Click 👉Today in history (general history) June 4.
On This Day in Confederate History, June 4.
1862: Confederate Richmond is still threatened by the large Federal army of Maj. Gen. G.B. McClellan but in reality, he has lost the initiative in the campaign and General Robert E. Lee has seized it.
1863: At Vicksburg, Miss., the Confederates do everything they can to stop the Federal approach trenches but on this day they were within 150 yards of the Confederate defense line. The Federal Navy is also continuing to pour shells into the city and the Confederate batteries. Captain David Harris was the Confederate engineer who oversaw the placement of the river batteries at Vicksburg.
Outside of Port Hudson, La., the Federals launch an expedition under Col. Benjamin Grierson to destroy the Confederate cavalry under Colonel John Logan between June 3-8 but fail miserably. Grierson is ambushed near Clinton, Louisiana by the Mississippi cavalry of Colonel Thomas R. Stockdale, and is then outflanked by Colonel John Logan, and the bluecoats are badly cut up. Logan reports the Confederates had 20 killed and wounded while the Federal losses are 30 killed, 50 wounded, and 40 prisoners are taken. Grierson is forced to retreat.
1864: At the Battle of Cold Harbor, Va., trench warfare continues after the Federal disaster of June 3. Grant initially refuses to call for a truce to recover his wounded from the between lines and allows many of the bluecoats to die before he finally does call for one.
Confederate General History, June 4.
Brigadier General Alexander William Campbell was born on this day in 1828 in Nashville, Tennessee. A prewar lawyer and mayor in Jackson, Tennesse, Campbell enlisted in the Confederate Army as a private, but rose through the ranks and then colonel of the 33rd Tennessee Infantry and then brigadier general on March 1, 1865. He was severely wounded leading his regiment at the Battle of Shiloh, was appointed inspector general for Lt. Gen. Leonidas Polk, was captured in July 1863 at Lexington, Tennessee, and was exchanged in February 1865. He then commanded a brigade in Brig. Gen. W.H. Jackson's division in Lt. Gen. N.B. Forrest's Corps. Following the war, Campbell resumed his law practice in Jackson, Tennessee. He died June 13, 1893, at Jackson and was buried there in Riverside Cemetery.
Brigadier General Gabriel James Rains was born on this day in 1803 in Craven County, North Carolina. He graduated from West Point in 1827 and served in the Seminole Wars, Mexican-American War, and various frontier commands. Rains resigned from the U.S. Army and joined the Confederate Army and commissioned a brigadier general. He was wounded in the Battle of Seven Pines. After recovering, Rains was assigned to the conscription bureau and torpedo bureau in Richmond, Va. He organized mines, then called torpedoes to protect harbors in Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, as well as other port cities. He also invented a type of land mine. Following the war, Rains was employed as a chemist in Augusta, Georgia, and a civilian clerk for the U.S. Army in Charleston, S.C. He died on August 6, 1881, in Aiken, S.C., and was buried in St. Thaddeus Cemetery.
Brigadier General Paul Jones Semmes was born on this day in 1815 in Wilkes County, Georgia. Gen. Semmes was mortally wounded in the wheat field on July 2, 1863, leading his command. He died July 10, 1863, of his wound at Martinsburg, Virginia. A prewar banker and planter in Wilkes County, Georgia, Semmes was active in the Georgia Militia. He was also the quartermaster general for the state militia and a brigadier general in the Knights of the Golden Circle. During the war, Semmes was appointed colonel of the 2nd Georgia Infantry and was promoted to brigadier general on March 11, 1862. His battles included South Mountain, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Salem Church, and Gettysburg, where he was mortally wounded in the Wheatfield and died July 10 in Martinsburg, [W.] Va. Semmes was buried in Linwood Cemetery in Columbus, Georgia.
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