This Month in the Civil War: Emancipation, Fisher, New Bern, Monitor and Lee

From the January 2023 American Battlefield Trust calendar.

JANUARY 1, 1863

**  President Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation.

JANUARY 15, 1865

**  Fall of Fort Fisher, North Carolina.

JANUARY 19, 1862

**  Battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky

JANUARY 28, 1864

**  Operations around New Bern, North Carolina.

JANUARY 30, 1862

**  The USS Monitor launched at Greenpoint, Long Island, New York.

JANUARY, 31, 1865

**  Robert E. Lee assumes command of the Confederate armies.

A Little Too Late.  --Old Secesh

McHenry County CW Round Table Meets Today: USS Merrimack

The McHenry County (Illinois) Civil War Round Table (MCCWRT) will meet tomorrow, Tuesday, August 9, at the Woodstock Library at 7, both in person and via Zoom.

David Noe will speak on the USS Merrimack, the ship that was turned into the ironclad CSS Virginia by Confederates and fought the famous battle against the USS Monitor.  (Which ship were you pulling for?)

All are invited to attend.  You do not have to be a member, just have an interest in history.

There will also be several of us meeting at 3 Brothers restaurant in Woodstock (on Illinois Highway 47) at 5:30.  Come for dinner or dessert.

--Old Secesh

U.S. Presidents with Confederate Ties-- Part 3: Zachary Taylor's Children

Some of the Civil War split between North and South involved the children of U.S. presidents.

One of President Zachary Taylor's sons, Richard, rose to the rank of lieutenant general in the Confederate Army and was a top figure in the Trans-Mississippi theater of the war.  He surrendered his army on May 4, 1865, four weeks after Robert E. Lee.

Another of Taylor's children, Sarah, married future Confederate president Jefferson Davis in 1835 at the age of 21.  At the time, Davis was serving in the U.S. Army under Taylor and Taylor  forbade the relationship, saying, "I will be damned if another daughter of mine will marry into the Army."

Sarah came down with malaria later in 1835 and died.  Taylor, who did in office in 1850, reportedly never forgave Davis for her loss.

In addition, one of Taylor's grandsons, John Taylor Wood,  served on the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia in its famed battle with the USS Monitor in Hampton Roads in March, 1862.  He was the son of Taylor's eldest daughter Ann.  He also commanded the CSS Tallahassee in a very successful commerce raid along the U.S. coast.  That ship left out of Wilmington, North Carolina.

He also had a brother who served in the Confederate Army named Robert Crooke Wood, Jr.

--Old Secesh

Civil War Events in March: Goodbye Gov. Houston, Lincoln Inaugurated, Battle of Pea Ridge and USS Monitor vs. CSS Virginia

From the American Battlefield Trust March 2022 Calendar.

MARCH 2, 1861

**  After forcing the resignation of Governor Sam Houston, Texas formally joins the Confederacy.

MARCH 4, 1861

**  Abraham Lincoln inaugurated 16th President of the United States of America.

MARCH 7, 1862

**  Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, begins.

MARCH 8, 1862

**  The CSS Virginia engages and destroys the USS Congress and USS Cumberland.

MARCH 9, 1862

**  The USS Monitor and CSS Virginia battle at Hampton Roads, Virginia.

MARCH 14, 1862

**  New Bern, North Carolina captured.

--Old Secesh

Civil War Events in January-- Part 2: Mill Springs, Georgia and Louisiana Secede, Monitor Launched, Lee and the 13th Amendment

JANUARY 19, 1862

**  The Battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky.

JANUARY 19, 1861

**  Georgia adopts an Ordinance of Secession.

JANUARY 24, 1861

**  Georgia state troops seize  the U.S. Arsenal at Augusta.

JANAUARY 26, 1861

**  Louisiana adopts and Ordinance of Secession.

JANUARY 30, 1862

**  USS Monitor launched at Greenpoint, Long Island, New York.

JANUARY 31, 1865

**  Robert E. Lee assumes command of the Confederate armies.

JANUARY 31, 1865

**  The U.S. House of Representatives passes the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery.

--Old Secesh

January Civil War Dates: Fall of Fort Fisher

From the American Battlefield Trust 2021 calendar.

JANUARY 1, 1863

President Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation.

JANUARY 15, 1865

Fall of Fort Fisher, North Carolina.   (How could I have forgotten this date yesterday?  Duh!)

JANUARY 19, 1862

Battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky.

JANAUARY 28, 1864

Operations around New Bern, North Carolina.

JANUARY 30, 1862

USS Monitor launched at Greenpoint, Long Island, New York.

JANAUARY 31, 1865

Robert E. Lee assumes command of all Confederate armies.

JANUARY 31, 1865

The U.S. House of Representatives passes the 13th Amendment.

--Old Secesh

Fort Wool in Chesapeake Bay-- Part 5: The Sawyer Gun

The range of the Sawyer gun, with extended elevation, extended all the way to Confederate-held Sewell's Point in Virginia, 3 miles away (where Norfolk Naval Base is now located).  The Confederates had built an impressive fort there complete with  bastions, a redan and three artillery batteries mounting 45 guns.

The Sawyer gun was rifled and could fire a shot further and with more accuracy than the usual smoothbore cannons in use.  It was one of several rifled artillery pieces developed by Sylvanus Sawyer. Sadly for him, none of his designs were widely adopted by Union forces.

A weapon of  the type at Fort Wool was tested at nearby Fort Monroe in 1859.  Two different Sawyer weapons, a 24-pounder rifle and a 3.67-inch were used at the Siege of Richmond in 1864-1865.  The 24-pounder burst on the tenth fire and the 3.67 was rarely used.

Fort Wool had a ringside seat for the Battle of Hampton Roads between the CSS Virginia and USS Monitor during what is referred to as the Battle of the Ironclads on March 9, 1862.  The Sawyer gun fired on the Virginia, but no damage was done to the ship because of her armor.

--Old Secesh

Markers and Remains of Newport News-- Part 2: The Sea Battles

CONGRESS AND CUMBERLAND OVERLOOK--  26th Street and West Avenue.  Scene of the March 8, 1862, engagement between the CSS Virginia and these two Union ships which were destroyed.

MONITOR AND MERRIMACK OVERLOOK--  Anderson Park.  16th Street and Oak Avenue.  Site of the famous Battle of the Ironclads which forever changed naval architecture.

--Old Secesh

McHenry County Civil War Round Table Discussion Group Meets Saturday: The Peninsula Campaign

We will be meeting at Panera Bread on Northwest Highway, US-14, in Crystal Lake, Illinois, at 10 a.m..  This month's topic will be  the Peninsular Campaign and all are welcome to attend and share a word or two.

I will be concentrating on the USS  Monitor and Galena's role in the fighting.

See Ya There.  --Old Secesh

Top Ten Civil War Innovations-- Part 3: Telegraph and Iron Gunships

6.  TELEGRAPH--  50,000 miles of telegraph wire had been strung by 1860.  Another 15,000 miles were added during the war.  Lincoln used it for real-time information.  By October 1861, the coast-to-coast telegraph had eliminated the Pony Express.  During the war, several patents improved distance and power of the original Morse telegraph.

7.  IRON GUNSHIPS--  The Confederate Navy couldn't match the U.S. Navy in numbers so needed a super weapon which they got with the ironclad CSS Virginia.  The USS Monitor was built in 90-days and had 40 patentable inventions by John Ericsson.

--Old Secesh

Cannon Place in Troy, NY

From the Dec. 9th Times Union "Cannon Place in Le Grand Building" by Don Rittner.

The building is located on Monument Square in downtown Troy, New York. The building opened Jan. 1, 1831 on the site of the popular Bull's Head Tavern and housed eight stores and was four stories high.

Le Grand Cannon came to Troy from Connecticut and established the Conduit Company of Troy, supplying water. Later he was president of the Rensselaer Saratoga Railroad.

In 1846, he established the Le Grand Cannon & Co., a rolling mill that later became the Rensselaer Iron Works which made the rivets as well as other items for the USS Monitor.

His son, Leland Bouton Cannon was born in 1815 and was involved in various transportation companies as an adult.

In 1838, he was an aide to general John E. Wool of Troy and became a colonel at Fortress Monroe. During the Civil War, Cannon wrote a report on the escaped slaves flocking to the fort and carried out orders that led to the effective emancipation of former slaves some four months before the Emancipation Proclamation.

He was a witness to the monumental battle between the Monitor and the Virginia.

After the war, he purchased the old Fort St. Frederick on Lake Champlain and restored it. He died at age 91 in 1906.

In 1970, the Cannon Building was added to the NRHP.

A Real Monitor Thing. --Old B-R'er

Running the Blockade: Monitor's Turret-- Rick Perry-- Fortress Monroe

Running the Blockade-- Some new news about an old war.


1. MONITOR'S TURRET-- The Nov. 3rd Daily Press (Va.) reports that the turret of the USS Monitor has been placed in Virginia's Tip Ten Endangered Artifact List. This is not so much that it isn't receiving great preservation, but because it requires permanent care. The World War II USS Wisconsin, also in Norfolk, also is on the list.


2. RICK PERRY-- Texas governor of Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry has announced he will not support the SCV's attempt to get license plates in his state. In the past, he has defended Confederate symbols. Guess someone is looking for votes.


3. FORTRESS MONROE--The Virginia Pilot reported that President Obama was to sign a bill making the fort a National Park, the 396th one. He did so with powers granted him by the 1906 Antiquities Act.

Just Some Stuff. --Old B-R'er

The USS Monitor

From the Oct. 27th Choctaw Plaindealer "The Civil War--New Naval Era for North and South" by C.J. Johnson.

On Oct. 25, 1861, the keel of the Monitor was laid in Greenpoint, New York, after the US government heard rumors that the Confederacy was rushing to complete an ironclad of their own. The Ironclad Board, appointed by Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles gave their approval to start for Swedish-born John Ericsson to begin work in September.

The 987 ton Monitor's wooden keel was laid at the Continental Ironworks. Carpenters worked around the clock on the wooden inner structure while iron plating was being made.

The 172-foot long, 41-foot wide ship was remarkable in that its deck was only 18 inches above the water, and, of course, its twenty foot cylindrical revolving turret mounting two 11-inch Dahlgren guns. Furthermore, the ship was powered only by steam as there was no rigging. drawing 11 feet, the ship could operate in shallow waters as well.

The ship was completed very quickly, but still missed its original Jan. 12, 1862, launch date, not hitting the water until Jan. 30.

After some engine problems were solved, the Monitor was commissioned February 24th and just two weeks later, fought that Confederate ironclad, the CSS Virginia on March 6th.

This Turned Naval Architecture On Its Ear. --Old B-Runner

Some More Naval Activity 150 Years Ago

From the Civil War Naval Chronology.


OCTOBER 22nd-- Report that Confederate batteries commanded the Potomac River below Alexandria. Washington, DC, essentially blockaded, by water, anyway.

OCTOBER 23rd-- The crew of the Confederate privateer Savannah go on trial for "piracy" in New York City. This caused quite a diplomatic situation.

OCTOBER 25th-- John Ericcson began work on his Monitor. Less than five months later, it fought the CSS Virginia. Quite a remarkably fast construction time.

Flag Officer DuPont stresses the importance of training by the Navy for amphibious landings. Says he had landed a brigade of troops in a training exercise.

OCTOBER 26th-- The CSS Nashville escapes the blockade of Charleston, SC. Union intelligence incorrectly had Slidell and Mason on board the ship.

OCTOBER 27-28th-- Boat crews from the USS Louisiana burned three Confederate vessels at Chincoteagwa Inlet, Virginia. The Louisiana later became the powder ship exploded at Fort Fisher Christmas Eve 1864.

And, It Was an Amphibious Assault That Finally Did Fort Fisher In in 1865. --Old B-R'er

A USS Monitor Museum-- Part 2

Assemblyman Joseph Lentol arranged for a $50,000 grant for the museum, geotechnical and environmental testing at the site, the purchase of the sign, a flag pole, entrance gate and picnic tables.

President Lincoln overruled the Ironclad Board's decision not to use Ericsson's design. Ericcson had gotten a bad name because of the explosions on board the USS Princeton before the war.

At the Monitor's launching, Ericsson stood on the Monitor's deck to prove his faith hat the unlikely-looking ship would not sink.

From the group's website:

Founded in 1996 at Greenpoint, Brooklyn. John Ericsson designed the ship and it was built by the Continental Iron Works Company and the ship was launched January 30, 1861, just a month and a half before it met the CSS Virginia in the first battle of ironclads. It was built very quickly, taking just over three months from the keel being laid to launch.

One Innovative Warship. --Old B-R'er

A USS Monitor Museum-- Part 1

From the Oct. 6th Greenpoint (NY)Gazette :An Ironclad Sign: The Monitor Museum."

Celebrating the 15th anniversary of its founding, the Greenpoint Monitor Museum dedicated a new sign at the site this past Oct. 1st. A group of officials, supporters and the Oliver Tilden Camp #26 of the Sons of Union Veterans were at the ceremony.

As of yet, the group does not have a permanent structure at the site where the USS Monitor was built from late 1861 to early 1862, but they are making an effort to build one at the one acre site at Bushwick Inlet.

Having the ceremony now is appropriate because of three major Monitor events that took place 150 years ago:

September 15, 1861: John Ericsson's appearance before Lincoln's Ironclad Board.

October 4, 1861: The signing of contracts for construction of the ship.

October 25, 1861: The laying of the Monitor's keel.

In 2003, Motiva Enterprises donated the acre, at Quay Street at the East River, where the Monitor was built and launched to the group. Immediately, the City of New York slapped an Imminent Domain on the site.

More to Come. --Old B-Runner

Naval Happenings 150 Years Ago

From the US Navy Civil War Chronology.

SEPTEMBER 16, 1861

The Ironclad Board reported to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles: "For river and harbor service we consider ironclad vessels of light draught, or floating batteries this shielded, as very important...Armored ships or batteries may be employed advantageously to pass fortifications on land for ulterior objects of attack, to run a blockade, or to reduce temporary batteries on the shores of rivers and the approaches to our harbors."

They recommended the construction of three ironclads: The New Ironsides, Monitor and Galena.

These ships and the ones that followed completely revolutionized naval warfare.


SEPTEMBER 16-17

Landing parties from the USS Pawnee destroyed guns and fortifications on Beacon Island, this closing Ocracoke Inlet. Hatteras Inlet had been closed in August. This deprived blockade runners of an important access to land and gave he Union an important foothold in North Carolina.

SEPTEMBER 17

Confederates evacuated Ship Island, Mississippi, and a landing party from the USS Massachusetts took possession, giving the Union an important staging area and base for operations along the Gulf Coast.

Thus, these two days were very important in the overall Union war effort. The taking of the NC inlets and Ship island are little-known today, but important nonetheless.

Of the three first ironclads, only the Galena proved to be ineffective.

Important Events. --Old B-Runner

Is the Cat or Isn't the Cat in the Monitor Cannon?

I guess we will be finding out whether the account of the USS Monitor's sinking which mentioned that the ship's cat was placed in one of the two cannons' muzzles as the ship was sinking, will be soon found out to be true or false.

The cat was evidently doing what cats do when water comes near and was considered to be too dangerous to try to carry (all those claws and teeth). One sailor grabbed the feline, shoved it into the muzzle of the cannon and placed the cap over the end.

According to the Naval Sesquicentennial blog, we should soon know the truth of the story. We'll know if cat bones are found in it.

I'm Hoping It's a True Story. --Old B-R'er

List of USS Monitor Crewmembers Who Died When It Sank

Sixteen lost their lives.

OFFICERS:

Norman Knox Attwater, Acting Ensign
Gregory Frederickson
Robinson Woolen Hands-- 2nd Assistant Engineer
Samuel Augee Lewis-- 3rd Assistant Engineer


BLACK ENLISTED:

Robert Cook-- 1st Class Boy (born Glouchester, Va.)
Robert H. Howard-- Officer's Cook (born Howard County, Va.)
Daniel Moore-- Landsman (born Prince William or Loudon, Va.)


WHITE ENLISTED:

William Allen-- Landsman (born England) 24 years old
William Bryan-- Yeoman (born NY City) 31 years old
William H. Eagan-- Landsman (born Ireland) 21 years old
James R. Fenwick-- Quarter Gunner (born Scotland) 23 years old
Thomas Joyce (or Joice)-- 1st Class Fireman (born Ireland) age 23
George Littlefield-- Coal Heaver (born Saco, Maine) age 25
Jacob Nicklis (Nickles)-- Seaman (born Buffalo? NY) age 21
John Stocking-- Boatswain's Mate (born Binghampton, NY) age 27
Robert Williams-- 1st Class Fireman (born Wales) age 30

Interesting to see where these men were born, Quite a few born overseas. The blacks were all born in Virginia and might likely have been ex-slaves.

I Wonder Who Monitor 1 and Monitor 2 Are? --Old B-R'er

Burial of Two USS Monitor Crewmembers-- Part 2

After the wreck of the USS Monitor was found, it was hoped that the whole ship could be raised, but upon examination, it was found that the ship was in such bad condition after all those years at the bottom of the ocean. Instead, important parts of the ship were raised, including the engine and the 140-ton turret, which was found upside down with the hull resting on it.

So far, work in the turret, now located at the Mariners Museum in Newport News, Virginia, has turned up buttons, buckles, leather, a wool coat and other abandoned clothing. A ring was found on Monitor 2, but there was no inscription.

No gold bullion was found, which would have been on an officer's shoulder boards (sign of rank).

The remains have been sent to the Department of Defense forensic lab in Hawaii. So far, examinations suggest that both men were white (there were three blacks among those lost).

A problem faced in the identification process is that during the Civil War, no identification was needed for enlisted personnel. Often, false names were given. Plus, enlisted men did not have to give their next of kin.

I wonder how agent Gibbs and the rest of the NCIS team would handle this case?

Here's Hoping They Find Their Identities. --Old B-R'er