Shon Powers' Civil War Blog

January 1

1861: As the year 1861 begins, tension and excitement is gripping the nation. South Carolina is the only state so far that has seceded. Other states are now considering their own Articles of Secession. The Administration of US President James Buchanan has adopted a "wait and see" attitude to the situation. It is felt in Washington DC that even though they believe that secession is illegal, the government does not have the power to prevent it. The US Constitution spelled out the procedures for making new states, but was silent on what to do if a state wanted to leave the Union. In South Carolina, newly formed militia units drill under the Palmetto flag while glowering at the US flag that still flies over Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC. On Christmas Day, 1860, the US Army garrison had relocated to the fort to avoid a confrontation with the locals. This only angered the citizens of the city. The garrison has provisions for several months, but they are beginning to feel that they are pawns in a game in which the rules have yet to be written. The question this morning is this; will the United States of America remain a loose collection of states where some find it legal to keep 4,000,000 African-Americans in bondage, or a new nation in which the promises of the Founding Fathers will finally become a reality?

1862: Federal artillery on Ft Pickens used to shell Pensacola. FL.
Union and Confederate troops exchange fire at Port Royal, SC.

1863: US President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation. This action will put the Union on the moral high ground and kill any chance of foreign diplomatic recognition for the CSA.
Union General Burnside takes responsibility for the defeat at Fredericksburg, VA and offers to resign, but that is refused.
Union General William Sherman withdraws his troops from Chickasaw Bluffs, north of Vicksburg, MS.
Battle of Murfreesboro, TN, Day Two. Not much fighting takes place but Union general Rosecrans and Confederate General Bragg maneuver their troops for another fight the next day.
Confederate forces under General Magruder capture Galveston, TX and drive off the Union blockade.

1864: New Years Day in Charleston, SC is marked by another shelling of Ft Sumter.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, writes about a fine New Years meal of mule meat and boiled rice, barely edible.


1865: Union General Benjamin Butler’s attempt to cut a canal to the James River, to bypass Confederate batteries, fails. The explosion that was supposed to open the channel instead fills in the ditch.

January 2

1861: South Carolina troops seized Ft Johnson in Charleston Harbor.

1862: Confederate diplomats A.P. Mason and John Slidell are released and resume their mission to Great Britain to seek recognition of the Confederacy.

1863: Battle of Stones River, TN. Day three. Confederate General Bragg resumes his attack by launching a massive artillery bombardment on the Union lines. A Union counterattack threatens to outflank the Confederate lines. That attack is halted but another Union assault causes the confederates to pull back from the line in general. Battle that started on December 31, 1862 ends with a Union victory.

1864: CS Senate confirms George Davis as Attorney-General.
Union General Banks continues to advance in Texas towards Galveston.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, writes about inventorying boxes of goods sent from the North, and taking advantage of the situation to improve their diet.

1865: Skirmishing at Franklin and Lexington, MS.

January 3

1861: Georgia troops seized Ft Pulaski.
Delaware votes to reject secession

1862: CS President Davis considering how dangerous the Union occupation of Ship Island, MS is. New Orleans, LA is 65 miles away and Mobile, AL is 50 miles away.
Stonewall Brigade heads to Romney, VA to cut the Baltimore and Ohio railroad.

1863: Confederate General Braxton Bragg pulls his army from Murfreesboro, TN. Federal troops can not pursue due to the muddy conditions.

1864: It is noted that the Confederate economy is collapsing, with prices 28 times their 1861 levels and wages falling by 400%.
Jonesville, VA occupied by Union cavalry.

1865: Union General Sherman begins preparations for renewing the offensive, now turning his attention to South Carolina, the “cradle of the Rebellion.”
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that coffee is selling for $45 a pound and sugar for $10 a pound.

January 4

1861: Alabama troops seized the arsenal at Mouth Vernon.

1862: Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson captures the town of Bath, VA with other action at Great Cacapon Bridge, VA and Hancock, MD.

1863: Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, serving as a nurse in a Washington DC hospital.
Confederate General Roger Hanson, commander of the Kentucky Orphan Brigade, dies of wounds suffered at Stones River.
Union General McClernand begins an expedition against Ft Hindman (Arkansas Post), AR. This is against the wishes of General Grant, who needed the troops for the Vicksburg, MS campaign.
USS Quaker City captures a blockade runner off Charleston, SC.

1864: Confederate General Lee receives authority to take food stocks in order to feed his army. This measure maybe too little too late due to the fact that Virginia farms can barely support the civilian population, let alone a starving army.
Union General Halleck orders General Banks and General Steele to renew an offensive up the Red River, LA in the spring. Problem is that the two forces are 500 miles apart and Banks is bust in Texas.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, helps pass put new clothes to Union prisoners at Libby prison, Richmond, VA.


1865: Grant assigns Union General Alfred Terry to make an assault on Ft Fisher, NC in order to take Wilmington, NC, the last open Confederate port.

January 5

1861: The merchant ship Star of the West leaves New York to resupply Ft Sumter’s small garrison of Federal troops. Senators of several Southern states meet in Washington to discuss secession.

1862: The town of Hancock, MD refuses to surrender, Jackson orders the town shelled.

1863: Confederate General Bragg’s withdrawal has the effect of leaving Central and Western Tennessee under Federal control.

1864: 1000 African-Americans send a petition to Washington demanding the right to vote.
US President Lincoln asks Congress to continue bounty payments to attract new volunteers for the Union army.
Jonesville, VA recaptured by Confederate troops.
With Tennessee and Kentucky fully in Union hands, another source of food is denied to the Confederacy.

1865: Peace feelers are now being extended to the South as the Confederacy must be reading the handwriting on the wall. US President Lincoln issues a pass to James Singleton to go south and sound out the Confederate leadership about a negotiated settlement. Lincoln’s terms, all states back into the Union and slavery abolished.

January 6

1861: New York City mayor Fernando Wood urged ties be kept with South Carolina and any other state that secedes. Suggests that NYC should be independent.

1862: Union reinforcements reach Hancock, MD and Jackson is forced to pull back.
US President Lincoln resists demands that Union General McClellan be replaced. Lincoln is also urging General Buell to move into Tennessee.

1863: Union General McClernand’s expedition to Ft Hindman, AR continues. The force is made up of two corps, his and General Sherman’s.

1864: Union steamer Delta attacked on the Mississippi by Confederate guerillas.

1865: Union General Grant asked US President Lincoln to remove Union General Butler as commander of the Army of the James. This is a sign that the “political generals” time has indeed ended and that professionals will win the war.
CS President Davis and Vice-President Stephens have a falling out over the way the war has gone. Stephens has lived in his house in Georgia for most of the war and is Davis’ harshest critic.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that a barrel of flour now sells for $500 a barrel and cornmeal for $75 a bushel.



January 7

1861:

1862: Confederate General Jackson withdraws into Virginia after a skirmish at Hanging Rock Pass, MD.
Union General Grant receives information about Forts Henry and Donaldson, TN.
Federal gunboats Essex, Lexington, and Tyler head down the Mississippi River toward Columbus, KY.
Skirmishing at Blue Gap, VA.

1863: Three blockade runners break through the Federal cordon and reach Charleston Harbor.
CS Secretary of the Navy Mallory sent a dispatch to Commander Bullock in the UK urging the buying of new ironclad vessels as quickly as possible. Funding the vessels has now become an issue.
Confederate troops under General Marmaduke approach Springfield, MO.

1864: US President Lincoln commutes the death sentence of a Union deserter, not wanting to add to “the butchering business.”
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that beef is selling for $1.25 per pound. Also writes about meeting an Englishman staying in a Richmond, VA hotel who says he lives greatly on three British Shillings a day, equal to $20 Confederate.

1865: Article in New York World laments the availability of weapons in NYC as an effect of the war. Lincoln removes Butler from command.
Union General Butler is formally removed from command on not only the Army of the James but also of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina. Those commands now in the hands of General Ord.
In Denmark, an ironclad warship that was built in France and sold to the Danes was bought back by France when the Danish Navy could not make payments. The French would then off load the vessel on the Confederacy. This is the future CSS Stonewall.

January 8

1861: US Secretary of the Interior Jacob Thompson of Mississippi resigns.
US President James Buchanan calls for compromise in order to preserve the Union.

1862: Skirmish at Dry Forks, Western Virginia.
Skirmishing at Charleston, Silver Creek, and Roan’s Tin Yard, MO.

1863: Union General John McClernand makes an unauthorized maneuver toward the Confederate outpost at Arkansas Post.
Confederate attack on Springfield, MO is repulsed by a scratch Union defense force.
John Usher named new US Secretary of the Interior.
Fifteen women of secessionist views living north of New Orleans, LA write Confederate Generals Pemberton and Joe Johnston, demanding their aid in pushing Union troops out of Louisiana and Mississippi.

1864: Confederate General Morgan reaches Richmond, VA to a hero’s welcome.
Pro-Unionists meet in New Orleans, LA to discuss Louisiana’s reentry into the Union.
Confederate spy David Dodd hanged at Little Rock, AR.
Federals bombard Caney Bayou, TX.

1865: Union General Terry’s forces are met by Admiral Porter’s fleet off Beaufort, NC. The two commanders meet to discuss the assault on Ft Fisher and Wilmington, NC.

January 9

1861: Mississippi votes to secede.
A civilian ship, Star of the West, is fired upon while trying to deliver supplies to the Ft Sumter garrison. The ship departs without reaching the fort.

1862: Union General Grant begins operation against Columbus, KY.
Skirmish at Columbus, MO.

1863: McClernand’s forces, back by US Navy river boats, reach Ft Hindman, AR.
Skirmish at Ripley, TN.

1864: At this point, Confederate General Kirby Smith’s army is totally cut off from any help as Southern Arkansas is surrounded by Union held territory.
Calls go out for volunteers to become officers in Colored Regiments as there is a dearth of volunteers. A New England group offers free military schooling to volunteers. Many white Union officers were themselves racially prejudiced and were fearful of what would happen to them if they were captured.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that beef is now selling for $2.50 a pound and therefore he could not buy any, instead buying some rice, getting 25 pounds for .40.

1865: Democratic Party opposition to the proposed Constitutional amendment abolishing slavery begins to crumble.
Tennessee votes to abolish slavery.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that flour is now selling for $700 a barrel, cornmeal for $80 a bushel, and coal and wood for $100 a load.

January 10

1861: Florida votes to secede.
Louisiana seizes federal forts and arsenals.
William Seward becomes US Secretary of State.
William T. Sherman resigns his position as head of the Louisiana Military Academy (now Louisiana State University).

1862: Confederate General Jackson’s forces approach Romney, VA causing a Union
pullout.
At Middle Creek, KY there is a battle between Union troops under Colonel James Garfield and Confederates under Colonel Humphrey Marshall. Both sides claim victory but both are also in retreat. Colonel Garfield in the future will become President Garfield.
There are inconsistent procedures for handling escaped slaves who make it to Union encampments. Some are pressed into service with the army as teamsters, cooks, and laborers. Some are allowed to pass to the North. Others are held and turned over to locals and Confederate officers who claim them as property in compliance with the Fugitive Slave Act.

1863: Federal gunboats shell Ft Hindman.
Federal forces shell Galveston, TX.
Skirmishes at Suffolk and Fairfax Court House, VA.
France offers mediation of peace talks between the US and CS while the UK postpones such a move.

1864: Federals are using fake Confederate money to wreck the Southern economy even more. Merchants are now demanding payment in either gold, specie (coins), of foreign currency.
USS Iron Age runs aground at Folly Inlet, SC and is destroyed by Confederates.
Union Sergeant John Ransom writes that conditions at Belle Island prison (Richmond, VA) are killing off prisoners at the rate of sometimes twenty a day.

1865: Confederate Army of Tennessee reaches Tupelo, MS.

January 11

1861: New York votes in a pro-Union state constitution.

1862: US Secretary of War Simon Cameron resigns amid charges of corruption.
Union Naval force of over 100 ships and 15,000 men under General Burnside leaves Hampton Roads, VA and is heading south to reinforce Port Royal SC.
Union General McClernand begins a probe toward Columbus, KY.
Private Robert Sneeden, 40th NY, writes about starting a new job as a mapmaker. Despite the fact that mapmakers were officers, his talent for drawing has caught the attention of Union General Heintzelman and is assigned to the general's staff.

1863: CSS Alabama attacks and sinks USS Hatteras off Galveston, TX.
Battle of Arkansas Post, AR. Union commander: General John McClernand. Confederate commander: General Thomas J. Churchill. McClernand sent his two brigades, under Generals Sherman and George Morgan against Confederate defenses backed onto the Arkansas River. The area was dominated by Ft Hindman. Supported by Naval Admiral David Porter’s flotilla of gunboats, the fort was surrounded. At the end of the day, the Confederates surrendered. Union victory.
Federal gunboat sunk at Memphis, TN.

1864: A joint resolution is proposed in the US Senate calling for the abolishing of slavery.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that a house in Richmond, VA was rented for $6000 a year.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, gets several parts of a Confederate uniform and manages to leave Libby Prison and walks the streets of Richmond, VA, looking for a way out of town and back to Union lines. He did not get too far, getting himself recaptured and taken back to prison.

1865: Confederate forces under General Thomas Rosser raid West Virginia, capturing 500 Union troops and destroying tons of supplies.
Missouri abolishes slavery.
Group of Confederate Navy personnel arrive on Gravesend, UK to take possession of that former Danish ironclad.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that $60 Confederate will now but $1 in gold.

January 12

1861: Alabama votes to secede.

1862: In the nine months since the war began, the US Navy has grown from 76 vessels to 264.
One of those units who disregarded the Fugitive Slave Act was members of the 14th NY who harbored a runaway named John Boston.

1863: Union General Grant hears of General McClernand’s attack on Ft Hindman. Secures authorization to remove McClernand from command but does not use it.
Third session of Confederate Congress meets.

1864; A common practice at this time was for a draftee to pay someone $300 (a great sum at the time) to take his place in the ranks. This had the effect of filling Union ranks with those who were unfit for service.
US troops enter Matamoros, Mexico to rescue the US Counsel there.
Attitudes were already changing in the South as freed slaves asserted their new freedom. An account in Louisiana tells of an overseer being run off a plantation.

1865: Francis Blair meets with CS President Davis about peace talks. Davis agrees on talks but he is insistent that the only thing he will agree to is Southern Independence.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that the same gold dollar is now equal to $66 Confederate.

January 13

1862: Roanoke Island assault fleet stalled off Hatteras Inlet due to storms. This will last until Jan 20.
Union Naval LT John Worden assumes command of USS Monitor, at this time under construction in New York.
Edwin Stanton names as the new US Secretary of War.

1863: Federal officials authorize the enlistment of African-Americans into the South Carolina Volunteer Infantry (US).
Ft Hindman, AR is ordered destroyed because the fort is of no use to the Union.
Federal troops attack Mound City, AR.

1864: US President Lincoln asks officials in Louisiana and Florida to form pro-Union state governments.

1865: Naval bombardment of Ft Fisher, NC begins. The defense forces in Wilmington, NC are commanded by no other than General Bragg, so no help from the town is coming.
Confederate General John Bell Hood resigns and is replaced by General Richard Taylor.
Even at this late date, there are those in the South who are of the opinion that independence without slavery is unacceptable, as an editorial in the Arkansas Telegraph explains.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that in Richmond, VA beef sells for $6 a pound, cornmeal for $80 a bushel, and white beans for $160 per bushel.

January 14

1861: Louisiana troops seize Ft Pike, near New Orleans.

1862: Union General McClernand has his troops at Blandville, KY.
Frederick Douglass gives a speech in Philadelphia, PA and calls for emancipation to be the war aim.

1863: A Union attempt to advance up the Bayou Teche, LA is stopped by determined Confederate defenses.
Ohio Representative Clement Vallandingham, a leader in the rising anti-war party known as the Copperheads, delivers a blistering speech in the House against US President Lincoln’s conduct of the war. Copperheads were so named because they wore Indian heads cut from copper pennies on their lapels. (It’s an ironic fact that their main enemy is now depicted on the penny.)

1864: Union forces advance on Dandridge, TN forcing Confederate General James Longstreet to retreat.
CS President Davis writes General Joe Johnston, warning him that some of his troops may be needed to defend Alabama and Mississippi in the spring.

1865: Ft Fisher, NC is rendered unusable by a bombardment rate of 100 shells per minute.
Confederate General Beauregard assumes temporary command of the Army of Tennessee while General Taylor is en route to take permanent command.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that a barrel of flour was sold for $1000.

January 15

1862: Stonewall Brigade reaches Romney, VA.
Edwin M. Stanton is confirmed as Union Secretary of War.
Union General Grant concentrates his forces at Milburn, KY. Confederates are now wondering if the axis of attack is Columbus, KY or if the attack is going somewhere else.

1863: CS President Davis suggests that General Bragg should go on the offensive in Tennessee.
US President Lincoln views a demonstration of new weapons at the Washington, DC Navy Yard.

1864: Confederate General Longstreet orders in additional forces and moves toward Dandridge, TN.
A new crisis hits the Union war effort. Soldiers who signed three-year enlistments will have those enlacements expire this year. If they all leave, the Union effort will effectively end!

1865: US Marines and sailors attack Ft Fisher, NC and receive heavy losses. A second attack by Union General Alfred Terry takes the fort. Result is that the entire Confederate coast is now in Union hands.

January 16

1861: Arkansas legislature calls for a vote on secession.
The Crittenden Compromise, a last attempt to ease Southern fears, fails in the Senate.

1862: Five Confederate regiments and 12 cannon have been posted at Mill Spring, KY to watch for any Union attack through the Cumberland Gap.
In a sign that long-term care of wounded will be needed, private organizations begin to set up hospitals in both North and South.

1863: CSS Florida sails out of Mobile Bay, AL and through the Federal blockade.
There is an unusual prisoner exchange as women and children who were detained North are allowed to travel from Washington DC to Richmond, VA. They were searched, to their great complaint, but much material made it through to be made into uniforms for Confederate soldiers.

1864: Union cavalry under General Samuel Sturgis encounter Confederate troops near Kimbrough’s Crossroads, TN and is forced back.
Any lingering hope that the UK and France would recognize the CSA has evaporated with both countries directing their attention to a looming war between Denmark and Prussia over the territory of Schleswig-Holstein.

1865: Confederate General Robert E. Lee is named commander of all CSA armies. General Joe Johnston is also named commander of the Army of Tennessee while General Beauregard is given command of defense forces in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that a gold dollar is now worth $70 Confederate.

Francis Blair meets with US President Lincoln and presents CS President Davis’ proposal for allowing the Southern states to secure independence, but also proposes joint operations against the Imperial Government in Mexico.
At Ft Fisher, NC, two drunken sailors enter the powder magazine with lighted lanterns. Within moments the magazine blew up, killing 25, injuring 66, and 13 missing. Most of them were of the 169th NY, who was sleeping on the mound covering the magazine at the time.
Confederate General Bragg receives a telegram from CS President Davis ordering him to retake Ft Fisher. That order will not be carried out.

January 17

1862: Union General Thomas stops at Somerset, KY, near Mill Spring in order to gather his strung out forces.

1863: Union General U.S. Grant leaves Memphis, TN for Milliken’s Bend to take charge of what will be the Vicksburg Campaign.
Morale in the Union Army of the Potomac hits new lows due to recent defeats and the fact that the Emancipation Proclamation is not popular with the army, whose members feel they did not enlist to free slaves.

1864: Confederate General Longstreet attacks Union forces at Dandridge, TN, forcing them to retreat to New Market.
Confederate Navy Commander James Wallace is given command of CSS Albemarle at Edward’s Ferry, NC.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that flour is now selling for $200 a barrel and (corn)meal for $20 a bushel.
.

1865: US President Lincoln rejects a call by CS President Jefferson Davis for negotiations.
Union General Sherman orders his army to prepare to march. At the same time he issues Field Order No.15, offering displaces former slaves land along the Georgia coast. This not only creates hope in the former slaves, but it also keeps him from having to feed the 10,000 that are tagging along with his army.

January 18

1861: There are reports of death threats against US President-elect Lincoln. One such report mentions that a body of armed men would come to the Inauguration and prevent Lincoln from taking the oath.

1862: Confederate General Thomas Jackson orders the Stonewall brigade into winter quarters.
USS Kearsarge departs Cadiz, Spain to search for Confederate Captain Raphael Semmes, at this time commanding CSS Sumter.
CSA Territory of Arizona as created.
Former US President and Confederate Congressman John Tyler dies at Richmond, VA.
Confederate General Thomas Crittenden has taken command of Confederate forces in the Cumberland Gap, KY and plans to take the battle to Union General Thomas’ troops.

1863: Union General Grant organizes his Army of the Tennessee into four corps, the 13th (General McClernand), the 15th (General Sherman), the 16th (General Hurlbut), and the 17th (General McPherson). This, along with supporting naval units, will be the force that will go after Vicksburg, MS.

1864: There is opposition in North Carolina to the CS Government’s conscription law, which makes all white males 18 to 45 eligible for service.

1865: Union General Sherman begins a march from Savannah, GA, to link up with Grant’s forces, currently at Petersburg, VA. His army is now aimed at South Carolina.

January 19

1861: Georgia votes to secede.

1862: Battle of Mill Springs (aka Logan’s Cross Roads), KY. Union commander: General George H. Thomas. Confederate commander: General Felix Zollicoffer. Fighting starts at dawn as the 15th MS encounters two companies from the 10th IN. At first, Confederate assaults push back Union troops who were running out of ammunition. During one such attack Zollicoffer was killed. At one point troops from both sides were firing at each other over a single fence. In the after, Thomas got in some artillery and proceeded to pummel the Southern line. A flanking movement followed by a bayonet charge finally routed the Confederates, who reformed at Beech Grove, 10 miles away.

1863: Union Army of the Potomac commander General Ambrose Burnside proposes to move troops up the Rappahannock River to United States Ford in order to launch another assault on the Confederates.
An article in the Bangor, MA Whig and Courier highlights the exploits of Anna Etheridge, a nurse with the 5th MI. These accounts include times when she was exposed to fire, a situation considered scandalous at the time. What not many people knew at the tine was that many women were dressed as men and serving in the ranks.

1864: Construction begins on CSS Albemarle in a North Carolina cornfield.
Pro-Unionists meet in Little Rock, AR to discuss abolishing slavery in the state.

1865: Confederate General Lee accepts his new position as General-in Chief of the Southern Armies. The attitude is now that it is too late for even an experienced soldier like Lee to turn things around.

January 20

1861: Ship Island, MS is seized by secessionists.
Mississippi Senator Jefferson Davis formally resigns his seat in response to his state seceding.

1862: A planned Union assault on the regrouped Confederates at Beech Grove, KY is called off when morning finds the Southern lines deserted. Battle of Mill Springs (Logan’s Cross Roads, or Somerset), KY ends in a Union victory.
US Navy sinks vessels filled with stones in order to bottle up Charleston, SC.

1863: Mud March, the attempt by Burnside to reposition troops for the planned assault, begins. It will end in failure due to weather and ground conditions.

1864: US President Lincoln proposes elections in Arkansas so that the state can be readmitted.
Skirmish at Tracy City, TN.

1865: Two Confederate blockade runners captured near Ft Fisher.
Rain hampers Union General Slocum’s corps from leaving Savannah, GA.


January 21

1862: Union General Grant pulls his forces back to Cairo, IL in order to execute the real mission, to attack Forts Henry and Donaldson in Tennessee.

1863: Confederate forces recapture Sabine Pass, TX
Union General Fitz John Porter is dismissed from the US Army, having been blamed for the Union defeat at the Second Battle of Manassas, VA. It will take 23 years to clear his name.
Thirty hours of rain has made any movement of Union troops across the Rappahannock River, VA impossible.

1864: A pro-Union convention in Nashville, TN proposes an anti-slavery resolution.
Ohio bans distillation of whisky in order to preserve grain stocks.

1865: Union General Sherman reaches Beaufort, SC.

January 22

1862; Confederate General Wise is given command of forces at Roanoke Island, NC in order to counter the growing union presence at nearby Port Royal, SC.

1863: Mud March ends as Federal troops are ordered back to the same camps they left.
Union General Grant now has Federal forces in Arkansas added to his command.

1864: Pro-Unionist Isaac Murphy is installed as provisional governor of Arkansas.
USS Restless captures blockade runners at St Andrew’s Bay,
Union General William Rosecrans assumes command of the US Federal Department of the Missouri.

1865: Skirmish at Little Rock, AR.

January 23

1862: More ships filled with stones sunk at Charleston, SC.

1863: US Army of the Potomac is pulled back from Fredericksburg, VA and into winter quarters. General Burnside now turns his attention against many of his subordinate generals.
Henry Brooks Adams writes to his brother, Charles Francis Adams, the US Minister to the UK that the British reaction to the Emancipation Proclamation seems to be mostly in favor.

1864: US President Lincoln approves plans to allow freed slaves to be hired by their former masters.
US Department of the Treasury lifts trading ban on Kentucky and Missouri.
Skirmish at Rolling Prairie, AR.

1865: The Federal headquarters at City Point, VA is attacked by a Confederate fleet of three ironclads, a gunboat, and a torpedo (sea mine) boat. All but one run aground and come under fire by Union batteries.
Confederate General Taylor assumes command of the Army of Tennessee.

January 24

1861: Georgia troops seize the US Arsenal at Augusta, GA.

1862: Union General Halleck orders arrests of any who opposes his enforcement of martial law in St Louis, MO.

1863: Union General Burnside goes to Washington, DC and demands that US President Lincoln remove several senior officers from the Army of the Potomac.
Skirmish at Woodbury, TN.
Union forces land on the land opposite Vicksburg, MS and send patrols up the Yazoo River.

1864: Skirmish at Baker Springs, AR.

1865: Surviving Confederate vessels from the aborted attack on City Point, VA withdraw. This ends any further Confederate river attacks.
Confederate Congress authorizes the resumption of prisoner exchanges.
CSS Stonewall rendezvous with a tender off Belle Isle, France.

January 25

1862: Burnside’s forces reach Pamlico Sound and begin maneuvers toward Roanoke Island, NC.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, writes about seeing Thaddeus Lowe's balloon ascend over Alexandria, VA.

1863: US President Lincoln responds to General Burnside’s demands by removing him from command of the Army of the Potomac and replacing him with General Joseph Hooker.
Confederate General John Marmaduke’s cavalry reaches the safety of the White River.

1864: Confederate General Longstreet orders his cavalry to stop Union cavalry from disrupting his supply lines.
Union forces bombard Ft Sumter, SC without success.
Union troops evacuate Corinth, MS.
Union Sergeant John Ransom writes about a shipment of hams arriving from the north, but the Confederate guards get them. A friend in the cookhouse managed to get a substantial number of the hams into the prison enclosure, at great risk.

1865: Skirmishing along the Salkehatchie River, SC.

January 26

1861: Louisiana votes to secede.

1862: Confederate General Pierre Beauregard is appointed second in command under General Albert S. Johnston.
Union naval force off Cape Hatteras, NC attempting to enter Pamlico Sound. This would create another jumping off point for Union attacks on the North Carolina coast.

1863: Union General Joseph Hooker formally assumes command of the Army of the Potomac. He is nicknamed “Fighting Joe Hooker” due to a newspaper misprint.

1864: A Confederate force of 600 attacks the Federal garrison, numbering 100, at Athens, AL. The Confederates were repulsed.
US President endorses reopening trade with Confederate territory now completely under Federal control.
Several skirmishes take place between Longstreet’s cavalry and Union cavalry under General Sturgis.

1865: Union General Sherman sends troops towards Charleston, SC while his main force marches on Goldsborough, SC.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that beef is selling for $8 a pound and wood is selling for $150 a cord.

January 27

1862: Confederate commander at Roanoke Island, General Wise, is ordered to hold at all costs.
US President Lincoln issues General War Order 1, ordering an offensive on all fronts on February 22.

1863: Editor of Philadelphia Journal is arrested for printing anti-Union articles.
CS President Davis calls for the increase in food production in order to alleviate shortages.

1864: Battle of Kelly’s Ford, TN. Union commander: General Samuel Sturgis. Confederate commander: General William Martin. Union forces are victorious but withdrew upon hearing of fresh Confederate troops approaching.
Confederate General Bragg appointed as CS President Davis’ military advisor.
Union Sergeant John Ransom writes that the prisoners at Belle Island (Richmond, VA) are told that instead of being exchanged, they will be sent to a new prison in Georgia.

1865: Confederate General Lee communicates with the South Carolina governor about the deteriorating situation in the state.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that someone broke into his house and stole two sticks of wood. Wood is selling for $5 a stick.

January 28

1862; Union forces enter Pamlico Sound, NC.

1863: There is a mass meeting in St Louis, MO in which the Emancipation Proclamation is endorsed.
As Union General Hooker takes command, there are as many as 200 desertions per day. Many of the senior officers are also McClellan partisans who are not happy with Hooker’s appointment.

1864; Skirmish at Tunnel Hill, GA.

1865: Three commissioners, CS Vice-President Stephens, President of the Senate R.M.T. Hunter, and former US Supreme Court Justice John Campbell, are appointed by CS President Davis to hold talks with Union officials.

January 29

1861: Kansas is admitted as the 34th US state.

1862: Skirmish at Occoquan Bridge, VA.

1863: Skirmishes at Suffolk and Turner’s Mills, VA.
Skirmish on the Stono Rover, SC.

1864: Small engagement at Medley, WV.
CSS Charleston, nicknamed “the Ladies Ironclad” because the local ladies raised the funds to build her, is launched in Charleston, SC.
Union steamer Sir William Wallace attacked on the Mississippi River.
Union General Sherman’s men received much needed winter gear.

1865: Even if the Charleston, SC garrison and General Hardee’s forces are combined, there is not much force that can slow Union General Sherman’s army down.

January 30

1862: USS Monitor launched in New York, NY.
Confederate Commissioners Mason and Slidell arrive in London, UK.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, describes a raid at Colchester, VA.

1863: Confederate General Pemberton, commanding the Vicksburg, MS defenses, is asked by CS President Davis if the Yazoo River could be obstructed to prevent a Union advance from the north.

1864: Confederate General Pickett moves to attack the Union garrison at New Berne, NC.

1865: Union General Pope is given command of the Department of the Missouri.
Skirmish at Champlintown, KY.

January 31

1861: An editorial in Cincinnati, OH decried the effect of secession on trade. The city had a thriving trade with Southern cities until this moment.

1862: UK announces its intention to remain neutral.
Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson visits Washington DC and meets with US President Lincoln. He records in his journal that he was impressed with Lincoln but that the attitude in the North was focused on trade and pleasurable pursuits, while the South’s attitude was on the war.

1863: Two US vessels are sunk by Confederate ramming boats in Charleston Harbor, SC.
Skirmish at Deserted House, VA.
Union General Grant proposes a canal be cut across the bend of the Mississippi opposite Vicksburg, MS. This had the idea to divert the Mississippi River away from Vicksburg. (The project would fail, but nature would accomplish what Grant couldn’t.)
Skirmish at Dover, TN.
Union commanders in Tennessee realize the importance of keeping the Cumberland River open in order to keep supplies moving.

1864: US President Lincoln expresses the opinion that only “loyal, free state men” should have their right to vote restored.

1865: US House of Representatives pass the 13th Amendment.
Confederate General Lee is appointed Confederate Commander in Chief.


Birthdays:

Secession Activist Edmund Ruffin, 1794
Union General David Hunter, 1802
Confederate General Robert E. Lee, 1807
US Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase, 1808
Confederate Naval Captain John Tucker, 1812
Union General John C. Fremont, 1813
Union General William Henry French, 1815
Union General Henry Halleck, 1815
Union General Nathaniel Banks, 1816
Confederate General Lloyd Tilghman, 1916
Union General Frederick Steele, 1819
Confederate General and CS Secretary of War John Breckinridge, 1821
Confederate General James Longstreet, 1821
Confederate General Joseph Kershaw, 1822
Confederate General Gustavus Smith, 1822
Union General Ivan Vasilovich Turchinoff (John Basil Turchin), 1822
Union General Peter Osterhaus, 1823
Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, 1824
Confederate General George Pickett, 1825
Union General John Tidball, 1825
Confederate General Richard Taylor, 1826
Confederate General Thomas Hindman, 1828
Union General Gouverneur Kemble Warren, 1830
Union General Edward Ferrero, 1831
Confederate General John Pegram, 1832
Union General Judson Kilpatrick, 1836
Union Lieutenant Alonzo Cushing, who was killed as his battery was engaging part of the Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble charge at Gettysburg, PA, 1841
Union Major William McKinley, 25th President of the United States, 1843

February 1

1861: Texas votes to secede.

1862: Confederate General Albert Johnston finds out that he can expect no reinforcements for his army in Tennessee. This as General Beauregard arrives from Virginia.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, observes a discussion in which it is suggested that live shells could be dropped on Confederate formations from a balloon. It was rejected as not in line with the rules of war.

1863: CS Dollar now 1/5 its original value.
Union expedition departs New Berne, NC for Plymouth, NC.
Franklin, TN falls to Union troops.
Confederate agents attempt to hide cotton from Union forces, who can sell the cotton in order to assist the Union war effort.
In an example of growing Northern depression with the war, New York elites distract themselves with balls, banquets, and dances.

1864: Union General William “Sooey” Smith leads a cavalry force out of Memphis, TN in order to reach General Sherman at Meridian, MS.
US Congress revived the rank of Lieutenant General. General U.S. Grant is the only candidate considered for the rank.
US President Lincoln calls for a draft of 500,000 additional men.
Octave Johnson, an escaped slave who is now a Corporal in the 15th United States Colored Troops, gives an account of his escape to the American Freedmen’s Inquiry Commission meeting in New Orleans, LA.

1865: Illinois votes to ratify the 13th Amendment.
Three Confederate peace commissioners arrive at Hampton Roads, VA.
Union General Sherman begins his invasion of South Carolina.

February 2

1862: Confederate General Albert Johnston notices Union activity but believes that they are not ready to attack him.

1863: USS Queen of the West sails past Vicksburg, MS in broad daylight and engages CSS City of Vicksburg. Neither are damaged.
Skirmish at Rappahannock Station, VA.

1864: USS Underwriter, a gunboat, is captured and burned by Confederates near New Berne, NC.

1865: Union ships are sent up the James River, VA to break ice on the river.
Union General Sherman orders the building of bridges in order to bypass Confederates on the Salkehatchie River, SC.
US President Lincoln travels to Hampton Roads to meet with the CS commissioners.
Michigan and Rhode Island ratify the 13th Amendment.
CSS Stonewall arrives at Ferrol, Spain.
Skirmishes along the Salkehatchie River, SC.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that a barrel of flour can fetch about $1000 in the market.

February 3

1862: The US Federal government declares captures Confederate privateers to be considered prisoners of war.
The King of Siam (modern day Thailand) offers US President Lincoln war elephants. The offer was politely refused.
The Forts Henry and Donaldson campaign starts as four gunboats and troop carriers with 23 regiments under the command of Union General Grant leave Cairo, IL.
US President Lincoln urges General McClellan to launch an offensive on Richmond, VA. McClellan instead proposes moving the Army of the Potomac to the James River Peninsula, VA and attack Richmond from that direction.
USS Tuscarora attempts to intercept CSS Nashville off Southampton, UK but is stopped by HMS Shannon.

1863: USS Queen of the West captures three Confederate supply boats that were headed for Port Hudson, MS.
A levee north of Vicksburg, MS is blown to make a passage for Union gunboats. The passage proves too narrow.
Confederate forces attack Ft Donaldson, TN but are forced back by Union gunboat fire.
US Secretary of State Seward confers with the French Minister to the US, but nothing will come of it.
Skirmish at Mingo Swamp, MO.

1864: Union General Sherman leaves Vicksburg, MS for Meridian.
Confederate General Pickett abandons plans to assault New Berne, NC.
CS President Davis orders the suspension of habeas corpus.

1865: Two Union brigades use the bypass and launch a flanking attack on Confederate right flank. CS forces under General Layfatte McLaws retreat toward Branchville, SC. Main effort of the Union advance is now Columbia, SC, the state capital.
US President Lincoln meets with the CS commissioners aboard the steamer River Queen
and tells them that the only way to end the war was to agree to Union terms. The meeting ends in failure.
Maryland, New York, and West Virginia ratify the 13th Amendment.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that a cord of wood now costs $500.

February 4

1861: A convention of the seceded states is held in Montgomery, AL. This will result in the formation of the Confederate States of America.
Peace commissioners are in Washington for a conference.

1862: Union General Grant’s forces are landed south of Ft Henry, TN.
1863: Skirmish at Lake Providence, LA.

1864: Union troops under General Sherman now find Confederates under General Polk in the way of their advance in Mississippi.

1865: Confederate General Beauregard assumes command of the Carolina’s defense.
Skirmishes at Angley’s Post Office and Buford’s Bridge, SC.
Union General Slocum’s troops struggle to cross the Savannah River, GA.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes, "Yesterday much of the day was consumed by Congress in displaying a new flag for the Confederacy--- before the old one is worn out! Idiots!" This is in reference to the Confederate Third National flag.

February 5

1862: Union General Grant halts his forces at Bailey’s Ferry, TN so that all of his army can be present when nearby Ft Henry is assaulted. Grant orders Commodore Foote to beginning shelling the fort the next morning. Confederate General Tlighman orders all of his forces within the walls of the fort.
Federal fleet leaves Pamlico Sound, NC.

1863: Union General Hooker begins reorganization of the Army of the Potomac, with the first thing being done is eliminating the Grand Divisions that General Burnside had formed.
Skirmishes at Rappahannock Bridge and Grove Church, VA.

1864: Union forces under General Sherman reach Jackson, MS.
Union Sergeant John Ransom writes about a plan to escape Belle Island (Richmond, VA) but the Confederate officers there had found out and had him and the other "escapees" held in confinement for a few days.

1865: First attack at the Petersburg, VA lines begins as Union troops take the Boydton Plank Road and extend their lines to the southwest.
As the winter begins to fade, the food situation in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia is critical. Rations are now a pint of oatmeal a day. General Lee’s attempts to get more food are not getting results. There are food supplies, but the rail network is almost non-existent. All the good rail lines are now in Federal hands. General Lee was heard to say that the Confederate Congress seemed happy to eat peanuts and chew tobacco while his army starves. The situation is so grave; there were 3000 desertions during the winter.


February 6

1862: At 10:30, Federal gunboats Essex, Carondelet, Cincinnati, St Louis, Conestoga, Tyler, and Lexington approach Ft Henry, TN, causing Confederate General Tlighman to order his Ft Henry garrison to evacuate to Ft Donaldson, with the exception of the artillery. At noon, the Federal vessels open fire, starting an engagement that dismounted 13 of the fort’s 17 guns. Despite damaging the Essex, Tlighman was forces to surrender, allowing Grant to take the fort without an infantry assault. Commodore Foote orders his flotilla back to Cairo, IL. The Tennessee River is now entirely in Union hands.

1863: US Secretary of State Seward formally rejects any French offer of mediation.
Union General Heintzelman is named commander of the Department of Washington and charged with protecting the Nation’s Capital.

1864: Union General George Meade forces several crossings at the Rapidan River, VA. This advance is resisted by Confederates under the command of General Richard Ewell.
Confederate Congress bans imports of luxury goods and the circulation of US currency within the CSA.

1865: Confederate Generals John Pegram and William Mahone launch attacks on Union General Warren’s position on the Boydton Plank Road, VA. Pegram is killed and the attack repulsed.
Confederate Secretary of War James Seddon resigns and is replaced by General John C. Breckenridge.
Confederate General Lee formally assumes command of all Confederate armies.

February 7

1861: The Choctaw Indian Nation declares themselves for the Confederacy.

1862: Confederate reinforcements are rushed to Ft Donaldson as Union General Grant begins moving his forces towards the fort.
Ft Henry is renamed Ft Foote.
Union assault on Roanoke Island, NC begins with the signal, “This day our country expects every man to do his duty.”

1863: Skirmish at Williamsburg, VA.
Confederate authorities announce the reopening of the port of Galveston, TX.
As the Confederate economy continues to decline, cotton becomes a medium of exchange, except that cotton exports are 1/10 of pre-war levels. Prices for goods and services are skyrocketing, with staples such as tea reaching $500.00 a pound. Another factor that is affecting the economy is that the rail network, not very large to begin with, is deteriorating.

1864: Union General Meade’s advance stalls, forcing a withdrawal back across the Rapidan River in Virginia.
Union troops under General Seymour land at Jacksonville, FL.
Union General Sherman resumes his march to Meridian, MS.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes, "The tocsin is sounding a 9 a.m." This is in reference to a report that Union General Butler's troops are marching towards Richmond, VA.

1865: Maine and Kansas pass the 13th Amendment. Delaware fails to pass it.
Union troops are forced back from the Boydton Plank Road, VA by a second Confederate counter-attack, but the line at nearby Hatcher’s Run holds.
The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia now holds 37 miles of defenses, from Richmond to Petersburg, VA, and has only 46,000 to do it with. (About 1243 per mile.)

February 8

1861: Convention in Montgomery, AL approves a Provisional Constitution for the Confederate States of America.

1862: Union forces under General Burnside succeed in capturing Roanoke Island, ensuring Union control over most of the NC coast.
Two Confederate riverboats taken at Chickasaw, MS.

1863: Union General Hooker completes his reorganization of the Army of the Potomac.

1864: Union General Smith and his troops have had trouble organizing and have not been able to support General Sherman’s march on Meridian, MS.

1865: Massachusetts and Pennsylvania pass the 13th Amendment.
Skirmishing at North Platte, Colorado Territory and Rush Creek, Nebraska Territory.

February 9

1861: Former Senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi is elected Provisional President of the CSA.

1862: Confederate General Gideon J. Pillow assumes command of Ft Donaldson.
Federal warships begin crossing Albemarle Sound, NC to search for Confederate vessels.

1863: With the reorganization of the Army of the Potomac complete, Union General Hooker turns his attention to his headquarters staff.

1864: 109 Union prisoners tunnel out of Libby Prison in Richmond, VA. 59 will make it to Union lines.
Union General George Custer married Elizabeth Bacon.

1865: Union General Schofield named commander of the Department of North Carolina as he begins preparations to assault Wilmington, NC.
Confederate General Lee convinces CS President Davis to allow amnesty to deserters who return within 30 days.

February 10

1861: Former US Senator Jefferson Davis learns he is elected Provisional President of the CSA.

1862: USS Delaware engages a small Confederate fleet, known as the “Mosquito Fleet” off Roanoke Island, sinking one, capturing another, and forcing the Confederates to burn the remaining three.
Union General Grant orders troops to prepare to attack Ft Donaldson, TN.
Six Confederate steamships are burned on the Tennessee River to prevent them from falling into Union hands while three more are captured.

1863: Skirmish at Chantilly, VA.
Fighting at Camp Sheldon, MS and Old River, LA.
USS Queen of the West heading for the Red River, LA.

1864: Union General William S. Smith has completed preparations to launch a cavalry raid in support of General Sherman. Problem is that the raid was supposed to have been launched a week ago. A possible reason was that he had disobeyed orders and waited for reinforcements before leaving Memphis, TN.
CSS Florida gets past USS Kearsarge at Brest, France.

1865: Confederate Naval Captain Raphael Semmes assumes command of James River Squadron, part of the Richmond defenses.
Skirmishing at James Island and Johnson’s Station, SC as Union troops make contact with the Charleston, SC defenses.


February 11

1861: US President-elect Abraham Lincoln leaves his home in Springfield, IL for Washington, DC.

1862: Confederate General Simon Bolivar Buckner arrives at Ft Donaldson with more troops.
Union Commodore Foote sails from Cairo, IL in support of Union General Grant’s operations against Ft Donaldson. Union General John McClernand leads his troops overland to the Confederate fort.

1863: Union General Hooker reforms the Army of the Potomac by replacing bad officers and improving food and living conditions. As a result the level of desertions drops almost to zero.

1864: Confederate guerillas rob a train in West Virginia.
Union General Smith’s cavalry raid finally begins. This is happening one day past the time he was supposed to link up with General Sherman’s forces.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that bacon is selling for $6 a pound.

1865: With Union General Sherman’s army about to cut off Charleston, SC, CS President Davis orders the city defended at all costs while Confederate General Beauregard suggests evacuation.
Tennessee and Alabama are hotbeds of partisan activity, raising concerns that not all Confederates would surrender when organized armies are defeated.

February 12

1862: Union General Grant’s forces reach Ft Donaldson, TN and proceeds to surround the fort.

1863: Skirmish at Bolivar, TN.
There is action at the mouth of the Atchafalaya River, LA as USS Queen of the West and USS De Soto destroy several Confederate ammunition wagon trains on the river bank. The Union vessels then head up the Red River.
USS Conestoga captures two Confederate ships on the White River, AR.
CSS Florida captures the merchant ship Jacob Bell in the West Indies.

1864: Skirmishes at Chunky Station and Decatur, MS.
Skirmish at Macon and California House, MO.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that sugar is selling for $8 a pound and rice for .85 a pound.

1865: US President Lincoln is formally elected to a second term by the Electoral College.
Union General Sherman receives a letter from Nora Walker, a Union spy, confirming Confederate General Hood’s resignation and requesting payment for her services to the Union.

February 13

1862: Confederate General John Floyd arrives at Ft Donaldson and assumes command as Union General Grant’s first attack is driven back. Grant then proceeds to bombard the fort. That night, a snowstorm makes life rough for the defenders.
CSS Virginia, an ironclad warship built on the hull of the USS Merrimack, believed to have been destroyed as Union troops evacuated Norfolk Navy Yard, is launched.

1863: Union General Hooker reorganizes the cavalry in his army under a single corps command.
USS Indianola departs the mouth of the Yazoo River and sails past Vicksburg, MS without alerting the shore batteries.

1864: Expedition underway to clear Confederate forces from Indian Territory, now Oklahoma.
A Confederate force under General Joseph Finnegan is assembled at Lake City, FL to counter any Union advance from Jacksonville, FL. Union General Seymour has already left Jacksonville and is headed to the Suwanee River to destroy some bridges.

1865: Confederate General William Hardee withdraws his troops from Charleston, SC into North Carolina. CS Navy vessels in Charleston Harbor are destroyed.
There is a complaint by the UK about the increase in US Navy operations in the Great Lakes. This action, in response to the St Albans, VT raid, is making the Canadians nervous.

February 14

1862: Additional Union reinforcements arrive, allowing General Grant begin his assault on Ft Donaldson, TN in earnest. Gunboats begin shelling the fort at 3:00 p.m. but after St Louis and Louisville are damaged, Grant decides to wait until more reinforcements arrive before renewing the attack. Confederate General Pillow plans to attack the Federal right flank and break out of the fort and go south.

1863: USS Queen of the West comes under Confederate fire and is abandoned. This after she captured the Confederate steamer New Era Number 5. The crew makes it back to De Soto and also uses the New Era to get away.
Skirmish at Brentsville, VA.

1864: Confederate General Leonidas Polk evacuates Meridian, MS as Union General Sherman’s troops enter. General Smith’s cavalry still has not showed up.
Union Sergeant John Ransom writes that groups of prisoners are being taken out of Belle Island (Richmond, VA). Confederates say that they are being sent to Union lines. Word is that they are headed to the new prison in Georgia.

1865: Union General Sherman’s army crosses the Congaree River en route to Columbia, SC.

February 15

1862: Confederate General Pillow attempts to break through the Union lines but fails. That night he and General Floyd, a former US Secretary of War, flee the fort. Confederate General Nathan B. Forrest takes his cavalry out and escapes. General Buckner is left in command.

1863: Action at Nolansville and Cainsville, TN.
Steamer New Era reaches the Mississippi River while pursued by CSS Webb. The timely arrival of USS Indianola forces the Confederate ironclad to turn back.

1864: Confederate forces form a defensive line at Ocean Pond, FL along the Olustree River.

1865: Union General Sherman’s forces approach Columbia, SC as skirmishing takes place Red Bank Creek and Two League Cross Roads.


February 16

1862: Ft Donaldson is surrendered to Union General Grant, who refuses anything but unconditional surrender. Grant writes to Confederate General Buckner, a West Point classmate, in response to the question about terms of surrender: “Yours of this date proposing an armistice and appointment of commissioners to settle the terms of capitulation is just received. No terms other than an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works.”
Union Flag Officer Foote’s gunboats destroy the Tennessee Iron Works.

1863: US Congress passes first Conscription Act.
Skirmish at Romney, WV.
Skirmishing along the Yazoo Pass, MS.

1864; Skirmish at Lauderdale Springs, MS.

1865: Union troops arrive at Columbia. SC. During the afternoon, Confederate General Beauregard orders the city evacuated.
Confederate General Hardee prepares to evacuate Charleston, SC to avoid getting cut off by Union General Sherman’s troops.
Union gunboats shell Ft Anderson, near Wilmington, NC.

February 17

1862: Provisional Congress of the CSA meets for the last time.
Skirmish at Sugar Creek, MO.

1863: Union troops depart Lexington, TN and march on Clifton, TN.
USS Indianola takes up station on the Mississippi river south of Vicksburg, MS.

1864: In Charleston Harbor, SC the CSS H. L. Hunley, a submarine, attacks and sinks the USS Housatonic. The Hunley was lost with all hands in the attack. (It was found in 1995 and brought up in 2003. It is undergoing restoration. Its crew was interred with full Confederate military honors in 2004)
Confederate Government extends the conscription eligibility to cover all white males from 17 to 50.

1865: Columbia, SC is surrendered to Union forces. That night the city is burned to the ground, either by departing Confederates or drunken Union soldiers.
Union forces make a feint towards Charleston, SC, causing Confederate forces to abandon the remaining forts protecting the city. This evacuation includes Ft Sumter.
Union forces close in on Ft Anderson, NC.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes about buying a bushel of black beans for $65.

February 18

1861: Jefferson Davis inaugurated as CSA President.
Mary Chesnut writes: …our wise men say that if the President (Buchanan) had left us there to fret & fume a while with a little wholesome neglect we would have come back in time--- certainly nobody would have joined us. But Fort Sumter in (Union Major) Anderson’s hands united the cotton states…

1862: First elected Confederate Congress meets in Richmond, VA.
News of the Union victory reaches Washington, DC and Union General Grant is referred to as “Unconditional Surrender” Grant.

1863: Confederate Army of Northern Virginia moves a few divisions to better cover Richmond, VA.

1864: Union General Smith’s cavalry reaches Okolona, MS.
Confederate Naval Commander Bullock sends a letter to CS Secretary of the Navy Mallory that two ironclads being built in France will not be allowed to leave.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that sugar is selling for $12 a pound.

1865: Charleston, SC surrenders to Union forces under General Alexander Schimmelfennig.
Union General Sherman orders all useful buildings and material in Columbia, SC destroyed.
Confederate General Lee endorses the idea of allowing African-Americans to enlist in the Confederate Army. Unofficially, there have been African-Americans already in the CS Army as laborers and cooks, but quite a few are also carrying muskets.
Ft Anderson, NC is abandoned by Confederate forces.
CSS Shenandoah departs Melbourne, Australia and sails for the North Pacific.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that $1 in gold is now worth $100 Confederate.

February 19

1862: Confederate forces evacuate Clarksville, TN. This as the effect of the Confederate losses at Forts Henry and Donaldson is felt throughout the region.
Confederate Congress authorizes release of 2000 Union prisoners.

1863: At Keokuk, IA, the offices of the local newspaper is ransacked by Union troops who were home recovering from wounds suffered in recent battles. The paper had published anti-Union articles.
Despite concerns about the quality of leadership out west, CS President Davis refuses to relieve General Bragg.

1864: Union cavalry under General Smith head toward West Point, MS.

1865: Union General Sherman begins movement from Columbia, SC to Fayetteville, NC as his troops complete wrecking the rail station and yards.
Union troops attempting to encircle Wilmington, NC are stopped by Confederate defenders, leading to fighting at Town Creek. That night, the Confederates pull back to the east bank of the Cape Fear River.

February 20

1862: Tennessee state government moves from Nashville to Memphis.
Columbus, KY is evacuated at Confederates attempt to form a defensive line to counter any Federal moves toward the Tennessee capital.
Union Admiral David Farragut arrives at Ship Island, MS, staging area for the assault on New Orleans, LA.
US President Lincoln’s son William dies of typhoid fever.

1863: Mass rallies in Liverpool and Carlisle in support of the Emancipation Proclamation.
A Confederate attack at Yazoo Pass, MS is repulsed.

1864: Union General Sherman leaves Meridian, MS to look for General Smith, who is on his way from Memphis.
Union General Smith, enroute to meet Sherman, is hit by Confederate skirmishers.
Battle of Olustree, FL. Union commander: General Truman Seymour. Confederate commander: General Joseph Finnegan. Union troops attempt to secure North Florida but run into Confederate defense lines between Jacksonville and Lake City at the rail station of Olustree. Confederate victory as Union line is broken with last CS reserves.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that a ham was sold at a market for $350.

1865: Confederate lines at Cape Fear River, NC collapse.
CS House of Representatives approve the use of slaves as troops.

February 21

1862: Tons of Confederate supplies in Nashville destroyed.
Battle of Val Verde, NM. Union commander: Colonel Edward Canby. Confederate commander: General Henry Sibley. A Confederate incursion into the New Mexico Territory reaches Ft Craig, on the Rio Grande River. Canby hoped to make the Confederates besiege the post and let their lack of supplies drove them off. Sibley instead orders his troops to seize the Val Verde fords up river. A detachment of Union troops hold the Confederates (mainly Texas troops) in a ravine, but reinforcements under the command of Confederate Colonel Tom Green arrive and drive the Federals off, allowing the fords to be taken. Confederate victory.

1863: Skirmish at Prairie Station, MS.
Even though the Union industrial advantage was making itself apparent, there is proof that war profiteering is not a new thing. Colt Firearms was selling its Model 1861 Revolver on the open market for $15 per weapon. The price the US Army was paying was $25 per weapon. Politicians steering rich war contracts to companies in their districts were not helping the situation.

1864: Union General Smith’s troops are drawn into a swamp near West Point, MS. Waiting for them is Confederate General Forrest's troops.

1865: Confederate troops evacuate Wilmington, NC.
CS Senate delays debate of the bill authorizing slaves to enlist in the Confederate Army.

February 22

1861: California declares itself for the Union.
US President-elect Lincoln speaks at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, PA, en route to Washington, DC.

1862: Union gunboats have isolated Ft Pulaski, GA.
Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as President over a permanent Confederate government.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, writes about going to Washington, DC on errands and observing officers at the various hotel bars around the city. He also attends a play and has an oyster supper afterwards.

1863: All the reforms that Union General Hooker imposed on the Army of the Potomac is having a positive effect on the health and morale of the troops.
Skirmish at Tuscumbia, AL.
Skirmish at Manchester Pike, TN.

1864: Confederate troops under General Forrest attack Union General Smith’s troops at Okolona, MS, forcing them to go back to Tennessee.
Union General Seymour’s troops reach Jacksonville, FL
Unionist Michael Hamm is elected Louisiana governor.
A paper advocating Salmon P. Chase for president in the upcoming 1864 elections is issued.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, writes about receiving orders to prepare to leave Libby Prison and board rail cars.

1865: Confederate General Joseph Johnston is assigned command of all CS forces in SC, GA, FL, TN, and NC.
Kentucky rejects the 13th Amendment.
Wilmington, NC falls to Union troops.
February 23

1861: US President-elect Lincoln arrives in Washington DC.
Texas voters approve the secession declaration.

1862: Confederate troops in Missouri continue retreat into Arkansas.

1863: Around the Union Army of the Potomac's operational area, the Cavalry Corps is still having trouble with Confederate cavalry conducting raids and ambushes.
US Minister to Russia, Simon Cameron, resigns.

1864: US President Lincoln meets with his Cabinet without Secretary of the Treasury Chase, who is in trouble due to the paper issued the day before.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, and other prisoners are on a train and all they know is they are headed south.
Union Sergeant John Ransom and other prisoners are being held in a building at Richmond, VA after removal from Belle Island.

1865: Union gunboats sail into Georgetown, SC to make contact with General Sherman. Ft White was already abandoned. Meanwhile, Sherman's troops are approaching the SC/NC line. The only thing slowing them down is the rain.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes on the amassing of Confederate gold in Richmond, VA.

February 24

1862: Union troops under General Don Carlos Buell reach the Cumberland River opposite Nashville, TN.
Union troops under General Nathaniel Banks occupy Harpers Ferry, VA.
Skirmishing at Pohick Creek and Mason's Neck, VA

1863: Confederates used the recovered Queen of the West to capture the USS Indianola.
Arizona Territory is created.
Union troops continue advance down the Yazoo River towards Vicksburg, MS.

1864: CS President Davis appoints General Braxton Bragg chief-of-staff of the Confederate armies.
US President Lincoln approves a plan to pay former masters whose slaves enlist in the army at the rate of $300 per former slave.
Union General Thomas orders a probe of Confederate defense lines at Tunnel Hill, GA.
With the sale of proposed Confederate ironclad vessels to Denmark and Prussia, the efforts of the CS Navy to buy warships seems finished.
First 500 Union prisoners transferred from Belle Island, VA to Camp Sumter, GA.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, writes about reaching the prison at Salisbury, NC.

1865: CS General Hampton denies knowledge that his troops are executing Union General Sherman's "bummers."
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that beef is selling for $7 a pound, pork for $9 a pound, and butter for $20 a pound.

February 25

1861: Diarist Mary Chesnut expressed pride that her husband, James, became the first US Senator to resign his seat.

1862: Nashville, TN falls to Union troops.
US War Department now has complete control over telegraph lines.
Union troops moving into Arkansas in pursuit of Confederate General Price's army.

1863: An international incident is avoided when mail aboard the British flagged blockade runner Peterhoff is returned unopened.
US Congress passes the National Currency Act, allowing the creation of a national paper currency.
Confederate cavalry continues attacks on Union outposts in Virginia.

1864: Union General Thomas is trying to see if he can break through the Confederate lines at Buzzard's Roost Gap, GA.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, writes about going back on the train and resuming the trip south.

1865: Confederate General Joe Johnston assumes command of the Army of Tennessee once again. This time, that army is in North Carolina and only fields 25,000 men, including militia.

February 26

1862: Paper money (“greenbacks”) are recognized as national currency in the US.
Skirmish at Keytesville, MO.

1863: Cherokee Nation declares its support for the Union, overturning their earlier declaration for the Confederacy.
Confederate General Longstreet appointed commander of CS Department of Virginia and North Carolina.
Skirmish at Woodstock, VA.
Union Admiral Porter sends a dummy vessel down the Mississippi River past Vicksburg, MS. The ensuing panic causes the Confederates to destroy the captured USS Indianola to prevent a Union recapture.

1864: Union General Smith’s troops reach Memphis, TN, while General Sherman's forces reach Canton, MS.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that pork is selling for $8 a pound.

1865: Skirmish at Lynch's Creek, SC.

February 27

1862: CS Congress gives President Davis the right to suspend the writ of habeas corpus if necessary. Davis also asks to impose martial law at Norfolk and Portsmouth, VA.
USS Monitor departs New York, NY.

1863: Union cavalry are ordered to be more aggressive in facing Confederate cavalry incursions into the Army of the Potomac's area in Virginia.

1864: Union General Thomas’ troops are pulled to Dalton, GA.
First Union prisoners reach Camp Sumter, which will be known by the more notorious name of Andersonville.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that sugar is selling for $20 a pound, bacon for $8 a pound, and $12 will buy a pair of chickens.

1865: Union General Merritt launches an attack into the Shenandoah Valley, VA. Opposing them are two weak brigades under Confederate General Early.

February 28

1861: Colorado Territory is formed.
Mary Chesnut writes, “…these men (leaders in the new Confederate government) have brought old hatreds & grudges & spites from the old Union. Already we see they are will willing injure our cause to hurt Jeff Davis.”

1862: Day of Fasting held throughout the Confederacy.
Charleston, Western Virginia occupied by Federal troops.

1863: USS Montauk engages and destroys CSS Nashville on the Ogeechee River. The Montauk is commanded by Commodore Worden, who once commanded USS Monitor.

1864: Union cavalry under General George Custer makes a diversion to allow a raid led by General Judson Kilpatrick and Colonel Ulric Dahlgren to proceed against the prison at Belle Isle, VA.

1865: Union General Merritt's 10,000 cavalry troopers cross the North Fork of the Shenandoah River with each man carrying 15 days of rations, as the valley can no longer support an army in the field.

February 29, 1864: Dahlgren’s column splits from the main body to enter Richmond, VA. (1864 was a leap year)
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, writes that he and his fellow prisoners have reached Camp Sumter (Andersonville, GA).
Union Sergeant John Ransom writes that the Union prisoners heard of the Dahlgren raid and are hopeful for release.

Birthdays:

Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston, 1803
Claude Minie, inventor of the Minie bullet, 1804
Union General Samuel Curtis, 1805
Confederate General Joseph Johnston, 1807
16th President of the United States Abraham Lincoln, 1809
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones, 1810
Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Herald, 1811
Union Admiral Samuel Lee, cousin of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, 1812
Confederate Vice-President Alexander Hamilton Stephens, 1812
Confederate General Henry Gray, 1816
African-American writer and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, 1817
Confederate General Richard Ewell, 1817
Union General William Tecumseh Sherman, 1820
Union Surgeon Elizabeth Blackwell, 1821
Union General Francis P. Blair, 1821
Union General John Chivington, 1821
Union General William Franklin, 1823
Confederate General Barnard Bee, who gave General Thomas Jackson the nickname of "Stonewall", 1824
Union General Winfield Hancock, 1824
Union General Quincy Adams Gilmore, 1825
Union General John Logan, 1826
Confederate General Lewis Armistead, 1827
Confederate General Robert Ransom, 1828
Confederate General Alfred Iverson Jr, 1829
Union General John Rawlins, 1831
Confederate General John Gordon, 1832
Secretary to US President Lincoln John Nicolay, 1832
Confederate General Camille Armand Jules Marie, Prince de Polignac, 1832
Union General Henry Pleasants, whose idea led to the Battle of the Crater (Petersburg, VA), 1833
Confederate General James Ewell Brown Stuart, 1833
Confederate General Dorsey Pender, 1834
Union General Alexander Webb, 1835
Confederate General Gilbert Moxley Sorrel, 1838

March 1

1861: Diarist Mary Chesnut writes about meeting Varina Davis, the Confederate First Lady.

1862: Union General Grant begins moving his troops from Ft Donaldson to Pittsburg Landing, on the Tennessee River, where Union gunboats destroy a Confederate battery.
Richmond, VA is under martial law.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, writes about working on maps for the Peninsular Campaign.

1863: Skirmish at Bradyville, TN.

1864: USS St Louis fails in an attempt to capture CSS Florida near Funchal, Spain.
Union cavalry under General Kilpatrick skirmishes with Richmond defenses and withdraws. Colonel Dahlgren visits the house of CS Secretary of War Seddon and drinks wine with Mrs. Seddon. His troops then ride to the James River and, finding it swollen, hangs the African-American who was guiding them for suspected treachery. Dahlgren lost track of Kilpatrick during all of this.
Union Admiral Porter sends a reconnaissance up the Black and Ouachita Rivers. This is in preparation for the Red River Expedition.
Union General Grant formally nominated for the rank of Lieutenant General.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, writes about his first meal at Andersonville, GA, a tin cup of cornmeal which he had to make into a cake!

1865: Union Admiral John Dahlgren loses his flagship to a mine. Escapes injury but is left with the uniform on his back.
Wisconsin passes the 13th Amendment while New Jersey rejects it.
Confederate General Early begins massing his army at Waynesborough, VA in order to counter the Union cavalry force.

March 2

1861: Territories of Nevada, Dakota (modern day North and South Dakota), Wyoming, and Montana formed.

1862: Confederate General Polk completes evacuation of Columbus, KY leaving all of Kentucky in Union hands.
Confederate General Van Dorn assumes command of CS forces along the Mississippi River upon reaching the Confederate encampment in the Boston Mountains, AR.

1863: US Congress approves a bill for military appointments, which include the dismissal of 30 officers.
Union General Hooker has quite the reputation in the Army of the Potomac. He is seen as a great organizer, but also for his drinking and entertaining "women of ill repute." A common story is that his name became a term for prostitute. Today, there is a dispute over that, with some claiming that the term "hooker" actually referred to prostitutes working in Washington DC and would "hook" young soldiers into their bordellos.

1864: Union Colonel Dahlgren is ambushed and killed outside Richmond, VA. Papers found on his body point to an assassination plot against CS President Davis. US officials deny knowledge of any plot.
US Senate formally confirms the appointment of Ulysses Grant to Lieutenant General, the first since George Washington.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes about paying $20 for a half-cord of wood, $60 for a bushel of white beans, and $8 for a pound of bacon.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, writes about helping a friend build a shelter with whatever they could find. He also begins making sketches of the living conditions, which were already becoming horrible.

1865: Confederate General Lee proposes a conference to resolve differences in order to end the war.
Confederate General Jubal Early’s attempt to retake the Shenandoah Valley ends with his army detachment no longer a threat, following an attack by Union General Philip Sheridan at Waynesboro, VA.

March 3

1862: Skirmish at New Madrid, MO

1863: Union warships fire on Ft McAllister, GA to no effect.
US Congress approves the Enrollment Act, making men between 20 and 45 eligible for the draft.

1864: In Dayton, OH, fifteen men of the 44th Ohio, on leave, wrecked the offices of the Dayton Daily Empire after the newspaper printed a series of anti-Lincoln editorials.
Union General Kilpatrick continues his retreat while Colonel Dahlgren's body is stripped bare and sent to Richmond, VA.

1865: The Freedmen’s Bureau, tasked with looking after freed slaves, is established.
Union troops enter Cheraw, SC where they find a cache of vintage wine. That wine is soon drunk.
Union General Grant receives orders not to enter into discussions with Confederate leaders. Army commanders will not make political decisions.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that his household income has risen to $16,000 a year, but that only equals $300 in gold.

March 4

1861: Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated at the 16th President of the United States.
The “Stars and Bars” (Confederate First National Flag) is raised for the first time.
Mary Chesnut writes after attending a slave auction, “South Carolina slave holder as I am my very soul sickened--- it is too dreadful. I tried to reason--- this is not worse than the willing sale most women make of themselves in marriage--- nor can the consequences be worse.”

1862: Union General John Pope leads an assault on New Madrid, MO and Island No. 10 on the Mississippi River.
Union Flag Officer Foote arrives in Columbus, KY to find that Confederate forces have already left.
Union General Henry Halleck relieves General Grant for allegedly being drunk on duty.
Andrew Johnson appointed military governor of Tennessee.
Confederate General Lee is recalled from South Carolina back to Richmond, VA.
Confederate General Van Dorn begins operations against Union forces in northern Arkansas.

1863: Confederate General Van Dorn launches an attack on Union General Rosecrans' troops neat Spring Hill, TN, shattering a brigade.

1864: Union General Sherman's forces return to Vicksburg, MS.
Union General Kilpatrick raids the area where Colonel Dahlgren was killed before returning to Union lines.
US Congress approves Andrew Johnson's appointment as military Governor of Tennessee.

1865: Union General Sherman’s army enters North Carolina.
US President Lincoln inaugurated for second term.
CS Congress approves the design for the Third National flag.

March 5

1862: Union General Nathaniel Banks moves against Confederate General Thomas Jackson at Winchester, VA (Shenandoah Valley Campaign begins)
Union General Smith's troops concentrate at Savannah, TN.
Confederate General Beauregard is given command of Confederate troops in the Mississippi River Valley.
Union General Sigel avoids getting surrounded by Confederate General Van Dorn's troops by pulling back to Sugar Creek, AR.

1863: Battle of Thompson’s Station, TN. Union commander: Colonel John Coburn. Confederate commander: General Earl Van Dorn. Colonel Coburn saw a target of opportunity and attack. The Confederates counterattacked and Coburn’s force was taken prisoner. Confederate victory.
Union engineers begin construction of canal across the area of land opposite Vicksburg, MS. This is being done while under fire from the city.

1864: A Confederate attack on Yazoo City, MS is repulsed.
Confederate Government orders that 1/2 of all space on blockade runners be devoted to war materiel. Also authorized is the formation of a fleet of government blockade runners.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that a turkey can now be bought for $60.

1865: Confederate General Breckenridge assumes command of Confederate forces in the Appalachian Mountains of Western Virginia.
US President Lincoln names Hugh McCulloch to be Secretary of the Treasury.
CS President Davis is still confident in a Confederate victory, expressing that in a letter to a Confederate Congressman.

March 6

1862: Union General Curtis concentrates his forces to face Confederate General Van Dorn near Pea Ridge, AR.
Confederate General Van Dorn's soldiers launch an attack on Union lines at Sugar Creek, AR
CS Congress approves scorched earth policy for Confederate forces in Virginia.
US President Lincoln pushes for funding to help states considering emancipation laws.

1863: The cavalry of the Union Army of the Potomac is re-equipping with Sharps breech-loading carbines. This will give the Union mounted arm more fire power than their Confederate counterparts.

1864: Both Northern and Southern newspapers print articles on the recent Kilpatrick raid. Northern papers call it a great victory while the Southern papers decry the raid as barbaric.

1865: Union force fails to secure a crossing at St Marks, FL.
Union General Sherman's troops cross the Pee Dee River, NC.
Confederate General Joe Johnston is given command of the Department of North Carolina, with an area of responsibility covering all of NC and north to the Petersburg, VA siege lines.
Meta Morris Grimball, a South Carolina resident, does not share CS President Davis’ confidence. She writes in her diary about current conditions in her home state.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes about buying a cord of oak and green pine wood for $55.

March 7

1862: Battle of Pea Ridge (Elkhorn Tavern), AR. Union commander: General Samuel Curtis. Confederate commander: General Earl Van Dorn. Day One: Confederate forces attack on a two pronged front, threatening any possible Union retreat route, but Federal forces managed to turn the right wing attack back. Confederates lose two generals (McCulloch and McIntosh) in the process. Fighting ends at sundown.
USS Monitor encountering storms enroute to VA.
Skirmish between Union General Banks and Confederate General Jackson at Winchester, VA.

1863: Baltimore, MD prohibits sale of "secesh" music.
Union troops under General Banks advance on Baton Rouge, LA.
Confederate General Smith assumes command of all Confederate troops west of the Mississippi River.

1864: A cargo ship arrives at Halifax, NC with iron for the under construction CSS Albemarle.
The New York Times prints an editorial depicting the effect that African-American soldiers are having on Northern racial attitudes. Sadly, discriminatory laws are still in effect in the North.
Union Sergeant John Ransom writes that on this date he and other prisoners were taken from their prison and placed in railroad cars and are taken south.

1865: Union General Jacob Cox's troops establish themselves at New Berne, NC.

March 8

1862: CSS Virginia sails into Hampton Roads, VA. Sinks USS Cumberland and USS Congress. Forces USS Minnesota aground. Retires up the James River after the Virginia’s commander, Commander Franklin Buchanan, is wounded. . USS Monitor arrives about 1a.m.
Union General McClellan gets approval to launch a campaign against Richmond, VA from the coast.
Battle of Pea Ridge, AR. Day Two. Union forces open the second day with an artillery bombardment of Confederate lines followed by an infantry assault. This attack forces the Confederates to retreat from the area. Battle ends as Union victory.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, writes about visiting Mount Vernon, George Washington's home, and finding the place a little run down.

1863: Confederate Captain John Mosby leads a force into Fairfax Court House, VA and captures Union General Edwin Stoughton, plus 30 other men and 58 horses. Ironically, that Union force had orders to seek and capture Mosby.
Writer Nathaniel Hawthorne writes a friend in England expressing the war weariness that many Northerners feel.

1864: Union General Grant arrives in Washington, DC.

1865: Confederate General Bragg makes an unsuccessful attack on Union General Cox’s position at Kinston, NC.
CS Senate votes to approve the enlistment of African-Americans into the Confederate Army.

March 9
1862: First battle between ironclad ships begins after dawn as CSS Virginia reenters Hampton Roads with the idea to finish off USS Minnesota. Union commander: Naval Lieutenant John Worden aboard USS Monitor. Confederate commander: Lieutenant Catsby ap R Jones aboard CSS Virginia (ex-USS Merrimac). During the battle both ships sustain damage and the Monitor’s commander is wounded. Both ships pull back, each crew believing they had defeated the other.
Union troops probe toward suspected Confederate positions in northern Virginia, but fail to find any enemy troops to engage.

1863: Union General Banks concentrating his forces at Baton Rouge, LA. This force is supposed to join General Grant's campaign to take Vicksburg, MS but the Confederate stronghold at Port Hudson, LA is in the way. Meanwhile another fake Union gunboat is floated past the Vicksburg defenses, spooking the batteries into wasting much ammunition.

1864: Union General Grant is formally promoted to Lieutenant General. After the promotion ceremony, he leaves Washington, DC to make his headquarters in the field with the Army of the Potomac.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that bacon is selling for $15 a pound and cornmeal for $50 a bushel.

1865: Union General Kilpatrick is surprised at his camp at Monroe's Cross Roads, VA by Confederate Generals Hampton and Wheeler. It was believed that Kilpatrick was so surprised that he ran off without getting dressed.
Vermont passes the 13th Amendment.
The New York World prints an editorial blasting plans for a third draft for the Union armies.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that cornmeal is selling for $100 a bushel and bacon for $13 a pound.

March 10

1862: Skirmish at Burke's Station, VA.
Skirmish at Jacksbobough, TN.

1863: US President Lincoln proclaims that any Union deserter who returns to his unit by April 1 will not be punished.
Jacksonville, FL occupied by Union troops.

1864: Union Generals Grant and Meade meet at Brandy Station, VA. Grant tells Meade that he will retain command of the Army of the Potomac. Grant feels that he will better command all Union forces by staying in the field rather than behind a desk in Washington, DC.

1865: Confederate cavalry led by General Hampton are repulsed by rallying Union cavalry under Union General Kilpatrick at Monroe’s Cross Roads, VA.
Confederate General Bragg is forced across the Neuse River, withdrawing from Kinston, NC.
Confederate General William Whiting dies of injuries suffered in the fall of Ft Fisher, NC.

March 11

1861: Confederate Congress meets in Montgomery, AL. Adopts a Constitution almost exactly like the US Constitution, except that slavery in endorsed.

1862; US President Lincoln relieves Union General McClellan as commander-in-chief but leaves him in command of the Army of the Potomac.
Confederate General Jackson’s forces withdraw to the south of Winchester, VA.
Skirmish at Paris, TN.
Confederate Generals Floyd and Pillow are sacked for their actions at Ft Donaldson, TN.

1863: A Union force heading down the Yazoo River toward Vicksburg, MS reaches Ft Pemberton and is repulsed by the defenders.
Baltimore, MD prohibits the sale of pictures of Confederate leaders.

1864: Union commanders planning to advance up the Red River, LA are concerned with river levels. They seem to be lower than expected.

1865: Union General Sherman captures Fayetteville, NC.

March 12

1862: Skirmish at Lexington, MO.
Federal forces take Jacksonville, FL.
Mary Chesnut writes, “Lincoln came through Baltimore locked up in Adam’s express car! Noble entrance into the Government of a free people.” This is in reference to US President-elect Lincoln traveling to Washington, DC under tight security due to death threats.

1863: Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner expresses his concerns about Confederate commerce raiders being built in British ports in a letter to a friend in England.
Union Admiral Farragut plans to run his vessels past Port Hudson, LA in order to block the supply routes from northwestern Louisiana.

1864: The Red River Expedition begins as Union General Banks launched a joint Army/Navy force against Confederate General Kirby Smith’s Trans-Mississippi army.
Union General Henry Halleck is relieved as commander-in-chief and named chief of staff.
Union General Grant assumes command of all Union armies and names Union General Sherman commander of the armies in the West (Army of the Tennessee, Army of the Ohio, and Army of the Cumberland.)
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that flour is selling for $600 a barrel, cornmeal for $50 per bushel and fresh fish for $5 a pound. His household income is $7200 a year.

1865: Union Naval forces reach Wilmington, NC and establish communications with General Sherman, presently at Fayetteville, NC destroying the arsenal there.

March 13

1862: Confederate troops evacuate New Madrid, MO and move to Island #10.
Union General Burnside moves his troops from Roanoke Island to the North Carolina mainland.
Union General McClellan is reminded that his plans for an offensive from the tip of the York Peninsula to Richmond, VA must take into account the defense of Washington, DC.
Union troops under General Pope take Point Pleasant, MO.

1863: A second Union attack on Ft Pemberton, MS, is repulsed.
The Confederate States Laboratory on Brown’s Island, Richmond, VA, explodes, killing 69 women and children.

1864: Union troops reach Simsport, LA. (Red River Expedition)
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that boarding houses in Richmond, VA are charging $300 a month for rent.
Union Sergeant John Ransom's train has reached Macon, GA. The prisoners have been given "a pone of corn bread apiece weighing about two pounds, which is liberal on their part."

1865: Union General Sheridan’s cavalry involved in a skirmish at Beaver Dam Station, near Richmond, VA.
CS President Davis signs the bill allowing enlistment of African-Americans into the Confederate Army.

March 14

1862: Union forces capture New Berne, NC defeating a larger Confederate army.
Union General Pope's forces take New Madrid, MO.

1863: A Federal attempt to sail past Confederate batteries at Port Hudson, MS results in only two ships making it past. This now places Union naval forces between Port Hudson and Vicksburg.
A Confederate attack on Union positions at Ft Anderson, on the Neuse River, NC, is repulsed.

1864: CS Vice President Stephens makes a speech critical of CS President Davis before the Georgia Legislature.
Union troops capture Ft De Russy, LA (Red River Expedition)
Union Sergeant John Ransom writes that he has reached Camp Sumter (Andersonville, VA).

1865; Union General Cox captures Kinston, NC.
Union general Sherman's advance troops skirmish at the Black River while the main body crosses the Cape Fear River, advancing deeper into North Carolina.

March 15

1862: Union Generals Sherman and Hurlbut reach Pittsburg Landing, TN. Union General Don Carlos Buell is also ordered to Pittsburg Landing with his Army of the Ohio.
Union General C. F. Smith injures his leg and Union General Grant is restored to command of the Union armies massing at Pittsburg Landing.

1863: USS Mississippi, grounded in the attempt to sail past Port Hudson, LA is destroyed to prevent the gunboat falling into Confederate hands.

1864: Louisiana state functions transferred from military to civilian control.
Union fleet arrives at Alexandria, LA, on the Red River.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, writes about several tunnels that were being dug in order to escape from Andersonville, GA. He also writes that a barber shop has been set up next to his shanty.

1865: Union General Sherman begins moving from Fayetteville to Goldsborough, NC.

March 16

1861: Arizona territory declares itself aligned with the Confederacy.
US Army Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee is promoted to Colonel in charge of 1st US Cavalry.

1862: Skirmish at Black Jack's Forest, TN.

1863: The Steele’s Bayou expedition is launched to find another way to Vicksburg from the northeast. This will end on March 22 in failure.
Union General Averill plans a cavalry raid in response to Confederate raids and taunting by Confederate General Fitzhugh Lee, Averill's West Point classmate. General Hooker approves the raid, noting the attitude in the Union army at the time that no one has "seen a dead cavalryman."

1864: Union forces concentrate at Alexandria, LA.
Confederate General Forrest begins raids into Tennessee and Kentucky.
CS Vice President Stephens gives a speech before the Georgia Legislature, ripping the government and President Davis for recently passed acts.

1865: Battle of Averasboro, NC. Union commander: General William Sherman. Confederate commander: General William Hardee. Hardee’s troops were put as a blocking force as Sherman’s forces were marching from Fayetteville, NC. Union cavalry under General Kilpatrick tried to break the Confederate line, but it took two divisions of infantry to finally break through. Hardee was forced to withdraw to Bentonville, NC, where the rest of Confederate General Johnston’s army was. Union victory.

March 17

1862: The Union Army of the Potomac starts boarding transports for the trip to the York Peninsula. This begins the Peninsular Campaign.

1863: The Yazoo pass expedition is ended in failure. Another way to get to Vicksburg is needed.
At Kelly’s Ford, VA, Union cavalry under General Averill engages Confederate cavalry under General Fitzhugh Lee, son of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and Averill’s classmate at West Point. When told that General J.E.B. Stuart was approaching, Averill sounded retreat and forfeits the opportunity to destroy Lee. Among the Confederate dead was Major John Pelham (“the Gallant Pelham”), one of the best artillery officers the Army of Northern Virginia had.
Members of the 116th PA put out this advertisement,"To come off the 17th of March, rain or shine, by horses the property of, and to be ridden by, commissioned officers of that brigade. The prozes are a purse of $500; second horse to save his stakes; 2 1/2 mile heat, best two in three, over four hurdles four and a half feet high, and five ditch fences including two artifical rivers fifteen feet wide and six deep; hurdles to be made of forest pine and braced with hoop." This became known as the "Grand Irish Steeple Chase."

1864: US President Lincoln presses Maryland to adopt emancipation.

1865: Confederate General Hardee's army reaches Bentonville, NC and joins General Joe Johnston's force, the only force in the area that might slow down the Union juggernaught.
Union General Canby begins operations against Mobile, AL.

March 18

1861: Texas governor Sam Houston refuses to take Confederate Oath of Allegiance.
Mary Chesnut, wife of a wealthy planter and living in Charleston, SC, writes in her diary about the moral effect that Slavery has on the society she lives in.

1862: Judah Benjamin is named Confederate Secretary of State while George W. Randolph is named Confederate Secretary of War.
Confederate troops under General Albert Johnston arrive in Corinth, MS.

1863: Union naval forces stop a blockade runner from entering Charleston Harbor, SC.
Union General Hooker is angry over the failure of General Averill at Kelly's Ford, VA.
In Paris, France, the Erlanger Bank lends the Confederacy 3,000,000 Pounds Sterling. The bank would never recoup the losses.

1864: The US Sanitary Commission, formed in 1861 to take care of soldier’s welfare, finished a fair in Washington, DC which showcased their work. The organization was praised for their accomplishments by US President Lincoln.
Union General Sherman formally assumes command of the Military Division of the Mississippi.
Confederate forces concentrate at Carroll Jones' Plantation, 36 miles from Alexandria, LA to counter any Union move up the Red River.
Arkansas voters approve a new state constitution that ends slavery.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that most residents of Richmond, VA may average two ounces of meat per day, if there is any. Cornmeal is selling for $50 a bushel and bacon for $7.75 a pound.

1865: Confederate Congress ends its current session. They will never meet again.
Skirmishing at Bentonville, NC as both Union and Confederate forces concentrate. The sinking fortunes of the Confederacy are evident in the fact that General Joe Johnston can only muster 17,000 men. Union General Sherman is fielding 60,000.
Union troops advancing up the west side of Mobile Bay toward Mobile, AL. This is a diversion, the real attack will come from the east.

March 19

1861: Forts Clark, Inge, and Lancaster are surrendered to Texas authorities.

1862: The Confederate strategy in Tennessee is to prevent Union forces from opening avenues if invasion into the heart of the Confederacy. General Beauregard's army will join General Albert Johnston's at Corinth, MS to attack a reported Union force under General Grant at Pittsburg Landing, TN.

1863: Union forces, retreating from Ft Pemberton, north of Vicksburg, MS, meet reinforcements and try another assault on the fort.
USS Hartford and Albatross sail past Confederate batteries at Natchez and Grand Gulf, MS and position themselves below Vicksburg, MS.


1864: Battle of Laredo, TX, Union commander: General Edmund Davis. Confederate commander: Colonel Santos Benavides. Small Confederate force prevents two Union cavalry units from seizing the Rio Grand River valley. This battle pitted Union Hispanics versus Confederate Hispanics. Confederate victory.
Georgia Legislature votes to press the Confederate Government to offer peace terms after a Confederate victory. Of course, they are looking nervously at the prospect of a Union invasion from Tennessee.
Union General Bank's forces start entering Alexandria, LA.

1865: Battle of Bentonville, NC. Union commander: General Henry Slocum. Confederate commander: General Joseph Johnston. Day One. Johnston orders an attack on a part of the Union XIV Corps, driving them back. Between thick forests and swamps and the arrival of XX Corps, Johnston has no choice but to return to their original trenches. Sherman is rushing the bulk of his army to the area.
Union General Sheridan has joined General Grant's command at Petersburg, VA.
Letters from Confederate soldiers in Petersburg, VA express knowledge of the entire war effort failing if they have to pull out of the trenches. Union soldier’s letters express a feeling that the war will soon be over.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that bacon is selling at $20 a pound and cornmeal for $140 a bushel.

March 20

1861: Two of US President Lincoln’s sons, Tad and Willie, contract measles, adding to his other worries.

1862: Union General Benjamin Butler assumes command of Army units assigned to the assault on New Orleans.
Confederate General Jackson moves his troops toward Winchester, VA in pursuit of fleeing Federal troops.

1863: A Union attempt to take Vicksburg, MS by way of Steele's Bayou is repulsed.

1864: CSS Alabama arrives at Cape Town, South Africa.

1865: Battle of Bentonville, NC. Day Two. Confederate General Johnston holds the line as Union reinforcements approach. Federals begin hitting the Confederate center while fending off cavalry attacks by Confederate General Wheeler.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that a barrel of flour can be had for $1500.


March 21

1861: CS Vice-President Stephens makes a speech in Savannah, GA in which he defends the position taken by the South.
Louisiana approves the new Confederate Constitution.

1862: Skirmish at Mosquito Inlet, FL.

1863: Union General Sumner dies before assuming a new command in the West.
Confederates hit a Federal train between Bolivar and Grand Junction, TN.
Skirmishing at Salem, TN.

1864: US President Lincoln approves recently passes acts allowing the territories of Colorado and Nevada to become states.
A Union advance force captures the 2nd LA Cavalry at Bayou Rapides, 23 miles from Alexandria, LA.
Union Sergeant John Ransom writes that Camp Sumter (Andersonville, GA) is fast filling up and wood for fires is already getting scarce. He also meets fellow Michiganders among the prisoners.

1865: Union General Schofield captures Goldsborough, NC.
Battle of Bentonville, NC. Day three. Federal XX Corps attempts to turn the Confederate left but is stopped by Confederate Generals Hardee and Hampton. Hardee's son, who joined the 8th TX Cavalry that morning, is killed in a charge. He was 16. That night, General Johnston has to pull his army back to preserve what is left. Battle ends in a Union victory and Confederate forces in North Carolina no longer are able to go on the offensive.
CSS Stonewall tries to start a fight with USS Niagara and USS Sacramento off Ferrol, Spain, but the Federal warships do not accept the challenge.

March 22

1862: Confederate General Jackson’s troops meets Union forces near Winchester, VA.

1863: Confederate General Morgan's raiders capture Mount Sterling, KY.
Confederate General Pegram's troopers conducting raids into Kentucky.

1864: Union General Lewis Wallace assumes command on the Middle Department, with headquarters at Baltimore, MD.
A heavy snow has fallen at Richmond, VA.

1865: Union General James Wilson sets out on a campaign to take out the last Confederate manufacturing center at Selma, AL.

March 23

1862: Battle of Kernstown (Winchester), VA. Union commander: General John Shields. Confederate commander: General Thomas Jackson. Confederates are repulsed by superior forces, but the action results in commanders in Washington, DC redeploying troops from McClellan’s army to support operations in the Shenandoah Valley. Union victory.
Union General Burnside's troops head toward Ft Macon, near Beaufort, NC.
Union forces under General Sherman encamp at Pittsburg Landing, TN while General Grant establishes headquarters at Savannah, TN, eight miles away. No one is aware to the growing Confederate force one day's march away at Corinth, MS.
Private Robert Sneeden, mapmaker for III Corps, describes the town of Hampton, VA as "in utter ruin."

1863: Massachusetts Governor Andrew Curtin pledges to local African-American businessman George T. Dowling that blacks will receive equal treatment in the Union Army (sadly that was not the case).
USS Hartford and USS Albatross bombard Confederate batteries at Warrenton, MS.

1864: Union Generals Banks, Smith and Admiral Porter meet at Alexandria, LA.
Union General Grant returns to Washington, DC after allowing General Warren to assume command of V Corps.

1865: At Goldsborough, NC Union General Sherman unites his army with those of Generals Schofield and Terry, giving him 100,000 men.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes that beef is selling for $15 a pound, bacon for $20 a pound, and butter for $20 a pound.

March 24

1862: Confederate General Jackson’s troops go back to Mt. Jackson, VA.
Confederate General Albert S. Johnston arrives in Corinth, MS.
Wendell Phillips, an abolitionist speaker, is attacked at a rally at Cincinnati, OH and a small riot breaks out.
Union troops besiege Ft Macon, NC when a surrender demand is refused.

1863: A last Federal attempt to take Vicksburg, MS by a water route fails as General Sherman's troops are repulsed at the Black Bayou.

1864: Confederate General Forrest captures Union City, TN.
Skirmish at Trough Bottom, AR.

1865: With Union General Sherman firmly in North Carolina, Confederate General Lee knows that supplies from the south are now cut off. Lee now asks General Gordon to try to open a line in the Union line so the army can escape and join General Johnston's forces in North Carolina. The Army of Northern Virginia has 35,000 left.

March 25

1862: Union troops pursuing Confederate General Jackson's forces stop at Woodstock, VA.

1863: Confederate cavalry under General Forrest attack a small Union garrison at Paducah, KY.
Union General Burnside appointed commander of the Department of the Ohio.
USS Lancaster is destroyed and USS Switzerland is damaged while withdrawing from Black Bayou, MS.
Skirmishing at Brentwood, TN.

1864: Confederate cavalry under General Forrest hit Paducah, KY, causing panic in nearby Ohio.
Any further Union push up the Red River in Louisiana must wait until the river rises.
Union Sergeant John Ransom writes about first seeing Confederate Captain Wirz, who just took over command of the prison.

1865: Battle of Ft Steadman, VA. Union commander: General Grant. Confederate commander: General Lee. Confederate forces take a fort within the Union lines in order for the Army of Northern Virginia to escape south and join up with General J. Johnston’s army. A Union counterattack results in the capture of 1900 Confederates and a large segment of Confederate entrenchments. This is the last offensive Lee will be able to attempt in the war. Union victory.
Union siege of Mobile, AL, begins.

March 26

1862: Skirmishes at Hammondsville and Warrensburg, MO.
Fighting at Denver, Colorado Territory.
Action at Apache Canyon, New Mexico territory.

1863: West Virginia approves emancipation measure.
Confederate Congress passes act allowing the government to seize private property for military use.

1864: Union Army of the Tennessee taken over by General McPherson.
Confederate General Forrest heads for Ft Pillow on the Mississippi River.

1865: Union General Sheridan’s crossing the James River near Petersburg, VA.
Union General Grant plans another extension of his lines with the aim to surround Confederate General Lee's forces and cut off all avenues of retreat.

March 27

1862: Union forces at Apache Canyon fall back to Glorieta Pass, New Mexico Territory.

1863: US President Lincoln meets with a delegation of Indians.
Union forces complete pullback from Steele's Bayou, MS.

1864: Union General Banks receives orders from General Grant to march his army to Mobile, AL while detaching General Smith's corps to join General Sherman at Vicksburg, MS. This would cause Banks to abandon the Red River Campaign. He decides to press ahead with the campaign in the absence of orders front General Halleck canceling the operation.
Union Sergeant John Ransom describes a daily ration at Camp Sumter (Andersonville, GA),"We have issued to us once each day about a lint of beans, or more properly peas, (full of bugs), and three-quarters of a pint of meal, and nearly every day a piece of bacon the size of your two fingers."

1865: Confederate forces are finding the vise tightening around Spanish Fort at Mobile, AL.
Union Generals Grant and Sherman, Admiral Porter, and President Lincoln meet on board the River Queen at City Point, VA where Lincoln advocates for lenient terms for the soon to be defeated South.
At Mobile, AL, Spanish Fort and nearby Ft Blakely are surrounded.

March 28

1862: Battle of Glorieta Pass, NM. Union commander: Colonel John Slough. Confederate commander: Colonel W. R. Scurry. Confederate General Sibley continues his attempt to seize New Mexico for the Confederacy. Southeast of Santa Fe, they run into Scurry’s Colorado troops. While the Confederates were busy, a Union force of 400, under command of Major J. M. Chivington move west and manage to destroy the Confederate supply wagons. Sibley is forced to withdraw his entire force back onto Texas, ending any dreams of Confederate westward expansion. Union victory.
Union troops capture Shipping Point, VA.
Skirmish at Warrensburg, MO.
1863: Confederates improve batteries at Grand Gulf, MS.
USS Diana captured at Pattersonville, LA.
French Foreign Legion lands at Vera Cruz, Mexico in support of French forces besieging the town of Pubela. This act concerns the Lincoln Administration because a victorious Imperial Mexico could help the CSA.

1864: Union troops under General Banks begin movement toward Shreveport, LA.
A mob of 100 Copperheads attack Union troops on furlough at Charleston, IL killing 5, wounding 20 and setting off a riot.

1865: Union General Wilson’s cavalry skirmish with Confederates at Elyton, AL.
Confederate General Lee has managed to amass 50,000 men for a planned breakout. The problem is that he now faces 125,000 Union troops.


March 29

1861: Texas governor Sam Houston removed from office by pro-Confederate state legislature.
US President Lincoln orders a relied expedition to Ft Sumter, SC.

1862: Skirmish at Middleburg, VA. First recorded use of a machine gun in battle.
Union General Fremont assumes command of one of three Federal armies squaring off against Confederate General Jackson.
Confederate General Albert Johnston assumes command of the army that is assembled at Corinth, MS.

1863: Union General Grant orders General McClernand to Milliken’s Bend to New Carthage in order to bypass Vicksburg, MS
Skirmish at Kelly's Ford, VA.
Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, calling herself Lyons Wakeman, a member of the 153rd NY, writes of her experiences as a soldier. She will die in a Union hospital in 1864 with her disguise intact.

1864: Union General Meade demands an inquiry after newspapers publish articles critical of his leadership at the Battle of Gettysburg, PA. US President Lincoln convinces Meade to withdraw the request.
Federal fleet departs Alexandria, LA and head up the Red River.

1865: Union General Grant begins moving troops toward Dinwiddie Court House, VA, beginning the Appomattox Campaign. Confederates abandon their line at White Oak Road after a sharp fight.
Confederate General Fitzhugh Lee moves his cavalry to Five Forks, VA to support General Pickett's infantry.

March 30

1862: Confederate General Jackson's troops pull back to Harrisonville, VA.

1863: Confederate General A.P. Hill moves his forces to besiege the Federal Garrison at Washington, NC.
US President Lincoln proclaims April 30 a Day of Prayer.
Fighting at Dutton's Hill, KY.

1864: Skirmishes at Bolivar, TN, Caperton's Ferry, AL, Monett's Ferry and Cloutierville, LA, and Arkadelphia, AR.

1865: Union General Wilson’s cavalry encountering Confederate General Forrest’s cavalry at Montevallo, AL.
Union II and V Corps press into the Confederate right flank at Hatcher's Run and Gravelly Run, VA. The Confederate line is now stretched razor thin.
CSS Stonewall leaves Tenerife, Canary Islands.
CS War Department clerk John B. Jones writes about 2,000,000 rations of bread in a North Carolina warehouse but no way to get it to Confederate General Lee's army.

March 31

1862: Union troops are concentrating at Pittsburg Landing, TN.

1863: Skirmish at Dranesville, VA.
Union troops leave Jacksonville, FL
Federal warships Hartford, Albatross, and Switzerland run past the Grand Gulf, MS batteries.

1864: Union General Bank's troops engage Confederates at Natchitoches, LA.
Skirmishes at Arkadelphia, AR, Palatka, FL, and Forks-of-Beaver, KY.

1865: Confederate General Pickett stops Union General Sheridan’s drive to Dinwiddie Court House, however he is forced to redeploy to nearby Five Forks by superior Union numbers.
At Mobile, AL, the Union forces ate delayed because the column coming from Pensacola, FL is delayed by weather.

Birthdays:

US Secretary of War Simon Cameron (1861-1862), 1799
Union General Neal Dow, 1804
Union Naval Officer William Porter, 1809
Confederate General George Crittenden, 1812
Virginia Governor John Letcher, 1813
Confederate General Jerome Robertson, 1815
Confederate General Braxton Bragg, 1817
Union General Herman Haupt, 1817
Union General Don Carlos Buell, 1818
Confederate General Wade Hampton, 1818
Union Naval Captain John Worden, commander of USS Monitor, 1818
London Times correspondent William Russell, 1820
Union General Horatio Wright, 1820
Union General Samuel Zook, 1821
Union General John Pope, 1822
Confederate Diarist Mary Chesnut, 1823
Confederate General Samuel Maxey, 1825
Union General John Buford, 1826
Confederate General Patrick Cleburne, 1828
Union General Jefferson C. Davis (no relation to CS President Davis), 1828
Confederate General John Robert Jones, 1828
Union Major Sullivan Ballou, an officer in the 2nd RI who wrote a very poignant letter to his wife before being killed in the 1st Battle of Bull Run (Manassas, VA), 1829
Confederate General Robert Rhodes, 1829
Union General Carl Schurz, 1829
Confederate General Thomas Munford, 1831
Confederate General Edward Perry, 1831
Union General Philip Sheridan, 1831
Confederate General John Marmaduke, 1833
Union Captain Hubert Dilger, noted artillerist, 1836
Confederate General William Henry “Rooney” Lee, 1837
Union Captain Oliver Wendell Holmes, future US Supreme Court Justice, 1841
Union Sergeant John Ransom, a diarist who kept a journal of his experiences at Camp Sumter (Andersonville, GA), 1843