Tuesday, November 12, 2013

November 14, 1863---Confederate ships are sinking



NOVEMBER 14, 1863:       

General P.G.T. Beauregard inspects the Confederate gunboats at Charleston, S.C. His report is not encouraging: 


“Our gunboats are defective in six respects . . . First, they have no speed . . . Second, they are of too great a draft to navigate our inland waters. Third, they are unseaworthy . . . even in the harbor they are at times . . . unsafe in a storm. Fourth, they are incapable of resisting the enemy’s . . . shots. Fifth, they cannot fight at long range. Sixth, they are very costly, warm, uncomfortable and badly ventilated; consequently sickly.”

November 13, 1863---Confederate horses are starving



NOVEMBER 13, 1863:        

On this day, a Friday, Robert E. Lee wires Jefferson Davis imploring him to send horse fodder to the Army of Northern Virginia. Lee’s horses have been subsisting on only three pounds of corn a day for the last week. A war horse requires about 26 pounds of mixed feed per day.