October 6, 1863
---Battle of Baxter Springs, Kansas:
Lt. Col. William Quantrill and his irregular Rebel cavalry attack a
Federal outpost here, held my detachments from the 3rd Wisconsin
Cavalry Regiment, and the 2nd Kansas Colored Infantry. Quantrill’s men attack, but are able to do
little, when a force of over 100 Yankees approach from the north—Gen. James
Blunt and his staff. The Rebels attack,
and are able to hunt down, trap, and massacre 103 Union soldiers. Gen. Blunt barely escapes with his life.
---The
Richmond Daily Dispatch publishes an
editorial on a curious topic: how few Northern generals have been slain in
battle as compared with Southern generals---of whom many have perished. There is clearly a gap in cultural ideals and
perceptions, with the North not as passionate about the chivalric code as their
enemies in the South, and the snide and satirical tone of this piece makes
clear the Southern scorn for Yankee indifference to matters of honor:
It has been observed that not many Federal
Generals have been killed in this war. The military expediency of keeping out
of danger is fully appreciated by those heroes, so self-denying of glory, so
generous in their distribution of the posts of honor and peril to the humble
privates in their ranks. Burnside, butting the heads of his rank and file against
the ramparts of Fredericksburg, and ensconcing himself in a snug covert three
miles from the roar of battle, is a fair specimen of the military discretion of
the Commander in Chief of the Federal forces. It is a rare thing to hear of one
of them who is unmindful of the great law of self preservation. Such slaughter
as has been witnessed among the common soldiers of the Yankee army has not
often been witnessed, nor such exemption from peril as their leaders have
enjoyed. Scott, McClellan, McDowell, Buell, Pope, Burnside, Hooker, all live,
and have not even a scar to testify that they have ever been engaged in a
battle of this war.
And yet, though successful in escaping
Confederate bullets, they are as dead, to all intents and purposes, as if they
had shared the fate of the thousands whom they have driven to the slaughter.
Not one of the long array we have mentioned has survived the fields of their
former notoriety. Each and all of them have been paralyzed by the shock of arms
which they so carefully kept out of, and laid up in a mausoleum where they are
scarcely objects of curiosity to the living world. The Confederates have killed
them one and all as effectually as if they had perforated their carcases [sic] with
Minnie bullets. Better would it have been for their reputation to have perished
in the smoke and din of battle than to go down to posterity not only defeated,
but disgraced. They have purchased a few years of life at the expense of all
that makes life desirable to a soldier. With them the process of decomposition
has begun before death, and they are masses of living putrefaction — a stench
in the nostrils of all mankind and of themselves. . . .
---The
New York Times publishes an editorial
discussing the possible reasons for General Lee’s invasion of Pennsylvania,
even considering Lee’s own report. The
editorial concludes:
This report of LEE confirms the opinion
universally entertained, that a grand opportunity was missed to strike a blow
at his army while it was at Williamsport, making preparations to retreat across
the Potomac. He confesses to his embarrassments in that position, and brings to
our knowledge some whose existence we had surmised, but of which we previously
had no proof. At the same time, his campaign is throughout tacitly confessed to
have been a total and stupendous failure — even accepting his own confession of
its objects; but we are persuaded now, as during the pendency of the campaign,
that its real and final object was the capture of Washington.
---Wheeler’s
raid burns its way into middle Tennessee, towards Murfreesboro. Right behind Wheeler is Gen. George Crook
with a brigade of Union cavalry, nipping at the Rebels’ heels. Crook catches up with Wheeler’s rear guard,
and attacks in an extended saber charge.
After deploying his artillery, Crook breaks through, but Wheeler reaches
Murfreesboro and captures a railroad bridge and a few Federal troops. After tearing up track, Wheeler’s gray riders
move on to Shelbyville, on the Duck River, and take up a defensive position. With over 5,000 troopers, Wheeler outnumbers
Crook, but Crook is joined by Gen. Robert Mitchell, with 2,000 more, bringing
the Federal total to 4,000. Wheeler’s
three divisions, under Davidson, Martin, and Wharton, are spread out guarding
river crossings.
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Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler, CSA
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