October 26, 1862---"The dullest of dull places . . ."

OCTOBER 26, 1862:            

The New York Herald reports on the Battle of Old Fort Wayne, calling it war news from “the dullest of dull places, with scarce an incident to disturb the equipoise of the monotony.” Spoken like true New Yorkers. 

October 25, 1862---"There are no two nations of Europe which have ever hated each other with more intense and implacable hate . . ."

OCTOBER 25, 1862:           

 The Richmond Daily Dispatch prints an enraged editorial that asserts that with the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, the Union can never be restored. The Editors ignore the fact that the war has split families, friendships, and old loyalties. They speak only of hate. It reads in part: 

Nevertheless, the best policy, simply as policy, to say nothing of right and justice, which the Lincoln Government could have pursued . . . would have been to permit the South to depart in peace . . . The South is never to be re-united to the old Union . . . With the whole framework of Southern society overthrown, the proprietors and directors of the labor dead or exiled, and the laborers themselves turned loose, what practical gain will ensure to the North? . . . There are no two nations of Europe which have ever hated each other with more intense and implacable hate than North and South. There are no two nations in Europe more dissimilar, politically, socially, in almost every other respect that can be named. The two races, apart from their present hostility, do not think alike, do not look alike, do not even talk alike, and have nothing alike but their mutual hate. It is useless to attempt the union of such opposing elements. Better let them part in peace.

October 24, 1862---"Sore-tongued and fatigued horses."

OCTOBER 24, 1862:            

General McClellan still has not made a move to pursue Robert E. Lee. After receiving McClellan’s latest letter, complaining of “sore-tongued and fatigued horses,” President Lincoln’s patience is wearing thin. 

In response, the President demands to know, "what the horses of your army have done since the battle of Antietam that fatigue anything?" 

 Ominously for McClellan, General Don Carlos Buell is relieved “for ineffective pursuit of the enemy” after Perryville, and is replaced by General William Rosecrans.

October 23, 1862---The Battle of Pocotaligo, S.C.

OCTOBER 23, 1862:           

The Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina. In an attempt to cut the railroad between Savannah and Charleston, several Federal regiments land on the coast of South Carolina and march inland toward Pocotaligo Bridge. Heavy fighting causes the Union regiments to withdraw.

October 22, 1862---Cherokee Confederates invade Arkansas

OCTOBER 22, 1862:           

The Battle of Old Fort Wayne, Indian Territory (The Battle of Bentonville; the Battle of Maysville). A largely-Cherokee Confederate force of 1,500 pushes from Indian Territory into northwest Arkansas, but is pushed back by Union troops numbering 4,000. The Confederates lose most of their big guns and their supply train in the encounter, and retreat nearly 70 miles southwest to Fort Gibson.