Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, Dec. 16.

    Click 👉TODAY IN HISTORY (general history) Dec. 16 

ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, Dec. 16

1862: Burnside's Army of the Potomac retreats back to Falmouth, Va. and after being signally defeated at the Battle of Fredericksburg by General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. John W. Thompson Jr, a Federal soldier, wrote "Louisiana sent those famous cosmopolitan Zouaves called the Louisiana Tigers, and there were Florida troops who, undismayed in fire, stampeded the night after Fredericksburg, when the Aurora Borealis snapped and crackled over that field of the frozen dead hard by the Rappahannock ..." (Wikipedia) He may have been referring to the 1st Battalion (Coppens) Louisiana Zouaves.

1st Bn. La. (Coppens) Zouaves

(Library of Congress)

Click on the image to enlarge it.

In New Orleans: Federal Major General Banks takes command of the Army of the Gulf and the occupation of New Orleans. In Alexandria, La., Confederate Major General Richard Taylor is building the Army of Western Louisiana into one of the best in the Confederacy.

1863: General Joseph E. Johnston takes command of the Army of Tennessee from the failed General Braxton Bragg. Johnston rebuilds the morale of the army by treating the enlisted men more fairly, but not at the expense of proper military discipline, and working to better their food, clothing, and furlough opportunities.

CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, Dec. 16

Major General Henry Heth was born in 1825 in Chesterfield, Virginia. He graduated from West Point in the class of 1847, ranking at the bottom of his class. In his pre-war career in the U.S. Army, he saw action in the 1855 Battle of Ash Hollow against the Lakota. He resigned from the U.S. Army in 1861 and worked his way up to major general in the Confederate Army. Wounded at Gettysburg, he led his division at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, North Anna, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg and surrendered with General Lee at Appomattox. Postwar he worked in insurance and was a surveyor in the government. He died Sept. 27, 1899, in Washington, D.C., and is buried in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Va.

Maj. Gen. Henry Heth

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Brigadier Samuel Garland Jr. was born this day in 1830 at Lynchburg, Virginia. He graduated from Virginia Military Institute in 1849 and became a lawyer. He was active in the prewar Virginia Militia and was the captain of his company. Garland's militia company joined the 11th Virginia Infantry in 1861 and he advanced brigadier general by May 5, 1862. His battles included First Manassas, Dranesville, Williamsburg, the Seven Days Battles, Second Manassas, Oak Grove, Beaver Dam Creek, Seven Pines, Gaines's Mill, and he was killed at the Battle of South Mountain, Md. on September 14, 1862. Garland was buried in Lynchburg in the Presbyterian Cemetery.

Brig. Gen. Samuel Garland

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Robert Selden Garnett was born in 1819 on this day at Essex, Virginia. He graduated from West Point in 1841, and served in the Mexican American War. Garnett was twice brevetted for his gallantry in the battles of Monterrey and Buena Vista. He resigned from the U.S. Army in April 1861, joined the Confederate Army and achieved the rank of brigadier genera.Garnett was in the Battle of Rich Mountain and was then killed in the Battle of Corrick's Ford, Virginia on July 13, 1861. Garnett was buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York City, N.Y. He was the first general officer killed in the war.

Brig. Gen. Robert S. Garnett 
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