It Was Complete Madness
From the editor: The bloody repulse suffered at Chickasaw Bluff takes its toll on the men in ‘Cump’ Sherman's Expeditionary Force. *Lieutenant Henry Kircher of the 12th Missouri explains it this way: “[Sherman] stands convicted by every soldier of this army…of gross and unexplainable mismanagement…. He would have sacrificed us all [to] take Vicksburg.” Kircher’s thoughts are echoed by a captain from the Fourth Iowa: "Our generals do not appear to care for the loss of life no more than we were so many brutes." Trapped on boats that are so filthy and crowded the malodorous air is unfit to breath, the consensus opinion is that the battle was “a useless sacrifice of life.” To erase the stain of defeat, Sherman and Admiral David Dixon Porter convince John McClernand to commit the army to an attack on Arkansas Post, as a way of "stirring up our troops which [are] demoralized by the late defeat." Ambrose Burnside would also dearly love to lead his army on another attack to wipe away the stain of defeat. The weather, cold and clear, is sure to give way soon. However, ‘Old Burn’ must secure permission from President Lincoln and Henry Halleck before undertaking another movement, and he is still hobbled by the “virtual mutiny” among his generals, who have already succeeded in stymieing his efforts to put the Army of the Potomac in motion.
*Lieutenant Kircher would be wounded in fighting later in the war at Ringgold’s Gap, Georgia, losing an arm and a leg.
January 04 1863 (Sunday)
J.E.B. Stuart, leading the cavalry brigades of Fitz. Lee, W.H.F. ‘Rooney’ Lee, and Wade Hampton, returns from his most recent ride around the Army of the Potomac, and resumes his original positions astride the Army of Northern Virginia. Stuart’s target had been the Union supply bases at Dumfries and along the Telegraph Road, but found them too well defended. The then struck Burke’s Station, where he seized large numbers of “horses, mules, saddles, bridles, pistols, and sabers.” Stuart also had time to send a message to Union Quartermaster-General Montgomery Meigs, complaining about the “bad quality of mules…which interfered seriously with our moving the captured wagons.”
Report of Maj. Gen. J. E. B. Stuart, C.S. Army, commanding expedition.
COLONEL: The head of the column reached Burke's Station, on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, after dark. A party was sent noiselessly to the telegraph office, and took possession without the operators having a chance to give the alarm. Having an operator of my own, I was enabled to detect what preparations had been made for my reception, the alarm of my approach having already reached Washington…. The command returned in astonishingly good condition from this long march, the benefits of which were three-fold: 1st. The destruction of the telegraph line of communication of the enemy between the Chopawamsic and the Occoquan…. 2d. It made necessary the detachment of large bodies of the enemy as a constabulary force for the region of country extending from the Aquia to Vienna. 3d. In moving toward Middleburg, the impression was created upon the enemy that another invasion of Maryland was contemplated, and drew the main body of their cavalry in that direction…, thereby crippling his cavalry force in the fruitless effort to thwart me in my real intentions…. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J.E.B. STUART, Major-General.
John McClernand finally catches up to the Mississippi River Expedition at Milliken's Bend. Wasting no time, he changes the army's name to the Army of the Mississippi and, after decides to send his troops up the Arkansas River to attack Fort Hindman. Sherman reports: “As long as we are unable...to remove the obstructions at Vicksburg this force [can] do little good at this time, whereas it might in a few days ascend the Arkansas [River]..., and reduce the Post of Arkansas, a fortified camp of the enemy, 50 miles up, from which he at all times threatens the river."
SPECIAL ORDERS No. 3.
HDQRS. RIGHT WING, 13TH ARMY CORPS, Milliken's Bend, January, 4, 1863.
The troops will not disembark at Milliken's Bend, but will proceed on another important military expedition. The first rendezvous will be the wood-pile opposite Gaines' Landing. The second rendezvous will be mouth of White River or Montgomery Point....On arrival at Montgomery Point boats should have full two days' fuel, and the whole time consumed in reaching Montgomery Point should not exceed sixty hours.
By order of Maj. Gen. W.T. Sherman: [John] H. HAMMOND, Assistant Adjutant-General.
General Officer Fatalities on January 4, 1863:
Hanson, Roger Weightman, 1827-1863. Born in Kentucky, Hanson fought in the Mexican War and was later wounded in a duel that shortened one leg. He went to California for the Gold Rush, but returned to Kentucky to enter politics and became a colonel in the State Guard. He joined the Confederate Army and commanded the Second Kentucky which was captured at Fort Donelson in February 1862. He was exchanged for Colonel Michael Corcoran, 69th New York, in October, and resumed command of his regiment. Upon his return, he was promoted to command a brigade in John C. Breckinridge’s division, and fought at Nashville and Hartsville, Tennessee. He was promoted to brigadier-general on December 13, and led the Fourth Brigade, First Division, Polk’s Corps, at Stone’s River where he was “mortally wounded early in the action.”
Other Union activity reported on this date:
1. After renaming his command the Army of the Mississippi, J.A. McClernand assigns G.W. Morgan command of the left wing and W.T. Sherman command of the right wing.
2. Captain Milton Burch, 14th M.S.M. Cavalry, conducting a scout, captures two prisoners who inform him that “a rebel force, 6,000 strong, under the command of General Marmaduke,” is heading toward Springfield, Missouri.
Other Confederate activity reported on this date:
1. J.B. Magruder issues a proclamation opening the port of Galveston, Texas, to “all friendly nations.” However, Magruder warns that “any merchant vessel appearing... under any pretext whatever will be captured.”
2. J.S. Marmaduke’s expedition crosses the Boston Mountains near Yellville, Arkansas, and continues on toward their destination of Springfield, Missouri.
3. in La Grange, Texas, W.G. Webb, Second Brigade, Texas State Militia, reports that Unionist Germans have “organized into a company and elected their officers to resist being taken off as drafted men, and also to resist conscription.”
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