Today in the Civil War. (female, Austin, Virginia, Richmond)

[Grandstander]

May 4th, 1862:

Early in the morning on the day before General McClellan's laboriously prepared siege bombrdment was to have commenced, the commander of Mac's Third Corps, General Samuel P. Heintzelman, climbed into the basket beneath one of Professor Lowe's observation balloons and ascended 300 feet above the Peninsula. Expecting to see the same sights he had been viewing for the last several weeks, Heintzman was instead shocked to discover that the enemy was no longer in sight, his trenches and fortifications abandoned.

The news was quickly conveyed to McClellan who was also very surprised, but reacted quickly and ordered his cavalry under General George Stoneman to start a pursuit while he got his infantry in motion.

Stoneman soon ran into the rebel rear guard, General Jeb Stuart's cavalry and a series of rolling skirmishes erupted. As General Joseph Hooker's Division began to arrive, Stuart was forced to give ground. The ongoing Spring rains had turned the single road the rebels were using into an extended mudpit and the retreat's progress was slow. Johnston reviewed the situation and decided that a portion of his army would have to make a stand to allow the rest time to get away.

Such a situation had been anticipated by General Magruder before the campaign began. He had ordered the construction of a defensive line in front of the old colonial capitol of Williamsburg, anchored by a fortification modestly called Fort Magruder. Into these defenses went 32,000 Confederates under General James Longstreet.

The next morning would see the arrival of the Union Third and Fourth Corps, 41,000 men in blue.

Thinking that the planned marine assault by General Franklin's men would not be needed until after Yorktown had been pounded into submission by his heavy guns, McClellan had allowed the 11,000 men aboard the transports to disembark and camp in the fresh air. Now they were ordered to hustle back aboard and get underway as soon as possible. (The reboarding/reloading took two full days and Franklin's men would not arrive in time to play a significant part.)


General James Longstreet


General Jeb Stuart


General Joseph Hooker

[Grandstander]

May 5th, 1862:

General McClellan proclaimed it a great victory for Union arms, but the action fought 150 years ago today in front of Williamsburg, Virginia, was actually a rebel success.

It had opened in the morning when General Joseph Hooker, leading the second division of the Third Corps arrived in front of Fort Magruder, shook his men out into attack formation and pressed forward. His progress was checked by the defenders and Hooker fell back to wait for expected reinforcements from the 4th Corps. Those men had wound up halting on the approach road because their commander feared an ambush, so instead Hooker was left on his own to deal with counter attacks launched by General Longstreet.

The Federals managed to hang on until mid afternoon when Hooker was finally joined by the Third Division of his own Corp led by General Phillip Kearny, a hero of the Mexican War and conquest of California. Combined, the two divisions pushed the Confederates back into their trenches and recaptured artillery pieces Hooker had lost in the morning.

While this was taking place, the Confederate left flank came under assault by General Winfield Scott Hancock's brigade. General Jubal Early determined to surprise Hancock with a flanking march, but this advance became lost in the woods and when they emerged, it was not on Hancock's flank, but directly in front of where he had massed most of his artillery. Despite this error, Early, and his Division commander D.H. Hill both pressed Longstreet for permission to attack. Longstreet argued against it, but in the end gave in to his subordinates assurances of victory.

The attack went forward and was a failure. Hancock had withdrawn a short distance to the crest of a small rise and Early interpreted this as a retreat. When the Confederates were halfway up the rise, Hancock's line rose and emptied their rifles into the men in grey. Scores of rebels were cut down and then driven from the field when Hancock ordered a counter charge. Hancock wanted to press forward, but then General McClellan arrived on the scene and announced that enough had been done for the day and they would finish off the rebels in the morning.

But of course the next morning the rebels were gone. Having been successful with their intention of delaying the advance of the Federals, Longstreet's men had evacuated Williamsburg during the night and joined the rest of Johnston's retreating army. The extra day had given the Confederates enough time to get their supply wagons out of reach.

The Union held the field, but had endured 2,239 casualties while inflicting about 1600 on the Confederates. Johnston's army made their escape and that had been their purpose in making the stand. It was a tactical win for the North, but a strategic success for the South.

And the Army of the Potomac, ten months old under McClellan, had finally fought a battle.



******* ******** ********

In the Shenandoah Valley, General Thomas Jackson was once more on the move.

The defeat of Jackson's small army at Kernstown, followed by its seeming vanishing from the Valley, encouraged President Lincoln and Secretary Stanton to once more authorize the transfer of troops from that theater to the Peninsula. General Lee had been corresponding with Jackson and asking him to do what he could to keep those Union troops in the Valley. Jackson proposed that with some reinforcements, he could do exactly that.

In late April he had been sent an additional 8500 troops under General Richard Ewell. He had parked Ewell's troops without an explanation of his plans, and with his own men set off on a march toward Port Republic where they were then turned east toward the Blue Ridge Mountains, away from the Federal forces. Just as his men were persuading themselves that they were on the way to Richmond or the Peninsula, they arrived in Mechum's River Station on the Virginia Central railroad where they were loaded aboard cars.

When the trains pulled out, the army was once more surprised to see that they had reversed directions and were now heading back west. The entire exhausting movement had been a feint, designed to make the Federals believe that Jackson had departed from the Valley entirely.

150 years ago today they arrived in Staunton, a shock to Southern supporters who had assumed that they had been abandoned to the Yankees. They were also quickly educated in the ways of Stonewall Jackson's fetish for secrecy. Jackson set up road blocks and picket stations all around the town. No one was allowed to enter or leave. No word of what he was up to was going to leak to the Yankees if Jackson could prevent it.

Still known only to Jackson, the target of all these curious movements were the 6000 Federal troops under General Robery Milroy who were camped just six miles to the west and so far had no notion that Jackson's army was close at hand.

The Valley Campaign: Kernstown To McDowell Lower portion shows Jackson's movements described above.

[Mightyqueen801]

Good thread.

Brief interruption. This is Old Monmouth Weekend in Monmouth County, NJ, when all of the historical sites are open to the public. I visited one of the museums today and learned a NJ Civil War factoid I did not know.

The last Civil War veteran from NJ was George Ashby, who was born in 1844 in Virginia and was farming in Crosswicks NJ in 1864 when he joined the 22nd and then the 45 United States Colored Troops. His regiment was assigned to the Union's Army of the James, and placed in the all-African American XXV Corps. After the surrender at Appomattox, the XXV was dispatched to Texas as a show of force along the Mexican border. While there, he was promoted to 1st Sergeant.

He was interviewed on his 100th birthday at which time he expressed confidence that the Allies would prevail. He died in April 1946 at the age of 102. One of his grandsons, Harold Ashby, was Deputy Attorney General of NJ.

***

Also sticking with me from today's visit was a complete set of surgeon's amputation equipment, in its case, from the Civil War. This particular set (including saws, bonecutter, and knives) is in very good shape, indicating that it had not been often used.

[Grandstander]

May 7th, 1862:

The Union Commander in Chief decided to look matters over for himself. President Lincoln, along with Secretaries Stanton and Chase, had taken ship for Fortress Monroe and 150 years ago today they were inspecting the newly captured Yorktown. The President's purpose was, as described by Lincoln's private secretary, "...to ascertain by personal observation, whether some vigilance and vigor might might not be infused into the operation of the army and navy at that point."

It had taken the last three days to make it safe for such tourism because before departing, the rebels had rigged a number of explosive booby traps, called mines now, torpedoes then. They were artillery shells with trip wire fuses, activated by the weight of passing men or horses, and several Union soldiers had been killed or wounded by the devices. Infuriated by this show of bad sportsmanship, General McClellan had ordered Confederate prisoners formed in special details to find and dig up all of the buried bombs.

The men in grey were continuing their retreat to the Richmond defenses, still coping with goopy roads. General Johnston had endeared himself to one segment of his troops when he came upon a 12 pounder field piece that appeared hoplessly mired and was about to be abandoned as Johnston had ordered such bogged down equipment to be. Saying "Let me see what I can do", Johnston dismounted, waded through the mud in his gold braided uniform, added his shoulder to the weight of the gun crew and together they managed to get it unstuck.

Also doing a bit of showboating for his troops was Little Mac. He raced about on his horse from regiment to regiment, his staff pounding along trying to keep up with him, and each time he arrived at a new unit he would pull up and shout "How do you feel boys?" After the appropriate affirmations of ferocity from his men, Mac would ask "Do you think anything can stop you from going to Richmond?" To the shrieking chorus of "No's!" Mac would give a jaunty cap twirling salute and spur off to the next regiment in the advance..."How do you feel boys?" etc.

150 years ago today General Franklin's water transported division had at last come ashore at Ethan's Landing, six miles away from the road being used by the rebels. Johnston dispatched General John Bell Hood's Texas brigade to defend his right flank against this threat. He ordered Hood just to probe and annoy while he determined the size of the Federal force.

Instead Hood staged the first demonstration of what was to be the only tactic he seemed to understand and trust..the all out scream like the furies from hell assault. It worked extremely well. Franklin's men assumed such hyper aggression meant that these shrieking demons must be well supported by other troops in the area. They fell back all the way to the York shore where they were protected by the Union gunboats. Thus ended Mac's great marine flanking thrust.

When Johnston encountered Hood in the aftermath, he asked "General Hood, have you given a demonstration of the Texas idea of feeling an enemy gently and falling back?"

While all this was going on, Lincoln had visited the Monitor and its crew. Talking with the naval men, he discovered that while Mac was chasing Johnston toward Richmond, no thought or provisions had gone into the idea of securing Norfolk and the Gosport Naval Yard across the other side of the James. Noting that the 10,000 man garrison of Fortress Monroe was not being utilized at the moment, the Commander in Chief decided to be the Commander in Chief, and sat down to begin crafting his own plan for siezing Norfolk.

[Grandstander]

May 8th, 1862:

Stonewall Jackson had stated that a commander's objective should always be to "mystify, mislead and surprise" the enemy. This was Jackson's redundant way of saying "bewilder them."

He had done precisely that with his fake march out of the Valley followed by his clandestine return aboard railcars. The six thousand man Union force under General Milroy, half of General John Fremont's Mountain Army, had no awareness of how near Jackson's army was until May 7th when the leading rebel elements under General Edward Johnson arrived and sent Federal pickets flying back to camp with the warning. Milroy began falling back toward the mountains until reaching the small village of McDowell where he took up a defensive posture.

The position was overlooked by a rise called Sitlington's Hill, but it was not considered strategic because as far as Milroy knew, while the side facing him which was covered by Federal artillery was a gentle slope, there was no way to climb its steep reverse face. What Milroy didn't know was that accompanying Johnson was Stonewall's cartographer, Jed Hotchkiss, who did indeed know of a route running through a series of defiles and gorges. Johnson deployed his soldiers on the plateau which marked the peak, with Jackson and the rest of his men joining him that evening.

150 years ago today, a battle driven by several misunderstandings took place. Jackson's plan had been to line his artillery up on the plateau and shell the enemy into submission. However, as it turned out, the rough passage found by Hotchkiss allowed infantry to ascend, but not wheeled vehicles of any kind. While Jackson was trying to reorganize his troops for an infantry assault instead of his original plan which had gone sour, Milroy decided matters for him.

From the Federal position it had been possible to see the Confederate artillery being brought to the base of the hill, but not the fact that it wasn't being brought up the hill. Milroy assumed that it was, and decided that his only hope was a preemptive strike before it was emplaced. Around 4:30 in the afternoon the men in blue left their trenches, formed into assault ranks and swept forward. What followed was an ugly slugging match with repeated Union attacks being repulsed. The Union had more success then might otherwise have been expected because Jackson had drained the plateau of men and had been forming them for an attack on McDowell when Milroy's assault erupted. The men at the bottom had to reverse themselves once more and make another excruciating trip back up via the crude Hotchkiss' path.

Each time it appeared that the Federals were about to take the hill, another of Jackson's regiments would arrive, puffing and out of breath, but still able to pitch into the fight and drive Milroy's men back once more.

The fighting was ended by darkness around 9 pm with the hill still in Confederate hands. Milroy regrouped his survivors in McDowell and at 2 am on the 8th they evacuated the town and began marching for Franklin. Jackson's hard marchers took up the pursuit the next morning. (see map post # 332)

Surprisingly, the attacking Union force had lost fewer (259) casualties than did the Confederates (420) who were standing on the defensive.

Still, it was a tactical and strategic victory for the South. Jackson possessed the ground after the fight, and by controlling Staunton, he kept the Pathfinder's Mountain Army from being able to link up with General Banks' Valley Army.

[Grandstander]

May 9th, 1862:

More maverick woes for President Lincoln 150 years ago today as another one of his Generals turned unauthorized abolitionist.

At Hilton Head, South Carolina, department head General David Hunter issued a proclamation freeing all slaves in South Carolina, Florida and Georgia.

Hunter was a West Point graduate, career soldier and had already been wounded in a way while in the president's service. Hunter had been one of the officers who escorted Lincoln from Illinois to Washington, and in a stop at Buffalo, he had gotten crushed in the crowd surging to welcome Lincoln, suffering a dislocated collarbone in the process. The president remembered his service and had bumped Hunter from major to general, assigning him overall command of all the occupied coastal postions on the Atlantic outside of Virginia.

Hunter had been a strong anti-slavery man before the war and was a leading voice in calling for the enlistment and arming of blacks. His General Order # 11 was a somewhat oddly reasoned declaration, stating that since the areas under Union control were under martial law, and that martial law and slavery were incompatible.... the slaves were hereby freed.

Hunter's eccentric notion of how martial law and slavery interact did not matter, what mattered was that he had no authority to act as he had done, and the proclamation was voided by Lincoln as soon as he heard about it.

But before he was to get around to that, Lincoln had other things on his mind 150 years ago today. He was getting set to execute a plan he had crafted for seizing Norfolk and the Gosport Naval Yard using the 10,000 man garrison of Fortress Monroe commanded by the 78 year old General John Wool, the elder statesman of all Union officers.

What made Norfolk such a desirable target was that its fall would deny the CSS Virginia its home base. It would be forced up the James River, opening up that waterway for the Union naval forces, which hopefully could sail all the way to Richmond and bombard it.

Lincoln had really gotten involved in the project, even to the point of boarding a ship to personally scout out landing sites on the Southern shore. At 9 pm, General Wool and 5000 troops boarded transports and made for Lincoln's selected landing point. Lincoln remained behind to command the 5000 troops left at the fort.

Much has been made of this aggressive campaign by the president, but in fact none of it was really needed. Once General Johnston's army had departed the Peninsula tip, Norfolk lost its flank protection and became incapable of mounting any sort of viable defense against the Federal troops. Indeed, when Wool's force arrived at Norfolk the next morning, they found it abandoned by the Confederate army and the mayor of the town had came out to surrender the city.

He presented Wool with the keys to the city and surrendered in an elaborate, formal ceremony which included speeches. Wool, perhaps too elderly to recognize what was going on, waited patiently through it all. While this was taking place, the Confederates were racing to demolish the Gosport Naval Yard, a task they were able to complete thanks to the glacial surrender ceremony.

General John Wool

[Grandstander]

May 10th, 1862:

Flag Officer Andrew Foote's fleet of gunboats had been cooperating with General Pope's army in the opening of the Mississippi in Northern Tennessee. Now with Pope's army called away to join the extra slow advance on Corinth, Foote's ships were stalled before Ft. Pillow, forty miles North of Memphis. This installation, and eight converted commercial steamers under the command of Captain James E. Montgomery, represented all that stood between Foote's fleet and the rebel city. Styling themselves the River Defense Fleet, Montgomery's ships carried one or two guns each and had no armour apart from wet bales of cotton affixed to protect the most vital portions of the vessels. Their main weapons were their front mounted rams.

Foote's fleet was composed of eight ironclad gunboats and 16 mortar vessels. Any one of the Union gunboats could throw more weight with a single broadside than could the entire rebel flotilla, so the idea that the Confederates would attack seemed utterly insane.

Nevertheless, this is exactly what Captain Montgomery decided to do.

150 years ago today the Union Mortar Boat # 16 was occupying the forward most position on the river at a turn called Plum Point Bend, guarding it was the gunboat the USS Cincinnati. The fleet was spread out, the ships not in supporting position of one another. With no warning of any kind, suddenly two Confederate rams, the General Bragg and the Sumter, materialized around the bend. Before the Federal sailors could react, the Cincinnati was rammed on both sides . The Union gunboat got off one broadside before rolling over and sinking.

While that was taking place, the CSS Earl van Dorn went steaming past and took aim at the gunboat Mound City. The rebel ship struck at full speed and the Mound City had to run aground to avoid sinking entirely.

After obligations to bravado caused the River Defense Fleet to hang around for a time lobbing long range shots at the now angry, approaching Union fleet, they then opted to live to fight another day and retreated back to the protection of Fort Pillow's guns.

It was a tactical victory for the Confederates, and a morale raiser for the Tennessee supporters of the Confederacy, but it did nothing to alter the strategic situation. Both of the sunken Union gunboats were raised, repaired and returned to service. A best the action delayed, but did not prevent the eventual fall of Memphis.

The USS Cincinnati


The CSS Stonewall Jackson, a cottonclad ram


Artist's depiction of the Plum Point bend battle

[Grandstander]

May 11th, 1862:

150 years ago today saw the end of the ship which had begun a new era in naval warfare. For one day, March 8th, the CSS Virginia had established itself as the most powerful warship afloat in American waters. Its solo reign lasted but a day, the crown being contested by the USS Monitor with no clear victor in their engagement.

Since that day, the residents of the Peninsula, as well as the US soldiers and sailors in the region, had been hoping for a rematch. Instead all they got was conservative teasing. The Virginia ventured out several times, trying to lure the Monitor into a battle where the Confederate shore batteries could contribute or boarding parties could row out from shore, leap aboard the Monitor, jam her turret with wooden wedges, and throw kerosine soaked rags through her gunports to drive the crew on deck.

The Monitor wisely declined these invitations, following its orders to protect the blockading ships from any attacks by the Virginia. There was to be no second meetinmg of the ironclads.

And now with the fall of Norfolk which was occupied by General Wool's troops on the 10th, the Virginia no longer had a home base. It was under the command of Captain Josiah Tattnall who had replaced Lt. Catesby ap Jones. Tattnall reviewed his remaining options. One was a glory filled kamikaze style death, take the ship out into the Roads and do as much damage as possible to the Monitor and blockade ships before exhausting fuel and ammunition which it could no longer replace. The other was to try and save the ship by removing as much weight as possible so that her reduced draft would allow her to ascend the James to a friendly port.

The Virginia drew 23 feet of water and the James River was only 18 or 19 feet deep once you were past the mouth. Tattnall decided that saving the vessel for future use was a greater goal than the personal glory of a suicide stand. The crew set to work heaving everything movable over the side, only the guns, powder and shells were untouchable. By 12 am on the 11th, the Virginia had risen three feet and hopes were on the rise, when bad news arrived. A strong westerly wind had blown in and reduced the normal tide, the James was now only 14 or 15 feet deep in some locations.

The Union troops would arrive before the next tide offered another opportunity, and the rise of the Virginia now left her wooden casemate exposed at the waterline, so it could not fight without having to reload everything back on board. Tattnall now had to consider a third option, destroying the ship so that she would not fall into Yankee hands.

It was the only option remaining, and Tattnall had the Virginia run aground near Craney Island. After her guns had been removed the powder kegs were stacked and a fuse trail laid. Fittingly, Lt. Jones who had overseen her construction and commanded her in the fight with the Monitor, lit the fuse.

The Virginia began to burn as her crew and guns were marched to Drewy'sBluff which overlooked the James' northern bend which led to Richmond. There they would have one more duel with the Monitor.

About dawn the Virginia's powder kegs were reached by the flames and the ship vanished in a tremendous explosion.

Currier & Ives Conception of the Death of the Virginia

[Grandstander]

May 13th. 1862:

The CSS Planter was a sidewheel steamer, built in Charleston and used after the war broke out as a rapid dispatch boat under the command of Captain C. J. Relyea. Her pilot was a slave named Robert Smalls, sold and rented out often since the age of 12, first as a hotel worker, then a stevedore, a dock rigger and a sailmaker. Eventually his knowledge of the Charleston waters landed him the job of the pilot aboard the Planter, although no slave would be called that, they were referenced as "wheelmen."

150 years ago today Captain Relyea and his two white officers decided to spend the night ashore, leaving the Planter in the care of the trusted Smalls.

Smalls had been waiting for such an opportunity. He dressed himself in an officer's uniform, donning Relyea's straw hat which was familiar to those who knew him and his ship, and along with eight other slave crew members, as well as family members he had smuggled aboard, got up steam and casually began sailing past the Confederate guns in the harbor. Smalls saluted the rebel ships and forts as he passed with whistle blasts and friendly waves, the Confederate flag flapping proudly above him. When the Planter was beyond the range of any rebel guns, the CSS flag was hauled down and replaced by a white one as Smalls and his crew made for the Union blockading ships. They were received and welcomed by the USS Onward. Small presented the Planter as his gift to the US navy.

When word of this adventure reached the North, Smalls became a celebrated hero and was rewarded 1500 dollars as his share of the Planter prize money. He was to go on to serve as a pilot aboard US ships for the remainder of the war, eventually winding up on the now USS Planter. For heroism in action in December of 1863, Smalls was made captain of the Planter, the very first black to obtain such a rank in the US.

After the war Smalls purchased the house of his former owner in South Carolina and went into politics, getting elected to the State legislature, and then becoming a US Congressman.

Robert Smalls, with The Planter and Fort Sumter in the background:

[Grandstander]

May 15th, 1862:

Richmond sits on the James River, seven miles from where it takes a sharp Northerly bend. At this bend was Fort Darling, situated on an elevation called Drewry's Bluff. 150 years ago today it became the single most crucial piece of real estate in the Confederacy. With the destruction of the CSS Virginia, Fort Darling was now the only military obstruction between the Union Navy and the rebel capitol. If the ships could blow past Drewry's Bluff, they would be at liberty to steam up to Richmond and shell the city at will.

Five of the heavy naval guns from the Virginia had been hauled up to the position and added to the weak three gun field artillery battery which had already been stationed there. Manning the naval guns were crew members from the late Virginia. The waters in front of the position had been salted with sunken wrecks and assorted debris to slow the passage of any unwelcome guests on the river.

The guests were the USS Monitor and four other warships from the Atlantic Blockading Squadron. Two were conventional wooden steamers, but the other two were ironclads. The USS Galena had been commissioned by the Ironclad Board at the same time as the Monitor but had required more time to complete. It more closely resembled the Virginia, a conventional wooden hull covered with iron plate armour and carrying eight heavy guns. Unlike the Virgina the Galena drew just 12 feet of water and had no trouble navigating the James River, and unlike the Virginia the Galena had an efficient, purpose built engine which could send her along at a steady eight knots.

The other ironclad was on loan to the US Navy from the Department of Revenue. It was the USRC Naugatuck, built as a revenue chaser ( running down tax avoiding smugglers) and as such, was built for speed, capable of 17 knots. Her armour was iron plating which stopped a few feet above the water line, and the ship had an unusual set of pumps for taking on water rapidly as ballast when it needed to switch from chasing to fighting, lowering the ship in the water so that only the armour was exposed above the water line. The Naugatuck wasn't meant to be a true combat vessel and carried just three guns.

A bit before eight in the morning the Union flotilla rounded the bend to take on Fort Darling. The Gallena was in the lead and it anchored itself broadside to the rebel fort. Before it could even open fire, it was struck twice by Confederate shells, both of which penetrated the inadequate armour of the Galena. Though struck and penetrated numerous more times, the Galena held on in its stationary position for nearly three hours.

The Monitor decided to try its luck and upon taking position in front of the bluff, promptly discovered that it could not elevate its guns high enough to hit the fort. It also hung around gamely getting hit, but unlike the Galena, the Monitor's thick armour did not crack.

The Naugatuck steamed up to make her contribution, which turned out to be rather short. After just a few rounds, her 100 pound Parrot Rifle exploded, killing nine crewmembers.

The wooden ships wisely stayed out of range and they escorted the three hapless ironclads back down the river after they had recognized the futility of their efforts. The Federals had suffered two severely damaged ironclads and 24 casualties. On Drewry's Bluff, seven rebel gunners had been killed and eight were wounded.

And Richmond remained safe from a naval attack.

The Galena was such a failure that she was taken out of action later, stripped of her armour, and put back into service as a conventional wooden ship. The Naugatuck was returned to the Treasury Department.


The USS Galena before Fort Darling



The USRC Naugatuck