Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 132, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 June 1913 — the CIVIL WAR [ARTICLE]

the CIVIL WAR

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

May 18, 1863. v The marquis of Clanricarde in the British house of lords accused President Lincoln of having acted unfairly and illegally toward British shipping, and said that it was absolutely necessary for her majesty’s government to take more action than it had hitherto done in defense of the rights of the English shipowners. Earl Russell in reply, stated that every complaint that had been made by the owners of vessels seized by Federal cruisers had been duly considered, and that the law officers of the crown had decided that no objection could so far be fairly established against the proceedings of the United States prize courts. The earl took advantage of the opportunity to deny the statement that the British government had connived at the construction and escape of the Confederate cruiser Alabama, and to repeat the assurance that England had no desire to interfere unfairly in the dispute between the north and the south. Lord Derby expressed approval of Lord Russell’s speech, and the marquis of Clanricarde, being satisfied, withdrew a motion asking fcr copies of reports concerning the proceedings of Federal prize courts. Twenty-two whites of the Second Kansas artillery, and thirty-two negro soldiers, on a foraging expedition near Sherwood, Mo., were attacked by a large force' of Confederate Irregulars under Colonel Livingston, and driven six miles into their camp with severe loss. Only twelve of the whites escaped, and all but one of the negroes was killed, taken prisoner, or wounded. Haines Bluff, on the Yazoo river, having been evacuated by the Confederates, was occupied by a National force under Admiral Porter. Two bodies of National troops fired into each other near Carrsville, Va. Three men were killed and four wounded.

May 19, 1863. The Confederate schooner Mississippi, from Mobile for Havana, with cotton and turpentine, was captured by the gunboat De Soto. The National cavalry under General Milroy had a brisk skirmish with Confederates six miles from Winchester, Va., killing six and capturing seven. A force of Confederate partisans captured Richmond, Clay county, Missouri, and the National fort defending it, after a severe fight, in which two officers of the Twenty-fifth Missouri were killed. A lieutenant belonging to the captured party was shot after the surrender. The Spanish steamer Union was captured by the National gunboat Nashville. General Grant’s forces made an assault on the works at Vicksburg, and were repulsed with terrible loss, gaining only a few unimportant positions.

May 20, 1863. National pickets on the road from Fayetteville to Raleigh, Va., were attacked and roughly handled for the third time in the week by Confederates. The first attack was on Sunday, the seventeenth, when the pickets were entirely surrounded, and escaped capture only by the most desperate fighting. Skirmishing continued until noon, when the National pickets abandoned their advanced positions. The attack was resumed on the 19th, and kept up until this day, when the Confederates were satisfied with the mischief they had done, and withdrew.

Cdl. William A. Phillips, commanding the Indian brigade, had a hard fight with Confederates belonging to the army of General Price near Fort Gibson, Ark. The Confederates crossed the Arkansas river, near the fort, and were attacked by Colonel Phillips. They were driven back with the loss of one major and several men killed.

The steamer Margaret and Jessie, the Annie, and the Kate, arrived at Charleston, S. C., with valuable cargos, having run the blockade. The schooner Sea Bird, recently captured by the National gunboats, was retaken by the Confederates when aground at the mouth of the Neuse river, North Carolina, and burned. The steamer Eagle was captured outside the harbor of Nassau, which port she had just left with a cargo Intended for the Confederates. The Octorora made the capture. May 21, 1863.

Vicksburg, Miss., was completely invested by the National army under General Grant An offer made under flag of truce to surrender the town, with all arms and ammunitions, if the soldiers should be permitted to march out, was refused by General Grant The company of Confederate partisans that had visited Richmond, Mo., two days before, called at Plattsburg and took >II,OOO belonging to the state. A large steamer, loaded with cotton, was sunk in the North Inlet channel of Charleston harbor, South Carolina, by fire from the gunboat Powhattan, - and other blockadera, when she attempted to run the blockade. She had turned ’•ack under t,he

punishment received, but sank beton regaining safety. A An expedition of National troops composed of levies from Maine, New York and Massachusetts, left Bemis Landing, La., on an expedition. A Confederate camp near Middleton. Tenn., was broken up by a force of Union troops. William Robe, a citizen of Morgan county, Indiana, who had been active in gathering information concerning the Knights of the Golden Circle, was shot while at work in his field by a man named Bailey. The citizens of Richmond, Va., organized for thedefense of their city, ahd officers were appointed by Gen. George W. Randolph, assisted by a select committee of the city council. The people of Manchester, across the river, were invited to join the movement. z

British subjects residing in Mobile formed a company known as the British Consular Guards, and offered their services to the mayor to aid in the preservation of good order in the city “in case of insurrection, invasion, Inundation, devastation by fire, or any duty not inconsistent with their retaining their original nationality.” May 22, 1863. Eleven Confederates were captured from a reconnoitering party near Middleton, Tenn. A force of Nationals under Colonel Kilpatrick returned to Gloucester Point, Va., from a raid in Gloucester county, in co-operation with a gunboat and a transport Five mills filled with were burned, and a large quantity of corn and wheat in storehouses destroyed. A bureau for colored troops was established in the department of the adjutant general of the army of the United States.

In a reconnolssance from Newbern, N. C., to Gum Swamp, Col. J. R. Jones of the Fifty-eighth Pennsylvania was killed.

The English schooner Handy was captured by the gunboat Octorora. The Confederate steamer Beauregard, Capt. Louis M. Coxetter, ran the blockade into Charleston. Lord Brougham refused to preside at the anniversary meeting of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery society in London, "as such a course seemed to him to be inconsistent with British neutrality.” A lettef from Mr. Adams, the American minister, was read, expressing the thanks of President Lincoln for their moral support, and resolutions were passed expressing sympathy with the success of the emancipation policy. Mr. Vallandigham, under arrest by order of the war department of the United States, Issued an address from the military prison to the Democrats of Ohio. An order was Issued by the secretary of war regulating the business between Washington and Georgetown, Va,. across the river, abusive advantage having been taken of trade relations. -

May 23, 1863. The following petition was circulated in Columbus and other portions of Ohio: “The undersigned, citizens of Franklin county, respects fully represent that the most sacred rights of citizens are guaranteed by the Constitution of our fathers. It has been violated in the arbitrary arrest, illegal trial, and inhuman imprisonment, of the Hon. C. L. Vallandigham. We therefore demand of the president of the United States his immediate and unconditional release.” The Confederate sloop Fashion, having on board fifty bales of cotton, was captured by a boat expedition from the National steamer Port Royal, at a point forty-five miles above Apalachicola, Fla. The entire Union force under General Grant, in front of Vicksburg, made a second assault on the whole line of Confederate fortifications about the town. After a desperate and most obstinate conflict of eight hours, the Nationals were repulsed at all points, with terrible loss. May 24, 1863. Austin, Miss., was visited and burned by the force under General Ellet, commanding the National ram fleet in the Department of the Mississippi. A wagon train laden with commissary supplies, with an escort of thirty colored soldiers, under the command of a white officer, were captured near Shawnee Creek, Kan., by a party of Confederate partisan fighters. * The schooner Joe Flanner was captured by the National gunboat Pembina while attempting to run the blockade at Mobile, Ala. Maj. Gens. A. P. Hilf and R. S. Ewell were appointed lieutenant generals'in the Confederate army. General Curtis relinquished command of the Department of the West in the army of the United States, and General Schofield assumed it, issuing order to that effect

Considerable excitement existed in England regarding the Confederate privateer Alabama, three of the cargoes she had destroyed on the South American coast having proven to belong to British subjects. (Copyright. Utt, by W. G. Chapman.)