Civil War 150th

[parusski]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

Impressive. The detail of the canister shot is very interesting. However, the two different Confederate national flags makes one wonder. IIRC the "blood stained banner", the final Confederate flag, was not adopted until March 1865.

Yes, but still impressive.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

George McClellan had always opposed the idea of marching straight from Washington D.C. to Richmond. It hadn't worked at Bull Run / Manassas, and there were several other river crossings where the Southerners could set up strong defenses. On this date, he finally submitted a plan to take advantage of the Union position at Fort Monroe on the tip of the Virginia Peninsula. McClellan proposed to embark nearly the entire Army of the Potomac, land at the fort, and march up the peninsula to take Richmond from the southeast.

There were three potential issues. First, the transport and then the supply of over 100,000 men was unprecedented in U.S. history. Second, the time to assemble transport and supplies meant that the operation could not be mounted by the February 22 coordination date that Lincoln had ordered. Third and most important, what would prevent the Confederates from marching north and taking Washington while the Northern army was away? But Lincoln had requested a plan, and McClellan had produced one. And McClellan had shown considerable ability by turning the Army of the Potomac into a large yet disciplined and trained fighting force. The plan deserved serious consideration.

[Missouri_Rebel]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

However, the two different Confederate national flags makes one wonder. IIRC the "blood stained banner", the final Confederate flag, was not adopted until March 1865.

Good eye. You know, I never even noticed that before. The Blood Stained Banner was adopted on March 4th '65. Hmmm.

[parusski]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

150 Years Ago Today:

George McClellan had always opposed the idea of marching straight from Washington D.C. to Richmond. It hadn't worked at Bull Run / Manassas, and there were several other river crossings where the Southerners could set up strong defenses. On this date, he finally submitted a plan to take advantage of the Union position at Fort Monroe on the tip of the Virginia Peninsula. McClellan proposed to embark nearly the entire Army of the Potomac, land at the fort, and march up the peninsula to take Richmond from the southeast.

There were three potential issues. First, the transport and then the supply of over 100,000 men was unprecedented in U.S. history. Second, the time to assemble transport and supplies meant that the operation could not be mounted by the February 22 coordination date that Lincoln had ordered. Third and most important, what would prevent the Confederates from marching north and taking Washington while the Northern army was away? But Lincoln had requested a plan, and McClellan had produced one. And McClellan had shown considerable ability by turning the Army of the Potomac into a large yet disciplined and trained fighting force. The plan deserved serious consideration.

One thing can be said about McClellan is he had GREAT plans.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

Stone Wall Jackson's superior officer, General Joseph Johnston, was not surprisingly appalled by Jackson's attempt to resign. He made sure the letter went as slowly as possible to Richmond. In the meantime, several influential people tried to talk Jackson out of it. On this date, Alexander Boteler, a former US Congressman who was now the representative of the Shenandoah Valley, spoke with Jackson, urging him to stay on. But Stonewall was resolute: he could not serve effectively if his orders were to be overridden.

In Richmond, word of Jackson's resignation reached President Davis, although the actual letter had not. Davis declared, "I'll not accept it, sir!". But aides reminded him that even the President of the Confederacy had limits to his power.

Near Fort Henry in Tennessee, Grant's army was disembarking. At first a landing about eight miles from the fort was chosen, but the march would have covered some difficult ground. Grant boarded the steamer Essex to find a closer spot. The ship sailed so close to Fort Henry that they were under fire. One shell from a longer-range rifled gun went into the main cabin of the Essex, just missing Grant. He decided to back off a bit, and chose a landing about three miles from the fort.

Meanwhile, the Confederates could clearly see that an attack on the fort was coming. They pulled their troops from the countryside and concentrated them inside the fort.

[Orm]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

150 Years Ago Today:

George McClellan had always opposed the idea of marching straight from Washington D.C. to Richmond. It hadn't worked at Bull Run / Manassas, and there were several other river crossings where the Southerners could set up strong defenses. On this date, he finally submitted a plan to take advantage of the Union position at Fort Monroe on the tip of the Virginia Peninsula. McClellan proposed to embark nearly the entire Army of the Potomac, land at the fort, and march up the peninsula to take Richmond from the southeast.

There were three potential issues. First, the transport and then the supply of over 100,000 men was unprecedented in U.S. history. Second, the time to assemble transport and supplies meant that the operation could not be mounted by the February 22 coordination date that Lincoln had ordered. Third and most important, what would prevent the Confederates from marching north and taking Washington while the Northern army was away? But Lincoln had requested a plan, and McClellan had produced one. And McClellan had shown considerable ability by turning the Army of the Potomac into a large yet disciplined and trained fighting force. The plan deserved serious consideration.

Could this have been done with fewer men? Fewer men would make for less supply trouble and a faster attack. Also a strategic surprise would have been easier to achieve. But could the goal to capture Richmond have been reached with a force of, say, 40,000 men?

Edit: Splitting the force this way would leave some defence for Washington as well. Would 60,000 men be enough to stop the Confederates from reaching Washington?

[Capt. Harlock]

Could this have been done with fewer men? Fewer men would make for less supply trouble and a faster attack. Also a strategic surprise would have been easier to achieve. But could the goal to capture Richmond have been reached with a force of, say, 40,000 men?

Edit: Splitting the force this way would leave some defence for Washington as well. Would 60,000 men be enough to stop the Confederates from reaching Washington?

A very astute question, and one which was to play a critical role in the history of the war. Since we will have to wait a couple of months for the operation to get under way, let me say that McClellan was worried to the point of paranoia about being outnumbered. He relied on Alan Pinkerton for much of his intelligence about enemy strength, and however good a detective Pinkerton may have been, he was a poor intelligence analyst. His estimates of Confederate forces were routinely double what the Southerners actually had.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

At Fort Henry in Tennessee, there was a thaw in the cold weather. This caused problems for both sides. Grant's troops had to advance through mud, and were slowed down a great deal. But in the fort, things were even worse: the lower level was flooded, and its guns were unusable. Only nine cannon on the upper level could bear on the approaching Federal warships. Recognizing that his chances were low, the Confederate commander evacuated most of his men, sending them overland to the more defensible Fort Donelson on the Cumberland river. One company of artillerymen was left to fight the nine guns.

They acquitted themselves well, trading shots for two hours with Flag Officer Foote's four ironclads and three wooden gunboats. One ironclad was crippled with a shot through a boiler. The fort took considerable damage as well, however, and with only a few guns left in working order, the Southerners surrendered even before the Yankee infantry arrived. The Tennessee River was now open to the Union.

But there was a piece of good news for the Confederacy which may have been worth the bad news. In Virginia, Stonewall Jackson was finally convinced by the appeals of his friends and fellow officers. He wrote to the Governor, withdrawing his request to resign.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

Although Stonewall Jackson decided to stay on, he wasn't entirely ready to let bygones be bygones. He filed formal charges of insubordination and dereliction of duty against General Loring, who had been the main driver behind the push to evacuate Romney. (Which was now being re-occupied by Union troops.) The War Department in Richmond would eventually quietly drop the charges, but re-assign Loring to another command.

Roanoke Island was famous as being the site of one of the first colonies of European settlers in North America. However, the colonists had disappeared almost without a trace. Eventually it had been more permanently settled, and now was an Atlantic port. It had been decided to make it a Union port rather than a Confederate one to tighten the North's blockade. On this date, an amphibious force commanded by General Ambrose Burnside (whose beard style would give rise to the term "sideburns") landed on the island. The rebel defenders put up a spirited fight, but the Union fleet delivered a punishing bombardment that disabled most of the Confederate guns. In Napoleanic warfare, it had been accepted wisdom that shore batteries would almost always defeat warships. With rifled cannon and explosive shells, the advantage now shifted to the ships, since forts could not move once built, and the attacking ships could concentrate on one point.

The amphibious expedition had been held up by storms, so the Yankee troops were highly motivated to get on shore. By the end of the day, the Southern firing had been suppressed, and enough soldiers and ammunition had been landed for an assault the next morning.

[nicwb]

I find the amount of backbiting that went on between senior officers on both sides incredible. Maybe its just that the US Civil War is better docuemnted on this side light but the situation never seemed to improve. As I recall even on the eve of Gettysburg at least one or two Confederate Generals were under technical arrest facing charges laid by a superior officer. The Union didn't seem to fare any better.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

On Roanoke Island, Ambrose Burnside's men moved out at daybreak. There was only one real road on the island, so the Confederates had built a redoubt blocking their advance to the fort. Their was no secondary line of defenses, since the swamps on either side were considerd to be impassable. The shooting began, and the Yankees discovered they could not get significantly more troops into the firing line than the rebels had in their defenses. The Northern advantage of 10,000 men to 3,000 seemed to be nullified.

At length the Union commander decided to try the swamps. A regiment each was sent around the two sides, and they found it difficult but not impossible. Through great good luck, the two flanking forces emerged at the same time, hitting the Confederate defenses just as a renewed frontal assault was ordered. The Southern line collapsed and surrendered. As they were being personally led by Colonel Shaw, the island's commander, this included the fort as well. For a cost of 264 casualties, including 37 killed, the Federals captured 2,500 Confederate soldiers. They also declared all the slaves on the island "contrabands" and therefore free.

The news sent a shock through Richmond. Roanoke Island controlled the access to the shallows leading to Norfolk, and then to Richmond itself. Blockade runners had previously been able to bypass Fort Monroe, but no longer. The search for scapegoats got under way.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

One of the very few fleet naval actions of the Civil War took place near Roanoke Island. With the island firmly in the hands of the Union army, the supporting warships were now free to go after the Confederate "mosquito fleet". The six rebel vessels, mounting only one or two guns each, prepared to fight under the cover of a fort on the mainland, mounting thirty-two-pounder cannon, enough to seriously damage any ship not an ironclad. But when the Southern commodore went to the fort, he found only eight men present, and one of those appears to have wandered in purely for curiosity.

The thirteen Northern warships quickly realized the fort's fire was neither heavy nor accurate, and sailed strait for the rebel vessels. The action was short and decisive; only two Confederate ships escaped, docking at nearby Elizabeth City. The officers then tried to persuade the citizenry to burn their town, since it would soon be captured by the Yankees. The townspeople weren't having it: the Confederate commander was arrested after setting the courthouse on fire. Realizing what was up, the pursuing Union ships landed their own men, taking control of the town and receiving the cheers of the slaves who were about to be freed.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

After the surrender of Fort Henry, U. S. Grant had announced that he would advance to Fort Donelson and capture it on Feb. 8th. This had proved overoptimistic, for although the distance was only twelve miles, the weather was rainy, the roads were muddy, and the fleet of riverboats had needed repairs and resupply. But now Grant had finally got his army reinforced and more or less in position. He now had about 24,000 men, meaning he needed several subordinate generals even though he was still only a Brigadier General.

The delay had given the Confederates time to reinforce. The overall commander in the area was Brigadier General John Floyd, whose quarreling with General Wise had helped the South to lose West Virginia. He was intelligent enough to know how important his position was, however: if the fort fell, the way would be open to Nashville, the capital of Tennessee and one of the South's major manufacturing centers. He had therefore requested and received about 16,000 men and drawn up three miles of defensive tranches and earthworks covering about a square mile, including the fort and the nearby town of Dover, Tennessee. On this date, Grant's subordinates proved even more aggressive than their leader, launching several probing attacks although Grant had specifically instructed them not to bring on a "general engagement".

Grant had been wise, however: no naval support was ready yet, and all of the attacks were repulsed. Darkness fell, bringing freezing cold and snow. Both sides spent a miserable night, for sharpshooters made campfires too risky.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

It was the turn of the Union navy to try to reduce Fort Donelson. Flag Officer Andrew Foote took his time getting his fleet into position, and opened fire at 3:00 PM. It soon became apparent that Fort Donelson had several advantages over Fort Henry. It was higher on a bluff, so none of the guns were flooded, and could also deliver plunging fire onto the less heavily armored tops of the ironclads.

The Southern artillery gave the fleet a pounding. From a total of 500 Confederate shots, flagship St. Louis was hit 59 times with one shot destroying the wheelhouse. Carondelet had taken 54 hits, also nullifying her ability to steer. Louisville took 36 hits, also disabling her, and Pittsburg received 20, opening leaks in her hull. A total of eleven sailors had been killed, and forty more wounded, including Foote himself.

It was clear that taking this fort would be a job for the army. But there was one bit of help for the Yankees. Behind the gunboats, several transports had landed 6,000 more men. Better, they had been seen by the rebels, and General Floyd had estimated about four times as many reinforcements as there actually were. He came to the conclusion that he could not hold, and decided that a breakout was the only way to save his army.

[smith148]

Oh, okay Sarge.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

At Fort Donelson, the attempt to breakout was made. Several Confederate brigades under Brigadier Gideon Pillow hit the Union positions on the eastern flank of their lines. Cavalry under Nathan Bedford Forrest drove back the pickets, and then a full-scale assault, complete with Rebel Yell, crashed into the Yankees. The fighting was hard, but the Northerners had not entrenched as well as they might have, and reinforcements were shamefully slow in coming. (Grant was busy conferring with naval commander Foote, and General Lew Wallace, who would later write Ben-Hur, at first thought the firing was another probing attack by the Union side.) After several hours, Pillow's men had opened up the road to escape and Nashville.

But in the afternoon, it was the Southerners' turn to become confused. General Floyd had, amazingly, forgotten to give exact orders for what to do when the breakthrough was achieved. Pillow decided his men did not have enough supplies for the march to Nashville, and pulled them back to re-supply. His fellow general Simon Bolivar Buckner was outraged, and demanded that Floyd personally see to the situation. When Floyd arrived, Pillow somehow managed to convince his commander that his actions were correct. (Possibly they decided they could beat the Federals after all, and should hold their ground.)

Meanwhile, Grant was finally taking charge. He ordered Lew Wallace and John McClernand to re-take the eastern blocking position, which they did imperfectly. Grant also ordered the units on the western side, under Brigadier Charles F. Smith, to break through the Confederate lines and take Fort Donelson. Smith's men could not accomplish the second in the limited daylight hours left, but they did the first in fine style. Too many Southerners had been pulled out to join the breakout to the east, and many of those left were armed only with shotguns. Smith had his cigar shot in two, but he replaced it with a fresh one, and by nightfall his men were in position for an assault on the fort.

[parusski]

Keep up the great work Capt. Harlock.

[Missouri_Rebel]

'Smith had his cigar shot in two, but he replaced it with a fresh one, and by nightfall his men were in position for an assault on the fort.'

Wow. That happens to me and I'm going and takin' a nap.

Good stuff again.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

In the wee hours of the morning, General Floyd held a conference with his subordinates. Floyd and General Pillow were happy with the casualties they had inflicted on the Union right, but General Simon B. Buckner threw cold water on the meeting. The Union left would attack at daybreak, and Buckner estimated he could hold Fort Donelson only thirty minutes against them. Floyd had been U.S. Secretary of War during the Buchanan administration, and had shipped quantities of arms to the southern states, so he feared he would be tried for treason if captured. Pillow was also nervous about becoming a Union prisoner, so the two turned over the command to Buckner, found some river transport, and made their escapes. Nathan Bedford Forrest was furious at this lack of gumption, but he had every intention of fighting on. He gathered 700 cavalrymen and slipped through the Federal net by fording Lick Creek, which was too high for men on foot but not for horsemen. Forrest would be heard from again, to put it mildly.

Buckner had been a friend of Grant's before the secession. Hoping he could get generous terms, Buckner began the following correspondence:

[font="Times New Roman"][right]HEADQUARTERS, Fort Donelson
February 16, 1862.[/right]
Brig. Gen. U.S. GRANT,
Commanding U.S. Forces near Fort Donelson.

SIR: In consideration of all the circumstances governing the present situation of affairs at this station I propose to the commanding officers of the Federal forces the appointment of commissioners to agree upon terms of capitulation of the forces and post under my command, and in that view suggest an armistice until 12 o'clock to-day.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
S. B. BUCKNER,
Brigadier-General, C. S. Army.



[right]HEADQUARTERS ARMY IN THE FIELD
Camp near Fort Donelson
February 16, 1862.[/right]
General S. B. BUCKNER,
Confederate Army.

SIR: Yours of this date, proposing armistice and appointment of commissioners to settle terms of capitulation, is just received. No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted.
I propose to move immediately upon your works.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
U.S. GRANT,
Brigadier-General, Commanding.



[right]HEADQUARTERS,
Dover, Tenn.
February 16, 1862.[/right]
Brig. Gen. U.S. GRANT,
U.S. A.

SIR: The distribution of the forces under my command incident to an unexpected change of commanders and the overwhelming force under your command compel me, notwithstanding the brilliant success of the Confederate arms yesterday, to accept the ungenerous and unchivalrous terms which you propose.

I am, sir, your very obedient servant,
S. B. BUCKNER,
Brigadier. General, C. S. Army.[/font]


And thus was born the legend of "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. Over twelve thousand Southerners became prisoners, and the way was open to Nashville.

[Anonymous]

[Deleted by Admins]