Click 👉Today in History (general history) July 1.
On This Day in Confederate History, July 1.
1862: The Battle of Malvern Hill, Va. ends the Seven Days Battles with the Federal invasion army of the North driven back to Harrison's Landing on the James River and Richmond is freed from immediate destruction. General Robert E. Lee completely turned the direction of the war around in just seven days and has given the South new hope that it can achieve freedom and liberty in its own Southern Republic. The Federals have a nearly impregnable position on Malvern Hill thanks to an overwhelming advantage in artillery. The attacks by Confederates come in three stages but each one is bloodily repulsed. Lee has 55,000 to attack but only 12-14 batteries while Maj. Gen. G.B. McClelland has 54,000 men and 33 batteries with 171 guns. The Confederates suffered 5,400 casualties while 3,000 losses are attributed to the Federals. The grim totals for the Seven Days Battles are Confederates suffered 20,050 casualties and the Federals 15,849, the capital of the Confederacy is secured for the rest of the war.
1863: The first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Pa. is a Southern triumph with General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia driving the Army of the Potomac, now under Maj. Gen. George Meade is out of town. But the Federals now occupy the high ground and dig in all night. Meade has 104,256 bluecoats present for duty. The North also had 146 artillery pieces at Gettysburg. General Lee had between 71,000 and 75,000 men engaged in the battle and 73 artillery pieces. Highlights of the first day included fighting at Herr Ridge, McPherson Ridge, the town of Gettysburg, and Seminary Ridge. Both sides were continuing to receive reinforcements throughout the day.
As the Battle of Gettysburg is just getting underway, the situation for Confederates at the Siege of Vicksburg, Miss. is growing rapidly more critical. Brig. Gen. Francis Shoup reports from the Confederate defense line: "Enemy drove in our pickets in front of stockade last night, wounding 2 men. The enemy is erecting a gabionade in front of Redan. Amounts to nothing."
Confederate General Birthdays, July 1.
Brigadier General John Adams was born on this day in 1825 in Nashville, Tennessee. He graduated from West Point in 1846 ranking 25th in his class. During the Mexican-American War, he has brevetted a first lieutenant for gallantry at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Rosales. Adams resigned from the U.S. Army in 1861 and became a captain in the Confederate cavalry. Promotions came quickly and he was made a brigadier general in December 1862. He commanded a brigade of Mississippi infantry in 1863 and served under Gen. J.E. Johnston's army in its failed attempt to relieve Vicksburg. His brigade then served in the Army of Tennessee and was distinguished in the battles of the Atlanta Campaign. General Adams was severely wounded in the arm on November 30, 1864, in the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee. He refused to leave the field and insisted on leading his men in a fatal charge and was hit by nine bullets and killed in action when he attempted to jump his horse over Yankee breastworks. Adams was buried in Maplewood Cemetery in Pulaski, Tennessee.
Brigadier General Josiah Gorgas was born on this day in 1818 in Running Pumps, Pennsylvania. He was an 1841 graduate of West Point and served in the Mexican-American War. Gorgas spent most of his time in the U.S. Army in the Ordnance Department at various arsenals around the country. He resigned on March 21, 1861, while commanding Frankford Arsenal. Gorgas joined the Confederate Army as a major and chief of the Ordnance Department. In that position, he worked to create an arms industry for the Confederate Army, procured arms and ammunition, created the Nitre Bureau, and established the Augusta, Ga. Powder Works. He was promoted to brigadier on Nov. 10, 1864. Following the war, Gorgas got into the iron-making industry by purchasing an interest in the Brierfield Furnace in Bibb County, Alabama. In 1870, he became the 2nd vice-chancellor of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., and in 1878 became the 8th president of the University of Alabama. Gorgas died May 15, 1883, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery there.
Brigadier General James Argyle Smith was born on this day in 1831 in Maury County, Tennessee. He graduated from West Point in 1853 and then served in the U.S. Army on the frontier fighting Indians. Smith saw action against the Sioux in the Battle of Ash Hollow in 1855 and then fought against the Mormons in the Utah War. In 1861 he resigned from the U.S. Army and joined the Confederate Army and quickly rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and led the 2nd Tennessee Infantry at Shiloh. He was then promoted to colonel and commanded the 5th Confederate Infantry at Perryville, Murfreesboro, and Chickamauga. Smith was then promoted to brigadier general and led his brigade at Missionary Ridge, was wounded in the Battle of Atlanta, and after recovering, fought at Franklin and Bentonville near the end of the war. Post-war, Smith farmed in Mississippi and was elected to the post of Superintendent of Education in 1878. Then in 1893, he became an agent in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and next the Marshal of the Mississippi Supreme Court. Smith died Dec. 6, 1901, in Jackson, Miss., and was interred in Greenwood Cemetery in that city.
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