Saturday Oct. 26 1861
CONVERTED CONESTOGA CARRIES CUMBERLAND COMBATANTS

No, this was not a covered wagon, but a ship. In the early days of the War there were simply not enough warships, on either side, to accomplish the work that needed to be done. Therefore, civilian vessels were impressed into service and outfitted for war as best as could be done. One such, the USS Conestoga, officially a gunboat because a few cannon had been bolted to her deck, carried Union troops up the Cumberland River today to wage an attack on Saratoga, Kentucky. The assault, in fact, was successful.



Sunday Oct. 26 1862
POKEY PROFESSIONALS PASS POTOMAC

It had taken almost daily telegrams, sometimes more than one per day and of increasing levels of impatience, sweet-talking, sarcasm, pleading, and finally direct orders, but at long last McClellan was on the move. The Army of the Potomac, which had sat essentially immobile since the Battle of Antietam, commenced today to move across the river for which they were named. The action marked the first large-scale intrusion into Confederate territory by Union forces in more than a month. Lincoln could finally send a telegram to Gen. George McClellan telling him that he “rejoiced” at the news of the army movement.



Monday Oct. 26 1863
TURCHIN TAKES TENNESSEE TRAIL

Operations got under way today to open U.S. Grant’s planned “Cracker Line”, to get supplies more directly into the Union army trapped in Chattanooga. If direct attack had been possible it would have been tried long since, so a certain amount of sneaking around seemed preferable. At 3 a.m. 24 pontoon boats full of Ohioans and the 1st Michigan Engineers drifted silently with the current of the Tennessee River around Moccasin Point opposite Raccoon Mountain. As the mountain was quite infested with Confederates, the party linked up with Brig. Gen. John Basil Turchin’s brigade on the Point. Turchin’s men had likewise marched in the dark to the rendezvous. The first step to establish the Line had been taken.



Wednesday Oct. 26 1864
ARMY ACTION AGGRAVATES ALABAMA

The Army of Tennessee was one of the Confederacy’s finest fighting forces, but it was cursed for most of its existence by leaders whose qualities did not compare to those of the fighting men. Today those leaders required the army to “demonstrate” on one bank of the Tennessee River, across from which was the Union-occupied city of Decatur, Ala. This demonstration consisted primarily of marching around and occasionally firing off a volley of gunshots, to give the impression of a larger force and possibly alarm the Union commander into falling back from the position. The Union commander did not do anything of the sort, so the Confederates abandoned hopes of crossing there and proceeded westward to another ford.

"Bloody Bill" Anderson killed
Notorious Confederate guerrilla leader William "Bloody Bill" Anderson is killed in Missouri in an ambush.

Born in Kentucky in 1839, Anderson grew up in Missouri and moved to Kansas in 1857. Arriving to settle on his father's land claim east of Council Grove, he was soon enmeshed in the bitter fight over slavery that gave the area the nickname "Bleeding Kansas." Before the war, he trafficked stolen horses and escorted wagon trains along the Santa Fe Trail. When the war broke out, Anderson joined an antislavery, pro-Union band of guerillas known as "Jayhawkers." He soon switched sides and joined a band of pro-Confederate "Bushwhackers." In the partisan warfare of Kansas and Missouri, these groups were often more interested in robbery, looting, and personal gain than advancement of a political cause.

Anderson's father was killed in a dispute in 1862. Anderson and his brother Jim gunned down the killer and then moved the family back to western Missouri. Anderson became the head of a band ranging from 30 to 40 guerillas, and his activities cast a shadow of suspicion over the rest of his family. The Union commander along the border, General Thomas Ewing, arrested several wives and sisters of a notorious band, led by William Quantrill, that was terrorizing and murdering Union sympathizers. While Anderson commanded his own band, he often collaborated with Quantrill's larger force. As a result, the group Ewing arrested also included three of Anderson's sisters, who were imprisoned in a temporary Union jail in Kansas City. On August 14, the structure collapsed, killing Anderson's 14-year-old sister Josephine and injuring his two other sisters. Quantrill assembled 450 men to exact revenge against the abolitionist community of Lawrence, Kansas. On August 21, the band killed 150 residents and burned much of the town. Anderson was credited with 14 murders that day.

Anderson went to Texas that winter, got married, and returned to Missouri in 1864 with a band of about 50 fighters. Anderson embarked on a summer of violence, leading his group on a campaign that killed hundreds and caused extensive damage. The climax came on September 27 when Anderson's gang joined with several others to pillage the town of Centralia, Missouri. When more than 100 Union soldiers pursued them, the guerillas ambushed and massacred the entire detachment. Just a month later, Anderson's band was caught in a Union ambush outside of Albany, Missouri, and Anderson was killed by two bullets to his head. The body of the "blood-drenched savage," as he became known in the area, was placed on public display. Anderson kept a rope to record his killings, and there were 54 knots in it at the time of his death.