Click 👉TODAY IN HISTORY (general history) April 14.
ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, April 14.
1861: Surrender of Fort Sumter: During the surrender ceremony at Fort Sumter, S.C., Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard gallantly allowed the defeated Federals to fire their cannons off before leaving. However, in the process of firing the cannon one Federal soldier was accidentally killed, another mortally wounded, and four were wounded. The captives, when allowed to leave, were taken out to a Federal ship offshore, which was part of the failed Federal effort to reinforce the fort. Beauregard then had a Confederate flag raised over the fort. The Confederacy held on to the fort until the very end of the war and kept large Federal army and navy forces tied up there.
1863: Bayou Teche Campaign: Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor thwarted a plan of Army of the Gulf commander Maj. Gen. N.P. Banks to entrap the Confederates on Bayou Teche, La. Taylor had the Federal flanking force blocked at the Battle of Irish Bend, while the majority of the Confederate Army escaped the trap. Banks' Army of the Gulf consisted of the XIX Corps' 4th Infantry Division and Divisional Artillery. Taylor's Army of Western Louisiana included Mouton's Infantry Brigade with three batteries, Sibley's Texas Cavalry Brigade and one battery, and the unattached 2nd Louisiana Cavalry. Federal casualties were 43 enlisted men and 17 officers killed and 257 enlisted wounded. Confederate casualties were reported but the Federals found 21 Confederate dead left on the field and 35 wounded Confederates captured. The Army of Western Louisiana would be heard from again in the fall Great Overland Campaign in the same area.
1864: Red River Campaign: Mouton's Louisiana Infantry Division, the unattached 2nd Louisiana Cavalry and Texas Infantry Division, was now commanded by Maj. Gen. Camille Polignac marched 30 miles in the Red River Campaign and camped at Kirk's Mill, an important crossroads, near Huddleston, La. The division is the only heavy infantry left for Maj. Gen. Taylor, after Gen. Kirby Smith took Walker's Texas Infantry Division and Churchill's divisions of Arkansas and Missouri infantry with him to Arkansas. The late General Green is replaced by Maj. Gen. John Austin Wharton to command the cavalry. Taylor's force relentlessly harassed Banks' retreating Army of the Gulf.
1865: Lincoln Assassination: Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. A massive manhunt is launched for Booth and other suspects that results in a huge roundup of suspects. Secretary of State was severely wounded in his home by Lewis Powell. George Atzerodt was allegedly tasked with killing Maj. Gen. U.S. Grant, which didn't happen. Booth's motive was to avenge the South.
CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, April 14.
Major General Harry Thompson Hays was born on this day on April 14, 1820, in Wilson County, Tennessee and partly raised in Mississippi. He received his higher education at St. Mary's College in Baltimore, Md. where he studied law. Hays moved to New Orleans and practiced law until the Mexican-American War and served in the 5th La. Cavalry. Resuming his law practice after the war, Hays was a supporter and elector for Winfield Scott with the Whig Party in the presidential election of 1852. With the coming of the War for Southern Independence, Hays became the colonel of the 7th Louisiana Infantry Regiment. He was promoted to brigadier general July 25, 1862. He commanded the famous 1st Louisiana Infantry Brigade, also called the "Louisiana Tigers." Hays' battles including 1st Manassas, Port Republic (wounded), Sharpsburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania (wounded). Recovering from his wound, Hays was transferred to the Trans-Mississippi Dept. and promoted to major general near the end of the war by order of Gen. E. Kirby Smith, department commander. Returning home to New Orleans after the war, Hays was elected sheriff of Orleans Parish but was removed from office by order of Gen. Philip Sheridan, Northern commander of occupied Louisiana, following the New Orleans Riot of 1866. He practiced law until his death on Aug. 21, 1876, and was buried in Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 in New Orleans.
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