Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, September 19.

Click 👉Today in History (general history) Sept. 19. 

On This Day In Confederate History, Sept. 19.

1862: General Robert E. Lee moved the Army of Northern Virginia across the Potomac River at Boteler's Ford to safety in Virginia. There was skirmishing in Sharpsburg, Shepherdstown, and near Williamsport, Maryland.

1863: At the Battle of Chickamauga, General Braxton Bragg planned a major assault on the Federal Army of the Cumberland early in the morning. However poor communications with his subordinate generals resulted in disjointed and belated attacks that were beaten back by the Federals. Bragg assigned Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, newly arrived from Virginia, who would be in command of the Army of Tennessee's left wing late that night. Confederate Brig. Gen. Preston Smith was mortally wounded while directing a night attack. 

Brig. Gen. Preston Smith

Mortally wounded at Chickamauga

CLICK👉The Bloody 23rd Tennessee Infantry Regiment

Battling for Southern Independence

This is the history of one of the hardest-fighting infantry regiments in the War for Southern Independence, the 23rd Tennessee Infantry. The regiment was raised predominantly from the Middle Tennessee counties, where there was considerable support for secession and Southern Independence. The men were overwhelmingly made up of yeoman farmers of predominantly Anglo-Celtic descent who were to face some of the largest, bloodiest, and most memorable battles of the war, both in the West and the East. They got their baptism of fire in the Battle of Shiloh, followed by the battles of Perryville, Murfreesboro, Hoover's Gap, Chickamauga, and Knoxville in the West with the famed Army of Tennessee. They were then transferred to the East, where they fought in the Bermuda Hundred Campaign in Virginia, under the legendary General P.G.T. Beauregard, and then in the famed Army of Northern Virginia in the Petersburg Campaign, and ended the war with the great General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Courthouse. The book covers the history of the regiment from letters, diaries, memoirs, and official records to cover both officers and men in a personal way. It also has an annotated roster of some 1,164 men who served in the regiment, as well as maps, photos, illustrations, bibliography, footnotes, and index.

1864: The Confederacy won the first two battles of Winchester, Va. but the third battle there on this day in the Shenandoah Valley was a serious loss for the South. Lt. Gen. Jubal Early's Army of the Valley with 15,514 men to Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan's 40,000 men in two Federal armies, the Army of the Shenandoah and the Army of West Virginia. The Confederates are overwhelmed by numbers and a double envelopment of their flanks. Early's army retreats back to a prepared fortress at Fisher's Hill, Va. after suffering some 5,015 casualties. The Federals lost 5,018 casualties. Among the Confederate casualties was Brig. Gen. Archibald Campbell Godwin, by a shell fragment, and Brig. Gen. Robert Rodes, who was mortally wounded while leading a counterattack. On the Federal side, Brig. Gen. David Allen Russell was instantly killed when hit by a shell fragment to the heart.

Brig. Gen. Archibald C. Godwin

Killed in action at Third Winchester

Click on the map for enlargement

Confederate General Birthdays, Sept. 19.

None.