United States Civil War (1861 – 1865) in Real Time

Day 249 of the United States Civil War, December 16th 1861

District of Columbia

United States House of Representatives from Ohio's 3rd district Clement L. Vallandigham introduces a resolution that praises United States Navy, Captain Charles Wilkes for his actions in the Trent Affair. Already a vocal critic of the administration and partisan opponent of the Republican Party, the gesture is an incongruous one for the Democrat who seems to delight in pricking the administration.

Virginia

Henry Constantine Wayne is appointed Brigadier General in the Confederate States Army.

Confederate States Army, Colonel Edward Johnson issued a congratulatory address to his Confederate soldiers for their victory in the battle of Allegheny Mountain: "While we have abundant cause to thank God for this victory, let us not forget the gallant dead who fell by our sides, and whom we buried on Allegheny. Remember their gallantry, and emulate their example."

While Confederate Confederate States Army, Brigadier General Thomas Jonathan Jackson was awaiting the arrival of reinforcements from western Virginia under Confederate States Army, Brigadier General William Wing Loring, he decided to begin an operation to disrupt the transportation of coal and other cargo along the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal from western Virginia to Washington, DC.

Kentucky

Confederate States Army, Brigadier General Felix Kirk Zollicoffer issued a proclamation inviting Kentuckian recruits to join his army in eastern Kentucky to drive the United States army out of the state.

Missouri

Following the siege of Lexington, the secessionist Missouri State Guard had withdrawn to the southwestern part of Missouri. Some recruiters such as Colonel Franklin S Robertson remained behind and attempted to fill their regiments. Robertson’s new regiment of 750 men began to march south to link up with Colonel J J Clarkson’s recruits near Warrensburg before proceeding on together to join the main army of State Major-General Sterling Price. They were unable to merge with Clarkson but they were joined by Colonel Ebenezer Magoffin, who was on parole after being arrested while attempting to recruit his own regiment. Robertson collected his recruits at Grand Pass where they elected officers. Most of the Confederate forces dispersed to winter quarters but an active field force collected around Springfield, where preparations started to enlist many of them into Confederate service.

United States Army, Brigadier General John Pope, in command of the District of Central Missouri, was determined to suppress pro-Confederate recruiting in the region. He marched southwest from Sedalia before turning his main body north toward Warrensburg in his mission to track down secessionist recruiters.

West Virginia

Senator James Carskadon, representing Hampshire, Hardy, and Morgan counties in the Reorganized Government of the Virginia, introduced a resolution calling on the Committee on Courts of Justice and General Laws to consider a bill "prohibiting persons who are or have been willingly engaged in the present rebellion against the Government of the United States, from voting." The committee would later report adversely on this resolution.

Missouri

Platte County had been the scene of significant guerrilla activity, led by by a local named Silas Gordon. Earlier threats has been made on Platte City for sheltering Gordon and seventy-five men of the 18th Missouri Infantry Regiment (United States) under the erratic United States Army, Colonel James Morgan made good on these warnings when they occupied Platte City, captured several "bushwackers," shot them without a trial, and burned much of the town to the ground.

Day 251 of the United States Civil War, December 18th 1861

Virginia

United States reconnaissance to Pohick Church.

Skirmish at Camp Allegheny.

Confederate States Army, Brigadier General Thomas Jonathan Jackson’s men attempted to wreck Dam No 4 and Dam No 5 on the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal north of Martinsburg. Artillery fire was ineffective and it required hard human labour to destroy the dams. The task was made more difficult by harassing fire from Union troops stationed across the Potomac River. Jackson drew the United states fire away by feinting a crossing of the river upstream from the dam. The workforce struggled for hours in cold mud and water and finally succeeded in opening Dam No 5.

Missouri

United States reconnaissance from Rolla to Houston.

Kentucky

United States Army, Brigadier General Albin Francisco Schoepf made a reconnaissance in force from Somerset towards Mill Springs near Cumberland Gap. Schoepf’s brigade was supported by a second brigade from United States Army, Brigadier General George Henry Thomas’s division (Colonel Samuel Powhatan Carter’s 22nd Brigade, 1st Division, Army of the Ohio). Thomas was denied permission by United States Army, Brigadier General Don Carlos Buell to support Schoepf with his entire division because they were required to observe 7,000 Confederates under Confederate States Army, Brigadier General Thomas Carmichael Hindman were threatening Columbia further to the west. Schoepf’s scouts discovered the fortified camp of Confederate States Army, Brigadier-General Felix Zollicoffer in the angle of the Cumberland River and Fishing Creek. Zollicoffer’s main responsibility was to guard Cumberland Gap, but in November 1861 he had advanced further west into Kentucky to strengthen Confederate control and gather recruits in the area around Somerset. After Zollicoffer crossed the Cumberland River, he found a strong defensive position near Beech Grove at Mill Springs and decided to make that his winter quarters.

Day 253 of the United States Civil War, December 20th 1861

District of Columbia

The Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War was formed by the United States Congress. It consisted of United States Senators Benjamin Wade (chairman), Zachariah Chandler, and Andrew Johnson; and House Representatives D W Gooch, G W Julian, John Covode, and Moses F Odell. The Committee exercised great influence in investigating allegations of misconduct and questioned military actions.

Virginia

Confederate States Army, Brigadier General Thomas Jonathan Jackson’s men ended their operations against the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad and returned to winter quarters around Winchester.

(Virginia) Battle of Dranesville - McClellan's Operations in Northern Virginia

Following the Battle of Ball's Bluff on October 21st major offensive action was halted in the eastern theater, as both armies went into winter quarters. Small detachments were still occasionally sent out to probe the enemy's position and to obtain forage. Such was the case early on the morning of December 20 when General Stuart, with a mixed brigade of infantry comprising the regiments of the 6th South Carolina, 1st Kentucky, 10th Alabama, and 11th Virginia, 150 of his cavalry troopers and Allen S. Cutts's four-gun Georgia battery, set out north from their position near Centreville to escort the army's wagons trains on a foraging expedition into Loudoun County. Meanwhile, General Ord, leading the 10,000 strong 3rd Brigade of Pennsylvania Reserves set out west from Langley to clear the south bank of the Potomac River of Confederate pickets and partisans in Fairfax and Loudoun. At Colvin Run Mill, Ord left half his force to protect his rear and prevent his force from being cut off from their base at Langley.

At about noon, Ord arrived at the intersection of the Georgetown Pike and Leesburg Pike in the village of Dranesville, where he encountered Stuart's advance cavalry pickets, which were quickly driven off by the Union force. Ord then began to lead his command west, down the Leesburg Pike. At around 1 p.m. Stuart, with the main body of his force approached Dranesville from the south, whereupon he encountered the rear of the United States detachment.

Map: Sketch of the Affair at Dranesville



Ord halted his infantry and wheeled it around to meet the Confederate threat, forming a line on the north side of the Leesburg Pike. He then deployed his artillery on an eminence near the intersection. Stuart deployed his infantry on the south side of the pike and his artillery 300 yards south of the federal position. While the Confederate infantry was deploying, the 1st Kentucky mistook the 6th South Carolina for United States troops and opened fire, which was quickly returned by the Carolinians. The 11th Virginia advanced, supported by the 10th Alabama but were stopped by heavy fire. The colonel of the 10th Alabama, John Forney, was wounded, and the lieutenant colonel, James B. Martin, was killed.

Hearing the sound of gunfire, the 9th Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment charged across the turnpike but were quickly driven back. The artillery then began to duel, but owing to the strength of the United States position, the Confederate guns were quickly knocked out. Ord deployed his infantry in a skirmish line and sent it across the Pike at Stuart and the two sides squared off for nearly 2 hours. At 3 p.m., with his wagons safely away and secure from capture, Stuart ordered a withdrawal. Ord pursued for a half mile, ensuring his line of retreat was safe, before breaking off the attack and returning to Langley.

Sketch: Battle of Dranesville, Va., December 20th, between the national forces commanded by Generals McCall and Ord, and a superior rebel force led by General Stewart - rout of the rebels with heavy loss



The following day Stuart returned with reinforcements, but the battle was already over.

West Virginia

The first military execution in western Virginia during the war occurred in Charleston. United States Army, Private Richard Gatewood of the 1st Kentucky Infantry Regiment (United States) was killed by a firing squad from his regiment.

Georgia

The United States Navy completed the unloading of supplies and stories for the Army to establish permanent possession of Tybee Island. Tybee Island was considered too isolated and unprepared for defence and had to be abandoned by Confederate forces. This gave United States forces a foothold across the Savannah River from Fort Pulaski and United States Army, Brigadier-General Quincy Adams Gillmore began construction of batteries along the beaches of Tybee.

North Carolina

The steamer GORDON ran the blockade off Wilmington.

In a concerted attempt to disrupt United States supply lines, Confederate forces and local insurgents assembled to destroy track, trestles, depots, water tanks, telegraph lines and bridges on the North Missouri Railroad. In a single blow, railroad communications over a hundred miles between Hudson and Warrenton, Missouri were cut. This lead directly to United States Army, Major General Henry Halleck's order two days later to meet such actions with summary executions and other extreme measures.

South Carolina

A “stone fleet” was sunk by United States Navy ships under United States Navy, Captain Charles Henry Davis in Charleston Harbour, in an attempt to prevent Confederate blockade runners from using the harbour. Sixteen vessels were sunk in the main entrance but the rapid deterioration of the wooden ships’ frames meant that their stone ballast soon collapsed and fatally weakened the effect of the barrier.

Tennessee

The Cincinnati Gazette quotes from a letter received from a reader who has just traveled from Tennessee: “There is no place between Bowling Green and Nashville that admits of defense. At Nashville they are making preparations to resist the anticipated attack, and ... if we wait on them till next year, they will probably be able to make a successful defence ... [but] the progress is very slow. On Capitol Hill a few cannon have been mounted, but now there are no defenses that would more than momentarily delay our army.”

New York

George Wallace Jones was a former Iowa and Wisconsin senator, congressman, and judge who had also been United States ambassador to Bolivia. He had been determined, through pre-war correspondence with Jefferson Davis and later letters to his wife and sons, two of whom served in the Confederate army, to be a flight risk and a danger to the United States. He was arrested in New York City and incarcerated at Fort Lafayette in New York Harbor.

Arizona Territory (Confederate States)

Confederate States Army, Brigadier General Henry Hopkins Sibley proclaimed that New Mexico and Arizona were now part of the Confederacy and undertook an expedition to drive all United States forces from the Territory. He combined his forces with those of Confederate States Army, Colonel John Robert Baylor, who had earned a victory at Fort Fillmore. United States garrisons had been withdrawn from Fort Stanton to Albuquerque while the garrison of Fort Thorn, about fifty miles upriver from Mesilla, retreated to Fort Craig. These were the only organised United States forces left south of the 34th parallel border. However, around 4,000 United States troops had gathered at Fort Craig, outnumbering Sibley’s 3,700 men, even counting Baylor’s Texas Mounted Rifles.

Canada

Two Royal Navy warships convoyed troops to Canada in anticipation of an unsatisfactory conclusion being reached in the “Trent Affair” and tensions growing with the United States.

Day 255 of the United States Civil War, December 22nd 1861

Virginia

Skirmish at Market Bridge near Newport News.

Indian Territory (Confederate States)

Confederate troops had been attempting to subdue the United States sympathisers among the Native Americans in the Indian Territory and consolidate their areas of control. They had already defeated Chief Opothleyahola’s pro-United States band of Creeks and Seminoles at Round Mountain and at Chusto-Talasah, and aimed to complete their offensive by attacking their new camp in a well-protected cove on Battle Creek at Chustenahlah. Confederate States army, Colonel James McQueen McIntosh and Confederate States army, Colonel Douglas Hancock Cooper planned a combined attack with their respective brigades by converging on the camp from different directions. McIntosh left Fort Gibson with a force of 1,380 men for an approach march while Cooper followed along the enemy’s route away from their defeat at Chusto-Talasah.

Day 257 of the United States Civil War, December 24th 1861

District of Columbia

James Hewett Ledlie is appointed Brigadier General in the United States Army.

Virginia

United States reconnaissance towards Fairfax Court House.

Christmas in 1861 found the three regiments of the Irish Brigade-- the 63rd New York Infantry Regiment
(United States), 69th New York Infantry Regiment (United States and 88th New York Infantry Regiment (United States) -- in Camp California, Virginia. This account of their holiday appears in David Power Conyngham’s 1867 history of the Brigade and its campaigns:

"Near one of the huge fires a kind of arbor was nicely constructed of the branches of trees, which were so interwoven on one another as to form a kind of wall. Inside this, some were seated on logs, some reclining in true Turkish style. Seated near the fire was Johnny Flaherty, discoursing sweet music from his violin. Johnny hailed from Boston; was a musical genius, in his way, and though only fourteen years of age, could play on the bagpipes, piano, and Heaven knows how many other instruments; beside him sat his father, fingering the chanters of a bagpipe in elegant style. It is no wonder that most of the regiment were gathered around there, for it was Christmas Eve, and home-thoughts and home-longings were crowding on them; and old scenes and fancies would arise with sad and loving memories, until the heart grew weary, and even the truest and tenderest longed for home associations this blessed Christmas Eve."

West Virginia

The Federal Court met in Wheeling in reference to the storage of powder in the Custom House; witnesses included United States Army, General William S. Rosecrans, (Restored Government of) Virginia Governor Francis Pierpont, and Archibald Campbell, editor of the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer.

Missouri

United States Army, Brigadier General Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss led a United States force of five mounted companies and two companies of Birge’s Sharpshooters from his headquarters in Palmyra into Boone County in order to protect the North Missouri Railroad from guerrillas and to intimidate the local secessionists.

In St. Louis, United States Army, Major General Henry Halleck issues an order that anyone caught burning bridges or destroying railroads and telegraphs will be immediately shot, and the towns and counties in which such destruction takes place will be made to pay the expenses of all repairs, unless it is proved that they could not prevent it.

Skirmish at Wadesburg.

South Carolina

USS GEM OF THE SEA under the command of United States Navy, Lieutenant Irvin B Baxter, captured and destroyed the British blockade-runner PRINCE OF WALES off Georgetown.

Day 259 of the United States Civil War, December 26th 1861

District of Columbia

(United States) Secretary of State William Seward apologizes to Great Britain for the actions of the SAN JACINTO in the Bahama Channel. The United States Government orders the release of James Mason and John Slidell from Fort Warren, Boston Harbor, MA.

Virginia

Confederate States Army, Brigadier General Philip St. George Cocke, commits suicide at his home, "Belmead," Powhatan County, VA, after having his health deteriorate for 8 months in the field.

During the night of November 8-9, 1861, Pro-United States insurrectionists in Eastern Tennessee burned five railroad bridges on the East Tennessee Railroad between Knoxville and Charleston. Richmond deployed troops with orders to crush the rebellion and hang all traitors. Harrison Self was convicted of burning the Lick Creek Bridge and sentenced to hang. In the morning, his daughter telegraphed (Confederate States) President Davis begging clemency and, at two p.m., two hours before the scheduled execution, received an answer commuting the sentence.

Kentucky

Parts of the former Confederate Army of the Kanawha under Confederate States Army, Brigadier General John Buchanan Floyd (20th Mississippi Infantry Regiment, 36th Virginia Infantry Regiment, and 50th Virginia Infantry Regiment) arrived at Bowling Green after a long journey from western Virginia, They became the core of the 3rd Division of the Army of Central Kentucky. Other parts of the former Army of the Kanawha had moved eastwards to join the Army of the Northwest in Virginia.

Louisiana

The gunboat USS RHODE ISLAND under the command of United States Navy, Rhode Island, Lieutenant Stephen D Trenchard, captured the Confederate schooner VENUS southeast of Sabine Pass.

Missouri

United States Army, Major General Henry Wager Halleck proclaimed martial law in St Louis and on the railroads of Missouri in response to continual unrest and disruption by pro-Confederate guerrillas.

After arriving in Sturgeon, United States Army, Brigadier General Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss learned about a band of Confederates near Hallsville and prepared to suppress their depredations.

Georgia

A Confederate fleet of CSS SAVANNAH under the command of Confederate States Navy, captain Josiah Tattnall), CSS RESOLUTE, CSS SAMPSON, CSS IDA, and CSS BARTON attacked the United States blockading ships at the mouth of the Savannah River before returning to anchor under the guns of Fort Pulaski. The blockaders were forced to move temporarily to seaward.

Department of the Missouri (United States)

United States Army, Brigadier-General John McAllister Schofield assumed command of the District of North Missouri, succeeding United States Army, Brigadier-General Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss.

Indian Territory (Confederate States)

Native Americans in the Indian Territory clash, with the pro-United States Creeks involved in the fighting taking the brunt of the punishment.

Day 261 of the United States Civil War, December 28th 1861

Virginia

United States occupation of Beckley and Raleigh Court House.

Kentucky

United States Army, Brigadier General Lewis Wallace began an expedition to Viola and Camp Beauregard

Skirmishes at Sacramento and Grider’s Ferry between United States Army, Brigadier General Thomas Leonidas Crittenden and Confederate cavalry under Confederate States Army, Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest.

Louisiana

The gunboat USS NEW LONDON under the command of United States Navy, London, Lieutenant Abner Read, captured the Confederate schooner GIPSEY with a cargo of cotton in Mis­sissippi Sound.

Mississippi

At 2 a.m., the wooden-hulled sidewheel steamship USS DE SOTO ( 8 × 32-pdr guns; 1 × 30-pdr Parrott rifle), sent to investigate a strange vessel off the Mississippi Delta, collided with the French warship MILAN. Both side-paddle steamers were damaged and the DE SOTO towed the Milan into Ship Island, Mississippi for repairs. The French ship had State Department permission to visit New Orleans and arrange evacuation of French citizens and the mishap caused diplomatic embarrassment.

(Missouri) Operations in Northeast Missouri - Battle of Mount Zion Church

United States Army, Brigadier General Benjamin M. Prentiss led a United States force of five companies of the 3rd Missouri Cavalry Regiment (United States) and two companies of Birge's Western Sharpshooters into Boone County to protect the North Missouri Railroad, disrupt the organization of the secessionist Missouri State Guard, and generally overawe secessionist sentiment in the region. Prentiss's forces left the Northern Missouri headquarters in Palmyra, Missouri, on December 24.

After arriving in Sturgeon on December 26th, Prentiss learned about a concentration of State Guard near Hallsville. He sent a company to Hallsville the next day that fought a State Guard detachment under the command of pro-Confederate Colonel of the Missouri State Guard, Colonel Caleb Dorsey and, in a 10-minute skirmish about one half mile north of Mount Zion Church, itself situated about 3 miles southeast of Hallsville and 15 miles northeast of Columbia. Prentiss's troops suffered casualties, including men taken prisoner, before retreating back to Sturgeon by 6 p.m.

On December 28 at about 2 a.m., Prentiss set out with his entire force to meet Dorsey's force. While the State Guardsmen numbered around 900, most appear to have been local volunteers, many of whom were not armed with military weapons (although many had personal civilian firearms of various types). A detachment of Prentiss's force routed one company of Guardsmen on the road from Hallsville around 100 yards east of Mount Zion Church and learned that the rest of the force was in the churchyard, situated on a high hill. The main campground was actually in a thicketed hollow immediately east of the church. Prentiss advanced on the State Guard positions, making three charges. At the third, the Confederates exhausted their ammunition, fell back to their wagons, and were overrun. The battle ended around 11 a.m.