This Month in the Civil War: Abraham Lincoln Elected and Reelected, Battles of Port Royal, Sherman Burns Atlanta and Departs on March to the Sea

From the November 2022 American Battlefield Trust calendar.

NOVEMBER 6, 1860

**  Abraham Lincoln elected 16th President of the United States.

NOVEMBER 7, 1861

**  The Battle of Port Royal Sound, Soutn Carolina.

NOVMBER 8, 1864

**  President Lincoln reelected.

NOVEMBER 12, 1864

**  USA General William T. Sherman's federal troops burn the city of Atlanta, Georgia.

NOVEMBER 15, 1864

**  USA General William T. Sherman departs Atlanta to begin March to the Sea.

--Old Secesh

A Sad Telegram-- Part 2: Survived the War

The caregiver who handled the young soldier's message apparently did not know how to spell the name and only that he lived somewhere near Atlanta, so he sent the telegram to the city's leading newspaper, the Daily Intelligencer.

Editor John Steele published the plea July 26, prefaced by a notice to readers:  "The following dispatch has been received at this office.  We do not know the residence of Mr. J.W. Neisbit, to whom it is directed, under our care, and therefore publish it. hoping some one will convey to him the information it imparts.  --ED. INT."

Apparently, no one knew where the elder Neisbit (Nesbit) lived, but the case of the wounded lieutenant, who turned 22 just ten days after his Gettysburg wound, worked out well.

On August 3, he was granted a 60-day furlough to return home.  He resigned from the Confederate Army in November 1863.

After the war, he started farming, married and raised a family north of Atlanta.  He died at the age of 83 in 1925, one of approximately 60,000 Civil War amputees.

--Old Secesh

A Sad Telegram: 'I Lost My Left Arm at Gettysburg'

From the same source as the previous post.

Twelve days after he was shot in the left arm on the second day of fighting at Gettysburg, Lieutenant William Hoyle Nesbit wrote or dictated a telegram to his father in far-away Georgia.

***********************

RICHMOND, July 14-- To Mr. J.W. Neisbit, care of the Intelligencer (Atlanta Daily Intelligencer):

Dear Father-- I am at Jordan Springs Hospital, near Winchester.  I lost my left arm at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  Come to me.  Answer by telegraph.

W.H. Neisbit

***********************

--Old Secesh

An Interesting Story: Who You Going to Draft Now?

From the Autumn 2022 America's Civil War "Rebel Beacon: The reputable Atlanta Daily Intelligencer was both news source and cheerleader for Southern readers" by Stephen Davis and Bill Hendrick.

An article about this Atlanta newspaper during the war.

I found this part of interest.

Then  there were the strikes by printers, demanding higher wages.  In the spring of 1864, after their workers walked out, Atlanta editors visited the city's conscript office and addressed the printers' status.

They were exempt from the draft while working, the editors claimed; but now, as they were on strike, the draft officer was encouraged to draft them for Confederate service.

The connscriptor liked the idea.  "Gentlemen," he said, "you are undoubtedly right.  I will go to work at once, and as you are here, I will conscript you to begin with."

"Conscript us!" exclaimed the editors.

"Certainly.  As you have no printers, you can't get out your papers.  So you no longer belong to the exempted class."

The editors raced back to their respective offices and contacted the printers' union.  In fifteen minutes, everyone was back at work.

Good Story.  You've Just Got to Have Some Incentive.   --Old Secesh

This Month in the War: Chantilly, Atlanta, South Mountain, Harpers Ferry and Antietam

From the American Battlefield Trust 2022 September Calendar.

SEPTEMBER 1, 1862

**  Battle of Chantilly, Virginia

SEPTEMBER 2, 1864

**  Atlanta, Georgia, falls to Federal forces

SEPTEMBER 14, 1862

**  Battle of South Mountain Gap, Maryland

SEPTEMBER 15, 1862

**  Capture of Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia)

SEPTEMBER 17, 1862

Battle of Antietam, Maryland

--Old Secesh

Civil War Events in November: Lincoln's Elections, Port Royal Sound, Burning Atlanta, March to the Sea Begins

1860

NOVEMBER 6

Abraham Lincoln elected 16th President of the United States.

1861

NOVEMBER 7

Battle of Port Royal Sound, South Carolina.

1864

NOVEMBER 8

President Lincoln reelected

1864

NOVEMBER 12

U.S. General William T. Sherman's Federal troops burn the city of Atlanta, Georgia.

1864

NOVEMBER 16

Gen. William T. Sherman's army departs Atlanta to begin March to the Sea.

--Old Secesh

Civil War Events in September: Chantilly, Atlanta, Harpers Ferry and Antietam

From American Trust September 2021 calendar.

1862:  SEPTEMBER 1

Battle of Chantilly, Virginia  (I was just reading about this in the latest America's Civil War magazine.  I had never heard of it before.

1864:  SEPTEMBER 2

Federal forces occupy Atlanta, Georgia.

1862:  SEPTEMBER 14

Battle of South Mountain Gap, Maryland.

1862:  SEPTEMBER 15

Capture of Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia)

1862:  SEPTEMBER 17

Battle of Antietam, Maryland

--Old Secesh

Sherman Explains Why He Didn't Attack Augusta on His March to the Sea: "But, If You Feel Neglected..."

From the October 21, 2020, Athens (Ga) Banner-Herald "October 21, 1888:  General Sherman writes a letter to the Augusta Chronicle editor" by Boll Kirby.

He left Atlanta and Columbia in flames.  Well, why didn't he do the same to Augusta?

For years after the Civil War, Augustans argued about why feared Union General Sherman had not attacked  their city.  They had a variety of reasons and some were even silly.

Finally, Pleasant  Stovall, editor of the Augusta Chronicle, and asked the famous old general nd he answered in what might be one of the most famous-ever letters to the editor.

It was published on October 21, 1888, and, basically the old war horse said he didn't attack Augusta because he didn't have to.  He wanted to get to Savannah where the Union Navy could bring him supplies.

However, he offered to correct the oversight if Augusta felt  neglected, writing: "I can send a detachment of 100,000 or so of Sherman's bummers and their descendants  who will finish up the job without charging Uncle Sam a cent."

Send In the Bummers!!  --Old Secesh

Johnston's River Line Defense-- Part 5: Shoup's Formidable Design

At the rear, or base of the fort, and behind the line would be a entrance (sally port) where troops could enter or leave the fort safely.

From above, the defensive line would look like a saw blade with the trenches connecting the forts receding  at a backward angle to each redan and then at forward angle  to the next fort creating what Francis A. Shoup  called a re-entrant (salient).

Along the front of the trenches would be walls or palisades made of stockades.

Each fort could hold up to eighty men.  Soldiers within the forts could load rifles and hand them up to riflemen on the earthen platforms who would then provide interlocking fields of fire channeling attacking forces  towards the re-entrant formed by the receding tranches where artillery fire from the redans would sweep the ground.

If all the forts  were manned at once, the River Line would prove to be quite formidable.

And, I'd Never Heard of This Francis A. Shoup Before.  --Old Secesh

Johnston's River Line Defense, Atlanta-- Part 4: A Unique Design

Construction on what initially was called the  Chattahoochee River Line started on June 19 and took about two weeks using a labor force of soldiers well enough to work from local hospitals and over 1,000 impressed slaves.  I like to think this was when Scarlett O'Hara saw slaves from Tara going through the streets of Atlanta with picks and shovels in the movie "Gone With the Wind."

Some trenches already existed near the state railroad bridge but the vast amount of defenses had to be built from scratch.

THE SHOUPETTES

Francis A. Shoup's defensive design consisted of arrowhead-shaped infantry forts -- 36 were built -- spaced 175 yards apart and connected by trenches broken every  30 to 75 yards by artillery redans that each would house two cannons.

Each of the arrowhead forts, which came to be called Shoupades after the designer, consisted of an earthen foundation with log walls or parapets extending 14 to 20 feet high depending upon the terrain.  Interior earthen walls would stop short of the log exterior walls, forming a platform on which infantrymen could fire over the top of the fort.

And, There's More.  --Old Secesh

Johnston's River Defense Line, Atlanta-- Part 3: Francis A. Shoup's Plan

From the beginning of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's Atlanta Campaign in May 1864, he had continually outflanked Confederate General Johnston's army forcing them to fall back to a defensive position at Kennesaw Mountain in late July.  Johnston saw the nearby Chattahoochee River as a major  boundary between him and the city of Atlanta.  He had already sent a hundred men to guard the railroad bridge over the river at Bolton.

Johnston feared he would lose thousands of men captured should he have to cross the river if he were to be driven back and decided there should be a defensive line on his side of the river.

On June 18, 1864, roughly a week before the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Johnston was approached by his artillery commander, Brigadier General Francis A. Shoup, about constructing a defensive line  atop a ridge along the northwest bank of the river (on the opposite side from Atlanta).  The Confederate Army could withdraw to this place should Sherman continue outflanking maneuvers

Shoup's design for the fortifications was such that it would only take a small fraction of Johnston's forces to defend them while, if necessary, the rest of the army would have time to get across the river.

Johnston approved Shoup's plan and work on it began the next day.

--Old Secesh

Johnston's River Line Defense, Atlanta-- Part 2: Comparable to France's Maginot Line

Before I read about it in the article I used in my other blog, I had never heard of this Line before, even though I lived outside of Atlanta for awhile.  So, this is all new to me.

It must have been quite an impressive fortification as the Wikipedia article says it is often compared to the French Maginot Line built prior to World War II.  Today, it is part of the River Line Historic Area and the Chattahoochee  River Line Battlefield.  It consists of the remains of Confederate battlements including  unique fortifications called Shoupades, named after their designer, Confederate Brigadier General Francis A. Shoup.

The remnants are spread out over an approximately six-seven mile stretch  along the northwest side of the river from a point just north of where Nickajack Creek joins he Chattahoochee in Mableton to north of South Atlanta Road in Smyrna/Vinings.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 5, 1973.  Although many of the remains are on private property, visitors can access the site off U.S. 78 in Mableton, and off S.R.  280 and S. Atlanta Road in Smyrna/Vinings.

--Old Secesh

Johnston's River Line Defense, Atlanta, Georgia-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

In my Civil War II:  The Continuing War on the Confederacy, I mentioned that part of Johnston's River Line was being turned into a park along the Chattahoochee River and that after two years, they came up with a name for the park.  The big hold up came from calling it maybe Confederate or naming it after the Confederate general who had it built to stop Sherman, Joseph E. Johnston.

And, of course, these days, there are those who go ballistic with anything commemorating the "C" word.

The compromise name is going to be Discovery Park at the River Line.

This stretch of fortifications has gone by several names over the years, including Johnston's River Line, Johnston's Line, The Chattahoochee River Line or simply The River Line.  It is a defensive line located in the  communities of Mableton, Smyrna and Vinings, Georgia, and was ordered built by Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston in July 1864.

No significant battle took place here, though.

You can read about what I wrote in the other blog by clicking on the Civil War II blog to the right of this.

--Old Secesh

80th Anniversary of "Gone With the Wind"-- Part 2" "I Am Not In It"

**  While visiting Atlanta's Cyclorama, the famed panoramic depiction o the Battle of  Atlanta, Clark Gable joked that there was one thing wrong with it:  "I am not in it."

Soon afterwards, one of the mannequins in the exhibit was altered to look like Rhett, with a handlebar mustache, fallen on the battlefield.

From the December 15, 2009 Civil War Picket on the 70th anniversary of "Gone With the Wind."

"I saw Rhett Butler today.   He didn't look so good.

"He was lying on the ground.  His eyes had no focus.  Blood covered part of his abdomen."

On the morning of December 15, Atlanta Mayor William B. Hartsfied (for whom Atlanta's airport is named), took Clark Kent and his new wife Carole Lombard o the Cyclorama at Grant Park.  Although impressed, Clark said it didn't have him, Rhett, in it.

Hartsfield later had artist Weis Snell  make a Rhett Butler of a dying Union soldier.

And, evidently, he is still there.

"Take a good look my dear.  It's a historic moment you can tell your grandchildren about -- how you watched the Old South fall one night."    Answer below.

Who Said That?  --Old Secesh


Rhett Butler

Some More on Fort D, Cape Girardeau-- Part 2: Company F, 2nd Illinois Light Artillery

On August 30, 1861, General Ulysses S. Grant arrived in Cape Girardeau and took command.  He visited again in October and authorized Captain John Powell to raise a company of local men to man the forts and guns around Cape Girardeau.

They became Battery F, 2nd Illinois Light Artillery and were organized immediately, but not mustered in until December 11, 1861.  Throughout the fall and  winter, Powell's men trained on the large cannons of the forts and did garrison duty.

In late March 1862, they were ordered to join the Union Army of the Tennessee at Pittsburg Landing in western Tennessee.    They were heavily engaged in the Battle of Shiloh a short time later on April 6 at a spot ever-after known as the Hornets' Nest for the fierce fighting that took place there.

It was there that Captain Powell was wounded in the wrist and forearm; later his  arm was amputated below the elbow.   His Battery F would go on to take part in the Battle of Corinth, Siege of Vicksburg and Atlanta among other battles.

--Old Secesh

Battle of Atlanta, Troup Hurt House-- Part 4: Confederate Loss Led to Siege of Atlanta

There is a tour you can take of the key points of the Battle of Atlanta, July 22, 1864.  (I wonder if it has where Col. Greathouse was killed?)

The fighting that day was one of the biggest battles in the final ten months of the war, and the Union victory east of the city was followed by the daily bombardment of Atlanta and the eventual Union capture of the "Gate City of the South" on September 2, 1864.

I always thought the Battle of Atlanta took place on the west side of Atlanta since Sherman's Army was coming southward from that direction.  But it didn't.

I also wonder if they have the spot where Col. Greathouse was killed marked?

--Old Secesh

Lucien P. Greathouse-- Part 1: Youngest Union Colonel?

While researching William McHenry for my Not So Forgotten War of 1812 blog, I found than he was buried in Old State Cemetery in Vandalia, Illinois.  Another person buried there is one Col. Lucien Greathouse who was killed at the Battle of Atlanta while leading his troops.

I'd never heard of him.

There wasn't even an article about him in Wikipedia or even a stub, even though one source I found said he was the youngest Union colonel in the war.  He was just 22 when he was killed.

He commanded the 48th Illinois Infantry Regiment.

Looks like I will have to do some research on him.

I have been writing a lot about the Star-Spangled Banner and Fort McHenry in my War of 1812 blog.  I thought that McHenry County, Illinois, where we live, was named after Fort McHenry, but it was named after William McHenry.

--Old Secesh

Famed 'Battle of Atlanta' Cyclorama Secure in New Home

From the July 2017, America's Civil War.

One of the world's largest paintings was successfully moved to its new home in February 2017.

Because of its age (131 years) and weight (five tons) and length (more than 100 yards) this process took two days to move nine miles from Atlanta's Grant Park to the Atlanta History center in Buckhead.

It was cut in two and wound around two custom-made steel spools.

In this refreshing in this age of the new destroy anything having to do with Confederates.

--Old Secesh

Civil Wat II-- 590: Are Some Confederate Statues Uglier Than Others?

From the September 15, 2017, Google Alerts for Confederate Fort.

**  Statue of Robert E. Lee removed from (d)allas park.  (Loss)

From the September 16, 2017, Google Alerts for Confederate.

**  Confederate rally organizers say they don't know how many people to expect Saturday.  (Richmond, Va.)

**  America's ugliest Confederate statue isn't coming down anytime soon.  (Franklin, Tn.)  Statue of Nathan Forrest.  And I  thought all Confederate statues were ugly to Confederate-haters.  Guess some are uglier than others.

**What should you say about a sensitive issue?  Learn more about Confederate statue debate.

--Old Secesh

The Nancy Harts Militia-- Part 1: To Defend While the Men Were Away

From the New Georgia Encyclopedia.

On March 4th, I wrote about the Nancy Harts, a female group who stood up to Union cavalry in the closing days of the war in LaGrange, Georgia.  This was featured in the Mort Kunstler 2017 Civil War calendar for the month of March.

The Nancy Harts were formed in LaGrange, Georgia, at the onset of the war.  They were an all-female military unit organized by the wives of Confederate soldiers with the realization that their men would not be there to protect them.

On April 26, 1861, the Liberty Light Guards of the 4th Georgia Infantry Regiment, composed of local men, mustered and marched off to war.  Over the course of the war, some 1,300 left for Confederate military service.

It was obvious that LaGrange would be of some military importance as it was located half way between Atlanta and the first Confederate capital at Montgomery, Alabama.  Plus, it had rail connections.

--Old Secesh