Following the American Civil War Sesquicentennial with day by day writings of the time, currently 1863.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

October 24.—J. T. Barber of the Thirty-second Alabama Regiment, from Choctaw County, Ala., and Mr. Jones of the Twenty-second Mississippi Regiment, died to-day.

I have little or no time to talk to the men on the subject of death; but they all seem religiously inclined, and ready to cast themselves at the feet of Him who is all-powerful to save. I have not yet met one scoffer.

Mrs. W. is very sick, and as I have the three wards to attend, I have no time to take care of her. Some days I leave her in the morning, and do not see her again till night.

October 24.—A party of rebels, a hundred and fifty strong, attacked a force of Union troops, numbering only eighty, stationed at Manassas Junction, Virginia. The Union troops retreated with the loss of fifteen men and two officers taken prisoners. Captain Conger of the Third Virginia cavalry, with a detachment of his regiment, who had been on a scouting expedition, met the same party of rebels between Catlett’s Station and Warrenton. Captain Conger attacked and dispersed them, killing several and taking two prisoners.

—A fight took place near Grand Prairie, Missouri, between a small force of Union troops, under the command of Major Frank J. White, and a body of rebel guerrillas, resulting in a complete rout of the latter, with a loss of eight killed and twenty wounded. The Union party had only two or three of their number wounded.

A reconnoissance in force, under the command of Brigadier-General Ferry, was made from Suffolk, Virginia, to the Blackwater. At a place near the river, known as the Common Road Crossing, a small party of rebels were encountered, when a skirmish ensued, terminating in a retreat of the rebels, with a loss of six of their number. The Unionists had one man killed, Lieutenant Wheelan, of the New-York Mounted Rifles.—(Doc. 15.)

—A skirmish took place at Morgantown, Kentucky, between a detachment of Union troops, and a force of Morgan’s rebel guerrillas, resulting in a retreat of the latter, with a loss of sixteen of their number left in the hands of the Unionists.

—The United States gunboat Clifton captured in Matagorda Bay, Texas, a yacht.—The British steamer Scotia, while attempting to break the blockade of Charleston, South-Carolina, was captured by the United States bark Restless, under the command of Lieutenant Commanding Edward Conroy.—(Doc. 14.)