Information courtesy of the
Minnesota Civil War Commemoration Task Force
(www.mncivilwar150.com and “Minnesota Civil War 150” on Facebook)
Major Highlights for the Week
Wednesday September 24, 1862
President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation suspending the writ of habeas corpus and providing for military trial of “all Rebels and Insurgents, their aiders and abettors within the United States, and all persons discouraging volunteer enlistments, resisting militia drafts, or guilty of any disloyal practice, affording comfort to Rebels against the authority of the United States.”
Fourteen Northern governors met at Altoona, Pennsylvania and approved emancipation, although the conference had been called earlier by those deploring the Administration’s policy on slavery and the unsatisfactory progress of the war.
The U.S. Secretary of War created the office of Provost Marshal General.
Thursday September 25, 1862
Federal Major General Don Carlos Buell’s army arrived at Louisville, Kentucky, beating Confederate General Braxton Bragg’s advancing Confederates to this vital city on the Ohio River. There was fighting at Snow’s Pond and Ashbysburg, Kentucky, and at Davis’s Bridge on the Hatchie River, Tennessee. In the east, there was a Federal reconnaissance from Shepherdstown, western Virginia, and a Federal expedition from Centreville to Bristoe Station and Warrenton, Virginia.
Friday September 26, 1862
It was a quiet day on the major fronts. In Arkansas there were Federal expeditions from Helena to La Grange and Helena to Jeffersonville and Marianna, Tennessee, plus a skirmish at Catlett’s Station, Virginia. A Skirmish also occurred at Fort Abercrombie, Dakota Territory.
President Lincoln and his cabinet conferred on the colonization of the Negroes.
Saturday September 27, 1862
The Second Conscription Act of the Confederate Congress authorized President Davis to call out men between thirty-five and forty-five years of age.
President Lincoln interrogated Major John J. Key and ordered his dismissal from military service for allegedly saying that the object of the Battle of Antietam was “that neither army shall get much advantage of the other; that both shall be kept in the field till they are exhausted, when we will make a compromise and save slavery.” President Lincoln was perturbed over McClellan’s lack of aggressive action since Antietam.
The first regiment of free Negroes was mustered in at New Orleans as the First Regiment Louisiana Native Guards. The regiment called themselves “Chasseurs d’Afrique.” Federal Major General Benjamin Butler had authorized enlistment of free Negroes on August 22.
Sunday September 28, 1862
Confederate President Jefferson Davis wrote to General Robert E. Lee of his concern over enrollment of conscripts “to fill up the thinned ranks of your regiments.”
Minor fighting was near Lebanon Junction, Kentucky; Friar’s Point, Mississippi; and Sanding Stone, western Virginia.
Monday September 29, 1862
Federal Brigadier General Jefferson Columbus Davis shot and mortally wounded Brigadier General William “Bull Nelson” during a quarrel in a hotel in Louisville. Skirmishing broke out on the Elizabethtown Road, and near New Haven, Kentucky.
Federal Major General John Reynolds assumed command of the First Army Corps.
The Confederate Army of West Tennessee, 22,000 strong under Major General Earl Van Dorn, marched out of Ripley, Mississippi with the objective of Corinth, Mississippi.
Tuesday September 30, 1862
The month ended with a number of lesser actions at Russellville, Glasgow and near Louisville, Kentucky; at Newtonia, Missouri; Goodlettsville, Tennessee; Glenville, western Virginia; and a Federal sea-land expedition from Hilton Head, South Carolina, to Saint John’s Bluff, Florida.
Where Minnesota Regiments were the week of September 24-30, 1862
1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry – On duty at Harper’s Ferry, western Virginia.
2nd Minnesota Volunteer Infantry – Marched to Kentucky in pursuit of Braxton Bragg.
3rd Minnesota Volunteer Infantry – A detachment marched to relief Fort Abercrombie and later rejoined the regiment at Camp Release.
4th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry – On duty near Corinth, Mississippi.
5th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry – Companies B, C and D remained in Minnesota and Dakota Territory on garrison duty. A detachment of Company C moved from Fort Ridgely to Fort Ripley. The remaining companies were on duty near Corinth, Mississippi.
6th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry – In service at Camp Release where the regiment mustered into Federal service. Company D was the first to be mustered in on Sept. 29. The remaining companies were mustered in during October and November.
7th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry – At Camp Release on Sept 26 and then went on garrison duty in Mankato and other points in Minnesota.
8th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry – On frontier duty at various points in Minnesota: Anoka, Princeton, Monticello, Kingston, Manannah, Paynesville, Fort Ripley, Sauk Center, Pomme de Terre, Alexandria and Fort Abercrombie until May 1864.
9th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry – Company G saw action at Fort Abercrombie, Companies A and C were at Camp Release and other companies were detached to other frontier Minnesota communities.
10th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry – Regiment on detached service for garrison duty at various outposts in frontier Minnesota.
Brackett’s Battalion of Minnesota Cavalry – On duty at Clarksville, Tennessee.
1st Minnesota Light Artillery Battery – On garrison duty at Corinth, Mississippi.
2nd Independent Battery, Minnesota Light Artillery – March to Kentucky in pursuit of Braxton Bragg.
2nd United States Sharpshooters, Company A – In camp near Sharpsburg, Maryland.
