Posted on Mar 2, 2017
What was the most significant event on October 7 during the U.S. Civil War?
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The US Civil War was the first major war after the telegraph was invented and widely implemented. Of course, once it was realized that telegraph lines were vulnerable to sabotage, both sides worked at cutting lines and using patrols and pickets to guard the lines at vulnerable points. The signal corps became a prominent addition to the military ranks as telegraph was added to the signal communication suite.
In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln sent a telegram to Andrew Johnson, the Military Governor of Tennessee, asking for information about Maj Gen William Rosecrans status at Chattanooga since the telegraph lines had been cut for some time: Washington, D. C., October 7, 1863-8.45 a.m. on Wednesday, October 7, 1863: To Governor JOHNSON, Nashville, Tenn.: “What news have you from Rosecrans’s army, or in that direction beyond Nashville? A. LINCOLN”
Gov. Johnson responds that he has no news from Chattanooga, but the telegraph line is almost back in business---and that Chattanooga “must be held.”
In 1861, the Confederate government signed a treaty with the Cherokee Indians.
In 1864, total war was initiated against the Confederate states in the breadbaskets of the Shenandoah valley in Virginia and the fields of Georgia. In 1862 and 1863, the CSA had unsuccessfully attempted to bring total war to Kentucky and Ohio [CSA Maj Gen Joseph Wheeler, and others] and Maryland and Pennsylvania [CSA Gen Robert E lee and the Army of Northern Virginia]
In 1864, the CSS Shenandoah embarked from London, England. This vessel was formerly the commerce raider CSS Sea King.
Wednesday, October 7, 1863: My gallant brigade was cut to pieces and slaughtered’ – The Battle CSA Maj Gen Joseph Wheeler never wanted. “General Joseph Wheeler, far behind enemy lines in Tennessee, had ordered Henry Davidson, commanding one of his dispersed divisions, to fall back upon the center of his line should the enemy get too close. These were simple orders, and Wheeler felt that they should be simple enough to follow.
The enemy, commanded by Generals Robert Mitchell and George Crook, were encamped seven miles north of Shelbyville. Davidson’s Division was two miles south and across the Duck River. With scouts thrown out, Wheeler believed that Davidson should have nine miles worth of warning before the enemy hit him. And, of course, the enemy wasn’t supposed to get close enough to do anything of the sort.
Col. George Hodge, commanding a brigade under Davidson, was ordered on the morning of this date to march for Farmington, which was two miles behind Wheeler’s center, and so two miles away from where Wheeler actually wanted them. Just as they started off, Davidson rode up and informed Hodge that the Federals were coming down the Shelbyville Road, which came in on Hodge’s flank. This was news indeed, and Hodge dispatched a regiment to check them.
Crook’s Federals had marched the seven miles from their camp and passed through Shelbyville before the Rebels were even aware of them. Surprised by the complete lack of preparedness on the part of Davidson’s Confederates, Crook ordered a vicious assault.
First, he hit the regiment sent forward by Hodge with an entire brigade of mounted infantry, charging forward on horseback. The Rebels ran for a woodlot, and the Union troops dismounted and followed.
Davidson sent forward his other brigade, commanded by John Scott, but they were soundly thrashed into a swirl of confusion by a second brigade of Federals unleashed by General Crook. With sabers drawn, they charged, beating the Rebels back.
At the call for reinforcements, the rest of Hodge’s Brigade went forward, counter-marching on the road to Farmington, racing back to the fight. “Ahead of me,” wrote Hodge, “I encountered the whole of Scott’s Brigade crowded in frightful and horrible confusion, wild and frantic with panic, chocking the entire road and bearing down upon me at racking speed. It was too late to clear the way; they rode over my command like madmen, some of them stopping only, as I am informed, when they reached the Tennessee.”
Hodge was literally ridden over. His horse was knocked down and he only managed to escape capture through good fortune. As the Federals surged forward, Hodge was able to grab the 27th Virginia Battalion, throw it against a fence where it opened fired upon the flank of the enemy. This checked the Federals, but not before the battalion’s captain was sabered out of his saddle.
“I seized the opportunity to gallop ahead of the fugitives and extricate my own brigade from the disorderly mob,” continued Hodge, “this I formed line with and in some order received the now advancing enemy. He came on in heavy force and with determined obstinacy.”
Though it seemed as if all the Federals were charging at once, it was not so. General Crook had left a small brigade of 500 troops under the command of Col. Robert Minty. When the Rebels scattered, he feared that some would play upon his right flank, and sent word back to Minty to come forward to face them. Minty, however, never received orders to march. Without reinforcements, Crook deployed his artillery and began to shell the impromptu lines thrown together by Hodge.
The Rebel line had but two mountain howitzers, and there was little they could do but fall back as Crook’s Federals gave chase. Every quarter of a mile or so, Hodge’s Brigade would turn to give battle. Each time, Crook would charge, and Hodge’s lines would hold. Seeing he couldn’t get at the Rebels from the front, Crook extended his lines and tried the flanks, which, outnumbering Hodge’s small brigade, was easily accomplished.
“For five hours and a half, over 7 miles of country, the unequal contest continued,” wrote Hodge. “My gallant brigade was cut to pieces and slaughtered. I had informed the officers and men that the sacrifice of their lives was necessary and they manfully made the sacrifice.” These seven miles had backed the Rebels to the eastern edge of Farmington. It was around 3pm.
Through the morning, General Wheeler could hear the fighting, and assumed that Davidson was falling back as ordered – Davidson’s dispatches to Wheeler even said as much. But when Wheeler questioned the couriers themselves, they informed him that their commander was instead headed for Farmington. Frustrated, Wheeler left the Duck River, ordering his two other divisions to Farmington, with William Martin’s Division in the lead.
Wheeler and Martin arrived just in time, allowing five regiments to get into position at Farmington before Davidson’s Rebels fell back beyond it.
It was then that General Crook learned that Minty would not be joining him, and he would have to do what he could against fresh Confederate troops drawn up before him.
“Finding the enemy vastly superior to me,” wrote Crook, “I left one regiment of cavalry to protect my rear, holding the other two regiments as a support to the infantry, the country being impracticable for the cavalry to operate in. The enemy’s battery was posted in a cedar thicket some 400 yard distant from me, pouring into me a heavy fire of grape, canister, and shell, and made one or two charges on my men, at the same time attempting to turn both of my flanks.”
It was time enough for all of Davidson’s Division to slip through the new Confederate lines and head south from Farmington, while the last division, under General John Wharton, who accompanied the wagons, was also able to slip south.
“The enemy soon came up in strong force with a division of infantry and a division of cavalry,” wrote Wheeler, greatly exaggerating the Federal force before him. “We fought them with great warmth for twenty minutes, then we charged the line and drove it back for some distance. General Wharton’s column and our train having now passed, and the object for which we fought being accomplished, we withdrew without being followed by the enemy.”
General Crook’s account differs from Wheeler’s, however. Following a sharp artillery duel, which apparently dismounted a Rebel gun and blew up a caisson, Crook ordered his infantry to charge. This they did, and “broke through the enemy’s line, scattered them to the right and left, capturing four guns, some wagons, and several prisoners. The enemy then being in an open country, I ordered Colonel Long to the front to make a saber charge, but they had the roads barricaded so as to rend it impossible. It now getting dark, I went into camp near Farmington.”
As the Rebels retreated to safety, Crook was furious that Minty was not there. If he had been, he wrote, “I should have thrown him on the left flank, and as things turned out since, I would have captured a large portion of his [Wheeler’s] command, together with all his artillery and transportation.”
The Confederates would spend the next couple of days racing for the Tennessee River. The Federals would not be able to keep up. [1]
[1] Sources: Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 30, Part 2, p686, 691, 724, 727-728.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/my-gallant-brigade-was-cut-to-pieces-and-slaughtered-the-battle-wheeler-never-wanted/
Friday, October 7, 1864: Maj Gen Phil Sheridan to render the Shenandoah Valley unfit for man or beast. “While Philip Sheridan pillaged his way out of the upper Shenandoah Valley, Jubal Early’s Confederates crept forward from their cover in Brown’s Gap, east of Harrisonburg. Early had been rejoined by Joseph Kershaw’s Division, as well as an additional brigade of cavalry. With this, he “determined to attack the enemy in his position at Harrisonburg.” But when he sent his scouts forward on the 6th, they realized that Sheridan was gone.
“When it was discovered that the enemy was retiring,” wrote Jubal Early in his memoirs, “I moved forward at once and arrived at New Market with my infantry on the 7th.”
The Rebel army arrived in New Market early in the day, going into camp almost immediately, and there they would remain for the better part of two days. The zeal with which Early seemed to pursue Sheridan was gone. As his infantry rested, he bade his cavalry to continue north in search of the Yankees.
Sheridan’s force was now nearing Woodstock, twenty miles north. They too went into camp, and Sheridan had time to reflect on the week previous. The idea of attacking Early in Brown’s Gap was one that had occurred to him. He had considered it and ultimately decided against it.
The reasons were many, but mostly it was because his force was too small. Not too small to best Early, but too small to deal with the results of such a victory. Once Early was routed from the Blue Ridge Mountains, he would flee back to Richmond. When he did so, Sheridan was bound to follow. However, he would have to leave at least a corps in the Valley and detachments along the way to protect the Orange & Alexandria Railroad. These depletions would leave him “a wholly inadequate number of fighting men to persecute a campaign against the city of Richmond.”
So it was clear – Sheridan could not attack Early because he could not take Richmond. The logic is perhaps a bit shaky, but that’s how it was.
“I therefore advised that the Valley campaign be terminated north of Staunton, and I be permitted to return, carrying out on the way my original instructions for desolating the Shenandoah country so as to make it untenable for permanent occupation by the Confederates.”
When Sheridan arrived in Woodstock, he communicated with General Grant, telling him of his exploits and the gruesome figures which accompanied them.
“I have destroyed over 2,000 barns, filled with wheat, hay, and farming implements,” began the incredibly long list of destruction, “over 70 mills, filled with flour and wheat; have driven in front of the army over 4,000 head of stock, and have killed and issued ot the troops not less than 3,000 sheep.
“This destruction embraces the Luray Valley and Little Fort Valley, as well as the main valley. A large number of horses have been obtained, a proper estimate of which I cannot now make.”
Sheridan not only had to deal with livestock and wheat, but people as well. From Harrisonburg along, 400 wagons of refugees were sent north to Martinsburg, “most of these people were Dunkers, and had been conscripted.” The Dunkers were a pacifist sect akin to Mennonites. Originally, the Confederate army passed them by as conscientious objectors, but this late in the war, they were counted among the draftees.
“The people here are gettins sick of war,” Sheridan continued, no doubt taking some of the credit, “hithertofore they have had no reason to complain, because they have been living in great abundance.”
By this date, Sheridan had no idea that Early’s forces, apart from some cavalry, were following him. But then, by this date, Early’s infantry was stopped in New Market. With this freedom, he vowed that “tomorrow I will continue the destruction of wheat, forage, &c., down to Fisher’s hill. When this is complete the Valley, from Winchester up to Staunton, ninety-two miles, will have but little in it for man or beast.” [1]
[1] Sources: Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 43, Part 2, p307-308; A Memoir of the Last Year of the War For Independence by Jubal A. Early; Make Me a Map of the Valley by Jedediah Hotchkiss; Personal Memoirs by Philip Sheridan.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/sheridan-to-render-the-shenandoah-unfit-for-man-or-beast/
Pictures: 1864-10-07 USS Wachusett rams the CSS Florida at daybreak; 1862-10 Kentucky Campaign Map; 1863-10 Wheeler raid map; CSA Maj Gen Sterling Price
A. 1861: Maj Gen John C. Fremont left St. Louis for Springfield to command the chase after CSA Maj Gen Sterling Price commander of the secessionist Missouri State Guard, had withdrawn to the Arkansas border after his Lexington. Missouri victory.
Fremont’s complete lack of ability was becoming painfully obvious to everyone in Washington after he again arrested Frank Blair, who threatened to take legal action against Fremont. While General-in-Chief Winfield Scott again ordered Blair’s release, Fremont finally left St. Louis to join his gathering Army in the field. Unsure of what to do with Fremont, Lincoln sent Secretary of War Simon Cameron and Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas to see for themselves the condition of Fremont’s command. Along with Cameron and Thomas was a letter drafted by Lincoln to General Samuel R. Curtis in Missouri, asking him his thoughts on Fremont.
Specifically, Lincoln asked, “Ought Gen. Fremont to be relieved from, or retained in his present command?” He assured Curtis that it would be “entirely confidential,” and that he needed the sound advice of “an intelligent unprejudiced, and judicious opinion from some professional Military man on the spot,” to assist him.
B. 1862: Eve of the battle of Perryville, Kentucky. Buell’s Army of the Ohio, over 80,000 strong, is heading toward Perryville, where there is water, as well as several highways to facilitate concentrating the troops. but they are not certain of where the Rebels are, except that they know some are in Perryville. Bragg is likewise uncertain as to where the Yankees are heading, and as orders fly around central Kentucky, some commanders obey and some do not. The picture seems to change every hour as Gen. Wheeler’s cavalry probed Union positions and told Bragg that a large force of Yankees was headed toward Perryville---but Bragg ignores this, convinced that the Yankees are going to attack toward Frankfort. By midnight, most of his army, 16,000 men, are concentrated at Perryville, and 55,000 of Buell’s men---three corps under Alexander McCook, Thomas Crittenden, and Charles Gilbert---are due to attack at dawn. By the end of the day, Gen. George Thomas and his corps are also considering heading that way. This afternoon, Gilbert’s troops are approaching the Chaplin River near Perryville, and his advance units clash with Wheeler’s cavalry. The divisions of Mitchell, Schoepf, and Sheridan are deployed in line of battle as Gilbert finds the Rebels deployed on the facing ridge.
C. 1863: Brig. Gen. George Crook pursued the Rebel cavalry through Shelbyville, Tennessee and badly mauled CSA Brig Gen Henry Davidson’s brigade, pushing it back, in a confusing, running fight. Crook lost fewer than 75 men, while inflicting 310 Southern casualties. However, Crook is furious that his remaining brigade, under Colonel Robert H.G. Minty, failed to come up on the Rebel flank, thus spoiling Crook’s opportunity to trap much of Wheeler’s force. The Confederates headed south for the Tennessee River.
D. 1864: The USS Wachusett rams and captures the Confederate cruiser and commerce raider CSS Florida while in port at Bahia, Brazil. She was the sister ship to the CSS Alabama. This move was a violation of international maritime law, but the damaged CSS Florida is towed back to the United States where under international protest the CSS Florida was court-ordered to be returned to Brazil. But on November 28, 1864, before she could be made ready for sea she mysteriously sank. The sinking was most likely done at Admiral David Dixon Porter’s (US) encouragement, if not his orders. The CSS Florida could therefore not be delivered to Brazil in satisfaction of the final court order, and could not rejoin the ranks of the Confederate States Navy. The CSS Florida captured 37 prizes during her short impressive career.
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 1863, President Abraham Lincoln sent a telegram to Andrew Johnson, the Military Governor of Tennessee, asking for information about Maj Gen William Rosecrans status at Chattanooga since the telegraph lines had been cut for some time: Washington, D. C., October 7, 1863-8.45 a.m. on Wednesday, October 7, 1863: To Governor JOHNSON, Nashville, Tenn.: “What news have you from Rosecrans’s army, or in that direction beyond Nashville? A. LINCOLN”
Gov. Johnson responds that he has no news from Chattanooga, but the telegraph line is almost back in business---and that Chattanooga “must be held.”
In 1861, the Confederate government signed a treaty with the Cherokee Indians.
In 1864, total war was initiated against the Confederate states in the breadbaskets of the Shenandoah valley in Virginia and the fields of Georgia. In 1862 and 1863, the CSA had unsuccessfully attempted to bring total war to Kentucky and Ohio [CSA Maj Gen Joseph Wheeler, and others] and Maryland and Pennsylvania [CSA Gen Robert E lee and the Army of Northern Virginia]
In 1864, the CSS Shenandoah embarked from London, England. This vessel was formerly the commerce raider CSS Sea King.
Wednesday, October 7, 1863: My gallant brigade was cut to pieces and slaughtered’ – The Battle CSA Maj Gen Joseph Wheeler never wanted. “General Joseph Wheeler, far behind enemy lines in Tennessee, had ordered Henry Davidson, commanding one of his dispersed divisions, to fall back upon the center of his line should the enemy get too close. These were simple orders, and Wheeler felt that they should be simple enough to follow.
The enemy, commanded by Generals Robert Mitchell and George Crook, were encamped seven miles north of Shelbyville. Davidson’s Division was two miles south and across the Duck River. With scouts thrown out, Wheeler believed that Davidson should have nine miles worth of warning before the enemy hit him. And, of course, the enemy wasn’t supposed to get close enough to do anything of the sort.
Col. George Hodge, commanding a brigade under Davidson, was ordered on the morning of this date to march for Farmington, which was two miles behind Wheeler’s center, and so two miles away from where Wheeler actually wanted them. Just as they started off, Davidson rode up and informed Hodge that the Federals were coming down the Shelbyville Road, which came in on Hodge’s flank. This was news indeed, and Hodge dispatched a regiment to check them.
Crook’s Federals had marched the seven miles from their camp and passed through Shelbyville before the Rebels were even aware of them. Surprised by the complete lack of preparedness on the part of Davidson’s Confederates, Crook ordered a vicious assault.
First, he hit the regiment sent forward by Hodge with an entire brigade of mounted infantry, charging forward on horseback. The Rebels ran for a woodlot, and the Union troops dismounted and followed.
Davidson sent forward his other brigade, commanded by John Scott, but they were soundly thrashed into a swirl of confusion by a second brigade of Federals unleashed by General Crook. With sabers drawn, they charged, beating the Rebels back.
At the call for reinforcements, the rest of Hodge’s Brigade went forward, counter-marching on the road to Farmington, racing back to the fight. “Ahead of me,” wrote Hodge, “I encountered the whole of Scott’s Brigade crowded in frightful and horrible confusion, wild and frantic with panic, chocking the entire road and bearing down upon me at racking speed. It was too late to clear the way; they rode over my command like madmen, some of them stopping only, as I am informed, when they reached the Tennessee.”
Hodge was literally ridden over. His horse was knocked down and he only managed to escape capture through good fortune. As the Federals surged forward, Hodge was able to grab the 27th Virginia Battalion, throw it against a fence where it opened fired upon the flank of the enemy. This checked the Federals, but not before the battalion’s captain was sabered out of his saddle.
“I seized the opportunity to gallop ahead of the fugitives and extricate my own brigade from the disorderly mob,” continued Hodge, “this I formed line with and in some order received the now advancing enemy. He came on in heavy force and with determined obstinacy.”
Though it seemed as if all the Federals were charging at once, it was not so. General Crook had left a small brigade of 500 troops under the command of Col. Robert Minty. When the Rebels scattered, he feared that some would play upon his right flank, and sent word back to Minty to come forward to face them. Minty, however, never received orders to march. Without reinforcements, Crook deployed his artillery and began to shell the impromptu lines thrown together by Hodge.
The Rebel line had but two mountain howitzers, and there was little they could do but fall back as Crook’s Federals gave chase. Every quarter of a mile or so, Hodge’s Brigade would turn to give battle. Each time, Crook would charge, and Hodge’s lines would hold. Seeing he couldn’t get at the Rebels from the front, Crook extended his lines and tried the flanks, which, outnumbering Hodge’s small brigade, was easily accomplished.
“For five hours and a half, over 7 miles of country, the unequal contest continued,” wrote Hodge. “My gallant brigade was cut to pieces and slaughtered. I had informed the officers and men that the sacrifice of their lives was necessary and they manfully made the sacrifice.” These seven miles had backed the Rebels to the eastern edge of Farmington. It was around 3pm.
Through the morning, General Wheeler could hear the fighting, and assumed that Davidson was falling back as ordered – Davidson’s dispatches to Wheeler even said as much. But when Wheeler questioned the couriers themselves, they informed him that their commander was instead headed for Farmington. Frustrated, Wheeler left the Duck River, ordering his two other divisions to Farmington, with William Martin’s Division in the lead.
Wheeler and Martin arrived just in time, allowing five regiments to get into position at Farmington before Davidson’s Rebels fell back beyond it.
It was then that General Crook learned that Minty would not be joining him, and he would have to do what he could against fresh Confederate troops drawn up before him.
“Finding the enemy vastly superior to me,” wrote Crook, “I left one regiment of cavalry to protect my rear, holding the other two regiments as a support to the infantry, the country being impracticable for the cavalry to operate in. The enemy’s battery was posted in a cedar thicket some 400 yard distant from me, pouring into me a heavy fire of grape, canister, and shell, and made one or two charges on my men, at the same time attempting to turn both of my flanks.”
It was time enough for all of Davidson’s Division to slip through the new Confederate lines and head south from Farmington, while the last division, under General John Wharton, who accompanied the wagons, was also able to slip south.
“The enemy soon came up in strong force with a division of infantry and a division of cavalry,” wrote Wheeler, greatly exaggerating the Federal force before him. “We fought them with great warmth for twenty minutes, then we charged the line and drove it back for some distance. General Wharton’s column and our train having now passed, and the object for which we fought being accomplished, we withdrew without being followed by the enemy.”
General Crook’s account differs from Wheeler’s, however. Following a sharp artillery duel, which apparently dismounted a Rebel gun and blew up a caisson, Crook ordered his infantry to charge. This they did, and “broke through the enemy’s line, scattered them to the right and left, capturing four guns, some wagons, and several prisoners. The enemy then being in an open country, I ordered Colonel Long to the front to make a saber charge, but they had the roads barricaded so as to rend it impossible. It now getting dark, I went into camp near Farmington.”
As the Rebels retreated to safety, Crook was furious that Minty was not there. If he had been, he wrote, “I should have thrown him on the left flank, and as things turned out since, I would have captured a large portion of his [Wheeler’s] command, together with all his artillery and transportation.”
The Confederates would spend the next couple of days racing for the Tennessee River. The Federals would not be able to keep up. [1]
[1] Sources: Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 30, Part 2, p686, 691, 724, 727-728.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/my-gallant-brigade-was-cut-to-pieces-and-slaughtered-the-battle-wheeler-never-wanted/
Friday, October 7, 1864: Maj Gen Phil Sheridan to render the Shenandoah Valley unfit for man or beast. “While Philip Sheridan pillaged his way out of the upper Shenandoah Valley, Jubal Early’s Confederates crept forward from their cover in Brown’s Gap, east of Harrisonburg. Early had been rejoined by Joseph Kershaw’s Division, as well as an additional brigade of cavalry. With this, he “determined to attack the enemy in his position at Harrisonburg.” But when he sent his scouts forward on the 6th, they realized that Sheridan was gone.
“When it was discovered that the enemy was retiring,” wrote Jubal Early in his memoirs, “I moved forward at once and arrived at New Market with my infantry on the 7th.”
The Rebel army arrived in New Market early in the day, going into camp almost immediately, and there they would remain for the better part of two days. The zeal with which Early seemed to pursue Sheridan was gone. As his infantry rested, he bade his cavalry to continue north in search of the Yankees.
Sheridan’s force was now nearing Woodstock, twenty miles north. They too went into camp, and Sheridan had time to reflect on the week previous. The idea of attacking Early in Brown’s Gap was one that had occurred to him. He had considered it and ultimately decided against it.
The reasons were many, but mostly it was because his force was too small. Not too small to best Early, but too small to deal with the results of such a victory. Once Early was routed from the Blue Ridge Mountains, he would flee back to Richmond. When he did so, Sheridan was bound to follow. However, he would have to leave at least a corps in the Valley and detachments along the way to protect the Orange & Alexandria Railroad. These depletions would leave him “a wholly inadequate number of fighting men to persecute a campaign against the city of Richmond.”
So it was clear – Sheridan could not attack Early because he could not take Richmond. The logic is perhaps a bit shaky, but that’s how it was.
“I therefore advised that the Valley campaign be terminated north of Staunton, and I be permitted to return, carrying out on the way my original instructions for desolating the Shenandoah country so as to make it untenable for permanent occupation by the Confederates.”
When Sheridan arrived in Woodstock, he communicated with General Grant, telling him of his exploits and the gruesome figures which accompanied them.
“I have destroyed over 2,000 barns, filled with wheat, hay, and farming implements,” began the incredibly long list of destruction, “over 70 mills, filled with flour and wheat; have driven in front of the army over 4,000 head of stock, and have killed and issued ot the troops not less than 3,000 sheep.
“This destruction embraces the Luray Valley and Little Fort Valley, as well as the main valley. A large number of horses have been obtained, a proper estimate of which I cannot now make.”
Sheridan not only had to deal with livestock and wheat, but people as well. From Harrisonburg along, 400 wagons of refugees were sent north to Martinsburg, “most of these people were Dunkers, and had been conscripted.” The Dunkers were a pacifist sect akin to Mennonites. Originally, the Confederate army passed them by as conscientious objectors, but this late in the war, they were counted among the draftees.
“The people here are gettins sick of war,” Sheridan continued, no doubt taking some of the credit, “hithertofore they have had no reason to complain, because they have been living in great abundance.”
By this date, Sheridan had no idea that Early’s forces, apart from some cavalry, were following him. But then, by this date, Early’s infantry was stopped in New Market. With this freedom, he vowed that “tomorrow I will continue the destruction of wheat, forage, &c., down to Fisher’s hill. When this is complete the Valley, from Winchester up to Staunton, ninety-two miles, will have but little in it for man or beast.” [1]
[1] Sources: Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 43, Part 2, p307-308; A Memoir of the Last Year of the War For Independence by Jubal A. Early; Make Me a Map of the Valley by Jedediah Hotchkiss; Personal Memoirs by Philip Sheridan.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/sheridan-to-render-the-shenandoah-unfit-for-man-or-beast/
Pictures: 1864-10-07 USS Wachusett rams the CSS Florida at daybreak; 1862-10 Kentucky Campaign Map; 1863-10 Wheeler raid map; CSA Maj Gen Sterling Price
A. 1861: Maj Gen John C. Fremont left St. Louis for Springfield to command the chase after CSA Maj Gen Sterling Price commander of the secessionist Missouri State Guard, had withdrawn to the Arkansas border after his Lexington. Missouri victory.
Fremont’s complete lack of ability was becoming painfully obvious to everyone in Washington after he again arrested Frank Blair, who threatened to take legal action against Fremont. While General-in-Chief Winfield Scott again ordered Blair’s release, Fremont finally left St. Louis to join his gathering Army in the field. Unsure of what to do with Fremont, Lincoln sent Secretary of War Simon Cameron and Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas to see for themselves the condition of Fremont’s command. Along with Cameron and Thomas was a letter drafted by Lincoln to General Samuel R. Curtis in Missouri, asking him his thoughts on Fremont.
Specifically, Lincoln asked, “Ought Gen. Fremont to be relieved from, or retained in his present command?” He assured Curtis that it would be “entirely confidential,” and that he needed the sound advice of “an intelligent unprejudiced, and judicious opinion from some professional Military man on the spot,” to assist him.
B. 1862: Eve of the battle of Perryville, Kentucky. Buell’s Army of the Ohio, over 80,000 strong, is heading toward Perryville, where there is water, as well as several highways to facilitate concentrating the troops. but they are not certain of where the Rebels are, except that they know some are in Perryville. Bragg is likewise uncertain as to where the Yankees are heading, and as orders fly around central Kentucky, some commanders obey and some do not. The picture seems to change every hour as Gen. Wheeler’s cavalry probed Union positions and told Bragg that a large force of Yankees was headed toward Perryville---but Bragg ignores this, convinced that the Yankees are going to attack toward Frankfort. By midnight, most of his army, 16,000 men, are concentrated at Perryville, and 55,000 of Buell’s men---three corps under Alexander McCook, Thomas Crittenden, and Charles Gilbert---are due to attack at dawn. By the end of the day, Gen. George Thomas and his corps are also considering heading that way. This afternoon, Gilbert’s troops are approaching the Chaplin River near Perryville, and his advance units clash with Wheeler’s cavalry. The divisions of Mitchell, Schoepf, and Sheridan are deployed in line of battle as Gilbert finds the Rebels deployed on the facing ridge.
C. 1863: Brig. Gen. George Crook pursued the Rebel cavalry through Shelbyville, Tennessee and badly mauled CSA Brig Gen Henry Davidson’s brigade, pushing it back, in a confusing, running fight. Crook lost fewer than 75 men, while inflicting 310 Southern casualties. However, Crook is furious that his remaining brigade, under Colonel Robert H.G. Minty, failed to come up on the Rebel flank, thus spoiling Crook’s opportunity to trap much of Wheeler’s force. The Confederates headed south for the Tennessee River.
D. 1864: The USS Wachusett rams and captures the Confederate cruiser and commerce raider CSS Florida while in port at Bahia, Brazil. She was the sister ship to the CSS Alabama. This move was a violation of international maritime law, but the damaged CSS Florida is towed back to the United States where under international protest the CSS Florida was court-ordered to be returned to Brazil. But on November 28, 1864, before she could be made ready for sea she mysteriously sank. The sinking was most likely done at Admiral David Dixon Porter’s (US) encouragement, if not his orders. The CSS Florida could therefore not be delivered to Brazil in satisfaction of the final court order, and could not rejoin the ranks of the Confederate States Navy. The CSS Florida captured 37 prizes during her short impressive career.
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In the Civil War as in all previous wars armies moved primarily on their feet. Accordingly chance battles and deliberate engagements tended to happen near crossroads such as Gettysburg, PA or by major rivers. In 1863 the north and south were converging at Perryville, Kentucky while in 1864 CSA Maj Gen Wheeler’s forces were doing their best to cross over the Tennessee Rover to the south into Alabama.
Tuesday, October 7, 1862: The Federal ruse in Kentucky is working better than expected. “Col. John Austin Wharton, a cavalier from Texas, had been ordered by General Leonidas Polk to take his small brigade to Lebanon to gather supplies. Lebanon was a railroad town thirty miles west of Danville, where Polk was sitting with Braxton Bragg’s Army of Mississippi.
Following the gathering at Lebanon, Wharton and his men rode towards Perryville, a small crossroads fifteen miles west of Danville. Just after they got started, they received new orders from Polk. General Polk, typically in command of a division, had taken the reigns of Bragg’s army, while Bragg was trying to install a new secessionist governor. Polk had disobeyed a couple of orders and retreated the army fifty some miles east to Danville. To cover his left flank (and then some), he dispatched Wharton’s cavalry, ordering them to remain in Lebanon.
Wharton turned his crew around and headed back. When he got there, he received a different set of orders sent by Bragg. More concerned with matters a bit farther north, he ordered Wharton to Harrodsburg. Wharton wrote to General William Hardee for clarification. Hardee, who commanded the Left Wing of the Army of Mississippi at Perryville, wasn’t Wharton’s superior, but since Wharton was on the army’s left, he probably thought that if anybody knew what was going on, it would be Hardee.
But Hardee had not a clue what Wharton was about and referred the matter back to Bragg. This time, Bragg decided that Wharton should go to Perryville – the place he was originally planning on going anyway. This whole mess tied up the cavalry on the 6th and 7th, leaving Bragg with no reconnaissance.
This was a pretty big deal since the Confederates were operating in a vacuum. Coming towards them was the Union Army of the Ohio, Don Carlos Buell commanding. The only problem (well, not the only problem) was that nobody had a clue just how many were on their way and from whence they were coming. Typically, sussing this out would be a job for the cavalry.
Buell’s Federals, numbering some 82,000, were concentrating on Perryville. Five roads led into the town, and so it was a convenient place to gather. Originally, he had left Louisville in four columns. The column farthest to the north was a ruse, sent forward to throw Bragg off the real Union target. It went swimmingly.
Bragg’s army had been separated for the entire campaign. Once he discovered that Buell was coming, however, he decided to concentrate, selecting Harrodsburg as a logical location. Neither of his commanding officers, Leonidas Polk and Kirby Smith, agreed.
Polk thought that Danville was a better place, and though ordered specifically not to go there, he did anyway. Smith believed that the Federals were aiming for Lexington and so stopped at Versailles, twenty-five miles northeast of Harrodsburg. While Bragg was furious with Polk, he believed Smith’s cautionary tail and his many pleas and beggings for help. The whole Union army was apparently streaming his way.
He ordered Polk to abandon whatever it was that he was doing in Perryville and Danville and move to Smith’s aid. Polk, who had no more of an idea where the Federal army was, had little to report. General Hardee at Perryville, however, wasn’t just being paranoid when he thought he was being followed in the retreat to Perryville from their previous camp at Bardstown.
Without giving a reason, Hardee requested Polk send him another division. Polk forwarded the request up the chain to Bragg. But Bragg, who already made up his mind that Polk and Hardee were too far south, reiterated that everyone was moving north to Versailles. Hardee would simply have to brush away whatever force was supposedly following him.
And then, in the afternoon of this date, things became a whole lot clearer to Bragg. Reports came in of two separate Federal columns moving on Lawrenceburg, a stone’s throw away from Versailles. Another column was supposedly at Frankfort, to the northwest. Bragg was now absolutely confident that he had made the right decision. The entire Union army was seemingly about to attack his right wing and he would be ready for them.
The lack of reports from Polk and Hardee bolstered this certainty. Apparently, whatever Federals that had been sneaking towards Perryville had turned northward for Lawrenceburg. Hardee’s lack of communication wasn’t due to lack of news. Joseph Wheeler’s cavalry had been tangling with their Union counterparts all morning. They had seen long lines of infantry and reported that Buell’s main thrust was coming their way. Hardee seemed to dismiss this.
The only thing that Hardee said that could be wildly construed as a proper interpretation of reality was the message he sent to Bragg in the late afternoon. Wheeler had been engaged in some artillery fighting and that he expected a fight the next day. He asked Bragg for more men, but only if they were not “pressed in another direction.” Of course, Bragg believed they were more than pressed in another direction and couldn’t send a single regiment.
Finally, in a fit of annoyance that the Federals were spoiling his plans, Bragg ordered Polk to send Hardee the division he had asked for, dispose of the Yankees in his front and tear off for Versailles immediately. Through the evening, Bragg received even more reports of Federal columns descending upon his Right Wing.
There was a bit of a hiccup, however. The more reports that flowed in, the farther south it placed the Yankees. First, it was Frankfort, and then it was Taylorsville. Finally, it was Mackville, forty miles southwest of Versailles and due west of Harrodsburg. If Bragg ever considered that the Federals might actually be moving south through Taylorsville and Mackville away from Versailles (as the reports suggested), he never let it interfere with his belief that the Federals were moving towards Versailles.
By midnight, roughly 16,000 Rebels were arrayed at Perryville. Not too far away, 55,000 Federals under the command of Alexander McCook, Thomas Crittenden, and Charles Gilbert were planning on following Don Carlos Buell’s orders to attack at dawn. The only Union forces anywhere near the Confederate Right Wing were 20,000 mostly green troops under Joshua Sill – the diversionary corps who did their job all too well. [1]
[1] Sources: Army of the Heartland by Thomas Lawrence Connelly; Braxton Bragg and Confederate Defeat, Vol. 1 by Grady McWhiney; Perryville by Kenneth W. Noe.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/the-federal-ruse-in-kentucky-working-better-than-expected/
Monday, October 7, 1861: Robert Anderson’s Parting Words. “Though he laid the groundwork for General Sherman to replace him, General Robert Anderson was still very much in charge of the Department of the Cumberland. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, Anderson issued an order condemning the practice of arresting the Kentucky citizens “on the slightest and most trivial grounds.” He requested the civil authorities and ordered the military authorities “not to make any arrests except where the parties are attempting to join the rebels or are engaged in giving aid or information to them,” adding that there must be sufficient evidence to convict them in court.
Anderson had received the news that some members of the Kentucky Home Guards (a Unionist militia organization) had “gone into adjoining counties and arrested and carried off parties who have been quietly remaining at home under the expectation that they would not be interfered with.” Some reports even mentioned Kentuckians being taken out of the state.
Anderson “believed that many of those who at one time sympathized with rebellion are desirous of returning to their allegiance and wish to remain quietly at home attending to their business.” If these people were treated fairly, he reasoned, “will join them to our cause.” Treating them otherwise, “may force them into the ranks of our enemies.” [5]
Knowing that he would soon be replaced by General Sherman, Anderson may have been hoping to tidy up his command before leaving.
[5] Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 4, p296.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/fremonts-days-are-numbered-andersons-final-order/
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. Additionally, the New York Times, Hardeman County diarist, planter, and settler, John Houston Bills, and John Beauchamp Jones, a clerk in the Confederate War Department had things to say on this day long ago.
Monday, October 7, 1861: Journal of Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade, “Crocker's Brigade,” “I left for Davenport early this morning, riding to town with a farmer, and got back to camp at 2 o'clock. Quite a number of the boys around Allen's Grove are in camp here as members of the Second Iowa Cavalry.”
Tuesday, October 7, 1862: Journal of Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade, “Crocker's Brigade,” “We kept on the march last night till I a. m., when we stopped in bivouac. The men were all very tired, yet were willing and anxious to go on if only they could capture Price, or even a part of his army. Leaving our bivouac at 8 o'clock this morning, we again started after Price. We soon came upon the rebels and shelled their rear guard almost all day. We took a great many prisoners. It is reported that they are breaking up battlefield, into small bands and getting away through the timber and are scattering in every direction.”
Tuesday, October 7, 1862: In the upcoming elections across the country, the Republicans are fearfully anticipating losing many seats in Congress. In New York, James Wadsworth is running for Governor against Horatio Seymour, the incumbent Democrat. The New York Times features an editorial which addresses loyal men who are thinking of voting for Seymour---portraying Seymour as disloyal and sympathetic with the Confederacy: “Now, these men [those upset with Lincoln's administration], assuming them to be loyal In heart, show a most extraordinary want of logic in the conclusion to vote for SEYMOUR, which they draw from their premises. Granted that the Administration has erred, has been too Pro-Slavery, or too Anti-Slavery, has been too energetic or not enough so, the conclusion to vote for SEYMOUR is a non sequitur. It is as if a man, because doctors are guilty of malpractice sometimes, should help a vessel with the yellow fever on board to run the Quarantine. It is as if burglars should break into our house, and one of the inmates, being dissatisfied with the actions of the Police, should join with the thieves and trip up the officers’ heels.
Now, all these three classes of men are excessively indignant at being told that they are aiding and abetting the rebels. But this is the fact, and it is no answer for them to say that they have given their money and sent their sons to the war. ARNOLD gave his money and his blood for the country, but none the less did he help the enemy when he offered to give up West Point. And so the men who seek the election of SEYMOUR, whether they mean it or not, are helping the rebels, no matter what they have done before to hurt them. We wish that every one who proposes to vote for SEYMOUR would ask himself the question, What would JEFF. DAVIS advise me to do, if I were to ask him? Which vote would do most to please FLOYD and BENJAMIN, and TOOMBS and WISE, and LETCHER and the whole gang of thieving, perjured rebels, who have brought the country to this pass? Which vote would win for me the approbation of the I Richmond newspapers? Which vote would gratify most and encourage most the rebel Generals? No honest man can answer these questions in any way but one. A vote for SEYMOUR will insure to any one the applause of the whole rebel crew. It is enough for us, and it seems to us that it must be enough for any man who loves his country, to know that this is so to insure our supporting WADSWORTH with all our energies. Show us what the rebels would have us do. We want nothing else to send us in the opposite direction.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=October+7%2C+1862
Tuesday, October 7, 1862: John Beauchamp Jones, a clerk in the Confederate War Department, comments on the sharp inflation reflected in the prices of ordinary commodities in Richmond: “This evening Custis and I expect the arrival of my family from Raleigh, N. C. We have procured for them one pound of sugar, 80 cents; one quart of milk, 25 cents; one pound of sausage-meat, 37½ cents; four loaves of bread, as large as my fist, 20 cents each; and we have a little coffee, which is selling at $2.50 per pound. In the morning, some one must go to market, else there will be short-commons. Washing is $2.50 per dozen pieces. Common soap is worth 75 cents per pound.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=October+7%2C+1862
Tuesday, October 7, 1862: Mr. Bills tells us in his diary, that ambulances continue to arrive in Bolivar, all 4 churches, General Neely and Capt Wood (CSA) houses are full of wounded soldiers. “Great crowds of soldiers in the street to witness the arrival of the Confederate prisoners, about 375 of whom enter the Main Street at 2PM. They are a rough looking set of men, no uniforms & badly clad. Seem to be exhausted. Today has been a day of unusual excitement. General Ross is in Command of the Post.” As you can imagination, John Houston Bills’ daughter Evelina was strong willed herself being married to a Confederate captain, Marshall Tate Polk. She wrote in her memoirs, “On one occasion the town girls were walking out for a little exercise. They passed the Male Academy where some Confederate prisoners were incarcerated upstairs. These poor fellows bowed to them and they waved their handkerchiefs at them. This was enough for this little general. He ordered the girls arrested and brought to him. They were gathered up --- sent in my father’s carriage. The general then proceeded to lecture them (he said if they walked to headquarters the soldiers would insult them.) He walked up and down and threw himself into a perfect rage --- said among other things, “young ladies would you wave to a lot of vagabond thieves?” Mamie Wood said, “We thought they were Confederate soldiers.” He was speechless with rage.” She also wrote, “General Ross said that he never intended to cut his hair until the Rebellion was put down. Kate Neely (General Neely’s daughter) sent him a tucking comb saying he would need it. She was banished to the South for her temerity.”
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/part-seventy-eight
Wednesday, October 7, 1863: Journal of Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade “Crocker's Brigade,” “Six regiments were stationed at the different roads last night to reinforce the regular pickets. But the rebels did not make their appearance as it was reported they would. Our regiment was relieved at 10 o'clock this morning by the Thirteenth Iowa. We were struck by a fearful rain and windstorm last night.”
Wednesday, October 7, 1863: Pres. Lincoln sends a telegram to Andrew Johnson, the Military Governor of Tennessee, asking for information about Rosecrans: Washington, D. C., October 7, 1863-8.45 a.m. on Wednesday, October 7, 1863: To Governor JOHNSON, Nashville, Tenn.: “What news have you from Rosecran’s army, or in that direction beyond Nashville? A. LINCOLN”
Gov. Johnson responds that he has no news from Chattanooga, but the telegraph line is almost back in business---and that Chattanooga “must be held.”
Friday, October 7, 1864: Journal of Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade, “Crocker's Brigade,” “Weather clear and pleasant. Our division, now the Fourth of the Seventeenth Army Corps, started out to reconnoiter. We went in light marching order without teams or artillery and marching out about twenty miles to the southwest of Marietta came upon the rebels' pickets, at a place called Powder Springs. We drove them about four miles to the south, they not caring for a fight, and camped for the night. Our division was sent to find out whether or not the rebels are out in force along this road.”
A. Monday, October 7, 1861: Maj Gen John C. Fremont left St. Louis for Springfield to command the chase after CSA Maj Gen Sterling Price commander of the secessionist Missouri State Guard, had withdrawn to the Arkansas border after his Lexington. Missouri victory.
Fremont’s complete lack of ability was becoming painfully obvious to everyone in Washington after he again arrested Frank Blair, who threatened to take legal action against Fremont. While General-in-Chief Winfield Scott again ordered Blair’s release, Fremont finally left St. Louis to join his gathering Army in the field. Unsure of what to do with Fremont, Lincoln sent Secretary of War Simon Cameron and Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas to see for themselves the condition of Fremont’s command. Along with Cameron and Thomas was a letter drafted by Lincoln to General Samuel R. Curtis in Missouri, asking him his thoughts on Fremont.
Specifically, Lincoln asked, “Ought Gen. Fremont to be relieved from, or retained in his present command?” He assured Curtis that it would be “entirely confidential,” and that he needed the sound advice of “an intelligent unprejudiced, and judicious opinion from some professional Military man on the spot,” to assist him.
B. Tuesday, October 7, 1862: Eve of the battle of Perryville. Kentucky. Buell’s Army of the Ohio, over 80,000 strong, is heading toward Perryville, where there is water, as well as several highways to facilitate concentrating the troops. but they are not certain of where the Rebels are, except that they know some are in Perryville. Bragg is likewise uncertain as to where the Yankees are heading, and as orders fly around central Kentucky, some commanders obey and some do not. The picture seems to change every hour as Gen. Wheeler’s cavalry probed Union positions and told Bragg that a large force of Yankees was headed toward Perryville---but Bragg ignores this, convinced that the Yankees are going to attack toward Frankfort. By midnight, most of his army, 16,000 men, are concentrated at Perryville, and 55,000 of Buell’s men---three corps under Alexander McCook, Thomas Crittenden, and Charles Gilbert---are due to attack at dawn. By the end of the day, Gen. George Thomas and his corps are also considering heading that way. This afternoon, Gilbert’s troops are approaching the Chaplin River near Perryville, and his advance units clash with Wheeler’s cavalry. The divisions of Mitchell, Schoepf, and Sheridan are deployed in line of battle as Gilbert finds the Rebels deployed on the facing ridge.
C. Wednesday, October 7, 1863: Brig. Gen. George Crook pursued the Rebel cavalry through Shelbyville, Tennessee and badly mauled CSA Brig Gen Henry Davidson’s brigade, pushing it back, in a confusing, running fight. Crook lost fewer than 75 men, while inflicting 310 Southern casualties. However, Crook is furious that his remaining brigade, under Colonel Robert H.G. Minty, failed to come up on the Rebel flank, thus spoiling Crook’s opportunity to trap much of Wheeler’s force. The Confederates headed south for the Tennessee River.
Details: Crook’s Federals had marched the seven miles from their camp and passed through Shelbyville before the Rebels were even aware of them. Surprised by the complete lack of preparedness on the part of Davidson’s Confederates, Crook ordered a vicious assault.
First, he hit the regiment sent forward by Hodge with an entire brigade of mounted infantry, charging forward on horseback. The Rebels ran for a woodlot, and the Union troops dismounted and followed.
Davidson sent forward his other brigade, commanded by John Scott, but they were soundly thrashed into a swirl of confusion by a second brigade of Federals unleashed by General Crook. With sabers drawn, they charged, beating the Rebels back.
At the call for reinforcements, the rest of Hodge’s Brigade went forward, counter-marching on the road to Farmington, racing back to the fight. “Ahead of me,” wrote Hodge, “I encountered the whole of Scott’s Brigade crowded in frightful and horrible confusion, wild and frantic with panic, chocking the entire road and bearing down upon me at racking speed. It was too late to clear the way; they rode over my command like madmen, some of them stopping only, as I am informed, when they reached the Tennessee.”
Hodge was literally ridden over. His horse was knocked down and he only managed to escape capture through good fortune. As the Federals surged forward, Hodge was able to grab the 27th Virginia Battalion, throw it against a fence where it opened fired upon the flank of the enemy. This checked the Federals, but not before the battalion’s captain was sabered out of his saddle.
“I seized the opportunity to gallop ahead of the fugitives and extricate my own brigade from the disorderly mob,” continued Hodge, “this I formed line with and in some order received the now advancing enemy. He came on in heavy force and with determined obstinacy.”
Though it seemed as if all the Federals were charging at once, it was not so. General Crook had left a small brigade of 500 troops under the command of Col. Robert Minty. When the Rebels scattered, he feared that some would play upon his right flank, and sent word back to Minty to come forward to face them. Minty, however, never received orders to march. Without reinforcements, Crook deployed his artillery and began to shell the impromptu lines thrown together by Hodge.
The Rebel line had but two mountain howitzers, and there was little they could do but fall back as Crook’s Federals gave chase. Every quarter of a mile or so, Hodge’s Brigade would turn to give battle. Each time, Crook would charge, and Hodge’s lines would hold. Seeing he couldn’t get at the Rebels from the front, Crook extended his lines and tried the flanks, which, outnumbering Hodge’s small brigade, was easily accomplished.
“For five hours and a half, over 7 miles of country, the unequal contest continued,” wrote Hodge. “My gallant brigade was cut to pieces and slaughtered. I had informed the officers and men that the sacrifice of their lives was necessary and they manfully made the sacrifice.” These seven miles had backed the Rebels to the eastern edge of Farmington. It was around 3pm.
Through the morning, General Wheeler could hear the fighting, and assumed that Davidson was falling back as ordered – Davidson’s dispatches to Wheeler even said as much. But when Wheeler questioned the couriers themselves, they informed him that their commander was instead headed for Farmington. Frustrated, Wheeler left the Duck River, ordering his two other divisions to Farmington, with William Martin’s Division in the lead.
D. Friday, October 7, 1864: The USS Wachusett rams and captures the Confederate cruiser and commerce raider CSS Florida while in port at Bahia, Brazil. She was the sister ship to the CSS Alabama. This move was a violation of international maritime law, but the damaged CSS Florida is towed back to the United States where under international protest the CSS Florida was court-ordered to be returned to Brazil. But on November 28, 1864, before she could be made ready for sea she mysteriously sank. The sinking was most likely done at Admiral David Dixon Porter’s (US) encouragement, if not his orders. The CSS Florida could therefore not be delivered to Brazil in satisfaction of the final court order, and could not rejoin the ranks of the Confederate States Navy. The CSS Florida captured 37 prizes during her short impressive career.
Pictures: USS Wachusett captured the Confederate cruiser and commerce raider CSS Florida while in port at Bahia, Brazil; 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign Map August-October; 1864-10-07 Darbytown and New Market Roads; 1864 Log hut company kitchen
1. Thursday, October 7, 1858: Fifth Lincoln-Douglas debate, Galesburg, Illinois.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/1858
2. Monday, October 7, 1861: Confederate government signs a treaty with the Cherokee Indians.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186110
3. Monday, October 7, 1861: Confederate government signs a treaty with the Cherokee Indians.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-a/part-twenty-six
4. Monday, October 7, 1861: Antonia Ford, the daughter of prominent merchant and secessionist, Edward R. Ford, gathered information on Union forces and passed it to such notables as General Stuart and Colonel John S. Mosby. Today, Antonia was rewarded by Stuart with a commission as an honorary aide-de-camp.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-a/part-twenty-six
5. Tuesday, October 7, 1862: Battle of Lavernge, Tennessee.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186210
6. Tuesday, October 7, 1862: Rosecrans’ army pursues Van Dorn and Price who are retreating; the Federals are taking many prisoners.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=October+7%2C+1862
7. Wednesday, October 7, 1863: Pres. Lincoln sends a telegram to Andrew Johnson, the Military Governor of Tennessee, asking for information about Rosecrans: Washington, D. C., October 7, 1863-8.45 a.m. on Wednesday, October 7, 1863: To Governor JOHNSON, Nashville, Tenn.: “What news have you from Rosecran’s army, or in that direction beyond Nashville? A. LINCOLN”
Gov. Johnson responds that he has no news from Chattanooga, but the telegraph line is almost back in business---and that Chattanooga “must be held.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=October+7%2C+1863
8. Wednesday, October 7, 1863: A patrol from Mount Pleasant, Mississippi, reports “Enemy divided his forces 11 miles south of LaGrange last night about dark. Main force going east on Salem road. Col. Hurst captured 1 captain and several other prisoners from rear guard.” President Davis speaks in Atlanta.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-c/week-130
9. Friday, October 7, 1864: A new Confederate commerce raider formerly Sea King, the CSS Shenandoah embarks from London, England.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-182
10. Friday, October 7, 1864: General Forrest (CSA) crosses the Tennessee River and camps at Cherokee, Alabama. General Lee sends out two divisions under generals Charles Field and Robert Hoke (CSA) to move around the end of the Union line to try to recapture land around Richmond lost to the Union just about a week before at New Market Heights. The Confederates moved down Darbytown Road and attack 1,700 cavalrymen. Union reinforcements soon arrive and turn the Rebel attack around. The Rebs lost 700 men while the Yankees lost only 400, and no ground was gained. Lee will not make another attempt to regain the ground and focus instead on setting up more defenses closer to Richmond.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-182
A Monday, October 7, 1861: Fremont (US) leaves St. Louis for Springfield to command the chase after Missouri Militia Commander Sterling Price, who is withdrawing toward Lexington, Missouri.
A+ Monday, October 7, 1861: Fremont’s Days Are Numbered “Things in Missouri hadn’t been the same since the Union was defeated at Lexington and General John C. Fremont arrested Frank Blair. Sterling Price, commander of the secessionist Missouri State Guard, had withdrawn to the Arkansas border after his Lexington victory, while Fremont reorganized his Army, causing much confusion.
Fremont’s complete lack of ability was becoming painfully obvious to everyone in Washington after he again arrested Frank Blair, who threatened to take legal action against Fremont. While General-in-Chief Winfield Scott again ordered Blair’s release, Fremont finally left St. Louis to join his gathering Army in the field. [1]
Unsure of what to do with Fremont, Lincoln sent Secretary of War Simon Cameron and Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas to see for themselves the condition of Fremont’s command. Along with Cameron and Thomas was a letter drafted by Lincoln to General Samuel R. Curtis in Missouri, asking him his thoughts on Fremont. [2]
Specifically, Lincoln asked, “Ought Gen. Fremont to be relieved from, or retained in his present command?” He assured Curtis that it would be “entirely confidential,” and that he needed the sound advice of “an intelligent unprejudiced, and judicious opinion from some professional Military man on the spot,” to assist him. [3]
Though Lincoln was not completely sold on the idea of removing Fremont, he must have been leaning more towards that option than any other. General Order No. 18, which appears in the Official Records under the date of October 24, 1861, was actually written on this date and given to Secretary Cameron to, upon his discretion, hand to Fremont.
The order, written by General-in-Chief Scott, called for the axing of Fremont: ““Major General Frémont, of the United States’ Army, the present commander of the Western Department of the same, will, on the receipt of this order, call Major General Hunter, of the United States’ Volunteers, to relieve him temporarily in that command, when he, Major General Frémont, will report to general head quarters, by letter, for further orders.” [4]
Unlike Lincoln’s letter to General Curtis, the order removing Fremont from command was only supposed to be given to Fremont if Secretary Cameron felt it was necessary.
The journey to St. Louis would take four days.
[1] Frank Blair: Lincoln’s Conservative by William Earl Parrish.
[2] Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin.
[3] Letter from Abraham Lincoln to To Samuel R. Curtis, October 7, 1861.
[4] General Orders No. 18, October 07, 1861 (General Order removing Fremont
http://civilwardailygazette.com/fremonts-days-are-numbered-andersons-final-order/
B Tuesday, October 7, 1862: Buell’s Army of the Ohio, over 80,000 strong, is heading toward Perryville, where there is water, as well as several highways to facilitate concentrating the troops. but they are not certain of where the Rebels are, except that they know some are in Perryville. Bragg is likewise uncertain as to where the Yankees are heading, and as orders fly around central Kentucky, some commanders obey and some do not. The picture seems to change every hour as Gen. Wheeler’s cavalry probed Union positions and told Bragg that a large force of Yankees was headed toward Perryville---but Bragg ignores this, convinced that the Yankees are going to attack toward Frankfort. By midnight, most of his army, 16,000 men, are concentrated at Perryville, and 55,000 of Buell’s men---three corps under Alexander McCook, Thomas Crittenden, and Charles Gilbert---are due to attack at dawn. By the end of the day, Gen. George Thomas and his corps are also considering heading that way. This afternoon, Gilbert’s troops are approaching the Chaplin River near Perryville, and his advance units clash with Wheeler’s cavalry. The divisions of Mitchell, Schoepf, and Sheridan are deployed in line of battle as Gilbert finds the Rebels deployed on the facing ridge.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=October+7%2C+1862
C Wednesday, October 7, 1863: In the morning, Gen. Crook pushes his pursuit of the Rebel cavalry, passes through Shelbyville, and badly mauls Davidson’s brigade, pushing it back, in a confusing, running fight. Crook loses fewer than 75 men, while inflicting 310 Southern casualties. However, Crook is furious that his remaining brigade, under Minty, fails to come up on the Rebel flank, thus spoiling Crook’s opportunity to trap much of Wheeler’s force. The Confederates head south for the Tennessee River.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=October+7%2C+1863
D Friday, October 7, 1864: The USS Wachusett rams and captures the Confederate cruiser and commerce raider CSS Florida while in port at Bahia, Brazil. She was the sister ship to the CSS Alabama. This move was a violation of international maritime law, but the damaged CSS Florida is towed back to the United States where under international protest the CSS Florida was court-ordered to be returned to Brazil. But on November 28, 1864, before she could be made ready for sea she mysteriously sank. The sinking was most likely done at Admiral David Dixon Porter’s (US) encouragement, if not his orders. The CSS Florida could therefore not be delivered to Brazil in satisfaction of the final court order, and could not rejoin the ranks of the Confederate States Navy. The CSS Florida captured 37 prizes during her short impressive career.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-182
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
Tuesday, October 7, 1862: The Federal ruse in Kentucky is working better than expected. “Col. John Austin Wharton, a cavalier from Texas, had been ordered by General Leonidas Polk to take his small brigade to Lebanon to gather supplies. Lebanon was a railroad town thirty miles west of Danville, where Polk was sitting with Braxton Bragg’s Army of Mississippi.
Following the gathering at Lebanon, Wharton and his men rode towards Perryville, a small crossroads fifteen miles west of Danville. Just after they got started, they received new orders from Polk. General Polk, typically in command of a division, had taken the reigns of Bragg’s army, while Bragg was trying to install a new secessionist governor. Polk had disobeyed a couple of orders and retreated the army fifty some miles east to Danville. To cover his left flank (and then some), he dispatched Wharton’s cavalry, ordering them to remain in Lebanon.
Wharton turned his crew around and headed back. When he got there, he received a different set of orders sent by Bragg. More concerned with matters a bit farther north, he ordered Wharton to Harrodsburg. Wharton wrote to General William Hardee for clarification. Hardee, who commanded the Left Wing of the Army of Mississippi at Perryville, wasn’t Wharton’s superior, but since Wharton was on the army’s left, he probably thought that if anybody knew what was going on, it would be Hardee.
But Hardee had not a clue what Wharton was about and referred the matter back to Bragg. This time, Bragg decided that Wharton should go to Perryville – the place he was originally planning on going anyway. This whole mess tied up the cavalry on the 6th and 7th, leaving Bragg with no reconnaissance.
This was a pretty big deal since the Confederates were operating in a vacuum. Coming towards them was the Union Army of the Ohio, Don Carlos Buell commanding. The only problem (well, not the only problem) was that nobody had a clue just how many were on their way and from whence they were coming. Typically, sussing this out would be a job for the cavalry.
Buell’s Federals, numbering some 82,000, were concentrating on Perryville. Five roads led into the town, and so it was a convenient place to gather. Originally, he had left Louisville in four columns. The column farthest to the north was a ruse, sent forward to throw Bragg off the real Union target. It went swimmingly.
Bragg’s army had been separated for the entire campaign. Once he discovered that Buell was coming, however, he decided to concentrate, selecting Harrodsburg as a logical location. Neither of his commanding officers, Leonidas Polk and Kirby Smith, agreed.
Polk thought that Danville was a better place, and though ordered specifically not to go there, he did anyway. Smith believed that the Federals were aiming for Lexington and so stopped at Versailles, twenty-five miles northeast of Harrodsburg. While Bragg was furious with Polk, he believed Smith’s cautionary tail and his many pleas and beggings for help. The whole Union army was apparently streaming his way.
He ordered Polk to abandon whatever it was that he was doing in Perryville and Danville and move to Smith’s aid. Polk, who had no more of an idea where the Federal army was, had little to report. General Hardee at Perryville, however, wasn’t just being paranoid when he thought he was being followed in the retreat to Perryville from their previous camp at Bardstown.
Without giving a reason, Hardee requested Polk send him another division. Polk forwarded the request up the chain to Bragg. But Bragg, who already made up his mind that Polk and Hardee were too far south, reiterated that everyone was moving north to Versailles. Hardee would simply have to brush away whatever force was supposedly following him.
And then, in the afternoon of this date, things became a whole lot clearer to Bragg. Reports came in of two separate Federal columns moving on Lawrenceburg, a stone’s throw away from Versailles. Another column was supposedly at Frankfort, to the northwest. Bragg was now absolutely confident that he had made the right decision. The entire Union army was seemingly about to attack his right wing and he would be ready for them.
The lack of reports from Polk and Hardee bolstered this certainty. Apparently, whatever Federals that had been sneaking towards Perryville had turned northward for Lawrenceburg. Hardee’s lack of communication wasn’t due to lack of news. Joseph Wheeler’s cavalry had been tangling with their Union counterparts all morning. They had seen long lines of infantry and reported that Buell’s main thrust was coming their way. Hardee seemed to dismiss this.
The only thing that Hardee said that could be wildly construed as a proper interpretation of reality was the message he sent to Bragg in the late afternoon. Wheeler had been engaged in some artillery fighting and that he expected a fight the next day. He asked Bragg for more men, but only if they were not “pressed in another direction.” Of course, Bragg believed they were more than pressed in another direction and couldn’t send a single regiment.
Finally, in a fit of annoyance that the Federals were spoiling his plans, Bragg ordered Polk to send Hardee the division he had asked for, dispose of the Yankees in his front and tear off for Versailles immediately. Through the evening, Bragg received even more reports of Federal columns descending upon his Right Wing.
There was a bit of a hiccup, however. The more reports that flowed in, the farther south it placed the Yankees. First, it was Frankfort, and then it was Taylorsville. Finally, it was Mackville, forty miles southwest of Versailles and due west of Harrodsburg. If Bragg ever considered that the Federals might actually be moving south through Taylorsville and Mackville away from Versailles (as the reports suggested), he never let it interfere with his belief that the Federals were moving towards Versailles.
By midnight, roughly 16,000 Rebels were arrayed at Perryville. Not too far away, 55,000 Federals under the command of Alexander McCook, Thomas Crittenden, and Charles Gilbert were planning on following Don Carlos Buell’s orders to attack at dawn. The only Union forces anywhere near the Confederate Right Wing were 20,000 mostly green troops under Joshua Sill – the diversionary corps who did their job all too well. [1]
[1] Sources: Army of the Heartland by Thomas Lawrence Connelly; Braxton Bragg and Confederate Defeat, Vol. 1 by Grady McWhiney; Perryville by Kenneth W. Noe.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/the-federal-ruse-in-kentucky-working-better-than-expected/
Monday, October 7, 1861: Robert Anderson’s Parting Words. “Though he laid the groundwork for General Sherman to replace him, General Robert Anderson was still very much in charge of the Department of the Cumberland. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, Anderson issued an order condemning the practice of arresting the Kentucky citizens “on the slightest and most trivial grounds.” He requested the civil authorities and ordered the military authorities “not to make any arrests except where the parties are attempting to join the rebels or are engaged in giving aid or information to them,” adding that there must be sufficient evidence to convict them in court.
Anderson had received the news that some members of the Kentucky Home Guards (a Unionist militia organization) had “gone into adjoining counties and arrested and carried off parties who have been quietly remaining at home under the expectation that they would not be interfered with.” Some reports even mentioned Kentuckians being taken out of the state.
Anderson “believed that many of those who at one time sympathized with rebellion are desirous of returning to their allegiance and wish to remain quietly at home attending to their business.” If these people were treated fairly, he reasoned, “will join them to our cause.” Treating them otherwise, “may force them into the ranks of our enemies.” [5]
Knowing that he would soon be replaced by General Sherman, Anderson may have been hoping to tidy up his command before leaving.
[5] Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 4, p296.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/fremonts-days-are-numbered-andersons-final-order/
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. Additionally, the New York Times, Hardeman County diarist, planter, and settler, John Houston Bills, and John Beauchamp Jones, a clerk in the Confederate War Department had things to say on this day long ago.
Monday, October 7, 1861: Journal of Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade, “Crocker's Brigade,” “I left for Davenport early this morning, riding to town with a farmer, and got back to camp at 2 o'clock. Quite a number of the boys around Allen's Grove are in camp here as members of the Second Iowa Cavalry.”
Tuesday, October 7, 1862: Journal of Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade, “Crocker's Brigade,” “We kept on the march last night till I a. m., when we stopped in bivouac. The men were all very tired, yet were willing and anxious to go on if only they could capture Price, or even a part of his army. Leaving our bivouac at 8 o'clock this morning, we again started after Price. We soon came upon the rebels and shelled their rear guard almost all day. We took a great many prisoners. It is reported that they are breaking up battlefield, into small bands and getting away through the timber and are scattering in every direction.”
Tuesday, October 7, 1862: In the upcoming elections across the country, the Republicans are fearfully anticipating losing many seats in Congress. In New York, James Wadsworth is running for Governor against Horatio Seymour, the incumbent Democrat. The New York Times features an editorial which addresses loyal men who are thinking of voting for Seymour---portraying Seymour as disloyal and sympathetic with the Confederacy: “Now, these men [those upset with Lincoln's administration], assuming them to be loyal In heart, show a most extraordinary want of logic in the conclusion to vote for SEYMOUR, which they draw from their premises. Granted that the Administration has erred, has been too Pro-Slavery, or too Anti-Slavery, has been too energetic or not enough so, the conclusion to vote for SEYMOUR is a non sequitur. It is as if a man, because doctors are guilty of malpractice sometimes, should help a vessel with the yellow fever on board to run the Quarantine. It is as if burglars should break into our house, and one of the inmates, being dissatisfied with the actions of the Police, should join with the thieves and trip up the officers’ heels.
Now, all these three classes of men are excessively indignant at being told that they are aiding and abetting the rebels. But this is the fact, and it is no answer for them to say that they have given their money and sent their sons to the war. ARNOLD gave his money and his blood for the country, but none the less did he help the enemy when he offered to give up West Point. And so the men who seek the election of SEYMOUR, whether they mean it or not, are helping the rebels, no matter what they have done before to hurt them. We wish that every one who proposes to vote for SEYMOUR would ask himself the question, What would JEFF. DAVIS advise me to do, if I were to ask him? Which vote would do most to please FLOYD and BENJAMIN, and TOOMBS and WISE, and LETCHER and the whole gang of thieving, perjured rebels, who have brought the country to this pass? Which vote would win for me the approbation of the I Richmond newspapers? Which vote would gratify most and encourage most the rebel Generals? No honest man can answer these questions in any way but one. A vote for SEYMOUR will insure to any one the applause of the whole rebel crew. It is enough for us, and it seems to us that it must be enough for any man who loves his country, to know that this is so to insure our supporting WADSWORTH with all our energies. Show us what the rebels would have us do. We want nothing else to send us in the opposite direction.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=October+7%2C+1862
Tuesday, October 7, 1862: John Beauchamp Jones, a clerk in the Confederate War Department, comments on the sharp inflation reflected in the prices of ordinary commodities in Richmond: “This evening Custis and I expect the arrival of my family from Raleigh, N. C. We have procured for them one pound of sugar, 80 cents; one quart of milk, 25 cents; one pound of sausage-meat, 37½ cents; four loaves of bread, as large as my fist, 20 cents each; and we have a little coffee, which is selling at $2.50 per pound. In the morning, some one must go to market, else there will be short-commons. Washing is $2.50 per dozen pieces. Common soap is worth 75 cents per pound.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=October+7%2C+1862
Tuesday, October 7, 1862: Mr. Bills tells us in his diary, that ambulances continue to arrive in Bolivar, all 4 churches, General Neely and Capt Wood (CSA) houses are full of wounded soldiers. “Great crowds of soldiers in the street to witness the arrival of the Confederate prisoners, about 375 of whom enter the Main Street at 2PM. They are a rough looking set of men, no uniforms & badly clad. Seem to be exhausted. Today has been a day of unusual excitement. General Ross is in Command of the Post.” As you can imagination, John Houston Bills’ daughter Evelina was strong willed herself being married to a Confederate captain, Marshall Tate Polk. She wrote in her memoirs, “On one occasion the town girls were walking out for a little exercise. They passed the Male Academy where some Confederate prisoners were incarcerated upstairs. These poor fellows bowed to them and they waved their handkerchiefs at them. This was enough for this little general. He ordered the girls arrested and brought to him. They were gathered up --- sent in my father’s carriage. The general then proceeded to lecture them (he said if they walked to headquarters the soldiers would insult them.) He walked up and down and threw himself into a perfect rage --- said among other things, “young ladies would you wave to a lot of vagabond thieves?” Mamie Wood said, “We thought they were Confederate soldiers.” He was speechless with rage.” She also wrote, “General Ross said that he never intended to cut his hair until the Rebellion was put down. Kate Neely (General Neely’s daughter) sent him a tucking comb saying he would need it. She was banished to the South for her temerity.”
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/part-seventy-eight
Wednesday, October 7, 1863: Journal of Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade “Crocker's Brigade,” “Six regiments were stationed at the different roads last night to reinforce the regular pickets. But the rebels did not make their appearance as it was reported they would. Our regiment was relieved at 10 o'clock this morning by the Thirteenth Iowa. We were struck by a fearful rain and windstorm last night.”
Wednesday, October 7, 1863: Pres. Lincoln sends a telegram to Andrew Johnson, the Military Governor of Tennessee, asking for information about Rosecrans: Washington, D. C., October 7, 1863-8.45 a.m. on Wednesday, October 7, 1863: To Governor JOHNSON, Nashville, Tenn.: “What news have you from Rosecran’s army, or in that direction beyond Nashville? A. LINCOLN”
Gov. Johnson responds that he has no news from Chattanooga, but the telegraph line is almost back in business---and that Chattanooga “must be held.”
Friday, October 7, 1864: Journal of Sergeant Alexander G. Downing, Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Third Brigade, “Crocker's Brigade,” “Weather clear and pleasant. Our division, now the Fourth of the Seventeenth Army Corps, started out to reconnoiter. We went in light marching order without teams or artillery and marching out about twenty miles to the southwest of Marietta came upon the rebels' pickets, at a place called Powder Springs. We drove them about four miles to the south, they not caring for a fight, and camped for the night. Our division was sent to find out whether or not the rebels are out in force along this road.”
A. Monday, October 7, 1861: Maj Gen John C. Fremont left St. Louis for Springfield to command the chase after CSA Maj Gen Sterling Price commander of the secessionist Missouri State Guard, had withdrawn to the Arkansas border after his Lexington. Missouri victory.
Fremont’s complete lack of ability was becoming painfully obvious to everyone in Washington after he again arrested Frank Blair, who threatened to take legal action against Fremont. While General-in-Chief Winfield Scott again ordered Blair’s release, Fremont finally left St. Louis to join his gathering Army in the field. Unsure of what to do with Fremont, Lincoln sent Secretary of War Simon Cameron and Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas to see for themselves the condition of Fremont’s command. Along with Cameron and Thomas was a letter drafted by Lincoln to General Samuel R. Curtis in Missouri, asking him his thoughts on Fremont.
Specifically, Lincoln asked, “Ought Gen. Fremont to be relieved from, or retained in his present command?” He assured Curtis that it would be “entirely confidential,” and that he needed the sound advice of “an intelligent unprejudiced, and judicious opinion from some professional Military man on the spot,” to assist him.
B. Tuesday, October 7, 1862: Eve of the battle of Perryville. Kentucky. Buell’s Army of the Ohio, over 80,000 strong, is heading toward Perryville, where there is water, as well as several highways to facilitate concentrating the troops. but they are not certain of where the Rebels are, except that they know some are in Perryville. Bragg is likewise uncertain as to where the Yankees are heading, and as orders fly around central Kentucky, some commanders obey and some do not. The picture seems to change every hour as Gen. Wheeler’s cavalry probed Union positions and told Bragg that a large force of Yankees was headed toward Perryville---but Bragg ignores this, convinced that the Yankees are going to attack toward Frankfort. By midnight, most of his army, 16,000 men, are concentrated at Perryville, and 55,000 of Buell’s men---three corps under Alexander McCook, Thomas Crittenden, and Charles Gilbert---are due to attack at dawn. By the end of the day, Gen. George Thomas and his corps are also considering heading that way. This afternoon, Gilbert’s troops are approaching the Chaplin River near Perryville, and his advance units clash with Wheeler’s cavalry. The divisions of Mitchell, Schoepf, and Sheridan are deployed in line of battle as Gilbert finds the Rebels deployed on the facing ridge.
C. Wednesday, October 7, 1863: Brig. Gen. George Crook pursued the Rebel cavalry through Shelbyville, Tennessee and badly mauled CSA Brig Gen Henry Davidson’s brigade, pushing it back, in a confusing, running fight. Crook lost fewer than 75 men, while inflicting 310 Southern casualties. However, Crook is furious that his remaining brigade, under Colonel Robert H.G. Minty, failed to come up on the Rebel flank, thus spoiling Crook’s opportunity to trap much of Wheeler’s force. The Confederates headed south for the Tennessee River.
Details: Crook’s Federals had marched the seven miles from their camp and passed through Shelbyville before the Rebels were even aware of them. Surprised by the complete lack of preparedness on the part of Davidson’s Confederates, Crook ordered a vicious assault.
First, he hit the regiment sent forward by Hodge with an entire brigade of mounted infantry, charging forward on horseback. The Rebels ran for a woodlot, and the Union troops dismounted and followed.
Davidson sent forward his other brigade, commanded by John Scott, but they were soundly thrashed into a swirl of confusion by a second brigade of Federals unleashed by General Crook. With sabers drawn, they charged, beating the Rebels back.
At the call for reinforcements, the rest of Hodge’s Brigade went forward, counter-marching on the road to Farmington, racing back to the fight. “Ahead of me,” wrote Hodge, “I encountered the whole of Scott’s Brigade crowded in frightful and horrible confusion, wild and frantic with panic, chocking the entire road and bearing down upon me at racking speed. It was too late to clear the way; they rode over my command like madmen, some of them stopping only, as I am informed, when they reached the Tennessee.”
Hodge was literally ridden over. His horse was knocked down and he only managed to escape capture through good fortune. As the Federals surged forward, Hodge was able to grab the 27th Virginia Battalion, throw it against a fence where it opened fired upon the flank of the enemy. This checked the Federals, but not before the battalion’s captain was sabered out of his saddle.
“I seized the opportunity to gallop ahead of the fugitives and extricate my own brigade from the disorderly mob,” continued Hodge, “this I formed line with and in some order received the now advancing enemy. He came on in heavy force and with determined obstinacy.”
Though it seemed as if all the Federals were charging at once, it was not so. General Crook had left a small brigade of 500 troops under the command of Col. Robert Minty. When the Rebels scattered, he feared that some would play upon his right flank, and sent word back to Minty to come forward to face them. Minty, however, never received orders to march. Without reinforcements, Crook deployed his artillery and began to shell the impromptu lines thrown together by Hodge.
The Rebel line had but two mountain howitzers, and there was little they could do but fall back as Crook’s Federals gave chase. Every quarter of a mile or so, Hodge’s Brigade would turn to give battle. Each time, Crook would charge, and Hodge’s lines would hold. Seeing he couldn’t get at the Rebels from the front, Crook extended his lines and tried the flanks, which, outnumbering Hodge’s small brigade, was easily accomplished.
“For five hours and a half, over 7 miles of country, the unequal contest continued,” wrote Hodge. “My gallant brigade was cut to pieces and slaughtered. I had informed the officers and men that the sacrifice of their lives was necessary and they manfully made the sacrifice.” These seven miles had backed the Rebels to the eastern edge of Farmington. It was around 3pm.
Through the morning, General Wheeler could hear the fighting, and assumed that Davidson was falling back as ordered – Davidson’s dispatches to Wheeler even said as much. But when Wheeler questioned the couriers themselves, they informed him that their commander was instead headed for Farmington. Frustrated, Wheeler left the Duck River, ordering his two other divisions to Farmington, with William Martin’s Division in the lead.
D. Friday, October 7, 1864: The USS Wachusett rams and captures the Confederate cruiser and commerce raider CSS Florida while in port at Bahia, Brazil. She was the sister ship to the CSS Alabama. This move was a violation of international maritime law, but the damaged CSS Florida is towed back to the United States where under international protest the CSS Florida was court-ordered to be returned to Brazil. But on November 28, 1864, before she could be made ready for sea she mysteriously sank. The sinking was most likely done at Admiral David Dixon Porter’s (US) encouragement, if not his orders. The CSS Florida could therefore not be delivered to Brazil in satisfaction of the final court order, and could not rejoin the ranks of the Confederate States Navy. The CSS Florida captured 37 prizes during her short impressive career.
Pictures: USS Wachusett captured the Confederate cruiser and commerce raider CSS Florida while in port at Bahia, Brazil; 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign Map August-October; 1864-10-07 Darbytown and New Market Roads; 1864 Log hut company kitchen
1. Thursday, October 7, 1858: Fifth Lincoln-Douglas debate, Galesburg, Illinois.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/1858
2. Monday, October 7, 1861: Confederate government signs a treaty with the Cherokee Indians.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186110
3. Monday, October 7, 1861: Confederate government signs a treaty with the Cherokee Indians.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-a/part-twenty-six
4. Monday, October 7, 1861: Antonia Ford, the daughter of prominent merchant and secessionist, Edward R. Ford, gathered information on Union forces and passed it to such notables as General Stuart and Colonel John S. Mosby. Today, Antonia was rewarded by Stuart with a commission as an honorary aide-de-camp.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-a/part-twenty-six
5. Tuesday, October 7, 1862: Battle of Lavernge, Tennessee.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186210
6. Tuesday, October 7, 1862: Rosecrans’ army pursues Van Dorn and Price who are retreating; the Federals are taking many prisoners.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=October+7%2C+1862
7. Wednesday, October 7, 1863: Pres. Lincoln sends a telegram to Andrew Johnson, the Military Governor of Tennessee, asking for information about Rosecrans: Washington, D. C., October 7, 1863-8.45 a.m. on Wednesday, October 7, 1863: To Governor JOHNSON, Nashville, Tenn.: “What news have you from Rosecran’s army, or in that direction beyond Nashville? A. LINCOLN”
Gov. Johnson responds that he has no news from Chattanooga, but the telegraph line is almost back in business---and that Chattanooga “must be held.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=October+7%2C+1863
8. Wednesday, October 7, 1863: A patrol from Mount Pleasant, Mississippi, reports “Enemy divided his forces 11 miles south of LaGrange last night about dark. Main force going east on Salem road. Col. Hurst captured 1 captain and several other prisoners from rear guard.” President Davis speaks in Atlanta.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-c/week-130
9. Friday, October 7, 1864: A new Confederate commerce raider formerly Sea King, the CSS Shenandoah embarks from London, England.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-182
10. Friday, October 7, 1864: General Forrest (CSA) crosses the Tennessee River and camps at Cherokee, Alabama. General Lee sends out two divisions under generals Charles Field and Robert Hoke (CSA) to move around the end of the Union line to try to recapture land around Richmond lost to the Union just about a week before at New Market Heights. The Confederates moved down Darbytown Road and attack 1,700 cavalrymen. Union reinforcements soon arrive and turn the Rebel attack around. The Rebs lost 700 men while the Yankees lost only 400, and no ground was gained. Lee will not make another attempt to regain the ground and focus instead on setting up more defenses closer to Richmond.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-182
A Monday, October 7, 1861: Fremont (US) leaves St. Louis for Springfield to command the chase after Missouri Militia Commander Sterling Price, who is withdrawing toward Lexington, Missouri.
A+ Monday, October 7, 1861: Fremont’s Days Are Numbered “Things in Missouri hadn’t been the same since the Union was defeated at Lexington and General John C. Fremont arrested Frank Blair. Sterling Price, commander of the secessionist Missouri State Guard, had withdrawn to the Arkansas border after his Lexington victory, while Fremont reorganized his Army, causing much confusion.
Fremont’s complete lack of ability was becoming painfully obvious to everyone in Washington after he again arrested Frank Blair, who threatened to take legal action against Fremont. While General-in-Chief Winfield Scott again ordered Blair’s release, Fremont finally left St. Louis to join his gathering Army in the field. [1]
Unsure of what to do with Fremont, Lincoln sent Secretary of War Simon Cameron and Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas to see for themselves the condition of Fremont’s command. Along with Cameron and Thomas was a letter drafted by Lincoln to General Samuel R. Curtis in Missouri, asking him his thoughts on Fremont. [2]
Specifically, Lincoln asked, “Ought Gen. Fremont to be relieved from, or retained in his present command?” He assured Curtis that it would be “entirely confidential,” and that he needed the sound advice of “an intelligent unprejudiced, and judicious opinion from some professional Military man on the spot,” to assist him. [3]
Though Lincoln was not completely sold on the idea of removing Fremont, he must have been leaning more towards that option than any other. General Order No. 18, which appears in the Official Records under the date of October 24, 1861, was actually written on this date and given to Secretary Cameron to, upon his discretion, hand to Fremont.
The order, written by General-in-Chief Scott, called for the axing of Fremont: ““Major General Frémont, of the United States’ Army, the present commander of the Western Department of the same, will, on the receipt of this order, call Major General Hunter, of the United States’ Volunteers, to relieve him temporarily in that command, when he, Major General Frémont, will report to general head quarters, by letter, for further orders.” [4]
Unlike Lincoln’s letter to General Curtis, the order removing Fremont from command was only supposed to be given to Fremont if Secretary Cameron felt it was necessary.
The journey to St. Louis would take four days.
[1] Frank Blair: Lincoln’s Conservative by William Earl Parrish.
[2] Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin.
[3] Letter from Abraham Lincoln to To Samuel R. Curtis, October 7, 1861.
[4] General Orders No. 18, October 07, 1861 (General Order removing Fremont
http://civilwardailygazette.com/fremonts-days-are-numbered-andersons-final-order/
B Tuesday, October 7, 1862: Buell’s Army of the Ohio, over 80,000 strong, is heading toward Perryville, where there is water, as well as several highways to facilitate concentrating the troops. but they are not certain of where the Rebels are, except that they know some are in Perryville. Bragg is likewise uncertain as to where the Yankees are heading, and as orders fly around central Kentucky, some commanders obey and some do not. The picture seems to change every hour as Gen. Wheeler’s cavalry probed Union positions and told Bragg that a large force of Yankees was headed toward Perryville---but Bragg ignores this, convinced that the Yankees are going to attack toward Frankfort. By midnight, most of his army, 16,000 men, are concentrated at Perryville, and 55,000 of Buell’s men---three corps under Alexander McCook, Thomas Crittenden, and Charles Gilbert---are due to attack at dawn. By the end of the day, Gen. George Thomas and his corps are also considering heading that way. This afternoon, Gilbert’s troops are approaching the Chaplin River near Perryville, and his advance units clash with Wheeler’s cavalry. The divisions of Mitchell, Schoepf, and Sheridan are deployed in line of battle as Gilbert finds the Rebels deployed on the facing ridge.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=October+7%2C+1862
C Wednesday, October 7, 1863: In the morning, Gen. Crook pushes his pursuit of the Rebel cavalry, passes through Shelbyville, and badly mauls Davidson’s brigade, pushing it back, in a confusing, running fight. Crook loses fewer than 75 men, while inflicting 310 Southern casualties. However, Crook is furious that his remaining brigade, under Minty, fails to come up on the Rebel flank, thus spoiling Crook’s opportunity to trap much of Wheeler’s force. The Confederates head south for the Tennessee River.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=October+7%2C+1863
D Friday, October 7, 1864: The USS Wachusett rams and captures the Confederate cruiser and commerce raider CSS Florida while in port at Bahia, Brazil. She was the sister ship to the CSS Alabama. This move was a violation of international maritime law, but the damaged CSS Florida is towed back to the United States where under international protest the CSS Florida was court-ordered to be returned to Brazil. But on November 28, 1864, before she could be made ready for sea she mysteriously sank. The sinking was most likely done at Admiral David Dixon Porter’s (US) encouragement, if not his orders. The CSS Florida could therefore not be delivered to Brazil in satisfaction of the final court order, and could not rejoin the ranks of the Confederate States Navy. The CSS Florida captured 37 prizes during her short impressive career.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-182
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
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LTC Stephen F. great read and share, I am choosing
1861: Maj Gen John C. Fremont left St. Louis for Springfield to command the chase after CSA Maj Gen Sterling Price commander of the secessionist Missouri State Guard, had withdrawn to the Arkansas border after his Lexington. Missouri victory.
1861: Maj Gen John C. Fremont left St. Louis for Springfield to command the chase after CSA Maj Gen Sterling Price commander of the secessionist Missouri State Guard, had withdrawn to the Arkansas border after his Lexington. Missouri victory.
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Informative as always, the part about Fremont piqued my interest to look up a bit more about him. He was one of several officers in the Union ( and Confederate) Armies that although they had served with some distinction prior to the War, were not cut out to command large bodies of troops in what was a " Modern" war.
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