October 2, 1862

October 2, 1862: In Kentucky, the Confederate invasion seems to have lost its steam. Bragg’s main army is a Bardstown, and Kirby-Snith is at Frankfort. Both Bragg and his generals have harangued Kentuckians to join the Cause—but Kentucky is wary, lest the Confederate army be driven out of the state. Everyone knows and is aware of massive build-ups of Union troops along the Ohio River, ready to re-take Kentucky. So, Gen. Bragg begins making plans to install Richard Hawes as a Confederate Provisional Governor of the state, with the Inauguration to take place on Oct. 4. But—rather suddenly—Gen. Buell begins to move, and his troops leave Louisville and begin marching east and south towards Bardstown. But Bragg believes that the Yankees were shifting east towards Frankfort.


—Pres. Jefferson Davis assigns Maj. Gen. John C. Pemberton, a native Northerner, to proceed to Mississippi and to take command of all Confederate troops in the department, replacing Van Dorn.


—This morning, Pres. Lincoln and Gen. Sumner of the II Corps review the troops. Lincoln then travels to Sharpburg to visit McClellan, and spends the night in a tent near the General’s tent. He is serenaded by the 2^nd U.S. Cavalry Reg. band.


—Gen. Don Carlos Buell orders the arrest of Gen. J.C. Davis for the murder of Gen. Nelson, but explains in a letter to Gen. Halleck that he cannot hold a court-martial until later, since he cannot spare any skilled battlefield commanders like Davis, now that the Army of the Ohio is on the move.


—Sarah Morgan, now housed at her sister-in-law’s plantation Linwood near Port Hudson, writes in her journal of an excursion on horseback with a company of friends and several Confederate army officers along the banks of the Mississippi River:

Sarah Morgan at age 18

With what extraordinary care we prepared for our ride yesterday! One would have thought that some great event was about to take place. But in spite of our long toilet, we stood ready equipped almost an hour before Colonel Breaux arrived. . . .

There was quite a cavalcade of us: Mr. Carter and his wife, Mrs. Badger and Mrs. Worley, in two buggies; the three boys, who, of course, followed on horseback, and the two gentlemen, Miriam, Anna, and I, riding also. . . . We returned highly delighted with what we had seen and our pleasant ride. It was late when we got back, as altogether our ride had been some fifteen miles in length. As soon as we could exchange our habits for our evening dresses, we rejoined our guests at the supper-table. . . . After supper, Colonel Breaux and I got into a discussion, rather, he talked, while I listened with eyes and ears, with all my soul. . . . What would I not give for such knowledge! He knows everything, and can express it all in the clearest, purest language, though he says he could not speak a word of English at fourteen! . . .

Presently he asserted that I possessed reasoning faculties, which I fear me I very rudely denied. You see, every moment the painful conviction of my ignorance grew more painful still, until it was most humiliating; and I repelled it rather as a mockery. He described for my benefit the process of reasoning, the art of thinking. I listened more attentively still, resolving to profit by his words. . . . Then he turned the conversation on quite another theme. Health was the subject. He delicately alluded to my fragile appearance, and spoke of the necessity of a strong constitution to sustain a vigorous mind. . . . I felt the guilt I had incurred by not making greater efforts to gain a more robust frame; and putting on my sunbonnet as I arose from the breakfast-table this morning, I took my seat here on the wide balcony where I have remained seated on the floor ever since, with a chair for a desk, trying to drink an extra amount of fresh air. . . . And when I lay down, and looked in my own heart and saw my shocking ignorance and pitiful inferiority so painfully evident even to my own eyes, I actually cried. Why was I denied the education that would enable me to be the equal of such a man as Colonel Breaux and the others? He says the woman’s mind is the same as the man’s, originally; it is only education that creates the difference. Why was I denied that education? Who is to blame?

—St. John’s River, Florida: At the mouth of the river on this date appears a flotilla of gunboats of the U.S. Navy undcer Commander Steedman---USS Paul Jones, USS Cimarron, USS Uncas, USS Patroon, USS E. B. Hale, and USS Water Witch.   Also arriving are transports carrying a brigade of Union troops under Brig. Gen. John M. Brannan. Their mission is to capture a battery of guns installed by the orders of Brig. Gen. Finnegan for blocking U.S.N. access to the St. Johns River, which gives access to much of Florida’s Atlantic coast. By noon, Gen. Brannan has landed troops below and above the battery.