One Hundred Fifty Years Ago Today: US Government

Showing posts with label US Government. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Lincoln moves to curb freedom of New York press

Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of th...

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President Lincoln

In Washington, President Abraham Lincoln issues a proclamation declaring the seceding States in a state of insurrection and prohibiting all trade and public intercourse with them. This proclamation is important as a legal issue. First, it serves notice that no further compromising will be done with the seceded states. In addition it ends a thriving cotton trade in the border states. Most importantly, it makes lawful any action that the Administration would like to take against anyone in the North whom it deems to be trafficking with the enemy. These actions could include curbing freedom of the press and jailing suspected individuals without charges for indefinite periods (suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, which is protected and guaranteed in the US Constitution). And the Lincoln Administration doesn’t waste any time. In New York, the Lincoln Administration indicts several New York newspapers in court for alleged pro- Confederate leanings, among them are the New York Journal of Commerce, the Brooklyn Eagle, and the New York Daily News/1861
Patriot and Union forces clash at Fredericktown and Kirkville, Missouri/1861

Friday, August 12, 2011

McCulloch: "Let Missouri choose her destiny"

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Gen. Ben McCulloch

After Federal forces under Gen. Nathaniel Lyon have chased the pro-secession Missouri State Guard, its commander, Gen. Sterling Price, and its duly elected Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson, out of the state capital at Jefferson City and nearly out of the state. At last, at Wilson’s Creek near Springfield, reinforced by Confederate General Benjamin McCulloch’s Western Army composed of Arkansans and Cherokees, they had made a stand, and now Lyon is dead and the Federals in retreat. Gen. Ben McCulloch, today gives Missouri citizens an ultimatum: it is time to take sides. Unlike Lyon and the Federals, McCulloch promises protection to Union sympathizers, but “Missouri must be allowed to choose her own destiny.”/1861

At Washington, by proclamation, President Lincoln appoints the "last Thursday in September next, as a day of humiliation, prayer and fasting for all the people of the nation." In a recess appointment, Lincoln reappoints William S. Wood, who had charge of the special train that brought Lincoln to Washington for his inauguration, as commissioner of public buildings, as the Senate failed to act on his appointment before adjourning. /1861
US Navy Commander J. Rodgers arrives with gunboats USS Tyler, Lexington, and Conestoga, at Cairo, Illinois, to protect the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and to guard against Confederate movements./1861

Monday, August 8, 2011

Davis calls for 400,000 volunteers to defend the South

Jefferson Davis, only President of the Confede...

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In Richmond, President Jefferson Davis calls for 400,000 volunteers to defend their homes in the Confederacy./1861
At Washington, US Secretary of War Simon Cameron replies to another of General Benjamin Butler’s queries about making runaway slaves contraband. Cameron tells Butler that Union troops must adhere to fugitive slave laws, but only within Union territory. All states in insurrection are exempt from the protection and escaped slaves in those areas will not be returned to their owners but become property of the US government./1861
In the Gulf of Mexico, the USS Santee, commanded by Captain Eagle, captures the blockade runner schooner C.P. Knapp./1861
Brig. Gen. U. S. Grant assumes command of the district of Ironton, Missouri./1861
At a public dinner and serenade in Baltimore, Maryland, in honor of John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky, his attempt to address the people is prevented by the rioting of Unionists./1861

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Lincoln, Congress make runaway slaves US property

In Washington, the US Congress, now in lock-step with the dictates of the Lincoln Administration, and trying to finish its legislative agenda for an August recess, gets a flurry of new bills done. President Lincoln and Cabinet members gather at the Capitol to approve and sign those bills. The U.S. Congress approves the Confiscation Act of 1861, permitting seizure of property, including slaves, used to support the rebellion. The act permits the confiscation of any property that had been allowed by the owner to be used by the Confederates against the United States. The act strips their slave owners of any claim to them but does not clarify whether the slaves are free. Because of this uncertainty, slaves who flee to U.S. forces become the property of the U.S. government. Lincoln hesitates before signing the bill. He also signs a law giving freedom to slaves employed by Confederates in carrying on war and approves an act authorizing a penalty for recruiting soldiers or sailors, and for enlisting, against U.S. Congress also passes and Lincoln signs an Army bill establishing the pay of private soldiers with an amendment legalizing the proclamations and orders of President since his inauguration. The Congress then adjourns its special session./1861

In a show of Federal force disregarding Kentucky’s sovereignty, the US War Department establishes a military camp near Lexington, Kentucky, violating Kentucky’s declared neutrality./1861

Friday, August 5, 2011

Unionists win battle of Athens, Missouri

In Missouri, US General Nathaniel Lyon pulls out of Dug Springs as he receives reports that Confederate troops are advancing in large numbers. A skirmish occurs at Kirksville, Missouri, and small battle at Athens (pronounce Aythens), Missouri. The Battle of Athens occurs in northeast Missouri near southeast Iowa along the Des Moines River across from Croton, Iowa. Colonel Martin Green's force of about 2,000 secessionist 2^nd Division Missouri State Guardsmen with three cannons tries to capture Athens from about 500 Unionist 1^st Northeast Missouri Home Guard commanded by Col. David Moore. Moore calls out his regiment at 5am when pickets warn of the secessionists' advance. With many men home visiting family without orders and after moving his sick over the river to Iowa, Moore is left with 333 men to fight 2,000. Green's much larger force surrounds Athens on three sides, with the river to the Unionists’ backs. Lieut. Col. Charles S. Callihan commanding the Union left flank faces Major Shacklett's cavalry and James Kniesley's three gun battery. The Unionists have no artillery, but Kniesley's guns are not much better, only a 6-pounder, a 9-pounder, and a hollowed log, a few solid shot and improvised canister. They have no impact in the battle except to spook a cavalry scout’s horse. The first cannon shot flies over the Unionists and the Des Moines River into the Croton, Iowa, rail depot. The second shoots through the Benning home and into the river. The log cannon blows apart on the first firing. The 2,000 poorly equipped, untrained, and untested secessionist State Guardsmen advance, generally firing their shotguns and squirrel rifles, while Moore’s 333 men are much better armed with Springfield rifled muskets and bayonets. Captain Hackney's Home Guard drives the State Guard away from Stallion Branch while US Lt. Col. Callihan’s men flee for the river with one of the Home Guards cavalry units at the sight of Major Shacklett's large force advancing. The others hold their positions, and the advance falters in a cornfield. After Shacklett is wounded in the neck, his men fall back. Seeing this, Moore fixes bayonets and countercharges, sending the State Guardsmen into a headlong retreat including Kniesley’s artillery. The Iowa militia watches from across the river and fire a few shots from long range with no effect. The Unionist Home Guardsmen win. Moore has three dead and twenty wounded. Missouri State Guard losses are unknown, but Moore captures twenty men, most of them wounded. Moore estimates 31 Missouri State Guard killed and wounded, and captures 450 horses with bridles and saddles, hundreds of arms, and a wagon load of long knives. The defeat demoralizes secessionist state guard efforts in Northeast Missouri. The Union victory has the distinction of being the most northerly of Civil War Battles fought west of the Mississippi, and also of being the only such battle fought along the Iowa border./1861
The USS Vincennes/Jamestown under Commander Charles Green captures and burns the Confederate prize bark Alvarado, a blockade runner, off the coast of Fernandina, Florida./1861

Off the coast of Puerto Rico, the Confederate privateer Jefferson Davis captures the large American brig Santa Clara./1861

In Washington, President Lincoln approves a Congressional resolution to observe a day of public humiliation, fasting, and prayer and also approves the new income tax of 3 per cent on income exceeding $800 per year and other taxes./1861

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Fort Stanton, New Mexico, falls to Texans

Fort Stanton, New Mexico Territory

In a sweeping new grab of Federal power, the US Congress passes a bill establishing a national income tax and new tariffs to finance the war effort. The income tax is 3% and applies to those with incomes over $800 per year. These new taxes are projected to raise $500 million for the Union government, but because of its disfavor, the income tax is never actually put into effect./1861
In Missouri, US General Nathaniel Lyon clashes in a skirmish with pro-secessionists under General Ben McCulloch at Dug Springs. Anticipating further unrest in Missouri, US General John Fremont, stationed at St. Louis, sends General Lyon reinforcements./1861
In the US Territory of New Mexico, Federal troops evacuate Fort Stanton in the face of Lieutenant Colonel John Baylor’s West Texans of the 2^nd Texas Mounted Rifles./1861

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Butler: "Make the runaways contraband"

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R.M.T. Hunter

In Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate Senate confirms Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter of Virginia as Secretary of State. R.M.T. Hunter is a former US Congressman (1837-1847), former Speaker of the House (1839-1841) and former US Senator from Virginia (1847-1861). Although once he aligned with John C. Calhoun on states' rights sovereignty, he served on the Congressional Committee of Thirteen during the winter of 1860, fruitlessly seeking compromise and peace against President-elect Lincoln's war-mongering./1861

Cartoon of Fort Monroe Virginia depicting slav...

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Cartoon depicting Butler's re-enslavement of runaways

In Washington, General Benjamin Butler in command at Fort Monroe, Virginia, presses US Secretary of War Simon Cameron to set a policy regarding slaves in Federal hands. Butler now has 900 runaway slaves and wants some clarity as to their status as property. “What shall be done with them?” he asks Cameron. Under the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Laws they are property, and he is legally obligated to return them to their owners. Butler’s dehumanizing solution is to declare them “contraband of war” and put them to work building fortifications./1861
In Missouri, the pro-Union State Convention votes 56-25 to declare the Governor’s office vacant, thus unseating pro-secession Governor Claiborne F. Jackson, who is in command of the Missouri State Guard in southwest Missouri. The Missouri Secretary of State and Lieutenant Governor’s offices are already vacant, as are some legislative seats because most of those holding office were secessionists who have now been purged and made to flee./1861

Friday, July 29, 2011

Lincoln ignores Greeley on peace; violates Kentucky sovereignty again

The Liberal Republican candidate, Horace Greel...

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Horace Greeley

At Washington, President Lincoln receives the first of a series of letters from newspaper editor (and liberal Republican) Horace Greeley advocating a negotiated peace.
Later today, Lincoln asks the Kentucky delegation in Congress if they will consent to "my friend Jesse Bayles" raising "a Kentucky Regiment" in blatant violation of Kentucky’s neutrality./1861

Monday, July 25, 2011

First Battle of Mesilla, Arizona

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Eastern Confederate Arizona

With his troops’ three months’ military enlistment expiring, US Gen. Robert Patterson is relieved of duty in the Shenandoah Valley, having failed to hold Joseph Johnston in Winchester, Virginia, and prevent him from moving east to support Beauregard at Manassas (Bull Run)./1861
Falling in line with the Lincoln Administration, the US Congress approves the use of volunteers to put down the rebellion. Also, the US Senate passes by a vote of 30-5 the Crittenden-Johnson Resolution offered by Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky, which states the reason for war and invasion of the South is preservation of the Union and the Constitution, not to interfere with the institution of slavery as it is established. The measure is important in keeping Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland in the Union. Although the measure passes in Congress, it means little because within two weeks, President Lincoln will sign a confiscation act, allowing for the seizure of property—including slaves—from rebellious citizens. /1861
Missouri continues to convulse with unrest. Fighting breaks out at Harrisville and Dug Springs. US Major General John C. Fremont assumes command of the Department of the West at St. Louis./1861
At Mesilla, capital of the self-proclaimed Confederate Arizona Territory in the Federal Territory of New Mexico, a battalion of the 2nd Texas Mounted Rifles under Lieutenant Colonel John R. Baylor, on their “buffalo hunt” to drive out Union sympathy in the New Mexico Territory, fight the First Battle of Mesilla in the vicinity of Fort Fillmore. If they can force Federal troops out of the Southwest, they can open New Mexico to Confederate control. Baylor leads his battalion across the Rio Grande into Mesilla, to the cheers of the population. A company of Arizona Confederates join Baylor here, and are mustered into the Confederate Army. Meanwhile at Fort Fillmore near Mesilla, Major Isaac Lynde, of the 7^th US Infantry, leaves a small force behind to guard the fort, and leads 380 Regulars to the village of Messilla to drive out Baylor. Lynde approaches the town and demands Baylor's surrender. When Baylor refuses, Lynde deploys his men into a skirmish line and opens fire with his mountain howitzers. The infantry is ordered to advance but heavy sand and corn fields interfere with his attack. Lynde then orders his cavalry, three companies of the Regiment of Mounted Rifles, to charge Baylor's men. The Confederates managed to shoot many of the Union soldiers, disorganizing the attack, and repulsing the Union assault. Both sides begin skirmishing at long range as Lynde reforms his command and decides to retreat to the fort with Baylor’s Texans and armed Arizona citizens in pursuit. Lynde loses between 3 and 13 men killed plus 2 officers and 4 men wounded, while Baylor’s losses are between 2 and 7 dead and 7 seriously wounded with twenty horses killed./1861
John LaMountain begins balloon reconnaissance ascensions at Fortress Monroe, Virginia./1861

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Johnston to reinforce Beauregard at Manassas

Beauregard's headquarters in Manassas. Stereog...

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Beauregard's HQ at Manassas

Encamped at Manassas with 22,000 men, General P.G.T. Beauregard, nervous about being outnumbered, requests aid in stopping the Federal invasion of Virginia. In a bold move, President Jefferson Davis orders General Joseph E. Johnston by train to Manassas to reinforce Beauregard while US General Robert “Granny” Patterson (the man tasked with keeping Johnston occupied in western Virginia) retreats to Charleston, fighting a small engagement at Scary Creek, western Virginia. /1861

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PGT Beauregard
The US government at the direction of the Lincoln Administration, begins issuing paper currency demand notes commonly called "Greenbacks," in order to finance the war with artificial funds created out of thin air and backed by the supposed good name of the Federal government./1861

Saturday, July 16, 2011

McDowell moves on Manassas Junction

Manassas Railroad Junction

In Washington, the US Congress authorizes President Lincoln to do what he has already done without an historic precedent -- to call state militias up to suppress the popular movement of other states and to accept the services of 500,000 men./1861

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J.E.B. Stuart

J.E.B. Stuart is promoted to full colonel in the Confederate Army. /1861
US General Irvin McDowell breaks camp around Washington with the largest army the United States has ever raised, 35,000 men, and advances on Manassas Junction, Virginia. Unfortunately the green recruits drink all the water in their canteens and wander out of the line of march to find more – and pick blackberries, leaving tons of strewn equipage along the roads. /1861

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Battle of Carrick's Ford; Garnett killed

R.S. Garnett

US Major General George B. McClellan in western Virginia overtakes Brigadier General Robert Seldon Garnett on the Cheat River at Carrick's/Corrick's Ford. While directing his rear guard skirmishers to Garnett is shot and dies minutes later. He is the first general to die during the War. After Garnett dies, his command is routed with 70 killed. Union losses are 53 killed. This battle is significant because McClellan has now successfully taken control of all the western counties of Virginia which have decided to secede from Virginia. West Virginia has important Baltimore & Ohio Railroad lines which bring coal to the coast to fuel the Union naval blockade, and it provides the Union Army with a base of operations to attack Virginia proper. /1861
In Washington, the US House of Representatives expels Missouri Congressman John Clark for his pro-secession position./1861

Monday, July 11, 2011

Confederates routed at Rich Mountain

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William Rosecrans

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John Pegram

Union troops under General George B. McClellan score another major victory in western Virginia at the Battle of Rich Mountain. Confederate General Robert Garnett and Colonel John Pegram have positioned their forces at Rich Mountain and Laurel Hill to block two key roads and keep McClellan from penetrating any further east. McClellan has planned a feint against Garnett at Laurel Hill while sending the bulk of his force against Pegram at Rich Mountain. In an area of western Virginia with many Union sympathizers, Gen. William S. Rosecrans with 2000 Federal troops is guided on a less-traveled, rugged mountain path to completely surprise the left wing of Lieutenant Colonel John Pegram’s Confederate troops at Rich Mountain. McClellan has promised to attack the Confederate front when he hears gunfire from Rosecrans's direction. After a difficult march through a drenching rain, Rosecrans strikes Pegram’s left wing. After several attempts, he finally drives the Confederates from their position. McClellan shells the Confederates but does not assault them as expected. Each side suffers around 70 casualties. Pegram is forced to abandon his position, but Rosecrans blocks his escape route, forcing Pegram to surrender 560 men and opens the road to Beverly, western Virginia. McClellan gets the credit for Rosecrans’ hard work and becomes a Union hero. McClellan is on his way to becoming the commander of the Army of the Potomac. Meanwhile Gen. T.A. Morris forces Gen. Robert S. Garnett to evacuate Laurel Hill, western Virginia. Union losses are 12 killed, 49 wounded. Confederate losses are unknown./1861
Confederate Congress appropriates $172,523 for the reconstruction of Merrimack into an ironclad. Secretary of the Navy Stephen F. Mallory orders flag Officer French Forrest to begin the transformation of the Merrimack into an ironclad./1861

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Battle of Rich Mountain
In Washington, the United States Senate formally expels the following members of that body: J. M. Mason and R. M. T. Hunter of Virginia; T. L. Clingman and Thomas Bragg of North Carolina; Louis T. Wigfall and J. U. Hemphill of Texas; C. B. Mitchell and W. K. Sebastian of Arkansas, and A. O. F. Nicholson of Tennessee./1861

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Cold reception for Ohio Congressman

C.L. Vallandigham (D-OH)

Clement Laird Vallandigham, Ohio’s third district Democratic US Congressman, an ardent abolitionist, states’ rights constitutionalist, and pacifist, today speaks to the Ohio regiments serving in Northern Virginia, but the response is cold. At one stop he is shouted down and pelted with stones and rubbish. His activities will get the attention of the Lincoln Administration before long, and that will not bode well for him. He will become known as a Copperhead, a Southern sympathizer in the North, and his wing of the Democratic Party will become known as Peace Democrats. /1861
Confederate Lieutenant Kennon tries out mines on Union ships at Hampton Roads and the USS Pawnee on the Potomac with limited success. /1861

Monday, July 4, 2011

27th Congress special session convenes

Hon. Abraham Lincoln, President of the United ...

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It’s the big day in Washington, and not just because it is the first Independence Day since the war began. A special called session of the 27^th Congress convenes, summoned by President Lincoln to handle his war measures, and fund his war to destroy the republic and preserve the Union. In a speech meant more for the press than the Congress, Lincoln addresses a joint session claiming the North has done everything in its power to maintain peace. He says his Administration has attempted to solve the problems without resorting to war, problems which he maintains the South has caused by seceding. The similarities between Lincoln’s list of tyrannical acts and claims and the offenses of King George III described in the Declaration of Independence are striking. Lincoln blames his entire fiasco at Fort Sumter on the South and insists that the United States must maintain its “territorial integrity against its own domestic foes.” If the man had any integrity himself, he would have understood that once the states seceded that they were no longer domestic foes. Again Lincoln belabors his position concerning the indivisibility of the Union, using that heretofore unknown national policy to justify his unconstitutional Presidential declaration of war on the Confederate States. Then the President concludes his address with a now-typical Lincoln request for 40,000 additional troops from the Northern states./1861
Although no longer an official holiday in the South, this day still has an air of gratefulness to God and celebration of Freedom; and in honor of the day, President Jefferson Davis presents a Confederate flag to the Maryland Regiment in the Confederate Army. /1861
At Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, Confederate and Federal troops briefly skirmish as they pour into the lower Shenandoah Valley./1861

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Feds invade the Valley; Suspension of habeas corpus extended to NYC

The first cannon used to defend the Valley

Raphael Semmes in the CSS Sumter burns the Golden Rocket at Sea in the Gulf of Mexico. /1861
Federal troops under Gen. Robert Patterson cross the Potomac River at Williamsport, Maryland, and head toward Harper’s Ferry and the Shenandoah Valley where they intend to curtail the movement of Confederate forces toward Manassas Junction, Virginia. In the process, they push Confederate troops under Thomas J. Jackson off the field at the Battle of Hoke’s Run in West Virginia. Also, Colonel Thomas J. Jackson fights an engagement at Hainesville near Martinsburg, West Virginia. At this battle the first hostile cannon shot is fired in the Defense of the Valley of Virginia./1861

In Washington, Abraham Lincoln, in a letter to General of the Army Winfield Scott, expands the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus to areas between Washington and New York City. Previously he has already suspended it between Baltimore and Washington and in parts of Missouri. The Supreme Court has already ruled Lincoln’s suspension unconstitutional, but Lincoln ignores the ruling, extending his tyranny up the seaboard, taking away the rights of citizens to speak against the government or have some recourse against the military. The rights of habeas corpus are enshrined in the United States Constitution, and are so central to a civilized society that to suspend them strips the rights of every citizen. Habeas corpus (Latin for “bring forth the body") provides for a citizen's right to a fair trial, the right to face one's accuser, and force the accuser to prove the guilt of the accused. Habeas corpus protects against unlawful arrests and prevents unlawful imprisonment. It is a common feature of Western civilization. That is, until Lincoln arrived in town from Springfield, Illinois. In other business, General John Fremont meets with President Lincoln in Washington to discuss Fremont’s appointment to command US forces in Missouri where there have been crazy politics and violent unrest. Lincoln wants Missouri stabilized and forced by military might to stay in the Union. Never has a US President been so brazen./1861

At Wheeling, in western “Federal” Virginia, a new legislature convenes with the backing of the Lincoln Administration./1861

Friday, June 17, 2011

Boonville, balloons, and bowie knives

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Battle of Boonville, Missouri

In Missouri, US Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon, after occupying the state capitol at Jefferson City without firing a shot, has pursued the Missouri State Guard and Governor Claiborne Jackson to Boonville, in Cooper County, Missouri. Against the advice of his senior officers including Gen. Marmaduke, Missouri Governor Claiborne Jackson exercises his authority as state commander-in-chief and orders the Missouri State Guard to make a stand at Boonville. In the Battle of Boonville, Missouri, Lyon's 1,400 volunteers and regular US Army troops rout the Missouri State Guard. Casualties are extremely light, but very strategic for the future of Missouri. Jackson, the State Guard, and pro-secessionist members of the General Assembly retreat to southwest Missouri, near the Arkansas border, leaving Lyon’s Federal army in control of the Missouri River, and thereby most of the north and east of the state, effectively thwarting efforts to bring Missouri officially into the Confederacy./1861
The Second Wheeling (Virginia) Convention unanimously declares western Virginia independent of the Confederate portion of the State./1861
Spain proclaims neutrality in the War between the States, but recognizes the Confederacy as a belligerent power, a good diplomatic sign for the Confederacy./1861
Skirmishing and probes continue along the Potomac River front at Conrad's Ferry, New Creek, and Vienna, Virginia. A train of cars with 275 Ohio volunteers is fired into near Vienna, Virginia, and 8 men are killed and 12 wounded. No one takes responsibility./1861

Prof. T.S.C. Lowe

View of balloon ascension. Prof. Thaddeus Lowe...

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Prof. Lowe in his balloon

At Washington, President Lincoln observes Professor Thaddeus S.C. Lowe demonstrate the use of a hot-air balloon for reconnaissance operations and even communicate by telegraph from the air. Some military advisors want to employ balloons to observe enemy movements. The self-taught and self-named Professor Lowe, who looks remarkably like the man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz, had been working on a transatlantic crossing in a balloon, but two test flights had failed. The first failed when the balloon sustained a tear. The second when he took off April 19, 1861, from Cincinnati headed to New York. Unfortunately he instead landed in Union, South Carolina, and was arrested as a Yankee spy. The South Carolina authorities released him when he proved his scientific interests only to them, but US Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase recognized the strategic value of the balloons and invited him to Washington for this demonstration for the President. In July 1861 Lowe would be appointed Chief Aeronaut of the Union Army Balloon Corps by President Abraham Lincoln./1861

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Bowie knife

According to the Richmond Daily Dispatch (June 20, 1861), in the early morning four New Orleans Zouaves leave camp at Bethel, Virginia, without leave for Newport News, allegedly to reconnoiter the area’s fortifications. Five or six hours later, only one of them returns to camp -- exhausted and carrying a large, bloody bowie knife. According to the lone Zouave, about 1 ½ miles from Newport News, they were surrounded by a 20-30 member Yankee scouting party. Armed with nothing but bowie knives, they determined to cut their way out and went to work with a will. Despite killing several of the Yankees, he alone escaped; the other three taken prisoners./1861

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