Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, April 27.

Click 👉TODAY IN HISTORY (general history) April 27. 

ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, April 27.

1861: Virginia offers its state capital, Richmond, as the permanent home of the capital of the Confederacy. Richmond with its strategic geographic location, industrial capacity, and history, it is the logical choice for the capital of the Confederacy. 

Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in Maryland and parts of the Mid-West, which gives him the power to arrest those who oppose his war policies, such as newspaper editors and publishers.

1862: MUTINY AT FORT JACKSON, La. Four Confederate forts near New Orleans surrendered due to the passage of the Federal fleet. The garrison of Fort Jackson mutiny and many of the men escaped capture and imprisonment. Brigadier General Benjamin Butler and his army of occupation arrive at Fort St. Phillip below New Orleans.

1863: CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN: The Federal Army of the Potomac under Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker begins its movement in Richmond, Va. by crossing the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers. Hooker has 133,868 men for the Chancellorsville campaign. Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia has 60,298 men present for duty. Lt. Gen. James Longstreet with two of his divisions of the First Corps are absent in the Suffolk, Va. area staging a siege there and gathering supplies for the ANV and missing the campaign.

1st Sgt. Wm. A. Hightower,

Co. E, 23rd Va. Inf. was among

the mortally wounded at Chancellorsville.

1864: CAMDEN EXPEDITION: Federal Maj. Gen. Frederick Steele is in the process of retreating back to Little Rock, Arkansas while Lt. Gen. Kirby Smith's Confederates are in rapid pursuit. Steele has 12,000 men to Smith's 10,000. But Steele's supplies have been seriously depleted by Confederate cavalry raids and Smith has the initiative. Part of Smith's command is made up of veterans of the recent victories in Louisiana, including Walker's Texas Infantry Division.

1865: The steam-powered riverboat Sultana suddenly explodes killing 1,238 Federal soldiers, mostly returning from Southern prisoner-of-war camps. The accidental explosion is the most catastrophic accident on the Mississippi River.

CONFEDERATE GENERAL HISTORY, April 27.

NONE.