What was the most significant event on July 12 during the U.S. Civil War?

Slavery versus incremental emancipation in 1862; John Hunt Morgan’s confederate raiders versus Federal mounted militia in 1863; Confederate retreating across the swollen Potomac in 1863 and being driven back from the suburbs of Washington, D.C. in 1864.
Friday, July 12, 1861: “The Confederate government, formed by early February 1861, had plans for the West. Jefferson Davis and his councilors saw the need to protect the Mississippi River, use the western Confederacy as a "breadbasket," and eventually establish Indian Territory as a springboard for expansion. Later in 1861 Davis appointed Albert Pike, a noted Arkansas attorney who enjoyed a good reputation with the Five Tribes, as Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Prior to Pike's arrival, other commissioners had gone north to Indian Territory from Texas to enlist the tribes in the southern cause. They found the Choctaw and Chickasaw enthusiastic for the Confederacy, and strong sentiment for the new nation also appeared among the Creek and Seminole. In early 1861 Col. Douglas H. Cooper recruited the Choctaw and Chickasaw into mounted rifle units, which later fought in Arkansas and Missouri. Albert Pike also recruited military units, and after Stand Watie received a colonel's commission in the Confederate army on July 12, 1861, he raised a band of three hundred for service.”

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.
Saturday, July 12, 1862: Georgeanna Woolsey, a nurse with the U.S. Sanitary Commission in Virginia, writes in her journal: “The Medical Department is greatly improved, and the Sanitary Commission, who were chiefly instrumental in putting in the new Surgeon-General (Hammond), who in his turn has put in all the good new men, finds its work here at an end, and might as well retire gracefully. Four thousand sick have been sent north from Harrison’s. . . . The Maratanza gave me a piece of the balloon found on the rebel gun-boat Teaser. It was made of the old silk dresses of the ladies of Richmond, forty or more different patterns. They gave me, too, the signal flag of the little imp. We went over her to see the damage the shell did her, bursting into the boiler and disemboweling her.
The army is quiet and resting, and the surgeons of the regiments have been coming in constantly to the Sanitary Commission supply boat with requisitions for the hospitals. We are giving out barrels of vegetables. The Small will run up the river and be ready to fill a gap in bringing off our wounded prisoners, and it will be a comfort to do something before going home ignominiously.”
Sunday, July 12, 1863: George Templeton Strong writes in his journal of the latest war news and the reactions to the Draft: “Despatches in morning papers, though severally worthless, give on the impression when takne collectively that Lee is getting safely across the Potomac and back to Old Virginny’s shore, bag and baggage, guns, plunder and all. Whereupon the able editors begin to denounce Meade, their last new Napoleon, as incapable and outgeneralled. . . . People forget that an army of fifty thousand and upward cannot be bagged bodily unless its general be a Mack or a Dupont. But I shall be disappointed if the rebels get home without a clawing.
Mark Twain [pen name of Samuel Clemens] Sunday, July 12, 1863: News of the fighting in Pennsylvania and Mississippi made its way even to the remote Nevada Territory, where a benefit for the troops was recorded by Mark Twain. The San Francisco Daily Morning Call, July 15, 1863
MARK TWAIN'S LETTER; (From Our Regular Correspondent.); VIRGINIA CITY, N.T., July 12, 1863; Editors Morning Call: - Last week the weather was passably cool here, but it has moderated a good deal since then. The thermometer stands at a thousand, in the shade, to-day. It will probably go to a million before night. But the evenings are as cool and balmy as a shroud - wherefore, we refrain from grumbling. The weather took a curious freak yesterday: it actually clouded up and rained for five minutes - the first time such a thing has occurred here within my recollection. Several of the drops were assayed at once, of course, and found to be genuine; but they contained neither gold nor silver. Had the storm lasted an hour, it would have been incorporated under the Territorial law.
The races over the Winters course at Washoe City have commanded a good deal of interest during the past week. Marcus D. Boruck, editor of the San Francisco Spirit of the Times, attended them, for the purpose of reporting the proceedings for his paper. So far, Joe Winters' Miami is the winning horse. The race yesterday was two mile heats, best three in five, and the competitors Miami, Strideaway and Kate Mitchell. Miami won, in three straight heats. Time: 1:53, 1:54, 1:55. To-morrow finishes the season.
A mass meeting was held at Maguire's Opera House this afternoon, for the purpose of raising a Sanitary Fund for the relief of soldiers wounded in the recent great battles in Pennsylvania and at Vicksburg. The enterprise was so insufficiently advertised that the theatre was not more than half full, and I was a little disappointed in the sum collected. They could have done about half as well in any other town of the same population, and I dislike to see Virginia fail to go ahead of all similar cities. Not more than a dozen or so of our wealthy me were present, and none of our great men were represented by authority. However, the meeting was very enthusiastic. Mr. R. M. Daggett was elected President, and Wm. M. Stewart, Esq., set the ball in motion with a short, stirring speech, and a check for $500; Col. John A. Collins followed with a speech and another for $500; and in a few minutes about $6,000 was subscribed altogether. This is fourteen thousand dollars short of what ought to have been collected. However, we shall come out all right before the week is out. Committees will canvass the county for the next three days, and on Thursday evening the Sanitary Fund will take a benefit at Maguire's Opera House; the free-list will be suspended, and the price of tickets placed at two or three dollars to all parts of the house. It will be a matter of small consequence what the play is - the theatre will be packed to its utmost capacity. Between the acts the audience will be permitted to subscribe to the fund, whether they want to or not. Mr. Paul proposed, to-day, that inasmuch as our former donations had gone to the New York and Cincinnati commissions, we now raise $20,000, cast in into a huge silver block, inscribe "Vicksburg" upon it, and send it to St. Louis. The idea is sound.
Three of the Pioneer coaches met with accidents day before yesterday, this side of Placerville. One of them rolled down a slight precipice, and was smashed to pieces. Mr. Teschemacher, of San Francisco, was in it, but escaped uninjured. Mr. F. T. Moss had three ribs broken, and Mr.G. T. Sewall, of Humboldt District, received a small bruise or so. Mr. Sewall is the profound Justice of the Peace who held an inquest last Fall at Gravelly Ford, on the Humboldt River, on a petrified man, who had been sitting there, cemented to the bed-rock, for the last three or four hundred years. The citizens wished to blast him out and bury him, but Judge S. refused to allow the sacrilege to be committed.
I have been around among mines this week. The Savage company are keeping five mills going, and shipping bullion every day. I descended the main shaft of the Hale & Norcross, three hundred feet, and found they had not yet struck the ledge in the lower level, and will not for the next five or six days. The Chollar company are putting up the finest and most extensive pumping and hoisting machinery in the Territory. They are shipping bullion regularly, and will increase the quantity vastly as soon as their new works are completed, say eight weeks hence. The Potosi company are also erecting hoisting machinery at the C street shaft. The Virginia Rogers Company are at work again, they tell me. I went all through the Ophir, too, through the extensive excavations in the "north mine," and thence under the Spanish, by way of the "fifth gallery," to the "south mine," in this portion of the mine the Company are drifting south on the ledge to find the rich streak of ore lately struck in the Central - they have about fifty fee to drift yet. The yield of the Ophir - in the Company's own mills - was nearly $200,000 last month. The Gould & Curry mine doubled this yield, perhaps, but the rock was worked in many mills other than their own. The Silver City mines are coming out handsomely, and are growing in favor every day. Those of Gold Hill are being worked with increased energy and profit, and new machinery of an expensive character has been added to several of them lately. The Echo Company are making preparations to sink a new shaft in the vicinity of the Succor Mill, as it is dangerous to work the old incline, on account of its caving propensities. The last batch of rock from the Echo - thirty tons, third-class - yielded seventy-one dollars to the ton in the Pioneer Mill. The first-class ore goes clear out of sight into the thousands. The Echo is probably the riches mine in Gold Hill District. Work on the Yellow Jacket and Belcher is progressing as usual, and the stock continues to advance in price. Two months hence will see these mines pretty thoroughly opened, and prove them, doubtless, to be among the best in Washoe.
The Humboldt Register man has taken umbrage at something I said in my last letter - about the day of excitements in Humboldt being over - the people having gone soberly to work, and left that sort of thing to newer districts. He says Humboldt never dealt in excitements. Now, in my opinion - however, on second thought I will not discuss this matter with that editor. I can "lam" him.
I will conclude by hashing up a little general news for you: “Dispatches from Salt Lake say that Judge Mott, of this District, is there, on his way to Virginia.
The Hoosier State Mill, between here and Gold Hill, was sold by Messrs. Blasdell & Pray, a day or two since, to Messrs. George Hurst and Jake Clark, for forty thousand dollars, cash. It is an excellent little eight stamp mill, and worth the money.
A billiard tournament came off here during the week, between two of your most distinguished players, A. W. Jamieson and J. W. Little. The game (five hundred points,) was played on a carom table, and Jamieson won it, beating his competitor one hundred and seven. Mr. Jamieson has not his superior on the Pacific coast.
In the theatrical line, we are to have a complimentary benefit to Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Pope next Wednesday evening at the Court House, and about Tuesday evening that sickest of all sentimental drama, "East Lynne," will be turned loose upon us at the Opera House. It used to afford me much solid comfort to see those San Franciscans whine and snuffle and slobber all over themselves at Maguire's Theatre, when the consumptive "William" was in the act of "handing in his checks," as it were, according to the regular programme of East Lynne - and now I am to enjoy a season of happiness again, I suppose. If the tears flow as freely here as I count upon, water privileges will be cheap in Virginia next week. However, Mrs. Julia Dean Hayne don't "take on" in the piece like Miss Sophie Edwin; wherefore, she fails to pump an audience dry, like the latter.
Now, from the sentimental to the practical: The big chimney at the Could & Curry mill is finished at last. It is one hundred and fifteen feet high, and handsomely based and capped with cut stone.
I forgot to say that Maguire's new opera house here is a little larger and rather handsomer than its counterpart in San Francisco, and is crowded seven nights in the week.” MARK TWAIN.

Pictures: 1864-07-12 Lincoln on the parapet - Oliver Wendal Holmes tells the president to get down; 1863-07 John Caskey Hall of the 16th Ohio Infantry; 1863-07 Morgan’s raid montage; 1863-07-12 Morgan's Raiders Marker outside of Sunman, IN
A. Saturday, July 12, 1862: President Abraham Lincoln approved the legislation authorizing the preparation of 2,000 Medals of Honor to "be presented, in the name of the Congress, to such non-commissioned officers and privates as shall most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action, and other soldier-like qualities." Already 88 soldiers have performed heroic actions that will be ultimately awarded Medals of Honor.
B. Sunday, July 12, 1863: CSA Brig Gen John Hunt Morgan’s men looted the town of Dupont, Indiana, where his men burned the town's storehouse and stole 2,000 smoked hams before riding out of town the next day. The hams were eventually discarded as they began to attract flies, leaving a trail of hams along the side of the road. The 103rd Regiment Indiana Militia of the Union Army arrived soon after at Dupont and closely pursued Morgan’s men. Morgan headed for Salem where he immediately took possession of the town and placed guards over the stores and streets. His cavalrymen burned the large brick depot, along with all the railcars on the track and the railroad bridges on each side of town. They demanded taxes from area flour and grist mills. After looting stores and taking about $500, they departed in the afternoon. Morgan finally left Indiana at Harrison, closely pursued by Federal cavalry. as they left Indiana at Harrison.
C. Sunday, July 12, 1863: Mississippi operations/Siege of Jackson. Day 3. On this day, the 16th Ohio continued to hold its position on the siege line at Jackson, Mississippi. Cpl Theodore Wolbach describes the day: “On the 12th the firing increased as the morning hours advanced, reaching at one time the magnitude of a battle. While the skirmishers of the 16th were being relieved, the exposure of the men drew a severe fire of cannon and musketry over toward us and made us hunt our holes suddenly. Levi Feeman, of Co. H, had his left arm almost torn off by a fragment of shell. He bore the hurt manfully but died within a few hours. Capt. Hamilton Richeson got a rifle shot in the shoulder and was carried to the rear. Capt. E.W. Botsford was struck on the wrist but stayed at his post of duty. Several more got thumps and scratches though not sufficiently serious to take them from the field. We were glad when the fierceness of the fire subsided and we could take a long breath with safety.
It should be noted that records indicate Cpl. Levi Feeman, Company H, actually survived 23 days until August 4, 1863. It is believed he was sent back to a military hospital in Vicksburg where he died of his wounds.
Pvt. Newt Gorsuch records: “Shell their works for several hours. Col. Speigle of 120th Ohio Regt. wounded by the bursting of one of our shells. Man of Co. H got arm shot off.
F. Tuesday, July 12, 1864: Jubal Early’s raid on Washington ends in defeat. Early was finally in position to make a strong demonstration, which was repulsed by the veteran Union troops. In the afternoon, VI Corps units sortied against the Confederate skirmishers, driving them back from their advanced positions in front of Forts Stevens and DeRussy. President Lincoln watched the action from Fort Stevens and came under fire from Confederate sharpshooters.
Recognizing that the Union Capitol was now defended by veterans, Jubal Early abandoned any thought of taking the city.
Early withdrew during the night, marching toward White’s Ford on the Potomac, ending his invasion of Maryland. “We didn’t take Washington,” Early told his staff officers, “but we scared Abe Lincoln like Hell.” This was part of Early's Maryland Campaign
Tuesday, July 12, 1864: Early’s raid on Washington: The Battle of Fort Stevens ends when Early realizes the city is now defended by veteran soldiers and withdraws. He later tells his staff officers: “We didn’t take Washington, but we scared Abe Lincoln like Hell.
They might have done more than scare him. During the day, Lincoln visited Fort Stevens and was standing on the battlements, in full view of Confederate sharpshooters, until a young army captain named Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., (later a Supreme Court justice) hollered, “Get down, you damn fool, before you get shot!” The president obeyed the captain. This is mostly legendary, as far as I know, although Lincoln’s secretary made note of an incident on the 11th where “a soldier” roughly ordered Lincoln off the parapet. Grant orders General Horatio Wright to pursue Early.
Background: On July 11, Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early’s exhausted Confederates reached the outskirts of Washington near Silver Spring. Skirmishers advanced to feel the fortifications which at the time were manned only by Home Guards, clerks, and convalescent troops. During the night, veteran units from the Union VI Corps disembarked from troop transports and marched north through the streets of Washington to bolster the defenses.




1. Friday, July 12, 1861:
2. Saturday, July 12, 1862: John Hunt Morgan [CS] and his raiders seize Lebanon, Kentucky.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186207
3. Saturday, July 12, 1862: Morgan’s First Kentucky Raid: Capture of Springfield and Mackville, Kentucky.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/07/09/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-9-15-1862the-western-theater/
4. Saturday, July 12, 1862 --- Georgeanna Woolsey, a nurse with the U.S. Sanitary Commission in Virginia, writes in her journal: “The Medical Department is greatly improved, and the Sanitary Commission, who were chiefly instrumental in putting in the new Surgeon-General (Hammond), who in his turn has put in all the good new men, finds its work here at an end, and might as well retire gracefully. Four thousand sick have been sent north from Harrison’s. . . . The Maratanza gave me a piece of the balloon found on the rebel gun-boat Teaser. It was made of the old silk dresses of the ladies of Richmond, forty or more different patterns. They gave me, too, the signal flag of the little imp. We went over her to see the damage the shell did her, bursting into the boiler and disemboweling her.
The army is quiet and resting, and the surgeons of the regiments have been coming in constantly to the Sanitary Commission supply boat with requisitions for the hospitals. We are giving out barrels of vegetables. The Small will run up the river and be ready to fill a gap in bringing off our wounded prisoners, and it will be a comfort to do something before going home ignominiously.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+12%2C+1862
5. Saturday, July 12, 1862: General John Pope and the US Army of Virginia occupies Culpeper, Virginia, in the morning. General Lee hears about it that evening.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/07/09/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-9-15-1862the-western-theater/
6. Saturday, July 12, 1862: At McMinnville, Kentucky, late in the afternoon, scouts tell General Forrest that everything is quiet along the stretch of railroad leading from Bridgeport through Murfreesboro to Nashville and that Union forces seem unaware of the cavalry’s presence. Forrest issues orders for his men to stay “well closed up” and sets off again, reaching Woodbury at around 11 p.m. There, he learns that almost all the men in town have been arrested and taken to Murfreesboro, an important Union supply center on the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad. After a couple of hours of rest, Forrest moves toward Murfreesboro, some 18 miles away.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/07/09/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-9-15-1862the-western-theater/
7. July 12, 1862: Maj. Gen Don Carlos Buell, slowly inching his way to Chattanooga while guarding and protecting railroads, hears of Morgan’s raids into Kentucky, and in response orders a squadron (two companies) of the 3rd Ohio Cavalry Regiment to go see what Morgan is up to. Meanwhile, Morgan’s telegraph operator, a Canadian named Ellsworth, taps the Yankee telegraph lines to learn that McClellan had not taken Richmond (as the Rebels had been misinformed); he also sends his own message to the Yankees in Louisville that Forrest had captured Murfreesboro, Tennessee (which was pure fiction). On the evening of July 11th, Morgan’s men encounter a small Federal force at a bridge outside of Lebanon, Kentucky. The Rebels fire a cannon and chase them off, but just on the outskirts of town they encounter the Federals again, a force of 500 sent by rail from Louisville. A sporadic firefight lasts for a couple of hours, but at around 10 PM, the Federals retreat, and the town surrenders to Morgan. The Union commander at Lousiville, Gen. Jeremiah Boyle, panics and begs Buell for reinforcements. (Morgan had issued a proclamation for all Kentuckians to rise up and join him, and Boyle is nearly unhinged by the thought of the entire state up in arms against the Union.) Boyle claims that he has beaten Morgan at Lebanon, and yet follows with the news that Morgan has burnt the town and that “the whole State will be in arms if General Buell does not send a force to put it down. . . . Morgan is devastating with fire and sword.” Boyle pleads for more cavalry.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+12%2C+1862
8. Saturday, July 12, 1862: Emancipation: President Lincoln calls border-state congressmen to the White House to urge their support for his plan of compensated emancipation. Two-thirds of them sign a manifesto, which he receives on the 13th, rejecting the proposal because of its “radical change in our social system,” as well its perceived interference in state matters, its cost and because they believe it would prolong the conflict. Lincoln therefore decides to give up trying to placate the border states; it is time for some radical moves.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/07/09/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-9-15-1862the-western-theater/
9. Saturday, July 12, 1862: Abraham Lincoln writes a letter to the Congressmen from the border states, warning them of his upcoming Emancipation Proclamation. In it he states, "I do not speak of emancipation at once, but of a decision at once to emancipate gradually."
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186207
10. Sunday, July 12, 1863: Louisiana operations/Battle of Donaldsonville/Kock’s Plantation.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/07/08/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-8-14-1863/
11. Sunday, July 12, 1863: Gettysburg campaign/Williamsport: General Meade probes the Confederate line.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/07/08/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-8-14-1863/
12. Sunday, July 12, 1863 --- George Templeton Strong writes in his journal of the latest war news and the reactions to the Draft: “Despatches in morning papers, though severally worthless, give on the impression when takne collectively that Lee is getting safely across the Potomac and back to Old Virginny’s shore, bag and baggage, guns, plunder and all. Whereupon the able editors begin to denounce Meade, their last new Napoleon, as incapable and outgeneralled. . . . People forget that an army of fifty thousand and upward cannot be bagged bodily unless its general be a Mack or a Dupont. But I shall be disappointed if the rebels get home without a clawing.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+12%2C+1863
13. Sunday, July 12, 1863 --- Then, Strong turns to more immediate matters at home---the drawing of names for the Draft. Strong prophetically sees trouble brewing on that front: “Draft has begun here and was in progress in Boston last week. Demos [the masses] takes it good-naturedly thus far, but we shall have trouble before we are through. The critical time will be when defaulting conscripts are haled out of their houses, as many will be. That soulless politician, Seymour, will make mischief if he dare. So will F’nandy Wood, Brooks, Marble, and other reptiles. May they only bring their traitorous necks within the cincture of a legal halter! This draft will be the experimentum cruces to decide whether we have a government among us.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+12%2C+1863
14. Sunday, July 12, 1863: News of the fighting in Pennsylvania and Mississippi made its way even to the remote Nevada Territory, where a benefit for the troops was recorded by Mark Twain. The San Francisco Daily Morning Call, July 15, 1863
MARK TWAIN'S LETTER; (From Our Regular Correspondent.); VIRGINIA CITY, N.T., July 12, 1863; Editors Morning Call: - Last week the weather was passably cool here, but it has moderated a good deal since then. The thermometer stands at a thousand, in the shade, to-day. It will probably go to a million before night. But the evenings are as cool and balmy as a shroud - wherefore, we refrain from grumbling. The weather took a curious freak yesterday: it actually clouded up and rained for five minutes - the first time such a thing has occurred here within my recollection. Several of the drops were assayed at once, of course, and found to be genuine; but they contained neither gold nor silver. Had the storm lasted an hour, it would have been incorporated under the Territorial law.
The races over the Winters course at Washoe City have commanded a good deal of interest during the past week. Marcus D. Boruck, editor of the San Francisco Spirit of the Times, attended them, for the purpose of reporting the proceedings for his paper. So far, Joe Winters' Miami is the winning horse. The race yesterday was two mile heats, best three in five, and the competitors Miami, Strideaway and Kate Mitchell. Miami won, in three straight heats. Time: 1:53, 1:54, 1:55. To-morrow finishes the season.
A mass meeting was held at Maguire's Opera House this afternoon, for the purpose of raising a Sanitary Fund for the relief of soldiers wounded in the recent great battles in Pennsylvania and at Vicksburg. The enterprise was so insufficiently advertised that the theatre was not more than half full, and I was a little disappointed in the sum collected. They could have done about half as well in any other town of the same population, and I dislike to see Virginia fail to go ahead of all similar cities. Not more than a dozen or so of our wealthy me were present, and none of our great men were represented by authority. However, the meeting was very enthusiastic. Mr. R. M. Daggett was elected President, and Wm. M. Stewart, Esq., set the ball in motion with a short, stirring speech, and a check for $500; Col. John A. Collins followed with a speech and another for $500; and in a few minutes about $6,000 was subscribed altogether. This is fourteen thousand dollars short of what ought to have been collected. However, we shall come out all right before the week is out. Committees will canvass the county for the next three days, and on Thursday evening the Sanitary Fund will take a benefit at Maguire's Opera House; the free-list will be suspended, and the price of tickets placed at two or three dollars to all parts of the house. It will be a matter of small consequence what the play is - the theatre will be packed to its utmost capacity. Between the acts the audience will be permitted to subscribe to the fund, whether they want to or not. Mr. Paul proposed, to-day, that inasmuch as our former donations had gone to the New York and Cincinnati commissions, we now raise $20,000, cast in into a huge silver block, inscribe "Vicksburg" upon it, and send it to St. Louis. The idea is sound.
Three of the Pioneer coaches met with accidents day before yesterday, this side of Placerville. One of them rolled down a slight precipice, and was smashed to pieces. Mr. Teschemacher, of San Francisco, was in it, but escaped uninjured. Mr. F. T. Moss had three ribs broken, and Mr.G. T. Sewall, of Humboldt District, received a small bruise or so. Mr. Sewall is the profound Justice of the Peace who held an inquest last Fall at Gravelly Ford, on the Humboldt River, on a petrified man, who had been sitting there, cemented to the bed-rock, for the last three or four hundred years. The citizens wished to blast him out and bury him, but Judge S. refused to allow the sacrilege to be committed.
I have been around among mines this week. The Savage company are keeping five mills going, and shipping bullion every day. I descended the main shaft of the Hale & Norcross, three hundred feet, and found they had not yet struck the ledge in the lower level, and will not for the next five or six days. The Chollar company are putting up the finest and most extensive pumping and hoisting machinery in the Territory. They are shipping bullion regularly, and will increase the quantity vastly as soon as their new works are completed, say eight weeks hence. The Potosi company are also erecting hoisting machinery at the C street shaft. The Virginia Rogers Company are at work again, they tell me. I went all through the Ophir, too, through the extensive excavations in the "north mine," and thence under the Spanish, by way of the "fifth gallery," to the "south mine," in this portion of the mine the Company are drifting south on the ledge to find the rich streak of ore lately struck in the Central - they have about fifty fee to drift yet. The yield of the Ophir - in the Company's own mills - was nearly $200,000 last month. The Gould & Curry mine doubled this yield, perhaps, but the rock was worked in many mills other than their own. The Silver City mines are coming out handsomely, and are growing in favor every day. Those of Gold Hill are being worked with increased energy and profit, and new machinery of an expensive character has been added to several of them lately. The Echo Company are making preparations to sink a new shaft in the vicinity of the Succor Mill, as it is dangerous to work the old incline, on account of its caving propensities. The last batch of rock from the Echo - thirty tons, third-class - yielded seventy-one dollars to the ton in the Pioneer Mill. The first-class ore goes clear out of sight into the thousands. The Echo is probably the riches mine in Gold Hill District. Work on the Yellow Jacket and Belcher is progressing as usual, and the stock continues to advance in price. Two months hence will see these mines pretty thoroughly opened, and prove them, doubtless, to be among the best in Washoe.
The Humboldt Register man has taken umbrage at something I said in my last letter - about the day of excitements in Humboldt being over - the people having gone soberly to work, and left that sort of thing to newer districts. He says Humboldt never dealt in excitements. Now, in my opinion - however, on second thought I will not discuss this matter with that editor. I can "lam" him.
I will conclude by hashing up a little general news for you: “Dispatches from Salt Lake say that Judge Mott, of this District, is there, on his way to Virginia.
The Hoosier State Mill, between here and Gold Hill, was sold by Messrs. Blasdell & Pray, a day or two since, to Messrs. George Hurst and Jake Clark, for forty thousand dollars, cash. It is an excellent little eight stamp mill, and worth the money.
A billiard tournament came off here during the week, between two of your most distinguished players, A. W. Jamieson and J. W. Little. The game (five hundred points,) was played on a carom table, and Jamieson won it, beating his competitor one hundred and seven. Mr. Jamieson has not his superior on the Pacific coast.
In the theatrical line, we are to have a complimentary benefit to Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Pope next Wednesday evening at the Court House, and about Tuesday evening that sickest of all sentimental drama, "East Lynne," will be turned loose upon us at the Opera House. It used to afford me much solid comfort to see those San Franciscans whine and snuffle and slobber all over themselves at Maguire's Theatre, when the consumptive "William" was in the act of "handing in his checks," as it were, according to the regular programme of East Lynne - and now I am to enjoy a season of happiness again, I suppose. If the tears flow as freely here as I count upon, water privileges will be cheap in Virginia next week. However, Mrs. Julia Dean Hayne don't "take on" in the piece like Miss Sophie Edwin; wherefore, she fails to pump an audience dry, like the latter.
Now, from the sentimental to the practical: The big chimney at the Could & Curry mill is finished at last. It is one hundred and fifteen feet high, and handsomely based and capped with cut stone.
I forgot to say that Maguire's new opera house here is a little larger and rather handsomer than its counterpart in San Francisco, and is crowded seven nights in the week.” MARK TWAIN.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+12,+1863&max-results=20&by-date=true
15. Sunday, July 12, 1863 --- Gen. Meade does not launch an all-out attack on Lee’s army, and on this night, after the Confederate engineers have assembled a new pontoon bridge, Lee’s troops begin to cross the Potomac.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+12%2C+1863
16. Sunday, July 12, 1863: Mississippi operations/Siege of Jackson.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/07/08/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-8-14-1863/
17. Tuesday, July 12, 1864: Jubal Early withdraws from Washington D. C.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186407
18. Tuesday, July 12, 1864: Lincoln observed the withdrawal of Early’s troops from Fort Stevens.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-american-civil-war/american-civil-war-july-1864/
19. Tuesday, July 12, 1864: Mississippi operations: Federal troops attack the Confederates at Pinson Hill and are rebuffed. At the same time, two Federal columns move out, on the Tupelo and Houston roads, respectively, but are stopped by CS forces. General S. D. Lee, in the meantime, gets word of an impending attack on Mobile and also hears from General Joe Johnston in Georgia that no reinforcements can be expected. After a discussion with Forrest and other officers, S. D. Lee decides to draw the Federals into an engagement. He tells all his troops to move toward Chalmers, who is four miles southeast of Pontotoc, overnight and heads there himself, accompanied by Forrest.
https://bjdeming.com/2014/07/06/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-7-13-1864/
20.

Friday, July 12, 1861: The Confederate government, formed by early February 1861, had plans for the West. Jefferson Davis and his councilors saw the need to protect the Mississippi River, use the western Confederacy as a "breadbasket," and eventually establish Indian Territory as a springboard for expansion. Later in 1861 Davis appointed Albert Pike, a noted Arkansas attorney who enjoyed a good reputation with the Five Tribes, as Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Prior to Pike's arrival, other commissioners had gone north to Indian Territory from Texas to enlist the tribes in the southern cause. They found the Choctaw and Chickasaw enthusiastic for the Confederacy, and strong sentiment for the new nation also appeared among the Creek and Seminole. In early 1861 Col. Douglas H. Cooper recruited the Choctaw and Chickasaw into mounted rifle units, which later fought in Arkansas and Missouri. Albert Pike also recruited military units, and after Stand Watie received a colonel's commission in the Confederate army on July 12, 1861, he raised a band of three hundred for service.
Background: In the two decades after removal the Five Tribes formed active economies and adapted to life in Indian Territory. The Chickasaw and Choctaw practiced cotton plantation agriculture, and the Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole engaged in subsistence farming, ranching, and cattle raising. Market connections with New Orleans gave the tribes a Southern orientation. Each had an established government, distinct boundaries to their land, and a United States government representative (an agency) by which the obligations of the removal treaties were met. While the pre–Civil War era was not a "golden age" for the tribes, the trauma of dislocation had healed, and the region seemed destined to enjoy more prosperous times.
A key social institution among the Five Tribes, one that was also crucial in the sectional division of the United States, was the extent of slave holding. Of Indian Territory's approximately one hundred thousand inhabitants, 14 percent were African American slaves. That aspect of tribal culture, as much as any other, explains the willingness of many Indians to side with the Confederate States of America. The Cherokee Confederate general Stand Watie owned nearly one hundred slaves, making him, in the context of the times, an immensely wealthy man.
Little of the debate over slavery's expansion affected the tribes in Indian Territory. However, Indian slaveholders were apprehensive about the Republican victory in 1860 and the party's ultimate designs for "the peculiar institution." Many Indian Territory residents were upset by Secretary of State William H. Seward's remarks when he urged the U.S. government to extinguish tribal land titles and open the West to settlement.
Another condition catastrophically affecting the tribes was continued dissension between mixed-bloods and full bloods over the legacy of removal. Nowhere was this division more apparent than among the Cherokee. Because the mixed-bloods had signed a removal treaty at New Echota in 1835, they were despised by the full bloods, led by Chief John Ross. A leadership contest developed between the factions, pitting Stand Watie, for the mixed-bloods, against Ross. Until 1860, however, Ross and the full bloods had succeeded in holding political control of the tribe, and a working, if not amicable, accommodation between the two parties had been achieved.
http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=CI011
Friday, July 12, 1861: 600 Confederate troops were taken prisoner at Beverley in western Virginia when Union troops occupied the town.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-american-civil-war/american-civil-war-july-1861/
A Saturday, July 12, 1862: President Lincoln approves the legislation authorizing the preparation of 2,000 Medals of Honor to "be presented, in the name of the Congress, to such non-commissioned officers and privates as shall most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action, and other soldier-like qualities." Already 88 soldiers have performed heroic actions that will be ultimately awarded Medals of Honor.
http://www.cmohs.org/medal-history.php
A+ Saturday, July 12, 1862: Congress authorizes the Medal of Honor for gallantry in action for non-commissioned officers and privates who "...distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action, and other soldier-like qualities...". While the military is almost evenly split on the creation of the medal, politicians are strongly for it.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186207
B Sunday, July 12, 1863: Morgan’s Great Raid. The raiders leave Dupont as Federal cavalry and mounted members of the 103rd Regiment Indiana Militia arrive at Dupont.
https://bjdeming.com/2013/07/08/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-8-14-1863/
B+ Sunday, July 12, 1863: Morgan arrived in the town of Dupont, Indiana, where his men burned the town's storehouse and stole 2,000 smoked hams before riding out of town the next day. The hams were eventually discarded as they began to attract flies, leaving a trail of hams along the side of the road for the pursuing Union Army to follow.
Morgan then headed for Salem where he immediately took possession of the town and placed guards over the stores and streets. His cavalrymen burned the large brick depot, along with all the railcars on the track and the railroad bridges on each side of town. They demanded taxes from area flour and grist mills. After looting stores and taking about $500, they departed in the afternoon. Morgan finally left Indiana at Harrison, closely pursued by Federal cavalry.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan%27s_Raid
C Sunday, July 12, 1863: Mississippi operations/Siege of Jackson. Day 3. On this day, the 16th Ohio continued to hold its position on the siege line at Jackson, Mississippi. Cpl Theodore Wolbach describes the day: “On the 12th the firing increased as the morning hours advanced, reaching at one time the magnitude of a battle. While the skirmishers of the 16th were being relieved, the exposure of the men drew a severe fire of cannon and musketry over toward us and made us hunt our holes suddenly. Levi Feeman, of Co. H, had his left arm almost torn off by a fragment of shell. He bore the hurt manfully but died within a few hours. Capt. Hamilton Richeson got a rifle shot in the shoulder and was carried to the rear. Capt. E.W. Botsford was struck on the wrist but stayed at his post of duty. Several more got thumps and scratches though not sufficiently serious to take them from the field. We were glad when the fierceness of the fire subsided and we could take a long breath with safety.
It should be noted that records indicate Cpl. Levi Feeman, Company H, actually survived 23 days until August 4, 1863. It is believed he was sent back to a military hospital in Vicksburg where he died of his wounds.
Pvt. Newt Gorsuch records: “Shell their works for several hours. Col. Speigle of 120th Ohio Regt. wounded by the bursting of one of our shells. Man of Co. H got arm shot off.
http://www.mkwe.com/ohio/pages/wherewas18630712.htm
D Tuesday, July 12, 1864: Fort Darling, Washington, D.C. - On July 11, Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early’s exhausted Confederates reached the outskirts of Washington near Silver Spring. Skirmishers advanced to feel the fortifications which at the time were manned only by Home Guards, clerks, and convalescent troops. During the night, veteran units from the Union VI Corps disembarked from troop transports and marched north through the streets of Washington to bolster the defenses.
On July 12, Early was finally in position to make a strong demonstration, which was repulsed by the veteran Union troops. In the afternoon, VI Corps units sortied against the Confederate skirmishers, driving them back from their advanced positions in front of Forts Stevens and DeRussy. President Lincoln watched the action from Fort Stevens and came under fire from Confederate sharpshooters.
Recognizing that the Union Capitol was now defended by veterans, Jubal Early abandoned any thought of taking the city.
Early withdrew during the night, marching toward White’s Ford on the Potomac, ending his invasion of Maryland. “We didn’t take Washington,” Early told his staff officers, “but we scared Abe Lincoln like Hell.” This was part of Early's Maryland Campaign
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1864s.html
D Tuesday, July 12, 1864: Early’s raid on Washington: The Battle of Fort Stevens ends when Early realizes the city is now defended by veteran soldiers and withdraws. He later tells his staff officers: “We didn’t take Washington, but we scared Abe Lincoln like Hell.
They might have done more than scare him. During the day, Lincoln visited Fort Stevens and was standing on the battlements, in full view of Confederate sharpshooters, until a young army captain named Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., (later a Supreme Court justice) hollered, “Get down, you damn fool, before you get shot!” The president obeyed the captain. This is mostly legendary, as far as I know, although Lincoln’s secretary made note of an incident on the 11th where “a soldier” roughly ordered Lincoln off the parapet. Grant orders General Horatio Wright to pursue Early.
https://bjdeming.com/2014/07/06/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-7-13-1864/
FYI SPC Deb Root-WhiteLt 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 (Join to see) 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

LTC Stephen F. I always look forward to this read and share. I am going to go with:
1863: CSA Brig Gen John Hunt Morgan’s men looted the town of Dupont, Indiana, where his men burned the town's storehouse and stole 2,000 smoked hams before riding out of town the next day. The hams were eventually discarded as they began to attract flies, In warfare its down and dirty, but reality.

Thank you for sharing today LTC Stephen F.; I chose 1862.

The Medal of Honor being established was indeed an important historical event. To this day the Civil War remains the conflict with most awardees, although several were later rescinded. It was the ONLY medal awarded at the time, and several people got it for simply reenlisting ( an entire Maine regiment) or being the honor guard for Lincoln's funeral train.
The Confederacy also tried to pass legislation to establish a medal for valor, but they simply didn't have the means and extra material to produce one. Instead the established a "Roll of Honor" after each battle. Each regiment would submit the names of Soldiers who acted above and beyond the call of duty and they would be submitted in the brigade commander's after action report.
This did not happen every battle and throughout the war perhaps 15-20 men from each regiment would be recognized (some more than once).

I love those old Medals of Honor LTC Stephen F., would love to have a few of them!

Medal of Honor

The Medal of Honor certainly remains a respected decoration, the highest award for combat bravery. Lindbergh, who flew the first trans-Atlantic flight in 1927, was awarded the Medal despite being a civilian plus the flight was made in peace time.

Thank You Brother Steve for this Civil War history lesson.