Click 👉Today in History (general history) July 26.
On This Day in Confederate History, July 26.
1863: Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan and 360 of his men were captured this day at Salineville, Ohio, ending his spectacular raid through Indiana and Ohio. He began the raid on July 2, 1863, with 2,400 Confederate cavalrymen as a diversion to Federal Maj. Gen. William Rosecran's Chattanooga Campaign. His force got whittled down as the weeks passed until he was captured, and only 400 of his men made it back to Confederate territory. He and his men were fined at the Ohio State Penitentiary rather than sent to P.O.W. camps. However, on Nov. 27, 1863, Morgan and his men escaped through a tunnel, one of the most spectacular P.O.W. escapes of the war.
1864: At the Siege of Petersburg, Va., both sides were dug in for a long siege but Lt. Gen. U.S. Grant was planning a major assault, including digging a tunnel under Confederate lines and blowing a big hole in the line, and then staging an all-out assault to break the siege. He was also planning a diversionary movement toward Richmond, Va., to weaken the Southern line at Petersburg. This movement was assigned to Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock's II Corps and Maj. Gen. Phillip Sheridan's Cavalry.
When Gen. Robert E. Lee heard about the Federal movements, he reinforced Richmond by sending 16,500 Confederates. The result would be the First Battle of Deep Bottom South over the next two days.
Confederate General Birthdays, July 26.
Brigadier General John Marshall Jones was born in 1820 in Charlottesville, Va. He was a 1841 graduate of West Point, 39th in a class of 52 cadets. Jones served as a second lieutenant in the 7th U.S. Infantry, as an instructor at West Point, helped revise rifle & artillery tactics, had duty at fort garrisons, and served in the Utah War. He resigned from the U.S. Army on May 27, 1861. Jones began the war as a captain of artillery, was promoted to colonel of infantry, and served on Stonewall Jackson's staff. He was promoted to brigadier general in May 1863 and given a Virginia infantry brigade in Maj. Gen. Edward "Allegheny" Johnson's Division. His battles included Front Royal, the Seven Days Battles, Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and the Wilderness. At the Battle of Gettysburg, Jones was severely wounded during the assault on Culp's Hill. He was killed in action on May 5, 1864, in the Battle of the Wilderness, Va. Lt. Gen. Richard Ewell said his loss was irreparable. He is buried in Maplewood Cemetery in Charlottesville, Va. In his personal life, he married Margaret Ann Freeman of Culpepper, Va., on Feb. 25, 1852.
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