December 12, 1863---"Guerrilla Warfare"

DECEMBER 12, 1863:         

Harper’s Weekly does a cover story on “Guerrilla Warfare,” an ever-increasing aspect of Civil War combat. With increasing shortages of supplies and dwindling numbers of men, the South is increasingly unable to engage in the type of set-piece battles that have characterized the fighting so far, and, more and more, is coming to rely on men like John Singleton Mosby and John Hunt Morgan to carry the banner for The Cause.

December 11, 1863---Sumter will not strike its colors

DECEMBER 11, 1863:         

Union shells strike the powder magazine at Fort Sumter. A huge fireball erupts, Charleston trembles from the manmade earthquake, what’s left of the fort literally crumbles into dust, the Confederate garrison loses 60 men literally in a flash---but still, Sumter will not strike its colors.

December 10, 1863---A President in the pink

DECEMBER 10, 1863:        

President Lincoln’s physician declared him free of the variola which had been plaguing him since before his trip to Gettysburg. 

December 9, 1863---Justice! The USS ARIZONA and Civil Rights protesters change history

DECEMBER 9, 1863:          

Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase ordered that the motto “In God We Trust” should appear on U.S. coins. 

General Ambrose Burnside U.S.A. was relieved of command of The Department of The Ohio.

Union troops (U.S.C.T.) stationed at Fort Jackson, Louisiana mutinied in defense of their civil rights. The mutiny, which consisted of the unauthorized firing of rifles into the air, occurred in response to the maltreatment they received at the hands of their white C.O., a Lieutenant Colonel Benedict, who had used the whip on several men. When reports of this maltreatment reached Washington, the U.S.S. ARIZONA was dispatched to the fort to investigate. The gun-firing mutineers were transferred, and the remainder of the U.S.C.T. were placed under the direct command of Benedict’s superior, Colonel Drew.

ARIZONA has not been a lucky name for U.S. Navy ships. The Civil War-era ARIZONA began her career in 1858 as a passenger sidewheeler S.S. ARIZONA, operating along the Gulf Coast. She was seized by the Confederacy in early 1862, converted to a gunboat, and renamed C.S.S. CAROLINE. When she was retaken by the Union later that year, she was renamed U.S.S. ARIZONA. As the ARIZONA, she helped sink the C.S.S. QUEEN OF THE WEST (formerly the U.S.S. QUEEN OF THE WEST). In February 1865, the ARIZONA was abandoned after an uncontrollable fire broke out on board. The abandoned ship grounded on the west bank of the Mississippi River (in Louisiana). When her magazine exploded, she was destroyed.

December 8, 1863---The Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction

DECEMBER 8, 1863:          

In his third State of The Union Address, President Abraham Lincoln offers his conciliatory plan for reunification of the United States with his “Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction."  By this point in the Civil War, it was clear that Lincoln needed to make some preliminary plans for postwar reconstruction. The Union armies had captured large sections of the South, and some States were ready to have their loyal governments reestablished. The Proclamation addressed three main areas of concern:  First, it allowed for a full pardon for and restoration of property to all engaged in the rebellion with the exception of the highest Confederate officials and military leaders. Second, it allowed for a new State government to be formed when 10 percent of the eligible voters had taken an oath of allegiance to the United States.  Third, the Southern States admitted in this fashion were encouraged to enact plans to deal with the freed slaves so long as their freedom was not compromised. 

In short, the terms of the plan were easy for most Southerners to accept. Though the emancipation of slaves was an impossible pill for some Confederates to swallow, Lincoln's plan was charitable, considering the costliness of the war. With the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, Lincoln was seizing the initiative for Reconstruction from Congress. Some Radical Republicans thought the plan was far too easy on the South, but others accepted it because of the president's prestige and leadership. After Lincoln’s death, the terms of Reconstruction were to become far, far more onerous.