Click 👉Today in History (general history) May 15.
On This Day in Confederate History, May 15.
1862: At the Battle of Drewry's Bluff, Va., Confederate heavy artillery at Fort Darling exchanges fire with the U.S. Navy ironclads Monitor and Galena, the screw gunship Aroostook, side-wheeler Port Royal, and the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service's ironclad Naugatuck. The artillery duel lasted three hours and the Monitor and Galena were damaged and the Naugatuck had little damage. The two wooden gunboats were out of range but the captain of the Port Royal was wounded by a Confederate sharpshooter. Total Federal casualties were 27 killed and wounded to the Confederates' 15 casualties. The fort sustained some damage. The Yankee fleet withdrew.
1863: PRELUDE, BATTLE OF CHAMPION'S HILL: Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton concentrates 22,000 men at Edward's Station between Jackson and Vicksburg, Mississippi, and leaves 10,000 troops to garrison Vicksburg. His goal is the cut, Maj. Gen. U.S. Grant's supply line. But Grant is approaching 32,000 Federals. A lack of cavalry continued to hamper Pemberton's ability to monitor and disrupt the Yankee movements and supplies.
1864: The Battle of New Market erupts when Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge's 4,087 Confederates clash with Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel's 6,275 Federals. This meeting engagement started in the morning and got more intense throughout the day as more troops arrived. The Confederate attacks push the Federals back until Sigel finally retreats behind the Shenandoah River, giving the Confederates the victory. The VMI Cadets engaged in the battle by capturing an enemy artillery piece. Casualties in the battle totaled 841 for the Federals and 531 for the Confederates.
In the Atlanta Campaign, the Battle of Resaca, Georgia continued into its second day ending in a stalemate. Cpl. Sam Watkins wrote of a point in the battle where General William Joseph Hardee exposed himself recklessly to enemy fire. He wrote, "General Hardee passes along the line. 'Steady, boys!' . . . 'Go back, general, go back, go back,' is cried all along the line. He passes through the missiles of death unscathed; stood all through that storm of bullets indifferent to their proximity (we were lying down, you know). The enemy is checked; yonder they fly whipped and driven from the field." But when Gen. Joseph Johnston learned that he had again been outflanked by the Federals, he again ordered a retreat.
In the Red River Campaign, Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor reported sharp fighting as the Confederates continue to harass the retreat of Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks' Army of the Gulf, even though the Federals outnumber the Confederates 18,000 to 6,000. Taylor said of the day's fighting, "Steele's division pressed the enemy's rear and flank on the river road below Alexandria, while Bagby's division, afterward re-enforced by Major, beat back several times the head of his column as it attempted to debouch on the Marksville Prairie from the Choctaw Swamp." The heavy loss inflicted on the enemy by Bagby was the result of his skillfully masking his artillery and using it at short range. "Late in the evening, the enemy turned the position by bringing up his masses, and we fell back to Mansura, Marksville being occupied by him during the night," Taylor said.
Confederate General Birthdays, May 15.
Maj. Gen. Isaac Trimble was born on this day in 1802 at Culpepper, Virginia. He graduated from West Point in 1822 ranking 17th in a class of 42 cadets. He left the U.S. Army and went to work as a railroad construction engineer. In April 1861, he led the Maryland State Militia in burning bridges around Baltimore to prevent Federal troops from passing through to Washington. Trimble returned to Virginia and was commissioned a colonel of engineers, then promoted to brigadier general and later to major general. His campaigns included the Valley Campaign under Stonewall Jackson, the Seven Days Battles, the Second Battle of Manassas (wounded), and the Battle of Gettysburg where he was wounded, his leg amputated, and taken prisoner. He spent the rest of the war as a P.O.W. at Johnson's Island, Oh. and Fort Warren, Mass. Following the war returned to work as a railroad construction engineer. He died on Jan. 2, 1888, and was buried in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, Md.
Brig. Gen. Laurence Simmons Baker was born on this day in 1830 in Gates County, North Carolina. He graduated from West Point in 1851 ranking the last in his class of 42 cadets. Baker served on the frontier until he resigned in May 1861. He returned to North Carolina where he became lieutenant colonel of the 1st N.C. Cav. and was promoted to brigadier general on July 23, 1863. His battles and campaigns included the Peninsula Campaign, the Seven Days Battles, Sharpsburg, Brandy Station (wounded), Gettysburg, and Bentonville, N.C. at the end of the war. Following the war, he resided in Norfolk, Va., and worked as a farmer, insurance agent, and railroad agent. Baker died April 10, 1907, in Suffolk, Va., and was buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery there.
