Posted on Aug 11, 2017
What was the most significant event on August 11 during the U.S. Civil War - 2017 Update?
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In 1861, a Union force entered Saulsbury and routed a group of Confederate guerrilla cavalry. In 1862, at Cedar Mountain, the two armies faced each other in the aftermath of battle. During a truce to bury the dead, Stonewall Jackson begins to send his troops back down the road to Gordonsville. In 1863, Jefferson Davis formally declined Roberts E. Lees’ letter of resignation. In 1864 the deplorable conditions in Richmond’s hospitals got the attention of the press.
In 1861, the people of East Tennessee like Western Virginia supported the Union while the rest of those states supported the Confederacy.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis declined General Robert E. Lee's offer to resign as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia in 1863: “Richmond, Virginia, August 11, 1863 to General R.E. Lee, Commanding Army of Northern Virginia. Yours of 8th instant has been received. I am glad that you concur so entirely with me as to the want of our country in this trying hour, and am happy to add that after the first depression consequent upon our disaster in the west, indications have appeared that our people will exhibit that fortitude which we agree in believing is alone needful to secure ultimate success.
It well became Sidney Johnston, when overwhelmed by a senseless clamor, to admit the rule that success is the test of merit; and yet there has been nothing which I have found to require a greater effort of patience than to bear the criticisms of the ignorant, who pronounce everything a failure which does not equal their expectations or desires, and can see no good result which is not in the line of their own imaginings. I admit the propriety of your conclusions, than an officer who loses the confidence of his troops should have his position changed, whatever may be his ability, but when I read the sentence I was not at all prepared for the application you were about to make. Expressions of discontent in the public journals furnish but little evidence of the sentiment of the army. I wish it were otherwise, even though all the abuse of myself should be accepted as the results of honest observation. I say I wish I could feel that the public journals were not generally partisan or venal.
Were you capable of stooping to it, you could easily surround yourself with those who would fill the press with your laudations, and seek to exalt you for what you had not done, rather than detract from the achievements which will make you and your army the subject of history and object of the world's admiration for generations to come.
I am truly sorry to know that you still feel the effects of the illness you suffered last spring and can readily understand the embarrassments you experience in using the eyes of others, having been so much accustomed to make your own reconnaissances. Practice, will, however, do much to relieve the embarrassment, and the minute knowledge of the country which you have acquired will render you less dependent for topographical information.
But suppose, my dear friend, that I were to admit, with all their implications, the points which you present, where am I to find that new commander who is to possess the greater ability which you believe to be required? I do not doubt the readiness with which you would give way to one who could accomplish all that you have wished, and you will do me the justice to believe that if Providence would kindly offer such a person for our use, I would not hesitate to avail of his services.
My sight is not sufficiently penetrating to discover such hidden merit, if it exists, and I have but used to you the language of sober earnestness when I have pressed upon you the propriety of avoiding all unnecessary exposure to danger, because I felt our country could not bear to lose you. To ask me to substitute you by some one in my judgment more fit to command, or who would possess more of the confidence of the army, or of the reflecting men of country, is to demand an impossibility.
It only remains for me to hope that you will take all possible care of yourself, that your health and strength may be entirely restored, and that the Lord will preserve you for the important duties devolved upon you in the struggle of our suffering country for the independence which we have engaged in war to maintain.
As ever, very respectfully and truly, yours Jefferson Davis”
Mismanagement at Hospitals in Richmond, Virginia got the attention of the southern newspapers in 1864: “By August of 1864, Richmond, Virginia had become a giant complex of hospitals and conditions at most of them were terrible. There were exceptions: the small hospital of Sally Tompkins at 3rd and Main Street and the huge hospital on Chimborazo Hill, but most of the hospitals in the city had terrible conditions. “
From Richmond's Daily Dispatch of August 11, 1864: “We receive a great many letters from soldiers in the different hospitals around the city, complaining of their treatment. The charges against some of the officials are of every character, including inattention to the sick and wounded, peculation and speculation in the provisions furnished by the Government, drunkenness, and some crimes too disgraceful for publication. Unfortunately for the ends of justice, if these complaints are well founded, they are nearly always contained in anonymous letters, and, of course, cannot be published. They contain a good deal of bad grammar and infinitely worse spelling; but there is a simple earnestness about them, and an humble tone of entreaty for better treatment, that secures much of the confidence and sympathy of the reader. As the writers place it out of the power of the press to aid them, we would suggest that they address their complaints to Doctor Francis Sorrell, Inspector-General of Hospitals. In this way the derelict officers of the hospitals can be brought to punishment and less writing paper wasted.”
Pictures: The Old Flag Never Touched the Ground; 1862-08-11 Outta Missouri, Missouri State, State Guard, War 1861; 1863-09 Map of Charleston Harbor Showing Union and Rebel Batteries to September; Charles W Quantrell
A. 1861: The Memphis Daily Appeal (Memphis, TN), “Factory Burnt.—The Normant cotton factory, belonging to P. Miller, located near Bolivar, Tenn., was consumed by fire on Thursday night last. This is a great misfortune now when the South is compelled to manufacture for herself, and owners of such property should guard it with redoubled vigilance. Loss, $25,000, without insurance.”
B. 1862: Confederate Victory at First Battle of Independence, Missouri: A motley collection of 700-800 bushwhackers, guerillas, Missouri State Guard, and Confederate troops---including irregulars under William Quantrill---under command of Col. John T. Hughes, attacks the small Federal garrison of Independence, about 344 men from several Missouri regiments, under command of Lt. Col. Buel. In the early morning attack, two columns of Rebels converged, entering town on two different roads, burst upon the Federal camp, killing soldiers still asleep. While the Rebels looted the camp, Federal troops deployed behind a stone wall, and several Rebel attacks on it resulted in the death of Hughes and Col. Hays, his second in command. Col. Thompson succeeded Hughes in command, and finally forced Buel’s surrender. Most of the Federal command is captured, but some escape.
Quantrill's role in the capture of Independence led to his being commissioned a captain in the Confederate Army.
C. 1863: Siege of Charleston Harbor Confederate artillery at Fort Sumter, James Island and Fort Wagner pounds Federal entrenchments on Morris Island, South Carolina. In Charleston Harbor, where the Civil War had begun, the battle was nowhere near over. The guns of Fort Sumter roared today, joined by other firepower from James Island and Battery Wagner. They were firing on Union positions on Morris Island where they were digging trenches for a siege. The cannon fire slowed, but did not stop, the digging.
D. 1864: The CSS Tallahassee captures seven Federal vessels off the coast of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, burning all except one for the Federal crews to escape on. Cruising to within 80 miles of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, C.S.S. Tallahassee, Commander Wood, took seven prizes, including schooners Sarah A. Boyce and Carrol, brigs Richards and Carrie Estelle, cargo of logs, pilot boats James Funk (No. 22) and William Bell (No. 24), and bark Bay State, cargo of wood. All were scuttled or burned except Carrol, which was bonded for $10,000 and sent to New York with the passengers and crews of the other ships. Rear Admiral Hiram Paulding, Commandant of the New York Navy Yard, immediately wired Secretary Welles: "Pirate off Sandy Hook, capturing and burning." By evening, Paulding had three ships in pursuit of Tallahassee. Welles, hoping to head off the Southern raider and prevent another cruise similar to the June 1863 raid of Lieutenant Charles Read in C.S.S. Tacony, telegraphed naval commanders at Hampton Roads, Philadelphia, and Boston, ordering a large-scale search for Wood.
E. All of the above; None of the above; or other [please explain] many other actions are mentioned in my response below.
FYI MSG Roy Cheever Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. PO3 Edward Riddle Maj William W. 'Bill' Price COL (Join to see) COL Lisandro MurphySSgt David M. MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. SPC Maurice Evans SPC Jon O. 1SG Steven Imerman SGT Jim ArnoldAmn Dale PreisachCW4 (Join to see) Sgt Jerry GenesioSSG (Join to see) SPC Matt Ovaska SFC Ralph E Kelley LTC Wayne Brandon
In 1861, the people of East Tennessee like Western Virginia supported the Union while the rest of those states supported the Confederacy.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis declined General Robert E. Lee's offer to resign as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia in 1863: “Richmond, Virginia, August 11, 1863 to General R.E. Lee, Commanding Army of Northern Virginia. Yours of 8th instant has been received. I am glad that you concur so entirely with me as to the want of our country in this trying hour, and am happy to add that after the first depression consequent upon our disaster in the west, indications have appeared that our people will exhibit that fortitude which we agree in believing is alone needful to secure ultimate success.
It well became Sidney Johnston, when overwhelmed by a senseless clamor, to admit the rule that success is the test of merit; and yet there has been nothing which I have found to require a greater effort of patience than to bear the criticisms of the ignorant, who pronounce everything a failure which does not equal their expectations or desires, and can see no good result which is not in the line of their own imaginings. I admit the propriety of your conclusions, than an officer who loses the confidence of his troops should have his position changed, whatever may be his ability, but when I read the sentence I was not at all prepared for the application you were about to make. Expressions of discontent in the public journals furnish but little evidence of the sentiment of the army. I wish it were otherwise, even though all the abuse of myself should be accepted as the results of honest observation. I say I wish I could feel that the public journals were not generally partisan or venal.
Were you capable of stooping to it, you could easily surround yourself with those who would fill the press with your laudations, and seek to exalt you for what you had not done, rather than detract from the achievements which will make you and your army the subject of history and object of the world's admiration for generations to come.
I am truly sorry to know that you still feel the effects of the illness you suffered last spring and can readily understand the embarrassments you experience in using the eyes of others, having been so much accustomed to make your own reconnaissances. Practice, will, however, do much to relieve the embarrassment, and the minute knowledge of the country which you have acquired will render you less dependent for topographical information.
But suppose, my dear friend, that I were to admit, with all their implications, the points which you present, where am I to find that new commander who is to possess the greater ability which you believe to be required? I do not doubt the readiness with which you would give way to one who could accomplish all that you have wished, and you will do me the justice to believe that if Providence would kindly offer such a person for our use, I would not hesitate to avail of his services.
My sight is not sufficiently penetrating to discover such hidden merit, if it exists, and I have but used to you the language of sober earnestness when I have pressed upon you the propriety of avoiding all unnecessary exposure to danger, because I felt our country could not bear to lose you. To ask me to substitute you by some one in my judgment more fit to command, or who would possess more of the confidence of the army, or of the reflecting men of country, is to demand an impossibility.
It only remains for me to hope that you will take all possible care of yourself, that your health and strength may be entirely restored, and that the Lord will preserve you for the important duties devolved upon you in the struggle of our suffering country for the independence which we have engaged in war to maintain.
As ever, very respectfully and truly, yours Jefferson Davis”
Mismanagement at Hospitals in Richmond, Virginia got the attention of the southern newspapers in 1864: “By August of 1864, Richmond, Virginia had become a giant complex of hospitals and conditions at most of them were terrible. There were exceptions: the small hospital of Sally Tompkins at 3rd and Main Street and the huge hospital on Chimborazo Hill, but most of the hospitals in the city had terrible conditions. “
From Richmond's Daily Dispatch of August 11, 1864: “We receive a great many letters from soldiers in the different hospitals around the city, complaining of their treatment. The charges against some of the officials are of every character, including inattention to the sick and wounded, peculation and speculation in the provisions furnished by the Government, drunkenness, and some crimes too disgraceful for publication. Unfortunately for the ends of justice, if these complaints are well founded, they are nearly always contained in anonymous letters, and, of course, cannot be published. They contain a good deal of bad grammar and infinitely worse spelling; but there is a simple earnestness about them, and an humble tone of entreaty for better treatment, that secures much of the confidence and sympathy of the reader. As the writers place it out of the power of the press to aid them, we would suggest that they address their complaints to Doctor Francis Sorrell, Inspector-General of Hospitals. In this way the derelict officers of the hospitals can be brought to punishment and less writing paper wasted.”
Pictures: The Old Flag Never Touched the Ground; 1862-08-11 Outta Missouri, Missouri State, State Guard, War 1861; 1863-09 Map of Charleston Harbor Showing Union and Rebel Batteries to September; Charles W Quantrell
A. 1861: The Memphis Daily Appeal (Memphis, TN), “Factory Burnt.—The Normant cotton factory, belonging to P. Miller, located near Bolivar, Tenn., was consumed by fire on Thursday night last. This is a great misfortune now when the South is compelled to manufacture for herself, and owners of such property should guard it with redoubled vigilance. Loss, $25,000, without insurance.”
B. 1862: Confederate Victory at First Battle of Independence, Missouri: A motley collection of 700-800 bushwhackers, guerillas, Missouri State Guard, and Confederate troops---including irregulars under William Quantrill---under command of Col. John T. Hughes, attacks the small Federal garrison of Independence, about 344 men from several Missouri regiments, under command of Lt. Col. Buel. In the early morning attack, two columns of Rebels converged, entering town on two different roads, burst upon the Federal camp, killing soldiers still asleep. While the Rebels looted the camp, Federal troops deployed behind a stone wall, and several Rebel attacks on it resulted in the death of Hughes and Col. Hays, his second in command. Col. Thompson succeeded Hughes in command, and finally forced Buel’s surrender. Most of the Federal command is captured, but some escape.
Quantrill's role in the capture of Independence led to his being commissioned a captain in the Confederate Army.
C. 1863: Siege of Charleston Harbor Confederate artillery at Fort Sumter, James Island and Fort Wagner pounds Federal entrenchments on Morris Island, South Carolina. In Charleston Harbor, where the Civil War had begun, the battle was nowhere near over. The guns of Fort Sumter roared today, joined by other firepower from James Island and Battery Wagner. They were firing on Union positions on Morris Island where they were digging trenches for a siege. The cannon fire slowed, but did not stop, the digging.
D. 1864: The CSS Tallahassee captures seven Federal vessels off the coast of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, burning all except one for the Federal crews to escape on. Cruising to within 80 miles of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, C.S.S. Tallahassee, Commander Wood, took seven prizes, including schooners Sarah A. Boyce and Carrol, brigs Richards and Carrie Estelle, cargo of logs, pilot boats James Funk (No. 22) and William Bell (No. 24), and bark Bay State, cargo of wood. All were scuttled or burned except Carrol, which was bonded for $10,000 and sent to New York with the passengers and crews of the other ships. Rear Admiral Hiram Paulding, Commandant of the New York Navy Yard, immediately wired Secretary Welles: "Pirate off Sandy Hook, capturing and burning." By evening, Paulding had three ships in pursuit of Tallahassee. Welles, hoping to head off the Southern raider and prevent another cruise similar to the June 1863 raid of Lieutenant Charles Read in C.S.S. Tacony, telegraphed naval commanders at Hampton Roads, Philadelphia, and Boston, ordering a large-scale search for Wood.
E. All of the above; None of the above; or other [please explain] many other actions are mentioned in my response below.
FYI MSG Roy Cheever Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. PO3 Edward Riddle Maj William W. 'Bill' Price COL (Join to see) COL Lisandro MurphySSgt David M. MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. SPC Maurice Evans SPC Jon O. 1SG Steven Imerman SGT Jim ArnoldAmn Dale PreisachCW4 (Join to see) Sgt Jerry GenesioSSG (Join to see) SPC Matt Ovaska SFC Ralph E Kelley LTC Wayne Brandon
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In 1861, at first glance, today is a typical Sunday at the Union Baptist Church in Tennessee’s Stockton Valley in Loudon County. Inside the plain meeting house with perhaps one hundred or more persons present, preaching and singing fill the morning hours as the temperature rises this hot August day. The sounds wafting through the open windows provide a backdrop as a few men loiter in shaded areas, talking among themselves.
When the service ends, picnic spreads appear on the church grounds and families eat their noon meals. Afterwards, children play and women in groups seek the comfort of shade. Yet today’s afternoon conversations among the women are more solemn than usual, for an unprecedented meeting is now taking place in the Baptist meeting house.
Within the walls of the church, thirty-four men – husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, the youngest aged sixteen – debate their individual and collective future. Tennessee has cast its lot with the Confederacy, but East Tennessee remains a stronghold for Unionists. The men gathered in the Union Baptist Church represent the Unionist sentiments of this region of the state. Planters they are not, nor abolitionists, but rather common, southern white folk – “farmers, craftsmen and mountaineers.” Having voted against secession, they are now in an awkward situation. Confederate forces are en route to their valley, determined to enforce allegiance to the Confederacy. The consciences of these Baptist men are with the United States of America and the U.S. Constitution, yet they do not have enough weapons to stand up to the approaching Confederates.
Freedom lies 200 miles northward, across the Kentucky border, where the United States is raising an army of Tennessee volunteers. Yet freedom in Kentucky means living families behind.
Initially, there is no consensus among the men. Should they stay and hope to avoid persecution, imprisonment, or even worse? Should they flee to Kentucky and join the U.S. Army? Following much give and take and spirited discussion, by late afternoon the men make a collective decision: they will leave for Kentucky the following morning.
With heavy hearts, they disperse to their homes for the night to spend a few more hours with family. When morning comes, the men regroup at another meeting house, nearby Prospect Baptist Church. Grimly, they turn their backs to their lands and families and begin the dangerous trek to the Kentucky border. The 200 miles ahead are swarming with Confederate soldiers intent on preventing Unionists from escaping across the state line. Travel via the main highways and through major towns is out of the question. The only way to hopefully avoid capture is to follow old Indian and game trails and stay away from all but the smallest of towns and settlements.
For days the men carefully thread their way through forests and across mountains, avoiding open meadows and rendezvousing at farms owned by fellow Unionists. Others join them along the way, swelling the ranks of the fleeing Tennessee common folk. Each day is never-wracking and laden with ever-present danger, as Confederate soldiers are never far away.
Finally, days later after enduring a grueling trek through the mountainous Tennessee backcountry, on August 20 some 360 men cross into Kentucky to freedom. The next day, they enroll in the 2nd Tennessee Infantry. In so doing, they join tens of thousands of other men from East Tennessee who fight for the Union, their efforts ultimately contributing to the military defeat of their own homeland.”
http://civilwarbaptists.com/thisdayinhistory/1861-august-11/
In 1864, Maj Gen William T. Sherman continued the bombardment of Atlanta, while his troops dug trenches towards the defender’s trenches; in Virginia, General Early (CSA) leaf Winchester, for a more defensible position 20 miles to the south while Maj Gen Phil Sheridan was not confident in his men yet, so he follows with his force settling his troops along Cedar Creek—just north of Strasburg. In Mississippi CSA General Chalmers division rejoined General Nathan Bedford Forrest in Oxford and was reinforced with Bell’s Brigade. That afternoon they deployed to Hurricane Creek and skirmishes with the US General A. J. Smith’s pickets.
Below are a number of journal entries from 1861, 1862, 1863, and 1864 which shed light on what life was like for soldiers and civilians – the good, the bad and the ugly.
Sunday, August 11, 1861: "something like a rupture has occurred . . .“Rebel war clerk John B. Jones noted in his war diary the growing breach between President Jefferson Davis and General Beauregard. “August 11th.—There is a whisper that something like a rupture has occurred between the President and Gen. Beauregard; and I am amazed to learn that Mr. Benjamin is inimical to Gen. B. I know nothing of the foundation for the report; but it is said that Beauregard was eager to pass with his army into Maryland, immediately after the battle, and was prevented. It is now quite apparent, from developments, that a small force would have sufficed to take Washington, a few days or weeks after the battle. But was Beauregard aware of the fact, before the opportunity ceased to exist? It is too late now!”
Monday, August 11, 1862: Sergeant Alexander Downing of the 11th Iowa Infantry writes in his journal “I wrote a letter home today and sent a ten-dollar bill in it. I am sending home nearly all my pay from the Government, with the understanding that father is to keep it for me.”
Monday, August 11, 1862: Confederate artilleryman George Michael Neese writes in his journal of the aftermath of Cedar Mountain: “August 11 — Remained inactive all day. The Yanks came over under a flag of truce, asking permission to bury their dead, which was granted; and their burial parties were at work on the field under the friendly flutterings of a white flag, packing away their comrades for dress parade when Gabriel sounds the great Reveille.
Ah, my silent friends! you came down here to invade our homes and teach us how to wear the chains of subordination and reverence a violated constitution. In the name of Dixie we bid you welcome to your dreamless couch under the sod that drank your blood, and may God have mercy on your poor souls and forgive you for all the despicable depredations that you have committed since you crossed the Potomac.
Our troops are gradually falling back toward the Rapidan.”
Monday, August 11, 1862: Oliver Willcox Norton, a soldier in the 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, writes home about his regiment’s experience being sent over the James River to secure the area against a Rebel attack. He goes into details about the troops being allowed to “forage” from the neighboring farms: “Ruffin’s plantation is next above the burned house. We spent most of the week on it or in the vicinity. He had a beautiful situation and an excellent farm. There are acres of corn there eighteen feet high—the largest corn I ever saw. Apple and peach orchards breaking down with their loads of fruit stand ripening in the southern sun, and southern sun means something, too. The thermometer was up to 109 last Friday, and Thursday was hotter still. We lived while we were over there. Guarding secesh property is played out and we had full liberty to “acquire” anything we could find to eat. Pigs and poultry were plenty and we could have lived on them if we had taken salt with us, but salt could not be found. Flour and meal were found, though, and if we didn’t have pancakes and hoecakes and apple sass, peaches and plums, and new potatoes and green corn, it was because we were too lazy to get them. We slept in the woods.”
Tuesday, August 11, 1863: Sergeant Alexander Downing of the 11th Iowa Infantry writes in his journal “No news from the Army of the Potomac nor from Charleston, South Carolina.”
Tuesday, August 11, 1863: The Richmond Daily Dispatch prints a news item of interest, only indirectly referring to the raids of Confederate soldiers on the gardens of the Richmond populace: “Securing supplies. All the Justices of Henrico county are summoned to attend at their Court House to day to consider the propriety of petitioning the Secretary of War for a line of sentinels around Richmond, to guard the suburban farms and gardens against depredations. The question is one of meal and bread to the people of Richmond, and is worthy of careful consideration.”
Also, this newspaper makes reference to the nasty heat wave that is spread across the Eastern seaboard of both North and South, and is mentioned in nearly every letter and journal entry of the time: “The Weather has at length arrived at melting heat. Fat men are but skins of grease, literally running away as they attempt locomotion, and lean ones are so dried and porched that their bones rattle as skeletons in the wind when they move about. We may expect a thunder storm at any moment, judging from the flying clouds and occasional guate of wind.”
Tuesday, August 11, 1863: In answer to a query from President Lincoln about the possibilities of reconstruction in currently Union-occupied states, Maj. Gen. Stephen Hurlbut, commander of garrison troops in western Tennessee, offers his thoughts in a letter to the President, of which we excerpt a few: “HDQRS. SIXTEENTH A. C., Memphis, Tenn., August 11, 1863. His Excellency ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, Washington, D. C.: “SIR; In reply to your communication of the 31 set of July, I desire to submit the following remarks as the result of my observations:
1. The rank and file of the Southern army have begun to awaken to the knowledge that they are not fighting their own battle, but the battle of the officers, the politicians, and the plantation class. You may remember I predicted this result more than a year since. One evidence of this state of things is that arrests are being made in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi of soldiers and citizens on suspicion of membership in secret Union societies. . . .
5. As to Tennessee, I am satisfied that this State is ready by overwhelming majorities to repeal the act of secession, establish a fair system of gradual emancipation, and tender herself back to the Union. I have discouraged any action on this subject here until East Tennessee is delivered. When that is done, so that her powerful voice may be heard, let Governor Johnson call an election for members of the Legislature, and that Legislature call a convention, and in sixty days the work will be done. Then we can use upon the Tennessee troops in Southern service the same tremendous lever of State pride and State authority which forced them into hostile ranks.
Moral causes, in my judgment, will have as much to do with the down-fall of the Confederacy as physical ones.Battles are valuable by breaking up the solid array of force-more valuable as they break the hedge of steel, and allow men to think and act.
The days of chivalry are gone in the South as elsewhere.
6. The emancipation proclamation and the arming of negroes is the bugbear in Mississippi.I have now an application from some FIFTY men of mark and position in Mississippi, asking if they may hold a meeting to consider the probabilities of recognition by the United States. I shall answer them unofficially, and will send the answer.
Substantially, it will be this: Both as a State and as individuals you have committed treason. Your property in slaves by State law is forfeited by the act of treason. As aliens by your own act, you cannot appeal to the Constitution. The Confederacy, the embodiment of treason, cannot be treated with. The States can. The terms must be prescribed by Congress. I think that if you continue in armed resistance six months longer, you will have no slave property to quarrel about. It is now for you simply a question of time and of means. Accept the facts before you, let yourselves down easily and gradually, or go down by the run and find your State held by armed negro troops. Admit emancipation as a fact, an accomplished fact, and settle your own time for doing so and come back, or have it forced upon you peremptory, immediate, and armed, and take the consequences.
Mississippi is thoroughly broken-spirited. . . .”
Wednesday, August 11, 1864: Sergeant Alexander Downing of the 11th Iowa Infantry writes in his journal “A train loaded with sick and wounded came in this afternoon from the front. Some of our convalescents had to give up their cots to the sick, and go out to the field hospital, where they will occupy tents.”
Wednesday, August 11, 1864: Rumors in Richmond. Confederate war clerk John B. Jones clung to hope by trafficking in rumors. Jones desperately tried to convince himself that U.S. Grant was abandoning the siege of Richmond and Petersburg and retreating to Washington, D.C.
“August 11th.—Hot and dry. Dispatches from secret agents at Washington state that Grant and his staff have arrived, that half his army preceded him, and the remainder will soon follow. The campaign is considered a disastrous failure, and it is anticipated that henceforth the scene of operations is to be transferred from Richmond to Washington. They say President Lincoln’s face expresses “great terror,” and affairs there are in a critical condition.
A dispatch from Gen. Lee states that Gen. Bradley Johnson’s brigade of cavalry was surprised and routed on the 7th inst. by Averill. He has directed that Gen. J. be relieved.
A dispatch from Gen. Hood (Atlanta, Ga.) says no important change in affair has occurred since yesterday, except that Major-Gen. Bates is wounded. There are 5000 militia in the trenches.
Jones' speculations were wishful thinking. In fact, Grant was reshuffling his forces in order to send Philip Sheridan's new Army of the Shenandoah up the Shenandoah Valley to destroy Jubal Early's army and strip the Valley of its resources.”
Pictures: The Battle of the USS Kearsarge and the CSS Alabama, 1864; 1864 CSS Tallahassee; 1863-08-11 Guns of Fort Johnson; Fort Sumter in distance; 1864-08-11 Chimborazo Hospital atop Chimborazo Hill in eastern Richmond;
Sunday, August 11, 1861: The Memphis Daily Appeal (Memphis, TN), “Factory Burnt —The Normant cotton factory, belonging to P. Miller, located near Bolivar, Tenn., was consumed by fire on Thursday night last. This is a great misfortune now when the South is compelled to manufacture for herself, and owners of such property should guard it with redoubled vigilance. Loss, $25,000, without insurance.”
A. Monday, August 11, 1862: Confederate Victory at First Battle of Independence, Missouri: A motley collection of 700-800 bushwhackers, guerillas, Missouri State Guard, and Confederate troops---including irregulars under William Quantrill---under command of Col. John T. Hughes, attacks the small Federal garrison of Independence, about 344 men from several Missouri regiments, under command of Lt. Col. Buel. In the early morning attack, two columns of Rebels converged, entering town on two different roads, burst upon the Federal camp, killing soldiers still asleep. While the Rebels looted the camp, Federal troops deployed behind a stone wall, and several Rebel attacks on it resulted in the death of Hughes and Col. Hays, his second in command. Col. Thompson succeeded Hughes in command, and finally forced Buel’s surrender. Most of the Federal command is captured, but some escape.
Quantrill's role in the capture of Independence led to his being commissioned a captain in the Confederate Army.
B. Tuesday, August 11, 1863: Siege of Charleston Harbor Confederate artillery at Fort Sumter, James Island and Fort Wagner pounds Federal entrenchments on Morris Island, South Carolina. : In Charleston Harbor, where the Civil War had begun, the battle was nowhere near over. The guns of Fort Sumter roared today, joined by other firepower from James Island and Battery Wagner. They were firing on Union positions on Morris Island where they were digging trenches for a siege. The cannon fire slowed, but did not stop, the digging.
C. Thursday, August 11, 1864: The CSS Tallahassee captures seven Federal vessels off the coast of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, burning all except one for the Federal crews to escape on.
Cruising within 80 miles of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, C.S.S. Tallahassee, Commander Wood, took seven prizes, including schooners Sarah A. Boyce and Carrol, brigs Richards and Carrie Estelle, cargo of logs, pilot boats James Funk (No. 22) and William Bell (No. 24), and bark Bay State, cargo of wood. All were scuttled or burned except Carrol, which was bonded for $10,000 and sent to New York with the passengers and crews of the other ships. Rear Admiral Hiram Paulding, Commandant of the New York Navy Yard, immediately wired Secretary Welles: "Pirate off Sandy Hook, capturing and burning." By evening, Paulding had three ships in pursuit of Tallahassee. Welles, hoping to head off the Southern raider and prevent another cruise similar to the June 1863 raid of Lieutenant Charles Read in C.S.S. Tacony, telegraphed naval commanders at Hampton Roads, Philadelphia, and Boston, ordering a large-scale search for Wood.
1. Sunday, August 11, 1861: "something like a rupture has occurred . . ." Rebel war clerk John B. Jones noted in his war diary the growing breach between President Jefferson Davis and General Beauregard. “August 11th.—There is a whisper that something like a rupture has occurred between the President and Gen. Beauregard; and I am amazed to learn that Mr. Benjamin is inimical to Gen. B. I know nothing of the foundation for the report; but it is said that Beauregard was eager to pass with his army into Maryland, immediately after the battle, and was prevented. It is now quite apparent, from developments, that a small force would have sufficed to take Washington, a few days or weeks after the battle. But was Beauregard aware of the fact, before the opportunity ceased to exist? It is too late now!” Jones also notes the enmity of Judah Benjamin, then the Confederate Attorney General. Benjamin was a close friend of Davis' and could be expected to take Davis' part in any quarrel.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=August+11%2C+1861
2. Monday, August 11, 1862: Saulsbury, Tennessee - On August 11, a Union force entered Saulsbury and attacked a group of Confederate guerrilla cavalry. The Confederates were soon routed.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1862s.html.
3. Monday, August 11, 1862: At Cedar Mountain, the two armies still face each other in the aftermath of the battle. Gen. Pope has arrived, and his army is concentrating. By this date, he outnumbers Jackson by more than 2 to 1, although he accepts the inflated figures of the confederates that McClellan believes in---making Jackson’s force nearly doubled in his calculation. During a truce to bury the dead, Jackson begins to send his troops back down the road to Gordonsville.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+11%2C+1862
4. Monday, August 11, 1862: Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, commanding cavalry in the Army of the Potomac, writes to Gen. Marcy, McClellan’s chief of staff, that the Confederates have no more than 36,000 men at Richmond, and that now is the time for a Union assault on the city.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+11%2C+1862
5. Monday, August 11, 1862: Confederate artilleryman George Michael Neese writes in his journal of the aftermath of Cedar Mountain: “August 11 — Remained inactive all day. The Yanks came over under a flag of truce, asking permission to bury their dead, which was granted; and their burial parties were at work on the field under the friendly flutterings of a white flag, packing away their comrades for dress parade when Gabriel sounds the great Reveille.
Ah, my silent friends! you came down here to invade our homes and teach us how to wear the chains of subordination and reverence a violated constitution. In the name of Dixie we bid you welcome to your dreamless couch under the sod that drank your blood, and may God have mercy on your poor souls and forgive you for all the despicable depredations that you have committed since you crossed the Potomac.
Our troops are gradually falling back toward the Rapidan.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+11%2C+1862
6. Monday, August 11, 1862: Oliver Willcox Norton, a soldier in the 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, writes home about his regiment’s experience being sent over the James River to secure the area against a Rebel attack. He goes into details about the troops being allowed to “forage” from the neighboring farms: “Ruffin’s plantation is next above the burned house. We spent most of the week on it or in the vicinity. He had a beautiful situation and an excellent farm. There are acres of corn there eighteen feet high—the largest corn I ever saw. Apple and peach orchards breaking down with their loads of fruit stand ripening in the southern sun, and southern sun means something, too. The thermometer was up to 109 last Friday, and Thursday was hotter still. We lived while we were over there. Guarding secesh property is played out and we had full liberty to “acquire” anything we could find to eat. Pigs and poultry were plenty and we could have lived on them if we had taken salt with us, but salt could not be found. Flour and meal were found, though, and if we didn’t have pancakes and hoecakes and apple sass, peaches and plums, and new potatoes and green corn, it was because we were too lazy to get them. We slept in the woods.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+11%2C+1862
7. Monday, August 11, 1862: Manassas/Second Manassas Campaign: At Cedar Run, the Federals request a truce through 5 p.m., which is granted. Late in the day, Stuart tells Jackson that King has reached Pope. Facing a force now almost double his own, Jackson withdraws to Gordonsville during the night.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/09/17/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-6-12-1862/
8. Monday, August 11, 1862: General Grant, in Corinth, issues orders that black refugees are to be employed as necessary and issued wages or paid “in kind.” In practice, this means they may receive rations.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/09/17/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-6-12-1862/
9. Monday, August 11, 1862: A confusing situation in Kentucky: US President Lincoln tells Secretary of War Stanton that “Gov. Morton is one of our best Governors, but I do not think he would be the best Military commander” for Kentucky. At the present time, Kentucky has an elected governor with a stormy tenure, Beriah Magoffin, as well as a military governor, US General Jeremiah Boyle. However, a Confederate shadow government also exists. When its first governor, George W. Johnson, fell at Shiloh – the only state governor on either side to be killed in battle – Richard Hawes was selected to succeed him. However, both Hawes and the Confederate Kentucky government are in Chattanooga and will travel back to Kentucky with General Bragg during the upcoming offensive.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/09/17/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-6-12-1862/
10. Monday, August 11, 1862: Also today, a Union force entered Saulsbury, Tennessee and attacked a group of Confederate guerrilla cavalry. The Confederates were soon routed.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-b/part-seventy
11. Tuesday, August 11, 1863: Frederick Douglass meets yesterday with the President, offering criticisms for the lack of equal pay for black soldiers and the lack of equality in the Confederate treatment of black prisoners of war. Douglass, after the interview, says that “in his company I was never in any way reminded of my humble origin, or of my unpopular color.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+11%2C+1863
12. Tuesday, August 11, 1863: The Richmond Daily Dispatch prints a news item of interest, only indirectly referring to the raids of Confederate soldiers on the gardens of the Richmond populace: “ Securing supplies. All the Justices of Henrico county are summoned to attend at their Court House to day to consider the propriety of petitioning the Secretary of War for a line of sentinels around Richmond, to guard the suburban farms and gardens against depredations. The question is one of meal and bread to the people of Richmond, and is worthy of careful consideration.”
Also, this newspaper makes reference to the nasty heat wave that is spread across the Eastern seaboard of both North and South, and is mentioned in nearly every letter and journal entry of the time: “The Weather has at length arrived at melting heat. Fat men are but skins of grease, literally running away as they attempt locomotion, and lean ones are so dried and porched that their bones rattle as skeletons in the wind when they move about. We may expect a thunder storm at any moment, judging from the flying clouds and occasional guate of wind.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+11%2C+1863
13. Tuesday, August 11, 1863: In answer to a query from President Lincoln about the possibilities of reconstruction in currently Union-occupied states, Maj. Gen. Stephen Hurlbut, commander of garrison troops in western Tennessee, offers his thoughts in a letter to the President, of which we excerpt a few: “HDQRS. SIXTEENTH A. C., Memphis, Tenn., August 11, 1863.His Excellency ABRAHAM LINCOLN,President of the United States, Washington, D. C.: “SIR; In reply to your communication of the 31 set of July, I desire to submit the following remarks as the result of my observations:
1. The rank and file of the Southern army have begun to awaken to the knowledge that they are not fighting their own battle, but the battle of the officers, the politicians, and the plantation class. You may remember I predicted this result more than a year since. One evidence of this state of things is that arrests are being made in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi of soldiers and citizens on suspicion of membership in secret Union societies. . . .
5. As to Tennessee, I am satisfied that this State is ready by overwhelming majorities to repeal the act of secession, establish a fair system of gradual emancipation, and tender herself back to the Union. I have discouraged any action on this subject here until East Tennessee is delivered. When that is done, so that her powerful voice may be heard, let Governor Johnson call an election for members of the Legislature, and that Legislature call a convention, and in sixty days the work will be done. Then we can use upon the Tennessee troops in Southern service the same tremendous lever of State pride and State authority which forced them into hostile ranks.
Moral causes, in my judgment, will have as much to do with the down-fall of the Confederacy as physical ones.Battles are valuable by breaking up the solid array of force-more valuable as they break the hedge of steel, and allow men to think and act.
The days of chivalry are gone in the South as elsewhere.
6. The emancipation proclamation and the arming of negroes is the bugbear in Mississippi.I have now an application from some FIFTY men of mark and position in Mississippi, asking if they may hold a meeting to consider the probabilities of recognition by the United States. I shall answer them unofficially, and will send the answer.
Substantially, it will be this: Both as a State and as individuals you have committed treason. Your property in slaves by State law is forfeited by the act of treason. As aliens by your own act, you cannot appeal to the Constitution. The Confederacy, the embodiment of treason, cannot be treated with. The States can. The terms must be prescribed by Congress. I think that if you continue in armed resistance six months longer, you will have no slave property to quarrel about. It is now for you simply a question of time and of means. Accept the facts before you, let yourselves down easily and gradually, or go down by the run and find your State held by armed negro troops. Admit emancipation as a fact, an accomplished fact, and settle your own time for doing so and come back, or have it forced upon you peremptory, immediate, and armed, and take the consequences.
Mississippi is thoroughly broken-spirited. . . .”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+11%2C+1863
14. Tuesday, August 11, 1863: Jefferson Davis replies to Lee's offer to resign. On this day 150 years ago, Confederate President Jefferson Davis declined General Robert E. Lee's offer to resign as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. “Richmond, Virginia, August 11, 1863 to General R.E. Lee, Commanding Army of Northern Virginia. Yours of 8th instant has been received. I am glad that you concur so entirely with me as to the want of our country in this trying hour, and am happy to add that after the first depression consequent upon our disaster in the west, indications have appeared that our people will exhibit that fortitude which we agree in believing is alone needful to secure ultimate success.
It well became Sidney Johnston, when overwhelmed by a senseless clamor, to admit the rule that success is the test of merit; and yet there has been nothing which I have found to require a greater effort of patience than to bear the criticisms of the ignorant, who pronounce everything a failure which does not equal their expectations or desires, and can see no good result which is not in the line of their own imaginings. I admit the propriety of your conclusions, than an officer who loses the confidence of his troops should have his position changed, whatever may be his ability, but when I read the sentence I was not at all prepared for the application you were about to make. Expressions of discontent in the public journals furnish but little evidence of the sentiment of the army. I wish it were otherwise, even though all the abuse of myself should be accepted as the results of honest observation. I say I wish I could feel that the public journals were not generally partisan or venal.
Were you capable of stooping to it, you could easily surround yourself with those who would fill the press with your laudations, and seek to exalt you for what you had not done, rather than detract from the achievements which will make you and your army the subject of history and object of the world's admiration for generations to come.
I am truly sorry to know that you still feel the effects of the illness you suffered last spring and can readily understand the embarrassments you experience in using the eyes of others, having been so much accustomed to make your own reconnaissances. Practice, will, however, do much to relieve the embarrassment, and the minute knowledge of the country which you have acquired will render you less dependent for topographical information.
But suppose, my dear friend, that I were to admit, with all their implications, the points which you present, where am I to find that new commander who is to possess the greater ability which you believe to be required? I do not doubt the readiness with which you would give way to one who could accomplish all that you have wished, and you will do me the justice to believe that if Providence would kindly offer such a person for our use, I would not hesitate to avail of his services.
My sight is not sufficiently penetrating to discover such hidden merit, if it exists, and I have but used to you the language of sober earnestness when I have pressed upon you the propriety of avoiding all unnecessary exposure to danger, because I felt our country could not bear to lose you. To ask me to substitute you by some one in my judgment more fit to command, or who would possess more of the confidence of the army, or of the reflecting men of country, is to demand an impossibility.
It only remains for me to hope that you will take all possible care of yourself, that your health and strength may be entirely restored, and that the Lord will preserve you for the important duties devolved upon you in the struggle of our suffering country for the independence which we have engaged in war to maintain.
As ever, very respectfully and truly, yours Jefferson Davis”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=August+11%2C+1863
15. Tuesday, August 11, 1863: After consulting with his cabinet, President Lincoln again makes it clear to Governor Seymour that the draft will not be suspended in New York State.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/08/05/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-5-11-1863/
16. Tuesday, August 11, 1863: Major John S. Mosby, (CSA) captures another 19 wagons belonging to the Union near Annandale, Fairfax County, Virginia.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-c/week-122
17. Tuesday, August 11, 1863: The Weekly Columbus (GA) Enquirer reported: “The drafting proceeded quietly in Philadelphia on the 21st, and 2,000 men were drafted. It was decided that a negro substitute may go in for a drafted negro, but not for a white man.” The Daily Times in Leavenworth, Kansas printed: “If I'm drafted I'll go!” The last seen of the individual who made this remark he was going—to Canada.”
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-c/week-122
18. Thursday, August 11, 1864: In Georgia, General Sherman continued the bombardment of Atlanta, while his troops digs trenches towards the defenders trenches.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-174
19. Thursday, August 11, 1864: In Virginia, not wanting to fight, General Early (CSA) leaves Winchester, for a more defensible position 20 miles to the south. General Sheridan (US) was not confident in his men yet, so he follows with his force settling his troops along Cedar Creek—just north of Strasburg.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-174
20. Wednesday, August 11, 1864: Mississippi operations: CS General Chalmers rejoins General Nathan Bedford Forrest in Oxford. Chalmers’ division is reinforced and, with Bell’s Brigade, is deployed in the afternoon to Hurricane Creek. five or six miles south of Abbeville. Soon the Confederates are involved in skirmishes with the US General A. J. Smith’s pickets.
https://bjdeming.com/2014/08/10/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-11-17-1864/
21. Wednesday, August 11, 1864: "Mismanagement at Hospitals" By August of 1864, Richmond, Virginia had become a giant complex of hospitals and conditions at most of them were terrible. There were exceptions: the small hospital of Sally Tompkins at 3rd and Main Street and the huge hospital on Chimborazo Hill, but most of the hospitals in the city had terrible conditions. From Richmond's Daily Dispatch of August 11, 1864: “Mismanagement at Hospitals. We receive a great many letters from soldiers in the different hospitals around the city, complaining of their treatment. The charges against some of the officials are of every character, including inattention to the sick and wounded, peculation and speculation in the provisions furnished by the Government, drunkenness, and some crimes too disgraceful for publication. Unfortunately for the ends of justice, if these complaints are well founded, they are nearly always contained in anonymous letters, and, of course, cannot be published. They contain a good deal of bad grammar and infinitely worse spelling; but there is a simple earnestness about them, and an humble tone of entreaty for better treatment, that secures much of the confidence and sympathy of the reader. As the writers place it out of the power of the press to aid them, we would suggest that they address their complaints to Doctor Francis Sorrell, Inspector-General of Hospitals. In this way the derelict officers of the hospitals can be brought to punishment and less writing paper wasted.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=August+11%2C+1864
22. Wednesday, August 11, 1864: Rumors in Richmond. On this day 150 years ago, Confederate war clerk John B. Jones clung to hope by trafficking in rumors. Jones desperately tried to convince himself that U.S. Grant was abandoning the siege of Richmond and Petersburg and retreating to Washington, D.C.
“August 11th.—Hot and dry. Dispatches from secret agents at Washington state that Grant and his staff have arrived, that half his army preceded him, and the remainder will soon follow. The campaign is considered a disastrous failure, and it is anticipated that henceforth the scene of operations is to be transferred from Richmond to Washington. They say President Lincoln’s face expresses “great terror,” and affairs there are in a critical condition.
A dispatch from Gen. Lee states that Gen. Bradley Johnson’s brigade of cavalry was surprised and routed on the 7th inst. by Averill. He has directed that Gen. J. be relieved.
A dispatch from Gen. Hood (Atlanta, Ga.) says no important change in affair has occurred since yesterday, except that Major-Gen. Bates is wounded. There are 5000 militia in the trenches.
Jones' speculations were wishful thinking. In fact, Grant was reshuffling his forces in order to send Philip Sheridan's new Army of the Shenandoah up the Shenandoah Valley to destroy Jubal Early's army and strip the Valley of its resources.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=August+11%2C+1864
A Sunday, August 11, 1861: The Memphis Daily Appeal (Memphis, TN), “Factory Burnt.—The Normant cotton factory, belonging to P. Miller, located near Bolivar, Tenn., was consumed by fire on Thursday night last. This is a great misfortune now when the South is compelled to manufacture for herself, and owners of such property should guard it with redoubled vigilance. Loss, $25,000, without insurance.”
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-a/part-eighteen
B Monday, August 11, 1862: Colonel J.T. Hughes’s Confederate force, including William Quantrill, attacked Independence, Missouri at dawn. They drove through the town to the Union Army camp, capturing, killing and scattering the Yankees. During the melee, Colonel Hughes was killed, but the Confederates took Independence which led to a Confederate dominance in the Kansas City area for a short time. Quantrill's role in the capture of Independence led to his being commissioned a captain in the Confederate Army.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-b/part-seventy
B+ Monday, August 11, 1862: First Battle of Independence, Missouri: A motley collection of 700-800 bushwhackers, guerillas, Missouri State Guard, and Confederate troops---including irregulars under William Quantrill---under command of Col. John Hughes, attacks the small Federal garrison of Independence, about 344 men from several Missouri regiments, under command of Lt. Col. Buel. In the early morning attack, two columns of Rebels converged, entering town on two different roads, burst upon the Federal camp, killing soldiers still asleep. While the Rebels looted the camp, Federal troops deployed behind a stone wall, and several Rebel attacks on it resulted in the death of Hughes and Col. Hays, his second in command. Col. Thompson succeeded Hughes in command, and finally forced Buel’s surrender. Most of the Federal command is captured, but some escape. Confederate Victory.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+11%2C+1862
C Tuesday, August 11, 1863: Confederate forces pound Federal entrenchments on Morris Island, South Carolina.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186308
C+ Tuesday, August 11, 1863: Siege of Charleston Harbor: Confederate artillery at Fort Sumter, James Island and Fort Wagner pounds US forces on Morris Island.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/08/05/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-5-11-1863/
C++ Tuesday, August 11, 1863: In Charleston Harbor, where the Civil War had begun, the battle was nowhere near over. The guns of Fort Sumter roared today, joined by other firepower from James Island and Battery Wagner. They were firing on Union positions on Morris Island where they were digging trenches for a siege. The cannon fire slowed, but did not stop, the digging.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-c/week-122
D Thursday, August 11, 1864: The CSS Tallahassee captures seven Federal vessels off the coast of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, burning all except one for the Federal crews to escape on.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-174
D+ Thursday, August 11, 1864: Cruising within 80 miles of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, C.S.S. Tallahassee, Commander Wood, took seven prizes, including schooners Sarah A. Boyce and Carrol, brigs Richards and Carrie Estelle, cargo of logs, pilot boats James Funk (No. 22) and William Bell (No. 24), and bark Bay State, cargo of wood. All were scuttled or burned except Carrol, which was bonded for $10,000 and sent to New York with the passengers and crews of the other ships. Rear Admiral Hiram Paulding, Commandant of the New York Navy Yard, immediately wired Secretary Welles: "Pirate off Sandy Hook, capturing and burning." By evening, Paulding had three ships in pursuit of Tallahassee. Welles, hoping to head off the Southern raider and prevent another cruise similar to the June 1863 raid of Lieutenant Charles Read in C.S.S. Tacony, telegraphed naval commanders at Hampton Roads, Philadelphia, and Boston, ordering a large-scale search for Wood.
http://www.historycentral.com/navy/cwnavalhistory/August1864.html
FYI GySgt Jack Wallace CWO4 Terrence Clark SPC Michael Oles SRSMSgt Lawrence McCarter A1C Pamela G RussellLTC Trent KlugPO2 Russell "Russ" Lincoln SFC Bernard Walko SFC Stephen King SFC Ralph E Kelley SSG Franklin Briant MSgt Robert C AldiSSG Byron Howard Sr Cpl Samuel Pope Sr CPL Ronald Keyes Jr SFC William Farrell CMDCM John F. "Doc" Bradshaw SPC Lyle MontgomeryDeborah GregsonSPC Miguel C.
When the service ends, picnic spreads appear on the church grounds and families eat their noon meals. Afterwards, children play and women in groups seek the comfort of shade. Yet today’s afternoon conversations among the women are more solemn than usual, for an unprecedented meeting is now taking place in the Baptist meeting house.
Within the walls of the church, thirty-four men – husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, the youngest aged sixteen – debate their individual and collective future. Tennessee has cast its lot with the Confederacy, but East Tennessee remains a stronghold for Unionists. The men gathered in the Union Baptist Church represent the Unionist sentiments of this region of the state. Planters they are not, nor abolitionists, but rather common, southern white folk – “farmers, craftsmen and mountaineers.” Having voted against secession, they are now in an awkward situation. Confederate forces are en route to their valley, determined to enforce allegiance to the Confederacy. The consciences of these Baptist men are with the United States of America and the U.S. Constitution, yet they do not have enough weapons to stand up to the approaching Confederates.
Freedom lies 200 miles northward, across the Kentucky border, where the United States is raising an army of Tennessee volunteers. Yet freedom in Kentucky means living families behind.
Initially, there is no consensus among the men. Should they stay and hope to avoid persecution, imprisonment, or even worse? Should they flee to Kentucky and join the U.S. Army? Following much give and take and spirited discussion, by late afternoon the men make a collective decision: they will leave for Kentucky the following morning.
With heavy hearts, they disperse to their homes for the night to spend a few more hours with family. When morning comes, the men regroup at another meeting house, nearby Prospect Baptist Church. Grimly, they turn their backs to their lands and families and begin the dangerous trek to the Kentucky border. The 200 miles ahead are swarming with Confederate soldiers intent on preventing Unionists from escaping across the state line. Travel via the main highways and through major towns is out of the question. The only way to hopefully avoid capture is to follow old Indian and game trails and stay away from all but the smallest of towns and settlements.
For days the men carefully thread their way through forests and across mountains, avoiding open meadows and rendezvousing at farms owned by fellow Unionists. Others join them along the way, swelling the ranks of the fleeing Tennessee common folk. Each day is never-wracking and laden with ever-present danger, as Confederate soldiers are never far away.
Finally, days later after enduring a grueling trek through the mountainous Tennessee backcountry, on August 20 some 360 men cross into Kentucky to freedom. The next day, they enroll in the 2nd Tennessee Infantry. In so doing, they join tens of thousands of other men from East Tennessee who fight for the Union, their efforts ultimately contributing to the military defeat of their own homeland.”
http://civilwarbaptists.com/thisdayinhistory/1861-august-11/
In 1864, Maj Gen William T. Sherman continued the bombardment of Atlanta, while his troops dug trenches towards the defender’s trenches; in Virginia, General Early (CSA) leaf Winchester, for a more defensible position 20 miles to the south while Maj Gen Phil Sheridan was not confident in his men yet, so he follows with his force settling his troops along Cedar Creek—just north of Strasburg. In Mississippi CSA General Chalmers division rejoined General Nathan Bedford Forrest in Oxford and was reinforced with Bell’s Brigade. That afternoon they deployed to Hurricane Creek and skirmishes with the US General A. J. Smith’s pickets.
Below are a number of journal entries from 1861, 1862, 1863, and 1864 which shed light on what life was like for soldiers and civilians – the good, the bad and the ugly.
Sunday, August 11, 1861: "something like a rupture has occurred . . .“Rebel war clerk John B. Jones noted in his war diary the growing breach between President Jefferson Davis and General Beauregard. “August 11th.—There is a whisper that something like a rupture has occurred between the President and Gen. Beauregard; and I am amazed to learn that Mr. Benjamin is inimical to Gen. B. I know nothing of the foundation for the report; but it is said that Beauregard was eager to pass with his army into Maryland, immediately after the battle, and was prevented. It is now quite apparent, from developments, that a small force would have sufficed to take Washington, a few days or weeks after the battle. But was Beauregard aware of the fact, before the opportunity ceased to exist? It is too late now!”
Monday, August 11, 1862: Sergeant Alexander Downing of the 11th Iowa Infantry writes in his journal “I wrote a letter home today and sent a ten-dollar bill in it. I am sending home nearly all my pay from the Government, with the understanding that father is to keep it for me.”
Monday, August 11, 1862: Confederate artilleryman George Michael Neese writes in his journal of the aftermath of Cedar Mountain: “August 11 — Remained inactive all day. The Yanks came over under a flag of truce, asking permission to bury their dead, which was granted; and their burial parties were at work on the field under the friendly flutterings of a white flag, packing away their comrades for dress parade when Gabriel sounds the great Reveille.
Ah, my silent friends! you came down here to invade our homes and teach us how to wear the chains of subordination and reverence a violated constitution. In the name of Dixie we bid you welcome to your dreamless couch under the sod that drank your blood, and may God have mercy on your poor souls and forgive you for all the despicable depredations that you have committed since you crossed the Potomac.
Our troops are gradually falling back toward the Rapidan.”
Monday, August 11, 1862: Oliver Willcox Norton, a soldier in the 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, writes home about his regiment’s experience being sent over the James River to secure the area against a Rebel attack. He goes into details about the troops being allowed to “forage” from the neighboring farms: “Ruffin’s plantation is next above the burned house. We spent most of the week on it or in the vicinity. He had a beautiful situation and an excellent farm. There are acres of corn there eighteen feet high—the largest corn I ever saw. Apple and peach orchards breaking down with their loads of fruit stand ripening in the southern sun, and southern sun means something, too. The thermometer was up to 109 last Friday, and Thursday was hotter still. We lived while we were over there. Guarding secesh property is played out and we had full liberty to “acquire” anything we could find to eat. Pigs and poultry were plenty and we could have lived on them if we had taken salt with us, but salt could not be found. Flour and meal were found, though, and if we didn’t have pancakes and hoecakes and apple sass, peaches and plums, and new potatoes and green corn, it was because we were too lazy to get them. We slept in the woods.”
Tuesday, August 11, 1863: Sergeant Alexander Downing of the 11th Iowa Infantry writes in his journal “No news from the Army of the Potomac nor from Charleston, South Carolina.”
Tuesday, August 11, 1863: The Richmond Daily Dispatch prints a news item of interest, only indirectly referring to the raids of Confederate soldiers on the gardens of the Richmond populace: “Securing supplies. All the Justices of Henrico county are summoned to attend at their Court House to day to consider the propriety of petitioning the Secretary of War for a line of sentinels around Richmond, to guard the suburban farms and gardens against depredations. The question is one of meal and bread to the people of Richmond, and is worthy of careful consideration.”
Also, this newspaper makes reference to the nasty heat wave that is spread across the Eastern seaboard of both North and South, and is mentioned in nearly every letter and journal entry of the time: “The Weather has at length arrived at melting heat. Fat men are but skins of grease, literally running away as they attempt locomotion, and lean ones are so dried and porched that their bones rattle as skeletons in the wind when they move about. We may expect a thunder storm at any moment, judging from the flying clouds and occasional guate of wind.”
Tuesday, August 11, 1863: In answer to a query from President Lincoln about the possibilities of reconstruction in currently Union-occupied states, Maj. Gen. Stephen Hurlbut, commander of garrison troops in western Tennessee, offers his thoughts in a letter to the President, of which we excerpt a few: “HDQRS. SIXTEENTH A. C., Memphis, Tenn., August 11, 1863. His Excellency ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, Washington, D. C.: “SIR; In reply to your communication of the 31 set of July, I desire to submit the following remarks as the result of my observations:
1. The rank and file of the Southern army have begun to awaken to the knowledge that they are not fighting their own battle, but the battle of the officers, the politicians, and the plantation class. You may remember I predicted this result more than a year since. One evidence of this state of things is that arrests are being made in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi of soldiers and citizens on suspicion of membership in secret Union societies. . . .
5. As to Tennessee, I am satisfied that this State is ready by overwhelming majorities to repeal the act of secession, establish a fair system of gradual emancipation, and tender herself back to the Union. I have discouraged any action on this subject here until East Tennessee is delivered. When that is done, so that her powerful voice may be heard, let Governor Johnson call an election for members of the Legislature, and that Legislature call a convention, and in sixty days the work will be done. Then we can use upon the Tennessee troops in Southern service the same tremendous lever of State pride and State authority which forced them into hostile ranks.
Moral causes, in my judgment, will have as much to do with the down-fall of the Confederacy as physical ones.Battles are valuable by breaking up the solid array of force-more valuable as they break the hedge of steel, and allow men to think and act.
The days of chivalry are gone in the South as elsewhere.
6. The emancipation proclamation and the arming of negroes is the bugbear in Mississippi.I have now an application from some FIFTY men of mark and position in Mississippi, asking if they may hold a meeting to consider the probabilities of recognition by the United States. I shall answer them unofficially, and will send the answer.
Substantially, it will be this: Both as a State and as individuals you have committed treason. Your property in slaves by State law is forfeited by the act of treason. As aliens by your own act, you cannot appeal to the Constitution. The Confederacy, the embodiment of treason, cannot be treated with. The States can. The terms must be prescribed by Congress. I think that if you continue in armed resistance six months longer, you will have no slave property to quarrel about. It is now for you simply a question of time and of means. Accept the facts before you, let yourselves down easily and gradually, or go down by the run and find your State held by armed negro troops. Admit emancipation as a fact, an accomplished fact, and settle your own time for doing so and come back, or have it forced upon you peremptory, immediate, and armed, and take the consequences.
Mississippi is thoroughly broken-spirited. . . .”
Wednesday, August 11, 1864: Sergeant Alexander Downing of the 11th Iowa Infantry writes in his journal “A train loaded with sick and wounded came in this afternoon from the front. Some of our convalescents had to give up their cots to the sick, and go out to the field hospital, where they will occupy tents.”
Wednesday, August 11, 1864: Rumors in Richmond. Confederate war clerk John B. Jones clung to hope by trafficking in rumors. Jones desperately tried to convince himself that U.S. Grant was abandoning the siege of Richmond and Petersburg and retreating to Washington, D.C.
“August 11th.—Hot and dry. Dispatches from secret agents at Washington state that Grant and his staff have arrived, that half his army preceded him, and the remainder will soon follow. The campaign is considered a disastrous failure, and it is anticipated that henceforth the scene of operations is to be transferred from Richmond to Washington. They say President Lincoln’s face expresses “great terror,” and affairs there are in a critical condition.
A dispatch from Gen. Lee states that Gen. Bradley Johnson’s brigade of cavalry was surprised and routed on the 7th inst. by Averill. He has directed that Gen. J. be relieved.
A dispatch from Gen. Hood (Atlanta, Ga.) says no important change in affair has occurred since yesterday, except that Major-Gen. Bates is wounded. There are 5000 militia in the trenches.
Jones' speculations were wishful thinking. In fact, Grant was reshuffling his forces in order to send Philip Sheridan's new Army of the Shenandoah up the Shenandoah Valley to destroy Jubal Early's army and strip the Valley of its resources.”
Pictures: The Battle of the USS Kearsarge and the CSS Alabama, 1864; 1864 CSS Tallahassee; 1863-08-11 Guns of Fort Johnson; Fort Sumter in distance; 1864-08-11 Chimborazo Hospital atop Chimborazo Hill in eastern Richmond;
Sunday, August 11, 1861: The Memphis Daily Appeal (Memphis, TN), “Factory Burnt —The Normant cotton factory, belonging to P. Miller, located near Bolivar, Tenn., was consumed by fire on Thursday night last. This is a great misfortune now when the South is compelled to manufacture for herself, and owners of such property should guard it with redoubled vigilance. Loss, $25,000, without insurance.”
A. Monday, August 11, 1862: Confederate Victory at First Battle of Independence, Missouri: A motley collection of 700-800 bushwhackers, guerillas, Missouri State Guard, and Confederate troops---including irregulars under William Quantrill---under command of Col. John T. Hughes, attacks the small Federal garrison of Independence, about 344 men from several Missouri regiments, under command of Lt. Col. Buel. In the early morning attack, two columns of Rebels converged, entering town on two different roads, burst upon the Federal camp, killing soldiers still asleep. While the Rebels looted the camp, Federal troops deployed behind a stone wall, and several Rebel attacks on it resulted in the death of Hughes and Col. Hays, his second in command. Col. Thompson succeeded Hughes in command, and finally forced Buel’s surrender. Most of the Federal command is captured, but some escape.
Quantrill's role in the capture of Independence led to his being commissioned a captain in the Confederate Army.
B. Tuesday, August 11, 1863: Siege of Charleston Harbor Confederate artillery at Fort Sumter, James Island and Fort Wagner pounds Federal entrenchments on Morris Island, South Carolina. : In Charleston Harbor, where the Civil War had begun, the battle was nowhere near over. The guns of Fort Sumter roared today, joined by other firepower from James Island and Battery Wagner. They were firing on Union positions on Morris Island where they were digging trenches for a siege. The cannon fire slowed, but did not stop, the digging.
C. Thursday, August 11, 1864: The CSS Tallahassee captures seven Federal vessels off the coast of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, burning all except one for the Federal crews to escape on.
Cruising within 80 miles of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, C.S.S. Tallahassee, Commander Wood, took seven prizes, including schooners Sarah A. Boyce and Carrol, brigs Richards and Carrie Estelle, cargo of logs, pilot boats James Funk (No. 22) and William Bell (No. 24), and bark Bay State, cargo of wood. All were scuttled or burned except Carrol, which was bonded for $10,000 and sent to New York with the passengers and crews of the other ships. Rear Admiral Hiram Paulding, Commandant of the New York Navy Yard, immediately wired Secretary Welles: "Pirate off Sandy Hook, capturing and burning." By evening, Paulding had three ships in pursuit of Tallahassee. Welles, hoping to head off the Southern raider and prevent another cruise similar to the June 1863 raid of Lieutenant Charles Read in C.S.S. Tacony, telegraphed naval commanders at Hampton Roads, Philadelphia, and Boston, ordering a large-scale search for Wood.
1. Sunday, August 11, 1861: "something like a rupture has occurred . . ." Rebel war clerk John B. Jones noted in his war diary the growing breach between President Jefferson Davis and General Beauregard. “August 11th.—There is a whisper that something like a rupture has occurred between the President and Gen. Beauregard; and I am amazed to learn that Mr. Benjamin is inimical to Gen. B. I know nothing of the foundation for the report; but it is said that Beauregard was eager to pass with his army into Maryland, immediately after the battle, and was prevented. It is now quite apparent, from developments, that a small force would have sufficed to take Washington, a few days or weeks after the battle. But was Beauregard aware of the fact, before the opportunity ceased to exist? It is too late now!” Jones also notes the enmity of Judah Benjamin, then the Confederate Attorney General. Benjamin was a close friend of Davis' and could be expected to take Davis' part in any quarrel.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=August+11%2C+1861
2. Monday, August 11, 1862: Saulsbury, Tennessee - On August 11, a Union force entered Saulsbury and attacked a group of Confederate guerrilla cavalry. The Confederates were soon routed.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1862s.html.
3. Monday, August 11, 1862: At Cedar Mountain, the two armies still face each other in the aftermath of the battle. Gen. Pope has arrived, and his army is concentrating. By this date, he outnumbers Jackson by more than 2 to 1, although he accepts the inflated figures of the confederates that McClellan believes in---making Jackson’s force nearly doubled in his calculation. During a truce to bury the dead, Jackson begins to send his troops back down the road to Gordonsville.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+11%2C+1862
4. Monday, August 11, 1862: Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, commanding cavalry in the Army of the Potomac, writes to Gen. Marcy, McClellan’s chief of staff, that the Confederates have no more than 36,000 men at Richmond, and that now is the time for a Union assault on the city.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+11%2C+1862
5. Monday, August 11, 1862: Confederate artilleryman George Michael Neese writes in his journal of the aftermath of Cedar Mountain: “August 11 — Remained inactive all day. The Yanks came over under a flag of truce, asking permission to bury their dead, which was granted; and their burial parties were at work on the field under the friendly flutterings of a white flag, packing away their comrades for dress parade when Gabriel sounds the great Reveille.
Ah, my silent friends! you came down here to invade our homes and teach us how to wear the chains of subordination and reverence a violated constitution. In the name of Dixie we bid you welcome to your dreamless couch under the sod that drank your blood, and may God have mercy on your poor souls and forgive you for all the despicable depredations that you have committed since you crossed the Potomac.
Our troops are gradually falling back toward the Rapidan.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+11%2C+1862
6. Monday, August 11, 1862: Oliver Willcox Norton, a soldier in the 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, writes home about his regiment’s experience being sent over the James River to secure the area against a Rebel attack. He goes into details about the troops being allowed to “forage” from the neighboring farms: “Ruffin’s plantation is next above the burned house. We spent most of the week on it or in the vicinity. He had a beautiful situation and an excellent farm. There are acres of corn there eighteen feet high—the largest corn I ever saw. Apple and peach orchards breaking down with their loads of fruit stand ripening in the southern sun, and southern sun means something, too. The thermometer was up to 109 last Friday, and Thursday was hotter still. We lived while we were over there. Guarding secesh property is played out and we had full liberty to “acquire” anything we could find to eat. Pigs and poultry were plenty and we could have lived on them if we had taken salt with us, but salt could not be found. Flour and meal were found, though, and if we didn’t have pancakes and hoecakes and apple sass, peaches and plums, and new potatoes and green corn, it was because we were too lazy to get them. We slept in the woods.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+11%2C+1862
7. Monday, August 11, 1862: Manassas/Second Manassas Campaign: At Cedar Run, the Federals request a truce through 5 p.m., which is granted. Late in the day, Stuart tells Jackson that King has reached Pope. Facing a force now almost double his own, Jackson withdraws to Gordonsville during the night.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/09/17/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-6-12-1862/
8. Monday, August 11, 1862: General Grant, in Corinth, issues orders that black refugees are to be employed as necessary and issued wages or paid “in kind.” In practice, this means they may receive rations.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/09/17/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-6-12-1862/
9. Monday, August 11, 1862: A confusing situation in Kentucky: US President Lincoln tells Secretary of War Stanton that “Gov. Morton is one of our best Governors, but I do not think he would be the best Military commander” for Kentucky. At the present time, Kentucky has an elected governor with a stormy tenure, Beriah Magoffin, as well as a military governor, US General Jeremiah Boyle. However, a Confederate shadow government also exists. When its first governor, George W. Johnson, fell at Shiloh – the only state governor on either side to be killed in battle – Richard Hawes was selected to succeed him. However, both Hawes and the Confederate Kentucky government are in Chattanooga and will travel back to Kentucky with General Bragg during the upcoming offensive.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/09/17/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-6-12-1862/
10. Monday, August 11, 1862: Also today, a Union force entered Saulsbury, Tennessee and attacked a group of Confederate guerrilla cavalry. The Confederates were soon routed.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-b/part-seventy
11. Tuesday, August 11, 1863: Frederick Douglass meets yesterday with the President, offering criticisms for the lack of equal pay for black soldiers and the lack of equality in the Confederate treatment of black prisoners of war. Douglass, after the interview, says that “in his company I was never in any way reminded of my humble origin, or of my unpopular color.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+11%2C+1863
12. Tuesday, August 11, 1863: The Richmond Daily Dispatch prints a news item of interest, only indirectly referring to the raids of Confederate soldiers on the gardens of the Richmond populace: “ Securing supplies. All the Justices of Henrico county are summoned to attend at their Court House to day to consider the propriety of petitioning the Secretary of War for a line of sentinels around Richmond, to guard the suburban farms and gardens against depredations. The question is one of meal and bread to the people of Richmond, and is worthy of careful consideration.”
Also, this newspaper makes reference to the nasty heat wave that is spread across the Eastern seaboard of both North and South, and is mentioned in nearly every letter and journal entry of the time: “The Weather has at length arrived at melting heat. Fat men are but skins of grease, literally running away as they attempt locomotion, and lean ones are so dried and porched that their bones rattle as skeletons in the wind when they move about. We may expect a thunder storm at any moment, judging from the flying clouds and occasional guate of wind.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+11%2C+1863
13. Tuesday, August 11, 1863: In answer to a query from President Lincoln about the possibilities of reconstruction in currently Union-occupied states, Maj. Gen. Stephen Hurlbut, commander of garrison troops in western Tennessee, offers his thoughts in a letter to the President, of which we excerpt a few: “HDQRS. SIXTEENTH A. C., Memphis, Tenn., August 11, 1863.His Excellency ABRAHAM LINCOLN,President of the United States, Washington, D. C.: “SIR; In reply to your communication of the 31 set of July, I desire to submit the following remarks as the result of my observations:
1. The rank and file of the Southern army have begun to awaken to the knowledge that they are not fighting their own battle, but the battle of the officers, the politicians, and the plantation class. You may remember I predicted this result more than a year since. One evidence of this state of things is that arrests are being made in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi of soldiers and citizens on suspicion of membership in secret Union societies. . . .
5. As to Tennessee, I am satisfied that this State is ready by overwhelming majorities to repeal the act of secession, establish a fair system of gradual emancipation, and tender herself back to the Union. I have discouraged any action on this subject here until East Tennessee is delivered. When that is done, so that her powerful voice may be heard, let Governor Johnson call an election for members of the Legislature, and that Legislature call a convention, and in sixty days the work will be done. Then we can use upon the Tennessee troops in Southern service the same tremendous lever of State pride and State authority which forced them into hostile ranks.
Moral causes, in my judgment, will have as much to do with the down-fall of the Confederacy as physical ones.Battles are valuable by breaking up the solid array of force-more valuable as they break the hedge of steel, and allow men to think and act.
The days of chivalry are gone in the South as elsewhere.
6. The emancipation proclamation and the arming of negroes is the bugbear in Mississippi.I have now an application from some FIFTY men of mark and position in Mississippi, asking if they may hold a meeting to consider the probabilities of recognition by the United States. I shall answer them unofficially, and will send the answer.
Substantially, it will be this: Both as a State and as individuals you have committed treason. Your property in slaves by State law is forfeited by the act of treason. As aliens by your own act, you cannot appeal to the Constitution. The Confederacy, the embodiment of treason, cannot be treated with. The States can. The terms must be prescribed by Congress. I think that if you continue in armed resistance six months longer, you will have no slave property to quarrel about. It is now for you simply a question of time and of means. Accept the facts before you, let yourselves down easily and gradually, or go down by the run and find your State held by armed negro troops. Admit emancipation as a fact, an accomplished fact, and settle your own time for doing so and come back, or have it forced upon you peremptory, immediate, and armed, and take the consequences.
Mississippi is thoroughly broken-spirited. . . .”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+11%2C+1863
14. Tuesday, August 11, 1863: Jefferson Davis replies to Lee's offer to resign. On this day 150 years ago, Confederate President Jefferson Davis declined General Robert E. Lee's offer to resign as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. “Richmond, Virginia, August 11, 1863 to General R.E. Lee, Commanding Army of Northern Virginia. Yours of 8th instant has been received. I am glad that you concur so entirely with me as to the want of our country in this trying hour, and am happy to add that after the first depression consequent upon our disaster in the west, indications have appeared that our people will exhibit that fortitude which we agree in believing is alone needful to secure ultimate success.
It well became Sidney Johnston, when overwhelmed by a senseless clamor, to admit the rule that success is the test of merit; and yet there has been nothing which I have found to require a greater effort of patience than to bear the criticisms of the ignorant, who pronounce everything a failure which does not equal their expectations or desires, and can see no good result which is not in the line of their own imaginings. I admit the propriety of your conclusions, than an officer who loses the confidence of his troops should have his position changed, whatever may be his ability, but when I read the sentence I was not at all prepared for the application you were about to make. Expressions of discontent in the public journals furnish but little evidence of the sentiment of the army. I wish it were otherwise, even though all the abuse of myself should be accepted as the results of honest observation. I say I wish I could feel that the public journals were not generally partisan or venal.
Were you capable of stooping to it, you could easily surround yourself with those who would fill the press with your laudations, and seek to exalt you for what you had not done, rather than detract from the achievements which will make you and your army the subject of history and object of the world's admiration for generations to come.
I am truly sorry to know that you still feel the effects of the illness you suffered last spring and can readily understand the embarrassments you experience in using the eyes of others, having been so much accustomed to make your own reconnaissances. Practice, will, however, do much to relieve the embarrassment, and the minute knowledge of the country which you have acquired will render you less dependent for topographical information.
But suppose, my dear friend, that I were to admit, with all their implications, the points which you present, where am I to find that new commander who is to possess the greater ability which you believe to be required? I do not doubt the readiness with which you would give way to one who could accomplish all that you have wished, and you will do me the justice to believe that if Providence would kindly offer such a person for our use, I would not hesitate to avail of his services.
My sight is not sufficiently penetrating to discover such hidden merit, if it exists, and I have but used to you the language of sober earnestness when I have pressed upon you the propriety of avoiding all unnecessary exposure to danger, because I felt our country could not bear to lose you. To ask me to substitute you by some one in my judgment more fit to command, or who would possess more of the confidence of the army, or of the reflecting men of country, is to demand an impossibility.
It only remains for me to hope that you will take all possible care of yourself, that your health and strength may be entirely restored, and that the Lord will preserve you for the important duties devolved upon you in the struggle of our suffering country for the independence which we have engaged in war to maintain.
As ever, very respectfully and truly, yours Jefferson Davis”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=August+11%2C+1863
15. Tuesday, August 11, 1863: After consulting with his cabinet, President Lincoln again makes it clear to Governor Seymour that the draft will not be suspended in New York State.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/08/05/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-5-11-1863/
16. Tuesday, August 11, 1863: Major John S. Mosby, (CSA) captures another 19 wagons belonging to the Union near Annandale, Fairfax County, Virginia.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-c/week-122
17. Tuesday, August 11, 1863: The Weekly Columbus (GA) Enquirer reported: “The drafting proceeded quietly in Philadelphia on the 21st, and 2,000 men were drafted. It was decided that a negro substitute may go in for a drafted negro, but not for a white man.” The Daily Times in Leavenworth, Kansas printed: “If I'm drafted I'll go!” The last seen of the individual who made this remark he was going—to Canada.”
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-c/week-122
18. Thursday, August 11, 1864: In Georgia, General Sherman continued the bombardment of Atlanta, while his troops digs trenches towards the defenders trenches.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-174
19. Thursday, August 11, 1864: In Virginia, not wanting to fight, General Early (CSA) leaves Winchester, for a more defensible position 20 miles to the south. General Sheridan (US) was not confident in his men yet, so he follows with his force settling his troops along Cedar Creek—just north of Strasburg.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-174
20. Wednesday, August 11, 1864: Mississippi operations: CS General Chalmers rejoins General Nathan Bedford Forrest in Oxford. Chalmers’ division is reinforced and, with Bell’s Brigade, is deployed in the afternoon to Hurricane Creek. five or six miles south of Abbeville. Soon the Confederates are involved in skirmishes with the US General A. J. Smith’s pickets.
https://bjdeming.com/2014/08/10/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-11-17-1864/
21. Wednesday, August 11, 1864: "Mismanagement at Hospitals" By August of 1864, Richmond, Virginia had become a giant complex of hospitals and conditions at most of them were terrible. There were exceptions: the small hospital of Sally Tompkins at 3rd and Main Street and the huge hospital on Chimborazo Hill, but most of the hospitals in the city had terrible conditions. From Richmond's Daily Dispatch of August 11, 1864: “Mismanagement at Hospitals. We receive a great many letters from soldiers in the different hospitals around the city, complaining of their treatment. The charges against some of the officials are of every character, including inattention to the sick and wounded, peculation and speculation in the provisions furnished by the Government, drunkenness, and some crimes too disgraceful for publication. Unfortunately for the ends of justice, if these complaints are well founded, they are nearly always contained in anonymous letters, and, of course, cannot be published. They contain a good deal of bad grammar and infinitely worse spelling; but there is a simple earnestness about them, and an humble tone of entreaty for better treatment, that secures much of the confidence and sympathy of the reader. As the writers place it out of the power of the press to aid them, we would suggest that they address their complaints to Doctor Francis Sorrell, Inspector-General of Hospitals. In this way the derelict officers of the hospitals can be brought to punishment and less writing paper wasted.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=August+11%2C+1864
22. Wednesday, August 11, 1864: Rumors in Richmond. On this day 150 years ago, Confederate war clerk John B. Jones clung to hope by trafficking in rumors. Jones desperately tried to convince himself that U.S. Grant was abandoning the siege of Richmond and Petersburg and retreating to Washington, D.C.
“August 11th.—Hot and dry. Dispatches from secret agents at Washington state that Grant and his staff have arrived, that half his army preceded him, and the remainder will soon follow. The campaign is considered a disastrous failure, and it is anticipated that henceforth the scene of operations is to be transferred from Richmond to Washington. They say President Lincoln’s face expresses “great terror,” and affairs there are in a critical condition.
A dispatch from Gen. Lee states that Gen. Bradley Johnson’s brigade of cavalry was surprised and routed on the 7th inst. by Averill. He has directed that Gen. J. be relieved.
A dispatch from Gen. Hood (Atlanta, Ga.) says no important change in affair has occurred since yesterday, except that Major-Gen. Bates is wounded. There are 5000 militia in the trenches.
Jones' speculations were wishful thinking. In fact, Grant was reshuffling his forces in order to send Philip Sheridan's new Army of the Shenandoah up the Shenandoah Valley to destroy Jubal Early's army and strip the Valley of its resources.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=August+11%2C+1864
A Sunday, August 11, 1861: The Memphis Daily Appeal (Memphis, TN), “Factory Burnt.—The Normant cotton factory, belonging to P. Miller, located near Bolivar, Tenn., was consumed by fire on Thursday night last. This is a great misfortune now when the South is compelled to manufacture for herself, and owners of such property should guard it with redoubled vigilance. Loss, $25,000, without insurance.”
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-a/part-eighteen
B Monday, August 11, 1862: Colonel J.T. Hughes’s Confederate force, including William Quantrill, attacked Independence, Missouri at dawn. They drove through the town to the Union Army camp, capturing, killing and scattering the Yankees. During the melee, Colonel Hughes was killed, but the Confederates took Independence which led to a Confederate dominance in the Kansas City area for a short time. Quantrill's role in the capture of Independence led to his being commissioned a captain in the Confederate Army.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-b/part-seventy
B+ Monday, August 11, 1862: First Battle of Independence, Missouri: A motley collection of 700-800 bushwhackers, guerillas, Missouri State Guard, and Confederate troops---including irregulars under William Quantrill---under command of Col. John Hughes, attacks the small Federal garrison of Independence, about 344 men from several Missouri regiments, under command of Lt. Col. Buel. In the early morning attack, two columns of Rebels converged, entering town on two different roads, burst upon the Federal camp, killing soldiers still asleep. While the Rebels looted the camp, Federal troops deployed behind a stone wall, and several Rebel attacks on it resulted in the death of Hughes and Col. Hays, his second in command. Col. Thompson succeeded Hughes in command, and finally forced Buel’s surrender. Most of the Federal command is captured, but some escape. Confederate Victory.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+11%2C+1862
C Tuesday, August 11, 1863: Confederate forces pound Federal entrenchments on Morris Island, South Carolina.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186308
C+ Tuesday, August 11, 1863: Siege of Charleston Harbor: Confederate artillery at Fort Sumter, James Island and Fort Wagner pounds US forces on Morris Island.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/08/05/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-5-11-1863/
C++ Tuesday, August 11, 1863: In Charleston Harbor, where the Civil War had begun, the battle was nowhere near over. The guns of Fort Sumter roared today, joined by other firepower from James Island and Battery Wagner. They were firing on Union positions on Morris Island where they were digging trenches for a siege. The cannon fire slowed, but did not stop, the digging.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/department-c/week-122
D Thursday, August 11, 1864: The CSS Tallahassee captures seven Federal vessels off the coast of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, burning all except one for the Federal crews to escape on.
https://sites.google.com/site/civilwarhardemancotn/departments/1864/week-174
D+ Thursday, August 11, 1864: Cruising within 80 miles of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, C.S.S. Tallahassee, Commander Wood, took seven prizes, including schooners Sarah A. Boyce and Carrol, brigs Richards and Carrie Estelle, cargo of logs, pilot boats James Funk (No. 22) and William Bell (No. 24), and bark Bay State, cargo of wood. All were scuttled or burned except Carrol, which was bonded for $10,000 and sent to New York with the passengers and crews of the other ships. Rear Admiral Hiram Paulding, Commandant of the New York Navy Yard, immediately wired Secretary Welles: "Pirate off Sandy Hook, capturing and burning." By evening, Paulding had three ships in pursuit of Tallahassee. Welles, hoping to head off the Southern raider and prevent another cruise similar to the June 1863 raid of Lieutenant Charles Read in C.S.S. Tacony, telegraphed naval commanders at Hampton Roads, Philadelphia, and Boston, ordering a large-scale search for Wood.
http://www.historycentral.com/navy/cwnavalhistory/August1864.html
FYI GySgt Jack Wallace CWO4 Terrence Clark SPC Michael Oles SRSMSgt Lawrence McCarter A1C Pamela G RussellLTC Trent KlugPO2 Russell "Russ" Lincoln SFC Bernard Walko SFC Stephen King SFC Ralph E Kelley SSG Franklin Briant MSgt Robert C AldiSSG Byron Howard Sr Cpl Samuel Pope Sr CPL Ronald Keyes Jr SFC William Farrell CMDCM John F. "Doc" Bradshaw SPC Lyle MontgomeryDeborah GregsonSPC Miguel C.
Baptists and the American Civil War: August 11, 1861 | Baptists and the American Civil War: In...
At first glance, today is a typical Sunday at the Union Baptist Church in Tennessee’s Stockton Valley in Loudon County. Inside the plain meeting house with perhaps one hundred or more persons present, preaching and singing fill the morning hours as the temperature rises this hot August day. The sounds wafting through the open windows provide a backdrop as a few men loiter in shaded areas, talking among themselves.
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I wouldn't dare say one is more important then the other they all contributed a vital victory or loss that contributed to the climate at the end of the war.
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Great to get my history lesson on the Civil War, thank you for the great posting.
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Thank You Brother Steve for another Civil War History lesson. Once again, I voted for all of the above as they all seemed equally as devasting as the next one.
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LTC Stephen F.
You are very welcome my friend and brotherin-Christ PO3 Edward Riddle and thanks for letting us know that you voted for all of teh above as being significant for August 11 during the US Civil War.
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