United States Civil War (1861 – 1865) in Real Time

Day 354 of the United States Civil War, March 31st 1862

District of Columbia

Granville Mellen Dodge is made Brigadier General in the United States Army.

Virginia

Operation on the Orange & Alexandria Railroad ended.

The Confederate Congress authorised the grade of Commodore in the Confederate States Navy. No officer was ever actually appointed to the grade and the term was generally used as a courtesy title for an officer commanding a squadron or flotilla.

Arkansas

Incident at Crooked Creek.

Georgia

Incident at Wilmington Island.

Mississippi

Confederate States Army, Confederate Major General George Bibb Crittenden was relieved of command of the Reserve Corps of the Army of Mississippi after accusations of drunkenness and neglect of duty.

Missouri

Confederate States Army, Brigadier General William Whann Mackall, supersedes Confederate States Army, Major General John Porter McCown, in the command at New Madrid Bend, and at Island No. 10, Mississippi River.

A band of Confederate guerrillas met at the farm of Samuel C Clark near the hamlet of Pink Hill, some three miles southeast of Stoney Point. United States Army, Captain Albert P Peabody led a company of 65 men from the 1st Missouri Cavalry Regiment (United States) past the farm and they were ambushed by the guerrillas. The cavalrymen dismounted and returned fire. Peabody sent for reinforcements but most of the Confederates managed to escape. The Confederates lost 6 men killed and wounded and the United States three men wounded.

Maryland

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ran through Maryland and Virginia and had suffered from the very start of the war. United States advances, such as on Manassas Junction and Harpers Ferry, made possible the repair and resumption of service along the entire line after a year's halt. Trains left Baltimore and Washington DC and arrived safely in Wheeling, in western Virginia. The B. & O. endured Confederate raids, however, through the rest of the war.

North Carolina

Skirmish at Deep Gully.

South Carolina

Incident at Whitmarsh Island.

Tennessee

United States expedition to Paris began under Captain William A Haw (5th Iowa Cavalry).

Skirmish on the Purdy Road at Adamsville, involving United States Army, Major General Lewis Wallace.

The United States Marine Brigade under United States Marine Corps, Colonel Napoleon Bonaparte Buford surprised and routed a Confederate garrison at Union City and severed this important line of communication.

New Mexico Territory

Incidents at Comanche Canyon and Comanche Pass.

Utah Territory

Stephen S Harding became Governor of Utah Territory.

Department of the South (United States)

The Northern District was established in the Department of the South, comprising the states of South Carolina, Georgia, and the parts of Florida north of the line connecting Cape Canaveral to Cedar Keys and east of a north-south line from Cedar Keys to the border of Georgia.

The Southern District was established in the Department of the South, comprising Florida south of a line connecting Cape Canaveral and Cedar Keys.

United States Army, Major General David Hunter, assumes the command of the Department of the South, i.e., South Carolina. Georgia, and Florida.

United States Army, Brigadier General John Milton Brannan assumed command of the Southern District of the Department of the South.

Day 356 of the United States Civil War, April 2nd 1862

District of Columbia

The United State Senate took up and passed the joint resolution (United States) President Abraham Lincoln had suggested a few weeks before to encourage an eventual end to slavery. The "resolution declaring that Congress cooperate by affording pecuniary aid to any state which may adopt a gradual abolishment of slavery" passed on a 32-10 vote with six senators not voting. Among Democrats, only Garret Davis of Kentucky and John of New Jersey voted in favor.

Following a series of highly encouraging advances, and with "the force now in the field deemed amply sufficient for the suppression of the rebellion and the termination of the war," (United States) Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton issued a general order suspending all further army recruiting efforts and directed all offices closed and recruiters to return to their regiments. Considered in hindsight a serious error, especially when Confederate counterattacks took hold and the march on Richmond failed, the action hampered enlistment efforts for the remainder of the war.

Virginia

Reconnaissance to Rappahannock River.

Confederate States Army, Major General Thomas Jonathan Jackson withdrew from the United States advance to Woodstock and Salem and moved to Rode’s Hill.

Expedition to Strasburg Road ended.

Skirmishes at Edenburg, Woodstock, Thoroughfare Gap, Stony Creek, and along the Strasburg to Staunton Road.

United States Army, Major General George Brinton McClellan and his staff departed from Alexandria after midnight and arrived at Fort Monroe on board the steamer COMMODORE. McClellan set up the headquarters for the Army of the Potomac at Fortress Monroe.

West Virginia

One hundred guns were fired in honor of the arrival in Wheeling of the Baltimore and Ohio train from Baltimore.

Tennessee

Expedition to Paris ended.

Confederate States Army, General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard received reports that United States Army, Major General Lewis Wallace’s division was marching in the vicinity of Bethel Station on the Mobile & Ohio Railroad. He urged Confederate States Army, General Albert Sidney Johnston to seize the opportunity to attack the gathering United States forces on the Tennessee River before Wallace’s movements developed into a drive towards Memphis. Although Confederate States Army, Major General Sterling Price had not yet arrived from Arkansas with his veteran reinforcements, the race was on for the Confederates to strike the Army of West Tennessee before it could combine with the Army of the Ohio in unassailable numbers.

Missouri

United States reconnaissance began from Cape Girardeau to Dallas, Jackson, and Whitewater.

Skirmish at Walkersville.

Skirmishes at Doniphan at Putnam’s Ferry.

(Missouri) Joint Operations Against New Madrid, Island No. 10, and Memphis - Battle of Island No. 10

The mortars and gunboats in the United States flotilla at Island No 10 concentrated their fire on the floating battery CSS NEW ORLEANS. The vessel was hit several times and her mooring lines were parted. She drifted downstream and went out of action.

North Carolina

The gunboat USS MOUNT VERNON (1 × 32-pounder gun) under the command of United States Navy, Commander Oliver S Glisson, with the gunboat USS FERNANDINA (6 × 32-pounder guns) and the steamship USS CAMBRIDGE, destroyed the schooner KATE as it attempted to run the blockade near Wilmington.

Harper's Weekly: The gunboat USS MOUNT VERNON at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, June 1861. Behind MOUNT VERNON Vernon, dwarfing the gunboat, is USS ROANOKE, while in the background left is the gunboat USS R. R. CUYLER

Day 358 of the United States Civil War, April 4th 1862

District of Columbia

The United States Congress made an important resolution regarding rank and command in the United States Army and US Volunteers: “… whenever military operations may require the presence of two or more officers of the same grade in the same field or department. the President may assign the command of the forces in such field or department without regard to seniority or rank“. Although contrary to strict tradition and protocol, this provision gave the President greater flexibility in managing assignments to the high command of the United States armies.

The United States War Department issued General Orders, No. 34, creating the Department of the Shenandoah, under the command of Nathaniel P. Banks, and also defining George B. McClellan's command:

General Orders, No. 34.

War Dep’t, Adjutant General’s Office,
Washington, April 4, 1862.

I. – That portion of Virginia and Maryland lying between the Mountain Department and the Blue Ridge, shall constitute a Military Department to be called the Department of the Shenandoah, and under the command of Major general Banks.

II. – That portion of Virginia east of the Blue Ridge and west of the Potomac and the Fredericksburg and Richmond Railroad, including the District of Columbia and the country between the Potomac and Patuxent, shall be under the command of Major General McDowell.

By Order of the Secretary of War:

L. Thomas, Adjutant General.

Virginia

Skirmishes at Cockletown, Stafford Court House, Howard’s Mill, Young’s Mill, and Great Bethel.

The United States Department of the Rappahannock and the Department of the Shenandoah were established, following the earlier creation of the Mountain Department. This was a direct and fatal consequence of aggressive Confederate action in the Shenandoah Valley. This further division of command in Northern Virginia required the three Departments to receive instructions directly from the War Department in Washington and not from United States Army, Major General George Brinton McClellan, who was now at Fortress Monroe. This separation of command responsibility, intended to protect the capital, actually played into the hands of the Confederates, who began diversionary operations in the Shenandoah Valley. The diversion of reinforcements from the United States peninsula campaign to provide field forces for the new Departments also weakened the numerical advantage that United States Army, Major General George Brinton McClellan was relying on for his advance toward Richmond.

McClellan suddenly found that he was also deprived of the use of 12,000 men in the Fortress Monroe garrison and he was further discouraged by the fact that Major-General Irvin McDowell’s I Corps (now renamed the Department of the Rappahannock) was being withheld indefinitely for the defence of Washington. That meant it could not be sent as planned to envelop the Yorktown positions by an overland advance from the north. McDowell had been earmarked by McClellan to outflank the Confederate line by landings further up the York River. To emphasise this, the Military District of Washington itself was subordinated to McDowell’s new Department. Although the title was officially discontinued, the field force of the Department of the Rappahannock was renamed again later as I Corps (Potomac).
The division of United States Army, Brigadier General Louis Blenker, officially, 3rd Division of II Corps, had already been withheld in March and was allocated to the Mountain Department. The United States V Corps of United States Army, Major General Nathaniel Prentiss Banks had been detached from the direct command of the Army of the Potomac on March 15th 1862 and this became the field force of the Department of the Shenandoah, with its two divisions under United States Army, Brigadier General Alpheus Starkey Williams and United States Army, Brigadier General James Shields. The 3rd Division of United States Army, Brigadier General John Sedgwick had already left the Shenandoah and never rejoined V Corps. After arriving at Fortress Monroe, it was incorporated into the Army of the Potomac. Banks’ V Corps (Potomac) was discontinued.

McClellan’s computation of his strength and the forces left to protect the capital were undermined by the Military Governor of Washington, United States Army, Brigadier General James Samuel Wadsworth. Wadsworth mistakenly recalculated the force available to defend the capital and complained to (United States) President Abraham Lincoln that he was left with only 29,000 men instead of the 40,000 computed and promised by McClellan as the minimum essential garrison. These calculations were exchanged between Lincoln and McClellan with increasing animosity and frustration, as McClellan tried to prove had made adequate provision for the capital’s defence and Lincoln sought to show that he had not.

Confederate States Army, Brigadier General James Ewell Brown Stuart, on outpost duty north of the Rappahannock River, reported the continuing movement of substantial numbers of United states transports from Washington DC.

(Virginia) Peninsula Campaign

United States Army, Major-General George Brinton McClellan’s Army of the Potomac started its advance up the Yorktown Peninsula towards Richmond. While the Confederate ironclad warship CSS VIRGINIA remained at Norfolk, the United States Navy was unable or unwilling to transport McClellan’s forces any further up the James River. The United States Navy also did not believe it was possible to silence the Confederate water batteries at Yorktown and Gloucester Point so that made it impossible for him to send troops up the York River to disembark at West Point and restricted his direction of advance.

McClellan was obliged to proceed overland from the area around Fortress Monroe towards Yorktown. As he advanced, he discovered that his maps were inaccurate and that the deliberately-flooded Warwick River was much more of an obstacle than anticipated. Confederate States Army, Major General John Bankhead Magruder had constructed a defensive line (the “Warwick Line”) from Yorktown on the York River, running behind the Warwick River to Mulberry Point on the James River. Magruder even took advantage of the remnants of trenches originally dug by Cornwallis in 1781. Magruder could not adequately man the fourteen miles of defensive works with his available force so he began to construct more defences ten miles to the rear near Williamsburg in case he should be forced to retreat. At Williamsburg, a dozen small redoubts were clustered around a larger star-shaped work christened Fort Magruder.

Magruder also compensated for his numerical weakness by using a range of ploys that displayed his troops in theatrical ways to suggest they were far greater in number than they really were. These stunts helped to convince the United States commanders that they faced a large and well-fortified enemy. Between March 24th and April 4th Confederate States Army, General Robert Edward Lee had switched three of Confederate States Army, General Joseph Eggleston Johnston’s six divisions from his new lines on the Rapidan to the Peninsula to reinforce Magruder. This reinforcement now gave Magruder enough men to extend his line to cover most of the threatened front.

McClellan’s plan called for United States Army, Major General Samuel Peter Heintzelman’s III Corps to fix the Confederate troops in their trenches near the York River, while the IV Corps under United States Army, Brigadier General Erasmus Darwin Keyes enveloped the Confederate right, broke past them, and cut off the Confederate lines of communication. McClellan and his staff, ignorant of the extent of Magruder’s line, assumed that the Confederates were concentrated only in the immediate vicinity of Yorktown.

Lee was awaiting greater certainty about United States intentions before ordering Johnston to shift the rest of his army from the direct line of advance towards the peninsula east of Richmond. Johnston now had just 23,000 men on the Rapidan while Magruder had increased his force to 31,500 men, either in place or on their way. Johnston would soon need very soon to be committed fully to one or other of these sectors. Lee also ordered the construction of a third defensive line within two miles of Richmond that anchored its right on the James River and its left flank on the impassable Chickahominy River.

California

Skirmish at Table Bluff.

Florida

USS PURSUIT under the command of United States Navy, Acting Lieutenant Cate, captured the sloop LAYFAYETTE at St Joseph’s Bay with a cargo of cotton.

Mississippi

Incident at Greenwood.

The gunboat CSS CARONELET (5x 42-pounders and 1x 32-pounder rifled cannon) under the command of Confederate States Navy, Lieutenant Washington Gwathmey, with CSS PAMLICO, and CSS OREGON, engaged the gunboats gunboat USS J P JACKSON, USS NEW LONDON, and USS HaTTERAS. The United States gunboats were protecting the steamer LEWIS , which was landing 1,200 men at Pass Christian to destroy a Confederate camp.

Missouri

United States reconnaissance to Cape Girardeau, Dallas, Jackson, and Whitewater ended.

Incident at Doniphan.

(Missouri) Joint Operations Against New Madrid, Island No. 10, and Memphis - Battle of Island No. 10

The CITY-class ironclad gunboat USS CARONDELET under the command of United States Navy, Commander Henry Walke, weighed anchor at New Madrid on a night with the moon concealed by clouds. The aim was to run past the Confederate batteries at Island No 10. Work had been undertaken for a week to protect and strengthen the vessel with cordwood piled around the boilers, extra deck planking, and anchor chains trailing along the deck. An 11-inch hawser was wrapped around the pilot house and a coal barge was lashed alongside. For fear of capture, the crew was armed with revolvers and cutlasses, while volunteer sharpshooters manned the decks. The ship was prepared to be scuttled rather than fall into enemy hands. All lights were extinguished save for one in the engine room to avoid detection.

At 10 pm the ship set out with muffled engine just as a fierce thunderstorm began. When USS CARONDELET approached the Confederate Battery No 2 on Island No 10 the flue caught fire from sparks. Confederate sentries spotted the flames and sounded the alarm. Walke shouted to his pilot, William Hoel, for “full speed.” Hoel was an experienced pilot on this stretch of the river, and with the help of a boatswain’s mate stationed on the forecastle, steered the craft past the Island. The Confederate gunners were unable to depress all of their guns to train on the ship, allowing it to pass by unharmed although one shot hit the barge alongside and another was found later buried in a bale of hay. The fierce thunderstorm also helped to mask the gunboat’s progress.

USS CARONDELET arrived unharmed at New Madrid the following morning before dawn, greeted by cheers from United States Army, Major General John Pope’s army. This exploit marked the introduction of a new tactic in warfare. The use of steam for driving ships meant that they no longer had to batter fixed forts into submission before trying a highly dangerous attempt to pass them. The tactic became commonplace during the war and the perceived value of fixed fortifications to prevent naval and riverine operations was seriously diminished.

Drawing: CARONDELET running the Rebel batteries at Island No. 10



Tennessee

Skirmish at Lawrenceburg involving United States Army, Colonel Milo Smith Hascall (17th Indiana Infantry).

Skirmishes at Pittsburg Landing, Adamsville, and Crump’s Landing.

United States Army, Major General Ulysses Simpson Grant was injured when his horse fell and pinned him underneath. He went to convalesce at Savannah and was unable to move without the aid of crutches.

The Confederate march from Corinth continued to be beset by delays caused by bad weather and confusion. Confederate States Army, Major General Braxton Bragg’s Corps reached Monterey at midday, where it should have already camped overnight. One of Bragg’s divisions got completely lost.
Confederate States Army, Brigadier General John Cabell Breckinridge’s Corps was out of communication with headquarters and its location could not be determined. Confederate States Army, Major General Leonidas Polk and Confederate States Army, Major General William Joseph Hardee were making forced marches with their two Corps but they were held up at Mickey’s while Bragg’s column passed across their route and blocked their progress. Extreme thunderstorms spoiled the deployment and it was evident that it was impossible to consider an attack at dawn as had been planned.

Day 360 of the United States Civil War, April 6th 1862

Virginia

Braxton Bragg is appointed Full General in the Confederate States Army.

Jones Mitchell Withers is appointed Major General in the Confederate States Army.

(Virginia) - Peninsula Campaign - Siege of Yorktown (1862)

The 6th Maine Infantry Regiment (United States) and 5th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment (United States) under United States Army, Brigadier General Winfield Scott Hancock performed a reconnaissance around Dam No 1, where the Confederates had widened the Warwick River to create a water obstacle. They drove off the Confederate pickets and took some prisoners. Hancock considered this area a weak spot in the line but orders from McClellan prevented any exploitation.

United States Army, Brigadier General Erasmus Darwin Keyes, deceived by the Confederates’ theatrical troop movements, believed that the Warwick Line fortifications could not be carried and advised McClellan against an immediate assault. Despite their great preponderance in numbers, most of the United States commanders were convinced that the works could not be attacked successfully without lengthy preparations. McClellan reluctantly abandoned the idea of an immediate assault and ordered the construction of siege works to break the apparently invincible fortifications. Some of the more firebrand and aggressive of his brigade and division commanders protested at the delay but could not prevail in their appeals for an opportunity to take the defences by assault. To the surprise of the Confederates and the dismay of (United States) President Abraham Lincoln, McClellan ordered his army to entrench in works opposite Magruder’s and established a siege of Yorktown and the Warwick River line. Although McClellan doubted his numerical superiority over the enemy, he had no doubts about the superiority of his artillery and believed that a siege was certain of success.

California

Skirmish at Fort Anderson.

Florida

The gunboat USS PURSUIT (6 × 32-pounder guns) under the command of United States Navy, Acting Lieutenant Cate, captured the steamer FLORIDA loading cotton at North Bay, at the head of Bear Creek.

Missouri

The CITY-class ironclad gunboat USS CARONDELET had successfully passed the batteries at Island No 10. It now began a reconnaissance down the Mississippi River from New Madrid to Tiptonville, exchanging long range shots with shore batteries at Island No 10.

Tennessee

Confederate States Army, Major General Edmund Kirby Smith sent a reconnaissance expedition from Greenville to Laurel Valley, North Carolina.

(Tennessee) Federal Penetration up the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers - Battle of Shiloh

Confederate States Army, General Albert Sidney Johnston had originally planned to attack the United States camps at Pittsburg Landing two days earlier but delays, poor staff work, and bad weather had postponed operations. Nevertheless, the presence of his Army of Mississippi was largely undetected and he was still able to achieve some degree of surprise.

The United States Army of West Tennessee under United States Army, Major General Ulysses Simpson Grant and the approaching Army of the Ohio under United States Army, Major General Don Carlos Buell comprised together about 65,085 men. Of these, about 20,000 were with Buell. Buell had arrived in person overnight at Grant’s headquarters at Savannah with the first element of one of his four divisions. He and Grant planned how to bring Buell’s army to the west bank of the Tennessee to join forces with Grant’s troops. They decided to send Buell’s men upstream to Hamburg, which would give them a slightly shorter route to their objective of Corinth, Mississippi. The two armies would unite later when their roads converged about eight miles from Corinth. This would allow the advance to begin promptly and avoided Buell’s men having to funnel through Grant’s crowded encampments at Pittsburg Landing.

At 6 am, Johnston’s Confederate Army of Mississippi deployed across the Corinth Road south of Pittsburg Landing with a total of about 44,968 men. The army had spent the entire night undetected two miles away from the Union camps. Their approach and dawn assault achieved almost total strategic and tactical surprise. The Union army had few patrols in place to give an early warning. United States Army, Brigadier General William Tecumseh Sherman, the informal camp commander at Pittsburg Landing during United States Army, Major General Ulysses Simpson Grant’s temporary absence, did not expect the Confederates to be nearby and discounted the possibility of an attack from the south, expecting perhaps an eventual attack from the direction of Purdy to the west.

Map: The divisions of Sherman and Prentiss were the first United States troops attacked



Johnston launched his main attack on the right flank in order to reach Pittsburg Landing and prevent the Union Army from escaping across the Tennessee River. This would also cut the United States supply line and avenue of retreat. He instructed Confederate States Army, General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard to stay to the rear and direct men and supplies as needed while he led the men personally on the battle line. The misguided alignment of the Confederate commands reduced the effectiveness of their attack. Confederate States Army, Major General William Joseph Hardee and Confederate States Army, Major General Braxton Bragg began the assault with their divisions in one line almost three miles wide, far beyond the ability of their commanders to see or direct them in the dense woodlands. As they advanced, they became intermingled and difficult to control. Each Corps commander attacked in line without reserves and their artillery could not be concentrated. At about 7.30 am Beauregard ordered the corps of Confederate States Army, Major General Leonidas Polk and Confederate States Army, Brigadier General John Cabell Breckinridge forward on the left and right of the line. Their attack proceeded again as a frontal assault in a wide linear formation. The assault, despite its shortcomings, was nevertheless ferocious.

Across the Corinth Road, United States Army, Colonel Jesse Hildebrand’s brigade of Sherman’s division took the impact of the first Confederate assault. Sherman had two brigades in line west of Shiloh Chapel, a third was east of the chapel and a fourth was detached near the river beyond Prentiss’s camps on the far left. The 53rd Ohio Infantry Regiment (United States) broke almost immediately, and two other regiments followed it in flight. The regiment had lost seven men captured from the picket line on April 4th, and a scout company had been fired upon on the April 5th, but continuous reports of the enemy’s proximity had been ridiculed, even though other parts of the army had also captured Confederate prisoners and deserters. Sherman’s division bore the brunt of the initial attack and, despite the heavy fire on their position and their right flank crumbling, they fought on stubbornly. The United States troops slowly lost ground and fell back to a position among their camps behind Shiloh Church. They repelled four charges and then gave way to a new position after a fifth attack.

Sherman, who had been negligent in preparation for the battle, took a key role once he realised that the fight was now underway. As commander of the field until Grant’s arrival, he appeared everywhere, inspiring the raw recruits to resist despite staggering losses on both sides. He received two minor wounds and had three horses shot out from under him.

United States Army, Major General John Alexander McClernand’s division had been behind Sherman’s and after it advanced to the sound of firing, it temporarily stabilised the position, filling the void between Sherman on his right and the division of United States Army, Brigadier General Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss on the left. At dawn, United States Army, Colonel Everett Peabody, commanding a brigade in Prentiss’s division, had sent forward part of the 25th Missouri Infantry Regiment (United States) on a reconnaissance, and they became engaged with Confederate skirmishers between 5 am and 5.15 am. The spirited fight provided some warning but the United States army was still not fully alert. Fighting a delaying action the scouts were reinforced by four companies of the 16th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment (United States), five companies of the 21st Missouri Infantry Regiment (United States), and eventually the rest of Peabody’s brigade. By 8 am they had been pressed back to the main line of Prentiss’s division.

Prentiss’s division was broken quickly by relentless attacks and survivors of both Sherman’s and Prentiss’s divisions mingled with others as they gave up almost two miles of ground to hold a new line. Johnston’s relentless head-on attacks made steady progress until noon, rolling up United States positions one by one. Many regiments fragmented entirely, leaving the remaining companies and individuals to attach themselves to other commands. The United States troops gave ground steadily under the pressure. However, the faulty Confederate command structure and deployment made it impossible for them to do more than charge straight ahead in ever more disorganised groups.

Map: The United States right and left were pushed back



Starting at about 9 am, men of Prentiss’s and United States Army, Brigadier General William Hervey Lamm Wallace’s divisions established a new position nicknamed the Hornet’s Nest, in a field lined by a defensible “sunken road”. Prentiss had fallen back from his first line of defence and W H L Wallace moved his division up quickly from its camps near Pittsburg Landing to reinforce him. Grant ordered Prentiss to hold the Hornet’s Nest at all costs. Major-General Stephen Augustus Hurlbut’s division entered the action on Prentiss’s left and occupied a Peach Orchard. The United States flanks were being pushed back but were not broken decisively.

Map: At 9:00 am, Stuart could hear artillery fire, but was not yet attacked



Grant was about ten miles downriver on a gunboat at Savannah when he heard the sound of artillery fire. He raced to the battlefield and arrived at about 8.30 am. He met Sherman at about 10 am and then visited McClernand and Prentiss in turn. Grant now took charge of the battle, made preparations to defend the vital river landing area at Pittsburg Landing, organised a cordon to enforce the return of stragglers and fugitives to the fight, and issued orders for the United States army to hold its lines. Grant worked frantically to bring up reinforcements and ordered United States Army, Brigadier General William Nelson’s Division – the first to arrive from Buell’s Army of the Ohio – to march from Savannah on the eastern shore of the river to the eastern bank of the Tennessee opposite Pittsburg Landing.

Grant had already met United States Army, Major General Lewis Wallace at Pittsburg Landing and he ordered him to bring his division forward from Crump’s Landing to support Sherman on the right flank. Wallace took a route different from the one Grant intended and by the end of his march he found that Sherman had been forced back from where Wallace expected to find him. Moreover, the battle line had moved so far east that Wallace’s men were already behind the advancing Confederate troops. A messenger arrived with word that Grant was asking why Wallace had not arrived at Pittsburg Landing. Wallace was confused and felt sure he could launch an attack in the Confederates’ rear. Nevertheless, he decided to turn his troops around and marched back to Stoney Lonesome and then around to Pittsburg Landing, arriving at Grant’s position about 6.30 pm or 7 pm, long after the day’s hardest fighting was over.

The Confederate formation had resulted in a complete disruption of command and the corps commanders made an arbitrary division of the front to regain some control. Hardee and Polk took the left wing while Bragg and Breckinridge took the right wing, but their capacity to carry out the original battle plan was prevented by stubborn resistance at the Hornet’s Nest. Hardee and Polk finally forced Sherman and McClernand on the United States right to retreat in the direction of Pittsburg Landing, leaving the right flank of the Hornet’s Nest exposed. To the left of the Hornet’s Nest, Hurlbut’s United States division had occupied another strong position at a Peach Orchard and he held out determinedly against all attacks.

Johnston rode forward to lead another assault on the Peach Orchard by one of Breckinridge’s brigades but was wounded at about 2.30 pm while leading the attack. Deeming a leg wound to be insignificant, he had sent his personal surgeon away to care for some wounded soldiers. In the doctor’s absence, he bled to death. He was the first general in command of an army to be killed in the war. He was the highest-ranking field commander in Confederate service, second in seniority only to the staff officer General Samuel Cooper. He was also the oldest General Officer on either side to die as a direct result of wounds in battle.

Beauregard heard the news of Johnston’s death and assumed command but, from his position in the rear, he had only a vague idea of the disposition of forces at the front. He ordered Johnston’s body shrouded for secrecy to avoid damaging morale in the army and ordered the resumption of the attacks against the Hornet’s Nest. Beauregard insisted that there must be no let-up in the pressure.
Breckinridge attacked from reserve into the extreme left of the United States line, driving off the small brigade of United States Army, Colonel David Stuart (detached from Sherman’s division). Hurlbut was finally driven from the Peach Orchard. Breckinridge had opened a route into the Union rear area and to the Tennessee River. However, the attackers paused to regroup and recover from their exhaustion and disorganisation. They then chose to follow the sound of the guns toward the Hornet’s Nest, and the brief opportunity was lost.

Twelve separate attacks had failed to carry the Hornet’s Nest but success on the flanks and the massing of 62 guns enabled Confederate States Army, Brigadier-General Daniel Ruggles’ Confederate division to make a successful thirteenth attack. They surrounded and captured over 2,200 defenders in the Hornet’s Nest at about 5.30 pm. United States Divisional commander W H L Wallace was mortally wounded leading survivors away through the so-called Hell’s Hollow. Sherman and McClernand had saved much of their divisions by giving ground but the sacrifice of his division at the Hornet’s Nest sacrifice bought vital time for Grant to establish a final defensive line nearer to Pittsburg Landing. Their costly resistance probably saved the army.

With the two main obstacles at the Hornet’s Nest and the Peach Orchard removed, determined but disorganised Confederates pushed onwards up to meet a solid three-mile United States front that had coalesced around Pittsburg Landing. This line extended west from the Tennessee and then north up the River Road, where it kept the route open for the belated arrival of Lewis Wallace’s division. Sherman now commanded the right of the line, McClernand the centre, and on the left, remnants of W H L Wallace’s, Hurlbut’s, and Stuart’s troops were mingled among thousands of stragglers who were crowding the bluffs by the landing. Grant had run out of reserves and thousands of men were absent from the firing line. He urged Nelson to cross the river immediately and to bring his men into action, declaring that his arrival would save the day. The first brigade of Buell’s Army of the Ohio (Colonel Jacob Ammen’s brigade of Nelson’s division), arrived by nightfall and was ferried across to join the far left end of the line by the riverside.

Grant’s chief of artillery placed a battery of siege guns near the landing. These were strengthened by the heavy guns of two gunboats on the river (USS TYLER and USS LEXINGTON), and the heavy guns opened a tremendous cannonade of shot and shell from the river bank. A new Confederate attack by two brigades led by Confederate States Army, Brigadier Jones Mitchell Withers followed a road that led towards the landing from Snake Creek Bridge. After crossing a ravine knee-deep in water, they found the left flank of the Union line at the top of a slope. They advanced but were shattered by concentrated artillery fire, including heavy calibre shots from the United States gunboats and siege guns. They were driven back with heavy losses.

At about 6 pm, a further and final Confederate effort to seize the landing was suspended by Beauregard. Rather than make a disjointed attack with his exhausted troops at dusk, he decided to postpone the final blow until morning when it could be delivered with more impact. Nevertheless, Beauregard sent a premature telegram to President Davis announcing, “a complete victory” Many of his men were jubilant, having overrun the United States camps and taken thousands of prisoners and large quantities of supplies.

Drawing: United States gunboats joined the battle



The night was dispiriting for all. A thunderstorm passed through the area and rhythmic shelling, one shot every fifteen minutes, from the United States gunboats made the night a miserable experience for both sides. However, Grant had reasons to be optimistic because Lewis Wallace’s division and the first 15,000 men of Buell’s army began to arrive in the late evening. Buell’s first troops had already crossed during the evening (Ammen’s brigade of Nelson’s division) and the rest of the division crossed during the night. By early morning they had been followed by parts of the divisions of United States Army, Brigadier General Thomas Leonidas Crittenden and United States Army, Brigadier General Alexander McDowell McCook.

Map: Positions at the end of the first day



Confederate States Army, Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest observed Buell’s forces crossing the river and reported it, advising that if the army stayed in place, it would be defeated by superior numbers. His warnings were either ignored or disregarded and the exhausted Confederate troops were allowed to rest in place. Beauregard did not hear from Forrest directly but he was convinced that Buell would not be reinforcing Grant because a telegram from United States Army, Colonel Benjamin Hardin Helm in northern Alabama reported that Buell was marching towards Decatur and away from Pittsburg Landing. This report was based on sound information at the time – this had been Buell’s and Grant’s intention – but the battle had forced Buell to abandon that plan and to march to the sounds of the guns by the Tennessee River.

Assessment: United States Army, Major General Grant's situation at almost noon on the first day of fighting of the Battle of Shiloh



Assessment: Confederate situation appeared better than it was



Texas

Incident at San Luis Pass.

Day 362 of the United States Civil War, April 8th 1862

District of Columbia

The following are appointed Brigadier Generals in the United States Army:

- James Gillpatrick Blunt.
- Robert Byington Mitchell.

Virginia

A bill is introduced to the 1st Confederate States Congress by a member of the Confederate Congress from Virginia to allow raising a force of partisan Rangers with a five dollar bounty for every dead federal. The Confederate Senate Congressional Military Committee removed the bounty provision, and proposed permitting future partisan Rangers to receive the same pay as regular Confederate soldiers on conditions they were subject to Confederate States Army regulations. In one exception, partisan Rangers were authorised to sell captured arms and munitions to Confederate Quartermaster-General's Department.

Kentucky

News has reached the Appalachians about Shiloh, but as usual it is a jumbled mix of rumor and unsubstantiated reports. Kentuckian Edward Guerrant grasps at the “Glorious News!”: Intelligence was received today of a fierce & bloody battle . . . which resulted in the entire overthrow of the Vandal Hordes of Lincoln—with the loss of six thousand prisoners & 80 pieces of artillery—but too dearly bought by the lamented death of the great & gallant Genl. A. Sydney Johnston. We hope this part is not true.—The information is considered reliable. It will offset Fort Donelson—Roanoak Island etc. and all our late reverses. May God grant it be so!”

Florida

United States Army, Brigadier General Joseph Finegan, is assigned to the command of the Department of Middle and Eastern Florida.

(Missouri) Joint Operations Against New Madrid, Island No. 10, and Memphis - Battle of Island No. 10

Confederate States Army, Brigadier General William Whann Mackall formally surrendered the garrison of Island No 10 after being isolated by United States Army, Major General John Pope’s crossing of the Mississippi to occupy Tiptonville.

The acting commander of the Confederate troops left to man the fortifications on Island No 10, Captain Andrew Jackson, tried to block the river by sinking eight steamers in the channel. By late afternoon, many of the heavy artillery companies, together with some of the remaining infantry began crossing Reelfoot Lake by any means available. Perhaps 500 of them escaped. The entire island was formally surrendered to Foote at 3.45am.

After the surrender of Island No 10, the CITY-class ironclad gunboat USS MOUND CITY under the command of United States Navy, Commander Augustus H Kiley, seized the Con­federate ship RED ROVER, which had been damaged by mortar fire.

From the fall of New Madrid to the surrender at Tiptonville, Tennessee, the United States army and navy had lost only 7 men killed, 4 missing, and 14 wounded. During the entire campaign losses in the United States Army of the Mississippi were reported as 8 killed, 21 wounded, and 3 missing. The Confederates lost heavily. Pope reported 7,076 men taken prisoner. Over a hundred pieces of heavy and field artillery fell into United States hands. The Mississippi was now open to United States ships as far south as Fort Pillow, Tennessee.

Harper's Weekly: Island Number Ten After the Surrender



Missouri

Reconnaissances to Indian Creek, Neosho, Newtonia, Gadfly, and Granby.

Skirmishes at Warsaw and Warrensburg.

Skirmish at Medicine Creek.

Louisiana

The United States strategic plan called for the division of the Confederacy by seizing control of the Mississippi River. One of the first steps was to enter the mouth of the Mississippi River and then ascend to capture New Orleans. By capturing the city, the United States would close the river to Confederate ships and cut off commerce with the Confederate interior.

The Confederates defended New Orleans with a small force of militia and Confederate States Army, Major General Mansfield Lovell dispersed these among several small forts on the water approaches. About ninety miles downriver were two permanent masonry forts. Fort Jackson was the larger on the west bank of the Mississippi and mounted 74 guns; Fort St Philip was 800 yards further to the north on the eastern bank and had 52 guns. The river was barricaded by a chain floated across on barges and hulks that extended east from Fort Jackson. High water had partially destroyed this in late February but it was repaired. The garrison of the two forts numbered about 1,100 men with a combined armament of 126 guns, effectively sealing the river against naval incursion. They were soon reinforced by CSS LOUISIANA which was towed downriver and moored to the east bank above Fort St Philip.

The Confederates collected a small fleet built around the ironclad ram CSS MANASSAS, the casemate ironclad CSS LOUISIANA (2 × 7 in. (178 mm) Brooke rifles, 4 × 8 in. (203 mm) Dahlgren smoothbore guns, 3 × 9in.(228mm)guns and Seven 32-pounder guns) and the unfinished ironclad warship, the CSS MISSISSIPPI (12 x 9 in (229 mm) Dahlgren guns,4 x 7 in (178 mm) Brooke rifles and 4 x 6.4 in (163 mm) Brooke rifles) and fourteen paddle-wheel steamers were each armed with a gun and protected by some railroad iron; they were named the River Defence Fleet, commanded by Confederate States Navy, Captain J E Montgomery. Eight of these steamboats were soon sent upriver to defend Fort Pillow and Memphis but six remained at New Orleans. Confederate States Navy, Commander John K Mitchell commanded the mosquito fleet that had recently caused a scare at Head of Passes.

United States Navy, Captain David Glasgow Farragut led the United States operations from Ship Island, where United States Navy, Major General Benjamin Franklin Butler was marshalling his 15,000 soldiers as they arrived by sea from New England. Farragut assembled 24 wooden warships and United States Navy, Commodore David Dixon Porter’s 19 mortar schooners armed with one 13-inch mortar near the Head of the Passes. Farragut’s flagship was the sloop-of-war steamer USS HARTFORD Hartford (20 × 9 in (230 mm) smoothbore Dahlgren guns, 2 × 20-pounder Parrott rifles and 2 × 12-pounder guns). The entire fleet including transports numbered about 200 vessels.

Mississippi

Skirmish near Corinth.

Arkansas

Confederate States Army, Colonel Henry Little’s division of Confederate States Army, Major General Earl Van Dorn’s Army of the West embarked at Des Arc and proceeded to Memphis in order to cross to the eastern bank of the Mississippi River. These were the first troops to be sent across the river out of the Trans-Mississippi region to strengthen the Confederate forces in Tennessee.

California

Skirmish near Arcata.

Georgia

Operations at Fort Pulaski ended.

North Carolina. Expedition to Elizabeth City ended.

Tennessee

Martial law was declared in East Tennessee.

Skirmish on Corinth Road. Reconnaissance to Shiloh.

(Tennessee) Federal Penetration up the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers - Battle of Fallen Timbers

After the defeat at the battle of Shiloh, Confederate States Army, Brigadier General John Cabell Breckinridge had held his position as a rearguard overnight but he departed in the early morning, joining the rear of the long and exhausted column in retreat towards Corinth.

United States Army, Major General Ulysses Simpson Grant’s Army of West Tennessee lacked the large organised cavalry units needed for reconnaissance and vigorous pursuit of a retreating enemy. Grant sent United States Army, Brigadier General William Tecumseh Sherman along the Corinth Road on a reconnaissance in force, to ascertain whether the Confederates had retreated, or were regrouping to resume their attacks. Sherman marched with two infantry brigades from his own division, along with two battalions of cavalry, and they united with United States Army, Brigadier General Thomas John Wood’s division of Buell’s army. Six miles southwest of Pittsburg Landing Sherman came upon a clear field holding an extensive camp, including a Confederate field hospital protected by 300 to 350 Confederate cavalrymen commanded by Confederate States Army, Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest. The road approaching the field was covered by fallen trees for over 200 yards, a boggy swale where a pre-war logging project had been abandoned. As skirmishers from the 77th Ohio Infantry Regiment (United States) approached with difficulty the clearing obstructed by fallen timber, Forrest ordered a charge by his cavalry, firing shotguns and revolvers and brandishing sabres, and nearly captured Sherman.

When United States Army,Colonel Jesse Hildebrand’s brigade began forming in line of battle beyond the skirmishers, the Confederate troopers had to retreat and Forrest, who was well in advance of his men, came within a few yards of the United States soldiers before realising he was alone. A United States soldier shoved his musket into Forrest’s side and fired, hitting him above the hip, penetrating to the spine. Although seriously wounded, Forrest stayed on horseback and escaped.

After capturing the Confederate field hospital and abandoned camps, Sherman encountered the rear of Breckinridge’s rearguard. Determining that the enemy was showing no signs of renewing its attack, Sherman withdrew back to camp. The Confederates continued their retreat to Corinth, Mississippi, without further disruption. The United States lost about 100 men, 43 of them captured during Forrest’s charge.

Day 364 of the United States Civil War, April 10th 1862

District of Columbia

(United States) President Abraham Lincoln has a busy day. He accepts a joint resolution from Congress on the matter of gradual emancipation by the states and issues a proclamation of thanksgiving to celebrate recent military successes: “It has pleased Almighty God to vouchsafe signal victories to the land and naval forces engaged in suppressing an internal rebellion, and at the same time to avert from our country the dangers of foreign intervention and invasion.”

(United States) President Abraham Lincoln issues Proclamation 88—Day of Public Thanksgiving for Victories During the Civil War:

April 10, 1862

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

It has pleased Almighty God to vouchsafe signal victories to the land and naval forces engaged in suppressing an internal rebellion, and at the same time to avert from our country the dangers of foreign intervention and invasion.

It is therefore recommended to the people of the United States that at their next weekly assemblages in their accustomed places of public worship which shall occur after notice of this proclamation shall have been received they especially acknowledge and render thanks to our Heavenly Father for these inestimable blessings, that they then and there implore spiritual consolation in behalf of all who have been brought into affliction by the casualties and calamities of sedition and civil war, and that they reverently invoke the divine guidance for our national counsels, to the end that they may speedily result in the restoration of peace, harmony, and unity throughout our borders and hasten the establishment of fraternal relations among all the countries of the earth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 10th day of April, A. D. 1862, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-sixth.

Abraham Lincoln.

By the President:

William H. Seward,

Secretary of State.

Virginia

Responding to a desperate shortage of firearms and pursuing misguided ideas about tactics, the Confederate Congress authorised each regiment to arm two companies with pikes. Earlier in the year, there had been a resolution to raise twenty regiments of pikemen but it was not implemented. A supply of pikes was manufactured in Georgia and known as “Joe Brown’s Pikes” but there was no serious effort to carry out the plan.

Alabama

The UNDAILLA-class gunboat USS KANAWHA under the command of United States Navy, Lieutenant John C Febiger, captured the blockade-running schooners SOUTHERN INDEPENDENCE, VICTORIA, CHARLOTTE, and CUBA off Mobile.

Florida

Skirmish at Fernandina.

(Georgia) Operations Against Fort Pulaski - Siege of Fort Pulaski

Fort Pulaski had been built by the United States Army before the war and was located on Cockspur Island near the mouth of the Savannah River, blocking access upriver to the port of Savannah. The Confederate garrison of Colonel Charles H Olmstead consisted of five infantry companies with 385 men manning 48 guns, including ten Columbiads, five mortars, and a 4½-inch Blakely rifle. The fort was an enclosed masonry structure of pentagonal design with about 40 guns in casemates and the others en barbette.

After United States forces made their first lodgement on Tybee Island in December 1861, the work on repairing Fort Pulaski progressed slowly. Old Fort Jackson had been armed and strengthened to form an interior barrier. The river channel had been blocked by sunken ships in the water approaches leading behind Fort Pulaski. The city’s floating dock was sunk as another river obstruction. An additional three-gun battery at MacKay’s Point was not intended to stop gunboats, but if they received naval support, they could prevent United States batteries from being built on Elba Island to threaten Old Fort Jackson. Savannah’s existing Fort Jackson, about three miles downriver from the city, was supplemented with two additional batteries. The defenders built fire barges and placed a battery at Causton’s Bluff commanding navigable estuaries leading to the Savannah River behind Fort Pulaski. Another battery was situated farther upriver on Elba Island, blocking all river approaches to Savannah. The Confederate Tybee Island battery had been dismantled and abandoned and their guns relocated to the fort. The fort had been re-provisioned on January 28 with a six-month supply of food. Olmstead distributed his guns to cover all approaches, and several were placed to cover the westerly marshes and Savannah’s North Channel. Confederate marauders burned sea island cotton crops to prevent them from falling into United States hands. Navigational aids like the Tybee Lighthouse were dismantled and burned.

United States Navy, Captain Samuel Francis Du Pont conducted a reconnaissance of the Confederate system of defence upriver. United States Army, Chief of Engineers Captain Quincy Adams Gillmore began the bombardment from his guns emplaced on Tybee Island about one to two miles southeast of the fort. Following a reconnaissance of the ground, he proposed an unconventional plan to reduce Fort Pulaski with mortars and rifled guns alone. Gillmore’s plan was approved with a qualified endorsement.
The four United States breaching batteries closest to the fort were each given specific firing missions. Battery McClellan with its heavy James rifled guns was to breach the southeast face and the adjacent embrasure. Battery Totten with 3-inch mortars was assigned to explode shells over the southeast walls and batteries concealed outside the fort. Battery Scott was ordered to breach the same area as Battery McClellan with its Columbiads by solid shot. The fifth breaching battery was Battery Halleck and its mortars were given the task of shelling the arches of the northeast faces with plunging fire. The fuses of the mortar shells were set to explode after striking. The sixth battery, Battery Sigel, was more distant and contained five 30-pounder Parrott rifles and a 24-pounder James rifle. Their mission was to fire on the enemy guns en barbette until they were silenced, and then to switch to firing percussion shells onto the southeast walls and adjacent embrasure, at a rate of 10-12 rounds an hour. The intention was to achieve wall breaches for the planned infantry assaults to come later. The bombardment was to cease at dark although intermittent harassment was sustained on the fort overnight. A signal officer was stationed at Battery Scott to communicate the ranging of the mortar batteries Stanton, Grant, and Sherman.

Photo: Morris Island, S.C. Two 30-pdr. Parrott guns and stacks of shells inside Fort Putnam



Following prohibitive rain squalls on April 9th, all was ready on April 10th, and United States Army, Major General David Hunter sent a demand for the immediate surrender of Fort Pulaski. Olmstead refused, confident in his fortifications. The bombardment began at 8 am after Olmstead’s refusal to surrender the fort. The fire was concentrated against the fort’s southeast corner and it was soon severely damaged. As the day wore on, counter-battery fire from Fort Pulaski was gradually silenced as more and more guns were dismounted or rendered unserviceable. Two United States 10-inch Columbiads recoiled backwards off their carriages but the bombardment nevertheless from the Parrott Rifle and the remaining Columbiads proved very effective. During a lull in the fire, the Confederate gunners resumed a counter-battery duel that forced the Parrott guns to give up their assignment of breaching the wall until the Confederates were silenced again. By nightfall, the wall at the southeast corner had been breached. Despite periodic harassing bombardment throughout the hours of darkness, Olmstead’s garrison put several guns back into service. Fort Pulaski was prepared for a possible infantry attack but never actually faced a direct land assault.

Map: Map of the siege of Ft. Pulaski. Fort in red with outlying batteries, U.S. batteries in grey; besieging batteries upriver had infantry and gunboat support to cut off Pulaski from Savannah



North Carolina

The screw steamer USS WHITEHEAD, under the command of United States Navy, Acting Master Charles A French, captured the schooners COMET, J J CRITTENDEN, and the sloop AMERICA in Newbegun Creek.

South Carolina

The wooden sidewheel steamer USS KEYSTONE STATE, under the command of United States Navy, Commander Leroy, chased the blockade-runner LIVERPOOL aground outside North Inlet, where it was destroyed by her crew.

Tennessee

Incident at Paris.

Kansas

United States Army, Brigadier General, Samuel Davis Sturgis, assumes the command of the District of Kansas.

Missouri

United States Army, Brigadier General, John McAllister Schofield, is placed in the immediate command in Missouri.

California

United States Army, Colonel Ferris Forman, (4th California Infantry), assumes the command of the District of Southern California.

Day 366 of the United States Civil War, April 12th 1862

Virginia

William Yarnel Slack, is appointed Brigadier General in the Confederate States Army.

The command of Confederate States Army, General Joseph E. Johnston, is extended over the Department of Norfolk and the Peninsula, VA.

United States Army, Major General Nathaniel Prentiss Banks, assumes the command of the Department of the Shenandoah, VA.

Reconnaissance by United States to Valley River by United States Army, Brigadier General Benjamin Franklin Kelley through Boothsville and Fairmont. During the raid, the United States troops detained agents recruiting volunteers for the Confederacy, and several were killed.

Skirmish at Monterey involving United States Army, Brigadier General Robert Huston Milroy.

New Jersey

Theodore Freylinghusen was a former Whig senator and vice-presidential candidate for Henry Clay in 1844 and the seventh president of Rutgers College. An evangelical Christian best know for his empassioned opposition to Andrew Jackson's Removal Act, he also served as the head of the American Bible Society and the American Tract Union and was also active in the Colonization Movement. He died at his home in New Jersey. He was seventy-five years old.

Alabama

The gunboat USS TYLER and a timberclad gunboat USS LEXINGTON Tyler set out with troops from Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, for Chickasaw.

Georgia

On his own initiative, United States Army, Brigadier General David Hunter declares slaves found in the area of Fort Pulaski to be considered confiscated from their masters and emancipated.

Georgia

(Georgia) Confederate Heartland Offensive/Kentucky Campaign -Andrews’ Raid

Twenty-two United States volunteers attempted to cut the railroad between Marietta, Georgia, and Chattanooga, Tennessee. They had been ordered by United States Army, Major General Ormsby McKnight Mitchel to sever the link between Atlanta and Chattanooga. They were to burn bridges and blow up tunnels along the Western & Atlantic Railroad in order to assist Mitchel’s advance from Bridgeport.

The raiders were disguised in civilian clothes when they travelled to Marietta on April 11th 1862. During the morning they boarded a train to Big Shanty, twenty-five miles north of Atlanta. Despite finding a Confederate camp at Big Shanty, they stole the locomotive General with three boxcars during a breakfast halt. The train crew consisting of Confederate States Army, Captain William A Fuller (engineer), Jeff Cain (workshop foreman) and Anthony Murphy ran after the train for two miles until they found a handcar. They boarded it and pursued the General but were derailed when they came across tracks destroyed by the raiders. They righted the handcar and reached Etowah where they found the locomotive Yonah.

Meanwhile, the United States raiders cut telegraph wires to prevent news of their progress from being communicated along the line. Andrews put the General into a siding at Kingston to allow a scheduled train to pass but two more unscheduled trains arrived. Andrews demanded the right to pass and learned that Mitchel’s advance to Huntsville had caused the re-routing of Confederate railroad traffic along the Georgia line. After a wait of 65 minutes, the raiders were allowed to proceed. The pursuing train crew arrived five minutes after their departure. They abandoned the Yonah and travelled north to find the engine William L Smith two miles further north. They were then halted by broken rails. At Adairsville, they requisitioned the locomotive Texas and began a high-speed pursuit of the General. Aware of the pursuit, the United States raiders uncoupled two boxcars to block the Texas and then left a burning boxcar on a bridge. The General ran out of water and fuel two miles north of Ringgold.

Drawing: Andrews's men abandon the General



The ninety-mile chase ended as the raiders scattered into the surrounding woods. Most of the raiders were caught near the Tennessee line and jailed at Chattanooga and Atlanta. Two men escaped by boat down the Chattahoochee and Apalachicola Rivers to the coast. Others eluded capture and rejoined their regiments. The leader, James J Andrews, and seven of his men were caught and hanged as spies because they were not in uniform. Six raiders were held as prisoners of war and later exchanged. Eight others escaped after capture.

Map: Map of the chase route, with locations of various events marked



Missouri

Skirmish at the Little Blue River.

New Mexico Territory

Having concentrated his forces at Albuquerque, Confederate States Army, Brigadier General Henry Hopkins Sibley waited in vain for an attack by United States Edward Richard Sprigg Canby. When this did not occur, Sibley was forced to abandon the town because his supplies were exhausted and none could be gleaned from the desolate and hostile region. His wagon train had been destroyed at Glorieta Pass and his artillery ammunition was exhausted. Sibley decided to abandon the expedition and marched back toward Texas. The army camped twenty miles to the south on the west bank of the Rio Grande at Los Lunas. The retreat was shadowed on the opposite bank by Canby. Although the two forces remained in sight of one another, skirmishing was desultory. Canby was too short of supplies himself to take and feed any prisoners and he allowed Sibley’s Confederates to make their starving withdrawal to Fort Bliss, Texas.

North Carolina

Incident at Fort Macon.

Tennessee

United States Army, Brigadier General William Tecumseh Sherman began a reconnaissance to Bear Creek.