Click 👉TODAY IN HISTORY (general history) March 20.
ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, March 20.
1862: In the Shenandoah Valley Campaign, Maj. Gen. Stonewall Jackson and his army advance from Strasburg, Va. as the Federal forces retreat. Some light skirmishing occurs.
1863: The Battle of Vaught's Hill, Tenn. occurs between Brig. Gen. John Hunt's Morgan's Confederate Cavalry Division, numbering 3,500 men, and Colonel Albert S. Hall's Federal brigade of 1,300. Hall managed to repel Morgan's attacks and bombardment. Morgan retires after receiving word those enemy reinforcements are on the way from Murfreesboro. The Confederates lost 373 men while the Federals lost 62.
1864: In the Red River Campaign, Confederate Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor dispatched Col. William G. Vincent's 2nd Louisiana Cavalry and Edgar's Texas Battery to Bayou Rapides, 20 miles from occupied Alexandria, La., and they began skirmishing with Federals sent out by Maj. Gen. A.J. Smith's forces were there to find the Confederates.
1865: Carolinas Campaign: Confederate forces of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, 21,900 men, at Bentonville, North Carolina face Federals in Maj. Gen. Henry W. Slocum's corps, whose advance was halted the previous day. As the Federals received reinforcements from Sherman's main army, only light skirmishing occurred on this day.
CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, March 20.
Maj. Gen. George Bibb Crittenden was born this day in 1812 in Russellville, Kentucky. He was an 1832 graduate of West Point and fought in the Black Hawk War of that year as a second lieutenant. He resigned in 1833, became a lawyer, and in 1842 moved to the Republic of Texas and joined the army there. Crittenden took part in the Mier Expedition in 1843 to Mexico and was captured but exchanged. He also took part in the Mexican-American War in 1846 with the U.S. Army and was promoted to major for gallantry at the battles of Churubusco and Contreras. In the war for Southern Independence, Crittenden became a colonel in the Confederate Army on March 16, 1861, and was promoted to brigadier general on Aug. 15, 1861, and to major general on Nov. 9, 1861. His only battle was the Battle of Mill Springs on Jan. 19, 1862, and defeated. Crittenden resigned as a general when faced with a charge of drunkenness and reverted to colonel and served various posts for the rest of the war. Following the war, Crittenden was the state librarian in Kentucky from 1867 to 1871. He died Nov. 27, 1880, and was buried in the State Cemetery in Frankfort, Ky.
Brig. Gen. William Nelson Rector Beall was born on this day in 1825 in Bardstown, Kentucky. He graduated 30th in his West Point Class of 1848 participated in various Indian wars and achieved the rank of captain. He resigned in 1861 and joined the Confederate Army. Beall was appointed a brigadier general on April 11,1862 and commanded a brigade at the Siege of Port Hudson, La. in 1863. He surrendered with the Port Hudson garrison on July 9, 1863. In 1864 Beall was appointed by the Confederate government, with Federal approval, to be an agent selling cotton in New York City to supply Confederate P.O.W.s with uniforms and supplies. The Federals suspended his parole and incarcerated him at Fort Warren in New York Harbor. He wasn't released until August 2, 1865. In the post-war period, Beall lived in St. Louis, Mo., and worked as a general commission merchant. He died July 25, 1883, in McMinnville, Tenn., and was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville, Tenn.
Brig. Gen. John Echols was born on this day in 1823 in Lynchburg, Virginia. He spent one year, 1841-42, at the Virginia Military Institute but resigned and later attended Washington College and Harvard College and became a lawyer and Virginia politician. In 1861, he first joined the Virginia state forces as a lieutenant colonel and then a colonel of the 27th Virginia Infantry. Echols fought at the First Battle of Manassas, and the First Battle of Kernstown, where he was severely wounded and promoted to brigadier general on April 16, 1862. His other battles included the Battle of Droop Mountain, the Battle of New Market, and the Siege of Petersburg. After Lee surrendered at Appomattox, Echols led two brigades south to join Johnston's Army of Tennessee and subsequently accompanied President Jefferson Davis to Augusta, Ga. Following the war Echols practiced law in Staunton, Va., was reelected to the Virginia House of Delegates and served as president of the Staunton National Valley Bank. Late in life he moved to Kentucky where he died May 24, 1896, and was buried in Staunton in Thornrose Cemetery.
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