Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 264, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 November 1912 — The CIVIL WAR [ARTICLE]

The CIVIL WAR

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

October 21, 1862. A reconnoissance in force was made by Union troops under General Geary into Loudon county, Virginia. Thomas R. Smith was sqpt to Tennessee by President Lincoln to make personal offer of amnesty on behalf of the citizens of the state who might want to renew their allegiance so the United States. Mr. Smith was authorized to invite the people of the state to return to the Constitutional government by electing congressmen, state officers and a United States senator. A Union meeting was held in Beaufort, North Carolina, and resolutions passed indorsing President Lincoln’s .Emancipation Proclamation. The Union army under General Schofield left Pea Ridge in pursuit of the Confederate force, who were rapidly withdrawing from the state of Arkansas. Forty Confederate irregulars, under the leader Haywood, were captured by the Second Illinois cavalry at Woodville, Tennessee. A fight between loyal Indians and tribes allied with Confederates took place at Fort Cobb, Indian Territory. The Confederates were defeated, and the leader, Colonel Leper, a white, was killed. v October 22, 1862. General Blunt, with a division of the .“Union army, attacked a Confederate ! force at Old Fort Wayne, Arkansas, and defeated them, after a hard fight, capturing all their artillery, a number of horses, and a portion of their camp and garrison equipage. The Confederates retreated toward Fort Smith. General Schofield, with a division of Union army, drove the Confederates under Gen. Hindman through Huntsville, Arkansas, to a point beyond the Boston mountains. An expedition of Union troops, gunboats, and transports, which left Hilton Head the day before under Gen. J. M. Brannan by way of Coosahatchie and Pocotaligo rivers to destroy track on the Charleston and Savannah railroad, failed of its main purpose. It destroyed stretches of track, but was prevented by Confederates forces frcm demolishing two bridges that were its principal objective. A sharp fight took place near Van Bureu, Arkansas, between a Union force under Major B. F. Lazear and a body of Confederate irregular cavalry under Boone, in which the latter were defeated, with considerable discomfiture. The Twenty-Fourth Texas rangers captured a train of thirty wagons belonging to the Fifth and Ninth Illinois cavalry, near Helena, Arkansas. The Union pickets were driven from their post in front of Nashville in a skirmish with Confederate pickets. The British brig Robert Bruce, of Bristol, England, was captured off Shalotte Inlet, North Carolina, by the United States gunboat Penobscot, while attempting to run the blockade. Two squadrons of the Fourth Pennsylvania cavalry made a reconnoissance in the vicinity of Hedgeville, Virginia. Captain Duncan drove the Confederate pickets into the town, taking nineteen prisoners, including three officers. October 23, 1862. *V The British schooner Francis, of Nassau, was captured off Indian river by the blockading squadron when attempt* lng to run the blockade. The Confederate authorities at Richmond were notified that aliens, claiming the protection of foreign flag, would not be allowed to go north on the flag-of-truce boats. A reconnoitering party of Union cavalry encountered and defeated a force of Confederate irregulars near Waverly, Tennessee. General Rosecrans issued an order from his headquarters at Corinth absolving the Seventeenth lowa reglmen£ from its conduct at luka _on the strength of its record at the battle of Corinth. The Sun, a Confederate paper of Columbia, Kentucky, published the following: “The combined armies of Generals Bragg and E. Kirby Smith, began their retrograde movement on ;the thirteenth instant, from Dick’s liver. . . . Gen. Bragg’s force leading and passing out of the state ahead of Kirby Smith. Many of the men are worn out with almost constant marching, by day and niifht, pinched a great portion of the time by. hunger and thirst, and having to subsist a good portion of the time on corn, parched pumkins, etc., and drinking frequently water from holes. . . . The expedition of the Confederate forces into Kentucky has resulted in a miserable failure.” An exciting fight occured pn a burning bridge pear Shelby Depot, Tennessee, between a reconnoitering force of Union troops and a body of partisans who were attempting to destroy the bridge. A Union cavalry force administered punishment on detached bands belonging to Forrest’s and Scott’s commands near Crab Kentucky. The ship La Fayette, of New Haven, was captured and burned on the high aeas by the privateer Alabama.

October 24, 1861. A vagrant party of Confederates enduring the day, first attacking and routing the Union force stationed at Manassas Junction, and later falling upon a reconnoitering' expedition under Capt. Conger. Capt Conger succeeded in discouraging them. A fight took place near Grand Prairie, Mississippi, between a small Union force, under Major Frank J. White, and a body of Confederate partisans. The irregulars left the field, with a number of their party badly wounded. - A reconnoissance in force, under the command of Brigadier General; Ferry, was made from Suffolk, Virginia, to the Blackwater. At a place near the river, known as the Common Road Crossing, a small party of Confederates were encountered. In the ensuing skirmish, the Confederates were defeated. Lieutenant Wheelan, of the New York Rifles, was killed. Morgan’s Confederate cavalry made a sharp attack on the Union force at Morgantown, Kentucky, but was repulsed, with a loss of sixteen prisoners. The United States gunboat Clifton captured a yacht in Matagorda bay, Texas. The British steamer Scotia, while attempting to break the blockade of Charleston, South Carolina, was captured by the United States bark Restless, under command of Lieutenant Commander Edward Conroy. October 25, 1862. By order of the president, Major General Buell was removed from the command of the Department of Kentucky, and Major-General Rosecrans appointed in his place. The Confederate conscript law went into force in East Tennessee, and was rigidly enforced. Chattanooga, Tenn., was visited by a freeze and severe snow storm. General Rosecrans issued an order taking leave of his army to assume his new duties, and announcing that his force would be under command of Gen. C. S. Hamilton. A party of the Forty-third Indiana, while on a foraging expedition in the vicinity of Helena, Ark., were fired into by a band of irregulars, and lost three killed and two wounded. The Confederates withdrew before a shot was fired in return. October 26, 1862. The schooner Crenshaw of New York, Captain - Nelson, from New York for Glasgow with a load of flour, was captured and burned on the high seas by the privateers Alabama. Indianola, Texas, surrendered to the United States gunboats Clifton and Westfield without firing a shot. A party of Unionists attempted to land at St. Mary’s, Ga., but was repulsed. The gunboats supporting them shelled and completely destroyed the town. October 27, 1862. The British steamer Anglia, with an assorted cargo, while attempting to run the blockade of Charleston, S. C., was captured by the United States bark Restless and steamer Flag. Union troops under General Herron defeated a body of Confederate irregulars near Fayetteville, Ark., killing eight, and capturing all their baggage and many of their wagons. The United States gunboat Clifton captured a schooner carrying eighteen bales of cotton in Matagorda bay, Tex., The cotton was transferred to the gunboat, and the schooner burned. The Twenty-third lowa had a hard fight with a body of Confederate partisans at Putnam’s Ferry, Mo., in which they were finally successful, killing eight and taking forty prisoners. A skirmish took place near Labadiersville, La., between a force of Union troops under General Weitzel and a body of Confederates, in which Colonel McPheeters, commanding them, was killed. (Copyright, by W. G. Chapman.)