Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 296, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 December 1912 — The CIVIL WAR FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK [ARTICLE]

The CIVIL WAR FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

December 2, 18^ Lieutenant Hoffman and three men of the First New Jersey cavalry were surprised on picket duty three miles from Dumfries, Va., and captured. General Averill sent a reconnoissance up the Rappahannock river from Brooks Station, and captured a number of Confederate pickets. Two companies of the Eight Pennsylvania cavalry were cut off from the main body of the command by a large force of Confederates and barely escaped capture, by precipitate flight, A portion of the Red river expedition under General Banks sailed from New York. Reverdy Johnson of Maryland, In a letter to the National Intelligencer, endeavored to refute the charge made by a New Orleans journal reflecting on his conduct as. commissioner of the United States in that city. Maj.-Gen. Halleck made a report of the operations of the United States armies since his appointment as com-mander-in-chief, In July. Col. J. M. Glover, commanding at Rolla, Mo., learning that a large force of Confederate Irregulars was In camp in the Ozarks at the headwaters of the Current river, set out after them with a sufficient force, but found only one small detachment, which he drove off. His column marched 200 miles in seven days, returning on this date. A successful reconnoissance was made frpm Bolivar Heights, Va., to Charlestown, Berrysville, etc., by a Union force under General Geary. December 3, 1862. '. - Maj.\A. P. Henry, with a party of National troops belonging to the Ninetyfirst Indiana and the Fifteenth Kentucky cavalry, entered and took possession of Princeton, Ky., at eight o'clock in the morning, capturing a number of partisan fighters and other persons Inimical to the government of the United States. * The schooners Emma Tuttle, Brilliant, and J. P. Boker were captured while attempting to run the blockade; the first two at New Inlet, and the third at Deep Inlet, N. C. A series of skirmishes occured near Oxford Miss., between a brigade of Union troops under Major Hatch, and a considerable fdrce of Confederates, resulting In the capture of ninetytwo Confederates.

December 4, 1862. A heavy exchange of fire took place between six Union gunboats in front of Port Royal, on the Rappahannock river, in Virginia, and the Confederate batteries behind the town. The gunboats withdrew at the end of an hour, with no harm donejexceptingg to sorpe houses that were in the line of fire. The North Carolina house of commons unanimously passed a series of resolutions expressing their confidence in the patriotism and uprightness of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, and approving the policy of the war as set forth by General Vance, and declaring that the “separation was final, and that North Carolina would never consent to a re-union at any time or under any terms." A Confederate force was tumbled out of camp in a skirmish with National troops at Tuscumbia, Ala. Winchester, Va, surrendered again to a reconnoltering force of Union troops under General Geary. The Confederate General Hindman, before making his attack on the National forces in Arkansas, issued an address to .his soldiers,, in which he told them what to do, and what not to do, in battle. 5, 1862. A fight took place near Coffeevllle, Miss., between two thousand Union cavalry, under the command of Colonels Dickey and Lee, and a body of five thousand Confederate infantry, in which the Union force was severely defeated after an hour of fighting, leaving three hundred of iheir number killed, wounded, and missing. The Third lowa and Twenty-ninth Wisconsin regiments arrived at Helena, Ark. . They were attacked while pitching camp by a small force of Confederate cavalry that depended on surprise and confusion for success, but without avail. The larger force of the Nationals decided the day, and the attacking party was driven off, with a considerable loss in killed, wounded, and captured. Gen. Winfield Scott, through the Natloh&l Intelligencer, replied to a letter from James Buchanan, an echo of a dispute between them concerning the early conduct of troops in the war. December 6, 1862. The- Union Gen. A. P. Hovey issued an order to the officers and soldiers of his command thanking them for their cheerfulness* and bravery during the recent expedition into Mississippi. The Confederate schooners Southern Merchant and Naniope, laden with sugar and molasses, were captured in Chicot Pass, on the Mississippi, by the United States gunboat Diana. General Viele, the military governor at Norfolk; Va., issued a proclamation and writ of election tor a member of congress from the Norfolk district Major-General Dix, commanding the I Department of Virginia, issued an adtress from his headquarters at Fbr*

tress Monroe informing the people of neighboring districts that smuggling goods into the Confederate lines was prohibited; that every person detected In the attempt would be put at bard labor in FortNoffolk; mfT the prey erty seized and sold for* the benefit of the poor' and that in order that they might speedily return in form to the Union, $0 election would be held in which they were called upon to Shoose a member of congress. The schooner Medora of Baltimore, Md., laden with borax, medical military uniforms, shoes, blankets, ammunition, 4tc., supposed to be intended for the Confederate armies’, was seized by a party of National troops while lying at anchor under Hackett’s Point, Md. A force of Confederates made an unsuccessful attack on a Union forage train near Lebanon, Tenn., being repulsed by the Ninety-third Ohio, Which was acting as guard. If December 7, 1862. The United States mall Ariel was captured off the eastern coast of Cuba by the Confederate privateer Alabama, but was released after a brief detention on giving a bond of $228,60*1. payable on acknowledgement by the Confederate government. Gen. A. P. Hovey returned to Friar’s on the Mississippi, in the morning. The battie of Prairie Grove, for Fayetteville, was fought between/the National forces under Generals Blunt and Herron and the Confederates an-, der Marmaduke, Hindman, Parsons, and Frost, resulting in a defeat for the southerners with heavy loss. The Confederate cavalry leader Gen. John H. Morgan captured a large force of Union troops under Col. A. B. Moore, of the One Hundred and Fourth Illinois, after a hard fight at Hartsville, Tenn. . * • December 8, 1862. Andrew Johnson, military governor of Tennessee, Issued a proclamation appointing and ordering elections to be held on the twenty-ninth day of December, 1862, to fill the vacancies in the Thirty-seventh congress of the United States. Rumors of an Invasion of New Mexico outlaws from Texas was received at Barcley’s Fort, New Mexico, and preparations were made to receive them. The Iron-clad steamer Shenandoah was launched at Philadelphia, Pa. At. New Orleans, La., General Butler gave notice that all persons arriving in the city would be required to take the oath of allegiance to the United States. (Copyright, 1912, by W. G. Chapman.)