Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, Dec. 29.

Click 👉 TODAY IN HISTORY (general history) Dec. 29.

ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, Dec. 29.

1862: Second Day of the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, Miss. -- Sherman's bluecoats launch a futile frontal assault against outnumbered Confederates on Walnut Hills, under the command of Brig. Gen. S.D. Lee repulses the attack. Sherman admits failure of the campaign. Federal losses are 208 killed, 1,005 wounded, and 563 captures for a total of 1,776. Confederate casualties are 63 killed, 134 wounded, and 10 missing. Vicksburg celebrates the victory.

Pvt. Thomas I. Booker, Co. B, 28th La. Inf.

Fought at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou.

(Liljenquist Collection, Library of Congress)

(colorized, the pants should be sky blue, not red)

Capt. James W. Bryan, Co. I,

28th La. Inf. and the regiment

held off large numbers of the enemy

at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou.

BATTLE OF MURFREESBORO, TENN.-- Also in 1862, Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans with his 43,400-man Army of the Cumberland, which had started its march from Nashville on Dec. 26, was approaching Murfreesboro, Tennessee where General Braxton Bragg's 35,000-man Army of Tennessee is encamped and dug in. On this day skirmishing was increasing between the two sides. The Federals have a decided advantage in artillery and on Dec. 16 Bragg was ordered by President Davis to send Maj. Gen. Carter Stevenson to Mississippi to reinforce Vicksburg, which reduced the Army of Tennessee's manpower by 7,500 infantrymen.

Brig. Gen. John A. Wharton

He led his cavalry brigade to

slow down the Federals approaching

Murfreesboro.

CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, Dec. 29.

Brigadier General Albert Pike was born on this day in 1809, in Newburyport, Massachusetts.  Prior to the war is was a prominent member of the Freemasons, author, poet, editor, lawyer, and editor. He moved to the west in 1831 and engaged in hunting, trading, and trapping. He was also prominent in the legal profession and had permission to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. Pike served in the Mexican-American War with the Arkansas Mounted Infantry Regiment and fought in the Battle of Buena Vista. During the War for Southern Independence, he was commissioned as a brigadier general who led a brigade of Indians at the Battle of Elk Horn Tavern, Ark. He resigned his commission in May 1862. He was appointed an associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court. He died April 2, 1891, in Charleston, S.C., and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery. 

Brig. Gen. Albert Pike