Click 👉TODAY IN HISTORY (general history) Feb. 20.
ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, Feb. 20.
1861: Confederate Congress in 1861: Montgomery, Alabama established the Confederate States Navy and authorized President Jefferson Davis to purchase war materials. Stephen R. Mallory was the Secretary of the Navy. He had been a U.S. Senator from Florida, a former admiralty lawyer, and chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Naval Affairs. Although never able to break the Federal blockade, he built a Confederate Navy that seriously depleted the U.S. Merchant fleet, was a serious challenge to the Northern fleets at Hampton Roads, Va., New Orleans, La., Mobile Bay, Ala., and achieved the first successful submarine attack in all naval history at Charleston, S.C. in 1864. Admiral Raphael Semmes was the most famous military leader in the C.S. Navy.
1862: General Leonidas Polk withdraws his Confederate forces from Columbus, Kentucky. General Albert Sydney Johnston withdraws to near Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
1863: Confederate forces at Yazoo Pass, Mississippi repulse an attack by Federal forces. Another effort by the Northerners to get at Vicksburg is foiled.
1864: Confederate forces under Major General Joseph Finegan are victorious at the Battle of Olustee, Florida. Finegan has 5,000 men to 5,500 for Seymour. Losses for both sides are heavy. The Federals lost 203 killed, 1,152 wounded and 506 captured or missing. The Confederate losses amount to 93 killed, 847 wounded, and six captured or missing.
1865: The Confederate House of Representatives authorizes the use of black soldiers in the Confederate Army. For more information on the subject, check out Black Confederates – Sons of Confederate Veterans (scv.org)Black Confederates – Sons of Confederate Veterans (scv.org)
CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, Feb. 20.
Brigadier General James Barbour Terrill was born on this day in 1838 in Bath County, Virginia. He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va. in 1858. Terrill was appointed to the Virginia State Militia in 1859 with the rank of major, and in 1860 practiced law in Warm Springs, Va. With the coming of war, he was elected a major of the 13th Virginia Infantry and was promoted to lieutenant colonel and then colonel. His battles were First Manassas, the Valley Campaign of 1862, the Seven Days Battles, Cedar Mountain, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court House. Terrill was killed in action on May 30, 1864, at the Battle of Totopotomoy Creek, also called the Battle of Bethesda Church. His nomination to brigadier general had been filed prior to his death and he was promoted posthumously to his generalship on May 31, 1864. General Terrill was buried at Bethesda Church, Va.
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