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Colonel William Preston Johnston, The Life of General Albert Sidney Johnston : His Service in the Armies of the United States, the Republic of Texas, and the Confederate States., Chapter 2: early army-life. (search)
in books ; but what he read and what he did there are things forgotten. But a single incident is preserved of General Johnston's winter at Sackett's Harbor. This he sometimes cited as an illustration of the recklessness of youth. He was engaged with some fellow-officers in artillery-practice on the ice of Lake Ontario, when a wild party of sleighers kept dashing across the line of fire, near the target. Meaning to rebuke this bravado with a good scare, he waited for the rush of their Canadian ponies near his target, and then fired. He succeeded so well that, for an instant, the whole party was enveloped in snow and splintered ice, and seemed to be blotted out. A moment after they emerged from the frosty spray with wild yells and affrighted gestures, and returned no more. He felt during the instant of suspense that murder had been done, and the relief of the revelers at their escape was not greater than his own. He accepted the adventure, however, as a lesson in something more
An English Combatant, Lieutenant of Artillery of the Field Staff., Battlefields of the South from Bull Run to Fredericksburgh; with sketches of Confederate commanders, and gossip of the camps., Introduction. (search)
o obtain them. Every statement he has made can be fully substantiated; he would esteem it unmanly, unsoldierly, and degrading, to speak untruly of these events. The real source of Northern prosperity has been misunderstood; so, in the author's opinion, has the real character of the Yankee people. The nasal-toned, tobacco-chewing, and long-limbed gentleman of the present day inhabiting the New-England States, speaks the English language, it is true, in his own peculiar way, but Indian, Canadian, Irish, Dutch, French, and other bloods, course through his veins; and from his extraordinary peculiarities of habit and character displayed in this present war, it is extremely difficult to imagine which caste or shade predominates in him. He is a volatile, imaginative, superficial, theatrically-inclined individual, possessing uncommon self-confidence, and is very self-willed, arrogant, and boastful. His self-conceit is boundless: any one who disputes his ideas is a fool. The peculiar
Wiley Britton, Memoirs of the Rebellion on the Border 1863., Chapter 17: (search)
to secede. In view of the prospective active operations soon to be commenced, it would be more agreeable to my feelings to remain with this command a while longer. As Colonel Phillips has shown his ability to hold all the country north of the Arkansas, except as to cavalry raids of the enemy, with his three Indian regiments, and one battery, and one battalion of white troops, we do not doubt but that, with the additional troops now here, he will be able to carry our arms beyond the Canadian River, and sweep around and capture Fort Smith. This would be the natural plan of operations, whether it is carried out or not. Whoever may command our troops in this section will hardly be satisfied to remain inactive north of the Arkansas during the balance of the summer and autumn. Unless some disposition has been made of the troops in southwest Missouri, of which we have not heard, a force almost equal to ours here, we believe might easily be concentrated at Cassville in a short time, a
Wiley Britton, Memoirs of the Rebellion on the Border 1863., Chapter 20: (search)
th the merchants of this place unrestricted, has perhaps cost us the lives of quite a number of our soldiers. Several special messengers with the mail and despatches, who arrived on the morning of the 30th, from Fort Gibson, report that the enemy, under Generals Cooper and Cabell, are no longer assuming such a threatening attitude as they were a few weeks ago. They have fallen back from their old position on the south bank of the Arkansas River, near Fort Gibson, to the north fork of Canadian River, about fifty miles further south. General Cabell has gone to Fort Smith with his division, as we have a column of troops under General John McNeil, ready to march down the line via Fayetteville to Van Buren. It is thought that General Blunt will be ready to move forward and attack General Cooper in a few days. After beating General Cooper he intends to swing to the left, and attack Fort Smith, and take it by storm if the enemy defends it. Our troops are getting full rations, and are w
The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South (ed. Alexander Kelly McClure), Morgan's Indiana and Ohio Railroad. (search)
Hobson was pursuing them in the rear with the eagerness of a bloodhound. They knew their only chance of escape lay in reaching the fords some time in advance of both pursuers. They had the advantage of distance on Judah-the road they traveled being several miles shorter than his, which followed the bends of the river. From the morning of the 17th, on to the final encounter, we were constantly within reach of and feeling Morgan's right flank and rear. John O'Neil, since of Fenian and Canadian border fame, then a lieutenant in the Fifth Indiana Cavalry, was intrusted with the task of harassing the raiders, and keeping the Federal commander informed of all the enemy's movements. O'Neil was an ideal Irish dragoon, impetuous, brave, prudent. He did some as effective scouting and skirmishing with his command of fifty picked men along the bluffs of the Ohio on the two last days of the great raid, as any officer did during the war. As the raiders advanced they were, beside being hara
Philip Henry Sheridan, Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan, General, United States Army ., Chapter XIV (search)
anguage. The first day we made only about ten miles, which carried us to the south bank of Wolf Creek. A considerable part of the day was devoted to straightening out matters in the command, and allowing time for equalizing the wagon loads, which as a general thing, on a first day's march, are unfairly distributed. And then there was an abundance of fire-wood at Wolf Creek; indeed, here and on Hackberry Creek-where I intended to make my next camp — was the only timber north of the Canadian River; and to select the halting places near a plentiful supply of wood was almost indispensable, for as the men were provided with only shelter-tents, good fires were needed in order to keep warm. The second day, after marching for hours through vast herds of buffalo, we made Hackberry Creek; but not, however, without several stampedes in the wagon-train, the buffalo frightening the mules so that it became necessary to throw out flankers to shoot the leading bulls and thus turn off the he
Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis: Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by his Wife, Volume 1, Chapter 28: the Oregon question. (search)
ained, and quite opposite was the practice under it. Then, though the foreign inhabitants were mainly those who had taken part with us in the wars against Great Britain, they were not considered so capable of self-government as to be intrusted with the power of local legislation; and the restricted governments, established in Indiana and Michigan, were required to adopt the laws of some State in the Union for their rule and government. Thus, in relation to French settlers at Vincennes, and Canadian refugees in Michigan, it was decided. Now, Sir, for whom is it proposed to reverse the decision, not only so far as to recognize local legislation, but to admit the power to pass fundamental laws controlling the action of Congress, and determining the future policy and institutions of Oregon? For a small settlement, composed to a large extent of the late dependents of the Hudson Bay Company, subjects of the British crown; the very men who were arrayed against us to dispute our right t
Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events, Diary from December 17, 1860 - April 30, 1864 (ed. Frank Moore), 1861, December (search)
December 31. The Canadian press comments upon the release of Messrs. Mason and Slidell in the same spirit which has prompted its various representations hitherto in their treatment of the rebellion. The Leader uses the most abusive language at its command. It pronounces the surrender one of the greatest collapses since the beginning of time, and has much to say of the humiliation of the National Government. The Globe talks much more moderately, and heartily congratulates its readers on the result; and the Montreal Gazette speaks of it as a bitter, bitter pill for the fire-eaters to cram down their noisy throats. --N. Y. Times, December 31. In the United States Senate a communication was received from the Secretary of War, to-day, stating that it is incompatible with the public interest to furnish the correspondence which has passed between General Scott and General Patterson, relative to the conduct of the war.--N. Y. Herald, December 31. Captains Shillinglaw and Ma
Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 7. (ed. Frank Moore), chapter 104 (search)
nd within five or six miles of the Mississippi River. The enemy were taken completely by surprise, not expecting such a force in such a quarter. The rebels that have ascended to that region will be obliged to move further back from the river, if not to go away altogether. Lieutenant Commanding Selfridge divided his force on finding that the transports, which had been carrying stores to Walker's army, had escaped up some of the narrow streams. He sent the Mainton and Rattler up the Little Red River, (a small tributary of the Black,) and the Forest Rose and Petrel up the Tensas. The night was dark, and it was raining very hard, and the Mainton and Rattler succeeded in capturing the rebel steamer Louisville, one of the largest and perhaps the best steamer now in the Western waters. Up the Tensas, or one of its tributaries, the Forest Rose and Petrel captured the steamer Elmira, loaded with stores, sugar, and rum for the rebel army. Finding that the steamers which had conveyed G
Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 3., Chapter 7: the siege of Charleston to the close of 1863.--operations in Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas. (search)
ing one hundred and fifty of their number dead, and seventy-seven of them prisoners, with a disabled gun and two hundred small-arms. The number of their wounded was estimated at four hundred. Blunt lost seventy-seven men, of whom seventeen were killed. Within an hour after Cooper fled, Cabell came up with his Texans, nearly three thousand strong. He did not think it prudent to attack the victorious Nationals, so during that night he moved rapidly southward, and disappeared beyond the Canadian River, when the Union force returned to Fort Blunt. In the mean time guerrilla bands were becoming exceedingly active in Blunt's rear. One of these, led by Colonel Coffey, went up from Northern Arkansas, and struck Aug. 13. the Sixth Missouri Cavalry, Colonel Catherwood, at Pineville, in Southwestern Missouri; but he was beaten, and driven away with great loss. His retreat was so precipitate, that he left behind him his wagons and supplies, and about two hundred men killed, wounded, and
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