Posted on Jan 25, 2017
What was the most significant event on October 1 during the U.S. Civil War?
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Autumn during the civil war was a time of changing colors in vegetation and colder weather in the northern areas of the battlefields. It was also a time of campaigning before the cold of winter set in. Short campaigns would conclude by the first frost. However, the sieges would continue throughout the winter in places like Petersburg in 1864 to 1865.
In the early fall of 1861, southern leadership eagerly sought to leverage the decisive victory at Bull Run into an offensive into the northern states. They concluded, based on lack of supplies and men that an offensive would fail and decided to wait for spring and watch for developments on all fronts.
In early October 1861, President Lincoln wanted to ensure Kentucky was firmly in the northern camp by actively campaigning in the state to control east west lines of communications including railways.
In 1862, Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter was given command of the Mississippi Squadron. David Porter worked very well with Maj Gen U.S. Grant in the Vicksburg Campaign as amphibious operations and combined land and naval assaults. After the war David Dixon Porter was prompted to full Admiral.
In 1863, Maj Gen William Rosecrans ordered the building of flat-bottomed boats that would be able to navigate the Tennessee River.
Also in 1863, President Lincoln’s nephew, John Todd Grimsley, failed to meet entrance requirements at Naval Academy.
Tuesday, October, 1, 1861: President Abraham Lincoln wanted Kentucky to be a Union state he and ordered a Union campaign in Kentucky. “As Davis and his Generals plotted their next move, President Lincoln’s mind was made up. He wrote a plan for a campaign to begin almost immediately towards Cumberland Gap, Kentucky. “On, or about the 5th. of October, (the exact day to be determined hereafter),” wrote the President, “I wish a movement made to seize and hold a point on the Railroad connecting Virginia and Tennessee, near the Mountain pass called Cumberland Gap.”
Lincoln explained that 6,000 to 8,000 Confederates under General Felix Zolicoffer were at Barboursville, guarding the gap. The Union forces under General Thomas were 6,000 strong at Camp Dick Robinson, seventy-five miles north of Barboursville. General William Tecumseh Sherman’s 8,000 Union troops were on Muldrough’s Hill (near Elizabethtown), but a similar number of Rebels were commanded by General Buckner nearby.
Like the Confederates in Virginia, Lincoln realized that more troops would be needed to launch a successful campaign. Unlike the Confederates, however, Lincoln knew where to get them. Understanding that General Fremont in Missouri and General McClellan in Washington would also need reinforcements, he allowed “all from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas, not now elsewhere, be left to Fremont.” McClellan would be given “all east of the [Allegheny] Mountains.” That left “all from Indiana and Michigan,” as well as all from Ohio not needed in Western Virginia be sent to General Robert Anderson, commanding the Department of Kentucky in Louisville, for the coming campaign.
Lincoln wanted the Kentucky campaign and another campaign he was formulating for the North Carolina coast to happen simultaneously. He warned Generals Thomas and Sherman to “respectively watch, but not attack Zollicoffer, and Buckner.” When all was ready, Sherman was to hold his position while the invasion troops from Cincinnati and Louisville met up with Thomas’ troops for a push towards Cumberland Gap.
Like all military plans, troops numbers, dispositions and commanders could all change overnight. Lincoln’s plan, while sound on paper, might not translate to reality as he had, no doubt, hoped. [2]
[2] Memorandum for a Plan of Campaign, c. October 1, 1861 by Abraham Lincoln.”
http://civilwardailygazette.com/rebels-plot-to-invade-union-soil-lincoln-wants-kentucky/
Saturday, October 1, 1864: The Rebels attack at dawn at Petersburg! “There had been gains the previous day. The Confederates under Henry Heth had thrown back the attacking Federals, and though works were lost, their progress was cut and on the morning of this date, Heth only wished to do more.
Through the gray and muddy predawn hours, Heth formed his men into two columns. By the orders of corps commander A.P. Hill, Cadmus Wilox’s Division would form on the right to attack the Union Ninth Corps, while two brigades from Heth’s own division attacked the Fifth Corps. By 7am, they were in position, facing south and away from Petersburg.
The artillery spoke first, and when Heth believed it had done all it could do, he ordered his division forward. The line of blue skirmishers, two regiments strong, melted away before them, but when Heth’s men tried to take the works themselves, they were met with a bloody defeat, and turned back.
On the Confederate right, Wilcox advanced close enough only to capture nearly the entire Union picket line in his front. For him, there would be no attack, though the bounty in prisoners and captured arms was great.
The Rebel attack barely registered in General Meade’s mind. It was hardly even mentioned by Gouverneur K. Warren, whose Corps received the main thrust of the assault. By 11:30am, Warren found himself complaining that his men were too slow in building breastworks. He did, however, understand that the silence now falling before him was probably a lull. The Rebels were either digging in or preparing for another attack.
As for General Meade, he was certain that his two corps could make no attack, and was awaiting the arrival of Gershom Mott’s Division from Winfield Scott Hancock’s adjacent Second Corps. These men, however, had to be pulled from the main lines around Petersburg, ushered to the Union left by train along a new railroad built for such an occasion. When Mott’s men arrived, bade Meade, they were to join Warren and make an attack.
Though hardly an attack, the morning fighting handed the Federals some Rebel deserters and prisoners who seemed more than willing to wag their chins. Through these men, Meade learned just what was in his front – Heth and Wilcox’s Divisions with a smattering of cavalry. He also learned that the Rebels were to be reinforced by William Mahone’s Division in the afternoon. This made it all the more important for Meade to attack once Mott’s reinforcements arrived.
But the troops were late in coming. The process of transporting them by rail, even over a relatively short distance, was ardurous and comsuming. Though Mott’s men were ready by 9:30am, the trains were not ready under 1pm. The first of Mott’s men arrived at Globe Tavern, from where they would march north to the Union lines, around 3:30pm, and the rest would not arrive until over an hour later.
And it wasn’t until 5pm when Mott arrived at Ninth Corps headquarters. It would take at least two more hours to march his entire brigade forward, and by then, it would be far too late for an assault.
General Meade had, of course, kept in touch with General Grant throughout the day, keeping him abreast of the Union left. He explained Mott’s delay and that no attack could be made before nightfall.
“Generals Parke and Warren are ordered to attack early tomorrow morning,” he wrote. They were to “endeavor to effect a lodgment on the Boydton plank road,” which served as a main line of supplies for General Lee’s Confederates.
And so all would wait for dawn. [1]
[1] Sources: Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 42, Part 1, p859, 942, 949; Part 2, p1309; Part 3, p4-7, 9, 22; Personal Memoirs by Ulysses S. Grant; Meade’s Army by Theodore Lyman; The Last Citadel by Noah Andre Trudeau; The Petersburg Campaign, Vol. 2 by Edwin Bearss.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/the-rebels-attack-at-dawn/
Pictures: 1864-10-01 Zouave Pegrams Farm Map; 1864-10-01 battle Peeble farm sketch; 1863-10-01 Chattanooga Campaign Supply and Wheeler Raid Map; 1862 Fair Oaks Station, Va, George Barnard
A. 1861: Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Generals Johnston, Beauregard, and Smith meet at Centreville, VA to discuss the possibility of a Southern offensive in VA. They conclude, based on lack of supplies and men that an offensive would fail and decide to wait for spring and watch for developments on all fronts.
B. 1862: Pamlico Sound, North Carolina Confederate naval forces, including CSS Curlew, CSS Raleigh, and CSS Junaluska. under flag Officer William F. Lynch, CSN, captured steamer Fanny in Pamlico Sound with Union troops on board. Colonel Claiborne Snead, CSA, reported: "The victory was important in more respects than one. It was our first naval success in North Carolina and the first capture made by our arms of an armed war- vessel of the enemy. and dispelled the gloom of recent disasters. The property captured [two rifled guns and large amount of army stores] was considerable, much needed, and highly esteemed. . .
C. 1863: Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler's October 1863 Raid (October 1–9, 1863) was a large cavalry raid in southeastern Tennessee. Wheeler set out on October 1 with the divisions of Brig. Gen. Frank Crawford Armstrong and Maj. Gen. William T. Martin, plus part of Maj. Gen. John A. Wharton's division. He quickly broke through the screen of Brig. Gen. George Crook's 2nd Cavalry Division near Decatur, Tennessee, and rode toward Walden's Ridge. He crossed the Tennessee River upstream, and begins a series of raids behind (west of) Chattanooga. Moving down the Sequatchie Valley, he captures 50 wagons belonging to Rosecrans, and destroys them.
Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler's Confederate cavalry scored a great initial success, but subsequently was roughed up by Union cavalry during its withdrawal south of the Tennessee River.
D. 1864: The Battle of Peebles’ Farm: Federals repulse Confederate attack. In combination with Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler’s offensive north of the James River, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant extended his left flank to cut Confederate lines of communication southwest of Petersburg. Two divisions of the IX corps under Maj. Gen. John G. Parke, two divisions of the V Corps under Maj. Gen. G.K. Warren, and Brig. Gen. David M. Gregg’s cavalry division were assigned to the operation. On September 30, the Federals marched via Poplar Spring Church to reach Squirrel Level and Vaughan Roads. The initial Federal attack overran Fort Archer, flanking the Confederates out of their Squirrel Level Road line. Late afternoon, Confederate reinforcements arrived, slowing the Federal advance. On October 1, the Federals repulsed a Confederate counterattack directed by Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill.
Estimated Casualties: 3,800 total
FYI SGT Mark Anderson PO3 Edward Riddle Maj William W. 'Bill' Price COL (Join to see) SSgt David M.] SPC Maurice Evans SPC Jon O. SGT Jim ArnoldAmn Dale PreisachCW4 (Join to see) Sgt Jerry GenesioSSG (Join to see)LTC John Griscom LTC Thomas Tennant LTC David Brown LTC (Join to see) CWO3 (Join to see) SGT John " Mac " McConnell SFC (Join to see) CPL Ronald Keyes Jr
In the early fall of 1861, southern leadership eagerly sought to leverage the decisive victory at Bull Run into an offensive into the northern states. They concluded, based on lack of supplies and men that an offensive would fail and decided to wait for spring and watch for developments on all fronts.
In early October 1861, President Lincoln wanted to ensure Kentucky was firmly in the northern camp by actively campaigning in the state to control east west lines of communications including railways.
In 1862, Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter was given command of the Mississippi Squadron. David Porter worked very well with Maj Gen U.S. Grant in the Vicksburg Campaign as amphibious operations and combined land and naval assaults. After the war David Dixon Porter was prompted to full Admiral.
In 1863, Maj Gen William Rosecrans ordered the building of flat-bottomed boats that would be able to navigate the Tennessee River.
Also in 1863, President Lincoln’s nephew, John Todd Grimsley, failed to meet entrance requirements at Naval Academy.
Tuesday, October, 1, 1861: President Abraham Lincoln wanted Kentucky to be a Union state he and ordered a Union campaign in Kentucky. “As Davis and his Generals plotted their next move, President Lincoln’s mind was made up. He wrote a plan for a campaign to begin almost immediately towards Cumberland Gap, Kentucky. “On, or about the 5th. of October, (the exact day to be determined hereafter),” wrote the President, “I wish a movement made to seize and hold a point on the Railroad connecting Virginia and Tennessee, near the Mountain pass called Cumberland Gap.”
Lincoln explained that 6,000 to 8,000 Confederates under General Felix Zolicoffer were at Barboursville, guarding the gap. The Union forces under General Thomas were 6,000 strong at Camp Dick Robinson, seventy-five miles north of Barboursville. General William Tecumseh Sherman’s 8,000 Union troops were on Muldrough’s Hill (near Elizabethtown), but a similar number of Rebels were commanded by General Buckner nearby.
Like the Confederates in Virginia, Lincoln realized that more troops would be needed to launch a successful campaign. Unlike the Confederates, however, Lincoln knew where to get them. Understanding that General Fremont in Missouri and General McClellan in Washington would also need reinforcements, he allowed “all from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas, not now elsewhere, be left to Fremont.” McClellan would be given “all east of the [Allegheny] Mountains.” That left “all from Indiana and Michigan,” as well as all from Ohio not needed in Western Virginia be sent to General Robert Anderson, commanding the Department of Kentucky in Louisville, for the coming campaign.
Lincoln wanted the Kentucky campaign and another campaign he was formulating for the North Carolina coast to happen simultaneously. He warned Generals Thomas and Sherman to “respectively watch, but not attack Zollicoffer, and Buckner.” When all was ready, Sherman was to hold his position while the invasion troops from Cincinnati and Louisville met up with Thomas’ troops for a push towards Cumberland Gap.
Like all military plans, troops numbers, dispositions and commanders could all change overnight. Lincoln’s plan, while sound on paper, might not translate to reality as he had, no doubt, hoped. [2]
[2] Memorandum for a Plan of Campaign, c. October 1, 1861 by Abraham Lincoln.”
http://civilwardailygazette.com/rebels-plot-to-invade-union-soil-lincoln-wants-kentucky/
Saturday, October 1, 1864: The Rebels attack at dawn at Petersburg! “There had been gains the previous day. The Confederates under Henry Heth had thrown back the attacking Federals, and though works were lost, their progress was cut and on the morning of this date, Heth only wished to do more.
Through the gray and muddy predawn hours, Heth formed his men into two columns. By the orders of corps commander A.P. Hill, Cadmus Wilox’s Division would form on the right to attack the Union Ninth Corps, while two brigades from Heth’s own division attacked the Fifth Corps. By 7am, they were in position, facing south and away from Petersburg.
The artillery spoke first, and when Heth believed it had done all it could do, he ordered his division forward. The line of blue skirmishers, two regiments strong, melted away before them, but when Heth’s men tried to take the works themselves, they were met with a bloody defeat, and turned back.
On the Confederate right, Wilcox advanced close enough only to capture nearly the entire Union picket line in his front. For him, there would be no attack, though the bounty in prisoners and captured arms was great.
The Rebel attack barely registered in General Meade’s mind. It was hardly even mentioned by Gouverneur K. Warren, whose Corps received the main thrust of the assault. By 11:30am, Warren found himself complaining that his men were too slow in building breastworks. He did, however, understand that the silence now falling before him was probably a lull. The Rebels were either digging in or preparing for another attack.
As for General Meade, he was certain that his two corps could make no attack, and was awaiting the arrival of Gershom Mott’s Division from Winfield Scott Hancock’s adjacent Second Corps. These men, however, had to be pulled from the main lines around Petersburg, ushered to the Union left by train along a new railroad built for such an occasion. When Mott’s men arrived, bade Meade, they were to join Warren and make an attack.
Though hardly an attack, the morning fighting handed the Federals some Rebel deserters and prisoners who seemed more than willing to wag their chins. Through these men, Meade learned just what was in his front – Heth and Wilcox’s Divisions with a smattering of cavalry. He also learned that the Rebels were to be reinforced by William Mahone’s Division in the afternoon. This made it all the more important for Meade to attack once Mott’s reinforcements arrived.
But the troops were late in coming. The process of transporting them by rail, even over a relatively short distance, was ardurous and comsuming. Though Mott’s men were ready by 9:30am, the trains were not ready under 1pm. The first of Mott’s men arrived at Globe Tavern, from where they would march north to the Union lines, around 3:30pm, and the rest would not arrive until over an hour later.
And it wasn’t until 5pm when Mott arrived at Ninth Corps headquarters. It would take at least two more hours to march his entire brigade forward, and by then, it would be far too late for an assault.
General Meade had, of course, kept in touch with General Grant throughout the day, keeping him abreast of the Union left. He explained Mott’s delay and that no attack could be made before nightfall.
“Generals Parke and Warren are ordered to attack early tomorrow morning,” he wrote. They were to “endeavor to effect a lodgment on the Boydton plank road,” which served as a main line of supplies for General Lee’s Confederates.
And so all would wait for dawn. [1]
[1] Sources: Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 42, Part 1, p859, 942, 949; Part 2, p1309; Part 3, p4-7, 9, 22; Personal Memoirs by Ulysses S. Grant; Meade’s Army by Theodore Lyman; The Last Citadel by Noah Andre Trudeau; The Petersburg Campaign, Vol. 2 by Edwin Bearss.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/the-rebels-attack-at-dawn/
Pictures: 1864-10-01 Zouave Pegrams Farm Map; 1864-10-01 battle Peeble farm sketch; 1863-10-01 Chattanooga Campaign Supply and Wheeler Raid Map; 1862 Fair Oaks Station, Va, George Barnard
A. 1861: Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Generals Johnston, Beauregard, and Smith meet at Centreville, VA to discuss the possibility of a Southern offensive in VA. They conclude, based on lack of supplies and men that an offensive would fail and decide to wait for spring and watch for developments on all fronts.
B. 1862: Pamlico Sound, North Carolina Confederate naval forces, including CSS Curlew, CSS Raleigh, and CSS Junaluska. under flag Officer William F. Lynch, CSN, captured steamer Fanny in Pamlico Sound with Union troops on board. Colonel Claiborne Snead, CSA, reported: "The victory was important in more respects than one. It was our first naval success in North Carolina and the first capture made by our arms of an armed war- vessel of the enemy. and dispelled the gloom of recent disasters. The property captured [two rifled guns and large amount of army stores] was considerable, much needed, and highly esteemed. . .
C. 1863: Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler's October 1863 Raid (October 1–9, 1863) was a large cavalry raid in southeastern Tennessee. Wheeler set out on October 1 with the divisions of Brig. Gen. Frank Crawford Armstrong and Maj. Gen. William T. Martin, plus part of Maj. Gen. John A. Wharton's division. He quickly broke through the screen of Brig. Gen. George Crook's 2nd Cavalry Division near Decatur, Tennessee, and rode toward Walden's Ridge. He crossed the Tennessee River upstream, and begins a series of raids behind (west of) Chattanooga. Moving down the Sequatchie Valley, he captures 50 wagons belonging to Rosecrans, and destroys them.
Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler's Confederate cavalry scored a great initial success, but subsequently was roughed up by Union cavalry during its withdrawal south of the Tennessee River.
D. 1864: The Battle of Peebles’ Farm: Federals repulse Confederate attack. In combination with Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler’s offensive north of the James River, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant extended his left flank to cut Confederate lines of communication southwest of Petersburg. Two divisions of the IX corps under Maj. Gen. John G. Parke, two divisions of the V Corps under Maj. Gen. G.K. Warren, and Brig. Gen. David M. Gregg’s cavalry division were assigned to the operation. On September 30, the Federals marched via Poplar Spring Church to reach Squirrel Level and Vaughan Roads. The initial Federal attack overran Fort Archer, flanking the Confederates out of their Squirrel Level Road line. Late afternoon, Confederate reinforcements arrived, slowing the Federal advance. On October 1, the Federals repulsed a Confederate counterattack directed by Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill.
Estimated Casualties: 3,800 total
FYI SGT Mark Anderson PO3 Edward Riddle Maj William W. 'Bill' Price COL (Join to see) SSgt David M.] SPC Maurice Evans SPC Jon O. SGT Jim ArnoldAmn Dale PreisachCW4 (Join to see) Sgt Jerry GenesioSSG (Join to see)LTC John Griscom LTC Thomas Tennant LTC David Brown LTC (Join to see) CWO3 (Join to see) SGT John " Mac " McConnell SFC (Join to see) CPL Ronald Keyes Jr
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Micro-management occurred in the US Civil War long before instant communications was achieved via Radio. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln set forth the duties of Maj Gen Schofield in command in Missouri: 1. Advance efficiency of military establishment. 2. Arrest individuals and suppress newspapers when they are working injury to military. 3. Remove inhabitants en masse at own discretion. 4. Do not engage in returning fugitive slaves nor in enticing slaves from their homes. 5. Allow no one to enlist Negro troops except upon orders. 6. Allow no one to confiscate property except upon orders. 7. Allow only those qualified under Missouri laws to vote. 8. So far as practicable, expel guerrillas, marauders, and murderers.
Espionage in the Civil War. Truth can be stranger than fiction. In 1864, the body of Confederate agent Rose O’Neal Greenhow was found on a beach near Wilmington, North Carolina. She was one of the foremost Confederate spies in Washington DC and passed onto CSA General Beauregard the plans of Maj Gen McDowell on the eve of what became known as the Battle of Bull Run. On a return trip from Europe, her ship ran aground and fearing it might be boarded while carrying papers and a reputed $2000 in gold in a bag around her neck, she demanded to be put ashore in a small boat. The boat capsized in the surf and, pulled under by the gold, Mrs. Greenhow was drowned.
Wednesday, October 1, 1862: Maj Gen Ulysses S. Grant prepares for battle, while Maj Gen William Rosecrans flounders in denial. “General Ulysses S. Grant was human. Like other humans (and many Federal officers), he made mistakes. But unlike many of his fellow brass, he could quickly recover and adapt.
Grant had been headquartered in and around Corinth, Mississippi for month. During that time, two Confederate forces under Earl van Dorn and Sterling Price had been doing little more than milling about, seemingly waiting for the right time to strike. Price’s force had escaped Grant’s attempt to snare them at Iuka, disappearing towards the southwest.
Over the ensuing week, both Price and Van Dorn had been on the move. While in reality, they had joined forces, Grant believed Price to be south of Corinth, while Van Dorn was making for the Mississippi in Tennessee. This was faulty information, but Grant informed Washington and started to plan accordingly.
In truth, Van Dorn, commanding the combined force now known as the Army of West Tennessee, was set to fall upon Corinth. His plan was to fool Grant into thinking that the whole Rebel army was headed into West Tennessee (thus the name?). To do this, they were marching north, and, by all appearances, bypassing the targeted city. According to the plan, they would move towards the town of Pocahontas, northwest of Corinth, and then make a sharp right, falling in behind the unsuspecting city’s defences.
To counter this, Union cavalry had taken out a bridge leading to Pocahontas. To complete the ruse, though he had no actual need to use this span, Van Dorn ordered men under General Price to repair the bridge. Another bridge, one that he actually needed to use to cross the Hatchie River, had also been partially destroyed by the Federals. His own men spent the night making the repairs in what they hoped was secrecy. The element of surprise was essential to taking the lightly-defended Corinth.
But Grant caught on quickly. On this day, the same day that Van Dorn was repairing the bridges, Grant surmised that the intended target was not West Tennessee, but Corinth. He knew his position was a precarious one and that not a single soldier could be brought in from outside his command.
So sure was Grant that Corinth was Van Dorn’s intension that he pulled an entire division from one of his outlaying posts to join with two other divisions under General William Rosecrans, commanding the city. He also ordered other bodies of troops to converge towards Corinth, not to aide Rosecrans, but to cut off the Rebel line of retreat and destroy Van Dorn’s army, which would most certainly be defeated.
The problem was that Rosecrans didn’t seem to believe that the Rebels intended to hit his defenses. His cavalry captured a few Confederates – probably the ones helping to reconstruct the bridge across the Hatchie – but they seemed to have no idea where they were headed. Secrecy was critical, and only Van Dorn, Price and Mansfield Lovell, commanding Van Dorn’s former division, knew that Carthage was the intended.
Rosecrans ordered a bridge destroyed west to Chewalla, a small railroad town that was situated upon Van Dorn’s line of march, in hopes of sussing out what the Rebels were up to and possibly cutting off whatever retreat would transpire after they were driven back by Grant’s other divisions to the northwest.
The problem was one of mathematics. Van Dorn believed Rosecrans defended the city with a mere 15,000. The Federals, however, had 23,000. Meanwhile, Rosecrans believed Van Dorn to have 40,000, but the Rebels only added up to 22,000. And so, two evenly-matched armies were about to converge at Corinth, where the defenders believed there would be no fight. [1]
[1] Sources: Grant Rises in the West by Kenneth P. Williams; The Darkest Days of the War by Peter Cozzens; General Sterling Price and the Civil War in the West by Albert Castel; Nothing But Victory by Steven E. Woodworth.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/grant-prepares-for-battle-while-rosecrans-flounders-in-denial/
Thursday, October 1, 1863: CSA General Robert E. Lee is convinced, but undecided; Maj Gen William Rosecrans out? “General Robert E. Lee was now certain. For several days, he had pondered the rumors that two Federals corps had been detached from the Army of the Potomac and sent west to reinforce William Rosecrans at Chattanooga. He had batted around a handful of possibilities, including the idea that General George Meade had himself been reinforced. There was even speculation that a column of troops had been dispatched to the Peninsula as a sort of diversion for whatever it was that Washington was planning.
Even as late as the previous day (the 29th), Lee had doubts. The scout who brought him the news, he did not fully trust. “None of the [other] scouts have yet seen the troops in motion,” Lee wrote to President Davis, “nor can any material change be observed in their camps at our front.”
After Lee had sent the letter to Davis, he heard further reports, and by the morning of this date, he was convinced. “I consider it certain that two corps have been withdrawn from General Meade’s army to re-enforce General Rosecrans,” he wrote. One of the scouts (whom Lee apparently trusted), “saw General Howard take the cars at Catlett’s Station, where his headquarters had been established, and saw other troops marching toward Manassas, which he believes to have been the Twelfth Corps.” This was overall the truth, though the troops marching toward Manassas were actually the XI Corps.
Rather than immediately focusing upon the obvious opportunity that presented itself with the knowledge that his enemy was now short 20,000 men, Lee instead gave advice to Davis on what to do with the Confederate troops opposite the reinforced Rosecrans. “Everything that can be done to strengthen Bragg ought now to be done,” Lee cautioned, “and if he cannot draw Rosecrans out in any other way, it might be accomplished by operating against his re-enforcements on the line of travel.” Lee hoped that if the XI and XII Corps, now under General Joe Hooker, could not make it to Rosecrans, Rosecrans might be compelled to go to them.
This was not to say that Lee had no designs of his own. He most certainly did – what he lacked, however, was a plan. He noted that the Army of the Potomac occupied “the ridge north of Culpeper Court-House, extending some miles east and west.” It was a strong line, but a curious one. “His position answers as well for defense as attack,” Lee concluded.
But General Meade in fact had no plans to launch an offensive. That was the very reason that President Lincoln had agreed to send the XI and XII Corps west. Whatever plans Meade had been mulling over, were canceled, and he seemed more or less content to wait for winter. Though Lee did not see it, Meade had slightly shifted his line to make up for the departed corps. The XII Corps had occupied the front, and had been replaced by the I Corps. The XI had watched the railroad at Catlett’s and Bristoe Station. Now, a division from the VI Corps was removed from the front to make up the difference.
In the West, things were developing at a quicker pace than General Lee had assumed. The XI and XII Corps were ordered to reinforce Rosecrans on the 24th. By this date, only a week later, President Lincoln received some fairly pleasant news. From Nashville, Tennessee came a wire telling that “Genl Hooker left [Nashville] at eight this morning. Genl Howard at four thirty (4 30) PM. Eleventh Corps all gone, and part of Twelfth.” By the end of the following day, all of the XII Corps would have passed through Nashville.
The two corps under Hooker would be helpful to Rosecrans, but it was not clear just how long Rosecrans might be around. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton had sent his assistant secretary, Charles Dana, to keep an eye on things around Rosecrans’ headquarters. Thus far, following the battle of Chickamauga, Stanton had seen to it that two corps commanders, Alexander McCook and Thomas Crittenden, were relieved of duty. Now his attention was turned to Rosecrans.
“If Hooker’s command get safely through, all that the Army of the Cumberland can need will be a competent commander,” wrote Stanton to Dana. “The merit of General Thomas and the debt of gratitude the nation owes to his valor and skill are fully appreciated here, and I wish you to tell him so. It was not my fault that he was not in chief command months ago.” [1]
[1] Sources: Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 29, Part 2, p758, 766; Vol. 30, Part 3, p946; Vol. 30, Part 4, p49; The Bristoe Campaign by Adrian Tighe; Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 6.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/lee-is-convinced-but-undecided-rosecrans-out/
Below are several journal entries from 1861, 1862, 1863 and 1864 which shed light on what life was like for soldiers and civilians – the good, the bad and the ugly. … I am including journal entries from Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade, "Crocker's Brigade," Sixth Division of the Seventeenth Corps, Army of the Tennessee for each year. I have been spending some time researching Civil War journals and diaries and editing them to fit into this series of Civil War discussions.
Tuesday, October 1, 1861: Journal of Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade, “Crocker's Brigade,” “We drew our cooking utensils and rations for five days. John Batderf, Joseph Tomlinson and I were put in as cooks for the company. We have company drill four hours a day. It seems that we are in camp this time for business. My bunk-mate is James M. Fossett, a brother of Thomas Fossett. James enlisted this time instead of his brother. He's a fine fellow for a bunk-mate.”
Wednesday, October 1, 1862: Journal of Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade, “Crocker's Brigade,” “The Eleventh Iowa was ordered down into town last night, for it was expected that the rebels would make a charge into town to burn our rations. We think, however, that they want our rations for their own haversacks. We formed a line of battle and lay in the streets all night, but the rebels did not show themselves. We received orders to march at daylight this morning. The cars came in from Corinth at 4 o'clock this morning, and the sick men, our baggage, and the remainder of our stores were loaded up and sent to our headquarters at Corinth. By noon Iuka was expected to be entirely evacuated by our men. Our regiment marched twenty-three miles and bivouacked for the night within six miles of Corinth.”
Wednesday, October 1, 1862: Frederick Douglass, in his newspaper Douglass’s Monthly, writes an editorial, making some sense of Lincoln’s strange Emancipation Proclamation: “The careful, and we think, the slothful deliberation which he has observed in reaching this obvious policy, is a guarantee against retraction. But even if the temper and spirit of the President himself were other than what they are, events greater than the President, events which have slowly wrung this proclamation from him may be relied on to carry him forward in the same direction. . . . No, Abraham Lincoln will take no step backward. His word has gone out over the country and the world, giving joy and gladness to the friends of freedom and progress wherever those words are read, and he will stand by them, and carry them out to the letter. If he has taught us to confide in nothing else, he has taught us to confide in his word. . . . The President doubtless saw, as we see, that it is not more absurd to talk about restoring the union, without hurting slavery, than restoring the union without hurting the rebels. . . .
The effect of this paper upon the disposition of Europe will be great and increasing. It changes the character of the war in European eyes and gives it an important principle as an object, instead of national pride and interest. It recognizes and declares the real nature of the contest, and places the North on the side of justice and civilization, and the rebels on the side of robbery and barbarism. . . .”
Thursday, October 1, 1863: Journal of Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade “Crocker's Brigade,” “We had brigade inspection this morning at 7 o'clock, by General McArthur. Colonel Hall of our regiment is in command. There were three regiments of infantry, one of cavalry and three batteries. In the afternoon, I was on fatigue duty, and part of the time in a heavy rain; this is our third successive day of rain.”
Thursday, October 1, 1863: John Beauchamp Jones records a letter from a Virginia lady who had traveled up to Pennsylvania to help care for the Confederate wounded about two weeks after the battle: “July 18th—We have been visiting the battle-field, and have done all we can for the wounded there. Since then we have sent another party, who came upon a camp of wounded Confederates in a wood between the hills. Through this wood quite a large creek runs. This camp contained between 200 and 300 wounded men, in every stage of suffering; two well men among them as nurses. Most of them had frightful wounds. A few evenings ago the rain, sudden and violent, swelled the creek, and 35 of the unfortunates were swept away; 35 died of starvation. No one had been to visit them since they were carried off the battle-field; they had no food of any kind; they were crying all the time “bread, bread! water, water!” One boy without beard was stretched out dead, quite naked, a piece of blanket thrown over his emaciated form, a rag over his face, and his small, thin hands laid over his breast. Of the dead none knew their names, and it breaks my heart to think of the mothers waiting and watching for the sons laid in the lonely grave on that fearful battle-field. All of those men in the woods were nearly naked, and when ladies approached they tried to cover themselves with the filthy rags they had cast aside. The wounds themselves, unwashed and untouched, were full of worms. God only knows what they suffered.”
Saturday, October 1, 1864: Journal of Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade, “Crocker's Brigade,” “This afternoon the Third and Fourth Divisions of the Seventeenth Corps started on an expedition toward Fairburn, Georgia, where, it is reported, there is a large force of the rebels. We marched about seven miles and went into bivouac for the night. I received a letter from David Cole of the Twenty-fourth Iowa. His regiment is now in the Shenandoah valley, Virginia.”
A. Tuesday, October 1, 1861: Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Generals Johnston, Beauregard, and Smith meet at Centreville, VA to discuss the possibility of a Southern offensive in VA. They conclude, based on lack of supplies and men that an offensive would fail and decide to wait for spring and watch for developments on all fronts.
B. Wednesday, October 1, 1862: Pamlico Sound, North Carolina Confederate naval forces, including CSS Curlew, CSS Raleigh, and CSS Junaluska. under flag Officer William F. Lynch, CSN, captured steamer Fanny in Pamlico Sound with Union troops on board. Colonel Claiborne Snead, CSA, reported: "The victory was important in more respects than one. It was our first naval success in North Carolina and the first capture made by our arms of an armed war- vessel of the enemy. and dispelled the gloom of recent disasters. The property captured [two rifled guns and large amount of army stores] was considerable, much needed, and highly esteemed. . .
C. Thursday, October 1, 1863: Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler's October 1863 Raid (October 1–9, 1863) was a large cavalry raid in southeastern Tennessee. Wheeler set out on October 1 with the divisions of Brig. Gen. Frank Crawford Armstrong and Maj. Gen. William T. Martin, plus part of Maj. Gen. John A. Wharton's division. He quickly broke through the screen of Brig. Gen. George Crook's 2nd Cavalry Division near Decatur, Tennessee, and rode toward Walden's Ridge. He crossed the Tennessee River upstream, and begins a series of raids behind (west of) Chattanooga. Moving down the Sequatchie Valley, he captures 50 wagons belonging to Rosecrans, and destroys them.
Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler's Confederate cavalry scored a great initial success, but subsequently was roughed up by Union cavalry during its withdrawal south of the Tennessee River.
D. Saturday, October 1, 1864: The Battle of Peebles’ Farm: [September 30-October 2, 1864] In combination with Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler’s offensive north of the James River, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant extended his left flank to cut Confederate lines of communication southwest of Petersburg. Two divisions of the IX corps under Maj. Gen. John G. Parke, two divisions of the V Corps under Maj. Gen. G.K. Warren, and Brig. Gen. David M. Gregg’s cavalry division were assigned to the operation. On September 30, the Federals marched via Poplar Spring Church to reach Squirrel Level and Vaughan Roads. The initial Federal attack overran Fort Archer, flanking the Confederates out of their Squirrel Level Road line. Late afternoon, Confederate reinforcements arrived, slowing the Federal advance. On October 1, the Federals repulsed a Confederate counterattack directed by Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill. Reinforced by Maj. Gen. Gershom Mott’s division, the Federals resumed their advance on the 2nd, captured Fort MacRae which was lightly defended, and extended their left flank to the vicinity of Peebles’ and Pegram’s Farms. With these limited successes, Meade suspended the offensive. A new line was entrenched from the Federal works on Weldon Railroad to Pegram’s Farm.
Estimated Casualties: 3,800 total
Pictures: 1863-10-01 Union troops trapped in Southern Tennessee faced starvation with only one line of resupply remaining, setting the stage for wheeler's raid; 1864-10-01 Confederate Spy Rose O'Neal Greenhow; 1862-10-01 USS Fanny captured by CSS Curlew, CSS Raleigh, and CSS Junaluska; 1864-10-01 Death Plaque for Confederate Spy Rose O'Neal Greenhow
1. Tuesday, October, 1, 1861: Fremont punks Pope? “General Fremont’s Army of the West gathered in Missouri to assail the now-retreating Missouri State Guard, under General Sterling Price. Given command of the Army’s right wing, General Pope returned from a recruiting mission in Iowa to find things in utter confusion. Pope’s orders from Fremont were to meet up with two regiments at Boonville. When Pope arrived, there were no troops at all in the town. Fremont, for some reason, had recalled them and not informed Pope.
Pope was furious at Fremont, writing to his father-in-law on this date: “Fremont shows is inefficiency more and more every day and walks about at Jefferson City with his hands to his head as if he were on the verge of insanity. There are no plans and no home of any that are intelligible.” [3]
[3] General John Pope; A Life for the Nation by Peter Cozzens.”
http://civilwardailygazette.com/rebels-plot-to-invade-union-soil-lincoln-wants-kentucky/
2. Wednesday, October 1, 1862: Frederick Douglass, in his newspaper Douglass’s Monthly, writes an editorial, making some sense of Lincoln’s strange Emancipation Proclamation: “The careful, and we think, the slothful deliberation which he has observed in reaching this obvious policy, is a guarantee against retraction. But even if the temper and spirit of the President himself were other than what they are, events greater than the President, events which have slowly wrung this proclamation from him may be relied on to carry him forward in the same direction. . . . No, Abraham Lincoln will take no step backward. His word has gone out over the country and the world, giving joy and gladness to the friends of freedom and progress wherever those words are read, and he will stand by them, and carry them out to the letter. If he has taught us to confide in nothing else, he has taught us to confide in his word. . . . The President doubtless saw, as we see, that it is not more absurd to talk about restoring the union, without hurting slavery, than restoring the union without hurting the rebels. . . .
The effect of this paper upon the disposition of Europe will be great and increasing. It changes the character of the war in European eyes and gives it an important principle as an object, instead of national pride and interest. It recognizes and declares the real nature of the contest, and places the North on the side of justice and civilization, and the rebels on the side of robbery and barbarism. . . .”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=October+1%2C+1862
3. October 1-3, 1862 in Jacksonville, Florida - Brig. Gen. John Finegan established a battery on St. John' s Bluff near Jacksonville to stop the movement of Union ships up the St. Johns River. Brig. Gen. John M. Brannan embarked with about 1,500 infantry aboard the transports Boston, Ben DeFord, Cosmopolitan, and Neptune at Hilton Head, South Carolina, on September 30. The flotilla arrived at the mouth of the St. John' s River on October 1, where Cdr. Charles Steedman' s gunboats—Paul Jones, Cimarron, Uncas, Patroon, Hale, and Water Witch—joined them.
By midday, the gunboats approached the bluff, while Brannan began landing troops at Mayport Mills. Another infantry force landed at Mount Pleasant Creek, about 5 miles in the rear of the Confederate battery, and began marching overland on the 2nd. Outmaneuvered, Lt. Col. Charles F. Hopkins abandoned the position after dark. When the Union gunboats approached the bluff the next day, its guns were silent.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1862s.html
4. Wednesday, October 1, 1862: The Confederate press portrayed Lincoln’s emancipation declaration as a recipe for slave rebellion. Abraham Lincoln visits Harper's Ferry on his way to Antietam Battlefield.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-b/part-seventy-seven
5. Wednesday, October 1, 1862: General Price’s Confederate Army of the West marched from Baldwyn to Ripley, MS, where it joined Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn’s Army of West Tennessee (CSA). Van Dorn was senior officer and took command of the combined force numbering about 22,000 men. The Rebels marched to Pocahontas and prepared to move southeast toward Corinth.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-b/part-seventy-seven
6. Wednesday, October 1, 1862: In northern Mississippi, Gen. Earl Van Dorn, now in command of the expanded Army of West Tennessee (Price's army added to his) of 22,000 is now moving northward, trying to deceive Grant into thinking that Van Dorn is headed up into West Tennessee. Van Dorn’s plan is to turn and hit Corinth from the rear. Grant is not fooled, and he sends two added divisions to Rosecrans, in Corinth, to bring his army up to 23,000. Rosecrans is ready to meet Van Dorn.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=October+1%2C+1862
7. Wednesday, October 1, 1862: Major General John Pemberton replaces Earl van Dorn at the head of the reorganized Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186210
8. Wednesday, October 1, 1862: Pres. Lincoln, on his tour of the army’s position in Maryland, arrives in Harper’s Ferry, and reviews some of the men of the II Corps in the field.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=October+1%2C+1862
9. Wednesday, October 1, 1862: David Dixon Porter is given command of the Mississippi Squadron.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186210
10. Wednesday, October 1, 1862: Abraham Lincoln visits Harper's Ferry on his way to Antietam.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186210
11. Thursday, October 1, 1863: John Beauchamp Jones records a letter from a Virginia lady who had traveled up to Pennsylvania to help care for the Confederate wounded about two weeks after the battle: “July 18th—We have been visiting the battle-field, and have done all we can for the wounded there. Since then we have sent another party, who came upon a camp of wounded Confederates in a wood between the hills. Through this wood quite a large creek runs. This camp contained between 200 and 300 wounded men, in every stage of suffering; two well men among them as nurses. Most of them had frightful wounds. A few evenings ago the rain, sudden and violent, swelled the creek, and 35 of the unfortunates were swept away; 35 died of starvation. No one had been to visit them since they were carried off the battle-field; they had no food of any kind; they were crying all the time “bread, bread! water, water!” One boy without beard was stretched out dead, quite naked, a piece of blanket thrown over his emaciated form, a rag over his face, and his small, thin hands laid over his breast. Of the dead none knew their names, and it breaks my heart to think of the mothers waiting and watching for the sons laid in the lonely grave on that fearful battle-field. All of those men in the woods were nearly naked, and when ladies approached they tried to cover themselves with the filthy rags they had cast aside. The wounds themselves, unwashed and untouched, were full of worms. God only knows what they suffered.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=October+1%2C+1863
12. Thursday, October 1, 1863: President Lincoln sets forth duties of General Schofield (US) in command in Missouri: 1. Advance efficiency of military establishment. 2. Arrest individuals and suppress newspapers when they are working injury to military. 3. Remove inhabitants en masse at own discretion. 4. Do not engage in returning fugitive slaves nor in enticing slaves from their homes. 5. Allow no one to enlist Negro troops except upon orders. 6. Allow no one to confiscate property except upon orders. 7. Allow only those qualified under Missouri laws to vote. 8. So far as practicable, expel guerrillas, marauders, and murderers. https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-c/week-129
13. Thursday, October 1, 1863: President Lincoln’s nephew, John Todd Grimsley, fails to meet entrance requirements at Naval Academy.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-c/week-129
14. Thursday, October 1, 1863: Maj Gen William Rosecrans ordered the building of flat-bottomed boats that would be able to navigate the Tennessee River.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-c/week-129
15. Thursday, October 1, 1863: The collapse of a stairway in Nashville’s unfinished Maxwell House Hotel, which is being used as a military residence and prison, drops nearly 300 Confederate prisoners three stories, killing six men and injuring nearly 100 more.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-c/week-129
16. Thursday, October 1, 1863: Gen. Joseph E. Johnston sends a dispatch to Bragg that Federal troops are on the move to Chattanooga. Johnston’s scouts in Memphis report four major generals there, and of a very number of transport steamers tied up at the city docks.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=October+1%2C+1863
17. Saturday, October 1, 1864: The body of Rose O’Neal Greenhow was found on a beach near Wilmington, North Carolina. She was one of the foremost Confederate spies in Washington DC and passed onto General Beauregard (CSA) the plans of General McDowell (US) on the eve of what became known as the Battle of Bull Run. On a return trip from Europe, her ship runs aground and fearing it might be boarded while carrying papers and a reputed $2000 in gold in a bag around her neck, she demanded to be put ashore in a small boat. The boat capsized in the surf and, pulled under by the gold, Mrs. Greenhow was drowned.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-181
18.
A Tuesday, October, 1, 1861: Confederate Pres. Jefferson Davis and Generals Johnston, Beauregard, and Smith meet at Centreville, VA to discuss the possibility of a Southern offensive in VA. They conclude, based on lack of supplies and men that an offensive would fail and decide to wait for spring and watch for developments on all fronts.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-a/part-twenty-five
A+ Tuesday, October, 1, 1861: Rebels plot to invade Union soil! “General Joe Johnston’s Confederate Army of the Potomac still occupied the general position it held following the victory at Bull Run in July. Some had wished for an invasion of Washington immediately after the battle, but months had passed with little movement, aside from ordering advanced troops away from the enemy near Falls Church. Unsure which course to take, advance or retreat, Johnston asked President Davis to see the Army for himself.
Davis arrived the previous evening, staying with General Beauregard, one of two corps commanders in Johnston’s Army. It wasn’t until evening of this date that the President sat down with Generals Johnston, Beauregard and Smith (the other corps commander).
Together, the Generals put up a united front, suggesting Beauregard’s plan to invade Maryland and maneuver north of Washington, forcing the Union Army of the Potomac, under General George McClellan, out into the open. All were aware that McClellan was building his Army which, if allowed to grow until the spring campaign season, could be too large to stop.
For this plan of invasion to succeed, all three Generals agreed that reinforcements were needed. While President Davis was in favor of an invasion and understood that time was of the essence, he couldn’t understand how Johnston’s Army was only 40,000 strong after so many additional troops had been forwarded. Of these 40,000, many were untrained and far from ready to take the field.
Davis asked the all-important question: how many troops would be needed “to cross the Potomac, cut off the communications of the enemy with their fortified capital, and carry the war into their country?”
General Smith figured that 50,000 well-trained and armed men could accomplish it. Both Johnston and Beauregard, however, thought Smith was a bit too optimistic. They reckoned it would take 60,000.
Davis was shocked. The fronts in Kentucky, Western Virginia, even Texas and New Mexico, were all screaming for more troops. The Confederacy simply didn’t have enough manpower to throw into Johnston’s Army of the Potomac.
It was a valid point, which Johnston had considered. The needed men, thought Johnston, could be pulled from places like the Carolinas and Georgia. To back up the controversial idea, he reasoned that the Carolinas could only be taken if Virginia fell. Similarly, the Union troops in Kentucky could only remain in Kentucky if McClellan was victorious. Johnston reasoned that everything depended upon the Virginia theater of war.
This, thought Davis, was both politically and militarily unsound. Politically, he couldn’t just strip away the state troops to reinforce the army in Virginia. Militarily, even if he was able to acquire the troops, there weren’t enough arms to equip them for battle.
President Davis then proposed, in fine detail, a raiding party that could be sent into Maryland to annoy the enemy. All three Generals, frustrated and thwarted, rejected Davis’ plan as being impractical and not worth the risk.
The wished-for invasion of Union soil could not happen. Beauregard, who authored the plan, was furious. Johnston, who was never quite sold on the idea, began the preparations to pull the entire Army of the Potomac south towards Centreville. [1]
[1] P.G.T. Beauregard; Napoleon in Gray by T. Harry Williams. As well as Joseph E. Johnston; A Civil War Biography by Craig L. Symonds.”
http://civilwardailygazette.com/rebels-plot-to-invade-union-soil-lincoln-wants-kentucky/
B Wednesday, October 1, 1862: Pamlico Sound, North Carolina Confederate naval forces, including CSS Curlew, CSS Raleigh, and CSS Junaluska. under flag Officer William F. Lynch, CSN, captured steamer Fanny in Pamlico Sound with Union troops on board. Colonel Claiborne Snead, CSA, reported: "The victory was important in more respects than one. It was our first naval success in North Carolina and the first capture made by our arms of an armed war- vessel of the enemy. and dispelled the gloom of recent disasters. The property captured [two rifled guns and large amount of army stores] was considerable, much needed, and highly esteemed. . .
http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/86/86076.htm
B+ Wednesday, October 1, 1862: Pamlico Sound, North Carolina - On October 1, a Confederate force captured the Union supply steamer, USS Fanny, at Pamlico Sound. With the capture of the Fanny, the Confederates also captured 31 prisoners and a large number of much needed military supplies.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1861s.html
C Thursday, October 1, 1863: Wheeler’s Raid: Gen. Joseph Wheeler, commanding two divisions of Confederate cavalry, crosses the Tennessee River upstream, and begins a series of raids behind (west of) Chattanooga. Moving down the Sequatchie Valley, he captures 50 wagons belonging to Rosecrans, and destroys them.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=October+1%2C+1863
C+ Thursday, October 1, 1863: Wheeler's October 1863 Raid (October 1–9, 1863) was a large cavalry raid in southeastern Tennessee during the American Civil War. Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler's Confederate cavalry scored a great initial success, but subsequently was roughed up by Union cavalry during its withdrawal south of the Tennessee River.
Wheeler set out on October 1 with the divisions of Brig. Gen. Frank Crawford Armstrong and Maj. Gen. William T. Martin, plus part of Maj. Gen. John A. Wharton's division. He quickly broke through the screen of Brig. Gen. George Crook's 2nd Cavalry Division near Decatur, Tennessee, and rode toward Walden's Ridge.
Saturday, October 1, 1864: Everyone has to do their duty, so President Lincoln selects John Summerfield Staples to “substitute” for him and serve in the army in his place. He pays him $500. https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-181
D Saturday, October 1, 1864: The Battle of Peebles’ Farm: [September 30-October 2, 1864] In combination with Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler’s offensive north of the James River, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant extended his left flank to cut Confederate lines of communication southwest of Petersburg. Two divisions of the IX corps under Maj. Gen. John G. Parke, two divisions of the V Corps under Maj. Gen. G.K. Warren, and Brig. Gen. David M. Gregg’s cavalry division were assigned to the operation. On September 30, the Federals marched via Poplar Spring Church to reach Squirrel Level and Vaughan Roads. The initial Federal attack overran Fort Archer, flanking the Confederates out of their Squirrel Level Road line. Late afternoon, Confederate reinforcements arrived, slowing the Federal advance. On October 1, the Federals repulsed a Confederate counterattack directed by Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill. Reinforced by Maj. Gen. Gershom Mott’s division, the Federals resumed their advance on the 2nd, captured Fort MacRae which was lightly defended, and extended their left flank to the vicinity of Peebles’ and Pegram’s Farms. With these limited successes, Meade suspended the offensive. A new line was entrenched from the Federal works on Weldon Railroad to Pegram’s Farm.
Estimated Casualties: 3,800 total
http://www.beyondthecrater.com/resources/bat-sum/petersburg-siege-sum/fifth-offensive-summaries/the-battle-of-peebles-farm-september-30-october-2-1864/
FYI GySgt Jack Wallace CWO4 Terrence Clark SMSgt Lawrence McCarter LTC Trent Klug SFC Bernard WalkoSSG Franklin Briant SSG Byron Howard Sr CPL Ronald Keyes Jr SFC William Farrell CMDCM John F. "Doc" Bradshaw SPC Lyle MontgomeryPO2 Marco MonsalveSPC Woody Bullard SSG Michael Noll SSG Bill McCoy SFC David Reid, M.S, PHR, SHRM-CP, DTMSgt Christopher Collins SPC (Join to see) SPC Gary C. PO3 Lynn Spalding
Espionage in the Civil War. Truth can be stranger than fiction. In 1864, the body of Confederate agent Rose O’Neal Greenhow was found on a beach near Wilmington, North Carolina. She was one of the foremost Confederate spies in Washington DC and passed onto CSA General Beauregard the plans of Maj Gen McDowell on the eve of what became known as the Battle of Bull Run. On a return trip from Europe, her ship ran aground and fearing it might be boarded while carrying papers and a reputed $2000 in gold in a bag around her neck, she demanded to be put ashore in a small boat. The boat capsized in the surf and, pulled under by the gold, Mrs. Greenhow was drowned.
Wednesday, October 1, 1862: Maj Gen Ulysses S. Grant prepares for battle, while Maj Gen William Rosecrans flounders in denial. “General Ulysses S. Grant was human. Like other humans (and many Federal officers), he made mistakes. But unlike many of his fellow brass, he could quickly recover and adapt.
Grant had been headquartered in and around Corinth, Mississippi for month. During that time, two Confederate forces under Earl van Dorn and Sterling Price had been doing little more than milling about, seemingly waiting for the right time to strike. Price’s force had escaped Grant’s attempt to snare them at Iuka, disappearing towards the southwest.
Over the ensuing week, both Price and Van Dorn had been on the move. While in reality, they had joined forces, Grant believed Price to be south of Corinth, while Van Dorn was making for the Mississippi in Tennessee. This was faulty information, but Grant informed Washington and started to plan accordingly.
In truth, Van Dorn, commanding the combined force now known as the Army of West Tennessee, was set to fall upon Corinth. His plan was to fool Grant into thinking that the whole Rebel army was headed into West Tennessee (thus the name?). To do this, they were marching north, and, by all appearances, bypassing the targeted city. According to the plan, they would move towards the town of Pocahontas, northwest of Corinth, and then make a sharp right, falling in behind the unsuspecting city’s defences.
To counter this, Union cavalry had taken out a bridge leading to Pocahontas. To complete the ruse, though he had no actual need to use this span, Van Dorn ordered men under General Price to repair the bridge. Another bridge, one that he actually needed to use to cross the Hatchie River, had also been partially destroyed by the Federals. His own men spent the night making the repairs in what they hoped was secrecy. The element of surprise was essential to taking the lightly-defended Corinth.
But Grant caught on quickly. On this day, the same day that Van Dorn was repairing the bridges, Grant surmised that the intended target was not West Tennessee, but Corinth. He knew his position was a precarious one and that not a single soldier could be brought in from outside his command.
So sure was Grant that Corinth was Van Dorn’s intension that he pulled an entire division from one of his outlaying posts to join with two other divisions under General William Rosecrans, commanding the city. He also ordered other bodies of troops to converge towards Corinth, not to aide Rosecrans, but to cut off the Rebel line of retreat and destroy Van Dorn’s army, which would most certainly be defeated.
The problem was that Rosecrans didn’t seem to believe that the Rebels intended to hit his defenses. His cavalry captured a few Confederates – probably the ones helping to reconstruct the bridge across the Hatchie – but they seemed to have no idea where they were headed. Secrecy was critical, and only Van Dorn, Price and Mansfield Lovell, commanding Van Dorn’s former division, knew that Carthage was the intended.
Rosecrans ordered a bridge destroyed west to Chewalla, a small railroad town that was situated upon Van Dorn’s line of march, in hopes of sussing out what the Rebels were up to and possibly cutting off whatever retreat would transpire after they were driven back by Grant’s other divisions to the northwest.
The problem was one of mathematics. Van Dorn believed Rosecrans defended the city with a mere 15,000. The Federals, however, had 23,000. Meanwhile, Rosecrans believed Van Dorn to have 40,000, but the Rebels only added up to 22,000. And so, two evenly-matched armies were about to converge at Corinth, where the defenders believed there would be no fight. [1]
[1] Sources: Grant Rises in the West by Kenneth P. Williams; The Darkest Days of the War by Peter Cozzens; General Sterling Price and the Civil War in the West by Albert Castel; Nothing But Victory by Steven E. Woodworth.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/grant-prepares-for-battle-while-rosecrans-flounders-in-denial/
Thursday, October 1, 1863: CSA General Robert E. Lee is convinced, but undecided; Maj Gen William Rosecrans out? “General Robert E. Lee was now certain. For several days, he had pondered the rumors that two Federals corps had been detached from the Army of the Potomac and sent west to reinforce William Rosecrans at Chattanooga. He had batted around a handful of possibilities, including the idea that General George Meade had himself been reinforced. There was even speculation that a column of troops had been dispatched to the Peninsula as a sort of diversion for whatever it was that Washington was planning.
Even as late as the previous day (the 29th), Lee had doubts. The scout who brought him the news, he did not fully trust. “None of the [other] scouts have yet seen the troops in motion,” Lee wrote to President Davis, “nor can any material change be observed in their camps at our front.”
After Lee had sent the letter to Davis, he heard further reports, and by the morning of this date, he was convinced. “I consider it certain that two corps have been withdrawn from General Meade’s army to re-enforce General Rosecrans,” he wrote. One of the scouts (whom Lee apparently trusted), “saw General Howard take the cars at Catlett’s Station, where his headquarters had been established, and saw other troops marching toward Manassas, which he believes to have been the Twelfth Corps.” This was overall the truth, though the troops marching toward Manassas were actually the XI Corps.
Rather than immediately focusing upon the obvious opportunity that presented itself with the knowledge that his enemy was now short 20,000 men, Lee instead gave advice to Davis on what to do with the Confederate troops opposite the reinforced Rosecrans. “Everything that can be done to strengthen Bragg ought now to be done,” Lee cautioned, “and if he cannot draw Rosecrans out in any other way, it might be accomplished by operating against his re-enforcements on the line of travel.” Lee hoped that if the XI and XII Corps, now under General Joe Hooker, could not make it to Rosecrans, Rosecrans might be compelled to go to them.
This was not to say that Lee had no designs of his own. He most certainly did – what he lacked, however, was a plan. He noted that the Army of the Potomac occupied “the ridge north of Culpeper Court-House, extending some miles east and west.” It was a strong line, but a curious one. “His position answers as well for defense as attack,” Lee concluded.
But General Meade in fact had no plans to launch an offensive. That was the very reason that President Lincoln had agreed to send the XI and XII Corps west. Whatever plans Meade had been mulling over, were canceled, and he seemed more or less content to wait for winter. Though Lee did not see it, Meade had slightly shifted his line to make up for the departed corps. The XII Corps had occupied the front, and had been replaced by the I Corps. The XI had watched the railroad at Catlett’s and Bristoe Station. Now, a division from the VI Corps was removed from the front to make up the difference.
In the West, things were developing at a quicker pace than General Lee had assumed. The XI and XII Corps were ordered to reinforce Rosecrans on the 24th. By this date, only a week later, President Lincoln received some fairly pleasant news. From Nashville, Tennessee came a wire telling that “Genl Hooker left [Nashville] at eight this morning. Genl Howard at four thirty (4 30) PM. Eleventh Corps all gone, and part of Twelfth.” By the end of the following day, all of the XII Corps would have passed through Nashville.
The two corps under Hooker would be helpful to Rosecrans, but it was not clear just how long Rosecrans might be around. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton had sent his assistant secretary, Charles Dana, to keep an eye on things around Rosecrans’ headquarters. Thus far, following the battle of Chickamauga, Stanton had seen to it that two corps commanders, Alexander McCook and Thomas Crittenden, were relieved of duty. Now his attention was turned to Rosecrans.
“If Hooker’s command get safely through, all that the Army of the Cumberland can need will be a competent commander,” wrote Stanton to Dana. “The merit of General Thomas and the debt of gratitude the nation owes to his valor and skill are fully appreciated here, and I wish you to tell him so. It was not my fault that he was not in chief command months ago.” [1]
[1] Sources: Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 29, Part 2, p758, 766; Vol. 30, Part 3, p946; Vol. 30, Part 4, p49; The Bristoe Campaign by Adrian Tighe; Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 6.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/lee-is-convinced-but-undecided-rosecrans-out/
Below are several journal entries from 1861, 1862, 1863 and 1864 which shed light on what life was like for soldiers and civilians – the good, the bad and the ugly. … I am including journal entries from Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade, "Crocker's Brigade," Sixth Division of the Seventeenth Corps, Army of the Tennessee for each year. I have been spending some time researching Civil War journals and diaries and editing them to fit into this series of Civil War discussions.
Tuesday, October 1, 1861: Journal of Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade, “Crocker's Brigade,” “We drew our cooking utensils and rations for five days. John Batderf, Joseph Tomlinson and I were put in as cooks for the company. We have company drill four hours a day. It seems that we are in camp this time for business. My bunk-mate is James M. Fossett, a brother of Thomas Fossett. James enlisted this time instead of his brother. He's a fine fellow for a bunk-mate.”
Wednesday, October 1, 1862: Journal of Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade, “Crocker's Brigade,” “The Eleventh Iowa was ordered down into town last night, for it was expected that the rebels would make a charge into town to burn our rations. We think, however, that they want our rations for their own haversacks. We formed a line of battle and lay in the streets all night, but the rebels did not show themselves. We received orders to march at daylight this morning. The cars came in from Corinth at 4 o'clock this morning, and the sick men, our baggage, and the remainder of our stores were loaded up and sent to our headquarters at Corinth. By noon Iuka was expected to be entirely evacuated by our men. Our regiment marched twenty-three miles and bivouacked for the night within six miles of Corinth.”
Wednesday, October 1, 1862: Frederick Douglass, in his newspaper Douglass’s Monthly, writes an editorial, making some sense of Lincoln’s strange Emancipation Proclamation: “The careful, and we think, the slothful deliberation which he has observed in reaching this obvious policy, is a guarantee against retraction. But even if the temper and spirit of the President himself were other than what they are, events greater than the President, events which have slowly wrung this proclamation from him may be relied on to carry him forward in the same direction. . . . No, Abraham Lincoln will take no step backward. His word has gone out over the country and the world, giving joy and gladness to the friends of freedom and progress wherever those words are read, and he will stand by them, and carry them out to the letter. If he has taught us to confide in nothing else, he has taught us to confide in his word. . . . The President doubtless saw, as we see, that it is not more absurd to talk about restoring the union, without hurting slavery, than restoring the union without hurting the rebels. . . .
The effect of this paper upon the disposition of Europe will be great and increasing. It changes the character of the war in European eyes and gives it an important principle as an object, instead of national pride and interest. It recognizes and declares the real nature of the contest, and places the North on the side of justice and civilization, and the rebels on the side of robbery and barbarism. . . .”
Thursday, October 1, 1863: Journal of Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade “Crocker's Brigade,” “We had brigade inspection this morning at 7 o'clock, by General McArthur. Colonel Hall of our regiment is in command. There were three regiments of infantry, one of cavalry and three batteries. In the afternoon, I was on fatigue duty, and part of the time in a heavy rain; this is our third successive day of rain.”
Thursday, October 1, 1863: John Beauchamp Jones records a letter from a Virginia lady who had traveled up to Pennsylvania to help care for the Confederate wounded about two weeks after the battle: “July 18th—We have been visiting the battle-field, and have done all we can for the wounded there. Since then we have sent another party, who came upon a camp of wounded Confederates in a wood between the hills. Through this wood quite a large creek runs. This camp contained between 200 and 300 wounded men, in every stage of suffering; two well men among them as nurses. Most of them had frightful wounds. A few evenings ago the rain, sudden and violent, swelled the creek, and 35 of the unfortunates were swept away; 35 died of starvation. No one had been to visit them since they were carried off the battle-field; they had no food of any kind; they were crying all the time “bread, bread! water, water!” One boy without beard was stretched out dead, quite naked, a piece of blanket thrown over his emaciated form, a rag over his face, and his small, thin hands laid over his breast. Of the dead none knew their names, and it breaks my heart to think of the mothers waiting and watching for the sons laid in the lonely grave on that fearful battle-field. All of those men in the woods were nearly naked, and when ladies approached they tried to cover themselves with the filthy rags they had cast aside. The wounds themselves, unwashed and untouched, were full of worms. God only knows what they suffered.”
Saturday, October 1, 1864: Journal of Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade, “Crocker's Brigade,” “This afternoon the Third and Fourth Divisions of the Seventeenth Corps started on an expedition toward Fairburn, Georgia, where, it is reported, there is a large force of the rebels. We marched about seven miles and went into bivouac for the night. I received a letter from David Cole of the Twenty-fourth Iowa. His regiment is now in the Shenandoah valley, Virginia.”
A. Tuesday, October 1, 1861: Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Generals Johnston, Beauregard, and Smith meet at Centreville, VA to discuss the possibility of a Southern offensive in VA. They conclude, based on lack of supplies and men that an offensive would fail and decide to wait for spring and watch for developments on all fronts.
B. Wednesday, October 1, 1862: Pamlico Sound, North Carolina Confederate naval forces, including CSS Curlew, CSS Raleigh, and CSS Junaluska. under flag Officer William F. Lynch, CSN, captured steamer Fanny in Pamlico Sound with Union troops on board. Colonel Claiborne Snead, CSA, reported: "The victory was important in more respects than one. It was our first naval success in North Carolina and the first capture made by our arms of an armed war- vessel of the enemy. and dispelled the gloom of recent disasters. The property captured [two rifled guns and large amount of army stores] was considerable, much needed, and highly esteemed. . .
C. Thursday, October 1, 1863: Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler's October 1863 Raid (October 1–9, 1863) was a large cavalry raid in southeastern Tennessee. Wheeler set out on October 1 with the divisions of Brig. Gen. Frank Crawford Armstrong and Maj. Gen. William T. Martin, plus part of Maj. Gen. John A. Wharton's division. He quickly broke through the screen of Brig. Gen. George Crook's 2nd Cavalry Division near Decatur, Tennessee, and rode toward Walden's Ridge. He crossed the Tennessee River upstream, and begins a series of raids behind (west of) Chattanooga. Moving down the Sequatchie Valley, he captures 50 wagons belonging to Rosecrans, and destroys them.
Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler's Confederate cavalry scored a great initial success, but subsequently was roughed up by Union cavalry during its withdrawal south of the Tennessee River.
D. Saturday, October 1, 1864: The Battle of Peebles’ Farm: [September 30-October 2, 1864] In combination with Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler’s offensive north of the James River, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant extended his left flank to cut Confederate lines of communication southwest of Petersburg. Two divisions of the IX corps under Maj. Gen. John G. Parke, two divisions of the V Corps under Maj. Gen. G.K. Warren, and Brig. Gen. David M. Gregg’s cavalry division were assigned to the operation. On September 30, the Federals marched via Poplar Spring Church to reach Squirrel Level and Vaughan Roads. The initial Federal attack overran Fort Archer, flanking the Confederates out of their Squirrel Level Road line. Late afternoon, Confederate reinforcements arrived, slowing the Federal advance. On October 1, the Federals repulsed a Confederate counterattack directed by Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill. Reinforced by Maj. Gen. Gershom Mott’s division, the Federals resumed their advance on the 2nd, captured Fort MacRae which was lightly defended, and extended their left flank to the vicinity of Peebles’ and Pegram’s Farms. With these limited successes, Meade suspended the offensive. A new line was entrenched from the Federal works on Weldon Railroad to Pegram’s Farm.
Estimated Casualties: 3,800 total
Pictures: 1863-10-01 Union troops trapped in Southern Tennessee faced starvation with only one line of resupply remaining, setting the stage for wheeler's raid; 1864-10-01 Confederate Spy Rose O'Neal Greenhow; 1862-10-01 USS Fanny captured by CSS Curlew, CSS Raleigh, and CSS Junaluska; 1864-10-01 Death Plaque for Confederate Spy Rose O'Neal Greenhow
1. Tuesday, October, 1, 1861: Fremont punks Pope? “General Fremont’s Army of the West gathered in Missouri to assail the now-retreating Missouri State Guard, under General Sterling Price. Given command of the Army’s right wing, General Pope returned from a recruiting mission in Iowa to find things in utter confusion. Pope’s orders from Fremont were to meet up with two regiments at Boonville. When Pope arrived, there were no troops at all in the town. Fremont, for some reason, had recalled them and not informed Pope.
Pope was furious at Fremont, writing to his father-in-law on this date: “Fremont shows is inefficiency more and more every day and walks about at Jefferson City with his hands to his head as if he were on the verge of insanity. There are no plans and no home of any that are intelligible.” [3]
[3] General John Pope; A Life for the Nation by Peter Cozzens.”
http://civilwardailygazette.com/rebels-plot-to-invade-union-soil-lincoln-wants-kentucky/
2. Wednesday, October 1, 1862: Frederick Douglass, in his newspaper Douglass’s Monthly, writes an editorial, making some sense of Lincoln’s strange Emancipation Proclamation: “The careful, and we think, the slothful deliberation which he has observed in reaching this obvious policy, is a guarantee against retraction. But even if the temper and spirit of the President himself were other than what they are, events greater than the President, events which have slowly wrung this proclamation from him may be relied on to carry him forward in the same direction. . . . No, Abraham Lincoln will take no step backward. His word has gone out over the country and the world, giving joy and gladness to the friends of freedom and progress wherever those words are read, and he will stand by them, and carry them out to the letter. If he has taught us to confide in nothing else, he has taught us to confide in his word. . . . The President doubtless saw, as we see, that it is not more absurd to talk about restoring the union, without hurting slavery, than restoring the union without hurting the rebels. . . .
The effect of this paper upon the disposition of Europe will be great and increasing. It changes the character of the war in European eyes and gives it an important principle as an object, instead of national pride and interest. It recognizes and declares the real nature of the contest, and places the North on the side of justice and civilization, and the rebels on the side of robbery and barbarism. . . .”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=October+1%2C+1862
3. October 1-3, 1862 in Jacksonville, Florida - Brig. Gen. John Finegan established a battery on St. John' s Bluff near Jacksonville to stop the movement of Union ships up the St. Johns River. Brig. Gen. John M. Brannan embarked with about 1,500 infantry aboard the transports Boston, Ben DeFord, Cosmopolitan, and Neptune at Hilton Head, South Carolina, on September 30. The flotilla arrived at the mouth of the St. John' s River on October 1, where Cdr. Charles Steedman' s gunboats—Paul Jones, Cimarron, Uncas, Patroon, Hale, and Water Witch—joined them.
By midday, the gunboats approached the bluff, while Brannan began landing troops at Mayport Mills. Another infantry force landed at Mount Pleasant Creek, about 5 miles in the rear of the Confederate battery, and began marching overland on the 2nd. Outmaneuvered, Lt. Col. Charles F. Hopkins abandoned the position after dark. When the Union gunboats approached the bluff the next day, its guns were silent.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1862s.html
4. Wednesday, October 1, 1862: The Confederate press portrayed Lincoln’s emancipation declaration as a recipe for slave rebellion. Abraham Lincoln visits Harper's Ferry on his way to Antietam Battlefield.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-b/part-seventy-seven
5. Wednesday, October 1, 1862: General Price’s Confederate Army of the West marched from Baldwyn to Ripley, MS, where it joined Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn’s Army of West Tennessee (CSA). Van Dorn was senior officer and took command of the combined force numbering about 22,000 men. The Rebels marched to Pocahontas and prepared to move southeast toward Corinth.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-b/part-seventy-seven
6. Wednesday, October 1, 1862: In northern Mississippi, Gen. Earl Van Dorn, now in command of the expanded Army of West Tennessee (Price's army added to his) of 22,000 is now moving northward, trying to deceive Grant into thinking that Van Dorn is headed up into West Tennessee. Van Dorn’s plan is to turn and hit Corinth from the rear. Grant is not fooled, and he sends two added divisions to Rosecrans, in Corinth, to bring his army up to 23,000. Rosecrans is ready to meet Van Dorn.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=October+1%2C+1862
7. Wednesday, October 1, 1862: Major General John Pemberton replaces Earl van Dorn at the head of the reorganized Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186210
8. Wednesday, October 1, 1862: Pres. Lincoln, on his tour of the army’s position in Maryland, arrives in Harper’s Ferry, and reviews some of the men of the II Corps in the field.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=October+1%2C+1862
9. Wednesday, October 1, 1862: David Dixon Porter is given command of the Mississippi Squadron.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186210
10. Wednesday, October 1, 1862: Abraham Lincoln visits Harper's Ferry on his way to Antietam.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186210
11. Thursday, October 1, 1863: John Beauchamp Jones records a letter from a Virginia lady who had traveled up to Pennsylvania to help care for the Confederate wounded about two weeks after the battle: “July 18th—We have been visiting the battle-field, and have done all we can for the wounded there. Since then we have sent another party, who came upon a camp of wounded Confederates in a wood between the hills. Through this wood quite a large creek runs. This camp contained between 200 and 300 wounded men, in every stage of suffering; two well men among them as nurses. Most of them had frightful wounds. A few evenings ago the rain, sudden and violent, swelled the creek, and 35 of the unfortunates were swept away; 35 died of starvation. No one had been to visit them since they were carried off the battle-field; they had no food of any kind; they were crying all the time “bread, bread! water, water!” One boy without beard was stretched out dead, quite naked, a piece of blanket thrown over his emaciated form, a rag over his face, and his small, thin hands laid over his breast. Of the dead none knew their names, and it breaks my heart to think of the mothers waiting and watching for the sons laid in the lonely grave on that fearful battle-field. All of those men in the woods were nearly naked, and when ladies approached they tried to cover themselves with the filthy rags they had cast aside. The wounds themselves, unwashed and untouched, were full of worms. God only knows what they suffered.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=October+1%2C+1863
12. Thursday, October 1, 1863: President Lincoln sets forth duties of General Schofield (US) in command in Missouri: 1. Advance efficiency of military establishment. 2. Arrest individuals and suppress newspapers when they are working injury to military. 3. Remove inhabitants en masse at own discretion. 4. Do not engage in returning fugitive slaves nor in enticing slaves from their homes. 5. Allow no one to enlist Negro troops except upon orders. 6. Allow no one to confiscate property except upon orders. 7. Allow only those qualified under Missouri laws to vote. 8. So far as practicable, expel guerrillas, marauders, and murderers. https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-c/week-129
13. Thursday, October 1, 1863: President Lincoln’s nephew, John Todd Grimsley, fails to meet entrance requirements at Naval Academy.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-c/week-129
14. Thursday, October 1, 1863: Maj Gen William Rosecrans ordered the building of flat-bottomed boats that would be able to navigate the Tennessee River.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-c/week-129
15. Thursday, October 1, 1863: The collapse of a stairway in Nashville’s unfinished Maxwell House Hotel, which is being used as a military residence and prison, drops nearly 300 Confederate prisoners three stories, killing six men and injuring nearly 100 more.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-c/week-129
16. Thursday, October 1, 1863: Gen. Joseph E. Johnston sends a dispatch to Bragg that Federal troops are on the move to Chattanooga. Johnston’s scouts in Memphis report four major generals there, and of a very number of transport steamers tied up at the city docks.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=October+1%2C+1863
17. Saturday, October 1, 1864: The body of Rose O’Neal Greenhow was found on a beach near Wilmington, North Carolina. She was one of the foremost Confederate spies in Washington DC and passed onto General Beauregard (CSA) the plans of General McDowell (US) on the eve of what became known as the Battle of Bull Run. On a return trip from Europe, her ship runs aground and fearing it might be boarded while carrying papers and a reputed $2000 in gold in a bag around her neck, she demanded to be put ashore in a small boat. The boat capsized in the surf and, pulled under by the gold, Mrs. Greenhow was drowned.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-181
18.
A Tuesday, October, 1, 1861: Confederate Pres. Jefferson Davis and Generals Johnston, Beauregard, and Smith meet at Centreville, VA to discuss the possibility of a Southern offensive in VA. They conclude, based on lack of supplies and men that an offensive would fail and decide to wait for spring and watch for developments on all fronts.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-a/part-twenty-five
A+ Tuesday, October, 1, 1861: Rebels plot to invade Union soil! “General Joe Johnston’s Confederate Army of the Potomac still occupied the general position it held following the victory at Bull Run in July. Some had wished for an invasion of Washington immediately after the battle, but months had passed with little movement, aside from ordering advanced troops away from the enemy near Falls Church. Unsure which course to take, advance or retreat, Johnston asked President Davis to see the Army for himself.
Davis arrived the previous evening, staying with General Beauregard, one of two corps commanders in Johnston’s Army. It wasn’t until evening of this date that the President sat down with Generals Johnston, Beauregard and Smith (the other corps commander).
Together, the Generals put up a united front, suggesting Beauregard’s plan to invade Maryland and maneuver north of Washington, forcing the Union Army of the Potomac, under General George McClellan, out into the open. All were aware that McClellan was building his Army which, if allowed to grow until the spring campaign season, could be too large to stop.
For this plan of invasion to succeed, all three Generals agreed that reinforcements were needed. While President Davis was in favor of an invasion and understood that time was of the essence, he couldn’t understand how Johnston’s Army was only 40,000 strong after so many additional troops had been forwarded. Of these 40,000, many were untrained and far from ready to take the field.
Davis asked the all-important question: how many troops would be needed “to cross the Potomac, cut off the communications of the enemy with their fortified capital, and carry the war into their country?”
General Smith figured that 50,000 well-trained and armed men could accomplish it. Both Johnston and Beauregard, however, thought Smith was a bit too optimistic. They reckoned it would take 60,000.
Davis was shocked. The fronts in Kentucky, Western Virginia, even Texas and New Mexico, were all screaming for more troops. The Confederacy simply didn’t have enough manpower to throw into Johnston’s Army of the Potomac.
It was a valid point, which Johnston had considered. The needed men, thought Johnston, could be pulled from places like the Carolinas and Georgia. To back up the controversial idea, he reasoned that the Carolinas could only be taken if Virginia fell. Similarly, the Union troops in Kentucky could only remain in Kentucky if McClellan was victorious. Johnston reasoned that everything depended upon the Virginia theater of war.
This, thought Davis, was both politically and militarily unsound. Politically, he couldn’t just strip away the state troops to reinforce the army in Virginia. Militarily, even if he was able to acquire the troops, there weren’t enough arms to equip them for battle.
President Davis then proposed, in fine detail, a raiding party that could be sent into Maryland to annoy the enemy. All three Generals, frustrated and thwarted, rejected Davis’ plan as being impractical and not worth the risk.
The wished-for invasion of Union soil could not happen. Beauregard, who authored the plan, was furious. Johnston, who was never quite sold on the idea, began the preparations to pull the entire Army of the Potomac south towards Centreville. [1]
[1] P.G.T. Beauregard; Napoleon in Gray by T. Harry Williams. As well as Joseph E. Johnston; A Civil War Biography by Craig L. Symonds.”
http://civilwardailygazette.com/rebels-plot-to-invade-union-soil-lincoln-wants-kentucky/
B Wednesday, October 1, 1862: Pamlico Sound, North Carolina Confederate naval forces, including CSS Curlew, CSS Raleigh, and CSS Junaluska. under flag Officer William F. Lynch, CSN, captured steamer Fanny in Pamlico Sound with Union troops on board. Colonel Claiborne Snead, CSA, reported: "The victory was important in more respects than one. It was our first naval success in North Carolina and the first capture made by our arms of an armed war- vessel of the enemy. and dispelled the gloom of recent disasters. The property captured [two rifled guns and large amount of army stores] was considerable, much needed, and highly esteemed. . .
http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/86/86076.htm
B+ Wednesday, October 1, 1862: Pamlico Sound, North Carolina - On October 1, a Confederate force captured the Union supply steamer, USS Fanny, at Pamlico Sound. With the capture of the Fanny, the Confederates also captured 31 prisoners and a large number of much needed military supplies.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1861s.html
C Thursday, October 1, 1863: Wheeler’s Raid: Gen. Joseph Wheeler, commanding two divisions of Confederate cavalry, crosses the Tennessee River upstream, and begins a series of raids behind (west of) Chattanooga. Moving down the Sequatchie Valley, he captures 50 wagons belonging to Rosecrans, and destroys them.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=October+1%2C+1863
C+ Thursday, October 1, 1863: Wheeler's October 1863 Raid (October 1–9, 1863) was a large cavalry raid in southeastern Tennessee during the American Civil War. Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler's Confederate cavalry scored a great initial success, but subsequently was roughed up by Union cavalry during its withdrawal south of the Tennessee River.
Wheeler set out on October 1 with the divisions of Brig. Gen. Frank Crawford Armstrong and Maj. Gen. William T. Martin, plus part of Maj. Gen. John A. Wharton's division. He quickly broke through the screen of Brig. Gen. George Crook's 2nd Cavalry Division near Decatur, Tennessee, and rode toward Walden's Ridge.
Saturday, October 1, 1864: Everyone has to do their duty, so President Lincoln selects John Summerfield Staples to “substitute” for him and serve in the army in his place. He pays him $500. https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-181
D Saturday, October 1, 1864: The Battle of Peebles’ Farm: [September 30-October 2, 1864] In combination with Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler’s offensive north of the James River, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant extended his left flank to cut Confederate lines of communication southwest of Petersburg. Two divisions of the IX corps under Maj. Gen. John G. Parke, two divisions of the V Corps under Maj. Gen. G.K. Warren, and Brig. Gen. David M. Gregg’s cavalry division were assigned to the operation. On September 30, the Federals marched via Poplar Spring Church to reach Squirrel Level and Vaughan Roads. The initial Federal attack overran Fort Archer, flanking the Confederates out of their Squirrel Level Road line. Late afternoon, Confederate reinforcements arrived, slowing the Federal advance. On October 1, the Federals repulsed a Confederate counterattack directed by Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill. Reinforced by Maj. Gen. Gershom Mott’s division, the Federals resumed their advance on the 2nd, captured Fort MacRae which was lightly defended, and extended their left flank to the vicinity of Peebles’ and Pegram’s Farms. With these limited successes, Meade suspended the offensive. A new line was entrenched from the Federal works on Weldon Railroad to Pegram’s Farm.
Estimated Casualties: 3,800 total
http://www.beyondthecrater.com/resources/bat-sum/petersburg-siege-sum/fifth-offensive-summaries/the-battle-of-peebles-farm-september-30-october-2-1864/
FYI GySgt Jack Wallace CWO4 Terrence Clark SMSgt Lawrence McCarter LTC Trent Klug SFC Bernard WalkoSSG Franklin Briant SSG Byron Howard Sr CPL Ronald Keyes Jr SFC William Farrell CMDCM John F. "Doc" Bradshaw SPC Lyle MontgomeryPO2 Marco MonsalveSPC Woody Bullard SSG Michael Noll SSG Bill McCoy SFC David Reid, M.S, PHR, SHRM-CP, DTMSgt Christopher Collins SPC (Join to see) SPC Gary C. PO3 Lynn Spalding
Grant Prepares for Battle, While Rosecrans Flounders in Denial
October 1, 1862 (Wednesday) General Ulysses S. Grant was human. Like other humans (and many Federal officers), he made mistakes. But unlike many of his fellow brass, he could quickly recover and ad…
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Thanks for the History Reminder from the Civil war...AKA War of Northern Aggression...
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LTC Stephen F.
Okay my friend SFC George Smith I assume you must be aligned with those south of the Mason-Dixon line :-)
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LTC Stephen F.
You are very welcome, my deceased friend and brother-in-Christ SP5 Mark Kuzinski . I am thankful that you are resting in peace with more joy than we can imagine. Periodically the LORD reminds me to pray for your widow Diana and children
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