1862

  1862 Calendar

HEADLINES ** HEADLINES ** HEADLINES

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March 2 1862 (Sunday)

General Robert E. Lee is called to Richmond, Virginia by President Jefferson Davis. Once in Richmond, Lee becomes Davis' Military Secretary with responsibility for the conduct of military operations, "under the direction of the President." Major-General John C. Pemberton assumes Lee's duties governing the South Atlantic coastal defenses.

RICHMOND, VA., March 2, 1862. General R. E. LEE, Savannah: If circumstances will, in your judgment, warrant your leaving, I wish to see you here with the least delay. JEFFERSON DAVIS.

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

March 3 1862 (Monday)

The forces of Brigadier-General John Pope arrive at the outskirts of New Madrid, Missouri and begin attempts to occupy the fortified town. New Madrid, located next to a bend in the Mississippi River, is protected by three forts with each fort mounting seven guns.

CAMP TWO MILES NORTH OF NEW MADRID, March 3, 1862. Major-General HALLECK: Arrived before this place with my whole force at 1 p.m. Pushed skirmishers of two divisions into the town, and occupied the upper part of it immediately. There is only a small square earth redoubt near this place. The river is high and level with the banks- so high, that the gunboats, of which there are six, sweep the ground for a mile in front of the town. I think the enemy's whole force does not exceed 5,000 men, all of whom are kept carefully out of sight. I can take the work by much loss and without the result desired, as the gunboats, owing to the extraordinary high water, could drive us out immediately....The river is so high that the hulls of the gunboats are plainly visible, and their guns look over the bank, with a sweep at least a mile and a half. JNO. POPE, Brigadier-General.

Stonewall Jackson outlines his plans to General Joe Johnston should he be forced to withdraw from Winchester, Virginia.

WINCHESTER, VA., March 3, 1862. General JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON, Commanding Department of Virginia: DEAR GENERAL: Should I have to leave this place and fall back beyond the line of Strasburg and Front Royal, I will, if the condition of the roads will admit of it, follow the South Branch of the Shenandoah; if not, I will, unless otherwise directed, move along the Valley turnpike. Upon reaching New Market, which is 8 miles beyond Mount Jackson, I will have a choice of good roads, one leading to Luray, which is on the east side of the South Branch of the Shenandoah. Luray is 36 miles, I understand, from Culpeper Court-House, and the two points connected by a good road. After leaving New Market another good road can, if necessary, be followed, so as to strike the South Branch a little higher up, and passes through Madison CourtHouse, and so on to Gordonsville. My position at New Market would also enable me to move on towards Staunton, if the enemy should move in that direction. My principal depot is being established at Mount Jackson. From that point I hope to be able to move the stores in any direction required on good roads....If you will examine the roads leading from the valley across the Blue Ridge you will see the difficulty of keeping between you and the enemy and at the same time opposing his advance along the valley....I will keep you advised of the movements of the enemy, and be in readiness to move my command promptly in any direction that you may indicate....From what I learn, the present strength of the enemy in Martinsburg is about 4,500, and a large cavalry force is said to be coming from Williamsport. Respectfully, yours, T. J. JACKSON.

The commander of Transmississippi Department No. 2, Brigadier-General Earl Van Dorn, after riding over 200 miles in four days, reaches the Boston Mountains in northwestern Arkansas. He consolidates the forces of Ben McColluch (8,000 men), Sterling Price (7,000 men), and Albert Pike, who commands a band of 2,000 pro-Confederate Indians. Van Dorn's plan is to execute a forced march northward and strike General Sam Curtis' widely separated Army of the Southwest.

HEADQUARTERS TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DISTRICT, Boston Mountains, March 3, 1862. Brig. Gen. ALBERT PIKE: GENERAL: I am instructed by Major-General Van Dorn to inform you that he will move from here to-morrow morning with the combined forces of Generals Price and McCulloch in the direction of Fayetteville. He wishes you, therefore, to press on with your whole force along the Cane Hill road, so as to fall in rear of our army....It is expected that you will make such efforts as will insure your being in position, and send two couriers per day to keep the general commanding informed of your position and progress. I am, general, very respectfully, yours, D. H. MAURY, Assistant Adjutant-General.

In Saint Louis, Missouri, overzealous city policemen "are in the habit of arresting negroes as runaways" who are servants of army officers. "This is exceedingly annoying to officers under marching orders." Hearafter, city police will only arrest runaways that "may be in a legal manner claimed by his or her owner."

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

March 4 1862 (Tuesday)

Flag-Officer Andrew Foote reports that Columbus, Kentucky, the "Gibraltar of the West" is "in our possession." Columbus was the last bastion of Albert Sidney Johnston's old Kentucky line and was evacuated after Union advances in middle Tennessee.

Report of Flag-Officer Andrew H. Foote, U. S. Navy. COLUMBUS, KY., March 4, 1862. Hon. GIDEON WELLES, Secretary of the Navy. SIR: Columbus is in our possession. My armed reconnaissance on the 2d instant caused a hasty evacuation, the rebels leaving quite a number of guns and carriages, ammunition, and a large quantity of shot and shell, a considerable number of anchors, and the remnant of chain lately stretched across the river, with a large number of torpedoes....The works are of very great strength, consisting of formidable tiers of batteries on the water side and on the land side, surrounded by a ditch and abatis. General Sherman...not knowing that the works were last evening occupied by 400 of the Second Illinois Cavalry as a scouting party... made a bold dash to the shore under the water batteries, hoisting the American flag on the summit of the bluff, greeted by the hearty cheers of our brave tars and soldiers. General Sherman remains temporarily in command at Columbus. A.H. FOOTE.

While Foote is in Columbus, one of his lieutenants, William Gwin, reports on Confederate troop strength along the Tennessee River.

U.S. GUNBOAT TYLER, Cairo, Ill.,. Flag-Officer ANDREW H. FOOTE, U. S. N., Commanding Naval Forces on Western Waters: SIR: I have returned from up the Tennessee, having left Pittsburg (Landing) last night....I have reliable information that the enemy have now at Corinth, Miss., 18 miles from the Tennessee River (Pittsburg), junction of Mobile and Ohio and Memphis and Charleston Railroad, 15,000 to 20,000 troops. At Henderson Station, 18 miles from Coffee Landing, Tennessee River, and 25 miles by railroad from Corinth, some 10,000 or 12,000, and bodies of troops arriving every day, mostly from Columbus, and some from Louisiana. At Bear Creek Bridge, 7 miles back of Eastport, Miss., they have from 8,000 to 10,000, and are fortifying. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, WM. GWIN, Lieutenant, Comdg. Div. of Gunboats on Tennessee River.

U.S. Grant, having been promoted to Major-General with his commission dated February 16, 1862, the day Fort Donelson fell, is now the tenth ranking man in the Union army. In the midst of a double celebration of victory and promotion and an unauthorized trip to Nashville, Tennessee, Grant has fallen out of communication with General Halleck for the past week. When Halleck hears rumors that the former hard-drinking general has also "resumed his former bad habits", his patience snaps and he wires General McClellan: "It is hard to censure a successful general immediately after a victory, but I think he richly deserves it...I'm worn-out and tired with his neglect and ineffieiency." McClellan responds, "Generals must observe discipline as well as private soldiers. Do not hesitate to arrest him at once if the good of the service requires it." Halleck does not hesitate.

SAINT LOUIS, March 4, 1862. Maj. Gen. U.S. GRANT, Fort Henry: You will place Maj. Gen. C. F. Smith in command of expedition, and remain yourself at Fort Henry. Why do you not obey my orders to report strength and positions of your command? H. W. HALLECK, Major-General.

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

March 5 1862 (Wednesday)

Grant, feeling himself not-guilty of any of Halleck's charges, responds immediately.

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF WEST TENNESSEE, Fort Donelson, March 5, 1862. (Received March 9.) Maj. Gen. H. W. HALLECK, Saint Louis, Mo.: Your dispatch of yesterday is just received. Troops will be sent, under command of Major-General Smith, as directed....I am not aware of ever having disobeyed any order from headquarters---certainly never intended such a thing. I have reported almost daily the condition of my command and reported every position occupied. I have not, however, been able to get returns from all the troops, from which to consolidate a return for department headquarters..... My reports have nearly all been made to General Cullum, chief of staff, and it may be that many of them were not thought of sufficient importance to forward more than a telegraphic synopsis off....In conclusion, I will say that you may rely on my carrying out your instructions in every particular to the very best of my ability. U.S. GRANT, Major-general.

Fighting continues around New Madrid, Missouri where the situation is becoming critical for Confederate commander, Brigadier-General J.P. McCown.

MADRID BEND, March 5, 1862- 9 p.m. Maj. Gen. LEONIDAS POLK: GENERAL: I am just from New Madrid. The pickets have been fighting all day. The enemy was in line, only out of range of our guns....I shall risk nothing in the open field with my small force. Guns are being rapidly mounted at this place. Gun-carriages, ammunition, &c., came here in such confusion that it is difficult to find anything....All I fear is that the Federal gunboats may close their ports and run past. We have not a single magazine here. I received your telegram of 3d instant. New Madrid must be in our possession....It is useless to deny that my condition is critical in the extreme. I shall do all in my power. My command is in fine spirits. Yours, &c., J.P. McCOWN, Brigadier-General, Commanding.

A balloon is being used to keep an eye on Confederate troops near the Occoquan River. Chief Aeronaut T.S.C. Lowe invites General Heintzelman to join him on his next ascension.

POHICK CHURCH, March 5, 1862. Captain MOSES, Assistant Adjutant-General, Fort Lyon, Va.: Have just made two ascensions with the balloon. It is fully inflated, and will take up two persons with all the ropes. If to-morrow is a fine day it would be a good time for the general to go up. I can see camp-fires on the Occoquan. T. S. C. LOWE,Chief Aeronaut, U. S. Army.

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

March 6 1862 (Thursday)

Brigadier-General Samuel Curtis, alerted by spies that Van Dorn's army has "passed through Fayetteville yesterday" and notified by scouts, including young "Wild Bill" Hickok, that the rebels are marching north in strength, concentrates his army at Sugar Creek Hollow and prepares to "give them the best show we can."

SUGAR CREEK HOLLOW, ARK., March 6, 1862. Capt. N.H. MCLEAN, Assistant Adjutant-General. CAPTAIN: Van Dorn, Price, and McCulloch are moving down on us. Have ordered all my detachments to concentrate here, and I am locating my force to repel an attack. The enemy is reported at from 20,000 to 30,000 fighting men. They burned the Seminole College, in Fayetteville, night before last, and last night their advance camp was at Elm Springs, about 21 miles from here. Sigel last night was 4 1/1 miles southwest from Bentonville, 14 miles from here, but he was to march at 2 this morning, and must be near by. A detachment under Colonel Vandever entered and took Huntsville last night, taking 2 prisoners. That detachment will also be in before the enemy can reach me. We will give them the best show we can. The weather is very cold and snowing. SAML. R. CURTIS, Brigadier-General.

General Halleck launches another blow against his hero-general U.S. Grant. He orders Grant to report to him daily the "number and position" of forces under his command. He also charges Grant with "numerous irregularities" in his command and warns him that unless "these things are immediately corrected, I am directed to relieve you of command."

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI, Saint Louis, March 6, 1862. Maj. Gen. U.S. GRANT, Fort Henry, Tenn.: I inclose herewith a copy of a letter addressed to Judge Davis, president of the Western Investigating Commission. Judge Davis says the writer is a man of integrity and perfectly reliable. The want of order and discipline and the numerous irregularities in your command since the capture of Fort Donelson are matters of general notoriety, and have attracted the serious attention of the authorities at Washington Unless these things are immediately corrected I am directed to relieve you of the command. H. W. HALLECK, Major-general.

[ Inclosure. }

CAIRO, March 2, 1862. Hon. DAVID DAVIS, Saint Louis: DEAR SIR: As you are engaged in the business of investigating army contracts and frauds practiced on the Government, it may not be out of place for me to state a few facts as they have been told to me, and that by parties most interested. At the taking of Fort Henry there was a large amount of sugar, coffee, and rice captured, besides a lot of horses, wagons, and other property....In the case above mentioned the property went into the hands of the quartermaster of one of the Illinois regiments, and he turned it over to the sutlers (the sugar, coffee, and rice), and the sutlers repacked the goods in barrels, with different marks, so as to deceive the steamboatmen, and shipped them to Cairo, and from there to Bloomington, Ill. I asked one of the sutlers what the sugar, coffee, and rice cost them, and he said the coffee cost 8 cents per pound, the sugar 4 cents per pound, and the rice about 2 cents per pound; and when I asked him how they came to get them so cheap, he said that they (the sutlers) were to run it off and divide the profits with the quartermaster....The sutlers were here when they heard of the surrender of Fort Donelson, and they were in a great hurry to get up there, for fear the property would all be gone before they got there....There have been lots of property carried off by individuals, such as dirks, pistols, guns of every description, rifles, double-barreled shot-guns, Sharp's rifles, &c....If all the property captured from the enemy could be taken care of and sold for what it would bring it would put several thousand dollars into the Treasury, where it is so much needed.Hoping things will all come right in the end, I remain, respectfully, yours,

Fresh from his 'capture' of Columbus, Brigadier-General "Cump" Sherman, continuing his remarkable military rehabilitation, is released from garrison duty at Paducah, Kentucky and allowed to join General C.F. Smith's column in the advance to Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee.

General Joe Johnston sends confidential orders to his commanders to begin the retreat from Manassas to a more defensible position behind the Rappahannock River on Saturday. He also orders them to, "take no one into your confidence" and even President Jefferson Davis is to be kept unaware of these movements until they are completed.

STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL. HEADQUARTERS, Centerville, March 6, 1862. Brigadier-General FRENCH: GENERAL: I have fixed upon Saturday for the time of moving.....Take no one into your confidence but those whose duties make it necessary, and even then no sooner than necessary. Please see General Whiting, to confer with him. Your movements must accord, and until the march commences he must have control, and should any change of disposition on the march be necessary, then too, your destination being the same. Respectfully and truly, yours, J.E. JOHNSTON, General

Lieutenant Worden reports that the U.S.S. Monitor has passed over the bar in New York harbor . In order to reach Hampton Roads as speedily as possible the Monitor is being towed by the tug Seth Low.

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

March 7 1862 (Friday)

Major-General U.S. Grant has reached the end of his rope. He again rebuts the ever-growing list of charges that General Halleck has thrown at him and asks to be relieved, "from further duty in the department."

FORT HENRY, March 7, 1862. Maj. Gen. H. W. HALLECK, Saint Louis, Mo.: Your dispatch of yesterday just received. I did all I could to get you returns of the strength of my command. Every move I made was reported daily to your chief of staff, who must have failed to keep you properly posted. I have done my very best to obey orders and to carry out the interests of the service. If my course is not satisfactory, remove me at once. I do not wish to impede in any way the success of our arms. I have averaged writing more than once a day since leaving Cairo to keep you informed of my position, and it is no fault of mine if you have not received my letters. My going to Nashville was strictly intended for the good of the service, and not to gratify any desire of my own. Believing sincerely that I must have enemies between you and myself, who are trying to impair my usefulness, I respectfully ask to be relieved from further duty in the department. U.S. Grant, Major-General.

General Franz Siegel, having executed a fighting withdrawl from Bentonville, Arkansas rejoins Brigadier-General Samuel Curtis at Sugar Creek Hollow to complete the consolidation of the Army of the Southwest. General Van Dorn, unwilling to directly assault Curtis' fortified positions along the creek, sends his troops on a night march. Half his forces under McCulloch with Pike's Indians skirt the west end of Pea Ridge, while Van Dorn continues with Price's Missourians to the north side of Pea Ridge past Elkhorn Tavern. Van Dorn's men are in position between 10 and 11 o'clock in the morning.

Headquarters Trans-Mississippi District, Van Buren, Ark., March 1862 Honerable J.P. Benjamin, Secretary of War, Richmond, Va. SIR: In a conference with Generals Mcculloch and Mcintosh, who had an accurate knowledge of this locality, I ascertained that by making a detour of 8 miles I could reach the Telegraph road leading from Springfield to Fayetteville, and be immediately in rear of the enemy and his intrenchments. I resolved to adopt this route, and therefore halted the head of my column near the point where the road by which I proposed to move diverges, threw out my pickets, and bivouacked as if for the night. But soon after dark I marched again, moving with Price's division in advance, and taking the road by which I hoped before daylight to reach the rear of the enemy. Some obstructions, which he had hastily thrown in the way, so impeded our march that we did not gain the Telegraph road until near 10 a.m. of the 7th. EARL VAN DORN, Major-General.

Just after dawn General Curtis is made aware of Van Dorn's flanking move by his alert scouts. He calls his generals together and orders his troops to wheel about and prepare to fight with their backs to their own intrenchments.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF SOUTHWEST Pea Ridge, Ark., March 1862 Capt. J.C. KELTON, Assistant Adjutant-General SIR: Therefore, early on the 7th, I ordered a change of front to the right on my right, my right thus becoming my left, still resting on Sugar Creek Hollow. This brought my line crossing Pea Ridge, my new right resting on the head of Cross Timber Hollow, which is the head of Big Sugar Creek....This movement was in progress when the enemy, at 11 a.m., commenced an attack on my right. SAML. R. CURTIS, Brigadier-General

The initial Confederate attack strikes the 24th Missouri led by Colonel Carr near Elkhorn Tavern.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF SOUTHWEST Pea Ridge, Ark., March 1862 Capt. J.C. KELTON, Assistant Adjutant-General SIR: I urged Colonel Carr to stand firm--that more force could be expected soon. Subsequently Colonel Carr sent me word that he could not hold his position much longer. I could then only reply by sending him the order to "persevere." He did persevere, and the sad havoc in the Ninth and Fourth Iowa and Phelps' Missouri and Major Weston's Twenty-fourth Missouri and all the troops in that division will show how earnest and continuous was their perseverance. SAML. R. CURTIS, Brigadier-General

While the battle rages near Elkhorn Tavern, about two miles away, General McCulloch launches his assault on the left of the Union defenses near Leetown. The assault quickly suceeds in taking a Union battery that is, "swamped by a horde of befeathered, screaming men...brandishing scalping knives and hatchets." The Indians, delighted in their capture of the "wagon guns" commence to scalp and mutilate the dead bodies of Union soldiers. General Pike is unable to get them back in line to rejoin the white-man-style fight raging all around them.

HEADQUARTERS THIRD IOWA CAVALRY, Jacksonport, Ark. Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis, Commanding Army of the Southwest: GENERAL: After the battle I attended in person to the burial of the dead of my command. Of 25 men killed on the field of my regiment, 8 were scalped and the bodies of others were horribly mutilated, being fired into with musket balls and pierced through the body and neck with long knives. Very repsectfully yours, your obedient servant, CYRUS BUSSEY, Colonel.

McCulloch continues to push and prod his men forward until he is killed by an Illinois sharpshooter named Peter Pelican. Shortly after McCulloch is killed his second-in-command General Mcintosh is also mortally wounded leaving this wing of the army dazed and leaderless. With his right wing thus beheaded and demoralized and his left wing dangerously low on ammunition, Van Dorn's attack stalls and quickly comes to an end at dusk.

Headquarters Trans-Mississippi District, Van Buren, Ark., March 1862 Honerable J.P. Benjamin, Secretary of War, Richmond, Va. SIR: My headquarters for the night were at the Elkhorn Tavern. We had taken during the day seven cannon and about 200 prisoners. In the course of the night I ascertained that the ammunition was almost exhausted, and that the officer in charge of the ordnance supplies could not find his wagons....Most of the troops had been without food since the morning of the 6th and the artillery horses were beaten out. It was therefore with no little anxiety that I awaited the dawn of day. EARL VAN DORN, Major-General

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

March 8 1862 (Saturday)

The Shortly after midnight, General Curtis calls his division commanders together for a council of war. Although Generals Siegel, Osterhaus, Carr, and Asboth all recommend a "slashing retreat" from their positions along Pea Ridge, Curtis feels that the Confederates have "shot their bolt" and decides to reinforce his right wing and await the expected Rebel assault in the morning.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE SOUTHWEST Cross Timber, Ark. Capt. J.C KELTON, Assistant Adjutant-General. CAPTAIN: The sun rose above the horizon before our troops were all in position and yet the enemy had not renewed the attack. I has hardly ready to open fire on him, as the First and Second Divisions had not yet moved into position. Our troops that rested on their arms in the face of the enemy, seeing him in motion, could not brook delay, and the center, under Colonel Davis, opened fire. SAML. R. CURTIS, Major-General.

It soon becomes clear to Curtis that Van Dorn's men had indeed, "shot their bolt" the day before.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE SOUTHWEST Cross Timber, Ark. Capt. J.C KELTON, Assistant Adjutant-General. CAPTAIN: While the artillery was...taking position and advancing upon the enemy the infantry moved steadily forward....The upward movement of the gallant Thirty-sixth Illinios, with its dark-blue line of men and its gleaming bayonets, steadily rose from the base to the summit, when it dashed forward into the forrest, driving and scattering the rebels from these commanding heights. The Twelfth Misouri, far in advance of others, rushes into the enemy's lines, bearing off a flag and two pieces of artillery. Everywhere our line moved forward and foe foe gradually withdrew....Finally our firing ceased. The enemy had suddenly vanished. SAML. R. CURTIS, Major-General.

Van Dorn's men scatter in every direction, except due South from which the blue soldiers advance.

HEADQUARTERS TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DISTRICT, Van Buren, Ark. General Beauregard, Commanding, &c. SIR: Finding that my right wing was much disorganized, and that the batteries were one after the orher retiring from the field...I resolved to withdraw the army....About 10 o'clock I gave the order for the column to march and soon afterwards for the troops engaged to fall back and cover the rear of the army....(W)e encamped about 3 p.m. about 10 miles from the field of battle. EARL VAN DORN, Major-General.

General Halleck continues his assault on U.S. Grant. He wires General McClellan, in Washington, D.C., that he has not yet received, "any returns...from General Grant." Meanwhile, "Little Mac" is called to the White House with his twelve division commanders to discuss the details of his "Urbanna Plan." This plan calls for loading the Army of the Potomac on transports and taking it down the Potomac River and up the Rappahannock River for a landing at Urbanna, Virginia; directly in the rear of Joe Johnston's army at Manassas. After the morning discussion, McClellan's division commanders vote eight to four in favor of implementing the plan. A skeptical President Lincoln tells Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, "We can do nothing else than accept their plan....We can't reject it and adopt another without assuming all the responsibility in the case of the failure of the one we adopt." Lincoln can, however, insure the safety of Washington and does so by issuing President's General War Order, No. 3.

PRESIDENT'S GENERAL WAR ORDER, No. 3

EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, March 8, 1862. LORENZO THOMAS, Adjutant-General. Ordered, That no change of base of operations of the Army of the Potomac shall be made without leaving in and about Washington such a force as in the opinion of the General-in-Chief and the commanders of all the army corps shall leave said city entirely secure. A.LINCOLN.

McClellan feels he has good reason to avoid a direct assault on Joe Johnston's army at Manassas. According to his Chief of Intelligence Allen Pinkerton's latest estimate, Johnston has 150,000 men available with over 80,00 stationed at Manassas.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC Washington, D.C., March 8, 1862. Maj. Gen. GEORGE MCCLELLAN, Commanding Army of the Potomac: GENERAL: I have the honor to report the following information...obtained to this date, which has been extracted from current statements made here by spies, contrabands, deserters, refugees, and rebel prisoners of war....(A) medium estimate of the rebel army... located as follows, viz: At Manassas, Centreville, Bull Run, Upper Occoquan, and vicinities, 80,000; at Brooke's Station, Dumfries, Lower Occoquan, and vicinities, 18,000; at Leesburg and vicinity, 4,500; in the Shenandoah Valley, 13,000....The summary of the general estimates shows the forces...to be 150,000, as claimed by its officers and santioned by the public belief, and that over 80,000 were stationed at Centreville, Manassas, and vicinity, the remainder being within easy supporting distance. All of which , general, is respectfully submitted by your obedient servant, ALLEN PINKERTON.

Around noon, a single Confederate ten-gun vessel steams down the Elizabeth River towards Newport News on a trial run. The ship resembles, "a terrapin with a chimney on its back" and is christened the C.S.S. Virginia. The Virginia is 130 feet long and seven feet tall and houses two six and two seven inch rifles and six nine inch smoothbores. She is covered with overlapping plates of two inch iron down to two feet below her waterline. "Unwieldy as Noah's Ark," her top speed is five knots and it takes her half an hour to turn in calm water. She is piloted by Commodore Franklin Buchanan, the sixty-two year old "father of Annapolis." As she comes into open water, Buchanan spies five warships of the blockading squadron lying at anchor. The trial run ends as Buchanan clears the decks for action and orders his crew to battle stations. In the ensuing action the fifty-gun frigate U.S.S. Congress and the thirty-two gun sloop U.S.S Cumberland are sunk and the three remaining vessels run aground near Old Point Comfort trying to avoid the "iron monster." The tide, now being on the ebb, forces the deep drawing Virginia to return to her base at the old Gosport Navy Yard at Norfolk, Virginia.

Richmond, Virginia, March 8, 1862. President JEFFERSON DAVIS, SIR: The conduct of the Officers and men of the squadron...reflects unfading honor upon themselves and upon the Navy. The report will be read with deep interest, and its details will not fail to rouse the ardor and nerve the arms of our gallant seamen. It will be remembered that the Virginia was a novelty in naval architecture, wholly unlike any ship that ever floated; that her heaviest guns were equal novelties in ordnance; that her motive power and obedience to her helm were untried, and her officers and crew strangers to each other; and yet, under all these disadvantages, the dashing courage and consumate professional ability of Flag Officer Buchanan and his associates achieved the most remarkable victory which naval annals record. STEPHEN R. MALLORY, Secretary of the Navy.

News of the Confederate indestructible "floating battery" reaches President Lincoln within two hours of the attack. He calls a cabinet meeting which commences at 6:30 p.m. Secretary of War Stanton wildly exclaims that the Virginia will, "change the whole character of the war...she will destroy, seriatim, every naval vessel; she will lay all the cities on the seaboard under contribution....Notify the governors and municipal authorities in the North to take instant measures to protect their harbors." Stanton trembling visibly, fears it is, "not unlikely, we shall have a shell or a cannonball from one of her guns in the White House before we leave this room." The Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles reassures Stanton that the navy already has an answer to the rebel threat; a seagoing ironclad of its own called the Monitor.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA, Fort Monroe, Va. Maj. Gen. GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN, Commanding the Army, Washington, D.C. [Similar report to the Secretary of War.] GENERAL: Two hours after I sent my hurried dispatch to the Secretary of War...the Monitor arrived, and saved the Minnesota and the St. Lawrence, which were both aground when she arrived....The Cumberland was sunk, and we lost more than one-half of her crew. The Congress surrendered, but the crew was released and the officers taken as prisoners. The Minnesota has got off, but it is reported she is in a sinking condition.....The Monitor is far superior to the Merrimac (Virginia). The first has only two guns, while the Merrimac has eight. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, JOHN E. WOOL, Major-General.

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

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