Tuesday Nov. 5 1861
LEE LEADERSHIP LOOKING LACKLUSTER
A common misperception is that Gen. Robert E. Lee was the saintly
and beloved leader of the Army of Northern Virginia from the
beginning of the War until the surrender at Appomattox Court House.
In fact, while Lee commanded Western Virginia troops during the
first summer of the war, his record there was frankly unimpressive.
He was still highly regarded, though, and his talents were not about
to be allowed to go to waste. He was named today as the commander of
a new Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and East Florida.
Wednesday Nov. 5 1862
MAC MCCLELLAN MIGHTILY MIFFED
“Little Mac”, Gen. George McClellan, had been the commander of the
Army of the Potomac almost since the day it was formed. A talented
politician, he had engineered the resignation of General of the
Armies Halleck and taken his job. His true genius, though, had been
in the organization and training of a mob of green civilians into
the premier army of the Union at this stage. In return, the troops
idolized him as the only leader they had ever known. It was a
massive shock to commander and troops alike today when McClellan was
unceremoniously fired by Abraham Lincoln, and replaced by Gen.
Ambrose Burnside. McClellan, it was said, loved his troops so much
he did not want to risk getting any of them killed by starting a
battle. This was not Lincoln’s notion of how to restore the Union.
Thursday Nov. 5 1863
SUMTER SUFFERS SLOW SHELLING
For more than a week now Federal forces had been shelling Ft. Sumter
in Charleston Harbor. Scene of the first shots of the war, it was
enduring a bombardment now that was almost unprecedented in warfare.
On some days the incoming rounds had been hitting at the rate of two
per minute, hour after hour after hour. Although the Confederates
manning the installation were in little physical danger due to the
existence of bombproof shelters inside the walls of the fort, the
mental and psychological suffering was intense. Today the Atlantic
Blockading Squadron joined its guns into the project to give the men
of the shore batteries some rest. Admiral John Dahlgren, commanding,
was examining the place through his telescope. “The only original
feature left is the northeast face,” he wrote. “The rest is a pile
Saturday Nov. 5 1864
GREAT LAKES GUNBOAT GAMES GO ON
The Confederate Naval assault on the Great Lakes entered its second
phase today. The primary agent of this attack force was one John Y.
Beall, who held the rating of Master in the Confederate States Navy.
Beall had participated in a plot back in September to take over the
USS Michigan, the gunboat in charge of guarding the prisoner-of-war
camp on Lake Erie. That plot had fallen apart when some of the
conspirators were arrested, but Beall was back for another round.
This time he and a Southern sympathizer, Dr. James Bates, bought a
steamer in Canada and tried to devise ways to use it to take over
the “Michigan” again, with the intention of using the ship’s guns to
shell lakeside cities. Once again the Union sentries were alert, and
they never got close enough to the “Michigan” to set the plan in
motion. Eventually, out of money, they had to take their proposed
attack ship back to Canada and sell it to pay off their creditors.
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