Click 👉Today in History (general history) Sept. 6.
On This Day in Confederate History, Sept. 6.
1862: Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia occupied Frederick, Maryland on this day. While there, soldiers of Starke's Louisiana Brigade were accused of looting. Brig. Gen. William E. Starke, brigade commander, protested Jackson's order to return his brigade there so the victims could identify the guilty soldiers. Starke's refused unless the other brigades were ordered to do so as well. Jackson put Starke under arrest, but General Lee returned Starke to duty for the upcoming battles at Harper's Ferry and Sharpsburg (Antietam Creek). An investigation proved that members of the Stonewall Brigade were the guilty parties, not Starke's men.
1863: After a day of heavy fighting at Battery Wagner in the Siege of Charleston, S.C., Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard decides to evacuate it. He reports: "The evacuation began at 9 o’clock on the night of September 6. According to instructions, a guard of 35 men, under the command of Captain T. A. Huguenin, had been left to bring up the extreme rear and to fire the only magazine that contained powder. The necessary arrangements being completed, and Colonel Keitt having been informed that the transportation was ready, the embarkation commenced and was continued with the utmost quietness and dispatch. The wounded were first embarked and were followed by the remnants of the infantry garrison. Captain [C, E.] Kanapaux, commanding light artillery, was then ordered to spike his three howitzers and embark on his command. Captain [H. R.] Lesesne, commanding at Battery Gregg, spiked the guns of that battery, and followed with his command, and the rear guard from Wagner coming up at this time, in pursuance of orders from Colonel Keitt, the safety fuses communicating with the magazines were lighted—that at Wagner by Captain Huguenin and that at Gregg by Major [E. L.] Holcombe, commissary of subsistence—and the remainder of the command was safely and expeditiously embarked. Owing to defects in the fuses themselves, they failed to accomplish the purpose, though their lighting was superintended by careful and reliable officers. The magazines, therefore, were not destroyed. The guns in the batteries were spiked as far as their condition allowed, and the implements were generally destroyed and equipment carried off. The evacuation was concluded at about 1.30 a.m. on the 7th instant. The boats containing the portion of the garrison last embarked were fired upon by the enemy’s barges, but without effect. Only two of our boats, containing crews of about 19 men and 27 soldiers (or some 46 in all), were captured by the enemy’s armed barges between Cumming’s Point and Fort Sumter."
In the Chickamauga Campaign, there was a skirmish at Stevens' Gap, Georgia, which was a pass-through Missionary Ridge. Both sides were maneuvering for the best position prior to the coming Battle of Chickamauga.
1864: Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor assumed command of the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana. He said in his memoir his main initial duty was to support the Army of Tennessee in the aftermath of the fall of Atlanta. One of his first commands was to assign Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's cavalry had the mission of cutting Sherman's supply lines. Taylor was very impressed with Forrest and said they had a good working relationship.
Confederate General Birthdays, Sept. 6.
Major General William "Extra Billy" Smith was born on this day in 1797 in King George County, Virginia. He was a long-time Virginia lawyer, and member of congress and served two terms as governor of Virginia. Smith was made a brigadier general after Virginia seceded in 1861. His battles included Fairfax Court House, First Manassas, Seven Pines, Seven Days Battles, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg. Smith resigned his commission on July 10, 1863, but received a promotion to major general. He was then made the Assistant Inspector General and was on recruiting duty in his home state. Smith was also elected governor of Virginia again on Jan. 1, 1864, and served in that office until removed by the Yankees on May 9, 1865. However, he was paroled on June 8, 1865, and retired to his plantation. But at age 80, he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. Smith died May 18, 1887, at age 89 in Warrenton, Virginia, and was buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.
Brigadier General Francis Stebbins Bartow was born on this day in Savannah, Georgia. He was a prewar lawyer in Savannah, Ga., and was elected to two terms in the Georgia House of Representatives and to one term in the Georgia Senate. Bartow was also a captain in the 21st Oglethorpe Light Infantry and supported the right of secession. In the War for Southern Independence, he commanded as a colonel two Georgia regiments and two battalions of Kentucky infantry at the First Battle of Manassas on July 21, 1861. They played a key role in blocking a Federal flanking movement early in the battle. He was killed in the battle and posthumously promoted to the rank of brigadier general. Bartow was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Savannah, Ga.
Brigadier General St. John Richardson Liddell was born on this day in 1815 at Woodville, Mississippi. A wealthy plantation owner, he was an outspoken proponent of freeing the slaves. He attended West Point for two years, 1834 and 1836, but resigned before graduating. Liddell returned to Louisiana and established his plantation in Catahoula Parish. He had a famous prewar feud with Charles Jones in the 1840s & 1850s. In 1861, he joined the Confederate Army and was a staff officer of Gen. William Hardee and Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston. Liddell was given command of an Arkansas Brigade in the Army of Tennessee and led it at the battles of Perryville and Murfreesboro, where his 16-year-old son was killed. He refused a promotion to major general in order to secure a transfer to the Trans-Mississippi Department. His brigade had the highest number of casualties at the Battle of Chickamauga. He finally was transferred to the Trans-Mississippi and was given command of the Sub-District of North Louisiana. Before the end of the war, he was transferred to Mobile, Ala. where he commanded the infantry and his last battle was at the Battle of Fort Blakely. After the war, he resumed his feud with Jones and was killed in New Orleans on Feb. 14, 1870, in New Orleans, La., and was buried on his plantation.
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