Connecticut war record, 1863-10

              THE CONNECTICUT WAR RECORD.
O V n S T A T E POINTS TO DEEDS, NOT ACRES.
FECK, WHITE St FECK,
Fublishers. NEW HAVEN, OCTOBER, 1863. VOL. I. Wo. 3.
$1 PER AMNUM. TS ADYAKOR
Record of Events. •
Aug. 25. Gen. IJluiit defeats Gen. Coop-er
at Perryville, Ark. !
Aug. 25. Confederates defeated at
Brownsville, Ark., by tlie cavalry of Gen.;
Steele. j
Aug. 2G. Capture of the Rifle pits and |
of 75 rebels, in front of Fort Wagner. !
Aug. 26, 27. Cavalry figlit at White
Sulphur Springs, "West Virginia, between
Gen. Averill and the Confederate Gen. I
Jones. Feder.ils obliged to retire. Loss- j
es about equ.il.
Aug. 28. l^ebels defeated with severe,
loss, at Bayou Metaire, Avk., by General
Steele.
Sept. 1. Col. Cloud, of Blunt's army,
defeats Gen. Cobell, »nd captures Fort
Smith, Ark.
Sept. 2. Destruction of the Satellite
and Reliance, on the Rappahannock, by ^
Gener.ll Kilpatrick.
Sept. 2. Occupation of Kingston, Tenn.,
by Gen. Burnside.
Sept. 0, 4 and 5. Utter defeat of the |
Indians, at White Stone Hills, Dacotah ;
Territory, by Gen. Sully. I
Sept. 4. Occupation of Knoxville by I
Gen. Burnside. |
Sept. 5, 6. Terrible bombardment of
Forts Wagner and Gregg, followed by!
their evacuation; 30 guns found in the
forts, and 75 rebels taken prisoners.
Sept. 7, 8. Heavy tiring between the
forts in Charleston Harbor and the iron-clads.
Explosion of a magazine in Fort
Moultrie. Unsuccessful attack by the
marines of the fleet on Fort Sumter.
Sept. 8. Repulse of Gen. Franklin at
Sabine Pass, La.
Sept. 9. Occupation of Chattanooga by
Gen. Rost'crans.
Sept. 9. Surrender of Cumberland Gap,
with 2000 men and 14 guns, to Gen.
Burnside.
Sept. 10. Occupation of Little Rock,
Ark., by Gen. Steele.
Sept. 13. Defeat of the Confederate
Cavalry at Culpepper Court House., Va.,
with loss of 3 guns and 40 prisoners.
Sept. 19, 20. Defeat of Gen. Rosecrans
at Cl>iukamauga. Loss in killed, wound-ed
and missing, 13,800; Confederate loss
full as heavy.
Sept. 28. Defeat of Rebel Cavalry at;
^rcMinnville, Tenn., by the forces of Gen. i
Burnside.
Sept. 30. Occupation of Camp Bisland,
La., by Gen. Franklin. j
for the ConneelicHt irar JiceorJ.
Review of Events.
NLMBETL THREE,
In the right zone of our vast theatre i
I
of ojierations, the movements of Gen. j
IMunt have been remarkably brilliant and !
successful. In nine days he marched two
hundred and fifty miles, fought two bat-j
ties, and, by the capture of Fort Smith,
compelled the evacuation of Xorthwest-ern
Arkajisas.
As successful too, though less dashing,
W.1S the movement of Gen. Steele against
Little Rock, the capital of Arkansas.
After a sharp and decisive engagement
at Bayou Metaire, the Confederates, de-feated
with severe loss, disheartened and
domor.ilized, abandoned their capital and
retreated to Arkadelphia. Thus, by the
operations of these two ofticers, the whole
of Xorthern Arkansas is forever lost to,
the Confederacy.
On the ICth of last August Gen.Rose-cr.
ins broke up his camp at Winchester
and again advanced to seek the enemy.
Two of his corps, commanded by ^Ic-
Cook and Thomas, proceeded to Steven- j
son, Ala., while the third, under Critten-den,
striking oft' more to the eastward,
marched directly upon Ch.ittanooga. The
design seems to have been this : McCook
and Thomas, with the bulk of the army,
by marching to the west and south of
Chattanooga, were to flank that ))osition,
while Crittenden, with the remainder of
the army, holding oft' to the left, yet
within concentrating distance, was to
threaten it in front. It is also extremely
probable that Gen. Rosecrans contem-plated
not only a battle Avith Gen. Bragg,
in which, as the armies then were, he felt
confident of success, but also a further
advance upon Atlanta, into the very heart
of Georgia.
The wager of battle thus offered to the
Confederate General was declined, and
he retreated from Chattanooga, while yet
his retreat was sure. Crittenden imme-diately
occupied the town, and pushing
forward, efl'ected a junction with McCook
and Thomas, not far from the now his-toric.
ll Chickamauga river.
Meanwhile the Confederate leaders had
not been inattentive. They saw that the
blow which Rosecrans aimed at them
would, if successful, sever the Atlantic
from the Gulf States of the Confederacy.
Their great Southwestern Railway was
already lost. Should Atlant.i, with its
network of railroad connections, be cap-tured,
their position in Virginia would
be as eft'ectually turned as it had been at
Columbus by the surrender of Fort Don-elson.
Richmond, which they had forti-fied
Avith so much care and defended with
such prodigal waste of blood, would be
no longer of any strategic vfilue. Well
they knew that a momentous period had
arrived, and fairness compels us to admit
that their eft'orts to redeem themselves
were worthy of an infinitely better cause.
Buckner had already joined Bragg.
From the army of Lee, Longstreet's corps
was put in motion on the t w y dar/ that
Chattanooga Avas evacuated. Portions
of Johnston's army were sent up from
^lississippi. In violation of their pledged
word of iionor, ten thousand of Pember-ton's
army Avere declared exchanged and
ordered to report to Bragg. Reinforce-ments
came also from Mobile and possibly
froni Charleston. In short, from the At-lantic
to the Mississippi river, and from
the Rappahannock to the Gulf of Mexico
every available soldier Avas hurried on to
Bragg, Avhile the entire Federal army,
ignorant of, or doubting the movement
of the enemy, remained comparatively
motionless.
Gen. Rosecrans, aware that he was
outnumbered, took up a strong defensive
position along the Chickamauga, Gen.'
Thomas holding the left, Crittenden the
center, aud McCook the right. About
eleven o'clock in the forenoon of the•! 0th
ult., the Confederates, without skirmish,
ing, fell upon Gen. Thomas with over-
Avhelming force and Avere pushing him
back. This officer, however, soon rallied
his men, and in t u rn drove the rebels back
Avith fearful slaughter. From this time
the battle raged till dark, closing with a