Stonewall Jackson and Ewell Prepare to Disregard Orders; Surrender of Vicksburg Demanded

| May 18, 2012

May 18, 1862 (Sunday) The Spring of 1862 in the Shenandoah Valley was shaping up to be beautiful, and this quiet Sunday was no different. As the camp of Stonewall Jackson knelt in prayer near Mt. Solon, a very flustered and conflicted General Richard Ewell dropped by unannounced and without orders. This Sabbath would not [...]

Victory Against the Galina and Monitor at Drewry’s Bluff

| May 15, 2012

May 15, 1862 (Thursday) Drewry’s Bluff rose ninety feet above the James River. The small fort, eight miles away from Richmond, built by Virginia farmers in 1861 had been expanded to a veritable fortress with seven pieces of heavy artillery. When the Union Army of the Potomac began their campaign up the Virginia Peninsula, after [...]

Slaves Hijack the CSS Planter, Sail it to Freedom

| May 13, 2012

May 13, 1862 (Tuesday) Robert Smalls was born a slave in Beaufort, South Carolina, moving to Charleston with his master when he was twelve. There, through being hired out to other slave owners, he was able to learn the art of navigating the water, and to finally become a seaman. In Charleston is where he [...]

Rebels in Corinth Prepare for the Coming Battle; Butler Takes Over New Orleans

| May 2, 2012

May 2, 1862 (Friday) “We are about to meet once more in the shock of battle the invaders of our soil, the despoilers of our homes, the disturbers of our family ties,” warned Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard to his veterans of Shiloh. “Face to face, hand to hand, we are to decide whether we are [...]

Rebel Flags Hauled Down in New Orleans; Plans in the Shenandoah

| April 29, 2012

April 29, 1862 (Tuesday) Union Flag Officer David Farragut was again taking his title quite literally. He had threatened to bombard the city of New Orleans if United States flags were not flying over City Hall, the Mint and the Custom House by the following day. The city was without military defenses, and the Mayor [...]

The Surrender of Forts Jackson and St. Philip; New Orleans Still Holds Out

| April 28, 2012

April 28, 1862 (Monday) Half of his men had deserted. The guns had been spiked and many of the gunboats destroyed. Confederate General Johnson Duncan, commander of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, was a beaten man. Those soldiers who remained at the forts were completely demoralized. Before the Union fleet, under Flag Officer David Farragut, [...]

Mutiny at Fort Jackson! Stonewall Expects too Much of his Foes

| April 27, 2012

April 27, 1862 (Sunday) Way down south, at Forts Jackson and St. Philip, the Rebels had not yet surrendered to Captain David Porter, who commanded the fleet of mortar boats on the lower Mississippi River. Porter had demanded the surrender of the forts on April 24th, just after Farragut had steamed his fleet towards New [...]

The City is Yours by the Power of Brutal Force: Still No Surrender at New Orleans

| April 26, 2012

April 26, 1862 (Saturday) “The city is yours by the power of brutal force and not by any choice or consent of its inhabitants,” wrote New Orleans’ Mayor John Monroe to Union Flag Officer David Farragut, whose eleven war ships lay off the city, and whose public had whipped themselves into an absolute fury. “I [...]

New Orleans Not Quite Surrendered to the Union

| April 25, 2012

April 25, 1862 (Friday) In the mid-morning of the previous day, New Orleans was abuzz with the rumor, entirely true, that the Union gunboats of Flag Officer David Farragut had steamed past Forts Jackson and St. Philip and were on their way to the Crescent City, sixty miles upriver. The Rebels in the forts were [...]

Unable to Co-operate, the Rebels Try to Prepare for the Union Attack on Fort Jackson

| April 23, 2012

April 23, 1862 (Wednesday) Things were not going well for the Confederates at Forts Jackson and St. Philip, guarding the mouth of the Mississippi River, seventy miles south of New Orleans. They had endured a near ceaseless bombardment for the past five days, which had caused great destruction, fires, loss of quarters, supplies, ammunition and [...]