Click 👉Today in History (general history)
On This Day in Confederate History, Oct. 29.
1862: Captain Otis M. Marsh's Company A, 11th Battalion (Spaight's) Texas Volunteers opened fire on two Federal gunboats, the USS Dan, a steamer, and the USS Velocity, a schooner, that was patrolling Sabine Pass, Texas. Sgt. H.N. Connor of Captain Marsh's company, wrote in his diary, "Gunboats lying near the fort. In a few days, they made preparations to visit the town [Sabine City] with the vessels. Being delayed, they did not get up until about dark, and as they passed Wingate's mill, we opened up with small arms, doing some little damage and frightening them badly. By bringing their guns to bear on us, we were soon compelled to retreat with no loss. The town was then shelled, a wanton outrage, as we were not near any buildings. The next morning, a party landed and burned the mill, dwelling house, 700,000 feet of lumber belonging to Judge Wingate, and two dwelling houses belonging to Judge Stamps, total loss of about $150,000. All of which wantonness as we did not fire on them from houses, but from the bank at the water's edge." Col. A.W. Spaight said in his report that Marsh's company was acting under orders to inflict damage on the enemy at every opportunity."
1864: Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's command, on its way to destroy a massive Federal supply depot at Johnsonville, Tenn., detached Brig. Gen. Abraham Buford with his 400-man command and four artillery pieces occupied abandoned Fort Heiman on the Tennessee River and disrupted Federal transports bringing supplies to Maj. Gen. W.T. Sherman's army in Georgia. On this day Buford's command opened up on the passing transport Mazeppa, which was packed with supplies for the Yankee army. The Confederates opened up on the vessel with both small arms fire and artillery. The pilot's house was demolished and the boat beached on the opposite side of the river, as the crew ran away. The Southerners unloaded as much of the boat's cargo, including thousands of barrels of flour, eight cook stoves, and tons of other supplies that would supply Gen. John Bell Hood's Army of Tennessee. The Mazeppa was burned with remaining unloaded supplies when a Federal gunboat came on the scene to bombard the fort.
Confederate General Birthdays, Oct. 29.
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