Click 👉Today in History (general history) Nov. 4.
On This Day in Confederate History, Nov. 4:
In 1861, President Davis and General Beauregard disagreed over the aftermath of what should have been done after the July 21 First Battle of Manassas, causing a rift that never healed.
1862, Vicksburg Campaign: Federal invaders, under the command of Maj. Gen. U.S. Grant occupied La Grange, Tenn., and Grand Junction, Tenn. to mount a campaign against Vicksburg, Miss. The Confederates were building up their forces at Vicksburg and Port Hudson, La., under the command of Lt. Gen. J.C. Pemberton, to keep the Mississippi River open to the Confederacy and block Northern commercial traffic to New Orleans.
In 1863, President Davis and General Bragg made a strategic mistake in sending Longstreet's corps and "Fighting Joe" Wheeler's cavalry to reinforce Knoxville, Tenn., thus weakening Confederate forces before Chattanooga, Tenn.
1864, Battle of Johnsonville, Tenn.: Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest's forces clashed with Federals at Johnsonville, Tenn., destroying Yankee boats and Yankee supplies. Confederate field artillery under Captain John W. Morton destroyed or disabled three Federal gunboats guarding the supply depot, Key West, Tawah, and Elfin. Confederates caused the destruction of over $2 million worth of supplies for Sherman's Army.
CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, Nov. 4:
Major General Lunsford Lindsay Lomax was born on this day in 1835, in Newport, Rhode Island. Lomax was born to a distinguished Virginia family his father was a career army officer and was raised in Norfolk, Va. He graduated from West Point in 1856 and served in the 2nd U.S. Cavalry on the frontier and in the Kansas troubles. He resigned in April 1861 and joined the Virginia militia and the Confederate Army. He started out as a staff officer but was then promoted to colonel of the 11 Virginia Cavalry. Lomax was promoted to brigadier general in 1863 and to major general in 1864. His battles included the Gettysburg Campaign in 1863 and the Valley Campaign in 1864. Following the war, he was president of the Virginia Agriculture and Mechanical College and became a clerk in the War Department editing the Official Records of the war. Lomax some time on the Gettysburg park commission. He died May 28, 1913, in Washington D.C., and was buried in Warrenton, Va.
Brigadier General William Polk Hardeman was born on this day in 1816, in Williamson County, Tennessee. He served in the Texas War for Independence as a teenager, as a Texas Ranger, and in the Mexican American War. Hardeman served in the Confederate Army as a captain and then colonel of the 4th Texas Cavalry Regiment and was promoted to brigadier general on March 17, 1865. His battles were Valverde, Glorieta Pass, Galveston, Bayou Bourbeau Mansfield, and Pleasant Hill. Following the war, he temporarily moved to Mexico but then became a planter in Texas, sergeant-at-arms in the Texas House of Representatives, railroad inspector, supervised the Texas Confederate Soldiers' Home, and died April 8, 1898, in Austin, Texas, and was buried in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin.
Brigadier General Alexander Robert Lawton was born in 1818 in Beaufort District, South Carolina. He graduated from West Point in 1839 and resigned from the army in 1840. Lawton became a lawyer and practiced in Savannah, Georgia. He then worked in railroad administration and supported secession. Lawton was commissioned colonel of the 1st Georgia Volunteers and then a brigadier general in the Confederate Army on April 13, 1861. Serving as an infantry brigade commander, his battles and campaigns included Fort Pulaski, the Shenandoah Valley, the Seven Days Battles, Second Bull Run, and Sharpsburg (severely wounded). Unable to serve in the field, he became the second Quartermaster-General of the Confederate Army. Following the war, he became an important political figure in Georgia, became president of the American Bar Association, and U.S. Minister to Austria-Hungary. Lawton died on July 2, 1896, in Clifton Springs, New York. He was buried at Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia.
Brigadier General Robert Vinkler Richardson was born in 1820, in Granville County, North Carolina. Prior to the war, he was a lawyer in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1861, he raised the 12th Tennessee Cavalry and commanded it as colonel. He was appointed brigadier general on December 3, 1863. His battles included the Battle of Shiloh and the Battle of Corinth. Following the war, Richardson did civil engineering work. He was mortally wounded by an unknown assassin on January 5, 1870, in Memphis, Tennessee, and died the next day. Richardson was buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis.
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