Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 February 1913 — The CIVIL WAR FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK [ARTICLE]

The CIVIL WAR FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

February 17, 1863. At a point fire miles west of Romney, Va., a forage train under an escort composed of companies from the One ; Hundred and Sixteenth and One Hundred and Twenty-third infantry, was captured by a party of Confederates. The train wis taken off, and the soldiers paroled and permitted to return to Romney. _ By order ot General Grant all restrictions Imposed on the circulation of the Chicago Times were rescinded. The steamer Hercules was burned by Confederate partisans at a point a few miles above Memphis, Tenn. A heavy snowstorm prevailed along the Rappahannock, - February 18, 1863. The siege of Vicksburg was commenced by the Union mortar boat fleet, which threw shells into the city. The Confederates opened three batteries on the mortar boats, but their shot fell short The Confederate General Beauregard, at Charleston, issued a proclamation warning noncombatants of Charleston and Savannah of a probable attack by the Union land and naval forces, urging then! to seek places of safety; and in calling on them for assistance in defense. “Carolinians and Georgians!” the proclamation read, “the hour is at hand to prove your country's cause. Let all able bodied men from the seaboard to the mountains rush to arms. Be not too exacting in the choice of weapons. Pikes and scythes will do for exterminating your enemies, and picks and shovels for protecting your fireside. To arms, fellow citizens! Come to share with us our danger, our brilliant success, or our glorious death.” Ten Union wagons sent out on a foraging expedition from Memphis, Tenn., were captured by a party of Confederates ih Noncannah bottom. The report of the government cotton agent at New York, Hiram Barney, transmitted to congress by Secretary Chase, showed that cotton had been sold at auction since the Southern blockade commenced to the value of nearly seven hundred thousand dollars. Clifton, Tenn., was captured and destroyed by Michigan cavalry under CoL Cicero Newell. By order of General Mitchell, commanding the National forces at Nashville, Tenn., G. W. Donegan and W. H. Calhoun, two wealthy and prominent citizens of that place, were arrested and confined In the state penitentiary as hostages for the safe return to the Union lines of J. A. Galty and T. T. Tabb, Union men held by the Confederates at Chattanooga. A Democratic convention at Frankfort, Ky., was broken up by Federal soldiers for alleged sympathies with secession.

February 19, 1863. : A reconnoitering party from Yazoo Pass to Coldwater, Miss., under the 'Command of Lieutenant Colonel Rood of the First Indiana cavalry, surprised and routed two hundred Confederate cavalry. Hopefleld, Ark., opposite Memphis, Tenn., was burned by order of General Hurlbut, because it was being used by Confederate irregulars as headquarters. The office of the Daily Constitution at Keokuk, la., was destroyed by soldiers from the hospital at that place, utterances construed as sympathetic with the South. The brig Emily Fisher was captured off Castle Island, Bahama, by the privateer Retribution, and after being partially unloaded was released, on bonds for her value. A large meeting was held in Liverpool, England, in support of President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. The National Bank bill providing for a uniform currency to be backed by the public credit and private capital, was introduced in the house of representatives. February 20, 1863. Andrew Johnson, military governor of Tennessee, issued a proclamation warning all persons holding, renting, occupying or using any real or personal property in that state belonging to Confederates not to pay the rents, issues, or profits thereof to the Confederate owners or their agents, but to hold the same until some person should be appointed by the United States to receive them. Maj. Justus McKinstry, quartermaster of the United States army, was finally dismissed from the service by order of President Lincoln. The United States Bank bill, already adopted by the senate, passed the house of representatives. Col. Charles Carroll -Hicks of the Confederate atmy was arrested at New York. Decimal and fractional currency being scarce in the loyal states, tradesmen gave out their personal notes for one, two and three cents* to be used in making change. A battalion of the Fifth Illinois osvalry, sent out to reconnoiter the banks of the Yazoo Pass, near Vicksburg, had a brisk fight with a company of Confederate cavalry. The National Bank bill passed the house of representatives as It came from the senate by a vote of 78 Co 64. It resembled the bill of 1791 only In I

the use of government bonds as the foundation of each; the paper Currency and banking laws were made uniform tn all the states. February 21, 1863. The ships Golden Eagle and Olive Lane were captured and burned on the high seas by the Confederate privateer Alabama. 4The National gunboats Freeborn and Dragon made a reconnolssancf up the Rappahannock river, In Virginia, for a distance of sixty-five miles. Just below Fort Lowry they were fired on by. a Confederate battery. After a heavy interchange of gun fire lasting an hour the batteries ceased firing, and the gunboats withdrew, slightly injured. A party of Confederate rangers, dressed as Union soldiers, made a , South Union, orShakertown, Ky., and destroyed a number of cars belonging to the Louisville & Nashville railroad, besides a quantity of property belonging to the United States government. Four of them were subsequently captured by a party of Kentucky cavalry, sent in pursuit.

February 22, 1863. Col, F. M. Cornyn, Tenth Missouri cavalry, in command of a detachment of United States troops, made a successful reconnoissance to Florence and Tuscumbia, Ala He assessed the wealthy slaveholders in sums of five hundred dollars and upwards, carried off fifty bales of cotton, a large number of mules and horses, sixty negroes, and fifty prisoners. A captain and eight soldiers of the Fifty-seventh Virginia, Confederate army, were captured near Gatesville, Va. ........ The expedition through the Yazoo Pass reach Moon lake. February 23, 1863.

The National force under General Burbridge was worsted in a fight near Greenville, Miss., with the Confederates under General Furgeson. National troops were roughly handled by a detachment of General Morgan’s Confederate cavalry in a skirmish near Athens, Ky. A brother- of General Morgan fell Into the hands of the Union soldiers. The One Hundred and Thirty-third New York, accompanied by a detachment of cavalry, traveled thirty miles from Plaquemine to Rosedale, La., to break up a Confederate camp they had learned of. The Confederates had gone, but the Union soldiers took some cotton and medicine they had left behind them. ■/-

Seven hundred Confederate Irregular cavalry, under Col. Leroy Cluke, made a successful raid to Winchester, Mount Sterling, Straw Hill and HAzel Green, Ky., carrying a large quantity of property and compelled the destruction of more to prevent its falling into their hands.

Governor Brown of Georgia issued an order compelling all the militia officers of that state, excepting those already with General Beauregard, to repair at once to Savannah and report to General Beauregard, to be organized for the defense of that city against threatened attack. The steamer Belle, of Memphis, while lying at Cottonwood landing, Tennessee, was boarded by a party of Confederate partisans who attempted to capture her. They were driven off by the passengers and crew. (Copyright, 1913, by W. G. Chapman.)