December 14, 1863---The Battle of Bean's Station, TN

DECEMBER 14, 1863:        

The Battle of Bean’s Station, Tennessee. Union forces attack units of General James Longstreet’s army, still in transit from Knoxville to Greenville. A sharp engagement ensues that costs both sides nearly 1000 men each. Although the Confederates are able to drive off the Federals, they do not have the resources to pursue them. Bloodied, Longstreet’s men encamp at Russellville. 

December 13, 1863---A Confederate Widow In The White House

DECEMBER 13, 1863:        

Emilie Todd Helm, the widow of General Benjamin Hardin Helm C.S.A., comes to Washington D.C. under flag of truce to visit her sister, Mary Todd Lincoln, the First Lady of the United States, for Christmas. Ben Helm had been Abraham Lincoln’s favorite brother-in-law, and Emilie is welcomed with open arms, although her visit is kept as secret as possible. Unfortunately, General Benjamin “Beast” Butler, in town for the holidays, belittles Mrs. Helm at a private White House dinner, and the incident is leaked to the Press by the embittered General Dan Sickles, retired, to that point a friend of Mrs. Lincoln’s. An uproar ensues. Demands are made that Emilie Helm swear a loyalty oath or be arrested as a rebel spy. The Lincolns are forced to spirit Emilie out of the North before a lynch mob appears on the White House steps. Emilie and Mary do not see each other again until well after the war ends, and of course, Emilie never sees the President again.  

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.