Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 125, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 May 1913 — The CIVIL WAR FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK [ARTICLE]

The CIVIL WAR FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

May 11, 1863. Gen. John H. Morgan, with his force of Confederate cavalry, defated a body of National troopß under Col. R. T. Jacob in a stubborn fight of seven hours in the vicinity of Greasy Creek. Ky. The loss as reported in the north was: Confederates 100 killed and wounded; Federals, 25 killed and ,wounded. Crystal Springs, Miss., on the New Orleans and Jackson railroad, was entered and burned by a party of NatlonaT cavalry. C. L. Vallandigham’s application for a writ of habeas corpus was brought before a United States circuit court at Cincinnati, and was denied. t Way 12, 1863. Confederate forces under General •Gregg, were attacked by the Union army under General McPherson at iMcßaymond, Miss., and driven from their position in a stubborn unent which achieved the importance •f a battle. The Confederates fell •lowly, leaving the National's in possession of the field, but too shaken to follow their advantage. ▲ force of National troops under Colonel Davis, First Texas cavalry, left Sevleck’s Ferry, on the Amite irlver, Louisiana, on an- expedition along the Jackson railroad. They struck the railroad at Hammond station, where they cut , the telegraph and burned the bridge. A party of sixty Confederate cavalry was encountered by a heavy force of Nationals between Woodburn and Franklin, Ky., and put to flight. S. L. Phelps, commanding the Tennessee division of the National fleet; Mississippi Bquadron, took on board his gunboats fifty-five men and horses of the First Western Tennessee cavalry, under the command of Colonel Breckinridge, and landed them on the -east side of the Tennessee river, sending the gunboats to cover all the landings above and below. Colonel Breckinridge dashed across the country to Xiinden, surprised a Confederate force, ■captured several officers and thirty mpn, horses, army wagons, arms, etc., burned the courthouse, *containing a •quantity of Confederate supplies, and returned to the boats without casualty. May 13, 1863. The expeditionary force under Colonel Dafis, which had deft Sevieck’s Ferry, La., the day before, In an expedition along the Jackson railroad, encountered a force of Confed•erates and Choctaw Indians at Pont--chatoula, La., which he dispersed, after a sharp skirmish, in which seven Indians were taken prisoners. Colonel Davis destroyed, the Confederate camp at that place. The English schooner Sea Bird was captured by the gunboat De Soto. A party of Confederate partisans attacked a Union train at South Union, Ky., and did considerable mischief before they were driven off. The schooners A, T. Hoge and Wonder were captured by the gunboat De Soto, the former at Mobile bay and the latter at Port Royal, S. C. Yazoo City, Ark., was captured by the fleet of Union gunboats under Admiral Walker. The Confederate troops evacuated the place, first, dethree rams that were being constructed there. Everything of value in the navy yard, and a saw mill, were destroyed by Lieutenant Walker, property to the extent of 12,000,000 being demolished.

May 14, 1863. Jackson, Miss., was oaptured by the Union forces belonging to General Grant’s command, after a fight of over three hours. Gen. Joseph E. H. Johnson was in command of the Confederates, who retreated toward the north. A detachment of the National expeditionary force under Colonel Davis, operating from Sevieck’s Ferry, on the Amite river, in Louisiana, destroyed the tannery, grist and saw mill, together with a steam engine at Hammond Station, on the Jackson railroad, Louisiana. A reconnoitering party of National troops, sent out from Fairfax Courthouse, Va., encountered a Bmall force of the Black Horse Confederate cavalry five miles beyond Warren ton Junction, and dispersed them, after a brief skirmish. A. Manilla, a noncombatant, near whose house the encounter took place, was killed. May 15, 1863. Colonel Davis, moving from Sevieck’s Ferry along the Jackson and New Orleans railroad, in Louisiana, encountered r force of .Confederates at Camp Moore, and defeated them, with considerable reported loss. After the fight he burned the camp, the railroad station, bridge, and a large quantity of Confederate property. William Corbin and T. P. Graw. found guilty of enlisting In the Confederate service within the Union lines, were executed at Johnson’s Island, near Sandusky, Ohio. The Confederate schooner Royal Yacht was captured by the National hark W. G. Anderson. . Confederates captured two small steamboats in the Dismal Swamp «ynal, North Carolina. The ship Crown Point was burned

«■ the high mss south of the equates by the Confederate privateer Florida. The National force under General Peck was roughly handled in several savage infantry fights in the vicinity of Carrsville and Suffolk, Va. May 16,1863. 'A detachment of Pennsylvania and Virginia National cavalry, sent out by General Milroy in pursuit of a company of Confederates that had captured a company of Union cavalry the previous night, came up with the enemy at Piedmont Station, in Fauquier county, Virginia, and effected a recapture of the entire body, together with a number of their Confederate captors. Captain Vitt, commanding the National troops, and one sergeant, were killed. The United States steamer Monticello captured the Confederate schooner Odd Fellow off Little River inlet, NCrth Carolina. General Palmer, accompanied by an escort of Twenty-five ~men, and fifty men of the Middle Tennessee Union cavalry, made a sabre charge at Bradyville Pike, near Cripple Creek, Tenn., on eight-five men of the Third Georgia regiment. The Confederates, carrying no sabres at the time, were at a heavy disadvantage, and lost in killed, wounded and captured, after a desperate struggle against the odds. General Grant continued his spectacular movement in the interior behind Vicksburg with a purpose of severing the city from the support of the Confederate armies in .the vicinity. On this day he attacked and defeated the army under General Pemberton, driving it behind the Big Black river, in the battle of Champion Hills, or Baker’s Creek, Miss, A force of Confederate cavalry attack and badly whipped a reconnoitering party of the First New York mounted rifles, Major Patton, hear Suffolk, Va, May 17, 1863.

The Confederates under Pemberton were defeated again at the Big Black river by General Grant, who drove them definitely into their defenses of Vicksburg, with great loss. By this action Grant had won the seventh engagement in as many days and accomplished his purpose of cooping the enemy up in the town that he had been operating against since the previous year. Jackson, Miss., was evacuated by the National forces under General Grant, left there to watch the movements of General Johnson and prevent his coming up with help for Pemberton. The First New York cavalry, that had suffered severely at the hands of Confederates under Moaby the previous day, went out in force to punish him. Coming up with the enemy at Berry’s Ford, on the Rappahannock, .the Nationals administered a sharp beating to them, and recaptured the prisoners taken the day before. The Confederate government steamer Cuba was destroyed by the National gunhoat De Soto in the Gulf of Mexico, off Mobile bay. ' The schooner Isabel, attempting to run the blockade at Mobile, was run close ashore under the walls of Fort Morgan, and Master’s Mate Dyer was sent with boats to bring her off or burn her. They were just in time to capture sixteen passengers and crew. Finding it impossible to bring the schooner off, he set fire to her and pulled for his ship. Finding, that the schooner was not burning properly, Dyer put back, although the forts were atermed and alert, and did his work more effectively. The Confederate schooner Ripple was captured by the Federal gunboat Kanawha, blockading at Pensacola, Fla. Confederate partisans visited Burning Va., and destroyed the ollworks there. (Copyright, 1918, by W. G. Chapman.)