Today in the WBTS, March 12th 1861 Federal forces abandon Ft McIntosh, TX. 1862 Skirmish in the vicinity of Aubrey, KS. Skirmish at Lexington and in the vicinity of Lebanon, MO. 1863 Day one of an eight day Federal operation between Columbia, KY, and Perryville, TN. Skirmish at Louisa, KY. Beginning of five days of Federal operations in Boone, Wyoming, and Logan Counties, WV. 1864 Skirmishes near Union City, TN, and operations at Nola Chucky Bend, which is in the vicinity of Morristown, TN. One of the biggest military fiascos of the war begins as a combined Federal force of infantry and riverboats begins moving up the Red River in Louisiana. The month-long campaign was poorly managed and achieved none of the objectives set forth by Federal commanders. The campaign had several strategic goals. The Union hoped to capture everything along the Red River in Louisiana and continue into Texas. President Lincoln hoped to send a symbolic warning to France, which had set up a puppet government in Mexico and seemed to have designs on territorial expansion. Finally, the expedition could also capture cotton-producing regions, a product in short supply in the North. The plan called for Admiral David Dixon Porter (Admiral David G Farragut’s step brother)to take a flotilla of 20 gunboats up the Red River while General Nathaniel Banks led 27,000 men along the western shore of the river. Porters squadron entered the river on March 12. Two days later, Fort Derussy fell to the Yankees and the ships moved upriver and captured Alexandria. So far, the expedition was going well, but Banks was moving too slowly. He arrived two weeks after Porter took Alexandria, and he continued to plod towards Shreveport. Banks traveled nearly 20 miles from the Red River, too far for the gunboats to offer any protection. On April 8, Banks command was attacked and routed by General Richard Taylor, son of former president Zachary Taylor and whose great grandson, Jesse Taylor, often accompanies us to events. They fought again the next day, but this time the Yankees held off the Rebel pursuit. The intimidated Banks elected to retreat back down the river before reaching Shreveport. Porters ships followed, but the Red River was unusually low and the ships were stuck above some rapids near Alexandria. It appeared that the ships would have to be destroyed to keep them from falling into Confederate hands, but Lt. Colonel Joseph Bailey of Wisconsin, an engineer with a logging background, supervised several thousand soldiers in constructing a series of wing dams that raised the water level enough for the ships to pass. The expedition was deemed a failure--it drew Union strength away from other parts of the South and the group never reached Texas. Incidentally, this same wing dam concept was used to keep sand bars from forming at the mouth of the Mississippi River. 1865 Federal operation originating from Lewisburg, AR, into Yell and Searcy Counties, AR. Skirmish at Morganza Bend, LA. Federal operation in the vicinity of Grand Gulf, MS. Skirmish at Lone Jack, MO. Marching through the Carolinas, Gen. Sherman practiced the same rules he had used while marching through Georgia: Anything that could be of use to the Confederacy that came into his path was put to the torch. Buildings, public property and particularly machinery was considered to fall into this category. Today the Fayetteville Arsenal was destroyed. Much of its machinery had originally been taken from the US Arsenal at Harpers Ferry at the beginning of the war and shipped South. Federal operation in Loudoun County, VA, and a skirmish in the vicinity of Vienna, VA. Sources: The Civil War Day by Day, Philip Katcher. The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865, by E. B. Long with Barbara Long. The Chronological Tracking of the American Civil War Per the Official Records of the War of Rebellion, by Ronald A Mosocco
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 11:55:59 +0000
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