September 26, 1863---An appeal

SEPTEMBER 26, 1863:     

General Edmund Kirby Smith C.S.A., Commander of The Department of The Trans-Mississippi, issued an appeal to the civilians in his Command, isolated from the rest of the Confederacy since the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson:

“Your homes are in peril...You should contest the advance of the enemy, thicket, gully and stream; harass his rear and cut off his supplies.”   

The locals, essentially abandoned, who were well aware of the precarious military situation in the West, could only shrug. Smith had only 30,000 regular troops to defend an area extending from El Paso, Texas east to Pilot Knob, Missouri

September 25, 1863---A family divided; a family grieving; a nation

SEPTEMBER 25, 1863:      

Having detached two Corps of The Army of The Potomac for duty in Chattanooga, President Lincoln, who is deeply in mourning for his close friend and brother-in-law General Ben Hardin Helm C.S.A., killed at Chickamauga, writes an acerbic and disgusted letter to General Ambrose Burnside in northern Tennessee, berating him for not moving his own much closer troops to Chattanooga. Lincoln, as was usually his wont when writing angry letters, never sent it on. 

September 24, 1863---Chattanooga is "under siege."

SEPTEMBER 24, 1863:      

General Braxton Bragg C.S.A. announces that Chattanooga is “under siege,” but his troops are not ordered to move from their positions around Lookout Mountain or to engage Rosecrans’ Army of The Cumberland. In the meantime, the 11^th and 12^th Corps of The Army of The Potomac are in transit to Chattanooga. Though he knows this, Bragg does not cut the rail lines. Bragg’s subordinates begin to complain to Richmond about his “cowardice” and “incompetence.”

September 23, 1863---Civil Rights activist Mary E.C. Terrell is born; The Union reinforces Chattanooga

SEPTEMBER 23, 1863:     

The 11^th and 12^th Corps of The Army of The Potomac are ordered to Chattanooga to reinforce The Army of The Cumberland. 

Also on this day, Mary Eliza Church Terrell (d. 1954), Civil Rights activist, founder of the National Association of Colored Women, and the first black woman to earn college degrees (B.S. and M.S.) in the United States, is born in Memphis, the daughter of former slaves.

September 22, 1863---More war for weary Missouri

SEPTEMBER 22, 1863:      

General Jo Shelby, C.S.A. begins a series of raids along the Missouri-Arkansas border.