A Medical Department

The Confederate Army Medical Department was created February 26^th 1861 by the provisional government.

The Confederacy moved faster than the Union in establishing a medical corps.  The Confederate Medical Department was created within the structure of the army on February 26^th 1861.  Confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed David C DeLeon as the Surgeon General.  There was an error in the military regulation, which omitted the section for creating medical officers.  Many of the physicians who enlisted in the service did so as privates and were used as regimental surgeons.

DeLeon had a staff of 25, and they created the armies medical standards.  They developed field service shortly after the Battle of First Manassas.  The early field hospitals couldn’t handle the amount of wounded, and many had to be sent to southern cities for care.  Davis replaced Deleon with Samuel Preston Moore, who had more experience in medical administration.  He started by reviewing and replacing none qualified surgeons.  In August 1861 the Confederacy began building their own hospitals, and by 1862 they were providing regiments with medical supplies including surgical instruments and medicines.

If you’re interested in reading more about the Confederate Medical Department this is a good web site.

Repealed Under Pressure

The Confederate Partisan Ranger Act was repealed February 17^th 1864, with persuasion from General Robert E Lee.

The Confederate Congress passed the Partisan Ranger Act on April 21^st 1862.  The Act was supposed to increase recruitment of units for Confederate service.  The Confederate leadership found out in due time that a lack of discipline among these irregulars could allow for a loss of control within the units.  The Confederate Congress after receiving pressure from Confederate General Robert E Lee repealed the Act on February 17^th 1864.

Two partisan rangers groups; Mosby’s Raiders and McNeill’s Rangers were allowed to continue to operate through to end of the war.  These two groups which operated mostly in the counties of West Virginia had a strong military structure.

The Partisan Ranger Act as passed:

Section 1. The congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the president be, and he is hereby authorized to commission such officers as he may deem proper with authority to form bands of partisan rangers, in companies, battalions, or regiments, to be composed of such members as the President may approve.

Section 2. Be it further enacted, that such partisan rangers, after being regularly received in the service, shall be entitled to the same pay, rations, and quarters during the term of service, and be subject to the same regulations as other soldiers.

Section 3. Be its further enacted, That for any arms and munitions of war captured from the enemy by any body of partisan rangers and delivered to any quartermaster at such place or places may be designated by a commanding general, the rangers shall be paid their full value in such manner as the Secretary of War may prescribe.

The Trout House

Confederate President Jefferson Davis spoke at the Trout House February 16^th 1861 in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Trout House was one of three antebellum hotels located in Atlanta, Georgia.  The four story brick hotel was built by Jeremiah F Trout in 1849 on the corner of Decatur and Pryor Streets.

When Confederate President Jefferson Davis visited Atlanta, he spoke at the hotel on February 16^th 1861, while on his way to Montgomery, Alabama to take his of office as the first and only President of the Confederacy.  Jefferson did not spend the night there.

When Union General William T Sherman left Atlanta in 1864, the Trout House hotel was destroyed. 

A Black Minister For The Union

Henry Highland Garnet was the first African American to preach to the United States House of Representatives, he did so on February 12^th 1865.

Henry Highland Garnet was born a slave December 23^rd 1815 in New Market, Kent, Maryland, the son George and Henrietta Garnet.  When he was 10 Garnet’s family fled with the help of the Underground Railroad to New York City.  He attended the African Free School, and the Phoenix High School for Colored Youth.  In 1835 Garnet received a placement at the Noyes Academy in Canaan, New Hampshire.  Anger over his abolitionist activities cause him to leave New Hampshire, he finished his education at the Oneida Theological Institute in Whitesboro, New York.

Garnet moved to Troy, New York in 1839, where he taught school.  In 1842 he became the pastor of the Liberty Street Presbyterian Church.  It was here that Garnet began publishing papers with abolitionist, religious, and temperance themes.  On returning to New York City he joined the American Anti-Slavery Society and was a frequent speaker.  He felt that slaves should act for their own freedom, advocating for armed rebellion, and was a supporter of blacks emigrating so they would have more opportunities, or at the least Black Nationalism in the United States with their own colony in the states.  Garnet traveled in the 1850’s to England, and Jamaica as a lectures and missionary.

When the Civil War started Garnet gave up on the hopes of emigration for black.  He began working for the founding of black Union army units.  Garnet and his family barely escaped the July 1863 New York City Draft Riots.  He moved his family shortly after this to Washington, DC, where he helped with the recruiting of black units.  It was during this time that Garnet became the first black minister on February 12^th 1865 to preach to the United States House of Representatives.  His service was arranged by President Abraham Lincoln and his Cabinet as a special service for the Presidents 56^th birthday.

After the war ended Garnet became the president of the Avery College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  He would return later to the ministry, becoming the pastor of the Shiloh Presbyterian Church in New York City.  He was appointed by President James A Garfield in 1881 as the United States Minister to Liberia, and he would die there just a few months into his service on February 13^th 1882.  Garnet was honored by the Liberian government with a state funeral, and is buried in the Palm Grove Cemetery in Monrovia.

Providing Information

One of the first orders that Union Major General Joseph Hooker made after becoming the commander of the Army of the Potomac was on February 11^th 1863, creating the Bureau of Military Information.

The Pinkerton National Detective Agency, run by Allan Pinkerton assumed responsibility for President Abraham Lincoln’s safety in 1861.  Pinkerton also provided intelligence for Union General George B McClellan.  General Winfield Scott hired Lafayette C Baker a detective for information.  Lincoln himself paid a publisher; William A Lloyd to infiltrate the Confederacy and provide information.  In all these cases though, these men were civilians.

When Union Major General Joseph Hooker became the commander of the Army of the Potomac, he ordered his deputy provost marshal Colonel George H Sharpe to create an intelligence unit.  Sharpe received assistance from John C Babcock; a former Pinkerton employee and they established the Bureau of Military Information [the BMI] on February 11^th 1863.

The BMI had about 70 field agents during the, 10 of whom were killed during the war.  These and additional agents preformed interrogations, scanned confederate newspapers and captured documents for information that could be helpful to the Union war effort.  Union General Ulysses S Grant kept BMI staff in his headquarters, so he would have the most recent information.

The BMI ceased to be once the Civil War came to an end in 1865. 

The Last Fight For Charleston

The Battle of Grimball’s Causeway [Battle of James Island] was fought February 10^th 1865, and was the last fight for Charleston.

Union troops commanded by Brigadier General Alexander Schimmelfennig made an expedition on February 10^th 1865 to James Island.  Facing them was a small force made up of the 2^nd South Carolina Heavy Artillery, commanded by Major Edward Manigault holding the southern side of the island in rifle pits at Grimball’s Causeway.

On the morning of February 10^th Union gunboats began shelling the Confederates while Schimmelfennig had his troops off loaded.  The 144^th New York Infantry led the attack on the center of the Confederate line, as the 54^th New York Infantry charged Manigault’s right flank.  The Confederates began to give ground, Manigualt was wounded and taken prisoner; he would have to have his leg amputated.

The Union troops took the rifle pits, but would withdraw.  The Confederates would evacuate Charleston, South Carolina and Schimmelfennig accepted the city’s surrender on February 18^th 1865.

The Weather For War

The United States Weather Bureau was created on February 9^th 1870, because Civil War Generals wanted accurate forecasts for battles.

A joint resolution of Congress established the United States Weather Bureau.  The task of the Bureau was to "provide for taking meteorological observations at the military stations in the interior of the continent and at other points in the States and Territories...and for giving notice on the northern (Great) Lakes and on the seacoast by magnetic telegraph and marine signals, of the approach and force of storms."  It was signed into being by United States President Ulysses S Grant on February 9^th 1870.

The Bureau was placed within the Department of War.  The Secretary of War had the Bureau assigned to the United States Army Signal Corps which was commanded by Brigadier General Albert J Myer.  The first weather observations were made at 22 stations, with the information gathered 3 times a day telegraphed to Washington, DC, where 4 “professionals” would issue a forecast.