Here are relevant events in the war around the time of the letters as composed by William A. Penn, historian and author of several books on the Civil War.
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1 – Nov. 1856 – Vote in Kentucky for president and vice-president; James Buchanan and John C. Breckinridge won.
1 – Mar. 12, 1860 – On March 2, An Act for organizing a State Guard approved. All laws prohibiting the importation of slaves into Kentucky repealed by Ky. Legislature.
2 – Mar. 27, 1860 – Great excitement in Madison County when John G. Hanson, an anti-slavery man, returned to Ky. after being ordered to leave.
10 – Jan. 11, 1861 – Alabama secedes from the Union, a fourth state to secede. South Carolina demanded the surrender of Fort Sumter.
11 – Feb. 22, 1861 – President-elect Lincoln spoke at Harrisburg, Pa. celebrating Washington’s birthday. He left by train for Washington.
12 – Aug. 31, 1861 – In Richmond, Va., the Confederate Congress adjourned and announced five full generals – Albert Johnston, Robert E. Lee, P. G. T. Beauregard, Joseph Johnston, and Samuel Cooper. – A few days later Kentucky’s official neutrality was broken when Confederate troops from Tennessee occupied Hickman and Columbus, Ky. Within days, Union troops occupied Paducah.
13 – Feb. 19, 1862 – Federal forces under Grant occupied Clarksville, Tn. The new Confederate Congress ordered the release of two thousand Federal prisoners of war.
14 – Sept. 6, 1862 – Following the Battle of Richmond, Confederate troops advanced north through Lexington, Paris, and Cynthiana, and on this day arrived outside Covington. Confederates under Stonewall Jackson occupied Frederick, Md. Sioux uprising in Dakota Territory.
15 – Oct. 9, 1862 – Day after the Battle of Perryville, Ky. In Virginia, Confederate J. E. B. Stuart’s cavalry rode around Gen. McClellan’s army and destroyed Union stores.
16 – Oct. 15, 1862 – Operations this day until the twentieth against Confederate guerrillas in Henry, Owen, and Gallatin Counties, Ky.
17 – Oct. 22, 1862 – Morgan’s cavalry was carrying out raids at Bardstown. Bragg’s Confederate army was making its escape from Buell in Kentucky, following the Battle of Perryville. Confederate cavalry under Gen. Joseph Wheeler took London, Ky.
18 – Oct. 29, 1862 – Morgan’s cavalry destroyed L & N Railroad tracks and bridges south of Bowling Green, Ky. The Federal Army of the Potomac under McClellan continued its movement southward into Virginia and Maryland. President Lincoln praised McClellan.
19 – Nov. 7, 1862 – McClellan was relieved of command in Virginia, turning his army over to Ambrose Burnside. Gen. Roscrans was moving the Federal Army of the Cumberland to Nashville from Kentucky. Nov. 8 John Wilkes Booth was in a play in a Louisville theater.
20 – Nov. 13, 1862 – CSA Gen. Bragg began moving the Army of Tennessee from Chattanooga toward Murfreesboro to join Gen. Breckinridge. The next day ten Union boats were at Columbus, Ky. for an expedition to open up the Mississippi River at Vicksburg.
21 – Nov. 23, 1862 – Federal Sec. of War Stanton discharged nearly all political prisoners held by the military. This included twenty-four from Harrison County, Ky. who had been held one to three months for “disloyalty.”
22 – Dec. 6, 1862 – The day before, Dec. 5, at Prestonsburg, Ky., Confederates captured some boats with ammunition, arms, and uniforms. There was also a skirmish in Floyd County, Ky. Lincoln ordered the execution by hanging of 39 Indians convicted of participating in the Sioux uprising in Minnesota.
23 – Dec. 11, 1862 – Fayette court the day before issued a writ for the return of slaves to their “Union” owners now escaped to military camps. Federals occupied Fredericksburg, Va. prior to the Battle of Fredericksburg Dec. 13. The Union defeat caused consternation in the North.
24 – Dec. 18, 1862 – A detachment of the 39th Ky. Federal infantry defeated at Peters’ Creek, Pike Co. Grant formed an army in a planned campaign against Vicksburg.
25 – Jan. 23, 1863 – On Jan. 1 Lincoln released the Emancipation Proclamation. In Virginia, the Federal winter campaign to cross the Rappahannock had failed due to weather. Several Union officers in Kentucky resigned over the Emancipation Proclamation news.
26 – Feb. 3. 1863 – Union ram Queen of the West took three Confederate vessels at Vicksburg.
27 – Feb. 9, 1863 – The week before three Confederate blockade-runners successfully broke through the Federal cordon and arrived in Charleston, S. C.
28 – Feb. 15, 1863 – Three days earlier Morgan’s cavalry defeated Federal soldiers at Burkesville, Ky. Except for Union gunboats activity at Vicksburg, action remained limited except for skirmishes in Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas.
29 – Feb. 16, 1863 – The U. S. Senate passed the Conscription Act which established the first national draft system.
30 – Feb. 17, 1863 – Virginia and the armies along the Rappahannock were hindered by heavy snow.
31 – Mar. 30, 1863 – Basil Duke of Morgan’s cavalry was in a skirmish at Dutton’s Hill, Ky. Lincon set aside April 30 as a national fast and prayer day.
31 – April 6, 1863 – A few days earlier, in Kentucky, martial law was abolished at Lexington and Paris. By April 12, 118th Ohio occupied Cynthiana, building stockades for guarding bridges on the Kentucky Central Railroad and other duties.
32 – Oct. 22, 1863 – Gen. Grant’s army was approaching Chattanooga and arrived Oct. 23. Fighting near Volney, Ky. Since last letter in April, Vicksburg, Miss. surrendered, and Battle of Gettysburg took place.
33 – Oct. 26, 1863 – Lincoln exempted Kentucky from Black enrollments as soldiers Oct. 25.
Grant began operations to clear the Tennessee River route into Chattanooga. Oct. 27 the second bombardment of Fort Sumter took place.
34 – Nov. 8, 1863 – Impressed slaves, scattered by Morgan’s raids, returned to work on the railroad in Lincoln County. On the Virginia front, Union troops advanced across the Rappahannock.
35 – Nov. 15 – Gen. Sherman’s divisions were near Chattanooga.
36 – Nov. 22, 1863 – The Battle for Chattanooga was about to begin. Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address Nov. 19.
37 – Dec. 11, 1863 – Ky. Legislature thanked the U. S. Army for victories at Stone River, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. The Battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge took place Nov. 24-25.
38 – Dec. 18, 1863 – The prior week the case of U. S. vs. Lucius Desha in U. S. court at Covington, charged with treason, was dismissed. Also in Kentucky, a detachment of the 39th Ky. Federal infantry defeated Capt. Peter Everett’s cavalry.
39 – Jan. 9, 1864 – Federal cavalry under William Sooy Smith operated from Memphis to Meridian, Miss. until Jan. 25 when they were finally driven back by Forrest and his men.
40 – Jan. 11, 1864 – Skirmishing increased toward mid-January including action near Mossy Creek, Tenn.
41 – Jan. 25, 1864 – Since last letter, a two-day engagement between cavalry units was fought at Dandridge, Tenn. Limited skirmishing in Tenn. Union forces evacuated Corinth, Miss.
42 – Feb. 3, 1864 – Pres. Lincoln ordered under the conscription act that 500,000 men be drafted in March. Sherman began an expedition leaving Vicksburg toward Meridian, Miss. to destroy railroads.
43 – Feb. 8, 1864 – Fighting near Maryville, Tenn.
44 – Feb. 9, 1864 – 109 Federal officers tunneled out of Libby Prison in Richmond, Va., and 59 reached Federal lines; the others were recaptured except two drowned.
45 – Feb. 19, 1964 – On Feb. 14 Federals captured Meridian, Miss. Action at Maryville and Sevierville, Tenn.
46 – Feb. 20, 1864 – Battle of Ocean Pond, Fla.
47 – Feb. 23, 1864 – Within a few days, the first Union prisoners sent to Andersonville, Ga.
48 – Mar. 5, 1864 – As spring approached in many of the battle areas, major military movements had not begun. U. S. Grant was promoted to lieutenant general.
49 – Mar. 11, 1864 – Confederate raiders attacked Clinton and Mayfield, Ky.
50 – Mar. 12, 1864 – Within a few days, Confederates led by Nathan Bedford Forrest start a move into Tennessee and Kentucky.
51 – Mar. 24, 1864 – Forrest hit west Tenn. and captured Union City.
52 – Mar. 28, 1864 – Forrest’s raid continued in Kentucky and Tennessee, attacking Paducah..
53 – Apr. 3, 1864 – Many more skirmishes as the spring weather approached.
54 – Apr. 6, 1864 – On Apr. 4, Union Col. Frank Wolford made speeches opposing enlistment of African Americans.
55 – Apr. 26, 1864 – A week earlier, Gen. Stephen Burbridge issued an order allowing enrollment of African Americans, but to be mustered in out of the state. Apr. 12 was the controversial Battle of Fort Pillow when Forrest’s men were accused of slaughtering Black troops.
56 – May 1, 1864 – Grant prepares to attack Lee’s army in northern Virginia.
57 – May 5 – 1864 – Grant and Lee in the Battle of the Wilderness begins in Virginia.
58 – May 9, 1864 – Sherman began March to the Sea.
59 – May 11, 1864 – Battle of Spotsvlvania about to begin in Virginia.
60 – May 15, 1864 – Battles of New Market, Va. and Resaca, Ga. continue.
61 – May 19, 1864 – Last engagement at Spotsvlyania, Va.
62 – May 22, 1864 – A. A. Alexander, Woodburn Farm, Woodford Co., Ky., sold a colt by Lexington for $15,001. Sherman attacked vital railroad near Atlanta.
63 – May 29, 1864 –Morgan entered Kentucky at Pound Gap beginning his Last Kentucky Raid. The raid was to take pressure off the Confederate army at Atlanta by attacking Sherman’s more distant lines of communication.
64 – June 5, 1864 – Morgan’s cavalry headed toward Mt. Sterling and defeated a garrison of Union troops there on June 8. A detachment burned railroad bridges near Cynthiana. Battle of Cold Harbor, Va. continued. In Georgia, Sherman’s Atlanta campaign still in progress.
65 – June 13, 1864 – Second Battle of Cynthiana June 11-12, 1864. On June 12, Union victory over Morgan’s cavalry. Federal units included First Cavalry Brigade, Col. Israel Garrard, Seventh Ohio Cavalry. Grant’s army was aiming at Richmond, Va. In Georgia, Sheman’s Atlanta campaign was ongoing.
66 – June 19, 1864 – Gen. Burbridge decides not to give up horses captured from Morgan excepy to owners with proven loyalty. And so Burbridge in effect stole horses from citizens like Morgan’s men. The two major Federal offenses at Petersburg and Atlanta were stalled, facing defiant Rebel defenders.
67 – June 25, 1864 – At Petersburg, engineers began building a tunnel toward the Confederate lines for the purpose of blowing up Confederate earthworks.
68 – June 27, 1864 – Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Ga.
69 – July 1, 1864 – Confederates evacuated entrenchments on Kennesaw Mountain, moving to below Marietta, Ga.
70 – July 1, 1864 – On July 3, Gen. Burbridge ordered that all Federal prisoners captured and paroled by Morgan’s forces at Cynthiana to report to their regiments immediately. The U. S. War Dept. determined the paroles violated War Dept. rules.
71 – July 7, 1864 – Gen. Early’s Confederates were amid a raid into Maryland. Federal troops and militia hurried to protect Washington.
72 – July 11, 1864 – Guerrillas in Kentucky attacked Elizabethtown, but were repulsed. Battle of Monocacy, Md. on July 9.
73 – July 21, 1864 – Battle of Peachtree Creek.
74 – July 22, 1864 – Battle of Atlanta. In Kentucky, guerrilla activity in Scott and Owen County.
75 – July 28, 1864 – Battle of Ezra Church, Ga.
76 – July 28, 1864 – The Battle of Ezra Church was between Gen. Howard and Army of the Tennessee and Gen. Hood’s Confederates.
77 – Aug. 6, 1864 – Battle of Mobile Bay.
78 – Aug. 13, 1864 – In Virginia, Gen. Sheridan moved toward Early in the Shenandoah Valley.
79 – Aug. 22, 1864 – Confederates under Forrest entered Memphis to cut Sherman’s supply lines.
80 – Aug. 25, 1864 – Battle of Reams Station, Va. In Atlanta, Sherman began to cut off Atlanta completely.
81 – Aug. 26, 1864 – Sherman’s army was advancing south of Atlanta. Guerrilla activity in Kentucky at Shelbyville.
82 – Sept. 2, 1864 – Recent news – Gen. McClellan nominated for president. Confederates evacuate Atlanta and Federal army enters. Guerrillas raided Owensboro, Ky.
83 – Sept. 16, 1864 – Forrest begins operations against Sherman’s communications in northern Alabama and middle Tennessee.
84 – Sept. 22, 1864 – Battle of Fisher’s Hill, Va. President Lincoln’s reelection prospects increased with Federal victories at Atlanta and Shenandoah Valley. He arranged for as many soldiers as possible to get home to vote.
85 – Oct. 10, 1864 – Guerrillas continue raids in Kentucky and over next few days at Irvine and Brandenburg.
86 – Oct. 15, 1864 – In Ky., guerrillas attack Hardinsburg but citizens drive them off. Chief Justice Taney’s funeral in Washington.
87 – Oct. 25, 1864 – On Oct. 20 Lincoln proclaimed last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving.
89 – Nov. 3, 1864 – Nathan Bedford Forrest captured two vessels on the Tennessee River and put cannons on them but were driven ashore by Union gunboats.
90 – Nov. 15, 1864 – Lincoln was elected Nov. 8. Most of Sheridan’s army moved out from Atlanta on his March to the Sea.
91 – Nov. 22, 1864 – Hood moved his Confederate army toward Nashville, Tennessee.
92 – Dec. 14, 1864 – Battle of Nashville began the next day.
93 – Apr. 30, 1865 – Lincoln funeral train arrived in Indianapolis. Steamboat Sultana with Union soldiers exploded Apr. 28, over 1,400 died.
94 – May 9, 1865 – Paroles of western Confederate forces accepted. Jefferson Davis captured the next day.
95 – May 17, 1865 – Scattered Confederate forces in Florida surrendered. May 14 Gen. Basil Duke surrendered in Georgia.
96 – May 22, 1865 – President Davis imprisoned in a cell at Fort Monroe.
97 – May 24, 1865 – Grand Review of the Army of the Potomac in Washington.
98 – June 14, 1865 – On June 2 – American Civil War: Confederate forces west of the Mississippi under General Edmund Kirby Smith surrender at Galveston, Texas under terms negotiated on May 26, becoming the last to do so.
99 – June 18, 1865 – The following day, June 19, Union Major General Gordon Granger lands at Galveston and informs the people of Texas of the Emancipation Proclamation (an event celebrated in modern times each year as Juneteenth).
100 – June 22, 1865 – At Fort Towson in Indian Territory, Confederate General Stand Watie, a Cherokee Indian, surrenders the last significant Confederate army.
Sources:
Long, E, B, The Civil War Day by Day: An Almanac 1861-1865 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company,1971); Penn, Wm. A., Kentucky Rebel Town: The Civil War Battles of Cynthiana and Harrison County, Ky. (U. Press of Kentucky, 2016); Collins, Richard H., History of Kentucky, Vol. 1 (1874, reprint, Frankfort: Kentucky Historical Society, 1966) “Annals of Kentucky.”
WAP – May 2, 2024