What was the most significant event on August 5 during the U.S. Civil War?

In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln approved a wide variety of bills passed during a special session of Congress including a new issue of bonds, tariff increase and the first direct income and real estate tax. Congress passed the First Confiscation Bill, to whit: the property of persons in arms in rebellion to the United States is forfeit to the U.S. government.
In 1863, “It was not a happy leader of the Confederate Submarine Battery Service who had to report to his commander today. The gunboat USS Commodore Barney had been making its way carefully up the James River, just above Dutch Gap, Va. Just as the ship was about to pass over one of these electrically-triggered torpedoes, the aforementioned operator hit the button just a few seconds early. The resulting explosion produced “agitated water” and “a lively concussion,” observers reported, but a delay of just a few seconds would have demolished the boat. The bomb did cost the Union two men, who either jumped in panic or were knocked overboard by the concussion. They were lost and presumed drowned.”
In 1863, off Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, the CSS Alabama captures the bark Sea Bride. “The capture took place within view of the cheering crowds ashore. A local newspaperman wrote: ‘They did cheer, and cheer with a will, too. It was not, perhaps, taking the view of either side, Federal or Confederate, but in admiration of the skill, pluck and daring of the Alabama, her Captain, and her crew, who afford a general theme of admiration for the world all over.'”

Below are a number of journal entries from 1861, 1862 and 1863 which shed light on what life was like for soldiers and civilians – the good, the bad and the ugly
Monday, August 5, 1861: General P.G.T. Beauregard continued to complain about his lack of supplies to First Myers MANASSAS, VA., August 5th, 1861.Dear Colonel, Your favor of the 1st has been received. My surprise was as great as yours to find that you had not been informed of our want of transportation, which has so crippled us, together with the want of provisions, that we have been anchored here since the battle, not being able to send a few regiments three or four miles from their former positions. Major Cabell says that, ' Knowing your inability to comply with his former requisitions for wagons, etc., he thought it was useless to make new ones upon you, hence he was trying to get them from around here.' Be that as it may, the result was, that about fifteen thousand men were sent me by the War Department, without one solitary wagon. Before the arrival of these troops, we had, per regiment, only about twelve wagons of the meanest description, being country wagons, that break down whenever they come to a bad part of the road. General Johnston's command had only about seven wagons per regiment on arriving here. This state of things cannot and ought not to last longer.
I am perfectly willing to fight, but my troops must be provided with all the means necessary to constitute an army. I must be prepared to advance or retreat according to circumstances, otherwise disasters will overtake us in every direction.
For a long time I could not get more than twenty rounds of ammunition per man, when within a few miles (not over ten) from an enemy three times our strength.
I have applied for Colonel J. L. Kemper, 7th Virginia regiment, to be made Provisional Quartermaster-General of this and Johnston's army. I wish you would aid in the matter. I should like, also, to have General McGowan, of South Carolina, appointed in that department. He would be very useful. The best man for each position must be looked for and appointed forthwith, without regard to other considerations; otherwise we will never succeed in defeating the enemy, who is more numerous than we, and has more resources at hand. In haste, yours truly, G. T. BEAUREGARD.
Monday, August 5, 1861: The Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut wrote in her diary about the growing dispute between President Jefferson Davis and General P.G.T. Beauregard. “August 5th. - A heavy, heavy heart. Another missive from Jordan, querulous and fault-finding; things are all wrong - Beauregard's Jordan had been crossed, not the stream "in Canaan's fair and happy land, where our possessions lie." They seem to feel that the war is over here, except the President and Mr. Barnwell; above all that foreboding friend of mine, Captain Ingraham. He thinks it hardly begun.
Another outburst from Jordan. Beauregard is not seconded properly. Hélas! To think that any mortal general (even though he had sprung up in a month or so from captain of artillery to general) could be so puffed up with vanity, so blinded by any false idea of his own consequence as to write, to intimate that man, or men, would sacrifice their country, injure themselves, ruin their families, to spite the aforesaid general! Conceit and self-assertion can never reach a higher point than that. And yet they give you to understand Mr. Davis does not like Beauregard. In point of fact they fancy he is jealous of him, and rather than Beauregard shall have a showing the President (who would be hanged at least if things go wrong) will cripple the army to spite Beauregard. Mr. Mallory says, "How we could laugh, but you see it is no laughing matter to have our fate in the hands of such self-sufficient, vain, army idiots." So the amenities of life are spreading.
In the meantime we seem to be resting on our oars, debating in Congress, while the enterprising Yankees are quadrupling their army at their leisure. Every day some of our regiments march away from here. The town is crowded with soldiers. These new ones are fairly running in; fearing the war will be over before they get a sight of the fun. Every man from every little precinct wants a place in the picture.”
Tuesday, August 5, 1862: John Henry Brown, a portrait painter in Philadelphia, writes in his journal: “Still too warm for painting. The President has called for three hundred thousand more soldiers by draft. It has created great excitement. I confess it gives me some uneasiness. I believe that a day’s march, under such a Sun as we now have, would kill me, besides I have no heart for this War, nor money to get a substitute. Things look worse for the Union now, than at any time during the War.”
Wednesday, August 5, 1863: Oliver Willcox Norton, of the 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry, writes home about the terrible waste in horses’ lives the war makes---and of the relative efficacy of hardtack as nourishment for man and horse: “A week’s rest will do for the men, but the horses must have time to get a little more flesh on and to regain their lost strength. Why, every day since we returned to Virginia, every day we have marched, Battery D. Fifth United States, has turned out to die from four to ten horses. Many of these will recover and make good farm horses (the farmers pick them all up) but some are so far gone that they die in the road. Everywhere we march there is a dead horse or mule on the road every bad place we come to, and often there are three or four. I tell you hot weather and heavy guns use up artillery horses. My horse stands it just first-rate. He is as fat as he ought to be to travel and always feels well. All the grain he gets is about a peck per day. I kept him on hard tack for nearly a week in Pennsylvania. Our teams were twenty-five miles off and no grain to be had.
I think the last I wrote to you I told you that I had been sick. Lest you should worry about me I will say this time that I am well, as well as ever. My bowel complaint is entirely gone and I feel like myself again. I lost considerable flesh while I was so weak, but that will soon come again. Hard tack is good to fat a man that likes it, and, without butter, I prefer it to soft bread. Soft bread and the paymaster are both reported to be on their way here.”
Norton then comments on how the soldiers feel about Copperheadism at home, and other such disloyal sentiments: “Tell Mercy Clark, if you write to her, that I am as much in favor of a vigorous prosecution of the war as when I first enlisted. I have just administered a filial rebuke to my parents for asking me to get a furlough because they wanted to see me. This war must be fought out, and while I have health and strength I shall not so much as think of leaving the field till it is done. If I am sick or wounded and sent to a hospital, it will be a different thing, but I don’t want to hear any whimpering from those I left behind. The only thing that I care to come home for is to make some of those copperheads hunt their holes. General Logan’s speech at Cairo the other day just expressed my sentiments. Every copperhead, peaceman, anti-draft man, every cursed mother’s son of them that does not support the war by word and deed ought to be hung or sent to the south where they belong. There is no middle ground. Every man who is not for us is against us, and I would just as soon fight a cursed copperhead as a southern rebel. Yes, rather, for they have means of knowing the truth and most rebels have not. If a man or a boy comes into your house and talks peace, or complains about the draft, tell him he is a traitor and you won’t listen to him. Drive him out as Orpha Dart did with a broomstick. I tell you when the old soldiers get home, such cowards and sneaks, traitors and rebels in disguise, will have an account to settle. It won’t be a pleasant neighborhood for them. . . . Maybe you think I am excited. I mean what I say at all events, and I have been so provoked and disgusted that I, like every loyal soldier, am down on every opposer of the war “like a thousand of brick.” I have no patience with them at all. I know that if I was home, I should have trouble with the first man that talked a word of such stuff to me.”
Wednesday, August 5, 1863: Quincy A. Gillmore to P.G.T. Beauregard. More than two weeks had passed since the Second Battle of Fort Wagner and P.G.T. Beauregard, the Confederate commander in Charleston, South Carolina, had refused to exchange the wounded men and officers of the 54th Massachusetts. On this day 150 years ago, Union Brigadier General Quincy A. Gillmore wrote Beauregard, protesting Beauregard's refusal to adhere to laws of civilized warfare. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH, In the Field, Morris Island, S. C., August 5, 1863.To General P. G. T. BEAUREGARD, Commanding Confederate Forces, Charleston, S. C.: “GENERAL: Your two letters of the 22nd ultimo, one of them being in reply to mine of the 18th, have been received.
You express yourself at a loss to perceive the necessity for my statement that I should expect full compliance on your part with the usages of war among civilized nations, "in their unrestricted application to all the forces under my command."
At that time I considered my remarks as pertinent and proper.
Events that have since transpired show them to have been eminently so, for, after having entered into a solemn agreement with me for mutually paroling and returning to their respective commands the wounded prisoners in our hands, you declined to return the wounded officers and men belonging to my colored regiments, and your subordinate in charge of the exchange asserted that that question had been left for after-consideration. I can but regard this transaction as a palpable breach of faith on your part, and a flagrant violation of your pledges as an officer.
In your second letter of the 22nd ultimo, you request me to return to you Private Thomas Green, of Company H, First [Regular] Regiment South Carolina Volunteers, for the alleged reason that he left your lines on the 19th, during the suspension of hostilities under a flag of truce.
I beg leave to state that you are laboring under a misapprehension. Private Green did not enter my lines during the existence of a flag of truce. It is true that, under a flag of truce on the day referred to, I requested permission of the officer in command of Fort Wagner to receive and bury my own dead, a request which was refused me, and then the truce ended. I refrained from opening my batteries on that day because some of my own wounded were seen lying just outside the fort, in plain view, exposed to a burning sun throughout the entire day.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Q. A. GILLMORE, Brigadier-General, Commanding.”

Pictures: 1864-08-05 Battle of Mobile Bay Painting; 1864-08-05 C.S.S. Tennessee after her capture; 1862-08-05 Battle of Baton Rouge Map; 1864 Civil War Soldier

A. Monday, August 5, 1861: off the coast of Florida, the USS Vincennes captured the Confederate blockade-runner CSS Alvarado. After the capture, the Vincennes burned the Alvarado to keep it from being used anymore.
B. Tuesday, August 5, 1862: Union Victory at Battle of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The CSA Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge rebels lost the element of surprise when they were discovered by Union sentries. Despite this, the rebel attack was launched at daybreak on August 5. The Union troops were in the center of Baton Rouge, while the Confederates were lined up in two divisions, north of the city. The action occurred around Florida Street, and began with the Confederates pushing their opponents all the way across town. Bitter fighting took place, especially around Magnolia Cemetery. As the Rebels push the Federals all the way back against the waterfront, they listen in vain for the guns of the Arkansas. Instead, Federal naval guns and a few well-placed batteries on land begin to rake the Confederate troops, already severely depleted by casualties and exhaustion. Breckinridge orders a retreat from the city, turning a tactical victory into a strategic retreat. The Union commander, Brigadier General Thomas Williams, was killed in action. Colonel Thomas W. Cahill took over.
The colonel led a retreat back to prepared defensive lines near the Penitentiary, under the protection of the Union warships. The Confederate ram Arkansas arrived not long after but her engines failed just four miles above the city. Her commander Isaac Stevens ordered her set afire to prevent her capture. Without any prospect of naval support, Breckenridge was unable to attack the Union positions and withdrew.
Union Victory. Losses: Union – 383 Confederate – 456
Background: CSA Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge moved to the Comite River, 10 miles (16 km) east of Baton Rouge, by August 4, and then marched the men closer at night.
Aftermath: Union troops evacuated the city a week later, concerned for the safety of New Orleans, but returned that autumn.
C. Tuesday, August 5, 1862: Confederate victory at the Massaponax Church, Virginia. CSA Brig. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart was leading the Confederate force at Massaponax Church area when he rode upon a force of about 8,000 Union soldiers moving down the plank highway. He quickly organized a plan of attack. He would lead most of his force to attack the main Union force and sent one regiment to the Union wagon train.
The Confederate attack worked perfectly. The Federals coiled in confusion and the wagon train was captured. Stuart took the wagons to safety and withdrew to Bowling Green with 200 Union prisoners
D. Friday, August 5, 1864: Battle of Mobile Bay. Admiral Farragut damns the torpedoes (floating mines). 18 Union ships sail past the entrance to Mobile Bay. The C.S.S. Tennessee, prize ironclad of the Confederate Navy awaited the attack. As the U.S.S. Tecumseh sinks Admiral David Farragut orders "Damn the torpedoes, go ahead." His flag vessel the U.S.S. Hartford took the lead. The ships destroyed the Confederate fleet. Per the NPS, Farragut will continue Mobile Bay operations until the fall of Fort Morgan late in the month.
U.S.S. Flagship Hartford Killed 19 Wounded 23
U.S.S. Brooklyn Killed 9 Wounded 22
U.S.S. Lackawanna Killed 4 Wounded 2
U.S.S. Oneida Killed 7 Wounded 23
U.S.S. Monongahela Wounded 6
U.S.S. Metacomet 1 Killed Wounded 2
U.S.S. Ossipee Killed 1 Wounded 7
U.S.S. Richmond Wounded 2
U.S.S. Galena Wounded 1
In all, 41 killed and 88 wounded.
On the rebel ram Tennessee were captured 20 officers and about 170 men. The list of the former is as follows: Admiral F. Buchanan, Commander James D. Johnston, Lieutenant Win. L. Bradford, Lieu- tenant A. D. Wharton, Lieutenant E. J. McDermett, Master J. R. Demahy, Master H. W. Perrin, Fleet Surgeon D. B. Conrad, Assistant, Surgeon R. C. Bowles, First Assistant Engineer G. D. Lining, Second Assistant Engineer J. [C.] OConnell, Second Assistant Engineer John Hayes, Third Assistant Engineer 0. Benson, Third Assistant Engineer W. B. Patterson, Paymasters Clerk J. H. Cohen, Masters Mate W. S. Forrest, Masters Mate [M. J.] Beebee, Masters Mate R. M. Carter, Boatswain John McCredie, Gunner H. S. Smith.
On the Selma were taken about 90 officers and men. Of the officers I have only heard the names of two, viz, Commander Peter U. Murphey, Lieutenant and Executive Officer J. H. Comstock, who was killed.
I will send a detailed dispatch by the first opportunity. Enclosed is a list of killed and wounded on board the Hartford.

1. Monday, August 5, 1861: Congress passes the First Confiscation Bill, to whit: the property of persons in arms in rebellion to the United States is forfeit to the U.S. government.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+5%2C+1861
2. Monday, August 5, 1861: Abraham Lincoln approves a wide variety of bills passed during a special session of Congress including a new issue of bonds, tariff increase and the first direct income and real estate tax.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186108
3. Monday, August 5, 1861: Robert E. Lee and Henry Wise exchange correspondence on the state of the Confederate forces in northwestern Virginia. WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, VA., August 5, 1861. To General R. E. LEE, Commanding.: “GENERAL: The copy of your letter to Colonel A. Beckley was handed me this morning, and though I wrote you fully last night by express, I hasten to say that the militia, under Beckley (that of Fayette and Raleigh), is awfully demoralized. Captain Thomas L. Brown has just arrived from Boone, with 105 out of 175 new volunteers (70 deserting), and he met hundreds of deserters from the State forces in my camp; attempted to arrest some 20, and had to desist from the state of popular feeling. The people demand that the Yankees shall not be fired upon, lest it exasperate them. Such is one of a thousand specimens of the disloyalty in which I have been operating. I have advised General Chapman to call out his regiments, make no en masse call, but select only true and loyal men, however few, arm them, and supply them with ammunition - say 750 men, ten rounds, and supply them with pickaxes, log wood axes, and shovels, to obstruct roads, passes, and ferries, and to make breastworks. I will return to Meadow Bluff as early as I can refit, and send ahead of me Captain Hutton, with a company, to select positions, construct works, and cause obstructions. Four-fifths of the militia, en masse, cannot be relied on, and if they could be, cannot be armed and supplied with ammunition. We want good arms and powder, and can, when we get them, arm the militia with those we now have. I therefore again urge, supply me, sir, I pray you, with 1,000 good percussion muskets.
With the highest respect, HENRY A. WISE, Brigadier-General.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=August+5%2C+1861
4. Monday, August 5, 1861: HEADQUARTERS, Huntersville, Va., August 5, 1861. To General HENRY A. WISE, Commanding Wise's Brigade, White Sulphur Springs, Va.: “GENERAL: I have had the honor to receive your letter of the 4th instant, and am glad to learn the precautions you have taken to check the advance of the enemy. I hope they may be successful, and that as soon as possible you will advance west of Lewisburg to Meadow Bluff, or such other point as you may deem best, to oppose his eastward progress. As far as I am advised, General Floyd is at the Sweet Springs, unless he is on his march to your support at Lewisburg. If his command was at Wytheville, a movement in sufficient force, as you propose, to Fayette Court-House, would materially lighten the pressure of the enemy on your front. But you will perceive he is not in position for such a move, and I hope will join or precede you to Lewisburg.
From the information I get, perhaps not as reliable as that you receive, the number of the enemy at Summersville is about half that you give. I can only learn of five regiments, about 4,500 men, having left Huttonsville for Summersville, to be increased by about the same number from other points. The advance on this line to Middle Mountain, Valley Mountain, and Cheat Range may bring them back to securely guard the railroads to the Ohio. In that event it will relieve your front, and may permit your advance to the Gauley, if desirable.
I much regret to hear that your arms are so poor. There are no percussion muskets for issue by the State of Virginia, unless some have been altered since my departure from Richmond. The only available guns that I am aware of are the flint-lock muskets. I am very sorry to hear that you have lost so many good arms by the desertion of the State troops. They will probably rejoin you on your advance. General Loring will expect to be kept advised of any movement against his rear by your vigilant and energetic scouts.
I am, with much respect, your obedient servant, R. E. LEE, General, Commanding.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=August+5%2C+1861
5. Monday, August 5, 1861: General P.G.T. Beauregard continued to complain about his lack of supplies to First Myers MANASSAS, VA., August 5th, 1861.Dear Colonel, Your favor of the 1st has been received. My surprise was as great as yours to find that you had not been informed of our want of transportation, which has so crippled us, together with the want of provisions, that we have been anchored here since the battle, not being able to send a few regiments three or four miles from their former positions. Major Cabell says that, ' Knowing your inability to comply with his former requisitions for wagons, etc., he thought it was useless to make new ones upon you, hence he was trying to get them from around here.' Be that as it may, the result was, that about fifteen thousand men were sent me by the War Department, without one solitary wagon. Before the arrival of these troops, we had, per regiment, only about twelve wagons of the meanest description, being country wagons, that break down whenever they come to a bad part of the road. General Johnston's command had only about seven wagons per regiment on arriving here. This state of things cannot and ought not to last longer.
I am perfectly willing to fight, but my troops must be provided with all the means necessary to constitute an army. I must be prepared to advance or retreat according to circumstances, otherwise disasters will overtake us in every direction.
For a long time I could not get more than twenty rounds of ammunition per man, when within a few miles (not over ten) from an enemy three times our strength.
I have applied for Colonel J. L. Kemper, 7th Virginia regiment, to be made Provisional Quartermaster-General of this and Johnston's army. I wish you would aid in the matter. I should like, also, to have General McGowan, of South Carolina, appointed in that department. He would be very useful. The best man for each position must be looked for and appointed forthwith, without regard to other considerations; otherwise we will never succeed in defeating the enemy, who is more numerous than we, and has more resources at hand. In haste, yours truly, G. T. BEAUREGARD.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=August+5%2C+1861
6. Monday, August 5, 1861: The Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut wrote in her diary about the growing dispute between President Jefferson Davis and General P.G.T. Beauregard. “August 5th. - A heavy, heavy heart. Another missive from Jordan, querulous and fault-finding; things are all wrong - Beauregard's Jordan had been crossed, not the stream "in Canaan's fair and happy land, where our possessions lie." They seem to feel that the war is over here, except the President and Mr. Barnwell; above all that foreboding friend of mine, Captain Ingraham. He thinks it hardly begun.
Another outburst from Jordan. Beauregard is not seconded properly. Hélas! To think that any mortal general (even though he had sprung up in a month or so from captain of artillery to general) could be so puffed up with vanity, so blinded by any false idea of his own consequence as to write, to intimate that man, or men, would sacrifice their country, injure themselves, ruin their families, to spite the aforesaid general! Conceit and self-assertion can never reach a higher point than that. And yet they give you to understand Mr. Davis does not like Beauregard. In point of fact they fancy he is jealous of him, and rather than Beauregard shall have a showing the President (who would be hanged at least if things go wrong) will cripple the army to spite Beauregard. Mr. Mallory says, "How we could laugh, but you see it is no laughing matter to have our fate in the hands of such self-sufficient, vain, army idiots." So the amenities of life are spreading.
In the meantime we seem to be resting on our oars, debating in Congress, while the enterprising Yankees are quadrupling their army at their leisure. Every day some of our regiments march away from here. The town is crowded with soldiers. These new ones are fairly running in; fearing the war will be over before they get a sight of the fun. Every man from every little precinct wants a place in the picture.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=August+5%2C+1861
7. Tuesday, August 5, 1862: From the New York Tribune, August 5, 1862: Remarks to Deputation of Western Gentlemen August 4, 1862. A deputation of Western gentlemen waited upon the President this morning to offer two colored regiments from the State of Indiana. Two members of Congress were of the party. The President received them courteously, but stated to them that he was not prepared to go the length of enlisting negroes as soldiers. He would employ all colored men offered as laborers, but would not promise to make soldiers of them.
The deputation came away satisfied that it is the determination of the Government not to arm negroes unless some new and more pressing emergency arises. The President argued that the nation could not afford to lose Kentucky at this crisis, and gave it as his opinion that to arm the negroes would turn 50,000 bayonets from the loyal Border States against us that were for us.
Upon the policy of using negroes as laborers, the confiscation of Rebel property, and the feeding the National troops upon the granaries of the enemy, the President said there was no division of sentiment. He did not explain, however, why it is that the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Virginia carry out this policy so differently. The President promised that the war should be prosecuted with all the rigor he could command, but he could not promise to arm slaves or to attempt slave insurrections in the Rebel States. The recent enactments of Congress on emancipation and confiscation he expects to carry out.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=August+5%2C+1862
8. Tuesday, August 5, 1862: John Henry Brown, a portrait painter in Philadelphia, writes in his journal: “Still too warm for painting. The President has called for three hundred thousand more soldiers by draft. It has created great excitement. I confess it gives me some uneasiness. I believe that a day’s march, under such a Sun as we now have, would kill me, besides I have no heart for this War, nor money to get a substitute. Things look worse for the Union now, than at any time during the War.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+5%2C+1862
9. Tuesday, August 5, 1862: Western theater: Battle of Baton Rouge. Without the CSS Arkansas, whose engines keep failing, Confederate forces fail to recapture the Louisiana state capital and to consolidate their hold on the middle Mississippi River.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/07/31/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-30-to-august-5-1862/
10. Tuesday, August 5, 1862 --- On the way downriver to aid Breckinridge on the attack on Baton Rouge, due to engine trouble, the CSS Arkansas, near Baton Rouge, runs aground while under attack from the ironclad USS Essex. Her skipper Commander Isaac Stevens orders her abandoned and burned. The Arkansas drifts downstream until the fire reached the magazine and she explodes.
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11. Tuesday, August 5, 1862: Union forces under Joseph Hooker retake Malvern Hill with only light Confederate resistance. These troops withdraw the next day.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186208
12. Tuesday, August 5, 1862: President Lincoln and the War Department order a draft of 300,000 men to serve for nine months. This is in addition to the 300,000 volunteers called for in July. States with deficiencies in their volunteer quota must make up the difference in nine-month draftees. If the states don’t mobilize sufficient men, the War Department will step in and do it for them.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/07/31/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-30-to-august-5-1862/
13. Tuesday, August 5, 1862: US General Hooker drives off Confederate outposts and reoccupies Malvern Hill with two divisions. While Hooker’s orders from General Pope, through General McClellan, are to ascertain truth the rumors of an evacuation of Richmond, McClellan telegraphs Halleck: “This is a very advantageous position to cover an advance on Richmond, and only fourteen and three-quarter miles distant, and I feel confident that with reinforcements I could march this army there in five days.”
Halleck’s response to McClellan: I have no reinforcements to send you.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/07/31/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-30-to-august-5-1862/
14. Tuesday, August 5, 1862 --- At Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Gen. James S. Wadsworth of the Army arrests the editors and publishers of the Patriot and Union, for distributing posters and flyers designed to discourage and thwart the recruitment effort.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+5%2C+1862
15. Tuesday, August 5, 1862: Headquarters, Near Sperryville, Va., August 5, 1862. To Maj. Gen. H.W. Halleck, General-in-Chief U.S. Army: “General: I commence the forward movement from my present position to-morrow. McDowell, with one division of his army corps (the other is King’s, at Fredericksburg), moves from Warrenton direct to Culpeper. General Banks moves due south to the pike from Sperryville to Culpeper, and pursues the pike to the crossing of Hazel River.
As soon as these forces are at the points specified the whole of the army will move forward to the line of Robertson’s River. The First Corps, now at Sperryville, to occupy the north side of the river, a little northeast of Madison Court-House; the Second Corps, a point half way between the First and the railroad crossing of Rapidan River (mouth of Crooked River); the Third at the railroad crossing.
The position along Robertson’s River is strong and easily defensible, in case the enemy assembles a superior force before he can be dealt with. The purpose is to make a considerable demonstration from Stanardsville upon the enemy’s rear at Charlottesville, so as to make Gordonsville untenable and force him to fall back.
I am, general, respectfully, your obedient servant, JNO. POPE, Major-General, Commanding.”
https://bjdeming.com/2012/07/31/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-30-to-august-5-1862/
16. Wednesday, August 5, 1863: General Lee also sees the move as a renewed threat to the city and prepares a response (Lee also receives word at this time of Burnside’s move to Fredericksburg).
Via Hanover Court-House, Va., August 5, 1862. General Lee: “Struck the enemy’s line of march at this place, Massaponax Church, and Lee’s brigade is charging his baggage train in both directions, capturing wagons and prisoners, who are thronging already my presence.
Two brigades (Hatch and Gibbon), 6,000 men, twelve pieces of artillery, have gone toward Richmond on Telegraph Road. Prisoners say Burnside is at Fredericksburg, with 16,000 men. Yankees say Hanover Court-House is their destination. I will watch the enemy. J.E.B. Stuart. Major-General.”
https://bjdeming.com/2012/07/31/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-30-to-august-5-1862/
17. Wednesday, August 5, 1863 --- Gen. Halleck, in Washington, issues orders to Gen. Rosecrans, with the Army of the Cumberland in Tennessee, to select a column of 12,000 men to invade Unionist East Tennessee and to capture Knoxville, and eject the small force there, under Gen. Buckner. Rosecrans appears to consider that Burnside’s IX Corps (in Kentucky) would be best for the job, and give it little more thought. Burnside, in turn, points out that most of his troops are dispersed to support the recently-fallen Vicksburg and to chase Morgan.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+5%2C+1863
18. Wednesday, August 5, 1863: Off Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, the CSS Alabama captures the bark Sea Bride. “The capture took place within view of the cheering crowds ashore. A local newspaperman wrote: ‘They did cheer, and cheer with a will, too. It was not, perhaps, taking the view of either side, Federal or Confederate, but in admiration of the skill, pluck and daring of the Alabama, her Captain, and her crew, who afford a general theme of admiration for the world all over.'”
https://bjdeming.com/2013/08/05/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-5-11-1863/
19. Wednesday, August 5, 1863: In a letter to Nathaniel Banks, Abraham Lincoln states 'I am an anti-slavery man' and goes on to state he would never return a "negro" freed under the Emancipation Proclamation to slavery.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186308
20. Wednesday, August 5, 1863 --- Oliver Willcox Norton, of the 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry, writes home about the terrible waste in horses’ lives the war makes---and of the relative efficacy of hardtack as nourishment for man and horse: “A week’s rest will do for the men, but the horses must have time to get a little more flesh on and to regain their lost strength. Why, every day since we returned to Virginia, every day we have marched, Battery D. Fifth United States, has turned out to die from four to ten horses. Many of these will recover and make good farm horses (the farmers pick them all up) but some are so far gone that they die in the road. Everywhere we march there is a dead horse or mule on the road every bad place we come to, and often there are three or four. I tell you hot weather and heavy guns use up artillery horses. My horse stands it just first-rate. He is as fat as he ought to be to travel and always feels well. All the grain he gets is about a peck per day. I kept him on hard tack for nearly a week in Pennsylvania. Our teams were twenty-five miles off and no grain to be had.
I think the last I wrote to you I told you that I had been sick. Lest you should worry about me I will say this time that I am well, as well as ever. My bowel complaint is entirely gone and I feel like myself again. I lost considerable flesh while I was so weak, but that will soon come again. Hard tack is good to fat a man that likes it, and, without butter, I prefer it to soft bread. Soft bread and the paymaster are both reported to be on their way here.”
Norton then comments on how the soldiers feel about Copperheadism at home, and other such disloyal sentiments: “Tell Mercy Clark, if you write to her, that I am as much in favor of a vigorous prosecution of the war as when I first enlisted. I have just administered a filial rebuke to my parents for asking me to get a furlough because they wanted to see me. This war must be fought out, and while I have health and strength I shall not so much as think of leaving the field till it is done. If I am sick or wounded and sent to a hospital, it will be a different thing, but I don’t want to hear any whimpering from those I left behind. The only thing that I care to come home for is to make some of those copperheads hunt their holes. General Logan’s speech at Cairo the other day just expressed my sentiments. Every copperhead, peaceman, anti-draft man, every cursed mother’s son of them that does not support the war by word and deed ought to be hung or sent to the south where they belong. There is no middle ground. Every man who is not for us is against us, and I would just as soon fight a cursed copperhead as a southern rebel. Yes, rather, for they have means of knowing the truth and most rebels have not. If a man or a boy comes into your house and talks peace, or complains about the draft, tell him he is a traitor and you won’t listen to him. Drive him out as Orpha Dart did with a broomstick. I tell you when the old soldiers get home, such cowards and sneaks, traitors and rebels in disguise, will have an account to settle. It won’t be a pleasant neighborhood for them. . . . Maybe you think I am excited. I mean what I say at all events, and I have been so provoked and disgusted that I, like every loyal soldier, am down on every opposer of the war “like a thousand of brick.” I have no patience with them at all. I know that if I was home, I should have trouble with the first man that talked a word of such stuff to me.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+5%2C+1863
21. Wednesday, August 5, 1863: “It was not a happy leader of the Confederate Submarine Battery Service who had to report to his commander today. The gunboat USS Commodore Barney had been making its way carefully up the James River, just above Dutch Gap, Va. Just as the ship was about to pass over one of these electrically-triggered torpedoes, the aforementioned operator hit the button just a few seconds early. The resulting explosion produced “agitated water” and “a lively concussion,” observers reported, but a delay of just a few seconds would have demolished the boat. The bomb did cost the Union two men, who either jumped in panic or were knocked overboard by the concussion. They were lost and presumed drowned.” https://bjdeming.com/2013/08/05/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-5-11-1863/
22. Wednesday, August 5, 1863: Quincy A. Gillmore has a bright idea. Union Brigadier General Quincy A. Gillmore was looking for ways to prevent reinforcements from reaching Morris Island, and on this day he wrote to Rear Admiral Dahlgren about a "bright idea." Gillmore had sent to New York City for a calcium light. Calcium lights produced intense illumination when an oxyhydrogen flame was directed at a cylinder of quicklime (calcium oxide). Quicklime can be heated to 2,572 °C (4,662 °F) before melting and the bright light was produced by a combination of incandescence and candoluminescence. Fitted with reflectors and a lens, and you had an early kind of spotlight.
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH, Morris Island, S. C., August 5, 1863. Admiral DAHLGREN, Commanding S. A. B. Squadron, off Charleston, S. C.: ADMIRAL: In reference to the probability of our being able to cut off or seriously interfere with the enemy's supplies of men and provisions on this island, I would say that a calcium light has been ordered from New York, and ought to reach here in the Fulton in about eight days from this time. With it I expect to be able to illuminate Cumming's Point, so that my batteries and your boats can see it distinctly and be themselves in deep darkness. I hope and believe that we can effect satisfactory results with it.
I inclose a letter from Assistant Surgeon Luck, U. S. Navy, which I supposed had been sent some days ago.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Q. A. GILLMORE, Brigadier-General, Commanding.
The Confederate troops on Morris Island would soon have the weird experience of fighting at night with a blinding light shining in their eyes.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=August+5%2C+1863
23. August 5, 1863: Quincy A. Gillmore to P.G.T. Beauregard. More than two weeks had passed since the Second Battle of Fort Wagner and P.G.T. Beauregard, the Confederate commander in Charleston, South Carolina, had refused to exchange the wounded men and officers of the 54th Massachusetts. On this day 150 years ago, Union Brigadier General Quincy A. Gillmore wrote Beauregard, protesting Beauregard's refusal to adhere to laws of civilized warfare. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH, In the Field, Morris Island, S. C., August 5, 1863.To General P. G. T. BEAUREGARD, Commanding Confederate Forces, Charleston, S. C.: “GENERAL: Your two letters of the 22nd ultimo, one of them being in reply to mine of the 18th, have been received.
You express yourself at a loss to perceive the necessity for my statement that I should expect full compliance on your part with the usages of war among civilized nations, "in their unrestricted application to all the forces under my command."
At that time I considered my remarks as pertinent and proper.
Events that have since transpired show them to have been eminently so, for, after having entered into a solemn agreement with me for mutually paroling and returning to their respective commands the wounded prisoners in our hands, you declined to return the wounded officers and men belonging to my colored regiments, and your subordinate in charge of the exchange asserted that that question had been left for after-consideration. I can but regard this transaction as a palpable breach of faith on your part, and a flagrant violation of your pledges as an officer.
In your second letter of the 22nd ultimo, you request me to return to you Private Thomas Green, of Company H, First [Regular] Regiment South Carolina Volunteers, for the alleged reason that he left your lines on the 19th, during the suspension of hostilities under a flag of truce.
I beg leave to state that you are laboring under a misapprehension. Private Green did not enter my lines during the existence of a flag of truce. It is true that, under a flag of truce on the day referred to, I requested permission of the officer in command of Fort Wagner to receive and bury my own dead, a request which was refused me, and then the truce ended. I refrained from opening my batteries on that day because some of my own wounded were seen lying just outside the fort, in plain view, exposed to a burning sun throughout the entire day.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Q. A. GILLMORE, Brigadier-General, Commanding.”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=August+5%2C+1863
24. Friday, August 5, 1864: FLAGSHIP HARTFORD, Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. To Hon. GIDEON WELLES, Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D.C. “SIR: I have the honor to report to the Department that this morning I entered Mobile Bay, passing between Forts Morgan and Gaines, and encountering the rebel ram Tennessee and the gunboats of the enemy, viz, Selma, Morgan, and Gaines.
The attacking fleet was underway by 5:45 a.m., in the following order: Brooklyn with the Octorara on her port side, Hartford with the Metacomet, Richmond with the Port Royal, Lackawanna with the Seminole, Monongahela with the Kennebec, Ossipee with the Itasca, and Oneida with the Galena.
On the starboard of the fleet was proper position of the monitors or ironclads. The wind was light from the southward and westward; the sky cloudy with very little sun.
Fort Morgan opened up on us at six minutes past 7, and soon after this the action became lively. As we steamed up the Main Ship Channel there was some difficulty ahead and the Hartford passed on ahead of the Brooklyn. At forty minutes past 7 the monitor Tecumseh was struck by a torpedo and sank, going down very rapidly and carrying with her all of her officers and crew with the exception of the pilot and 8 or 10 men, who were saved by a boat that I sent from the Metacomet alongside of me.
The Hartford had passed the forts before 8 o’clock, and finding myself raked by the rebel gunboats I ordered the Metacomet to cast off and go in pursuit of them, one of which, the Selma, she succeeded in capturing.
All the vessels had passed the forts by 8:30 o’clock, but the rebel ram Tennessee was still apparently uninjured in our rear.
Signal was at once made to all the fleet to turn again and attack the ram, not only with the guns, but with orders to run her down at full speed. The Monongahela was the first that struck her, and, though she may have injured her badly, yet did not succeed in disabling her. The Lackawanna also struck her, but ineffectually, and the flagship gave her a severe shock with her bow, and as she passed poured her whole port broadside into her, solid IX-inch shot and 13 pounds of powder, at a distance of not more than 12 feet. The ironclads were closing upon her and the Hartford and the rest of the fleet were bearing down upon her when, at 10 a.m., she surrendered. The rest of the rebel fleet, viz, Morgan and Gaines, succeeded in getting back under the protection of the guns of Fort Morgan.
This terminated the action of the day.
Admiral Buchanan sent me his sword, being himself badly wounded with a compound fracture of the leg, which it is supposed will have to be amputated.
Having had many of my own men wounded and the surgeon of the ram Tennessee being very desirous to have Admiral Buchanan removed to a hospital, I sent a flag of truce to the commanding officer of Fort Morgan, Brigadier-General Richard L. Page, to say that if he would allow the wounded of the fleet as well as their own to be taken to Pensacola, where they could be better cared for than here, I would send out one of our vessels, provided she would be permitted to return bringing back nothing that she did not take out. General Page assented, and the Metacomet was dispatched about o’clock.
The list of casualties on our part as far as yet ascertained are as follows: Vessel.
U.S.S. Flagship Hartford Killed 19 Wounded 23
U.S.S. Brooklyn Killed 9 Wounded 22
U.S.S. Lackawanna Killed 4 Wounded 2
U.S.S. Oneida Killed 7 Wounded 23
U.S.S. Monongahela Wounded 6
U.S.S. Metacomet 1 Killed Wounded 2
U.S.S. Ossipee Killed 1 Wounded 7
U.S.S. Richmond Wounded 2
U.S.S. Galena Wounded 1
In all, 41 killed and 88 wounded.
On the rebel ram Tennessee were captured 20 officers and about 170 men. The list of the former is as follows: Admiral F. Buchanan, Commander James D. Johnston, Lieutenant Win. L. Bradford, Lieu- tenant A. D. Wharton, Lieutenant E. J. McDermett, Master J. R. Demahy, Master H. W. Perrin, Fleet Surgeon D. B. Conrad, Assistant, Surgeon R. C. Bowles, First Assistant Engineer G. D. Lining, Second Assistant Engineer J. [C.] OConnell, Second Assistant Engineer John Hayes, Third Assistant Engineer 0. Benson, Third Assistant Engineer W. B. Patterson, Paymasters Clerk J. H. Cohen, Masters Mate W. S. Forrest, Masters Mate [M. J.] Beebee, Masters Mate R. M. Carter, Boatswain John McCredie, Gunner H. S. Smith.
On the Selma were taken about 90 officers and men. Of the officers I have only heard the names of two, viz, Commander Peter U. Murphey, Lieutenant and Executive Officer J. H. Comstock, who was killed.
I will send a detailed dispatch by the first opportunity. Enclosed is a list of killed and wounded on board the Hartford.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, D.G. FARRAGUT, Rear-Admiral, Commanding West Gulf Blockading Squadron. “
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=August+5%2C+1864

A Monday, August 5, 1861: off the coast of Florida - On August 5, off the coast of Florida, the USS Vincennes captured the Confederate blockade-runner Alvarado. After the capture, the Vincennes burned the Alvarado to keep it from being used anymore.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1861s.html
A+ Monday, August 5, 1861: The USS Vincennes, off the coast of northern Florida, captures and burns a Rebel blockade runner, the Alvarado.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+5%2C+1861
B Tuesday, August 5, 1862: Battle of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Major General John Breckinridge [CS] lost to Brigadier General Thomas Williams [US]
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186208
B+ Tuesday, August 5, 1862 --- Gulf Theater, BATTLE OF BATON ROUGE, Louisiana: Gen. John C. Breckinridge orders his forces forward, and their initial attacks drive the Federals under Gen. Thomas Williams back into the town. At the head of a counterattack, Gen. Williams is killed outright. As the Rebels push the Federals all the way back against the waterfront, they listen in vain for the guns of the Arkansas. Instead, Federal naval guns and a few well-placed batteries on land begin to rake the Confederate troops, already severely depleted by casualties and exhaustion. Breckinridge orders a retreat from the city, turning a tactical victory into a strategic retreat. Breckinridge’s troops march to Port Hudson to begin preparing its defenses, upstream from Baton Rouge. Union Victory. Losses: Union – 383 Confederate – 456
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=August+5%2C+1862
B++ Tuesday, August 5, 1862: Battle of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. CSA Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge moved to the Comite River, 10 miles (16 km) east of Baton Rouge, by August 4, and then marched the men closer at night. The Confederates lost the element of surprise when they were discovered by Union sentries. Despite this, the attack was launched at daybreak on August 5.
The Union troops were in the center of Baton Rouge, while the Confederates were lined up in two divisions, north of the city. The action occurred around Florida Street, and began with the Confederates pushing their opponents all the way across town. Bitter fighting took place, especially around Magnolia Cemetery. The Union commander, Brigadier General Thomas Williams, was killed in action. Colonel Thomas W. Cahill took over.
The colonel led a retreat back to prepared defensive lines near the Penitentiary, under the protection of the Union warships. The Confederate troops began coming under fire from the gunboats. The Confederate ram Arkansas arrived not long after but her engines failed just four miles above the city. Her commander ordered her set afire to prevent her capture. Without any prospect of naval support, Breckenridge was unable to attack the Union positions and withdrew. Union troops evacuated the city a week later, concerned for the safety of New Orleans, but returned that autumn.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Baton_Rouge_(1862)
C Tuesday, August 5, 1862: at the Massaponax Church, Virginia - On August 5, Brig. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart was leading the Confederate force at Massaponax Church area when he rode upon a force of about 8,000 Union soldiers moving down the plank highway. He quickly organized a plan of attack. He would lead most of his force to attack the main Union force and sent one regiment to the Union wagon train.
The Confederate attack worked perfectly. The Federals coiled in confusion and the wagon train was captured. Stuart took the wagons to safety and withdrew to Bowling Green with 200 Union prisoners
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1862s.html
D Friday, August 5, 1864: Alabama operations: Battle of Mobile Bay. Admiral Farragut damns the torpedoes (floating mines). Per the NPS, Farragut will continue Mobile Bay operations until the fall of Fort Morgan late in the month.
https://bjdeming.com/2014/08/03/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-4-10-1864/
D+ Friday, August 5, 1864: 18 Union ships sail past the entrance to Mobile Bay. The C. S. S. Tennessee, prize ironclad of the Confederate Navy awaited the attack. As the U. S. S. Tecumseh sinks Admiral David Farragut orders "Damn the torpedoes, go ahead." His flag vessel Hartford took the lead. The ships destroyed the Confederate fleet.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186408
Friday, August 5, 1864: Mississippi operations: General Chalmers arrives at Oxford with Thrall’s Battery and McCulloch’s Brigade and establishes his headquarters there. Meanwhile, US General A. J. Smith is back and his forces are running trains to Waterford, eight miles south of Holly Springs. Their main force is one mile north of Waterford, and they have outposts and pickets on the north bank of the Tallahatchie. Over the next couple of days Forrest will be busy moving his forces northward, while Colonel Alexander Chalmers (the general’s brother) and his Eighteenth Mississippi Cavalry, some 300 strong, face the Federals at the Tallahatchie.
https://bjdeming.com/2014/08/03/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-august-4-10-1864/
FYI SPC Deb Root-White GySgt Jack Wallace CWO4 Terrence Clark SPC Michael Oles SRSMSgt Lawrence McCarter A1C Pamela G RussellLTC Trent KlugPO2 Russell "Russ" Lincoln SFC Bernard Walko SFC Stephen King SFC Ralph E Kelley SSG Franklin Briant Lt Col Scott Shuttleworth MSgt Robert C AldiSSG Byron Howard Sr Cpl Samuel Pope Sr CPL Ronald Keyes JrPO2 Karen Claxton Maher SPC Nancy Greene SPC Diana D.

I have to go with Mobile Bay. Overall the Union quickly proved it was vastly superior To the Confederacy at Sea. These allowed them to cut off foriegn supplies and The Union was able to rapidly move troops and supplies along the coast to reenforce its Armies. The Union Navy quicly controled the rivers as well, another important hub of transportatation,

Excellent History...

One helluva a war LTC Stephen F., thank you as always for sharing your knowledge.

The Battle of Mobile Bay was a notable naval action of the Civil War.

Great history in Civil War once again LTC Stephen F.; all were important!