August 16, 1863---Near Lookout Mountain

AUGUST 16, 1863:    

The Union Army of The Cumberland begins a general advance designed to flank the Confederate Army of Tennessee, still encamped around Lookout Mountain after being defeated in the Tullahoma Campaign on July 4th. If the Union can flank the Confederacy, the Army of Tennessee will find their supply lines cut, thus forcing them to retreat deeper into Georgia. Unfortunately for the Union, the Tullahoma Campaign was remarkably bloodless on both sides, and the Rebels have had a month-and-a-half so far to regroup and resupply. Many of Pemberton’s paroled men from Vicksburg have “illegally” swelled Confederate numbers, and the Grays are spoiling for a fight, one which becomes the first major Civil War battle fought in Georgia---the Battle of Chickamauga.

August 15, 1863---The Fair Sex

AUGUST 15, 1863:        

Lieutenant John Wilkinson, C.S.N., skipper of the blockade runner Lee, departs from Wilmington, North Carolina, praising the bravery of his female passengers:

 “My observation of the conduct of the fair sex, under trying and novel circumstances, has convinced me that they face inevitable dangers more bravely and with more composure than men. I have frequently seen a frail, delicate woman standing erect and unflinching upon the deck, as the shells were whistling and bursting over us, while her lawful protector would be cowering ‘under the lee’ of a cotton bale.”

August 14, 1863---"Letters are the desideratum in this part of the world."

AUGUST 14, 1863:     

Cornelia Hancock, the 23-year-old Union nurse deemed “too young and too pretty” to be aiding the wounded at Gettysburg writes a surprisingly upbeat letter home. It reads in part:

“I received thy letter this morning and was glad to get it; letters are the desideratum in this part of the world.  I am regularly installed in the General Hospital now, and like it better even than the Corps Hospital.  The main reason for my staying, aside from duty, is that I am so well, if it only lasts.  I feel like a new person, eat onions, potatoes, cucumbers, anything that comes up and walk as straight as a soldier, feel life and vigor which you well know I never felt at home.  The place here is very healthy.  I cannot explain it, but I feel so erect, and can go steadily from one thing to another from half past six o'clock in the morning until ten o'clock at night, and feel more like work at ten than when I got up at home.”

August 13, 1863---The Death of Josephine Quantrill

AUGUST 13, 1863:    

The Women’s Jail in Kansas City, Missouri collapses, killing five of the inmates, all kin of notorious guerrillas, including Josephine, the 15 year old sister of Bushwhacker “Bloody” Bill Quantrill.  

It is never determined just what caused the collapse, though some people later claimed that the building was in dangerously poor condition even before the jail was headquartered there, while others are convinced the collapse was due to a Yankee plot to kill the loved ones of the wanted men.

August 12, 1863---Charleston under fire

AUGUST 12, 1863:    

The Union bombardment of Charleston, South Carolina reaches a crescendo, as Parrott guns are brought up to batter the secessionist cradle into submission. The C.S.S. H.L. HUNLEY arrives in Charleston harbor from Mobile Bay to wreak havoc on the Union fleet.