell, under Acting Master Gerhard C. Schulze, went ashore near Union Wharf on the Rappahannock River, and seized contraband goods consisting of blockade running flatboats and cargo of alcohol, whiskey, salt, and soda. Lacking transport for the captured goods, Schulze destroyed them.
A fight took place at Donaldsonville, Louisiana, between the Confederate troops and a force of Federal troops under the command of Brigadier General Dudley and Colonel Morgan, resulting in the collapse of the Yankees' lines and total defeat of the Unionists with a loss of four hundred and fifty killed and wounded, and two guns.
President Abraham Lincoln wrote the following letter to Major General Hiram U. Grant: “My dear General: I do not remember that you and I ever met personally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the almost inestimable service you have done the country. I wish to say a word further. When you first reached the vicinity of Vicksburg I thought you should do what you finally did, march the troops across the neck, run the batteries with the transports, and thus go below; and I never had any faith, except a general hope that you knew better than I, that the Yazoo Pass expedition, and the like, could succeed. When you got below and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf, and vicinity, I thought you should go down the river and join General Banks; and when you turned northward, east of the Big Black, I thought it was a mistake. I now wish to make the personal acknowledgment that you was right and I was wrong.”
The funeral of Brigadier General Samuel K. Zook, who was killed at the battle of Gettysburg, took place at New York City.
General George G. Meade issued a proclamation in reference to depredations committed by citizens, or Rebel soldiers in disguise, and announced the punishment therefor.
A riot was threatened in Newark, New Jersey.
D. H. Hill, the Confederate Major General, was appointed Lieutenant General, and assigned to command by President Jefferson Davis.
Williamston, on the Roanoke River, was bombarded by four Union gunboats under Captain Flusser; the bridge across Gardner's Creek was destroyed, and the citizens there driven entirely from the river.
The case of Clement L. Vallandigham was elaborately discussed in the New York World.
Fort Powhatan, on the James River, Virginia, was taken possession of by the Federal fleet under Admiral Lee. The Confederate forces had removed the guns before evacuating the Fort.
As the draft was resisted, and riots broke out in New York City, the offices of the provost-marshals were burned, the machinery for the drawing destroyed, telegraph wires cut, railroad tracks torn up, private houses sacked, the Colored Orphan Asylum burned, and a number of the police force badly injured, among them Superintendent Kennedy.
1
Posted on 7/14/13 at 3:21 pm to dallasga6
July 14, 1863
The prospect of a military draft had caused grumbles. When the lots were actually drawn yesterday, the resentment quickly exploded into riots in New York City. Mobs ruled the streets, stores were looted and burned, and the police were utterly helpless. This morning, the rioting spread to other cities, including Boston, Massachusetts; Rutland, Vermont; Portsmouth, New Hampshire; several towns in upstate New York and as far away as Wooster, Ohio. In New York City, the rage was beginning to focus on innocent blacks, who despite having no connection or control over the draft, were seen as the "reason" the war was being fought at all. The mob of mostly immigrant Irish workingmen began to target black neighborhoods, severely beating anyone on the street, and setting numerous fires, even at a Negro church and orphanage. Later, estimates had at least 100 people killed or wounded in the chaos, and property damage of well over $1.5 million in 1863 currency, probably closer to $10 to 12 million today. As the rioting continued in New York, business was suspended; loyal citizens were called upon by the Mayor to enroll themselves as special policemen for the restoration of law and order; 79 year old General John Ellis Wool issued a call to the veteran volunteers to tender their services to the Mayor; severe conflicts were carried on between the rioters and the soldiery; Colonel Henry O'Brien of the 11th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment was killed; Negroes were hanged and then burned; traveling was suspended, and the operations of the railroads arrested; Governor Horatio Seymour made a speech to the rioters at the City Hall, and issued a proclamation calling "upon all persons engaged in these riotous proceedings to retire to their homes and employments, declaring to them that unless they do so at once, I shall use all the power necessary to restore the peace and order of the city."
Naval forces under Rear Admiral S. P. Lee, including the USS Sangamon, Lehigh, Mahaska, Morse, Commodore Barney, Commodore Jones, Shokokon, and Seymour, captured Fort Powhatan on the James River, Virginia. Acting on orders from Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles to threaten Richmond and assist military movements in the vicinity, Lee reported: "We destroyed two magazines . . . and twenty platforms for gun carriages today." The last Confederate defense below Chaffin's and Drewry's Bluff had fallen.
J. B. Jones, clerk in the Confederate War Department, recorded in his diary that General Beauregard had written from Charleston ''...for a certain person here skilled in the management of torpedoes, but Secretary Mallory says the enemy's gunboats are in the James River and he cannot be sent away. I hope," he added, "both cities [Charleston and Richmond] may not fall!" A lack of technicians in adequate numbers was one of many hindrances to the Confederate efforts.
The USS R. R. Cuyler, under Lieutenant Commander Jouett, captured the steamer Kate Dale off Tortugas with a cargo of cotton.
The USS Jasmine, Acting Master Alfred L. B. Zerega in charge, captured the sloop Relampago near the Florida Keys bound from Havana with a cargo including copper boiler tubing.
At Indianapolis, Indiana, while the Twelfth Michigan battery was marching through the streets, a caisson exploded, instantly killing three soldiers and the driver.
A reconnaissance was made from Donaldsonville, Louisiana, down the La Fourche River by the Federal troops under Generals Weitzel and Grover. The Confederates were met in strong force, and the Unionists were forced to quickly retreat with the loss of one entire section of the First Maine battery.
General George Thomas' corps of the army of the Cumberland, following in the rear of General Braxton Bragg's retreating forces, reached the Elk River, and encountered a small portion of General Simon Buckner's division of infantry and artillery together with a part of General Joseph Wheeler's cavalry, whom they dispersed after a short skirmish.
The Confederate forces under General John Hunt Morgan reached Miamiville in Clermont County, Ohio on the Little Miami Road, this morning, tore up the railroad track and appropriated provisions for their march.
Joe Hart, the Confederate partisan guerrilla, was killed near Chillicothe, Missouri, by a detachment of militia under Lieutenant Gibbs, of the Fourth Provisional regiment.
The prospect of a military draft had caused grumbles. When the lots were actually drawn yesterday, the resentment quickly exploded into riots in New York City. Mobs ruled the streets, stores were looted and burned, and the police were utterly helpless. This morning, the rioting spread to other cities, including Boston, Massachusetts; Rutland, Vermont; Portsmouth, New Hampshire; several towns in upstate New York and as far away as Wooster, Ohio. In New York City, the rage was beginning to focus on innocent blacks, who despite having no connection or control over the draft, were seen as the "reason" the war was being fought at all. The mob of mostly immigrant Irish workingmen began to target black neighborhoods, severely beating anyone on the street, and setting numerous fires, even at a Negro church and orphanage. Later, estimates had at least 100 people killed or wounded in the chaos, and property damage of well over $1.5 million in 1863 currency, probably closer to $10 to 12 million today. As the rioting continued in New York, business was suspended; loyal citizens were called upon by the Mayor to enroll themselves as special policemen for the restoration of law and order; 79 year old General John Ellis Wool issued a call to the veteran volunteers to tender their services to the Mayor; severe conflicts were carried on between the rioters and the soldiery; Colonel Henry O'Brien of the 11th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment was killed; Negroes were hanged and then burned; traveling was suspended, and the operations of the railroads arrested; Governor Horatio Seymour made a speech to the rioters at the City Hall, and issued a proclamation calling "upon all persons engaged in these riotous proceedings to retire to their homes and employments, declaring to them that unless they do so at once, I shall use all the power necessary to restore the peace and order of the city."
Naval forces under Rear Admiral S. P. Lee, including the USS Sangamon, Lehigh, Mahaska, Morse, Commodore Barney, Commodore Jones, Shokokon, and Seymour, captured Fort Powhatan on the James River, Virginia. Acting on orders from Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles to threaten Richmond and assist military movements in the vicinity, Lee reported: "We destroyed two magazines . . . and twenty platforms for gun carriages today." The last Confederate defense below Chaffin's and Drewry's Bluff had fallen.
J. B. Jones, clerk in the Confederate War Department, recorded in his diary that General Beauregard had written from Charleston ''...for a certain person here skilled in the management of torpedoes, but Secretary Mallory says the enemy's gunboats are in the James River and he cannot be sent away. I hope," he added, "both cities [Charleston and Richmond] may not fall!" A lack of technicians in adequate numbers was one of many hindrances to the Confederate efforts.
The USS R. R. Cuyler, under Lieutenant Commander Jouett, captured the steamer Kate Dale off Tortugas with a cargo of cotton.
The USS Jasmine, Acting Master Alfred L. B. Zerega in charge, captured the sloop Relampago near the Florida Keys bound from Havana with a cargo including copper boiler tubing.
At Indianapolis, Indiana, while the Twelfth Michigan battery was marching through the streets, a caisson exploded, instantly killing three soldiers and the driver.
A reconnaissance was made from Donaldsonville, Louisiana, down the La Fourche River by the Federal troops under Generals Weitzel and Grover. The Confederates were met in strong force, and the Unionists were forced to quickly retreat with the loss of one entire section of the First Maine battery.
General George Thomas' corps of the army of the Cumberland, following in the rear of General Braxton Bragg's retreating forces, reached the Elk River, and encountered a small portion of General Simon Buckner's division of infantry and artillery together with a part of General Joseph Wheeler's cavalry, whom they dispersed after a short skirmish.
The Confederate forces under General John Hunt Morgan reached Miamiville in Clermont County, Ohio on the Little Miami Road, this morning, tore up the railroad track and appropriated provisions for their march.
Joe Hart, the Confederate partisan guerrilla, was killed near Chillicothe, Missouri, by a detachment of militia under Lieutenant Gibbs, of the Fourth Provisional regiment.
Posted on 7/15/13 at 4:41 pm to dallasga6
July 15, 1863
The smoke still hung sullenly in the summer air around Boston, Massachusetts; Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Rutland, Vermont; Wooster, Ohio, and several other Northern cities and towns. But the storm of rage had rampaged hardest and harshest through the streets of New York City, and today new fires and more outrages were still being perpetrated there. The best that could be said was that the rioting was no longer spreading in a wider arc. The police were beginning to emerge from their stations and retake street by street, now that they were supported by troops fresh from the fields of Gettysburg. Men who had faced down the worst that General Robert E. Lee could throw at them were not about to be intimidated by "...drunken rowdy trash." As the riots did not escalate in New York City this afternoon, Mayor George Opdyke issued a proclamation announcing that the anarchy-which for two days had completely disgraced the city-had been in a good measure subjected to the control of the public authorities with the arrival of those Union soldiers from Gettysburg. Negroes found in public, however, were still being hanged and burned.
Admiral David D. Porter wrote Admiral David G. Farragut from Vicksburg: "The plan of the enemy is, to have flying batteries all along the river, and annoy us in that way. They have already planted one twenty-five miles below here, one at Rodney, and are going to put another at Ellis's Cliffs. We shall be kept busy chasing them up.'' Nonetheless, on this date the merchant steamer Imperial arrived at New Orleans. She had left St. Louis on 8 July and her arrival at the Mississippi River's port city without incident illustrated that the great waterway truly ''...again goes unvexed to the sea.'' Farragut wrote Porter: ''I feel that the time has now arrived contemplated by the honorable Secretary of the Navy, when I should turn over the Mississippi to you down to New Orleans, and then pay my attention to the blockade of the Gulf. ... Farragut noted that he would take a brief leave, offered by Secretary Welles, "...prior to the work he expects of me in the fall. I suppose some work to be done by the vessels yet to be sent to me, Galveston and Mobile perhaps, and that will finish my work..." On 1 August Porter would write Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles that he had "...assumed the charge of the Mississippi..."
Boat crews from the USS Stars and Stripes and Somerset, under Lieutenant Commander Crosman, landed at Marsh's Island, Florida, and destroyed some 60 bushels of salt and 50 salt boilers.
The USS Yankee, Acting Ensign Turner piloting, captured the schooner Nanjemoy in the Coan River, Virginia.
The USS Santiago de Cuba, Commander Wyman in charge, captured the steamer Lizzie east of the Florida coast.
Batteries at Grimball's Landing on the Stone River, South Carolina, opened a heavy fire on the screw-sloop USS Pawnee, Commander George Beall Balch, and the Unadilla-class gunboat USS Marblehead, Lieutenant Commander Robert W. Scott while Confederate troops assaulted a Union position on James Island under command of Brigadier General Alfred H. Terry. Though the Pawnee, struck some 40 times by very accurate shore fire, and the Marblehead were compelled to drop downriver, they nonetheless provided important support for the Union troops and were instrumental in forcing the Confederates to break off the attack. Terry reported that the ships "...opened a most effective fire upon my left. The enemy, unable to endure the concentric fire to which they were exposed, fell back and retreated. . . I desire to express my obligations to Captain Balch, U.S. Navy, commanding the naval forces in the river, for the very great assistance he rendered to me..."
Commander James Dunwoody Bulloch awarded a contract to Lucien Arman, a naval constructor at Bordeaux, France, for the construction of ''...two steam rams, hulls of wood and iron, 300 horsepower, two propellers, with two armored turrets. . . . The general plans had been drawn up by Commander M. F. Maury and approved by Secretary Stephen Mallory. The Confederate agent also specified that the ships would have to have a speed of "not less than 12 knots..." in a calm sea. Only one of the rams, later commissioned the CSS Stonewall, ever reached Confederate hands. She arrived in Havana late in the war and was eventually surrendered to the Union. Without the material and industrial capacity to fill their naval needs at home, the South turned with increasing frequency to Europe in hopes of building a Navy capable of breaking the North's ever tightening stranglehold.
An expedition from the USS Port Royal, under Lieutenant Commander G. U. Morris, captured cotton ready to be run through the blockade at Apalachicola, Florida,
The CSS Georgia, commanded by Lieutenant W. L. Maury, captured the ship Prince of Wales of Bath, Maine, in the mid-South Atlantic; Maury released her on bond.
Foreigners of every age and sex crowded the office of the provost marshal in Richmond, "...anxious to get passports to go North, by way of the blockade. The Jew, whose ample pockets were stuffed with confederate money; the Germans, with hands on pockets tightly pressed; Italians, with the silvery jargon; and the Irish woman, with 'nine children and one at the breast,' all beset the office and wanted passports to leave the country." This was on account of the late conscription proclamation of Jefferson Davis. "It is not fair," said the Richmond Enquirer, "that those who have drained the very life-blood of our people, should be let off thus quietly, and not made to shed the first, at least, if not the last, drop of blood for the Government which protected them in the collection of their hoarded pelf."
Clement Laird Vallandigham arrived at Niagara Falls, Canada West, and issued an address to the people of his native Ohio soil from where he had been Lincoln-exiled.
General John G. Parke, with a force of Federal troops, was attacked by a small body of South Carolina troops, near Jackson, Mississippi. After an engagement of half an hour the outnumbered Confederates retreated with a loss of three hundred, leaving the Yankees in possession of the field.
The drafting process commenced in New Haven, Connecticut; Springfield, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They passed off quietly with no major incident.
Another riot broke out at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, but was suppressed without casualty.
A party of Confederate cavalry partisans entered Hickman, Kentucky, and appropiated material from all the stores in the town.
Joel Parker, Governor of New Jersey, owing to the excitement consequent upon the draft, issued a proclamation ordering all the citizens of the State "..to avoid angry discussions, to discourage large assemblies of the people, and use every effort to preserve the peace."
Great excitement was caused among the Southerners in Central Mississippi, by the movements of General William T. Sherman, with the Union forces. Large numbers of Negroes, cattle, horses and mules were run across the Tombigbee River, at every ferry.
In a move to answer the Union draft, President Jefferson Davis issued a proclamation calling out-under the Confederate conscription act-all white men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, to serve for three years, under penalty of being punished for desertion in case of disobeying the call. They were offered the privilege of joining volunteer organizations before the enrollment. The Columbus (Ga.) Times estimated ninety-five thousand, three hundred and twenty-four, as the number that would be obtained under this proclamation.
The smoke still hung sullenly in the summer air around Boston, Massachusetts; Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Rutland, Vermont; Wooster, Ohio, and several other Northern cities and towns. But the storm of rage had rampaged hardest and harshest through the streets of New York City, and today new fires and more outrages were still being perpetrated there. The best that could be said was that the rioting was no longer spreading in a wider arc. The police were beginning to emerge from their stations and retake street by street, now that they were supported by troops fresh from the fields of Gettysburg. Men who had faced down the worst that General Robert E. Lee could throw at them were not about to be intimidated by "...drunken rowdy trash." As the riots did not escalate in New York City this afternoon, Mayor George Opdyke issued a proclamation announcing that the anarchy-which for two days had completely disgraced the city-had been in a good measure subjected to the control of the public authorities with the arrival of those Union soldiers from Gettysburg. Negroes found in public, however, were still being hanged and burned.
Admiral David D. Porter wrote Admiral David G. Farragut from Vicksburg: "The plan of the enemy is, to have flying batteries all along the river, and annoy us in that way. They have already planted one twenty-five miles below here, one at Rodney, and are going to put another at Ellis's Cliffs. We shall be kept busy chasing them up.'' Nonetheless, on this date the merchant steamer Imperial arrived at New Orleans. She had left St. Louis on 8 July and her arrival at the Mississippi River's port city without incident illustrated that the great waterway truly ''...again goes unvexed to the sea.'' Farragut wrote Porter: ''I feel that the time has now arrived contemplated by the honorable Secretary of the Navy, when I should turn over the Mississippi to you down to New Orleans, and then pay my attention to the blockade of the Gulf. ... Farragut noted that he would take a brief leave, offered by Secretary Welles, "...prior to the work he expects of me in the fall. I suppose some work to be done by the vessels yet to be sent to me, Galveston and Mobile perhaps, and that will finish my work..." On 1 August Porter would write Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles that he had "...assumed the charge of the Mississippi..."
Boat crews from the USS Stars and Stripes and Somerset, under Lieutenant Commander Crosman, landed at Marsh's Island, Florida, and destroyed some 60 bushels of salt and 50 salt boilers.
The USS Yankee, Acting Ensign Turner piloting, captured the schooner Nanjemoy in the Coan River, Virginia.
The USS Santiago de Cuba, Commander Wyman in charge, captured the steamer Lizzie east of the Florida coast.
Batteries at Grimball's Landing on the Stone River, South Carolina, opened a heavy fire on the screw-sloop USS Pawnee, Commander George Beall Balch, and the Unadilla-class gunboat USS Marblehead, Lieutenant Commander Robert W. Scott while Confederate troops assaulted a Union position on James Island under command of Brigadier General Alfred H. Terry. Though the Pawnee, struck some 40 times by very accurate shore fire, and the Marblehead were compelled to drop downriver, they nonetheless provided important support for the Union troops and were instrumental in forcing the Confederates to break off the attack. Terry reported that the ships "...opened a most effective fire upon my left. The enemy, unable to endure the concentric fire to which they were exposed, fell back and retreated. . . I desire to express my obligations to Captain Balch, U.S. Navy, commanding the naval forces in the river, for the very great assistance he rendered to me..."
Commander James Dunwoody Bulloch awarded a contract to Lucien Arman, a naval constructor at Bordeaux, France, for the construction of ''...two steam rams, hulls of wood and iron, 300 horsepower, two propellers, with two armored turrets. . . . The general plans had been drawn up by Commander M. F. Maury and approved by Secretary Stephen Mallory. The Confederate agent also specified that the ships would have to have a speed of "not less than 12 knots..." in a calm sea. Only one of the rams, later commissioned the CSS Stonewall, ever reached Confederate hands. She arrived in Havana late in the war and was eventually surrendered to the Union. Without the material and industrial capacity to fill their naval needs at home, the South turned with increasing frequency to Europe in hopes of building a Navy capable of breaking the North's ever tightening stranglehold.
An expedition from the USS Port Royal, under Lieutenant Commander G. U. Morris, captured cotton ready to be run through the blockade at Apalachicola, Florida,
The CSS Georgia, commanded by Lieutenant W. L. Maury, captured the ship Prince of Wales of Bath, Maine, in the mid-South Atlantic; Maury released her on bond.
Foreigners of every age and sex crowded the office of the provost marshal in Richmond, "...anxious to get passports to go North, by way of the blockade. The Jew, whose ample pockets were stuffed with confederate money; the Germans, with hands on pockets tightly pressed; Italians, with the silvery jargon; and the Irish woman, with 'nine children and one at the breast,' all beset the office and wanted passports to leave the country." This was on account of the late conscription proclamation of Jefferson Davis. "It is not fair," said the Richmond Enquirer, "that those who have drained the very life-blood of our people, should be let off thus quietly, and not made to shed the first, at least, if not the last, drop of blood for the Government which protected them in the collection of their hoarded pelf."
Clement Laird Vallandigham arrived at Niagara Falls, Canada West, and issued an address to the people of his native Ohio soil from where he had been Lincoln-exiled.
General John G. Parke, with a force of Federal troops, was attacked by a small body of South Carolina troops, near Jackson, Mississippi. After an engagement of half an hour the outnumbered Confederates retreated with a loss of three hundred, leaving the Yankees in possession of the field.
The drafting process commenced in New Haven, Connecticut; Springfield, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They passed off quietly with no major incident.
Another riot broke out at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, but was suppressed without casualty.
A party of Confederate cavalry partisans entered Hickman, Kentucky, and appropiated material from all the stores in the town.
Joel Parker, Governor of New Jersey, owing to the excitement consequent upon the draft, issued a proclamation ordering all the citizens of the State "..to avoid angry discussions, to discourage large assemblies of the people, and use every effort to preserve the peace."
Great excitement was caused among the Southerners in Central Mississippi, by the movements of General William T. Sherman, with the Union forces. Large numbers of Negroes, cattle, horses and mules were run across the Tombigbee River, at every ferry.
In a move to answer the Union draft, President Jefferson Davis issued a proclamation calling out-under the Confederate conscription act-all white men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, to serve for three years, under penalty of being punished for desertion in case of disobeying the call. They were offered the privilege of joining volunteer organizations before the enrollment. The Columbus (Ga.) Times estimated ninety-five thousand, three hundred and twenty-four, as the number that would be obtained under this proclamation.
Posted on 7/16/13 at 3:30 pm to dallasga6
July 16, 1863
It is seldom noted, but the first naval battle between ships of the United States and Japan occurred today, and in connection with the American Civil War. The USS Wyoming was searching for the feared Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama, commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes. She pulled in to dock at Yokohama unaware that the authorities had just ordered every foreigner to leave Japan immediately. In addition, foreign ships were forbidden to use the Straits of Shimonoseki. Wyoming's captain, David Stockton McDougal, objected to this and sailed into the straits. There he faced most of the Japanese navy, as well as shore batteries. In a fierce fight, several junks were sunk and some batteries destroyed. McDougal won, at the cost of five dead, six wounded and some damage to the ships. A larger international fleet later forced the Japanese to retract the expulsion orders and reopen the straits.
Major General John Adams Dix, preparatory to assuming command of the Eastern Department, relinquished the command of the Department of Virginia, to Major General J. G. Foster.
General Charles Adam Heckman returned to his quarters at Morehead City, North Carolina, having been absent four days on a reconnaissance toward Swansboro, in Onslow County. The objects of the expedition were reported as fully accomplished without casualty.
Jackson, Mississippi, was evacuated by the Confederates.
The steamboat Imperial arrived at New Orleans, Louisiana, from St. Louis, Missouri, the first boat, between the two cities for more than two years.This marked the opening of the Mississippi River, following the cessation of river traffic in 1861.
The Confederates made an attack on General Alfred Howe Terry's brigade on James Island, South Carolina, but were repulsed. The monitors and mortar boats kept up an almost constant fire upon Fort Wagner all day, but most of them withdrew at night. Terry would later become known as the commander of the "too little, too late" column at the Little Big Horn
A force of Federal troops visited the salt works, near St. Mark's, Florida, and succeeded in destroying them completely, besides carrying off fifteen slaves as contraband labor.
The Confederates forces under General John Hunt Morgan passed through Piketon, Ohio.
The Colored Convention of the State of New York, met at Poughkeepsie, and issued a manifesto and call to the colored population, defining their position.
The Draft Riots continued in New York City.
A sharp cavalry fight occurred near Shepherdstown, Virginia.
It is seldom noted, but the first naval battle between ships of the United States and Japan occurred today, and in connection with the American Civil War. The USS Wyoming was searching for the feared Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama, commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes. She pulled in to dock at Yokohama unaware that the authorities had just ordered every foreigner to leave Japan immediately. In addition, foreign ships were forbidden to use the Straits of Shimonoseki. Wyoming's captain, David Stockton McDougal, objected to this and sailed into the straits. There he faced most of the Japanese navy, as well as shore batteries. In a fierce fight, several junks were sunk and some batteries destroyed. McDougal won, at the cost of five dead, six wounded and some damage to the ships. A larger international fleet later forced the Japanese to retract the expulsion orders and reopen the straits.
Major General John Adams Dix, preparatory to assuming command of the Eastern Department, relinquished the command of the Department of Virginia, to Major General J. G. Foster.
General Charles Adam Heckman returned to his quarters at Morehead City, North Carolina, having been absent four days on a reconnaissance toward Swansboro, in Onslow County. The objects of the expedition were reported as fully accomplished without casualty.
Jackson, Mississippi, was evacuated by the Confederates.
The steamboat Imperial arrived at New Orleans, Louisiana, from St. Louis, Missouri, the first boat, between the two cities for more than two years.This marked the opening of the Mississippi River, following the cessation of river traffic in 1861.
The Confederates made an attack on General Alfred Howe Terry's brigade on James Island, South Carolina, but were repulsed. The monitors and mortar boats kept up an almost constant fire upon Fort Wagner all day, but most of them withdrew at night. Terry would later become known as the commander of the "too little, too late" column at the Little Big Horn
A force of Federal troops visited the salt works, near St. Mark's, Florida, and succeeded in destroying them completely, besides carrying off fifteen slaves as contraband labor.
The Confederates forces under General John Hunt Morgan passed through Piketon, Ohio.
The Colored Convention of the State of New York, met at Poughkeepsie, and issued a manifesto and call to the colored population, defining their position.
The Draft Riots continued in New York City.
A sharp cavalry fight occurred near Shepherdstown, Virginia.
Posted on 7/17/13 at 4:28 pm to dallasga6
July 17, 1863
Even though it wasn't called Oklahoma yet, the only major battle fought in it was just known as "Indian Territory" and took place this morning. On the Union side was the command of General James G. Blount. His men proceeded to Elk Creek, in the vicinity of the hamlet of Honey Springs, and took on the foe. The Confederates, under the direction of General Douglas H. Cooper, fought bravely for as long as they could, but were finally compelled to withdraw due to a lack of ammunition. Interestingly enough, a good number of the Union troops were black, and a high percentage of the forces in gray were themselves Indians. Both sides tried to recruit Native Americans during the War Between the States, with the Confederates having an easier time of it due to longstanding Native grievances with Washington. They did not take well to traditional army discipline, although they made superb light cavalry.
The U.S. ram Monarch, with troops embarked, participated in the reoccupation of Hickman, Kentucky, which had been taken by Confederate cavalry two days earlier. Brigadier General Alexander Asboth had high praise for the ram and her mobility: ''It would be in the best interests of the service to place the ram Monarch on the Mississippi between Island No. 10 and Columbus, where she could operate with my land forces appearing at any point threatened or attacked on this part of the river, so much exposed to rebel raids. Without the cooperation of a ram or gunboat it will be difficult for my very limited force to act with efficiency and the desired degree of success..."
The combined attack on Fort Wagner, in Charleston Harbor, was renewed. Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren's force consisted of the USS Montauk, New Ironsides, Catskill, Nantucket, Weehauken, and Patapsco. The gunboats USS Paul Jones, Ottawa, Seneca, Chippewa, and Wissahickon provided long-range support with effect. The heavy fire from the ironclads commenced shortly after noon, the range closing as the tide permitted to 300 yards. The naval bombardment at this distance silenced the fort "...so that for this day not a shot was fired afterwards at the vessels..." At sunset Gillmore ordered his troops to attack the fort. "To this moment," Dahlgren reported, "an incessant and accurate fire had been maintained by the vessels, but now it was impossible (in the dim light) to distinguish whether it took effect on friend or foe, and of necessity was suspended.'' Deprived of naval gunfire support, the Union assault ashore was repulsed with heavy losses. Dahlgren, before preparing to renew the attack on Fort Wagner, wrote Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles about the critical shortage of men in his squadron. Men were being required to bombard by day and blockade by night. The Admiral asked for 500 Marines: " ... there will be occasion for them.'' On 28 July, Welles informed Dahlgren that the USS Aries had departed Boston with 200 men and upon her return from Charleston would bring 200 more sailors from New York to him. He added, ''A battalion of marines, about 400 in number, will leave New York on the steamer Arago on Friday next."
A delegation from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, bearing a letter from the Governor, was received by Secretary Welles. The group was seeking additional defenses for the city. ''Letters from numerous places on the New England coast are received to the same effect,'' Welles wrote in his diary. "Each of them wants a monitor, or cruiser or both." The Secretary pointed out that the shore defenses came under the War Department rather than the Navy, and that the local municipality should bear some of the responsibility for its own defense. The successful raid along the New England coast by Lieutenant Charles W. Read in the CSS Tacony the preceding month and persistent rumors of other Confederate cruisers in the area since his capture had alarmed the northern seaboard.
The USS De Soto, Captain M.W. Walker; USS Ossipee, Captain Gillis; and USS Kennebec, Lieutenant Commander Russell, seized the steamers James Battle and William Bagley in the Gulf of Mexico. The cargo of the former was cotton and rosin, and she was described by Rear Admiral Bailey as "...the finest packet on the Alabama River and was altered to suit her for a blockade runner, at a large expense." The William Bagley, too, carried a cargo of cotton from Mobile.
Boat crews from the USS Vincennes, Lieutenant Commander Henry A Adams Jr., and the USS Clifton, Acting Lieutenant Frederick Crocker, captured the barge H. McGuin, in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
The USS Jacob Bell, under Acting Master Schulze, with the USS Resolute and Racer in company, drove off Confederate troops firing on the ship George Peabody, aground at Mathias Point, Virginia.
J. J. Pettigrew, of the Confederate army died at the residence of Mr. Boyd, at Bunker Hill, Virginia, from the effects of a wound received at the battle of Falling Waters, Virginia.
In New York City, the riots were suppressed, quiet was restored and business resumed.
Provost Marshal General J. B. Fry ordered the enforcement of the draft in New England and the Middle States, by the aid of the military.
Edwin Hides and Henry Light, at York, England, were sentenced to imprisonment for counterfeiting the circulating notes of the United States.
General Richardson, the notorious partisan guerrilla, returned to his former field of operations in the neighborhood of Hickory, Wythe, Galloway's Station and Belmont, in the counties of Tipton, Shelby, and Fayette, Tennessee. Richardson had a force of about two hundred men. These were, like himself, hated the invading Yankees. Richardson was aided by the Reverend Captain Burrow and Captain Murray. One thing very remarkable was, that each of these men once laid claim to sanctimoniousness. Richardson was once a great exhort-er among the Methodist friends in Memphis. Burrow was a minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, while Murray was a very pious elder of the same denomination with Burrow.
Major General Stanley, in command of the Federal forces, entered Huntsville, Alabama, without opposition, capturing six hundred horses, two hundred of them having contraband riders.
Many of the most prominent and influential lawyers of the cities of Brooklyn and New York, ",,,sensible of the wrongs inflicted during the late riots upon the colored inhabitants of these cities and vicinity, offered their professional advice and assistance, free of charge, to aid such persons in recovering compensation for the damages inflicted upon them by rioters."
Corinth, Mississippi, was occupied by the advance of the Federal forces under the command of General Hurlbut.
The cavalry battle near Shepherdstown, Virginia, was fought as the cavalry brigades of Fitzhugh Lee and John R. Chambliss held the fords on the Potomac at Shepherdstown to prevent crossing by the Federal infantry as the Army of Northern Virginia moved back onto their native soil. The cavalry division under David Gregg approached the fords and the Confederates attacked them, but the Union cavalrymen held their position until dark before withdrawing. Meade called this a "spirited contest." This was one of the most desperate and overlooked cavalry fights of the entire Gettysburg campaign.
Even though it wasn't called Oklahoma yet, the only major battle fought in it was just known as "Indian Territory" and took place this morning. On the Union side was the command of General James G. Blount. His men proceeded to Elk Creek, in the vicinity of the hamlet of Honey Springs, and took on the foe. The Confederates, under the direction of General Douglas H. Cooper, fought bravely for as long as they could, but were finally compelled to withdraw due to a lack of ammunition. Interestingly enough, a good number of the Union troops were black, and a high percentage of the forces in gray were themselves Indians. Both sides tried to recruit Native Americans during the War Between the States, with the Confederates having an easier time of it due to longstanding Native grievances with Washington. They did not take well to traditional army discipline, although they made superb light cavalry.
The U.S. ram Monarch, with troops embarked, participated in the reoccupation of Hickman, Kentucky, which had been taken by Confederate cavalry two days earlier. Brigadier General Alexander Asboth had high praise for the ram and her mobility: ''It would be in the best interests of the service to place the ram Monarch on the Mississippi between Island No. 10 and Columbus, where she could operate with my land forces appearing at any point threatened or attacked on this part of the river, so much exposed to rebel raids. Without the cooperation of a ram or gunboat it will be difficult for my very limited force to act with efficiency and the desired degree of success..."
The combined attack on Fort Wagner, in Charleston Harbor, was renewed. Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren's force consisted of the USS Montauk, New Ironsides, Catskill, Nantucket, Weehauken, and Patapsco. The gunboats USS Paul Jones, Ottawa, Seneca, Chippewa, and Wissahickon provided long-range support with effect. The heavy fire from the ironclads commenced shortly after noon, the range closing as the tide permitted to 300 yards. The naval bombardment at this distance silenced the fort "...so that for this day not a shot was fired afterwards at the vessels..." At sunset Gillmore ordered his troops to attack the fort. "To this moment," Dahlgren reported, "an incessant and accurate fire had been maintained by the vessels, but now it was impossible (in the dim light) to distinguish whether it took effect on friend or foe, and of necessity was suspended.'' Deprived of naval gunfire support, the Union assault ashore was repulsed with heavy losses. Dahlgren, before preparing to renew the attack on Fort Wagner, wrote Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles about the critical shortage of men in his squadron. Men were being required to bombard by day and blockade by night. The Admiral asked for 500 Marines: " ... there will be occasion for them.'' On 28 July, Welles informed Dahlgren that the USS Aries had departed Boston with 200 men and upon her return from Charleston would bring 200 more sailors from New York to him. He added, ''A battalion of marines, about 400 in number, will leave New York on the steamer Arago on Friday next."
A delegation from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, bearing a letter from the Governor, was received by Secretary Welles. The group was seeking additional defenses for the city. ''Letters from numerous places on the New England coast are received to the same effect,'' Welles wrote in his diary. "Each of them wants a monitor, or cruiser or both." The Secretary pointed out that the shore defenses came under the War Department rather than the Navy, and that the local municipality should bear some of the responsibility for its own defense. The successful raid along the New England coast by Lieutenant Charles W. Read in the CSS Tacony the preceding month and persistent rumors of other Confederate cruisers in the area since his capture had alarmed the northern seaboard.
The USS De Soto, Captain M.W. Walker; USS Ossipee, Captain Gillis; and USS Kennebec, Lieutenant Commander Russell, seized the steamers James Battle and William Bagley in the Gulf of Mexico. The cargo of the former was cotton and rosin, and she was described by Rear Admiral Bailey as "...the finest packet on the Alabama River and was altered to suit her for a blockade runner, at a large expense." The William Bagley, too, carried a cargo of cotton from Mobile.
Boat crews from the USS Vincennes, Lieutenant Commander Henry A Adams Jr., and the USS Clifton, Acting Lieutenant Frederick Crocker, captured the barge H. McGuin, in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
The USS Jacob Bell, under Acting Master Schulze, with the USS Resolute and Racer in company, drove off Confederate troops firing on the ship George Peabody, aground at Mathias Point, Virginia.
J. J. Pettigrew, of the Confederate army died at the residence of Mr. Boyd, at Bunker Hill, Virginia, from the effects of a wound received at the battle of Falling Waters, Virginia.
In New York City, the riots were suppressed, quiet was restored and business resumed.
Provost Marshal General J. B. Fry ordered the enforcement of the draft in New England and the Middle States, by the aid of the military.
Edwin Hides and Henry Light, at York, England, were sentenced to imprisonment for counterfeiting the circulating notes of the United States.
General Richardson, the notorious partisan guerrilla, returned to his former field of operations in the neighborhood of Hickory, Wythe, Galloway's Station and Belmont, in the counties of Tipton, Shelby, and Fayette, Tennessee. Richardson had a force of about two hundred men. These were, like himself, hated the invading Yankees. Richardson was aided by the Reverend Captain Burrow and Captain Murray. One thing very remarkable was, that each of these men once laid claim to sanctimoniousness. Richardson was once a great exhort-er among the Methodist friends in Memphis. Burrow was a minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, while Murray was a very pious elder of the same denomination with Burrow.
Major General Stanley, in command of the Federal forces, entered Huntsville, Alabama, without opposition, capturing six hundred horses, two hundred of them having contraband riders.
Many of the most prominent and influential lawyers of the cities of Brooklyn and New York, ",,,sensible of the wrongs inflicted during the late riots upon the colored inhabitants of these cities and vicinity, offered their professional advice and assistance, free of charge, to aid such persons in recovering compensation for the damages inflicted upon them by rioters."
Corinth, Mississippi, was occupied by the advance of the Federal forces under the command of General Hurlbut.
The cavalry battle near Shepherdstown, Virginia, was fought as the cavalry brigades of Fitzhugh Lee and John R. Chambliss held the fords on the Potomac at Shepherdstown to prevent crossing by the Federal infantry as the Army of Northern Virginia moved back onto their native soil. The cavalry division under David Gregg approached the fords and the Confederates attacked them, but the Union cavalrymen held their position until dark before withdrawing. Meade called this a "spirited contest." This was one of the most desperate and overlooked cavalry fights of the entire Gettysburg campaign.
Posted on 7/18/13 at 3:27 pm to dallasga6
July 18, 1863
Battery, or Fort if you prefer, Wagner was a cannon position on Morris Island guarding Charleston Harbor. It was pounded today by mortars, shots from ironclad ships, and 36 other guns. After this softening-up, over 6000 Union soldiers under Brigadier General Truman Seymour attacked. In the lead were the men of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, the Black regiment led by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. After gaining an angle of the Fort, and holding it for some time, they were repulsed with terrible slaughter. Colonels Shaw and Putnam were killed, and General Strong severely wounded.
General Beauregard, from his headquarters at Charleston, South Carolina, issued the following address: "While the Commanding General regrets that the enemy have succeeded in effecting a landing upon Morris Island, he acknowledges with satisfaction the conduct of the troops in their brave and prolonged resistance against a force largely their superior in numbers; and he is especially gratified by the spirit and success with which the garrison of Battery Wagner, and the troops under Colonel Graham, repelled the assaults on that fortification, as it gives the assurance that he can rely upon the conduct and courage of both officers and men to check the progress of the enemy."
George Washington Lafayette Bickley, the founder of the order of the Knights of the Golden Circle, was arrested at New Albany, Indiana. The Knights of the Golden Circle was a Civil War era secret society used to promote the interests of the Southern United States by preparing the way for annexation of a "golden circle" of territories in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean which would be included into the United States as Southern states.
The draft in New Haven, Connecticut, was concluded.
The expedition into North Carolina, under the command of Brigadier General Potter, left Newbern.
John A. Andrew, Governor of Massachusetts, delivered an eloquent speech at Boston, on the occasion of the presentation of four flags, the gift of the women of Ohio, to the Fifty-fifth regiment Massachusetts Black volunteers.
One hundred guns were fired at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in honor of the fall of Port Hudson, Louisiana.
The Confederate steamers, James Battle and James Bagley, were captured off of Mobile, Alabama.
At Baltimore, Maryland, an order was issued by General Schenck, directing all officers in the military service of the United States, residing at Barnum's City Hotel, to leave that establishment without delay.
Wytheville, Virginia, was captured by the Federal forces, under Colonel Toland.
At Yates' Point, on the Potomac River, an action took place between a party of Confederates on shore, and the gunboats Jacob Bell, Resolute, and Teaser, and the mortar-boat Dan. Smith. While the firing was going on, a party of Federals was sent on shore, and the Rebels had no option but to retreat.
Union Major General John G. Foster assumed command of the Department of Virginia, in addition to that of North Carolina.
Battery, or Fort if you prefer, Wagner was a cannon position on Morris Island guarding Charleston Harbor. It was pounded today by mortars, shots from ironclad ships, and 36 other guns. After this softening-up, over 6000 Union soldiers under Brigadier General Truman Seymour attacked. In the lead were the men of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, the Black regiment led by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. After gaining an angle of the Fort, and holding it for some time, they were repulsed with terrible slaughter. Colonels Shaw and Putnam were killed, and General Strong severely wounded.
General Beauregard, from his headquarters at Charleston, South Carolina, issued the following address: "While the Commanding General regrets that the enemy have succeeded in effecting a landing upon Morris Island, he acknowledges with satisfaction the conduct of the troops in their brave and prolonged resistance against a force largely their superior in numbers; and he is especially gratified by the spirit and success with which the garrison of Battery Wagner, and the troops under Colonel Graham, repelled the assaults on that fortification, as it gives the assurance that he can rely upon the conduct and courage of both officers and men to check the progress of the enemy."
George Washington Lafayette Bickley, the founder of the order of the Knights of the Golden Circle, was arrested at New Albany, Indiana. The Knights of the Golden Circle was a Civil War era secret society used to promote the interests of the Southern United States by preparing the way for annexation of a "golden circle" of territories in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean which would be included into the United States as Southern states.
The draft in New Haven, Connecticut, was concluded.
The expedition into North Carolina, under the command of Brigadier General Potter, left Newbern.
John A. Andrew, Governor of Massachusetts, delivered an eloquent speech at Boston, on the occasion of the presentation of four flags, the gift of the women of Ohio, to the Fifty-fifth regiment Massachusetts Black volunteers.
One hundred guns were fired at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in honor of the fall of Port Hudson, Louisiana.
The Confederate steamers, James Battle and James Bagley, were captured off of Mobile, Alabama.
At Baltimore, Maryland, an order was issued by General Schenck, directing all officers in the military service of the United States, residing at Barnum's City Hotel, to leave that establishment without delay.
Wytheville, Virginia, was captured by the Federal forces, under Colonel Toland.
At Yates' Point, on the Potomac River, an action took place between a party of Confederates on shore, and the gunboats Jacob Bell, Resolute, and Teaser, and the mortar-boat Dan. Smith. While the firing was going on, a party of Federals was sent on shore, and the Rebels had no option but to retreat.
Union Major General John G. Foster assumed command of the Department of Virginia, in addition to that of North Carolina.
Posted on 7/19/13 at 2:49 pm to dallasga6
July 19, 1863
General John Hunt Morgan had been on one of his periodic raids into "secure" Union territory across the Ohio River for several days. His command of around 2000 cavalrymen now faced a problem: getting back across the river to safety in Kentucky. The USS Moose and the steamer Allegheny Belle stood in his way, and Union militia and regulars were closing in from behind. Finally having to fight his way out, he lost 120 killed and nearly 700 captured in what would be the only Civil War battle fought on Ohio soil. The survivors decided July in Pennsylvania might be nice, so they headed that direction after having spent 21 hours per day in the saddle.
After seeking to intercept the troops of Morgan for some 10 days and 500 miles, the gun-boat squadron under Lieutenant Commander Fitch engaged the Confederate raiders as they attempted to effect a crossing of the Ohio River at Buffington Island - the USS Moose and steamer Alleghany Belle repeatedly frustrated the Southerners' attempts to cross, Pressed from the rear by Union troops and subjected to heavy fire from the gunboats, Morgan's soldiers made a scattered retreat into the hills, leaving their artillery on the beach. This audacious Southern thrust into the North was broken up. Some 700 Confederates were taken prisoner. Major General Ambrose E. Burnside heralded the "efficient services" of Fitch in achieving the "brilliant success of the engagement. Too much praise,'' he wrote Rear Admiral David D. Porter, "cannot be awarded the naval department at this place for the promptness and energy manifested in this movement." And Brigadier General Jacob D. Cox noted: "The activity and energy with which the squadron was used to prevent the enemy recrossing the Ohio, and to assist in his capture, was worthy of the highest praise."
Feeling that " Morris Island must be held at all cost," Brigadier General Thomas Jordan, General P.G.T. Beauregard's chief of staff, asked for reinforcements from Fort Sumter. Brigadier General Roswell S. Ripley replied that he had reinforcements but doubted that they could be transported to Morris Island. ''The Sumter is here with [Colonel] Graham's regiment, but it is broad daylight, and she can not land within 2,000 yards of the Iron-sides and monitors."
Major General W. T. Sherman wrote Admiral Porter of the Army's capture of Jackson, Mississippi. "No longer could the Confederates utilize it as a base kit organizing attacks on Mississippi River steamer traffic." The operation was not as complete a success as either Sherman or Porter had hoped. "Having numerous bridges across the Pearl River,'' the General wrote, "...and a railroad in full operation to the rear, he [General Joseph F. Johnston, CSA succeeded in carrying off most of his material and men. Had the Pearl River been a Mississippi, with a patrol of gunboats, I might have accomplished your wish in bagging the whole..." Sherman added in an aside that during a supper held for the general officers at the governor's mansion in Jackson, " 'Army and Navy Forever' was sung with a full and hearty chorus."
The USS Canandaigua, under Captain Green, and other outside blockaders sighted the large side-wheel steamer Raccoon attempting to run the embargo into Charleston and headed her off. The blockade runner was driven upon the shoals by Commander George W. Powers, of the USS Catskill, and went aground near Moultrie House. She was fired and totally destroyed the next day by her crew to prevent capture.
Greenville and Sparta, North Carolina, were invaded by Federal forces, under the command of Brigadier General Potter, and everything at both those places were destroyed.
James B. Fry, Provost Marshal General, issued the following circular: "Existing laws make a distinction in the matter of pay, bounties, or other allowances, between soldiers of African descent and other soldiers in the service of the United States. Men of African descent can only be accepted as substitutes for each other, under the Enrollment Act."
At Cleveland, Ohio, Bishop Rappe preached a sermon in the cathedral, on the subject of riots in New York. He was unsparing in bitter denunciation of the mob that had committed such outrages. He warned his hearers against any act that tended in any degree to provoke like scenes there. He said that the laws must be obeyed, and the conscription law quietly submitted to among the rest. He urged the members of his flock to attend strictly to their business, and not even to discuss the question of the draft. If any of them were drafted, and could not procure exemption, they must do their duty to the country as soldiers. If the drafted man was poor, and no provision had been made by the city or county for the relief of his family, they should be cared for by the Church. He warned them not to ill-treat the colored people. A colored man had as much right to live and to labor for his living as a white man had, and their right must be respected. It was cowardly and sinful to molest these people, because their skin was of a different color. He also spoke against the practice of demanding extortionate wages. It was wrong and wicked to extort from employers more than the fair price of their labor. Finally, he warned them not to provoke a breach of peace in any manner, and said that he had pledged his word, as a Catholic Bishop, to the citizens of Cleveland, that there should be no disturbance from the Catholic Irish, and he looked to them that his pledge should not be broken.
General John Hunt Morgan had been on one of his periodic raids into "secure" Union territory across the Ohio River for several days. His command of around 2000 cavalrymen now faced a problem: getting back across the river to safety in Kentucky. The USS Moose and the steamer Allegheny Belle stood in his way, and Union militia and regulars were closing in from behind. Finally having to fight his way out, he lost 120 killed and nearly 700 captured in what would be the only Civil War battle fought on Ohio soil. The survivors decided July in Pennsylvania might be nice, so they headed that direction after having spent 21 hours per day in the saddle.
After seeking to intercept the troops of Morgan for some 10 days and 500 miles, the gun-boat squadron under Lieutenant Commander Fitch engaged the Confederate raiders as they attempted to effect a crossing of the Ohio River at Buffington Island - the USS Moose and steamer Alleghany Belle repeatedly frustrated the Southerners' attempts to cross, Pressed from the rear by Union troops and subjected to heavy fire from the gunboats, Morgan's soldiers made a scattered retreat into the hills, leaving their artillery on the beach. This audacious Southern thrust into the North was broken up. Some 700 Confederates were taken prisoner. Major General Ambrose E. Burnside heralded the "efficient services" of Fitch in achieving the "brilliant success of the engagement. Too much praise,'' he wrote Rear Admiral David D. Porter, "cannot be awarded the naval department at this place for the promptness and energy manifested in this movement." And Brigadier General Jacob D. Cox noted: "The activity and energy with which the squadron was used to prevent the enemy recrossing the Ohio, and to assist in his capture, was worthy of the highest praise."
Feeling that " Morris Island must be held at all cost," Brigadier General Thomas Jordan, General P.G.T. Beauregard's chief of staff, asked for reinforcements from Fort Sumter. Brigadier General Roswell S. Ripley replied that he had reinforcements but doubted that they could be transported to Morris Island. ''The Sumter is here with [Colonel] Graham's regiment, but it is broad daylight, and she can not land within 2,000 yards of the Iron-sides and monitors."
Major General W. T. Sherman wrote Admiral Porter of the Army's capture of Jackson, Mississippi. "No longer could the Confederates utilize it as a base kit organizing attacks on Mississippi River steamer traffic." The operation was not as complete a success as either Sherman or Porter had hoped. "Having numerous bridges across the Pearl River,'' the General wrote, "...and a railroad in full operation to the rear, he [General Joseph F. Johnston, CSA succeeded in carrying off most of his material and men. Had the Pearl River been a Mississippi, with a patrol of gunboats, I might have accomplished your wish in bagging the whole..." Sherman added in an aside that during a supper held for the general officers at the governor's mansion in Jackson, " 'Army and Navy Forever' was sung with a full and hearty chorus."
The USS Canandaigua, under Captain Green, and other outside blockaders sighted the large side-wheel steamer Raccoon attempting to run the embargo into Charleston and headed her off. The blockade runner was driven upon the shoals by Commander George W. Powers, of the USS Catskill, and went aground near Moultrie House. She was fired and totally destroyed the next day by her crew to prevent capture.
Greenville and Sparta, North Carolina, were invaded by Federal forces, under the command of Brigadier General Potter, and everything at both those places were destroyed.
James B. Fry, Provost Marshal General, issued the following circular: "Existing laws make a distinction in the matter of pay, bounties, or other allowances, between soldiers of African descent and other soldiers in the service of the United States. Men of African descent can only be accepted as substitutes for each other, under the Enrollment Act."
At Cleveland, Ohio, Bishop Rappe preached a sermon in the cathedral, on the subject of riots in New York. He was unsparing in bitter denunciation of the mob that had committed such outrages. He warned his hearers against any act that tended in any degree to provoke like scenes there. He said that the laws must be obeyed, and the conscription law quietly submitted to among the rest. He urged the members of his flock to attend strictly to their business, and not even to discuss the question of the draft. If any of them were drafted, and could not procure exemption, they must do their duty to the country as soldiers. If the drafted man was poor, and no provision had been made by the city or county for the relief of his family, they should be cared for by the Church. He warned them not to ill-treat the colored people. A colored man had as much right to live and to labor for his living as a white man had, and their right must be respected. It was cowardly and sinful to molest these people, because their skin was of a different color. He also spoke against the practice of demanding extortionate wages. It was wrong and wicked to extort from employers more than the fair price of their labor. Finally, he warned them not to provoke a breach of peace in any manner, and said that he had pledged his word, as a Catholic Bishop, to the citizens of Cleveland, that there should be no disturbance from the Catholic Irish, and he looked to them that his pledge should not be broken.
Posted on 7/20/13 at 2:46 pm to dallasga6
July 20, 1863
In our reporting of the War Between the States it would be a mistake to concentrate so hard on battles and campaigns that we lose track of the civilians involved. As in all countries in wartime, there was the normal work of daily life to get done, crops to raise, books to balance and business in general to tend. There was also a desire to contribute to the war effort, though, and today the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce took a stand as their contribution. They expelled 33 members from the organization for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the Union. How many of these were actual Confederate sympathizers is not recorded.
The USS Shawsheen, under Acting Master Phelon, captured the schooners Sally, Helen Jane, Elizabeth, Dolphin, and James Brice near Cedar Island, in the Neuse River, North Carolina.
At New York City a large meeting of merchants was held, to adopt measures for the relief of the Negro sufferers by the riots. Speeches were made by Jonathan Sturges, Richard Warren, A. F. Dow, and others; and resolutions were adopted, pledging the protection of the merchants to the Negroes, in pursuing their customary avocations.
Colonel Cyrus Bussey, Chief of Cavalry of the Army under General William T. Sherman, returned to Jackson, Mississippi from an expedition to Canton and beyond. At Canton, on the eighteenth, he met William Hicks "Red" Jackson's Confederate cavalry division, about three thousand strong, with three pieces of artillery, and, after a severe engagement, finally drove him across the Pearl River. The Federal force consisted of four thousand cavalry, under Bussey, and one thousand infantry, commanded by Colonel Wood, of the Seventy-eighth regiment of Ohio. They destroyed the railroad bridge over the Big Black River, one mile of trestle-work between the Big Black and Canton, burning Way's Bluff Station, destroying six miles of the track of the Jackson and New Orleans and Mississippi Central Railroad, five locomotives, fifty cars, thirteen large manufacturing establishments and railroad buildings; completely destroyed the Dixie Works, and burned a large quantity of lumber. At Canton, they also destroyed the railroad, burned two locomotives, twenty-five cars, the depot, and a large lot of cotton. At Calhoun, they destroyed a pontoon bridge, the ferry at Grant's Mills, and several railroad bridges. They captured nearly one hundred prisoners, and lost twenty in killed and wounded.
In our reporting of the War Between the States it would be a mistake to concentrate so hard on battles and campaigns that we lose track of the civilians involved. As in all countries in wartime, there was the normal work of daily life to get done, crops to raise, books to balance and business in general to tend. There was also a desire to contribute to the war effort, though, and today the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce took a stand as their contribution. They expelled 33 members from the organization for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the Union. How many of these were actual Confederate sympathizers is not recorded.
The USS Shawsheen, under Acting Master Phelon, captured the schooners Sally, Helen Jane, Elizabeth, Dolphin, and James Brice near Cedar Island, in the Neuse River, North Carolina.
At New York City a large meeting of merchants was held, to adopt measures for the relief of the Negro sufferers by the riots. Speeches were made by Jonathan Sturges, Richard Warren, A. F. Dow, and others; and resolutions were adopted, pledging the protection of the merchants to the Negroes, in pursuing their customary avocations.
Colonel Cyrus Bussey, Chief of Cavalry of the Army under General William T. Sherman, returned to Jackson, Mississippi from an expedition to Canton and beyond. At Canton, on the eighteenth, he met William Hicks "Red" Jackson's Confederate cavalry division, about three thousand strong, with three pieces of artillery, and, after a severe engagement, finally drove him across the Pearl River. The Federal force consisted of four thousand cavalry, under Bussey, and one thousand infantry, commanded by Colonel Wood, of the Seventy-eighth regiment of Ohio. They destroyed the railroad bridge over the Big Black River, one mile of trestle-work between the Big Black and Canton, burning Way's Bluff Station, destroying six miles of the track of the Jackson and New Orleans and Mississippi Central Railroad, five locomotives, fifty cars, thirteen large manufacturing establishments and railroad buildings; completely destroyed the Dixie Works, and burned a large quantity of lumber. At Canton, they also destroyed the railroad, burned two locomotives, twenty-five cars, the depot, and a large lot of cotton. At Calhoun, they destroyed a pontoon bridge, the ferry at Grant's Mills, and several railroad bridges. They captured nearly one hundred prisoners, and lost twenty in killed and wounded.
Posted on 7/20/13 at 2:53 pm to dallasga6
Dallas, I love these posts!
We are coming up on some very important days in Missouri's war history. In mid-August, a Union military "prison" where they were keeping female prisoners collapsed and killed several of the women and girls housed there. They happened to be wives and sisters of several of Quantrill's men, who were convinced the Union destabilized the building on purpose. That lead to the burning of Lawrence a few days later. Let me know if you need any info on that stuff, it's really fascinating.
We are coming up on some very important days in Missouri's war history. In mid-August, a Union military "prison" where they were keeping female prisoners collapsed and killed several of the women and girls housed there. They happened to be wives and sisters of several of Quantrill's men, who were convinced the Union destabilized the building on purpose. That lead to the burning of Lawrence a few days later. Let me know if you need any info on that stuff, it's really fascinating.
Posted on 7/20/13 at 3:02 pm to semotruman
Thanks Semo... I encourage you or anyone else to add anything you have at any time. There were a lot of regional stories that were never widely circulated & deserve being heard about. Feel free when these important days in Missouri history occur to post those stories in the thread...
This post was edited on 7/20/13 at 3:05 pm
Posted on 7/20/13 at 3:15 pm to dallasga6
Will do! That was a rough summer here in Missouri!
Posted on 7/21/13 at 2:18 pm to semotruman
July 21, 1863
Since the end of the battle of Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee's major interest had been getting his battered, no longer invincible, but still proud Army of Northern Virginia into the safety of their namesake state behind the reassuring and known shelter of the Blue Ridge Mountains. They were mostly now there, but General George Meade's massive Army of the Potomac was close by. Only the furious fighting of the cavalry in the numerous mountain passes kept them at bay. Lee now began to be concerned that the Union army would soon work its way between him and Richmond.
Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren wrote Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles of the continuing operations against Fort Wagner: "I have already silenced Fort Wagner and driven its garrison to shelter [on the 18th], and can repeat the same, but this is the full extent to which artillery can go; the rest can only be accomplished by troops. General Gillmore tells me he can furnish but a single column for attack, and it is, of course, impossible for me to supply the deficiency, when the crews of the vessels are already much reduced in number and working beyond their strength to fulfill the various duties of blockade, cannonading, and boat patrols by night. Time is all important," he added, "for the enemy will not fail to use it in guarding weak points. He is already putting up fresh works."
Boats from the USS Owasco, under Lieutenant Commander John Madigan, and the USS Cayuga, Lieutenant William H. Commander Dana in charge, captured and destroyed the schooner Revenge at a point near the Sabine Pass.
The Fifty-fifth regiment (colored) of Massachusetts, left Boston for Newbern, North Carolina.
A party of thirty partisan guerrillas early this morning, made a descent upon a settlement on Indian Creek, near Olathe, Kansas, and after appropriating several of the inhabitants' barns, retired, taking with them a large quantity of stock, and several men.
The Forty-third regiment of Massachusetts, returned to Boston from the seat of war.
The Twelfth regiment, of Rhode Island, returned to Providence, and was received by the military of that place.
General William S. Rosecrans, from his Headquarters at Tullahoma, Tennessee, issued a circular regulating the circulation of newspapers in his army.
Since the end of the battle of Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee's major interest had been getting his battered, no longer invincible, but still proud Army of Northern Virginia into the safety of their namesake state behind the reassuring and known shelter of the Blue Ridge Mountains. They were mostly now there, but General George Meade's massive Army of the Potomac was close by. Only the furious fighting of the cavalry in the numerous mountain passes kept them at bay. Lee now began to be concerned that the Union army would soon work its way between him and Richmond.
Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren wrote Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles of the continuing operations against Fort Wagner: "I have already silenced Fort Wagner and driven its garrison to shelter [on the 18th], and can repeat the same, but this is the full extent to which artillery can go; the rest can only be accomplished by troops. General Gillmore tells me he can furnish but a single column for attack, and it is, of course, impossible for me to supply the deficiency, when the crews of the vessels are already much reduced in number and working beyond their strength to fulfill the various duties of blockade, cannonading, and boat patrols by night. Time is all important," he added, "for the enemy will not fail to use it in guarding weak points. He is already putting up fresh works."
Boats from the USS Owasco, under Lieutenant Commander John Madigan, and the USS Cayuga, Lieutenant William H. Commander Dana in charge, captured and destroyed the schooner Revenge at a point near the Sabine Pass.
The Fifty-fifth regiment (colored) of Massachusetts, left Boston for Newbern, North Carolina.
A party of thirty partisan guerrillas early this morning, made a descent upon a settlement on Indian Creek, near Olathe, Kansas, and after appropriating several of the inhabitants' barns, retired, taking with them a large quantity of stock, and several men.
The Forty-third regiment of Massachusetts, returned to Boston from the seat of war.
The Twelfth regiment, of Rhode Island, returned to Providence, and was received by the military of that place.
General William S. Rosecrans, from his Headquarters at Tullahoma, Tennessee, issued a circular regulating the circulation of newspapers in his army.
Posted on 7/22/13 at 2:56 pm to dallasga6
July 22, 1863
General George Meade had been under tremendous pressure since the end of Gettysburg. From President Abraham Lincoln on down, everyone wanted to know when Meade would be getting around to destroying the Army of Northern Virginia. As Meade and General Robert E. Lee paralleled each other south with only the Blue Ridge between them, the pressure increased again. Today he sent General William French towards Manassas Gap. The plan was to punch through, cut Lee's spread-out forces in two, and defeat one or both halves.
In a move to bolster Union Army strength ashore, Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren ordered Commander F. A. Parker to take charge of a four-gun naval battery to be placed on Morris Island ''...for the work against Fort Sumter.'' General Quincy A. Gillmore, expressing appreciation to Dahlgren for the battery, noted that he would cooperate fully with Commander Parker: "His guns and men will, of course, remain under his immediate control.''
According to figures compiled by the New York Chamber of Commerce on the effectiveness of Confederate raiders, ''150 vessels, including two steamers, representing a tonnage of upward of 60,000 tons and a value of over $12,000,000 have been captured by the Rebel privateers Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and the vessels seized and armed by them. . . . The result is, that either American ships lie idle at our own and foreign ports, unable to procure freights, and thus practically excluded from the carrying trade, or are transferred to foreign flags.''
Major General John G. Foster, pursuant to instructions from the War Department, commenced the enlistment of colored troops with ? in the lines of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina; and the unoccupied land on Roanoke Island was set apart for the use of the families of negro soldiers and other contrabands in the service of the United States.
The CSS Florida, commanded by Captain John Newland Maffitt, was at Bermuda, being delayed there by the refusal of the naval authorities to furnish her with coal.
General George Meade had been under tremendous pressure since the end of Gettysburg. From President Abraham Lincoln on down, everyone wanted to know when Meade would be getting around to destroying the Army of Northern Virginia. As Meade and General Robert E. Lee paralleled each other south with only the Blue Ridge between them, the pressure increased again. Today he sent General William French towards Manassas Gap. The plan was to punch through, cut Lee's spread-out forces in two, and defeat one or both halves.
In a move to bolster Union Army strength ashore, Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren ordered Commander F. A. Parker to take charge of a four-gun naval battery to be placed on Morris Island ''...for the work against Fort Sumter.'' General Quincy A. Gillmore, expressing appreciation to Dahlgren for the battery, noted that he would cooperate fully with Commander Parker: "His guns and men will, of course, remain under his immediate control.''
According to figures compiled by the New York Chamber of Commerce on the effectiveness of Confederate raiders, ''150 vessels, including two steamers, representing a tonnage of upward of 60,000 tons and a value of over $12,000,000 have been captured by the Rebel privateers Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and the vessels seized and armed by them. . . . The result is, that either American ships lie idle at our own and foreign ports, unable to procure freights, and thus practically excluded from the carrying trade, or are transferred to foreign flags.''
Major General John G. Foster, pursuant to instructions from the War Department, commenced the enlistment of colored troops with ? in the lines of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina; and the unoccupied land on Roanoke Island was set apart for the use of the families of negro soldiers and other contrabands in the service of the United States.
The CSS Florida, commanded by Captain John Newland Maffitt, was at Bermuda, being delayed there by the refusal of the naval authorities to furnish her with coal.
Posted on 7/23/13 at 2:29 pm to dallasga6
July 23, 1863
The plan was pretty straightforward: General George Gordon Meade assigned Major General William Henry French to take his 3rd Corps through Manassas Gap and cut General Robert Edward Lee's Army of Northern Virginia in half. Like many of Meade's plans in the aftermath of Gettysburg, this one just didn't work out too well either. Lee knew the passes were there and he had them all guarded. A fierce resistance by a brigade of Georgians stalled the assault for hours. In those hours, Generals James Longstreet and A.P. Hill's corps managed a last burst of speed into the Luray Valley and ultimate safety. At dawn, French began his attack with the New York Excelsior Brigade, led by Brigadier General Francis B. Spinola, against Brigadier General Ambrose R. Wright's brigade of Georgians, under the command of Colonel Edward J. Walker of the 3rd Georgia Regiment, defending the pass. The fight was slow at first, with the superior Union force using its massive numbers to push Walker from his defensive position back through the gap. In the late afternoon, around 4:30 p.m., French made a concerted assault on Walker's brigade, driving them from the gap. The Confederates were quickly reinforced by Major General Robert E. Rodes's division and artillery, stalling the Union advance. By dusk, the Union attack would become uncoordinated and was finally abandoned. During the night, Confederate forces withdrew into the Luray Valley.
Brigadier General Roswell Sabine Ripley proposed the use of a fire ship against the USS New Ironsides and other Union ships at Charleston. The fire ship, he suggested, would be loaded with explosives. ''Should this explode close to the Ironsides, or other vessel, the effect must be to destroy her; and if two or three are in juxtaposition, the two or three may be got rid of.'' He pointed out that some 20 Union ships were generally stationed in a narrow waterway. Though Ripley thought the chances of success were ''fair,'' General Beauregard asked the advice of the Confederate naval leaders, Commodore Duncan N. Ingraham and Captain John R. Tucker, and, when Ingraham reported his estimate of the odds for success at "five in one hundred" and Tucker's at "thirty in one hundred," he determined not to carry out the plan. Late in 1864, the Union acted on a similar proposal by General Benjamin "Spoons" Butler at Wilmington. Over 200 tons of powder were exploded on a ship to cover an Army assault on Fort Fisher. The experiment was unsuccessful.
The Draft enrollment was heavily resisted in the vicinity of Jarrettsville, in Harford County, Maryland.
The First regiment of colored United States volunteers was completed at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Colonel Benjamin Tilghman appointed to the command.
The Draft enrollment took place in Auburn, New York, and everything reportedly passed off with the best of order. The occasion, instead of being one of rioting, arson, and murder, was said to be one of rejoicing and demonstrations of loyalty.
The plan was pretty straightforward: General George Gordon Meade assigned Major General William Henry French to take his 3rd Corps through Manassas Gap and cut General Robert Edward Lee's Army of Northern Virginia in half. Like many of Meade's plans in the aftermath of Gettysburg, this one just didn't work out too well either. Lee knew the passes were there and he had them all guarded. A fierce resistance by a brigade of Georgians stalled the assault for hours. In those hours, Generals James Longstreet and A.P. Hill's corps managed a last burst of speed into the Luray Valley and ultimate safety. At dawn, French began his attack with the New York Excelsior Brigade, led by Brigadier General Francis B. Spinola, against Brigadier General Ambrose R. Wright's brigade of Georgians, under the command of Colonel Edward J. Walker of the 3rd Georgia Regiment, defending the pass. The fight was slow at first, with the superior Union force using its massive numbers to push Walker from his defensive position back through the gap. In the late afternoon, around 4:30 p.m., French made a concerted assault on Walker's brigade, driving them from the gap. The Confederates were quickly reinforced by Major General Robert E. Rodes's division and artillery, stalling the Union advance. By dusk, the Union attack would become uncoordinated and was finally abandoned. During the night, Confederate forces withdrew into the Luray Valley.
Brigadier General Roswell Sabine Ripley proposed the use of a fire ship against the USS New Ironsides and other Union ships at Charleston. The fire ship, he suggested, would be loaded with explosives. ''Should this explode close to the Ironsides, or other vessel, the effect must be to destroy her; and if two or three are in juxtaposition, the two or three may be got rid of.'' He pointed out that some 20 Union ships were generally stationed in a narrow waterway. Though Ripley thought the chances of success were ''fair,'' General Beauregard asked the advice of the Confederate naval leaders, Commodore Duncan N. Ingraham and Captain John R. Tucker, and, when Ingraham reported his estimate of the odds for success at "five in one hundred" and Tucker's at "thirty in one hundred," he determined not to carry out the plan. Late in 1864, the Union acted on a similar proposal by General Benjamin "Spoons" Butler at Wilmington. Over 200 tons of powder were exploded on a ship to cover an Army assault on Fort Fisher. The experiment was unsuccessful.
The Draft enrollment was heavily resisted in the vicinity of Jarrettsville, in Harford County, Maryland.
The First regiment of colored United States volunteers was completed at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Colonel Benjamin Tilghman appointed to the command.
The Draft enrollment took place in Auburn, New York, and everything reportedly passed off with the best of order. The occasion, instead of being one of rioting, arson, and murder, was said to be one of rejoicing and demonstrations of loyalty.
Posted on 7/24/13 at 1:36 pm to dallasga6
July 24, 1863
General John Hunt Morgan's career as a cross-border raider into the lower reaches of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio was in severe danger of nullification today. He had recently lost half his men when Union gunboats prevented their escape across the Ohio River a few days ago; since then he and his dwindling band had skirmished almost daily with pursuing Federals as they fled in the general direction of Pennsylvania. He lost a few more men today, along with irreplaceable horses, supplies and ammunition.
Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren's ironclads and gunboats, including the USS New Ironsides, Weehauken, Patapsco, Montauk, Catskill, Nantucket, Paul Jones, Ottawa, Seneca, and Dai Ching, bombarded Fort Wagner in support of Army operations ashore. Dahlgren reported the effort a success, noting that the ship's fire "...silenced the guns of Wagner and drove its garrison to shelter. This enabled our army to progress with the works which they had advanced during the night and to arm them." The Admiral added in his diary that "General Gillmore telegraphed that his operation had succeeded, and thanked me for the very efficient fire of the vessels.'' The next day, learning from Gillmore that a Confederate offensive was planned for the 26th, Dahlgren quickly brought his forces afloat into action once again. Issuing detailed instructions to prevent an attack, Dahlgren added: "The enemy must not obtain the advantage he seeks, nor attempt it with impunity."
Because of the French occupation of Mexico City some six weeks before and the apparently hostile attitude of Emperor Napoleon III toward the United States, General Nathaniel Banks at New Orleans was ordered to prepare an expedition to Texas. For some time Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles had advocated a similar move in order to halt the extensive blockade running via Matamoras and the legally neutral Rio Grande River. ''The use of the Rio Grande to evade the blockade," he recorded in his diary, "and the establishment of regular lines of steamers to Matamoras did not disturb some of our people, but certain movements and recent givings-out of the French have alarmed Seward, who says Louis Napoleon is making an effort to get Texas; he therefore urges the immediate occupation of Galveston and also some other point.'' The expedition could take two routes: striking by amphibious assault along the Texas coast, or via the Red River into the interior. In either case, a joint Army-Navy assault would be necessary. The expedition, after a beginning marked by delays and frustrations, got underway early in 1864.
Dahlgren again wrote Welles about "...how much I am pushed in order (first; to conduct operations on Morris Island, (second) to maintain the blockade, (third) to cover the points which have been exposed by the withdrawal of troops concentrated here..." In addition, Dahlgren's duties required his forces to be active at Wassaw Sound where a Confederate ram was being built and at Port Royal where the Southerners had long hoped to recapture the vital Union supply station, as well as along the entire southeastern Atlantic coast. Squadron commanders were always faced with demands greater than they had ships and men to meet.
Rear Admiral David D. Porter directed that all ships in his Mississippi Squadron be provided with an apparatus to destroy torpedoes while on expeditions up narrow rivers. Since a torpedo exploding with 100 pounds of powder would not injure a ship 10 feet away, Porter proposed "...that each vessel be provided with a rake projecting 20 or 30 feet beyond the bow...The rake will be provided with iron teeth (spikes will do) to catch the torpedo or break the wires.'' The serious threat of the Confederate torpedoes, even in waters dominated by the Union, could never be ignored by naval commanders and dictated persistent caution.
Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory wrote President Jefferson Davis asking that men he transferred from the Army to man ships at Mobile, Savannah, Charleston, and Wilmington. "The vessels at these points," he wrote, ''have not the men to fight their own guns and men to spare for any enterprises against the enemy." The Navy had no conscription and suffered from a critical want of seamen.
The USS Iroquois, under Captain Case, captured the blockade runner Merrimac off the coast of North Carolina with a cargo of cotton, turpentine, and tobacco.
The USS Arago, Commander Henry A. Gadsden in charge, captured the steamer Emma off Wilmington with a cargo of cotton, rosin, and turpentine.
The bombardment of Charleston, South Carolina was renewed this morning, and continued all day, except for a short time, during which a flag of truce visited the Confederate authorities and perfected an exchange of prisoners.
Brashear City, Louisiana, was occupied by the Federal forces.
General John Hunt Morgan's career as a cross-border raider into the lower reaches of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio was in severe danger of nullification today. He had recently lost half his men when Union gunboats prevented their escape across the Ohio River a few days ago; since then he and his dwindling band had skirmished almost daily with pursuing Federals as they fled in the general direction of Pennsylvania. He lost a few more men today, along with irreplaceable horses, supplies and ammunition.
Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren's ironclads and gunboats, including the USS New Ironsides, Weehauken, Patapsco, Montauk, Catskill, Nantucket, Paul Jones, Ottawa, Seneca, and Dai Ching, bombarded Fort Wagner in support of Army operations ashore. Dahlgren reported the effort a success, noting that the ship's fire "...silenced the guns of Wagner and drove its garrison to shelter. This enabled our army to progress with the works which they had advanced during the night and to arm them." The Admiral added in his diary that "General Gillmore telegraphed that his operation had succeeded, and thanked me for the very efficient fire of the vessels.'' The next day, learning from Gillmore that a Confederate offensive was planned for the 26th, Dahlgren quickly brought his forces afloat into action once again. Issuing detailed instructions to prevent an attack, Dahlgren added: "The enemy must not obtain the advantage he seeks, nor attempt it with impunity."
Because of the French occupation of Mexico City some six weeks before and the apparently hostile attitude of Emperor Napoleon III toward the United States, General Nathaniel Banks at New Orleans was ordered to prepare an expedition to Texas. For some time Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles had advocated a similar move in order to halt the extensive blockade running via Matamoras and the legally neutral Rio Grande River. ''The use of the Rio Grande to evade the blockade," he recorded in his diary, "and the establishment of regular lines of steamers to Matamoras did not disturb some of our people, but certain movements and recent givings-out of the French have alarmed Seward, who says Louis Napoleon is making an effort to get Texas; he therefore urges the immediate occupation of Galveston and also some other point.'' The expedition could take two routes: striking by amphibious assault along the Texas coast, or via the Red River into the interior. In either case, a joint Army-Navy assault would be necessary. The expedition, after a beginning marked by delays and frustrations, got underway early in 1864.
Dahlgren again wrote Welles about "...how much I am pushed in order (first; to conduct operations on Morris Island, (second) to maintain the blockade, (third) to cover the points which have been exposed by the withdrawal of troops concentrated here..." In addition, Dahlgren's duties required his forces to be active at Wassaw Sound where a Confederate ram was being built and at Port Royal where the Southerners had long hoped to recapture the vital Union supply station, as well as along the entire southeastern Atlantic coast. Squadron commanders were always faced with demands greater than they had ships and men to meet.
Rear Admiral David D. Porter directed that all ships in his Mississippi Squadron be provided with an apparatus to destroy torpedoes while on expeditions up narrow rivers. Since a torpedo exploding with 100 pounds of powder would not injure a ship 10 feet away, Porter proposed "...that each vessel be provided with a rake projecting 20 or 30 feet beyond the bow...The rake will be provided with iron teeth (spikes will do) to catch the torpedo or break the wires.'' The serious threat of the Confederate torpedoes, even in waters dominated by the Union, could never be ignored by naval commanders and dictated persistent caution.
Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory wrote President Jefferson Davis asking that men he transferred from the Army to man ships at Mobile, Savannah, Charleston, and Wilmington. "The vessels at these points," he wrote, ''have not the men to fight their own guns and men to spare for any enterprises against the enemy." The Navy had no conscription and suffered from a critical want of seamen.
The USS Iroquois, under Captain Case, captured the blockade runner Merrimac off the coast of North Carolina with a cargo of cotton, turpentine, and tobacco.
The USS Arago, Commander Henry A. Gadsden in charge, captured the steamer Emma off Wilmington with a cargo of cotton, rosin, and turpentine.
The bombardment of Charleston, South Carolina was renewed this morning, and continued all day, except for a short time, during which a flag of truce visited the Confederate authorities and perfected an exchange of prisoners.
Brashear City, Louisiana, was occupied by the Federal forces.
Posted on 7/25/13 at 2:52 pm to dallasga6
July 25, 1862
The big, famous battles of the War for Southern Independence get all of the press, attention and most of the books, but it is worth remembering that one is just as dead if killed in an unnamed skirmish as in the Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble Charge at Gettysburg or the Burnside multiple attempts to take Marye's Heights in Fredericksburg. Small actions known as operations and skirmishes took place today at Summerville, Virginia; Courtland and Trinity, Alabama; Clinton Ferry, Tennessee; Mountain Store, Missouri; Holly Springs Mississippi, on the Pearl River and Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana and in Pass Manchac nearby.
The Confederate steamers Merrimac and Lizzie were captured by the Federal gunboat Iroquois, they having run the blockade of Wilmington, North Carolina, the previous evening.
The Confederate steamer Beauregard, after attempting to run the blockade of Charleston, South Carolina, returned to Nassau, N. P.
President Jefferson Davis, "...regarding the furloughs granted the paroled prisoners from Vicksburg of too great duration in the present condition of the country, with the exception of those of men most distant..." from the camp of General John C. Pemberton, at Demopolis, Alabama ordered that they be reduced, and an order to that effect was issued by General Pemberton.
The big, famous battles of the War for Southern Independence get all of the press, attention and most of the books, but it is worth remembering that one is just as dead if killed in an unnamed skirmish as in the Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble Charge at Gettysburg or the Burnside multiple attempts to take Marye's Heights in Fredericksburg. Small actions known as operations and skirmishes took place today at Summerville, Virginia; Courtland and Trinity, Alabama; Clinton Ferry, Tennessee; Mountain Store, Missouri; Holly Springs Mississippi, on the Pearl River and Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana and in Pass Manchac nearby.
The Confederate steamers Merrimac and Lizzie were captured by the Federal gunboat Iroquois, they having run the blockade of Wilmington, North Carolina, the previous evening.
The Confederate steamer Beauregard, after attempting to run the blockade of Charleston, South Carolina, returned to Nassau, N. P.
President Jefferson Davis, "...regarding the furloughs granted the paroled prisoners from Vicksburg of too great duration in the present condition of the country, with the exception of those of men most distant..." from the camp of General John C. Pemberton, at Demopolis, Alabama ordered that they be reduced, and an order to that effect was issued by General Pemberton.
Posted on 7/26/13 at 2:44 pm to dallasga6
July 26, 1863
Today was the end of the road for John Hunt Morgan. He had set forth with 1200 troopers on July 8 on a raid into southern Indiana and Ohio, hoping to be supported by Confederate sympathizers, and raise morale in the South after the fall of Vicksburg and loss at Gettysburg. Support did not materialize, his retreat was blocked by Union gunboats, and he had had to flee, losing men every day. Finally trapped near Salineville, Ohio, he and his remaining 364 officers and men surrendered today. General John H. Morgan, with Colonel Cluke and about four hundred of his men, was captured at a point four miles south of New Lisbon, Ohio, by the National forces under Colonel J. M. Shackleford.
General Robert E. Lee, from his headquarters, Army of Northern Virginia, issued the following order: All officers and soldiers now absent from this army, who are able to do duty and are not detached on special service, are ordered to return immediately. The Commanding General calls upon all soldiers to rejoin their respective regiments at once. To remain at home in this the hour of our country's need is unworthy the manhood of a Southern soldier. While you proudly boast that you belong to the Army of Northern Virginia, let it not be said that you deserted your comrades in a contest in which every thing you hold dear is at stake. The Commanding General appeals to the people of the States to send forth every man able to bear arms to aid the brave soldiers who have so often beaten back our foes, to strike a decisive blow for the safety and sanctity of our homes, and the independence of our country.
John Jordan Crittenden, a Senator and a Representative from Kentucky, died at Frankfort, at half-past 3 o'clock this morning.
The Federal gunboat Sagamore, accompanied by the steamer Oleander, mortar-schooner Para, and schooner Beauregard, on an expedition into Mosquito Inlet, Florida, succeeded in destroying the town of Smyrna, and capturing two schooners, one of which was loaded with cotton. An attempt was made to capture another schooner loaded with cotton, when the Confederates set fire to the vessel, and it was totally destroyed. The expedition returned to Key West, having met with no casualties.
Today was the end of the road for John Hunt Morgan. He had set forth with 1200 troopers on July 8 on a raid into southern Indiana and Ohio, hoping to be supported by Confederate sympathizers, and raise morale in the South after the fall of Vicksburg and loss at Gettysburg. Support did not materialize, his retreat was blocked by Union gunboats, and he had had to flee, losing men every day. Finally trapped near Salineville, Ohio, he and his remaining 364 officers and men surrendered today. General John H. Morgan, with Colonel Cluke and about four hundred of his men, was captured at a point four miles south of New Lisbon, Ohio, by the National forces under Colonel J. M. Shackleford.
General Robert E. Lee, from his headquarters, Army of Northern Virginia, issued the following order: All officers and soldiers now absent from this army, who are able to do duty and are not detached on special service, are ordered to return immediately. The Commanding General calls upon all soldiers to rejoin their respective regiments at once. To remain at home in this the hour of our country's need is unworthy the manhood of a Southern soldier. While you proudly boast that you belong to the Army of Northern Virginia, let it not be said that you deserted your comrades in a contest in which every thing you hold dear is at stake. The Commanding General appeals to the people of the States to send forth every man able to bear arms to aid the brave soldiers who have so often beaten back our foes, to strike a decisive blow for the safety and sanctity of our homes, and the independence of our country.
John Jordan Crittenden, a Senator and a Representative from Kentucky, died at Frankfort, at half-past 3 o'clock this morning.
The Federal gunboat Sagamore, accompanied by the steamer Oleander, mortar-schooner Para, and schooner Beauregard, on an expedition into Mosquito Inlet, Florida, succeeded in destroying the town of Smyrna, and capturing two schooners, one of which was loaded with cotton. An attempt was made to capture another schooner loaded with cotton, when the Confederates set fire to the vessel, and it was totally destroyed. The expedition returned to Key West, having met with no casualties.
Posted on 7/27/13 at 2:22 pm to dallasga6
July 27, 1863
William Lowndes Yancey died this day in Montgomery, Alabama, a very frustrated man. His history is diverse and interesting. He was Southern born and bred initially, raised near the falls of the Ogeechee River in Warren County, Georgia. After his father died, his mother remarried an avid abolitionist and the family moved to New York. Yancey lived there until he was a student at Williams College in Massachusetts when he abruptly dropped out and moved back South to read law under an old friend of his father. He was an orator of some note, and so devoted to the South that he was advocating secession years before the events of Fort Sumter actually occurred. He was a journalist, politician, orator, diplomat and an American leader of the Southern secession movement. A member of the group known as the Fire-Eaters, Yancey was one of the most effective agitators for secession and rhetorical defenders of slavery. An early critic of John C. Calhoun and nullification, by the late 1830's Yancey began to identify with Calhoun and the struggle against the forces of the anti-slavery movement. In 1849, Yancey was a firm supporter of Calhoun's "Southern Address" and an adamant opponent of the Compromise of 1850.His ambition was always to be President of a Southern Confederacy, but he was too radical even for them and was passed over in favor of Jefferson Davis. He spent the war years in a "loyal opposition" working to restrain even what limited powers Davis had.
The CSS Florida, commanded by Commander John Newland Maffitt, sailed from Bermuda after having coaled and refitted. Three weeks later, Maffitt put into harbor at Brest, France, for extensive repairs, which would consume six months and take from the seas one of the most successful of the Confederate commerce raiders. During this period, Maffitt, in poor health, asked to be relieved of his command.
General P.G.T. Beauregard asked Captain Tucker, commanding Confederate naval forces at Charleston, to ''...place your two ships, the ironclads, in a position immediately contiguous to Cumming's Point..." Beauregard noted that the addition of the ironclads would "...materially strengthen our means of defense" and the Confederate hold on Morris Island. Tucker subsequently replied: "Flag Officer Ingraham, commanding station, Charleston, has informed me officially that he has but 80 tons of coal to meet all demands, including the ironclads, and has admonished me of the necessity of economy in consumption." However, a fresh supply of coal arrived in August in time to enable the ironclads to help evacuate Fort Wagner. Critical shortages of coal hampered Southern efforts afloat and even that which was obtained was "soft" rather than "hard" coal. It burned with a heavier, much more noticeable smoke and was much less efficient than anthracite coal.
The USS Clifton, under Lieutenant Crocker, with the USS Estrella, Hollyhock, and Sachem in company on a reconnaissance of the Atchafalaya River to the mouth of Bayou Teche, Louisiana, engaged Confederate batteries.
The Permanent Commission endorses construction of Professor Hortsford's submarine Soligo.
Brigadier General Saxton, commanding the department of South Carolina, at Beaufort, issued the following to the colored soldiers and freedmen in his department: It is fitting that you should pay a last tribute of respect to the memory of the late Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, Colonel of the Fifty-fourth regiment of Massachusetts volunteers. He commanded the first regiment of colored soldiers from a Free State ever mustered into the United States service. He fell at the head of his regiment, while leading a storming party against a rebel stronghold. You should cherish in your inmost hearts the memory of one who did not hesitate to sacrifice all the attractions of a high social position, wealth and home, and his own noble life, for the sake of humanity ? another martyr to your cause that death has added, still another hope for your race. The truths and principles for which he fought and died, still live, and will be vindicated. On the spot where he fell, by the ditch into which his mangled and bleeding body was thrown, on the soil of South-Carolina, I trust that you will honor yourselves and his glorious memory by appropriating the first proceeds of your labor as free men toward erecting an enduring monument to the hero, soldier, martyr ? Robert Gould Shaw.
Gold was sold at Atlanta, Georgia, at twelve dollars and eleven cents rebel currency for one dollar.
The Twenty-seventh regiment of Connecticut volunteers returned to New Haven.
A salute of one hundred guns was fired at Boston, Massachusetts, in honor of the victories at Port Hudson and Vicksburg, as well as the opening of the Mississippi River.
William Lowndes Yancey died this day in Montgomery, Alabama, a very frustrated man. His history is diverse and interesting. He was Southern born and bred initially, raised near the falls of the Ogeechee River in Warren County, Georgia. After his father died, his mother remarried an avid abolitionist and the family moved to New York. Yancey lived there until he was a student at Williams College in Massachusetts when he abruptly dropped out and moved back South to read law under an old friend of his father. He was an orator of some note, and so devoted to the South that he was advocating secession years before the events of Fort Sumter actually occurred. He was a journalist, politician, orator, diplomat and an American leader of the Southern secession movement. A member of the group known as the Fire-Eaters, Yancey was one of the most effective agitators for secession and rhetorical defenders of slavery. An early critic of John C. Calhoun and nullification, by the late 1830's Yancey began to identify with Calhoun and the struggle against the forces of the anti-slavery movement. In 1849, Yancey was a firm supporter of Calhoun's "Southern Address" and an adamant opponent of the Compromise of 1850.His ambition was always to be President of a Southern Confederacy, but he was too radical even for them and was passed over in favor of Jefferson Davis. He spent the war years in a "loyal opposition" working to restrain even what limited powers Davis had.
The CSS Florida, commanded by Commander John Newland Maffitt, sailed from Bermuda after having coaled and refitted. Three weeks later, Maffitt put into harbor at Brest, France, for extensive repairs, which would consume six months and take from the seas one of the most successful of the Confederate commerce raiders. During this period, Maffitt, in poor health, asked to be relieved of his command.
General P.G.T. Beauregard asked Captain Tucker, commanding Confederate naval forces at Charleston, to ''...place your two ships, the ironclads, in a position immediately contiguous to Cumming's Point..." Beauregard noted that the addition of the ironclads would "...materially strengthen our means of defense" and the Confederate hold on Morris Island. Tucker subsequently replied: "Flag Officer Ingraham, commanding station, Charleston, has informed me officially that he has but 80 tons of coal to meet all demands, including the ironclads, and has admonished me of the necessity of economy in consumption." However, a fresh supply of coal arrived in August in time to enable the ironclads to help evacuate Fort Wagner. Critical shortages of coal hampered Southern efforts afloat and even that which was obtained was "soft" rather than "hard" coal. It burned with a heavier, much more noticeable smoke and was much less efficient than anthracite coal.
The USS Clifton, under Lieutenant Crocker, with the USS Estrella, Hollyhock, and Sachem in company on a reconnaissance of the Atchafalaya River to the mouth of Bayou Teche, Louisiana, engaged Confederate batteries.
The Permanent Commission endorses construction of Professor Hortsford's submarine Soligo.
Brigadier General Saxton, commanding the department of South Carolina, at Beaufort, issued the following to the colored soldiers and freedmen in his department: It is fitting that you should pay a last tribute of respect to the memory of the late Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, Colonel of the Fifty-fourth regiment of Massachusetts volunteers. He commanded the first regiment of colored soldiers from a Free State ever mustered into the United States service. He fell at the head of his regiment, while leading a storming party against a rebel stronghold. You should cherish in your inmost hearts the memory of one who did not hesitate to sacrifice all the attractions of a high social position, wealth and home, and his own noble life, for the sake of humanity ? another martyr to your cause that death has added, still another hope for your race. The truths and principles for which he fought and died, still live, and will be vindicated. On the spot where he fell, by the ditch into which his mangled and bleeding body was thrown, on the soil of South-Carolina, I trust that you will honor yourselves and his glorious memory by appropriating the first proceeds of your labor as free men toward erecting an enduring monument to the hero, soldier, martyr ? Robert Gould Shaw.
Gold was sold at Atlanta, Georgia, at twelve dollars and eleven cents rebel currency for one dollar.
The Twenty-seventh regiment of Connecticut volunteers returned to New Haven.
A salute of one hundred guns was fired at Boston, Massachusetts, in honor of the victories at Port Hudson and Vicksburg, as well as the opening of the Mississippi River.
This post was edited on 7/27/13 at 2:28 pm
Posted on 7/28/13 at 3:06 pm to dallasga6
July 28, 1863
Much correspondence was going back and forth between General Robert E. Lee and his Confederate Commander-in-Chief. President Jefferson Davis wrote today that he would try to get more manpower to the Army of Northern Virginia by rounding up 'absentees' and convalescents who were well enough to fight. He also assured Lee that he would try to find secure sources of supplies, including horseshoes. Davis added that he relied heavily on Lee's advice, and that: "If a victim would secure the success of our cause, I would freely offer myself."
Under the direction of Lieutenant Commander English, the USS Beauregard and Oleander as well as boats from the USS Sagamore and Para attacked New Smyrna, Florida. After shelling the town, the Union force "...captured one sloop loaded with cotton, one schooner not laden; caused them to destroy several vessels, some of which were loaded with cotton and about ready to sail. They burned large quantities of it on shore. . . . Landed a strong force, destroyed all the buildings that had been occupied by troops." The Union Navy's capability to strike swiftly and effectively at any point on the South's sea perimeter continually kept the Confederacy off balance.
Commander John C. Carter, piloting the USS Michigan on a cruise visiting principal cities on Lake Erie to recruit men for the Navy, reported that his call at Detroit was particularly opportune. ''I found the people suffering under serious apprehensions of a riot in consequence of excitement in reference to the draft. . . . The presence of the ship perhaps did something toward overawing the refractory, and certainly did much to allay the apprehensions of the excited, doubting people. All fears in reference to the riot had subsided before I left.'' During August, the Michigan was called on for similar service at Buffalo, New York.
Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton ordered the formation of a Bureau of Cavalry to be attached to the War Department of the United States.
Colonel Rowett, of the Seventh Illinois infantry, in command of a force from Corinth, Mississippi, fell upon a small party of Confederate troops, belonging to General Philip Dale Roddy's force, near Lexington, Tennessee, and in a nearly three hour skirmish which followed, captured Colonel Campbell and Captain Clark, together with another captain, two lieutenants, and twenty-five men.
The steamboat Imperial, the first boat from New Orleans since the opening of the Mississippi River, arrived at St. Louis, Missouri, and was welcomed with great enthusiasm.
The Federal forces under Colonel Sanders, at Richmond, Kentucky, were attacked by a body of Confederate soldiers, and driven back to a point within five miles of Lexington, the Rebel troops closely following. Lexington was placed under martial law, and all able-bodied citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty-five were ordered to report for duty.
At Richmond, Virginia, the demolition of the street railroads was completed, the track having been torn up and the iron sent to the mill to be rolled into mail for a gunboat.
Much correspondence was going back and forth between General Robert E. Lee and his Confederate Commander-in-Chief. President Jefferson Davis wrote today that he would try to get more manpower to the Army of Northern Virginia by rounding up 'absentees' and convalescents who were well enough to fight. He also assured Lee that he would try to find secure sources of supplies, including horseshoes. Davis added that he relied heavily on Lee's advice, and that: "If a victim would secure the success of our cause, I would freely offer myself."
Under the direction of Lieutenant Commander English, the USS Beauregard and Oleander as well as boats from the USS Sagamore and Para attacked New Smyrna, Florida. After shelling the town, the Union force "...captured one sloop loaded with cotton, one schooner not laden; caused them to destroy several vessels, some of which were loaded with cotton and about ready to sail. They burned large quantities of it on shore. . . . Landed a strong force, destroyed all the buildings that had been occupied by troops." The Union Navy's capability to strike swiftly and effectively at any point on the South's sea perimeter continually kept the Confederacy off balance.
Commander John C. Carter, piloting the USS Michigan on a cruise visiting principal cities on Lake Erie to recruit men for the Navy, reported that his call at Detroit was particularly opportune. ''I found the people suffering under serious apprehensions of a riot in consequence of excitement in reference to the draft. . . . The presence of the ship perhaps did something toward overawing the refractory, and certainly did much to allay the apprehensions of the excited, doubting people. All fears in reference to the riot had subsided before I left.'' During August, the Michigan was called on for similar service at Buffalo, New York.
Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton ordered the formation of a Bureau of Cavalry to be attached to the War Department of the United States.
Colonel Rowett, of the Seventh Illinois infantry, in command of a force from Corinth, Mississippi, fell upon a small party of Confederate troops, belonging to General Philip Dale Roddy's force, near Lexington, Tennessee, and in a nearly three hour skirmish which followed, captured Colonel Campbell and Captain Clark, together with another captain, two lieutenants, and twenty-five men.
The steamboat Imperial, the first boat from New Orleans since the opening of the Mississippi River, arrived at St. Louis, Missouri, and was welcomed with great enthusiasm.
The Federal forces under Colonel Sanders, at Richmond, Kentucky, were attacked by a body of Confederate soldiers, and driven back to a point within five miles of Lexington, the Rebel troops closely following. Lexington was placed under martial law, and all able-bodied citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty-five were ordered to report for duty.
At Richmond, Virginia, the demolition of the street railroads was completed, the track having been torn up and the iron sent to the mill to be rolled into mail for a gunboat.
This post was edited on 7/28/13 at 3:10 pm
Posted on 7/28/13 at 4:26 pm to dallasga6
Just started reading on your thread. Thanks so much for posting. Going back to read all that I missed.
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