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Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 1., Chapter 6: Affairs at the National Capital.--War commenced in Charleston harbor. (search)
organ of the Administration. I went home with a friend living near Bladensburg. His family physician — a small, fiery man, named Garnett, and son-in-law of ex-Governor Wise, of Virginia--came to see a sick child. He was full of passion. Noble South Carolina, he said, has done her duty bravely. Now Virginia and Maryland must ibe Lincoln to set his foot on its soil. The little enthusiast was only the echo of the Virginia conspirators. A few days before, the Richmond Enquirer, edited by Wise's son, who perished while in arms against his country, thus insolently concluded an article on the subject of sending commissioners from that State to others:--Letviting coercion. This was the way Patrick Henry brought about the Revolution, and this is the best use that Virginia can make of commissioners of any kind. Governor Wise had already publicly announced that, in the event of an attempt at coercion on the part of the National Government, Fortress Monroe, the Navy Yard at Gosport,
Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 1., Chapter 7: Secession Conventions in six States. (search)
of those of South Carolina, passed ordinances of secession and appointed delegates to a General Convention for the purpose of forming a Southern Confederacy. These ordinances were passed in the following chronological order:--In Mississippi, on the 9th of January; in Florida, on the 10th; in Alabama, on the 11th; in Georgia, on the 19th; in Louisiana, on the 26th; and in Texas, on the 1st of February. At the same time, large numbers of Minute-men in Virginia, under the control of ex-Governor Henry A. Wise, and others in Maryland, under leaders unknown to the public, were organized and drilled for the special purpose of seizing the City of Washington, and the Government buildings and archives there. At the same time the conspirators, in several places, acting upon the counsel of those of South Carolina, began to plunder the National Government, by seizing its property in the name of certain States in which such property happened to be. Even in the loyal State of North Carolina, wh
Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 1., Chapter 10: Peace movements.--Convention of conspirators at Montgomery. (search)
the Conference was made in insincerity, and that it was a scheme to give the conspirators more time, while deluding the country with pretended desires for reconciliation, to perfect their plans for securing success in the impending conflict. Henry A. Wise, a chief actor among the Virginia politicians at that time, had declared, as we have seen, two months before:--Our minds are made up. The South will not wait until the 4th of March. We will be well under arms before then. See page 43. John Tyler, one of the chief promoters of this Peace movement in Virginia, and President of the Convention, was an advocate of the treason of the South Carolina politicians in 1832-33, and is fully on record as a co-worker with Wise and others against the life of the Republic so early as 1856. This fact was established by letters found when our army moved up the Virginia Peninsula, in 1862. On the adjournment of the Peace Convention he hastened to Richmond, where he and Seddon (afterward the so-
Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 1., Chapter 15: siege of Fort Pickens.--Declaration of War.--the Virginia conspirators and, the proposed capture of Washington City. (search)
esolved to send Commissioners to Washington City to ask the President to communicate to that body the policy which he intended to pursue in regard to the Confederate States. The Commissioners appointed were William Ballard Preston, A. H. H. Stuart, and George W. Randolph. It is said that Mr. Carlile, of Western Virginia, suggested the appointment of a similar committee to visit Montgomery, to ascertain what Jefferson Davis intended to do with the troops he was then raising; whereupon Henry A. Wise said, that if Mr. Carlile should be one of that committee, that would be the last they would ever see of him. In other words, he would be murdered for his temerity in venturing to question the acts of the traitors.--Louisville Journal, April 23, 1863. Yet the conspirators worked on, conscious of increasing strength, for one weak Unionist after another was converted by their sophistry or their threats. Pryor and Ruffin, as we have seen, went to Charleston to urge an attack upon Fort Sum
Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 1., Chapter 16: Secession of Virginia and North Carolina declared.--seizure of Harper's Ferry and Gosport Navy Yard.--the first troops in Washington for its defense. (search)
the slowly sinking ships, destroy the cannon, and commit to the flames all the buildings and public property in the Navy Yard, leaving the insurgents nothing worth contending for. One hundred men were sent, under Lieutenant J. H. Russell, with sledge-hammers, to knock off the trunnions of the cannon; Captain Charles Wilkes was intrusted with the destruction of the Dry-dock; Commanders Allen and Sands were charged with the firing of the ship-houses, barracks, and other buildings; and Lieutenant Henry A. Wise was directed to lay trains upon the ships and to fire them at a given signal. The trunnions of the Dahlgren guns resisted the hammers, but those of a large number of the old pattern guns were destroyed. Many of the remainder were spiked, but so indifferently that they were soon repaired. Commander Rogers and Captain Wright, of the Engineers, volunteered to blow up and destroy the Dry-dock. At about two o'clock in the morning, April 21, 1861. every thing was in readiness. The
Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 1., Chapter 21: beginning of the War in Southeastern Virginia. (search)
and a half of ramparts--three hundred to protect some sixty-five broad acres within the walls Major Theodore Winthrop, in the Atlantic Monthly.--had kept the insurgents at bay. He had quietly but significantly turned the muzzles of some of his great guns landward; and, unheeding the mad cry of the politicians, that it was an act of war, and the threats of rebellious men in arms, of punishment for his insolence, he defied the enemies of his country. Those guns taught Letcher prudence, and Wise caution, and Lee circumspection, and Jefferson Davis respectful consideration. The immense importance of the post was Fortress Monroe in 1861. this was the most extensive military work in the country. It was commenced in 1819, and was completed at a cost of two millions five hundred thousand dollars. It was named in honor of President Monroe. Its walls, faced with heavy blocks of granite, are thirty-five feet in thickness, and casemated below. It is entirely surrounded by a deep moat
Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 1., Chapter 22: the War on the Potomac and in Western Virginia. (search)
utlying detachments at Bealington, Buckhannon, Romney, and Philippi. Ex-Governor Henry A. Wise, with a brigadier's commission, had been organizing a brigade in the He sent a detachment, under General J. D. Cox, into the Kanawha Valley, to meet Wise and keep him in check, while his main body, about ten thousand strong, led by hile July 12, 1861. after a slight skirmish, and pushed on to the Kanawha River. Wise was then in the valley of that stream, below Charleston, the capital of Kanawha e, who were repulsed. That night, the assailed insurgents fled up the valley to Wise's camp, and gave him such an alarming. account of the numbers of the invaders, ewisburg, the capital of Greenbrier County. The news of Garnett's disaster, and Wise's own incompetence, had so dispirited his troops, that large numbers had left hi struggle. General Robert E. Lee succeeded Garnett, and more important men than Wise and Floyd took the places of these incompetents. Rosecrans succeeded McClellan,
Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 3., Chapter 3: political affairs.--Riots in New York.--Morgan's raid North of the Ohio. (search)
at were to effect it. He concentrated a considerable body of troops at Yorktown, and so soon as it was ascertained that Lee was moving toward the Potomac, Keyes was directed to make a demonstration on Richmond, then held by a few troops under Henry A. Wise. Colonel Spear, with his Eleventh Pennsylvania and detachments of Massachusetts and Illinois cavalry, about one thousand strong, made a sudden dash June 25, 1868. upon White House, See page 886, volume II. drove the Confederates from the post, and pushed on to a point within ten miles of Richmond, alarming Wise, the citizens, and the Confederate authorities to such a degree, that orders were issued for the closing of all places of business, and causing the Mayor to call upon the inhabitants to Remember New Orleans, and to array themselves in defense of their homes. Turning northward, Spear galloped to Hanover Court-House and beyond, destroying the railway and capturing General W. H. F. Lee, wounded at Beverly Ford. Then sweepi
Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 3., Chapter 17: Sherman's March through the Carolinas.--the capture of Fort Fisher. (search)
hich supported his opinion, that success would not attend the experiment there proposed to be tried. This report was submitted to the War Department on the 18th of November, 1864. Reports were also submitted by other experts, among them Captain Henry A. Wise, chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, who gave it as his opinion that no serious damage would be done beyond 500 yards from the point of explosion. A consultation of several experts was held, Nov. 23. by direction of Mr. Fox, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, at the residence of Captain Wise. The subject was then fully discussed, and it was concluded that it was worth while to try the experiment, with the hope that the explosion might so paralyze the garrison for a few hours, that the troops might land and take possession, and so close the harbor of Wilmington. These caused some delay in the movements of the navy, and the expedition was not ready to sail before the 13th of December. The troops destined for the expedition co
Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 3., Chapter 20: Peace conference at Hampton Roads.--the campaign against Richmond. (search)
Devin soon rejoined the main body, upon which the Confederates fell with vigor, expecting to drive them. They were foiled by Sheridan, who dismounted his men and placed them behind light breastworks, from which they gave their antagonists such a deadly musket fire that the latter recoiled. Before the Confederates could rally for another attack, darkness came and fighting ceased. before midnight, Sheridan was satisfied that Lee was withdrawing his troops these were Pickett's division, Wise's independent brigade of infantry, and Fitzhugh Lee's, Rosser's, and W. H. Lee's commands. from the front of the Union cavalry, and felt quite at ease. The feeling at Headquarters was quite otherwise. It was an anxious night there. Only the fact, that the cavalry had been driven back from the five Forks, and had been attacked at Dinwiddie in force, was known. It was supposed that Sheridan could not maintain his position, and Warren was directed to hasten to his relief, with the Fifth Corp
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