August 29, 1942 - Saturday - 80 years ago today

Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien:  

Task Force 17 merged into Task Force 61 on August 29th.   

Operation Watchtower

The Japanese continued landing troops on Guadalcanal; they had begun to use destroyers, which were faster than transports, and continued despite the loss of one destroyer and damage to two others.  The Japanese command had abandoned for the present any attempt to take Port Moresby on New Guinea, and concentrated on Guadalcanal, continuously building the force there for new attacks.

The American carriers stood off somewhat from Guadalcanal due to fear of attacks from submarines and land based aircraft, but still patrolled the Coral Sea and awaited the next attack from the Japanese fleet.  The addition of the Hornet restored the Task Force to 3 carriers.

Destroyer Operations:

As the Task Force has now reached the battle area, there is obviously a heightened alert on all the ships, including O'Brien. To give some idea what it was like, here is an excerpt from the book Condition Red: Destroyer Actions in the South Pacific, by Frederick Jackson Bell.  This describes the routine on the USS Grayson prior to the Battle of the Eastern Solomons.  It would be very similar on the O'Brien once in Task Force 61:

"Several times each day the Enterprise launched and recovered planes, keeping a patrol around the formation, searching far out toward our van or flanks, then, when they came home, giving exercise to the Task Force in repelling air attacks.  Heading as we were for the back door of the Solomons, it would be another week before we would expect to sight enemy aircraft, but not for a moment could we drop our guard for it was by no means improbable that the Japs were trying the same stunt as we, but in reverse.  Certainly we could expect subs to be across our track.  There were no idle hands, and few idle moments, as we continued on our way.

"The crew stood a watch in three; four hours on watch, eight hours off, an arrangement that while apparently giving them only eight hours on watch out of every twenty-four is by no means so simple.  A man going off watch at midnight will be free until eight in the morning - except that he must go to his battle station when we go to General Quarters before dawn and remain there for an hour, until after sunrise, which allows him time for a bath and shave before breakfast at seven, and a few moments for a smoke before it is again time to go on watch.  Men on the mid-watch (midnight to four a. m.) get no sleep the remainder of the night.  During the forenoon they try to crowd in a little rest, but always there are drills, practice firings, or unexpected calls to G. Q. that keep them from their bunks.  They welcome the watch ending at eight in the evening, for with any luck they can be turned in by eight-thirty, and sleep until half-past three, when again it is 'Rouse the watch.  On deck the --- section', in the rolling, sleep-penetrating tones possessed by all good boatswain's mates.  There is time for a cup of coffee and a cigarette -- a face wash if they are inclined -- and up to their battle station fifteen minutes before the hour.  It is particularly hard on the engineers, especially in the tropics.  Our engineers didn't know it at the time -- no more did I -- but we were to steam for four months before we could secure the plant and let the fires die out under the boilers.  The future held many surprises of which we were happily unaware.

"Watches for the  officers are equally restrictive, except for the Captain and the Executive.  They have no regular watches, but the Executive Officer, in his capacity of navigator, has little chance for rest, and the Captain is fortunate if he has more than an hour's uninterrupted sleep at any time or if he can spend as many as five hours in his bunk in any twenty-four."

-- Frederick Jackson Bell, Condition Red: Destroyer Actions in the South Pacific, pp. 19-20. 

 

U. S. Navy Task Forces:

• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) was returning to Pearl Harbor to repair battle damage to Enterprise.
  
• Combined Task Force 61 remained on patrol in the Coral Sea near Guadalcanal.
  
• Task Force 17 (Hornet) -> TF 61
• Task Force 11 (Saratoga) -> TF 61
• Task Force 18 (Wasp) -> TF 61
  

More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology, pp. 245-247.
  
•  The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign,  John B. Lundstrom, pp 164-171.
• The Struggle for Guadalcanal, Samuel Eliot Morison, pp. 104-110.
• Neptune's Inferno, The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, James D. Hornfischer, pp. 118-121
• Condition Red: Destroyer Actions in the South Pacific, Frederick Jackson Bell,   pp. 19-20.  .
  

 

NEXT POST: SEPTEMBER 2ND

August 29, 1862 - Friday - 160 years ago today

Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment - Wood's Division - Wagner's Brigade

The wide dispersal of troops, combined with being unable to get a sense of where Bragg and the Confederate army are going, has caused Buell by the 29th to begin moving north, to Murfreesboro.  Here is a dispatch from Buell to General Halleck on August 29th.

-------------------------------------------    

Decherd, TENN.,  August 29, 1862 -- 2 p. m.

Maj. Gen. H. W, Halleck

   Every day renders it the more evident that we must abandon our extensive lines and concentrate at some point nearer our base of supplies, perhaps Murfreesborough.  Our communications are interrupted almost daily and our detachments captured by superior numbers.  Our communications are not yet opened with Louisville,  and cannot be without putting a larger force on the road than can be spared.  I yield to this conviction with painful reluctance.  I cannot collect at any point this side of Murfreesborough more than 30,000 men, and from that would have to be deducted something for convoys.  It would be worse in advance of this point; and besides, the character of the roads and of the country makes it impossible to subsist ourselves in the mountains.  I am therefore preparing to concentrate at Murfreesborough.  I suppose General Grant's two divisions to have crossed the river, but I can get no information of their movements.  I sent a division to Altamont yesterday.  A flag of truce which went from it found the enemy's cavalry outpost about 11 miles.  His advance guard was supposed to be about 15 miles out.

D. C. BUELL. 

------------------------------------------

Orders go out to collect as many divisions as possible at Murfreesboro by September 5th.

In Kentucky, things are very chaotic for the Union forces.  The only troops available are ones freshly arrived from Indiana and Ohio.  The are barely provisioned and are not ready for combat.  General Nelson organized them into brigades and moved them toward the onrushing Confederate army under General Kirby Smith, near Richmond, KY.  Another Union army under General George Morgan is at Cumberland Gap; Kirby Smith has left 9,000 troops in Morgan's front, and has another 12,000 moving toward Richmond.  

In the east, the campaign of Second Bull Run (Second Manassas) has come to a decisive battle.  General Lee and Stonewall Jackson are in combat with a Union army under General Pope.  General McClellan, having been brought north off the Peninsula, is also engaged.

More Information:

• Link: War Operations, see Volume XVI, Chapter XXVIII, Part II, Correspondence,  pp. 417-450.
• The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. pp. 79-80.
  
• Shelby Foote: The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville, pp. 650-652. 
• Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol 3. The Tide Shifts, pp,4-7, 31-41.
• Kenneth Noe, Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle, pp. 32-59.

 

NEXT POST: SEPTEMBER 2ND

 

 

August 25, 1942 - Tuesday - 80 years ago today

Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien: 

 Task Force 17 was still proceeding south to join Task Force 61.  It was nearing the Solomons on the 25th, and was ordered to refuel and prepare for action.  Here is the description from the Hornet's history:

Once TF-17 crossed the equator, Commander South Pacific Force (ComSoPac) (Vice Adm. Robert L. Ghormley) ordered it to proceed to an area west of Guadalcanal and prepare for “offensive operations further to [the] westward.” Guadalupe fueled the task force on 25 August 1942, completing the replenishment by moonlight at 2200, then, with Hughes as escort, was detached.

Operation Watchtower - Battle of the Eastern Solomons .

The Japanese now sent a new invasion force that was accompanied by a naval task force with two fleet carriers and a smaller carrier, and a heavy force of battleships and cruisers.  The US navy had two fleet carriers; Wasp had been sent south to refuel, and Hornet (Task Force 17) had not yet arrived in the South Pacific.

The ensuing carrier battle became known as the Battle of the Eastern Solomons.  The Enterprise was heavily damaged, and was forced to return to Pearl Harbor.  The Japanese lost the light carrier Ryujo, and one of the larger carriers was damaged.  More importantly, their invasion force had to retreat and did not reach Guadalcanal.

U. S. Navy Task Forces:

• Task Force 17 (Hornet) was in transit the South Pacific but did not arrive in time for the battle.  It would replace the damaged Enterprise (Task Force 16) on arrival.
  
• Combined Task Force 61 fought the Battle of the Eastern Solomons and was able to repel the Japanese invasion force moving toward Guadalcanal.
  
• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) returned to Pearl Harbor to repair battle damage to Enterprise.
  
• Task Force 11 (Saratoga) -> TF 61
• Task Force 18 (Wasp) -> TF 61

More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology, pp. 243-245.
  
•  The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign,  John B. Lundstrom, pp 97-164.
• The Struggle for Guadalcanal, Samuel Eliot Morison, pp. 70-104.
• Neptune's Inferno, The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, James D. Hornfischer, pp. 114-118.
  

 

NEXT POST: AUGUST 29TH

 

August 25, 1862 - Monday - 160 years ago today

Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment - Wood's Division - Wagner's Brigade

General Buell learned of another cavalry defeat at Gallatin, TN on the 22nd, reducing an already thin Union cavalry.  Buell had determined to gather his forces at Altamont, and divisions were ordered on the 23rd, to congregate at Altamont, TN on the 25th.  General Thomas (and Wood's division) could not make Altamont and decided to return to McMinnville.

Bragg by this point had crossed some of his troops over the Tennessee River, but only on the 25th did he issue the orders for Confederate troops to advance.

More Information:

• Link: War Operations, see Volume XVI, Chapter XXVIII, Part II, Correspondence,  pp. 387-424.
• The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. pp. 78-79.
  
• Shelby Foote: The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville, pp. 561-584. 
• Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol 3. The Tide Shifts, pp,4-7, 31-41.
• Kenneth Noe, Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle, pp. 32-58.

 

NEXT POST: AUGUST 29TH

August 21, 1942 - Friday - 80 years ago today

Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien: 

 Task Force 17 was still proceeding south to join Task Force 61.  It had not yet reached the equator.

Operation Watchtower  .

Japanese destroyer transports made good on landing Colonel Ishiki with about 1000 of his troops on Guadalcanal.  They bypassed the Marine position at Lunga Point and were able to land east of there on the north side of the island.  The Marines soon detected the force; they ambushed a Japanese patrol, gained valuable intelligence, and awaited Ishiki's attack.  The Japanese thought there was only a small US presence, but were overwhelmed when they attacked near the Tenaru River, because the Marines had over 10,000 troops on the island.  Ishiki's force was wiped out, and he took his own life at the end of the battle.  The Japanese were undeterred; they immediately made plans to send a new force, accompanied by a large naval force of carriers and battleships.

The Marines also were supplied with fighters and bombers on August 20th.  Planes arriving were welcomed, but generally had short lifetimes due to the constant warfare on and over the island.  Resupply of aircraft was needed often.

U. S. Navy Task Forces:

• Task Force 17 (Hornet) was in transit the South Pacific..
  
• Combined Task Force 61 was patrolling in the Coral Sea.  The damage to the carriers was being assessed in preparation for returning one or more of them to Hawaii or the west coast for repairs.  Hornet would join soon as a replacement for carriers returned for repair.
  
• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) -> TF 61
  
• Task Force 11 (Saratoga) -> TF 61
• Task Force 18 (Wasp) -> TF 61

More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology, pp. 241-242.
  
•  The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign,  John B. Lundstrom, pp 89-97.
• The Struggle for Guadalcanal, Samuel Eliot Morison, pp. 1-69.
• Neptune's Inferno, The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, James D. Hornfischer, pp. 44-113.
  

 

NEXT POST: AUGUST 25TH

 

August 21, 1862 - Thursday - 160 years ago today

Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment - Wood's Division - Wagner's Brigade

By the 21st, Buell had learned that Bragg had moved his Confederate army north from Chattanooga, but was having trouble locating him and discerning his plans.  By this time any thought of attacking Chattanooga had gone by the wayside.  Buell is looking for a point of concentration and at this time was thinking of the Tracy City and Altamont area.  General Thomas thought McMinnville was the better choice but was overruled.  

In Kentucky, General Nelson, who had been sent there to oppose the advance of General Edmund Kirby Smith, found few available soldiers and almost none who were trained or experienced.  Worse, an army reorganization, intended to relieve Buell of excess responsibilities, had only clouded the command hierarchy, and thus railroad repairs between Louisville and Nashville, as well as the forwarding and provisioning of new regiments, was hampered.  Nelson would not be able to field an effective force against Kirby Smith's veterans.

There was also skirmishing at Cumberland Gap, where Kirby Smith had posted a sizeable force facing the Union army entrenched there.  The Confederate army in Kentucky was behind the Union force at Cumberland Gap, and might cause it to fall back northward if it could not be supplied.

On the 20th, General Thomas sends this dispatch to Wood:

-------------------------------------------    

HDQRS, FIRST DIVISION, DISTRICT OF THE OHIO,

McMinnville,  Tenn, August 20, 1862

General WOOD, near McMinnville:

   You had better send back an escort to Decherd for your train, as I shall be unable to furnish you with one, having been ordered here before your train was ready.  Get ten day's supply of commissary stores, and if in good camp remain where you are.  If your camp is not a good one you can move to where the Manchester and McMinnville road crosses Hickory Creek, where you will find a good camp and be within a few hours' march of this place.  Have the country explored in the direction of Altamont, and report if a strong position can be taken up near that place, and withal be prepared to march within a day's notice.

GEO. H. THOMAS

Major-General, U, S. Volunteers

  

------------------------------------------

 These orders are in line with the proposed concentration near Altamont, TN that is currently being discussed.

More Information:

• Link: War Operations, see Volume XVI, Chapter XXVIII, Part II, Correspondence,  pp. 360-387.
• The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. pp. 78-79.
  
• Shelby Foote: The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville, pp. 561-577. 
• Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol 3. The Tide Shifts, pp,4-7, 31-41.
• Kenneth Noe, Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle, pp. 32-58.

 

NEXT POST: AUGUST 25TH

 

August 17, 1942 - Monday - 80 years ago today

Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien: 

O'Brien had joined Task Force 17 at  Pearl Harbor. On August 17th, Task Force 17, centered around USS Hornet, left Pearl Harbor for the South Pacific.  Here is a description from the Dictionary of Naval Fighting Ships:

Hornet, loaded, fueled, and provisioned, cleared Pearl Harbor at 1024 on 17 August 1942 as flagship for TF-17, and wearing the flag of Rear Adm. George D. Murray, who had previously commanded Enterprise. The other ships bound for the South Pacific included Hornet’s old consort Northampton, Pensacola, San Diego, the destroyers Morris (DD-417), Mustin (DD-413) O’Brien (DD-415), Hughes (DD-410), and Russell (DD-414) and the oiler Guadalupe (AO-32). Hornet maintained inner air patrols as well as “A.M. and P.M. searches,” weather permitting. As needed, the heavy cruisers operated their float planes to spell the carrier pilots on inner air patrols.

Operation Watchtower  .

A tense quiet had settled over the south Pacific for the moment.  Plans were in motion to get an air contingent to Henderson Field on Guadalcanal.  On the Japanese side, transports would soon move toward Guadalcanal to deliver several hundred troops under Colonel Ichiki, who, confident of victory, prepared an immediate attack.

U. S. Navy Task Forces:

• Task Force 17 (Hornet) left Pearl Harbor on the 17th for the South Pacific..
  
• Combined Task Force 61 was patrolling in the Coral Sea..
  
• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) -> TF 61
  
• Task Force 11 (Saratoga) -> TF 61
• Task Force 18 (Wasp) -> TF 61

More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology, pp. 241-242.
  
•  The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign,  John B. Lundstrom, pp 89-97.
• The Struggle for Guadalcanal, Samuel Eliot Morison, pp. 1-69.
• Neptune's Inferno, The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, James D. Hornfischer, pp. 44-108.
  

 

NEXT POST: AUGUST 17TH

August 17, 1862 - Sunday - 160 years ago today

Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment - Wood's Division - Wagner's Brigade

Wagner's Brigade was at Manchester on the 14th, soon to be joined by Wood with his other brigade, after which both brigades were to move to McMinnville, a concentration point for Union forces in Tennessee.

Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith moved out from Knoxville on the 13th, and by the 16th, Buell had confirmation that he was invading Kentucky.  He would soon arrive at Barbourville,. KY with four divisions, and had gotten behind the Union army that was at Cumberland Gap.  

This concerned Buell greatly, as his focus had been mostly on Tennessee, and Nashville in particular, and still had to protect that from Bragg's army.  Buell sent General Nelson, one of his division commanders, to organize what forces were in Kentucky and oppose Kirby Smith's advance. Calls for more troops were made to Governor Tod of Ohio and Governor Morton of Indiana, who were asked to rush any available new regiments to Kentucky.

--------------------------

• Five settlers were killed in southwest Minnesota by Sioux warriors.  The wave of violence over the following month became known as the Dakota War of 1862.
• The Peninsula Campaign is abandoned as McClellan returns to Northern Virginia.  The campaign under way in northern Virginia will lead to the Second Battle of Bull Run (or Second Manassas).
  

More Information:

• Link: War Operations, see Volume XVI, Chapter XXVIII, Part II, Correspondence,  pp. 333-360.
• The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. p. 78.
  
• Shelby Foote: The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville, pp. 561-566. 
• Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol 3. The Tide Shifts, pp,4-7, 31-39.
• Kenneth Noe, Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle, pp. 32-37, 42-46.

 

NEXT POST: AUGUST 21ST

August 13, 1942 - Thursday - 80 years ago today

 Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien: 

O'Brien had joined Task Force 17 at  Pearl Harbor. Admiral Nimitz ordered Task Force 17 to prepare to depart for the South Pacific on August 17th.

Operation Watchtower  .

The marines had established themselves on Guadalcanal and Tulagi, but still needed to fully unload troops and provisions for maintaining their positions on the islands.  However, Admiral Fletcher moved to withdraw the three carriers, and their air cover, even earlier than the proposed time that had caused so much controversy in the pre-invasion meetings.  This left the landing beaches uncovered as troops and supplies came onboard.  Fletcher, however, was determined to preserve the carriers, as the 4 current active carriers would be all the Navy would have for at least the next year.

Battle of Savo Island

Savo Island is a nearly-round, small island that is north of the western side of Guadalcanal.  This gives two natural approaches toward Guadalcanal from the west, one north of Savo island and one south.  Two US Navy cruiser forces were patrolling on the north and south sides of the island on the evening of August 9th. 

The Japanese had thought the US carriers were still in the area and not withdrawing, and so determined to send a cruiser force at night to bombard the landing zones.  This force was not detected by the US cruiser force in time; being taken by surprise, the Allied cruisers suffered heavy losses.  Four heavy cruisers, 3 US and one Australian, were sunk, another cruiser was damaged, and a destroyer was also lost,  

The Navy now had little to cover the Marines in the Solomons.  Transports would continue to bring supplies but this would be dangerous work for now.

U. S. Navy Task Forces:

• Task Force 17 (Hornet) was at Pearl Harbor.  Extensive training was being done during this time.
  
• Combined Task Force 61 supported the invasion of the Solomon Islands beginning on August 7th.
  
• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) -> TF 61
  
• Task Force 11 (Saratoga) -> TF 61
• Task Force 18 (Wasp) -> TF 61

More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology, pp. 239-241.
  
•  The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign,  John B. Lundstrom, pp 30-33.
• Coral Sea, Midway and Submarine Actions, Samuel Eliot Morison, pp. 280-282.
• Neptune's Inferno, The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, James D. Hornfischer, pp. 32-43.
  

 

NEXT POST: AUGUST 17TH

August 13, 1862 - Wednesday - 160 years ago today

Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment - Wood's Division - Wagner's Brigade

The capture by Morgan's Confederate cavalry of the garrison at Gallatin, TN was another setback for Buell's army.   Morgan destroys several bridges and collapses a tunnel, thus disabling one railroad and making it more difficult to move supplies.

It is known that Confederate troops are in east Tennessee, and Kentucky appears to be their object.  Current rumors are that the entire Confederate force is in east Tennessee, but actually General Bragg still has the larger force at Chattanooga, having transferred two divisions to General Kirby Smith at Knoxville.  Buell, with incomplete information, must protect against several possibilities.

Buell wants to concentrate in some force at McMinnville, TN.  Nelson's division is already there and is near to the best route between Chattanooga and Nashville in anticipation of Bragg moving north.

 On August 12th, Wood's divisions is ordered to McMinnville:

-------------------------------------------    

HEADQUARTERS,

Huntsville,  August 12, 1862

General Thomas, Decherd:

   Order the two brigades of Wood's division at Decherd and Tullahoma to McMinnville, starting to-morrow morning.  They will stop momentarily at points along the railroad to give it security until it is repaired and guarded.  Push Wagner's brigade forward promptly to within 8 miles of McMinnville for that purpose.  He ought perhaps to have a battery with him. 

D. C. BUELL 

  

------------------------------------------ 

 

Note that General Thomas is giving orders to Wood even though they both command a division - having been combined, Thomas ranks Wood and assumes command as long as they are together.  

 

Wagner's brigade moves at 4 A.M. on the 13th toward McMinnville.  Wood, with the other brigade has to wait a day to repair his wagons, for which he is reprimanded by Buell. General Thomas explains Wood;s situation in another dispatch but Wood also feels the need to reply:

-------------------------------------------    

Decherd,  August 13, 1862

Col. J. B. FRY:

    General Thomas informs me that the commanding general complains that the brigades of my division at this point did not move to-day.  The order to move came near night-fall yesterday, and I could not have moved this brigade this morning without going in the most slip-shod condition.  One of its regiments is absent, having been detached by General Thomas several days since, and I will have to go without it; will be back tomorrow.  I will leave orders for it to follow me promptly.  I reported the miserable condition in which my division train came back.  Materials for the repair of them arrive only to-day, and it was indispensably necessary to put some of the wagons in a condition to transport and preserve ammunition; this is being done to-day.  I trust the commanding general knows that no unnecessary grass grows under my feet when I get an order to march or when I am on the road.  I had Wagner's brigade at Manchester at 10 o'clock this morning.  I move at 4 o'clock in morning.

TH, J. WOOD,

General. 

  

------------------------------------------ 

More Information:

• Link: War Operations, see Volume XVI, Chapter XXVIII, Part II, Correspondence,  pp. 301-333.
• The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. pp. 77-78.
  
• Shelby Foote: The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville, pp. 561-566. 
• Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol 3. The Tide Shifts, pp,4-7, 31-39.
• Kenneth Noe, Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle, pp. 32-37, 42-46.

 

NEXT POST: AUGUST 17TH

 

August 9, 1942 - Sunday - 80 years ago today

Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien: 

O'Brien had joined Task Force 17 at  Pearl Harbor.

Operation Watchtower  .

The US Navy forces approached the southern Solomon Islands and landed forces there on August 7th.  Landings on Guadalcanal went well, and the Marines captured the airfield and set up a perimeter.  On Tulagi there was more difficulty, and Tulagi and 2 nearby islands were captured after some intense fighting over the next two days.  Land-based Japanese air forces attacked several times in the first days, but with little success.

Guadalcanal did not seem to be a critical strategic point, but  it drew in large forces on both sides for many months, and so had an outsized effect on how the war progressed.

U. S. Navy Task Forces:

• Task Force 17 (Hornet) was at Pearl Harbor.  Extensive training was being done during this time.
  
• Combined Task Force 61 supported the invasion of the Solomon Islands beginning on August 7th.
  
• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) -> TF 61
  
• Task Force 11 (Saratoga) -> TF 61
• Task Force 18 (Wasp) -> TF 61

More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology, pp. 237-238.
  
•  The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign,  John B. Lundstrom, pp 30-33.
• Coral Sea, Midway and Submarine Actions, Samuel Eliot Morison, pp. 280-282.
• Neptune's Inferno, The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, James D. Hornfischer, pp. 32-43.
  

 

NEXT POST: AUGUST 13TH

 

 

The invasion force (now Task Force 61) moved toward the Solomons from the 1st to the 5th, and on August 5th, were about 400 miles from Guadalcanal and Tulagi.  The next day the task force would come within the normal search range of Japanese land-based planes.  

August 9, 1862 - Saturday - 160 years ago today

Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment - Wood's Division - Wagner's Brigade

The army is still busily deploying forces in an attempt to counter whatever General Bragg decides to do in moving north from Chattanooga.  A key focus is ensuring that Nashville can be protected.  Kentucky is rumored to be facing an attack from Confederate forces under General Kirby Smith, and the Confederate Cavalry raiders Forrest and Morgan have ventured out for new attacks. 

In addition, at Decherd, TN, where the divisions of Wood and Thomas are located, fortifications are being constructed for the protection of a planned depot for ammunition and other supplies.

The army needs laborers and will get them from local slaveholders.  General Wood on the 8th receives the following order:

-------------------------------------------    

HDQRS. FIRST DIVISION, DISTRICT OF THE OHIO,

Decherd, TN,  August 8, 1862

Brig. Gen. T. J. WOOD,

Commanding Sixth Division:

    You are directed by Major-General Thomas to detail from your command suitable parties for the inpressment of negroes to be found in the vicinity of Decherd, for the purpose of working upon the fortifications in and about this place.  In impressing care should be taken to equalize the number in all instances, leaving a sufficient number to do the ordinary business of the farm house.

   Give instructions that each negro bring his blanket and every squad of six his cooking utensils.  Take the name of each negro, giving a proper receipt to the owner for the same, so that they can be returned to them as soon as the work is completed.

Very respectfully, your obedient servand,

[GEO. E. FLYNT].

Assistant Adjutant-General, Chief of Staff.

  

------------------------------------------

The character of the war changed in later years, but at this point the Union and its armies took no action against slavery, at least in this area.  

 

More Information:

• Link: War Operations, see Volume XVI, Chapter XXVIII, Part II, Correspondence,  pp. 265-301.
• The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. p. 77.
  
• Shelby Foote: The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville, pp. 561-564. 
• Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol 3. The Tide Shifts, pp,4-7.
• Kenneth Noe, Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle, pp. 32-33, 42-46.

 

NEXT POST: AUGUST 13TH 

 

 

August 5, 1942 - Wednesday - 80 years ago today

 Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien: 

O'Brien had joined Task Force 17 at  Pearl Harbor.

Operation Watchtower  .

The invasion force (now Task Force 61) moved toward the Solomons from the 1st to the 5th, and on August 5th, were about 400 miles from Guadalcanal and Tulagi.  The next day the task force would come within the normal search range of Japanese land-based planes. 

U. S. Navy Task Forces:

• Task Force 17 (Hornet) was at Pearl Harbor.  Extensive training was being done during this time.
  
• Combined Task Force 61 was approaching the Solomon Islands to carry out the planned invasion on August 7th.
  
• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) -> TF 61
  
• Task Force 11 (Saratoga) -> TF 61
• Task Force 18 (Wasp) -> TF 61

More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology, pp. 237-238.
  
•  The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign,  John B. Lundstrom, pp 30-33.
• Coral Sea, Midway and Submarine Actions, Samuel Eliot Morison, pp. 280-282.
• Neptune's Inferno, The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, James D. Hornfischer, pp. 32-43.
  

 

NEXT POST: AUGUST 9TH

August 5, 1862 - Tuesday - 160 years ago today

Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment - Wood's Division - Wagner's Brigade

 On August 2nd, Wood receives orders to prepare to support Nelson's division as it moves to McMinnville, TN.  Here is a dispatch from Wood explaining his current situation:

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Decherd,  August 2, 1862.

Col. J. B. Fry:

   Your dispatch explaining that Nelson is moving on McMinnville and that I may have to support him with a brigade is just received.  That the commanding general may understand fully the disposition of the forces of my division it is well to suggest that I have but one brigade, one battery, and two companies of cavalry here.  The Twentieth Brigade was left at Mooresville and a battery.  Two regiments were sent to Wartrace and two companies of cavalry to Shelbyville.  I sent a regiment to Manchester at the earnest request of General Smith, who considered his position dangerous, and a regiment to Duck River Bridge by order of the commanding general.  The orders will be promptly obeyed.

TH. J. WOOD.

  

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 Wagner's is the brigade that Wood has available, but it has been scattered to various points by previous orders as noted above.  Wagner is ordered on the 2nd to march for Tullahoma and to arrive early on the 3rd.

On the 3rd, we are able to locate the 40th Indiana regiment.  It was the regiment that Wood mentions as being sent to Manchester, TN to support the position of General Smith. Orders from August 3rd:

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HEADQUARTERS,

Huntsville,  August 3, 1862

General SMITH, Manchester:

   Send the Fortieth Indiana to join its brigade and division forthwith.  Don't call up any troops to replace those ordered away.  In fact I shall probably take away all but a few companies.  Make a stockade for one or two companies to guard the bridge when repaired, and in addition make temporary entrenchments for one regiment.  Don't lose an hour.

D. C. BUELL.

  

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Nelson's division now being further east, the front has moved there and units are being sent to support that position.  The 40th Indiana is moving to rejoin Wagner's brigade at Tullahoma.

More Information:

• Link: War Operations, see Volume XVI, Chapter XXVIII, Part II, Correspondence,  pp. 247-265.
• The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. p. 77.
  
• Shelby Foote: The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville, pp. 561-564. 
• Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol 3. The Tide Shifts, pp,4-7.
• Kenneth Noe, Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle, pp. 32-33, 42-46.

 

NEXT POST: AUGUST 9TH

August 1, 1942 - Saturday - 80 years ago today

 Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien: 

O'Brien had joined Task Force 17 at  Pearl Harbor.

Operation Watchtower  .

 Invasion practice continues at Koro Island.  Useful practice is conducted for all operations except landings, as the island's coral reef prevents almost all landing boats from getting ashore.  Commanders are continuing to plan the details of the invasion operations.  Admiral Ghormley, in overall command, reaches the area on August 1st and enters his flagship, USS Argonne.

U. S. Navy Task Forces:

• Task Force 17 (Hornet) was at Pearl Harbor.  Extensive training was being done during this time.
  
• Combined Task Force 61 was at Koro Island near Fiji, practicing for the invasion of the southern Solomon Islands.
  
• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) -> TF 61
  
• Task Force 11 (Saratoga) -> TF 61
• Task Force 18 (Wasp) -> TF 61

More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology, pp. 236-237.
  
•  The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign,  John B. Lundstrom, pp 27-30.
• Coral Sea, Midway and Submarine Actions, Samuel Eliot Morison, pp. 280-282.
• Neptune's Inferno, The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, James D. Hornfischer, pp. 32-39.
  

 

NEXT POST: AUGUST 5TH

 

 

August 1, 1862 - Friday - 160 years ago today

 

Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment - Wood's Division - Wagner's Brigade

By August 1st, Buell had confirmation that the main Confederate army in the west was coming to Chattanooga, with the intent to move northward into Tennessee and Kentucky.  On July 31st, General Bragg met in Chattanooga with General Edmund Kirby Smith, the Confederate commander in East Tennessee, to make a plan for the invasion of Tennessee and Kentucky.  General Kirby Smith was encouraged by the success of the Confederate cavalry, and wanted to move into Kentucky soon.   Bragg wanted to move on Nashville first, and then consider Kentucky later.

Regardless, it was clear that the Confederate armies were moving into Tennessee and Buell would have to counteract that by consolidating his army as much as possible in central Tennessee and then countering any movements by Bragg (while also looking toward moving in Chattanooga if possible).

Wood is at Decherd, TN, on August 1st, and is being ordered to hold position but also to be prepared to move on short notice.  Below are dispatches from August 1st; note that troops are still on half rations.  The mentioned brigade of General Schoepf does not belong to Wood's division, but many troops are being consolidated into this general area.

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HEADQUARTERS,

Huntsville,  August 1, 1862

General WOOD, Decherd:

    The enemy have crossed two or three regiments of infantry certainly at Chattanooga and are working on the Anderson road.  Their talk is of Nashville and Kentucky.  Be prepared at any hour to march and fight.  Keep three days rations cooked.  Nelson is moving forward.

D. C. BUELL.

  

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Decherd,  August 1, 1862.

Col. J. B. Fry:

   Dispatch of to-day received and will be attended to.  General Schoepf arriving with his brigade, but has no subsistence.  Are the troops to be kept on half rations?

TH. J. WOOD.

  

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More Information:

• Link: War Operations, see Volume XVI, Chapter XXVIII, Part II, Correspondence,  pp. 224-247.
• The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. p. 77.
  
• Shelby Foote: The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville, pp. 561-564. 
• Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol 3. The Tide Shifts, pp,4-7.
• Kenneth Noe, Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle, pp. 42-46.

 

NEXT POST: AUGUST 5TH