Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 February 1913 — The CIVIL WAR [ARTICLE]

The CIVIL WAR

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

•January 27, 1863. j Bloomfield, Mo., was visited by the Sixty-Eighth Missouri militia, and • large number of'Confederate partisans driven from the town, with a loss of fifty-two prisoners, seventy horses with their trappings, and a hundred stands of arms. The Unionists met with no loss. Port McAllister, on Genesis Point, ■Great Ogeecbee river, FJa.,was attacked by the monitor Montauk, under the command of Captain John L. "Worden, three gunboats, and a mortar schooner. The attack was repulsed after a bombardment of many hours, which failed to reduce the defenses appreciably. A. D. Boileau, proprietor of the (Philadelphia Evening Journal, was arrested by order of the National government and taken to Washington. Captain Williamson of General Weitsel’s brigade had a fight with a small body of Confederate troops at Indian Village, on the Bayou Plaquemine, Louisiana, and succeeded in ’routhig them without great loss to the Union force. January 28, 1863. A large and enthusiastic meeting was held at St Louis, Mo., to ratify the emancipation proclamation. The National Brigadier General tSchofleld sent the following message tq General Curtis from his headquartetrs at Springfield, Mo.: “Colonel Harrison telegraphs from Fayettesville the success of a scout Just returned from Van Buren, Mo., having captured the steamer Julia Rean and 300 prisoners, about 200 of whom were paroled. The scout consisted of 130 men of the first Arkansas cavalry and Tenth Illinois cavalry, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Stewart No losses on our side. On that of the enemy, two killed and several wounded.” 1 A heavy snow storm prevailed on the Rappahannock river, in Virginia, which, melting as it fell, put the roads in a wretched condition. January 29, 1863. The British iron steamer Princess Royal, laden with rifled guns, arms, ammunition, Bteam engines,. and so C., while attempting to run the blockade. The senate of Missouri passed a resolution asking the national congress to appropriate $25,000,000 to their state emancipation purposes. General Banks issued an ordef at New Orleans promulgating the emancipation proclamation. The first decision under President Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation waß delivered by Judge Glover, in St. Louis, holding it to be constitutional. The decision was handed down in the case of a slave that had been arrested under a state law for escaping from , his master. The slave was discharged. General McCleland’s National force landed on the Louisiana side of the Mississippi rives, five miles below the mouth of the Yazoo, and in full view of the city of Vicksburg. The Emancipation society of London, meeting in Exeter hall, passed resolutions commending President T Jncnln expressing sympathy with the north in the fight in America. January 30, 1863. The United States gunboat Isaac Smith, in command of Acting Lieutenant Connover, while reconnoitering on the Stone River, in South Carolina, was fired on by three masked batteries of Confederates, driven aground, and captured. A party of National troops, under the command of Colonel Wood of the Twenty-second Ohio, left Trenton, Tenn., and proceeded to Dyersburg, where they broke up a camp of Confederate irregulars under the leadership of Captain Dawson. Thirty-four of Dawson’s men were killed or captured, but he escaped. Three hundred Confederate conscript soldiers went into Murfreesboro and voluntarily surrendered themselves to the National troops, asserting their loyalty to the Union, and requesting the privilege of taking the oath of allegiance. One hundred had aimilarly come the day before. The schooner Hanover, of Provincetown, Mass., was captured off the south side of San Domingo by the Confederate privateer schooner Retribution. A fight took place at a point nine miles south of Suffolk, Va., known as the "Deserted House,” between equal forces of Federate and Confederates, resulting, after several hours of hard fighting, in the withdrawal of the Confederates. The loss was even. General Grant, having joined the Union army at Young’s Point, Ark., assumed command in person. January 31, 1863. A detachment of the First Carolina Colored Union regiment returned from an expedition up Crooker river to destroy salt works. The Confederate Ironclad steamers Palmetto and Chicora, accompanied by three small steamers, the General Clinch, Fttlwan and Chesterfield, attanked tb« • United States blockading flpet off Charleston, S. C., and disabled two Union vesesls. Kennett ■ National cavalry ran coun-

ter of a Confederate cavalry body under Wheefler on the Shelbyvllle and Nelensville road, near Nashville, while the Southerners were being paid off. The result of the attack, Which took the Confederates by surprise and in confusion, was a sharp defeat of the southerners, with* considerable loss. The arrest or deserters in Morgan county, Indiana, being resisted, Colonel Carrington, commander of the National forces in Indianapolis, sent a squadron of cavalry to oppose the resistance. The cavalry were met and fired upon by a mob, but dispersed them by a charge. Six citizens and a deserter were captured. The senate of the United States tendered a vote of thanks to Commander John L Worden for gallant conduct in the fight between the Merrimac and the Monitor in March, 1863. Worden was in command of the National vesA body of National troops, under (jten. Jeff C. Davis entered Shelbyvllle, Tenn. February 1, 1863. The second attack on the Confederate Fort McAlißter, at Genesis Point, Ga„ was made, resulting in the retire* ment of the Union fleet without damage to the works. Maj. John B. Gallie, commander of the Confederate forces, was killed. The National ironclad monitor Montauk. under command of Captain Worden, which wag in the van of the attacking fleet, received sixtyone shots, but was not injured, and lost no men. Franklin, Tenn., was occupied by a National force under Col. Robert Johnson. The Confederate General Forrest narrowly escaped Capture. One of his captains and two men were taken. The legislature of North Carolina passed a series of resolutions, vindicating the loyalty of the state to the Confederate government, and protesting against any settlement of the struggle which would not secure the independence of the Confederate States of America. A. D. Boileau, proprietor of the Philadelphia Evening Journal, was re* leased from Fort McHenry. He had been imprisoned by order of the war department. The Confederates made a night attack on Island Number Ten, in the Mississippi river, capturing a Federal transport. They were subsequently driven off by the National gunboat New Era, which fired 100 rounds into their position, defended only by three six pounders. The Quakers of Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, and Delaware, memorialized congress, asking exemption from the draft and the procurement ty, invoking the right of conscience against the shedding of blood. Colonel Stokes’ regiment of loyal Tennessee cavalry and a regiment of Kentucky volunteers dispersed a camp of Confederates at Middleton, Tenn., by a brilliant sabre charge. February 2, 1863.

A bill permitting the enlistment of 300,000 free negroes passed the house. A dispatch to the Chicago Tribune from Indianapolis said: “On Friday a small squad of soldiers was sent to a village named Waverly, In an adjoining counts', to arrest some deserters. Upon their arrival they were fired upon by some of the citizens and informed that the deserters would be protected, and under no circumstances would they be surrendered. The squad, being too- small to effect the arrests, returned to this city and reported the facts to Colonel Carringtion, who sent twenty-five cavalry after the offenders, with orders to arrest them,-dead or alive; —The cavalry arrived there about noon on Sunday, and were fired upon by about forty mounted men. The cavalry immediately charged upon them, when they fled in all directions, throwing away their arms. The cavalry captured nine of the cowardly rascals with two of the deserters, and marched them to this city, where they are now in close confinement.” A brisk engagement between a Confederate force with three heavy cannon and the Federal gunboat New Era, lying off Island No. 10, which commenced at eleven o’clock the night before, was brought to a conclusion early in the morning by the withdrawal of the Confederates. The attack, which was sudden, was made from the Tennessee shore. (Copyright, 1913, by W. O. Chapman.)