Chronological History of the American Civil War

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Monday, October 12, 1863 : Still plenty of fighting going on with skirmishes in Quinn and Jackson's Mill in Mississippi, and at New Market and Fort Morgan in Alabama, also at Merrill's Crossing, Lamine Crossing, and Dug Ford, near Jonesborough, Missouri, and six other places in Virginia. Alson today, an Indian scout in Colorado Territory named Tom Tobin, (pictured) was sent by the Army to track down and kill the notorious outlaw, Felipe Espinosa and his brother. When Tobin returned to Fort Garland, when asked how his trip had gone? Tobin reportedly replied, "So-so", then rolled the heads out of the sack and across the floor. The Espinosa brothers had killed more than 30 Anglos in the area in retaliation for relatives killed in the Mexican-American War. The government had posted a reward for several thousand dollars (Dead or Alive) for the Espinosas, but Tobin never collected the full amount. The governor of Colorado, gave him a coat like Kit

Carson’s and the Army gave him a new Henry rifle. Tuesday, October 13, 1863 : In the North, a great number of elections in different states for governor. They were watched with as much attention in the South as the North, as some candidates were for stopping the war and others for continuing the fight. Clement L. Vallandigham, exiled in Canada, is defeated in his race for Governor of Ohio, is just one of the peace candidates that went down in defeat. President Davis (CSA) approves Braxton Bragg’s request to relieve Major General Daniel Harvey Hill (CSA) of duty. It seems Longstreet, Hill and others disagreed with Bragg’s handling of the siege of Chattanooga. Wednesday, October 14, 1863 : In Virginia, Confederate General A.P. Hill’s corps stumbled upon two corps of the retreating Union army at Bristoe Station and attacked without proper reconnaissance. Soon they are outnumbered and have to retreat, but with heavy casualties (U.S. 540 and CSA 1,380). Hill lost standing in the eyes of Robert E. Lee, who angrily ordered “Bury these poor men and let us say no more about it.” Thursday, October 15, 1863 : Back on August 29, during a training exercise 5 crew members died on

board the C.S.S. H.L. Hunley , a small 40 ft. cigar shape submarine. General Beauregard still wanted it for the defense of Charleston, South, Carolina. The ship was raised and repaired, but it was difficult to find another crew that was willing to assume the risk of operating the submarine. Its inventor and namesake stepped forward to restore confidence in his creation. In front of a crowd of spectators, the C.S.S. Hunley slipped below the surface, and did not reappear. Horace L. Hunley (pictured) and his entire crew perished. The submarine was again recovered, and a third crew volunteered to man her.

Friday, October 16, 1863 : The North introduced a major reorganization of its armies. The armies of the Cumberland, Tennessee and Ohio were all blended into the Military Division of the Mississippi and put under the control of General Ulysses Grant (U.S.). In Tampa, Florida, two Union gunboats bombarded Fort Brooke. That night a landing party under Acting Master, T.R. Harris (U.S.) disembarked at Ballast Point with 130 men, and marched 14 miles to the Hillsborough River, to capture several steamers. Harris and his men surprised and captured the blockade running steamer Scottish Chief and sloop Kate Dale . The Memphis Bulletin reported: “My information just derived from the country is that the thieves who entered Durhamville, (just South of Ripley, Tennessee) Monday [12th] night and robbed the citizens were a part of Sol. Street's men, and a band of thieves and murderers, who live between Bolivar and Saulsbury, known as "Rhodes band," and is composed of the worst characters known to the human family. They are clad in gray clothes, and travel armed. They respect neither women nor children, nor the servants of God, nor indeed anything else; but in my opinion, if Federal troops could be sent for them, it would scare them a few.”