Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, Oct. 3.

Click 👉Today in History (general history) Oct. 3.

On This Day in Confederate History, Oct. 3.

1862: The Battle of Corinth, Miss., also called the Second Battle of Corinth, took place on this day. Major Generals Earl Van Dorn and Sterling Price led 22,000 Confederates against 23,000 Federals under Major Generals William Rosecrans and Ulysses S. Grant. The Confederate goal was to take back the strategic railroad crossing at that Mississippi town. The Federals were fighting the old Confederate rifle pits around Corinth, and the Confederates made a series of frontal assaults on the breastworks with a breakthrough that pushed the Northerners back into their redoubts. The fighting ended with the darkness. Van Dorn made plans to resume the attack the following day, but the Federals were now in a much stronger position. Federal Brig. Gen. Pleasant A. Hackleman was killed in action.

A Louisiana Confederate

(Liljenquist Collection, Library of Congress)

(Colorized by author)

1863: The Confederate Army of Western Louisiana commanded by Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor, braces for another major campaign when the Federal Army of the Gulf under Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks begins an offensive across Southwest Louisiana with the goal of invading East Texas. Banks has 19,500 bluecoats and Taylor can muster less than half that many men. Taylor will once again have to use Fabian's tactics to draw the Federals deeper into a sparsely settled area that will pose major logistical problems for the invaders and present opportunities to attack the bluecoats piecemeal. Taylor has some highly motivated fighters in his super-aggressive Texas cavalrymen under Brig. Gen. Tom Green, Mouton's Louisiana Infantry Brigade, and Walker's Texas Infantry Division. The Texans are determined to keep the Northmen, who have been so destructive in Louisiana, out of Texas, and some hopping-mad Louisianians are determined to get revenge for what the invaders have done to their families.

Col. George W. Baylor

2nd Cavalry (Arizona Brigade)

Green's Cavalry Division

1864: Gen. John Bell Hood with his Army of Tennessee, Maj. Gen. Fighting Joe Wheeler's cavalry and Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's cavalry all continue to wreak havoc on Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's supply lines for his three armies in Georgia. Hood proceeds with the destruction of the Atlanta to Chattanooga to the railroad line. Wheeler and Forrest continue their raids.

An unidentified Confederate

The CDV has a Tennessee back mark

(M.D. Jones Collection)

Confederate General Birthdays, Oct. 3.

None.