Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Jan. 11, 1862

Jan. 11, 1862: Frustrated with mismanagement, lack of progress, and with rampant corruption in the War Department, especially in procurement, Lincoln asks for and obtains Simon Cameron’s resignation as Secretary of War.

–Goldsborough’s fleet, with Burnside’s Army aboard transports, departs Hampton Roads and sails south. Rumors fly in speculation as to its destination.

–Lieutenant John L. Worden, U.S.N., is put in command of the yet-unfinished USS Monitor, an experimental ironclad vessel still in the works in New York City.

--George Templeton Strong, a New York City lawyer and financier, writes in his journal: "We are expecting decisive news from the West. Movements down the Mississippi and up the Tennessee River and on Bowling Green (Kentucky) seem at hand. Congress will probably make the national paper money a legal tender. This is disastrous for certain classes of the community, including mortgagees like myself. It will probably destroy at least half of what property I possess. Taxes will absorb the other half. Never mind. I shall not complain if the nation be saved. But I miss a great leader, statesman, or general just now."

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