Click 👉Today in History (general history) Aug. 20.
On This Day in Confederate History, Aug. 20.
1861: President Davis approves sending more commissioners to Europe to buy armaments and other goods needed by the Confederacy. The Confederacy's first diplomats to Europe were William Yancey, Pierre Rost, and A. Dudley Mann. They were seeking recognition and support for their nation. The arrest in November 1861 by a U.S. warship of two later Confederate diplomats on their way to Europe on the British ship Trent, James Murray Mason, and John Slidell resulted in a major diplomatic crisis between the U.S. and Great Britain.
1862: Major General Richard Taylor was assigned to command the Army of Western Louisiana, which he had to build from a few scattered units, and Mouton's Louisiana Infantry Brigade which was transferred from the Army of the Mississippi after suffering heavy casualties at the Battle of Shiloh. Taylor would succeed in forming it into a highly effective unit with Mouton's Louisiana-Texas Division, Walker's Texas Infantry Division, Green's Cavalry Cavalry Division, and Churchill's Arkansas and Missouri Divisions.
1863: President Jefferson Davis proclaimed on August 20, 1863, that August 21, 1863, should be a "Day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer for Soldiers of the South" throughout the Confederacy.
1864: The third day of the Battle of Globe Tavern, Va. takes place but heavy rain prevents fighting. Late that night, Federal Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren pulls his forces back several miles to a new trench line.
Confederate General Birthdays, Aug. 20.
Brigadier General Francis Redding Tillou Nicholls was born this day in 1834 at Donaldsonville, Louisiana. He graduated from West Point in 1855 and served in the 2nd U.S. Artillery. Nicholls participated in the Third Seminole War in Florida and then resigned his commission in the army. He practiced law in Napoleonville, La. During the War for Southern Independence, Nicholls initially served as a captain, then when the 8th Louisiana Infantry Regiment formed, became the first lieutenant colonel. He was with the 8th Louisiana Infantry at the First Battle of Manassas, but the regiment was in reserve guarding supplies. He led the regiment at the First Battle of Winchester, Va., was wounded in the left arm and captured, and had to have the arm amputated by a Federal surgeon. He was promoted to brigadier general while still a prisoner and was given command of the Second Louisiana Brigade. After exchange and reporting for duty, he led the brigade at the Battle of Chancellorsville and lost his left leg. He was permanently disabled for further field service. Nicholls finished the war in the Trans-Mississippi Department directing the Volunteer and Conscript Bureau. Following the war, Nicholls practiced law and was involved in the Reconstruction Era political strife in Louisiana. He was elected governor of the state and then became Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court. Nicholls died on Jan. 4, 1912, near Thibodaux, Louisiana, and was buried there in St. John's Episcopal Church Cemetery.
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