November 11, 1863---"Beast Butler" charms North Carolinians

NOVEMBER 11, 1863:        

Union General Benjamin “Beast” Butler, having alienated everyone in New Orleans, is assigned as Military Governor of North Carolina, where he immediately begins rounding up suspected Southern sympathizers---anyone who complains about him tops the list.  Butler does more to swell Confederate ranks in this last-seceding, deeply divided State than Jefferson Davis on his best day.

November 10, 1863---A Union war criminal is promoted

NOVEMBER 10, 1863:       

In what must rank as one of the most bizarre military tribunals in U.S. history, Private James Reilly of the famous 54th Massachusetts U.S.C.T. was accused of having intercourse with a mare, and was court-martialed. Although Reilly was exonerated and returned to active duty, a unit medical officer, Dr. Charles Briggs, decided to take matters into his own hands, and forcibly circumcised Reilly (without using any anaesthetic) as a punishment. Briggs then cauterized Reilly’s penis with a red-hot branding iron. Although Briggs was charged with a crime, he was never prosecuted. Indeed, he was ultimately promoted to Unit Surgeon. His atrocity went unpunished, a horrifying if forgotten testament to the different treatment meted out to white soldiers and black in the Union Army.

November 9, 1863---John Wilkes Booth's "Marble Heart."

NOVEMBER 9, 1863:          

President Lincoln was a devotee of the theatre. He preferred escapist comedies and swashbuckling action-adventures. Mary Lincoln, however, preferred melodramas and tragedies. Tonight, she convinced her husband to attend a performance of “Marble Heart,” a drama starring the famed actor John Wilkes Booth. 

November 8, 1863---Lee withdraws behind the Rapidan River

NOVEMBER 8, 1863:          

As Robert E. Lee withdraws southward, his nemesis General George Meade sends Union troops to harry his rear. Skirmishes break out all along the line, with a particularly large shootout at oft-embattled Brandy Station. 

November 7, 1863---The Second Battle of Rappahannock Station, VA

NOVEMBER 7, 1863:          

The Second Battle of Rappahannock Station, Virginia. 

Now called Remington, the town was the site of the only Confederate pontoon bridge across the Rappahannock River in late 1863. The Eastern Theatre had been very quiet since Gettysburg---Virginia had seen little more than picket fire, skirmishes, raids, and only the smallest of what might be scaled as “battles.” 

It had been too quiet for too long, and the Union Command was growing concerned that Marse Robert had something up his sleeve. They decided to act. Seizure of the bridge by the Union would cut the Army of Virginia off from being able to maneuver on the north bank of the river, hence halting any planned autumn offensive.   

The Union plan was to take the bridge in a two-pronged attack---a direct assault at the bridge combined with a flanking move across Kelly’s Ford. Although the Union faced the stubborn Jubal Early as Confederate field commander for this action, both maneuvers were successful. Robert E. Lee was convinced that the flanking action at Kelly’s Ford was the main thrust; thus, he ordered Early to move the bulk of his troops to that area, leaving Early just enough men to check what Lee thought was the Union feint. 

Lee had the battle plan precisely reversed in his head. The Kelly’s Ford feint tied up the bulk of Southern troops, while the Northerners took the bridge against determined but outnumbered resistance. 

Confederate losses were alarmingly high---almost 1700 of the less than 2000 men involved were killed, wounded or captured (over 80%). Union losses numbered about 400 out of a force of 2000. 

This relatively small, relatively minor battle broke Confederate resolve in the Eastern Theatre. Lee, who had indeed been planning an Autumn offensive, called it off, and withdrew behind the line of the Rapidan River in what his aide, Major Taylor called, “the saddest chapter in the history of [the Army of Northern Virginia].”