HEADLINES ** HEADLINES ** HEADLINES

** CHRISTMAS EDITION **
December 22 1861 (Sunday)

Around midnight a stage arrived in front of the Taylor Hotel in Winchester, Va. The stage contained Mary Anna Jackson, the wife of Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson and began a 3 month visit that Anna remembered as "the happiest times of their lives together". The Jacksons stayed at Lt. Colonel Lewis T. Moore's house at 415 North Braddock St. Jackson described the house:

"The situation is beautiful. The building is cottage style and contains six rooms. I have two rooms, one above the other. My lower room, or office, has a matting on the floor, a large fine table, six chairs, and a piano. The walls are papered with elegant gilt paper. I don't remember to have ever seen more beautiful papering, and their are five paintings on the walls."

Stonewall's most enduring legacy was conceived during this reunion--Julia Laura Jackson, born November 23, 1862, was to be the couples only child and was destined to meet her father only once.

December 23 1861 (Monday)

On this date, Secretary of State William "Billy Bowlegs" Seward locked  himself into his office for two days to draft a response to England's ultimatum demanding an apology and the release of Mason and Slidell. Lincoln had always felt that Mason and Slidell would "prove to be white elephants" but freely acknowledged that "I'm a good enough lawyer in a western court of law...... but we don't practice the Law of Nations out there, and I supposed that Seward knew all about it and I left it to him." Lincoln had but one prerequisite "one war at a time". Seward turned to an unlikely source for inspiration....Union General Benjamin "Beast" Butler and his "I'se contraband" defense for receiving slaves into his lines as contraband of war. Mason and Slidell, Seward reasoned, were "contraband" and liable for seizure. Captain Wilkes had erred only in his leniency---the Trent--and all her cargo should have been brought into port for judgment. By impressing the passengers only Wilkes had followed a British, not American line of conduct and the United States wanted no advantage gained by means of an action even partly wrong. Mason and Slidell "will be cheerfully liberated, Your lordship will please indicate a time and place for receiving them." Mason and Slidell resumed their trip to Europe three days later and never again came so close to winning foreign intervention as they had done by being captured. DuPont's saltpeter was soon to be on its way to be quickly turned into Union gunpowder and Anglo-American were left in better condition than they were prior to the crisis.

December 24 1861 (Tuesday) Christmas Eve

"General William T. Sherman Insane" was the headline in the Cinncinati Commercial. General Halleck reported, " I am satisfied that General Sherman's physical and mental system is so completely broken by labor and care as to render him for the present entirely unfit for duty. Perhaps a few weeks rest will restore him. I am satisfied that in his present condition it would be dangerous to give him a command here." Sherman's powerful inlaws, the Ewing family, organized a response to the newspaper insanity charge and insisted that Sherman was simply exhausted from heavy command responsibilities. Ellen, Phil, and Thomas Ewing were convinced that Sherman's whole problem was caused by a conspiracy among military men, including Halleck, McClellan, and John Pope, aided and abetted by newsmen. Finally, on this date, Sherman was given a safe command--supervising Benton Barracks, a camp of instruction near St. Louis where he trained troops and sent them forward into the war. It remained to be seen if he would be able to salvage his military career.

It was a good Christmas eve for Lt. Irvin B. Baxter and his crew aboard the gunboat U.S.S. Gem of the Sea who captured and destroyed the British blockade runner Prince of Wales off the coast of Georgetown, South Carolina.

December 25 1861 (Wednesday) CHRISTMAS

Christmas for Robert E. Lee was not a time for celebration. The failures of western Virginia still tainted him and in his new post as Departmental Commander of the South Carolina District, nature itself seemed to conspire against him. Barrier islands lay miles from the mainland separated from the coast by salt marshes, sounds, and tidal streams. The Union navy controlled the coastal waterways and there weren't enough guns to cover every channel, sound and creek. Edmund Ruffin, of Fort Sumter fame, concluded " General Lee though reported to be an accomplished & great officer is, I fear, too much of a red tapist to be an effective commander in the field." Even South Carolina Governor Pickens described Lee as "quiet and retiring.......his reserve is construed disadvantageously." Lee also realized that he would never again live at Arlington and on Christmas he penned the following note to his wife:

" As to our home, if not destroyed, it will be difficult ever to be recognized. Even if the enemy has wished to preserve it, it would almost have been impossible. with the number of troops encamped around it, the change of officers, etc. the want of fuel, shelter, etc., & the dire necessities of war, it is vain to think of its being in a habitable condition. I fear too books, furniture, & the relics of Mount Vernon will be gone. It is better to make up our minds to a general loss."

President Lincoln (after a morning Cabinet meeting) and family entertained guests for dinner at the White House, and at Winchester, Va., Thomas J. Jackson spent the day with his wife. This was to be their last Christmas together.

The war was one year old this night for it was the anniversary of Major Anderson's removal of his eighty man garrison from Moultrie to Fort Sumter. The question on everyone's mind was how many more Christmases this Civil War would consume.

December 26 1861 (Thursday)

In the Indian Territory a "little civil war" was raging as members of each tribe were forced to choose sides. The pro-Union faction rallied around Cherokee Chief Opothleyahola who was 80 years old, strongly anti-South and loyal to the federal government. Opposed to them was a group of pro-Confederate Cherokees, principally slave owning mixed bloods, led by 55 year old Stand Watie (the lone Indian survivor who had signed the treaty agreeing to give up the Cherokee homeland in the east). These opposing forces had skirmished throughout the fall and had fought savagely for more than four hours on December 9th. When Union Departmental Commander Major-General David Hunter decided to withdraw into winter quarters the Confederate pursuit of Opothleyahola was renewed. On this date, in bitter cold weather, a mixed force of 1,400 Texas and Arkansas cavalrymen combined with Stand Watie's Cherokee regiment and fell on Opothleyahola's camp at Shoal Creek. Scores of loyalist Indians were killed and taken prisoner and any Union threat in Indian Territory was crushed. Opothleyahola and 10,000 other loyalist Indians fled to Kansas there they "huddled in squalid shelters of tree branches and rags clustered around the Union Army." One Indian Agent reported the "destitution, misery and suffering amongst them is beyond the power of any pen to portray, it must be seen to be realized."

The following letter was captured by Confederate forces after the battle.

Copies of letters taken in Hopoeithleyohola's camp.

BARNSVILLE, September 10, 1861.

HOPOEITHLEYOHOLA, Hok-tar-hah-sas-Harjo : BROTHER: Your letter by Micco Hutka is received. You will send a delegation of your best men to meet the commissioner of the United States Government in Kansas. I am authorized to inform you that the President will not forget you. Our Army will soon go South, and those of your people who are true and loyal to the Government will be treated as friends. Your rights to property will be respected. The commissioners from the Confederate States have deceived you. They have two tongues. They wanted to get the Indians to fight, and they would rob and plunder you if they can get you into trouble. But the President is still alive. His soldiers will soon drive these men who have violated your homes from the land they have treacherously entered. When your delegates return to you they will be able to inform you when and where your moneys will be paid. Those who stole your orphan funds will be punished, and you will learn that the people who are true to the Government which so long protected you are your friends. Your friend and brother, E. H. CARRUTH, Commissioner of U. S. Government,

Responding to increasing lawlessness and guerrilla activity martial law declared in St. Louis, and along all railroads operating in Missouri.

December 27 1861 (Friday)

All quiet along the Potomac became the all too frequent message sent out by Union commanders. While this pleased General McClellan, President Lincoln was beginning to get impatient with his inactive Commanding General and his ever-growing Army of the Potomac.

FREDERICK, December 27, 1861--7.30 p.m. Brig. Gen. S. WILLIAMS, Assistant Adjutant-General, Washington, D. C.:

All is quiet. A scout from Virginia states that the enemy have retired to Winchester; 400 infantry at Martinsburg; 500 cavalry scouting the river; seven guns (34-pounders) in position at Winchester; one 54-pounder. General Jackson has about 7,000 men--4,000 volunteers, rest militia; twelve light guns, one rifled. Railroad iron of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad piled up at Charlestown and Halltown. Respectfully submitted. R. MORRIS COPELAND, Assistant Adjutant-General.

December 28 1861 (Saturday)

A skirmish took place near Sacramento, Kentucky which marked the emergence of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the "wizard of the saddle". Forrest's tactics of "hit them the firstest with the mostest" would serve him well throughout the war.

DECEMBER 28, 1861.--Action at Sacramento, Ky. No. 3 -- Report of Col. Nathan B. Forrest, Forrest's Regiment, C. S. Army.

The men sprang to the charge with a shout, while the undergrowth so impeded the flankers that the enemy, broken by the charge and per* ceiving the movement on their flanks, broke in utter confusion, and, in spite of the efforts of a few officers; commenced a disorderly flight at full speed, in which the officers soon joined. We pressed closely on their rear, only getting an occasional shot, until we reached the village of Sacramento, when, the best mounted men of my companies coming up, there commenced a promiscuous saber slaughter of their rear, which was continued at almost full speed for 2 miles beyond the village, leaving their bleeding and wounded strewn along the whole route. At this point Captain Bacon, and but a little before Captain Burges, were run through with saber thrusts, and Captain Davis thrown from his horse and surrendered as my prisoner, his shoulder being dislocated by the fall. The enemy, without officers, threw down their arms and depended alone upon the speed of their horses. Those of my men whose horses were able to keep up found no difficulty in piercing through every one they came up with, but as my horses were almost run down while theirs were much fresher, I deemed it best to call off the chase, for such it had become, leaving many wounded men hanging to their saddles to prevent their falling from their horses. Returning, we found their dead and wounded in every direction.

HEADQUARTERS FIFTH DIVISION, Calhoun, Ky., December 29, 1861.
CAPTAIN: I regret to inform you that on yesterday, as a command of 168 men, under Major Murray, of Jackson's regiment, were returning from a reconnaissance, they were pursued and surprised by some rebel cavalry at Sacramento. The men made but little resistance, and I am afraid that the gallantry of the officers has cost us the services of several of them. I have not learned that any officer was killed, but when the men fled they fought themselves. Captains Bacon and Davis and Lieutenant Jouett are missing. Major Murray has just reported that 40 men are missing. From the accounts of the fight very few have been killed, and I suspect most of the missing will come in. I shall ride out in a few minutes with an escort, and will write particulars as I can get them in an official report. I have written this that you may not be deceived by any exaggerated report, which will doubtless reach you. Very respectfully, T.L. CRITTENDEN, Brigadier-General, Commanding.

And thats the way it was 136 years ago this week.

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REFERENCES

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