Click 👉Today in History (general history) June 2.
On This Day in Confederate History, June 2.
1861: The funeral of Captain John Quincy Marr of the Warrenton Rifles is held in Warrenton, Virginia among a large gathering of mourners. He is the first Confederate soldier to be killed, on June 1, in the war. A monument honoring Captain Marr was erected on June 1, 1904, near the Fairfax County Courthouse. The monument was moved to the Stuart-Mosby Civil War Cavalry Museum in Centreville, Virginia in October 2020. The museum was permanently closed on March 29, 2021.
1862: On this day in the Peninsula Campaign, General Robert E. Lee is busy having the Richmond, Va.'s defenses fortified and extended south to the James River at Chaffin's Bluff. The length is extended to a point below Petersburg for a total length of 30 miles. In addition, General Lee reorganizes the Army of Northern Virginia into two wings, later to be officially named corps when authorized by law.
1863: Maj. Gen. John Walker's Texas Infantry Division is on the move in Louisiana. On this day Brigadier General James Hawes' and Colonel Horace Randal's brigade of the division march for Flowers' plantation, on Bayou Macon. After marching and camping on the banks of the bayou and awaiting Brigadier General Henry McCulloch's brigade. President Davis is pressuring General E. Kirby Smith, Trans-Mississippi Department commander, to do what he can to relieve Vicksburg from the west side of the Mississippi River. The hard marching Texas division is nicknamed "Walker's Greyhounds."
1864: At the ongoing Battle of Cold Harbor, Va., while the Federal Army is maneuvering for another attack, General Lee has his fortifications turned into the most formidable of the war. The Federals are too tired from marching to attack at the end of the day, but the rest get ready for the big assault the next day. When the Yankee soldiers see the defenses they will have to charge, some of them are said to have written their names on papers and pinned them inside their coats so their bodies can be identified after they are killed.
Confederate General Birthdays, June 2.
Brigadier General Benjamin Hardin Helm was born on this day in 1831 in Bardstown, Kentucky. General Helm was the brother-in-law of President Lincoln. He graduated from West Point in 1851 ranking 9th in a class of 21 cadets. He resigned from the army after a year of service due to inflammatory rheumatism. Helm then studied law and practiced with his father, was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives, and was appointed assistant inspector general of the Kentucky National Guard. In 1861, Lincoln offered Helm a position in the U.S. Army, but instead, he declined and organized the 1st Kentucky Cavalry Regiment as a colonel for the Confederate Army. He was promoted to brigadier general on March 14, 1862, and took part in the Battle of Shiloh commanding the 3rd Kentucky Brigade. In January of 1863, Helm was given command of the 1st Kentucky Brigade, better known as the Orphan Brigade. He was mortally wounded on September 20, 1863, in the Battle of Chickamauga while leading the Orphan Brigade, and died on September 21, 1863. He was buried in the Helm Family Cemetery in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Lincoln allowed his widow, Emile Todd Helm, passage to come to the White House.
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