The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1912-02-17
731e
CIVIL WAR
FIFTY YEARS AGO
THIS WEEK
January %, 1862.

South Carolina, having developed that
the Savannah river could be entered
through passage several miles above
Fort Pulaski, and that the fort could
in that way be cut off from the city,
Captain c. H. Davis, U. S. NJ, and
Captain C. p. r. Rodgers, U. S. N,
started with an expedition of gun
boats to accomplish the fact. Sailing
the one up the Washington narrows
on the east of the river, and the other
up Wallis cut and Wright river on the
west, they came out on opposite sides
of the river to find themselves blocked
by piles and shadows. While they
were there Commander Tatnalf. c. s.
NJ, sailed into view with five Confed-
crate gunboats conveying supply ships
to the fort. There was spirited en-
gagement. Three of the Confederate
boats reached the fort, discharged,
and returned up river. The others
turned back.
A petition from the people of ILL
nois, asking that slavery be not abol-
ished in the District o. Columbia, and
praying for the expulsion of members
of Congress who asked its abolition,
was presented in the United States
senate by Mr.. Salisbury of Della
ware.
A division of Union troops, under
command of General JEFF c. Davis, left
Versailles, Missouri, on a march for
Springfield.
The War Department directed Gen.
eral Mcclellan to arrest General
Stone, who commanded the Federal
army in the Balls bluff engagement,
on charges too indefinite to be speci-
fed.
January 20, 1862.
Messrs. Mason and Sidell, the Con-
federate commissioners to England
and France, respectively, who had
been taken from the British steamer
Trent by Captain Wilkes of the San
Jacinto, and afterward released by
the United States government, arrived
in Southampton, England, after an
adventurous voyage. The left Bos-
ton, where they had been detained in
Fort Warren, on board the British s.
S. Rinaldo, bound for Halifax. Owing
to heavy storm, the Rinaldo was un-
able to make Halifax. and put about
for Bermuda, whence the commission
ers we're transferred to St. Thomas,
where they boarded a West India
packet. They were received at South
ampton by the officers of the Confed-
crate steamer Nashville and other gen.
tlemen. No demonstration was made
on their landing.
Lieutenant-ColonelJ John Burke, with
fifty men of the New York Thirty
seventh, General Heintzleman's Union
force, attacked house near Occoquan
Bridge, where members of the Texas
Rangers were holding stag dance,
shortly after midnight. The Rangers
returned the fire of the Union men
through windows and portfolios cut
through the siding of the house. Aft
er a number Of rounds, the Federal
troops were notified that the occA-
entering, 1t was found that all had
been killed excepting one man, who
claimed that he had been engaged to
fiddle for the dance, and had urged
the men to surrender from the first.
The Nationals had one man killed and
four wounded.
The House Delegates of Virginia
passed resolutions. in secret session,
thinking General Joseph E. Johnston
for his distinguished service and con-
ferring on him for life the right to
appoint two cadets a year to the State
Military Institute.
January 80, 1862.
The Monitor was launched from
Sneeden's ship yard, at Greenpoint,
Long Island, New York. The Mont
tor, which was designed as an Iron
plated steam battery" had attracted
much attention throughout the north
for several months previous to its
launching. Employing a distinctly
new idea In naval construction, it had
been the subject of much adverse
criticism from experts, and was re-
garded with popular skepticism. The
launching was viewed with curiosity
by a large crowd of spectators. Naval
salutes from several vessels greeted
its first appearance in the water.
Captain John Morgan, Confederate
partisan fighter, captured six Union
soldiers In a church near Lebanon,
XIV. It was reported In the north that
he permitted FIVE of the men to leave
with their clothing, but forced the
sixth into the church and set fire to
1t. The alleged intended victim sue
ceeded in making his escape. The
First Ohio cavalry appraised of the oc-
currence set out in pursuit Of Captain
Morkan, but failed to come up with
him owin1 To the condition OF the