Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 254, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 October 1912 — The CIYIL WAR [ARTICLE]

The CIYIL WAR

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

October 7, 1862. Lexington, Ky., was evacuated by the Confederates under Gen. E. Kirby Smith, who withdrew toward Cumberlang Gap. - -- {~ The monitor Nahant was successfully launched at Boston, Mass. A skirmish took place in the vicinity of Sibley’s Landing between a detachment of Union cavalry and the partisan forces of Quantrel and Childs, 'in which the Confederates were defeated. Col. Childs was taken prisoner. General McClellan issued an order to the Army of the Potomac calling attention to the emancipation proclamation, pointing out the fact that the execution of Federal laws was confined to the civil authorities, and that the army was Bimply to sustain those authorities. A fight occurred at La Vergne, Tenn., between a Union force of 2,500 under General Palmer and a Confederate. force under General Anderson, resulting in a defeat for the latter, who lost a number of prisoners, camp equipage, provisions, and munitions. The advance of the National forces under General George ' W. Morgan reached Frankfort, Ky. The bark Wave and the brig Dunkirk were captured and destroyed at sea by the Confederate" privateer Alabama, Captain Semmes. The Confederate steamer GeneralRuck, or Blanche, which had run the blockade with a cargo of cotton, was driven ashore by ( the United States steamer Montgomery near Havana Light, where she was burned by the crew. October 8,1862. The battle of Chaplin Hills, or Perryville, Ky., was fought between the Union army under General Buell and the Confederates under General Bragg. After a fierce struggle of several hours the Confederates withdrew behind Chaplin river, where Buell was contented to leave them unmolested. The loss was heavy sides. The Union generals Jackson and Terrell .were killed. Seventeen National government wagons, a number of sutlers’ wagons, and about 650 men of Gen. Sill’s advance column, under the command of Major Bradford, were captured in the vicinity of Frankfort, Ky., by the Confederate forces under Gen. E. Kirby Smith. A force of 17 Union cavalrymen dashed into Middleborough, London county, Virginia, and captured several wagons loaded with bacon belonging to the Confederates. October 9, 1862. *> The time allowed for by Commander Renshaw of the Union fleet off Galveston for the surrender of the city having expired, the commander proceeded to the city with a portion est the fleet, took possession, hoisted the Union flag over the courthouse, without opposition, the Confederates having (evacuated the place. A light took place in the vicinity of Lawrenceburg, Ky., between a Union force and Gen. E. Kirby Smith’s column, in which the Confederates were worsted after an engagement of five hours. c ~' A small body of General Siegel’s force captured in Aldie, Va., over 40 Confederate prisoners, several loads of bacon, and an ambulance. The Ericcson ironclad battery Montauk was launched at Greenpoint, L. I. The Confederates enforced the southern conscriptoin in West Virginia wherever they were in sufficient Strength. Every able-bodied man was carried Into the Confederate camps from Kanawha county. The Union boat Darlington, which left Jacksonville, Fla., on the 6th, returned from an expedition up the St. John’s river, bringing the Confederate steamer General Milton, which it bad captured 200 miles up. A squad of Union cavalry was badly whipped near Aldine, Va., by a superior force of Confederates. An expedition consisting of about 2,500 anion cavalry, supported by a battery of artillery, which left camp at Upton’s Hills on the 6th with a purpose of destroying -six locomotives on the Orange and Alexandria railway at Rappahannock Station, returned when it wsb learned that the locomotives had been removed to the ether side of the Rappahannock. October 10, 1862. The rear guard of General Bragg’s Confederate army was captured, at Harrodsburg, Ky., by a surprise. The number of prisoners exceeded 1,500. Lieutenant Colonel John Boyle of the Ninth Kentucky cavalry commanded the Unionforce that effected the surprise. Governor Harris of Tennessee issued an order requiring the enrollment within thirty days of all persons between the ages of eighteen and fifty-five. Gen. „J. E. B. Stuart’s Confederate cavalry entered Chambersburg, Pa., and destroyed over a quarter of a million dollars’ worth of government stores. One hundred Confederate partisans held Hawesvllle, Ind, for several hours. They were finally driven out by *he Connelton home guard*. Governor Letcher of Virginia issued

act es the Virginia legislature prohibiting the removal of salt from the limits of the state, and making provisions regulating its sale to people within the state; a measure made necessary by the scarcity of salt within the Confederacy. Henry Flairback of Colonel Bissell’s engineering regiment; Albert Bacon of the Fourteenth Illinois, and Robert Timmins of the Thirty-fifth Indiana, who were captured at the battles of Shiloh and Corinth, reached the gunboat Western World, blockading 80-’ doy Sound, Georgia, after having escaped from the Confederate, prison at Macon, Ga. They had been traveling sos seventeen nights, enduring many hardships. October 11, 1862. «* A body of Texas Rangers under Colonel Giddings was defeated In a brisk fight near Helena, Ark., by a detachment of the Fourth lowa cavalry. Colonel Giddings was taken prisoner. The ship Manchester, from New /York to Liverpool, laden with grain and cotton,' was captured on the high seas .by the Confederate privateer Alabama, and btimed. A force of three hundred Union cavalry, nnder Col. Mcßeynolds, descended on the Confederate Colonel Imboden’s camp, near Cacapon Bridge, about 17 miles from Winchester, Va., and captured one major, one lieutenant, twenty-five privates, thirty-three mules, eight horses, one thousand blankets, two brass cannon, five wagons, and Colonel Imboden’s. private papers. The Confederate gunboats Palmetto State, built at Charlestown through the efforts of the women of South Carolina, was formally named <; and dedicated. The schooner Elmira Cornelius was captured by the U. S. S. S. Restless while trying to run the blockade at Bull’s Bay, South Carolina Her captain ran her in shore, but she was got off. s *' Rumors of peace began to be mooted. The Richmond Enquirer of date said: ‘There are prospects of an early peace, which conclusion is founded on the results of the battles in Virginia and Maryland, and the campaign now progressing. The battle of Antietam was, to the Federal forces, the most terrible defeat of the war.” Fifty Confederate wagons loaded with ammunition, were captured in Kentucky by Union cavalry. A train of wagons, two pieces of artillery, and 350 Confederates, were taken by a large Union force near Versailles, Kentucky. The British schooner Revere, carrying military stores, was captured off Cape Fear, N. C. October 12, 1862. The Confederate general, J. E. B. Stuart’s cavalry, which had passed around the Union army under General McClellan, made good its escape across the Potomac at White’s Ford, near the mouth of the Monocacy river. During the day General Pleasanton, with 500 cavalry, harassed the Confederate rear, and engaged them in a sharp skirmish, but with no material losb on either side. Considerable excitement was created in Gainesville, Tex., by the discovery of a secret organization of Unionists, whose object was said to be to kill the secessionists, after which they were to remove to Missouri, taking with them whatever property they could carry, and bum the remainder. The militia was called out, and arrested 29 persons supposed to belong to the organization, two of whom'were Immediately hanged. I October 13, 1862. A successful reconnoißsance w:a made by a force of Union troops under general Stahel, in the vicinity of Paris and Leesburg, Va. More than a hundred prisoners were taken and paroled, Important information was obtained, and the command returned to headquarters at Centerville without losing a man. The Sixth Missouri returned to camp at Sedalia, Mo.; after a successful raid on several hands of partisans who had been making trouble in the vicinity. The partisans were temporarily dispersed* The expedition to Jacksonville, Fla., returned to Hilton Head, S. C., and announced the complete success of the adventure. The Confederate fortification at St. John’s bluff was captured, and a Confederate steamer. The Confederate Congress passed an act authorizing President Davis to suspend the writ of habeas corpus in certain cases. The Confederate house passed a bill making the penalty death for any Union soldier who might have In his possession, or endeavor to pass, counterfeit Confederate currency. The ship Tonawanda of Philadelphlav from Liverpool, captured by the Confederate privateer steamer Alabama on the ninth, was released and allowed to proceed on her way, there being no manner of providing for the considerable number of wbmen apC children captured on board of her. fCopyright. 1911. by W. Q. Chapman.)