Friday Oct. 18 1861
SHERMAN SEEKS SOLDIERS, SAILORS

There was a famous General Sherman in the Civil War. There was an obscure one as well, Thomas West Sherman, and he was in action today. Sherman, a long time Army regular who had started his career by walking 400 miles to Washington D.C. to ask President Andrew Jackson for an appointment to West Point, was assigned to lead an amphibious assault on Port Royal, South Carolina. Unfortunately the only soldiers available to send on this enterprise were currently under the command of Gen. George McClellan. Repeated requests for a few divisions to be sent were met by the same response from Little Mac: sorry, he couldn’t spare a single one. The conflict was so severe that it had worked all the way up to the Commander in Chief to resolve.



Saturday Oct. 18 1862
MORGAN’S MARAUDERS MAKE MILITARY MAYHEM

John Hunt Morgan belonged to that class of Confederate horsemen known as “cavalry raiders.” His mission, essentially, was to ride around Tennessee and Kentucky wreaking havoc with Union activities, breaking communications, isolating advance forces, and confiscating supplies. Along with occasional forays into southern Ohio and Indiana to sow fear, panic and pacifism in the Union itself, he accomplished his assignment well. Rarely did his men engage in pitched battles, but one of these occasions occurred today. They met and fought Federal cavalry near Lexington, Ky., today, beat them, and forced them back into the town. They went on to capture the garrison and then moved off, towards Versailles.



Sunday Oct. 18 1863
ROSECRANS' RANK RUDELY REDUCED

There was a massive realignment of Union forces in the “Western theater” today, as Gen. U. S. Grant was named head of the Military Division of the Mississippi, covering an area from the Mississippi River to the Appalachians. Included in his area of responsibility was the city of Chattanooga, which continued to be the involuntary base of operations for Gen. William S. Rosecrans’ army. Rumors were rampant that Rosecrans was planning to withdraw in the presence of the Army of Tennessee which had whipped him badly in the Battle of Chickamauga almost a month ago. Whatever he was planning was not going to be carried out, because one of Grant’s first acts was to relieve him of command of the army. Gen. George H. Thomas replaced him, and said, “We will hold this town till we starve.”

October 18, 1863

General Sickles visits his troops
Union General Daniel Sickles returns to visit his old command, the Third Corps of the Army of the Potomac. He was recovering from the loss of his leg at Gettysburg, and the visit turned sour when the army's commander, General George Meade, informed Sickles that he would not be allowed to resume command until he completely recovered from his injury.

Sickles had a somewhat checkered past. As a Congressman in 1859, he killed his wife's lover across from the White House in Washington, D.C., but was acquitted when his lawyers employed a temporary insanity defense. He used his political leverage to secure a commission as a brigadier general when the war began, and his personal skills endeared him to his men. He rose quickly, and by early 1863 he was commander of the Third Corps.

At Gettysburg, Meade posted Sickles' troops at the left end of the Union line. The Army of the Potomac was arranged in a three-mile long, fishhook-shaped line on the top of Cemetery Ridge and Culp's Hill. On the morning of July 2, Sickles noticed that just in front of his position was a section of high ground. In his estimation, this rise could be used by the Confederates to shell the Union position. Sickles expressed confusion over his orders and three times Meade explained that Sickles was to hold the end of Cemetery Ridge. Sickles was unhappy with the explanation, failing to understand that Meade was fighting a defensive battle. He moved his corps forward anyway, and the move nearly cost the Union the battle. A furious Meade ordered Sickles to withdraw his troops, but the Confederates were already attacking. After heavy losses, the Third Corps moved back to Cemetery Ridge.

Despite his wound, Sickles hurried back to Washington to conduct damage control. One of his first visitors was President Lincoln. Sickles was one of the few Democrats who welcomed Lincoln to Washington in 1861, and Lincoln remembered that gesture. Sickles gave his account of the battle and justified his move. He even claimed that his action prevented Meade from retreating and therefore prevented a Union defeat. This began a war of words between Meade and Sickles that lasted the rest of their lives. When the reports on the battle were filed that fall, Sickles did not fare well. Many, such as General Gouverneur K. Warren and General-in-Chief Henry Halleck, blasted Sickles for his actions.

The hatred that Sickles developed for Meade after the Gettysburg incident peaked on October 18, when Meade made it clear that he had no intention of restoring Sickles to command. Sickles later testified in front of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War against Meade, but his own combat career was effectively over. He spent the next half-century defending his record, attacking Meade, and trying to shape the history of Gettysburg by continuing to promote his account of the battle before he died in 1914.





Tuesday Oct. 18 1864
COMMANDERS CONSULT CEDAR CREEK CONDITIONS

For awhile it had seemed that Gen. Richard Early’s Confederate cavalry force was doomed. Pursued relentlessly by Gen. Phil Sheridan, George Armstrong Custer, and a large number of lesser-known Union cavalrymen, Early had been losing far too many of his command to wounds, death or capture. Today Early and his staff went personally clambering around the edge of Massanutten Mountain, to peer down on the Federals camped in the creek valley below. Having concluded that retreat was getting them nowhere, Early planned out an alternative strategy: full-bore attack, come what may. It was scheduled for tomorrow.

October 18, 1867

U.S. takes possession of Alaska
On this day in 1867, the U.S. formally takes possession of Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia for $7.2 million, or less than two cents an acre. The Alaska purchase comprised 586,412 square miles, about twice the size of Texas, and was championed by William Henry Seward, the enthusiasticly expansionist secretary of state under President Andrew Johnson.

Russia wanted to sell its Alaska territory, which was remote, sparsely populated and difficult to defend, to the U.S. rather than risk losing it in battle with a rival such as Great Britain. Negotiations between Seward (1801-1872) and the Russian minister to the U.S., Eduard de Stoeckl, began in March 1867. However, the American public believed the land to be barren and worthless and dubbed the purchase "Seward's Folly" and "Andrew Johnson's Polar Bear Garden," among other derogatory names. Some animosity toward the project may have been a byproduct of President Johnson's own unpopularity. As the 17th U.S. president, Johnson battled with Radical Republicans in Congress over Reconstruction policies following the Civil War. He was impeached in 1868 and later acquitted by a single vote. Nevertheless, Congress eventually ratified the Alaska deal.
Public opinion of the purchase turned more favorable when gold was discovered in a tributary of Alaska's Klondike River in 1896, sparking a gold rush. Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959, and is now recognized for its vast natural resources. Today, 25 percent of America's oil and over 50 percent of its seafood come from Alaska. It is also the largest state in area, about one-fifth the size of the lower 48 states combined, though it remains sparsely populated.
The name Alaska is derived from the Aleut word alyeska, which means "great land." Alaska has two official state holidays to commemorate its origins: Seward's Day, observed the last Monday in March, celebrates the March 30, 1867, signing of the land treaty between the U.S. and Russia, and Alaska Day, observed every October 18, marks the anniversary of the formal land transfer.