- 09 Aug 2022 12:54
#15242365
August 9, Tuesday
His attempts to move around Atlanta thwarted, Sherman turns to his guns, wiring Washington that he intends to “make the inside of Atlanta too hot to be endured.” He admits to Washington that he is “too impatient for a siege.” A bombardment will simply satisfy his need to do something while figuring out how best to draw Hood into a decisive battle. Today, Federal gunners pour more than 5,000 shells into the city. At least six civilians, including women and children, die in the bombardment. Sherman has written to his wife of Atlanta that “most of the inhabitants are gone; it is now simply a big fort.” But, in fact, about 10,000 civilians remain. Every time the shells start to hiss and shriek, many residents take refuge in their backyard bombproofs—holes dug about ten feet deep and roofed with planks and several feet of earth. Hood sends a message to Sherman protesting the bombardment. He cites the thousands of noncombatants still in the city and points out that his own defense lines are a full mile from town. Sherman replies that Atlanta is an important military arsenal—and keeps up the shelling.
In Virginia, the siege lines at Petersburg are quiet. Sheridan prepares to move from Halltown and Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, toward Winchester, Virginia, and Early’s Confederates. In the Mobile Bay area Federal troops begin building up their siege lines around Fort Morgan, completely cut off from the Confederate-held city of Mobile. John S. Mosby is becoming more active in his raiding of Federal-held sections of Virginia. During mid-August, minor but extensive operations in central Arkansas include some skirmishing. A Federal expedition from La Grange, Tennessee, to Oxford, Mississippi, skirmishes at Hurricane Creek and Oxford.
A tremendous explosion rocks City Point, Virginia, killing 43, injuring 126, and causing vast property damage. Two Confederate agents have smuggled a small box on board a Union transport. The explosive goes off just before noon. Grant, sitting in front of his tent, is showered with debris but is uninjured.
President Lincoln writes General Banks that he is anxious for the people of Louisiana to ratify the new state constitution. Lincoln also writes Horace Greeley that most of the correspondence regarding negotiations by Greeley and others with Confederates can be published except for a few portions he doesn’t think it wise to reveal.
His attempts to move around Atlanta thwarted, Sherman turns to his guns, wiring Washington that he intends to “make the inside of Atlanta too hot to be endured.” He admits to Washington that he is “too impatient for a siege.” A bombardment will simply satisfy his need to do something while figuring out how best to draw Hood into a decisive battle. Today, Federal gunners pour more than 5,000 shells into the city. At least six civilians, including women and children, die in the bombardment. Sherman has written to his wife of Atlanta that “most of the inhabitants are gone; it is now simply a big fort.” But, in fact, about 10,000 civilians remain. Every time the shells start to hiss and shriek, many residents take refuge in their backyard bombproofs—holes dug about ten feet deep and roofed with planks and several feet of earth. Hood sends a message to Sherman protesting the bombardment. He cites the thousands of noncombatants still in the city and points out that his own defense lines are a full mile from town. Sherman replies that Atlanta is an important military arsenal—and keeps up the shelling.
In Virginia, the siege lines at Petersburg are quiet. Sheridan prepares to move from Halltown and Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, toward Winchester, Virginia, and Early’s Confederates. In the Mobile Bay area Federal troops begin building up their siege lines around Fort Morgan, completely cut off from the Confederate-held city of Mobile. John S. Mosby is becoming more active in his raiding of Federal-held sections of Virginia. During mid-August, minor but extensive operations in central Arkansas include some skirmishing. A Federal expedition from La Grange, Tennessee, to Oxford, Mississippi, skirmishes at Hurricane Creek and Oxford.
A tremendous explosion rocks City Point, Virginia, killing 43, injuring 126, and causing vast property damage. Two Confederate agents have smuggled a small box on board a Union transport. The explosive goes off just before noon. Grant, sitting in front of his tent, is showered with debris but is uninjured.
President Lincoln writes General Banks that he is anxious for the people of Louisiana to ratify the new state constitution. Lincoln also writes Horace Greeley that most of the correspondence regarding negotiations by Greeley and others with Confederates can be published except for a few portions he doesn’t think it wise to reveal.
Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without.
—Edmund Burke
—Edmund Burke