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

Day 279 of the United States Civil War, January 15th 1862

District of Columbia

Edwin McMasters Stanton was (United States) President Abraham Lincoln's choice to succeed Simon Cameron as Secretary of War. As a lifelong Democrat, Buchanan's Attorney General, and a strong opponent of secession, his appontment was generally welcomed as a cementing of Northern unity. His nomination was confirmed in the United States Senate 36-2, with only Republicans Samuel Pomeroy of Kansas and James Grimes of Iowa voting against.

West Virginia

Constitutional Convention delegates discussed how amendments would be made to the new state's constitution.

Kentucky

Reconnaissance to Columbus.

Reconnaissance to Paducah began.

Louisiana

Confederate States Army, Major General Mansfield Lovell, with assistance from Confederate States Navy, Lieutenant Thomas B Huger, was ordered to take over 14 steamers at New Orleans to be armed for the defence of the river and city. The plan was to outfit the steamships with one or more guns and iron rams to attack United States river gunboats.

Missouri

United States reconnaissance expedition to Benton, Bloomfield, and Dallas began.

Tennessee

After conducting diversions and scouting missions along the Mississippi, Tennessee, and Cumberland Rivers, United States Army, Brigadier General Ulysses Simpson Grant began to focus his movements towards Fort Henry on the Tennessee River.

Day 281 of the United States Civil War, January 17th 1862

District of Columbia

Simon Cameron had resigned under a cloud several days before, with Edwin McMasters Stanton being named in his place. (United States) President Abraham Lincoln sweetened the pill for Cameron with a nomination as minister to Russia and the Senate confirmed him on this day. The vote clearly demonstrated the doubts over Cameron and his service; the vote was 24-14, with four more senators not voting. Seven Republicans voted against.

Virginia

Reconnaissance to Burke’s Station. Incident at Springfield Station.

West Virginia

At the Constitutional Convention, delegates discussed the procedures for forming counties and districts in the new state.

Florida

The gunboat USS CONNECTICUT under the command of the United States Navy, Commander Maxwell Woodhull, captured the blockade-running British schooner EMMA off the Florida Keys.

Kentucky

After a grueling three weeks’ march from Lebanon, United States Army, Brigadier General George Henry Thomas arrived with two brigades at Logan’s Crossroads, within ten miles of the Confederate fortified camp on Fishing Creek. The final week of the march had been made in heavy winter rains that also raised the water levels of the rivers in the area. Thomas ordered United States Army, Brigadier General Albin Francisco Schoepf to send three regiments and an artillery battery to reinforce him from Somerset, eight miles away.

Missouri

Expedition to Benton, Bloomfield, and Dallas ended.

Heavy ice blocked the Mississippi River twenty miles below St Louis.

Tennessee

USS CONESTOGA under the command of the United States Navy, Lieutenant Seth Ledyard Phelps, and USS LEXINGTON under the command of the United States Navy, Lieutenant Shirk, reconnoitred the Tennessee River below Fort Henry, attempting to determine the location of a battery reported to be concealed at the foot of Panther Creek Island. Phelps fired a few shells at the fort from extreme range but the Confederates did not reply.

Day 283 of the United States Civil War, January 19th 1862

Florida

The UNADILLA-class gunboat USS ITASCA (1 × 11-in Dahlgren smoothbore, 2 × 24-pdr smoothbore and 2 × 20-pdr Parrott rifles) under the command of United States Navy,Lieutenant Charles H B Caldwell, captured the schooner LIZZIE WESTON on its way to Jamaica with a cargo of cotton.

(Kentucky) Battle of Mill Springs

Confederate States Army, Major General George Bibb Crittenden and his 4,000 men marched through the night in rain and mud and arrived at Logan’s Crossroads in a cold and miserable state. Many men carried antique flintlock muskets which were almost useless in the wet weather. The slowness of the march cost them the element of surprise because a dawn patrol of Union cavalry encountered the head of the column. Nevertheless, they launched a spirited attack, led from the front by Brigadier-General Felix Kirk Zollicoffer, and achieved some initial success.

United States Army, Brigadier General George Henry Thomas’s division had 4,000 men available in United States Army,Colonel Mahlon Dickerson Manson’s brigade (2/1/Ohio), two regiments from United States Army, Colonel Robert Latimer McCook’s brigade (3/1/Ohio), a battalion of Wolford’s 1st Kentucky Cavalry Battalion and Kinney’s Battery C 1st Ohio Artillery. Reinforcements from United States Army, Brigadier General Albin Francisco Schoepf’s brigade would arrive too late for the fighting. Manson ordered the 10th Indiana Infantry Regiment (United states) to oppose the advancing Confederates and sent United States Army, Colonel Speed Smith Fry’s 4th Kentucky Infantry Regiment (United States) in support. The 10th Indiana Infantry Regiment (United States) was forced back to a wood and Fry’s Kentuckians then arrived on their left to stabilise the position until further reinforcements arrived.

Some of Zollicoffer’s troops approached to close quarters along a concealed route through a ravine and came under fire from the 4th Kentucky. The 15th Mississippi Infantry Regiment (Confederate States) and the 20th Tennessee Infantry Regiment (Confederate States) pushed back the 4th Kentucky Infantry Regiment (United States) and 10th Indiana Infantry Regiment (United States)as well as some United States cavalry at about 5.30 am. During a lull in the fighting, Fry rode to reconnoitre the enemy flank and encountered an officer in a white raincoat. The unknown officer told Fry that his men were shooting into their own side. As he was about to order his regiment to cease fire, Fry’s horse was shot and wounded by a Confederate soldier on horseback. Fry and other United States troops observed the incident and shot the white-coated stranger dead. The stranger turned out to be Zollicoffer. Zollicoffer had mistakenly approached the 4th Kentucky Infantry Regiment (United States) in the belief that they were Confederates firing on their own men.

Map: Battle of Mill Springs, (Red) Confederate attacks (Blue) United States



The sudden death of their commander and heavy fire from Fry’s regiment caused the centre of the Confederate line to fall back momentarily and the two nearest Confederate regiments were thrown into confusion. Crittenden rallied them and he brought up Confederate States Army, Brigadier General William Henry Carroll’s brigade to make a general advance. Thomas then committed Confederate States Army, Colonel Samuel Powhatan Carter’s brigade (12/Ohio) to protect the left of the 4th Kentucky Infantry Regiment (United States) and McCook brought up the 2nd Minnesota Infantry Regiment (United States) and 9th Ohio Infantry Regiment (United States) to relieve the 10th Indiana Regiment (United States) and 4th Kentucky Regiment (United States), who were almost out of ammunition. Crittenden made another attack but was repulsed. The two withdrawn United States regiments refilled their ammunition boxes and returned to the action. Carter’s brigade advanced on the left with 1st the East Tennessee Infantry and 2nd East Tennessee Infantry while the 2nd Minnesota laid down heavy fire. The 9th Ohio Infantry advanced on the right flank with fixed bayonets. The United States counterattack led by McCook crushed the Confederate right and then their entire line broke. The Confederate troops streamed back towards the river crossing at Mill Springs in a disorderly rout and Crittenden was powerless to stop them. They crossed in a panic to the south side of the Cumberland on flatboats, abandoning twelve artillery pieces, 150 wagons, and more than 1,000 horses and mules. The retreat continued until the troops reached Chestnut Mound, Tennessee, (near Murfreesboro), about fifty miles east of Nashville. Thomas pursued them in poor weather as far as Beech Grove.

Map: Battle of Mill Springs, (Blue) United States attacks



The actions at Mill Springs and Middle Creek broke the Confederate defensive line anchored in eastern Kentucky. United States casualties were reported as 246 (39 killed, 207 wounded) and Confederate as 125 killed and 404 wounded or missing.

Day 285 of the United States Civil War, January 21st 1862

West Virginia

Constitutional Convention delegates debated the court system and the application of fines.

Kentucky

United States Army, Brigadier General John Alexander McClernand, returns to his base of operations at Columbus, KY.

Florida

The 556-ton bark USS ETHAN ELLEN (six 32-pounder guns), under the command of United States Navy, Acting Lieutenant William B Eaton, captured the schooner OLIVE BRANCH bound from Cedar Keys to Nassau with a cargo of turpentine.

North Carolina

Confederate States Navy, Captain William Francis Lynch with sidewheel steamer CSS SEA BIRD and the small, iron-hulled, propeller-driven towing steamer CSS RALEIGH had reconnoitred Hatteras Inlet and discovered a large United States fleet of steamers and transports which posed a threat to Roanoke Island. Three vessels in the United States armada had been lost on their way from Hampton Roads: CITY OF NEW YORK laden with ordnance and supplies; POCAHONTAS carrying horses; and the Army gunboat ZOUAVE were all lost, although all persons aboard were rescued. The only personnel losses were two officers of the 9th New Jersey Infantry Regiment (United States), who were drowned when their surfboat overturned following a visit to the flagship. The United States fleet’s entry into Pamlico Sound through Hatteras Inlet was time-consuming. Some United States Army ships drew too much water to get across the bar and had to be kedged in after being lightened. Others were too deep even to be kedged in; the men or materials they carried had to be brought ashore on Hatteras Island, and the ships sent back. The bark JOHN TRUCKS never made it across and could not get close enough to Hatteras Island even for the men aboard to be taken off. She returned to Annapolis with the entire 53rd New York Infantry Regiment (United States) still aboard.

Missouri

The press gave details of Missouri Adjutant General Chester Harding's report to Provisional Governor Hamilton R. Gamble noting that 33,882 Missourians were in United States uniform under three year enlistments. These included 25,000 infantrymen and 6,000 cavalrymen. In addition, the state had enlisted around 6,000 six-month militiamen. The number of Missourians in Confederate uniform were not enumerated.

New York

Posted in the New York Times, the first sketchy reports of the battle in Kentucky appear: “We only know that the battle was offered by the rebels, and lost by them, after what must have been a fierce conflict, and the sacrifice of two leaders as conspicuous as Zollicoffer and young Bailie Peyton [Junior, age 28]. The vanquished fell back to their intrenchments at Mill Spring. Thither they were pursued by the victors, assailed, and finally obliged to capitulate.”

Day 287 of the United States Civil War, January 23rd 1862

District of Columbia

(United States) President Abraham Lincoln and the First Lady heard selections from Guiseppe Verdi's Il Trovatore and Vicenzo Bellini's Il Puritani at the Washington Theater (also called Carusi's Hall) on the north-east corner of C and Eleventh Street in the capital.

Virginia

Reconnaissance to Woodstock began.

Expedition to Guyandotte Valley and Logan Court House ended.

West Virginia

Debates at the Constitutional Convention focused on the term limits and eligibility of elected officials.

Missouri

Reconnaissance to Polk County ended.

St. Louis, Missouri, under United States martial law, had received many refugees who had fled from Confederate control in the south-east of the state. United States Army, General Henry Halleck ordered a mandatory assessment of relief funds for them from leading St. Louis citizens who openly supported the southern cause. Samuel Engler, a leading merchant, brought his lawyer to contest this arbirary tax and both men were immediately arrested and sent to a military prison. Engler was then ordered out of United States-held Missouri. After this event, the assessments were generally paid.

Louisiana

The schooner USS SAMUEL ROTAN (2 × 32-pounder guns) the command of United States Navy, Acting Master (equivalent to modern Lieutenant Junior grade) John A. Rogers, acting as a tender to the three-masted steam screw frigate USS COLORADO under the command of United States Navy, Captain Theodorus Bailey, captured the steamer CALHOUN in East Bay with a cargo of powder, coffee, and chemicals.

North Carolina

United States Navy, Captain Louis Malesherbes Goldsborough reported that 17 naval vessels of the Roanoke Island expedition had successfully crossed the bar into Pamlico Sound. Bad weather and the shallow, tortuous channel had delayed entry to the Sound and presented diffi­culties when attempting to get the heavily-laden troop transports over the bar.

United Kingdom

The 1,200 ton commerce raider NASHVILLE had arrived in Southampton in November 1861 to repair storm damage from her Atlantic crossing. The MOHICAN-class sloop of war USS TRUSCARORA (2 × 11 in (280 mm) Dahlgren smoothbore guns, 2 × 32-pounder guns, 4 × 57 cwt 32-pounder guns and 1 × 30-pounder Parrott rifle) under the command of United States Navy, Commander Tunis A. M. Craven reached the port and moored less than a mile away. The crews sometimes encountered each other in the English port town and on this day brawled in a pub called The Bell. The NASHVILLE sailed on February 3rd 1862, closely watched by USS TRUSCARORA which was banned under international law from following her for 24 hours.

Day 289 of the United States Civil War, January 25th 1862

District of Columbia

(United States) President Abraham Lincoln meets in Washington, DC, with United States Army, Major General Ambrose E. Burnside, and after refusing to dismiss many of Burnside's subordinate officers, Burnside in frustration offers to resign and in so doing, (United States) President Abraham Lincoln orders United States Army, Major General Joseph Hooker, to relieve United States Army, Major General Ambrose E. Burnside, in command of the Army of the Potomac; United States Army, Major General Edwin Vose Sumner and William Buer Franklin are also relieved from duty in the Army of the Potomac, VA.

Virginia

Reconnaissance to Woodstock ended.

West Virginia

At the Constitutional Convention, delegates discussed providing financial compensation for their travel expenses.

Stables owned by a Pocahontas County man were burned, reportedly by Pro-United States supporters.

Kentucky

Reconnaissance to Paducah ended.

South Carolina

Reconnaissance to Edisto Island ended.

Tennessee

Reconnaissance to Fort Henry ended.

Mississippi

Harper’s Weekly: Commodore Foote’s Gunboat Flotilla on the Mississippi, January 25, 1862



Texas

The bark USS ARTHUR (six 32-pounder smoothbore guns) under the command of United States Navy, Acting Lieutenant John W Kittredge, captured the schooner J J MCNEIL off Pass Cavallo.

Day 291 of the United States Civil War, January 27th 1862

District of Columbia

Frustrated with United States Army, Major General George B. McClellan's continued delay, (United States) President Abraham Lincoln issues General War Order Number 1, ordering a general movement of the United States land and naval forces against the Rebels:

Executive Order—General War Order No. 1

January 27, 1862

Ordered, That the 22d day of February, 1862, be the day for a general movement of the land and naval forces of the United States against the insurgent forces; that especially the army at and about Fortress Monroe. the Army of the Potomac, the Army of Western Virginia, the army near Munfordville, Ky., the army and flotilla at Cairo, and a naval force in the Gulf of Mexico be ready to move on that day.

That all other forces, both land and naval, with their respective commanders, obey existing orders for the time and be ready to obey additional orders when duly given.

That the heads of Departments, and especially the Secretaries of War and of the Navy, with all their subordinates, and the General in Chief, with all other commanders and subordinates of land and naval forces, will severally be held to their strict and full responsibilities for prompt execution of this order.

Abraham Lincoln.

West Virginia

Confederate States Army, Colonel Milton J. Ferguson of Wayne County and the 167th Regiment Virginia Militia promised to secure the release of a United States officer or return himself to captivity in Wheeling.

Alabama

Confederate States Army, Brigadier General Jones Mitchell Withers, is assigned to the command of the Army of Mobile.

Maryland

The Maryland Senate introduces resolutions to request Senators James A. Pearce and Anthony Kennedy to resign, because “it is right and proper that the State should, at this critical juncture, be represented by Senators whose hearts beat responsive to the throb of devotion to the integrity of the Union, felt by the great popular heart of the State.”

Florida

Confederate States Army, Brigadier General Samuel Jones,is assigned to the command of the Army of Pensacola.