GEN. GRANT’S ARMY: BRILLIANT UNION SUCCESS; Gen. Lee Assumes the Offensive and is Signally Defeated (3/27/1865)

New York Times - Times Machine ^ | 3/27/1865

[Homer_J_Simpson]

[The following official dispatches appeared in our edition of yesterday.]

[OFFICIAL.]

WASHINGTON, March 25 -- 7 P.M.

Maj.-Gen. Dix:

This morning at 4:30 o'clock, the enemy, by a strong and sudden assault captured Fort Steadman, but after a vigorous contest the fort was recaptured with 1,600 prisoners, two flags, and all the guns uninjured.

Gen. MCLAUGHLIN was taken prisoner by the rebels, who also assaulted Fort Haskell, but were repulsed with great loss.

The official report is subjoined.

EDWIN M. STANTON,

Secretary of War.

CITY POINT, Va. -- 1:30 P.M., March 25, 1865.

Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War:

The following dispatch of Gen. PARKE is received from Gen. MEADE U.S. GRANT,

Lieut.-General.

The enemy attacked my front this morning, at about 4:30 o'clock, with three divisions, under command of Gen. GORDON.

By a sudden rush they seized the line held by the Third Brigade, First Division, at the foot of the hill to the right of Fort Steadman, wheeled and overpowering the garrison, took possession of the fort.

They established themselves upon the hill, turning our guns upon us.

Our troops on either flank stood firm.

Afterward a determined attack was made upon Fort Haskell, which was checked by part of MCLAUGHLIN's brigade, WILCOX's division, and was repulsed with great loss to the enemy.

The First Brigade of HARTSUFF's division, held in reserve, was brought up, and a check given to any further advance.

One or two attempts were made to retake the hill, and were only temporarily successful, until the arrival of the Second Brigade, when a charge was made by that brigade, aided by the troops of the First Division on either flank, and the enemy were driven out of the fort, with the loss of a number of prisoners, estimated at about 1,600.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents U.S. History, 1861-1865: Seminar and Discussion Forum
The American Civil War, as seen through news reports of the time and later historical accounts

First session: November 21, 2015. Last date to add: May 2025.
Reading: Self-assigned. Recommendations made and welcomed.

Posting history, in reverse order

https://www.freerepublic.com/tag/by:homerjsimpson/index?tab=articles

To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by reply or freepmail.

Link to previous New York Times thread

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4306862/posts

[Homer_J_Simpson]

1

2

3

4

5

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Gen. Grant’s Army: Brilliant Union Success – 2
Our Army Bulletin: Details of the Attack – 2
From City Point: Arrival of the President – 2
Our Charleston Correspondence: Military Affairs in Charleston – 2-3
North Carolina: The Occupation of Goldsboro – 3-4
From New-Orleans: The Movement Against Mobile – 4
War in the Southwest: Guerrilla Gang Broken Up – 4
News from Washington – 4
Editorial: Lee on the Offensive – 4-5
Editorial: North Carolina – Sherman, Schofield and Terry – 5
Editorial: The Military Execution on Saturday – 5
Slavery in Brazil – 5
Thackeray’s Works – 5

[BrexitBen]

” How the New York Times Destroyed America “, by John Kass, published 3-23-25, at johnkassnews.com.

Perfect encapsulation of this war mongering rag.

[If You Want It Fixed - Fix It]

Gettin’ close to the end.

Institutionalized slavery, not as rampant as today’s institutionalized child killing.

Much less mercy in America today. Less compassion for the innocent in this cold civil war, and less mercy for the victims.

We are SO much more civilized and pure.

[John S Mosby]

Yes, indeed. Over 100 years ago reconciliation was made in the form of monuments to both sides and organizations to commemorate the re-joining of the county.

This stupid continuing post occurs year after year after year in a cycle of vastly erroneous “reports” from of all things the NY Slimes (predecessor to Pinch Sulzberg’ Anti-American bird shite cage liner newspaper). Throughout every— every post the information is wrong, or completely fabricated. But presented as fact. Every now and then the replies to the posts are above... 3. 3 taking up FR valuable actual national issues of current times. Really trivial. Since these papers sent out propagandists to report— there have been monumental works of true scholarship on the entire War, with accurate and verified details.

There is no learning from this amateur poster's “college course”. Except what not to do. There are many here on FR who descend from real participants, and major leaders in this unnecessary war of Northern Greed camouflaged by abolition. Facts from North and South leader's descendants, not the Tammany owners of a rag of a newspaper from a city which largely supported the confederacy, particularly those in Tammany who made millions off the misery of slavery and of the cannon fodder immigrants they sent to die, the minute they got off the NYC docks.

[BroJoeK]

John S Mosby: "This stupid continuing post occurs year after year after year in a cycle of vastly erroneous “reports” from of all things the NY Slimes (predecessor to Pinch Sulzberg’ Anti-American bird shite cage liner newspaper). "

Iirc, Homer's daily posts began with 1860 and will end as the Civil War ended, in a month or so.

1. These Republican New York Times reports are the "first draft of history" from the Union perspective and are generally accurate, given the "fog of war" and obvious Northern bias.

2. For more scholarly interpretations, Homer also posts weekly Democratic Harper's magazine excerpts, along with comments from many historians & scholars, including some highly sympathetic to the Confederate cause.

3. Combined, they represent a wealth of raw data and interpretations that are unique in my experience.

Of course, many of our Lost Cause pro-Confederates don't like it, and sometimes, like yours here, post lengthy screeds of babbling nonsense, claiming that day is night, up is down, in is out and right is wrong, etc.

John S Mosby: "Since these papers sent out propagandists to report— there have been monumental works of true scholarship on the entire War, with accurate and verified details."

Most of those "monumental works" -- all told, some 100,000 different books & articles on the Civil War -- relied to some extent on data first published in the New York Times and elsewhere.
The value of these daily reports is that they provide a current experience of what Northern citizens felt throughout the time period.

John S Mosby: "There are many here on FR who descend from real participants, and major leaders in this unnecessary war of Northern Greed camouflaged by abolition."

I'm one of those.
My great grandfather served in the 119 Illinois Volunteers from 1862 until the war's end.
In about two weeks (April 9), as a skirmisher leading his regiment, he will be wounded and crippled for life in his right hand at the Battle of Fort Blakely near Mobile, Alabama -- iirc, the same day as Lee's surrender at Appomattox.

As for your condemnations of Northern motives, they are pure Marxist BS.
The truth is, Civil War was all about Democrats doing what Democrats always do when they lose elections -- they wage illegal violence against the constitutional government in hopes of overturning illegitimately what they could not win through legal persuasion.

NYC Pro-Confederate Democrat Mayor
Fernando Wood 1855-57, 1860-1861:

John S Mosby: "Facts from North and South leader's descendants, not the Tammany owners of a rag of a newspaper from a city which largely supported the confederacy, particularly those in Tammany who made millions off the misery of slavery and of the cannon fodder immigrants they sent to die, the minute they got off the NYC docks."

You are quite confused about NYC politics during the Civil War era.
To begin, NYC elected its first Republican mayor in 1861, he served until 1864.
The previous Democratic mayor, Fernando Wood, remained a pro-Confederate copperhead Democrat throughout the war.

In NYC during the Civil War there were dozens of different newspaper publishing companies, most of which were smaller, specialized and/or strictly local news.
There were six publishers which accounted for circa 80% of the newspapers sold:

1. New York Tribune -- Horace Greeley's radical reform-minded Republican newspaper reached over 200,000.
   Greeley was opposed to everything Democrat and Tammany Hall, though by 1872 he had become a Liberal Republican and Democrat candidate for President.

2. Harper's Weekly -- George Curtis' moderate Democratic paper, reached over 200,000 subscribers.
   Harper's became a pro-Union "War Democrat" paper, independent of Tammany Hall.
   By 1870 Harper's and the Times were at war against the corruption of Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall.

3. New York Herald -- James Bennet's moderate Democratic newspaper reached over 100,000 subscribers.
   The Democratic Herald was independent of Tammany Hall, ambivalent about the war and critical of Lincoln's policies.

   NYC Pro-Lincoln Republican Mayor
   George Opdyke 1862-1864:

   

4. New York Times -- Henry Jarvis Raymond's moderate Republican paper reached close to 100,000 readers.
   The Times was pro-Republican, pro-Lincoln, pro-war and strongly anti-Tammany Hall.
   It appealed to a broad Northern readership, including the middle and upper classes.
   By 1870, the Times and Harper's were at war against the corruption of Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall.

5. New York World -- Radical Democratic paper controlled from Democratic Tammany Hall.
   The World was skeptical of the war, opposed to Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and to draft laws.

6. New York Daily News -- Benjamin Wood (the mayor's brother) ran a Copperhead Democratic paper, also influenced from Democratic Tammany Hall.
   The Daily News expressly opposed Lincoln, his war and sympathized with the Confederate cause.

In summary, Republican New York Times was pro-Union, but not as Radical Republican as Horace Greeley's New York Tribune.
The other four major papers were all Democratic, ranging from "War Democrats" like Harper's to Tammany Hall controlled Copperhead Democrat papers like Wood's New York Daily News.

John S Mosby: "Every now and then the replies to the posts are above... 3.
3 taking up FR valuable actual national issues of current times. Really trivial. "

For many years on Free Republic, the US Civil War has been a subject of greatest interest and controversy -- as we can see in the names of posters like John S Mosby! Since 2020, I've taken great interest in Homer_J_Simpson's Civil War threads, as in all Civil War related threads.
However, since 2022 much more of my time is consumed by the war in Ukraine.
Now, what's so curious and amazing is how many of those -- so adamantly opposed to Republicans defending the Union against 1860s Democrat revolutionaries -- are today perfectly happy to see Russia crush the legitimate independence of its neighbor Ukraine.

This makes me question both the motives and sincerity of posters here to defend the Lost Cause of the Confederacy.

Mosby, J. Johnson & Longstreet -- four Confederate leaders who made peace with the union after 1865:

[DiogenesLamp]

I don't care about the battles. What I care about is the right of states to leave the Union and the threat that a corrupt Washington DC represents to freedom in general.

I see parallels between what was happening then, and what is happening now, and the problem inevitably leads back to an unaccountable behind the scenes "deep state" or "shadow government" (or as Teddy said in that image you posted "invisible government") using the government as a tool to enrich themselves.

We are still dealing with that entrenched "shadow government" and it is still threatening our lives.

[BroJoeK]

DiogenesLamp: "I see parallels between what was happening then, and what is happening now, and the problem inevitably leads back to an unaccountable behind the scenes "deep state" or "shadow government" (or as Teddy said in that image you posted "invisible government") using the government as a tool to enrich themselves."

Sure, I enjoy as much as you do, watching the Trump & DOGE teams ripping through our over-bloated Federal bureaucracy.
Hopefully, that will also sweep-out whatever vestiges of the "Deep State", "shadow government" & "invisible government" that might remain.

However, I still think your whole enterprise -- of fantasizing dark government entities beyond what the actual evidence supports -- is a fool's errand, because without substantial evidence there's no possibility of measuring the extent of the problem, or progress (or lack of progress) towards eradicating it.

[DiogenesLamp]

However, I still think your whole enterprise -- of fantasizing dark government entities beyond what the actual evidence supports -- is a fool's errand, because without substantial evidence there's no possibility of measuring the extent of the problem, or progress (or lack of progress) towards eradicating it.

That there is no easy way to measure it does not mean it cannot be measured. When I contemplate some of the things that AI might possibly be good for, tracking down all records and making connections between money and people, would seem to be something it should be very useful for.

It might actually be able to put prices on the losses we suffer from various aspects of corruption, and incompetence.

I read the other day that Elon said the various departments would routinely blow a billion dollars on something without even thinking it remarkable.

I have also seen diagrams created by the "Data Republican" which showed all these linkages between cash flow an entities. I think old school corruption may have met its match with modern machine learning algorithms.

[DiogenesLamp]

Oh, and just so you know, I sometimes send you guys links to stuff, just to get you stirred up! I'm not always serious about some of the stuff I link you to.

Sometimes it's a little prank.

[BroJoeK]

DiogenesLamp: "That there is no easy way to measure it does not mean it cannot be measured.
When I contemplate some of the things that AI might possibly be good for, tracking down all records and making connections between money and people, would seem to be something it should be very useful for."

I'm all for that, and totally agree, AI could be a game-changer.
My hope is that AI could eventually replace 90% of bureaucrats, leaving only those in direct contact with citizens, such as law enforcement and medical service providers, plus people who operate, repair & design machines, and whatever highly flattened management structure is needed.

DiogenesLamp: "I have also seen diagrams created by the "Data Republican" which showed all these linkages between cash flow an entities.
I think old school corruption may have met its match with modern machine learning algorithms."

Agreed, at least temporarily.
Sadly, human nature being what it is, any victories of virtue over wickedness are invariably only temporary, until evil finds a new way to defeat virtue and return government to his historical patterns of corruption.
Nothing says AI must always be on the side of constitutional law... 😢

DiogenesLamp: "Sometimes it's a little prank."

Not a problem, and I don't mind taking the bait once in a while. 😉