Tuesday, September 3, 2024

Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, Sept. 3.

Click 👉Today in History (general history) Sept. 3. 

On This Day in Confederate History, Sept. 3.

1862: Sharpsburg CampaignGen. Robert E. Lee was readying the Army of Northern Virginia to move into Maryland to liberate that state and recruit up his ranks. Moving the army there would also give some relief from the ravages of war to the Virginians. He was also looking for a clear Confederate victory on northern soil to further discourage the North from its war of subjugation on the South after his victory at Second Manassas. He would first dispatch Gen. T.J. "Stonewall" Jackson to Harper's Ferry and reduce the large Federal garrison there. The ANV had about 55,000 men on hand for the invasion.

1863: Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard reports on Sept. 3, 1863, in the Siege of Charleston, S.C. the Federal bombardment on Battery Wagner that was answered by the Confederate guns on James Island. 

The Chickamauga Campaign is underway in Georgia with the Federal Army of the Cumberland numbering about 60,000 men under Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans. The Confederate Army of Tennessee under Gen. Braxton Bragg has about 65,000 men. Rosecrans was successful in pushing Bragg out of Tennessee and was then invading Georgia to catch the Confederates. On this day an early skirmish occurred in Alpine, Georgia in northeast Georgia. Bragg is awaiting the arrival of reinforcements from Virginia in the form of two divisions of Maj. Gen. James Longstreet's First Corps.

1864: In Lt. Gen. Jubal Early's Valley Campaign, Lt. Gen. Richard H. Anderson's Confederates were on the way to Petersburg, Va. under Gen. Robert E. Lee, when they had an engagement with Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan's Federal Army, which forced them to Winchester, Va.

Confederate General Birthdays, Sept. 3.

Brigadier General States Rights Gist was born on this day in 1831 at Union, South Carolina. He had experience before the war as a brigadier general in the South Carolina Militia. After South Carolina seceded on Dec. 20, 1860, Gov. Francis Pickens appointed Gist the adjutant general of the militia. In that capacity, recruited up the state's armed forces and acquired the necessary armaments to defend the state against the expected Northern aggression. He also accompanied Gov. Pickens and Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard in raising the Confederate flag over Forst Sumter on April 14, 1861. During the First Battle of Manassas, while acting as an aide to Brig. Gen. Bernard Bee and Gen. Beauregard assigned Gist to command the 4th Alabama Infantry after the colonel of the regiment was killed. He suffered a minor wound in the battle. After returning to South Carolina to defend his state, Gist was appointed a brigadier general in the Confederate Army. His other battles included Jackson, Secessionville, Chickamauga, the Chattanooga campaign, and the Atlanta Campaign. He was leading his brigade in a charge at the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee, on Nov. 30, 1864, and was shot in the chest. He died shortly thereafter in a field hospital. He was buried at Columbia, South Carolina, in Trinity Episcopal Church cemetery. He was an exemplary example of a citizen-soldier.

Brig. Gen. States Rights Gist
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Brigadier General William Gaston Lewis was born this day in 1835 at Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Prior to the war, Lewis worked as a civil engineer and when the war began, he started out as a third lieutenant in the 1st N.C. Inf. He took part in the Battle of Big Bethel on June 10, 1861, then after being promoted to major, fought at the Battle of New Bern in January 1862. Lewis next was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the 33rd N.C. Inf. He then fought in the Battle of Malvern Hill, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the Battle of Cold Harbor, and was promoted to brigadier general in June 1864. He was wounded during Early's Raid in Washington D.C. but survived. Lewis was wounded and captured at the Battle of Farmville, Va. on April 7, 1865. Following the war, he resumed his career in civil engineering, including in the railroads. Lewis died Jan. 7, 1901, in Goldsboro, N.C., and was buried there in Willow Dale Cemetery.

Brig. Gen. William G. Lewis
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Brigadier General Armistead Lindsay Long was born this day in 1825 at Campbell, Virginia. He was an 1850 graduate of West Point and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He served at Fort Moultrie, S.C., in New Mexico, Fort McHenry, Md., Barrancas Barracks, Fla., Kansas, Nebraska, Indian Territory, Monroe, Va., and Augusta Arsenal, Ga. He resigned from the U.S. Army on June 10, 1861. He joined the Confederate Army as a major, then was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and colonel on the staff of President Jefferson Davis. Long then became a military secretary on Gen. Robert E. Lee's staff and acted in that capacity in the Seven Days Battles, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. He was promoted to brigadier general on Sept. 23, 1863, and commanded the artillery in Lt. Gen. R.S. Ewell's 2nd Corps. He also took part in the Bristoe Campaign, Mine Run, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, the Valley Campaign of 1864, Petersburg, Richmond, and Appomattox Court House. Following the war, Long served as the Chief Engineer for the James and Kanawha Canal, was elected vice president of the Association of the Army of Northern Virginia, and wrote his classic book, the Memoirs of Robert E. Lee. Long died April 29, 1891, in Charlottesville, Va., and was buried there in Maplewood Cemetery.

Brig. Armistead L. Long
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