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150 years ago today the bulk of the Army of the Potomac, having passed through the Antietam battlefield of ten months earlier, arrived at the defensive line which General Lee had constructed to protect his crossing of the Potomac River as soon as a new bridge could be built. Under continuous pressure from President Lincoln and General in Chief Halleck to attack Lee before he was able to escape back to his home turf, General Meade intended to do exactly that.
That was before he saw the works which the Army of Northern Virginia had constructed at their leisure over the last few days. The line was anchored on a nine mile ridge which stretched from Hagerstown to the River above Falling Waters where the bridge was under construction. Below this elevation was boggy ground which would have to be crossed in the open before any attempt to scale the rocky heights could be made. Lee's men had of course added trenches, parapets, artillery platforms, ditches, obstructions and sharpened stakes to make visiting even more difficult.
Meade recognized it for what it was, even better ground from which to fight a defensive battle than he had enjoyed at Gettysburg. Meade brought his army to a halt and wired Washington that he had to now stop and evaluate the foe's position before determining his next course of action. Then he would convene an officer's conference.
The US Navy's attempt to batter their way into Charleston harbor using the new Monitors had been a one sided failure, but the government had not given up on its attempts to capture Charleston. If it could not be taken by water, then they would attempt to take it on land.
General Quincy A. Gillmore had replaced David Hunter as commander of the ground forces. Gillmore was an engineer and determined that the way to proceed was to pick off one strong point after another, beginning with the seizure of the tip of Morris Island where sat the artillery position called Fort Wagner or Battery Wagner.
150 years ago today, after a softening up bombardment the day before, two divisions of Gillmore's army stormed forward at sunrise. More accurately, one brigade from those two divisions went forward because there was not room along the narrow beach for more than one regiment to advance at a time. Although General Robert F. Graham had but 1700 defenders in the fort, as long as they could take on the attack one regiment at a time, they could fill the air with enough metal to stop any charge. Gillmore's lead brigade got no further than the rifle pits at the base of the fort before being driven back because no support could come forward in the space available. The Federals gave up and withdrew having suffered 339 casualties to the rebel's 12.
Not used in the fight was the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, and its commander Colonel Robert Shaw made a stink about this. Since arriving in South Carolina his troops had been utilized in fatigue duty only, digging trenches, guarding supplies, and in one case, burning down the defenseless town of Darien, Georgia. Shaw was under intense pressure from his parents, wealthy and influential abolitionists from Boston. Shaw's grandfather had made a huge fortune as a merchant and his parents live off of it, disdaining work in favor of full time commitment to liberal causes, especially black Americans.
Shaw himself was a young man of limited intellect and skills, washing out of most things that he had tried including Harvard which was hard to do since he was a legacy student there. When the war erupted, a war his parents saw in unambiguous terms as a fight to free the slaves, they secured an officer's commission for Robert and he had managed to survive the fight at Antietam, although had not distinguished himself in any particular manner.
When President Lincoln authorized the raising of black troops, his father began working behind the scenes to secure a command of one such regiment for his son, this despite Robert explaining that he did not want it and did not think himself suited for the job. The senior Shaw worked out an arrangement where by accepting command of the regiment, Robert would be jumped from major to colonel.
Thus it came to pass that a man who did not want to be soldier, and did not want to lead black troops, found himself in command of a black regiment. His parents had stressed how important it was that the 54th be allowed to fight, be allowed to demonstrate their equality as soldiers. Thus it came to pass that Colonel Shaw was now badgering his superiors for a chance to let his men prove their worth.
A week from today they would get their chance. It would be the last week of Colonel Shaw's twenty five years on earth.
The Federal Draft was popular nowhere, less popular in regions dominated by Democrats, even less popular in areas which hosted large segments of immigrants and least popular in places where those immigrants were mostly Irish.
No place in the nation described the above conditions as well as New York City in 1863 and no region of the city fit the profile as well as Five Points, dominated by shockingly rough street gangs.
The first round of the draft had been held peacefully on July 11th, the second was scheduled for the 13th. That meant that 150 years ago today, the anti draft elements had a full day to plan how they would disrupt and prevent any attempt to resume the draft. The Irish hotheads found allies in some German dominated firefighting companies. The very first person drafted the previous day in New York had been the captain of one such unit, The Black Joke Engine Company 33.
It should be appreciated that firefighting in mid 19th century New York was not the publicly controlled dynamic it is today. Anyone could start a firefighting unit and compensation was based on putting out fires, not regular salary. Consequently the competition was cut throat. Rival companies would block streets to prevent units from being able to reach a fire. Some companies ran strong arm games, threatening to start fires in businesses unless paid an extortion fee. It was very much like having your city council hiring the Mob to deal with all firefighting needs in the city.
The Irish tended to have little sympathy for the southern negro, viewing him as a potential rival for jobs if free to migrate north. They had been angered by the Emancipation Proclamation and did not want to fight in a war which was now designed to create those potential employment competitors. This had been made manifest the previous March when black dock workers were attacked by a mob of Irish immigrants leaving some 200 injured. Most of the newly arrived immigrants were lower class and poor, and could not raise the three hundred dollars needed to hire a draft substitute, in fact, they were the sorts most likely to be hired as substitutes.
What all this added up to was an anti black, anti draft, anti Republican powderkeg which was determined to explode the next day. They had no central leader and no particular strategy apart from....everyone show up tomorrow morning at the Ninth District Provost Marshal's Office where the draft selections were scheduled to resume at 10 am. It would be the first of four days of bloody chaos.
Also on this day... General Meade was still exploring possible avenues of attack against the strong fortifications which protected the Army of Northern Virginia's cordon around the Potomac River crossing. He convened an officers call and took a vote regarding an attack. His staff officers supported an assault, but all of his Corps commanders, the ones who would have to send their men across the boggy ground and up the rocky ridge, voted no. Meade accepted the vote and wired Washington of the decision to wait. He received an angry reply from General in Chief Halleck, who of course wasn't on the scene to see how formidable Lee's defenses were, stating that an attack now was imperative if at all possible. It must be done before Lee crossed the river and was back in Virginia. Halleck added a sarcastic admonition to "Hold no more officer conferences, issue orders and have them obey. Conferences will always vote to not do anything."
So Meade began formulating an assault plan.
The next morning Meade learned that he need not have bothered. The rebels had completed their new bridge the previous afternoon and had evacuated across the river that night.
Last edited by Grandstander; 07-11-2013 at 05:44 PM..
At ten am in New York City 150 years ago today, despite the presence of a large and angry mob outside of the Ninth District Provost Marshal's Office, the draft selections resumed.
Or attempted to do so.
Paving stones came smashing through the windows and then the crowd, led by the members of the Black Joke Engine Company 33 firefighters, burst into the office, beating those who were unable to flee, smashing everything in sight and setting the building ablaze as they exited. They then blocked the streets so that no other fire fighters could get through. They cut telegraph wires so that no one could send for help. They attacked street cars, pulling black passengers off and administering public beatings or hanging them from lampposts, then they turned the cars on their sides and set them on fire.
When the police arrived, the mob attacked them, severely injuring the chief, John A. Kennedy. They stole the weapons carried by the over powered police and spread out looking for more trouble. A hotel was burned to the ground, the mayor's residence was sacked and left burning. They attacked the armory on 2nd Avenue but when a band of armed resisters inside opened fore and killed a rioter, they decided to lay siege to the place.
And then it got even uglier. Around 4 pm a mob arrived in front of the Colored Orphan Asylum near 5th Avenue, home to 233 black children. A stand by the police allowed time to evacuate the orphans out the back, but the mob eventually broke in and set fires resulting in the complete destruction of the building.
The rioting went on into and through the night. The authorities gave up any hope of coping with them using the forces at hand and requested that the Federal government send troops as quickly as possible. The locals instead concentrated entirely on trying to keep the rioting contained within a specific area. More than one hundred blacks were murdered on this first day, their homes looted and burned, and there was no end in immediate sight.
Images Of the Riots
Before the Attacks...The Orphans of the Colored Asylum
It had rained hard starting at 11 pm the night before in New York City, extinguishing the multiple fires which had been set and driving most of the mobs indoors. Sunrise 150 years ago today was on empty streets, empty street cars, empty factories and even an empty marinas, those with boats pulled off shore into the harbor for safe keeping. Everyone was staying indoors and hoping that the out of control mobs would not resume their destruction today.
During the morning it remained peaceful in southern Manhattan, scene of yesterday's violence. This was offset by the eruption of new mobs rampaging in the northern suburbs of Harlem and Yorkville. The crazed anger had expanded from targeting the draft and negroes, this morning's violence saw porters, street sweepers, lamplighters, chimney sweeps and wagoners attacking their bosses, the upper class homes of the people whom they served. Looting opportunities seemed to be the primary motivation. These burbs called for help but there was none to send. The police in southern Manhattan were bunkered down in their stations, hoping to be able to hold off attacks.
Into these stations fled large numbers of the city's black residents. They were neither safe on the streets nor in their homes, and they had nowhere else to turn.
The peace of the morning was shattered early in the afternoon when a roving mob caught up with a black shoemaker named James Costello. He had ventured out because his daughter was ill and needed medicine. He tried to flee from the mob but was caught. Costello drew a pistol and shot the first man to lay hands on him, blowing a hole in his chest. After a stunned moment, the mob turned on Costello in a renewed fury, dragged him to the roof of a three story building and threw him violently to the ground.
Now wanting more revenge against blacks, the mob descended on the 6th Street Police headquarters where hundreds of blacks were sheltering. Here they were met by a surprise. Having learned that the crowds were on their way, the desk sergeant made a bold decision. He went among the blacks and recruited 40 of them, and then risked one of the great taboos by arming them with pistols and billy clubs. The men were eager to defend their families and they stepped out in front of the station house and formed a solid line, their weapons quite visible.
This brought the mob up short. Knowing what they had been doing to blacks over the last two days, they wanted no part of blacks who might fight back. These 40 men were to become a source of immense pride for New York's black citizens.
The rest of the day passed with the mobs still owning the streets, but having exhausted the easy targets the day before, and finding more and more places defended this day, they turned toward breaking into booze storehouses and staging a roaring group drunk. They began brawling among one another, attacked hapless individuals who were foolish enough to venture out, but did nowhere near the damage they had done the day before.
This would be their last day with a free hand, New York governor Horace Seymour formerly applied to district military commander General John Wool and troops were on the way, they would be arriving tomorrow. And being the good Democrat politician that he was, Seymour then made a speech where he called the Conscription Act "unconstitutional."
Order began to be restored in New York City 150 years ago today as the first of 4000 troops in eight regiments from the Army of the Potomac, arrived and deployed. They were supplemented by three regiments of the New York State Militia. The streetcars were still not operating, but ferry service reopened and hundreds of the city's blacks utilized it to flee to Brooklyn.
By this, the third day of the riots, the madness had degenerated from violence with a cause to violence for the sake of masking crimes. The larger mobs had disbanded and what remained were smaller packs of men roaming about on opportunistic looting missions, but still willing to attack any symbol of upper class authority when encountered in defenseless positions. Soon these groups were having to flee from the approach of squads of soldiers who were far from defenseless.
Late in the morning they came together in another mob, estimated at 5000 strong, collecting at Seventh Avenue and 32nd Street. Army units fired grapeshot into the crowd and they fled, regathering at First Avenue and 19th Street. Colonel Cleveland Winslow, leading a small infantry detachment and Col. Edward Jardine, commanding a battery of two howitzers, marched to meet them. As they closed in, they were attacked from windows and rooftops by rifle fire and bricks. The soldiers took refuge indoors and defended themselves until midnight when another unit arrived to rescue them.
July 16th, 1863:
At 10 am the first large gathering of the day took place, collecting at 8th Avenue and 32nd Street where the bodies of three lynched blacks still hung from lamp posts. A regiment of cavalry under Colonel Thaddeus Mott arrived at the scene towing two artillery pieces. They deployed, set up the cannons so that they were aimed at the crowd and Mott ordered them to disperse. He then forced his horse through the crowd and used his sword to cut down one of the hanging blacks.
This set the crowd off and they began shelling the cavalry troopers with rocks. When some drew pistols and began shooting, Mott ordered the artillery to fire. Each one discharged two rounds of grapeshot into the startled mob and those not hit fled in a panic. Mott then led his troopers after them, slashing and hacking at those who they could catch. One sergeant was pulled from his horse and beaten to death by the rioters, but the mob scattered and the final large scale action had taken place.
There was still order to be restored in pockets. The army cleared out troublemakers from Gramercy Park that evening, followed by the final act of the riots when a crowd attempted to storm the Jackson Foundry on 2nd Avenue and 28th Street. The foundry was defended by a mix of civilians, soldiers and militia. It sat at the bottom of a sloping street, so the attackers decided to set it ablaze using hay filled wagons which were fired and rolled toward the building. These overturned before arriving at the destination, setting a few nearby homes afire. Then a designated spokesman for the mob approached the building with a white flag and demanded the occupants surrender. For his trouble he got his hat shot off of his head by one of the defenders.
The mob was engaged and made three assaults on the foundry, all repulsed leaving eleven of the attackers dead. They gave up. This was the last of the mob actions.
The exact death toll is a matter of some wild dispute, historians guessing from a low of 120 to a high of 2000 plus. Thousands were injured and more than fifty buildings were lost to fire. The draft was suspended, but resumed peacefully in mid August.
Also 150 years ago on July 16th, seventy eight years before Pearl Harbor, the United States fought and won a naval battle against Japan.
In 1863 Japan's Emperor Komei upset a long standing tradition by becoming something of an activist rather than ceremonial emperor. He had been angered by encroaching foreigners and had issued an order that April which called for expelling "all barbarians" which meant all foreigners. This reversed the policy which had been conducted by the ruling Shogunate.
In June and July there had been incidents where American, French and Dutch ships had been fired upon by shore batteries and forced to flee to neutral waters. Now into the mess sailed the USS Wyoming under Captain David McDougal. They were hunting the CSS Alabama, Rafael Semmes' elusive and destructive raider. Reports had been received which had the Alabama sheltering in Japanese waters. Passing through the Strait of Shimonoseki, the Wyoming came under fire from shore batteries and some small warships at 11:15 am.
When two crew members were killed, McDougal ordered fire to be returned. The immense Dahlgrens on the Wyoming opened upon the tormenting junks and blew two Japanese steamers to pieces, sinking them within minutes. It then spent an hour exchanging fire with the shore batteries before retiring.
The Wyoming suffered four killed and seven wounded, while destroying two Japanese ships and inflicting 40 deaths on the defenders.
The incident did not stop the practice of attacking foreign ships, that would not be resolved until a year later when American and European powers combined their naval might to conduct a campaign which successfully forced a change in policy.
Artist depiction...The USS Wyoming (right) blows a Japanese ship out of the water
The US Navy had failed in its attempt to take Charleston in the Spring, and a week ago General Quincy Gillmore's first assault with army troops had been repulsed. 150 years ago today Gillmore was ready for a second attempt to seize Battery Wagner on the northern tip of Morris Island. Once the island was in US hands, Gillmore's plan was to mount fortified artillery batteries on the tip and from there reduce Fort Sumter, 1500 yards across the water, to rubble.
During the week Gillmore received 3500 reinforcements and planned this time to send 6000 men against the 1000 man rebel garrison holding Wagner. He managed to bring 41 heavy guns to within range of Wagner and from sunrise to sunset, they pounded away at Wagner, throwing up huge piles of dirt and making a great deal of noise, but not harming the garrison which was sheltering in their bombproofs throughout.
At 7:30 pm the 6000 men were in place in a long, narrow column, necessitated by the beach being only 200 yards wide. Only one regiment could attack at a time and at the head of the assault force stood the 54th Massachusetts and their 25 year old Colonel, the reluctant warrior Robert Gould Shaw. 'What have I done that God is so good to me?" Shaw's mother had asked last May while watching her son lead the 54th in a farewell review in Boston before departing for the South. Shaw, who was not an enthusiast for the war, who shared his parent's abolitionist views only in a half hearted manner, who had not proven himself an especially competent officer so far in the war, and was where he was only because he was a dutiful son, now rose to the occasion.
He had lobbied long and hard to get the 54th a combat assignment, and he had drawn for them a suicidal type role. The first regiment in the charge would have to slog through several hundred yards of sand to reach the parapets of Wagner which were also protected by a ditch and sharpened stakes. The 54th was being used as what the British called a "forlorn hope", the theory being that while the defenders are exterminating the first unit forward, the supporting units would be able to advance unmolested.
Shaw, having volunteered his men for this dangerous duty, now placed himself at the head of his troops, waved his sword and sprinted for the fort. Many were lost to artillery fire before arriving at the ditch and many more were lost as the rebels blasted them with rifle fire as they tried to get up the other side. Shaw, still in the lead, reached the top of the parapet and was shot through the heart, dying instantly. The regiment fought on without him and managed to breech a section of the wall and briefly be inside the fort before a counter attack drove them back out. Trailing Federal regiments came up and met with the same fate. An hour after it had started, the attack was over and the Union men retreated under cover of darkness. By ten pm, all firing had stopped.
1,515 northerners were casualties against 174 for the rebels. 121 of the 436 men of the 54th were lost in the battle, a fitting 54 of them, including Colonel Shaw, dead.
General Gillmore now concluded that Wagner would only fall to a siege. This would be time consuming.
If you saw the movie "Glory" you saw a reasonably accurate depiction of the events with added fictional melodrama and invented characters as the soldiers of the 54th. One departure occurs in the assault scene. The Union troops were attacking from the south, thus the Atlantic Ocean would have been on their right as they advanced. In the film it is on their left, the attack going in the wrong direction.
Attack of the 54th Massachusetts and the Death of Colonel Shaw...artist depiction
The armies of Generals Rosecrans and Bragg had returned to their passive postures after the brief interruption of the Tullahoma Campaign which had shoved the rebels back to Chattanooga. While they were inactive, the Confederate cavalry, as usual, was not. On July 11th General John Hunt Morgan had launched his second raid through Kentucky, advancing straight north through the central portion of that state and crossing into SE Indiana. After depreciating those areas the raiders headed east into southern Ohio.
They rampaged along the river, threatening but not attacking a well defended Cincinnati, and swung NE with the river, ultimately reaching the border with West Virginia. Along the way they had taken 2000 prisoners, destroyed or appropriated hundred of thousands of dollars in Yankee property, and fought off attempts to catch them by Federal cavalry and state militia units. Morgan had kept the pursuit in a continual state of befuddlement thanks to the savant talents of George "Lightning" Ellsworth, a telegrapher of unusual genius. Ellsworth could tap into any line, intercept and read all of the enemy communications, imitate the distinct patterns of particular Union telegraphers, and send false messages and orders to Union commanders. (Ellsworth survived the war and went on to become a seedy gun for hire out west after his military career ended.)
Lightning Ellsworth
On the 17th Morgan had led his 1700 men to Pomeroy, Ohio where he intended to cross the river into West Virginia. He found it defended by hundreds of militia and instead moved 20 miles north to the next ford at Buffington island. Arriving the next day he found this locale also swarming with militia who had thrown up barricades and intended to contest any crossing. Morgan decided that it was best to let his weary men rest for the night and they could rout the militia in the morning. This was a costly decision.
The next morning the militia was still in place, but so also were seven iron and tinclad gunboats from the US Mississippi squadron which had steamed up the river to join in the pursuit. They were escorting transports with 3000 infantrymen from general Burnside's command. They disembarked and began forming an arc around Morgan's camps, sending two brigades forward in attack as soon as they were in place. Morgan had no choice but to call for an everyman for himself style retreat, racing north to try and find any way across the river.
Amid the shells from the gunboats and the pursuing troops in blue, 52 of Morgan's men were killed, about 100 were wounded, and 750 were unable to escape the trap and went into captivity. Morgan escaped with about 300 of his men, but remained in the area searching for the rest of his men.
The Battle of Buffington Island...Not a Good Day for Morgan.
After General Lee had gotten his army across the Potomac River, it still needed to get back to its original protective position covering the Rapidan and Rappahannock rivers approach to Richmond. General Meade had crossed at Harper's Ferry and once more we had a situation of two armies shadowing one another with a mountain range in between them. If Meade wanted to get at Lee before he reached the pre campaign position, he would need to force a passage through one of the gaps in the range.
150 years ago today he attempted to do this and the result was the minor battle of Manassas Gap, the final act of the Gettysburg saga. Meade sent General French's division, the one which had been guarding Harper's Ferry and had not been bloodied by the Gettysburg battle. Opposing French in the gap was the division of General Anderson.
French launched his assault early in the morning and in an all day fight, slowly pushed Anderson's men back. The Federals were nearly through the gap when at 4:30 pm, General Rodes arrived with his division to support Anderson. The Union attack ground to a halt and the fight was ended by darkness. Neither side had been especially aggressive and the men had fought cautiously, there were fewer than 500 total casualties. During the night Lee's army had marched safely out of striking range and Rodes and Anderson withdrew. In the morning French found the gap open and undefended, but Lee's army long gone.
Lee would arrive back at his starting point unmolested and take up the same defensive posture along the rivers which had vexed General Pope the previous summer. The Army of the Potomac also arrived and assumed the same positions which they had held before the fight in the north. Minus the casualties of the battle in Pennsylvania, all was as it was before.
It would remain that way for another two months, Meade would not initiate another campaign until October. So inactive was this front at this time, President Davis was able to detach General Longstreet and two divisions to go by rail to Tennessee and assist General Bragg against the force of General Rosecrans.
Since having his cavalry command captured or scattered at Buffington Island, General John Hunt Morgan had been fleeing north along the Ohio River, looking for a place to safely cross. A steady pursuit by Union cavalry, infantry and state militia units had kept too much pressure on Morgan and his refugees and they had only been able to pass through one small town after another until 150 years ago today they found themselves completely cut off at Salineville, near Lisbon, Ohio.
Morgan attempted to put up a fight but had fewer than 400 men to cope with the 3000 Yankees closing in on him. For ninety minutes the grey horsemen raced about looking for a weak point in the Union lines to try and break through and escape. Instead, in small groups and as individuals they were herded and captured. Morgan and a half dozen followers were able to cut their way through and flee to the north, but eight miles from the battlefield units from the 9th Kentucky Cavalry under Major George W. Rue surrounded the fugitives and forced their surrender.
Twenty three of Morgan's men had been killed, forty one wounded and 323 captured in this engagement. Of the 1700 troopers Morgan had led on his raid, more than 1500 of them were now captives. They were taken to Columbus, Ohio and imprisoned in the state pen there.
The destruction and theft by Morgan's raid could be easily repaired and replaced by the industrial power of the North. 1700 veteran cavalrymen could not be replaced by the South. In the wake of the losses at Gettysburg, Vicksburg, middle Tennessee and Port Hudson, Morgan's capture was another morale deflating blow against the Confederacy, one which came at an unfortunate time.
John Hunt Morgan...his capture broke the hearts of Southern women...
If you drive through SE Ohio following the river as it swings north, you will pass about four dozen of these historical markers indicating the stops in Morgan's Raid and Morgan's flight. This one marks the end of the trail.
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