Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, Dec. 2.

   Click 👉 TODAY IN HISTORY (general history) Dec. 2.

ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, Dec. 2.

1861: Naval battle off Newport News, Virginia between the C.S.S. Patrick Henry and four Federal gunboats. The Patrick Henry is heavily damaged.

1863: General Braxton Bragg resigns and turns over command of the Army of Tennessee to Lieutenant General William Hardee. After the disaster at the Battle of Missionary Ridge, both the officers and men of the Army of Tennessee had largely lost confidence in Bragg.

1864: Confederate cavalry and infantry stages raids on Federal railroads and defense lines around Nashville, Tennessee. 

Also, on this day Brig. Gen. Archibald Gracie III was killed in action during the Petersburg Campaign in Virginia. Gracie had just turned 32 years old the day before and was observing Federal lines through a telescope when he was struck and instantly killed by Federal artillery fire. His daughter, Adeline, was born the day before he was killed. His son, Archibald Gracie IV, would gain some fame as a survivor of the Titanic sinking in 1912.

CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, Dec. 2.

Brigadier General Rufus Clay Barringer was born on this day in 1821, in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. He was a prewar lawyer and politician who served in the N.C. House of Commons. He led the 1st North Carolina Cavalry Regiment under Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, and then a North Carolina cavalry brigade when he was made a brigadier general in 1864. His battles and campaigns included the Peninsula Campaign, Seven Days Battles, Second Manassas, Maryland Campaign, Gettysburg Campaign, Battle of Brandy Station, and the Battle of Namozine Church., where he was captured on June 6, 1864. Following the war, Barringer resumed his practice of law and engaged in Republican politics and wrote a history of the 9th N.C. Cavalry. He died Feb. 3, 1895, and is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Charlotte, N.C.

Brigadier General Rufus Barringer