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1864 |
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| South America & Caribbean:Maximillian becomes emperor of Mexico as French troops drive Juarez into the United States. Brazil invades Uruguay against Paraguay. | |||||||||||
| North America: The Confederacy fights inflation as millions in paper currency is printed, but the Union dollar is not much better. Salmon Portland Chase, Secretary of the Treasury orders In God We Trust on all U. S. Currency. The North ships wheat, now up to $4 per bushel and plaqued by locusts, to Europe. Grant becomes Geneal of the Union Armies as Lincoln calls for conscription of 500,000. Lee defeats Grant at Cold Spring Harbor, as Petersburg, Va. is under siege. Atlanta taken after five weeks of seige and Sherman begins march to the sea. Farragut wins at Mobile Bay. Weeklies such as Harpers begin printing illustrations of the war. Nevada becomes the 36th state. Montana formed from Idaho territory. Native Americans, including Navajos, Mescakero Apache, Comanche, Arapahoe fight the U. S. Army for their lands. Armour packing in Milwaukee U. of Kansas, U. of Denver, Swarthmore College. Poetry by John Greenleaf Whittier, photography by Mathew Brady, music by Stephen Foster, who dies this year. George Perkins Marsh of the U. S Foreign Service warns of destruction of forests. Yosemite Valley is protected by Congress.
The ninth Democratic national convention meets in Chicago to nominate George B. McClellan. The third Republican national convention meets in Baltimore to nominate Abraham Lincoln. |
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| Europe: Napoleon III recognizes the right to strike, allowing associations of workers. Red Cross is established and gains neutrality at Geneva Convention. Fiction by Dostoyevski, Jules Verne, Anthony Trollope; poetry by Robert Browning; painting by Manet. | |||||||||||
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January 1864
Thomas Overton Moore steps down as Henry Watkins Allen becomes governor and brings order to the war-torn state. He serves for a year and a half until the Confederacy collapsed, then left for Mexico. He became editor of a newspaper in Mexico but his health failed and he dies in 1865. As governor, Allen organizes state stores, foundries and factories such as a cotton card factory to aid families in Western Louisiana. He sells them food and goods at cost or nothing. With simple moves such as these he rescues the population of west and northern Louisiana from starvation and disorder and restores industry. Cotton is exported through Texas (the King Ranch) and Mexico, circumventing the Union blockade. A state laboratory is organized at Mt. Lebanon Women’s Academy in Minden to make and distribute medicine and a medical dispensary is established in Shreveport. He authorizes a geological survey of the state to locate needed raw materials with a mining and manufacturing bureau. Two battalions of state guard are organized to assist regular Confederate troops until they become the 8th Louisiana Cavalry Regiment. Thomas Overton Moore retires to his plantation south of Alexandria. The Federal campaign forces Moore and his family to flee as it advances up the Red River. |
February 1864
February 22 - State elections are held and a constitutional convention is called by the government of occupation. Union troops control all or part of 17 parishes in South Louisiana. George Michael Hahn wins the governors office with 54% or 11,411 votes. J. Q. A. Fellows, a conservative gets 26% or 2,996 votes and Benjamin Franklin Flanders, the radical gets 20% or 2,232 votes. Benjamin Franklin Flanders and Thomas Jefferson Durant, prominent and radical Unionists, oppose the plan called for by General Banks. James Madison Wells forms the Unconditional Union Club of West Louisiana. He is nominated by both radicals (Benjamin Franklin Flanders) and moderates (George Michael Hahn) to be Lt. Governor but retains a conservative opposition to black rights and supports compensated emancipation at the Constitutional Convention of 1864. |
March 1864
. Micheal George Michael Hahn is inaugurated and tries to give the vote to blacks, but can only adopt the 15th Amendment. He plays a leading role in the state constitutional convention of 1864, but he is opposed by Major General Stephen A. Hurlbut who has replaced Banks as commander of the Department of the Gulf. The Red River campaign begins in northwestern La. as Union Gen. N. P. Banks and Navy Flag Officer David A. Porter with a fleet of 35 vessels go up against Gen. Richard Taylor, the son of former President Zachary Taylor. On March 14, Union forces lead by General A. J. Smith over run Fort DeRussy near Marksville and head upriver. March 31 Federal troops enter Natchitoches where they seize the newspaper. |
April 1864
April 6, 1864 to July 23, 1864; A state constitutional convention is held. On April 10 troops reach Loggy Bayou on the Red River, the nearest point of Federal advance on Shreveport during Civil War. Near this confluence of streams close to Bossier-Red River Parish line Confederates forces sank the steamer New Falls City which blocked the passage of Federal gunboats. |
May 1864
After a skirmish at Pleasant Hill the next day Banks retreated to Natchitoches to rejoin the Navy. From there they retreated further down the Red River. Union forces under Col. Bailey constructed a quick dam near Pineville to help the Navy escape on May 13. Three days later Taylor catches up with Union forces at the Battle of Mansura, but were forced to withdraw. The Battle of Yellow Bayou, also known as Norwood’s Plantation, is fought May 18, 1864. It is the last battle of Bank’s Red River Campaign. General Richard Taylor’s Confederate army failed to prevent Union army from crossing Atchafalaya River at Simmesport. Union troops burn former governor Thomas Overton Moore’s home. |
June 1864
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July 1864
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August 1864
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September 1864
The Friends of Universal Suffrage holds a meeting of 111 scalawags, carpetbaggers and black delegates. Benjamin Franklin Flanders leads the movement to create a Republican party in Louisiana. He forms the Friends of Universal Suffrage with other scalawags to promote black suffrage and to repeal the Louisiana black codes. |
October 1864
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November 1864
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December 1864
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| Duncan Farrar Kenner, (1813-1887) is appointed Confederate minister to France and England. | Fort Humbug formerly Fort Turnbull, is built by the Confederates to defend Shreveport, now the Capital of Louisiana. Charred logs simulating cannon were used to deter Union forces from attacking. Heavily outnumbered but owning an element of surprise Taylor overwhelmed the lead Union forces south of Mansfield. Following the Battle of Mansfield, many of the injured were infirmed at old Keachie College, where a morgue was established on the second floor of the main building. Located in Keachie, Desoto Parish | The Union Army of Major General Nathaniel Banks marches on the Rosedale Road (LA Hwy. 986) in West Baton Rouge Parish on its return to New Orleans following the failure of the Red River Campaign. |
Leonidas Polk William Freret |
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