Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General birthdays, February 16.

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ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, Feb. 16.

1862: Confederate General Simon Bolivar Buckner surrendered the Fort Donelson garrison to Grant. Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest refused to surrender and led 100 men through Federal lines to fight another day. The Federals lost 507 men killed, 1,976 wounded, and 208 captured. The Confederates lost 327 killed 1,127 wounded, and 12,392 captured or missing.

1863: Confederate forces at Vicksburg, Mississippi continued to thwart Federals under Grant from getting to Vicksburg. Skirmishing occurs at Yazoo Pass.

1864: A skirmish occurs between Confederate and Federal forces at Lauderdale Springs, Mississippi.

1865: Carolinas Campaign: Generals P.G.T. Beauregard and Wade Hampton evacuated Columbia, South Carolina and the city surrendered to Sherman. At Charleston, South Carolina, General William Hardee was cut off from reinforcements and evacuated his Confederate forces.

Portrait of Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard by

Andres Molinary. (NARA, digitally colorized)

CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, Feb. 16.

Major General James Patton Anderson was born on this day in 1822 in Franklin County, Tennessee. He grew up in Kentucky and Mississippi, attended a medical school, and began practicing medicine in 1862. Anderson then studied law and became a lawyer. During the Mexican American War, he became the lieutenant colonel of the Mississippi Rifles. Following the war, he served in the Mississippi House of Representatives, as a U.S. Marshal in the Washington Territory, and represented the territory in the 34th U.S. Congress. During the War for Southern Independence, he became the colonel of the 1st Florida Infantry. He was promoted to brigadier general on Feb. 19, 1862, and major general on Feb. 17, 1864. His battles were Shiloh, Perryville, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Ezra Church, Utoy Creek, and Jonesboro. In his last battle, he was seriously wounded in the jaw but rejoined the army, against his doctor's order, in April 1865 for the Carolina Campaign and was paroled on May 1, 1865. Following the war Anderson lived in Memphis, Tenn., was a tax collector for Shelby County, and died Sept. 20, 1872, of complications from his old war wound and was buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis.

Maj. Gen. James P Anderson

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Major General Joseph Reid Anderson was born in 1813 in Botetourt County, Virginia. He was an 1836 graduate of West Point ranking 4th in his class and was assigned to the Army Corps of Engineers. Anderson joined the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Va., and became its owner in 1848. During the War for Southern Independence, he supervised ordnance and munitions production for the Confederacy. Promoted to brigadier general in September 1861 and commanded a brigade in the Seven Days Battles at Mechanicsville, Gaines' Mill, and Glendale, where he received a concussion. He resigned on July 19, 1862, and operated his ironworks for the benefit of the Confederacy. After the war, he regained control of the iron works in 1867, served in the Virginia House of Delegates and died on vacation in New Hampshire Sept. 7, 1892, and was buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond.

Maj. Gen. Joseph R. Anderson

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Major General Prince Camille Armand Jules Marie de Polignac was born on this day in 1832 in Millemont, Seine-et-Oise, France. From a noble family, he attended St. Stanislas College and joined the French Army in 1853. Polignac served in the Crimean War as a second lieutenant. He came to the American South and joined the Confederate Army and initially served on the staff of General Beauregard and Braxton Bragg with the rank of lieutenant commander. He was called the "Lafayette of the South." Polignac was promoted to brigadier general in January 1863 and led a Texas brigade at the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill, Louisiana in 1864. After the death of General Mouton at Mansfield, he led Mouton's Division and was promoted to major general. He was affectionately nicknamed "Prince Polecat" by his Texans who were unable to pronounce his French name. In March 1865 he was sent to France to seek intervention of France for the Confederacy. Following the war, Polignac also fought in the Crimean War and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and became a brigadier general in the French Army and commanded a division. Polignac died Nov. 16, 1913, and was buried at Hauptfriedhof, Frankfurt-on-Main, Germany.

Maj. General Camille Polignac

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Brigadier General John Daniel Imboden was born on this day in 1823 in Staunton, Virginia. Prior to the war he was a teacher and lawyer and served in the Virginia House of Delegates. After John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry in 1859, Imboden helped found the Staunton Light Artillery and was commissioned a captain in the state militia. After Virginia seceded in 1861, he took part in the capture of the U.S. Arsenal at Harper's Ferry and commanded an artillery battery at the First Battle of Manassas. Subsequently, he was promoted to colonel of the 62nd Virginia Mounted Infantry and was promoted to brigadier general on Jan. 28, 1863. He and Brig. Gen. William "Grumble" Jones led partisan rangers in a raid into western Virginia and served with the Army of Northern Virginia in the Gettysburg Campaign under General Lee. Imboden also served in the Valley Campaign of 1864. He was incapacitated by typhoid fever and served in the final months of the war in commanding several prisoners of war camps. Following the war, he practiced law in Richmond and Abington, Va., wrote about the war, and was active in the United Confederate Veterans and many other activities. Imboden died Aug. 15, 1895, and was buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Va.

Brig. Gen. John D. Imboden

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Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, February 15.

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ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, Feb. 15.

1861: Commander Raphael Semmes resigned his commission in the U.S. Navy on this day after serving from 1826 to 1861. Semmes, born in 1809 in Nanjemoy, Maryland, was a graduate of Charlotte Hall Military Academy and joined the Navy as a midshipman and was also a practicing attorney at law while in the Navy and also in Mobile, Alabama. Semmes served in the Mexican-American War. During the War for Southern Independence, his cruise in the CSS Alabama became legendary and rose to the rank of rear admiral in the Confederate Navy. He died in Mobile on Aug. 30, 1877, and is buried in Mobile's Old Catholic Cemetery.

Rear Admiral Raphael Semmes

1862: At Fort Donelson, Tenn., Confederates under General Pillow launch a major assault on the Federal right flank. Grant was absent at the time upriver visiting Flag Officer Foote. The morning attack was successful, but Grant returned in the afternoon and reinforced the right flank. Pillow pulled his command back and all the Confederates had to pull back to their trenches. Grant planned a major assault for the following day.

Confederate Monument at Fort Donelson

(NPS)

1865: Carolinas Campaign: Confederate forces in South Carolina try to slow down Sherman's march on the state capital at Columbia with obstacles and attacks at various points. The bluecoats also have overcome natural obstacles such as swollen rivers and deep swamps. 

                                                          

CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, Feb. 15.

NONE

Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, February 14.

Click 👉 TODAY IN HISTORY (general history) Feb. 14.

ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, Feb. 14.

1862: The Confederate garrison at Fort Donelson was increasingly besieged by the Federal army and navy on this day. Four Federal ironclads arrived to increase the heavy bombardment of the fortress. However, the Confederate shore batteries gave the warships a pounding with the USS St. Louis and USS Louisville especially hard hit. Among the sailors wounded was Flag Officer Andrew Foote. The Confederates also planned to have General Gideon Pillow attack the Federal army's right flank. Elsewhere, the Confederates withdrew from Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Brig. Gen. Bushrod Johnson

Engineering Officer and briefly

commanded Fort Donelson.

1863: The USS Queen of the West is captured by Confederate land forces after it went up the Red River and engaged Fort DeRussy near Marksville, Louisiana. The Southern shore batteries pounded the gunboat until she was grounded. The Confederate artillerists continued the pounding until blue jackets evacuated, evaded capture, and were rescued by the USS DeSoto. The Confederates repaired the gunboat and rechristened it CSS Queen of the West.

1864: Meridian Campaign: Confederates under Lt. Gen. Leonidas Polk realized he didn't have the manpower to stop Sherman's rampaging bummers from taking Meridian, Mississippi, and thus evacuated the town. Sherman entered it with little fighting. Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's cavalry, however, blocked Federal Maj. Gen. Sooy Smith's faction from reaching Meridian.

CONFEDERATE GENERALS HISTORY, Feb. 14.

Brigadier General Alfred Iverson Jr. was born on this day in 1829 in Clinton, Georgia. The son of the Georgia U.S. Senator, he received a military education at the Tuskegee Military Institute. Iverson Jr. served as a 17-year-old second lieutenant in the Mexican American War. After the war, he became a lawyer and then in 1855, was given a first lieutenant commission in the 1st U.S. Cavalry and served in "Bleeding Kansas." He resigned from the U.S. Army in 1861 and became the colonel of the 20th N.C. Inf. in the Confederate Army. Iverson Jr. was promoted on November 1, 1862. His battles and campaigns included the Seven Days Battles, Gaines' Mill, South Mountain, Sharpsburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Atlanta Campaign, and the Carolinas Campaign at the end of the war. Following the war, he became a businessman in Macon, Ga., and an orange farmer in Florida. Iverson died on March 31, 1911, and was buried in Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, Ga. 

Brig. Gen. Alfred Iverson Jr.

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Brigadier General James Green Martin, on this day in 1819, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He attended West Point and graduated 14th in his class in 1840. Martin served as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army and was in the Aroostook War, and in the Mexican-American War in the battles of Monterey, Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Contreras, and Churubusco. In the last battle, he lost his right arm when it was shattered by grapeshot. He was brevetted to the rank of major. Martin sided with the South in the War for Southern Independence and resigned his commission in the U.S. Army in 1861. He became a major general in the North Carolina Militia and then in May 1862, a brigadier general in the Confederate Army. His battles and campaigns included the Overland Campaign in Virginia in 1864, the Battle of Cold Harbor in 1864, and the Siege of Petersburg in 1864-65. After the war, he became a lawyer and practiced that profession for the rest of his life in Ashville, N.C. where he died Oct. 4, 1878, and was buried in Riverside Cemetery there.

Brig. Gen. James G. Martin.

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Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthday, February 13.

 Click 👉TODAY IN HISTORY (general history) Feb. 13. 

ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, Feb. 13.

1862: Confederate Fort Donelson is attacked by Federals from the land and sea. General Grant leads the army attack and Admiral Foote the navy flotilla. The Northern forces have 24,531 men to the South's 16,171 under generals Simon B. Buckner, John Floyd, and Gideon Pillow. The Yankees stage probing attacks. The ironclad USS Carondelet bombards the fort, testing its defenses.

Maj. Gen. Simon B. Buckner

(CDV, M.D. Jones collection, digitally colorized)

1863: Confederate shore batteries at Vicksburg, Mississippi fail to stop the USS Indianola from passing the Confederate bastion on this day. The warship was a casemate ironclad with an armament of two 11-inch Dahlgren smoothbores, and two 9-inch Dahlgren smoothbores, and its armor was a 3-inch-thick iron plate. The vessel was headed to the mouth of the Red River to block Confederate River traffic.

Ironclad USS Indianola passing the Vicksburg shore batteries.

Click👉The Vicksburg 28th Louisiana Infantry

The Vicksburg 28th/29th Louisiana Infantry Regiment was involved in the 1862-63 defense of the "Gibraltar of the Mississippi," Vicksburg, from the first attack by the Union fleet of Admiral Farragut, to the final siege by Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. The regiment had its finest hour in the war during the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, Miss. on Dec. 28, 1862, when it was compared to the Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae in Ancient Greece, for holding off an enemy force many times its size. The regiment was made up of men from throughout Louisiana who endured incredible hardships and danger for their sacred cause of Southern Independence. Included in the book is a roster of the regiment, photographs, maps, footnotes, bibliography and index.

CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, Feb. 13.

None.

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

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

ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, Feb. 12.

1861: Louisiana Republic President Mouton and Lieutenant Governor Henry M. Hyams processed to Lafayette Square and raised for the first time the new Louisiana National Flag on the flagpole of New Orleans City Hall. It had a red canton with a single gold star, and 13 stripes alternating between blue, white, and red. The president was escorted by a military color guard and when the flag was raised, the New Orleans Washington Artillery fired a 21-gun salute. Three cheers were given by the onlookers.

A Louisiana Tiger Rifles reenactor waving the

Louisiana National Flag, aka Louisiana Republic Flag.

The book is available at Amazon.com in both an

e-book edition and a printed edition. The Tiger Rifles

were Company B, 1st Battalion (Wheat's) Louisiana Volunteers.

The battalion was known to have carried a First National

Confederate flag in the First Battle of Manassas, Va. July 21, 1861.

Louisiana Republic Flag is also called the Secession Flag.

(M.D. Jones Collection)

Meanwhile, President-elect Jefferson Davis was making his way to Montgomery, Alabama, and speaking to cheering crowds along the way.

1862: The Confederate cruiser CSS Florida captures and burns the Yankee clipper Jacob Bell and its $2 million worth of cargo. The Florida was built in Liverpool, England by William C. Miller & Son and launched in December 1861. It was commissioned by the Confederate Navy on Oct. 7, 1862, and placed under the command of Commander John Newland Maffitt. It was 191 ft. in length, a beam of 27 ft. 2-in., and a draft of 13 ft. 0 in., with both sails and a steam engine. It had a top speed of 9.5 knots under steam and 12 knots under sail. The crew complement was 146. The Florida's armament was 6, 6-inch rifled cannon, two, 7-inch rifled cannon, and one 12-pounder cannon. In its career, Florida took 37 prizes, two of which were absorbed by the CS Navy as the CSS Tacony and CSS Clarence. Those two ships took an additional 23 prizes. Florida's career ended on Oct. 7, 1864, at anchor at Bahia, Brazil while Maffitt and half of his crew were ashore. Florida was illegally captured at that time by Cmdr. Napoleon Collins of the sloop-of-war USS Wachusett. It was towed to Newport News, Va. where it suspiciously sank in a collision with the Army Transport USAT Alliance on Nov. 28, 1864, while it was under a court order to be delivered to Brazil.

Cmdr. John Newland Maffitt

Cmdr. of the CSS Florida

1864: Meridian Campaign: Confederates battle Federals at Decatur and Chunky Station as Sherman and Sooy Smith close in on Meridian, Mississippi.

1865: Carolinas Campaign: As the Federals approached Columbia, South Carolina, they drove off Confederate defenders at the Orangeburg Bridge on the North Edisto River. 

CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, Feb. 12.

Major General Robert Ransom Jr. was born on this day in 1828 in Warren County, North Carolina. A West Point graduate in 1850, he served in the 1st U.S. Dragoons and attended cavalry school at Carlisle Barracks, Pa. He was promoted to second lieutenant in 1851. Ransom then served on the frontier in New Mexico until 1854 when he became a cavalry instructor at West Point. Promoted to the first lieutenant is served in the 1st U.S. Cavalry at Fort Leavenworth, Kanas. Ransom had become a captain by the time he resigned from the U.S. Army on Jan. 31, 1861. He joined the Confederate Army as a captain and was made the colonel of the 1st North Carolina Cavalry on Oct. 31, 1861. Ransom was promoted to brigadier general on March 1, 1862, and led a brigade in the Peninsula Campaign in 1862 in Huger's Division. That same year his brigade at Harpers Ferry led a division at Marye's Heights in the Battle of Fredericksburg. He was promoted to major general in 1863 and did duty around Richmond, Va. and in 1864 led a division under Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard in the Battle of Drewry's Bluff, Va. Illness in that year forced him out of front-line service and he held various administrative positions until the end of the war. Following the war Ransom was a city marshal in Wilmington, N.C., and a farmer, among other occupations. He died on Jan. 14, 1892, in New Bern, N.C., and was buried at Cedar Grove Cemetery.

Maj. Gen. Robert Ransom Jr.

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

 Click 👉TODAY IN HISTORY (general history) Feb. 11.

ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, Feb. 11.

1861: Alexander Stephens of Georgia was sworn in on this day in 1861, which is also his birthday, as vice president of the Confederate States of America at the ongoing Confederate Congress at Montgomery, Alabama. President-elect Jefferson Davis left his plantation, Brierfield, in Mississippi and headed for Montgomery for his inauguration. Stephens was born in 1812 on a farm in Taliaferro County, Georgia near the town of Crawfordville. He became an orphan at age 14 when his father and stepmother died. Stephens and his siblings were divided among other relatives. However, he attended the University of Georgia at Athens and graduated at the top of his class in 1832. He then studied the law and was admitted to the bar in 1834. Stephens found success as a lawyer and was elected to the Georgia legislature in 1841 and to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1843 as a Whig. When the Whig Party dissolved he became a Democrat. He was known as a Unionist in Congress and a defender of slavery. When he killed a bill that would have excluded slavery from the Oregon Territory, Stephens was nearly stabbed to death in 1848 by Judge Francis H. Cone during a fight over the issue. He recovered but never regained full use of his right hand. Stephens opposed secession and supported Illinois Sen. Stephen Douglas in the 1860 election. Elected to the Georgia Secession Convention, he voted against withdrawing Georgia from the Union. But he still supported the right of secession of a state.

Vice President Alexander H. Stephens

1862: FORTS HENRY & DONELSON CAMPAIGN: Bowling Green, Ky. was evacuated by the Confederates after the defeat at the Battle of Mill Springs, Ky. Jan. 19, 1862, and the fall of Fort Henry, Tenn. in early February 1862. The city had been Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston's headquarters for his Western Department. They had held Bowling Green since Sept. 18, 1861. It was also the seat of the provisional state government of Confederate Kentucky. 

Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston

1864: Confederates near Madisonville, La. fired a volley from ambush at the 3rd Maryland Cavalry which was on a patrol. The Federal casualties were three wounded and missing, including a lieutenant, Captain Adolph Bery, and one missing, Pvt. B.K. Jones. ambulance driver. They also lost three horses with equipment, 3 carbines, 2 sabers with accouterments, 2 saber blades, 1 pistol, and one ambulance with contents and two horses. No Confederate casualties were reported. 

1865: Confederate cavalry wearing Federal uniforms attacked a Federal picket post at Williamsburg, Va. Both sides reportedly suffered casualties. There were also many Confederate uniforms being made of British Army cloth which was blue-gray in color, and which had been run through the blockade. These uniforms too could look more blue than gray. Confederacy imported thousands of yards of this material from England and the Peter Tait Co. in Limerick, Ireland also made complete uniforms as well from British Army cloth. Other Confederate Army Quartermaster Depots included ones in Richmond, Va. and Columbus, Ga. Houston became a major supply depot for the Trans-Mississippi Department during the war, also making arms, accouterments, and ammunition.

Pvt. August Ritter, 1st Texas Heavy Artillery

is wearing a Houston, Tex. Depot-style Confederate

jacket possibly made from fine British Army

cloth. He worked in the Houston Quartermaster

Depot making uniforms.

(Courtesy K. MacDonald)

Confederate soldier in Columbus, Ga. Depot

style shell jacket.

(Liljenquist Collection, Library of Congress)

Pvt. Alexander Harris wearing a Richmond, Va...

Depot-style Confederate jacket. He served

in Parker's Virginia Light  Artillery.

(Liljenquist Collection, Library of Congress)

CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, Feb. 11.

NONE.

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

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

ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, Feb. 10.

1861: President-elect Jefferson Davis in Mississippi received a message from the Confederate Congress in Montgomery, Alabama notifying him he had been elected provisional president of the Confederacy. The news took him by surprise, but he immediately began planning the trip to Montgomery for the inauguration.

Jefferson Davis received a message from Montgomery at Brierfield near 

Vicksburg, Miss. that he has been elected president of the Confederacy.

1862: Battle of Elizabeth City, N.C.: The Confederate fleet on the Pasquotank River at Elizabeth City, North Carolina was defeated by the Federal fleet in a naval engagement. Three vessels were captured and six more were destroyed by the Confederates to prevent capture. 

1863: There is a minor engagement between Northern and Southern troops at Chantilly, Virginia. 

At Old River in Louisiana, a minor clash occurs between Confederates and Federals. The Southerners lost 11 men killed and wounded with 25 captured. Northerners lost eight men killed and wounded. 

1865: Fighting occurred near Charleston, South Carolina between Confederates and Sherman's bummers at James Island and Johnson Station.

Raphael Semmes was promoted to Rear Admiral in the CSN on this day and placed in command of the James River Squadron in Virginia. His flagship was the CSS Virginia II which was a steam-powered ironclad armed with an 11-inch Brooke smoothbore, an 8-inch Brooke rifle, and 2, 6.4-inch Brooke Rifles.

Admiral Raphael Semmes

CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, Feb. 10.

Brig. Gen. William R. Scurry

Brigadier William Read Scurry was born on this day in 1821 in Gallatin, Tennessee. He moved to the Republic of Texas in 1839 where he became a lawyer and a district attorney in 1841. He married there had a family and served as a representative in the 9th Congress of the Texas Republic. During the Mexican-American War, Scurry enlisted as a private and finished a major. Following that war, he was a lawyer in Clinton, Texas, and became to co-owner and editor of the Austin State Gazette newspaper. Scurry was a member of the Texas Secession Convention in 1861. He was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the 4th Texas Cavalry in July of 1861 and fought at the Battle of Valverde and the Battle of Glorieta Pass, in the New Mexico Campaign in 1862. He was promoted to full colonel on March 28, 1862, and then to brigadier general on Sept. 12, 1862. At the Battle of Galveston, Texas, on Jan. 1, 1863, Scurry was in command of the land forces in that victory. He took part in the Bayou Teche Campaign in Louisiana in the spring of 1863, then in October 1863, was given command of the Third Brigade of Walker's Texas Infantry Division. Scurry led his brigade in Walker's Texas (Grayhounds) Division at the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill, then was mortally wounded at the Battle of Jenkin's Ferry, Arkansas April 30, 1864, and died that night. He was buried in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, Texas.