U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865
From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Sunday, April 7, 1861.
PICKENS REINFORCEMENT GOES AWRY
Pensacola, Fla. - The first attempt to land U.S. soldiers to
reinforce the tiny garrison at Ft. Pickens, in the Pensacola
harbor, has backfired.
Meanwhile the Confederated forces at Pensacola have grown to
nearly 5,000 men.
Authorities in Washington were informed by courier yesterday
that Capt H. A. Adams of the Man-o-war Brooklyn, lying off
Pensacola had refused to obey an order to land troops on his
vessel at Pickens. The order came from Pres. Lincoln, but was
transmitted through the Army commander, Gen. Winfield Scott. It
reached Capt. Adams Sunday.
Capt. Adams held that he must obey prior orders from the
Secretary of the Navy forbidding him to land troops unless
Pickens was attacked.
The Confederates at Pensacola are from Florida, Louisiana,
Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia--Creoles in bright Zouave
uniforms: Black Belt planters who wear plainer clothing but
boast such fancy names as "De Soto Irrepressible" and "Southern
Avengers" and "crackers" who are said to be first-rate shots.
More troops are on the way.
The Florida First Infantry mustered
into Confederate service Friday for 12 months duty, left
Chattahoochee, Fla., on river boats immediately for Columbus,
Ga., from which they will go to Pensacola.
Meanwhile, efforts are being made to complete the Montgomery-to-
Pensacola Railroad to facilitate the transportation of troops
and war goods. It is expected to be finished shortly.
And in Mississippi, wealthy gentlemen have raised a purse of
$10,000 for the first member of the Mississippi Rifles who puts
a foot on Pickens in time of war. (Others have done so under
the "truce" now existing.)
ANTI-SOUTHERN PAPERS GEORGIA JURY'S TARGET - cooperationists
and abolitionists, beware.
The grand jury of Greene County, Ga., has issued a presentment
asking the legislature to enact a law under which any citizen of
that county who subscribes to the New York Post, New York
Tribune, Cleveland Plain Dealer or any publication of like
character (meaning anti-Southern) may be fined or imprisoned.
And at Anderson, S.C., a dentist, Dr. John T. Horne, was sent to
Indiana with his hair cropped close on one side of his head
after being found in correspondence with Black Republicans.
GEORGIA FORMS NEW REGIMENT
Macon, Ga. - The First Georgia Regiment, composed of units
from all parts of the state, has assembled here on order of
Gov. Joseph E. Brown. The Confederacy has decided to send
it to Pensacola.
Gov. Brown reviewed the troops and addressed them at Ft.
Oglethorpe, a new camp, here Friday, declaring: ".....may the
God of battles go with you and lead, protect, and defend you
till the last foot-print of the invader shall be obliterated
from the soil of our common country."
The regiment includes the Gate City Guards of Atlanta and units
from among other places, Augusta, Dahlonega, Cartersville,
Bainbridge, Forsyth, Perry, Newnan, Sandersville, Columbus,
Ringgold, and Macon.
Eight companies left yesterday for Pensacola in the Confederate
service. The balance will go tomorrow.
They are an interesting lot. The Bainbridge Independent
Volunteers wear coarse flannel shirts and rough "Negro cloth,"
but the members are said to represent a million dollars of
wealth.
Some units have fancy names--such as the Perry Southern Rights
Guard and the Sandersville Washington Rifles.
James N. Ramsey of Columbus has been elected regimental colonel.
The lieutenant colonel is J. O. Clarke of Augusta. P. H. Larey of
Cartersville and George Harvey Thompson of Atlanta were chosen
majors.
Artillery thundered and 7,000 people shouted farewell at the
Atlanta Gate City Guards, Etowah Infantry and Ringgold Artillery
340 men in all--left Atlanta for Macon Monday.
On the eve of departure of the Quitman Guards of Forsyth,
citizens raised $1200 for families of the troops who may be in
need during their absence. At Perry, $1200 was raised for
additional military supplies.
There are said to be 10,700 men in 214 companies in Georgia now.
In Atlanta, two prominent Georgia secessionists took an opposite
view of the crisis. "We will not have war," Mr. Thomas R.R.
Cobb said in an address at the Athenaeum Monday night, unless
the "folly" of North or South causes it.
(He is not anxious for border states--including Virginia--to
enter the Confederacy, he said, because their large abolition
elements would endanger the Confederacy's future.)
Mr. Benjamin Hill said at the Antitedum Thursday night: "The
feeling in the North is growing stronger in afvor of peace.
There is really no necessity for war, but if war does come we
are prepared for it........The prospects of peace are growing
brighter every day, and I believe we will have peace......."
OTHER NEWS OF INTEREST
Brenham, Tex. - A war that will "fill our fair land with
suffering, misfortune and disaster" has been
forecast by Gen. Sam Houston, who was deposed as governor of
Texas because he refused to take an oath of allegiance to the
Confederacy.
In a speech here Sunday, Gen. Houston said: "The soil of our
beloved South will drink deep the precious blood of our sons and
brethren. The die has been cast by your secession
leaders.......and you must ere long reap the fearful harvest of
conspiracy and revolution."
He protested "against surrendering the federal
government......to the northern abolitionist leaders and to
accept in its stead a so-called Confederate government whose
Constitution contains the germs and seeds of decay."
Any well-informed man may see, he went on, that the states of
the Confederacy soon will secede from the government they have
just formed, becoming separate nations.
There were more resignations this week from the Union Army by
officers planning to join the Confederate service. They
include: Messrs. Stephen D. Ramseur, Lincolnton, N.C., native
and West Point graduate last year (resigned yesterday); Martin
Luther Smith, New York native, West Point graduate (1842) who
married an Athens, Ga. girl and served with the U.S.
Topographical Engineers, with particular merit, during the
Mexican war (resigned Monday); Edmund Kirby Smith , St.
Augustine, Fla., native West Point graduate (1845), brevetted for
gallantry during the Mexican War, formerly assistant professor
of mathematics at West Point, at first opposed Texas' seizure of
U.S. Ft. Colorado; Bryan Morel Thomas, native of near
Milledgeville, Ga., Oglethorpe University student, West Point
graduate (resigned yesterday); John Bordenave Villepoigue,
Camden, S.C., native, West Point graduate (1854) served in West,
resigned Sunday; Charles Sidney Winder, Talbot County,
Maryland, native, West Point graduate (1850), resigned yesterday
(promoted to captaincy during heroism aboard troopship during
Atlantic hurricane of 1854).
From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Sunday, April 14, 1861
SUMTER TIME LINE
Tuesday: Pres. Jefferson Davis preferred assault: Secretary of State Robert Toombs (cautioning against the theory that war would unite the Confederacy and bring border states into the fold) said "War at this time.......is suicide, murder, and will lose us every friend at the North. The firing upon that fort will inaugurate a civil war greater than any the world has yet seen.
Wednesday: War Secretary Leroy Walker wired Beauregard: "You will at once demand its (Sumter's) evacuation, and if this is refused, proceed in such manner as you may determine, to reduce it." (In Charleston, tension, poor discipline, bickering generals troubled Beauregard; Virginia's ex-Rep. Roger Pryor delivered a fiery speech, promising his state's secession, saying, "Give the old lady time.......she is a little rheumatic," and urging, "Strike a blow!")
Thursday (3:30 P.M.): Three Beauregard aides arrived at Sumter, demanded its evacuation and promised safe conduct; Anderson refused adding: "If you do not batter us to pieces, we shall be starved out in a few days." This was relayed to Montgomery; Walker telegraphed Beauregard; "Do not desire needlessly to bombard Ft. Sumter" and asked when Anderson promised to evacuate; Confederates burned ship hulks east of Sumter to prevent entry of vessels.
Friday (12:45 A.M.): Beauregard's aides asked Anderson when his food shortage would force him to evacuate; hoping the relief expedition would arrive before noon Monday, he said he would evacuate by then, unless hostilities began or he received other instructions. At 3:20 A.M. (Friday), one aide, Col. James Chestnut, wrote Anderson: "We have the honor to notify you that he (Beauregard) will open the fire of his batteries on Ft. Sumter in one hour from this time." At 3:30 the aides left, rowed to Ft. Johnson (west of Cummings Point), ordered Capt. G. S. James to fire a signal shot at 4:30 A.M. Capt. James offered Mr. Pryor the opportunity, Mr. Pryor who had been urging "Strike a blow!" declined saying, "I could not fire the first gun of the war."
Friday (4:30 A.M.): The shot was fired, followed by other batteries (fiery secessionist and agriculturalist Edmund Ruffin reportedly shot the first shell from Cummings Point), There were no batteries at Charleston--but its wharves, streets and rooftops were immediately thronged with people, some praying, some jubilant.
Sumter's guns did not immediately respond; the men ate breakfast about 6 a.m. Friday (fat pork and water) as bombs fell in their midst. Capt. Abner Doubleday, just before 7 a.m., fired the first retort; Sumter's 32-pound cannon, used almost wholly since its heavier guns were to exposed to the enemy, did little damage (most of it at Ft. Moultrie). Confederate shells tore away upper wall sections, set some fires, most of them quickly extinguished; some hardy secessionists rowed out to get a better view; a shell cut Sumter's flag halyards and the emblem was stuck at half mast. Friday evening's rain helped snuff out a barracks blaze. As Union ships waited outside the harbor (watched by torch-bearing Confederates in boats Friday night), Confederate mortars kept up their fire.
Yesterday: Charleston's business was suspended (one furniture merchant announced that his promised "sale will.....take place as soon as Ft. Sumter is taken"). As rain diminished about 8 a.m. Confederate fire was increased; thousands watched as Sumter appeared to be an inferno; inside Sumter was a nightmare, the blaze causing shells and grenades to explode, but the fort continued to fire an occasional shell. When the flagstaff was decapitated (12:48 p.m.), fire singed men replaced it with a spar.
Suddenly Texas Col. L. T. Wigfall appeared at Sumter. Though unauthorized to do so, he told Anderson that Beauregard "wishes to stop this and to set upon what terms you will evacuate this work." Anderson said: "Instead of noon on the 15th, I will go now." They worked out the terms of evacuation about 1:30 p.m. yesterday and the Union flag was hauled down.
Shortly thereafter, aides of Beauregard, seeing the flag down, arrived, learned of Wigfall's maneuver and told Anderson he came without authority. Anderson threatened to resume the conflict but negotiations were begun. (As they did, Mr. Pryor took a drink from a Sumter bottle, mistakenly imbibing some dangerous iodide of potassium. Hearing his agonized cries, a Union surgeon pumped out his stomach.)
Total casualties of the war's first battle: Four Confederates (not including Pryor) slightly wounded, four Union men injured, one secessionist horse killed. Charleston was untouched (Sumter was struck 600 times). The secessionists are jubilant; their hero Beauregard. Gov. Pickens in a victory speech last night, exalted: "We have met them......and we have conquered. We have defeated their 20 millions."
U.S. REINFORCES FT. PICKENS
Pensacola, Fla. - The union has been successful in its second effort to get reinforcements into Ft. Pickens on Santa Rosa Island. Although some 5,000 Confederate soldiers are encamped in the area, there have been no hostilities.
On Friday night, While Ft. Sumter was under fire at Charleston, 200 troops and a battalion of Marines were landed at Pickens--heretofore held by a force of only 81 men--from U.S. vessels which have been waiting in the harbor.
Orders to put the troops ashore were delivered by Navy Lt. John Lorimar Worden, who reached Pensacola after a five-day overland journey from Washington, during which he was stopped twice for questioning by Confederate authorities.
At the suggestion of Navy Secretary Gideon Welles, Lt. Worden had memorized the orders he was to deliver, and did not carry a copy of them. He put them in writing upon reaching the flagship Wyandotte, after first obtaining a pass to the ship from the Confederate commander here, Brig. Gen. Braxton Bragg. Lt Worden told Gen. Bragg he had no orders to deliver.
MERRIMACK TO BE MOVED
Washington - As a precaution, Navy Secretary Gideon Welles Thursday ordered the man-o-war Merrimack, which is awaiting engine repairs at Norfolk, put in order and transferred to Philadelphia.
From The Atlanta-Journal Constitution - Sunday, May 12, 1861.
BRAGG NEEDS MUNITIONS.
Pensacola, Fla. - The Commander of the Confederate forces here, Brig. Gen. Braxton Bragg, has reported to Montgomery that he lacks essential munitions and therefore is powerless to stop Union operations in and around Ft. Pickens.
In a letter to Secretary of War Walker, he declared Monday: "Five thousand sets of infantry accouterments are necessary for the preservation of our ammunition. It is now carried by the men in their pockets, and one day's hard service would destroy it all. A supply of musket cartridges is also a first necessity.
The present supply here would last me in an engagement about 30 minutes. Our best defense against the (U.S.) fleet--shells--cannot be used for want of fuses. Not one has yet reached me.
These items are not mentioned by way of complaint, for I know full well the difficulties and embarrassments which surrounded the (War) Department, but simply to show how utterly impossible it is to check the enemy in his operations."
TWO MORE SECEDE.
The legislatures of Tennessee and Arkansas voted Monday to join the Confederacy. Although the Tennessee action is subject to ratification by popular vote June 8, anti union sentiment has grown so strong that the state will certainly go over. Curiously, in votes taken previous to the firing on Ft. Sumter and Pres. Lincoln's first call for volunteers, both Tennessee and Arkansas rejected secession overwhelmingly. Now they have rejected the Union similarly.
The additions will bring the number of Confederate states to 10, assuming Virginia's voters also ratify secession May 23, which like Tennessee's voters, they are certain to do. At any rate, the Confederate Congress is certain of it; that body voted Tuesday to admit Virginia as the eighth state.
North Carolina also is moving closer to secession. Her voters will choose delegates to a secession convention tomorrow.
Meanwhile Kentucky is still split over the entire question, Maryland moved closer to the Union side and citizens of western Virginia continued to agitate for withdrawal from the state because they disapprove of disunion.
Arkansas' ordinance of secession was passed by a state convention with only one dissenting vote. The convention has full legislative power.
After the Tennessee General Assembly had acted Monday, Gov. Isham G. Harris chose three commissioners "to enter into military a military league with the authorities of the Confederate states......."
Tennessee also passed a bill to raise a "provisional force of volunteers" consisting of 55,000 men, and to allow Gov. Harris to sell $5,000,000 in bonds to equip them. Among other things, the bill also provides that soldiers shall be allowed 40 cents a day for the use and risk of their horses.
In North Carolina, the first regiment raised by the state elected officers yesterday--D. H. Hill, colonel; C.C. Lee, lieutenant colonel; J. H. Lane, major.
In Kentucky, Gov. Beria Magoffin urged the legislature to call a state convention to decide whether that state shall secede.
In Maryland, now occupied by Union troops, the legislature was urged to unite for the protection of the state. Significantly, a union recruiting office was opened in Baltimore.
In Wheeling, Va., a center of dissatisfaction with Virginia's secession, it was reported that 2,000 stands of arms had arrived. Speakers favoring separation from eastern Virginia were applauded last night. Two companies of Wheeling militia went into Union service.
HOUSTON JOINS SOUTH.
Independence, Texas - Gen. Sam Houston, deposed as governor of Texas because he opposed secession and would not swear allegiance to the Confederacy, has now taken a stand for the South.
"Sectional prejudices, sectional aggrandizement and sectional pride stimulate the North in prosecuting this war," he said in a speech here. "The trouble is upon us, and no matter how it came or who brought it on, we have to meet it. Whether we have opposed this secession movement of favored it, we must alike meet the consequences."
The time has come, he said, when a man's section is his country. "I stand by mine."
From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Sunday, August 11, 1861.
ACTIVITY IN FLORIDA
Union-Held Ft. Pickens Is Aided; Confederates Seize ships.
Pensacola Fla. - Vessels of both North and South continue to
ply the waters off Florida, those of the former taking
supplies to Ft. Pickens and those of the latter searching
for Union merchant ships to plunder. Both have been
successful.
The garrison of Ft. Pickens (on Santa Rosa Island near here)
has built a hospital in part from lumber brought to the
island by the steam transport Vanderbilt (given to the U.S.
government by the shipping magnate, Mr. Cornelius
Vanderbilt).
Still another Union vessel, the Illinois has taken to
Pickens 28 nine inch Dahlgren guns. (However the guns were
not found suitable for service ashore and much of the
ammunition was unusable because of poor fusing.)
Meanwhile the privateer Jefferson Davis, whose base is
Charleston, S.C., has captured two merchant ships, the john
Carver and the Alvarado, off Florida.
There is some indication, however, that the Union's costal
blockade is causing shortages. Owning to a lack of paper,
the St. John's Mirror of Jacksonville recently published an
issue on paper one-fourth the regular size.
UNION ARMY COURT PROBES WHETHER COLONEL WAS DRUNK IN BATTLE.
Washington - An Army court of inquiry was convened yesterday
at the request of Union Col. D.S. Miles, to examine "into
certain allegations made against him" by Gen I. B. Richardson.
Gen. Richardson charged that Col. Miles was drunk during the
battle of Bull Run.
The colonel, put in charge of a battlefield area by Gen. I.
McDowell (an area in which was located Gen. Richardson's
command), had given Gen. Richardson some orders, changing
disposition of troops. When the general refused to obey the
colonel's orders, the colonel threatened to have him
arrested. Following this, the general leveled the charge of
drunkenness.
McCLELLAN SITS FOR BRADY.
Washington - Union General George B. McClellan and his staff
visited Mathew Brady's photographic gallery Monday to sit for
portraits. Many residents visited the galley Wednesday to
see the finished photographs.
FEMALE SPY TAKEN
Alexandria, Va. - A woman dressed in the uniform
of the 25th N.Y. Regiment, detected by her effeminate voice, was
seized as a spy as she strolled near Union camps here. Letters
addressed to Confederate Gen. P. G. T . Beauregard were taken from
her.
From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Sunday, September 8, 1861
ACTION IN FLORIDA
Pensacola, Fla. - Union Col. Brown on Monday night sent a boat with 11 men to destroy a Confederate dry dock which he suspected the enemy was going to sink to block the channel approaching Union-held Ft. Pickens.
COLONEL DEAD OF WOUND
Orange Court House, Va. - Col. Ebert J. Jones, commander of the Fourth Alabama Infantry, died here Thursday of a wound sustained over six weeks ago, at the Battle of Bull Run. Col. Jones, an Alabama native who practiced law in Athens (Ala.) and served in the Mexican War, had been requested by some of his men and officers to resign (for "petty charges") before the Battle of Bull Run. He had promised to do so after the battle, if the men still desired his resignation.
FREE NEGROES DONATE
Charleston, S.C. - Free Negroes here have contributed $450 to the Confederate war effort. "The zealous and unfailing alacrity with which this class of our population has always devoted their means to promote the safety of our state," said the Charleston Mercury, " is alike honorable to themselves and gratifying to the community."
THE WAR DIARY
New York - The Union ship Northern Light brought 30,000 stand of arms from California.
Augusta, Ga. - The Constitutionalist on Friday again requested donations of blankets and clothing for the soldiers who will need them this winter.
Cleveland, Ohio - A young woman has been discovered in the guise of a soldier at Camp Wood. She gives her name as Mary Smith , from Dayton, and said that she wanted to go to war to avenge the death of her only brother. This is the second time, she said, she has been discovered. It was her ability at sewing and the way she handled a dishcloth in the kitchen that first made others suspicious.
New Orleans, La. - Some 450 Texas volunteers arrived here yesterday enroute to join Confederate forces in Virginia.
From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Sunday, October 13, 1861
CONFEDERATES RAID FLORIDA CAMP
Overrun U.S. Post But Take Losses While Departing
Pensacola, Fla. - Both sides are claiming victory in a fierce encounter which took place on Santa Rosa Island when a Confederate force landed, raided and destroyed a Union camp near here.
The mission of the Confederates was fulfilled: the 1090 Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Georgia troops overran the camp of the 6th New York Zouaves in the predawn darkness of Wednesday morning.
The surprised Zouaves fled to the safety of Ft. Pickens, the union installation on the island.
The Confederates beat off one counterattack, but, tarrying to plunder the enemy camp, were set upon by a strong Union force, armed with long range Enfield rifles, before they departed by boat for the mainland.
Their departure was delayed when the propeller of a steamer, which was towing open barges of troops became entangled in a cable.
While the steamer and barges drifted, Federal soldiers on the beaches poured rifle fire into the barges. With their shorter-range guns, the Confederates could not return an effective fire.
Fourteen Union troops were killed.
29 were wounded and 24 were captured or are missing.
The Confederates lost 18 killed, 39 wounded and 30 captured.
Confederate killed included Capt. R. H. Bradford (of Madison, Fla.). Among those captured by the Confederates is Capt. Israel Hodges.
In the meantime, it was learned that Gen. Edmond K. Smith has been named to replace Gen. John B. Grayson as commander of the middle and Eastern Florida Department. And on Wednesday and Thursday, Confederates at Tampa seized two sloops, the William Batty and the Lyman Dudley (both out of Key West with licenses to fish along the coast). Thirteen prisoners were taken.
UNION FLEET SCATTERED AT NEW ORLEANS
"Turtle" Rams Ship But Is Disabled.
New Orleans, La. - A Confederate flotilla led by an ironclad (a former ice-breaker to which a cast iron ram had been fixed) attacked and scattered the federal fleet at the mouth of the Mississippi yesterday morning.
The Confederates claim to have sunk one ship. The Union version is that, while one vessel was damaged and an attempt was made to scuttle another, all its vessels escaped.
The ironclad ram which spearheaded the Confederate attack is the "Manassas," known here as the "Turtle" because of the leveling of the superstructure.
Built by private capital and subsequently seized by Confederate authorities, it rammed the side of a Union vessel in the predawn darkness and its crew left the fight believing had inflicted a mortal blow on the Union sloop-of-war Preble.
But Union accounts say the ship was the sloop-of-war Richmond and that while she was damaged and later went temporarily aground, she did not sink.
The "Turtle," commanded by Flag Officer Charles Austin, led the "mosquito fleet" of small boats collected at New Orleans by Commander George N. Hollins into the midst of four Union blockading vessels before the presence of the Confederates was discovered.
It struck one ship at a speed of 10 knots, withdrew and struck again.
Flag Officer Austin ordered "The Turtle" after another vessel, but the impact of the ramming had broken a condenser, putting one of the ironclads two engines out of commission. The ironclad sailed away as the Union vessels began to open fire, shooting away one of the "Turtle's" smokestacks and toppling the other into the vent of the first.
Dense smoke choked the crew until Engineer William Hardy, held held on the sloping deck by Flag Officer Austin as shells rained all about, cut the stack wreckage away.
Meanwhile a signal for the other Confederate vessels to come into the fight has misfired, and it was not until well after daylight that Commodore Hollings was able to send the rest of little fleet after the Union ships.
The gunboats Ivy, McRae, and Tuscarawas then engaged the Union vessels in a furious cannonade that did not significant damage to either side.
However the Richmond and Vincennes went aground and in a mix-up of signals Vincennes Commander Robert Handy, received what he took to be a signal from the Richmond to abandon ship. He ordered a slow match ignited to fire the magazine and took off the crew.
Then he learned to his amazement that the Richmond had signaled "get under way," and a party was put back aboard the Vincennes to put out the slow match.
Only afterward was it learned that the seaman who lit the fuse, not taking his commander seriously, had cut off the burning end and thrown it overboard to prevent the ship's destruction.
The Vincennes was freed after 32 cannon and all shot were tossed overboard. Lightened and humiliated, it along with the other Union vessels, departed.
RUM TRIGGERS FRACAS
Danesville, Va. - "Demon Rum" precipitated a tragic affair Monday night at the temporary of the Union's 50th Connecticut Regiment.
During the turmoil of pitching tents and preparing supper in the midst of a terrific storm, an unprincipled spectator smuggled a hogshead of liquor into the lines, and before detected by the officers, enough had been disposed of to create the great disturbance.
An affray occurred, in which one citizen was killed, two or three wounded and several horses and cattle shot. Gen. N. Banks then issued an order that all liquor within the limits of the pickets be destroyed, and those found selling it be arrested.
From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Sunday, October 27 1861.
PENSACOLA FORT HIT.
Gen. Bragg Considers Abandoning It.
Pensacola, Fla. - Union forces have subjected Ft. McRae to such a heavy bombardment that Gen. Braxton Bragg, the Confederate commander here is considering abandoning the installation.
The guns of Ft. Pickens, on Santa Rosa Island, and of the ships Niagara and Richmond brought the fort under fire Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Confederate steamer Time also was attacked by the Union ships as she entered Pensacola Harbor.
The shelling intensified hostilities between the two camps. They enjoyed rather placid relations until a few weeks ago when Union troops destroyed the Confederate-held dry dock and fired a ship. The Confederates retaliated by landing a force on Santa Rosa Island and overrunning a Union Camp last week.
Meanwhile Florida Gov. John Milton reported to the War Department in Richmond that at St. Marks, on the Gulf of Mexico, there are "howitzers and empty shells. No powder or fuse to prepare them."
He announced he would not appoint a surgeon general for Florida troops until absolutely necessary, since he feels the state cannot afford the $3000 salary of the position.
Orders assigning Confederate Gen. E. Kirby Smith to the Florida command were revoked this week by the adjutant general's office. Reportedly Gen Smith will be assigned to duty in Virginia. The Florida commander will be Brig. Gen. James H. Trapier, now in South Carolina.
Gen. Trapier is to replace Gen John B. Grayson who died at Tallahassee Monday after an extended illness.
NAVY ASSAULT SET
Union Ships With 13,000 Troops Massed At Hampton Roads.
Attack Point Still Secret; Departure in Days.
Forterss Monroe, Va. - The Union's huge naval expedition, whose assault point is still a military secret, is expected to leave from near this point within days.
Many vessels of all types are massed here, some carrying 13,000 troops, artillery and hundreds of horses required for the land assault. (The "Great Republic" has 900 horses aboard, for example.)
Ships came to Hampton Roads, near here, from New York and Annapolis mainly. Among those sailing from Annapolis last Sunday were the Atlantic, Daniel Webster, Roanoke, Empire City, Ariel, Ocean Queen, Vanderbilt, Baltic, Marion, Parkersburg, Illinois, and the Coatzacoalcos.
Commodore Samuel F. Dupont is the naval commander of the expedition, with Gen. Thomas W. Sherman in charge of the land forces.
Various newspapers have conjectured that the assault will be made between Port Royal, S.C. and Brunswick, Ga.
Purpose of the assault is to drive a wedge in the side of the Confederacy and to strengthen the union blockade of Southern ports.
A UNION DEFEAT
The Federals Ambused at Ball's Bluff
Leesburg, Va. - What was intended to be a "slight demonstration" by which Union troops (were) to force the Confederates out of this town on the Potomac River ended Monday in diaster for the Federals.
Ambushed by a strong Confederate force and driven down the steep sides of Ball's Bluff with no possible means of escape, the Union Union forces lost 921 men, including their commander, Col Edward D. Baker, former U.S. Congressman and friend of Pres. Lincoln.
Union Gen. G. B. McClellan had ordered the "slight demonstration" 40 miles from Washington and Brig. Gen. Charles F. Stone began to execute it Sunday.
Under Col. Baker, troops crossed the river in few boats and scaled the 70-foot high bluff. (McClellan had not ordered a crossing.)
They inched forward about a mile, expecting to sight a Confederate camp reportedly in the vicinity.
Instead they found a strong Confederate unit under Col. Nathan G. (Shanks) Evans.
Quite unprepared for this, Union officers fed their men into the battle on a piecemeal basis and receiving heavy fire, were compelled to retreat.
At the river, the troops had the choice of swimming, surrendering or being killed.
When the fighting ended, 49 Union troops were dead, 158 were wounded and 714 were missing or captured. The Confederate estimate is that 650 were captured. In fact, 525 already have been marched into Richmond.
The Confederates lost 149 men--33 killed, 115 wounded, and one missing.
Col. Baker died on the field of battle. With nearly his last breath he declared: ".....let us do all we can and die bravely."
The Union wounded include Lt. Col. Paul J. Revere, grandson of the Revolutionary War's Paul Revere; Lt. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., son of the poet; and Brig. Gen. Frederick W. Lander, a well-known railroad surveyor in prewar years.
The defeat, while on a much smaller scale, is the most irritating turn of events to the North since the rout at Manassas.
In particular, the death of Col. Baker has angered many congressmen. The defeat is being compared with the rout of the federals at Bull Run. The setback Monday, being in such proximity to Washington, is also prompting talk of an official investigation into the disaster.
From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Sunday, November 24, 1861
UNION BATTERS FLORIDA FORT
Pensacola, Fla. - Union and Confederate batteries roared at each other for the second consecutive day yesterday, and by nightfall the Confederacy's Ft. McRae had been reduced to such a state that Gen. Braxton Bragg is considering abandoning it.
In the largest engagement here to date, an observer estimated 2500 shells were fired by the batteries of the opposing forts.
The guns of the Union's Ft. Pickens, on Santa Rosa Island, are much superior to those of the Confederate batteries, however, and evidently the Union gunners have a superior quantity of ammunition, for the Confederacy was unable to match shot for shot.
The Union gunners used 50,000 pounds of powder and kept three guns firing every minute for two days. The men of war, Niagara and Richmond also took part in the bombardment.
In addition to damaging Ft. McRae heavily, the Union battered the Confederate supply steamer Time so badly that she will evidently be useless.
The town of Warrington, near Pensacola, was about two thirds destroyed by fire and the village of Woolsey, north of the Pensacola Navy Yard, also was heavily damaged.
Casualties on both sides are light.
The Union lost one private killed and six wounded. One Confederate was killed by a shell and six were smothered when a powder magazine caved in.
Three times fires were started in Ft. McRae, but the powder magazines of the fort were not exploded. Both McRae and Barrancas lost their flagstaffs to Union shells.
Gov. John Milton complained to Richmond about the arms situation Tuesday. Brig. Gen. J. H. Trapier, named several weeks ago as commander of the defenses of Florida, still has not arrived, Gov. Milton wrote Pres. Davis. Yet when the state makes a plea for arms it is told the "requisition should be made to the officer in command," he said.
Gov. Milton added this acid comment: "It would have been almost as reasonable to have referred me to the emperor of China."
If not promptly aided by men munitions and trained officers, Gov. Milton warned, "Florida may be lost.......Her citizens have almost despaired of protection from the Confederate government--will lose confidence in it."
POSTAL AFFAIRS:
GOOD AND BAD Stamps are in the news this week.
North and South.
Statistics for the Union post office department show that for the year ending June 30, income will be nearer by $2,500,000 paying expenses than in a number of years past. The reason, says the New York Times "is the abolishment of extended and profitless routes in the southern states.
Postal matters in the Confederacy, however are glum.
The Atlanta Intelligencer complained Thursday: "What is the reason the post office department does not furnish the public with postage stamps?..........The complaints have been growing louder and more general for several months.........In no department of the public service have there been such gross inefficiencies and neglect as in the post office."
The reason may lie in the fact that virtually all the stamps printed thus far have been distributed to postal stations situated near large bodies of troops.
NEW YORK - A fleet of old Union ships loaded with stone and scheduled to be sunk in the channels of Savannah and Charleston, left eastern ports Wednesday. There are 25 aged vessels - whalers with double decks - loaded with stone and fitted with a special valve placed in a hole bored in the bottoms. When each reaches it's destination, the valve will be opened.
MOBILE - The Confederate gunboat Tuscarawas was burned to the water's edge yesterday but he crew is safely ashore. The fire's origin is unknown.
MISSISSIPPI - The Vicksburg Sun says it has been informed that large quantities of flour are stored in the city and "The holders say they will not sell until they can get $20 per barrel. Comments on these fellows' principles is unnecessary.
Desperate measures require desperate remedies, and we hope that the flour will be taken, and the men paid a fair market valuation for it and receive a strong hint to leave the country for the country's good....."
Dec 6, 1861
From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Sunday, Dec. 8, 1861
Pensacola, Fla. - Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg reports he has about 3,000 men here---but "only about 600 efficient arms between them." He notes that he sent a 100-man company of Marines to Virginia, at Navy Secretary Mallory's request, but said he (Bragg) can no longer send arms: "It is a depleting process I cannot stand."
Yesterday, Gen R. E. Lee ordered medical officers in Florida to take every precaution for troops, including locating camp sites on high ground and daily removal of garbage.
Gov. John Milton on Friday signed a bill changing the name if New River County to Bradford as a memorial to the late Capt. Richard Bradford, killed in the Battle of Santa Rosa Island, Oct. 9.
Milledgeville, Ga. - Over the objection of Gov. Joseph E. Brown, the Georgia House of Representatives Friday proposed that the state troops called to duty on the coast be disbanded if the Confederacy won't take them into it's own army.
With a Federal force already landed at Tybee Island, near the mouth of the Savannah River, the action of the legislatures shocked the state.
Ostensibly, the aim of the measure is to rid the state of the expense of maintaining troops. But many believe the bill is intended to embarrass Gov. Brown, who controls the state forces.
So pronounced is the breach between the governor and the legislature that the Atlanta Intelligencer declared that the state is now witnessing two wars--one between the North and the South, the other between the Legislature and Gov. Brown.
Indeed, Gov. Brown thundered his protest to the House Thursday, and the House thundered back.
"I will be responsible for none of the consequences," warned the governor. The destruction of property on an invasion would be 10 times the cost of maintaining troops for defense, he said.
He questioned whether the state troops could be transferred to
the Confederate Army without their consent and whether the Confederate government could accept their brigade and company organizations and the unit-elected officers. (There are conflicts between state laws under which the troops enlisted and the Confederate laws on army organization.)
If the state units are disbanded, Gov. Brown warned in a message to the House, "it will become my duty, as the Executive of the State, to proclaim to her people that while the enemy is thundering at her gates, her representatives have left me powerless for her defense."
The governor was denounced on the floor of the House for what was described as an unwarranted interference in the House's business. Speaker Warren Akin said the governor had offered "the grossest indignity" to the House, and that the governor and his troops would not acquiesce to the House's action, "let them come with bayonets in their hands and drive us from these halls."
On Tybee Island, meanwhile, the U.S. Marines landed last week, continued to prepare defenses, amid growing concern that they will shortly bombard nearby Ft. Pulaski, which guards the Savannah River's mouth.
NEW POLITICAL UNIT IS DESIGNATED AS "WESTERN VIRGINIA"
Wheeling, Western Virginia - The convention of delegates from pro-union areas voted here Tuesday to change the name of this newly formed state from Kanawha to Western Virginia.
It has not yet been admitted to the Union.
Western Virginia - as a political entity--has been seeking to split away from Virginia for months--shortly after Virginia aligned herself with the Confederacy.
Union Gen. W. S. Rosecrans, commander of the Department of Western Virginia, arrived here Wednesday with his staff to make this his winter headquarters.
Feb 23, 1863
From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Sunday February 23, 1862
C. S. A. IS PULLING TROOPS FROM FLORIDA TO AIDE TENNESSEE FORCES
Tallahassee, Fla. - Because of Confederate defeats in Tennessee, Florida will be stripped of some troops to bolster Gen. A. S. Johnston south of Nashville. Confederate War Secretary Benjamin has informed Gen. Robert E. Lee, commander of the coastal areas of Georgia, South Carolina and east Florida, that troops must be withdrawn into more defensible limits. Benjamin said the Memphis-Richmond railroad must be held at any price and that the only troops to be retained in east Florida would be for the defense of the Apalachicola River. Troops are also being diverted from Gen. Braxton Bragg's command at Pensacola. The decision lays bare an area of east Florida which is expected to be under attack soon. The Union's navy and army campaign against Fernandina, Fla. - near the Georgia - Florida line - is ready to move.
COL. FORREST IS TRYING TO SAVE SUPPLIES
Nashville, Tenn. - Confederate Lt. Col. Nathan B. Forrest's cavalry, having stopped looting by dint of sabers and gun butts brought down upon the heads of plunderers, strove to get the huge mountain of Confederate supplies out of this city yesterday. All available railroad rolling stock and every wagon that could be impressed was being loaded with ammunition, clothing, food and other supplies. Forrest, who early last Sunday succeeded in sneaking his men out of Ft. Donelson before it surrendered reached Nashville on Tuesday and was given command of the city by Gen. John B. Floyd, who fled the fort by boat. Forest found a civilian mob plundering both government and private property. No officials remained in the city to stop them. He stationed men about the public commissary and ordered he mob to disperse. When it did not, he rode with his men into the crowd.
NEW ORLEANS NEARLY SET.
UNION PREPARATIONS TO ASSAULT.
Ship Island, Gulf of Mexico - Capt. David Glasgow Farragut, commander of the armada which is to attempt the capture of New Orleans, arrived here Thursday and immediately commenced preparations for the assault. Yesterday he ordered a survey team to go to the mouth of the Mississippi River, take soundings in the passes and mark the safest channels for his ships with buoys. He ordered also the U.S.S. Brooklyn to seize the telegraph station at Head of the Passes and cut the telegraph wire to New Orleans. In New Orleans, meanwhile, foreign nationals who had protested the prospect of being compelled to serve in the militia outside the city were told by Gov. A. B. Moore that he does not expect to order men from the city for defensive duty. Upriver from the city, Georgia brothers Asa and Nelson Tift are concerned because an engine shaft for their huge ironclad, the Mississippi has not arrived from Richmond, where it is being fabricated. Hoping to hurry things along, they wrote Navy Secretary Stephen R. Mallory yesterday: "It is unfortunate we have not the shaft, as we could put it on one of the engines at once."
UNION PREPARING TO BOMB FT. PULASKI
Lee Wants To Destroy "Indefensible" Brunswick.
Tybee Island, Ga. - Spurred on by Gen. George B. McClellan, the Union army chief, preparations were begun this week for the bombardment of Ft. Pulaski. Capt. Quincey A. Gillmore, chief engineer for the Union expeditionary force operating from Hilton Head Island, S.C. was sent to Tybee Island, opposite Ft. Pulaski, Wednesday to take command. Heavy guns for the bombardment began to arrive at Tybee, Friday. The Cleveland, Ohio, Plain Dealer erroneously reported that Savannah was already "probably captured." Gilmore believes he can reduce the fort with rifled cannon, though many military men believe no cannon can bring down the thick walls of a masonry fort such as Pulaski. Meanwhile, the fort was cut off from communication with Savannah, up the Savannah River. This was accomplished by the removal of obstructions in the many island channels. These hitherto had kept Union vessels from getting between the fort (on Cockspur Island at the river's mouth) and the mainland. While this went on, Gen. Robert E. Lee, Confederate commander in this area, had batteries on St. Simon's Island and Jekyll Island removed and proposed to burn the town of Brunswick, down the coast from Savannah. Gen. Lee wrote Adjutant-General Samuel Cooper on Tuesday that Brunswick is indefensible and that, moreover, the enemy would be much benefited if he could use it's many comfortable buildings. The town is predominantly a summer resort, he said, and is at this time mostly uninhabited. The men and guns from St. Simon's and Jekyl Islands are being sent to Savannah. To Gen. Roswell S. Ripley, the commander at Charleston, S.C., Lee wrote Wednesday to ask if exposed and isolated points around Charleston could be abandoned so the lines of defense could be contracted.
