Thursday, July 31, 2025

Today in History (general history)/ On This Day In Confederate History/ Confederate General Birthdays, July 21.

Click 👉Today in History (general history) July 31. 

On This Day in Confederate History, July 31.

1864: In the aftermath of the Battle of the Crater, in the Petersburg, Va. Campaign, Confederate generals were praised, particularly generals William Mahone, Bushrod Johnson, and Stephen Elliot. The Federal generals were tainted by their actions in the battle. General George G. Meade brought charges against Ambrose Burnside, and a court of inquiry censured him and brigadier generals James Ledlie, Edward Ferro, Orlando B. Wilcox, and Col. Zenas R. Bliss. Later, in 1865, the Congressional Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War absolved Burnside and censured Meade. 

A Confederate lieutenant colonel
with a New Orleans back mark.
(Liljenquist Collection, Library of Congress)

 In the Atlanta Campaign, General John Bell Hood and Major General Joseph "Fighting Joe" Wheeler responded to a Federal Cavalry raid on the Confederate supply lines, which began July 27. Federal cavalry generals George Stoneman, Edward McCook, and Kenner Garrard were scheduled to meet at Lovejoy Station on July 28 to destroy it. They have initial successes in capturing 300 prisoners and almost 500 wagons. Wheeler engages Garrard in heavy skirmishing at Flat Rock on July 28 and 29 and forces him back to Latimer, Ga. 

Confederate General Birthdays, July 31.

Brigadier General Philip Cook was born on this day in 1817 in Twiggs County, Georgia. A prewar lawyer in Macon County, Georgia, Cook had some military experience in the U.S. Army in the Seminole Wars in Florida. In 1861, he joined the Confederate Army as a private in the 4th Georgia Infantry and worked his way up to brigadier general. He fought in the Seven Days Campaign, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, and Chancellorsville where he was wounded. While recovering, he served for a brief time in the Georgia legislature. Returning to duty in 1864, he took command of a brigade at the Battle of Cold Harbor, Va., and was wounded for a second time during the Siege of Petersburg, Va. After recovering, Cook fought in the Battle of Cedar Creek and then at Petersburg again where he was wounded again in 1865. Following the war, he practiced law in Americus, Georgia, and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, then Secretary of State in Georgia. Cook died May 21, 1894, in Atlanta, Georgia, and was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon, Georgia.

Brig. Gen. Philip Cook

Brigadier General Thomas Hart Taylor was born on this day in 1825 at Frankfort, Kentucky. Before the war, Taylor was a lawyer and farmer who raised cattle. He received some prewar military experience in the Mexican-American War. During the War for Southern Independence, he joined the Confederate Army as a captain of the cavalry and became a lieutenant colonel. He became colonel of the 1st Kentucky Infantry Regiment and then commanded a brigade in Eastern Tennessee. Taylor was appointed a brigadier general but failed to get nominated by President Davis or approved by the Confederate senate. He was captured at the end of the Siege of Vicksburg, Miss., and after he was exchanged served at Mobile, Ala., and in the Battle of Meridian, Miss. He became commander of local defense troops and reserves at Mobile until the evacuation of that city on April 11, 1865. Following the war, Taylor was a businessman in Mobile, then a U.S. Marshal for five years in Kentucky. Taylor then became the chief of police in Louisville, Ky., and was a superintendent of Louisville and Portland Canal. He died on April 12, 1901, in Louisville and was buried in State Cemetery in Frankfort, Ky.

Brig. Gen. Thomas H. Taylor
This is the story of one of the most unique Louisiana infantry brigades in the War for Southern Independence. It was made up of an ethnically diverse hodgepodge of Louisiana's very diverse population, including South Louisiana Cajuns, North Louisiana Rednecks, and New Orleans Irish, Germans, and other ethnic groups then populating the Crescent City. The regiments of the brigade included the 18th Louisiana Infantry Regiment, the 24th Louisiana Infantry (Crescent) Regiment, and the 10th (Yellow Jackets), and the 12/16th Louisiana infantry battalions. Early in the war, some of the units fought in other brigades at the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee. When the brigade was formed in Louisiana in the fall of 1862, they fought in the Lafourche Campaign of 1862, the Bayou Teche Campaign of the spring of 1863, the Great Texas Overland Expedition of 1863, and the Red River Campaign of 1864. The brigade was led by one of the most colorful, chivalrous, and competent Confederate commanders of the war, Brigadier General Alfred Mouton of Lafayette, Louisiana. The fighting men of the brigade time and again fought with great valor and left a legacy of gallantry that makes their descendants proud to this day.

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