Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, Oct. 30.

Click 👉Today in History (general history) Oct. 30.

On This Day in Confederate History, Oct. 30.

1863: RIO GRANDE, TX. CAMPAIGN: With their previous attempts to invade Texas a complete failure, the Northern invaders dispatched from New Orleans the 13th Army Corps under Brig. Gen. N.J.T. Dana on 23 transport ships to south Texas near the Mexican border. Brig. Gen. Hamilton P. Bee was the Confederate commander of the Sub-Military District of the Rio Grande, where the invaders would land. The ranks of the Confederate coastal forces there had already been weakened by a yellow fever outbreak. Maj. Gen. John B. Magruder was the Confederate commander in Texas. The Federals were planning to fight their way up the coast to Houston and Galveston. But Magruder, the hero of the liberation of Galveston, would be their implacable foe.

Maj. Gen. John G. "Prince John" Magruder

Cmdr. of the Dept. of Tex., N.M. and Arizona

(CDV Collection of M.D. Jones)

1864: Planning the Johnsonville Raid: Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's raid in Tennessee and Kentucky in 1864 focused on this day on river traffic on the Tennessee River at Fort Heiman. Brig. Gen. Abraham Buford's command occupied Fort Heiman, which had been vacant, and disrupted Federal traffic on the river bringing supplies to Sherman's army in Georgia. On the previous day they captured the steamer Mazeppa and on this day, Oct. 30, they captured the Venus, the Cheeseman, and also the gunboat USS Undine after a three-hour artillery exchange.  Forrest, in the process of planning a major attack on the massive Federal supply base at Johnsonville, Tenn., turned the Undine and Venus into a flotilla of his own for the attack. The Undine was a "tinclad" steamer that displaced 179 tons and was armed with 8, 24-pounder brass howitzers. 

Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest

Confederate General Birthdays, Oct. 30.

Maj. General John Stevens Bowen was born on this day in 1830 in Savannah, Georgia. He graduated from West Point in 1853 and then served in the U.S. Army until about 1855 when he resigned to start an architect's practice in  Georgia and then moved to St. Louis, Mo. in 1857. Bowen was also active in the Missouri Volunteer Militia and in 1861 was promoted to colonel of the 2nd Missouri Volunteer Militia Regiment. After being captured and exchanged by the Federals, Bowen was made a colonel in the Confederate Army and was promoted to brigadier general on March 14, 1862. Bowen fought in the Battle of Shiloh, the Battle of Port Gibson, the Battle of Champion Hill, the Battle of Big Black River Bridge, and throughout the Siege of Vicksburg, Miss. Bowen contracted dysentery during the siege and died in captivity on July 13, 1863, near Edwards, Miss., and is buried in the Confederate Cemetery in Vicksburg, Miss. He was survived by a wife and two young children.

Maj. Gen. John S. Bowen