Chronological History of the American Civil War

P a g e | 18

Monday, September, 2, 1861 : President Lincoln orders General John Charles Fremont (pictured) in Missouri, who just days before promised death and property confiscation for Southern sympathizers: "It is therefore my order that you allow no man to be shot, under the proclamation [issued by Fremont August 30], without first having my approbation or consent. Secondly, in relation to the confiscation of property, and the liberating slaves, allow me to ask, that you will modify that paragraph so as to conform to the act of Congress, approved August 6th, 1861.” (law giving freedom to only slaves employed by Confederates in carrying on war efforts) Tuesday, September, 3, 1861 : Confederate forces enter Kentucky, thus ending its neutrality. Confederate Gen. Gideon Pillow under orders from

Gen. Leonidas Polk, invaded the state and headed for Columbus, Ky., on the Mississippi River. The Confederate Secretary of War, LeRoy Walker of Alabama, was horrified and tried to send orders to Polk to withdraw the invasion forthwith, but he was overruled by Jefferson Davis. When war started, Leonidas Polk was a bishop in the Episcopal Church, but resigned from the Church because of its support of the Union. Wednesday, September 4, 1861 : Three days after being appointed command at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Gen. U.S. Grant set up in business in Cairo, Illinois. Polk, meanwhile, was justifying his invasion of Kentucky with a Confederate army by claiming that the Union was “concentrating forces” across the river from Columbus, KY, and that he had just invaded the state to “protect it.” Memphis Daily Appeal states: “Feminine Nuisances.—Officer Sullivan arrested Moll Rose, Mary Daniels, Jo Moore, and Mary Cole, who were yesterday, fined by Recorder Moore on the charge of being a nuisance to their neighborhood in various ways, but especially by occasionally appearing in the street in a single garment, and that one not a gown.” Thursday, September, 5, 1861 : Hearing of Polk's move into Columbus, Kentucky, General Grant begins preparations for an expedition to Paducah, Kentucky, near the mouth of the Cumberland River. Friday, September, 6, 1861 : Union forces captured Paducah without bloodshed. This town gave the Union a large measure of control over the river systems that were vital to the region. Saturday, September, 7, 1861 : Memphis Daily Appeal, “Tableaux at LaGrange.—We have received a note from one of the lady managers desiring us to state that at LaGrange, on Wednesday evening next, the ladies of that place will give a supper and a series of tableaux, the proceeds to be appropriated to purchasing winter clothing for the provincial army of Tennessee.” (Tableaux- a representation of a picture, statue, scene, etc., by one or more persons suitably costumed and posed) This seemed to be quite a popular thing for fundraising parties. Sunday, September 8, 1861 : Memphis Daily Appeal, “At the Quartermaster's Department in Richmond there have been received 5,000 of a new kind of shoes, of a rather curious description, that promises to answer well in a great scarcity of shoe leather. The upper portions of the shoe are made of canvas instead of leather. The canvas is prepared so as to make it impervious to the weather, and is said to be equal in comfort, durability and in all respects of wear the best of shoe leather.”