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Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Civil War Weekend: United States Colored Troops March to Peterboro

From the Madison County Courier:  Civil War Weekend: United States Colored Troops March to Peterboro

Harry Bradshaw Matthews, United States Colored Troops Institute, Hartwick College, Oneonta
3rd Regiment Infantry, United States Colored Troops, Philadelphia, Pa.
Robert Djed Snead portrays Rev. Jermain Wesley Loguen at induction of Loguen to National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum 2011.
AKWAABA: The Heritage Associates of Rochester NY will perform a play in response to Frederick Douglass’ call “Men of Color: To Arms!”
(Peterboro, NY – May 2013) With the issuance of the EmancipationMatthews USCTILoguen, Rev. Jermain Wesley Snead 10-12 crp cmpAKWAABA
USCT 3rd Regiment
USCT BureauProclamation Jan. 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln authorized the recruiting of African American soldiers in the Union Army. The 21st annual Peterboro Civil War Weekend will observe the Sesquicentennial of the United States Colored Troops with programs during the annual event Saturday, June 8, and Sunday, June 9.
The United States Colored Troop Institute at Hartwick College, Oneonta, will set up an exhibit from its Images of the Freedom Journey collection at the Smithfield Community Center Saturday, June 8, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The displays will include prints, books, and photos of abolitionists who contributed to the ending of slavery.
The USCT Institute is designated by the National Park Services as a research center of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Matthews and the USCTI have been honored by numerous proclamations in several states and by the Congressional Black Caucus’ Military Braintrust for outstanding African American genealogical and historical research.
At 12:30 p.m. June 8 at the USCTI exhibit, Harry Bradshaw Matthews will present “The Meaning of Colored.” Matthews is the founding president of the United States Colored Troops Institute for Local History and Family Research at Hartwick College and the associate dean and director of the U.S. Pluralism Center at Hartwick.”
Matthews was placed in the C-SPAN Video Library for being the keynote speaker at the USCT Grave Site Salute at the Gettysburg National Cemetery during the 2008 Commemorative of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Matthews was also a featured speaker at the 2010 USCT Grand Review in Harrisburg, Pa. He is the grandson of the formerly enslaved Richard Parler, Jr. of Denmark, S.C.
On Sunday, June 9, the 3rd Regiment Infantry, United States Colored Troops (re-enacting) will exhibit in the East Tent. The 3rd Regiment USCT is a non-profit, 501c3 charitable organization from the Philadelphia, Pa., area. The mission of the unit is to educate the masses in the history and service of the United States Colored Troops.
The 3rd Regiment provides services to youth in scouting, supports senior citizens and helps the needy. The Regiment supports the creation of a United States Colored Troops Memorial Monument and Its Maintenance. The group participates in Living History presentations and battle reenactments. The 3rd will present programs at its exhibit site:
* At 10:30 a.m. the 3rd U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment will open the programs Sunday, June 9, of the 21st Annual Peterboro Civil War Weekend with the reenactment of a graveyard ceremony at the Civil War statue on the green in Peterboro where the weekend encampment is located. Color guard, rifle salutes, taps, historical narrative, singing, military instruments, public participation and the presentation of 34-star flags (the flags of 1863, the year of Emancipation) will be part of the ceremony to honor the African American Civil War veterans from Peterboro.
These veterans will be represented by family and others during the ceremony according to records of Donna Dorrance Burdick, Smithfield town historian.
* At 1:30 p.m. Joseph Becton, Private 3rd US Colored Infantry (reenactor), historian, impressionist, co-founder of the 3rd US Colored Infantry, and owner/operator of Joe Becton’s Tours will present a Soldier’s Life as a Colored Troop. The program is an informative and inspirational demonstration, exhibit, and presentation on a Civil War soldier’s life.
This educational and interactive program describes the participation of African Americans in the Civil War 1861-1865. Becton uses an array of techniques to tell the story that concentrates on identifying the reasons for the war, conditions of camp life, demonstrating the equipment and explaining that war is not good. Becton also includes a poem or song.
* At 3:45 p.m., Becton joins with others from the 3rd US Colored Troop Regiment to present Music of the Civil War Era. During the one hour interactive musical program the group will interpret music from Francis Johnson to Julia Ward Howe – the 1830s to the 1860s.
The unit members perform styles including spirituals, Underground Railroad songs, and camp songs on guitar, flute, harmonica and voice. Each song will be accompanied by a story which frames the song in its historic context.
Group participation will be encouraged.
Rev. Jermain Wesley Loguen, Syracuse abolitionist, Underground Railroad stationmaster and owner of property on the green in Peterboro from 1846-51 will return to Peterboro to recruit African-American men to serve in the new U.S. Colored Troops. Loguen will walk the encampment persuading enlistment; at 11:30 a.m., he will give one of his 1863 recruitment addresses to encourage black men to join the United States Colored Troops.
Loguen will tell of the struggle for the right to serve in the military and will share correspondence between sweethearts Lewis Douglass (Frederick Douglass’ son serving in the war) and Amelia Loguen (Loguen’s daughter).
Loguen will be portrayed by Robert Djed Snead, a graduate of Monroe Community College and Brockport State University. Snead has studied and portrayed Loguen for several years. Snead performed for the induction of Loguen to the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum in Peterboro.
At 12:30 p.m., the program “Frederick Douglass: Men of Color, To Arms!” will be presented by AKWAABA.
This playlet begins in the Frederick and Anna Douglass family home, where parents and sons discuss their father’s “Men of Color, to Arms!” command. Excited that two of the sons will soon depart for duty with the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, all are sobered at recall of the casualties already experienced in their family. It is a situation that robbed them of a daughter and two close anti-slavery allies.
Admission for the 21st Annual Peterboro Civil War Weekend covers event activities (except shopping and food). $7 Adults, $3 ages 6 – 12, Free under 6. For more information, visit civilwarweekend.sca-peterboro.org, call 315.280.8828 or email mail@sca-peterboro.org.

 

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Civil War vets interred at Arlington columbarium

From Miami Herald:  Civil War vets interred at Arlington columbarium

ARLINGTON, Va. -- For more than 100 years, the cremated remains of two brothers - Civil War soldiers from Indiana - sat on a funeral home shelf, unclaimed and largely forgotten.
On Thursday, their remains were given a final resting place at Arlington National Cemetery, which dedicated a new columbarium court designed to hold the cremated remains of more than 20,000 eligible service members and family.
It is the ninth columbarium court at Arlington, where roughly 400,000 are interred.
The first six remains to be interred at the court were recovered by the Missing In America Project, an organization based in Grants Pass, Ore., that scours funeral homes across the country to recover remains of veterans that have gone unclaimed.
Since 2006, the project has visited nearly 2,800 funeral homes and found more than 2,000 cremated remains of veterans, including six Civil War veterans. The group researches the names of anyone who could be a potential veteran, and if they find one, they organize a burial service, usually at the nearest VA cemetery, where veterans are entitled to a free burial.
In Indiana, the group's work uncovered brothers Zuinglius and Lycurgus McCormack, whose ashes had sat on the shelves of a funeral home since their deaths in 1912 and 1908, respectively. Group researchers found that Zuinglius served as a lieutenant with Indiana's 132nd Infantry Regiment and was part of Sherman's Army, seeing action at the battles of Kennesaw Mountain and Jonesboro, among others. Lycurgus, the younger brother, was a private in the state's 103rd Infantry Regiment.
The others interred included Peter Schwartz, a Navy seaman who served in World War I, Marine Corps Pfc. Albert Klatt, who served in World War II, Air Force Staff Sgt. Dennis Banks, who served in Vietnam and Coast Guard Seaman 2nd Class Virginia Wood, who served in World War II with the guard's Women's Reserve.
"They served our country," said MIAP's vice president, Linda Smith. "If we don't find them ... who knows that they ever existed if they're stuck in a storage facility somewhere?"
Arlington's director, Kathryn Condon, said Thursday's service was the ideal way to dedicate the new court.
"I can't think of a better way to dedicate this hallowed ground than by honoring these forgotten heroes who until now did not have a resting place befitting their service and sacrifice," she said.
The new court's size - more than 2 acres - and design allow it to hold nearly twice as many remains as the next largest court. Remains are placed in niches several cubic feet in size.
As Arlington faces increasing pressures on its capacity, the columbarium has gone a long way toward extending the cemetery's life. About 68 percent of interments at Arlington now are cremations, cemetery officials said, a reflection of an increasing use of cremation nationally as well as Arlington policies that make more service members eligible for inurnment than ground burial.
Cemetery spokeswoman Jennifer Lynch said that without the new court, the cemetery would have run out of space for cremated remains in 2016.
The $15.6 million project, overseen by the Norfolk district of the Army Corps of Engineers, came in on time and under budget, said Peter Reilly, the Corps' project manager for Arlington.
The marble niche covers installed Thursday included each service member's name, rank, year of birth and death and the words: "You are not forgotten."

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/09/3389224/civil-war-vets-interred-at-arlington.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/09/3389224/civil-war-vets-interred-at-arlington.html#storylink=cpy

Thursday, January 24, 2013

24 January, 1862: Friday

Military - Union
Mississippi
Two blockade runners are stopped off the mouth of the Mississippi.

Virginia
The Union lightship off Cape Henry went aground and its crew was captured.

Kentucky
A week of small expeditions begin to the Little Sandy River and Piketon, Kentucky, part of the eastern Kentucky operations.

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

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

23 January 1862: Thursday

Military - Union
Missouri

In St. Louis, Missouri, which is under martial law, Major General Halleck seizes the property of pro-seccessionists who had failed to pay assessments for the aid of pro-Northern fugitives. Army officers were empowered to arrest anyone interfering with the execution of orders.


Military - Confederates
Kentucky

A small Confederate force farries off the county records from Blandville, Kentucky.

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

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

22 January, 1862: Wednesday

Government - Confederate
Politicians in Richmond name Brigadier General Henry A. Wise to the Confederate Command at Roanoke Island, which was threatened by General Ambrose Burnside's overwhelming force at Hatteras Inlet.


Military - Union
Tennessee
There is light shelling of Fort Henry on the Tennessee River by Union gunboats.

Missouri
There is a skirmish at Knobnoster, Missouri. Lebanon, Missouri is occupied by Union troops.

From Wikipedia:
Fort Henry
Fort Henry was a five-sided, open-bastioned earthen structure covering 10 acres (0.04 km2) on the eastern bank of the Tennessee River, near Kirkman's Old Landing and Standing Rock Creek, nearly opposite the mouth of the Sandy River.

In May 1861, Isham G. Harris, the governor of Tennessee, appointed the state's attorney, Daniel S. Donelson, as a brigadier general and directed him to build fortifications on the rivers of Middle Tennessee. Donelson found suitable sites, but they were within the borders of Kentucky, then still neutral. Moving upriver to just inside the Tennessee border, he selected the site of the fort that would bear his name on the Cumberland River. Colonel Bushrod Johnson of the Tennessee Corps of Engineers approved of the site.

As construction of Fort Donelson began, Donelson moved 12 miles (19 km) west to the Tennessee River and selected the site of Fort Henry, naming it after Tennessee Senator Gustavus Adolphus Henry Sr.. Since Fort Donelson was on the west bank of the Cumberland, he selected the east bank of the Tennessee for the second fort so that one garrison could travel between them and be used to defend both positions, which he deemed unlikely to be attacked simultaneously. Unlike its counterpart on the Cumberland, Fort Henry was situated on low, swampy ground, dominated by hills across the river. On the plus side, it had an unobstructed field of fire two miles (3 km) downriver. The surveying team employed by Donelson, Adna Anderson, a civil engineer, and Major William F. Foster from the 1st Tennessee Infantry, objected strongly to the site and appealed to Colonel Johnson, who inexplicably approved it.

Campaign for Fort Henry
The design of the fort was meant to stop traffic on the river, not to withstand infantry assaults, certainly not at the scale that armies would achieve during the war. Construction began in mid-June, using men from the 10th Tennessee Infantry and slaves, and the first cannon was test fired on July 12, 1861. After this flurry of activity, however, the remainder of 1861 saw little more because forts on the Mississippi River had a higher priority for receiving men and artillery. In late December, additional men from the 27th Alabama Infantry arrived along with 500 slaves. They constructed a small fortification across the river on Stewart's Hill, within artillery range of Fort Henry, naming it Fort Heiman. At about the same time, Brig. Gen. Lloyd Tilghman assumed command of both Forts Henry and Donelson. At Fort Henry were approximately 3,000–3,400 men, two brigades commanded by Colonels Adolphus Heiman and Joseph Drake. They were armed primarily with antique flintlock rifles from the War of 1812.

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

Monday, January 21, 2013

21 January 1862: Tuesday

Government - Confederate
The news arrives in Richmond of the defeat at Mill's Springs, as does the news about the Union expedition from Cairo, and the threat of Burnside's invasion of North Carolina.

Military - Union
Illinois
The Union reconnaissance of about 5,000 soldiers from Ulysses Grant's command in Cairo, Illinois returns from a "difficult but satisfactory" expedition into western Kentucky. There had been very little fighting, yet a "definite threat" had been posed to the Confederate bastion at Columbus, Kentucky.

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

Sunday, January 20, 2013

20 January, 1862: Monday

Confederate - Military
Kentucky
The Confederates complete their withdrawal across the Cumberland River, leaving the spoils of war to the Union soldiers.

South Carolina
A second group of hulks loaded with stone is sunk by Union forces at the entrance of the shipping channel to halt blockade runners.

Kansas
Minor operations ans skirmishing begin in and about Atchison, Kansas, and will last until the 24th.

Alabama
A blockade-runner, the British Andracita (otherwise the Confederate JW Wilder), is run ashore by Union vessels off the coast of Alabama.Smaller Union boats try to take possession of the grounded vessel, but are fired upon and driven off by Confederate land troops.

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

Saturday, January 19, 2013

19 January, 1862: Sunday

UNION MILITARY
Kentucky
Battle of Mill Springs/Logan's Cross Roads
This battle is fought on the north bank of the Cumberland River. Other names for it are Battle of Fishing Creek, Somerset, or Beech Grove.

Confederate Brigadier General George B. Criitenden, suspecting that the Union forces were about to attack, moved out under cover of darkness and heavy rain.

Zollicoffer's troops drove the Union soldiers back. But Zollicoffer, who was wearing a white raincoat, was shot and killed.

Union forced under George H. Thomas came up, the Confederate left broke and the line collapsed. The Confederates withdrew across the Cumberland during the night, leaving behind abandoned camps and supplies.

There were about 4,000 Union soldiers on the field, with 39 killed, 207 wounded and 15 captured or missing, for total casualties of 261.

The Confederates also had about 4,000 soldiers, with losses of 125 killed, 309 wounded and 99 missing for a total of 533.

"A moderately small but strategically important battle, it presaged things to come in the West, showed the weakness of the Confederate line, and boosted the Federal cause among the people of Kentucky and Eastern Tennessee."

In addition, Crittenden's troops were demoralized by the defeat, and the general himself was severely criticized for being in in a position not of his own choosing.

It was the first break in the Confederate Kentucky defense line, which ran from Cumberland Gap to Columbus on the Mississippi.

There are several books on the subject of this battle.

From Amazon.com
Mill Springs: Campaign and battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky by Kenneth A Hafendorfer (Hardcover - 2001)
(2 customer reviews)Formats Buy new New from Used from
Hardcover $45.00 $68.10

2. Zollie Tree: General Felix K. Zollicoffer and the Battle of Mill Spring (Filson Club Publications, 2nd Ser., No. 1.) by Raymond E. Myers and Myers' Raymond E. (Hardcover - Nov 1998)
(1 customer review)Formats Buy new New from Used from
Hardcover $74.95 $40.00

3. HARPER'S WEEKLY - ORIGINAL, DOUBLE PAGE CIVIL WAR PRINT - "THE BATTLE OF SOMERSET, OR MILL SPRING, KENTUCKY, JANUARY 19, 1862" - FEBRUARY 8, 1862 by HARPER'S WEEKLY (Unknown Binding - 1862)
Formats Buy new New from Used from
Unknown Binding $59.00

4. Caught in the Crossfire: A Boy's View of the Battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky by Anita Cole Alcorn with Gloria Stanton (Paperback - Oct 31, 2006)

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

Friday, January 18, 2013

18 January 1862: Saturday

General
Former President of the United States John Tyler dies in Richmond at the age of 72. (He will later be buried with "elaborate services" in Hollywood Cemetery on the banks of the James River.

Confederacy - Government
The Confederate Territory of Arizona is formed, and consists of the southern half of the Union New Mexico Territory.

Union - Military
Kentucky
In the vicinity of Mill Springs and Somerset, Union forces under General George H. Thomas converged on the Confederates commanded by Brig. Gen. George B. Crittenden, who, due to the inaction of his subordinate Brig GEn Felix Zollicoffer, is in a vulnerable position with his back to the Cumberland River.

General George H. Thomas at Wikipedia

George Henry Thomas (July 31, 1816 – March 28, 1870) was a career United States Army officer and a Union General during the American Civil War, one of the principal commanders in the Western Theater.

Thomas served in the Mexican-American War and later chose to remain with the United States Army for the Civil War, despite his heritage as a Virginian. He won one of the first Union victories in the war, at Mill Springs in Kentucky, and served in important subordinate commands at Perryville and Stones River. His stout defense at the Battle of Chickamauga in 1863 saved the Union Army from being completely routed, earning him his most famous nickname, the "Rock of Chickamauga." He followed soon after with a dramatic breakthrough on Missionary Ridge in the Battle of Chattanooga. In the Franklin-Nashville Campaign of 1864, he achieved one of the most decisive victories of the war, destroying the army of Confederate General John Bell Hood, at the Battle of Nashville.

Thomas had a successful record in the Civil War, but he failed to achieve the historical acclaim of some of his contemporaries, such as Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman. He developed a reputation as a slow, deliberate general who shunned self-promotion and who turned down advancements in position when he did not think they were justified. After the war, he did not write memoirs to advance his legacy. He also had an uncomfortable personal relationship with Grant, which served him poorly as Grant advanced in rank and eventually to the presidency.

Brig. Gen. George B. Crittenden at Wikipedia
George Bibb Crittenden (March 20, 1812 – November 27, 1880) was a career United States Army officer who served in the Black Hawk War, the Army of the Republic of Texas, the Mexican-American War, and was a general in the Confederate States Army in the American Civil War.

Early life
Crittenden was born in Russellville, Kentucky, his father being the U.S. politician John J. Crittenden. His brother Thomas Leonidas Crittenden and cousin of Thomas Turpin Crittenden were both future generals for the Union Army. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1832 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 4th U.S. Infantry. He fought in the Black Hawk War of 1832 and resigned his commission the following year. He attended Transylvania University and became a lawyer. He moved to Texas in 1842 and joined the Army of the Republic of Texas. During the Mier Expedition of 1843, he was captured by the Mexican army and exchanged. He rejoined the U.S. Army in 1846 and fought with the Regiment of Mounted Rifles in the Mexican-American War. He was given a brevet promotion to Major (United States) for gallantry at Contreras and Churubusco in 1847 and a permanent promotion to major in the regular army in 1848. However, on August 19, 1848, he was cashiered from the Army, to be restored in March 1849. He eventually reached the permanent rank of lieutenant colonel in 1856.

Civil War
Just before the start of the Civil War, Crittenden accepted a commission as colonel in the Confederate States Army infantry on March 16, 1861, although he would not resign his U.S. Army commission until June 10. He was promoted to brigadier general on August 15, 1861, and served briefly as a brigade commander in the Confederate Army of the Potomac in Virginia. He was promoted to major general on November 9, 1861, and commanded the District of East Tennessee. On January 18, 1862, he and Confederate Brig. Gen. Felix Zollicoffer were defeated by Union Army General George H. Thomas at the Battle of Mill Springs,[1] the first important Confederate defeat in the war, breaking the Southern hold on eastern Kentucky.

He briefly commanded the 2nd Division of the Army of Central Kentucky in 1862, but was relieved on March 31. He was arrested the next day for drunkenness by the order of Maj. Gen. William J. Hardee and restored on April 18. General Braxton Bragg ordered a court of inquiry in July and Crittenden resigned as a general officer, reverting to colonel in October 1862.

Postbellum career
Later in the war, Crittenden commanded the Trans-Allegheny Department. He served as the state librarian of Kentucky from 1867 to 1871. He died in Danville, Kentucky, and is buried in the State Cemetery, Frankfort, Kentucky.

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

Thursday, January 17, 2013

17 January, 1862: Friday

Union - Military
Kentucky
Gunboats with troops under Brigadier General Charles Ferguson Smith demonstrate until the 22nd against Fort Henry on the Tennessee River, as part of the two-prong major reconnaissance in Kentucky. (The other prong consists of McClernand's troops of Grant's command from Cairo, Illinois.

Bad weather hampers the expeditions. An ice gorge blocks the Mississippi twenty miles below St. Louis, halting shipping.

Wikipedia on C. F. Smith
Charles Ferguson Smith (April 24, 1807 – April 25, 1862) was a career United States Army officer who served in the Mexican-American War and as a Union General in the American Civil War.

Early life and career
Smith was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of an army surgeon. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1825 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Artillery. As he rose slowly through the ranks of the peacetime army, he returned to West Point as an instructor and was appointed Commandant of Cadets as a first lieutenant, serving in that position from 1838 to 1843.

As an artillery battalion commander he distinguished himself in the Mexican-American War, serving under both Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott, at Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterrey, and Churubusco. He received brevet promotions from major through colonel for his service in these battles and ended the war as a lieutenant colonel in the Regular Army. In Mexico City, he was in charge of the police guard from the end of the war until 1848. He commanded the Red River expedition in Minnesota of 1856–57, and served under Albert Sidney Johnston in Utah (1857–60), commanding the Department of Utah himself from 1860 to 1861, and the Department of Washington (at Fort Washington, Maryland) very briefly at the start of the Civil War.

Civil War
After the outbreak of the war in 1861, Smith served on recruiting duty as commander of Fort Columbus, New York. He was commissioned a Brigadier General of volunteers (August 31, 1861), and as colonel in the Regular Army, commanding the 3rd U.S. Infantry regiment, as of September 9. He was soon transferred to the Western Theater to command the District of Western Kentucky. He then became a division commander in the Department of the Missouri under Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, who had been one of his pupils at West Point. This potentially awkward situation was eased by Smith's loyalty to his young chief.

The old soldier led his division of raw volunteers with success at the Battle of Fort Donelson in February 1862. During the attack on the Confederate right flank, which he led personally, he saw some of his men waver. He yelled to them, "Damn you, gentlemen, I see skulkers! I'll have none here! Come on, you volunteers, come on! This is your chance! You volunteered to be killed for love of country, and now you can be!"

Smith's experience, dignity, and unselfish character made him Grant's mainstay in the early days of the war. When theater commander Major General Henry W. Halleck became distrustful and perhaps jealous of Grant, he briefly relieved him of field command of the Army's expedition up the Tennessee River toward Corinth, Mississippi and gave that responsibility to Smith. However, Halleck soon restored Grant to field command (intervention by President Abraham Lincoln may have been a factor).

Grant's restoration was fortunate because by the time Grant reached Savannah, Tennessee, Smith had already met with an accident while jumping into a rowboat that seriously injured his leg, forcing him out of field duty. His senior brigadier, W.H.L. Wallace, led his division (and was fatally wounded) at the Battle of Shiloh.

Death
Smith died of an infection following his leg injury and chronic dysentery at Savannah, Tennessee, and is buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia.

The early close of his career in high command deprived the Union army of one of its best leaders, and his absence was nowhere more felt than on the battlefield of Shiloh, where the Federals paid heavily for the inexperience of their generals. A month before his death, he had been made Major General of volunteers.

Two forts were named in his honor. The first Fort C.F. Smith was part of the perimeter defenses of Washington, D.C. during the American Civil War. A second Fort C. F. Smith was located in the Powder River Country in the Montana Territory during Red Cloud's War.

John Alexander McClernand from Wikipedia:
John Alexander McClernand (May 30, 1812 – September 20, 1900) was an American lawyer and politician, and a Union general in the American Civil War. He was a classic case of the politician-in-uniform coming into conflict with career Army officers, graduates of the United States Military Academy. He was a prominent Democratic politician in Illinois and a representative in the U.S. Congress before the war and then served as a subordinate commander under Ulysses S. Grant in the Western Theater, fighting in the battles of Belmont, Fort Donelson, and Shiloh in 1861–62.

A close friend and political ally of Abraham Lincoln, McClernand was given permission to recruit a force to conduct an operation against Vicksburg, Mississippi, which would rival the effort of Grant, his department commander. Grant was able to neutralize McClernand's independent effort after it conducted an expedition to win the Battle of Arkansas Post, and McClernand became the senior corps commander in Grant's army for the Vicksburg Campaign in 1863. During the siege of Vicksburg, Grant relieved McClernand of his command for his intemperate and unauthorized communication with the press, finally putting an end to a rivalry that had caused Grant discomfort since the beginning of the war. McClernand left the Army in 1864 and served as a judge and a politician in the postbellum era.

life and political careerMcClernand was born in Breckinridge County, Kentucky, near Hardinsburg, but his family moved to Shawneetown, Illinois, when he was quite young. His early life and career were similar to that of another Illinois lawyer of the time, Abraham Lincoln. He was largely self-educated and was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1832. In that same year he served as a volunteer private in the Blackhawk War (Lincoln briefly served as a captain).

In 1835 McClernand founded the Shawneetown Democrat newspaper, which he edited. As a Democrat he served in 1836 and in 1840–43 in the Illinois House of Representatives, and in 1843–51 and in 1859–61 was a representative in the United States Congress, where in his first term he vigorously opposed the Wilmot Proviso, but in his second term was a strong Unionist and introduced the resolution of July 15, 1861, pledging money and men to the national government. He was known for his bombastic oratory and his adherence to Jacksonian principles. His dislike of abolitionists generated favor among his constituents, many of whom were originally natives of slaveholding states, as he was. In 1860 he was defeated in a bid for the speakership of the House of Representatives; the coalition of representatives opposing him objected to his moderate views on slavery and the importance of retaining the Union.

As a politician, McClernand remained a staunch Unionist Democrat, much like his mentor, Stephen Douglas. McClernand served as Douglas' ally and liaison in the House during the Compromise of 1850 debates, and later served as one of his campaign managers in the divisive Democratic presidential nomination convention held in Charleston, South Carolina in 1860.

Civil War
He resigned from Congress, raised the "McClernand Brigade" in Illinois, and was commissioned brigadier general of volunteers on May 17, 1861. His commission as a general was based not on his brief service in the Blackhawk War, but on Lincoln's desire to retain political connections with the Democrats of Southern Illinois.

He was second in command under Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of Belmont (Missouri) in November 1861, and commanded the 1st Division of Grant's army at Fort Donelson; his division, whose flank was not properly anchored on an obstacle, was struck by a surprise attack on February 15, 1862, and driven back almost two miles before he was able to get reinforcements. On March 21, 1862, he was promoted to major general of volunteers for his service at Donelson. At the Battle of Shiloh he commanded a division, which was practically a reserve to William T. Sherman's. His service as a major general was tainted by political maneuvering, well resented by his colleagues. He sought to replace Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan in the Eastern Theater and criticized Grant's maneuvers in the West.

In October 1862, McClernand used his political influence with Illinois Governor Richard Yates to obtain a leave of absence to visit Washington, D.C. and President Lincoln, hoping to receive an important independent command. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton agreed to order him north to raise troops for the expedition against Vicksburg. Early in January 1863, at Milliken's Bend, McClernand superseded Sherman as the leader of the force that was to move down the Mississippi.

On January 11, 1863, he took Arkansas Post, an expedition considered by Grant and most historians as a distraction from a general campaign against Vicksburg. On January 17, Grant, after receiving the opinion of Admiral David Dixon Porter and General Sherman that McClernand was unfit, united a part of his own troops with those of McClernand and assumed command in person, and three days later ordered McClernand back to Milliken's Bend. During the rest of the Vicksburg Campaign there was much friction between McClernand and his colleagues; he intrigued for the removal of Grant, spreading rumors to the press of Grant drinking on the campaign.

Historian John D. Winters described McClernand as "angry with Grant for taking over his troops and assigning him to a less important position. The recently married general had brought his new bride along on the expedition to share with him the honor of a brilliant victory and the capture of Vicksburg."

McClernand landed his men on the Mississippi River levee at Young's Point, where they "suffered from the heavy winter rains and lack of shelter. Tents were not issued to the troops because they were within range of the [Confederate] guns at Vicksburg; so the more enterprising men dug holes in the levee and covered them with their black rubber blankets. Floundering in knee-deep black mud and still exhausted from recent expeditions, numerous soldiers fell sick. Many cases of smallpox were reported. Hospital tents lined the back side of the levee and were crowded with thousands of sick men. Many died, and soon the levee was lined with new graves."

It was Grant's opinion that at Champion Hill (May 16, 1863) McClernand was dilatory, but Grant bided his time, waiting for insubordination that was blatant enough to justify removing his politically powerful rival. After a bloody and unsuccessful assault against the Vicksburg entrenchments (ordered by Grant), McClernand wrote a congratulatory order to his corps, which was published in the press, contrary to an order of the department and another of Grant. He was relieved of his command on June 18, two weeks before the fall of Vicksburg, and was replaced by Maj. Gen. Edward O. C. Ord.

President Lincoln, who saw the importance of conciliating a leader of the Illinois War Democrats, restored McClernand to a field command in 1864, the XIII Corps of the Department of the Gulf. Illness limited his role and he resigned from the Army on November 30, 1864. He played a prominent role in the funeral of Lincoln, his old friendly rival.

Postbellum life
McClernand was district judge of the Sangamon (Illinois) District in 1870–73, and was president of the 1876 Democratic National Convention. McClernand's last public service was on a federal advisory board overseeing the Utah Territory. Despite his resignation, he was able to receive an Army pension due to an act of Congress.

John McClernand died in Springfield, Illinois, and is interred there at Oak Ridge Cemetery.

His son, Edward John McClernand, was notable in the Indian Wars and later in the Philippines. His wife Sarah was the daughter of James Dunlap, another general in the Union Army.


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

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

16 Jan 1862: Thursday

Union - Government
Edwin Stanton takes over the War Department, "with a drive and efficiency that startled those used to the previous slipshod management."

Union-Military
Florida
Union forces arrive at the harbor and village of Cedar Keys. They burn several small blockade-runners and coastal vessels, a pier and some railroad flatcars, then withdraw.

Confederate-Military
Kentucky
Confederate forces camped near Beech Grove and with their backs to the Cumberland River in the south, hear reports of Union advances under George H. Thomas, but no action is taken.

The Confederates, led by Brigadier General Felix K. Zollicoffer, had been at Mill Springs, south of the Cumberland, but had taken them (unwisely, as it would later turn out) north of the river. The new commander, Brigadier General George B. Crittenden, had ordered them to retire south of the river, but they had not done so.

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

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

15 January 1862: Wednesday

Union - Government
The US Senate confirms the appointment of Edwin M. Stanton as Secretary of WAr. Stanton, "an energetic, tireless worker, was known to have uttered statements deragatory to President Lincoln." and was also a friend of General McClellan.

Union - Military
Kentucky/TennesseeOn the Tennessee River, a Union gunboat operates a reconnaissance from today until January 25, going almost as far as Fort Henry just below the Kentucky/Tennessee line. This operation is in conjunction with Ulysses GRant's ovrland operation from Cairo.

Missouri
There are Union expeditions to Benron, Bloomfield, and Dallas until the 17th of Jan.


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



Edwin Stanton at Wikipedia
Edwin McMasters Stanton (December 19, 1814 – December 24, 1869) was an American lawyer and politician who served as Secretary of War under the Lincoln Administration during the American Civil War from 1862–1865. Stanton's effective management helped organize the massive military resources of the North and guide the Union to victory.

After Lincoln's assassination, Stanton remained as the Secretary of War under the new President Andrew Johnson during the first years of Reconstruction. He opposed the lenient policies of Johnson towards the former Confederate States. Johnson's attempt to dismiss Stanton led the House of Representatives to impeach him.

Early life and career
Stanton was born in Steubenville, Ohio, the eldest of the four children of David and Lucy Norman Stanton. Throughout his childhood and adult life Stanton suffered from asthma. Stanton's father, a physician of Quaker stock, died in 1827 when Edwin was only thirteen. He was forced to leave school to help support his mother, and ran a general store in Steubenville.

Stanton began his political life as a lawyer in Ohio and an antislavery Democrat. After leaving from Kenyon College he returned to Steubenville in 1833 to get a job to support his family. He began studying law and was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1836. At the age of twenty one Stanton argued his first case before the court. He built a house in the small town of Cadiz, Ohio, and practiced law there until 1847, when he moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He resided at one point in Richmond, Ohio, in what is now Everhart Bove Funeral Home.

Law and politics
Stanton's legal career would bring him to practice in Ohio, then Pittsburgh, and finally in Washington, D. C In 1856, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he had a large practice before the Supreme Court.

In 1859, Stanton was the defense attorney in the sensational trial of Daniel E. Sickles, a politician and later a Union general, who was tried on a charge of murdering his wife's lover, Philip Barton Key II (son of Francis Scott Key), but was acquitted after Stanton invoked one of the first uses of the insanity defense in U.S. history. In 1860 Stanton gave up a successful law practice and was appointed Attorney General in the lame-duck presidential administration of James Buchanan.

Stanton was sent to California in 1858 by the US Attorney General as special Federal agent for the settlement of land claims, where he succeeded in breaking up a conspiracy to defraud the US government of vast tracts of land of considerable value.

Attorney general
In 1860 he was appointed Attorney General by President James Buchanan. He strongly opposed secession, and is credited by historians for changing Buchanan's governmental position away from tolerating secession to denouncing it as unconstitutional and illegal.

Time of war
Civil war

 Stanton was Lincoln's closest adviser during the American Civil War but was divided over the issue he supported arming freed slaves to fight in the Union Army.

After Lincoln was elected president, Stanton agreed to work as a legal adviser to the inefficient Secretary of War, Simon Cameron who was dismissed by Lincoln for including in his yearly report the call of freed slaves to be armed and used against the Confederate Army.

Cameron was replaced by Stanton on January 15, 1862. Lincoln, who was unaware of Stanton's role in the report, appointed him as his new Secretary of War. He accepted the position only to "help save the country." He was very effective in administering the huge War Department, but devoted considerable amounts of his energy to the persecution of Union officers whom he suspected of having traitorous sympathies for the South, the most famous of these being Maj. Gen. Fitz John Porter. Stanton used his power as Secretary to ensure every general who sat on the court-martial would vote for conviction or else be unable to obtain career advancement.

On August 8, 1862 Stanton issued an order to "arrest and imprison any person or persons who may be engaged, by act, speech or writing, in discouraging volunteer enlistments, or in any way giving aid and comfort to the enemy, or in any other disloyal practice against the United States."

The president recognized Stanton's ability, but whenever necessary Lincoln managed to "plow around him." Stanton once tried to fire the Chief of the War Department Telegraph Office, Thomas Eckert. Lincoln prevented this by praising Eckert to Stanton. Yet, when pressure was exerted to remove the unpopular secretary from office, Lincoln refused. His high opinion of Stanton can be seen from the following quote:

“ He is the rock on the beach of our national ocean against which the breakers dash and roar, dash and roar without ceasing. He fights back the angry waters and prevents them from undermining and overwhelming the land. Gentlemen, I do not see how he survives, why he is not crushed and torn to pieces. Without him I should be destroyed. ”
—President Abraham Lincoln[6], on Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton

Lincoln's last act as President was overriding Stanton's decision supporting the execution of George S.E. Vaughn for spying. Lincoln pardoned Vaughn one hour before he was assassinated.

Post-War
Stanton disagreed with Johnson's plans to readmit the seceded states to the Union without guarantees of civil rights for freed slaves. In 1867 President Johnson attempted to force Stanton from office and replace him with Ulysses S. Grant. Stanton refused to go and was supported by the Senate. After the Civil War Stanton remained as Secretary of War but found it difficult to perform his duties under the new president, Andrew Johnson.

When Stanton came to the Peterson House, he took charge of the scene. At Lincoln's death Stanton uttered what became a memorable quote, "Now he belongs to the ages," and lamented, "There lies the most perfect ruler of men the world has ever seen." He vigorously pursued the apprehension and prosecution of the conspirators involved in Lincoln's assassination. These proceedings were not handled by the civil courts, but by a military tribunal, and therefore under Stanton's aegis. Stanton has subsequently been accused of witness tampering, most notably of Louis J. Weichmann, and of other activities that skewed the outcome of the trials.

Andrew Johnson's administration
Stanton continued to hold the position of secretary of war under President Andrew Johnson until 1868. The two clashed over implementation of Reconstruction policy, so Johnson removed Stanton from the Cabinet and replaced him with Ulysses S. Grant. However, this was overruled by the Senate, and Stanton barricaded himself in his office when Johnson tried again to replace Stanton with General Thomas, while radical Republicans initiated impeachment proceedings against Johnson on the grounds that Johnson's removal of Stanton without Senate approval violated the Tenure of Office Act. Johnson escaped conviction by a single vote in the Senate, in part because of a secret agreement with Senate members to abide by the Republican legislations.

U.S. Supreme Court
After this, Stanton resigned and returned to the practice of law. The next year he was appointed by President Grant to the Supreme Court, but he died four days after he was confirmed by the Senate. He died in Washington, DC, and is buried there in Oak Hill Cemetery.

Marriage and Family
Edwin Stanton married Mary Lamson on May 31, 1836. They had two children, Lucy Lamson Stanton (b. March 11, 1837; d. 1841) and Edwin Lamson Stanton (b. August 1842). They built a house in Cadiz, Ohio,where Stanton practiced law. His fifteen-month-old daughter Lucy died in 1841. Mary Lamson Stanton died on March 13, 1844. After losing his daughter, his beloved wife and his brother who committed suicide Stanton went through a period of a deep depression. He would then move to Pittsburgh, and involve himself in legal work, where he became quite proficient and turned into a ferocious litigator.

Stanton married again in 1856 to Ellen Hutchinson, and had four children with his second wife: Eleanor Adams Stanton (b. May 9, 1857), James Hutchinson Stanton (b. 1861; d. July 10, 1862), Lewis Hutchinson Stanton (b. 1862), and Bessie Stanton (b. 1863). Stanton was enumerated with his family in the 1860 Census. At this time, his profession is noted as lawyer, his real estate value is $40,000, and his personal assets valued at $267,000. The family had four servants living with them.

Stanton on US Postage
Edwin Stanton was the second American other than a US President to appear on a US Postage issue, the first being Benjamin Franklin, who appeared on a stamp in 1847. The first and only Stanton stamp was issued March 6, 1871. This was also the only stamp issued by the post office that year. The Stanton 7-cent stamp paid the single rate postage for letters sent from the U.S. to various countries in Europe.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

13 January 1862: Monday

Union - Government
President Lincoln indicates to the Cabinet that he would name Edwim M. Stanton as Secretary of War. Stanton was a prominent Washington attorney and had been the Attorney General under President Buchanan.

Also, the President sent to the Senate his nomination of Simon Cameron (who had just resigned as Secretary of WAr) to be Minister of Russia, replacing the "legendary" Cassius Marcellus Clay.

The council of generals, Cabinet ministers, General McClellan and President Lincoln meet in the afternoon to consider action by the armies. General McClellan refuses to divulge his plan of operations and resents the interference of the generals and the President.

Lincoln writes once more to Generals Buell and Halleck in the West, expressing his desire for action on all fronts against the enemy. He desires them to "menace him with superior forces at different points, at the same time."

Union - Military
The sea-borne expedition under Brigadier GEneral A.E. Burnside arrives at Hatteras Inlet, North CArolina, and the general assumes command of the Department of North CArolina. There is a lack of low-draft vessels and proper landing craft, which delays the intended invasion.

Brief bio of Simon Cameron from Wikipedia
Simon Cameron (March 8, 1799 – June 26, 1889) was an American politician who served as United States Secretary of War for Abraham Lincoln at the start of the American Civil War. After making his fortune in railways and banking, he turned to a life of politics. He became a U.S. senator in 1845 for the state of Pennsylvania, succeeding James Buchanan. Originally a Democrat, he failed to secure a nomination for senator from the Know-Nothing party, and joined the People's Party, the Pennsylvania branch of what became the Republican Party. He won the Senate seat in 1857, and became one of the candidates for the Republican nomination in the presidential election of 1860.

Cameron gave his support to Abraham Lincoln, and became his Secretary of War. He only served a year before resigning amidst corruption. Cameron became the minister to Russia during the Civil War, but was overseas for less than a year. He again served in the Senate, eventually being succeeded by his son, J. Donald Cameron, and only resigned from Senate upon confirmation that his son would succeed him.

Early life
Cameron was born in Maytown, Pennsylvania, to Charles Cameron and Marth Pfoutz. He was orphaned at nine and later apprenticed to a printer, Andrew Kennedy, editor of the Northumberland Gazette before entering the field of journalism. He was editor of the Bucks County Messenger in 1821. A year later, he moved to Washington, D.C., and studied political movements while working for the printing firm of Gales and Seaton. He married Margaret Brua and returned to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania where he purchased and ran the Republican in 1824.

Cameron served as state printer of Pennsylvania from 1825 until 1827 and was state adjutant general in 1826. He constructed several rail lines and merged them into the Northern Central Railway. He founded the Bank of Middletown in 1832 and engaged in other business enterprises. In 1838, he was appointed as commissioner to settle claims of the Winnebago Indians.

Politics
Cameron as a senator favoring greenbacks, Harper's Weekly, June 6, 1874Cameron became a Whig Party member, and later a member of the Democratic Party, before being elected to replace James Buchanan in the Senate in 1844. He switched to the Republican Party and was nominated for President, but gave his support to Abraham Lincoln at the 1860 Republican National Convention. Lincoln, as part of a political bargain, named Cameron Secretary of War.

Because of allegations of corruption, however, he was forced to resign early in 1862. His corruption was so notorious that Congressman Thaddeus Stevens, when discussing Cameron's honesty with Lincoln, told Lincoln that "I don't think that he would steal a red hot stove". When Cameron demanded Stevens retract this statement, Stevens told Lincoln "I believe I told you he would not steal a red-hot stove. I will now take that back." He was succeeded by Edwin M. Stanton, who had been serving as a legal advisor to the War Secretary. Cameron then served as United States Minister to Russia.

In 1866, Cameron was again elected to the Senate and served there until 1877, when on assurances from the Pennsylvania General Assembly that his son, James Donald Cameron, would be the successor to his seat, he resigned. His son had already been named as Secretary of War in 1876.

Later life
Cameron retired to his farm at Donegal Springs Cameron Estate near Maytown, Pennsylvania where he died on June 26, 1889. He is buried in the Harrisburg Cemetery in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Cameron County, Pennsylvania and Cameron Parish, Louisiana are named in his honor.

Quotes
"An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought."
"I am tired of all this sort of thing called science here... We have spent millions in that sort of thing for the last few years, and it is time it should be stopped." (on the Smithsonian Institution, 1861)

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

Saturday, January 12, 2013

12 January 1862: Sunday

Washington - Government/Military
The officers with whom Lincoln had met with yesterday meet again today, this time with members of the Cabinet. General McClellan, recovering from his illness, also comes to the White House, believing that his command is being undermined.

Western Virginia
Beginning on this day, and extending for 11 days, the 37th Ohio Infantry carries out an expedition to Logan Court House and the Guyandotte Valley of western Virginia, opposed by Confederate guerrillas.

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

Friday, January 11, 2013

11 January 1862, Saturday

Union-Government
In Washington, President Lincoln accepts the resignation of Secretary of War Simon Cameron, and states that hewill name him Minister to Russia. Cameron, "while probably reasonably honest personally, was a Pennsylvania politician who could never forget his friends and associations. Few had been satisfied with War Department operations."

In addition, Lincoln, frustrated with the lack of movement of his armies in Virginia, confers at the White House with a group of major officers.

Union - Military
Virginia

A fleet of approximately 100 vessels filled with about 15,000 troops led by Brigadier General Ambrose Burnside sails from Hampton Roads, Virginia, headed for the coast of North Carolina. The navy squadron is under the command of Commodore Louis M. Goldsborough.

Kentucky
There is a brief clash of gunboats near Fort Jefferson, (north of Columbus) on the Mississippi river.


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

Thursday, January 10, 2013

10 January, 1862, Friday

Confederate - Government
The Trans-Mississippi District of Department No. 2 is set up under the command of Major General Earl Van Dorn.

Union - Government
President Lincoln writes to his Secretary of War and expresses his disappointment in the failure of the army to move in the West. Lincoln also has other issues to contend with, his Secretary of War, Simon Cameron, has been accused of corruption.

In the US senate, pro-Confederate Missouri senators Waldo P. Johnson and Trusten Polk are expelled.

Union - Government/Civilian
The first auction of confiscated cotton from Port Royal, South Carolina, was held in New York.

Union-Military
Kentucky

Ulysses Grant's Union forces leave Cairo, Illinois and head toward Columbus, Kentucky. According to E.B. Long's The Civil War Day by Day, this was meant as a diversionary tactic to take attention from Union operations toward east Tennessee. (Grant's men will be marching to and from for a total of 21 days.)

Further east in Kentucky, at Middle Creek, near Prestonburg, Union forces led by Brig. General James A Garfield advance against Confederates led by Humphrey Marshall. Garfield is unable to penetrate the Confederate lines or force them back, . Both sides retreat....both sides declare victory.

Western Virginia
Union soldiers evacuate Romney without a fight, in the face of the advance of Stonewall Jackson's troops. Jackson's troops enter the town and settle down there for the winter.

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

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

9 January, 1862: Thursday

Union - Government/Military
President Lincoln informs General McClellan that neither of the commanders in the West, Halleck or Buell, had answered his (Lincoln's) request of when they would be ready to move.

Union - Military
Illinois

Ulysses S. Grant is preparing a reconnaissance force to move into Kentucky toward Columbus.

Kentucky
There is a brief skirmish near Columbus, Kentucky.

Virginia
There is a brief skirmish near Pohick Run, Virginia.


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

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

8 January 1862, Wednesday

Confederacy - Government
President Davis continues to correspond via letter with the governors of various Confederate states, including Claiborne Jackson of Mississippi, emphasizing that their states were not being deliberately neglected and that the Confederacy needed manpower.

Union - Military
Missouri
Union soldiers rout a Confederate camp at Roan's Tan Yard on Silver Creek, Missouri.

There is a skirmish at Charleston, Missouri

Western Virginia
There is a skirmish on the Dry Fork of Cheat River, western Virhinia.

Kentucky
There is a skirmish near Somerset on Fishing Creek, Kentucky.


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

Monday, January 7, 2013

7 January 1862: Tuesday

Union - Government/Military
The Federal Department of North Carolina is formed and will be commanded by Brigadier General Ambrose E. Burnside.

Confederacy - Military
Western Virginia
Stonewall Jsckson orders his troops from Hancock, Maryland toward Romney, western Virginia. There is fighting at Hanging Rock Pass/Blue's Gap.

Kentucky
In eastern Kentucky, there is a skirmish near Paintsville and another at Jennie's Creek.


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

Sunday, January 6, 2013

6 January 1862: Monday

Union - Government
President Lincoln meets with General McClellan, now recovered from his illness - speculated to have been typhoid fever. He rejects a move from Radical senators to remove the general for lack of action.

President Lincoln also writes to Buell in Kentucky, expressing his distress over "our friends in Kentucky", urging - but not ordering - military advance in the area.

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

Saturday, January 5, 2013

5 January 1862: Sunday

Confederacy - Military
Maryland
Stonewall Jackson and his forces have moved from Bath, western Virginia to the Potomac River, opposite Hancock, Maryland. They are chasing retreating Union soldiers. They bombard Hancock for two days. The town does not surrender and the Confederates do not cross the river.

Union - Military
Missouri
Union soldiers "operate" in the Johnson and La Fayette counties of Missouri.

There is a skirmish at Columbus, Missouri.

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

Friday, January 4, 2013

4 January, 1862: Saturday

Military - Confederacy
Western Virginia

Stonewall Jackson's troops move into and occupy Bath. Meanwhile, there are also skirmishes at Slane's Cross Roads, Great Cacapon Bridge, Sir John's Run, and Alpine depot.

Union - Government/Military
President Lincoln, assuming the war reins on the illness of McClellan, had requested General Buell to march from Kentucky into East Tennessee. Today he asks of Buell what the progress is. "Buell somewhat doubted the wisdom of the move, and at times appeared to neglect it."

General Don Carlos Buell (from Wikipedia)
Don Carlos Buell (March 23, 1818 – November 19, 1898) was a career United States Army officer who fought in the Seminole War, the Mexican-American War, and the American Civil War. Buell led Union armies in two great Civil War battles—Shiloh and Perryville—but was relieved of field command in late 1862 and made no more significant military contributions.

Early life
Buell was born in day Lowell, Ohio. He was a first cousin of George P. Buell, also a Union general.

He lived in Indiana for a time before the Civil War. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1841 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 3rd U.S. Infantry regiment. In the Mexican-American War, he served under both Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott. He was breveted three times for bravery and was wounded at Churubusco. Between the wars he served in the U.S. Army Adjutant General's office and as an adjutant in California.

Civil War
At the start of the Civil War, Buell was an early organizer of the Army of the Potomac and briefly commanded one of its divisions. He was promoted to brigadier general, with seniority dating from May 17, 1861.

In November 1861, he succeeded Brig. Gen. William T. Sherman in command at Louisville, Kentucky. Buell's command was designated the Department of the Ohio and his troops the Army of the Ohio (later the Army of the Cumberland). Buell's superiors wanted him to operate in eastern Tennessee, an area with Union sympathies and considered important to the political efforts in the war. However, Buell essentially disregarded his orders and moved against Nashville instead, which he captured on February 25, 1862, against little opposition. (Confederate attentions were elsewhere at this time, as Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was capturing Forts Henry and Donelson.) On March 21, he was promoted to major general of volunteers, but Buell lost his independent status when his command was incorporated within the new Department of the Mississippi, under the command of Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck.

At the Battle of Shiloh, Buell reinforced Grant, helping him defeat the Confederates on April 7, 1862. Buell considered that his arrival was the primary reason that Grant avoided a major defeat. Halleck had to continually prod Buell to get his army to Pittsburg Landing in order to reinforce Grant, concentrating for a planned attack on the Confederate stronghold at Corinth. Although Buell's army was only 90 miles east at Columbia, it took one month to reach Pittsburg Landing, just in time for Grant to launch a counterattack on the Confederate Army of Mississippi. Buell made excuses that the Army of the Ohio's march overland toward Pittsburg Landing was hindered by "swollen rivers" and rain.

There have been accusations that Grant developed a professional grudge against Buell that would haunt his future career; however Grant gave Buell unwavering praise in his memoirs. After Grant's successful counterattack at Shiloh, Buell continued under Halleck's command in the Battle of Corinth. In June and July, Buell started a leisurely movement of four divisions towards Chattanooga, but his supply lines were disrupted by Confederate cavalry under Nathan Bedford Forrest and his offensive ground to a halt.

Buell got himself into more political difficulties during this period. Some Northerners suspected that Buell was a Southern sympathizer because he was one of the few Federal officers who was a slaveholder (he inherited the slaves from his wife's family). Suspicions continued as Buell enforced a strict policy of non-interference with Southern civilians during his operations in Tennessee and Alabama.

A serious incident occurred on May 2, 1862 when the town of Athens, Alabama, was pillaged by Union soldiers. Buell, noted for his iron discipline, was infuriated and brought charges against his subordinate on the scene, John B. Turchin. President Abraham Lincoln succumbed to pressure from Tennessee politicians and ordered Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas to replace Buell on September 30, 1862. However, Thomas refused the command and Lincoln relented, leaving Buell in command. Turchin was court-martialed but not cashiered from service as Buell wanted, and was in fact promoted to brigadier general.

In the fall of 1862, Confederate General Braxton Bragg invaded Kentucky and Buell was forced to pursue him to defend Louisville, Kentucky, and the Ohio River. A single corps of Buell's army was attacked by Bragg at the Battle of Perryville on October 8, 1862, while Buell, a couple of miles behind the action, was not aware that a battle was taking place until late in the day and thus did not effectively engage the full strength of his army to defeat the smaller enemy force. Although Perryville was tactically indecisive, it halted the Confederate invasion of Kentucky and forced their withdrawal back into Tennessee.

When he failed to pursue Bragg's withdrawal, Buell was relieved of command on October 24, replaced by Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans. Buell spent the next year and a half in Indianapolis, in military limbo, hoping that a military commission would exonerate him of blame; he claimed he had not pursued Bragg because he lacked supplies. Exoneration never came, and he left military service on May 23, 1864.

Although he had been offered a command at the express recommendation of Grant, Buell declined it, saying that it would be degradation to serve under either Sherman or Edward Canby because he ranked them both. In his memoirs, Grant called this "the worst excuse a soldier can make for declining service."

Postbellum life
Following the war Buell lived again in Indiana, and then in Kentucky, employed in the iron and coal industry as president of the Green River Iron Company. From 1885 to 1889 he was a government pension agent. He died at his home in Rockport, Kentucky, and is buried in St. Louis, Missouri, at Bellefontaine Cemetery.

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

Thursday, January 3, 2013

3 January 1862: Friday

Confederacy - Government
President Davis writes a letter to the Governor of Mississippi. He is aware of the Union troops on Ship Island, Mississippi, and points out that their movement will probably be toward Mobile or New Orleans.

Confederacy - Military
Stonewall Jackson had begun moving his forces north from Winchester, Virginia on what will, in future, be called the Romney campaign. His purpose was to break up the Baltimore & Ohio railroad and destroy dams on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. There is a brief skirmish at Bath in western Virginia.

Western Virginia
There is a skirmish at Huntersville in western Virginia

Missouri
There is a skirmish at Hunnewell, Missouri.

Virginia
There is a Union reconnaissance near Big Bethel, Virginia.

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

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

2 January 1862: Thursday

Union - Government
President Lincoln is informed that General McClellan is feeling better, but not yet back on duty.

Confederacy - Civilian
The Memphis Argus newspaper publishes editorials asking why soldiers have not been used, and to complain of taxes.


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

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

1 January 1862, Wednesday

I will provide events of each day of the Civil War, beginning with January 1, 1862.

The war had begun on April 21, 1861 with Confederates firing upon Fort Sumter.

The First Battle of Bull Run was in July 1861.

No other major battles took place during this first year.

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US Government
President Lincoln holds a reception at the White House. All the Cabinet members, diplomatic corps, justices, and army and navy officers attend, as well as trhe public.

Prior to the reception, Lincoln attempts to get General Halleck from St. Louis and Cairo and General Buell from Louisville to cooperate "in concert" in drives on Nashville, Tennessee and Columbus, Kentucky. General McClellan continues to be ill.

Confederate Government
President Davis of the Confederacy gives a New Year's reception also.

General
Massachusetts
Provincetown: 4 men, Mason and Slidell and their secretaries, leave Fort Warren in Boston Harbor, and once in Provincetoen board the British sloop of war Renaldo en route to Halifax and Europe.

Florida
Union artillery bombards shipping and Fort Barrancas.

Confederates bombard Fort Pickens.

South Carolina
There is a sharp engagement at Port Royal Ferry on the Coosaw River, South Carolina, part of the continuing operations by the Union to enlarge their main enclave on the south Atlantic coast.

Missouri
Dayton, Missouri is virtually destroyed in a skirmish.

Western Virginia
Stonewall Jackson leads a Confederate force toward Romney, western Virginia. (This will eventually become known as the "Romney Campaign."

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