Click 👉TODAY IN HISTORY (general history) March 23.
ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, March 23.
1862: Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's Army of the Valley, numbering about 4,200 men, battles a federal division under the command of Col. Nathan Kimball, some 9,000 men, at the First Battle of Kernstown, Virginia. The division's leader, Brig. Gen. James Shields had been wounded the day before in a skirmish. After fighting from 11 o'clock in the morning to 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the Confederates were overwhelmed and retreated. The battle was a tactical defeat, but it was a strategic victory for the Confederates because it caused the Federals to reinforce the Shenandoah Valley and drew units away from the planned campaign against Richmond, Virginia. Losses for the Confederates were 80 killed, 375 wounded, and 263 captured or missing. The Federals lost 118 killed, 450 wounded, and 22 captured or missing.
1863: Confederate batteries at Warrenton, Mississippi five miles south of Vicksburg, engage in an artillery duel with the U.S.S. Hartford and the U.S.S. Albatross. The two warships had been the only two to successfully run the big guns at Port Hudson, La. March 14, 1863. The First Louisiana Heavy Artillery Regiment was manning the big guns there and the 28th (Thomas) Louisiana Infantry Regiment was providing the infantry support. The Yankee boats failed at knocking out the guns.
CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, March 23.
Brigadier General Edward Lloyd Thomas was born on this day in 1825 in Clarke County, Georgia. Thomas received some military experience in the Mexican American War when he served as a second lieutenant in a mounted company Georgia Independent Volunteers from May 1847 to August 1848. During the war for Southern Independence, Thomas became the colonel of the 35th Georgia Infantry in the Army of Northern Virginia. When his brigade commander resigned, Thomas assumed command of the brigade. He was promoted to brigadier general on Nov. 1, 1862. His battles included the Battle of Beaver Dam Creek, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Overland Campaign, the Siege of Petersburg, and the Appomattox Campaign. Following the war, Thomas farmed in Newton County, Georgia, and in 1885 President Grover Cleveland made him an agent in the Land Bureau in Kansas, then an Indian Agent in the Indian Territory, which became Oklahoma. Thomas died March 8, 1898, in South McAlester, Indian Territory. He was buried in Kiowa, Oklahoma.
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