Civil War Almanac (Almanacs of American Wars)

865 Pages·2007·10.48 MB·English

by  John C. Fredriksen

ALMANACS OF AMERICAN WARS
oo
C W A
IVI L AR LMANAC
John C. Fredriksen
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Civil War Almanac
Copyright © 2007 by John C. Fredriksen
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any
information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher.
For information contact:
Facts On File, Inc.
An imprint of Infobase Publishing
132 West 31st Street
New York NY 10001
ISBN-10: 0-8160-6459-8
ISBN-13: 978-0-8160-6459-5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fredriksen, John C.
Civil War almanac / John C. Fredriksen.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Audience: Grades 9–12.
ISBN 0-8160-6459-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. United States—History—Civil War,
1861–1865—Miscellanea. 2. Almanacs, American. I. Title.
E468.F85 2007
973.702´02—dc22 2006029985 2003062687
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Text design by Erika K. Arroyo
Cover design by Salvatore Luongo
Illustrations by Dale Williams
Printed in the United States of America
VB Hermitage 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
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ONTE NTS
Introduction v
Chronology 1
Biographies 603
Appendix 799
Maps 801
(cid:0) (cid:0)
Bibliography 816
Index 829
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o I
NTRODUCTION
By 1860, America’s uneasy coexistence with slavery was headed for a violent and dra-
matic denouement. The election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency in November
proved a catalyst that unleashed long-suppressed urgings for secession among the
Southern polity. Commencing with South Carolina in December, the national union
quickly unraveled as a majority of slave-holding states voted to end their association
with the United States voluntarily, much as the thirteen colonies had departed the
British Empire in 1776. Lincoln, who had never campaigned to abolish the “peculiar
institution” and, instead, had sought merely to contain it, suddenly confronted a
crisis that neither he nor the nation had ever envisioned and for which they were
certainly unprepared. The new Confederate States of America underscored its deter-
mination to achieve national sovereignty by firing on the Union garrison at Fort
Sumter, Charleston, in April 1861. This singular act in and of itself became an imme-
diate catalyst for Northern opinion. Heretofore hesitant as to civil conflict, North-
ern sentiment suddenly fell in lockstep behind the president in a war to preserve
America. The ensuing conflagration proved bigger, more costly, and ultimately more
cleansing than any of the contestants could have imagined in the balmy days prior
to Bull Run, when myriads of raw recruits merrily tramped off in gaudy uniforms
to martial music, beneath flowing banners. By the time the guns fell silent four years
later, more than 620,000 of them lay dead, a bigger toll than that exacted in World
War II. Large swaths of the South lay in ruins with cities gutted, thousands displaced,
and grinding poverty a common lot for years to come. Yet the incubus of slavery
had finally been expunged from the political landscape and exchanged for citizen-
ship under a constitution that trumpeted equality for all. But the magnitude of the
slaughter and the inspiring heroics and willing sacrifice on both sides forever seared
America’s consciousness. Appreciably, the Civil War remains a topic of continuing
fascination and seemingly endless discourse, as exemplified by the sheer volume of
books, essays, and movies produced annually on the subject.
The book you hold is designed to highlight military facets and occurrences as
they transpired in the United States throughout the period 1861–65. Due to the
sheer scope of events covered and constraints on word length, only passing refer-
ences can be made to events in other spheres such as politics and diplomacy. In
essaying this task, I chose a relatively conventional format made up of two distinct
but integral parts. The first is a near-daily almanac of happenings arrayed along
a topical/geographical axis. Because the thrust of this almanac is preponderantly
military in tenor, great emphasis is paid to recording battles and skirmishes on
land, significant troop movements, promotions or demotions of leading personnel,
V
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vi Civil War Almanac
and the capture of individual vessels at sea. Daily subject content varies as to actual
events recorded, but in cases in which more than one event transpires the invari-
able order is diplomacy, politics, North, South, West, Southwest, and naval. Given
the expanse of the conflict, some explanation of geographical boundaries is also in
order. North refers to Union states from Maryland to Vermont; South covers the
Confederacy from Virginia to Florida and then Southern states as far as Louisiana;
the West begins at the Shenandoah Valley and extends across the northern tier of
the Middle South to regions astride the Mississippi River. Southwest refers to Texas,
California, and the Indian Territory. Naval includes both actions at sea and on and
along numerous inland waterways. The second part of this book consists of a bio-
graphical dictionary containing 107 detailed sketches of military and naval figures
associated (Lincoln and Davis are included because of their roles as commander
in chief) with this war. All entries are uniform in style and consist of a name, title,
dates, text, and bibliography. Special care has also been given to the selection of
photos chosen to insure good visuals and subjects in military, not civilian, attire.
Textual cross-references, where relevant, then are indicated by small capital letters.
In sum, this book is especially designed to afford prospective users immediate access
to chronological data, with varying degrees of useful detail contingent upon relative
significance, while the biographies proffer a useful cross-section of notable person-
alities relevant to the military equation, 1861–65.
The Civil War remains a perennially popular topic for reference books, and library
shelves abound with almanaclike publications. However, most share an Achilles’ heel
in that they either contain outdated bibliographic citations or lack them completely.
By contrast, I feel it incumbent as an author of reference books to list only the very
latest scholarship available, seeing how older items usually are cited in their bibliog-
raphies and footnotes anyway. I achieve this by repeatedly combing the Library of
Congress and WorldCat Web sites, along with frequent forays into periodical data-
bases found at any college library. Inquiring minds are thereby exposed to rich and
varied sources such as master’s theses and doctoral dissertations in addition to more
traditional materials such as books and articles. Readers can thus enjoy the fullest
and most recent intellectual discourse on events and personages covered in this book.
Moreover, I also append a detailed bibliography of the very latest Civil War publica-
tions, 2000–05, listing materials that would not fit logically in the essays. These two
compilations, mutually exclusive, render this almanac very much a reference source
for 21st-century scholars, students, or general readers.
I hope that the Civil War Almanac will promote a chronological sense for the
complex interplay of strategic events and tactical variables on land and sea, 1861–
65, that took place in the course of so large and protracted a struggle. It will go far
to update or replace existing volumes on the topic and bring to the attention of stu-
dents and scholars the latest trends in scholarship. I wish to thank my editor, Owen
Lancer, for calling this project to my attention. I found it challenging to research and
daunting to compile; in sum, it has been a valuable learning experience for myself
and one for which I am very grateful.
—John C. Fredriksen, Ph.D.
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H RONOLOGY
1860
February 1
POLITICS: After 44 ballots, Democrat William F. Pennington emerges as Speaker of
the U.S. House of Representatives. He does so only after the withdrawal of fellow
Democrat John Sherman, whose own candidacy was hobbled by his endorsement of
an antislavery tract. The contest highlights growing factionalism within the Demo-
cratic Party over that “peculiar institution.”
February 2
POLITICS: Senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi introduces extreme resolutions
defending the legality of slavery in both slaves states and the territories, which also
guarantee the return of fugitive slaves to rightful owners.
February 23
POLITICS: The Kansas Territorial Legislature adopts the antislavery Wynadotte Con-
stitution over the veto of Governor Samuel Medary.
February 27
POLITICS: Abraham Lincoln, speaking at New York’s Cooper Union in his first mem-
orable eastern address, strongly denounces the extremism of “popular sovereignty”
and remains conciliatory and reassuring toward the South. However, he reiterates
his adamant opposition toward the extension of slavery in the territories.
April 23–May 3
POLITICS: In the face of a mounting sectional schism, the Democratic Party holds its
nominating convention at Charleston, South Carolina. However, when the major-
ity fails to approve a territorial slave code, representatives from Alabama, Arkansas,
Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and South Carolina withdraw in protest on April 30.
The remaining participants, unable to muster a two-thirds majority behind any one
candidate, vote instead to adjourn and reassemble on June 18.
May 9–10
POLITICS: Baltimore, Maryland, is the site of the Constitutional Union Party nomi-
nating convention; this entity is formed from remnants of the American and Whig
parties. They choose John Bell of Tennessee as their candidate for president with
Edward Everett of Massachusetts as his vice president. They also strongly denounce
sectionalism and secessionism.
1
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2 Civil War Almanac 1860
May 16
POLITICS: The Republican Party convenes its nominating convention in Chicago,
Illinois. The leading candidate, William H. Seward, is regarded as too radical on the
issue of abolition, so he succumbs on the third ballot to Abraham Lincoln of Illinois.
Hannibal Hamlin of Maine is then selected as vice president. Lincoln triumphs by
positing himself as a moderate on the subject of slavery; he opposes its expansion
into the territories but pledges not to interfere where it already exists.
May 24–25
POLITICS: The U.S. Senate, controlled 36 to 26 by the Democrats, adopts Senator
Jefferson Davis’s proslavery resolutions. However, the acrimony this engenders only
widens the rift between northern and southern delegates, particularly within the
Democratic Party.
June 11
POLITICS: Southern Democrats who abandoned the party convention in Charles-
ton, South Carolina, assemble in Richmond, Virginia, to plan a strategy session.
They vote to reconvene again in Baltimore on the 28th.
June 18–23
POLITICS: The Democratic Party reconvenes its nominating convention in Bal-
timore, Maryland, in the absence of many Southern delegates. They nonetheless
nominate Stephen A. Douglas for president with Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia
as his vice presidential running mate. Their platform also endorses the notion of
“popular sovereignty” in the territories.
June 28
POLITICS: Southern delegates, who previously had absented themselves from the
Democratic Party convention, likewise convene in Baltimore, Maryland, as National
Democrats. They nominate former vice president John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky
as their standard-bearer with Joseph Lane of Oregon as vice president; the party’s
platform unequivocally supports the expansion of slavery into the territories.
August 31
DIPLOMACY: Secretary of State Lewis Cass, alarmed by a major French incursion
into Mexico, warns the government of Napoleon III that military occupation of that
country is unacceptable to the United States.
November 6
POLITICS: Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin win the presidential contest
by carrying 18 free states with 1,866,452 popular votes and 180 electoral votes—
although none are from Southern states. The Northern Democratic ticket of Ste-
phen A. Douglas and Herschel V. Johnson registers second with 1,376,957 votes
and 12 electoral votes while the competing Southern Democratic ticket of John C.
Breckinridge and Joseph Lane are third with 11 slave states, 849,781 votes, and 72
electoral votes. Finishing fourth is the Constitutional Unionist ticket of John Bell
and Edward Everett with 588,879 popular votes and 39 electoral votes. Lincoln’s
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1860 Chronology 3
triumph proves short-lived and precipi-
tates secessionist tremors throughout the
South.
November 7
POLITICS: Defiant authorities in Charles-
ton, South Carolina, take umbrage over
Abraham Lincoln’s recent victory; they
raise the traditional Palmetto flag over
the city and detain a U.S. officer caught
in the act of transferring military sup-
plies from the Charleston arsenal to Fort
Moultrie.
November 9
POLITICS: President James Buchanan
summons his very divided cabinet to dis-
cuss the possible secession crisis. North-
erners Lewis Cass, Jeremiah S. Black,
and Joseph Holt clearly favor preserving
the Union by armed force if necessary,
whereas Southerners Howell Cobb, Jacob
Thompson, and John B. Floyd oppose
military intervention of any kind.
SOUTH: Partisans in Charleston, South
Carolina, attempt to seize U.S. arms
stored at Fort Moultrie. A campaign banner for Republican candidates Abraham Lincoln
and Hannibal Hamlin, printed in Harper’s Weekly (Library of
November 10
Congress)
POLITICS: The South Carolina legislature
reacts to Abraham Lincoln’s victory by
authorizing a convention to contemplate secession from the Union. Senators James
Chestnut and James H. Hammond from that state also resign from the government.
November 13
POLITICS: The South Carolina legislature authorizes raising 10,000 volunteers to
defend the state from a possible invasion by U.S. forces.
November 14
POLITICS: Georgia congressman Alexander H. Stephens addresses the state legisla-
ture at Milledgeville and implores them to oppose secession and uphold constitu-
tional law.
November 15
SOUTH: Major Robert Anderson, U.S. Army, himself a Southerner and sympathetic
toward the issue of slavery, is ordered to take command of the garrison at Fort
Moultrie in Charleston Harbor.
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