Today's South's Defender column, Oct.6, covers the Capture of Galveston in 1862, the Battle of Baxter Springs, Kansas in 1863, and a skirmish at Black Rock Gap, Va. in 1864.

  Click 👉Today in History (general history) Oct. 6. 

On This Day in Confederate History, Oct. 6.

1862: Battle of Galveston Harbor: Confederates continue evacuating the troops, equipment, and weapons from Galveston before the four-day truce is scheduled to end on October 8. The Confederates were also building up their fortifications on the mainland at Virginia Point. Colonel Joseph Jarvis Cook was in command of the 1st Texas Heavy Artillery Regiment which manned the defenses of Galveston. Cook was born on Dec. 1, 1826, in New Bern, N.C., and moved with his family in 1832 to Picken's County, Alabama. He was appointed to the U.S. Navy from Alabama in 1841 as a midshipman and promoted to Passed Midshipman on Oct. 19, 1847. He stayed in the Navy achieving the rank of lieutenant until 1851 when he resigned and returned to Pickens County. He married Melissa Frances Dew and the couple was blessed with seven children. They moved to Fayette County, Texas in 1860. With the coming of the war in 1861, he joined the 3rd Battalion Texas Artillery which became the 1st Texas Heavy Artillery when it gained enough men and artillery pieces. He led the infantry attack on Kuhn's Wharf in the Battle of  Galveston. Following the war, he farmed in Texas and died on Jan. 31, 1869, in Pickens County, Alabama.

Col. Joseph J. Cook

1st Texas Heavy Artillery Regiment

(Find a Grave)

1863: The Battle of Baxter Springs, Kansas occurred on this day when Captain William C. Quantrill's Raiders, about 400 in number, attacked Fort Baxter, the garrison of which consisted of 25 cavalrymen and 65 to 70 infantry a mountain howitzer under First Lieutenant James B. Pond. The Confederate attacks were repulsed by the Federals. Quantrill's men then encountered a column of Federals escorting Maj. Gen. James G. Blunt was moving his headquarters from Fort Baxter to Fort Smith, Arkansas. The Confederates were wearing Federal uniforms and took the column by surprise and killed most of the detachment. The Federals lost 103 soldiers killed, 18 wounded, and 10 civilians were also killed, which they called a massacre. Blunt was among those who escaped. The Confederates lost two men killed and two wounded.

1864: Brig. Gen. Thomas Rosser's Confederate cavalry clashed with Brig. Gen. George A. Custer's Federal cavalry in a skirmish at Brock's Gap, Virginia. The Confederates managed to surprise the Federals but the bluecoats were able to fend off the attack.

Brig. Gen. Thomas Rosser

Confederate General Birthdays, Oct. 6.

None.