April 27, 1864---A Confederate olive branch

APRIL 27, 1864:          

Confederate Commissioners are sent to Canada by Jefferson Davis, who wants the Canadians to act as intermediaries and hosts of a Peace Conference between the warring States of America. For reasons unknown nothing comes of the plan. 

April 26, 1864---The U.S.S. CRICKET

APRIL 26, 1864:        

The Red River Campaign continues to degenerate into a tragicomedy of errors. The U.S.S. CRICKET, Admiral Porter’s flagship, is stranded on a sandbar in the midst of the low-running Red River. It cannot pick up troops and ferry them away; indeed, it can’t move at all. Confederates onshore use the CRICKET for target practice, hitting it 38 times. A massed attempt to take the ship and capture Admiral Porter fails, when Union troops beat back a 1200-man Confederate force tasked to seize the CRICKET.

April 25, 1864---The Battle of Marks' Mill

APRIL 25, 1864:         

The Battle of Marks’ Mill, Arkansas. Southern troops hit Union forces along the Red River from three directions at once. In this battle, which dragged on all day, the Union lost 1,800 men, mostly captured; about 200 U.S.C.T. were killed upon capture. The Confederates lost 300 killed, wounded and missing. In the aftermath of the battle, the Union abandoned its position at Camden, Arkansas, and began withdrawing troops from the area. Although the Union column at Marks’ Mill was essentially destroyed in the action, other Union forces in the region were able to reorganize without harassment from the Confederates, and were able to maintain Union hegemony over Arkansas.

April 24, 1864---Matzoh

APRIL 24, 1864:         

Confederate Private Isaac J. Levy writes home to assure his family he is observing a proper Passover. Levy served in a “Jewish” regiment of which his brother Ezekiel was Captain:

“No doubt you were much surprised on receiving a letter from me addressed to our dear parents dated on the 21st which was the first day of Pesach,” he wrote to his sister Leonora, with the word “Pesach” carefully printed in Hebrew letters. “We were all under the impression in camp that the first day of the festival was the 22nd,” and he had therefore unwittingly failed to observe the holiday’s start on the appropriate day.

But Levy went on to assure her that his brother had purchased matzoh “sufficient to last us for the week” in the city of Charleston at the cost of two dollars per pound, and that they were “observing the festival in a truly Orthodox style.” Sadly, just four months later, Isaac Levy was killed in the trenches during the Siege of Petersburg on August 21, 1864. He was 21 years old.

In the Civil War, 7,000 Jews fought for the Union, and 3,000 for the Confederacy. Nine Jews (of both sides) reached the rank of General and 21 attained Colonelcies.

April 23, 1864---The Battle of Monett's Ferry

APRIL 23, 1864:         

The Battle of Monett’s Ferry. Confederate forces attempt to wrest a victory from the Union in the stalled Federal Red River Campaign. As Union forces cross the Red River, Confederate forces attack. Although the Union is surprised, the Confederate attack is too small and too tentative to do more than disrupt the immediate river crossing. As the two sides battle, the majority of Union forces move downriver to an unguarded ford and cross there. Federal losses are 200, Confederate losses are 400.