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 October 29, 1862
Skirmishing occurred at Island Mount, Missouri; Sabine Pass, Texas; on the Blackwater River in Virginia; opposite Williamsport, Maryland on the Potomac River; and near Petersburg, Virginia.
Thursday October 30, 1862
Major General William S. Rosecrans assumed command of the Federal Department of the Cumberland, replacing Major General Don Carlos Buell.
Major General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, an astronomer, lecturer and prominent Federal officer, died of yellow fever at Beaufort, South Carolina.
Emperor Napoleon III of France proposed to Russia and Great Britain that they should unite in making overtures of mediation to end the American Civil War.
Friday October 31, 1862
Skirmishing occurred at Franklin, Virginia; and near the falls at Kanawha, Virginia, while Federal forces bombarded Lavaca, Texas.
Union contingents advanced from Bolivar, Tennessee, and Corinth, Mississippi, upon Grand Junction, Tennessee in preparation for Major General Ulysses Grant’s move upon the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Saturday November 1, 1862
Major General Benjamin Butler, in New Orleans, issued orders tightening pass requirements and authorizing discharge from confinement of all “slaves not known to be the slaves of loyal owners.”
Confederate President Jefferson Davis was concerned about the state of relations between the Confederate States of America and the individual Confederate states, the raising of troops, and the danger of Federal invasion from the coasts.
Sunday November 2, 1862
Minor fighting occurred in Virginia at Philomont and Snicker’s Gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Snicker’s Gap was occupied by the Federal Army of the Potomac.
Mrs. Mary Todd Lincoln, the first lady, was visiting New York City.
Monday November 3, 1862
There was a skirmish near Harrisonville, Missouri; and an expedition by Federals along the coasts of Georgia and east Florida lasting until the tenth. Among the regiments used in this operation was the First South Carolina Volunteers (African Descent) under Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson. The regiment, still incomplete and somewhat unofficial, was not mustered in until the first of the year, but had been slowly growing out of the earlier abortive attempts to form negro regiments on the southeastern coast.
Longstreet’s Confederate corps arrived at Culpeper Court House, Virginia, getting in front of the Federal’s Army of the Potomac under Major General George B. McClellan, who was in the Warrenton area.
Tuesday November 4, 1862
Major General Ulysses Grant’s forces occupied LaGrange and Grand Junction, Tennessee, important rail and road keys to northern Mississippi, as plans for a drive on Vicksburg progressed.
Democrats made sizable gains in Northern state and congressional elections especially in New York, where Democrat Horatio Seymour was chosen governor. Strong Democratic gains were also made in New Jersey, Illinois, and Wisconsin, adding to those of the October elections. The Republicans kept control of the House of Representatives, however, with victories in New England, the border slave states, California and Michigan, undoubtedly war weariness accounted for many of the Democratic victories.
Where Minnesota Regiments were the week of October 22-28, 1862
1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry – Marched up Loudon Valley to Falmouth, Virginia.
2nd Minnesota Volunteer Infantry – Marched to Bowling Green, Kentucky.
3rd Minnesota Volunteer Infantry – On duty at Fort Snelling, Minnesota.
4th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry – On duty in Ripley, Mississippi.
5th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry – Companies B, C and D remained in Minnesota and Dakota Territory on garrison duty. The remaining companies were on Major General Ulysses Grant’s Central Mississippi Campaign.
6th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry – On garrison duty at Fort Snelling, Glencoe, Forest City and Kingston until February 1863.
7th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry – On garrison duty in Mankato and other points in Minnesota until June 1863.
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 – On garrison duty in various frontier Minnesota communities until June 1863.
10th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry – Regiment on detached service for garrison duty at various outposts in frontier Minnesota until June 1863.
1st Regiment Minnesota Cavalry “Mounted Rangers” – Organized at St. Cloud, St. Peter and Fort Snelling for frontier duty against Indians until June 1863.
Brackett’s Battalion of Minnesota Cavalry – On scout duty towards Eddyville, Kentucky.
1st Minnesota Light Artillery Battery – On Major General Ulysses Grant’s Central Mississippi Campaign.
2nd Independent Battery, Minnesota Light Artillery – Marched to Nashville, Tennessee.
2nd United States Sharpshooters, Company A – On the march to Falmouth, Virginia.
