Jackson’s Hungry Eyes
From the Editor: At long last George Brinton McClellan has his army on the move. Poked and prodded by President Lincoln and stripped of the rank of General-in-Chief, ‘Little Mac’ commits the Army of the Potomac to offensive operations on the Virginia peninsula between the York and James Rivers. McClellan is still convinced, despite much evidence to the contrary, that Joseph E. Johnston’s Confederate forces in northern Virginia outnumber his army. To bring as many men with him to the Peninsula as possible, McClellan decides to strip the Shenandoah Valley of troops. He orders the Fifth Corps, currently operating in the Valley, to withdraw to “the vicinity of Manassas,” and “cover the line of the Potomac and Washington.” As the Union troops withdraw, they are watched by the hungry eyes of Thomas J. ‘Stonewall’ Jackson, who has been forced, by weight of numbers to withdraw his little army to Mount Jackson. ‘Stonewall’ is determined to strike a blow at the Union army before it can get away and by Saturday he has his ‘foot cavalry’ marching down the Valley pike towards the Union positions on the outskirts of Winchester.
March 16 1862 (Sunday)
George B. McClellan is preparing to shift the Union Army of the Potomac from its winter camps near Washington, D.C., to positions around Fort Monroe, Virginia. To protect Washington, D.C., in their absence, Nathaniel Banks is ordered to post his Fifth Corps command, currently operating in the Shenandoah Valley, in the vicinity of Manassas.
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, Maj. Gen. N.P. BANKS, Commanding Fifth Corps, Army of the Potomac. March 16, 1862: You will post your command in the vicinity of Manassas, intrench yourself strongly, and throw cavalry pickets well out to the front.... Something like two regiments of cavalry should be left in that vicinity to occupy Winchester...as well as through Chester Gap, which might perhaps be advantageously occupied by a detachment of infantry, well intrenched.... Great activity should be observed by the cavalry. Besides the two regiments at Manassas, another regiment of cavalry will be at your disposal to scout towards the Occoquan, and probably a fourth towards Leesburg.... The general object is to cover the line of the Potomac and Washington. The above is communicated by command of Major-General McClellan.
[Seth] WILLIAMS, Assistant Adjutant-General.
Confederate Generals John B. Floyd and Gideon J. Pillow, who have already been relieved of command until further orders, are directed to supplement their Fort Donelson battle reports. Secretary of War Judah Benjamin specifically wants them to explain the following points: “1st. The failure to give timely notice of the insufficiency of the garrison of Fort Donelson to repel the attack. 2d. The failure of any attempt to save the army by evacuating the post when found untenable. 3d. Why they abandoned the command to their inferior officer instead of executing themselves whatever measure was deemed proper for the entire army. 4th. What was the precise mode by which each effected his escape from the fort and what dangers were encountered in the retreat.”
HEADQUARTERS WESTERN DEPARTMENT, Decatur, Ala., March 16, 1862.
Brig. Gen. GIDEON J. PILLOW, Chattanooga, Tenn.: The reports of Generals Floyd and Pillow are unsatisfactory.... I am directed by General [Albert S. Johnston, Department No. 2,] to request your compliance with the wishes of the President in these particulars with as little delay as possible, and report to these headquarters. Under the same direction General Johnston has requested a report from [Colonel Nathan B. Forrest,] detailing particularly the time and manner of his escape from Fort Donelson, the road he took, and the number of the enemy he met or saw in making his escape, and the difficulties which existed to prevent the remainder of the army from following the route taken by him in his escape with his command. I am, your obedient servant,
[Captain Henry] P. BREWSTER, Assistant Adjutant-General.
Henry W. Halleck, exercising his new authority as commander of the Department of the Mississippi, instructs Ulysses S. Grant, Army of the Tennessee, not to bring on an engagement. He writes: “As the enemy is evidently in strong force, my instructions not to advance so as to bring on an engagement must be strictly obeyed.” Halleck also informs Grant that Don Carlos Buell’s Army of the Ohio is now moving in his direction, and that he hopes send 10,000 or 15,000 more troops from Missouri in the next few days. As a final warning, Halleck writes: “We must strike no blow until we are strong enough to admit no doubt of the result.”
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI, Saint Louis, March 16, 1862.
Major-General BUELL, Nashville: Move your forces by land to the Tennessee as rapidly as possible. Our troops have destroyed the railroad at Purdy, but find the enemy in strong force at Eastport and Corinth, reported 60,000. Grant's army is concentrating at Savannah. You must direct your march on that point, so that the enemy cannot get between us.
H.W. HALLECK, Major-General.
Other Union activity reported on this date:
1. W.T. Sherman reports from Pittsburg Landing (TN): “The cavalry of the enemy is scattered all over the country in small bands.” Sherman is preparing “a strong reconnaissance toward Corinth.”
2. J.A. Garfield leads an expedition to Pound Gap (KY), “on the summit of the Cumberland Mountains.” He reports: “After a fight of less than twenty minutes the rebels were totally routed. They abandoned everything.”
3. Colonel E.R.S. Canby, Dept. of New Mexico, instructs Col. G.R. Paul, 4th New Mexico, to “place no reliance on the New Mexico Troops except for partisan operations.” Canby writes, “Fort Union must be held.... All other points are of no importance.”
4. Captain J.B. Kaiser, M.S.M. Cavalry, releases 12 men who were “captured by secessionists” is Saline County. He also succeeds in routing “a secession camp” near Marshall (MO).
5. Federal gunboats the U.S.S. Yankee and Anacosta shell C.S. batteries near Aquia Creek (VA).
6. Skirmishes occur near Pittsburg Landing and Black Jack Forest (TN).
Other Confederate activity reported on this date:
1. From Knoxville (TN), E.K. Smith, Dist. of E. Tennessee, reports “four regiments of the enemy have advanced over the mountains to Jacksborough.” He writes to Secretary Benjamin: “The small force at my command makes the defense of East Tennessee very difficult, if not impossible.”
2. T.H. Holmes, Aquia District, reports Union forces have crossed the Potomac River and and are “occupying Dumfries, Occoquan, Evansport, and the Chopawamsic (VA).”
3. R.C. Gatlin asks N.C. Governor Clark to send “tents, camp kettles, mess pans, and axes” to the men defeated at New Berne. He writes, “It will be impossible to restore order if these are not supplied.”
4. From Van Buren, Arkansas, E. Van Dorn reports: “I will unite all of my troops at Pocahontas as soon as possible. I will probably have about 20,000 men there.”
5. D. Ruggles confirms reports “the enemy has landed in force at Pittsburg [Landing].” He advises J.R. Chalmers at Iuka (MS), and L.P. Walker at Tuscumbia (AL), to have their commands “ready to move.”
6. From Madrid Bend (MO), J.P. McCown reports “mortar boats have been shelling us all day.”
March 17 1862 (Monday)
Commodore Andrew H. Foote, commander of the Naval Forces on Western Waters (U.S.), arrives at New Madrid, Missouri, to join the assault on Island No. 10. His flotilla consists of seven ironclads and ten mortar boats. However, old fuses hamper Foote's bombardment of the Confederate positions. He writes to Henry Halleck: “Our shells bursting prematurely, I have had to drown them before loading the guns; the fuses, many of which I am told were made before the Mexican war, ought to have been condemned.” John Pope, Army of the Mississippi, is confident that if “Commodore Foote can run past the batteries of Island No. 10 with two or three gunboats” he will be able to “capture every man of the enemy at Island No. 10.”
UNITED STATES FLAG-SHIP BENTON, March 17, 1862.
Maj. Gen. H.W. HALLECK, Commanding Department of Missouri, Saint Louis, Mo.: This morning I had the Benton lashed between two other steamers, Cincinnati and St. Louis, and with the remaining three ironclad steamers made an attack on the forts.... We opened upon the upper fort on the Tennessee shore at meridian, and continued quite a brisk fire until darkness obscured the forts from view.... The upper fort was badly cut up by the Benton and the other boats with her, and the men at times ran from their guns.... I hope to be able to silence the upper battery tomorrow; after which we can plant the mortars in a position where we expect to be able to shell the rebels out of their batteries. This place is stronger and even better adapted for defense than Columbus ever was. Each fortification commands the one above it. We can count forty-nine guns in the different batteries, where there are probably double the number, with 10,000 troops. Exhaustion, arising from continuous service and want of sleep, will excuse this incoherent, discursive report. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
A.H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer, Comdg. U.S. Naval Forces Western waters.
The first soldiers from Ulysses S. Grant’s expedition down the Tennessee River prepare for the next phase of the operation. ‘Cump’ Sherman's disembarks at sunrise and orders his division into position around Shiloh Church, Tennessee, approximately one mile from Pittsburg Landing. Stephen A. Hurlbut's Fourth Division troops follow later in the day. He reports: “Every road and path is occupied by the enemy's cavalry, whose orders seem to be to fire a volley, retire, again fire and retire.... I hear there is a force of two regiments on Pea Ridge, at the point where the Purdy and Corinth road comes in from this place. I am satisfied we cannot reach the Memphis and Charleston Road without a considerable engagement.”
HEADQUARTERS FIRST DIVISION, Pittsburg Landing, March 17, 1862.
Capt. WILLIAM McMICHAEL, Assistant Adjutant-General: [I] have placed [Colonel John A. McDowell's] brigade to our right front guarding the pass of Snake Creek, [Colonel David Stuart's] brigade to the left front to watch the pass of Lick Creek.... General Hurlbut's division will be landed today, and the artillery and infantry disposed so as to defend Pittsburg, leaving my division entire for any movement by rail or water. As near as I can learn there are five regiments of infantry at Purdy, at Corinth, and distributed along the railroad to Iuka are probably 30,000 men, but my information from prisoners is very indistinct.... I will be governed by your orders of yesterday to occupy Pittsburg strongly. I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,
W.T. SHERMAN, Brigadier-General, Commanding First Division.
President Jefferson Davis shuffles his cabinet appointing erstwhile Secretary of War Judah Benjamin to the vacant post of Secretary of State and nominating George Wythe Randolph as Benjamin's successor. Randolph is the grandson of Thomas Jefferson and was born at the Jefferson homestead in Monticello. The tie between the Second American Revolution and the First is seen by many to auger well for the Confederacy.
RICHMOND, VA., March 17, 1862.
The SENATE OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES: I nominate for the advice of the Senate the following-named officers, viz: For Secretary of State, [Judah P. Benjamin], of Louisiana; for Secretary of the Treasury, [Christopher G. Memminger], of South Carolina; for Secretary of War, [George W. Randolph], of Virginia; for Secretary of the Navy, [Stephen R. Mallory], of Florida; for Attorney-General, Thomas H. Watts, of Alabama; for Postmaster-General, John H. Reagan, of Texas.
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
Other Union activity reported on this date:
1. The Senate (US) debates censuring G.B. McClellan for prolonged inactivity. By a narrow margin the proposal is defeated.
2. H.W. Halleck repeats his order to D.C. Buell to move quickly to Savannah (TN). He writes “Savannah is now the strategic point.”
3. U.S. Grant arrives at Pittsburg Landing (TN), and takes command from C.F. Smith. He writes to W.T. Sherman: “I have ordered all troops here to report to you immediately.”
4. W.H. Emory, O.S. Ferry, and I.F. Quinby are appointed brigadier-generals in the Union Army.
5. C.S. Hamilton’s division (3rd Corps) embarks from Alexandria for Fort Monroe (VA).
6. J.S. Wadsworth is given command of the “defenses north and south of the Potomac in the vicinity of Washington.”
7. A. Pinkerton, Chief of Intelligence, reports a “medium estimate” of the size of “the rebel Army of the Potomac” at 115,500 men.
8. The 34th and 43rd Indiana march from New Madrid to Ruddles Point (MO), to assist “in planting batteries.”
Other Confederate activity reported on this date:
1. J.E. Johnston reports he is withdrawing “south of the Rapidan [River] to be able to communicate with Fredericksburg.” He writes to President Davis: “Have been greatly delayed by…the railroads.”
2. S.G. French is “assigned to the command of the District of the Pamlico.
3. J.P. McCown reports “three gunboats lashed together” opened a heavy fire on Madrid Bend (MO).
4. R.F. Floyd, Florida State Militia, informs Governor Milton he has removed “guns, ordnance stores, and other public property” to “Ricco's Bluff, on the east side of the Apalachicola River” because “State troops” are going out of service and not being replaced.
5. The commerce raider C.S.S. Nashville runs the blockade out of Beaufort, North Carolina, past the U.S.S. Cambridge and Gemsbok. Flag-Officer Louis M. Goldsborough reports: “It is a Bull Run of the Navy.”
March 18 1862 (Tuesday)
On his first full day back in command Ulysses S. Grant is alarmed to discover his army dangerously divided. Three divisions are camped on the west bank of the Tennessee River (at Crump's and Pittsburg Landings) and two divisions are on the east bank near Savannah, Tennessee. Relying on William T. Sherman's advice, Grant immediately moves the two divisions in Savannah to Pittsburg Landing, concentrating his army on the west bank of the river. This disposition of troops places the Tennessee River between Grant and Don Carlos Buell's reinforcing army currently slogging through the mud near Columbia, Tennessee. More importantly, it places Grant's army on the same side of the river as the growing Confederate army in Corinth, Mississippi.
HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF WEST TENNESSEE, Savannah, March 18, 1862.
Maj. Gen H.W. HALLECK, Saint Louis, Mo.: I arrived here last evening, and found that Generals Sherman and Hurlbut's divisions were at Pittsburg, partially debarked; General [Lew Wallace] at Crump's Landing, 6 miles below, same side of the river; General [John A. McClernand's] division at this place, encamped, and General [Charles F. Smith's division] ...also here. I immediately ordered all troops...to Pittsburg, and to debark there at once.... There is no doubt a large force is being concentrated at Corinth and on the line of the railroad. Troops of cavalry are all over the State impressing men into the service, most of whom would rather serve with us.... I have not been here long enough to form much idea of the actual strength of the rebels, but feel satisfied that they do not number 40,000 armed effective men at this time. I will make you a report, probably tomorrow.
U.S. GRANT, Major-General.
At Coote's Store, in Shenandoah County, Virginia, Company B of the 17th Battalion of Turner Ashby's Seventh Virginia Cavalry is guarding some prisoners who are accused of spying for the Union.
March 18, 1862. Moorefield, Virginia.
They were kindly treated by our party; and when a squad of Co. A, of Ashby's command, made a dash to take them from our guards... [Captain William H. Harness] and the writer and one guard, Jim Cunningham, had bullets to pass through our clothing, and a man named Mason of Co. A, one of the attacking party, was badly wounded in the foot. This Co. A recognized two of the prisoners as members of a gang that had killed one of their men.
[Thomas] K. Cartmell, Co. B, 17th Batt., Ashby's Brigade. (1)
Vessels of every kind are arriving in Alexandria, Virginia, and neighboring ports. The cost to the United States government for chartering the 113 ships being used by McClellan today is $24,300. In the next three weeks, 389 vessels are scheduled to deliver 121,500 men, 14,592 animals, 1,224 wagons, 44 artillery batteries, and “the enormous quantity of equipage etc. required” (2) for the Army of the Potomac. ‘Prince’ John B. Magruder, Army of the Peninsula, has approximately 10,000 Confederate troops available on the Peninsula to face the upcoming Union onslaught.
HEADQUARTERS FIRST ARMY CORPS, Washington, March 18, 1862.
Brig. Gen. [Randolph] B. MARCY, Chief of Staff: I received this morning the order of the major-general commanding the Army of the Potomac directing the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Army Corps to be at once concentrated on their divisions nearest Alexandria, and that their commanders should at once establish their headquarters with their troops; that the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac being in the field.... I, yesterday, was occupied in endeavoring to arrange with the Navy Department to have its co-operation in the movement and landing of the First Corps.... I beg to state in reference to my naval co-operation that the Assistant Secretary of the Navy assured me that all the disposable force of the Navy should be at once made available. He is to furnish a written statement of the number and description of the vessels. He is also to designate a naval officer to have charge of the fleet of transports. Late yesterday afternoon this had not yet been done.... I have not yet been able to see to these questions...and I have to request you will see that it is done. Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
IRVIN McDOWELL. [First Corps, Army of the Potomac]
Other Union activity reported on this date:
1. A.E. Burnside is appointed major-general in the Union Army.
2. B.F. Loan, M.S.M., reports W.C. Quantrill “severely--perhaps mortally--wounded two recruits” at Liberty (MO). Loan asserts “one was deliberately shot in cold blood.”
3. Detachments from the 1st Iowa conduct a scout, “one into Johnson County and the other in the direction of Robinson's Mill (MO).”
4. J.W. Garrett, President of the B&O R.R., reports the “Harper's Ferry bridge is completed.” He writes, “Trains will run to Charlestown tomorrow.”
5. Five U.S. ships capture the British blockade-runner Emily St. Pierre off Charleston (SC). However, the prize-master is subsequently overpowered and the ship escapes to Liverpool, England.
6. Skirmishes take place at Point Pleasant (MO); at Spring River (AR); and at Middletown (VA).
Other Confederate activity reported on this date:
1. From Decatur (AL), A.S. Johnston informs President Davis the “army corps moving to join Braxton Bragg is about 20,000 strong.” He writes, “Tomorrow [J.C. Breckinridge's] brigade will go to Corinth (MS). He adds, “Other troops to follow.”
2. G.T. Beauregard advises J.P. McCown to spike the guns on Island No.10 if he is “driven” from his post.” However, Beauregard adds the “post must be held if possible.”
3. J.C. Pemberton returns from an “official visit” to “the cities of Apalachicola and Tallahassee, Fla.” He reports, “I find the citizens of Tallahassee much excited on the subject of the withdrawal of the troops, and am informed [the feeling] amounts almost to disaffection.”
4. D.H. Maury is appointed brigadier-general in the C.S. Army.
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