New York Herald April 18, 1861 Yesterday morning a preliminary meeting of the merchants of our city and of the members of the Stock Exchange was held at the Chamber of Commerce, for the purpose of making arrangements for a grand mass meeting of our citizens in support of the war policy of the administration. [...]
New York Herald April 18, 1861 President Davis, of the Confederate States, has issued a proclamation inviting privateers to take service with the revolutionists. The document is given in another column. It is reported that several vessels are now fitting out at New Orleans for privateers. There is a report from Texas that all the [...]
Civil War Portraits—Leaders, Influencers, and the Incidentally Important #003 Mary Anna Custis Lee (C. 1854)? Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee (October 1, 1808 – November 5, 1873) was a third cousin and the wife of Robert E. Lee, the prominent career military officer who subsequently commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during the American [...]
April 18th.–In spite of every precaution, it is currently whispered in the streets to-day that Virginia has seceded from the Union; and that the act is to be submitted to the people for ratification a month hence. This is perhaps a blunder. If the Southern States are to adhere to the old distinct sovereignty doctrine, [...]
April 18, 1861 Robert E. Lee is unofficially offered command of the thousands of soldiers being called up to protect Washington by presidential adviser Francis P. Blair. Lee immediately refuses.1 Federal forces withdraw from Harpers Ferry Federal marshals seize records of telegraphs sent from major northern cities, leading to the arrest of southern sympathizers. A [...]
Civil War Portraits—Leaders, Influencers, and the Incidentally Important #002 Braxton Bragg Braxton Bragg (March 22, 1817 – September 27, 1876) was a career United States Army officer, and then a general in the Confederate States Army—a principal commander in the Western Theater of the American Civil War and later the military advisor to the Confederate [...]
April 17th.–This was a memorable day. When we assembled at Metropolitan Hall, it could be easily perceived that we were on the threshold of momentous events. All other subjects, except that of a new political organization of the State, seemed to be momentarily delayed, as if awaiting action elsewhere. And this plan of political organization [...]
April 17.–Arrived in New York. The following observations may be made upon the bombardment: The enemy’s fire on the second day, the 13th, was more rapid and more accurate than on the previous day. It seemed to be directed at the embrasures, and to set the quarters on fire. The latter object was fully attained, [...]
April 17, 1861 The state of Virginia’s secession convention votes to secede from the United States, later becoming the eighth state to join the Confederate States of America. Virgina Secession Convention approves an ordinance of secession and calls for a popular vote to approve it. A Chronological History of the Civil War in America1 The [...]
April 16th.–This day the Spontaneous People’s Convention met and organized in Metropolitan Hall. The door-keeper stood with a drawn sword in his hand. But the scene was orderly. The assembly was full, nearly every county being represented, and the members were the representatives of the most ancient and respectable families in the State. David Chalmers, [...]
April 16, 1861 The Confederate Congress passes a Conscription Act. Gov. Magoffin, of Kentucky, and Gov. Letcher, of Virginia, refused to furnish troops under the President’s proclamation. Gov. Harris, of Tennessee, and Gov. Jackson, of Missouri, also refused1 Confederate States Government called for 32,600 additional troops.1 A Chronological History of the Civil War in America [...]
April 15th.—I did not know that one could live such days of excitement. Some one called: “Come out! There is a crowd coming.” A mob it was, indeed, but it was headed by Colonels Chesnut and Manning. The crowd was shouting and showing these two as messengers of good news. They were escorted to Beauregard’s [...]
April 15th.–Great demonstrations made throughout the day, and hundreds of secession flags are flying in all parts of the city. At night, while sitting with Captain O. Jennings Wise in the editorial room of the Enquirer, I learned from the Northern exchange papers, which still came to hand, that my office in Philadelphia, “The Southern [...]
April 15, 1861 President Abraham Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers to quell the insurrection that soon became the American Civil War. Braxton Bragg places Lt. John Worden under arrest in Pensicola, Florida, making him the first prisoner-of-war in the American Civil War. Rejecting Lincoln’s call for troops, Tennessee Governor Isham Harris orders a second session [...]
April 14th –Wrote all day for several journals.
April 14.–The Isabel went over the bar and placed the whole command on board the steamer Baltic, which started for New York.
April 14, 1861 During the formal surrender of Fort Sumter Private Daniel Hough dies when the cannon he was loading (for the Union’s 100-gun salute to the U.S. flag) discharges prematurely. He is the first man to die in the Civil War. A second man is mortally wounded. Major Anderson and his men left Fort [...]
April 13th.—Nobody has been hurt after all. How gay we were last night. Reaction after the dread of all the slaughter we thought those dreadful cannon were making. Not even a battery the worse for wear. Fort Sumter has been on fire. Anderson has not yet silenced any of our guns. So the aides, still [...]
April 13, 1861; The New York Herald Intense excitement prevailed throughout the city last evening on the receipt of the news that an engagement had taken place at Charleston. In accordance with their usual astuteness, the evening papers had published telegraphic despatches of a quiet state of things at what may now be termed the [...]
April 13, 1861; The New York Herald WASHINGTON, April 12, 1861. Up to three o’clock P.M. the government has no reliable news from Charleston. The telegraph is working for business purposes. The writer received a despatch from Charleston this morning, from a reliable source, saying, “No signs of the supply ships yet.” The President has [...]
April 13, 1861; The Charleston Mercury GEN. BEAUREGARD, we learn, has attached to his staff Hon. ROGER A. PRYOR, of Virginia, and Hon. WM. PORCHER MILES, volunteering their services; and these gentlemen, in addition to Hon. LOUIS T. WIGFALL, Hon. JAMES CHESNUT and Hon. JOHN L. MANNING, with the regular army staff appointments, were all [...]
April 13, 1861; The Charleston Mercury Two companies of volunteers passed THE MERCURY office at three o’clock yesterday, with their banners flying, and tendered us a salute, for which we return our compliments. Two members of the Palmetto Guard paid fifty dollars cash for a boat to carry them to Morris Island, to join their [...]
April 13, 1861; The New York Herald Civil war has begun! General Beauregard, in accordance with instructions received on Wednesday, from the Secretary of War of the Southern confederacy, opened fire upon Fort Sumter yesterday morning, at twenty seven minutes after four o’clock. Forts Johnson and Moultrie, the iron battery at Cummings’ Point, and the [...]
April 13th – After breakfast I accompanied Gov. Wise to his room. He advised me to remain a few days before proceeding elsewhere. He still doubted, however, whether Virginia would move before autumn. He said there was a majority of 500 Union men then in the city. But the other Convention, to meet on the [...]
April 13, 1861; The Charleston Mercury Splendid Pyrotechnic Exhibition. Fort Moultrie Impregnable. The Floating Battery And Stevens’ Battery a Success. ‘Nobody Hurt’ on Our Side, ETC., ETC., ETC. As may have been anticipated from our notice of the military movements in our city yesterday, the bombardment of Fort Sumter, so long and anxiously expected, has [...]