Click 👉Today in History (general history) May 16.
On This Day in Confederate History, May 16.
1862: Maj. Gen. Benjamin "Beast" Butler issues his infamous "Woman's Order" in response to the women of occupied New Orleans insulting Federal occupation troops. His General Order No.28 states, "As the Officers and Soldiers of the United States have been subjected to Repeated Insults from the Women, calling themselves 'Ladies,' of New Orleans, in return for the most scrupulous Non-Interference and Courtesy on our part, it is ordered that hereafter when any female shall by word, gesture, or movement, insult or show contempt for any Officer or Private of the United States she shall be regarded and held liable to be Treated as A Woman of the Town plying her vocation. By command of Maj.-Gen. Butler." Not only was the South outraged by the order, but the House of Lords in London also declared it a "most heinous proclamation...more intolerable tyranny than any civilized country in our day been subjected to." Among the New Orleans women jailed because of the order was Eugenia Levy Phillips who was arrested for "laughing and mocking" at the funeral of an enemy Northern soldier.
1863: The Battle of Champion's Hill takes place 20 miles east of Vicksburg, Miss. when Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton's 22,000 Confederates clash with Maj. Gen. U.S. Grant's 32,000 Federals. Both sides attacked and counterattacked throughout the day, but when Maj. Gen. William W. Loring at first refused to send reinforcements ordered by Pemberton but decided to obey when it was too late to stop Grant's counterattack, the Confederates then had to fall back to a prepared position along the Big Black River in a disorganized condition. The Federals reported 2,457 total causalities, and the Confederates 3,840.
1864: At the Battle of Drewry's Bluff, Va. in the Bermuda Hundred Campaign of 1864, Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard's 18,025 Confederates successfully counterattack Maj. Gen. Benjamin "Beast" Butler's 15,800 Federals and bottle them up on the Bermuda Hundred peninsula. Confederate casualties were 2,506 to about a quarter of Butler's men were casualties.
In the Red River Campaign in Louisiana, the Battle of Mansura takes place when Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor's Army of Western Louisiana tries to block the retreat of Maj Gen. Nathaniel Banks' Army of the Gulf. Taylor reported, "At early dawn this morning skirmishing began along our line, of which Mansura was the center, Bagby and Major, with nineteen pieces of artillery, holding the right, and Polignac, re-enforced by two regiments of cavalry under Debray, the left, with thirteen pieces of artillery, including two 30-pounder Parrotts. The broad, open prairie, smooth as a billiard table, afforded an admirable field for artillery practice, and most of our guns were 3-inch rifles and 10-pounder Parrotts captured from the enemy. At about 6 a.m. the action became general, the enemy bringing up masses of infantry with several batteries. Several attempts to turn our right were signally repulsed, as were the efforts to advance on our center. At 10 a.m. long lines of infantry commenced demonstrations on our left, the pivot of the position, our trains being behind that flank near Evergreen. This rendered the position dangerous, as the enemy had probably 16,000 men on the field and perhaps more. Our men withdrew with the steadiness of veterans on parade, and the road to Simsport [Simmesport] was left open to the foe." The Confederates continued to harass Banks' retreat.
Confederate General Birthdays, May 16.
General Edmund Kirby Smith was born on this day in 1824 in St. Augustine, Florida. He graduated from West Point, graduating 25th out of 41 cadets. During the Mexican-American War, he fought in the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Cero Gordo, Contreras, and Churubusco, and was promoted to captain. In 1859, Smith was wounded in the Battle of Crooked Creek, Kansas with the Comanche. He resigned from the U.S. Army on April 6, 1861. During the War for Southern Independence, he joined the Confederate Army and rose from major to full general and commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department. His battles and campaigns included the First Battle of Manassas, Va. (wounded), Richmond, Ky., the Red River Campaign, and the Camden Expedition. He surrendered the Trans-Mississippi Department on June 2, 1865. Following the war, he worked in the telegraph business, was chancellor of the University of Nashville, a professor at the University of the South, and was the last surviving full Confederate general. General Smith died on March 28, 1893, at Sewanee, Tenn., and was buried there in the University Cemetery.
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