American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

November 11, 1862 Tuesday
A day of lessened activity except for a Confederate demonstration at New Berne, North Carolina and a skirmish at Jefferson, Virginia. U.S.S. Kensington, commanded by Acting Master Crocker, captured schooner Course off the Florida coast.

_________________
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

November 12, 1862 Wednesday
There was some action along Stone’s River in Tennessee, and operations Nov 12-14 about Suffolk, Virginia including skirmishes at Providence Church and Blackwater Bridge. U.S.S. Kensington, commanded by Acting Master Crocker, captured British blockade runner Maria off the Florida coast.

_________________
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

November 13, 1862 Thursday
Federal troops took possession of the valuable rail center of Holly Springs, Mississippi after a brief skirmish. Other skirmishes were near Nashville, Tennessee; and Sulphur Springs, Virginia; as well as an expedition on the Georgia coast lasting until Nov 18 ( states rights debate within the CSA - http://www.nytimes.com/1862/12/07/news/ ... tment.html ). Bragg began moving the main body of the Army of Tennessee north from Chattanooga toward Murfreesboro to join Breckinridge.

President Lincoln charged Att Gen Edward Bates with enforcement of the Federal Confiscation Act ( http://www.enotes.com/first-second-conf ... -1861-1862 ).

_________________
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

November 14, 1862 Friday
President Lincoln approved Burnside’s moves for driving on Richmond as the new commander of the Army of the Potomac reorganized his force into grand divisions: the Right Grand Division under Maj Gen Edwin V. Sumner ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_V._Sumner ), the Center Grand Division under Maj Gen Joseph Hooker, and the Left Grand Division under Maj Gen William B. Franklin ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_B._Franklin ). There was fighting at Waterloo, Zuni, and Jefferson, Virginia. In Tennessee Bragg was concentrating his army around Tullahoma, southeast of Nashville. In New Orleans a proclamation called for election of members of the U.S. Congress from portions of the state held by Federals. Andrew Jackson Hamilton, USA, was appointed to Brigadier General and appointed the Federal Military Governor of Texas.

Rear Admiral Farragut ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Farragut ) had sailed from the Mississippi River in August to base at Pensacola where his crews recuperated and repaired the ships preparatory to attacking Mobile. However, reports of growing Confederate fortifications on the river and other developments drew him back to the scene of his fame. On this date from on board U.S.S. Hartford at New Orleans he wrote Secretary of the Navy Welles: "I am once more in the Mississippi River. I deemed that my presence here would be well, as the French admiral is here with two vessels at the city and a frigate at the bar; there is also an English corvette off the city, and we sailors understand each other better in many cases than landsmen. General Butler also informed me that he was operating very largely for his forces on the Opelousas, which was an additional reason for my entering the river. I enclose herewith Lieutenant-Commander Buchanan's report. He is commanding the naval forces cooperating with the army in Opelousas, and has already had two fights with the enemy's steamers and land forces. These little vessels require a sheet of boiler iron around them as a protection against musketry, when they would be able to run up the whole length of the river and catch all the boats in the branches. I called on General Butler for the purpose of ascertaining when he could give me a small force to attack Fort Gaines, and to notify him that when the Department wished it I would attack the forts and go through Mobile Bay without his assistance, but it would embarrass me very much not to have my communication open with the outside, and that with 1,000 men to menace Gaines in the rear I felt certain they would soon abandon both forts, once we got inside. He promised to assist in the operation as soon as General Weitzel returned from Opelousas, although he urges me to attack Port Hudson first, as he wishes to break up the rendezvous before we go outside. It will take at least 5,000 men to take Port Hudson. I am ready for anything, but desire troops to hold what we get. The general has really not half troops enough; he requires at least 20,000 more men to hold the places and do good service in this river and occupy Galveston, whither he proposes to send a regiment."

_________________
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

November 15, 1862 Saturday
The Army of the Potomac began moving from Warrenton, Virginia toward Fredericksburg, first action under Burnside. There was an action near Warrenton at Sulphur Springs; another on the Guyandotte River in western Virginia; and at Yocum Creek, Missouri. Nov 15-20 Federals carried out a reconnaissance from Edgefield Junction toward Clarksville, Tennessee. John Sappington Marmaduke, CSA, was appointed to Brigadier General.

President Davis quickly accepted the resignation of his Secretary of War, George W. Randolph ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Randolph ), which came without prior notice. President Davis’ Secretaries of War had trouble over many things, but especially with their chief’s virtual operation of their department. President Lincoln called for “orderly observance of the Sabbath” by officers and men of the Army and Navy.

_________________
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

November 16, 1862 Sunday
Burnside moved his headquarters from Warrenton to Catlett’s Station as his army shifted toward Fredericksburg, closely watched and followed by part of Lee’s army. The movement involved a small fight at U.S. Ford on the Rappahannock River. Other fighting was at Gloucester Point on Virginia’s Peninsula; and Nov 16-21 there was a Federal expedition from Helena against Arkansas Post, Arkansas. Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_A._Butterfield ), USA, assumes command of the newly formed 5th Army Corps, Federal Army of the Potomac. Major General William F. Smith ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Farrar_Smith ), USA, assumes command of the newly formed 6th Army Corps, Federal Army of the Potomac. U.S.S. T. A. Ward, commanded by Acting Master William L. Babcock, captured sloop G. W. Green and an unnamed seine boat at St. Jerome's Creek, Maryland, attempting to cross to the Virginia shore with contraband.

_________________
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

November 17, 1862 Monday
Sumner’s Right Grand Division of the Army of the Potomac arrived at Falmouth on the bluffs across the Rappahannock River from Fredericksburg, Virginia with light skirmishing. There was another fight near Carrsville, Virginia; operations about Cassville and Keetsville, Missouri; and a Federal expedition from Sparta, Tennessee into Kentucky. President Davis, without a Secretary of War after the hasty resignation of George W. Randolph, named Maj Gen G.W. Smith ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustavus_Woodson_Smith ) temporary Secretary of War of the Confederacy.

U.S.S. Kanawha, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Febiger, and U.S.S. Kennebec, commanded by Lieutenant Commander John H. Russell, chased a schooner ashore near Mobile where she was set afire and destroyed by her crew. Union ships prevented Confederate coast guard from boarding the vessel to extinguish the flames. Of the effectiveness of the blockade in the Gulf, Rear Admiral Farragut noted: "Blockading is hard service, and difficult to carry on with perfect success . . . I don't know how many [blockade runners] escape, but we certainly make a good many prizes."

U.S.S. Cambridge, under Commander W. A. Parker, forced blockade running British schooner J. W. Pindar aground at Masonboro Inlet, North Carolina, and sent boat crew to destroy the vessel. The boat swamped and the crew was captured after firing the schooner.

_________________
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

November 18, 1862 Tuesday
As the Federal and Confederate armies in the east marched toward Fredericksburg and in the west were concentrating at Nashville and Tullahoma, there was minor fighting at Franklin, Virginia; Doboy River, Georgia; Double Bridge and Rural Hill, Tennessee; and Core Creek, North Carolina. John Austin Wharton, CSA, was appointed to Brigadier General.

C.S.S. Alabama, commanded by Captain Semmes, arrived at Martinique and was blockaded by U.S.S. San Jacinto, under Commander William Ronckendorff. In foul weather the evening of 19 November, Alabama evaded San Jacinto and escaped.

U.S.S. Monticello, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Braine, chased blockade running British schooners Ariel and Ann Maria ashore and destroyed them near Shallotte Inlet near Bowen Point, North Carolina with cargoes of salt, flour, sugar, and lard.

_________________
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

November 19, 1862 Wednesday
Confederate forces of Longstreet’s corps took position on the heights above Fredericksburg after marching from the main base at Culpeper. Federal Gen Burnside arrived the same day, making his headquarters near Falmouth. There was fighting at Philomont, Virginia; Tunnel Hill and Tomkinsville, Kentucky; and Pinesville, Missouri. Nov 19-20 there was a Union expedition from Grand Junction, Tennessee to Ripley, Mississippi as Grant continued to probe the Confederate defenders of Vicksburg. George Lucas Hartsuff, USA, was appointed to Major General.

U.S.S. Wissahickon, commanded by Lieutenant Commander John L. Davis, and U.S.S. Dawn, commanded by Acting Lieutenant John S. Barnes, engaged Fort McAllister on Ogeechee River, Georgia. Wissahickon was hit and temporarily disabled in the exchange of fire. Persistent and vigilant actions of this nature by the Union Navy pinned down Confederate manpower that could have been used in land actions elsewhere. Wissahickon and Dawn at this time had the mission of blockading C.S.S. Nashville in Ossabaw Sound, Georgia, and preventing her from becoming another commerce raider like C.S.S. Alabama.

_________________
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

November 20, 1862 Thursday
Gen R.E. Lee arrived at Fredericksburg, Virginia as the buildup of Union and Confederate troops continued on the Rappahannock River. Jackson’s Confederate corps was still at Winchester, about to move toward Fredericksburg. The Confederate Army of Tennessee was officially constituted under Bragg, and consisted of corps under E. Kirby Smith, Leonidas Polk, and William Hardee. There was a Federal reconnaissance until the twenty-third toward Van Buren and Fort Smith, Arkansas.

U.S.S. Seneca, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Gibson, captured schooner Annie Dees running the blockade out of Charleston with cargo of turpentine and rosin. U.S.S. Montgomery, under Commander C. Hunter, captured sloop William E. Chester near Pensacola Bay. Confederates at Matagorda Bay, Texas, captured boat crew from U.S. mortar schooner Henry Janes, commanded by Acting Master Pennington. The men were ashore to procure fresh beef for the mortar schooner.

_________________
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

November 21, 1862 Friday
President Davis appointed James A. Seddon ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Seddon ), prominent Richmond lawyer, former U.S. and Confederate congressman, as Secretary of War. Seddon, who appeared to be anything but warlike, was to prove the most able of the Confederate War Secretaries, though subject to abuse and criticism. In the West Bragg sent Forrest to cut communications of Grant’s army in western Tennessee. On the Rappahannock Gen Burnside called upon Fredericksburg, Virginia to surrender but was refused. The mayor was threatened with bombardment of the town and sixteen hours were allowed for removal of sick, wounded, women, children, the aged and infirm. The mayor requested more time. Jackson was now marching from Winchester toward Fredericksburg. There was skirmishing at Bayou Bonfouca, Louisiana.

President Lincoln told Union Kentuckians that he “would rather die than take back a word of the Proclamation of Freedom,” and again urged support of his gradual slaver-abolishment plan.

_________________
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

November 22, 1862 Saturday
Federal Sec of War Stanton discharged nearly all political prisoners held by the military. At Winchester, Virginia Federals skirmished with Confederates while Southerners attacked Halltown, western Virginia but were driven back. There was a reconnaissance from Williamsburg, Virginia by Confederates. Joint Army-Navy expedition to vicinity of Mathews Court House, Virginia, under Lieutenant Farquhar and Acting Master's Mate Nathan W. Black of U.S.S. Mahaska destroyed numerous salt works together with hundreds of bushels of salt, burned three schooners and numerous small boats, and captured 24 large canoes. In Louisiana there was an affair at Petite Anse Island. President Lincoln decides that "Confederate Scrip" owned by Union men may not be invested in cotton to be removed from the Confederacy.

Federal Gen E. V. Sumner agreed not to bombard Fredericksburg, despite the ultimatum of the day before, “so long as no hostile demonstration is made from the town.”

President Lincoln informs Gen Banks: "I have just been overwhelmed and confounded with the sight of a requisition made by you, . . . If you had the articles of this requisition upon the wharf, with the necessary animals to make them of use, and forage forthe animals, you could not get vessels together in two weeks to carry the whole, to say nothing of your twenty thousand men; . . . And, after all, where you are going, you have no use for them."

Brigadier General Francis Engle Patterson ( http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cg ... GRid=22725 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_E._Patterson ), USA, dies near Fairfax Court House, Virginia, in his tent, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head. Under investigation by his superiors for a possible act of cowardice by ordering (presumably) an unauthorized retreat, it was never determined whether the wound was accidental or intentional

_________________
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

November 23, 1862 Sunday
Federal Naval Lieutenant William Cushing ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_B._Cushing ), with the steamer Ellis went up New River, North Carolina and at Jacksonville captured two schooners. However, while returning, he ran onto a shoal and lost his own vessel, but escaped in one of the captured schooners ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSS_Ellis ).

Gen U.S. Grant described his plans for a Vicksburg campaign ( http://ulyssessgrantjournal.blogspot.co ... sburg.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

November 24, 1862 Monday
Confederate Gen Joseph E. Johnston was assigned to the major command in the West, embracing western North Carolina, Tennessee, northern Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and eastern Louisiana. Johnston’s main task would be to supervise Bragg in Tennessee and Pemberton at Vicksburg. Bragg was now moving his three corps to Murfreesboro southeast of Nashville. Gen Johnston outlined his plans in a letter to Gen Cooper ( http://www.factasy.com/civil_war/2008/1 ... er_24_1862 ). Stonewall Jackson’s corps was well en route from Winchester to Fredericksburg, Virginia. There was skirmishing at Newtown, Virginia and Beaver Creek, Missouri. An expedition Nov 24-25 by the Federals from Sharpsburg, Maryland to Shepherdstown, western Virginia fought several skirmishes. In western Virginia Nov 24-30 there was an expedition from Summerville to Cold Knob Mountain by the Federals. Clinton Bowen Fisk, USA, was appointed to Brigadier General.

President Lincoln writes to General Carl Schurz, who questions the wisdom of appointing Democratic generals to high-command positions. Lincoln responds, "I certainly know that if the war fails, the administration fails, and that I will be blamed for it . . . I wish to disparage no one—certainly not those who sympathize with me; but I must say I need success more than I need sympathy, and that I have not seen the so much greater evidence of getting success from my sympathizers, than from those who are denounced as the contrary."

President Lincoln explains to George S. Boutwell, commissioner of internal revenue, that by oversight "the Eastern Shore counties of Virginia, and some other counties of Hon. Mr. [Cong. Joseph E.] Segar's District, were not classed as loyal in the proclamation of July."

Boat from U.S.S. Reliance, commanded by Acting Master William P. Dockray, captured longboat New Moon, suspected of running the blockade on the Potomac River, off Alexandria. U.S.S. Monticello, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Braine, destroyed two Confederate salt works near Little River Inlet, North Carolina. U.S.S. Sagamore, commanded by Lieutenant Commander English, captured two British blockade runners, schooner Agnes and sloop Ellen, in Indian River, Florida.

_________________
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

November 25, 1862 Tuesday
Confederate cavalry crossed the Potomac River at Poolesville, Maryland and seized the government telegraph office briefly. Other fighting was at Pitman’s Ferry and Cane Hill, Arkansas ( http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/e ... tryID=6676 and http://civilwararkansas.blogspot.com/20 ... -near.html and http://civilwararkansas.blogspot.com/20 ... -hill.html ); Henderson’s Station and Clarksville, Tennessee; and Calhoun, Kentucky. There was a Federal expedition Nov 25-29 to Yellville, Arkansas. Confederate Maj Gen Samuel Jones ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Jones_ ... my_officer) ) was assigned to command the Trans-Allegheny or Western Department of Virginia. At 11:30 A.M. President Lincoln inquires of Gen Burnside: "If I should be in a Boat off Aquia-Creek, at dark to-morrow (wednesday) evening, could you, without inconvenience, meet me & pass an hour or two with me?" U.S.S. Kittatinny, commanded by Acting Master Lamson, captured British blockade runner Matilda, bound from Havana to Matamoras.

_________________
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