Monday, August 14, 2023

Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, Aug. 14.

  Click 👉Today in History (general history) Aug. 14. 

On This Day in Confederate History, Aug. 14.

1863: General P.G.T. Beauregard documents the happenings in the Siege of Charleston, S.C. on this day, Aug. 14, 1863: "On the 14th, the land batteries opened on Fort Sumter, firing three shots; two struck. About 11a.m. in. the wooden gunboats shelled the fort at long range, and at 5.15 p.m. the land batteries again opened on the fort. Throughout the day the enemy remained quiet, firing occasionally, and replied to by our batteries. The sharpshooters on both sides kept up a constant fire. During the night the fire from Battery Wagner put a stop to the enemy’s operations in its front. The strengthening of Fort Sumter advanced rapidly day and night. Brigadier-General Ripley was instructed as to the armament of certain portions of the new lines on James Island, and of a new battery thrown up near Fort Johnson."

Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard
(CDV, M.D. Jones Collection)

1864: The Richmond Campaign in Virginia began on this day which would last until Aug. 20, 1864. The Federals were trying to distract the Confederates at Petersburg. Battles were fought at Deep Bottom, White's Tavern, Charles City Road, New Market Road, Fussell's Mill, and Deep Run. Federal Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock led 28,000 troops there during the campaign and the Confederates, numbering between 8,500 and 20,000 men, were led by Gen. Robert E. Lee and Maj. Gen. Charles W. Field. The Federals had 2,899 total casualties and the Confederates had about 1,500.
Pvt./1st Lt. Daniel S. Stallings & Pvt. William E. Musgraves
Co. F, 23rd Tenn. Inf. Reg't., of Bushrod Johnson's Brigade.
The 23rd Tenn. Inf. took part in the fighting around Richmond 
August 1864. Stallings was in command of
Co. F at the time & was made up of Bedford County, Tenn. men.
(Courtesy of Stallings & Musgraves families)

Confederate General Birthdays, Aug. 14.

Brigadier General Clement Hoffman "Rock" Stevens was born on this day in 1821 in Norwich, Conn. the son of a South Carolina Naval officer. His family moved to Florida and then South Carolina when he was young. Prior to the war, he was a bank cashier and a militia colonel in Charleston, S.C. In April 1861, Stevens became a colonel in the Confederate Army. He took part in the First Battle of Manassas, Va. where he suffered his first wound. Subsequently, after recovery,  Stevens was given command of the 24th S.C. Inf. and Battle of Secessionville,  and then his regiment was sent to Vicksburg to reinforce Gen. J.E. Johnston's relief force for the besieged city. The unit then became part of the Army of Tennessee in Brig. Gen. States Rights Gist's brigade and he was wounded again in the Battle of Chickamauga. Stevens was promoted to brigadier general on Jan. 20, 1864. Stevens was mortally wounded on July 20, 1864, in the Battle of Peachtree Creek in the Atlanta Campaign and died two days later in Atlanta, Ga. He was buried in St. Paul's Episcopal Cemetery in Pendleton, S.C.

Brig. Gen. Clement H. "Rock" Stevens
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Brigadier General William Terry was born on this day in 1824 in Amherst County, Va. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1848, became a lawyer in Wytheville, Va., and also was the co-editor of the Wytheville Telegraph newspaper. Terry served in the local militia and his unit was sent to Harper's Ferry during the John Brown insurrection in 1859. In 1861, he was an officer in the 4th Virginia Infantry in the famous Stonewall Brigade and was in the First Battle of Manassas and was promoted to major. Terry then fought in the Peninsula Campaign, Gaines' Mill, Malvern Hill, and the Second Battle of Manassas where he was wounded. Recovering from the wound, he led his regiment at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, and was commissioned a brigadier general on May 20, 1864, and after The Wilderness. He then led his brigade at Cold Harbor, Petersburg, the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864, including the Battle of Monocacy, the Third Battle of Winchester, and the Battle of Fort Stedman at Petersburg where he was wounded and was recovering from his wound at home when the war ended. Following the war, Terry resumed his law career and was elected to the U.S. Congress for two nonconsecutive terms. Terry died in a drowning accident on Sept. 5, 1888, in Rock Creek while returning from the Grayson County Courthouse. He was buried in East End Cemetery in Wytheville.

Brig. Gen. William Terry
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