American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

January 31, 1862 Friday
To implement the President’s General War Order No 1, President Lincoln issued the President’s Special War Order No 1, which pertained specifically to the Army of the Potomac. That army was ordered to form an expedition to seize and occupy, “a point upon the Rail Road South Westward of what is known of [sic] Manassas Junction.” This was to be done before or on Feb 22d, and was aimed at forcing Gen McClellan to open offensive operations overland in Virginia. The Federal Congress authorized the President to take possession of telegraph and railroad lines whenever the public safety required it. In Britain Queen Victoria declared it was her purpose to observe neutrality in the American Civil War.

Lieutenant Henry A. Wise wrote Flag Officer Foote regarding a conversation with President Lincoln on the western operations. The under Commander in Chief was interested in the mortars because he wanted Foote to have enough gunpowder "to rain the rebels out." Wise stated: "He is an evidently practical man, understands precisely what he wants, and is not turned aside by anyone when he has his work before him. He knows and appreciates your past and present arduous services, and is firmly resolved to Afford you every aid in the work in hand. The additional smooth howitzers you asked for were ordered two days ago." Meanwhile, Foote telegraphed the Bureau of Ordnance, requesting powder and primers. He added: "I am apprehensive that the Army will not permit the men, as the colonels and captains do not readily give their assent. I am shipping men by 'runners at Chicago and elsewhere.' I can move with four armed [armored] and three other gunboats at any moment, and am only waiting for men (with the exception of the Benton) to be ready with all the gunboats." The Army could not be blamed, as Foote well understood, for reluctance to weaken its units. They, too, had been given jobs to do and had to present trained, effective units in the hour of need.

A British memorandum reaching the Confederacy, regarding the effectiveness of the Union blockade and sinking of the stone fleet in Charleston harbor, presented the views of various European nations: "About 10 days ago the English foreign office submitted the two following questions to the maritime powers of Europe: First. Is the sinking of the stone fleet. an outrage on civilization? Second. Is the blockade effective . . . Is it now binding? France . . . pronounces the destruction of the harbor 'vindictive vandalism' the blockade to be 'ineffective and illegal' . . . Prussia winds up by declaring the sinking of the stone fleet to be a crime and outrage on civilization . . . Sardinia agrees with France, but . . . in even stronger terms . . . Austria declares 'blockade altogether illegal' . . . Spain declares blockade . . . 'altogether ineffective' . . ." On the other hand, Secretary of the Navy Welles strongly maintained that the effectiveness of the blockade did "destroy any pretext on the part of foreign governments to aid the Confederacy."

_________________
Gen Ned Simms
2/XVI Corps/AotT
Blood 'n Guts hisself, a land lovin' pirate. Show me some arty tubes and we'll charge 'em.
VMI Class of '00

February 1, 1862 Saturday
Although there was a skirmish near Bowling Green, Kentucky and a meeting of Indian chiefs and Federal authorities at Leavenworth, Kansas, the main events of the day were not immediately revealed. At Cairo, Illinois there was bustling activity as Grant prepared a campaign he had a few days before suggested opening immediately. On Jan 28th he had been roughly treated by Gen Halleck in St Louis when he stated that he planned, with permission, to take Fort Henry on the Tennessee, and on the 29th he indicated he was aiming at a major offensive move from Fort Henry. Permission was granted Jan 30th by Halleck after word was received from Gen McClellan that Gen Beauregard had left Manassas with 15 regiments (false intelligence since Gen Beauregard had left but with no units), and Grant lost no time getting ready at Cairo. Fort Henry was in Gen Buell's jurisdiction but Gen Halleck obtained permission to strike, in the process causing the temperature under Gen Buell's collar to rise substantially.

Flag Officer Foote telegraphed Washington from Cairo: "I leave early to-morrow with four armored gunboats on an expedition cooperating with the Army. Senior officer will telegraph you during my absence. Nothing new about the mortars. Twenty-nine men shipped from regiments yesterday and three to-day."

U.S.S. Portsmouth, under Commander Swartwout, captured blockade running steamer Labuan at the mouth of the Rio Grande River with cargo of cotton. U.S.S. Montgomery, commanded by Lieutenant Jouett, also captured schooner Isabel in the Gulf of Mexico.

President Lincoln writes letter of sympathy to Queen Victoria of England on the death of her husband and discusses with Sec Seward and Cong Ely (N.Y.), recently in prison in Richmond, the advisability of placing Confederate privateers detained in New York and Philadelphia harbors on a footing of prisoners of war. He directs the U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia to refrain from arresting or committing fugitive slaves. Ethan Allen Hitchcock, USA, was appointed to Major General.

_________________
Gen Ned Simms
2/XVI Corps/AotT
Blood 'n Guts hisself, a land lovin' pirate. Show me some arty tubes and we'll charge 'em.
VMI Class of '00

February 2, 1862 Sunday
Only a small skirmish in Morgan County, Tennessee marked the day in fighting, but the expedition assembling on the Ohio at the mouth of the Tennessee River was rapidly taking shape.

U.S.S. Hartford, commanded by Flag Officer Farragut, departed Hampton Roads for Ship Island, Mississippi, where Farragut took command of the Western Gulf Blockading Squadron preparatory to the assault on New Orleans.

In his battle plan and orders to gunboats, Flag Officer Foote emphasized the need for coolness and precision of fire: "Let it be also distinctly impressed upon the mind of every man firing a gun that, while the first shot may be either of too much elevation or too little, there is no excuse for a second wild fire, as the first will indicate the inaccuracy of the aim of the gun, which must be elevated or depressed, or trained, as circumstances require. Let it be reiterated that random firing is not only a mere waste of ammunition, but, what is far worse, it encourages the enemy when he sees shot and shell falling harmlessly about and beyond him . . . The Commander in Chief has every confidence in the spirit and valor of officers and men under his command, and his only solicitude arises lest the firing should be too rapid for precision, and that coolness and order, so essential to complete success, should not be observed, and hence he has in this general order expressed his views, which must be observed by all under his command. "He directed Lieutenant S. L. Phelps, upon the surrender of Fort Henry, to proceed with "Conestoga, Tyler, and Lexington up the river to where the railroad bridge crosses, and, if the army shall not already have got possession, he will destroy so much of the track as will entirely prevent its use by the rebels. He will then proceed as far up the river as the stage of water will admit and capture the enemy's gunboats and other vessels which might prove available to the enemy."

Sen. Sumner (Mass.) introduces Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet and philosopher, to President Lincoln, who reviews the case of slave trader Capt. Gordon during the interview. In a conversation with Cong Conway (Kans.) President Lincoln states that Gen Lane was appointed with the understanding that he serve under Gen Hunter.

_________________
Gen Ned Simms
2/XVI Corps/AotT
Blood 'n Guts hisself, a land lovin' pirate. Show me some arty tubes and we'll charge 'em.
VMI Class of '00

February 3, 1862 Monday
Troop transports were moving from Cairo to Paducah, Kentucky and the gunboat fleet began heading up the Tennessee River or south toward Fort Henry. In very quiet Virginia there was a Federal reconnaissance to Occuquan Village.

In Washington President Lincoln writes the King of Siam thanking him for gifts including "a sword" and "two elephant tusks." Lincoln accepts the items for the "American People," and not for his "personal" use. President Lincoln deftly declined the offer of war elephants from the King of Siam because the nation “does not reach a latitude so low as to favor the multiplication of the elephant.” ( http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/te ... oln5%3A269 ) More importantly, he brought out in a letter to Gen McClellan the conflict between their ideas of operations in Virginia. President Lincoln urged him to go directly overland south, while McClellan favored landing on the coast and then moving on Richmond. ( http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/te ... oln5%3A267 ) Meanwhile, Gen McClellan was answering the President’s General War Order with a letter to Sec of War Stanton ( http://www.familytales.org/dbDisplay.php?id=ltr_gbm7128 ).

The Administration decided that crews of captured privateers were to be considered prisoners of war. In the U.S. Senate Zachariah Chandler of Michigan presented a resolution from the Michigan legislature which urged the putting down of insurrection, confiscation of property of Southerners, and abolition of slavery. This was similar to many petitions and pleas coming to Congress at this time, while in the other direction there were those who protested the trend toward making it a war against slavery.

Gov Morton (Ind.) calls on President Lincoln and asks to withdraw his recommendation of Col George W. Hazzard for brigadier general.

C.S.S. Nashville, commanded by Lieutenant Robert B. Pegram, departed Southampton, England. H.M.S. Shannon stood by to enforce the Admiralty ruling that U.S.S. Tuscarora could not leave the port for twenty-four hours after the sailing of the Nashville.

The following appointments were made to Brigadier General: John Wynn Davidson, USA; William Scott Ketcham, USA; and Thomas Francis Meagher, USA.

_________________
Gen Ned Simms
2/XVI Corps/AotT
Blood 'n Guts hisself, a land lovin' pirate. Show me some arty tubes and we'll charge 'em.
VMI Class of '00

February 4, 1862 Tuesday
Federal troops began landing in the rain on the soggy banks the Tennessee River north of Fort Henry, as gunboats carried out a reconnaissance to the fort on the east bank of the river just south of the Kentucky-Tennessee state line. Brigadier General Lloyd Tilghman, gallant defender of Fort Henry, informed General John B. Floyd: "Gunboats and transports in Tennessee River. Enemy landing in force 5 miles below Fort Henry." After initiating the debarkation of troops below Fort Henry, Flag Officer Foote, in U.S.S. Cincinnati with General Grant on board, took the four ironclad gunboats that he had been able to man up the Tennessee for reconnoitering, and exchanged shots with the Confederate gunners. Torpedoes, planted in the river but torn loose by the flooding waters, floated by. Foote had some fished out for inspection. He and Grant went aft to watch the disassembling of one. According to a reminiscence, suddenly there was a strange hiss. The deck was rapidly cleared. Grant beat Foote to the top of the ladder. When Foote asked the General about his hurry, Grant replied that "the Army did not believe in letting the Navy get ahead of it."

In Richmond the Virginia house of delegates discussed enrolling free Negroes in the Confederate Army; Sec of War Judah P. Benjamin cracked down on speculators, particularly in sales of saltpeter needed for powder; and the Richmond Examiner felt “that the Southern people are not sufficiently alive to the necessity of exertion in the struggle they are involved in. Better to fight even at the risk of losing battles, than remain inactive to fill up inglorious graves.” Meanwhile, Confederate generals appealed to troops whose terms were about to expire to reenlist.

President Lincoln grants Capt Gordon ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Gordon ) a stay of execution until February 21, 1862. ( http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/te ... oln5%3A273 )

_________________
Gen Ned Simms
2/XVI Corps/AotT
Blood 'n Guts hisself, a land lovin' pirate. Show me some arty tubes and we'll charge 'em.
VMI Class of '00

February 5, 1862 Wednesday
Troops continued to file ashore north of Fort Henry on the Tennessee River to cooperate with the gunboats in the coming Federal attack. They were to move on the fort early on the 6th. Gen C.F. Smith’s force was sent west of the river to take Fort Heiman, unfinished, on the bluffs above Fort Henry. It was found evacuated. Confederate Brig Gen Lloyd Tilghman, with somewhat over 3,000 men in partly inundated Fort Henry, feared the worst but prepared for defense.

Indiana senator Jesse D. Bright was expelled from the U.S. Senate by a vote of 32 to 14 for alleged complicity with enemies of the United States. In Britain Queen Victoria lifted all prohibitions against shipping gunpowder, arms, ammunition, and military stores from the United Kingdom.

U.S.S. Keystone State, under Commander William E. Le Roy, captured British blockade runner Mars with cargo of salt off Fernandina, Florida.

Colonel James H. Carleton, 1st California Infantry, USA, resumes command of the District of Southern California.

_________________
Gen Ned Simms
2/XVI Corps/AotT
Blood 'n Guts hisself, a land lovin' pirate. Show me some arty tubes and we'll charge 'em.
VMI Class of '00

February 6, 1862 Thursday
Threatened by land and water, Confederate Brig Gen Lloyd Tilghman decided to save the major part of his Fort Henry garrison, sending all but some artillerists and those on a hospital boat across country to stronger Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River. Tilghman himself stayed behind to do what he could to defend the fort on the Tennessee River and delay pursuit. Due to the high water, rain, and bad roads, the Federal troops did not get under way until late morning. About 11 AM Flag Officer Andrew Foote with his four ironclads followed by three wooden gunboats moved upstream, firing rapidly into the almost open fort. The defenders gallantly replied, striking the flotilla with 59 shots, a few of them causing damage. The boiler of Essex was pierced and scalded 28 officers and men. Cincinnati was also struck. In the fort a shell exploded near the mouth of a 32 pounder, wrecking the gun and crew. Another gun blew up. Shortly before 2 PM Tilghman lowered his flag and surrendered 12 officers, 66 men, and 16 patients on the hospital boat to Flag Officer Foote. The Confederates lost 5 killed, 6 wounded, 5 disabled, and 5 missing for a total of 21 casualties, but saved the main garrison. In Foote’s Federal squadron 11 died, 31 were injured, and 5 were missing for a total of 47 casualties. Meanwhile, Grant’s army of over 15,000, slogging through the mire, missed the fight. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Henry and http://americancivilwar.com/statepic/tn/tn001.html and http://civilwar.bluegrass.net/battles-c ... 20206.html

With the fall of Fort Henry, a major impediment to Federal advancement south was removed; an important river highway, bypassing the Mississippi River, was opened. But about 10 miles away on the Cumberland River a much more formidable fortification, Fort Donelson, still stood in the way. Foote immediately took his ironclads north for repairs and then planned to go around and ascend the Cumberland River from the Ohio. The three wooden gunboats proceeded on a raid up the Tennessee River to Florence, Alabama. Over at Fort Donelson, Brig Gen Bushrod R. Johnson succeeded Tilghman in command and called for reinforcements. General Albert S. Johnston, CSA, noted the results of the action: "The capture of that Fort [Henry] by the enemy gives them the control of the navigation of the Tennessee River, and their gunboats are now ascending the river to Florence . . . Should Fort Donelson be taken it will open the route to the enemy to Nashville, giving them the means of breaking the bridges and destroying the ferryboats on the river as far as navigable."

In South Carolina there was a Federal reconnaissance to Wright River. President Davis spent valuable time writing discontented officers over frictions in command. President Lincoln approves withholding pensions of Southern sympathizers.

U.S.S. Sciota, commanded by Lieutenant Edward Donaldson, captured sloop Margaret off Isle au Breton, attempting to run the blockade with cargo of cotton. C.S.S. Louisiana launched at Jefferson City, Louisiana. Delay followed delay in completing the machinery for this large ironclad which would have been a powerful addition to the defense of New Orleans.

_________________
Gen Ned Simms
2/XVI Corps/AotT
Blood 'n Guts hisself, a land lovin' pirate. Show me some arty tubes and we'll charge 'em.
VMI Class of '00

February 7, 1862 Friday
Gen Grant made a personal reconnaissance of Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River near Dover, Tennessee, and his force established itself near captured Fort Henry. The gunboats moved back down the Tennessee River to the Ohio River, preparatory to ascending the Cumberland River to Fort Donelson. Confederate Gen A.S. Johnston, realizing his Kentucky line had been wrecked, hurried troops into Donelson. Gen Gideon Pillow from Clarksville, Tennessee and Gen John B. Floyd from Russellville, Kentucky were ordered to Donelson. At Bowling Green, Kentucky, Johnston, Beauregard, and William Joseph Hardee met to discuss the extremely serious situation. The populace North and South soon heard the news of the momentous, or tragic, breakthrough.

U.S.S. Conestoga, commanded by Lieutenant S. L. Phelps, forced Confederates on the Tennessee River to abandon and burn steamers Samuel Orr, Appleton Belle, and Lynn Boyd to prevent their falling into Union hands. Samuel Orr was loaded with torpedoes, "which," Phelps observed, "very soon exploded; the second one was freighted with powder, cannon, shot, grape, balls, etc. Fearing an explosion from the fired boats (there were two together), I had stopped at a distance of 1,000 yards; but even there our skylights were broken by the concussion; the light upper deck was raised bodily, doors were forced open, and locks and fastenings everywhere broken. The whole river for half a mile around about was completely beaten up by the failing fragments and the shower of shot, grape, balls, etc."

Brigadier General John A. McClernand, wrote Flag Officer Foote that he was giving the name Fort Foote to the captured Fort Henry. He congratulated the Flag Officer: "As an acknowledgment of the consummate skill with which you brought your gunboats into action yesterday, and of the address and bravery displayed by yourself and your command, I have taken the liberty of giving the late Fort Henry the new and more appropriate name of Fort Foote. Please pardon the liberty I have taken without first, securing your concurrence, as I am hardly disposed to do, considering the liberty which you took in capturing the fort yesterday without my cooperation. "Meanwhile, Tennessee Governor Isham G. Harris advised Confederate Secretary of War Benjamin from Nashville: "Fort Henry fell yesterday. Memphis and Clarksville Railroad bridge over Tennessee River destroyed. A large increase of force to defend this [state] from Cumberland Gap to Columbus is an absolute and imperative necessity. If not successfully defended, the injury is irreparable."

U.S.S. Bohio, Acting Master William D. Gregory, captured schooner Eugenie Smith, en route from Havana to Matamoras.

After laboriously moving vessels over the shallow bar at Hatteras Inlet on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Ambrose E. Burnside’s Federal expedition headed toward Roanoke Island. Commodore Louis M. Goldsborough’s squadron attacked and routed the few underarmed, makeshift Confederate naval defenders, while in the afternoon and evening Burnside landed his troops on the island. Meanwhile, to the north, Federals reoccupied Romny, western Virginia as Confederates pulled back toward Winchester, Virginia. There was a small expedition and skirmish at Flint Hill and Hunter’s Mill, Virginia. Federal batteries shelled Harper’s Ferry briefly.

In the White House in Washington Willie Lincoln, youngest son of the President, lay critically ill and President Lincoln spends most of the day with him. President Lincoln interviews a delegation from Congress interested in settling the argument between Gen Hunter and Gen Lane. He borrows "Emerson's Representative Men" from the Library of Congress.

This will give you some inkling of what is about to occur the rest of this year - http://americancivilwar.com/tl/tl1862.html .

_________________
Gen Ned Simms
2/XVI Corps/AotT
Blood 'n Guts hisself, a land lovin' pirate. Show me some arty tubes and we'll charge 'em.
VMI Class of '00

February 8, 1862 Saturday
Gen Burnside with about 7,500 Federals quickly moved inland on Roanoke Island against less than 2,000 men of Confederate Gen Henry A. Wise. Wise was ill and his force was temporarily under Col H.M. Shaw in the field. Advancing rapidly to the center of the low-lying, sandy, tree covered island, Burnside’s troops attacked and overran the inferios Confederate entrenchments, pushing the enemy to the north end of the island. Col Shaw had no recourse but to surrender something over 2,000 men, including some reinforcements that came in too late for the fight and garrisons of batteries along the shore. Casualties were 23 killed and 62 wounded for the Confederates, and 37 killed, 214 wounded, and 13 missing for the Federals. There were also moderate casualties among the naval forces involved. Thirty guns fell into Federal hands. While a relatively small engagement from the standpoint of forces and casualties, Roanoke Island had considerable importance. Control of Pamlico Sound gave the Federals a first-rate base on the Atlantic coast for operations against North Carolina. At the Confederate capital the seriousness of the defeat was deeply felt; a back door to Richmond had been opened and a vital Southern state dangerously threatened. The Confederate government, newspapers, and citizenry saw Roanoke Island in a much truer light than later historians, who have dismissed it as a minor operation. Also, it came at a time when word of the fall of Fort Henry was spreading over the land and as the obvious threat to Fort Donelson was developing. Depression in the Confederacy fed on constant bad news. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Roanoke_Island and http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/ba ... anoke.html and http://www.americancivilwar.com/statepic/nc/nc002.html

A Confederate gunner captured at Fort Henry made the following statement attesting to the extreme effectiveness of U.S.S. Carondelet's gunfire during the attack: "The center boat, or the boat with the red stripes around the top of her smokestacks, was the boat which caused the greatest execution. It was one of her guns which threw a ball against the muzzle of one of our guns, disabling it for the remainder of the contest. The Carondelet (as I subsequently found her name to be) at each shot committed more damage than any other boat. She was the object of our hatred, and many a gun from the fort was leveled at her alone. To her I give more credit than any other boat in capturing one of our strongest places." The success of Flag Officer Foote's armored gunboats spread panic and exaggerated their capabilities in Confederate as well as Union minds. General Johnston wrote in a letter to the Confederate War Department: "The slight resistance at Fort Henry indicates that the best open earthworks arc not reliable to meet successfully a vigorous attack of ironclad gunboats." He concluded that Fort Donelson would also fall. This would open the way to Nashville. "The occurrence of the misfortune of losing the fort will cut off the communication of the force here under General Hardee from the south bank of the Cumberland. To avoid the disastrous consequences of such an event, I ordered General Hardee yesterday to make, as promptly as it could be done, preparations to fall back to Nashville and cross the river. The movements of the enemy on my right flank would have made a retrograde in that direction to confront the enemy indispensable in a short time. But the probability of having the ferriage of this army corps across the Cumberland intercepted by the gunboats of the enemy admits of no delay in making the movement. Generals Beauregard and Hardee are, equally with myself, impressed with the necessity of withdrawing our force from this line at once."

Captain Buchanan ordered C.S.S. Patrick Henry, under Commander Tucker, and C.S.S. Jamestown, commanded by Lieutenant Joseph N. Barney, to be kept in a constant state of readiness "to cooperate with the Merrimack when that ship is ready for service."

U.S.S. Conestoga, commanded by Lieutenant S. L. Phelps, seized steamers Sallie Wood and Muscle at Chickasaw, Alabama. The Confederates destroyed three other vessels to prevent their capture, bringing the total losses resulting from the fall of Fort Henry to nine.

There was a skirmish at the mouth of the Blue Stone River, western Virginia; a small affair at Bolivar, Missouri; and martial law was declared throughout Kansas.

President Lincoln worried about his son, who was ill of typhoid. He asked McClellan if he had any further news from the West; what had happened to canal boats sent up to Harper’s Ferry to bridge the Potomac? What about his contemplated movement? President Lincoln receives a petition from the citizens of Colorado requesting removal of Gov Gilpin (Colo. Terr.) following repudiation of government drafts issued by him to pay for military equipment, and appointment of W. Larimer, Jr.

_________________
Gen Ned Simms
2/XVI Corps/AotT
Blood 'n Guts hisself, a land lovin' pirate. Show me some arty tubes and we'll charge 'em.
VMI Class of '00

February 9, 1862 Sunday
In the West at Fort Donelson, Tennessee on the Cumberland River, Confederate Brig Gen Gideon J. Pillow assumed command of the increased forces, as delays upset Grant’s original timetable for taking the fort. At Roanoke Island, North Carolina there were cleanup operations by the victorious Federals. A light skirmish occurred at Marshfield, Missouri.

In Washington the War Department ordered the imprisonment of Malcom Ives, a correspondent of the New York Herald, on spying charges. Brig Gen Charles P. Stone was also arrested in Washington and sent to Fort Lafayette in New York Harbor without specific charges. He had been the Federal commander at the ill-fated Battle of Ball’s Bluff in the fall of 1861, and allegedly had consorted with the enemy. Never brought to trial or actually charged, he was released Aug 16, 1862. The Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, Sec of War Stanton, Gen McClellan, and President Lincoln have been blamed for what is now generally believed to have been an unjust act. The case was a cause célèbre in the press of the day. Prayer for President Lincoln being omitted from a church service results in the arrest of an Alexandria, Virginia clergyman. During Sunday afternoon in the War Dept, Sec. Stanton accuses Thomas T. Eckert, superintendent of military telegraphs, of neglecting his duties. President Lincoln is present and defends Eckert.

_________________
Gen Ned Simms
2/XVI Corps/AotT
Blood 'n Guts hisself, a land lovin' pirate. Show me some arty tubes and we'll charge 'em.
VMI Class of '00

February 10, 1862 Monday
Following the capture of Roanoke Island, a naval flotilla, including embarked Marines, under Commander Rowan in U.S.S. Delaware ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Delaware_(1861) ), pursuing Flag Officer Lynch's retiring Confederate naval force up the Pasquotank River, engaged the gunboats and batteries at Elizabeth City, North Carolina. C.S.S. Ellis was captured ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSS_Ellis ) and C.S.S. Seabird was sunk ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSS_Sea_Bird ); C.S.S. Appomattox ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSS_Appomattox ), Black Warrior ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSS_Black_Warrior ), Fanny ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSS_Fanny ), and Forrest ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSS_Forrest ) were set on fire to avoid capture; the fort and batteries at Cobb's Point were destroyed. Of Commander Rowan's success, Admiral Daniel Ammen later wrote: "Nothing more brilliant in naval 'dash' occurred during the entire Civil War than appears in this attack." One example of "dash" was called to Flag Officer L. M. Goldsborough's attention by Commander Rowan. "I would respectfully call your attention to one incident of the engagement which reflects much credit upon a quarter gunner of the Valley City ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Valley_City_(1859) ) and for which Congress has provided rewards in the shape of medals. A shot passed through her magazine and exploded in a locker beyond containing fireworks. The commander, Lieutenant Commander Chaplain, went there to aid in suppressing the fire, where he found John Davis, quarter gunner, seated with commendable coolness on an open barrel of powder as the only means to keep the fire out." For demonstrating such courage, "while at the same time passing powder to provide the division on the upper deck while under fierce enemy fire," Davis was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by General Order 11, 3 April 1863. Soon Burnside and his men had firm control of the coastal area and turned their attention to New Berne. On the coast in South Carolina there was a skirmish at Barnwell’s Island. In the West the three Union wooden gunboats that had moved up the Tennessee River to Florence, Alabama after Fort Henry’s fall returned. Grant’s buildup against Fort Donelson was nearing completion.

Flag Officer Foote, amidst repairing battle damages and working feverishly to get other gunboats ready, received repeated requests from Major General Halleck to "send gunboats up the Cumberland. Two will answer if he can send no more. They must precede the transports. I am straining every nerve to send troops to take Dover and Clarksville. Troops are on their way. All we want is gunboats to precede the transports. "

General Robert E. Lee wrote Confederate Secretary of War Benjamin: "From the reports of General Mercer as to the inability of the batteries of Saint Simon's and Jekyl Islands to withstand the attack of the enemy's fleet, the isolated condition of those islands, and the impossibility of reinforcing him with guns or men, I have given him authority, should he retain that opinion upon a calm review of the whole subject, to act according to his discretion; and, if deemed advisable by him, to withdraw to the mainland, and take there a defensible position for the protection of the country . . ."

Captain Buchanan reported that Merrimack had not yet received her crew, "not withstanding all my efforts to procure them from the Army." Shortage of trained seamen restricted the Confederacy's efforts to build naval strength.

James Patton Anderson, CSA, was appointed to Brigadier General.

At the White House, Willie is reported much better today, but Tad is thought to have contracted the same illness.

_________________
Gen Ned Simms
2/XVI Corps/AotT
Blood 'n Guts hisself, a land lovin' pirate. Show me some arty tubes and we'll charge 'em.
VMI Class of '00

February 11, 1862 Tuesday
Gen John A. McClernand’s Federals led the advance from Fort Henry across toward Fort Donelson as Grant’s army began its march. Foote’s Federal gunboats were moving from the Tennessee River to the Ohio River at Paducah and thence up the Cumberland River. For the Confederates, Brig Gen Simon Bolivar Buckner arrived at Fort Donelson as more troops came in. Confederates began evacuating Bowling Green, Kentucky leaving only Columbus on the now useless Kentucky line. In South Carolina Edisto Island was occupied by Federals, and there were three days of activity at Aransas Pass, Texas.

Flag Officer Foote, foreseeing the realities of the situation into which he was being pulled by the tide of events, wrote Secretary of the Navy Welles: "I leave [Cairo] again to-night with the Louisville, Pittsburg, and St. Louis for the Cumberland River, to cooperate with the army in the attack on Fort Donelson . . . I shall do all in my power to render the gunboats effective in the fight, although they are not properly manned . . . If we could wait ten days, and I had men, I would go with eight mortar boats and six armored boats and conquer." Despite the serious difficulties they faced, Foote and his gunboat fleet made what General Grant was to term admiringly "a gallant attack."

The USS Pensacola reaches Key West after colliding with a reef http://civilwarflorida.blogspot.com/201 ... -hits.html .

President Lincoln meets with Sec Seward and Sens Wade (Ohio) and Chandler (Mich) to hear the stenographic report of testimony relative to Gen Stone.

_________________
Gen Ned Simms
2/XVI Corps/AotT
Blood 'n Guts hisself, a land lovin' pirate. Show me some arty tubes and we'll charge 'em.
VMI Class of '00

February 12, 1862 Wednesday
By evening the lines had been firmly drawn at Fort Donelson, Tennessee on the Cumberland River. Grant’s army was ranged in a semicircle upon hills near the fort and town of Dover, awaiting the help of the gunboat attack. Confederates could still bring in men from across the river to the east, but a mild form of siege had begun. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/ba ... elson.html

Federal naval forces captured Edenton, North Carolina as they expanded their operations from Roanoke Island. There was skirmishing at Moorefield, western Virginia and Springfield, Missouri where Confederates pulled farther southwest. President Lincoln spends much time with sick son Willie.

The following appointments were made to Brigadier General: Howell Cobb, CSA; George Wythe Randolph, CSA; and Henry Morris Naglee, USA.

_________________
Gen Ned Simms
2/XVI Corps/AotT
Blood 'n Guts hisself, a land lovin' pirate. Show me some arty tubes and we'll charge 'em.
VMI Class of '00

February 13, 1862 Thursday
At Fort Donelson the fighting began. On the Federal left C.F. Smith launched an attack and on the right McClernand’s front saw action. John B. Floyd arrived with more troops and took over Confederate command from Pillow. More troops came in for Grant. The gunboat Carondelet bombarded the fort in the morning. The fair and mild weather suddenly changed in the afternoon to sleety rain, with ten above zero that night. The siege was on.

Over at Fort Heiman on the Tennessee River there was a brief skirmish. At Bowling Green, Kentucky being evacuated by the Confederates, fire destroyed a number of buildings. Out in Missouri Springfield was once more occupied by Federal troops, and in North Carolina a Federal expedition left North River for the Albemarle Canal.

U.S.S. Pembina, commanded by Lieutenant John P. Bankhead, discovered a battery of "tin-can" torpedoes, (mines) while engaged in sounding Savannah River above the mouth of Wright's River. The mines, only visible at low tide, were connected by wires and moored individually to the bottom. The following day, Bankhead returned and effected the removal of one of the "infernal machines" for purposes of examination. On the 15th, Bankhead "deemed it more prudent to endeavor to sink the remaining ones than to attempt to remove them," and sank the mines by rifle fire. Torpedoes were planted in large numbers in the harbors and rivers of the Confederacy, constituting a major hazard which Union commanders had to consider and reckon with in planning operations.

Meeting in Wheeling, the West Virginia Constitutional Convention adopted a provision that no slave or free person of color should come into the state for permanent residence. The White House borrows "Goethe's Werke v. 14/15, v. 17/18" from Library of Congress.

James Ronald Chalmers, CSA, and Joseph Brevard Kershaw, CSA, were appointed to Brigadier General.

_________________
Gen Ned Simms
2/XVI Corps/AotT
Blood 'n Guts hisself, a land lovin' pirate. Show me some arty tubes and we'll charge 'em.
VMI Class of '00

February 14, 1862 Friday
Four ironclads and two wooden gunboats carried on the day’s fighting against Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River, while the land side was largely static. Grant’s expectations that the Federal squadron would be able to repeat Fort Henry were dashed, for after heavy bombardment and fearsome damage, the gunboats were forced to withdraw downstream to the north. “Pandemonium itself would hardly have been more appalling,” a Confederate exclaimed. Flag Officer Foote was wounded and his ironclads St Louis and Louisville drifted away helpless, their steering mechanism shot away. Two others were badly struck and the wooden vessels could not face the well-posted fire of the Confederate fort on the bluff, which suffered little. The cold weather continued and two discouraged armies still faced each other at nightfall. A council of Confederate generals determined that a breakout by Pillow, followed by the rest of the command, would be made on the Federal right toward the south.

Armed boat from U.S.S. Restless, commanded by Acting Lieutenant Edward Conroy, captured and destroyed sloop Edisto and schooners Wandoo, Elizabeth, and Theodore Stoney off Bull's Bay, South Carolina; all ships carried heavy cargoes of rice for Charleston. Confederate ships sank obstructions in Cape Fear River near Fort Caswell, North Carolina, in an effort to block the channel. U.S.S. Galena, experimental seagoing ironclad, launched at Mystic, Connecticut.

The rear guard of Gen Hardee’s remnants finally left the Kentucky town of Bowling Green and Federals soon marched in. Grant was assigned by the War Department to command the District of West Tennessee and William Tecumseh Sherman was given the District of Cairo. In other fighting there was skirmishing near Cumberland Gap, Kentucky; at Crane Creek, Missouri; and at Bloomery, western Virginia.

In Washington and Richmond news from the West was anxiously awaited. Meanwhile, President Lincoln granted amnesty to all political prisoners who would take an oath not to aid the rebellion. Joseph Lewis Hogg, CSA, was appointed to Brigadier General.

_________________
Gen Ned Simms
2/XVI Corps/AotT
Blood 'n Guts hisself, a land lovin' pirate. Show me some arty tubes and we'll charge 'em.
VMI Class of '00