What was the most significant event on July 10 during the U.S. Civil War?

2016-07-14T18:10:25-04:00

In 1863 the Army of Northern Virginia is retreating through Maryland towards the swollen Potomac River and fighting rear guard battles with the cautious Gen Meade’s Army of the Potomac. In 1864 the situation is reversed as Maj Gen Jubal Early’s division resting after the Battle of Monocacy on its way toward Washington, D.C. This delay would cost the Confederates dearly as Grant was moving forces along internal lines of communication from Petersburg. It was rare for the Federal forces to have the advantage of internal lines of communication in the Civil War and Grant took advantage of the opportunity.
Amphibious assault on Morris Island part of Charleston, S.C. defenses in 1863: “Maj Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore's second diversion, an amphibious expedition against a railroad bridge on the South Edisto River below Morris Island, occurred on the 10th. On that dark, fog-shrouded morning, a small fleet out of Beaufort- a steamer, a tug, and a transport carrying 250 members of the 1st South Carolina Colored Infantry, plus 2 guns of the 1st Connecticut battery- passed up the South Edisto under Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson. The little flotilla had smooth sailing until about 4:00 A.M., when it reached Willstown Bluff, about 20 miles up the Edisto, at its confluence with the Pon Pon River. There, Higginson found his way blocked by spiked timbers sunk across the river's neck, as well as by a 3-gun battery, which withdrew when Higginson landed the troops on the bluff and took possession of the area.
The obstruction posed greater difficulties. The expeditionary force worked till 1:00 P.M. to clear them, with the aid of high tide, and only after the tugboat, the Governor Milton, had run aground. after passing the spikes, Higginson's transport, the Enoch Dean, moved barely a mile before again encountering Confederate artillery. and likewise running aground. Finally, early in the afternoon, the fleet cleared the shoals, and ascended the river, moving to within 2 miles of its objective, before the Dean grounded a second time. Unable to free the vessel, Higginson dispatched a tug to attack the rail bridge on its own.
It did not get far. Under an intense shelling by the gunners ashore, members of the Washington Artillery of New Orleans and South Carolina’s Chestnut and Marion batteries, the tug was forced to retreat soon after starting out. With the Dean free once again, both ships returned downriver, only to have the Milton became entangled in the same obstructions it had cleared earlier. When Higginson's steamer, the John Adams, failed to pry the vessel loose, Higginson set the tug afire, transferred its crew to the transport, and returned in disgust, his expedition a failure.”
Thursday, July 10, 1862: Senator Wright of Indiana, in the U.S. Senate, objects to Sen. Chandler’s defamation of McClellan and his strategic failures: “Mr. Wright, of Indiana: Mr. President, when the resolution was read the other day, I could not refrain an expression of surprise that in the midst of such a crisis as the present that an inquiry should be set on foot, the result of which must be to divide the friends of Union and to unite the enemies of the Union. The Senator proceeded in language and manner sufficiently violent and declamatory, to give the impression he meant to bring contempt and dishonor upon General McClellan. It is not to my taste to go back to the field of Manassas and to say that two hundred thousand men were held at bay by less than 30,000 rebels. I know little of the art of war. I am willing to trust the men in command of the Army. Judging from the explosive rhetoric of the Senator who takes pains to call General McClellan a criminal.
Mr. President, General McClellan has not been a newspaper general. He has not sought to write himself into renown, or court others so to do. Not one word has General McClellan offered to defend himself against the charges of the Senator. His reticence and silence has been remarkable. A more implusive man―and we are told that youth is most impulsive and General McClellan is a very young man—would have rushed into print and insisted upon such a defense of his conduct as would at least assure his friends that was not indifferent to his fame. His studied silence is probably his surest vindication.
I will say that, in my humble opinion, that his ten day’s campaign upon the peninsula, with an army that he tells us was so much smaller than that of the rebel enemy, out-tongues complaint, and will arouse admiration among our loyal people. Some will say that the general was surprised and taken unaware, and that all the allegations that his moves were planned are untrue. I will say only that the conflict displayed on his part uncommon genius, perseverance, and ability; that his troops were heroic and that he saved them from annihilation and captivity. Sir, I know not where in the history of nations you can point to a seven days' conflict, with the same number of men engaged, where there was more science and skill exhibited by the commander than General McClellan exhibited in this contest.”
Friday, July 10, 1863: Gideon Welles, Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy, again frets about the sluggish pursuit of the Rebels, who are still stuck by high waters on the Maryland side of the Potomac: “I am assured that our army is steadily, but I fear too slowly, moving upon Lee and the Rebels. There are, I hope, substantial reasons for this tardiness. Why cannot our army move as rapidly as the Rebels? The high water in the river has stopped them, yet our troops do not catch up. It has been the misfortune of our generals to linger, never to avail themselves of success, —to waste, or omit to gather, the fruits of victory. Only success at Gettysburg and Vicksburg will quiet the country for the present hesitancy. No light or explanation is furnished by the General-in-Chief or the War Department.”
Sunday, July 10, 1864: Atlanta campaign: Per General Sherman: “Johnston evacuated his trenches, crossed over the Chattahoochee, burned the railroad bridge and his pontoon and trestle bridges, and left us in full possession of the north or west bank – besides which, we had already secured possession of the two good crossings at Roswell and Soap’s Creek.
I have always thought Johnston neglected his opportunity there, for he had lain comparatively idle while we got control of both banks of the river above.”
Sunday, July 10, 1864: Early’s raid on Washington: Lincoln to Grant: “Cypher” War Department; Lieut. Gen. Grant Washington City, City-Point, Va July 10—2.P.M. 1864 “Your despatch to Gen. Halleck, referring to what I may think in the present emergency, is shown me. Gen. Halleck says we have absolutely no force here fit to go to the field. He thinks that with the hundred day-men, and invalids we have here, we can defend Washington, and scarcely Baltimore. Besides these, there are about eight thousand not very reliable, under Howe at Harper’s Ferry, with Hunter approaching that point very slowly, with what number I suppose you know better than I. Wallace with some odds and ends, and part of what came up with Ricketts, [5] was so badly beaten yesterday at Monocacy, that what is left can attempt no more than to defend Baltimore. What we shall get in from Penn. & N.Y. will scarcely [be] worth counting, I fear. Now what I think is that you should provide to retain your hold where you are certainly, and bring the rest with you personally, and make a vigorous effort to destroy the enemie’s force in this vicinity. I think there is really a fair chance to do this if the movement is prompt. This is what I think, upon your suggestion, and is not an order A. LINCOLN
Sunday, July 10, 1864: Grant to Lincoln: “I have sent from here a whole corps commanded by an excellent officer, besides over three thousand other troops. One Division of the Nineteenth Corps, six thousand strong is now on its way to Washington. One Steamer loaded with these troops having passed Ft. Monroe today. They will probably reach Washington tomorrow night. This force under [Horatio G.] Wright will be able to compete with the whole force with [Richard S.] Ewell.
Before more troops can be sent from here [David] Hunter will be able to join Wright in rear of the Enemy, with at least ten thousand men, besides a force sufficient to hold Maryland Heights.
I think on reflection it would have a bad effect for me to leave here, and with Gen [Edward O. C.] Ord at Baltimore and Hunter and Wright with the forces following the enemy up, could do no good
I have great faith that the enemy will never be able to get back with much of his force.
Sunday, July 10, 1864: Grant to Halleck: “Forces enough to defeat all that Early has with him should get in his rear south of him, and follow him up sharply, leaving him to go north, defending depots, towns, &c., with small garrisons and the militia. If the President thinks it advisable that I should go to Washington in person I can start in an hour after receiving notice, leaving everything here on the defensive.”

Pictures: 1863-07-10 Charleston Harbor and Its Defenses. The Navy Battery is on the left and the ironclads can be seen on the far right; 1863-07 Fort Wagner, S.C. Map; 1863-07 Jackson, Mississippi siege Map 1863; 1863-07-10 Navy gun crews with the Whitworth Rifles 2

A. 1862: Siege of Jackson, Mississippi begins. Maj Gen William T. Sherman’s army reached Jackson on July 10, and a reconnaissance of the Confederate earthworks convinced the general that the position was too strong to assault. General Sherman’s disposition of troops to surround the Confederate fortifications at Jackson placed two Union divisions near Lynch Creek: Brigadier General Alvin P. Hovey’s division of the XIII Army Corps, and Brigadier General Jacob G. Lauman’s division of the XVI Army Corps, which was attached to the XIII Army Corps during the Siege of Jackson. Hovey’s division was approximately 3,600 men strong, while General Lauman had over 6,000 men in his division. Hovey’s and Lauman’s divisions arrived in the vicinity of Jackson on July 10, marching down the Robinson Road until they reached the outskirts of the city.
Sherman wrote in his official report: “I soon satisfied myself that General Johnston had taken refuge in Jackson, that he had resolved to fight behind intrenchments, and that his intrenched position was the same substantially that we found last May, only that it had been much strengthened and extended, so that its flanks reached Pearl River. The works were too good to be assaulted, and orders were given to deploy and form lines of circumvallation about 1,500 yards from the enemy’s parapet, with skirmishers close up, and their supports within 500 yards, also that each corps should construct covered batteries for their guns and trenches for their men.”
Background: The fiery Sherman was chomping at the bit to go after General Johnston’s Army of Relief, and the only thing holding him back was word from General Grant that Pemberton had surrendered Vicksburg. On July 4, 1863, Sherman received notice that the Rebel general had in fact surrendered, and Grant ordered him to start after Johnston’s army. Sherman’s troops, augmented by reinforcements to about 50,000 men, began moving that same day.
General Joseph E. Johnston’s Army of Relief had started moving toward Vicksburg on June 29, and on July 2-3 he had scouts looking for a place to cross the Big Black River. On the west side of the waterway was General Sherman’s Army of Observation, and Johnston was still trying to find a safe crossing of the Big Black when he was notified on July 5 that Pemberton had given up Vicksburg.
On receiving this news General Johnston immediately began a retreat back to Jackson, his men arriving in the city on the evening of July 7. The next day he had his soldiers hard at work with picks and shovels improving the earthworks around Jackson. The general had decided to hold the city in the hope that Sherman could be goaded into attacking his entrenched troops.
Knowing that Sherman’s soldiers would soon reach Jackson, General Johnston had his men file into the trenches around the city on July 9. Two of the divisions of Johnston’s army were directly involved in the fighting that impacts the area near Lynch Creek: Major General Samuel G. French’s division, of approximately 4,000 men, held the section of trenches that ran from the Southern Railroad of Mississippi to the Raymond Road. Major General John C. Breckinridge’s division, approximately 5,000 men strong, manned the trenches from the Raymond Road to the Pearl River.
B. 1863: Amphibious assault on Morris Island, S.C.: Brig. Gen. George C. Strong and his large brigade of 2,500 men launch an amphibious landing on the southern end of Morris Island. Strong establishes a strong beachhead at the southern end of the island. By late afternoon the Confederates have been driven back to forts Wagner and Gregg. President Davis asks South Carolina Governor Bonham to dispatch local troops to Charleston. Union artillery on Folly Island (which had been occupied in April 1863) and naval gunfire from Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren's four ironclad warships bombarded the Confederate defenses protecting the southern end of Morris Island. This provided cover for the landing of Brig. Gen. George C. Strong's brigade, which crossed Lighthouse Inlet and landed at the southern tip of the island. Strong's troops advanced, capturing several batteries, moving about three miles to within range of Fort Wagner. Also known as Battery Wagner, it was a heavily gunned redoubt that covered nearly the entire width of the northern end of Morris Island, facing Sumter. Strong's report described the advance: “The two columns now moved forward, under a lively discharge of shell, grape, and canister, converging toward the works nearest the southern extremity of the island, and thence along its commanding ridge and eastern coast, capturing successively the eight batteries, of one heavy gun each, occupying the commanding points of that ridge, besides two batteries, mounting, together, three 10-inch seacoast mortars.”
C. 1864: Early’s raid on Washington, D.C. Monocacy, Maryland was a decisive rebel victory; but, it had come with a heavy price, and not only the 900 Confederate casualties. The Union troops, at the cost of 1,300 casualties, had delayed Early’s attack on Washington by an entire day. After camping on the battlefield, the exhausted Confederates resumed their march to Washington on Sunday morning, July 10, but they made limited progress in beastly heat. That night they camped spread out between Gaithersburg and Rockville.
D. 1864: Atlanta campaign: Approaching the Chattahoochee River, Maj Gen William T. Sherman feinted right but got troops across upstream. The Southern army retreated back toward Atlanta July 9-10. CSA General Joe Johnston pulls his troops back to consolidate his force at Peachtree Creek, about four miles from downtown Atlanta. There is panic in Atlanta and consternation in Richmond.
Background: Maj Gen William T. Sherman enjoyed clear numerical superiority, but he did not use it in blunt frontal attacks as Grant was doing against Lee in Virginia. Rather, he used Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas' Army of the Cumberland and Maj Gen. John M. Schofield's Army of the Ohio to demonstrate against the Rebel lines, while he sent Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson's Army of the Tennessee to maneuver around Johnston's left flank and threaten his supply line, the Western & Atlantic Railroad. This worked repeatedly throughout the campaign, beginning at Dalton, from which Johnston retreated May 12-13. While the two armies traded short, sharp attacks at Resaca May 14-15, McPherson crossed the Oostanaula River and Johnston retreated again. After Johnston's failed attempt to attack Sherman's army at Cassville on May 19, the front shifted to the area of Dallas-New Hope Church, where fighting inconclusively occurred May 25-28. Johnston dug in at Kennesaw Mountain, repelling Sherman's assaults June 27 before being flanked again.

FYI MSG Roy Cheever Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. PO3 Edward Riddle SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL Maj William W. 'Bill' Price COL Private RallyPoint Member COL Lisandro Murphy SSgt David M. MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. SPC Maurice Evans SPC Jon O. SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth SSG Trevor S.PO3 Phyllis Maynard SPC Miguel C. 1SG Steven Imerman SSgt Charles Ankner SGM Steve Wettstein SGT Jim Arnold

Response by Capt Seid Waddell made Jul 14 at 2016 6:15 PM

2016-07-14T18:15:15-04:00

Sherman's march to the sea was the most effective push in destroying the South's will to fight.

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Jul 14 at 2016 6:16 PM

2016-07-14T18:16:11-04:00

Sieges around the periphery of the south in 1863 at the defense of Charleston, SC in the east and Jackson, Mississippi in the West. In 1864 Sherman is closing in on Atlanta. In the southern area sieges the confederates had limited advantages with internal lines of communications.
Below are a number of journal entries from 1862 and 1863 which shed light on what life was like for soldiers and civilians – the good, the bad and the ugly.
Thursday, July 10, 1862: Sarah Morgan, of Baton Rouge, wrote in her diary yesterday of a couple of shy and lonely Yankee listeners to the Morgan sisters’ evening music in occupied Baton Rouge---and of how war does not efface the common humanity in one’s enemy: “Poor Miriam! Poor Sarah! they are disgraced again! Last night we were all sitting on the balcony in the moonlight, singing as usual with our guitar. I have been so accustomed to hear father say in the evening, “Come, girls! where is my concert?” and he took so much pleasure in listening, that I could not think singing in the balcony was so very dreadful, since he encouraged us in it. But last night changed all my ideas. We noticed Federals, both officers and soldiers, pass singly, or by twos or threes at different times, but as we were not singing for their benefit, and they were evidently attending to their own affairs, there was no necessity of noticing them at all.
But about half-past nine, after we had sung two or three dozen others, we commenced “Mary of Argyle.” As the last word died away, while the chords were still vibrating, came a sound of — clapping hands, in short! Down went every string of the guitar; Charlie cried, “I told you so!” and ordered an immediate retreat; Miriam objected, as undignified, but renounced the guitar; mother sprang to her feet, and closed the front windows in an instant, whereupon, dignified or not, we all evacuated the gallery and fell back into the house. All this was done in a few minutes, and as quietly as possible; and while the gas was being turned off downstairs, Miriam and I flew upstairs, — I confess I was mortified to death, very, very much ashamed, — but we wanted to see the guilty party, for from below they were invisible. We stole out on the front balcony above, and in front of the house that used to be Gibbes’s, we beheld one of the culprits. At the sight of the creature, my mortification vanished in intense compassion for his. He was standing under the tree, half in the moonlight, his hands in his pockets, looking at the extinction of light below, with the true state of affairs dawning on his astonished mind, and looking by no means satisfied with himself! Such an abashed creature! He looked just as though he had received a kick, that, conscious of deserving, he dared not return! While he yet gazed on the house in silent amazement and consternation, hands still forlornly searching his pockets, as though for a reason for our behavior, from under the dark shadow of the tree another slowly picked himself up from the ground — hope he was not knocked down by surprise —and joined the first. His hands sought his pockets, too, and, if possible, he looked more mortified than the other. After looking for some time at the house, satisfied that they had put an end to future singing from the gallery, they walked slowly away, turning back every now and then to be certain that it was a fact. If ever I saw two mortified, hangdog-looking men, they were these two as they took their way home. Was it not shocking?
But they could not have meant it merely to be insulting or they would have placed themselves in full view of us, rather than out of sight, under the trees. Perhaps they were thinking of their own homes, instead of us.
Today, Miss Morgan writes about the new speech laws imposed on her city by the military government of Baton Rouge:
A proclamation is out announcing that any one talking about the war, or present state of affairs, will be “summarily” dealt with. Now, seems to me “summarily” is not exactly the word they mean, but still it has an imposing effect. What a sad state their affairs must be in, if they can’t bear comment. . . . I wonder if they expect to be obeyed? What a stretch of tyranny! O free America! You who uphold free people, free speech, free everything, what a foul blot of despotism rests on a once spotless name! A nation of brave men, who wage war on women and lock them up in prisons for using their woman weapon, the tongue; a nation of free people who advocate despotism; a nation of Brothers who bind the weaker ones hand and foot, and scourge them with military tyrants and other Free, Brotherly institutions; what a picture! Who would not be an American? “
Thursday, July 10, 1862: Mary Boykin Chestnut, in her diary, remarks on political rumors in Richmond, and offers insight on the fire-breathing ladies who push their men into heroic acts: “My husband has come. He believes from what he heard in Richmond that we are to be recognized as a nation by the crowned heads across the water, at last. Mr. Davis was very kind; he asked him to stay at his house, which he did, and went every day with General Lee and Mr. Davis to the battle-field as a sort of amateur aide to the President. Likewise they admitted him to the informal Cabinet meetings at the President’s house. He is so hopeful now that it is pleasant to hear him, . . .
Public opinion is hot against Huger and Magruder for McClellan’s escape. Doctor Gibbes gave me some letters picked up on the battle-field. One signed “Laura,” tells her lover to fight in such a manner that no Southerner can ever taunt Yankees again with cowardice. She speaks of a man at home whom she knows, “who is still talking of his intention to seek the bubble reputation at the cannon’s mouth.” “Miserable coward!” she writes, “I will never speak to him again.” It was a relief to find one silly young person filling three pages with a description of her new bonnet and the bonnet still worn by her rival. Those fiery Joan of Arc damsels who goad on their sweethearts bode us no good.”
Friday, July 10, 1863: George Michael Neese, a Confederate artilleryman, writes in his journal of some of the skirmishing around Boonsboro, in which his battery took part: “The Yankees advanced again this morning on the National Road, and we moved about two miles below Funkstown and opened fire on their advancing cavalry. We did not hold our position very long, as the enemy had too many dismounted sharpshooters crawling up on us, and their long-range rifles rendered our position untenable for artillery, and we retired. . . . The Yankees advanced on us again, and we opened fire on them, and held our ground until we fired the very last round of ammunition we had; then we moved back across the Antietam.”
Friday, July 10, 1863: Sarah Morgan, now living behind Yankee lines in New Orleans, writes a most exasperated passage in her journal: “Shall I cry, faint, scream, or go off in hysterics? Tell me which, quickly; for to doubt this news is fine and imprisonment, and if I really believe it I would certainly give way to my feelings and commit some vagaries of the kind. My resolution is formed! . . . I’ll stand on my head if necessary, to prove my indifference; but I’ll never believe this is true until it is confirmed by stronger authority.
Day before yesterday came tidings that Vicksburg had fallen on the 4th inst. The “Era” poured out extras, and sundry little popguns fizzled out salutes. . . . O dear, noble men! I am afraid to meet them; I should do something foolish; best take my cry out in private now. May the Lord look down in pity on us!”

Pictures: 1863-07-10 Siege of Jackson picture; 1863-07-10 CSA Chestnut Light Artillery; 1864-07-10 Jubal Early's men were approaching the outer suburbs of Washington and panic; xx

A. Friday, July 10, 1863: Siege of Jackson, Mississippi begins. The Union army is in position around Jackson. [July 9 -16, 1863]
Background: The fiery Sherman was chomping at the bit to go after General Johnston’s Army of Relief, and the only thing holding him back was word from General Grant that Pemberton had surrendered Vicksburg. On July 4, 1863, Sherman received notice that the Rebel general had in fact surrendered, and Grant ordered him to start after Johnston’s army. Sherman’s troops, augmented by reinforcements to about 50,000 men, began moving that same day.
General Joseph E. Johnston’s Army of Relief had started moving toward Vicksburg on June 29, and on July 2-3 he had scouts looking for a place to cross the Big Black River. On the west side of the waterway was General Sherman’s Army of Observation, and Johnston was still trying to find a safe crossing of the Big Black when he was notified on July 5 that Pemberton had given up Vicksburg.
On receiving this news General Johnston immediately began a retreat back to Jackson, his men arriving in the city on the evening of July 7. The next day he had his soldiers hard at work with picks and shovels improving the earthworks around Jackson. The general had decided to hold the city in the hope that Sherman could be goaded into attacking his entrenched troops.
Knowing that Sherman’s soldiers would soon reach Jackson, General Johnston had his men file into the trenches around the city on July 9. Two of the divisions of Johnston’s army were directly involved in the fighting that impacts the area near Lynch Creek: Major General Samuel G. French’s division, of approximately 4,000 men, held the section of trenches that ran from the Southern Railroad of Mississippi to the Raymond Road. Major General John C. Breckinridge’s division, approximately 5,000 men strong, manned the trenches from the Raymond Road to the Pearl River.
Engagement: Sherman’s army reached Jackson on July 10, and a reconnaissance of the Confederate earthworks convinced the general that the position was too strong to assault. He wrote in his official report: “I soon satisfied myself that General Johnston had taken refuge in Jackson, that he had resolved to fight behind intrenchments, and that his intrenched position was the same substantially that we found last May, only that it had been much strengthened and extended, so that its flanks reached Pearl River. The works were too good to be assaulted, and orders were given to deploy and form lines of circumvallation about 1,500 yards from the enemy’s parapet, with skirmishers close up, and their supports within 500 yards, also that each corps should construct covered batteries for their guns and trenches for their men.”
General Sherman’s disposition of troops to surround the Confederate fortifications at Jackson placed two Union divisions near Lynch Creek: Brigadier General Alvin P. Hovey’s division of the XIII Army Corps, and Brigadier General Jacob G. Lauman’s division of the XVI Army Corps, which was attached to the XIII Army Corps during the Siege of Jackson. Hovey’s division was approximately 3,600 men strong, while General Lauman had over 6,000 men in his division.
Hovey’s and Lauman’s divisions arrived in the vicinity of Jackson on July 10, marching down the Robinson Road until they reached the outskirts of the city.
Aftermath: With Hovey’s men in the lead on July 11, the two divisions then marched cross-country to the southeast until they reached the Raymond Road, near a farm owned by the Holloway family.
On reaching the Raymond Road, General Hovey deployed his division into line of battle with his left on the Raymond Road and his right on the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad. He then set his men in motion, and as they moved up to Lynch Creek, they were fired on by the 1st Arkansas Mounted Rifles of General French’s division. Hovey called up two guns of the 16th Ohio Battery, which immediately began shelling the Confederates across Lynch Creek. The Union infantry then charged, and the 1st Arkansas fell back in the face of overwhelming Union numbers. Hovey’s men forded Lynch Creek without any further opposition, and as it was getting dark, the general halted his men for the night.
General Lauman’s division was supposed to take up a position on the right of Hovey’s division, but darkness found them far short of their goal. They camped for the night behind Hovey’s men, just west of the New Orleans, Jackson, and Great Northern Railroad.
At 7:00 a.m. on July 12, Sherman’s artillery roared into action, as he had his cannons fire over a thousand rounds at worthwhile targets in the fortifications or within the city of Jackson itself. The barrage ceased about 8:00 a.m., and General Hovey was ordered to move up by his immediate superior, Major General Edward O. C. Ord, commander of the XIII Army Corps. The purpose of this move was to bring Hovey’s division in closer contact with the Confederate fortifications, and to align his men with the Union troops on his left. Hovey sent word of this movement to General Lauman, and then pushed his men forward.
B. Friday, July 10, 1863: Brig. Gen. George C. Strong and his large brigade of 2,500 men launch an amphibious landing on the southern end of Morris Island. Strong establishes a strong beachhead at the southern end of the island. By late afternoon the Confederates have been driven back to forts Wagner and Gregg. President Davis asks South Carolina Governor Bonham to dispatch local troops to Charleston. Union artillery on Folly Island (which had been occupied in April 1863) and naval gunfire from Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren's four ironclad warships bombarded the Confederate defenses protecting the southern end of Morris Island. This provided cover for the landing of Brig. Gen. George C. Strong's brigade, which crossed Lighthouse Inlet and landed at the southern tip of the island. Strong's troops advanced, capturing several batteries, moving about three miles to within range of Fort Wagner. Also known as Battery Wagner, it was a heavily gunned redoubt that covered nearly the entire width of the northern end of Morris Island, facing Sumter. Strong's report described the advance: “The two columns now moved forward, under a lively discharge of shell, grape, and canister, converging toward the works nearest the southern extremity of the island, and thence along its commanding ridge and eastern coast, capturing successively the eight batteries, of one heavy gun each, occupying the commanding points of that ridge, besides two batteries, mounting, together, three 10-inch seacoast mortars.”
Gillmore's second diversion, an amphibious expedition against a railroad bridge on the South Edisto River below Morris Island, occurred on the 10th. On that dark, fog-shrouded morning, a small fleet out of Beaufort- a steamer, a tug, and a transport carrying 250 members of the 1st South Carolina Colored Infantry, plus 2 guns of the 1st Connecticut battery- passed up the South Edisto under Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson. The little flotilla had smooth sailing until about 4:00 A.M., when it reached Willstown Bluff, about 20 miles up the Edisto, at its confluence with the Pon Pon River. There, Higginson found his way blocked by spiked timbers sunk across the river's neck, as well as by a 3-gun battery, which withdrew when Higginson landed the troops on the bluff and took possession of the area.
The obstruction posed greater difficulties. The expeditionary force worked till 1:00 P.M. to clear them, with the aid of high tide, and only after the tugboat, the Governor Milton, had run aground. after passing the spikes, Higginson's transport, the Enoch Dean, moved barely a mile before again encountering Confederate artillery. and likewise running aground. Finally, early in the afternoon, the fleet cleared the shoals, and ascended the river, moving to within 2 miles of its objective, before the Dean grounded a second time. Unable to free the vessel, Higginson dispatched a tug to attack the rail bridge on its own.
It did not get far. Under an intense shelling by the gunners ashore, members of the Washington Artillery of New Orleans and South Carolina’s Chestnut and Marion batteries, the tug was forced to retreat soon after starting out. With the Dean free once again, both ships returned downriver, only to have the Milton became entangled in the same obstructions it had cleared earlier. When Higginson's steamer, the John Adams, failed to pry the vessel loose, Higginson set the tug afire, transferred its crew to the transport, and returned in disgust, his expedition a failure.
Background: In preparation for an attack on battery Wagner, Morris Island, Maj Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore, commanding Union troops, operating against Charleston, mapped 2 diversionary maneuvers. the first, which took place on July 9th, involved the shelling of and a landing on James Island, west of Morris. The operation was executed as scheduled and without difficulty. The outnumbered Confederates proved unable to oppose it in force.
C. Sunday, July 10, 1864: Early’s raid on Washington, D.C. Monocacy, Maryland was a decisive rebel victory — a rout, even, by some Confederate descriptions — but it had come with a heavy price, and not only the 900 Confederate casualties. The Union troops, at the cost of 1,300 casualties, had delayed Early’s attack on Washington by an entire day — critical time, it would turn out.
(Following the defeat, Wallace was relieved of command, but after learning details of the brave Union stand at Monocacy, Grant had him reinstated. Wallace would achieve lasting fame for his novel “Ben-Hur,” published in 1880.)
After camping on the battlefield, the exhausted Confederates resumed their march to Washington on Sunday morning, July 10, but they made limited progress in beastly heat. That night they camped spread out between Gaithersburg and Rockville.
D. Sunday, July 10, 1864: Atlanta campaign: Approaching the Chattahoochee River, Maj Gen William T. Sherman feinted right but got troops across upstream. The Southern army retreated back toward Atlanta July 9-10. CSA General Joe Johnston pulls his troops back to consolidate his force at Peachtree Creek, about four miles from downtown Atlanta. There is panic in Atlanta and consternation in Richmond.
Background: Maj Gen William T. Sherman enjoyed clear numerical superiority, but he did not use it in blunt frontal attacks as Grant was doing against Lee in Virginia. Rather, he used Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas' Army of the Cumberland and Maj Gen. John M. Schofield's Army of the Ohio to demonstrate against the Rebel lines, while he sent Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson's Army of the Tennessee to maneuver around Johnston's left flank and threaten his supply line, the Western & Atlantic Railroad. This worked repeatedly throughout the campaign, beginning at Dalton, from which Johnston retreated May 12-13. While the two armies traded short, sharp attacks at Resaca May 14-15, McPherson crossed the Oostanaula River and Johnston retreated again. After Johnston's failed attempt to attack Sherman's army at Cassville on May 19, the front shifted to the area of Dallas-New Hope Church, where fighting inconclusively occurred May 25-28. Johnston dug in at Kennesaw Mountain, repelling Sherman's assaults June 27 before being flanked again.

1. Wednesday, July 10, 1850: Whig Millard Fillmore is inaugurated President of the United States.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/1850
2. Wednesday, July 10, 1861: President Lincoln intervened in an effort to keep Kentucky neutral during the war. Lincoln sent an appeal to Simon Bolivar Buckner, Kentucky’s Inspector General of Militia, and a known opponent of secession.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-american-civil-war/american-civil-war-july-1861/
3. Wednesday, July 10, 1861: Two small Union forces in West Virginia advance on Confederate bases at Laurel Mountain, forcing them to retreat, and at Rich Mountain, trapping the Confederate garrison and forcing a surrender.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+10%2C+1861
4. Thursday, July 10, 1862: Gallatin, Kentucky - On July 10, a force of Confederate guerrillas, commanded by Col. John H. Morgan, were conducting drills somewhere between Gallatin and Hartsville. A force of Union troops discovered the Confederates. They charged into the Confederate formations and managed to capture 90 guerrillas.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1862s.html
5. Thursday, July 10, 1862: Morgan’s First Kentucky Raid: The important railroad depot at Glasgow, Kentucky, captured; fight at Green River Bridge. Union commissary stores and medical supplies burned, enough weapons seized to arm 200 of Morgan’s men. One of the Raiders, Canadian-born Private George A. Ellsworth, has the ability to mimic any telegraph operator’s style; Morgan has him “hack” the telegraph lines to learn how close the Union pursuit is. Ellsworth does so in a thunderstorm, the telegraph key on his knee, with water creeping up to his shins, and earns the nickname “Lightning.” There is no news, and Morgan has him send a bogus message about the whereabouts of Morgan’s Raiders and General Forrest and his cavalry.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/07/09/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-9-15-1862the-western-theater/
6. Friday, July 10, 1863: Morgan’s Great Raid: The Confederate raiders capture Salem, Indiana, burn its depot and loot the stores. Lexington and Vienna are also captured and looted. Exaggerated reports of a 10,000-man Confederate force heading toward Indianapolis reach that city, putting an end to celebrations over Union successes at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. Governor Morton telegraphs militia leaders and calls on them to assemble in Indianapolis to defend the state against Morgan’s troops. Some 60,000 Indiana militiamen respond and “swarmed out into the countryside to hinder Morgan in ways more commonly associated with the Confederates: sniping, felling trees to block the roads, and generally behaving like bushwhackers in an effort to slow Morgan down for the Union cavalry.”
https://bjdeming.com/2013/07/08/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-8-14-1863/
7. Thursday, July 10, 1862 --- Sarah Morgan, of Baton Rouge, wrote in her diary yesterday of a couple of shy and lonely Yankee listeners to the Morgan sisters’ evening music in occupied Baton Rouge---and of how war does not efface the common humanity in one’s enemy: “Poor Miriam! Poor Sarah! they are disgraced again! Last night we were all sitting on the balcony in the moonlight, singing as usual with our guitar. I have been so accustomed to hear father say in the evening, “Come, girls! where is my concert?” and he took so much pleasure in listening, that I could not think singing in the balcony was so very dreadful, since he encouraged us in it. But last night changed all my ideas. We noticed Federals, both officers and soldiers, pass singly, or by twos or threes at different times, but as we were not singing for their benefit, and they were evidently attending to their own affairs, there was no necessity of noticing them at all.
But about half-past nine, after we had sung two or three dozen others, we commenced “Mary of Argyle.” As the last word died away, while the chords were still vibrating, came a sound of — clapping hands, in short! Down went every string of the guitar; Charlie cried, “I told you so!” and ordered an immediate retreat; Miriam objected, as undignified, but renounced the guitar; mother sprang to her feet, and closed the front windows in an instant, whereupon, dignified or not, we all evacuated the gallery and fell back into the house. All this was done in a few minutes, and as quietly as possible; and while the gas was being turned off downstairs, Miriam and I flew upstairs, — I confess I was mortified to death, very, very much ashamed, — but we wanted to see the guilty party, for from below they were invisible. We stole out on the front balcony above, and in front of the house that used to be Gibbes’s, we beheld one of the culprits. At the sight of the creature, my mortification vanished in intense compassion for his. He was standing under the tree, half in the moonlight, his hands in his pockets, looking at the extinction of light below, with the true state of affairs dawning on his astonished mind, and looking by no means satisfied with himself! Such an abashed creature! He looked just as though he had received a kick, that, conscious of deserving, he dared not return! While he yet gazed on the house in silent amazement and consternation, hands still forlornly searching his pockets, as though for a reason for our behavior, from under the dark shadow of the tree another slowly picked himself up from the ground — hope he was not knocked down by surprise —and joined the first. His hands sought his pockets, too, and, if possible, he looked more mortified than the other. After looking for some time at the house, satisfied that they had put an end to future singing from the gallery, they walked slowly away, turning back every now and then to be certain that it was a fact. If ever I saw two mortified, hangdog-looking men, they were these two as they took their way home. Was it not shocking?
But they could not have meant it merely to be insulting or they would have placed themselves in full view of us, rather than out of sight, under the trees. Perhaps they were thinking of their own homes, instead of us.
Today, Miss Morgan writes about the new speech laws imposed on her city by the military government of Baton Rouge:
A proclamation is out announcing that any one talking about the war, or present state of affairs, will be “summarily” dealt with. Now, seems to me “summarily” is not exactly the word they mean, but still it has an imposing effect. What a sad state their affairs must be in, if they can’t bear comment. . . . I wonder if they expect to be obeyed? What a stretch of tyranny! O free America! You who uphold free people, free speech, free everything, what a foul blot of despotism rests on a once spotless name! A nation of brave men, who wage war on women and lock them up in prisons for using their woman weapon, the tongue; a nation of free people who advocate despotism; a nation of Brothers who bind the weaker ones hand and foot, and scourge them with military tyrants and other Free, Brotherly institutions; what a picture! Who would not be an American?”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+10%2C+1862
8. Thursday, July 10, 1862 --- Mary Boykin Chestnut, in her diary, remarks on political rumors in Richmond, and offers insight on the fire-breathing ladies who push their men into heroic acts: “My husband has come. He believes from what he heard in Richmond that we are to be recognized as a nation by the crowned heads across the water, at last. Mr. Davis was very kind; he asked him to stay at his house, which he did, and went every day with General Lee and Mr. Davis to the battle-field as a sort of amateur aide to the President. Likewise they admitted him to the informal Cabinet meetings at the President’s house. He is so hopeful now that it is pleasant to hear him, . . .
Public opinion is hot against Huger and Magruder for McClellan’s escape. Doctor Gibbes gave me some letters picked up on the battle-field. One signed “Laura,” tells her lover to fight in such a manner that no Southerner can ever taunt Yankees again with cowardice. She speaks of a man at home whom she knows, “who is still talking of his intention to seek the bubble reputation at the cannon’s mouth.” “Miserable coward!” she writes, “I will never speak to him again.” It was a relief to find one silly young person filling three pages with a description of her new bonnet and the bonnet still worn by her rival. Those fiery Joan of Arc damsels who goad on their sweethearts bode us no good.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+10%2C+1862
9. Thursday, July 10, 1862 --- Senator Wright of Indiana, in the U.S. Senate, objects to Sen. Chandler’s defamation of McClellan and his strategic failures: “Mr. Wright, of Indiana: Mr. President, when the resolution was read the other day, I could not refrain an expression of surprise that in the midst of such a crisis as the present that an inquiry should be set on foot, the result of which must be to divide the friends of Union and to unite the enemies of the Union. The Senator proceeded in language and manner sufficiently violent and declamatory, to give the impression he meant to bring contempt and dishonor upon General McClellan. It is not to my taste to go back to the field of Manassas and to say that two hundred thousand men were held at bay by less than 30,000 rebels. I know little of the art of war. I am willing to trust the men in command of the Army. Judging from the explosive rhetoric of the Senator who takes pains to call General McClellan a criminal.
Mr. President, General McClellan has not been a newspaper general. He has not sought to write himself into renown, or court others so to do. Not one word has General McClellan offered to defend himself against the charges of the Senator. His reticence and silence has been remarkable. A more implusive man―and we are told that youth is most impulsive and General McClellan is a very young man—would have rushed into print and insisted upon such a defense of his conduct as would at least assure his friends that was not indifferent to his fame. His studied silence is probably his surest vindication.
I will say that, in my humble opinion, that his ten days campaign upon the peninsula, with an army that he tells us was so much smaller than that of the rebel enemy, out-tongues complaint, and will arouse admiration among our loyal people. Some will say that the general was surprised and taken unaware, and that all the allegations that his moves were planned are untrue. I will say only that the conflict displayed on his part uncommon genius, perseverance, and ability; that his troops were heroic and that he saved them from annihilation and captivity. Sir, I know not where in the history of nations you can point to a seven days' conflict, with the same number of men engaged, where there was more science and skill exhibited by the commander than General McClellan exhibited in this contest.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+10%2C+1862
10. Friday, July 10, 1863 --- George Michael Neese, a Confederate artilleryman, writes in his journal of some of the skirmishing around Boonsboro, in which his battery took part: “The Yankees advanced again this morning on the National Road, and we moved about two miles below Funkstown and opened fire on their advancing cavalry. We did not hold our position very long, as the enemy had too many dismounted sharpshooters crawling up on us, and their long-range rifles rendered our position untenable for artillery, and we retired. . . . The Yankees advanced on us again, and we opened fire on them, and held our ground until we fired the very last round of ammunition we had; then we moved back across the Antietam.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+10%2C+1863
11. Friday, July 10, 1863 --- Gen. Meade, slowly moving in Lee’s wake, writes to his wife, and mentions some of the pressure he is getting from Washington: “I also see that my success at Gettysburg has deluded the people and the Government with the idea that I must always be victorious, that Lee is demoralized and disorganized, etc., and other delusions which will not only be dissipated by any reverse I should meet with, but would react in proportion against me. I have already had a very decided correspondence with General Halleck upon this point, he pushing me on, and I informing him I was advancing as fast as I could. The firm stand I took had the result to induce General Halleck to tell me to act according to my judgment. . . .”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+10%2C+1863
12. Friday, July 10, 1863 --- Gideon Welles, Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy, again frets about the sluggish pursuit of the Rebels, who are still stuck by high waters on the Maryland side of the Potomac: “I am assured that our army is steadily, but I fear too slowly, moving upon Lee and the Rebels. There are, I hope, substantial reasons for this tardiness. Why cannot our army move as rapidly as the Rebels? The high water in the river has stopped them, yet our troops do not catch up. It has been the misfortune of our generals to linger, never to avail themselves of success, —to waste, or omit to gather, the fruits of victory. Only success at Gettysburg and Vicksburg will quiet the country for the present hesitancy. No light or explanation is furnished by the General-in-Chief or the War Department.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+10%2C+1863
13. Friday, July 10, 1863 --- Sarah Morgan, now living behind Yankee lines in New Orleans, writes a most exasperated passage in her journal: “Shall I cry, faint, scream, or go off in hysterics? Tell me which, quickly; for to doubt this news is fine and imprisonment, and if I really believe it I would certainly give way to my feelings and commit some vagaries of the kind. My resolution is formed! . . . I’ll stand on my head if necessary, to prove my indifference; but I’ll never believe this is true until it is confirmed by stronger authority.
Day before yesterday came tidings that Vicksburg had fallen on the 4th inst. The “Era” poured out extras, and sundry little popguns fizzled out salutes. . . . O dear, noble men! I am afraid to meet them; I should do something foolish; best take my cry out in private now. May the Lord look down in pity on us!”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+10%2C+1863
14. Friday, July 10, 1863: Gettysburg Campaign. Action at Clear Spring, Maryland
http://www.emmitsburg.net/archive_list/articles/history/civil_war/engagements_in_the_emmitsburg_area.htm
15. Friday, July 10, 1863: Gettysburg Campaign. Skirmish at Leitersburg, Maryland
http://www.emmitsburg.net/archive_list/articles/history/civil_war/engagements_in_the_emmitsburg_area.htm
16. Friday, July 10, 1863: Gettysburg Campaign. Battle of Funkstown, Maryland [July 10-13, 1863]
http://www.emmitsburg.net/archive_list/articles/history/civil_war/engagements_in_the_emmitsburg_area.htm
17. Friday, July 10, 1863: Gettysburg Campaign. Battle of Hagerstown, Maryland [July 10-13, 1863]
http://www.emmitsburg.net/archive_list/articles/history/civil_war/engagements_in_the_emmitsburg_area.htm
18. Friday, July 10, 1863: Gettysburg Campaign. Skirmish at Jones's Crossroads, Maryland [July 10-13, 1863]
http://www.emmitsburg.net/archive_list/articles/history/civil_war/engagements_in_the_emmitsburg_area.htm
19. Friday, July 10, 1863 --- Meade’s troops concentrate around Boonsboro, with the Rebel cavalry contesting their every move. There is skirmishing on several fronts in the area today.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+10%2C+1863
20. Friday, July 10, 1863: Gettysburg campaign: There is skirmishing near Hagerstown, Jones’s Crossroads, Funkstown, Old Antietam Forge and Clear Spring, Maryland. Heavier action occurs at Falling Waters, Maryland.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/07/08/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-8-14-1863/
21. Friday, July 10, 1863: July 11, 1863 Battle of Fort Wagner South Carolina. [Jul 10-11, 1863] Quincy A. Gillmore; P. G. T. Beauregard
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186307
22. Friday, July 10, 1863: Federal forces complete an amphibious landing on Morris Island near the entrance to Charleston Harbor. They will fortify the position over the next 3 weeks.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186307
23. Friday, July 10, 1863 --- On this date, Gen. Gillmore near Charleston orders Gen. George Strong and his large brigade of 2,500 men to land on Morris Island. Strong establishes a strong beachhead at the southern end of the island.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+10%2C+1863
24. Sunday, July 10, 1864: Georgia operations, Atlanta campaign: Per General Sherman: “Johnston evacuated his trenches, crossed over the Chattahoochee, burned the railroad bridge and his pontoon and trestle bridges, and left us in full possession of the north or west bank – besides which, we had already secured possession of the two good crossings at Roswell and Soap’s Creek.
I have always thought Johnston neglected his opportunity there, for he had lain comparatively idle while we got control of both banks of the river above.”
https://bjdeming.com/2014/07/06/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-7-13-1864/
25. Sunday, July 10, 1864: Early’s raid on Washington: Lincoln to Grant: “Cypher” War Department; Lieut. Gen. Grant Washington City, City-Point, Va July 10—2.P.M. 1864 “Your despatch to Gen. Halleck, referring to what I may think in the present emergency, is shown me. Gen. Halleck says we have absolutely no force here fit to go to the field. He thinks that with the hundred day-men, and invalids we have here, we can defend Washington, and scarcely Baltimore. Besides these, there are about eight thousand not very reliable, under Howe at Harper’s Ferry, with Hunter approaching that point very slowly, with what number I suppose you know better than I. Wallace with some odds and ends, and part of what came up with Ricketts, [5] was so badly beaten yesterday at Monocacy, that what is left can attempt no more than to defend Baltimore. What we shall get in from Penn. & N.Y. will scarcely [be] worth counting, I fear. Now what I think is that you should provide to retain your hold where you are certainly, and bring the rest with you personally, and make a vigorous effort to destroy the enemie’s force in this vicinity. I think there is really a fair chance to do this if the movement is prompt. This is what I think, upon your suggestion, and is not an order A. LINCOLN
https://bjdeming.com/2014/07/06/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-7-13-1864/
26. Sunday, July 10, 1864: Grant to Lincoln: “I have sent from here a whole corps commanded by an excellent officer, besides over three thousand other troops. One Division of the Nineteenth Corps, six thousand strong is now on its way to Washington. One Steamer loaded with these troops having passed Ft. Monroe today. They will probably reach Washington tomorrow night. This force under [Horatio G.] Wright will be able to compete with the whole force with [Richard S.] Ewell.
Before more troops can be sent from here [David] Hunter will be able to join Wright in rear of the Enemy, with at least ten thousand men, besides a force sufficient to hold Maryland Heights.
I think on reflection it would have a bad effect for me to leave here, and with Gen [Edward O. C.] Ord at Baltimore and Hunter and Wright with the forces following the enemy up, could do no good
I have great faith that the enemy will never be able to get back with much of his force.
https://bjdeming.com/2014/07/06/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-7-13-1864/
27. Sunday, July 10, 1864: Grant to Halleck: “Forces enough to defeat all that Early has with him should get in his rear south of him, and follow him up sharply, leaving him to go north, defending depots, towns, &c., with small garrisons and the militia. If the President thinks it advisable that I should go to Washington in person I can start in an hour after receiving notice, leaving everything here on the defensive.”
https://bjdeming.com/2014/07/06/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-7-13-1864/
28. Sunday, July 10, 1864: Sherman took the decision not to make a full-frontal assault on Atlanta.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-american-civil-war/american-civil-war-july-1864/
29. Sunday, July 10, 1864: Mississippi operations: Generals S. D. Lee and Forrest note that the Federal column appears headed for Okolona, so they move Buford’s and Chalmers’ divisions to Pontotoc, where the US troops are moving in three columns, each preceded by a cavalry unit. S. D. Lee and Forrest establish their headquarters in Okolona, and Buford and Chalmers begin constant skirmishing with the Yankees. Federal forces camp some four miles north of Pontotoc.
https://bjdeming.com/2014/07/06/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-7-13-1864/
30.

A Friday, July 10, 1863: Mississippi operations/Siege of Jackson: The Union army is in position around Jackson.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/07/08/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-8-14-1863/
A Friday July 10, 1863: Siege of Jackson, Mississippi. [July 9 -16, 1863]
Background: The fiery Sherman was chomping at the bit to go after General Johnston’s Army of Relief, and the only thing holding him back was word from General Grant that Pemberton had surrendered Vicksburg. On July 4, 1863, Sherman received notice that the Rebel general had in fact surrendered, and Grant ordered him to start after Johnston’s army. Sherman’s troops, augmented by reinforcements to about 50,000 men, began moving that same day.
General Joseph E. Johnston’s Army of Relief had started moving toward Vicksburg on June 29, and on July 2-3 he had scouts looking for a place to cross the Big Black River. On the west side of the waterway was General Sherman’s Army of Observation, and Johnston was still trying to find a safe crossing of the Big Black when he was notified on July 5 that Pemberton had given up Vicksburg.
On receiving this news General Johnston immediately began a retreat back to Jackson, his men arriving in the city on the evening of July 7. The next day he had his soldiers hard at work with picks and shovels improving the earthworks around Jackson. The general had decided to hold the city in the hope that Sherman could be goaded into attacking his entrenched troops.
Knowing that Sherman’s soldiers would soon reach Jackson, General Johnston had his men file into the trenches around the city on July 9. Two of the divisions of Johnston’s army were directly involved in the fighting that impacts the area near Lynch Creek: Major General Samuel G. French’s division, of approximately 4,000 men, held the section of trenches that ran from the Southern Railroad of Mississippi to the Raymond Road. Major General John C. Breckinridge’s division, approximately 5,000 men strong, manned the trenches from the Raymond Road to the Pearl River.
Engagement: Sherman’s army reached Jackson on July 10, and a reconnaissance of the Confederate earthworks convinced the general that the position was too strong to assault. He wrote in his official report: “I soon satisfied myself that General Johnston had taken refuge in Jackson, that he had resolved to fight behind intrenchments, and that his intrenched position was the same substantially that we found last May, only that it had been much strengthened and extended, so that its flanks reached Pearl River. The works were too good to be assaulted, and orders were given to deploy and form lines of circumvallation about 1,500 yards from the enemy’s parapet, with skirmishers close up, and their supports within 500 yards, also that each corps should construct covered batteries for their guns and trenches for their men.”
General Sherman’s disposition of troops to surround the Confederate fortifications at Jackson placed two Union divisions near Lynch Creek: Brigadier General Alvin P. Hovey’s division of the XIII Army Corps, and Brigadier General Jacob G. Lauman’s division of the XVI Army Corps, which was attached to the XIII Army Corps during the Siege of Jackson. Hovey’s division was approximately 3,600 men strong, while General Lauman had over 6,000 men in his division.
Hovey’s and Lauman’s divisions arrived in the vicinity of Jackson on July 10, marching down the Robinson Road until they reached the outskirts of the city.
Aftermath: With Hovey’s men in the lead on July 11, the two divisions then marched cross-country to the southeast until they reached the Raymond Road, near a farm owned by the Holloway family.
On reaching the Raymond Road, General Hovey deployed his division into line of battle with his left on the Raymond Road and his right on the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad. He then set his men in motion, and as they moved up to Lynch Creek, they were fired on by the 1st Arkansas Mounted Rifles of General French’s division. Hovey called up two guns of the 16th Ohio Battery, which immediately began shelling the Confederates across Lynch Creek. The Union infantry then charged, and the 1st Arkansas fell back in the face of overwhelming Union numbers. Hovey’s men forded Lynch Creek without any further opposition, and as it was getting dark, the general halted his men for the night.
General Lauman’s division was supposed to take up a position on the right of Hovey’s division, but darkness found them far short of their goal. They camped for the night behind Hovey’s men, just west of the New Orleans, Jackson, and Great Northern Railroad.
At 7:00 a.m. on July 12, Sherman’s artillery roared into action, as he had his cannons fire over a thousand rounds at worthwhile targets in the fortifications or within the city of Jackson itself. The barrage ceased about 8:00 a.m., and General Hovey was ordered to move up by his immediate superior, Major General Edward O. C. Ord, commander of the XIII Army Corps. The purpose of this move was to bring Hovey’s division in closer contact with the Confederate fortifications, and to align his men with the Union troops on his left. Hovey sent word of this movement to General Lauman, and then pushed his men forward.
https://mississippiconfederates.wordpress.com/2013/09/14/a-murderous-fire-on-my-whole-line-two-battles-at-jackson-mississippi/
B Friday, July 10, 1863: South Carolina operations/Charleston: US forces launch an amphibious landing on the southern end of Morris Island. By late afternoon the Confederates have been driven back to forts Wagner and Gregg. President Davis asks South Carolina Governor Bonham to dispatch local troops to Charleston.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/07/08/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-8-14-1863/
B+ Friday July 10, 1863: Union artillery on Folly Island (which had been occupied in April 1863) and naval gunfire from Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren's four ironclad warships bombarded the Confederate defenses protecting the southern end of Morris Island. This provided cover for the landing of Brig. Gen. George C. Strong's brigade, which crossed Lighthouse Inlet and landed at the southern tip of the island. Strong's troops advanced, capturing several batteries, moving about three miles to within range of Fort Wagner. Also known as Battery Wagner, it was a heavily gunned redoubt that covered nearly the entire width of the northern end of Morris Island, facing Sumter. Strong's report described the advance: “The two columns now moved forward, under a lively discharge of shell, grape, and canister, converging toward the works nearest the southern extremity of the island, and thence along its commanding ridge and eastern coast, capturing successively the eight batteries, of one heavy gun each, occupying the commanding points of that ridge, besides two batteries, mounting, together, three 10-inch seacoast mortars.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Fort_Wagner
B++ Friday July 10, 1863: Willstown Bluff near Charleston, South Carolina - In preparation for an attack on battery Wagner, Morris Island, Maj Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore, commanding Union troops, operating against Charleston, mapped 2 diversionary maneuvers. the first, which took place on July 9th, involved the shelling of and a landing on James Island, west of Morris. The operation was executed as scheduled and without difficulty. The outnumbered Confederates proved unable to oppose it in force.
Gillmore's second diversion, an amphibious expedition against a railroad bridge on the South Edisto River below Morris Island, occurred on the 10th. On that dark, fog-shrouded morning, a small fleet out of Beaufort- a steamer, a tug, and a transport carrying 250 members of the 1st South Carolina Colored Infantry, plus 2 guns of the 1st Connecticut battery- passed up the South Edisto under Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson. The little flotilla had smooth sailing until about 4:00 A.M., when it reached Willstown Bluff, about 20 miles up the edisto, at its confluence with the Pon Pon River. There, Higginson found his way blocked by spiked timbers sunk across the river's neck, as well as by a 3-gun battery, which withdrew when Higginson landed the troops on the bluff and took possession of the area.
The obstruction posed greater difficulties. The expeditionary force worked till 1:00 P.M. to clear them, with the aid of high tide, and only after the tugboat, the Governor Milton, had run aground. after passing the spikes, Higginson's transport, the Enoch Dean, moved barely a mile before again encountering Confederate artillery. and likewise running aground. Finally, early in the afternoon, the fleet cleared the shoals, and ascended the river, moving to within 2 miles of its objective, before the Dean grounded a second time. Unable to free the vessel, Higginson dispatched a tug to attack the rail bridge on its own.
It did not get far. Under an intense shelling by the gunners ashore, members of the Washington Artillery of New Orleans and South Carolina’s Chestnut and Marion batteries, the tug was forced to retreat soon after starting out. With the Dean free once again, both ships returned downriver, only to have the Milton became entangled in the same obstructions it had cleared earlier. When Higginson's steamer, the John Adams, failed to pry the vessel loose, Higginson set the tug afire, transferred its crew to the transport, and returned in disgust, his expedition a failure.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1863s.html
C Sunday, July 10, 1864: Early’s raid on Washington, D.C. It was a decisive rebel victory — a rout, even, by some Confederate descriptions — but it had come with a heavy price, and not only the 900 Confederate casualties. The Union troops, at the cost of 1,300 casualties, had delayed Early’s attack on Washington by an entire day — critical time, it would turn out.
(Following the defeat, Wallace was relieved of command, but after learning details of the brave Union stand at Monocacy, Grant had him reinstated. Wallace would achieve lasting fame for his novel “Ben-Hur,” published in 1880.)
After camping on the battlefield, the exhausted Confederates resumed their march to Washington on Sunday morning, July 10, but they made limited progress in beastly heat. That night they camped spread out between Gaithersburg and Rockville.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/for-gen-jubal-early-a-raid-north-nearly-led-to-the-capture-of-washington/2014/04/23/bb5b8fe4-c961-11e3-95f7-7ecdde72d2ea_story.html
D Sunday, July 10, 1864: Georgia operations, Atlanta campaign: CS General Joe Johnston pulls his troops back to consolidate his force at Peachtree Creek, about four miles from downtown Atlanta. There is panic in Atlanta and consternation in Richmond.
https://bjdeming.com/2014/07/06/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-7-13-1864/
D+ Sunday, July 10, 1864: Georgia operations, Atlanta campaign: Sherman enjoyed clear numerical superiority, but he did not use it in blunt frontal attacks as Grant was doing against Lee in Virginia. Rather, he used Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas' Army of the Cumberland and Maj Gen. John M. Schofield's Army of the Ohio to demonstrate against the Rebel lines, while he sent Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson's Army of the Tennessee to maneuver around Johnston's left flank and threaten his supply line, the Western & Atlantic Railroad. This worked repeatedly throughout the campaign, beginning at Dalton, from which Johnston retreated May 12-13. While the two armies traded short, sharp attacks at Resaca May 14-15, McPherson crossed the Oostanaula River and Johnston retreated again. After Johnston's failed attempt to attack Sherman's army at Cassville on May 19, the front shifted to the area of Dallas-New Hope Church, where fighting inconclusively occurred May 25-28. Johnston dug in at Kennesaw Mountain, repelling Sherman's assaults June 27 before being flanked again. Approaching the Chattahoochee River, Sherman feinted right but got troops across upstream. The Southern army retreated back toward Atlanta July 9-10.
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/resaca/atlanta-campaign-overview/the-atlanta-campaign.html
FYI SPC Deb Root-White Lt Col Charlie Brown CWO2 John HeinzlGySgt Jack Wallace SPC Diana D. CWO4 Terrence Clark SPC Michael Oles SR [SPC Michael Terrell TSgt David L. CPL Ronald Keyes Jr PO1 John Johnson SPC Private RallyPoint Member SMSgt Lawrence McCarter SP5 Dave (Shotgun) Shockley SFC Randy Purham MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca Maj Kim Patterson SSG Ed Mikus PFC Eric Minchey TSgt George Rodriguez

Civil War Timeline / Chronology for 1850

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Jul 14 at 2016 6:25 PM

2016-07-14T18:25:24-04:00

Note. The siege of Jackson, Mississippi occurred in July 1863 not July 1862. Unfortunately I do not have administrative privileges to change the date in the survey response.

Response by SSgt Robert Marx made Jul 14 at 2016 6:32 PM

2016-07-14T18:32:36-04:00

Gen. Sherman's march to the sea only ended right before the end of the war at Appomattox CH with the Battle of Bentonville, NC. I toured the battlefield in the 1990's. There was not a lot there. It still moved me immensely to be on spot where such a historical event occurred.

Response by SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL made Jul 14 at 2016 7:01 PM

2016-07-14T19:01:30-04:00

LTC Stephen F. I am going to go with: 1864: Atlanta campaign: Approaching the Chattahoochee River, Maj Gen William T. Sherman feinted right but got troops across upstream. The Southern army retreated back toward Atlanta July 9-10. CSA General Joe Johnston pulls his troops back to consolidate-- I think it was a strategic move to go forward for the next campaign.

Response by TSgt Joe C. made Jul 14 at 2016 7:24 PM

2016-07-14T19:24:45-04:00

I appreciate the Civil War history on this day LTC Stephen F.! All selections get my vote.

Response by Maj William W. 'Bill' Price made Jul 14 at 2016 8:04 PM

2016-07-14T20:04:17-04:00

Going with Early's Raid on Washington DC tonight, LTC Stephen F..

Response by CPO Mark Lovelace, CSP made Jul 15 at 2016 9:06 AM

2016-07-15T09:06:20-04:00

None of the above. I'm voting Vicksburg. That's the battle where the south really learned what they were up against.

Response by SP5 Mark Kuzinski made Jul 15 at 2016 4:29 PM

2016-07-15T16:29:00-04:00

Thanks for another fantastic read LTC Stephen F. - Have a great weekend.

Response by Kim Bolen RN CCM ACM made Jul 16 at 2016 10:05 AM

2016-07-16T10:05:42-04:00

1st amphibious?