Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 271, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 November 1912 — The CIVILWAR [ARTICLE]

The CIVILWAR

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

November 4, 1882. General Sigel’s cook, with five other persons, was arrested today near Fairfax Court House, Va., charged with smuggling goods contraband of war through the Union lines to the Confederates. A quantity of goods in their possession included swords, Bhoulder straps, and gold lace. The Union pickets near Bolivar Heights, Va., were attacked by Confederates and three of their number captured. General Grant, with several divisions of his army from Bolivar, Tenn., and Corinth, Miss., occupied LaGrange, Miss., in a movement against Vicksburg. The English bark Sophia, while attempting to run the blockade at Wilmington, N. C„ was destroyed by the National steamers Daylight and Mount Vernon. The Darlington, with a small force of colored troops on board, continued its depredations on the Confederate salt works, destroying those at King’s Bay, Ga. The colored -force was attacked and severely handled by Confederates on their return to the steamer after they had finished their errand. November 5, 1862. The Confederate partisan Quantrell captured and partially destroyed Lamar, Mo., taking the place from the home guard defending it after a lively fight General Pleasanton’s Union force again fell counter of Stuart’s Confederate cavalry, at Barbee’s Cross-Road, Va. The Confederates withdrew, after a brisk skirmish. Salem, Va., was occupied by National cavalry under General Bayard. An attempt on the part? of Confederate irregulars to surprise ff battalion of General Shackelford’s cavalry on the Greenville road from Henderson to Bowling Green, Ky., met with disaster. Eight of the attacking party were killed, including their commander, Colonel Fowler. A detachment of Confederate cavalry engaged Colonel Wyndham, of General Bayard’s cavalry force, at New Baltimore Va., and gave him trouble before withdrawing to their main force. General Burnside was appointed to command of the Army of the Potomac to succeed General McClellan, relieved of the command. The 0 monitor Weehawken was launched at Jersey City, N. J. A Union force under General Negley drove off an attacking Confederate force under Gen. John H. Morgan near Nashville, Tenn. November 6,1862. Warrenton, Va., was occupied by General Reynolds with a Union force, the Confederates offering no opposition. The English schooner Dart was captured off Sabine Pass, Tex., by the United States schooner Rachel Seaman, while endeavoring to run the blockade. General Beauregard ordered all noncombatants to leave Charleston, S. C,., “with all their movable property r including slaves, to avoid embarrassments and delay, in case a sudden necessity should arise for the removal of the entire population.” Capt. Ambrose Powell, with a company of Union troops, severely handled a band of Confederate irregulars that attacked him near Leatherwood, Ky., driving them off with a loss of six killed and wounded, including their captain, mortally hurt. General Butler, commanding the Union occupation in New Orleans, issued an order from headquarters in which he quoted and reversed an order issued by the Confederate General Lovell. Lovell’s order was as followed: “All processes from any court of law or equity in the parishes of Orleans or Jefferson for the ejection of families of soldiers now in the service of the' government, either on land or water, for rent past due, is hereby suspended, and no such collection shall be forced until further orders.” General Butler’s order was that “The above extract from the order of the Rebel General Lovell is accepted and ordered as referring to families of soldiers and sailors now in the service of the United States.” November 7, 1862. Two companies of the Tenth Illinois cavalry and two infantry companies were taken at Big Beaver Creek, Mo., in an attack made on the blockhouse In which they were doing garrison duty. The attack was led by the Confederate Colonel Green, who had a large force and three pieces of artillery, with which the blockhouse was demolished. The defenders, taking refuge in a swamp, continued to fight for five hours, but finally surrendered. The Confederate senate adopted a bill ordering all persons residing in seceded states who were in sympathy with the North to leave 'the Confederate states withla forty days, on pain of forfeiture of their property. The bill also provided Immunity to all persons who, adhering to the JJnion, would renounce and take the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. The United States steamer Dartington, with a force of colored troops on board, made another expedition against

the Confederate salt works, this time ascending the Sapelo river, Georgia, accompanied by the Union gunboat PotomskA. One large salt works was discovered and destroyed. The steamer was attacked from the banks of the river, but came away without harm. 4 Quantrell’s irregulars were held at arm’s length by one company of militia that barricaded itself in the court house at Lamar, and made it so warm for the Confederates that they withdrew, after several vicious assults. General McClellan issued his farewell address to the officers aud sol-' diers of the Army of the Potomac. November 8, 1862.

The Union General Bayard, operating around Rappahannock bridge, where he had been the day before, succeeded in aHving off the Confederates In the morning, and taking possession of the bridge and neighboring fords. Durjng the day he captured Lieutenant-Colonel Blunt, of General Longstreet's staff, together with ten soldiers. Colonel Lee, of the Seventh Kansas regiment, made a successful reconnoissance with a force of .1,500 cavalry in the vicinity of Hudsonvllle, Miss. He fell In with a force of Confederates whom he outnumbered and severely handled, killing slxteeen and capturing over a hundred of them. The privateer Alabama, Captain Semmes, added another to the long list of her captures of American merchant ships, when she overhauled, boarded, and set fire to the T. B. Wales, on the high seas. General Pleasanton gained an advantage over the Confederate General Stuart in a lively scrimmage, capturing three pieces of artillary and a lieutenant The Richmond Whig declared that the success of the Democrats in the north would be “about equal to a declaration of peace.” Holly Springs, Miss., was evacuated by the Confederates. Prince Gortschakoff, the Russian minister of foreign 1 affairs, replying to proposals from Paris for mediation between the warring sections in America, declined to take part, stating that he believed nothing could be accomplished. A force of Nationals had a skirmish in Marianna, Ark., with a party of Confederates, defeating them after a sharp struggle. November 9, 1862. A Union reconnoisßance to Fredericksburg, Va., discovered unexpectedly a force of Confederates, and had a lively brush with them before they came off. A Union.force under Colonel Kelly, leaving New Creek, Va., •with a purpose of dislodging the Confederate Colonel Imboden, passed through Mooreiield In the morning and pushed on to the site of the late Confederate encampment, which they found deserted. They continued in pursuit sos fourteen miles, when they overtook Colonel Imboden’s force and drove It into mountains. A reconnoissance under the Union General Geary from Bolivar Heights, Va., drove the Confederates from Halltown, entered Charlestown, and reached a point in the vicinity of Front Royal, from which the positions of the Confederate Generals Hill and Longstreet were discovered. Two companies of Union troops had a rough time with a body of Confederate irregulars at the house of Captain Eversoll, on the north fork of the Kentucky river, in Perry county, Ky., finally driving them off with slight loss. General Butler, commanding the Department of the Gulf, Issued an order enforcing the Confiscation Act in the district of Lafourche, comprising all the the territory in the state of Louisiana west of the Mississippi, with the exception of two parishes. November 10, 1862. An expedition consisting of four hundred Union troops left Henderson, Ky., in pursuit of several bands of Confederate irregulars who had been making tremble in north western Kentucky. The punitive expedition, dividing, came up with and dispersed numerous small parties, and brought back many prisoners. A party of regular Union cavalry, in a foraging party ten miles south of Warrenton, Va., encountered a squadron of the Fifth Virginia Confederate cavalry, whom they put to flight by a sudden, unexpected charge. Officers of all grades belonging to the Army of the Potomao were ordered to join their commands within twentyfour hours. * Capt S. W. Gilmore, with a party of Union troops, made a reconnolssancs Into Greenbrier county, Va. Neal Williamsburg he captured a wagon train belonging to the Confederate General Jenkins, about to be . loaded with grain, and a number of prisoners, mules and horses. He set fire to the wagons and grain. General Burnside, in accordance with the orders of President Lincoln, assumed command of the Army of the Potomac. The legislature of Georgia passed a bill ordering the obstruction of the navigable rivers in the state, appropriating $500,000, and authorizing the governor to Impress slaves for the work. (Copyright. M 2, by W. G. Chapman.)