December 2, 1862

December 2, 1862:  Today, Rebel troops evacuate Abbeville, Mississippi, and Federal cavalry moves in.  Appearances indicate that Pemberton may move back and leave northern Mississippi to the Yankees.

---Col. J.M. Glover, with detachments from the 3^rd and 9^th Missouri Cavalry (Federal) sorties from Rolla, Missouri and clewans out a camp of several hundred Rebel irregulars.

---Along the Rappahannock front, there are several sizable skirmishes between Northern and Southern cavalry units, as the two armies spar for position. 

 

---In the Confederate War Department in Richmond, clerk John Beauchamp Jones records in his journal his worries about internal dissent within the Confederacy, all on what seems to be the eve of victory:

But the Enquirer to-day contains a communication from T. E. Chambliss, not the Virginia member of Congress, proposing the election of Commissioners from North and South, to put an end to the war. What can this mean but reconstruction on the old Democratic basis? It will not meet with favor, unless we meet great reverses this winter. Still, but few have faith in foreign intervention, to terminate the war; and there is a growing party both in the North and the South opposed to its indefinite prolongation. If we beat Burnside, I think it will be the last battle of magnitude. If he beats us, no one can see the end of the struggle. But from every State complaints are made against the military agents of the Confederate Government, for their high-handed oppressions. We may split up into separate States, and then continue the war—but it will be a sad day for us! The President ought to change his cabinet immediately, and then change his policy. He should cultivate the friendship and support of the people, and be strong in their affections, if he would rule with a strong hand.