What was the most significant event on July 15 during the U.S. Civil War?

2016-07-19T21:59:28-04:00

The C.S.S. Arkansas attacks unprepared federal vessels and evades the fleet to make it to the safety of Vicksburg. Mississippi in 1862: the C.S.S. Arkansas, the South’s most powerful gunboat on the rivers, comes out from her havens in the Yazoo Delta country. Near the mouth of the Yazoo, the Arkansas encounters three U.S. Navy vessels steaming upstream—the ironclad Carondelet, the ram Queen of the West, and the "timberclad" Tyler. Believing that Confederate vessel to have better armor, the Carondelet and her two vulnerable wooden escorts turned downstream. A running battle of maneuver and gunfire ensues. The Carondelet is crippled by a shot through her steering gear, and runs aground. The Rebel ship chases on after the other two Federal ships, and all three run out of the Yazoo and turn downstream on the Mississippi. The Arkansas encounters the U.S.S. Lancaster, a side-wheeler ram, and pounds the Union vessel with gunfire, crippling her and killing many of her crew. As the chase rounds the bend, the entire Union fleet, anchored just upstream from Vicksburg, is caught unprepared: no guns are loaded, and none of the Yankee vessels have their steam up, and therefore cannot maneuver. The Arkansas runs through the entire fleet, trading fire with several Union ships, and anchors at last with no significant damage under the protection of Vicksburg’s big guns on the bluff.
Capt. Isaac Brown of the Arkansas specifies in his report: "I wish it to be remembered that we whipped this vessel, made it run out of the fight and haul down colors, with two less guns than they had; and at the same time fought two rams, which were firing at us with great guns and small arms this, too, with our miscellaneous crew, who had never, for the most part, been on board a ship or at big guns."
That night, Farragut runs his fleet downstream past Vicksburg, hoping to blast the Arkansas into oblivion as they passed by, but the darkness prevents the Yankees from doing any significant damage to the Confederate ironclad other than a lost smokestack—indeed, the thunder of shot and shell from the Arkansas and shore batteries inflicts much damage the Federals. Capt. Brown ends up with only 12 killed and 18 wounded, while the Union Navy suffers 23 killed, 59 wounded, and 10 missing. The Confederate Navy has struck a blow for Southern pride and morale, at least. Soon Farragut and Davis retreat downstream to New Orleans, unable to take Vicksburg without more troops.”
NY City calls out the National Guard to confront the increasing wantonness and murders in the draft riot of 1863: Wednesday, July 15, 1863: “New York City draft riots: Attack on the Arch: A group of black-occupied tenements on Thompson and Sullivan streets, between Grand and Broome, was set ablaze at 1:30 am.
Rewarding rioters? The City Council voted $2.5 million to pay the $300 commutation fee for any poor New Yorkers who were drafted.
West Side atrocities: At 6:30 a.m., James Costello was beaten and hanged on W. 32nd St. Neighboring black families were driven out of their homes. A crippled coachman, Abraham Franklin, was lynched at 27th St. and 7th Ave. His body was cut down, and he was dragged through the streets … .
Out-of-town news: Reports arrived of draft riots in Boston, Hartford, Newark, Jersey City, Hastings, Tarrytown, and Rye.
Red Hook fires: Two huge grain elevators at Erie Basin in Brooklyn were destroyed by arsonists.”

Pictures: 1862-07-15 CSS Arkansas passing through the Federal fleet above Vicksburg, Mississippi, Harpers Weekly; 1862-07-15 Battle Apache Pass; 1862-07-15 CSS Arkansas; 1862-07-15 Federal Artillery at Apache Pass

A. 1862: Apache Pass, Arizona – Chiricahua Indians ambush a Federal force protected wagon train. Federal Artillery makes the difference. At noon, Colonel James H. Carleton’s vanguard had just entered Apache Pass, after making it about two-thirds through the pass. The U.S. army was attacked by some 500 Apache warriors led by Mangas Coloradas and Cochise, far east of Tucson. Geronimo, sometime before his death in 1909, claimed to have fought in this battle but this has never been confirmed.
A large advance wagon train, being escorted by Union infantry, cavalry, and an artillery battery, were being led by Capt. Thomas L. Roberts. They were ordered to establish a supply base in the desert to be used for the oncoming Union troops. They were ambushed by some Chiricahua Indians at the pass. The Indians were firing from behind stone breastworks which had been constructed on the hills that flanked the road. The battle was hotly engaged between the two forces.
Thomas ordered a retreat after his men were running out of water. They went to the local spring after driving off the Indians. The federals lost 2 killed and 4 wounded.
B. 1862: Tuesday, July 15, 1862: The casemate ironclad C.S.S. Arkansas commanded by CS Lt. Isaac N. Brown sails past the federal fleet on the Mississippi River with guns ablaze, destroying three Federal ships the ironclad gunboat USS Carondelet, the ram USS Queen of the West, and the timberclad gunboat USS Tyler. The newly built CSS Arkansas had set out on the Yazoo River in search of any Union vessels in the area. The Arkansas spotted the 3 Union ships and opened fire on them. In the naval battle, the Carondelet and the Tyler were considerably damaged. All the Union ships soon withdrew from the area. The Arkansas then sailed past the retreating ships and went into the Mississippi River. Once there, the Arkansas turned southward towards Vicksburg and passed through some heavy gunfire from the Union ships downstream. The Arkansas sailed into the safety of the Confederate shore batteries at Vicksburg. A Union flotilla started to follow the Arkansas but the nighttime darkness eventually stopped them about the time they were coming up on Vicksburg.
The Arkansas had been repeatedly hit and suffered extensive damage. The federals suffered 18 killed, 50 wounded and 10 missing. The Confederates suffered 10 killed and 15 wounded.
C. 1863: New York City draft riots. At least four more blacks were killed on Wednesday as the riots reached their third day. Desperate to contain the violence, New York Police Commissioner Thomas Acton and Harvey Brown of the New York National Guard decided to concentrate their vastly outnumbered forces at key parts of the city, including the area around City Hall, and northern outposts on the city’s east side, allowing them to target the barricaded areas more efficiently, but leaving other areas of the city vulnerable to attacks. In fact, two key decisions that afternoon—the passage of an emergency bill that would provide low-interest loans to New Yorkers wishing to buy draft exemptions and the announcement of the suspension of the draft itself—did little to quell the violence, as the riots spread to neighboring communities in Brooklyn and Staten Island.
D. 1864: Battle of Tupelo, Mississippi. Union holds the filed at nightfall near Harrisburg, CSA Lieut. Gen. Stephen D. Lee has the entire Confederate force lined up on the Tupelo-Verona road. At 11 a.m., he hears the “authentic and pleasing intelligence that the enemy are in full retreat.” CSA Brig. Gen. James Chalmers is ordered forward and skirmishes with the Union rear-guard while Smith marches north along the Tupelo-Elliston road. S. D. Lee moves his whole command to Harrisburg. Maj. Gen. Nathan Forrest and his staff go to Tupelo. Around 2 p.m., CS General Abraham Buford is sent to attack the rear of Smith’s main column. Forrest and McCulloch’s brigade join Buford. The Federals are pushed back, though Forrest and McCulloch are both wounded. Brig. Gen. James Chalmers takes charge, as Forrest will not be able to command for a while. In hard fighting, US infantry drives Chalmers back, but stops at nightfall. Confederates bivouac around Tupelo.

FYI 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' GrothSSgt Charles AnknerSGT Jim Arnold Ryan Callahan CW4 Private RallyPoint Member Amn Dale Preisach MGySgt Rick Tyrrell PVT Mark Whitcomb

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Jul 19 at 2016 10:02 PM

2016-07-19T22:02:50-04:00

Artillery versus Apaches in 1862 in Arizona. “On July 15, a large advance wagon train, being escorted by Union infantry, cavalry, and an artillery battery, were being led by Capt. Thomas L. Roberts. They were ordered to establish a supply base in the desert to be used for the oncoming Union troops.
They were ambushed by some Chiricahua Indians at the pass. The Indians were firing from behind stone breastworks which had been constructed on the hills that flanked the road. The battle was hotly engaged between the two forces.
Thomas ordered a retreat after his men were running out of water. They went to the local spring after driving off the Indians. The federals lost 2 killed and 4 wounded.
The Americans were not in a good position to fight.
They had just walked dozens of miles across the hot Arizona desert, they were heading for the spring at Apache Pass which was now beyond an army of well-armed Chiricahua warriors commanded by Mangas Coloradas and Cochise.
Lacking water, and with the risk of losing dozens of men by retreating back to Tucson without water, Carleton chose to fight. The natives had constructed defenses, several breastworks made of stone. They also had set up an ambush, they waited until the Americans came within thirty to eighty yards of their positions, then opened fire.
Behind almost every mesquite tree and boulder hid an Apache with his rifle, six-shooter and knife. At first the Union troops could barely see the natives firing on them. After a few more moments of intense combat Carleton ordered retreat, so his force withdrew to the mouth of Apache Pass, regrouped and unlimbered mountain howitzers for a second advance.
This was one of the first times the U.S. Army had been able to use artillery against the native Americans. Carleton ordered his infantry to take the hills overlooking the pass, while he, his officers and howitzers stayed inside of the pass to direct artillery support. The skirmishers moved forward, where they came across an abandoned Butterfield Overland Mail station, which was then used to provide cover from the accurate Apache rifle fire. The infantry was now about 600 yards from the spring, overlooking the water supply was two hills, one that overlooked from the east, the other from the south. On both of the steep hills sat the breastworks, manned by Apache riflemen, doing their best to keep back the American skirmishers.
Carleton moved his howitzers forward and commenced fire along with his infantry, the shots were not very effective because of their position some 300 to 400 feet below the Apache defenses. The artillery would have to be moved again if it was to be effective in this battle. So again the artillery was moved forward, under heavy enemy fire.
Once the guns were in effective range, the commanding sergeant ordered his artillerists to engage. Until nightfall the Apaches were bombarded until breaking lose and fleeing the engagement in all directions. Thus abandoning the breastworks and leaving the Union Troops with a victory and access to the spring.
During the battle, Colonel Carleton had two men killed and three wounded and afterwards learned from a prominent Apache who was present in the engagement, that sixty-three warriors were killed outright by the shells, while only three perished from musketry fire. He added, “We would have done well enough if you had not fired wagons at us.”
The howitzers being on wheels, were deemed a type of wagon by the Apaches, who were obviously inexperienced in artillery tactics. Mangas Coloradas himself was wounded, sustaining a bullet wound to the chest. Carleton’s force would skirmish with the Apaches the following day, ending with a U.S. victory due to a successful cavalry charge which routed the natives.”

Below are a number of journal entries from 1863 and xx which shed light on what life was like for soldiers and civilians – the good, the bad and the ugly. I have included the lengthy annual report to Board of Visitors of Virginia Military Institute for 1864.
Wednesday, July 15, 1863: George Templeton Strong of New York City distracts his attention to the rioting in his city by focusing on war news: ‘News from the South is consolatory. Port Hudson surrendered. Serhman said to have beaten Joseph Johnston somewhere near Vicksburg. Operations commencing against Charleston. Bragg seems to be abandoning Chattanooga and retiring on Atlanta. Per contra, Lee has got safely off. I thought he would. . . . Lots of talk and rumors about attacks on the New York Custom House. . . . Then called on Collector Barney and had another long talk with him. Find him well-prepared with shells, grenades, muskets, and men, but a little timid and anxious, “wanting counsel,” doubtful about his rightr to fire on the mob, and generally flaccid and tremulous---poor devil! . . . What is worse, we were badly repulsed in an attack on the mob in First Avenue. . . . Fired upon from houses, nad had to leave sixteen wounded men and a Lieutenant Colonel Jardine in the hands of these brutes and devils. This is very bad indeed. . . .”
Wednesday, July 15, 1863: Sarah Morgan, of New Orleans, writes in her journal and describes her feelings of dread and disbelief at the disasters that have befallen the South: “Wednesday, July 15th.It is but too true; both have fallen. All Port Hudson privates have been paroled, and the officers sent here for exchange. Aye! Aye! I know some privates I would rather see than the officers! As yet, only ten that we know have arrived. All are confined in the Custom-House. Last evening crowds surrounded the place. We did something dreadful, Ada Peirce, Miriam, and I. We went down to the confectionery; and unable to resist the temptation, made a détour by the Custom-House in hope of seeing one of our poor dear half-starved mule and rat fed defenders. The crowd had passed away then; but what was our horror when we emerged from the river side of the building and turned into Canal, to find the whole front of the pavement lined with Yankees! Our folly struck us so forcibly that we were almost paralyzed with fear. However, that did not prevent us from endeavoring to hurry past, though I felt as though walking in a nightmare. Ada was brave enough to look up at a window where several of our prisoners were standing, and kept urging us to do likewise. “Look! He knows you, Sarah! He has called another to see you! They both recognize you! Oh, look, please, and tell me who they are! They are watching you still!” she would exclaim. But if my own dear brother stood there, I could not have raised my eyes; we only hurried on faster, with a hundred Yankees eyes fixed on our flying steps.My friend Colonel Steadman was one of the commissioners for arranging the terms of the capitulation, I see. He has not yet arrived.• • • • • • • •
Dreadful news has come of the defeat of Lee at Gettysburg. Think I believe it all? He may have been defeated; but not one of these reports of total overthrow and rout do I credit. Yankees jubilant, Southerners dismal. Brother, with principles on one side and brothers on the other, is correspondingly distracted.”

VMI infrastructure, materiel goods and cadets suffer. Friday, July 15, 1864: The annual report for 1864 to the Board of Visitors of Virginia Military Institute by Superintendent Francis H. Smith. Head Quarters, Virginia Mil. Institute, July 15, 1864. Sir: “The Board of Visitors assembles under peculiar circumstance today. On the Sabbath morning of June 12, the beautiful buildings erected by the liberality of the state for her favored military school, were made a mass of ruins by the order of Major General D. Hunter, commanding U. S. Army of Western Virginia, after having been first sacked by his lawless and rapacious soldiery.
The quarters and offices of the Superintendent alone remain; and the order for the destruction of these was only suspended, because the illness of two of my children (one with an infant 48 hours old) did not permit them to be removed without risk of life. After I had left, it became necessary, for the security of my sick children during the shelling, to remove them from the rooms which they occupied to one affording greater protection. This removal, and another when the shelling was over, was made with the aid of my two servants, upon whom my wife was entirely dependent. While the circumstances of others justified no appeal to them for aid, the situation of my family deprived her of the opportunity of rendering assistance to anyone. At the time she was told by the wife of a neighboring officer who had heard from the commanding general that my quarters with the others were to be destroyed, my wife had not the help necessary to remove her children from the house, and was of course without the means of securing one article of her own furniture.
This statement is made to set a rest the baseless rumors in circulation, that my family was required to take the oath; that the rooms they occupied were searched by officials; that the house was tendered to Gen. Hunter as his headquarters to save it from destruction, or that they were called upon, in any way, to compromise their self-respect.
Every species of public property was removed or wantonly destroyed; and among the most serious losses are to be named our valuable library---the accumulated care of twenty-five years--and the philosophical apparatus, so long used by our late distinguished professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy, Lieut. General Thomas J. Jackson. The apparatus and many of the valuable books had been removed to Washington College, under the presumption that this venerable institution might afford a shelter and protection to them. But the work of destruction went on. The college building was sacked; the libraries of both institutions were destroyed, and every particle of philosophical apparatus broken to pieces. Shavings had been prepared to fire the college buildings also, and the design was only prevented by representations from some of the trustees, setting forth the purely civil organization of the college, and that it was the recipient of the bounty of Washington himself.
Our hospital was first rifled of all of its most valuable medical stores, and was then burnt, although one severely wounded cadet and one sick cadet, dependent upon both for comfort and almost for life, had to be removed from the building at great risk, in the midst of the shelling and the rifle balls of the sharpshooters.
The families of Colonels Williamson and Gilham were required by rude officials to vacate their quarters; and although they were allowed the privilege of removing their furniture, in part, through the kind interposition of the Hon. S. McD. Moore, few facilities were afforded them to do so; and the torch was applied while helpless females were endeavoring to save their little stores, and their quarters and many of their personal effects were destroyed . . .
Every public document connected with the operations of the institute, found in my office, and there were many copies of the various annual reports, and registers, was destroyed or removed. My private library was rifled of many of its most valuable and portable volumes, and the portraits of Ex-Governors McDowell, Wise and Letcher, which occupied prominent positions in it, were removed.
The houses of our poorest operatives, including seamstresses, laundresses and laborers, were searched, in common with those of the citizens generally, and some of these persons were left in a destitute and almost starving condition. The kindness of friends in Lexington had opened their houses to receive the trunks and effects of cadets. Such houses were made the peculiar objects of vindictive spoliation.
Our shoe shop was despoiled of all of its leather and unfinished work, and the shoe lasts, implements and benches were there wantonly destroyed. The bell attached to our public clock was taken down and removed, and the beautiful bronze copy of Houdon's Washington (photo at left), by the gifted and lamented Hubard, after being mutilated in the effort to take it from its pedestal, was removed. Report has come in within the last few days, that the enemy being unable to transport this work of art through the mountain passes of Virginia, it was finally broken to pieces and destroyed.
All the regular Negro servants of the institution showed a marked fidelity. Our trusty baker, Anderson, the property of the institute, was stripped of everything; and on being asked whether he had made himself known as belonging to the state, promptly replied, "No indeed---if I had told the Yankees that, they would have burnt me up with the other state property."
I have been particular in the recital I have given of the conduct of the enemy to his institution, because I desire to give permanence to the record of infamy which has immortalized the U. S. Army of Western Virginia here.
The Virginia Military Institute has sought no exemption from those evils which are inseparable from a state of war. In every way, directly and indirectly, in which it could be made tributary to the success of the life-struggle in which our country is engaged, the contribution has been made heartily and in no stinted measure.
The corps of cadets prepared for the field, at Camp Lee, 15,000 men of the army of first Manassas; and every battlefield has been hallowed by the blood of its sons. Every professor and every officer had his appointed work; and each, from the world-renowned Jackson, has discharged his whole duty with earnestness and fidelity. When public expediency required the reopening of the school on the 1st of January 1862, its course of instruction was specially accommodated to make it auxiliary to our struggle. Munitions of war were prepared for the army in the field. The battalion of cadets was kept on a war footing, to resist the raids of the enemy, and has effectively aided in this important duty. Upon the call of the gallant Breckinridge, they were summoned to the battlefield at New Market, and fought with a gallantry which has marked them as the objects of peculiar hatred to the enemy. They were subsequently called, upon the requisition of the secretary of war, to assist in the defense of the capital of our state and Confederacy, and remained near Richmond until the advance of the enemy up the Valley of Virginia under Hunter, again threatened the Virginia Military Institute. They were promptly moved to the support of McCausland, but were unable, from the overpowering weight of numbers, to offer effectual resistance where they most desired to do so, under the walls of the institution itself. It was a painful sacrifice which required them to surrender the home of their cadet life without a struggle. But they were soon reunited to their victorious leader at Lynchburg, and there had the satisfaction of witnessing the discomfiture of the army of Hunter; and once more the standard of Virginia floats from the institute hill. So that in every possible way in which a military school could be made available to our patriotic cause, it has been fully and freely done.
No one, therefore, belonging to the institution can complain that the rules of war should be applied to an establishment marked by such evidences of identification with our revolutionary struggle. It was to have been expected that the cadets should be pursued, that they might be either killed or captured. They asked no immunities from the rigors of war meted to to others. The arms and munitions of war were proper subjects for capture or destruction. Its public buildings might have been held by the enemy as a barracks or hospital, and the school itself dispersed. But modern history is appealed to in vain for a like instance of devastation, as marked the track of the invader here . . .
General Hunter commanded an organized army of the United States, whose professed mission was the "restoration of the Union; " and yet it was by his order, and against the remonstrances (as I understand) of some of his own general officers, that the public buildings of the Virginia Military Institute were committed to the flames; and the threat was made by him that the university of Virginia should soon share a like fate. he is not only responsible for an act deliberately executed, but for the effort clearly manifested to consign to utter destruction every record that could mark the character or history of being of the Virginia Military Institute. Not satisfied with desolation, its walls were polluted with the most obscene language in association with the names of men from Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts . . .
Having joined the corps in Staunton, I there received the orders of the adjutant general directing me to move the cadets to Richmond, to aid in the defense of the capital. Having reported to the governor and secretary of war, in obedience to orders, the cadets were assigned to the command of Maj. Gen. Ransom, and were encamped about two miles from the city limits.
On the 5th June intelligence reached Richmond of the defeat of Gen. W.E. Jones, near Staunton, and of the threatening aspect of affairs in the Valley towards Lexington. On the 6th orders were given to me to proceed to the Virginia Military Institute, if practicable, and take such measures, in cooperation with the confederate forces, or otherwise, as might be best for the defense of the public property at the Institute. The cadets were moved on the 7th, by the Danville rail road, to Lynchburg, reaching Lynchburg at 11 P.M. Learning there that the enemy were advancing upon Lexington, and that Brig. Gen. McCausland was resisting their advance, I moved the cadets immediately, by freight boats, up the canal and they reached Lexington at 3 P.M. on the 9th.
On the 10th a dispatch was received by me from Gen. McCausland, that he had been strongly pressed by the enemy all day, and was then fighting with them on the Brownsburg road, near Brownsburg. By sundown he had been driven to Cameron's farm, two miles from Lexington. I had an interview with Gen. McCausland that night. I told him that if by a determined resistance he could, with the cooperation of the cadets, save Lexington, and with it the public property at the Virginia Military Institute, I was prepared to give him that cooperation at any sacrifice. But if a contest here could only retard the advance of the enemy a few hours, and result in the killing or capturing of the cadets, I was not willing to make such a sacrifice or run such a risk. Gen. McCausland did not think, with the strong force opposing him, that he could save the town; but under his advice, I determined to remain with the cadets on their ground, and hold them in readiness to cooperate with him, could this be done effectively.
On the morning of the 11th the enemy advanced about 8'oclock, and three lines of their skirmishers occupied the hills north of the town. McCausland having burned the bridge over the North river, planted a section of artillery on the magazine hill, and occupied the adjoining cliffs with sharpshooters. An active artillery and musketry fire from sharpshooters soon opened, and continued for several hours. The cadets were not engaged; and after waiting until 1 P.M. and apprehending that the flanks of McCausland would be turned either by Hamilton's cross or Leyburn's fords, I gave orders to Lieut. Col. Ship to move the corps of cadets, by the fair ground road, and cross the North River by the bridge at its mouth. McCausland retired from Lexington about 3, and in about one hour after the enemy entered.
The cadets remained near Balcony Falls from Saturday evening until Wednesday, and rendered good service in guarding the property of refugees, collected from the various counties of the Valley in that vicinity. Apprehending danger from the advance of the enemy into Bedford in pursuit of McCausland, and from a raid into Amherst, I ordered Col. Ship on the 15th to move the cadets by freight boats to Lynchburg. A courier from Gen. Breckinridge at Lynchburg met me on the way, and brought me instructions to move immediately to Lynchburg, and take the north side of the river. As the command had already passed Waugh's ferry, the danger apprehended by General Breckinridge no longer existed, and the cadets reached Lynchburg safely the next morning at 8 o'clock, and I immediately reported to Gen. Breckinridge, and also to the governor and board of visitors. The cadets remained in camp near Lynchburg until after the repulse of Hunter; and on the 24th June, under instructions received from the board of visitors, the cadets were ordered back to Lexington, and reached there on the 25th. Having failed to procure the tents which had been ordered upon the requisition of the adjutant general, the cadets occupied temporarily the buildings of Washington college, which had been kindly placed at their disposal.
Finding, upon examination, that most of our commissary stores had been destroyed or taken by the enemy---that the public property was in a state of utter ruin--I deemed it my duty to place all the cadets who were able to reach their homes, or the homes of their friends, on furlough until the 1st of September, and to make provision to take care of the remainder as well as my means would enable me. Under these orders, all the cadets (except some three or four) are now on furlough.
In the mean time I have employed all the operatives of the institution in gathering up the valuable material found in the ruins, placing the same in a place of security. I have also rented a store in Lexington for the deposit of quartermaster and commissary stores and have been endeavoring to collect such property as may have passed into the hand of parties not entitled to claim or to hold it.
The board will be enabled to see, in the course of their sitting, what has been done in these respects, and will be the better qualified, by personal inspection, to give me instructions in regard thereto.”

Pictures: 1864-07-14 Tupelo battlefield artwork; 1863-07-15 Draft riot in NY City at Union Drug Store; 1864-07-14 Battle of Tupelo, Miss Map; 1841-1873 Rifles
A. Tuesday, July 15, 1862: Apache Pass, Arizona. At noon, Colonel James H. Carleton’s vanguard had just entered Apache Pass, after making it about two-thirds through the pass. The U.S. army was attacked by some 500 Apache warriors led by Mangas Coloradas and Cochise, far east of Tucson. Geronimo, sometime before his death in 1909, claimed to have fought in this battle but this has never been confirmed.
On July 15, a large advance wagon train, being escorted by Union infantry, cavalry, and an artillery battery, were being led by Capt. Thomas L. Roberts. They were ordered to establish a supply base in the desert to be used for the oncoming Union troops.
They were ambushed by some Chiricahua Indians at the pass. The Indians were firing from behind stone breastworks which had been constructed on the hills that flanked the road. The battle was hotly engaged between the two forces.
Thomas ordered a retreat after his men were running out of water. They went to the local spring after driving off the Indians. The federals lost 2 killed and 4 wounded.
The Americans were not in a good position to fight.
They had just walked dozens of miles across the hot Arizona desert, they were heading for the spring at Apache Pass which was now beyond an army of well-armed Chiricahua warriors commanded by Mangas Coloradas and Cochise.
Lacking water, and with the risk of losing dozens of men by retreating back to Tucson without water, Carleton chose to fight. The natives had constructed defenses, several breastworks made of stone. They also had set up an ambush, they waited until the Americans came within thirty to eighty yards of their positions, then opened fire.
Behind almost every mesquite tree and boulder hid an Apache with his rifle, six-shooter and knife. At first the Union troops could barely see the natives firing on them. After a few more moments of intense combat Carleton ordered retreat, so his force withdrew to the mouth of Apache Pass, regrouped and unlimbered mountain howitzers for a second advance.
This was one of the first times the U.S. Army had been able to use artillery against the native Americans. Carleton ordered his infantry to take the hills overlooking the pass, while he, his officers and howitzers stayed inside of the pass to direct artillery support. The skirmishers moved forward, where they came across an abandoned Butterfield Overland Mail station, which was then used to provide cover from the accurate Apache rifle fire. The infantry was now about 600 yards from the spring, overlooking the water supply was two hills, one that overlooked from the east, the other from the south. On both of the steep hills sat the breastworks, manned by Apache riflemen, doing their best to keep back the American skirmishers.
Carleton moved his howitzers forward and commenced fire along with his infantry, the shots were not very effective because of their position some 300 to 400 feet below the Apache defenses. The artillery would have to be moved again if it was to be effective in this battle. So again the artillery was moved forward, under heavy enemy fire.
Once the guns were in effective range, the commanding sergeant ordered his artillerists to engage. Until nightfall the Apaches were bombarded until breaking lose and fleeing the engagement in all directions. Thus abandoning the breastworks and leaving the Union Troops with a victory and access to the spring.
During the battle, Colonel Carleton had two men killed and three wounded and afterwards learned from a prominent Apache who was present in the engagement, that sixty-three warriors were killed outright by the shells, while only three perished from musketry fire. He added, “We would have done well enough if you had not fired wagons at us.”
The howitzers being on wheels, were deemed a type of wagon by the Apaches, who were obviously inexperienced in artillery tactics. Mangas Coloradas himself was wounded, sustaining a bullet wound to the chest. Carleton’s force would skirmish with the Apaches the following day, ending with a U.S. victory due to a successful cavalry charge which routed the natives.
B. Tuesday, July 15, 1862: The casemate ironclad C.S.S. Arkansas commanded by CS Lt. Isaac N. Brown sails past the federal fleet on the Mississippi River with guns ablaze, destroying three Federal ships the ironclad gunboat USS Carondelet, the ram USS Queen of the West, and the timberclad gunboat USS Tyler. The newly built CSS Arkansas had set out on the Yazoo River in search of any Union vessels in the area. The Arkansas spotted the 3 Union ships and opened fire on them. In the naval battle, the Carondelet and the Tyler were considerably damaged. All the Union ships soon withdrew from the area. The Arkansas then sailed past the retreating ships and went into the Mississippi River. Once there, the Arkansas turned southward towards Vicksburg and passed through some heavy gunfire from the Union ships downstream. The Arkansas sailed into the safety of the Confederate shore batteries at Vicksburg. A Union flotilla started to follow the Arkansas but the nighttime darkness eventually stopped them about the time they were coming up on Vicksburg.
The Arkansas had been repeatedly hit and suffered extensive damage. The federals suffered 18 killed, 50 wounded and 10 missing. The Confederates suffered 10 killed and 15 wounded.
Details: The C.S.S. Arkansas sails past the federal fleet on the Mississippi River with guns ablaze, destroying three Federal ships the ironclad Carondelet, the ram Queen of the West, and the "timberclad" Tyler
Near Vicksburg, Mississippi, the C.S.S. Arkansas, the South’s most powerful gunboat on the rivers, comes out from her havens in the Yazoo Delta country. Near the mouth of the Yazoo, the Arkansas encounters three U.S. Navy vessels steaming upstream—the ironclad Carondelet, the ram Queen of the West, and the "timberclad" Tyler. Believing that Confederate vessel to have better armor, the Carondelet and her two vulnerable wooden escorts turned downstream. A running battle of maneuver and gunfire ensues. The Carondelet is crippled by a shot through her steering gear, and runs aground. The Rebel ship chases on after the other two Federal ships, and all three run out of the Yazoo and turn downstream on the Mississippi. The Arkansas encounters the U.S.S. Lancaster, a side-wheeler ram, and pounds the Union vessel with gunfire, crippling her and killing many of her crew. As the chase rounds the bend, the entire Union fleet, anchored just upstream from Vicksburg, is caught unprepared: no guns are loaded, and none of the Yankee vessels have their steam up, and therefore cannot maneuver. The Arkansas runs through the entire fleet, trading fire with several Union ships, and anchors at last with no significant damage under the protection of Vicksburg’s big guns on the bluff.
A task force of Union vessels is sent up the Yazoo River to investigate rumors that a Confederate ram ship is near completion at the Yazoo City dockyards. They meet the ram, the CSS Arkansas, steaming toward them. The Arkansas fires on one of the lightly armed US ships, which flees. The USS Carondelet is part of the task force but runs aground (the water levels have dropped dramatically in all local rivers). Partly to avoid the same fate, the Arkansas chases one of the Union vessels out of the Yazoo and into the Mississippi River, where it encounters the combined Union fleet. At the sight of “a forest of masts and smokestacks,” the Confederate captain orders his vessel to steam directly into the line and stay as close as possible to Union ships to avoid being fired upon. Somehow, the Confederate ram makes it through the entire Union fleet and reaches Vicksburg and protective artillery fire, although the Southern batteries can’t prevent the US fleet from linking up below Vicksburg. Flag Officer Farragut is infuriated and orders the US fleet downriver – they are to destroy the Arkansas en route. The Confederate ram is heavily damaged during their run, but survives and maintains use of its cannon, helping to severely damage two of Farragut’s ships.
That night, Farragut runs his fleet downstream past Vicksburg, hoping to blast the Arkansas into oblivion as they passed by, but the darkness prevents the Yankees from doing any significant damage to the Confederate ironclad other than a lost smokestack—indeed, the thunder of shot and shell from the Arkansas and shore batteries inflicts much damage the Federals. Capt. Brown ends up with only 12 killed and 18 wounded, while the Union Navy suffers 23 killed, 59 wounded, and 10 missing. The Confederate Navy has struck a blow for Southern pride and morale, at least. Soon Farragut and Davis retreat downstream to New Orleans, unable to take Vicksburg without more troops.
C. Wednesday, July 15, 1863: New York City draft riots. At least four more blacks were killed on Wednesday as the riots reached their third day. Desperate to contain the violence, New York Police Commissioner Thomas Acton and Harvey Brown of the New York National Guard decided to concentrate their vastly outnumbered forces at key parts of the city, including the area around City Hall, and northern outposts on the city’s east side, allowing them to target the barricaded areas more efficiently, but leaving other areas of the city vulnerable to attacks. In fact, two key decisions that afternoon—the passage of an emergency bill that would provide low-interest loans to New Yorkers wishing to buy draft exemptions and the announcement of the suspension of the draft itself—did little to quell the violence, as the riots spread to neighboring communities in Brooklyn and Staten Island.
New York City draft riots: Attack on the Arch: A group of black-occupied tenements on Thompson and Sullivan streets, between Grand and Broome, was set ablaze at 1:30 am.
Rewarding rioters? The City Council voted $2.5 million to pay the $300 commutation fee for any poor New Yorkers who were drafted.
West Side atrocities: At 6:30 a.m., James Costello was beaten and hanged on W. 32nd St. Neighboring black families were driven out of their homes. A crippled coachman, Abraham Franklin, was lynched at 27th St. and 7th Ave. His body was cut down, and he was dragged through the streets … .
Out-of-town news: Reports arrived of draft riots in Boston, Hartford, Newark, Jersey City, Hastings, Tarrytown, and Rye.
Red Hook fires: Two huge grain elevators at Erie Basin in Brooklyn were destroyed by arsonists.
C+ Wednesday, July 15, 1863: Draft riots, New York City, Friday, July 15, 1864: Battle of Tupelo, Mississippi. Union holds the filed at nightfall near Harrisburg, CSA Lieut. Gen. Stephen D. Lee has the entire Confederate force lined up on the Tupelo-Verona road. At 11 a.m., he hears the “authentic and pleasing intelligence that the enemy are in full retreat.” CSA Brig. Gen. James Chalmers is ordered forward and skirmishes with the Union rear-guard while Smith marches north along the Tupelo-Elliston road. S. D. Lee moves his whole command to Harrisburg. Maj. Gen. Nathan Forrest and his staff go to Tupelo. Around 2 p.m., CS General Abraham Buford is sent to attack the rear of Smith’s main column. Forrest and McCulloch’s brigade join Buford. The Federals are pushed back, though Forrest and McCulloch are both wounded. Brig. Gen. James Chalmers takes charge, as Forrest will not be able to command for a while. In hard fighting, US infantry drives Chalmers back, but stops at nightfall. Confederates bivouac around Tupelo.
Details: On the 15th, it appeared Maj. Gen. Andrew Smith would not attack, CSA Brig. Gen. Abraham Buford's Division made a demonstration on his left flank. Soon afterward Smith began his retreat, and a vigorous pursuit was at once begun. At Old Town Creek, Buford came up with the Federals in line of battle and was driven back in confusion. CSA Col. Robert McCulloch's Brigade was ordered to attack, but being sent in by regiments was speedily repulsed. Maj. Gen. Nathan Forrest and Colonel Robert McCulloch were both severely wounded, and command of the forces in front devolved upon Chalmers. Though the pursuit was continued, there was but slight skirmishing after this engagement.
Sherman, who was closing in on Atlanta, was irritated Smith had not pressed Forrest at Tupelo, believing he should not have been allowed to escape. If Forrest had been allowed to raid into middle Tennessee prior to the fall of Atlanta, it could have had disastrous consequences for the U.S. Although Smith failed to destroy Forrest's Cavalry Corps at Tupelo, he did break its combat effectiveness. Forrest would rally his horsemen for more daring raids, but never again would they be able to fight and defeat infantry.

1. Tuesday, July 15, 1856: Following his attack on Charles Sumner on the floor of the US House of Representatives, Preston S. Brooks resigns.
[blueandgraytrail.com/year/1856]
2. Tuesday, July 15, 1862: Morgan’s First Kentucky Raid: Capture of Georgetown, Kentucky. Again the raiders are enthusiastically welcomed by local citizens, and Morgan decides to rest for a couple of days.
[bjdeming.com/2012/07/09/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-9-15-1862the-western-theater/]
3. Tuesday, July 15, 1862: President Lincoln asks Congress to postpone adjournment for at least one more day. He is considering “an act to suppress insurrection, and to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate property of rebels, and for other purposes.”
[bjdeming.com/2012/07/09/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-9-15-1862the-western-theater/]
4. Tuesday, July 15, 1862: Flag Officer Farragut is promoted to Admiral, the first to hold that rank in the American Navy. The US Congress also establishes the naval ranks of Commodore and Lieutenant Commander.
[bjdeming.com/2012/07/09/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-9-15-1862the-western-theater/]
5. Tuesday, July 15, 1862: General Grant arrives in Corinth, and one of General Halleck’s first orders for him is the assignment of troops in Memphis to General Samuel Curtis in Arkansas. A more important order will come for Grant the next day.
[bjdeming.com/2012/07/09/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-9-15-1862the-western-theater/]
6. July 15, 1862: Naval Action on the Mississippi - Near Vicksburg, Mississippi, the C.S.S. Arkansas, the South’s most powerful gunboat on the rivers, comes out from her havens in the Yazoo Delta country. Near the mouth of the Yazoo, the Arkansas encounters three U.S. Navy vessels steaming upstream—the ironclad Carondelet, the ram Queen of the West, and the "timberclad" Tyler. Believing that Confederate vessel to have better armor, the Carondelet and her two vulnerable wooden escorts turned downstream. A running battle of maneuver and gunfire ensues. The Carondelet is crippled by a shot through her steering gear, and runs aground. The Rebel ship chases on after the other two Federal ships, and all three run out of the Yazoo and turn downstream on the Mississippi. The Arkansas encounters the U.S.S. Lancaster, a side-wheeler ram, and pounds the Union vessel with gunfire, crippling her and killing many of her crew. As the chase rounds the bend, the entire Union fleet, anchored just upstream from Vicksburg, is caught unprepared: no guns are loaded, and none of the Yankee vessels have their steam up, and therefore cannot maneuver. The Arkansas runs through the entire fleet, trading fire with several Union ships, and anchors at last with no significant damage under the protection of Vicksburg’s big guns on the bluff.
Capt. Isaac Brown of the Arkansas specifies in his report: "I wish it to be remembered that we whipped this vessel, made it run out of the fight and haul down colors, with two less guns than they had; and at the same time fought two rams, which were firing at us with great guns and small arms this, too, with our miscellaneous crew, who had never, for the most part, been on board a ship or at big guns."
That night, Farragut runs his fleet downstream past Vicksburg, hoping to blast the Arkansas into oblivion as they passed by, but the darkness prevents the Yankees from doing any significant damage to the Confederate ironclad other than a lost smokestack—indeed, the thunder of shot and shell from the Arkansas and shore batteries inflicts much damage the Federals. Capt. Brown ends up with only 12 killed and 18 wounded, while the Union Navy suffers 23 killed, 59 wounded, and 10 missing. The Confederate Navy has struck a blow for Southern pride and morale, at least. Soon Farragut and Davis retreat downstream to New Orleans, unable to take Vicksburg without more troops.
[civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+15%2C+1862]
7. Wednesday, July 15, 1863 --- George Templeton Strong of New York City distracts his attention to the rioting in his city by focusing on war news: ‘News from the South is consolatory. Port Hudson surrendered. Serhman said to have beaten Joseph Johnston somewhere near Vicksburg. Operations commencing against Charleston. Bragg seems to be abandoning Chattanooga and retiring on Atlanta. Per contra, Lee has got safely off. I thought he would. . . . Lots of talk and rumors about attacks on the New York Custom House. . . . Then called on Collector Barney and had another long talk with him. Find him well-prepared with shells, grenades, muskets, and men, but a little timid and anxious, “wanting counsel,” doubtful about his rightr to fire on the mob, and generally flaccid and tremulous---poor devil! . . . What is worse, we were badly repulsed in an attack on the mob in First Avenue. . . . Fired upon from houses, nad had to leave sixteen wounded men and a Lieutenant Colonel Jardine in the hands of these brutes and devils. This is very bad indeed. . . .”
[civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+15%2C+1863]
8. Wednesday, July 15, 1863 --- Sarah Morgan, of New Orleans, writes in her journal and describes her feelings of dread and disbelief at the disasters that have befallen the South: “Wednesday, July 15th.It is but too true; both have fallen. All Port Hudson privates have been paroled, and the officers sent here for exchange. Aye! Aye! I know some privates I would rather see than the officers! As yet, only ten that we know have arrived. All are confined in the Custom-House. Last evening crowds surrounded the place. We did something dreadful, Ada Peirce, Miriam, and I. We went down to the confectionery; and unable to resist the temptation, made a détour by the Custom-House in hope of seeing one of our poor dear half-starved mule and rat fed defenders. The crowd had passed away then; but what was our horror when we emerged from the river side of the building and turned into Canal, to find the whole front of the pavement lined with Yankees! Our folly struck us so forcibly that we were almost paralyzed with fear. However, that did not prevent us from endeavoring to hurry past, though I felt as though walking in a nightmare. Ada was brave enough to look up at a window where several of our prisoners were standing, and kept urging us to do likewise. “Look! He knows you, Sarah! He has called another to see you! They both recognize you! Oh, look, please, and tell me who they are! They are watching you still!” she would exclaim. But if my own dear brother stood there, I could not have raised my eyes; we only hurried on faster, with a hundred Yankees eyes fixed on our flying steps.My friend Colonel Steadman was one of the commissioners for arranging the terms of the capitulation, I see. He has not yet arrived.• • • • • • • •
Dreadful news has come of the defeat of Lee at Gettysburg. Think I believe it all? He may have been defeated; but not one of these reports of total overthrow and rout do I credit. Yankees jubilant, Southerners dismal. Brother, with principles on one side and brothers on the other, is correspondingly distracted.”
[civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+15%2C+1863]
9. Wednesday, July 15, 1863: Draft riots, New York City, New York [July 13 – 16, 1863]
[blueandgraytrail.com/year/186307]
10. Wednesday, July 15, 1863: The draft riots in New York were finally brought to an end. However, 1,000 people were killed by the army, which caused huge resentment among the Irish community in the city.
[historylearningsite.co.uk/the-american-civil-war/american-civil-war-july-1863/]
11. Friday, July 15, 1864: The annual report for 1864 to the Board of Visitors of Virginia Military Institute by Superintendent Francis H. Smith. Head Quarters, Virginia Mil. Institute, July 15, 1864. Sir: “The Board of Visitors assembles under peculiar circumstance today. On the Sabbath morning of June 12, the beautiful buildings erected by the liberality of the state for her favored military school, were made a mass of ruins by the order of Major General D. Hunter, commanding U. S. Army of Western Virginia, after having been first sacked by his lawless and rapacious soldiery.
The quarters and offices of the Superintendent alone remain; and the order for the destruction of these was only suspended, because the illness of two of my children (one with an infant 48 hours old) did not permit them to be removed without risk of life. After I had left, it became necessary, for the security of my sick children during the shelling, to remove them from the rooms which they occupied to one affording greater protection. This removal, and another when the shelling was over, was made with the aid of my two servants, upon whom my wife was entirely dependent. While the circumstances of others justified no appeal to them for aid, the situation of my family deprived her of the opportunity of rendering assistance to anyone. At the time she was told by the wife of a neighboring officer who had heard from the commanding general that my quarters with the others were to be destroyed, my wife had not the help necessary to remove her children from the house, and was of course without the means of securing one article of her own furniture.
This statement is made to set a rest the baseless rumors in circulation, that my family was required to take the oath; that the rooms they occupied were searched by officials; that the house was tendered to Gen. Hunter as his headquarters to save it from destruction, or that they were called upon, in any way, to compromise their self-respect.
Every species of public property was removed or wantonly destroyed; and among the most serious losses are to be named our valuable library---the accumulated care of twenty-five years--and the philosophical apparatus, so long used by our late distinguished professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy, Lieut. General Thomas J. Jackson. The apparatus and many of the valuable books had been removed to Washington College, under the presumption that this venerable institution might afford a shelter and protection to them. But the work of destruction went on. The college building was sacked; the libraries of both institutions were destroyed, and every particle of philosophical apparatus broken to pieces. Shavings had been prepared to fire the college buildings also, and the design was only prevented by representations from some of the trustees, setting forth the purely civil organization of the college, and that it was the recipient of the bounty of Washington himself.
Our hospital was first rifled of all of its most valuable medical stores, and was then burnt, although one severely wounded cadet and one sick cadet, dependent upon both for comfort and almost for life, had to be removed from the building at great risk, in the midst of the shelling and the rifle balls of the sharpshooters.
The families of Colonels Williamson and Gilham were required by rude officials to vacate their quarters; and although they were allowed the privilege of removing their furniture, in part, through the kind interposition of the Hon. S. McD. Moore, few facilities were afforded them to do so; and the torch was applied while helpless females were endeavoring to save their little stores, and their quarters and many of their personal effects were destroyed . . .
Every public document connected with the operations of the institute, found in my office, and there were many copies of the various annual reports, and registers, was destroyed or removed. My private library was rifled of many of its most valuable and portable volumes, and the portraits of Ex-Governors McDowell, Wise and Letcher, which occupied prominent positions in it, were removed.
The houses of our poorest operatives, including seamstresses, laundresses and laborers, were searched, in common with those of the citizens generally, and some of these persons were left in a destitute and almost starving condition. The kindness of friends in Lexington had opened their houses to receive the trunks and effects of cadets. Such houses were made the peculiar objects of vindictive spoliation.
Our shoe shop was despoiled of all of its leather and unfinished work, and the shoe lasts, implements and benches were there wantonly destroyed. The bell attached to our public clock was taken down and removed, and the beautiful bronze copy of Houdon's Washington (photo at left), by the gifted and lamented Hubard, after being mutilated in the effort to take it from its pedestal, was removed. Report has come in within the last few days, that the enemy being unable to transport this work of art through the mountain passes of Virginia, it was finally broken to pieces and destroyed.
All the regular Negro servants of the institution showed a marked fidelity. Our trusty baker, Anderson, the property of the institute, was stripped of everything; and on being asked whether he had made himself known as belonging to the state, promptly replied, "No indeed---if I had told the Yankees that, they would have burnt me up with the other state property."
I have been particular in the recital I have given of the conduct of the enemy to his institution, because I desire to give permanence to the record of infamy which has immortalized the U. S. Army of Western Virginia here.
The Virginia Military Institute has sought no exemption from those evils which are inseparable from a state of war. In every way, directly and indirectly, in which it could be made tributary to the success of the life-struggle in which our country is engaged, the contribution has been made heartily and in no stinted measure.
The corps of cadets prepared for the field, at Camp Lee, 15,000 men of the army of first Manassas; and every battlefield has been hallowed by the blood of its sons. Every professor and every officer had his appointed work; and each, from the world-renowned Jackson, has discharged his whole duty with earnestness and fidelity. When public expediency required the reopening of the school on the 1st of January 1862, its course of instruction was specially accommodated to make it auxiliary to our struggle. Munitions of war were prepared for the army in the field. The battalion of cadets was kept on a war footing, to resist the raids of the enemy, and has effectively aided in this important duty. Upon the call of the gallant Breckinridge, they were summoned to the battlefield at New Market, and fought with a gallantry which has marked them as the objects of peculiar hatred to the enemy. They were subsequently called, upon the requisition of the secretary of war, to assist in the defense of the capital of our state and Confederacy, and remained near Richmond until the advance of the enemy up the Valley of Virginia under Hunter, again threatened the Virginia Military Institute. They were promptly moved to the support of McCausland, but were unable, from the overpowering weight of numbers, to offer effectual resistance where they most desired to do so, under the walls of the institution itself. It was a painful sacrifice which required them to surrender the home of their cadet life without a struggle. But they were soon reunited to their victorious leader at Lynchburg, and there had the satisfaction of witnessing the discomfiture of the army of Hunter; and once more the standard of Virginia floats from the institute hill. So that in every possible way in which a military school could be made available to our patriotic cause, it has been fully and freely done.
No one, therefore, belonging to the institution can complain that the rules of war should be applied to an establishment marked by such evidences of identification with our revolutionary struggle. It was to have been expected that the cadets should be pursued, that they might be either killed or captured. They asked no immunities from the rigors of war meted to to others. The arms and munitions of war were proper subjects for capture or destruction. Its public buildings might have been held by the enemy as a barracks or hospital, and the school itself dispersed. But modern history is appealed to in vain for a like instance of devastation, as marked the track of the invader here . . .
General Hunter commanded an organized army of the United States, whose professed mission was the "restoration of the Union; " and yet it was by his order, and against the remonstrances (as I understand) of some of his own general officers, that the public buildings of the Virginia Military Institute were committed to the flames; and the threat was made by him that the university of Virginia should soon share a like fate. he is not only responsible for an act deliberately executed, but for the effort clearly manifested to consign to utter destruction every record that could mark the character or history of being of the Virginia Military Institute. Not satisfied with desolation, its walls were polluted with the most obscene language in association with the names of men from Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts . . .
Having joined the corps in Staunton, I there received the orders of the adjutant general directing me to move the cadets to Richmond, to aid in the defense of the capital. Having reported to the governor and secretary of war, in obedience to orders, the cadets were assigned to the command of Maj. Gen. Ransom, and were encamped about two miles from the city limits.
On the 5th June intelligence reached Richmond of the defeat of Gen. W.E. Jones, near Staunton, and of the threatening aspect of affairs in the Valley towards Lexington. On the 6th orders were given to me to proceed to the Virginia Military Institute, if practicable, and take such measures, in cooperation with the confederate forces, or otherwise, as might be best for the defense of the public property at the Institute. The cadets were moved on the 7th, by the Danville rail road, to Lynchburg, reaching Lynchburg at 11 P.M. Learning there that the enemy were advancing upon Lexington, and that Brig. Gen. McCausland was resisting their advance, I moved the cadets immediately, by freight boats, up the canal and they reached Lexington at 3 P.M. on the 9th.
On the 10th a dispatch was received by me from Gen. McCausland, that he had been strongly pressed by the enemy all day, and was then fighting with them on the Brownsburg road, near Brownsburg. By sundown he had been driven to Cameron's farm, two miles from Lexington. I had an interview with Gen. McCausland that night. I told him that if by a determined resistance he could, with the cooperation of the cadets, save Lexington, and with it the public property at the Virginia Military Institute, I was prepared to give him that cooperation at any sacrifice. But if a contest here could only retard the advance of the enemy a few hours, and result in the killing or capturing of the cadets, I was not willing to make such a sacrifice or run such a risk. Gen. McCausland did not think, with the strong force opposing him, that he could save the town; but under his advice, I determined to remain with the cadets on their ground, and hold them in readiness to cooperate with him, could this be done effectively.
On the morning of the 11th the enemy advanced about 8'oclock, and three lines of their skirmishers occupied the hills north of the town. McCausland having burned the bridge over the North river, planted a section of artillery on the magazine hill, and occupied the adjoining cliffs with sharpshooters. An active artillery and musketry fire from sharpshooters soon opened, and continued for several hours. The cadets were not engaged; and after waiting until 1 P.M. and apprehending that the flanks of McCausland would be turned either by Hamilton's cross or Leyburn's fords, I gave orders to Lieut. Col. Ship to move the corps of cadets, by the fair ground road, and cross the North River by the bridge at its mouth. McCausland retired from Lexington about 3, and in about one hour after the enemy entered.
The cadets remained near Balcony Falls from Saturday evening until Wednesday, and rendered good service in guarding the property of refugees, collected from the various counties of the Valley in that vicinity. Apprehending danger from the advance of the enemy into Bedford in pursuit of McCausland, and from a raid into Amherst, I ordered Col. Ship on the 15th to move the cadets by freight boats to Lynchburg. A courier from Gen. Breckinridge at Lynchburg met me on the way, and brought me instructions to move immediately to Lynchburg, and take the north side of the river. As the command had already passed Waugh's ferry, the danger apprehended by General Breckinridge no longer existed, and the cadets reached Lynchburg safely the next morning at 8 o'clock, and I immediately reported to Gen. Breckinridge, and also to the governor and board of visitors. The cadets remained in camp near Lynchburg until after the repulse of Hunter; and on the 24th June, under instructions received from the board of visitors, the cadets were ordered back to Lexington, and reached there on the 25th. Having failed to procure the tents which had been ordered upon the requisition of the adjutant general, the cadets occupied temporarily the buildings of Washington college, which had been kindly placed at their disposal.
Finding, upon examination, that most of our commissary stores had been destroyed or taken by the enemy---that the public property was in a state of utter ruin--I deemed it my duty to place all the cadets who were able to reach their homes, or the homes of their friends, on furlough until the 1st of September, and to make provision to take care of the remainder as well as my means would enable me. Under these orders, all the cadets (except some three or four) are now on furlough.
In the mean time I have employed all the operatives of the institution in gathering up the valuable material found in the ruins, placing the same in a place of security. I have also rented a store in Lexington for the deposit of quartermaster and commissary stores and have been endeavoring to collect such property as may have passed into the hand of parties not entitled to claim or to hold it.
The board will be enabled to see, in the course of their sitting, what has been done in these respects, and will be the better qualified, by personal inspection, to give me instructions in regard thereto.”
[civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+15%2C+1864]
12. Thursday, July 15, 1869: President Ulysses S. Grant issues Presidential Proclamation Submitting the Texas Constitution to the Voters.
[blueandgraytrail.com/year/1869]
13. Friday, July 15, 1870: Georgia granted readmission to the United States Congress
[blueandgraytrail.com/year/1870]

A Tuesday, July 15, 1862: Apache Pass, Arizona - On July 15, a large advance wagon train, being escorted by Union infantry, cavalry, and an artillery battery, were being led by Capt. Thomas L. Roberts. They were ordered to establish a supply base in the desert to be used for the oncoming Union troops.
They were ambushed by some Chiricahua Indians at the pass. The Indians were firing from behind stone breastworks which had been constructed on the hills that flanked the road. The battle was hotly engaged between the two forces.
Thomas ordered a retreat after his men were running out of water. They went to the local spring after driving off the Indians. The federals lost 2 killed and 4 wounded.
[mycivilwar.com/battles/1862s.html]
A+ Tuesday, July 15, 1862: Apache Pass, Arizona. At noon on July 15, Colonel James H. Carleton’s vanguard had just entered Apache Pass, after making it about two-thirds through the pass. The U.S. army was attacked by some 500 Apache warriors led by Mangas Coloradas and Cochise, far east of Tucson. Geronimo, sometime before his death in 1909, claimed to have fought in this battle but this has never been confirmed.
The Americans were not in a good position to fight.
They had just walked dozens of miles across the hot Arizona desert, they were heading for the spring at Apache Pass which was now beyond an army of well-armed Chiricahua warriors commanded by Mangas Coloradas and Cochise.
Lacking water, and with the risk of losing dozens of men by retreating back to Tucson without water, Carleton chose to fight. The natives had constructed defenses, several breastworks made of stone. They also had set up an ambush, they waited until the Americans came within thirty to eighty yards of their positions, then opened fire.
Behind almost every mesquite tree and boulder hid an Apache with his rifle, six-shooter and knife. At first the Union troops could barely see the natives firing on them. After a few more moments of intense combat Carleton ordered retreat, so his force withdrew to the mouth of Apache Pass, regrouped and unlimbered mountain howitzers for a second advance.
This was one of the first times the U.S. Army had been able to use artillery against the native Americans. Carleton ordered his infantry to take the hills overlooking the pass, while he, his officers and howitzers stayed inside of the pass to direct artillery support. The skirmishers moved forward, where they came across an abandoned Butterfield Overland Mail station, which was then used to provide cover from the accurate Apache rifle fire. The infantry was now about 600 yards from the spring, overlooking the water supply was two hills, one that overlooked from the east, the other from the south. On both of the steep hills sat the breastworks, manned by Apache riflemen, doing their best to keep back the American skirmishers.
Carleton moved his howitzers forward and commenced fire along with his infantry, the shots were not very effective because of their position some 300 to 400 feet below the Apache defenses. The artillery would have to be moved again if it was to be effective in this battle. So again the artillery was moved forward, under heavy enemy fire.
Once the guns were in effective range, the commanding sergeant ordered his artillerists to engage. Until nightfall the Apaches were bombarded until breaking lose and fleeing the engagement in all directions. Thus abandoning the breastworks and leaving the Union Troops with a victory and access to the spring.
During the battle, Colonel Carleton had two men killed and three wounded and afterwards learned from a prominent Apache who was present in the engagement, that sixty-three warriors were killed outright by the shells, while only three perished from musketry fire. He added, “We would have done well enough if you had not fired wagons at us.”
The howitzers being on wheels, were deemed a type of wagon by the Apaches, who were obviously inexperienced in artillery tactics. Mangas Coloradas himself was wounded, sustaining a bullet wound to the chest. Carleton’s force would skirmish with the Apaches the following day, ending with a U.S. victory due to a successful cavalry charge which routed the natives.
[civilwarguide.info/battles/battle-of-apache-pass/]
B Tuesday, July 15, 1862: The C. S. S. Arkansas sails past the federal fleet on the Mississippi River with guns ablaze, destroying three ships.
[blueandgraytrail.com/year/186207]
B+ July 15, 1862 Vicksburg, Mississippi - On July 15, the newly built CSS Arkansas had set out on the Yazoo River in search of any Union vessels in the area. The Arkansas was a casemate ironclad that was commanded by Lt. Isaac N. Brown. The Union ships in the area was the ironclad gunboat USS Carondelet, the ram USS Queen of the West, and the timberclad gunboat USS Tyler.
The Arkansas spotted the 3 Union ships and opened fire on them. In the naval battle, the Carondelet and the Tyler were considerably damagaed. All the Union ships soon withdrew from the area. The Arkansas then sailed past the retreating ships and went into the Mississippi River. Once there, the Arkansas turned southward towrds Vicksburg and passed through some heavy gunfire from the Union ships downstream. The Arkansas sailed into the safety of the Confederate shore batteries at Vicksburg. A Union flotilla started to follow the Arkansas but the nighttime darkness eventually stopped them about the time they were coming up on Vicksburg.
The Arkansas had been repeatedly hit and suffered extensive damage. The federals suffered 18 killed, 50 wounded and 10 missing. The Confederates suffered 10 killed and 15 wounded.
[mycivilwar.com/battles/1862s.html]
B++ Tuesday, July 15, 1862: Mississippi River: A task force of Union vessels is sent up the Yazoo River to investigate rumors that a Confederate ram ship is near completion at the Yazoo City dockyards. They meet the ram, the CSS Arkansas, steaming toward them. The Arkansas fires on one of the lightly armed US ships, which flees. The USS Carondelet is part of the task force but runs aground (the water levels have dropped dramatically in all local rivers). Partly to avoid the same fate, the Arkansas chases one of the Union vessels out of the Yazoo and into the Mississippi River, where it encounters the combined Union fleet. At the sight of “a forest of masts and smokestacks,” the Confederate captain orders his vessel to steam directly into the line and stay as close as possible to Union ships to avoid being fired upon. Somehow, the Confederate ram makes it through the entire Union fleet and reaches Vicksburg and protective artillery fire, although the Southern batteries can’t prevent the US fleet from linking up below Vicksburg. Flag Officer Farragut is infuriated and orders the US fleet downriver – they are to destroy the Arkansas en route. The Confederate ram is heavily damaged during their run, but survives and maintains use of its cannon, helping to severely damage two of Farragut’s ships.
[bjdeming.com/2012/07/09/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-9-15-1862the-western-theater/]
C Wednesday, July 15, 1863: New York City draft riots: Attack on the Arch: A group of black-occupied tenements on Thompson and Sullivan streets, between Grand and Broome, was set ablaze at 1:30 am.
Rewarding rioters? The City Council voted $2.5 million to pay the $300 commutation fee for any poor New Yorkers who were drafted.
West Side atrocities: At 6:30 a.m., James Costello was beaten and hanged on W. 32nd St. Neighboring black families were driven out of their homes. A crippled coachman, Abraham Franklin, was lynched at 27th St. and 7th Ave. His body was cut down, and he was dragged through the streets … .
Out-of-town news: Reports arrived of draft riots in Boston, Hartford, Newark, Jersey City, Hastings, Tarrytown, and Rye.
Red Hook fires: Two huge grain elevators at Erie Basin in Brooklyn were destroyed by arsonists.
[bjdeming.com/2013/07/21/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-15-21-1863/]
C+ Wednesday, July 15, 1863: Draft riots, New York City, At least four more blacks were killed on Wednesday, July 15, as the riots reached their third day. Desperate to contain the violence, New York Police Commissioner Thomas Acton and Harvey Brown of the New York National Guard decided to concentrate their vastly outnumbered forces at key parts of the city, including the area around City Hall, and northern outposts on the city’s east side, allowing them to target the barricaded areas more efficiently, but leaving other areas of the city vulnerable to attacks. In fact, two key decisions that afternoon—the passage of an emergency bill that would provide low-interest loans to New Yorkers wishing to buy draft exemptions and the announcement of the suspension of the draft itself—did little to quell the violence, as the riots spread to neighboring communities in Brooklyn and Staten Island.
[history.com/news/four-days-of-fire-the-new-york-city-draft-riots]
D Friday, July 15, 1864: Mississippi operations: Near Harrisburg, General S. D. Lee has the entire Confederate force lined up on the Tupelo-Verona road. At 11 a.m., he hears the “authentic and pleasing intelligence that the enemy [a]re in full retreat.” Chalmers is ordered forward and skirmishes with the Union rear-guard while Smith marches north along the Tupelo-Elliston road. S. D. Lee moves his whole command to Harrisburg. Forrest and his staff go to Tupelo. Around 2 p.m., CS General Abraham Buford is sent to attack the rear of Smith’s main column. Forrest and McCulloch’s brigade join Buford. The Federals are pushed back, though Forrest and McCulloch are both wounded. Chalmers takes charge, as Forrest will not be able to command for a while. In hard fighting, US infantry drives Chalmers back, but stops at nightfall. Confederates bivouac around Tupelo.
[bjdeming.com/2014/07/13/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-14-20-1864/]
D+ Friday, July 15, 1864: On the 15th, it appeared Maj. Gen. Andrew Smith would not attack, CSA Brig. Gen. Abraham Buford's Division made a demonstration on his left flank. Soon afterward Smith began his retreat, and a vigorous pursuit was at once begun. At Old Town Creek, Buford came up with the Federals in line of battle and was driven back in confusion. CSA Col. Robert McCulloch's Brigade was ordered to attack, but being sent in by regiments was speedily repulsed. Maj. Gen. Nathan Forrest and Colonel Robert McCulloch were both severely wounded, and command of the forces in front devolved upon Chalmers. Though the pursuit was continued, there was but slight skirmishing after this engagement.
Sherman, who was closing in on Atlanta, was irritated Smith had not pressed Forrest at Tupelo, believing he should not have been allowed to escape. If Forrest had been allowed to raid into middle Tennessee prior to the fall of Atlanta, it could have had disastrous consequences for the U.S. Although Smith failed to destroy Forrest's Cavalry Corps at Tupelo, he did break its combat effectiveness. Forrest would rally his horsemen for more daring raids, but never again would they be able to fight and defeat infantry.
[en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tupelo]
Friday, July 15, 1864: Georgia operations, Atlanta campaign. Per General Sherman: “From the 10th to the 15th we were all busy in strengthening the several points for the proposed passage of the Chattahoochee, in increasing the number and capacity of the bridges, rearranging the garrisons to our rear, and in bringing forward supplies. On the 15th General Stoneman got back to Powder Springs, and was ordered to replace General Blair at Turner’s Ferry, and Blair, with the Seventeenth Corps, was ordered up to Roswell to join McPherson.”
[bjdeming.com/2014/07/13/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-14-20-1864/]
FYI PV2 Larry SellnowPO3 Edward Riddle SSG Jeffrey Leake SPC Michael Duricko, Ph.D Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. COL Lisandro Murphy SGT Jim Arnold Kim Bolen RN CCM ACM PO1 Brian Austin MAJ Tex HallMaj Ronald ScarpaPVT Mark Whitcomb

New York City Draft Riots of 1863
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bxnUh86RB8

New York City Draft Riots of 1863

It was the second largest insurrection in United States history and occurred in the middle of the largest insurrection in United States History. The History...

Response by TSgt Joe C. made Jul 19 at 2016 10:03 PM

2016-07-19T22:03:16-04:00

Thank you LTC Stephen F. for this day in Civil War History!

Response by SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth made Jul 20 at 2016 6:51 AM

2016-07-20T06:51:46-04:00

Great pieces of history.

Response by SGT John " Mac " McConnell made Jul 20 at 2016 7:36 AM

2016-07-20T07:36:33-04:00

Very interesting Naval exchange.

Response by 1stSgt Eugene Harless made Jul 20 at 2016 7:45 AM

2016-07-20T07:45:29-04:00

Interesting side note on Abraham Buford, his cousin was Brigadier General John Buford, whose Cavalry brigade successly delayed Heth's Confederate Division on the 1st Day at Gettyburg, buying Meade time to occupy the Key high Ground east of the town. They had another cousin, Napoleon Bonaparte Burford who was also a West Point Graduate and a Union Cavalry General.

Response by SP5 Mark Kuzinski made Jul 20 at 2016 8:18 AM

2016-07-20T08:18:46-04:00

Good morning LTC Stephen F. - with coffee in hand I can now read another of your fine post! Thank you sir.

Response by SSgt Robert Marx made Jul 20 at 2016 12:29 PM

2016-07-20T12:29:25-04:00

I recall being in the Tupelo, MS area for a few months back in 1993 aboard Naval Air Station Meridian. That base had such beautiful scenery and even had a stable for horseback riding.

Response by COL Mikel J. Burroughs made Jul 24 at 2016 11:03 AM

2016-07-24T11:03:05-04:00

LTC Stephen F. Thanks for sharing Stephen! Some of these events I knew about and studied in and school and some are as new as can be - great historical account. I appreciate the work and detial your putting into this! Awesome! Have a great Sunday my friend and may God Bless you and your family today and everyday!

Response by PVT Mark Whitcomb made Jul 17 at 2023 2:07 PM

2023-07-17T14:07:31-04:00

I found it to be a very interesting read. Thank You LTC

Response by PO3 Edward Riddle made Jul 17 at 2023 10:24 PM

2023-07-17T22:24:55-04:00

I chose 1863: New York City draft riots Brother Steve. The lynchings sounded like such a radical way of dealing with people.