Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 69, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 March 1912 — CIVIL WAR [ARTICLE]

CIVIL WAR

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

• March 11, 1862. Manassas, Va., recently vacated by ,the Confederates, was occupied by the National forces. The southerners had destroyed most of the works before they left, and such stores as they could not take with them. Bridges were burnt and railroad track torn 'Up, but the huts where the troops were quartered were not demolished. President Jefferson Davis issued an order suspending from their commands Generals Floyd and Pillow until they should give a more satisfactory account of the loss of Forts Hen* ■ry and Donelson, with a part of the garrison. The order intimated that the entire army might* have been saved by evacuation, and i criticised the conduct of the two commanding officers in turning over their commands to subordinates. A party of sailors from the U. S. S. 8. Pocahontas, landing near Brunswick, Ga., to obtain fresh beef, was fired upon by a body of Confederates as they pulled back to the ship and three of their -number killed. They were saved from heavier loss and possible capture by the fire of the gunboat Mohican. General Grant was presented with a beautiful sword by officers of his command at Fort Henry. He had applied to General Halleck to be relieved from his command because of slights and friction. President Lincoln assumed actively the functions of commander-in-chief ‘of the northern armies, issuing orders for the formation of army corps in the Army of the Potomac, and affecting the commands of several Union generals. L Colonel Geary, reconnoitering beyond Manassas, found the country devastated by the retreating Confederates. A burial party visited Ball’s Bluff and burled bodies of Union soldiers that had lain exposed since the preceding October. March 12, 1862. The First Nebraska and a part of Curtis’s lowa cavalry, under Col. W. W. Lowe, attacked 600 Confederates at Paris, Tenn., and defeated them, occupying the town. They subsequently retreated, having learned that a heavy force of Confederates was on the way. The Federal troops occupied Winchester, Va., during the day. A strong work a mile outside the town was found to have been evacuated the night before by General Jackson. There was no resistance, beyond two slight skirmishes. Sergeant Wade, with a squad of Caroling Light Dragoons, in a daring raid up to the Union lines, captured Lieutenant William T. Baum of Hooker's staff and a field telegrapher, Mr. Gregg. The capture was made one mile from the Evansport batteries. A petition from Kentucky asking the Senate to keep its hands off emancipation and attend to preserving the Union was presented in the senate by Mr.TSavis.'" Berryville, Va., was occupied by the Union forces under General Gorman. There was no resistance, but the Federal column was annoyed by Ashby’s Confederate cavalry. Jacksonville, Fla., was occupied by the national forces. March 13, 1862. Six companies of the Twenty-second New York, in camp at Newport News, made a reconnaissance along the Williamsport road, near the James river. . At the junction of the Big Bethel road crossing they encountered a large company of Confederates. The Confederates withdrew after a brief skirmish, finding themselves outnumbered. A foraging party of Union cavalry fell in with a party of Ashby’s cavalry near Winchester, Va., and Was driven back into the Union lines. ■ The forage which they had gathered before the appearance of jthe Confederate cavalry was brought off safely. General Banks, Federal, at Winchester, Va., Issued orders > prohibiting depredations of all kinds, and deeply regretting “that officers, in some casee from mistaken view, either tolerate or encourage’’ such a course. General Halleck, at St Louis, Mo., Issued an order assuming command of the department of the Mississippi, which included the departments of Kansas and Missouri, the department <>< Ohio, and all forces operating in I .the Mississippi basin. A battalion of the Fifth Ohio cavalry made a daring raid of 20 miles into Confederate territory in TenMobile and Ohio railroad 20 miles from Jackson, Tenn. The cavalry, which was commanded by MajCharles S. Hayes, narrowly escaped from a body of Confederate cavalry that appeared after the bridge was deLieutenant Colonel Bennet of the Fifty-first Pennsylvania, Lieutenant Riley of the Forty-sixth New York, and 8. H. Will, government agent and cotton broker, were captured by Confederate pickets on Edisto Island, South Carolina, and taken to Charles- . • s . ’ ’ ’• » ; A March 14, 1862. Two coast and harbor defense vessels, to be built on the model of the Monitor, were authorised by the MasGeneral Stoneman,

sauce from Manassas as Ar as Cedar Run, in Virginia, where the pickets of the Confederate army were encountered. The Confederates had destroyed two railroad bridges, but had not otherwise Injured the railroad. After a selge of several days conducted by the Union army and navy Tn conjunction, the Confederate General Polk was compelled to abandon his position at New Madrid, Missouri, on the Mississippi river, and retreat farther down the river. He was finally dislodged by a heavy battery placed close to his works on the night of the 12th by General Pope. General McClellan, in an address to the Army es the Potomac, explained the Inaction in which he had held them, stating that he was waiting until they should have become a perfect fighting machine. Telling them that they had then arrived at that state, he assured them that he would soon put them face to face with their enemy, and that the Army of the Potomac would proceed at once to crush the Rebellion. The forces operating under General Burnside and Commodore Goldsborough on the North Carolina coast fought a battle with the Confederates under General Lawrence O*B. Branch near Newbern, North Carolina. The army was landed two days before the battle, and marched, .along the railroad until it developed the Confederate batteries. The fleet was prevented from full co-operation by sunken vessels and cheveaux de fris placed in the river. The batteries were carried by storm; the last one after a particularly hard fight The Confederates retreated, leaving a number of heavy guns and stores in the possession of the Federal force. March 15, 1862. . Gunboats in the Potomac engaged in gun practice on a number of Confederate batteries guarding the river. In the morning the Island Belle entered Acquia creek and opened on the hill battery at the mouth of that stream. The battery replied. After an hour or two of firing, in which neither side was hit, thejsland Belle withdrew. Later in the day the Yankee and the Ancostia engaged a field battery at Boyd’s Hole for two hours, without result on either side. Paying a visit to the Washington navy yard for more ammunition, the Yankee returned to Acquia creek and engaged the hill battery, assisted by the Anacostia. One little bit of cabinet work was knocked off the Island Belle. So far as was known, no “ other damage was done during the day. A naval expedition composed of five gunboats, under Flag Officer Foote, left Cairo at seven o’clock and proceeded down the river to Hickman, Kentucky, where an unsuccessful attempt was made to capture some mounted pickets on the bluffs. A Federal reconnoitering party from Quantico Creek occupied Dumfries Virginia. The Confederates had withdrawn from the town, leaving some small quantities of ammunition which was found by the Federals. Gen. Lew Wallace’s division intercepted a Confederate troop train on the railroad from Corinth to Humboldt, in Kentucky, Tennessee, by burning-the bridge across the river at Purdy, McNaif county, and taking up the track for a long distance. The Confederate train arrived when the bridge was burning. March 16; General Garfield defeated a body of Confederates entrenched on the summit of the Cumberland mountains, in eastern HFennesßeer" Tke~ national troops, numbering six hundred, left their camp on the morning of the 14th and started for Pound Gap, 37 miles away. The distance was covered In something less than two days. The Confederates were taken entirely by surprise and were able to offer little resistance. Quantities of tents, stores and ammunition were captured, and 300 squirrel rifles. All that could not be carried back on the shoulders of the Federals was destroyed before the column returned. A battalion from the Fourth Illinois fell in with a company of Confederate cavalry near Pittsburg Landing and suffered a severe drubbing before they finally drove them off. The Federals ultimately retained the field, but with the loss of four men. « Martial law was declared ifi San Francisco, California, by General Wright, commander of the Department of the Pacific. Major Hiram Leonard was appointed provost mar® shall. The Times, of Nashville, Tennessee, suspended publication because of the restrictions placed upon free speech by Governor Johnson, recently appointed by President Lincoln as provisional governor of the state. The bark Glen, which had been blockaded in Beaufort, North Carolina, Tora~number of months by the Federal blockading squadron, was burned by the Confederates, who feared she would bp captured by Jfofe March 17, 1862. • The United States gunboat Cimerott was launched at Bordentown, New Jersey. A petition was presented in congress from citizens of New York asking congress to leave alone the question of slavery and devote its energy and ingenuity to the restoration of the Union. Gen. U. S. Grant resumed command in person of his Union force. He had three at Savannah and two at Pittsburg Landing. The Army of the Potomac began to embark ter Yorktown, changing its base from Fort Monroe. General McClellan planned to march up the peninsula to approach Richmond. . - Congress authorized the treasury to' buy bonds or notes at discretion. Demand notes were made legal tender. (Copyright, MU by W. G. Chapman.)