Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 278, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 November 1912 — CIVIL WAR [ARTICLE]

CIVIL WAR

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

{November 11, 1862. A body of Confederate irregulars that had attaeked a company of the Huntsville Home Guards, near Huntsville, Tenn., the day before, without success, crossed the Cumberland mountains and made their way to Jacksboro, Tenn. A report that the Confederates were In Mercersburg and moving toward Chambersburg created Intense excitement in the place during the day. General Morgan’s Confederate force met one of its infrequent reverses near Lebanon, Tenn., when it fell in with a party of National cavalry. The northern papers reported seven of Morgan’s men killed and 125 captured. The Union line at Newbern, N. C., was heavily indented by a Confederate attack which opened with shell and canister. There was a great bustle of preparation in the town to repel a further attack, but the Confederates were not in sufficient force to attempt it or retain the advantage already gained. The supreme court of Georgia decided that the Confederate conscription law was constitutional under the provision which gives to congress the powder to raise armies, as distinguished from the power to call out the militia.

November 12, 1862. General Hooker assumed command of the Fifth corps of the Army of the Potomac. The British schooner Maria was captured while endeavoring to slip through the Union blockade at Sabine Pass, Tex. A cavalry engagement took place near Lamar, Miss., between a detachment of the Second Illinois and a company of the Seventh Kansas regiments, under the Command of Col. John J. Mudd and a force of Confederates, resulting, according to northern papers, in an utter route of the latter, with great loss. November 13, 1862. Earl Russell replied officially to the circular of Drouyn D. Lhuys, proposing mediation in the affairs of the United States of America, dissenting from the French proposition for the reasons that “there is no ground at the present moment to hope that the Federal government would accept the proposal suggested, and a refusal from Washington, at the present time, would prevent p my speedy renewal of the offer of the government.” Coloned Lee, of the staff of General Hamilton, with a Union force, took possession of Holly Springs, Miss., after a slight skirmish with the Confederates. President Lincoln issued an order directing that the attorney-general of the United States be charged with the superintendence and direction of all proceedings under the Conscription Act, and authorizing him to call on the military authorities to aid him in carrying out its provisions. Lieutenant-Colonel Beard, of the Forty-eight New York, In command of a detachment of a colored regiment, left Beaufort, S. C., and went to the Doboy river, Ga., where he succeeded in loading the National steamers Ben Deford and Darlington with three thousand feet of lumber. Coloull Shanks attacked a camp of Confederate irregulars with a force of four hundred cavalry and drove them out, seizing their horses, arms, and camp epuipage.

Governor Letcher of Virginia issued a proclamation informing the people that he had reason to believe that the volunteers from that state* in the Confederate army, were not provided with the necessary supply of shirts, drawers, shoes, stockings, and gloves, and appealing to them to furnish such of these articles as they might be able to spare for the use of of the troops. November 14, 1862. General Burnside, recently placed in command of the Army of the Potomac, issued an order for the reorganization of the army. At New Qrleans, Brigadier-General Shepley of the Union force of occupation issued a proclamation authorizing the election of members of congress of the United States in those portions of the 6tate of Louisiana held by the National force. November 15, 1862.

A fight took place near La Fayette, Va., between a detachment of Union troops, under the command of General Sturgis, and a body of Confederates, in which the latter were defeated after an hour's fight. The iron-clad steamer Passaic, with Admiral Gregory, chief superintendent of iron-clads, and Chief Engineers Stimers, Lawton, and Robie, on board, made her trail up the Hudson as far as the Palisades, where she fired several shots from her eleven and fourteen inch guns. The working of the guns, the turrets, and the sailing qualities of the vessels gave general satisfaction. The- Second Army corps of the Army of the Potomac, under the command of General Couch, left Warrenton, Va., in an advance on Fredericksburg.

November 16, 1862. The remaining corps of the Army of the Potomac, which had encamped tn the vicinity of Warrenton, with the the cavalry under command of General Pleasanton, followed in the advance on Fredericksburg. President Lincoln issued an order respecting the observance of the Sabbath in the army and the navy. The advance of General Sill’s brigade had a skirmish with a party of cavalry on the Murfreesboro road, seven miles from Nashville, Tenn. November 17,'"1862. Va., was finally evacuated by the Army of the Potomac. The schooner Annie Dees was captured by the National gunboat Seneca when attempting to run the blockade at Charleston, S. C. At Gloucester Point, Va., an outpost picket guard was attacked by a small force of Confederate cavalry, who killed one, wounded two, and captured several, of the guards. The committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery society in London issued an address, in which they earnestly commended to the consideration of their fellow countrymen, and to the friends of humanity in all lands, such an expression of sympathy and encouragement as should encourage the emancipation party in the United States, in their most difficult position, to persevere in their endeavors to obtain justice for the slave. Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, issued the following orred to General Holmes, commanding the Trans-Mississippi department: “Inclosed you will please find a slip from the Memphis Daily Appeal, on the third instant, containing an account, purporting to be derived from the Palmyra (Missouri) Courier, a Federal paper, of the murder of ten Confederate citizens of Missouri, by order of General McNeil of the United States army. “You will communicate by flag of truce with „ the federal officer commanding that department and ascertain if facts are as Btated. If they be so, you will demand the surrender, of General hJcNeil to the Confederate authorities, and, if this demand is not complied with, you will inform said commanding officer that you are ordered to execute the first ten United Stateß officers who may be captured and fall into your hands.” (Copyright, 1912. by W. G. Chapman.)