March 2016 - Page 3 of 4 - Larry Auerbach

Today In Western History: The Red River Campaign

Posted on March 12, 2016March 7, 2016 by larry

March 12 —

On this day in 1864, one of the biggest military fiascos, for the Union, of the Civil War begins as a combined Union force of infantry and riverboats starts moving up the Red River in Louisiana. The month-long campaign was very poorly managed and coordinated, achieving none of the objectives desired by frustrated Union commanders.

The Union had hoped to capture everything along the Red River in Louisiana and continue into Texas. President Abraham Lincoln thought this would send a symbolic warning to France, which had set up a puppet government in Mexico and seemed to have designs on territorial expansion. Union officials also wanted to capture cotton-producing regions, as cotton was in short supply in the North.

The plan called for General Nathaniel Banks to lead 27,000 men along the western shore of the river in a land based attack at the same time

as Admiral David Dixon Porter was taking a flotilla of 20 gunboats up the Red River. Porter’s squadron entered the river on March 12. Two days later, Fort Derussy fell to the Yankees and the ships moved upriver and captured Alexandria. The expedition was going well, but Banks was moving too slowly. He arrived two weeks after Porter took Alexandria, and continued to plod towards Shreveport. Banks traveled nearly 20 miles from the Red River, too far for the gunboats to offer any protection. On April 8, Banks’ command was attacked and routed by Confederate General Richard Taylor, son of former U.S. President Zachary Taylor. The two sides fought again the next day, but this time the

Yankees held off the Rebel pursuit. The intimidated Banks elected to retreat back down the river before reaching Shreveport. Porter’s ships followed, but the Red River was unusually low and the ships were stuck above some rapids near Alexandria. It appeared that the ships would have to be destroyed to keep them from falling into Confederate hands, but Lt. Colonel Joseph Bailey of Wisconsin, an engineer with a log-

USA Col. Joseph Bailey, saviour of the Red RIver fleet — USA Lt. Col. Joseph Bailey,
saviour of the Red River fleet

ging background, supervised several thousand soldiers in constructing a series of wing dams that raised the water level enough for the ships to pass. The campaign was deemed a failure–it drew Union strength away from other parts of the South and the expedition never reached Texas.

To purchase a signed copy of Larry Auerbach’s novel “THE SPIRIT OF REDD MOUNTAIN”, Click Here

Photo courtesy of wikipedia.com

Offensive screen names

Posted on March 11, 2016March 11, 2016 by larry

People, show some class. I am referring to those who attempt to post a comment with an unacceptable screen name. I am not going to approve any comment written by someone with a sexually offensive or inappropriate screen name, no matter how nice and flattering it may be.

I do have my standards.

Suspiciously Identical Comments

Posted on March 11, 2016March 11, 2016 by larry

“Great topic and well written. Do you have any more resources about this that you reccommend?”

I have seen this comment now about twenty times in exactly the same spelling and structure. This comment will no longer be approved. As I identify other spurious entries, they will be denied as well.

An Interesting Observation – Part II:

Posted on March 11, 2016March 11, 2016 by larry

As I said a moment ago, some of the comments I am receiving seem rather suspiciously worded, as if from an other country or otherwise constructed. Now, after another review, I find that many seem to be EXACTLY identical in their wording from several different sources (supposedly). I may have to start limiting these repetitions. I would like to know why someone would do this, there is no financial gain that I can see for them person doing this. Can someone enlighten me on the goal of this spurious commenting?

An Interesting Observation

Posted on March 11, 2016March 11, 2016 by larry

Now, I have often said I am very new to this world, and probably a bit naiive about much of this world, but I have noticed a very strange thing about the comments I am getting from the outside world. Going strictly by the sentence structure of some of these comments, it would appear I have a large following of people who do not speak English as their first language. Either that, or someone is filling this space with a lot of redundant spam.

Well, I am going to allow those comments to get their airtime because I CAN’T prove they’re spam. If I am offending anyone by this comment, then I apologize and encourage you to improve on your English. If they are spam, I would ask what the point of that is. Can anyone tell me what someone would gain by this behavior?

Today In Western History: Lincoln Signs War Order #3

Posted on March 11, 2016March 7, 2016 by larry

March 11 —

On this day in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issues War Order No. 3, a measure making several changes at the top of the Union Army command structure. Lincoln divided the war into sections and created three departments, placing Henry Wager Halleck in charge of the

General Henry W. ("Old Brains") Halleck — General Henry W. (“Old Brains”) Halleck

West, John C. Fremont in command of troops in the Appalachian region, and George McClellan in charge in the East.

John C. Fremont, The Great Pathfinder" — John C. Fremont, The Great Pathfinder”

The most significant change in the order removed McClellan from his post as general-in-chief of all Union armies, though he retained command of the Army of the Potomac, the most important Union force. McClellan had assumed leadership of that army after it was defeated at the First Battle of Bull Run, Virginia, in July 1861. He quickly installed an efficient command structure and began training an effective fighting force. Three months later, Lincoln elevated McClellan to general-in-chief. However, the relationship between the president and his commanding officer was strained and some-times contentious. The arrogant McClellan was contemptuous of the president and often ignored Lincoln’s communica-tions or kept information from him. McClellan was stretched thin as general-in-chief, and even he recognized this fact. He was bothered by the March 1862 demotion, but wrote to Lincoln that he would “work just as cheerfully as ever before, and… no consideration of self will in any manner interfere with the discharge of my public duties.” For McClellan, this was a rare show of grace and deference towards Lincoln. The move allowed McClellan to spend more time planning his upcoming campaign against the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia.

For a time, there was no general-in-chief, and the three regional commanders reported to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. The post did not stay empty for long, though, as Halleck was elevated to general-in-chief five months later.

To purchase a signed copy of Larry Auerbach’s novel “THE SPIRIT OF REDD MOUNTAIN”, Click Here

Photo courtesy of wikipedia.com

Today In Western History: Vigilante Justice Prevails

Posted on March 10, 2016March 7, 2016 by larry

March 10 —

Local hell-raiser Jack Slade is hanged in one of the more troubling incidents of frontier vigilantism, today in 1864.

Joseph Alfred "Jack" Slade — Joseph Alfred “Jack” Slade

In the 1850s Joseph Jack Slade was a freighting teamster and wagonmaster along the Overland Trail, and then became a stagecoach driver in Texas, c. 1857-58. He worked his way up to the position of stagecoach division superintendent along the Central Overland route for Hockaday & Co. (1858–59) and its successors Jones, Russell & Co. (1859) and Central Overland, California & Pike’s Peak Express Co. (1859–62). With the Overland Express Company, he also helped launch and operate the Pony Express in 1860-61. All were critical to the communication between the East and California. As superintendent, he enforced order and assured reliable cross-continental mail service, maintaining contact between Washington, D.C., and California on the eve of Civil War.

While division superintendent, he shot and killed Andrew Ferrin, one of his subordinates who was hindering the progress of a freight train, in May 1859. At the time, shooting deaths of this kind in the West were rare and Jack Slade’s reputation as a “gunfighter” spread rapidly across the country. Much of his terrible reputation was undeserved, except when he was drinking.

Slade stood out even among the many rabble-rousers who inhabited the wild frontier-mining town of Virginia City, Montana. When he was sober, townspeople liked and respected Slade, though there were unconfirmed rumors he had once been a thief and murderer. When drunk, however, Slade had a habit of firing his guns in bars and making idle threats. Though Slade’s rowdiness did not injure anyone, Virginia City leaders anxious to create a more peaceable community began to lose patience. They began giving more weight to the claims that he was a potentially dangerous man.

The year before, many of Virginia City’s leading citizens had formed a semisecret “vigilance committee” to combat the depredations of a road agent named Henry Plummer. Plummer and his gang had robbed and killed in the area, confident that the meager law enforcement in the region could not stop them. Part of Plummer’s confidence stemmed from the fact he was currently the sheriff of Bannack, Montana. Determined to reassert order in their part of the world, the Virginia City vigilantes began capturing and hanging the men in Plummer’s gang. As a warning to other criminals, the vigilantes left a scrap of paper on the hanged corpses with the cryptic numbers “3-7-77.” The meaning of the numbers is unclear, though some claim it referred to the dimensions of a grave: 3 feet wide, 7 feet long, 77 inches deep.

In the first two months of 1864, the Montana vigilantes hanged 24 men, including Plummer. Most historians agree that these hangings, while technically illegal, punished only genuinely guilty men. However, the vigilantes’ decision to hang Jack Slade seems less justified. Finally fed up with his drunken rampages and wild threats, on this day in 1864 a group of vigilantes took Slade into custody and told him he would be hanged. Slade, who had committed no serious crime in Virginia City, pleaded for his life, or at least a chance to say goodbye to his beloved wife. Before Slade’s wife arrived, the vigilantes hanged him.

Not long after the questionable execution of Slade, legitimate courts and prisons began to function in Virginia City. Though sporadic vigilante “justice” continued until 1867, it increasingly attracted public concern. In March 1867, miners in one Montana mining district posted a notice in the local newspaper that they would hang five vigilantes for every one man hanged by vigilantes. Thereafter, vigilante action faded away.

To purchase a signed copy of Larry Auerbach’s novel “THE SPIRIT OF REDD MOUNTAIN”, Click Here

Photo courtesy of wikipedia.com

Today In Western History: Battle of the Ironclads

Posted on March 9, 2016March 7, 2016 by larry

On this day in 1862, one of the most famous naval battles in American history occurs as two of the first ironclads, the U. S.S. Monitor and the C.S.S. Virginia fight to a draw off Hampton Roads, Virginia. The ships pounded each other all morning but their armor plates easily deflected the cannon shots, signaling a new era of steam-powered iron ships.

USS MONITOR , Hero of the first naval Ironclad battle

The C.S.S. Virginia was originally the U.S.S. Merrimack, a 40-gun frigate launched in 1855. The Con-federates captured it and covered it in heavy armor plating above the waterline. Outfitted with 14 powerful guns, the Virginia was a formidable vessel when the Confederates launched her in February 1862. On March 8, the Virginia sunk two Union ships and ran one aground off Hampton Roads.

CSS Virginia, formerly the USS Merrimac, loser of the first battle of naval ironclads

The next day, the U.S.S. Monitor steamed into the Chesapeake Bay. Designed by Swedish engineer John Ericsson, the vessel had an unusually

John Erricson, inventor of the Ironclad warship

low profile, rising from the water only 18 inches. The flat irondeck had a 20-foot cylindrical turret rising from the middle of the ship; the turret housed two 11-inch Dahlgren guns. The Monitor had a draft of less than 11 feet so it could operate in the shallow harbors and rivers of the South. It was commissioned on February 25, 1862, and arrived at Chesapeake Bay just in time to engage the Virginia.

The battle between the Virginia and the Monitor began on the morning of March 9 and continued for four hours. The ships circled one another, jockeying for position as they fired their guns. The cannon balls simply deflected off the iron ships. In the early afternoon, the Virginia pulled back to Norfolk. Neither ship was seriously damaged, but the Monitor effectively ended the short reign of terror that the Confederate ironclad had brought to the Union navy.

Both ships met very undignified and undeserved ends. Two months after the battle at Hampton Roads, the Yankees invaded the James Peninsula and the retreating Confederates scuttled their iron-clad. The Monitor went down in bad weather off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, at the end of the year. Even though they both had short lives, the ships ushered in a new era in naval warfare and opened the way to the later invention of the battleships.

To purchase a signed copy of Larry Auerbach’s novel “THE SPIRIT OF REDD MOUNTAIN”, Click Here

Photo courtesy of wikipedia.com

Today In Western History: The Battle Of Pea Ridge Ends

Posted on March 8, 2016March 7, 2016 by larry

On this day in 1862, Union forces under General Samuel Curtis finish the Battle of Pea Ridge (known as the Battle of Elkhorn Tavern by the

Confederates) that was begun the day before, ending with a victory for the Union forces. Pea Ridge was part of a larger campaign for control of Missouri. Seven months earlier, the Confederates defeated a Union force at Wilson’s Creek, some 70 miles northeast of Pea Ridge. General Henry Halleck, the Fed-eral commander in Missouri, now organized an expedition to drive the Confederates from south-western Missouri. In

February 1862, Yankee General Samuel Curtis led the 12,000-man army toward Springfield, Missouri. Confederate General Sterling Price retreated from the city with 8,000 troops in the face of the Union advance. Price withdrew into Arkansas, and Curtis followed him. Price

hooked up with another Rebel force led by General Ben McCulloch, and their combined army was placed under the leadership of General Earl Van Dorn, recently appointed commander of Confederate forces in the trans-Mississippi area. Van Dorn joined Price and McCulloch on March 2, 1862, and he then ordered an advance on Curtis’ army. Curtis received word of the approaching Confederates and concentrated his force

around Elkhorn Tavern. Van Dorn sent part of his army on a march around the Yankees. On March 7, McCulloch slammed into the rear of the Union force, but Curtis anticipated the move and turned his men towards the attack. McCulloch was killed during the battle, and the

Confederate attack withered. Meanwhile, the other part of Van Dorn’s army attacked the front of Curtis’ command. Through bitter fighting the Union troops held their ground. Curtis, suspecting that the Confederates were low on ammunition, attacked the divided Rebel army the following morning. Van Dorn realized he was in danger and ordered a retreat, ending the battle. The Yankees suffered some 1,380 men killed, wounded, or captured out of 10,000 engaged; the Confederates suffered a loss of about 2,000 out of 14,000 engaged. The Union won a decisive victory that also helped them clear the upper Mississippi Valley region on the way to securing control of the Mississippi River by mid-1863.

To purchase a signed copy of Larry Auerbach’s novel “THE SPIRIT OF REDD MOUNTAIN”, Click Here

Photo courtesy of wikipedia.com

Today In Western History: The Battle of Pea Ridge Begins

Posted on March 7, 2016February 13, 2016 by larry

March 7 —

On this day in 1862, Union forces under Union General. Samuel R. Curtis begin a major fight with the army of Con-

federate General Earl Van Dorn at the Battle of Pea Ridge (also called the Battle of Elkhorn Tavern), in northwest Arkansas. The following day, the battle ended in defeat for the Confederates. Pea Ridge was part of a much larger campaign for control of Missouri. Seven months earlier, the Confederates defeated a Union force at Wilson’s Creek, some 70 miles northeast of Pea Ridge. General Henry Halleck, the Federal commander in Missouri, now organized

an expedition to drive the Confederates from southwestern Missouri. In February 1862, Yankee General Samuel

Curtis led the 12,000-man army toward Springfield, Missouri. Confederate General Sterling Price retreated from the city with 8,000 troops in the face of the Union advance. Price withdrew into Arkansas, and Curtis followed him. Price hooked up with another Rebel force led by General Ben McCulloch, and their combined army was placed

under the leadership of General Earl Van Dorn, recently appointed commander of Confederates forces in the trans-

Mississippi area. Van Dorn joined Price and McCulloch on March 2, 1862, and ordered an advance on Curtis’ army. Curtis received word of the approaching Confederates and concentrated his force around Elkhorn Tavern. Van Dorn sent part of his army on a march around the Yankees. On March 7, McCulloch slammed into the rear of the Union force, but Curtis anticipated the move and turned his men towards the attack. McCulloch was killed during the battle, and the Confederate attack withered. Meanwhile, the other part of Van Dorn’s army attacked the front of Curtis’ command. Through bitter fighting the Union troops held their ground.

Curtis, suspecting that the Confederates were low on ammunition, attacked the divided Rebel army the following morning. Van Dorn realized he was in danger and ordered a retreat, ending the battle. The Yankees suffered some 1,380 men killed, wounded, or captured out of 10,000 engaged; the Confederates suffered a loss of about 2,000 out of 14,000 engaged. The Union won a decisive victory that also helped them clear the upper Mississippi Valley region on the way to securing control of the Mississippi River by mid-1863.

To purchase a signed copy of Larry Auerbach’s novel “THE SPIRIT OF REDD MOUNTAIN”, Click Here

Photo courtesy of wikipedia.com

Blog

Month: March 2016

Today In Western History: The Red River Campaign

Offensive screen names

Suspiciously Identical Comments

An Interesting Observation – Part II:

An Interesting Observation

Today In Western History: Lincoln Signs War Order #3

Today In Western History: Vigilante Justice Prevails

Today In Western History: Battle of the Ironclads

Today In Western History: The Battle Of Pea Ridge Ends

Today In Western History: The Battle of Pea Ridge Begins