Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 84, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 April 1913 — CIVIL WAR FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK [ARTICLE]

CIVIL WAR FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

March 30, 1863.

President Lincoln issued a proclamation Betting apart Thursday, the thirteenth of April, as a national day of humiliation, fasting and prayer. Correspondence between . J. M. Mason, the Confederate agent in London, and Earl Russell, minister of state for foreign affairs, concerning the question of the blockade of the Southern ports and foreign intervention in the affairs of America, were made public.

A battle was fought near Somerset, Ky., between a National force under General Gilmore, and the Confederates under General Pegram, with advantage to the Federal arms. 7 Washington, N. C., garrisoned by two thousand Federals, was saved from capture at the hands of a force of Confederates under Pettigrew and Hill by the Federal gunboat Commodore Hull, which opened on the attacking Confederates when they were pressing an advantage given them by their numbers. Mount Pleasant, Va., garrisoned by a coihpany of the Thirteenth Virginia loyal volunteers, was raided by a band of Confederate partisans under Captain Jenkins. The garrison made a stubborn stand in the courthouse, and eventually persuaded their assailants to) leave them alone, after considerable fatality on each side. General McClernand occupied Richmond, Miss., after a fight of two hours. The Confederate schooner Expedition, with salt from Nassau, missed the channel in the dark when attempting to run the blockade into Savannah, and got into Calibogue sound, where she was captured by troops sent in a boat.

March 31, 1863.

Capt. Jabez C. Rice, of Gorham, Me., of the Confederate marine corps, was arrested in his home town and conveyed to Fort Preble by Provost-Mar-shal Elliott, under orders of the secretary of war. He claimed to be a paroled prisoner. . The legislature of Virginia passed a bill authorizing the impressment of the salt works in Washington county, Virginia, to be worked on state account. Major General Herron was assigned to the command of the NatlonaLarmy. of the frontier. A large Union meeting was held in Washington, D. C., at which speeches were made by Admiral Foote, Green Adams, of Kentucky, Mayor Wallach, and others, and resolutions were adopted in support of the National government and for the vigorous prosecution of the war against traitors, at home and abroad. President Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring all commercial intercourse not licensed and conducted as provided by law between citizens of the states now in rebellion and those of the loyal states of the Union, to be unlawful, until such rebellion should cease, notice of which would be duly given by proclamation. The colored Union soldiers that had been occupying Jacksonville, Fla., evacuated the place, after setting fire to it and completely destroying the town. April 1, 1863. Admiral Farragut, with the Hartford, Switzerland and Albatross, enpasslng below them without material was organized by M. Sanford and associates, to begin business <on May first. Captain Moseby, of the Confederate irregular cavalry, made a raid near Broad River, Va. His force was encountered by a portion of the First Vermont cavalry, and a fight ensued. The Confederates took up a position behind a fence, which the Union cavalry could not get over, and from which they were'unable to dislodge the Confederates. During the fight Captain Flint of the Vermont regiment, and a lieutenant, were severely wounded. The Federal General Stanley attacked the Confederate force under General Morgan at Snow Hill, Tenn. April 2, 1863. 7 There was a bread riot In Richmond, Va. Women, forming a mob, broke Into the Confederate stores and took bread, clothing, and what they needed. The militia dispersed them. Eight regiments of General Crufts's and Hazen's brigades, General Palmer's division, failed In an effort, commenced the night before, to capture a Confederate brigade stationed at Woodbury, Tenn. The Confederate pickets discovered the advance .early in the morning and prevented a surprise, upon which the success of the undertaking depended. The Confederates, heavily outnumbered, withdrew hastily, but in good order. Admiral Farragut, with the entire Union fleet in the Mississippi, passed from Grand Gulf to the mouth of the Red river, destroying all small boats encountered on the way. Maj. W. C. Ransom, of the Fifth Kansas cavalry, annihilated the band of Confederate Irregulars that had raided ttye steamer Sam Gaty a few flays before, in Missouri. Seventeen of the band were killed In a fight, and two were hanged. Many of the negroes who had been taken from the steamer were recovered. The National gunboat St. Clair was rendered unmanageable and nearly tell

Into the hands of Confederates when she was fired on by some Missouri artillery belonging to Van Dorn’s Confederate army, near Almyra, on the Cumberland river, twenty-four miles above Fort Donelson. A shot broke her steam pipe. She was taken In tow by the steamer Luminous and brought to Cairo. General Wright, in command of the * National forces in California, issued a proclamation containing a warning against the Southern sympathizers in the state. A Confederate camp of infantry and cavalry was dislodged from Snow Hill, Tenn., by a heavy expedition that set out from Murfreesboro. April 3, 1863. Secretary Wells issued an order naming' petty officers, marines and seamen, who were to receive Medals of Honor for conspicuous service at sea. The British steamer Tampico was captured off Sabine Pass, Tex., by the United States gunboat New London. Phillip Huber and three others, ar-, rested at Reading, Penn., on a charge of being connected with a treasonable organization known as the “Knights of the Goldep Circle," were taken to Philadelphia and placed in prison. The arrest and the charge created considerable excitement at Reading. Governor Bonham of South Carolina sent a message to the legislature calling its attention to the spirit of speculation that had made such alarming strides in the state as to call for their interposition. Large sums were Invested in flour, corn, bacon, and other articles of prime necessity, to the monopoly almost of such articles in certain sections, and were withheld from market or exported beyond the limits of the state, to the enhancement of prices and Injury of the consumer. He recommended the passage of an act to arrest the purchase and monopoly of articles of prime necessity, even when it was not intended to export them out of the state. Cap. J. 3. Worthington, with two companies of the First Regiment of Loyal Arkansas cavalry, returned to Fayetteville, Ark., from a scout in Carroll county, in that state. He had four skirmishes with Confederates, and succeeded in killing two and taking seven prisoners. Captains Smith and McFarland Of the Confederates were killed, and Captain Walker taken prisoner. * • V" ' April 4, 1863. An attempt was made by the National force at Washington, N. C., to capture the Confederate battery at Rodman’s Point, commanding the Pamlico river, opposite Washington. A force of two hundred Infantry, under command of General Potter, embarked on the gunboat Ceres. She got aground under the guns of the battery, at a point where the troops were unable to land. The Confederates opened heavy fire, and the. party was glad to withdraw as soon as it got free. ) In retaliation for firing Into and disabling the gunboat St Clair, the gunboat Lexington, under the command of Lieut. Leßoy Fitch, visited the town of Palmyra, Tenn., and after giving the inhabitants time to leave, burned it to the ground. The supreme court of New York, at Rochester, decided that United States legal tender notes were const!- ■ tutlonal as to debts contracted before the passage of the law making such notes legal tender. AH of the judges concurred in the decision. The National steamer Sylvan Shore, which left Beaufort for Washington, N. C., was fired upon by a Confederate battery a few miles below her destination and compelled to put back to Beaufort, with a number of men killed and wounded. / April 5, 1863.

The ship Louisa Hatch was captured and burned on the high seas by the Confederate.privateer Alabama. Eight thousand National troops left Newbern, N. C., by the way of the River Neuse, to re-enforce General Foster, who was at Washington, surrounded by the Confederates; but, meeting a superior force of the enemy, they returned to Newbern. An expedition consisting of infantry and cavalry under General Steele, of the Union army, met a small body of Confederates at a bridge over Black Bayou, Miss., whom they drove across the bayou, but whom they could not prevent burning the bridge. The Federals rebuilt the bridge And proceeded to Yazoo City. The Union gunboats in front of Washington, N. C.» shelled the Confederate batteries on Hill’s Point for two hours, in an effort to relieve the tension of General Foster, surrrounded by Confederates in Washington, but were unable to effect anything against the Confederate works. The English government detained Confederate vessels in the port of Liverpool. (Copyright, 1913, by W. G. Chapman.)