Click 👉 TODAY IN HISTORY (general history) Nov. 22
ON THIS DAY IN CONFEDERATE HISTORY, Nov. 22
1861: Pensacola Campaign: An artillery duel erupted between Federal batteries in Fort Pickens and Confederate guns in Fort McCrae in Florida. The Yankee batteries are backed up by the USS Richmond and the USS Niagara, but the duel ends in a stalemate.
1862: Battle of Fredericksburg, Prelude: Town officials in Fredericksburg, Virginia agree to "no hostile demonstrations" in exchange for Federals not bombarding the city.
1863: Missionary Ridge Prelude: At Missionary Ridge near Chattanooga, Tennessee, Federals make a demonstration before Confederate lines before the planned main assault on Nov. 24.
1864: Battle of Griswoldville, Ga. was between the Maj. Gen. "Fighting Joe" Wheeler's Confederate cavalry and 1st Division Georgia Militia under Brig. Gen. Pleasant J. Philips, versus Sherman's Federals on the rampage against Georgia civilians in their March Through Georgia. On the previous day, Federal cavalry under Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick struck the town and burned 13 carloads of military supplies and burned the railroad station and other buildings. In the battle, The Federals had 3,000 men in the battle and, the Confederates 2,300. Wheeler's cavalry opened the battle attacking the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry, but the Pennsylvanians and the 5th Kentucky Cavalry (U.S.), counterattacked and drove the Confederates back into their earthworks. Federal infantry then advanced and drove the Georgia Militia back through the town. The three brigades of Georgia Militia then counterattacked with seven charges but were repulsed by the Federals with heavy losses. Federal Brig. Gen. Charles C. Walcutt was wounded. The Confederate forces withdrew after dark. The Confederates and Georgians lost 51 killed and 472 wounded. The Federal casualties were 13 killed, 79 wounded, and two captured. The battle was the only major engagement of the March Through Georgia. The town was never rebuilt.
CONFEDERATE GENERAL BIRTHDAYS, Nov. 22.
Major General Samuel Gibbs French was born on this day in 1818, Gloucester County, New Jersey. He graduated from West Point in 1843 and was wounded at the Battle of Buena Vista in the Mexican American War in 1847. He resigned from the army in 1856 and became a plantation owner in Mississippi. During the War for Southern Independence French attained the rank of major general and his battles included Suffolk, Kennesaw Mountain, Nashville, Atlanta, Franklin and 35 engagements in all. Following the war, French worked his plantation, served as a Mississippi levee commissioner, worked for a railroad company in New Jersey, and invested in an Orange Grove in Florida. He wrote his memoirs in "Two Wars" which was published in 1901. French died on April 20, 1910, and was buried in St. John's Cemetery in Pensacola, Fla.
Major General Benjamin Huger was born on this day in 1805 in Charleston, South Carolina. He graduated from West Point in 1825, was a veteran in the Mexican American War, and commanded several arsenals after that war. Huger resigned in 1861 as a major. In the Confederate Army, he attained the rank of major general, commanded at Norfolk, V, led troops in the Peninsula Campaign, Battle of Seven Pines, in the Seven Days Campaign, and then in various administration positions in the Trans-Mississippi Department. Following the war, Huger farmed in North Carolina and Virginia then retired to Charleston, S.C. He died on Dec. 7, 1877, in Charleston and was buried in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, Md.
Brigadier General Frank Crawford Armstrong was born on this day in 1835 in Choctaw Agency, Indian Territory. His father had been an army officer there. He gained the rank of lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Dragoons for gallantry in the Battle of Eagle Springs in 1855 and following his graduation from college. He also served in the Utah War. He fought in the U.S. Army as a captain of cavalry in the First Battle of Manassas, Va. but resigned from the Union army on Aug. 10, 1861 and joined the Confederate Army as a staff officer and took part in the Battle of Elk Horn Tavern, Ark. Armstrong was elected colonel of the 3rd Louisiana Cavalry in 1863 and commanded the cavalry in Maj. Gen. Sterling Price's Army and promoted to brigadier general a short time later. He also commanded a cavalry division under Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest in the Battle of Chickamauga, Ga. In 1864, Armstrong led his cavalry in the Atlanta Campaign, the Battle of Nashville, Tenn. and the Battle of Selma, Ala. and was captured April 2, 1865. During the Franklin-Nashville Campaign, Armstrong saved Elms Springs, Columbia, Tenn. from being burned by the burned by the Yankees. Elm Springs is now the National Headquarters of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the location of the National Confederate Museum. Following the war, Armstrong was employed by the Overland Mail Service, served as a U.S. Indian Inspector, and as Asst. Commissioner of Indian Affairs. He died on Sept. 8, 1909, in Bar Harbor, Maine. He was buried in Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
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