Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, April 12.

Click 👉TODAY IN HISTORY (general history) April 12. 

ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, April 12.

1861: BATTLE OF FORT SUMTER: After Lincoln's failure to negotiate with Confederate peace commissioners, and after misleading South Carolina officials and sending reinforcements to Fort Sumter to deliberately provoke Confederates, General P.G.T. Beauregard, acting on orders from his government, ordered Confederate shore batteries in Charleston, S.C. to open fire at 4:30 o'clock in the morning of 12 April 1861. He had given Major Robert Anderson a last chance to evacuate, but Anderson again rejected peace by giving a deceptive answer. Federal batteries on Fort Sumter returned fire at 7 o'clock. Lincoln got the war he provoked.

Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard in an

early war CDV photograph.

(M.D. Jones Collection)

1862: GREAT LOCOMOTIVE CHASE: In Georgia, 21 Northern spies and saboteurs penetrate Confederate lines, and steal the locomotive "General" but before they can destroy the Western and Atlantic Railroad between Atlanta a Chattanooga, alert railroad conductor William Fuller gets on their trail with a detachment of Confederate soldiers with the locomotive "Texas." The "Great Locomotive Chase" lasts for 87 miles before the Confederates catch up and arrest the spies and saboteurs. The master spy James J. Andrews and seven others were tried and convicted as spies and unlawful combatants and hanged. Others succeeded in escaping or were later exchanged for Confederate prisoners of war. Six of the returned spies were the first recipients of the U.S. Medal of Honor. Conductor Fuller was treated as a Confederate hero, receiving the commendation of the Georgia State Legislature and being commissioned by Gov. Joseph E. Brown a captain in the Independent State Road Guards. 

Captain William A. Fuller

Hero of the "Great Train Chase"

1863: The first day of the Battle of Bisland Plantation (aka Fort Bisland) in South Louisiana occurs in the Bayou Teche Campaign of 1863. Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor gathers the Army of Western Louisiana to try to stop Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks' Army of the Gulf which is invading Bayou Teche to clear out the rebels before commencing the Siege of Port Hudson, La., which was the southern anchor to Vicksburg, Miss. for keeping the Mississippi River open and the Trans-Mississippi connected to the eastern Confederacy.

1864: The Battle of Blair's Landing takes place in the Red River Campaign in Louisiana. Brig. Gen. Tom Green led his Texas and Louisiana cavalry and artillery in attacking the grounded Federal gunboats and transports on Red River at Blair's Landing. The fleet was defended by Brig. Gen. Kilby Smith's detachment of the 17th Army Corps fired back from behind cotton battles on the decks, and the gunboats' own guns. The Confederates were attacking vigorously and effectively until Green was decapitated by a Federal shell. The Confederates soon fell back.

Brig. Gen. Tom Green

KIA at Blair's Landing

1865: At Mobile, Alabama is occupied by Federal troops, but as Grant later inferred, it had come too late to be relevant to the outcome of the war. And the same could be said of the Federal occupation on the same day in Montgomery,  Alabama.

CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, April 12.

Brigadier George Burgwyn Anderson was born on this day in 1831 near Hillsboro, North Carolina. He graduated in 1852 from West Point, 10th in ranking out of 43 cadets. He resigned from the U.S. Army on April 21, 1861, and was appointed colonel of the 4th North Carolina Infantry on July 16, 1861. He was promoted on June 9, 1862, to brigadier general. Anderson's battles and campaigns included Williamsburg, Malvern Hill, and South Mountain, where he was mortally wounded. The wound became infected and his foot had to be amputated. He died on Oct.  17, 1862.

Brig. Gen. George B. Anderson

👱

Brigadier General George Gibbs Dibrell was born on this day in 1822 in Sparta, Tennessee. In his prewar years, Dibrell practiced law, and served as a justice of the peace, clerk of court, and clerk at the Bank of Tennessee. In the War for Southern Independence, he organized and was the colonel of the 8th Tennessee Cavalry. Throughout the war he served under both of the two great western Confederate cavalry generals, Nathan Bedford Forrest and Joseph "Fighting Joe" Wheeler. His battles included Mill Springs, Corinth, Saltville, and Bentonville. Promoted to brigadier general in 1865, he escorted President Jefferson Davis at the end of the war from Greensboro, N.C. to Georgia. Anderson was then captured on May 9, 1865, and paroled. Following the war, he was involved in restoring railroads and industries. Dibrell also served as a delegate to the Tennessee state constitutional convention of 1870, in the Tennessee legislature for a short period, and was elected to the U.S. Congress. Dibrell died May 9, 1888, in Sparta, Tenn., and was buried in the Old Sparta Cemetery.

Brig. Gen. George G. Dibrell

Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, April 11.

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On This Day in Confederate History, April 11.

1861: Fort Sumter Campaign: General Beauregard sends Col. James Chesnut Jr., James A. Chisholm, and Capt. Stephen Dill Lee to deliver an ultimatum to Major Anderson at Fort Sumter, demanding the immediate evacuation of Fort Sumter or else hostilities would commence.

1862: The Siege of Fort Pulaski ends with the surrender of the fort by the Confederates. During the 112-day siege, one Federal was killed, and several were wounded. The Confederates lost several men mortally wounded and 363 captured.

1863: The Siege of Suffolk, VA commenced on this day. Lt. Gen. James Longstreet commanded 25,000 Confederates of the Army of Northern Virginia's First Corps. Maj. Gen. John Peck commanded 20,000 defenders of the fortifications. Longstreet's forces kept the Northmen bottled up while his quartermaster gathered much-needed supplies for Gen. Robert E. Lee's ANV.

Capt. Ike Turner, Co. K, 5th Texas Infantry

Hood's Texas Brigade

Capt. Turner was fatally wounded by enemy

fire near Suffolk, VA on April 14, 1863, and

died the next day, April 15, 1863.

(Find A Grave)

Click👉Lt. Col. King Bryan of Hood's Texas Brigade

This is the story of Lieutenant Colonel Kindallis "King" Bryan, original commander of Company F (Invincibles No. 1), 5th Texas Infantry Regiment, Hood's Texas Brigade. Bryan, a native of St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, moved to Texas as a 16-year-old and then fought in the War for Texas Independence of 1835-36. He was a farmer and rancher in Liberty County, Texas, a county sheriff and state legislator before the War for Southern Independence. During the war, he led the company, and later his regiment, in some of the most famous battles of the war, including Gaines' Mill, Second Manassas, Gettysburg and the Wilderness. Wounded three times, he commanded Hood's Texas Brigade for about three months in the winter of 1863-64. Bryan was one of most aggressive and respected regimental officers in the brigade but also respected and admired by his men who appreciated a leader who took the same or greater risks than they did in battle.

Confederate General Birthdays April 11.

None.

Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, April 10.

Click 👉TODAY IN HISTORY (general history) April 10. 

ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, April 10.

1861: Fort Sumter Campaign: Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard, who is in cfommand of Confederate forces at Charleston, S.C., receives orders from Secretary of War Leroy Pope Walker in Richmond, Va., to require a surrender of the garrison at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Beauregard has organized the shore batteries around Charleston to effectively reduce Fort Sumter if surrender isn't forthcoming.

1862: Fort Pulaski guarding Savannah, Ga., is prepared for an assault by Federal forces, but instead, the Northerners begin a long-range bombardment, and within 30 hours, the fort is surrendered because the walls have been breached.

1863: The First Battle of Franklin, Tenn. occurs between Confederate Cavalry under Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn and Federal cavalry under Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger. The two sides clash just outside the town with the Confederates launching a halting attack, and then the Federals counterattack and capture a battery. However, Brig. Gen. N.B. Forrest counterattacks and recaptures the battery. But Van Dorn decides to retreat to Spring Hill, leaving the Federals in control of the battlefield. The Confederates lost 137 men and the Federals 100.

1864: Confederates numbering 7,000 men, under Maj. Gen. Sterling Price clashed with Federals under Maj. Gen. Frederick Steele numbering 13,00 bluecoats. This was the Arkansas phase of the Red River Campaign, also called the Camden Expedition. They clashed in a series of engagements between April 9 and April 13 called the Battle of Prairie D'Ane. Steele loses heavily in supply wagons and eventually decides to retreat back to Little Rock to save his army. The Federals lost 100 men in the skirmishing and the Confederates 50.

1865: President Davis and his cabinet at Danville, Va., learning of Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House, decide to move to what they hope will be greater security at Greensborough, North Carolina. 

CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, April 10.

Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk was born on this day in 1806 in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was an 1827 graduate of West Point, ranking 8th in a class of 38 cadets. By that time, he had a religious awakening and decided to become a priest in the Episcopal Church and soon resigned from the U.S. Army. In his long career as a clergyman, he became the Missionary Bishop of the Southwest in 1838 and was then elected in 1841 as the first Episcopal Bishop of Louisiana. Polk was also the leading founder of the University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee. With the outbreak of the War for Southern Independence, he pulled the Louisiana Convention of the Episcopal Church, out of the Episcopal Church of the U.S. and organized the Protestant Episcopal Church in the C.S.A. Polk was given a major general commission in the C.S. Army by his old friend and West Point classmate, President Jefferson Davis. He also retained his position as bishop while he was in the army. Promoted to lieutenant general, he led the First Corps of the Army of the Mississippi at the Battle of Shiloh and then led his corps in major battles at Perryville, Murfreesboro, and Chickamauga. Polk was killed in action on June 14, 1864, on Pine Mountain, Cobb County, GA, during the Atlanta Campaign. He is buried in the front floor sanctuary of Christ Church in New Orleans, LA.

Brigadier General Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb was born on this day in 1823 in Jefferson County, Georgia. Pre-war, he was a lawyer and ardent secessionist, a founder of the University of Georgia Law School and a delegate at the Georgia Secession Convention. Cobb was elected to the Confederate Congress and later in 1861 was commissioned a colonel in the Confederate Army. Cobb led Cobb's Legion in the Army of Northern Virginia and took part in its campaigns in 1862. Cobb was promoted to brigadier general on November 1, 1862. He was mortally wounded on December 13, 1862, and died the same day. Cobb was buried at Oconee Hill Cemetery in Athens, Georgia.

Brig. Gen. Thomas R.R. Cobb

👱

Brigadier General James Edwards Rains was born on this day in 1833 in Nashville, Tennessee. He was an 1854 graduate of Yale Law School and became headmaster of Millwood Institute at Cheatham County, Tenn. Rains was also an associate editor of the Daily Republican Banner and was elected the Nashville city attorney in 1858.  Rains joined a local company in 1861 as a private, but soon he was elected a second lieutenant. Lt. Rains was next promoted to captain and then colonel of the 11th Tennessee Infantry. He was promoted to brigadier general on November 4, 1862. Rains served in Maj. Gen. E. Kirby Smith's Army in the Kentucky Campaign of 1862. He was killed in action on December 31, 1862, at the Battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, when he was shot through the heart and died instantly. Gen. Rains was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville, Tenn.

Brig. Gen. James E. Rains

👋

Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthday, April 9.

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ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, April 9.

1864: The Battle of Pleasant Hill, bout 15 miles south of Mansfield, is engaged by the reinforced armies of Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor and Maj. Gen. N.B. Banks' Federals. Both sides had about 12,000 men each engaged. Banks' brigades are poorly placed in the rough terrain of the battlefield, consisting of thickets, ravines, and woods. The Confederate right under Maj. Gen. T.J. Churchill is sent to outflank the Federals on the Confederate right. But Churchill attacks short of the Federal flank and meets serious opposition. Walker's Texas Infantry Division strikes in the center, and Green's cavalry on the Confederate left. Mouton's Infantry Division, now under Maj. Gen. C.J. Polignac, is held in reserve. The fighting in the dense woods is fierce, confusing, and back and forth throughout the day and into the night. After dark, Green's cavalry remains on the battlefield while Taylor has the rest of the army pull back to the nearest source of water. After midnight, Banks had the Federal Army retreating all the way back to Grand Ecore on Red River and the safety of the gunboats. He leaves his wounded soldiers behind. The Federals lost 150 killed, 844 wounded, and 375 missing for a total of 1,369. Confederates suffered 1,200 killed and wounded, and 426 were captured.

Capt. Elijah Petty of the

17th Texas Infantry was 

killed in the battle.

(Mansfield State Historic Site)

Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Churchill

1865: Battle of Appomattox Court House: General Robert E. Lee ordered one last attempt to break out of the trap they were now in, and the Confederates drove off the Yankee cavalry that was in their front. But then the Confederates were confronted by heavy ranks of Federal infantry. Seeing the situation was hopeless, Lee surrendered the depleted and surrounded Army of Northern Virginia to Lt. Gen. U.S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, VA. Lee still had 28,231 men who were formally paroled at Appomattox. The Confederates were quickly paroled and told to go home. The parole passes gave them legal protection from arrest. The surrender of Lee's Army demoralized the other Confederate armies still in the field, and by June 3, 1865, the last army, the Army of the Trans-Mississippi, officially surrendered and lowered the last official Confederate flag at Shreveport, La. But the tumultuous Reconstruction Era was just beginning.

Gen. Robert E. Lee

Also on this day in 1865 was the Battle of Fort Blakeley, Alabama, pitting 4,000 Confederates against 45,000 Confederates. St. John R. Liddell was the commander of the fort on Mobile Bay, and Maj. Gen. Edward Canby commanded the Northern invaders. It is considered the final major battle of the war by historians. The Northerners breached the fort's defenses by sheer weight of numbers. Casualties were 75 Confederates killed and some 2,900 captured. The Federals lost 150 men killed and 650 wounded, which shows the Southerners put up a good fight. The city of Mobile was evacuated on April 12.

Assault on Fort Blakeley.

CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, April 9.

NONE.

Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, April 8.

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ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, April 8.

1862: New Mexico Territory Campaign: Brig. Gen. Henry H. Sibley's Confederate Army skirmished at Albuquerque, N.M., with Federals under Col. Edward R.S. Canby. The Confederates then successfully continued their withdrawal toward Texas. The overall Confederate casualties in the campaign were 400 killed or wounded and 500 captured or missing. Overall casualties for the Federals in the campaign were 166 killed, 246 wounded, and 222 missing or captured.

1864: The Battle of Mansfield, LA, occurred on this day in the Red River Campaign and was one of the most decisive Confederate victories of the war. Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor's Army of Western Louisiana routed Maj. Gen. N.B. Banks' Army of the Gulf started the Yankees on a long retreat back to the New Orleans area. Brig. Gen. Alfred Mouton's Louisiana & Texas Division led the attack on the Federal center while Brig. Gen. Tom Green's Division of Texas & Louisiana cavalry turned the Federal right and Maj. Gen. John Walker's Division of Texas infantry and Brig. Gen. H.B. Bee's Texas cavalry rolled up the Federal left. This was a classic example of a double envelopment maneuver. Gen. Mouton was killed in the charge as were many of the leaders of his division's brigades and regiments. Also killed in Mouton's Charge were Col. James H. Beard of the Consolidated Crescent Regiment, Col. Leopold Armant of the 18th Louisiana Infantry, Lt. Col. William Walker of the 28th Louisiana Infantry, and Lt. Col Franklin Clack (mortally wounded) of the Consolidated Crescent Regiment, a part of Mouton's/Gray's brigade. Also killed in the charge was Lt. Col. Sebron N. Noble of the Consolidated 17th Texas Cavalry (DM) of Polignac's Brigade. Brig. Gen. Camille Polignac assumed command of Mouton's Division. The Federals lost 113 killed, 581 wounded, and 1,541 missing. The Confederates suffered about 1,000 casualties of all types, and about two-thirds of those were in Mouton's infantry division. Taylor and his army secured western Louisiana, part of Arkansas, and nearly all of Texas for the Confederacy for the rest of the war. Taylor received a promotion to lieutenant general and Polignac to major general, to date from April 8, 1864.

Brig. Gen. Alfred Mouton, KIA in the Battle of Mansfield, La.

Lt. Col. Sebron Miles Noble

Consolidated 17th Texas Cavalry (DM)

KIA at Mansfield

(Ancestry.com/family trees)

Lt. Col. Franklin Clack, 

Colidated Crescent Regiment

Mortally wounded.

1865: SIEGE OF SPANISH FORT: Vastly outnumbered by Federal forces, Brig. Gen. Randall L. Gibson, commander of the Confederate forces at Spanish Fort near Mobile, Alabama, succeeded in saving most of his command when the Federals overran the Confederate lines during the Siege of Spanish Fort. Gibson's men had sustained the siege since March 27, 1865. The Federals lost 657 casualties, and the Confederates suffered 744.

 

APPOMATTOX CAMPAIGN: Also in 1865, Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia finds itself practically surrounded by Federal armies at Appomattox, Va. Lee tries a breakthrough, but it fails. The Federals also captured the Confederate supply wagon train.

CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, April 8.

Brigadier General George Baird Hodge was born on this day in 1828 in Fleming County, Kentucky. Hodge was a 1845 graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md. After serving for five years, he resigned in 1850 as an acting lieutenant. Hodge, now a Kentucky lawyer, was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1859. He was an elector for John C. Breckinridge in the 1860 presidential election. During the War for Southern Independence, Hodge rose from the rank of private in 1861 to brigadier general by 1865. His battles included the Battle of Shiloh and numerous raids with Lt. Gen. N.B. Forrest's Maj. Gen. "Fighting Joe" Wheeler's cavalry units. Following the war, Hodge returned to his law practice in Newport, Ky., and was elected to the Kentucky Senate for the 1873-1877 term. Late in life, he moved to Florida and grew oranges. Hodge died on August 1, 1892, in Longwood, Florida, and was buried in Seminole, Florida.

Brig. Gen. George B. Hodge

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

 Click 👉 TODAY IN HISTORY (general history) April 7.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, April 7.

1861: Fort Sumter Campaign: Confederate General Beauregard in Charleston, South Carolina, sends a message to U.S. Army Major Robert Anderson, in command of the small garrison at Fort Sumter, that there will be no further communications with Confederate officials.

1862: On the second day of the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee, the Federal Army under Maj. Gen. U.S. Grant begins an aggressive push against the now badly outnumbered Confederates under Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard. Grant, with reinforcements, now has about 45,000 men to Beauregard's 20,000 effectives. The Confederates put up a stiff resistance, but by 2 o'clock in the afternoon, it was clear to the Confederate leader that he must withdraw back to Corinth, Miss., before his army was overwhelmed. The Louisiana Creole organized a masterly withdrawal in the face of overwhelming numbers and got his army substantially back to Corinth. After two days of the bloodiest fighting yet in the war, the Federals lost 1,754 killed, 8,408 wounded, and 2,885 captured or missing, for a total of 13,047. The Confederates suffered 1,728 killed, 8,012 wounded, and 959 captured or missing for a total of 10,699.

Gen. Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard.

He successfully withdrew the army back to

Corinth, Miss. basically intact, in the face of

a numerically superior enemy, one of the most

difficult maneuvers in military science. He

was a master at battlefield management.

2nd Lt. Dudley Avery, Co. D,

18th La. Inf., wounded in action

at Shiloh. 

(Avery Island Inc., Archives, Avery Island, La.)

1863: First Battle of Charleston Harbor, S.C.: Gen. Beauregard, again in command of Charleston, S.C., including Fort Sumter, thwarts the first attempt by the Federal Navy to retake Charleston Harbor. The Federal warships, under the command of Rear Admiral Samuel Francis Du Pont, get the worst of an artillery duel with Confederate shore batteries. The ironclad USS Keokuk is so badly damaged that it sinks the following day. Confederates managed to salvage two 11-inch Dahlgren guns to strengthen their batteries. Casualties are light on both sides.

1864: The Battle of Wilson's Farm takes place in the Red River Campaign. The cavalry battle is between Confederate Brig. Gen. Tom Green's cavalry division with Brig. Gen. James Major's Texans charged unexpectedly at Brig. Gen. Albert L. Lee's Federal cavalry was three miles north of Pleasant Hill. Since Green's Texans arrived, the Confederates have become very aggressive. The two sides engage in fierce close-quarters fighting, and the Southrons break through and attack some of the leading supply wagons. The Federals manage to drive the Texans back several miles before the fight ends. Casualties for the Federals number 53, while Confederate losses are unknown. Lee is concerned and asks for infantry support.

1865: Appomattox Campaign: There is heavy fighting between retreating Confederate infantry and cavalry at the Battle of High Bridge, Va., at the Appomattox River, near Farmville. The Federals succeeded in capturing the south bridge, but they suffered 847 casualties, including 800 captured, while the Confederates lost about 100 men.

CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, April 7.

Brigadier General Alexander Welch Reynold's exact day of birth is unknown, but it is believed to be sometime in April 1816 or August 1817 in Frederick County, Virginia. He graduated from West Point in 1838, ranking 35th out of 45 cadets. In the Mexican-American War, he was an assistant quartermaster with the rank of captain. In 1855, Reynolds was dismissed from the service for theft of government funds. He had become wealthy and had his rank restored in 1858. He left the U.S. Army in 1861, was listed as AWOL, and joined the Confederate Army. He became colonel of the 50th Virginia Infantry and was promoted to brigadier general. His service included the Kentucky Campaign, the Vicksburg Campaign, including the Battle of Champion Hill and the Siege of Vicksburg, the Chattanooga Campaign, and the Atlanta Campaign. Following the war, he served as a colonel in the Egyptian Army and died on May 26, 1876, in Alexandria, Egypt. He is believed to be either buried in the Patton Tomb in the Old Stone Church Presbyterian Cemetery in Lewisburg, W. Va., or in an unmarked grave in Alexandria, Egypt. There is also a plaque with his name and dates on it at his wife's burial site in the Church of St. James the Less, Philadelphia, Pa., but he is believed not to be buried there. 

Brig. Gen. Alexander W. Reynolds

Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, April 6.

 Click 👉TODAY IN HISTORY (general history) April 6.

ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, April 6.

1862: The first day of the Battle of Shiloh, the bloodiest battle up to then in the war, takes place around Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee. Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston led 44,894 Confederates in an attack on 40,335 Federals under Maj. Gen. U.S. Grant. The Federals are caught by surprise because of the negligence of Grant and Maj. Gen. W.T. Sherman ignored numerous warning signs. The first day involved epic hard fighting on the part of both sides, resulting in enormous casualties, including Johnston, who was killed in action. Second-in-command Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard took over after learning of Johnston's death. Believing the battle is won because the enemy has been driven back to Pittsburg Landing and seems to be in disarray, in the dark, he orders Confederates to fall back to get reorganized and finish off the Federals the next day. However, the first of over 20,000 Federal reinforcements are already pouring in by nightfall.

Gen.  Albert Sidney Johnston was

killed in action on the first day of

The Battle of Shiloh, Tenn.

Gen. A.S. Johnston's fatal wounding at Shiloh.
(From "The Life of Albert Sidney Johnston, 1878)

Col. Francis Lee Campbell

13th Louisiana Infantry

Wounded at Shiloh

(Library of Congress)

1864: In the Red River Campaign in western Louisiana, Confederates expect the arrival of an enormous Federal juggernaut headed their way at Mansfield with an obvious objective of Shreveport and then Texas. However, the Southrons are anxious and ready for the coming battle even if greatly outnumbered.

1865: The Battle of Sailor's Creek, Va., is a blow to the Army of Northern Virginia. Part of Grant's huge army catches the Confederates on the road and overwhelms a third of the Confederate Army en route to Farmville, Va. The fighting was said to be "desperate" and "hand-to-hand." Confederates lost 7,700 men killed and wounded, but mostly captured. The Federals report 1,148 casualties in the battle.

Maj. Gen. G.W.C. Lee,

the eldest son of Gen. R.E. Lee,

was among the Confederates

captured at Sailor's Creek. He 

commanded two brigades of

infantry and one of artillery.

CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, April 6.

Major General Charles William Field was born on this day in 1828 in Woodford County, Kentucky. He was a 1849 graduate of West Point, ranking 27th out of 43 cadets. He was assigned to frontier duty and rose to the rank of captain in 1861 before he resigned to join the Confederate Army. He rose from the rank of major in the 6th Virginia Cavalry, then to colonel in Nov. 1861, and was promoted to brigadier general in March of 1862 and commanded an infantry brigade. Field then received his promotion to major general in 1864. His campaigns and battles included the Peninsula Campaign and the Valley Campaign of 1862. He was severely wounded at the Second Battle of Manassas and was out of action for over a year. He took the field again in 1864 and fought in the Overland Campaign, the Battle of Cold Harbor, the Siege of Petersburg, and the Battle of Deep Bottom, Va. He surrendered at Appomattox Court House, Va., on April 9, 1865. Following the war, he had a varied business career and served in the Egyptian Army and as a doorkeeper for the U.S. House of Representatives. After that, he worked as a civil engineer and died on April 9, 1892, in Washington, D.C., and was buried in Loudon Park Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland.

Maj. Gen. Charles W. Field