1862 | Political Events
Political Events
President Lincoln issues General War Order No. 1 in January, requiring General McClellan to advance without further delay (see 1861). Detective Alan Pinkerton travels south disguised as a Major E. J. Allen and supplies reports that exaggerate the size of Confederate troop concentrations; discouraged from taking decisive action. McClellan stalls, preparing a plan that calls for a landing on the Yorktown peninsula and subsequent approach to Richmond.
The Union gains its first important success in the west January 19 as Mill Springs, Kentucky, falls to a cavalry force commanded by Brig. Gen. of Volunteers George Henry Thomas, 45. Former president John Tyler has won election to the Confederate Congress but has died at Richmond January 18 at age 71 before he could take his seat. Fort Henry on the Tennessee River and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland fall in February to U.S. forces under Ohio-born brigadier general Ulysses S. (originally Hiram Ulysses) Grant, 39, who wins promotion to major general of volunteers (his fellow Galena, Illinois, townsman Elihu Washburne has promoted Grant's career with congressional bills that previously promoted him to lieutenant general). Kentucky-born Confederate general Simon Bolivar Buckner, 38, has been in command at Fort Donelson.
Jefferson Davis is inaugurated at Richmond February 22 as president of the Confederate States of America.
Santa Fe falls March 4 to Confederate forces under Henry Hopkins Sibley but Southern hopes of taking over the Southwest are dashed March 27 at the Battle of Glorieta. Union forces stop Sibley in Apache Canyon at Pidgin's Ranch near Glorieta Pass.
The Battle of Elkhorn Tavern (Pea Ridge) in Arkansas March 7 to 8 is a bloody encounter that ends in defeat for 16,000 Confederate troops under the command of Generals Earl Van Dorn, 41, Sterling Price, and Benjamin McCulloch. They attack an 11,000-man Union force commanded by General Samuel Curtis, who are nearly overwhelmed but manage to rally on the second day and force the Confederates to retreat, dashing their hopes of regaining control of Arkansas.
The Army of the Potomac lands on the Yorktown Peninsula in March under the command of General McClellan, but although his forces far outnumber those of the Confederates he remains overcautious and makes little progress.
The world's first naval battle between ironclad ships occurs March 8. The Confederacy has burned the wooden frigate U.S.S. Merrimac, raised her from the bottom, found her hull intact, refitted her with an ironclad superstructure four inches thick, equipped her bow with an iron ram that can punch holes in other ships, given her a total of 10 cannon, and renamed her C.S.S. Virginia; commanded by former U.S. Naval Academy superintendent Franklin Buchanan, now 61, she has steamed across the Chesapeake Bay, sunk U.S.S. Cumberland, and set fire to U.S.S. Congress in Hampton Roads, fears have spread in the North that she may destroy the Union's wooden fleet, but she is forced to withdraw March 9 after an engagement with the Union's ironclad U.S.S. Monitor, built at New York by engineer John Ericsson, now 58, with a revolving gun turret containing just two cannon. The French produced the first ironclad warship in 1859, but Ericsson's turret breaks with anything seen in the past by enabling a ship to fire broadsides without first maneuvering into the proper position, and the battle in Hampton Roads makes all other countries recognize for the first time that the days of wooden naval vessels are numbered (the Monitor will sink in a gale off Cape Hatteras early next year and her wreckage will not be discovered until 1974).
Rose Greenhow goes on trial for treason March 25 (see 1861). General McClellan says she "knows my plans better than Lincoln or the cabinet, and has four times compelled me to change them." Lacking solid evidence of her guilt, the judges release her to Confederate officials across the Potomac and order her to remain away from Washington. Greenhow goes to Richmond, where President Jefferson Davis awards her $2,500 for her services, saying, "But for you there would have been no Battle of Bull Run." The information she has amassed will be instrumental in gaining further victories for Confederate generals (see 1863).
Union Army raiders led by Captain James J. Andrews steal the Confederate locomotive the General April 1 and race the Western and Atlantic wood burner north in an effort to cut the rail lines and thus isolate General P. G. T. Beauregard's army at Chattanooga. Confederate soldiers give chase in the locomotive the Texas and catch the raiders.
The Battle of Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing) begins April 6 on the Tennessee River. General Grant's Army of the Tennessee prepares to advance on the vital Confederate railway junction at Corinth; when combined with the Army of the Ohio, commanded by Ohio-born General Don Carlos Buell, 44, the Union has combined forces of 62,000 men; Kentucky-born General Albert Sydney Johnston has only 44,000 but attacks before Buell arrives. The Confederates drive back Grant's troops but Johnston takes a bullet in a femural artery and bleeds to death at age 58 in the mass slaughter. General Beauregard succeeds to the command, he waits in vain for General Earl Van Dorn, and finally retreats to Corinth; both sides claim victory April 7, but General Grant has lost 13,047 men, the South 10,694.
Island Number 10 below Cairo, Illinois, on the Mississippi falls to Union forces April 7. Louisville-born Brig. Gen. of Volunteers John Pope, 40, begins a successful effort to split the Confederacy by gaining control of the entire length of the Mississippi.
The Union Navy under the command of Captain David Glasgow Farragut silences Confederate guns below New Orleans April 25; General Benjamin F. Butler enters the city May 1 with occupation forces that rule with a heavy hand; a woman on a balcony in the French Quarter dumps the contents of a chamber pot on Farragut's head; and General Butler issues an order May 15 that any woman who persists in insulting Union soldiers "shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a woman plying her avocation." He intends the humiliating order to intimidate civilians into compliance with occupation orders, but it is interpreted as giving license to his troops to treat ladies as prostitutes. Lord Palmerston delivers a message to the House of Commons calling Butler's conduct "infamous," but U.S. ambassador to Britain Charles Francis Adams, now 54, protests that the Confederacy holds 2 million women in slavery.
Confederate forces under "Stonewall" Jackson and Richard B. Ewell take Fort Royal, Virginia, May 23 with help from spy Belle (originally Isabelle) Boyd, 18, of Martinsburg, the "Siren of the Shenandoah." Familiar with every inch of the countryside, she has engaged in systematic pilfering of Union sabers, pistols, and ammunition, which are sorely needed by the Rebels and have been smuggled through the Southern lines.
Confederate forces evacuate Corinth May 29, giving up not only their sole direct east-west rail link between Richmond and the Mississippi but also the north-south axis of the Mobile & Ohio Railroad.
General McClellan finally ends his long delay and sends Union forces up the peninsula between the James and York Rivers toward Richmond. The outnumbered Confederates under Joseph Eggleston Johnston and Robert E. Lee are obliged to pull back, but "Stonewall" Jackson diverts much of the Union strength to the Shenandoah Valley. General McClellan engages General Joseph E. Johnston in the Battle of Fair Oaks (Seven Pines) that rages six miles east of Richmond from May 31 to June 1. Johnston is severely wounded in the first day of fighting, and Confederate casualties exceed 6,000, Union casualties 5,000. Federal troops are withdrawn from the peninsula after sustaining heavy losses in the Seven Days' Battle from June 25 to July 1 at Mechanicsville, Gaines' Mill, White Oaks Swamp, and Malvern Hill.
Yankee sympathizer Elizabeth Van Lew, 44, at Richmond uses her high social position to obtain valuable information for the Union, which she openly supports. She and her rich mother have freed their own slaves and purchased those of others in order to free them (see 1865).
Former president Martin Van Buren dies at his native Kinderhook, New York, July 24 at age 79.
The Confederate cruiser Alabama moves down the Mersey River July 29 with a British crew. Georgia-born seaman James D. (Dunwoody) Bulloch arrived at Liverpool in June of last year, designed the 900-ton, 230-foot steam-powered barkentine, initially called simply No. 290, as a commerce raider, and has had her built at Liverpool's Laird shipyards despite Britain's Foreign Enlistment Act, which forbids construction of warships for belligerents. Bulloch follows her to the Azores, where she is completed and equipped with guns that will be used under the command of Rear Admiral Raphael Semmes, 53, to destroy or capture 64 Union merchant ships with a combined value of more than $6.5 million (see 1864).
Union authorities arrest Belle Boyd July 30 by order of Secretary of War Stanton and take her to Washington, where she is held in the Old Capitol Prison until August 29, when she is released—perhaps to break her ties with other Confederate sympathizers in the Capitol—and sent south with some 200 other prisoners aboard the steamship Juniata down the Potomac.
The Second Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) ends August 30 in defeat for the Union as 20,000 Confederates under "Stonewall" Jackson and South Carolina-born General James Longstreet, 41, repulse General Pope's 60,000 Federals. New Hampshire-born Brig. Gen. Fitz-John Porter, 39, has distinguished himself in the Peninsular Campaign but fails August 29 to comply with Pope's order to attack Jackson's right flank; Pope blames the loss of the battle on Porter's disobedience (see 1863). New York-born Brig. Gen. Philip Kearney unwittingly crosses Confederate lines while on a reconnoitering mission near Chantilly, Virginia, and is killed September 1 at age 48.
The Union Army's IX Corps enters Frederick, Maryland, under the command of Wheeling, Virginia-born Mexican War veteran General Jesse (Lee) Reno in pursuit of Confederate forces; the Corps moves out September 13, and Reno is killed September 14 at age 39 while leading his men at South Mountain. Reno, Nevada, will be named in his honor.
The Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg) in Maryland September 17 turns into the biggest 1-day bloodbath in U.S. history. General Lee makes his first effort to carry the war into the North. His handsome horse Traveller is known throughout North and South, but his 38,000-man army is outgunned and outnumbered by General McClellan's 75,000 Union troops. Indiana-born General Ambrose E. (Everett) Burnside, 38, blunders late in the day by trying to send his 10,000 men across a narrow bridge (instead of marching them en masse through the chest-high waters of Antietam Creek) against Lee's right flank; 400 Confederate riflemen pick them off as they stumble over the bodies of their fallen comrades and slip on the blood; the outcome is indecisive, but General Joseph Hooker, 47, wins his nickname "Fighting Joe" (camp followers of Hooker's Massachusetts division are called "Hooker's girls," or simply "hookers"). Union casualties are 12,401 dead and wounded, Confederate casualties 10,318; Lee's army is so diminished that he falls back across the Potomac to Virginia, and McClellan passes up the opportunity to pursue him. McClellan's critics charge that the "Little Napoleon"'s goal is not to win the war and crush any possibility of secession but merely to settle the conflict on the basis of "the Union as it was," with slavery permitted to continue in the South.
A Confederate force commanded by North Carolina-born General Braxton Bragg, 45, threatens Cincinnati in the most ambitious strategic offensive into a western border state but retires after an indecisive engagement at Perryville, Kentucky, October 8 with Union troops under General Don Carlos Buell. Civilians help the military cope with thousands of casualties while Bragg withdraws southward, and Buell is relieved of his command for not having promptly pursued Bragg, who enjoyed some success at Shiloh in April.
President Lincoln relieves Genereal McClellan of his command November 7 and puts the Army of the Potomac under the far less capable and equally timid General Burnside. McClellan shrugs off suggestions that he lead his troops into Washington, D.C., take over the government in a coup d'détat, and make peace with the South. Allan Pinkerton resigns and is succeeded as chief of the U.S. Federal Detective Police and head of the federal secret service by Stafford, New York-born detective LaFayette C. (Curry) Baker, 36, who was arrested as a Union spy at Richmond last year but escaped. Adopting the motto "Death to Traitors," Baker will employ hundreds of agents to infiltrate the civil and military governments of both the Union and Confederacy, deploying them in two forces and keeping their identities secret even from each other (see 1863).
General Lee hands General Burnside a bad defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg that begins December 13. Burnside tries to cross the Rapahannock and advance on Richmond with 120,000 men, Lee opposes him with 78,000, Lee has the support of his lieutenant generals "Stonewall" Jackson and James Longstreet, Confederate artillery and riflemen cut down the advancing Union army, and many of the wounded freeze to death during the night. General Lee says to General Longstreet, "It is well that war is so terrible—else we should grow too fond of it." The Union sustains 12,600 casualties, the Confederates 5,300; Burnside withdraws.
General Grant is surprised at Holly Springs, Mississippi, December 20 by a Confederate force under General Van Dorn that captures a huge supply of stores, takes 1,500 prisoners, and burns more than 4,000 bales of cotton. Grant's bay horse Cincinnati is no match for General Lee's horse Traveller.
General Buell's Ohio-born replacement William S. (Starke) Rosecrans, 43, skirmishes with General Bragg for 4 days in the Battle of Murfreesboro (Stones River) beginning December 31 as both sides try to break the stalemate that has existed in the central Kentucky and Tennessee area. Bragg has 34,000 men, Rosecrans 44,000 after being reinforced, and although the encounter is indecisive and leaves both sides exhausted it leaves the Union forces in a stronger position, despite the loss of 12,906 men (Confederate casualties number 11,739).
London decides not to recognize the Confederacy, on which Britain depends for cotton. The British are dependent on the North for grain exports.
Britain and Spain withdraw their troops from Mexico April 8 when it becomes clear that France's Napoleon III intends to establish a Catholic Latin empire in Mexico with the blessing of Pope Pius IX. The Battle of Puebla May 5 (Cinco de Mayo) ends in a slaughter of crack French troops by Mexican irregulars under the command of mestizo officer Porfirio Díaz, 31, and General Ignacio Zaragoza, but Puebla falls to General Achille Bazaine after a 2-year siege, opening the way for a French advance on Mexico City (see 1863).
Britain proclaims the colony of British Honduras (later Belize) (see 1836). Guatemala has challenged British occupation of the area, Mexico has asserted claims to part of it, and although a treaty signed 3 years ago between Britain and Guatemala defined the small country's borders, the treaty's final article bound both parties to establish "the easiest communication" between Guatemala and what now becomes British Honduras; when no such route is developed Guatemala will claim that the entire treaty is invalid and assert her claim to the entire territory, but Britain will make British Honduras a crown colony in 1871 (see name change, 1973).
Paraguay's dictator Cárlos Antonio López dies at Asunción September 10 at age 75 after an 18-year rule in which he has involved his country in international affairs; he has officially abolished slavery and torture, but both continue to exist. His megalomaniac son Francisco Solano López, 36, becomes president, makes himself absolute dictator, and begins a disastrous 8-year rule (see 1864).
Former Russian foreign minister Karl Robert Vasileyvich, Graf Nesselrode dies at St. Petersburg March 23 (March 11 Old Style) at age 81. Russian forces in Central Asia capture the fortress of Bishkek built 37 years ago by the Uzbek (Kokand) khanate of Kokand in the mountains of what later will be Kyrgyzstan; a Mongolian tribe (the Oirots) conquered the region in the late 17th century, the Russians have been moving in since 1855, and they will complete their defeat of the khanate in 1876 (see 1926).
Greeks depose their 47-year-old king Otto I October 23 after a 29-year reign that has alienated the Greeks and provoked an assassination attempt on his wife, Amalie. Admiral Konstantinos Kanáris, now 71, is a member of the provisional government that revolts against Otto, who takes refuge with his queen aboard a British warship and returns to Bavaria (see 1863).
Admiral Louis-Adolphe Bonard captures Vietnam's Vinh Long Province in March and goes to Saigon June 5 to negotiate a peace treaty with the court of Annam (see 1861). The Treaty of Saigon signed later in the month gives France her first foothold in Indochina, ceding her control not only of Saigon and three of the southern provinces of what the French now call Cochinchina but also a voice in Vietnam's foreign relations. Former government official Phan Thanh Gian, now 66, has fought as a common soldier in the Quang Nam region, gained the respect of officers and fellow soldiers, been recalled to court (having offended the former emperor Minh Mang and been expelled for pointing out errors and shortcoming in imperial edicts), and signs the treaty, hoping that the French will keep out of the rest of Vietnam if allowed to have Gia Dih and Dinh Thong (later May Tho). The treaty opens three ports to trade, allows missionaries to do their work freely, and provides a large cash indemnity. Emperor Tu Duc will reluctantly ratify the treaty in April of next year, and Admiral Bonard will serve as France's first official military governor of Cochinchina until then, setting up schools to teach his officers the Vietnamese language and instituting French-language courses in school curriculums, but missionaries will oppose him, and the mandarins will encourage revolts against French rule (see 1863).
Former British viceroy to India Charles J. Canning, earl Canning, dies at his native London June 17 at age 49. He left India in March, having presided over the transfer of government from the British East India Company to the crown, remodeled the Indian Army by bringing more Europeans into its ranks, encouraged railroad development, and helped found the universities of Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras.
New Zealand's Native Land Act legalizes private land transactions between settlers and the Maori, whose resentment of the settlers has led to war and will provoke further hostilities as the Maori continue to lose their best land (see 1861; 1863).
The Japanese emperor tries to reassert authority over the Tokugawa shōgunate that has ruled the country since 1600. Kyoto-born courtier Koshaku Sanjo Sanetomi, 24, delivers a message ordering the shōgun to expel all foreigners from the country. Followers of the feudal lord Koshaku Shimazu Hisamitsu, 44, attack four Britons Sepember 14 as the men ride past their lord's procession without paying proper respects, one of the Britons is killed, two are wounded. London demands a large indemnity, guardians of the boy shōgun Iemochi Tokugawa agree to pay £100,000, but the lord's clan refuses to pay even a shilling. British forces show their power by destroying part of the han capital, Kagoshima, and Hisamitsu abandons his belligerence, offering to pay £25,000 and to punish the perpetrators if they can be found. Hisamitsu became head of the huge Satsuma han (fiefdom) 4 years ago and has demanded that the corrupt shogunate increase the power of the emperor; his clan leader Keiki Tokugawa is appointed shōgunal guardian, and Hisamitsu works to discourage extremist leaders who want to overthrow the shōgunate and restore the emperor to power (see 1863).
Chinese forces led by U.S. military adventurer Frederick Townsend Ward win victories over the Taiping rebels, but Ward is mortally wounded September 20 at age 31 (see 1863).