Primary tabs
255
Montly Record of Current Events, November 26.
An act was passed March 25 to enable the people of Nevada to form a Constitution and State government, and providing for the admission of the State into the Union. The conditions having been complied with, the President, on the 31st of October, issued a proclamation declaring the State of Nevada to be "admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States." The number of loyal States is now 25. The State was organized into a Territory March 2, 1861, its name, in Spanish, signifies "Snowy." It lies immediately east of California and west of Utah, embracing all the region between the 115th parallel of longitude (west of Greenwich, the 38th west of Washington) and the eastern boundary of California, and between the 37th parallel of north latitude, and the 42d, which seperates it from California. It contains about 83,500 square miles, being nearly equal to New York and Ohio. Its white population in 1863 was estimated at 40,000, but is now much greater. A considerable portion of the State is unsuited to agricultural purposes, but in mineral wealth it is probably richest region in the world. The capital is Carson city, which, in 1863, had a population of 2500. The Constitution prohibits slavery or involuntary servitude except as a punishment for crime, and establishes the supreme authority of the United States in every respect not incompatible with the rights secured to the State by its Constitution.
The constitutional election in Maryland, held on the 13th of October, resulted in the adoption of the new Constitution, prohibiting slavery, and declaring all slaves in the State to be free. On the home vote there was a majority of 1095 against the Constitution; but including the soldiers vote there was an aggregate majority of 475 in its favor. The entire vote cast was about 60,000, being not quite two-thirds given at the Presidential election of 1860.
The military movements which have taken place during the month have not, in in the East, been of a decisive nature. General Grant again moved October 27 against the Confederate right and left flank. An interval of just one month had occurred since his capture of Fort Harrison, and the extension of his right to the Darbytown Road. The armies of the James and the Potomac moved simultaneously. The Tenth Corps took up a position on the Darby-town Road, skirmishing all day with a portion of the enemy which was in its immediate front and under cover of the woods. The Eighteenth Corps, with Kautz's Division of cavalry, advanced northward across the Charles City Road to find, and, if possible, to turn Lee's left flank. At 4 P. M. this column reached the Williamsburg Road in the neighborhood of the "Seven Pines" battle-field. Two brigades were ordered to assault a position which appeared to be imperfectly defended; in carrying out the order they were exposed to an unusually severe cross-fire and retired, having lost very heavily in prisoners. At the same time Holman's colored brigade, four miles farther in the advance, captured a redoubt mounting two guns. The entire command then withdrew to its intrenchments. The main attack took place on the right and was directed against the Southside Railroad. The Second, Fifth, and Ninth Corps were engaged. The Second Corps, with Gregg's cavalry, started at 2 P. M. on the 26th, leaving only Miles's Division in camp, and moved southwestwardly toward Hatcher's Run, followed by the Fifth and Ninth. The next morning Gregg, keeping away to the left, encountered Hampton's cavalry pickets at the bridge over the Run, and, skirmishing all the while, moved up into close connection with the Second Corps, which had reached the Boydton plank-road. This connection was established a little after noon. The Second Corps had encamped the previous night just west of the Weldon Railroad, and had started for the Boydton Road, Egan in the advance. The Run was crossed early in the morning, and Egan crossed directly westward to the Boydton Road. Mott soon after came up, having previously advanced up to the Run by the Duncan Road, and captured the rebel works at Armstrong's Mill. It was now past noon, and Grant and Meade were now on the ground. Here the enemy were strongly posted where the Boydton Road crossed the Run, at the bridge before mentioned. The line ran thus: Gregg on the extreme left, Mott just left of the road, and Egan on the right; the line facing northward toward the Hatcher's Run Bridge. The enemy had a battery bearing from the road in the rear. Egan's advanced brigade crossed the Run, and the line was disposed for a general advance against the enemy's works. The Fifth Corps was now expected on the right. It had marched down the Duncan Road to Armstrong's Mill, having during the forenoon, with the Ninth on its right, confronted the enemy's works on the Run from the northeast. They had not been able to carry these works; and mistaking its route, the Fifth also failed to connect with the right of the Second Corps. The enemy, taking advantage of this, attacked Mott's division about 4 P. M., while preparations were being made for an advance of the Second Corps. Mott was driven and Egan exposed. The latter, however, equal to the emergency, changed front and repulsed the enemy, who retreated, leaving nearly a thousand, prisoners in our hands. Our loss in this day's fighting on the right had been about 1500; on the left, though we took a large number of prisoners, we suffered more severely than the enemy in killed and wounded. Meade's army then withdrew to its former position.
The opposing armies in the Shenandoah have had no serious engagement since October 19, when was fought the battle of Cedar Creek. After that battle Early fell back toward Newmarket, throwing
256
out strong bodies of cavalry northward toward Front Royal on the right and Mount Jackson on the left. Sheridan broke camp at Cedar Creek November 9, and fell back to Newtown, and on the 10th to Kearnstown, four miles south of Winchester, the enemy's cavalry under Lomax pressing close upon his rear. Lomax attacked on the 12th and was repulsed; Powell's cavalry division pursued him beyond Front Royal, capturing two guns and 150 men. On the 21st a cavalry reconnoissance was undertaken by Ouster, Powell, and Devin, the latter moving toward Front Royal and up the Luray Valley, while the two former advanced beyond Mount Jackson, encountering Early's main column at Rood's Hill, on the north fork of the Shenandoah. A sharp skirmish ensued, in which the Federal loss was about 60.In the meantime General Breckinridge, relieving Echols in southwestern Virginia, had organized a strong force, and was able to make an extensive raid in that portion of the State. October 2 he encountered General Burbridge, who was advancing on the rebel works at Saltville, Virginia. The battle was fought on the banks of the Holston River, and lasted from 11 A. M. till 5 P. M.. The enemy was intrenched, yet was driven some distance, but he was reinforced toward evening, and Burbridge, having a scanty supply of food and ammunition, withdrew at night. We next find Breckinridge in East Tennessee, where, about the middle of November, he joined Vaughan, who, a few days before, had been defeated by General Gillem at Morristown and driven 76 miles to Bristol. After this pursuit Gillem began to fall back on Bull's Gap, closely pressed in rear and flank by Breckinridge's and Vaughan's commands. The retreat was continued to Morristown, where, on the night of the 13th, his position was turned, by the enemy, who attacked him at midnight on both flanks, at the same time piercing his centre. The enemy had a body of cavalry under Duke, which increased the panic among Gillem's men, who were surrounded and lost all their artillery. The routed army, under cover of darkness, succeeded in escaping to Strawberry Plains, where the passage across the Holston was strongly defended, and a check was given to the pursuit of the enemy. Gillem's loss was estimated at 400.
General Price has been driven out of Missouri. He avoided Jefferson City early in October, and moved westward to the Kansas border. Pleasanton, with 8000 cavalry, immediately started from Sedalia in pursuit, while the Kansas troops, under General Blunt, attacked from the North. Price then turned southward toward Fort Scott, making a stand at every stream, but in each instance being defeated with considerable loss in men and guns. By the 8th of November he had been driven south of the Arkansas River, and beyond the Federal posts at Fayetteville, Fort Gibgon, and Fort Smith.
When Sherman took Atlanta, September 3, he had finished one campaign. He then proposed to rest his army and gather supplies, preparatory to extending his lines of occupation farther southward and eastward. But Hood forced him to postpone this advance by contesting with him the possession of the Chattanooga Railroad. Thus began a new campaign, planned by General Hood, which proved to be of short duration. Forrest crossed the Tennessee, took Athens, and attacked the railroads running from Nashville to Decatur and Chattanooga; Hood crossed the Chattahoochee and advanced against the railroad south of Chattanooga, General Thomas, with the Army of the Ohio, was dispatched to reinforce Rousseau and to confront Forrest, who was compelled to recross the Tennessee. Thus the branch of the railroad north of Chattanooga was secure against attack. In the mean time General Corse repulsed Hood at Allatoona, October 5, and saved the southern section of the road, Resaca was attacked on the 13th, and successfully defended by the Federal garrison under Colonel Wever; Hood succeeded, however, in temporarily injuring the railroad between that post and Dalton, Sherman, leaving only Slocum's Corps at Atlanta, kept close in Hood's rear, and at length forced him westward into Northern Alabama. In the mean time the railroad was repaired before the end of October, and the supplies for which Sherman waited were soon shipped to Atlanta. Time had also been given to organize a force under General Thomas adequate, independently of Sherman's main column, for the defense of Western Tennessee. Hood had failed to accomplish the purpose of his campaign; but he still remained in Northern Alabama, on and near the line of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. General Beauregard assumed command of the Military Division of the West October 17.
General Sherman then began to leave Hood's rear and to move toward Atlanta, to pursue his original plan, which was now in a peculiar manner favored by the enemy's absence from his front. He issued his orders for the advance from Kingston November 9. The army was to march in two columns: the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps forming one column, under General Howard; and the Fourteenth and Twentieth another, under General Slocum. A column of 9000 cavalry accompanied the expedition. The march to be resumed every morning at seven o'clock, and fifteen miles to be made each day. So command ever to be without ten days rations and three days forage, and, so far as possible, the army to live off the country. No private property to be destroyed, except where the march is resisted. The advance was commenced on the 11th, toward Augusta, Georgia. While Slocum was preparing to evacuate Atlanta he was attacked by Iverson's cavalry, which was severely punished. Sherman destroyed the Chattanooga Railroad in his rear, and burned every thing which would be valuable to the enemy at Rome and Atlanta.
General Forrest, driven west of the Tennessee River, determined to occupy Johnsonville. A dispatch from Beauregard to Richmond, November 8, claims that on the 5th Forrest had destroyed four gun-boats, each mounting eight guns, at Johnsonville, besides fourteen steamers and twenty larges, with from 75,000 to 100,000 tons of quarter-masters stores. The Federal garrison at that point being reinforced by 5000 men, Forrest withdrew.
On the night of October 27 Lieutenant Gushing, with a company of thirteen men, ascended the Roanoke River to Plymouth, and succeeded in destroying the ram Albemarde, the most formidable vessel which the enemy had in North Carolina waters, by means of a torpedo. His own launch was disabled at the same time, and the entire company, except himself and one other, were captured by the enemy on shore. Three days after this event four vessels of Admiral Porter's fleet went up Middle River, which connects with Roanoke River above Plymouth. When within range of the town they opened fire upon it, and the next morning, October 31, the regular attack was made, the fleet passing into and down the Roanoke in front of Plymouth.
257
After a short engagement the enemy abandoned the town. Washington also was abandoned November 9.
The Confederate privateer Florida, Captain Morris, was captured October 7 by the U. S. Steamer Wachusett, Captain Collins, at Bahia, in the Bay of St. Salvador, on the Brazilian coast. Captain Morris and a good portion of the crew were on shore at the time of the capture. The vessel was taken in Brazilian waters; but Captain Collins thought the act justified by the indulgence of the authorities at Bahia in allowing harborage to the Florida, which had in a number of instances burned American vessels within the limits of Brazilian jurisdiction.
The Confederate Congress reassembled at Richmond on the 7th of November. In the Senate 13 members were present, including three from Kentucky and Missouri. Mr. Stephens, the Vice-President, was absent, and the chair was occupied by Mr. Hunter. The House consists of 106 members, of whom 62 were present, including 15 from Missouri and Kentucky. Excluding these States, which are in no practical respect members of the Confederacy, hardly half of the members were present. — The Message of President Davis opened with a congratulatory review of the campaign of 1864. At the beginning of the year, he said, Texas was partially in the possession of the enemy; now no Federal soldiers were in the State except as prisoners. In Northwestern Louisiana a large Federal army and fleet had been defeated, and had only escaped with a loss of one-third of its numbers, and a large part of its munitions and vessels. Arkansas had been nearly recovered; and the Confederate forces had penetrated into Missouri. On the east of the Mississippi, in spite of some reverses, the Confederates had been on the whole successful; Northern and Western Mississippi, Northern Alabama, and Western Tennessee were in their possession. On the sea-coast the successes of the Federals had been confined to the captute of the outer defenses of Mobile Bay. Their armies had been defeated in different parts of Virginia; and after a series of defeats around Richmond, they were still engaged in the effort, commenced four months before, to capture Petersburg. The army of Sherman, though it had captured Atlanta, had gained no real advantage beyond the possession of a few fortified points which can be held only by large garrisons, and are menaced with recapture. The Confederacy, Mr. Davis aid, has no vital points. If Richmond and Wilmington and Charleston and Savannah and Mobile were all captured, the Confederacy would remain as defiant as ever, and no peace would be made which did not recognize its independence. — In respect to the relations between the Confederacy and foreign nations there had been no change. European Powers had failed to do what might have been expected them; and until they, by recognizing the independance of the South, declared that it was imposible for the Union to reduce the Confederacy, it could not be expected that the Union would do so. — Mr. Davis recommends the repeal of all laws granting exemption from military service. He says that no position or pursuit should relieve any one who able to do active duty from the enrollment in the army, "unless he can be more useful in another sphere, and this can not be the case with entire classes. The military authorities should have the power to exempt individuals only whose services may be more valuable in than out of the army. — In regard to the great question of the employment of slaves in the army, Mr. Davis recommends that slaves to the number of 40,000 should be "acquired" by the General Government, who should be employed not merely as ordinary laborers, cooks, and teamsters, but as engineer and pioneer laborers. He recommends that these slaves should be liberated on their discharge after faithful service, rather than that they should be manumitted at once or retained in servitude. He is opposed, under present circumstances, to arming the slaves; but he adds, "The subject is to be viewed solely in the light of policy and our social economy. Should the alternative ever be presented of subjugation or of the employment of the slave as a soldier, there seems to be no reason to doubt what then should be our decision."
The Report of Mr. Trenholm, the Confederate Secretary of the Treasury, presents the following essential points: Six dollars in specie is worth one hundred dollars in 6 per cent. bonds, or one hundred and thirty-five dollars in currency. The total domestic debt of the Confederacy on the 1st of October was $1,147,976,000, besides bounty bonds due to soldiers, the amount of which is not given. Moreover, there is the foreign debt, put down at Å2,200,000; this, when reduced to "currency," amounts to about $250,000,000; so that the entire public debt is really more than $1,500,000,000. During the last six months the debt had increased at the rate of more than half a million of dollars a day. The Secretary presents an elaborate scheme for giving value to the currency. The essential features are: No more notes to be issued; one-fifth of the taxes to be pledged for the reduction of the outstanding notes until the amount of "currency" is reduced to $150,000,000. The specific taxes which the Secretary recommends should be appropriated to the redemption of currency are the "tithes" levied upon cotton, wheat, and corn. Estimating cotton at 50 cents a pound, wheat at $4 and corn at $2 a bushel, these tithes will produce $90,000,000 a year. This amount applied annually would redeem the outstanding notes in four or five years. "If Congress does not," says Mr. Trenholm, "interpose to restore the currency by means of voluntary action, it will assuredly rectify itself by some violent and disastrous revulsion." — The expenditures for the year beginning January 1, 1865, are estimated, "with an improved currency," at $774,000,000. To meet this the Secretary proposes taxation, including tax in kind of $360,000,000; duties and miscellaneous receipts are estimated at $5,000,000; the remaining $409,000,000 to be derived from the sale of bonds and from certificates of indebtedness.
The Report of Mr. Seddon, the Confederate Secretary of War, details the military events of the year. It is absolutely necessary, he says, that the Confederacy should put its entire fighting population into the field; he therefore urges that all men between the ages of 18 and 45 capable of bearing arms "should, without distinction of occupation or profession, be subjected to service, and called to the field," and that consequently "all exemptions, except of officers absolutely essential to the conduct of the Confederate and State governments, be abolished." The slaves and the free population over or under military age, and those unfit by physical disability for actual service, he thinks will be able to furnish supplies for the armies and the people. — He discusses at length the question of arming the slaves, with its necessary adjunct, their emancipation. Any legislation for this purpose, he says,
258
must have the concurrence of the separate States. If this should become necessary he is in favor of it; but he adds, "It will not do, in my opinion, to risk our liberties and safety on the negro while the white man may be called to the sacred duty of defense. For the present it seems best to leave the subordinate labors of society to the negro, and to impose its highest, as now existing, on the superior class."The steamer Roanoke, plying between New York and Havana, was seized on the 29th of September, when just out of Havana, by a party of Confederates, who had come on board as passengers. The vessel was taken off Bermuda, where her passengers were put on shore, and the steamer burned. The captors were commanded by Lieutenant Braine, who not long since seized in a similar manner the Chesapeake when just out of New York. The Confederates were arrested by the British authorities at Bermuda, but were set at liberty after a short detention. — The Confederate raiders who made the attack upon St. Albans have been demanded by the Governor of Vermont on charge of murder and robbery. Their leader, Lieutenant Young, produced a commission and orders from the Confederate Government authorizing and directing him to undertake such an enterprise. The decision of the question of extradition has been postponed in order to enable the prisoners to procure testimony from Richmond.
An arrangement has been effected, after many delays, between the Union and Confederate authorities, involving the exchange of many thousands of prisoners. The arrangement has primary reference to the sick and disabled, all of whom are exchangeable man for man, each officer to be reckoned at a certain number of privates, according to a schedule agreed upon. It is supposed that from 8000 to 10,000 on each side will be accordingly exchanged. The Confederate prisoners are sent on board Union vessels to the entrance of the port of Savannah, where the Union prisoners are to be delivered. — By another special arrangement, entered into between Generals Lee and Grant, each belligerent is allowed to send necessary supplies and comforts to its prisoners in the hands of the other. Blankets and clothing being articles of immediate necessity for the Confederate prisoners, and these not being procurable at the South, and not from Europe in time to be of use, the Government is allowed to send cotton to the North to be sold, and the proceeds applied to the purchase of these articles.