CAMPAIGNS THIS MONTH

MAJOR BATTLES THIS MONTH

DECEMBER 1

• The ALABAMA chases and overhauls a Dutch galliot, and later in the day, a Spanish bark. At nightfall, she passes Cape Francois in the Carribean/1862
  
• The U.S.S. WYOMING, a union warship looking for the ALABAMA, anchors at Singapore on its way toward Shanghai where she expects the ALABAMA/1863
  
• [MINE RUN CAMPAIGN] Fighting continues at Locust Grove, Virginia/1863
  
• General Braxton Bragg resigns from the Army of Tennessee to become the Presidential advisor on War matters. President Davis makes him his advisor to get him out of the command of the Army of Tennessee/1863
  

DECEMBER 2

• In the early morning, a large ship-of-war comes within a hundred yards of the ALABAMA, its lights lighting the faces of the ALABAMA's crew. The ship, obviously not the enemy, passes without changing course--probably a Spanish steam frigate on her way to Cuba. In the evening, the ALABAMA passes Tortuga Island in the Caribbean/1862
  
• The ALABAMA reaches Pulo Condore in the South Pacific early in the afternoon and anchors at a western harbor north of the White Rock/1863
  
• [MINE RUN CAMPAIGN] G.G. Meade withdraws into winter quarters at Culpeper, Virginia, ending the Mine Run Campaign/1863
  
• [INVASION OF TENNESSEE] John Bell Hood takes up a defensive position south of Nashville/1864
  

DECEMBER 3

• William M. Wadley, a yankee living in the South who has made a career of managing railroads, is appointed supervisor of all railroads in the Confederacy, under the control of the Secretary of War--not the Quartermaster General/1862
  
• ALABAMA reaches the passage between Santo Domingo and Cuba--a great line of commerce utterly unguarded by the federals. In the afternoon she moves to the east end of Cuba to watch and wait. She chases and overhauls a French bark/1862
  
• At Dawn, the ALABAMA discovers a French ship anchored in the same harbor as she. The Frenchmen show them around on the Island of Pulo Condore located in the South Pacific/1863
  
• John Hunt Morgan reaches Bardstown, Kentucky, after escaping from the Ohio State Penitentiary/1863
  

DECEMBER 4

• President Buchanan declares Secession un-Constitutional but denies that the federal government has power to force States to stay in the Union/1860
  
• [SIEGE OF KNOXVILLE] James Longstreet retreats toward southwestern Virginia after ending the Siege of Knoxville, Tennessee/1863
  

DECEMBER 5

• The U.S.S. UNION runs into the outstretched arms of the ALABAMA which is in the strait between Cuba and Santo Domingo. Holding a neutral cargo, she is released on ransom bond with the prisoners of the PARKER COOKE on board/1862
  
• Nathan Bedford Forrest reaches Eddyville and Caseyville, Kentucky, ending his Kentucky Expedition/1864

DECEMBER 6

• John Singleton Mosby is born today at Edgemont, Powhatan County, Virginia/1833
  
• The union's Second Major Bombardment of Charleston defenses, primarily Fort Sumter, which began October 26, comes to an end today. The union plan of cutting down the fort's right flank and taking in reverse the channel casemates in order to destroy the new Three Gun Battery is not accomplished. The vigorous night mortar fire at close range from Cummings Point causes about 100 casualties and about 33 deaths for the Southrons /1863
  
• Jefferson Davis dies of a congestive chill/1889
  

DECEMBER 7

• [CAMPAIGN FOR VICKSBURG] On one last attempt to recover Missouri before going to the aid of Pemberton at Vicksburg, General Thomas C. Hindman is defeated by J.G. Blunt and F.J. Herron at Prairie Grove near Fayetteville, Arkansas, losing the reserve of Trans-Mississippi troops so badly needed to defend Vicksburg/1862
  
• ALABAMA chases and fires a blank cartridge at a packet. Seeing that the ship--if chased--would lose him, Semmes fires his rifled bow-gun and splinters the foremast of the ship, and the all-American ARIEL heaves to. ARIEL is released on ransom bond a few days later/1862
  
• On the first day of the assembly of the Second Confederate Congress, President Davis in a message says that there is no improvement in British-dominated foreign relations/1863
  
• [INVASION OF TENNESSEE] federal Rouseau defeats N.B. Forrest at Murfreesboro, Tennessee/1864
  

DECEMBER 8

• United States Secretary of the Treasury Howell Cobb resigns/1860
  
• President Jefferson Davis informs General Lee that he intends to go to Tennessee immediately to see about the reports that Bragg's officers hate their commander/1862

DECEMBER 9

• Skirmish at Union Mills, Missouri /1861
• Skirmishes near Brentwood, Dobbin's Ferry, and La Vergne, Tennessee, as troops get in position for the battle of Murfreesboro the end of the month /1862
  
• [SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA] Today federals skirmish with ragged Confederate soldiers and Georgia state militia at at Cuyler's Plantation, Monteith Swamp, Ogeechee Creek and between Eden and Pooler Stations, Georgia /1864
• Federal troops move in operations against Fort Fisher, NC /1864
  

DECEMBER 10

• Kentucky is admitted to the Confederacy/1861
  
• [SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA][SEIGE OF SAVANNAH] Sherman reaches Savannah and lays siege to the City/1864
  

DECEMBER 11

• A Major Buell, representing the United States War Department, goes to Major Robert Anderson at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, to nudge him into moving to Fort Sumter and abandoning Moultrie. He leaves permission for Major Anderson to occupy any of the forts in Charleston Harbour if necessary, but not to anger the South Carolinians/1860
  
• [CAMPAIGN FOR VICKSBURG] N.B. Forrest launches an attack on Grant's communications in Tennessee/1862
  
• [CAMPAIGN ON FREDERICKSBURG] Ambrose E. Burnside begins to cross the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg/1862
  

DECEMBER 12

• As fighting begins, Burnside readies his yanks for battle at Fredericksburg/1862
  
• ALABAMA, after repairing a burst valve casting in the Caribbean, sails toward Galveston and General Banks' Expedition that Admiral Raphael Semmes read about in New England newspapers captured on board ships he had taken. ALABAMA skirts Jamaica to the west end coming into the other track that California gold-steamers take from west Cuba/1862
  

DECEMBER 13

• Patriots under Lee rout the Army of the Potomac in the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Federals incur severe losses at Marye's Heights. Confederate Brigadier General Thomas R.R. Cobb is killed. Tonight a magnificent display of the aurora borealis, or northern lights seems to beckon Burnside home, for daybreak brings a disappearance of Burnside and borealis/1862
  
• [SIEGE OF SAVANNAH] sherman, assaulting Patriot Fort McCallister, connects with Dahlgreen's fleet in Savannah Harbor/1864
  

DECEMBER 14

• Thirty Southern Congressmen in Washington sign a telegram to the Southern States saying "that because the Republican leaders will make no concession to the South, the honor and safety of the Southern States require" that they should secede and form a Southern Confederacy/1860
  
• Georgia legislature calls on Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and South Carolina to appoint delegates to a convention for a Southern Confederacy/1860
• President of the Convention of the People of South Carolina, the Honorable D.F. Jamison, calls a third session of the Convention to convene December 26/1861
  
• Burnside retreats across the Rappahannock/1862
  

DECEMBER 15

• William M. Wadley, superintendent of all railroads in the Confederacy meets at Augusta with the presidents of all Southern railroads, but gets no cooperation from them/1862
  
• [INVASION OF TENNESSEE] George H. Thomas assaults Hood's army in front of Nashville/1864
  
• Admiral Raphael Semmes is arrested and held without trial in Mobile/1865
  

DECEMBER 16

• President Davis reluctantly reappoints J.E. Johnston commander of the Army of Tennessee/1863
  
• Company C of the 43rd Battalion Partisan Rangers under command of Colonel John Singleton Mosby, is organized at Rectortown, Virginia, with William H. Chapman as Captain, who has distinguished himself on other occasions/1863
  
• [INVASION OF TENNESSEE] J.B. Hood suffers a defeat at Nashville and retreats into Mississippi/1864
  

DECEMBER 17

• [SECESSION CONVENTION] Delegates to the Secession Convention assemble at the Baptist Church in Columbia, and pass a unanimous resolution to secede 169-0. Since there is an epidemic of smallpox in Columbia, the Convention adjourns to Charleston/1860
  

DECEMBER 18

• [SECESSION CONVENTION] Because of an epidemic of smallpox in Columbia, the delegates assemble instead at the Institute Hall in Charleston. Several committees are proposed including a committee to draft an Ordinance of Secession/1860
  
• United States Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky introduces a resolution before a special Congressional committee to conciliate Southerners by restoring the Missouri Compromise line, extending the 36 degree 30 minute line to separate slave and non-slave soil to the California border, to protect slavery where it is established, and to compensate owners whose fugitive slaves are not recovered/1860
  

DECEMBER 19

• [SECESSION CONVENTION] Delegates assemble at St. Andrew's Hall, Charleston, proposing to send copies of the Ordinance of Secession to the slave-holding States and to the President of the United States/1860
  
• The ALABAMA anchors in the evening at Pulo Aor in the South Pacific on her way to Singapore to recoal /1863
  
• The last surviving Uncivil War veteran dies, Walter Williams, Private, from Houston, Texas, 117 yrs. /1959
  

DECEMBER 20

• [SECESSION CONVENTION] At the Convention, several committees are organized. The Ordinance of Secession is adopted unanimously 169-0 on roll call. At 7pm, Institute Hall, the delegates sign the Ordinance of Secession/1860
  
• Vice-President Breckinridge appoints a Senate Committee of Thirteen to make a compromise and curtail secession/1860
  
• After a norther blows the C.S.S. ALABAMA into the Gulf of Honduras, she reaches the Yucatan Peninsula and at nightfall feels her way around the Cape/1862
  
• [CAMPAIGN FOR VICKSBURG] Earl Van Dorn destroys Grant's supplies at Holly Springs, Mississippi, holding up the federal advance on Vicksburg. sherman leaves Memphis and heads for Vicksburg/1862
  
• [SIEGE OF SAVANNAH] Hardee evacuates Savannah /1864
  

DECEMBER 21

• [SECESSION CONVENTION] At the Convention, several proposals are adopted--one that said that People who resigned from the United States Military would receive the same rank in the Commonwealth of South Carolina/1860
  
• Senator Jefferson Davis, a member of the appointed Senate Committee of Thirteen proposes an unwise resolution that no report should be adopted that did not have the support of a majority of the Republican members and a majority of the other members/1860
  
• [CAMPAIGN FOR VICKSBURG] John Hunt Morgan, on a cavalry raid into central Tennessee, slams into federals at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the battle ending in a draw/1862
  
• ALABAMA, after sailing all night, reaches the Gulf of Mexico on her way to meet Banks in his Expedition in which he intends to subjugate Texas/1862
  
• The ALABAMA gets under way from Pulo Aor for Singapore at a very early hour soon falling in company with an English steamer going toward the same city. Anchoring to await the break-up of clouds so that she could navigate the Strait of Malacca on which is Singapore, the ALABAMA then runs in and re-anchors at 5:00pm /1863
  
• [SIEGE OF SAVANNAH] sherman captures Savannah/1864
  

DECEMBER 22

• [SECESSION CONVENTION] The Convention resolves to take over the federal properties in South Carolina and calls on the federal government to restore Forts Moultrie and Sumter, the Charleston Arsenal, and Castle Pinckney to the authority of the State of South Carolina/1860
  
• lincoln's opposition to the Crittenden proposal (the last chance to avert war) is made public/1860
  
• At nightfall, the ALABAMA, 20 miles from the Arcas Islands, anchors in the open sea/1862
  

DECEMBER 23

• The ALABAMA meets the AGRIPPINA, the ALABAMA's tender, in the morning and they anchor together at the Arcas Islands at 5:00pm where they will stay two weeks over Christmas/1862
  

DECEMBER 24

• [SECESSION CONVENTION] The Convention in Charleston adopts the Declaration of the Immediate Causes, a justification for Secession; Governor Francis W. Pickens proclaims independence, freedom, and sovereignty for South Carolina/1860
  
• In accordance with lincoln's influence, United States Senate Committee of Thirteen rejects the Crittenden Compromise/1860
  
• South Carolina commissioners leave for Washington to arrange for the transfer of US property to the Palmetto Republic/1860
  
• Confederate Congress passes an amendment to the Act which organized the Navy to provide for four admirals/1861
  
• President Davis orders all captured Union Negro troops and their white officers to be turned over to the states and dealt with as agents to instigate slave war/1862
  
• The ALABAMA in the morning steams through the Strait of Malacca. Then at 11:30am she sights a sail and chases down the MARTABAN which hoists the English colors, but the ship was American--the TEXAN STAR. Going on board, Admiral Semmes know it is American, and hands the STAR over to the torch. The ALABAMA then anchors at Malacca late at night/1863
  

DECEMBER 25

• [SECESSION CONVENTION] The Convention resolves to send copies of the Ordinance of Secession, the Declaration of the Immediate Clauses, and the Address of the People of South Carolina to the Governor of South Carolina, and the Governors of other Southern States/1860
  
• lincoln and Cabinet settle on a reply to England over the TRENT Affair. England had the chance to reverse the War of 1812 but did not. lincoln said the captain of the U.S.S. SAN JACINTO was not operating under orders/1861
  
• After landing the TEXAN STAR's prisoners on Malaaca Island in the South Pacific and excusing themselves from Christmas dinner invitations from the British colonists, the crew of the ALABAMA steams on at 9:30am and at nightfall anchors at Parceelar Hill/1863 -James J. Williamson, one of Mosby's Rangers, writes of Christmas: "The severity of the wintry weather, the scarcity of all the necessaries of life, the high prices, and the reverses which the Confederates had experienced in the last campaign, combined with the sadness felt for the loss of relatives and friends, shed a deep gloom over this usually festive season." /1863
  

DECEMBER 26

• [SECESSION CONVENTION] The Convention passes an Ordinance on customs with an amendment providing for South Carolina citizens owning up to 1/3 of a vessel to register it a South Carolina ship/1860
  
• The South Carolina commissioners arrive in Washington, D.C., to arrange for the transfer of federal property inside South Carolina borders to the Palmetto Commonwealth/1860
  
• During the day, Major Robert Anderson, in Charleston, orders three schooners (which had been chartered to take women and children to Fort Johnson to be out of harm in case of an attack on Fort Moultrie) loaded with belongings of the families of the men of Anderson's garrison and stores for Fort Sumter, along with the women and children. Late in the afternoon, as the schooners set sail to lie off Fort Johnson until a gun could be heard signaling the successful transfer to Sumter, Anderson orders Captain Abner Doubleday, one of Anderson's two battery commanders, to have the garrison formed and ready to move in 20 minutes. Twenty minutes later, the whole command (with the exception of a small rear guard to man the cannon to fire on the guard boat if it attempted to hinder Anderson's crossing the harbour) marches quietly through the streets of Moultrieville about 1/4 mile to boats which have been concealed behind a seawall. Anderson and one company shoves off while Doubleday's men load their boats. It is twilight, and Doubleday sees a South Carolina guard boat bearing down on them which had been cruising between Sumter and Moultrie to prevent a crossing. Realizing retreat is impossible, he orders them to take off their coats and put them over their rifles in the bottom of the boat. Doubleday opens his own coat to conceal the buttons, hoping they can pass for a party of laborers returning to the fort. The ruse works. Towing a barge, the guard boat stops for a quick look then steams on into the twilight. Doubleday arrives at Sumter before Anderson and are greeted by the workmen there, many of whom wear Secession Cockades. The workmen are driven into the fort at bayonet point and held until Anderson gets there. He had hugged the shoreline in order to miss the guard boat and consequently arrives later. The schooners are brought in and unloaded; the workmen are sent to Fort Johnson on the schooners; the schooners went back to Moultrie for more supplies. Meanwhile at Moultrie, the rear guard spikes the cannon, chops down the flagpole, sends supplies, and prepares many of the gun carriages for burning in the morning. Thus, Anderson has run in the night to Fort Sumter, where he strengthens the facilities and mounts guns. This is considered by Southerners a blatant act of war since most Southerners still consider the situation as being able to be talked about/1860
  
• [3RD SESSION OF CONVENTION] The Third Session of the Convention reassembles in the Hall of the House of Representatives in Columbia/1861
• President Jefferson Davis speaks to the Mississippi legislature on his Western tour to arouse pride/1862
  
• At 6am the ALABAMA gets under way and sights two yankee ships waiting for a good wind to run them out of the Strait of Malacca. The ALABAMA hoists the Confederate flag and captures them without a chase--the SONORA of Newburyport and the HIGHLANDER of Boston. Having burned the ships, the ALABAMA steams back into the Indian Ocean headed west/1863
  

DECEMBER 27

• Early this morning, Anderson's rear guard at Fort Moultrie sets fire to the gun carriages and sends supplies to Sumter until the middle of the afternoon when ordered to Sumter by Anderson. South Carolina troops find Fort Moultrie vacated by Major Anderson and take it along with Castle Pinckney and a federal revenue cutter, the WILLIAM AIKEN/1860
  
• [SECESSION CONVENTION] The Convention takes out the State Constitution and amends it in order to remove certain references to the United States of America/1860
  
• J.E. Johnston takes command of the Army of Tennessee in Georgia/1863
  
• Judah P. Benjamin orders Mason and Slidell in Europe to question the English and French governments directly as to whether the institution of slavery prevent them from granting the Confederacy recognition/1864
  

DECEMBER 28

• [SECESSION CONVENTION] In secret session, the Convention discusses a resolution regarding the transfer of the US garrison from Moultrie to Sumter. Also they consider an ordinance recommending a Convention of Slaveholding States for a Constitution of a Southern Confederacy/1860
  
• Upon hearing that lincoln is immovably against the renewal and extension of the Missouri Compromise line, Seward, the republican leader in the committee and his republicans vote against the adoption of the compromise. Southerners vote likewise because the republicans rejected it, although they are willing to accept the Crittenden Compromise/1860
  
• [3RD SESSION OF CONVENTION] At the Third Session, Five Special Committees are organized about ships to guard the seacoast, slaves, etc./1861
  

DECEMBER 29

• [SECESSION CONVENTION] The Convention considers a Constitution of a Southern Confederacy. They debate more on an Ordinance for a Provisional Government of South Carolina to end July 1, 1863, when a permanent South Carolina government should be elected/1860
  
• [CAMPAIGN FOR VICKSBURG] J.C. Pemberton routs Sherman's attack on Chickasaw Bluff and Bayou, Mississippi/1862
  

DECEMBER 30

• [SECESSION CONVENTION] The Convention passes a resolution to tell the Governor that the convention feels as though the vigor of military defense should not be lifted/1860
  
• [3RD SESSION OF CONVENTION] The Third Session in secret session discusses a resolution to get back slaves stolen by the federals/1861
  
• South Carolina troops seize the federal Arsenal at Charleston and Fort Johnson in the Harbour completing the takeover of federal property in the Harbour except Fort Sumter/1860
  

DECEMBER 31

• [SECESSION CONVENTION] The Convention adopts an act to form two regiments of infantry/1860
  
• President Buchanan refuses the request of South Carolina officials to withdraw federal troops from Charleston and says that it is the duty of Congress to define the relationship between the United States and the Commonwealth of South Carolina/1860
  
• The US Senate Committee of Thirteen announces to the Senate that they cannot agree on a report, ending efforts at Compromise. Then J.J. Crittenden suggests dramatically a proposal to the Senate to allow the American people to vote on the Compromise on January 3, 1861. The Republicans shoot down this last hope/1860
  
• The ALABAMA leaves the northwestern end of Sumatra into the Bay of Bengal and heads toward India and Ceylon/1863 -Bragg soundly stings Rosencrantz at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on the first day of the battle/1864