CAMPAIGNS THIS MONTH

MAJOR BATTLES THIS MONTH

NOVEMBER 1

• The Lincoln administration forces General Winfield Scott to resign, possibly because he is a Virginian; George B. McClellan is appointed commander-in-chief of the United States Armies/1861
  
• The "Great Expedition," which was launched three days ago from Hampton Roads in terrifying V-formation to subjugate Coastal South Carolina is today, hit by a gale, and the fleet is scattered/1861
  

NOVEMBER 2

• Fremont is relieved of his union command in the West/1861
  
• The morning after, the Great Expedition is in unbecoming form. Only one ship is within site of the flagship U.S.S. WABASH/1861
  
• The Stone Fleet, 25 whalers loaded with New England granite, leaves New Bedford, Connecticut, for Charleston to be sunk off the bar to prevent blockade runners from leaving the Harbour. Each ship has five inch holes bored in the bottom. Surrounding each hole, is a lead pipe and plug. When the plugs are removed, the vessel should sink in 15 to 20 minutes/1861
  
• Since today is Sunday, the crew of the Confederate States Ship ALABAMA, about 500 miles off the Virginia coast, is mustered and read the Articles of War. But they must do it in the midst of a chase, because, the ALABAMA spotted a masthead at 8:30am. At noon, with the United States colors at its peak, the ALABAMA fires over the bow of the ship and heaves to the whaler STARBUCK of New Bedford, Massachusetts, bound for the Pacific. After removing the crew of the STARBUCK, Commander Raphael Semmes has the whaler burned about nightfall/1862
  
• [CAMPAIGN FOR VICKSBURG] Grant launches a campaign to capture the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg, Mississippi/1862
• [CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN] General Bragg, having cut Rosecrans' rail line on Lookout Mountain, moves to harass his overland mountain route. Today Joseph Wheeler, with a large cavalry force composed of Wharton's, Martin's, Davidson's, and Armstrong's command, having crossed the Tennessee River, reaches the Sequatchie Valley. Moving to the north side of Chattanooga to Jasper and Anderson's Crossroads, he captures two wagon trains--one ten miles long of 800 to 1500 wagons, loaded with ordnance and provisions. Wheeler destroys the train and crosses the Cumberland Mountains during the night/1863
• The war frigate U.S.S. KEARSAGE calls at Cork, Ireland, to take on fuel and repair a rudder. The captain and federal consul at Cork illegally recruit Irish for sailors. When Earl Russell, foreign minister, finds out through the Confederate commercial agent at Cork, Robert Dowling, he investigates, and the captain of the KEARSAGE puts the Irishmen ashore/1863
  
• Mosby's Men, the 43rd Battalion, Partisan Rangers, meet at Rectortown. Letters from Generals Lee and Stuart, complimentary of Mosby's actions, are read by Captain William H. Chapman. The men are presented with certificates of membership in Mosby's command. This is necessary now, because men wearing Confederate uniforms, deserters, or absent without leave are roaming the country representing themselves as belonging to Mosby's command. Major Mosby orders his men to arrest all horse thieves and deserters found, and bring them to him/1863
  
• union General Stevenson in a dispatch to General Sheridan, says that 3000 men will be needed to protect the Winchester and Potomac Railroad, otherwise, Mosby's Men will destroy it as fast as it is constructed. Sheridan, accordingly, orders that if the railroad is interfered with, all male secessionists in Charleston, Shepherdstown, Smithfield, and Berryville, western Virginia, and surrounding country will be arrested, sent to Fort McHenry, their stock driven off, and subsistence destroyed. The northerners are very good at making war on unarmed civilians/1864 -Grant writes Sherman that is very well to march to the Georgia Coast/1864
  

NOVEMBER 3

• [CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN] Joseph Wheeler captures McInnville (McMinville?), Tennessee, with the federal cavalry in hot pursuit, taking the fortifications and a garrison of 587 men and 200 horses. Moving to Murfreesboro, Wheeler captures the stockade overlooking the railroad bridge over Stones River, and destroys the bridge and three miles of track/1863
  

NOVEMBER 4

• At Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, Confederate sentries see the first element of Flag Officer DuPont's fleet anchor off the bar and more ships straggle in during the day, after the storm; but the storm for the Confederates has not yet begun/1861
  
• [SIEGE OF CHATTANOOGA] Longstreet's troops, who had come from Virginia to reinforce Bragg at Chattanooga, are detached from the Army of Tennessee to attack Burnside at Knoxville with 12,000 men and 5000 cavalry under Wheeler. Longstreet, although was for the movement earlier, is now opposed to it, but President Davis and General Braxton Bragg insist on the endeavor. The men are thinly clad, with unserviceable shoes, few blankets, no tents, but these are no new developments, and there are no complaints/1863 -At the Ohio State Penitentiary, John Hunt Morgan and the officers with him begin to dig an escape tunnel to the outside/1863
  
• [INVASION OF TENNESSEE] Nathan Bedford Forrest wins the Battle of Johnsonville, Tennessee/1864
  

NOVEMBER 5

• Flag Officer DuPont, commander of the federal "Great Expedition" meant to attack Coastal South Carolina, calls his captains to his cabin in the frigate U.S.S. WABASH, at anchor off the entrance to Port Royal Sound to give them the plan of attack on Forts Walker and Beauregard. The plan is to form the ships into two parallel columns pushing between Hilton Head and Bay Point, shooting as they go. Then inside the Sound, the western column composed of nine heavy ships led by the WABASH would turn to port and swing in a great circle between the forts, pouring in broadsides at close range. The eastern column of light gunboats would take care of the feeble Confederate river craft, then aid the heavy ships in the reduction of the forts. Accordingly, the WABASH heads into the sound to start the battle, but gets hung on Fishing Rip Shoal and the crew spends all night unhanging her. However, several warships bombard Forts Walker and Beauregard, causing only little damage/1861
  
• [CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN] Wheeler, on a raid on Rosencrantz's communications, destroys railroad bridges and trestles between Murfreesboro and Wartrace, Tennessee, and a large quantity of stores at Shelbyville. Confederate Davidson, under Wheeler, having failed to withdraw from the Duck River rapidly enough, is attacked by federal cavalry. Wheeler, with Martin's division, saves Davidson at Farmington, Tennessee. Wheeler holds long enough to insure the safety of his trains, then withdraws/1863
  
• Captain A.E. Richards, with 9 men of Mosby's Rangers returns today from a scout in the Valley, bringing in 14 of Custer's Cavalry, with horses and equipment/1864
  

NOVEMBER 6

• Dark horse Republican Abraham Lincoln elected President of the United States with 40% of the popular vote. The fears of the South come to pass and nothing is left honorable to do but the threatened thing--Secede/1860
  
• In the first General Election for the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens are elected to full six-year terms at President and Vice-President/1861
  
• The Great Expedition under Flag Officer DuPont is eager to again assault on Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, but a stiff wind from the west blows into DuPont's fleet, threatening to make maneuvering difficult. All morning DuPont seems on the point of ordering an attack, but decides to wait/1861
  
• John S. Mosby with 40 men falls on a wagon camp near Warrenton and with the heavy infantry guard asleep, unhitches 200 mules and horses, but the animals' refusal to be driven across a ditch awakens the camp and the expedition has to be abandoned. Only 12 mules and 6 horses are brought out/1863
  
• The cruiser ALABAMA learns from an English ship from Foo Chow bound for London that the American ship WINGED RACER in company with the U.S.S. WYOMING in the Strait of Sunda, have come out of the Strait. The ALABAMA chases and overhauls what turns out to be two British ships and then captures the AMANDA of Boston, laden with hemp and sugar--the ALABAMA's first prize on East Indian Waters. After receiving from the AMANDA necessary supplies and the crew, the crew of the ALABAMA makes a beautiful bonfire at 10:00pm /1863
  
• Mosby's command meets at Rectortown, Virginia, and decides to hang seven of their yankee prisoners of Custer's command in retaliation for Custer's hanging or shooting six of Mosby's Men, and Colonel William H. Powell's hanging of one Partisan Ranger on 13 October. The 27 prisoners including Captain Brewster, commissary of subsistence of Custer's command, and a lieutenant of artillery are lined up. Twenty- seven pieces of paper are made with numbers on seven of them, with the rest blank, put in a hat, and drawn by the prisoners. The numbers mean death by hanging, blanks mean Richmond and Libby Prison. Mosby's Men do not enjoy this and despise having to do it. Mosby is forced to resort to this because of the brutal acts of Custer and Powell. The seven unfortunate ones including the lieutenant of artillery are to be executed on the Valley Turnpike as near Sheridan's headquarters as possible. /1864
  

NOVEMBER 7

• The citizens of Charleston, South Carolina, upon hearing of Lincoln's election, raise a Palmetto flag and city authorities arrest a federal officer who is trying to transfer supplies from the Charleston Arsenal to Fort Moultrie/1860
  
• 5000 Confederates under Leonidas Polk defeat Grant and 3114 men at Belmont Camp, Missouri. Losses: US-607, CS-642 /1861
  
• James M. Mason and John Slidell sail from Havana, Cuba, for England and France, respectively, on the English contract mail packet H.M.S. TRENT for St. Thomas, from which point they plan to board an English steamer for Southampton/1861
  
• This morning at Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, dawns bright and serene, but it doesn't stay that way for long. At 9:00am, after removing a rope that has fouled the rudder of the WABASH, Admiral Dupont's fleet moves into position, driving the tiny Confederate river squadron from the Sound. At 9:26am, Confederate Forts Walker and Beauregard open fire on the fleet. Fort Walker mounts 21 guns, 13 bearing on the fleet. Fort Beauregard has 18 guns, 7 able to be fired on the fleet. The forts are only a few months old. A few minutes later, DuPont fires back. The noise is deafening. Seventy miles away at Fernandina Island, Florida (?), people hear the roar and wonder an its meaning. Fort Beauregard bears the first shots from the fleet but then attention is turned to Fort Walker. Within a few minutes, the fleet has run the gauntlet of Confederate fire and the WABASH, leading the heavy ships, turns to port to fire on Fort Walker. Smoke from the union guns blows into the Patriots' eyes, and the ammunition for Fort Walker's rifled guns is the wrong size, all of them becoming unserviceable after two or three rounds. The fort's largest gun, a 10 inch columbiad, is put out of action after four or five rounds because of an accident in firing. The enemy damages other guns, and the lack of traverses allows federal guns to pour fire into the unprotected Patriots. Only 220 men man Fort Walker. The Confederate commander Brigadier General Thomas F. Drayton, about 10:30am, notices the men's fatigue from combat and brings in 35 more men. The eastern column of fleet moves slowly past Fort Walker and drives Commodore Tatnall's riverboats into Shell Creek. The heavy ships at times fire at Fort Walker from 600 yards, and the Confederates begin to desert the guns. Despite the number and size discrepancy of the weapons, the experience of broadside fire at close range, and the lack of flank protection, the Patriots stand to their guns like veterans. At 1:15pm, the U.S.S. OTTAWA signals that the Confederates are leaving the fort, and by 2:00pm, Fort Walker has only 3 working guns and only 500 lbs. of powder. They abandon the fort and retreat toward Ferry Point six miles away, across an open field raked by fire 2:30pm, the Stars and Stripes are raised over Fort Walker. Fort Beauregard's rifled pivot gun does well but explodes on the 32nd discharge. The Confederates in Fort Beauregard across the Sound fire the last shot, and decide the battle is lost, retreating orderly to Edding's Landing. Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, has fallen/1861
  
• Burnside replaces McClellan in command of the Army of the Potomac/1862 -The ALABAMA anchors at Flat Point on the north side of the Strait of Sunda, a mile from the Sumatra Coast/1863
  
• General John Sedgewick's 15,000 defeats Jubal Early's 2300 at Rappahannock Station, Virginia. Losses: US-419, CS-1674 /1863
  
• union general W.H. French with 15,0000 men defeats R.M. Rodes' 4,000 Patriots at Kelly's Ford, Virginia. Total losses: US-42, CS-359 /1863
  
• The last session of the Confederate Congress convenes, and President Davis, in an address to the Congress proposes the employment of 40,000 of the servile population to be pioneers and engineer laborers, giving them instruction in encamping, marching, and parking wagon trains/1864
  

NOVEMBER 8

• Around noon, the sloop-of-war U.S.S. SAN JACINTO commanded by Captain Charles Wilkes intercepts the H.M.S. TRENT in the Old Bahama Channel, north of Cuba, and halts her by firing a warning shot across her bow. The federals board the packet and arrest James M. Mason and John Slidell and march the diplomats and their secretaries off the TRENT at bayonet point/1861
  
• Shortly after 11:00am, Captain Q.A. Gillmore of the US Corps of Engineers with a 900 man regiment set out to reconnoiter Hilton Head to Seabrook Landing on Skull Creek, six miles from Fort Walker. The federals do not know how far away the Confederates are. Slowed by swamps, the federals reach Seabrook Landing at 2:00pm. On the way, Gillmore finds not one Patriot--only Confederate equipment thrown down in their hasty retreat. At the wharf at Seabrook Landing were private property as well as several rifled muskets, bayonets, and 15 or 18 wagonloads of food. Gillmore also finds an excellent site for a battery that would close Skull Creek which is a waterway between Savannah and Charleston. He then returns to Fort Beauregard by night/1861
  
• At midnight this morning, the ALABAMA, about 400 miles southeast of Bermuda Island, chases a ship which is still afar off at daybreak, and instead, a large frigate looms on the horizon which the ALABAMA decides to await and meanwhile hoists the United States colors. In turn the stranger does also, shortening sail with the intention of speaking to the ALABAMA. She is terribly astonished when the ALABAMA fires a gun, hauls down "hate's polluted rag," and hoists in its stead the banner of the Southern Republic. The T.B. WALES surrenders, an East India trader from Boston. Near nightfall she receives the torch/1862
  
• The ALABAMA gets underway for the Strait of Sunda, sailing by Keyser Island. At 10:30am, Semmes puts the ALABAMA under steam with sail, passing the islands of Beezee Sowbooks. At 1:00pm, the ALABAMA enters the Strait of Sunda and at 2:00pm, leaves the Strait, passing to the west of Thwart-the-Way Island close to Stroom Rock, sighting the town and garrison of Anger, not seeing the U.S.S. WYOMING. In fact, the Strait is unguarded by the enemy. During a rain squall, the ALABAMA chases and captures the WINGED RACER of New York with no WYOMING to protect her, as the RACER had lingered behind a few days. Tonight, the ALABAMA anchors alongside the RACER after moving her near North Island to get necessary supplies off her. (Continues on 9th)/1863
  

NOVEMBER 9

• The Lincoln administration orders Don Carlos Buell to replace WT Sherman in Kentucky because the Secretary of War several weeks ago in conference with Sherman at the Galt House in Louisville was impressed that Sherman was crazed when he requested 200,000 men to take the Confederate Southwest and 50,000 to hold Kentucky. The Secretary of War, upon arriving in Washington, promptly dismisses him. The newspapers openly say that General Sherman's arduous military duties have affected his mind, and that he has been relieved so he could have much-needed rest/1861
  
• At 1:00am at North Island in East India, the WINGED RACER's master's family and the AMANDA's crew get in their boats and row for shore as it is not far. The RACER is then burned. At 2:00am the ALABAMA leaves the Strait of Sunda to prey on enemy commerce in the China Sea. By daylight, the ALABAMA STEAMS past Sumatra and Java and soon makes North Watcher Island. The ALABAMA lets the steam go down and sails leisurely to arrive at Gasper Strait when daylight would be there. "Sail ho!" is shouted, and the yankee clipper in her path heads toward the ALABAMA. The Confederate cruiser hoists the United States colors, and the stranger does the same. Then the ALABAMA changes flags to the brand new Stainless Banner and fires a gun. The ship throws a top-gallant and topmast studding-sails and away she goes! The ALABAMA puts on the steam, but it seems as if the strange ship will not be caught. As the sun comes higher, fortunately, the wind declines. When she comes into the ALABAMA's gun's long range, Captain Semmes sends a rifled shot over the stranger's quarter-deck. The stranger keeps on! Then by the miracle of steam power, the CONTEST, one of the most famous clipper ships of New York, heaves to. Raphael Semmes regrets burning the CONTEST and wishes he only had some armament to commission her a cruiser. After reluctantly applying the torch to the clipper, the ALABAMA heads to the east toward Carimata Strait/1863
  

NOVEMBER 10

• The South Carolina General Assembly calls a convention of the People of South Carolina to meet at noon on December 17, 1860, for the purpose of considering Secession from the union/1860
  
• The Honourable Judah P. Benjamin is appointed Secretary of War/1861
  
• WT Sherman writes today: "If Johnston chooses, he could march into Louisville [, Kentucky,] any day." If only General Johnston knew. He is holding his line from Columbus through Bowling Green to the Cumberland Gap/1861
  
• Tonight Captain Q.A. Gillmore reconnoiters the opposite end of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, from that which he scouted on the 8th. He takes and escort of five companies and march all night/1861
  
• Emperor Louis Napoleon of France makes a formal proposal for a six- month's armistice in which the blockade should be suspended/1862
  
• The Honourable George Davis is appointed Attorney General /1863
  
• Lee withdraws to a line on the Rapidan River after an indecisive Bristoe Campaign/1863
• Patriot forces from Virginia attack the federal garrison at Rogersville, Tennessee. The yankees are driven back to Morristown, losing 500 in prisoners, four guns, and 36 wagons/1863
  
• Major General Henry Wirz, CSA, is executed for prison conditions at Andersonville, Georgia, where he was commandant/1865
  

NOVEMBER 11

• Captain Q.A. Gillmore arrives at Braddock's Point at the extreme Southern tip of Hilton Head. No Confederates are met on the scouting trip, but several Southern cannon are found--three 24 pounders and one 10 inch columbiad are in an abandoned Confederate work. A quantity of ammunition is found in magazines and several rounds of grape, ball, and cannister are scattered on the beach showing the panicky retreat/1861
  
• With Fremont replaced by David Hunter and Major General Henry W. Halleck in command of the Army of the West, McClellan, General-in- chief of US armies advises that the Army of the West be withdrawn to interior points in Missouri for future use on the Mississippi River. Major General Sterling Price will take advantage of this and move up to Osceola, Missouri, on the Osage River where he will send recruiting parties and guerilla saboteurs into northern Missouri/1861
  
• The British Cabinet considers and rejects Napoleon III's proposal for joint overture for an armistice/1862
  
• [CAMPAIGN FOR VICKSBURG] The Honourable Secretary of War George W. Randolph, seeing the coming situation at Vicksburg, orders General Theophilus Holmes in Arkansas to send 10,000 troops across the Mississippi River to help in Pemberton's defense of the city of Vicksburg/1862
  
• Mosby's command meets at Rectortown to be inspected by Captain Meade of General Early's Staff. 500 men report for duty. Some of men are on the roll in the regular army, and they are removed from the ranks. Captain Meade reports Mosby's Men the best mounted and equipped body of men he has ever inspected. John S. Mosby writes Sheridan that he has hanged or shot seven of his men in retaliation for the hanging of an equal number of Mosby's Men. He also states he will treat federal prisoner henceforth with kindness unless another act of brutality occurs. Another one never will/1864
  

NOVEMBER 12

• [CAMPAIGN FOR VICKSBURG] President Jefferson Davis revokes Secretary of War Randolph's order of the 11th instant sending 10,000 troops across the Mississippi because it violates departmental organization and infringes upon President Davis' right as commander-in-chief. The President's narrow-sightedness is consequential, not only militarily, but in the eventual loss of a frustrated Secretary of War who cannot do his work for someone else doing it for him/1862
  
• Sherman arrives back in Atlanta from chasing Hood/1864
  

NOVEMBER 13

• Governor Lubbock of Texas informs President Davis that because of jay-hawkers and Indian threats, that he cannot furnish out-of-state troops/1862
• [BURNING OF ATLANTA] Sherman sets fire to Atlanta for no military reason--only in hatred/1864
  

NOVEMBER 14

• James Ewell Brown Stuart marries Flora Cooke /1855
  
• Major Robert Anderson is ordered to the command of Fort Moultrie/1860
  
• The Honourable Secretary of State RMT Hunter appoints Henry Hotze as commercial agent and sends him to England, but his instructions are to concern himself with telling the Southern side of the story in the British press. He is to make sure the English know of the South's determination to fight until independence is assured, of the tyranny of the Lincoln government with its disregard for personal rights and notorious violations of law, a free trade principled Confederacy, and relay public and press sentiment to Richmond. /1861
  
• Longstreet's advance crosses the Tennessee River this morning at Hough's Ferry, six miles below Loudon, Tennessee, while demonstrating against Knoxville with cavalry. Union General Potter is at Lenoir's with the Ninth Corps and one division of XXIII Corps under Brigadier General Julius White. White hits Longstreet's advance this afternoon and pushes it back to the River. Late tonight, Burnside receives orders from Grant to withdraw to pull Longstreet on in to Knoxville/1863
  
• The pompous A. Dudley Mann writes Secretary of State Judah Philip Benjamin from Rome of his recent interview with Pope Pius IX. When told that the immigrant Irishmen are being used to fill the depleted northern ranks, the Pope (p. 111 Cullop) "expressed his utter astonishment, repeatedly throwing up his hands at the employment of such means against us and the cruelty attendant upon such unscrupulous operations." Mann ellicits the Pope's promise to write President Jefferson Davis, setting forth his condemnation of such tactics, and, more importantly, his permission to publish the letter/1863
  
• [BURNING OF ATLANTA] Atlanta burns to the ground as the citizens, banished from the city, starve/1864
  

NOVEMBER 15

• Major Robert Anderson takes command of the Charleston defences /1860
  
• Captain Charles Wilkes of the U.S.S. SAN JACINTO arrives with his prisoners, James Madison Mason and John Slidell at Fortress Monroe. The British reaction to the Trent Affair is that 8,000 British troops are dispatched to Canada, and the Royal Navy rushes its preparations for war. Britain very nearly comes to war with mr. Lincoln, issuing an ultimatum and threatening war. An American ship had violated the neutrality of a British ship. To use the words of Prime Minister Palmerston to his Cabinet about the TRENT Affair: "You may stand for this but damned if I will." /1861
  
• Don Carlos Buell assumes command of the Department of the Ohio River. He can get nothing done. Lincoln is busy thinking about the Eastern Theatre. /1861
• The Honourable George Randolph, stunned by President Davis' revocation of his order to General Holmes of the 11th instant, resigns as Secretary of War because of the President's unceasing tampering in War Department affairs without consultation of Randolph/1862
  
• Ambrose E. Burnside withdraws to Lenoir's, Tennessee, and prepares to retreat to Campbell's Station/1863
  
• [Sherman'S MARCH TO THE SEA] After burning Atlanta, Sherman begins his barbarous march to the sea/1864
  

NOVEMBER 16

• In Charleston Harbour, United States Monitors attack the Sullivan's Island Batteries/1863
  
• Hartranft's division reaches Campbell's Station fifteen minutes before Longstreet's advance does, and Hartranft holds while the rest of the federals and trains travel along the Loudon road toward Knoxville. Burnside forms up 1/2 mile from Campbell's, covering the approaches to Knoxville, to await the Patriots. Longstreet attacks Burnside with heavy loss. Longstreet advances upon Burnside's rear in the afternoon, forcing the federals back 1000 yards. Longstreet attacks without success, and Burnside withdraws to the Knoxville entrenchments /1863
  
• Captain R.P. Montjoy with Company D of Mosby's Command, moving toward Winchester, attack and capture 17 men and horses of a force of federal cavalry. Montjoy then starts to return and two miles from Berry's ferry, he is attacked by "Blazer's Men," under the command of Captain Richard Blazer. Montjoy has one killed, one mortally wounded, and 4 or 5 wounded. Montjoy loses all his prisoners and horses. It is evident that Captain Blazer's Independent Scouts and Mosby's Men cannot live together. Captain Blazer's command is composed of picked men from General Crook's Division--Ohioans and West Virginians. They have been organized to "clean out Mosby's gang." /1864
  
• [INVASION OF TENNESSEE] John Bell Hood, after tarrying three weeks at Tuscumbia, Alabama, crosses the Tennessee River and invades Tennessee/1864
  

NOVEMBER 17

• Burnside reaches the north bank of the Rappahannock River, opposite Fredericksburg, Virginia/1862
  
• In response to October 18's Palmyra Massacre in Missouri, where ten Southern-sympathizing prisoners of war are executed in retaliation for the disappearance of a union man named Andrew Allsman, and which shocked the Confederacy and British press, today President Jefferson Davis in a letter to Lieutenant General Theophilus H. Holmes, commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department, orders Holmes to demand Brigadier General John McNeil, USA, instigator of the Massacre, be handed over to Confederate authorities or else the next ten federal prisoners taken in the Trans-Mississippi Department are to be executed in retaliation/1862
  
• The C.S.S. ALABAMA reaches the island of Dominica in the Carribean Sea/1862
  

NOVEMBER 18

• In a message to Congress, President Davis encourages the government to close the unfinished 48 mile gap in the railroad between Danville, Virginia, and Greensboro, North Carolina. Congress accordingly appropriates $1,000,000 for it, though it is not completed until 1864 because of difficulties with North Carolina Governor Vance and slaveholders. However, President Davis will use this railroad on his flight South in 1865/1861
  
• The ALABAMA at 4:00am puts under steam from Dominica and heads for Martinique to meet her tender AGGRIPINA to refuel. By 10:00am, the ALABAMA drops anchor in Fort de France. After the prisoners are landed, the curious Frenchmen of Martinique crowd the decks of the Confederate cruiser/1862
  
• [SIEGE OF KNOXVILLE] Knoxville is a very strong position, previously fortified by Buckner, and connected with rifle pits. Grant is beginning to move on Bragg, and therefore, Longstreet must do his work rapidly. Longstreet, in an effort to quickly hit Burnside at Knoxville and get back to reinforce Braxton Bragg at Chattanooga, assaults the federal works on the enemy's left before Knoxville. Directing their attention on Sander's cavalry outside the fortifications, the Patriots meet stiff resistance for 3 hours and upon driving the federal cavalry back, yankee Ferero's guns at Rebel Point check the Southern advance. Sanders charges the Patriots again and at 4:00pm he falls mortally wounded. The Confederate fort falls, and Burnside orders it named Fort Sanders. Longstreet decides to besiege Knoxville. He has cut off communication with the Cumberland Gap and holds the northwest and southwest approaches to Knoxville city. Burnside hourly strengthens the defenses. The federals are better supplied than Longstreet believes, and Burnside is able to sit the siege out as Grant attacks Bragg at Chattanooga and hope for a relieving force. /1863
  
• The ALABAMA leaves Carimata Passage and stretches over to Souriton Island, anchoring at 4:00pm/1863
  
• Companies A and B, 110 men of Mosby's Rangers under Captain A.E. Richards, eager to regain their laurels from Blazer's Men, meet them near Kabletown and charge over them. Blazer's command is utterly destroyed and Captain Blazer is captured. He is treated especially well because of his reputation, so unlike his compatriots, of being kind to prisoners. Federal loss is 21 killed, large number wounded, many mortally, 22 prisoners taken, 50 horses with equipment. Richards loss is a number wounded--one mortally. Only two of Blazer's men make it back to report the loss/1864
  

NOVEMBER 19

• Halleck replaces Fremont in Missouri/18861
  
• The ALABAMA finds the AGGRIPINA which has been in Martinique since the 11th instant, and learning of the boasting of the commander that his ship is the tender to the cruiser ALABAMA which attracts enemy cruisers, Commander Semmes of the ALABAMA orders the AGGRIPPINA to Blanquilla Island off the coast of Venezuela, to escape the possibility of the appearance of an enemy cruiser during their rendezvous/1862
  
• [INVASION OF TENNESSEE] Hood, joined by Forrest's cavalry, opens a drive on Nashville, Tennessee/1864
  

NOVEMBER 20

• Burnside's troops cover the hills across the Rappahannock River from Fredericksburg, Virginia/1862
  
• The C.S.S. ALABAMA, which has not yet set sail for Blanquilla Island, is trapped by the U.S.S. SAN JACINTO, a year after its infamous TRENT Affair, which appears outside the harbor at Martinique where the ALABAMA is anchored. Tonight, the ALABAMA, with all the lights on the ship out, and the guns loaded, escapes from the SAN JACINTO without a glimpse of her. The SAN JACINTO's commander Ronckendorff is completely unaware of the escape until tomorrow morning/1862
  
• [SIEGE OF CHATTANOOGA] Sherman arrives at Chattanooga with reinforcements from the Army of Tennessee/1863
  
• About sunset today, Mosby with Stuart's scout, Captain Stringfellow, as a guide, starts from The Plains with 75 men and pass through New Baltimore and Warrenton and will lay in the pines until daylight in the morning/1863
  

NOVEMBER 21

• The C.S.S. NASHVILLE, which broke the blockade at Charleston, arrives at Southampton, England, being the first Confederate warship to show the Stars and Bars in English Waters/1861
  
• Lee's Army entrenches in a defensive position at Fredericksburg/1862 -The ALABAMA joins its coalship, the AGRIPPINA, tonight at Blanquilla Island off the coast of Venezuela/1862
  
• At dawn this morning, Mosby moves to a spot in the woods off the road near Bealeton Station. On one side of them is a cavalry camp; on the other, an infantry camp. Gregg's Division of US Cavalry is camped in the neighborhood of Warrenton. About 12:30pm, five wagons come along with 300 cavalry escort. Company B under Captain Smith is to charge in front of the escort and Lieutenant Turner is to take them from the rear, but the eagerness to get the wagons causes the Rangers to come out of the woods at the same place. Nonetheless, seeing Gray Uniforms, the federal cavalry run off down the road leaving the wagons standing. Twelve prisoners, 10 horses, 17 mules are captured and sent with Company B to Oak Hill, with Company A detailed as a rear guard. Two of Mosby's Men are captured at the home of Mr. James K. Skinker, but one escapes as the yankees break down the door to come in/1863
  

NOVEMBER 22

• union troops pound Forts McRee and Barrancas, and the Pensacola Navy Yard in Pensacola's Harbour/1861
  
• The Confederate Department of the Indian Territory is established under the command of Brigadier General Albert Pike/1861
  
• Lieutenant Frank Turner of a 32 man detachment of Company F of Mosby's Rangers routs 52 men of Company K of the 12th New York Cavalry on the turnpike toward Winchester, killing and wounding several, capturing 14 prisoners and 12 horses with equipage. Their only loss is one horse wounded/1864
  

NOVEMBER 23

• At Charleston, Major Robert Anderson in Fort Moultrie asks Washington for reinforcements/1860
  
• Pensacola's fortifications receive shot and shell, but damage is negligible/1861
  
• George H. Thomas, under Don Carlos Buell, advances with the federal left wing from Danville, Kentucky, in a demonstration on east Tennessee/1861
• [SIEGE OF CHATTANOOGA] George H. Thomas takes Orchard Knob in front of Missionary Ridge in the first day of the Battle of Chattanooga. 56,359 union troops versus 46,165 Patriots/1863
  
• [Sherman'S MARCH TO THE SEA] Sherman, pursuing a scorched-earth policy, reaches Milledgeville, Georgia, and so generously spares the public buildings from flame/1864
  

NOVEMBER 24

• federals land on Tybee Island at Savannah and control the entrance to the harbour/1861
  
• Southrons and federals skirmish at Lancaster and Johnston, Missouri/1861
  
• A little known N.B. Forrest undertakes an expedition to Caseyville and Eddyville, Kentucky/1861
  
• His Excellency, President Jefferson Davis, appoints General Joseph Eggleston Johnston commander of all the area from the Appalachians to the Mississippi River--the Department of the West. President Davis gives him authority to take possession of Bragg's or Pemberton's armies. /1862
  
• [SIEGE OF CHATTANOOGA] Hooker pushes Bragg's men off Lookout Mountain. Romanticized at the "Battle Above the Clouds," 10,000 union troops crawl their way up the mountain which is defended by only 1500 men under Walthall stretched out to practically a line of skirmishers. This afternoon, Walthall's shattered brigade is joined by three regiments of Pettus and the small brigade of Moore. Walthall's defence against a foe which dared make prisoners of his whole right is described as "obstinate" by Thomas, "desperate" by Bragg, and "sublimely heroic" by Steedman of the union army. Only 600 are left of the 1500 that enter the battle. Sherman crosses the Tennessee River to attack the opposite end of Bragg's Missionary Ridge line in the second day of the battle of Chattanooga. Tonight a Confederate force at Wauhatchie is defeated./1863
  
• John Hunt Morgan and his men finish their escape tunnel at Ohio State Penitentiary, and only await the right time to escape/1863
  

NOVEMBER 25

• [SIEGE OF CHATTANOOGA] In the last day of the Battle of Chattanooga, 86,000 troops hit Bragg. Sherman's attacks from the west on Bragg's right is halted. The Confederates rush upon a railroad cut and rout Sherman's advance on Bragg's right. Thomas, hitting Bragg's center, charges up Missionary Ridge on the east. 10,000 federals under Hooker force a crossing of the Tennessee River below Lookout Point, driving back the Confederate regiment of 1000 men and severely wounding Colonel Oates of Alabama, sweeping down on Bragg's left. Thomas moves to take the Southern rifle-pits at the ridge's base. Thomas' move, intended as a demonstration and for Sherman to envelop the foe, is carried farther by his men under their own orders, and they mount the ridge, leap into Bragg's entrenchments, and pierce Bragg's centre, capturing 6000 prisoners, several pieces of artillery, and thousands of small arms. This loss is irreparable for the Confederacy. Bragg retreats into Georgia. For the yankees, the way to Atlanta is opened, and Bragg's stand at Ringgold is but a slowing of the union army's advance on Atlanta. Bragg will ask to be relieved, and his request will be granted. The Confederacy has now sustained the Triune Disaster--Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and Missionary Ridge. Total Casualties: US-5824, CS-6667. /1863
  
• [SIEGE OF KNOXVILLE] Longstreet at Knoxville is now in a perilous situation and eager to make a bold effort on Burnside's impregnable defences before a federal force can hit his rear. He has been reinforced by B.R. Johnson's division/1863
  

NOVEMBER 26

• Major General of the Missouri State Guard, Sterling Price, issues a desperate proclamation to Missourians asking for more men. His dissatisfied army is half-naked and hungry, their families at home with no providers. Very few reply to Price's Plea/1861
  
• The ALABAMA dispatches the AGRIPPINA to the Arcas Islands in the Gulf of Mexico. The ALABAMA leaves Blanquilla Island to move to the east end of Cuba to inflict damage on California gold shipments/1862
  
• [MINE RUN CAMPAIGN] George Gordon Meade crosses the Rapidan River to probe Lee's Army's defenses along Mine Run, Virginia, west of Chancellorsville, and encounters Patriot forces at Raccoon Ford/1863
  
• Armed with reports that federal forces encamped at Warrenton have crossed the Rappahannock River and that Meade's army is in motion, John S. Mosby orders an assembly of the Partisan Rangers at Rectortown, Virginia, and 125 men answer the summons and march to Coon's Mill. At Brandy Station there is a heavy union wagon train with an infantry guard. Mosby's plan is as follows: Montjoy will set fire to the wagons. Captains Smith and Chapman, each commanding a party, are to drive off the mules. Lieutenant Turner will command the reserve in case of attack. While the wagon train revels in pseudo- security, the sentinels are quietly taken from their posts, and the mules unhitched in the quiet peacefulness. Then, a shot rings out and confusion rules. After taking the mules, Mosby sets fire to the wagons, carrying off 160 mules, 7 horses, a large quantity of harness, and a number of prisoners, mostly teamsters/1863
  
• At the Ohio State Penitentiary, the union government orders a change in commandants, meaning an inspection of the prison. This puts in great danger the now-finished escape tunnel that John Hunt Morgan and his officers housed here with him have dug. This means that Morgan and his men must escape before the inspection/1863
  

NOVEMBER 27

• [MINE RUN CAMPAIGN] George Gordon Meade and 69,643 men attacks Robert E. Lee with 44,426 troops at New Hope, Virginia/1863
  
• John Hunt Morgan and his men escape from the Ohio State Penitentiary through an escape tunnel. Morgan and his captains buy tickets for the night express to Cincinnati. A federal colonel comes in and takes a seat next to Morgan! The Confederate general nods good evening. The colonel takes off his coat and pulls out a bottle of peach brandy. Offering the flask to Morgan, he asks, "Will you join me sir?" "Certainly, sir," Morgan replies and tosses off a drink. Just then the train passes the penitentiary. "There is the hotel where Morgan stops, I believe," the federal says with a laugh. "And will stop, I hope." Morgan replies, "He has given us our fair share of trouble and will not now be released." He raised his flask. "I drink to him. May he ever be as closely kept as he is now." "I'll drink to that," said the colonel, and he did/1863
  
• Captain R.P. Montjoy of Company D of Mosby's Rangers searches for and falls in with a detachment of Keye's men at Goresville called the Loudon Rangers under Lieutenant Graham who has been on a raid to Leesburg. As soon as attacked, they break and run. The federal loss is twenty killed, wounded, and captured; prisoners include Lieutenants Graham and Rhodes. A chance shot fired over the shoulder of a yankee strikes Captain R.P. Montjoy in the head, killing him. His loss is deeply regretted. Lieutenant Colonel Mosby will issue an order mourning his death/1864
  

NOVEMBER 28

• The Confederacy admits Missouri as its twelfth State/1861
  
• [MINE RUN CAMPAIGN] Lee and Meade encounter one another at Robertson's Tavern/1863
  
• Following his escape from prison, General John Hunt Morgan crosses the Ohio River to Newport, Kentucky/1863
  
• [SIEGE OF KNOXVILLE] Elliott's cavalry division and WT Sherman is ordered with 25,000 men from Chattanooga to move to lift the siege at Knoxville/1863
  
• Braxton Bragg finally realizes the Army of Tennessee does not want him, and he resigns. William J. Hardee temporarily succeeds him/1863
  
• The Artillery Company, (Company G), 43rd Battalion Partisan Rangers, under Lieutenant Colonel John Singleton Mosby is organized. Two brigades of General Merritt's cavalry raid through Loudon, burning haystacks, barns, and stables, with the purpose of driving Mosby out. The burning hardly affects him or his operations. The yankees just make war on defenseless citizens/1864
  

NOVEMBER 29

• The C.S.S. ALABAMA arrives at Puerto Rico on its way to Cuba to attack and capture any California gold. At nightfall, the ALABAMA enters the Mona Passage between Puerto Rico and St. Domingo/1862
  
• [SIEGE OF KNOXVILLE] James Longstreet attacks union Fort Sanders which commands the Kingston Road and overlooks Knoxville. The capture of this fort would be decisive. Fort Sanders has a wide ditch in front, thick abatis, and a network of wires stretched stump to stump. Early this morning three picked brigades of McLaws Division appears in front of the fort, while a Georgia regiment of sharpshooters silence the federal guns. (p. 554, HARPER'S PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE CW) "Leaving the shelter of the woods, the storming column advances up the slope. Only at the edge of the ditch do the Patriots halt. Here it is found that an important feature in the assault has been forgotten. There is no means at hand for crossing this ditch. It is now the moment of glorious opportunity to the defenders of the fort, who pour a deadly fire upon the hesitating column, checking the first impetus of its assault. But, though retarded in their movement, the courage of the assailants is indomitable. They break through the entanglement of wires; they cut their way through the abatis; the carnage made among them by musketry and artillery cannot daunt their brave spirits; they fill the ditch; some of them assail the scarp of the fort, pushing each other up to reach the parapet; a few force their way through the embrasures. Here, with these few, a hand-to-hand conflict is waged. One officer advances with a flag and boldly demands the surrender of the fort, and is dragged inside a prisoner. Those who reach the parapet are shot and hurled back into the ditch, which now writhes with its dead and wounded, while, to increase the maddening torment, hand grenades are thrown into their midst. Meanwhile, into the rear the artillery hurls its fatal missiles, until at length, entirely baffled, this column is withdrawn, and another takes its place, and the carnage is renewed. But no impression is made upon the garrison. After a display of courage probably unequaled by that exhibited in any assault during this war, and never surpassed in any other war, the attack is abandoned. There follows a truce, to permit the enemy to gather up his dead and wounded--over 500 all told. The loss in the fort is 8 killed, 5 wounded, and about 30 captured . . . . This repulse, though it does not immediately terminate the siege, is its last important event." /1863
  
• [MINE RUN CAMPAIGN] Lee and Meade fight at Bartlett's Mills/1863
  
• Another brigade today joins General Merritt's cavalry in a raid through Loudon, by crossing the Shenandoah river and the mountains to help burn, causing a cloud of smoke that settles in the Valley as a fog so thick that one can hear the enemy in conversation with each other but cannot see them. Sheridan telegraphs Halleck that the Valley is nearly a desert. "They rob the people of everything they can destroy or carry off--horses, cows, cattle, sheep, hogs, etc.; killing poultry, insulting women, pillaging houses, and many times even robbing poor negroes." (p. 320, Williamson MOSBY'S RANGERS.) "They burn all the mills and factories, as well as hay, wheat, corn straw, and every description of forage. Barns and stables, whether full or empty are burned." (p. 321) "They even go to the Poor House and burn and destroy the supplies provided for the helpless and dependent paupers." /1864
  
• [INVASION OF TENNESSEE] Hood attempts to trap Schofield at Spring Hill, Tennessee, but Schofield escapes to Franklin. Confederates win but lose Schofield/1864
  

NOVEMBER 30

• The Mississippi legislature draws up resolutions on Secession/1860
  
• Early this morning, off the Bay of Semana, the C.S.S. ALABAMA runs along the coast of St. Domingo, chasing and capturing the PARKER COOKE of Boston. At sunset the sky is set ablaze by the burning of the COOKE/1862
  
• Stonewall Jackson arrives at Fredericksburg from the Shenandoah Valley/1862
  
• [INVASION OF TENNESSEE] John Bell Hood with 26,897 men makes a frontal attack on J.M. Schofield's 27,939 troops at Franklin, but fails to cut off Schofields retreat to Nashville fortifications; five Confederate generals including Patrick Cleburne are killed. Other losses include US-2326, CS-6252. Hood resigns from the Army of Tennessee/1864
  
• Battle of Honey Hill (Grahamsville), South Carolina, won by G. W. Smith and 1400 over 5500 men under J.P. Hatch. Losses: US-755, CS- 50/1864