What was the most significant event on April 4 during the U.S. Civil War?

2016-04-04T14:19:26-04:00

1861 Virginia voted against secession yet prepared for war. Slave holding states remained loyal: DE, KY, MD and MO.
There were many spies in the civil war as in most wars. Some were executed while others were cartooned.
1862 the Union began to breach the defense of Yorktown, VA.
1863 both sides were converging on Shiloh, TN
1865 Lincoln briefly relaxes in Jefferson Davis’s office.
Images: Harpers Weekly cartoon of Antonia Ford the southern spy; Confederate horse drawn artillery slogging through the mud on the way to Shiloh; Black soldiers from a Corps d'Afrique regiment; Homer Winslow's image of a Union soldier.

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Apr 4 at 2016 2:26 PM

2016-04-04T14:26:01-04:00

Spies risk their lives for various reasons: honor, finances, vengeance. In the US Civil War, a common language between the opponents made spying simpler in many respects as spies could blend in.
1863: When President Lincoln learned that Union General Edwin Stoughton was captured while he was sleeping at Fairfax Courthouse, he responded sardonically that he could make new generals, but not new horses
Originally the regiments of black troops in the north were part of the Corps d'Afrique. In 1864 the regiments were incrementally re-designated as U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment.
1864: The U.S. House of Representatives passes a resolution that the United States will never allow a monarchy in Mexico, in reference to the 25,000 French troops that are in Mexico to do just that---to install Archduke Maximilian of Austria as Emperor of Mexico on April 10.
Since RallyPoint truncates survey selection text I am posting events that were not included and then the full text of each survey choice below:
1. Sunday, April 3, 1861: A "test vote" in the Virginia convention shows a 2-1 margin against secession
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186104
2. Friday, April 4, 1862. Marching from Fort Monroe, Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac encountered Maj. Gen. John B. Magruder's small Confederate force at Yorktown behind the Warwick Line.
The Union Army pushed through Magruder's initial line of defense but the following day encountered his more effective Warwick Line. The nature of the terrain made it difficult to determine the exact disposition of the Confederate forces. A victim of faulty intelligence, McClellan estimated that the Confederates had 40,000 troops in the defensive line and that Johnston was expected to arrive quickly with an additional 60,000. Magruder, an amateur actor before the war, exacerbated McClellan's confusion by moving infantry and artillery in a noisy, ostentatious manner to make the defenders seem a much larger forces than their actual numbers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Yorktown_(1862)
3. Friday, April 4, 1862: On the road to Shiloh, the Confederates are having a tough time. Heavy rains lash the columns and make the roads impassable for wagons and artillery. Also, the confusing array of highways lead to confusion and blocked routes. Johnston and Beauregard decide that an attack on the morrow, April 5, is impossible. The troops camp where they are.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=April+4%2C+1862
4. Friday, April 4, 1862 —Alexander G. Downing, an infantryman in the Army of the Tennessee, under Grant, writes in his diary: Friday, 4th—It rained and hailed this afternoon, and by night it got very warm. We were ordered under arms at 6 p. m., and we formed a hollow square on the parade ground. We remained in line until 10 o’clock, when we were ordered back to our tents. It was reported out in front that the rebels were advancing in force from Corinth, but at 10 o’clock the word came that they had bivouacked for the night.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=April+4%2C+1862
5. Friday, April 4, 1862 —Josiah Marshall Favill, an officer in the Army of the Potomac, writes of his division’s advance deeper into Virginia, and how the Virginian people behave in inconsistent ways towards the dreaded Yankees: On the 25th, we marched to Warrenton Junction, meeting with no resistance, the cavalry alone doing a little skirmishing. Blenker’s division of Germans marched with us, and appeared to be a bad lot of fellows, without order or discipline. . . . This advance to Warrenton has been a regular romance, brilliant weather, enemy running away, plenty to eat, and as we are now accustomed to sleeping in the open air, we all feel well, and enjoyed it immensely. We remained in and about Warrenton until the 1st of April, having our headquarters at a fine large mansion house, still occupied by the ladies of the family. We spent the evenings in the parlor, with the young women, who entertained us with rebel songs and music. They were very rebellious, but quite delighted with the attention they received from so many of us; besides we stocked their larder, supplied them with coffee, tea, sugar, placed guards over their barns and stock, and in many other important respects, greatly benefited them. Nearly all the inhabitants had fled, those remaining being exclusively women and superannuated men. These Southern men, although heaping most outrageous abuse upon the Northern armies, seem to have no fear for their wives and daughters, whom they leave behind in charge of their property with apparent confidence, which proves that they do not really believe what they say about us. A little politeness on the part of these women invariably brings safety to their fences, horses, and barns, and a full supply of coffee, sugar, and tea, which in the confederacy are already an expensive luxury.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=April+4%2C+1862
6. April 4, 1864 on re-designation of d'Afrique Corps units into colored infantry regiments
1st Corps d'Afrique Engineer Regiment was organized April 28, 1863 on re-designated 95th U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment on April 4, 1864.
2nd Corps d'Afrique Engineer Regiment was organized August 15, 1863 on re-designated 96th U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment on April 4, 1864.
3rd Corps d'Afrique Engineer Regiment was organized August 26, 1863 on re-designated 97th U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment on March 11, 1864.
4th Corps d'Afrique Engineer Regiment was organized September 3, 1863 on re-designated 98th U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment on March 11, 1864.
5th Corps d'Afrique Engineer Regiment was formed from the 15th Corps d'Afrique Infantry Regiment on February 10, 1864 and re-designated 99th U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment on April 4, 1864.
https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/United_States_Civil_War_Colored_Troops_Other_Units
7. Monday, April 4, 1864: Major General Philip Sheridan moves from command of an infantry division in the Army of the Cumberland to command cavalry in the Army of the Potomac.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186404
8. Monday, April 4, 1864 --- On this date, Pres. Lincoln puts the finishing touches on a document that records his recent interview with A.G. Hodges, Senator Dixon of Kentucky, and Gov. Bramlette of Kentucky: I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I can not remember when I did not so think, and feel, and yet I have never understood that the Presidency conferred upon me an unrestricted right to act officially upon this judgment and feeling. . . . I have done no official act in mere deference to my abstract judgment and feeling on slavery. . . . I felt that measures, otherwise unconstitutional, might become lawful, by becoming indispensible to the preservation of the constitution, through the preservation of the nation. Right or wrong, I assumed this ground, and now avow it. . . . I made earnest, and successive appeals to the border states to favor compensated emancipation, . . . They declined the proposition; and I was, in my best judgment, driven to the alternative of either surrendering the Union, and with it, the Constitution, or of laying strong hand upon the colored element. I chose the latter. In choosing it, I hoped for greater gain than loss, but of this I was not entirely confident. More than a year of trial now shows no loss by it in our foreign relations, none in our home popular sentiment, none in our white military force, no loss by it anyhow, or anywhere. On the contrary, it shows a gain of quite one hundred and thirty thousand soldiers, seamen, and laborers. These are palpable facts, about which, as facts, there can be no caviling. We have the men; and we could not have had them without the measure. . . . I add a word which was not in the verbal conversation. In telling this tale I attempt no compliment to my own sagacity. I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me.
Later in the evening, he and Mrs. Lincoln attend a performance of "Der Freischütz" at Grover’s Theatre.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=April+4%2C+1864
9. Monday, April 4, 1864 --- Washington, DC: The U.S. House of Representatives passes a resolution that the United States will never allow a monarchy in Mexico, in reference to the 25,000 French troops that are in Mexico to do just that---to install Archduke Maximilian of Austria as Emperor of Mexico on April 10.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=April+4%2C+1864
10. Monday, April 4, 1864 --- The USS Scioto, a Federal gunboat on blockade duty off Galveston, Texas, gives chase and captures the Mary Sorley, a Confederate blockade runner, dashing out of the port.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=April+4%2C+1864
11. Monday, April 4, 1864 --- George Michael Neese, of the Confederate artillery, writes in his journal of his return home to the Shenandoah Valley on a furlough: Left camp this morning on a fifteen-day furlough, the first thing of the kind I have had since the war commenced. There is a charming euphony and sweet music in the words, “Going home,” such as those who never soldiered nor roamed ever yet have heard.
I took the train at Gordonsville. It was raining very hard then, and before the train reached the Blue Ridge the rain had changed to snow, and here at Staunton gentle spring is reveling under a mantle of snow four inches thick. When we were coming up the eastern side of the Blue Ridge it was snowing very fast, and the snow scene was beautiful and grand; every evergreen bush and shrub and the branches of the trees were gracefully bending and drooping under a burden of beautiful snow, and in a thousand places on the mountain side the shiny green leaves of mountain laurel peeped out from under the glittering crystal shroud that was spread and hung over the mountain’s rocky, irregular, and slopy breast. . . .
The train arrived in Staunton this evening at six o’clock, and we furloughed men, of whom there are five, put up for lodging at the Virginia Hotel; we all slept in one room and our lodging cost us five dollars each. A meal here costs five dollars, and I will have to browse in order to satisfy the longings of the inner man or else I will not have enough Confed. to get me back to my command; five dollars for a nap and five dollars for a meal will soon, all too soon, clean up the contents of my pocketbook and ruin my credit.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=April+4%2C+1864
A. Monday, April 4, 1861: At the Virginia Convention of 1861 secessionists badly lost a vote by 80 against secession and 45 for it; but. prepared for the possibility of war nevertheless. Former Virginia governor Henry A. Wise worked behind the scenes and outside the legal process to secure the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry by military means, a move that prompted a furious objection from Unionist delegate John Baldwin of Staunton.
Background: The Virginia Convention of 1861, also known later as the Secession Convention, convened on February 13, 1861, on the eve of the American Civil War (1861–1865), to consider whether Virginia should secede from the United States. Its 152 delegates, a majority of whom were Unionist, had been elected at the behest of the Virginia General Assembly, which also directed that their decision be ratified by a statewide referendum. Several states in the Deep South, beginning with South Carolina, had already left the Union in response to the election in November 1860 of Abraham Lincoln as United States president. Virginia, however, hesitated, and debate raged on for months.
http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/virginia_constitutional_convention_of_1861
B. Friday, April 4, 1863, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about a female spy in the Civil War. During the Civil War, some women served either the Union or the Confederacy as spies, couriers, informers, smugglers, saboteurs, scouts, or guides. Rumors of espionage were printed frequently in newspapers, sometimes maligning the character of the innocent who were named or inadvertently protecting the operations of the guilty who were unidentified.
"The rebel cavalry leader, Stuart, has appointed to a position on his staff, with the rank of Major, a young lady residing in Fairfax Court House, who has been of great service to him in giving information," etc.--Daily Paper.
The female spy in this cartoon is Antonia Ford, who was 23 years old when the Civil War began. She was the daughter of a well-to-do merchant in Fairfax, Virginia, and the sister of a lieutenant serving in the Confederate cavalry under General J. E. B. Stuart. After a skirmish at Fairfax, Union troops occupied the Ford home in 1861. Antonia Ford listened to conversations and reported what she could to Stuart's troops located near the Fairfax Courthouse. For the advantageous intelligence her espionage provided to the Confederate military, Stuart commissioned her on October 7, 1861, as an honorary aide-de-camp. She secreted the commission under her mattress, but had to hide it and other valuables under her hoop skirt when Union troops searched the Ford house.
The Ford home became a boarding house for Union officers, giving Antonia an ideal setting to continue her secret intelligence-gathering. In August 1862, Antonia Ford rode 20 miles in the rain, passing Union troops, in order to warn Stuart about a Union ploy before the Second Battle of Bull Run (Manassas). In December 1862, when Union general Edwin Stoughton set up headquarters at Fairfax Courthouse, she relayed the Federals' movements to Stuart and Lieutenant John Mosby.
On March 8, 1863, a party hosted by General Stoughton for his visiting mother and sister at the Ford home (where the women were staying) caused Union security to become lax. The Confederate Mosby was able to capture several Union officers and 60 horses and, later that night, to nab Stoughton while he was sleeping. (When President Lincoln learned of the incident, he responded sardonically that he could make new generals, but not new horses.)
Mosby later denied that Antonia Ford gave him the inside information, but Union officials suspected her as the likely source and concocted a plan to expose her clandestine activities. They sent a female agent, Frankie Abel, to Fairfax, posing as a distressed Confederate refuge fleeing from Union-occupied New Orleans. The Ford family generously opened their residence to her, and she soon became a confidante to Antonia. When Abel left, Federal officers arrested Antonia Ford and her father on espionage charges. (This cartoon, which quotes the discovered commission, appeared after her arrest.) The father was released, but Antonia was held until a prisoner exchange with the Confederacy was arranged on May 20, 1863. She resumed her spying, however, and was rearrested and incarcerated in Washington, D. C.
Imprisonment undermined Antonia Ford's health, but her arresting officer, Major Joseph Willard, fell in love with her and lobbied for her release. He obtained it seven months later, after which he proposed to her. Antonia accepted, he resigned his commission in the Union army, and the couple were married on March 10, 1864. They settled in Washington, D. C., where his family owned the renowned Willard Hotel. The Willards had three children, but Antonia never fully recovered her health and died seven years later in 1871 at the age of 33. The couple's only surviving child later served as U.S. ambassador to Spain and lieutenant governor of Virginia.
Other famous female spies from the Civil War include Rose Greenhow, Elizabeth Van Lew ("Crazy Bette"), Elizabeth Howland, Belle Boyd ("Siren of the Shenandoah"), Sarah Edmonds (who posed as a black man), Emmeline Piggott, and Nancy Hart. Mary Surratt, who was hanged for complicity in the assassination plot against President Lincoln, was the only American woman executed for a capital offense related to the Civil War.
C. Monday, April 4, 1864: Battle of Elkin's Ferry, Arkansas. Confederate General John S. Marmaduke attacked. For two hours Lieutenant Colonel Francis M. Drake’s 300 men held out against 1,200 enemy troopers but eventually, the Union left gave way, leaving the artillery exposed. The Federals’ guns, however, were saved when some of McLean’s reserves came up and repelled several enemy charges. Eventually, 2,000 Union reinforcements under the command of General Samuel Rice arrived on the scene. Realizing that the odds were against him, Marmaduke retired from the field of battle, leaving the rest of Steele’s force free to complete the crossing of the Little Missouri River.
In the spring of 1864, more than 40,000 Union soldiers began converging on Shreveport, Louisiana, the target of General Nathaniel Banks’ Red River Campaign. A portion of those forces were under the command of General Frederick Steele. Steele’s, in an operation that would become known as the Camden Expedition, would support Banks by advancing on Shreveport from the North. In March, Steele set out from Little Rock, Arkansas, and reached the Little Missouri River on April 3. Steele chose to cross at Elkin's Ferry. Here, Steele met his first real opposition during the campaign.
Colonel William McLean was sent across with two regiments and a section of artillery to establish a bridgehead and reconnoiter enemy positions. McLean’s total force numbered about 2,000 men. After clashing with Confederate skirmishers, McLean ordered Lieutenant Colonel Francis M. Drake to position six companies of infantry and a section of artillery astride the road leading from Elkin's Ferry. His caution was prudent, for on the morning of April 4, Confederate General John S. Marmaduke arrived with two brigades of cavalry and a section of artillery to attack the Union forces.
For two hours Drake’s 300 men held out against 1,200 enemy troopers but eventually, the Union left gave way, leaving the artillery exposed. The Federals’ guns, however, were saved when some of McLean’s reserves came up and repelled several enemy charges. Eventually, 2,000 Union reinforcements under the command of General Samuel Rice arrived on the scene. Realizing that the odds were against him, Marmaduke retired from the field of battle, leaving the rest of Steele’s force free to complete the crossing of the Little Missouri River.
From beginning to end, the battle lasted about five hours and produced 92 casualties (although estimates vary). The Union force apparently lost 38 men, while the Southerners suffered 54 some casualties.
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/elkins-ferry/elkins-ferry-april-4-1864.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/
Tuesday, April 4, 1865: April 4, 1865 - President Lincoln tours Richmond where he enters the Confederate White House. With "a serious, dreamy expression," he sits at the desk of Jefferson Davis for a few moments.
http://www.historyplace.com/civilwar/
D. Tuesday April 4, 1865: LINCOLN ARRIVES IN RICHMOND. President Abraham Lincoln traveled up the James River on the River Queen, transferred to the U.S.S. Malvern, and then landed in Richmond on a smaller landing vessel not far from Libby Prison. Admiral David Dixon Porter, three other officers and ten sailors armed with carbines served as Lincoln’s escort as he walked to the White House of the Confederacy. Crowds, mostly cheering Negroes, surrounded Lincoln as he toured the home that Confederate President Jefferson Davis recently vacated. Lincoln drove through the city under escort in the late afternoon. Before leaving Richmond, Lincoln talked with John A. Campbell, former U.S. Supreme Court justice and former Assistance Secretary of War for the Confederacy. Campbell admitted that the war was over and urged Lincoln to consult with public men of Virginia regarding restoration of peace and order. Lincoln returned to the Malvern for the night.
Skirmishing occurred at Tabernacle Church, also known as Beaver Pond Creek, and at Amelia, Virginia. Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s decimated army lacked supplies which brought on post-war discussion. There was an unfounded charge the Davis was using the necessary railroad and communications, though Federal Major General Phil Sheridan arrived at Jetersville on the Danville Railroad southwest of Amelia Court House, blocking Lee’s further use of that route towards North Carolina.
At Danville, Virginia, the new capital of the Confederacy, Confederate President Jefferson Davis issued a proclamation to the remaining people of the crumbling nation while admitting that there was now a new phase of the conflict, and that he had vowed to maintain the struggle.
http://thisweekinthecivilwar.com/?p=2052

Civil War Timeline / Chronology for April 1861

Response by CW4 Guy Butler made Apr 4 at 2016 2:31 PM

2016-04-04T14:31:56-04:00

I would have added the train at Amelia Courthouse that contained ammunition instead of the food Lee had requested. This forced the Confederate Army to spend a day foraging and allowed the Union Army to close in.

Response by SSgt Robert Marx made Apr 4 at 2016 2:40 PM

2016-04-04T14:40:49-04:00

Spying is probably the easiest for a nation fighting a civil war but the consequence for the individual spy when caught remains the same for whatever type conflict.

Response by SFC William Farrell made Apr 5 at 2016 4:26 AM

2016-04-05T04:26:20-04:00

Always good information LTC Stephen F.. If I had actually retained much of what you are posting, Id be an expert on the Civil War!

What was the most significant event on April 4 during the U.S. Civil War?

What was the most significant event on April 4 during the U.S. Civil War?

Response by SPC Andrew Griffin made Apr 4 at 2016 2:21 PM

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Apr 4 at 2016 2:26 PM

Response by Alan K. made Apr 4 at 2016 2:29 PM

Response by CW4 Guy Butler made Apr 4 at 2016 2:31 PM

Response by SSgt Robert Marx made Apr 4 at 2016 2:40 PM

Response by SP5 Mark Kuzinski made Apr 4 at 2016 4:17 PM

Response by SFC William Farrell made Apr 5 at 2016 4:26 AM