Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 104, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 May 1913 — The CIVIL WAR [ARTICLE]

The CIVIL WAR

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

April 20, 1863. - The Union forces tinder General Banks occupied Opelousas, La., and Col. Thomas El. Chickering of the Forty-third Massachusetts was appointed military governor and provost marshal. A brisk cavalry Skirmish took place near Helena, Ky. An engagement took place at Patterson, Mo., in which the National troops were badly worsted and driven from Reeve’c station to a point seven miles east of Patterson, with a heavy lobs in killed, wounded, and missing. Bute a la Rose, La., was captured by the National gunboats Estrella, Clifton, Arizona and Calhoun, after a spirited engagement. The gunboats, approaching in the river, were out of sight of the fort behind a bend until they had arrived within a quarter of a mile of it. The fire that burst from both sides as soon as they came around the bend was terrific. Added to that of the fort and the National gunboats was a heavy cross fire from Confederate gunboats across the river. Preponderance of gun weight on the Union vessels, combined with better ammunition and better practice, drove the Confederates from their fort after a brief interchange, and the gunbdats slipped up the river out of harm’s way. April 21,1863. Captain Laypool, with seven men of the Fifth and Sixth Virginia Confederate cavalry, were captured near Berryville, Va„ by a party of the Second Virginia National infantry and New York First cavalry. Gen. R. B. Mitchell, commanding the Union forces in Nashville, Tenn., issued an order that all white persons over the age of eighteen years residing within his command must either subscribe to the oath of allegiahce or non-combatant’s parole, or go south. April 22, 1863. * Tompkinsville, Ky., was visited by t party of Confederate partisans, who buftied the courthouse and killed five Union men. Two regimentß of the First Corps of the Army of the Potomac, crossing the river to Port Royal on pontoonß, captured a Confederate mall and severa! prisoners. ..... _ _ The Confederate Bteamer Ellen was captured by a party of Union troops In a small bayou near Courtableau, La. The cargo of the steamer Wave, destroyed by the Confederates to prevent her from falling into the hands of the Nationals, was captured in the vicinity of Bayou Cocodue, Louisiana, by an expeditionary force under Genreat DWight. A portion of General Mcßeynold’s National forces occupied McMinnville, Tenn. Three hundred Confederates made a gallant stand against a force of Union cavalry consisting of the Third Virginia, with detachments of Rowan’s, Utt’B and White’s cavalry, near Strasburg, Va. * Six gunboats and twelve barges succeeded in passing the Confederate batteries at Vicksburg during the night. April 23, 1863. Lieutenant Cushing, with a party of men belonging to the National gunboat Commodore Barney, with a small howitzer, vlßlted' Chuckatuck, Va., where he encountered and defeated forty Confederate cavalrymen, killing two, and capturing three of their horses, fully equipped. Lieutenant Cushing lost one man killed. The British schooner St. George was captured off New inlet, North Carolina, by the National steamer Mount. Vernon. The sloop Justlna was captured off the Little Bahama bank by the gunboat Tioga. Aoril 24, 1863. Tuscumbia, Ala., was occupied by the National forces under General Dodge, who drove the Confederates under Colonel Chalmers from the place. Four Confederate schooners were captured off Mobile by the De Soto, and two were taken by the State of Georgia off New inlet, North Carolina. Colonel Phillips encountered and defeated a party of Confederates at Weber Fallß, Ark. The ship Oneida was captured, and destroyed on the high se&B by the Confederate privateer Florida, under the command of Captain Mafflt. One thousand Virginia tories, guarding the town of Beverly, Va., one of the extreme outposts of General Robert’s position in Tygert valley, east of Rich mountain, were badly whipped by a body of Confederates under Imboden and Jackson. They were brought safely off under cover of night, after being severely punished from two o’clock in the afternoon until dusk. The Federals were defeated. In a skirmish at Beverly, Va. ’ The Confederates were defeated the Iron Mountain road, near St. Urals. April 25, 1863. l4>e United States gunboat Lexington and the ram Monarch defeated the Confederate shore batteries at Duck River shoals, on the Tennessee river, after a heavy engagement last-

lng several hours. The poor powder of the Confederates, making good practice impossible, and depriving the shot of any punch, again decided the day. Two schooners from New York, with cargoes of clothing and medicihe, were captured in Mobjack bay, Virginia, by the Union steamers Samuel Rotan and Western World. The ship Dictator was captured and burned by the Confederate steamer Georgia on the high seas. A detachment of Union troops made a desperate- resistance against a force of Confederates at Greenland Gap, Va., holding them off for nearly two hours and repulsing three savage • charges, with heavy loss, it was reported in the north that the Con federate killed and wounded outnumbered the entire Union force. An important debate took place in the English parliament in reference to the seizure of British vessels bj American cruisers, and other subjects growing out of the rebellion in America. In the house of lords, Earl Rut? sell made an elaborate speech, and in the house of commons Mr. Roebuck a very declamatory one. April 26, 1863. The schooner Clarita, from Havana to Matamoras, Tex., was captured by the steamer De Soto. She proved to be the old revenue cutter John Y. Mason, taken by the Confederates at the outbreak of the war. At Louiville, Ky., during the sale of a lot of negroes at the courthouse, the provost marshal notified the buyers that four of these put up for Bale were free under the provisions of the president’s Proclamation. The sale continuing, the matter of the four “contrabands” was turned over to the district judge. The Seventy-sixth Ohio, Col. R. ti. Woods, returned to Milliken’s Bend, La., from ah expedition into Mississippi. They visited the regions bordering on Deer creek, and destroyed 350,000 bushels of corn, and thirty cotton gins and grist mills in use by the Confederates. The town of Cape Ciradeau, garrisoned by a force of National troops under the command of Gen. John McNeil, was attacked by a strong body of Confederates, under General. Marmaduke. The Confederates were repulsed, after a heavy engagement last* ing several hours. (Copyright, 1913, by W. G. Chapman.)