Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1913-01-03
75le
CIVIL WAR
FIFTY YEARS AGO
THIS WEEK
December 80, 1862.

December 80, 1862.
| The Union army under General Sner-
man, making concerted assault on
the Confederate defenses at Vicksburg,
Miss. was repulsed at all points, al
ter a desperate conflict, with great
loss. The army was re-embarked on
the boats in the Yazoo, and the seige
Of the place was raised, approach from
hat point having been found I'M
practicable because of the strength and
disposition of the Confederate works.
A Union expeditionary force under
1eneral Carter destroyed the Union
md Watauga bridges on the East
Tennessee and Virginia railroad,
locomotive, tender, and cars, and cap
mred 400 Confederate troops.
Gen. ]. e. B. Stuart, famous Conted-
crate cavalry leader, returned to Rich
nond after a raid through the Union
ines in which his force visited Deco
,uan. Dumfries, and Annandale, Va.
| rhe raid had lasted seven days, dur
ng which time numerous railroad
BRIDGES were burned and large Quanti-
| les of government stores seized.
The iron-clad steamer Monitor
| sprung a leak and foundered in a
ieavy gale off Cape Hatteras. Four
ulcers and number of men were
| Irownd.
! The battle of Stone river, or Muir
] reesboro, Tenn, was fought between
he Union army under General Rose
rans and the Confederates under Gen
! sral Bragg, from early morning until
| evening. 1t was a technical victory
| or the Union force, but the practical
Effects were of advantage to Bragg.
! The battle Of Parker's Cross Roads,
Tenn, was fought between a Union
| orce under Col. c. L. Durham and
General Forests Confederate cavalry.
The fight was in suspense when General
Sullivan came up with Union reinforce
nents and drove Forrest from the
ield.
Emancipation was celebrated in var
GUS portions of the legal states.
December 81, 1862.
The situation of the war at the close
Of 1852 was: Grant was preparing to
move his army down the river in
second attempt to capture Vicksburg.
General Banks was preparing a base
Of operations at New Orleans for a
movement against Port Hudson, which
with Vicksburg, was the only import
ant hold left the Confederates on the
Mississippi river The Confederate
Forrest had just completed one of his
brilliant raids against the railroads in
Tennessee. Sherman, recently de-
feated at Chickasaw Bayou, was held
in effectua1 check. Burnside was
making dazed efforts to recoup from
the disaster experienced at Freder-
icksburg, when his army was terribly
beaten by General Lee. The advant-
age of the year lay with the Union
forces in the west and along the sea-
board; New Orleans having fallen, and
all the Mississippi excepting the two
points mentioned, and a foothold hav-
ing been obtained in North Carolina,
where the Union forces occupied New
bern. But the Confederacy, through
the mastery strategy and ability of
Lee and the fighting qualities of his
chief lieutenant, StonewaH Jackson,
was still triumphant in the east, Rich
mond being held secure from every at
tempt against it.
The senate passed, and the presi-
dent signed, an act admitting West
Virginia into the Union, the state hav-
ing been partitioned from Virginia by
Northern sympathizers in the first year
of the war.
January I, 1868.
The Emancipation Proclamation was
issued by President Lincoln, declaring
free the negro slaves ''in certain states
and parts of states" Freed negroes
celebrated the day throughout the
south, notably in Norfolk Va, and in
Beaufort, S. c., where they held par
AIDES and participated in feasts. In
Boston, at fremont temple, an all day
meeting of ratification and endorse
ment was held, with great enthusiasm.
Galveston, Tex, was captured by
Confederate force under General Mag
ruder. The town was guarded by a
The Harriet Lane, one of the gunboats,
The Harriet Lane one of the gunboats,
was captured, after most of her Off
GERS and crew had been killed, and the
Westfield got aground and was pre-
maturely blown up, with Commodore
Renshaw, the commander of the fleet,
and many of her complement.
Richard Yeadon, of Charleston, s.
c., issued the following proclamation:
President Davis having proclaimed
BENJAMIN F. Butler of Massachusetts
to be telon, and deserving of capital
punishment for the murder of William
B. Mumford, a citizen of the Confed-