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RE: Civil War 150th - 5/3/2012 8:27:11 PM   
Capt. Harlock


Posts: 5358
Joined: 9/15/2001
From: Los Angeles
Status: offline 		150 Years Ago Today:

General Benjamin Butler published his proclamation to the people of New Orleans. He had written it on the day his troops marched into the city, but the newspaper refused to publish it. (Butler solved this obstacle by having his soldiers take over the printing presses.) In the proclamation, Butler declared the city under martial law, disbanded the police force, forbade the publication of anti-Union papers, and decreed that the United States flag was to be “treated with the utmost deference and respect by all persons, under pain of severe punishment.”


At Yorktown, Virginia, Confederate commander Joseph Johnston had learned of the mass of siege artillery being arrayed against him and decided to evacuate, never mind that Jefferson Davis would be displeased. His preparations did not go unnoticed: both Union pickets and runaway slaves reported large numbers of wagons being rolled up to the Southern lines and loaded with equipment.

But on this date, Johnston ordered a bombardment of the Union lines. A canny general would have seen through the ruse: the Rebel guns were firing all up and down the lines, rather than concentrating on one position to prepare for an assault. But the Northern soldiers went to cover, and after dark, the Confederate evacuation began, undetected.

General McClellan had decided to put his trust in Allan Pinkerton rather than the reports of the "contrabands" or his own officers and men. Pinkerton claimed to have a spy in the Confederate commissary department who said that 119,000 rations per day were being distributed to Johnston's army. With 112,000 men on hand, McClellan came to the astonishing conclusion that he was outnumbered.

(Pinkerton is seated on the right.)




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_____________________________

Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

--Victor Hugo

(in reply to Capt. Harlock)
Post #: 541
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/4/2012 8:34:39 PM   
Capt. Harlock


Posts: 5358
Joined: 9/15/2001
From: Los Angeles
Status: offline 		150 Years Ago Today:

Since the advance in the Virginia peninsula had stalled, the Union army had set up observation balloons to view the Confederate positions. Early in the morning, a balloon carrying a lieutenant by the name of George Armstrong Custer went up for daily observation. Custer soon noted the smoke from many cooking fires from Northern soldiers preparing their breakfasts, but a complete absence of such fires on the Rebel side. The Yorktown fortifications had been abandoned.

Advancing into the entrenchments, the Yankees found a few things had been left behind. Several dozen smoothbore naval cannons had been too heavy for the Southerners' rapid retreat, and had remained in place. More worrisome, "torpedoes" (later called land mines) had been buried in the ground, ready to explode when a tripwire was stepped on. (This was not the first time such things had been used: they had first been deployed during the Seminole Wars in Florida.)

Whatever his faults as a field commander, George McClellan could read a map. The roads which the Confederate forces would need to retreat by intersected near the town of Williamsburg. (Which was once the capital of colonial Virginia.) McClellan promptly ordered his cavalry to occupy the place, hoping to trap the Rebel army on the march. The problem was that Confederate commander Joseph Johnston had read his maps also, and had already had a modest fort named Fort Magruder built to defend the spot. When it arrived, Union cavalry was sent back in retreat by a swarm of musket balls. Infantry would be needed for this job.

< Message edited by Capt. Harlock -- 5/5/2012 5:09:12 AM >

_____________________________

Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

--Victor Hugo

(in reply to Capt. Harlock)
Post #: 542
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/4/2012 9:03:10 PM   
parusski


Posts: 4804
Joined: 5/8/2000
From: Jackson Tn
Status: offline 		Great work Capt. H.

_____________________________

"I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are. If I killed them all there would be news from Hell before breakfast."- W.T. Sherman

(in reply to Capt. Harlock)
Post #: 543
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/5/2012 5:33:55 AM   
Capt. Harlock


Posts: 5358
Joined: 9/15/2001
From: Los Angeles
Status: offline 		150 Years Ago Today:

The town of Williamsburg had seen better days. It was the site of the College of William and Mary, the second oldest institute of higher learning in America after Harvard, and Thomas Jefferson's alma mater. But the college had been closed for the duration of the war, since nearly all the college-age males in Virginia had joined the Confederate army instead. Now things got considerably worse as a division of Yankees under Brigadier General Joseph Hooker marched to the attack.

The Southerners had brought more men as well. Troops under Major General James Longstreet not only stopped the Union advance but threatened to overwhelm them. The affair turned into a classic "meeting engagement" where each side called for more and more reinforcements. Eventually 41,000 Northerners were fighting against 31,000 Southerners. Names to become famous were on both sides, with Philip Kearny and Winfield Hancock reinforcing Hooker while D. H. hill and Jubal Early reinforced Longstreet. The fighting ended essentially in a draw, with the Union losing 2,300 casualties to the Confederate loss of 1,700. The Rebels stayed in possession of Williamsburg for one day more, then continued their retreat towards Richmond.

McClellan described the action as a victory over superior forces. He was entirely wrong, for the extra day allowed the rest of the Confederate army to re-group and retreat in safety. Still, the advantage of sheer numbers remained with the Federals -- and they had moved closer to Richmond.




Attachment (1)

_____________________________

Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

--Victor Hugo

(in reply to parusski)
Post #: 544
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/7/2012 5:18:49 PM   
british exil


Posts: 1686
Joined: 5/4/2006
From: Lower Saxony Germany
Status: offline 		Did the union and confederate forces have 2 days rest?

What happened on the 6th and 7th May??

Mat

_____________________________

"It is not enough to expect a man to pay for the best, you must also give him what he pays for." Alfred Dunhill

WitE,UV,AT,ATG,FoF,FPCRS

(in reply to Capt. Harlock)
Post #: 545
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/7/2012 5:29:01 PM   
rodney727


Posts: 1460
Joined: 7/12/2011
From: Iowa
Status: offline 		If you have an iPad or android tablet the civil war today app is filled with day to day stuff. It even keeps track of casualties from day to day. What I really enjoy is actual hand written letters that they scanned into this app. Also it let's you see who visited president Lincoln and why. I enjoy this thread too. Excellent work captain harlock.

_____________________________

"I thank God that I was warring on the gridirons of the midwest and not the battlefields of Europe"
Nile Kinnick 1918-1943

(in reply to british exil)
Post #: 546
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/7/2012 8:36:19 PM   
Capt. Harlock


Posts: 5358
Joined: 9/15/2001
From: Los Angeles
Status: offline 		150 Years Ago Today:

With the capture of Yorktown, the York river was now open to Union ships. McClellan took advantage by sending a division of infantry by water to a place called Eltham's Landing. He hoped to cut off the Confederate army retreating towards Richmond, but their arrival did not go unnoticed. The few Southern pickets immediately on the scene were easily driven off, but the next day a considerably larger force showed up.

The result was one of the more evenly matched battles of the Civil War, with each side having about 11,000 men engaged. The Southern commander's orders were only to make sure the Federals did not advance and block any important crossroads. However, among the Rebel forces was the Texas Brigade of John Bell Hood, and neither that general nor his men were inclined to take it easy on the Yankees. They pushed the Union advance lines back almost to the river banks, until supporting fire came from the Union gunboats. At the end of the day, there were 194 Union casualties and 48 Confederate casualties, and the main body of the Southern army had made it past any points where they could be checked by the Union landing.

Still, the Union had a toehold less than 35 miles (56 Km) from Richmond -- which meant they had covered more than half the distance from their start at Fort Monroe.


In the Shenandoah Valley, Union Brigadier General Robert H. Milroy was leading a column of 6,000 men down the west side of the Valley. They caught sight of a column of Confederate soldiers marching in their general direction. That meant one thing -- Stonewall Jackson was on the move. Aware that Jackson had at least 10,000 men now that conscripts were reaching him, Milroy ordered his cannon unlimbered and delivered a volley. The Rebels kept on coming. The Federals quickly re-entrained their artillery and retreated to a small village occupying high ground named McDowell.

Jackson's famous Valley Campaign was about to begin in earnest.




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_____________________________

Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

--Victor Hugo

(in reply to rodney727)
Post #: 547
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/8/2012 5:26:27 AM   
Capt. Harlock


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Status: offline 		150 Years Ago Today:

Brigadier General Robert C. Schenck arrived with Union reinforcements at the village of McDowell. The Northerners still numbered less than 7,000, and so it was decided to attack before Stonewall Jackson could assemble his entire army. The attempt led to a day of hard fighting, and the results were mixed: The Federals failed to break the Confederate lines, but they prevented Jackson from mounting an attack of his own.

In Jackson's army, one unit was not from the Virginia area: the 12th Georgia regiment. The Georgians took especially heavy losses, partly because they refused to fall back from the Yankee onslaught, and partly because there were armed with smoothbores against Northern rifled muskets. This allowed the attackers to inflict more casualties than they sustained, one of the few times in the Civil War that this would happen. The final butcher's bill was Union: 34 killed, 220 wounded, 5 missing, Confederate: 116 killed, 300 wounded, 4 missing. Nonetheless, McDowell is rated as a Confederate victory, because the two Union generals realized they could not hold the position. They were deep in hostile country, and the Southerners would soon outnumber them. They began a retreat late that night. Not surprisingly, Jackson pursued.

_____________________________

Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

--Victor Hugo

(in reply to Capt. Harlock)
Post #: 548
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/9/2012 8:15:35 PM   
Capt. Harlock


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Status: offline 		150 Years Ago Today:

In the Virginia peninsula, McClellan's huge Army of the Potomac continued its advance toward Richmond. The Confederates found themselves compelled to withdraw from Norfolk Navy Yard. As the Northerners had done before them, they destroyed what they could on the base as they left. But there was one critical item they could not bring themselves to dispose of just yet. The famed (and feared) ironclad CSS Virginia was sent upriver.


General David Hunter had been appointed commander of the Union military district composed of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. At first, the Federals controlled only a few islands off the coasts of the Rebel states. But the urgent Confederate demand for troops to defend Richmond had left more and more of the coastline undefended, and the Yankees had taken over a fair amount of it. This also meant a growing number of runaway slaves were coming into the Union lines, and Hunter did not have enough troops to deal with the refugee problem and patrol his growing territory. On this date Hunter issued a declaration that all the slaves in his district were more or less free. The "less" part was that able-bodied adult males were to be conscripted into the Union army. This went far beyond what John Fremont had attempted in Missouri. Given that Kentucky and Maryland still had numbers of influential slave-holders, a political firestorm was in the making.







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_____________________________

Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

--Victor Hugo

(in reply to Capt. Harlock)
Post #: 549
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/10/2012 8:26:28 PM   
Capt. Harlock


Posts: 5358
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From: Los Angeles
Status: offline 		150 Years Ago Today:

On the northern Mississippi River, the next objectives for the Union were Fort Pillow, and then the city of Memphis. Fort Pillow would need to be taken by land troops, but in the meantime the Federals tried some light shelling from a mortar schooner protected by the ironclad USS Cincinnati. The Southerners were understandably displeased, and on this date the Confederate River Defense fleet attacked with a squadron of gunboats equipped with rams at Plum Point Bend.

The Rebels achieved almost complete surprise, and the Union's Cincinnati and Mound City were rammed. (The mortar schooner managed to evade, and even exploded a shell over the Southern flotilla, showering the decks with shrapnel.) The two ironclads moved away towards shore. With the rest of the Northern fleet raising steam and coming to the scene, the Confederate ships withdrew. Cincinnati and Mound City settled in shallow water. Although the Confederates could claim the victory, both Union ironclads were soon raised and placed back in service.

On the Virginia Peninsula, Union troops advanced and occupied the now-defenseless city of Norfolk, along with the Navy Yard. Unlike what had happened at New Orleans, this time the mayor formally surrendered the city.

Something much along those lines was also starting to happen at Pensacola, Florida. The demand for men to deal with the Yankees in Louisiana and Virginia meant the Confederate troops on the scene were pulled out. Before they went, they applied the torch to whatever they could in Pensacola Navy Yard.

< Message edited by Capt. Harlock -- 5/10/2012 8:28:59 PM >

_____________________________

Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

--Victor Hugo
Post #: 550
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/11/2012 5:46:47 AM   
Capt. Harlock


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From: Los Angeles
Status: offline 		150 Years Ago Today:

Great effort was made to lighten the CSS Virginia so that she could retreat further up the James River. But even with her guns removed and the wooden hull showing above water, the river was too shallow to allow her to escape the advancing Union army. (If the winds had been blowing in the opposite direction, she likely would have made it.) Allowing her to fall into the hands of the Yankees was unthinkable, so flag officer Josiah Tattnall reluctantly ordered her destroyed. This task fell to Lieutenant Catesby ap Jones, who had commanded her against the Monitor and now became the last man to leave the ship. Early in the morning off Craney Island, the fire reached her magazine and the Virginia went up in a great explosion.

The print below is inaccurate in one respect: Virginia's thirteen-star Stars and Bars battle ensign was saved. Also, her guns were transported to fortifications at Drewy's Bluff, where ironically they would engage the Monitor one last time.




Attachment (1)

< Message edited by Capt. Harlock -- 5/11/2012 8:17:35 PM >

_____________________________

Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

--Victor Hugo

(in reply to Capt. Harlock)
Post #: 551
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/12/2012 4:01:28 PM   
Capt. Harlock


Posts: 5358
Joined: 9/15/2001
From: Los Angeles
Status: offline 		150 Years Ago Today:

With the Confederate army having evacuated, Union troops from Fort Pickens took control of Pensacola, Florida. The Navy Yard had been burned, but was still a useful anchorage for the Northern fleet.



The Union also occupied several other harbors on the Florida coast, although they were unsuccessful in penetrating into the interior of the state. The lithograph below shows the bluecoats marching into Fernandina, Florida, which on the Northeast coast of the state.



When the blockade was first announced, many in the South and also in Europe had been incredulous. The Union Navy seemed completely inadequate for the thousands of miles of Southern coastline. But by now it was clear that the North was making blockade running a difficult task. The Confederacy had given up on the idea of withholding its cotton, and was now smuggling what it could in exchange for munitions and other scarce supplies. Much of this trade now had to go through Texas and then Mexico, for the Union could not blockade a foreign coast. To stop this traffic, the North would have to control the entire Mississippi River.


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< Message edited by Capt. Harlock -- 5/12/2012 4:03:53 PM >
Post #: 552
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/13/2012 4:41:09 AM   
Capt. Harlock


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From: Los Angeles
Status: offline 		150 Years Ago Today:

The CSS Planter was an armed Confederate transport engaged in ferrying guns and other military supplies to the installations in Charleston harbor. She had a compliment of three white officers and nine slave crewmen, including the steersman Robert Smalls. On the evening of the 12th, all three officers had decided to spend the night ashore after supervising the loading of four cannons meant for a harbor fort.

This was just what Robert Smalls and seven of the other crew had been waiting for. They passed the word to their families, and at 3:00 AM on the 13th, Smalls dressed in the captain's uniform and straw hat, and backed the Planter away from the dock. The conspirators stopped at a nearby wharf to pick up the crewmen's families, who had assembled there. Smalls then piloted the ship past the five Confederate forts which guarded the harbor. Around 4:30 AM the Planter made its way past Fort Sumter, (now manned by Confederate soldiery), and headed for the Federal fleet blockading Charleston. Smalls made sure to hoist a white sheet as a flag, which was wise since the USS Onward prepared to fire until a sailor noticed the white flag.

The Union Navy promptly accepted the windfall of ship, guns, and ammunition. Perhaps most valuable was the code book containing secret signals and the location of the "torpedoes" in Charleston harbor. But there was a slight legal wrinkle. The slave crew were clearly militarily useful, and so were not to be returned under the "contraband" policy. But the women and children of the crewmen's families technically still belonged to their Southern owners. Still, it was clearly unacceptable cruelty to send them back.

By this time, the number of runaway slaves reaching Union ships and army camps was in the tens of thousands, and questions like these popped up more and more. A new policy was going to be needed.






Attachment (1)

_____________________________

Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

--Victor Hugo

(in reply to Capt. Harlock)
Post #: 553
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/14/2012 8:34:54 PM   
Capt. Harlock


Posts: 5358
Joined: 9/15/2001
From: Los Angeles
Status: offline 		Mid-May 1862:

The Union advance had slowed to a crawl. In the west, Henry Halleck had taken over the combined Union army after the battle of Shiloh. He now had 100,000 men at his disposal, enough to overwhelm anything the Confederates could have thrown against him. More, he had the greatest concentration of talented Northern officers of the war, including U. S. Grant, William Sherman, Phillip Sheridan, and George Thomas, later dubbed "the Rock of Chickamauga". It seems quite possible he could have captured Atlanta, or almost anything else in the area, two years earlier. But he chose to advance on Corinth, Mississippi, and a t a snail's pace, building railroads as he went forward and entrenching at every stop. He was making about a mile a day.

By comparison, George McClellan was aggressive. The Army of the Potomac was covering about three miles a day. But McClellan was even more worried about the Rebels than Halleck was. The intelligence had reached him that much of the South was being stripped of troops to reinforce Joseph Johnston's opposing army, and McClellan now estimated he faced 160,000 Southerners while disease and other problems had reduced him to only 80,000 effectives. (Actually it was he who outnumbered the Confederates about two-to-one.) He requested Lincoln to reinforce him with Irwin McDowell's corps of 41,000 men -- but this was the main force protecting Washington D.C.

In New Orleans, things were not going as well as Benjamin Butler had hoped. True, there were no shootings or other armed assaults on the occupying Union troops. But the ladies of the city were making it clear that the Northerners were unwelcome. Some of them crossed the street to avoid direct contact, others refused to move from narrow sidewalks, forcing the soldiers to step into the gutters, and a few seem to have spat directly on the Yankees. The last straw came when one woman accurately if rudely leaned out a second-story window and emptied a chamber pot on Flag Officer Farragut's head. Butler was not the sort of man to overlook this.


_____________________________

Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

--Victor Hugo

(in reply to Capt. Harlock)
Post #: 554
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/14/2012 10:11:28 PM   
parusski


Posts: 4804
Joined: 5/8/2000
From: Jackson Tn
Status: offline 		I have often pondered just what might have occurred if Grant had not been shoved aside. Or if Halleck had been aggressive. Vicksburg, and the West would most likely have fallen quickly.

_____________________________

"I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are. If I killed them all there would be news from Hell before breakfast."- W.T. Sherman

(in reply to Capt. Harlock)
Post #: 555
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/15/2012 5:49:22 AM   
Capt. Harlock


Posts: 5358
Joined: 9/15/2001
From: Los Angeles
Status: offline 		150 Years Ago Today:

In New Orleans, Benjamin Butler issued General Order #28:

As the officers and soldiers of the United States have been subject to repeated insults from the women (calling themselves ladies) of New Orleans in return for the most scrupulous non-interference and courtesy on our part, it is ordered that hereafter when any female shall by word, gesture, or movement insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the United States she shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a woman of the town plying her avocation.

The idea that the ladies of even the wealthiest families could be addressed with the same disrespect as street-walkers caused outrage throughout the South. Butler was named "The Beast of New Orleans". But there were no further incidents with chamber pots.

The controversy would eventually reach across the Atlantic, when U.S. Ambassador Charles Francis Adams was summoned for a protest at this policy of his government. Adams explained that the order referred to attitude rather than actually attempting to use the women as prostitutes. (Prostitution was remarkably widespread in Victorian London: one estimate is that one building in seventy was a brothel.)


Since the Union army was advancing slowly in Virginia, it was decided to let the navy try its hand. A small squadron of five gunboats, led by the USS Galena and including the USS Monitor, sailed up the James river to see if they could shell Richmond. Just 7 miles (11 Km) from the capital of the Confederacy, they encountered the fort the Southerners had built on Drewry's Bluff. The Federals also found that several vessels had been thoughtfully sunk in the river, making further progress tricky.

Galena closed to within 600 yd (550 m) of the fort, anchored, and opened fire but her armor was not enough to withstand the counter-fire from the fort. (Some of the guns were those salvaged from the CSS Virginia.) Monitor's armor was still proof against Confederate guns, but now her own cannon could not be elevated enough to hit the fort. After more than three hours, two Union ironclads and one of the wooden vessels had taken damage, with 14 dead or dying and another 10 wounded. The fort had taken minimal damage, with 15 killed or wounded. The Federal flotilla retreated, and Richmond was safe, at least for the moment.

Interestingly, the Union commander reported to McClellan that troops could be safely landed three miles from the fort, but this was ignored for the time being.




Attachment (1)

< Message edited by Capt. Harlock -- 5/15/2012 8:23:18 PM >

_____________________________

Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

--Victor Hugo

(in reply to parusski)
Post #: 556
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/17/2012 8:26:12 PM   
Capt. Harlock


Posts: 5358
Joined: 9/15/2001
From: Los Angeles
Status: offline 		150 Years Ago Today:

After considerable prodding from Secretary of War Stanton, Lincoln decided to give George McClellan the 41,000-man First Corps he had asked for, which was Commanded by Irwin McDowell. But there were conditions, as Lincoln wrote to McClellan: “At your earnest call for re-enforcements he [McDowell] is sent forward to co-operate in the reduction of Richmond, but charged, in attempting this, not to uncover the city of Washington; and you will give no order, either before or after your junction, which can put him out of position to cover this city.”

McDowell's orders were to “move upon Richmond by the general route of the Richmond and Fredericksburg Railroad, cooperating with the forces under General McClellan.”, and to always be “in such position as to cover the capital of the nation against a sudden dash of any large body of the rebel forces.” The First Corps was to assist McClellan's Army of the Potomac -- but not to actually be a part of it.

This was not what McClellan believed he needed. His idea was that the First Corps should have been sent by sea, which would have been faster (But would have left it completely unable to block any Confederate moves). The rift between McClellan and his commander-in-chief grew deeper.

And there were about to be Confederate moves. Robert E. Lee, now the chief military adviser to Jefferson Davis, had given instructions to Stonewall Jackson to attack the Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley wherever and whenever he saw fit. Joseph Johnston had requested that Jackson bring his army to help in the Virgina Peninsula, but now Jackson could delay the movement for quite some time -- and it was time that would be put to good use.


_____________________________

Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

--Victor Hugo

(in reply to Capt. Harlock)
Post #: 557
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/17/2012 10:10:07 PM   
parusski


Posts: 4804
Joined: 5/8/2000
From: Jackson Tn
Status: offline
quote:

“At your earnest call for re-enforcements he [McDowell] is sent forward to co-operate in the reduction of Richmond, but charged, in attempting this, not to uncover the city of Washington; and you will give no order, either before or after your junction, which can put him out of position to cover this city.”


Lincoln was brilliant, just brilliant. He could not be accused of withholding troops from McClellan, but at the same time he covered his own butt if Washington fell. I am in awe of the man.

_____________________________

"I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are. If I killed them all there would be news from Hell before breakfast."- W.T. Sherman

(in reply to Capt. Harlock)
Post #: 558
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/18/2012 8:24:52 PM   
Capt. Harlock


Posts: 5358
Joined: 9/15/2001
From: Los Angeles
Status: offline 		150 Years Ago Today:

Although Farragut's main ships were designed to be ocean-going, he was having a run of success sailing north up the Mississippi. He had awed Baton Rouge, the state capital of Louisiana, and Natchez into surrender. On this date, however, he arrived at Vicksburg Mississippi. The town and its fortifications had been built on a bluff 200 feet (61 m) above the water. This meant that the main guns of the fleet could not be elevated far enough to bombard.

Nonetheless, the Union vessels anchored a short distance downstream, and under a flag of truce, sent a demand for surrender. Back came no less than three refusals, one from the mayor, one from the general in charge of the Confederate troops, and the most memorable from the military governor, James L. Autrey:

"I have to state that Mississippians don’t know, and refuse to learn, how to surrender to an enemy. If Commodore Farragut or Brigadier-General Butler can teach them, let them come and try."

(in reply to parusski)
Post #: 559
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/19/2012 4:12:45 PM   
Capt. Harlock


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From: Los Angeles
Status: offline
quote:

Lincoln was brilliant, just brilliant. He could not be accused of withholding troops from McClellan, but at the same time he covered his own butt if Washington fell.


Along those lines, Lincoln also had to steer a middle course between the staunch abolitionists and the slave-holders still loyal to the Union. 150 Years Ago Today, he made his response to General David Hunter's emancipation (but conscription) of blacks in his area of command:

Washington this nineteenth day of May,
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two


By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.

Whereas there appears in the public prints, what purports to be a proclamation, of Major General Hunter, in the words and figures following, to wit:

Head Quarters Department of the South,
Hilton Head, S.C. May 9, 1862.

General Orders No 11.–The three States of Georgia, Florida and South Carolina, comprising the military department of the south, having deliberately declared themselves no longer under the protection of the United States of America, and having taken up arms against the said United States, it becomes a military necessity to declare them under martial law. This was accordingly done on the 25th day of April, 1862. Slavery and martial law in a free country are altogether incompatible; the persons in these three States–Georgia, Florida and South Carolina–heretofore held as slaves, are therefore declared forever free.

(Official) David Hunter,
Major General Commanding.



And whereas the same is producing some excitement, and misunderstanding; therefore

I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, proclaim and declare, that the government of the United States, had no knowledge, information, or belief, of an intention on the part of General Hunter to issue such a proclamation; nor has it yet, any authentic information that the document is genuine– And further, that neither General Hunter, nor any other commander, or person, has been authorized by the Government of the United States, to make proclamations declaring the slaves of any State free; and that the supposed proclamation, now in question, whether genuine or false, is altogether void, so far as respects such declaration.

I further make known that whether it be competent for me, as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, to declare the slaves of any State or States, free, and whether at any time, in any case, it shall have become a necessity indispensable to the maintenance of the government, to exercise such supposed power, are questions which, under my responsibility, I reserve to myself, and which I cannot feel justified in leaving to the decision of commanders in the field. These are totally different questions from those of police regulations in armies and camps.

On the sixth day of March last, by a special message, I recommended to Congress the adoption of a joint resolution to be substantially as follows:

Resolved, That the United States ought to co-operate with any State which may adopt a gradual abolishment of slavery, giving to such State pecuniary aid, to be used by such State in its discretion, to compensate for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such change of system.

The resolution, in the language above quoted, was adopted by large majorities in both branches of Congress, and now stands an authentic, definite, and solemn proposal of the nation to the States and people most immediately interested in the subject matter. To the people of those States I now earnestly appeal– I do not argue, I beseech you to make the arguments for yourselves– You can not if you would, be blind to the signs of the times– I beg of you a calm and enlarged consideration of them, ranging, if it may be, far above personal and partizan politics. This proposal makes common cause for a common object, casting no reproaches upon any– It acts not the pharisee. The change it contemplates would come gently as the dews of heaven, not rending or wrecking anything. Will you not embrace it? So much good has not been done, by one effort, in all past time, as, in the providence of God, it is now your high privilege to do. May the vast future not have to lament that you have neglected it.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Abraham Lincoln

(in reply to parusski)
Post #: 560
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/20/2012 5:28:46 PM   
Capt. Harlock


Posts: 5358
Joined: 9/15/2001
From: Los Angeles
Status: offline 		150 Years Ago Today:

The state of California made a tiny contribution to the Union war effort, as the "California column" of 1,800 men marched in to Tucson. There was no fighting: the Confederate soldiers who had taken the town back in February had abandoned it, along with nearly all the pro-secession inhabitants. (Interestingly, most of the civilians had decamped to Mexico, anticipating by three years a number of other Southerners who would emigrate after the defeat of the Confederacy.)

Overall, the contribution of California was more in economics than in manpower. It was clear by now that both sides would finance the war by printing paper money. Because the California gold fields were still producing (though down significantly from the early 1850's), the Union could back some of its money with precious metal. The South had very little in the way of gold and silver reserves, and that would lead to astronomical inflation.


Slightly off topic: also on this date Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act into law, giving citizens 21 years or older the right to work and eventually buy 160 acres of land in the West. This would not materially affect the war, but would lead to the development of the West at amazing speed. Shortly after the Mexican War and the vast territory acquired thereby, it had been estimated that it would take four centuries to populate and incorporate "the Wild West". Instead, it would take a mere four decades from the signing of the Act. Be it fully acknowledged that this would have devastating consequences for the Native American populations.

< Message edited by Capt. Harlock -- 5/20/2012 5:37:33 PM >

_____________________________

Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

--Victor Hugo

(in reply to Capt. Harlock)
Post #: 561
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/21/2012 1:44:17 AM   
planner 3

 

Posts: 616
Joined: 3/7/2008
Status: offline 		Capt. Harlock, you let me down, I assumed you would mention the 150th anniversary of "TAPS" today. At noon today 39 buglers played taps at Arlington National Cemetery, first all 39 buglers around the cemetery, then some (?) in harmony, and finally a single bugler finished it off. From the article I gather it was heart moving. Just for info.

_____________________________

"As Pogo said, 'We have met the enemy and he is us' "

(in reply to Capt. Harlock)
Post #: 562
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/21/2012 2:58:36 AM   
Capt. Harlock


Posts: 5358
Joined: 9/15/2001
From: Los Angeles
Status: offline
quote:

Capt. Harlock, you let me down, I assumed you would mention the 150th anniversary of "TAPS" today.


Yes, I do seem to have overlooked that, but strictly speaking there is no solid date for the 150th anniversary. There will be a number of sesquicentennial performances, including the re-dedication of the Taps Monument in Virginia on June 23.

From my research, the first playing of "Taps" in its current form (arranged by Union General Daniel Butterfield) was sometime in July 1862. I'm still trying to pin down an exact date.

(in reply to planner 3)
Post #: 563
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/21/2012 7:45:54 PM   
planner 3

 

Posts: 616
Joined: 3/7/2008
Status: offline 		Thank you fer clarification, i may have misread the article.

_____________________________

"As Pogo said, 'We have met the enemy and he is us' "

(in reply to Capt. Harlock)
Post #: 564
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/23/2012 4:21:05 AM   
Capt. Harlock


Posts: 5358
Joined: 9/15/2001
From: Los Angeles
Status: offline 		150 Years Ago Today:

After a march that began at 5:00 AM, Stonewall Jackson got a force of 3,000 men in position to attack Front Royal. The town was in the middle of the Shenandoah Valley and controlled a key branch of the Manassas Gap Railroad. When the neared the town, one of the South's most famous spies, Belle Boyd ("The Cleopatra of the Confederacy") got word to Jackson's force that there were only a little over a thousand Union soldiers in the town.

Losing little time, Jackson began his assault at 2:00 PM, and Union commander John Kenly quickly realized he was overmatched. For a few hours he managed a fighting retreat, aided by the fact that he had artillery support, and the Rebels could not manage to bring their guns to the moving front lines. But at last the Federals were brought to bay at Cedarville, almost four miles (6 km) north of Front Royal. Jackson ordered in his cavalry, breaking the Union lines, and leading to a mass surrender.

For the only time in American history, two regiments of the same designation and from the same state engaged each other on the battlefield. Turning it into a true war of brothers, Captain William Goldsborough of the 1st Maryland Infantry, CSA took prisoner his brother Charles Goldsborough of the 1st Maryland Infantry, USA. Charles was one of 691 Federals captured, along with 83 killed and wounded. The Confederates lost only 36 men, and also seized two Parrott guns, two locomotives, a number of useful wagons, and warehouses of supplies.

More important still, Jackson could now advance on the key town of Winchester, or move his army by railroad out of the Shenandoah Valley towards Richmond. The initiative was now squarely in his hands.




Attachment (1)

_____________________________

Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

--Victor Hugo

(in reply to Capt. Harlock)
Post #: 565
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/25/2012 5:20:20 AM   
Capt. Harlock


Posts: 5358
Joined: 9/15/2001
From: Los Angeles
Status: offline 		150 Years Ago Today:

Stonewall Jackson had decided to march for Winchester. In part his decision was made because he knew that Union General Nathaniel Banks was hurriedly retreating his force to that very spot, and Jackson intended to destroy Banks' troops before they could properly establish their positions in the town. As it happened, the Confederates failed to prevent the Northerners from reaching Winchester, largely because the Rebel cavalry could not resist looting the numerous wagons the Yankees abandoned in their retreat. But after a night march which even Jackson's "foot cavalry" recalled as the worst they ever endured, Jackson had nearly his whole army of 16,000 men ready to attack in the morning.

It was a Sunday, but for once the strictly religious Jackson was willing to give battle, since he outnumbered the Yankees by over two to one. At first, the omens were not promising: an artillery duel with Federal cannon produced heavy casualties among the Confederate artillerymen. But Jackson rode along the lines, making sure his positions were not flanked, and ordering units forward to seize the hilltops that commanded the town. About 8:30, a Louisiana brigade made a determined charge and overran a stone wall that the Northerners had been using for cover. With this stroke, the "Rebel yell" of victory began to sound along the Southern lines, and as one Union survivor put it: "We had business toward the Potomac about that time."

The Union retreat degenerated into a rout, but the Confederates became almost as disorganized chasing them through the town of Winchester. Turner Ashby's Southern cavalry was still too scattered from seizing abandoned wagons from the day before, or the Union force might have been completely wiped out. As it was, the Northerners lost at least 2,000 men, and maybe as many as 3,500, in killed, wounded, and captured from a force of 6,000 troops. Southern losses were only 400 in all.

More, Jackson's men captured even greater volumes of supplies than they had at Front Royal. (The Southerners dubbed the Northern general "Commissary" Banks since he was doing a better job supplying the Rebel army than their own quartermasters.) Along with over 9,000 stand of arms and half a million rounds of ammunition, there was also a treasure trove of medical supplies and instruments which a Southern lieutenant estimated as greater than could be found in the whole Confederacy.

The telegraphs began buzzing. Lincoln's administration was in for a shock.



(Map by Hal Jespersen, www.posix.com/CW)

Attachment (1)

< Message edited by Capt. Harlock -- 5/27/2012 4:06:29 AM >

(in reply to Capt. Harlock)
Post #: 566
RE: Civil War 150th - 5/25/2012 2:09:53 PM   
vonRocko

 

Posts: 1447
Joined: 11/4/2008
Status: offline 		Thanks again Capt. Harlock! Great thread.

(in reply to Capt. Harlock)
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