The American Civil War, day by day - Page 28 - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#15048317
Potemkin wrote:Given the way that McClellan had treated Winfield Scott, Lincoln should not have been surprised at being snubbed by this insolent upstart. But McClellan had done himself no favours by this behaviour - he now had to produce the goods to justify and excuse his insolence. He had to win and keep winning against the Confederates....

Yes, victory covers a multitude of sins ... not all of them, as Patton and MacArthur learned, but a lot of them.
#15048467
November 14, Thursday

A small Federal force breaks up a Confederate camp in Virginia, near Point of Rocks, Maryland, on the Potomac. A skirmish breaks out on the road from Fayetteville to Raleigh, and another at McCoy’s Mill, in western Virginia. Other secondary scouting and reconnaissance operations are carried on throughout the fall in northern Virginia by both warring parties.
#15048682
November 15, Friday

USS San Jacinto under Captain Charles Wilkes arrives at Fort Monroe, Virginia, with the captured Confederate commissioners to Britain and France, Mason and Slidell. In a few hours the news of their seizure from the British packet Trent resounds throughout the North. It is thought the United States have struck a blow against the Confederacy and foreign intervention on their behalf. The prisoners are ordered sent to Fort Warren in Boston Harbor. Cheers and rejoicing break out as most officials approve the course of the audacious naval officer. In the Cabinet only two members—Postmaster General Montgomery Blair and Secretary of State William Seward—perceive with President Lincoln that in turning his quarterdeck into a prize court Wilkes was not only rash, he was wrong, and by his illegal action has exposed his country to embarrassment. Seward’s support must be a surprise to the President—here is the war that he has been pushing for as a way to somehow restore the Union (requiring Lincoln to ride herd on him, toning down his overseas dispatches), and now that the real possibility has arrived Seward finds that he doesn’t want it after all. As Lincoln puts it, “We must stick to American principles concerning the rights of neutrals. We fought Great Britain [in the War of 1812] for insisting, by theory and practice, on the right to do precisely what Wilkes has done.” Seward agrees. “One war at a time,” Lincoln cautions, and Seward agrees again. However, at the moment they are alone and cannot breast the popular current running full-tilt against them.

The Confederacy are at first aghast at such a treachery as taking diplomatic personnel off a nonbelligerent vessel, but it is soon realized that this incident might be what was needed to bring about the coveted foreign recognition.
Brigadier General Don Carlos Buell assumes command of the new Department of the Ohio, operating from Louisville. It is hoped that a Federal drive into east Tennessee will at least be undertaken. Meanwhile, a camp of pro-unionist civilians is dispersed near Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The Young Men’s Christian Association organizes the US Christian Commission for service to Federal soldiers. Throughout the war they will publish tracts, furnish nurses, and aid soldiers in countless ways.

The Confederate Navy Department calls for offers for construction of ironclad men-of-war.

The Louisville Journal publishes a suggestion of a Wisconsin volunteer challenging any fifer in the Confederate Army to compete with him on the fife for the sum of $500 a side. “Yankee Doodle” and “The Star-Spangled Banner” would be played, and “The trial march to come off when Buckner and his army have been taken prisoner.”
#15048848
November 16, Saturday

Federal foraging parties are captured by Confederates at Doolan’s Farm, Virginia, and near Pleasant Hill in Cass County, Missouri.

Flour in Vicksburg, Mississippi, is reported to cost $20 a barrel.

Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts protests the capture of Mason and Slidell and urges their release at once.
Last edited by Doug64 on 16 Nov 2019 14:57, edited 1 time in total.
#15048852
Doug64 wrote:November 16, Saturday

Federal foraging parties are captured by Confederates at Doolan’s Farm, Virginia, and near Pleasant Hill in Cass County, Missouri.

Flour in Vicksburg, Mississippi, is reported to cost $20 a barrel.

Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts and Postmaster General Montgomery Blair protest the capture of Mason and Slidell and urge their release at once.

Sumner protested against this? That's a surprise.
#15048854
Potemkin wrote:Sumner protested against this? That's a surprise.

There were bound to be a few sane ones in all the celebration besides Lincoln, Seward, and Blair. In Summer’s case, besides being a Radical Republican since before the Republican Party existed, he was also one of the most learned statesmen of the era and specialized in foreign affairs. He’s been working closely with Lincoln to keep the British and French from intervening, and it’s kinda hard to think of a stronger intervention than a declaration of war! (And no, I didn’t know that before your post and some quick research.)
#15048856
Doug64 wrote:There were bound to be a few sane ones in all the celebration besides Lincoln, Seward, and Blair. In Summer’s case, besides being a Radical Republican since before the Republican Party existed, he was also one of the most learned statesmen of the era and specialized in foreign affairs. He’s been working closely with Lincoln to keep the British and French from intervening, and it’s kinda hard to think of a stronger intervention than a declaration of war! (And no, I didn’t know that before your post and some quick research.)

I think we're both learning new things from this thread, Doug. ;)
#15049062
November 17, Sunday

Skirmishing occurs at Cypress Bridge, near Rumsey, McLean County, Kentucky.

A heavily laden British blockade runner is seized by the gunboat Connecticut off Cape Canaveral, Florida (now Cape Kennedy).
#15049267
November 18, Monday

The fifth session of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States of America meets in Richmond.

In Kentucky soldiers of the Confederate Army adopt an ordinance of secession in a convention at Russellville, creating a Confederate government for the state, which now, like Missouri, has governments representing both the United and Confederate States.

Federal Commissioner David Dixon Porter is ordered to purchase vessels and organize a mortar flotilla for the forthcoming expedition to New Orleans.

There is fighting near Warrensburg and Palmyra, Missouri, and Falls Church, Virginia. A group of pro-unionists is seized at Doe River, east Tennessee.

In North Carolina a convention at Hatteras repudiates the secession of the state and reaffirms loyalty to the Union, naming a provisional government.

Jeff Thompson with his Missourians seize a Federal steamer at Price’s Landing.

Throughout the months since McClellan’s rise to command of the forces around Washington, he has been holding reviews of the newly-trained troops—first brigades and then divisions as his soldiers training progresses. The people of the United States have never seen such pageantry, and a host of distinguished visitors—senators, Cabinet members, society ladies with hoop skirts and parasols, sometimes even President Lincoln himself—flock to the parade ground to see the soldiers showing off their newly acquired skill at marching and maneuvering. But the center of attention is always the charismatic General McClellan, galloping down the massed ranks and gracefully acknowledging his troops’ cheers. On this day, while attending a public reviews of the troops Julia Ward Howe—along with her husband Samuel Gridley Howe an active leader in anti-slavery politics (her husband was one of the “Secret Six” that funded John Brown’s attempted raid)—hears troops of the 6th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry singing “John Brown’s Body,” and her companion at the review, the Reverend James Freeman Clarke, suggests that she write new lyrics for the song.
#15049546
November 19, Tuesday

In the pre-dawn hours this morning Julia Ward Howe writes the lyrics to “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Staying at the Willard Hotel in Washington, she will later write: “I went to bed that night as usual, and slept, according to my wont, quite soundly. I awoke in the gray of the morning twilight; and as I lay waiting for the dawn, the long lines of the desired poem began to twine themselves in my mind. Having thought out all the stanzas, I said to myself, ‘I must get up and write these verses down, lest I fall asleep again and forget them.’ So, with a sudden effort, I sprang out of bed, and found in the dimness an old stump of a pencil which I remembered to have used the day before. I scrawled the verses almost without looking at the paper.”

“Liberty is always won where there exists the unconquerable will to be free”—so Jefferson Davis informs the Confederate Congress in his presidential message read to the new session. In a generally optimistic report the President says in retrospect the year “is such as should fill the hearts of our people with gratitude to Providence.” Crops were good, military operations were moderately satisfactory, an army was created in the midst of war, and the financial situation is hopeful. There are problems in coping with numerous Federal military operations, and a need for a more satisfactory transportation system and a husbanding of means and resources. The President inveighs against the “barbarous” hostilities of the North, citing several incidents.

Major General Henry W. Halleck assumes command of the Department of the Missouri in St. Louis, taking over from temporary commander David Hunter, who in turn goes to the Department of Kansas. A new regime has begun reorganization of the war in the West and in general its first steps are successful—a vast improvement over the rule of Fremont. Brigadier General George Wright is formally assigned to command the Federal Department of the Pacific although he is already in charge. For the Confederates, Lucius Q.C. Lamar is appointed a special agent to Russia.

General Albert Sidney Johnston calls for all militia and volunteer forces in Tennessee to be armed if possible.

There is fighting at Round Mountain, Indian Territory, where Creek Amerinds fleeing to Kansas hold off pro-Southern Cherokees and Texans.

The Confederate raider Nashville captures and burns the clipper ship Harvey Birch in the Atlantic, one of numerous seizures by Southern cruisers this fall.
#15049795
November 20, Wednesday

Skirmishing occurs at Butler and Little Santa Fe, Missouri, as well as at Brownsville, Kentucky.

Major General David Hunter assumes command of the Federal Department of Kansas.

The Richmond Dispatch announces that the demand for “Yankee books” is still high in the South.

In California Federal troops pursue a pro-Confederate band known as the Showalter Party, seventeen men led by Daniel Showalter.

McClellan holds his climactic parade and review at Bailey’s Crossroads, Virginia, approximately seven miles from the Capitol in Washington. Colonel William Woods Averell of the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry will write: “The field was a broad amphitheatre, favorable at any part for a view of the whole, and the spectacle of a vast, organized host of 80,000 men in masses of divisions with the artillery and cavalry of each division attached and all its banners floating in the sunlight was the grandest and most inspiring I ever beheld. General McClellan, with his staff, rode rapidly along the fronts of divisions awakening the wildest enthusiasm as he passed. Then the army passed in review and as the ground trembled under the steady tread of the endless columns of disciplined soldiers and the air throbbed with the music of countless bands, the all pervading feeling was an enthusiastic and ardent admiration for the man who had created the Army of the Potomac. In the realization of all observers, even the most experienced officers, the army was born that day.”
#15049983
November 21, Thursday

Judah P. Benjamin is named by President Davis as Secretary of War for the Confederacy, succeeding LeRoy Pope Walker, who has not done too badly considering the pressures from all sides, including Davis. But it is a post which for a while will be subject to frequent change, and Benjamin is thought to be the man who can handle the complex personnel problems involved. Walker had many critics. Thomas Bragg, brother of General Braxton Bragg, succeeds Benjamin as Attorney General.

Brigadier General Lloyd Tilghman is named to command Forts Henry and Donelson on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. The forts, just south of the Kentucky-Tennessee line, were begun in midsummer at spots not particularly suitable for forts but as far north as possible during Kentucky’s period of neutrality. The Confederates recognized that the two rivers would be as important routes for invasion as the Mississippi; all fall Federal vessels have been coming to poke around and investigate. Fearful for the safety of the post at Columbus, Kentucky, after the engagement of Belmont, the Confederates called for ten thousand volunteers from Mississippi.

Confederates destroy a supply of Federal stores at Warsaw, Missouri.
#15050230
November 22, Friday

Guns of Fort Pickens, USS Niagara, and USS Richmond begin two days of heavy bombardment against Confederates at Fort McRee, Fort Barrancas, and the Pensacola Navy Yard in the harbor of Pensacola, Florida. Both sides suffer some damage.

The Confederate Department of the Indian Territory is established under Brigadier General Albert Pike.
#15050439
November 23, Saturday

The bombardment of the Pensacola Confederate installations continues from Fort Pickens and two warships, but the results are negligible for both sides.

In Kentucky Brigadier General George H. Thomas, under Buell’s command, advances with the Federal left wing from Danville in a demonstration toward east Tennessee.
#15050592
November 24, Sunday

Forces of the United States land on Tybee Island, Georgia, on the Savannah River, controlling the entrance to the harbor and furnishing a foothold for an attack on Fort Pulaski, the brick fortification designed to defend the city of Savannah.

There is skirmishing at Lancaster and Johnstown, Missouri.

A little-known Confederate cavalryman named Nathan Bedford Forrest undertakes an expedition November 24-December 5 to Caseyville and Eddyville, Kentucky.

USS San Jacinto with its controversial, enforced passengers, Mason and Slidell, arrive at Boston, where the would-be diplomats are imprisoned at Fort Warren in Boston Harbor. In Washington President Lincoln and his Cabinet confers on what is now called the “Trent Affair” and its repercussions.
#15050776
November 25, Monday

The Confederate Navy Department accepts a shipment of armor plate for the former USS Merrimack, now being converted at Norfolk into the ironclad CSS Virginia.

Meanwhile, another blockade runner is taken near North Edisto, South Carolina, and at the same time a US merchant brig is captured by CSS Sumter off the Leeward Islands.

In Washington Major Isaac Lynde is dismissed from the US Army for abandoning Fort Fillmore, New Mexico Territory, in July.
#15050979
November 26, Tuesday

A convention at Wheeling in western Virginia adopts a constitution for a new state to be called West Virginia, created by secession from Virginia.

President Lincoln prepares the draft of a bill, never introduced to Congress, authorizing the government to pay the state of Delaware $719,200 in bonds provided the state would abolish slavery through compensation to owners of slaves.

In a skirmish near Vienna, Virginia, Federals are forced to retreat; there is also a two-day Federal expedition to Dranesville, Virginia, with skirmishing. Other skirmishing takes place at Independence, Missouri.

At Savannah, Confederate vessels make a dash at the Federal blockaders attempting to draw them into the fire of Fort Pulaski, but fail.

CSS Sumter claims another victim in the Atlantic.

At Boston a banquet is given honoring Captain Wilkes, who in San Jacinto had seized the Confederate commissioners to Europe.
#15051194
November 27, Wednesday

News of the seizure of the Confederate commissioners from the British packet Trent has reached Great Britain. The words spreads rapidly, igniting blazing indignation. “Outrage on the British Flag,” placards announce.

At Hampton Roads a second major Federal expedition gets underway and heads south. This time it is bound for Ship Island, Mississippi, where a base is being established to operate against New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

There is a light skirmish near Fairfax Court House, Virginia.
#15051426
November 28, Thursday

The Southern Congress officially admits Missouri to the Confederate States of America.

A day of thanksgiving is observed in the Northern states, with many prominent figures publicly proclaiming thanks that loyal men are fighting for their country.

On the south Atlantic coast around Port Royal Sound, Federal authorities are ordered to take possession of all crops in the area and to use slaves to gather them and to work on the installations and defenses.
#15051434
Doug64 wrote:November 28, Thursday

The Southern Congress officially admits Missouri to the Confederate States of America.

A day of thanksgiving is observed in the Northern states, with many prominent figures publicly proclaiming thanks that loyal men are fighting for their country.

On the south Atlantic coast around Port Royal Sound, Federal authorities are ordered to take possession of all crops in the area and to use slaves to gather them and to work on the installations and defenses.

Presumably the slaves were not paid for their efforts. If not, then it's a rather ironic moment....
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