17th Virginia Infantry Regiment

            Company H           

The Old Dominion Rifles


This week during the War

01 January-07 January

January 1, 1863

The Lincoln Administration submits the Emancipation Proclamation to Congress for their consideration. The proclamation made it harder for the English to come to the assistance of the Confederacy as they opposed slavery.

January 2, 1861

The warship USS Brooklyn is loaded with supplies for a mission to relieve Federal forces besieged at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. The mission was later cancelled by President Buchanan as he feared that sending a warship would provoke the South.

January 3, 1861

The Georgia State Militia seizes Fort Pulaski in an attempt to protect the city of Savannah. The fort protected the city from attack from the sea from its strategic location on the Savannah River. It could not protect the city from the overland approach made by General Sherman in December, 1864.

January 4, 1865

Union troops raid Augusta, Arkansas, for cattle. They returned with just over 300 head and decided to have a barbeque before returning to base.

January 5, 1865

President Lincoln orders a safe conduct pass to be issued to a Mr. James Singleton to enable him to cross Union lines and negotiate peace terms with Confederate officials. Singleton was not an official emissary of Lincoln, and Lincoln did not give his mission any assistance besides the pass.

January 6, 1865

Confederate President Jefferson Davis writes a scathing letter to his vice president, Alexander Stephens. In it, Davis criticizes Stephens for undermining the Presidency with his openly voiced moderate stands and calls for peace. Stephens was opposed to secession from the start.

 

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Last updated - 28th November, 2003