afforded cause for great exultation to the secessionists of St. Louis
and its vicinity, and their demonstrations of hostility became so marked
that General Fremont, on the 14th of August, was compelled to resort to
the extreme measure of declaring martial law in that city. This had the
effect of restraining the rebel sympathizers in immediate proximity with
the headquarters of the Commander, but was not regarded in the State at
large. Under these circumstances General Fremont followed this
proclamation with another on the 30th of August, establishing martial
law in the State, and fixing the lines of the army of occupation as
extending from Leavenworth by way of the posts of Jefferson City, Rolla
and Ironton, to Cape Girardeau, on the Mississippi river. All persons
taken with arms in their hands were to be tried by courts-martial, and
if found guilty, shot. The property of persons taking up arms against
the United States was declared confiscated to public use, “and their
slaves, if any they have, are hereby declared free men.”
This proclamation produced a profound excitement throughout the country,
and was received by the people with varied emotions—enthusiastically
applauded by some, and bitterly condemned by others.
The President, on the 2d of September, addressed a letter to General
Fremont, recommending him to modify his proclamation. General Fremont
desired the President to make an order for the modification in his own
name, a request with which the Chief Magistrate complied, and under date
of September 11th, communicated to General Fremont, that the
proclamation in question should be made to conform to the act of
Congress of August 6th, which confiscated only property _used_ in
rebellion; and referred the question regarding slaves to the
determination of the courts, or to subsequent legislation.
While in St. Louis, General Fremont was actively engaged in the
organization of his forces, and making preparations for his approaching
campaign. To protect the city he had extensive fortifications
constructed. He also projected and ordered the building of the gunboats,
which have since rendered such signal service. The necessity of massing
a large army near Washington, after the defeat at Bull Run, compelled
the withdrawal of many regiments which had been assigned to the Missouri
Department. It was not until the 27th of September that Fremont was
prepared to enter upon an offensive campaign. Accordingly on that day he
left St. Louis, and with fifteen steamers and fifteen thousand men,
sailed up the Missouri to Jefferson City. Here he halted several days to
collect additional material necessary for his march into the interior.
On the 29th, two days after General Fremont’s departure from St. Louis,
General Price commenced the evacuation of Lexington, leaving a small
force as a guard. On the 7th of October, General Fremont left Jefferson
City, marching in the direction of Sedalia, for the purpose of attacking
the rebel commander at the earliest opportunity.
On the 16th, two hundred and twenty men of the First Missouri Scouts,
under Major F. J. White, surprised the rebel garrison at Lexington, and
recaptured the place, with the Federal sick and wounded there, together
with two pieces of cannon, a quantity of guns, pistols and other
articles which the rebels threw away in their flight. The garrison
numbered three hundred men. The victorious troops found the inhabitants
in a deplorable condition. Some portions of the town had been plundered
of everything that could be appropriated, and many persons were
suffering for the necessaries of life. It was a painful scene, and
formed one of those early pictures of the war which have since been
multiplied so fearfully in the border States.
On the 1st of November, General Fremont, then at Springfield, entered
into an arrangement with General Price, to facilitate the exchange of
prisoners, agreeing to release any who had been made prisoners “for the
mere expression of political opinions;” and providing also that “the war
in future be confined exclusively to the armies in the field.” Armed
bodies, unauthorized by the commanders, were to be disbanded, and
persons guilty of violence and lawless acts were to be subject to trial
by courts-martial. This agreement was signed by Major Henry W. Williams
and D. Robert Barclay, Esq., for General Price, and J. H. Eaton,
Assistant-Adjutant-General, for General Fremont. A proclamation,
announcing this negotiation, was accordingly published on the first of
November.
The next day, General Fremont received from the Department at
Washington, an order relieving him from his command. General David
Hunter was appointed to the Department of Missouri, temporarily as his
successor. General Fremont returned to St. Louis, and soon afterwards
reached New York city, where he awaited the orders of the Government.
The Federal army was now withdrawn from the south-western portion of the
State, and the whole of that vast field was reoccupied by the insurgent
forces, and thousands of recruits were gathered into their ranks.
On the 4th of November, the antagonist forces were commanded as
follows:—General Hunter, 5,000; General Sigel, 4,000; General Ashboth,
4,500; General McKinstry, 5,500; General Pope, 4,000; General Lane,
2,500; General Sturgis, 1,000. The rebels under General Price numbered
15,000; under General McCulloch, 7,000.
The disloyal members of the Legislature held a session at Neosho, Newton
county, in the extreme south-western portion of the State, and on the
19th of November passed an ordinance of secession, and sent their
Commissioners to the Confederate Congress at Richmond. Missouri, as
represented by them, was admitted to the Confederacy on the 27th of
November.
On the 30th of November, General Price, then at Neosho, issued a
proclamation to the people of Missouri, calling upon them in the most
earnest manner for recruits to the rebel army. He called for fifty
thousand men, who might rendezvous at headquarters with anything in the
shape of arms that they could find; and if unarmed, to enroll
themselves, and they would be supplied. He represented the hopelessness
of the cause, and the certain defeat of the rebel army unless
immediately reinforced. His appeals had some effect in promoting
sedition, and in securing enlistments, but they fell far short of the
number he demanded.
On the 1st of December, Gen. Price was at Osceola, with 18,000 men.
On the 6th of December, Independence was entered by a band of rebels,
who seized several citizens and compelled them to take an oath not to
bear arms against the Southern Confederacy.
On the 13th of the same month, Governor Jackson, at New Madrid, issued a
proclamation to the insurgent army, in which he attempted a defence of
the rebellion, and asserted that the people of Missouri were in favor of
secession. Unfortunately for the veracity or the knowledge of Governor
Jackson, wherever the people of the State were delivered from the
terrorism of the rebels and marauders, they adhered to the Union, as was
verified by the fact, that up to the 20th of January, 1862, no less than
33,882 Missourians had entered the Federal service for three years, and
6,000 had volunteered for three months.
Major-General Henry W. Halleck was now in command of the Department. He
was compelled to adopt rigorous measures in some cases in consequence of
the pertinacious conduct of the secessionists. A memorable event of the
month of January was the annual election for officers of the Mercantile
Library Association, in which loyalty and secession were antagonistic
elements. General Halleck officially announced that each officer of the
Association would be expected to take the oath of allegiance within ten
days from the date of his order, and in default thereof the officers
failing should be deemed to have resigned their offices. Any officer
refusing to take the oath of allegiance, who should exercise or attempt
to exercise the functions of his office, should be arrested and dealt
with under the laws of war.
He also ordered that all carriages bearing the enemy’s flag should be
seized and confiscated; and that women resorting to the neighborhood of
the military prison and insulting the Federal troops, or communicating
with prisoners by exhibiting and waving secession flags, should be
imprisoned. Disloyal persons who, under the military rules, were liable
to assessment for the support of loyal fugitives from their homes,
should be compelled to pay their assessment. All persons of every rank
or position, violating the laws, or interfering with their execution,
should be dealt with under strict penalties.
This energetic administration had the desired effect; and the violent
minority who were determined, at every hazard, to plunge the State into
war, were restrained, and order and peace assured and restored.
THE STONE FLEET.
Notwithstanding all the activity and watchfulness of the blockading
vessels off the Southern coast, many instances were exultingly heralded
by the Southern press, as well as in Europe, of the successful running
of the blockade by vessels bound both outward and inward. The logic of
these occurrences was very simple on the part of the secessionists and
their sympathizers. The frequent evasion of the blockade proved that it
was “inefficient” on the part of the Federal government, and therefore
not only to be disregarded, but officially declared by foreign
governments to be incomplete, and practically null and void. This
declaration was expected to be sufficient to warrant the free movements
of commerce, and any attempt to interfere on the part of the United
States would be a challenge for the intervention of England and France.
The repeated instances of vessels escaping rendered it an imperative
necessity for the government to adopt some measure that would, if
possible, prevent their recurrence at the principal ports of the South.
For this purpose it was determined to close several of the harbors by
placing obstructions in the channels. Most of the harbors of the
Southern coast, in consequence of the deltas, and numerous islands at
their entrances, have several channels, through which vessels of light
draft may pass, while those of the heaviest draft are confined to one
principal channel. This is the case in the approach to both Charleston
and Savannah. The obstructing of these two principal channels was
therefore assigned for the month of December.
For this purpose a number of old whaling vessels were purchased at New
Bedford and New London, freighted with granite from the Bay State, and
taken to Port Royal as a rendezvous, whence they were to be convoyed to
their destination. The people of Savannah, after the capture of Port
Royal and Beaufort, anticipating the approach of the Federal fleet,
volunteered the work on their own behalf and blockaded their own port by
similar means. The fleet was therefore at liberty to repair to
Charleston, and within sight of the walls of Sumter, to shut out the
rebellious people of that city from the ocean.
The “Stone Fleet” sailed from Port Royal on the 18th of December,
accompanied by the steamers Cahawba, Philadelphia and Ericsson, to tow
and assist, the whole convoyed by the Mohican, Captain Gordon, the
Ottawa, Captain Stevens, and Pocahontas, Captain Balch.
The fleet arrived off Charleston harbor the next day and preparations
were made for sinking them in their places. Each of the weather-beaten
and storm-tossed old vessels that had so long borne the stars and
stripes in every latitude, were now to make a stubborn protest against
treason by keeping watch at the very door of its birth-place. They were
furnished with ingenious contrivances and plugs, the withdrawal of which
would allow the water to flow in and sink them on the floor of the
channel.
The sinking of the fleet was intrusted to Captain Charles H. Davis,
formerly on the Coast Survey, and ever since more or less intimately
connected with it. It is remarkable that when, in 1851, an appropriation
was made by the Federal Government for the improvement of Charleston
harbor, and, at the request of South Carolina, a commission of army and
navy officers was appointed to superintend the work, Captain Davis was
one of the commission, and for three or four years was engaged in these
operations. The present attempt was of somewhat different character. The
entrance by the main ship channel runs from the bar to Fort Sumter, six
miles, nearly south and north. The city is three miles beyond, bearing
about N. W. The other channels are Sanford’s, Swash, the North, and
Maffit’s, or Sullivan’s Island, which need not to be particularly
described. Only the latter is practicable for vessels of any draught,
but all serve more or less to empty the waters discharged by the Ashley
and Cooper rivers. Over the bar, at the entrance of the main ship
channel, is a narrow passage, through which vessels may carry eleven
feet at low water; about seventeen at high water. The plan of Captain
Davis for closing the harbor proceeded on the following principles:
The obstructions were to be placed on both sides of the crest of the
bar, so that the same forces which created the bar might be relied on to
keep them in their places.
The bar was not to be obstructed entirely; for natural forces would soon
open a new passage, since the rivers must discharge themselves by some
outlet; but to be only partially obstructed, so that, while this channel
was ruined, no old one, like Swash or Sanford, should be improved, or a
new one formed.
The vessels were so placed that on the channel course it would be
difficult to draw a line through any part of it that would not be
intercepted by one of them. A ship, therefore, endeavoring to make her
way out or in could not, by taking the bearings of any point of
departure, as she could not sail on any straight line.
The vessels were placed checkerwise, at some distance from each other,
so as to create an artificial unevenness of the bottom, remotely
resembling Hell Gate and Holmes’s Hole, which unevenness would give rise
to eddies, counter-currents and whirlpools, adding so seriously to the
difficulties of navigation that it could only be practicable by
steamers, or with a very commanding breeze.
The execution of this plan was begun by buoying out the channel and
circumscribing within four points the space where the vessels were all
to be sunk, as follows:
*
S. W. * THE BAR. * N. E.
*
The distance between the points from S. W. to N. E. is about an eighth
of a mile; the breadth perhaps half as much. It was no part of the plan
to build a wall of ships across, but to drop them at a little distance
from each other, on the principles above stated, closing the channel to
navigation, but leaving it open to the water.
Work was resumed on Friday morning, the 20th, the Ottawa and Pocahontas
bringing the ships to their stations. The placing of them was an
operation of considerable nicety, especially as some of the vessels were
so deep as to be with difficulty dragged on the bar, except at high
water. A graver hindrance to their exact location was found in the
imperfection of the arrangement for sinking, several of the ships
remaining afloat so long after the plug was knocked out, that they swung
out of position. They were, nevertheless, finally placed very nearly
according to the plan. Great credit was earned by Mr. Bradbury and Mr.
Godfrey for the successful execution of so difficult an undertaking. The
last ship, the Archer, closed the only remaining gap, and the manner in
which Mr. Bradbury took her in with the Pocahontas and then extricated
the latter from her perilous position, filled the fleet with admiration
for his skillful seamanship and cool daring. By half-past ten the last
plug was drawn, and every ship of the sixteen was either sunk or
sinking.
One of the vessels, the Robin Hood, with upright masts, stood erect, in
water too shallow to submerge her. As evening drew near she was set on
fire, and in a little time the evening sky was lighted up with the
pyrotechnic display, while the inhabitants of Charleston, the garrison
of Fort Moultrie, and the surroundings, were compelled to look on and
see the temporary completion of the blockade they had so long derided
and defied.
This event provoked loud and vindictive complaints and assaults in
France and England, and the measure was denounced as an outrage on
civilization, and a sufficient warrant for interference in the war. But
an examination of the historical precedents afforded by British practice
closed the mouths of the declaimers in Parliament as well as through the
press, and once more American practice was permitted to pass, justified
by the verdict of opinion as well as of illustrious example.
BATTLE OF CAMP ALLEGHANY, W. VIRGINIA.
DECEMBER 13, 1861.
On Thursday morning, December 12th, Brigadier-General R. H. Milroy
started from his headquarters on Cheat Mountain Summit, with fifteen
hundred men, with the design of attacking a rebel camp on the Alleghany
mountains, twenty-five miles distant. The column started at eight
o’clock, and after a fatiguing day’s march arrived, at eight P. M., at
the old Camp Bartow, on the Greenbrier river, the scene of General
Reynolds’ rencontre on the 3d of October previous. Here the troops
rested until eleven P. M., when the General divided his force into two
columns, with the intention of reaching the enemy’s camp on the summit
of the mountain, about eight and a half miles distant, from two opposite
points, at four o’clock, A. M., of the 13th.
The first division, consisting of detachments from the Ninth Indiana,
Colonel Moody, and Second Virginia, Major Owens, about one thousand
strong, took up its march on the old Greenbank road to attack the enemy
on the left.
The second division consisted of detachments from the Thirteenth
Indiana, Twenty-fifth and Thirty-second Ohio, and Bracken Cavalry, under
Major Dobbs, Colonel J. A. Jones, Captain Hamilton and Captain Bracken.
Brigadier-General Reynolds and his staff conducted this division,
numerically about the same as the first division. This column took the
Staunton pike, and marched cautiously until they came in sight of the
enemy’s camp, where, after throwing out more skirmishers, the division
left the road and commenced to ascend the mountain to the enemy’s right.
After driving in some of the hostile pickets they reached the summit in
good order. The enemy were fully prepared to receive them. The fight on
the enemy’s right commenced about twenty minutes after daylight.
Lieutenant McDonald, of General Reynolds’ staff, with one company of the
Thirteenth Indiana, formed the line of battle, placing the Twenty-fifth
Ohio on his left, part of the Thirteenth Indiana on their left, and part
of the Thirty-second Ohio on their left. The enemy immediately advanced
to attack the Federal troops, but after a few rounds retreated in great
confusion, leaving their dead and wounded. Colonel Moody’s division not
appearing to attack the enemy on the left, the rebels seeing the
inferior force opposed to them, were again encouraged to advance toward
their assailants, which they did with a far superior force, pouring in
their fire with vigor. Some of the Federals now commenced falling to the
rear, all along the line; but Captains Charlesworth and Crowe, of the
Twenty-fifth Ohio, Lieutenant McDonald, Captains Myers and Newland, of
the Thirteenth Indiana, and Hamilton, of the Thirty-second Ohio, rallied
them, and brought them into line in a few moments. The enemy again fell
back and attempted to turn their right flank, but was immediately met
and repulsed. The fortunes of the day appeared to alternate between the
respective armies for three hours, the Federals holding out bravely
against the superior numbers of the enemy, who were enabled to
concentrate their entire army of two thousand men and four or five
pieces of artillery against this comparatively small force.
Colonel Moody’s force not having then been heard from, Colonel Jones,
who had charge of the division now in action, after exhausting his
ammunition, withdrew his men from the field.
Almost at this juncture, Colonel Moody’s command, which had been
detained by obstructions placed in the road over which they were
compelled to pass, arrived, and attacked the enemy vigorously on his
left, and in turn maintained an obstinate contest, unaided, against the
entire rebel command, which they did with much courage and skill, until
three o’clock, P. M., when they too were compelled to retire before the
superior force of their opponents.
Though thwarted in his plan of attack by the unexpected obstructions
which Colonel Moody’s division had to encounter, General Milroy was far
from being disconcerted by the result. The men had evinced a high order
of courage, and the divisions had alternately maintained an obstinate
fight against an army of nearly three times their number.
The official report of the casualties on the Federal side gives the
number of killed, twenty; wounded, one hundred and seven; missing, ten.
The rebel loss is acknowledged by the Richmond _Enquirer_ to have been
about the same.
BATTLE AT MUNFORDSVILLE, KY.
DECEMBER 17, 1861.
Colonel Willich, with the Thirty-second Indiana, a regiment composed of
Germans, occupying an advance post of General McCook’s division of the
Federal army in Kentucky, was attacked on the 17th of December, by three
regiments of Arkansas infantry, Colonel Terry’s Texan Rangers, and Major
Phifer’s cavalry, and also an artillery company, with four pieces, the
whole under the command of General T. C. Hindman.
Colonel Willich’s regiment was guarding a new bridge built by the
Federal troops over Green river, at Rowlett’s Station, on the Louisville
and Nashville railroad, a temporary substitute for the handsome iron
structure which had been destroyed by the rebels, in front of
Mumfordsville. A picket guard of two companies had been thrown across
the river on the south side, occupying a wide area of cleared ground,
which was skirted by forests, from whence the rebels attempted to
surprise and capture them.
The second company, Captain Glass, was acting in detached squads as
pickets in the woods on the right flank, and were attacked in detail by
the enemy’s skirmishers. The pickets made a gallant defence, and fell
back slowly and in good order on their supports. The alarm in the mean
time having been given to the other companies on the north side of the
river, they started in “double-quick” over the bridge, crossed the hill
on the opposite side, and rushed with fierce haste into the woods whence
the firing proceeded, led on by Lieutenant-Colonel Treba, Colonel
Willich at the time being necessarily at headquarters. A portion of the
third company, under Lieutenant Sachs, occupied a covered position on
the left flank, where they were now attacked by the advancing enemy.
Unable to restrain the ardor of his men, the Lieutenant boldly left his
sheltered position and attacked the rebels in the open field; but fierce
as his onset was, the disparity of numbers proved too greatly against
him, and his little band would have inevitably been cut to pieces but
for the timely arrival of Lieutenant-Colonel Treba, with the main body
of the regiment. He sent the sixth, seventh and tenth companies to
support the second company on the right, and the first, fifth, eighth
and ninth companies to support the third company on the left flank. At
the very first rush of the skirmishers, the enemy were thrown into
confusion, and driven back at all points.
Then the most severe and bloody part of the battle commenced. With
terrible ferocity Colonel Terry’s regiment of Texas Rangers poured in
black masses of cavalry upon the Union skirmishers along the whole line.
They rode up within fifteen or twenty yards, some even in the very midst
of the men, and commenced a terrible fire from their carbines and
revolvers. At their first onset, it seemed as if every one of the men
would be destroyed. But here it was that the veteran coolness and
bravery of the Union troops shone forth. They allowed the enemy to come
almost as near as he chose, and then poured a deadly fire upon him,
which shook the entire line. Upon the right flank of the third company’s
position, by order of Adjutant Schmidt, the eighth company was led forth
by Lieutenants Kappel and Levy; upon the left, Lieutenant-Colonel Treba
advanced with the ninth company; both attacked the enemy in close
skirmishers’ line, drove him back, and rescued the rest of the heroic
little band under Lieutenant Sachs. He himself and a number of his men
were, however, already killed, though they had made the enemy pay dearly
for their lives.