Black Week for the Confederacy
From the Editor: Romney, Virginia, Roanoke Island, North Carolina, and Fort Henry, Tennessee, all fall in relatively bloodless encounters in this black week for the Confederacy. Romney, which was the focal point of ‘Stonewall’ Jackson's winter campaign, is evacuated as a result of the dispute between generals William W. Loring and Thomas J. Jackson. The defenders of Roanoke Island, a key defensive position on the North Carolina coastline, are outnumbered and outgunned by Ambrose Burnside's combined land and sea assault. Their defeat leaves the Union forces poised to move north towards Norfolk, Virginia, the Confederates largest and most important naval installation, or west up any one of a number of North Carolina's coastal waterways, threatening thousands of acres of productive farmland. At Fort Henry, a bastion in the Kentucky line, rising floodwaters competed with Andrew H. Foote's gunboats in compelling the surrender of the fort. In the end, the fort’s commander Lloyd Tilghman surrenders to the gunboats that are able to sail through the fort's sally-port. These defeats shock President Jefferson Davis who scrambles to find reinforcements and rush them into Tennessee and North Carolina to staunch the flow of Union advances.
February 02, 1862 (Sunday)
The situation in and around Romney, Virginia, remains unsettled as Frederick W. Lander, commanding a Union division at Patterson’s Creek, Virginia, proposes an attack to retake the town. He expects to face 6,000 men and sends a message to General-in-Chief George McClellan: "I shall take Romney or be defeated within 48 hours."
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, Washington, D.C., February 2, 1862.
General F.W. LANDER: In attacking Romney you must use your discretion and be certain that the enemy is not re-enforced from Winchester. Do not advance beyond Romney. [Nathaniel Banks’ Division] needs time to prepare to co-operate, and you would be in danger east of Romney if he were not in position to distract enemy. If you gain Romney look out for return of [Thomas J. Jackson], whom I know to be a man of vigor and nerve as well as a good soldier.
GEO. B. McCLELLAN, Major-General, Commanding.
As Ulysses S. Grant, District of Cairo, prepares to launch his assault on Fort Henry, Tennessee, his commander, Henry Halleck, Department of the Missouri, is keeping Don Carlos Buell, Department of the Ohio, informed of the planned operation. He writes: “At present it is only proposed to take and occupy Fort Henry and Dover [Fort Donelson], and, if possible, cut the railroad from Columbus to Bowling Green. The roads are in such a horrible condition that troops cannot move by land.”
GENERAL ORDERS NO. 7.
HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF CAIRO, Cairo, February 2, 1862.
On the expedition now about starting from Smithland, Paducah, Cairo, Bird's Point, and Fort Holt the following orders will be observed: 1. No firing, except when ordered by proper authority, will be allowed. 2. Plundering and disturbing private property is positively prohibited. 3. Company officers will see that all their men are kept within camp, except when on duty. By order of Brig. Gen. U.S. Grant, commanding:
[Captain John A. Rawlins,] Assistant Adjutant-General.
Captain John Hunt Morgan reports on the success of his recent expedition near Greensburg and Lebanon, Kentucky. Morgan led ten men across the Green River five days ago and got within eight miles of Lebanon before safely returning to Confederate lines.
CAMP ASH, February 2, 1862.
Brigadier-General [Thomas C.] HINDMAN [First Brigade, First Division, Central Army of Kentucky]: About 10 o'clock reached the turnpike leading from Lexington through Lebanon, Campbellsville, Greensburg, and Columbia, the road upon which all their troops and transportation pass. At the point we struck the pike was a large log church, and occupying it was a party of men, in the employ of Government, building telegraph to Columbia. The building had a large quantity of stores and telegraph implements, and a large quantity of mess pork, beans, crackers, flour, soap, sugar, coffee, candles, and stores of various kinds; close around the building were three United States wagons filled with provisions; took 4 men prisoners, who were in charge of the stores, and proceeded down pike in direction of Lebanon.... Remained at building until 2 o'clock; set fire to building; remained until all the wagons and house were consumed; then took main road which leads to Glasgow, passed through Saloma, a little town about 3 miles from pike; took 2 soldiers and 1 lieutenant prisoners; stopped a few moments at Summersville; took another Federal prisoner.... Staid that night at Barnett's, near the river. Started at day; crossed Barren River at Brewersburg; it was so high that it was impossible to cross any lower down; reached Glasgow near night; remained until this morning, both men and horses being nearly worn-out.... We also took a negro which was in the Government employ, and is still in my possession. Respectfully,
JOHN H. MORGAN, Commanding Squadron
Other Union activity reported on this date:
1. After learning that H.W. Halleck’s men are advancing, D.C. Buell asks G.H. Thomas, 1st Division, Dept. of the Ohio, about the condition of the roads at Somerset (KY): “How long do you suppose it would take you to reach Knoxville?”
2. H.W. Halleck reports a plot to secure “the restoration of [J.C. Frémont].” He writes, “The German papers here are filled with anonymous attacks on the Government” which are coming from “the German officers under General Sigel's command.”
3. Several companies from the 4th Missouri, “having shown themselves mutinous and disobedient of orders,” are placed in confinement at Benton Barracks. The men are to be sent to Cairo, Illinois “to work on the fortifications.”
Other Confederate activity reported on this date:
1. C.S. Commissioner J.M. Mason sends his first report since arriving at London: “The opinion is very prevalent…that at an early day after the meeting of Parliament the subject (official recognition of the C.S. Government) will be introduced into the House of Commons and pressed to a favorable vote.”
2. H. Marshall reports he is “extremely embarrassed” by the order to fall back to Pound Gap (VA), “where it is simply impossible to feed men or animals for two days.” He writes: “Starvation stares these people in the face.”
3. Lt. Col. J.W. White, 1st Tennessee Cavalry, skirmishes with U.S. forces in Morgan County (TN). “We killed their captain, and, from the best information, 5 others.”
February 03, 1862 (Monday)
Ulysses S. Grant reports that his forces are ready to move on Fort Henry, Tennessee.
PADUCAH, February 3, 1862.
Major-General Halleck, Saint Louis: Will be off up the Tennessee at 6 o'clock. Command, twenty-three regiments in all.
U.S. GRANT, Brigadier-General.
Secretary of War Judah Benjamin explains his actions concerning William W. Loring to Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the Department of Northern Virginia: “I telegraphed General Jackson, at the President's instance, to order Loring's command back to Winchester at once, as we had news of a contemplated movement by McClellan to cut off Loring's command.... I think the valley army ought, as far as possible, to be kept within reach of a co-operation with your left wing.” For his part, Johnston writes a letter to ‘Stonewall’ Jackson expressing his "profound regret" in Jackson's "asking to be relieved from...present command." Virginia Governor John Letcher, who has received a note from Jackson asking, “as a special favor,” to be “ordered back to the [Virginia Military Institute],” passes it along to Secretary Benjamin asking that “his wish may be complied with, and the requisite order issued.”
CENTRVILLE VA., February 3, 1862.
Major-General Jackson: I have just read your letter...asking to be relieved from your present command. Let me beg you to reconsider this matter.... The character of this war, the danger in which our very existence as an independent people lies, requires sacrifices from us all who have been educated as soldiers. Let us dispassionately reason with the Government on this subject of command.... I have taken the liberty to detain your letter to make this appeal to your patriotism, not merely from warm feelings of personal regard, but from the official opinion which makes me regard you as necessary to the service of the country in your present position. Very truly, yours,
J.E. JOHNSTON.
Alabama Governor Andrew B. Moore writes to President Davis about the possibility of permitting cotton to “clandestinely” leave Southern ports: “I have come to the conclusion that it is a Yankee trick that should have immediate attention from the governmental authorities of this country. The pretense is that we must let it go forward to buy arms and other munitions of war, and I fear the fate of the steamer Calhoun illustrates the destination of these arms and munitions of war after they are bought with our cotton. Her commander set her on fire and the Yankees put her out just in time to secure the prize.”
MOBILE, February 3, 1862.
His Excellency JEFFERSON DAVIS, President of Confederate States of America: This cotton power is a momentous question and one that claims consideration from the greatest philosophers of the age in political as well as financial matters, and I would ask that the attention of the Congress of the Confederate States be called to the interdiction of the export of cotton from all the Confederate ports until the close of the war.... This leaky blockade system should be deprecated as one that the parties to it are either dupes or knaves, and not in the least calculated to demonstrate the fact that our cotton crops are a necessity to the commerce of the world. If it is not, the sooner we know it the better, that we may engage in other profitable pursuits; and if it is, European nations should know it, and should also know that our consent to their obtaining it is an essential part of the transaction, and without which I fear we will lose the power that cotton ought to give to our country. I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,
A.B. MOORE.
Other Union activity reported on this date:
1. G.B. McClellan reveals his plan for a "movement to the Peninsula."
2. A.E. Burnside reports the weather for the last several days “has been such as to retard our progress very considerably.” However, “the storm has abated.”
3. J.W. Phelps, commanding at Ship Island (MS), reports he is employing “24 of the enemy’s negroes.” Phelps writes, “They are ripe for manumission, and any measure to avert it may put off, but cannot long prevent, a revolution--a revolution of that kind where men are restored to their original rights.”
4. J.W. Davidson, W.S. Ketcham, and T.F. Meagher are appointed brigadier-generals in the Union Army.
5. Elements of Col. S.G. Champlin’s 3rd Michigan conduct a reconnaissance to Occoquan Village (VA).
6. Captain W.S. Oliver, 7th Missouri, returns to Independence (MO), after a weeklong search for “the notorious [Wm. Quantrill].” He reports, “Quantrill will not leave this section unless he is chastised and driven from it.”
7. King Rama IV of Siam offers war elephants to help the Union cause. President Lincoln declines the offer stating that the "weather does not reach a latitude so low as to favor the multiplication of the elephant."
Other Confederate activity reported on this date:
1. Congress (C.S.) passes an Act providing for the granting of bounty and furloughs to privates and non-commissioned officers.” The act gives three months leave to all who “re-enlist in the service” for three years.
2. Secretary Benjamin issues a call for more troops, the quota each state is asked to fill is 6% of the entire white population. Due to its “peculiar circumstances,” Secretary Benjamin gives the state of Missouri an exemption.
3. Secretary Benjamin informs N.C. Governor Clark that the U.S. fleet in Pamlico Sound “has been crippled much more seriously” than he is aware. He writes, “All is not as bad as you supposed.”
4. From Hardeeville (SC), T.F. Drayton, 5th Mil. Dist., reports that U.S. gunboats “shelled and burned” houses on New River.
5. In Southampton, England, the C.S.S. Nashville sets sail, closely watched by the U.S.S. Tuscarora, which cannot follow for 24 hours, due to an international agreement between ships of belligerent nations embarking from a neutral port.
February 04, 1862 (Tuesday)
Ulysses S. Grant lands half of his troops three miles below Fort Henry on the Tennessee River, “nearly in view of the rebel batteries.” He reports: “Not having sufficient transportation for all troops, the larger portion of the steamers have to return to Paducah for the remainder of the command.” Grant wires Halleck: "I expect all the troops by 10 AM tomorrow. Enemy are represented as having re-enforced rapidly the last few days."
FORT HENRY, February 4, 1862--5 p.m.
General [LEONIDAS] POLK [First Division, Western Department]: The enemy is landing troops in large forces on this side of the river, within 3 miles of the fort. Their advance cavalry is at Boyd's, 3 miles from here. I have sent the [steamer] Dunbar to the mouth of Sandy [River] after the two regiments there and the Appleton Belle is gone to the bridge after the remaining companies. There are eight gunboats and nine transports in the river. I have three pieces of light battery and two companies in a good position at the outer works on the Dover road, with directions to move one of the pieces, if necessary, to [Major John S. Garvin's Third Alabama] position. They are not landing on the opposite bank, and it will perhaps be prudent to bring some of the troops over here, but I will await your orders, or, what I would more desire, your presence. Come not without a large escort.
[LLOYD] TILGHMAN [Commanding Forts Henry and Donelson].
In Virginia, Joe Johnston issues a call to arms to the “twelve-months'” troops under his command to re-enlist. He writes: “The commanding general calls upon the twelve-months' men to stand by their brave comrades who have volunteered for the war, to re-volunteer at once, and thus show to the world that the patriots engaged in this struggle for independence will not swerve from the bloodiest path they may be called to tread.... Your decision, be it for honor or dishonor, will be written down in history.”
GENERAL ORDERS, No. 21
HDQRS. DEP'T OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, February 4, 1862.
Soldiers! Your country again calls you to the defense of the noblest of human causes. To the indomitable courage already exhibited on the battlefield you have added the rarer virtues of high endurance, cheerful obedience, and self sacrifice.... Your country now summons you to a nobler duty and a greater deed. The enemy has gathered up all his energies for a final conflict. His enormous masses threaten us in the West, his naval expeditions are assailing us upon our whole Southern coast, and upon the Potomac, within a few hours' march, he has a gigantic army, inflamed by lust and maddened by fanaticism. But the plains of Manassas are not forgotten, and he shrinks from meeting the disciplined heroes who hurled across the Potomac his grand army, routed and disgraced. He does not propose to attack this army so long as it holds its present position with undiminished numbers and unimpaired discipline; but, protected by his fortifications, he awaits the expiration of your term of service.... You cannot, will not, draw back at this solemn crisis of our struggle, when all that is heroic in the land is engaged, and all that is precious hangs trembling in the balance. By command of General Johnston:
[Captain] A.P. MASON, Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.
Other Union activity reported on this date:
1. Congress (U.S.) passes an Act authorizing the President to “take possession of railroad and telegraph lines” when “public safety may require it.”
2. Attorney-General Bates informs President Lincoln the Constitution “plainly” grants him the power to “grant reprieves as well as pardons” to privateers “lately convicted of piracy and sentenced to be hanged.”
3. From Patterson’s Creek (VA), F.W. Lander reports: “We are moving on Romney.”
4. Union gunboats complete a final reconnaissance of Fort Henry (TN).
Other Confederate activity reported on this date:
1. Virginia Governor Letcher writes to T.J. Jackson attempting to persuade him to remain in the army.
2. Lt. Col. G.W. Lay, I.G., completes his investigation of the condition of W.W. Loring’s men at Romney (VA). “Hundreds who fell back to hospitals were found by the doctors to have nothing the matter with them at all.”
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