Sunday, 23 April 1865
Skirmishing occurred at Munford’s Station, Alabama, with Major General James H. Wilson; Hendersonville, North Carolina, with Major General George Stoneman, and his Union Cavalry; and near Fort Zarah, Kansas.
President Abraham Lincoln’s Funeral Train was still in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where the deceased president lay in state at Independence Hall for mourners to pay their respects.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis meets with his cabinet, who advise him to accept the surrender document signed by Generals Joseph E. Johnston and William T. Sherman, reserving the option to continue resistance if the Johnson administration rejects the document.
In response to a telegram from Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles urging the utmost vigilance to prevent the escape of Jefferson Davis and his cabinet across the Mississippi, Rear Admiral Samuel P. Lee, commanding the Mississippi Squadron, directed: "The immediate engrossing and important duty is to capture Jeff. Davis and his Cabinet and plunder. To accomplish this, all available means and every effort must be made to the exclusion of all interfering calls."
As the Navy vigorously sought to apprehend the assassin of President Lincoln, Secretary Welles directed Rear Admiral David D. Porter: "Booth is endeavoring to escape by water. Send a gunboat or some tugs to examine the shore of Virginia and all vessels in that direction, and arrest and seize all suspicious parties. If you have any tugs to spare, send them into the Potomac."
The CSS Webb, commanded by Lieutenant Charles W. Read, dashes from the Red River under forced draft and enters the Mississippi at 8:30 at night in a heroic last-ditch effort to escape to sea. Before departing Alexandria, Louisiana, for his bold attempt, Read wrote Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory: "I will have to stake everything upon speed and time." The sudden appearance of the white-painted Webb in the Mississippi caught the Union blockaders (a monitor and two ironclads) at the mouth of the Red River by surprise. She was initially identified as a Federal ship; this mistake in identification gave Read a lead in the dash downstream. A running battle ensued in which Webb shook off the three Union pursuers. As Read proceeded down the Mississippi, other blockading ships took up the chase but were outdistanced by the fast moving Webb, which some observers claimed was making 25 knots. While churning with the current toward New Orleans, Read paused at one point to cut the telegraph wires along the bank. This proved futile as word of his escape and approach passed southward where it generated considerable excitement and a flurry of messages between the Army and Navy commanders who alerted shore batteries and ships to intercept him. About 10 miles above New Orleans Read hoisted the United States flag at half mast in mourning for Lincoln's death and brought Webb's steam pressure up to maximum. He passed the city at about midnight, 24 April, going full speed. Federal gunboats opened on him, whereupon Read broke the Confederate flag. Three hits were scored, the spar torpedo rigged at the steamer's bow was damaged and had to be jettisoned, but the Webb continued on course toward the sea. Twenty-five miles below New Orleans Read's luck ran out, for here Webb encountered the USS Richmond. Thus trapped between Richmond and pursuing gunboats, Read's audacious and well-executed plan came to an end. Webb was run aground and set on fire before her officers and men took to the swamps in an effort to escape. Read and his crew were apprehended within a few hours and taken under guard to New Orleans. They there suffered the indignity of being placed on public display but were subsequently paroled and ordered to their respective homes. Following the restoration of peace, Read became a pilot of the Southwest Pass, one of the mouths of the Mississippi River, and pursued that occupation until his death in 1890. He had earned his nickname the "Seawolf of the Confederacy" for his exploits and daring.
Brigadier General James Dearing is the last of the Confederate General to die from wounds received in action, from a pistol duel with Union Brevetted Brigadier General Theodore Read at the Battle of High Bridge on 6 April, dying in a hospital at Lynchburg, Virginia late this afternoon. Read had been mortally wounded and died on 6 April.
Skirmishing occurs with partisan guerrillas on the Snake Creek, in the Arizona Territory.
An affair is reported near Fort Zarah, Kansas, as the Yankees come across 5 Mexicans murdered by hostile Indians, with 4 having been scalped.
Federal soldiers scout from Pulaski,Tennessee, to Rogersville, Alabama.
A Union expedition travels from Burkeville and Petersburg to Danville and South Boston, Virginia, as Major General Horatio G. Wright, USA, commanding the 6th US Army Corps and his cavalry under Brevetted Major General Wesley Merritt, USA, capture 500 prisoners, the few remaining Confederate railroad locomotives, cannons, and other military stores.
The Headquarters of the Middle Military Division is transferred from Winchester, Virginia, to Washington, DC, closing the events taking place in the Shenandoah Valley.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis writes to his wife, Varina, of the desperate situating facing the Confederates.
"Panic has seized the country," he wrote to his wife in Georgia. Davis was in Charlotte, North Carolina, on his flight away from Yankee troops. It was three weeks since Davis had fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, as Union troops were overrunning the trenches nearby. Davis and his government headed west to Danville, Virginia, in hopes of reestablishing offices there. When Confederate General Robert E. Lee was forced to surrender his army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on 9 April, Davis and his officials traveled south in hopes of connecting with the last major Confederate army, the force of General Joseph Johnston. Johnston, then in North Carolina, was himself in dire straits, as General William T. Sherman’s massive force was bearing down.
Davis continued to his wife, "The issue is one which it is very painful for me to meet. On one hand is the long night of oppression which will follow the return of our people to the ‘Union'; on the other, the suffering of the women and children, and carnage among the few brave patriots who would still oppose the invader." The Davis’ were reunited a few days later as the President continued to flee and continue the fight. Two weeks later, Union troops finally captured the Confederate president in northern Georgia. Davis was charged with treason, which was nearly impossible to prove, but never tried. In 1889, he died at age 81.
Skirmishing occurred at Munford’s Station, Alabama, with Major General James H. Wilson; Hendersonville, North Carolina, with Major General George Stoneman, and his Union Cavalry; and near Fort Zarah, Kansas.
President Abraham Lincoln’s Funeral Train was still in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where the deceased president lay in state at Independence Hall for mourners to pay their respects.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis meets with his cabinet, who advise him to accept the surrender document signed by Generals Joseph E. Johnston and William T. Sherman, reserving the option to continue resistance if the Johnson administration rejects the document.
In response to a telegram from Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles urging the utmost vigilance to prevent the escape of Jefferson Davis and his cabinet across the Mississippi, Rear Admiral Samuel P. Lee, commanding the Mississippi Squadron, directed: "The immediate engrossing and important duty is to capture Jeff. Davis and his Cabinet and plunder. To accomplish this, all available means and every effort must be made to the exclusion of all interfering calls."
As the Navy vigorously sought to apprehend the assassin of President Lincoln, Secretary Welles directed Rear Admiral David D. Porter: "Booth is endeavoring to escape by water. Send a gunboat or some tugs to examine the shore of Virginia and all vessels in that direction, and arrest and seize all suspicious parties. If you have any tugs to spare, send them into the Potomac."
The CSS Webb, commanded by Lieutenant Charles W. Read, dashes from the Red River under forced draft and enters the Mississippi at 8:30 at night in a heroic last-ditch effort to escape to sea. Before departing Alexandria, Louisiana, for his bold attempt, Read wrote Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory: "I will have to stake everything upon speed and time." The sudden appearance of the white-painted Webb in the Mississippi caught the Union blockaders (a monitor and two ironclads) at the mouth of the Red River by surprise. She was initially identified as a Federal ship; this mistake in identification gave Read a lead in the dash downstream. A running battle ensued in which Webb shook off the three Union pursuers. As Read proceeded down the Mississippi, other blockading ships took up the chase but were outdistanced by the fast moving Webb, which some observers claimed was making 25 knots. While churning with the current toward New Orleans, Read paused at one point to cut the telegraph wires along the bank. This proved futile as word of his escape and approach passed southward where it generated considerable excitement and a flurry of messages between the Army and Navy commanders who alerted shore batteries and ships to intercept him. About 10 miles above New Orleans Read hoisted the United States flag at half mast in mourning for Lincoln's death and brought Webb's steam pressure up to maximum. He passed the city at about midnight, 24 April, going full speed. Federal gunboats opened on him, whereupon Read broke the Confederate flag. Three hits were scored, the spar torpedo rigged at the steamer's bow was damaged and had to be jettisoned, but the Webb continued on course toward the sea. Twenty-five miles below New Orleans Read's luck ran out, for here Webb encountered the USS Richmond. Thus trapped between Richmond and pursuing gunboats, Read's audacious and well-executed plan came to an end. Webb was run aground and set on fire before her officers and men took to the swamps in an effort to escape. Read and his crew were apprehended within a few hours and taken under guard to New Orleans. They there suffered the indignity of being placed on public display but were subsequently paroled and ordered to their respective homes. Following the restoration of peace, Read became a pilot of the Southwest Pass, one of the mouths of the Mississippi River, and pursued that occupation until his death in 1890. He had earned his nickname the "Seawolf of the Confederacy" for his exploits and daring.
Brigadier General James Dearing is the last of the Confederate General to die from wounds received in action, from a pistol duel with Union Brevetted Brigadier General Theodore Read at the Battle of High Bridge on 6 April, dying in a hospital at Lynchburg, Virginia late this afternoon. Read had been mortally wounded and died on 6 April.
Skirmishing occurs with partisan guerrillas on the Snake Creek, in the Arizona Territory.
An affair is reported near Fort Zarah, Kansas, as the Yankees come across 5 Mexicans murdered by hostile Indians, with 4 having been scalped.
Federal soldiers scout from Pulaski,Tennessee, to Rogersville, Alabama.
A Union expedition travels from Burkeville and Petersburg to Danville and South Boston, Virginia, as Major General Horatio G. Wright, USA, commanding the 6th US Army Corps and his cavalry under Brevetted Major General Wesley Merritt, USA, capture 500 prisoners, the few remaining Confederate railroad locomotives, cannons, and other military stores.
The Headquarters of the Middle Military Division is transferred from Winchester, Virginia, to Washington, DC, closing the events taking place in the Shenandoah Valley.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis writes to his wife, Varina, of the desperate situating facing the Confederates.
"Panic has seized the country," he wrote to his wife in Georgia. Davis was in Charlotte, North Carolina, on his flight away from Yankee troops. It was three weeks since Davis had fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, as Union troops were overrunning the trenches nearby. Davis and his government headed west to Danville, Virginia, in hopes of reestablishing offices there. When Confederate General Robert E. Lee was forced to surrender his army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on 9 April, Davis and his officials traveled south in hopes of connecting with the last major Confederate army, the force of General Joseph Johnston. Johnston, then in North Carolina, was himself in dire straits, as General William T. Sherman’s massive force was bearing down.
Davis continued to his wife, "The issue is one which it is very painful for me to meet. On one hand is the long night of oppression which will follow the return of our people to the ‘Union'; on the other, the suffering of the women and children, and carnage among the few brave patriots who would still oppose the invader." The Davis’ were reunited a few days later as the President continued to flee and continue the fight. Two weeks later, Union troops finally captured the Confederate president in northern Georgia. Davis was charged with treason, which was nearly impossible to prove, but never tried. In 1889, he died at age 81.
