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

Wisconsin Drummer Boy-- Part 3: Frank Pettis, 11 Years Old

Frank Pettis of Reedsburg, Wisconsin, was 11 when he enlisted.  His father Amos played the fife and also enlisted.  Father and Son going to war together.

Frank began his military career at age 12 in Co. A, 19th Wisconsin, under Captain A.P. Ellinwood.  He served from February 22, 1862, to August 9, 1865.

He was at every battle the 19th Wisconsin fought in from Suffolk, Virginia, to New Berne, North Carolina to the siege at Petersburg and Richmond, where the regiment's colors were the first to fly over the Confederate Capitol after its capture.

--Old Secesh

North Carolina's 26th Infantry Regiment-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

Yesterday I wrote about the painting of the 26th N.C. assaulting the center of the Union lines on Cemetery Ridge during Pickett's Charge on July 3, 1863.  This is definitely a regiment with a history.

The 26th North Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment was formed fro  ten companies from North Carolina, and one of which was from Virginia.The regiment was raised in 1861 mostly from central and western North Carolina with Zebulon B. Vance as colonel.  When Vance was elected governor, Henry King Burgwyn, 20, became the colonel.

They spent most of the first year pf the war defending the North Carolina coast and saw their first action at the Battle of New Bern.  They were then sent north to Virginia and participated in the Seven Days Battles and returned to the North Carolina coast after that.

--Old Secesh

99th New York Infantry: "Union Coast Guard-- Part 5: 1862

MARCH 14TH, 1862: Battle of New Berne, NC. Co. B detached. Two killed, seven wounded and ten captured.

APRIL 12-26TH: Siege of Fort Macon, NC. Co. B detached.

JULY 4TH: James River. Company I (Capt. J.C. Lee's company) detached on steamer C.P. Smith. One killed, six missing.

AUGUST-OCTOBER: Duty by detachments at Fortress Monroe, Norfolk, Fort Wool and Sewell's Point, Chesapeake Bay.

AUGUST 1862- MARCH 1863: Co. I detached on Army gunboats Smith Briggs and West End.

A Naval Infantry Unit? --Old Secesh

Flags and Bell Returning to North Carolina

From the Aug. 15, 2011, Worcester (Mass) Telegram & Gazette "Worcester sending Civil War artifacts south" by Bill Fortier.

The Worcester GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) Board of Trustees voted to return three captured Confederate flags from the Battle of New Bern, March 14, 1862, to the Museum of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City, NC.

In addition, the 50 pound, cast iron ship's bell of the CSS Albemarle is being sent to the Port O' Plymouth Museum in Plymouth, NC.

One of the flags is a 36-inch by 66-inch one with the words Freedom and Victory on it.

Two of the flags were captured by the Union's 21st and 25th Divisions.

The flags were presented to Worcester Mayor P. Emory Aldrich by Major Matthew McCafferty on April 21, 1862, at a huge gathering at Mechanic's Hall.

Twenty Massachusetts soldiers were killed in the four-hour battle and another 55 wounded.

A Mighty Nice Thing to Do.  Thanks Worcester.  --Old Secesh

Cannon Returns for 150th Anniversary of the Battle of New Bern

From the Triangle Arts & Entertainment "Civil War Cannon Returns to North Carolina For 150th Anniversary of Battle of New Bern."

It was seized from Confederates by the 21st Massachusetts Infantry on March 14, 1862 and has recently been returned on loan from Amherst College in that state to the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh where it will remain until June of 2015. The six-pounder bronze cannon tube originally belonged to Co. C, 10th North Carolina State Troops (The Charlotte Artillery).

A week after the battle, Union General Burnside ordered it given to the 21st Massachusetts for their valor in the battle and they in turn voted to give it to Amherst College in Massachusetts as a memorial to college president William A. Sterns whose son, 1st Lt. Frazar Stearns had been killed while leading a charge at New Bern.

The cannon tube features an elaborate inscription describing its capture at New Bern and lists twenty men of the 21st killed there.

Emily Dickinson's father presided over the cannon's dedication ceremony and her brother, Austin, was a close friend of 1st Lt. Strearns.

A Cannon With Some History. --Old Secesh.

New Bern, NC, Gets Sword Back

March 23rd WUNC Radio, 91.5 FM.

A sword that was carried at the Civil War Battle of New Bern in North Carolina, has been returned to the city (the article didn't say where. It belonged to a Union soldier, but not just any Union soldier. This one was female who evidently did not hide her sex as did some others. She served alongside her husband.

Her name was Kady Brownell who helped save her Rhode Island regiment from friendly fire by climbing to high ground where, using her unit's flag, she waved off other Union forces preparing to attack her group.

The sword was hers as photographs of her with it were taken as well as her name on the scabbard.

A Bit of Interesting History. --Old B-Runner

Ground Broken for Battle of New Bern's Visitors Center

From 2008 New Bern (NC) Sun Journal

On March 14, 1862, a force of Union soldiers and 14 gunboats from the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron attacked a badly outmatched Confederate force at New Bern, North Carolina, and captured the city which remained in Union hands for the rest of the war. This was part of the Burnside Expedition.

Union forces suffered 90 killed, 380 wounded and 1 missing. Confederate casualties were 64 killed, 101 wounded and 413 missing or captured.

Groundbreaking for the visitors center took place on the 25 acre battlefield near the entrance to Taberna on US Highway 70-East and is a major project of the New Bern Historical Society which got the battlefield through the Civil War Preservation Trust.

Total cost of the visitors center is $170,000 out of a total $900,000 project.

It was dedicated January 3, 2009.

Always Good to Preserve and Educate. --B-R'er
.