Following yesterday’s bloody Battle of Marianna in northwest Florida, in which Union forces emerged victorious, a contingent of nearby Washington County militia assembled and today move toward Marriana in hopes of engaging the Federals. At the same time, the victorious Union forces move out from Marriana this morning. Neither army realizes that they are marching…
The Baptist brothers Frank and Jesse James are up to no good again today, a mere three days after bushwhacking Federal forces in Fayette, Missouri. Today, they and their band of guerrillas, led by Bloody Bill Anderson, attack Centralia, Missouri, killing unarmed Union soldiers and taking their scalps. Meanwhile, Union troops are advancing through Florida…
Elijah J. Marrs today enlists in Company L, 12 U.S. Colored Artillery. The story of how Marrs arrives at this moment is quite remarkable. Marrs was born January 1840 in Shelby County, Kentucky, to a free black father and an enslaved mother. Since his mother was a slave, Elijah was born into slavery. “Where I…