US Government
President Lincoln, concerned over the lack of action by his Army, finds that Major General McClellan, General-in-Chief, is ill. Lincoln wires to General Halleck, "Are General Buell and yourself in concert?"
Mississippi
A landing party from Ship Island captures Biloxi, Mississippi, destroys a Confederate battery, but does not attempt to hold the town.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
Showing posts with label 1861. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1861. Show all posts
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
30 December 1861: Monday
Union government
The U. S. government, as well as banks in some of the major cities, suspend specie payment. This suspension (meaning no gold or silver will be given out when paper money is presented at the bank) will last until 1879.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
The U. S. government, as well as banks in some of the major cities, suspend specie payment. This suspension (meaning no gold or silver will be given out when paper money is presented at the bank) will last until 1879.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
29 December, 1861: Sunday
Union military action
Western Virginia
The first of two days of skirmishing begin in Clay, Braxton and Webster counties.
Indian Territory
Skirmishing continues in the Indian Territory after the retreat of the pro-Union Creeks, who were opposed by Choctaws, Chickasaws, and portions of the Seminoles and Cherokees.
Confederate military action
Jeff Thompson's Confederates operate against Commerce, Missouri. They attack but fail to capture or sink the steamer City of Alton. (http://www.riverboatdaves.com/docs/bits_civilwar.html)
Who is Jeff Thompson
Meriwether Jeff Thompson (January 22, 1826 – September 5, 1876) was a brigadier general in the Missouri State Guard during the American Civil War. He served the Confederate Army as a cavalry commander, and had the unusual distinction of having a ship in the Confederate Navy named for him.
Early life
Father: Meriwether Thompson b. circa 1790
Mother: Martha Slaughter Broaddus b. circa 1800
Wife: Emma Catherine Hays b.circa 1830 , New Orleans, La.
Children: Emma Catherine Thompson b.1850
Meriwether Jeff Thompson was born at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, now West Virginia into a family with a strong military tradition on both sides. He moved to Liberty, Missouri in 1847 and St. Joseph the following year, beginning as a store clerk before taking up surveying and serving as the city engineer.
He later supervised the construction of the western branch of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad. Thompson served as Mayor of St. Joseph from 1857–1860. He presided over the ceremony inaugurating the first ride of the Pony Express on April 3, 1860.Thompson also gained national attention in May, 1861, when he cut down a union flag from the St. Joseph post office flag pole and through it down to an angry crowd of southern sympathizers who shredded it to pieces.
Civil War
Thompson was a colonel in the Missouri state militia at the outbreak of the Civil War. In late July 1861, he was appointed brigadier general of the First Division, Missouri State Guard. He commanded the First Military District of Missouri, which covered the swampy southeastern quarter of the state from St. Louis to the Mississippi River. Thompson's battalion soon became known as the "Swamp Rats" for their exploits. He gained renown as the "Swamp Fox of the Confederacy."
When Union General John C. Fremont issued an emancipation proclamation purporting to free the slaves in Missouri, Thompson declared a counter-proclamation and his force of 3,000 soldiers began raiding Union positions near the border in October. On October 15, 1861, Thompson led a cavalry attack on the Iron Mountain Railroad bridge over the Big River near Blackwell in Jefferson County. After successfully burning the bridge, Thompson retreated to join his infantry in Fredericktown. Soon afterwards, he was defeated at the Battle of Fredericktown and withdrew, leaving southeastern Missouri in Union control.
After briefly commanding rams in the Confederate riverine fleet in 1862, Thompson was reassigned to the Trans-Mississippi region. There, he engaged in a number of battles before returning to Arkansas in 1863 to accompany Gen. John S. Marmaduke on his raid into Missouri. Thompson was captured in August in Arkansas, and spent time in St. Louis' Gratiot Street prison, as well as at the Fort Delaware and Johnson's Island prisoner-of-war camps, ("Poor old Jeff, how my heart went out to him; he a prisoner and his devoted wife in a madhouse". Source: My Life and My Lectures by Major Lamar Fontaine, a prisoner with M. Jeff Thompson in Fort Delaware, p. 238) Eventually he was exchanged in 1864 for a Union general. Later that year, Thompson participated in Major General Sterling Price's Missouri expedition, taking command of "Jo" Shelby's famed "Iron Brigade" when Shelby became division commander. He served competently in this role. In March 1865, Thompson was appointed commander of the Northern Sub-District of Arkansas. He surrendered his troops on May 11, 1865, in Jacksonport, Arkansas.
Although Thompson frequently petitioned for the Confederate rank of brigadier general it was never granted. His brigadier rank came from his Missouri State Guard service.
A ship in the Confederate Navy, the CSS General M. Jeff Thompson, was named in Thompson's honor. The side-wheel river steamer was converted at New Orleans to a "cottonclad" ram in early 1862. It was commissioned in April and sent up the Mississippi River to join the River Defense Fleet in Tennessee waters, seeing its first action in the Battle of Plum Point Bend. After being set afire by gunfire from Union warships in the Battle of Memphis on June 6, 1862, the ship ran aground and soon blew up.
Postbellum career
After the war, Thompson moved to New Orleans, where he returned to civil engineering. He designed a program for improving the Louisiana swamps, a job that eventually destroyed his health. He returned to St. Joseph, Missouri in 1876 where he succumbed to tuberculosis. He is buried in Mount Mora Cemetery in St. Joseph, Missouri.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
Western Virginia
The first of two days of skirmishing begin in Clay, Braxton and Webster counties.
Indian Territory
Skirmishing continues in the Indian Territory after the retreat of the pro-Union Creeks, who were opposed by Choctaws, Chickasaws, and portions of the Seminoles and Cherokees.
Confederate military action
Jeff Thompson's Confederates operate against Commerce, Missouri. They attack but fail to capture or sink the steamer City of Alton. (http://www.riverboatdaves.com/docs/bits_civilwar.html)
Who is Jeff Thompson
Meriwether Jeff Thompson (January 22, 1826 – September 5, 1876) was a brigadier general in the Missouri State Guard during the American Civil War. He served the Confederate Army as a cavalry commander, and had the unusual distinction of having a ship in the Confederate Navy named for him.
Early life
Father: Meriwether Thompson b. circa 1790
Mother: Martha Slaughter Broaddus b. circa 1800
Wife: Emma Catherine Hays b.circa 1830 , New Orleans, La.
Children: Emma Catherine Thompson b.1850
Meriwether Jeff Thompson was born at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, now West Virginia into a family with a strong military tradition on both sides. He moved to Liberty, Missouri in 1847 and St. Joseph the following year, beginning as a store clerk before taking up surveying and serving as the city engineer.
He later supervised the construction of the western branch of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad. Thompson served as Mayor of St. Joseph from 1857–1860. He presided over the ceremony inaugurating the first ride of the Pony Express on April 3, 1860.Thompson also gained national attention in May, 1861, when he cut down a union flag from the St. Joseph post office flag pole and through it down to an angry crowd of southern sympathizers who shredded it to pieces.
Civil War
Thompson was a colonel in the Missouri state militia at the outbreak of the Civil War. In late July 1861, he was appointed brigadier general of the First Division, Missouri State Guard. He commanded the First Military District of Missouri, which covered the swampy southeastern quarter of the state from St. Louis to the Mississippi River. Thompson's battalion soon became known as the "Swamp Rats" for their exploits. He gained renown as the "Swamp Fox of the Confederacy."
When Union General John C. Fremont issued an emancipation proclamation purporting to free the slaves in Missouri, Thompson declared a counter-proclamation and his force of 3,000 soldiers began raiding Union positions near the border in October. On October 15, 1861, Thompson led a cavalry attack on the Iron Mountain Railroad bridge over the Big River near Blackwell in Jefferson County. After successfully burning the bridge, Thompson retreated to join his infantry in Fredericktown. Soon afterwards, he was defeated at the Battle of Fredericktown and withdrew, leaving southeastern Missouri in Union control.
After briefly commanding rams in the Confederate riverine fleet in 1862, Thompson was reassigned to the Trans-Mississippi region. There, he engaged in a number of battles before returning to Arkansas in 1863 to accompany Gen. John S. Marmaduke on his raid into Missouri. Thompson was captured in August in Arkansas, and spent time in St. Louis' Gratiot Street prison, as well as at the Fort Delaware and Johnson's Island prisoner-of-war camps, ("Poor old Jeff, how my heart went out to him; he a prisoner and his devoted wife in a madhouse". Source: My Life and My Lectures by Major Lamar Fontaine, a prisoner with M. Jeff Thompson in Fort Delaware, p. 238) Eventually he was exchanged in 1864 for a Union general. Later that year, Thompson participated in Major General Sterling Price's Missouri expedition, taking command of "Jo" Shelby's famed "Iron Brigade" when Shelby became division commander. He served competently in this role. In March 1865, Thompson was appointed commander of the Northern Sub-District of Arkansas. He surrendered his troops on May 11, 1865, in Jacksonport, Arkansas.
Although Thompson frequently petitioned for the Confederate rank of brigadier general it was never granted. His brigadier rank came from his Missouri State Guard service.
A ship in the Confederate Navy, the CSS General M. Jeff Thompson, was named in Thompson's honor. The side-wheel river steamer was converted at New Orleans to a "cottonclad" ram in early 1862. It was commissioned in April and sent up the Mississippi River to join the River Defense Fleet in Tennessee waters, seeing its first action in the Battle of Plum Point Bend. After being set afire by gunfire from Union warships in the Battle of Memphis on June 6, 1862, the ship ran aground and soon blew up.
Postbellum career
After the war, Thompson moved to New Orleans, where he returned to civil engineering. He designed a program for improving the Louisiana swamps, a job that eventually destroyed his health. He returned to St. Joseph, Missouri in 1876 where he succumbed to tuberculosis. He is buried in Mount Mora Cemetery in St. Joseph, Missouri.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
28 December, 1861: Saturday
Union military action
Western Virginia
Union forces occupy Beckley or Raleigh Court House in Western Virginia.
Kentucky
There is skirmishing in Sacramento, Kentucky
There is a skirmish at Grider's Ferry on the Cumberland River.
Missouri
There is skirmishing at Mount Zion Church, Missouri.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
Western Virginia
Union forces occupy Beckley or Raleigh Court House in Western Virginia.
Kentucky
There is skirmishing in Sacramento, Kentucky
There is a skirmish at Grider's Ferry on the Cumberland River.
Missouri
There is skirmishing at Mount Zion Church, Missouri.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
Sunday, December 26, 2010
27 December, 1861, Friday
Union - political
Representative Alfred Ely of New York arrives in Washington from Richmond, VA, where he had been a prisoner of war since his capture in July while watching the Battle of Bull Run/Manassas.
News of the release of the Confederate commissioners Mason and Slidell arrives in the newspapers in both North and South.
Confederate and Union armies settle in to winter quarters.
Missouri
A skirmish breaks out at Hallsville, Missouri
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
Representative Alfred Ely of New York arrives in Washington from Richmond, VA, where he had been a prisoner of war since his capture in July while watching the Battle of Bull Run/Manassas.
News of the release of the Confederate commissioners Mason and Slidell arrives in the newspapers in both North and South.
Confederate and Union armies settle in to winter quarters.
Missouri
A skirmish breaks out at Hallsville, Missouri
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
Saturday, December 25, 2010
26 December, 1861: Thursday
Union - Government
President Lincoln has another meeting with his Cabinet members and it is decided to accede to England's request that the two Confederate commissioners, Mason and Slidell, be released. A message is sent to the British minister in Washington, Lord Lyons.
When the news reaches the Confederates it is a blow - the reason for war between the US and England has now dissipated, as has chances for the Confederacy to be recognized by foreign powers (and thus be given foreign aid.)
Missouri
Martial law is proclaimed in St. Louis, and in and about all railroads operating in Missouri.
Indian Territory
There is an engagement at Chustenahlah, where there had been recent operations by Confederate Indians and Texans against pro-Union Creek Indians under Opothleyahola. The Creeks lose many men and flee, some of them reaching Kansas.
Confederacy
Brigadier General Philip St. George Cocke, who had distinguished himself earlier in the year, commits suicide at his home in Powhatan County, Virginia.
Georgia
At the mouth of the Savannah River, a 5-ship Confederate flotilla attacks Union blockaders and force them to retreat.
Union
Over 150 horses die in a fire in the government stables near Washington Observatory.
Brigadier General Philip St. George Cocke at Wikipedia
(Cocke in the 1850s)
Philip St. George Cocke (April 17, 1809 – December 26, 1861) was a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the first year of the American Civil War. He is best known for organizing the defense of Virginia along the Potomac River soon after the state's secession from the Union. He commanded troops in the Battle of Blackburn's Ford and the First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas) in July 1861 before becoming despondent and committing suicide.
Early life and career
Philip St. George Cocke was born at Bremo Bluff in Fluvanna County, Virginia.[1] His father, John Hartwell Cocke, had been an officer in the United States Army during the War of 1812.
Cocke graduated from the University of Virginia in 1828 and then from the United States Military Academy in 1832 with the rank of brevet second lieutenant. He was soon assigned as second lieutenant to an artillery unit in Charleston, South Carolina. He served there during 1832 and 1833, becoming adjutant of the 2nd U.S. Artillery on July 13, 1833.[2]
On April 1, 1834, Cocke resigned from the military and became a cotton planter in Powhatan County, Virginia and in Mississippi. He married Sallie Elizabeth Courtney Bowdoin on June 4, 1834.
Cocke became an accomplished agriculturist, publishing frequent articles in journals,[3] as well as a book on plantation management entitled Plantation and Farm Instruction in 1852.[4] From 1853 to 1856, Cocke was president of the Virginia State Agricultural Society.[2] In 1859, concerned by John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry, he organized a militia infantry company known as the Powhatan Troop to help defend Powhatan County in case of a similar action or a slave revolt in the future.[5]
Civil War service
Organization of Virginia's defenses
On April 21, 1861, Cocke was appointed as a brigadier general in the service of the Commonwealth of Virginia by Governor John Letcher. He was assigned command of all state forces along the Potomac River. Three days later, from his headquarters at Alexandria, Virginia, he reported to newly commissioned Maj. Gen. Robert E. Lee (assigned on April 22 to the command of all Virginia forces) that he had only 300 men to defend against what he thought was 10,000 Union troops across the river in Washington, D.C. Cocke made his headquarters at Culpeper, Virginia, on April 27, in order to better oversee the entire line of the Potomac as well as the mustering of volunteer troops in a large part of the state. Alexandria was evacuated by Lt. Col. A. S. Taylor on May 5, despite Cocke's orders "not to abandon it without fighting, even against overwhelming numbers."
Under Lee's orders, Cocke organized a new defensive line at Manassas. Cocke may have been the first to formulate the Confederate defensive strategy of concentrating forces at Manassas and at Winchester in the Shenandoah Valley, and using the Manassas Gap Railroad to allow them to be mutually supporting. This strategy would be a decisive factor in the Confederate victory in the First Battle of Bull Run.
When Virginia's state forces were consolidated with the Provisional Army of the Confederate States, Cocke was given the rank of colonel in the new CSA forces. Because of this effective demotion, Cocke was superseded in command at Manassas on May 21 by Brig. Gen. Milledge L. Bonham.
First Bull Run Campaign
Cocke was eventually assigned to the army of P. G. T. Beauregard in command of the 5th Brigade, consisting of the 8th, 18th, 19th, 28th, and 49th Virginia Infantry regiments. His brigade was initially assigned to Centreville, but in the face of advancing Union forces, withdrew behind Bull Run on July 17.[8]
He was officially thanked by Beauregard for his ability shown in strategic movements at the Battle of Blackburn's Ford.
On July 20 Cocke was stationed at Ball's Ford on Bull Run. In the subsequent First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861, Cocke was assigned to advance against Centreville, a plan abandoned when the Federals began their flanking movement against the Confederate left. While Col. Nathan George Evans, reinforced by Brig. Gen. Barnard Bee and Col. Francis S. Bartow, opposed the enemy, Cocke's forces defended against attack in the vicinity of the Stone Bridge, with his headquarters at the Lewis house. At 2 p.m., about an hour before the arrival of Elzey, he led his brigade into action on the left with "alacrity and effect." He was promoted to brigadier general in the Confederate Army on October 21 and given command of the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division of the Confederate Army of the Potomac.
Death
First Bull Run was Cocke's last battle. After eight months' service, during which he was promoted to brigadier general in the provisional Confederate army, he returned home, "shattered in body and mind." Exhausted from the strain, and despondent over perceived slights from General Beauregard stemming from the Battle of Manassas, Cocke shot himself in the head on December 26, 1861, at his mansion, "Belmead", in Powhatan County, Virginia. He was initially buried on the plantation grounds, but he was reintered in 1904 at Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia.
Family
Philip St. George Cocke was the son of John Hartwell Cocke (b. September 19, 1780 in Surry County, Virginia) and Anne Blaws Barraud (b. December 25, 1784, in Norfolk, Virginia.) He married Sallie Elizabeth Courtney Bowdoin (b. May 9, 1815) at Christ Church in Norfolk, Virginia, on June 4, 1834. The couple had 11 children.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
President Lincoln has another meeting with his Cabinet members and it is decided to accede to England's request that the two Confederate commissioners, Mason and Slidell, be released. A message is sent to the British minister in Washington, Lord Lyons.
When the news reaches the Confederates it is a blow - the reason for war between the US and England has now dissipated, as has chances for the Confederacy to be recognized by foreign powers (and thus be given foreign aid.)
Missouri
Martial law is proclaimed in St. Louis, and in and about all railroads operating in Missouri.
Indian Territory
There is an engagement at Chustenahlah, where there had been recent operations by Confederate Indians and Texans against pro-Union Creek Indians under Opothleyahola. The Creeks lose many men and flee, some of them reaching Kansas.
Confederacy
Brigadier General Philip St. George Cocke, who had distinguished himself earlier in the year, commits suicide at his home in Powhatan County, Virginia.
Georgia
At the mouth of the Savannah River, a 5-ship Confederate flotilla attacks Union blockaders and force them to retreat.
Union
Over 150 horses die in a fire in the government stables near Washington Observatory.
Brigadier General Philip St. George Cocke at Wikipedia
(Cocke in the 1850s)
Philip St. George Cocke (April 17, 1809 – December 26, 1861) was a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the first year of the American Civil War. He is best known for organizing the defense of Virginia along the Potomac River soon after the state's secession from the Union. He commanded troops in the Battle of Blackburn's Ford and the First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas) in July 1861 before becoming despondent and committing suicide.
Early life and career
Philip St. George Cocke was born at Bremo Bluff in Fluvanna County, Virginia.[1] His father, John Hartwell Cocke, had been an officer in the United States Army during the War of 1812.
Cocke graduated from the University of Virginia in 1828 and then from the United States Military Academy in 1832 with the rank of brevet second lieutenant. He was soon assigned as second lieutenant to an artillery unit in Charleston, South Carolina. He served there during 1832 and 1833, becoming adjutant of the 2nd U.S. Artillery on July 13, 1833.[2]
On April 1, 1834, Cocke resigned from the military and became a cotton planter in Powhatan County, Virginia and in Mississippi. He married Sallie Elizabeth Courtney Bowdoin on June 4, 1834.
Cocke became an accomplished agriculturist, publishing frequent articles in journals,[3] as well as a book on plantation management entitled Plantation and Farm Instruction in 1852.[4] From 1853 to 1856, Cocke was president of the Virginia State Agricultural Society.[2] In 1859, concerned by John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry, he organized a militia infantry company known as the Powhatan Troop to help defend Powhatan County in case of a similar action or a slave revolt in the future.[5]
Civil War service
Organization of Virginia's defenses
On April 21, 1861, Cocke was appointed as a brigadier general in the service of the Commonwealth of Virginia by Governor John Letcher. He was assigned command of all state forces along the Potomac River. Three days later, from his headquarters at Alexandria, Virginia, he reported to newly commissioned Maj. Gen. Robert E. Lee (assigned on April 22 to the command of all Virginia forces) that he had only 300 men to defend against what he thought was 10,000 Union troops across the river in Washington, D.C. Cocke made his headquarters at Culpeper, Virginia, on April 27, in order to better oversee the entire line of the Potomac as well as the mustering of volunteer troops in a large part of the state. Alexandria was evacuated by Lt. Col. A. S. Taylor on May 5, despite Cocke's orders "not to abandon it without fighting, even against overwhelming numbers."
Under Lee's orders, Cocke organized a new defensive line at Manassas. Cocke may have been the first to formulate the Confederate defensive strategy of concentrating forces at Manassas and at Winchester in the Shenandoah Valley, and using the Manassas Gap Railroad to allow them to be mutually supporting. This strategy would be a decisive factor in the Confederate victory in the First Battle of Bull Run.
When Virginia's state forces were consolidated with the Provisional Army of the Confederate States, Cocke was given the rank of colonel in the new CSA forces. Because of this effective demotion, Cocke was superseded in command at Manassas on May 21 by Brig. Gen. Milledge L. Bonham.
First Bull Run Campaign
Cocke was eventually assigned to the army of P. G. T. Beauregard in command of the 5th Brigade, consisting of the 8th, 18th, 19th, 28th, and 49th Virginia Infantry regiments. His brigade was initially assigned to Centreville, but in the face of advancing Union forces, withdrew behind Bull Run on July 17.[8]
He was officially thanked by Beauregard for his ability shown in strategic movements at the Battle of Blackburn's Ford.
On July 20 Cocke was stationed at Ball's Ford on Bull Run. In the subsequent First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861, Cocke was assigned to advance against Centreville, a plan abandoned when the Federals began their flanking movement against the Confederate left. While Col. Nathan George Evans, reinforced by Brig. Gen. Barnard Bee and Col. Francis S. Bartow, opposed the enemy, Cocke's forces defended against attack in the vicinity of the Stone Bridge, with his headquarters at the Lewis house. At 2 p.m., about an hour before the arrival of Elzey, he led his brigade into action on the left with "alacrity and effect." He was promoted to brigadier general in the Confederate Army on October 21 and given command of the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division of the Confederate Army of the Potomac.
Death
First Bull Run was Cocke's last battle. After eight months' service, during which he was promoted to brigadier general in the provisional Confederate army, he returned home, "shattered in body and mind." Exhausted from the strain, and despondent over perceived slights from General Beauregard stemming from the Battle of Manassas, Cocke shot himself in the head on December 26, 1861, at his mansion, "Belmead", in Powhatan County, Virginia. He was initially buried on the plantation grounds, but he was reintered in 1904 at Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia.
Family
Philip St. George Cocke was the son of John Hartwell Cocke (b. September 19, 1780 in Surry County, Virginia) and Anne Blaws Barraud (b. December 25, 1784, in Norfolk, Virginia.) He married Sallie Elizabeth Courtney Bowdoin (b. May 9, 1815) at Christ Church in Norfolk, Virginia, on June 4, 1834. The couple had 11 children.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
Friday, December 24, 2010
25 December, 1861: Wednesday
Union - government
President Lincoln and his Cabinet meet to discuss the Trent affair.
President Lincoln and his wife have Christmas dinner with guests.
Western Virginia
A skirmish takes place at Cherry, western Virginia.
Maryland
A skirmish takes place near Fort Frederick, Maryland
Cape Fear, North Carolina
Off Cape Fear, a blockade-runner is captured.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
President Lincoln and his Cabinet meet to discuss the Trent affair.
President Lincoln and his wife have Christmas dinner with guests.
Western Virginia
A skirmish takes place at Cherry, western Virginia.
Maryland
A skirmish takes place near Fort Frederick, Maryland
Cape Fear, North Carolina
Off Cape Fear, a blockade-runner is captured.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
Thursday, December 23, 2010
24 December, 1861: Tuesday
Union- Government
The Union Congress passes a bill which increases duties on tea, coffee, sugar and molasses.
Military
Missouri
A skirmish takes place at Wadesboro, Missouri.
Virginia
Union troops scout toward Fairfax Courthouse, Virginia
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
The Union Congress passes a bill which increases duties on tea, coffee, sugar and molasses.
Military
Missouri
A skirmish takes place at Wadesboro, Missouri.
Virginia
Union troops scout toward Fairfax Courthouse, Virginia
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
23 December 1861: Monday
Government - Union
Lord Lyons meets once again with Secretary of State Seward, presenting him formally with England's demands that the two commissioners Slidell and Mason be released, and givng the United States seven days to comply.
A White House conference is held. Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts urges the President to surrender the commissioners.
Kentucky
Union forces advance from Louisa, Kentucky into eastern Kentucky. This foray will last until January.
Missouri
A minor Union operation takes place around Lexington, Missouri and there is a skirmish at Dayton, Missouri.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
Lord Lyons meets once again with Secretary of State Seward, presenting him formally with England's demands that the two commissioners Slidell and Mason be released, and givng the United States seven days to comply.
A White House conference is held. Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts urges the President to surrender the commissioners.
Kentucky
Union forces advance from Louisa, Kentucky into eastern Kentucky. This foray will last until January.
Missouri
A minor Union operation takes place around Lexington, Missouri and there is a skirmish at Dayton, Missouri.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
22 December, 1861: Sunday
Missouri
Union Major GEneral H. W. Halleck orders that anyone caugh burning bridges or destroying railroads or the telegraph will be shot.
Virginia
There is a light skirmish near New Market, Virginia (not far from Newport News.)
Biography of Halleck from Wikipedia:
Henry Wager Halleck (January 16, 1815 – January 9, 1872) was a United States Army officer, scholar, and lawyer. A noted expert in military studies, he was known by a nickname that became derogatory, "Old Brains." He was an important participant in the admission of California as a state and became a successful lawyer and land developer. Early in the American Civil War, he was a senior Union Army commander in the Western Theater and then served for almost two years as general-in-chief of all U.S. armies. He was "kicked upstairs" to be chief of staff of the Army when Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Halleck's former subordinate in the West, whose battlefield victories did much to advance Halleck's career, replaced him in 1864 as general-in-chief for the remainder of the war.
Halleck was a cautious general who believed strongly in thorough preparations for battle and in the value of defensive fortifications over quick, aggressive action. He was a master of administration, logistics, and the politics necessary at the top of the military hierarchy, but exerted little effective control over field operations from his post in Washington, D.C. President Abraham Lincoln once described him as "little more than a first rate clerk."
Postbellum career
After Grant forced Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House, Halleck was assigned to command the Military Division of the James, headquartered at Richmond. He was a pall-bearer at Lincoln's funeral. He lost his friendship with William Sherman when he quarreled with him over Sherman's tendency to be lenient toward former Confederates. In August 1865 he was transferred to the Division of the Pacific in California, essentially in military exile until March 1869, when he was assigned to command the Division of the South, headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.[23]
Henry Halleck died at his post in Louisville. He is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York, and is memorialized by a street named for him in San Francisco and a statue in Golden Gate Park. He left no memoirs for posterity and apparently destroyed his private correspondence and memoranda. His estate at his death showed a net value of $474,773.16. His widow, Elizabeth, married Col. George Washington Cullum in 1875. Cullum had served as Halleck's chief of staff in the Western Theater and then on his staff in Washington
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
Union Major GEneral H. W. Halleck orders that anyone caugh burning bridges or destroying railroads or the telegraph will be shot.
Virginia
There is a light skirmish near New Market, Virginia (not far from Newport News.)
Biography of Halleck from Wikipedia:
Henry Wager Halleck (January 16, 1815 – January 9, 1872) was a United States Army officer, scholar, and lawyer. A noted expert in military studies, he was known by a nickname that became derogatory, "Old Brains." He was an important participant in the admission of California as a state and became a successful lawyer and land developer. Early in the American Civil War, he was a senior Union Army commander in the Western Theater and then served for almost two years as general-in-chief of all U.S. armies. He was "kicked upstairs" to be chief of staff of the Army when Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Halleck's former subordinate in the West, whose battlefield victories did much to advance Halleck's career, replaced him in 1864 as general-in-chief for the remainder of the war.
Halleck was a cautious general who believed strongly in thorough preparations for battle and in the value of defensive fortifications over quick, aggressive action. He was a master of administration, logistics, and the politics necessary at the top of the military hierarchy, but exerted little effective control over field operations from his post in Washington, D.C. President Abraham Lincoln once described him as "little more than a first rate clerk."
Postbellum career
After Grant forced Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House, Halleck was assigned to command the Military Division of the James, headquartered at Richmond. He was a pall-bearer at Lincoln's funeral. He lost his friendship with William Sherman when he quarreled with him over Sherman's tendency to be lenient toward former Confederates. In August 1865 he was transferred to the Division of the Pacific in California, essentially in military exile until March 1869, when he was assigned to command the Division of the South, headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.[23]
Henry Halleck died at his post in Louisville. He is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York, and is memorialized by a street named for him in San Francisco and a statue in Golden Gate Park. He left no memoirs for posterity and apparently destroyed his private correspondence and memoranda. His estate at his death showed a net value of $474,773.16. His widow, Elizabeth, married Col. George Washington Cullum in 1875. Cullum had served as Halleck's chief of staff in the Western Theater and then on his staff in Washington
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
21 December, 1861: Saturday
Union - government
British minister Lord Lyons meets again, informally, with Secretary of State Seward. He then writes to Lord Russell, Foreign Minister: "I am so convinced that unless we give our friends here a good lesson this time, we shall have the same trouble with them again very soon...Surrender or war will have a very good effect on them."
Newspapers published in the South publish speculations from various writers of a possible war between the United States and England.
Confederacy - Military command
Brigadier General Henry A. Wise is assigned to duty in North CArolina.
Biography of Wise from Wikipedia:
Henry Alexander Wise (December 3, 1806 – September 12, 1876) was an American statesman from Virginia, as well as a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
Early life
Wise was born in Drummondtown, Accomack County, Virginia, to Major John Wise and his second wife Sarah Corbin Cropper, whose families had been long settled there. He was privately tutored until his twelfth year and then entered Margaret Academy, near Pungoteague in Accomack County. He graduated from Washington College (now Washington & Jefferson College) in 1825. He was a member of the Union Literary Society at Washington College.
Wise was admitted to the bar in 1828, and settled in Nashville, Tennessee, in the same year, but returned to Accomack County in 1830.
Marriage and family
Wise was married three times, first in 1828 to Anne Jennings, the daughter of Rev. Obadiah Jennings and Ann Wilson of Washington, Pennsylvania. Anne died in 1837, leaving Henry with four children: two sons and two daughters. A fifth child died with her in a fire.
Wise was married a second time in November 1840, to Sarah Sergeant, daughter of Whig U.S. Congressman John Sergeant and Margaretta Watmough of Philadelphia. In nineteen years of marriage with two wives, Wise fathered fourteen children, only seven of whom survived to adulthood. Sarah gave birth to at least five children. She and the last child died soon after its birth on October 14, 1850. Henry married a third time to Mary Elizabeth Lyons in 1853.
After serving as governor, Wise settled with Mary and his younger children in 1860 at Rolleston, an 884-acre plantation which he bought from his brother John Cropper Wise, who also continued to live there.[7] It was located on the eastern branch of the Elizabeth River near Norfolk, Virginia. It had first been developed by William and Susannah Moseley, English immigrants who settled there in 1649.[8] After the Civil War, Henry and Mary Wise lived in Richmond, where he resumed his law career.
Political career
Henry A. Wise served in the United States Congress from 1833 to 1844. He was elected to Congress in 1832 as a Jacksonian Democrat. On the question of the rechartering of the United States Bank he broke with the Jackson administration, and became a Whig, but was sustained by his constituents. After his first election in 1832 he fought a duel with his competitor for the seat in Congress. He was reelected to Congress as a Whig in 1837, serving till 1841, and was reelected as a Tyler Democrat in 1843.
Wise was active in securing the election of John Tyler as Vice President in 1840. Tyler appointed Wise as United States minister to Brazil from 1844 to 1847, where two of his children were born in Rio de Janeiro. After his return, Wise identified with the Democratic Party. In 1855, after a remarkable campaign, he was elected governor of Virginia over the Know Nothing candidate. Wise supported the annexation of Texas by the United States. Wise County, Texas, was named in his honor.
In the statewide election of 1855 Wise defeated Thomas S. Flournoy and subsequently served as the 33rd Governor of Virginia from 1856 to 1860. Wise County, Virginia, was named after him when it was established in 1856. One of his last official acts as Governor was to sign the death warrant of John Brown. He was a member of the Virginia secession convention of 1861, and opposed immediate secession. Upon the withdrawal of the commonwealth from the Union, however, he joined the Confederate army and was commissioned as a brigadier general.
Military career
Wise served as a brigadier general in the Confederate Army. He commanded the District of Roanoke Island during the Battle of Roanoke Island. His part in the decision to cede the island when faced with much greater Union forces drew the ire of some of the Confederate government leadership.
His forces were attached to the division of Maj. Gen. Theophilus H. Holmes during the Seven Days Battles. For the rest of 1862 and 1863 he held various commands in North Carolina and Virginia. In 1864 Wise was in command of a brigade in the Department of North Carolina & Southern Virginia. His brigade defended Petersburg and was credited with saving the city at the First Battle of Petersburg and to an extent at the Second Battle of Petersburg.
He then commanded a brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia during the final stages of the Siege of Petersburg, and was promoted to the rank of major general after the Battle of Sayler's Creek. He was with Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House, where he fought bravely but urged Lee to surrender.
Postbellum activities
After the war Wise resumed his law practice in Richmond, and settled there for the rest of his life. In 1865 he was unable to reclaim Rolleston, his plantation outside Norfolk, before he received pardon from the president. After Wise entered Confederate service, he and his family abandoned Rolleston in 1862 as Union troops were taking over Norfolk. Wise arranged then for residence for his family in Rocky Mount, Franklin County, Virginia.
As a result, Maj. Gen. Terry of the U.S. command in the Norfolk area did not permit Wise to reclaim the Rolleston property. In an exchange of letters published in the New York Times, Terry stated that under conditions of parole, Wise had claim only to the Rocky Mount property where he had been living when he went to war. The Freedmen's Bureau used Rolleston Hall and other plantations in the Norfolk area as schools for freedmen. Two hundred were said to be at Rolleston.
Along with working at his law career, Wise wrote a book based on his public service entitled Seven Decades of the Union (1872). His two surviving sons were both active in state and Federal politics.
One of his sons, John Sergeant Wise, wrote a memoir entitled The End of an Era. John Wise was fourteen in the summer of 1860 and served in the Confederate Army late in the war. He wrote about his own memories of Rolleston and the war years, as well as about his father's role and their family members. Henry A. Wise's grandson Barton Haxall Wise wrote a biography of the former governor called The Life of Henry A. Wise of Virginia (1899).
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
British minister Lord Lyons meets again, informally, with Secretary of State Seward. He then writes to Lord Russell, Foreign Minister: "I am so convinced that unless we give our friends here a good lesson this time, we shall have the same trouble with them again very soon...Surrender or war will have a very good effect on them."
Newspapers published in the South publish speculations from various writers of a possible war between the United States and England.
Confederacy - Military command
Brigadier General Henry A. Wise is assigned to duty in North CArolina.
Biography of Wise from Wikipedia:
Henry Alexander Wise (December 3, 1806 – September 12, 1876) was an American statesman from Virginia, as well as a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
Early life
Wise was born in Drummondtown, Accomack County, Virginia, to Major John Wise and his second wife Sarah Corbin Cropper, whose families had been long settled there. He was privately tutored until his twelfth year and then entered Margaret Academy, near Pungoteague in Accomack County. He graduated from Washington College (now Washington & Jefferson College) in 1825. He was a member of the Union Literary Society at Washington College.
Wise was admitted to the bar in 1828, and settled in Nashville, Tennessee, in the same year, but returned to Accomack County in 1830.
Marriage and family
Wise was married three times, first in 1828 to Anne Jennings, the daughter of Rev. Obadiah Jennings and Ann Wilson of Washington, Pennsylvania. Anne died in 1837, leaving Henry with four children: two sons and two daughters. A fifth child died with her in a fire.
Wise was married a second time in November 1840, to Sarah Sergeant, daughter of Whig U.S. Congressman John Sergeant and Margaretta Watmough of Philadelphia. In nineteen years of marriage with two wives, Wise fathered fourteen children, only seven of whom survived to adulthood. Sarah gave birth to at least five children. She and the last child died soon after its birth on October 14, 1850. Henry married a third time to Mary Elizabeth Lyons in 1853.
After serving as governor, Wise settled with Mary and his younger children in 1860 at Rolleston, an 884-acre plantation which he bought from his brother John Cropper Wise, who also continued to live there.[7] It was located on the eastern branch of the Elizabeth River near Norfolk, Virginia. It had first been developed by William and Susannah Moseley, English immigrants who settled there in 1649.[8] After the Civil War, Henry and Mary Wise lived in Richmond, where he resumed his law career.
Political career
Henry A. Wise served in the United States Congress from 1833 to 1844. He was elected to Congress in 1832 as a Jacksonian Democrat. On the question of the rechartering of the United States Bank he broke with the Jackson administration, and became a Whig, but was sustained by his constituents. After his first election in 1832 he fought a duel with his competitor for the seat in Congress. He was reelected to Congress as a Whig in 1837, serving till 1841, and was reelected as a Tyler Democrat in 1843.
Wise was active in securing the election of John Tyler as Vice President in 1840. Tyler appointed Wise as United States minister to Brazil from 1844 to 1847, where two of his children were born in Rio de Janeiro. After his return, Wise identified with the Democratic Party. In 1855, after a remarkable campaign, he was elected governor of Virginia over the Know Nothing candidate. Wise supported the annexation of Texas by the United States. Wise County, Texas, was named in his honor.
In the statewide election of 1855 Wise defeated Thomas S. Flournoy and subsequently served as the 33rd Governor of Virginia from 1856 to 1860. Wise County, Virginia, was named after him when it was established in 1856. One of his last official acts as Governor was to sign the death warrant of John Brown. He was a member of the Virginia secession convention of 1861, and opposed immediate secession. Upon the withdrawal of the commonwealth from the Union, however, he joined the Confederate army and was commissioned as a brigadier general.
Military career
Wise served as a brigadier general in the Confederate Army. He commanded the District of Roanoke Island during the Battle of Roanoke Island. His part in the decision to cede the island when faced with much greater Union forces drew the ire of some of the Confederate government leadership.
His forces were attached to the division of Maj. Gen. Theophilus H. Holmes during the Seven Days Battles. For the rest of 1862 and 1863 he held various commands in North Carolina and Virginia. In 1864 Wise was in command of a brigade in the Department of North Carolina & Southern Virginia. His brigade defended Petersburg and was credited with saving the city at the First Battle of Petersburg and to an extent at the Second Battle of Petersburg.
He then commanded a brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia during the final stages of the Siege of Petersburg, and was promoted to the rank of major general after the Battle of Sayler's Creek. He was with Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House, where he fought bravely but urged Lee to surrender.
Postbellum activities
After the war Wise resumed his law practice in Richmond, and settled there for the rest of his life. In 1865 he was unable to reclaim Rolleston, his plantation outside Norfolk, before he received pardon from the president. After Wise entered Confederate service, he and his family abandoned Rolleston in 1862 as Union troops were taking over Norfolk. Wise arranged then for residence for his family in Rocky Mount, Franklin County, Virginia.
As a result, Maj. Gen. Terry of the U.S. command in the Norfolk area did not permit Wise to reclaim the Rolleston property. In an exchange of letters published in the New York Times, Terry stated that under conditions of parole, Wise had claim only to the Rocky Mount property where he had been living when he went to war. The Freedmen's Bureau used Rolleston Hall and other plantations in the Norfolk area as schools for freedmen. Two hundred were said to be at Rolleston.
Along with working at his law career, Wise wrote a book based on his public service entitled Seven Decades of the Union (1872). His two surviving sons were both active in state and Federal politics.
One of his sons, John Sergeant Wise, wrote a memoir entitled The End of an Era. John Wise was fourteen in the summer of 1860 and served in the Confederate Army late in the war. He wrote about his own memories of Rolleston and the war years, as well as about his father's role and their family members. Henry A. Wise's grandson Barton Haxall Wise wrote a biography of the former governor called The Life of Henry A. Wise of Virginia (1899).
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
20 December, 1861: Friday
England
Two troop vessels set sail for Canada, in order to help reinforce England's demands regarding the release of Mason and Slidell.
Virginia
Sixteen old whaling vessels are sunk in the main ship channel off Charleston in an attempt to foil blockade runners.
Virginia
Fighting occurs at Dranesville, Virginia.
Confederacy - Government
President Davis writes a letter to Sterling Price, Missouri commander, who has complained that Davis seems to be neglecting the Trans-Mississippi and Missouri in particular. "The welfare of Missouri is as dear to me as that of other States of the Confederacy." he states.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
Two troop vessels set sail for Canada, in order to help reinforce England's demands regarding the release of Mason and Slidell.
Virginia
Sixteen old whaling vessels are sunk in the main ship channel off Charleston in an attempt to foil blockade runners.
Virginia
Fighting occurs at Dranesville, Virginia.
Confederacy - Government
President Davis writes a letter to Sterling Price, Missouri commander, who has complained that Davis seems to be neglecting the Trans-Mississippi and Missouri in particular. "The welfare of Missouri is as dear to me as that of other States of the Confederacy." he states.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
Sunday, December 19, 2010
19 Dec 1861: Thusday
Union - Government
The British minister to the United States, Lord Lyons, has an informal meeting with Secretary of State Seward, and informs him that the British government will make a formal request (on December 23) for the release of the Southern commissioners Mason and Slidell. The US government is given seven days to comply.
Maryland
There is a skirmish at Point of Rocks, Maryland.
BibliographyThe Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
The British minister to the United States, Lord Lyons, has an informal meeting with Secretary of State Seward, and informs him that the British government will make a formal request (on December 23) for the release of the Southern commissioners Mason and Slidell. The US government is given seven days to comply.
Maryland
There is a skirmish at Point of Rocks, Maryland.
BibliographyThe Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
16 December, 1861: Moday
Government-Union
Clement Vallandigham of Ohio introduces a resolution in the US House of Representatives commending Captain Charles Wilkes for capturing Confederate commissioners Mason and Slidell. It is referred to committee.
Military - Virginia
Activities continue around Meadow Bluff, western Virginia.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
Clement Vallandigham of Ohio introduces a resolution in the US House of Representatives commending Captain Charles Wilkes for capturing Confederate commissioners Mason and Slidell. It is referred to committee.
Military - Virginia
Activities continue around Meadow Bluff, western Virginia.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
15 December, 1861: Sunday
Naval action
Two Confederate blockade runners are captured; one off Cape Fear, the other off Cape Hatteras.
Ground Action
Virginia
There is a "minor affair" in Roane County, and activity begins around Meadow Bluff, western Virginia (which will continue until Dec 21.
BibliographyThe Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
Two Confederate blockade runners are captured; one off Cape Fear, the other off Cape Hatteras.
Ground Action
Virginia
There is a "minor affair" in Roane County, and activity begins around Meadow Bluff, western Virginia (which will continue until Dec 21.
BibliographyThe Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
14 December, 1861: Saturday
England
His Royal Highness, Prince Albert - husband of Queen Victoria, dies. Two weeks prior to his death, he had drafted some correspondence regarding the Trent affair. He had urged moderation but firmness toward the United States.
Confederacy - Military
Brigadier General HH Sibley assumes command of the Confederate forces on the upper Rio Grande and in New Mexico and Arizona territories.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
His Royal Highness, Prince Albert - husband of Queen Victoria, dies. Two weeks prior to his death, he had drafted some correspondence regarding the Trent affair. He had urged moderation but firmness toward the United States.
Confederacy - Military
Brigadier General HH Sibley assumes command of the Confederate forces on the upper Rio Grande and in New Mexico and Arizona territories.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
Monday, December 13, 2010
13 December, 1861, Friday
Confederacy - Political
President Davis disagrees with Confederate congressmen over the command in Missouri. He writes: "I have, long since, learned, learned to bear hasty censure in the hope that justice if tardy is sure, and in any event to find consolation in the assurance that all my ends have been my country's."
Union - Military
Western Virginia
Brigadier General R.H. Milroy leads his troops from the Cheat Mountain encampment in western Virginia against Confederate troops at Camp Alleghany/Buffalo Mountain. The Federals will eventually fall back with 137 casualties, the Confederates 146. The Federals retreat to Cheat Mountain, the Confederates retreat to Staunton in the Shenandoah Valley.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
President Davis disagrees with Confederate congressmen over the command in Missouri. He writes: "I have, long since, learned, learned to bear hasty censure in the hope that justice if tardy is sure, and in any event to find consolation in the assurance that all my ends have been my country's."
Union - Military
Western Virginia
Brigadier General R.H. Milroy leads his troops from the Cheat Mountain encampment in western Virginia against Confederate troops at Camp Alleghany/Buffalo Mountain. The Federals will eventually fall back with 137 casualties, the Confederates 146. The Federals retreat to Cheat Mountain, the Confederates retreat to Staunton in the Shenandoah Valley.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
Sunday, December 12, 2010
12 December, 1861: Thursday
South CarolinaFederal Marines and naval forces "operate" on the Ashepoo River in South Carolina - investigating nearby rivers, inlets and communities for Confederates. This is part of their consolidation of their Port Royal Sound victory.
Missouri
There is skirmishing in Charleston.
Kentucky
There is skirmishing in Gradyville, Kentucky.
Western Virginia
There is skirmishing on the Greenbrier River in western Virginia.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
Missouri
There is skirmishing in Charleston.
Kentucky
There is skirmishing in Gradyville, Kentucky.
Western Virginia
There is skirmishing on the Greenbrier River in western Virginia.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
Saturday, December 11, 2010
11 December 1861: Wednesday
Confederacy - Civilian
A fire destroys much of the business district of Charleston, South Carolina, east of King Street and near the Cooper River. The city is already suffering from the Union blockade.
Union - government
President Lincoln attends the Senate memorial services for Senator Baker of Oregon, who had been killed at Ball's Bluff. (It is unusual at this time for a President to enter either House.)
Military
Missouri
There is skirmishing near Bertrand, Missouri
Virginia
There is skirmishing at Dam no. 4 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
A fire destroys much of the business district of Charleston, South Carolina, east of King Street and near the Cooper River. The city is already suffering from the Union blockade.
Union - government
President Lincoln attends the Senate memorial services for Senator Baker of Oregon, who had been killed at Ball's Bluff. (It is unusual at this time for a President to enter either House.)
Military
Missouri
There is skirmishing near Bertrand, Missouri
Virginia
There is skirmishing at Dam no. 4 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
Friday, December 10, 2010
10 December 1861, Tuesday
Government - Confederacy
The Confederate Congress in Richmond passes an act admitting the state of Kentucky to the Confederacy. This is the final of the 13 states to join.
Government-Union
The US House of Representatives approves the Senate resolution for the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, passed the day before.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
The Confederate Congress in Richmond passes an act admitting the state of Kentucky to the Confederacy. This is the final of the 13 states to join.
Government-Union
The US House of Representatives approves the Senate resolution for the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, passed the day before.
Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971
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