14 March, 1862: Friday

Government - Confederates
In a change of boundaries of departments, Major General John C. Pemberton was assigned to the Confederate Department of South Carolina and Georgia.

President Davis proclaimed martial law in threatened areas of southeastern Virginia.

Government - Union
In Washington, President Lincoln tried to explain that compensated eancipation of the slaves "would not be half as onerous, as would be an equal sum, raised now, for the indefinite prosecution of the war."

Union - Military
North Carolina
After the Union forces captured Roanoke Island, General Burnside, with about 11,000 men, moved on the community of New Berne. It was captured after some fighting - driving back the Confederate force of about 4,000 men under L. O. Branch.

The attack had begun on the 13th and worked its way up the right, or west, bank of the Neuse River through rain and over muddy roads. Casualties were 471 for the Union, including 90 killed, to nearly 600 for the Confederates, most of them captured or missing, with 64 killed. Another serviceable base had been established for Union inland expeditions and a new vntage point gained for cultivating the considerable pro-Union elements of North CArolina.

Missouri
Union forces moved in to New Madrid to find that the severe cannonading had caused the Confederates to flee the works there, to Island Number 10, or across the river. General John Pope had not yet conquered this bastion on the Mississippi, but he had made a good start.

Union soldiers now occupied the New Madrid earthworks, had secured considerable supplies and guns, and began to concentrate on the island itself, and the fortifications east of the river in Tennessee.

Tennessee
There is fighting at Big Creek Gap and Jacksborough. On the Tennessee River, General William T. Sherman, who had taken his command toward Eastport, Mississippi, returned toward Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, south of SAvannah. At Pittsburg Landing some explorations or reconnaisance were caried out.

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