Civil War 150th

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

City Point, Virginia, had been made the main supply base for the besieging Union army, and also U.S. Grant's primary headquarters. On this date a Confederate agent named John Maxwell managed to get inside the base carrying what he called a "horological torpedo", but would now be simply called a time bomb. According to the report he filed later:

[font="Times New Roman"]Sir:

I have the honor to report that in obedience to your order, and with the means and equipment furnished me by you, I left this city on the 26th of July last, for the line of the James River, to operate with the Horological Torpedo against the enemy’s vessels navigating that river. I had with me Mr. R. K. Dillard, who was well acquainted with the localities, and whose service I engaged for the expedition. On arriving in Isle of Wright County, on the 2nd of August, we learned of immense supplies of stores being landed at City Point, and for the purpose, by stratagem, of introducing our machine upon the vessels there discharging stores, started for that point. We reached there before daybreak on the 9th of August last, with a small amount of provisions, having traveled mostly by night and crawled upon our knees to pass the East picket line. Requesting my companion to remain behind about half a mile, I approached cautiously the wharf with my machine and powder covered by a small box.

Finding the captain had come ashore from a barge then at the wharf, I seized the occasion to hurry forward with my box. Being halted by one of the wharf sentinels, I succeeded in passing him by representing that captain had ordered me to convey the box on board. Hailing a man from the barge, I put the machine in motion and gave it in his charge. He carried it aboard. The magazine contained about twelve pounds of powder. Rejoining my companion, we retired to a safe distance to witness the effect of our effort. In about an hour the explosion occurred. Its effect was communicated to another barge beyond the one operated upon and also to a large wharf building containing their stores (enemy’s), which was totally destroyed. The scene was terrific, and the effect deafened my companion to an extent from which he has not recovered. My own person was severely shocked, but I am thankful to Providence that we have both escaped without lasting injury. We obtained and refer you to the enclosed slips from the enemy’s newspapers, which afford their testimony of the terrible effects of this blow. The enemy estimates the loss of life at 58 killed and 126 wounded, but we have reason to believe it greatly exceeded that. The pecuniary damage we heard estimated at $4,000,000 . . .[/font]


Grant was at City Point, but luckily was missed by the flying debris. Others were not so fortunate: one man was killed by the impact of a saddle airborne from the blast. The true death toll will never be known, for there were some unregistered black laborers who were essentially vaporized. In spite of the devastation, however, the docks and depot were back in operation in little more than a week.

Maxwell and Dillard got away so quietly that a board of inquiry ruled that the explosion had resulted from an accident. It was not until after the war that the North learned the truth, when Maxwell attempted to register the "horological torpedo" with the Patent Office.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

The woman who would become the South's most famous diarist made on interesting entry on this date:

[font="Times New Roman"]August 10th. - To-day General Chesnut [her husband] and his staff departed. His troops are ordered to look after the mountain passes beyond Greenville on the North Carolina and Tennessee quarter.
Misery upon misery. Mobile is going as New Orleans went. Those Western men have not held their towns as we held and hold Charleston, or as the Virginians hold Richmond. And they call us a "frill-shirt, silk-stocking chivalry," or "a set of dandy Miss Nancys." They fight desperately in their bloody street brawls, but we bear privation and discipline best.
[center]-- Mary Boykin Chesnut, A Diary From Dixie[/center][/font]

Chesnut was being unfair to the Confederates in the West. Mobile would actually be held much as Charleston was being held: although the Union fleet and land-based artillery would essentially close the port to blockade running, the city itself would hold out, boosting Southern morale.


In Georgia, a force of Southern cavalry under Joseph Wheeler rode around the Union forces besieging Atlanta, and headed north to disrupt Sherman's supply line. This was what Sherman had feared, and he had taken steps to strengthen the garrisons at key points along the railroad that his troops depended on. However, the Northern cavalry forces had not yet recovered from the disastrous attempt to liberate Andersonville. Sherman decided to keep his cavalry with him instead of sending it to chase after Wheeler's troopers.

Both the Confederate commander and the Union commander were making high-stakes gambles. If the Southern horsemen could disrupt the railroad for more than a few days, the Yankees might well have to retreat back from Atlanta. On the other hand, without Confederate cavalry near Atlanta, they would essentially be blind to what the Northerners were doing.

[Lecivius]

Just to give a difference in size on the 2 guns mounted on ironclads as mentioned above...

[Capt. Harlock]

Mid-August, 1864:

Of the several advantages the Union had over the Confederacy, the greatest was clearly the much larger manpower pool the North could draw from. But now that advantage started to fade with the gloom pervading the Union. Although Lincoln had decreed another draft in July, recruits were coming forward very slowly. Some took advantage of the ability to pay a fee to escape from the draft, some hid in the countryside or disappeared into city slums, and some even became "bounty jumpers", taking the enlistment bonus and then deserting before they could be sent to the front. The Federals did their best to catch such men, but they could only be partly successful.


Making the problem even worse was the failure of veteran soldiers to re-enlist. Once they had served their time, many men could not see the point of staying in a war that seemed to be making no progress. Even Sherman, who had suffered only about half of the casualties that Grant had, wired to Henry Halleck in Washington:

[font="Times New Roman"]"I do not propose to assault the works, which are too strong, nor to proceed by regular approaches. I have lost a good many regiments, and will lose more, by the expiration of service; and this is the only reason why I want reenforcements. We have killed, crippled, and captured more of the enemy than we have lost by his acts."

[center]--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman[/center][/font]

Halleck forwarded the request to General-in-Chief Grant, but with some depressing news:

[font="Times New Roman"]To add to my embarrassment at this time Sherman, who was now near Atlanta, wanted reinforcements. He was perfectly willing to take the raw troops then being raised in the North-west, saying that he could teach them more soldiering in one day among his troops than they would learn in a week in a camp of instruction. I therefore asked that all troops in camps of instruction in the North-west be sent to him. Sherman also wanted to be assured that no Eastern troops were moving out against him. I informed him of what I had done and assured him that I would hold all the troops there that it was possible for me to hold, and that up to that time none had gone. I also informed him that his real danger was from Kirby Smith, who commanded the trans-Mississippi Department. If Smith should escape Steele, and get across the Mississippi River, he might move against him. I had, therefore, asked to have an expedition ready to move from New Orleans against Mobile in case Kirby Smith should get across. This would have a tendency to draw him to the defence of that place, instead of going against Sherman.

Right in the midst of all these embarrassments Halleck informed me that there was an organized scheme on foot in the North to resist the draft, and suggested that it might become necessary to draw troops from the field to put it down. He also advised taking in sail, and not going too fast.

[center]--The Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant[/center][/font]

There was little actual danger of Confederate troops crossing the Mississippi River in numbers, but otherwise the South did have the advantage of interior lines. Especially, they could rapidly transfer men from the lines near Richmond to the Shenandoah Valley. And about this time, they did just that, sending another corps of about 9,000 men to reinforce Jubal Early and his Army of the Valley. Philip Sheridan had been preparing to take the offensive with his Army of the Shenandoah, but learned of this move and realized that he no longer outnumbered his enemy. An advance might uncover Washington again, which would cause enormous political problems with the election less than three months away.

The North had a circular dilemma: without a major victory, new troops would not come forward. But how could a major victory be won without new troops?

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

In Georgia, the Confederate cavalry loosed from Atlanta had made it all the way back to Dalton, where the campaign had begun in early May. The Rebels easily overran the town, but the Union garrison retreated into a fort on the outskirts. Confederate commander Joe Wheeler sent a demand for surrender, but the Yankees refused. Cavalry were generally at a disadvantage when attacking fortifications, but the Southerners gave it a determined effort. The Northerners were equally resolute in their defense, and successfully held their works although the fighting continued almost until midnight.

In the meantime, the Confederates not trying to storm the fort busied themselves tearing up the railroad tracks. Sherman's supply line had been cut, for the moment at least.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

At Dalton, Georgia, Confederate commander Joe Wheeler had already decided not to renew the attack on the Union fort. But as he pondered his next move, Northern reinforcements began to show up, led by General James B. Steedman (below). Steedman had gone to Texas and fought in the Texas War of Independence from Mexico, but his allegiance stayed with the Union. Fighting continued for four hours, with more Federal troops coming in, some by rail car.


Wheeler realized he could not stay in Dalton. The odds against him continued to get worse, and he could get no reinforcements nor replenish his ammunition that far away from Atlanta. He decided to pull out, easy enough since his cavalry was fighting mostly infantry. But he made a decision which the Confederates probably regretted later on: he led his troopers north into Tennessee instead of rejoining the Rebel army in Atlanta.

Union losses were 40 killed, 55 wounded for the two days of combat. Confederate losses are unknown. The break in the railway was repaired within two days, and Sherman's forces seem to have scarcely noticed the interruption.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

Near Atlanta, William T. Sherman knew that he was going to have to do something besides throwing shells into the city. His first plan was to make another wide swing around the Confederate defensive lines, seize the railroad to the south, and so force the Rebels to evacuate Atlanta or be starved out. But he had made two attempts already, and both times the units he had sent had been stopped by a counter-move from John Bell Hood. To make the sweep work, Sherman would probably have to use nearly his entire force, which would leave his own railroad supply source vulnerable. On this date, events suggested a less risky way:

[font="Times New Roman"]On the 16th another detachment of the enemy's cavalry appeared in force about Allatoona and the Etowah bridge, when I became fully convinced that Hood had sent all of his cavalry to raid upon our railroads. For some days our communication with Nashville was interrupted by the destruction of the telegraph-lines, as well as railroad. I at once ordered strong reconnoissances forward from our flanks on the left by Garrard, and on the right by Kilpatrick. The former moved with so much caution that I was displeased; but Kilpatrick, on the contrary, displayed so much zeal and activity that I was attracted to him at once. He reached Fairburn Station, on the West Point road, and tore it up, returning safely to his position on our right flank. I summoned him to me, and was so pleased with his spirit and confidence, that I concluded to suspend the general movement of the main army, and to send him with his small division of cavalry to break up the Macon road about Jonesboro, in the hopes that it would force Hood to evacuate Atlanta...

[center]--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman[/center][/font]

Judson Kilpatrick had been involved in the notorious Dahlgren Affair, and had likely been sent west to allow the controversy to die down. Naturally, when writing his memoirs, Sherman was somewhat diplomatic. During the actual war, he is reported to have said: "I know Kilpatrick is a hell of a damned fool, but I want just such a man to command my cavalry."

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

Near Atlanta, the Union cavalry under Judson Kilpatrick started off on its raid around the city. Sherman knew he could do nothing but wait until the troopers returned -- if they did. The last attempted cavalry raid had ended with many of the horses and men killed or captured.


South of Petersburg, Virginia, U. S. Grant decided on another attempt to seize the Weldon Railroad. This time, he knew that the Confederates were short of men, because Robert E. Lee had sent a corps to the Shenandoah Valley. IV corps under Gouverneur Warren advanced at dawn, and by mid-morning had overrun the railroad at Globe Tavern. They busied themselves tearing it up, while one division was sent even further.

But shortly after noon there was a Confederate counter-attack. The Southerners knew the loss of the railroad would be a serious blow, and they wanted it back. They pushed to within a mile of Globe Tavern, but Union numbers were too great, and they had to fall back for the night. The Federals began entrenching themselves, and the weather turned rainy -- but the Rebels were determined on another attempt come the morning.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

At Petersburg, Virginia, things went badly for the Union. The Confederate counter-attack found a weak point in the Northern lines, and the Rebels poured through. The resulting debacle was something like Chickamauga on a smaller scale. Two whole Federal brigades surrendered, and the remainder had to fall back to a new defensive line -- in spite of the fact that the Southerners still had fewer men on the field.

Losses for the two days of combat were: Union, 251 killed, 1,148 wounded, 2,897 missing or captured, Confederate, 211 killed, 990 wounded, 419 missing or captured. However, the new Federal line still blocked a section of the Weldon Railroad, and matters would stay that way. The Northerners could thus claim something of a victory (particularly since enemy losses were not known until after the war), as the Southerners were now forced to improvise wagon transport around the occupied track.

Map by Hal Jespersen, www.cwmaps.com


At the White House, Lincoln met with Frederick Douglass. In this interview, the President was pessimistic. Knowing that the odds were currently against him in the upcoming election, he inquired about sending the word to blacks still held in slavery in the South that they would be free if they could escape to the North before the end of the war. Douglass promised to bring the matter up with fellow leaders of the black community, but both men were aware that blacks who went behind Confederate lines into the South were at grave risk.

Lincoln also sounded out Douglass about a possible reply to Charles Robinson, the editor of a Wisconsin newspaper who had editorialized about offering peace by abandoning the emancipation of the Southern slaves. Douglass strongly urged Lincoln to turn the proposal down. Jefferson Davis was insisting on both independence and the continuation of slavery, and there was as yet no hint that he would abandon either one. More, Douglass said, "it would be taken as a complete surrender of your anti-slavery policy, and do you serious damage."

Later that evening, Lincoln met with Joseph T. Mills and Ex-Governor Alexander W. Randall of Wisconsin. Heartened by his meeting with Douglass, the President declared he could not accept the Robinson proposal of peace with continuation of slavery. According to his secretary, John Mills, Lincoln used words he had already composed in an unsent draft:

[font="Times New Roman"]"I don't think it is personal vanity, or ambition---but I cannot but feel that the weal or woe of this great nation will be decided in the approaching canvas. My own experience has proven to me, that there is no program intended by the Democratic party but that will result in the dismemberment of the Union. But Genl McClellan is in favor of crushing out the rebellion, & he will probably be the Chicago candidate. The slightest acquaintance with arithmetic will prove to any man that the rebel armies cannot be destroyed with democratic strategy. It would sacrifice all the white men of the north to do it. There are now between 1 & 200 thousand black men now in the service of the Union. These men will be disbanded, returned to slavery & we will have to fight two nations instead of one. . . Abandon all the posts now possessed by black men, surrender all these advantages to the enemy, & we would be compelled to abandon the war in 3 weeks. We have to hold territory. Where are the war democrats to do it . . . There have been men who have proposed to me to return to slavery the black warriors of Port Hudson & Olustee to their masters to conciliate the South. I should be damned in time & in eternity for so doing. The world shall know that I will keep my faith to friends & enemies, come what will. My enemies say I am now carrying on this war for the sole purpose of abolition. It is & will be carried on so long as I am President for the sole purpose of restoring the Union. But no human power can subdue this rebellion without using the Emancipation lever as I have done. Freedom has given us the control of 200 000 able bodied men, born & raised on southern soil. It will give us more yet."[/font]

But in private, Lincoln was not yet wholly convinced that he should abandon all offers of peace. He was mulling the idea of sending another peace commissioner, no less than the editor of the New York Times, to sound out Jefferson Davis about possible terms.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

So far, Judson Kilpatrick's raid around Atlanta had been going well. They had attacked the supply depot at Jonesborough on the crucial Macon & Western Railroad, managing to burn a large amount of Confederate supplies. On this date, they reached Lovejoy's Station on the railroad, and began the work of destroying it. Unfortunately, before very long, a division of Southern infantry appeared. And this was the division under Patrick Cleburne, generally considered the best division in the Army of Tennessee. Fighting went on for several hours, with the Yankees having to fall back slowly but carefully to avoid being cut off. Finally they managed to escape when darkness fell.

Losses were remarkably even for both sides, about 240 men each. The railroad was cut temporarily, but because of the Confederate interruption, the damage was not as thorough as it might have been. Repairs would take the Southerners only two to three days -- and that meant Sherman's attempt to cut off Atlanta with cavalry would be a failure.

[parusski]

Occasionaly I must let Capt. Harlock know how wonderful this thread has been-all three years of it.

THANK YOU.[&o]

[Orm]

ORIGINAL: parusski

Occasionaly I must let Capt. Harlock know how wonderful this thread has been-all three years of it.

THANK YOU.[&o]

Hear, hear!

[t001001001]

Me too. I don't want to post in it b/c I don't want to interrupt im. I read the thread almost every day. Good stuff

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

Nathan Bedford Forrest's foot had healed from the wound at Tupelo, and now there would be more bad news for the North. At the head of 2,000 Confederate cavalry, Forrest stormed into Memphis, Tennessee. The Rebels hoped to capture two Union Major Generals, Stephen Hurlbut and Cadwaller C. Washburn, and to free a number of Southern prisoners held in Irving Block Prison. They came close, but both Northern generals escaped; Washburn scurried from his hotel still in his nightshirt. (There is now a street in Memphis named "General Washburn's Escape Alley".)

Union garrison soldiers managed to stop the Southern troopers before they could reach the prison. Forrest gave the order to withdraw, but did not leave entirely empty-handed, for his men took supplies, horses, and a number of Yankee prisoners.

Afterwards, General Hurlbut reportedly exclaimed, "They superseded me with Washburn because I could not keep Forrest out of West Tennessee, and Washburn cannot keep him out of his own bedroom!"

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

While Northern morale sank ever lower, Southern morale was now cautiously optimistic:

[font="Times New Roman"]August 23d. - All in a muddle, and yet the news, confused as it is, seems good from all quarters. There is a row in New Orleans. Memphis has been retaken; 2,000 prisoners have been captured at Petersburg, and a Yankee raid on Macon has come to grief.

[center]-- Mary Boykin Chesnut, A Diary From Dixie[/center][/font]


The Union actually did make some progress on this day, but it scarcely registered with either side. At Mobile, Fort Morgan was the last Confederate fort commanding the entrance to the bay. It was commanded by Brigadier General Richard L. Page, a cousin of Robert E. Lee. Page had vowed to defend his command to the last ditch, but had come to realize that he would not be able to take many Yankees with him. The fort was now being bombarded, by land and by sea, from all points of the compass, including from the now-repaired USS Tennessee. Fires had broken out in several places, and to prevent the main magazine from blowing up, most of the gunpowder had been placed in the cistern and gotten flooded.

With the fort's walls crumbling, a number of sick and wounded were now exposed to shelling. Page reluctantly ran up a white flag and asked for terms. Admiral Farragut demanded unconditional surrender, and Union land commander Gordon Granger joined him. The Rebels agreed but page and a few other officers broke their swords before yielding them. That may not have been all that they did: when the Federals took possession they found cannons spiked, gun carriages axed, and other sabotage that they reported had been done after the raising of the white flag. To his indignation, General Page was arrested for this breach of the rules of war. (He would eventually be acquitted by a military court.)

The Northerners still did not have enough men to capture the city of Mobile proper, but it was now in the same situation as Charleston, South Carolina. With the forts in Union hands, and the Union fleet occupying the bay, the city was essentially closed to blockade runners. But although the Federals had scored a significant strategic success, it was not seen as an important victory by the people in either the North or the South. The possession of the city itself was what impressed the public mind.


Near Atlanta, W. T. Sherman received some less than pleasant news about his cavalry raid:

[font="Times New Roman"]Kilpatrick . . . returned to us on the 22d, having made the complete circuit of Atlanta. He reported that he had destroyed three miles of the railroad about Jonesboro, which he reckoned would take ten days to repair; that he had encountered a division of infantry and a brigade of cavalry (Ross's); that he had captured a battery and destroyed three of its guns, bringing one in as a trophy, and he also brought in three battle-flags and seventy prisoners. On the 23d, however, we saw trains coming into Atlanta from the south, when I became more than ever convinced that cavalry could not or would not work hard enough to disable a railroad properly, and therefore resolved at once to proceed to the execution of my original plan.
[center]--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman[/center][/font]


Sherman was disappointed but not disheartened. In Washington, however, there was something much like despair. Sherman was blocked at Atlanta, Grant was blocked at Richmond, and Sheridan's retreat in the Shenandoah Valley had raised fears of yet another Confederat invasion of the North. Thurlow Weed, the publisher of the influential Albany Evening Journal, had written to Secretary of State Seward: "When, ten or eleven days since, I told Mr Lincoln that his re election was an impossibility, I also told him that the information would soon come to him through other channels. It has doubtless, ere this, reached him. At any rate, nobody here doubts it; nor do I see any body from other States who authorises the slightest hope of success ... The People are wild for Peace. They are told that the President will only listen to terms of Peace on condition Slavery be 'abandoned.'"

Abraham Lincoln had apparently come to agree that he was going to lose the election. He made an extraordinary decision: he wrote out a memorandum, and then requested the members of his Cabinet to sign it without having read it. The text was:

[font="Times New Roman"]"This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probable that this Administration will not be re-elected. Then it will by my duty to so cooperate with the President elect, as to save the Union between the Election and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such ground that he cannot possibly save it afterwards."[/font]


It should be borne in mind that the Democrats had not yet held their convention or officially chosen a nominee. But the odds were strong that said nominee would be George McClellan, who opposed the emancipation of slaves and had moved so cautiously against the Confederacy when he had been General-in-Chief.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

In Washington, President Lincoln was still mulling over the proposal to send New York Times editor Henry J. Raymond to Richmond with a peace proposal. Lincoln had gone so far as to draft the following instructions:

[font="Times New Roman"]You will proceed forthwith and obtain, if possible, a conference for peace with Hon. Jefferson Davis, or any person by him authorized for that purpose.
You will address him in entirely respectful terms, at all events, and in any that may be indispensable to secure the conference.
At said conference you will propose, on behalf this government, that upon the restoration of the Union and the national authority, the war shall cease at once, all remaining questions to be left for adjustment by peaceful modes. If this be accepted hostilities to cease at once.
If it is not accepted, you will then request to be informed what terms, if any embracing the restoration of the Union, would be accepted. If any such be presented you in answer, you will forthwith report the same to this government, and await further instructions.
If the presentation of any terms embracing the restoration of the Union be declined, you will then request to be informed what terms of peace would, be accepted; and on receiving any answer, report the same to this government, and await further instructions.[/font]

On the morning of this date, Lincoln met with Secretary of State Seward, Secretary of War Stanton and Secretary of the Treasury William Pitt Fessenden about the peace mission. (Note Fessenden had occupied his post for less than two months.) The conclusion reached was that such a mission would likely be interpreted as weakness, and the chances for peace were slim. When Raymond arrived at the White House, he was told the plan had been rejected.



Winfield Hancock's II Corps, once the best in the Union army, was ordered to sweep around the Confederate lines to the south and cut off the Weldon Railroad in a second spot. However, Robert E. Lee had anticipated just such a move, and sent reinforcements to the area. Battle erupted at a place called Ream's Station. For a time, the Yankees held off the Rebel attack while they tore up the railroad tracks. But late in the afternoon, after some effective softening-up by artillery, the Southerners mounted their strongest assault. Two inexperienced Northern regiments collapsed and fled, opening up a gap which was quickly exploited.

Hancock galloped back and forth along his lines, trying to rally his men, but he was only partly successful. The main thing that slowed the Confederate attack was the sheer number of prisoners that they took. Matters became still worse for the Yankees when Rebel cavalry attacked on the southern flank. Hancock mounted a minor counter-attack, which was valuable only to buy time. Nightfall allowed the remainder of the Federals to retreat back to the fortifications they had started from.

The Northerners lost 140 killed, 529 wounded, and 2073 men captured. The Southerners lost only 814 men all told. It was a shattering defeat for "Hancock the Superb", who had never before seen his men routed from the field and his guns captured. Combined with the lingering effects of his Gettysburg wound, it probably lead to his resignation from field command. It was grim news for U. S. Grant as well, for it showed clearly that the reinforcements he was receiving could not perform the attacks he planned. Time and training was needed.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

The shelling of Atlanta stopped. General John Bell Hood knew perfectly well that the Yankees were doing something, but he did not know what. The bulk of his cavalry under Joe Wheeler was away in Tennessee, so Hood ordered his artillery to open up and see if there was a response from the Union guns. There was not, for Sherman's great sweep around the west of Atlanta was in full swing:

[font="Times New Roman"] The next night (26th) the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps, composing the Army of the Tennessee (Howard), drew out of their trenches, made a wide circuit, and came up on the extreme right of the Fourth and Fourteenth Corps of the Army of the Cumberland (Thomas) along Utoy Creek, facing south. The enemy seemed to suspect something that night, using his artillery pretty freely; but I think he supposed we were going to retreat altogether.

[center] --Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman[/center][/font]

Of the seven corps under his command, Sherman had left one (under General Henry Slocum) to defend the rail-head. The remaining six, under his three Army commanders, left his supply line (temporarily, he hoped) and were heading south. The objective was to cut the last rail links into Atlanta between the towns of Jonesborough and the interestingly named Rough and Ready.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:



Though it did not appear in the movie, on this date General John Bell Hood believed that the miracle had happened:

[font="Times New Roman"]...the next morning some of his infantry came out of Atlanta and found our camps abandoned. It was afterward related that there was great rejoicing in Atlanta "that the Yankees were gone;" the fact was telegraphed all over the South, and several trains of cars (with ladies) came up from Macon to assist in the celebration of their grand victory.

[center]--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman[/center][/font]

There was some plausibility for Hood's belief that the Northerners had retreated. Both his own cavalry and that under Nathan Bedford Forrest had been sent against Sherman's narrow supply line. If they had been successful, then the Federals would have had to fall back, perhaps as far as the border with Tennessee, to get food and ammunition. The Southerners could not know that Forrest, although causing trouble as usual, had not made any serious breaks of the railroad, and Hood's own cavalry under Joe Wheeler had gone all the way to east Tennessee. This was bad news for the long-suffering Unionists of the region, but posed no real threat to Sherman's forces.

There were scattered reports from scouts about Union activity west of the city, and there was the single Northern corps still guarding the nearest part of Sherman's railroad. To this writer, it seems quite likely that had Joe Johnston still been in command, he would have guessed the Union maneuver. What he would have been willing or even able to do about it is another question, for there were six Yankee corps on the move to only three in the Army of Tennessee. But Hood was now in command, and for the day he prided himself on having driven the Federals back.

(Image from "Gone With The Wind" included under the Fair Use provision)

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

West of the Mississippi, Lt. General Edmund Kirby Smith was in command of everything still in the hands of the Confederacy. He had been requested to send what troops he could spare to the east, but there was no chance of a major crossing with Union gunboats patrolling all along the length of the river. Instead, he decided to do what he could in Arkansas and Missouri, which might pull Union forces to the west and away from Atlanta and Richmond. Kirby Smith called on Major General Sterling Price, who had considerable experience fighting in Missouri, to lead an expedition into the state and capture either St. Louis, the biggest city, or the state capital, Jefferson City.

Between them, Kirby Smith and Price selected units totaling about 12,000 men. However, nearly all were cavalry, and not very well equipped cavalry at that. Many men did not have canteens or cartridge boxes, carrying their water in jugs and their ammunition in sacks or their pockets. Price hoped to capture more equipment and supplies by overrunning the smaller Union forts along the way, and also gather more recruits from the pro-south areas of Missouri.

But first, he needed to pull his army together. On this date, Price left Camden, Arkansas, heading towards the camps of his first two divisions.


In Atlanta, the reports of Union soldiers to the south and west became more definite. General Hood decided he needed to send a force to protect his railroad lines, but he did not want to abandon the city. He compromised by sending one of his three corps, under William Hardee, to drive the Northerners back. His second corps would trail behind, ready to support Hardee, while his third would hold Atlanta against any attack by the Yankees still to the north.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

The Democratic National Convention began in Chicago, Illinois, ironically the same city where the Republicans had nominated Lincoln four years before. General George B. McClellan, without assignment since his removal before Gettysburg, led the list of potential nominees. Former President Franklin Pierce, Senator Lazarus W. Powell of Kentucky, and Governor Horatio Seymour of New York, were considered, but declined. McClellan's nearest rival was Thomas H. Seymour, former Governor of Connecticut and a radical Peace Democrat.


Seymour and the other "Copperheads" denounced the war as a failure and favored an immediate armistice, leaving the Confederacy standing. A disgusted U. S. Grant would later write that "Treason was talked as boldly in Chicago at that convention as had ever been in Charleston." McClellan, who was at that point still a Major General in the U. S. Army, advocated peace by re-admitting the South into the Union but abandoning the abolition of slavery.


But, perhaps at the very same hour as the anti-war speeches, Sherman and his forces made a critical move south of Atlanta:

[font="Times New Roman"]... both Thomas and Howard reached the West Point Railroad, extending from East Point to Red-Oak Station and Fairburn, where we spent the next day (29th) in breaking it up thoroughly. The track was heaved up in sections the length of a regiment, then separated rail by rail; bonfires were made of the ties and of fence-rails on which the rails were heated, carried to trees or telegraph-poles, wrapped around and left to cool. Such rails could not be used again; and, to be still more certain, we filled up many deep cuts with trees, brush, and earth, and commingled with them loaded shells, so arranged that they would explode on an attempt to haul out the bushes.

[center]--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman[/center][/font]



It was perhaps nasty, but effective. The last railroad links into the city had been cut, and this time they were not to be repaired. Even as the Confederate infantry tardily marched to stop them, the Yankees had effectively doomed Atlanta -- and with it, arguably the Confederacy itself.