The Thirteenth

The House of Representatives passed the Thirteenth Amendment on January 31, 1865. The 13th Amendment provides that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

The 13th Amendment would be adopted on December 6th 1865, when the necessary number of states ratified it. When the amendment was ratified, slavery was legal only in the states of Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri, and New Jersey; where slaves born before 1804 could still be kept as “apprentices”. Abraham Lincoln and members of his government pushed for the Thirteenth Amendment as they were concerned that the Emancipation Proclamation would be considered a temporary measure of war. The Senate passed the amendment by 38 to 6 in April 1864, the House voted it in, in January 1865 by 119 to 56.

She Changed Shipping Forever

The USS Monitor, with its turreted center gun was launched today, January 30th 1862. The Monitor was the first ironclad commissioned by the United States Navy. She is more famous for the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 9th 1862 in which the Monitor fought the Confederate ship the CSS Virginia.

The Monitor was designed by John Ericsson a Swedish engineer, but Saratoga Springs, New York‘s Theodore Timby designed the revolving gun turret. She was described as a “cheese box on a raft”. The deck was armored and sat just above the waterline, and was built at the Continental Iron Works in Brooklyn,NY. Although the Monitor preformed well in river combat, she was not made for the rough waters of the ocean. She became swamped during a storm by high waves off Cape Hatteras,North Carolina on December 31st 1862. Sixteen of her sixty-two crew were lost in the storm.

The Fight Going On in Utah

In the war out west, the Battle of Bear River [aka Massacre at Boa Ogoi] between the US Army and the Shoshone Indians took place on January 29th 1863.

A detachment of the United States Army under Colonel Patrick Edward Connor entered the Cache Valley, an area north of the Utah / Idaho state line, at the convergence of the Bear River and Beaver Creek. They were part of an expedition looking for the Shoshone Chief, Bear Hunter. There was deep snow at six am when the 2nd California Cavalry began to arrive. Moroni Timbimboo said his grandfather Chief Sagwitch saw the approach of the Union soldiers.

The Cavalry started with a frontal attack against the positions held by the Shoshone, but the Indians overwhelmed them with return fire. Col Connor retreated and regrouped his men. He than sent small groups in a flanking move around the village, blocking any Shoshone from fleeing the battle. About two hours into the battle the Indians ran out of ammo, at this point the battle became a massacre. Most of the Shoshone men had been killed, and soldiers proceeded to molest and kill the women and children, and burn everything down. There were about 67 US soldiers killed and about 384 Shoshone.

This battle pretty much wiped out the Shoshone in the Cache Valley and surrounding area. The members of the tribe who escaped eventually became member of the Mormon church and help establish the town of Washkie,UT. Colonel Connor and his California Cavalry were treated as heroes. Conner was promoted to Brigadier General and continued his army career against the Native American population.

Son of a President

Richard Taylor the son of United States President Zachary Taylor and Lady Margaret was born January 27th 1826 on the family estate near Louisville, Kentucky. He spent most of his childhood on the frontier with his father before attending private schools in Kentucky and Massachusetts. Richard began college at Harvard, but graduated in 1845 from Yale. When his father died in 1850, he inherited the families Sugar Plantation “Fashion” in Louisiana, and soon had about 200 slaves.

At the start of the Civil War, Confederate General Braxton Bragg asked Taylor to be his assistant in Pensacola, Florida. While serving in Florida he was appointed the Colonel of the 9th Louisiana Infantry, and served at the Battle of First Manassas. In October of 1861 Taylor was promoted to General and given command of a Louisiana brigade under General Richard Ewell. He was promoted over more senior officers which caused of cries of favoritism, as he was the brother-in-law of Jefferson Davis. He proved his capability as a leader at many battles including the First Battle of Winchester. In July 1862 at the age of thirty-six, he became the youngest Major General in the Confederacy and was given command of the District of West Louisiana. After John B Hood’s failures in Tennessee, Taylor was placed in command of what was left of the Army of Tennessee. Union General Edward Canby excepted Taylor’s surrender on May 8th 1865; the last of the Confederates east of the Mississippi to give up.

After the war Richard was active in democratic party politics and was a leading opponent of the policies of Reconstruction. He published a memoir of the war in 1879the year he died in New York City. He is buried in the Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans.

Six To One Odds

Union forces of the 9th Illinois Mounted Infantry under Captain Emil Adams were attacked at the Battle of Athens on January 26th 1864.

At about four in the morning in Athens, Alabama 600 men of the 1st Alabama Cavalry under Lieutenant Colonel Moses Hannon made an attack against the Union defenders. Although out numbered by six to one and with no fortification Captain Adams’ men were able to hold for two hour, and finally forced the Confederates to retreat. There were about twenty Union and thirty Confederate casualties.

Slave To Soldier

About twenty-two United State Colored Cavalry were killed on January 25th 1865 in Simpsonville, KY by irregular Confederate troops.

A company of black soldiers from the 5th United States Colored Cavalry were assigned in January 1865 to drive 900 head of cattle to a railroad depot near Louisville from Camp Nelson in Jessamine County. Just a few months earlier, most of these soldiers had been slaves. The men drove the cattle along a trail that would become US Route 60. With a light snow falling on January 25, 1865 in Simpsonville,KY a band of Confederate Irregulars surprised the rear guard of the 5th, and began shooting the men down. It seems that the men of the 5th in the front of the herd didn't know the attack was happening. The people of Simpsonville collected the dead and buried them in a mass grave, and cared for about twenty others who were wounded.

Slave Catching

Her name was Lucy, and she was a slave from Wheeling, Virginia [now West Virginia] and on January 23rd 1861 when she ran to Cleveland, Ohio she became the last slave to be returned under the Fugitive Slave Law.

Senator James Murray Mason of Virginia drafted the second Fugitive Slave Law under pressure from the south and as part of the Compromise of 1850. There were to be special commissioners with complete jurisdiction, there would be no trail by jury and the fugitives were not allowed to speak for themselves. There were penalties for marshals who refused to enforce the law, as well as individuals who aided blacks with their escape. If a slave was returned to their master, the person bringing that slave back would receive a payment.

The Law led to abuses and caused the number of abolitionist to rise. Many states enacted Personal Liberty Laws which extended Habeas Corpus, the privilege of jury trial and severely punished false testimony. The state of Wisconsin's Supreme Court went so far in 1859 as to declare the Fugitive Slave Law unconstitutional. The beginning of the Civil War changed things. In May 1861 Major General Benjamin Butler declared that slaves were contraband of war. It wasn't until June 28th 1864 and the Act was repealed.