Click 👉 TODAY IN HISTORY (general history)
ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, Nov. 12
1861: The blockade runner Fingal, purchased by the Confederate government in England, runs the Federal blockade to arrive in Savannah, Georgia. The ship will later be converted into an ironclad there to become the C.S.S. Atlanta. Asa and Nelson Tift won the contract to do the conversion. The Atlanta received ironclad castmates, was equipped with eight gunports and its armament includes two 7-inch Brooke rifles on pivot mounts at the bow and stern: two 6.4-inch Brooke rifles, one spar torpedo, and a Naval Ram. The crew numbered 145 officers and men.
1863: General Longstreet's Confederate infantry and "Fighting Joe" Wheeler's Confederate cavalry, arrived in Loudon, Tennessee to take part in the Siege of Knoxville.
CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, Nov. 12
Brigadier General Paul Octave Hébert was born on this day in 1818 in Iberville Parish, Louisiana. A brilliant student, he graduated first in his class from Jefferson College in 1836 and at the top of his class at West Point in 1840. He was made a professor of engineering at West Point in 1841. Resigning from the army in 1844, Hébert was appointed by Gov. Alexandre Mouton Chief Engineer of Louisiana. During the Mexican American War, he was commissioned a lieutenant colonel of the 3rd U.S. Infantry, transferred to the 14th Infantry Regiment, and fought with distinction at Contreras, Churubusco, Molino del Rey, Chapultepec, and Mexico City. Gen. Winfield Scott brevetted him a colonel for his bravery. Resigning after the war he was elected to the Louisiana Senate and then governor of Louisiana. He also served in the Louisiana Militia as a colonel and brigadier general. Hébert was also commissioned a brigadier general in the Confederate Army and given command of Texas. He disappointed the Texans when he considered Galveston not defensible and gave up the city without a fight in October 1862 and was replaced by General John Bankhead Magruder, who liberated Galveston on Jan. 1, 1863. He was present at the Battle of Milliken's Bend, La. on June 7, 1863, and afterward was posted back to Texas for the rest of the war. Following the war, Hébert supported the Republicans in New Orleans, served on the state Board of Engineers, and switched back to the Democrats in 1876. Hébert passed away at Bayou Goula, Louisiana on August 29, 1880, and was buried in St. Paul's Cemetery there. However, because of encroachment by the Mississippi River, his remains were reburied at St. Raphael Cemetery at Point Pleasant near Plaquemine, La.
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