March 15, 1864---Not a mob of armed ragamuffins

MARCH 15, 1864:       

Supply and distribution of military issue had been an ugly sticking point throughout the Civil War. 

Particularly in the early days of the war, shortages and profiteering had heavily impacted the availability of soldiers’ gear on both sides of the line. Throughout 1861, 1862, and on into early 1863, many fighting men ended up barefoot, North and South, since after several battles and interminably long marches their footgear would fall to pieces --- and could be replaced only catch-as-catch can. 

The Union was aggressive in addressing its shortages (and its profiteers). After the resignation of Secretary of War Simon Cameron, his successor Edwin Stanton frequently slept in his office chair since he was at work often ‘round the clock dealing with suppliers. 

By the Spring of 1863, every Union man had a foot locker bulging full of spare clothes and gear back at headquarters. Replacement gear was easily obtained for the asking. In the field the men were forced, of course, to make do with whatever they could carry. 

On this day, Charles Lepley, of the 103^rd Pennsylvania, Company E, notes in his diary: 

Several inches of snow fell last night but now at 12 [o’clock] it has almost disappeared by the influence of the Sun. Yesterday I Drawed 1 pr Pantaloons & 1 pr shoes.

 

Lepley’s Confederate counterparts could never draw from their Quartermasters quite so easily as did Lepley.  As a rule, and unlike Yankees, Rebels used their gear until it was no longer salvageable. 

However, after having had too many men fight barefoot, ragged, and ill-equipped at Antietam and Gettysburg, the Confederate Army Quartermaster Corps had become far more strict about keeping the men well supplied. The typical barefoot Confederate of 1864 was usually a farm boy who enjoyed walking without shoes (though he would wear them in battle). 

Increasingly severe shortages suffered by Rebel civilians were exacerbated by the Confederate government’s policy of directing the first and best of all materials to the army. 

A General Order issued just before the Battle of Chickamauga mandated that all men sent into battle must be properly supplied, dressed, and shod. Richmond made certain that Rebel troops in 1864 were not, as the popular media of today would have it, a mob of armed ragamuffins.   

March 14, 1864---The Battle of Fort DeRussy

MARCH 14, 1864:       

The Battle of Fort DeRussy. Fort DeRussy, a supposedly “impregnable” stronghold on the Red River, was strategically positioned so as to deny Union troops access to the city of Alexandria, Louisiana. On this day, 10,000 Union troops swarmed over the fort en masse, overwhelmed the 350 Confederate defenders, and opened the river road to Alexandria.

 

Confederate Fort DeRussy in Louisiana should not be confused with its Union counterpart in Washington D.C., or its modern counterpart in Hawaii.

March 13, 1864---The Latin American Civil War

MARCH 13, 1864:      

Although mainstream American history neatly glosses this fact, the territorial expansion of the United States was undertaken largely at the expense of Spanish-speaking peoples, whether they were Spaniards, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Filipinos, or Guamanians. 

After the 1840s, when the border moved south to the Rio Grande, the United States acquired a large, largely-ignored Spanish-speaking population. In the 19^th Century, it was comprised primarily of Tejanos, Texans of Mexican origin. 

As it was with all Americans, Tejanos fought on both sides in the war, and in all theatres of the war and in all major battles. Many remained loyal to their home soil of Texas (if not strongly in favor of the Confederacy) despite being chronically ill-equipped and ill-provisioned by Richmond and Austin. The 33rd Texas (C.S.A.), commanded by Colonel Santos Benavides, was an all-Tejano unit which was never defeated by Union forces.

Many Tejanos, feeling either loyalty to the United States or, alternatively, that the Confederacy treated them in a disparaging fashion, chose to fight for the United States, like Captain Rafael Chacon of the New Mexico Volunteers (U.S.A.).  

The 2nd Texas Cavalry (U.S.A.) was an all-Tejano unit that fought in the ongoing Red River Campaign.

Other Tejanos struggled to come to terms with what they saw as strictly an “Anglo” Civil War. Some crossed the Rio Grande and sought asylum in Mexico; these illegal immigrants were often hanged by the French-dominated Mexican government as “invaders.”

On this day, Cecilio Balerio, a Tejano guerrilla fighting for the Union, defeated the Confederates in the bloody hand-to-hand Battle of San Patricios, Texas, that is considered part of the Red River Campaign.

March 12, 1864---The Start of The Red River Campaign

MARCH 12. 1864:       

The Red River Campaign begins. It is the largest joint Army-Navy operation of the war, the brainchild of General Henry W. Halleck, who wants to take Shreveport, Louisiana along with its foundries and docks and supply depots. The fall of Shreveport will bring about the fall of Confederate-held Louisiana and will mean the capture of the Headquarters of the Confederacy’s Department of The Trans-Mississippi.

It is also a precursor to the planned invasion of Texas, which, to date, has not been entered in force by the Union except in the northern panhandle, along the Rio Grande frontier, and in coastal enclaves.

On this day, General Nathaniel P. Banks, U.S.A. begins moving 17,000 troops against Alexandria, Louisiana.

March 11, 1864---Pickett's Charged

MARCH 11, 1864: 

Under the headline “Military Despotism in The State,” The New York Times reported on the hangings of 53 Union POWs by the formerly dashing and dandified General George Pickett C.S.A. after Pickett’s failed attempt at defending New Bern, North Carolina on February 1st. The 53 men were members of the U.S. 2nd North Carolina. Unfortunately for these men, Pickett, on an ad hoc inspection tour, recognized several of the men, who had previously been in Confederate North Carolinian units under his command.  

Beyond fury at having been defeated (again) by the Yankees, and especially enraged at these turncoats, Pickett ordered all North Carolina Unionists hanged wherever they might be. Of course, this emotional order could not be carried out in toto, but the general impossibility of fulfilling Pickett’s order did nothing to help these specific prisoners. Two were hanged on February 5th; eighteen were hanged on February 12th, and 13 more were hanged on February 15th. Of the twenty others, only two, one a Union soldier-turned-informer, and the other, an “imbecile,” were ultimately spared. To increase their torment and inflict a lesson on any men in gray who might have otherwise considered deserting, Pickett hanged the men not in groups but slowly, one by one, in front of his assembled units. Afterward, most of his men dared to openly criticize their General, who, up to that point, had been a popular commander. 

Pickett’s hysterical reaction to his defeat at New Bern and the measured cruelty of the executions was criticized by everyone, North and South. Pickett’s actions played a large part in the decision to suspend Prisoner Exchanges in April 1864. Desertions from Pickett’s units skyrocketed, and North Carolinian Unionist ranks swelled. By hanging these men, Pickett probably did more to bolster the Union cause than any other Confederate General during the war. 

After the Civil War ended, a group of former Confederate officers (including several ex-Generals) brought War Crimes charges against Pickett. Although Pickett asked Robert E. Lee to speak in his defense, Lee, fully knowledgeable about the hangings, refused to help his former subordinate. Pickett was convicted in absentia, and fled to Canada. Ultimately, he was pardoned by President Ulysses S. Grant, returned to Virginia, and died of the effects of extended alcoholism in 1875.