Click 👉Today in History (general History), Aug. 27.
ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, Aug. 27.
1862: At the Second Battle of Manassas, Va., Lt. Gen. T.J. "Stonewall Jackson, Army of Northern Virginia, moved his army in position on the same battlefield as the First Battle of Manassas in 1861. The Confederates were placed along an unfinished railroad below Stony Ridge and the heavily wooded area enabled the Southerners to conceal their position. Gen. Robert E. Lee with Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's First Corps of the ANV was rapidly approaching the battlefield and springing the planned trap on the befuddled Maj. Gen. John Pope's Federal Army of Virginia before Maj. Gen. G.B. McClelland's Army of the Potomac could reinforce him. It was a brilliant plan.
1863: In the Chickamauga Campaign in Georgia, Confederate Lt. Gen. Braxton Bragg was moving the Army of Tennessee, numbering about 52,000 men, was maneuvering to set a trap for Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans' Army of the Cumberland, about 65,000 men, in northern Georgia and east of Chattanooga, Tenn. Rosecrans believed Bragg was in retreat into northern Georgia rather than maneuvering him into a trap, as was the actual case.
1864: In the Atlanta Campaign, to break the Siege of Atlanta, Maj. Gen. W.T. Sherman was planning to move six of his seven corps south of Atlanta to cut Gen. John Bell Hood's Confederate Army of Tennessee's last railroad link to the city at Jonesborough and thus force him out of Atlanta. The Yankee XX Corps was covering a railroad bridge over the Chattahoochee River. The IV and XIV corps were moving south. The XXIII Corps remained at East Point. The Yankee cavalry was covering Sherman's north and south flanks. Hood was still oblivious to what was happening.
Confederate General Birthdays, Aug. 27.
Brigadier General Roger Weightman Hanson was born on this day in 1827 in Winchester, Kentucky. He gained military experience in the Mexican-American War when he served in the 4th Kentucky Regiment and took part in the Battle of Cerro Gordo where he was cited for bravery. Afterward, Hanson was a lawyer, a member of the state legislature, served in the U.S. Congress, and was an elector from Kentucky in the 1860 Presidential Election. During the War for Southern Independence, he was the colonel of the 2nd Kentucky Infantry which was part of the Confederate surrender at Fort Donelson. Hanson was exchanged and promoted to brigadier general in December 1862. He was mortally wounded on January 2, 1862, in the Battle of Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Brigadier General James Alexander Walker was born on this day in 1832 at Mt. Sidney, Virginia. He was a student at the Virginia Military Institute in 1852 when he got into a famous dispute with his professor of natural history, Thomas Jonathan Jackson, and challenged the future "Stonewall Jackson" to a duel. The duel never happened, and Walker was expelled. Walker returned home and became a prominent lawyer in Pulaski County, Va. When war came in 1861, he became the lieutenant colonel of the 13th Virginia Infantry and was promoted to colonel in March 1862. He served under Stonewall Jackson and the two patched up their past differences and developed a respect for each other. As a colonel, he acted as a temporary brigade commander in several battles, including Gaines' Mill, Sharpsburg (wounded), and Fredericksburg. Walker was promoted to brigadier general in May 1863, General Jackson, on his deathbed, recommended him to command the famous Stonewall Brigade. Walker led the brigade with distinction at Gettysburg, Mine Run, and the Wilderness, and was severely wounded at Spotsylvania Courthouse. No longer able for a field command. After recovering enough, he commanded a division at Petersburg in 1864 and was surrendered and paroled at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Returning home, he rebuilt in law practice and became a prominent member of the U.S. Congress. Walker died Oct. 21, 1901, in Wytheville, Va., and was buried in the East End Cemetery there.
Brig. Gen. James A. Walker
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