Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 115, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 May 1913 — The CIVIL WAR FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK [ARTICLE]

The CIVIL WAR FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

May 4» 1863. _ ' !, ■ / ' The Confederates continued to increase, their advantage in the battle between the two main armies in the vicinity of Fredericksburg and .Chancellorsville, Va„ • pressing back the Union army under Hooker, and retaking most of the defenses of Fredericksburg. The affair was already a Confederate victory; the question only remained of the extent to which it could be brought. Capt. Howard Dwight, of General Andrew’s staff, near Washington, La., having been killed after he had surrendered to a Confederate reconnoitering party, General Banks at once qrdered the arrest of one hundred white men nearest the mace of the alleged assassination, to brnheld until further orders. Y The sloop Empress; from Nassau for Wilmington, N. C., was captured by the United States steamer Chicora. The schooner Jupiter,- bound for Mobile, Ala., was captured by the gunboat Colorado. Captain Smith of the Second California volunteers attacked a body of hostile Indians fifty miles south of Shell Creek, Cal., killing five and routing the rest May 5, 1863.

Clement C. Vallandigham, former member of congress, was arrested at his home In Dayton, Ohio, by a detachment of soldiers sent from Cincinnati at the order of General Burnside. Mr. Vallandigham had views concerning the war not popular in military circles. The Third New York cavalry, on an expedition to Pettie’s Mills, twentyseven miles from Newbern, N. C.» captured an entire Confederate company, together with their horses, arms, and equipments. Fort De Russey, on the Red river, Arkansas, fifty-eight miles from its mouth, was occupied by a National force under Admiral Porter. John J. Pettus, Confederate governor of Mississippi, issued a proclamation calling on every man of the state capable of bearing arms to “take the field for united effort in driving or expelling the enemy from the soil of Mississippi.” Great indignation was expressed by anti-war Democrats by the arrest of Vallandigham. They cried out against the overthrow of free institutions by President Lincoln. May 6, 1863.

The National Army of the Potomac, outgeneraled if not outfought, and thoroughly whipped in the three 'disastrous days at Chancellorsville and about Fredericksburg, was withdrawn from that town to the northern bank of the Rappahannock. General Hooker Issued an address to the army, congratulating them on their achievements of the last seven days, which was read with derision by the public. Alexandria, Miss., was occupied without resistance by the Nationals under Admiral Porter. A body of Confederate cavalry under General Ruggles was defeated in a fight near Tupelo, Miss., by National cavalry under Colonel Cornyn. Ninety Confederates were reported in the north as having been taken prisoners. • The steamer Eugenia was captured off Mobile by the National gunboat R. R. Cuyler. , i Southern sympathizers were sent south from Nashville, Tenn., by order of General Mitchell. Among them was Neill S. Brown, formerly governor of that state.

May 7, 1863. * The English steamer Cherokee, while endeavoring to rnn the blockade out of Charleston, 8. C., was captured by the National gunboat Canandaigua. A portion of the Fourth corps, National Army of the Potomac, General Keyes commanding, reconnoitered from West Point, Va, toward White House. They were fired on by a party of ambushed Confederates, but evened the score when they rescued Lieutenant Estes and fifteen men who had been taken prisoners at the Battle of Chancellorsville. Lieutenant Estes was aide to General Kilpatrick. Gen. Robert E. Lee, the Confederate commander at Fredericksburg, issued an order to his victorious army, “expressing his sense of gratitude of the heroic conduct displayed by officers and men during the arduous operations in which they had been engaged.” Colonel Kilpatrick, with his regiment, the Harris Light cavalry, and a portion of the Tenth Illinois cavalry, belonging to the expedition of General Stoneman, arrived at Gloucester Point, Va. General Sherman's force joined General Grant's in the rear of Vicksburg. May 8, 1863. 1 President Lincoln issued a pro mlamation preliminary to the enforce(ment of the “act for the enrollment of land calling out of the National forces, end for other purposes,” defining the (position and obligations qf inchoate {citizens under that law. : The ship,Cras Jane was captured jin Tampa bay, Florida, by the gunboat iTohoma. ( Bari Van Dora, the Confederate

general, was shot and instantly killed by Doctor Peters, Maury county, Tennessee. National gunboats and mortar schooners commenced a determined attack on Port Hudson, Miss., at night The Nevada Union issued a warning to against the activities of Confederate sympathizers in their states, asserting that Los Angeles was little better than a southern colony, where expressions of loyalty to the Union were dangerous, and that an attempt had been made to organize a party to seize Fort Crook, in the northern part of the state, as a rendezvous for guerillas. May 9, 1863.

The Charleston Mercury published an article advocating the following plan, suggested by the Jackson Appeal: “How to meet the enemy—The Northern vandals’ have invaded our state, not to confront our enemies and decide the chances of war in a pitched battle, but they have come to rob and steal, to plunder, to burn, and to starve to death our women and chil’dren. Under such circumstances we should meet them as we would,meet the savage, the highwayman, or the wild beast of the forest. —Partisan bands should He in wait for them on the railroadside, in fence corners, and behind trees; and, in tfhort, they should be hunted down in any and every way that can be made efficient and effectual until the state is relieved of their presence. Not observing the rules of civilized warfare themselves they cannot expect its observance from us. We need more Colonel Blythes in the woods throughout the state. A dozen well directed shots from the bush will at any time put a brigade to flight, and this is the most sure and certain method of putting a stop to the marauding expeditions that are from time to time sent out through the country. In Colonel Blythe's district or field of operations it has proved most efficacious in holding the enemy at bay, and we hope to see the plan put more extensively in practice. A big scare, occasioned by a brisk fire from a chapparel; is often more potent than would be a half dozen regiments of organized troops in the field.” The Federal bombardment of the Confederate works at Port Hudson was resumed at night, and continued for an hour, without response. The Second Indiana cavalry, Col. E. M. McCook, made a reconnoissance near Stone River, Tenn., capturing several partisan fighters and scattering other bands. The sdhooner Sea Lion, from Mobile to Havana, with a cargo of cotton, was captured by the National frigate Colorado.

May 10,1863. * Gen. Thomas Jonathan Jackson, commonly known as Stonewall Jackson, of the Confederate army, General Lee’s most dependable lieutenant, died at Guinness Station, Va., from the effects of the amputation of his arm and an attack of pneumonia. General Jackson was shot by a party of Confederate soldiers by mistake at dusk in the battle of Chancellorsville. His loss was a tremendous blow to the Confederacy. Brigadier General Davidson of the Union army prohibited in Missouri the sale or distribution of the Freeman’s Journal and the Caucasian, of New York, the Columbus (Ohio) Crisis, the Democratic Journal of Jerseyville, the Chicago Times and the Dubuque Herald. The National gunboats Owasco, Lieutenant Commanding John Madigan, and Katahdin, Lieutenant Commanding P. C. Johnson, after a chase of twenty miles, succeeded in driving the blockade runner West Florida on the shoals at Galveston Island, Tex. The anniversary of the capture of Camp Jackson, Mo., was celebrated. The attack on the Confederate batteries at Port Hudson was resumed early in the morning by the entire fleet of National gunboats and mortar schooners. The batteries replied for three hours, when they were obliged to suspend fire by a shortage of powder. (Copyright. ISIS, by W. G. Chapman.)