Feb
28
by Horatio Nelson Taft
Saturday Feb 28th 1863
There does not seem to be anything in particular to note down. We hear of some skirmishing with the rebels at various points but nothing of much consequence. At Vicksburgh, where perhaps the largest forces are opposed to each other, I think the plan is not to attack the Batteries but to invest the place and cut off their supplies and starve them out. No attack on Charleston or Savannah yet. There appears to be some trouble with the Commanders as to precedence or rank. Genls Hunter and Foster are the officers. This question of rank together with the jealousy existing betwen West Point officers and Volunteers has led to an infinite deal of trouble during this war. Some Genls have been so unpatriotic as to wish to see some other Genl defeated rather than assist him to be successful. For this and for acting in this way, Fitz John Porter was cashiered and dismissed the service. He was a Maj Genl. There are now about twenty Indians here from the western borders of Minnesota holding a talk with the Prest and the Indian Commissioner. I think there is but little sympathy for them anywhere since the Massacre up there last summer. Mrs Swisshelm stated that not less than fifteen hundred men, women, and children fell victims. She lives in St Cloud Min. It is said that the Indians were instigated by the Southern rebels to rise on the whites.
Feb
28
February 28, 1863, The Charleston Mercury
Charleston or Savannah, or both, are now awaiting, breathless, the onslaught of the greatest war fleet ever seen in our hemisphere. The crisis is upon them. Many a beating heart longs and burns to be with the envied defenders of those cities, under command of the heroic and devoted Beauregard, this day. Many a Confederate soldier would make a present of ten years of dull existence in exchange for […..] crowded hour of glorious life’ under our flag upon those forts and batteries, and under the eye of such a chief.
Charleston has envied Richmond; Savannah has been kept from her sleep by the fame of Vicksburg. Their garrisons, lying idly in their quarters, have pined that they were not sharers in the passage of arms at Fredericksburg, when the Georgian Lawton stood the battle brunt with his brigade, and Maxey Gregg poured out the last drop of his noble blood for the independence of South Carolina! At last those slighted cities have their turn; those injured soldiers receive attention. Do not their hearts leap up at the summons to the battle? Will they not make the names of Charleston and Savannah names of terror to the craven Yankee heart from this day to the ending of the world?
We know not accurately what number of iron clad ships the enemy have got in their armada; but they will have no use for anything short of iron clads in face of our forts. Charleston and Savannah have both had time for preparation. They have both long known that they were coveted objects of the foe. Charleston, above all, that first, in that hour of Fate, struck down the felon flag of the Yankees, and rang, through the throat of cannon, the death knell of a foul and rotten Union — Charleston is the choicest morsel to glut the dearest vengeance of the Puritan heart. May God fight for the gallant city! A smashing defeat of the armada in those waters now, would almost — we think — make the affectionate soul of the gentle Northwest turn a little more to thoughts of peace. Every ship of the […..] sunk, will give rise to a constitutional scruple in the Democratic conscience. The disgrace of their striped rag will make them feel that our friendship must be cultivated, and that their own war debt is a thing to be repudiated. Diplomatize for us, then, ye bullets of Sumter! Soothe our great Northwest for us, ye batteries of Beauregard!
RICHMOND ENQUIRER.
Feb
28
February 28, 1863, The Charleston Mercury
In the last few days we have glanced at the objects which the United States have in this war, and at the different measures they will attempt to carry out, in arranging terms of peace with the Confederate States. We have sought briefly to point out the dangers to which the Confederate States will be subjected in closing this war. With vigilance and energy of preparation on the part of our Government, so as to prevent any serious disaster during the coming Spring, the signs at the North and in Europe are strongly indicative of the cessation of hostilities.
When the Confederate States shall be recognized, and the illegal blockade of our coast shall be removed, we shall rise from our attitude of difficulty and unfair depression in full power and with great resources, having earned unwilling respect for our courage and character, and having impressed the world with the practical importance of our products to its comfort and prosperity. The United States will be let down under the moral effect of the recognition of our independence. Those immense advantages they have hitherto had, through the unmolested command of our communications by our want of a navy and the one-sided neutrality and tacit acquiescence of foreign nations in a paper blockade, will be ended. The markets and workshops of the world will then be accessible to us. And it is not likely that our opportunities will be thrown away. The difficulties about keeping up the numbers of the United States‘ troops are already almost desperate. The disbandment of three hundred thousand in May, the small prospect of recruiting them, and the demoralization and dissatisfaction throughout all their forces and in the Northwestern States, portend disaster and failure, and a termination of the struggle, if we but do our part. When, from internal and external causes, the North begins to collapse, then the Confederate States will be plied with terms for closing the war, and the fearful and weak kneed and short sighted amongst our public men may jump to obtain the boon of present peace on terms fraught with commercial dependence, growing inferiority and certain trouble.
In the history of the two sections of the old Union, the South credulously put her interests in the hands of her public servants with small accountability for their conduct. The North, on the contrary, had a sectional policy, and brought her Read more
Feb
28
February 28, 1863, The Charleston Mercury
RICHMOND, February 27. — A Proclamation of the President will be published in the papers tomorrow, appointing the 27th of March as a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer, and inviting the people of the Confederate States to repair on that day to their usual places of public worship and join in prayer to Almighty God that he will continue his merciful protection over our cause, scatter our enemies, and set at nought their evil designs, and that he will graciously restore to our beloved country the blessings of peace and security.
Feb
28
February 28, 1863, The Charleston Mercury
RICHMOND, February 27. — A despatch, dated Frankfort, Ky., gives some particulars of the disposition of the Democratic Convention at that place by the military. The Kentucky House of Representatives, by a decided vote, having refused to the Convention the use of their hall, the Convention rented the Theatre. Delegates from forty counties were present, and DAVID MERRIWETHER was elected Chairman. On taking the Chair, he expressed the hope that the Convention would do nothing which the Government and loyal citizens would not approve. In the meantime, a regiment of soldiers, with fixed bayonets, formed in front of the theatre, and when the call of counties was made, Colonel GILBERT, the commanding officer of the troops outside, took the stand and informed the Convention that none but men of undoubted loyalty to the Government would be allowed to run for any office. He advised the delegates to disperse to their several homes, and in future to desist from all such attempts to precipitate civil war upon the State. The assemblage then adjourned. There was some excitement in the city, but no disorder.
Feb
28
February 28, 1863, The Charleston Mercury
We publish, by request, the following article from the Richmond Dispatch, in regard to the loss of New Orleans. For our own part, we have never been able to gather the data necessary to form a satisfactory opinion as to who is responsible for that grievous disaster. It is high time, we think, that the matter should be thoroughly sifted, and the people informed whether the fall of the Crescent City is due to the shortcomings of the army, or of the navy, or of the government.
HOW NEW ORLEANS WAS TAKEN — A YANKEE OPINION OF THE SUPINENESS OF OUR NAVAL OFFICERS.
The capture of the Harriet Lane has brought to light a correspondence showing that New Orleans might easily have been held by the Confederates, and that the dash of the Federal vessels was a last and desperate move on the part of the bombarding forces, the success of which surprised even its projectors themselves. The Houston Telegraph of the 16th ult. contains a letter written by Commander Wainwright, of the steamer Harriet Lane, to Commander D. D. Porter, relating to the Confederate defence of New Orleans, and how that city was taken by the Federals. It will be seen from the extract we give below that Commander Wainwright regards their success as owing mainly to the […..] of our naval officers:
U. S. STEAMSHIP HARRIET LANE,
SHIP ISLAND, June 1, 1862.
SIR: In reply to your communication of the 29th ult., I have to state that on the afternoon of April 22d, a signal was made from the flagship Hartford for all commanding officers to repair on board. Though not positive that the signal was intended to apply to the officers attached to the mortar flotilla, I determined to present myself in obedience thereto, which I accordingly did. I found assembled all the commanding officers of the fleet, with the exception of those attached to the mortar flotilla, myself being the only representative of that branch of the squadron. Upon repairing to the cabin of Read more
Feb
28
February 28, 1863, The New York Herald
The particulars of the rebel cavalry raid across the Rappahannock at Kelly’s Ford, which we announced yesterday, have been received, and it appears that it was a force of Stuart’s famous corps, commanded by himself, which made the attempt, in which they were completely defeated and driven back over the river, barely in time to save themselves, as the waters began to rise at that moment. However, about fifty of General Stuart’s men, including two officers, were taken prisoners. It is presumed that it was the determination of General Stuart to make his way to Potomac creek and destroy the railroad bridge over which the supplies of our army are now conveyed. The enemy, after crossing at Kelly’s Ford, succeeded, by a strong attack, in breaking our thin line of cavalry outposts at one or two points, capturing a small number of our men. Our cavalry outposts reserves were brought up, the lines immediately re-established and a force sent in pursuit. At last accounts they had not returned.
Rumors were rife in Washington yesterday that General Hunter was about to be relieved from the command of the Department of the South, and General Burnside’s name was spoken of in connection with the succession. It was also said that certain parties were preparing charges against General McClellan with a view to a court martial. These reports were extensively talked of in the streets and places of public resort.
The news from Kentucky confirms the intelligence which we published yesterday that the rebel retreating force near Mount Sterling were severely handled by our troops. Two hundred prisoners were taken, and all the captured wagons were recovered which the rebels had seized in their bold attack upon our trains.
Reports from Lake Providence, via Cairo, state that the canal across the peninsula is almost completed, the work having reached from the lake to within a few rods of the river. The canal is one hundred and fifty feet wide, and is dug down to within one foot of the level of the lake.
It is said that General Van Dorn has crossed the Tennessee river at Florence with 8,000 cavalry to reinforce General Bragg. The expedition from Corinth, under Colonel Corwan, is reported to have captured two hundred rebels, under General Rodley, at Tuscumbia, on the 22d inst., with a large amount of ammunition and a provision train.
Our news from the South today is not very important. The Richmond Enquirer of the 24th, which has been received, contains nothing relative to the news from Vicksburg, but it furnishes some additional news of the capture of the Queen of the West, the principal facts concerning which we have published before.
