American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

February 15, 1863 Sunday
A day of skirmishing at Arkadelphia, Arkansas; and in Tennessee at Auburn, Cainsville, and Nolensville. In Washington President Lincoln was worried about the expedition being planned to attack Charleston. U.S.S. Sonoma, under Commander Stevens, captured brig Atlantic, 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

February 16, 1863 Monday
The U.S. Senate passed the Conscription Act. Skirmishing broke out at Bradyville, Tennessee; Yazoo Pass, Mississippi; and near Romney, West Virginia. At Yazoo Pass the action was part of the delaying operations of Confederates opposing Grant’s plan to move gunboats and men down the Yazoo River and to the rear of Vicksburg by the back door. Major General Stephen A. Hurlbut, USA, assumes command of the 16th Army Corps, Federal Army of the Tennessee.

_________________
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

February 17, 1863 Tuesday
U.S. boat Indianola posted itself at the mouth of the Red River on the Mississippi River below Vicksburg in its operations against Confederate riverboats. Opposite Memphis, Confederate guerrillas captured and burned the Federal tug Hercules, and Federals burned Hopefield, Arkansas in retaliation. Two Federal expeditions operated for four days, one from Murfreesboro to Liberty, Tennessee, another from Memphis against guerrillas harassing the rear of the advancing Federals. Still another five-day Federal expedition operated from Lexington to Clifton, Tennessee.

In Chicago the order restricting circulation of the Chicago Times for its allegedly Copperhead sentiments was rescinded by Grant.

President Lincoln, concerned over the raiding in the rear of Federal armies and against their communications, suggested to Gen Rosecrans that counterraids be made.

Again Virginia and the armies along the Rappahannock River were plagued by heavy snow.

_________________
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

February 18, 1863 Wednesday
Gen Beauregard, in command at Charleston, warned Confederates against anticipated attacks on either Charleston or Savannah and cried, “To arms, fellow citizens!” Two divisions of Longstreet’s corps from the Army of Northern Virginia were ordered to move from Fredericksburg to east of Richmond to protect the capital from Federal threats via the Peninsula or south of the James. There was an affair near Moscow, Tennessee and until March 5 operations in central Kentucky with several skirmishes. A Democratic convention at Frankfort, Kentucky was broken up by Federal authorities, as members were said to be pro-Confederate. The South Carolina militia is called into active service for the Confederate States of America.

U.S.S. Victoria, commanded by Acting Lieutenant Edward Hooker, captured brig Minna near Shallotte Inlet, North Carolina, with cargo of salt and drugs. Cutter from U.S.S. Somerset, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Alexander F. Crosman, captured blockade runner Hortense, bound from Havana to Mobile.

_________________
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

February 19, 1863 Thursday
Skirmishing broke out as Grant’s army continued reconnaissance and scouts north of Vicksburg. Main fighting was near the Coldwater and Yazoo rivers. There was a skirmish at Leesburg, Virginia; a four-day Federal scout in Barton and Jasper counties, Missouri; a skirmish near Rover, Tennessee; and a Union expedition from Indian Village to Rosedale, Louisiana. C.S.S. Retribution, Acting Master Power, captured brig Emily Fisher in West Indian waters.

At Liverpool and Carlisle in Britain two mass meetings supported Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.

President Davis wrote Gen J.E. Johnston that he regretted “the confidence of the superior officers in Genl. Bragg’s fitness for command has been so much impaired. It is scarcely possible in that state of the case for him to possess the requisite confidence of the troops.” But he was reluctant to remove Bragg. Davis also continued to be anxious about the Vicksburg situation.

President Lincoln sends following nominations to Senate: 1. Commodore Charles H. Davis to be rear admiral; 2. Capt John A. Dahlgren to be rear admiral; 3. Capt Stephen C. Rowan to be commodore; 4. Comdr David D. Porter to be captain. [Davis and Dahlgren were appointed retroactively rear admirals as of February 7, 1863, and Rowan a commodore as of July 16, 1862.]

Rear Admiral Du Pont wrote of the blockade: "No vessel has ever attempted to run the blockade except by stealth at night-which fully established internationally the effectiveness of the blockade--but it is not sufficient for our purpose, to keep out arms and keep in cotton-unfortunately our people have considered a total exclusion possible and the government at one time seemed to think so. A cordon of ships covering the arc from Bulls Bay to Stono, some twenty-one miles moored together head and stern--would do it easy--but that we have not the means to accomplish. I have forty ships of all classes, sometimes more--never reaching fifty--a considerable number are incapable of keeping at sea or at outside anchorage-the wear and tear and ceaseless breaking of American machinery compared with English or even French now, keep a portion of the above always in here [Port Royal] repairing. If I had not induced the Department to establish a floating machine shop, which I had seen the French have in China, the blockade would have been a total failure. . . . Steam however is the new element in the history of blockades, which no one at first understands, as both sides have it--but it is all in favor of the runner--he chooses his time, makes his bound and rushes through, his only danger a chance shot-while the watcher has banked fires, has chains to slip, has guns to point and requires certainly fifteen minutes to get full way on his ship. It is wonderful how many we catch, how many are wrecked, there is another on the beach now with the sea breaking over her. . . ."

_________________
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

February 20, 1863 Friday
There was skirmishing near Fort Halleck, Dakota Territory ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Halleck_(Wyoming) ) between Federal troops and Indians; and in Tennessee on the Shelbyville Pike. The Confederate Congress act providing for issuance of bonds for funding treasury notes was approved. Currency and coins in small denominations being very scarce in the North, merchants were issuing personal notes of one, two, and three cents’ value.

President Lincoln was in long morning conversation with chiefs of the Chippewa Indians. U.S.S. Crusader, commanded by Acting Master Thomas I. Andrews, captured schooner General Taylor in Mobjack Bay, Virginia.

_________________
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

February 21, 1863 Saturday
U.S.S. Thomas Freeborn, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Samuel Magaw, and U.S.S. Dragon, commanded by Acting Master George E. Hill, engaged a Confederate battery below Fort Lowry, Virginia, while reconnoitering the Rappahannock River. Freeborn was struck and one Confederate gun was silenced. There was a Federal reconnaissance from Franklin on the Lewisburg, Columbia, and Carter Creek roads in Tennessee. A public reception was held at the White House in Washington, where the social life had been increasing of late. C.S.S. Alabama, commanded by Captain Semmes, captured and burned at sea ship Golden Eagle and bark Olive Jane.

_________________
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

February 22, 1863 Sunday
On this anniversary of the birth of George Washington, ground was broken at Sacramento, California for the Central Pacific Railroad. There was fighting at Tuscumbia, Alabama and on the Manchester Pike, Tennessee.

_________________
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

February 23, 1863 Monday
President Lincoln received the resignation of Simon Cameron, former Secretary of War, as minister to Russia. There was an engagement at Fort Caswell, North Carolina and an affair at Athens, Kentucky. Union meetings were held at Cincinnati, Ohio and Russellville, Kentucky and Nashville, Tennessee.

Boat crews from Coast Survey schooners Caswell, William H. Dennis, and Arago, William S. Edwards, boarded and seized blockade running schooner Glide, aground near Little Tybee Island, Georgia, with cargo of cotton. Possession of the prize was relinquished to U.S.S. Marblehead, Lieutenant Commander Robert W. Scott, upon her arrival at the scene.

U.S.S. Dacotah, commanded by Captain Sands, and U.S.S. Monticello, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Daniel Braine, closed Fort Caswell, North Carolina, to engage a large steamer attempting to run the blockade. The fort opened on the Union ships and an exchange of fire ensued; the steamer was out of range of the Union warships.

U.S.S. Potomska, commanded by Acting Lieutenant William Budd, captured blockade running British schooner Belle in Sapelo Sound, Georgia, with cargo of coffee and salt.

U.S.S. Kinsman, commanded by Acting Lieutenant Wiggen, transporting a detachment of troops, struck a snag and sank in Berwick Bay, Louisiana. Six men were reported missing.

_________________
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

February 24, 1863 Tuesday
On the Mississippi River the Federal gunboat Indianola was attacked in the evening by four Confederate vessels including Queen of the West, captured and repaired by the Confederates. Rammed repeatedly, Indianola fought at close quarters. After seven blows in all, Lieut Com George Brown surrendered Indianola, “a partially sunken vessel.” The action was a serious blow to Union river operations below Vicksburg. http://www.historynet.com/uss-indianola ... il-war.htm

The Yazoo Pass expedition, intended to move through the Yazoo, Coldwater, and Tallahatchie rivers to the rear of Vicksburg was well under way. There was a skirmish near Strasburg, Virginia.

Arizona Territory was organized by the United States as separate from New Mexico Territory.

A deserter from Confederate receiving ship Selma gave the following information about submarine experiments and operations being conducted by Horace L. Hunley, James R. McClintock, B. A. Whitney, and others, at Mobile, where the work was transferred following the fall of New Orleans to Rear Admiral Farragut: "On or about the 14th an infernal machine, consisting of a submarine boat propelled by a screw which is turned by hand, capable of holding five persons, and having a torpedo which was to be attached to the bottom of the vessel, left Fort Morgan at 8 p.m. in charge of a Frenchman who invented it. The invention was to come up at Sand Island, get the bearing and distance of the nearest vessel." He added that this failed but that other attempts would be made. This submarine went down in rough weather off Fort Morgan, but no lives were lost. Hunley and his colleagues built another in the machine shop of Park and Lyons, Mobile; this was to be the celebrated H. L. Hunley, the first submarine to sink an enemy vessel in combat.

Cutters from U.S.S. Mahaska, commanded by Lieutenant Elliot C. V. Blake, captured and destroyed sloop Mary Jane and barge Ben Bolt in Back Creek, York River, Virginia.

U.S.S. State of Georgia, under Commander James F. Armstrong, seized blockade running British schooner Annie at sea off Cape Romain, South Carolina, with cargo of salt and drugs.

Rear Admiral Theodorus Bailey, commanding the East Gulf Blockading Squadron, reported the capture of schooner Stonewall by U.S.S. Tahoma, commanded by Lieutenant Commander A. A. Semmes, near Key West.

U.S.S. Conemaugh, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Thomas H. Eastman, chased blockade running British steamer Queen of the Wave aground near the mouth of the North Santee River, South Carolina. Unable to get Queen of the Wave off the bar, he destroyed her on 7 March.

_________________
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

February 25, 1863 Wednesday
The Federal Congress completed passage of the Conscription Act, President Lincoln signed an act setting up a national bank system and national currency, and a Currency Bureau of the Treasury was established with a Comptroller of the Currency. In addition, an act to prevent correspondence with the “present pretended rebel government” was approved.

Off St Thomas in the West Indies U.S.S. Vanderbilt seized the British merchantman Perterhoff as a blockade runner. The capture had been ordered by Acting Rear Admiral Charles Wilkes, “star” of the Trent Affair, from his West Indies Squadron flagship Wachusett. Peterhoff was bound for Matamoros, Mexico and the British claimed the United States had no right to stop such trade, albeit some of the shipments into Mexican ports found their way into the Confederacy. While a major international crisis was averted, the incident focused attention on the considerable trade from Mexico into the South. Eventually courts ruled that the United States could not halt shipping into a neutral port no matter what its ultimate destination.

Skirmishing occurred at Hartwood Church and near Winchester, Strasburg, Woodstock, and Chantilly, Virginia. Maj Gen D.H. Hill assumed command of Confederate troops in North Carolina. In Charleston, South Carolina the price of bread per half pound loaf went to twenty-five cents and flour sold at sixty-five dollars a barrel.

_________________
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

February 26, 1863 Thursday
The Cherokee Indian National Council repealed its ordinance of secession, abolished slavery, and vigorously proclaimed for the Union. There was an affair near Germantown, Virginia. Gen Longstreet assumed command of the Confederate Department of Virginia and North Carolina. President Davis wrote Gen T.H. Holmes in the Trans-Mississippi of his concern for that area and the need for full crops and military success to preserve that section for the Confederacy.

Near Woodburn, Tennessee Confederate guerrillas halted, captured, and burned a Federal freight train with merchandise, government stores, and 240 mules.

On the Mississippi River during the night a huge, dark hulk moved down from the Federal fleet and silently passed Vicksburg. The now Confederate Queen of the West spotted the monster and warned Indianola, also now in possession of the Confederates. The Confederate cavalry on board quickly blew up the vessel and fled; “With the exception of the wine and liquor stores of Indianola, nothing was saved.” But the awesome enemy was nothing more than old coal barge fitted up by Federals to resemble an ironclad and sent down the river as a joke.

_________________
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

February 27, 1863 Friday
President Davis called for a day of fasting and prayer on March 27. Confederate Maj Gen Sterling Price was ordered to the Trans-Mississippi Department.

There was a skirmish near Bloomington on the Hatchie River in Tennessee; a Federal expedition from Fort Pillow, Tennessee; and a two-day scout from Centreville to Falmouth, Virginia.

C.S.S. Alabama, commanded by Captain Semmes, captured and released on bond ship Washington in the mid-Atlantic. Semmes noted: "She was obstinate, and compelled me to wet the people on her poop, by the spray of a shot, before she would acknowledge that she was beaten."C.S.S. Alabama, commanded by Captain Semmes, captured and released on bond ship Washington in the mid-Atlantic. Semmes noted: "She was obstinate, and compelled me to wet the people on her poop, by the spray of a shot, before she would acknowledge that she was beaten."

_________________
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

February 28, 1863 Saturday
The Federal monitor Montauk, under command of J.L. Worden of Monitor fame, moved up the Ogeechee River south of Savannah, aided by other vessels, and destroyed C.S.S. Nashville near Fort McAllister. Nashville, now the Southern privateer Rattlesnake, had been aground near the fort. She was struck numerous times and set afire.

In the Indian Territory a skirmish occurred near Fort Gibson. President Lincoln convened the U.S. Senate for March 4 in a special session to act on a backlog of appointments and promotions. Gen Lee announced to his army the various achievements of the winter by detachments of the Army of Northern Virginia. Edward Johnson, CSA, was appointed to Major General.

U.S.S. Wyandank, Acting Master Andrew J. Frank, captured schooners Vista and A. W. Thompson at Piney Point, Virginia.

U.S.S. New Era, commanded by Acting Ensign Hanford, seized steamer Curlew at Island No. 10 in the Mississippi River.

_________________
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

March 1, 1863 Sunday
Sunday was broken by skirmish at Bradyville and Woodbury, Tennessee with other action March 1-2 near Bloomfield, Missouri. A Federal expedition March 1-6 from New Berne to Swan Quarter, North Carolina was marked by several skirmishes. The Federal Congress was preparing to end its session. President Lincoln conferred with Sec of War Stanton and other officers about military appointments.

_________________
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