1862

  1862 Calendar

HEADLINES ** HEADLINES ** HEADLINES

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January 5 1862 (Sunday)

Judah Benjamin, Confederate Secretary of State, wrote the following note which describes the Confederate views regarding the Trent Affair, relations with England and the effeciency of the Union naval blockade.

Richmond, Va., January 5, 1862. LOUIS HEYLIGER, Esq., Nassau, New Providence:

The Northern Government has, as you will have been informed, submitted to the peremptory demand of Great Britain for the surrender of Mason and Slidell, and thus there is no prospect of immediate hostilities between those two powers, although everything portends the rupture of their friendly relations at no distant day; still, we cannot wait for such eventualities, and must now abandon any hope of having the Gladiator convoyed, and rely on ourselves alone for getting in her cargo. The Fingal (a Confederate blockade runner) is still very closely blockaded in Savannah, and, indeed, the whole attention of the enemy seems to be diverted to that port, and they appear to rely principally on their stone fleet for the blockade of Charleston. At Brunswick, in Georgia, there have been no enemy's vessels in two months past. The fort is a fine one, and there is a railroad leading directly to Savannah. At Wilmington there is hardly a show of a blockade. At Georgetown, S.C., hardly any risk. If a vessel could manage to approach any one of these ports so as to make the last sixty or seventy miles of her run during the night, there is scarcely a chance of her capture. J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of War.

In western Virginia, General Loring's command was directed to destroy the railroad bridge over the Big Cacapon River. After this successful action he rejoined Jackson at Hancock, Va.

General Loring, having with his artillery driven off the enemy who were defending the bridge, destroyed the structure and railroad buildings, and also the telegraph for some distance, and rejoined me at Hancock. T.J. Jackson, Major-General Commanding
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January 6 1862 (Monday)

Out west, Union General Halleck was still providing excuses for his inaction and unwillingness to cooperate with General Buell.

SAINT LOUIS, January 6, 1862 Hon. F.P. Blair. Jr., Washington

You have no idea of the character of the material I have to work with. The German troops are on the brink of mutiny. They have been tampered with by politicians, and made to believe that if they refuse to obey my orders and demand the return of Fremont the Government will be compelled to yield. Meetings to this effect have been held, and high officers are implicated. They are closely watched, and I have the threads of the conspiracy. Don't be alarmed at an explosion. I am prepared for it, and will put it down. I have already cut off its legs, and will soon get its head. All I ask of my Washington friends is to keep cool and le me work out my plans. I understand the problem, and will solve it in time. Your truly, H.W. Halleck

General Orders # 60 was issued by the War Department which stated "all medical officers taken prisoners are to be unconditionally released."

Jackson was posed to attack Hancock, Va. and issued a demand of surrender of all Union forces there. However...

"On the 6th the enemy was re-enforced to such an extent as to induce me to believe that my object could not be accomplished without a sacrifice of live, which I felt unwilling to make, as Romney, the great object of the expedition, might require time for its recovery." T.J. Jackson, Major General, Provisional Army Confederate Army

[Sunday] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday]

January 7 1862 (Tuesday)

A Confederate deserter from the Sixth Louisiana Regiment stationed at Manassas, Va. provided the following information to General McClellan. It was information such as this that contributed to McClellan's inactivity and his continued requests for more troops.

A deserter from the Sixth Louisiana Regiment states that he left Centreville about 25th December, 1861, and Manassas about January 7, 1862; that it was then understood that the rebel forces at Manassas, Centreville, and vicinity were about 60,000, under command of Generals Johnston, Beauregard, and Smith; (he said) that he got his information from a clerk in the rebel Commissary Department.

It was a busy week for Union Lt. Col. W.H. Powell, 2nd Regiment West Virginia Volunteer Cavalry, as he was charged with killing a Confederate prisoner during a raid on this date, and burning several houses and barns on January 10th or 11th.

One of the charges was for shooting a Confederate prisoner deliberately. This charge was made by one of your own men, who was taken prisoner on the Wythe-ville raid, and who volunteered the information. He says he saw you commit the murder. The other charge was burning the houses and barns of Messrs. Handley and Feamster, near Lewisburg, on or about the night of the 9th or 10th of January last, in violation of all law, civil and military. Mr. Handley's house was set on fire when his wife and children were in bed asleep, and they just had time to escape without shoes or proper clothing, on a very cold night.

Powell would eventually be captured by the Confederates in an affair at Wytheville, Virginia on July 18, 1863 and held in close confinement at Libby Prison. His exchange would be delayed by these charges until September 27, 1864. He was allowed to return to the Union Army in time to join Phil Sheridan's cavalry and was promoted to Brigadier-General by the close of the war.

Stonewall Jackson left Hancock, Va. and marched towards Romney in a terrible ice storm. He was forced to halt at Unger's Store and camp for several days "to rest the men and ice-caulk the horses.

General Ambrose Burnside began loading his troops onto their awaiting flotilla in Annapolis, Md. His army was headed for Roanoke Island and among his troops were the 53rd New York commanded by Col. Lionel J. D'Epinuiel. D'Epineuil, a Frenchmen claimed 17 years army service in the French Army and outfitted his regiment in Zouave style red fez caps and short blue jackets trimmed in yellow with sky blue trousers and white leggings.

"D'Epineuil's unit boarded the large ship John Trucks, where seven hundred privats and non-commissioned officers were squeazed into one lower deck. Once aboard ship D'Epineuil ordered the regimental sutler off Trucks without pay. Accused of some breach of discipline, Lt. William W. Alexander of company E was collared by the colonel, who threatened to shoot him like a dog, but confined him to the "cage" instead."

The fleet sailed on January 9th with regimental bands competing with each other as the ships steamed south at five knots. They would reach the Potomac River at eight o'clock that night and reach Fort Monroe on the afternoon of January 10th. The rest of the voyage to Roanoke Island would be much more difficult.

[Sunday] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday]

January 8 1862 (Wednesday)

More skirmishing took place in Missouri at Silver Creek and Charlestown.

On the 8th, at 4 o'clock p.m., Majors Terrence and Hubbard, with 450 men, attacked Poindexter, with from 1,000 to 1,300 men, on Silver Creek. The enemy were totally routed, with heavy loss. Seven left dead on the field; many carried off. From 50 to 75 wounded. Our loss reported at 4 killed. The rebel camp was destroyed, and a large number of horses and arms taken. A heavy fog alone saved them from complete destruction. The number of prisoners is reported at 30. JOHN M. PALMER, Brigadier-General.

HDQRS. TENTH REGIMENT IOWA, VOLUNTEERS, Bird's Point, Mo., January 8, 1862.

Towards 5 o'clock we found ourselves on the back track to Charleston. Here only was I informed by the guide that we had passed the pretended camp of the rebels. I think he did not know it himself. We marched a short distance in this direction, till we reached a farm-house with the door open and fire and light in the room. As it looked to me a little suspicious, I detailed Captain Stoddard, with a squad of men, to visit it. He entered it, and found the owner, Mr. Rodan, washing himself. When asked whether he had seen any rebel soldiers, he replied that he had seen but one soldier during the last two weeks. Captain Stoddard returned to his post, and we resumed our march. We had not proceeded more than 150 yards when, as soon as the guide and advance guards passed, a body of rebels, almost 75 or 80 men, ambuscaded on the right of the road behind a rail fence, opened upon the detachment of the Tenth Iowa a deadly fire, covering almost all its length. The men were thrown into confusion, returned the fire at random, and probably without effect. Not knowing the force of the rebels, I thought it prudent to reform our line to the rear in the woods on our left, and began the painful duty of collecting our sick and wounded. The man Rodan having willfully and damnably denied all knowledge of the presence of the rebels, while in all probability the ambush proceeded from his house, I arrested and had him turned over to the officer of the post guard. He is al all events guilty of a capital crime.

N. PERCZEL, Colonel, Commanding Expedition

Jackson's men remained at Unger's Store suffering from the cold. The sick list was growing to alarming proportions and men were deserting in ever increasing numbers. To counter this Jackson allowed his men to heat water to bathe.

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January 9 1862 (Thursday)

Brigadier-General Henry Wise, brother-in-law to Union General George Meade, took command of the Confederate forces at Roanoke Island and spent the day inspecting the fortifications and the troops. We was not happy with what he found.

No. 24. -- Reports of Brig. Gen. Henry A. Wise, C. S. Army,

I landed on the island, and made a personal reconnaissance to its extreme south end. I noted three successive hommocks of high land between the breastwork for light battery and the south end, each nearly surrounded by marshes and swamps. I saw that the enemy might land at Pugh's or Ashby's a portion of their force, pass the batteries with all ease, round the north end of the island, and land another portion of their forces, and gain the rear of all the batteries without exchanging a shot with them, or the least danger of damage. Not a fort was in the right position. They should have been located on the islands of marshes at the south end, with batteries at Horn mock and Pugh's Landings. I found no teams for light artillery or for transportation, and no tools, axes, spades, shovels, or hoes for constructing breastworks. The infantry were undrilled, unpaid, not sufficiently clothed and quartered, and were miserably armed with old flint muskets in bad order. In a word, the defenses were a sad farce of ignorance and neglect combined, inexcusable in any or all who were responsible for them.

HENRY A. WISE, Brigadier-General.

[Sunday] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday]

January 10 1862 (Friday)

General Banks sent the following note to General McClellan, who was slowly recovering from his bout with typhoid fever, regarding the movements of Stonewall Jackson.

Frederick, January 10, 1862---8.30 p.m. Maj. Gen. GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN, Commanding: Dispatch received. General Williams telegraphs from General Kelley, 7.30 p.m., that Loring was 18 miles from Romney, Winchester road. Lander falling back on Cumberland. Three regiments, one section artillery, marched this morning for Romney. Two cavalry companies move to-night. Have ordered him to put so much of his brigade in readiness to march as can be spared. He has five regiments and four guns. Fears to part with more artillery. Can spare infantry. I think enemy reported at Bath again moving on Hancock; not believed by General Williams. N. P. BANKS, Major General, Commanding Division.

Union forces evacuated Romney allowing Jackson to take posession of the town.

The enemy evacuated Romney on the 10th. The town was soon occupied by Sheetz's and Shand's companies of cavalry, which were subsequently followed by other troops. The Federal forces, abandoning a large number of tents and other public property which fell into our possession, retreated to between the railroad bridges across Patterson's Creek and the Northwestern Branch of the Potomac, which was as far as they could retire without endangering the safety of the two bridges. Our loss in the expedition in killed was 4, in wounded 28. The Federal loss in killed and wounded not ascertained. Sixteen of them captured. After the arrival in Romney of General Loring's leading brigade, under Colonel Taliaferro, I designed moving with it Garnett's brigade and other forces on an important expedition against the enemy, but such was the extent of demoralization in the first-named brigade as to render the abandonment of that enterprise necessary.
T.J. Jackson, Major-General Commanding

Union General U.S. Grant moved his troops toward Columbus, Ky. The weather was cold, wet and miserable, much like the weather T.J. Jackson was struggling with in Virginia, and little of military importance was gained. However, the lessons learned on this march would be of great value for the troops and their commander.

[Sunday] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday]

January 11 1862 (Saturday)

Secretary of War, Simon Cameron, the "Winnebago Chief" and his slipshod administrative procedures had been a target for criticism as a result of the massive inefficiency, profiteering and corruption that marked the handling of lucrative government contracts for such things as uniforms, muskets and horses. To quickly fill contracts for uniforms, textile manufactures compressed the fibers of recycled woolen goods into a material called "shoddy". Blankets disintegrated and shoes fell apart, contractors sold muskets to the army for $ 20 that they had earlier purchased as surplus arms for $ 3.50. Cameron signed many of these lucrative contracts without competitive bidding and gave firms from his home state of Pennyslvania a suspiciously large number of these contracts. In addition, the War Department routed much of its military traffic over the Northern Central and the Pennyslvania Railroads in which Cameron had direct financial interests. Finally, with charges of corruption mounting Cameron resigned as Secretary of State. Lincoln quickly accepted his resignation.

A Confererate force under General Zollicoffer has entrenched at Mill Springs, KY., on the Cumberland River, despite orders to fall back.

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

REFERENCES

THIS WEEK IN THE CIVIL WAR (CHRISTMAS 1861 EDITION)

THIS WEEK IN THE CIVIL WAR (NEW YEARS 1862 EDITION)

NEWS FROM THE REAR

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