Episodes Nearest to January 12, 1862: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Happy Times in Centerville Camp as the Confederate High Command Sing the South's Favorite Songs
    date January 12, 1862map ACCOMACK, Virginiatags Arts/Leisure, Song

    Confederate leader Robert E Lee once said, "I don't believe we can have an army without music," and reflecting this attitude, the high command of the Confederate forces joined in the jovial times of the 1862 Southern lifestyle. Observed by the future Brigadier General Moxley Sorrel, the then Captain and Chief-of-Staff to General Longstreet recounted a banquet put on by Longstreet and the many...

  2. Irish Brigade Holds Fast
    date January 11, 1862 to January 13, 1862map SPOTSYLVANIA, Virginiatags War, Thomas Meagher

    The Irish Brigade, under the command of General Thomas F. Meagher, displayed exceptional bravery at the battle of Fredericksburg. In an after- action battle report, Meagher commended the bravery of his men under a horrendous fire of artillery and aimed muskets while attempting to seize Mayre's Heights from its Confederate defenders in their breastworks. He stated they were "unbroken and...

  3. Sovereign Convention of South Carolina
    date January 9, 1862map RICHLAND, South Carolinatags War

    On January 9, 1862, the Sovereign Convention of the People of South Carolina met sitting in Columbia, South Carolina [the state capital] and enacted several highly important ordinances concerning the state. A first order was to strengthen the hands of the executive branch by the creation of a Council to whom [in conjunction with the Governor] plenary powers were entrusted. This new Council's...

  4. Call The Cavalry
    date November 1, 1861 to March 11, 1862map QUEENS, New Yorktags War

    A man sits astride a slick-coated war-horse at the forefront of battle. Uniform pressed, cap settled heavily atop his head of thick hair, hand wrapped around the hilt of his saber while his revolver sits at his hip, he demonstrates the epitome of order and ruthlessness on the battlefield. While a man on foot could be outfitted in the same manner as a cavalryman, he would never be able to compare...

  5. What Are You Fighting For?
    date January 1, 1862map FREDERICK, Virginiatags War

    The message was clear; those fighting for the Confederate Army were "destroy[ing] the government of [their] fathers." In an advertisement in 1862 in Winchester, Virginia, the government established by the "the patriot statesmen and warriors of the revolution" asked that the confederate soldiers "throw down [their] arms" and come rejoin the Union. The ad insisted that the "bad men" of the confederacy...

  6. CSA General Wreaks Havoc in Missouri Town
    date January 1, 1862map CHRISTIAN, Missouritags Sterling Price

    Dissent, the one word that is able to break apart any organization. One particular instance of dissent took place in 1862 in Springfield, Missouri. The citizens of Springfield became thoroughly displeased with the practices of the confederate soldiers in their town. These practices, undertaken by General Sterling Price of the Confederate Army, became the focusing point of controversy for the citizens...

  7. Expressions of Anger Toward Secrecy and Censorship in the Union
    date January 1, 1862map NEW YORK, New Yorktags Seceded States

    Censorship and secrecy became the motto of the Union Army in the beginning of 1862. By this point, the war had only been going on for one year and civilians already had begun to grow weary of its costs. Union citizens came to be weary of the issue surrounding government censorship of communication devices such as the newspapers and mail. One of the complaints concerning this matter appeared in

  8. Special War Order No. 1 Issued
    date January 31, 1862map Washington City, District of Columbiatags War

    On January 31, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued Special War Order No. 1 in order to successfully implement his General War Order No. 1 issued long before. Specifically pertaining to the Army of the Potomac, the Federal forces were ordered to form an expedition to seize and occupy “a point upon the Railroad South Westward of what is known of [sic] Manassas Junction.' To be carried...

  9. Confederate Privateersmen to be treated as POW's
    date February 4, 1862map Washington City, District of Columbiatags War

    On February 4, 1862, it had been decided by the Federal government in Washington, D.C. to consider all captured Confederate rebel privateersmen as prisoners of war and not pirates. Outlined by the government, such prisoners were to then be exchanged for the hostages in custody of the United States. Rather than simply executing the rebels, the humane and important course of action taken by the...

  10. The Fall of Roanoke Island
    date February 8, 1862map CURRITUCK, North Carolinatags War

    At around 7 a.m. on the morning of February 8, 1862, General Burnside and his 7,500 Union troops attacked the east side of Roanoke Island off the northern coast of North Carolina. The heavily outnumbered Confederates were forced north of their position, unknowing of their newly encountered terrain. One must further mention that in addition to the foreign terrain, Colonel Shaw's Confederates...

  11. South Carolina Executive Council Created by Secession Convention
    date December 14, 1861map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags War

    In response to Union military action in South Carolina, including the fall of Port Royal, David F. Jamison President of the Secession Convention gathered members of the Secession Convention. The Convention, created an Executive Council on December 14, 1861 to rule the state, partly because there was little confidence in the governor. Governor Pickens was a scapegoat for the fall of Port Royal,...

  12. Southern Women's Involvement in Charitable Organizations
    date February 10, 1862map SHENANDOAH, Virginiatags Arts/Leisure, Church/Religious-Activity, War, Women

    In 1862 Sigismunda S. Kimball, from Shenandoah County, Virginia was suddenly, like so many other women of the South, thrown into a completely different world as the Civil War raged through the South. Mrs. Kimball was put in charge of her family's plantation while her husband was away at war and she kept the plantation records in a journal which she wrote in everyday. In this journal she wrote...

  13. The Seizure of Fort Henry
    date February 6, 1862 to February 16, 1862map STEWART, Tennesseetags War

    On February 6th, General Ulysses S. Grant of the Union captured Fort Henry, Tennessee, the first victory for the United States in the Civil War. Accompanied by his troops, General Grant arrived on the morning of the 6th, having been transported by a fleet of ironclads commanded by Commodore Foote. After setting foot on land, it took a mere two hours until the fort was captured, officially being...

  14. Fire in Charleston
    date December 11, 1861 to December 12, 1861map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Race-Relations, Slavery, War

    A huge fire broke out in the city of Charleston on December 11, 1861. It continued to burn into the next day. Charleston was historically one of the wealthiest cities in the South because of its role as a leading port. The fire attracted national attention, as the New York Times compiled what information it could from various Southern papers: A reprint from the Charleston Courier estimated the...

  15. Southern Women's Involvement in Charitable Organizations
    date February 5, 1862 to February 20, 1862map SHENANDOAH, Virginiatags Arts/Leisure, Church/Religious-Activity, War, Women

    In 1862 Sigismunda S. Kimball, from Shenandoah County, Virginia was suddenly, like so many other women of the South, thrown into a completely different world as the Civil War raged through the South. Mrs. Kimball was put in charge of her family's plantation while her husband was away at war and she kept the plantation records in a journal which she wrote in everyday. In this journal she wrote...

  16. Florence, South Carolina Residents Defend Their Home
    date February, 1862map MARION, South Carolinatags War

    When the battle came to the home of the residents of Florence, South Carolina, they stood up, assumed their responsibility, and fought it. In February, 1862, a siege was initiated against the section of the Carolinian coast that included Florence. At the time, there were six steamboats at Florence Landing. During the attack, two of these boats were taken by Union forces. The other four, however,...

  17. Forrest Escapes Union Forces in Kentucky
    date February 16, 1862map CALLOWAY, Kentuckytags Nathan Bedford Forrest

    Nathan Bedford Forrest enlisted in the War of the Rebellion for the South as a private in 1861. By 1862 he had risen to the position of lieutenant-colonel. Forrest had never been in the army nor had he attended a military preparation institution—he had no military experience yet still rose to be a great commander.

    At Fort Donelson in Kentucky, Forrest was under the command of Generals...

  18. Unionist Sentiments in Alabama
    date December 7, 1861map WINSTON, Alabamatags Unionists in Alabama, Civil War

    P.C. Winn’s letter disturbed Governor John Gill Shorter of Alabama.  Winn dictates the contents of a letter given to himself by Dr. A. Kaiser of Winston County.  Winn elaborates on his personal visit to the county in the Great State of Alabama.  He details the accounts of a meeting that Dr. K had alluded to and states that he was charged with the writing of the Preamble and Resolutions passed...

  19. Union Troops Seize Fort Massachusetts
    date December 4, 1861map HARRISON, Mississippitags Economy, War

    Union forces gained control of an evacuated fort that was being constructed on Ship Island by the Confederates on December 4, 1861. Located along one of the major shipping lanes into New Orleans, the fort controlled the movement of ships in the area and tightened the blockade on New Orleans. New Orleans is located at the mouth of Mississippi by controlling New Orleans, the Union forces were able...

  20. Slave Trader Captain Gordon Executed
    date February 21, 1862map NEW YORK, New Yorktags Crime/Violence, Law, Slavery

    The most infamous of slave traders, Captain Nathaniel Gordon was finally brought to justice, and the significance of that event was reported and commented on at length in the March 8, 1862 edition of Harper's Weekly summarizing from accounts in the Times and Herald. This was an important event because the international slave trade had been considered piracy but had...

  21. Winston County Unionists
    date December 3, 1861map WINSTON, Alabamatags Winston County, Alabama, Civil War

    Dr. A. Kaiser of Winston County passionately wrote down the concerns of his fellow Confederate supporters at the meeting conducted on November 30, 1861 in Alabama.  Winston County is a small, rural county in the upper northwest corner of Alabama.  The county was a pro-Union county that was creating a disturbance in the Confederate state.  In Dr. Kaiser’s letter, he emphasizes the wishes of...

  22. Reasons to Fight: Southern Nationalism
    date February 28, 1862map KERSHAW, South Carolinatags Politics, War

    "If you love your freedom-if you love your home-if you love your wife and children-if you love your God, strike, strike quick, strike hard," urged The Camden Confederate on February 28, 1862. This newspaper, published weekly in Camden, South Carolina, was full of pleas for Southern unity and attacks against the North. Like many Southern newspapers, The Camden Confederate tried...

  23. "The Slow Dead March of Camp-Disease": Death in the American Civil War
    date November 25, 1861map PRINCE WILLIAM, Virginiatags Charles Manning Furman, Typhoid fever, Disease, Civil War

    Charles Furman had known Fannie Garden for only 13 days before he asked her to marry him. In all, they spent less than a month together before the Confederate government ordered him northward to fight the “soulless soldiers” of the “despised Yankee Nation." The letters they wrote in the years that followed captured both their own deepening love and the chaos and carnage of the American Civil...

  24. Confederacy Passes a Law Authorizing Wartime Property Destruction
    date March 6, 1862map HENRICO, Virginiatags Agriculture, War

    On March 6, 1862, in the House of Representatives of the Confederate Congress a bill was passed to prevent the capture of Confederate property by the Union. Specifically, the bill authorized the commanding generals of the Confederate Army to destroy cotton, tobacco and other agricultural products which may be liable to fall into the hands of the United States. During the hearings, inquiries of...

  25. Feeding Prisoners on a Pittance
    date November 20, 1861map BARNWELL, South Carolinatags Health/Death, Government

    When S. N. Stallings signed up for service in the army of the Confederate States of America, he sought glory and excitement in the defense of his home and values. By 1861, Stallings' dreams had faded. Rather than fighting against invading hordes of Yankees, he was guarding prisoners of war at the courthouse in Barnwell County, South Carolina.

    Worse, the Confederate government had little...