Aug. 5 Battle of Baton Rouge, La. Gen. Breckinridge defeated. (C 10 Battle of Cedar Mountain. Gen. Jackson fails to drive Gen. Banks. 46 16-Gen. McClellan evacuates the Peninsula. 66 21—Gen. Sigel obtains an important and bloody advantage on the Rappahannock. 26-Confederate Gen. Ewell drives Unionists from Manassas, Va. Union expedition up the Yazoo river, Mississippi, is successful. 27-Gen Pope defeats Gen. Ewell at Haymarket, Va. 28-Battle of Centreville. Gen. Jackson repulsed. 46 29-Battle of Groveton, near Bull Run, Va. Confederates repulsed, but renewed the fight next day and Gen. Pope withdrew. 30-Battle near Richmond, Ky. Union Gen. Nelson defeated with heavy loss. 31—Battle of Weldon, Va., a Union victory. The general operations of this month by the main armies east and west largely in favor of the South, notwithstanding heavy losses inflicted and successes gained in detached engagements by the U. S. troops. The armies under Lee and Bragg pressed on northward with incredible vigor. No repulses or defeats could stop their headlong rush. Sept. 1-The last of Gen. Pope's battles in Va., near Washington. Two of his generals were killed, Kearney and Stevens. The enemy retired, leaving their dead and wounded. In 6 days Pope had lost near 10,000 in killed and wounded. 66 Battle at Britton's Lane, Tenn. Confederates fled. Union Army evacuate Lexington, Ky. Fight at Jackson, Tenn. 5-Confederate army cross the Potomac to Frederick, Maryland. 8-Gen. Lee issues a proclamation to the Marylanders. "" 9-Col. Grierson overcomes Southern forces at Coldwater, Miss. Union forces repel the enemy at Williamsburgh, Va. Fredericksburg, Va., evacuated by Southern forces. 10-Great fears of invasion in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Philadelphia and Cincinnati begin to prepare for an attack. 11-Ganby, Va., Maysville, Ky., and Bloomfield, Mo., taken by South ern forces. 12-Charleston, S. C., bombarded and partially burnt. Fight on Elk river, Va., and at Middletown, Maryland. 13-Harper's Ferry, Va., beseiged. It surrendered on the 15th with 11,500 men. 14-McClellan engages Lee's army at South Mountain, Md. Lee retired toward the Potomac. The invasion of the North was stopped, for this time, in the East. Sep.16-Munfordsville, Ky., captured by Confederates and 4,000 prisoners taken. " 66 17-Lee unwilling to give up his plan of invasion, makes another stand at Antietam creek, and a great battle was fought. Near 100,000 men on each side. The result was indecisive, the losses nearly equal, both in the neighborhood of 13,000. Lee retreated across the Potomac in the night, and Harper's Ferry was evacuated. 20-Gen. Rosecrans defeats the Southerners with great loss at Iuka, Miss. 22-President Lincoln issues an Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all the slaves free, unless the Southern States discontinued the war within 100 days. 27-U. S. garrison at Augusta, Ky., surrender after a very gallant fight. Oct. 3-Battle of Corinth, Miss. Confederates defeated with great loss. "8-9-Battle of Perryville, Ky. Southern army having been arrested in its advance and obliged to retreat before Gen. Buell, turned on his advance and inflicted a severe blow, but are forced to resume their retreat. 66 66 10-Confederate cavalry, under Stuart, make a raid on Chambersburg, Penn. They capture 500 horses and many stores and hastily return to Virginia. 14—One hundred thousand dollars sent to Sanitary Commission from San Francisco. 15-Battle near Richmond, Ky. 19-Gen. Forrest defeated by Union forces, near Gallatin, Texas. 22-Southern defeat at Maysville, Ark., by Gen. Blunt. 24-An English steamer bringing military stores to the South, captured. 28-Confederates defeated by Gen. Herron, at Fayetteville, Ark. 30-Gen. Rosecrans supersedes Buell in Kentucky. Gen. Mitchell, the astronomer, died in S. C. Nov. 5-Gen. McClellan relieved of command in Va. by Gen. Burnside. Attack on Nashville by Confederates. They are repulsed. ," 66 11-Southern defeat at Garrettsburg, Ky., by Gen. Ransom. Exchange of prisoners effected. 16-President Lincoln enjoins on soldiers in camp and garrison observ. ance of the Sabbath. 17-Cavalry fight near Kingston, N. C. Southerners beaten. 22-All political State prisoners released by U. S. government. 25-Newbern, N. C. attacked by Southern troops. They soon retire. 28-Battle of Cane Hill, Ark. A Union victory. Dec. 1-The Pittsburg Battery, captured on the Peninsula, retaken by a Union force sent from Suffolk, Va. Dec. 5-Battle of Coffeeville, Miss. Southern loss was heavy. 66 6-Gen. Banks' expedition for the South sailed for New Orleans. Confederate Gen. Morgan captured several regiments of Western 8-Steamer Lake City destroyed by Southerners. 9-U. S. troops burn Concordia, on the Mississippi. 13-Battle of Fredricksburg. A severe repulse to the Union army. Gen. Foster makes a cavalry raid into the interior of N. C., a success. Commodore Parker destroys Confederate salt works, five schooners and two sloops. 17—Gen. Banks captures Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana. 19-Confederates retake Holly Springs, Miss., and large stores with 4,000 bales of cotton. 26 Indians, engaged in the Minnesota massacre, hung-38 in number. 27-Vicksburg attacked by Gen. Sherman and gunboats, unsuccessfully. 66 31-Battle of Murfreesboro, or Stone River, commenced with a Federal repulse. The Monitor that conquered the Merrimac, foundered at sea. CHAPTER XXVI. CAMPAIGN OF 1863. The preliminary Proclamation of Emancipation, issued Sept. 22d, 1862, was not to take effect for 100 days, or until Jan. 1st, 1863. Meanwhile the final details of the great operations, undertaken on both sides during 1862, were wound up. The bold efforts of the South, in the East and West, to transfer the war into the North, and indemnify themselves for the strict blockade of the coast by drawing supplies from the enemy, had resulted in defeat and withdrawal; not unaccompanied with booty, especially in the west, where Bragg's train of supplies was said to have been 40 miles long. The southern people had failed in the main point, yet they had gained much. Federal reverses in the east had stopped the victories in the west in mid career, both by withdrawing from those armies to the east, and adding to the Confederates from the same region. Grant and Sherman failed at Vicksburg, and Buell at Chattanooga. Yet these reverses to the Union arms served to stimulate the north, and to demonstrate the energy, resources, and indomitable resolution of the National government, and to undeceive the South as to the real sentiments of the great body of the Democratic party from which they had hoped aid on an invasion in force. Several of the European Powers, who would have liked to support the South, seeing the formidable character of the General Government, drew back in fear. The South might have foreseen that her cause was really hopeless; but she was too American not to feel an unconquerable resolution to carry her point or perish. She strengthened her armies and prepared for another invasion. The Federal armies were now (Jan. 1863,) about 800,000 strong; her navy consisted of near 450 vessels, a large number being iron-clads. The great events of the campaign were Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania and his retreat after the battle of Gettysburg, and Grant's success at Vicksburg and Chattanooga. The resolution of the South, enveloped in the embrace of so mighty an antagonist, was wonderful; the unfaltering spirit, and readiness of the northern people to furnish whatever was required for success was still more so. The whole South, at least every State, was the theater of many contests of more or less importance; but the main interest centered on the Mississippi river, at Chattanooga and its vicinity, and on Gen. Lee's army in Virginia or Pennsylvania. It was a contest of giants; yet, struggle as she might, the South was doomed. At the end of this yor she was still strong, her armies were veterans, her spirit unbroken. The Federal Government had gained much, but it was step by step, inch by inch; and, in some parts, as in Virginia, what had been gained many times over, in territory, had been as often lost. Her general gain over the Confederate States lay most largely in the fatal process of exhaustion to which the vast operations of the Federal government forced the South. Increase of numbers made the battles more bloody and wasteful of life. The three leading events in this campaign— the capture Vicksburg, (the battle of Chickamauga was a Confederate victory, but balanced by that of Chattanooga,) the battle of Gettysburg, and the battle of Chattanooga-were all decisive against the Confederates, yet leaving her strength for a long and vigorous contest of more than a year and a half. 1863. Jan. 1-The year opened with a Confederate success at Galveston, Texas. An attack by sea and land resulted in the capture of 300 troops, the destruction of one vessel with its crew, and the capture of another, the Harriet Lane. Com. Renshaw was blown up with his vessel. Confederate defeat at Lexington, Tenn., after an obstinate fight. 3-Union army withdraws from before Vicksburg. Southern army 7-Springfield, Mo., successfully defended by Unionists. 11-A combined attack on Fts. Hindman and Arkansas Post by gunboats and land forces, resulted in Union success-over 7,000 prisoners. 12-Three Federal transports and a gunboat captured on Cumberland river. 66 13-The Southern steamer, Florida, escapes from Mobile. " 17-$100,000,000 issued by the U. S. government in notes to pay the army. 20-Blockading vessels captured by Confederates, at Sabine City, Texas. 22-Attack on Vicksburg resumed. Gen. Porter dismissed from U. S. army. 25-A regiment of colored soldiers organized at Port Royal, S. C. 26-Gen. Hooker succeeds Gen. Burnside, in command of the Union Army of the Potomac, and Gens. Sumner and Franklin are relieved from duty. The Confederate war steamer, Alabama, destroys one vessel and captures another. Feb. 1-A second unsuccessful gunboat attack on Ft. McAllister. 5-Destruction of transports on Red River, La. Ft. Donelson repels Southern troops. " 12-The Florida captures the Union merchant vessel, Jacob BeM. 13—The iron-clad, Indianola, runs the blockade at Vicksburg, and is captured. 18-Vicksburg bombarded by gunboats—ineffectually. 21-The Alabama, a Confederate cruiser, destroys two vessels on the African coast. 25-The Bureau of Currency and National Banks established by U. S. Congress. 26-The Cherokees return to the Union, and abolish slavery. Twenty-eight cars, with stores, destroyed by Confederates, in Kentucky. 28-Confederate iron-clad, Nashville, destroyed in Ogeechee river, Geo. Mar. 1-Third fruitless Union attack on Ft. McAllister, Geo. """ 2-U. S. Generals increased to 358. 3-Congress authorizes loan of $900,000,000. These are called ten- The President authorized to suspend the writ of Habeas Corpus Territorial government organized in Idaho. Twc U. S. gunboats destroyed. 5-Van Dorn (Confederate) captures Springfield, Tenn., and many prisoners. |