Always A Colonel

Confederate Colonel John Mercer Brockenbrough resigned his commission on January 21^st 1864.

John Mercer Brockenbrough was born August 1^st 1830 in Richmond County, Virginia, the son of Moore Fauntleroy and Sarah Waller (Smith) Brockenbrough.  He attended and graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1850.

Brockenbrough was appointed the Colonel of the 40^th Virginia at the start of the Civil War.  They were a part of Confederate Major General A P Hill’s Light Division.  Brockenbrough led his men during the Seven Days Battles seeing casualties of about 50%.  At the Battle of Chantilly he moved up to Brigade command, and continued there through the battles of Harpers Ferry, Sharpsburg, and Fredericksburg.  In the early part of the 1863 Confederate Brigadier General Henry Heth replaced Brockenbrough as the brigade commander.  But, when A P Hill was wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Heth moved up and Brockenbrough got his brigade back.  His men saw action at Gettysburg on the afternoon of July 1^st 1863, fighting against Union Colonel Roy Stone’s Pennsylvania Buck Tails, and as part of Pickett’s Charge on the 3^rd.

Following a reckless charge on Union troops at the Battle of Falling Waters on July 14^th 1863; a part of the Confederate retreat from Gettysburg, Brockenbrough was removed from Brigade command and he resumed command of the 40^th Virginia.  He led the 40^th the Battles of Bristoe and Mine Run, before resigning his command January 21^st 1864 still as a Colonel.

Brockenbrough lived in Norfolk and Richmond, Virginia following the war.  He died August 25^th 1892 in Richmond, Virginia and is buried in the Hollywood Cemetery there.

A Raid On Home Ground

The George’s Schoolhouse Raid in Lovettsville, Virginia on January 17^th 1865 was the last move in Loudoun County by White’s Comanche’s.

The end of 1864 found Confederate Colonel Elijah V White the commander of the 35^th Battalion of Virginia Cavalry in the Shenandoah Valley.  His rations were running out, and men leaving the ranks in recorded numbers.  White moved his men back into their home territory of Loudoun County, Virginia, to forage and regroup.  About the same time Union cavalry Colonel Thomas C Devin on a regular patrol of the area made camp northwest of Lovettsville near George’s Schoolhouse.

On January 12^th 1865 some members of White’s 35th were at a party in Hillsborough, Virginia when they were surprised by the Union leaning Loudoun Rangers.  One member of the 35^th was killed and two captured.  White put together a unit of about 80 men made up of the 35^th and Mosby’s Rangers.

On the night of January 17^th 1865 White’s raiding party moved on Devin’s camp, capturing the pickets.  The raiding party charged the Union cavalry camp, only to find that Devin had recently been reinforced and had about 400 men.  Union men assembled in the dark, most in a state of undress, and advanced on the raiders.  The raiders quickly broke off the attack, making a retreat, taking about 50 captured horses with them.

Going On To Shore

The USS Hatteras pulled into Cedar Key, Florida January 16^th 1862 destroying some Confederate ships and damaging the community.

The USS Hatteras was a 1,126 ton steamer, which was outfitted by the Union Navy at the Philadelphia Navy Yard as a gunboat, and assigned to Confederate blockading duty.  She started life as the St Mary and was purchased on September 25^th 1861.  She was placed under the command of Commander George F Emmons in October 1861.  The Hatteras sailed to Key West, Florida in November 1861 becoming a part of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

She was assigned to Cedar Key, Florida, and moved there on January 7^th 1862.  After blocking the harbor for nine days, on January 16^th 1862, she made a raid on the shore.  The men on the ship burned seven blockade runners found in the harbor.  Then they moved on to burning the Florida Railroad wharf, the depot, a telegraph office and several flatcars.  To end the day the Hatteras took the Confederate garrison located in Cedar Key, capturing the commanding officer and about 20 men.

A Marine At Fort Fisher

Union Corporal John Rannahan was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on January 15^th 1865 at the Second Battle of Fort Fisher.

John Rannahan was born about 1835 - 1836 in Monaghan County, Ireland. He immigrated to the United States.

Rannahan volunteered in 1861 to serve as a United States Marine.  His enlistment was credited to Pennsylvania, and he was assigned to the USS Minnesota.  On January 15^th 1865 he was part of a landing party that was to storm the Confederate held Fort Fisher on the coast of North Carolina.  The storming party was made up of marines, sailors and soldiers under the joint command of Union Admiral David Dixon Porter and General Alfred Terry.

Rannahan was awarded the Medal of Honor on June 22^nd 1865.  The citation reads, “The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Corporal John Rannahan, United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism in action on board the U.S.S. Minnesota in the assault on Fort Fisher, 15 January 1865. Landing on the beach with the assaulting party from his ship, Corporal Rannahan advanced to the top of the sand hill and partly through the breach in the palisades despite enemy fire which killed or wounded many officers and men. When more than two-thirds of the men became seized with panic and retreated on the run, he remained with the party until dark when it came safely away, bringing its wounded, its arms and its colors.”

Rannahan died June 1^st 1892 in Millwood, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania.  He is buried in the Saint Martins Cemetery in New Derry, Pennsylvania.

A Confederate Territory

The Arizona Territory was officially created through legislation by the Confederacy January 13^th 1862, and was accepted by Confederate President Jefferson Davis in February of that year.

The New Mexico Territory was expanded in 1853 with the Gadsden Purchase.  There were several proposals looking at separating the land into two territories.  Most of the proposals were related to whether the government in Santa Fe, New Mexico could be effective in administering the southern portions of the large territory.  In January 1857 a bill was introduced to the United States House of Representatives, but it was defeated on the grounds that the population was still too small.  The real controversy was caused by the perception that the territory was controlled by southern sympathizers who were interested in expanding slavery.  New Mexico tried again in 1858 suggesting a north south border along the 109^th meridian.

When the Civil War started the territory was strongly in favor of the Confederacy.  It held Territorial secession conventions in Mesilla and Tucson in March 1861.  They adopted secession and set up a Provisional Confederate Territory of Arizona, and sent a petition to the Confederate Congress for admission.  They elected Granville H Oury as a delegate to the Confederate Congress, and he drafted the legislation which would organize the Territory of Arizona.  The legislation passed the Confederate Congress January 13^th 1862, and signed into law by Confederate President Jefferson Davis on February 14^th 1862.

I Have Served Her Forty Years

William Conway the United States Quartermaster at the Pensacola Navy Yard refused on January 12^th 1861 to lower the United States flag when the fort was take over.

William Conway was born about 1802 in Camden, Maine.

When a militia force from Florida and Alabama numbering about 600, took control of the Pensacola Navy Yard [sometimes called the Warrington Navy Yard] on January 12^th 1861 Confederate Lieutenant Frederick B Kinshaw ordered Conway to strike the National flag.  Conway replied, "I have served under that flag for forty years, and I won't do it."  He was placed under arrest and put in irons.  After being released Conway was commended by the Union Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles.  He was also presented with a gold medal, made in his honor from the city of San Francisco, California.

Conway lived out the rest of his life in Brooklyn, New York, dying at the Brooklyn Navy Yard November 30^th 1865.  His place of burial is unknown, but there is a monument to his honor in his home town of Camden, Maine, a granite boulder with a plaque.  It is located on Elm and School Street, and was dedicated August 30^th 1906.  One of the speakers at the dedication was Union General Joshua L Chamberlain who said, "Now aloft on every topmost pinnacle runs for this token the reverenced, redeemed old flag; and the authority, the dignity, the majesty of the United States of America voices in the thunder of her guns of powder what she accounts the man who, alone, amidst the threatening, the fearing, the forsaking, the surrendering, stood for her honor.”

A Secret Ship

The Confederacy secretly took ownership of the CSS Stonewall on January 10^th 1865 from France.

The CSS Stonewall was built in Bordeaux, France for the Confederate Navy at the request of John Slidell the Confederate commissioner to France.  It was a 1390 ton ironclad ram.  Just before she was ready to launch in February 1864, the French government enacted an embargo, and sold the ship to Denmark.  When it was completed however the Danish government would not accept delivery.

The Confederate Navy secretly took possession of the ship January 10^th 1865 and commissioned her the CSS Stonewall.  She was placed under the command of Captain T J Page.  She sailed for the Azores on her way to America, looking for Union Navy and commercial ships to attack.  A storm forced the Stonewall into Ferrol, Spain where she was confronted by the USS Niagara and USS Sacramento in March 1865.  Those two wooden ships declined to attack the heavily armed Stonewall.  She reached Havana, Cuba in May after the Civil War ended, and was turned over to Spanish authorities.

The Stonewall was turned over the United States government in July 1865.  After sitting for two years in the Washington, DC Navy Yard, she was sold to Japan.