Alabama: Geocachers can follow Civil War trail, visit local historic sites

From The Republic (Columbus, IN): Geocachers can follow Civil War trail, visit local historic sites
DECATUR, Ala. — A new program is spurring treasure hunters to descend on some of the area's Civil War-era sites, and local officials hope they learn a bit of the region's history while they are there.

The Decatur-Morgan County Convention & Visitors Bureau recently launched the Appalachia Civil War: The Home Front in Alabama Passport, which tasks geocachers with visiting 20 historic state sites, including three in Decatur.

Tami Reist, president of the bureau, said the challenge was born from a project last year for the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War. Signature sites were featured on a map inserted into American Heritage magazine.

"I thought, 'Wouldn't it be neat if we geocached this trail?' " she said.

Geocachers use GPS devices to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using map coordinates.

The containers on the trail contain stamps that participants use to mark their passports, verifying they've traveled to the locations.

Each box also contains a quick response code, which, when scanned by a smartphone, will provide more information about the site.

"It encourages them to go in and explore and learn more about history," Reist said.

Local geocacher Owen Chapman helped set up the challenge by placing containers at most of the locations.

Chapman said he had to improvise in some spots, because geocaching rules prevent new caches from being placed within 500 feet of existing containers.

The caches for Old State Bank and Blue & Gray Museum of North Alabama, both in Decatur, were put in alternate locations in the city because the sites are too close to a cache in Lafayette Street Cemetery.

Geocachers must visit these sites to gather clues to the cache locations. For example, a participant must count the columns of Old State Bank to help determine one of the coordinates.

Chapman said geocachers are enjoying the new challenge. A couple have already completed the passport and brought the document to the visitors bureau, where they received a Civil War commemorative coin for their efforts.

"Anytime you get new caches, you get a rush to them," Chapman said. "People like being introduced to something new. I've been all over North Alabama to places I never would have been if I wasn't geocaching."

"Anytime you get new caches, you get a rush to them," Chapman said. "People like being introduced to something new. I've been all over North Alabama to places I never would have been if I wasn't geocaching."

People can pick up a passport at the visitors bureau, 719 Sixth Ave. SE, or download a copy at decaturcvb.org.

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Area spots on the Civil War geocaching passport:

Pond Springs, Courtland

Alabama Veterans Museum, Athens

Blue & Gray Museum of North Alabama, Decatur

Old State Bank, Decatur

Bennett-McEntire House (also known as Rhea-McEntire House), Decatur

Alabama Veterans Museum, Huntsville

Huntsville Depot, Huntsville

EarlyWorks History Complex (formerly Alabama Constitution Village), Huntsville

Civil War Day by Day caught up shortly

Sorry to be so far behind on th is... stuff happens.

I'll be caught up by the end of the week, tho.

Meantime, I'll be reinstituting sharing news articles!

11 January 1863: Sunday - Capture of Fort Hindman

Union - Military
Arkansas
Gunboats commanded by David Dixon Porter batter Confederate guns at Fort Hindman, Arkansas. Land forces commanded by McClernand begin their attack, which continues for three and a half hours.

After 3 and a half hours, the vastly outnumbered Confederates in the outerworks surrender. Casualities
- Union
134 killed
898 wounded
29 missing for a total of 1061 out of 29,00 effectives and 13 gunboats

Confederates
28 killed
81 wounded
missing 4791
Total 109 out of close to 5,000 effectives

While the operation was successful, it fails to help the Vicksburg campaign materially. Grant orders McClernand to return from this unauthorized expedition and to join his Vicksburg forces.

Texas
In one of the rare ship-to-ship duels in the War, CSS Alabama under the command of Raphael Semmes sinks USS Hatteras off Galveston. The Hatteras had been on blockade duty, and investigated a "strange ship" which turned out to be the Alabama.

Tennessee
There is a skirmish at Lowry's Ferry.

Above Memphis on the Mississippi, a small group of Confederates surprise, capture and burn USS Grampus No. 2.

Missouri
There is a skirmish at Wood Creek.

There is also an engagement at Hartville, in which Marmaduke's Confederates retreat.

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Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971

10 Jan 1863: Saturday

Union - government President Lincoln writes to Major GEneral Curtis in St. Louis, expressing his concern with the slave problem in Missouri. Major General Fitz John Porter is sentenced by court marial to be cashiered from theArmy for his alleged failure to obey orders at Second Manassas. Union - Military Arkansas Union forces under McClernand, who had arrived on 9 Jan, near Arkansas Post (Fort Hindman), about 50 miles up the Arkansas River from its junction with the Mississippi. Late in the morning, McClernand started his envelopment of the Confederate fort and drove in upon the outer earthworks. Bombardment from naval forces stopped Confederate artillery. Inside the fort, Confederate Brigadier General T. J. Churchill and his troops waited. There is a skirmish at Carrollton. Tennessee There is a skirmish at Clifton. Texas Union warships bombard Galveston. ________________ Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971

9 January 1863: Friday

Union - Military/Government The Union Army of the Cumberland under Rosecrans is reorganized into three corps: the Fourteenth under George H. Thomas, the Twentieth under Alexander McD McCook, and the Twenty-first under Thomas L. Crittenden. Union - Military Virginia There is a skirmish at Fairfax County Courthouse. Missouri The Union garrison at Hartville surrenders to Marmaduke. Mississippi Union forces evacuate Holly Springs. Arkansas Union troops go on an expedition from Huntsville to Buffalo River. Florida Crews from Union gunboats destroy the salt works near St. Jospeh. _______________ Bibliography The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971

8 January 1863: Thursday

Confederacy - Government
President Davis writes to his commander in the West, Joseph E. Johnston, "To hold the Mississippi is vital."

Confederacy - Military
Tennessee
Confederate Joseph Wheeler carries out a raid Jan 8-14 which includes skirmishes at Mill Creek, Harpeth Shoals, and Ashland, Tennessee

Union - Government
The US senate confirms the nomination of John P. Usher of Indiana as Secretary of the Interior. Usher replaces Caleb Smith, who resigned due to ill-health.

President Lincoln writes to a troubled Burnside: "I do not yet see how I could profit by changing the command of the A.P. & if I did, I should not wish to do it by accepting the resignation of your commission."

Defending his Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln writes to General McClernand: "it must stand. ... As to the states not included in it, of course they can have their rights in the Union as of old."

Union - Military
Missouri
The Union garrison of Springfield successfully defends important Ozark area city from Marmaduke's Confederates.

Tennessee
There is a skirmish at Knob Creek near Ripley.

Virginia
Union troops make an expedition from Suffolk toward the Blackwater River.

There's also a reconnaissance to Catlett's and Rapahannock stations.

Arkansas
A Union scout goes from Elkhorn to Berryville.

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Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971

7 January 1863: Wednesday

Union - Government
General Halleck writes Burnside a letter, endorsed by Lincoln, emphasizing that "our first object was, not Richmond, but the defeat or scattering of Lee's army." He also strongly backed Burnside's plan to attack across the Rapahannock.

Confederacy - Government
President Davis writes Lee asking him to call upon the commander of the US forces and "prevent the savage atrocities which are threatened." If this met with a rebuff, Lee is to tell the Union troops that "measures will be taken by retaliation to repress the indulgence of such brutal passions."

Confederacy - Civilian
A group of 450 women and children leave Washington for Richmond, VA and the South with permission of the Federal government. The Richmond Enquirer calls the Emancipation Proclamation "the most startling political crime, the most stupid political blunder, yet known in American history...Southern people have now only to choose between victory and death."

Confederacy - Military
Missouri
Marmaduke's Confederates capture Ozark. Then they move on toward Springfield with his troops.

Mississippi
There is a scout from Big Spring Creek yo Rock Ford.
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Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971

6 January 1863: Tuesday

Union - Military
Missouri
There is a skirmish along Linn Creek. There is also a skirmish at Fort Lawrence, Beaver Station (part of the raid by Confederate John S. Marmaduke.)

Alabama
A British steamer is seized Mobile by the blockaders - one of the numerous captures by the day-in, day out blockade of the Confederate coast.

Confederacy - Military
Tennessee
Confederates capture a Northern riverboat, Jacob Musselman, near Memphis.
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Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971

5 January 1863: Monday

Union - Government
President Lincoln tenders the thanks of the country to General Rosecrans for his Tennessee victory.

Confederacy - Government
In Richmond, President Davis, being welcomes home from his trip out west, tells a serenading crowd that the Confederacy was the last hope for "the perpetuation of that system of government which our forefathers founded-the asylum of the oppressed and the home of true representative liberty." He continued: "Every crime which could characterize the course of demons has marked the course of the invader."

Confederacy
West Virginia
Confederate raid near Moorefield.

Union - Military
Virginia
General Burnside, pinned down in Fredericksburg, writes President Lincoln that despite the opinion of his subordinate officers he still thought a crossing of the Rapahannock should be attempted. Again he formally tendered his resignation,, "to relieve you from all embarrasment in my case."

A skirmish occurs at Cub Run.

Tennessee
Union troops enter Murfreesboro.

Skirmishes occur at Lytle's Creek, on the Manchester Pike, and on the Shelbyville Pike.


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Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971

4 January 1863: Sunday

Union - Government
In Washington, General Halleck, ordered by the President, instructs General Grant to revoke General Order #11, which had expelled Jews from his department.

Union - Military
South Carolina
The USS Quaker City captures a blockade runner with important disptaches off the coast of Charleston.

Mississippi
On the Mississippi, Major General A McClernand, with the Federal Army of the Mississippi, including Sherman's corps, begins an unauthorized move up the Arkansas River with 30,000 troops and 50 transports and gunboats toward Arkansas Post or Fort Hindman.

Tennessee
There is skirmishing at Murfreesboro and on the Manchester Pike as Bragg continues to withdraw.

There is skirmishing at Monterey.

New Mexico Territory
Beginning in January and continuing into May, US forces conduct operations against Native Americans.



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Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971

3 January 1863: Saturday

Union - Military
Tennessee
Two brigades of Union troops push forward near Murfreesboro in a mild attack on Southern lines near Stone's River.

Confederacy - Military
Tennessee
During the night, Bragg's Confederate Army of Tennessee, despite apparent victory in the first stages of the battle, withdraw from Murfreesboro toward tullahoma.

There are skirmishes at Somersville and Insane Asylum, Cox's Hill, or Blood's.

West Virginia
A Confederate attack on Moorfield fails.

Mississippi
There is a skirmish at Burnsfield.
___________________
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971

2 January 1863: Battle of Murfreesboro

Union - Civilian
Salutes, celebrations and meetings follow the emancipation proclamation in many Northern cities.

Confederacy - Civilian
In Richmond, belt tightening and high prices are the order of the day.

Confederacy - Military
Tennessee
The main fighting at Murfreesboro was on the northeast side side of Stone's River. John C. Breckinridge's Confederates succeeded in taking a small hill, only to be driven off with great loss by Union guns and a counter charge. Again the armies of Bragg and Rosencrans paused on the battlefield, each expecting or hoping the other would withdraw.

Casualties
Union
1677 killed
7543 wounded
3686 missing
12,906 out of estimated 41,400 effectives

Confederates
1204 killed
7945 wounded
2500 missing
11,739 out of estimated effectives of 35,000

Both Nathan Bedford Forrest and and John Morgan complete their campaigns. Morgan recrosses the Cumberland River, Forrest recrosses the Tennessee at Clifton.

Arkansas
Confederate raider John s. Marmaduke skirmishes with Union troops at White Springs and Boston Mountain in his advance on Missouri which had started from Lewisburg on December 31.


Union - Military
Mississippi
North of Vicksburg on the Yazoo, Sherman gives up his hopeless drive against the bluffs and withdraws to the Mississippi, where his forces come under the orders of McClernand.

Missouri
Union troops reoccupy New Madrid.
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Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971

Jan 21-22: Charlotte, NC: Civil War action

JAN. 21-22 Kure Beach
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/12/30/2886106/nearby-notes.html

Civil War action on coast

The 174th anniversary of the Battle of Fort Fisher - the largest land-sea battle of the Civil War - will be marked at Fort Fisher, on the coast 20 miles south of Wilmington. The capture of the fort by federal soldiers forced the fall of the Confederacy's last major port in January 1865. Re-enactors in period costume will bring history to life throughout the day with Confederate artillery demonstrations, cannon and small arms firings. (Bring ear plugs.) Hours for the free program: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Jan. 21, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Jan 22. Details: 910-458-5538; www.fortfisher.nchistoricsites.org.

1 January 1862: Thursday - Emancipation Proclamation

Union - government
General Burnside consults with President Lincoln on the general's plans to launch another assault across the Rahannock. Burnside then wrote a frank, open, modest letter stating that officers and men lacked faith in Secretary of War Stanton, in Halleck, and in himself. Burnside pointed out that not a single grand division commander agreed with his plan and that in view of that he believed he should retire to private life, to "promote the public good."

Lincoln goaded Halleck into deciding on the military plan and this provoked a resignation from the General-in-Chief. However, both Halleck and Burnside ended up staying.

"I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free."

Thus read the final Emancipation Proclamation of Jan 1, putting into effect President Lincoln's preliminary proclamation of Sept 22, 1862. (Of course, the slaves wouldn't be free until Union troops took over Confederate states.)

At the end of the day, Lincoln hosted the traditional New Year's Day reception at the White House.

Union - Civilian
In Tremont Temple, Boston, people met in celebration of the news of the proclamation, in Norfolk, VA the black population marched through the town with a Union flag at their head.

Confederate - Civilian
South Carolina
At Charleston, a Robert Yeadon offers $10,000 reward for the capture and delivery of Benjamin Butler, dead or alive.

Confederacy - Military
Texas
Before dawn on the lowlands around Galveston, Confederate John B. Magruder with troops and improvised gunboats, attack the Union-held city and its flotilla. After about 4 hours the city surrenders. Harriet Lane, her top officers killed, was captured, and Westfield was blown up by its crew. Other Union ships escaped, but the blockade was temporarily disrupted.

Union - Military
Tennessee
At Murfreesboro, the armies of Bragg and Rosecrans were poised, awaiting renewal of the struggle along Stone's River. Some troops were shifted and Bragg made a slight indication of attack.

There are skirmishes at La Vergne, Stewart's Creek, and Clifton.

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Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971