January 17, 1864---The Battle of Dandridge, Tennessee

JANUARY 17, 1864:           

The Battle of Dandridge, Tennessee. To stop Confederate troops from moving back into Tennessee, Union forces engage troops belonging to General James Longstreet’s Command. The Confederates manage to push the Federals back to their initial staging point, but a shortage of ammunition, food and shoes precludes any follow-up action by Longstreet’s forces, and they remain in and around Dandridge. Fearing a massed attack, the Union commander breaks off, leaving the Confederates with a toehold in Tennessee. 

January 16, 1864---Pardons

JANUARY 16, 1864:            

President Lincoln personally approves a pardon for Confederate Private John S. Ennis based on a petition from Unionist Kentucky Congressman Henry Grider. Ennis was also from Lincoln’s birth State, and both Grider and Ennis came from prominent political families. Just as he had with ex-Confederate Josiah Pillsbury ten days before, Lincoln uses the Pardon Power to advance Reconstruction. 

January 15, 1864---"Four years have dealt us many sad blows."

JANUARY 15, 1864:            

"Four years have dealt us many sad blows." Of the 19 young men who graduated Ashland, Virginia’s Randolph-Macon College in 1859, five would die as a result of their military service, three from wounds and two from illness, a more than 25% mortality rate for the class. Others would be wounded, in some cases multiple times; for some, their health would be compromised for the rest of their lives. Stlll others would spend time in harsh conditions as prisoners of war. Leroy Edwards, who would spend a year in the infamous Union POW camp at Elmira, New York, kept a copy of the graduation program for the Class of 1859 that includes his pencilled annotations "died" and "killed" next to the names of his classmates who did not survive the war.

January 14, 1864---Civil War, Civil Rights

JANUARY 14, 1864:             

First Sergeant Stephen Swails 54^th Massachusetts U.S.C.T. writes a letter to the Army’s Paymaster demanding that he receive---as per the law effective January 1st---equal pay as due a white First Sergeant ($20 per month as opposed to the $7 he received). Failing that, Swails asks to be mustered out of the Army. 

January 13, 1864---Stephen Foster (1826-1864)

JANUARY 13, 1864:            

Stephen Foster, the Pennsylvania-born composer of such songs as “Suwanee,” “Camptown Races,” “My Old Kentucky Home,” and “Oh! Susannah” dies at age 38 in Bellevue Hospital, New York, from complications due to alcoholism. 

Crystal Gayle sings "My Old Kentucky Home"