Posted on Aug 4, 2016
What was the most significant event on July 23 during the U.S. Civil War?
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The largest confederate troop movement in the Civil War is conducted by CSA Gen Braxton Bragg as he moved 30,000 soldiers by a “roundabout route from Tupelo, Mississippi, through Mobile and Montgomery, Alabama, to Chattanooga, Tennessee.”
The US Civil War was the first major war where the railroads played a significant role – troop movements, sustainment of forces moving in the field and evacuation of casualties in some cases. By and large the Federal rail system north of the border states was safe. In the summer of 1862 and 1863 confederate raids affected railroad operations in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana.
In the Civil War changes of command tended to occur after defeats, for political reasons and sometimes frequently after deaths of commanders: In1861, Major General John C Frémont was put in command of Union forces in the West; Major General John Dix ordered to take command of the Department of Maryland; and Brigadier General William S. Rosecrans was ordered to take command of the Department of the Ohio.
In 1862, Major General Henry Halleck becomes commanding general of the United States Army.
Wednesday, July 23, 1862: J. D. Chadwick to his mother and father from Harrison's Landing, Virginia in 1862 at Headquarters Third Brigade, P. R. C., “Dear Father and Mother: Since I last wrote you nothing has occurred here worthy of note. The army remains about in statu quo, as we are receiving no reinforcements now. One Division, Steven’s, I think, of Hunter’s command, is now at Fortress Monroe. They are within supporting distance as they can be brought here in twelve hours if needed. Burnside is also said to be within striking distance but I do not know where he is.
About 500 of our wounded came down from Richmond a day or two since in a flag-of-truce boat. Many who had been reported dead were among the number. It is astonishing to see some of our wounded who had been shot fair through the breast and whose wounds all the surgeons had pronounced mortal still living and speedily recovering. A Captain of the 10th was shot clear through the right lung, the rifle ball coming out near the spinal column. He came down on the boat and is doing well. He thinks he will be able to join the regiment in a month or so.
None of the wounded can tell much about the fortifications of Richmond as they were taken there during the night and brought away in the night. Some of them who were at Savage’s Station and who saw the enemy as they were retreating back to Richmond after their total defeat on Tuesday at Malvern Hills say that the rebs were perfectly panic-stricken. Colonels were in one place and the fragments of their regiments were in another without any kind of order. They were completely demoralized and are compared to a drove of sheep frightened by pursuing wolves. Officers who were wounded and prisoners assert that 20,000 fresh troops could easily have taken Richmond on Wednesday. What a pity we hadn’t them!
General Seymour is still in command of the Reserve Corps.
Col. Sinclair of the 6th Regiment commands the First Brigade, formerly commanded by General Reynolds, now a prisoner.
Col. Magilton of the 4th Regiment commands the Second Brigade, formerly commanded by General Meade, now wounded and at home in Philadelphia.
Col. Jackson of the 9th is in command of the Third Brigade. He has been nominated as a Brigadier General by the Secretary of War and was confirmed by the Senate last Friday. If Col. McCalmont had been here, he would have been Brigadier General. He would have made a much better one than Col. J., as the latter has no military education except what he has picked up himself. He is a jolly, good-hearted man, belongs in Pittsburgh and was formerly a conductor on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago R.R. He came to Camp Wright as Captain of a company, was there elected as Colonel of the 9th Regiment and has served in the Third Brigade until now. I do not know to what Brigade he will be assigned when his commission comes on, but do not think it will be the Third. He has certainly risen very fast. The Chaplain of the 10th, Rev. McGuire, has resigned and gone home on account of his health.
All the Rockland boys in the10th are well as usual except Alex Solinger who is under medical treatment for Calculus, I believe. He is able to be about, however. I have not seen a single man who is perfectly well, all are complaining of disentary. I think it must be occasioned by the excessive heat, bad water and poisonous miasm which is constantly coming off the swamps which surround the camps. The tide comes up and overflows the swamps and marshes here along the river and this contributes to the unhealthiness of the location.
I suppose you have seen Pope’s proclamation. You cannot help but like it. He talks as though he meant business.
We heard last night that some more of those who had been reported dead were still alive, wounded, in the hands of the enemy at Richmond.
To-day the sun shines out excessively hot—it is really oppressive. There are an almost infinite number of flies, beetles, bugs, wood-ticks, lizards, etc., here. In fact, I guess every family of insect and reptile which Noah took into the ark has its representative here. The most annoying, however, of all these vermin are lice,— the real genuine body lice. They are no respecters of persons, subsisting upon the bodies of Generals as well as private soldiers. I suppose they are very few in the army who have not been troubled with them at some time or other. Camphor is the only preventative. I was unfortunate enough to get a half a dozen of these “Body guard” on me last Spring before I was aware that there were such things. I had to throw away my clothes to get rid of them. Since then I have slept by myself and have been very careful to avoid contact with those I suspected of having the vermin. You will pardon this narrative—such things form part of a soldier’s adventures during a campaign in the army.
Young Halderman and Kepler, from near Layton’s, are in Richmond, wounded and prisoners. All that Butler County company were taken prisoners.
I see by the papers that E. W. Davis is commissioned to raise a regiment. Do you know where he lives now?
I will expect to hear from the boys by next mail as well as from you.
I can give you the exact number of the loss of the Reserve Corps in the late battles. It is 3085, of which 240 were killed, the rest are wounded or missing.
Remember me to the little children. I am Affectionately yours, J. D. Chadwick”
Thursday, July 23, 1863: To Major General H. W. HALLECK, General-in-Chief: “On the evening of the 20th, this army was posted on the two pikes from Aldie to Winchester, the cavalry occupying Snicker's and Ash-by's Gaps with slight opposition. All the information respecting the enemy indicated that he was still in position from Winchester to Martinsburg. Lest the continuance of my march should enable him to get into my rear and interrupt or interfere with my communications, I halted during the 21st, throwing forward my cavalry to Manassas and Chester Gap. On the morning of the 22d, being satisfied that the enemy's army was in full movement southward toward Culpeper Court-House or Orange Court-House, I directed two corps to cover my depots at Warrenton and White Plains, and threw forward the other five corps to Manassas Gap. At daylight this morning, the Third Corps entered Manassas Gap, and, advancing beyond the crest, has been skirmishing with and driving back the enemy. At dark the enemy held a position covering the entrance to Chester Gap from Front Royal. The information respecting his army is somewhat contradictory. It is reported to me by signal officers and my cavalry to have been moving with its trains yesterday and to-day up the Valley of the Shenandoah, through Front Royal and Strasburg, and through Chester Gap toward Culpeper, though there are reasons for my considering it probable that but a small portion of his army has passed on. I shall attack his position covering Chester Gap to-morrow at daylight. GEO. G. MEADE, Major-General.”
Pictures: Tales from the Army of the Potomac; 1864 Shenandoah_Valley_May-July_1864; 1862-04 to 08 KENTUCKY_CAMPAIGN_MAP1; 1862-06 Rail movement in the west
A. 1862: General Braxton Bragg conducts the largest Confederate troop movement by rail during the war as he moved 30,000 infantry man 770 miles by rail, taking a roundabout route from Tupelo, Mississippi, through Mobile and Montgomery, Alabama, to Chattanooga, Tennessee while his cavalry and artillery traveled by road.
B. 1862: Carmel Church, Virginia. Cavalry skirmish over confederate supply stash ends in a draw. A group of Union cavalry had earlier left Fredericksburg and came to Carmel Church. At the church was a group of Confederate cavalry and a supply stash. The Federals attacked the Confederates, but numerous casualties to both sides forced both forces to end the fight.
C. 1863: The Battle of Manassas Gap at Wapping Heights. Poorly coordinated Union attacks are abandoned at dusk. After re-crossing the Potomac River at Williamsport during its retreat after the Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army withdraws up the Shenandoah Valley. Gen. George B. Meade’s Union army crosses the Potomac River east of the Blue Ridge and follows Lee into Virginia. On July 23, Meade orders the III Corps, under Gen. William. H. French to cut off the retreating Confederate columns at Front Royal by forcing passage through Manassas Gap. At first light, French begins slowly pushing Col. E. J. Walker’s Confederate brigade (Gen. Richard Anderson’s division) back into the gap. About 4:30 pm, a strong Union attack drives Walker’s men until they are reinforced by Gen. Robert Rodes’s division and artillery. By dusk, the poorly coordinated Union attacks are abandoned. During the night, Confederate forces withdraw into the Luray Valley. On July 24, the Union army occupies Front Royal, but Lee’s army is safely beyond pursuit.
D. 1864: Cavalry skirmish at Kernstown, WV. Confederate victory in the Shenandoah Valley. Believing that Early’s army was no longer a threat in the Valley, Maj. Gen. Horatio Wright abandoned his pursuit and ordered the VI and XIX Corps to return to Washington, where they were to be sent to Grant’s “army group” before Petersburg. Confederate cavalry attacked the Union advanced picket line at Kernstown, leading to a sharp cavalry skirmish. From prisoners caught in the skirmish CSA Lt Gen Jubal Early learned of Maj Gen Horatio G. Wright force's departure. In order to continue to be of service to General Robert E. Lee in the Valley, Jubal Early realized he had to attack the diminished force in front of him to ensure that Lt Gen U.S. Grant's force at Petersburg would not be reinforced.
FYI MSG Roy Cheever Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. PO3 Edward Riddle SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL Maj William W. 'Bill' Price COL (Join to see) COL Lisandro MurphySSgt David M. MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. SPC Maurice Evans SPC Jon O. SGT David A. 'Cowboy' GrothSSG Trevor S. 1SG Steven Imerman SSgt Charles AnknerSGT Jim ArnoldRyan CallahanAmn Dale PreisachLTC Keith L Jackson
The US Civil War was the first major war where the railroads played a significant role – troop movements, sustainment of forces moving in the field and evacuation of casualties in some cases. By and large the Federal rail system north of the border states was safe. In the summer of 1862 and 1863 confederate raids affected railroad operations in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana.
In the Civil War changes of command tended to occur after defeats, for political reasons and sometimes frequently after deaths of commanders: In1861, Major General John C Frémont was put in command of Union forces in the West; Major General John Dix ordered to take command of the Department of Maryland; and Brigadier General William S. Rosecrans was ordered to take command of the Department of the Ohio.
In 1862, Major General Henry Halleck becomes commanding general of the United States Army.
Wednesday, July 23, 1862: J. D. Chadwick to his mother and father from Harrison's Landing, Virginia in 1862 at Headquarters Third Brigade, P. R. C., “Dear Father and Mother: Since I last wrote you nothing has occurred here worthy of note. The army remains about in statu quo, as we are receiving no reinforcements now. One Division, Steven’s, I think, of Hunter’s command, is now at Fortress Monroe. They are within supporting distance as they can be brought here in twelve hours if needed. Burnside is also said to be within striking distance but I do not know where he is.
About 500 of our wounded came down from Richmond a day or two since in a flag-of-truce boat. Many who had been reported dead were among the number. It is astonishing to see some of our wounded who had been shot fair through the breast and whose wounds all the surgeons had pronounced mortal still living and speedily recovering. A Captain of the 10th was shot clear through the right lung, the rifle ball coming out near the spinal column. He came down on the boat and is doing well. He thinks he will be able to join the regiment in a month or so.
None of the wounded can tell much about the fortifications of Richmond as they were taken there during the night and brought away in the night. Some of them who were at Savage’s Station and who saw the enemy as they were retreating back to Richmond after their total defeat on Tuesday at Malvern Hills say that the rebs were perfectly panic-stricken. Colonels were in one place and the fragments of their regiments were in another without any kind of order. They were completely demoralized and are compared to a drove of sheep frightened by pursuing wolves. Officers who were wounded and prisoners assert that 20,000 fresh troops could easily have taken Richmond on Wednesday. What a pity we hadn’t them!
General Seymour is still in command of the Reserve Corps.
Col. Sinclair of the 6th Regiment commands the First Brigade, formerly commanded by General Reynolds, now a prisoner.
Col. Magilton of the 4th Regiment commands the Second Brigade, formerly commanded by General Meade, now wounded and at home in Philadelphia.
Col. Jackson of the 9th is in command of the Third Brigade. He has been nominated as a Brigadier General by the Secretary of War and was confirmed by the Senate last Friday. If Col. McCalmont had been here, he would have been Brigadier General. He would have made a much better one than Col. J., as the latter has no military education except what he has picked up himself. He is a jolly, good-hearted man, belongs in Pittsburgh and was formerly a conductor on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago R.R. He came to Camp Wright as Captain of a company, was there elected as Colonel of the 9th Regiment and has served in the Third Brigade until now. I do not know to what Brigade he will be assigned when his commission comes on, but do not think it will be the Third. He has certainly risen very fast. The Chaplain of the 10th, Rev. McGuire, has resigned and gone home on account of his health.
All the Rockland boys in the10th are well as usual except Alex Solinger who is under medical treatment for Calculus, I believe. He is able to be about, however. I have not seen a single man who is perfectly well, all are complaining of disentary. I think it must be occasioned by the excessive heat, bad water and poisonous miasm which is constantly coming off the swamps which surround the camps. The tide comes up and overflows the swamps and marshes here along the river and this contributes to the unhealthiness of the location.
I suppose you have seen Pope’s proclamation. You cannot help but like it. He talks as though he meant business.
We heard last night that some more of those who had been reported dead were still alive, wounded, in the hands of the enemy at Richmond.
To-day the sun shines out excessively hot—it is really oppressive. There are an almost infinite number of flies, beetles, bugs, wood-ticks, lizards, etc., here. In fact, I guess every family of insect and reptile which Noah took into the ark has its representative here. The most annoying, however, of all these vermin are lice,— the real genuine body lice. They are no respecters of persons, subsisting upon the bodies of Generals as well as private soldiers. I suppose they are very few in the army who have not been troubled with them at some time or other. Camphor is the only preventative. I was unfortunate enough to get a half a dozen of these “Body guard” on me last Spring before I was aware that there were such things. I had to throw away my clothes to get rid of them. Since then I have slept by myself and have been very careful to avoid contact with those I suspected of having the vermin. You will pardon this narrative—such things form part of a soldier’s adventures during a campaign in the army.
Young Halderman and Kepler, from near Layton’s, are in Richmond, wounded and prisoners. All that Butler County company were taken prisoners.
I see by the papers that E. W. Davis is commissioned to raise a regiment. Do you know where he lives now?
I will expect to hear from the boys by next mail as well as from you.
I can give you the exact number of the loss of the Reserve Corps in the late battles. It is 3085, of which 240 were killed, the rest are wounded or missing.
Remember me to the little children. I am Affectionately yours, J. D. Chadwick”
Thursday, July 23, 1863: To Major General H. W. HALLECK, General-in-Chief: “On the evening of the 20th, this army was posted on the two pikes from Aldie to Winchester, the cavalry occupying Snicker's and Ash-by's Gaps with slight opposition. All the information respecting the enemy indicated that he was still in position from Winchester to Martinsburg. Lest the continuance of my march should enable him to get into my rear and interrupt or interfere with my communications, I halted during the 21st, throwing forward my cavalry to Manassas and Chester Gap. On the morning of the 22d, being satisfied that the enemy's army was in full movement southward toward Culpeper Court-House or Orange Court-House, I directed two corps to cover my depots at Warrenton and White Plains, and threw forward the other five corps to Manassas Gap. At daylight this morning, the Third Corps entered Manassas Gap, and, advancing beyond the crest, has been skirmishing with and driving back the enemy. At dark the enemy held a position covering the entrance to Chester Gap from Front Royal. The information respecting his army is somewhat contradictory. It is reported to me by signal officers and my cavalry to have been moving with its trains yesterday and to-day up the Valley of the Shenandoah, through Front Royal and Strasburg, and through Chester Gap toward Culpeper, though there are reasons for my considering it probable that but a small portion of his army has passed on. I shall attack his position covering Chester Gap to-morrow at daylight. GEO. G. MEADE, Major-General.”
Pictures: Tales from the Army of the Potomac; 1864 Shenandoah_Valley_May-July_1864; 1862-04 to 08 KENTUCKY_CAMPAIGN_MAP1; 1862-06 Rail movement in the west
A. 1862: General Braxton Bragg conducts the largest Confederate troop movement by rail during the war as he moved 30,000 infantry man 770 miles by rail, taking a roundabout route from Tupelo, Mississippi, through Mobile and Montgomery, Alabama, to Chattanooga, Tennessee while his cavalry and artillery traveled by road.
B. 1862: Carmel Church, Virginia. Cavalry skirmish over confederate supply stash ends in a draw. A group of Union cavalry had earlier left Fredericksburg and came to Carmel Church. At the church was a group of Confederate cavalry and a supply stash. The Federals attacked the Confederates, but numerous casualties to both sides forced both forces to end the fight.
C. 1863: The Battle of Manassas Gap at Wapping Heights. Poorly coordinated Union attacks are abandoned at dusk. After re-crossing the Potomac River at Williamsport during its retreat after the Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army withdraws up the Shenandoah Valley. Gen. George B. Meade’s Union army crosses the Potomac River east of the Blue Ridge and follows Lee into Virginia. On July 23, Meade orders the III Corps, under Gen. William. H. French to cut off the retreating Confederate columns at Front Royal by forcing passage through Manassas Gap. At first light, French begins slowly pushing Col. E. J. Walker’s Confederate brigade (Gen. Richard Anderson’s division) back into the gap. About 4:30 pm, a strong Union attack drives Walker’s men until they are reinforced by Gen. Robert Rodes’s division and artillery. By dusk, the poorly coordinated Union attacks are abandoned. During the night, Confederate forces withdraw into the Luray Valley. On July 24, the Union army occupies Front Royal, but Lee’s army is safely beyond pursuit.
D. 1864: Cavalry skirmish at Kernstown, WV. Confederate victory in the Shenandoah Valley. Believing that Early’s army was no longer a threat in the Valley, Maj. Gen. Horatio Wright abandoned his pursuit and ordered the VI and XIX Corps to return to Washington, where they were to be sent to Grant’s “army group” before Petersburg. Confederate cavalry attacked the Union advanced picket line at Kernstown, leading to a sharp cavalry skirmish. From prisoners caught in the skirmish CSA Lt Gen Jubal Early learned of Maj Gen Horatio G. Wright force's departure. In order to continue to be of service to General Robert E. Lee in the Valley, Jubal Early realized he had to attack the diminished force in front of him to ensure that Lt Gen U.S. Grant's force at Petersburg would not be reinforced.
FYI MSG Roy Cheever Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. PO3 Edward Riddle SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL Maj William W. 'Bill' Price COL (Join to see) COL Lisandro MurphySSgt David M. MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. SPC Maurice Evans SPC Jon O. SGT David A. 'Cowboy' GrothSSG Trevor S. 1SG Steven Imerman SSgt Charles AnknerSGT Jim ArnoldRyan CallahanAmn Dale PreisachLTC Keith L Jackson
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The Civil War was the first war where railroads, telegraphs, rifled cannon, repeating rifles, iron and tin clad ships played a major role. The North had the disadvantage of external lines of communications; but as they took control of the Mississippi and blockade the Confederacy they successfully withered the confederate sustainment base and ability to replenish
Below are a number of journal entries from 1861 and 1863 which shed light on what life was like for soldiers and civilians – the good, the bad and the ugly.
July 23, 1861: Elisha F. Paxton writes to his wife: First Lieutenant Elisha Franklin Paxton--like many survivors of the fighting at Manassas two days before--took time to write to his family to let them know he'd come through the battle. Paxton was a lawyer and a bank president in Lexington, Virginia before the war. He and Stonewall Jackson had been friends, but the friendship had suffered due to Paxton's vocal support of South Carolina's secession. The rift had been healed by Virginia's secession and both men's decision to volunteer for the Confederate Army.
Paxton was a member of the 4th Virginia Infantry Regiment, which was part of the Stonewall Brigade, so Paxton had been in the very of the battle.
Manassas, July 23, 1861. “My Darling: We spent Sunday last in the sacred work of achieving our nationality and independence. The work was nobly done, and it was the happiest day of my life, our wedding-day not excepted. I think the fight is over forever. I received a ball through my shirt-sleeves, slightly bruising my arm, and others, whistling "Yankee Doodle" round my head, made fourteen holes through the flag which I carried in the hottest of the fight. It is a miracle that I escaped with my life, so many falling dead around me. Buried two of our comrades on the field. God bless my country, my wife, and my little ones!”
Thursday, July 23, 1863: Young Kate Morgan of New Orleans is living at the home of her older half-brother, who is a committed Unionist. She writes in her diary today of the Federal regulations concerning how the locals may or may not communicate with the prisoners captured at Port Hudson when it surrendered: “It is bad policy to keep us from seeing the prisoners; it just sets us wild about them. Put a creature you don’t care for in the least, in a situation that commands sympathy, and nine out of ten girls will fall desperately in love. Here are brave, self-sacrificing, noble men who have fought heroically for us, and have been forced to surrender by unpropitious fate, confined in a city peopled by their friends and kindred, and as totally isolated from them as though they inhabited the Dry Tortugas! Ladies are naturally hero-worshipers. We are dying to show these unfortunates that we are as proud of their bravery as though it had led to victory instead of defeat. Banks wills that they remain in privacy. Consequently our vivid imaginations are constantly occupied in depicting their sufferings, privations, heroism, and manifold virtues, until they have almost become as demigods to us. . . . It is all I can do to avoid a most tender compassion for a very few select ones. Miriam and I are looked on with envy by other young ladies because some twenty or thirty of our acquaintance have already arrived. To know a Port Hudson defender is considered as the greatest distinction one need desire. If they would only let us see the prisoners once to sympathize with, and offer to assist them, we would never care to call on them again until they are liberated. But this is aggravating. Of what benefit is it to send them lunch after lunch, when they seldom receive it? Colonel Steadman and six others, I am sure, did not receive theirs on Sunday. We sent with the baskets a number of cravats and some handkerchiefs I had embroidered for the Colonel.”
Pictures: 1864-07-23 Kernstown civil war history battle; USMR Locomotive W. H. Whiton and Lincoln Presidential Car; 1863-07-23 Battle of Manassas Gap at Wapping Heights-NY-Herald; 1862-07-23 Harrisons Landing
A. Wednesday, July 23, 1862: General Braxton Bragg conducts the largest Confederate troop movement by rail during the war as he moved 30,000 infantry man 770 miles by rail, taking a roundabout route from Tupelo, Mississippi, through Mobile and Montgomery, Alabama, to Chattanooga, Tennessee while his cavalry and artillery traveled by road.
B. Wednesday, July 23, 1862: Carmel Church, Virginia. Cavalry skirmish over confederate supply stash ends in a draw. A group of Union cavalry had earlier left Fredericksburg and came to Carmel Church. At the church was a group of Confederate cavalry and a supply stash. The Federals attacked the Confederates, but numerous casualties to both sides forced both forces to end the fight.
C. Thursday, July 23, 1863: The Battle of Manassas Gap at Wapping Heights. Poorly coordinated Union attacks are abandoned at dusk. After re-crossing the Potomac River at Williamsport during its retreat after the Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army withdraws up the Shenandoah Valley. Gen. George B. Meade’s Union army crosses the Potomac River east of the Blue Ridge and follows Lee into Virginia. On July 23, Meade orders the III Corps, under Gen. William. H. French to cut off the retreating Confederate columns at Front Royal by forcing passage through Manassas Gap. At first light, French begins slowly pushing Col. E. J. Walker’s Confederate brigade (Gen. Richard Anderson’s division) back into the gap. About 4:30 pm, a strong Union attack drives Walker’s men until they are reinforced by Gen. Robert Rodes’s division and artillery. By dusk, the poorly coordinated Union attacks are abandoned. During the night, Confederate forces withdraw into the Luray Valley. On July 24, the Union army occupies Front Royal, but Lee’s army is safely beyond pursuit.
D. Saturday, July 23, 1864: Cavalry skirmish at Kernstown, WV. Confederate victory in the Shenandoah Valley. Believing that Early’s army was no longer a threat in the Valley, Maj. Gen. Horatio Wright abandoned his pursuit and ordered the VI and XIX Corps to return to Washington, where they were to be sent to Grant’s “army group” before Petersburg. Confederate cavalry attacked the Union advanced picket line at Kernstown, leading to a sharp cavalry skirmish. From prisoners caught in the skirmish CSA Lt Gen Jubal Early learned of Maj Gen Horatio G. Wright force's departure. In order to continue to be of service to General Robert E. Lee in the Valley, Jubal Early realized he had to attack the diminished force in front of him to ensure that Lt Gen U.S. Grant's force at Petersburg would not be reinforced.
1. Tuesday, July 23, 1861: Tuesday, July 23, 1861: General John C Frémont was put in command of Union forces in the West.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-american-civil-war/american-civil-war-july-1861/
2. Tuesday, July 23, 1861: Major General John Dix ordered to take command of the Department of Maryland; Brigadier General William S. Rosecrans ordered to take command of the Department of the Ohio.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186107
3. July 23, 1861: Elisha F. Paxton writes to his wife: First Lieutenant Elisha Franklin Paxton--like many survivors of the fighting at Manassas two days before--took time to write to his family to let them know he'd come through the battle. Paxton was a lawyer and a bank president in Lexington, Virginia before the war. He and Stonewall Jackson had been friends, but the friendship had suffered due to Paxton's vocal support of South Carolina's secession. The rift had been healed by Virginia's secession and both men's decision to volunteer for the Confederate Army.
Paxton was a member of the 4th Virginia Infantry Regiment, which was part of the Stonewall Brigade, so Paxton had been in the very of the battle.
Manassas, July 23, 1861. “My Darling: We spent Sunday last in the sacred work of achieving our nationality and independence. The work was nobly done, and it was the happiest day of my life, our wedding-day not excepted. I think the fight is over forever. I received a ball through my shirt-sleeves, slightly bruising my arm, and others, whistling "Yankee Doodle" round my head, made fourteen holes through the flag which I carried in the hottest of the fight. It is a miracle that I escaped with my life, so many falling dead around me. Buried two of our comrades on the field. God bless my country, my wife, and my little ones!”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+23%2C+1861
4. July 23, 1861: Robert E. Lee to H.R. Jackson On this day in 1861, Robert E. Lee was working to shore up Confederate defenses in northwestern Virginia. Instead of following up on the victory at Manassas, the Confederacy was trying to stop the Union advance towards the Shenandoah Valley.
Richmond, Va., July 23, 1861. “Brigadier General H. R. JACKSON, Army of the Northwest, Monterey, Va.: “GENERAL: I have received your two letters of the 20th, reporting the state of militia operations in the northwest. You have done all under the circumstances that was proper, and all will yet be well.
Our brave troops must bear up against misfortune. Reverses must happen, but they ought only to stimulate us to greater efforts. I regret my inability to repair to your assistance, but events occurring in our front prevented. I am sure the glorious victory there achieved will cheer the hearts of your troops.
At the first report of the retreat from Beverly, anticipating your wants, I ordered ammunition, tents, blankets, cooking utensils, and shoes to be sent to you. But, unfortunately, they were sent, by mistake, to General T. J. Jackson, at Winchester. A duplicate supply of the articles have been forwarded to Staunton. General Loring, an officer of experience, has been assigned to the command of the Army of the Northwest, and he is accompanied by officers who have served years on the frontier.
Four Virginia regiments, one Arkansas, three Tennessee, and two Georgia regiments, and two field batteries are ordered to join the Northwestern Army. This force, with what ought to be organized from the hardy mountaineers, will be sufficient to drive back the invaders. There is a necessity for repelling them, and it must be done. Every assistant will be afforded in this quarter.
Respectfully, &c., R. E. LEE, General, Commanding.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+23%2C+1861
5. Wednesday, July 23, 1862: General Halleck becomes the Union’s general-in-chief upon his arrival in Washington and immediately goes into conference with President Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton; later in the day, he meets with General Pope and General Burnside.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/07/23/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-23-29-1862/
6. Wednesday, July 23, 1862: Major General Henry Halleck becomes commanding general of the United States Army.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186207
7. Wednesday, July 23, 1862: J. D. Chadwick to his mother and father from Harrison's Landing, Virginia in 1862 at Headquarters Third Brigade, P. R. C., “Dear Father and Mother:- Since I last wrote you nothing has occurred here worthy of note. The army remains about in statu quo, as we are receiving no reinforcements now. One Division, Steven’s, I think, of Hunter’s command, is now at Fortress Monroe. They are within supporting distance as they can be brought here in twelve hours if needed. Burnside is also said to be within striking distance but I do not know where he is.
About 500 of our wounded came down from Richmond a day or two since in a flag-of-truce boat. Many who had been reported dead were among the number. It is astonishing to see some of our wounded who had been shot fair through the breast and whose wounds all the surgeons had pronounced mortal still living and speedily recovering. A Captain of the 10th was shot clear through the right lung, the rifle ball coming out near the spinal column. He came down on the boat and is doing well. He thinks he will be able to join the regiment in a month or so.
None of the wounded can tell much about the fortifications of Richmond as they were taken there during the night and brought away in the night. Some of them who were at Savage’s Station and who saw the enemy as they were retreating back to Richmond after their total defeat on Tuesday at Malvern Hills say that the rebs were perfectly panic-stricken. Colonels were in one place and the fragments of their regiments were in another without any kind of order. They were completely demoralized and are compared to a drove of sheep frightened by pursuing wolves. Officers who were wounded and prisoners assert that 20,000 fresh troops could easily have taken Richmond on Wednesday. What a pity we hadn’t them!
General Seymour is still in command of the Reserve Corps.
Col. Sinclair of the 6th Regiment commands the First Brigade, formerly commanded by General Reynolds, now a prisoner.
Col. Magilton of the 4th Regiment commands the Second Brigade, formerly commanded by General Meade, now wounded and at home in Philadelphia.
Col. Jackson of the 9th is in command of the Third Brigade. He has been nominated as a Brigadier General by the Secretary of War and was confirmed by the Senate last Friday. If Col. McCalmont had been here, he would have been Brigadier General. He would have made a much better one than Col. J., as the latter has no military education except what he has picked up himself. He is a jolly, good-hearted man, belongs in Pittsburgh and was formerly a conductor on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago R.R. He came to Camp Wright as Captain of a company, was there elected as Colonel of the 9th Regiment and has served in the Third Brigade until now. I do not know to what Brigade he will be assigned when his commission comes on, but do not think it will be the Third. He has certainly risen very fast. The Chaplain of the 10th, Rev. McGuire, has resigned and gone home on account of his health.
All the Rockland boys in the10th are well as usual except Alex Solinger who is under medical treatment for Calculus, I believe. He is able to be about, however. I have not seen a single man who is perfectly well, all are complaining of disentary. I think it must be occasioned by the excessive heat, bad water and poisonous miasm which is constantly coming off the swamps which surround the camps. The tide comes up and overflows the swamps and marshes here along the river and this contributes to the unhealthiness of the location.
I suppose you have seen Pope’s proclamation. You cannot help but like it. He talks as though he meant business.
We heard last night that some more of those who had been reported dead were still alive, wounded, in the hands of the enemy at Richmond.
To-day the sun shines out excessively hot—it is really oppressive. There are an almost infinite number of flies, beetles, bugs, wood-ticks, lizards, etc., here. In fact, I guess every family of insect and reptile which Noah took into the ark has its representative here. The most annoying, however, of all these vermin are lice,— the real genuine body lice. They are no respecters of persons, subsisting upon the bodies of Generals as well as private soldiers. I suppose they are very few in the army who have not been troubled with them at some time or other. Camphor is the only preventative. I was unfortunate enough to get a half a dozen of these “Body guard” on me last Spring before I was aware that there were such things. I had to throw away my clothes to get rid of them. Since then I have slept by myself and have been very careful to avoid contact with those I suspected of having the vermin. You will pardon this narrative—such things form part of a soldier’s adventures during a campaign in the army.
Young Halderman and Kepler, from near Layton’s, are in Richmond, wounded and prisoners. All that Butler County company were taken prisoners.
I see by the papers that E. W. Davis is commissioned to raise a regiment. Do you know where he lives now?
I will expect to hear from the boys by next mail as well as from you.
I can give you the exact number of the loss of the Reserve Corps in the late battles. It is 3085, of which 240 were killed, the rest are wounded or missing.
Remember me to the little children. I am Affectionately yours, J. D. Chadwick”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+23%2C+1862
8. Wednesday, July 23, 1862 --- Gen. Buell, in a more intense panic mode than two days ago, fires off the following dispatch to Gen. Halleck in Washington: HUNTSVILLE, ALA., July 23, 1862-1.30 a.m General HALLECK, or General THOMAS, Adjutant-General: “I cannot err in repeating to you the urgent importance of a large cavalry force in this district. The enemy is throwing an immense cavalry force on the 400 miles of railroad communication upon which this army is dependent for supplies. I am building stockades to hold from 30 to 100 men at all bridges, but such guards at best only give security to certain points and against a small force. There can be no safety without cavalry enough to pursue the enemy in large bodies. Twice already our roads have been broken up by their formidable raids, causing great delay and embarrassment, so that we are barely able to resist from day to day. I am concentrating all the cavalry I can spare to operate actively in force. I don’t pretend to know whether you have cavalry that you can spare elsewhere, but, if so, it can find abundant and very important service here. D. C. BUELL, Major-General, Commanding.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+23%2C+1862
9. Wednesday, July 23, 1862 --- Gen. John Pope issues orders that provide for arresting all males in northern Virginia who do not take the loyalty oath to the United States. All who do may stay at home; all who do not take the oath are to be arrested and sent south behind Confederate lines, and if they return to be treated as spies. He also gives orders to seize all horses and mules that are not absolutely necessary for farmers to maintain their farms. These orders, in addition to orders to allow his men to live by foraging freely from the locals, convince Southerners that Pope is a barbarian and not a gentleman.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+23%2C+1862
10. Thursday, July 23, 1863: Thursday, July 23, 1863: HEADQUARTERS AT LINDEN, Crest of Manassas Gap, July 23, sent 1863-10 p. m. (Received, via Harper's Ferry, Va., July 25, 8. 40 a. m.) Major General H. W. HALLECK, General-in-Chief: “On the evening of the 20th, this army was posted on the two pikes from Aldie to Winchester, the cavalry occupying Snicker's and Ash-by's Gaps with slight opposition. All the information respecting the enemy indicated that he was still in position from Winchester to Martinsburg. Lest the continuance of my march should enable him to get into my rear and interrupt or interfere with my communications, I halted during the 21st, throwing forward my cavalry to Manassas and Chester Gap. On the morning of the 22d, being satisfied that the enemy's army was in full movement southward toward Culpeper Court-House or Orange Court-House, I directed two corps to cover my depots at Warrenton and White Plains, and threw forward the other five corps to Manassas Gap. At daylight this morning, the Third Corps entered Manassas Gap, and, advancing beyond the crest, has been skirmishing with and driving back the enemy. At dark the enemy held a position covering the entrance to Chester Gap from Front Royal. The information respecting his army is somewhat contradictory. It is reported to me by signal officers and my cavalry to have been moving with its trains yesterday and to-day up the Valley of the Shenandoah, through Front Royal and Strasburg, and through Chester Gap toward Culpeper, though there are reasons for my considering it probable that but a small portion of his army has passed on. I shall attack his position covering Chester Gap to-morrow at daylight. GEO. G. MEADE, Major-General.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+23%2C+1863
11. Thursday, July 23, 1863 --- Young Kate Morgan of New Orleans is living at the home of her older half-brother, who is a committed Unionist. She writes in her diary today of the Federal regulations concerning how the locals may or may not communicate with the prisoners captured at Port Hudson when it surrendered: “It is bad policy to keep us from seeing the prisoners; it just sets us wild about them. Put a creature you don’t care for in the least, in a situation that commands sympathy, and nine out of ten girls will fall desperately in love. Here are brave, self-sacrificing, noble men who have fought heroically for us, and have been forced to surrender by unpropitious fate, confined in a city peopled by their friends and kindred, and as totally isolated from them as though they inhabited the Dry Tortugas! Ladies are naturally hero-worshipers. We are dying to show these unfortunates that we are as proud of their bravery as though it had led to victory instead of defeat. Banks wills that they remain in privacy. Consequently our vivid imaginations are constantly occupied in depicting their sufferings, privations, heroism, and manifold virtues, until they have almost become as demigods to us. . . . It is all I can do to avoid a most tender compassion for a very few select ones. Miriam and I are looked on with envy by other young ladies because some twenty or thirty of our acquaintance have already arrived. To know a Port Hudson defender is considered as the greatest distinction one need desire. If they would only let us see the prisoners once to sympathize with, and offer to assist them, we would never care to call on them again until they are liberated. But this is aggravating. Of what benefit is it to send them lunch after lunch, when they seldom receive it? Colonel Steadman and six others, I am sure, did not receive theirs on Sunday. We sent with the baskets a number of cravats and some handkerchiefs I had embroidered for the Colonel.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+23%2C+1863
A Wednesday, July 23, 1862: Moving his men by railroad from Tupelo, Mississippi, Braxton Bragg reappears in Chattanooga, Tennessee after a journey of more than 770 miles. It was the largest troop movement by rail during the war for the Confederates.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186207
A+ Wednesday, July 23, 1862: General Bragg’s Army of the West arrives in Chattanooga. All told, Bragg moved 30,000 infantry man 770 miles by rail, taking a roundabout route from Tupelo, Mississippi, through Mobile and Montgomery, Alabama, while his cavalry and artillery traveled by road. This was the largest Confederate troop movement by rail during the war.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/07/23/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-23-29-1862/
B Wednesday, July 23, 1862: Carmel Church, Virginia - On July 23, a group of Union cavalry had earlier left Fredericksburg and came to Carmel Church. At the church was a group of Confederate cavalry and a supply stash. The Federals attacked the Confederates, but numerous casualties to both sides forced both forces to end the fight.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1862s.html
C Thursday, July 23, 1863: The Battle of Manassas Gap. The Battle of Manassas Gap effectively marked the end of the Gettysburg campaign. The battle occurred when Union forces attempted to force a passage of Manassas Gap, Virginia and intercept part of the retreating Army of Northern Virginia. The Union advance was made by the III Corps and led by the Excelsior Brigade. They were met by a brigade of Confederate troops led by Colonel Edward J. Walker of the 3rd Georgia Regiment. The Confederates were slowly pushed back through the gap by superior Union numbers, but they had bought crucial time. When Walker was reinforced by Maj. Gen. Robert E. Rodes's division and some artillery, the Union advance stalled and stopped for the night. During the night, the Confederate forces withdrew, having successfully covered Lee's retreat. The Army of the Potomac had failed to prevent Lee's from returning to Virginia with his army intact. This is how Meade reported the situation at 10:00 P.M. on July 23, 1863 (note that the message took more than 24 hours to make it back to the telegraph station at Harper's Ferry).
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+23%2C+1863
C Thursday, July 23, 1863 --- Battle of Manassas Gap – The Excelsior Brigade of the III Corps pushes westward into the Manassas Gap to cut off the Confederate retreat route. A lone regiment of Georgians resists the Federal advance until late in the day, when more troops from Rodes’s division stops the advance. During the night, the Rebels are gone, and so is the rest of Lee’s army.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+23%2C+1863
C+ Battle of Manassas Gap (Wapping Heights, Virginia) After recrossing the Potomac River at Williamsport during its retreat after the Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army withdraws up the Shenandoah Valley. Gen. George B. Meade’s Union army crosses the Potomac River east of the Blue Ridge and follows Lee into Virginia. On July 23, Meade orders the III Corps, under Gen. William. H. French to cut off the retreating Confederate columns at Front Royal by forcing passage through Manassas Gap. At first light, French begins slowly pushing Col. E. J. Walker’s Confederate brigade (Gen. Richard Anderson’s division) back into the gap. About 4:30 pm, a strong Union attack drives Walker’s men until they are reinforced by Gen. Robert Rodes’s division and artillery. By dusk, the poorly coordinated Union attacks are abandoned. During the night, Confederate forces withdraw into the Luray Valley. On July 24, the Union army occupies Front Royal, but Lee’s army is safely beyond pursuit.
http://thecivilwarhomepagediscussion2824.yuku.com/topic/2487/150-Years-ago-today-July-23-1863#.V6K48rgrJaQ
D Saturday, July 23, 1864: Union forces suffered a major defeat at Kernstown losing 1,200 men (600 killed) and fled in disarray towards Bunker Hill, West Virginia.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-american-civil-war/american-civil-war-july-1864/
D+ Saturday, July 23, 1864: Confederate cavalry attacked the Union advanced picket line at Kernstown, leading to a sharp cavalry skirmish. From prisoners caught in the skirmish Early learned of Wright's departure. In order to continue to be of service to Lee in the Valley, Early realized he had to attack the diminished force in front of him to ensure that Grant's force at Petersburg would not be reinforced.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Kernstown
FYI SPC Deb Root-WhiteLt Col Charlie Brown GySgt Jack Wallace CWO4 Terrence Clark SPC Michael Oles SR SPC Michael Terrell TSgt David L. PO1 John Johnson SPC (Join to see) SMSgt Lawrence McCarter SGT Paul RussoA1C Pamela G RussellLTC Trent KlugMSG Roy CheeverPO2 Russell "Russ" Lincoln SFC William Farrell SFC Bernard Walko SFC Stephen King SFC Ralph E Kelley SSG Franklin Briant
Below are a number of journal entries from 1861 and 1863 which shed light on what life was like for soldiers and civilians – the good, the bad and the ugly.
July 23, 1861: Elisha F. Paxton writes to his wife: First Lieutenant Elisha Franklin Paxton--like many survivors of the fighting at Manassas two days before--took time to write to his family to let them know he'd come through the battle. Paxton was a lawyer and a bank president in Lexington, Virginia before the war. He and Stonewall Jackson had been friends, but the friendship had suffered due to Paxton's vocal support of South Carolina's secession. The rift had been healed by Virginia's secession and both men's decision to volunteer for the Confederate Army.
Paxton was a member of the 4th Virginia Infantry Regiment, which was part of the Stonewall Brigade, so Paxton had been in the very of the battle.
Manassas, July 23, 1861. “My Darling: We spent Sunday last in the sacred work of achieving our nationality and independence. The work was nobly done, and it was the happiest day of my life, our wedding-day not excepted. I think the fight is over forever. I received a ball through my shirt-sleeves, slightly bruising my arm, and others, whistling "Yankee Doodle" round my head, made fourteen holes through the flag which I carried in the hottest of the fight. It is a miracle that I escaped with my life, so many falling dead around me. Buried two of our comrades on the field. God bless my country, my wife, and my little ones!”
Thursday, July 23, 1863: Young Kate Morgan of New Orleans is living at the home of her older half-brother, who is a committed Unionist. She writes in her diary today of the Federal regulations concerning how the locals may or may not communicate with the prisoners captured at Port Hudson when it surrendered: “It is bad policy to keep us from seeing the prisoners; it just sets us wild about them. Put a creature you don’t care for in the least, in a situation that commands sympathy, and nine out of ten girls will fall desperately in love. Here are brave, self-sacrificing, noble men who have fought heroically for us, and have been forced to surrender by unpropitious fate, confined in a city peopled by their friends and kindred, and as totally isolated from them as though they inhabited the Dry Tortugas! Ladies are naturally hero-worshipers. We are dying to show these unfortunates that we are as proud of their bravery as though it had led to victory instead of defeat. Banks wills that they remain in privacy. Consequently our vivid imaginations are constantly occupied in depicting their sufferings, privations, heroism, and manifold virtues, until they have almost become as demigods to us. . . . It is all I can do to avoid a most tender compassion for a very few select ones. Miriam and I are looked on with envy by other young ladies because some twenty or thirty of our acquaintance have already arrived. To know a Port Hudson defender is considered as the greatest distinction one need desire. If they would only let us see the prisoners once to sympathize with, and offer to assist them, we would never care to call on them again until they are liberated. But this is aggravating. Of what benefit is it to send them lunch after lunch, when they seldom receive it? Colonel Steadman and six others, I am sure, did not receive theirs on Sunday. We sent with the baskets a number of cravats and some handkerchiefs I had embroidered for the Colonel.”
Pictures: 1864-07-23 Kernstown civil war history battle; USMR Locomotive W. H. Whiton and Lincoln Presidential Car; 1863-07-23 Battle of Manassas Gap at Wapping Heights-NY-Herald; 1862-07-23 Harrisons Landing
A. Wednesday, July 23, 1862: General Braxton Bragg conducts the largest Confederate troop movement by rail during the war as he moved 30,000 infantry man 770 miles by rail, taking a roundabout route from Tupelo, Mississippi, through Mobile and Montgomery, Alabama, to Chattanooga, Tennessee while his cavalry and artillery traveled by road.
B. Wednesday, July 23, 1862: Carmel Church, Virginia. Cavalry skirmish over confederate supply stash ends in a draw. A group of Union cavalry had earlier left Fredericksburg and came to Carmel Church. At the church was a group of Confederate cavalry and a supply stash. The Federals attacked the Confederates, but numerous casualties to both sides forced both forces to end the fight.
C. Thursday, July 23, 1863: The Battle of Manassas Gap at Wapping Heights. Poorly coordinated Union attacks are abandoned at dusk. After re-crossing the Potomac River at Williamsport during its retreat after the Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army withdraws up the Shenandoah Valley. Gen. George B. Meade’s Union army crosses the Potomac River east of the Blue Ridge and follows Lee into Virginia. On July 23, Meade orders the III Corps, under Gen. William. H. French to cut off the retreating Confederate columns at Front Royal by forcing passage through Manassas Gap. At first light, French begins slowly pushing Col. E. J. Walker’s Confederate brigade (Gen. Richard Anderson’s division) back into the gap. About 4:30 pm, a strong Union attack drives Walker’s men until they are reinforced by Gen. Robert Rodes’s division and artillery. By dusk, the poorly coordinated Union attacks are abandoned. During the night, Confederate forces withdraw into the Luray Valley. On July 24, the Union army occupies Front Royal, but Lee’s army is safely beyond pursuit.
D. Saturday, July 23, 1864: Cavalry skirmish at Kernstown, WV. Confederate victory in the Shenandoah Valley. Believing that Early’s army was no longer a threat in the Valley, Maj. Gen. Horatio Wright abandoned his pursuit and ordered the VI and XIX Corps to return to Washington, where they were to be sent to Grant’s “army group” before Petersburg. Confederate cavalry attacked the Union advanced picket line at Kernstown, leading to a sharp cavalry skirmish. From prisoners caught in the skirmish CSA Lt Gen Jubal Early learned of Maj Gen Horatio G. Wright force's departure. In order to continue to be of service to General Robert E. Lee in the Valley, Jubal Early realized he had to attack the diminished force in front of him to ensure that Lt Gen U.S. Grant's force at Petersburg would not be reinforced.
1. Tuesday, July 23, 1861: Tuesday, July 23, 1861: General John C Frémont was put in command of Union forces in the West.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-american-civil-war/american-civil-war-july-1861/
2. Tuesday, July 23, 1861: Major General John Dix ordered to take command of the Department of Maryland; Brigadier General William S. Rosecrans ordered to take command of the Department of the Ohio.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186107
3. July 23, 1861: Elisha F. Paxton writes to his wife: First Lieutenant Elisha Franklin Paxton--like many survivors of the fighting at Manassas two days before--took time to write to his family to let them know he'd come through the battle. Paxton was a lawyer and a bank president in Lexington, Virginia before the war. He and Stonewall Jackson had been friends, but the friendship had suffered due to Paxton's vocal support of South Carolina's secession. The rift had been healed by Virginia's secession and both men's decision to volunteer for the Confederate Army.
Paxton was a member of the 4th Virginia Infantry Regiment, which was part of the Stonewall Brigade, so Paxton had been in the very of the battle.
Manassas, July 23, 1861. “My Darling: We spent Sunday last in the sacred work of achieving our nationality and independence. The work was nobly done, and it was the happiest day of my life, our wedding-day not excepted. I think the fight is over forever. I received a ball through my shirt-sleeves, slightly bruising my arm, and others, whistling "Yankee Doodle" round my head, made fourteen holes through the flag which I carried in the hottest of the fight. It is a miracle that I escaped with my life, so many falling dead around me. Buried two of our comrades on the field. God bless my country, my wife, and my little ones!”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+23%2C+1861
4. July 23, 1861: Robert E. Lee to H.R. Jackson On this day in 1861, Robert E. Lee was working to shore up Confederate defenses in northwestern Virginia. Instead of following up on the victory at Manassas, the Confederacy was trying to stop the Union advance towards the Shenandoah Valley.
Richmond, Va., July 23, 1861. “Brigadier General H. R. JACKSON, Army of the Northwest, Monterey, Va.: “GENERAL: I have received your two letters of the 20th, reporting the state of militia operations in the northwest. You have done all under the circumstances that was proper, and all will yet be well.
Our brave troops must bear up against misfortune. Reverses must happen, but they ought only to stimulate us to greater efforts. I regret my inability to repair to your assistance, but events occurring in our front prevented. I am sure the glorious victory there achieved will cheer the hearts of your troops.
At the first report of the retreat from Beverly, anticipating your wants, I ordered ammunition, tents, blankets, cooking utensils, and shoes to be sent to you. But, unfortunately, they were sent, by mistake, to General T. J. Jackson, at Winchester. A duplicate supply of the articles have been forwarded to Staunton. General Loring, an officer of experience, has been assigned to the command of the Army of the Northwest, and he is accompanied by officers who have served years on the frontier.
Four Virginia regiments, one Arkansas, three Tennessee, and two Georgia regiments, and two field batteries are ordered to join the Northwestern Army. This force, with what ought to be organized from the hardy mountaineers, will be sufficient to drive back the invaders. There is a necessity for repelling them, and it must be done. Every assistant will be afforded in this quarter.
Respectfully, &c., R. E. LEE, General, Commanding.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+23%2C+1861
5. Wednesday, July 23, 1862: General Halleck becomes the Union’s general-in-chief upon his arrival in Washington and immediately goes into conference with President Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton; later in the day, he meets with General Pope and General Burnside.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/07/23/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-23-29-1862/
6. Wednesday, July 23, 1862: Major General Henry Halleck becomes commanding general of the United States Army.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186207
7. Wednesday, July 23, 1862: J. D. Chadwick to his mother and father from Harrison's Landing, Virginia in 1862 at Headquarters Third Brigade, P. R. C., “Dear Father and Mother:- Since I last wrote you nothing has occurred here worthy of note. The army remains about in statu quo, as we are receiving no reinforcements now. One Division, Steven’s, I think, of Hunter’s command, is now at Fortress Monroe. They are within supporting distance as they can be brought here in twelve hours if needed. Burnside is also said to be within striking distance but I do not know where he is.
About 500 of our wounded came down from Richmond a day or two since in a flag-of-truce boat. Many who had been reported dead were among the number. It is astonishing to see some of our wounded who had been shot fair through the breast and whose wounds all the surgeons had pronounced mortal still living and speedily recovering. A Captain of the 10th was shot clear through the right lung, the rifle ball coming out near the spinal column. He came down on the boat and is doing well. He thinks he will be able to join the regiment in a month or so.
None of the wounded can tell much about the fortifications of Richmond as they were taken there during the night and brought away in the night. Some of them who were at Savage’s Station and who saw the enemy as they were retreating back to Richmond after their total defeat on Tuesday at Malvern Hills say that the rebs were perfectly panic-stricken. Colonels were in one place and the fragments of their regiments were in another without any kind of order. They were completely demoralized and are compared to a drove of sheep frightened by pursuing wolves. Officers who were wounded and prisoners assert that 20,000 fresh troops could easily have taken Richmond on Wednesday. What a pity we hadn’t them!
General Seymour is still in command of the Reserve Corps.
Col. Sinclair of the 6th Regiment commands the First Brigade, formerly commanded by General Reynolds, now a prisoner.
Col. Magilton of the 4th Regiment commands the Second Brigade, formerly commanded by General Meade, now wounded and at home in Philadelphia.
Col. Jackson of the 9th is in command of the Third Brigade. He has been nominated as a Brigadier General by the Secretary of War and was confirmed by the Senate last Friday. If Col. McCalmont had been here, he would have been Brigadier General. He would have made a much better one than Col. J., as the latter has no military education except what he has picked up himself. He is a jolly, good-hearted man, belongs in Pittsburgh and was formerly a conductor on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago R.R. He came to Camp Wright as Captain of a company, was there elected as Colonel of the 9th Regiment and has served in the Third Brigade until now. I do not know to what Brigade he will be assigned when his commission comes on, but do not think it will be the Third. He has certainly risen very fast. The Chaplain of the 10th, Rev. McGuire, has resigned and gone home on account of his health.
All the Rockland boys in the10th are well as usual except Alex Solinger who is under medical treatment for Calculus, I believe. He is able to be about, however. I have not seen a single man who is perfectly well, all are complaining of disentary. I think it must be occasioned by the excessive heat, bad water and poisonous miasm which is constantly coming off the swamps which surround the camps. The tide comes up and overflows the swamps and marshes here along the river and this contributes to the unhealthiness of the location.
I suppose you have seen Pope’s proclamation. You cannot help but like it. He talks as though he meant business.
We heard last night that some more of those who had been reported dead were still alive, wounded, in the hands of the enemy at Richmond.
To-day the sun shines out excessively hot—it is really oppressive. There are an almost infinite number of flies, beetles, bugs, wood-ticks, lizards, etc., here. In fact, I guess every family of insect and reptile which Noah took into the ark has its representative here. The most annoying, however, of all these vermin are lice,— the real genuine body lice. They are no respecters of persons, subsisting upon the bodies of Generals as well as private soldiers. I suppose they are very few in the army who have not been troubled with them at some time or other. Camphor is the only preventative. I was unfortunate enough to get a half a dozen of these “Body guard” on me last Spring before I was aware that there were such things. I had to throw away my clothes to get rid of them. Since then I have slept by myself and have been very careful to avoid contact with those I suspected of having the vermin. You will pardon this narrative—such things form part of a soldier’s adventures during a campaign in the army.
Young Halderman and Kepler, from near Layton’s, are in Richmond, wounded and prisoners. All that Butler County company were taken prisoners.
I see by the papers that E. W. Davis is commissioned to raise a regiment. Do you know where he lives now?
I will expect to hear from the boys by next mail as well as from you.
I can give you the exact number of the loss of the Reserve Corps in the late battles. It is 3085, of which 240 were killed, the rest are wounded or missing.
Remember me to the little children. I am Affectionately yours, J. D. Chadwick”
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+23%2C+1862
8. Wednesday, July 23, 1862 --- Gen. Buell, in a more intense panic mode than two days ago, fires off the following dispatch to Gen. Halleck in Washington: HUNTSVILLE, ALA., July 23, 1862-1.30 a.m General HALLECK, or General THOMAS, Adjutant-General: “I cannot err in repeating to you the urgent importance of a large cavalry force in this district. The enemy is throwing an immense cavalry force on the 400 miles of railroad communication upon which this army is dependent for supplies. I am building stockades to hold from 30 to 100 men at all bridges, but such guards at best only give security to certain points and against a small force. There can be no safety without cavalry enough to pursue the enemy in large bodies. Twice already our roads have been broken up by their formidable raids, causing great delay and embarrassment, so that we are barely able to resist from day to day. I am concentrating all the cavalry I can spare to operate actively in force. I don’t pretend to know whether you have cavalry that you can spare elsewhere, but, if so, it can find abundant and very important service here. D. C. BUELL, Major-General, Commanding.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+23%2C+1862
9. Wednesday, July 23, 1862 --- Gen. John Pope issues orders that provide for arresting all males in northern Virginia who do not take the loyalty oath to the United States. All who do may stay at home; all who do not take the oath are to be arrested and sent south behind Confederate lines, and if they return to be treated as spies. He also gives orders to seize all horses and mules that are not absolutely necessary for farmers to maintain their farms. These orders, in addition to orders to allow his men to live by foraging freely from the locals, convince Southerners that Pope is a barbarian and not a gentleman.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+23%2C+1862
10. Thursday, July 23, 1863: Thursday, July 23, 1863: HEADQUARTERS AT LINDEN, Crest of Manassas Gap, July 23, sent 1863-10 p. m. (Received, via Harper's Ferry, Va., July 25, 8. 40 a. m.) Major General H. W. HALLECK, General-in-Chief: “On the evening of the 20th, this army was posted on the two pikes from Aldie to Winchester, the cavalry occupying Snicker's and Ash-by's Gaps with slight opposition. All the information respecting the enemy indicated that he was still in position from Winchester to Martinsburg. Lest the continuance of my march should enable him to get into my rear and interrupt or interfere with my communications, I halted during the 21st, throwing forward my cavalry to Manassas and Chester Gap. On the morning of the 22d, being satisfied that the enemy's army was in full movement southward toward Culpeper Court-House or Orange Court-House, I directed two corps to cover my depots at Warrenton and White Plains, and threw forward the other five corps to Manassas Gap. At daylight this morning, the Third Corps entered Manassas Gap, and, advancing beyond the crest, has been skirmishing with and driving back the enemy. At dark the enemy held a position covering the entrance to Chester Gap from Front Royal. The information respecting his army is somewhat contradictory. It is reported to me by signal officers and my cavalry to have been moving with its trains yesterday and to-day up the Valley of the Shenandoah, through Front Royal and Strasburg, and through Chester Gap toward Culpeper, though there are reasons for my considering it probable that but a small portion of his army has passed on. I shall attack his position covering Chester Gap to-morrow at daylight. GEO. G. MEADE, Major-General.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+23%2C+1863
11. Thursday, July 23, 1863 --- Young Kate Morgan of New Orleans is living at the home of her older half-brother, who is a committed Unionist. She writes in her diary today of the Federal regulations concerning how the locals may or may not communicate with the prisoners captured at Port Hudson when it surrendered: “It is bad policy to keep us from seeing the prisoners; it just sets us wild about them. Put a creature you don’t care for in the least, in a situation that commands sympathy, and nine out of ten girls will fall desperately in love. Here are brave, self-sacrificing, noble men who have fought heroically for us, and have been forced to surrender by unpropitious fate, confined in a city peopled by their friends and kindred, and as totally isolated from them as though they inhabited the Dry Tortugas! Ladies are naturally hero-worshipers. We are dying to show these unfortunates that we are as proud of their bravery as though it had led to victory instead of defeat. Banks wills that they remain in privacy. Consequently our vivid imaginations are constantly occupied in depicting their sufferings, privations, heroism, and manifold virtues, until they have almost become as demigods to us. . . . It is all I can do to avoid a most tender compassion for a very few select ones. Miriam and I are looked on with envy by other young ladies because some twenty or thirty of our acquaintance have already arrived. To know a Port Hudson defender is considered as the greatest distinction one need desire. If they would only let us see the prisoners once to sympathize with, and offer to assist them, we would never care to call on them again until they are liberated. But this is aggravating. Of what benefit is it to send them lunch after lunch, when they seldom receive it? Colonel Steadman and six others, I am sure, did not receive theirs on Sunday. We sent with the baskets a number of cravats and some handkerchiefs I had embroidered for the Colonel.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+23%2C+1863
A Wednesday, July 23, 1862: Moving his men by railroad from Tupelo, Mississippi, Braxton Bragg reappears in Chattanooga, Tennessee after a journey of more than 770 miles. It was the largest troop movement by rail during the war for the Confederates.
http://blueandgraytrail.com/year/186207
A+ Wednesday, July 23, 1862: General Bragg’s Army of the West arrives in Chattanooga. All told, Bragg moved 30,000 infantry man 770 miles by rail, taking a roundabout route from Tupelo, Mississippi, through Mobile and Montgomery, Alabama, while his cavalry and artillery traveled by road. This was the largest Confederate troop movement by rail during the war.
https://bjdeming.com/2012/07/23/the-american-civil-war-150th-anniversary-july-23-29-1862/
B Wednesday, July 23, 1862: Carmel Church, Virginia - On July 23, a group of Union cavalry had earlier left Fredericksburg and came to Carmel Church. At the church was a group of Confederate cavalry and a supply stash. The Federals attacked the Confederates, but numerous casualties to both sides forced both forces to end the fight.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1862s.html
C Thursday, July 23, 1863: The Battle of Manassas Gap. The Battle of Manassas Gap effectively marked the end of the Gettysburg campaign. The battle occurred when Union forces attempted to force a passage of Manassas Gap, Virginia and intercept part of the retreating Army of Northern Virginia. The Union advance was made by the III Corps and led by the Excelsior Brigade. They were met by a brigade of Confederate troops led by Colonel Edward J. Walker of the 3rd Georgia Regiment. The Confederates were slowly pushed back through the gap by superior Union numbers, but they had bought crucial time. When Walker was reinforced by Maj. Gen. Robert E. Rodes's division and some artillery, the Union advance stalled and stopped for the night. During the night, the Confederate forces withdrew, having successfully covered Lee's retreat. The Army of the Potomac had failed to prevent Lee's from returning to Virginia with his army intact. This is how Meade reported the situation at 10:00 P.M. on July 23, 1863 (note that the message took more than 24 hours to make it back to the telegraph station at Harper's Ferry).
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=July+23%2C+1863
C Thursday, July 23, 1863 --- Battle of Manassas Gap – The Excelsior Brigade of the III Corps pushes westward into the Manassas Gap to cut off the Confederate retreat route. A lone regiment of Georgians resists the Federal advance until late in the day, when more troops from Rodes’s division stops the advance. During the night, the Rebels are gone, and so is the rest of Lee’s army.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=July+23%2C+1863
C+ Battle of Manassas Gap (Wapping Heights, Virginia) After recrossing the Potomac River at Williamsport during its retreat after the Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army withdraws up the Shenandoah Valley. Gen. George B. Meade’s Union army crosses the Potomac River east of the Blue Ridge and follows Lee into Virginia. On July 23, Meade orders the III Corps, under Gen. William. H. French to cut off the retreating Confederate columns at Front Royal by forcing passage through Manassas Gap. At first light, French begins slowly pushing Col. E. J. Walker’s Confederate brigade (Gen. Richard Anderson’s division) back into the gap. About 4:30 pm, a strong Union attack drives Walker’s men until they are reinforced by Gen. Robert Rodes’s division and artillery. By dusk, the poorly coordinated Union attacks are abandoned. During the night, Confederate forces withdraw into the Luray Valley. On July 24, the Union army occupies Front Royal, but Lee’s army is safely beyond pursuit.
http://thecivilwarhomepagediscussion2824.yuku.com/topic/2487/150-Years-ago-today-July-23-1863#.V6K48rgrJaQ
D Saturday, July 23, 1864: Union forces suffered a major defeat at Kernstown losing 1,200 men (600 killed) and fled in disarray towards Bunker Hill, West Virginia.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-american-civil-war/american-civil-war-july-1864/
D+ Saturday, July 23, 1864: Confederate cavalry attacked the Union advanced picket line at Kernstown, leading to a sharp cavalry skirmish. From prisoners caught in the skirmish Early learned of Wright's departure. In order to continue to be of service to Lee in the Valley, Early realized he had to attack the diminished force in front of him to ensure that Grant's force at Petersburg would not be reinforced.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Kernstown
FYI SPC Deb Root-WhiteLt Col Charlie Brown GySgt Jack Wallace CWO4 Terrence Clark SPC Michael Oles SR SPC Michael Terrell TSgt David L. PO1 John Johnson SPC (Join to see) SMSgt Lawrence McCarter SGT Paul RussoA1C Pamela G RussellLTC Trent KlugMSG Roy CheeverPO2 Russell "Russ" Lincoln SFC William Farrell SFC Bernard Walko SFC Stephen King SFC Ralph E Kelley SSG Franklin Briant
American Civil War July 1861 - History Learning Site
In July 1861 President Abraham Lincoln made it clear that there would be no separation of the Union. Therefore, from the viewpoint of the Confederacy, the American Civil War had to continue. Both Lincoln and Davis had set out their beliefs and their detemined stand made a long drawn out civil war inevitable. July 1861 …
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LTC Stephen F.
You are very welcoem my friend LTC Trent Klug even though warfare and campaigns tended to be faught by foot soldiers primarily the give and take and outflanking at tactical and strategic levels persisted up until Gettysburg.
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I enjoy reading all of it when I can LTC Stephen F. . Thanks for the great history of the Civil war.
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All of these events were pivotal! The Civil War was dominated by many personalities with only Gen. Lee CSA enduring for its entirety as a major army leader.
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Incredible read in Civil War history LTC Stephen F.; I am going to go with all these events were important on July 23rd. Thanks for the great share and read my friend.
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