31. Beginning of the Battle of Stone river, or Murfreesboro’. 10 hours continuous fighting without result.
31. Gen. McClernand succeeded Gen. Sherman at Vicksburg and the Fed. army retired to Milliken’s Bend.
1863.
Jan. 1. Pres. Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all the slaves then held in rebellious territory to be forever free.
1. Galveston, Tex., recaptured by rebs. under Gen. Magruder, with its garrison of 300 men. 6 Fed. gunboats were in the harbor. The Harriet Lane was captured after a severe fight, in which Capt. Wainwright was killed, and many of his crew. The Fed. flagship Westfield was blown up by Commander Renshaw, to avoid capture, by which he lost his life, with many of the crew.
2. The battle of Stone river, or Murfreesboro’, Tenn., between Gen. Rosecrans’ army and Gen. Bragg’s rebel troops, which commenced two days before, was resumed, and after an obstinate and bloody contest, which lasted all day, the rebels were defeated with great slaughter. Fed. loss, 1,533 killed, 6,000 wounded, 2,000 prisoners; rebel loss, over 10,000, of whom 9,000 were killed and wounded.
2. Reb. cavalry under Major Herring, captured 10 sutlers’ wagons and their attendants at Dumfries, Va., belonging to Maine and New York regiments.
3. A rebel camp near La Grange, Ark., was surprised by Gen. Washburne’s cavalry. 10 of the rebels were captured, and 10 killed or wounded.
3. Rebs. under Gen. Jones attacked Col. Washburne’s troops at Moorfield, near New Creek, Va., and captured 65 of them.
5. Fed. troops in Hardy Co., Va., attacked by rebels under Capt. J. H. McNeill, who captured 33 men, 61 horses and camp stores.