Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 240, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 October 1912 — CIVIL WAR FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK [ARTICLE]

CIVIL WAR FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

September 23, 1862. Three hundred Sioux Indians, under Little Crow, were defeated in an attack on Colonel Sibley’s command at jYellow Medicine, Minn. The battle lasted two. hours, with heavy loss to ithe savages. The city hall at New Orleans was crowded with citizens anxious to take ithe oath of allegianoe to the United States, the 23d being the last day permitted by the order of General Butler. The schooner Nellie was captured "by the United States steamer Alabama. Sutton, Ya., and neighborhood w*s the scene of brisk fighting throughout the day. In the morning an attacking force of Confederates were defeated and driven ten miles. Reinforced, it made a second attack on the National force and sent them to flight, driving them eventually from their original post at Sutton. Four hundred English rifles, marked "London, 1862," and an English cannon were seized by Colonel Switzer, who crossed from Maryland into Virginia at Reynold’s Ford with his Union regiment and A battery of artillery. The Confederate pickets guarding the military stores retired without firing a shot, being heavily outnumbered. Major General Wright, in a special order issued at Cincinnati 0., relinquished the severity of his martial control over the district lately threatened with invasion by the advance of Gen. E. Kirby Smith with a Confederate force, permitting the resumption of business without restriction, waiving the demand for passes to citizens, and suspending the daily drills. •• \ • September 24, 1862.

President Lincoln Issued a proclamation ordering that any person who discouraged enlistment, or resisted drafts, or was guilty of any disloyal practice affording aid or comfort to those In rebellion against the United States, should be subject to arrest and trial by court martial; and suspending the right of habeas corpus in such, cases. 1 Governor Curtin of Pennsylvania dismissed the militia, that had organized for the defence of the state during Lee’s advance into Maryland. 'JJhe plant of the American Volunteer, a paper published in Carlisle, Pa., was destroyed by a mob because of an editorial that reflected on President Lincoln and the administration. A convention of governors, meeting at Altoona, Pa., endorsed the Emancipation Proclamation, pledged continued support to President Lincoln, and Suggested the formation of a reserve army of 100,000 men. General Beauregard assumed command of the department of South Carolina and Georgia. , General Butler, commanding the Union occupation at New Orleans, issued an order directing that all former citizens of the United States that had refused to take the oath of allegiance, or who held or pretended ‘any allegiance to the Confederate states, should report themselves on or before the first of October to the nearest provost marshal, with a descriptive list of all their property, real, personal, and mixed, made out and signed by themselves, with as much ;particularity as for taxation. The Confederate senate adopted a seal for the Confederate States of America. September 25, 1862. . The Convention ofl governors adjourned from Altoona to meet in ■Washington. Sabine Pas, Texas, was attacked •and captured by the United States steamer Kensington, under the command of Acting Master Crocker, assisted by the mortar boat Henry Janes and blockading schooner Rachel Seamen. Judge T. W. Thomas, In the superior court, Elbert county, Georgia, in the case of James Lovingood, decided that the Confederate conscription act was unconstitutional, and that, therefore, the plaintiff was entitled to his liberty. * September 26, 1862. ■ . The Fifth and Sixth U. S. Regulars, with a battery of horse artillery, moving from / Bolivar Heights, Maryland, on a reconnoissance, approached within a mile and a half of Charlestown, where they encountered the Confederates in force and retired, after bkirimlshes in which they recaptured some horses taken by the enemy at the battle of Bull Run. A Udion reconnoitering force under Colonel McLean drove a body of Confederate cavalry out of Warrentown Junction, Virginia, and seized a small iQuantity of stores and supplies. In the Confederate house of repreisentatives majority and minority reports were submitted by the committee on foreign affairs to whom had been referred certain resolutions relisting to the policy of the war which -recommended to President Davis the 'issuing of a proclamation offering free •navigation of the Mississippi river and its tributaries, and opening the mar:ket of the south to the inhabitants of the northwestern states, upon certain iterms and conditions. General Bragg issued a proclamation.,, from Beardstown, Kentucky, addressed to the poo-

pie of northweeiern states, announcing that the motive and purpose of his anped presence was to afford them a free navigation of the Mississippi river. An attempt was made to capture the steamer Forest Queen at Ashport, Tennessee, hy & body of Confederate partisans under Colonel Faulkner.

September 27, 1862. • Two infantry and one cavalry regiments, under command of Colonel Toland of the 34th Ohio, made an Ineffectual attempt to capture Jenkins’ Confederate cavalry, in camp at Buffalo, on the Kanawha river, Virginia. His troops advanced in three directions from Point Pleasant. The center column surprised Jenkins’ cavalry, 500 strong, before the other columns arrived, drove them out of their camp, and captured and destroyed all their camp equipage, killing seven and capturing nine. They pursued them about a mile and a half, when the Confederates were reinforced by two regiments of infantry and three pieces of artillery. The National force then fell back. Maj. John J. Key was dismissed from the service of the United States for having replied to the question propounded to him: "Why was not the rebel army bagged immediately after the battle of Sharpsburg?” that 1t "Was not the game; that we should tire the rebels out, and ourselves; that that was the only way the Union could be preserved, we come together fraternally, and slavery be saved.” Augusta Key was captured by a force of Confederate irregulars, tinder Capt. Basil Duke. The home guard, under the command of Colonel Bradford, vigorously attacked the Confederates from the houses; but, being outnumbered, they were compelled tq. surrender, but not before killing and wounding a large number of the enemy. September 28, 1862.

The Confederate steamer Sunbeam was captured oft New Inlet by the U. S. gunboats State of Georgia and Mystic, while attempting to run the blockade at Wilmington, North Carolina. She had a cargo of gunpowder and brandy, valued at a quarter million dollars. Three companies of Union cavalry and a battery of two brass howitzers, under command of Col. Charles C. Dodge, made a reconnolssance from Suffolk, Virginia, to a point on the Blaekwater river, 25 miles distant, putting a body of Confederate infantry to flight after a sharp engagement September 29, 1862. Gen. Jefferson G. Davis sl/ot Gen. William Nelson at the Galt House, in Louisville, Kentucky, killing lim almost instantly. A of Union cavalry, under command of Lieutenant Colonel Karge, reconnoltering from Centerville, Virginia, to Warrenton, captured and paroled more than 1,600 Confederates, some of whom were on duty and others In hospital. A resolution submitted in the Confederate house of representatives at Richmond by Mr. Semmes, of Louisiana, characterized President Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation as “a gross violation of the usages of civilized warfare,” as well as “an invitation to an atrocious civil war.” He urged that It should be counteracted by such severe retaliatory measures as, in the judgment of President Davis, “might be best calculated to secure Its withdrawal or arrest Its execution.” In the .discussion following, a suggestion was made that the “black flag” should be xaised, and no quarter given in the war. Major-General Halleck Issued a circular to the governors of the statesasking them to fill the vacancies of commissioned officers who had fallen in battle by the appointment of noncommissioned officers and worthy privates. A force of Union cavalry, crossing the Potomac into Virginia at Shepardstown, discovered that the Confederates stil Iheld their position at Winchester, and did not molest them. Brigadier General Rodman died of wounds received in the battle of Antletam. (Copyright, 1912, by W. G. Chapman.)