Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 91, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 April 1912 — The CIVIL WAR [ARTICLE]

The CIVIL WAR

FIFTY YEARS AGO . ; - THIS WEEK

(April 8, 1882. ' * : Island Number Ten, on the Mississippi river, which surrendered the day before, was occupied by the Federal force under General Buford. Island Number Ten was the northernmost point on the river held by the Confederates, and its loss severely weakened their defame of the river. Seventeen officers and five hundred sick soldiers were captured by the occupying troops. Seven Confederate steamers, Including the Grampus, were taken or sunk. - General Pope, In pursuit of the garrison that had evacuated Island Number Ten, came up with them and captured three generals, six thousand soldiers, Immense quantities of stores, one hundred siege pieces and several field batteries. President Jefferson Davis proclaimed martial law over the district of Easter*. Tennessee, under command of Maj.-Gen. E. Kirby Smith, and the suspension of all civil jurisdiction except in certain counties, and also the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. The distillation and sale of spirituous liquors was prohibited. The Union General Milroy occupied Monterey, Va. The rear guard of the Confederate army was at McDowell. Their mounted scouts were driven in on Wednesday by a skirmishing party from General Miltoy’s command. April 9,1862. General Doubleday, In command of the Union defences on the Potomac, Issued orders prohibiting officers In his command from surrendering negroes to claimants without his authority. Colonel Wright of the Sixth Missouri cavalry returned to Cassvllle, Mo., from a raid through the southwestern part of Missouri In whleh he bad broken up several bands of partisans and captured their commanders. Large sums of money were raised throughout the northern states for the relief of the wounded at Pittsburg landing. The Thirteenth Georgia* repulsed a Michigan regiment In a skirmish near Whitemarsh Island, near Savannah, G&. The Conscription hill passed the Confederate senate. Andrew Johnson, provisional governor of Tennessee, issued an executive order declaring vacant the offices of mayor and most of the council of Nashville, Tenn„ the Incumbents having refused to take the oath of allegiance. Jacksonville, Fla., was evacuated by General Wright, commander of the National forces that lately occupied the place. Edwin M. Stanton, secretary of war of the United States, Issued an order to all chaplains In the army commanding them to return thanks to the Almighty for the great victories recently achieved by the Federal armies. April 10, 1862. The Confederate Senate passed a bill authorizing the issue of five millions in treasury notes of the denomination of one dollar and two dollars. The women of the South were thanked In a Joint resolution for their contributions to the army. President Lincoln Issued & proclamation recommending the people of the United States to give thanks to 'Almighty God for the recent victories of the national arms. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War of the United States, Issued the following order to the military supervisor of telegraphs: YYou are directed to stop , all telegraphic communications to the •Philadelphia Inquirer, until satisfactory proof is furnished to this department that the recent publications respecting operations by the army at •Yorktown were duly authorized.” It was also Ordered that all Applications for passes by newspaper corespondents should he referred to the military supervisor of telegraph. The editor of the Inquirer stated that the despatch to which exception was taken had been countersigned by General [WooL ,>.A reception was given at the Academy of Music in New York city to the crews of the frigates Cumberland and IMerrimac, lately sunk In Hampton Hoads by the Merrlmac. The national forces opened a bombardment on Fort Pulaski, after the refusal <of Colonel Olmstead to surjrender, who stated that he was placed there “to defend, and not to surrender the fort” Firing was continued throughout the day. 1 Humphrey Marshall called out the militia ot five Virginia counties to repel the Invasion erf the National troops. ' ■ ‘ ' • Franklin’s division of McDowell’s corps was ordered to join McClellan. April il, 1662. Fort Pulaski surrendered to the national forces. At the end of the bombardment of the previous day General Gilmore, commander of the attacking forest observing the effects of the Union missiles, decided to plant more guns at the Goat Point batteries, within a mile from the fort The work was done under cover of night By midnight the newly installed guns wore ready to open, and kept up a slack fire until morning, when it was found they <h* fort* By noon the breeches'wwe

extensive, and at half-past two the Confederate flag was hauled down. Three Confederates were wounded In the two days’ firing. ' The bill to emancipate slaves In the district of Columbia passed the House. John J. Crittenden made a powerful protest against agitating the question of slavery. Lieut J. G. Baker, U. 8. N., on board the Confederate prise schooner Bride with an armed crew, captured the Confederate sloop Wren at Shark's Point Virginia. Huntsville, Alabama, an Important point of railroad communication between the southern states, was occupied by die national forces under General Mitchel early In the morning. The Union soldiers made'a forced march of eighteen hours and surprised the town? The Confederate ironclad Mdrrimac appeared In Hampton Roads again with six smaller craft, returning to shelter after brief maneuvers, which resulted in the capture of several small Union craft There was skirmishing In the vicinity of Yorktown during the day. General Halleck arrived before Cor*fnth and superseded General Grant April 12, 1862. The Nassau (N. P.) Guardian, for the encouragement of "the trade that has recently grown up, and which, if fostered, may attain much wider proportions,” printed a list of vessels that had arrived there after passing the blockade of the southern ports. The paper mentioned that the arrivals from the Southern states were more numerous than those from the Northern states, where the trade was free of blockade. Negro soldiers who had served In the Confederate garrison at Fort Pulaski were declared confiscated, and set free, in a fenerai order Issued by General Hunter, U. S. ALowry’s Point batteries on the Rappahannock, Virginia, were evacuated by the Confederates. General Mitchel, who had taken Huntsville, Alabama, from the Confederates the day before, seized and held a hundred miles of the Charlestown & Memphis railroad. Quantrell, the partisan fighter operating in Missouri, narrowly escaped capture by a body of Union soldiers sent against him. The national troops came up with his band near the Little Blue river, killed five, and took seventeen. Quantrell, whose horse was shot under him, escaped by swimming across the river. The Union picket line near Monterey, Virginia, was driven two miles by a Confederate attack. Several companies coming to the support of the pickets, a lively skirmish ensued, without permanent advantage to either side. The U. S. revenue steamer‘Reliance arrived at Baltimore with four captured Confederate sloops. April 13, 1862. A force of four thousand National soldiers left Pittsburg Landing In five transports and proceeded up the Tennessee river, accompanied by the gunboats Tyler and Lexington. Landing near Eastport, Miss., they proceeded to Bear Creek bridge, where they destroyed two railroad bridges on the Mobile and Ohio. The bridges were guarded by a cavalry force of 100 Confederates, who escaped. The U. 8. S. 8. Hercules, Lieut. Thomas 8. Dungan, captured the Confederate sloop Velma. A large mall, part of which was addressed to persons In Baltimore, was taken. It was found that the Velma had cleared from Pokomoke Bound, VA, on the eastern side of the bay, In loyal territory, but that she had discharged her cargo in the Wicomico river, within the boundaries of belligerent Virginia. The master of the vessel declared himself a Confederate, asserting that "he would rot In prison” before he would take the oath of allegiance. ' The Union gunboat flotilla, under Commodore Foote, on Its way down , the Mississippi to Fort Pillow/ was attacked by five Confederate- gunboats at Needham’s Cut-off, forty-five miles below New Madrid. The Confederates were compelled td retire before superior force. Major General Halleck, In a dispatch from Pittsburg Lauding to Secretary Stanton, recommended that General Sherman be promoted to a majorgeneralship for his services at th& battle on the 6th and 7th of April at Pittsburg Landing. Halleck made no mention of Grant In bis message coinmending Sherman, whom he credited with having “saved the fortunes of the day on the 6th, and contributed largely to the glorious victory of the 7th.” April U, 1862. The Union Potomac flotilla made a raid np the Rappahannock river as far as Urbana, four miles below Fredericksburg: An attempt to land at Urbana was frustrated by Confederates, in rifle pits. The evacuated batteries at Lowry's Point were shelled by the entire fleet, driving out the pickets who had been left as caretakers. The boats' crews landed and burned two hundred shanties, used by the Confederates as quarters. Tappahannock, two miles above, was captured by 'the discharge of a blank cartridge, and a flag run up over the fcrgest house in town, there being no public building appropriate for the purpose. Learning of a threat to haul the flag down as soon as the fleet should pass on, the commander notified that If that happened he would burn the town. He was Informed at Tappahannock that obstructions bad been placed In the river which would prevent the boats penetrating to Fredericksburg, where were three Confederate vessels, mounting two guns in all, which the fleet had coma to cap tore. .