Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 175, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 July 1912 — The CIVIL WAR FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK [ARTICLE]

The CIVIL WAR FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

I July 15s 1862. I A body of Union troops, under Major I Miller of the Second Wisconsin caval* L ry, attacked a superior force of Con* ■ federates at a point eight miles beyond | Fayetteville, Arkansas, with such sudI -».den savageness that the Confederates I were defeated. I The Confederate iron clad ram ArI kansas passed down the Yazod river I into the Mississippi and landed under I the batteries at Vicksburg, passing I through and receiving the fire of the r entire tlnion fleet of gunboats and I mortars. The ram returned the fire, I which did her no damage. She did I little harm to the fleet, beyond killI Ing and wounding a number of men I ten the gunboats. The- shot which ■ struck the ram in great number were i completely ineffective, crackling into | bits or bounding off into the water. I At about six o’clock in the evening I the entire Union fleet before VicksI burg got under way, and while the I mortar boats attacked the land batI teries the gunboats, in the hope of I sinking the Arkansa, poured their enI tke heavy broadsides into her, but I without effect. The bombardment | lasted for an hour, when the fleet dropped below the city and’anchored. I ’' The town of Henderson, Kentucky, I was entered by a band of Confederate I irregulars who broke into the,Soldiers hospital, which had been vacated and I removed to Evansville, Indiana, robbing it of blankets, sheets and pillow slips. Also, one embroidered bolster. |ln consequence of the difficulty of L securing small change, caused by the ,’jpneihium on specie, postage stamps wm*e spoken of as a substitute. Colonel Morgan with his band of irregulars visited Midway, Kentucky, at noon, tore up the railroad, and helped himself to what he could use. In the evening he visited Georgetown. Meetings were held in a number of cities to inspire enlistment. In most cases bounty was voted. yuly 16, 1862. General Halleck, on retiring from the command of the Army of the Mississippi, issued an address to the troops, expressing his high appreciation of the endurance, bravery, soldierly conduct, and patience they had exhibited on al! occasions during the campaign. The British schooner Agnes r was . centred off Abaco Island U. . 8. 8. 8. Huntsville, commanded hy ■ Lieut. Rogers. John B. Clark of the Confederate senate, having addressed a letter to the war department of the Confederate states, asking whether the “partisan rangers,” then active in great , numbers in every section of the war- ;■ ridden border, were to be considered as belonging to the Confederate Ejirmy, and whether the Confederate ' government would not claim for them the same treatment as prisoners as was exacted for prisoners of war; the secretary of war replied that partisan rangers were a part of the provisional army of the states in rebellion, and subject to the regulations adopted for its government, and entitled to the same protection as prisoners of war. William H. Aspinwall of New York 7 sent, his check for $25,290.60, to the war department, the sum representing ms personal share of the profit made by the firm of Howland and Aspinwall bn a contract for selling arms to the government. The secretary of war thanked Mr. Aspinwall, and eulogized “the disinterested and patriotic* spirit of a citizen who thus preferred the public welfare to private gain.” No check had been received from “SMr.-Howland up to the time of going to press. July 17, 1862. A detachment of the Union army, under General Pope, entered, the town of Gordonsvills, Virginia, unopposed, and destroyed the railroad, together with a quantity of Confederate supplies that had been gathered together .there. Gordonsville was at the junc**tion of the Orange and Alexandria and the* Virginia Central railroads. Morgan and his Irregulars captured Cynthiana, Kentucky, after a brusque fight with a superior force of Union soldiers. The British schooner William, captured off the coast of Texas by the National steamer De Soto, reached Key *'West. Major-General Halleck, having relinquished command of the Army of the Mississippi, left Corinth for Washington. , ■ A bill authorizing the issue of postal and other government stamps as currency and prohibiting private thanks from issuing curency below the denomination of one dollar, passed the house of representatives l , and was signed by the president The congress of the United States adjourned sine die. . Both branches of the common coun•\cil of LbuisviHe, Kentucky, adopted \Wn ordinance compelling the board of sbhool trustees of that city to require all professors and teachers in the public schools, before entering on their duties, to appear before the mayor and take oath to support the constitutions of the state of Kentucky Lwrt TO TOM g&tegv ,z, _ Gen. Nelson arrived at Nashville with large reinforcements and ae•v sumed command there. A reconnoitering party of ten men

of the second Kentucky Union cavalry narroWly escaped capture at the hands of Confederate irregulars Dear Columbia, Tennessee. July 18, 1882. The Confederate partisan Morgan, with his force of irregulars, terrorized Cincinnati by continuing to approach the city. Colonel Burbank, Thirteenth United States Infantry, assumed command of the military forces of the city, and issued orders directing all officers of the volunteer service to report to him. The governor of the state also issued an order calling for volunteers to serve for 30 days. The excitement in Cincinnatti pervaded the surrounding towns of Kentucky. At Kingston, North Carolina, two negroes were hanged by order of Col. Sol. Williams, C. S. A., having been found guilty of drumming up recruits for Burnside’s army. Colonel Solomon of the Ninth Wisconsin, at his encampment on Grand River, Arkansas, arrested Colonel Weer, commander of the Indian expedition, and assumed command. A severe skirmish took place near Memphis, Mo., between national volunteers and a force of Confederate partisans. A detachment of Morgan’s partisans entered Newburg, Ind., and made off with a large amount of property. Debate in parliament on a motion to mediate between the North and South resulted in the withdrawal of the motion, on an intimation from Lord Palmerston that the government was considering such a step, or was at least inclined to take such a step when opportunity seemed to make it possible. 'July 19, 1862.

An agreement was entered into between the governments of Denmark and the United States under which Denmark consented to receive at St. Croix, West Indies, all negroes rescued from slave traders by officers of the United States, and provide them with suitable clothing, instruction and shelter, and to employ them at wages for a period of five years. Many persons in New Orleans and vicinity, having ordered their slaves to “go to the Yankees,” thereby causing much annoyance to the national authorities, General Butler ordered that all. such declarations would be taken and deemed as acts of voluntary emancipation, and slaves sent away by their masters with such declarations, would be regarded and treated as manumitted and emancipated. Fifty-three men of the Third Michigan cavalry were captured near Boone* vine, Miss.

July 20, 1862. A body of cavalry belonging to King’s command left Fredericksburg, Va., on the night of July 19, and, after a forced march, made a descent' at daylight upon the Virginia Central railroad, at Beaver Dam creek, destroying the railroad and telegraph for several miles, and burning a depot containing 40,000 rounds of musket ammunition, 100 barrels of flour, and much other valuable property, besides capturing the Confederate captain who was guarding the place. This morning a slight skirmish occurred at Orange court house between a force of Union troops under command of Colonel Broadhead, First Michigan cavalry, and a body of Confederates. The Union force eventually entered the town, the Confederates having withdrawn. They returned in the evening W.h reinforcements, and Colonel Brodhead retired, swimming the Rapldan with his command and camping on the opposite bank. No one was hurt during the day. General Halleck left St. Louis for Washington. A skirmish occurred at Turkey Island Bridge near Haxall’s Landing, James river, Virginia, between a body of Confederate pickets and a squadron of the Eighth Pennsylvania cavalry.

July 21, 1862. A party of national pickets were captured on the Lebanon road, live miles from Nashville, Tenn., by a body of Confederate partisans. Three bridges were burned on the Chattanooga road, within eight miles of Nashville. The first anniversary of the battle of Manassas was celebrated by the Bde lodge of Masons at Dill's farm, at General Whiting’s headquarters, near Richmond, Va. An eulogy on the Confederate general Barnard E. Bee, who fell in the battle, was delivered by Rev. Dr. Stewart, »an Episcopal clergyman, who had been driven from Alexandria by the United States government for refusing to offer prayers for President Lincoln, j General Boyle, commanding United States forces in Kentucky, Issued an order from his headquarters in Louisville informing the Inhabitants of the state that no person hostile in opinion to the federal government and desiring its overthrow would be allowed to run as candidate for any office in the military district of Kentucky. The attempt of such a person to stand for office would be regarded as in itself sufficient evidence of his treasonable intent to warrdht his arrest. The work of recruiting the Union army, under the president’s call for 300,000 more troops, was progressing rapidly throughout the loyal states. Brigadier General Ross of the Union army issued an order from Ms headquarters at Bolivar, Tennessee, to all owners of slaves living within ten miles of the post, to forward to his headquarters three-fourths of their male slaves from sixteen to forty-five, to aid him in erecting fortifications. The Confederate steamer Reliance, commanded by Lieutenant Gladding, from Dobay Bar, Ga., with aload at cotton, was captured by the United States steamer Huntsville. (Copyright. m. by W. Q. Chapman)