American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

April 15, 1864 Friday
Small affairs continued as spring weather improved, with considerable action in the Trans-Mississippi near Camden and Roseville, Arkansas; in the Indian Territory; and at Spencer’s Ranch near Presidio del Norte, New Mexico Territory. Other fighting flared near Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Greeneville, Tennessee; and Bristoe Station and Milford, Virginia. Federals demonstrated on Battery Island in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. On the Red River ironclad U.S.S. Eastport struck a torpedo or mine and was severely damaged. She was refloated and tried to escape April 21, only to go aground numerous times. The crew finally destroyed her on April 26.

At Knoxville, Tennessee Gov Andrew Johnson vociferously supported emancipation at a large pro-Union meeting. The Richmond Examiner expressed concern over the forthcoming campaign in Virginia: “So far, we feel sure of the issue. All else is mystery and uncertainty. Where the first blow will fall, when the two armies of Northern Virginia will meet each other face to face; how Grant will try to hold his own against the master spirit of Lee, we cannot even surmise.”

U.S.S. Virginia, commanded by Acting Lieutenant C. H. Brown, forced sloop Rosina aground and destroyed her at San Luis Pass, Texas.

_________________
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

April 16, 1864 Saturday
A skirmish at Grand Ecore, Louisiana marked the Red River Campaign. In the allied Camden, Arkansas Expedition fighting broke out about Camden and at Liberty Post Office, and an affair occurred on the Osage Branch of King’s River. Skirmishing erupted at Rheatown, Tennessee; Salyersville, Kentucky; and an affair took place at Catlett’s Station, Virginia. U.S. transport General Hunter was destroyed by a torpedo in St John’s River, Florida. President Lincoln authorizes transfer of Fort Smith, Arkansas, and the Indian Territory to the Department of Arkansas.

A report on U.S. prisoners since the beginning of the war showed that the Federals had captured 146,634 Confederates.

_________________
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

April 17, 1864 Sunday
Gen Grant ordered no further exchange of prisoners until the Confederates balanced Federal releases. Also, he pronounced “no distinction whatever will be made in the exchange between white and colored prisoners.” The move injured the South, with its shortage of manpower, far more than the North, but it brought Grant caustic criticism from both sides.

Confederate troops, under Brig Gen Robert Frederick Hoke ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hoke ), launched a sustained attack on Plymouth, North Carolina ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Plymouth_(1864) ). Union gunboats moved to support their troops ashore and were promptly taken under fire by the Southern batteries. Next day, the fighting at Plymouth intensified as the Confederates pressed the assault. Union Army steamer Bombshell, commanded temporarily by Acting Ensign Thomas B. Stokes, was sunk during the engagement, but by 9 o'clock in the evening the Southern advance had been halted. Confederate land forces were soon to be joined by the newly finished ram Albemarle.

Skirmishes flared at Beaver Creek, North Carolina; Ellis’ Ford, Virginia; Holly Springs, Mississippi; Limestone Valley and Red Mount, Arkansas. Confederate women defied local troops in a demonstration demanding bread at Savannah, Georgia.

U.S.S. Owasco, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Edmund W. Henry, seized blockade running British schooner Lilly at Velasco, Texas.

_________________
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

April 18, 1864 Monday
Confederate attacks continued at Plymouth, North Carolina. Other action included skirmishing near Decatur, Alabama; at Citrus Point, Virginia; an affair at Hunnewell, Missouri; and a Federal expedition from Burkesville, Kentucky to Obey’s River, Tennessee. In the Trans-Mississippi at Poison Springs, Arkansas Sterling Price’s Confederates under direct command of John S. Marmaduke hit the Federals and a foraging train. After a heavy engagement the Federals withdrew, abandoning 198 wagons ( http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/poisonspring.html ). This was another bitter blow to the Federal attempt to join Banks’ Red River expedition.

In an important Confederate command change, Gen P.G.T. Beauregard was assigned to lead the Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia. Leaving Charleston, he was to be in charge of defending Richmond, the southern part of Virginia, and the northeast portion of North Carolina against threatened Federal invasion by Benjamin F. Butler from the coast. Samuel Bell Maxey, CSA, was appointed to Major General.

In an address to the Baltimore, Maryland Sanitary Fair, President Lincoln said, “We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing.” President Lincoln commutes courtmartial sentences of 20 prisoners sentenced to be shot. He also interviews Chippewa Indian chiefs in the East Room of the White House and conducts them on tour.

Boats from U.S.S. Beauregard, commanded by Acting Master Edward C. Healy, seized blockade running British schooner Oramoneta in Matanzas Inlet, Florida, with cargo of salt and percussion caps.

U.S.S. Fox, commanded by Acting Master Charles T. Chase, captured and burned schooner Good Hope at the mouth of the Homosassa River, Florida, with cargo of salt and dry goods.

_________________
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

April 19, 1864 Tuesday
C.S.S. Albemarle, Commander Cooke, attacked Union warships off Plymouth, North Carolina, at 3:30 in the morning. The heralded and long-awaited ram had departed Hamilton on the evening of the 17th. While en route, "a portion of the machinery broke down" and "the rudderhead broke off," but repairs were promptly made; and, despite the navigational hazards of the crooked Roanoke River, Cooke anchored above Plymouth at 10 p.m. on the 18th. Failing to rendezvous with Confederate troops as planned, Cooke dispatched a boat to determine the position of the Union gunboats and shore batteries. Shortly after midnight, 19 April, the party returned and reported that Albemarle could pass over the Union obstructions because of the high stage of the water. Cooke weighed anchor and stood down to engage. Meanwhile, anticipating an attack by the ram, Lieutenant Commander Flusser lashed wooden double-enders U.S.S. Miami and Southfield together for mutual protection and concentration of firepower. As Albemarle appeared, he gallantly headed the two light wooden ships directly at the Southern ram, firing as they approached. Albemarle struck Southfield, commanded by Acting Lieutenant Charles A. French, a devastating blow with her ram. It was reported that she "tore a hole clear through to the boiler" and Cooke stated that his ship plunged ten feet into the side of the wooden gunboat. Though backing immediately after the impact, Albemarle could not at once wrench herself free from the sinking Southfield and thus could not reply effectively to the fire poured into her by Miami. At last her prow was freed as Southfield sank, and Cooke forced Flusser's ship to withdraw under a heavy cannonade. Small steamer U.S.S. Ceres and 105-ton tinclad Whitehead moved downriver also. The shot of the Union ships had been ineffective against the heavily plated, sloping sides of the ram. Early in the engagement, Lieutenant Commander Flusser ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_W._Flusser ) had been killed.

In other fighting there were affairs at Leesburg, Virginia; Marling’s Bottom, West Virginia; plus skirmishes at King’s River, Arkansas; Charleston, Missouri; and Waterhouse’s Mill and Boiling Springs, Tennessee. To the twenty-third a Union expedition moved up the Yazoo River, Mississippi with skirmishing and loss by capture of U.S. gunboat Petrel on April 22. Confederate troops carried out operations against pro-unionists in Marion County, Alabama.

An enabling act to permit Nebraska Territory to join the Union was approved after passage by the U.S. Congress.

A "David" torpedo boat commanded by Engineer Tomb, CSN, attempted to sink U.S.S. Wabash, commanded by Captain John De Camp, off Charleston. The "David", the same one that had been used in the attack on U.S.S. Memphis on 6 March, was sighted while still 150 yards distant from the blockader. Alertly the large steam frigate slipped her cable and rapidly got under way, pouring a hail of musket fire at the approaching "David". When only 40 yards off, Tomb was turned back by heavy swells that threatened to swamp the boat.

U.S.S. Virginia, commanded by Acting Lieutenant C. H. Brown, took blockade running Mexican schooner Alma off the coast of Texas with assorted cargo.

_________________
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

April 20, 1864 Wednesday
Confederate troops under Brig Gen R. F. Hoke, aided by C.S.S. Albemarle, captured Plymouth, North Carolina and Federals lost about 2800 men plus a large quantity of supplies. The capture marked the first major Confederate victory in the area for a long time and brought hope to the defenders of the Atlantic coast.

On the Red River there were skirmishes about Natchitoches, Louisiana; and in Arkansas more skirmishing occurred around Camden. Elsewhere, Confederates attacked Jacksonport, Arkansas and Waterproof, Louisiana. Until late October Federal troops moved against Indians in expeditions from Fort Dalles, Oregon and Fort Walla Walla, Washington Territory to southeastern Oregon.

Maj Gen Samuel Jones ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Jones_ ... my_officer) ) succeeded Gen P.G.T. Beauregard in command of the Confederate Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Beauregard moved to the heavily threatened post of southern Virginia and northern North Carolina. President Lincoln ordered death sentences exacted by court-martial to be commuted to imprisonment on Dry Tortugas off Key West, Florida. The President also conferred with Gen Grant, who was completing plans for a spring offensive in Virginia. Robert Frederick Hoke, CSA, and James Blair Steedman, USA, were appointed to Major General.

_________________
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

April 21, 1864 Thursday
Gen Banks’ harassed Federals were withdrawing from Grand Ecore, Louisiana to Alexandria, which they reached April 25, as the Red River expedition drew to a rather ignominious conclusion. Confederate units pursued Banks with hit-and-run attacks, but mounted no offensive. Affairs took place at Tunica Bend, Louisiana; Cotton Plant, Arkansas; and Harrison’s Gap, Alabama. A skirmish erupted at Red Bone, Mississippi. Confederate salt works were destroyed at Masonborough Inlet, North Carolina and at Cane Patch near Murrell’s Inlet, South Carolina.

President Lincoln conferred with governors from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa about enlistments, and also reviewed seventy-two court-martial cases.

U.S.S. Owasco, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Henry, seized blockade running British schooner Laura with cargo of guns in the Gulf of Mexico off Velasco, Texas.

_________________
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

April 22, 1864 Friday
Confederate harassment on the Red River in Louisiana continued with attacks on transports, and skirmishes at and near Cloutierville, Louisiana. Other fighting included a skirmish on Duck River, Tennessee; an affair near Cotton Plant, Arkansas; and a three-day Union expedition with skirmishing from Jacksonport to Augusta, Arkansas.

President Lincoln approved an act authorizing the motto “In God We Trust” to be stamped upon coins. President Davis wrote Lieutenant General Polk in Alabama, “If the negro soldiers [captured] are escaped slaves, they should be held safely for recovery by their owners. If otherwise, inform me.”

U.S.S. Petrel, commanded by Acting Master McElroy, U.S.S. Prairie Bird, commanded by Acting Ensign John W. Chambers, and transport Freestone steamed up the Yazoo River to operate with Union troops attacking Yazoo City. Coming abreast the city, Petrel was fired upon by a Confederate battery and sharpshooters. The river was too narrow to come about, so Petrel steamed past the batteries to avoid the direct line of fire. The 170-ton Prairie Bird, however dropped downriver out of range of the batteries. McElroy made preparation to join her, but on April 22nd, was again taken under attack by rifle and artillery fire and disabled. McElroy attempted to destroy Petrel to prevent her being taken as a prize, but was captured before he could successfully put his small wooden gunboat to the torch. Reporting the capture, Confederate General Wirt Adams wrote: "I removed her fine armament of eight 24-pounder guns and the most valuable stores and had her burned to the water's edge."

Richard Delafield, USA, was appointed to Brigadier General. Brigadier General Joseph Gilbert Totten ( http://fortwiki.com/Joseph_G._Totten ), USA, dies from pneumonia in Washington, D. C.

C.S.S. Neuse, commanded by Lieutenant Benjamin P. Loyall, got underway at Kinston, North Carolina, and began steaming downriver to operate on the State's inland waters. She grounded just below Kinston, however, and could not be gotten off. General Montgomery D. Corse reported: "I fear she will be materially injured if not floated soon. The water has fallen 7 feet in the last four days, and is still falling." The Confederates could not float the ram and nearly a year later she was burned to prevent her capture.

_________________
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

April 23, 1864 Saturday
Confederates pressured the Federal column in Arkansas, plaguing the Camden Expedition at Camden and Swan Lake. In the Red River Campaign a heavy engagement occurred at Monett’s Ferry or Cane River Crossing, Louisiana ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monett%27s_Ferry ). Elsewhere, fighting included an affair near Hunter’s Mill, Virginia; a skirmish at Independence, Missouri; and a Confederate attack at Nickajack Trace, Georgia. William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, CSA, was appointed to Major General; and James Chesnut, Jr., CSA, to Brigadier General. Major General Frank P. Blair, Jr. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Pr ... lair%2C_Jr ), USA, is assigned command of the Federal 17th Army Corps.

C.S.S. Alabama, commanded by Captain Semmes, captured and destroyed ship Rockingham with cargo of guano at sea west of the Cape Verde Islands. Semmes said of the capture: "It was the old spectacle of the panting, breathless fawn, and the inexorable stag-hound. A gun brought his colors to the peak, and his main-yard to the mast. . . . We transferred to the Alabama such stores and provisions as we could make room for, and the weather being fine, we made a target of the prize, firing some shot and shell into her with good effect and at five p.m. we burned her and filled away on our course." Ominously, during this gunnery practice, many of Alabama's shells failed to explode.

_________________
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

April 24, 1864 Sunday
The “small war” continued with still more skirmishing near Camden, Arkansas; an affair near Decatur, Alabama; near Middletown, Virginia; Pineville, Louisiana; and a Federal scout from Ringgold to La Fayette, Georgia.

_________________
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

April 25, 1864 Monday
In Arkansas the fighting went on, with action at Marks’s Mills and in Moro Bottom. Troops skirmished at Cotile Landing, Louisiana on the Red River, as Federals began arriving at Alexandria in their retreat. Most of the gunboats were already near Alexandria. Otherwise there was a skirmish near Natchez, Mississippi and a Federal expedition of three days from Bull’s Gap to Watauga River, Tennessee. Confederate Maj Gen Robert Ransom ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ransom,_Jr. ) was assigned to command the Department of Richmond, Virginia. James Fleming Fagan, CSA, was appointed to Major General.

_________________
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

April 26, 1864 Tuesday
Federal troops in North Carolina began to evacuate Washington, following the fall of Plymouth. The move was completed by April 30. Skirmishing about Alexandria, Louisiana lasted almost a month as Federal troops from the Red River expedition continued to arrive. Meanwhile, the rapidly falling water in the Red River trapped the Union gunboat fleet above the rapids. Those vessels still above Alexandria suffered considerable damage in a running engagement with onshore Confederates. There was an engagement of two days at the junction of the Cane and Red rivers, part of the campaign. Skirmishes also flared at Bayou Rapides Bridge near McNutt’s Hill, and at Deloach’s Bluff, Louisiana. Frederick Steele’s Federal column in Arkansas began its retreat from Camden after failing to join up with Banks on the Red River.

Elsewhere, there was an affair at Winchester, Virginia; skirmishing in Wayne County, Missouri; at Berwick, Louisiana; and near Little Rock, Arkansas. A Federal expedition operated until May 6 from Jacksonville to Lake Monroe, Florida. Hiram Burnham, USA, was appointed to Brigadier General. U.S.S. Union, commanded by Acting Lieutenant Edward Conroy, captured schooner O.K. attempting to run the blockade between Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor.

_________________
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

April 27, 1864 Wednesday
President Davis instructed Jacob Thompson ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Thompson ) to proceed at once to Canada as a special commissioner and a few days later asked C.C. Clay, Jr to join him. While not officially spelled out, the mission was apparently to see what help could be obtained and to communicate with certain parties in the United States as to possible peace or truce.

In the fighting there was a skirmish near Decatur, Alabama; a Confederate attack on Taylor’s Ridge near Ringgold, Georgia; skirmishing at Troublesome Creek, Kentucky; an affair at Masonborough Inlet, North Carolina; skirmishing at Dayton, Missouri; and an expedition until the twenty-ninth by Federals from Williamsburg, Virginia. Edward Hatch, USA; Lewis Addison Grant, USA; and Edward Moody McCook, USA, were appointed to Brigadier General.

The Maryland Constitutional Convention met at Annapolis; sessions lasted until Sept 6.

C.S.S. Alabama, commanded by Captain Semmes, captured and burned bark Tycoon at sea cast of Salvador, Brazil, with cargo of merchandise, including some valuable clothing. Semmes described the capture: "We now hailed, and ordered him to heave to, whilst we should send aboard of him, hoisting our colors at the same time. . . . The whole thing was done so quietly, that one would have thought it was two friends meeting."

_________________
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

April 28, 1864 Thursday
A minor bombardment of Fort Sumter lasted seven days, during which 510 rounds were fired by Federals. The fighting was listed as skirmishing at Princeton, Arkansas; in Johnson County, Missouri; and Big Bend of Eel River, California; a Federal reconnaissance to Madison Court House, Virginia; and a Union scout from Vienna toward Upperville, Virginia.

President Davis told Gen E. Kirby Smith, commanding the Trans-Mississippi Department, “As far as the constitution permits, full authority has been given to you to administer to the wants of your Dept., civil as well as military.”

Rear Admiral Porter, stranded above the rapids at Alexandria, advised Secretary Welles of the precarious position in which his gunboats found themselves due to the falling water level of the Red River and the withdrawal forced upon Major General Banks: ". . . I find myself blockaded by a fall of 3 feet of water, 3 feet 4 inches being the amount now on the falls; 7 feet being required to get over; no amount of lightening will accomplish the object. . . . In the meantime, the enemy are splitting up into parties of 2,000 and bringing in the artillery . . . to blockade points below here. . . ." Porter faced the distinct possibility of having to destroy his squadron to prevent its falling into Confederate hands. ". . . you may judge of my feelings," he wrote Welles, "at having to perform so painful a duty." Only by the most ingenious planning and the strenuous efforts of thousands of soldiers and sailors was such a disaster avoided. The Admiral summed up the results of "this fatal campaign" which "has upset everything" to date: "It has delayed 10,000 troops of General Sherman, on which he depended to open the State of Mississippi; it has drawn General Steele from Arkansas and already given the rebels a foothold in that country; it has forced me to withdraw many light-clad vessels from points on the Mississippi to protect this army. . . ."

_________________
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

April 29, 1864 Friday
On the Red River yet another skirmish broke out at Grand Ecore, Louisiana. In Arkansas the Federal retreat from Camden involved skirmishing on the Ouachita River and near Saline Bottom.

Major General Taylor, CSA, seeking to take full advantage of the vulnerable position of Rear Admiral Porter's gunboats above the Alexandria rapids sought "to convert one of the captured transports into a fire ship to bum the fleet now crowded above the upper falls." This date, however, Union Army and Navy commanders accepted a daring plan proposed by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Bailey to raise the water level of the Red River and enable the vessels to pass the treacherous rapids. Bailey's proposal was to construct a large dam of logs and debris across the river to back up water level to a minimum depth of seven feet. The dams would be broken and the ships would ride the crest of the rushing waters to safety. Work on the dam commenced early the next day. Porter later wrote: "This proposition looked like madness, and the best engineers ridiculed it, but Colonel Bailey was so sanguine of success that I requested General Banks to have it done . . . two or three regiments of Maine men were set to work felling trees . . . every man seemed to be working with a vigor seldom seen equalled. . . . These falls are about a mile in length, filled with rugged rocks, over which at the present stage of water it seemed to be impossible to make a channel."

Elsewhere, action included skirmishes in the Sni Hills, Missouri; and in Berry County, Tennessee; a Federal reconnaissance from Ringgold toward Tunnel Hill, Georgia; and a Union expedition from Newport Barracks to Swansborough, North Carolina. James Dearing, CSA, was appointed to Brigadier General.

The U.S. Congress by a joint resolution raised all duties 50 per cent for sixty days, later the rate was extended until July 1.

U.S.S. Honeysuckle, commanded by Acting Ensign Cyrus Sears, captured blockade running schooner Miriam, west of Key West, Florida, with assorted cargo. Sears had boarded Miriam on 28 April, thought her papers in order, and released her. Keeping her under surveillance however, he found that she was not on her predicted course and boarded her again. This time upon inspection of the ship's cargo he discovered mail for the Confederate States and seized the vessel.

_________________
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