Click 👉Today in History (general history) Oct. 26.

On This Day in Confederate History, Oct. 26.

1863: Maj. Gen. John Bankhead Magruder, the commander of the Confederate Department of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, is busy building up the defenses of the upper Texas Gulf Coast to resist the Yankee Rio Grande Valley Campaign building up along the lower coast near Brownsville. Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks ordered the second division of the Army of the Gulf to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas to subjugate the Lone Star State. Meanwhile Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin is trying to keep Confederate forces in Southwest Louisiana busy to prevent them from sending reinforcements to Magruder. 

Maj. Gen.  John B. Magruder

Cmdr. of the Dept. oF Tex., N.M.,  & Az.

(Cabinet card, M.D. Jones Collection)

1864: Maj. Gen. Sterling Price gave the following report on this day's activities in his Missouri Campaign; "On the next morning, after destroying many wagons with broken-down teams that could not be replaced, I took up my line of march at 2 o’clock, there being but little forage in the neighborhood of my encampment. We marched over beautiful prairie roads, a distance of fifty-six miles, and encamped at Carthage, on Spring River, the nearest point that forage could be procured, as I was informed by Major-General Fagan and Brigadier-General Shelby, who earnestly desired me to reach Spring River, as no forage could be procured shortly of it. The Federal prisoners I had with me became so much exhausted by fatigue that out of humanity I paroled them."

Confederate General Birthdays, Oct. 26.

Brigadier General Stephen Elliott Jr. was born on this day in 1830 in Beaufort, South Carolina. Prior to the war, Elliott was a planter, a member of the South Carolina legislature, and was active in the South Carolina militia as a captain in the Beaufort Volunteer Artillery. When the war came in 1861, Elliott participated in the bombardment of Fort Sumter and his company became infantry with him as a company commander. They became part of the 11th South Carolina Infantry and took part in the defense of Port Royal, S.C. He was wounded in the leg on Nov. 7, 1861, in an action at Fort Beauregard, S.C. Elliott was then appointed in August 1862 Chief of Artillery for the Third Military District. He received promotions to lieutenant colonel and colonel and was wounded again on Dec. 11, 1863, during a bombardment of Charleston. Elliott was made commander of Holcombe's Legion in the spring of 1864 and with his unit was transferred to Petersburg, Va. There, he was given command of a brigade and was promoted to brigadier general on May 24, 1864. The part of the Petersburg defenses he commanded was called Elliott's Salient and it was blown up by the Federals with a mine on July 30, 1864. He organized a counterattack and was seriously wounded while leading it. Although not completely healed, Elliott was given command of a brigade in the Army of Tennessee on Jan. 2, 1865. Seriously wounded again in the Battle of Bentonville on March 19, 1865, he was at home convalescing when the war ended. Following the war, he lived in Charleston, S.C., and worked as a fisherman. He was re-elected to the S.C.  Legislature but died on Feb. 21, 1866, and was buried in St. Helena's Episcopal Churchyard in Beaufort. 

Brig. Gen. Stephen Elliott Jr.

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Brigadier General Arthur Middleton Manigault was born on this day in 1824 in Charleston, South Carolina. During the Mexican-American War Manigault served as a first lieutenant in the Palmetto Regiment. Prior to the War for Southern Independence, he was running a rice plantation in Georgetown County, S.C. He participated in the Battle of Fort Sumter, became the colonel of the 10th South Carolina Infantry, and was assigned to Gen. Beauregard's Amry of the Mississippi, which later became the Army of Tennessee, in 1862 and took part in the Siege of Corinth, Miss. His other battles included Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, the Atlanta Campaign, Resaca, and Franklin. Manigault was promoted to brigadier general on April 26, 1863. He was wounded at both Resaca and Franklin and was still recovering at the end of the war. Manigault resumed running his rice plantation after the war, served his state as Adjutant and Inspector General, and died in Georgetown Count on Aug. 18, 1886, and was buried in the Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston.

Brig. Gen. Arthur M. Manigault