Saturday, September 9, 2023

Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, Sept. 9.

  Click 👉Today in History (general history) Sept. 9. 

On This Day in Confederate History, Sept. 9.

1862: As Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia continued its march north in Maryland during the Sharpsburg/Antietam Campaign. There fought skirmishes at Monocacy Church and Barnesville, Md.

1863: In the follow-up of the 1863 Confederate victory in the Second Battle of Sabine Pass, Tex./La., Texas Department Commander Maj. Gen. John Bankhead Magruder wrote the following victory message: "Almighty God in His divine mercy has given us another signal victory over our enemies. A handful of determined men, in the face of 15,000 of the enemy's troops and a powerful fleet of gunboats, have for the present defeated their landing, capturing two and crippling two other gunboats, with eighteen pieces of artillery and over 300 prisoners.


STATUE OF
Maj. Richard W. "Dick" Dowling
(Photo by M.D. Jones)

In the Chickamauga Campaign on this day, the Confederate Army of Tennessee had a skirmish with the Federal Army at Lookout Mountain, Ga. Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's two divisions from the Army of Northern Virginia continued their journey by rail to reinforce Bragg's Army of Tennessee. Federal Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans also occupied Chattanooga, Tenn. on this day.

Confederate General Birthdays, Sept. 9.

Major General Martin Luther Smith was born on this day in 1819 in Danby, New York. He graduated from West Point ranking 16th in the Class of 1842 out of 56 cadets. He was assigned to the engineers and served in Florida and then in the Mexican-American War making maps for Gen. Winfield Scott in the Mexico City Campaign. Smith resigned from the U.S. Army in April 1861 and joined the Confederate Army. He was given the rank of colonel and command of the 21st Louisiana Infantry in New Orleans. Smith was promoted to brigadier general on April 11, 1862, and transferred to the engineers. He was promoted to major general on Nov. 4, 1862, and put in charge of building the Vicksburg defenses. Smith was captured when that city fell to the Yankees on July 4, 1863. After being exchanged, he was an engineer in the Army of Tennessee and then the chief engineer of the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana. He was stationed in Mobile, Ala., and surrendered in Athens, Ga. in May 1865. Following the war, Smith lived in Savannah, Ga. where he engaged in civil engineering. He died in Savannah on July 29, 1866, and was buried in Oconee Hill Cemetery in Athens, Ga.

Maj. Gen. Martin L. Smith
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Brigadier General William McRae was born on this day in 1834 in Wilmington, North Carolina. Prior to the war, he was a civil engineer in Monroe, N.C. and during the war initially enlisted as a private in the 15th N.C. Inf. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in April 1862, promoted to colonel, and then to brigadier general in 1864. His battles included the Peninsula Campaign, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Bristoe Station, the Overland Campaign, the Siege of Petersburg, and the Appomattox Campaign. Following the war, McRae was the general superintendent of the Wilmington & Manchester Railroad, the Macon and Brunswick Railroad, and the Western & Atlantic Railroad. McRae died Feb. 11, 1882, in Augusta, Ga., and was buried in Oakdale Cemetery in Wilmington, N.C.

Brig. Gen. William McRae
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Brigadier General James Camp Tappan was born on this day in 1825 in Franklin, Tennessee. He was a lawyer in Helena, Arkansas prior to the war, and served in the Arkansas House of Representatives and as a circuit court judge. Tappan was commissioned a colonel in the 13th Arkansas Infantry and was promoted to brigadier general on Nov. 5, 1862. His battles included Belmont, Shiloh, Richmond, Ky., Perryville, Mansfield, Pleasant Hill, Jenkins' Ferry, and Price's Missouri Expedition. Following the war, Tappan resumed his law practice in Helena, Ark., and was elected to the Arkansas legislature after Reconstruction. He died on Jan. 9, 1899, in Helena and was buried in Maple Hill Cemetery there.

Brig. Gen. James C. Tappan
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