January 13, 1863

January 13, 1863:  On the Cumberland River in Tennessee, near Harpeth Shoals, the USN gunboat Major Slidel is captured by Confederate guerillas, in addition to the steam transports Hastings, Trio, and Parthenia, all loaded with wounded soldiers.  After the Rebels relieve the patients and all other Yankees of their money, overcoats, shoes, and other effects, all prisoners are loaded on the Hastings and permitted to leave, while the other three ships are burned.

---On this date, both the 1^st Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment and the 1^st South Carolina (Union) Infantry Regiment are mustered officially into Federal service---the first officially recognized colored regiments in the national army.

 

---Gen. Grant sends a dispatch to Gen McClernand ordering him to take his troops back to Milliken’s Bend and await Grant’s arrival, since he intends on taking command in the field.  McClernand’s time as an independent commander in the field is over.