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Children’s Media and Modernity
Film, Television and Digital Games
EWAN KIRKLAND
Peter Lang
Throughout the modern era the figure of the child has consistently
reflected adult concerns about industrialisation, urbanisation,
technology, consumerism and capitalism. Children represent a
symbolic retreat from modern life, culturally aligned with fairy
tales, medievalism, animals and nature. Yet children also embody
the future and are often identified with the most contemporary
forms of popular culture.
This book explores how products for children navigate such
contradictions by investigating the history and textuality of three
major forms of modern media: cinema, television and digital
games. Case studies – including Wallace and Gromit, Teletubbies,
Horrible Histories, Little Big Planet and Disney Infinity – are used to
illustrate the complex intersections between children’s culture
and modernity.
Cinema – so closely associated with the emergence of modernity
and mass popular culture – has had to negotiate its relationship with
child audiences and depictions of childhood, often concealing its
connection with modernity in the process. In contrast, television’s
incorporation into family home-centred, post-war modernity
resulted in children being clearly positioned as the audience for
this domestic entertainment. The latter decades of the twentieth
century saw the promotion of home computers as educational tools
for training future generations, capitalising on positive alignments
between children and technologies, while digital games’ narrative
references, aesthetics and merchandise established the new medium
as a form of children’s culture.
Ewan Kirkland lectures in Film and Screen Studies at the University
of Brighton. He has previously published on The Powerpuff Girls,
the Twilight series and horror videogames, and has organised
academic conferences on science fiction, zombies in popular
culture and the My Little Pony franchise. In his work he focuses
on issues of representation – particularly dominant identities such
as masculinity, whiteness and heterosexuality – and on the
construction of childhood through media for children.

www.peterlang.com
Children’s Media and Modernity
Children’s Media and Modernity
Film, Television and Digital Games

Ewan Kirkland

PETER LANG
Oxford Bern Berlin Bruxelles • Frankfurt am Main • NewYork • Wien
• • •
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at
http://dnb.d-nb.de.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017941149

Cover images: Jack the Nipper © Urbanscan Ltd 2017. The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe © BBC Photo Library. The Wrong Trousers © Aardman Animations Ltd/
Wallace & Gromit Ltd 1993.

Cover design: Peter Lang Ltd.

ISBN 978-3-0343-1991-1 (print) • ISBN 978-1-78707-410-1 (ePDF)


ISBN 978-1-78707-411-8 (ePub) • ISBN 978-1-78707-412-5 (mobi)

© Peter Lang AG, International Academic Publishers, Bern 2017


Wabernstrasse 40, CH-3007 Bern, Switzerland
info@peterlang.com, www.peterlang.com, www.peterlang.net

All rights reserved.


All parts of this publication are protected by copyright.
Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without
the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution.
This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming,
and storage and processing in electronic retrieval systems.

This publication has been peer reviewed.


To B and C
Contents

Chapter 1
Thinking of the Children 1

Chapter 2
History, Childhood and Modernity 27

Chapter 3
Cinema for Children 55

Chapter 4
Television for Children 127

Chapter 5
Digital Games for Children 193

Chapter 6
Conclusion263

Bibliography273

Index 289
Chapter 1

Thinking of the Children

Childhood, Time and Modernity

For all adults – including writers, producers, consumers and academics of


media for children – childhood is largely located in the past. Even for those
with children in their lives, the most intimate encounter with childhood
an adult is likely to have is with their own. This retrospective experience
of being a child is bound to be characterised by elements of uncertainty,
ambiguity, fictionality. Adult childhood is a complex reconstruction based
on clearly recalled events, false or uncertain memories, mementoes in the
form of photographs and other surviving childhood relics, books, toys and
games. It is a childhood depicted in black and white or faded colours. It is
populated by people with strange haircuts, clad in unfashionable clothing.
It is represented by stories, activities and culture which, from the vantage of
the present, appear at best quaint, outdated, superseded, at worst unenlight-
ened, ideologically incorrect and insensitive. In our childhood, be it real or
imagined, there were fewer cars on the road, fewer consumer goods in the
shops, less bureaucracy regulating our actions. When it comes to media,
films were more rudimentary in their special and visual effects. Television
shows were less slick and glossy. Computers and telephones were larger
and less portable. The internet, if it existed at all, was slower, its content
less expansive and multi-media. Videogames were more simplistic in their
graphics and gameplay. Being an adult often involves coming to terms with
media technologies and culture which was not a feature of our own early
years. When looked upon with fond adult nostalgia, childhood is a period
which appears less technological, less sophisticated, less complex, in many
ways, in the colloquial sense of the term, less modern. Without rose-tinted
2 Chapter 1

glasses, childhood can conversely feel like a place of darkness, of limited


freedoms and opportunities, of social and cultural exclusion enforced by
a ruling adult elite. Also in many ways, less modern.
A central argument of this volume is that a productive way of under-
standing childhood, and the many complex and contradictory elements
this concept evokes, is through ideas of modernity. The contemporary
Western child appears to be a distinctly modern invention. Many significant
and enduring perspectives on the difference between adults and children,
now taken for granted, emerged alongside modern developments within
the Western world. Contemporary childhood was forged in the heat of
modernity. In such a context the imaginary figure of the child comes to
embody many contradictions, anxieties and hopes of the very era which
brought it into being. Childhood serves as a receptacle for everything
adults feel they have left behind in the maturation from what is believed
to be simpler, more natural, more innocent ways of being. The child func-
tions to articulate adult dislocation from modernity, and anxiety about
the speed of social, cultural and technological change. Media for children,
including books, films, television and digital games, themselves a prod-
uct of cultural modernity and modern methods of reproduction, can be
understood as a site where these tensions are expressed, negotiated and
symbolically reconciled.
Of course, this is not the only meaning attached to childhood. In
some formations childhood is not located in the past, but in the future.
The children of today represent the adults of tomorrow, the generation
which will live on after we are long gone. This constitutes a significantly
more optimistic perspective on children and modernity, wherein child-
hood becomes a site of hope and anticipation rather than nostalgia and
loss. Such a conception of childhood can also serve to critique current
circumstances, highlighting the inequalities, injustices and indignities of
the present, in contrast with some utopian point in the future, rather than
an idealised past. That childhood can serve such seemingly incompatible
functions, indicates the complex mythic qualities of the concept. Childhood
is not a singular formation, but the site of competing perspectives and
interpretations. Throughout Western history there have been many con-
flicting conceptions of what childhood is and what children are, deriving
Thinking of the Children 3

from theological, philosophical, scientific fields and disciplines. Some of


these appear in distinct opposition. Images of childhood innocence seem
to contradict concepts of the child as full of sin and in need of control.
Ideas of childhood as a time of triviality and carefree activity, coexists
with assertions that childhood is the most important formative years of an
individual’s life. The notion of childhood as a period of play seems at odds
with an emphasis on the importance of education and productive activity.
Mythologies of childhood as the best time of your life jostle with narra-
tives of childhood as a state of helplessness, confusion and exploitation.
The most successful cultural articulations of childhood express multiple
conceptions, or better still, manage to stabilise such contrasting beliefs in
a seemingly unified whole.
Whether childhood is situated in an imaginary past or an imaginary
future, modernity seems to function as a recurring theme. In many respects
the ambivalences of childhood reflect the uncertainties of modernity itself,
just as childhood evades modernity’s efforts to fix and determine its bounda-
ries. This study involves bringing together these two complex, contradic-
tory concepts. Media for children assumes three broad and frequently
overlapping approaches. The most common and easily identified of these
entails a retreat into a previous era, reflecting a childhood which stands
outside of modernity. This frequently assumes a kind of ‘neo-medievalism’
as exemplified by numerous folktale-inspired animated films, fairy story
television shows and videogames featuring captured princesses, beanstalks
and trap-filled dungeons. In such circumstances the implied child consumer
is effectively relocated to a fantastical realm safe from the trappings of
modern life. Another strategy across children’s media attempts a reconcili-
ation between modernity and the child, acknowledging the problematic
relationship between the two in trying to overcome it. Images of chocolate
factories powered by waterfall, inventors constructing elaborate machines
from domestic objects, television cyborg aliens inhabiting pastoral land-
scapes, all represent instances of this tendency. A third form of children’s
culture embraces modernity in all its frenetic ambivalence, reflecting a
childhood which is conceived of as the very embodiment of the modern
era. Notably many new techniques in screen entertainment are trialled
in media for children, and many new media technologies are promoted
4 Chapter 1

as being beneficial for young people. This suggests that child consumers
have a particular appreciation of the technological innovation with which
modernity is associated. Most examples of children’s media constitute a
combination of these three positions.
At this early stage it is useful to make clear the boundaries and limi-
tations of this publication. This is not a study of children and media. Its
focus is rather the historical, cultural and institutional ways in which young
people have been engaged as an audience, and aspect of children’s culture
translated across different media formats. The critical perspective this study
adopts, inspired by Gill Branston’s study of cinema,1 interrogates the rela-
tionship between childhood and modernity, as articulated through media
produced for, made available to, or variously marketed towards children.
Such an approach draws together the work of many historians, media schol-
ars and critics of childhood who have observed, in various ways, children
and childhood’s problematic relationship with the qualities that define the
modern condition. Through focusing on childhood in children’s culture,
other important identity formations, such as gender, race, ethnicity, nation-
ality or class, are given comparatively little attention. This is not to diminish
the significance of these categories, the many ways in which they inform the
further segmentation of children’s culture, or the extent to which childhood
as a stable identity fragments upon acknowledgement that children, no less
than adults, are divided along these lines. The emphasis on childhood is
rather intended to address the degree to which this identity is often taken
for granted, rather than subjected to the critical interrogation commonly
applied to other classifications, even in discussion of media for children.
In addition this study is undeniably Western, in terms of the childhood
it explores and the media it analyses. The intention is not to universalise
this specific conception of childhood which, as the following overview
makes apparent, is not only historically particular but also geographically,
nationally and regionally specific. It may well be that a study of the child-
hoods of non-Western cultures, and the media produced to meet these
children, would result in significantly different findings and conclusions.

1 Gill Branston, Cinema and Cultural Modernity (Buckingham: Open University


Press, 2000).
Thinking of the Children 5

The concentration on modernity has also resulted in the study’s emphasis


on screen media. Consequently other forms of children’s culture, such as
books, comics, magazines, toys and board games, are necessarily excluded.
Scholars of children’s literature are admittedly a frequent source of refer-
ence, the study of books for children being a more established field than
other media for young people. Further examples, including clothing, food,
games and action figures, are also considered as contributing to the ways in
which children’s screen media is oriented towards child audiences through
ancillary products. It would undoubtedly be fruitful for subsequent research
to consider the ways in which books, sequential art, periodicals and non-
digital games for children might be similarly explored as reflecting upon
childhood, modernity and media.
As such this is not a study of the role media plays in children’s lives, the
meanings children make of media, or the nature of children’s engagement
with popular culture, although many valuable contributions to this area
of research are cited in the following chapters. Much work on the history
of children’s matinees draws upon adults’ recollections of cinema-going,
the films they saw, and the experience of being in the auditorium. These
insights are valuable in determining the content of early screenings which
were not recorded at the time. Evidence of children’s, and adults’, television
viewing preferences will inform definitions of children’s programmes as
those favoured by child audiences, alongside issues of scheduling, produc-
tion and merchandising. Studies of adults’ engagement with cinema and
digital games consoles, expressing perceptions of cinema as an adult-only
space, and videogame play as a distinctly childish activity, provide useful
perspectives on these respective media, and constitute insightful postscripts
to their respective chapters. However, this study makes no original contribu-
tions to empirical or ethnographic research. Indeed, the critical perspective
this study adopts in relation to the child as a product of historical forces
entails a sceptical approach towards any universalising claims concerning
experiences, tastes, practices or affinities determined by age-based categories
of audience. This does not invalidate the findings of such research, and it
must be acknowledged that the majority of studies cited do have a critical
awareness of the problems of such endeavours. However, this study retains
6 Chapter 1

focus on children’s media, its production, distribution, exhibition, rather


than the children, and adults, who consume it.

The Meanings of Childhood

Underpinning this study is an understanding that childhood as a concept


has been primarily historically, socially and culturally determined. Histories
of childhood, as detailed in the next chapter, although subject to consid-
erable dispute, tell a story in which the meaning of childhood appears to
have undergone significant transformation over recent centuries. Cross-
cultural studies also reveal significant variation in the ways childhood is
understood across different national contexts. This absence of consistency
suggests that concepts of childhood, including beliefs circulating what a
child is, needs, wants, deserves, and the crucial ways in which children
differ from adults, are a matter of cultural convention rather than ontologi-
cal inevitability. In this respect agehood, meaning childhood, adulthood
and all the variations between, before and after, can be considered a social
construction similar to gender, race, class, sexuality, ability and so forth.
Despite parallels between children and other historically marginal groups,
and evidence suggesting childhood is a socially determined identity, until
relatively recently, and then only in certain quarters, childhood has not
been recognised as a minority status, or as a formation which has been
culturally, historically, discursively produced.
Consistent with other marginalised formations, childhood is not
simply a social category, but once with significant symbolic meaning. As
Marilyn R. Brown writes, in the introduction to an edited collection on
images of children in portraiture, ‘childhood has been primarily a cultural
invention and a site of emotional projection by adults’.2 Along similar lines

2 Marilyn R. Brown, ‘Introduction: Baudelaire Between Rousseau and Freud’, in


Marilyn R. Brown, ed., Picturing Children: Constructions of Childhood Between
Rousseau and Freud (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002), 1.
Thinking of the Children 7

John R. Gillis writes of the ‘virtual child’, an invention of the Victorian


era, a symbolic rather than actual figure. For Gillis it was the nineteenth
century when contemporary ideas of childhood become hegemonic within
middle-class Anglo-American cultures, being increasingly embedded and
naturalised within emerging structures of class and gender.3 Literary critic
Marina Warner also points to the mythical functions children serve for adult
dreams and desires. The author uses the term ‘supernatural irrationality’
to define the various concepts of imagination, fantasy, wisdom, innocence
and sexlessness facilitated by the figure of the child.4 Symbolic meanings
invested in childhood, as Gillis suggests, effectively obscure the ‘real’ child
from view. Indeed, Dennis Denisoff argues that it is an impossible task
to disentangle the actual child from social construction of childhood.5 A
similar point is made by Carolyn Steedman in distinguishing ‘real children,
living in the time and space of particular societies’ from ‘the ideational and
figurative force of their existence’.6 Historical accounts reveal the two as
having a reciprocal relationship. Emerging ideas of childhood in the late
eighteenth and early ninetieth centuries, which Steedman argues functioned
as a means of adults negotiating contemporary ideas of self and history,
impacted on the attention paid to actual children throughout this period
and consequently upon the lives of children themselves. Adult culture
determines children’s lives according to beliefs in what children are, and
children to varying degrees are impacted and transformed by the resulting
institutions within which they are located.
As previously suggested, childhood is not a singular category, but
multiple. Throughout history ‘the child’ has been employed for different

3 John R. Gillis, ‘The Birth of the Virtual Child: A Victorian Progeny’, in Willem Koops
and Michael Zuckerman, eds, Beyond the Century of the Child: Cultural History and
Developmental Psychology (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003).
4 Marina Warner, Managing Monsters: Six Myths of Our Time: The 1994 Reith Lectures
(London: Vintage, 1994), 42.
5 Dennis Denisoff, ‘Small Change: The Consumerist Designs of the Nineteenth-
Century Child’, in Dennis Denisoff, ed., The Nineteenth-Century Child and Consumer
Culture (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008), 4.
6 Carolyn Steedman, Strange Dislocations: Childhood and the Idea of Human Interiority,
1780–1930 (London: Virago Press, 1995), 5.
8 Chapter 1

ends by a range of political, cultural, artistic movements. Indicative of the


extreme malleability of the virtual child, Brown identifies further paradoxes
of childhood within nineteenth-century Europe. During this period, the
industrial exploitation of children was accompanied by the cultural glo-
rification and sentimentalisation of childhood within Victorian society.
The nostalgic celebration of the child entailed a symbolic withdrawal from
urban industrialisation, and the political and scientific revolutions of the
era. Yet this was concurrent with the development of a considerable industry
organised around the mass production of children’s toys, clothes, books and
child-rearing manuals, mobilising children as emblems of social, cultural
and economic progress.7 The extent to which children become symbols
for adult society suggests the power inequalities between the generations.
Although children are themselves not without agency, it is largely adults
who have the authority to define childhood in this symbolic sense. As
historian Hugh Cunningham observes, ‘mostly what we hear are adults
imagining childhood, inventing it, in order to make sense of their world.
Children have to live with the consequences’.8 Exploring the political nature
of childhood is nevertheless inhibited by the absence of a readily available
language which might allow such inequalities to be effectively articulated.
George Dimock makes speculative parallels between the exclusion of art
by children from the cannon of art history and the exclusion of women
artists. The author observes that while art history and cultural studies have
incorporated children and childhood into the analysis of representation,
this is not situated within a clear critical framework. There is no established
discourse of ‘adultism’, or adult privilege, comparable to the interventions
made in challenging the depiction and agency of other minority groups.9
Nevertheless any critical engagement with ideas of childhood, children
and children’s media cannot avoid addressing the politics of this situation.

7 Brown, ‘Introduction’, 3.
8 Hugh Cunningham, The Invention of Childhood (London: BBC Books, 2006), 12.
9 George Dimock, ‘Children’s Studies and the Romantic Child’, in Marilyn R. Brown,
ed., Picturing Children: Constructions of Childhood Between Rousseau and Freud
(Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002).
Thinking of the Children 9

Throughout history children and childhood have therefore been made


to bear an array of meanings. Most of these processes take some innate or
biological aspect of children and extrapolate this to advance a particular
argument or claim. It seems indisputable that most children are smaller
and less strong than most adults. This leads to the proposition that children
are in need of protection, even from threats that are more psychological or
ideological than physical. Steedman is amongst many to note discourses
of ‘littleness’ constantly circulating the child. In researching a cultural
history of childhood, the author observes a point where ‘it seemed to me
that what I was really describing was littleness itself, and the complex reg-
ister of affect that has been invested in the word “little”’.10 In such a situ-
ation the biologically rooted meanings circulating children, rather than
children themselves, emerge as the more truthful subject of the discourse
under analysis. The notion of littleness is evident in children’s media, from
the earliest publication for children to the latest digital games. Another
recurring concept is that of childhood innocence. This is perhaps the most
persistent symbolic quality attributed to children, one which Cunningham
observes even in the later stages of the Middle Ages.11 It is hard to dispute
that generally speaking children have less experience than adults, having
lived shorter lives, and are consequently less knowledgeable, having had
limited time to gain awareness of the world. But to define this comparative
lack as a form of ‘innocence’ involves imposing an interpretation of such
qualities that is highly valued, selective and cultural. While the question of
child sexuality is a matter of heated dispute, it does appear that before the
onset of puberty children have a different relationship with sex, their own
bodies, and the bodies of others, compared to those who have passed this
biological threshold. However, to interpret this ‘difference’ as asexuality,
the absence of sexual desire, or as a vulnerability to sexuality, sexual imagery,
information or activity, is a cultural position which impacts significantly
on the lives of children and the media made available to them. This per-
ception of innocence is clearly articulated in the regulations determining
the classification of films and other screen texts, where titles containing

10 Steedman, Strange Dislocations, 9.


11 Cunningham, The Invention of Childhood, 27.
10 Chapter 1

material of a sexual nature are prohibitively certificated to exclude young


people from viewing or purchasing such media. The strong desire to main-
tain childhood innocence, rather than to introduce children to concepts
of sexuality and sexual relations, arguably says as much about Western
attitudes towards sex as it does about childhood. Moreover the sheltering
of children from sexuality might contribute to producing the very ‘inno-
cence’ such practices claim to recognise.
Recent debates surrounding children’s exposure to internet pornogra-
phy, concerns about childhood obesity, or arguments for the prohibition
of advertising targeted at children, reflect ambivalence about sexuality,
new media, public health, consumption, commercialism and promotional
culture. In such situations, concern for children might be seen as second-
ary to the anxieties the child permits to be articulated. As a highly mobile
symbolic receptacle for a range of values, which also exists as people in
the ‘real’ world, the child constructed through journalistic narratives, sta-
tistics, government reports or academic papers, might be produced at any
moment as a reification of the subject under debate. The clichéd rally cry,
‘won’t somebody think of the children’ carries with it considerable currency,
irrespective of the cause to which it is attached. Children’s smallness, their
lack of experience, their different relationship with sexuality, all located in
biological aspects of children, feed perceptions of childhood vulnerability
which can be mobilised by campaigners across the political and ideologi-
cal spectrum. Such concepts of childhood, informing debates relating to
children’s access to mainstream media and culture, invariably impact on
the design of media and culture specifically aimed at children themselves.

The Problem of the Child in Media for Children

In a substantial passage, raising various rhetorical questions as pertinent to


children’s film, television and digital games as they are to children’s books,
Peter Hunt highlights the problem of defining children’s media in a section
worth quoting at length:
Thinking of the Children 11

Children’s literature seems at first sight to be a simple idea: books written for children,
books read by children. But in theory and in practice it is vastly more complicated
than that. Just to unpack that definition: what does written for mean? Surely the
intention of the author is not a very reliable guide, not to mention the intention of
the publisher – or even the format of the book? For example, Jill Murphy’s highly
successful series of picture-books about the domestic affairs of a family of elephants ...
are jokes almost entirely from the point of view of (and largely understandable only
by) parents. Then again, read by: surely sometime, somewhere, all books have been
read by one child or another? And some much-vaunted books for children are either
not read by them, or much more appreciated by adults (like Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland), or probably not children’s books at all (like The Wind in the Willows),
or seem to serve adults and children in different – and perhaps opposing – ways (like
Winnie-the-Pooh). And do we mean read by voluntarily or, as it were, under duress in
the classroom? And can we say that a child can really read, in the sense of realizing
the same spectrum of meanings as the adult can?12

Hunt’s questions might well be expanded and reoriented to cover issues


within media studies. What is implied in labelling a piece of media ‘chil-
dren’s’? What potential relationship between child and media might be
entailed in the term? What kind of child is implicated in this process? What
age, what historical period, what formation of audience? Does calling a
piece of media ‘children’s’ necessarily imply that a significant portion of
children have encountered it, enjoyed it, incorporated it into their culture,
and continue to do so? Does it imply that it has been made for, marketed
at, targeted towards children, and has been successful in its endeavours to
reach this audience? Is children’s media a matter of genre, suggesting a group
of texts which share characteristics with others labelled in the same way?
Is children’s media a matter of consumption, production or textuality? Is
a piece of media which has been made for adults but which finds favour
with child audiences children’s media? Conversely, if something is produced
with children in mind, but gains an adult following, with endorsement
from its creators, should it no longer be defined by the term? Is children’s
media an institution which transcends the tastes of child consumers? Is it

12 Peter Hunt, An Introduction to Children’s Literature (Oxford: Oxford University


Press, 1994), 4–5.
12 Chapter 1

instead defined by academics, archivists, distributors, exhibitors, television


stations, certification bodies and pedagogues?
The questions Hunt raises might be asked of films, television and
digital media. In many instances these issues appear even more profound.
When it comes to the commercial film industry there are very few feature
films which have been made for children. Even filmmakers associated with
children’s culture have been extremely vague about the intended audience
for their products. Many ‘children’s films’ appear to contain material seem-
ingly aimed at adult audiences, referencing adult culture or assuming adult
cultural capital. If these films are enjoyed by both adults and children,
does that exclude them from consideration in a study of children’s media?
Moreover, children are significantly restricted in what they are permitted
to see in the cinema. To what extent are the films children watch in this
context chosen under duress in the multiplex lobby? When it comes to
broadcasting, there is much evidence of significant overlap between the
viewing tastes of children, teenagers and adults. There have been various
production departments and companies dedicated to making shows for
children, something with a less clear history within the film industry, as
well as entire channels labelled as being for children. But these have been
variously enjoyed by adults and ignored by children, or have screened the
same material in different ways to target differently aged viewers. In some
instances the content screened during hours discursively marked as ‘chil-
dren’s television’ have contained material which was not originally intended
for that audience at the level of production and exhibition. The question
of digital games is no less complex. As with cinema it is hard to find games
producers who will explicitly claim to make blockbuster games for chil-
dren. One exception might be educational games which have existed since
the advent of the home computer. However, such software has often been
criticised for its lack of appeal or functionality as games. If a title is made
for children and marketed for children, but finds no popularity with young
people, should it still be considered a ‘children’s game’ in the fullest sense
of the term? Finally, to paraphrase Hunt, surely sometime, somewhere, all
films, television programmes and digital games have been encountered by
at least one child, despite their certification or broadcasting hour.
Thinking of the Children 13

As Hunt observes, ‘the concept of the child is an ever-present prob-


lem for children’s literature’.13 As different ideas of childhood have existed
across time, books made for young people inevitably reflect those vari-
ations. Writers attempting to address their readership are impacted by
contemporary concepts of what children are, what they need from litera-
ture and what literature ought to do for them. Such observations are not
restricted to books for children, but feature across all kinds of cultures and
activities. In an insightful passage, acknowledging the tension between
biological and socially constructed perspectives on childhood, and the
consequences for media and culture designed for children, John Clarke
and Chas Critcher write:

At first glance, it seems reasonable that age should be found to have a considerable
effect on the kinds and rates of leisure activity. The biology and psychology of the
ageing process seem likely to involve different physical abilities and personal interests
at its various stages. That much is not disputed. More controversial is the attempt to
assess how far such stages of life and the leisure activities perceived as appropriate
to them are constructed by society. To the extent that they are, the effects of age on
leisure are not natural and inevitable but socially imposed and open to change.14

If childhood is a product of social construction, even children’s grassroots


leisure activities cannot be considered a straightforward reflection of chil-
dren’s biological difference from adults, or an uncomplicated reflection of
children’s tastes and preferences. David Buckingham warns against ignoring
the degree to which parents, teachers and state-run institutions regulate
and control children’s activities.15 Such institutions are informed by the
kinds of complex and contradictory concepts of children and childhood
previously discussed. These issues become particularly significant when
considering the official culture which is made for children to consume. Like

13 Peter Hunt, Children’s Literature (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001), 6.


14 John Clarke and Chas Critcher, The Devil Makes Work: Leisure in Capitalist Britain
(Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1985), 153.
15 David Buckingham, ‘Introduction: Young People and the Media’, in David
Buckingham, ed., Reading Audiences: Young People and the Media (Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 1993), 15.
14 Chapter 1

literature, children’s media cannot avoid being a reflection of the ways in


which children and childhood are perceived by the various organisations
and personnel involved in their authorship, at the time they are released,
broadcast, or made available to view. This perspective is acknowledged
by scholars across various fields of children’s culture. As Carolyn Daniel
observes in a study of eating in children’s literature: ‘When adults write
about and for children, as is almost exclusively the case in stories published
for children, they also disclose cultural concepts of childhood and attitudes
toward the child’.16 Máire Messenger Davies emphasises the extent to which
‘historical, psychological, sociological and other academic “constructions”
of childhood’ have historically informed entertainment for children.17
Similarly, Buckingham writes of the ways in which regulation surrounding
children’s television programming reflects fundamental beliefs concern-
ing the nature of childhood.18 Debates concerning the appropriateness
of certain products for children hinge on different perspectives on child-
hood, inevitably intersecting with discourses on media, culture, school,
family, parenting and, as is emphasised throughout this volume, ideas
about modernity. Culture made for children is therefore a rich and fertile
site for scholars exploring the social construction of childhood. It reflects
historical variations in conceptions of childhood, but also a high degree
of continuity, indicated by the longevity of children’s media and practices
whereby certain stories, characters and franchises are recycled for different
generations. The very fact that there exists literature, cinema, television and
digital media which are variously marked as being ‘for children’ is indicative
of the cultural perception that children are different from adults in their
tastes, interests, pleasures and abilities. The analysis of such texts reveals
much about the nature of that perceived difference, as well as the politi-

16 Carolyn Daniel, Voracious Children: Who Eats Whom in Children’s Literature


(London: Routledge, 2006), 1–2.
17 Máire Messenger Davies, Children, Media and Culture (Berkshire: Open University
Press, 2010), 8.
18 David Buckingham, ‘Children and Television: A Critical Overview of the Research’,
in Virginia Nightingale and Karen Ross, eds, Critical Readings: Media and Audiences
(Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2003), 164.
Thinking of the Children 15

cal, ideological and psychological investment in the figure of the child. It


may also be considered a significant component in the construction and
maintenance of that difference.

The Problem of the Adult in Media for Children

In addition to varying concepts of childhood, the ‘children’s’ of children’s


media is complicated by the overwhelming presence of adult authorship
across the cultural spectrum. Children’s writers, producers, directors and
designers are almost invariably adults. Consequently the childhood reflected
in the texts they produce, irrespective of their success with child audiences,
originates from an adult’s perspective. It must be acknowledged that all
adults were once children, even if the nature of their childhood was itself
unique. In this respect childhood is fundamentally different from other
marginal identities. Adult authors are thereby afforded a seemingly viable
position to write about children and childhood, and to produce media
for children in a more entitled manner than might otherwise be the case.
Maria Tatar reports Maurice Sendak, celebrated author of Where the Wild
Things Are, as claiming their status as a former child allows them to do just
this.19 However, Jacqueline Rose, in a controversial yet influential study of
Peter Pan, is highly critical of the processes and power relations involved in
adults producing books for children. It is in the gulf between adult author
and child reader that Rose sees the ‘impossibility’ of children’s literature,20
a concept which can, as Buckingham illustrates, be productively applied
to other media for children.21 The myth of the producer of children’s cul-

19 Maria Tatar, Off With Their Heads!: Fairytales and the Culture of Childhood
(Chichester: Princeton University Press, 1992), 20.
20 Jacqueline Rose, The Case of Peter Pan, or The Impossibility of Children’s Fiction
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993).
21 David Buckingham, ‘On the Impossibility of Children’s Television: The Case of
Timmy Mallett’, in Cary Bazalgette and David Buckingham, eds, In Front of the
16 Chapter 1

ture expressing some ‘inner child’, relating their products back to their
own childhood, or designing media with their own children in mind, can
be understood as strategies for negotiating this seemingly irreconcilable
problem. Rose sees such processes at work in the popular construction
of J. M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan. Comparable mythologies are present
across other franchises, for example, in the frequently cited inspiration
for the Pokémon series in its creator’s alleged childhood love of collecting
insects.22 Such efforts on the part of the children’s culture industries, which
actively circulate such information as a means of defining their products
in self-servingly beneficial ways, function to obscure the fact that young
people often have minimal involvement in the production of their own
media. Even on screen, as performers, children’s participation is restricted
in a manner which discriminates against the presence of child actors play-
ing child characters. This results in the common casting of teenagers in
the roles of school children, the marginalisation of children in favour of
adults in family feature films, or the entire absence of child protagonists
in some media for children, substituted by animated characters voiced by
adult performers. In this respect, media for children differs fundamentally
from other culture associated with minority or marginalised groups, where
the presentation of an authentic authorial viewpoint is often considered
central, and its absence a point of critical attention.
This is not to suggest that children are entirely powerless in such pro-
cesses. Peter Hollindale details a number of books which have been written
by young people, and acknowledges the ‘flourishing literary underclass of
the school playground’ including oral songs, rhymes and parodies.23 Such
‘playground’ activities may represent a more child-centric, child authored
form of culture. This might be considered the ‘popular culture’ of children
culture, as opposed to the ‘mass culture’ of the official industries from which

Children: Screen Entertainment and Young Audiences (London: British Film Institute,
1997), 47–61.
22 Chris Kohler, Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life
(Indianapolis: Bradygames, 2005), 240.
23 Peter Hollindale, Signs of Childness in Children’s Books (Stroud: The Thimble Press,
1997) 11–12.
Thinking of the Children 17

young people are largely excluded as participants. There are also examples
of child consumers impacting on the culture industry itself. Despite the
concerns of early twentieth-century reformers regarding young people’s
enthusiastic attendance at nickelodeon parlours, David Nasaw argues that
‘children’s effect on the industry was much greater than the moving pic-
tures’ effect on the children’.24 There are interesting examples of ‘children’s
cinema’ as the self-organised screening of entertainment by children for
children, even if young people had no role in producing the material being
screened. Such are the experiences narrated by Ian Conrich in discussion
with their grandfather, who held shows of moving images to entertain
local East End children using a toy shop projector.25 These activities, as
Meredith A. Bak details, have historical precedents in toy magic lanterns
marketed to children to put on shows for paying customers.26 Digital media
in the twenty-first century has also been impacted by the activities of young
people, for example, in Rich Ling and Leslie Haddon’s discussion of teen-
agers’ development of text culture.27 Children do make art and literature,
possibly to an even greater extent than the adult population, within the
schooling system which encourages writing, drawing, painting and other
creative activities. However, with a few exceptions, this rarely escapes the
classroom. Developments in online cultures have provided children with
platforms whereby their work might reach a broader audience. Studies of
young fandom have explored children’s active production of media con-
tent using these opportunities, although many mainstream sites officially
exclude users below a certain age. Without diminishing children’s agency,

24 David Nasaw, ‘Children and Commercial Culture: Moving Pictures in the Early
Twentieth Century’, in Elliott West and Paula Petrik, eds, Small Worlds: Children and
Adolescents in America, 1850–1950 (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1992), 24.
25 Ian Conrich, ‘Kitchen Cinema: Early Children’s Film Shows in London’s East End’,
Journal of British Cinema and Television 2/2 (2005), 290–298.
26 Meredith A. Bak, ‘“Ten Dollars’ Worth of Fun”: The Obscured History of the Toy
Magic Lantern and Early Children’s Media Spectatorship’, Film History 27/1 (2015),
111–134.
27 Rich Ling and Leslie Haddon, ‘Children, Youth and the Mobile Phone’, in Kirsten
Drotner and Sonia Livingstone, eds, The International Handbook of Children, Media
and Culture (London: Sage, 2008), 140.
18 Chapter 1

activity and creativity, the fact remains that when it comes to the culture
industry, children are not the makers of their own media.
Neither are children in an official position to criticise media for chil-
dren. Only adults write and publish books about children and childhood,
and only adults publish studies of children’s media and culture. The majority
of discourses of childhood in circulation, however benevolent in intention,
exclude the very group about which they speak. There are many significant
volumes detailing children’s engagement with media and their articulation
of these experiences. But these are compiled, collated and contextualised
by adult authors who serve a role in selecting, editing and framing their
participants’ responses. Various authors have acknowledged their adult
privilege, the unequal power relations inherent in their situation, and the
ways in which adult intervention might be reduced to allow children to
speak for themselves. Encouraging children to reflect upon their experi-
ences of popular culture in a manner unmediated by adult intervention,
Claudia Mitchell and Jacqueline Reid-Walsh employ an original methodol-
ogy, handing children cameras with which to photograph their own envi-
ronment. As they argue, ‘if children’s popular culture offers itself as a rich
ethnographic site for visual documentation, it is children themselves who
might be regarded as obvious ethnographers in its documentation’.28 Joseph
Tobin, writes of their son’s engagement with online culture as indicative of
certain digital practices amongst young people. The author acknowledges
the methodological and ethical complexities of incorporating their own
child into the research process. Nevertheless, despite addressing issues of
consent, subjectivity and representativeness, Tobin retains control of this
situation to a significant degree.29
Other commentators appear largely unaware of the adult privilege
in which both critic and reader operate. The following extract from John

28 Claudia Mitchell and Jacqueline Reid-Walsh, Researching Children’s Popular Culture:


The Cultural Spaces of Childhood (London: Routledge, 2002), 90.
29 Joseph Tobin, ‘An American Otaku (or, a Boy’s Virtual Life on the Net)’, in Julian
Sefton-Green, ed., Digital Diversions: Youth Culture in the Age of Multimedia
(London: UCL Press, 1998), 111.
Thinking of the Children 19

Palfrey and Urs Gasser’s Born Digital reflects the ‘othering’ of the child
this can produce:

You see them everywhere. The teenage girl with the iPod, sitting across from you on
the subway, frenetically typing messages into her cell phone. The whiz kid summer
intern in your office who knows what to do when your e-mail client crashes. The
eight-year-old who can beat you at any video game on the market – and types faster
than you do, too.30

The reader to whom this introduction is addressed is clearly of a differ-


ent generation to those being ambivalently observed. The reader is adult,
as well as professional, Western, metropolitan and, as the introduction
progresses, likely to have children of their own. The reader is variously
‘impressed’, ‘annoyed’ and ‘frightened’ by the activities of these ‘kids’, who
are inherently ‘different’ from the implied audience of Palfrey and Gasser’s
publication. This may be an extreme, and admittedly journalistic, example
of the ‘othering’ of child media consumers, as well as the ways in which
media consumption and use of media technologies are implicated in the
marking of boundaries between generations. Nevertheless, even in the
most solid of studies, critics can be seen making problematic universalis-
ing claims concerning the nature of children’s tastes. Jack Zipes is a pro-
lific folklore scholar, whose work on the history of the literary fairy tale
frequently illustrates the mode’s complicated relationship with child and
adult readers. All the same, a chapter exploring the history of the form’s
development as a children’s genre concludes with the claim: ‘As long as the
fairy tale continues to awaken the wonderment of the young and to pro-
ject counterworlds to our present society – where children’s yearnings and
wishes may find fulfilment – it will serve a meaningful social function’.31
Stephen Kline’s otherwise historically grounded and insightful study of
the predominantly economic interests which informed the development

30 John Palfrey and Urs Gasser, Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of
Digital Natives (New York: Basic Books, 2008), 1.
31 Jack Zipes, ‘Origins: Fairy Tales and Folk Tales’, in Janet Maybin and Nicola J.
Watson, eds, Children’s Literature: Approaches and Territories (Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2009), 38.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
8. The 1st Kansas regiment, on its march from Sedalia to
Lexington, Mo., was fired upon from ambush, and a sergeant and 2
horses killed.
8. A. W. Bradford was inaugurated as Governor of Maryland, and
made an eloquent address, expressing in the strongest terms
devotion to the Union and the Constitution.
8. Major W. M. G. Torrence of the 1st Iowa cavalry, assisted by
detachments of the 1st Missouri cavalry, Major Hubbard, 4th Ohio
and Merrill’s Horse, in all 500 mounted men, attacked a rebel camp
at Silver Creek, Howard Co., Mo., where six or eight hundred men
were stationed, under Col. Poindexter. The enemy were routed with a
loss of 12 killed, 22 wounded, and 15 prisoners, leaving their horses,
guns, and camp and garrison equipage. The material was destroyed
by Major Torrence. Federal loss 3 killed and 10 wounded.
9. A division of the Chamber of Commerce at St. Louis, Mo., was
occasioned by disloyal sentiments. A new and loyal Chamber was
formed.
10. A reconnoitering force of 5,000 men under the command of
Brig. Gen. McClernand, left Cairo, Ill., and proceeded toward
Columbus and Mayfield.
10. Waldo P. Johnson and Trusten Polk, U. S. Senators from
Missouri, were expelled from the Senate for disloyalty.
10. Skirmish at Pohick Church, Va. The 5th Michigan dispersed a
body of rebels.
10. Skirmish at Bath, Va., between a detachment of Federals under
Capt. Russell and rebels from Gen. Jackson’s division.
10. Battle near Prestonburg, Ky. Gen. Garfield, with 1,500 Federal
troops, overtook Humphrey Marshall with 3,000 rebels, compelling
him to destroy his stores and putting him to flight. Rebel loss 50
killed many wounded and 25 prisoners. Federal loss, 2 killed, 25
wounded.
11. The 1st Kansas regiment arrived at Lexington, Mo., and
arrested several prominent rebels. They also seized a large quantity
of stores designed for the use of Gen. Price.
11. Fifty rebels belonging to Col. Alexander’s regiment were
captured 6 miles from Sedalia, Mo.
12. The Burnside Expedition sailed from Fortress Monroe, under
command of Com. Goldsborough and Gen. Burnside, for Albemarle
Sound, N. C.
12. Secretary Seward telegraphed the British Consul at Portland,
Me., that British troops might pass through U. S. territory on their
way to Canada.
12. The rebels in Kentucky burned the houses, and carried off or
destroyed the property of loyal men at Horse Cave and in Cave City
and vicinity, and the people sought refuge at Munfordsville.
13. Hon. Simeon Cameron, Secretary of War, resigned his position,
and Edwin F. Stanton was appointed in his stead on the 15th inst.
13. The steamship Constitution, with the Maine 12th regiment, and
the Bay State regiment, sailed from Boston for Ship Island, Miss.,
via. Fortress Monroe.
15. Gen. McClernand’s column advanced to Mayfield, Ky., and
Gen. Grant to Fort Jefferson. 20,000 rebels reported at Columbus,
Ky., under Gen. Polk.
16. Hon. Edwin B. Stanton, the new Secretary of War, assumed the
duties of his office.
17. 150 wounded Federal prisoners arrived at Fortress Monroe
from Richmond, Va. Eight rebel officers were released from the
Fortress the same day.
17. Capture of British schooner Stephen Hart, loaded with arms,
ammunition and stores for the rebels, by the U. S. storeship Supply.
17. Ex-President John Tyler died at Richmond, Va.
17. Skirmish near Ironton, Mo. Rebels under Jeff. Thompson were
defeated by Col. Miles.
17. Two companies of the 1st Kansas cavalry, under Major
Halderman, arrested Capt. Whitney, Joe Shelby and several other
rebel officers, and also recovered a number of horses, mules, wagons,
etc., taken from Col. Mulligan’s command at Lexington, Mo.
17. The Fortification Bill passed the U. S. House of
Representatives, appropriating $5,960,000 for fort and harbor
defences.
18. Gen. Grant made a reconnoissance in force towards Columbus,
Ky.
18. Gen. Halleck levied an assessment on the wealthy secessionists
of St. Louis, Mo., to provide for the wants of loyal refugees in the city
who had been driven from their homes in the S. W. section of the
State by rebels.
18. Capts. Murdock and Webster, with their commands, returned
to Cairo from an expedition to Bloomfield, Mo. They captured Lieut.
Col. Farmer and 11 other rebel officers and 68 privates, with a
quantity of army stores.
19. Battle of Mill Spring, Ky. The rebels completely routed, with
loss of 192 killed, and 140 prisoners. Gen. Zollicoffer, their
commander, was killed. The Federal troops were under Gen.
Thomas. 1,200 horses and mules, over 100 large wagons, and 14
cannon, 2,000 muskets, etc., were captured. Federal loss 39 killed,
207 wounded.
19. The U. S. gunboat Itasca captured the rebel schooner Lizzie
Weston, off Florida, laden with 293 bales of cotton, 152,500 pounds,
for Jamaica.
23. The property of several wealthy secessionists at St. Louis was
seized under execution by Gen. Halleck, and sold to pay the
assessment to support Union refugees.
23. The second stone fleet was sunk in Maffit’s Channel,
Charleston, S. C., harbor.
24. The Federal light boat off Cape Henry, at the mouth of the
Chesapeake, went ashore and was captured by the rebels, with its
crew of 7 men.
24. Two rebel vessels laden with cotton, while attempting to pass
the blockade at the mouth of the Mississippi, ran aground, were
deserted and burned. The fire was extinguished on board the
Calhoun and that vessel captured.
26. The Burnside Expedition reached Pamlico Sound.
26. A military Commission at Palmyra, Mo., sentenced 7 bridge-
burners to be shot.
28. Federal troops occupied Lebanon, Mo.
28. Rev. Bishop Ames and Hon. Hamilton Fish, of N. Y., were
appointed by Secretary of War Stanton to visit the U. S. prisoners in
captivity at Richmond, Va., to devise means for providing for their
comfort. The Commissioners were not allowed to visit Richmond,
but they opened negotiations for the exchange of prisoners.
28. Skirmish between 50 men of the 37th N. Y. regiment under
Lieut.-Col. Burke, and a body of Texas rangers near Colchester, on
the Occoquan river, Va., in which 9 rebels were killed. Two Federals
were killed, and 2 wounded.
29. The iron-clad battery Monitor was launched at Greenpoint, N.
Y.
29. Reconnoissance on either side of the Savannah river from the
Federal fleet at Port Royal, through the Wilmington Narrows and
Wall’s Cut, by which the feasibility of cutting off Fort Pulaski from
communication with Savannah was demonstrated.
30. Gen. Beauregard took command of rebel troops in Tennessee.
30. The rebel commissioners, Mason and Slidell, arrived at
Southampton, England.
30. Rebels under Capt. John Morgan, seized six Union men at a
church near Lebanon, Ky. They set fire to the church, and attempted
to burn one of the prisoners in the flames, who effected his escape.
31. An order from the Secretary of State released all civilians who
were captured on board vessels attempting to violate the blockade.
31. Five telegraph operators were captured by the rebels near
Campbellsville, Ky.
31. Queen Victoria declared her determination to observe strict
neutrality during the American contest, and to prevent the use of
English vessels and harbors to aid the belligerents.
Feb. 1. The 2d Cavalry, 41st Indiana, had a skirmish near Bowling
Green, Ky., in which 3 rebels were killed and 2 wounded. No loss on
the Federal side.
1. The Spanish steamer Duero arrived at Liverpool, England, from
Cadiz, bringing as passengers Captains Minott, of the Vigilant; Smith
of the Arcade, and Hoxie, of the Eben Dodge—three American
vessels which had been burned by the privateer Sumter.
1. An octavo volume of 1,100 pages was published as a report by a
Committee from the U. S. House of Representatives, appointed July,
1861, to investigate frauds in Government contracts.
1. The President of the U. S. was empowered by act of Congress to
take possession of all the railway and telegraphic lines throughout
the country, whenever requisite for military purposes, till the close of
the rebellion.
1. An interesting conference was held by U. S. Commissioner Dole
with the loyal chiefs of the Seminole, Creek, Iowa, and Delaware
Indians, in which the warriors pledged themselves to conquer the
rebel Indians who had driven them from their homes.
2. A skirmish occurred in Morgan county, Penn., between a body
of rebel cavalry, under Lieut.-Col. White, and a company of Federal
infantry, under Captain Duncan, in which the Federals were
defeated, with a loss of seven men.
2. 386 rank and file and 11 officers, rebel prisoners, were sent to
Fortress Monroe, from Boston harbor, to be exchanged for an equal
number of Federal prisoners.
3. The privateersmen confined in the City Prison, N. Y., were
transferred to Fort Lafayette, and there held as political prisoners.
3. In conformity with the decision of the British Ministry, the
privateer Nashville was sent off from Southampton, England, and the
U. S. gunboat Tuscarora detained from pursuing her for the space of
24 hours.
3. A flag of truce from the rebels to Gen. McDowell, brought a
document from Jeff. Davis to President Lincoln, threatening to hang
Cols. Corcoran, Lee, and others, prisoners in their hands, in
retaliation, should the punishment of death be inflicted on the
bridge-burners who had been convicted in Missouri.
3. The Federal army under Gen. Grant were within 3 miles of Fort
Henry, on the Tennessee river.
4. Capt. Lowing, with 80 men from Cos. F and H, Third Michigan,
encountered a body of rebels near Occoquan, Va., whom they
dispersed. 4 of the rebels were shot. No loss sustained by the
Federals.
4. A scouting party under Capt. Harkness, of Col. Miles’ 81st Pa.
regiment, returned from the vicinity of Fairfax Court House, Va.,
bringing several rebel prisoners.
4. Steamship Constitution, with the Mass. Bay State, and the
Maine 12th regiments, and other troops, under Gen. Phelps, left
Fortress Monroe for Ship Island, Miss.
5. Attack on Fort Henry, Tenn. commenced by Federal gunboats
under Com. Foote.
5. Queen Victoria, of England, removed the prohibitions relating to
the export of material of war from the British dominions declared on
the 30th Nov. and 4th Dec., 1861.
6. Jesse D. Bright, of Indiana, was expelled from the U. S. Senate,
for complicity with treason.
7. A band of rebels concealed near the landing at Harper’s Ferry,
Va., having, by means of a flag of truce, decoyed a boat from the
Maryland shore, and then fired on its occupants, by order of Col.
Geary, the block of large buildings facing the landing were burned.
But seven families, 40 persons in all, then resided in the town.
7. Unconditional surrender of Fort Henry to Com. Foote, with Gen.
Tilghman and staff, one colonel, two captains, and 80 privates. Com.
Foote transferred the fort to Gen. Grant.
7. Federal troops took possession of the Memphis and Ohio
railway.
7. The rebels driven from Romney, Va., by Gen. Lander, who
occupied the town.
7. Successful skirmish with rebel cavalry near Fairfax Court House,
Va., by Col. Friedman, with the Cameron Dragoons; 1 rebel killed,
and 12 captured, with 12 horses, &c. 2 Federals wounded.
8. Portions of Gen. Butler’s expedition sailed from Boston and
from Fortress Monroe, for Ship Island, Miss.
8. Capture of rebel forts and garrisons on Roanoke Island, N. C.,
by the Federal forces under Com. Goldsborough and Gen. Burnside.
2,500 prisoners, 6 forts, 40 guns, 3,000 small arms. Federal loss, 50
killed, 150 wounded.
8. Capt. Smith, of the 5th Virginia (loyal) with 21 men, surprised
32 of Jenkins’ cavalry on Linn Creek, Logan County, Va., killing 8,
wounding 7, and capturing the remainder, with 32 horses. One
Federal was killed and 1 wounded.
9. Skirmish of a body of Federal cavalry with rebels near Fort
Henry, Tenn. 5 rebels killed, and 30 taken prisoners.
9. Edenton, N. C., occupied by Federal troops.
10. Destruction of rebel gunboats in the Pasquotank river, N. C.,
also of the rebel battery at Cobb’s Point, and the occupation of
Elizabeth City by Federal forces from 14 gunboats, commanded by
Capt. Rowan.
10. Gen. Charles P. Stone, U. S. A., was arrested by Gov’t. order,
and imprisoned in Fort Lafayette.
10. Arrest of several male and female secessionists in Washington.
Also, of Dr. Ives, N. Y. Herald correspondent.
10. Capt. Phelps, of Com. Foote’s squadron, commanding the
gunboats Conestoga, Taylor, and Lexington, captured a new rebel
gunboat, and destroyed all the rebel craft between Fort Henry and
Florence, Ala.
11. Bursting of the “Sawyer” gun at Newport News, Va., by which 2
Federal soldiers were killed and 2 wounded.
12. An expedition under the command of Col. Reggin returned to
Fort Henry, Tenn., from up the Tennessee river, having captured
$75,000 worth of contraband goods at Paris, Tenn., and also the
tents and camp equipage of the rebel troops that retreated from Fort
Henry.
13. Evacuation of Springfield, Mo., by the rebel army under Gen.
Price. Occupation of the town by Federal troops of Gen. Curtis’ army.
600 of the rebel sick, and many forage wagons were left behind.
14. The rebel camp at Blooming Gap, Va., was surprised by forces
under Gen. Lander. 65 prisoners were taken, including 17 officers,
and 13 killed and 20 wounded. Federal loss, 7 in killed and wounded.
14. Fort Donelson was invested and attacked by the Federal army
under Gen. Grant.
14. E. M. Stanton, Sec. of War, issued an order releasing all
political prisoners upon their taking an oath of allegiance.
14. A skirmish took place near Flat Lick Ford, on the Cumberland
river, Ky., between two companies of cavalry, under Col. Munday,
two companies of the 49th Indiana, and some rebel pickets, in which
the latter lost 4 killed, 4 wounded, and 3 taken prisoners. There was
no Federal loss.
14. Com. Foote, with 6 gunboats, attacked Fort Donelson, but was
repulsed, the Commodore being severely wounded. Federal loss 60
in killed and wounded.
14. The rear guard of Gen. Price’s army in S. W. Missouri was
attacked by Gen. Curtis’ command, and many prisoners taken.
14. Bowling Green, Ky., was evacuated by rebel troops, who
destroyed most of the available property in the town that could not
be removed.
14. Three rebel schooners and one sloop, laden with rice, were
destroyed by the crews of armed boats from the U. S. bark Restless,
Lieut. E. Conroy, in Bull’s Bay, S.C.
15. The national batteries at Venus Point, on the Savannah river,
were attacked by 4 rebel gunboats, which were repulsed, one of them
being severely injured.
15. The railway bridge crossing the Tennessee river at Decatur,
Ala., was destroyed by Union men.
15. Gen. Burnside administered the oath of allegiance to the
inhabitants of Roanoke Island.
15. The iron-clad steam gunboat Galena was launched at Mystic,
Conn.
16. Gen. Price was driven from Missouri by Gen. Curtis, who
followed him into Arkansas, capturing many prisoners.
16. Gen. Mitchell’s troops occupied Bowling Green, Ky.
16. Fort Donelson surrendered to the Federal army, under Gen.
Grant, after three days’ desperate resistance. 15,000 prisoners were
captured, including Brig.-Gen. Buckner, and an immense quantity of
war material. Gens. Floyd and Pillow escaped, with a portion of the
garrison.
16. Destruction of the “Tennessee Iron works,” owned by John Bell
and Messrs. Lewis & Wood, on the Cumberland river, six miles above
Dover, by order of Com. Foote.
17. The First Missouri cavalry fell into an ambush of rebels at
Sugar Creek, Ark., by which 13 of their number were killed and
wounded.
18. Gov. Rector of Arkansas, by proclamation, called every man
subject to military duty into service within 20 days.
18. First session of the Congress of the “permanent” Government
of the Confederate States opened at Richmond, Va.
18. The wire and suspension bridges over the Cumberland river at
Nashville, Tenn., were destroyed by Gen. Floyd, despite the
remonstrances of the citizens.
18. A skirmish at Independence, Mo., between a detachment of
Ohio cavalry and a band of rebels under Quantrel and Parker. 3
rebels killed, several wounded and taken prisoners. 1 Federal killed,
3 wounded.
19. 1,000 additional rebel prisoners were taken at Fort Donelson,
they having come down the river to reinforce Gen. Buckner.
19. Evacuation of Clarksville, Tenn., by the rebels. The Federal
forces, under Com. Foote, took possession of the town, and captured
a large quantity of army stores.
19. Bentonville, Ark., was captured by Gen. Curtis, after a short
engagement with the rebels, in which more prisoners and supplies
were taken.
20. The rebel steamer Magnolia, with 1,050 bales of cotton, was
captured in the Gulf of Mexico, by the U. S. steamers Brooklyn and
South Carolina. An attempt to fire the vessel was frustrated by the
Federal seamen.
20. The town of Winton, N. C., was partially burned by the
national forces.
20. The track of the Memphis and Ohio railway was torn up, and
the bridges burned in many places, by order of rebel Gen. Polk.
21. Battle of Valvende, N. M. 1,500 Federals, under Col. Canby,
were defeated by an equal force of rebels, under Col. Steele. Federal
loss, 55 killed, 140 wounded. Rebel loss, about the same.
22. Inauguration of Jefferson Davis, of Miss., as President of the
“Confederate States,” at Richmond, Va., and Alex. H. Stevens, of Ga.,
as Vice President, they having received the unanimous vote of 109
delegates representing 11 States, viz.: Ala., Ark., Fla., Ga., La., Miss.,
N. C., S. C., Tenn., Texas, Va., for the permanent organization of the
Confederate States.
22. The U. S. sloop-of-war Adironac was launched at Brooklyn, N.
Y.
23. 347 released Federal prisoners arrived at Fortress Monroe,
among them Cols. Lee, Wood and Coggswell.
23. Lieut. Guin, of Com. Foote’s command, made a reconnoissance
up the Tenn. river as high as Eastport, Miss., being well received by
the inhabitants. At Clifton, Tenn., he took possession of 1500 sacks
and barrels of flour and 6,000 bush. of wheat.
23. Gallatin, Tenn., occupied by Gen. Buell’s forces.
23. A skirmish at Mason’s Neck, near Occoquan, Va., between
Texas rangers, and part of the N. Y. 37th, in which 2 of the latter
were killed and 1 wounded.
24. Harpers’ Ferry, Va., occupied by the 28th Pa. regiment.
25. Nashville, Tenn., was occupied by Federal forces of Gen. Buell’s
command.
25. The 9th Ohio and 2d Minnesota regiments received handsome
flags from ladies of Louisville, Ky., in compliment of their valor at
Mill Spring, Jan. 19.
25. The remainder of Gen. Bank’s division crossed the Potomac
and occupied Bolivar and Charlestown, Va.
25. All the telegraphic lines that could be used by government were
taken under military control, and the transmission of reports of
military operations forbidden, without permission of the military
censor.
26. Cotton and tobacco planters of Va., at a meeting held at
Richmond, refused to consent to the destruction of their crops.
26. The command of Capt. Montgomery, was surprised by a large
force of rebels at Keittsville, Barry Co., Mo. 2 Federals were killed, 1
wounded, and 40 of their horses captured.
26. The U. S. gunboat R. B. Forbes ran ashore near Nag’s Head, N.
C., was set on fire and destroyed.
27. Fayetteville, Ark., was occupied by Gen. Curtis, who captured a
number of prisoners, stores, &c. The rebels retreated across the
Boston Mountains.
27. 42 Federal soldiers were poisoned at Mud Town, Ark., by
eating food which had been left for them by rebels.
27. Col. Wood’s cavalry drove rebels out of Dent, Texas and Howell
Cos., Mo., capturing 60 prisoners.
27. U. S. iron-clad battery Monitor, Lieut. Worden, sailed from N.
York for Fortress Monroe.
28. The British ship Labuan, with a valuable cargo, arrived at N.
York, captured by the U. S. sloop-of-war Portsmouth off Rio Grande
river.
28. The rebel steamer Nashville ran the blockade of Beaufort, N.
C., and reached the town.
28. Capt. Nolen with 64 of the 7th Ill. cavalry attacked 90 of Jeff.
Thompson’s cavalry and a battery, west of Charlestown, Mo., and
captured 4 guns, losing 1 man.
March 1. The U. S. gunboats Tyler, Lieut. Gwin, commanding,
and Lexington, Lieut. Shirk, on an expedition up the Tenn. river,
engaged and silenced a rebel battery at Pittsburg, Tenn., 7 miles
above Savannah.
1. Evacuation of Columbus Ky., by rebel troops, leaving their heavy
guns, and a large quantity of war material. 400 of the 2d Illinois
cavalry occupied the town next day, and troops from Com. Foote’s
flotilla the day after.
1. U. S. steamer Mount Vernon, captured the schooner British
Queen, at the blockade of Wilmington, N. C.
1. John Minor Botts, Valentine Hecker, Franklin Stearns, and
others were arrested at Richmond Va., on a charge of “treason.”
2. Death of Brig.-Gen. Lander, at Camp Chase, on the Upper
Potomac, from a wound received at Edwards’ Ferry Va., Oct. 22,
1861.
3. Brig.-Gens. S. B. Buckner and Lloyd Tilghman, rebel prisoners,
arrived at Fort Warren, Boston, Mass.
3. U.S. Senate confirmed Gens. McDowell, Buell Burnside,
McClernand, C. F. Smith, Lew. Wallace and Sigel as Maj.-Gens.; and
Cols. Speed, of Tenn., Logan of Ill., McArthur of Iowa, Lauman of
Iowa, Wallace of Ind., McCook of Ohio, Berry of Maine, and Terry of
Conn., as Brigadiers.
4. Occupation of Fort Clinch and Fernandina, Fla., and St. Mary’s
and Brunswick, Ga., by Federal forces under Com. Dupont and Gen.
Wright.
4. A squadron of 1st Michigan cavalry surprised and defeated a
party of rebel cavalry at Berryville, Va., killing 3 and capturing 9
horses without loss.
4. Two bridges on the Nashville and Decatur railway, Tenn.,
destroyed by rebels.
5. Bunker Hill, Va., was occupied by rebel forces.
6. Two rebel officers were captured at Vienna, Va., by a
detachment of Col. Averill’s cavalry.
6 A rebel picket of 5 was captured by Van Alen’s cavalry near
Bunker Hill, Va.
7. Capt. Cole’s Maryland cavalry encountered a few of Ashby’s
rebel cavalry, near Winchester, Va., 6 rebels were killed and 5
wounded. Capt. Cole had 3 men wounded.
6, 7, 8. Battle of Pea Ridge, Ark. The combined rebel forces under
Gens. Van Dorn, Price, McCulloch and Pike, were defeated by the
Federal army under Gens. Curtis, Sigel, Asboth and Davis. Federal
loss in killed, wounded and missing, 1351. The rebel loss about 2000.
Gens. McCulloch, McIntosh and Slack, were killed.
8. Destruction of the U. S. sloop-of-war Cumberland, and the
frigate Congress, in action with the rebel iron battery Merrimac, in
Hampton Roads, Va. 100 men were killed or drowned on the
Cumberland.
8. By order of the President, Maj.-Gen. McClellan was directed to
organize and command the army of the Potomac, divided into 5 army
corps, under Maj. Gens. McDowell, Brig.-Gens. E. V. Sumner, S. P.
Heintzelman, E. L. Keyes and N. P. Banks.
8. Col. Geary entered Leesburg, Va., capturing many prisoners,
stores, &c.
8. Manassas, Va., was evacuated by the rebels.
9. Combat of the U. S. iron battery Monitor, and the rebel iron
battery Merrimac, in Hampton Roads, Va. After a desperate combat
of 3 hours, the Merrimac was compelled to retire, having received
severe injuries.
9. The rebel battery at Cockpit Point, on the Potomac captured by
Federal troops.
9. Brilliant charge of 14 of the Lincoln cavalry at Burk’s station,
near Fairfax Court House, Va., against 100 infantry, 3 of whom were
killed, 5 wounded and 11 captured. Lieut. Hidden was killed.
10. Lieut. O. Houston and 8 men of 2d Ohio battery was captured
in S. W. Mo. by Texas rangers.
10. Centreville, Va., was occupied by national forces, the bridges,
railway track, depot, &c. having been destroyed by rebels.
11. Gen. Pope’s troops occupied Point Pleasant, Mo., 8 miles below
New Madrid.
11. Berryville, Va., was occupied by Gen. Gorman, of Gen. Bank’s
division.
11. The country intervening between the Department of the
Potomac and that of the Mississippi, was organized as the “Mountain
Department,” and assigned to Gen. Fremont.
11. The “Department of the Miss.,” was organized and assigned to
Gen. Halleck, which included his previous department, and that of
Gen. Hunter’s in Kansas; also all of Gen. Buell’s west of Knoxville,
Tenn.
11. Occupation of St. Augustine, Fla., by Federal naval forces under
Com. Rogers.
12. Winchester, Va., was occupied by national troops, who
captured rebel stores.
12. Curtis’s Iowa cavalry and a battalion of the 1st Nebraska,
defeated 600 rebels and occupied Paris, Ky.
12. Occupation of Jacksonville, Fla., by Federal forces from the U.
S. gunboats Ottawa, Seneca, and Pembina, under command of Lieut.
T. F. Stevens.
13. Brunswick, Ga., was occupied by Federal forces under Flag-
officer Dupont.
14. The rebels driven from New Madrid, Mo., which was occupied
by Gens. Pope and Hamilton’s forces, who captured military stores
valued at $100,000. Federal loss during the siege 51 killed and
wounded.
14. Battle of Newbern, N. C. Gen. Burnside’s forces attacked and
carried a continuous line of redoubts of half a mile in extent, after 4
hours’ engagement. The rebels in their retreat set fire to the town,
which was extinguished by the Federals with slight damage. 200
prisoners and 6 forts were taken, mounting 40 heavy guns. Federal
loss, 39 killed, 150 wounded. Rebel loss, 50 killed, 200 wounded.
14. A detachment of Ohio and Indiana troops, under Col. Carter
and Lieut. Col. Keigwin, from their camp at Cumberland Ford, Ky.,
attacked 300 rebels on the Cumberland Mountains, and defeated
them, killing 3, wounding 6, and capturing 3 officers and 15 privates,
59 horses, 100 guns, 100 sabres and other material.
15. The Federal gunboats and mortars, under Com. Foote, began
the investment and assault of Island No. 10, on the Miss.
16. Two rebel captains and 17 privates were captured on Indian
Creek, Arkansas.
17. Federal forces in Va., under Gen. Shields, advanced from
Winchester and drove the enemy toward Strasburg.
18. The rebel fleet on the Mississippi at Island No. 10, attacked
Com. Foote’s flotilla, but retired after slight loss on either side, the
rebels crippling two of the Federal gunboats with their rams.
20. 67 citizens of Loudon co., Va., were sent to Richmond on the
Central cars, and committed to one of the military prisons.
21. Santa Fé, N. M., was seized by 100 rebel Texans, under Major
C. L. Pyron.
21. Washington, N. C., occupied by Federal troops under Col.
Stevenson.
22. Rebel forces, under Gens. Jackson, Smith and Longstreet,
advanced upon Winchester, Va., where Gen. Shields’ forces engaged
them successfully until night.
22. A skirmish occurred between a detachment of the 6th Kansas
and Quantrall’s band, near Independence, Mo. The latter was routed
with 7 killed. The Federals lost 1 killed, and captured 11 prisoners
and 20 horses.
22. Lieut. T. A. Budd and Acting Master Mather, attached to Flag-
officer Dupont’s squadron, having imprudently ventured on shore,
with a portion of their men, to examine a rebel earthwork, near
Mosquito Inlet, Fla., were fired upon by a party of rebels in ambush.
Both officers and 5 men were killed, and several wounded.
23. Morehead City, N. C., was occupied by Federal troops under
Gen. Parke.
23. Battle of Winchester, Va. The fight of yesterday was renewed,
and after a desperate engagement, the rebels were driven from the
ground in disorder, with a loss of 600 killed and wounded, and 300
prisoners. Federal loss, 100 killed, 400 wounded.
25. Maj. Pyron’s Texans were defeated at Apache Cañon, between
Santa Fé and Fort Union, by Federal troops under Maj. Chivington.
26. A band of rebels attacked 4 companies of State militia at
Humansville, Polk co., Mo., and were defeated by them with a loss of
15 killed and many wounded.
27. Big Bethel, Va., was occupied by the Federal forces.
28. The Federal gunboats and mortars, under Coms. Farragut and
Porter, attacked Forts Jackson and St. Philip, La.
28. Gen. Beauregard concentrated a large force at Corinth, Miss.
28. Morgan’s rebel cavalry captured a train on the Louisville and
Nashville railway. The locomotive was run into a ditch and the cars
destroyed. Col. Currin Pope, of Ky., and several other Federal officers
were taken prisoners.
28. 1,200 U. S. troops, under Col. Slough, engaged the united rebel
forces of Col. Scurry and Maj. Pyron at Valle’s Ranch, N. M., from 10
A. M. to 5 P. M., when an armistice was agreed on. A flank movement
the next day by Maj. Chivington, with 400 men, threw the rebels into
confusion, and after burning their train, they sought safety in flight.
Rebel loss, 80 killed, 100 wounded, 93 prisoners. Federal loss, 38
killed, 54 wounded, 17 prisoners. The Texans retired to Santa Fé and
the Federals to Fort Union.
29. A detachment of the 1st Iowa cavalry, under Capt. Thompson,
overtook the guerrilla band of Col. Parker, 10 miles west of
Warrensburg, Mo. 15 rebels were killed and 25 taken prisoners,
among the latter Col. Parker and Captain Walton. 2 Federals were
killed and several wounded.
30. Maj.-Gen. Hunter arrived at Hilton Head, S. C., and assumed
command of the Department of the South, comprising South
Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
31. 220 rebels, captured at Winchester, Va., arrived at Fort
Delaware, Del. Bay.
Apr. 1. During a storm at night, Col. Roberts with 50 picked men
of the 42d Illinois, and as many seamen under First Master Johnson,
of the gunboat St. Louis, surprised the rebels at the upper battery of
Island No. 10, and spiked 6 large guns.
1. Col. Carline, commanding the advance of Gen. Steele’s brigade
in Arkansas, had a skirmish at Putnam’s Ferry, in which a rebel
lieutenant and several privates were wounded, and 5 prisoners taken.
4. All of Maryland and Virginia lying between the Mountain
Department and the Blue Ridge, was constituted the military
Department of the Shenandoah, and assigned to Maj.-Gen. Banks;
and that portion of Virginia east of the Blue Ridge and west of the
Potomac constituted the Department of the Rappahannock, and was
assigned to Maj.-Gen. McDowell.
1. Gen. Banks advanced from Strasburg, Va., to Woodstock, and
thence to Edenburg, driving the enemy with slight skirmishing. The
railway bridge at Edenburg was burnt by rebels under Gen. Jackson.
1. Heavy bombardment at Island No. 10.
2. Manassas Gap, Va., was occupied by Col. Geary’s troops by
strategy, frustrating a similar attempt by the rebels.
3. U. S. Senate passed a bill for the abolition of slavery in the
District of Columbia, by a vote of 29 yeas, 14 nays.
3. Gen. Steele’s forces in the advance of Gen. Curtis’ army, reached
Putnam, Ark.
4. A schooner containing 24 recruits en route for the rebel army,
was captured on Black creek, near the Potomac river, Va.
4. The Federal gunboat Carondelet ran past the rebel batteries at
Island No. 10, at night, without damage, and arrived at New Madrid.
5. Gen. McClellan’s army advanced through a severe storm from
Camp Misery, and after a tedious march arrived in front of the rebel
works, and commenced the siege of Yorktown, Va. Heavy firing
throughout the day resulted in a loss to the Federals of 3 killed, 22
wounded.
5. Federal transports and barges arrived at New Madrid, Mo.,
through the inland channel, cut by Col. Bissel’s engineer corps, thus
avoiding the rebel batteries at No. 10.
6–7. Battle of Pittsburg Landing, Tenn. The combined rebel army,
under Gens. Johnston and Beauregard, attacked Gen. Grant’s army
on the morning of the 6th. Federal loss, 1,614 killed, 7,721 wounded,
3,963 missing—total, 13,508; rebel loss, (Beauregard’s report,) 1,728
killed, 8,012 wounded, 959 missing—total, 10,699.
7. Gen. Pope, with the assistance of the gunboats Pittsburg and
Carondelet, landed his forces on the Tennessee shore, opposite New
Madrid, and took position in rear of Island No. 10, at Tiptonville.
7. Island No. 10 on the Mississippi, and the adjacent works on the
Tenn. shore, were abandoned by the rebels and taken possession of
by Col. Buford’s brigade.
7. Apalachicola, Fla., was captured by the Federal gunboats
Mercedita and Sagamore.
8. Surrender of the rebel army of 5,200 men and all their stores,
under Gens. Mackall and Gantt, to the Federal forces under Gen.
Paine, of Gen. Pope’s division, at Tiptonville, Tenn.
8. Gen. W. T. Sherman was dispatched by Gen. Grant with a large
reconnoitering force on the Corinth, Miss., road. A portion of his
force was routed by a charge of rebel cavalry, and 15 killed and 25
wounded of the 77th Ohio regiment.
10. Huntsville, Ala., was occupied by Gen. Mitchel’s forces. 200
prisoners, 15 locomotives, and many cars captured.
10. Batteries on Tybee Island commenced the attack of Fort
Pulaski, Ga.
10. President Lincoln, by proclamation, recommended the people
throughout the United States on the Sabbath succeeding the receipt
of his Proclamation to return thanks to Almighty God for having
vouchsafed signal victories over rebellious enemies, and also for
having averted the dangers of foreign interference and invasion.
11. Surrender of Fort Pulaski, Ga., after a bombardment of two
days. Federal loss, 1 killed, 1 wounded; rebels, 3 wounded 360
prisoners, 47 guns, 40,000 lbs. powder.
11. The rebel steamers Merrimac, Jamestown and Yorktown, came
down between Newport News and Sewall’s Point, on the Chesapeake,
and captured 3 vessels.
11. Severe skirmishing in front of Yorktown, Va., by General
Jameson’s brigade. 20 of the Federals were killed or wounded.
11. Gen. Halleck assumed command of the Federal army at
Pittsburg, Tenn.
12. Gen. Milroy, at Monterey, Va., was attacked by a large force of
rebels, whom he repulsed with slight loss.
12. The Charleston and Memphis railway at Chattanooga Junction
was seized by Gen. Mitchel’s forces, and 2,000 rebels and much
property were captured.
12. 4,000 men on five transports, accompanied by the gunboats
Lexington and Tyler, left Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., and proceeded up
the Tennessee river to Eastport, Miss., where they landed, and
destroyed two bridges on the Ohio and Mobile railway, intercepting
the rebel communication with Alabama. A body of Confederate
cavalry were met on their return, who were routed, and four killed.
14. The U. S. forces were withdrawn from Jacksonville, Fla., and
the rebels soon after returning the loyal inhabitants suffered
severely, and many were driven away.
14. The Potomac flotilla ascended the Rappahannock river, Va.,
destroying several batteries. Three vessels were captured.
14. Com. Foote’s mortar boats opened fire on Fort Wright, on the
Mississippi.
15. M. Mercier, French Minister at Washington, paid an official
visit to the rebel authorities at Richmond.
15. Ex-Sec. of War Cameron was arrested at Philadelphia, Pa., on
the suit of Pierce Butler, for alleged illegal arrest.
16. Engagement at Lee’s Mill, near Yorktown, Va. Federal loss, 32
killed and 100 wounded. Rebels, 25 killed, and 75 w.
17. Mount Jackson, in Shenandoah Co., Va., was occupied by Gen.
Williams’ troops, who captured 50 of Ashby’s rebel cavalry.
17. A large boat was swamped at Castleman’s Ferry, on the
Shenandoah river, Va., by which between 40 and 50 of the 75th
Penn. were drowned, among them Adj. Teatman, Capts. Wilson and
Ward.
17. New Market, Va., occupied by Bank’s army, and Fredericksburg
by McDowell’s.
17. Bombardment of Fort Wright, on the Mississippi, by the
national flotilla.
17–24. Bombardment of Fort Jackson and St. Philip, on the
Mississippi.
20. Battle of Camden or South Mills, N. C. Gen. Reno’s forces
drove the rebels from their batteries and entrenchments. Federal loss
in killed and wounded, 90.
22. Rebel steamer J. Robb was captured on the Tenn. river by
gunboat Tyler.
24. Yorktown, Va., was shelled by the Federal gunboats.
24. Federal fleet passed Forts Jackson and St. Philip, destroying 13
rebel gunboats, the ram Manassas, and 3 transports.
25. New Orleans captured. Rebel batteries on both sides of the
river destroyed.
25. Maj.-Gen. C. F. Smith died at Savannah, Tenn.
26. Rebel schooner Arctic was captured by U. S. steamer
Flambeau.
26. Rebel schooner Belle was captured by U. S. steamer Uncas.
26. Skirmish at Neosho, Mo., between 1st Missouri volunteers,
under Major Hubbard, and rebels and Indians under Cols. Coffee
and Sternwright. Rebels defeated.
26. An advance lunette of the rebels at Yorktown was carried by
the 1st Mass.
26. Capture of Fort Macon, N. C., with its garrison of 450 men
under Col. White, after a bombardment of 11 hours. Rebel loss, 7
killed, 18 wounded. Federal loss, 1 killed, 3 wounded.
28. Forts St. Philip and Jackson, La., surrendered; Forts
Livingston and Pike abandoned, and the rebel iron battery Louisiana
blown up.
30. Skirmish of Gen. Mitchel’s forces with the rebels near
Bridgeport, Ala.
May 2. The U. S. steamer Brooklyn and several gunboats, left New
Orleans, ascending the Mississippi, to open the river and connect
with Commodore Davis’ fleet.
3. A reconnoissance in force under Gen. Paine from Pope’s division
encountered rebel cavalry pickets near Farmington, Miss., in which 8
of the latter were killed.
4. Gen. Stoneman’s advance of McClellan’s army encountered a
rebel force near Williamsburg, Va., seven of whom were killed and 25
captured. 2 Feds. killed, 20 w.
5. Battle of Williamsburg, Va. Gen. Kearney’s and Hooker’s
divisions engaged the rebel army under Gen. Longstreet from dawn
till dark, when the Federals were reinforced and rebels defeated. Fed.
loss 2,073 in killed and wounded, and 623 prisoners. Reb. loss
heavier, 500 prisoners.
6. Skirmish near Harrisonburg, Va., by Federal troops under
Major Vought.
7. Westpoint, Va. Gen. Franklin’s division of McClellan’s army
having been conveyed by transports to the head of York river,
effected a landing, where he was attacked by a force of rebels, and
with the aid of gunboats defeated the enemy.

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