Today in History (general history)/ On This Day in Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, July 24.

Click 👉Today in History (general history) July 24. 

On This Day in Confederate History, July 24.

1862: Fitzhugh Lee, son of Confederate Navy Captain Sydney Smith Lee and nephew of General Robert E. Lee, is appointed brigadier general on this day in 1862. By the end of the war, he will be a major general. During the Spanish-American War, Lee served in the U.S. Army as a major general in Cuba.

1863: Brig. Gen. George Armstrong Custer's Yankee cavalry division ambushed Confederate infantry from Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill's Third Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia on this day at Newby's Crossroads on Battle Mountain, Virginia. Hill and the rest of the Confederates of Northern Virginia were headed for Culpeper's Courthouse after the Gettysburg Campaign. Hill sent a message to Lt. Gen. James Longstreet that he was under attack by Yankee cavalry. Longstreet sent Brig. Gen. Henry Benning's Brigade to deal with Custer. The bluecoat cavalry was no match for Benning's Georgians and Hill's Confederates. Custer soon retreated back to his base at Amissville, Va. and the Confederates continued to Culpeper unmolested.

Two Confederates, a major seated

and a young private with a knapsack,

three-band musket and what looks to be

a regulation Confederate uniform,

except the tunic is single-breasted instead

of double-breasted.

(Liljenquist Collection, Library of  Congress)

A regulation Confederate

Uniform. (click on the image

to enlarge)

1864: The Second Battle of Kernstown, Va. takes place on this day in 1864 during the Valley Campaign of 1864. Lt. Gen. Jubal Early commands an army of about 14,000 Confederates versus a Federal Army of about 10,000 under Brig. Gen. George Crook. Confederate and Federal cavalry clash south of  Kernstown and that afternoon both armies arrived in force. The Confederates are concealed in a wooded area and trick the Federals into thinking they are only attacking cavalry. Confederates then attack both Federal flanks and the Federals retreat past Winchester and toward Martinsburg. The Federals suffered about 1,200 casualties and 600 for the Confederates. With the Shenandoah Valley cleared of the bluecoat invaders, Early then launched a raid into northern territory.

Confederate General Birthdays, July 24.

Brigadier General Julius Adolphus De Langel was born on this day in 1827 in Newark, New Jersey, and moved to Virginia at an early age. He served in the U.S. Army from 1847 to 1861. He resigned and joined the Confederate Army as an artillery captain. He was wounded at the Battle of Rich Mountain, Va. in 1861. After recovering with a farm family, he was captured while traveling to Confederate lines. He was exchanged on April 15, 1862.  Although De Langel was appointed and confirmed as a brigadier general on April 12, 1862, he declined the commission on July 31, 1862, for unknown reasons. He served the rest of the war as a major and lieutenant colonel in the 20th Virginia Artillery Battalion, commander of the Fayetteville, North Carolina Arsenal, and inspector of arsenals for the Confederate Army. Following the war, he was in the shipping business in Washington, D.C. He died on June 3, 1912, in Washington, D.C., and was buried in St. Paul's Cemetery in Alexandria, Va.

Brig. Gen. Julius A. De Langel