Part 8 - The Cruise of the CSS Alabama

CSS Alabama

The CSS Alabama is one of the most famous ships in history.  It was built in 1862 by the Confederate Navy to try and break the blockade.  The CSS Alabama is a screw sloop of war.  The ship, however was not built in America, but at Birckenhead, England.  The ships main purpose was to raid commerce so that federal ships would have to come off of the blockade therefore making it easier to slip through.  She never even docked at any Confederate port but sailed around the world and wreaked havoc with Federal shipping.  The captain of the ship was 52 year old Ralph Semmes, a Mexican War veteran.  He sailed all seven seas and tore into Federal shipping wherever he could find them.  The Union navy sent several warships after the Alabama.
One of those ships, the USS Hatteras, the CSS Alabama met and left a flaming wreckage.  He sank 10 ships off the Azores coast.  Captured 11 ships off the Canadian coast.  
Finally in 1864 the Union ship USS Kearsarge cornered the Alabama in the port of Cherbourg, France.  The Alabama sailed out, it was needing major repairs and its ammunition was defective.  The Kearsarge, had been newly outfitted with 11 pound Dahlgrens.  And not even known to Semmes it had been outfitted with sheet chain and was in fact an ironclad.  At first the battle swayed in the Alabama's favor.  One of the shells from the Alabama stuck in a vital position.  However the shell was a dud and the battle swayed now toward the Kearsarge.  The Kearsarge's shells wrecked havoc on the Alabama while most of the shots from the CSS Alabama just bounced off.

Ralph Semmes

Even though the Alabama sunk the Union ship could still not catch Semmes, he escaped on a English Yacht.  In the end the CSS Alabama cost the U.S. Government nearly 7 million dollars, and 66 ships.

Part 7 - Shiloh

Grant

Albert Sydney Johnston

Carlos Beull

The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the western theater. 
It was also a turning point.  Union General Ulysses S. Grant led his army of Tennessee (48,894 strong) after his victories at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson and his drive through Tennessee.  As Grants army was encamped at Pittsburg Landing.  The Confederates under General Albert Sydney Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard launched a massive ambush of Grants troops as they marched from Pittsburg Landing.  On the first day of the battle, the Confederates struck with the intention of driving the Union defenders away from the river and into the swamps of Owl Creek to the west, hoping to defeat Grant's Army of Tennessee, before the anticipated arrival of Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Beull's Army of the Ohio. (17,918 strong)The Confederate battle lines became confused during the fierce fighting, and Grant's men instead fell back to the northeast, in the direction of Pittsburg Landing. A position on a slightly sunken road, nicknamed the "Hornet's Nest", defended tenaciously by the Federal forces.

Beauregard

This provided critical time for the rest of the Union line to stabilize under the protection of numerous artillery batteries. Gen. Johnston was killed during the first day of fighting, and Beauregard, his second in command, decided against assaulting the final Union position that night.  Jefferson Davis, President of CSA said when he heard the news of Johnston's death "I realized that our strongest pillar had been broken."

 Reinforcements from Gen. Buell and from Grant's own army arrived in the evening and turned the tide the next morning, when the Union commanders launched a counterattack along the entire line. The Confederates were forced to retreat from the bloodiest battle in United states history up to that time.  The battle itself was a draw, but a tactical victory for the Federals.  It cost the CSA 10,699 men in casualties, their best western theater General, locked the Confederates out of west Tennessee for good, and shook the armies confidence.

September 28th This Day in Providential History

In 1066 - William the Conqueror invades England and the Norman Conquest begins.
In 1781 - American forces, backed by the French Fleet begin the siege of Yorktown.
In 1787- The American Constitution is voted on by the U.S. Congress to be sent to the State Legislator.
In 1791 - France becomes the first European nation to emancipate the Jews.
In 1939 - Nazi Germany and Russia agree to divide Poland after their invasion.
In 1939 - Warsaw surrenders to Germany.
In 1944 - Soviet troops liberate the Klooga Concentration Camp in Klooga, Estonia.

To see the complete list of events, births, and deaths Click Here

The Civil War Part 6 - The Northren Virginia Campaign

Pope and Lee

The Northern Virginia Campaign, also known as the Second Bull Run Campaign or Second Manassas Campaign, was a series of battles fought in Northern Virginia  these battles lasted during August and September 1862.  Confederate General Robert E. Lee, following up his successes at the Seven day's campaign moved the Army of Northern Virginia (48,500 strong), north to confront General John Pope's Army of Virginia (75,000 strong).   Lee did this because of his concern that Pope's and McClellan's still large army would combine and overwhelm him. 

So Lee sent Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson north to intercept Pope at Gordonsville the forces though clashed at Cedar Mountain which was a confederate victory.  So Lee followed Jackson with most of his army.  Jackson then conducted a wide-ranging move around Pope's right flank, seizing the large supply depot in Pope's rear, at Manassas Junction.  Placing his men between Pope and Washington D.C. Jackson put his men in a well defended area near the battle of the First Manassas.  Jackson successfully repulsed Union attacks on August 29 as Lee and Longstreet's command arrived on the battlefield. On August 30, Pope attacked again, but was surprised to be caught between attacks by Longstreet and Jackson, and was forced to withdraw with heavy losses. The campaign concluded with another flanking maneuver by Jackson.  Jackson hoped to cut off the Union retreat from Bull Run. On September 1, beyond Chantilly Plantation on the Little River turnpike, near Ox Hill.  Jackson sent his divisions against two Union divisions, fierce fighting broke out.  The confederate attacks were stopped by fierce fighting during a severe thunderstorm. Union generals Stevens and Kearny were both killed. Recognizing that his army was still in danger at Fairfax Courthouse, Pope ordered the retreat to continue to Washington.
Lee's maneuvering against Pope is considered a great military masterpiece. Historian John J. Hennessy wrote that "Lee may have fought cleverer battles, but this was his greatest campaign."

In the end the Army of Northern Virginia lost 9,197, while the Union forces lost 16,054.