Friday, August 25, 2006
An Amateur’s Look at the American Civil War: January
January 1
1861: As the year 1861 begins, tension and excitement is gripping the nation. South Carolina is the only state so far that has seceded. Other states are now considering their own Articles of Secession. The Administration of US President James Buchanan has adopted a "wait and see" attitude to the situation. It is felt in Washington DC that even though they believe that secession is illegal, the government does not have the power to prevent it. The US Constitution spelled out the procedures for making new states, but was silent on what to do if a state wanted to leave the Union. In South Carolina, newly formed militia units drill under the Palmetto flag while glowering at the US flag that still flies over Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC. On Christmas Day, 1860, the US Army garrison had relocated to the fort to avoid a confrontation with the locals. This only angered the citizens of the city. The garrison has provisions for several months, but they are beginning to feel that they are pawns in a game in which the rules have yet to be written. The question this morning is this; will the United States of America remain a loose collection of states where some find it legal to keep 4,000,000 African-Americans in bondage, or a new nation in which the promises of the Founding Fathers will finally become a reality?
1862: Federal artillery on Ft Pickens used to shell Pensacola. FL.
Union and Confederate troops exchange fire at Port Royal, SC.
1863: US President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation. This action will put the Union on the moral high ground and kill any chance of foreign diplomatic recognition for the CSA.
Union General Burnside takes responsibility for the defeat at Fredericksburg, VA and offers to resign, but that is refused.
Union General William Sherman withdraws his troops from Chickasaw Bluffs, north of Vicksburg, MS.
Battle of Murfreesboro, TN, Day Two. Not much fighting takes place but Union general Rosecrans and Confederate General Bragg maneuver their troops for another fight the next day.
Confederate forces under General Magruder capture Galveston, TX and drive off the Union blockade.
1864: New Years Day in Charleston, SC is marked by another shelling of Ft Sumter.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, writes about a fine New Years meal of mule meat and boiled rice, barely edible.
1865: Union General Benjamin Butler’s attempt to cut a canal to the James River, to bypass Confederate batteries, fails. The explosion that was supposed to open the channel instead fills in the ditch.
January 2
1861: South Carolina troops seized Ft Johnson in Charleston Harbor.
1862: Confederate diplomats A.P. Mason and John Slidell are released and resume their mission to Great Britain to seek recognition of the Confederacy.
1863: Battle of Stones River, TN. Day three. Confederate General Bragg resumes his attack by launching a massive artillery bombardment on the Union lines. A Union counterattack threatens to outflank the Confederate lines. That attack is halted but another Union assault causes the confederates to pull back from the line in general. Battle that started on December 31, 1862 ends with a Union victory.
1864: CS Senate confirms George Davis as Attorney-General.
Union General Banks continues to advance in Texas towards Galveston.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, writes about inventorying boxes of goods sent from the North, and taking advantage of the situation to improve their diet.
1865: Skirmishing at Franklin and Lexington, MS.
January 3
1861: Georgia troops seized Ft Pulaski.
Delaware votes to reject secession
1862: CS President Davis considering how dangerous the Union occupation of Ship Island, MS is. New Orleans, LA is 65 miles away and Mobile, AL is 50 miles away.
Stonewall Brigade heads to Romney, VA to cut the Baltimore and Ohio railroad.
1863: Confederate General Braxton Bragg pulls his army from Murfreesboro, TN. Federal troops can not pursue due to the muddy conditions.
1864: It is noted that the Confederate economy is collapsing, with prices 28 times their 1861 levels and wages falling by 400%.
Jonesville, VA occupied by Union cavalry.
1865: Union General Sherman begins preparations for renewing the offensive, now turning his attention to South Carolina, the “cradle of the Rebellion.”
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that coffee is selling for $45 a pound and sugar for $10 a pound.
January 4
1861: Alabama troops seized the arsenal at Mouth Vernon.
1862: Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson captures the town of Bath, VA with other action at Great Cacapon Bridge, VA and Hancock, MD.
1863: Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, serving as a nurse in a Washington DC hospital.
Confederate General Roger Hanson, commander of the Kentucky Orphan Brigade, dies of wounds suffered at Stones River.
Union General McClernand begins an expedition against Ft Hindman (Arkansas Post), AR. This is against the wishes of General Grant, who needed the troops for the Vicksburg, MS campaign.
USS Quaker City captures a blockade runner off Charleston, SC.
1864: Confederate General Lee receives authority to take food stocks in order to feed his army. This measure maybe too little too late due to the fact that Virginia farms can barely support the civilian population, let alone a starving army.
Union General Halleck orders General Banks and General Steele to renew an offensive up the Red River, LA in the spring. Problem is that the two forces are 500 miles apart and Banks is bust in Texas.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, helps pass put new clothes to Union prisoners at Libby prison, Richmond, VA.
1865: Grant assigns Union General Alfred Terry to make an assault on Ft Fisher, NC in order to take Wilmington, NC, the last open Confederate port.
January 5
1861: The merchant ship Star of the West leaves New York to resupply Ft Sumter’s small garrison of Federal troops. Senators of several Southern states meet in Washington to discuss secession.
1862: The town of Hancock, MD refuses to surrender, Jackson orders the town shelled.
1863: Confederate General Bragg’s withdrawal has the effect of leaving Central and Western Tennessee under Federal control.
1864: 1000 African-Americans send a petition to Washington demanding the right to vote.
US President Lincoln asks Congress to continue bounty payments to attract new volunteers for the Union army.
Jonesville, VA recaptured by Confederate troops.
With Tennessee and Kentucky fully in Union hands, another source of food is denied to the Confederacy.
1865: Peace feelers are now being extended to the South as the Confederacy must be reading the handwriting on the wall. US President Lincoln issues a pass to James Singleton to go south and sound out the Confederate leadership about a negotiated settlement. Lincoln’s terms, all states back into the Union and slavery abolished.
January 6
1861: New York City mayor Fernando Wood urged ties be kept with South Carolina and any other state that secedes. Suggests that NYC should be independent.
1862: Union reinforcements reach Hancock, MD and Jackson is forced to pull back.
US President Lincoln resists demands that Union General McClellan be replaced. Lincoln is also urging General Buell to move into Tennessee.
1863: Union General McClernand’s expedition to Ft Hindman, AR continues. The force is made up of two corps, his and General Sherman’s.
1864: Union steamer Delta attacked on the Mississippi by Confederate guerillas.
1865: Union General Grant asked US President Lincoln to remove Union General Butler as commander of the Army of the James. This is a sign that the “political generals” time has indeed ended and that professionals will win the war.
CS President Davis and Vice-President Stephens have a falling out over the way the war has gone. Stephens has lived in his house in Georgia for most of the war and is Davis’ harshest critic.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that a barrel of flour now sells for $500 a barrel and cornmeal for $75 a bushel.
January 7
1861:
1862: Confederate General Jackson withdraws into Virginia after a skirmish at Hanging Rock Pass, MD.
Union General Grant receives information about Forts Henry and Donaldson, TN.
Federal gunboats Essex, Lexington, and Tyler head down the Mississippi River toward Columbus, KY.
Skirmishing at Blue Gap, VA.
1863: Three blockade runners break through the Federal cordon and reach Charleston Harbor.
CS Secretary of the Navy Mallory sent a dispatch to Commander Bullock in the UK urging the buying of new ironclad vessels as quickly as possible. Funding the vessels has now become an issue.
Confederate troops under General Marmaduke approach Springfield, MO.
1864: US President Lincoln commutes the death sentence of a Union deserter, not wanting to add to “the butchering business.”
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that beef is selling for $1.25 per pound. Also writes about meeting an Englishman staying in a Richmond, VA hotel who says he lives greatly on three British Shillings a day, equal to $20 Confederate.
1865: Article in New York World laments the availability of weapons in NYC as an effect of the war. Lincoln removes Butler from command.
Union General Butler is formally removed from command on not only the Army of the James but also of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina. Those commands now in the hands of General Ord.
In Denmark, an ironclad warship that was built in France and sold to the Danes was bought back by France when the Danish Navy could not make payments. The French would then off load the vessel on the Confederacy. This is the future CSS Stonewall.
January 8
1861: US Secretary of the Interior Jacob Thompson of Mississippi resigns.
US President James Buchanan calls for compromise in order to preserve the Union.
1862: Skirmish at Dry Forks, Western Virginia.
Skirmishing at Charleston, Silver Creek, and Roan’s Tin Yard, MO.
1863: Union General John McClernand makes an unauthorized maneuver toward the Confederate outpost at Arkansas Post.
Confederate attack on Springfield, MO is repulsed by a scratch Union defense force.
John Usher named new US Secretary of the Interior.
Fifteen women of secessionist views living north of New Orleans, LA write Confederate Generals Pemberton and Joe Johnston, demanding their aid in pushing Union troops out of Louisiana and Mississippi.
1864: Confederate General Morgan reaches Richmond, VA to a hero’s welcome.
Pro-Unionists meet in New Orleans, LA to discuss Louisiana’s reentry into the Union.
Confederate spy David Dodd hanged at Little Rock, AR.
Federals bombard Caney Bayou, TX.
1865: Union General Terry’s forces are met by Admiral Porter’s fleet off Beaufort, NC. The two commanders meet to discuss the assault on Ft Fisher and Wilmington, NC.
January 9
1861: Mississippi votes to secede.
A civilian ship, Star of the West, is fired upon while trying to deliver supplies to the Ft Sumter garrison. The ship departs without reaching the fort.
1862: Union General Grant begins operation against Columbus, KY.
Skirmish at Columbus, MO.
1863: McClernand’s forces, back by US Navy river boats, reach Ft Hindman, AR.
Skirmish at Ripley, TN.
1864: At this point, Confederate General Kirby Smith’s army is totally cut off from any help as Southern Arkansas is surrounded by Union held territory.
Calls go out for volunteers to become officers in Colored Regiments as there is a dearth of volunteers. A New England group offers free military schooling to volunteers. Many white Union officers were themselves racially prejudiced and were fearful of what would happen to them if they were captured.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that beef is now selling for $2.50 a pound and therefore he could not buy any, instead buying some rice, getting 25 pounds for .40.
1865: Democratic Party opposition to the proposed Constitutional amendment abolishing slavery begins to crumble.
Tennessee votes to abolish slavery.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that flour is now selling for $700 a barrel, cornmeal for $80 a bushel, and coal and wood for $100 a load.
January 10
1861: Florida votes to secede.
Louisiana seizes federal forts and arsenals.
William Seward becomes US Secretary of State.
William T. Sherman resigns his position as head of the Louisiana Military Academy (now Louisiana State University).
1862: Confederate General Jackson’s forces approach Romney, VA causing a Union
pullout.
At Middle Creek, KY there is a battle between Union troops under Colonel James Garfield and Confederates under Colonel Humphrey Marshall. Both sides claim victory but both are also in retreat. Colonel Garfield in the future will become President Garfield.
There are inconsistent procedures for handling escaped slaves who make it to Union encampments. Some are pressed into service with the army as teamsters, cooks, and laborers. Some are allowed to pass to the North. Others are held and turned over to locals and Confederate officers who claim them as property in compliance with the Fugitive Slave Act.
1863: Federal gunboats shell Ft Hindman.
Federal forces shell Galveston, TX.
Skirmishes at Suffolk and Fairfax Court House, VA.
France offers mediation of peace talks between the US and CS while the UK postpones such a move.
1864: Federals are using fake Confederate money to wreck the Southern economy even more. Merchants are now demanding payment in either gold, specie (coins), of foreign currency.
USS Iron Age runs aground at Folly Inlet, SC and is destroyed by Confederates.
Union Sergeant John Ransom writes that conditions at Belle Island prison (Richmond, VA) are killing off prisoners at the rate of sometimes twenty a day.
1865: Confederate Army of Tennessee reaches Tupelo, MS.
January 11
1861: New York votes in a pro-Union state constitution.
1862: US Secretary of War Simon Cameron resigns amid charges of corruption.
Union Naval force of over 100 ships and 15,000 men under General Burnside leaves Hampton Roads, VA and is heading south to reinforce Port Royal SC.
Union General McClernand begins a probe toward Columbus, KY.
Private Robert Sneeden, 40th NY, writes about starting a new job as a mapmaker. Despite the fact that mapmakers were officers, his talent for drawing has caught the attention of Union General Heintzelman and is assigned to the general's staff.
1863: CSS Alabama attacks and sinks USS Hatteras off Galveston, TX.
Battle of Arkansas Post, AR. Union commander: General John McClernand. Confederate commander: General Thomas J. Churchill. McClernand sent his two brigades, under Generals Sherman and George Morgan against Confederate defenses backed onto the Arkansas River. The area was dominated by Ft Hindman. Supported by Naval Admiral David Porter’s flotilla of gunboats, the fort was surrounded. At the end of the day, the Confederates surrendered. Union victory.
Federal gunboat sunk at Memphis, TN.
1864: A joint resolution is proposed in the US Senate calling for the abolishing of slavery.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that a house in Richmond, VA was rented for $6000 a year.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, gets several parts of a Confederate uniform and manages to leave Libby Prison and walks the streets of Richmond, VA, looking for a way out of town and back to Union lines. He did not get too far, getting himself recaptured and taken back to prison.
1865: Confederate forces under General Thomas Rosser raid West Virginia, capturing 500 Union troops and destroying tons of supplies.
Missouri abolishes slavery.
Group of Confederate Navy personnel arrive on Gravesend, UK to take possession of that former Danish ironclad.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that $60 Confederate will now but $1 in gold.
January 12
1861: Alabama votes to secede.
1862: In the nine months since the war began, the US Navy has grown from 76 vessels to 264.
One of those units who disregarded the Fugitive Slave Act was members of the 14th NY who harbored a runaway named John Boston.
1863: Union General Grant hears of General McClernand’s attack on Ft Hindman. Secures authorization to remove McClernand from command but does not use it.
Third session of Confederate Congress meets.
1864; A common practice at this time was for a draftee to pay someone $300 (a great sum at the time) to take his place in the ranks. This had the effect of filling Union ranks with those who were unfit for service.
US troops enter Matamoros, Mexico to rescue the US Counsel there.
Attitudes were already changing in the South as freed slaves asserted their new freedom. An account in Louisiana tells of an overseer being run off a plantation.
1865: Francis Blair meets with CS President Davis about peace talks. Davis agrees on talks but he is insistent that the only thing he will agree to is Southern Independence.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that the same gold dollar is now equal to $66 Confederate.
January 13
1862: Roanoke Island assault fleet stalled off Hatteras Inlet due to storms. This will last until Jan 20.
Union Naval LT John Worden assumes command of USS Monitor, at this time under construction in New York.
Edwin Stanton names as the new US Secretary of War.
1863: Federal officials authorize the enlistment of African-Americans into the South Carolina Volunteer Infantry (US).
Ft Hindman, AR is ordered destroyed because the fort is of no use to the Union.
Federal troops attack Mound City, AR.
1864: US President Lincoln asks officials in Louisiana and Florida to form pro-Union state governments.
1865: Naval bombardment of Ft Fisher, NC begins. The defense forces in Wilmington, NC are commanded by no other than General Bragg, so no help from the town is coming.
Confederate General John Bell Hood resigns and is replaced by General Richard Taylor.
Even at this late date, there are those in the South who are of the opinion that independence without slavery is unacceptable, as an editorial in the Arkansas Telegraph explains.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that in Richmond, VA beef sells for $6 a pound, cornmeal for $80 a bushel, and white beans for $160 per bushel.
January 14
1861: Louisiana troops seize Ft Pike, near New Orleans.
1862: Union General McClernand has his troops at Blandville, KY.
Frederick Douglass gives a speech in Philadelphia, PA and calls for emancipation to be the war aim.
1863: A Union attempt to advance up the Bayou Teche, LA is stopped by determined Confederate defenses.
Ohio Representative Clement Vallandingham, a leader in the rising anti-war party known as the Copperheads, delivers a blistering speech in the House against US President Lincoln’s conduct of the war. Copperheads were so named because they wore Indian heads cut from copper pennies on their lapels. (It’s an ironic fact that their main enemy is now depicted on the penny.)
1864: Union forces advance on Dandridge, TN forcing Confederate General James Longstreet to retreat.
CS President Davis writes General Joe Johnston, warning him that some of his troops may be needed to defend Alabama and Mississippi in the spring.
1865: Ft Fisher, NC is rendered unusable by a bombardment rate of 100 shells per minute.
Confederate General Beauregard assumes temporary command of the Army of Tennessee while General Taylor is en route to take permanent command.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that a barrel of flour was sold for $1000.
January 15
1862: Stonewall Brigade reaches Romney, VA.
Edwin M. Stanton is confirmed as Union Secretary of War.
Union General Grant concentrates his forces at Milburn, KY. Confederates are now wondering if the axis of attack is Columbus, KY or if the attack is going somewhere else.
1863: CS President Davis suggests that General Bragg should go on the offensive in Tennessee.
US President Lincoln views a demonstration of new weapons at the Washington, DC Navy Yard.
1864: Confederate General Longstreet orders in additional forces and moves toward Dandridge, TN.
A new crisis hits the Union war effort. Soldiers who signed three-year enlistments will have those enlacements expire this year. If they all leave, the Union effort will effectively end!
1865: US Marines and sailors attack Ft Fisher, NC and receive heavy losses. A second attack by Union General Alfred Terry takes the fort. Result is that the entire Confederate coast is now in Union hands.
January 16
1861: Arkansas legislature calls for a vote on secession.
The Crittenden Compromise, a last attempt to ease Southern fears, fails in the Senate.
1862: Five Confederate regiments and 12 cannon have been posted at Mill Spring, KY to watch for any Union attack through the Cumberland Gap.
In a sign that long-term care of wounded will be needed, private organizations begin to set up hospitals in both North and South.
1863: CSS Florida sails out of Mobile Bay, AL and through the Federal blockade.
There is an unusual prisoner exchange as women and children who were detained North are allowed to travel from Washington DC to Richmond, VA. They were searched, to their great complaint, but much material made it through to be made into uniforms for Confederate soldiers.
1864: Union cavalry under General Samuel Sturgis encounter Confederate troops near Kimbrough’s Crossroads, TN and is forced back.
Any lingering hope that the UK and France would recognize the CSA has evaporated with both countries directing their attention to a looming war between Denmark and Prussia over the territory of Schleswig-Holstein.
1865: Confederate General Robert E. Lee is named commander of all CSA armies. General Joe Johnston is also named commander of the Army of Tennessee while General Beauregard is given command of defense forces in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that a gold dollar is now worth $70 Confederate.
Francis Blair meets with US President Lincoln and presents CS President Davis’ proposal for allowing the Southern states to secure independence, but also proposes joint operations against the Imperial Government in Mexico.
At Ft Fisher, NC, two drunken sailors enter the powder magazine with lighted lanterns. Within moments the magazine blew up, killing 25, injuring 66, and 13 missing. Most of them were of the 169th NY, who was sleeping on the mound covering the magazine at the time.
Confederate General Bragg receives a telegram from CS President Davis ordering him to retake Ft Fisher. That order will not be carried out.
January 17
1862: Union General Thomas stops at Somerset, KY, near Mill Spring in order to gather his strung out forces.
1863: Union General U.S. Grant leaves Memphis, TN for Milliken’s Bend to take charge of what will be the Vicksburg Campaign.
Morale in the Union Army of the Potomac hits new lows due to recent defeats and the fact that the Emancipation Proclamation is not popular with the army, whose members feel they did not enlist to free slaves.
1864: Confederate General Longstreet attacks Union forces at Dandridge, TN, forcing them to retreat to New Market.
Confederate Navy Commander James Wallace is given command of CSS Albemarle at Edward’s Ferry, NC.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that flour is now selling for $200 a barrel and (corn)meal for $20 a bushel.
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1865: US President Lincoln rejects a call by CS President Jefferson Davis for negotiations.
Union General Sherman orders his army to prepare to march. At the same time he issues Field Order No.15, offering displaces former slaves land along the Georgia coast. This not only creates hope in the former slaves, but it also keeps him from having to feed the 10,000 that are tagging along with his army.
January 18
1861: There are reports of death threats against US President-elect Lincoln. One such report mentions that a body of armed men would come to the Inauguration and prevent Lincoln from taking the oath.
1862: Confederate General Thomas Jackson orders the Stonewall brigade into winter quarters.
USS Kearsarge departs Cadiz, Spain to search for Confederate Captain Raphael Semmes, at this time commanding CSS Sumter.
CSA Territory of Arizona as created.
Former US President and Confederate Congressman John Tyler dies at Richmond, VA.
Confederate General Thomas Crittenden has taken command of Confederate forces in the Cumberland Gap, KY and plans to take the battle to Union General Thomas’ troops.
1863: Union General Grant organizes his Army of the Tennessee into four corps, the 13th (General McClernand), the 15th (General Sherman), the 16th (General Hurlbut), and the 17th (General McPherson). This, along with supporting naval units, will be the force that will go after Vicksburg, MS.
1864: There is opposition in North Carolina to the CS Government’s conscription law, which makes all white males 18 to 45 eligible for service.
1865: Union General Sherman begins a march from Savannah, GA, to link up with Grant’s forces, currently at Petersburg, VA. His army is now aimed at South Carolina.
January 19
1861: Georgia votes to secede.
1862: Battle of Mill Springs (aka Logan’s Cross Roads), KY. Union commander: General George H. Thomas. Confederate commander: General Felix Zollicoffer. Fighting starts at dawn as the 15th MS encounters two companies from the 10th IN. At first, Confederate assaults push back Union troops who were running out of ammunition. During one such attack Zollicoffer was killed. At one point troops from both sides were firing at each other over a single fence. In the after, Thomas got in some artillery and proceeded to pummel the Southern line. A flanking movement followed by a bayonet charge finally routed the Confederates, who reformed at Beech Grove, 10 miles away.
1863: Union Army of the Potomac commander General Ambrose Burnside proposes to move troops up the Rappahannock River to United States Ford in order to launch another assault on the Confederates.
An article in the Bangor, MA Whig and Courier highlights the exploits of Anna Etheridge, a nurse with the 5th MI. These accounts include times when she was exposed to fire, a situation considered scandalous at the time. What not many people knew at the tine was that many women were dressed as men and serving in the ranks.
1864: Construction begins on CSS Albemarle in a North Carolina cornfield.
Pro-Unionists meet in Little Rock, AR to discuss abolishing slavery in the state.
1865: Confederate General Lee accepts his new position as General-in Chief of the Southern Armies. The attitude is now that it is too late for even an experienced soldier like Lee to turn things around.
January 20
1861: Ship Island, MS is seized by secessionists.
Mississippi Senator Jefferson Davis formally resigns his seat in response to his state seceding.
1862: A planned Union assault on the regrouped Confederates at Beech Grove, KY is called off when morning finds the Southern lines deserted. Battle of Mill Springs (Logan’s Cross Roads, or Somerset), KY ends in a Union victory.
US Navy sinks vessels filled with stones in order to bottle up Charleston, SC.
1863: Mud March, the attempt by Burnside to reposition troops for the planned assault, begins. It will end in failure due to weather and ground conditions.
1864: US President Lincoln proposes elections in Arkansas so that the state can be readmitted.
Skirmish at Tracy City, TN.
1865: Two Confederate blockade runners captured near Ft Fisher.
Rain hampers Union General Slocum’s corps from leaving Savannah, GA.
January 21
1862: Union General Grant pulls his forces back to Cairo, IL in order to execute the real mission, to attack Forts Henry and Donaldson in Tennessee.
1863: Confederate forces recapture Sabine Pass, TX
Union General Fitz John Porter is dismissed from the US Army, having been blamed for the Union defeat at the Second Battle of Manassas, VA. It will take 23 years to clear his name.
Thirty hours of rain has made any movement of Union troops across the Rappahannock River, VA impossible.
1864: A pro-Union convention in Nashville, TN proposes an anti-slavery resolution.
Ohio bans distillation of whisky in order to preserve grain stocks.
1865: Union General Sherman reaches Beaufort, SC.
January 22
1862; Confederate General Wise is given command of forces at Roanoke Island, NC in order to counter the growing union presence at nearby Port Royal, SC.
1863: Mud March ends as Federal troops are ordered back to the same camps they left.
Union General Grant now has Federal forces in Arkansas added to his command.
1864: Pro-Unionist Isaac Murphy is installed as provisional governor of Arkansas.
USS Restless captures blockade runners at St Andrew’s Bay,
Union General William Rosecrans assumes command of the US Federal Department of the Missouri.
1865: Skirmish at Little Rock, AR.
January 23
1862: More ships filled with stones sunk at Charleston, SC.
1863: US Army of the Potomac is pulled back from Fredericksburg, VA and into winter quarters. General Burnside now turns his attention against many of his subordinate generals.
Henry Brooks Adams writes to his brother, Charles Francis Adams, the US Minister to the UK that the British reaction to the Emancipation Proclamation seems to be mostly in favor.
1864: US President Lincoln approves plans to allow freed slaves to be hired by their former masters.
US Department of the Treasury lifts trading ban on Kentucky and Missouri.
Skirmish at Rolling Prairie, AR.
1865: The Federal headquarters at City Point, VA is attacked by a Confederate fleet of three ironclads, a gunboat, and a torpedo (sea mine) boat. All but one run aground and come under fire by Union batteries.
Confederate General Taylor assumes command of the Army of Tennessee.
January 24
1861: Georgia troops seize the US Arsenal at Augusta, GA.
1862: Union General Halleck orders arrests of any who opposes his enforcement of martial law in St Louis, MO.
1863: Union General Burnside goes to Washington, DC and demands that US President Lincoln remove several senior officers from the Army of the Potomac.
Skirmish at Woodbury, TN.
Union forces land on the land opposite Vicksburg, MS and send patrols up the Yazoo River.
1864: Skirmish at Baker Springs, AR.
1865: Surviving Confederate vessels from the aborted attack on City Point, VA withdraw. This ends any further Confederate river attacks.
Confederate Congress authorizes the resumption of prisoner exchanges.
CSS Stonewall rendezvous with a tender off Belle Isle, France.
January 25
1862: Burnside’s forces reach Pamlico Sound and begin maneuvers toward Roanoke Island, NC.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, writes about seeing Thaddeus Lowe's balloon ascend over Alexandria, VA.
1863: US President Lincoln responds to General Burnside’s demands by removing him from command of the Army of the Potomac and replacing him with General Joseph Hooker.
Confederate General John Marmaduke’s cavalry reaches the safety of the White River.
1864: Confederate General Longstreet orders his cavalry to stop Union cavalry from disrupting his supply lines.
Union forces bombard Ft Sumter, SC without success.
Union troops evacuate Corinth, MS.
Union Sergeant John Ransom writes about a shipment of hams arriving from the north, but the Confederate guards get them. A friend in the cookhouse managed to get a substantial number of the hams into the prison enclosure, at great risk.
1865: Skirmishing along the Salkehatchie River, SC.
January 26
1861: Louisiana votes to secede.
1862: Confederate General Pierre Beauregard is appointed second in command under General Albert S. Johnston.
Union naval force off Cape Hatteras, NC attempting to enter Pamlico Sound. This would create another jumping off point for Union attacks on the North Carolina coast.
1863: Union General Joseph Hooker formally assumes command of the Army of the Potomac. He is nicknamed “Fighting Joe Hooker” due to a newspaper misprint.
1864: A Confederate force of 600 attacks the Federal garrison, numbering 100, at Athens, AL. The Confederates were repulsed.
US President endorses reopening trade with Confederate territory now completely under Federal control.
Several skirmishes take place between Longstreet’s cavalry and Union cavalry under General Sturgis.
1865: Union General Sherman sends troops towards Charleston, SC while his main force marches on Goldsborough, SC.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that beef is selling for $8 a pound and wood is selling for $150 a cord.
January 27
1862: Confederate commander at Roanoke Island, General Wise, is ordered to hold at all costs.
US President Lincoln issues General War Order 1, ordering an offensive on all fronts on February 22.
1863: Editor of Philadelphia Journal is arrested for printing anti-Union articles.
CS President Davis calls for the increase in food production in order to alleviate shortages.
1864: Battle of Kelly’s Ford, TN. Union commander: General Samuel Sturgis. Confederate commander: General William Martin. Union forces are victorious but withdrew upon hearing of fresh Confederate troops approaching.
Confederate General Bragg appointed as CS President Davis’ military advisor.
Union Sergeant John Ransom writes that the prisoners at Belle Island (Richmond, VA) are told that instead of being exchanged, they will be sent to a new prison in Georgia.
1865: Confederate General Lee communicates with the South Carolina governor about the deteriorating situation in the state.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that someone broke into his house and stole two sticks of wood. Wood is selling for $5 a stick.
January 28
1862; Union forces enter Pamlico Sound, NC.
1863: There is a mass meeting in St Louis, MO in which the Emancipation Proclamation is endorsed.
As Union General Hooker takes command, there are as many as 200 desertions per day. Many of the senior officers are also McClellan partisans who are not happy with Hooker’s appointment.
1864; Skirmish at Tunnel Hill, GA.
1865: Three commissioners, CS Vice-President Stephens, President of the Senate R.M.T. Hunter, and former US Supreme Court Justice John Campbell, are appointed by CS President Davis to hold talks with Union officials.
January 29
1861: Kansas is admitted as the 34th US state.
1862: Skirmish at Occoquan Bridge, VA.
1863: Skirmishes at Suffolk and Turner’s Mills, VA.
Skirmish on the Stono Rover, SC.
1864: Small engagement at Medley, WV.
CSS Charleston, nicknamed “the Ladies Ironclad” because the local ladies raised the funds to build her, is launched in Charleston, SC.
Union steamer Sir William Wallace attacked on the Mississippi River.
Union General Sherman’s men received much needed winter gear.
1865: Even if the Charleston, SC garrison and General Hardee’s forces are combined, there is not much force that can slow Union General Sherman’s army down.
January 30
1862: USS Monitor launched in New York, NY.
Confederate Commissioners Mason and Slidell arrive in London, UK.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, describes a raid at Colchester, VA.
1863: Confederate General Pemberton, commanding the Vicksburg, MS defenses, is asked by CS President Davis if the Yazoo River could be obstructed to prevent a Union advance from the north.
1864: Confederate General Pickett moves to attack the Union garrison at New Berne, NC.
1865: Union General Pope is given command of the Department of the Missouri.
Skirmish at Champlintown, KY.
January 31
1861: An editorial in Cincinnati, OH decried the effect of secession on trade. The city had a thriving trade with Southern cities until this moment.
1862: UK announces its intention to remain neutral.
Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson visits Washington DC and meets with US President Lincoln. He records in his journal that he was impressed with Lincoln but that the attitude in the North was focused on trade and pleasurable pursuits, while the South’s attitude was on the war.
1863: Two US vessels are sunk by Confederate ramming boats in Charleston Harbor, SC.
Skirmish at Deserted House, VA.
Union General Grant proposes a canal be cut across the bend of the Mississippi opposite Vicksburg, MS. This had the idea to divert the Mississippi River away from Vicksburg. (The project would fail, but nature would accomplish what Grant couldn’t.)
Skirmish at Dover, TN.
Union commanders in Tennessee realize the importance of keeping the Cumberland River open in order to keep supplies moving.
1864: US President Lincoln expresses the opinion that only “loyal, free state men” should have their right to vote restored.
1865: US House of Representatives pass the 13th Amendment.
Confederate General Lee is appointed Confederate Commander in Chief.
Birthdays:
Secession Activist Edmund Ruffin, 1794
Union General David Hunter, 1802
Confederate General Robert E. Lee, 1807
US Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase, 1808
Confederate Naval Captain John Tucker, 1812
Union General John C. Fremont, 1813
Union General William Henry French, 1815
Union General Henry Halleck, 1815
Union General Nathaniel Banks, 1816
Confederate General Lloyd Tilghman, 1916
Union General Frederick Steele, 1819
Confederate General and CS Secretary of War John Breckinridge, 1821
Confederate General James Longstreet, 1821
Confederate General Joseph Kershaw, 1822
Confederate General Gustavus Smith, 1822
Union General Ivan Vasilovich Turchinoff (John Basil Turchin), 1822
Union General Peter Osterhaus, 1823
Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, 1824
Confederate General George Pickett, 1825
Union General John Tidball, 1825
Confederate General Richard Taylor, 1826
Confederate General Thomas Hindman, 1828
Union General Gouverneur Kemble Warren, 1830
Union General Edward Ferrero, 1831
Confederate General John Pegram, 1832
Union General Judson Kilpatrick, 1836
Union Lieutenant Alonzo Cushing, who was killed as his battery was engaging part of the Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble charge at Gettysburg, PA, 1841
Union Major William McKinley, 25th President of the United States, 1843
1861: As the year 1861 begins, tension and excitement is gripping the nation. South Carolina is the only state so far that has seceded. Other states are now considering their own Articles of Secession. The Administration of US President James Buchanan has adopted a "wait and see" attitude to the situation. It is felt in Washington DC that even though they believe that secession is illegal, the government does not have the power to prevent it. The US Constitution spelled out the procedures for making new states, but was silent on what to do if a state wanted to leave the Union. In South Carolina, newly formed militia units drill under the Palmetto flag while glowering at the US flag that still flies over Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC. On Christmas Day, 1860, the US Army garrison had relocated to the fort to avoid a confrontation with the locals. This only angered the citizens of the city. The garrison has provisions for several months, but they are beginning to feel that they are pawns in a game in which the rules have yet to be written. The question this morning is this; will the United States of America remain a loose collection of states where some find it legal to keep 4,000,000 African-Americans in bondage, or a new nation in which the promises of the Founding Fathers will finally become a reality?
1862: Federal artillery on Ft Pickens used to shell Pensacola. FL.
Union and Confederate troops exchange fire at Port Royal, SC.
1863: US President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation. This action will put the Union on the moral high ground and kill any chance of foreign diplomatic recognition for the CSA.
Union General Burnside takes responsibility for the defeat at Fredericksburg, VA and offers to resign, but that is refused.
Union General William Sherman withdraws his troops from Chickasaw Bluffs, north of Vicksburg, MS.
Battle of Murfreesboro, TN, Day Two. Not much fighting takes place but Union general Rosecrans and Confederate General Bragg maneuver their troops for another fight the next day.
Confederate forces under General Magruder capture Galveston, TX and drive off the Union blockade.
1864: New Years Day in Charleston, SC is marked by another shelling of Ft Sumter.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, writes about a fine New Years meal of mule meat and boiled rice, barely edible.
1865: Union General Benjamin Butler’s attempt to cut a canal to the James River, to bypass Confederate batteries, fails. The explosion that was supposed to open the channel instead fills in the ditch.
January 2
1861: South Carolina troops seized Ft Johnson in Charleston Harbor.
1862: Confederate diplomats A.P. Mason and John Slidell are released and resume their mission to Great Britain to seek recognition of the Confederacy.
1863: Battle of Stones River, TN. Day three. Confederate General Bragg resumes his attack by launching a massive artillery bombardment on the Union lines. A Union counterattack threatens to outflank the Confederate lines. That attack is halted but another Union assault causes the confederates to pull back from the line in general. Battle that started on December 31, 1862 ends with a Union victory.
1864: CS Senate confirms George Davis as Attorney-General.
Union General Banks continues to advance in Texas towards Galveston.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, writes about inventorying boxes of goods sent from the North, and taking advantage of the situation to improve their diet.
1865: Skirmishing at Franklin and Lexington, MS.
January 3
1861: Georgia troops seized Ft Pulaski.
Delaware votes to reject secession
1862: CS President Davis considering how dangerous the Union occupation of Ship Island, MS is. New Orleans, LA is 65 miles away and Mobile, AL is 50 miles away.
Stonewall Brigade heads to Romney, VA to cut the Baltimore and Ohio railroad.
1863: Confederate General Braxton Bragg pulls his army from Murfreesboro, TN. Federal troops can not pursue due to the muddy conditions.
1864: It is noted that the Confederate economy is collapsing, with prices 28 times their 1861 levels and wages falling by 400%.
Jonesville, VA occupied by Union cavalry.
1865: Union General Sherman begins preparations for renewing the offensive, now turning his attention to South Carolina, the “cradle of the Rebellion.”
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that coffee is selling for $45 a pound and sugar for $10 a pound.
January 4
1861: Alabama troops seized the arsenal at Mouth Vernon.
1862: Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson captures the town of Bath, VA with other action at Great Cacapon Bridge, VA and Hancock, MD.
1863: Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, serving as a nurse in a Washington DC hospital.
Confederate General Roger Hanson, commander of the Kentucky Orphan Brigade, dies of wounds suffered at Stones River.
Union General McClernand begins an expedition against Ft Hindman (Arkansas Post), AR. This is against the wishes of General Grant, who needed the troops for the Vicksburg, MS campaign.
USS Quaker City captures a blockade runner off Charleston, SC.
1864: Confederate General Lee receives authority to take food stocks in order to feed his army. This measure maybe too little too late due to the fact that Virginia farms can barely support the civilian population, let alone a starving army.
Union General Halleck orders General Banks and General Steele to renew an offensive up the Red River, LA in the spring. Problem is that the two forces are 500 miles apart and Banks is bust in Texas.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, helps pass put new clothes to Union prisoners at Libby prison, Richmond, VA.
1865: Grant assigns Union General Alfred Terry to make an assault on Ft Fisher, NC in order to take Wilmington, NC, the last open Confederate port.
January 5
1861: The merchant ship Star of the West leaves New York to resupply Ft Sumter’s small garrison of Federal troops. Senators of several Southern states meet in Washington to discuss secession.
1862: The town of Hancock, MD refuses to surrender, Jackson orders the town shelled.
1863: Confederate General Bragg’s withdrawal has the effect of leaving Central and Western Tennessee under Federal control.
1864: 1000 African-Americans send a petition to Washington demanding the right to vote.
US President Lincoln asks Congress to continue bounty payments to attract new volunteers for the Union army.
Jonesville, VA recaptured by Confederate troops.
With Tennessee and Kentucky fully in Union hands, another source of food is denied to the Confederacy.
1865: Peace feelers are now being extended to the South as the Confederacy must be reading the handwriting on the wall. US President Lincoln issues a pass to James Singleton to go south and sound out the Confederate leadership about a negotiated settlement. Lincoln’s terms, all states back into the Union and slavery abolished.
January 6
1861: New York City mayor Fernando Wood urged ties be kept with South Carolina and any other state that secedes. Suggests that NYC should be independent.
1862: Union reinforcements reach Hancock, MD and Jackson is forced to pull back.
US President Lincoln resists demands that Union General McClellan be replaced. Lincoln is also urging General Buell to move into Tennessee.
1863: Union General McClernand’s expedition to Ft Hindman, AR continues. The force is made up of two corps, his and General Sherman’s.
1864: Union steamer Delta attacked on the Mississippi by Confederate guerillas.
1865: Union General Grant asked US President Lincoln to remove Union General Butler as commander of the Army of the James. This is a sign that the “political generals” time has indeed ended and that professionals will win the war.
CS President Davis and Vice-President Stephens have a falling out over the way the war has gone. Stephens has lived in his house in Georgia for most of the war and is Davis’ harshest critic.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that a barrel of flour now sells for $500 a barrel and cornmeal for $75 a bushel.
January 7
1861:
1862: Confederate General Jackson withdraws into Virginia after a skirmish at Hanging Rock Pass, MD.
Union General Grant receives information about Forts Henry and Donaldson, TN.
Federal gunboats Essex, Lexington, and Tyler head down the Mississippi River toward Columbus, KY.
Skirmishing at Blue Gap, VA.
1863: Three blockade runners break through the Federal cordon and reach Charleston Harbor.
CS Secretary of the Navy Mallory sent a dispatch to Commander Bullock in the UK urging the buying of new ironclad vessels as quickly as possible. Funding the vessels has now become an issue.
Confederate troops under General Marmaduke approach Springfield, MO.
1864: US President Lincoln commutes the death sentence of a Union deserter, not wanting to add to “the butchering business.”
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that beef is selling for $1.25 per pound. Also writes about meeting an Englishman staying in a Richmond, VA hotel who says he lives greatly on three British Shillings a day, equal to $20 Confederate.
1865: Article in New York World laments the availability of weapons in NYC as an effect of the war. Lincoln removes Butler from command.
Union General Butler is formally removed from command on not only the Army of the James but also of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina. Those commands now in the hands of General Ord.
In Denmark, an ironclad warship that was built in France and sold to the Danes was bought back by France when the Danish Navy could not make payments. The French would then off load the vessel on the Confederacy. This is the future CSS Stonewall.
January 8
1861: US Secretary of the Interior Jacob Thompson of Mississippi resigns.
US President James Buchanan calls for compromise in order to preserve the Union.
1862: Skirmish at Dry Forks, Western Virginia.
Skirmishing at Charleston, Silver Creek, and Roan’s Tin Yard, MO.
1863: Union General John McClernand makes an unauthorized maneuver toward the Confederate outpost at Arkansas Post.
Confederate attack on Springfield, MO is repulsed by a scratch Union defense force.
John Usher named new US Secretary of the Interior.
Fifteen women of secessionist views living north of New Orleans, LA write Confederate Generals Pemberton and Joe Johnston, demanding their aid in pushing Union troops out of Louisiana and Mississippi.
1864: Confederate General Morgan reaches Richmond, VA to a hero’s welcome.
Pro-Unionists meet in New Orleans, LA to discuss Louisiana’s reentry into the Union.
Confederate spy David Dodd hanged at Little Rock, AR.
Federals bombard Caney Bayou, TX.
1865: Union General Terry’s forces are met by Admiral Porter’s fleet off Beaufort, NC. The two commanders meet to discuss the assault on Ft Fisher and Wilmington, NC.
January 9
1861: Mississippi votes to secede.
A civilian ship, Star of the West, is fired upon while trying to deliver supplies to the Ft Sumter garrison. The ship departs without reaching the fort.
1862: Union General Grant begins operation against Columbus, KY.
Skirmish at Columbus, MO.
1863: McClernand’s forces, back by US Navy river boats, reach Ft Hindman, AR.
Skirmish at Ripley, TN.
1864: At this point, Confederate General Kirby Smith’s army is totally cut off from any help as Southern Arkansas is surrounded by Union held territory.
Calls go out for volunteers to become officers in Colored Regiments as there is a dearth of volunteers. A New England group offers free military schooling to volunteers. Many white Union officers were themselves racially prejudiced and were fearful of what would happen to them if they were captured.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that beef is now selling for $2.50 a pound and therefore he could not buy any, instead buying some rice, getting 25 pounds for .40.
1865: Democratic Party opposition to the proposed Constitutional amendment abolishing slavery begins to crumble.
Tennessee votes to abolish slavery.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that flour is now selling for $700 a barrel, cornmeal for $80 a bushel, and coal and wood for $100 a load.
January 10
1861: Florida votes to secede.
Louisiana seizes federal forts and arsenals.
William Seward becomes US Secretary of State.
William T. Sherman resigns his position as head of the Louisiana Military Academy (now Louisiana State University).
1862: Confederate General Jackson’s forces approach Romney, VA causing a Union
pullout.
At Middle Creek, KY there is a battle between Union troops under Colonel James Garfield and Confederates under Colonel Humphrey Marshall. Both sides claim victory but both are also in retreat. Colonel Garfield in the future will become President Garfield.
There are inconsistent procedures for handling escaped slaves who make it to Union encampments. Some are pressed into service with the army as teamsters, cooks, and laborers. Some are allowed to pass to the North. Others are held and turned over to locals and Confederate officers who claim them as property in compliance with the Fugitive Slave Act.
1863: Federal gunboats shell Ft Hindman.
Federal forces shell Galveston, TX.
Skirmishes at Suffolk and Fairfax Court House, VA.
France offers mediation of peace talks between the US and CS while the UK postpones such a move.
1864: Federals are using fake Confederate money to wreck the Southern economy even more. Merchants are now demanding payment in either gold, specie (coins), of foreign currency.
USS Iron Age runs aground at Folly Inlet, SC and is destroyed by Confederates.
Union Sergeant John Ransom writes that conditions at Belle Island prison (Richmond, VA) are killing off prisoners at the rate of sometimes twenty a day.
1865: Confederate Army of Tennessee reaches Tupelo, MS.
January 11
1861: New York votes in a pro-Union state constitution.
1862: US Secretary of War Simon Cameron resigns amid charges of corruption.
Union Naval force of over 100 ships and 15,000 men under General Burnside leaves Hampton Roads, VA and is heading south to reinforce Port Royal SC.
Union General McClernand begins a probe toward Columbus, KY.
Private Robert Sneeden, 40th NY, writes about starting a new job as a mapmaker. Despite the fact that mapmakers were officers, his talent for drawing has caught the attention of Union General Heintzelman and is assigned to the general's staff.
1863: CSS Alabama attacks and sinks USS Hatteras off Galveston, TX.
Battle of Arkansas Post, AR. Union commander: General John McClernand. Confederate commander: General Thomas J. Churchill. McClernand sent his two brigades, under Generals Sherman and George Morgan against Confederate defenses backed onto the Arkansas River. The area was dominated by Ft Hindman. Supported by Naval Admiral David Porter’s flotilla of gunboats, the fort was surrounded. At the end of the day, the Confederates surrendered. Union victory.
Federal gunboat sunk at Memphis, TN.
1864: A joint resolution is proposed in the US Senate calling for the abolishing of slavery.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that a house in Richmond, VA was rented for $6000 a year.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, gets several parts of a Confederate uniform and manages to leave Libby Prison and walks the streets of Richmond, VA, looking for a way out of town and back to Union lines. He did not get too far, getting himself recaptured and taken back to prison.
1865: Confederate forces under General Thomas Rosser raid West Virginia, capturing 500 Union troops and destroying tons of supplies.
Missouri abolishes slavery.
Group of Confederate Navy personnel arrive on Gravesend, UK to take possession of that former Danish ironclad.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that $60 Confederate will now but $1 in gold.
January 12
1861: Alabama votes to secede.
1862: In the nine months since the war began, the US Navy has grown from 76 vessels to 264.
One of those units who disregarded the Fugitive Slave Act was members of the 14th NY who harbored a runaway named John Boston.
1863: Union General Grant hears of General McClernand’s attack on Ft Hindman. Secures authorization to remove McClernand from command but does not use it.
Third session of Confederate Congress meets.
1864; A common practice at this time was for a draftee to pay someone $300 (a great sum at the time) to take his place in the ranks. This had the effect of filling Union ranks with those who were unfit for service.
US troops enter Matamoros, Mexico to rescue the US Counsel there.
Attitudes were already changing in the South as freed slaves asserted their new freedom. An account in Louisiana tells of an overseer being run off a plantation.
1865: Francis Blair meets with CS President Davis about peace talks. Davis agrees on talks but he is insistent that the only thing he will agree to is Southern Independence.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that the same gold dollar is now equal to $66 Confederate.
January 13
1862: Roanoke Island assault fleet stalled off Hatteras Inlet due to storms. This will last until Jan 20.
Union Naval LT John Worden assumes command of USS Monitor, at this time under construction in New York.
Edwin Stanton names as the new US Secretary of War.
1863: Federal officials authorize the enlistment of African-Americans into the South Carolina Volunteer Infantry (US).
Ft Hindman, AR is ordered destroyed because the fort is of no use to the Union.
Federal troops attack Mound City, AR.
1864: US President Lincoln asks officials in Louisiana and Florida to form pro-Union state governments.
1865: Naval bombardment of Ft Fisher, NC begins. The defense forces in Wilmington, NC are commanded by no other than General Bragg, so no help from the town is coming.
Confederate General John Bell Hood resigns and is replaced by General Richard Taylor.
Even at this late date, there are those in the South who are of the opinion that independence without slavery is unacceptable, as an editorial in the Arkansas Telegraph explains.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that in Richmond, VA beef sells for $6 a pound, cornmeal for $80 a bushel, and white beans for $160 per bushel.
January 14
1861: Louisiana troops seize Ft Pike, near New Orleans.
1862: Union General McClernand has his troops at Blandville, KY.
Frederick Douglass gives a speech in Philadelphia, PA and calls for emancipation to be the war aim.
1863: A Union attempt to advance up the Bayou Teche, LA is stopped by determined Confederate defenses.
Ohio Representative Clement Vallandingham, a leader in the rising anti-war party known as the Copperheads, delivers a blistering speech in the House against US President Lincoln’s conduct of the war. Copperheads were so named because they wore Indian heads cut from copper pennies on their lapels. (It’s an ironic fact that their main enemy is now depicted on the penny.)
1864: Union forces advance on Dandridge, TN forcing Confederate General James Longstreet to retreat.
CS President Davis writes General Joe Johnston, warning him that some of his troops may be needed to defend Alabama and Mississippi in the spring.
1865: Ft Fisher, NC is rendered unusable by a bombardment rate of 100 shells per minute.
Confederate General Beauregard assumes temporary command of the Army of Tennessee while General Taylor is en route to take permanent command.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that a barrel of flour was sold for $1000.
January 15
1862: Stonewall Brigade reaches Romney, VA.
Edwin M. Stanton is confirmed as Union Secretary of War.
Union General Grant concentrates his forces at Milburn, KY. Confederates are now wondering if the axis of attack is Columbus, KY or if the attack is going somewhere else.
1863: CS President Davis suggests that General Bragg should go on the offensive in Tennessee.
US President Lincoln views a demonstration of new weapons at the Washington, DC Navy Yard.
1864: Confederate General Longstreet orders in additional forces and moves toward Dandridge, TN.
A new crisis hits the Union war effort. Soldiers who signed three-year enlistments will have those enlacements expire this year. If they all leave, the Union effort will effectively end!
1865: US Marines and sailors attack Ft Fisher, NC and receive heavy losses. A second attack by Union General Alfred Terry takes the fort. Result is that the entire Confederate coast is now in Union hands.
January 16
1861: Arkansas legislature calls for a vote on secession.
The Crittenden Compromise, a last attempt to ease Southern fears, fails in the Senate.
1862: Five Confederate regiments and 12 cannon have been posted at Mill Spring, KY to watch for any Union attack through the Cumberland Gap.
In a sign that long-term care of wounded will be needed, private organizations begin to set up hospitals in both North and South.
1863: CSS Florida sails out of Mobile Bay, AL and through the Federal blockade.
There is an unusual prisoner exchange as women and children who were detained North are allowed to travel from Washington DC to Richmond, VA. They were searched, to their great complaint, but much material made it through to be made into uniforms for Confederate soldiers.
1864: Union cavalry under General Samuel Sturgis encounter Confederate troops near Kimbrough’s Crossroads, TN and is forced back.
Any lingering hope that the UK and France would recognize the CSA has evaporated with both countries directing their attention to a looming war between Denmark and Prussia over the territory of Schleswig-Holstein.
1865: Confederate General Robert E. Lee is named commander of all CSA armies. General Joe Johnston is also named commander of the Army of Tennessee while General Beauregard is given command of defense forces in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that a gold dollar is now worth $70 Confederate.
Francis Blair meets with US President Lincoln and presents CS President Davis’ proposal for allowing the Southern states to secure independence, but also proposes joint operations against the Imperial Government in Mexico.
At Ft Fisher, NC, two drunken sailors enter the powder magazine with lighted lanterns. Within moments the magazine blew up, killing 25, injuring 66, and 13 missing. Most of them were of the 169th NY, who was sleeping on the mound covering the magazine at the time.
Confederate General Bragg receives a telegram from CS President Davis ordering him to retake Ft Fisher. That order will not be carried out.
January 17
1862: Union General Thomas stops at Somerset, KY, near Mill Spring in order to gather his strung out forces.
1863: Union General U.S. Grant leaves Memphis, TN for Milliken’s Bend to take charge of what will be the Vicksburg Campaign.
Morale in the Union Army of the Potomac hits new lows due to recent defeats and the fact that the Emancipation Proclamation is not popular with the army, whose members feel they did not enlist to free slaves.
1864: Confederate General Longstreet attacks Union forces at Dandridge, TN, forcing them to retreat to New Market.
Confederate Navy Commander James Wallace is given command of CSS Albemarle at Edward’s Ferry, NC.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that flour is now selling for $200 a barrel and (corn)meal for $20 a bushel.
.
1865: US President Lincoln rejects a call by CS President Jefferson Davis for negotiations.
Union General Sherman orders his army to prepare to march. At the same time he issues Field Order No.15, offering displaces former slaves land along the Georgia coast. This not only creates hope in the former slaves, but it also keeps him from having to feed the 10,000 that are tagging along with his army.
January 18
1861: There are reports of death threats against US President-elect Lincoln. One such report mentions that a body of armed men would come to the Inauguration and prevent Lincoln from taking the oath.
1862: Confederate General Thomas Jackson orders the Stonewall brigade into winter quarters.
USS Kearsarge departs Cadiz, Spain to search for Confederate Captain Raphael Semmes, at this time commanding CSS Sumter.
CSA Territory of Arizona as created.
Former US President and Confederate Congressman John Tyler dies at Richmond, VA.
Confederate General Thomas Crittenden has taken command of Confederate forces in the Cumberland Gap, KY and plans to take the battle to Union General Thomas’ troops.
1863: Union General Grant organizes his Army of the Tennessee into four corps, the 13th (General McClernand), the 15th (General Sherman), the 16th (General Hurlbut), and the 17th (General McPherson). This, along with supporting naval units, will be the force that will go after Vicksburg, MS.
1864: There is opposition in North Carolina to the CS Government’s conscription law, which makes all white males 18 to 45 eligible for service.
1865: Union General Sherman begins a march from Savannah, GA, to link up with Grant’s forces, currently at Petersburg, VA. His army is now aimed at South Carolina.
January 19
1861: Georgia votes to secede.
1862: Battle of Mill Springs (aka Logan’s Cross Roads), KY. Union commander: General George H. Thomas. Confederate commander: General Felix Zollicoffer. Fighting starts at dawn as the 15th MS encounters two companies from the 10th IN. At first, Confederate assaults push back Union troops who were running out of ammunition. During one such attack Zollicoffer was killed. At one point troops from both sides were firing at each other over a single fence. In the after, Thomas got in some artillery and proceeded to pummel the Southern line. A flanking movement followed by a bayonet charge finally routed the Confederates, who reformed at Beech Grove, 10 miles away.
1863: Union Army of the Potomac commander General Ambrose Burnside proposes to move troops up the Rappahannock River to United States Ford in order to launch another assault on the Confederates.
An article in the Bangor, MA Whig and Courier highlights the exploits of Anna Etheridge, a nurse with the 5th MI. These accounts include times when she was exposed to fire, a situation considered scandalous at the time. What not many people knew at the tine was that many women were dressed as men and serving in the ranks.
1864: Construction begins on CSS Albemarle in a North Carolina cornfield.
Pro-Unionists meet in Little Rock, AR to discuss abolishing slavery in the state.
1865: Confederate General Lee accepts his new position as General-in Chief of the Southern Armies. The attitude is now that it is too late for even an experienced soldier like Lee to turn things around.
January 20
1861: Ship Island, MS is seized by secessionists.
Mississippi Senator Jefferson Davis formally resigns his seat in response to his state seceding.
1862: A planned Union assault on the regrouped Confederates at Beech Grove, KY is called off when morning finds the Southern lines deserted. Battle of Mill Springs (Logan’s Cross Roads, or Somerset), KY ends in a Union victory.
US Navy sinks vessels filled with stones in order to bottle up Charleston, SC.
1863: Mud March, the attempt by Burnside to reposition troops for the planned assault, begins. It will end in failure due to weather and ground conditions.
1864: US President Lincoln proposes elections in Arkansas so that the state can be readmitted.
Skirmish at Tracy City, TN.
1865: Two Confederate blockade runners captured near Ft Fisher.
Rain hampers Union General Slocum’s corps from leaving Savannah, GA.
January 21
1862: Union General Grant pulls his forces back to Cairo, IL in order to execute the real mission, to attack Forts Henry and Donaldson in Tennessee.
1863: Confederate forces recapture Sabine Pass, TX
Union General Fitz John Porter is dismissed from the US Army, having been blamed for the Union defeat at the Second Battle of Manassas, VA. It will take 23 years to clear his name.
Thirty hours of rain has made any movement of Union troops across the Rappahannock River, VA impossible.
1864: A pro-Union convention in Nashville, TN proposes an anti-slavery resolution.
Ohio bans distillation of whisky in order to preserve grain stocks.
1865: Union General Sherman reaches Beaufort, SC.
January 22
1862; Confederate General Wise is given command of forces at Roanoke Island, NC in order to counter the growing union presence at nearby Port Royal, SC.
1863: Mud March ends as Federal troops are ordered back to the same camps they left.
Union General Grant now has Federal forces in Arkansas added to his command.
1864: Pro-Unionist Isaac Murphy is installed as provisional governor of Arkansas.
USS Restless captures blockade runners at St Andrew’s Bay,
Union General William Rosecrans assumes command of the US Federal Department of the Missouri.
1865: Skirmish at Little Rock, AR.
January 23
1862: More ships filled with stones sunk at Charleston, SC.
1863: US Army of the Potomac is pulled back from Fredericksburg, VA and into winter quarters. General Burnside now turns his attention against many of his subordinate generals.
Henry Brooks Adams writes to his brother, Charles Francis Adams, the US Minister to the UK that the British reaction to the Emancipation Proclamation seems to be mostly in favor.
1864: US President Lincoln approves plans to allow freed slaves to be hired by their former masters.
US Department of the Treasury lifts trading ban on Kentucky and Missouri.
Skirmish at Rolling Prairie, AR.
1865: The Federal headquarters at City Point, VA is attacked by a Confederate fleet of three ironclads, a gunboat, and a torpedo (sea mine) boat. All but one run aground and come under fire by Union batteries.
Confederate General Taylor assumes command of the Army of Tennessee.
January 24
1861: Georgia troops seize the US Arsenal at Augusta, GA.
1862: Union General Halleck orders arrests of any who opposes his enforcement of martial law in St Louis, MO.
1863: Union General Burnside goes to Washington, DC and demands that US President Lincoln remove several senior officers from the Army of the Potomac.
Skirmish at Woodbury, TN.
Union forces land on the land opposite Vicksburg, MS and send patrols up the Yazoo River.
1864: Skirmish at Baker Springs, AR.
1865: Surviving Confederate vessels from the aborted attack on City Point, VA withdraw. This ends any further Confederate river attacks.
Confederate Congress authorizes the resumption of prisoner exchanges.
CSS Stonewall rendezvous with a tender off Belle Isle, France.
January 25
1862: Burnside’s forces reach Pamlico Sound and begin maneuvers toward Roanoke Island, NC.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, writes about seeing Thaddeus Lowe's balloon ascend over Alexandria, VA.
1863: US President Lincoln responds to General Burnside’s demands by removing him from command of the Army of the Potomac and replacing him with General Joseph Hooker.
Confederate General John Marmaduke’s cavalry reaches the safety of the White River.
1864: Confederate General Longstreet orders his cavalry to stop Union cavalry from disrupting his supply lines.
Union forces bombard Ft Sumter, SC without success.
Union troops evacuate Corinth, MS.
Union Sergeant John Ransom writes about a shipment of hams arriving from the north, but the Confederate guards get them. A friend in the cookhouse managed to get a substantial number of the hams into the prison enclosure, at great risk.
1865: Skirmishing along the Salkehatchie River, SC.
January 26
1861: Louisiana votes to secede.
1862: Confederate General Pierre Beauregard is appointed second in command under General Albert S. Johnston.
Union naval force off Cape Hatteras, NC attempting to enter Pamlico Sound. This would create another jumping off point for Union attacks on the North Carolina coast.
1863: Union General Joseph Hooker formally assumes command of the Army of the Potomac. He is nicknamed “Fighting Joe Hooker” due to a newspaper misprint.
1864: A Confederate force of 600 attacks the Federal garrison, numbering 100, at Athens, AL. The Confederates were repulsed.
US President endorses reopening trade with Confederate territory now completely under Federal control.
Several skirmishes take place between Longstreet’s cavalry and Union cavalry under General Sturgis.
1865: Union General Sherman sends troops towards Charleston, SC while his main force marches on Goldsborough, SC.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that beef is selling for $8 a pound and wood is selling for $150 a cord.
January 27
1862: Confederate commander at Roanoke Island, General Wise, is ordered to hold at all costs.
US President Lincoln issues General War Order 1, ordering an offensive on all fronts on February 22.
1863: Editor of Philadelphia Journal is arrested for printing anti-Union articles.
CS President Davis calls for the increase in food production in order to alleviate shortages.
1864: Battle of Kelly’s Ford, TN. Union commander: General Samuel Sturgis. Confederate commander: General William Martin. Union forces are victorious but withdrew upon hearing of fresh Confederate troops approaching.
Confederate General Bragg appointed as CS President Davis’ military advisor.
Union Sergeant John Ransom writes that the prisoners at Belle Island (Richmond, VA) are told that instead of being exchanged, they will be sent to a new prison in Georgia.
1865: Confederate General Lee communicates with the South Carolina governor about the deteriorating situation in the state.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that someone broke into his house and stole two sticks of wood. Wood is selling for $5 a stick.
January 28
1862; Union forces enter Pamlico Sound, NC.
1863: There is a mass meeting in St Louis, MO in which the Emancipation Proclamation is endorsed.
As Union General Hooker takes command, there are as many as 200 desertions per day. Many of the senior officers are also McClellan partisans who are not happy with Hooker’s appointment.
1864; Skirmish at Tunnel Hill, GA.
1865: Three commissioners, CS Vice-President Stephens, President of the Senate R.M.T. Hunter, and former US Supreme Court Justice John Campbell, are appointed by CS President Davis to hold talks with Union officials.
January 29
1861: Kansas is admitted as the 34th US state.
1862: Skirmish at Occoquan Bridge, VA.
1863: Skirmishes at Suffolk and Turner’s Mills, VA.
Skirmish on the Stono Rover, SC.
1864: Small engagement at Medley, WV.
CSS Charleston, nicknamed “the Ladies Ironclad” because the local ladies raised the funds to build her, is launched in Charleston, SC.
Union steamer Sir William Wallace attacked on the Mississippi River.
Union General Sherman’s men received much needed winter gear.
1865: Even if the Charleston, SC garrison and General Hardee’s forces are combined, there is not much force that can slow Union General Sherman’s army down.
January 30
1862: USS Monitor launched in New York, NY.
Confederate Commissioners Mason and Slidell arrive in London, UK.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, describes a raid at Colchester, VA.
1863: Confederate General Pemberton, commanding the Vicksburg, MS defenses, is asked by CS President Davis if the Yazoo River could be obstructed to prevent a Union advance from the north.
1864: Confederate General Pickett moves to attack the Union garrison at New Berne, NC.
1865: Union General Pope is given command of the Department of the Missouri.
Skirmish at Champlintown, KY.
January 31
1861: An editorial in Cincinnati, OH decried the effect of secession on trade. The city had a thriving trade with Southern cities until this moment.
1862: UK announces its intention to remain neutral.
Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson visits Washington DC and meets with US President Lincoln. He records in his journal that he was impressed with Lincoln but that the attitude in the North was focused on trade and pleasurable pursuits, while the South’s attitude was on the war.
1863: Two US vessels are sunk by Confederate ramming boats in Charleston Harbor, SC.
Skirmish at Deserted House, VA.
Union General Grant proposes a canal be cut across the bend of the Mississippi opposite Vicksburg, MS. This had the idea to divert the Mississippi River away from Vicksburg. (The project would fail, but nature would accomplish what Grant couldn’t.)
Skirmish at Dover, TN.
Union commanders in Tennessee realize the importance of keeping the Cumberland River open in order to keep supplies moving.
1864: US President Lincoln expresses the opinion that only “loyal, free state men” should have their right to vote restored.
1865: US House of Representatives pass the 13th Amendment.
Confederate General Lee is appointed Confederate Commander in Chief.
Birthdays:
Secession Activist Edmund Ruffin, 1794
Union General David Hunter, 1802
Confederate General Robert E. Lee, 1807
US Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase, 1808
Confederate Naval Captain John Tucker, 1812
Union General John C. Fremont, 1813
Union General William Henry French, 1815
Union General Henry Halleck, 1815
Union General Nathaniel Banks, 1816
Confederate General Lloyd Tilghman, 1916
Union General Frederick Steele, 1819
Confederate General and CS Secretary of War John Breckinridge, 1821
Confederate General James Longstreet, 1821
Confederate General Joseph Kershaw, 1822
Confederate General Gustavus Smith, 1822
Union General Ivan Vasilovich Turchinoff (John Basil Turchin), 1822
Union General Peter Osterhaus, 1823
Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, 1824
Confederate General George Pickett, 1825
Union General John Tidball, 1825
Confederate General Richard Taylor, 1826
Confederate General Thomas Hindman, 1828
Union General Gouverneur Kemble Warren, 1830
Union General Edward Ferrero, 1831
Confederate General John Pegram, 1832
Union General Judson Kilpatrick, 1836
Union Lieutenant Alonzo Cushing, who was killed as his battery was engaging part of the Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble charge at Gettysburg, PA, 1841
Union Major William McKinley, 25th President of the United States, 1843
# posted by FSPowers : 7:12 PM
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