Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1912 — The CIVIL WAR [ARTICLE]

The CIVIL WAR

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

January 14, 1862. In the United States senate a communication 'was received from the president, transmitting a copy of the Instructions received by the Austrian minister from his government relative to the Trent affair, and the reply of Mr. Seward thereto. Governor Tod of Ohio was inaugurated at Columbus. In his inaugural he expressed the fullest confidence in the president of the United States, and commended his conduct of the war for the preservation of the Union. The gunboats Essex, St. Louis, and Tyler made a recofinoisance down the Mississippi river to a point near Columbus, Ky. They fired several shots into the Confederate camps, which were returned with’ enthusiasm by the batteries. They found no snags in the river to impede navigation ,and developed no masked batteries. D. W. C. Bonham, colonel commanding the twenty-third regiment of Mississippi troops, died at Camp Beauregard, Ky. General McClernand’s Union column moved in the direction of Blandvllle, Ky. The Union force under General Paine moved forward from Bird’s Point, Mo. January: 15, 1862. The nomination .of Edwin M. _ Stanton as secretary of war was confirmed. The nomination was received with great favor by the Democratic press of the north as indicating a closer union of tjjhe two parties for the conduct of the war, but it was commented on unfavorably by much of the Republican. press. Gen. Price, commanding the Confederate army in Missouri, protested against the shooting of “soldiers, citizens and bridge-burners” by the National forces, under command of Gen. Hdlleck. ‘ He expressed incredulity of reports to that effect that had reached him, and asked whether his men were to be treated as rebels or belligerents Gen. Halleck replied that the bridgebumerS had been court-martialed, and that “no order of yours can save from punishment spies, marauders, robbers, incendiaries, guerrilla bands, etc., who violate the laws of war.” Ha promised, however, that apy men captured wearing the uniform of Price’s army would not be so summarily dealt With. The Union steamers blockading the Rappahannock had a brush with the Confederates on shore. The Mystic chased, a schooner onto the beach, and” was proceeding to seize her, when the Upion sailors were opened on with a howitzer concealed in adjacent woods. The gunboat Dawn came to the assistance of the Mystic in bringing the men off the schooner. An attempt was made to dislodge the Confederates, Vho kept up a fire from the woods with a howitzer and a rifled cannon. The schooner was burned. A notice was posted by Confederate officials in Barren County, Kentucky, directing all free white males between the ages of eighteen and forty-five who would'not enlist in the Confederate army either to bring all their guns to the inspector of Arms for Barren county, or, having no guns, to come in with twenty dollars. January 16, 1862. The Florida legislature passed a bill forbidding the exportation from the state of any beef cattle, dried or pickled beef, hogs, pork, or bacon, com or com meal, or salt, or provisions of any kind, whether salt or frfsh. The act also forbade any person or corporation from buying these articles for purposes of speculation, and provided that all provisions of life should be sold at a price not to exceed thirty-three per cent, over the cost and charges. Germans of New York made an imposing demonstration in favor of Gen. Franz Sigel. Resolutions expressing the highest confidence in the general were passed, amid much speechmaking. Two companies of Federal cavalry, making a reconnoisance from Lexington, Missouri, captured several Confederate partisans who had been making them much trouble. They also recovered a large lot of horses, mules. Wagons, and commissary stores that had been taken from Col. Mulligan’s command, and a quantity of boots and shoes that had been seized on the steamer Sunshine. Col. Dietzler, In command of the Union troops at Lexington, Missouri, issued an oVder fop the arest of a number of prominent southern sympathizers of the town, whom he accused of having procured hirelings to assassinate his men. In the House of Representatives at Washington, Mr. Dunn of the Committee on Military reported a bill authorizing and directing the secretary of war to furnish the prisoners of the United States in the Southern states with clothing add other necessaries of life, and that he employ the neeessary agents for this purpose. The bill was passed. • - January 17, 1862, The Fortification bill, appropriating an aggregate of $5,960,000, passed the United States, House of Repreeentatives. Among the appropriations was $100,006 for Fort Knox, on Peaobsqot river ; SIOO,OOO for a fort on Hog lal-

and, in the harbor of Portland; $75,000 for Fort Warren and $50,000 for Fort Wfnthrop in Boston harbor, and SIOO,000 for the. fort In New Bedford mrbor. The appropriation also included the following, for 1862: $50,000 each for Forts Knox, Hog Island, Wlnthrop, New Bedford, and Adams, at Newport.’ ' Tim United States steamer Connecticut .overhauled and seized a schooner off Juniper Inlet, on the Florida coast. which proved to be the Emma, that had run the blockade at Apalachlcola the previous November. She had been at Havana with a cargo of cotton. The captain denied all knowledge of the Intentions of the owners, but the vessel was made a prize on the strength of papers found in her. Navigation on the Mississippi was entirely suspended by a gorge of ice that formed twenty miles below St. Louis. One hundred and fifty prisoners, released by the Confederates frpm the hospital in Richmond were brought to Fortress Monroe by Dr. Higginbotham. They had all been wounded, and were convalescent. A number of Confederate officers, prisoners at Fortress Monroe, were returned under a flag of truce. Cedar Keys, Florida, was captured by the Federate.

January 18, 1862. John Tyler, sometime president of the United States, died at Richmond, Va., aged 71. Until the climax in the secession movement he had been living on his plantation near Hampton, Va. The crisis had brought him of his retirement Like many other Virginians, he had endeavored to avert a disruption of the Union and to restore peace between the north and south. When his state finally seceded, he had gone with it, and at his death bis interests and sympathies were with the southern cause. Captain Phelps of the United States gunboat Conistoga engaged a wooded point in the Tennessee river, a short distance below Fort Henry, to a spirited manner. A number of trees were entirely destroyed. Captain Phelps was in the belief that the wooded point concealed a Confederate battery. He bad come from Cairo for the purpose of ascertaining the enemy’s strength. The Conistoga suffered no injuries. Captains Murdock and Webster returned to Cairo from an expedition to Bloomfield, Mo., where they had captured a small Confederate force and a number of officers. January 19, 1862. The Confederate force under Gen. F. K. Zolllcoffer and the Federate under Gen. George H. Thomas were heavily engaged throughout thq day near Mills Springs, Ky. The Confederates attacked with zest at half-past five in the morning, and had an initial advantage. As the day grew the Union lines stiffened and succeeded in driving the Confederates from-the field late in the afternoon. During the night the Confederates withdrew from their trenches and fell back across the Cumberland river. General Zolllcoffer was killed in the engagement. The Confederates lost 150 prisoners, ten guns, 100 wagons, ammunition, stores and hospital supplies. The Confederate blockade runner Lizzie Weston was taken by the U. S. gunboat Itasca off Apalachicola, Fla. She was trying to get out of her home port with 293 bales of cotton, bound for Jamaica, when she was overhauled and brought to by the Federal gunboat. She was sent to Phllar delphia in charge of a prize crew. Colonel William’s regiment of Pennsylvania cavalry passed through Munfordsville, Ky., on their way to their station on Green river. Their mounts were in poor condition.

January 20, 1862. In the pursuit and capture ,of the schooner Wilder, a Confederate blockade runner, at Mobile, Ala., crews of the blockading squadron came into sharp contact with a band of Confederate scouts ashore. The schooner was sent aground by her Ward, three miles below Fort Morgan, in an effort to escape the Union gunboats, which were chasing her. Crews from the gunboats went aboard the schooner in launches and began taking off her contraband cargo. When they were so engaged Captain Cottrill appeared with his company of scouts and opened fire. The sailors were driven into their launches and back upon the gunboats, which shelled the shore. Captain Cottrill stood his ground until night, however, when darkness permitted the Federal vessels to drag off the stranded schooner. The secretary of war of the United States ordered the appointment of two commissioners to visit the Confederate prisons in the south where Union prisoners were held, and “there take such measures as shall be needful, to, provide for the wants and contribute to the comfort of such prisoners at the expense of the United States and to such an extent as may be permitted by the authorities under whom such prisoners are held.” Dr. George Blaeknall, C. S. N., in charge of the Confederate, hospital at Norfolk, Va., died. The Richmond Examiner reported that Confederate soldiers in the Army of the Potomac had been disciplined by their officers, in extreme cases of insubordination, by being bung by their thumbs. The Examiner reprobated the practice as torture. . ——i (Copyright, 1912. by W. G. Chapman.)