Today in History (general History)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthday, June 25.

Click 👉Today in History (general history) June 25.

On This Day in Confederate History, June 25.

1862: The Seven Days Battles begin this day with the Battle of King's School House (Oak Grove). In this battle, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan was trying to move his forces closer to the Confederate fortifications before Richmond, Va. Gen. Robert E. Lee had one division involved, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Huger's versus three brigades of the Federal III Corps. There was much confusion on the part of the Federals, but by nightfall, they had managed to move 600 yards closer. Federal casualties were 68 killed, 503 wounded, and 55 missing for a total of 626. Confederates lost 66 killed, 362 wounded, and 13 missing for a total of 441. General Lee would seize the initiative the following day.

Lt. Col. King Bryan, as a major

5th Texas Infantry Regiment

Hood's Texas Brigade

1863: SIEGE OF VICKSBURG: First Lt. John Y. Sanders II of Co. B, 26th La. Inf., Shoup's Brigade, writes in his daily diary at Vicksburg, Miss. "As usual, in pits all day. Men make peach preserves & purslane greens in order to enlarge their rations - poor fellows, they suffer a good deal - but we get enough to 'live on.' All were roused at 1/4 of 5 this evening by tremendous cannonading on the right. All of my opinion that it's Johnston coming in. May it be so! Sat up till late, 12 o'clock. Angry sharpshooting where the charge was made this evening on the right. Saw Vicksburg paper of the 25th, which says Lee is in Pennsylvania." (Diary in Gray, Young-Sanders Center, 1994, Franklin, La.)

1st Lt. Jared Y. Sanders

Co. B, 26 La. Inf.

Shoup's Brigade

1864: Captain Samuel T. Foster of the 24th Texas Cavalry, Granbury's Brigade, Cleburne's Division, writes in his diary in the Atlanta Campaign: "Weather clear and warm. Skirmish firing still going on night and day, but no cannonading of any consequence since the day before yesterday -- No change in our lines yet. This evening, there is heavy cannonading by the enemy. Skirmish firing still going on all the time. Sometimes it nearly amounts to a fight, then it eases off to the same old bang, bang, like water dropping off the eaves of a house. The bullets go zip zip over our breastworks day and night, making the men bow their heads."

Confederate General Birthdays, June 25.

None.

Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, June 24.

Click 👉Today in History (general history) June 24.

On This Day in Confederate History, June 24.

1863: SIEGE OF VICKSBURG: Brig. Gen. Francis Shoup reports on his part of the Confederate defense line at Vicksburg, Miss., "Comparatively quiet. Rained during the night. Think the enemy is making galleries. An attempt was made to spring our mines; it failed. The train was laid in gas pipes; it will not communicate. Find by experiment that powder, when confined in a long tube, when ignited, will burst the tube a few feet from the end, and will not burn farther."

Brig. Gen. Francis Shoup

 

Click👉1st Louisiana Zouaves Jeff Davis' Pet Wolves

 This is the story of one of the most unique and famed Louisiana units in the War for Southern Independence, the 1st Louisiana Zouaves. Made up largely of foreigners from many countries, the men wore the gaudy French Zouave uniform and fought with a fierce determination for the new Southern Republic.

1864: Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton's Confederate cavalry tries to block Maj. Gen. Phillip Sheridan's Federal cavalry from raiding Trevilian Station, Va. Sheridan countered by fighting a delaying action to protect a Federal supply train. The Yanks then return to their base at Bermuda Hundred.

 

Brothers Private Stephen D. and Private Moses M. Boynton

 of Co. C, Beaufort District Troop, Hampton Legion 

South Carolina Cavalry Battalion, with pistol.

(Liljenquist Collection, Library of Congress)

In the Wilson-Kautz Raid, Kautz skirmishes with Confederate cavalry home guardsmen at Burkesville, Va., while Wilson's men tear up the railroad tracks of the Richmond and Danville Railroad.

Confederate General Birthdays, June 24.

Brigadier General Birkett Davenport Fry was born on this day in 1822 in Kanawha County, Virginia. He attended both the Virginia Military Academy and West Point but didn't graduate with his Class of 1846. Fry then became a lawyer and served in the Mexican-American War as a first lieutenant. He moved to California after the war and became a filibusterer in William Walker's Nicaragua Campaign. After returning to California, he moved to Tallahassee, Alabama, where he ran a cotton Mill business. Fry was appointed the colonel of the 13th Alabama Infantry in the Confederate Army and took part in the Peninsula Campaign, was wounded and in the Battle of Seven Pines, Va. Fry then fought at the battles of Sharpsburg (wounded), Chancellorsville (wounded), and Gettysburg (wounded & captured). After being exchanged, he was in the Siege of Petersburg and promoted to brigadier general on May 28, 1864. Fry finished the war by commanding a military district in South Carolina and Georgia. Following the war, he moved to Cuba and lived in a hotel with other Confederates. He returned to Tallahassee, Alabama, and resumed his business career. He expanded his cotton mill to Florida and Virginia and moved to Richmond, Va. Fry died on January 21, 1891, in Richmond and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Montgomery, Alabama. 

Brig. Gen. Brikett D. Fry

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Brigadier General (Maj. Gen. in the Georgia Militia) Henry Rootes Jackson was born on this day in 1820 in Athens, Tennessee. He served in the Mexican-American War as the colonel of the 1st Georgia Infantry. After that war, Jackson was a Georgia judge, U.S. Chargé d'affaires to the Austrian Empire, and was a prominent lawyer and popular speaker. During the War Between the States, Jackson served as a judge in the Confederate courts and was then made a brigadier general in the Confederate Army in June 1861, and was promoted to Major General in the Georgia Militia. His battles and campaigns included Cheat Mountain, the Atlanta Campaign, the Franklin-Nashville Campaign, and the Battle of Nashville. Following the war, he resumed his law and political careers and served as the minister to Mexico in 1885 and 1886. Jackson was also a railroad executive and banker, and served 23 years as the president of the Georgia Historical Society. Jackson died May 23, 1877, in Savannah, Georgia, and was buried in Bonaventure Cemetery in Thunderbolt, Georgia.

Brig. Gen. Henry R. Jackson

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Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, June 23.

Click 👉Today in History (general history) June 23. 

On This Day in Confederate History, June 23.

1863: Attack on Brashear City, La.: Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor's audacious plan to attack the large Federal supply depot west of New Orleans at Brashear City (modern-day Morgan City) is a complete success. With his small Army of Western Louisiana, he managed to coordinate a land-sea attack on Brashear City that came off like clockwork which began at about 6 a.m. both by land and sea by widely scattered Confederate forces. The Yankee soldiers were taken completely by surprise and were overwhelmed and surrendered by 7:30 a.m. Besides mountains of supplies taken, there were also 1,000 enemy soldiers captured, 10 heavy siege guns, two train engine cars, small arms, uniforms, food rations, and large quantities of cotton, and between 200 and 300 wagons and tents. Also captured by Brig. Gen. James Patrick Major's cavalry brigade were the railroad stations east of the city, including 300 blue coat garrison troops, and more mountains of food. The usually hungry Confederates temporarily lost control of themselves feasting on captured food. But Mouton's Louisiana Infantry Brigade soon had order and discipline restored. The Confederates lost 3 men killed and 18 wounded. Federal casualties were 46 killed, 40 wounded, and the prisoners.

Brig. Gen. James P. Major and staff. Major is

standing in the center wearing a kepi.

(Avery Island, La. Archives) (Click on the image to enlarge)

1864: On the last day of the Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road, Va. the Federal VI Corps made a second attempt to take the Weldon Railroad. The Federals briefly took it and were beginning to tear up the railroad tracks when Maj. Gen. William Mahone's Division counterattacked and drove the Yankees off. The Federals suffered 2,962 casualties to 572 for the Confederates. 

In the ongoing Wilson-Kautz Raid, the Federal raiders were challenged by Confederate Brigadier General Rooney Lee's Confederate cavalry. The Federals managed to damage 30 miles of track of the Richmond and Danville Road. The Confederates were able to make quick repairs.

Confederate General Birthdays, June 23.

Maj. Gen. Daniel Smith Donelson was born on this day in 1801 in Summer County, Tennessee. He graduated from West Point in 1825 but resigned from the Army six months later Jan. 26, 1826, and became a planter in Tennessee. Donelson also served in the Tennessee State Legislature and became a general in the Tennessee militia.  He died of disease on April 17, 1863, near Knoxville, Tennessee. Fort Donelson, Tennessee was named in his honor. He became a brigadier general in the Confederate Army and commanded a brigade in Gen. Robert E. Lee's Western Virginia Campaign, the Battle of Perryville, Ky., and was promoted to major general rank from Jan. 17, 1863. His career was cut short when he died of disease on April 22, 1863, near Knoxville, Tenn., and was buried in the Presbyterian Cemetery in Hendersonville, Tenn.

Maj. Gen. Daniel S. Donelson

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Brigadier General Young Marshall Moody was born on this day in 1822 in Chesterfield County,  Virginia. Prior to the war, he was a teacher, merchant, and clerk of the circuit court in Marengo County, Alabama. During the war, he became a captain and company commander of Company A, 11th Alabama Infantry in the Army of Northern Virginia, and later lieutenant colonel of the 43rd Alabama Infantry in the Army of Tennessee and before the end of the war in the ANV again. He was promoted to brigadier general on March 4, 1865. His battles and campaigns included the Battle of Perryville, Ky., the Battle of Chickamauga, Ga. the Siege of Chattanooga, Tenn, the Siege of Knoxville, Tenn., and the Battle of Bean's Station, Tenn. Moody then went back to Virginia and fought in the Battle of Drewry's Bluff, Va., the Battle of Proctor's Creek, the Bermuda Hundred Campaign, and in the Siege of Petersburg, Va., was wounded Dec. 2, 1864. Moody was leading a brigade when captured on April 8, 1865, at Appomattox Court House and was paroled the next day. After the war, he moved to Mobile, Ala. to continue his business career but died of yellow fever on Sept. 18, 1866, in New Orleans, La., and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery there.

Brig. Gen. Young M. Moody

 Click 👉Today in History (general history) June 22

On This Day in Confederate History, June 22.

1861: Pro-South Missouri Gov. Claiborne Fox Jackson continues his support for the Confederacy after a pro-Union convention meets and votes to establish a new state government in St. Louis. Missouri's secessionist state government continued throughout the war, mostly in absentia. The state also had a number of battles and skirmishes on its soil, including one of the first, the Battle of Oak Hill (Wilson's Creek). It supplied men and regiments to both armies, North and South.

1863: Under pressure to relieve besieged Port Hudson, La., Confederate Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor launches an attack on the large Federal supply base at Brashear City, La. Taylor plans a complex attack involving a cavalry raid on the railroad between New Orleans and Brashear City and a seaborne attack from Berwick's Bay. Some of the boats moved out on the night of June 22, some troops paddling the 12 miles there in sugar coolers for a coordinated attack the next morning. It was one of the most audacious plans in the war.

Brig. Gen. Thomas Green's

volunteers for Taylor's "Mosquito

Fleet" for the attack on Brashear

City, La. was drawn from his brigade

and the 2nd La. Cav. (Archives, Tex. State Lib.)

1864: The second day of the Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road near Petersburg, Va. continues with Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill's Third Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia preventing Lt. Gen. U.S. Grant's II Corps and VI Corps from capturing the Weldon Railroad. 

Also on this day, Grant launches the Wilson-Kautz Raid to destroy railroad tracks south and southwest of Petersburg. Carrying out the raid is Brig. Gen. James H. Wilson and Brig. Gen. August Kautz's divisions. 

Confederate General Birthdays, June 22.

None.

Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, June 21.

Click 👉Today in History (general history) June 21. 

On This Day in Confederate History, June 21.

1863: Gettysburg Campaign: As the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia progressed toward Pennsylvania in Gettysburg, there were skirmishes near Gainesville, Va., Frederick, Md., and an engagement at Upperville, Va. The Army of Northern Virginia was at the peak of its power, coming off tremendous victories at Fredericksburg, Va., and Chancellorsville, Va. General Robert E. Lee had established himself as a military genius who had the confidence of the Confederate people. The ANV at that time totaled between 75,000 and 80,000 battle-hardened veterans. The army also included 270 artillery pieces and some 9,500 crack cavalrymen led by Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart. The three corps were under the command of Lieutenant Generals James Longstreet, First Corps; Richard S. Ewell, Second Corps; and A.P. Hill, Third Corps.

 

Pvt. Robert M. Wilson, Co. G, 5th S.C. Inf.

wearing a Richmond Depot shell jacket like those issued to the ANV.

Confederates of the ANV marching through Frederick, Md., in 1862 or 1864. Click on the image to enlarge

Click👉Confederate Guards Response Battalion

This is the history of one of the hardest-fighting Louisiana units in the War for Southern Independence, the Confederate Guards Response Battalion. It covers the organization in New Orleans, the Battle of Shiloh, and their campaigns in Louisiana. The book includes photographs, maps, illustrations, a bibliography, and an index.

On the second day of the Battle of LaFourche Crossing, La., Colonel Charles L. Pyron's 2nd Texas Mounted Rangers of Confederate Brig. Gen. James P. Major's brigade and Federal Lt. Col. Albert Stickney resume skirmishing in the late afternoon, and there is an artillery duel at 7 o'clock P.M. The Confederates then returned to Thibodaux. The two days of fighting resulted in 48 casualties for the Federals and 219 for the Confederates.

1864: The Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road, Va. began on this day as the Confederates under Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill and Brig. Gen. William Mahone battled to stop Federals under Maj. Gen. David Birney and Maj. Gen. Horatio Wright extended their line at Petersburg, Va., to cut off supplies to the Confederates from the three remaining railroads open to Petersburg. Mahone, a railroad engineer before the war and familiar with the terrain, set up an ambush for the blue coats for the following day.

Maj. Gen.William Mahone 

Confederate General Birthdays, June 21.

Brigadier General John Decatur Barry was born on this day in 1839 in Wilmington, North Carolina. He was a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was working as a clerk in Wilmington when the war started. He joined the 18th North Carolina Infantry as a private at the beginning of the war. However, when the Confederate Army was reorganized in April 1862, he was elected captain. Promotions followed to major, colonel, and brigadier general. Barry was wounded at the Battle of Frayser's Farm in 1862. He was then in the Battle of Sharpsburg and at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863, where he gave the command to his regiment to fire on approaching horsemen, which resulted in the mortal wounding of Lt. Gen. Stonewall Jackson. But he went on to be promoted to colonel of the 18th North Carolina. Barry led his regiment at Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg. He was appointed temporary brigadier general when the leader of his brigade was wounded at the Battle of Cold Harbor in 1864. Barry was then wounded in the hand at the First Battle of Deep Bottom on July 27, 1864, and because the wound rendered him physically unfit for field command, his temporary appointment as a brigadier general was canceled. He finished the war as a colonel in command of a department in North Carolina. He was still in poor health after the war and died on March 24, 1867. He was buried in Oakdale Cemetery in Wilmington.

Brig. Gen. John D. Barry.

Today in History (general history)/ On This Day In Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, June 20.

Click 👉Today in History (general history) June 20. 

On This Day in Confederate History, June 20.

Pvt. Benjamin W. Varnell

Co. B, 1st Texas Cavalry Regiment

(Liljenquist Collection, Library of Congress)

1862:  A skirmish occurs between Confederate Col. Edwin Waller Jr.'s 13th Battalion Texas Cavalry and the 8th Vermont Infantry at Bayou des Allemands, La.

Col. Edwin Waller Jr.

13th Bn, Tex. Cav.

1863: The Battle of LaFourche Crossing takes place near Thibodaux, La., between the Confederate cavalry brigade of Brig. Gen. James P. Major and a Federal detachment of 838 men under Lt. Col. Albert Stickney. The Confederates drove Stickney's detachment out of Thibodaux and down Bayou Lafourche. They exchanged fire with the Federals before the Confederates returned to Thibodaux and feasted on the Northern food supplies they captured there. The skirmishing would continue the next day.

Click👉Randal's Texas Brigade

Fighting for Southern Independence

This is the history of one of the finest bodies of Confederate infantry in the War for Southern Independence. General Kirby Smith and Lieutenant General Richard Taylor considered Randal's Texas Brigade to be the best infantry brigade in the Trans-Mississippi West. The brigade was principally made up of the 11th Texas Infantry Regiment, 14th Texas Infantry Regiment, the 28th Texas Cavalry (Dismounted) and the 6th Battalion (Gould's) Texas Infantry. It fought in such major Trans-Mississippi Department battles, in all or part, as the battles of Bayou Bourbeau, Mansfield, Pleasant Hill, all in Louisiana, and Jenkins' Ferry in Arkansas. The men of Randal's Texas Brigade played a major roll in keeping Texas largely free of the destruction wrought on other Southern states in the war.

1864: Confederate Capt. James A. Ware of the First Texas Cavalry at Fort Duncan, Eagle Pass, Texas, reported on June 20, 1864, that on the day before, he had been attacked by 80 to 100 renegades (Federal recruits under U.S. officers) on the Texas side of the Rio Grande River. Ware said he had but 34 men guarding the post. He received some poorly armed reinforcements from Texas home guard units. When the enemy attacked the town, they were repulsed. He said he was briefly captured when trying to communicate with the town, but managed to escape. The enemy only managed to get away with a few horses. Ware said four men were severely wounded on the Confederate side. He said the enemy lost one man killed and six wounded. Ware noted that Mexican authorities had allowed the formation of the renegades on the Mexican side of the river. 

Confederate General Birthdays, June 20.

Brig. Gen. John Tyler Morgan was born in 1824 in Athens, Tennessee. A prewar lawyer in Alabama, Morgan was a presidential elector for John C. Breckinridge in the 1860 election. With the coming of war, Morgan served as a private in the 5th Alabama Infantry and fought in the First Battle of Manassas, Va. He received promotions to major and lieutenant Colonel but resigned in 1862 to raise his own regiment, the 51st Alabama Partisan Rangers. With that unit, Morgan served in Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's cavalry in the Battle of Chickamauga, Ga., and the Knoxville Campaign. Morgan was promoted to brigadier general on November 16, 1863. He then served in the Atlanta Campaign and fought against Sherman's March to the Sea in 1864. Following the war, and was active in resisting the Reconstruction policies in the South, and was elected from Alabama to the U.S. Senate, where he served until he died in Washington, D.C. on March 4, 1907, and was buried in Live Oak Cemetery in Selma, Alabama.

Brig. Gen. John Tyler Morgan

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

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

On This Day in Confederate History, June 19.

1863: The Battle of Middleburg, Va. takes place from June 17 to 19 in 1863 in the Gettysburg Campaign. It occurred when Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry, which was screening Gen. Robert E. Lee's ANV, clashed with the Federal cavalry of Brig. Gen. David McM. Gregg. Confederate pickets near Middleburg were attacked by Federals and fell back to Middleburg. Federal Brig. Gen. John Buford's Division then skirmished with Confederate Brig. Gen. William "Grumble" Jones' Brigade. The skirmishing continued through the afternoon, and the Confederates finally fell back to a more secure position. The Confederates lost about 40 men, killed or wounded, and the Federal casualties totaled about 97.

CLICK👉Fighting for Southern Independence

A History of the 13th Louisiana Infantry

This is the story of one of the most heroic and hardest fighting regiments in the Confederate Army, the 13th Louisiana Infantry. The men of this regiment were largely from the New Orleans area and fought in such famous battles as Shiloh, Perryville, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Atlanta (Campaign), Franklin, and Nashville in the main Confederate Army of the in the western theater of operations. They served under such great Confederate generals as P.G.T. Beauregard, Braxton Bragg, Joseph Johnston and John Bell Hood.

1864: Atlanta Campaign: Captain Samuel T. Foster of Granbury's Texas Brigade in the Army of Tennessee reacts in his diary to the decision by President Davis to replace Gen. Joseph E. Johnston as commander with Gen. John Bell Hood. He writes: "The noise and confusion were kept up all night. Genl Johnson (sic) was serenaded, and if Jeff Davis had made his appearance in this army, he would not have lived an hour. This morning, in order (I suppose) to quiet the men, it is reported that Hood refuses to take command and that Johnson will remain in command until after the fight at Atlanta. In the afternoon, we are put in position, build breastworks, and by night, we are ready for the Yanks." (One of Cleburne's Command, 1980)

Confederate Corporal Sam Watkins of Co. H. 1st Tennessee Regiment wrote, "General Joe Johnston is relieved, Generals Hardee and Kirby Smith have resigned, and General Hood is appointed to take command of the Army of Tennessee." ... "Five men of that picket--they were just five--as rapidly as they could, took off their cartridge boxes, after throwing down their guns ... They marched off, and it was the last we ever saw of them."

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

Confederate General Birthdays, June 19.

None.