Posted on May 2, 2016
What was the most significant event on May 1 during the U.S. Civil War?
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As May 1861 began, ninety-day militia regiments from the North continued to march into Washington, DC.
“A secessionist by the name of Doyle was shot here last Sunday morning by the Washington City Guards and instantly killed 5 Balls passing through his body, he never spoke after the guard fired.”
1862: On the James Peninsula in southeastern Virginia, McClellan’s Army of the Potomac, now recently reinforced and 112,000 strong, is having slow going in their progress up the peninsula.
1864: Despite the horrors of war, imprisoned soldiers were able to send letters to loved ones back home and receive letters. In August 1861 the US banned the exchange of mail between citizens of the North and South. Prisoner-of-war mail was exchanged between North and South at designated points under a flag-of-truce.
1865: As the Civil War neared its end, thousands of Union soldiers, held as prisoners of war, were herded into a series of hastily assembled camps in Charleston, South Carolina. Conditions at one camp, a former racetrack near the city’s Citadel, were so bad that more than 250 prisoners died from disease or exposure, and were buried in a mass grave behind the track’s grandstand. Three weeks after the Confederate surrender, an unusual procession entered the former camp to commemorate one of the first memorial day events: more than 1,000 recently freed slaves, accompanied by regiments of the U.S. Colored Troops (including the Massachusetts 54th Infantry) and a handful of white Charlestonians, gathered in the camp to consecrate a new, proper burial site for the Union dead.
Pictures: 1863 Map of Chancellorsville Day 2; 1862 columbiad guns; 1862 USS Galena tumble home; 1863 Port Gibson battle map
“A secessionist by the name of Doyle was shot here last Sunday morning by the Washington City Guards and instantly killed 5 Balls passing through his body, he never spoke after the guard fired.”
1862: On the James Peninsula in southeastern Virginia, McClellan’s Army of the Potomac, now recently reinforced and 112,000 strong, is having slow going in their progress up the peninsula.
1864: Despite the horrors of war, imprisoned soldiers were able to send letters to loved ones back home and receive letters. In August 1861 the US banned the exchange of mail between citizens of the North and South. Prisoner-of-war mail was exchanged between North and South at designated points under a flag-of-truce.
1865: As the Civil War neared its end, thousands of Union soldiers, held as prisoners of war, were herded into a series of hastily assembled camps in Charleston, South Carolina. Conditions at one camp, a former racetrack near the city’s Citadel, were so bad that more than 250 prisoners died from disease or exposure, and were buried in a mass grave behind the track’s grandstand. Three weeks after the Confederate surrender, an unusual procession entered the former camp to commemorate one of the first memorial day events: more than 1,000 recently freed slaves, accompanied by regiments of the U.S. Colored Troops (including the Massachusetts 54th Infantry) and a handful of white Charlestonians, gathered in the camp to consecrate a new, proper burial site for the Union dead.
Pictures: 1863 Map of Chancellorsville Day 2; 1862 columbiad guns; 1862 USS Galena tumble home; 1863 Port Gibson battle map
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Another excellent post. I voted for Chancellorsville being the most important date. It was the apex of the performance of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. His bold plan to split his forces and attack Hooker while all logic pointed to him retreating to a more tenable position was brillant. Jackson's aggressive attack (although not as much of a surprise as many think) all but demolished The Union's 11th Corps and shook Hooker's confidence to the core (along with him being knocked senseless by an artillery round.
Lee' Holding forces at Frederickburg did their job delaying Hooker's reenforcements and Wilcox brillantly handled three brigades at Salem Church that further thwarted the Yankee's attack. Hooker lost confidence and the Northern Army Crossed the river to lick it's wounds.
The ramifications were great on both sides. Lee had to divide his Army into Three Corps and no longer had someone with the aggressive spirit of Jackson to push them. Lee had developed several good leaders but had great numbers of commanders fall.
The Union found a competent leader in Meade who proved he could handle Lee in Gettyburg and be an invaluable subordinate under Grant in ther 64-65 campaign.
Tthe next time the union army crossed the Rappohanock river they never turned back.
Lee' Holding forces at Frederickburg did their job delaying Hooker's reenforcements and Wilcox brillantly handled three brigades at Salem Church that further thwarted the Yankee's attack. Hooker lost confidence and the Northern Army Crossed the river to lick it's wounds.
The ramifications were great on both sides. Lee had to divide his Army into Three Corps and no longer had someone with the aggressive spirit of Jackson to push them. Lee had developed several good leaders but had great numbers of commanders fall.
The Union found a competent leader in Meade who proved he could handle Lee in Gettyburg and be an invaluable subordinate under Grant in ther 64-65 campaign.
Tthe next time the union army crossed the Rappohanock river they never turned back.
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On this day so long ago, the Civil War raged from 1861 to 1864. By 1865 memorial events commemorated the massive numbers of war dead from this most uncivil of civil wars.
“As May 1861 began, ninety-day militia regiments from the North continued to march into Washington, DC. The "ninety-day" regiments, so-called for the length of their annual federal service commitments, were standing state militia regiments that could be called into federal service for ninety days every year. The quality of preparedness of these regiments varied widely--some of them arrived in Washington, DC without arms and had to be equipped from federal stockpiles.”
1861: Robert E. Lee orders Stonewall Jackson to remove the weapons and equipment from the arsenal at Harpers Ferry.
1864: In the border region of Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky, Edward Guerrant finds the climate less receptive to notions of blooming flowers and greening trees: “It feels more like Christmas Day than May Day! December than May! It suggests to me that Western Virginia seasons run thus: Winter months—October, November, December, January, February, March, April, May. Spring months—June! Summer months—July & August! Fall months—September!”
Stamps and the Civil War: In 1861, the cost of mailing a half-ounce letter up to 3,000 miles by the U.S. Post Office Department was 3 cents. On June 1, 1861, the Confederate Post Office began charging 5 cents for mailing half-ounce letters up to 500 miles.
Pictures: 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville Day 2; 1863 MG Ulysses S Grant; 1861 71st-regiment-NY-state-militia-arrives at Washington, DC after leaving april-21-1861; xx 1864 Henry W. Wessels, arrived at Libby Prison
Since RallyPoint truncates survey selection text I am posting events that were not included and then the full text of each survey choice below:
A. 1861: The United States banned the exchange of mail between citizens of the North and South in August 1861, although smugglers often carried mail illegally across the lines. Prisoner-of-war mail was exchanged between North and South at designated points under a flag-of-truce. Citizens could also send letters via the flag-of-truce system, although like prisoners’ mail, their letters were read by censors and rejected if the contents were objectionable.
B. Friday, May 1, 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville Day 2: On April 27, 1863 – three days before the historic Battle of Chancellorsville – Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker led the Fifth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Corps on a campaign to turn the Confederate left flank by crossing the Rappahannock and Rapidan Rivers above Fredericksburg. Passing the Rapidan via Germanna and Ely’s Fords, the Federals concentrated near Chancellorsville on April 30 and May 1.
The Third Corps was ordered to join the army via United States Ford. Sedgwick’s Sixth Corps and Gibbon’s division of the Second Corps remained to demonstrate against the Confederates at Fredericksburg. In the meantime, Lee left a covering force under Maj. Gen. Jubal Early in Fredericksburg and marched with the rest of his army to confront the large Federal force.
As Hooker’s army moved toward Fredericksburg on the Orange Turnpike, they encountered increasing Confederate resistance. Hearing reports of overwhelming Confederate force, Hooker ordered his army to suspend the advance and to concentrate again at Chancellorsville. Pressed closely by Lee’s advance, Hooker adopted a defensive posture, thus giving Lee the initiative.
After learning that the Union right flank was "hanging in the air", Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson settled upon a highly aggressive plan that would march Jackson's forces around the Union positions and onto that exposed flank.
C. Friday, May 1, 1863 --- Battle of Port Gibson, Mississippi – Grant’s troops begin to arrive near Port Gibson around 3:00 AM, where they find Gen. John S. Bowen and his division of Confederate troops. Since Bowen had sent his cavalry off to chase Grierson’s raiders, as ordered by Gen. Pemberton, Bowen had little information about Grant or the strength of the Federals advancing against his position; he does not realize that he is facing 20,000 Federal troops with his mere 6,000. Grant gives orders to Gen. McClernand to attack with his corps, but McClernand had neglected to issues rations to his soldiers, and he also mismanages the assault so that the Rebels were soon outflanking him---Cockerell’s Missouri brigade hits McClernand in the right flank, bringing McClernand’s advance to a halt. The Union attack bogs down. Gen. James McPherson arrives with more troops, and takes command of his own corps. He soon effects a turning maneuver that breaks Bowen’s line, and the Confederates are in full retreat up the Bayou Pierre. Union Victory.
D. On May 1, 1865, more than 1,000 recently freed slaves, accompanied by regiments of the U.S. Colored Troops (including the Massachusetts 54th Infantry) and a handful of white Charlestonians, gathered in the camp to consecrate a new, proper burial site for the Union dead. The group sang hymns, gave readings and distributed flowers around the cemetery, which they dedicated to the “Martyrs of the Race Course.”
Monday, May 1, 1865: One of the earliest commemorations of Memorial Day was organized by recently freed slaves. As the Civil War neared its end, thousands of Union soldiers, held as prisoners of war, were herded into a series of hastily assembled camps in Charleston, South Carolina. Conditions at one camp, a former racetrack near the city’s Citadel, were so bad that more than 250 prisoners died from disease or exposure, and were buried in a mass grave behind the track’s grandstand. Three weeks after the Confederate surrender, an unusual procession entered the former camp: On May 1, 1865, more than 1,000 recently freed slaves, accompanied by regiments of the U.S. Colored Troops (including the Massachusetts 54th Infantry) and a handful of white Charlestonians, gathered in the camp to consecrate a new, proper burial site for the Union dead. The group sang hymns, gave readings and distributed flowers around the cemetery, which they dedicated to the “Martyrs of the Race Course.”
1. Wednesday, May 1, 1861: "Troops are hourly arriving here . . ."
As May 1861 began, ninety-day militia regiments from the North continued to march into Washington, DC. The "ninety-day" regiments, so-called for the length of their annual federal service commitments, were standing state militia regiments that could be called into federal service for ninety days every year. The quality of preparedness of these regiments varied widely--some of them arrived in Washington, DC without arms and had to be equipped from federal stockpiles. Others, like the 7th New York State Volunteer Infantry were lavishly equipped high-society organizations. The 7th became famous for the 1,000 velvet camp stools it was forced to leave behind at Annapolis, Maryland in its rush to reach the federal capital. The mission of the ninety-day regiments was to hold Washington, DC long enough for a new long-serving army of two- and three-year regiments to be recruited and trained.
Typical of many of these regiments was the 71st New York State Volunteer Infantry. On May 1, 1861, Private James W. Vanderhoef wrote to his sister to describe the trip to Washington, DC from New York City and its housing in the capital city.
“Washington Navy Yard; Dear Sister
I embrace this favourable opportunity of addressing these few lines to you, it being the second chance I have had since my arrival here. I wrote to Jane the first, and I now write to you. I expect you have heard of our arrival here long before this, we had a hard time of it from New York to Washington. We sailed from New York Sunday at 5 o'clock and arrived at Annapolis on Wednesday Evening, some of our men feeling very bad from the sudden change of diet and sea sickness, the next morning at 3 o'clock we commenced a march of 36 hours during which time we had but two hard sea biscuit a man and very little water what we did get was partly swamp water with a few exceptions but we at last arrived at our journey's end pretty well played out in body but not in heart. The place was called Annapolis Junction.we remaned there over night expecting an attack but in the morning was disappoint(ed).we then took cars from there to this city ariving Friday morning at 9 ½ o'clock all hands in good cheere and anxious to see the capital. And we now anxiously await an onset from Jefferson Daves Esq--he is stationed some 7 miles from here with a reported army of 60 thousand men at a place called Alexanderer his flag is visible from the top of the White House--so we do not know what moment he may give us a good square turn for the capital of Our United States which before he can get he must concour (conquer) 22 thousand men that didn't come here to play or be played with. A secessionist by the name of Doyle was shot here last Sunday morning by the Washington City Guards and instantly killed 5 Balls passing through his body, he never spoke after the guard fired. Troops are hourly arriving here some of the 69 Regt. Of New York have just arrived and the remainder with the 8th of New York is expected tomorrow morning. Dear Sister I have not much time to rite to any being but suffice for me to say that I don't think I ever seen a more grand sight than I have seen since I have been here this time. The Capital, Hall of Representatives, Navy Yard in fact ever Publick building and street is filled with soldiers of some Regiment, and all seam alike well in Good heart and anxious for a brush. Having rote all the news of interest I will now close, but before I do so I must state my disappointment in not seeing one of my friends the day I left. I expected very much to see Eathen Guillan or Alexander Low but all I saw of the boys from the company who was out good and strong to bid us a last good Bye there is some 30 boys from WmsBurgh here with me so I am not a lone Dear Sister you will give my love to mother, Caroline, Henry and all ?? friends not forgetting yourself and Guillan rite when you receive this for I should like to hear from you all.
I am as ever shall remain your obt servt and Brother, James W. Vanderhoef, Company H 71 Regt, Navy Yard, Washington D.C.
P.S. Give my best respects to Uncle James and Ant Caroline and let him know how I was pressed for time when I started, that I couldn't call and see them JWH”
Like many Northern regiments early in the war, the 71st New York State Volunteer Infantry sailed from New York City to Annapolis, Maryland and then took trains our marched overland to Washington, DC so as to avoid marching through Baltimore, Maryland. Like many regiments, the 71st lacked tents and Vanderhoef and his fellow soldiers were assigned quarters in the Washington Navy Yard. Other regiments were camped in every public building in the capital city.
Vanderhoef badly exaggerated the number of Confederate troops in the neighborhood--no more than a few hundred Southerners watched the growing Union forces from across the river in Alexandria, Virginia. Like many other observers of the time, Vanderhoef noticed the huge Confederate flag flying over the Marshall House Inn in Alexandria, Virginia. That flag was both a challenge and a threat, and it drew the eye of many anxious watchers in the federal capital.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/2011/05/may-1-1861-troops-are-hourly-arriving.html
2. Wednesday, May 1, 1861: Robert E. Lee orders Stonewall Jackson to remove the weapons and equipment from the arsenal at Harpers Ferry.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186105
3. Wednesday, May 1, 1861: Newly-elected Missouri Governor Claiborne Jackson secretly begins communication with the Confederates for artillery to help them take the St. Louis arsenal, which still has over 18,000 rifles and ammunition. Jackson calls for the Missouri Volunteer Militia (the state troops) to assemble outside of the city.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+1%2C+1861
4. Wednesday, May 1, 1861: Confederate troops commanded by Col. Thomas J. Jackson occupy Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+1%2C+1861
5. Thursday, May 1, 1862: Infantry under Benjamin Butler [US] begin entering the city of New Orleans
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186205
6. Thursday, May 1, 1862: On the James Peninsula in southeastern Virginia, McClellan’s Army of the Potomac, now recently reinforced and 112,000 strong, is having slow going in their progress up the peninsula. For a month, McClellan has been preparing siege works in order to launch a huge bombardment of the Rebel forts at Yorktown when ready. Joe Johnston faces the Yankees with only 57,000 men, and is outnumbered about 2 to 1. But McClellan’s intelligence reports inflates Johnston’s force to 100,000, and defends his reluctance to attack with these reports. McClellan’s plan for Yorktown calls for putting over 70 pieces of siege artillery into prepared locations: An exchange of letters between Pres. Lincoln and Gen. McClellan down on the Peninsula reveals the testy nature of their relationship, the micromanagement of Lincoln, and the condescending reticence of McClellan: EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, May 1, 1862.
Major-General McCLELLAN: Your call for Parrott guns from Washington alarms me, chiefly because it argues it argues indefinite procrastination. Is anything to be done? A. LINCOLN.
____________
7. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, Camp Winfield Scott, May 1, 1862-9.30 p. M.
8. His Excellency the PRESIDENT, Washington, D. C.: I asked for the Parrot guns from Washington for the reason that some expected had been two weeks nearly on the way, and could not be heard from. They arrived last night. My arrangements had been made for them, and I thought time might be saved by getting others from Washington. My object was to hasten, not procrastinate. All is being done that human labor can accomplish. G. B. McClellan, Major-General.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+1%2C+1862
9. Thursday, May 1, 1862 --- Union forces under George Morgan are sparring with Confederate troops at Cumberland Gap, under Gen. Edmund Kirby-Smith.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+1%2C+1862
10. Thursday, May 1, 1862 --- Three thousand troops under Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler arrive by ship at New Orleans to bring the occupation of the city under a more stable basis.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+1%2C+1862
11. Thursday, May 1, 1862 --- Sarah Morgan of Baton Rouge tells of her meeting with a longtime friend, Will Pinckney, who was in command of a regiment of Confederate troops as they retreated from New Orleans: I was talking to a ghost. His was a sad story. He had held one bank of the river until forced to retreat with his men, as their cartridges were exhausted, and General Lovell omitted sending more. They had to pass through swamps, wading seven and a half miles, up to their waists in water. He gained the edge of the swamp, saw they were over the worst, and fell senseless. Two of his men brought him milk, and “woke him up,” he said. His men fell from exhaustion, were lost, and died in the swamp; so that out of five hundred, but one hundred escaped. This he told quietly and sadly, looking so heartbroken that it was piteous to see such pain.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+1%2C+1862
12. Sunday, May 1, 1864: Red River campaign. Federal troops return to Alexandria, Louisiana. Heavy skirmishing will continue for days.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186405
13. Sunday, May 1, 1864 --- Gen. Sherman has 110,000 troops gathered in and near Chattanooga: Thomas’ Army of the Cumberland, McPherson’s Army of the Tennessee, and Schofield’s Army of the Ohio. He faces Joseph Johnston’s Army of Tennessee (CSA), at Dalton, Georgia, which has about 40,000 infantry soldiers and 8,500 cavalry troopers, only a third of which were equipped with both mounts and weapons to be battle-ready. McPherson lines up on the right, and sidles southward to La Fayette, Georgia; Thomas pushes forward to Ringgold, on the railroad, near the Chickamauga battlefield, northwest of Dalton; Schofield lines up on the left, directly north of Dalton. Sherman’s troops will strike on May 5.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/2014/05/may-1-1864.html
14. Sunday, May 1, 1864: From Libby Prison, Richmond Va. To Miss E. M. Wilson, St. Louis. Mo.
My Dear Mollie, I am still looking for letters from you. A “Truce Boat” came up on Thursday, but the mail is not yet delivered to us. A few officers (Thirty) and men were paroled, and more are expected daily. The Exch thus you will see progresses very slowly and I have again postponed the good time I expected when liberty again w'd be my portion. The weather has been fine and springlike but showery. It is very pleasant inside and out, but the season is so late or it appears so to me. The trees are only putting out their leaves, and are not yet well covered. The routine of the prison is much as usual, some are fretting, but most are in confident expectation of an early release.
We get accessions to our numbers every week — last week some twenty officers joined us, including Genl. Wessells, who was the first Colonel of our Regiment in 1861, and with whom of course I have claimed an acquaintance. He is very quiet and unassuming, and feels his capture very much. The majority of the officers captured with him have not yet arrived. I am well, and pass away the time reading and dreaming as best I can. I am so glad to hear of your continued health, and of your exertions for the benefit of the fair. I hope and expect it to be a grand success, an honor to St. Louis and the great West. A visit to it, and the exercise and change there — anent would recruit my health and spirits; but potent medicine and pleasure as it would be, I must shut my eyes to hope, or the reaction if I still found myself pining here in June, w'd be too severe.
A thousand loving words to you. Love to Sis, Mother, Aunt, &c, &c. I received a nice box of Groceries from Wm last week. I wrote to you and E. A. then, so now.
Adieu my love, Yours Sincerely, James E. Love, Capt. 8th Ks. Vol.
background: On April 17, 1864, Confederate forces attacked Plymouth, North Carolina, in an attempt to recapture the port that they lost to the Union two years earlier. The Confederates captured Plymouth three days later, and Union general Henry W. Wessels, commander of the garrison at Plymouth, surrendered his forces. He was taken prisoner, and arrived at Libby Prison on April 26. As James mentions, Wessels was colonel of the 8th Kansas Infantry regiment from September 1861 to April 1862.
http://www.historyhappenshere.org/node/7542
15. Sunday, May 1, 1864: William T. Sherman sends his daughter, Minnie, a letter as he contemplates the action that is shortly to come: “This is Sunday, May 1st. and a beautiful day it is. I have just come from a long ride over my Old Battle field of November 25th which is on a high Ridge about four or five miles from Chattanooga. The leaves are now coming out, and the young flowers have begun to bloom. I have gathered a few which I send you in token of my love, and to tell you I gathered them on the very spot where many a brave man died for you, and such as you.”
http://cwc.hss.kennesaw.edu/timeline/timeline_1864/
16. Sunday, May 1, 1864: To his wife, Cump notes that he has sent bouquets to the girls, “and if any ill fate attend me in this, they will remember me by that. The weather is beautiful, and the Army is in fine condition. I did expect to have back more of the furloughed veterans, but it takes more time for them to assemble from their homes than we military minds calculate. . . .Tomorrow I will be off & may not write for some time, but the telegraph will announce the result of our first Stops.”
http://cwc.hss.kennesaw.edu/timeline/timeline_1864/
17. Sunday, May 1, 1864: In the border region of Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky, Edward Guerrant finds the climate less receptive to notions of blooming flowers and greening trees: “It feels more like Christmas Day than May Day! December than May!
It suggests to me that Western Virginia seasons run thus: Winter months—October, November, December, January, February, March, April, May. Spring months—June! Summer months—July & August! Fall months—September!”
http://cwc.hss.kennesaw.edu/timeline/timeline_1864/
18. Sunday, May 1, 1864: Confederate war bureau chief Josiah Gorgas notes the sad state of affairs in the Confederate capital in the aftermath of the tragedy in Jefferson Davis’s family: “We attended this afternoon the funeral of one of the Presidents little boys (Joe), who was killed yesterday evening by a fall from the back piazza. . . . The President is very much attached to his children & very caressing toward them, and this is a heavy sorrow to him. Last winter I once saw him take this little fellow off to hear him say his prayers as he went to bed.”
http://cwc.hss.kennesaw.edu/timeline/timeline_1864/
19.
A Wednesday, May 1, 1861: 1861 – 1865 Mail Service and the Civil War
Mail was a treasured link between Civil War camps and battlefields and “back home.” Recognizing its
importance to morale, the armies assigned personnel to collect, distribute, and deliver soldiers’ mail; wagons and tents served as traveling Post Offices. Some soldiers wrote home weekly; some seemed to spend all their free time writing. A letter from home could be tucked into a pocket close to a soldier’s heart, to be read and re-read in moments of loneliness. Many soldiers carried letters in their pockets, to be forwarded to loved ones if they were killed in action.
The U.S. Post Office Department introduced several improvements during the war which made it easier to
send and receive mail. Since soldiers sometimes had trouble acquiring postage stamps. If they did get them, they had trouble keeping the gummed bits of paper from congealing into sodden lumps. Soldiers were allowed to mail letters without stamps beginning in July 1861 by writing “Soldier’s Letter” on the envelope; postage was collected from the recipient. In July 1863, postage rates were simplified and in some cases lowered when distance-based letter rate categories were eliminated and all letters given the lowest rate. That same month, free home delivery of mail was introduced in the nation’s largest cities. And in November 1864 the money order system began, making it safer for soldiers and citizens to send money through the mail.
The Confederacy established its own Post Office Department in February 1861, two months before the start of the war, with former U.S. Congressman John Henninger Reagan appointed Postmaster General in March. Reagan sent job offers to southern men in the Post Office Department in Washington; many accepted and brought along their expertise, as well as copies of postal reports, forms in use, postal maps, and other supplies. Prior to the war the cost of mail service in the South was more than three times its revenue. By raising postage rates, reducing service, and practicing strict economy, Reagan made the Confederate Post Office Department self-sustaining by the end of 1863. But blockades and the invading Northern army, as well as a scarcity of postage stamps, severely hampered operations.
The United States banned the exchange of mail between citizens of the North and South in August 1861,
although smugglers often carried mail illegally across the lines. Prisoner-of-war mail was exchanged between North and South at designated points under a flag-of-truce. Citizens could also send letters via the flag-of-truce system, although like prisoners’ mail, their letters were read by censors and rejected if the contents were objectionable.
Stamps and the Civil War
In 1861, the cost of mailing a half-ounce letter up to 3,000 miles by the U.S. Post Office Department was 3 cents (77 cents in 2011 dollars). On June 1, 1861, the Confederate Post Office began charging 5 cents ($1.30 in 2011 dollars) for mailing half-ounce letters up to 500 miles. To prevent the fraudulent use of the large quantity of U.S. postage stamps held by postmasters in the seceded states, the U.S. Post Office Department redesigned its postage stamps soon after it suspended mail service to the South. The newly designed stamps were distributed to postmasters and customers beginning in August 1861, in exchange for the old ones. Initially Postmasters were instructed to give customers six days following notification in which to exchange old stamps for new ones, after which time the old ones were demonetized (rendered valueless). But the time limit was stretched in some cases to accommodate customers. In New York City, citizens were given about six weeks to exchange their postage stamps.
As the war progressed, coins, which were more highly valued than paper money, gradually disappeared from the marketplace. By the summer of 1862, the lack of coinage posed a serious hardship to trade. Merchants began issuing their own promissory notes, called “shinplasters,” and many people began using postage stamps as small change. Unfortunately, shinplasters were often redeemable only where received, and stamps were liable to crumple and clump together.
A law of July 17, 1862, authorized the use of postage stamps as currency, and beginning in August 1862 the Treasury Department issued special “postage currency” — reproductions of postage stamps on larger, thicker, ungummed pieces of paper, in denominations of 5, 10, 25, and 50 cents. Due to coin shortages the Treasury Department continued issuing paper notes representing fractions of a dollar through 1876, although beginning in October 1863 they were called “fractional currency” and did not feature reproductions of stamps.
http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2012/pr12_civil-war-mail-history.pdf
B Friday, May 1, 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville:
On April 27, 1863 – three days before the historic Battle of Chancellorsville – Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker led the Fifth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Corps on a campaign to turn the Confederate left flank by crossing the Rappahannock and Rapidan Rivers above Fredericksburg. Passing the Rapidan via Germanna and Ely’s Fords, the Federals concentrated near Chancellorsville on April 30 and May 1.
The Third Corps was ordered to join the army via United States Ford. Sedgwick’s Sixth Corps and Gibbon’s division of the Second Corps remained to demonstrate against the Confederates at Fredericksburg. In the meantime, Lee left a covering force under Maj. Gen. Jubal Early in Fredericksburg and marched with the rest of his army to confront the large Federal force.
As Hooker’s army moved toward Fredericksburg on the Orange Turnpike, they encountered increasing Confederate resistance. Hearing reports of overwhelming Confederate force, Hooker ordered his army to suspend the advance and to concentrate again at Chancellorsville. Pressed closely by Lee’s advance, Hooker adopted a defensive posture, thus giving Lee the initiative.
After learning that the Union right flank was "hanging in the air", Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson settled upon a highly aggressive plan that would march Jackson's forces around the Union positions and onto that exposed flank. After a hard and dusty march on May 2, Jackson's column reached its jumping off point for their attack upon the unsuspecting Federal right flank. At 5:20 pm, Jackson’s line surged forward in an overwhelming attack that crushed the Union Eleventh Corps. Federal troops rallied, resisted the advance, and counterattacked. Disorganization and darkness ended the fighting. While making a night reconnaissance, Jackson was mortally wounded by his own men and carried from the field - a serious blow to the Army of Northern Virginia.
J.E.B. Stuart took temporary command of Jackson’s Corps. On May 3, the Confederates attacked with both wings of the army and massed their artillery at Hazel Grove. This finally broke the Federal line at Chancellorsville. Hooker withdrew a mile and entrenched in a defensive “U” with his back to the river at United States Ford. On the night of May 5-6, after Union reverses at Salem Church, Hooker crossed to the north bank of the Rappahannock. This battle is considered by many historians to be Lee’s greatest victory.
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/chancellorsville/maps/chancellorsvillemap.html
B+ Friday, May 1, 1863: Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia Day 2: Lee’s Confederates are on the road before dawn, marching westward towards the Wilderness, and the Chancellorsville crossroads. Lee leaves Gen. Early and his division to hold the hills above Fredericksburg, only 10,000 men. For the Federals, Slocum’s Corps and Sykes’s division (Meade’s V Corps) are out in front, trying to make contact with the Confederates. Stonewall Jackson marches his men swiftly and, in combination with Anderson’s division, moves westward along two parallel roads---the Orange Plank Road and the Old Turnpike---to strike first at the Yankees, instead of waiting for them to come. The Rebels drive forward, and soon Sykes’s troops are being outflanked, and Slocum’s are being pushed back. Although Couch’s troops arrive and begin to bolster Sykes, Hooker takes caution and sends dispatches ordering the Federal to break off action with the enemy. Slocum is disgusted but complies with the order. Couch and Sykes at first refuse to obey the order, but they finally obey. Sykes is outflanked finally, and retreats as the Rebels pursue almost all the way to Catherine Furnace.
That evening, Lee and Jackson meet and confer near Catherine Furnace to make plans for the next day. Jackson believes that Hooker has lost his nerve. Gen. Stuart arrives with a scouting report that shows Hooker’s far right flank (Howard’s XI Corps) to be “in the air” and unanchored. Jackson proposes to make a forced march around and to attack the Yankees at that spot. Lee agrees, and once again takes the chancy choice of dividing his army in the face of the enemy.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+1%2C+1863
C Battle of Port Gibson (May 1)
Shortly after midnight the crash of musketry shattered the stillness as the Federals stumbled upon Confederate outposts near the A. K. Shaifer house. Union troops immediately deployed for battle, and their artillery, which soon arrived, roared into action. A spirited skirmish ensued which lasted until 3 a.m., with the Confederates holding their ground. For the next several hours an uneasy calm settled over the woods and scattered fields as soldiers of both armies rested on their arms. Throughout the night the Federals gathered their forces in hand and both sides prepared for the battle which they knew would come with the rising sun.
At dawn, Union troops began to move in force along the Rodney Road toward Magnolia Church. One division was sent along a connecting plantation road toward the Bruinsburg Road and the Confederate right flank. With skirmishers well ahead, the Federals began a slow and deliberate advance around 5:30 a.m. The Confederates contested the thrust and the battle began in earnest.
Most of the Union forces moved along the Rodney Road toward Magnolia Church and the Confederate line held by Brigadier General Martin E. Green's Brigade. Heavily outnumbered and hard-pressed, the Confederates gave way shortly after 10:00 a.m. The men in butternut and gray fell back a mile and a half. Here the soldiers of Brigadier General William E. Baldwin's and Colonel Francis M. Cockrell's brigades, recent arrivals on the field, established a new line between White and Irwin branches of Willow Creek. Full of fight, these men re-established the Confederate left flank.
The morning hours witnessed Green's Brigade driven from its position by the principle Federal attack. Brigadier General Edward D. Tracy's Alabama Brigade, astride the Bruinsburg Road, also experienced hard fighting. Although Tracy was killed early in the action, his brigade managed to hold its tenuous line.
It was clear, however, that unless the Confederates received heavy reinforcements, they would lose the day. Brigadier General John S. Bowen, Confederate commander on the field, wired his superiors: "We have been engaged in a furious battle ever since daylight; losses very heavy. The men act nobly, but the odds are overpowering." Early afternoon found the Alabamans slowly giving ground. Green's weary soldiers, having been regrouped, arrived to bolster the line on the Bruinsburg Road.
Even so, by late in the afternoon, the Federals had advanced all along the line in superior numbers. As Union pressure built, Cockrell's Missourians unleashed a vicious counterattack near the Rodney Road, and began to roll up the blue line. The 6th Missouri also counterattacked, hitting the Federals near the Bruinsburg Road. All this was to no avail, for the odds against them were too great. The Confederates were checked and driven back, the day lost. At 5:30 p.m., battle-weary Confederates began to retire from the hard-fought field.
The battle of Port Gibson cost Grant 131 killed, 719 wounded, and 25 missing out of 23,000 men engaged. This victory not only secured his position on Mississippi soil, but enabled him to launch his campaign deeper into the interior of the state. Union victory at Port Gibson forced the Confederate evacuation of Grand Gulf and would ultimately result in the fall of Vicksburg.
The Confederates suffered 60 killed, 340 wounded, and 387 missing out of 8,000 men engaged. In addition, 4 guns of the Botetourt (Virginia) Artillery were lost. The action at Port Gibson underscored Confederate inability to defend the line of the Mississippi River and to respond to amphibious operations. Confederate soldiers from these operations are buried at Wintergreen Cemetery in Port Gibson.
https://www.nps.gov/vick/learn/historyculture/battleportgibson.htm
C+ Friday, May 1, 1863 --- Battle of Port Gibson, Mississippi – Grant’s troops begin to arrive near Port Gibson around 3:00 AM, where they find Gen. John S. Bowen and his division of Confederate troops. Since Bowen had sent his cavalry off to chase Grierson’s raiders, as ordered by Gen. Pemberton, Bowen had little information about Grant or the strength of the Federals advancing against his position; he does not realize that he is facing 20,000 Federal troops with his mere 6,000. Grant gives orders to Gen. McClernand to attack with his corps, but McClernand had neglected to issues rations to his soldiers, and he also mismanages the assault so that the Rebels were soon outflanking him---Cockerell’s Missouri brigade hits McClernand in the right flank, bringing McClernand’s advance to a halt. The Union attack bogs down. Gen. James McPherson arrives with more troops, and takes command of his own corps. He soon effects a turning maneuver that breaks Bowen’s line, and the Confederates are in full retreat up the Bayou Pierre. Union Victory.
Losses: Union, 861; Confederate, 787
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+1%2C+1863
D Monday, May 1, 1865: One of the earliest commemorations of Memorial Day was organized by recently freed slaves. As the Civil War neared its end, thousands of Union soldiers, held as prisoners of war, were herded into a series of hastily assembled camps in Charleston, South Carolina. Conditions at one camp, a former racetrack near the city’s Citadel, were so bad that more than 250 prisoners died from disease or exposure, and were buried in a mass grave behind the track’s grandstand. Three weeks after the Confederate surrender, an unusual procession entered the former camp: On May 1, 1865, more than 1,000 recently freed slaves, accompanied by regiments of the U.S. Colored Troops (including the Massachusetts 54th Infantry) and a handful of white Charlestonians, gathered in the camp to consecrate a new, proper burial site for the Union dead. The group sang hymns, gave readings and distributed flowers around the cemetery, which they dedicated to the “Martyrs of the Race Course.”
http://www.history.com/news/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-memorial-day
LTC Stephen C. LTC Thomas Tennant MAJ Ken Landgren
LTC (Join to see) CSM Charles Hayden SFC William Swartz Jr SP6 Clifford Ward PO1 John Miller PO2 William Allen Crowder SrA Christopher Wright SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski SPC Corbin Sayi SSgt (Join to see) SSgt Robert Marx SPC (Join to see) SGT (Join to see) CW5 (Join to see) SGT Forrest Stewart PO3 Steven Sherrill
“As May 1861 began, ninety-day militia regiments from the North continued to march into Washington, DC. The "ninety-day" regiments, so-called for the length of their annual federal service commitments, were standing state militia regiments that could be called into federal service for ninety days every year. The quality of preparedness of these regiments varied widely--some of them arrived in Washington, DC without arms and had to be equipped from federal stockpiles.”
1861: Robert E. Lee orders Stonewall Jackson to remove the weapons and equipment from the arsenal at Harpers Ferry.
1864: In the border region of Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky, Edward Guerrant finds the climate less receptive to notions of blooming flowers and greening trees: “It feels more like Christmas Day than May Day! December than May! It suggests to me that Western Virginia seasons run thus: Winter months—October, November, December, January, February, March, April, May. Spring months—June! Summer months—July & August! Fall months—September!”
Stamps and the Civil War: In 1861, the cost of mailing a half-ounce letter up to 3,000 miles by the U.S. Post Office Department was 3 cents. On June 1, 1861, the Confederate Post Office began charging 5 cents for mailing half-ounce letters up to 500 miles.
Pictures: 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville Day 2; 1863 MG Ulysses S Grant; 1861 71st-regiment-NY-state-militia-arrives at Washington, DC after leaving april-21-1861; xx 1864 Henry W. Wessels, arrived at Libby Prison
Since RallyPoint truncates survey selection text I am posting events that were not included and then the full text of each survey choice below:
A. 1861: The United States banned the exchange of mail between citizens of the North and South in August 1861, although smugglers often carried mail illegally across the lines. Prisoner-of-war mail was exchanged between North and South at designated points under a flag-of-truce. Citizens could also send letters via the flag-of-truce system, although like prisoners’ mail, their letters were read by censors and rejected if the contents were objectionable.
B. Friday, May 1, 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville Day 2: On April 27, 1863 – three days before the historic Battle of Chancellorsville – Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker led the Fifth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Corps on a campaign to turn the Confederate left flank by crossing the Rappahannock and Rapidan Rivers above Fredericksburg. Passing the Rapidan via Germanna and Ely’s Fords, the Federals concentrated near Chancellorsville on April 30 and May 1.
The Third Corps was ordered to join the army via United States Ford. Sedgwick’s Sixth Corps and Gibbon’s division of the Second Corps remained to demonstrate against the Confederates at Fredericksburg. In the meantime, Lee left a covering force under Maj. Gen. Jubal Early in Fredericksburg and marched with the rest of his army to confront the large Federal force.
As Hooker’s army moved toward Fredericksburg on the Orange Turnpike, they encountered increasing Confederate resistance. Hearing reports of overwhelming Confederate force, Hooker ordered his army to suspend the advance and to concentrate again at Chancellorsville. Pressed closely by Lee’s advance, Hooker adopted a defensive posture, thus giving Lee the initiative.
After learning that the Union right flank was "hanging in the air", Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson settled upon a highly aggressive plan that would march Jackson's forces around the Union positions and onto that exposed flank.
C. Friday, May 1, 1863 --- Battle of Port Gibson, Mississippi – Grant’s troops begin to arrive near Port Gibson around 3:00 AM, where they find Gen. John S. Bowen and his division of Confederate troops. Since Bowen had sent his cavalry off to chase Grierson’s raiders, as ordered by Gen. Pemberton, Bowen had little information about Grant or the strength of the Federals advancing against his position; he does not realize that he is facing 20,000 Federal troops with his mere 6,000. Grant gives orders to Gen. McClernand to attack with his corps, but McClernand had neglected to issues rations to his soldiers, and he also mismanages the assault so that the Rebels were soon outflanking him---Cockerell’s Missouri brigade hits McClernand in the right flank, bringing McClernand’s advance to a halt. The Union attack bogs down. Gen. James McPherson arrives with more troops, and takes command of his own corps. He soon effects a turning maneuver that breaks Bowen’s line, and the Confederates are in full retreat up the Bayou Pierre. Union Victory.
D. On May 1, 1865, more than 1,000 recently freed slaves, accompanied by regiments of the U.S. Colored Troops (including the Massachusetts 54th Infantry) and a handful of white Charlestonians, gathered in the camp to consecrate a new, proper burial site for the Union dead. The group sang hymns, gave readings and distributed flowers around the cemetery, which they dedicated to the “Martyrs of the Race Course.”
Monday, May 1, 1865: One of the earliest commemorations of Memorial Day was organized by recently freed slaves. As the Civil War neared its end, thousands of Union soldiers, held as prisoners of war, were herded into a series of hastily assembled camps in Charleston, South Carolina. Conditions at one camp, a former racetrack near the city’s Citadel, were so bad that more than 250 prisoners died from disease or exposure, and were buried in a mass grave behind the track’s grandstand. Three weeks after the Confederate surrender, an unusual procession entered the former camp: On May 1, 1865, more than 1,000 recently freed slaves, accompanied by regiments of the U.S. Colored Troops (including the Massachusetts 54th Infantry) and a handful of white Charlestonians, gathered in the camp to consecrate a new, proper burial site for the Union dead. The group sang hymns, gave readings and distributed flowers around the cemetery, which they dedicated to the “Martyrs of the Race Course.”
1. Wednesday, May 1, 1861: "Troops are hourly arriving here . . ."
As May 1861 began, ninety-day militia regiments from the North continued to march into Washington, DC. The "ninety-day" regiments, so-called for the length of their annual federal service commitments, were standing state militia regiments that could be called into federal service for ninety days every year. The quality of preparedness of these regiments varied widely--some of them arrived in Washington, DC without arms and had to be equipped from federal stockpiles. Others, like the 7th New York State Volunteer Infantry were lavishly equipped high-society organizations. The 7th became famous for the 1,000 velvet camp stools it was forced to leave behind at Annapolis, Maryland in its rush to reach the federal capital. The mission of the ninety-day regiments was to hold Washington, DC long enough for a new long-serving army of two- and three-year regiments to be recruited and trained.
Typical of many of these regiments was the 71st New York State Volunteer Infantry. On May 1, 1861, Private James W. Vanderhoef wrote to his sister to describe the trip to Washington, DC from New York City and its housing in the capital city.
“Washington Navy Yard; Dear Sister
I embrace this favourable opportunity of addressing these few lines to you, it being the second chance I have had since my arrival here. I wrote to Jane the first, and I now write to you. I expect you have heard of our arrival here long before this, we had a hard time of it from New York to Washington. We sailed from New York Sunday at 5 o'clock and arrived at Annapolis on Wednesday Evening, some of our men feeling very bad from the sudden change of diet and sea sickness, the next morning at 3 o'clock we commenced a march of 36 hours during which time we had but two hard sea biscuit a man and very little water what we did get was partly swamp water with a few exceptions but we at last arrived at our journey's end pretty well played out in body but not in heart. The place was called Annapolis Junction.we remaned there over night expecting an attack but in the morning was disappoint(ed).we then took cars from there to this city ariving Friday morning at 9 ½ o'clock all hands in good cheere and anxious to see the capital. And we now anxiously await an onset from Jefferson Daves Esq--he is stationed some 7 miles from here with a reported army of 60 thousand men at a place called Alexanderer his flag is visible from the top of the White House--so we do not know what moment he may give us a good square turn for the capital of Our United States which before he can get he must concour (conquer) 22 thousand men that didn't come here to play or be played with. A secessionist by the name of Doyle was shot here last Sunday morning by the Washington City Guards and instantly killed 5 Balls passing through his body, he never spoke after the guard fired. Troops are hourly arriving here some of the 69 Regt. Of New York have just arrived and the remainder with the 8th of New York is expected tomorrow morning. Dear Sister I have not much time to rite to any being but suffice for me to say that I don't think I ever seen a more grand sight than I have seen since I have been here this time. The Capital, Hall of Representatives, Navy Yard in fact ever Publick building and street is filled with soldiers of some Regiment, and all seam alike well in Good heart and anxious for a brush. Having rote all the news of interest I will now close, but before I do so I must state my disappointment in not seeing one of my friends the day I left. I expected very much to see Eathen Guillan or Alexander Low but all I saw of the boys from the company who was out good and strong to bid us a last good Bye there is some 30 boys from WmsBurgh here with me so I am not a lone Dear Sister you will give my love to mother, Caroline, Henry and all ?? friends not forgetting yourself and Guillan rite when you receive this for I should like to hear from you all.
I am as ever shall remain your obt servt and Brother, James W. Vanderhoef, Company H 71 Regt, Navy Yard, Washington D.C.
P.S. Give my best respects to Uncle James and Ant Caroline and let him know how I was pressed for time when I started, that I couldn't call and see them JWH”
Like many Northern regiments early in the war, the 71st New York State Volunteer Infantry sailed from New York City to Annapolis, Maryland and then took trains our marched overland to Washington, DC so as to avoid marching through Baltimore, Maryland. Like many regiments, the 71st lacked tents and Vanderhoef and his fellow soldiers were assigned quarters in the Washington Navy Yard. Other regiments were camped in every public building in the capital city.
Vanderhoef badly exaggerated the number of Confederate troops in the neighborhood--no more than a few hundred Southerners watched the growing Union forces from across the river in Alexandria, Virginia. Like many other observers of the time, Vanderhoef noticed the huge Confederate flag flying over the Marshall House Inn in Alexandria, Virginia. That flag was both a challenge and a threat, and it drew the eye of many anxious watchers in the federal capital.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/2011/05/may-1-1861-troops-are-hourly-arriving.html
2. Wednesday, May 1, 1861: Robert E. Lee orders Stonewall Jackson to remove the weapons and equipment from the arsenal at Harpers Ferry.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186105
3. Wednesday, May 1, 1861: Newly-elected Missouri Governor Claiborne Jackson secretly begins communication with the Confederates for artillery to help them take the St. Louis arsenal, which still has over 18,000 rifles and ammunition. Jackson calls for the Missouri Volunteer Militia (the state troops) to assemble outside of the city.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+1%2C+1861
4. Wednesday, May 1, 1861: Confederate troops commanded by Col. Thomas J. Jackson occupy Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+1%2C+1861
5. Thursday, May 1, 1862: Infantry under Benjamin Butler [US] begin entering the city of New Orleans
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186205
6. Thursday, May 1, 1862: On the James Peninsula in southeastern Virginia, McClellan’s Army of the Potomac, now recently reinforced and 112,000 strong, is having slow going in their progress up the peninsula. For a month, McClellan has been preparing siege works in order to launch a huge bombardment of the Rebel forts at Yorktown when ready. Joe Johnston faces the Yankees with only 57,000 men, and is outnumbered about 2 to 1. But McClellan’s intelligence reports inflates Johnston’s force to 100,000, and defends his reluctance to attack with these reports. McClellan’s plan for Yorktown calls for putting over 70 pieces of siege artillery into prepared locations: An exchange of letters between Pres. Lincoln and Gen. McClellan down on the Peninsula reveals the testy nature of their relationship, the micromanagement of Lincoln, and the condescending reticence of McClellan: EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, May 1, 1862.
Major-General McCLELLAN: Your call for Parrott guns from Washington alarms me, chiefly because it argues it argues indefinite procrastination. Is anything to be done? A. LINCOLN.
____________
7. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, Camp Winfield Scott, May 1, 1862-9.30 p. M.
8. His Excellency the PRESIDENT, Washington, D. C.: I asked for the Parrot guns from Washington for the reason that some expected had been two weeks nearly on the way, and could not be heard from. They arrived last night. My arrangements had been made for them, and I thought time might be saved by getting others from Washington. My object was to hasten, not procrastinate. All is being done that human labor can accomplish. G. B. McClellan, Major-General.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+1%2C+1862
9. Thursday, May 1, 1862 --- Union forces under George Morgan are sparring with Confederate troops at Cumberland Gap, under Gen. Edmund Kirby-Smith.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+1%2C+1862
10. Thursday, May 1, 1862 --- Three thousand troops under Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler arrive by ship at New Orleans to bring the occupation of the city under a more stable basis.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+1%2C+1862
11. Thursday, May 1, 1862 --- Sarah Morgan of Baton Rouge tells of her meeting with a longtime friend, Will Pinckney, who was in command of a regiment of Confederate troops as they retreated from New Orleans: I was talking to a ghost. His was a sad story. He had held one bank of the river until forced to retreat with his men, as their cartridges were exhausted, and General Lovell omitted sending more. They had to pass through swamps, wading seven and a half miles, up to their waists in water. He gained the edge of the swamp, saw they were over the worst, and fell senseless. Two of his men brought him milk, and “woke him up,” he said. His men fell from exhaustion, were lost, and died in the swamp; so that out of five hundred, but one hundred escaped. This he told quietly and sadly, looking so heartbroken that it was piteous to see such pain.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+1%2C+1862
12. Sunday, May 1, 1864: Red River campaign. Federal troops return to Alexandria, Louisiana. Heavy skirmishing will continue for days.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186405
13. Sunday, May 1, 1864 --- Gen. Sherman has 110,000 troops gathered in and near Chattanooga: Thomas’ Army of the Cumberland, McPherson’s Army of the Tennessee, and Schofield’s Army of the Ohio. He faces Joseph Johnston’s Army of Tennessee (CSA), at Dalton, Georgia, which has about 40,000 infantry soldiers and 8,500 cavalry troopers, only a third of which were equipped with both mounts and weapons to be battle-ready. McPherson lines up on the right, and sidles southward to La Fayette, Georgia; Thomas pushes forward to Ringgold, on the railroad, near the Chickamauga battlefield, northwest of Dalton; Schofield lines up on the left, directly north of Dalton. Sherman’s troops will strike on May 5.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/2014/05/may-1-1864.html
14. Sunday, May 1, 1864: From Libby Prison, Richmond Va. To Miss E. M. Wilson, St. Louis. Mo.
My Dear Mollie, I am still looking for letters from you. A “Truce Boat” came up on Thursday, but the mail is not yet delivered to us. A few officers (Thirty) and men were paroled, and more are expected daily. The Exch thus you will see progresses very slowly and I have again postponed the good time I expected when liberty again w'd be my portion. The weather has been fine and springlike but showery. It is very pleasant inside and out, but the season is so late or it appears so to me. The trees are only putting out their leaves, and are not yet well covered. The routine of the prison is much as usual, some are fretting, but most are in confident expectation of an early release.
We get accessions to our numbers every week — last week some twenty officers joined us, including Genl. Wessells, who was the first Colonel of our Regiment in 1861, and with whom of course I have claimed an acquaintance. He is very quiet and unassuming, and feels his capture very much. The majority of the officers captured with him have not yet arrived. I am well, and pass away the time reading and dreaming as best I can. I am so glad to hear of your continued health, and of your exertions for the benefit of the fair. I hope and expect it to be a grand success, an honor to St. Louis and the great West. A visit to it, and the exercise and change there — anent would recruit my health and spirits; but potent medicine and pleasure as it would be, I must shut my eyes to hope, or the reaction if I still found myself pining here in June, w'd be too severe.
A thousand loving words to you. Love to Sis, Mother, Aunt, &c, &c. I received a nice box of Groceries from Wm last week. I wrote to you and E. A. then, so now.
Adieu my love, Yours Sincerely, James E. Love, Capt. 8th Ks. Vol.
background: On April 17, 1864, Confederate forces attacked Plymouth, North Carolina, in an attempt to recapture the port that they lost to the Union two years earlier. The Confederates captured Plymouth three days later, and Union general Henry W. Wessels, commander of the garrison at Plymouth, surrendered his forces. He was taken prisoner, and arrived at Libby Prison on April 26. As James mentions, Wessels was colonel of the 8th Kansas Infantry regiment from September 1861 to April 1862.
http://www.historyhappenshere.org/node/7542
15. Sunday, May 1, 1864: William T. Sherman sends his daughter, Minnie, a letter as he contemplates the action that is shortly to come: “This is Sunday, May 1st. and a beautiful day it is. I have just come from a long ride over my Old Battle field of November 25th which is on a high Ridge about four or five miles from Chattanooga. The leaves are now coming out, and the young flowers have begun to bloom. I have gathered a few which I send you in token of my love, and to tell you I gathered them on the very spot where many a brave man died for you, and such as you.”
http://cwc.hss.kennesaw.edu/timeline/timeline_1864/
16. Sunday, May 1, 1864: To his wife, Cump notes that he has sent bouquets to the girls, “and if any ill fate attend me in this, they will remember me by that. The weather is beautiful, and the Army is in fine condition. I did expect to have back more of the furloughed veterans, but it takes more time for them to assemble from their homes than we military minds calculate. . . .Tomorrow I will be off & may not write for some time, but the telegraph will announce the result of our first Stops.”
http://cwc.hss.kennesaw.edu/timeline/timeline_1864/
17. Sunday, May 1, 1864: In the border region of Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky, Edward Guerrant finds the climate less receptive to notions of blooming flowers and greening trees: “It feels more like Christmas Day than May Day! December than May!
It suggests to me that Western Virginia seasons run thus: Winter months—October, November, December, January, February, March, April, May. Spring months—June! Summer months—July & August! Fall months—September!”
http://cwc.hss.kennesaw.edu/timeline/timeline_1864/
18. Sunday, May 1, 1864: Confederate war bureau chief Josiah Gorgas notes the sad state of affairs in the Confederate capital in the aftermath of the tragedy in Jefferson Davis’s family: “We attended this afternoon the funeral of one of the Presidents little boys (Joe), who was killed yesterday evening by a fall from the back piazza. . . . The President is very much attached to his children & very caressing toward them, and this is a heavy sorrow to him. Last winter I once saw him take this little fellow off to hear him say his prayers as he went to bed.”
http://cwc.hss.kennesaw.edu/timeline/timeline_1864/
19.
A Wednesday, May 1, 1861: 1861 – 1865 Mail Service and the Civil War
Mail was a treasured link between Civil War camps and battlefields and “back home.” Recognizing its
importance to morale, the armies assigned personnel to collect, distribute, and deliver soldiers’ mail; wagons and tents served as traveling Post Offices. Some soldiers wrote home weekly; some seemed to spend all their free time writing. A letter from home could be tucked into a pocket close to a soldier’s heart, to be read and re-read in moments of loneliness. Many soldiers carried letters in their pockets, to be forwarded to loved ones if they were killed in action.
The U.S. Post Office Department introduced several improvements during the war which made it easier to
send and receive mail. Since soldiers sometimes had trouble acquiring postage stamps. If they did get them, they had trouble keeping the gummed bits of paper from congealing into sodden lumps. Soldiers were allowed to mail letters without stamps beginning in July 1861 by writing “Soldier’s Letter” on the envelope; postage was collected from the recipient. In July 1863, postage rates were simplified and in some cases lowered when distance-based letter rate categories were eliminated and all letters given the lowest rate. That same month, free home delivery of mail was introduced in the nation’s largest cities. And in November 1864 the money order system began, making it safer for soldiers and citizens to send money through the mail.
The Confederacy established its own Post Office Department in February 1861, two months before the start of the war, with former U.S. Congressman John Henninger Reagan appointed Postmaster General in March. Reagan sent job offers to southern men in the Post Office Department in Washington; many accepted and brought along their expertise, as well as copies of postal reports, forms in use, postal maps, and other supplies. Prior to the war the cost of mail service in the South was more than three times its revenue. By raising postage rates, reducing service, and practicing strict economy, Reagan made the Confederate Post Office Department self-sustaining by the end of 1863. But blockades and the invading Northern army, as well as a scarcity of postage stamps, severely hampered operations.
The United States banned the exchange of mail between citizens of the North and South in August 1861,
although smugglers often carried mail illegally across the lines. Prisoner-of-war mail was exchanged between North and South at designated points under a flag-of-truce. Citizens could also send letters via the flag-of-truce system, although like prisoners’ mail, their letters were read by censors and rejected if the contents were objectionable.
Stamps and the Civil War
In 1861, the cost of mailing a half-ounce letter up to 3,000 miles by the U.S. Post Office Department was 3 cents (77 cents in 2011 dollars). On June 1, 1861, the Confederate Post Office began charging 5 cents ($1.30 in 2011 dollars) for mailing half-ounce letters up to 500 miles. To prevent the fraudulent use of the large quantity of U.S. postage stamps held by postmasters in the seceded states, the U.S. Post Office Department redesigned its postage stamps soon after it suspended mail service to the South. The newly designed stamps were distributed to postmasters and customers beginning in August 1861, in exchange for the old ones. Initially Postmasters were instructed to give customers six days following notification in which to exchange old stamps for new ones, after which time the old ones were demonetized (rendered valueless). But the time limit was stretched in some cases to accommodate customers. In New York City, citizens were given about six weeks to exchange their postage stamps.
As the war progressed, coins, which were more highly valued than paper money, gradually disappeared from the marketplace. By the summer of 1862, the lack of coinage posed a serious hardship to trade. Merchants began issuing their own promissory notes, called “shinplasters,” and many people began using postage stamps as small change. Unfortunately, shinplasters were often redeemable only where received, and stamps were liable to crumple and clump together.
A law of July 17, 1862, authorized the use of postage stamps as currency, and beginning in August 1862 the Treasury Department issued special “postage currency” — reproductions of postage stamps on larger, thicker, ungummed pieces of paper, in denominations of 5, 10, 25, and 50 cents. Due to coin shortages the Treasury Department continued issuing paper notes representing fractions of a dollar through 1876, although beginning in October 1863 they were called “fractional currency” and did not feature reproductions of stamps.
http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2012/pr12_civil-war-mail-history.pdf
B Friday, May 1, 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville:
On April 27, 1863 – three days before the historic Battle of Chancellorsville – Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker led the Fifth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Corps on a campaign to turn the Confederate left flank by crossing the Rappahannock and Rapidan Rivers above Fredericksburg. Passing the Rapidan via Germanna and Ely’s Fords, the Federals concentrated near Chancellorsville on April 30 and May 1.
The Third Corps was ordered to join the army via United States Ford. Sedgwick’s Sixth Corps and Gibbon’s division of the Second Corps remained to demonstrate against the Confederates at Fredericksburg. In the meantime, Lee left a covering force under Maj. Gen. Jubal Early in Fredericksburg and marched with the rest of his army to confront the large Federal force.
As Hooker’s army moved toward Fredericksburg on the Orange Turnpike, they encountered increasing Confederate resistance. Hearing reports of overwhelming Confederate force, Hooker ordered his army to suspend the advance and to concentrate again at Chancellorsville. Pressed closely by Lee’s advance, Hooker adopted a defensive posture, thus giving Lee the initiative.
After learning that the Union right flank was "hanging in the air", Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson settled upon a highly aggressive plan that would march Jackson's forces around the Union positions and onto that exposed flank. After a hard and dusty march on May 2, Jackson's column reached its jumping off point for their attack upon the unsuspecting Federal right flank. At 5:20 pm, Jackson’s line surged forward in an overwhelming attack that crushed the Union Eleventh Corps. Federal troops rallied, resisted the advance, and counterattacked. Disorganization and darkness ended the fighting. While making a night reconnaissance, Jackson was mortally wounded by his own men and carried from the field - a serious blow to the Army of Northern Virginia.
J.E.B. Stuart took temporary command of Jackson’s Corps. On May 3, the Confederates attacked with both wings of the army and massed their artillery at Hazel Grove. This finally broke the Federal line at Chancellorsville. Hooker withdrew a mile and entrenched in a defensive “U” with his back to the river at United States Ford. On the night of May 5-6, after Union reverses at Salem Church, Hooker crossed to the north bank of the Rappahannock. This battle is considered by many historians to be Lee’s greatest victory.
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/chancellorsville/maps/chancellorsvillemap.html
B+ Friday, May 1, 1863: Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia Day 2: Lee’s Confederates are on the road before dawn, marching westward towards the Wilderness, and the Chancellorsville crossroads. Lee leaves Gen. Early and his division to hold the hills above Fredericksburg, only 10,000 men. For the Federals, Slocum’s Corps and Sykes’s division (Meade’s V Corps) are out in front, trying to make contact with the Confederates. Stonewall Jackson marches his men swiftly and, in combination with Anderson’s division, moves westward along two parallel roads---the Orange Plank Road and the Old Turnpike---to strike first at the Yankees, instead of waiting for them to come. The Rebels drive forward, and soon Sykes’s troops are being outflanked, and Slocum’s are being pushed back. Although Couch’s troops arrive and begin to bolster Sykes, Hooker takes caution and sends dispatches ordering the Federal to break off action with the enemy. Slocum is disgusted but complies with the order. Couch and Sykes at first refuse to obey the order, but they finally obey. Sykes is outflanked finally, and retreats as the Rebels pursue almost all the way to Catherine Furnace.
That evening, Lee and Jackson meet and confer near Catherine Furnace to make plans for the next day. Jackson believes that Hooker has lost his nerve. Gen. Stuart arrives with a scouting report that shows Hooker’s far right flank (Howard’s XI Corps) to be “in the air” and unanchored. Jackson proposes to make a forced march around and to attack the Yankees at that spot. Lee agrees, and once again takes the chancy choice of dividing his army in the face of the enemy.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+1%2C+1863
C Battle of Port Gibson (May 1)
Shortly after midnight the crash of musketry shattered the stillness as the Federals stumbled upon Confederate outposts near the A. K. Shaifer house. Union troops immediately deployed for battle, and their artillery, which soon arrived, roared into action. A spirited skirmish ensued which lasted until 3 a.m., with the Confederates holding their ground. For the next several hours an uneasy calm settled over the woods and scattered fields as soldiers of both armies rested on their arms. Throughout the night the Federals gathered their forces in hand and both sides prepared for the battle which they knew would come with the rising sun.
At dawn, Union troops began to move in force along the Rodney Road toward Magnolia Church. One division was sent along a connecting plantation road toward the Bruinsburg Road and the Confederate right flank. With skirmishers well ahead, the Federals began a slow and deliberate advance around 5:30 a.m. The Confederates contested the thrust and the battle began in earnest.
Most of the Union forces moved along the Rodney Road toward Magnolia Church and the Confederate line held by Brigadier General Martin E. Green's Brigade. Heavily outnumbered and hard-pressed, the Confederates gave way shortly after 10:00 a.m. The men in butternut and gray fell back a mile and a half. Here the soldiers of Brigadier General William E. Baldwin's and Colonel Francis M. Cockrell's brigades, recent arrivals on the field, established a new line between White and Irwin branches of Willow Creek. Full of fight, these men re-established the Confederate left flank.
The morning hours witnessed Green's Brigade driven from its position by the principle Federal attack. Brigadier General Edward D. Tracy's Alabama Brigade, astride the Bruinsburg Road, also experienced hard fighting. Although Tracy was killed early in the action, his brigade managed to hold its tenuous line.
It was clear, however, that unless the Confederates received heavy reinforcements, they would lose the day. Brigadier General John S. Bowen, Confederate commander on the field, wired his superiors: "We have been engaged in a furious battle ever since daylight; losses very heavy. The men act nobly, but the odds are overpowering." Early afternoon found the Alabamans slowly giving ground. Green's weary soldiers, having been regrouped, arrived to bolster the line on the Bruinsburg Road.
Even so, by late in the afternoon, the Federals had advanced all along the line in superior numbers. As Union pressure built, Cockrell's Missourians unleashed a vicious counterattack near the Rodney Road, and began to roll up the blue line. The 6th Missouri also counterattacked, hitting the Federals near the Bruinsburg Road. All this was to no avail, for the odds against them were too great. The Confederates were checked and driven back, the day lost. At 5:30 p.m., battle-weary Confederates began to retire from the hard-fought field.
The battle of Port Gibson cost Grant 131 killed, 719 wounded, and 25 missing out of 23,000 men engaged. This victory not only secured his position on Mississippi soil, but enabled him to launch his campaign deeper into the interior of the state. Union victory at Port Gibson forced the Confederate evacuation of Grand Gulf and would ultimately result in the fall of Vicksburg.
The Confederates suffered 60 killed, 340 wounded, and 387 missing out of 8,000 men engaged. In addition, 4 guns of the Botetourt (Virginia) Artillery were lost. The action at Port Gibson underscored Confederate inability to defend the line of the Mississippi River and to respond to amphibious operations. Confederate soldiers from these operations are buried at Wintergreen Cemetery in Port Gibson.
https://www.nps.gov/vick/learn/historyculture/battleportgibson.htm
C+ Friday, May 1, 1863 --- Battle of Port Gibson, Mississippi – Grant’s troops begin to arrive near Port Gibson around 3:00 AM, where they find Gen. John S. Bowen and his division of Confederate troops. Since Bowen had sent his cavalry off to chase Grierson’s raiders, as ordered by Gen. Pemberton, Bowen had little information about Grant or the strength of the Federals advancing against his position; he does not realize that he is facing 20,000 Federal troops with his mere 6,000. Grant gives orders to Gen. McClernand to attack with his corps, but McClernand had neglected to issues rations to his soldiers, and he also mismanages the assault so that the Rebels were soon outflanking him---Cockerell’s Missouri brigade hits McClernand in the right flank, bringing McClernand’s advance to a halt. The Union attack bogs down. Gen. James McPherson arrives with more troops, and takes command of his own corps. He soon effects a turning maneuver that breaks Bowen’s line, and the Confederates are in full retreat up the Bayou Pierre. Union Victory.
Losses: Union, 861; Confederate, 787
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=May+1%2C+1863
D Monday, May 1, 1865: One of the earliest commemorations of Memorial Day was organized by recently freed slaves. As the Civil War neared its end, thousands of Union soldiers, held as prisoners of war, were herded into a series of hastily assembled camps in Charleston, South Carolina. Conditions at one camp, a former racetrack near the city’s Citadel, were so bad that more than 250 prisoners died from disease or exposure, and were buried in a mass grave behind the track’s grandstand. Three weeks after the Confederate surrender, an unusual procession entered the former camp: On May 1, 1865, more than 1,000 recently freed slaves, accompanied by regiments of the U.S. Colored Troops (including the Massachusetts 54th Infantry) and a handful of white Charlestonians, gathered in the camp to consecrate a new, proper burial site for the Union dead. The group sang hymns, gave readings and distributed flowers around the cemetery, which they dedicated to the “Martyrs of the Race Course.”
http://www.history.com/news/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-memorial-day
LTC Stephen C. LTC Thomas Tennant MAJ Ken Landgren
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