Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, March 8..

Click 👉TODAY IN HISTORY (general history) March 8. 

ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, March 8. 

1862: On the second day of the Battle of Elk Horn Tavern (Pea Ridge), General Van Dorn's Confederates were running low on artillery ammunition and suffered a massive Federal bombardment, which caused him to order a retreat back to the Arkansas River. Two Confederate generals were killed, Benjamin McCulloch (on March 7) and James M. McIntosh (on March 7), and Gen. Sterling Price was wounded. Col. Louis Hebert of the 3rd Louisiana Infantry was captured. Total Confederate casualties were about 2,000. Federal losses were 203 killed, 980 wounded, and 201 missing.

Brig. Gen. James McQ. McIntosh

Killed in action on March 7, 1862 at

Elk Horn Tavern, Ark.

On the first day of the Battle of Hampton Roads, Virginia, the ironclad C.S.S. Virginia (formerly the U.S.S. Merrimac), destroys the U.S.S. Congress and U.S.S. Cumberland and runs the U.S.S. Minnesota aground. Virginia is commanded by Captain Franklin Buchanan, who is wounded on the first day, when the second in command, Lt. Catesby ap Roger Jones, takes command. 

Battle of Hampton Road, Va.

Click on the image to enlarge it.

Shiloh Campaign: Also on March 8, Federal troops landed in force at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee from the transports of the Golden State and the John Adams backed up by a gunboat. Major Charles Baskerville of the 2nd Mississippi Cavalry reports the landing to Col. Alfred Mouton of the 18th Louisiana Infantry and that the Federals appear to be making a massive build-up there.

1863: Captain James Singleton Mosby and his Confederate partisan rangers capture Federal Brig. Gen. E.H. Stoughton and some of his men at Fairfax County Courthouse in Virginia. 

1865: At the Battle of Wyse Fork, near Kinston, North Carolina, General Braxton Bragg's Confederate forces attacked a Federal force under Brig. Gen. Jacob Cox in an attempt to prevent Cox from joining up with Sherman's 60,000 Yankees, which is just crossing the border into North Carolina. The Confederates are repulsed.

CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, March 8.

Major General Matthew Calbraith Butler was born on this day in 1836 in Greenville, South Carolina. He was a prewar lawyer and politician. Butler started out the War for Southern Independence as a captain in Hampton's Legion and was promoted to major on July 21, 1861. He was then elected colonel of the 2nd South Carolina Cavalry on Aug. 22, 1862. He was promoted to brigadier general in Feb. 1864, and to major general before the end of the war. Among his battles were Brandy Station, where he lost a foot when hit by a bullet, and the Battle of Bentonville, N.C. where he was wounded for the second time. Following the war, he became a politician in South Carolina and served three terms as a U.S. Senator from South Carolina. During the Spanish-American War, Butler served in the U.S. Army as a major general and supervised the evacuation of Spanish forces from Cuba. He died April 14, 1909, in Washington, D.C., and was buried in Willow Brook Cemetery in Edgefield, S.C.

Maj. Gen. Matthew C. Butler

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Brigadier General James McQueen McIntosh was born circa 1828 at Fort Brooke, Fla., modern-day Tampa. His exact date of birth is unknown, however, his brother, John B. McIntosh, was born on June 6, 1829, at Fort Brooke and became a Federal major general during the War for Southern Independence. The two had a remarkable resemblance. Their father, Colonel James S. McIntosh, was stationed at Fort Brooke and was later killed in action in 1847 in the Mexican-American War at the Battle of Molina Del Rey. The younger James entered West Point in 1845 and graduated 43rd, dead last, in his Class of 1849. McIntosh's record shows he dropped his middle name after graduation. He was made a brevet 2nd Lt. in the 8th U.S. Inf. and served on the frontier. He was promoted to 2nd Lt. on May 15, 1851, and then to 1st Lt. in the 1st U.S. Cavalry on March 3, 1855. McIntosh was then elevated to captain on Jan. 16, 1857. He was stationed at Fort Smith, Ark. in 1861 and when Arkansas seceded on May  6, he officially resigned from the U.S. Army on May 7, 1861. However, Confederate records show him serving as a captain in the C.S. Army from March 16, 1861, but he was soon made colonel of the 2nd Arkansas Mounted Rifles and served with distinction at the Battle of Oak Hill (aka Wilson's Creek), Mo. on Aug. 10, 1861. He was given a brigade and led it to victory at the Battle of Chustenahla, Indian Territory on December 26, 1861. Promoted to brigadier general on Jan. 17, 1862, he led his brigade at the Battle Elk Horn Tavern, Ark. During the battle, he was given command of a division after the death of Brigadier General Ben McCulloch. But, 15 minutes later, McIntosh was killed instantly when shot through the heart on March 7, 1861. General McIntosh is buried at Fort Smith National Cemetery in Arkansas.

Brig. Gen. James McIntosh