Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, Jan. 4.

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ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, Jan. 4.

1861: Alabama State Troops, under orders from Alabama Governor Andrew B. Moore, seized the U.S. Arsenal at Mount Vernon, Ala., which was under the command of Capt. Jesse L. Reno would become a major general in the Federal Army. The transfer was peaceful, and the arsenal was held by the Confederacy until near the end of the war.

1863: Skirmishing continues with a clash on the Manchester Pike during General Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee withdrawal from Murfreesboro, Tennessee. They then moved on to the town of Manchester. Also, Confederate Brig. Gen. Roger W. Hanson died from the wounds this day received on January 2, 1863, in the Battle of Murfreesboro.

1864: Captain Felix Pierre Poché with Mouton's Louisiana Brigade in winter camp near Monroe, Louisiana writes in his diary: "We are having a terrible winter again today, to the point that I doubt if we can move on the road when we have to leave this awful hole where we are camping."

CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, Jan. 4.

Brigadier General Horace Randal was born in 1833 in McNairy County, Tennessee. He was appointed brigadier general to date from April 8, 1864, by General E. Kirby Smith, Trans-Mississippi Department commander. Randal moved to Texas with his family when he was a child in 1839. He attended West Point, graduated in 1854, and was the second Texan to do so. His U.S. Army career included service in the First Dragoons and frontier duty in the Indian Territory, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Randal resigned from the U.S. Army on Feb. 27, 1861. He accepted a commission in the Confederate Army on March 16, 1861. After serving on the staff of Gen. Braxton Bragg, and Maj. Gen. Gustavus Smith, he was commissioned a colonel and raised the 28th Texas Cavalry (Dismounted). Randal and his regiment served with distinction in the famous Walker's Texas Infantry Division. He was appointed to the command of a brigade on Sept. 3, 1862, which he led at the Battle of Milliken's Bend, La. in 1863, and the Red River Campaign in 1864. Randal's Brigade joined Polignac's Brigade and Mouton's Brigade in Mouton's Charge at the Battle of Mansfield, on April 8, 1864. He was mortally wounded at the Battle of Jenkin's Ferry, Ark. April 30, 1864, and died on May 2, 1864. His remains were returned to Texas after the war and reburied in the Old Marshall Cemetery, Marshall, Texas. His appointment to brigadier general was never confirmed by the Confederate Congress.

Brig. General Horace Randal

Click👉Randal;'s Texas Brigade

Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthday's, Jan. 3.

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ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, Jan. 3.

1861: Georgia Gov. Joseph E. Brown ordered on Jan. 2 to seize control of Fort Pulaski. The next day, Jan. 3, Georgia State Troops under Colonel Alexander R. Lawton execute the governor's order. There were no Federal troops to resist. Colonel Charles H. Olmstead becomes the Confederate commander of the fort.

Col. Charles H. Olmstead

1862: Romney, Va. Campaign: General Stonewall Jackson begins his winter campaign from Winchester, Va. to destroy the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. He had 9,000 men and was hit by a severe winter storm that hampered the campaign.

1863: Boomerang Bragg: In spite of holding his position after the Battle of Murfreesboro, General Braxton Bragg decides to move away, in spite of his believing he had won the battle. This has become a pattern with Bragg, and it costs him the respect of much of his command.

1864: The Battle of Jonesville, Va. took place in and around the Cumberland Gap when Brig. Gen. William E. "Grumble" Jones with the 8th, 21st, 27th, and 37th Virginia battalions rode toward the town. Meanwhile, the 64th Virginia and the 10th Kentucky, which were camped nearby, attacked the 16th Illinois Cavalry under Major Charles H. Beeres. The battle started early in the morning and continued through the day and when the Confederates captured the enemy artillery, the Federals surrendered. Jones with his brigade then arrived and captured almost all the enemy forces. Besides the bluecoat troopers, the Confederates also captured three artillery pieces of the 22nd Ohio Battery and 27 wagons. The battle gives the Confederates control of Lee County until the end of the war. Federal casualties were 12 killed, 48 wounded, and 350 captured. The Confederates lost 4 killed and 12 wounded.

CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, Jan. 3.

NONE.

Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, Jan. 2.

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ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, Jan. 2.

1861: U.S. President James Buchanan refuses to recognize South Carolina's independence and orders Federal reinforcements to Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, under the command of Major Robert Anderson. Also, on this day in Charleston, South Carolina state troops seized Fort Johnson in Charleston Harbor, which had been abandoned by the U.S. Army. 

1863: Third day of the Battle of Murfreesboro, Tenn. (aka Stone's River). Fierce fighting resumes with the highest percentage of casualties than any other battle in the war. Major General John C. Breckinridge led attacks with heavy fighting in the "Round Forrest," also called "Hell's Half Acre," but the Yankees counterattacked and drove the Confederates back. Confederate casualties were 1,294 killed, 7,739 wounded, and 2,500 captured or missing for a total of 11,739. Federal casualties were 1,677 killed, 7,543 wounded, and 3,686 captured or missing for a total of 12,906. Among the wounded was Cpl. Sam Watkins, Co. H, 1st Tenn. Inf., who wrote the famous memoir Co. "Aytch." He wrote of his wounding, "When I was wounded, the shell and shot that struck me, knocked me winding. I said, 'O, O, I'm wounded.' and at the same time I grabbed my arm." While he was walking back to the field hospital, he saw another soldier walking along who had his left arm torn away. The soldier suddenly and without a word, dropped dead. "I was filled with wonder and horror at the site," Watkins wrote. The Confederates largely felt they won the battle, but Bragg retreated anyway, causing a lot of discontent and dissatisfaction with the general.

Cpl. Sam Watkins, Co. H. 1st Tenn. Inf.

Wounded in action at Murfreesboro.

Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge

BATTLE OF GALVESTON: AFTERMATH: In the aftermath of the stunning liberation of Galveston, Texas by Confederate forces under Maj. Gen. John Bankhead Magruder, Magruder announced the lifting of the blockade of the port city, and the Confederate Congress passed the following resolution: "The bold, intrepid, and gallant conduct of Maj. Gen. J. Bankhead Magruder, Col. Thomas Green, Maj. Leon Smith and other officers, and of the Texan Rangers and soldiers engaged in the attack on, and victory achieved over, the land and naval forces of the enemy at Galveston, on the 1st of January, 1863, eminently entitle them to the thanks of Congress and the country... This brilliant achievement, resulting, under the providence of God, in the capture of the war steamer Harriet Lane and the defeat and ignominious flight of the hostile fleet from the harbor, the recapture of the city, and the raising of the blockade of the port of Galveston, signally evinces that superior force may be overcome by skillful conception and daring courage." Confederate Congress.

Maj. Leon Smith, Texas Marine Dept.

(Wikipedia Commons)

                                                  

                                       Col. Joseph Cook, 1st Tex. Hvy. Arty. (Find A Grave)

Col. Joseph Cook, Cmdr., of the 1st Texas Heavy Artillery regiment led the infantry attack on the 42nd Mass. Inf.'s defenses on Kuhn's Wharf in the battle.

CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, Jan. 2.

NONE.

Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, Jan. 1.

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ON  THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, Jan. 1.

1862: Trent Affair: Confederate Commissioners John Slidell and James Mason resume their trip to Europe on the British schooner Rinaldo from Provincetown, Massachusetts. The commissioners will try to get Britain and France to officially recognize the Confederacy. It was a Confederate diplomatic victory.

An artillery duel erupts between Confederate batteries at Pensacola, Florida, and Federal batteries at Fort Pickens. Florida. Skirmishes between North and South occur at Port Royal, South Carolina, and Dayton, Missouri.

1863: Second Day, Battle of Murfreesboro, Tenn. (aka Stone's River). Bragg and Rosecrans both reposition troops and only minor skirmishing occurs on the second day of the battle. They are mainly taking care of their wounded from the previous day while Maj. Gen. Fighting Joe Wheeler continued harassing the Federal rear.

Battle of Galveston, Texas. The year 1863 started off with a brilliant Confederate victory. Major General John Bankhead Magruder leads a Confederate attack on the Federal-occupied Texas city of Galveston. Magruder's combined army-navy attack succeeds in driving off the Federal Navy and captures about 420 Yankee occupiers. Federal losses were 26 killed and 117 wounded, in addition to the captures. The Federal naval commander, William B. Renshaw, was killed while leading a landing party to blow up his beached flagship, the USS Westfield. The Confederates held the coastal city until the end of the war, the only Confederate city so liberated and held. 

Maj. John Bankhead Magruder

(CDV, M.D. Jones)

1865: At the Siege of Petersburg, Virginia, a massive explosion set off by Federals in the James River fails to complete a canal meant to bypass the blocked bend in the river. 

CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, Jan. 1.

Brigadier General William Lewis Cabell was born on this day in 1827, in Danville, Virginia. He graduated from West Point in 1850 and served in the U.S. Army up to the start of the War for Southern Independence and joined the Confederate Army in 1861. He served on the staff of Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard and Gen. J.E. Johnston. Cabell fought in the Battle of Iuka, the Second Battle of Corinth, the Battle of Hatchie Bridge, the Battle of Fayetteville, the Battle of Devil's Backbone, and the Camden Expedition (which was the Arkansas phase of the Red River Campaign) at the Battle of Poison Spring, the Battle of Marks' Mill. He also fought in Price's Missouri Expedition at the Battle of Mine Creek where he was captured. After the war, he became a lawyer and moved to Dallas, Texas where he served as elected mayor for several terms. Cabell died in Dallas on Feb. 22, 1911, and was buried at Greenwood Cemetery.

Brig. Gen. William L. Cabell

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Brigadier General William Hugh Young was born on this day in 1838 in Boonville, Missouri. He moved with his family to Texas in 1841. He had studied military tactics prior to the war and in 1861 became a captain in the 9th Texas Infantry Regiment and fought at the Battle of Shiloh, the Siege of Corinth, Miss., and the Battle of Perryville. Young was wounded in the right shoulder at the Battle of Murfreesboro, had two horses shot from under him, and was commended by Maj. Gen. B.F. Cheatham. At the Battle of Jackson, Miss. was wounded in the thigh and wounded in the chest at the Battle of Chickamauga. He commanded a brigade in the Atlanta Campaign and was wounded in the neck in the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. Promoted to brigadier general (temporary) on Aug. 15, 1864, he was wounded in the neck at the Battle of Altoona Pass and was captured and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of war. He spent most of his time in Federal hospitals and wasn't paroled until July 24, 1865. After the war, he became a lawyer and real estate agent in Texas and died Nov. 28, 1901, and was buried in the Confederate cemetery in San Antonio, Texas. 

Brig. Gen. William H. Young