October 28, 1942 - Wednesday - 80 years ago today

Status - John Skinner: 

By this time, the crew of O'Brien would probably have begun their journey to the US west coast; they arrived there in early November.  These destroyer sailors would get a month of leave before reporting to new ships in mid-December.

Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

As the opposing ground forces fought on Guadalcanal, Admiral Halsey sent both his carrier task forces to confront a large Japanese force approaching from the northwest.  The resulting battle consisted of several aerial attacks from the 5 Japanese carriers (2 fleet carriers, 3 light carriers), and from Hornet and Enterprise.  Hornet suffered bomb and torpedo hits and was abandoned, finally sunk by Japanese destroyer torpedoes.  No Japanese carriers were sunk, but one fleet carrier was severely damaged.  In addition, the Japanese lost many aircrews that they would have trouble replacing.

Enterprise was also damaged and had to retire to Noumea for repairs.   This left no US carriers in the Guadalcanal area until Enterprise was repaired. Saratoga would not sail until November 10th from Pearl Harbor.  However, the damage to the Japanese fleet prevented them from following up immediately.

 The Marines on Guadalcanal had again managed to stave off several Japanese attacks while inflicting major losses on the enemy.  Henderson Field was held, and the Marines looked for reinforcement.

 

U. S. Navy Task Forces:

• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) has reunited with Hornet near Guadalcanal in time for the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.  The task force had to retire to Noumea for repairs to Enterprise.
  
• Saratoga remained at Pearl Harbor for repairs (sailed November 10th).
• Task Force 17 (Hornet) -> TF 61 was disbanded after Hornet was sunk.
  
• Combined Task Force 61 remained on patrol in the Coral Sea near Guadalcanal.
  
• Task Force 17 (Hornet) -> TF 61  
• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) -> TF 61  
• 
  

More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology, pp. 267-270.
  
•  The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign,  John B. Lundstrom, pp 325-459.
• The Struggle for Guadalcanal, Samuel Eliot Morison, pp. 181-224.
• Neptune's Inferno, The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, James D. Hornfischer, pp. 223-236.

 

NEXT POST: NOVEMBER 1ST

 

October 28, 1862 - Tuesday - 160 years ago today

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

Crittenden's corps has been ordered to have reached the Glasgow, KY area by the 31st and is moving in that directions from London, KY where their pursuit of the Rebel army was discontinued.

By the 28th, Buell is still not aware of his own dismissal, as General Rosecrans has not yet reached his headquarters with the relevant orders.  He was continuing the move toward Nashville with plans to move on the Confederate army now gathering at Murfreesboro, while also making deployments for the protection of Kentucky during the coming winter.

Rosecrans telegraphs on the 28th that he is leaving Cincinnati for Buell's headquarters the next morning.

More Information:

• Link: War Operations, see Volume XVI, Chapter XXVIII, Part II, Correspondence,  pp. 642-651.
• The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. p. 87.
  
• Shelby Foote: The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville, pp. 741-744. 
• Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol 3. The Tide Shifts, pp, 600-603.
• Kenneth Noe, Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle, pp. 341-367
• Peter Cozzens, No Better Place to Die: The Battle of Stones River, pp. 1-14.
  

 

NEXT POST: NOVEMBER 1ST

October 24, 1942 - Saturday - 80 years ago today

 Status - John Skinner: 

The crew of O'Brien was rescued on the 19th as the ship sank, and became passengers on the two other accompanying ships.  These ships did not take them all the way to the west coast; they would have to find transportation on other ships bound for San Francisco.  We could speculate that they were delivered to nearby Pago Pago to await transportation.  It appears they reached the United States on or around November 7th.

Admiral Ghormley had been replaced as area commander by the much more aggressive Admiral Halsey.  As the Marines on Guadalcanal fought off attacks from the Japanese troops on the 23rd and 24th, Halsey began to plan for new Navy action in the upcoming days.

U. S. Navy Task Forces:

• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) sailed from Pearl Harbor on October 16th for the South Pacific, crossing the equator on the 19th.
• Saratoga remained at Pearl Harbor for repairs (sailed November 10th).
  
• Combined Task Force 61 remained on patrol in the Coral Sea near Guadalcanal.
  
• Task Force 17 (Hornet) -> TF 61 
  

More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology, pp. 266-267.
  
•  The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign,  John B. Lundstrom, pp 334-343.
• The Struggle for Guadalcanal, Samuel Eliot Morison, pp. 181-193.
• Neptune's Inferno, The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, James D. Hornfischer, pp. 214-222.

 

NEXT POST: OCTOBER 28TH

October 24, 1862 - Friday - 160 years ago today

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

Crittenden's corps had been ordered on the 21st to move to Columbia, KY, from the London, KY area, as the direct pursuit of Bragg's army was curtailed.  They are then to move to Glasgow. KY, by the 31st.  Northern Governors, including Indiana's Governor Morton, are expressing outrage that Buell is pulling back from the pursuit.

General Buell on the 22nd sent another long dispatch to Washington describing the current situation and deployments, and the issues mitigating against an attack on East Tennessee.  Halleck's return again pushes for a move eastward and against a return of the army to Nashville.

On the 23rd, Major-General William S. Rosecrans, fresh off a recent victory at Corinth, MS, is ordered to Cincinnati and the next day receives the following lengthy dispatch:

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

Washington, October 19, 1862 -- 1:33 p. m.

Maj. Gen. W. S. Rosecrans, Cincinnati, Ohio:

   You will receive herewith the order of the President placing you in command of the Department of the Cumberland and of the army of operations now under Major-General Buell.

   You will immediately repair to General Buell's headquarters and relieve him from the command.

  The great objects to be kept in view in your operations in the field are: First, to drive the enemy from Kentucky and Middle Tennessee; second, to take and hold East Tennessee, cutting the line of railroad at Chattanooga, Cleveland, or Athens, so as to destroy the connection of the valley of Virginia with Georgia and the other Southern States.  It is hoped that by prompt and rapid movements a considerable part of this may be accomplished before the roads become impassible from the winter rains.

   Two modes or reaching East Tennessee have been proposed.  First, to push a small force on the rear of Bragg's army to drive him into Tennessee and move the main army on such lines as to cover Nashville; second, to go directly to Nashville and make that the base of your operations, by McMinnville or Cookville.  Adopting the first plan, the route by Somerset to Montgomery, if practicable, would be the most direct; if not practicable, it would then be necessary to move by Columbia or Glasgow to Sparta, &c.  If the second plan be adopted, you will be obliged to move twice the distance in order to reach your objective point and at the same time afford the enemy an opportunity to resume his raids into Kentucky.  Moreover, it would give the appearance of a retreat, which would encourage the enemy, while it would discourage our own troops and the country.  Nevertheless, the difficulty of the roads, the pressure of the enemy upon Nashville, the position in which you find General Buell's army, and the difficulty of supplying it in a mountainous and sparsely populated country may compel you to adopt this line.  In either case it will be necessary for you to repair and guard the railroad, so as to secure your supplies from Louisville until the Cumberland River becomes navigable.

   You will fully appreciate the importance of moving light and rapidly, and also the necessity of procuring as many of your supplies as possible in the country passed over.  Where you cannot obtain enough by purchase of loyal men or requisitions upon the disloyal you will make forced requisitions on the country, paying or receipting, as the case may be, for the supplies taken.  The time has now come when we must apply the sterner rules of war, whenever such application becomes necessary to enable us to support our armies and to move them rapidly upon the enemy.  You will not hesitate to do this in all cases where the exigencies of war require it.

   Great care, however, must be taken to prevent straggling and pillaging and a strict account must be kept of all property taken.  On this subject your attention is called to recent general orders and also to the system adopted in the French Army.

   In connection with your proposed operations in Middle and East Tennessee, a column of about 20,000 men, under General Cox, is moving up the Kanawha River, and it is hoped that they will be able to cut the railroad near Newbern or Wytheville,  This movement may possibly draw off a portion of Bragg's forces for the protection of that road.

   Moreover, if the enemy's forces in Mississippi now operating against General Grant should be drawn east to re-enforce Bragg or to operate in Tennessee General Grant may be able to render you important assistance.

   Although the Department of the Ohio covers a portion of your theater of operations this will in no respect interfere with your movements in the field nor the command of your army,  Moreover, you will call upon General Wright for any assistance or supplies which you may require.

   It is possible that Bragg, having failed of his object in Kentucky, may leave only a small force in East Tennessee and throw his main army into Mississippi against General Grant.  His railroad communications from Knoxville to Holly Springs and Tupelo will enable him to make this movement with great rapidity.  In that case a part of your forces must be sent to the assistance of General Grant, either by railroad to Decatur or by water, should the Cumberland be navigable, to Columbus or Memphis.  Every effort should be made to ascertain Bragg's movements by pressing him closely.

   I need not urge upon you the necessity of giving active employment to your forces.  Neither the country nor the Government will much longer put up with the inactivity of some of our armies and generals.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. W. HALLECK, 

General-in-Chief.

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

 

Halleck demands the pursuit of Bragg and the liberation of East Tennessee, and denigrates Buell's plan of returning to Nashville to make that the base of operation.  None of that, of course, will relieve the new commander of the many troubles of which Buell constantly complains.  These issues will similarly frustrate Rosecrans and hamper his attempts to advance.

Here is the official order:

 

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

GENERAL ORDERS No. 168

WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJT, GEN.'S OFFICE,

Washington, October 24, 1862

I.  By direction of the President the State of Tennessee east of the Tennessee River and such parts of Northern Alabama and Georgia as may be taken possession of by United States troops will constitute the Department of the Cumberland.

II.  Maj. Gen. W. S. Rasecrans is assigned to the command of the Department of the Cumberland.

III.  The troops under the command of Major-General Grant will constitute the Thirteenth Army Corps, and those assigned to the command of Major-General Rosecrans will constitute the Fourteenth Army Corps.

   By order of the Secretary of War,

L. THOMAS, 

Adjutant-General.

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

Buell is ordered to surrender his command and go to Indianapolis to await further orders; orders that never came.  He would sit out the remainder of the war without getting another command of any kind.  When he was recommended for a command by General Sherman later in the war, he declined, as it would mean serving under officers that he had previously outranked.

 

More Information:

• Link: War Operations, see Volume XVI, Chapter XXVIII, Part II, Correspondence,  pp. 634-642.
• The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. p. 86.
  
• Shelby Foote: The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville, pp. 741-744. 
• Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol 3. The Tide Shifts, pp, 600-603.
• Kenneth Noe, Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle, pp. 341-342
• Peter Cozzens, No Better Place to Die: The Battle of Stones River, pp. 1-14.
  

 

NEXT POST: OCTOBER 28TH

October 20, 1942 - Tuesday - 80 years ago today

 Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien: 

On the 18th, problems worsened all day, and by the afternoon, the crew was informed of the possible need to abandon ship and that preparations had been made.  Course was set for Pago Pago, the nearest port, with the emergency destination of the island of Upolu, Western Samoa. 

Overnight the flooding became worse, and by morning, the ship had more severe damage, as cracks had formed in several areas.  The bottom opened up at 6:00 AM, and the deck began to rupture about a half hour later, at which point the order to abandon ship was given.  The crew spent several hours in lifeboats and in the water.  Many had to swim to the accompanying vessels.  The sharks having business elsewhere that day, all hands were rescued.

Around 8:00 AM, the end came for O'Brien.  Below are pictures of the sinking, as the bow and stern folded upwards but did not separate, and the ship sank slowly as one unit, still held together by the main deck.

Photo 6: At 0645, 19 October, 1942. Note permanent upward set of bow.

Photo 7: At 0750, 19 October, 1942. Heavy list to starboard. Breaking up process well advanced.

Photo 8: At 0755-1/2, 19 October, 1942. Bow and stern sharply inclined.

Photo 9: At 0957, 19 October, 1942. Bow and stern apparently held together by main deck, piping and wiring. By 0758 O'BRIEN had disappeared.

 Click Read More to see the full narration of the last day from Damage Report #28, pp. 6-8:

October 20, 1862 - Monday - 160 years ago today

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

As described in the last post, General Buell has decided not to pursue the Rebel armies into East Tennessee, and is moving toward Nashville to reinforce that city.  He is leaving troops in Kentucky to protect from cavalry raids; however, Confederate cavalry under John Morgan is at this time causing havoc there, taking Lexington and Bardstown, and destroying Union transportation as he goes.

What is seen from Washington is that the army stumbled into a bloody battle at Perryville, and is not following up the Confederate retreat.  It is not understood why a Confederate army can move to East Tennessee, and be sustained there, but a Union army cannot.  General Halleck sends a final message to Buell, urging aggressiveness toward East Tennessee, and the pursuit of a decisive battle: 

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

WAR DEPARTMENT,

Washington, October 19, 1862 -- 1:33 p. m.

Major-General BUELL, Mount Vernon, Ky.:

  Your telegram of the 17th was received this morning, and has been laid before the President, who concurs in the views expressed in my telegram to you yesterday.  The capture of East Tennessee should be the main object of your campaign. You say it is in the heart of the enemy's resources; make it the heart of yours.  Your army can live there if the enemy's can.  You must in great measure live upon the country, paying for your supplies where proper and levying contributions where necessary.  I am directed by the President to say to you that your army must enter East Tennessee this fall, and that it ought to move there while the roads are passable.  Once between the enemy and Nashville there will be no serious difficulty in reopening your communications with that place.  He does not understand why we cannot march as the enemy marches, live as he lives, and fight as he fights, unless we admit the inferiority of our troops and of our generals.  Once hold the valley of the Upper Tennessee, and the operations of guerillas in that State and Kentucky will soon cease.

H. W. HALLECK, 

General-in-Chief.

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

More Information:

• Link: War Operations, see Volume XVI, Chapter XXVIII, Part II, Correspondence,  pp. 621-633.
• The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. p. 86.
  
• Shelby Foote: The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville, pp. 726-741. 
• Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol 3. The Tide Shifts, pp, 600-603.
• Kenneth Noe, Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle, pp. 73-341
• Peter Cozzens, No Better Place to Die: The Battle of Stones River, pp. 1-14.
  

 

NEXT POST: OCTOBER 24TH 

October 16, 1942 - Friday - 80 years ago today

Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien: 

O'Brien, with its escorts Cimmaron and Lang, reached Suva, Fiji on the 13th, and had only a broken plate as damage since being repaired at Noumea.  After repairs the ships left on the 16th toward American Samoa and then on to the West Coast.  There were two October 16ths, as the date line was crossed at midnight on the 16th and date was backed up a day.  Water leakage was increasing on O'Brien but was not yet considered serious.  War Damage Report #28 narration:

Task Group 66.3 arrived at Suva on 13 October. While there, damage and previous repairs to O'BRIEN were thoroughly inspected. Except for the broken plate on No. 6 port longitudinal no other evidence of failure or weakness in the repairs previously made was discovered. The broken plate was repaired by welding an angle to it, apparently along the top.

Departure from Suva was made about 1430 on 16 October. Shortly after departure and when in the open sea, rate of leakage again increased but not alarmingly so as one fire and bilge pump was more than adequate to control the leakage. Wind and sea were still very moderate.

At 0000, zone minus 12, October 17, the date was changed due to crossing the international date line and the 16th was repeated.

 Bombardment of Guadalcanal

The Marines were heavily bombarded for three consecutive nights, the first night Japanese battleships fired 14 inch shells into the airfield and surroundings.  Japanese heavy cruisers did more damage the second night.  The US Navy was unable to counter these attacks, and the Marines have not forgotten even to this day.  Most of the planes at the field were damaged or destroyed and the Japanese also landed several thousand more troops on the island.  This appeared to be another big Japanese offensive to push the Marines off the island.

U. S. Navy Task Forces:

• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) sailed from Pearl Harbor on October 16th for the South Pacific.
  
• Saratoga remained at Pearl Harbor for repairs (sailed November 10th).
  
• Combined Task Force 61 remained on patrol in the Coral Sea near Guadalcanal.
  
• Task Force 17 (Hornet) -> TF 61 
  

More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology, pp. 262-264.
  
•  The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign,  John B. Lundstrom, pp 298-321.
• The Struggle for Guadalcanal, Samuel Eliot Morison, pp. 172-182.
• Neptune's Inferno, The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, James D. Hornfischer, pp. 191-199.
• U.S.S. O'Brien (DD415) Torpedo Damage and Loss South Pacific 15 Sept. - 19 Oct. 1942, War Damage Report #28, pp. 1-6
  

 

NEXT POST: OCTOBER 20TH

October 16, 1862 - Thursday - 160 years ago today

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

General Bragg has by now taken the decision to move the Confederate armies from Kentucky and pull back into Tennessee, initially to Knoxville, with future designs on Nashville.  He ordered Forrest's cavalry to establish a base at Murfreesboro, TN (infantry units were there as well).  By the 16th, Bragg is at London, KY, and Buell's lead corps (Crittenden's) is just to the north.

General Buell does not desire to pursue the Rebels beyond London, due to the conditions.  He has great immediate concern for Nashville, although General Negley, in charge at Nashville, was confident of holding the city.  Here is General Buell's dispatch to Washington regarding the status on the 16th:

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

HEADQUARTERS, ARMY OF THE OHIO

October 16, 1862

Maj. Gen. HALLECK, General-in-Chief,

   You are aware that between Crab Orchard and Cumberland Gap the country is almost a desert.  The limited supply of forage which the country affords us consumed by the enemy as he passes.  In the day and a half that we have been in this sterile region our animals have suffered exceedingly.  The enemy has been driven into the heart of this desert and must go on, for he cannot exist in it.  For the same reason, we cannot pursue in it with any hope of overtaking him, for while he is moving back on his supplies and as he goes consuming what the country affords we must bring ours forward.  There is but one road and that a bad one.  The route abounds in difficult defiles, in which a small force can retard the progress of a large one for a considerable time, and in that time the enemy could gain material advantage in a move on other points.  For these reasons, which I do not think it necessary to elaborate, I deem it useless and inexpedient to continue the pursuit, but propose to direct the main force under my command rapidly upon Nashville, which General Negley reported to me as already invested by a considerable force and toward which I have no doubt Bragg will move the main part of his army.  The railroads are being rapidly repaired and will soon be available for our supplies.  In the mean time I shall throw myself on my wagon transportation, which, fortunately, is ample.  While I shall proceed with these dispositions, deeming them to be proper for the public interest, it is but meet that I should say that the present time is perhaps as convenient as any for making any changes that may be thought proper in the command of this army.  It has not accomplished all that I had hoped or all that faction might demand; yet, composed as it is, one-half of perfectly new troops, it has defeated a powerful and thoroughly disciplined  army in one battle and has driven it away baffled and dispirited at least, and as much demoralized as an army can be under such discipline as Bragg maintains over all troops that he commands.  I will telegraph you more in detail in regard to the disposition of troops in Kentucky and other matters tomorrow. 

D. C. BUELL.  

Major-General

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

Buell here raises the prospect of his own dismissal. Ten months ago, he was making basically the same arguments against going into East Tennessee from nearly the same location.  The relief of East Tennessee being the President's highest priority in the West, patience with Buell was at an end.

More Information:

• Link: War Operations, see Volume XVI, Chapter XXVIII, Part II, Correspondence,  pp. 611-621.
• The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. p. 86.
  
• Shelby Foote: The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville, pp. 726-741. 
• Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol 3. The Tide Shifts, pp, 600-603.
• Kenneth Noe, Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle, pp. 73-334.

 

NEXT POST: OCTOBER 20TH 

 

October 12, 1942 - Monday - 80 years ago today

Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien: 

O'Brien's repairs were completed on October 10th.  Unnecessary weight was removed from the ship.  O'Brien and its two escorts left Noumea on the 10th headed for Mare Island in the San Francisco bay area.

"In addition to structural repairs, O'BRIEN was further lightened while at WHITE POPPY by removing 11 torpedoes, 12,000 rounds of 20mm ammunition, eight 300-lb. depth charges, all SC radar equipment and the computer.

"Upon completion of repairs at WHITE POPPY, O'BRIEN was considered capable of making 15 knots in a moderate sea. Mare Island was accordingly designated as the repair yard. At 0800 on 10 October O'BRIEN departed WHITE POPPY in company with CIMARRON and LANG. The group was designated as Task Group 66.3 with the Commanding Officer of CIMARRON as Commander of the Task Group."

-- War Damage Report #28. 

The sailors onboard were not so confident that these orders were a good idea.  As John told me later, anyone could see there was no way that was going to hold up long enough to get back.  These sentiments were no doubt expressed in saltier language when the orders came to make for the West Coast.  The Navy, however, thought all had been done that could be done, and they would just have to chance it; in the forward areas there were no dry docks or sophisticated repair facilities.

Pearl Harbor was closer than the West Coast, but with two carriers in for repairs, it may not have been able to accommodate more ships.   

Cimarron, an oiler headed back to the West Coast for refurbishment, and Lang, a destroyer were the escorts for O'Brien.  The first destination was Suva, Fiji.  

"Upon completion of repairs at WHITE POPPY, O'BRIEN was considered capable of making 15 knots in a moderate sea. Mare Island was accordingly designated as the repair yard. At 0800 on 10 October O'BRIEN departed WHITE POPPY in company with CIMARRON and LANG. The group was designated as Task Group 66.3 with the Commanding Officer of CIMARRON as Commander of the Task Group.

"After getting underway, a slow increase in the rate of leakage into the forward engine room was observed. This was not considered abnormal because of the many small patches and loose rivets in the underwater body. The Commanding Officer reported that a thorough check of the deflection across the damaged area showed that bending there was almost exactly the same as that across a similar undamaged length in the after engine room. Just how these observations were made was not reported, but ordinarily the problem of obtaining reliable hull deflection readings at sea is a difficult one. On the morning of the 13th of October, just prior to arrival at Suva, the reinforcing plate on No. 6 port deep longitudinal was found cracked, indicating a tensile failure. This 860 mile passage was made with turns for 13 knots attaining a speed over the ground of 12 knots. Wind and sea did not exceed moderate intensity."

-- War Damage Report #28.

 Some defects were showing up as noted, but Suva was reached on the 13th. Here is a map of the area, Noumea on the left, Fiji on the right.  Espiritu Santo (modern day Vanuatu), where the initial repairs were made, appears at the top left.:

 

Battle of Cape Esperance

On the night of October 11-12, a Navy cruiser force caught by surprise a Japanese cruiser force sent toward Guadalcanal to escort troop transports and shell the Marine positions.  Unlike earlier night actions, the US cruisers and destroyer found success, as a Japanese heavy cruiser and a destroyer were sunk, with a loss of one US destroyer.  This bolstered the confidence of the sailors, and was publicized at home as a victory, but did little to change the overall situation.

The Japanese transports delivered their troops and equipment to Guadalcanal, as the Japanese army forces there planned another assault on the Marines.

 

U. S. Navy Task Forces:

• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) was at Pearl Harbor, for repairs to Enterprise (sailed October 16th).
  
• Saratoga was at Pearl Harbor for repairs (sailed November 10th).
  
• Combined Task Force 61 remained on patrol in the Coral Sea near Guadalcanal.
  
• Task Force 17 (Hornet) -> TF 61 
  

More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology, pp. 262-263.
  
•  The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign,  John B. Lundstrom, pp 289-298.
• The Struggle for Guadalcanal, Samuel Eliot Morison, pp. 144-172.
• Neptune's Inferno, The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, James D. Hornfischer, pp. 157-188.
• U.S.S. O'Brien (DD415) Torpedo Damage and Loss South Pacific 15 Sept. - 19 Oct. 1942, War Damage Report #28, pp. 1-6
  

 

NEXT POST: OCTOBER 16TH

 

 

October 12, 1862 - Sunday - 160 years ago today

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

In the aftermath of the Battle of Perryville, the Union army proceeded to close up its lines and attempt to determine the location of the Confederate armies. General Thomas, commanding Crittenden's corps, was scouting eastward and is located between Perryville and Danville.

Buell advanced slowly, and Bragg remained just out of his reach.  The Confederates were in the early stages of abandoning Kentucky, and moving back into Tennessee.  By the 12th, Crittenden's corps had reached Dix River, east of Danville, and Bragg's army was at Camp Dick Robinson, the old Union troop staging area, just east of there on the other side of the river.  The slow pursuit continued.

More Information:

• Link: War Operations, see Volume XVI, Chapter XXVIII, Part II, Correspondence,  pp. 596-611.
• The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. p. 85-86.
  
• Shelby Foote: The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville, pp. 726-740. 
• Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol 3. The Tide Shifts, pp, 29-61.
• Kenneth Noe, Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle, pp. 73-334.

 

NEXT POST: OCTOBER 16TH 

October 8, 1942 - Thursday - 80 years ago today

Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien: 

O'Brien remained at Noumea (code name WHITE POPPY) alongside repair ship Argonne for further and more permanent repairs.  Repairs would be finished October 10th.

Hornet conducted a raid on Japanese forces in the Shortland Islands, which are further up the Solomons chain near Bougainville.  The raid was hampered by inclement weather, and so achieves little.

Japanese Navy plans include a cruiser force coming down the slot to shell Guadalcanal while other ships unloaded supplies.  US cruiser forces, now better trained and equipped, would soon have to detect and counter this force.

U. S. Navy Task Forces:

• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) was at Pearl Harbor, for repairs to Enterprise (sailed October 16th).
  
• Saratoga was at Pearl Harbor for repairs (sailed November 10th).
  
• Combined Task Force 61 remained on patrol in the Coral Sea near Guadalcanal.
  
• Task Force 17 (Hornet) -> TF 61 
  

More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology, pp. 258-259.
  
•  The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign,  John B. Lundstrom, pp 278-289.
• The Struggle for Guadalcanal, Samuel Eliot Morison, pp. 143-144.
• Neptune's Inferno, The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, James D. Hornfischer, pp. 132-158.
• U.S.S. O'Brien (DD415) Torpedo Damage and Loss South Pacific 15 Sept. - 19 Oct. 1942, pp. 1-5
  

 

NEXT POST: OCTOBER 12TH

 

 

October 8, 1862 - Wednesday - 160 years ago today

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

Leaving Bardstown on the 5th, Crittenden's corps found itself first continuing in the center, on the Springfield road, and then from Springfield, ordered to move on the army's right, first toward Lebanon, KY and then east toward Danville.  McCook's corps was on the left, moving through Mackville and then east southeast toward Danville, while the center corps, Gilbert's, took a more direct route through Springfield, KY and then directly east.

Now this part of Kentucky had for several months had suffered from drought.  Marching armies were constantly looking for a stream or spring from which they could draw water.  The area around Danville, where both armies were rapidly converging, was no different.  

The Confederate army came through Perryville, and moving a short distance east, made its lines around the water sources available, and initially took the available high ground for its advantage in battle. 

Battle of Perryville, October 8, 1862

The Union center corps came up first and began to deploy across from Confederate positions.  The Union left, under McCook, was late arriving at the field, due to a need to stop for rest, arriving at its positions around 10 AM, when parts of the center corps were already engaged.  Crittenden's corps, then under the command of General Thomas, was even later.  Hard marching through Lebanon and then toward Perryville had left the troops exhausted, and Thomas, perhaps not expecting a battle that day, had thought to rest them before moving up, and they began arriving in position in the late morning, around 11 AM.

By 11 AM, however, the fighting had become very hot, and it continued that way for the rest of the day.  Thomas could hear the noise of the battle on his left, and the officer he sent to General Buell reported that it seemed a full battle had started.  Buell and Gilbert (the center corps commander) disagreed, saying that they had heard only occasional gunfire, indicating a small skirmish.  As it turned out, this was a case of acoustic shadowing, which greatly reduced the battle's sound at their location, and misled Buell and Gilbert into thinking the battle had not started,. They continued preparing for a Union attack on the next day.

This lack of concern, when conveyed to General Thomas, led him to ignore the battle sounds and continue his preparations for the expected future attack.  As a result, the whole of Crittenden's corps remained disengaged for the entire battle.

Fighting was intense all day on the left and center.  The Union center had been pushed back, and the Rebel forces had almost broken through the Union left.  As night fell, the Union army had consolidated somewhat further back toward the west, and had held, and the battle was tactically a draw.

Casualties were very high for this single-day battle:

Union: Killed 845; Wounded 2851, Captured or Missing, 515; Total 4211

Confederate: Killed 519; Wounded 2635, Captured or Missing, 251; Total 3396

More Information:

• Link: War Operations, see Volume XVI, Chapter XXVIII, Part II, Correspondence,  pp. 574-596.
• The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. p. 85.
  
• Shelby Foote: The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville, pp. 726-729. 
• Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol 3. The Tide Shifts, pp, 29-61.
• Kenneth Noe, Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle, pp. 73-313.

 

NEXT POST: OCTOBER 12TH 

 

October 4, 1942 - Sunday - 80 years ago today

Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien: 

O'Brien remained at Noumea (code name WHITE POPPY) alongside repair ship Argonne for further and more permanent repairs.  Repairs would be finished October 10th.

Here are some more details on the repairs, from the Navy report:

Details of hull repairs to the bottom structure, frames 103-109, in the forward engine room are shown on plate II. Attention is invited to the following features:

(a) Only partial longitudinals were installed. That is, fore-and-aft extent was only three frame spaces for all temporary members. Installation was made by welding longitudinals to the shell. Somewhat less than half of the replacement sections had the ends welded to adjacent web frames.

(b) Scantlings used were either about the same or larger than those of the longitudinals which each temporary member was to reinforce. There was no allowance, however, in the scantlings to replace the strength of the ship girder lost by the wrinkled bottom shell plating, including the flat keel.

(c) The partial longitudinals installed were offset transversely from the longitudinals they were obviously intended to reinforce. 

 

 Plate II

 

 

 ----------------------------

Admiral Nimitz visited the area during this time, starting on September 28th landing at Noumea.  A meeting was held on Argonne to discuss current activities and future strategy.  Admiral Ghormley, who was in charge of the theater, was showing deeply the stresses of command.  Noumea itself was choked with cargo ships unable to unload at the relatively small port.  Nimitz went to Guadalcanal after the meeting, and then back to Hawaii.  

Hornet and escorts had moved northwest for a raid on Japanese forces in the Shortland Islands, near Bougainville Island.  These forces were a constant danger to Henderson Field and the Marines on Guadalcanal.

U. S. Navy Task Forces:

• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) was at Pearl Harbor, for repairs to Enterprise (sailed October 16th).
  
• Saratoga was at Pearl Harbor for repairs (sailed November 10th).
  
• Combined Task Force 61 remained on patrol in the Coral Sea near Guadalcanal.
  
• Task Force 17 (Hornet) -> TF 61 
  

More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology, pp. 257-258.
  
•  The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign,  John B. Lundstrom, pp 233-278.
• The Struggle for Guadalcanal, Samuel Eliot Morison, pp. 138-143.
• Neptune's Inferno, The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, James D. Hornfischer, pp. 132-158.
• U.S.S. O'Brien (DD415) Torpedo Damage and Loss South Pacific 15 Sept. - 19 Oct. 1942, pp. 1-5
  

 

NEXT POST: OCTOBER 8TH

 

 

October 4, 1862 - Saturday - 160 years ago today

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

General Buell, having gathered, reorganized, and resupplied his army at Louisville, commenced on the first to ride out into Kentucky to find the rebels.  He sent two divisions directly east toward Shelbyville, and Frankfort.  His intention was for this to be a diversion, as he marched the rest of his army toward Bardstown, KY along three mostly parallel roads that all met at Bardstown.  Crittenden's Corps, with the 40th Indiana, took the center route directly toward Bardstown.

General Bragg, meanwhile, had left General Polk in charge at Bardstown, and proceeded first toward Danville, KY, and then on to the capital at Frankfort.  Several things happened on this trip.  Bragg met General Kirby Smith, and assumed command of his army as well, ending their divided commands and putting Bragg in charge of all the Confederate forces in Kentucky.  

Since the start of the war, Kentucky had had both a Union and a Confederate government, and as the Union had possessed Frankfort, the Union Kentucky government was installed,  Kirby Smith, however, had now taken the capital, and Bragg decided to install the Confederate Kentucky government; the intent being to recruit soldiers for the Confederacy, but also, as a last resort, to conscript Kentuckians into the Confederate army.

The diversionary force sent by Buell toward Frankfort drove back Confederate cavalry and neared the town.  Bragg decided not to hold Frankfort, but to instead consolidate all the Confederate forces in the area of Danville and Harrodsburg, KY, which is about 25 miles southwest of Lexington, and due south of Frankfort.  Polk, having detected the lead elements of Buell's main force, was already moving the army from Bardstown toward the Harrodsburg area.  It was Wood's division, after some intense fighting with Confederate cavalry, that was able to take Bardstown on the 4th.

Here is a map of the area:  Louisville upper left, Lexington upper right, Bardstown lower left center, Harrodsburg/Danville lower right center.

More Information:

• Link: War Operations, see Volume XVI, Chapter XXVIII, Part II, Correspondence,  pp. 560-574.
• The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. p. 85.
  
• Shelby Foote: The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville, pp. 726-729. 
• Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol 3. The Tide Shifts, pp,4-14.
• Kenneth Noe, Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle, pp. 73-95.

 

NEXT POST: OCTOBER 8TH