Miss Managed And Failed

A force of Union infantry started moving up the Red River in Louisiana on March 12^th 1864 in what turned out to be a miss managed and failed campaigned.

The Red River Campaign had several goals, including the Union capture of the land along the Red River in Louisiana and Texas, and as a warning to the French government that had been set up in Mexico.  The plan called for Union Admiral David Dixon Porter to move up the Red River with 20 gunboats, while Union General Nathaniel P Bank followed along the western shore of the river with 27,000 troops.  Porter’s flotilla entered the river March 12^th 1864.

Fort Derussy fell to Porter’s force two days later and he moved on up the river to Alexandria.  Banks however didn’t move his troops very fast, taking him two weeks to reach Alexandria.  Banks then pushed his troops about 20 miles from the river losing the protection of Porter’s ships.  Banks’ force was attacked April 8^th 1864 by Confederate General Richard A Taylor, with the Union troops having to retreat back down the Red River.  By this time the water level had dropped in the Red River and Porter’s ships were stuck above some rapids.

The campaign was ruled a failure.

A Wisconsin Military Man

Wm Hawley with his staff

Union Colonel William Hawley was made the commander of the 3^rd Wisconsin Infantry March 10^th 1863.

William Hawley was born August 19^th 1824 in Porter, New York.  Hawley served during the Mexican American War with the rank of Sergeant.  He moved to Madison, Wisconsin in 1854, where he went into the furniture business.

When the Civil War started Hawley received a commission in the Union Army.  He helped to raise the 3^rd Wisconsin Infantry.  It was made up mostly of Scandinavians and mustered into Union service in June 1861 in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin with Hawley as the Captain of Company K.  He was promoted to Colonel and take command of the 3^rd on March 10^th 1863.   He would be with the men at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Sherman’s March to the Sea, and finally the Grand Review in Washington, DC in May 1865.  He mustered out of service on July 18^th 1865.

After the war Hawley tried a business in Flint, Michigan before rejoining the United States Army, serving as a Second Lieutenant in the 11^th United States Infantry, being stationed in Virginia.  He was promoted to First Lieutenant on December 6^th 1866.  He would serve in Louisiana, Texas and the Dakota Territory.

Traveling back east in December 1872 he was caught in a blizzard got frostbitten and came close to dying from exposure.  Hawley died in Buffalo, New York January 15^th 1873 after a short illness.  He is buried in the Glenwood Cemetery in Flint, Michigan.

A Ship Of Free Men

The United States Supreme Court affirmed the ruling to return the Africans who had been on the Amistad to their home land on March 9^th 1841.

The United States v. Libellants and Claimant of the Schooner Amistad was an important suit regarding freedom and slavery.  The schooner the Amistad was somewhere along the coast of Cuba carrying a cargo of Africans from Sierra Leone who had been sold into slavery.  The Africans escaped their bonds and took over the ship on July 1^st 1839, killing the ship’s captain and cook.  The Africans then made the remaining crew return them to Africa, but the crew instead sailed north during the night.  The Amistad was taken into custody on August 24^th 1839 by the United States Revenue Cutter Service ship the USS Washington near Long Island, New York.

The court cases which followed through to the Supreme Court help fuel the abolitionist movement. The Federal District Court found in 1840 that the Africans had been transported in violation of laws and treaties.  It was ruled that the Africans were free men and had a right to fight and escape from their illegal confinement.  Under sectional and international pressure United States President Martin Van Buren had this ruling appealed to the United States Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court affirmed the lower court’s ruling on March 9^th 1841, and ruled the Africans from the Amistad should be returned to their homeland.  Supporters of the Africans found them housing in Farmington, Connecticut and raised funds for the African and some missionaries to travel back to Africa.

If you are interested in reading more on this topic, check Amistad: The Federal Courts and the Challenge to Slavery

Connecticut Men

The 29^th Connecticut Infantry was mustered into Union service March 8^th 1864.

Recruitment for the 29^th Connecticut Infantry, an African American unit, began on August 11^th 1863, and continued through to the end of the year.  Due to a lack of officers they weren’t mustered into Union service until March 8^th 1864.  The former Lieutenant Colonel of the 20^th Connecticut Infantry; Colonel William B Wooster was place in command of the 29^th.  The ladies of New Haven, Connecticut presented the men with a regimental flag just before they left for Annapolis, Maryland.

The men received their Springfield muskets on April 6^th 1864.  Three days later they were assigned to the IV Corps and sent to Hilton Head, South Carolina.  By August the men of the 29^th found themselves in the trenches in front of Petersburg, Virginia.  On September 29^th 1864 they were engaged in the taking of Fort Harrison about seven miles from Richmond.  They were holding the line at Fort Harrison on the afternoon of April 2^nd 1865 when they watched last Confederate dress parade.  The 29^th was among the first Union troops to enter Richmond after the Confederates evacuated the city.

On April 18^th 1865 the 29^th sailed to Point Lockout, Maryland, where they guarded Confederate prisoners of war until May 28^th 1865.  They then sailed  to Brazos de Santiago, Texas on July 3^rd 1865, marching to Brownsville, Texas where they served out their duty until ordered back to Connecticut for mustering out on October 14^th 1865.

Unutterably Detestable Like The Yankee Flag

The Confederacy’s first official flag, known as the “Stars and Bars” was first flown on March 4^th 1861.

The Provisional Confederate Congress created the Committee of the Flag and Seal among its first acts.  The Committee was chaired by William Porcher Miles of South Carolina.  Miles designed what would become the Confederate battle flag, but an overwhelming request to not abandon the old flag of the United States, caused the Committee to choose the similarly styled “Stars and Bars”.  It was flown for the first time on March 4^th 1861 over the dome of the Confederate capitol at Montgomery, Alabama.

The “Stars and Bars” was designed by the Prussian artist Nicola Marschall [there is an equal claim made by Orrin Randolph Smith of Henderson, North Carolina].  The flag is shown with between 7 and 15 stars, based on how many states have joined the Confederacy.  This was the flag which flew over Fort Sumter when the Confederacy took control Charleston Harbor.

There were criticisms of the “Stars and Bars” due to its resemblance to the Union flag on the battlefield.  By January 1862 George William Bagby of the Southern Literary Messenger, wrote "Everybody wants a new Confederate flag.  The present one is universally hated. It resembles the Yankee flag and that is enough to make it unutterably detestable."  The Confederacy discontinued the use of the flag in May 1863.

Impenetrability But No Corresponding Destructiveness

Rear Admiral Samuel F DuPont

The First Battle of Fort McAllister in Bryan County, Georgia was on March 3^rd 1863.

Union Rear Admiral Samuel F DuPont ordered four ironclads, the USS Montauk, Nahant, Passaic, and Patapsco to fire on the small three gun earthworks battery located within the Confederate defenses of Fort McAllister.  The goal of this firing was to test the ships guns and determine their effectiveness against an earthen shore battery.

Fort McAllister was ordered to be built on July 7^th 1861, using available materials, mostly sand and mud.  It was armed with one rifled 32 pounder a 42 pounder and an eight inch Columbiad.

On March 3^rd 1863 at about 8:30 in the morning, the four ironclads opened fire with an eight hour long bombardment.  The shelling did some damage to the battery, but did not destroy it.  Two Confederates in the Fort were slightly wounded. The ships held up well under the return fire from the fort, suffering only a few minor dents.  It also showed that the Fort wouldn't fall to a strictly naval attack, as most the damage was repaired by the next day.  DuPont, reported that, "Whatever degree of impenetrability the monitors might have, there was no corresponding quality of destructiveness against forts."

Fort McAllister would finally fall into Union hand on December 13^th 1864, when Union General William Tecumseh Sherman captured the Fort by land. 

A Controversial Death

Union Colonel Ulric Dahlgren was killed during a raid on the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia on March 2^nd 1864.

Ulric Dahlgren was the son of Rear Admiral John A and Madeleine (Vinton) Dahlgren, and was born April 3^rd 1842 in Neshaminy, Buck County, Pennsylvania.  After graduating from school in 1858, he went to work as a civil engineer, surveying some lands in Mississippi.  In 1860 he began studying law in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

When the Civil War started, Dahlgren served on the military staffs of Franz Sigel, Ambrose E Burnside, Joseph Hooker and George G Meade.  He precipitated in reconnaissance during the Battle of Chancellorsville, and scouted Confederate lines throughout the Gettysburg Campaign.  On July 6^th 1863 while fighting as part of the cavalry in Union General H Judson Kilpatrick’s division Dahlgren was wounded and lost his foot.  He was back in the saddle with a promotion to Colonel by February 1864.  While on a cavalry raid near the King and Queen County Court House, Dahlgren was killed March 2^nd 1864, being shot in the side and back.  His body was hidden by Union sympathizers.  It was recovered by the family after the war and buried in the Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

There were papers found on Dahlgren’s body that contained signed orders written on Union stationery, of which read, "The men must keep together and well in hand, and once in the city it must be destroyed and Jeff. Davis and Cabinet killed."  These papers were reprinted in European and American newspapers, causing a great deal of controversy.