Today in the American Civil War

[Triple C]

AR,

Since you brought up the subject of 19th C weaponry a while back, what were the advantages of the newer Springfields compared to the rifled 1841s?

[Albany Rifles]

The newer M1861 was lighter, easier to mass produce as well as license build, cheaper to make, fired a larger round, loaded faster and its bayonet was less costly than the M1841's. Also, the extra 8 inches of barrel made it a little easier on the front ranks of a 2 rank firing line.

[Albany Rifles]

1861 Battle of Big Bethel, VA

Battle of Big Bethel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1862 General Henry Halleck assigns Ulysses S. Grant, Don Carlos Buell, and John Pope to corps command.

1864 Battle of Brice's Crossroads/Battle of Tishomingo Creek, MS.

The Battle of Brice's Cross Roads Summary & Facts | Civilwar.org

Factoid which may only interest me: At 1 acre, the Brice’s Crossroads National Battlefield Site is the smallest park in the NPS system.

1865 President Johnson appoints William Starkey as provisional governor of Mississippi

[Albany Rifles]

1860 Southern delegates hold a National Democratic convention in Richmond. Party leaders urge a "wait and see" approach.

1861 First session of the Second Wheeling Convention.

1863 General John Hunt Morgan leaves Alexandria, Tennessee to raid Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana.

1864 Following the battle of Brice's Crossroads, Forrest's men pursue the federal retreat and take hundreds of prisoners

Battle of Trevilian Station Phil Sheridan strikes Fitzhugh Lee and Wade Hampton, trying to reach Hunter at Charlottesville. In spite of initial success, he is turned back. Custer makes his first Last Stand.

The Battle of Trevilian Station Summary & Facts | Civilwar.org

The C. S. S. Alabama arrives in Cherbourg, France.

[Albany Rifles]

1862 J.E.B. Stuart conducts his Ride Around McClellan as part of the Peninsula Campaign.

1864 Matthew Brady took the most iconic photo of US Grant during the Civil War. Grant had just ordered his engineers to begin looking for bridging sites across the James below City Point.*



* A tip of the hat to Shek for reminding me about this!

[Albany Rifles]

1862 Skirmish at New Market, Virginia

Federals, after a brief skirmish, occupy Romney, Virginia (now West Virginia)

1863 2d Battle of Winchester

Ordered to withdraw because of the approach of the Army of Northern Virginia, Major General Robert Milroy tried to hold his position in Winchester. By afternoon on the 14th, he realized his mistake and decided to withdraw that evening. Dick Ewell ordered a division to camp north of the town to prevent such a move and Milroy found himself trapped. Confederates captured or killed the 6000 men in the city.

1864 Grant’s Army slips away from Lee and heads to the James River.

http://civilwardailygazette.com/2014...e-loses-grant/

1865 Civilian rule is restored in Mississippi

James Johnston, a pro-Union politician, is appointed provisional governor of Georgia.

1866 Thirty-ninth Congress approves the 14th Amendment to the Constitution

[Albany Rifles]

1861 Joe Johnston withdraws Confederate troops from Harpers Ferry, VA, blowing up the 800 foot railroad bridge in the process.

1863 Banks orders a general assault on the works at Port Hudson but it ends in failure.

1864. While inspecting his lines at Pine Mountain, GA, LTG Leonidas Polk, the Fighting Bishop, is eviscerated by a 3 inch shell fired from a mile away.

[Albany Rifles]

1862 Battle of Secessionville, SC

The Battle of Secessionville Summary & Facts | Civilwar.org

1864 After Baldy Smith's XVIIIth Corps of the Army of the James (AOJ) breaks the Dimmock Line on 15 June at the Battle of Baylors Farm, several Union assaults are stopped against the reconstituted Dimmock Line farther east along the ridgeline to the west of Harrison's Creek. Beauregard pulls troops from the Bermuda Hundred line to bring his force to 14,000 defenders. While the IInd & IXth Corps capture some redoubts they did little to improve the Union position. The ANV is still norht of the James and Appomattox rivers.

The Siege of Petersburg begins.

Initial Assaults

[Albany Rifles]

1856 Republican Convention nominates John C. Fremont for President.

1861 Action at Vienna and Aldie Virginia

Engagement at Boonville, Missouri

1862 Battle of White River, AR

Congress frees all slaves in territories of the United States

The commands of John C. Fremont and Nathanael Banks are consolidated under John Pope into the Army of Virginia. Fremont resigns.

Braxton Bragg assumes command of the Army of Mississippi, relieving P. G. T. Beauregard

1863 Engagement in Warsaw Sound, Georgia. The CSS Atlanta, an ironclad in Warsaw Inlet, engages the USS Weehawken and USS Nahant before surrendering

1864 Battle of Richmond Turnpike

Battle of Lynchburg

The IXth Corps makes a successful attack on the Dimmock Line at Petersburg and captures a large swatch. Beauregard abandons the outer works and pull’s his forces to the inner defense line. Lee is still not convinced Grant has moved so order AP Hill, on his left flank, to conduct a limited attack to find Grant’s army. Hill reports at the end of the day that the Union works are abandoned.

1865 Fire-eater Edmund Ruffin dies of his own hand at his plantation Redmoor, Amelia County, Virginia

[Albany Rifles]

1860 The Democrats reconvene in Baltimore to select a nominee, but Douglas can't make the necessary 2/3 majority until the anti-Douglas delegates leave on June 22 and the floor rules are changed to require 2/3 vote of the members present. On June 23rd the Convention nominates Stephen Douglas and Herschal V. Johnson

1862 6 members of Andrews Raiders are hung in Atlanta (The Great Locomotive Chase)

Union forces capture the Cumberland Gap

Battle of the Cumberland Gap (June 1862) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1863

Major General John McClernand is relieved of command by Ulysses S. Grant for insubordination and disobedience of orders at Vicksburg.

General Grant Finally Rids Himself of McClernand | Civil War Daily Gazette

1864 One last final assault is made by the AOP at Petersburg. It was a disjointed attack with Warren and Burnside having to be forced to move tot the attack. In the attack Col Joshua Chamberlain is severely wounded and is promoted to brigadier general by Grant on what many believed to be his death bed.

Use the Spade for Protection – The Siege of Petersburg Begins | Civil War Daily Gazette

Also as part of this assault would be the Forlorn Hope of the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery. The regiment would suffer the highest casualties of any regiment in the Civil War this day

1st Maine Heavy Artillery Regiment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Albany Rifles]

1862 Lincoln signs the bill forbidding slavery in U. S. Territories.

1864 The Alabama no longer rolls. Following an hour long battle off the coast of France, the CSS Alabama sinks after being hit by several rounds from the guns of the USS Kearsarge. An English yacht rescues the crew.

1865 General Robert S. Granger declares Emancipation Day in Texas, the date when all Negroes are officially set free. The date is now celebrated as Juneteenth.

[Albany Rifles]

1863 West Virginia joins the Union as the 35th state.

[Albany Rifles]

1861 Thomas Jackson destroys 42 engines and nearly 400 cars of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at Martinsburg, Virginia

1862 Robert E. Lee plans a counterattack against Union forces preparing to lay siege to Richmond at the Dabbs House

1863 Army of the Cumberland begins the Tullahoma Campaign against the Army of Tennessee

Forward units of the Army of Northern Virginia begin crossing the Potomac River into Maryland northwest of Harper's Ferry

1865 Rear Admiral Samuel DuPont dies unexpectedly in Philadelphia, PA

Brigadier General Stand Watie surrenders Confederate forces in the Indian Territory (OK)

[Albany Rifles]

1864 Maryland abolishes slavery.

During the Wilson-Kautz Raid, the 2 divisions of Federal cavalry turn south at Burkeville Junction where the Southside Railroad meets the Richmond & Danville Railroad. The forces destroy the depots at Burkeville and Meherrin and head for the raids main objective...the Staunton River Bridge.

Sherman issues orders to realign his army in order to attack the Kennesaw Mountain Line on 27 June.

1867 Congress passes a bill admitting Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina into the Union. Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas, having refused to ratify the fourteenth amendment, were refused admission into the Union.

[Albany Rifles]

1862 Battle of Oak Grove/Battle of The Orchards A series of closely linked battles known as The Seven Days Battle or The Seven Day Retreat start near Mechanicsville as the Army of the Potomac begins its advance to Richmond.

Battle of Oak Grove - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1863 Union soldiers of the XVIIth Corps try to exploit an explosion under the Confederate entrenchments at Vicksburg. The Rebel line easily repulses the attack.

The Vicksburg Mine

1864 LTC Henry Pleasants, 48th PAVI, and his regiment of Keystone coalminers begin digging a tunnel from Union lines under Confederate entrenchments.

A Little Cup of a Ravine – A Pennsylvania Miner’s New Idea | Civil War Daily Gazette

The Battle of Staunton River Bridge Federal cavalry from the Army of the James fails to destroy their main objective, the Staunton River Railroad Bridge, and are repulsed by home guard forces.

The Battle Story

1866 Connecticut approves the 14th Amendment