General Powell Clayton

"How come I never heard of this guy?" must be a constant refrain of those of us researching Civil War history -- in this case, mostly using The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture.

A volunteer from humble origins in Pennsylvania, Clayton did most of his fighting before being promoted to US brigadier general in August 1864. He was a captain at the Battle of Wilson's Creek in Missouri in 1861, but spent most of the war in Arkansas.

Colonel Clayton commanded the right wing cavalry in the successful defense of Helena on July 4, 1863. Then, when Major General Frederick Steele moved from Vicksburg to Helena to command Union forces, Clayton helped him capture Little Rock.

Given independent command at Pine Bluff, on Oct. 25, 1863, he successfully defended it with the assistance of freed slaves against far superior Confederate numbers led by Brigadier General John Marmaduke. The next spring, Clayton led a raid from Pine Bluff in support of Steele's Camden Expedition, itself a part of the Red River Campaign. While the wider campaign was not successful, US forces escaped from disaster, in part due to the positive role of Clayton's force. 

After the war, he was a Reconstruction governor and US senator, then moved with his family to the resort town of Eureka Springs, which he helped develop. Under Presidents McKinley and Teddy Roosevelt, Clayton served as ambassador to Mexico.

Back in the Saddle Again

No, not me, literally, but I will be back up at DA Collins on Ballard Road, Wilton, NY, for conclusion of Civil War Weekend. The Grant Cottage-sponsored event includes re-enactors, music, food and more. I'll show up by noon with books to sell and sign.

(Photo from yesterday by Mike Lesser)

Update: I made it into  Jason Subik's Daily Gazette story:https://dailygazette.com/article/2018/08/11/civil-war-weekend-raises-money-for-cottage

Civil War Weekend

A Confederate corporal keeps an eye on Union cavalry in rear. This morning at Civil War Weekend, sponsored by Grant Cottage, at DA  Collins, Ballard Road, Wilton, with re-enactors, music, food and more. Come on up and I'll sell you a book.

"Put Not Your Trust in Princes"

On this date in 1861, Confederate Brigadier General Magruder burned Hampton, Virginia, the most destructive act yet directed at civilian property during the war. 

"Prince" John Magruder had served most of his life in the US Army, and was a favorite of his fellow Virginian Winfield Scott during the Mexican War. He burned Hampton because it was in the long run indefensible, and "was the harbor of runaway slaves and traitors." 

Magruder later found some success delaying George McClellan's advance in the Peninsula Campaign, and, on New Year's Day 1863, recapturing Galveston, Texas, from Admiral David Farragut. 

That admiral decided to leave Galveston in Rebel hands to focus on his top priority, the Mississippi River campaign, which was arguably the product of the much mocked Anaconda Plan of former chief General Winfield Scott. Scott, unlike Magruder, stayed loyal to the United States.

Farragut was another loyal son of the South. He and the midwestern border-state men Lincoln and Grant were turning Scott's plan into action. Magruder, left behind in Texas and Arkansas west of the Mississippi, was condemned to strategic irrelevance.

After the war, he was among the unreconstructed Confederates who went off to serve the Austrian prince who had been installed by the French emperor as emperor of Mexico, and met with no greater success.

The Battle of Baton Rouge

Albany, NY, native and Brigadier General Thomas Williams was killed on this date in 1862, leading US forces defending Baton Rouge, La. The Confederate general commanding was John Breckinridge, who had been a candidate for US president in 1860 while serving as vice president under James Buchanan.

Col. Thomas Cahill took over command from Williams, leading the army back closer to the Mississippi River, where Union gunboats were able to play a crucial role in artillery support. Breckinridge was forced to retreat and suffered heavier casualties, but also won time to reinforce Port Hudson to the north, which would be the last Confederate outpost on the Mississippi when it finally surrendered in July 1863. US forces withdrew from Baton Rouge later in August 1862, but then reoccupied it in December through the end of the war.

Cahill, an ornamental plasterer before the war, was a civic leader in New Haven, Ct. The wartime correspondence between him and his wife, Margaret, was recently published. Unfortunately, he died in 1869 and she in 1870, leaving their children orphaned.

Two of Williams' children became prominent in religious and medical matters out West. His theater commander in New Orleans, Maj. Gen. Ben Butler, gave him a glowing death announcement.

"We, his companions in arms, who had learned to love him, weep the true friend the gallant gentleman, the brave soldier, the accomplished officer the pure patriot and victorious hero, and the devoted Christian. All and more went out when Williams died. By a singular felicity the manner of his death illustrated each of these generous qualities.

"The chivalric American gentleman, he gave up the vantage of the cover of the houses of the city-forming his lines in the open field -- lest the women and children of his enemies should be hurt in the fight.

"A good general, he had made his dispositions and prepared for battle at the break of day, when he met his foe.

"A brave soldier, he received the death-shot leading his men."

Granger begins Mobile Bay campaign

On this date in 1864, Major General Gordon Granger landed in the late afternoon with 1,700 or fewer troops on the west end of Dauphin Island, on the west side of Mobile Bay, about 15 miles from Confederate-held Fort Gaines (above) at the east end of the island.  According to my 2013 biography of Granger, they "marched unobserved toward it through deep, heavy sand and drenching rain until midnight, then spent a mostly sleepless night being bitten by innumerable insects. They arrived west of Fort Gaines late the next day," bringing up light artillery and taking over two abandoned Confederate guns.

The next morning, Aug. 5, Granger's guns silenced rebel floating batteries in the bay, as well as two guns in Fort Gaines which were firing on Admiral David Farragut's Union fleet. The fleet was bombarding Fort Morgan, on the east side of the channel across from Fort Gaines, and doing battle with Confederate ships. They won control of Mobile Bay, enhancing the Union blockade -- albeit not for some months yet the city of Mobile, to the north. 

Fort Gaines surrendered on Aug. 8, and Granger shifted his attention to besieging Fort Morgan, which surrendered Aug. 23. 

Granger remained focused on the Mobile campaign for the rest of the war, and occupied the city on April 12, 1865. On May 25, he had to deal with a disastrous ammunition dump explosion, which killed several hundred people and burned a considerable part of Mobile.

Farragut's victory at Mobile Bay capped a dazzling Civil War career for the Union-loyal Virginian -- whose active service had begun in the War of 1812. He had led the fleet which captured New Orleans in April 1862, and the 1862-63 Mississippi River campaign culminating in the fall of Port Hudson.

Pictured below are the sea and land commanders at Mobile Bay, in Fort Gaines after its surrender and the naval battle, planning the reduction of Fort Morgan.

Ammen and the Mutineers

Grant's friend Danny Ammen saved his life from drowning as a child, and went on to a long career in the US Navy, retiring as a rear-admiral in 1878. During the Civil War, he led the capture of Fort Beauregard at Port Royal in 1861, and then commanded ships in operations against Confederate forts from McAllister to Sumter and Fisher.
In-between (as I learned Tuesday in a typically informative talk by Steve Trimm at Grant Cottage), Ammen was put in charge of a large contingent of soldiers drafted into the Navy and headed for the West Coast. Many of them mutinied, according to this June 16, 1864 New York Times account, but order was restored by Ammen and others killing two of the ringleaders.
Ammen and Grant were lifelong friends, and when former President Johnson died in 1875, the Grant administration's acting secretary of the Navy was Daniel Ammen.
I will, because of a conflict, be unable to go to Dave Hubbard's Aug. 4 talk at Grant Cottage about John Newman, but recommend attendance to anyone interested in learning more about that sometimes maligned reverend. And the next weekend, Aug. 11-12, I'm scheduled to be selling books at the Grant Cottage-sponsored Civil War Weekend on Ballard Road.