Chronological History of the American Civil War

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suspected of housing rebels. A Union Lieutenant enters the house and comes running out, when he hears shots being fired outside (at a dog). It is very dark, a Yankee private takes aim at the person fleeing out of the house, (the Union Lieut.) and proceeds to fire a bullet into his forehead. J. B. Jones, a clerk in the Confederate War Department, wrote in his diary: “No war news. But blockade-running at Wilmington has ceased; and common calico, (printed cotton fabric) now at $25 per yard, will soon be $50. . . . Flour is $1,250 per barrel, today.” Only five days before he had recorded: “Beef (what little there is in market) sells today at $6 per pound; meal is $80 per bushel; white beans, $5 per quart, or $160 per bushel.” Thursday, January 19, 1865 : On the Cape Fear River at Wilmington, North Carolina, Fort Anderson (CSA) after 3 days of being pelted with cannon fire the Confederate forces, retreat to Town Creek. The Union Army occupies Fort Anderson, but are soon assaulted with “friendly fire” from their own navy cannons, who were unaware that the Confederates had abandoned the fort. With the loss of access to the Cape Fear River and the supply lines from Wilmington, many residents predict an imminent Confederate collapse. Some fighting breaks out in Corinth, Mississippi and Marion, Arkansas. General Robert E. Lee (CSA) will reluctantly accept the position, of Commander of all the Confederate forces in the field. Lee was undoubtedly a highly skilled general, and he would have been aware that even a man of his abilities, would not have the skill to stop the inevitable – a victory for the North. However a sense of duty compelled him to accept the promotion. Friday, January 20, 1865 : Confederates have but only a few men to assemble against the advancing Major General William T. Sherman (U.S.). However, his advance is severely hampered by heavy rain still falling, that makes roads all but unusable. In Kansas, Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians attack the sutler wagon train, destined for Fort Lyon. The Yankee escort repels the Indian attacks, but the train returns back to Fort Larned with casualties on both sides. Saturday, January 21, 1865 : Sherman’s army marches into South Carolina, but faces no opposition from Confederate forces. Sunday, January 22, 1865 : The war has an effect upon the morals of some Hardeman County women; here is an excerpt from a Bolivar, Tennessee school girl’s diary 17 year old Sally Wendel Fentress: “The war seems to be demoralizing everybody. . . . Some of the very nicest girls of this county are throwing themselves[,] their honor, and good name away, losing control over fiendish passions, ruining themselves forever in the eyes of the world. Oh will people never be brought to their senses!” After 4 long years of war, with little to look forward to except death or destruction, there is little wonder that our nation was changing. Change it did and not always for the better. Three weeks earlier William Quantrill and his band of guerrillas had crossed the Mississippi River just 15 miles above Memphis, and are now arriving in Hartford, Kentucky. It seems that by now William Quantrill, might have given up his intentions, to go to Washington and assassinate President Lincoln, if that was the object of this expedition. Murder and robbery became the object of life with him, as it had been in Kansas, Missouri, and Texas. Using the usual false representation, that they were a Union detachment from Missouri, needing a guide to lead them to Hawesville, they ask Lt. Barnett (U.S.) if, he knows someone that can take them. Barnett agrees to go with them as does W. B. Lawton, (U.S.) who was going that way on furlough. Just after leaving town, they were joined by W. Townsley, a discharged soldier of the Third Kentucky Cavalry (U.S.). Three miles further on, they rode into the timber and hung Townsley. Nine miles beyond, they shot Lawton, and then they shot Barnett sixteen miles from Hartford.