American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

August 28, 1864 Sunday
Sherman was advancing now. Thomas and the Army of the Cumberland reached Red Oak on the Montgomery and Atlanta or West Point Railroad while Howard and his Army of the Tennessee were near Fairburn on the railroad. Schofield with the Army of the Ohio was near Mount Gilead Church. Meanwhile, the Twentieth Corps under Maj Gen Henry W. Slocum ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Warner_Slocum ) held the Union lines around Atlanta. During the advance fighting broke out at Red Oak and Sandtown.

Sheridan advanced to Charles Town, West Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley with no opposition, although light skirmishes took place at Leetown and Smithfield, West Virginia. In Charleston Harbor Union Army plans to “shake” the remaining walls of Fort Sumter to pieces by exploding a raft loaded with powder came to nought when the blast went off harmlessly with little or no damage to the fort. Other action included skirmishing near Rocheport and in Polk County, Missouri; at Fayetteville, Arkansas; and an affair near Holly Springs, Mississippi. Walter Husted Stevens, CSA, is appointed to Brigadier General.

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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

August 29, 1864 Monday
Confederates were on the move again in the Trans-Mississippi. Maj Gen Sterling Price ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterling_Price ) assumed command of a new expeditionary force at Princeton, Arkansas. Price hoped to recover Missouri for the South. The expedition lasted until Dec 2 and involved extensive fighting.

Sherman’s army in Georgia continued its preliminary operations for the major move toward Jonesborough. Skirmishing at Red Oak Station and near Sandtown marked Confederate probing operations. In the Shenandoah Valley Sheridan moved forward and Federal troops won an engagement at Smithfield Crossing of the Opequon. Skirmishing broke out at Charles Town, West Virginia. Federal operations near Greeneville, Tennessee against John Hunt Morgan’s troops lasted several days. In addition, fights are recorded as being near Ghent, Kentucky and Milton, Florida. Confederates attacked the steamer White Cloud on the Mississippi River near Port Hudson, Louisiana. A four-day Federal expedition moved up the White River from Helena, Arkansas. Five sailors were killed and nine injured when a torpedo exploded at Mobile Bay during operations by the Union Navy to remove obstructions.

The Democratic National Convention gathered in Chicago determined to nominate a candidate who could defeat Lincoln and settle the war issues. August Belmont told the convention that “Four years of misrule by a sectional, fanatical and corrupt party, have brought our country to the verge of ruin.” Committees were formed and work began. Maj Gen George B. McClellan’s was the prominent name being discussed as presidential candidate.

_________________
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

August 30, 1864 Tuesday
Sherman severed one of the last two railroads into Atlanta and marched rapidly toward the Macon line. Atlanta was in dire danger. Hood countered late in the day by sending his own old corps under Cleburne ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Cleburne ) and S.D. Lee’s corps to attack the Federal flank at Jonesborough. Sherman had his three armies separated considerably and they were more than Hood could cover. Fighting broke out near East Point, Flint River Bridge, and Jonesborough.

In the Shenandoah Valley Sheridan shifted more of his troops toward Berryville with the clear intention of threatening Winchester once more. A skirmish erupted near Smithfield, West Virginia. Maj Gen George Crook ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Crook ) replaced the ineffective Maj Gen David Hunter in command of the Federal Department of West Virginia. A skirmish took place near Dardanelle, Arkansas. A four-day Federal expedition operated to Natchez Bayou, Louisiana.

The Democrats meeting in Chicago adopted a platform and placed names in nomination for President. Maj Gen George B. McClellan and Thomas H. Seymour, former governor of Connecticut, were named. Sen L.W. Powell of Kentucky and former President Franklin Pierce withdrew their nominations. The aggressive platform called for fidelity to the Union under the Constitution and complained that the Administration had failed to restore the Union “by the experiment of war,” had disregarded the Constitution, and trodden down public liberty and private rights. It proclaimed that “justice, humanity, liberty and the public welfare demand that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to an ultimate convention of the States, or other peaceable means, to the end that at the earliest practicable moment peace may be restored on the basis of the Federal Union of the States.” Thus the Democrats made a strong bid for peace. They also deplored the alleged interference of the military in state elections and announced “That the aim and object of the Democratic party is to preserve the Federal Union and the rights of the States unimpaired.” They charged “administrative usurpation of extraordinary and dangerous powers not granted by the constitution,” arbitrary arrests, subversion of civil by military law, test oaths, and interference with the right of people to bear arms in their defense. The convention thus adopted, for the most part, the program of the Peace Democrats and Copperheads, a platform diametrically opposed to that of Lincoln and the Administration, let alone the Radical Republicans.

_________________
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

August 31, 1864 Wednesday
The Democrats balloted in Chicago for the presidential nomination, with Maj Gen George B. McClellan ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_B._McClellan ) receiving 174 votes on the first ballot to 38 for Thomas H. Seymour, 12 for Horatio Seymour, and a few others scattered. Revised, as states changed notes, McClellan swept the field with 202.5 to 28.5 for Thomas H. Seymour. Clement L. Vallandigham, the notorious Ohio Copperhead back from exile in the South and Canada, and who had much to do with the platform, moved McClellan’s nomination be unanimous. George H. Pendleton ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._Pendleton ) of Ohio received the vice-presidential nomination on the second ballot.

Hardee with two corps of Hood’s Confederate army attacked the entrenched positions of O.O. Howard’s Army of the Tennessee near Jonesborough, south of Atlanta ( http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/jonesborough.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Jonesborough ). The strong midafternoon drive nevertheless lacked the effectiveness of previous attacks and was seriously repulsed. Federal losses are put at 170 killed and wounded out of an estimated 15,000 or more. Southern losses are put at possibly 1725 out of 25,000 present for duty. To the north, at Rough and Ready Station Schofield’s Army of the Ohio cut the Macon and Western Railroad between Jonesborough and Atlanta, after some fighting. Hood got the disturbing news by courier. Sherman that night ordered Slocum to enter Atlanta if possible. Further activity against the Macon Railroad was ordered. It appeared that Sherman was more interested in securing Atlanta than in cutting off Hood’s retreat.

There was still another skirmish in the Shenandoah Valley, this time at Martinsburg, West Virginia. Fighting also occurred at Clifton, Tennessee and Steelville, Missouri. Blockade running British steamer Mary Bowers ran aground between Rattlesnake Shoals and Long Island, South Carolina, and was a total loss. She was bound for Charleston where, it was reported, she was to load a cargo of cotton for Halifax.

_________________
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

September 1, 1864 Thursday
Explosions and fires broke out at night around Atlanta’s railroad depot and yards. Hood, beset by Sherman’s encircling force to the south at Jonesborough and fearing a direct attack on the city, evacuated, beginning in the late afternoon. Time did not remain to remove the extensive munitions and other supplies, so they went up in flames along with a great deal of railroad equipment ( http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/at ... lanta.html ). Like his predecessor, Johnston, Hood now was intent on saving his army for a better day. However, without question, Hood had failed in his major task, to fight and hold Atlanta.

At Jonesborough Hood had moved S.D. Lee’s corps back toward Atlanta but it was halted at Rough and Ready. Howard’s army and units of Thomas and Schofield opposed Hardee’s corps. Shortly after noon the Battle of Jonesborough reopened. After furious fighting Federals all but eliminated two Confederate brigades, although other forces held on. At nightfall Hardee pulled back to join Hood at Lovejoy’s Station, where the Army of Tennessee was reassembling after the retreat. Losses in the two days at Jonesborough numbered at least 1450 for the Federals and are unrecorded for the Confederates. Forces engaged varied, but Confederates outnumbered Federals Aug 31, and the balance was reversed Sept 1.

Sheridan’s Union army regrouped and began to threaten Winchester, Virginia once more. One of many skirmishes flared along Opequon Creek north of Winchester. Another Northern powder raft exploded without effect at Fort Sumter. Skirmishes broke out at Tipton, Missouri and Fort Smith and Beatty’s Mill, Arkansas. Scouts and cavalry operated in Johnson County, Missouri. During most of the month Federals scouted from Camp Grant to the North Fork of the Eel River, California. Federal operations against Indians in the Trinity River Valley, California continued through the fall. Giles Alexander Smith, USA, is 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

September 2, 1864 Friday
“Fairly won” were the words Sherman used to inform Washington that his army had taken Atlanta. On the other side Hood had fought and lost and was gathering together his army around Lovejoy’s Station, southeast of Atlanta, northwest of Macon, Georgia. Slocum’s corps actually entered the battered city in the morning and Slocum hastened the word of the city’s capitulation to Sherman, who was moving toward Lovejoy’s Station and Hood. There was action for several days around Lovejoy’s but Sherman pulled back to Atlanta to reorganize, breathe, and plan. Likewise, Hood had to reorganize his shattered elements, rest the strong ones, and plan. Back on the Union supply lines there was skirmishing at Glass Bridge and Big Shanty, Georgia and a considerable amount of scouting as usual.

Although fighting was light at Darkesville and Bunker Hill, West Virginia, it would soon be different – Sheridan obviously planned an offensive toward the Shenandoah. Lee pressed Early to return troops loaned to him, as Lee felt their absence at Petersburg. On that front, Federals operated beyond Yellow Tavern on the Weldon Railroad south of Petersburg (not the same Yellow Tavern where Stuart fell).

Secondary action also increased, with skirmishing at The Tannery near Little Rock and near Quitman, Arkansas; at Mount Vernon, Missouri; and near Union City, Tennessee. Federal expeditions operated on the Blackwater and on the Little Blue in Jackson County, Missouri. Guerrillas raided Owensborough, Kentucky.

President Lincoln talked with various observers and political leaders to get the “feel” of the nation in respect to the coming election. At the Headquarters of the Army of Northern Virginia, Gen Lee was perturbed over the “importance of immediate and vigorous means to increase the strength of our armies….” He wrote President Davis that Negroes should be substituted for whites “in every place in the army or connected with it when the former can be used.” He urged tightening rules for enlistments and exemptions all along the line, for “Our ranks are constantly diminishing by battle and disease, and few recruits are received; the consequences are inevitable….”

_________________
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

September 3, 1864 Saturday
The shooting had nearly ended for the moment in Georgia, with Sherman centering his army in Atlanta and beginning his personal rule over the Confederate citizenry. Hood’s Army of Tennessee licked its wounds at Lovejoy’s Station. Sheridan, in the Shenandoah Valley, started his enlarged army toward Berryville and Early’s shrinking Confederate force. R.H. Anderson’s corps left Winchester for Richmond. As Anderson’s men approached Berryville they stumbled upon a corps of Sheridan. After a sharp engagement that was a complete surprise to both sides, it was evident a new crisis had arisen in the Valley. In Charleston Harbor the armies exchanged captive surgeons and chaplains. Skirmishing occurred in Shelby County, Kentucky; near Rocheport, Missouri; and near Sycamore Church, Virginia. Thomas Wilberforce Egan, USA, is appointed to Brigadier General.

President Lincoln declared Sept 5 a day of celebration for the victories at Atlanta and Mobile. He also called home from New Hampshire Postmaster General Montgomery Blair. Sen Chandler of Michigan and others had been advising that Blair be dropped from the Cabinet for his support of the Democrats. President Davis, meanwhile, tried to gather troops in Georgian to aid Hood.

_________________
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

September 4, 1864 Sunday
Famed Confederate raider and cavalry leader John Hunt Morgan ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hunt_Morgan ) was dead. For many months his reputation had been somewhat beclouded but he was in Greeneville, Tennessee preparing an attack on east Tennessee. A Federal raiding party, duplicating Morgan’s own methods, slipped into town early in the morning and Morgan was shot trying to join his own men. The legends of Morgan and his “terrible men” would live long in the annals of poem, song, and story as well as in military records of honor.

At Atlanta Sherman was preparing to pull in his armies for a month’s regrouping and resting and was arguing with the civilian authorities of the city. Hood was likewise gathering in his tattered ranks near Lovejoy’s Station. At Charleston the third great bombardment of Fort Sumter ended after 60 days, with 81 casualties and 14,666 rounds fired. After a skirmish at Berryville, Early pulled his entire army back from the Opequon in the face of Sheridan’s advance. Elsewhere, fighting broke out at Brownsville, Arkansas and Donaldsonville, Louisiana. Confederates attacked the steamers Celeste and Commercial at Gregory’s Landing on the White River, Arkansas.

In answer to a letter from Eliza P. Gurney of the Society of Friends, President Lincoln wrote, “The purposes of the Almighty are perfect, and must prevail, though we erring mortals may fail to accurately perceive them in advance.”

_________________
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

September 5, 1864 Monday
Along the Opequon in the Shenandoah Valley, portions of Sheridan’s and Early’s forces skirmished near Stephenson’s Depot, north of Winchester. Both sides continued to probe, to try to catch the other off balance. Elsewhere in Virginia there was a Federal reconnaissance to Sycamore Church. Voters of Louisiana who had taken the oath ratified the new state constitution, which included the abolition of slavery.

U.S.S. Keystone State, under Commander Crosby, and U.S.S. Quaker City, commanded by Lieutenant Silas Casey, captured blockade running British steamer Elsie off Wilmington with cargo of cotton. Elsie had been chased the previous night upon standing out of Wilmington, but the blockading vessels had lost her in the darkness. This date, however, Keystone State sighted her, and with Quaker City, opened fire. Elsie almost escaped, but a shell exploding in her forward hold forced her to heave to.

_________________
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

September 6, 1864 Tuesday
The major battle fronts in Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley, and Georgia were quiet. Maryland’s convention adopted a new constitution abolishing slavery. Secondary action took place at Readyville, Tennessee; Eight Mile Post on the Natchez and Liberty Road, Mississippi; Richland and Searcy, Arkansas; Brunswick, Missouri, and on the Brazos Santiago, Texas. Federals scouted in Arkansas and Missouri, and a Union expedition moved from Morganza to Bayou Sara, Louisiana. The eighth minor bombardment began at Charleston and lasted nine days; the Confederates suffered casualties and 573 rounds were thrown against Fort Sumter. Lieut Gen Richard Taylor ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Taylor_(general) ) assumed command of the Confederate Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana. U.S.S. Proteus, under Commander Shufeldt, captured blockade running British schooner Ann Louisa in the Gulf of Mexico.

President Lincoln interviews Mary E. Wise, who joined 34th Indiana Regiment and served until wounded. Paymaster withheld five months' pay because of her sex. Lincoln directs payment and offers to supply funds if paymaster cannot legally do so.

_________________
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

September 7, 1864 Wednesday
“I have deemed it to the interest of the United States that the citizens now residing in Atlanta should remove, those who prefer it to go South and the rest North.” So wrote Gen Sherman to Gen Hood. Between Sept 11 and 20 they left; some 446 families totaling about 1600 people. Not only forced to abandon their homes, most of them had to leave behind nearly all their possessions. Outrage, indignation, and protests were to no avail. Sherman felt he had trouble enough in feeding his own army, and he had written, “If the people raise a howl against my barbarity and cruelty, I will answer that war is war and not popularity-seeking.” Hood was furious and there was a lengthy, heated correspondence with Sherman.

In the Shenandoah Valley small units of Early and Sheridan skirmished again near Brucetown and Winchester. An affair occurred at Centralia, Missouri and an expedition by Federals in Louisiana to Lake Natchez lasted five days.

_________________
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

September 8, 1864 Thursday
In Orange, New Jersey Maj Gen George B. McClellan formally accepted the Democratic nomination for President by a letter to the official notification committee. McClellan disavowed the so-called “peace plank” in the Democratic platform. “The Union is the one condition of peace,” he said, and he emphasized that cessation of hostilities should hinge on the reestablishment of the Union. The platform demanded that “immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities,” looking toward a convention or other means of restoring the Union.

Only two light skirmishes near Hornersville and Gayoso, Missouri were recorded for the day. A Federal army-navy expedition destroyed fifty-five furnaces at Salt House Point on Mobile Bay.

_________________
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

September 9, 1864 Friday
The Federal President and his Cabinet, still concerned over the serious problems connected with cotton trading with the Confederates, leaned increasingly toward open trading. Northern scouting expeditions in the West expanded their efforts to control guerrilla activities. Expeditions operated from Mobile Bay to Bonsecours, Alabama; from Pine Bluff toward Monticello, Arkansas; from Fort Pike, Louisiana to the Pearl River; from Lewisburg to Norristown, and from Helena to Alligator Bayou, Arkansas. Fighting broke out on the Warrensburg Road near Warrensburg, Missouri; Confederates attacked the steamer J.D. Perry at Clarendon, Arkansas; and a skirmish erupted at Currituck Bridge, Virginia.

As the conflict drew into its final stage, Southern authorities turned increasingly to blockade runners manned and financed by the Navy. These allowed the Confederacy to employ some of its excellent officers at sea and insured that entire cargoes brought in would be of direct benefit to the government. This date, Commander Maffitt, one of the Confederacy's most successful and experienced captains, was detached from command of C.S.S. Albemarle and ordered to Wilmington to command the new blockade runner Owl.

_________________
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

September 10, 1864 Saturday
Although the primary fronts were largely quiet, the virtually unknown small wars continued with an affair at Campbellton, Georgia; a skirmish at Woodbury, Tennessee; fighting near Roanoke, Pisgah, and Dover, Missouri; Darkesville, West Virginia; and an assault on Confederate works at the Chimneys, Virginia. Until early October Federals carried out expeditions in east Tennessee with some skirmishing. U.S.S. Santiago de Cuba, commanded by Captain Glisson, captured blockade running steamer A. D. Vance at sea northeast of Wilmington with cargo of cotton. U.S.S. Magnolia, commanded by Acting Lieutenant Cheesman, seized steamer Matagorda at sea off Cape San Antonio, Cuba, with cargo of cotton.

_________________
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

September 11, 1864 Sunday
For most of the month there were various operations in the Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory with some fighting, including affairs between Indian units of both sides. The never ceasing Union scouts continued in Monroe, Ralls, Moniteau, and Morgan counties, Missouri. Skirmishes occurred near Hodge’s Plantation, Louisiana and Fort Smith, Arkansas. September 11-30 Federal troops undertook an expedition form Fort Rice, Dakota Territory to relieve an emigrant train. U.S.S. Augusta Dinsmore, commanded by Acting Lieutenant Miner B. Crowell, captured schooner John off Velasco, Texas, with cargo of cotton.

Acting Lieutenant Wiggin led an expedition up Fish River at Mobile Bay to seize in engine used by Confederates in a sawmill and to assist Union soldiers in obtaining lumber. Tinclad U.S.S. Rodolph, commanded by Acting Lieutenant George D. Upham, and wooden side-wheeler U.S.S. Stockdale, commanded by Acting Master Spiro V. Bennis, with Wiggin embarked, convoyed Army transport Planter to Smith's mill, where they took the engine, 60,000 feet of lumber, and some livestock. Loading the lumber on board a barge in tow of Planter took almost until nightfall, and in the dusk of the return downstream, Confederate riflemen took the ships under fire and felled trees ahead of them. The gunboats returned the fire rapidly and Rodolph broke through the obstructions, enabling the remaining ships to pass downriver.

_________________
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