Taking Fort Henry
Jan 17, 2012 Updates
Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant sent a telegram to Major General Henry Halleck in St. Louis on January 28, 1862, that he intended to capture Confederate Fort Henry on the Tennessee River. This fort was located in western Tennessee, near the Kentucky state line. To assist him in this effort, James B. Eads built four ironclad gunboats, measuring 175 feet long and 50 feet wide. These gunboats had two and one half inches of armor plates, and they mounted 13 guns per boat. These shallow draft vessels were ideal for river fighting.
In February of 1862, Grant brought two divisions of Federal troops downriver on four ironclad gunboats, and on three transports. The transport vessels needed two trips to transport the 14,000 troops in the operation against Fort Henry. In command of Fort Henry was Brigadier General Lloyd Tilghman with 3400 Confederate troops. Most of his men were armed with shotguns and old fashioned flintlock rifles left over from the War of 1812. Recent flooding on the Tennessee River submerged all but nine of his fifteen cannon that faced the Tennessee River. The entire powder magazine of the fort was under water as well.
As the attack commenced, the ironclad gunboats took Fort Henry under fire. Fort Henry’s guns responded, pounding the U.S. gunboat Essex some 30 times, and putting her out of action with a short through her boiler.
Other gunboats closed the range and took the guns in Fort Henry under fire. One six inch rifle burst, and a giant Columbiad was soon spiked by a broken priming wire. Other guns were destroyed by gunboat fire, until only four serviceable guns were left.
Tilghman ordered his infantry in the fort to march out toward Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River. After the infantry marched out, Tilghman struck his colors. By three o’clock p.m., General Grant’s troops arrived to take possession of the fort.
With Fort Henry in Union hands, a water highway deep into Alabama had been opened. Union troops now had the means to be transported into territory as far south as northeastern Alabama. General Grant wired General Henry Halleck in St. Louis: “Fort Henry is ours.” Another Confederate fort around fourteen miles east on the Cumberland River, Fort Donelson, became General Grant’s next target for federal attack.
Raising the Merrimack
Jan 17, 2012 Updates
When Virginia seceded from the Union in April of 1861, Union Navy forces abandoned the Gosport Navy Yard. On a berth at Gosport was the U.S.S. Merrimack, a steam frigate that weighed 350 tons and carried 40 guns. On April 20, 1861, Union officials set the Merrimack on fire at her berth, and scuttled her by opening her shuttlecocks. They then abandoned the Gosport Navy Yard. The ship sank so quickly at her moorings, her engines and hull were saved from the fire.
Confederate Navy Lt. John M. Brooke went to Richmond, and persuaded Secretary of the Navy Mallory to raise the Merrimack, and to convert her into a sea going ironclad ship. The Merrimackwas the only large ship with her engines intact located in the area of Hampton Roads, so Secretary Mallory was eager to have the vessel raised and rebuilt. Mallory gave his approval, and the Merrimack was raised, pumped out and plugged, and the silt was scrubbed out of her engines.
The Merrimack was originally built at the Boston Navy Yard in 1854. The ship went into service originally in 1855, and sailed around Cape Horn and back in the 1850’s. The original steam frigate relied on sail power and steam power for propulsion, but the converted ironclad would only rely on her steam engines for propulsion after she was raised and rebuilt. The reason that the Merrimack was at the Gosport Yard in April of 1861 was for a steam engine overhaul, and that would be significant after the ship was rebuilt.
Lt. John Brooke moved the ship to the graving dock at the Gosport Yard, where the ship’s burned structures were removed. After the ship was cut down, a casement was built of 24 inches of oak and wood lumber in several layers. Two inches of iron plate were laid over the wooden casement, making the new ship the world’s first ironclad warship. The armor plates were angled at 36 degrees to deflect enemy shells.
The new ship was rechristened the C.S.S. Virginia. She was rebuilt with an iron ram on her prow, a large twin blade screw propeller, a new fantail, and a V-shaped cutwater on her bow. The Virginia had a forward and aft main deck that was designed to be submerged, and these structures were covered with four inches of iron plate.
The casemate gun deck contained 14 gun ports, with four gun ports on each broadside. The battery consisted of four muzzle loading Brooke rifles and six smoothbore 9 inch Dahlgren guns salvaged from the sunken Merrimack. The two Dahlgrens located nearest the boiler were designed to fire heated shot at wooden naval vessels.
As an ironclad ship, the mission of the C.S.S. Virginia was to break the Union naval blockade in the Hampton Roads area. The one Achilles heel of the Virginia was her engines. The reason the Merrimack was at the Gosport Yard in April of 1861 was for an overhaul of her weak steam engines. The overhaul was not completed before the ship was scuttled. Exposure to the salt water of the Elizabeth River degraded the old steam engines further. The added weight of the ironclad construction and the forward iron ram put greater stress on the old Merrimacksteam engines. This would become a critical factor the following spring, when the Virginia sailed out into Hampton Roads to take on the Union fleet.
Jobs to Tinker
Nov 10, 2011 Updates
In 2000, after George W. Bush was elected President of the United States, he proposed a move for the Air National Guard B-1B Bomber Wing that was stationed at Robins AFB. This wing distinguished itself against ground targets and military targets in Kosovo in 1999. Our Senior U.S. Senator, Saxby Chambliss, voiced no objections with the Bush Administration over this move, and that flying mission left Robins AFB for good. The wing was moved to a Texas air base as part of a political deal promised by the Bush Administration.
Fast forward to the year 2004. The war in Iraq has been going on for over a year, and Saxby Chambliss is taking one of several trips over to Iraq. On his way out there and back from Iraq, he is constantly uttering the infamous words “stay the course,” and “we can’t cut and run.” All during the war, billions and billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars were being pumped out into Iraq, Afghanistan, and Qatar, never to return again. Huge airbases were built in Iraq and Qatar with billions in U.S. taxpayer funds. Huge budget deficits were created as a result of all of our adventures in the Middle East. These budget deficits have come home to roost, and Congress must cut the budget in future years to deal with the problems created by our overspending in the Middle East.
Fast forward again to the year 2010. Congressman Jim Marshall was swept out of office by the Tea Party vote, and Austin Scott took his seat in the Congress. The Department of Defense, knowing that the defense budget would have to be cut, looked at the direction of Austin Scott’s 8th Congressional District, and a plan was put into action. Jim Marshall carried a lot of clout on Capitol Hill when it came to military affairs. The people of this area voted him out of office, and voted in a Tea Party guy instead. That gave the Department of the Air Force the green light to put together a downsizing plan that will affect Robins AFB.
Last week, The Air Force announced a major reorganization in the Air Force Material Command. Tinker AFB in Oklahoma will get redesigned as the Air Force Sustainment Center. 600 jobs will leave Robins AFB, and will be absorbed by Tinker AFB. Tinker AFB will have as its commander a three star general. The Robins Air Logistics Center will be downgraded to the Robins Air Logistics Complex, and Robins will be commanded by a one star general. At least 516 jobs are to be cut from Robins as soon as possible. Some jobs will be cut via early retirement offers, which will include a $25,000.00 buyout per employee. Other jobs will be eliminated via transfer to Tinker AFB in Oklahoma. This plan appears to pave the way for even greater job cuts at Robins AFB in the future, particularly on account of the reorganization in the command structure.
If the budget has to be cut further, this reorganization will make it easier for more job cuts to happen. If a budget cutting deal cannot be worked in the Congress, these job cuts will be followed by the elimination of other jobs here locally.
The reorganization will be completed by October 1, 2012. Where is Saxby Chambliss while these job cuts are affecting a base in his home state? Why is he not voicing his objections to this plan? A U.S. Senator is supposed to have a lot of clout in Washington D.C. He can threaten the Administration with a filibuster on each and every measure it wants passed in the Congress. He can hold up Administration appointments to the bench and to executive office positions if he chooses to do so. In this situation, as in 2000, Saxby has once again rolled over and played dead, while jobs got moved out of his state and into another, once again.
There are those that vote to reelect Saxby Chambliss again and again, and continue to do so on the grounds that he has a lot of clout in Washington, D.C. Maybe after this latest job cutting episode by the Air Force, those voters will figure out that his influence on Capital Hill has either waned, or he just does not care about job losses at a military base in his home state.
Review of Recent Personal Injury Settlements
Sep 23, 2011 Updates
The following is a summary of recent and significant personal injury settlements from my law practice:
Houston State Court 2000-$90,000
Client was staying in a Perry hotel, when he slipped and fell across the bathtub and the toilet tank in the hotel room after slipping in the hotel room bathtub on Defendant’s slippery and invisible cleaning fluid. Client’s injuries required a double fusion surgery for his lower back. This case settled at mediation.
Bleckley Superior Court 2007-$125,000
Client was duck hunting with a friend when they were separated in a swamp. Ducks flew up between them, and the friend opened fire in client’s direction. Steel shot pellets became embedded in client’s eye. Client required three different eye surgeries, and lost vision as a result. This case settled at mediation after we showed client’s actual loss of vision with visual field tests that were done before and after the shooting.
Peach Superior Court 2010-$16,000.00
Client was a front seat passenger in a pickup truck being driven by her husband. Just as the vehicle was turning left from the I-75 off ramp onto Sam Nunn Boulevard in Perry, the truck was t-boned by a Ford F350 truck that had run a red light at the same intersection. This case settled after written discovery was completed. Client sustained a whiplash injury in this collision.
Bleckley Superior Court 2010-$52,500.00
Client was seated in the front passenger seat of a pickup truck that was parked on a Cochran street. A delivery truck of the Defendant, which was a tractor-trailer truck, turned the corner, and the right rear wheel of the trailer lifted the back of the pickup truck. The pickup was lifted up and slammed down violently. Client required a cervical fusion surgery after the collision. This case settled at mediation after suit was filed.
Peach Superior Court 2006-$50,000
Plaintiff was a youth that was a rear seat passenger in an automobile. An affray occurred at a residence in Crawford County. As client was leaving the residence of a youth there with his friends, the father of one of the youths fired a handgun in the direction of their automobile. A .38 caliber bullet entered the vehicle and struck client in the head, causing him serious and severe injuries. This case settled after suit was filed against the shooter and his homeowner’s carrier was served with the lawsuit. The carrier paid their policy limits to settle the case.
Houston State Court 2011-$25,000
Client was a patron in Defendant’s restaurant when she went to the restroom. In the restroom, she slipped and fell on Defendant’s floor after Defendant’s employee mopped the floor with a greasy mop from the kitchen. No signs were posted in the restroom that would have warned others of a wet or slippery floor. Client sustained a whiplash injury from her fall. This case settled after written discovery was completed.
Washington Superior Court 2006-$72,500
Clients were lawfully driving down U.S. Highway 80 to Dublin, when their pickup truck was struck from behind by a Ford F-350 fueling vehicle owned by Defendant logging company. The F-350 truck was being driven by an employee of the logging company in the course of his employment. The impact of the collision knocked the clients’ vehicle on its side. Client husband received cuts, bruises, and a whiplash injury in the collision. Client wife broke a vertebrae in her lower spine in this collision. The driver of the fueling truck was under the influence of alcohol, and his blood alcohol level was over .18 grams percent at the time of the collision. This case settled after suit was filed against the defendant logging company.
Bibb Superior Court 2010-$60,000
Client had a medical device inserted into his back to control his lower back pain. Client met the representative of the medical device company in his doctor’s office for the purpose of activating the anti-pain device in his lower back. Another rep had already preset the device when client was in the recovery room after it was implanted. When the second rep powered up the device, it turned on at full power, throwing client into excruciating pain for over 15 minutes. Client sustained a mild heart attack during this period. This case settled after depositions were taken.
Bibb Superior Court 2010-$105,000
Client was a U.S. Postal employee delivering mail on the side of a roadway in Bibb County. Defendant was operating his father’s sport car in excess of the posted speed limit. Defendant ran his vehicle into the rear of another vehicle, which then rear ended Plaintiff’s postal truck. Client received a low back injury which required a spinal fusion surgery. This case settled at mediation after completion of discovery. Eyewitness testimony was especially useful in helping us to establish the speed of the defendant’s vehicle at the time of impact.
Afghanistan and Pakistan-Time to Get Out
Sep 2, 2011 Updates
We have had military forces in Afghanistan since 2001, when al Qaeda bases were found there after the 911 attacks here in the U.S. We overthrew the Taliban government in Afghanistan in 2001, and U.S. forces have been fighting al Qaeda and Taliban forces inside various sectors of the country ever since. Most of the U.S. activity in Afghanistan has been directed at building and defending air bases in the southern region of the country. From these air bases, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has flown drone strike missions into Pakistan using Predator drone aircraft. These attacks have been largely successful, as many officers and important Taliban and al Qaeda leaders have been killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan with attacks from U.S. controlled drone aircraft.
Shortly after the Obama Administration took office, a so called surge of troops was sent to Afghanistan, in an effort to pacify the country by covering the country with over 100,000 U.S. troops. A concerted effort was made to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people by having U.S. forces build schools, hospitals, and other infrastructure there.
However, the government of Afghanistan under President Karzai has been notoriously corrupt. Much of the U.S. aid monies in the country have been embezzled and wasted. President Karzai’s own brother was one of the largest drug dealers and drug distributors in Afghanistan, until he was murdered by the Taliban this year. The level of corruption in the country is amazing, and the corruption is so bad there that any decent amount of funds spent on aid to the people probably never trickles down to the regions where the funds were earmarked.
I understand the reason or reasons for continuing to occupy Afghanistan while Osama bin Laden was at large in Pakistan. The Navy Seal Team Six raid into Pakistan earlier this year that killed Osama bin Laden originated from an airbase in southern Afghanistan. Now that bin Laden and much of his al Qaeda leadership have been killed, it just makes no sense to continue to spend U.S. tax dollars on a military occupation of Afghanistan. Afghanistan has been occupied by foreign powers off and on since 1839. We are not going to make card carrying democrats out of the Afghan people. We are not going to win their hearts and minds, either. What we are doing, and what we have been doing is spending millions upon millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars while trying to engage in nation building in this God-forsaken country. Nation building did not work in Vietnam, and it will not work either in Afghanistan. It is high time we got out.
Speaking of nation building, the U.S. State Department has pushed a project which would have the U.S. build and pay for a hydroelectric power dam in Pakistan. Keep in mind that Osama bin Laden was found hiding in Pakistan earlier this year, after that country was supposed to be one of our friendly partners in the war on terror. I say that with “friends” such as Pakistan, we have little need of enemies. Pakistan contains many people that are friendly to militant Muslims and to al Qaeda operatives. Many of the 9/11/2001 bombers were Pakistani citizens. It was clear at the time of the raid against Osama bin Laden that he was hiding in the bosom of friendly Pakistani nationals, as these people hate the U.S. and western culture just as badly as al Qaeda. The American people have no business funding anything in this fickle, terrorist filled nation of Pakistan. We should look to our founding father, George Washington for advice in matters such as these. He advised our Congress to avoid foreign entanglements in the affairs of other nations. We are having a tough time with our own infrastructure. We need to get out of the Middle East in general, and focus our efforts on developing a workable hydrogen fuel cell technology here in the U.S. The Middle East has sucked in our young people in unnecessary wars for far too long. It is time to declare victory in Afghanistan and bring the troops home. It costs millions upon millions of U.S. dollars per day to house, victual, supply, and move the large numbers of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. There are at present no real military or tactical reasons to continue to maintain high numbers of U.S. troops in Afghanistan at this time. The military budget should be cut, and it cannot be cut if we continue to maintain a very large military presence in that part of the world.
Look in the Mirror
Aug 12, 2011 Updates
Congress barely beat a deadline of August 2, 2011, but did pass a measure that raises the debt ceiling, and prevents the U.S. Treasury from defaulting on its debt obligations. However, the political bickering and acrimony generated during this process has caused Standard & Poor’s to downgrade U.S. debt obligations to AA from its former AAA rating. This has caused turmoil in the financial markets, as the stock markets have up and down like a bad roller coaster at an amusement park. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has taken at least a 1500 point hit since the debt ceiling was raised. Our financial future has been held hostage by a dysfunctional U.S. Congress, and people around the U.S. are looking for someone to blame for this mess. I can offer up several groups to blame, with the first group being the Congress itself. This bunch of political hacks and self important potentates are too busy campaigning and jockeying for political position, that they have completely forgotten how to effectively govern the country. You can also blame the political parties that do nothing but divide the country into factions, and offer up absolutely nothing to the country in the way of ideas for effective government.
But perhaps the greatest blame should go to the CEOs and presidents of all of the Fortune 500 companies and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. They have for over the past twenty years formed Political Action Committees (PACS) that have pumped millions upon millions of dollars in Congressional races for years. The Congress that we have today they have pretty much bought and paid for with their PAC money. When all of these business types complain about the way Congress has brought us into a financial crisis, our response should be sent back to them in the form of a letter that should read like this:
Dear President or CEO:
Your company, as well as many others, has formed Political Action Committees for the express purpose of influencing Congressional elections for over the past twenty years. Now, on account of the recent dithering and political bickering in that body, their lack of leadership has plunged this county and maybe the world into a financial crisis.
We the American public hold you substantially responsible for this mess. If you want to see the cause of the current financial mess, just go look into the mirror. You wanted the Congress to enact free trade agreements. You wanted to bust the labor unions and to save your company money by shipping U.S. jobs overseas. You got your wish, and our manufacturing sectors of the U.S. economy are wrecked. The Congress that we now have to work with is the same Congress that you have essentially bought and paid for with your PAC monies. You spent the millions of dollars required to influence Congressional elections around the country, and the Congress that we have to deal with now is the one you bought and paid for. Maybe you should enjoy the fruits of your labors. However, we have a better plan for you.
Why don’t you stick to your business, and keep business out of politics permanently? If your company’s meddling in U.S. Congressional politics gives us this type of dysfunctional Congress to govern us, maybe you and those like you should get out of politics for good. Close down each and every one of your PACS, and stay out of national and local politics for good. If you do not proceed to depoliticize your company, we will boycott the products that you make and sell here in the U.S.
The time has come to get the big money out of Congressional races completely, if the American public must start cleaning up the system from the ground up. The legal system will give the public no relief from this problem. We must now take things in hand and clean up our political system.
Sincerely,
Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Public
Water Wars Round Two
Jul 8, 2011 Updates
On June 28, 2011, a three judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a 2009 decision by U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson. Magnuson’s order ruled that it was illegal for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to draw water from Lake Lanier for Gwinnett County, Forsyth County, and the City of Atlanta water systems. His ruling also required Atlanta and the two counties that draw water from Lake Lanier to terminate their withdrawals from the lake by 2012. This deadline has now been vacated by a three judge panel of the appellate court.
The 11th Circuit went back to common sense in its legal ruling. The City of Atlanta originally drew its water from the Chattahoochee River before the Buford Dam was built, so the court ruled that Atlanta and the two counties naturally had the right to draw water from Lake Lanier. The court also ruled that the language of the Rivers and Harbors Act, which authorized the construction of Buford Dam “clearly indicates that water supply was an authorized purpose. . .” of the project.
The court also ruled, in a 95 page opinion, that diversion of water for municipal water service was not a “major operational change” under the Water Supply Act of 1958. The panel also ruled that “such reallocations to water supply arguably do not actually constitute ‘change’ in operations at all. . .”
The court remanded the case back to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and gave the Corps one year to determine the proper amount of water allocation from Lake Lanier. Conditions had changed somewhat since Judge Magnuson’s draconian order of 2009. Since the date of Judge Magnuson’s ruling, Gwinnett County has completed a new water treatment plant, which now discharges 40 million of gallons of highly treated wastewater into the bottom of Lake Lanier daily. Gwinnett County in essence replaces over 45% of the water it withdraws from the lake with highly treated wastewater. It normally draws 40 to 70 million gallons of water per day from Lake Lanier, the only source of municipal water service for the entire county.
The governor of Alabama has indicated that his state will appeal this ruling to the full panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Florida’s governor is in the process of making the same decision. That will be the third round in the tri-state water wars. Round two is now over. Georgia and Atlanta and Gwinnett and Forsyth Counties appear to have won this round of the fight.
Steven Harrell has practiced law in Perry, Georgia since 1989.
He is the author of The Unionist, A Novel of the Civil War and The Rifle Captain, A Novel of World War I. Both are available at Amazon.com. You may email him at sharrell@comsouth.net.
First Bull Run
Jul 8, 2011 Updates
The Confederate Congress was scheduled to meet around the 25th of July, 1861, in Richmond. Pressure mounted on the commander of the Union Army in Virginia, General Irvin McDowell, to launch an attack on Confederate forces in the area. Two small armies defended northern Virginia at the time. General P.T. Beauregard had command of 20,000 Confederate troops near Manassas. General Joe Johnston had command of 12,000 Confederate troops near Winchester, Virginia.
On July 20, 1861, General McDowell’s army of 30,000 men marched to Centreville, Virginia. Alarmed that superior Union forces were gathering at his front, General Beauregard sent for help from General Johnston. General Johnston loaded his men onto the cars of the Manassas Gap Railroad, and his men arrived on the night of the 20th to reinforce Beauregard’s men.
On the morning of the 21st, 20,000 Union soldiers began a flank attack on the Confederate left flank. Captain Edward P. Alexander, from his wig-wag station, sent Colonel Nathan ”Shanks” Evans a wig wag message that his left flank was about to be turned. This was the first use of the new wig-wag system in combat. Steady attacks by the troops of Colonel William T. Sherman and Major George Sykes forced the Confederate troops back, where they gathered in defense of Henry House Hill.
Confederate General Bernard Bee saw the Virginia brigade of Colonel Thomas J. Jackson standing at the crest of Henry House Hill. He then uttered the words that would immortalize Jackson. “There is Jackson standing like a stone wall. . .Rally behind the Virginians.” Bee soon received a mortal wound, but his brigade and other Confederate troops rallied around T.J. Jackson’s brigade. Jackson’s men soon fixed their bayonets and charged down the slope of the hill, yelling like furies.
As the Union troops were pushed off Henry House Hill, they began a disorganized retreat that turned into a panic. Guns and wagons were abandoned in the Federal flight back to Washington. Members of the U.S. Congress and their wives and ladies had traveled with the army to view a Union victory. They were also caught up in the disorganized retreat, and the confusion and panic of the Union soldiers that were fleeing north.
The only unit left on the field that retreated in any order was the regular army brigade of Colonel William T. Sherman. The day was lost for the Union. Union casualties totaled 460 killed, 1124 wounded, and 1312 missing or captured. The Confederates lost 387 killed, 1582 wounded, and 13 missing. This Confederate victory guaranteed a protracted war and a bloody struggle with larger numbers of troops over battlefields around the South.
Why They Fought
Apr 29, 2011 Updates
Much has been said in newspaper editorials of late as to why the different sides and the soldiers fought in the Civil War. A much more accurate term other than Civil War is War Between the States, as individual states raised regiments to fight one another, and even different regions located inside states sent troops to fight one another.
A review of the political papers and speeches of the politicians of the time will tell you the reasons different states recruited and sent troops to fight in the conflict. After Fort Sumter was shelled, an outpouring of patriotism set up in the Union states, with President Lincoln’s call for volunteer soldiers. Governors of many Union states sent volunteer regiments to Washington. They did so by giving a colonel’s commission to prominent community leaders, experienced soldiers, or politicians in their state. The newly commissioned colonels would then raise a volunteer regiment for service in the U.S. Army, and these regiments would receive clothing and equipment, and then would be shipped by train down to Washington, D.C.
The reasons for their enlistment at that time was a fear that if the rebellion was not controlled, that the Union would break up into many different republics. Preservation of the Union was the primary reason that men in the North enlisted to fight the war. Soldiers from states in the old Northwest Territory held somewhat different views. They fought for the main reason of opening up the Mississippi River to commerce. They did not want New Orleans, Louisiana to remain a foreign port city. For this reason, they fought in the war to open up the Mississippi River to Union navigation and commerce.
Troops from the Northeastern U.S. primarily fell under the influence of abolitionist groups, and they fought mainly to free the slaves. Their prime motivation in serving in the Union Army was to free the slaves in the South.
Down South, most of the regiments on the Confederate muster books the first two years of the war were volunteer regiments. The men at that point in the war volunteered because of their patriotism at the time the Southern states seceded. Demands on army manpower soon required the Confederacy to enact a conscription law. In 1862, the Confederacy began conscription, and conscription continued in the South throughout the duration of the war. If you were male and able bodied, and if you were not a local sheriff, or were not in the local militia, you were required to serve in the Confederate army, or you would be thrown into prison.
One of the most significant reasons that southern men fought in the army or the militia was because their state had been invaded by Union forces. After invasions were made in various states, militia units were called up, and Confederate forces were deployed to meet the invasion threats posed. Even those men that enlisted in local militia units down South to avoid military service in the Confederacy often ended up on the front lines, fighting Union troops in Georgia and in Virginia. A significant reason for Confederate troops and militia to fight was because the Union Army had invaded Confederate held territory. McClelland’s invasion of the Peninsula in 1862 prompted the enactment of the Confederate conscription law. Many soldiers that would probably have stayed out of conflict altogether ended up fighting, because the Union Army had invaded their home state. This was especially true in Tennessee and in Georgia during Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign.
Different sections of states even had different allegiances during the war. In upstate Alabama, where corn was raised instead of cotton, there was a strong pro-union element. Winston County even went so far as to secede from the state of Alabama, and to call itself “the Free State of Winston.” Tennessee sent over 55 regiments to fight in the Union Army, despite the fact that it was a Confederate state. West Virginia broke away from Virginia in 1861, and later was admitted into the Union as West Virginia in 1863.
Eastern Maryland raised several regiments to fight in the Confederate service. Western Maryland remained loyal to the Union. Maryland did not secede from the Union because President Lincoln sent troops into Annapolis to prevent the Maryland Assembly from voting in an ordinance of secession. Kentucky remained loyal to the Union, but furnished many regiments that fought on both sides during the war.
In 1863, the Union enacted a conscription law, because of the horrific losses suffered by the Army of the Potomac on the battlefield. A male subject to the draft in 1863 could avoid the draft by paying the sum of $300.00, or by recruiting a substitute to take his place. This lead to the draft riots in New York City in July of 1863, and the complaint that it was a rich man’s war, but a poor man’s fight.
Steven Harrell has practiced law in Perry, Georgia since 1989.
He is the author of The Unionist, A Novel of the Civil War and The Rifle Captain, A Novel of World War I. Both are available at Amazon.com, and Barnes&Noble.com. You may email him at sharrell@comsouth.net.
Against Long Odds
Apr 15, 2011 Updates
In 1861, the Confederacy faced an uphill fight against the forces of the Union. The population of the seceding states was around eight million, with three million of those persons being slaves at the time. The population of the Union states was around 20 million. The Confederacy had no standing army, no navy, and only two mills that could mill and process iron and steel. Machine shops, coal mines and factories for the production of war resources were mostly located in the Union states. Rhett Butler’s comments about the South being unequipped and ill prepared for war in 1861 in the movie Gone With The Wind were very accurate.
The South was traversed by flat coastal plains and broad rivers that could be navigated, and would allow invasion by the navy and marine forces of the Union. Southern forts and installations were not fully prepared to defend against Union attack. Masonry constructed coastal forts that were formidable during the age of smoothbore cannon, would be proven to be obsolete against more modern rifled weapons.
There were few skilled mechanics and inventors in the South that could build and maintain factories for the production of guns and other war materials. There were few facilities in the South that could mill cotton into cloth for the production of uniforms, sails, or tents. The South had no uniform system of currency. There was no unified banking system to regulate currency in the South.
There were weapons available from armories that belonged to the U.S. that were seized at the time various states seceded, such as at Harper’s Ferry and Fayetteville, North Carolina. However, there was no ready supply of raw materials needed to mass produce firearms in the South at the time the war broke out. Many firearms available to some Confederate regiments at the outset of the war were old style smoothbore muskets that had limited range on a modern battlefield. Other firearms available were of the older flintlock type, that had to be modified later for use by the troops.
The Confederacy depended on volunteer soldiers from state regiments early on in the war. Conscription was not enacted into law until the spring of 1862. After casualties began to mount up into the war, a lack of manpower haunted Confederate authorities up until the conclusion of the war. Many letters written to Jefferson Davis praying for reinforcements during the war often went answered with the words “no other resource remains.”
The Confederacy had no navy to speak of. The Union acquired and built a vast array of freshwater and seagoing vessels to enforce a blockade of southern ports, and to seal off southern rivers. Many areas were effectively sealed off from the outside world after the blockade became more effective in 1863. The Confederacy was forced to rely on blockade runners to get weapons, uniforms, and medicines into the country.
Most of the miles of completed railroad track were laid in the Union states. The railroads in the Confederacy were poorly constructed, and were not well connected with one another. Some railroad lines in the South were even laid with different gauges of track, which prohibited trains from running off one line and onto another. The Union repeatedly took advantage of its far superior transportation system in its movement of troops during the war. The movement of troops during the siege of Chattanooga in 1863 was at that time the largest and fastest movement of troops by railroads in history.
Artillery in the Confederate states was vastly inferior to the artillery deployed by the Union armies during the war. Confederate guns were often imported from England, or captured from Union forces. Confederate ordinance was vastly inferior to Union shells. The quality of gunpowder in the charges was poor. Confederate shells often misfired, exploded prematurely, or spun over and did not strike its intended targets.
Confederate supply services were abominable. Confederate troops were not supplied with anything close to the basic amount of daily rations that would prevent soldiers from starving. They were also poorly supplied with equipment, uniforms, and most important of all, shoes. Confederate soldiers were required to march, campaign, and fight without being properly fed or properly supplied with clothing in all types of weather conditions. In contrast, the Union armies were the best fed and best equipped armies in the world at that time. The commissary command structure in the Confederacy was criminal at best, as the soldiers were underfed, ill clothed, and ill cared for, all during the war.
Union and Confederate forces occupied much of the same areas of Northern Virginia for prolonged periods during the Civil War. These occupations caused a severe shortage of food, supplies, and forage for the draft animals that pulled Confederate supply wagons and artillery. The Confederate invasions of the North in 1862 and in 1863 were mostly because Virginia was being scraped bare of forage for the animals, and food for the soldiers, and shoes for the Confederate soldiers. The battle of Gettysburg itself started when Harry Heth’s Confederate troops entered the town looking for shoes.
Yet in spite of all the inadequate supplies and hardships, the troops of the Confederacy managed to astonish the world by thwarting repeated Union invasions in Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee for several years. The Army of the Potomac failed in seven invasion attempts to capture Richmond or to defeat the Army of Northern Virginia. The South could win the war by resisting invasion from the North. It also had the opportunity to win the war by simply holding its army together, and by outlasting the will of the U.S. Government to continue the conflict more than four years. The war was the bloodiest conflict in U.S. history. It was bloody because of disease and because of the primitive nature of battlefield triage at the time. It was also bloody because the commanders in the field did not fully understand the effect of modern rifled weapons. The war was also bloody because great generals such Robert E. Lee became determined early on in the war to conquer a peace through a decisive victory on the battlefield. It was against these long odds that the Confederacy began its struggle with the Union in 1861. Yet in spite of these odds, the outcome of the Civil War was a near run thing. When the South failed to conquer a peace on the battlefield, the Confederacy made the war last long enough to make significant numbers of citizens in the North demand a peace, and make efforts to put an end to the struggle.
