August 18, 1862

August 18, 1862:  Massacre on the Minnesota River, Part 2 – Chief Little Crow of the Dakota and his council decide that, after yesterday’s killings, only a pre-emptive strike will answer.  The warriors attack in several waves, moving eastward along the south bank of the Minnesota River, killing every white man they met.  At first, women and children were made prisoners, but later they began to kill them also.  At Fort Ridgely, Capt. John Marsh is in command, and can muster only 125 troops available for battle.  The Dakota summon Capt. Marsh for a parley, and as the troops cross at the ford, the Dakota open fire and take down half of the soldiers already across.  After a ghastly firefight, the remaining soldiers swim back across the river; Capt. March drowns.  200 surviving white settlers with fewer than 75 soldiers huddle in Fort Ridgely.  On this day, about 400 settlers have been killed, along with 24 soldiers killed and more wounded.

---The Richmond Daily Dispatch publishes an editorial urging the Confederate Army to invade the North and attack the new mob of Yankee recruits before they can be trained into an overwhelming force:

The desperate efforts of the Lincoln Government to create another invading army of colossal proportions should be met by the most prompt action of our armies now in the field. These immense levies will only be formidable if we give them time by drill and discipline to be transformed into soldiers. At present they are unaccustomed to the use of arms, and, in the field, their large numbers would only be an element of confusion and weakness. But the experience of the last year has shown that the very same materials which were dispersed like chaff before the whirlwind on the red fields of Manassas can be converted, by systematic training into fighting men of no ordinary character. Whatever we have to do in neutralizing the enemy’s advantage of fresh numbers must be done now, by instant, energetic, and decisive action. The North has everything to gain, we everything to lose by delay. We may as well assume at once that the men called for by Lincoln will be forthcoming.–Whether they will be worth anything to his cause depends upon whether we at once hunt down his armies already in the field, or permit them to become the nucleus of another and more immense aggregation of physical power.

---Josiah Marshall Favill, an officer with the 57^th New York Infantry in Virginia, records a rare, brief idyllic episode on the march:

August 18th. Reveille at daylight. Immediately after breakfast the troops received several days’ rations, and at 7 A. M. marched out of bivouac, going only four miles, and then for some reason not stated, pitched tents upon a splendid plantation and remained until the next morning. Poultry, fruits, and vegetables were in abundance, and we not only enjoyed a superb rest, but the best of catering. A spread at Delmonico’s could not surpass the dainties of the Fifty-seventh’s mess on this pleasant route. The country is delightful, and riding at the head of one’s regiment in company with so many good fellows, day after day, is simply glorious; a most agreeable change from camp life.

---On the Tennessee River, about 50 miles north of Ft. Henry, about 30 Rebel raiders capture two government steamers, the Skylark and Sallie.  After confiscating valuables, the Rebels burn both steamers and parole the crews and release them.

---In Clarksville, Tennessee, a small garrison of Union troops under command of Col. Mason surrender (without firing a shot) to a larger force of Rebel guerillas under the command of Col. Woodward.

A Union Soldier