The American Civil War 150th Anniversary – May 28-June 3, 1862
Here are some of the events of the Civil War that were happening 150 years ago this week. Sources are numbered according to the list at the bottom of this post.
Of note, Memorial Day isn’t quite 150 years old yet.
The Grapevine Bridge over the Chickahominy River (David B. Woodbury, 1862, via http://www.pha.jhu.edu/~dag/4thtex/history/grapevine.html )
May 28
Military Events: Shenandoah Valley: In order to protect the vitally important supplies, ammunition and horses he has captured from US General Banks, General Jackson decides to withdraw beyond the point where advancing Union forces can unite to cut him off. He heads for Strasburg. (9)
Peninsula Campaign: New Hampshire men under US Colonel Edward E. Cross complete the Grapevine Bridge over what General McClellan calls “the confounded Chickahominy River.” It is one of four bridges built by Federal engineers and is considered “passable for artillery.” Three of McClellan’s five corps are on the north bank of the Chickahominy and two – the Third and Fourth Corps – are on its south bank. (11)
Corinth, Mississippi: “It looks somewhat like the times at Madrid and Point Pleasant, but will probably be a little more interesting before we finally finish it.” (14) However, General Sherman has a different view: “”By 9 A.M. of the 29th our works were substantially done, and our artillery in position, and at 4 p.m. the siege-train was brought forward. … So near was the enemy that we could hear the sound of his drums and sometimes of voices in command ; and the railroad-cars arriving and departing at Corinth were easily distinguished.” (9) The railroad traffic is part of the “Ruse of the Whistles,” in which CS General Beauregard evacuates out of Corinth first the wounded and then his active troops by having the incoming trains met by soldiers who appear to be greeting reinforcements. “The retreat was continued to Tupelo,” Jefferson Davis said, “without any serious conflict with the enemy; but during the retreat seven locomotives were reported to be lost by the burning of a bridge, and a number of cars, most of which were loaded with stores, were ordered to be burned.” (9)
Coaling Farragut’s fleet at Baton Rouge, 1862 (Library of Congress)
Battles: Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Confederate guerrillas fire on Union vessels as they come in to occupy the city. The vessels shell the city briefly and then take over. (12)
Other: In New Orleans, US General Butler has former US Senator Pierre Soulé arrested. (14)
In Washington, President and Mrs. Lincoln attend a concert in the newly renovated Ford’s Theater. (5)
In North Carolina, Edward Stanly, the federally appointed military governor, clashes with Vincent Colyer, General Burnside’s Superintendent of the Poor, over the opening of schools for recently freed slaves. (4)
May 29
Military events: The telegraph lines are busy between Washington and the various headquarters of Lincoln’s generals. (5)
May 30
Military Events: Peninsula Campaign: CS General Joe Johnson decides to attack the two Union corps on the south bank of the Chickahominy. That night a severe thunderstorm hits the area, and the Chickahominy floods, while nearby land and roads turn into boggy, almost impassable mud. (9, 11)
Corinth: The “Guarded” Track, May 1862. (Library of Congress)
Corinth, Mississippi: General Sherman occupies the city and finds Confederate forces have gone: “For some days and nights cars have been arriving and departing very frequently, especially in the night; but last night (the 29th) more so than usual, and my suspicions were aroused. Before daybreak I instructed the brigade commanders and the field-officer of the day to feel forward as far as possible; but all reported the enemy’s pickets still in force in the dense woods to our front. But about 6 a.m a curious explosion, sounding like a volley of large siege-pieces, followed by others, singly, and in twos and threes, arrested our attention, and soon after a large smoke arose from the direction of Corinth, when I telegraphed to General Halleck to ascertain the cause. He answered that he could not explain it, but ordered me to advance my division and feel the enemy, if still in my front. I immediately put in motion two regiments of each brigade, by different roads, and soon after followed with the whole division — infantry, artillery, and cavalry. General M. L. Smith’s brigade moved rapidly down the main road, entering the first redoubt of the enemy at 7 a. m. It was completely evacuated, and by 8 a.m. all my division was at Corinth and beyond.” (9)
New Orleans: Upon his arrival, US Flag Officer Farragut is met with messages from Washington rebuking him for not remaining near Vicksburg and stating that Northern strategy requires that he immediately return upstream, clearing the Mississippi as he goes until he meets the Union’s Western Flotilla. At the suggestion of General Butler and with the promise of additional troops, Farragut calls 10 of his mortar schooners back to the Mississippi to support an attack on Vicksburg. (12)
From Washington, US President Lincoln maintains telegraph contact with his generals. (5)
May 31
Military Events: CS General Jackson reaches Strasburg with his “foot cavalry” (note: this link is to a commercial site – I have no idea who this person is and don’t endorse him one way or the other: the link is useful because the thumbnail painting is evocative, and oddly enough, this site is the only one I’ve seen that gives the specific reason why Jackson’s infantry brigade was compared to cavalry). After learning that Fremont’s forces are in the area, Jackson sends out General Ewell to gain time for the rest of his army to arrive. (9)
President Lincoln spends the afternoon in the War Department’s telegraph office, waiting for news. At 11 p.m., the first dispatch from the battle at Richmond reaches him. (5)
View in the Chickahominy Swamp, 1862. (Library of Congress)
Battles: Peninsula Campaign: Battle of Seven Pines/Fair Oaks. The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac finally meet. It might have been a Confederate victory, had the Grapevine Bridge – over which men had to wade and push their artillery pieces through flood water up to their knees and higher – washed out before the US Second Corps could cross it to reinforce the otherwise trapped Third and Fourth Corps. The bridge held just long enough.
The arrival of these men gives Union forces on the south bank a numerical advantage of some 16,000 men over the attacking Confederates. “The diaries and memoirs of the men who fought in it,” says G. William Glidden, “cannot be put together to make a picture of anything but a series of savage combats in wood and swamp, where the wounded Federals burned when powder flashes set fire to dead leaves and underbrush insufficiently dampened by the rain; and wounded Confederates drowned in stagnant pools. The Confederates, who did best near a crossroads called Seven Pines, chose to remember that name while Union soldiers called it Fair Oaks, after the scene of their most successful fighting. Two giants had met in their first great combat. With about 42,000 men engaged on each side, the Confederates suffered 6000 casualties and the Federals 5000 in total.” General McClellan, who was one of the few and perhaps the only one of the top Union leadership to realize that General Jackson’s movements in the Shenandoah Valley were just a diversion, becomes demoralized at the sight of “mangled corpses” on the battlefield. CS General Joe Johnson is wounded during the fight. (9, 11)
June 1
Battles: Shenandoah Valley: US General Fremont’s forces skirmish with a blocking force under CS General Ewell. US General McDowell doesn’t move at all. (2) The fighting against Fremont’s men goes so well that Confederates consider pursuing but decide not to, since US General James Shields is nearby “with troops of a different character from those of Fremont’s army.” (9)
Peninsula Campaign: Battle of Seven Pines/Fair Oaks. The two armies clash again but neither side can claim a decisive victory and the action is broken off. It has been the bloodiest fight in the eastern theater. The huge and well-managed Army of the Potomac has failed to reach the Confederate capital and end the war. The romantic idea of some Southerners, that with the capital of their new country threatened, Confederate troops would rise up and overwhelm the Yankee invaders, has been confounded by real-world challenges and setbacks. (11)
Military events: CS President Davis replaces the wounded General Joe Johnston with General Robert E. Lee. (11)
In the Shenandoah Valley, General Jackson and his long line of captured supplies leaves Strasburg in the evening and continues to head up the Shenandoah Valley (that is, south), pursued by Fremont. US General Shields is also moving up the valley, via the Luray, in the hopes of cutting Jackson off at New Market. (2, 9)
President Lincoln telegraphs General McClellan, and in the evening, meets with generals and senators in the War Department to discuss the latest news. (5)
June 2
Military events: Peninsula Campaign: General Robert E. Lee takes command of the Army of Northern Virginia. He immediately gets to work refitting the army and preparing it for battle and also orders earthworks set up around Richmond, although at the moment ongoing heavy rains prevent Federal troops from moving artillery up to the city. To prevent “Little Mack” from bringing up artillery by railroad, the Confederates deploy their own 32-pounder on a railroad car; it is the first railroad gun in history. McClellan’s men start fortifying their positions on the Chickahominy and their supply line to the depot on the York River. Confederate troops start work on a “light intrenchment for infantry cover, with some works for field guns” on the south bank of the Chickahominy. (9, 10, 11)
Other: James Andrews escapes Swims Jail, Chattanooga, but is recaptured. (6)
June 3
Military events: CS President Davis and General Lee confer. Perceiving their danger because of numerical inferiority and lack of engineering troops, as well as “our deficiency in tools,” they decide to bring General Jackson in from the Shenandoah under cover of General William H. C. Whiting‘s forces, who will head into the Shenandoah openly as apparent reinforcements for Jackson. While they deceive General McClellan and engage Union forces in the Valley, Jackson will secretly bring his men to join Lee’s forces at Richmond.
During this meeting or at some unspecified point around this time, General Lee tells his president, “If you will hold him as long as you can at the intrenchment, and then fall back on the detached works around the city, I will be upon the enemy’s heels before he gets there.” It is the start of an offensive-defensive strategy that, in Davis’s words, “turned from the capital of the Confederacy a danger so momentous that, looking at it retrospectively, it is not seen how a policy less daring or less firmly pursued could have saved the capital from capture.” (9) General Lee has noted McClellan’s dependency on the railroad as a supply line and believes that the Union general has not deployed his troops properly to protect that railroad – a large Confederate force could be maneuvered around the exposed northern flank. Despite his words to President Davis, though, General Lee needs more information before he can act on this plan. (9, 11)
New Orleans: In response to Flag Officer Farragut’s request, Cmdr. Porter brings, not 10, but the entire flotilla of mortar boats for the attack on Vicksburg. (12)
Robert E. Lee (Library of Congress)
Sources:
(1) AmericanCivilWar.com
(2) Encyclopedia Virginia: “The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862“
(3) “Battle Cry of Freedom” by James McPherson
(4) University of North Carolina “Civil War Day by Day”
(5) The Lincoln Log timeline.
(6) Blue and Gray Timeline.
(7) Civil War Daily Gazette timeline.
(8) Grant Chronology, Mississippi State University.
(9)”The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government” (Vol. II), Jefferson Davis.
(10) Civil War Home’s “The Peninsula Campaign.”
(11) “The Battles for Richmond, 1862.” National Park Service.
(12) Conquest of the Lower Mississippi. BrownWaterNavy.org.
(13) Waddell’s Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871.
(14) Daily Observations From the Civil War
The American Civil War 150th Anniversary: Presidents on the Battlefield
In May 1862, both Union and Confederate troops might possibly have seen their commander-in-chief watching as they deployed for battle.
“For President Abraham Lincoln” – A campaign button from 1864 (Library of Congress)
Norfolk and Seven Pines/Fair Oaks
US President Lincoln was at Fortress Monroe early in the month. On May 7th, he ordered the USS Galena and two other ironclads up the James River, where they would battle Confederate forces at Drewry’s Bluff. On the 8th, he discussed landing troops under cover of naval fire with his flag officer; Confederate positions were shelled that day, although the landing didn’t take place.
On May 10 Lincoln accompanied his commanding officer General Wool to Willoughby Point, where Federal troops began their march against Confederate positions in Norfolk. Later in the day, the president got so angry at troops who weren’t taking part in the attack that he bounced his tall hat off the floor in disgust and then dictated orders for them. At 11 p.m., General Wool arrived to tell Lincoln of Norfolk’s surrender and occupation, and the president finally called it a day by telling his flag officer, “You are quite right in supposing the movement made by you and therein reported was made in accordance with my wishes verbally expressed to you in advance.” (“The Lincoln Log“)
Jefferson Davis, first president of the new Southern Confederacy, 1861 (Library of Congress)
On May 31, 1862, CS President Davis “hastily dispatched [his] office business, and rode out toward the Meadow Bridge” to watch as the Army of Northern Virginia, under General Joe Johnston, attacked US General McClellan’s Army of the Potomac, which was now close enough to Richmond for the Yankees to hear that city’s church bells (and for a man to ride out to the lines in the middle of a work day).
Things were not as well ordered on the battlefield for Davis as they were for Lincoln at Fortress Monroe. In fact, Davis’s description of his personal experiences there conveys a fine sense of just how hard it was to figure out what was happening during the messy battle of Seven Pines/Fair Oaks (The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, volume II, pages 121-124). However, the president did send couriers to General Magruder, directing him to attack an enemy position, and that attack was carried out.
Precedents: Washington and/or Madison?
Until 1862, the only sitting presidents who had been present on a battlefield with troops had been George Washington in October 1794 during the Whiskey Rebellion, and James Madison at the Battle of Bladensburg, Maryland, in August 1814.
I’m not a historian, so I can’t say for sure whether either of those presidents actually “led troops in battle,” but have heard some say that Washington was the only president who ever did so, while others say the same about Madison. It sounds to me as though Washington reviewed the militia before they went in to put down the insurgency, while in 1814 President Madison was present at Bladensburg, but his secretary of state, James Monroe, was the one who issued a few orders (apparently unhelpful ones).
In neither case does it sound as though the president acted like a general at the head of a line of troops heading in to fight, and this makes sense.
Washington was putting down an insurrection, and while his summoning up the militia apparently was a popular decision, he had to take into consideration a possible political backlash in the future if he were seen actually leading troops against other Americans.
Madison was present at Bladensburg (which wasn’t exactly a high point in American feats of arms, to say the least), but he left the field when the American line began to collapse and was not captured, which in itself was a success. If he had fallen into British hands, they wouldn’t have had to march on Washington and burn and pillage the place until stopped by the forces of Nature.
Let’s assume that both presidents Washington and Madison can be considered to have led troops in the field. Should we also add Lincoln, at least, if we are discussing strictly US presidents who have led troops? I think so, and in spirit would also add Jefferson Davis, who on May 31, 1862, had enemy troops just about as close to him as the British were to the White House on August 24, 1814, and who did go out to the battlefield as a result and issue some orders.
None of those four men, it sounds to me, was any sort of a Napoleon figure leading a charge, but they all showed up on the battlefield at a crisis when the future of their country was in doubt. That’s how I would define leadership. Let’s leave it to the historians to decide to what degree, and also how much their presence may have influenced the eventual outcome of the matter.
History: Not always what it looks like at first glance. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WhiskeyRebellion.jpg )
The American Civil War 150th Anniversary – May 21-27, 1862
Here are some of the events of the Civil War that were happening 150 years ago today. Sources are numbered according to the list at the bottom of this post.
Edit on May 22: The “Lincoln Log” site is up and I’ve added a few things from that below (as noted, as well as anything with a “5″ after it).
The Union Army entering Front Royal (Library of Congress)
May 21
Battles: Shenandoah Valley campaign: US General Banks, denied permission to abandon Strasburg, sends 900 men to occupy Front Royal to protect his left flank and rear from the forces of CS Generals Jackson and Ewell.
When Jackson learns of this, he changes his plans; while keeping Colonel Turner Ashby and his cavalry headed up the pike toward Strasburg as a feint, General Jackson turns and enters the Luray Valley (now called the Page Valley). (2, 3)
Military events: Corinth, Mississippi: US General Halleck’s batteries are within three miles of town. He has over 85,000 men at his command, while CS General Beauregard in Corinth has less than 45,000 effective troops available. (9)
In a telegram to General McClellan, US President Lincoln confirms that McClellan will retain command when joined by General McDowell, except no order will put McDowell out of position to guard Washington. (5)
Other: Peninsula Campaign: From a nurse on board the Spaulding:
The railroad is open to-day to within ten miles of Richmond: so says Colonel Ingalls. The cars and locomotives came up the river yesterday. This enables them to send forward supplies with great ease. Hitherto, everything has depended on wagon-trains, half of which stick in the mud and clay of Virginia roads. The one question asked by everybody is: “Where’s McDowell?”
May 22
Battles: Shenandoah Valley Campaign: CS General Jackson and his army camp near Milford (present-day Overall), Virginia.
Other: Elections are held in Tucker County, West Virginia.
May 23
Other: President Lincoln and US Secretary of War Stanton visit Fredericksburg, Virginia. No one cheers them and local officials do not call on them. Lincoln does meet with General McDowell, though, as well as review the troops. (5)
Battles: Lewisburg, West Virginia. A Union victory.
Shenandoah Valley Campaign: The Battle of Front Royal. Also known as Guard Hill/Cedarville. CS General Ewell captures most of the troops at Front Royal, and moves directly Winchester, while Jackson turns across to the road from Strasburg, and hits the main column of Banks forces in flank, driving it back to Strasburg. Confederate troops chase Union forces to Winchester, who then head for the Potomac and Maryland. According to Jefferson Davis, General Banks said in his report, ” There never were more grateful hearts in the same number of men, than when, at mid-day on the 26th, we stood on the opposite shore.” (2, 9)
Belle Boyd (Library of Congress)
Belle Boyd is there, too: “I recall well May 23, 1862 when General Jackson was preparing an advance on the yankee army at Front Royal. When I discovered it was Bank’s intent to withdraw and burn their bridges behind them, I knew this information was vital to General Jackson. ‘I shall never run again as I ran on that day.’ Dodging bullets and shells, I crawled across the battlefield until I reached the front line. Waving my white bonnet in the air frantically, I was relieved to see one of Jackson’s staff galloping towards me on horseback. Ironically, our boys saw me too and rushed forward to save the bridges. It was with great pride that I read a personal note of thanks from General Jackson, carrying it with me for some time after that.”
May 24
Battles: Shenandoah Valley Campaign: With General Jackson now on his left flank and capable of cutting his supply route, General Banks retreats to Winchester, and in the evening, deploys 3500 men south of the town to delay Jackson’s oncoming 16,000-man army long enough for 550 Union supply wagons to get a head start toward the Potomac, 35 miles away. (2)
Military Events: Peninsula Campaign: President Lincoln, in a telegram to General McClellan:
…The enemy’s forces under General Anderson now opposing General McDowell’s advance have as their line of supply and retreat the road to Richmond. If, in conjunction with McDowell’s movement against Anderson, you could send a force from your right to cut off the enemy’s supplies from Richmond, preserve the railroad bridges across the two forks of the Pamunkey, and intercept the enemy’s retreat, you will prevent the army now opposed to you from receiving an accession of numbers of nearly 15,000 men; and if you succeed in saving the bridges you will secure a line of railroad for supplies in addition to the one you now have. Can you not do this almost as well as not while you are building the Chickahominy bridges? McDowell and Shields both say they can, and positively will, move Monday morning.
Indeed, per the “Lincoln Log,” the president “spends much of day in telegraph office directing troop movements under Gens. Fremont and McDowell in consequence of Gen. Banks’ critical position resulting from Confederate break-through at Front Royal, Va.”
May 25
Battles: Shenandoah Valley Campaign: The First Battle of Winchester, a/k/a/ Bowers Hill. General Jackson attacks Banks at dawn, driving the Union troops out of Winchester after a two-hour pitched battle. Command miscommunications, the absence of Ashby’s cavalry, and the Confederate infantry’s exhaustion (the men of the Stonewall Brigade have marched some 160 miles and fought two major battles in two weeks) keep Jackson from pursuing the retreating Federal forces immediately. Not all of Bank’s supply wagons escape, however. The Confederates name him “Commissary Banks” because of the much-needed food and medical supplies they seize near Winchester. As soon as possible, Jackson will set out for Harper’s Ferry.(2, 3, 9)
Edward Stanton and Abraham Lincoln (Vanderbilt University at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/magazines/vanderbilt-magazine/2011/04/the-commodores-civil-war/ )
The reaction in Washington is one of panic. According to The Continental Monthly, July 1862, Edward Stanton, the US Secretary of War, sends the following telegrams to the governor of Massachusetts:
‘Washington, May 25th, 1862.
‘To Governor Andrew: Send all the troops forward that you can immediately. Banks is completely routed. The enemy are in large force advancing upon Harper’s Ferry.
Edwin M. Stanton,
‘Secretary of War.’
and
Washington, May 25th, 1862.
‘To the Governor of Massachusetts: Intelligence from various quarters leaves no doubt that the enemy in great force are advancing on Washington. You will please organise and forward immediately all the volunteer and militia force in your State.
Edwin M. Stanton,
‘Secretary of War.’
This produces, in the words of Jefferson Davis, “a most indescribable panic in the cities of the Northern States on Sunday the 25th, and two or three days afterward.” (9)
The “Lincoln Log” is currently unreachable, so I will have to add details from that later, but according to Jefferson Davis, President Lincoln reacts by ordering General McDowell “…laying aside for the present the movement on Richmond, to put twenty thousand men in motion at once for the Shenandoah.”
Lincoln also takes military possession of all the railroads in the United States on the 25th, according to Davis. Per the “Lincoln Log,” this is reported by the National Intelligencer on the 26th.
Here are the day’s telegrams, per the “Lincoln Log.”
The US president is planning to trap General Jackson with three armies. While General Fremont is to move to Harrisonburg, taking Jackson’s supply line, General McDowell sends General James Shields, followed by a division commanded by General Edward Ord, into the Shenandoah Valley. Banks is to cross back over the Potomac to Virginia and chase the Confederate forces if they move up the valley. (Wikipedia)
May 26
Battles: Union and Confederate forces skirmish at Calico Rock, Arkansas.
Shenandoah Valley: CS General Charles Winder is sent to Charles Town, where he engages Union forces, driving them back toward the Potomac. The main column moves toward Harper’s Ferry, where Jackson learns of the movements of Generals Fremont and Shields. (9)
Military events: Corinth, Mississippi: CS General Beauregard begins to evacuate thousands of sick and wounded soldiers. (9)
Lincoln sends some telegrams to General McClellan. (5)
May 27
Battles: Peninsula Campaign: Hanover Courthouse/Slash Church. It’s a Union victory, but rendered moot by General McDowell’s withdrawal back to the Shenandoah.
Shenandoah Valley: President Lincoln notices General Fremont has gone to Moorefield, not Harrisonburg as ordered. (5)
Military events: Corinth, Mississippi: Arrangements for falling back begin. (9)
Corinth Miss
May the 26th 1862
Mrs S.J. Hudson
Dear wife I agin seate my self to in form you that I am injoying tolerable good health hoping theis lines will will find you ail well
We air fixing up to leave this place
I cannot tell where we will go
I thought as Elzy was going home I would send you a fiew lines as I cannot tell when I will have the chanse to write to you soonI exspect to have to face the Enemy
I trust that I may escape
I want you to pray for me that I may be spaird from this War
I would give any thing to see you all one time more
I want to see you all as bad as I ever did tho I am hear will have to stay for some time
I am very ancious to hear from you
I want you to send me them things that [you?] wer talking about before I leftMy Dear I want you to git a long the best you can in this wourld and live faithfull
May the Lord be with you all
if it should be my Makers will that I should never return home agin pray that we may meat where parting will be no more
I try to Discharge my duty to god altho I cannot say that I live as faithfull as I should tho it is my determination by the assisting grace of god to make my way from this low ground of sorrow to a land of Eaternal rest
if we cannot see each other hear in this world it chers me up to think that their is a land of rest where Christins Will Meat and their live to geather foreverSarah I do not want you to greive after me
if it is gods will he will spair my life
we should be thankful to him that we have bin spaird so furI must bring my letter to a close as I am in a hury
Send me some ink back by ElzySo no more at presant only remaines your affectionate Husband till Death
Ciss the childern for me and tell them to be smart
Sources:
(1) AmericanCivilWar.com
(2) Encyclopedia Virginia: “The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862“
(3) “Battle Cry of Freedom” by James McPherson
(4) University of North Carolina “Civil War Day by Day”
(5) The Lincoln Log timeline.
(6) Blue and Gray Timeline.
(7) Civil War Daily Gazette timeline.
(8) Grant Chronology, Mississippi State University.
(9)”The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government” (Vol. II), Jefferson Davis.
(10) Civil War Home’s “The Peninsula Campaign.”
(11) The Rebellion Record. Frank Moore, Edward Everett (1867)
(12) Conquest of the Lower Mississippi. BrownWaterNavy.org.
(13) Waddell’s Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871.
(14) Daily Observations From the Civil War
Random thoughts: Robin Gibb has passed
I just saw the news online. It caught me by surprise, a little, because the last report I read on him said that he awakened from his coma, although he would have to learn to walk and eat again.
The Bee Gees were part of the soundtrack of my early 20s, and of course, he will be remembered for that, but I have become interested in him lately because of that beautiful Titanic Requiem he and his son RJ did. As one classical music reviewer said, there’s no point in looking for depth of composition that isn’t there, but you don’t need to have heard the name “Gibb” to appreciate Requiem’s power and melodic beauty.
My thoughts are with his family tonight, and thank you. Good night, Robin, and may we all awake someday at daybreak and all of us sing together.
(I hope this one track from the 15-movement Titanic Requiem, which hasn’t received much publicity since its debut earlier in the year, spurs you to get it and listen to the whole thing. You’ll be glad you did.)
The American Civil War 150th Anniversary: Slavery and Racism – A Beginning
Those darned 19th century American abolitionists! They had this idea that the truth will set you free, and so they kept forcing people to look at something very unpleasant. That caused a lot of trouble.
The trouble still is ongoing today, in spite of all the ways we modern Americans have developed to not think about it. For some of us, the basic avoidance tactic is to identify the turmoil over race and slavery in America as a strictly historical thing and to pretend that we are a different people today. For other Americans, it isn’t that easy.
Willie Lincoln? (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WILLIE.JPG )
Of course we must deal with it during any look back at the Civil War. It’s most appropriate to deal with it during 2012, as President Lincoln’s preliminary Emancipation Proclamation was issued in September 1862.
It also seems to me that the northern president was working especially hard toward a workable form of emancipation after the death of his son. I am no Lincoln scholar, and maybe that impression isn’t correct, but just looking at things as a human being, I might dwell on simple ideals to explain the ugly state of the world to my young children, if I were a new President of the United States on whose election a sizable chunk of the country had promptly seceded, and and if I were a member of political party so young that it didn’t yet have a handy philosophy in place yet that I could use to explain my job, which included raising armies to go out and kill and be killed.
I might justify all that to my dying 12-year-old son with a promise to emancipate the Negroes. Or maybe, I would work toward emancipation as a way to reestablish meaning in a cruel world where not even children were spared horrible deaths.
Who knows how Lincoln evolved in the months leading up to his historic proclamation. We only know that he did.
Sharecropper youth in Georgia, 1937. (Library of Congress)
Slavery and racism
I have held off on getting into the slavery issue until now, because it is still volatile and I didn’t know how to get started until now.
Today I was washing out some clothes in the bathtub and noticed how modern detergents pretty much clean clothes all by themselves. There’s not much work to it.
There would be, though, if those detergents didn’t exist, if electricity to run machines didn’t exist, if washing machines hadn’t yet been invented, et cetera. People wear clothes and those clothes have to be cleaned. Who would clean them? Well…look at human history, and at the situation still in many parts of the world today where the overall human condition is such that there are no washing machines and fancy detergents.
How much would women’s lib count in a world where the clothes had to be cleaned by hand? So fragile is that liberation!
A similar mental exercise will take you back to the conditions of late 18th and early 19th century America, where everything had to be done by hand and often by scratch. These were conditions that humanity was familiar with, down through the ages, and slavery was one of the ways humanity dealt with the question of who has to do what work.
Certainly it was the Industrial Revolution that first shifted things, but what was the status quo which it affected? Slavery was a human institution and therefore quite complex – I doubt very much that the abolitionists gave us a complete picture.
And what was the role of racism in it all? There have been slaves down through history, and while (again) I’m no expert, it doesn’t seem to me that those slaves were often spoke of solely as things the way former residents of Africa were spoken of in mid-19th century America – if that perception is correct, why was it like that?
And why didn’t the Emancipation Proclamation of 1862 rearrange things in America so that the 13-year-old resident of Americus, Georgia, pictured above would never have had to work in the field like that 74 years after the Proclamation became law?
*************************
So it begins. Darn those abolitionists!
This subset of the Civil War series will not be as regularly posted as the main weekly series, but I am going to try to take a look at the institution of slavery in human history and as it was in early and antebellum America. It would also be helpful to have a general idea of the state of race relations in Europe and early America.
Then somewhere around January 2013, 150 years after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation became the law of the land, I am going to shift perspective, not limiting myself to the war years, and try to trace what that proclamation and other well-meaning efforts down through the centuries resolved or partially resolved and what they thus far have failed to address.
We knew the truth back in the 1860s, yet skin color still matters greatly in many parts of America. Why are we, as a nation, not yet free in the sense the abolitionists may have intended?
The American Civil War 150th Anniversary – May 14-20, 1862
Here are some of the events of the Civil War that were happening 150 years ago today. Sources are numbered according to the list at the bottom of this post.
Tending wounded Union soldiers during Peninsula Campaign (Library of Congress)
May 14
Other:General Order No. 1 is issued in Atlanta.
Peninsula Campaign: “I can’t keep the record of events day by day, but last Friday we came down again from West Point to Yorktown, and G. and I went to Fortress Monroe on two hospital ships, G. on the “Knickerbocker” with the sick of Franklin’s Division, and Miss Whetten and I on the “Daniel Webster No. 2″, with two hundred of the Williamsburg wounded. Since the day of the battle they had lain in the wet woods with undressed wounds. Some one had huddled them on to a boat without beds or subsistence, and then notified the Sanitary Commission to take care of them; and we were detailed to attend to them on the way to Fortress Monroe, with basins, soap, towels, bandages, etc. We washed and fed them all, Moritz going round with buckets of tea and bread. The poor fellows were very grateful, but we had a terribly hard experience.” – Eliza Woolsey.
Officers on deck of the “Monitor” in July 1862 (Library of Congress)
May 15
Battles: Peninsula Campaign: Drewry’s Bluff. With the CSS Virginia gone, Union ships, including the Monitor and its sister ironclad, the Galena, are free to sail up the James River toward Richmond. On this date, they encounter submerged obstacles and heavy, accurate fire from Confederate batteries at Drewry’s Bluff, and withdraw, with the Galena sustaining heavy damage.. CS Cmdr. E. Farrant, General William Mahone, Captain S. S. Lee and Lt. John Taylor Wood/US Cmdr. John Rodgers. (1) Of note, Captain S. S. Lee was General Robert E. Lee’s brother.
On land, US General McClellan’s Army of the Potomac is between New Kent Courthouse and Cumberland, along the Pamunky River, having traveled some 30 miles since seizing Yorktown on the 4th. Retreating Confederate forces have mined the road in places, causing Union forces to advance cautiously. CS General Joseph Johnston and the Army of Northern Virginia are are in a good defensive position at Baltimore Crossroads.
General McClellan asks for more troops, telling President Lincoln that Johnston may have 160,000 men (he has nowhere near that many). Lincoln replies: Have done, and shall do, all I could and can to sustain you—hoped that the opening of James River, and putting Wool and Burnside in communication, with an open road to Richmond, or to you, had effected something in that direction. I am still unwilling to take all our force off the direct line between Richmond and here.
Bank of the Chickahominy River during the war (Library of Congress)
On the other side, President Davis and General Lee visit General Johnston. According to Davis (who was not fond of General Joseph Johnson), “General Johnston took position on the north side of the Chickahominy ; accompanied by General Lee, I rode out to his headquarters in the field, in order that by conversation with him we might better understand his plans and expectations. He came in after we arrived, saying that he had been riding around his lines to see how his position could be improved. A long conversation followed, which was so inconclusive that it lasted until late in the night, so late that we remained until the next morning. As we rode back to Richmond, reference was naturally made to the conversation of the previous evening and night, when General Lee confessed himself, as I was, unable to draw from it anymore definite purpose than that the policy was to improve his position as far as practicable, and wait for the enemy to leave his gunboats, so that an opportunity might be offered to meet him on the land.” (7, 9)
Shenandoah Valley Campaign: Princeton Courthouse/Wolf Creek, West Virginia. CS General Humphrey Marshall and his Army of East Kentucky attack US General Jacob Cox’s two brigades in Mercer County, centered around Princeton Courthouse. (1) This apparently culminates a month-long series of fights as General Cox tries to destroy the Virginia & Tennessee Railway.
Meanwhile, General Joseph Johnson has written to Generals Jackson and Ewell in the Shenandoah Valley, ordering Jackson to unite his forces with those of Ewell in the center of the Valley and go after US General Banks, near Strasburg. Jackson figures Banks will either head north to Winchester or possible may move south to make a junction with General Fremont’s command somewhere near Staunton. He orders Ewell to follow Banks, if the Union general heads north. Ewell prepares to do so, but with reservations. Banks, in the meantime, asks permission to withdraw from Strasburg, but is refused. (2, 7)
Other: New Orleans: US General Benjamin Butler issues his General Order No. 28 and instantly becomes known as a “Beast” and other pejoratives. See the link; while the resentment and hatred are understandable, Butler did some good things while there.
The Bluebeard of New Orleans (Library of Congress)
May 16
Military events: General Lee learns that US General Irvin McDowell and some 40,000 troops will be leaving their position at Fredericksburg and moving on Richmond. With General Joseph Johnston’s troops facing General McClellan, Lee has no other option but ordering General Thomas Jackson to make an aggressive show in the Shenandoah Valley that will appear to threaten Washington, causing President Lincoln to redirect McDowell’s movement away from Richmond. Jackson, with Lee’s advice, decides to conduct a rapid assault on Banks, pushing him out of Winchester and making a demonstration toward the Potomac. (2, 10)
May 17
Battles: Princeton Courthouse/Wolf Creek/Pigeon Roost: Confederate troops ambush Union men who are marching on Princeton. That evening, General Cox withdraws his forces without having damaged the railroad.
Skirmish at Little Red River, Arkansas. Confederate victory.
Military events: President Lincoln orders General McDowell to obey McClellan’s orders, although he is to retain command of his own force and also is “not to allow your force to be disposed otherwise than so as to give the greatest protection to this capital which may be possible from that distance.” (5)
May 18
Battles: Mississippi River: After exchanging fire with Confederate batteries at Grand Gulf, Mississippi, Union ships reach Vicksburg and demand the city’s surrender. The response: “Mississippians don’t know–and refuse to learn–how to surrender to an enemy. If Commodore Farragut or Brigadier General Butler can teach them, let them come and try.” The Federal fleet starts a bombardment of the city that will last intermittently until July. (12)
Other: “Today is the turning point of my life. This morning I was woken by a man shouting, “Who will come up and sign the roll?” The man was recruiting men for the Union army….” (Soldier’s Diary)
May 19
Emancipation: President Lincoln revokes General Hunter’s emancipation order within the Department of the South, reserving that authority to the presidency, and calls for gradual emancipation. (5, 6)
May 20
Other: President Lincoln signs the Homestead Act, which “Approves act securing homesteads to actual settlers on public domain, act providing primary schools for public instruction in District of Columbia outside Washington and Georgetown, and act prescribing qualification (oath of allegiance) for electors in cities of Washington and Georgetown, DC.” (5)
Military events: General Halleck and his huge army are advancing slowly on Corinth, very slowly, entrenching the entire army every single night. There are skirmishes with Confederate outposts daily. Meanwhile, in Corinth, while many of those wounded at Shiloh are slowly healing, thousands of others are coming down with dysentery and typhoid – the town’s water supply is incapable of handling the presence of an entire army. As many southern soldiers will die there of disease as fell at Shiloh. Faced with this nightmare as well as the possibility of a siege once Union forces finally arrive, CS General Beauregard is rethinking the goal of holding Corinth at all costs. (3, 9)
US General Terry reports from Fort Pulaski.
Contrabands on Mr. Foller’s farm, Cumberland in May 1862 (Library of Congress; click to enlarge)
Sources:
(1) AmericanCivilWar.com
(2) Encyclopedia Virginia: “The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862“
(3) “Battle Cry of Freedom” by James McPherson
(4) University of North Carolina “Civil War Day by Day”
(5) The Lincoln Log timeline.
(6) Blue and Gray Timeline.
(7) Civil War Daily Gazette timeline.
(8) Grant Chronology, Mississippi State University.
(9)”The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government” (Vol. II), Jefferson Davis.
(10) Civil War Home’s “The Peninsula Campaign.”
(11) The Rebellion Record. Frank Moore, Edward Everett (1867)
(12) Conquest of the Lower Mississippi. BrownWaterNavy.org.
(13) Waddell’s Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871.
(14) Daily Observations From the Civil War
The American Civil War 150th Anniversary – May 7-13, 1862
Here are some of the events of the Civil War that were happening 150 years ago today. Sources are numbered according to the list at the bottom of this post.
General Benjamin Huger, CSA military commander at Norfolk (Library of Congress)
May 7
Battles: Things are quiet for Union forces in Yorktown, although they have to be careful where they step – CS. General Magruder’s forces mined the area before they left. Fighting continues at West Point, Virginia where US General William Franklin’s division has been engaged by two brigades of CS General G. W. Smith at Eltham Landing. The CSS Virginia is active, engaging Union ships, while Confederates under General Benjamin Huger are hard at work getting supplies and material out of Norfolk before they abandon it. (9, 14)
Shenandoah Valley Campaign: CS General Jackson heads west from Staunton toward US General Robert Milroy’s position in the village of McDowell. In the afternoon, Milroy’s men spot Jackson’s troops on the Staunton and Parkersburg Turnpike and fire an artillery volley, but when another column of Confederates appears, Milroy abandons the position and heads for McDowell. US General Robert Schenck responds to Milroy’s call for help with 1500 and hurries toward McDowell overnight. (7)
Mississippi River: US Flag Officer Farragut heads upriver from New Orleans. (12)
General Robert C. Schenck, USA (Library of Congress)
May 8
Battles: The battle of McDowell/Sitlington’s Hill. US Generals Milroy and Schenck/CS General Jackson. Milroy and Schenck withdraw to West Virginia, leaving Jackson free to advance on other Union positions in the Shenandoah Valley. (1)
Peninsula Campaign: At the mouth of the James River, Union batteries open up on Confederate positions at Norfolk, but the CSS Virginia and the James River Squadron show up and Union ships retire for the time being. (Wikipedia)
Mississippi River: US Comdr. Palmer sends a landing party to take Baton Rouge when his demand for surrender is refused. (12)
May 9
Emancipation: General David Hunter, commander of the US Department of the South, who has been enlisting black soldiers and has formed the first Union black regiment, the 1st South Carolina (African Descent), issues General Order No. 11, emancipating slaves in Georgia, South Carolina and Florida. This causes “some excitement, and misunderstanding.” (6)
Battles: Peninsula Campaign: CS General Huger and his forces abandon Norfolk, Virginia, destroying their military base as they go. (6)
Corinth, Mississippi: US General Halleck and his army are moving slowly towards Corinth. Per McPherson, “Halleck would be happy if he could maneuver Beauregard out of Corinth without a fight. Grant, for one, could not see ‘how the mere occupation of places was to close the war while large and effective rebel armies existed.’ But Halleck wanted no part of Grant’s kind of war.” This is not at all because of cowardice or incompetence: General Halleck had literally written the book on military strategy, and like many others (and unlike General Grant), he couldn’t see just how much the world – and the battlefield – was changing.
May 10
Battles: Peninsula Campaign: Advancing Union troops occupy Norfolk and establish a military government there. The CSS Virginia is not an ocean-going vessel, and her draft prevents her from heading up the James River. She withdraws to Craney Island. The Confederates now have no defenses on the James below Drewy’s Bluff, about seven miles from Richmond. (6, 9, Wikipedia)
Pensacola, Florida: Confederates evacuate and burn the Naval Yard there, which they had taken a few days after Florida seceded. (6)
Mississippi River: Flag Officer Farragut arrives at Baton Rouge and orders two ships up the river to capture Natchez, Mississippi. (12)
The end of the “CSS Virginia” (Library of Congress). Note that her flag survived and, per Wikipedia, is now in Chicago.
May 11
Battles: After her guns have been removed and transferred to the Confederate Marine Corps base, Camp Beall, at Drewy’s Bluff, the CSS Virginia is blown up at the order of CS Flag Officer Josiah Tattnall, to prevent her capture. The crew is transferred to Drewy’s Bluff. (9, Wikipedia)
Military events: General Grant asks “to be relieved from duty entirely or to have my position so defined that there can be no mistaking it.” (8)
May 12
Military events: The Georgia Railroad Bridge Guard starts operations.
Other: In conversation with General Carl Schurz, Lincoln says that he expects to have no support from either Republicans or Democrats when the next election comes up because he is not radical enough for the Republicans and too radical for the Democrats. (5)
May 13
Battles: Mississippi River: Federal landing parties from Farragut’s fleet take Natchez, Mississippi. The CSS Vicksburg heads in but turns and puts upriver after CS General C. G. Dahlgren warns her off. (12) Dahlgren and his men withdraw into the countryside and order all cotton within 10 miles of the city to be burned.
Emancipation: Robert Smalls, a slave, commandeers the CSS Planter in Charleston harbor, and with his family and 12 other slaves, sails to freedom.
Breaking the ‘backbone.’ (Library of Congress: Click to enlarge and read text.)
Sources:
(1) AmericanCivilWar.com
(2) Encyclopedia Virginia: “The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862“
(3) “Battle Cry of Freedom” by James McPherson
(4) University of North Carolina “Civil War Day by Day”
(5) The Lincoln Log timeline.
(6) Blue and Gray Timeline.
(7) Civil War Daily Gazette timeline.
(8) Grant Chronology, Mississippi State University.
(9)”The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government” (Vol. II), Jefferson Davis.
(10) Civil War Home’s “The Peninsula Campaign.”
(11) The Rebellion Record. Frank Moore, Edward Everett (1867)
(12) Conquest of the Lower Mississippi. BrownWaterNavy.org.
(13) Waddell’s Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871.
(14) Daily Observations From the Civil War
The American Civil War 150th Anniversary: The eastern theater as of May 7-13, 1862
Now that the Peninsula Campaign is going, I’m getting a bit lost with all the place names, since I’m not from that area. If you are, then you certainly already know more about its Civil War history than I could ever tell you here. This is the for the rest of us, just to get used to where things are and their relationships to each other.
When you click to enlarge this map, probably the first thing you will notice is that the capitals are very close together. This explains President Lincoln’s emphasis on having enough troops left to defend Washington, if needed, while US General McClellan was “off to Richmond.”
It also shows the context in which some Confederate leaders showed true genius, not only in the way CS General Magruder held off and confused the oncoming Union forces that greatly outnumbered his (buying time for CS General Joseph Johnston to move into place to protect the capital), but also in President Davis’s and General Lee’s decision to activate General Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley to worry and distract Lincoln.
Their stratagem worked – we will be hearing about Harrisonburg, Luray, Front Royal, Strasberg and Winchester throughout the month, but as this week starts off, Jackson has just fooled Yankee observers by sending some troops out of the Valley toward Richmond and then secretly turning them around at Charlottesville to return by train and rejoin him at Staunton, where Jackson is about to move northward on the attack. (McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom)
Some of the main rivers shown leading away from Chesapeake Bay on this map will be mentioned, too. The Potomac isn’t one of them, but there it is, winding its way up past Washington. Lincoln was worried that the CSS Virginia (called the Merrimack by his side) would come chugging up it and take the US capital all by itself.
The next big river down from the Potomac is the Rappahannock, and the peninsula it and the Potomac make is called the Northern Neck. This is not the peninsula featured in McClellan’s campaign, but if you followed the Rappahannock upstream in early 1862, you would run into US General McDowell’s forces around the town of Fredericksburg, facing CS General J. R. Anderson.
The York is the big river south of the Rappahannock, and that’s the Middle Peninsula in between. Again, it’s not “the” peninsula of the campaign, but we’re getting close.
The next peninsula down is the Virginia Peninsula, bounded to the north by the York River and to the south by the James River. This is the one. It’s interesting not only for the events of 1862: it is also the site of two places that resonate in American history.
Yorktown, where the British surrendered at the end of our revolution, isn’t marked on this map, but there it is just across the York River from Gloucester Point. As of this week, 150 years ago, it was in Federal hands.
Jamestown – yes, that one – isn’t marked here, either, but it was on that little neck of the north bank of the James River that juts out just to the southwest of Williamsburg. Williamsburg was where pursuing Union forces clashed last week with General Johnston’s rear guard, resulting in either a draw or a Union victory, depending on the sources I consulted.
The mouth of the James River is blockaded by Union forces at Hampton Roads, and two new ironclads have joined their fleet. As a matter of fact, President Lincoln, the US secretaries of defense and war, and other dignitaries are also there this week, at Fortress Monroe. The Confederacy has the James River Squadron, a fleet of wooden warships as well as the CSS Virginia, based in Norfolk, on patrol. With the two naval forces so close, there have been clashes, and this week it will come to a head.
But first, if you were General Robert E. Lee, how would you defend Richmond? If you were General McClellan, how would you attack it? If you were President Lincoln or President Davis, how would you run the show?
The American Civil War 150th Anniversary – A Cinco de Mayo connection?
This was not an easy connection for me to accept, either, but some knowledgeable people say there is one.
Cinco de Mayo is related to the traditional celebration in Mexico of the Battle of Puebla, on May 5, 1862. According to this CNN story today, David Hayes-Bautista, a UCLA professor of medicine who has just published El Cinco de Mayo: An American Tradition and is also involved in an exhibit about this, studied Spanish-language newspapers in California that were published during the Civil War and found that “…in the minds of the Spanish-reading public in California … they were basically looking at one war with two fronts, one against the Confederacy in the east and the other against the French in the south.”
I haven’t read the book yet – certainly the political and social situation was much more complex than is described in the above article – but it’s an interesting thought.
Mexico and the United States in the early 19th Century
Rather than say much about a topic I really know nothing about, I will just point to McPherson’s book about the Civil War, Battle Cry of Freedom (see side bar). It starts with the Mexican-American war, and in this context, McPherson brings up some interesting points.
While most people today are familiar with the fiery controversy over whether the new western territories should be slave states or free, it’s less well known that many Southerners also dreamed of extending their slave system southwards. Also, filibustering meant something very different back then.
The history is complex, and made more complicated by the slavery debate and subsequent war, but all this should be taken into account. Today, we have forgotten so much history, but such things as these everybody had lived through and had opinions about back in the day.
Whose Side Were Latinos on the 1860s?
The Civil War Society is quoted as mentioning Latino regiments such as the CS 33rd Texas Cavalry and noting that “Texans chose leaders from among the patriots who had formed the old Texas Republic, or who were descended from the lines of the Spanish Conquistadors.” Some Texans fought for the Union, though. Also linked to is a description of how the war tore up things locally in Texas, as well as mention of some other Latino Confederate troops.
California (the state population Hayes-Bautista researched) was more symmetrically divided than Texas, with Northern California tending to support the Union and Southern California swinging to the Confederacy, according to to this excellent in-depth article by the National Park Service, “Hispanics and the Civil War.”
The choice of which side to support was complicated for Latinos of the Southwest by a number of factors:
Slavery had been banned by the Mexican government and only a few dozen enslaved African Americans lived in the arid lands of west Texas and New Mexico. Many Hispanics opposed the idea of bringing the institution into their homeland and endorsed Union efforts to prevent it. Nevertheless, owners of crop lands in New Mexico-a group that included some wealthy Hispanics and Anglo Americans–often relied on the coerced labor of American Indians and shared some of the views of their slave-holding counterparts in the South. Other Hispanics harbored bitter feelings toward the US government as a result of the Mexican War and demonstrated their disapproval by supporting the Confederacy. The political influence, trade connections, and geographic proximity of the South also drew many Hispanic ranchers and farmers closer to the movement to secede from the Union.
The more I learn about the Civil War, the more thankful I am not to have lived during those difficult times.
As for the proposed connection between Cinco de Mayo here in Los Estados Unidos and the celebration of the Battle of Puebla in Mexico (today, Popocatépetl Volcano is commemorating the 150th anniversary of the nearby battle in its own unique way), well, I am more inclined toward the NPS version. Everybody was split during those times, and I suspect it was the same for Latinos.
Still, it’s something to consider.
The American Civil War 150th Anniversary – April 30 to May 6, 1862
Cohoes Civil War memorial, April 30, 2012.
At the start of this project last summer, upon first seeing the Cohoes Civil War memorial while riding a bus, I knew next to nothing the Civil War.
Of course, I’m just picking up a little knowledge about it now, but in an organized fashion at least. In this series of posts, we are now following the sound of the guns, at least for the major battles.
But what of the people, and their politics, their passions?
Not done yet
This memorial to the Civil War in Cohoes dates back to 1910, when those veterans would have been roughly in their sixties. That is a good age for looking back on one’s life, and it is a fitting memorial for the triumphant side to have erected during that turn-of-the-century age of hope and confidence.
Such a spartan, concrete memorial – rather cold and boring to 21st century eyes – must have been painfully beautiful to those who put it there, a substantial and celebratory marker of the end of a fiery annealing process they had lived through that gave this country its present form.
Now, a hundred years later, the American flag ripples in an ever-changing wind out of sight of the image above but near the war monument.
Those veterans wouldn’t recognize our world today. It is still difficult to look back at theirs, and at the war they fought.
Who were those people? Was that the last generation of Americans to feel passionate idealism honestly and deeply in ways that we dare not allow ourselves today, for fear of igniting a similar inferno? Or is it all just history, not too relevant to our time, and over and done with?
Obviously, there is a still a ways to go here.
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Here are some of the events of the Civil War that were happening 150 years ago today. Sources are numbered according to the list at the bottom of this post.
AmericanCivilWar.com has articles about highlights during April 1862 in the west (to the Mississippi) and east. There is also much day-by-day information in journals from people on both sides of the war at Daily Observations From The Civil War and some news stories of the day at Civil War Daily Gazette.
April 30
Military events: General Grant is named General Halleck’s second-in-command but retains command of the Army of the Tennessee. (8)
May 1
Military Events: US General Benjamin Butler’s infantry arrives and takes possession of New Orleans and issues a proclamation. (6, 12)
General Irvin McDowell (Source: National Archives and Records Administration via Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irvin_McDowell )
Battles: Shenandoah Campaign: Under the mistaken impression that CS General Jackson has left the Valley, President Lincoln withdraws General Banks from Harrisonburg to Strasburg and orders General Shields’ division to join forces with General Irvin McDowell at Fredericksburg (note: some dates at this link are at variance with those reported from the “Lincoln Log” below [May 5-6]). The way is now open for General Jackson to advance on Union forces at the village of McDowell. (2 – yes, there were two McDowell’s: the general, from Ohio, and the village in Highland County, Virginia)
Peninsula Campaign/Siege of Yorktown: President Lincoln to General McClellan: “Your call for Parrott guns from Washington alarms me—chiefly because it argues indefinite procrastination. Is anything to be done?” (5)
May 3
Battles: Peninsula Campaign/Siege of Yorkstown: It is clear that McClellan will soon start a bombardment. Over the night of May 3-4, Confederate forces withdraw from the the city so quietly that Union forces don’t realize they have gone until the 4th. (10)
Other: CS General Lovell issues General Order No. 17 at the request of the Confederacy’s Secretary of War: All cotton, foreign or domestic, is to be burned.
May 4
Military events: The USS Kensington arrives at New Orleans and is ordered to head upriver with two mortar schooners. (12)
May 5
Battles: Peninsula Campaign: The Battle of Williamsburg. US General George McClellan/CS General James Longstreet. (1)
Other: In the evening, President Lincoln, Secretaries Stanton and Chase and several others leave Washington via the Miami for Fortress Monroe.(5)
May 6
Other: President Lincoln and his party arrive at Fortress Monroe. After briefly meeting with the US commander there and visiting Flag Officer Goldsborough, they spend the night on board the Miami. (5)
Stereograph of contrabands near Yorktown, 1862. (Library of Congress)
Sources:
(1) AmericanCivilWar.com
(2) Encyclopedia Virginia: “The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862“
(3) “Battle Cry of Freedom” by James McPherson
(4) University of North Carolina “Civil War Day by Day”
(5) The Lincoln Log timeline.
(6) Blue and Gray Timeline.
(7) Civil War Daily Gazette timeline.
(8) Grant Chronology, Mississippi State University.
(9)”The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government” (Vol. II), Jefferson Davis.
(10) “The Siege of Yorktown.“
(11) The Rebellion Record. Frank Moore, Edward Everett (1867)
(12) Conquest of the Lower Mississippi. BrownWaterNavy.org.
(13) The Sherman letters.
(14) Daily Observations From the Civil War
