April 21, 1864---U.S.S. EUREKA

APRIL 21, 1864:          

The former commercial riverboat U.S.S. EUREKA engages in a pitched battle with Confederate land forces along the Rappahannock River near Urbana, Virginia. She holds the river passage.

April 20, 1864---400 massacred and 800 dead

APRIL 20, 1864:        

The Union garrison at Plymouth, N.C. falls to the C.S.S. ALBEMARLE. The Confederate victors massacre as many as 400 U.S.C.T. troops stationed at Plymouth. It is the largest mass execution of black fighting men so far, except for Olustee. Following so soon after Fort Pillow and within two days of Poison Spring, the killing of “Colored” troops by Rebels has become a nightmarish norm. 

Men in the Civil War era were often sentimental to the point of being dewy-eyed and surprisingly naïve about the rules of war. Although most men lost their innocence about the nature of combat early on, the majority of them retained romantic notions about their units and their comrades-in-arms, and even at times the enemy, throughout their lives. 

Charles Graham Halpine, writing as Private Miles O'Reilly, refers in this poem, titled simply April 20, 1864, to his wartime experience as one of 37 officers in the original 69th New York State Infantry Regiment (“The Fighting 69^th”, the most famous of the all-Irish Brigades in the war) which he joined as a lieutenant on April 20, 1861. Three years later, 26 of those officers were dead; of the eleven who remain, four suffered permanently crippling injuries. Eight hundred of the original 1000 men who enlisted in the ranks had also perished:

Three years ago to-day

We raised our hands to heaven,

And on the rolls of muster

Our names were thirty-seven;

There were just a thousand bayonets,

And the swords were thirty-seven,

As we took the oath of service

With our right hands raised to heaven.

Oh 'twas a gallant day,

In memory still adored

That day of our sun-bright nuptials

With the musket and the sword.

Shrill rang the fifes, the bugles blared,

And beneath a cloudless heaven

Twinkled a thousand bayonets,

And the swords were thirty-seven.

Of the thousand stalwart bayonets

Two hundred march to-day;

Hundreds lie in Virginia swamps,

And hundreds in Maryland clay;

And other hundreds, less happy, drag

Their shattered limbs around,

And envy the deep, long, blessed sleep

Of the battle-field's holy ground.

For the swords--one night, a week ago,

The remnant, just eleven,

Gathered around a banqueting board

With seats for thirty-seven;

There were two limped in on crutches,

And two had each but a hand

To pour the wine and raise the cup

As we toasted "Our flag and land!"

And the room seemed filled with whispers

As we looked at the vacant seats,

And, with choking throats, we pushed aside

The rich but untasted meats;

Then in silence we brimmed our glasses,

As we rose up--just eleven,

And bowed as we drank to the loved and the dead

Who had made us thirty-seven!

April 19, 1864---The Yankee Lieutenant's Woman

APRIL 19, 1864:       

The Nashville Dispatch publishes two brief snippets of news about general war conditions in the city:

 The depots . . . were crowded with refugees and mechanics, the former from below [Southerners], and the latter from above [Northerners], and their destination respectively North and South. Several families of refugees, with an almost unlimited number of flaxen-haired children, left in the train for Louisville yesterday morning.

And on a somewhat lighter note:

Dame Rumor says that before the "snaik man sloped," [sic] a former Lieutenant in the Federal army eloped with the wife of a friend, leaving the disconsolate husband and interesting children to take care of themselves. What the said Lieutenant has done, or intends to do, with his own wife, the good dame is not advised, but promises developments in due course.

Unfortunately for those with salacious appetites, this juicy bit of entertaining, utterly meretricious gossip was all they got of the story. If anyone ever knew what became of the cuckold, the “interesting children,” the lovers, and the dashing ex-Lieutenant’s family, it is lost in the mists of history.   

April 18, 1864---The Battle of Poison Spring, Arkansas

APRIL 18, 1864:          

The Battle of Poison Spring. Union troops near Camden, Arkansas are running short of supplies and 1000 men are dispatched to forage for 5,000 bushels’ worth of corn and other items. As the 200 wagon forage train is returning to Camden it is attacked by 3,600 Confederate troops near Poison Spring. 

The Union troops fight valiantly, but are overwhelmed after the third assault wave. The First Kansas Infantry U.S.C.T. , a unit comprised entirely of emancipated slaves, is singled out by the Confederates for especial attention. Almost all of the 300 Union casualties come from this one unit. None of the former slaves are taken prisoner. Instead, they are targeted, and any who surrender are killed, sexually mutilated and scalped by the Confederates. 

The Washington Telegraph, the newspaper of the Confederate capital of the State, justified the mutilations by declaring, "We cannot treat Negroes taken in arms as prisoners of war without a destruction of social system for which we contend."

Despite the contemporaneous documentation of the killings, in certain quarters, modern Southern apologists deny that the killings took place, or, alternatively, that they were not as brutal and extensive as recorded.      

April 17, 1864---A small bread riot

APRIL 17, 1864:          

The Battle of Plymouth, North Carolina. The C.S.S. ALBEMARLE supports land-based troops in attacking the Union garrison at Plymouth, N.C.

The Savannah, Georgia News reports on a “small” bread riot in the city. 100 Savannah women mob a grocery store, grabbing bread, bacon, and other foodstuffs. The News explains: 

That the present high prices of provisions have provided distress no one can doubt, and it is probable that some who participated in the riotous proceedings of yesterday were goaded to their course by pressure of want, but if we are rightly informed many if not the majority of them, had not even that excuse for the commission of acts of lawlessness. Be this as it may, there can be no necessity or justification for such acts of outrage and robbery. It is not generally the truly worthy deserving poor who resort to such measures, and those who thus set the laws and public propriety at defiance forfeit the sympathy of the community. If there is indeed want and suffering let the sufferers make their condition known in the right quarter, and a community that has never turned a deaf ear to the appeals of the helpless and needy will give them relief.

We trust that our city authorities will investigate this matter, ascertain who   they are that truly need assistance, and take the proper steps for their relief. Such action is not only due to the wives and children of soldiers in the service, to the helpless poor, and to the peaceful and good name of our community, but also to the best interests of our city. While the mob spirit      should be met with firmness, we should, in these times, act in accordance with the maxim of "help one another." Let the turbulent be rebuked, but let not the worthy and law abiding poor suffer. 

Three women are arrested for theft and destruction of property.