Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 January 1912 — The CIVIL WAR FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK [ARTICLE]

The CIVIL WAR FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

©ecember 31, 1861. The New York Times of date printed the following: “The Canadian press comments upon the release of Messrs. Mason and Slidell in the same spirit iwhich has prompted its various representations hitherto in their treatment of the rebellion. The Leader uses the most abusive language at its command. It pronounces the surrender one of the ‘greatest collapses since the beginning of time,’ and has much to say of the ‘humiliation’ of the national government The Globe talks much more moderately, and heartily congratulates its readers on the result: and the Montreal Gazette speaks of It as ‘a bitter, bitter pill for the fireeaters to cram down their noisy throats.’ ” The United States gunboats under Commander Melancthon Smith left Ships Island, in the Gulf of Mexico, with a heavy force of marines and proceeded to Biloxi, Miss. Although there was a battery at the place, it was not manned, and Commander Smith took possession of the town (Without meeting resistance. He cartied the guns from the batteries aboard the gunboats and returned to Ship Island, having meanwhile captured a schooner loaded with hard pine flooring that endeavored to slip behind the island on the way to New Orleans. 7 The term of enlistment in thd northern army was extended during the month from one to three years, and a bounty of SSO was offered. January 1, 1862. Messrs. Mason and Slidell were surrendered by the United States government to the British government. They wete Taken in the tug Starlight from Fort Warren, in Boston harbor, where they had been detained as prisoners of war, to Providencetown, an Cape Cod, where they were delivered on board the British gunboat Rinaldo. The Rinaldo immediately put to sea, bearing Mason and Slidell to the posts toward which they had been traveling when taken off the British mail steamer Trent by Captain Wilkes, U. S. N., two months ibefore. \

A joint expedition of United States gunboats under Commander C. R. P. .Rodgers and Infantry under General ‘Stevens, which had left Port Royal Harbor, S. C., the previous evening, crossed the Coosaw river and attacked the Confederate fort at Port Royal ferry. The Confederate garrison was driven from their works by the (heavy shell fire of the gunboats, but returned and made a deJtermined attack on the Union forces 'who had occupied their recently abandoned position. The gunboats again (decided the issue with their shell fire. The United State Fort Pickens, in Pensacola harbor, again opened fire on the Confederate steamship Time. The response was taken up by the Confederate Forts Fisher and Barrancas: Little damage was done on either side, beyond a fire that Woke ©U,t in Warrington as a result of the explosion of Unfon shells. The British bark Empress of Hull, which was captured by the United States sloop Vincennes at Pas a rOutre in an - attempt to run the blockade of New Orleans, arrived in New York with a. prize crew. She was from Rio Janeiro with 6,500 bags of coffee. The Federal prisoners removed by the Confederates from Charleston, S. C., arrived at Columbia, S. C. January 2, 1862. The Confederates resumed their attack on the fort at Port Royal Ferry, from which they had been driven and subsequently held by the Federal expedition under Commander Rodgers and General Stevens, and succeeded in dislodging the Union force. Under cover of a heavy fire from the gunboats, the Federate recrossed the Cootaw and withdrew to Port Royal HaMJOr; reaving the fort in the possession of -the Confederates. The Confederate battery at Cockpit Point, on the Potomac, was attacked by the Union gunboat Anacostia and the steamer Yankee. The Anacpstia took a position out of the range of fire from the battery, but the Yankee was hit by a Confederate shot that knocked away two of her knees forward and pierced the forecastle. The steamship Ella Warley, formerly the Isabel of Nassau, made a successful attempt to run the block. Bde of Charleston, and arrived there early in the morning. She carried a valuable miscellaneous cargo. One of her passengers was Mr. Bisbie, 'formerly a delegate to'the Virginia legislature, bearing important dispatches from Mr. Yancey. -- General Stone, U. 8. A./ Issued an , order at Poolesville, Md., warning troops of his command from, inciting the slaves to insubordination and insurrection ' - The Memphis Argus reported General Price, C. S. A., in full retreat southward through Missouri before the adtance of three Union armies that Wdre converging on him. Dispatches received at St Louis announced the capture of a Confederate band, under Jeff Owens and - Colonel Jones, that had. been burning 1862. A reconnoisance of Federal troops ; WO strong, consisting of six compan-

les of the Coast Guard, Hx companies of the Twentieth New York and three companies of Harlan’s cavalry,- left Camp Hamilton, Virginia, under command of Brigadier General Weber, accompanied by Majors Vegesack and Carling es General Wood’s staff. Leading the infantry two miles beyond Little Bethel, the cavalry proceeded toward Big Bethel, met an inferior force of Confederate cavalry acting as pickets, and drove them in upon the town. Upon arriving at Big Bethel the Federal cavalry discovered the place had been by the Confederates. A detachment of Federal troops 300 In number, under Colonel Glover, encountered a body of Confederates 280 strong in camp nine miles from” Hunnewell, Mo. The National troops attacked and drove the Confederates from their camp after a sharp fight. Eight Confederates fell into Union hands; among them John Kincade, who had helped to burn Salt river bridge and tank as a defensive measure against the Union adyance. Two hundred and forty Federal troops who had been held prisoners of war at Richmond, and who had been exchanged for an equal number of Confederate prisoners, arrived at Fortress Monroe. They were brought down the river from Richmond on the C. S. S. S. Northampton to a point, nine miles above Fortress Monroe, where they were transferred to the steamer George Washington, U. S. N. Most of the Union prisoners had been captured at the battle of Bull Run. January 4, 1862.

Huntersville, a depot of Confederate supplies between Huttonsville and Warm Springs, Virginia, was attacked by a force of Union troops consisting of detachments from the sth Ohio, the 2nd Virginia, and Hadsin’s cavalry, 740 in> strength. The Confederates had a slightly inferior force of infantry and cavalry. The Union force fell upon the Confederate "cavalry before it could concentrate, and drove it through the town, after severe skirmishes. Stores valued at $50,000 fell into the possession of the Union soldiers and were destroyed. All the banks situated in that part of Kentucky where sympathy for the Confederate cause prevailed Were consolidated and placed under the direction of Henry J. Lyons, who was given authority to conduct their affairs for the benefit of the Confederate States. ‘ General Jackson, with a force of Confederates, attacked five hundred national troops, detached from several regiments, at Bath, Virginia. Two attacks by the Confederates were withstood, but a third, accompanied by a flank movement, dislodged tfie Federate, who fell back on Hancock, Virginia. January 5, 1862.

A party of National troops engaged a Confederate force in a skirmish near Port Royal, South’ Carolina. Seven Confederates were captured and marched to Beaufort. They made a determined attempt to escape while under guard by seizing the weapons of their captors. The attempt was frustrated with difficulty. General Stone was completely exonerated, before a Congressionar~cbmmittee, of all blame for the Ball’s Bluff disaster.

January 6, 1862. The schooner William Northrop, formerly a pilot boat of Charlestown, South Carolina, was brought into New York under charge of Prize-Master Rhoades, of the U. S. S. S. Fernandina. She was captured by the Fernandina when attempting to run the blockade into Wilmington. She was laden with coffee and quinine and other medicine, from Nfcssau and Havana. The Richmond Despatch reported satisfactory progress in the erection of defensive works about the city and the organization of the inhabitants into a body to be trained and made ready for garrison duty. Maj. Gen. George B. Crittenden, commanding the Confederate forces in southeastern Kentucky, issued an order dated at Mill Spring urging all citizens of Kentucky who had not yet taken up arms to join the Confederate forces immediately, objurgating them by the obligations of interest, honor and duty to assist in repelling the invaders. He affirmed tfiat the object of the war on the part of the North was the "extinction of slavery and The subjugation of the South.” John Letcher, governor of Virginia, sent a message to the Virginia house of delegates urging them to. reaffirm that “the separation of the Confederate states from the United States is. and ought to be,, final and irrevoca ble.”

The second execution in the. National Army of the Republic took place at Washington, D. C. Michael Lanahan was hanged for the murder of Sergeant Brenner, both of Company A, Second regiment, U. S. A. Capt. Gwin, C. S. A., was arrested by Colonel Howell of the Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania, while on a visit to his old home in Maryland, twenty miles below Washington. (Copyright, 1911, by W. G. Chapman.)