1861 - Thursday
The armies are settled into winter camps around the countryside by now,
but mere bad weather was not enough to put a halt to the activities of the
U.S. Navy. The blockade effort continued to be strengthened as the number
of ships available to be put on patrol continued to be increased. Actual
military efforts were today concentrated on the Ashepoo River area. Ships
carrying sailors and Marines steamed in and out of the main base which
had been established in Port Royal Sound. The purpose of the venture was
to locate any concentrations of Confederate forces, and beyond that, to
allow captains and navigators to familiarize themselves with the tricky and
complicated inlets of the coastline
1862- Friday
USS Tuscumbia
Casemate gunboat , Dimensions: length 178', beam 75', draft 7'
Displacement: 915 tons, Speed: 10 knots, Crew: 130?
Armor: 3" casemate, 2" rear casemate, 1" deck/sides
Armament: Three 11" and two 9" Dahlgren smoothbores
Built by Brown at New Albany IN. Launched 12 Dec 62.
Commissioned 12 Mar 63.
Decommissioned Feb 65. Sold 29 Nov 65 at Mound City.
Commander: LtCdr. James W. Shirk (Mar-Oct 63).
Exp. up Yazoo River, MS
U.S. Ram "Queen of the West," and Gunboats "Marmosa," "Signal," "Cairo"
and "Pittsburg."
On the Yazoo River near Vicksburg, an electrically fired Conf. torpedo sunk
the Union gunboat Cairo. She is the first vessel to be sunk by explosion of such
device since the war began. The Cairo was ascending the Yazoo River when
she struck the torpedo about a mile below Hayne's Bluff. She sank in 15
minutes in 40 feet of water. No lives were lost.
Just a postscript to the sinking of the Cairo. Almost one hundred years after it
was sunk the Head park historian at Vicksburg helps to organize and raise the
Cairo from the depths of the Yazoo rivers. It is now on display in an open
air/covered exhibition space and its' own separate museum with the contents
that were recovered.
Clara Barton, one of the most famous nurses of the war, is informed by a dying
Conf. officer of a Conf. trap laid in the city of Fredericksburg. The information
does not come in time, and Union troops suffer severe losses.
Edwin Sumner's Grand Right Division crosses the Rappahannock River and
occupies Fredericksburg. Many soldiers stack arms and begin to explore the
deserted houses in the city. Before long the looting begins in earnest as
"valuable books and colonial furniture are sent flying into the snowy streets...
and paintings are slashed with bayonets." Provost guards have to be stationed
at each bridge to prevent the looters from escaping with their ill gotten gains.
Gradually as the excitement of the day winds down, many of the soldiers begin
to wonder why the Rebels did not try to stop the river crossing. One private,
has a pretty good idea: "crap, they want us to get in. Getting out won't be quite
so smart and easy. You'll see."
Gen. Lee spends the day consolidating his army on the heights above
Fredericksburg. Only the divisions of D.H. Hill and Jubal Early are left to
guard the river crossings at Port Royal and Skinkers Neck. "Old Pete"
Longstreet orders the units in McLaws' division, positioned at the base of
Marye's Heights, to increase the already "natural strength of their position;
[featuring] ditches, stone fences, and road cuts [with] rifle trenches and
abatis." A.P. Hill places his men, on the right of Lee's line, but inexplicably
leaves a 600 yard gap of "boggy woods" between the brigades of Gen. Archer
and Lane. This gap bothers Lane and he "takes pains...to make known the
existence of the gap" to the commanders of the brigades closest to the
unguarded terrain.
Skirmish, Little Bear Creek, AL
ILLINOIS--52d Infantry
INDIANA--66th Infantry
IOWA - 2d and 7th Infantry
U.S.A. - 5 Killed, 48 Wounded
C.S.A. - Casualties Not Reported
Action, Franklin, TN
KENTUCKY (U) - 3rd Cavalry.
MICHIGAN - 4th Cavalry.
PENNSYLVANIA - 7th Cavalry.
TENNESSEE (U) - 1st and 5th Cavalry (Middle).
OHIO - 1st Cavalry, Battery "D" 1st Light Arty
Union loss, 1 Killed.
1863- Saturday
Smoke still rose this morning from the charred wood that until yesterday had
been a large salt works in St. Andrew's Bay, FL. Acting Master W.R. Browne
of the USS Restless, along with two other ships, had found the outpost and
launched an attack on it. Artillery fire hit one of the houses of the workers,
and wind had spread the flames until nearly the whole compound was
incinerated. Brown wrote in his report, "It was in fact a complete village...
employing many hands and 16 ox and mule teams constantly to haul salt to
Eufaula Sound and from thence conveyed to Montgomery, at which place it is
selling at fabulous prices--$40 and $50 per bushel." The operation included
22 large steam boilers and 300 kettles averaging 200 gallons each, used to
evaporate sea water to harvest the salt. The 2000 bushels found were returned
to the sea from whence they had come.
1864- Monday
The Federals captured another Conf. vessel, CSS Resolute, on the Savannah
River.
Quartermaster-General A.R. Lawton responds to Gen. Lee's request for
additional shoes, clothes, and blankets for his army. "It was with some
surprise that the department learned the great necessities of the troops.... The
impression here has all along been that you were receiving enough to make
the army not only efficient but comfortable....To meet the present deficiency
of pants and jackets it has been arranged to put up the production at this point
to 1,000 suits a day; all of which will go to you until you are supplied."
However, Lawton remains skeptical about the condition of Lee's army. "It is
suggested that immediate and efficient steps be taken to check the waste of
soldiers' clothing by sale and barter. It is an evil greatly on the increase, and
with the facilities that soldiers have in Petersburg and Richmond for disposing
of what is sent to them, it will be impossible with the amplest supply to keep
the army clad, unless this abuse is stopped...I would suggest, further, that
next spring the soldiers be required to turn in their blankets. They will then
be more available for reissue." In addition, Gen. Lee also addresses the
growing problem caused by the lack of regular rations for his men by issuing
a general order. "The general commanding has heard, with pain and
mortification, that outrages and depredations, amounting in some cases to
flagrant robbery, have been perpetrated upon citizens living within the
lines, and near the camps of the army. Poor and helpless persons have been
stripped of the means of subsistence and suffered violence by the hands of
those upon whom they had a right to rely for protection. In one instance an
atrocious murder was perpetrated upon a child by a band of ruffians whose
supposed object was plunder."
Born on this day.....
1806 - Conf . Brig. Gen. Stand Watie, near Rome GA
Note: The last Confederate general to surrender his command.
Surrendered on June 23, 1865
1818 - Conf. Brig. Gen. Paul Ocxtave Hebert at Iberville Parish LA
Note: Cousin of Brig. Gen. Louis Hébert
1830 - Conf. Brig. Gen. Joseph Orville "Jo" Shelby at Lexington KY
Fascinating Fact:
The Old Army Artillery Regiments ranked by Seniority -
1. 1st Artillery, formed 1821
2. 2nd Artillery, formed 1821
3. 3rd Artillery, formed 1821
4. 4th Artillery, formed 1821
Side Note:
1870
First African-American Congressional Representative Joseph Hayne Rainey,
a Republican from SC, is sworn in tothe House of Representatives to fill the
seat made vacant by the expulsion of Representative Benjamin F. Whittemore.
Rainey, who serves as a SC representative for ten years, is the first African
American to sit in the House. In the aftermath of the American Civil War, the
Civil Rights Act of 1866, granting U.S. citizenship and equal rights to all
persons except Indians born in the United States, was passed over President
Andrew Johnson's veto. One year later, the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 was
passed, dividing the South into five military districts and granting suffrage to
all male citizens, regardless of race. A politically mobilized African-American
community joined with white allies in the Southern states to elect the
Republican party to power, which in turn brought about radical changes across
the South. By 1870, all the former Confederate states had been readmitted
to the Union, and most were controlled by the Republican party, thanks to the
support of African-American voters. Although African-Americans Republicans
never obtained political office in proportion to their overwhelming electoral
majority, Joseph Rainey and some fifteen other African- American men served
in Congress during Reconstruction, over six hundred served in state legislatures,
and hundreds of African-Americans held local offices.
