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Monday, Jan. 13, 1862
CRAFTY CAMERON CASHIERS CLAY
In a follow-up to the resignation of Simon Cameron, Lincoln named
Edwin M. Stanton as the new Secretary of War. Cameron was named
Minister to Russia, replacing Cassius Marcellus Clay. Stanton was a
prominent Washington lawyer, having served previously as Attorney
General during the Buchanan Administration. The council of cabinet,
top-ranking generals, President Lincoln and George McClellan met
again in the afternoon, continuing to analyze the actions of the war
of the previous summer, and plan the spring campaigns. McClellan,
still recovering from illness, acted resentful about interference
from outsiders to the Army of the Potomac. Lincoln, conversely, was
baffled by McClellan’s reluctance to actually fight the army he
commanded. Meanwhile, Lincoln wrote the generals in the West
suggesting they try attacking the enemy “with superior forces at
different points at the same time.”
Tuesday, Jan. 13, 1863
GUNBOAT GUERILLAS GATHER GRIEVANCES
Operating out of Memphis, Tenn., the USS
General Bragg went in search of irregulars who were suspected of
planning to attack steamboats. Lt. Joshua Bishop, commanding,
“ascertained force of guerillas in the neighborhood...proceeded to
Mound City, firing shells at intervals into the woods..disembarked
the troops. The infantry made prisoners of several citizens, who had
been harboring guerillas.” No actual guerillas were harmed in the
making of this operation. Other Union naval operations did not go so
well today; on the Cumberland River, Confederate Gen. Joseph Wheeler
captured the USS Slidell and three troop transports carrying wounded
men. The wounded were all piled onto one boat and allowed to go on;
the other ships were burned.
Wednesday Jan. 13 1864
DAVIS DEMANDS DALTON DEADLINE
Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, operating out of Dalton, Ga.,
was becoming increasingly surrounded, and felt his force was in
danger at its present location. His options, however, were severely
constrained when he got a telegram from President Davis, informing
him that any fallback or withdrawal would have devastating political
as well as military consequences. “I trust you will not deem it
necessary to adopt such a measure,” Davis wrote. He was not the only
president communicating with men in the field today: Abraham Lincoln
sent a telegram to Nathaniel Banks in New Orleans, prodding him to
move more quickly to reestablish civil government in Louisiana.
Former Confederates, of course, were ineligible to serve.
Friday, Jan. 13, 1865
LUCE LEGACY LONG-LASTING
Lt. Commander Stephen B. Luce came up with an idea today while
listening to an address by Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman. Luce’s
ship, the USS Pontiac, continued support of Sherman’s troops’
movements across the Savannah River at Sister’s Ferry, Ga., as they
continued to move toward Charleston. Luce wrote, “After hearing
General Sherman’s clear exposition of the military situation, the
scales seemed to fall from my eyes.....it dawned on me that there
were certain fundamental principles....of general application
whether the operations were on land or sea.” Luce in later years was
a leader in founding the Naval War College.
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