Admiral David Farragut. (Library of Congress collection)
January 10, 1864 – January 23, 1864
By Phil Kohn
Phil Kohn can be reached at USCW160@yahoo.com
In Washington, D.C., Sen. John B. Henderson, from Missouri, on January 11, 1864, proposes abolishing slavery throughout the United States by adding an amendment (the 13th) to the U.S. Constitution.
Continuing the federal government’s campaign against the Navajo in the New Mexico and Arizona Territories (the tribe is accused of raiding white settlements near their lands), Col. Christopher “Kit” Carson on January 12 leads 389 U.S. cavalrymen into the tribe’s stronghold of Canyon de Chelly, in eastern Arizona. After two days of fighting, the Navajo suffer 23 killed, 5 wounded and 234 captured. By summer, over 8,000 Navajo men, women and children will surrender and be forced to make the “Long Walk” to the Bosque Redondo reservation at Fort Sumner, New Mexico, some 300 miles away from their traditional lands.
Following on his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, issued on December 8, 1863, President Lincoln on January 13 urges officials in Florida and Louisiana to form “Union” governments “with all possible dispatch.”
Thinking ahead strategically, President Davis on January 14 sends a communication to Gen. Johnston, in Georgia, informing him that he may need to send troops to Alabama or Mississippi, or both.
On January 17, after a two-day cavalry battle with considerable casualties, Confederates take Dandridge, in eastern Tennessee near Knoxville. The Federals are forced to withdraw to Strawberry Plains, Tennessee, some 15 miles to the west.
In western North Carolina, meetings are held on January 18 to protest the Confederate conscription law that mandates that males between 18 and 45 (soon to be changed to 17 and 50) serve in the Confederate Army.
At Little Rock, Arkansas, on January 19, a pro-Union constitutional convention adopts an anti-slavery measure. President Lincoln encourages support of the group.
A Union naval force commanded by Admiral David Farragut performs a reconnaissance and demonstration on January 20 at Mobile Bay in Alabama.
On January 21, pro-Union leaders in Tennessee begin planning a constitutional convention to set up a “loyal” government and abolish slavery.
In Washington, D.C., President Lincoln on January 23 approves a plan whereby freed slaves may be hired for pay by their former masters to work on their plantations.
