Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 194, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 August 1912 — The CIVIL WAR [ARTICLE]

The CIVIL WAR

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

August 5, 1862. 'Recruiting for the old and new regiments under the call of President Lincoln for 300,000 "men was carried on •with great vigor throughout the north, citizens of every state making extreme efforts to bring their state’s enlistment up to the full quota. The war department of the United States issued an order exempting from the recent order for a draft all men wrho had actually been employed in constructing or operating telegraph lines at the time the draft order was issued. The exemption was made on the basis that the telegraph lines, being used for military purposes, were in a way,a part of the military serv- . ice,-- • ' ' - ■ ! \- v: : . The battle of Baton Rouge, La., was fought between a force of Confederates under General Breckenridge and Nationals under Gen. Thomas Williams. The Confederates, attacking at daylight, precipitated a savage conflict in whieh the National troops were driven from their position in considerable confusion. Later they rallied and returned to the attack, finally succeeding in dislodging the Confederates from the camp they had lately captured. ....... . , A reconnoiterlng force of Union troops under General Hooker encountered a body of Confederates stationed on Malvern Hill, Virginia. After a fight lasting two hours, the Confederates withdrew in good order, leaving Hooker on the hilL \ August 6, 1862. Citizens of Point Pleasant, Mo., came Into conflict with the state militia through resisting the draft. Major Montgomery, at the head of a ■mall force of Union troops, fell in with a band of Confederate partisans near Montevallo, Mo., and succeeded in driving them off, after a sharp skirmish. W. D. Porter, commanding a division of the Mississippi gunboat fleet, attacked and destroyed the Confederate ram Arkansas a few miles above Baton Itouge. . The editors and publishers of the Patriot and Union of Harrisburg, Pa., were arrested charged with issuing treasonable posters calculated to retard recruiting. Brig. Gen. Robert L McCook died as the result of wounds received from a band of Confederate guerrillas that attacked the ambulance in which he was riding from Athens to Dechard, Tenn. Skirmishes lasting two days near Tazewell, Tenn., were terminated on the 6th by the withdrawal of the Confederates. Col. Thomas C. Johnson, aid to the Confederate General Price, issued the following call to the citizens of Mississippi: “I am in your midst for the purpose of procuring shoes and yarnsock : for General Price’s army. Some of his veterans —men who have been in six or eight pitched battles and twenty skirmishes—are today destitute of these articles.” August 7, 1862. At Blackburn, England, a large public meeting was held to consider the advisability of recognizing Ihe Southern States of America, With a view to bringing about an early termination of hostilities. A resolution was presented before the meeting asking the Queen to join with other European powers in intervention. A substitute . resolution wsb finally adopted urging the British government to Join with other European powers in urging the contending sections of the United States to submit their differences to arbitration. The Confederate expedition to New Mexico, under Col. Sibley, was met near Fort Filmore by a body of California troops commanded by Colonel Canby. The Confederates were defeated. Colonel Sibley was assassinated by his own men, who accused him of drunkenness and inefficiency. Captain Faulkner’s command of Confederate cavatey, encamped in a swamp near Trenton, Tenn., was'surprised by a detachment of the Second Illinois cavalry and lost 30 killed and 20 wounded. Colonel McNeill, with a force of t,OOO National troops, defeated the Confederate partisan Porter at Kirksville, Mo. Major Montgomery, with a body of Union troops, defeated the Confederate partisan Coffin in Dodd county, Missouri. . \ Malvern Hill was abandoned by the Union troops under General Hooker, information having been received that an overwhelming force of Confederates under Gen. A. P. Hill was advancing toward that pltfce. August-8, 1862. General Roußseau of the Union army issued the following order at Huntsville, Alabama: “Almost every day murders'are committed by lawless bands of robbers and marauders firing into railroad trains. To present this or to let the guilty suffer ;with the innocent, it is ordered that .the preachers and leading men of the churches (not exceeding "twelve In umber) in and about Huntsville, who ave been active secessionists, be arrested and kept in custody, and that one of them be detailed each day and placed on board the train on the road running by way of Athens and taken to Elk river and back, and that a de-

tail be made and taken to Stevenses and back. Each detail shall be in the charge of a trusty soldier, who shall be armed, and not allowed to communicate with any person.” “Certain non-descripts’’ of Richmond, Va, through their counsel, respectfully presented to the Confederate congress a remonstrance against the conscription law of the Confederate government. Lord Palmerston, referring to the war in America In a speech at a banquet given by the mayor of Sheffield, said that the government had thought it their duty to advise their sovereign to preserve a strict and rigid neutrality. . . .. He was convinced that the course which the British government had pursued was the only course which became that country, and that it had received, and would cohtlnue to receive, the approval and sanction of the British people. August 9, 1862. An order issued from the war department of the United States to prevent the evasion of military duty and suppress disloyal practices, and authorizing the arrest of persons discouraging enlistments. At Macon City, Mo., twenty-six Confederate prisoners were shot for violating their paroles. Hundreds of citizens of the west and other portions of the loyal states were reported to have fled into Canada to escape the draft Several persons were arrested At Baltimore while attempting to escape. Colonel McNeill with a Union force overtook Porter's irregulars at Stockton, in the western part of Macdn county, Missouri, and defeated them, capturing a number of prisoners, among whom were many who had taken the bath of allegiance and given bonds. The National forces under General Banks engaged the Confederates under General Jaokson at Cedar mountain, eight miles from Culpepper Court House, Virginia. The battle lasted two hours. The Confederates withdrew from the field at the end dt that time. The Nationals lost 1,600 men in killed, wounded and missing. The secretary of war issued an order directing the governors of the loyal states to proceed forthwith to furnish their quota of the 300,000 men asked by President Lincoln. He also ordered an of all ablebodied citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty-five. At New Fairfield, Conn., five persons mutilated themselves to escape the draft, some by having their right fore-finger cut off, and others by having all their teeth extracted. August 10, 1862.

Edwin M. Stanton, secretary of war of the United States, issued the following order: “The temporary restrictions upon travel, deemed necessary to prevent evasions of liability to be drafted into the militia, were not intended to apply' to couriers with dispatches to and from the legations of friendly powers, in the United States. All authorities, civil and milltary, are consequently required .to allow such couriers to pass freely, without let or investigation.” The national steamer Freeborn arrived at Washington, D. C., bringing twenty-five prisoners, five sailboats, a number of canoes, and a lot of merchandise which was captured on Friday and Saturday nights previous near Blackinston Islands. The prisoners had been engaged in regular commerce between Maryland.and Virginia, taking over salt, etc., and bringing back wheat. Commander Richard Wainwright, U. S. N., died at New Orleans. A Confederate steamer was captured at the mouth of the Savannah river, Georgia, by a Union tugboat, and towed under the guns of Fort Pulaski. The town of Donaldsville, Louisiana, was partially destroyed by a party of men from the United States sloop of war Brooklyn. August 11, 1862. A number of citizens of Baton Rouge who had been permitted to retain their arms, having been found dead on the battlefield near that place, General Butler, commanding the Union occupation of Locisiana, issued an order depriving all oitizens of their arms. Bayou Sara was occupied by the national forces, who seized all the sugar and molasses in the place. A body of irregulars Colonel Hughes defeated the Seventh Missouri Union'cavalry and captured the town of Independence, Mo. A party of Jeff. Thompson’s irregular Confederate cavalry surprised a body of Union troops near Helena, Arkansas, but were driven off. A detachment of the 11th Illinois cavalry attacked and dispersed a body of Confederate partisans at Salisbury, Tennessee, near Grand Junction. A series of skirmishes occurred near Williamsport, Tennessee, between a body of Union troops under Major Kennedy and Confederate Irregulars. . . Union cavalry under Colonel Guitar defeated a force of Confederate partisans under Colonel Poindexter near Compton’s Ferry, on Grand River, Missouri. There was a skirmish between Union troops under Colonel Smart and Captain Cobb’s Confederate irregulars near ReelßvHle, Calloway county, Missouri. General Butler confiscated all the property in New Orleans of John 811dell, an officer in the Confederate government. Colonel McGowan, with a Union force, defeated guerrillas near Kinderbook, Tenn. (Copyright, 1912, by W. G Chapman.)