Click 👉TODAY IN HISTORY (general history) March 14.
ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, March 14.
1862: The Battle of New Berne, N.C. takes place between the Federal Coast Division of Brig. Gen. Ambrose Burnside, 11,000 men and 14 gunboats of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, versus Brig. Gen. Lawrence's 4,000 troops in the First North Carolina Division. The Federal assault penetrated the central Confederate entrenchments and drove the North Carolinians out of the city. The Confederates lost 64 men killed, 101 wounded, and 413 captured or missing. Federal casualties numbered 90 killed, 380 wounded, and one missing.
1863: The Northern invaders launch their land and river Battle of Port Hudson, La. Confederate bastion on a high bluff of the Mississippi River fails when only two of Admiral David G. Farragut's fleet of seven warships get by heavy Confederate artillery fire. Farragut's flagship, the USS Hartford, and the gunboat USS Albatross are the two that succeeded in running the deadly gauntlet of big guns on the bluff. On the landside, with the failure of the Federal Navy, Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Prentiss with 17,000 men calls off the assault on the well-manned Confederate trenches of Maj. Gen. Franklin Gardner's 16,000 Confederates, and retreated back to Baton Rouge. All of Farragut's ships were damaged and the USS Mississippi was destroyed. Total navy casualties were 297, including 64 sailors killed or missing. Banks failed to report the army casualties. The Confederates lost three men killed and 22 wounded. Most of the casualties occurred when an enemy shell exploded over the 30th Tennessee Infantry while marching to their trenches. There were three killed and three wounded in the blast. None of the Confederate big guns were knocked out.
1864: At the Battle of Fort DeRussy, the fortress falls to the Federals and is the first battle of the Red River Campaign. The Federals under Maj. Gen. A.J. Smith has 10,000 men versus the Confederate garrison of about 350 infantry and artillery under Lt. Col. William Byrd of the 14th Texas Infantry. An assault by the bluecoats overwhelmed the gray jacket defenders giving the victory to the Federals. The Northerners lost 48 men killed and wounded with two missing. The Southern casualties total two killed, five wounded, and 317 captured. The rest of Confederate Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor's Army of Western Louisiana begins a long retreat into northwest Louisiana while Taylor gathers reinforcements to make a stand before Shreveport.
CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, March 14.
Major General John Sappington Marmaduke was born on this day in 1833 at Arrow Rock, Missouri. He graduated from West Point in 1857 ranking 30th in a class of 38 cadets. Marmaduke served as a second lieutenant in the 1st U.S. Mounted Riflemen and the 1st U.S. Cavalry. He participated in the Utah War and was stationed in Utah and New Mexico Territory. Marmaduke resigned in April 1861 and served as colonel of the 1st Regiment of Rifles in the Missouri State Guard. He resigned from the MSG in June 1861 and was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the 1st Arkansas Battalion of the Confederate Army. He was promoted to brigadier general in November 1862 and to major general in March 1865. His battles included Boonville, Shiloh (wounded), Prairie Grove, Second Springfield, Hartville, Cape Girardeau, Helena, Reed's Bridge, Bayou Fourche, Pine Bluff, Poison Spring, and Mine Creek where he was captured. Following the war, he worked in insurance, was Missouri Railroad Commissioner, and was elected the governor of Missouri. He died Dec. 28, 1887, while still governor in Jefferson City and was buried in Woodland Cemetery there.
Brigadier General Roswell Sabine Ripley was born on this day in 1823 in Worthington, Ohio. He graduated from West Point in 1843 ranking 7th in a class of 39 cadets. During the Mexican-American War, Ripley fought in the battles of Monterey, Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Churubusco, Molina Del Rey, Chapultepec, and Mexico City. He was brevetted a captain during that war. Subsequently, he participated in the Second Seminole War in 1849 and resigned from the U.S. Army in 1853. He settled in Charleston, S.C., and was active in the S.C. militia. In 1861 he took part in the bombardment of Fort Sumter and was appointed a brigadier general in the Confederate Army in Aug. 1861. His battles included Fort Sumter, Mechanicsville, Gaines Mill, Malvern Hill, South Mountain, Sharpsburg (wounded severely), Fredericksburg, Charleston Harbor, and Bentonville. Following the war, he resided in England and New York City where he died on March 29, 1887, and was buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston, S.C.
Brigadier General Jerome Bonaparte Robertson was born on this day in 1815 in Woodford County, Kentucky. He became a medical doctor in 1835 and in 1836 joined a company of Kentucky volunteers for the Texas Revolution. They didn't get to Texas until September 1836 but he was still commissioned as a captain in the Army of the Republic of Texas. Robertson resigned in 1837, moved back to Kentucky, married, and returned to Texas by December of that year where he practiced medicine. He was a delegate to the Texas Secession Convention, raised a company of infantry for the 5th Texas Infantry, and served as a lieutenant colonel and colonel of the regiment. He was promoted to brigadier on Nov. 1, 1862. His campaigns included the Peninsula Campaign, the Northern Virginia Campaign, the Maryland Campaign, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Gettysburg Campaign, and the Battle of Chickamauga. He finished the war as commander of the state reserve forces in Texas. Following the war, Robertson resumed his medical practice, served as superintendent of the Texas Bureau of Immigration, promoted railroad construction, and was an organizer of Hood's Texas Brigade Association. He died on January 7, 1890, and was buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Waco, Texas.
