The Latest Project

I've never posted here on anything approaching a consistent basis. I write about the Civil War when the mood strikes, and sometimes I go a long time between moods. Lately, it's been hard to get in the mood to do any kind of blogging, what with my work schedule and Twitter addiction, and all.

For a while, I attempted to do a this day in history thing, detailing events that happened on whatever day 150 years ago. That was fun and might someday be turned into a different sort of project, but it got me away from what I know best: the Civil War history all around me in Chattanooga.

My latest project is to start a new blog that focuses exclusively on Chattanooga's Civil War story and its many facets. This blog is going to go into a somewhat permanent hibernation and all of the relevant Chattanooga entries will gradually be transferred to the new blog, Chattanooga's Civil War. I hope to see you there...

December 31, 1862: The Battle of Stones River

In the winter of 1862...

Union General Ulysses S. Grant spent most of November and December trying to get at the Mississippi River stronghold of Vicksburg. He was finally forced to give up the attempt after cavalry raids by forces under Nathan Bedford Forrest and Earl Van Dorn tore up his supply lines.

On December 13, at Fredericksburg, Virginia, Union forces suffered one of their worst defeats of the war when wave after wave of Yankee attackers were cut down in front of the stone wall at the base of Marye's Heights.

And in Tennessee, on December 26, William Rosecran's Union Army of the Cumberland left their base at Nashville to confront Confederate Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee near the town of Murfreesboro. The ultimate goal of this Federal campaign was to drive the Rebel army out of Tennessee, and, in the process, capture Chattanooga, a key strategic position where the railroad lines of the eastern and western sections of the Confederacy converged.

Rosecrans's campaign also had important political ramifications. The mountains and valleys of east Tennessee were filled with pro-Unionist yeoman farmers who detested the slaveholding secessionist aristocrats. On June 21, 1861, Tennesseans had voted by a 2-to-1 margin for secession, but east Tennesseans had voted against it by a 3-to-1 margin. President Abraham Lincoln had made liberating these Unionists a priority early in the war, but distance, logistics, and the forbidding terrain had hampered military operations. Now Rosecrans and his 42,000-man army were on the offensive.

Braxton Bragg's army was lined up in an arc just north of Murfreesboro. The Stones River, the Nashville Turnpike, and the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad all sliced perpendicularly through his position. Bragg had about 8000 fewer men than Rosecrans, but a much more effective cavalry. On December 29, he sent Joseph Wheeler's cavalry off on a ride completely around the Union army to wreak havoc on Rosecrans's supply trains. Rosecrans kept coming, and by the next day had his army in line of battle confronting Bragg.

In keeping with their habit on naming battles after nearby towns, the Confederates would call it the Battle of Murfreesboro. The Federals preferred to name battles after nearby bodies of water; they called it the Battle of Stones River. (This naming preference would also apply to the names of armies. Confederates named their armies after the sections to be defended: the Army of Tennessee. Federals named their armies after rivers: the Army of the Cumberland.)

Both commanders planned similar attacks: attack the enemy's right flank and knock it back, and get into his rear, cutting him off from his base. If they had attacked simultaneously, the two armies might have spun around in a great circle, but Bragg beat Rosecrans to the punch.

The Battle of Stones River (Murfreesboro)

At dawn on December 31, 1862, 13,000 men massed on the Confederate left flank attacked, catching the Yankees at breakfast. Alexander McDowell McCook's corps took the brunt of the attack - two of his divisions were scattered.

Philip Sheridan, commanding McCook's third division, saved the Union army from disaster. Sheridan had his division awake and ready by 4:00 a.m. When the attack came, they were overwhelmed, but gave ground grudgingly and at great cost to the enemy - and themselves. More than one-third of his men were killed, wounded, or missing after four hours of fighting and all three of Sheridan's brigade commanders were killed.

Despite Sheridan's efforts, the Union right flank was driven back nearly three miles. During the crisis, Rosecrans was constantly on the move, riding from one danger zone to another to rally his men, barely pausing even when his chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Julius P. Garesche, was beheaded by a cannon ball while riding right beside him.

By noon, the Union line was bent back at almost a right angle. Bragg focused his attention on the angle at a patch of woods called the Round Forest. John Bowers, author of Chickamauga and Chattanooga - The Battles that Doomed the Confederacy, said of the ground that "if Bragg had studied the map for a year, he could not have picked a worse spot." Troops were sent across an open field, already littered with their comrades' bodies, to strike at an enemy dug into tree-lined fortifications.

A Mississippi brigade charged and fell, followed by a brigade of Tennesseans, who also fell. Finally, four brigades commanded by John C. Breckinridge, James Buchanan's vice president and a presidential candidate in 1860, went forward, attacking the position until nightfall. The Union army held.

During the night, Braxton Bragg wired news to Richmond of his army's great victory and the enemy's retreat. He was more than a little astonished when he woke on New Year's Day, 1863, and found Rosecrans's army still in his front. But the two armies were all fought out. All was quiet along Stones River expect for some desultory skirmishes. The most noteworthy action of the day was the occupation of a hill on the east side of the river by a Union division.

On January 2, Bragg ordered Breckinridge to clear the Yankees off the hill. Breckinridge vehemently protested the order. His men would have to cross open ground exposed to enfilading artillery fire from the west side of the river. When Bragg insisted, Breckinridge had no choice but to follow orders.

The attack went just as Breckinridge thought it would. His men swept forward and reached the Union line, only to be cut down by fifty-eight Union guns. The survivors were driven back to their original position by a Union counterattack. Breckinridge lost 1500 men in an hour.

Bragg mulled over his options. His army was exhausted, and more than a third of his men were killed, wounded, or missing. Recent rains were causing Stones River to rise. He feared being trapped where he stood. When he awoke on January 3 to find the Union army still in place, receiving reinforcements from Nashville, he ordered a retreat. He pulled his army back behind the Stones and Duck Rivers. The Union army was in no condition to pursue Bragg's army. They had suffered a casualty rate of 31 percent. Stones River was the most deadly battle of the war in proportion to the number of men involved.

Rosecrans went into winter quarters at Murfreesboro. After the failures at Vicksburg and Fredericksburg, the North was rejuvenated by the news from Stones River. Lincoln wired Rosecrans to congratulate him on his "hard earned victory which, had there been a defeat instead, the nation could hardly have lived over."

Maps:

Dec. 30, 1862 above
Dec. 31:  8 a.m., 9:45 a.m., 11 a.m., 4 p.m.
Jan. 2, 1863:  4 p.m., 4:45 p.m.

Defeated

I've conceded defeat in the "150 Years Ago" project. Due to circus dances beyond my control I got way behind very early in the proceedings and could never catch up.  The timeline is now mostly complete up until the time it abruptly stops way back in October.

The good news is that this frees up a lot of time for other projects here and elsewhere, projects like showing you a lot more Civil War-related photography...

Brotherton House, a photo by fdtate on Flickr.

This photo of the Brotherton House at the Chickamauga Battlefield was taken on Christmas Day 2010.  On September 20, 1863, Confederate Lieutenant General James Longstreet amassed a force of three divisions -- eight brigades arranged five rows deep -- commanded by Major General John Bell Hood.  The Confederates charged past the Brotherton House, striking a gap in the Federal lines.  The Union army was routed, saved from annihilation only by Major General George Thomas's stand on Horseshoe Ridge.

150 Years Ago -- The Battle of the Head of the Passes

Image via Wikipedia

A lot of naval history occurred on Saturday, October 12, 1861.

The ironclad ram Manassas led a couple of armed steamers and other assorted vessels in an early morning raid against the Federal flotilla blockading the Mississippi at Head of the Passes.

The Manassas proved to be a big disappointment.  The ship rammed the USS Richmond to open the engagement, piercing her hull below the waterline, but the collision actually did more damage to the Manassas, causing mechanical problems that kept the ram from striking again.  But the guns still worked and the flotilla's shots were bouncing off her ironclad sides; the Manassas started firing back and the rest of the Confederate ships joined in. Into the melee, the Confederates released large fire rafts to drift downstream into the Federal vessels.

The Federal flotilla tried to retreat through the Southwest Pass, but the Richmond and the Vincennes ran aground.  By this point, the battle had turned into a long-range trading of shots as the two Federal ships worked to get underway again.

The raid accomplished its short-term mission:  to run the Federal flotilla out of Head of the Passes.  And the Manassas gained a fearsome reputation.  But the Federal fleet would soon return in far greater numbers.


Also on this date, at Carondelet, Missouri, the Federal ironclad St. Louis was launched.  The ship would be the first of seven gunboats that would make up the core of the U.S. Navy 's Western Gunboat Flotilla.  The "Pook Turtles," designed by Samuel Pook and constructed by James Eads, would see their first action at the Battle of Fort Henry in February 1862, and would participate in every major action on the Upper Mississippi and its tributaries.


And, at Charleston, South Carolina, James Mason and John Slidell, the Confederate commissioners to Great Britian and France, headed for their new posts.  They ran the blockade at Charleston aboard the Theodora bound for Havana, Cuba.  Before they would reach Europe, they would become embroiled in an international incident that would almost start a war between the United States and England and gain the Confederacy the foreign recognition it needed.

150 Years Ago -- No Letters of Marque

Image of Gideon Welles via Wikipedia

On Tuesday, October 1, 1861, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles announced that the U.S. Navy would not be issuing letters of marque.

The Confederate Navy had been using privateers to disrupt Northern shipping since the earliest days of the war.  It was state-sanctioned piracy -- letters of marque were issued to private ship captains to attack and capture enemy vessels and bring them before admiralty courts for prize money.

Privateering was a viable tactic for a weaker naval power such as the Confederacy, which had few ships and few resources to build a fleet.  Armed ships and men could be mobilized to wreck havoc on Northern commerce, drawing U.S. resources away from the blockade and other duties.  In many cases, the privateers were employed as blockade runners.


Welles kept has opinion on privateering to himself and no letters of marque were issued.  Finally, on October 1, Welles's position was revealed and made official.  His chief objection to privateering was that it would "be a recognition of the assumption of the insurgents that they are a distinct and independent nationality."

NAVY DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 1861.

SIR: In relation to the communication of R.B. FORBES, Esq., a copy of which was sent by you to this Department on the 16th ult., inquiring whether lettersof-marque cannot be furnished for the propeller Pembroke, which is about to be dispatched to China. I have the honor to state that it appears to me there are objections to, and no authority for, granting letters-of-marque in the present contest. I am not aware that Congress, which has the exclusive power of granting letters-of-marque and reprisal, has authorized such letters to be issued against the insurgents; and were such authorization, I am not prepared to advise its exercise, because it would, in my view, be a recognition of the assumption of the insurgents that they are a distinct and independent nationality.

Under the act of Aug. 5,1861, "supplementary to an act entitled 'An act to protect the commerce of the United States and to punish the crime of piracy,'" the President is authorized to instruct the commanders of "armed vessels sailing under the authority of any letters-of-marque and reprisal granted by the Congress of the United States, or the commanders of any other suitable vessels, to subdue, seize, take, and, if on the high seas, to send into any port of the United States any vessel or boat built, purchased, fitted out, or held," &c. This allusion to letters-of-marque does not authorize such letters to be issued, nor do I find any other act containing such authorization. But the same act, in the second section, as above quoted, gives the President power to authorize the "commanders of any suitable vessels to subdue, seize," &c. Under this clause letters permissive, under proper restrictions and guards against abuse, might be granted to the propeller Pembroke, so as to meet the views expressed by Mr. FORBES. This would seem to be lawful, and perhaps not liable to the objections of granting letters-of-marque against our own citizens, and that too without law of authority from the only constituted power that can grant it.

I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of a letter from Messrs. J.M. FORBES & Co. and others, addressed to this Department, on the same subject.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, GIDEON WELLES.

Also on this date, the Confederates held a council of war at Centreville, Virginia.  Confederate President Jefferson Davis conferred with Generals Joe Johnson and Beauregard.  The Confederacy would remain on the defensive, concentrating the armies and awaiting McClelland's advance in the spring.

150 Years Ago -- A Contentious Cabinet Meeting

On Friday, September 27, 1861, a contentious cabinet meeting was held in General Winfield Scott's office with Major General George McClellan attending.  The main topics were the war and the inactivity of McClellan's army.  There was a general feeling that the war should have been over by now and most present wanted to know why it wasn't.  McClellan was still training and drilling his green recruits into a fighting force and would not be ready to move for several more months.

150 Years Ago -- Naval Contrabands

On Wednesday, September 25, 1861, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles laid out the naval policy on contrabands in a command to Flag Officer Samuel Du Pont, commander of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. 

"The Department finds it necessary to adopt a regulation with respect to the large and increasing number of persons of color, commonly known as 'contrabands.' now subsisted at the navy yards and on board ships-of-war. These can neither be expelled from the service, to which they have resorted, nor can they be maintained unemployed, and it is not proper that they should be compelled to render necessary and regular services without compensation. You are therefore authorized, when their services can be made useful, to enlist them for the naval service, under the same forms and regulations as apply to other enlistments. They will be allowed, however, no higher rating than 'boys,' at a com­pensation of ten dollars per month and one ration per day."

 

Related articles

• 150 Years Ago -- What Shall Be Done With Them? (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)

150 Years Ago -- The Raid on Osceola

On Sunday, September 22, 1861, Kansas Jayhawkers, led by James Lane, a radical abolitionist, raided the town of Osceola, Missouri.  No military advantage was gained; it was a senseless two-day spree of looting, arson and drinking, just another chapter in the sordid guerrilla war along the Kansas-Missouri border.  Several pro-Southern citizens were executed in the town square.

When the raid was over, Lane's jayhawkers looted the town of everything they could carry and burned the rest.  The once prosperous town of 2500 was reduced to just 200 inhabitants and never again would have as many people as it did before the raid.

150 Years Ago -- Lincoln Orders Fremont to Modify Emancipation Proclamation

On Wednesday, September 11, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln wrote to Major General John Frémont in St. Louis ordering him to modify his August 30 proclamation to the people of Missouri.

The general had declared:

"The property, real and personal, of all persons in the State of Missouri who shall take up arms against the United States, and who shall be directly proven to have taken active part with their enemies in the field, is declared to be confiscated to the public use; and their slaves, if any they have, are hereby declared free."

On August 6, Lincoln had signed a Confiscation Act into law.  This act allowed for the confiscation only of those "persons held to service" who were "employed in hostility to the United States."  The act did not free the confiscated slaves.  Their status was left undefined, presumably for Congress to decide at some future time.  Lincoln found Frémont's emancipation proclamation to be dictatorial, far beyond the power of any general in the field.  At this point, he was trying to limit the war to the question of preserving the Union.  He asked Frémont to modify the order to conform with the Confiscation Act; the general refused.  Now Lincoln was through asking:

WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 11, 1861,
Major-Gen. John C. Fremont:
SIR: Yours of the 8th, in answer to mine of 2d inst., was just received. Assuming that you upon the ground could better judge of the necessities of your position, than I could at this distance, on seeing your proclamation of Aug. 30, I perceived no general objection to it; the particular objectionable clause, however, in relation to the confiscation of property, and the liberation of slaves, appeared to me to be objectionable in its non-conformity to the act of Congress, passed the 6th of last August upon the same subjects, and hence I wrote you expressing my wish that that clause should be modified accordingly. Your answer just received, expresses the preference on your part that I should make an open order for the modification, which I very cheerfully do. It is therefore ordered that the said clause of said proclamation be so modified, held and construed as to conform with and not to transcend the provisions on the same subject contained in the act of Congress, entitled "An act to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes, approved Aug. 6, 1861," and that said act be published at length with this order. Your obedient servant,
(Signed) A. LINCOLN.

Also on September 11, 1861, in Kentucky, the legislature passed a resolution calling on Governor Beriah Magoffin to order Confederate troops to leave the state.  Another resolution calling for both armies to leave was defeated. 

Related articles

• 150 Years Ago -- Fremont's Proclamation (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)
• 150 Years Ago -- Lincoln Writes to Fremont (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)
• 150 Years Ago -- Fremont's Reply to Lincoln (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)
• 150 Years Ago -- The Confederate Army Invades Kentucky (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)
• 150 Years Ago -- Grant Occupies Paducah (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)

150 Years Ago -- Jessie Fremont's Audience with the President

Image of Jessie Benton Frémont via Wikipedia

On Tuesday, September 10, 1861, Jessie Benton Frémont arrived in Washington to plead her husband's case for his August 30 emancipation proclamation.

John Frémont, commander of the Western Department, had issued a proclamation declaring martial law in the state of Missouri, but he had gone further, promising to free the slaves of anyone found to be in rebellion against the United States.  There was also the matter of threatening to shoot anyone who was found guilty by a court-martial "who shall be taken with arms in their hands within these lines."

Lincoln had written to Frémont urging the general to modify his proclamation.  He saw it as dictatorial, far beyond any authority a general in the field might have.  The proclamation threatened to expand the war; Lincoln was trying to keep the war a simple matter of preserving the Union.  Freeing slaves would have a disastrous effect on the war effort, alienating Northern Democrats and the few slave states that were still in the Union, especially Kentucky.

Frémont took six days before replying to Lincoln.  He refused Lincoln's suggestion to modify the proclamation -- "If I were to retract of my own accord it would imply that I myself thought it wrong and that I had acted without the reflection which the gravity of the point demanded. But I did not. I acted with full deliberation and upon the certain conviction that it was a measure right and necessary and I think so still." He would only modify the proclamation if ordered to do so by Lincoln.

Now Mrs. Frémont was in Washington to plead her husband's case.  Jessie Benton Frémont was the daughter of Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton.  She was no stranger to Washington and had met with most of the leading politicians of the day.  This trip would not be a pleasant one though.

After a tiring, two-day journey by train, she arrived at the Willard Hotel late in the evening of September 10 and sent a message to the White House, inquiring as to when she might meet with the president.  The reply was surprising:  "Now, at once. A. Lincoln."  Mrs. Frémont hurried to the White House.  Lincoln met her in the Red Room.  He was standing and did not offer her a seat.  She presented the general's letter.  Lincoln "smiled with an expression that was not agreeable" and read it.

 "(B)oth voice and manner made the impression that I was to be got rid of briefly...In answer to his question, 'Well?' I explained that the general wished so much to have his attention to the letter sent, that I had brought it to make sure it would reach him.  He answered, not to that, but to the subject his own mind was upon, that 'It was a war for a great national idea, the Union, and that General Frémont should not have dragged the negro into it. -- that he never would if he had consulted with Frank Blair.  I sent Frank there to advise him.'"

When Mrs. Frémont began to make the argument that emancipation would keep England and France from recognizing the Confederacy, Lincoln cut her off, noting "in a sneering tone," "You are quite a female politician."

Lincoln's side of the story was almost as equally unpleasant.  He told his secretary John Hay,

"She sought an audience with me and tasked me so violently with so many things, that I had to exercise all the awkward tact I have to avoid quarreling with her.  She more than once intimated that if Gen. Frémont should conclude to try conclusions with me he could set up for himself."

The next day, Mrs. Frémont met with Francis Blair, a longtime friend.  He scolded her, "Who would have expected you to do such a thing as this, to come here and find fault with the President?"  He later added, "Look what Frémont has done; made the President his enemy!"


Also on September 10, 1861, Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston was appointed commander of the Western armies, commanding troops in Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas and Kentucky.

Related articles

• 150 Years Ago -- Fremont's Proclamation (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)
• 150 Years Ago -- Lincoln Writes to Fremont (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)
• 150 Years Ago -- Fremont's Reply to Lincoln (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)

150 Years Ago -- Lincoln Writes to David Hunter

On Monday, September 9, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln wrote to Major General David Hunter, requesting that the general go to St. Louis to assist Major General John Frémont in administering the Western Department.

From his vantage point some 800 miles away, Lincoln felt that the situation in Missouri was getting out of hand and that Frémont was in over his head as commander of the department.  Frémont had spent some $12 million to arm and equip his command, and as is usually the case when vast sums are spent in a big hurry, graft and corruption was rampant.  The headquarters was too lavish and Frémont was too isolated within it.  The military situation was unraveling after the defeat at Wilson's Creek; guerrilla warfare was becoming all too common.  On top of everything else, the president was displeased with Frémont's emancipation proclamation.

Many of these negative reports were coming from the Blair family.  One of the leading families in Missouri, the Blairs had urged the general's appointment, but had quickly fallen out with him.

David Hunter had graduated from West Point in 1822 and had been in the U.S. Army some 30+ years.  In early 1861, concerned for Lincoln's safety, he had volunteered to join the party escorting the president-elect to Washington for his inauguration.  Soon after the Civil War began, Hunter had been appointed colonel of the 3rd U.S. Cavalry, but just three days later had been promoted to brigadier general.  Commanding the 2nd Division of General Irvin McDowell's army, Hunter had been severely wounded at the Battle of Bull Run.  On August 13, he was promoted to major general.

Lincoln felt that Hunter could best assist Frémont as his chief of staff, but Hunter's rank was too high for Lincoln to order him to take the position.  On September 9, Lincoln wrote to Hunter:

"Gen. Fremont needs assistance which it is difficult to give him. He is losing the confidence of men near him, whose support any man in his position must have to be successful. His cardinal mistake is that he isolates himself, & allows nobody to see him; and by which he does not know what is going on in the very matter he is dealing with. he needs to have, by his side, a man of large experience. Will you not, for me, take that place? Your rank is one grade too high to be ordered to it; but will you not serve the country, and oblige me, by taking it voluntarily?"

Hunter quickly agreed and set off for St. Louis, arriving there on September 13.  Instead of chief of staff, Frémont would make him a division commander.

Related articles

• 150 Years Ago -- Fremont's Proclamation (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)
• 150 Years Ago -- Lincoln Writes to Fremont (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)

150 Years Ago -- Fremont's Reply to Lincoln

On Sunday, September 8, 1861, Union Major General John Frémont replied to President Lincoln's "request" to modify his emancipation proclamation.

Frémont, commanding the Department of the West, had issued a proclamation on August 30, declaring martial law throughout the state of Missouri.  Lincoln had problems with the third paragraph which went further than the Confiscation Act recently signed into law:

All persons who shall be taken with arms in their hands within these lines shall be tried by court-martial, and, if found guilty, will be shot. The property, real and personal, of all persons in the State of Missouri who shall take up arms against the United States, and who shall be directly proven to have taken active part with their enemies in the field, is declared to be confiscated to the public use; and their slaves, if any they have, are hereby declared free.

Lincoln, who just then was trying hard to keep Kentucky in the Union, wrote to Frémont on September 2, asking the general to modify his proclamation.  Frémont finally replied on September 8:

HEADQUARTERS WESTERN DEPARTMENT,
Saint Louis, September 8, 1861.

The PRESIDENT.

MY DEAR SIR: Your letter of the 2d by special messenger I know to have been written before you had received my letter, and before my telegraphic dispatches and the rapid development of critical conditions here had informed you of affairs in this quarter. I had not written to you fully and frequently, first, because in the incessant change of affairs I would be exposed to give you contradictory accounts; and, secondly, because the amount of the subjects to be laid before you would demand too much of your time.

Trusting to have your confidence I have been leaving it to events themselves to show you whether or not I was shaping affairs here according to your ideas. The shortest communication between Washington and Saint Louis generally involves two days and the employment of two days in time of war goes largely toward success or disaster. I therefore went along according to my own judgment leaving the result of my movements to justify me with you.

And so in regard to my proclamation of the 30th. Between the rebel armies, the Provisional Government and home traitors I felt the position bad and saw danger. In the night I decided upon the proclamation and the form of it. I wrote it the next morning and printed it the same day. I did it without consultation or advice with any one, acting solely with my best judgment to serve the country and yourself and perfectly willing to receive the amount of censure which should be thought due if I had made a false movement. This is as much a movement in the war as a battle, and in going into these I shall have to act according to my judgment of the ground before me as I did on this occasion. If upon reflection your better judgment still decides that I am wrong in the article respecting the liberation of slaves I have to ask that you will openly direct me to make the correction. The implied censure will be received as a soldier always should the reprimand of his chief. If I were to retract of my own accord it would imply that I myself thought it wrong and that I had acted without the reflection which the gravity of the point demanded. But I did not. I acted with full deliberation and upon the certain conviction that it was a measure right and necessary and I think so still.

In regard to the other point of the proclamation to which you refer I desire to say that I do not think the enemy can either misconstrue or urge anything against it, or undertake to make unusual retaliation. The shooting of men who shall rise in arms against an army in the military occupation of a country is merely a necessary measure of defense and entirely according to the usages of civilized warfare. The article does not at all refer to prisoners of war and certainly our enemies have no ground for requiring that we should waive in their benefit any of the ordinary advantages which the usages of war allow to us. As promptitude is itself an advantage in war I have also to ask that you will permit me to carry out upon the spot the provisions of the proclamation in this respect. Looking at affairs from this point of view I am satisfled that strong and vigorous measures have now become necessary to the success of our arms; and hoping that my views may have the honor to meet your approval,

I am, with respect and regard, very truly, yours,

J. C. FRÉMONT.

In addition to sending the letter, Frémont sent his wife, Jessie Benton Frémont, to Washington to plead his case.  She would arrive in Washington on September 10.

Related articles

• 150 Years Ago -- Fremont's Proclamation (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)
• 150 Years Ago -- Lincoln Writes to Fremont (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)

150 Years Ago -- McClellan Goes Ballooning

Image of Thaddeus Lowe via Wikipedia

On September 7, 1861, Union Major General George McClellan, commander of the Army of the Potomac, went ballooning with Thaddeus Lowe.

Lowe had been posted near Arlington, Virginia, at Fort Corcoran since his balloon was completed on August 28.  He conducted aerial reconnaissance and took several generals, reporters and artists aloft.  Just two days before McClellan's first flight, Lowe had gone aloft with Generals Irvin McDowell and Fitz John Porter.

McClellan observed the Confederate fortifications at nearby Munson's Hill and Clark's Hill, and got a view of Washington similar to this one that appeared in the July 27, 1861 edition of Harper's Weekly.  It is unclear how many flights McClellan made, but he saw the value of the balloon as a military asset, and Lowe soon received an order to construct four more balloons and purchase portable gas generators.

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• 150 Years Ago -- Establishing a Balloon Corps (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)
• 150 Years Ago: Ballooning (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)

150 Years Ago -- Grant Occupies Paducah

Image of Ulysses S. Grant via Wikipedia

On Friday, September 6, 1861, Union troops under Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant occupied Paducah, Kentucky, at the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers, without resistance.  This move was in response to the Confederate occupation of Columbus, Kentucky on September 3.

Kentucky's neutrality would have been violated in any case.  Major General John Frémont, the commander of the Union Department of the West, had ordered Grant to occupy Columbus as soon as possible.  While Confederate Major General Leonidas Polk didn't know about those orders, he had beaten Grant to the punch, but had unleashed a firestorm in Kentucky against the Confederacy by invading the state first.

Grant issued a proclamation to the people of Kentucky:

"I have come among you not as an enemy, but as your fellow-citizen. Not to maltreat or annoy you, but to respect and enforce the rights of all loyal citizens. An enemy, in rebellion against our common Government, has taken possession of, and planted its guns on the soil of Kentucky, and fired upon you. Columbus and Hickman are in his hands. He is moving upon your city. I am here to defend you against this enemy, to assist the authority and sovereignty of your Government. I have nothing to do with opinions, and shall deal only with armed rebellion and its aiders and abettors. You can pursue your usual avocations without fear. The strong arm of the Government is here to protect its friends and punish its enemies. Whenever it is manifest that you are able to defend yourselves and maintain the authority of the Government and protest the rights of loyal citizens I shall withdraw the forces under my command."

Polk's invasion of Kentucky was a major political blunder, but he also committed a strategic blunder.  He had planned to occupy Paducah as well, but had moved too slowly and let Grant take the town.  With Columbus, the Confederates could block the Mississippi with their big guns on the high bluffs, but Grant's occupation of Paducah gave the Federals another avenue for a Southern invasion:  the Tennessee River.  Grant would soon occupy Smithland, opening up the Cumberland River as well.

Kentucky Governor Beriah Magoffin would demand that both sides withdraw from Kentucky soil, but the state legislature would demand that only the Confederates withdraw, and would invite the Federals to give the state "that protection against invasion which is granted to each one of the states by the fourth section of the fourth article of the Constitution of the United States."

Magoffin vetoed the resolution, but both houses overrode the veto.  The General Assembly declared its allegiance to the Union and ordered the United States flag to be raised over the state capitol.

Related articles

• 150 Years Ago -- The Confederate Army Invades Kentucky (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)
• 150 Years Ago -- Grant Takes Command at Cairo (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)

150 Years Ago -- Foote Arrives in St. Louis

Image of Andrew Foote via Wikipedia

On Thursday, September 5, 1861, Captain Andrew Foote arrived in St. Louis to take command of the Federal naval forces on the upper Mississippi.  Foote superseded Commander John Rodgers.  Foote would later work closely with General Ulysses S. Grant in combined army/navy operations on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers.

Foote briefly attended West Point in 1822, but left to accept an appointment as a midshipman at Annapolis.  He had a reputation as a fighter.  During the Second Opium War, in the Battle of the Pearl River Forts in Canton, China, in 1856, Foote led a landing party of 287 men.  They captured one fort and used the captured guns to attack and capture another fort.  Then, with the help of the blockading ships, they fought off a counterattack by some 3000 Chinese soldiers and captured two more Pearl River forts.

Rodgers would head east to serve under Flag Officer Samuel Du Pont in the Port Royal Expedition in October.  He would served in the U.S. Navy until his death in May 1882.  At that time he was the Navy's oldest active rear admiral.

Also on this date, President Abraham Lincoln met with General Winfield Scott.  The main topic of conversation was what to do about John Frémont, the commander of the Department of the West, who was becoming more of a headache for the administration with each passing day.

At Cairo, Illinois, General Ulysses S. Grant was looking to counter the Confederate position at Columbus, Kentucky.  He recognized the important of Paducah, at the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers, and formed an expedition to occupy the town.  The troops left that evening.  Grant informed Frémont of his intentions, but had the troops in motion before receiving a reply.

Related articles

• 150 Years Ago -- Grant Takes Command at Cairo (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)
• 150 Years Ago -- The Confederate Army Invades Kentucky (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)
• 150 Years Ago -- Fremont's Proclamation (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)