American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

September 13, 1863 Sunday
The fairly quiet Virginia front became less so as Meade’s Army of the Potomac occupied Culpeper Court House. The Union move from the Rappahannock River to the Rapidan River was brought about by a Confederate withdrawal by Lee, weakened from the loss of Longstreet’s corps. Fighting broke out in the area of Brandy Station, Muddy Run, Culpeper Court House, Pony Mountain, and Stevensburg, a much fought-over section. Washington ordered Gen Grant to send all available from the Army of the Tennessee toward Chattanooga to aid Rosecrans. Near Chattanooga operations and skirmishes centered around Lee and Gordon’s Mills, toward La Fayette and near Summersville, Georgia. A reconnaissance probed from Henderson’s Gap to La Fayette, Georgia. Bragg ordered Polk to attack Thomas L. Crittenden’s divided corps at Lee and Gordon’s Mills. Polk did not attack. Elsewhere there was a skirmish near Salem, Missouri. Scouts and expeditions lasting several days included one by Federals from Fort Larned ( http://www.nps.gov/fols/index.htm ) to Booth’s Ranch on the Arkansas River, Kansas and another by Confederates near Lake Ponchartrain, Louisiana. In South Carolina Confederates captured a Union telegraph party near Lowndes’ Mill on the Combahee River. Southern cavalry seized twenty crewmen of U.S.S. Rattler while they attended church at Rodney, Mississippi. U.S.S. Cimarron, Commander Hughes, seized British blockade runner Jupiter in Wassaw Sound, Georgia. The steamer was aground when captured and her crew had attempted to scuttle her. U.S.S. De Soto, commanded by Captain W. M. Walker, captured steamer Montgomery in the Gulf of Mexico south of Pensacola.

_________________
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

September 14, 1863 Monday
Still the skirmishing continued between the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers as Federal forces pushed toward the Rapidan against Lee. Fighting was at Somerville, Raccoon, and Robertson’s fords and Rapidan Station. On the Chattanooga front there was a skirmish near La Fayette, Georgia. Other action was a Federal reconnaissance on the Blackwater River, North Carolina; a Confederate attack on Vidalia, Louisiana; at Smyth County, Virginia; and Cheat Mountain Pass, West Virginia. Alexander Welch Reynolds, CSA, was appointed to Brigadier General.

President Lincoln calls a special cabinet meeting for 11 A.M. to discuss decisions of certain judges releasing drafted men by writ of habeas corpus. He agrees to prepare an opinion for a cabinet meeting the following morning.

_________________
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

September 15, 1863 Tuesday
At 9 A.M. President Lincoln reads to the Cabinet his opinion on military draft. Sec Chase thinks the preferable way to prevent courts from interfering with the draft is for President Lincoln by proclamation to suspend privilege of writ of habeas corpus ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habeas_corpus ) in military or naval cases. The proposal wins approval. The Cabinet adjourns at 1 P.M. Sec. Seward prepares proclamation and presents it when cabinet reconvenes. All agree and order it carried into effect. As a result of the existing “state of rebellion” President Lincoln suspended the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus through the nation in cases where military or civil authorities of the United States held persons under their command or in custody ( http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/te ... oln6%3A937 ). President Lincoln also wrote Gen Halleck that Gen Meade should attack Lee at once ( http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/te ... oln6%3A936 ). Meanwhile, Meade’s advance to the Rapidan River had been largely completed.

In Georgia below Chattanooga both Bragg and Rosecrans were concentrating their forces: Rosecrans drawing in his scattered corps; Bragg gathering in all he could preparatory to taking action against Rosecrans. Skirmishing occurred at Trion Factory and Summerville, Georgia as well as at Catlett’s Gap on Pigeon Mountain. Other action was near Kempsville, Virginia and in Jackson County and at Enterprise, Missouri. Union expeditions in Missouri, New Mexico, and one from Great Bridge, Virginia to Indiantown, North Carolina all lasted several days. On James Island near Charleston, South Carolina, a magazine at Confederate Battery Cheves exploded, killing six men ( http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=29773 ). George Douglas Ramsay, USA, was appointed to Brigadier 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

September 16, 1863 Wednesday
Rosecrans was concentrating his Army of the Cumberland in the area of Lee and Gordon’s Mills on Chickamauga Creek, Georgia about twelve miles south of Chattanooga, and there were several days of skirmishing in the vicinity. The Reserve Corps Rosecrans held near Chattanooga, Crittenden ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_L._Crittenden ) was at the Mill, Thomas ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Henry_Thomas ) to the south, and Alexander McDowell McCook ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_McDowell_McCook ) far to the south near Alpine. Otherwise fighting was limited to affairs at Brownsville, Arkansas and Smithfield, West Virginia.

President Davis wrote Gen Lee of his concern over the withdrawal from Chattanooga and the “inexplicable” loss of Cumberland Gap. He hoped Bragg would soon recover the lost ground.

U.S.S. San Jacinto, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Ralph Chandler, captured blockade running steamer Lizzie Davis off the west coast of Florida. She had been bound from Havana to Mobile with cargo including lead.

U.S.S. Coeur De Lion, commanded by Acting Master W. G. Morris, seized schooner Robert Knowles in the Potomac River for violating the blockade.

_________________
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

September 17, 1863 Thursday
Action increased as the armies below Chattanooga drew closer together. By nightfall Rosecrans’ three corps were within supporting distance of each other. Bragg had failed to prevent such concentration or to mount an attack against isolated Federal elements on at least three occasions. He blamed his officers and they blamed him. Bragg now planned to turn the Union left north of Lee and Gordon’s Mills, force Rosecrans back into the mountains, and get between him and Chattanooga. Part of Longstreet’s corps was arriving from Virginia and plans were ready. However, Rosecrans understood Bragg’s moves and hurried to protect the roads to Chattanooga.

In Virginia there was yet another skirmish at Raccoon Ford on the Rapidan River. In Missouri troops skirmished on Horse Creek. U.S.S. Adolph Hugel, commanded by Acting Master Frank, seized sloop Music off Alexandria, Virginia, for a violation of the blockade.

_________________
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

September 18, 1863 Friday
Braxton Bragg moved all but three divisions of his Army of Tennessee from the Ringgold area across West Chickamauga Creek, aided by a portion of Longstreet’s corps which arrived in the morning from Virginia. Heavy skirmishing with Federal cavalry broke out at Pea Vine Ridge, Alexander’s and Reeds’ bridges, Dyer’s Ford, Spring Creek, and near Stevens’ Gap, Georgia. For his part, Rosecrans moved Thomas’ corps of the Army of the Cumberland in a hard march northeast so that Bragg would not outflank the Federals toward Chattanooga. A major battle was in sight. In the East Tennessee Campaign skirmishing flared at Calhoun, Cleveland, Kingsport, and Bristol, Tennessee. Other action was at Crooked Run, Virginia and near Fort Donelson, Tennessee. Edmund Winston Pettus, CSA, and Thomas Neville Waul, CSA, were appointed to Brigadier General.

President Lincoln himself honorably discharged William “Duff” Armstrong from army service. As an attorney Lincoln had defended Armstrong in a famous murder case in 1858.

_________________
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

September 19, 1863 Saturday
Neither the Federal Army of the Cumberland under Rosecrans nor the Army of Tennessee under Bragg was quite sure of the exact position of the other as they moved into roughly parallel lines west of West Chickamauga Creek, southeast of Chattanooga. The section was densely wooded and underbrushed. Gen George H. Thomas, on the Federal left or north flank, sent part of his corps forward to investigate the enemy. This body ran into dismounted cavalry of Nathan Bedford Forrest, and actually opened the battle ( http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/chickamauga.html [recommend the animated map] and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chickamauga ). Fighting in this section grew more severe as other units joined in, and by afternoon the greater portions of both armies were engaged along a ragged three-mile line. McCook’s Union Corps came from the south. Bragg was unable to penetrate between Chattanooga and the Federals, who held the roads to the city. Losses in the sporadic but heavy fire were high but results were negligible. At night Rosecrans tightened his line; breastworks were built. For the Confederates, Longstreet himself and more of his men arrived from the east. Bragg put Gen Leonidas Polk ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonidas_Polk ) in command of the right wing and Gen Longstreet the left wing. Brigadier General Preston Smith ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Smith_(general) ), CSA, is killed by a volley from Federal soldiers he accidently rode into while directing a night attack, during the Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia.

Elsewhere, cavalry fought at Culpeper, Virginia. Skirmishes broke out at Raccoon Ford, Virginia; Como, Tennessee; and Greenwell Springs Road near Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and a Federal expedition from Fort Pillow to Jackson, Tennessee lasted six days. Henry Warner Birge, USA, and Charles Garrison Harker, USA, were appointed to Brigadier General.

President Lincoln wrote Gen Halleck, “I have constantly desired the Army of the Potomac, to make Lee’s army, and not Richmond it’s [sic] objective point.”

Small boat expedition under command of Acting Masters John Y. Beall and Edward McGuire, CSN, captured schooner Alliance with cargo of sutlers' stores in Chesapeake Bay. The daring raid was continued 2 days later when schooner J. J. Houseman was seized. On the night of the 22nd, the force took two more schooners, Samuel Pearsall and Alexandria. All but Alliance were cast adrift at Wachapreague Inlet. Beall attempted to run the blockade in Alliance but she grounded at Milford Haven and was burned on the morning of 23 September, after U.S.S. Thomas Freeborn, commanded by Acting Master Arthur, opened fire on her. Beall escaped and returned to Richmond. A joint Army-Navy effort was mounted to stop these raids, but Beall and his men destroyed several lighthouses on Maryland's Eastern Shore prior to being captured on 15 November 1863.

Horace L. Hunley wrote General Beauregard requesting that command of the submarine bearing his name be turned over to him. "I propose," Hunley said, "if you will place the boat in my hands to furnish a crew (in whole or in part) from Mobile who are well acquainted with its management & make the attempt to destroy a vessel of the enemy as early as practicable." Three days later, Brigadier General Jordan, Beauregard's Chief of Staff, directed that the submarine be "cleaned and turned over to him with the understanding that said Boat shall be ready for service in two weeks." Under Hunley's direction, a crew was brought to Charleston from Mobile, the H. L. Hunley was readied, and a number of practice dives carried out preparatory to making an actual attack.

Coal schooner Manhasset was driven ashore in a gale at Sabine Pass. The wreck was subsequently seized by Confederate troops.

_________________
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

September 20, 1863 Sunday
Daybreak on this fall Sunday in the Georgia woods was supposed to see the Confederate drive renewed from the right, commanded by Polk. Then other divisions were to join in. There was no attack until about nine-thirty, when Breckinridge’s division moved forward. The Union left under Thomas fell back, but held at the breastworks. Neither side gained or lost much from the heavy Confederate attacks until shortly before noon. Longstreet came in opposite the Federal center, to find that by a blunder of orders Thomas J. Wood’s ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_J._Wood [read this to find out why the order was obeyed]) Union division had been pulled out and left a gap in the Northern line. Longstreet hit, driving two divisions away, thus cutting the Federal line and causing a major portion of it to flee in considerable disorder. Rosecrans, McCook, and Crittenden were caught up in the retreat toward Chattanooga. Only Thomas’ corps, aided by a few other units, remained.

Thomas managed to form a new line on a rounded eminence known as Snodgrass Hill. Here the Federals held through the afternoon, repelling assault after assault. Thomas’ men, and fragments of other units joined later by Gordon Granger’s reserve, fought a great defensive battle which earned for Thomas his famous nickname “Rock of Chickamauga.” For a while it seemed as if Confederates would take the hill, so furious and desperate were the charges. However, there were not enough Confederate reinforcements. They fought until night, when, obeying orders, Thomas withdrew toward Rossville and the mountain gaps that led to Chattanooga. Splendid as the Union defensive was, the battle was a great Confederate tactical victory.

The estimated figures are 58,000 Federal effectives, with 1657 killed, 9756 wounded, and 4757 missing for 16,170 casualties; 66,000 Confederates, with 2312 killed, 14,674 wounded, 1468 missing for 18,454. The casualty rate for both sides was about 28 per cent. A dispatch from Gen Rosecrans increased President Lincoln’s anxiety for further details.

Brigadier General Benjamin Hardin Helm ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Hardin_Helm ), CSA, is mortally wounded while leading his men in an assualt on the Federal lines during the Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia. He dies the next day, September 21, 1863. Brigadier General James Deshler ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Deshler ), CSA, is killed instantly from a Federal artillery shell while inspecting his troops prior to a Federal assault during the Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia. Brigadier General William Haines Lytle ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Lytle ), USA, is killed while leading his command in a charge against the Confederate line, to give Federal troops time to retreat, during the Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia.

Other fighting included skirmishes at Hornersville, Missouri; and Carter’s Depot and Zollicoffer in eastern Tennessee; an affair on Shaver Mountain, West Virginia; and a ten-day Federal expedition from Paducah, Kentucky to McLemoresville, Tennessee. John Bell Hood, CSA, was appointed to Lieutenant 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

September 21, 1863 Monday
At Rossville Gen Thomas, with the remnant of the defeated Army of the Cumberland, stood his ground all day. However, due to the danger of being flanked, Thomas retired to Chattanooga. By morning of Sept 22 the Federal army occupied a good defensive position in and around Chattanooga. Gen Bragg ordered a pursuit and then canceled it, giving up possible greater fruits of victory. Bragg, aided by geography, was in an excellent position to besiege the city. Fighting was listed as skirmishing at Rossville, Lookout Church, and Dry Valley, Georgia.

President Lincoln, who thought the Chickamauga defeat extremely serious, wired Burnside in east Tennessee: “Go to Rosecrans with your force, without a moments delay.” To Rosecrans he wired, “Be of good cheer. We have unabated confidence in you, and in your soldiers and officers … save your army, by taking strong positions….”

President Lincoln writes Gen Halleck: "I think it very important for Gen. Rosecrans to hold his position, at or about Chattanooga, because, if held from that place to Cleveland, both inclusive, it keeps all Tennessee clear of the enemy, and also breaks one of his most important Railroad lines. . . . If he can only maintain this position, without more, the rebellion can only eke out a short and feeble existence, as an animal sometimes may with a thorn in its vitals."

Other action flared at Jonesborough, Tennessee and at Moorefield, West Virginia. A Federal scout until Sept 26 from Harper’s Ferry into Loudon Valley, Virginia included sporadic fighting. In Virginia a Federal reconnaissance crossed the Rapidan River, skirmishing at White’s Ford and Madison Court House. Operations about Princess Anne Court House lasted five days. Armistead Lindsay Long, CSA, was appointed to Brigadier 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

September 22, 1863 Tuesday
Black plume on hat, Joseph O. “Jo” Shelby ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_O._Shelby ) led his band of Confederate light-horse troops on a fast-paced raid through Arkansas and Missouri which lasted until late October. The command set out from Arkadelphia, Arkansas, headquarters of Confederate activity since the fall of Little Rock.

In the windup of the Chickamauga Campaign, skirmishing occurred at Missionary Ridge and Shallow Ford Gap near Chattanooga. Although Federal troops were in a strong position at Chattanooga, they were hemmed in by the mountains, the Tennessee River, and the Confederates who held Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain overlooking the city. Washington had long realized that Rosecrans needed reinforcements; they now became imperative. Three divisions of the Fifteenth Corps of Grant’s army left Vicksburg for Chattanooga. The advisability of an even more massive concentration was discussed in Washington.

In the East Tennessee Campaign skirmishing broke out at Carter’s Depot, and Blountsville, Tennessee, and Marrow Bone Creek, Kentucky. Burnside was hard put to control the rugged, mountainous area from his Knoxville headquarters. In Virginia skirmishing continued between Centreville and Warrenton, and at Rockville, Maryland Confederates raided far behind the lines of the Army of the Potomac. On the main lines there was fighting at Orange Court House and Raccoon Ford. At Darien, Georgia Federals destroyed the Confederates salt works. A four-day Union scout in La Fayette County, Missouri involved skirmishes.

In Washington President Lincoln, distraught over Rosecrans’ situation, also mourned the death of his Confederate brother-in-law Brig Gen Ben Hardin Helm, a victim of Chickamauga.

Acting Master David Nichols and a crew of 19 Confederate seamen captured Army tug Leviathan before dawn at South West Pass, Mississippi River, but were taken prisoner later that morning when U.S.S. De Soto, commanded by Captain W. M. Walker, recaptured the prize in the Gulf of Mexico some 40 miles off shore. Nichols and his men had departed Mobile 2 or 3 days before in the small cutter Teaser. Reaching South West Pass, they pulled the cutter into the marshes and made their way on foot to the coal wharf where Leviathan lay. They seized the tug, described by Captain Walker as "a new and very fast screw steamer, amply supplied with coal and provisions for a cruise," and put to sea at once. Shortly thereafter, Commodore Bell ordered Navy ships in pursuit. At midmorning, U.S.S. De Soto fired three shots at the tug and brought her to.

U.S.S. Connecticut, Commander Almy, seized blockade running British steamer Juno off Wilmington with cargo of cotton and tobacco.

_________________
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

September 23, 1863 Wednesday
President Lincoln, Sec of War Stanton, and other Cabinet and military officers met in the evening to discuss relieving Rosecrans at Chattanooga. After considerable debate, they agreed to send the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps of the Army of the Potomac, under Hooker’s command, west to Rosecrans. Some thought this would take a month or more; Stanton and others believed it could be done in an incredible seven days. Immediately telegrams were dispatched to railroads and to the Army, rail lines were commandeered, red tape broken, and it was done. Troops were moving by Sept 25 and by Oct 2 the last of the Eleventh Corps arrived in Alabama, shut off from Chattanooga by the mountains. The Twelfth Corps was passing through Nashville. Gen Hooker commanded the troops, but Stanton, the War Department, and the railroads made it possible. The brilliant logistical operation still stands as a superlative feat of ground transportation of troops. Meanwhile, at Chattanooga skirmishing at Summertown and Lookout Mountain lasted several days. In the East Tennessee Campaign skirmishing flared at Federal-held Cumberland Gap.

On the Rapidan River in Virginia skirmishing occurred at Liberty Mills and Robertson’s Ford. Maj Gen George E. Pickett ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Pickett ), who had taken one division of Longstreet’s corps with him, was assigned to command the Confederate Department of North Carolina. Other fighting broke out near Bayou Meto Bridge, Arkansas and opposite Donaldsonville, Louisiana. Henry Rootes Jackson, CSA, was appointed to Brigadier General.

Two vessels of the Imperial Russian Navy’s Atlantic Fleet arrived in New York. Four other ships followed shortly, and on Oct 12 six vessels entered San Francisco Bay. The Russians received an extremely friendly welcome. Parades, dinners, a visit to the Washington area early in December, and special programs marked their seven months in American waters. The main purpose of their presence was to avoid being tied up for the winter in Baltic ice; Russia feared a European war after her brutal suppression of a Polish revolt.

_________________
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

September 24, 1863 Thursday
The great rail transfer of the two Federal corps from the Army of the Potomac got under way with the organization of rolling stock. Skirmishes occurred at Zollicoffer, Tennessee; Bristoe Station, Virginia; and Greenbrier Bridge, West Virginia. There were six days of Union expeditions from Carrollton and Baton Rouge to the New and Amite rivers, Louisiana.

The Confederate government appointed A. Dudley Mann as special agent to the Holy See in Rome. President Lincoln wrote his wife, visiting in New York, of Chickamauga and said, “the result is that we are worsted.” To Rosecrans he wrote that forty to sixty thousand men were on the way.

_________________
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

September 25, 1863 Friday
Military action declined as the Federal government concentrated on relieving Rosecrans. The Confederate government focused on how best to exploit the victory of Chickamauga. In east Tennessee there were skirmishes at Athens, Calhoun, and Charleston. An annoyed President Lincoln wrote, but did not send, a letter to Burnside saying that he had been “struggling … to get you to go assist Gen. Rosecrans in an extremity, and you have repeatedly declared you would do it, and yet you steadily move the contrary way.” Other fighting occurred in the vicinity of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Seneca Trace Crossing on the Cheat River, West Virginia. William Wirt Adams, CSA, was appointed to Brigadier General. Brigadier General Mahlon D. Manson ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahlon_D._Manson ), USA, assumes command of the 23rd Army Corps, Federal Army of Tennessee.

U.S.S. Tioga, Commander Clary, captured steamer Herald near the Bahamas with cargo of cotton, turpentine, and pitch.

_________________
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

September 26, 1863 Saturday
As Rosecrans remained entrenched in Chattanooga and troops hurried to his aid, lesser action flared at Richards’ Ford, Virginia; Winchester and Calhoun, Tennessee; Hunt’s Mill near Larkinsville, Alabama; and Cassville, Missouri. Confederate Maj Gen W.H.C. Whiting ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H.C._Whiting ) was assigned to the separate commands of the District of Cape Fear and Defenses of Wilmington, North Carolina. President Lincoln and the Administration were distressed that the New York Post revealed the movement of troops west to Rosecrans. In the Trans-Mississippi Confederate commander E. Kirby Smith tried to arouse the citizenry by proclaiming, “Your homes are in peril. Vigorous efforts on your part can alone save portions of your State from invasion. You should contest the advance of the enemy, thicket, gully, and stream; harass his rear and cut off his supplies.”

_________________
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

September 27, 1863 Sunday
Jo Shelby’s Confederate raiders were active at Moffat’s Station in Franklin County, Arkansas. Skirmishing took place at Newtonia, Missouri; Locke’s Mill near Moscow, Tennessee; and in east Tennessee at Athens and near Philadelphia. Two Federal expeditions operated until October on the Big Black to Yazoo City, Mississippi; and from Corinth, Mississippi into west Tennessee. Federals scouted in Bates County, Missouri and on Hazel River, Virginia. President Lincoln wrote Gen Burnside in east Tennessee, “My order to you meant simply that you should save Rosecrans from being crushed out, believing if he lost his position, you could not hold East Tennessee in any event.” Burnside denied any delay. U.S.S. Clyde, commanded by Acting Master A. A. Owens, seized schooner Amaranth near the Florida Keys with cargo including cigars and sugar.

_________________
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