What was the most significant event on April 24 during the U.S. Civil War?

2016-04-24T19:30:23-04:00

By the end of April 1861, the Union had effectively blocked Virginia's access to sea transport. Fortress Monroe dominated the entrance to Hampton Roads and the major cities of Virginia. Fortress Monroe, aided by a few navy ships was able to impose a tight blockade on Virginia, with serious consequences for Virginia's industries.
Many southerners think of William T Sherman as an ogre who was bent on destroying the South until he was checked. In fact, Sherman offered very generous terms to CSA Gen Joe E. Johnson and forwarded them to Washington for approval. Many northerners were incensed and wanted Sherman removed from command for being too lenient. The new President who was a southern himself rejects the terms of surrender and pushes for unconditional surrender of Johnson’s Army. U.S. Grant personally delivered this news to Sherman and ordered Sherman to commence operations against Johnson within 48 hours. Sherman is incensed but obeys orders.

Pictures: April 1862. U.S. Navy gunboats shown in right center are Itasca and Pinola. Further to the right are Kennebec and Winona. Fort Jackson is shown at far; 1861 USS Cumberland in 1860; 1862Capture-of-New-Orleans; Maj Gen William T. Sherman

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Response by SSgt Robert Marx made Apr 24 at 2016 7:35 PM

2016-04-24T19:35:24-04:00

Excellent history lesson! The blockade of the Old Dominion stymied the war effort at first but by the end of the war it hurt very badly!

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Apr 24 at 2016 7:35 PM

2016-04-24T19:35:43-04:00

1861: The Union effectively choked off Virginia's access to sea transport within days of the beginning of the war. Fortress Monroe dominated the entrance to Hampton Roads and the major cities of Virginia. Fortress Monroe, aided by a few navy ships including the USS Cumberland, was able to impose a tight blockade on Virginia, with serious consequences for Virginia's industries. The great Tredegar Iron Works could not import coal and iron ore, while the giant Gallego Mills were unable to export flour. Nor could the Tidewater planters export tobacco or cotton.
1863: Gen. Grant is preparing the corps of both James McPherson and John McClernand to cross the Mississippi to Grand Gulf, and so orders up Porter’s gunboats to shell the fortifications there. However, Porter’s intelligence reports indicate that Pemberton’s troops at this place number as high as 12,000, and that more heavy guns have been installed. He calls off the bombardment.
1865: Maj Gen William T. Sherman offered Joseph E. Johnston terms similar to those Grant gave to Lee. In addition, Sherman would grant all surrendering Confederates United States citizenship. Sherman forwarded them to Washington for approval. Unfortunately, many Northerners sharply criticized Sherman for being too lenient. Senator William Sprague summed up the feelings of many in Congress when he wrote a letter to President Andrew Johnson calling for the immediate removal of Sherman from command. U.S. Grant personally delivered this news to Sherman and ordered Sherman to commence operations against Johnson within 48 hours. Sherman is incensed but obeys orders.
Pictures: Plan of Fort Jackson showing damage done by the mortar bombardment and gunboats from April 18 to 24, 1862; Hampton Roads; Maj Gen US Grant; 1863 Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter
Since RallyPoint truncates survey selection text I am posting events that were not included and then the full text of each survey choice below:
A. Wednesday, April 24, 1861: USS Cumberland bags a prize. Just days after her escape from the flames at Gosport navy yard, the USS Cumberland caught a schooner trying to slip past it and out to sea, along with the tugboat trying to help. The USS Cumberland was stationed in Hampton Roads, the roadstead formed by the confluence of the James River, the Elizabeth River, the Nansemond River, Tanner's Creek, and several smaller rivers. Hampton Roads was controlled by Fortress Monroe and the USS Cumberland, effectively sealing off Hampton, Portsmouth, Norfolk, Petersburg, and Richmond, Virginia from access to the Atlantic Ocean.
B. Thursday, April 24, 1862: Coastal Theater: New Orleans Campaign –BATTLE OF FT JACKSON AND FT ST PHILIP -After 2 PM, Farragut’s squadron starts upstream with 12 wooden warships, supported by the continued fire of Porter’s mortar boats. William C. Holton of the flagship Hartford records: “The forts, only three quarters of a mile apart, gave our ships shot and shell on both sides at once, while our ships sent back grape, canister, shrapnel, and shells, besides using our howitzers from our tops, where they had been mounted. On reaching the forts we were assailed by twenty of the enemy’s gunboats and rams, but we made short work of them, sinking some, and burning nearly all of them.” The Confederate mosquito fleet sorties to engage the Union ships as they sail upriver, between the forts. The CSS Louisiana, fixed at her moorings, engages the Federals with her guns. The CSS Manassas engages several Union vessels, and even rams the Hartford, without effect. A Rebel tug rams a fire raft up against the Hartford, burning the mizzen rigging before the Federals are able to stop the flames and shove the raft off. After one hour and twenty minutes, the Hartford and most of the river squadron are past the forts, beyond the range of their guns. Most have taken considerable damage. The CSS Manassas follows them, and the USS Mississippi turns about, and fires three close broadsides into the ironclad, whose thin armor does not protect her, and the Manassas drives herself aground and is abandoned by her crew. The Itasca is disabled by a shot through her boilers, and two Union vessels have drifted downstream because it is too close to dawn. The USS Varuna, after having sunk several Rebel ships, sustains severe damage and sinks after driving aground, with some of her crew escaping. By the end of the day, the fleet anchors at English Turn, downstream from the city of New Orleans. The two forts are now isolated, cut off from their lines of communication and supply. Gen. Benjamin Butler, commander of the 6,000 Federal troops on board transports, recommends landing the Army to attack the forts. Farragut disagrees.
The evening before, Gen. Johnson Duncan, commander of the forts, had issued this dispatch: A heavy continued bombardment was kept up all night and is still progressing. There have been no further casualties except two men slightly wounded. God is certainly protecting us. We are still cheerful, and have an abiding confidence in our ultimate success. We are making repairs as best we can. Our best guns are still in working order. Most of them have been disabled at times. The health of the troops continues good. Twenty-five thousand 13 inch shells have been fired by the enemy, thousands of which fell in the fort. They must soon exhaust themselves. –If not, we can stand as long as they can. Brig. Gen. J. K. Duncan, Comd’g Fort Jackson.
C. Monday, April 24, 1865: On April 18th, Maj Gen William T. Sherman offered Joseph E. Johnston terms similar to those Grant gave to Lee. In addition, Sherman would grant all surrendering Confederates United States citizenship. Pleased with these terms, Sherman forwarded them to Washington for approval. Unfortunately, many Northerners sharply criticized Sherman for being too lenient. Senator William Sprague summed up the feelings of many in Congress when he wrote a letter to President Andrew Johnson calling for the immediate removal of Sherman from command.
Seeing his friend in trouble, Grant traveled to North Carolina and Sherman’s side. Upon arriving at Sherman’s headquarters, Grant explained the situation in Washington, and in the North following the assassination of President Lincoln. Then Grant showed Sherman a letter from Lincoln on the former president’s feelings regarding the surrender of Confederate forces. Sherman immediately requested another meeting with Johnston.
In the meantime, over 8,000 men had deserted Johnston’s army. Realizing his men were tired of fighting and on the brink of total desertion, Johnston signed the surrender of his army to Sherman on April 26, 1865. His soldiers were to stack their arms at Greensboro, North Carolina, and go home, while Johnston had to sign a statement saying he would never again take up arms against the United States. This completed the second largest surrender of Confederate soldiers.
Background: In early April 1865, Union General William T. Sherman was relentlessly pursuing Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston through North Carolina. When news of Lee’s surrender to Grant reached Johnston on April 14th, he sent a message to Sherman asking for a meeting to discuss terms of his army’s surrender.
The two generals opened negotiations on April 16th. Because his army was not surrounded, nor in the poor condition that Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia had been in when it surrendered, Johnston wanted terms different than those Grant had given to Lee. Aware of the guidance President Lincoln had given to General Grant at City Point, Sherman decided to offer generous terms for the surrender of Johnston’s men. Like most senior Union officials, Sherman feared that Johnston’s men might disband quietly and take to the hills and fight a protracted, guerrilla war.
1. Thursday, April 24, 1862 --- Fort Macon, North Carolina, near the port city of Beaufort, surrenders to troops under Gen. Burnside and naval forces under Flag Officer Goldsborough, after a long siege.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=April+24%2C+1862
2. Friday, April 24, 1863 --- Gen. Grant is preparing the corps of both James McPherson and John McClernand to cross the Mississippi to Grand Gulf, and so orders up Porter’s gunboats to shell the fortifications there. However, Porter’s intelligence reports indicate that Pemberton’s troops at this place number as high as 12,000, and that more heavy guns have been installed. He calls off the bombardment.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=April+24%2C+1863
3. Friday, April 24, 1863 --- David L. Day, a soldier in the 25th Massachusetts Infantry, in the western reaches of North Carolina, writes in his journal: All Quiet on the Roanoke. The noise of the battle is over and we are no longer harassed by war’s dread alarms, but can now sit down, eat our fresh shad and herring and drink our peach and honey in peace and quiet.
A Broker’s Office.
Our provost marshal, Major Bartholomew of the 27th Massachusetts, has opened a broker’s office, where he is exchanging salt and amnesty for allegiance oaths, and as this is the fishing season, he is driving a right smart business. The natives for miles around come in droves, take the oath, get their amnesty papers and an order for salt, and after being cautioned not to be found breaking their allegiance they go away happy. There are probably some honest men among them who would like to do about right if they dared to, but the whole thing looks ludicrous, for there is evidently not one in a hundred of them who would ever think of taking the oath were it not for the hope of obtaining a little salt. The boys call it the salt oath.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=April+24%2C+1863
4. Sunday, April 24, 1864: Battle of Marks' Mill, Arkansas, Confederates attack federals retreating to Little Rock
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186404
5. Sunday, April 24, 1864 --- In Tennessee, due to the departure of Gen. Longstreet’s troops back to Virginia, Gen. John Schofield’s Army of the Ohio, 13,000 strong, is available; Schofield is directed to move his troops to Chattanooga and form on Thomas’s left flank.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=April+24%2C+1864
6. Sunday, April 24, 1864 --- In a letter home to Mrs. Meade, Gen. Meade offers another description of the new General-in-Chief, Ulysses S. Grant: Grant is not a striking man, is very reticent, has never mixed with the world, and has but little manner, indeed is somewhat ill at ease in the presence of strangers; His early education was undoubtedly very slight; in fact, I fancy his West Point course was pretty much all the education he ever had, as since his graduation I don’t believe he has read or studied any. At the same time, he has natural qualities of a high order, and is a man whom, the more you see and know him, the better you like him. He puts me in mind of old Taylor, and sometimes I fancy he models himself on old Zac.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=April+24%2C+1864
A Wednesday, April 24, 1861: April 24, 1861: USS Cumberland bags a prize
Just days after her escape from the flames at Gosport navy yard, the USS Cumberland was stationed in Hampton Roads, the roadstead formed by the confluence of the James River, the Elizabeth River, the Nansemond River, Tanner's Creek, and several smaller rivers. Hampton Roads was controlled by Fortress Monroe and the USS Cumberland, effectively sealing off Hampton, Portsmouth, Norfolk, Petersburg, and Richmond, Virginia from access to the Atlantic Ocean. On April 24, 1861, the Cumberland caught a schooner trying to slip past it and out to sea, along with the tugboat trying to help:
To Hon. GIDEON WELLES, Secretary of the Navy. From U. S. FLAGSHIP CUMBERLAND, Off Fortress Monroe, Va., April 25, 1861.
SIR: I have the honor to inform the Department that on the afternoon of April 24, 1861, a schooner, lying off Fortress Monroe, was seen with a signal of distress flying; a boat was immediately sent to her relief when the steam tug Young America was seen coming toward her, evidently with the intention of taking her off. Fearing that the boat could not bring her to, I ordered a shot to be fired, which had the desired effect. The tug was then ordered to come alongside, and the schooner, which proved to be the George M. Smith, of New York, bound to Wilmington, N. C., anchored under the guns of the fort. On close inspection of her cargo it was found to be contraband of war, consisting in part of a complete set of gun carriages for a light-artillery battery, and was accordingly seized by me, in connection with the steam tug, and forfeited to the Government of the United States. The steam tug is at present used by me as a tender, and I have found her to be of much service. I would be glad to have the instructions of the Department in relation to them. I would also respectfully recommend to the Department the necessity of having a couple of small armed steamers of light draft sent here without delay.
I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, G.J. PENDERGRAST, Flag-Officer, Commanding Home Squadron.
Fortress Monroe dominated the entrance to Hampton Roads and the major cities of Virginia. Fortress Monroe, aided by a few navy ships, was able to impose a tight blockade on Virginia, with serious consequences for Virginia's industries.
The great Tredegar Iron Works could not import coal and iron ore, while the giant Gallego Mills were unable to export flour. Nor could the Tidewater planters export tobacco or cotton. The Union effectively choked off Virginia's access to sea transport within days of the beginning of the war.
Thursday, April 24, 1862: Early in the morning Commodore Farragut ships begin sailing up the Mississippi River past Fort Jackson and Fort St. Phillip. After half the fleet sails past the fort the Confederates discover the movement and open fire. All major federal ships make it past the forts.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186204
B Thursday, April 24, 1862: Coastal Theater: New Orleans Campaign –BATTLE OF FT JACKSON AND FT ST PHILIP -After 2 PM, Farragut’s squadron starts upstream with 12 wooden warships, supported by the continued fire of Porter’s mortar boats. William C. Holton of the flagship Hartford records: “The forts, only three quarters of a mile apart, gave our ships shot and shell on both sides at once, while our ships sent back grape, canister, shrapnel, and shells, besides using our howitzers from our tops, where they had been mounted. On reaching the forts we were assailed by twenty of the enemy’s gunboats and rams, but we made short work of them, sinking some, and burning nearly all of them.” The Confederate mosquito fleet sorties to engage the Union ships as they sail upriver, between the forts. The CSS Louisiana, fixed at her moorings, engages the Federals with her guns. The CSS Manassas engages several Union vessels, and even rams the Hartford, without effect. A Rebel tug rams a fire raft up against the Hartford, burning the mizzen rigging before the Federals are able to stop the flames and shove the raft off. After one hour and twenty minutes, the Hartford and most of the river squadron are past the forts, beyond the range of their guns. Most have taken considerable damage. The CSS Manassas follows them, and the USS Mississippi turns about, and fires three close broadsides into the ironclad, whose thin armor does not protect her, and the Manassas drives herself aground and is abandoned by her crew. The Itasca is disabled by a shot through her boilers, and two Union vessels have drifted downstream because it is too close to dawn. The USS Varuna, after having sunk several Rebel ships, sustains severe damage and sinks after driving aground, with some of her crew escaping. By the end of the day, the fleet anchors at English Turn, downstream from the city of New Orleans. The two forts are now isolated, cut off from their lines of communication and supply. Gen. Benjamin Butler, commander of the 6,000 Federal troops on board transports, recommends landing the Army to attack the forts. Farragut disagrees.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=April+24%2C+1862
B+ The evening before, Gen. Johnson Duncan, commander of the forts, had issued this dispatch: A heavy continued bombardment was kept up all night and is still progressing. There have been no further casualties except two men slightly wounded. God is certainly protecting us. We are still cheerful, and have an abiding confidence in our ultimate success. We are making repairs as best we can. Our best guns are still in working order. Most of them have been disabled at times. The health of the troops continues good. Twenty-five thousand 13 inch shells have been fired by the enemy, thousands of which fell in the fort. They must soon exhaust themselves. –If not, we can stand as long as they can. Brig. Gen. J. K. Duncan, Comd’g Fort Jackson.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=April+24%2C+1862
C Monday, April 24, 1865: General William T. Sherman [US] learns of President Johnson's rejection of his surrender terms to Joe Johnston. General Grant, who personally delivered the message, orders Sherman to commence operations against Johnson within 48 hours. Sherman is incensed but obeys orders.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186504
On April 18th, Sherman offered Johnston terms similar to those Grant gave to Lee. In addition, Sherman would grant all surrendering Confederates United States citizenship. Pleased with these terms, Sherman forwarded them to Washington for approval. Unfortunately, many Northerners sharply criticized Sherman for being too lenient. Senator William Sprague summed up the feelings of many in Congress when he wrote a letter to President Andrew Johnson calling for the immediate removal of Sherman from command.
Seeing his friend in trouble, Grant traveled to North Carolina and Sherman’s side. Upon arriving at Sherman’s headquarters, Grant explained the situation in Washington, and in the North following the assassination of President Lincoln. Then Grant showed Sherman a letter from Lincoln on the former president’s feelings regarding the surrender of Confederate forces. Sherman immediately requested another meeting with Johnston.
In the meantime, over 8,000 men had deserted Johnston’s army. Realizing his men were tired of fighting and on the brink of total desertion, Johnston signed the surrender of his army to Sherman on April 26, 1865. His soldiers were to stack their arms at Greensboro, North Carolina, and go home, while Johnston had to sign a statement saying he would never again take up arms against the United States. This completed the second largest surrender of Confederate soldiers.
Background: In early April 1865, Union General William T. Sherman was relentlessly pursuing Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston through North Carolina. When news of Lee’s surrender to Grant reached Johnston on April 14th, he sent a message to Sherman asking for a meeting to discuss terms of his army’s surrender.
The two generals opened negotiations on April 16th. Because his army was not surrounded, nor in the poor condition that Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia had been in when it surrendered, Johnston wanted terms different than those Grant had given to Lee. Aware of the guidance President Lincoln had given to General Grant at City Point, Sherman decided to offer generous terms for the surrender of Johnston’s men. Like most senior Union officials, Sherman feared that Johnston’s men might disband quietly and take to the hills and fight a protracted, guerrilla war.
https://ehistory.osu.edu/articles/johnston%E2%80%99s-surrender
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The American Civil War 150 Years Ago Today: Search results for April 24, 1862

A no-frills day-by-day account of what was happening 150 years ago, this blog is intended to be a way that we can experience or remember the Civil War with more immediacy, in addition to understanding the flow of time as we live in it.

Response by SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth made Apr 24 at 2016 7:38 PM

2016-04-24T19:38:35-04:00

The history you on this site is extremely important for us to remember. If not then history is known to repeat it's self.

Response by SP5 Mark Kuzinski made Apr 24 at 2016 7:41 PM

2016-04-24T19:41:27-04:00

Great way to slow down and read. Thanks!

Response by Sgt Joe LaBranche made Apr 24 at 2016 8:07 PM

2016-04-24T20:07:56-04:00

Interesting read, LTC Stephen Ford, thanks for sharing!

Response by COL Mikel J. Burroughs made Apr 25 at 2016 10:48 AM

2016-04-25T10:48:05-04:00

LTC Stephen F. Excellent post - thanks for sharing!

Response by COL Mikel J. Burroughs made Apr 26 at 2016 9:29 AM

2016-04-26T09:29:58-04:00

ZLTC Stephen F. Thanks for the historical update in this time period - awesome!