Fort Union

“ They suffered, indeed, two rival trading-posts on the upper Missouri, three hundred miles above Fort Union, namely, Fort Benton and Fort Campbell, for it was indispensable for them to exchange their peltries for arms, ammunition, blankets, and goods; but the traders never dared admit them within the forts.
War was their sole business, the only means by which the young braves acquired influence, gained wealth, and found favor in the eyes of the maidens. Their war parties invariably started out on foot, each warrior trailing a long lariat, and bearing a bundle of moccasins with rawhide soles. ”

“ Bravely as the army of the West had sustained the honor of the Union, the crowning glory of taking Fort Donelson remained to be accomplished. To attack a strongly-defended fort, formidable by nature and rendered almost impregnable by military art, was a work of extreme danger, nay, of impossibility to less resolute men. ”

“ Located twenty-seven miles northeast of Las Vegas, Fort Union became the most important and most famous fort in the New Mexico Territory. Established on the Santa Fe Trail in 1851, it served as supply depot for the territory and as a base for troops engaged in the protection of traffic along the Santa Fe Trail and of the settlements in the area from the depredations 65 of the Apaches, Utes, Comanches, and Kiowas. The site can be reached by traveling eight miles of paved road which leaves U.S. Highway 85 one mile north of Watrous. ”

“ Meantime, news of the critical condition of affairs having reached the Colorado territory and Kansas, troops were at once organized to go to the relief of the threatened positions. By forced marches, scarcely paralleled in history, a Colorado regiment 950 strong, under Colonel Hough, reached Fort Union on the 13th of March. Here he gathered around him all the troops available, or possible to obtain, and marched for Santa Fé, to give battle to the invaders. ”

“ The Texans under Sibley marched on up the Rio Grande, levying tribute upon the inhabitants for their support. The Colorado troops were urged to the greatest possible haste in reaching Fort Union, where they were to unite with such regular troops as could be concentrated at that post, and thus aid in saving the fort and its supplies from falling into Confederate hands. Early on the following morning the order was given to proceed to Union by forced marches, and it is doubtful if the same number of men ever marched a like distance in the same length of time. ”

“ The garrison of the fort, which was about seven hundred strong, now belched forth from their howitzers both grape and canister, against an advancing force of only one hundred and eighty men; for the Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania and Ninth Maine regiments were so completely demoralized by the heavy fire of the enemy, that they instantly fell on their faces, and rose only to retire beyond range. ”

“ The rebels in the mean time having got everything in readiness in the event of such a reply, immediately opened a rapid and furious fire. Inside the fort the Unionists, desiring to conceal their real strength until a charge should be made, lay close back against the sand wall, and got themselves in readiness by biting off cartridges, and putting them up before them on the logs, that they might be able to open a quick fire upon the enemy when they advanced to the assault. ”

“ This refusal to surrender was quickly followed by another impetuous assault upon the fort. The daring Brigadier-General A. P. Thompson, formerly a citizen of Paducah, led the Kentucky rebels against the Union fort. A fire, more galling than ever, was opened by the rebel sharpshooters upon the garrison as the main column rushed upon the fort. Murderous discharges from the small arms and cannon of the fort, and the raining shell of the gunboats, made fearful havoc in the rebel ranks as they advanced. ”

“ Nothing could exceed, nor no praise do justice to the constant patience, courage, and devotion to duty manifested by the brave troops who defended Suffolk.
Rebel reinforcements began to arrive about the 20th of April, returning from their unsuccessful attack on Fort Washington. Day by day the enemy grew stronger. But no fear of defeat troubled the brave Unionists, nor did the thought of surrender occur to them. ”

“ General Forrest having assumed the command, he ordered General Chalmers to advance his line so as to gain a position on the slope against which the cannon in the fort could not be directed, and where the garrison with small arms could not reach them without exposing themselves to the sharpshooters, who, under cover of stumps and logs, forced them to keep inside the works. This position, within one hundred yards of the fort, was, after much hard fighting and a severe loss to the rebels, gained by the assailants. ”

“ In five minutes the Union guns were playing, some on the great fort at six hundred yards distance, the rest on the woods to the north, through which the rebels were retreating on their main body.
Just then the clouds broke away in the west, and a flood of light came in upon the whole panorama. Nothing could be more beautiful and inspiriting. The deserted rebel forts, surmounted with Federal colors; Hancock’s infantry awaiting orders in battle line; a signal officer waving to the centre his flag-signals from the parapet of work No. ”

“ On Wednesday, parties were out reconnoitering near the enemy’s works, and in one case a squad of cavalry went within a mile of the fort and encountered two hundred rebel horsemen. Both sides fired, when 284the rebels ran, leaving one of their number dead, and carrying off three severely wounded. One man on the Union side was shot through the brain, and killed instantly. He was the first man who gave up his life in the vicinity of Fort Henry. ”

“ The rebel gunboats retired steadily a considerable distance up the sound. A line of piles driven into the bed across the principal channel, obstructed the progress of the Union vessels in the pursuit of the retreating rebels, who occupied an inner channel under the guns of their battery. The Union fleet now turned their attention to the fort, which kept up a steady and rapid fire. ”

“ Three hundred and six tents were found on the west side of the river, and about as many near the fort, all of which bore evidences of the haste with which the rebels had evacuated their quarters. Several hundred stands of arms were found, chiefly squirrel rifles and double-barrelled shot-guns, also a large amount of clothing, forage, provisions, wagons, mules and horses.
There was a large supply of ammunition, and when the Union forces entered the fort there was beside each gun an abundance unexpended. The tents were new and of excellent make, sufficient to shelter five or six thousand men. ”

“ The fort was a regular, square-bastioned work, one hundred yards exterior side, with a deep ditch some fifteen feet wide, and a parapet eighteen feet high.
On the 10th of January, the land forces, under command of General McClernand, and the flotilla, under Admiral Porter, ascended the river, and the former disembarked with a view of surrounding the work. During the night, the gunboats fired a few shots at the work, and in the morning, the troops being in position, the work commenced in earnest. ”

“ The attack on Fort Sumter gave a powerful impetus to the development of the national sentiment in favour of union and unity, and the death of Ellsworth and the defeat of the first Federal army at Bull Run added such an intensity and coherence to the feeling that the Union League became a power in the State, equipped regiments, raised funds, and in every way contributed to the carrying on of the war with spirit, affording by its action and success a powerful illustration of the vigour with which voluntary associations can be worked in America. ”

“ The fort was held with a garrison of 557 men, of whom 262 were colored soldiers of the 6th United States Heavy Artillery. The Union commander refused to surrender.
“Upon receiving the refusal of Major Booth to capitulate, Forrest gave a signal and his troops made a frantic charge upon the fort. It was received gallantly and resisted stubbornly, but there was no use of fighting. In ten minutes the enemy, assaulting the fort in the centre, and striking it on the flanks, swept in. The Federal troops surrendered; but an indiscriminate massacre followed. Men were shot down in their tracks ”

“ At the river bank a hexagonal fort, or water battery, with a large bomb-proof and thirteen heavy guns, commanded in addition, the river approach. By means of pivot carriages the cannon could be turned upon an advancing land force, and even sweep the line of breastworks itself in case the garrison should be driven out. From the fort to the centre of the line a well-made breastwork extended, with a deep moat in front. At the centre was a bastion and sallyport, after which the breastwork was continued to the railroad embankment, which was used as a means of defence. ”

“ Each traverse was in reality an independent fort, enclosing within its dense walls, a room entered by a passage so narrow that two men could easily defend it against a large force. During the assault, General Ames’ men were exposed to a galling fire of artillery and musketry, while Fort Buchanan on the southwest also opened fire on the Federal columns. Abbott’s brigade and a regiment of colored troops, dispatched by General Terry, reinforced General Ames before dark, followed soon after by the general-in-chief and his staff. ”

“ They gained the plateau at precisely eleven o’clock, and, at once, were greeted with a tremendous fire from the guns of the fort, under which they retreated to the crest of the hill, leaving their dead and wounded in the enemy’s rifle-pits. At this juncture, Colonel Loomis’s brigade made a second charge from the right, driving the rebels from their fortifications along the railroad track, and forcing them up the hill to the right of Fort Buckner. General Corse was reinforced, while his movement was going on, and, with fresh troops, he now proceeded to make a second charge against the fort. ”

“ At intervals on every elevation platforms had been constructed and mounted with howitzers and light field pieces. Such were the works, defended by from 20,000 to 25,000 men, that the national troops were determined to take by assault.
Early on the morning of the 12th of February, the national troops left Fort Henry with two days’ rations in their haversacks, without tents or wagons, except such as were necessary to convey a surplus of commissary stores and ammunition, and ambulances for the sick. ”

“ A series of nine swelling hills, or knolls, completely encompass the town on the land side, and on these Buckner had erected a cordon of forts; some of stone, and others of earth, twenty feet in thickness—all of great magnitude. Forty-nine guns were mounted on the various fortifications, and great engineering skill had been displayed in their construction.
On learning the defeat of Zollicoffer’s troops at Mill Spring, on the 19th of January, General A. S. Johnson, on the 25th, ordered the evacuation of Bowling Green, and General Floyd’s brigade immediately marched from thence to Fort Donelson. ”

“ The heaviest fighting of this engagement took place around Peebles’ Farm, three-quarters of a mile southwest of here.
Turn left on State Route 613 and continue to the intersection (19.6) with State Route 672 (CHURCH ROAD) . State Route 672 is the right fork at this intersection. Turn on this road and continue in a northwest direction.
26. FORT FISHER (20.3) is situated on the right side of the road. This Union stronghold is in an excellent state of preservation, and it is one of the largest earthen forts constructed in the Civil War. ”

“ The first object to be attained is to get a firm position on the spit of land on which Fort Fisher is built, from which you can operate against that fort. You want to look to the practicability of receiving your supplies, and to defending yourself against superior forces sent against you by any of the avenues left open to the enemy. If such a position can be obtained, the siege of Fort Fisher will not be abandoned until its reduction is accomplished, or another plan of campaign is ordered from these headquarters. ”

“ W. Maryham, on the 26th, drifted off to Fort Livingston, a stronghold of the rebels, guarding one of the passages. There was a flag of truce flying on the fort, and on boats 444being sent ashore, they found the place deserted by all except several men, women and children, who resided on the island. The Federals found eleven 32-pounders, three 12-pound howitzers, two 24-pounders, one 8-inch columbiad, one 80-pound rifled cannon, one thousand 32-pound shot, and other articles of minor importance. The fort was in good condition, with all its property. ”

“ A government steamer conveying prisoners from Lexington, Mo., to Fort Leavenworth, broke her rudder, and being obliged to land, the vessel was seized by the rebels, the prisoners liberated, and 40 Federal soldiers captured.
10. 156 Union prisoners, among them all the principal officers held captive by the rebels at Richmond, were sent to Castle Pinckney, in Charleston harbor.
10. Battle of Carnifex Ferry, near Summersville, Va. Federal commander, Rosecranz, rebel, Floyd, who retreated with small loss. Federal loss, 16 killed, 102 wounded. ”

“ Gen. Grierson starts from Memphis for a raid on the Mobile and Ohio R. R.
22. Loss of the U. S. transport North American, by foundering, at sea. 194 lives lost.
23. Fight near Gordonsville, Va.
24. The fleet of Ad. Porter before Fort Fisher, N. C. Furious attack on the fort.
25. Attack on Fort Fisher renewed. 3 brigades of Union infantry landed 2 and a half miles above the fort. They are repulsed, and reembark.
26. Heavy cannonading on Broad riv., between Sherman’s and Hardee’s forces.
26. Ensign Blume cuts loose and takes out from Galveston harbor the blockade running schooner Sallie. ”