Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 136, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 June 1912 — The CIVIL WAR [ARTICLE]

The CIVIL WAR

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

May 27, 1862. A portion of Gen. Fitz-John Porter's corps engaged and defeated a force of Confederates near Hanover Court House. The Confederates were reported to have lost five hundred prisoners and 100 killed. The steamer Gordon of Nassau was captured by the gunboats State of Georgia and Victoria while attempting to run the blockade at Wilmington. The schooner Andromeda, from Sabine Pass, was captured off Mariel, Cuba. -j Colonel Purcell of the Tenth lowa regiment reported having met and defeated a brigade of Confederates near 'Corinth, Miss., in a slight engagement . . .. •. --. _i The schooner Lucy D. Holmes was captured by the U. S. S. S. Santiago de Cuba on the coast of Georgia, having run the blockade of Charlestown, S. C., the night before. General McClellan, complaining that ..newspaper correspondents divulged information of the intended movements of the Union troops in the press despatches, asked the war department to issue an order holding editors responsible for the publication of such news. The president sent a message to the house of representatives of the United States defending his conduct of the war, and stating that the censure which had been passed on former Secretary Cameron was deserved as well by himself and the other members of the cabinet. The gunboats Stepping Stone and Coeur de Leon, making a reconnoissance up the Appomatox river, were driven back to City Point by the reception they met from Confederates on the bank of the stream. May 28,1862. A public meeting was held in Richmond, Va., to form a company of Home Guards for the defense of the city. The legislature of Virginia appropriated the sum of $200,000 to defray the expenses of moving the women and children' from the city. Mrs. Jefferson Davis was sent under care of ex-Senator Gwin to Haleigh, N. C. Three strong columns, commanded by Gens. Thomas, Buell and Pope, advanced and reconnoitered within gunshot of the Confederate works at Corinth. The Confederates slowly withdrew before the pressure of the columns. The loss was light on each side. Lieutenant Colonel Sickles, in command of the Ninth Illinois cavalry, had a skirmish with Confederate cavalry near Cache River Bridge, in Arkansas. Two other slight skirmishes occurred in the vicinity during the day. The U. S. mail steamer Northern Light, under command of Captain Tlnklepaugh, 'captured the Confederate Bchooner Agnes H. Ward of Wilmington, sailing on the high seas, under the Confederate flag and carrying a valuable cargo of southern products to Nassau. The mail steamer took her in tow for New York. General Shepley, military commandant at New Orleans, issued an order forbidding the citizens to pray for the ' 'dsstroetfon of the Union or the constitution of the United States, or for success to the Confederate arms. They were otherwise permitted to worship God. Pierre Soule was ari rested In the city by order of General {Butler. * May 29, 1862. The English steamer Elizabeth was captured off Charlestown by the U. S. S. S. Keystone State. The public debt of the United States was $491,445,984, at an average inters est of 4.35 per cent. Captain Frlsbee’s force of cavalry captured, near Neosho, Mo., two Confederate colonels, one lieutenant collonel, two jayhawkers, a number of •guns and revolvers, a train of forage, {fifteen horses, three mules and a dog, which they proceeded to kick around (the town. Federal cavalry found valuable stores and cars full of flour on the tracks at Ashland, Va., abandoned by the Confederates in their retreat. Some other cars had been rescued by being pushed by negroes to the crest of a ridge, whence they ran by gravity three miles toward Richmond. Brigadier General Schofield Issued {severe orders- against guerrillas and partisan fighters in Missouri, stating that al! such would be shot down on sight, and that all citizens who did not help in the capture of the marauders would be treated as alders tend abettors of their crime. The publication of the New Orleans !Bee was resumed, a satisfactory explanation having been made General TJntted States valry LuiUm! jbridge five hundred feet long over the Army of tli So {Crates. .VjV.-----

Judge James H. Burch, running for ! governor of Missouri, was Arrested at Rolla, for lnadvertant remarks in « political speech. It was suspected that he was 'Endeavoring to obtain votes of sympathizers with secession. The English iron steamer Cambria arrived at Philadelphia, having been captured by the U. S. S. S. Huron after a chase of five hours off Charlestown, S. C. She was from Liverpool for Charlestown, via Nassau, with rifles, liquor and saltpeter. " General Stonewall Jackson, continuing his demonstrations in the Shenandoah, advanced as f«r north as Harper’s Ferry, which place he threatened for several hours during the day. The Confederates were driven out of Front Royal, Va., by a Union brigade, which made a surprise attack early in the morning. The Confederates retreated without quantities of stores and transportation they were guarding in the town. Thirteen members of the Eleventh Pennsylvania volunteer cavalry were captured near Zunl, Va. May 31, 1862. A body of Illinois militia was attacked and stampeded by a force of Indians and Confederates near Neosho, Mo. They reached Mount Vernon with a loss of only two killed and three wounded, where they found a portion of the Tenth Illinois cavalry. The enemy, commanded by Colonel Coffee and Major Thomas Wright, took a number of guns, overcoats, ammunition, camp equipage, and fifty horses that fell behind. The schooner Cora was captured off the Charlestown bar by the U. S. S. S. Keystone State. The gunboat Kennebec arrived at Baton Rouge, La., with a force of Federal troops. General Butler, commanding the department of the Gulf, Issued an order for the hanging of six Confederate soldiers charged with having violated their, paroles. Part of General Banks’ command advanced beyond Martinsburgh, Va. A reconnoissance In force was made at Winton, N. C., by General Viele of the National army. There was a sharp skirmish on the Greenville road, eight miles above Washington, N.C., in which the Federal force was left with the advantage. At noon the main body of the Confederate army defending Richmond, under General Joseph Johnston, attacked the left wing of the Federal army at the Seven Pines and Fair Oaks, and a desperate battle ensued, in which the National forces were steadily pressed *back. At night the Confederates occupied the tents of the Fourth corps. The situation was regarded as critical for the Army of the Potomac, on its way to capture Richmond. June 1, 1862. The struggle between McClellan’s Union army, campaigning against Rich, mond, and the Confederates, was resumed in the morning at Fair Oaks, Va. The Confederates were finally defeated and compelled to withdraw toward Richmond. General Fremont’s advance brigade, looking for the Confederate general, Stonewall Jackson, whose force's had be-a operating in the Shenandoah, occupied Strasburg without meeting resistance. A midnight reconnaissance developed the enemy’s rear guard, and retii ed with a small loss. The Union expedition sent out from Corinth by General Pope on the 28th of May returned to that place after destroying stretches of the Mobile and Ohio railroad, burning a railroad train loaded with Confederate supplies, destroying ten thousand stands of small arms and three pieces of artillery, and capturing two thousand prisoners, who were released on parole. The Confederate fortifications at Pl# Point, Va., and the barracks in the vicinity were destroyed. 7he Union forces under command of Brigadier General Wright, which succeeded in penetrating from Edisto Inlet to Seabrook’s point, S. C., on the 31st, had a series of skirmishes with the Confederate pickets lit the vicinity and compelled them to retreat. June 2, 1862. Jacksonport, Ark., was visited by a Confederate gunboat which destroyed the wharf-boat and all the cotton and molasses to be found, after shelling the camp-ground recently deserted by the Ninth Illinois cavalry. Mass meetings were held at Memphis, Tenn., at which resolutions were adopted against surrendering the city to the Federal forces. Although the city had already sent seventy-two companies Into the field, every man capable of bearing arms was called upon to repair to the defense of Fort Willow. A committee was appointed to collect men, money and arms. Two boats belonging to the United States bark Kingfisher were captured by a body of Confederates as they were proceeding up the Ocilla river, in Florida, for water. Two of the boats' crews were killed and two wounded. A party of National scouts captured the mate and six seamen belonging to, the Confederate gunboat Beauregard, at a point nearly opposite Felton, Mo. The Union forces under Major General Hunter, operating against Charlestown, S. C., landed on James Island under cover of the gunboats without opposition. The Union fleet of gunboats in the James river got aground in moying up the river from their anchorage before City Point, and suffered from the fire of Confederates that gathered on the blu? fringing the river. The enemy *as dislodged by gun fire, and the fleet floated at the next high tide. A portion «f General Fremont’9 Union force came up with General Jackson’s rear guard between Straserates continued their retreat,