Posted on Oct 25, 2016
What was the most significant event on September 7 during the U.S. Civil War?
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Deliberate fratricide by dueling took place during the Civil War. In 1863 CSA Brig Gen John Marmaduke and CSA Brig Gen Marsh Walker had a “seething hatred” for each other. A few days prior to the deadly duel, Marmaduke, fed up with Walker, demanded from CSA Maj Gen Sterling Price to either be moved to another commander or relieved completely. On September 6 they dueled and both missed. Marmaduke re-cocked his pistol and shot Walker who died on September 7, 1863.
Total Warfare in 1864, Maj Gen William T. Sherman ordered all civilians to leave Atlanta, Georgia. “If the people raise a howl against my barbarity and cruelty, I will answer that war is war, and not popularity-seeking. If they want peace, they and their relatives must stop the war.” – William Tecumseh Sherman. The goal was unconditional surrender of the south.
In 1864, the USS Wachusett captured CSS Florida at Bahia, Brazil while in Centralia, Missouri, guerrillas stopped a freight train on the North Missouri Railroad and stole 4 car-loads of horses.
The South ‘transfers the seat of war’ to the North in 1862, “To win the war, all the Confederate States had to do was simply not lose. They didn’t have to defeat the foe or drive them from their soil. All they really had to do was outlast the Northern public’s thirst for war. Most certainly, they didn’t have to invade the North. However, such a move could come in quite handy.
Such a move could also stir up controversy. The South’s rallying cry was one to defend their hearths and firesides from the Yankee aggressors. By crossing over into states still officially loyal to the Union, things became less clear.
To shed some illumination and certainty over the situation, Confederate President Jefferson Davis wrote to each of his invading commanders. Generals Robert E. Lee, Braxton Bragg and Kirby Smith were each to issue proclamations to the people of Maryland or Kentucky, depending.
Davis was very specific about what needed to be said. First, he wanted to make sure that the people understood that the Confederacy was not in the business of conquest. He reminded them that the South had sued for peace before the war even started. But now, at a time when no peace seemed available, “we are driven to protect our own country by transferring the seat of war to that of an enemy, who pursues us with a relentless and, apparently, aimless hostility; that our fields have been laid waste, our people killed, many homes made desolate, and that rapine and murder have ravaged our frontiers; that the sacred right of self-defense demands that, if such a war is to continue, its consequences shall fall on those who persist in their refusal to make peace.”
If the people of Maryland and Tennessee, and any other states the Southern Armies might march into, did not want Confederate soldiers occupying their towns, it was up to them to convince their Federal government to allow the South to peacefully secede. If their cries to Washington fell upon deaf ears, they were to turn to their states. Their state governments, wrote Davis, “can secure immunity from the desolating effects of warfare on the soil of the State by a separate treaty of peace, which this Government will ever be ready to conclude on the most just and liberal basis.”
http://civilwardailygazette.com/the-south-transfers-the-seat-of-war-to-the-north/
The forgiven killing of CSA Brig Gen Marsh Walker by CSA Brig Gen John Marmaduke during a duel in 1863. It was decided that they would duel at the Le Fevre Plantation, seven miles south of the city. It would be regulation Colt revolvers at fifteen paces. The talk spread quickly through the camps to the headquarters of General Price. The commanding officer ordered both Marmaduke and Walker to keep to their own headquarters for twenty-four hours (which was why it was incredibly fortunate that the Federals could find no way to cross the Arkansas).
Walker left his headquarters before the order arrived. Marmaduke read the order, but ignored it. They both arrived on the night of the 5th. The duel was scheduled for dawn the next day. When dawn came, both took their places. They marched off the fifteen paces, turned and fired. Both missed.
But this was a duel to the death, and each revolver had five shots remaining. Marmaduke was the first to get off another shot, which hit Walker in the side, knocking him back. As he fell to the ground, he fired, the shot flying harmlessly into the air.
Walker did not die right away. He was loaded onto Marmaduke’s wagon and hauled back to Little Rock, where he died upon this date (the 7th). Before passing, dictated a message to be delivered to his killer. “See General Marmaduke and tell him that before taking the sacrament, I forgive him with all my heart,” he told an aide, “and I want my friends to forgive him and neither prosecute nor persecute him.” Shortly after, he died.
Sterling Price quickly realized two things. First, that his orders for both generals to remain at their headquarters was ignored. Second, that he was now down an officer at an incredibly inconvenient time. Nevertheless, he placed Marmaduke under arrest. Price then realized that he couldn’t afford to be down one officer, let along two, and allowed Marmaduke to go free.
In his official report, Price explains for himself: “Feeling, however, the great inconvenience and danger of an entire change of cavalry commanders in the very presence of the enemy, and when a general engagement was imminent, I yielded to the urgent and almost unanimous request of the officers of General Marmaduke’s division and his own appeal, and suspended his sentence, and ordered him to resume his command during the pending operations. I did this in spite of the apprehension that such leniency toward General Marmaduke might intensify the bitter feelings which had been already aroused in General Walker’s division by the result of the duel.”
Marmaduke would never be court martialed for the killing of Marsh Walker, and would go on at the head of his division for the rest of the war.
By this date, all was once more set right (apart from the death of Walker, of course). The next couple of days would see Marmaduke’s troopers filing into action as Steele’s Federals finally launched their attack.”
Background: The Union forces under Frederick Steele inches their way closer to Little Rock, Arkansas, the Confederates were literally at each others’ throats. Specifically, the rift between Generals John Marmaduke and Marsh Walker had deteriorated from resentment to the apparent inevitable.
By September 5th, Steele had decided to try and outflank the Confederates. The Rebel left was too strong, as reconnaissance soon discovered, but the right flank, nestled up against the Arkansas River, seemed to be merely hanging there, waiting to be hit. If his cavalry, which made up nearly half of his command, could find a way around it, there would be more or less clear roads all the way into Little Rock. The problem was the river. General John Davidson, heading the Federal Cavalry, could find no crossable ford. Davidson called for a pontoon bridge, but that would take time.
Time was exactly what the Rebels needed. Not that it really would help, but being attacked later certainly seemed better than sooner. Besides, there was that spat between Marmaduke and Walker. As Steele and Davidson drew closer, the two Confederate Generals grew father apart (though soon became of one mind).
The lines that the Federal Cavalry would be outflanking were held by Walker and Marmaduke’s troops. Technically, they were just Walker’s troops, and since they had all been Marmaduke’s several months before, there grew up a problem. Marmaduke’s Cavalry had been divided in two in order to give Marsh Walker something to command. Through the Little Rock Campaign, still more of Marmaduke’s men were siphoned off to Walker, until Marmaduke was a mere figurehead (or perhaps it was Walker). There was more to it, of course. Marmaduke had accused Walker of cowardice, and Walker took offense (to put it mildly).
It wasn’t that the two simply didn’t get along. There was a true and seething hatred between them. A few days prior, Marmaduke, fed up with Walker, demanded to either be moved to another commander or relieved completely. With nothing more he could do, Sterling Price attempted to transfer Marmaduke away. This, however, would take some time. On the 5th, Walker caught wind that Marmaduke was again calling his bravery and honor into question. A series of letter, the kind of which should seem obvious, flew between the two officers. Marmaduke insisted that Walker “avoided all positions of danger,” to which Walker responded with the demand for satisfaction.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/the-forgiven-killing-of-marsh-walker/
Pictures: 1863-09 Siege artillery 5-in-Whitworth Rifles at Morris Island; 1864-09 Atlanta-rail yard; 1864-09-07 CSS Florida captured by USS Wachusett; 1864-09-07 Sherman’s troops destroying the railroad.
A. 1861: Brigadier General Eleazer Paine received orders to take Smithland, Kentucky. This would give Union forces complete command of the mouth of the Tennessee River. Also, he was ordered to fortify and plant artillery at Paducah, but to make no further advance upon the Rebels.
With Kentucky’s neutrality officially broken by both sides, the floodgates would soon open and Kentucky would soon become contested ground.
B. 1862: Antietam/Sharpsburg campaign. CSA Gen Robert E. Lee crossed the Potomac River at Leesburg, Virginia. The bulk of his 38,000-man army was now in Maryland, mostly bivouacked in and near Frederick, Maryland. George B. McClellan moved out of Washington with an 87,000-man army in pursuit, believing he is facing 120,000 Confederates.
Gen. Lee wrote Pres. Davis about the necessity of being provided with sufficient cash to pay for supplies, so as not to put off the Marylanders from the Confederate cause. Lee made plans to move into Pennsylvania and head to Harrisburg.
Antietam/Sharpsburg: The main body of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia enters Frederick, Maryland. His move north caused the expected panic in the capital and ships were placed on standby to take the President and his Cabinet out of the city to safety.
C. 1863: Siege of Charleston Harbor, SC. Admiral John A. B. Dahlgren started a full-scale infantry assault on Battery Wagner, but found it was empty. Dahlgren was greatly relieved to find the batteries had been evacuated overnight. Union naval forces and ground-based artillery continued heavy shelling on Charleston Harbor, as Union forces prepared to assault Fort Sumter the next day. Dahlgren sent a message to Beauregard in Charleston and demanded that Sumter be likewise surrendered. Beauregard wrote back, formally declining this invitation and then, somewhat sardonically, suggesting that Dahlgren was invited to ‘…take it if he could.'”
D. 1864: Maj Gen William Tecumseh Sherman ordered the evacuation of all civilians from Atlanta, Georgia. Under protest from Lieut. General John B. Hood (CSA) Major General William T. Sherman (US) orders the civilian evacuation of Atlanta, Georgia. Sherman cites his lack of supplies to feed the population. With about as many Federal troops guarding the railroad and telegraph lines in Tennessee and Georgia, as there were in Atlanta, Sherman did not want to have to feed and worry about women and children. He offers transportation south of the city, and between September 11 and 16 some 446 families, about 1,600 people leave their homes and possessions. Sherman’s order surely didn’t win him any fans among the Southerners, but he was only starting to build his infamous reputation with the Confederates.
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
Total Warfare in 1864, Maj Gen William T. Sherman ordered all civilians to leave Atlanta, Georgia. “If the people raise a howl against my barbarity and cruelty, I will answer that war is war, and not popularity-seeking. If they want peace, they and their relatives must stop the war.” – William Tecumseh Sherman. The goal was unconditional surrender of the south.
In 1864, the USS Wachusett captured CSS Florida at Bahia, Brazil while in Centralia, Missouri, guerrillas stopped a freight train on the North Missouri Railroad and stole 4 car-loads of horses.
The South ‘transfers the seat of war’ to the North in 1862, “To win the war, all the Confederate States had to do was simply not lose. They didn’t have to defeat the foe or drive them from their soil. All they really had to do was outlast the Northern public’s thirst for war. Most certainly, they didn’t have to invade the North. However, such a move could come in quite handy.
Such a move could also stir up controversy. The South’s rallying cry was one to defend their hearths and firesides from the Yankee aggressors. By crossing over into states still officially loyal to the Union, things became less clear.
To shed some illumination and certainty over the situation, Confederate President Jefferson Davis wrote to each of his invading commanders. Generals Robert E. Lee, Braxton Bragg and Kirby Smith were each to issue proclamations to the people of Maryland or Kentucky, depending.
Davis was very specific about what needed to be said. First, he wanted to make sure that the people understood that the Confederacy was not in the business of conquest. He reminded them that the South had sued for peace before the war even started. But now, at a time when no peace seemed available, “we are driven to protect our own country by transferring the seat of war to that of an enemy, who pursues us with a relentless and, apparently, aimless hostility; that our fields have been laid waste, our people killed, many homes made desolate, and that rapine and murder have ravaged our frontiers; that the sacred right of self-defense demands that, if such a war is to continue, its consequences shall fall on those who persist in their refusal to make peace.”
If the people of Maryland and Tennessee, and any other states the Southern Armies might march into, did not want Confederate soldiers occupying their towns, it was up to them to convince their Federal government to allow the South to peacefully secede. If their cries to Washington fell upon deaf ears, they were to turn to their states. Their state governments, wrote Davis, “can secure immunity from the desolating effects of warfare on the soil of the State by a separate treaty of peace, which this Government will ever be ready to conclude on the most just and liberal basis.”
http://civilwardailygazette.com/the-south-transfers-the-seat-of-war-to-the-north/
The forgiven killing of CSA Brig Gen Marsh Walker by CSA Brig Gen John Marmaduke during a duel in 1863. It was decided that they would duel at the Le Fevre Plantation, seven miles south of the city. It would be regulation Colt revolvers at fifteen paces. The talk spread quickly through the camps to the headquarters of General Price. The commanding officer ordered both Marmaduke and Walker to keep to their own headquarters for twenty-four hours (which was why it was incredibly fortunate that the Federals could find no way to cross the Arkansas).
Walker left his headquarters before the order arrived. Marmaduke read the order, but ignored it. They both arrived on the night of the 5th. The duel was scheduled for dawn the next day. When dawn came, both took their places. They marched off the fifteen paces, turned and fired. Both missed.
But this was a duel to the death, and each revolver had five shots remaining. Marmaduke was the first to get off another shot, which hit Walker in the side, knocking him back. As he fell to the ground, he fired, the shot flying harmlessly into the air.
Walker did not die right away. He was loaded onto Marmaduke’s wagon and hauled back to Little Rock, where he died upon this date (the 7th). Before passing, dictated a message to be delivered to his killer. “See General Marmaduke and tell him that before taking the sacrament, I forgive him with all my heart,” he told an aide, “and I want my friends to forgive him and neither prosecute nor persecute him.” Shortly after, he died.
Sterling Price quickly realized two things. First, that his orders for both generals to remain at their headquarters was ignored. Second, that he was now down an officer at an incredibly inconvenient time. Nevertheless, he placed Marmaduke under arrest. Price then realized that he couldn’t afford to be down one officer, let along two, and allowed Marmaduke to go free.
In his official report, Price explains for himself: “Feeling, however, the great inconvenience and danger of an entire change of cavalry commanders in the very presence of the enemy, and when a general engagement was imminent, I yielded to the urgent and almost unanimous request of the officers of General Marmaduke’s division and his own appeal, and suspended his sentence, and ordered him to resume his command during the pending operations. I did this in spite of the apprehension that such leniency toward General Marmaduke might intensify the bitter feelings which had been already aroused in General Walker’s division by the result of the duel.”
Marmaduke would never be court martialed for the killing of Marsh Walker, and would go on at the head of his division for the rest of the war.
By this date, all was once more set right (apart from the death of Walker, of course). The next couple of days would see Marmaduke’s troopers filing into action as Steele’s Federals finally launched their attack.”
Background: The Union forces under Frederick Steele inches their way closer to Little Rock, Arkansas, the Confederates were literally at each others’ throats. Specifically, the rift between Generals John Marmaduke and Marsh Walker had deteriorated from resentment to the apparent inevitable.
By September 5th, Steele had decided to try and outflank the Confederates. The Rebel left was too strong, as reconnaissance soon discovered, but the right flank, nestled up against the Arkansas River, seemed to be merely hanging there, waiting to be hit. If his cavalry, which made up nearly half of his command, could find a way around it, there would be more or less clear roads all the way into Little Rock. The problem was the river. General John Davidson, heading the Federal Cavalry, could find no crossable ford. Davidson called for a pontoon bridge, but that would take time.
Time was exactly what the Rebels needed. Not that it really would help, but being attacked later certainly seemed better than sooner. Besides, there was that spat between Marmaduke and Walker. As Steele and Davidson drew closer, the two Confederate Generals grew father apart (though soon became of one mind).
The lines that the Federal Cavalry would be outflanking were held by Walker and Marmaduke’s troops. Technically, they were just Walker’s troops, and since they had all been Marmaduke’s several months before, there grew up a problem. Marmaduke’s Cavalry had been divided in two in order to give Marsh Walker something to command. Through the Little Rock Campaign, still more of Marmaduke’s men were siphoned off to Walker, until Marmaduke was a mere figurehead (or perhaps it was Walker). There was more to it, of course. Marmaduke had accused Walker of cowardice, and Walker took offense (to put it mildly).
It wasn’t that the two simply didn’t get along. There was a true and seething hatred between them. A few days prior, Marmaduke, fed up with Walker, demanded to either be moved to another commander or relieved completely. With nothing more he could do, Sterling Price attempted to transfer Marmaduke away. This, however, would take some time. On the 5th, Walker caught wind that Marmaduke was again calling his bravery and honor into question. A series of letter, the kind of which should seem obvious, flew between the two officers. Marmaduke insisted that Walker “avoided all positions of danger,” to which Walker responded with the demand for satisfaction.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/the-forgiven-killing-of-marsh-walker/
Pictures: 1863-09 Siege artillery 5-in-Whitworth Rifles at Morris Island; 1864-09 Atlanta-rail yard; 1864-09-07 CSS Florida captured by USS Wachusett; 1864-09-07 Sherman’s troops destroying the railroad.
A. 1861: Brigadier General Eleazer Paine received orders to take Smithland, Kentucky. This would give Union forces complete command of the mouth of the Tennessee River. Also, he was ordered to fortify and plant artillery at Paducah, but to make no further advance upon the Rebels.
With Kentucky’s neutrality officially broken by both sides, the floodgates would soon open and Kentucky would soon become contested ground.
B. 1862: Antietam/Sharpsburg campaign. CSA Gen Robert E. Lee crossed the Potomac River at Leesburg, Virginia. The bulk of his 38,000-man army was now in Maryland, mostly bivouacked in and near Frederick, Maryland. George B. McClellan moved out of Washington with an 87,000-man army in pursuit, believing he is facing 120,000 Confederates.
Gen. Lee wrote Pres. Davis about the necessity of being provided with sufficient cash to pay for supplies, so as not to put off the Marylanders from the Confederate cause. Lee made plans to move into Pennsylvania and head to Harrisburg.
Antietam/Sharpsburg: The main body of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia enters Frederick, Maryland. His move north caused the expected panic in the capital and ships were placed on standby to take the President and his Cabinet out of the city to safety.
C. 1863: Siege of Charleston Harbor, SC. Admiral John A. B. Dahlgren started a full-scale infantry assault on Battery Wagner, but found it was empty. Dahlgren was greatly relieved to find the batteries had been evacuated overnight. Union naval forces and ground-based artillery continued heavy shelling on Charleston Harbor, as Union forces prepared to assault Fort Sumter the next day. Dahlgren sent a message to Beauregard in Charleston and demanded that Sumter be likewise surrendered. Beauregard wrote back, formally declining this invitation and then, somewhat sardonically, suggesting that Dahlgren was invited to ‘…take it if he could.'”
D. 1864: Maj Gen William Tecumseh Sherman ordered the evacuation of all civilians from Atlanta, Georgia. Under protest from Lieut. General John B. Hood (CSA) Major General William T. Sherman (US) orders the civilian evacuation of Atlanta, Georgia. Sherman cites his lack of supplies to feed the population. With about as many Federal troops guarding the railroad and telegraph lines in Tennessee and Georgia, as there were in Atlanta, Sherman did not want to have to feed and worry about women and children. He offers transportation south of the city, and between September 11 and 16 some 446 families, about 1,600 people leave their homes and possessions. Sherman’s order surely didn’t win him any fans among the Southerners, but he was only starting to build his infamous reputation with the Confederates.
FYI SGT Mark Anderson PO3 Edward Riddle Maj William W. 'Bill' Price COL (Join to see) SSgt David M.] SPC Maurice Evans SPC Jon O. SGT Jim ArnoldAmn Dale PreisachCW4 (Join to see) Sgt Jerry GenesioSSG (Join to see)LTC John Griscom LTC Thomas Tennant LTC David Brown LTC (Join to see) CWO3 (Join to see) SGT John " Mac " McConnell SFC (Join to see) CPL Ronald Keyes Jr
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Misjudgments in 1862, CSA Gen Robert E. Lee planned to move through Maryland, which was pro-slavery, to attack Pennsylvania. His immediate target was Harrisburg, PA the capital. On the other hand, Maj Gen George B. McClellan moved out of Washington, D.C. with the 87,000-man Army of the Potomac in pursuit in the mistaken belief that he was facing 120,000 Confederates when Lee had approximately 38,000 soldiers.
In 1861, all eyes were upon Kentucky. “The neutrality of Kentucky has been broken by the occupation of Paducah by the Federal forces,” was the word from Richmond to General Felix Zollicoffer, a Tennessee Rebel who had raised over 5,000 recruits to put down Unionist sentiment. “Take the arms.”
Though Zollicoffer had not been a secessionist, he threw in his lot with his state. When Tennessee went with the South, so did he. The General began to ready his troops in Knoxville.
Kentucky’s neutrality had been broken before the Federals occupied Paducah. On September 3rd, Confederates under General Pillow captured Hickman and Columbus, along the Mississippi River. Even prior to that, the Union army had officially established Camp Dick Robinson near Danville, in early July. Though Kentucky wished to stay out of the fight between North and South, it was hardly in the cards.
Also from Richmond was the order to occupy Bowling Green “with sufficient force to maintain it as early as practicable.” This was in response to an appeal from General R.C. Foster, who had raised recruits in Nashville, Tennessee, that since Paducah was held by the Federals, Bowling Green was threatened. He suggested that his force of 2,500 could secure it.
Though the suggested town was important, it was also 140 miles east of Paducah. Foster was cautioned that the Federal forces would probably move upon Southern troops at Columbus and Hickman, a mere twenty miles distant. His troops were to be held in readiness for such a move.
General Paine was just settling into his new home at Paducah when orders to take Smithland, eighteen miles up the Ohio River, filtered through from Fremont in St. Louis. This would give Union forces complete command of the mouth of the Tennessee River. Also, it was ordered to fortify and plant artillery at Paducah, but to make no advance upon the Rebels.
With Kentucky’s neutrality officially broken by both sides, the floodgates would soon open and Kentucky would soon become contested ground. On this date, General Robert Anderson, of Fort Sumter fame, moved his headquarters of the Department of the Cumberland from Cincinnati, Ohio to Louisville, Kentucky.”
Maj Gen William T. Sherman ordered Atlanta to be emptied of civilians on Wednesday, September 7, 1864. “If the people raise a howl against my barbarity and cruelty, I will answer that war is war, and not popularity-seeking. If they want peace, they and their relatives must stop the war.” – William Tecumseh Sherman.
General Sherman had seen to the occupation of several major Southern cities thus far in the war. Memphis, Vicksburg, Natchez and New Orleans had all fallen, and he had learned from these prior exercises. The object was never to simply occupy a location, but to defeat the Confederate army. Yet, when the bulk of his own forces had to move forward, he was compelled to leave behind at least a fully division to garrison the town. Anything less might be overrun by the populace.
But with Atlanta, Sherman decided to try something new. “I peremptorily required that all the citizens and families resident in Atlanta should go away, giving to each the option to go south or north, as their interests or feelings dictated,” he wrote in his memoirs. “I was resolved to make Atlanta a pure military garrison or depot, with no civil population to influence military measures.”
Rather than simply going door-to-door to remove the citizenry, Sherman wrote first to Confederate General John Bell Hood, whose army had vacated Atlanta and was now encamped near Lovejoy, twenty miles south.
“I have deemed it to the interest of the United States that the citizens now residing in Atlanta should remove, those who prefer it to go South and the rest North. For the latter I can provide food and transportation to point of their election in Tennessee, Kentucky, or farther north. For the former I can provide transportation by cars as far as Rough and Ready, and also wagons; but that their removal may be made with as little discomfort as possible it will be necessary for you to help the families from Rough and Ready to the cars at Lovejoy’s.”
Not only would Sherman help the Southern-sympathizers relocate their families, but he would also assist them in moving their “clothing, trunks, reasonable furniture, bedding, &c., with their servants, white and black, with the proviso that no force shall be used toward the blacks one way or the other.”
This was a slightly different approach that was undertaken by some. Often, when the Federal army came into town, the black slaves would be immediately set free. But here, Sherman was giving them a choice. “If they want to go with their masters or mistresses they may do so, otherwise they will be set away, unless they be men, when they may be employed by our quartermaster.”
More than likely, this meant put to work digging latrines and entrenchments as Sherman, like George Meade, refused to have black soldiers under his command.
To this, Hood agreed, though what choice did he have?
“I do not consider that I have any alternative in this matter,” replied Hood. “I therefore accept your proposition to declare a truce for two days, or such time as may be necessary to accomplish the purpose mentioned, and shall render all assistance in my power to expedite the transportation of citizens in this direction.”
Hood made some logistical suggestions, but was furious over Sherman’s idea to expel the city’s residents.
“And now, sir, permit me to say that the unprecedented measure you propose transcends, in studied and ingenious cruelty, all acts ever before brought to my attention in the dark history of war.
“In the name of God and humanity, I protest, believing that you will find that you are expelling from their homes and firesides the wives and children of a brave people.”
Even preparing for such an undertaking would take days, and a sever series of letters would be soon exchanged between Generals Sherman and Hood, though the latter could do little more than protest.”
http://civilwardailygazette.com/sherman-orders-atlanta-to-be-emptied/
Below are a number of journal entries from 1862, 1863 and 1864 which shed light on what life was like for soldiers and civilians – the good, the bad and the ugly. In 1864 CSA Gen John Bell Hood sent a letter to Maj Gen William T. Sherman protesting the evacuation of civilians from Atlanta. Included is Sherman’s response from the following day.
Sunday, September 7, 1862: George Templeton Strong of New York City records in his journal a very savvy and perceptive strategic assessment—tinged with real emotional alarm—of the Union’s military fortunes at this time: “The country is turning out raw material for history very fast, but it’s an inferior article. Rebellion is on its legs again, East and West, rampant and aggressive at every point. Out lines are either receding or turned, from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. The great event now prominently before us is that the South has crossed the Potomac in force above Washington and invaded Maryland and occupied Frederick, proclaimed a provisional governor, and seems advancing on the Pennsylvania line. No one knows the strength of the invading column. Some say 30,000, and others five times that. A very strong [Union] force, doubtless, has pushed up the Potomac to cut off the rebel communications. If it succeed, the rebellion will be ruined, but if it suffer a disorganizing defeat, the North will be at Jefferson Davis’s mercy. I dare not let my mind dwell on the tremendous contingencies of the present hour. . . .
The nation is rapidly sinking just now, as it has been sinking rapidly for two months and more, because it wants two things: generals that know how to handle their men, and strict military discipline applied to men and officers. God alone can give us good generals, but a stern and rigorous discipline visiting every grave military offence with death can be given us by our dear old great-uncle Abe, if he only would do it. With our superiority in numbers and in resources, discipline would make us strong enough to conquer without first-rate generals, unless an Alexander or Napoleon should be born into Rebeldom.”
Monday, September 7, 1863: The Richmond Examiner publishes an editorial on the coarse and rural baseness of Pres. Lincoln. In our time, we have trouble figuring out what the fuss is about. In case you miss the incriminating vulgarity, I put it in italics for you: “Whether ferocity, folly or beastly vulgarity is the predominating characteristic of the monstrous utterance with which Lincoln, the Yahoo President, to-day insults the human kind, is a question not easily decided. That such a creature should be the chief figure in such a period; that this compound of brute and buffoon should be master of the situation in one of the most awful convulsions remembered in history; is a fact not indeed unparalleled, but of rare occurrence.
Cromwell was a joker, and Cæsar a filthy man, but they kept their jests and their lusts in chambers, and displayed their stupendous abilities and terrible power to the world. But the Representative Man of the model republic and its revolution delights to display the proportions of his mind, and the qualities of his heart undisguised, in official papers, as in barroom talks.
“Nor must Uncle Sam’s noble fleet be forgotten,” says the grog shop President. “At all the watery margins they have been present. Not only on the deep sea, the broad bay, the rapid river, but also up the narrow, muddy bayou, and wherever the ground was a little damp, they have been and made their tracks.”
Shade of Washington! is this thy successor? Can this be the man in whose hand rests the resources of the United States, and who controls a million of soldiers? . . .
Yet the reader will not smile, and disgust will vanish, before stronger sentiments when he has reflected on the intent and prospect revealed in this degraded language. . . . Such is the future of the war. Such is the man of destiny.”
Monday, September 7, 1863: Jenkin Lloyd Jones, of the 6th Battery of Artillery from Wisconsin, writes in his journal of a foraging expedition: “ Vicksburg, Monday, Sept. 7. To break the monotony of camp, Evie and myself obtained permission to go outside the lines. We mounted our steeds and passed through a port hole in the line to evade the guards, as we had no pass. We rode out about three miles before we saw a house.
House No. 1, stopped to get a drink; three women, no men around. She had lost four cows and wanted to know who stole them, suspected a one legged nigger, she “would be dagged if she wouldn’t cut off his other leg.”
House No. 2. We were looking for horses, examined one tied at the door. “The old woman came out haggling, excited, claiming protection by her papers. We told her it was all right and rode on, leaving her to hate the Yankees.
House No. 3. Two fine looking young ladies there. Inquired for milk to drink. A little black girl brought us some buttermilk—good, tasted like home. Gave the blushing Confederate miss a quarter and left.
House No. 4. Examined a negro, pretending him to be a suspicious character, but finally concluded he was all right. Pound plenty of nice tomatoes in the old secesh camp growing wild. Picked lots of muskatines and grapes, and returned via old position. Arrived in camp 3 P. M. tired but well pleased with our adventure. Company had received marching orders.”
HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, IN THE FIELD, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, September 7, 1864. From General HOOD, commanding Confederate Army to W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General commanding.
“GENERAL: I have deemed it to the interest of the United States that the citizens now residing in Atlanta should remove, those who prefer it to go south, and the rest north. For the latter I can provide food and transportation to points of their election in Tennessee, Kentucky, or farther north. For the former I can provide transportation by cars as far as Rough and Ready, and also wagons; but, that their removal may be made with as little discomfort as possible, it will be necessary for you to help the families from Rough and Ready to the care at Lovejoy's. If you consent, I will undertake to remove all the families in Atlanta who prefer to go south to Rough and Ready, with all their movable effects, viz., clothing, trunks, reasonable furniture, bedding, etc., with their servants, white and black, with the proviso that no force shall be used toward the blacks, one way or the other. If they want to go with their masters or mistresses, they may do so; otherwise they will be sent away, unless they be men, when they may be employed by our quartermaster. Atlanta is no place for families or non-combatants, and I have no desire to send them north if you will assist in conveying them south. If this proposition meets your views, I will consent to a truce in the neighborhood of Rough and Ready, stipulating that any wagons, horses, animals, or persons sent there for the purposes herein stated, shall in no manner be harmed or molested; you in your turn agreeing that any care, wagons, or carriages, persons or animals sent to the same point, shall not be interfered with. Each of us might send a guard of, say, one hundred men, to maintain order, and limit the truce to, say, two days after a certain time appointed.
I have authorized the mayor to choose two citizens to convey to you this letter, with such documents as the mayor may forward in explanation, and shall await your reply. I have the honor to be your obedient servant.
.”
1864-09-08 From Major General W. T. SHERMAN, commanding United States Forces in Georgia to J. B. HOOD, General. “GENERAL: Your letter of yesterday's date, borne by James M. Ball and James R. Crew, citizens of Atlanta, is received. You say therein, "I deem it to be to the interest of the United States that the citizens now residing in Atlanta should remove," etc. I do not consider that I have any alternative in this matter. I therefore accept your proposition to declare a truce of two days, or such time as may be necessary to accomplish the purpose mentioned, and shall render all assistance in my power to expedite the transportation of citizens in this direction. I suggest that a staff-officer be appointed by you to superintend the removal from the city to Rough and Ready, while I appoint a like officer to control their removal farther south; that a guard of one hundred men be sent by either party as you propose, to maintain order at that place, and that the removal begin on Monday next.
And now, sir, permit me to say that the unprecedented measure you propose transcends, in studied and ingenious cruelty, all acts ever before brought to my attention in the dark history of war.
In the name of God and humanity, I protest, believing that you will find that you are expelling from their homes and firesides the wives and children of a brave people. I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/union-generals/sherman/memoirs/general-sherman-burning-atlanta.htm
Pictures: 1863-09 Charleston and the Coastal Defenses; 1863-09 Federal battery with 10-inch seacoast-mortars, Model 1841, on Morris Island; 1862-09-07 Maryland Campaign, actions September 7 to 13, 1862 Map; 1864 Major General William T. Sherman on Horseback near Atlanta between September - November 1864
A. Saturday, September 7, 1861: Brigadier General Eleazer Paine a was just settling into his new home at Paducah when orders to take Smithland, eighteen miles up the Ohio River, filtered through from Fremont in St. Louis. This would give Union forces complete command of the mouth of the Tennessee River. Also, it was ordered to fortify and plant artillery at Paducah, but to make no advance upon the Rebels.
With Kentucky’s neutrality officially broken by both sides, the floodgates would soon open and Kentucky would soon become contested ground. On this date, General Robert Anderson, of Fort Sumter fame, moved his headquarters of the Department of the Cumberland from Cincinnati, Ohio to Louisville, Kentucky.
Background: Kentucky’s neutrality had been broken before the Federals occupied Paducah. On September 3rd, Confederates under General Pillow captured Hickman and Columbus, along the Mississippi River. Even prior to that, the Union army had officially established Camp Dick Robinson near Danville, in early July. Though Kentucky wished to stay out of the fight between North and South, it was hardly in the cards.
Also from Richmond was the order to occupy Bowling Green “with sufficient force to maintain it as early as practicable.” This was in response to an appeal from General R.C. Foster, who had raised recruits in Nashville, Tennessee, that since Paducah was held by the Federals, Bowling Green was threatened. He suggested that his force of 2,500 could secure it.
Though the suggested town was important, it was also 140 miles east of Paducah. Foster was cautioned that the Federal forces would probably move upon Southern troops at Columbus and Hickman, a mere twenty miles distant. His troops were to be held in readiness for such a move.
B. Sunday, September 7, 1862: Antietam/Sharpsburg campaign. CSA Gen Robert E. Lee crossed the Potomac River at Leesburg, Virginia. The bulk of his army was now in Maryland, mostly bivouacked in and near Frederick, Maryland, Gen. Lee wrote Pres. Davis about the necessity of being provided with sufficient cash to pay for supplies, so as not to put off the Marylanders from the Confederate cause. Lee made plans to move into Pennsylvania and head to Harrisburg.
Antietam/Sharpsburg: The main body of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia enters Frederick, Maryland. His move north caused the expected panic in the capital and ships were placed on standby to take the President and his Cabinet out of the city to safety. Meanwhile, McClellan moved out of Washington with an 87,000-man army in pursuit, believing he is facing 120,000 Confederates.
C. Monday, September 7, 1863: Siege of Charleston Harbor, SC. Admiral John A. B. Dahlgren started a full-scale infantry assault on Battery Wagner, but found it was empty. Dahlgren was greatly relieved to find that what had been expected to be a bitter and bloody battle for Battery Wagner and Battery Gregg had turned into a simple occupation of Morris Island when it was discovered the batteries had been evacuated overnight. Heavy shelling continued in Charleston Harbor, as Union forces prepared to assault Fort Sumter the next day. Dahlgren did perhaps get a bit carried away, though, when he sent a message to Beauregard in Charleston, in which he demanded that Sumter be likewise surrendered. Beauregard wrote back, formally declining this invitation and then, somewhat sardonically, suggesting that Dahlgren was invited to ‘…take it if he could.'”
Details: South Carolina operations/Siege of Charleston Harbor: “Poor old Fort Sumter had definitely seen better days. Admiral John A. B. Dahlgren sailed by it today and said it looked ‘from seaward…rather that of a steep, sandy island than ..a fort.’ Dahlgren was greatly relieved to find that what had been expected to be a bitter and bloody battle for Battery Wagner and Battery Gregg had turned into a simple occupation of Morris Island when it was discovered the batteries had been evacuated overnight. He did perhaps get a bit carried away, though, when he sent a message to Beauregard in Charleston, in which he demanded that Sumter be likewise surrendered. Beauregard wrote back, formally declining this invitation and then, somewhat sardonically, suggesting that Dahlgren was invited to ‘…take it if he could.'”
Heavy shelling continues in Charleston Harbor, as Union forces prepare to assault Fort Sumter.
D. Wednesday, September 7, 1864: Maj Gen William Tecumseh Sherman ordered the evacuation of all civilians from Atlanta, Georgia. Under protest from Lieut. General John B. Hood (CSA) Major General William T. Sherman (US) orders the civilian evacuation of Atlanta, Georgia. Sherman cites his lack of supplies to feed the population. With about as many Federal troops guarding the railroad and telegraph lines in Tennessee and Georgia, as there were in Atlanta, Sherman did not want to have to feed and worry about women and children. He offers transportation south of the city, and between September 11 and 16 some 446 families, about 1,600 people leave their homes and possessions. Sherman’s order surely didn’t win him any fans among the Southerners, but he was only starting to build his infamous reputation with the Confederates
1. Saturday, September, 7, 1861: Memphis Daily Appeal, “Tableaux at LaGrange.—We have received a note from one of the lady managers desiring us to state that at LaGrange, on Wednesday evening next, the ladies of that place will give a supper and a series of tableaux, the proceeds to be appropriated to purchasing winter clothing for the provincial army of Tennessee.” (Tableaux- a representation of a picture, statue, scene, etc., by one or more persons suitably costumed and posed) This seemed to be quite a popular thing for fundraising parties.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-a/part-twenty-one
2. Sunday, September 7, 1862: Although the decision to invade the North is controversial amongst Southerners, Pres. Jefferson Davis maintains that the strategy is a sound one, in a letter to his commanders: that “we are driven to protect our own country by transferring the seat of war to that of an enemy, who pursues us with a relentless and, apparently, aimless hostility; that our fields have been laid waste, our people killed, many homes made desolate, and that rapine and murder have ravaged our frontiers; that the sacred right of self-defense demands that, if such a war is to continue, its consequences shall fall on those who persist in their refusal to make peace.” He asks Lee, Kirby-Smith, and Bragg to issue proclamations to the populace to that effect.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+7%2C+1862
3. Sunday, September 7, 1862: The city of Clarksville, Tennessee is recaptured by Union troops of the 71st Ohio Infantry, 11th Illinois Infantry, and the 5th Iowa Cavalry Regiments.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+7%2C+1862
4. Sunday, September 7, 1862: Port Hudson, Louisiana - On September 7, the USS Essex arrived at Port Hudson. The ship soon engaged fire with the Confederate shore batteries. After a short time, the Essex withdrew from the area.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1862s.html
5. Sunday, September 7, 1862: Gen. Bragg and the Army of Tennessee are bivouacked in Sparta, Tennessee, when Bragg learns that Gen. Buell and the Federal army have begun moving North, heading to Bowling Green, which is Bragg’s destination as well.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+7%2C+1862
6. Sunday, September 7, 1862: Western Theater: Having lost access to foreign commerce with the fall of New Orleans, Confederates are now heavily reinforcing Port Hudson, Louisiana, to prevent Union gunboats from blockading the mouth of the Red River, where Southern supplies are now moving. Their batteries fire today on a Union gunboat.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/10/13/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-september-3-9-1862/
7. Sunday, September 7, 1862: The news finally comes east from Kansas, that the day before, Col. William Quantrill and his Confederate guerilla force entered the town of Olathe at dawn. They surprised the 125-man Union garrison and captured them all. The town was looted and the community newspaper, the Mirror, was destroyed. The Union soldiers were quickly paroled as the Confederates left town.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-b/part-74
8. Sunday, September 7, 1862: Lee, now heading North, crossed the Potomac River at Leesburg, Virginia. His move north caused the expected panic in the capital and ships were placed on standby to take the President and his Cabinet out of the city to safety.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-b/part-74
9. Sunday, September 7, 1862: George Templeton Strong of New York City records in his journal a very savvy and perceptive strategic assessment—tinged with real emotional alarm—of the Union’s military fortunes at this time: “The country is turning out raw material for history very fast, but it’s an inferior article. Rebellion is on its legs again, East and West, rampant and aggressive at every point. Out lines are either receding or turned, from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. The great event now prominently before us is that the South has crossed the Potomac in force above Washington and invaded Maryland and occupied Frederick, proclaimed a provisional governor, and seems advancing on the Pennsylvania line. No one knows the strength of the invading column. Some say 30,000, and others five times that. A very strong [Union] force, doubtless, has pushed up the Potomac to cut off the rebel communications. If it succeed, the rebellion will be ruined, but if it suffer a disorganizing defeat, the North will be at Jefferson Davis’s mercy. I dare not let my mind dwell on the tremendous contingencies of the present hour. . . .
The nation is rapidly sinking just now, as it has been sinking rapidly for two months and more, because it wants two things: generals that know how to handle their men, and strict military discipline applied to men and officers. God alone can give us good generals, but a stern and rigorous discipline visiting every grave military offence with death can be given us by our dear old great-uncle Abe, if he only would do it. With our superiority in numbers and in resources, discipline would make us strong enough to conquer without first-rate generals, unless an Alexander or Napoleon should be born into Rebeldom.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+7%2C+1862
10. Monday, September 7, 1863: The Richmond Examiner publishes an editorial on the coarse and rural baseness of Pres. Lincoln. In our time, we have trouble figuring out what the fuss is about. In case you miss the incriminating vulgarity, I put it in italics for you: “Whether ferocity, folly or beastly vulgarity is the predominating characteristic of the monstrous utterance with which Lincoln, the Yahoo President, to-day insults the human kind, is a question not easily decided. That such a creature should be the chief figure in such a period; that this compound of brute and buffoon should be master of the situation in one of the most awful convulsions remembered in history; is a fact not indeed unparalleled, but of rare occurrence.
Cromwell was a joker, and Cæsar a filthy man, but they kept their jests and their lusts in chambers, and displayed their stupendous abilities and terrible power to the world. But the Representative Man of the model republic and its revolution delights to display the proportions of his mind, and the qualities of his heart undisguised, in official papers, as in barroom talks.
“Nor must Uncle Sam’s noble fleet be forgotten,” says the grog shop President. “At all the watery margins they have been present. Not only on the deep sea, the broad bay, the rapid river, but also up the narrow, muddy bayou, and wherever the ground was a little damp, they have been and made their tracks.”
Shade of Washington! is this thy successor? Can this be the man in whose hand rests the resources of the United States, and who controls a million of soldiers? . . .
Yet the reader will not smile, and disgust will vanish, before stronger sentiments when he has reflected on the intent and prospect revealed in this degraded language. . . . Such is the future of the war. Such is the man of destiny.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+7%2C+1863
11. Monday, September 7, 1863: Jenkin Lloyd Jones, of the 6th Battery of Artillery from Wisconsin, writes in his journal of a foraging expedition: “ Vicksburg, Monday, Sept. 7. To break the monotony of camp, Evie and myself obtained permission to go outside the lines. We mounted our steeds and passed through a port hole in the line to evade the guards, as we had no pass. We rode out about three miles before we saw a house.
House No. 1, stopped to get a drink; three women, no men around. She had lost four cows and wanted to know who stole them, suspected a one legged nigger, she “would be dagged if she wouldn’t cut off his other leg.”
House No. 2. We were looking for horses, examined one tied at the door. “The old woman came out haggling, excited, claiming protection by her papers. We told her it was all right and rode on, leaving her to hate the Yankees.
House No. 3. Two fine looking young ladies there. Inquired for milk to drink. A little black girl brought us some buttermilk—good, tasted like home. Gave the blushing Confederate miss a quarter and left.
House No. 4. Examined a negro, pretending him to be a suspicious character, but finally concluded he was all right. Pound plenty of nice tomatoes in the old secesh camp growing wild. Picked lots of muskatines and grapes, and returned via old position. Arrived in camp 3 P. M. tired but well pleased with our adventure. Company had received marching orders.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+7%2C+1863
12. Monday, September 7, 1863: East Tennessee operations/Chickamauga Campaign: CS General Polk follows General Hill down the LaFayette Road with two divisions but halts at Lee and Gordon’s Mills where he is joined by General Simon Buckner’s corps, lately of Knoxville.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/09/02/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-september-2-8-1863/
13. Monday, September 7, 1863: US General George D. Wagner tells General Rosecrans that Forrest has gone in the direction of Rome – this is actually true. Forrest is moving toward Alpine and Rome to head off a large cavalry force under US General David S. Stanley.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/09/02/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-september-2-8-1863/
14. Monday, September 7, 1863: In Chattanooga, General Bragg calls his second council of generals in five days. No decisions are made in the council, and Bragg again orders his generals south.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/09/02/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-september-2-8-1863/
15. Monday, September 7, 1863: Skirmishes at Summerville, Georgia; Stevenson, Alabama; and Lookout Valley, Tennessee.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/09/02/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-september-2-8-1863/
16. Monday, September 7, 1863: East Tennessee operations: The Battle of Cumberland Gap begins and continues through September 9th.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/09/02/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-september-2-8-1863/
17. Monday, September 7, 1863: In Arkansas, as Gen. Frederick Steele’s Federals advance upon the river crossings that would give access to Little Rock, Gen. Sterling Price finds that his two principal commanders, Gen. Marsh Walker and Gen. John Marmaduke, are at odds with one another, all communication between the two wings of the Rebel force having broken down. In explanation, Marmaduke reports that Walker habitually “avoided all positions of danger.” Walker takes offense, and issues a challenge. In spite of Price’s attempts to stop the duel, Marmaduke and Walker meet early this morning, each armed with a Colt revolver. They each miss the first shot, and with his second, Marmaduke wounds Walker in the side, a wound from which Walker dies a few days later. Walker sends a message to Marmaduke forgiving him. Price wants to arrest Marmaduke, but lets him go, since he needs field commanders in the current emergency.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+7%2C+1863
18. Wednesday, September 7, 1864: In Centralia, Missouri, guerrillas stop a freight train on the North Missouri Railroad and steal 4 car-loads of horses.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-178
19. Wednesday, September 7, 1864: USS Wachusett captures CSS Florida at Bahia, Brazil. http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186409
20. Wednesday, September 7, 1864: Georgia operations: Sherman orders the evacuation of Atlanta. https://bjdeming.com/2014/09/01/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-september-1-7-1864/
A Saturday, September, 7, 1861: All Eyes Upon Kentucky. “The neutrality of Kentucky has been broken by the occupation of Paducah by the Federal forces,” was the word from Richmond to General Felix Zollicoffer, a Tennessee Rebel who had raised over 5,000 recruits to put down Unionist sentiment. “Take the arms.”
Though Zollicoffer had not been a secessionist, he threw in his lot with his state. When Tennessee went with the South, so did he. The General began to ready his troops in Knoxville.
Kentucky’s neutrality had been broken before the Federals occupied Paducah. On September 3rd, Confederates under General Pillow captured Hickman and Columbus, along the Mississippi River. Even prior to that, the Union army had officially established Camp Dick Robinson near Danville, in early July. Though Kentucky wished to stay out of the fight between North and South, it was hardly in the cards.
Also from Richmond was the order to occupy Bowling Green “with sufficient force to maintain it as early as practicable.” This was in response to an appeal from General R.C. Foster, who had raised recruits in Nashville, Tennessee, that since Paducah was held by the Federals, Bowling Green was threatened. He suggested that his force of 2,500 could secure it.
Though the suggested town was important, it was also 140 miles east of Paducah. Foster was cautioned that the Federal forces would probably move upon Southern troops at Columbus and Hickman, a mere twenty miles distant. His troops were to be held in readiness for such a move.
General Paine was just settling into his new home at Paducah when orders to take Smithland, eighteen miles up the Ohio River, filtered through from Fremont in St. Louis. This would give Union forces complete command of the mouth of the Tennessee River. Also, it was ordered to fortify and plant artillery at Paducah, but to make no advance upon the Rebels.
With Kentucky’s neutrality officially broken by both sides, the floodgates would soon open and Kentucky would soon become contested ground. On this date, General Robert Anderson, of Fort Sumter fame, moved his headquarters of the Department of the Cumberland from Cincinnati, Ohio to Louisville, Kentucky.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/all-eyes-upon-kentucky/
B Sunday, September 7, 1862: Antietam/Sharpsburg: The main body of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia enters Frederick, Maryland. McClellan moves out of Washington with an 87,000-man army in pursuit, believing he is facing 120,000 Confederates.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/10/13/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-september-3-9-1862/
B+ Sunday, September 7, 1862: His army now all in Maryland, mostly bivouacked in and near Frederick, Maryland, Gen. Lee writes to Pres. Davis about the necessity of being provided with sufficient cash to pay for supplies, so as not to put off the Marylanders from the Confederate cause. Lee makes plans to move into Pennsylvania and head to Harrisburg.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+7%2C+1862
C Monday, September 7, 1863: Admiral John A. B. Dahlgren (US) started a full-scale infantry assault on Battery Wagner, but found it was empty. He writes General Beauregard demanding that Fort Sumter surrendered as well, Beauregard replied, “...take it if he could.”
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-c/week-126
C+ Monday, September 7, 1863: South Carolina operations/Siege of Charleston Harbor: “Poor old Fort Sumter had definitely seen better days. Admiral John A. B. Dahlgren sailed by it today and said it looked ‘from seaward…rather that of a steep, sandy island than ..a fort.’ Dahlgren was greatly relieved to find that what had been expected to be a bitter and bloody battle for Battery Wagner and Battery Gregg had turned into a simple occupation of Morris Island when it was discovered the batteries had been evacuated overnight. He did perhaps get a bit carried away, though, when he sent a message to Beauregard in Charleston, in which he demanded that Sumter be likewise surrendered. Beauregard wrote back, formally declining this invitation and then, somewhat sardonically, suggesting that Dahlgren was invited to ‘…take it if he could.'”
https://bjdeming.com/2013/09/02/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-september-2-8-1863/
C++ Monday, September 7, 1863: Heavy shelling continues in Charleston Harbor, as Union forces prepare to assault Fort Sumter.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+7%2C+1863
Monday, September 7, 1863: September 7-8, 1863 in Charleston, South Carolina - During the night of September 6-7, Confederate forces evacuated Fort Wagner and Battery Gregg pressured by advancing Federal siegeworks. Union troops then occupied all of Morris Island. On September 8, a storming party of about 400 marines and sailors attempted to surprise Fort Sumter. The attack was repulsed suffering 4 killed and 114 captured. This was part of Charleston Operations
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1863s.html
D Wednesday, September 7, 1864: William Tecumseh Sherman [US] orders the evacuation of Atlanta, Georgia.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186409
D Wednesday, September 7, 1864: Under protest from Lieut. General John B. Hood (CSA) Major General William T. Sherman (US) orders the civilian evacuation of Atlanta, Georgia. Sherman cites his lack of supplies to feed the population. With about as many Federal troops guarding the railroad and telegraph lines in Tennessee and Georgia, as there were in Atlanta, Sherman did not want to have to feed and worry about women and children. He offers transportation south of the city, and between September 11 and 16 some 446 families, about 1,600 people leave their homes and possessions. Sherman’s order surely didn’t win him any fans among the Southerners, but he was only starting to build his infamous reputation with the Confederates.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-178
FYI GySgt Jack Wallace CWO4 Terrence Clark SMSgt Lawrence McCarter LTC Trent Klug SFC Bernard Walko SFC Stephen King SSG Franklin Briant SSG Byron Howard Sr CPL Ronald Keyes Jr SFC William Farrell CMDCM John F. "Doc" Bradshaw SPC Lyle MontgomeryDeborah GregsonPO2 Marco MonsalveSPC Woody Bullard SSG Michael Noll SSG Bill McCoy MSgt (Join to see) SFC David Reid, M.S, PHR, SHRM-CP, DTMSgt Christopher Collins
In 1861, all eyes were upon Kentucky. “The neutrality of Kentucky has been broken by the occupation of Paducah by the Federal forces,” was the word from Richmond to General Felix Zollicoffer, a Tennessee Rebel who had raised over 5,000 recruits to put down Unionist sentiment. “Take the arms.”
Though Zollicoffer had not been a secessionist, he threw in his lot with his state. When Tennessee went with the South, so did he. The General began to ready his troops in Knoxville.
Kentucky’s neutrality had been broken before the Federals occupied Paducah. On September 3rd, Confederates under General Pillow captured Hickman and Columbus, along the Mississippi River. Even prior to that, the Union army had officially established Camp Dick Robinson near Danville, in early July. Though Kentucky wished to stay out of the fight between North and South, it was hardly in the cards.
Also from Richmond was the order to occupy Bowling Green “with sufficient force to maintain it as early as practicable.” This was in response to an appeal from General R.C. Foster, who had raised recruits in Nashville, Tennessee, that since Paducah was held by the Federals, Bowling Green was threatened. He suggested that his force of 2,500 could secure it.
Though the suggested town was important, it was also 140 miles east of Paducah. Foster was cautioned that the Federal forces would probably move upon Southern troops at Columbus and Hickman, a mere twenty miles distant. His troops were to be held in readiness for such a move.
General Paine was just settling into his new home at Paducah when orders to take Smithland, eighteen miles up the Ohio River, filtered through from Fremont in St. Louis. This would give Union forces complete command of the mouth of the Tennessee River. Also, it was ordered to fortify and plant artillery at Paducah, but to make no advance upon the Rebels.
With Kentucky’s neutrality officially broken by both sides, the floodgates would soon open and Kentucky would soon become contested ground. On this date, General Robert Anderson, of Fort Sumter fame, moved his headquarters of the Department of the Cumberland from Cincinnati, Ohio to Louisville, Kentucky.”
Maj Gen William T. Sherman ordered Atlanta to be emptied of civilians on Wednesday, September 7, 1864. “If the people raise a howl against my barbarity and cruelty, I will answer that war is war, and not popularity-seeking. If they want peace, they and their relatives must stop the war.” – William Tecumseh Sherman.
General Sherman had seen to the occupation of several major Southern cities thus far in the war. Memphis, Vicksburg, Natchez and New Orleans had all fallen, and he had learned from these prior exercises. The object was never to simply occupy a location, but to defeat the Confederate army. Yet, when the bulk of his own forces had to move forward, he was compelled to leave behind at least a fully division to garrison the town. Anything less might be overrun by the populace.
But with Atlanta, Sherman decided to try something new. “I peremptorily required that all the citizens and families resident in Atlanta should go away, giving to each the option to go south or north, as their interests or feelings dictated,” he wrote in his memoirs. “I was resolved to make Atlanta a pure military garrison or depot, with no civil population to influence military measures.”
Rather than simply going door-to-door to remove the citizenry, Sherman wrote first to Confederate General John Bell Hood, whose army had vacated Atlanta and was now encamped near Lovejoy, twenty miles south.
“I have deemed it to the interest of the United States that the citizens now residing in Atlanta should remove, those who prefer it to go South and the rest North. For the latter I can provide food and transportation to point of their election in Tennessee, Kentucky, or farther north. For the former I can provide transportation by cars as far as Rough and Ready, and also wagons; but that their removal may be made with as little discomfort as possible it will be necessary for you to help the families from Rough and Ready to the cars at Lovejoy’s.”
Not only would Sherman help the Southern-sympathizers relocate their families, but he would also assist them in moving their “clothing, trunks, reasonable furniture, bedding, &c., with their servants, white and black, with the proviso that no force shall be used toward the blacks one way or the other.”
This was a slightly different approach that was undertaken by some. Often, when the Federal army came into town, the black slaves would be immediately set free. But here, Sherman was giving them a choice. “If they want to go with their masters or mistresses they may do so, otherwise they will be set away, unless they be men, when they may be employed by our quartermaster.”
More than likely, this meant put to work digging latrines and entrenchments as Sherman, like George Meade, refused to have black soldiers under his command.
To this, Hood agreed, though what choice did he have?
“I do not consider that I have any alternative in this matter,” replied Hood. “I therefore accept your proposition to declare a truce for two days, or such time as may be necessary to accomplish the purpose mentioned, and shall render all assistance in my power to expedite the transportation of citizens in this direction.”
Hood made some logistical suggestions, but was furious over Sherman’s idea to expel the city’s residents.
“And now, sir, permit me to say that the unprecedented measure you propose transcends, in studied and ingenious cruelty, all acts ever before brought to my attention in the dark history of war.
“In the name of God and humanity, I protest, believing that you will find that you are expelling from their homes and firesides the wives and children of a brave people.”
Even preparing for such an undertaking would take days, and a sever series of letters would be soon exchanged between Generals Sherman and Hood, though the latter could do little more than protest.”
http://civilwardailygazette.com/sherman-orders-atlanta-to-be-emptied/
Below are a number of journal entries from 1862, 1863 and 1864 which shed light on what life was like for soldiers and civilians – the good, the bad and the ugly. In 1864 CSA Gen John Bell Hood sent a letter to Maj Gen William T. Sherman protesting the evacuation of civilians from Atlanta. Included is Sherman’s response from the following day.
Sunday, September 7, 1862: George Templeton Strong of New York City records in his journal a very savvy and perceptive strategic assessment—tinged with real emotional alarm—of the Union’s military fortunes at this time: “The country is turning out raw material for history very fast, but it’s an inferior article. Rebellion is on its legs again, East and West, rampant and aggressive at every point. Out lines are either receding or turned, from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. The great event now prominently before us is that the South has crossed the Potomac in force above Washington and invaded Maryland and occupied Frederick, proclaimed a provisional governor, and seems advancing on the Pennsylvania line. No one knows the strength of the invading column. Some say 30,000, and others five times that. A very strong [Union] force, doubtless, has pushed up the Potomac to cut off the rebel communications. If it succeed, the rebellion will be ruined, but if it suffer a disorganizing defeat, the North will be at Jefferson Davis’s mercy. I dare not let my mind dwell on the tremendous contingencies of the present hour. . . .
The nation is rapidly sinking just now, as it has been sinking rapidly for two months and more, because it wants two things: generals that know how to handle their men, and strict military discipline applied to men and officers. God alone can give us good generals, but a stern and rigorous discipline visiting every grave military offence with death can be given us by our dear old great-uncle Abe, if he only would do it. With our superiority in numbers and in resources, discipline would make us strong enough to conquer without first-rate generals, unless an Alexander or Napoleon should be born into Rebeldom.”
Monday, September 7, 1863: The Richmond Examiner publishes an editorial on the coarse and rural baseness of Pres. Lincoln. In our time, we have trouble figuring out what the fuss is about. In case you miss the incriminating vulgarity, I put it in italics for you: “Whether ferocity, folly or beastly vulgarity is the predominating characteristic of the monstrous utterance with which Lincoln, the Yahoo President, to-day insults the human kind, is a question not easily decided. That such a creature should be the chief figure in such a period; that this compound of brute and buffoon should be master of the situation in one of the most awful convulsions remembered in history; is a fact not indeed unparalleled, but of rare occurrence.
Cromwell was a joker, and Cæsar a filthy man, but they kept their jests and their lusts in chambers, and displayed their stupendous abilities and terrible power to the world. But the Representative Man of the model republic and its revolution delights to display the proportions of his mind, and the qualities of his heart undisguised, in official papers, as in barroom talks.
“Nor must Uncle Sam’s noble fleet be forgotten,” says the grog shop President. “At all the watery margins they have been present. Not only on the deep sea, the broad bay, the rapid river, but also up the narrow, muddy bayou, and wherever the ground was a little damp, they have been and made their tracks.”
Shade of Washington! is this thy successor? Can this be the man in whose hand rests the resources of the United States, and who controls a million of soldiers? . . .
Yet the reader will not smile, and disgust will vanish, before stronger sentiments when he has reflected on the intent and prospect revealed in this degraded language. . . . Such is the future of the war. Such is the man of destiny.”
Monday, September 7, 1863: Jenkin Lloyd Jones, of the 6th Battery of Artillery from Wisconsin, writes in his journal of a foraging expedition: “ Vicksburg, Monday, Sept. 7. To break the monotony of camp, Evie and myself obtained permission to go outside the lines. We mounted our steeds and passed through a port hole in the line to evade the guards, as we had no pass. We rode out about three miles before we saw a house.
House No. 1, stopped to get a drink; three women, no men around. She had lost four cows and wanted to know who stole them, suspected a one legged nigger, she “would be dagged if she wouldn’t cut off his other leg.”
House No. 2. We were looking for horses, examined one tied at the door. “The old woman came out haggling, excited, claiming protection by her papers. We told her it was all right and rode on, leaving her to hate the Yankees.
House No. 3. Two fine looking young ladies there. Inquired for milk to drink. A little black girl brought us some buttermilk—good, tasted like home. Gave the blushing Confederate miss a quarter and left.
House No. 4. Examined a negro, pretending him to be a suspicious character, but finally concluded he was all right. Pound plenty of nice tomatoes in the old secesh camp growing wild. Picked lots of muskatines and grapes, and returned via old position. Arrived in camp 3 P. M. tired but well pleased with our adventure. Company had received marching orders.”
HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, IN THE FIELD, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, September 7, 1864. From General HOOD, commanding Confederate Army to W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General commanding.
“GENERAL: I have deemed it to the interest of the United States that the citizens now residing in Atlanta should remove, those who prefer it to go south, and the rest north. For the latter I can provide food and transportation to points of their election in Tennessee, Kentucky, or farther north. For the former I can provide transportation by cars as far as Rough and Ready, and also wagons; but, that their removal may be made with as little discomfort as possible, it will be necessary for you to help the families from Rough and Ready to the care at Lovejoy's. If you consent, I will undertake to remove all the families in Atlanta who prefer to go south to Rough and Ready, with all their movable effects, viz., clothing, trunks, reasonable furniture, bedding, etc., with their servants, white and black, with the proviso that no force shall be used toward the blacks, one way or the other. If they want to go with their masters or mistresses, they may do so; otherwise they will be sent away, unless they be men, when they may be employed by our quartermaster. Atlanta is no place for families or non-combatants, and I have no desire to send them north if you will assist in conveying them south. If this proposition meets your views, I will consent to a truce in the neighborhood of Rough and Ready, stipulating that any wagons, horses, animals, or persons sent there for the purposes herein stated, shall in no manner be harmed or molested; you in your turn agreeing that any care, wagons, or carriages, persons or animals sent to the same point, shall not be interfered with. Each of us might send a guard of, say, one hundred men, to maintain order, and limit the truce to, say, two days after a certain time appointed.
I have authorized the mayor to choose two citizens to convey to you this letter, with such documents as the mayor may forward in explanation, and shall await your reply. I have the honor to be your obedient servant.
.”
1864-09-08 From Major General W. T. SHERMAN, commanding United States Forces in Georgia to J. B. HOOD, General. “GENERAL: Your letter of yesterday's date, borne by James M. Ball and James R. Crew, citizens of Atlanta, is received. You say therein, "I deem it to be to the interest of the United States that the citizens now residing in Atlanta should remove," etc. I do not consider that I have any alternative in this matter. I therefore accept your proposition to declare a truce of two days, or such time as may be necessary to accomplish the purpose mentioned, and shall render all assistance in my power to expedite the transportation of citizens in this direction. I suggest that a staff-officer be appointed by you to superintend the removal from the city to Rough and Ready, while I appoint a like officer to control their removal farther south; that a guard of one hundred men be sent by either party as you propose, to maintain order at that place, and that the removal begin on Monday next.
And now, sir, permit me to say that the unprecedented measure you propose transcends, in studied and ingenious cruelty, all acts ever before brought to my attention in the dark history of war.
In the name of God and humanity, I protest, believing that you will find that you are expelling from their homes and firesides the wives and children of a brave people. I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/union-generals/sherman/memoirs/general-sherman-burning-atlanta.htm
Pictures: 1863-09 Charleston and the Coastal Defenses; 1863-09 Federal battery with 10-inch seacoast-mortars, Model 1841, on Morris Island; 1862-09-07 Maryland Campaign, actions September 7 to 13, 1862 Map; 1864 Major General William T. Sherman on Horseback near Atlanta between September - November 1864
A. Saturday, September 7, 1861: Brigadier General Eleazer Paine a was just settling into his new home at Paducah when orders to take Smithland, eighteen miles up the Ohio River, filtered through from Fremont in St. Louis. This would give Union forces complete command of the mouth of the Tennessee River. Also, it was ordered to fortify and plant artillery at Paducah, but to make no advance upon the Rebels.
With Kentucky’s neutrality officially broken by both sides, the floodgates would soon open and Kentucky would soon become contested ground. On this date, General Robert Anderson, of Fort Sumter fame, moved his headquarters of the Department of the Cumberland from Cincinnati, Ohio to Louisville, Kentucky.
Background: Kentucky’s neutrality had been broken before the Federals occupied Paducah. On September 3rd, Confederates under General Pillow captured Hickman and Columbus, along the Mississippi River. Even prior to that, the Union army had officially established Camp Dick Robinson near Danville, in early July. Though Kentucky wished to stay out of the fight between North and South, it was hardly in the cards.
Also from Richmond was the order to occupy Bowling Green “with sufficient force to maintain it as early as practicable.” This was in response to an appeal from General R.C. Foster, who had raised recruits in Nashville, Tennessee, that since Paducah was held by the Federals, Bowling Green was threatened. He suggested that his force of 2,500 could secure it.
Though the suggested town was important, it was also 140 miles east of Paducah. Foster was cautioned that the Federal forces would probably move upon Southern troops at Columbus and Hickman, a mere twenty miles distant. His troops were to be held in readiness for such a move.
B. Sunday, September 7, 1862: Antietam/Sharpsburg campaign. CSA Gen Robert E. Lee crossed the Potomac River at Leesburg, Virginia. The bulk of his army was now in Maryland, mostly bivouacked in and near Frederick, Maryland, Gen. Lee wrote Pres. Davis about the necessity of being provided with sufficient cash to pay for supplies, so as not to put off the Marylanders from the Confederate cause. Lee made plans to move into Pennsylvania and head to Harrisburg.
Antietam/Sharpsburg: The main body of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia enters Frederick, Maryland. His move north caused the expected panic in the capital and ships were placed on standby to take the President and his Cabinet out of the city to safety. Meanwhile, McClellan moved out of Washington with an 87,000-man army in pursuit, believing he is facing 120,000 Confederates.
C. Monday, September 7, 1863: Siege of Charleston Harbor, SC. Admiral John A. B. Dahlgren started a full-scale infantry assault on Battery Wagner, but found it was empty. Dahlgren was greatly relieved to find that what had been expected to be a bitter and bloody battle for Battery Wagner and Battery Gregg had turned into a simple occupation of Morris Island when it was discovered the batteries had been evacuated overnight. Heavy shelling continued in Charleston Harbor, as Union forces prepared to assault Fort Sumter the next day. Dahlgren did perhaps get a bit carried away, though, when he sent a message to Beauregard in Charleston, in which he demanded that Sumter be likewise surrendered. Beauregard wrote back, formally declining this invitation and then, somewhat sardonically, suggesting that Dahlgren was invited to ‘…take it if he could.'”
Details: South Carolina operations/Siege of Charleston Harbor: “Poor old Fort Sumter had definitely seen better days. Admiral John A. B. Dahlgren sailed by it today and said it looked ‘from seaward…rather that of a steep, sandy island than ..a fort.’ Dahlgren was greatly relieved to find that what had been expected to be a bitter and bloody battle for Battery Wagner and Battery Gregg had turned into a simple occupation of Morris Island when it was discovered the batteries had been evacuated overnight. He did perhaps get a bit carried away, though, when he sent a message to Beauregard in Charleston, in which he demanded that Sumter be likewise surrendered. Beauregard wrote back, formally declining this invitation and then, somewhat sardonically, suggesting that Dahlgren was invited to ‘…take it if he could.'”
Heavy shelling continues in Charleston Harbor, as Union forces prepare to assault Fort Sumter.
D. Wednesday, September 7, 1864: Maj Gen William Tecumseh Sherman ordered the evacuation of all civilians from Atlanta, Georgia. Under protest from Lieut. General John B. Hood (CSA) Major General William T. Sherman (US) orders the civilian evacuation of Atlanta, Georgia. Sherman cites his lack of supplies to feed the population. With about as many Federal troops guarding the railroad and telegraph lines in Tennessee and Georgia, as there were in Atlanta, Sherman did not want to have to feed and worry about women and children. He offers transportation south of the city, and between September 11 and 16 some 446 families, about 1,600 people leave their homes and possessions. Sherman’s order surely didn’t win him any fans among the Southerners, but he was only starting to build his infamous reputation with the Confederates
1. Saturday, September, 7, 1861: Memphis Daily Appeal, “Tableaux at LaGrange.—We have received a note from one of the lady managers desiring us to state that at LaGrange, on Wednesday evening next, the ladies of that place will give a supper and a series of tableaux, the proceeds to be appropriated to purchasing winter clothing for the provincial army of Tennessee.” (Tableaux- a representation of a picture, statue, scene, etc., by one or more persons suitably costumed and posed) This seemed to be quite a popular thing for fundraising parties.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-a/part-twenty-one
2. Sunday, September 7, 1862: Although the decision to invade the North is controversial amongst Southerners, Pres. Jefferson Davis maintains that the strategy is a sound one, in a letter to his commanders: that “we are driven to protect our own country by transferring the seat of war to that of an enemy, who pursues us with a relentless and, apparently, aimless hostility; that our fields have been laid waste, our people killed, many homes made desolate, and that rapine and murder have ravaged our frontiers; that the sacred right of self-defense demands that, if such a war is to continue, its consequences shall fall on those who persist in their refusal to make peace.” He asks Lee, Kirby-Smith, and Bragg to issue proclamations to the populace to that effect.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+7%2C+1862
3. Sunday, September 7, 1862: The city of Clarksville, Tennessee is recaptured by Union troops of the 71st Ohio Infantry, 11th Illinois Infantry, and the 5th Iowa Cavalry Regiments.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+7%2C+1862
4. Sunday, September 7, 1862: Port Hudson, Louisiana - On September 7, the USS Essex arrived at Port Hudson. The ship soon engaged fire with the Confederate shore batteries. After a short time, the Essex withdrew from the area.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1862s.html
5. Sunday, September 7, 1862: Gen. Bragg and the Army of Tennessee are bivouacked in Sparta, Tennessee, when Bragg learns that Gen. Buell and the Federal army have begun moving North, heading to Bowling Green, which is Bragg’s destination as well.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+7%2C+1862
6. Sunday, September 7, 1862: Western Theater: Having lost access to foreign commerce with the fall of New Orleans, Confederates are now heavily reinforcing Port Hudson, Louisiana, to prevent Union gunboats from blockading the mouth of the Red River, where Southern supplies are now moving. Their batteries fire today on a Union gunboat.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/10/13/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-september-3-9-1862/
7. Sunday, September 7, 1862: The news finally comes east from Kansas, that the day before, Col. William Quantrill and his Confederate guerilla force entered the town of Olathe at dawn. They surprised the 125-man Union garrison and captured them all. The town was looted and the community newspaper, the Mirror, was destroyed. The Union soldiers were quickly paroled as the Confederates left town.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-b/part-74
8. Sunday, September 7, 1862: Lee, now heading North, crossed the Potomac River at Leesburg, Virginia. His move north caused the expected panic in the capital and ships were placed on standby to take the President and his Cabinet out of the city to safety.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-b/part-74
9. Sunday, September 7, 1862: George Templeton Strong of New York City records in his journal a very savvy and perceptive strategic assessment—tinged with real emotional alarm—of the Union’s military fortunes at this time: “The country is turning out raw material for history very fast, but it’s an inferior article. Rebellion is on its legs again, East and West, rampant and aggressive at every point. Out lines are either receding or turned, from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. The great event now prominently before us is that the South has crossed the Potomac in force above Washington and invaded Maryland and occupied Frederick, proclaimed a provisional governor, and seems advancing on the Pennsylvania line. No one knows the strength of the invading column. Some say 30,000, and others five times that. A very strong [Union] force, doubtless, has pushed up the Potomac to cut off the rebel communications. If it succeed, the rebellion will be ruined, but if it suffer a disorganizing defeat, the North will be at Jefferson Davis’s mercy. I dare not let my mind dwell on the tremendous contingencies of the present hour. . . .
The nation is rapidly sinking just now, as it has been sinking rapidly for two months and more, because it wants two things: generals that know how to handle their men, and strict military discipline applied to men and officers. God alone can give us good generals, but a stern and rigorous discipline visiting every grave military offence with death can be given us by our dear old great-uncle Abe, if he only would do it. With our superiority in numbers and in resources, discipline would make us strong enough to conquer without first-rate generals, unless an Alexander or Napoleon should be born into Rebeldom.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+7%2C+1862
10. Monday, September 7, 1863: The Richmond Examiner publishes an editorial on the coarse and rural baseness of Pres. Lincoln. In our time, we have trouble figuring out what the fuss is about. In case you miss the incriminating vulgarity, I put it in italics for you: “Whether ferocity, folly or beastly vulgarity is the predominating characteristic of the monstrous utterance with which Lincoln, the Yahoo President, to-day insults the human kind, is a question not easily decided. That such a creature should be the chief figure in such a period; that this compound of brute and buffoon should be master of the situation in one of the most awful convulsions remembered in history; is a fact not indeed unparalleled, but of rare occurrence.
Cromwell was a joker, and Cæsar a filthy man, but they kept their jests and their lusts in chambers, and displayed their stupendous abilities and terrible power to the world. But the Representative Man of the model republic and its revolution delights to display the proportions of his mind, and the qualities of his heart undisguised, in official papers, as in barroom talks.
“Nor must Uncle Sam’s noble fleet be forgotten,” says the grog shop President. “At all the watery margins they have been present. Not only on the deep sea, the broad bay, the rapid river, but also up the narrow, muddy bayou, and wherever the ground was a little damp, they have been and made their tracks.”
Shade of Washington! is this thy successor? Can this be the man in whose hand rests the resources of the United States, and who controls a million of soldiers? . . .
Yet the reader will not smile, and disgust will vanish, before stronger sentiments when he has reflected on the intent and prospect revealed in this degraded language. . . . Such is the future of the war. Such is the man of destiny.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+7%2C+1863
11. Monday, September 7, 1863: Jenkin Lloyd Jones, of the 6th Battery of Artillery from Wisconsin, writes in his journal of a foraging expedition: “ Vicksburg, Monday, Sept. 7. To break the monotony of camp, Evie and myself obtained permission to go outside the lines. We mounted our steeds and passed through a port hole in the line to evade the guards, as we had no pass. We rode out about three miles before we saw a house.
House No. 1, stopped to get a drink; three women, no men around. She had lost four cows and wanted to know who stole them, suspected a one legged nigger, she “would be dagged if she wouldn’t cut off his other leg.”
House No. 2. We were looking for horses, examined one tied at the door. “The old woman came out haggling, excited, claiming protection by her papers. We told her it was all right and rode on, leaving her to hate the Yankees.
House No. 3. Two fine looking young ladies there. Inquired for milk to drink. A little black girl brought us some buttermilk—good, tasted like home. Gave the blushing Confederate miss a quarter and left.
House No. 4. Examined a negro, pretending him to be a suspicious character, but finally concluded he was all right. Pound plenty of nice tomatoes in the old secesh camp growing wild. Picked lots of muskatines and grapes, and returned via old position. Arrived in camp 3 P. M. tired but well pleased with our adventure. Company had received marching orders.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+7%2C+1863
12. Monday, September 7, 1863: East Tennessee operations/Chickamauga Campaign: CS General Polk follows General Hill down the LaFayette Road with two divisions but halts at Lee and Gordon’s Mills where he is joined by General Simon Buckner’s corps, lately of Knoxville.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/09/02/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-september-2-8-1863/
13. Monday, September 7, 1863: US General George D. Wagner tells General Rosecrans that Forrest has gone in the direction of Rome – this is actually true. Forrest is moving toward Alpine and Rome to head off a large cavalry force under US General David S. Stanley.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/09/02/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-september-2-8-1863/
14. Monday, September 7, 1863: In Chattanooga, General Bragg calls his second council of generals in five days. No decisions are made in the council, and Bragg again orders his generals south.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/09/02/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-september-2-8-1863/
15. Monday, September 7, 1863: Skirmishes at Summerville, Georgia; Stevenson, Alabama; and Lookout Valley, Tennessee.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/09/02/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-september-2-8-1863/
16. Monday, September 7, 1863: East Tennessee operations: The Battle of Cumberland Gap begins and continues through September 9th.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/09/02/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-september-2-8-1863/
17. Monday, September 7, 1863: In Arkansas, as Gen. Frederick Steele’s Federals advance upon the river crossings that would give access to Little Rock, Gen. Sterling Price finds that his two principal commanders, Gen. Marsh Walker and Gen. John Marmaduke, are at odds with one another, all communication between the two wings of the Rebel force having broken down. In explanation, Marmaduke reports that Walker habitually “avoided all positions of danger.” Walker takes offense, and issues a challenge. In spite of Price’s attempts to stop the duel, Marmaduke and Walker meet early this morning, each armed with a Colt revolver. They each miss the first shot, and with his second, Marmaduke wounds Walker in the side, a wound from which Walker dies a few days later. Walker sends a message to Marmaduke forgiving him. Price wants to arrest Marmaduke, but lets him go, since he needs field commanders in the current emergency.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+7%2C+1863
18. Wednesday, September 7, 1864: In Centralia, Missouri, guerrillas stop a freight train on the North Missouri Railroad and steal 4 car-loads of horses.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-178
19. Wednesday, September 7, 1864: USS Wachusett captures CSS Florida at Bahia, Brazil. http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186409
20. Wednesday, September 7, 1864: Georgia operations: Sherman orders the evacuation of Atlanta. https://bjdeming.com/2014/09/01/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-september-1-7-1864/
A Saturday, September, 7, 1861: All Eyes Upon Kentucky. “The neutrality of Kentucky has been broken by the occupation of Paducah by the Federal forces,” was the word from Richmond to General Felix Zollicoffer, a Tennessee Rebel who had raised over 5,000 recruits to put down Unionist sentiment. “Take the arms.”
Though Zollicoffer had not been a secessionist, he threw in his lot with his state. When Tennessee went with the South, so did he. The General began to ready his troops in Knoxville.
Kentucky’s neutrality had been broken before the Federals occupied Paducah. On September 3rd, Confederates under General Pillow captured Hickman and Columbus, along the Mississippi River. Even prior to that, the Union army had officially established Camp Dick Robinson near Danville, in early July. Though Kentucky wished to stay out of the fight between North and South, it was hardly in the cards.
Also from Richmond was the order to occupy Bowling Green “with sufficient force to maintain it as early as practicable.” This was in response to an appeal from General R.C. Foster, who had raised recruits in Nashville, Tennessee, that since Paducah was held by the Federals, Bowling Green was threatened. He suggested that his force of 2,500 could secure it.
Though the suggested town was important, it was also 140 miles east of Paducah. Foster was cautioned that the Federal forces would probably move upon Southern troops at Columbus and Hickman, a mere twenty miles distant. His troops were to be held in readiness for such a move.
General Paine was just settling into his new home at Paducah when orders to take Smithland, eighteen miles up the Ohio River, filtered through from Fremont in St. Louis. This would give Union forces complete command of the mouth of the Tennessee River. Also, it was ordered to fortify and plant artillery at Paducah, but to make no advance upon the Rebels.
With Kentucky’s neutrality officially broken by both sides, the floodgates would soon open and Kentucky would soon become contested ground. On this date, General Robert Anderson, of Fort Sumter fame, moved his headquarters of the Department of the Cumberland from Cincinnati, Ohio to Louisville, Kentucky.
http://civilwardailygazette.com/all-eyes-upon-kentucky/
B Sunday, September 7, 1862: Antietam/Sharpsburg: The main body of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia enters Frederick, Maryland. McClellan moves out of Washington with an 87,000-man army in pursuit, believing he is facing 120,000 Confederates.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/10/13/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-september-3-9-1862/
B+ Sunday, September 7, 1862: His army now all in Maryland, mostly bivouacked in and near Frederick, Maryland, Gen. Lee writes to Pres. Davis about the necessity of being provided with sufficient cash to pay for supplies, so as not to put off the Marylanders from the Confederate cause. Lee makes plans to move into Pennsylvania and head to Harrisburg.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+7%2C+1862
C Monday, September 7, 1863: Admiral John A. B. Dahlgren (US) started a full-scale infantry assault on Battery Wagner, but found it was empty. He writes General Beauregard demanding that Fort Sumter surrendered as well, Beauregard replied, “...take it if he could.”
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-c/week-126
C+ Monday, September 7, 1863: South Carolina operations/Siege of Charleston Harbor: “Poor old Fort Sumter had definitely seen better days. Admiral John A. B. Dahlgren sailed by it today and said it looked ‘from seaward…rather that of a steep, sandy island than ..a fort.’ Dahlgren was greatly relieved to find that what had been expected to be a bitter and bloody battle for Battery Wagner and Battery Gregg had turned into a simple occupation of Morris Island when it was discovered the batteries had been evacuated overnight. He did perhaps get a bit carried away, though, when he sent a message to Beauregard in Charleston, in which he demanded that Sumter be likewise surrendered. Beauregard wrote back, formally declining this invitation and then, somewhat sardonically, suggesting that Dahlgren was invited to ‘…take it if he could.'”
https://bjdeming.com/2013/09/02/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-september-2-8-1863/
C++ Monday, September 7, 1863: Heavy shelling continues in Charleston Harbor, as Union forces prepare to assault Fort Sumter.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=September+7%2C+1863
Monday, September 7, 1863: September 7-8, 1863 in Charleston, South Carolina - During the night of September 6-7, Confederate forces evacuated Fort Wagner and Battery Gregg pressured by advancing Federal siegeworks. Union troops then occupied all of Morris Island. On September 8, a storming party of about 400 marines and sailors attempted to surprise Fort Sumter. The attack was repulsed suffering 4 killed and 114 captured. This was part of Charleston Operations
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1863s.html
D Wednesday, September 7, 1864: William Tecumseh Sherman [US] orders the evacuation of Atlanta, Georgia.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186409
D Wednesday, September 7, 1864: Under protest from Lieut. General John B. Hood (CSA) Major General William T. Sherman (US) orders the civilian evacuation of Atlanta, Georgia. Sherman cites his lack of supplies to feed the population. With about as many Federal troops guarding the railroad and telegraph lines in Tennessee and Georgia, as there were in Atlanta, Sherman did not want to have to feed and worry about women and children. He offers transportation south of the city, and between September 11 and 16 some 446 families, about 1,600 people leave their homes and possessions. Sherman’s order surely didn’t win him any fans among the Southerners, but he was only starting to build his infamous reputation with the Confederates.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-178
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Sherman Orders Atlanta to be Emptied
September 7, 1864 (Wednesday) “If the people raise a howl against my barbarity and cruelty, I will answer that war is war, and not popularity-seeking. If they want peace, they and their relat…
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LTC Stephen F. I am choosing: 1862: Antietam/Sharpsburg campaign. CSA Gen Robert E. Lee crossed the Potomac River at Leesburg, Virginia. The bulk of his 38,000-man army was now in Maryland, mostly bivouacked in and near Frederick, Maryland. George B. McClellan moved out of Washington ---strategic/importance of the battle.
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LTC Stephen F.
Thank you my friend and brother-in-Christ SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL for letting us know that you consider September 7, 1862 "Antietam/Sharpsburg campaign. CSA Gen Robert E. Lee crossed the Potomac River at Leesburg, Virginia. The bulk of his 38,000-man army was now in Maryland, mostly bivouacked in and near Frederick, Maryland. George B. McClellan moved out of Washington with an 87,000-man army in pursuit, believing he is facing 120,000 Confederates." to be the most significant event of September 7 during the US Civil War.
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Another great post, I had never heard the story concerning the duel, fascinating reading.
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LTC Stephen F.
You are very welcome my friend MAJ (Join to see) for letting us know that you enjoyed reading the background on "the killing of CSA Brig Gen Marsh Walker by CSA Brig Gen John Marmaduke during a duel in 1863."
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