Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, July 19.

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

On This Day in Confederate History, July 19.

1861: Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's 18,000-man Army of the Shenandoah begins arriving at Manassas Junction, Va. to bolster Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard's 22,000-man Confederate Army of the Shenandoah which is threatened by Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell's 35,000-man Yankee Army of Northeastern Virginia. Johnston approves of Beauregard's plan to strike the Federals on the Federal left flank. Meanwhile, McDowell is planning to attack the Confederate left flank.

1863: Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan's Confederate Cavalry meet with disaster at the Battle of Buffington Island, Ohio. Morgan's cavalry, numbering 1,930 men were trying to cross the river into West Virginia at that point when attacked and nearly 3,000 Federals under Brigadier General Edward H. Hobson. Morgan's men first found the fort at that point abandoned but three Federal gunboats prevented them from crossing. They were then nearly surrounded by the Federals. Morgan and about 700 men escaped by over 750 under Colonel Basil W. Duke, were captured. The Confederates suffered 52 killed, and 100 wounded plus those captured. Federals lost 25 men killed and 30 wounded.

1864: Atlanta Campaign: Reaction to the replacement of General Joseph E. Johnston with General John Bell Hood is met with great anger by the soldiers of the Confederate Army of Tennessee in the Atlanta Campaign. But the men were kept busy building breastworks at the fortifications in Atlanta, Georgia. Other than the morale problem over the chance of commanders, the Confederate army is in good shape to meet Maj. Gen. W.T. Sherman's three Federal armies, were the Army of the Cumberland, the Army of the Tennessee, and the Army of the Ohio.

2nd Lt. Thomas S. McLane, Co. A, 41st Ga. Inf.
Army of  Tennessee. Lt. McLane retired to
the Invalid Corps on Aug. 29, 1864.
(Liljenquist Collection, Library of Congress)

Confederate General Birthdays, July 19.

Brig. Gen. Roger Atkinson Pryor was born in 1828 in Dinwiddie County, Virginia. He was a pre-war journalist, politician, and member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia. He was also a fiery orator and proponent of secession. After leaving the U.S. House in 1861, he first served in the Confederate Congress before joining the Confederate Army as the colonel of the 3rd Virginia Infantry Regiment. He was then promoted to brigadier general and led his brigade in the Peninsula Campaign, the Seven Days Battles, Second Manassas, and Sharpsburg. He commanded a division at Sharpsburg but performed poorly. Pryor resigned his commission in 1863. Still wanting to serve his nation's cause, he enlisted as a private in August 1863 in the 3rd Virginia Cavalry. He was captured by the Yankees on Nov. 28, 1864, and was suspected of spying, but was released on parole under the authority of Lincoln and remained voluntarily in Petersburg when the city was evacuated in 1865. Following the war, Pryor moved with his family to New York where he practiced law, advocated against Reconstruction, was active in the Democratic Party, and was appointed to the New York Supreme Court. Pryor was also active in the Sons of the American Revolution and his wife the Daughters of the American Revolution, which she helped found. Pryor died on March 14, 1919, in New York City and was buried in Princeton Cemetery in Princeton, New Jersey.

Brig. Gen. Roger A. Pryor

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