Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 February 1912 — The CIVIL WAR [ARTICLE]

The CIVIL WAR

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

. - February 4» 1862. A lively skirmish occurred on the banks of the Accoquan, in Virginia. Captain Lowing of the Second Michigan, on picket duty in front of General Heitzleman’s position, took seven-ty-eight men from the regiment and started out in search of a body of' Confederates who had been reported to be in Pohick church. Not finding the enemy at the church the Federal soldiers proceeded to Occoquan, where they encountered them. A brisk fire was maintained for a time, when the Federate withdrew. J. P. Benjamin, secretary of war for the Confederates slates, Issued an order for the impressment of all salt petre found in the bands of any but the manufacturers or Confederate authorities, the same to be paid for at the rate of forty cents a pound. The order was made necessary by the extortion that had been practiced on the Confederate government by bands of speculators, who had obtained a corner on the commodity. The Richmond Examiner uttered a strong plea to the citizens of the south, asking them for more active support of the Confederacy, and warning them against too great security in their “recent victories. February 5, 1862. AU doubt whether the state of California would adhere to the United States was set at rest by the receipt of a message from Governor Stanford to Salmon P. Chase, secretary of the treasury. The message was- as follows: "I am instructed by a resolution of the legislature of California to inform you that this state will assume and pay into the treasury of the United States the direct tax of $254,538 apportioned to this state by the act of congress. (Signed) "LELAND STANFORD, “Governor of California." The British schooner Mars, ■with salt, was capturedoffFernandina, Fla., by the United States steamer Keystone State. Her charter party disclosed her intention of running the blockade. A small sum of money was found aboard, among it being bank bills and certificates of deposit in South Carolina and Georgia banks. Brig. Gen. T. F. Meagher, accompanied by General Shields and staff, formally took command of the Irish ’brigade, In the Union army of the -Potomac, amid great enthusiasm and great rejoicing df officers and men. .General Shields made an address to ,the troops. Jesse D. Bright was expelled from the senate of the United States.

'February 6, 1862. Fart Henry, on the Tennessee river, one of the important positions in the first line of Confederate defense, was <taken by a squadron of gunboats under Flag Officer Foote. General Grant, in command of an expedition that left Cairo against the fort, learning that the enemy intended to re-lnforce, ordered an immediate attack, before his entire force had come up. The infantry moved into position, one division to intercept retreat from the fort and preventtoesendlng-of re-inforce-meats, another to the high west bank, commanding the'works, and the third along the east bank, ready to assault or support the first division. At half past twelve the squadron, consisting of the iron-clad gunboats Cincinnati, Commander Stembel; Essex, Commander Porter; Carondolet, Commander Walker, and the St. Louis, Lieutenant Spaulding commanding, with the old gunboats Conestoga, Tyler and Lexington astern, in the secr ond division, steamed up the river and opened fire on the works. The fire was returned. At half-past one a shot entered one of the boilers on the Essex and put her out of commission, scalding and injuring twenty-nine officers and men, Including Commander Porter. A quarter of ;an hour later the Confederates, overpowered by the force of the fire against them, ceased practice and lowered their colors. Flag Officer Foote accepted the surrender. Twenty pieces of artillery, barracks and tents capable of accommodating 15DOO men and quantities of stores fell into the hands of the Union force. General Tilghman and twenty-nine prisoners were captured. The balance of the garrison escaped. The naval force, which bad alone been engaged, lost forty men killed or wounded. The United States house of representatives passed a treasury demand note bill, providing for the issuance of $150,000,000 in demand notes, which were to received as legal tender for all purposes. It became known as the Legal Tender act. The Burnside expedition,, having crossed a difficult bar, advanced on Roanoke island. Secretary Seward declined France’s offer of mediation. 1 February 7, 1862. General Lander’s Union force occupied Romney, Va. The place was without defense of any kindEleven companies of the Cameron dragoons, Colonel Friedman, left their eamp near Washington at four o’clock tn the morning for a reconnolssance . of the Confederate picket line in the vicinity of Germantown, near Fairfax Court House, Va. Approaching Germantown they suprised a Confed-

erate picket detachment in a horse and captured* it, after a'scrimmage in which Captain Wilson was shot through the ear and neck. The prisoners were brought back to camp. The town of Harper’s Ferry suffered severely at the hands of the Union artillery, which Opened fire with shell and caused the destruction of the Hotel Wager and several houses. The firing was precipitated by a misunderstanding over a flag of truce thartte Confederates displayed on the shore of the town. Perceiving the flag, Major Geary, fa command of the Union force, sent over a boat, which was fired upon by Confederate sharpshooters who were concealed in houses on shore and had not seen the flag of truce. Major Geary thereupon ordered his artillery to open on the town. After the bombardment had ceased, the Confederates displayed another flag, but the Union commander would not respond to It. The Confederate General Johnson anticipating an advance of the Union army, began the evacuation of Manassas. Fort Church and St. Mary, Ga., and Fernandina. Fla., were taken by thei Dupont expedition. February 8,. 1862. Roanoke island, North Carolina, with all its defenses, was captured by the combined naval and military force of the United States, under Commodore Goldsborough and General Burnside. The expedition had entered Roanoke inlbt the previous morning, engaging the Confederate gunboats and two batteries, Forts Bartow and Blanchard, on the Croatan river side of the island. The barracks in Fort Blanchard were set afire but no other considerable damage was inflicted on either side. Early in the morning the Union land forces advanced in three columns against Fort Barlow. General Porter, commanding, the center, moved down a road; General Reno moved through the swamps to take the enemy in the right flank, and General Parke moved through the swamp on the other flank. Both flanking parties arerived simultaneously, just in time to relieve the central column from severe pressure. The works were taken by assault of the two flanking columns. The Confederate squadron engaged the naval force again in the morning, but soon after the fall of Fort Barlow the entire Island, together with Fort Foster on the mainland, was surrendered. Three thousand prisoners, six batteries and quantities of stores were taken. The Union forces lost thirtyfive killed and two hundred wounded. Captain Smith of the Fifth Virginia cavalry surprised a squadron of Jenkin’s Confederate cavalry on Linn creek, Logan county, Virginia, and took them prisoners, after handling them roughly.

February 9, 1862. Brigadier General Charles P. Stone of the Union army was arrested in Washington at 2 o’clock in the morning by a posse of the provost marshal’s force and sent to Fort La Fayette, New York harbor. He was charged with misbehavior at the battle of Ball’s Bluff; with holding correspondence with the enemy before and after the battle of Ball’s Bluff, and of receiving Confederate officers in his tent; with treacherously permitting the enemy to build a fort ,or strong work without molestation under his guns since the battie of Ball’s Bluff, and of a treacherous design to expose his force to capture and destfuctroh by "toe enemy under pretense of orders for a .movement from the commanding general, which orders had not been Issued. Because he had Irrupted upon a private meeting in the chambers of the war department in the search for news, Doctor Ives, a correspondent of the New York Herald, was ordered under arrest by Secretary Stanton, charged with being a spy and with violating the rules and regulations of the war department. "Captain David Glasgow Farragut was appointed to the west gulf blockading squadron. Ericsson’s Monitor, a recent addition to the Union navy, and considered by naval constructors generally to be a ridiculous freak, appeared in Hampton road as the Merrimac was returning to destroy the remnant of the Union fleet, and put the iron-clad to flight after a heavy engagement at close range. The Monitor was conceded to have saved the national vessels from destruction.

February 10, 1862. The naval force connected with General Burnside’s expedition against Roanoke island, which had lately succeeded in capturing the Island, destroyed the efficiency of the Confederate fleet, which had escaped capture or destruction on the day when the island fell into the hands of the Union forces. Commander Rowan, with fourteen vessels, following the Confederate squadron, came up with it off Cobb’s point at 6 o’clock in the morning and attacked. Five of the Confederate vessels were beached and burned by their crews, two of them escaped and one was captured. The fort at Cobb’s point was abandoned, and Elizabeth City surrendered to Commander Rowan. ' General Hunter of the Union armyproclaimed martial law throughout Kansas and declared the crime of jayhawking should be put down Vito a strong hand and summary measures. Captain Smith’s Union force was engaged at Linn Creek, Va. ' General Banks’ army crossed the PdtomsicT ai Harper’s Ferry and advanced on Charleston, Va. (Copyright, 1912, by W, G. Chapman.)